Sweep!Sweep!

They say that a family that sweeps together, stays together. I don't know if that's true, but it certainly makes a fun family tradition over the holidays. Here are some pictures from the Hudson curling tournament in Canada where Cory scored the winning blow! He knocked the competing teams rock out of the center and landed perfectly in place.
You can get more pictures of the event at our picasa site if you follow the Dotty link to the right.

Merry Christmas

We're off to Calgary for a Canadian Christmas.
Dotty can't wait to play with her girl cousins, especially Audrey and Eve, finally being the oldest baby...
We can't wait to eat at earl's, sing carols at the christmas party, wrap presents, act out the nativity, and just generally laugh our frozen faces off.
We hope you have as merry of a christmas as we hope to have!

Snotty Dotty

Dotty is finally getting over her cold that turned from disgusting nose city to awful cough. I'm so proud of her for getting over it despite my feeble attempts to sanitize all her toys and blankets. But I will miss how cuddly she was as she was feeling hit by a brick- does that make me a munchhausen mommy?

daddy dotty time

I just love this picture taken at Oliver's birthday party. It's like she's saying, "I'm with my dad- lay off!"

Here is Dotty's room. I love how warm it feels now with the yellow walls and orange drapes. She likes having the toys all in boxes ready for her to crawl over to and play with. I don't even think I want the bookcase I originally wanted for under the window.

I think Dotty is really happy her room is done. Especially now that I won't be sewing all the time and ignoring her.
As for our room, I kept the yellow alive. Here are some pictures that speak for themselves. I was going to try and take better pictures but oh well.

Brought to you by Ikea...

Cory planned a big open house to motivate us to get our new place ready for visitors. After two months of a little here and a little there,the last couple of days felt like a make-over show and we were literally hanging curtains and putting doors back on 30 minutes before people were supposed to show up. I'm so glad we put up the effort because it really is starting to feel like home.

Here is our front room/awesomely mounted HD tv room. Cory was hesitant about the leather but after a few spills were easily wiped up- he warmed up right away. Unfortuanately the leather doesn't warm up as right away in the cold mornings.

The front room leads into the kitchen and dining area which still needs some work. I'm hoping to get a stretched canvas from inhabit but if that doesn't happen any other suggestions? We also need a rug under the table, maybe a few plants in the background to warm things up and I hope to swap the folding chair with an imitation navy chair from eurway. That way Dotty will be dining in class.



The rest of the kitchen looks like this...dotty will hopefully be replaced with some sort of desk or dining hutch in the near future and the awful looking jumper will be forever stored away. We actually thought of putting an island or something in the middle to break things up- any opinions?

As for my favorite part of the kitchen it is of course the orange Kitchenaid mixer, but now also this hook from conran which is perfect for hanging my well used aprons.




Stay tuned for pictures from the upstairs...

Hella Cool Cake

We had a birhtday at work celebrated by the best cake I have ever seen. It was the mirror image of the birthday boy's favorite couch designed by Hella Jongerius. The cake was sculpted by the birthday boy's loving wife who also arranged the amazing flowers that pre-empted the cake. Note the cake arrived with a perfect replica of the flowers and floor-lit chroma coffee tables.

I am so inspired, I just might do something as grandiose for Dotty's first birthday coming up...but probably not.

Butterfly or Apocalypse

please excuse me as I indulge further my carol lynn pearson fandom. This sweet holiday message was in my inbox this week.
~
The other night I caught a few minutes on the History Channel about “The Apocalypse,” the famines, wars, plagues that are promised in the book of “Revelations.” Terrible promises of the end of the world, seemingly upon us.

The night before, I had listened to Deepak Chopra speak in San Francisco at the Green Festival. Love Deepak. He told of the process by which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, a process I’ve known about but love to hear again, especially when I accidentally fall into the famines and the plagues of the Apocalypse.

When the caterpillar is approaching transformation, it goes into a stage of over-consumption, eating everything in sight. It then enters the chrysalis and begins to break down in a sort of cellular apocalypse, liquefying into a kind of “ooze.” Then an amazing process begins. Special cells–brand new cells, not old caterpillar cells–manifest. Scientists call them “imaginal cells.” The old cells see these new ones as enemies and try to kill them. Still, more and more of these cells manifest, then begin to communicate with one another. When there are enough of them, when there’s a “tipping point,” the imaginal cells, who together hold the pattern of the butterfly, begin their work in earnest. A new thing is born. The butterfly is the only creature we know of that changes its DNA in the process of transformation. The one that has entered the chrysalis is not the one that is released.

I hope to be an “imaginal cell,” holding the vision of a transformed society. I hope that for you as well. Next month we will celebrate the birth of One of our best imaginal cells, who was killed by the frightened cells who wanted to maintain the old caterpillar social order. May the many millions of us who hold to the unity consciousness of that One, or the many other ones who have offered a vision of kindness, where everyone is seen as our own “kind”—American or Iraqi, Mormon or Jewish, gay or straight--remain confident that our work is well destined, that our vision is beautiful and its wings are assured. Apocalypse may be a step, but, as Richard Bach wrote in Illusions, “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls a butterfly.”

As Thanksgiving is this week, I am especially grateful to have so many fine imaginal cells with whom to journey—to inspire me when I slip and crawl, hold me during the pain of transformation, and remind me that I can fly.

"In our daily lives, we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but the gratefulness that makes us happy."

Plumber Dot

We thought we'd get Dotty some pull-on jeans rather than a pair with a cumbersome button. We thought it would make her life easier. It just made her life more plumber.

Smiley or Scarey?

Believe it or not- smiling. What a freak.

getting married to something?

Cory finally uploaded a three minute clip of one his latest wedding videos to his blogspot page for all to see. I've added a link to his page to the right. You can also check out the sick camera that he uses to film all his video with TLC quality
Pricing available on request.

Happy Rememberence Day

We watched "Letters from Iwo Jima" last night in accidental celebration. It was a wonderful way to be reminded that enemies at war are all humans with the same needs and desires. Something we should remember in our current situation.

I miss Dotty

Here are some gratuitous pictures of Dotty since I'm in Chicago and miss my little brownie.

Extra! Extra!

A few weeks ago Casey and Michelle came over and we decided to play dress-up-dotty.

Here is our photo shoot entitled "Dotty's first day of School"

It's My Turn

I don't have many fan moments- but I had one yesterday when I met Carol Lynn Pearson. Casey invited me to a feminist forum at the University of Utah and it was really great: inspiring. Sis. Pearson mentioned how growing up she always felt second class since God had chosen to be a man and there was little mention about heavenly mother. I thought at first that was strange since I had never felt that way and then I realized it was because of her that I had never felt that way. Growing up with "my turn on earth" and other songs and poems must have shaped me more than I thought.
She is really a great lady, someone I really want to emulate. She isn't harsh or confrontational in her activism but yet is really strong and sure of her convictions. She is articulate- even poetic- in how she speaks of the issues that are important to her, yet she is also smiley and sweet. Someone you wouldn't expect to be fighting for homosexuals in the church or singing all the masculine pronouns in church hymns as female ones. A feminist everyone loves.
Anyway I got to meet her since we went with a girl who grew up in her ward in California. I was tongue tied but still managed to ask for a picture. I told her my parents loved her, and she said they must be great people- "They are," I said. Thanks guys- I hope Dotty can say that about Cory and I someday.
Read an interview with her here

HALLOWE'EN

Dotty ended up going as Don dressed as a penguin.




She was scared of her dino-mummy

Toby

With halloween only days away we are considering just putting the dot in this sleeper and having her go as Toby from Labyrinth. That or a Christmas Elf. Here she is showing off all her new tricks. Clapping, attacking her favorite toy the car seat and shaking her head in order to avoid sleep. Sorry its dark. And you might want to turn the volume off as all you'll hear is LeSueur boys talking about walmart jobs. Other than that- Enjoy.

3form function

I just got back from another trip to New York- this time solo- to coordinate the opening of our NYC showroom.
I stayed one night at Erin and Ryan's new gorgeous house and was pleased to find out that Cory and I are not the only couple who disagree about decorating.
Thanks Wrights- I had a wonderful time! Wish it could have been longer.

home-aloners

Cory and I are officially homeowners as of last week. We are now residents of Herriman- way up on the mountain. As such it has snowed the last two saturdays making it slightly more difficult to move as much as we would like. We're in the middle of making it our own (ie. painting, furnishing, wood floors from ikea)and it was slow going until we got our new mazda (not shown-maybe in our very own garage?)
Now if we could only get the rest of the BALK floor needed for the front room we'll be done in no time. Pictures will inevitably follow.

A special thanks to Ben and Sarah for being our first houseguests amid all the chaos.


Here is a list of firsts in our marriage

1. the first time we've had two cars. Well we had two cars before for about a week before the mustang died.
2. A dishwasher
3. a garage
4. a separate room for dot
5. stairs
6. as many bathrooms as there are people
7. a car with a remote door lock (mere is really excited about that one!)
8. a bedframe!
9. a guest room
10. a feeling of poverty in their hearts

Dotty takes Manhattan

So we got our camera back. It was a fun trip

NYC

We just got back from a great trip to New York where we worked and visited family. I wish I could post pictures but we left our camera either on the plane or in the airport. We're both sick. At least we forgot the camera because we were too busy thinking about Dot and not the other way around.

Halloween Choices

After Nicole and Oliver snagged up a really cute monkey outfit at Old Navy, Cory and I have been wondering what Dot should be for Halloween. Before she was born we thought it would be cute for her to be a lobster..something about a tiny baby with big pincers was really endearing. But now that she's here she has proven capable to make a more realistic portrayal of some of our favorite characters. Here is a recent pic of Dot for a refresher- let me know which would be the best fit...


First there is of course the Doozer from Fraggle Rock. All we would need is a red hard hat and a pair of overalls and she would be doozing it up for delicious candy. I especially like this image as it mimics Dot's perpetual expression of awe.


Second there is the classic "Stay Puff Marshmallow Man" which would make her Grandpa happy seeing as it is from his all-time favorite movie. This one would be a little more complicated to recreate and it is of course very common for people to say their fat baby looks like this bulbous mountain of goo- but look at the jolly face and I think you can see where I'm coming from...



I realized the third option last night while Dotty was at work with me playing with a tin of candy featuring this iconic character. Everything is perfect, the bitty eyes, the round nose and the disporportinate head to body ratio. We might have a winner if Cory agrees. What are your thoughts?

When Dotty gets sad, she turns to her cousin Oliver for comfort.

:) thanks Oli
:( Sorry Amelia

vacay

We took dotty on two little trips this summer. The first was a Hutchings family reunion in Yellowstone. You can read full details on nicole's blog and full on details on brady's
But all you really need to know was there was a sweet dance party at geyser #4.
Dotty totally rocked out.

Next we went to Canada to my family's cabin in beautiful British Columbia. Dotty loved hanging out with her girl cousins. She just loved looking at them and being part of the fun. And she looked pretty sweet in her life jacket.

more pics of both trips are posted here.

I'm not into working too hard today- I must be french

You Belong in Paris

Stylish and expressive, you were meant for Paris. The art, the fashion, the wine! Whether you're enjoying the cafe life or a beautiful park... You'll love living in the most chic place on earth.

What City Do You Belong In?

Skip to my Dot

Doesn't this picture remind you of Dotty Brown? I'm trying to think of a reason to get this fabric. check it out and others here.

Three is a magic number

A few weeks ago, 3form hired Cory to produce a video for our quarterly review. He set the thing to this song and thus had it in his head. He sang it to Dot over and over and she loved it and it has since become our family's theme song. only we aren't allowed to sing it around Cory.

Happy Pioneer Day

"sometimes when I watch the simpsons...I wish it would never stop. And then I could watch hundreds of episodes"...Cory LeSueur

we are counting down the day
five more sleeps

Dot about Town

Here is some shots of Dot with her boys.

Apparently she is buddy buddy with her cousin Oliver who she can't kiss



and slightly enamored by her cousin William who she can...