Today has the makings of a good day.

My mom's surgery went well. Thank goodness, my stress level is much better today! I think today will be a great day. Yesterday it was 80 degrees, which meant that it only got down to 50 degrees overnight, which meant that we slept with the windows open. Couple that with the fact that Blake slept until 5 this morning and I am a happy momma today. We went to Costco yesterday and we bought a ginormous container of strawberries, yum! We had strawberry shortcake for dinner last night and Mylie and I had strawberry pancakes for breakfast.

I'm off here in a little bit. Mylie is going to Alicia's today and Blake is going to work with me. But first I have to take my car in to get a tire replaced. This will be the 6th tire replaced in 3 years, plus I bet I have had at least 3 tires patched. Tires do not love me. You wouldn't guess I'm the granddaughter of a tire man. Then it is off to luch with Jeff and my friend Linda. Then into work for a bit. No appointments scheduled, but a good opportunity to catch up on the piles of paperwork that await me.

Speaking of tires, being a grown-up sucks. LOL! Normally I would be excited about this economic stimulus check headed our way, but when you are a grown-up, you have to do grown-up things with it. One of the grown-up things we have to do is put new tires on Jeff's car. Anyone doing anything fun with their money?

And one funny Mylie story for the day. Yesterday out of the blue she says to me, "Mom, I want some skechers." What the heck? She is 3! "Mylie," I ask, "how do you know what skeckers are?" "I saw the commercial and now I want some." Oh my, I should email them and tell them that their marketing is really good.

Oh no she didn't ....

Tonight, as we are sitting here watching TV, out of the blue Mylie says, "I wanna watch Chuck Norris." Oh my.

But Mom, I miss Grandma and Papa so much!

We had a special treat today with my Mom and Dad coming to visit. Mylie is head over heels in love with both sets of her grandparents, and she is always so happy when she gets to see either of them. Today was no exception. They met us at Mylie's soccer this morning and she enjoyed showing off. Afterwards we went to lunch and then Mylie was excited because she got to go in Papa's big truck and go to the 4-wheeler store. (This is the part of the day where she sits on the small 4-wheelers and then comes home and tells us she wants one.) We spent the afternoon at our house, Mylie had to show them everything, the backyard, her room, the can of paint for her new room. She played and played, and went on a walk with Grandma and Papa. When it was time for them to leave, my heart broke right along wth hers. As they were getting in the truck she got really quiet and her eyes welled up with tears. I picked her up and she buried her head in my shoulder and sobbed, "But Mom, I miss Grandma and Papa so much!" Even though she is such a busy, crazy, little girl, she is so tenderhearted.

Mom and Dad just couldn't get enough of Blake ... but really, he is so stinkin' cute, I can't get enough of him either. It had been about 6 weeks since they saw Blake last and of course he has grown so much. He was so smiley and Mylie had him laughing for them. It was a great visit.



And one last note ... if you are reading this then you are my friend or family, so if you could, would you mind saying an extra prayer on Monday for my Mom? She is having surgery that day and although I know she will be OK, I just love her so much and want everything to go smoothly and want her to have a quick recovery. The kids and I will be going over on Thursday morning and stay until Monday to help. Mylie is counting down the days until we go. She can't wait to see her Grandma and Papa again!

When quiet time is actually quiet ...

It equals happy time for the Momma. Just a few shots from Monday afternoon.

What do you love lately?

Things I am totally loving lately:

• Dark chocolate M&Ms. Oh my gosh, I love these. I have never been a dark chocolate fan. In fact in college, Jen (my roommate) would always eat dark chocolate and I always thought "ick!" Now, I simply can't get enough of it. Dark chocolate M&Ms make me so happy (especially with a cold diet coke, yum!) If you haven't tried them yet, do it!
• HGTV. How did I not know about HGTV? It is my new favorite thing on TV. I even find Jeff switching the channel to it now. We like to watch "House Hunters" at night. Especially the International version, then we curse the people who are buying a vacation home in Costa Rica.
• My camera. I got a new camera (a DSLR if that means anything) recently and I can't stop taking pictures. The more I take pictures, the more I see things differently. Good thing Mylie likes having her picture taken.
• Blogging. As you can probably tell by my increased blogging. But I love it for a couple reasons ... I love to scrapbook, it is one of my favorite things to do. Of course with two I am finding a little less time to do that and I am finding that I don't remember things as well. But it is really easy to get on the computer and jot down funny stories or things that my kids said. Then I know right where they are to go back and find them when I have time to scrapbook. And secondly, I love getting the inside look into my siblings', friends' and cousins' lives. It is so fun to read about their day to day lives and see pictures of them and/or their families.

So, what are you loving lately?

What do you say during the day?

So I thought it would be fun/interesting to see what phrase everyone says the most during the day and have them post it here. At work, the phrase I say the most is, "Do you know what the legal age to smoke/drink is in Idaho? And you still did it?" (Hopefully I won't have to use that one at home!) At home, I think what I say the most is, "GET OFF YOUR BROTHER!" (Mylie is overly affectionate with Blake sometimes.) So, what do you say most in the day? Everyone chime in (that includes you Bailey!)

P.S. I say "I love you" a lot too, most days. :)

Happy Monday!

Trying to get some of his happiness captured. I am happy too, because he slept from 8:30 p.m until 6:30 a.m. I don't know how I got so lucky to have two kids that are awesome sleepers! Happy Monday to all (it's still cold here.) Can you hear the singing from "Enchanted" in the background on the video? Mylie loves this movie, and it is a good movie for moms too (how can you go wrong with Patrick Dempsey?). And yes, we have watched it twice today already.

The weather.

I usually think that the weather is a conversation topic suitable for when there is nothing else to talk about, it is neutraul, non-partisian, and quite frankly, boring. But seriously, the weather is the main topic of conversation lately because it is so dang crazy! Now, if I still lived in Idaho Falls, it wouldn't be that crazy that Mylie was in a skirt and no jacket yesterday, and that it started snowing at soccer this morning (it was so cold!). But that is why we live in Boise, normally we would be in full swing spring/pre-summer here. But instead we have this crazy weather thing going on.

Yesterday was truly a beautiful day. We had some errands to run and I told Mylie that if she was good we would go to the park on our way home. She was super and so around 3 we went to the park and ended up staying until about 5. We went home and I was starting to think about dinner, and Jeff and I decided it was too beautiful to be inside. So we packed some chips and sodas, stopped at Subway for "$5 footlongs" and headed to the Eagle park. Mylie loves picnics and playing at the park, so she was a happy kid. After playing for a while, we decided to take a walk along the greenbelt ... mostly because I wanted to take some pictures of Mylie (because I don't have enough). We had fun having a little photo shoot, she is a good sport.

Kind of random, but there was a stack of hay along the greenbelt. Thankfully Mylie did not break any bones when I kept having her jump off so I could take a picture.

Awww, I feel pretty lucky that these boys belong to me.

And here are my most favorite things in the world!

And a few silly Mylie stories:

• When Jeff says something she doesn't like, she says "Whatever Jeff Breach!"
• Right now she is singing "I see France, I see France, I see Daddy's underpants!" (and yes, Jeff is dressed)
• Yesterday we are driving behind a corvette and she says, "Wow Mom, that is a cool car!"
• When she wants to do something she says, "Here's the deal Mom..."

What a weird kid!

Love this baby!

So tired!

Didn't get home from work until 8:30.
Have another stack of work to do tonight (a long story).
Can't think of the last time I went to bed at 10:15 p.m.
But I am heading that way right now!
Goodnight! (Blake will probably wake up as soon as I fall asleep, Jeff said he fell asleep at 6.)

No sunshine in my soul today

48 degrees after nearly 80 is just not fair! It was a long day. Blake has been a bit fussy the last few days. He wants to eat or be held all the time. I have figured out that there is a direct correlation between what time I take a shower and how good the day will be. The earlier I get showered (like before the kids get up) the better the day is. Today I didn't get a shower until 4 p.m. Take a guess at my day.

And yes, it is 1 a.m., I just finished a huge stack of work that I had to get done tonight but couldn't even start until the kids went to bed. Hopefully I will get to bed soon, but since I had my hands full with the kids today, I didn't get ironing done so that is next on my list. Ironing is like a whole new domestic thing I have never had to do. LOL. While Jeff worked for the Sheriff's office they paid for his dry cleaning every week, so I never had to iron. Prior to that, it was rare, just for Sundays or days he had to be in Court. Now that he is the boss, it is shirts and ties everyday.

So I am off to iron, but at least I am going to watch HGTV while I do (a whole other post coming about how this is my new favorite thing on TV). No pictures today, but I am determined to get some cute ones of Blake in the next couple days.

Yay! More sunshine!

So I am on a roll with pictures and blogging this week. It was a beautiful day again today and we took advantage of it. We spent the afternoon at the zoo with Melissa and the kids. I tell you, our zoo pass is one of the best $50 we spend each year. We spend many afternoons there and Mylie just loves it. It was Blake's first trip, but of course, he just snoozed the whole time.

Lots of pictures to share today. Look how beautiful these flowers are! I love them and want a tree like this at my house. Court, what kind is it?

So I tell Mylie to get close to the tree so I can take her picture. Atta girl, no little rope fence is going to stop her!

But alas, a 3 1/2 year old can only take getting her picture taken so many times before she gets some attitude. Look at that! Ooooh the teen years should be fun.
There we go with a cheesy smile!
The weather is just crazy here. It was in the mid-70s today and is supposed to be 45 tomorrow. Ugh. I am so ready for real spring to be here. I have this fear that we will skip spring altogether and go from 45 to 105.

Earlier in the day the kids and I made a trip to Costco. Two stories ... the funny one first. Mylie is in the cart and she is reading the list to me. No, she can't read, but our Costco list is nearly the same everytime, so she can just recite it pretty much verbatim. So we are walking along and there is an aisle that sometimes has scrapbook stuff on it. So I say, "Mylie, lets go look at the scrapbook stuff." To which Mylie responds, "No Mom, its not on the list!" (Wonder if she's been talking to Daddy, lol!) The not so funny story, I bought a 10 lb bag of sugar and put it in the back of the car. When we got home, 1 lb of sugar was still in the bag and 9 lbs of sugar was all over the back of my car. Ugh! What a mess. I'm not sure if the bag had a hole or if something poked it. Maybe it was meant to be to help out my diet. If I don't have sugar, I really can't make chocolate chip cookies. Hmmm, I'll have to think of it that way. LOL!

There is sunshine in my soul today

Just a regular Sunday at our house today. A lazy morning, then church at 1. It was in the high 70s today and so this afternoon we decided we needed to go to the park. Mylie wanted to take her scooter so we thought we would walk the greenbelt, but when we got to the park and she saw the toys any ideas of a walk/scooter ride were long gone. I, of course, was being the paparazzi following her around with my camera. I love taking pictures of my kiddos, but also just really love photography. I love this picture of Mylie in the tunnel. Look how blue her eyes are! Here are a few others.



Can I share my biggest pet peeve about the park? People who sit in the playground area and smoke. I just don't get it, hello ... its a kids area. The beautiful weather brought out some interesting (stoned) people to the park today, so we didn't stay as long as Mylie would have liked. But it is supposed to be beautiful tomorrow again (yay!). This sunshine is good for my soul ... everything looks better when it is nice outside. Trees are starting to flower here and daffadils are blooming, I really love spring!

Mylie got to give the scripture today in Primary. I videoed her practicing it at home. It is Amos 3:7. She did a great job and thought that talking into the microphone was pretty cool. She is growing up so fast!

Mini road trip

So we were going to go to Salt Lake for the weekend to visit Bailey and meet up with Ben and Holli and go to the zoo. Then as we were thinking about how it would be close to 6 p.m. before we could leave on Friday night and then we remembered how much 10 week olds don't like to travel, we reconsidered. Instead we decided to stay home and just enjoy the weekend. And what a beautiful weekend. It was in the high 60s today and is supposed to be in the 70s tomorrow. We decided this afternoon that we would take a little road trip to Idaho City (about an hour away). I was having fun playing around with my camera, so here are a few pictures.





I love this last one and I realize I have many shots just like this, but in different locations. It sums up Jeff and Mylie's relationship, best friends. He simply adores her and loves spending time with her. She loves him so much and always wants to be with him. The other day the kids and I went to Caldwell to go to lunch with Jeff. Afterwards we dropped him off at his office. About a block away I looked in the backseat and Mylie had tears running down her face. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that she just missed her Daddy so much. What a sweet little girl. As we were on our drive today I just felt so happy and content with our little family!

Conversation with Grandma

Last week I just had this feeling that I needed to teach Mylie how to call Jeff, just in case something ever happened at home to me, she would be able to get ahold of him. He is on the speed dial on my cell phone, so we practiced and practiced holding down the #3 until it beeped so it would call Daddy. Well now she wants to call him constantly and I have to remind her that he is at work and we can't just call him all day. The other morning I am in the shower (heaven forbid I actually take a shower) and I get out and Mylie is sitting on my bed on the phone with Jeff. After I take the phone away she tells me that she called Grandma too, because she is #2. Well #2 is our house phone, and sure enough, there was Mylie on the answering machine leaving a message. I laughed and didn't think much more of it.

Fast forward to this morning, at breakfast with Jeff's parents. Mary asks me if Mylie told me that she called her the other morning. Apparently this is how their conversation went:

Mylie: Hi Grandma.
Grandma: Hi Mylie. What are you doing?
Mylie: I'm supposed to be watching Spongebob, but my Mommy is in the shower so I am on her cell phone.
Grandma: Oh. Where is Blake?
Mylie: He's on the purple pillow (boppy), I'm not supposed to jump on him.

And apparently the conversation continued, because when I went through my calls, it was over a 4 minute call. I seriously cannot figure this out. Their number is programed into my phone, but isn't on speed dial. I have no clue how she called them. So I guess instead of worrying about if Mylie would be able to get ahold of Jeff if something happened at home, I should worry about the fact that everyone on my cell phone would know about it! What a kid!

Grandma's birthday

Jeff's mom's birthday was this week and we are going out to breakfast with them tomorrow. I finished her present tonight (because I truly am a procrastinator). Anyway, I just thought it was cute and wanted to share. They are stepping stones for her garden ... aren't they cute? It is also very true!

"Hey Bubba"

Bubba is what Mylie and I call Blake when we want to get a big smile from him. Works like a charm everytime!

Things that happen at home while I am not there.

While I am at work tonight ...

• Mylie and Jeff are watching TV and LL Cool J comes on. Mylie says, "Whoa Dad, that guy must have to say 'welcome to the gun' show a lot."
• And apparently her new favorite show is Walker, Texas Ranger.

I am not making this stuff up!

Random things...

Finally everyone is feeling better, thankfully it was short lived and by the next day we were back to our regular routine. The only good thing about everyone being home sick was that Jeff finally got to watch "Enchanted" with Mylie and I. We watch it often, but he hadn't seen it yet. My favorite part ... when Gisele and Morgan go shopping and Morgan asks, "Is this what it is like to go shopping with your mother?" and Gisele says, "I don't know but I like it." No matter how many times we watch it, at this part Mylie snuggles up to me and says,"I love to go shopping with my mother!" So cute! Love this kid.

So some random things from the past few days ...
Mylie got her hair cut last week. She just got a couple inches trimmed. She was such a big girl during her haircut and of course, she looks so cute.


We are so ready for spring! We had a little teaser the other day, but it didn't stay. BUT it is supposed to be in the 60s this weekend and hit 70 on Sunday. Hallelujah! Mylie and I have been shopping for spring/summer clothes for her in hopes of it getting warmer. It is about time. She was wearing shorts by mid-March last year.

Now tell me whose little boy this is. Somedays I call Blake Jeff's little mini-me. There is a striking resemblance between the two. Lately Mylie has been qutie a Momma mini-me.
Stories: **The other day I am in the bathroom doing my hair and she is my room trying to entertain Blake for me. He was unhappy and kept spitting out his binky. Mylie says to him, "Blake! Heavenly Father gave you ears so you could listen. Now listen to me and keep your binky in!" I was laughing so hard!
**Yesterday I didn't have to work so we seriously had lazy day. Mylie, Blake and I just had a movie party. I had brought my laptop into the TV room so I could do some stuff (surf the Internet) while we were watching movies. Mylie promptly goes and gets her "computer" and lays on the couch and told me she was sending emails.
**She will sit there with her Dora cell phone pushing the buttons. When I ask her what she is doing, she tells me she is texting!

We had a nice lazy weekend with a soccer game on Saturday morning and then hanging out at home the rest of the weekend and watching Conference. It was a great time to be together as a family. Back in the swing of things today though (well as soon as I get off the computer and gt showered). I have to work today and Blake goes to Alicia's (daycare) for his first real day ... well actually half day. He has gone a couple times for an hour or so, but this will be his first chunk of time. I miss him already! I totally trust Alicia and know he'll be fine there, but it is hard to be away from a little baby. Sniff, sniff.

4 out of 4

people at this house felt like crap today. Grrr!

Big boy!

Blake had his two month appointment today (how did it get to be two months already?) He is doing great, healthy and happy. He weighs 13 lbs and 15 oz and is 23.75 inches long. (Apparently there is cream in these things.) He had to get 4 shots and 1 oral vaccination. I was remembering how at Mylie's first shots it was so sad and she had this heartbroken look on her face like "Momma, you are supposed to love me." Blake, on the other hand, simply got mad. His face got as red as a tomato, all scrunched up, screamed for about 30 seconds and then fell fast asleep and didn't stir for an hour. So funny!

No pictures today. I took a cute one on my cell phone and have a funny story about it ... I send out this picture from my cell phone to a couple people and Courtney texts me to see if I can send it again because it didn't go through. So I am scrolling through my pictures to get to it and there are 3 pictures of Blake from yesterday that I didn't take. Yes, Mylie can totally work the camera on my cell phone when I am not looking. Usually I just find random pictures of things on there, but it was so cute, pictures of her little brother.

On a not so cute note ... Mylie seems to finally be better, but now Jeff has what she had. He had to go into work for a few hours, but came shortly after and is still misreable. Blake has terrible diarhea, which happened too soon after his shots to be a side effect, so I think he has the stomach bug too. Likely I will get it tomorrow, when I am suppsed to be in Court. Isn't that how it works?