Spring!

Nothing says "spring" more than the emergence of dandelions! Although the weeds are a bit of a pest when blanketing our backyard, Hayden thinks they are beautiful flowers. The yard at his school is covered with them right now and I when I picked him up from his last day of preschool a few days ago I had the camera out to document the milestone. Without prompting from me, he ran over, plucked a few "flowers" and started to blow.

He didn't seem to mind that the yellow ones didn't blow in the wind like the others. . .

Happy Spring, weeds and all!

Ten on Tuesday

1. This Thursday marks 10 years of marriage for Rich and me! We've got a babysitter coming once we get the kids in bed so we can go out for a late dinner. And we're actually getting away for 2 nights--just the 2 of us!--in August. When I think about our wedding day I still get happy jitters and I'm really in awe of how fast 10 years has gone by.

2. The holiday weekend is approaching and we've got a few things planned, including a day trip here and here, a birthday party, and hopefully a short day hike with friends. Not quite as adventurous as long weekends earlier in our 10 years of marriage, but fun none-the-less. Here's a little collage of one of our most memorable Memorial Day Weekends to southern Utah in 2005 for mountain biking, camping, and canyoneering.

3. The whole family ran a 5K last Saturday and I'm happy to report that I was the second overall female finisher! I won a 1 hour massage from a local sports medicine place. Not bad! Rich pushed the double Chariot--with 55 pounds of kids inside--and won my everlasting thanks and admiration. Maybe I should let him have that massage!

4. I decided to run a half marathon in July. My friend and I have been talking about it for a while and thought we could make a fun weekend in Missoula of it with our families. And with a 13.1 mile race only 6 weeks away, I'm pretty motivated to actually get back into more serious running.

5. This coincides perfectly with the fact that I've actually gotten 8 solid hours of sleep for the last 5 nights in a row. That hasn't happened since May 13, 2009. I think I actually feel more tired in the afternoons now than I did when I was officially sleep-deprived. Go figure.

6. I had the nicest surprise yesterday when I went to the mailbox. Shuffled in between a few magazines, catalogs, and bills was a hand-decorated envelope containing a sweet note and newspaper clipping from a dear friend. In this age of blogs and e-mail and facebook, you still can't top a good old fashioned letter. Thank you, my dear!

7. Also in that stack of mail was the June issue of Sunset Magazine. It's the magazine of the West and is one of my favorites. One glance at the cover and I was salivating. I still am, actually. . . prosciutto-wrapped salmon on the grill. Mmmmmmm. Can't wait to devour some!

8. I've been on a quest for a new bathing suit for our upcoming beach trip with the Cobbs and Clarks. All I can seem to find are suits made for an 18 year old with a model's physique or for a 60 year old. I want something fun, cute, functional, with a bit more than strings and 3 sq. inches of fabric and a bit less than 3 sq feet of fabric.

9. Rich and Hayden planted seeds in our garden box last weekend. I'm hoping that it stays warm enough for the crops to start growing. They planted radish, carrots, mesclun lettuce mix, and peppers. We also have pots of herbs and tomatoes. I love summer produce!

10. A new desk top computer is on its way to our house right now! It will be replacing the computer Rich and I purchased right around our 1 year wedding anniversary. Thankfully marriages don't get outdated the way computer technology does!

Happy Tuesday!

Character

This one is quite the character lately. I mean, this photo just oozes "old man reminiscing about the good old days," right. . .

I've been keeping a mental list of recent "Haydenisms" and they're just too good not to share (or at least to document here so I don't forget them!).

He is obsessed with Daddy and wanting to be just like Daddy. When he gets up in the morning, he insists on wearing jeans if Daddy is wearing jeans, a t-shirt if Daddy is wearing a t-shirt, a sweater if Daddy is wearing a sweater, etc, etc, etc.

He and Daddy were at the car dealership a few weeks back to get the winter snow tires swapped out for the summer tires. While they were waiting, they wandered the parking lot where Hayden announced that he wanted a truck when he got older. A blue truck. A blue truck with a dog in the back. I'd say he's a Montana boy.

About 2 weeks later he and I were in the car and we drove past the high school. This was our conversation. . .
me: There's the high school
him: That's for the big kids
me: Yep
him: When I get big and go there, I'll have a car
me: Oh, really? What kind of car?
him: A blue pick-up truck so I can carry my stuff
me: What kind of stuff while you carry?
him: My backpack
me: What will you have in your backpack?
him: Pants and socks and underwear.

(You know, all the essentials. . . which happen to be what he takes in his bag to preschool. I'm sure all high school boys need that stuff, too, right?)


Last week, when his grandparents were visiting, they went shopping and took Hayden along with them. The main purpose of the shopping trip was to get Ben's birthday present. Of course, Hayden came back with a few goodies for himself. About a week later (after the grandparents had gone home), he and I were out grocery shopping and when I put him in the car he said, "Can I get a [toy] car because I was a good boy?"


Quite the character, I tell you!

The Birthday Boy: Benjamin at 1

Over a week later, this is finally the last of the birthday pictures. But I saved the best for last!

At 1 year old, Ben is just a joy. When he's well-rested, he's happy and smiley and fun. When he's not well-rested he insists on being attached to Mama at the hip. As for the rested part, we're working on it. On his birthday, I think he had slept through the night exactly two times. But, he's done it 3 of the last 4 nights. I guess he was just waiting for his birthday to pass to finally let us get some sleep!

He's a great observer and has learned to blow raspberries, trumpet like an elephant, blow his nose, and blow on food to cool it off all by watching his big brother. Just yesterday he saw Hayden cooling off a bite of pancake and Ben decided he should cool down the bite of graham cracker that was in his hand.

He gives the BEST hugs, particularly when you pick him up from his crib after a nap. He also gives you a nice pat on the back (another thing he learned from observing us doing it to him). And I love how he nestles his head into the curve of your shoulder to give you spontaneous snuggles when you're holding him.

He signs sometimes, but only when he feels like it. . . more, all done, hat, and book are the ones we see most often. He also says a few words, but only when he feels like it. . . mama, dada, dog, cat.

He loves books and will crawl over to his bookshelf in his room and sit and flip through his favorites. He loves listening to songs. . . row, row, row your boat and the hokey pokey are among his favorites. He loves to eat. . . his latest favorite is mushrooms (yeah, I know it's weird).

He's busy, busy, busy. . . climbing on furniture, tables, the fireplace mantle, digging in drawers and bins and the dog's water bowl. He keeps us on our toes!

And, above all, we adore him!

The Birthday: the presents

A birthday isn't a birthday without cake or without presents! We are blessed with so many wonderful friends and family and they made sure Ben's birthday was complete.

And Benjamin's big brother made sure he knew exactly what he was supposed to do with all those presents!

He quickly got the hang of it (but not quite as quickly as Hayden could tear open most of the packages!). . .

And since our family and most of our friends live at least 1000 miles away, a birthday isn't a birthday without Skype!

The Birthday Boy and his Cake

A birthday isn't a birthday without cake, right? I couldn't decide between chocolate or vanilla, so I decided to do both. And then I had the brilliant idea to do a checkerboard cake. Let's just say I don't think it was so brilliant, after all. Why do I take a project that could be finished in 20 minutes (assembling and icing the cake) and turn it into a 2 hour ordeal? At least the icing covered up all the mess inside! And at least it tasted good!

I even made a little "1" for the birthday boy to have all to himself!

He patiently waited while we sang to him. . .

Then tentatively looked at the goodness set before him. . .

. . . and burst into tears!

We took him out of his seat and after a short break (and tasting some of Daddy's piece of cake) decided to give his a try. . .

What he was most interested in, however, was the plastic knife I had in my hand.

Once he could cut the cake into pieces himself, he was more interested in actually tasting it!

His big brother had no hesitation whatsoever. After devouring his own piece, I looked up to catch him coaxing Rich out of some more!

The Party

Continuing the series on Ben's birthday, here's a few to set the scene from his birthday party. We invited a few of our friends over for a family picnic and enjoyed some tasty food. . .

Had some fun treats and decorations. . .

And some sweet, funny, and happy guests!

And of course, we had some fun playing outside, too. . .

The birthday boy even did a bit of playing around himself:

Even though the kids were busy playing, the birthday boy had a buddy by his side throughout the party. . .

And Benjamin made sure she was rewarded for her loyalty!