Merry Christmas!

For Christmas I received...

Diamonds and Pearls...

...and...

...a double barrel shot gun...

(is that funny to anyone else?)

Do you think we could get a decent pic of all of us in front of the Christmas tree? Nope. 

Cheeser's

Sometimes Lukey cracks me up, this is one of those times! Aren't we a pair of toothy big mouth'd cheesers?!

Snow In Vegas?

I know I'm a week or so late on this post, but I wanted to show you all that it did snow at our house in Vegas. The boys LOVED it! Tyson has been asking to "play in the snow" ever since. Jim happened to have to fly in that snow all day, he had a 21 hour flight day, Poor guy! (We had fun though :)

LAZY...

You know how you read people's blogs and they are doing like a million amazing things with their kids all the time and you just know that they have a clean house, shaved legs, and all their Christmas presents wrapped as well (Alicia). Right now, that's not me. I have about a ZILLION things to do over the next 6 days before our company show up for Christmas (both families). We're in the middle of painting our WHOLE house, I'm attempting to make Ty a quilt for his new full size bed before everyone shows up (no, I don't quilt, never have, just thought "Oh I could do that", seriously, what?!), finish the whole Christmas shopping/wrapping/baking/visiting teaching, finish planning the Christmas eve party that we've invited both our families and friends to (hey if you're in Vegas and need something to to for the 24th let us know), find a Santa Suit for Santa for the party, entertain my kids, feed us, change diapers, clean my entire house, blah blah blah.
What am I doing? Reading peoples blogs in my PJ's. LAZ-Y. Seriously, what is my problem? I'm grounding myself from the computer till I get this crap done. So, you'll just have to wait to see how cute Tyson looks in his orange arm cast. Yea he fractured it a few weeks ago, why haven't I put a picture of him in it up? I told you, Right now, I'm LAZY (or maybe overwhelmed?...).

You wanna hear something funny...

A 12 year old boy from our church saw me buck freakin naked today. I'll pause for laughter....Yep it's true. I put the kids down for naps before church and Jim wasn't home from work yet. I started to get that "I think I ate something bad and I'm gonna puke" feeling, I did and needed to jump in the shower afterward. I get out of the shower and hear Tyson banging on his bedroom door saying MO-OMMY! So I head toward his room and realize the puking isn't over yet. I'm closer to his bathroom than my own and head there. It happens to be right past our glass-paned front door where I see a few boys standing. I proceed to hear an "ahhhhhh" come from one of them as I also say "ahhhhh" and barely make it to the toilet. They proceed to keep ringing the door bell, I proceed to keep barfing. Tyson opens his door somehow sees them I assume, but hears me and comes in to see what the noise is about. In between hurls I'm trying to tell them to hold on. After the puking subsides I'm looking for a towel that doesn't have a dinosaur or duck on it that might possibly be big enough to offer enough coverage for me to either walk by the front door again or answer it. I wasn't fast enough and heard them say as they left " She's in there, we just saw her baby, it's probably cause you saw her like...that." I was feeling a few things at that moment, a little embarrassed-yes. Sick-yes. And, a little sad. Why sad you ask? Because I remembered that my younger brothers friends used to find any excuse to come over to our house in the summer and catch me. Either tanning in the backyard, changing in my room, going from the shower to my room, what ever. And now times have changed and these boys were definitely not looking to "catch" a glimpse of an old married mom of two in the nude. I feel a little sad that instead of making their day like my little brothers friends used to say, I think I might of scarred these poor boys for life.
Side note: A similar experience happened with our old home teacher/now business partner as I was walking to get my bathrobe out of the dryer in the laundry room. I claims he never saw a thing. NOTE TO SELF AND OTHERS---Next house get solid doors or quit walking around in my birthday suit.

I'll take another hit please.

You know my earlier post about the Twilight series being like crack? Well I had another hit last night (or rather this morning) at 12:01 am. A big group of girls from my ward went to see it at the new Aliante Station Casino by our house. First of all let me say that the last time I "started" the night so late was probably in college with Brooke, but it was fun and worth the tired eyes this morning. I was standing there wondering what it was about this book/movie that would make not only teenage girls, but "grown women" wait in line forever and go to a movie that started SOOOOO dang late. I mean we all had kids to take care of the next day. And I realized this. Females are wired to be romantics. We all, no matter the age, want to be loved and have a love so fierce that literally you can't live with out the other person. That ridiculous dramatic high school love, that Shakesperian Romeo and Juliet love. Obviously real life, mortgage payments and diaper changes aren't as intense as Bella and Edward but every once in a while we really want it to be. I mean wouldn't you want, just every once in a while your husband proclaim his love for you the way Edward does? So if there are any guys reading this, here's your sign. If your wives finished all four books in a matter of days and had to be there to see the movie take a clue and find out why she's so drawn to it. Then copy even if it is cheesy. ANYHOW, here's my quick take on the movie for those who haven't seen it yet. I liked it. Like most movies, it was in parts different from the book. It was fun to see how the characters were portrayed. I thought Bella was right on, Charlie younger than I imagined. I'm still not sure what I think about Edward. He was definitely hot and alluring for sure, but I'm not totally convinced yet. Maybe I'll have to see it again. The Cullen house looked WAY different than I imagined. I felt like some of the character development was lacking, especially Alice, she wasn't that big of a deal in the movie and for me at least in the book she was, especially her relationship with Edward. It seemed like they spent way more time on superficial Jessica, and really who cares about her?  Anyhow, I liked it, didn't LOVE it. Was glad I went to see it, hope they start making the next book.
So, click on the picture of Alice and let me know which gal you are!

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

I forgot, Vegas is fun!

Sometimes I forget that Vegas is a fun place. We rarely go to the strip (unless we have visitors) and its even more rare if we bring the kids. The only times the boys ever really go is to the shark reef or when Patti and Clyde come for the Pro Rodeo in Dec. ANYWAY, Jim is a few days into his 10 day trip and got lucky enough to fly back in for a couple of hours this afternoon. We decided to go meet him for dinner at the airport (which was super fun) and when he had to fly out it left us right in the middle of rush hour. So, I decided to head to the Bellagio and take the kids to the Conservatory and the water show. It was so dang fun (and Free) it was the one and ONLY time I was appreciative of Daylight Savings and it being dark at 5:30. I was not however appreciative of my shoe choice (had to wear the platforms with the cute dress to look hot for the hubby to make him want get home again ASAP) but it was worth it to have a change in "scenery" and remember that really, the strip and Vegas are fun. 

P.S. It's 80 degrees in Vegas today! he he :)

Happy Birthday Jimmy!

Today is Jim's 33rd Birthday. He's not really a blogger, so I'm not going to do the whole 33 great things about him on his birthday thing (Since he probably won't see this) although of course there are many more than 33. But just know he's a fantastic man, and so gorgeous as you can see by my very favorite picture of him I posted. What I did want to write is the same thing I think about every year on his birthday. See, in my family every birthday my dad tells us our "birth story" you know what happened on the day we were born. So every year on Jim's birthday I always think about how grateful I am to all of the people that contributed to his "birth story". I'm so glad that his biological mother had the courage to give him a better life. I'm so glad that her parents encouraged her to do so  and that they were selfless enough to let someone else be parents to that baby. I'm so glad that the foster family that had him for the 1st couple of months were there and able to take good care of him. And mostly, I'm SOOOOOOO glad that his parents are his parents and raised such an amazing man that would eventually become an incredible husband and father. So even though we don't know the details of that particular day he was born, he really does have a great "birth story" and I love celebrating him and his story every year.  

Photo Memory Tag

I thought the last tag I did would be the one and only. But then I saw this picture and thought I would definitely do this one. (If the picture was crappy, I wouldn't have done it.) BUT it has inspired me to loose some lbs and try and claim the former me that Jim "fell for".

So the "history" of the picture is me and one of my best friends since the 8th grade Jenny (the one in the black) and our friend Erin at a fashion show at the Seattle Art Museum that our other friend since the 8th grade Sherry was in. 

What I miss about this picture: My pre-prego body (I never was a skinny girl, but I was in good shape then) my long hair, my TAN, and the fact that I have NO wrinkles. 

What I was miss-ING: my amazing kiddies and hubby, my G's, the knowledge that those three things are the most important things. (And, the knowledge that the tanning probably caused the wrinkles, go white girl go white girl)

So, I tag anyone who wants to do it. Go to the 6th file folder on your computer and pull up the 6th photo, tell us about it. Easy huh?!

Wizard of Oz II

                                                                       Halloween 2007

    Halloween 2008-look no one's bawling. Tyson's half way smiling, & Lukey is smiling below!
So we re-used our costumes (with the exception of the tin man) from last year. Not because I'm totally lame, but because last year due to illness we missed our church's halloween party, and only made it out to two houses. I figured it would be ok. We had a FUN time this year, we went to our ward's Halloween party and the kids enjoyed going crazy in the church, Tyson loved checking out each "scary" decorated classroom and Lukey loved following him around. You can't tell from these pics taken at the end of the night, but Ty's costume was actually way better, he had a funnel hat, silver arm and leg things, an axe, and a painted face, by the end of the night he had pretty much ditched his entire costume and wiped most of the face paint off. Not bad though for home made poster board, spray paint, and brass fasteners. The only thing missing was Dorothy's long haired piggy tails, it was the first time since chopping it off that I missed my hair. I'm not sure if we'll talk Jim into dressing up next year, we didn't have many adults dressing up in our ward. You are all lame, and you know who you are! Oh and we did let the kids trick-or-treat the classrooms for candy. I know, amazing. Tyson tried a sucker I think for the first time and liked it. He also tried a kitkat bar, took two bites and asked for a banana. Lukey didn't try anything (I know we're mean, healthy, but mean). Jim and I helped them by eating all their candy.  (I said the kids are healthy-not us.)

Our family pics are up on Michelle's site click here. Click on "flash site". At the top of the page click on the tab that says proofing. Then enter the password: Tyson. If you want, let us know what pics you like (it's always so hard to choose). There is an image name above each picture, and pause/play buttons on the bottom left. She's good huh?!?! Anyone in Utah, she lives there, and for the peeps here in Vegas, she'll be back in April. Thanks Michelle! 

FAMILY PICTURES

We got our family photo's taken this week by a friend of ours in town from Utah. You can check some of them out here.

An interesting note, Tyson went in to the lake over his head. Luckily Jim was right there and went in as well. Also lucky, we already had taken some family pics and just ended up doing Tyson naked w/ diaper. Did you know Tyson means "firebrand"? it's fitting.

I'm finally answering a tag...

Here's how to play:
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I usually don't dig the tagging thing, but this is a tricky way to do it. I can't pretend to ignore a comment on my blog that I've been tagged. Plus I really dig Suzanne and am glad to have contact with her blog since she's moved. (Not that i don't dig others who have tagged me, I just pretend to ignore it. Rude, I know, but honest.) Here goes.

1. I'M A SLEEPING/NAP NAZI
This is what my family calls me. I'm very strict about my kids' sleeping/nap schedules. When I got pregnant with Tyson I did like many do and started reading books. I became really interested in reading about sleep habits in babies in children. Seriously I think I could have at least a minor on this subject. Many people have commented that being so rigid with sleeping schedules really ties us down and limits our activities, but seriously I don't care. I'm totally commited on ensuring my kids get GREAT sleep. Sleep affects so many things, childhood obesity, attention spans in school, general health etc. Babies and Toddlers need 14-16 hours of sleep/day. Early elementary, 11-12. Late elementary at least 10. Highschool a minium of 8-9 hours. Babies and kids don't automatically know how to eat good foods, brush their teeth and when they need to sleep. We have to help them but making sure we put them down for naps and get them to bed on time. Our kids go to bed by 7-7:30pm and get up about 6:30-7am. That makes for a nice evening of some mommy/daddy time. Plus there's that whole word of wisdom thing, early to bed early to rise, etc. that some of us buy into. The Nap Nazi will now step off the soapbox.

2.I WAS A MEMBER OF WASHINGTON STATE EXPLORER SEARCH & RESCUE
I got certified in high school, it was hard. Sort of like a boy scout thing on steriods. We had to do overnights in snow shelters that we dug, and seriously learn how to use a compass. Our hardest test was 2 days 2 nights in the middle of the woods (no trails) with a map, compass points, tarp for a tent and backpack. We had to basically survive and find our way back using the map and compass points. I went on searches for people, but mainly we got called out to assist during flooding. I even got out of school a few times. Now that I have kids, I like camping in a motorhome or trailer. We bought our first tent-trailer this spring.

3. I LOVE, LOVE SPORTS (BASEBALL, FOOTBALL, & BASKETBALL)
I grew up in a MAJOR sports family. I played fastpitch softball and wished I would have played basketball or volleyball. For a chick, I seriously know a lot about baseball and football (don't ask me about soccer, I'm clueless), and I'm one of those people who actually enjoys watching baseball on TV. I love highschool and college football (I prefer it over professional). If our boys choose to play sports I will definitely be their BIGGEST fan!

4. I DON'T KILL BUGS...OR FISH...
Not because I'm afraid, but because I feel bad for them. I don't kill spiders, I put them outside. Spiders are good, they kill the pesky bugs. I used to be really afraid of spiders in particular, but once I learned about them I got over it. This does not apply to poisness spiders that might harm my kids, then I would probably get Jim. I also don't like killing fish. I LOVE to fish and camp, but NEVER keep the fish. I have been known to sabatoge a few stringers full of live fish before. Seriously, don't kill bugs. Most of them are harmless.

5. I'M A BAWL BABY
Seriously I cry too easily. Commercials on TV, church of course, when I get really mad. Sometimes it is ridiculous. BUT, it seems like lately I have toughened up. I really try not to bawl about everything. I really don't like people to see me cry, I have an ugly cry face.

6. I HAVE A TEMPER
It's not a short fuse temper and it really takes something MAJOR to set me off, but when something does, I get MAD! I can hold my own in an arguement, I'm not afraid to stand up for myself and be vocal about something I'm passionate about. Sometimes I can be a little too blunt and vocal about things and let people know exactly what I think. I hope I don't turn into one of those crazy ladies, I'm really trying find a nice balance.

7. I'M LOYAL AND LOVING
I don't have a lot of friends, but the friends I do have are GOOD friends. In fact, some of my best friends today, are people I've known since the 8th grade. I hope that they know that I would do anything for them, and have done some interesting things for my friends. And my family, NOTHING is more important to me. I never thought I would be a stay at home mom, but absolutely love it. One of the reasons I married Jim is that he holds family in the same regard as I do. Not just our immediate family, but our extended family as well. Jim does so much for both of our parents and I love him for it.

I tried to pick people who I haven't noticed have been tagged lately, so...
I TAG...

Jennifer Bowen
Patti Carpenter
Brooke Elton
Kaycee Fillmore
Ashley Gunson
Alicia Kester
Blaire Ostler

Do you like bread crust?

I don't. I don't even like the name, "crust". I recently was telling someone that I came to the realization that I am 28 years old and I don't have to eat the crust if I don't want to. I think I was conditioned to eat the crust (my grandpa used to tell me it would make my hair curly) because you are just supposed to. I was just looking at some blogs and feeding Luke a sandwich. I was pulling the crust off of it and eating it for him, and thinking "I hate freaking dry crusty crust". Then I had a brief realization that I always eat the crust off my kids' sandwiches for them. Like I'm doing them some huge favor, and it makes me a good mom because I eat it for them. PSYCHO, I know. Maybe they like crust and just don't know it because they never have to eat it. Then I thought of my dear friend who HATES bananas and everything about them, so she just doesn't buy them (she's going to love reading this), when ever I see her kids I feel like its my duty to give them a banana. AND then I realized that I'm a WAY bigger wierdo than she is because I actually thought that I am being some sort of crust marter. SO, NO MORE CRUST for me! AND, I'm going to eat cookies in bed tonight because I'm technically a grown up and I CAN!

Choo Choo and the zoo

Atlanta Zoo

When Tyson saw the elephant do this trick he said, "Good job eldaphant!!!!"
...No, their names are not Jim and Marci...

Tyson and Lucas CHILLIN' in their phat ride! Can I get a ride like that?

Tyson really enjoyed the children's petting zoo, he had no problem being soft and petting nicely. (FYI we're not favoring Ty in these shots, Lukey was just asleep :)

Savannah

Forsythe Park Fountain (our Inn over looked this famous park) Ty wanted to swim in it.
A cute house for sale that I tried to talk Jim in to buying for me, it didn't work.....yet. Looking up under the roof over hang at the beautiful blue tiles on the Free Mason Building built hundreds of years ago. Jim thinks it would have been cool to be a Free Mason ( I think he watched National Treasure too many times). I think it would have been cool to be the daughter of one of those cotton kings. I could decide whether I felt like staying at the plantaion home, in the city home (mansion) or in the cottage home at Tybee Island. I would have been great at that job, you know wearing hoop skirts and entertaining. Did I mention yet, I LOVE SAVANNAH!

Whitaker-Huntingdon Inn

When we travel I prefer to try and rent homes (check out greatrentals.com) instead of staying in hotels. Often times it is cheaper than a hotel, with way more room. We decided to go to Savannah last weekend and I found this place the day before we left. This is the picture of the cool little Inn we stayed at while we were in Savannah. It was built in 1833, we stayed on the top story, in 2 giant bedrooms, a bathroom and kitchen. It had a an old claw-foot tub, original wood floors, and these tall 12 ft cellings, we loved it! As I've been telling Jim for years I would love to someday run an old restored home as a bed and breakfast, now that I've been there, it just might have to be in Savannah...
Here's the link to where we stayed, check it out if you want.
http://www.whinn.com/suite2.htm

Tyson, Lucas, and the Atlantic...

We've been in Atlanta for a little over a week. By far our most fun experience was last weekend when we went to Savannah (which we are now IN LOVE WITH!!!!). Just outside of Savannah about 20-30 minutes is a place called Tybee Island. We took the boys there to the beach, and it was the first time both of theme had seen the ocean. Even though it was a little overcast and cooler than it had been, the water was warm, and as you can see Tyson LOVED the water! Lucas tried out the water, but he preferred the sand (and the mommy). A great time was had by all!

My name is Marci...

...and I too am a "Twilight-a-holic". I've felt a little reluctant to post about this over-posted subject, but I too am addicted to that crack like series by Stephanie Meyer. I saw this on one of my friends blogs and felt it was my duty to come out of the closet. So, here's a link to a partial manuscript that she has written telling Edwards version of the first Twilight book. I read it while I was in the hotel in Provo after the kids went to sleep. I swear it's like I'll do anything for one more hit, just like crack. 

www.stepheniemeyer.com/midnightsun.html

No more until we get to Atlanta, but seriously I thought you all would want to have your fixes too.

La vida loca...

We have had a busy crazy time this last week or so and it is not over yet. Jim left a week ago friday to fish with his dad in Alaska for a little over a week. While he was gone, my grandmother passed away. It was a bittersweet time, she has been suffering from Alzhiemers for the past 6 years, and has been bed ridden for the past 2. It was a blessing, but still sad. The boys and I went to St. George and picked my parents up, and we all drove up to Provo. In the meantime, Jim made arrangements to fly to Salt Lake instead of Vegas and had DRAMA getting in. (I guess when you are in such a remote place you can't just jump on the first flight out) After literally just under 24 hours of traveling, he made it. We were able to attend the funeral and activities that go along with that yesterday. Last night we drove back to Vegas and rolled in just after 11pm. We were up and out the door this morning at 7:30 to do a presentation for our business at a real estate office. Jim got a call that he had to fly to Denver today and then Toronto tomorrow. So I did the presentation solo while he went home to pack. He picked me up, we went to our next presentation, and then I dropped him at the airport. While he's gone I have the task of handling the move in of our first caretakers tomorrow and Thursday. I also get to pack for our family for a month because on  Saturday we head to Atlanta (Jim has training there on a new jet his employer is buying for a full month, we're obviously going with him). I also have to get the house ready for our house sitter, you never know if people will get curious enough to look under the beds, and its been a while since I've vacuumed under there. And lastly we have 2 more major presentations Friday. So, It will be a while since I can post any pics. Life is a little busy and overwhelming right now, but dang it's fun. We feel so lucky to be where we're at in this stage of our vida loca! 

Wooooo Hooooo!

Tyson peed in the potty today for the first time. The way I jumped up and down and cheered and woo hoo'd you would think he had just won an olympic gold medal or something. No what do we do? How does this potty training thing work?!

If he can do it, so can I...

Tyson just climbed this big orange thing, so can I (I think...)
I'm doing it all by myself (even if mom's right behind me)
Almost there, and I can see Tyson...I'll just put my head down and keep on climbin'...
One thing I've learned about having a "2nd born" is now that he's pretty much mobile, he thinks he can/should be able to do anything Tyson can. I find that Luke is doing things more quickly than Tyson did (and Ty's pretty physically ahead of the game). He sees Tyson do something and just does it. Like climbing this thing at the park, he climbed to the top, saw that Tyson went down the slide, and just headed down the slide himself. Lucas is fun (and scary at times) to watch grow and develop.

White Hot Summer Nights

Jim and I have been doing a lot of networking for our business lately. One of the events we were invited to and told we "couldn't miss" was an event put on by Young Vegas Business Professionals. Our first clue should have been that it was held at a club at The Palms. The second clue should have been that it was a theme party (like everything is at the Palms), and to get in everyone had to be dressed in white. Well basically it was a pick up some booty party and if it doesn't look like you'll score, you'll at least have your "business" to talk about. Needless to say, Jim and I already have obtained said booty, and after a while, ditched the party had some dinner and came home early. I asked our awesome babysitter to snap a shot of us before Jim took him home. And yes I did cut the hair, it used to be just above where Jim's hands are on my back. I'll have Jim snap some shots of it a little bit more close sometime soon. 

Buff Baby!

Jim and I try to do our workouts during the kids naptimes. But sometimes one of them wakes up while we're still working out. Sometime we give them a little 2 or 3 lb weight and they "work out" with us. Both of the surprisingly like to watch the dvd we use. Luke's showing off his "buff babiness" here.

"painted" face

In the summer time the only makeup I usually wear is mascara and lip gloss, I keep both in the diaper bag. We came in from "swimmin" in the kiddie pool in the back yard (hence Tyson's totally DORKY but uva/uvb skin protected duds) and during the 2 minutes I was changing Lucas' clothes and diaper, this is what Tyson did with mommy's makeup.  Little pill. Cute little pill though.

Cutie Lukey

I don't really have anything exciting to say. I just like the way Luke eats spaghetti and I think he looks cute in this picture!