Angry

Even when she's angry, she's gorgeous, in my humble opinion. 

I can't remember what she was mad about.  Those big brown eyes were giving me the "how dare you" stare down, so I took a picture.  I think we got over the issue at hand within another minute or two, and continued with our delightful Sunday.

Someone Super Cool!

My big brother's birthday was yesterday.  Judging from the picture below, you can see how awesome he is!  I mean, he was pretty amazing back in the day (see picture), so you can imagine what he's like now.

Yeah, if your jealous of me for having such a cool big brother, you should be.  Cause he's really great.  I mean, he would force ask me to do karate matches with him when we were growing up.  Because of Jimmy, I've got some mad kung fu skills.  Seriously, don't mess.  My big brother would also set up our toy closet, and play store with me for hours.  Not only that, but he would sometimes let my Barbies play with his G.I. Joes when we were playing war.  My Barbies always died off pretty quick, but still, the fact is, they were there during our epic battles.

In all seriousness, I really do love my brother Jimmy (I think I'm one of the last people to still call him that.  I think he mostly goes by Jim, but he's cool, so he lets me call him whatever I want).  He tortured me a bit growing up, but I think I bugged him enough to make it even.  Even through all the bugging, teasing, and torturing, there was love.  I have some special memories of moments with Jimmy giving me advice, bear hugs, and hanging out.  Now we're all grown up and live thousands of miles apart.  I don't get to see my big brother that much, but when I do, I get to see what an awesome husband, father, and man he's become.  Not only is he still a great person, but when he's play-fighting with his son, you can see that he can still kung fu like nobody's business!

Happy Birthday Jimmy!

Utah Trip

Last weekend Jim, the kids, and I drove to Utah for my cousin's wedding.  We crashed at my parents' very nice hotel, and spent a super, albeit, quick weekend with family.  It was a lot of fun.

Swimming at the hotel pool with Tralee.  There were some goggles that someone had left behind that we let Tralee use, and she LOVED them.  I wish I would have taken a picture of her with them on, because her whole head would go down in the water and stay there longer than I thought she could.  She would come up for air, and then go right back under.  After a while we made her take off the life jacket and give swimming a whirl without it.  She did really well.  I guess we need to invest in some goggles for her.  Hopefully by the end of her next swim lessons she'll be a confidant swimmer.

Here's my mother swimming with Hunter.  She put him in this swimsuit/floating thing that was also up for grabs in the hotel's swim stuff.  Hunter looked funny, but he loved the thing.

Tralee would swim all day if we let her, but yeah, the life jacket has to go at some point.  She loves just floating in the water, but we don't want it to be a crutch.

My mom and her sister, my Aunt Lorie.  I used to go visit my Aunt Lorie and her six girls in Utah when I was younger.  I didn't have any sisters, so going to a house full of nothing but girls (Uncle Jack aside) was lovely.

They're kind of funny when they're together.

Jim with Uncle Dave.  Uncle Dave is the youngest sibling on my mom's side.  Dave's a hugger.  Jim decided to beat Dave to the hugs, so every time Jim saw Dave, he went in for the hug whether Dave wanted one or not!

My Mom's dad (my grandpa) and my dad looking all spiffy outside the Bountiful Temple

My kids found a roley poley.  It kept them busy for quite a while.

Waiting for the reception to start.

He's just so cute!

I took some model portfolio shots for Jim (hardy har har).  He struck this pose all on his own, without any encouragement from me.  That mark on his face was a kiss from Tralee after she put on some of my lipstick.  Jim kept it on all night.  He said, "when you're my age and a sweet young thing gives you a kiss, you leave on the lipstick."  What he said was cuter than that actually, I can't remember his exact words, but you get the gist.

My mom and dad.

They've been married for 35 years, and still like to kiss.  That's nice. . . and gross.

Throwing those helicopter leaf things in the air.

Dad, Mom, Aunt Lori, and my grandma (Mom's mom).  Something was funny.

Tralee looking all cute in hat her Aunt Adrienne gave her.

Can you see that little eye peeking through?  Hunty thought he was pretty funny for taking off his pants and wearing them on his head.  It actually was pretty funny.

Overall, our weekend in Utah was great!  On Saturday after the reception we went out for sushi with some of Aunt Lorie's daughters (the same ones mentioned above) and their husbands.  It was nice catching up, and getting to know everyone a little better as adults (I haven't hung out with some of my cousins since they were little).  My family is the greatest, and I wish the weekend would have lasted a bit longer.  Oh well.  I have a lot of cousins on my mom's side, so chances are there will be another wedding in no time! 

Sleeping

The other night I fell asleep on the couch watching a movie.  I'm not sure what time I woke up and headed off to bed, but when I made it to my bedroom, the bed was empty.  Where was Jim?  After checking on Hunter and covering him back up with the blanket he kicked off, I made my way to Tralee's room.  Jim was there, and he and Tralee looked so cute together, I took a few pictures.

They looked so peaceful, I just left them and headed back to bed.  When I woke up in the morning Jim was by my side.  Eventually Tralee and Hunter found their way into our bed, and we spent the first part of the morning smiling at each other with our tired eyes.  After a few minutes one of the children announced they were hungry, so we all got up, made some pancakes, and went about our day.

I love my little family.

Birthday Night

We went out for my birthday the night after I turned the big 3-0.  First dinner as a family, then back home to eat birthday cake.  Jim bought me an ice cream cake, and it was delish.  The kids helped me blow out the candles, and we had a great night together.

Jim lighting the candles as the kids sampled the cake.  

Being sung to.

Blowing out the candles.

The candles kept re-lighting.  Tralee thought it was funny, Hunter took it as his personal job to make sure each of the candles would be blown out and STAY out.

Hunter was serious about getting those candles to stay out.

Attack of the birthday cake cutter.

I loved spending my birthday with my favorite people.  I'm blessed.

The Farmstead Birthday Adventure

My birthday was yesterday.  I'm 29 again!  Wahoo!  Ok, I'm 30.  I'm not sure if this is something to be happy about, or if I should start looking for a good hip replacement doctor.  Either way, my birthday was a blast yesterday.  Tralee's preschool group scheduled a field trip to go to The Farmstead, and the field trip day just happened to be on my birthday. I was almost more excited than the kids to go have an adventure at this fall festival type place.  And. . . it WAS quite the adventure!

We started out visiting the farm animals.  This pony got a little curious with Hunter.

Hello goats!

We had a little learning session with the guy in charge.  Tralee answered every question he threw at the group.  Although, I might have to work on the whole raise-your-hand-and-wait-to-be-called-on thing with Tralee.  She's so eager to please and eager to be right, she just shouted out each answer.

We then helped the farmer feed the ponies, goats, and cows.

Pumpkin photo op

Weather wise, our Farmstead adventure wasn't the greatest.  It rained on and off all day.  My kids didn't seem to mind, so I didn't really care.  It made for a great adventure later on in the day (keep reading, and you'll see what I'm talking about).  Tralee's took a ride in the cow train.  It started down pouring right when I got her settled on the ride.

Tralee was a trooper, and smiled all through her rainy cow ride.

I wasn't sure if I should let Hunter take a ride, since any other ride we've tried he wants off after 30 seconds.  However, he assured me that he did, in fact, want a ride.  So, I strapped in my two-year-old, told him he couldn't stand up or try to get out, and watched as the tractor pulled him away. 

 It turns out Hunter loved his cow train ride, and this was what happened when I told him when his ride was over, and he had to get out:

We went through a hay maze.  That was fun.

The kids played in some corn.  The little boy sitting next to Tralee is in her Sunbeams class at church, and in her preschool group.  Tralee talks about him ALL THE TIME!  She even prays about him.  I think she might have some tender little feelings for her friend Alex.

Hunter was so proud to climb to the top of the slide all by himself.

Once at the top of the slide, he wanted nothing with going down the slide.  I went up and went down the slide with him.  I should have got a mommy award, because my bum got all muddy from sliding with him.  A muddy bum doesn't look great, just FYI.

 A lot of the preschool group left earlier in the day.  We stuck it out to the bitter end.  It's a good thing we did, because the sun decided to stay out and play for a while.  Tralee was also excited to go on a hayride with Alex and his sister.

Okay, I don't know why, but the picture below cracks me up every time I look at it.  What are those little brains thinking?  These were the pumpkins they each picked out.  I wanted a picture of them with their pumpkins, and this is what I got.  Silly kids.

 Remember when I told you I think Tralee likes Alex?  Doesn't the picture below say it all?  I also think it's funny because he's probably thinking about tractors, or trucks, or some other boyish stuff, and Tralee's probably thinking how much she likes her friend.

Also, remember when I said we had a bit of an rain-induced adventure later on?  Well, this is the part where that adventure took place.  First, check out the pics of the kids' feet before and after our muddy visit to the pumpkin patch:

I thought the picture above would be about as muddy as we got.  I was wrong.  Our tractor pulled the hayride tralior thing into the ditch and couldn't get out.  Check out the picture below.

 So, we all had to unload off the hayride, and stand in the mud-mud-muddiness while the driver pulled himself out of the ditch.  Everyone had to hike through the deep mucky mud to get back on the trailer.  Some little kids lost their shoes.  It was pretty funny.  I laughed the whole time watching the situation go down.

Check out our little muddy buddies after we got back on the hayride:

I'm glad I put Tralee in her rain boots.  Good thinking!  I ended up taking Hunter's shoes off the rest of our stay.  I just carried him around.  

Below are a few pics of the kids jumping on the big pillow thing.

Look at the stride this girl has!  Future track star?  Maybe!

I love the next few pics of my little darlings.

We had a great day at Farmstead, rain, mud, and all.

After our little field trip, I took my kid-os to TCBY for my favorite frozen yogurt treat.  I ALWAYS get the white chocolate soft serve swirled with the fruity sorbet flavor of the day in a waffle cone.  It's my favorite treat in the WHOLE world!  My mouth waters just thinking about it.  I let each of my bambinos pick their own flavors, and we sat, chatted about our adventures, and ate our treat.

We left TCBY, came home and ate lunch (yes, we had dessert before our meal, you can do that kind of thing on your birthday), relaxed for a bit, and then I took the kids to a friend's house (Thanks again Clair!) to be babysat while I went to a dance class downtown.  It was a free class that taught you the Thriller dance, and since Jim and I are going to perform it with others the end of the month, I thought I better go dance it with my fellow zombies.  Jim WAS going to come with me, and we were going to make a date out of it, but his flight was canceled, so he didn't get home in time.  I just went by myself.  I was reminded that I need to get out of my comfort zone a bit more, because I had a lot of fun grooving like a zombie with some hilarious people.

After zombie-ing it up, I tucked my babes into bed, and fell into dreamland myself.  I woke up when Jim came home at midnight.  He walked over to me in bed, scooped my up in his arms, gave me a kiss, and wished me a happy birthday.  It was the perfect way to cap off my twenties.