Utah Vacation

I am really late posting about this trip because I left my camera....in my mom's rental car. So it is in Ohio until it gets sent back to me. These pictures have been stolen from Facebook and other sites! But anyway, Kate and I were lucky enough to make a trip to Utah to see 2 of our great friends! The excuse for the trip was my dear friend April's wedding. The best part was that my great friend from college Corteiga lives near Salt Lake and we got to spend almost a week with them! It was perfect...spending time with two of my favorite people! So here are some pictures of Corteiga and I with our kiddos.

While we were there it was freezing! We didn't pack warm enough...so Kate borrowed some of Oakley's warmer things. She looks hilarious stuffed in this coat!

Kate loved playing with Oakley and T! She has been so bored now that we are home. I can tell she is thinking, "Mom, where are my friends?" or maybe she is just thinking "Mom you are boring" Its hard to tell with her!

We got to go the the Children's museum in Salt Lake. Kate LOVED (and when I say loved I mean was totally obsessed) with the water station. I tried to put a water proof jacket on her and she threw a huge tantrum. I was embarrassed. She was that kid. You know the one you see in public and you think---wow that mom really needs to control her child. Well I guess that is going to be me for awhile now. I pray this stage won't last long! Anyway, I finally pried (and yes I do mean I used force.) her away from the water so that we could see more things in the museum. But my daughter is determined, and apparently not easily distracted. She kept trying to run away and go back downstairs to the water. I was about ready to throw in the towel with this whole 'being a mom' thing. But she did love her experience there! Me not so much....I am starting to realize that my daughter is now a toddler....equip with tantrums and attitude. yay.

All in all hanging with my pal C-money ( you better remember that Corteiga!) was great! I hope I didn't leave them too sick (yes as a bonus Kate and I had colds, and I had NO voice.)

April's wedding was beautiful; she looked like a movie star! I was so excited to see her. And I was surprised with how much time I actually got with her. Usually at weddings you don't get much time with the bride--but not the case with April! I was so fortunate to get to be with her lots! Here April and I are with our classic thumbs up pose. I don't know why we started doing that....but for some reason all our pictures together we have our thumbs up!

Next we have the bridesmaids. Look at the other girls....that is what the dresses are supposed to look like! My dress didn't look good on me at all, but it was for a good cause!

Then ANOTHER bonus from our trip was seeing my mom and her good friend, and April's mom! It was too short of a trip with them....I wish they would have been around longer, but it was still a blast to hang out with them! My sweet friend Corteiga watched Kate for me during the wedding so I didn't have to worry about her. It was a great time!

Now we are back in Texas and feeling the heat. I'm not ready for summer! Now I need to find more excuses for vacations, it was a blast to have so much fun! Maybe Jon can actually come with us next time!

Thursday's Thoughts...

Today is Thursday, and since I could not think of a cohesive title for the following random pictures and thoughts...we will go with it!
1) Good deals:

I love shopping, but since Jon isn't making millions of dollars a year yet, I love finding awesome deals! I get super excited when things are on sale...and will buy things I don't need yet in anticipation of a need in the future. I went looking for baby girl shoes today, and found pairs of little boy shoes for $2.75 and $3.75! You can't find shoes any cheaper than that! And if you can you are amazing! So, I almost bought some pairs for me--because I really want a boy....I wanted Kate to be a boy.....I really want to have a boy and a girl. I have a confession....I am slightly superstitious ....but mostly I make up my own superstitions. For example: Since I had already picked out a boy name and wanted a boy so badly I figured (before the ultrasound) Kate would be a girl. I believe in knocking on wood. As soon as you say something never happens to you-- it will happen. This habit of mine gets really old with Jon....when I go to knock on wood he will tell me why the material I just knocked isn't really wood.....stupid construction man! So I've created my own rule that if it looks like wood or it is pretending to be wood it counts! Wow--so ALL of that rambling was just to tell you that since I believe that I would jinx myself...I didn't buy the boy shoes....even though it was killing me! I know that as soon as I buy them and tuck them away for my future son I would be 'cursed' to have all girls. So instead I called my Sis-in-law and practically forced her to let me get them for her son! But for only being $6 I think they are cute! And you know what is sick: the white shoes I found for Kate were twice what I paid for the 2 pairs of boy shoes!!!
ps---only at my house do you have cadbury eggs next to oranges and fun dip.......would you believe me when I say I'm actually trying to be on a diet??? And the fun dip was for my young women??
2) "Here lizard, lizard"
Does anyone remember the Taco Bell commercials way back in the day about Godzilla? Where the dog had his 'trap' set up and was sitting nearby saying "here lizard, lizard"? Well I do, cause my dad and in turn our family thought it was super funny. One of my favorite things about living here in Texas is my lizard friends. (and yes when I talk to them I call them my lizard friends!) By day we have little-ish green ones, and by night we have SUPER cool little pink ones! My husband thinks it is weird that I'm not afraid of them....he doesn't understand that just because some of them are bigger than Texas roaches doesn't mean they scare me! roaches are NASTY....lizards are my little friends. When they get in my house I catch them and set them free....when it is a roach I yell "EMERGENCY" and wait for my husband to come save the day!
3) Ride it

So a few days ago I was cleaning the house and enjoying our new surround system in the living room. (thanks again Nikki and Greg! Jon and I never pay for anything....we are such cheapskates!) Anyway---I decided that to fully enjoy my new system I needed to listen to an 'oldie but goodie' CD. So N'SYNC was my cleaning music of the day! We are talking the FIRST N'SYNC cd too! When the song came on "ride it, ride it, ride it. Giddy up!" Kate got on her rocking horse!(backwards of course....don't ask why but she likes the horse better that way) I thought it was too funny....N'SYNC must have gotten her in the mood to ride that horse! Coincidence? I think not!

That concludes my thoughts on this Thursday....and if you are still reading this you must really love me!

Rain

Today it is cloudy and rainy, the perfect backdrop for my mood.

Jon is gone for at least a week. I am a bored single parent. And all my favorite tv shows have been re-runs. Perfect timing tv networks!
Even Kate is bored. She walks around the house saying 'dad dad dad'.

But Jon called with good news. Next week we are getting new windows for our house, just in time for summer! Yay for cheaper electric bills! Hopefully he will be home by then, so I can see him before I go out of town. Oh yea, in positive news, in 9 days I will be in Utah having a blast with friends and family! I can survive this week!

Rain rain go away!

Just what the doctor ordered!

Jon and I have barely seen each other for the past week. Usually we at least get 2 or 3 nights a week where we can relax together, but not this week! Today I was supposed to be husband-less all day. I woke up at 9 and hear him feeding Kate, which meant he skipped the meeting he was supposed to attend. This NEVER happens. Jon is the type of man who NEVER and I really do mean NEVER misses his meetings. But, I think this one time was inspired. I was feeling really neglected due to his busy schedule and the fact that his job is sending him to South Carolina for 1-2 weeks on Monday morning. I feel so rejuvenated now! And it's only been half a Saturday! When I walked out into the living room and asked him why he was still here he said "I thought you needed this". I'm so grateful he knows what I need and put my sanity first!
And he has been busy working on my 'to do list' items! He changed out all the hinges in our house so they are all pretty (not even on my list but helps make everything look so fresh!), put a new door nob on our closet door, fixed a tool on my vacuum, fed Kate breakfast and lunch, hung towel racks in our master bath, and took an old tv out of our room, and pulled out a bush in our front yard! And it's only 3! I really have an awesome husband!

In other news, Kate can now say "love you" when you tell her to! It is the sweetest thing! Just melts my heart. Jon was shocked when I got her to say it to him this morning! She also enjoys saying Chance's name....that really just sounds like chassss. So cute. Our little girl is getting so big! Sometimes it makes me sad, but I'm finding that her learning is really fun! I like her to do her tricks and show off! Man, I am the luckiest lady alive!