29 is Fine

And I don't mean {fine}, like "Hey, baby, you're fiiiine". More like, "The potatoes taste fine", kind of {fine}. 

Seeing 29 on a birthday card is weird. That's way too close to 30. And 30 is old. In all seriousness, it just is. 

I can remember my own mom at this age. I was 8 for heaven sakes! And ask any child... their parents are old. 

I may not have wrinkles, but I have gray hairs. 

My memory is not great, but my hearing is even less so.  (Thanks, Dad.)

When we eat out, we eat with the seniors, at 5pm.

I have no problems with going to bed at 9:30pm.

I just now realized that I think some clothes in the "misses" section are cute. And lots of clothes in the "juniors" section are not.

However, I still like to bust a move to some mean {rap}.

 I still prefer to listen to the "trendy" music on the radio. (When will I give that up?)

I will always scream my {dead animal} scream on roller coasters.

Hmmm, my "I'm old" section is bigger than my "I'm young" section. I need to think of some more to add to the latter.

But you know, in all honesty, getting older is not that bad.

A few months ago I walked into Ned's Crazy Sub just after Mesa High let out for lunch.

I walked into the high school "cafeteria".

And cringed.

The groups of teenagers scattered about, flirting and trying to act {so cool} was a bit nauseating. 

And made me SO grateful to be 28 and far from any high school clique. 

Being an adult brings it's own set of problems. But I'll take those any day to the ones facing a hormonal, insecure 16 year old.

(Cuz being a hormonal, insecure 29 year old is way better. :) Why? I don't know. But I think my super cute, really awesome husband has something to do with it.)

So back to the big day.

It was on a Saturday. Following a really bad week of the flu bug hitting our house. 

It's OK to cry when you're sick on your birthday, right?

So it was kinda a {crappy} day. 

Pun intended.

TMI?

We did get to go out to dinner the night before with Bron and Megan, which was really fun.

And I did get to sneak over to TJ Maxx to score a couple really cute outfits. 

And getting a sitter for 3 hours so Trav and I could go see The Dark Knight Rises, was pretty relaxing.

(Really good movie, btw.)

But the best part was.... my gift!

On the way to the movie, Trav told me he booked my tickets to go to California for a few days to be with my family on their annual summer vacation!

We had talked about this being a possibility, but then waited too long, and the airfare went way too high. The day I saw the prices, I went to bed depressed. There was no way I could go now.

When Travis told me, I didn't believe him. I had told him not to spend the money. He never spends money like that unless we have mutually agreed. But he did it anyway. And when I realized he was telling the truth, I just sat in the car and cried. I couldn't help it. It meant so much to me. I am so grateful for him!! It's so hard being away from my family and especially at times like this. I could not ask for a better husband!! He is too good to me. Have I mentioned how much I love him? More than FRIENDS, shopping, and ice cream combined. That's a dangerous kind of love. :)

That evening, our stake was having a pioneer activity at a park. We went, because what else do you do when you turn 29? Collin was so excited to get his cheek painted.

I don't know if Weston really knew what was happening to his cheek.

Well, then there was a tarp that the kids were sliding down like a slip 'n slide. 

Collin BEGGED to go on it. We didn't bring a suit, so he was fully aware he would get all wet and soapy and gross. There was no talking him out of it.

He got to the front of the line and froze. 

Now, there was no talking him down it.

Instead, he threw a royal tantrum and had to be pulled off.

Just look at that face.

Trav was pleased as punch to be the dad of this kid.

I didn't get to eat all day. OK, does a fly covered roll at the stake activity count? (Ya, I was THAT hungry by then.)

I said no cake.

But donuts had been bought that morning so I got my song and candle in one that night.

And Trav even grabbed the camera. 

(Bonus points are adding up for this guy!)

Hooray for 29!

29 is fine. :)

I have to add....

Rachel sent a package earlier in the week that included the cutest birthday gift AND a surprise for the boys.

I got it on the {crappiest} day of that week... Wednesday.... a day full of bathrooms and Weston throwing up multiple times on me. And me feeling like I had been hit by a truck. And also the day that Trav was at work the latest he's ever been. I wanted to die.

I read her card and cried. It was so sweet. And there was a cute brown bag all tied up with string... full of my "favorite things"! Adorable. Thanks, Rach, you are completely the best!

We had Skyped with them a week or two earlier, and Collin caught sight of Gavin wearing a really cool, super hero cape with matching wrist band. Collin was obsessed. And asked for one daily after that.

Well, Rachel noticed and did what any favorite aunt would do. She made Collin AND Weston their very own! I wished I had video taped their facial expressions when they opened them up. Priceless. Even Weston's face lit up and was SO excited.

I told Collin to make a super hero pose. 

Hysterical.

Thank you so much Rachel!!! They play with them every day! So cute!

My two super heroes.

More Camping!

Welp, we went camping again! Betcha think that's all we do now, huh? Apparently, the people at Trav's office think so too. Now when a weekend approaches, they automatically ask him if we're going camping. If they only knew it was the second time in 4 years that we've been!

This time, the Marchant's drove up from Albuquerque to join us! Yay! Our {Buffalo} group was almost complete.. .we just needed the Shaws. They were missed!

We were able to get the same great spot we had last time. The only difference was, the weather.... bad news bears! It was a rainy, stormy night. We joked about whether we should pray for the rain to stop, but knew we were severely outnumbered in the prayer department with all those praying FOR rain, because of all the fires! Luckily, the Shaheens had their trailer we hunkered down in for a while, and when the rain let up, we were all over that camp fire we couldn't have before. 

Time for s'mores! 

And scary ghost stories. Crescent regaled the kids with the tale of the {hairy toe}. Anyone heard it? I tried to capture the looks on their faces, but this does not do it justice. They were completely entranced... not blinking, faces frozen in fear. It was kind of funny. Collin asks for me to tell it daily, now.

That night was pure misery. We didn't sleep a wink! Trav tossed and turned in discomfort and I froze! We only have one sleeping bag, and Collin slept in it, so we just had piles of blankets on us. They sufficed last time, but not that night! We arose cranky and disheveled, only to learn that the Shaheens had a big sleeping bag in their camper that they didn't even use! Cue the revised Dumb and Dumber quote, 

"Lloyd: Here, maybe you should have this extra {sleeping bag}.. my body is getting kinda sweaty! 

Harry: You had...this {sleeping bag}...all this time...and you never told me!? 

Lloyd: Duh! Yeah! We're in the Rockies! 

Haha! We had to laugh. Of course, they had no idea we were in need, or they would have let us use it. I know one thing for sure... we will not be camping again until we buy another sleeping bag!

The next day the kids played in the now, much stronger stream and we went on a little nature walk.

Just look at those mountains behind Trav! So gorgeous! This was just such a beautiful area.

 I ran up ahead to take a picture of everyone and the kids thought I was playing a game and chased me before I could turn around and get the shot of everyone!

 A snuggle moment.

 Megan has the better picture of this, but aren't they so sweet?!

We stayed all day, talking and eating, while the kids played. At one point, we caught a glimpse of the girls in the tent playing grown ups and Elsie was putting on deodorant! Hysterical!

It was sad to have the day end! We wished we could stay one more night (well, minus the sleeping part!). It was just such a fun, relaxing, little trip. The Shaheens and Marchants are more like family than just friends to us. We really love them! The Shaheens are moving to Gallup in a couple weeks and we'll all be in different cities again. Luckily, we're close enough to meet up and still go camping. And you better believe we will!

Megan is so good! Here she is, packing up her house to move next week, and this morning she hands me a disk of pictures from the trip! Amazing. I love this first one of all the kids...

Weston, Else, Mason, Maia, Lilly, Collin, and Ruby!

We are going back to this place on Sunday evening to take REAL family pictures!! I'm so excited. I've been shopping all week, haha! Trav is thrilled! :)

Better Camping Pics

When we went camping with the Shaheens on July 3, Megan took some awesome pics with her awesome camera and her even more awesome {skills}. 

Pretty sure I break the 10th commandment every time I see her camera and/or pics.

(No, I don't steal... I covet. :)

These kids could have thrown rocks into the stream all. day. long. 

Newborn size shorts, folks!

 I know Trav will love that I included this one. :) 

Can't help myself, he's too cute not to!

Some impromptu family photos... in our best attire.

I bought that shirt for Collin, slightly out of guilt. I saw it at Ross and knew he would love it.

I also knew I wouldn't.

But I decided to swallow my pride and let him wear it.

The first week, he tried every day to dig it out of the dirty clothes and wear it yet again.

 Now he just fist pumps every time he sees it in his drawer.

And wouldn't you know it... he had it on this day. Sigh.

 Clearly, we have some very photogenic kids.

 The {Taj- ma- tent}

 Lilly and Collin just played and played and played. It was wonderful. 

Yay for camping with friends!

 Spidy throwing his web.

My two messes

A little about Weston right now...

He is into everything!! Seriously, let me paint a picture for you. I am making potato salad. Weston is beneath me, squirming between my legs and pulling out every pot and pan from the cupboard. I let him do this for a while since it is keeping him busy and not screetching at me. Then Collin senses a mess is being made without him and joins in. They are banging glass lids on the tile and creating noise that I am quickly not tolerating. I shew them away, but Collin isn't listening and if Weston is going to be stopped, then I'm going to hear about it from him. Loudly. As I try to throw the pots back in the cupboard and block it with my knees, Weston is now into the other one, pulling out chemicals and spraying Windex on his neck before I even realize he's in harms way. (Yes, I have since put locks on all cupboards) I haul him to the sink to rinse him off while he verbally abuses me for ruining his fun. He then screetches and screetches while I offer him half a dozen things before he settles on a sippy cup. I turn to work on the salad again and 30 sec. later, step into a massive puddle of water that Weston has somehow managed to drain from his {leak proof} cup. While I'm mopping that up, he has gotten into a skirmish with Collin and both are now crying. Separate them, go back to salad. Now the recycling bin is being dumped out. I raise that on to the table. At some point it has gotten too quiet. I doesn't take much searching to find Collin hiding in his closet, painting with toothpaste all over the bins and partly on Weston. 

I'll stop there... you get the picture. It just never ends with these two!! And it's not that Weston is being naughty, he's just exploring and learning, but it has nearly driven me crazy! And he's not a fan of TV. I remember Collin at this age would at least sit for 10 min. and watch Curious George. Weston is just not interested. And with Collin abusing him so much, he now cries over EVERYTHING. He gets accidently  bumped and he wails like he's been beaten. 

He is also a climber. Collin never climbed much. If there's a will, there's a way with this one. I've actually been pretty impressed with what I've seen him scale. 

With Collin doing the preschool thing in the mornings, I've started doing my grocery shopping then. And as of 3 weeks ago, Weston has turned from the perfect shopping companion to the child I'll throw anything at to keep quiet. Just this morning I opened a box of Cheezits, a container of Gerber chicken sticks (I know, gross) and a string cheese at Wal-Mart, just to keep him quiet. The snacks I brought just weren't cutting it. 

And forget about church. I just need a pew with a sound proof box on the end that I can stick him in. 3 weeks til nursery!!! :)

He poops in the tub. He tries to play in Collin's pee, WHILE he's going. It's just a delightful age.

I saw a quote on Pinterest that went something like, "Having a 1 year old is like having a blender without a lid." Amen to that!

OK, so now I feel bad for complaining about him. I love my Weston and he is a sweet boy, he is just BUSY!! 

His big plus right now.... he comes to me when he's poopy and points and grunts at his lower half. I think it's kind of funny. Collin never did that. So I'll ask him if he's poopy and he does his head nod that really nods his whole body and will toddle after me to his bedroom for a change. 

And who can resist those open mouth kisses he gives so freely. :) Or those big, blue eyes. I always get comments on those baby blues.

He knows where his hair, nose and belly button are. He kind of gets eyes and ears. And when you ask him where his mouth is, he immediately opens it, sticks out his tongue and says, "ehhhh".  

He loves to wave at people. And he'll screetch at the store, just so someone will turn and look at him, and then he'll smile and wave. 

He doesn't talk much. He prefers the escalated shrieks, "Ah, ahhhh, AHHHHHH!!!" He will say Momma, Dadda, more, and ball. 

He still growls at anything non human that moves. 

It does melt my heart when I see these two playing together. Last night they were enjoying their frozen treats together in the backyard. Of course it ended with Collin dumping all manner of dirt and rocks on his head and him crying.

As Grandmother would say, these two are a mess!

Which means a lot more than just the state of their cleanliness. :)

Collin still makes us laugh.

We were at Target last week, and I was putting the cart away and picking up my bags when Collin stuck his hand behind the sliding glass doors. Right then someone walked up, so they slid out and caught his arm behind them. My heart about stopped. I thought it had broken his arm. Luckily, I was able to just yank it out and he only suffered a red scrape and was fine. Of course it still scared him and he cried and it was kind of an ordeal. When Trav got home and we were alone, I told him about what happened. So then Trav walked into the kitchen and said to Collin, "Did anything happen at the store today?" Collin was at the table eating, and he just looked up thoughtfully, paused, then said with long drawn out phrases, "Um, noooo. No monsters were thereeeee. No bad guyssss with shooting guns came innnnn." Then went back to eating like it was the most normal response in the world. He cracks us up.

Another day, when Weston was sleeping, I was reading on my bed and Collin was watching a show. He came in to ask for a snack, to which I reminded him we had just had lunch and wouldn't be eating a snack for a while. He left, but came back 30 sec. later to ask for something else he knew he couldn't have. I told him no, and to not come back in. 30 sec. later, scene repeated. This time I'm starting to lose my temper. Very frustrated, I again remind him it is quiet time and he can either take a nap, watch a show, or play outside or in his room, but DO NOT COME BACK IN. 

(He has the hardest time not being by my side, every second of every day. It's gotten to be a joke between Trav and I now. If he realizes he doesn't know where I am... which he NEEDS to know at all times... he comes searching for me. If he hears a door close, he's immediately up and running to see if I've left. If I've quietly left the room, it is not more than 30 sec. before I can hear him calling, "Moooooom!!!" throughout the house. It's a problem.) 

Anyway, back to the story, after the 5th interruption in 3 min. my voice is raised as I forcefully tell him to not come in again. Now I get maybe 4 min. of peace. UNTIL, I hear his footsteps and before I can see him, I hear him say, "Mom! WAIT! Don't be mad. Don't be mad!!".... now I turn and he's in front of me with hands raised, palms up in a surrendering sort of way... his face is one of pleading and his voice is dripping in sweetness as he tries to explain, "I'm .... I'm your FRIEND!"  His eyes looked like he was begging for his life and could only offer up this last piece of information to appease me. I wish it was on video! I can't do it justice with words. I couldn't help it. Those eyes and that plea totally melted me. I started laughing and told him to come give me a hug. How could I deny that cute presentation?! He can certainly get creative when he needs to.

He is crazy inquisitive. Many times he's asked me who I am. 

I'll say, "I'm your mommy". 

Then he asks, "Why". 

And I'll say, "Because I gave birth to you". 

That has always satisfied him until a couple weeks ago. But this time when I told him I gave birth to him, he threw his hands in the air, and frustratingly exclaimed, "But what does that MEAN??!!" I had to laugh. So then I gave him what I hoped was a fairly generic answer about women with babies in their bellies and then the baby comes out and that's the Mother. At least he didn't ask, "Why" afterward!

Collin is still a picky eater. He just hates eating dinner. Doesn't matter what it is. And eating it cold for breakfast if he didn't finish it at night wasn't the incentive I thought it would be. We now have a dinner chart to help with some positive reinforcement. It has not helped much. He'll eat it if we spoon feed to him, but I'm so done doing that. Makes me wonder if he'd be 14 and still happily taking bites from my spoon. I feel like we've tried everything. Cutting out snacks in the afternoon doesn't help. Offering his favorite treat after his dinner is gone doesn't work either. Going to his room for the rest of the night if he doesn't finish didn't do the trick. Or taking away his shows. If he could have it his way, he'd never eat dinner again. Any ideas?!

He is crazy obsessed with Spiderman right now and all the super heros. But Spidy is his favorite. He loves to throw his wrist out and say, "Pssst" like he's throwing webs. And his favorite activity is fighting "Globlins" with Trav. Gotta love his lisp. 
When we play, it's "praying". 
Water is "wawger". 
Despicable Me is "Hicama wee". 
Computer is a "peter". 
Girls are "grills". 
Volcano is "ball-tay-toe".
Hospital is "hoss-ca-ble". 
Popsicle is "poss-ki-ble". 
Backpack is "pack pack". 
Breakfast is "bress-kwiss". 
Popcorn is "pop-porn". Mmm hmm.
Bet ya can guess what a risbee is.... yep, a frisbee. 
And whenever he wants to say "a little bit", like "can I have a little bit more?", he adds an extra "it", making it, "can I have a little bit it more?"
There are so many more... I'll be adding to this list as I think of them.

Well, these two might be a mess, but they are my mess. :) Gotta love 'em.

Albuquerque and 6 YEaRs!

Last Saturday, the company Trav works for, hosted a picnic type thing in Albuquerque. It was at the Isotope  stadium, which is the baseball team that plays there. I guess it's the farm team for the Dodgers. 

Anyway, since the game was at 7pm and it's a 3 hour drive from Farmington to there, we decided to make a little trip of it and stay the night! Luckily, we have some pretty awesome friends that live there, that were willing to put us up for the night. :)

We left Saturday morning around 9am and so got there just after noon. Remember how I said it was a 3 hour drive? Ya, well it felt like 6. The kids were awful. AWFUL! Trav and I were dreaming of a car that has a screen window that will separate the front seats from the back... you know, kind of like a limo? Seriously, why hasn't this been invented yet?! I would SO purchase it. And the screen can act like a backdrop for a projector so they can watch movies. See? Win/ win. As it was, I finally snapped at Collin that if he didn't stop whining for food, we were going to pull over and leave him on the side of the road. That's a terrible thing to say to a 3 year old. And I didn't feel one ounce of remorse. (Clearly, I wouldn't have REALLY done it... it's just felt good to threaten it.) There were not very many minutes that one of them wasn't crying, whining, or screaming. What gives??!!

So FINALLY, we arrived in Albuquerque and our first stop was actually Bed, Bath and Beyond. My Shark cordless vacuum I like to use in the kitchen, bit the dust in Buffalo, and I've been in the Stone Ages using a broom and dust pan. (Gross.) But most stores don't carry cordless vacuums, so we had to buy it at Bed, Bath. 

I need to interject right here by saying that driving into Albuquerque was like opening my eyes for the first time! It was so BIG! There were just stores and restaurants galore. I found myself pining. Yes, pining. 

Here, I had just started getting used to Farmington, and then we drive here. It was like a carrot being dangled in front of my face. Oh, the options! People that live in big cities, just take these things for granted! I know, I did. Never again, folks. It was clear to me, once and for all, I am a city girl.

After Bed, Bath, we grabbed some McDonalds for the boys and headed to the zoo. (You can see Weston nibbling on a chicken nugget in this picture. I have never salivated so much over a McDonald's nugget or fries. I was in the middle of one of my fabulous stomach {episodes}, and couldn't risk eating anything. Actually, I didn't eat anything for the entire trip. OK, I had a Dr. Pepper and some aloe juice. It was TORTURE. Kinda put a big damper on everything for me... but I digress)

When we first got to the zoo, it was stinkin' hot. I think all we wanted to do was this:

But after an hour or so, some dark clouds moved in and it started to cool off and sprinkle.

Collin was not that interested in the animals. He never really was that big on the zoo. However, he had a BALL climbing rocks. Everywhere we walked, we were calling after Collin to hurry up, because he was scaling another rock.

In fact, the only way I got him to smile next to these zebras (yes, they are there... way in the back), was to promise him if he smiled we would go find a big rock for him to climb.

 Did I mention, it was our 6 year anniversary that day?! Yup, I've been married to this amazing guy for 6 whole years. Best decision I ever made. I don't know what I ever did to deserve him, but I won't ask questions... just be grateful he picked me! I could not picture anyone being better for me than Travis. He is so good to me and loves me despite all my annoying habits and hard to please nature. He should get an award. I am absolutely and completely in love with him!! (I would say I love him like {Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah's couch over Katie Holmes}..... Buuuuut, we all know how that worked out, so never mind! :)

I love how random peacocks seem to just wander freely at zoos. 

After being there a few hours, the rain got pretty heavy, so we drove over to the aquarium next. Collin seems to prefer fish over animals anyway.

 Travis had told him that the creature in the tank was a {lobster}, so when I walked up, Collin was completely enthused to tell me all about, what he misinterpreted as, the big {monster}!! And he mimed it scratching your face off as he told me about it's big claws. It was an exciting day to meet a real, live monster.

Then we drove to the Marchant's house and got the kids in their jammies and ready to stay with the babysitter. And to think we were originally just going to take them with us! Praise Crescent and her foresight into what a bad idea that would have been! 

The company rented out the pavilion at the back of the field and had a catered picnic dinner for everyone. And let me tell you, it looked delicious. :(

This is a pic of all the dentists in the company that made it that night.

 At one point, they brought out a big cake for Martin, since it was his birthday this week and we all sang to him. He is the guy on the left side in the blue shirt. Dave Marchant is in the orange.... he works in one of their Albuquerque offices and we know him and Crescent from dental school. 

 We left the next morning around 9am, but I was sad when I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of the kids together! (And come to think of it, I didn't get one of Crescent either!) So I snapped this one real quick of Collin and Elsie. They have 3 kids, two girls and a boy, and Collin and Elsie are just one day apart. We were in the hospital together when we had them. They didn't have much time, but they played really well together.

Then sweet Crescent sent us off with a whole bag of special {Trader Joe} goodies she had bought for our drive home. So thoughtful! I couldn't wait to be able to eat the chocolate and toffee covered popcorn. Soooo yummy. 

The drive home was fairly similar to the one we had driving there... miserable. It has me seriously considering when I'll ever get up the courage to visit Arizona. But even so, I'm glad we went. Thank you Marchants for all you did for us! If you ever get a hankering to visit snazzy Farmington, you know where you can stay! :)