I LOVE MY TOES

Doctor, Doctor

So Lizette went in for her 4 month check up today. Lizette was great! She is now 15 pounds 12 ounces and 26 inches long. She is in the 95th percentile for weight and height. The doctor said she is growing proportionately. The doctor also played with her for five minutes. Lizette was talking up a storm and laughing at the doctor. The doctor said that she was using her lips to make sound and babies normally do that at six months. So there you go, we have a genius baby! Put that in your back pocket and sit on it!!!

Lizette is in Tyler's Hello Kitty hat that he wore when he was younger. As you can see Tyler wore that hat a lot because it is thoroughly "worn in" . It was very painful for him to let someone else wear it. (I am trying to find actually pictures of Tyler wearing it. I think it will be a good laugh.)

FOUR MONTHS & NO JOB!

So today is Lizette's four month birthday! So I decided to throw her a party. I invited all her friends. Of course Marty was there, so was Tigger, Eeyore, and many others. And she has a new friend, Porkie the Porcupine. Daddy brought him home from Solvang last week. (Lizette gets really excited every time she see him. But of course no one compares to Marty. We also need to teach Lizette that you shouldn't eat your friends) We all had fun. Lizette wore her "good" jewelry and we had a raspberry dessert cup. She enjoyed it a lot. I can't believe that she is four months already. Time has really gone by fast. Tyler and I were talking last night how much she changes each day. She is the cutest thing ever.

On a different note: I am officially a stay-at-home mom.
Today, I quit my job. Countrywide called and asked when I was coming back. This is how the conversation went:

HR: So we are calling to see what day you are coming back to work?

ME: I decided and I am not coming back.

HR: Really.

ME: Yeah.

HR: Can I get you to put that in writing and fax it to me?

ME: No.

HR: Really.

ME: I am telling you over the phone. Can you please write it down and overnight it to me? (I was half joking)

HR: Okay

ME: Thanks, BYE.

It felt really weird to quit, but I really want to stay home with Lizette. I can't imagine anyone taking better care of her then me.

Also, for anyone who cares. I finished Harry Potter. It was a great book. Tyler and I where on the same page this morning. When he left for work. I laughed and said, "Go to work and make me money. So I can stay home and finish Harry Potter before you."
I really enjoyed the book a lot.

TODAY WAS A VERY GOOD DAY.

Lassen Family Reunion & HARRY POTTER

This weekend was the Lassen Family Reunion. We couldn't get into Carpinteria this year so we went somewhere new, Buellton, California. For those who don't know where it is at, it is about 5 miles away from Solvang. Lizette and I went up on Friday afternoon with my cousin Else and her husband Haans. So I can set up our tent and help with the rest of the camp. Tyler was coming up right after work on Friday.

Friday night, about 9:30 pm after I feed Lizette and put her down for the night. I went to a Harry Potter Party, for the release of the last book, with some of my cousins and their husbands. (Tyler stayed at the camp with Lizette.) As cool as it is going to sound, I actually had a fun time at the Harry Potter Party. We pre-paid for our book, then we made our "wand", got sorted into our house (I was sorted into Slytherin), we drank some "butter beer" aka cream soda, and a Harry Potter word search race. Then by the time I knew it, it was midnight. We got our Harry Potter book and left. (I read the first two chapters that night, and Tyler and I have been fighting about the book ever since.) [My little cousin, Hans, who is 8, was telling everyone that Tyler was the funniest person that he knows, because Tyler would take my "wand" and say "Expellifartus", then Tyler would fart.]

On Saturday, The whole Lassen Family went to Solvang for breakfast, then off to a Danish museum. We had a great time. At the museum, some of the family, including me, sang and danced a Danish folk dance. My Bestemor looked so happy. She danced with us and she looked like she was having the time of her life. It was so wonderful to see her so happy. We then went to buy our salty black licorice, and I got a new pair of shoes! (Hopefully Kelley will approve of them.) Then after lunch at the camp, everyone went to the beach. We came home and ate, had our fireside, sang songs, played some games.

Sunday we went to church in Solvang. And Lizette had the smelliest gas. And while we were in Relief Society, she let out an explosive one in her diaper, I have never heard her poo so loud. I picked her up and RAN to the bathroom to change her. Luckily, I caught it before it went everywhere. When we got back to camp we ate lunch and sat around talking and playing games. And after dinner and fireside, Tyler and I unfortunately had to leave so we could get home. Lizette was so wonderful camping, she slept through the night still and we had to wake her up at 8 am. She is the greatest!

I feel very fortunate to have such a wonderful loving family. I love our family reunions. It is such a wonderful time for us to get together and talk, laugh, and play lots of games. I am sad we weren't able to stay the rest of the week. Hopefully next year.

As for the Harry Potter book it is fabulous. We are loving it! I just wish we could justify getting two copies so Tyler and I could both read it at the same time.

PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP!

I still have that stupid "Safety Dance" song stuck in my head. Today Tyler and I looked up the music video on YouTube. I am thinking about making Halloween costumes in honor of the video. Tyler will be the lead singer, I will be the crazy girl, and Lizette will be the midget. What do you think? I think I really need this song out of my head.

Is Men Without Hats Lead Singer Really Vigo the Carpathian?

Ivan Doroschuk, better known as Crazy Face Guy from Men without Hats, has led a simple life; or has he? Why hasn't he had anymore hits after his amazing song, Safety Dance in 1982? His absence from the music scene has raised some interesting questions. It almost seems as though he was possessed by the soul of a mysterious and powerful leader that somehow left his body for an immense portrait that then in 1989 possessed the body of some other guy and was finally vanquished by good 'ol Ray, Winston, Peter, and Egon. Coincidence, I don't think so.

Written by Tyler

You Can Dance If You Want To

So Tyler has had the song "Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats stuck in his head. When he sings this song, it gets stuck in my head. I am so mad. So here is a clip from one of our favorite TV shows, Scrubs where they sing the song for about 30 seconds. Below is also the clip from Bio-Dome where they play the whole song. So now I will have the stupid song stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Hopefully for whoever reads this, they will have it stuck in their heads as well. Now my purpose is fulfilled.



I love that in Bio-Dome it is suppose to torture them. I see how that could work.

The Beginning of Something SOOOO GOOD

So I have been getting harassed by Cristin to post how Tyler and I met. It is a very long story so please bare with me.

A long, long time ago(when I was about 14 and Tyler was about 16) I was hanging out with my cousin, Else. Else liked a boy named Spencer. She was 16 and Spencer was 15, they were technically not dating but they liked each other. Else wanted to go hang out with Spencer and his friend Tyler at Tyler's house. When Else and I got to Tyler's house, we all decided to go hiking behind Tyler's house. Spencer and Tyler ran ahead of Else and I. When we where trying to catch up with Spencer and Tyler, we came to a curve in the road and all of a sudden, we where getting pegged with dirt clods. I remember thinking what jerks, Spencer and Tyler were and that I would never date someone that mean.

I would see Tyler around at church functions and dances and think, "There is 'The Jerk' that throws stuff at girls." (Tyler said that he would see me around and think, "She is hot but too young for me.")

Fast forward to April 2001, I was at a young adult dance and I saw "The Jerk" (I couldn't remember his name) and thought I hope he doesn't try to talk to me even though he looked cute. (Tyler said he saw me at church the prior Sunday, and wanted to ask me out.) The next day I got a call from a boy named Tyler and said something about going on a date and P.F. Changs. I said, "Yes" even though I didn't know who "Tyler" was. About an hour after the phone call I remembered it was "The Jerk", I figured it was a free meal to make up for the incident and it wasn't like I was going to marry him.

Tyler picked me up for the date. We were double dating with Tyler's sister, Ashley, and her finance Drew. We had a lot of fun at P.F. Changs and then we went to Tyler's house to play some games. When Tyler took me home, I thought I actually had a good time with "The Jerk". When Tyler walked me to the door, he hugged me twice and told me that he was going to leave for BYU Summer Session the next week and that he would call me later. We went out one more time before he left.

A week later Tyler went to BYU for summer session at BYU. While he was gone I talked to him twice. I thought nothing would come of it and was fine with it. I went out with some other guys and hung out a lot with my friend, Cristin (She just broke up with my cousin Ben). Tyler came home after summer session being thoroughly disappointed that there weren't any cute girls up there that compared to me. That weekend I was suppose to go to a beach party with my ex-boyfriend Ryan. Ryan ended up having to work late and Cristin called and said that Tyler was at the beach party and that he looked like an Abercrombie and Fitch model. I decided to go to the beach party that night. I am glad that I did because Tyler did look extra cute. Tyler and I went for a walk at the beach and he held my hand. I thought I will have a fun summer, because he was going back to BYU. And since I was not into commitment, but NICMO. I was cool with that. (Since Tyler was my first kiss....HaHa...I know you get the joke, Cristin)

Tyler and I did have a great summer. We hung out all the time, we went to the beach to go surfing, we dressed up in outfits from the thrift store and went out to eat, we also took pictures in our thongs and showed everybody, etc, etc.. I even went to Tyler's sister, Ashley & Drew's reception and met all of Tyler's family. And when it was time for Tyler to go back to BYU, I was actually going to miss hanging out with him. We decided that we were going to date other people and talk on the phone all the time. Tyler and I ended up not really dating other people and instead talked on the phone every other day and Tyler came home just about every other weekend and I went to visit him in Utah. At the end of the fall semester Tyler decided to defer a semester and to come home and "seal the deal." So Tyler and I continued to date and see each other every day.

So in April 2002, after a road show for our church. It was about 9:00pm Tyler wanted to go to the hill top looking over Camarillo to go off roading. I was not in the mood but went anyways. We were with his friend, Shaun, and his girlfriend, Brandi. Shaun all of a sudden stopped the car and said, "Let's go chase some bunnies." So Tyler grabbed my hand and we walking thru some bushes and weeds. Tyler took me to a table that had two bowls, ice cream, two dozen of roses, and a Teddy Bear and said,"Let's sit down." Being the naive person that I am, I said, "Tyler this table belongs to someone else I am not going to sit down." Tyler said, "Just sit down, Candace." We ate some ice cream and talked. I had no idea what was going on... Tyler then said that the Teddy Bear had a zipper. I couldn't find one. Then Tyler finally took the teddy bear and pulled out a ring. And said, "Let's seal the deal." (okay he really didn't say that, but something similar.)

So Four Months Later we were married in the Los Angeles Temple, and now we have a precious little girl.














Tyler and I in our outfits from the thrift store. Tyler and I in our thongs.














Tyler and I in the road show the night he proposed.















Right after Tyler proposed.















On our Honeymoon in Mexico.

Camarillo's Fiesta

So, we live in Old Town Camarillo. Tyler and I really enjoy it. All the houses are quaint and older looking. They are all different, not like the track housing. They are giving Old Town Camarillo a "face lift" and it is looking really neat. We also love Old Town Camarillo because every Saturday we can walk two blocks to the Farmer's Market and get our fruits and vegetables for the week.

This past weekend was also Camarillo's Fiesta. It was about two blocks away. We took Lizette and Marty the Manatee. They had a blast. They wanted to eat everything; cotton candy, funnel cake, shaved ice. But we told them no, we didn't want them to be all hopped up on sugar. Lizette and Marty really wanted to go on the rides, but they both were a little too small to ride the rides. She was disappointed. Maybe next year she might be able to ride the Tilt-A-World.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

So Tyler came home from work and he asked if I wanted to go see a movie. I said I don't know, maybe Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. So I looked online and noticed that the movie started in 20 minutes. We hurried and called Tyler's mother and asked if she would babysit; she said, "Yes"! So we ran Lizette over to Tyler's parents' and went to the movies. For a second it kind of felt like old times - going to the movies at the last minute. But I was excited to go and pick Lizette up after the movie as well. I kept looking at Tyler's watch the whole time, missing our little girl.

As for the Movie, I liked it a lot. I know that they will never be as good as the books, but I did like this movie much better than the last movie. I couldn't stand the last movie at all. As for The Order of the Phoenix, I thought Harry looked better in shorter hair and Neville looked freakishly large. I am glad that the put in Harry's scandalous kiss with Cho Chang. Over all I enjoyed it a lot.

I am also really excited about the last book. Poor Lizette might be "neglected" on July 21 while Mommy reads her "stories". Is Harry going to win over the Dark Lord? Will Hermione have Ron's love child? Will He Who Shall Not Be Named find true love? I guess we will all find out on July 21!!! It can't come any sooner.

**Stories: Word from Scrubs referring to soap operas. Tyler and I use this phrase for our T.V. shows, movies, or books that we can't get enough of. Example: Tyler is going to pee his pants if he misses his stories.**

**Neglected: Lizette will only cry for a couple of seconds longer than usually, while I finish reading a paragraph.**

**I know that the picture above is in another language**

Ugly Statue House

There is a house in Camarillo that people called the Statue House. It is a house on the road going up the hill to the Camarillo Heights. This house has 100's of naked statues around the home. The statues are on the gate every 4 feet, on the porch, on the driveway, on the front yard and around the pool. No joke, these naked statues are everywhere. Some friends of mine have even bought clothes from the thrift store and would put them on the statues in the middle of the night. This house is known throughout Camarillo. Well, this past week something very tragic happen. The house burned to the ground. So this morning Tyler and I went for a walk and saw the damage. It was amazing to see this house all in shambles. You can see tons of broken statues everywhere. It really makes you think that everything can be lost in a matter of moments. I would have never lived in the house, but everyone in Camarillo knew of the statue house. I am sad that it is no longer with us.

Bosom Buddies

Just like Tom Hanks and the other guy (Peter Scolari)liked hanging out and doing girl things, Lizette and Chloe enjoy each other's company. It is hard to imagine that Chloe had to go 6 months without Lizette being around. But now they are making up for lost time.
At Tyler's grandma's birthday party they were doing the normal Barton get together things: playing horsey, sucking on each other's heads, and eating a lot. Chloe is still a little feisty for Lizette, but I think in a couple of months she can take her on.