Happy, Happy Birthday Nanci Dear . . .

Happy Birthday to the sweetest, kindest, most loving person in the world! Okay, it's me writing this post, not Jason. I have been known to be a little bit obnoxious on my birthday because I announce it to the world. All I really want on my birthday is a "Happy Birthday". No gift necessary. I need to thank my mom for giving birth to me 32 years ago. I hope 32 is as good to me as 31 was.

My Sweet Little Baby is 8 Weeks Old!

I can't believe that Cole is already 8 weeks old. He has definately chunked up in the last few weeks and he doesn't really act like a newborn anymore. It's kinda sad to see him grow up so quick, but I LOVE it when he looks at me and smiles. It brightens up my day. Oh how I love him!

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Venting

Eeeewwww! I just have to get it off my chest. I consider myself to be a pretty laid-back, easy-going person. So, when I have an opinion about something, I think I should be given the respect to be listened to. I'm not saying that I'm always right, but don't act like my feelings and ideas don't matter because they do . . . TO ME especially! I'm not dumb, so don't treat me like I am.

I'm not going to give any details about what I'm bugged about (you never know who is reading your blog), but I'll just say that it doesn't involve Jason.

Nothing ticks me off worse than having someone else tell me what is best of MY child. That's right, you didn't give birth to them, so you have no right to tell me what to do with them.

I'm tired of sitting back and letting people do whatever they want with MY children because I want to keep the peace. I used to just keep it all in, but I'm done with that. If I have to keep internalizing everything to keep someone else happy, I think I'll explode. So, get used to it, and if that means we don't have a good relationship because I disagree with you on certain things, so be it. I'm not going to have you run my life anymore.

That was supposed to make me feel better. We'll see if it works. So far, I'm still fuming!

The Haircut

After Jason threw a serious Mantrum (is that a word, or did I just make that up?), I decided that my marriage was more important than cutting Rachel's hair short. I was accused of trying to make her look "Dorky". Okay, whatever. You really don't need to hear all the details. However, we did both agree that she needed a few inches cut off to get rid of the damaged hair. So, this is what we ended up with: This is the before picture, you can see how uneven it had grown. Trying sooooo hard to hold still!

Half way done, still smiling. Just about done. This is the length we went to. I didn't get a very good "after" shot. And a blurry picture of what came off.

Okay quick, I need HELP!

I have been contemplating cutting Rachel's hair for a few months now. I originally wanted to donate her hair to Locks of Love. Her hair is surprisingly thick for only being 3 and I would LOVE to help someone else out who has cancer and needs a wig.

Jason, of course, is against it. Just like every typical man, he loves long hair. So, I began to think that I would still cut it, but just not the 10 inches that is required for Locks of Love. Her hair is really pretty, but man, what a pain in the butt! She cries every time I have to brush it and it gets so tangled doing normal "kid" stuff that I usually just have it in braids anyway.

Thanks to Lindsay, I discovered the She Does Hair Blog and have been trying new hairstyles on Rachie. Not all the hairstyles require long hair, but a lot of them do.

HELP! I want your opinion. Her hair appointment is tomorrow, so I only have 1 day to decide. Tell me what you think.

Oh, oops, that's a picture of a hair experiment gone terribly wrong!

Now taking donations....

To all interested:

I was just born into this family and have already noticed something that the family is in desperate need of. I am but 5 weeks old so it is still a little difficult for me to make this happen on my own - so I am in need of some help! So, I am now taking donations for one of these:




All who are in a position to donate are strongly encouraged to do so! I thank you in advance for your support and generosity. Donations are being accepted 24-7, just ask for details. Remember, a family who goes boating together....stays together!

-Cole

Food, Family, Fun (no, not the Training Table)

We decided that since we ditched Jason's parents on the 4th of July, that we needed to spend some time with them today. We were trying to think of something to do outdoors that would be fun for the kids and the adults, but not too hot. We decided to visit Zion Mountain Resort, which is just outside of the East entrance of Zions National Park. It is owned by Split Rock (my dad's company and Jason's employer) and a great place to visit. (My brother-in-law Jon designed the website, which won "Best Website in 2007 for the Utah Office of Tourism".)

It ended up being a really fun day. When we first got up there (it takes about 1.5 hours to drive there) we ate at the Buffalo Grill, and then we went outside to see if we could spot the herd of Buffalo that graze there.

We couldn't see any buffalo, but we did find a baby horse that is only 4 weeks old!

Alex and Rachel had a lot of fun feeding the horses, pretending to drive a covered wagon and exploring an old cabin. We were just about to leave, when some "real cowboys" and a "real cowgirl" came up to us and asked us if we wanted to practice roping. Of course Alex and Rachel were all over that! They even got me and Jason in on the action. I must say, I'm much better at roping than I thought I would be. I roped the fake, plastic cow head on my very first try (not even Jason did that)! Then, the "cowboys" and "cowgirl" got the mama and baby horse out of their corral and let Alex and Rachel sit on the mama. We decided it was time to leave when the baby horse (named Zippy) started to get a little playful . . . playful baby horse means biting and kicking.

One of the most shocking discoveries of the day, though, was finding that Alex was going commando. When I asked him why he wasn't wearing any underwear he told me that he never wears underwear. Huh? I wash his underwear. Hmmmm, it's still a mystery. I have his cousin Jake to blame for that one. So Jake, if you are reading this . . . thank you for teaching my son about going commando.

The kids were pretty worn out by the end of the day. About an hour after we had tucked the kids in bed, we heard Rachel crying in her room. Jason went in to find out what was wrong. She said through sobs, "My teeth are so tired!" Allrightythen!

I would have pictures of my kids doing all these fun activities, but when we got up there, we realized that we hadn't charged the battery to our camera. Duh!

A Great Idea:

I can't take credit for coming up with this and I can't remember where I got this idea from, but I've tried it and it's brilliant! You put your baby's socks in a mesh laundry bag (ya know, that thing you put your bra in) when you wash them. Then, when you are folding your clothes, your baby's socks are all together in one little place instead of floating around in sleeves and whatnot.

I told Cole about it, and he said, "Oh man! You're so smart Mom!"