"Please Do Not Chase the Birds!"

We found this sign at the beginning of February (when my mom was in town) at a Citrus Nursery that is home to many beautiful peacocks and hens, etc. We had to take a picture because Rachel's FAVORITE thing to do for the last few months is to "chase birds", so this nursery was a difficult place to stay for very long. Any bird she sees within running distance, she tells me "chase bird", then sprints off in their direction. She hasn't caught one yet. But I'm sure getting a work out chasing her. Rachel still tells me weeks later, "Mom, 'member (remember) chase key-cocks (peacocks)". Yes, I remember.

We had a lot of fun the week my mom visited! Rachel loved having her and anytime she left the room, Rachel would yell, "My NANA!" and go find her. It was kind of nice having someone else around the house for Rachel to play with. We took a trip to the zoo, and I was disappointed that Rachel wasn't too interested. The animals were too far away for her to keep an interest. Her favorite animal were the "copical birds" (tropical) and she also chased any and every bird she saw that wasn't caged at the zoo. And I forgot to bring her leash. Terrible idea. That is the first thing going in the suitcase for Disneyland next weekend (wa hoo!).

Anyway, it was hard to say goodbye to "my nana", but we'll head back to the land of cold again in March since we have a free flight we need to use. See you soon!

Visitors & Nursery

Brandon's sister, Rachel Murray and her family came down to visit (and to escape the Utah weather!).

Here were the highlights (some taken from the Murray's blog):

- Cousins Brynn, Mason & Rachel Faye playing together so well!! Lots of hugs were given!
- Scott & Rachel sleeping in until 9a thinking that Brynn was sleeping in, but Brandon snuck in and got her when she woke up at 7:30a and played with her all morning
- Brandon & Scott golfing at Dinosaur Monument
- Dinner at Tia Rosa's to celebrate Valentine's Day with the group
- Playing Settlers after putting the kiddos to bed
- Cousin Mason is more than obsessed with trains (age 2), so we went to the train park in Scottsdale, rode a miniature train and the carousel
- While we were babysitting, Mason was gabbering on and on about something I couldn't understand so I just agreed with him. Little did I know, I had told him we could get a new Hiro train toy the next day. I was hoping he'd forget about it. As soon as he woke up, he said, "Whitney! We go get my new Hiro of the Rails toy now?!" Oops.
- Brandon telling Mason a bedtime story about a train named Jonah that was swallowed by a whale
- Rachel Faye calling Rachel Murray "Auntie" ... here's the background story of why Rachel's named after her aunt if you're interested
- Auntie taking Rachel Faye to *nursery* and confirming to me that I didn't exaggerate at all with how WEIRD our nursery was and that she was not surprised that she was having a hard time staying in there by herself

Background on *NURSERY*: It's going better - last week she stayed for the last hour by herself. (Brandon gets all the credit here - since I go to YW, he has had to work through this with Rachel.)
I don't mean to complain about our ward nursery, but I don't want to forget how frustrating this experience has been for me. I want to be the good mommy who's child isn't too spoiled or attached and I wanted her to just run in nursery without even looking back ... BUT the schedule in our nursery is terrible. They start with puzzles - and they do them way too long - like 25 minutes. And then snack time for another 30 minutes. Toys come only the last 20 minutes or so. And I had zero contact with the leaders before Rachel turned 18 months, so they are all strangers to her (and me). And they aren't the most friendly, so I don't really blame Rachel for being nervous. And the minute any child cries, they say, "We want you to feel safe, do you want us to take you to your mommy?" Nice gesture, but when Rachel's crying, she just needs to be distracted. [Wow, good think this blog is private since I am venting here!] In all honesty, I DO appreciate their service - Brandon and I served in the nursery last summer and it wore us out - it's hard work and my hat goes off to all you nursery workers out there!! Just please, start with toys and I don't care if it's for the whole first hour. :)

New dance moves

Here's a video of Rachel jamming out to Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA".
GO TEAM USA!

Dancing Baby - Party in the USA from Whitney Hale on Vimeo.

Happy Valentine's Day

I just love Valentine's Day! What a sweet holiday! I think it's one of my favorites because my parents always did something really special for me (only girl=spoiled). One year in college, I remember that my dad sent me flowers at work (doesn't that just melt your heart!). And even this year, my mom sent us cards and candy which is almost better than flowers. And my in-laws always treat us to dinner on them. They're the best. I told Brandon that I didn't want flowers this year, but some orange trees for our backyard instead. I'm so practical these days it's ridiculous ... but it's what I really, really want.

Happy Valentine's Day to you from us!

p.s. Hate to do this to you, but it's 75 degrees all weekend here :) - I feel bad for the rest of the freezing country!

Movie Review - Dear John

I saw Dear John this weekend with some girlfriends and since it was opening weekend, I thought I'd share my review (especially since I NEVER see movies opening weekend). I'll try not to ruin anything in case you want to see it, but maybe you should just read it after you see and come back here and tell me your thoughts.

Overall grade: C+ or 3/5 stars (I don't know if I'd recommend it, but half the girls that went said they really liked it, so don't just take my opinion into account)

- Not an typical Valentine's Day movie, so don't expect it to be one

- The plot is much deeper than I could have imagined covering many hard issues

- I loved watching the couple's courtship and their letter exchanges - so romantic

- It reminded me of college - all the letter writing - quick statistic: my five roommates all had "serious" missionaries and 4 out of the 5 married their missionary! WOW- impressive, right?!

- It seems there's a twist in all movies, and this one I just couldn't get past - it was too bizarre

- I couldn't understand why the girl's character made the choices she did - she said she felt like she didn't have a choice, but that sat wrong with me. And her character really confused me - the whole experience really changed her and I just had a hard time relating or understanding her.

- The guy's character was very like-able and good looking (not as handsome as my husband, of course) :) He had a rough past, but wanted to be better and was willing to change. Throughout the movie, they explore his relationship with his father - he goes from a sense of denial to awareness and compassion, which was so sweet. And he is a very courageous young man (as are many other serviceman and it even made me think of missionaries going away from home too). He also handles the "twist" more gracefully than I could have imagined and walks away from an incredibly hard and tempting situation.

Hoping this isn't too vague (I don't want to ruin anything) - can't wait to hear from you after you see it!

Thanks ladies for the girl's night out - I had a blast even if the movie wasn't my favorite!

3 good things from this weekend

1. Steal of a deal!

I seriously lucked out and found a new entry table at TJ Maxx. It was on clearance for $69 - marked down a couple times (original price $129), but I didn't think it was worth that since I'd have to reglue the drawers, so I asked to talk to a manager. I told her that I was interested in the table, but that it needed some work and I showed her all the damage. I expected her to give at least a 10% discount, but I had already decided in my head that I didn't want to pay more than $50 for it, so I told her that I thought $50 would be a reasonable price for the piece of furniture. She took it down to the next markdown (which I've never had a manager do for me) and then showed me the price tag - $35 - SOLD! Can you believe I got this cute thing for $35? I thought it was a great deal and I'm super happy with it.

I learned these mad "bargaining" skills from my mom and here are my tips:

- Be polite - it never helps to be mean

- Ask to talk to a manger since they're the only ones that can change prices of items

- Works best on clearance items

- Have a legitimate reason: damage, buying a pair, etc. (like one time there were two trunks left on sale at Pottery Barn and I wanted both of them; I asked the manager if he would give me 10% off if bought both and helped "take them off his hands" - yep, he did it)

- Don't ask in front of other guests or at busy times

- You can almost always get at least 10% off if you've got a good reason, but occasionally you'll get more

- And it never hurts to ask!

Happy Hunting!

New table for $35

2. The Fort

Brandon built an awesome fort (using a blanket and the kitchen chairs) for Rachel and she played in it ALL day Saturday. He even brought in her kitchen and soft chair and we called it her clubhouse (like Mickey Mouse's clubhouse ... duh!). We even watched a little Barney inside her clubhouse and she thought it was the funnest weekend ever!

Playing in the fort / clubhouse - check out her Irish dancing moves below

3. "Do not open until January 1, 2010!"

Just happened to be going through some old high school stuff and I found a little box with these words. So I opened it and it said "Top 5 Goals in 10 years (Jan 1, 2001)" Here they are with the results:

1. attend college and graduate from BYU = check!

2. receive youngwomanhood recognition award = check!

3. marry in the temple = check!

4. start my own family = check!

5. continue prayer, scripture study and teach kids to do the same = always a good reminder that I can do better!

It was kind of sweet to find from a great young woman activity that I must have done 10 years ago (I think that it was Sister Liu's handwriting on the box. Thanks, Sister Liu!).