Whimpering

Do you see that?

It's a freaking gray hair!

I'm losing it right now!

I, of course, pulled the stupid thing out!

I wasn't going to leave it there.

So, seriously when did it happen?

When did I get old?

Here I was...

"Dododo, I'm 31, I'm not old...

Wait, what's that?

(shock)

No, no, it can't be...

Holy crap it is!

(whimpering)

Uuh, get it out!

I'm old"

Sad Day

It is officially a sad, sad day in our home.

Baby boy can open doors.

They're not even the side handle ones.

Nope, they're the old fashioned twisty knobs.

I look at him and I think...

Seriously??

I swear Savannah couldn't open doors till she was like 4.

They do listen

Today at church Delaney fell asleep in my lap. She was totally sound asleep for a good 20 minutes when the speaker, who was talking about life being like a football game, said something about being stronger and faster.

Delaney's head popped up and she whispered (thank goodness)

"That's just like me. I can run faster than Mason."

(totally true, btw)

Then she put her head back down and went right back to sleep.

So, does that mean I can fall asleep at church?

Oh My

I heard Delaney and Willson fighting in the hallway and when I asked what was wrong she said that Willson wanted to ride in her doll stroller and that she was certain he would break it. I remembered when Delaney was his age and one of the kids favorite things to do was push her around in the doll stroller. I assured her that he would not break it and encouraged her to just have fun with it.

Well, they came down the hall and I couldn't stop laughing!

As I saw the two of them I remembered that we have a different doll stroller then when Laney was young and that our current stroller is SIGNIFICANTLY smaller.

Willson was actually sitting on the bottom bars of the stroller, as opposed to the fabric seat. He was also helping her push by using his feet, that were already touching the floor.This side view of him cracks me up! He looks like a beast!

Willson is actually really small for his age, 25% in height and 15% in weight. You'd never know it by these pictures though.

(He's not buck naked, btw, he has a diaper on...

we're having a hard time keeping clothes on him today)

Oh, good times at our house!

Bike Lane

Today while I was driving I noticed a guy on a scooter who was struggling to make it up a pretty steep hill and was interrupting the flow of traffic. As I was passing him, thankfully I was already in the other lane, and I was reminded of a funny high school story...

My older sister, Mary, was driving us to early morning seminary in our 1988 Pontiac Grand Am (it was a wicked cool car in our day) when we came upon a guy on a moped. Now since Mary was driving we were, of course, late, and I was very impatient with her since I can't stand to be late. I remember being stuck behind this poor kid (or poor us?) and Mary getting increasingly frustrated. After honking, flashing lights, etc...(she was 17, we all drove like that then) she leaned her head out the window and started screaming "BIKE LANE, BIKE LANE" at the poor kid. He never did move, but man we have a good story to show for our lateness.

I couldn't help but giggle and yell "bike lane" in my head today.

Thanks for the giggle Mary!

Yahoo!

Our family was sadly hit by the economy and Andy has been working for a Temp Agency for the past 7 months, contracted to the same company thank goodness, but still temporary none the less. Well today we got amazing news. He was hired on as a full time employee for the company he's been working for. Not only was there a $2/hour raise, benefits (me and Andy have been uncovered for the last 5 months), but they also offered a substantial "signing bonus".

We feel so blessed!

Seriously???

Okay, so seriously, I am I the only one who thinks handmade gifts are the best???

There's not anyone out there who wouldn't care for a little love from me, in the form of something handmade? I have no clue what I would have made, but I'm sure inspiration would have struck at some point. Come on, who doesn't love a little surprise.

Tell you what, you don't even have to make something for anyone else, obviously I would prefer that you did, but I really love making gifts for people. So, here goes...

The first 3 bloggers to respond to this email will be the recipient of something handmade, by me, within a years times, no strings attached, no obligations.

So, if I'm totally crazy to want to do this, don't respond, but if you love handmade gifts, maybe not as much as me, then please respond. I want to get my creative juices flowing.

Woodland Park Zoo

While Savannah and Mason were at school, we took the cousins to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. We had so much fun.

Here's Justin, Raul and Delaney posing near the elephants Willson's new "cheesie" smile

(It's his new thing, I'm so glad I caught it on the camera!)
Our absolute, most favorite part was the bears!!!
They were so active and RIGHT there!
(All that's separating them from us is a wall of glass...so cool)

I could have stayed there and watched them all day long!

Ouch!

So, yesterday I was eating a jalapeno popper

(they're spicy and have cream cheese...what's not to love)

leftover from our anniversary. I bit into it and the filling totally squirted out. A large clump landed on my chest, above my shirt, straight skin on that one, and a small amount landed on my chin. I immediately tried to fix the one on my chest, as it felt like there was a hole burning through my skin. After that was calmed down I fixed the chin situation. Later in the day I was washing my hands when I saw something in the mirror. I of course poked it, I mean come on, you see something weird, your first instinct is to poke.

Big Mistake.

It was a blister, on my chin, and I accidentally popped it.

I have to say, I've never had a blister on my chin.

Not only does it hurt like a motha', it is oh so attractive!

Hopefully it will go away fast.

Beware of the yummy, spicy, creamy, deep fried goodness!

Uncle Boob

Andy, for some reason, I'm not sure why, but has always been Uncle Boo to the nieces and nephews. Well, last night as we were watching "So you think you can dance" and visiting with the nephews, sweet little Justin says "Uncle Boob" getting ready to ask a question. We all laughed so hard and he kept saying it, not realizing why we were all laughing so hard. So finally Andy gets him to stop saying "Uncle Boob". As I'm taking a drink from my water bottle, Justin says "Uncle Boo" then Raul "ba". Let me tell you I almost spewed my water. I was laughing so hard. Man boys are funny!

Cousins!!!!

My kids are so excited!

We have cousins from CA visiting this week!

The children that aren't see through are the cousins, Raul and Justin.

(I think it's pretty obvious which ones are mine)

They got in last night and will be with us till next Tuesday.

Here's to fun times!

Old Friends

This past weekend we were able to get together with a very old, not her our relationship with her, friend. We practically hadn't seen her since our wedding, in which she participated, except for a few brief encounters our first couple couple of years of marriage and then at her own wedding 3 1/2 years ago. She moved up this way within a couple of years of our marriage, so we've been trying, not very successfully to get together with her and her husband who we met at her wedding reception, of which he probably has no memory of, since he met so many people that night. She was not only one of my 5 college housemates, but she was the one who introduced me to Andy. Can I just say how wonderful it was to see her. How much fun we had, laughing, talking, getting to know each other as "grown-ups", sharing a few memories, but not many. I loved how much we had to talk about. We didn't have to rely on our shared memories to fill the space. My kids loved her, her husband and her baby sister (who was always my favorite of all the sisters). It was so fun. The kids were still talking about it the next day, so I pulled out my Wedding Album and we went through it, me saying

"There's Carol, there's Carol, there's Carol..."

So now for your viewing pleasure...

There's Carol

(the one on the end with the cute up-do)

So Exciting!!

So, a friend of mine posted this on her blog and I am going to be the lucky recipient of something handmade, which you know from my previous blog is my favorite kind of present! I am so excited to see what I will get AND to get to make something for my friends out there. So, here's the rules...

1. Be one of the first three (3) bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me.

2. Winners, you must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift for the first 3 bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway

(or do a Facebook entry)
3. The gift that you send to your three friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember:

It’s the spirit and the thought that count.
4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate links. Unless you think it stinks.

That wouldn't be nice.

*Can't wait to see who responds!

What more can I say......

10 years, 10 years..... Although I do love to talk, I am not quite a master of words. For this reason, I will express my feelings for my wife through someone else's words, Thomas Moore.....



"If thou'lt be mine, the treasures of air, Of earth, and sea, shall lie at thy feet; Whatever in Fancy's eye looks fair, Or in Hope's sweet music sounds most sweet, Shall be ours -- if thou wilt be mine, love!

Bright flowers shall bloom wherever we rove, A voice divine shall talk in each stream; The stars shall look like world of love, And this earth be all one beautiful dream In our eyes -- if thou wilt be mine, love!

And thoughts, whose source is hidden and high, Like streams that come from heaven-ward hills, Shall keep our hearts, like meads, that lie To be bathed by those eternal rills, Ever green, if thou wilt be mine, love!

All this and more the Spirit of Love Can breathe o'er them who feel his spells; That heaven, which forms his home above, He can make on earth, wherever he dwells, As thou'lt own, -- if thou wilt be mine, love!"


Where would I be, without my best freind? I shudder to think........

I love you Melissa. You are my love, my life, my all. May we live to see unending decades, more better than the last.

Presents!

Andy loves to buy presents! I'm usually much more frugal, enjoying finding something sentimental or making something special. My favorite gifts are actually homemade. Andy has been the recipient of many such gifts. I do enjoy Andy's gifts! He's become really good at buying things for me.

Here are his latest finds.

He found this sweet adorable sign. It matches perfectly and is sooo something I would choose myself.

He also bought me brand new scriptures.

(the exact ones I would have chosen too)

This is what I found for Andy. I know it looks girly, but the Serenity Prayer is something that is very important to Andy. I saw this and just knew that it was perfect. He'd probably never admit this, but I actually saw him tear up when he saw it.

It was a wonderful Anniversary! Andy came home from work early and we had a yummy lunch and then he inflated our air mattress and we watched girl movies in the living room. Well, I totally fell asleep, with Willson and Laney climbing all over me. Then we had (okay this is really weird, but there's a back story here) chicken nuggets, tater tots and jalapeno poppers for dinner. When we were first married we were both working full time so we ate quick meals like this. This was one of our favorites. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it, especially since we've been trying to eat a lot more healthily lately.
And tonight Andy takes me to the Temple.

To Andy

I never could have imagined, 10 years ago, my life today

Mother to 4 wonderful, crazy children

Wife to 1 wonderful, crazy husband

Living in Washington, so far from ALL that's familiar

And beyond words happy and fulfilled

And more in love with my husband than I thought possible

10 years ago today I thought my life was changing

It still is

I think it always will be

Nothing ever stays the same

It's not supposed to

But I'm coming to realize I can do change

I couldn't for a long time

Change is good

It's EXCITING

It's joy, it's heartbreak

It's our Father's will

Looking back on our Wedding Day

I thought I couldn't be more in Love

I had no idea what Love was

I probably still don't

But I know I want to keep going

Learning and Growing

With my sweet husband by my side

Here's to 10 more years of change!

*couldn't let it go without pics. of my cake and flowers. Besides getting married, they were the best things about that day.

Picnic

Laney & I were bored, so we decided to have our lunch outside. It was really fun!

Here's Lane posing for me. Willson posing. Not sure what the face is all about...
Even Sid joined in
Willson trying to put a flower behind his ear

Like this...

Willson kept me in his favorite phrase...

"Not in your mouth Willson!"

Ice Age

Remember that part, in the movie "Ice Age", where the bad Saber Tooth Tiger says "I want the baby"? Yeah, that's how I felt at church yesterday. There were babies EVERYWHERE!!! I just couldn't get my hands on any of them. There were a couple of likely baby passers, but they either didn't have the baby with them or had family in town. One of them was my friend Chelsea. She had her mom and sister in town. Not only did I have to sit through an entire Sacrament meeting, RIGHT BEHIND them with only being able to look at the baby, which okay was awesome, but Andy chose a row right across from them in Sunday School. It was killing me. So, I leaned over and told him how much I wanted the baby, really any baby at this point would do, I was going crazy. So, his response was "Just grab the baby" I looked at him, horrified and he was just laughing at me. Then a few minutes later she started to cry and Grandma got up to take her out. Andy leaned over and said "Here's your chance! Knock her down and grab the baby." I looked at him and he said "what?" then "I'll trip her and you save the baby. Then you'll be the hero." That husband of mine obviously does not understand my pain.

My Son the Pregnant Cow

The other night Andy and I were watching Dirty Jobs.

The episode was about cows giving birth.

It was gross, but also strangely fascinating.

I find most episodes of Dirty Jobs are this way to me.

Today Mason was getting frustrated with me. When he's frustrated he makes this weird, grunty whiny noise at me. It's extremely annoying to say the least. Usually I just let him get it out of his system and try to ignore it, so my frustration doesn't build. The more you tell him to stop making the noise, the more he does it. Usually I would just send him to his room but Willson happens to be taking a nap. So, in an effort to appease both of us I told him he sounded like a pregnant cow. Initially it stunned him in to silence and then "What?" So, I proceeded to tell him about the episode Andy and I watched. He's seen the show before, not that episode, so he knew what I was talking about. I told him if he would stop I would find the episode on the Internet, so he could decide if he sounded like a pregnant cow or not. It worked! We came over to the computer and after googling it Mason was surprised to find out he did sound like a pregnant cow. A laugh was had by all and he didn't protest a bit when I said I was going to blog about it. Thank You Mike Rowe!!

Here's a link to it, if you want to here Mason's weird noise, but again it's Dirty Jobs, so it's not for all viewers. Poor Cow!

http://www.scienceontv.com/2008/05/21/dirty-jobs-birthing-a-cow-video/

Grandma & Grandpa

We had so much fun with my parents this weekend. They got in Friday night and surprised the kids when Andy brought them home from work with him. On Saturday we took them to Snoqualmie Falls. The pictures so don't do it justice! Andy told me it's something like 272 feet high, 100 feet higher than Niagara Falls. It was so pretty! I had never been there before,

but Andy and the kids had.After the falls we went to XXX drive-in. I know how that sounds, but it's a family place. We had the yummiest burgers, shakes and Andy & Dad shared a root-beer float. I got a really funny picture with my phone, but I don't know how to upload it to the computer. Darn it.

Then on Monday we kept the kids home from school and took my parents to the Seattle zoo. A fun time was had by all!

(Grandpa especially)

Monday night they had to go back home. All were sad. Apparently Delaney cried the whole way home from the airport and was ready to move back to California forever. We really enjoyed having them here, no matter how short the visit was!

Welcome to Washington

My parents came to visit us this weekend. Andy wanted to put together a basket for them, so I went to work. I had so much fun buying things for the basket and could have spent so much money! Who new that Walmart had so many things travel sized?

I also had so much fun picking out sheets for their bed!