Side Note

So my husband, being the sometimes cheapskate that he is, told me we should just make AJ's cake this year. Why pay $16-$20 dollars for a bakery made cake, when you can cheaply make one from home. Well here is my answer to this question... Would you rather eat this?or this? Yes folks, this is my pathetic excuse for a cake, and no a five year old did not make it. I would also like to thank the makers of You totally saved me on my busy day of baking. After using your entirely cement like frosting on my son's cake, I didn't have to squeeze in my weight lifting session for the day. Easy Squeeze? For who? Professional Body Builders? I have a new slogan for you... 'We Build Cakes, and Muscles' :)

Little Man Turns 2!

I can't believe my little Andy has actually turned two. His birthday came in with quite a bang and a turn with the stomache flu. Because of this, we had to postpone his birthday party. I was tempted to go exchange his present for that bubble I talked about in an earlier post, but decided that his bike would have to do. We had a small party on Saturday (though his birthday was earlier in the week), and he got some cute clothes, oh sorry, totally manly clothes, and some cars.

Because it is his birthday and he is growing up so fast I wanted to reflect on those things he can do today that he couldn't do just one year ago. In no particular order:
1) Say "Mommy, I yant that"
2) Try to go potty (he actually went for the first time the day before his birthday, but he sort of missed- oh well, I wouldn't want to have to navigate those waters if I were a guy)
3) Talk on the phone
4) Clean up the milk he spills (of course he just spills it again, but at least he tries)
5) Throw a mean temper tantrum
6) Devise distraction methods when he really wants something (like make a mess in the bathroom and while you clean it up sneak his own fruit snacks in the kitchen)
7) Pull the kitchen chairs into any room he wants to in order to reach things up high.
8) Say he loves me and will see me later when I drop him off at the babysitter
9) Dance like there's no one watching, but of course we all are watching (it's cute)
10) Fake cry (the boy is destined for stardom, he can even squeeze out fake tears)
11) Sing songs he hears on the radio
12) Come home from the babysitter and say "Tyty, Kay-ya, I'm home!"
13) Say "Daddy go work now?" seventeen times, even after he just watched Jerry walk out the door to go to work
14) Play with cars for at least an hour (I can actually get things done once in a while)
15) Help daddy with yard work
16) Pretend to drive the car and say "Bye, bye mom, I go work now"
17) Watch at least half of a video without getting into trouble
18) Love Mickey Mouse (Yay, he takes after his mom)
19) Copy almost anything he hears you or anyone else on TV say
and finally...
20) Give me hugs and kisses (this is big for him- he is not a cuddly kind of guy)

We love you Andy... And let the Terrible Twos commence!

Here are some random pics of his birthday party. They are pretty much hideous, reminding me once again how badly I need a new camera, and that I need to be the photographer. Jerry never gets closeups.

Photo Op

My awesome friend Jill took these adorable pictures of the family. I am truly amazed she could get anything this good. Andrew was a stinker times thirty and wouldn't sit still for three seconds. I can't believe how old my kids are getting, especially since I have just consistently stayed the same age for the last four years. Weird? Yes... But not impossible. :) Enjoy looking at my beautiful family and don't be jealous of my youthfulness. You can have this same georgeousness too, with not too many products. (If you are wondering if I am joking, just check out some of my earlier posts. :)

Staycation Spring Break

Spring break happens around here in mid-April, not May. However, I have currently been trying to be as lazy as I possibly can and am now just posting what we did for Spring Break this year. My fingers are already cramping up from the use. Therefore, in as shortened version as possible, here are our break highlights.
-Wednesday sat around being bored, decided to have another part of my varicose veins fixed on Thursday in the hopes I would get some good painkillers, and be in a tired stupor the rest of the time.
-Thursday, alas, legs feel perfectly fine. No painkillers needed at all. *SIGH* have to actually plan something fun to do.
-Friday, trip to the Living Planet Aquarium near the point of the mountain. Turns out to be not as lame as I thought it might be. Bought a season pass since I could pretty much sit and watch fish in a tank all day. Very relaxing! That is until I lose my "almost" two year old for 20 minutes. Find him playing in a fake canoe, completely not worried at all that he hasn't seen us for while. (*Note: my husband took this photo. I actually try to get people's faces when I take pictures. :)
After aquarium go to the Mayan for dinner. Once again, food is, how do I put this politely...barfy. However, get best seats in the house, kids have a blast, ends up being a very fun night.



-Saturday, trip to the Ogden Dinosaur Park w/Grandpa and Grandma, cousins, and Mindi and Jason. Andy is a crazy 2 year old the whole time, until I make him "scared" of the dinosaurs, then good. Nice day, lots of sun, Grandpa tries driving a different way and takes an hour longer getting home than he needs to (my dad has done this since I was little, so not a surprise, unfortunately). Another fun day.




-Sunday, recover from all the greatness. Start planning my Staycation for next year.

Props to the British Lady

I just wanted to do a shout-out to Susan Boyle. She might have caterpillar eyebrows, a two pillow body, and some frizzy hair, BUT...
The woman can sing!
I almost cried watching this because she was brave and lived her dreams. Check one off her bucket list. If you don't know who I'm talking about following this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY-rXfy8U7w&feature=related

*Sorry, you'll have to copy and paste into the address window, but I'm still not technology savvy with this blogger stuff. Oh, and if anyone knows how you get the words that are bigger and a different font in your posts, let me know. I'm still learning.

The First Tiny Babystep

If you read my bucket list post you know that one of the things I posted was to get a book published, so I just joined a Writer's Group and had my first meeting with other fellow wanna-be authors. I have to say...It...was...so...much...fun! (You were expecting a sarcastic comment weren't you?) I had one of those "Wow, I'm right where I should be" kind-of moments. Everyone was so funny and talented and gave such great feedback. I am really excited about it. For once in my life I said I am going to do something, and I am actually working to do it. I am currently working on my first YA novel and am loving it. I wish I had more time to concentrate without getting up to get drinks and break up fights every two seconds, but you know those are the dangers of doing stuff for yourself when you are a mom. Also, I am in charge of our meeting next month and have to come up with an agenda and things for us to do and work on in our writing. Anyone have any good suggestions?

200 and Counting...Grey Hairs That Is

My whole life I have always thought that I would grow old gracefully. As a 17 minus high school student I pretty much pictured myself looking like those old ladies on TV with pristine skin and white, perfectly manicured hair that could still do the splits in their sixties. I was looking forward to being old enough that I could say whatever I wanted, rude or otherwise, and people would just say, "Oh, she's just old...pay no attention to her". As this has begun to occur however, I want to go back to that young and totally unappreciative girl and slap her silly.
So about a year ago, I found my first grey hair. No big deal. I pulled it out and tossed it carelessly into the garbage. I didn't realize that this grey hair had friends and that they would be angry for the loss of their brother. (I assume that a grey hair would be male-I don't know why) The grey hair family has now launched an assault on my head in retaliation, and I have to admit I hate it! How can the rest of your hairs be so soft and pleasant and those grey hair ones so coarse and hard to pull out? Every time I take a shower there is all this hair in the drain, but strangely enough not even one is a grey hair. It's like they have a mind of their own and really strong grips, which is probably why I assume they are male. I also have not been able to make it into my hair dresser who has been on vacation, so I have a large landing strip down the middle of my head and the grey hairs are shining beacons of light down the sides of it. Truly Hideous!
As if the grey hair army is not enough, the wrinkles have also formed an alliance with the grey hair generals and are marching a frontal assault right between my eyes. Suddenly every time I look in the mirror I find a new little canyon forming. Can anyone say Botox? Or more importantly can anyone tell me where the free Botox fairy lives? I will admit that I never wanted Botox before, but that was when I naive, stupid, and still thinking that I would grow old gracefully. How is it that my morning beauty regime five years ago was this...And now my morning regime consists of this? Yep growing old is expensive.
The final old age problem is my legs. I have the most aweful, horrible, ugly legs you have ever seen. (No, a picture will not be included here) Varicose veins would be shouting a "We're not worthy" at the monstrosities on my legs. I will admit right now that I have not worn shorts in over five years because of this. (Yes, I am that woman wearing long pants at the swimming pool.) I even went to Vegas last year and wore jeans in 105 degree heat. So... finally I am doing something about it. I have an appointment in one week to start getting my legs fixed.
YAY ME! This summer might be my first summer in five years that I wear shorts. My daughter encouraged me even further by telling me, "Wow mom, you could actually buy a cute skirt for once." This was right after her comment of, "You're getting the purple lines fixed? What are you going to do about the fat?" So daughter...I am setting a wonderful example for you right now. The example being "Only try to change the things that you can pay to fix", oh and I might need to add Lipo to my list of fixables.