Trevin & Farrah

My brother is a pretty cool kid.

He is 17 now... which is crazy to me!

He has a car named "Charles" that he uses to speed around town.

He has a girlfriend who seems pretty nice.

He love his XBOX and his friends and his Morph Suit.

Basically he is a teenage boy who sometimes thinks himself "too cool for school"!

But that didn't stop him from loving on the cutest little baby I know this weekend.

Just when you think teenagers are nothing but trouble they do something sweet:)

Tonight

This is at my high school graduation with what are probably my two oldest friends. We were all crying so it's not the best picture but it's the only one I could find of us together.

I have known these girls for as long as I can remember... probably from birth since one is my cousin and the other lived down the street from me starting when I was 9 months old! We went through a lot together and had a lot of fun together growing up. We only live a couple of hours away from each other but we still don't get to visit as often as I'd like. Isn't that just how it goes when you grow up and move on with life:(

The good news, and the point of this post, is that I am meeting these two gals tonight for a fun "Girl's Weekend" and I am so excited to catch up! Just thinking about it makes me smile:) Hopefully when I get back I will have a new and better picture of us to share... even if we are ten years older!

They know how to have fun

At my house we have a job chart for the kids.

I fill it out every morning so they know what to do when they get home from school.

Monday was a holiday from school. (The same day that they turned down Chik-fil-a for broccoli because I told them they had to do their chores first)

At one point that day I walked by the job chart and laughed when I saw this! They even erased "Monday" on the side and replaced it with "playday".

I got the message loud and clear!


So let's do a quick recap of Monday (I've only mentioned this day about three times online. Can you tell I'm having a hard time getting over it?)

1. No school
2. All play
3. Broccoli
4. Shattered shower door

All in all, a weird, non-productive, fun, but sort of ended on a bad note kinda holiday! Well at least it was better than Tuesday:)

Seriously!

This is a photo of my glass shower door in a million little pieces!

I spent over 2 hours on Monday night cleaning it up... it was NOT fun.

It is also NOT inexpensive to replace.

It's my bedtime

This about sum sums up my night:)



For a day that started out pretty good it sure did deteriorate!

From about 5:30 on it went down hill.

Why does that always seem to happen on the nights when Nick works late and I'm doing dinner/ homework/ showers/ bedtime by myself?

The same thing happened last week - there must be a connection.

Grand Dreams

I am already getting SO excited for two Grand Canyon trips that are planned for September of this year.

The first is another "rim to rim to rim" since the first one didn't go exactly as planned for some of us. Jake and I are bound and determined to go both ways, and I think I've even talked Nick into coming! I may even rethink those socks this time around:)


The second is a backpacking trip known as "Thunder River".


(Map Courtesy of Bob's Pixel's )

Hopefully I'll be posting here about these trips 9 months from now.

I don't know if I can stand the wait!

P.S. If you are into the Grand Canyon check out this book... It is pretty cool.

Just because...

I have cute sister-in-laws who like to love on my kids at wedding receptions:)

Messy Room

This happens to be a corner of my bedroom, and my bedroom is always the last to be cleaned. No matter how many things get checked off my list on a given day it seems that the hours run out before I get to my own room.

It's funny because I hate spending all my time cleaning. When a whole day goes by and all I've done is clean, clean, clean I AM happy that the house is tidy.... But I also get really frustrated because it can be ruined within minutes by my little lovelies! Plus I feel guilty that I spent so little time with them while I was doing all this cleaning.

On the other hand I also HATE when the house is a mess. It makes me grouchy! I feel guilty playing with the kids or doing anything fun because... well... the house is a mess!

What a vicious cycle!

On a more positive note, kid chores have been going really well here lately, aside from the occasional melt down because someone's "legs are too tired to walk or clean".

In fact, a couple of days ago Ainsley (7) told me she noticed that when we all work together to get the house clean it goes by faster and it is even fun!

I gave that girl a great big hug because she had just made my day. Hallelujah! Something I taught her is sticking:)

The good news is that lately the house has been cleaner, the kids have had better attitudes about helping, and apparently we have even been having fun cleaning together:)

Sadly, despite the fact that I used the word clean (or a variation of it) ten times in this post, MY room is still a mess!

My favorite reference book...

I LOVE the thesaurus.
It's one of my favorite books.
I know that makes me a huge nerd, but I don't care!
I love words, and I love knowing what they mean.
I like the dictionary for those last two reasons also.
BUT, there is nothing like knowing how to describe something in many different ways.
Synonyms are my friends!
And so that is why the Thesaurus is my favorite book of reference.
THE END

Awesome Stuff From Scratch

This is the first of a new installation I am obviously calling "Awesome Stuff From Scratch".

Today we are highlighting Farrah's Christmas present from her Grandma Porter... right now she is the queen of awesome hand made stuff at our house:)




















Now if this isn't the cutest little baby poncho you've ever seen then you must have seen a lot more of them than I have!

Like it, love it, or can't live without it

Hiking (note to self - don't wear a ponytail in photos!)



















I used to hike with my dad when I was a little girl, and I loved it so much. Then when I got older I kind of lost touch with the hiking part of myself. It has been reignited in the last couple of years thanks to my FIL and SIL and the Grand Canyon:)



















Anyway, I live really close to some great terrain and I wish I could take advantage of it more. I leave you with a trail I hope to continue down sometime soon....

Pensive, Pondering, Preoccupied

Please mind, just let me be
Your constant thoughts flowing
Your contemplations never ceasing
I can't escape you and I NEED peace
Please mind be still and let me be

Please heart, just let me rest
From your sorrows and joys alike
You feel so much
Your overflowing
Please heart be still and let me rest

Dancing with Nick

Funny story

Last weekend we were at my B.I.L.'s wedding reception. Nick's mom came up to me and asked for my cell phone and how to work the camera. Then she told me I had to go dance with Nick while she took our picture since we'd never danced together.

I told her that I was positive that we had danced together before. She said that he had just told her we had never slow danced. I told her he was mistaken! I laughed and laughed. I tried to convince her that we have slow danced, but she made us take the photos anyway:)

And we danced...



















The reason why I was laughing so much is as follows: I can tell you exactly how many times we have slow danced and where we were.
#1 at his friend Justin's wedding
#2 at his little sister's wedding
#3 at his friend Sahba's wedding
#4 this last time at his little brother's wedding

The reason why I remember each one of these dances so clearly is because they all... I repeat, THEY ALL started with him saying "You know we've never even slow danced and we've been together for _____ years!"

I can't wait until the next time he forgets our first dance. It's kind of fun doing it over and over again:)

Tour de Tucson

Here is a picture of Nick and I after completing the Tour de Tucson back in November.

We both look smokin' hot right????

He rode 111 miles (with the flu) and I rode 42 miles (less than 3 months after having a baby... I think that deserves some parenthesis don't you!)

I think we were both a little disappointed in our times, but I keep reminding myself, and Nick, that we didn't do too bad considering the circumstances!

Glad we did it even though neither of us was at our physical best!

Done and Done!

Well it's been one of those days today:(

Crazy kids, crazy mom, messy house, fussy baby, with a lingering headache on top.

Nick is working late tonight and I hope I can make it through the homework, dinner, showers, and bedtime without losing my mind!

I am now resorting to deep breathing in a room by myself... that is except for the child that is attached to me at the moment:) She's been there most of the day, why stop now.

I think it's working, please, please, let it be working!




















I am going to keep looking at a few more photos like this one to remind me of how precious all those little rascals are.

Like it, love it, or can't live without it

All the crazy creatures that live near my house! Sometimes they are gross or scary but I still think it's cool that we see them so close to home:)