Camping!

On Friday, we took our family camping for the first time. We loved it and decided it needed to be repeated, even though the Bear Warning sign kept Andrew a little too on the alert. :) The kids went to sleep well in the tent and Michael even took a nap in the tent on Saturday. We went hiking , made several fires, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for s'mores. Jeremy woke up early on Saturday and went out for more firewood and made us all breakfast. It was so fun to watch Jeremy teach the boys how to make a fire and put up a tent. The boys and I did some serious rock climbing where Andrew's shoe fell off and we saw several wild animals. We saw crazy chipmunks and Andrew kept trying to talk to them, several really brave and beautiful birds, Jacob saw a rabbit, the boys both saw different lizards, I went to the scary bathroom and had to search for courage to enter after watching a mouse scurry away. Then after the boys were all sleeping, Jeremy and I were sitting by the fire and we heard some rustling sounds. Jeremy shined the flashlight near the noise and we watched a skunk(!?!) casually walk by! Oh, the irony, because our bedtime story was Curious George Goes Camping, in which George meets a skunk, puts out a fire and takes a bath in tomato juice. Thankfully, the skunk is probably pretty used to having people around, so we had no need for any tomato juice.

It was nice to be surrounded by trees and the weather was beautiful. I ate way too many s'mores, but we all had a great time. Jeremy is really excited for when the boys can help carry the load. Poor guy, we all tried to help, but Jeremy carried the brunt of it all. He is a great outdoorsman. He makes me feel safe and taken care of.

Texas!

I just returned from the land of my birth (I was born in Houston a little more than 29 years ago) where I celebrated my birthday a couple of weeks late with my family there. I took a trip all by myself. It was a little surreal the whole time, I only had to take care of myself, no little boys! I missed them, but it was really nice to sleep in! I took advantage of the no children situation I was in and tried to do all the things I usually had to get a babysitter for. I had my hair done, I went to lunch and shopping with Alexa (it was so fun to catch up and see her beautiful house and feel so at home with her), I went to the temple, went to Time Out for Women on Friday night and all day Saturday. We went out to great restaurants where I didn't even have to look at the kids menu or keep little boys in their chairs. I stayed up late talking with Donna, I enjoyed all the green grass and plants that Arizona doesn't have (hooray for bluebonnets!). I loved spending time with my Mama and my sisters. I ate Texas BBQ and even took some home to Jeremy. I read two books. It was a wonderful trip. 

Before I left, I tried to prepare my boys. Jacob told me in a very determined voice, We are coming with you! When I told him that I only had one plane ticket, he said, "Okay, then we will be the men who fly the plane!" Jacob was very brave when I left, but Andrew and Michael were sad. I talked to them on the phone a couple times and via the web cam once. They had a great time without me. :) I came home to a welcome home banner made up of drawings from each of my boys and beautiful tulips. I am happy to be home and ready to be a even better wife and mother, completely rejuvenated.  Michael is not sure what to think. He didn't want me to put him to bed last night. He is really confused. I think a little mad at me.  I think our relationship will recover. :)

Change

                                                                                                                                              I have just been looking at my children and thinking how much they have grown.  And then they will do or say something that seems so grown up.  A trip down memory lane was in order. The boys and  I watched as they slowly grew up in iPhoto. And we came across these pictures of Michael's first real bath right after we took some other bath pictures. It has been 20 months and looked at how much they have changed! 

Tax Return

Just a cute picture

After

Before ( with a crazy Andrew)

I think our television could sense the extra money in the form of our tax return that was now resting comfortably in our savings account.  Our bank account was not quite accustomed to having so much there. So, our television decided to take action and turn colorblind or make us all feel colorblind. The color just went out. Jeremy said that it didn't look all that different to him.  We say thank you to Costco for giving us a good deal and broadening our viewing pleasure.

This was the first TV Jeremy and I have ever bought. Our first TV was a gift from Bob and Laura - they had decided they didn't want a TV, so they gave us the one that was in the house. :)

Then we inherited the one that just decided it wanted to think in black and white when Grandma died. So, it was kinda fun to buy one together. We really like it. I know that it is a little funny to post about this. :)