For the Beauty of the Earth

My mom and I took Garrett and Rylee to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens today! What a splendid way to spend a day. The flowers were beautiful and the weather was perfect. We ate lunch by the waterfalls and enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks for going with us Mom! We'll probably have to go next week if anyone wants to join us.

Big Girl

Not only does Rylee pick out her own clothing now she has also decided she's big enough to carry around a purse. She steals my purses all the time and totes them around the houseor to grandma's and refuses to give them back. By the way, her arm stays up behind her head like this the whole time. What a little diva!

Simply Inspiring!

I love girls nights and last night was one of the bests. My gals (Amanda, Ashleigh & Kris) and I went to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts at the U of U to see the exhibit Monet to Picasso and it was extrodinary!!! They displayed several artists but my favorite was the Van Gogh (see the bottom of my blog for today's Van Gogh painting). To see with my own eyes his brush strokes of heavy paint that create a masterpiece is simply inspiring! When I figure out how to put pictures from the web of some of my other favorites, like Rodin's The Thinker statue, I will add that. I would highly recommend going, it is a visiting exhibit and will only be there until Sept. 21. You can check out the website at www.umfa.utah.edu/monettopicasso

Afterwards we headed to Friday's to grab a bite and again...fabulous. We all ended up getting the same dish - Parmesean crusted chicken with tortellini. I only add this because I would recommend that too! I was impressed to get such an interesting dish there and for the record I ate 5 cherry tomatoes. I know I shock myself but sometimes you just go crazy on girls night!

Family Fun

We spent Sunday afternoon with Jon's family to celebrate his grandpa's 78th birthday. The kids had a ball and enjoyed playing with their cousins (2nd cousins actually). The Dudley's have a goat, horses, chickens & dogs so it kept both kids completely enthralled. Then they discovered the kiddie pool. Garrett and Aiden soaked each other...do bad they didn't have their swimsuits on yet. Oh well, you can't stop fun! As you can see Rylee loved the raspberry cobbler. The Gray's are fabulous cooks and I fully enjoyed the food - along with the great company of course!

So sad

I was so sad this week to learn that saxophonist LeRoi Moore of the Dave Matthews Band passed away. If you know me at all you know I LOVE DMB! He was a fabulous musician. I would have all their songs on my playlist but it may be overkill - so you'll see the first 4 songs are a few of my favorites. Happy listening!

I really hope nothing happens to us in the middle of the night and emergency workers storm our home since Jon and I now wear these attractive yellow shooting ear muffs. Rylee, who's otherwise a pretty good sleeper, has been a wild child the last week or so. She's been getting up 4 and 5 times during the night just crying. Usually I've gotten up at least once to soothe her back to sleep (which takes an HOUR). So Sunday night I said "it's enough, she' just going to have to cry it out from now on". Thus, I reintroduced the earmuffs (we used them with Garrett also). They work pretty good too! Now I'm told it only takes 2 or 3 nights for kids to learn the the routine and start sleeping better. Night five came last night but with no improvement - in fact worse! I did give in and got up with her for two hours. This evening I notice a little tooth has popped through on the bottom. I start looking around more and my oh my there's a molar trying to break through on the top...and another on the other side. The gum around this tooth however is swollen and purple (I assume from blood underneath). Do you think this is why she can't sleep? I'm such a good mom!

Just a little reminder

I love being a mom, however, it's only Wednesday and it's already been a challenging week with my kiddies (blood curdling screams over dinosaurs being touched, kicking and hitting over being told "no", whining without end, protests over eating anything of nutritional value, currently listening to crying from a baby who should still be asleep...it's only been two hours since you went to bed my child). So it's nice during these times to be able to sit down and contemplate, remind myself that "this too shall pass". These are the reminders of why I truly am so thankful to be a mom.

• After 5-6am our bed is free game. If one or both of the kids gets up I actually love having them get in bed with us. I love to feel their soft warm bodies next to me and hear their breathing. It's soothing and peaceful.
• I love the unexpected "Momma, I love you so much" or "Momma, I want a hug" from Garrett.
• I love when Rylee gives me kisses and then giggles.
• If I burp during lunch Garrett says "Momma, what do you say for yourself?" "Excuse me" "Thank you momma!" - He is learning good manners.
• I love when Rylee pulls my hands up to her eyes and wants to play peek-a-boo or will point to her facial features and then find them on my face.
• Although Garrett doesn't read I'll listen to him repeat (almost word for word) Where the Wild Things Are to Rylee while I'm making dinner or cleaning.
• Garrett's jubilation when getting a dinosaur book that I find at a garage sale and he thinks he's hit the jackpot. His joy lasts for weeks!
• Watching Rylee hurl down the driveway on her Dora scooter with no fear!
• At bedtime Rylee will nuzzle her head into my neck and I can kiss her little face and head all I want.
• Every night Garrett asks me to "lay by me and hold my hand and sing I Am a Child of God and rub my back and sing I Feel My Saviors Love" usually in one breath. And then he'll rub my arm while I sing.

Yes, I am thankful to be a mom...especially to my kids!

I gave in!

All the astonished faces of my friends when told I don't have a blog has finally broken me down and so today it starts....even though you all know I have snail paced internet. Okay, this really has more to do with my guilt over not keeping a very good journal. I'm hoping this will be a more convenient way to record the "goings on" of my family and all the cute things my kids do that "I will never forget" but somehow just can't recall. That is my goal-we'll see how it goes.

In the wee hours of the morning (around 1 or 2 am) Garrett comes into my bedroom and wants to crawl in. I get up and tell him he needs to go back to his bed when he starts protesting. He says "thews bees in my bed they gonna sting me". I go back to his room fan the sheets to show him there are no bees - it's just a fly. He's still not convinced so I offer to lay down next to him. He crawls back into bed and I throw myself down next to him...kinda. I didn't quite make the bed entirely. Don't get me wrong I hit enough of the mattress to bounce me back into the air and fling myself onto the floor. In my attempt to not land on my back or create a ruccus I did the equivelant of a belly flop - though not really on my belly. Okay it was early and I really don't know how I landed, all I know is I pulled my hamsting in my left leg and all the muscles from my hip to my c-section down to my thigh on my right leg. I crawled back on to the bed and told Garrett "whoa, momma fell off the bed". He actually started giggling and says "momma, you silly". I'm still in pain. The fly must die.