One more post about SNOW...

Seems like in our neighborhood it's a competition to see who can get their snow shoveling done first thing after the snow stops. Ash & I have usually been towards the last ones to finish up...mostly because Ash has been working late a lot this week finishing up a big project. And, I have little desire to do it because let's face it: I grew up in the country - and we never really shoveled snow unless it was really really bad (or rake leaves, either).

Anyway, tonight after a long day (and week) of snowfall, I decided I'd get my daily workout by shoveling the sidewalk & driveway tonight. After 45 minutes, this is how far I got:

In my defense, you can't see the entire sidewalk in front of our lot that I finished in addition to this. Just couldn't do the second half of the driveway. So, Ash is going to have to finish up. I did my best. I'm going to blame my bad follow through on my 2+ hour commute home today. It was a long day and mommy had a glass of wine while Helena ate chicken nuggets this evening.

-Emily :)

Feels Like Winter

Today is the 4th day in a row it's snowed here. I don't think I've ever experienced this in my entire life! We're quickly learning to deal with the onslaught, however. For instance, staying inside the entire weekend while it snows is not going to possible or we'll for sure suffer from some major cabin fever by March. Oh, and I desperately need a more varied assortment of boots. My 3 pairs are not going to cut it when I have to wear them 5 times a week! Definitely need more stylish options.

Some good things about the snow here:
--The wind doesn't blow like it does in Kansas. Makes things much more tolerable for sure.
-- Temperatures lately are very reasonable -- around 25-30 degrees -- much better than the negative numbers I've been hearing about in Canada and the more northern states.
-- The road crews really are pretty good about making things as good as they can get. And I say this despite my 1 1/2 hour commute this morning. Ugh.

Sorry for the boring weather post. That's all I got right now...

-Emily :)

In summary...

Some highlights from our week:

1. Attended a KU Alumni Association happy hour on Tuesday in downtown Salt Lake. It was really refreshing to hang out with fellow Jayhawks. And I tell ya, it's weird how small this world really is. We met one guy & his wife who used to hang out with Ash's college roommate. And Ash saw a girl who went on the same study abroad trip as he did. We also re-met the two KU pharmacists we've encountered here...one at the Target by our house and the other at Walgreens...who also are neighbors (to each other, by accident). Anyway, we made some good contacts and I think we'll hang out with everyone again in the future. Nice to have some more friend possibilities out there, for sure!

2. Apparently my dad got a deer this week. And I'm told there's some story about him falling asleep in the tree stand. Maybe he could fill us all in on whether or not whiskey or extreme fatigue was involved. Oh, and here's his prize (if you're squeamish look away now!)...I hope we don't have to have deer steak for Christmas.

3. Helena is very enthralled with the new play kitchen Great-Grandma Claudene & Great-Grandpa Ash sent forChristmas. She played with it for awhile and then started taking the fake kitchen stuff into the real kitchen...because, duh, that's where it belongs!?! Not in the family room. I promise I'm not purposely raising an anal retentive child. She's just smart and it's genetic, she can't help it.

-Emily :)

Hoover Dam

Also while in Vegas, we took a little side trip to see Hoover Dam. As many of you know, Ash is incouragable when it comes to marvels of civil engineering, so needless to say we all had to go with big, hungover smiles on our faces.

All kidding aside, it was actually pretty cool to see. The dam is HUGE, and even more impressive to me is the new bridge they are building over the gorge:

I just am unable to fathom how they get those structures to be safe, let alone how they go about building them in the first place.

Here are a few more pics from our afternoon. If you're ever in the area, I would highly recommend stopping by and taking the (short) tour.

(the dam)

(peering over the edge)

(The Lake Mead side)

(Colorado River side)

Las Vegas- Take Two

I'm just now getting around to posting some pics from Vegas. Sorry for the month-long delay! Oops!

This pic of the Paris hotel balloon reminds me of the $18 souvenir drink/cup I carried around for the better part of an evening, only to throw away at Coyote Ugly so that I could get hang out there for 20 minutes. Arrgh. I totally fell under the spell of the cool souvenir cup. Such an amateur move. :)

The rest of the pics are at my flickr account. Enjoy!

-Emily :)

Feline Sabotage?

This past Saturday Ash & I hosted our first ‘dinner party’ at our house since moving to Salt Lake. Yes, we’ve been here for over six months, but seriously, it’s hard to make friends when you have a small child who goes to bed around 7 p.m., are collectively working 90+ hours a week, and your neighbors generally don't speak when spoken to.

Anyway, our new friends moved here from Chicago last winter and we all had a really good time hanging out together. They also have a daughter that is the same age as Helena, so that was fun too. Although I can say FOR SURE that I’m glad I don’t have twins…the two of them running around the house for 3 hours was exhausting for all of us!!!

So at some point during the evening we’re ordering takeout, Ash is searching up in the family room for another menu for us to look at, and all of the sudden I see him frantically running around with carpet cleaner in his hands. I say “What’s going on?” His reply: “Trying not to kill a cat.” I think, oh, the cat must have puked, unfortunately a common occurrence in our household. Then Ash says, “No, no puke. Stella just peed…on their daughter’s coat.” Pause. Freaking out. OMG. We were both COMPLETELY MORTIFIED. Profuse apologies abound. Fortunately, these very nice people were laughing about it as I raced downstairs to throw the coat in the washing machine immediately.

After they left for the evening, Ash told me Stella was also getting ready to pee on my friend’s UGG boots AND her expensive-looking diaper bag. Thank GOD he was up there and caught her in the act before it got worse.

As a sidenote, if anyone is in the market for a cat (Andrea??), just let me know. If we don’t have any takers, Stella will be in the basement from now on when we have potential friends over.

-Emily :)

This one's for the grandparents...

Here's a couple of videos I shot of Helena recently. Warning, if you're not an immediate family member, you'll probably find them way too long and boring...so maybe just watch the first 30 seconds of so. :) I forgot that with my camera I need to edit the videos before transfering them onto the computer. And, they're crooked again...I really need to work on that for next time. I suck...sorry! :)

Here's a video of Helena & Ash playing with one of her Christmas presents. A Christmas present HER DAD couldn't wait until Christmas to open. Listen closely and you can her her funny laugh.



Here's another one of her showing off some new & improved dance moves. They are oddly reminiscent of Ash dancing after several hours of drinking. Is there anything this kid didn't inherit from her Dad?



-Emily :)

Happy Turkey Day!

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving tomorrow!

We're going it alone here in Utah...but even though it kind of sucks not to be with our extended families, Ash & I are kind of excited to be 'responsible' for the entire meal.

The cooking has already begun at our house and will contintue tonight with our annual Thanksgiving-eve pie bake-off. This year I'm only making 2 pies and a cake...and yes, that's one pie for each of us, but we have all weekend folks!

Oddly enough, Ash has never been to my family's Thanksgiving due to a number of reasons (traveling to Europe, going to Michigan, etc.) so he is unfamiliar with some of the traditions I'm used to at Thanksgiving. Mainly, the "Thanksgiving Post-Meal Football Group Nap", which is a totally foreign concept on his side of the family. While my family naps throughout the entire house for at least 2 hours, his sits around and talks...jeez...it's like actually spending quality time together or something.

Everyone enjoy their holiday weekend!
-Emily :)

Forklift on Aisle Three....

I went grocery shopping for Thanksgiving today in an attempt to beat the crowds that will inevitably form this weekend and next week at the stores. Nothing puts me in a worse mood faster than a way too-crowded grocery store. A quirk I inherited from my mom, I think.

Utah grocery stores are known for their impressive stock of bulk food items. I imagine this is because of the abundance of larger families here, and the insistence of some LDS families to have a year's supply of food on hand in case the world comes to an end.

So in addition to the large sign denoting the 'Food Preparedness and Canning' section of the grocery store, I also saw many common pantry items available in bulk sizes. Need a feed bag size of all-purpose flour? If you can lift it, it's yours! And while you're at it, grab the 20 lb. bag of wheat, so during the long winter, you can just make your own flour! Crap, you'd probably save at least a couple of dollars doing it that way. What about a 5-gallon bucket of green beans? Why not! Does your family go through bread like it's going out of style? Well...buy the 2lb. loaf instead of the regular 1lb. loaf! What a great idea!

To top off my trip, I stood in line behind a woman who was buying multiple turkeys for the holiday. Anyone want to guess how many?? FIVE. FIVE FULL-SIZED TURKEYS. I'm going to tell myself she was buying for Christmas, too, because the thought of having 100 relatives at Thanksgiving makes me want to die. Crap, Ash & I don't even have 100 relatives on both sides of our families combined. We're definitely missing out.

Emily :)

The 'D' Trip Report

I keep forgetting to blog about our trip to Detroit the weekend before last. We visited to see Ashford's dad and Maggie and also to attend the wedding of Ash's best friend's little sister.

At Ash's Dad's house, Helena had a great time playing with the array of large tupperware Maggie owns. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before here, but the kid LOVES her kitchen storage units. I think she played with them every way possible...climing in them, beating on them, putting them on her head, pushing them around, yelling into them...yeah, it kept her busy for a good hour and a half.

The wedding would have been more fun had we been kidless, to be honest. Sit down dinner weddings with a 13 month old aren't something I'd recommend. Helena and I ended up leaving as soon as I finished eating because she was being completely crazy. I don't know if it was the loud noises or too many people or what, but whatever it was, we could not keep her happy to save our lives.

That evening was capped off with Ash coming back to the hotel, me going down to let him in, and then he decided to steal some food from the hotel kitchen. I was mad at him at first, but then it was funny, and then we agreed that you can't visit the 'D' without stealing SOMETHING. And, we were really hungry.

Anyway, it was good to see Ash's family and friends, most of whom had never seen Helena. I think his Detroit friends were pretty freaked out that "Andy" has a kid now. But that's OK, it still kind of freaks us out now and then too.

-Emily :)

Oh I'll show you my Diverging Diamond.

I promise my title will make sense (kind of) by the end of this. :)

I wanted to post this article from the Salt Lake Tribune about the second giant highway project Ashford and his company won here in Utah. Ashford was the head person on this design and the type of interchange he successfully designed and proposed (and they agreed to) will be one of the first of its kind in the U.S. Pretty cool even if you're not into the ins and outs of on ramps and freeway design (and who isn't, seriously!?!).

The next step for me is to see if 'we' can maybe get a comp trip to Europe to do some very important, cutting-edge highway design research. I'll let you know how that goes.

-Emily :)

So that's why they call it Zion....

Thought I'd post a couple of pictues from our side trip to Zion Canyon National Park on our way to Vegas.

The place was spectacular to say the least. I think my siblings were skeptical when I suggested we stop by this place on our drive down, but the soon realized we were in for a treat as we approached the park. I have a bit of a reputation for wanting to do 'lame' things in my family. Anyway, Ash & I will definitely be going back to do some more hiking and camping in the spring.

Oh, and because you all know my love of silly pictures-- one last pic of a building in Virgin, Utah. Makes me chuckle.

My own little billboard...

A little inspiration for the historic events that will transpire tomorrow:

(Read: I'm 72 years younger than John McCain).

Seriously, have you ever seen a better t-shirt?!?

But all politics aside, people, just go out and vote for who you believe in. And let's just all hope we know who the next president will be by Wednesday and not 2 months from now. It's not humanly possible for me to watch any more CNN than I already have been the past month or so.

-Emily :)

The scariest pink monster you've ever seen.

Helena was a jayhawk cheerleader at daycare and a monster in the evening. I didn't think about the possibility of daycare having a halloween party and her having to wear a costume all day long when I bought the monster one over a month ago. Rookie mom mistake...ha!

Hope eveyone had a great halloween!

-Emily :)

We tore it up...Vegas style

We’re officially back from Vegas. We made it through…I was seriously concerned Ash & I needed a vacation so badly that we might not come back alive. It was really really fun to spend so much time with my brother & sister too…we hadn’t all gone on vacation together for 7 years!!! And late October seemed to be a great time to visit…it was still warm enough to sit by the pool and not that busy.

Some highlights from our trip:

--The rides on the top of the Stratosphere are AWESOME. Very scary and not for the even slightly faint at heart…the best part was my brother’s friend Brandon FREAKING OUT when we were riding everything. But he was a good sport. It’s really entertaining to see a guy with biceps 4 times as big as mine scream like a girl and pray to god at the same time.

--Celebrity sightings: My sister met Holly Madison from The Girls Next Door at the Palms. (I missed the encounter for reasons I can’t admit to on this blog). She also saw Criss Angel with Holly Madison and swears they are definitely dating. Jess & I also saw George Maloof, the owner of the Palms and he even said ‘Hi’ to us. Here’s a sweet pic of my sister retelling the story of seeing Criss Angel…who she said was the freakiest person she’d ever seen.

Her impression is pretty dead on, don't you think? :) Oh, and she hadn't been drinking at all when we took this picture.

--My brother-in-law Justin saying inappropriate things to every single taxi driver we encountered. My favorite (taken completely out of context, but really funny…) “I’ve got a super snake!”

--I’m going to play trip review now…
Best club we went to : Moon at the Palms
Best meal we had (and also the most expensive): Fix at the Bellagio
Casino I wasn’t so impressed with: New York New York
Most Ghetto Casino we went through: The Sahara…only to get to the monorail. But they did have Fat Tire, so that was a plus.
Casino with the best shops: The Wynn. I actually touched a Manolo Blahnik.

I'll try to post more pics soon. Oh, I wish I had more time to blog. :)

-Emily :)

Moment of Truth

Tomorrow Ash takes his Professional Engineering (PE) test. It's 8 hours long and the material goes back to stuff he hasn't done since college. I'm currently staring at the LARGE SUITCASE of reference materials he's taking with him to the test. Funny that they're allowed to take all of those books, but they can only take a $10 calculator. A TI-34xls for all you nerds out there.

He's been studying a lot this week and one day he showed me this table from his main reference book:













Yes folks, the title's not lying. That's a table of random numbers. How incredibly useful. And no, it's not a weird engineering thing. Ash has NO IDEA what it is.

Anyway, think good thoughts for him on Friday. I know I'm really nervous for him, so I can't imagine how he feels. And I sure am glad I don't have to take this big of a test 5 years after college. I wouldn't pass.

The best thing about the test is afterwards we're heading to VEGAS! WHOO HOO!

-Emily :)

Crossed off the List...

After several months, the renovation on our master bath shower is finally complete. I have to say, for Ash's first tile project, it looks pretty damn impressive. Definitely an upgrade from the standard white tile that was there before.

I had the honor of taking the first post-remodel shower in it this afternoon and holy cow...if you don't already have one of those rain-type shower heads, GO OUT AND GET ONE RIGHT NOW. I think 2 months of stress just washed right down the drain. I seriously felt like I was on vacation in there just now. How will I ever go to work in the morning after having such an experience?

OK, shower story turning creepy. The End.

-Emily :)

Just call me Macaulay Culkin...

I'm home alone this weekend. Ash & Helena are in KC for a wedding and to visit Ash's family, but I had to stay here for work. Bummer, huh? Anyway, I'm enjoying having some peace and quiet and will hopefully be able to get over the sore throat I've been fighting off for a few days now. This is the longest I've been away from Helena ever...4 days...and I already miss that little booger!

Today there's snow floating around in Salt Lake. It's currently 38 degrees at our house. I'm not sure I'm ready for the long winter yet, but I guess I have no choice.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to do some Vegas clothes/winter clothes shopping by myself. Neither Ash OR Helena are usually very good mall companions. Hopefully I'll find some cute stuff. Only 14 days until we leave for sin city. WHOO HOO! Ash & I have both been pulling 50-60 hour weeks at work the past couple of weeks and I tell ya, I don't think I've ever felt I needed a vacation more than now.

Hope everyone has a good weekend, too. I'll try to blog more than I have lately once my work life slows down a little.

-Emily :)

3's a Party!

Today Helena turned one year old. Pretty crazy it's already been a year...Ash & I both agree that the time has gone by very quickly once we became not quite so sleep deprived. And by 'we' I really mean me. :) And what a year we've had, too. Helena's been a Utahn almost as long as she was a Kansan!

We started the day off going out to breakfast, skipped our Little Gym class (probably not the last time she'll skip a class on her birthday, ha!), opened presents, had cake, played with all of her new toys...good times! Poor kid was exhausted by the end of it all.

Here's a video of her eating cake today. (It's sideways again...sorry!)



And....another one of her opening her presents. And hoarding them.



It still amazes me how much babies change in the first year. I remember when feeding her two spoonfuls of cereal was a big deal and now she's eating/throwing/chewing most foods. And taking steps on her own...and trying to say the words that I say (her word of the day today was 'SHOE'!)...wow.

Next thing you know she'll be able to mow the lawn. After all, that is the whole reason we decided to have kids...so they can do chores around the house. She's already pretty good at sorting laundry.

Happy Birthday, booger. We love you! Thanks for being such a great kid.

-Mom & Dad :)

Sorely Needed Mini-Break

Ash and I had a GREAT, relaxing day off together on Friday. We realized it was long overdue when the night before we almost couldn't sleep we were so excited and after it was all over, we actually felt rejuvenated and productive at home.

So, because we're horrible at planning things like this, we didn't get to play disc golf at the ski resort as planned, but we found a lot of other fun things to do.

Started off with breakfast at Blue Plate Diner downtown. Several people from Kansas have told us to eat here since it was featured on the food network this summer. It was greasy, greasy, good, that's for sure!

Then we headed to Park City to tool around...got some coffee, walked around, visited the Olympic Park. Good, relaxing times. Oh, and Ash made a new friend:

He's such a good sport sometimes.

We then took a drive through the mountains, which were absolutely beautiful with the fall colors starting to pop up. We circled back through Provo Canyon and then landed for some lunch in Provo proper. Ate WAY too much sushi and then eventually headed back to SLC to pick up Helena.

Oh, before I forget, while we were in Provo, we saw this advertised at Provo High School:

Yes folks, that's a bridal fair. At the HIGH SCHOOL. Ah...Utah culture. At least it's entertaining.

Some really great pictures are on flickr from our day...enjoy!

Emily :)

Eh....

I’ve been trying to come up with something interesting to blog about the past couple of days, but alas, life is pretty boring lately. And I've been feeling remarkably lazy.

We did have some professional family pictures taken this past weekend (I'll post some soon!), which I drug Ash to even though he had a 102 fever. He was really sick all weekend, so other than our picture outing, Helena and I just laid low around the house and went to Target a couple of times. Shopping seems to be my main form of entertainment these days. And while it's marginally fun, it’s not as fun as it could be if I had unlimited funds. Ha! I’m really busy at work, too, which doesn’t allow for very many interesting life experiences. And blogging about work is probably not the best idea, ya know!?!

We do hopefully have an exciting weekend coming up…Ash’s birthday is tomorrow and he & I are both taking Friday off to have a date day together. I think we’re going to go up to a ski resort in Big Cottonwood Canyon to play some disc golf. We’re also going to hit up a really good place for breakfast before we get on the road. And there might be an IKEA trip in my future. There I go shopping again!

So here’s to more interesting times ahead and less TV watching. Although I LOVE ‘new tv’ week every fall.

-Emily :)

Two Milestones

Helena took 3 steps on her own this evening. Very exciting! I'm so glad she did it in my presence and not at daycare. Or at least I'm glad that if she did, daycare didn't tell me. How nice of them. Ha! Here's a pic of her standing the other day (without pants on, of course).

The other albeit minor milestone we had this week was her first ponytail. We had to try really really hard, and there was some wrangling and unhappiness...

...but it's there. And it was cute. My little baby finally looks like a girl! And I guess it's cute that she also looks exactly like her dad. :) Who coincidentally used to have a ponytail. But that's another post.

- Emily :)

Dietary Confusion

I took advantage of a pretty cool perk of my new health insurance today and visited a nutritionist at the University of Utah. I basically found out I'm not eating as bad as I think I am, which I guess is good. Commuting 45 minutes to an hour each way to work has not been good for my eating habits, though. And I know there are a lot of people out there who have horrible eating habits and say, for example, have Doritos and Mountain Dew for breakfast. I'm not one of those, at least. ;)

The other main reason why I've been feeling that I'm not eating well is that, like most people I'm sure, I don't feel like I eat enough fruits and vegetables. Especially since the pregnancy-induced, all-inclusive vegetable aversion.

So the nutritionist is going over the government's food pyramid with me and I realize you only need 5-ish servings of fruits AND/OR vegetables a day. I always thought it was 5 fruits AND 5 vegetables a day, totaling 10-ish. And I've always wondered, WHO EATS THAT WELL!?! AND THAT MUCH!?! So, now that I have my facts straight, I feel better about my fruit and veggie intake. But I really think they need to evaluate the use of their conjunctions in their promotional materials.

Anyway, I share my new found knowledge with Ashford tonight, and he thought the exact same thing. So, I didn't feel so stupid after all. He's convinced that they must have drastically changed the dietary requirements since we were kids. I'm not sure, and I'm too tired to research it. :)

Anyone else as silly as we are and thought the same thing? (Jen, if you're reading, feel free to chime in!)

-Emily :)

Helena vs. Dill

While our cats are very good with Helena, as she's become more active they have to get creative about how to avoid her when they want to. Here's a video I took today where Dill is chillin' in his favorite safe zone, but Helena is doing her best to torment, and enjoying every minute of it.

I apologize for the grainy-ness of the video :)

-Emily :)

State Fair Day

In honor of my friends and family attending the Brett Michaels/Poison concert at the Kansas State Fair tonight, we decided to check out the Utah State Fair today.

Helena had a blast being able to get super close to a lot of the animals...a lot closer than we did at the zoo last weekend. And they had a cool farm exhibit for kids that she was a little young for, but Ash & I got some free cheez-its out of the experience, so I think it was worth it.

While eating barbecue sandwiches and listening to some gospel rap across the way (which Helena was dancing to off and on), I got a major case of the giggles. Pretty much the only lyric of his song was "I don't want to be a renegade...I wanna be a soldier!" He sang his little heart out to his (sadly) very empty tent...and, because I'm a jerk, I just couldn't contain myself. So freaking funny. What a horrible gig for a rapper, although in my opinion he's already dug his own grave with his specific choice of genre.

We got some really great homemade ice cream, too. I had peach, which reminded me of my grandma making it at the lake; Ash had chocolate and claims he's never eaten homemade ice cream before. Quite the travesty in my opinion. Oh, and Helena tasted ice cream for the first time. That, along with the french fries for lunch, made for a pretty sweet day.

The Utah State Fair was as trashtastic as the Kansas State Fair. Although I was a bit disappointed we didn't see a family of more than six kids. But, it was Sunday and it would cost a family of 15 over $100 to attend the fair. We did see two kids on a leash, though; a WT staple at the Kansas State fair.

Here are some more pictures of our day at the fair...enjoy!

Signs there are too many kids in Utah

1. Over 100 strollers parked at the zoo at any given time at any given exhibit. Ash actually saw a 5-seater!!

2. Takes phone calls to four different OB/GYN practices to get ANY appointment with ANYONE in the next two weeks. (And no, before you ask, I’m not pregnant.)

3. There is actually a very real thing I call ‘School’s Out Rush Hour’ that’s probably worse than regular rush hour.

4. It’s a common occurrence that I think I hear Helena crying in her room when I think she’s asleep, but no, it’s someone else’s kid making noise from outside our house. You know, one of the probably 30 kids that live within 50 yards of us.

5. Last night I couldn’t sleep because a gaggle of cats that roam around our neighborhood were crying just like children. I’m not even kidding. For a second I thought maybe I should call child protective services. It sounded like the very dramatic wailing of a two year old. Very weird that even the animals are picking up on the suburban roar of Utah.

6. If you think I’m exaggerating about the overabundance of fertility here, check this out. Utah is also statistically the youngest state in the nation. 30% of Utahns are under the age of 18, and I don’t think it’s because you don’t live to be very old around here.

-Emily :)

Weekend Rundown

We had a great holiday weekend. Tried to actually do some stuff outside the house just for fun. Saturday we made a trip to Hogle Zoo. Made sure to hit up the bird show, which was really pretty cool. They trained all of the birds to swoop right over the crowd…Helena thought that was pretty cool. She also started mimicking the bird’s noises during the show. She’s recently started doing this with our cat Stella, too, at home. So cute! Some of her other favorites included the leopards, turkeys, and giraffes.

The big event of the weekend, though, was that IT RAINED! A lot, too! We might have gotten like an inch. Seriously, this is the most it has rained since we moved here. I think summer is officially gone here in Salt Lake – the low this morning was in the 40’s – AND it snowed in the mountains over the weekend.

We had a couple of guys Ash works with over for a BBQ on Monday. We had steak, coleslaw, corn on the cob and I made a peach pie. Good stuff for sure!

I also sweet talked Ash into going to the mall with me to get Helena some fall clothes, we hit up IKEA, and Ash is so so close to finishing up the shower tiling project we’ve been working on semi-diligently all summer long. It’s going to look really good when it’s all done.

Hope everyone had a good long weekend too!

-Emily :)

Making History

Ash & I just got done watching Barack O-Fucking-Bama's presidential nomination acceptance speech. As cheesy as it is, I've gotta say that guy makes me tear up tear up a bit. Ash goes more of the goose bump route. But I think he hit that speech out of the park. So exciting. I'm going to be majorly depressed if he loses in November, but I've got a good feeling. The last two elections were so very depressing. Momentum is on our side.

And I know this might sound politically superficial, but how cute are his kids!?! I just love how they're on the world stage right now and are totally oblivious to it - yelling into microphones to talk to their dad via satellite, picking up streamers as they walk off the stage in front of 80,000 people...so great that they're able to keep on being real kids.

In keeping with the political spirit, here's a couple of articles and a website that are pretty funny. Feel free to discuss below! :)

www.thingsolderthanmccain.com - All I can really say is: So freaking hilarious.

This is a link to a top ten list of both Obama & McCain's favorite songs. Hopefully this isn't too old of a story...the lists came out a couple of weeks ago. The 'youngest' song McCain picks is over 30 years old. I hope when I'm 75 I can at least think of a song in the last, oh, DECADE that I really like enough to put a nationally publicized list. And Obama picks a song that was written about him. Even if you really like it, maybe pick something else for humility's sake? I wonder what Joe Biden's list looks like.

-Emily :)

Finicky...but Smart

Helena is currently getting four teeth all at once. I know, how efficient of her! Ash & I are trying to keep it together. Our normally calm, sweet, awesome kid is a bit more high maintenance these days. And that's putting it politely.

She's been systematically refusing vegetables and meat for a few weeks and has basically been subsisting on yogurt, applesauce, and a variety of crackers. Today for dinner, I mixed some peaches into a bowl with the yogurt (thinking it's more nutritious that way, right?). I start to try to feed it to her but she was HYSTERICAL about eating it. After thrashing and throwing a fit for a minute Ash says, "Put it back in the yogurt container!!" So we do...the tears automatically stop and magically she's fine. Ate the entire thing. Seriously, our 10-month old is differentiating between what comes out of a yogurt container versus a bowl...and having an opinion about it?

Next thing you know she'll be reading the ingredients on the baby food jars and refusing to eat something because it isn't completely organic.

-Emily :)

Almost drowned in Lake Woebegon

So last night I had to work an event my station was sponsoring - Garisson Keillor's Rhubarb Tour - a live rendition of his popular NPR show A Prairie Home Companion.

After 3 long hours in the sun and dust at the will-call ticket booth, I got to go into the amphitheatre to get the party started. I had a pretty good time thanks to some co-workers and I bonding over some very strong margaritas.

And while Mr. Keillor isn't exactly my speed, I did enjoy his co-headliner Suzy Boggus and some almost-forgotten country songs as well as Keillor singing 'Home on the Range'. And thanks to the aforementioned very strong margaritas, and the fact that I was supposed to be working, I honestly didn't pay too much attention to the show. Regardless of my personal preference, I do appreciate his talent after seeing him live. The guy played/sang/performed for three hours and does all of his monologues without notes. And I did get some good pictures....

OK, here's Garrison Keillor at our VIP event. I know, my camera was obviously acting up, but I thought it captured his demeanor and essence well: creepy.

For those of you who aren't familiar, another picture of him from his website. It's like Larry King mated with Austin Powers or something.

OK, sorry about that. I just couldn't help myself. And finally, me and my co-worker friend Ja'Naye taking a break from cutting rhubarb pies.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to get a picture of just him & I. I felt bad taking up his time when so many other people were really truly THRILLED to meet him. And he also kind of scares me.

-Emily :)

Olympians we are not...

We haven't been doing a whole lot besides watching the Olympics and working on the never ending shower retiling project.

I have to say the Olympics are especially entertaining to me this time around. I was talking about gymnastics with Ashford tonight and mentioned Mary Lou Retton and how a couple of younger girls I work with didn't know who she was. Then he admits he has no idea who I'm talking about. WHAT?!? Are you SERIOUS? I know we were only 4 when she won the gold medal, but good god, you should at least know who she is for Trivial Pursuit purposes! Pay attention!

OK, while I recover from Ashford's obvious '80's pop culture inadequacies, here are some recent pictures of me drinking martinis on our anniversary where, once you get past my boobs, you can also see my new very short haircut (not sure if I like it or not yet), and some pics of Helena doing what Helena does - eating, smiling, running around, falling, trying to eat the camera. It's good to be a kid. :)

-Emily :)

P.S. - I'm too tired to rewrite that last paragraph that I just realized is basically one very long run-on sentence. Please forgive me. :)

Playing on Wikipedia

A few things Wikipedia has taught me in the past day or so:

Steve Young (the retired football player) is the great-great-great grandson of Brigham Young. Weird!

There is a USS Thach. Cool! And it's currently in action! Dad, did you know that!?!

-Emily :)

Cinco de us!

This past weekend was Ash & I's 5th wedding anniversary. I have to say we celebrated with a bang...a little too many martinis, wine, sushi, and banana and nutella crepes. Yes, our celebrations are usually centered around gluttony. At one point I may have been too drunk to really be in public. But it was awesome. I feel like this past year has been the best year for us so far, despite all of the stress of moving, starting new jobs, and adding Helena to the mix. I think having a kid has only made us closer. Definitely the best decision we ever made.

I can't believe it's been almost eight years since we started dating. Eight years since we went to Java Break in Lawrence for our first coffee date and talked for over 3 hours. Eight years since we watched our first movie together while my roommates embarrassed me in front of Ash like they were my little sisters. Eight years since Ash met my parents with rainbow colored hair. Wow, how time flies.

Sweetie, thanks for making every day interesting and for always making me laugh - and for a million other things I'll keep between us. I love you!

-Emily :)

P.S. - Disclaimer: This is an old picture. I am no longer long-haired and pregnant, and Ash had to shave his goatee as a condition of being able to buy his iphone. Ha!

M.R.S. Degree

Ash is currently obsessed with THIS. He even printed the degree requirements out for me and everything to read when I got home today.

Yes, BYU has a Home and Family Living B.S. degree program. Ash is perplexed as to why it's a Bachelor of Science and not Arts. I think it's funny. And according to his Mormon office mate, this is a very popular major option at BYU among the female crowd. And evidently it's as desirable to the opposite sex as being a cheerleader is at a normal school. All the boys love them.

I also asked his office mate if BYU has cheerleaders and if so, what do they wear? Normal cheerleading outfits was the answer, although evidently they are highly controversial. I was really hoping for some uniqueness here, but alas, I'll have to find my entertainment elsewhere.

-Emily :)

4th of July Utah Style

I thought I'd post a couple of pics a little late of Ash & I celebrating Pioneer Day with a 4th of July-style fireworks show in our backyard.

I decided to don headphones because I hate the loud noises associated with fireworks. Scares me everytime. I know, I suck.

And even though we were shooting off 'illegal' fireworks from our Wyoming trip, Ash was very under control. I was proud of him...he didn't set one tree on fire or blow up any large melons or anything. And then our neighbors screamed at us anyway. Oh, just wait until next year, silly neighbors. It's ON now!

Here's a pic of Ash in action. Lighting fireworks is very serious business and absolutely requires the use of the infamous flashlight you can strap to your head.

-Emily :)

Did you wonder where I was?!?

I'm back! Spent a long weekend in Kansas with the fam...very relaxing and nice to see everyone and get a little lake time in. My new nephew looks EXACTLY like his dad. Can't stress EXACTLY enough. You'll see in the pictures. A rundown of notable events from the trip:

1. I drank too much at the annual Island Party at the lake. I may have mooched some vodka off my friend from high school (thanks Kelli!), shared some Jim Beam with my Dad, and tried to tackle my brother in law. All in good fun, of course. And how else are you supposed to celebrate the first time you've had a babysitter in over 2 months!?!

2. I got to see Erin & Tracee since they were in Hutch, too, for their 10 year high school reunion. After trying in vain to get a seat at a decent restaurant in Hutch during the 'after church' rush, we ended up having lunch at Taco Hut (and yes, it's everything you think it is). The best parts were Erin puking in the bathroom (from being hungover, not from the Mexican food) and the choco taco for dessert. Oh, and it was great to catch up. Erin was a lot more chatty after her purge.

3. Went on a little nature hunt with my niece Ellie. I joked with her that we were going to look for snakes thinking we wouldn't find one, but guess what, we did. I was scared, she wanted to go look at it closer. Ended up it was dead. :) We also found a big green frog and thousands of minuscule baby frogs jumping on the beach.

4. Everyone on our flights to & from Wichita was SO NICE and SO HELPFUL. Helena made friends with everyone on the plane...played peekaboo with people behind us, let the guy sitting beside us hold her...yeah, it was crazy. Someone helped me fold up the stroller multiple times, offered to help me change her diaper, and the list goes on. Hopefully I didn't look so stressed and frazzled that they felt like they HAD to help me...I'm sure they were just being really nice.

5. I saw nearly every member of my family, which was nice. I felt like I had the chance to spend quality time with everyone. See ya at Christmas! So sad...

Some pics from our trip....

-Emily :)

Rotting My Brain

I have to admit I've been watching too much TV lately. I usually don't watch a lot of TV in the summer, but yeah, it seems to be getting out of control with Ash working all of the time. That said, there's some good stuff on this summer...a time when TV usually sucks. :) And surprisingly Ash & I are agreeing on more shows than normal. So, a list of shows I'm diggin' this summer.

1. Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood. My sis got me hooked on this one. It's cute. I like Tori Spelling better now than back in the 90210 days.
2. Intervention. There are some messed up people on this show. And you just can't quit watching. Especially during the stupid marathons.
3. Paige's Perfect 10. Reminds me of lazy college Saturdays when Trading Spaces first came out and Erin, Tracee and I would sit around our apartment and watch ALL DAY LONG. They're celebrating Paige's return to the show by counting down her 10 favorite episodes - most of which include cat fights about how someone hates brown.
4. The new season of Project Runway. That show just never gets old.
5. Flipping Out. Another Bravo favorite of mine. Tagline: You think your job is bad...be glad you don't work here. That's what TV's good for, I guess. Making you feel better about your situation by watching people who are worse off. ha!
6. And finally, Netflix can't deliver my Big Love episodes fast enough. I burn through them the minute they get in the front door. As fictional as it may seem, I think a lot of the cultural issues addressed in this episode ring true in Utah. And besides the 'educational' value, it's SO, SO GOOD. I also have a conspiracy theory about who the show is loosely based on. But I'm still investigating. Again, too much time on my hands.

If anyone has a good book to recommend, I'd be willing to listen.

-Emily :)

Dirrrrty

So for over six months I have been telling Ashford we need a new vacuum. Now that Helena is constantly on the floor, trying to eat the floor, throwing food on the floor, etc. and also regularly covered in cat hair, he finally gave in. In typical Ashford fashion, he wanted to get the most expensive vacuum you can find. I know it's probably a great vacuum, but I just can think of so many other things I'd rather spend that much money on. Like maybe going to Jamaica. So, I did some research online and found a suitable, highly recommended one for a much reasonable price.
And from the looks of things, it works very,very well. Maybe too good in fact.









Yes, that is dirt, hair, fuzz, ick and I don't even know what from ONE SMALLISH, BARELY USED ROOM in our house. Ash and Helena were equally disgusted. I had to quit taking pictures because it got way worse from there.












Ash agreed next time he will listen to me sooner about how OUR VACUUM CLEANER ISN'T WORKING WELL! After nearly 5 years of marriage you think he'd realize that I'm usually right about everything.

Pardon me while I go and die.

-Emily :)

Bonus Day

Not working today because it's Pioneer Day here in Utah. I'm not really sure how we're supposed to celebrate, but there may be fireworks involved. I'm also going to try to get some stuff done around the house in the middle of chasing Helena around.

Here's an interesting article about the historical significance of today's holiday from the Salt Lake Tribune. Just so those of you who don't live in Utah can learn something new. Oh, and read the comments below the article...usually interesting things get said down there and cat fights break out regularly. And it seems it always comes back to polygamy.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_9978708

-Emily :)

Just tilt your head a bit...

I apologize in advance for this video being 'crooked'...my very rudimentary video skills combined with a bit of laziness hasn't figured out how to rotate it. Might be a camera issue...ugh.

Anyway, below is Helena playing with one of her toys. Ash & I refer to her habit of not letting go of the ball so it can roll down through the toy like it's supposed to as the game of "Just the tip, just for a second, just to see how it feels." She's obviously a genius since she figured out that you can put the ball in, still keep it in your hand to play with, AND enjoy the fun music. We're so proud.

You'll also observe a brief glimpse of her 'ride'em cowboy dance'. Take it from your parents, kid: it's hard to be smart AND a good dancer.

Spontaneous is Our Middle Name

Last Saturday morning we decided to head downtown to the Salt Lake City Farmer's Market to maybe pick up some local fruit for a pie. The market encompassed an entire city block and was more art/food fair than the smaller type of farmer's market we're used to. I picked up some apricots, raspberries and a houseplant and we had some delicious Thai food for 'brunch'.

Afterwards, Ash joked that we should go to Wyoming to buy some good fireworks. This Thursday is Pioneer Day in Utah (more on that later), an official state holiday we've heard is bigger than the 4th around here. Not wanting to go back home yet, I said SURE! let's go to Wyoming. Why not? I've never been. So, with the assistance of Ash's iphone we figured out Evanston, Wyoming was about 75 miles away. We stopped off at a filling station, got some gas, soda, water and Cheerios for Helena and off we went.

Ash blinged out on the 2-for-1 sale at the fireworks store. Here's a pic of him showing his wares to Helena once we got home. I don't want to talk about how much money 'blinged out' really is, but I do sense a spa day in my future as payback.

We then decided to take the scenic route home. We drove Route 150 through the Uinta Mountains back around to Park City. The Uintas are to the east of the Wasatch Mountain range, which butts up right against Salt Lake City. The mountain range is unusual as it is the highest range in the contiguous United States that runs east to west instead of north to south.

The drive was phenomenal. Ashford swears he saw a bear. Although I don't believe him since he wasn't wearing his glasses. We both agreed it was some of the most spectacular mountain scenery we'd ever visited, way more interesting and dramatic than Colorado even. We got out and hiked around Mirror Lake, one of many glacial lakes at about 10,000 feet. Due to the spontaneous nature of the trip, I didn't have my camera with me, but I'll try to post some photo's on flickr from Ash's phone once he sends them to me (hint hint...).

I think if we had been more prepared we might have just set up camp out there and stayed all weekend. We're definitely planning on going back to explore some more when it's a little less busy. If anyone has tips or ideas about camping with a 9 month old, let me know. I have a feeling it could be a disaster. :) The area is so remote there aren't really very many affordable lodges or hotels.

Even though we were in the car for most of the trip, it was a great break from work for both of us, and a good break for me from the monotony of being home so much since Ash has been working double time lately. Helena was very good until about the last 30 minutes when she just wanted out of her car seat and the only thing that would stop her whining/screaming was me feeding her excessive amounts of gas station cheerios and both of us singing silly songs.

Oh, and then we got fried chicken and barbecue takeout for dinner and we made an apricot cobbler. Nothing tops off a good day better than fried chicken and cobbler in my opinion.

-Emily :)

Dreaming My Dreams....

So I have this dream last night where my friend Erin and I are standing in line to get Barack Obama's autograph at some campaign event. So we get up to the front of the line and we strike up a conversation with him that lasts like 10 minutes, even though there are a lot of other people waiting behind us.

Evidently he liked talking to us, because he decided to leave the event to chill with us for awhile. (We were very charming.) Erin & I walk out to our car with our new friend Barack Obama and we all get in the front seat; Barack Obama sits in the middle. Erin is driving and at some point I say "Are you OK to drive?" because evidently we have been drinking a little before the event. Erin says..."Oh yeah, I'm fine!!"

So, we start driving and we're getting ready to get onto some highway and Erin runs like three red lights, goes over two medians, goes the wrong way on the road, etc. Barack Obama is clearly freaked out. I start yelling at Erin saying..."OMG Erin, STOP! I'll drive! What are you doing?!?" Erin replies, "What? I'm fine!?! Jeez!" So then I say..."Erin, seriously, WE HAVE BARACK O-FUCKING-BAMA IN OUR CAR. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?"

Then I woke up. :) This is what I get for complaining to Aimee last night that I never dream anything funny. And now, I can't get 'Barack O-Fucking-Bama' out of my head either.

And for the record, Erin is one of the safest drivers I know in the real world.

-Emily :)

It's homesick time!

Random things I miss about Lawrence & Kansas besides people to hang out with (in no particular order):

1. Wheatfields. A couple of weeks ago I would have died for one of their salads. And no, I'm not pregnant again.

2. Rain. I bet it hasn't rained here in a month. I was surprised to learn Utah is the second driest state in the nation. I've already killed half the plants I planted when we moved here. I just refuse to water twice a day. I can't do it. It takes too much time and money. Oh, and when it does storm here, the weather people do 'breaking news' about 30 mph winds. It's hilarious. In Kansas, that's called Thursday.

3. My old job. Although, I hear it's still open...but someone changes the subject every time I bring up telecommuting. (David's going to kick my ass for that one. ha!)

4. Zumba. Working out with friends is the best. All this free time is making me bake more, which is probably making me a bit flabbier. I found a Zumba class I'm going to try out soon here, though. Hopefully it will be half as fun!

5. Having people to go to lunch with. Just to get out of the office to calm my blood pressure, I've been going to cafes and READING for god's sake. Although reading has been a good alternative to hideous summer TV for me lately. Heather Armstrong's book was great, and now I'm reading Naptime is the New Happy Hour. A cheesy 'parenting' book, but entertaining nonetheless. Next up: Engulfed in Flames, David Sedaris' newest offering. I've learned that I'm a big fan of the non-novel. Something that's funny and generally short with short chapters for my short attention span is nothing short of perfect.

-Emily :)

Our Only Tree - R.I.P

So today I came home from work to discover our neighbor cutting down the only tree that gave our backyard any shade.

Kind of weird, it's his only real tree, too. It was full grown and very pretty, and didn't seem to be damaged or sick in any way. I was also screaming mad that the laborers he hired to cut the tree down had made quite a mess in our front AND back yards, which I promptly told them to clean up themselves. Which they did. Kind of.

Anyway, I guess I'm glad that Ash & I hadn't started the grand landscaping plan we conceived one night after sharing a bottle of wine since it hinged on the fact that that particular tree provided a lot of shade to one part of our yard. Lesson learned: don't plan landscaping around other people's trees. Especially when your neighbor is a weird hermit who probably won't consider consulting or informing you about cutting down said trees.

And, we have a new and improved view of the Wasatch mountains from our kitchen window. And look, another freakin' trampoline!

-- Emily :)

Mohawk or Fauxhawk?

Helena wants everyone to know that her hair just does this naturally and her mother did not just create this style for her own personal enjoyment. I'll save the real torture for later on in her life.














Ash had a business dinner tonight so I'm home solo. He's going out to celebrate the big job he won with the construction company guys they're partnering with. He just sent me a text saying they were blabbing about this other job they're bidding on that Ash's company is bidding on too, and what their strategy is with this competing engineering company. I asked if they'd had too much beer and he replies: "Just found out blabber is sober. Mormon." Funny.

The bright point of my day was getting a couple of hilarious e-mails from Suzanne and David that I used to work with at KU Endowment. It really made my week. I wish I could tell the story they shared with me on here, but it probably wouldn't be the best idea. They're so funny...I miss having people around that have the same sense of humor as me. Except WAY more inappropriate. Inappropriate probably isn't even strong enough of a word. Well, I'm going to go to bed before this post turns sappy about how much I miss my old job. And just friends in general.

Stream of consciousness. Gotta love it!

-Emily :)

Trying to forget we weren't at the lake.

LOTS of stuff happened this weekend. Enough for 10 posts, probably. But I'll condense it into one, I guess. Just wait, I won't have anything else to write about for the rest of the week!

The most monumental and exciting event was that my sister had her baby on the 4th! Kane LeRoy Dunlavy, 7lbs. 8oz, and most of us think he looks like his dad. There are worse things I guess (love ya Justin!). Anyway, here's two cute pics of my first nephew!

Everyone together now....AWWWW!!! :) My sis is really good at having kids. Her comment after..."it happened so fast, I didn't feel like I did anything!" Not exactly my thought after going through childbirth, but I'm glad everything went well. I felt more like "I can't believe I didn't die." Maybe I'm just more dramatic.

Ash, Helena and I kept busy...went to the West Jordan 4th of July parade, Helena attended her first petting zoo, I got a pedicure, Ash & I drank too much wine on the 3rd, and we started tiling our shower. Whew!

Also, today, we went hiking in Little Cottonwood Canyon just east of Salt Lake City in the Wasatch Mountains. It was fun, but we couldn't go on the trail we wanted to because THERE WAS STILL TOO MUCH SNOW. Maybe in a couple of weeks it will be gone.

Anyway, here's some pics on flickr from our weekend. http://flickr.com/photos/27437498@N04/

Hope everyone had a great one! Please tell me at least one of you did some tubing at a lake for me!

-Emily :)

Hyphens and Hairdos

Just saw on the news that Wal-mart is officially dropping the hyphen from their name. Part of an overall re-branding, evidently. This won't surprise some of you, but I 'researched' to hyphen or not to hyphen, to capitalize 'mart' or not, etc. when titling this blog. So, the hyphen is going away-- just in case anyone else is as big of a grammatical dork as I am.

In keeping with being someone who is absolutely correct all of the time, I should probably actually look for 'jesus jammies' at Walmart the next time I'm there. Crap, my entire blog title could be a lie. What will we do then?

Speaking of Walmart, I have to go get a new hairdryer tonight (mine mysteriously broke earlier this week), so that I'll be able to make my brand new hairdo look as stellar as my new hairdresser made it look today. I'd post a picture, but honestly after my hour and a half commute this evening, I'm not looking my best. Some other time, Internet.

-Emily :)

Could she BE any cuter?

A list of cute things Helena has been doing recently. She'll be nine months old on the 4th of July! Craziness...where does the time go?!?

1. She finally has just enough hair to work up some decent bedhead. It's pretty cute.

2. She sits completely still when I cut her fingernails (helpful!) because she is so enthralled with what I'm doing to her.

3. She has an innate ability to sniff out and then immediately beeline for the one thing in the room that I don't want her to touch/chew on. Think cat toys, Ashford's shoes, trash cans, the remote control, you name it.

4. She's started nodding her head 'yes' in a very exaggerated way. And while I'm fairly certain she just does it because she recently figured out how to move her neck that way, she tends to do it at the cutest times. Like when we are actually agreeing or saying yes to someone or, more commonly, when I'm changing her diaper. It's like she's saying, "Yes, it's about time you changed that nasty thing!"

5. We've established a good reading routine before bedtime. If she's starting to get tired and we haven't started the aforementioned routine, she'll go ahead and crawl over to her books and start reading them herself. And when we are reading to her, we have to hide her favorite book, Tails!, until the end or she won't want to read anything else.

6. She laughs SO HARD when we play this game I like to call 'Trying to Give Dill a Nervous Breakdown'. Basically I hold her like she's flying through the air as Superman, we get down on Dill's level where ever he is (floor, couch, stairs, cabinet, etc.), and she 'flies' through the air chasing him around the house. Helena screams and giggles all at the same time. Dill wants to move back to Kansas, I think.

-Emily :)

What exactly do ya 'do', here?

I saw a disturbing / funny news story this morning on CNN. Jeanne Moos did a story on the computer skills of McCain, Obama and George Bush. (Watch it here).

The gist of the story, if you don’t have time to watch it, is that McCain doesn’t know how to use a computer, he has his wife help him. Obama is fairly competent. George Bush seems to have his own set of issues (surprise!) with using and referring to technology in general. My favorite line in the story is when he says "you can go on the Internets..." during a speech.

But back to McCain. Really? Computer ILLITERATE? I understand that he has been a very important political figure for a very long time and probably has better things to do than surf the Internet and people to do other computer-related tasks for him, but seriously? If you’re campaigning to be the President of the United States, shouldn’t you at least learn enough to get by? And I know, he’s really old (check out http://www.thingsyoungerthanmccain.com/ for a few laughs) and that a lot of 72-year-olds don’t use computers…but many do…and as the older woman in the CNN story said…IT’S NOT THAT HARD!

I’m not sure about you all, but I want someone to be president who is a superior intellectual being to more than 90% of the general population. I want someone who I feel is at least smarter than me. That would include having decent computer skills. Something I think most of us can agree is essential in today’s society. There's no programming necessary, but one should know how to check e-mail and look something up on the Internet and maybe create a Word document or Excel spreadsheet or two for Christ sake. If Presidents don't use computers, do we really need a President?

Maybe this is a dirty little secret of politicians everywhere. Kind of scary, I think.

One more reason we've gotta vote, people!!!

-Emily