My boss David suggested that I get all the bad baby names out of my system now, so I don't name my kid a bad name when it counts. So I thought I would compile a list of names that would not work at all.
Utah and Idaho Style
Skaught (pronounced Scott)
McKyndraly
Diezle (it sounds way manly but looks way girly)
KneeFy (Nephi--bad spelling and from the Book of Mormon)
Family Names(ish)
AnnDrew (for a girl, named after Dad)
Glennda (named for Andrew's dad, Glenn)
Leslie (for a boy, my sister's name is Leslie)
Ingeborg (love Andrew's Oma, but the part with "borg" in it would not go well with mytrekkie family)
Names with an Esset (ß)--as Fassmann is traditionally spelled Faßmann
Caßidy (Cassidy)
Jeßee (Jessee)
Rußel (Russel)
Shariße (Sharisse)
Aniße (Anisse)
Katniß (Katniss--no I have not read or seen Hunger Games)
Good German Names
Fritz (and for a girl--Fritzine)
Heinz (but what about Dr.Doofenshmirtz?)
Käse (cheese in German...it could be cute)
Astrid (Astird... ha ha)
Hildegard (poor kid)
Names From Sports (suggested by my friend Greg) (bad because neither of us are athletic)
Mesut (for Mesut Özil, a soccer player for Germany and Real Madrid)
Tiger (for Tiger Woods)
Mia (for soccer player Mia Hamm)
Serena (for tennis player Serena Williams)
Arnold (for Arnold Palmer, a golfer and the namesake of my boss's favorite drink, whom I would always think of)
Just Bad Names
Spacealien (pronounced spas-e-a-leen)
Jesus (Spanish pronunciation, but let's be real here. The kid is going to be super white.)
Willard Harrison Quentin (named for my current work, the Western Historical Quarterly, or the WHQ)
Midge (our kid is going to be short. It's a fact of life. She doesn't need to open it up to being called midget)
There are other bad names out there. I just thought I would share a few of the bad ones so you can enjoy. Being named any of these names would surely traumatize the Baby Platypus for life.
It is hardest to think in the middle of the night. Last night, I was at my parents' house. So were my aunt and uncle and my cousin and his wife. So there was no bed for me--except for Matt's bed (he's on his mission). But I went into his room and the bed, floor, and everywhere were covered with stuff my parents just stuffed into his room cuz they didn't know where to put it. I was too tired to move things, and I knew if I didn't, I would step on things in the night when I got up to pee (hey, I'm pregnant). Then I had an idea! I could sleep on the couch downstairs, which I tried to do. Unfortunately, a cricket has escaped and took up residence under the fridge. I swear that thing is the size of crickets in China, it was so dang loud. So then I went upstairs to the other couch to sleep. But that cricket was still very loud and it continued to bother me. No sleep for me. So then, I did what any intelligent person would do in the middle of the night. I thought of the one place that I wouldn't hear the cricket to go sleep--the Mini Cooper I'm borrowing from my in-laws! Brilliant! So I took my thin blanket outside and locked the front door (now I could no longer get back into the house) and climbed into the Mini Cooper's back seat. And I had the best three hours of sleep I had all night. Good thing I am very short and not super pregnant fat yet. I realized that maybe I should have picked a larger car to sleep in, such as the Ford Edge or the BMW or something, but hey, it is really hard to think in the middle of the night. And then, since I was locked out, I knocked on the door at 7 a.m., certain that Dad would be awake. Nothing. So I called Mom, and she let me in. Turns out, Dad was awake, but had already gone to the gym, which meant the door from the house to the garage was unlocked and I could have gotten in on my own. And, the moral of the story is (as Mom put it), now I can be a hobo since I can sleep anywhere.
At least, anywhere where there isn't a huge cricket chirping all freaking night.
Those of you who have been aunts or uncles before, some even for many years, probably don't know how exciting this is...but it is! I am finally an aunt!
Aunt Sarah and little Nigel. Babies don't usually like me, and apparently neither does Nigel. He was crying, so I was rocking him at arms length, like Melanie told me to, and he stopped when I did it. What an arm workout!
My arms got tired so I switched to squats. Nigel and I look so cute and happy--and I look super skinny! That's right, I'm 12 weeks pregnant.
Nigel and Uncle Andrew, who is very good at babies.
Oh look, Uncle Andrew got Nigel to sleep.
Nigel didn't even cry when Andrew "Lion Kinged" him.
Nigel sleeping in Andrew's arms. What a good baby.
Mom Melanie and Nigel. Congrats! He is cute!
So basically it is fun to be an aunt. He cries and I try to console him, but it doesn't work, so I pass him off to Melanie. Or Andrew, who apparently rocks at babies.
I hate when people don't update their blogs for three weeks. And here I am, not updating my blog for three weeks. Sorry. I've been working hard on my thesis and Spanish. And now I am going camping. After that, I might hopefully blog. I've wanted to. Oh well. Have a great week!
Yesterday after my swim, I decided to sit in the steam room for a few minutes. I walked in and it was all steamy. I was excited. I like to sit in saunas and steam rooms. I actually really like sweating. And I like breathing that air.
But I didn't sweat. I didn't even feel hot.
I was confused--isn't this place full of steam? Shouldn't it be hotter?
And then I realized something:
Hong Kong was hotter and more humid than that steam room.
And I was sad. Visible steam does not equal hot steam.
Next time I need to sweat and sweat and sweat by just sitting on a park bench, I will have to go back to Hong Kong and sit on a park bench, fan myself like crazy, and drink like five bottles of water in a day.
The condensation on the camera lens when I opened it up to take a picture. HUMID.
The hottest day of my entire life. This was before we discovered the power of fans.
The second hottest day of my entire life. Thank heaven for the amazing invention called fans.
Sweating it up on Lion's Rock. Oh yeah.
The coolest day temperature-wise we had in Hong Kong. Even though it was relatively "cool", we still NEEDED to keep cooler-ish by this point--enter the umbrellas and fans. Finally, I understood Chinese culture to a greater extent. Before they were beautiful and art pieces, they were practical so people wouldn't die.
So go to your local sauna/steam room and tell me what you think. Or even better, go to Hong Kong and take me and Andrew with you.
Not my grandparents, but Andrew's. They are going on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they are going the Alpine Mission, which is Austria, Switzerland, and Germany, and they will be working with young adults. Sounds like a fun mission to me. You can read about their adventures at their blog, which they haven't posted on yet.
All ten of the kids were there, so they had to get a family picture. Here is the chaos of such an event:
So many people....
And I played with my boyfriend, Micheal. He is Andrew's cousins and he remembered me from Thanksgiving. He kept snuggling up with me. What a sweetheart!
The people not in the picture--also known as the in-laws and the grandchildren.
Walking with Micheal. It was like 57 degrees F outside. I could not believe this January weather!
Cousin time! Little Micheal with little Lydia. They were both wearing purple and so matching. How precious.
Elise is going to become a nurse and needed to practice taking fifty people's blood pressures. Good thing she went to this party where there were fifty people. Oh man. And here, Wesley is dying since he is getting his blood pressure taken.
Family gathering pictures... Uncle Hans with his daughter Lydia, Andrew, and Uncle Eric's tummy.
Heidi, my mother-in-law with Lydia. Cute!
Micheal with Grandma. You know, leis are really amazing things.
All the cousins loved Lydia. She is a novelty since she came all the way from Virginia!
And Hans had this cool hat. So of course, we had to try it out. I think I'll try to crochet one...
"I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK. I sleep all night and I work all day!"
And then Elise had to practice shaving people. But I wondered, do CNAs usually shave people's faces or do they shave people's butts?
It was a crazy and loud day with a ton of people, but I had a good time. It was nice to see so many people, especially the aunt and uncles that live far away!
I love Disneyland. We went there on our honeymoon. We went with Andrew's family and it was fun but there were so many people. I got grumpy a lot. There are a lot of pictures so here are just a few highlights of our California trip.
The Norco Audio Family History Tour
Heidi grew up in Norco, CA, and we stopped by. This is a crazy place.
First off, they don't have sidewalks. They have horse trails. WHAT THE WHAT? Maybe in Wyoming, but not what I was expecting for southern California.
Some girl on a horse in a city in southern California.
Then we stopped at the Norco cemetery to find Heidi's grandparents' grave. We found it! It was a miracle because she had never been there.
Hannah, Heidi, and Wesley at the grave.
That was cool to be there. Heidi thanked me for suggesting it, since she had never been and being there brought her a lot of peace.
The First Disney Day
Christmas at Disneyland, where the wreaths are all Mickey-shaped and the castle has snow on it (I know, snow in Anaheim? But by now, we know that Southern California is not what you expect--snow, horses, what's next?).
Love it.
We wore a lot of 3-D glasses. They kind of give me a headache.
The Family sans me (taking the picture) and Maren (on an airplane)
And no family vacation would be complete without a picture of me coming out of the bathroom!
We rode Splash Mountain. It was great. Maren is there in the front. She and Wes are engaged now and they are so disgusting.
Our Wild Ride.
This is how Andrew feels whenever I drive. ;)
Andrew and I in front of the castle at night. How romantic.
The Day We Only Went to California Adventure
Wes and Maren about to go off a huge waterfall on Grizzly Rapids.
Andrew and some light bike from Tron.
Not a lot of pictures from that day. Oh well. I traumatized Hannah by making her go on Screamin' with me. I forgot to tell her that it blasts you off. Oops.
The Day We Went to Disneyland in the Morning and the Evening But Mostly Went to Los Angeles
Wesley and Andrew cleaning their ears. What a good brother activity.
I had never been to L.A., so it was pretty exciting.
A clear day for L.A., right?
Gas costs $5 here where it costs $3 in Utah.
And we drove past the Los Angeles Temple, but we didn't get out and walk around.
I like the palm trees. That is a pretty good picture taken from the back of a Honda Pilot, if I do say so myself.
And then we went to Santa Monica beach and we had many marvelous adventures.
Like this dog in a tree. The owner was completely chill. His dog is awesome.
And we went down to the beach and it was just lovely. I kept thinking of the Sheryl Crow song "All I Wanna Do", where she says she wants to have fun until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard.
We also had another unusual sighting:
Glenn took off his shoes. Apparently this is an anomaly.
Jumping picture--me, Hannah, Elise, Maren. I didn't get the memo that we were making L shapes out of our arms.
The Day We Were the Dorky Family Wearing Matching Disney Shirts
An epic moment occurred when I became famous for screaming so loudly on Thunder Mountain Railroad. I am awesome. This guy said I was amazing and he recognized me later on, too.
And I pulled the sword out with my pinky finger.
Family picture time! You get a sneak peek at the Christmas card. Lucky you.
Aren't we cute? I like how Wes and Maren are freakishly tall in the back.
We went on Star Tours and...
I was the rebel spy and Yoda said I was vital to the rebel cause! It made my life.
Also, Andrew was a good big brother and got Hannah to ride Space Mountain--and she liked it! She even has her arms up and has a big smile on her face. Yay!
From back to front: me, Hannah, Andrew, Elise, Bryanna.
We didn't take a picture, but WE RODE SPLASH MOUNTAIN EIGHT TIMES IN A ROW WITHOUT GETTING OFF THE LOG!!! Oh yeah, we broke the family record. I'm pretty done with Splash Mountain for a little while.
The Last Disney Day and The Most Crowded One Wherein I Had A Headache.
New Years Eve was the worst day to go to Disneyland. it was way too crowded and I was grumpy. I had a headache and that was not a good thing. It was Elise's birthday, too.
I had one of the weirdest experiences of my life. We had to watch "Captain E.O." to please Glenn. Weird. So weird.
And we went on Space Mountain again!
Funny Space Mountain picture. Elise is a super hero, Hannah is pumped, Andrew is screaming and I am plugging my ears (I had a headache, remember) which is opposite of how it usually is, and Wesley is proposing to Maren (I love how she looks like she's saying, "Oh my gosh, why is it you?"
Also, we went to the Blue Bayou for dinner. Awesome. It was fun. And then I went to sleep and woke up when the huge fireworks show shook the hotel.
Then We Drove Home on New Years Day and There Was No One On The Freeway
