The Ruins

Last Saturday we thought it would be fun to finally check out the Aztec Indian Ruins, just 20 min. from our house. I packed a picnic lunch in a back pack. I imagined we'd be doing some hiking, stopping to look at crumbled ruins in the sides of the mountains. Maybe see some hieroglyphics. 

Ahem. Not so much.

The ruins are actually very small. It's basically a contained village type area. We got a guide booklet that really told us nothing. I had so many questions! What did they use the big, dug out, circular rooms for? Why did each one have a hole in the bottom? Trav wasn't so curious. They were bathrooms with a toilet, he said matter of factly. :)

 We had our picnic lunch... not so much in the mountains, but on a park bench.

Again, with the questions! What an interesting room... but what was it used for?? 

Well that's easy. Again with history according to Travis... it's where they had baptisms! Of course!

I wasn't as convinced.

The boys were semi-amused. 

But at the end they filled out a little form and got Junior Ranger Badges!! What could be cooler? Now it was all worth it.

The Red/Pink Pants

 It takes me a while to embrace new fashions. I remember thinking I'd never wear capris.... too weird. I went years before buying gold jewelry again. (Isn't that what our mothers liked?) It wasn't until last summer that I attempted the bright colored, skinny jeans. And not until two weeks ago that I attempted them for my boys. 

In my defense, I ordered RED skinny jeans. They didn't look bright in the picture, they looked rather dark. 

Collin is always THRILLED to see a package in the mailbox. Even more so when it's for him. He pulled out the pants and I did a double take before grabbing the order form. Yup, I didn't mess up, it said "Red" on the packaging slip.

Hmmmm.

He slipped them on and did a little jig right there in the living room, with the sloppiest grin smothered on his face. 

They sure are tiny, little things. 

And hug his itty bity toushee so well.

And the jig continued.

I knew it was over.

 Even if I thought they were more pink than red, these pants weren't going anywhere. 

Travis is having a hard time dealing.

I asked him to stand still so I could take a picture.

Instead, I got:

this

this

 this

 and this,

long before getting this. :) 

I think I'll treasure the first group more, come to think of it.

(**Weston, also received an identical pair of pants in his size. He will have nothing to do with them. Nothing. Maybe he takes after his Momma. We'll give him some time. :)

I Mustache You a Question.....

The weekend before Valentines, our ward had an adult Valentines party. The YW provided babysitting and we had an Italian dinner in the cultural hall, followed by a game of real life Clue. It was entertaining to watch the two hosts grill the preassigned "suspects". Then off we went in groups to solve the mystery. We sat a table with some fun people and laughed the night away. A really fun night!

(Oh, the premise was, the bishop had gone missing. :)

I didn't get any pictures of the boys' gifts but a day or two before Valentine's, I had the boys decorate their own Cupid box, and they found little gifts in them a few different times before Valentines. Courtesy of the Target $1 section, mostly. They loved their stuffed owls, window stickies, book, chocolate, Valentine's plates, and the movie Tangled. 

Collin had fun writing out his name on all his Valentines. 

Trav got his own little surprise in the mail at work. I always secretly hope an embarrassing situation will ensue , but he knows my games and makes sure that doesn't happen!

 On actual Valentine's Day, I baked up a bunch of sugar cookies to take to Trav's office. I also brought balloons, and chocolates to scatter around their desk. I think he was most thrilled with the One Direction balloon. 

I wanted to decorate his car with post it notes on the windshield, but it was crazy windy, so I had to do it on the inside. A post it for every reason I love this guy. (But there could never be enough post its!)

I got flowers delivered for the first time ever. Very fun!

 That night we invited, Martin, the dentist Trav works with, over for dinner. I know that sounds weird, but we aren't doing our special Valentines dinner until next weekend. 

I made strawberry spinach salad, pink potatoes, heart shaped rolls (OK, or not so heart shaped rolls), creamy chicken, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. It literally took me all afternoon to make it. Between that and the cookies, I was exhausted. It was a nice dinner with Martin, but I was stifling the yawns near the end.

The kids were already in bed when he left, and I took one look at the disastrous kitchen and knew it would look exactly the same, come morning. I was too tired!

Then, Trav pulled out a box. I was puzzled. I hadn't asked for anything and wasn't expecting anything. And we don't usually get each other presents without talking about it first. (Case in point, I made him pick out a watch as his "Valentine's present". His has been broken for years. That's usually how we work. We think of something we need anyway and dub it the current holiday's "present")

It was a Bosch blender!!!!!!! I was THRILLED. I have wanted one for years and years. We are currently using the same blender we've had since we got married, that my mom passed down to me. A blender from Target she didn't like. The bottom was melted down after being set on a warm stove and it leaked. Oh, and barely worked. I really couldn't have been more excited.

And then he pulled out another box. ???? A bottle of perfume I had mentioned ONCE that I wanted. It was a kind I had once before, and forgotten how much I loved until my sister got a bottle. I about fell over. I am so hard to buy for. I am so picky about presents. I usually don't want the money spent or I just want to make sure it's something I'll really use. The man did good. I felt completely spoiled. And suddenly, I wasn't so tired. :)

Two days before, I had organized our monthly Relief Society meeting around Valentine's Day and given a lesson on the 5 Love Languages and talked a bit about creative dating ideas. I had a packet for the dating ideas and one of the pages was this.....

So I thought it would be fun to do with Trav on Valentine's Day. You're supposed to put answers done that would describe your life in 5 years. We had to laugh when all our answers turned out to be completely normal and predictable. Minus the mansion and making peanuts. We sure hope he's not making peanuts OR  living in a mansion. We're pretty sad about missing out on that El Camino though!

Weston had a birthday, shout Hooray!

 On February 6, this sweet boy turned 2!

We started out with family tradition, getting donuts at Dunkin'. Luckily, it's right next to Daddy's work, so he got to join us.

Weston was kind enough to share.... 

Then we ran a few errands. Can you tell what he's so excited about??

Oh, just going through the car wash. Is it sad that I made him think the joy of the car wash was to celebrate his birthday? 

He got to help make his cake. 

Collin was pretty indignant that he didn't get to help. Actually, throughout the day I made a point of letting Weston pick the shows, make the decisions, etc. and it REALLY ticked Collin off. Made me realize how much that kid runs the show around here. I think Weston needs birthdays once a week!

 Ta-da! Ready to bake.

He must have been so riled up, it was hard to fall asleep. Had to get half undressed first.

Aww, so sweet all curled up. It broke my heart to wake him to go pick up car pool. :(

That evening we met Dad at the aquatics center for some family swim time. Weston is always on the sidelines, watching Collin at lessons, so I knew he's have fun getting to swim himself.

We grabbed a pizza on the way home, then busted out the cake! Weston kept blowing out the candle before Trav could pull his hand away from lighting it. Finally we got him to hold his breath long enough to sing and grab a picture.

 Raspberry lemon. His pick. Not.

This age is kind of hard because he can't really verbalize what he wants. Actually, it was another sad realization that at this age, I knew exactly what Collin wanted, but since Collin reigns around here and Weston just does everything he does, I have no idea what Weston would prefer. Sad life, that of second child. 

I ordered Skitters for his and Collin's birthdays this year, but they didn't arrive until the next week. SO, he got to open a car racing toy to hold him in the meantime. He really loves cars and will play for a long time on the car ramps and things in his room.

Saying, "CHEESE!!" He was trying REAL hard.

 Grandma Evans sent a package with a tractor. Again with the forced smile for the camera. :)

A little about sweet Weston. He will always be my sweet Weston, but as of late, he's a little more of ornery, opinionated, do it myself, scream all day Weston. I always knew he was easy going before, but now I realize how much I took it for granted! Not only is he opinionated, but that opinion changes on the fly, constantly. He will be SCREAMING for his shoes on. I mean, really letting us have it. We finally sit down to put them on, and suddenly he's shrieking like a banshee to NOT have them on. He will be screaming for a drink of water, then the second we pour it, he is fighting mad because now he wants milk. 

He is Mr. Independent and will do it himself, thank you very much. HE wants to get himself in his car seat. HE wants to pick his clothes. HE wants to get the food out of the fridge. And on and on. And you better not change the channel when Sponge Bob is on!

Gone are the days of setting a happy boy down in his crib. He used to snuggle up with a blankie and smile at you as you walked away. Now, he SHRIEKS and SCREAMS at the top of his lungs, hurling himself at the bars, arms outstretched as if you're about to set him on fire. He's tricky too. He'll make it seem like he NEEDS something, even just to ask a question. But the second you turn back, he's got a death grip on you and screams even louder while you try to leave a second time. We've learned our lesson. Don't turn back. The silver lining is, once the door is shut, he's basically accepted his fate and only fusses a minute more before conking out.

He HATES getting his hair cut and it takes two people now to manage it. 

He graduated himself to a booster seat at the table weeks ago. No more high chair.

He thinks he needs a smidge of chocolate after every meal.

He likes to pester his brother to get a reaction out of him. Often throughout the day, I'll hear Collin yell, "Weston, STOP IT!" And find Collin watching a show, with Weston head butting him, with a coy smile on his face. 

He still drinks a whole milk bottle, morning and night. (We even let him take it to church a couple times after we changed to 9am! I'm one of those moms now. I know everyone is judging me. Sadly, I just don't care. It keeps him quiet.)

He talks all day long. Or whines all day long. He says too many words to list now, but I think we are probably the only ones that would really understand him.

He loves to bring me books to read him and likes to repeat the words after me. 

He is loving simple puzzles. 

He is a good eater and I never have to worry about him trying something new. If he's hungry, he'll eat it. 

When watching Dora, Diego, Super Why, or any show where they stop to ask the audience a question, he is raptly paying attention and will always answer. If there are options given for the answer, like, "Do we go over the bridge or the road?" He always picks one and responds accordingly. It's so interesting to me how much a child this age understands!

If Trav or myself are leaving the house, he runs over shouting, "Kiss! Kiss", then after the kiss, "Hug! Hug!" 

He can ride a big kid scooter like a champ. No need for 3 wheels for him!

He is growing up so fast. Every night when we peek in on him, I wonder how he's gotten so big. Not a baby in his crib anymore. 

I glanced over one day and he was just chillin' in front of the TV with his hands in his pockets. :)

He was NOT about to let go of Trav one morning so he could go to work.

This pudding cup was in his hair, on the bottom of his foot, on his shirt, pants, hands and face. I don't know how it wasn't in his diaper. What a mess. We sure love you Weston Travis.

Another boy celebrated a birthday this month! David's is on the 9th and now Travis can't even get Weston's birthday right... he mixes it up with Davids.

This kid turned into a man.... 21 years old! My mom actually got this card for Trav one year (dental humor) but didn't write in it because she didn't want documentation of an "inappropriate" card given by the mother in law! haha. So I passed the gem on.

I thought the term "Bottoms up" was appropriate for one turning 21, even if he couldn't drink. My how the time flies! 

Famous

I got a text from a friend still living in Buffalo, "Did you know there is a life size picture of you on the wall of Applebees?"

I told her she was lying and to send me a picture, haha!

Well, this is a really poor quality picture, but here it is! I guess they had their waiter go get a flashlight to shine on it because it was so dark in the restaurant, they couldn't get it to show up. Plus it was on her phone. 

It's just the top of the picture, but she said it was literally the wallpaper and from the ceiling to the ground! Don't ask me HOW Applebees got access to this picture!! Kind of creepy. 

It was taken when Weston was just a couple months old and Marcie was in town to visit.... May 2011, I think. We are at a local fire station on a field trip with "The Family Room". Basically, it's just a play center for kids you can buy a membership to. 

The waiter told my friend that "Applebees" (whoever that entails) finds pictures of people in local places around town and makes them part of the wallpaper. I guess the idea is that people walk in to eat and have fun spotting friends they know. 

I'm wondering if I could sue for privacy rights? No one asked permission to take a picture of my minor. :) Juuust kidding. 

Why would I complain??? Marcie, Weston, Collin and I have hit the big time... we're famous!!