Breaking Dawn

I just finished the final book in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, Breaking Dawn. (That would be the latest reason why I haven't been blogging-it's always something). Anyway, that woman is a genius! I won't spoil the book for anyone who hasn't read it, but the twists and turns definitely keep you guessing. The only thing that bothers me about the book is that it is the last one! I have been anticipating this book for a year and now there is nothing more to look forward to...woe is me!

Family Time-PART ONE (July 19th-21st)

Did two kids ever look so cute in
florescent Velcro bowling shoes?
Andrew loves his cousin Rylee and had been looking forward to her visit. I had planned on taking her for a few days since I am off for the summer, so why not take on another moody toddler, just for kicks and giggles?
So Rylee's mama, my sister Hillary, was there for the first couple of days and then it was just me and the kids Tues.-Thurs. until we headed to the annual Heileson family reunion/camping extravaganza in bear infested Island Park, Idaho.
Here are some of the highlights from our fun-filled times:

BOWLING: (Need I say more?)

-Rylee and Andrew rolling their 2 pound bowling balls down the lane at 1 mile per hour. It was thrilling to watch them and speculate whether they would actually make it to the pins or not.

-Hillary and I fighting over who was going to go tell the attentive man at the counter that yet another one of our balls was stuck in the middle of the lane

-Hillary very valiantly, I must say, "allowing" both the kids to beat her at bowling, just so they wouldn't feel bad
-Me, getting my BEST bowling score EVER, thanks to the miracle of buddy bumpers!

JOHN MAYER CONCERT:

(picture at right taken PRE-concert as neither my sister nor myself was bright enough to bring our cameras into the actual event)

-Hillary and I driving around scenic West Valley City before the concert, listening to loud hip-hop music, car dancing like only the most cool 34 year old moms can, and trying to discourage my sister from flashing gang signs out the window (she didn't realize what territory she was in)
-Colbie Caillat was awesome and I can't get enough of her music these days!

-Poor Hillary being embarrassed by me screaming loudly and often while John Mayer was performing
-Me trying desperately to see John Mayer's fuzzy image on stage through the fat head of the drunk man in front of me

-Dancing, dorkily and unabashedly, throughout the concert, while my sister stood mortified, still as a statue beside me

-Lots of long guitar solos (I guess that's his "thing"), but overall John Mayer was excellent!

What I imagine John Mayer looked like at the concert, had I been able to see him.

Toddler Fest

Well, my updates are coming later than sooner as I have spent the last two days at Core Academy. Good stuff, but yet another distraction from my blogging. Dag-nabbit! Oh well, here we go:

We spent the morning of Friday, July 18th at the social event of the season: Toddler Fest 2008! My over-achieving friend Mary Jane put on a great little party all for the love of kids ages 1-5. She spent hours planning and organizing lots of great activities and games for them in her very own backyard. She must be a saint because with at least 30 little angels and their loving mothers all in attendance I never saw her break a sweat or without a sweet smile on her face.

Andrew had fun as the pictures here attest (I swear my son has worn a shirt more often than not this summer but from looking at all my posts you certainly would assume he was usually half-naked). Anyway, his favorite events had to be the fish pond (he was one of only two kids who got a much coveted squirt gun for his prize), and of course the cupcakes. Actually, I'm not sure he would've made an appearance at all were there not going to be cupcakes. He RSVP's to invitations based on dessert choices served, but that's another story. There are more pictures of the festivities at the above link to Mary Jane's blog. It was a great kickoff to our "wild and crazy" weekend!

Two Crazy Weeks!

I love staying busy. "Flight of the bumblebees" is the soundtrack to my life. My worst nightmare is to be bored and have nothing to look forward to. So, the last two weeks have been great. I don't think I have sat down for more than 10 minutes the whole time. Unfortunately, this means I have not had the opportunity to blog our adventures. I have really missed reflecting on our daily lives-I think there is definitely something theraputic about this blogging business! Now that I am back to the hum-drum of my "regular" life, I will be posting about some of the things that kept me busy lately.

More Bubba-isms

The things this kid says-I tell you what! He cracks me up and is quite the entertainer. Here are some more of Andrew's common phrases.

1. "Vertull"= Convertible
2. "Yesternight"= Last night
3. "Gril"=Girl
4. "Pat tats"= Pancakes
5. "Bloodin"=Bleeding
6. "Fighter"=Spider
7. "Sahgot"=Forgot
8. "Siff's"= Smith's Grocery Store
9. "Like a?"= Would you like to? ie."Like a play with me?"
10. "Be Kieut!"=Be Quiet (doesn't say this one
anymore, but it's so cute I have to remember it)
11. "And that be all!"=And that's it-no more! ie."Let's read two stories and that be all!"
12. "Yesterday"=Last year, last week, this morning-anytime in the past is yesterday-so funny!
13. "Chapyick"=Chapstick

THE PLUNGE

I know so many of you, my devoted readers, have been holding on faithfully since my last post, which promised details of the fun day we had the day after the Fourth at the Chipp's. I am sorry to keep all 3 of you waiting for so long. So here are the long awaited details from our day of water fun. I should have blogged about it sooner, as my weak little brain has already started to forget the details. Here is what I can recall:

Andrew couldn't wait to go on the slide until he actually saw the thing. He was very hesitant, and climbed up and down the ladder several times until I finally told Uncle Justin to push him down. Cruel, I know, but just what little man needed to get him going. I know my son and knew he would love it once he tried it. Just like broccoli. So, of course, he was all about it after that, despite the freezing cold, just out of the hose water.

So, after sliding on the thing a few thousand times, with a short break to inhale a hot dog, out come the big guns-squirt guns-of course! Hillary had bought these really cool squirt guns at Target that carried a bottle of water on the end for ammunition. I always swore no child of mine would ever play with guns, but what the heck, it's only water, right? So off he goes squirting anyone and anything within range. We declared the patio a "safe zone," where exhausted and/or drenched grown-ups could find a moment of respite. I have rarely seen Andrew have so much fun, and where he got that frightening, diabolical laugh as he chased his victims around is beyond me. I am still having

nightmares about that laugh.

Well, all good things must come to the end and the beginning of the end of this day's fun occured when Uncle Brett, unintentionally of course, threw a ball at my head and ended up slamming it into Andrew's face instead. No I was not using Andrew as a human shield, I was helping him fill his water bottle. Anyway, some blood, many tears, and apologies later, we packed up and headed back to Utah. Needless to say, Andrew slept pretty much the whole way home, sweetly dreaming of giant slides and fun summer days.
Look closely at this pic to see poor Bubba's fat lip-his "war wound" from the afternoon of gunfighting.

Me-All Summed Up

I found this cool thing on someone's blog off of Desi's blog and decided to try it. You answer these questions and then find pictures associated with your answers rather than just writing the answers. It's very easy and I thought it turned out kinda cool. So here is Me: The Work of Art!

Here are the instructions:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. Favorite drink?

7. Dream vacation?

8. Favorite dessert?

9. What you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. One Word to describe you.

12. Your favorite animal?