Big boy-26 Months

We are trapped in the house! Nope no one is sick thank goodness but someone IS learning to use the potty!
This fellar:

Last week I was just saying how he wasn't ready. We bought him a seat quite a while ago and he wouldn't go for anything. But just the other night as he was getting out of the bath he said "go potty"! He hopped on and went potty and has been going in the potty ever since! I'm thrilled and so is he! He goes in to giggle fits every time he goes. He is so proud and there is a lot of excitement around our house right now.
He wanted to tell his grandparents first thing. He called Nan Suz on the phone and told her all about going potty.
Lots of practicing, lots of sitting in the bathroom, lots of waiting, lots of laughing, lots of celebrating!
Good job buddy! We are proud as can be!
Next step:
Big boy bed

It must be summer....

Happy 1st Day of  Summer!

Heres to:

popsicles, snow cones, ice cream, frozen yogurt, hiking, camping, smelly camp fire hair, roasting marshmallows, dirty feet, yard sales, sunsets, carnivals, rodeos, parades, fireworks, swimming, sprinkler, strawberries (picking & eating), fireworks, horse riding, sunburns (and hopefully, evenutally an actual tan), sticky dirt filled little hands, windows rolled down, BBQ, bike rides, floating P River, road trips, concerts!

summertime and the living's easy!

A song for my Little Boy

Friday night I got a little night on the town sans baby boy and husband. (But sans Zealand and Dan anything I don’t really prefer)But by the end of the night I was so happy I went! Thanks Michelle!

So out for some Guru’s take out and The Rooftop Concert Series.

Although I wasn’t really too familiar with 2 out of the 3 artists I left with a list of music to add to itunes.
The line up:
Ryan Innes
Mindy Gledhill
Meaghan Smith
I came away with two songs to dedicate to each of my boys the one in which I ended up teary eyed. Yes I know.

But just listen to the words of this…


The song for my love ? "poor" By Meaghan Smith.

We will definitely be attending the Joshua James night.The atmosphere on the rooftop with lanterns hanging above and the backdrop of the mountains is summer perfect.

Thanks Michelle for the pics!

Let it rain...

...As long as I have my sweet but VERY sick boy in my arms.

He just wants to be held so while we wait for our oatmeal to cook we turn on some Ben Harper and John Mayer and slow dance while the rain falls on our kitchen window.

Never knew my two year old could be so still. These are the moments I never want to pass...so let it rain. We are cozy and warm inside.

Spring has Sprung!

The title of this post is a big joke. Since really it is still freezing outside and there is a chance of snow in the forecast every week! But we are so happy for the good sunshine days that come along!

 Then when its cold we do things like this....

 And pout a bit....

But Donald Duck can usually cheer us up or Milo & Otis.

Saturday we went on our first hike of the season with some friends. SNOW! Tons of snow. Z and I both wore sandals and the entire hike was up hill in snow. Dan was the smart one and luckily wore some sturdy shoes. A bit slip and slide but it was beautiful still. No pictures of any of our weekend adventures , I left the camera behind every time.  Just imagine it k?

It took 24 years to learn this lesson...

...always keep an extra pair of WEARABLE shoes in the car.


Zealand I think was born to be a farmer/cowboy. He might grow out of it, but this boy has got a passion for all activities that are classified under farming. From the animals, to cultivating, planting, and harvesting the crop. When we are driving in the car and pass a field of horses, bulls, or cows he starts shouting ride! ride! ride! in a panic. Cowboy. In fact if given the chance to shovel some manure, I’m sure he would do it in a hot second he is just that passionate about it.

Saturday we had a whole strew of tentative activities so we decided to ditch nap time for the day and squeeze a select few in. Zealand patiently entertained himself while I cleaned until about noon and then we showered, pulled on our boots (actually I pulled on my sandals and he pulled on his boat shoes) and we headed to The Farm (hee haw farms).

Once we arrived we paid, and within the first step onto the grounds one of my flip flops broke. NOoooooooooooooooo. I was about ready to throw the towel and Zealand back in the car and call the whole day off. Instead I thought to myself I can walk around this dirty farm with no shoes its fine, really it will be fine. Well after about 50 feet of dirt and rocks I was still holding up until we came to the petting zoo. I was not going to walk in poo filled hay in bare feet!

We headed over to the red barn where you purchase tickets and I asked if they had a staple gun. They did! Yes! I was saved, the day was saved! So I took the rope strap part of my sandals and stapled it to the sole, slipped it back on and walked out the door. I was not even five feet before it busted again. I asked for tape this time (really??) so I taped it down and it seemed like it was going to hold…I made it 3 feet.

All the while Zealand is about ready to pull all the red hair right out of his head because he could not wait a second longer to ride the pony!

So I told Zealand we were going to have to go back home, but just then I remembered I had a bag full of clothes in the trunk waiting to be taken to DI. Surely there had to be a pair of shoes in there. And there was. I had a choice of 5 inch bright purple heels that had been a part of a Halloween costume or a pair of 5 inch strappy wedges.

I chose the wedges...

I'm sure I was the actual entertainment of the day at Hee Haw farms.

Especially since Zealand wanted to ride this slide 150 times! I was walking up and down that thing and riding it in those shoes. I still don't understand how I didn't brake my ankles! I'm sure people were laughing their heads off thinking what in the H is that prissy little diva doing here? Except I wasn't "little" I was easily over six feet tall in those things. A 6'2 girl wearing red skinny cords riding down a slide, not something you see everyday. Then when we went over to the big hay bales they were wet and I sunk right in.
 Zealand was completely oblivious to this all. He had the time of his life! He told anyone that would listen "riiidee harse" for the rest of the day! Plus the petting farm was free game. If you could lift it you could hold it! (or not since I saw unattended toddlers tossing poor helpless baby goats onto their heads)
Yes, it was totally worth it.

This is his smile. Two year pictures are going to be fun!

We made it home with  a sunburn, dirt from head to toe, and what was left of my dignity. And what was I thinking letting him go in that outfit? Who knows but it was FILTHY and took about a whole bottle of Oxyclean!
We dusted off and loaded into the car for some Park City Outlet shopping, Mrs. Fields Cookies and a Tarahumara feast.

Two, Dos, Zwei

My sweet, lovey, cutie pie, baby boy turned 2! Fastest 2 years of my life. Best day of his I think so far.

Woke up to the traditional room full of balloons

Found his new tricycle out in the living room and took a spin

 For the birthday breakfast fresh fruit, orange whip cream, and oatmeal pancakes...the boys favorite! Then he got to play all day with his cousins and make cinnamon rolls with Grandma until the festivities started.

Zealand's most favorite thing in the whole world is Donald Duck. We have every Donald Duck cartoon that ever was on DVD and that is all he ever wants to watch.  So I chose that for his B-day party theme. Unfortunately I scoured the planet for anything Donald Duck and all I found was a 30 dollar Donald Duck cake pan online.  So we had to get creative with the cake. I had a picture of Donald Duck printed on fondant at the bakery then I made a coconut cake (Zealand is also obsessed with coconut) and put it on top. The mistake was showing Zealand his cake before we left for the restaurant . The car ride up this is all we heard "duck" "cake" "me" "eat" poor boy had to stare at it all the way there.

Pleased as pie with his "don duck" cake

We ate at The Pie in Fort union. So delicious. The Birthday boy I think maybe licked his cheese bread and that was it. He was too excited for cake!

My Mother in law put the cake in front of Zealand to take a picture and Zealand saw his chance and took it

Trying to get Zealand to sit still for one family picture didn't work out so well

Presents

We went to the new Children's Museum inside of  The Church History and Art building after dinner. It was so much fun and Zealand could have been entertained for hours and it is FREE.99 can't beat that. I recommend that you go if you haven't already.
My party plans were crashed by the weather so I'm happy it all worked out and most importantly Zealand was all partied out by the time we got home.

Oh and my camera had a bad case of red eye and I didn't feel like going through and fixing all them

Graham Crackers & Milk

Strangely enough my boy hadn't been introduced to Graham Crackers & Milk! What???

DIP!

MMM MMMMMM

He loved it. Probably as much as I do. I told him about back in the day when my after school ritual was graham crackers and milk and Saved By The Bell!

I've been wanting to make my own Grahams. Here are a couple recipes I'm considering:
#1
#2
#3





Oh and yes we get full use out of our Christmas pajamas....year round.

I love family

I love family...especially mine.  It is the best thing to be your total self and be totally and 100 percent accepted. That is how my family is.

My cousin Ang and Aunt Trudy who live only 2 hours away I have not seen in about 6 years. I have not met my cousins husband or either of her girls (sad). They came up for a Jazz game (nice, they can come up for the stinky jazz but not for our pleasantly smelling awesomeness). 

So they, my mom and sis, my cousin Aimee and Zealand and I met up for some serious carb intake at the Olive Garden.  The best part was how Zealand thought Ang's husband Josh hung the moon. It was like they have always known each other and Zealand took his permanent seat for the night right on Josh's knee.  We laughed and chatted and mostly talked about how we already pretty much know everything about each others life...credits to Facebook! 
Afterwards we went to my Aunt Connie's house. The kids fought over the tech gadgets (ipads, iphones, and who knows what else) and we had cheese cake with this delicious lemon curd.  And Zealand found Great Uncle Glen and they played with this crazy marble game that my aunt found at a garage sale. Zealand played all night....and let me tell you this thing is LOUD!! I heard it all night in my head after we left! It was a great time and I love my family! Thank you guys for being so rad!
 We sure missed Lisa , Katie, and Gran!

This is the pillow pet my Aunt gave to Zealand. He has to take it everywhere and lately we can not leave the house without it wearing a "jack" (jacket). He is always looking out for his friends.

Notice the turtle sitting in it's very own high chair