Birthday Bonanza!

Party Time! Woo Hoo!
The Bouncy House was a hit. I do recommend it, but only

if you have a fence. Otherwise, every child within a five mile radius will

show up in your yard asking to jump. We partied hard, very hard.

The picture below shows my dear, dear Chloe letting the children line up and throw water balloons at her. God bless that child. After a while we had run out of party game ideas. Also, please note Brandon's headgear. He rocks.

Here is Hayden enjoying his party. Success!

Jake loved our napkin choice.
Look at us. I finally got my chance to jump in a bouncy house. What I found out about them is that the smaller you are, the higher you bounce. I did not bounce very high.
Here is the awesome party canopy that my lovely friend loaned us. Who knew how hot it would be today? We really did need the shade.
Here is my favorite part of the party, the crap. Gummy bears were the big hit. I think they were gone in under thirteen seconds.
In summary, pizza at a kids party had better be cheese, bouncy houses are fun if you are small, and water balloons fix every party problem.

Holy Cow!

(don't worry, I didn't let him actually eat the celery)

As babies go, mine is quite agreeable for the most part. But for the last two weeks he has been a beast. It's been exhausting holding him for three fourths of the day, every day. I switched formula thinking it was something in his diet. I made sure that I didn't accidentally wash his clothes with scented detergent or dry them with dryer sheets (makes him itchy). I made sure he wasn't too hot/cold/wet/tired/bored. I've been working hard on getting Hayden's party ready (more on that soon). I've also been very sad about co-workers transferring stores and friends moving. So the baby all of the sudden needing extra attention was hard. Then today, while watching my sacred, sacred Tivo I discovered the root of his problem. A tooth. Oh yeah, that's what I said, a tooth. You think I would have focused more on the whole teething possibility since I've done the baby thing before, but no. Jake's got a TOOTH! And it took me forever to notice it. Sigh. I'll take pictures of it when it's done growing in. I just hope he's not like Hayden with the teething thing. Hayden got all of his teeth in a very short period of time. So now that the mystery of Jake's problem is most likely solved, I can focus all my energy on not eating all the chocolate chip cookies I made for the party.

Hayden Says The Darndest Things

So Hayden has the cutest personality. He just says the best stuff sometimes. While I was working this past weekend, Brandon asked Hayden to get him the jar of baby food out of the fridge. Brandon was struggling to get Jake in his seat and needed the extra help. Hayden wanted to be a good helper but couldn't find the baby food. He yelled at his dad, "Oh! Here it is!" and brings Brandon a jar of baby dill pickles.

Then last night while driving home from Granddaddy's house we were playing trivia questions (we ask Hayden multiple choice questions and then he makes some up for us). I knew the answer to a question he thought would be very hard for me and told me when I got it right that I was a "smart cookie".

When I was putting him to bed last night he told me I was his "lovelykins Mommy".

He also calls Jake's little jerky movements "shaking" instead of "kicking" or "wiggling".

He has his bad days too though. I've been uninvited to his birthday party six times already this week for making him do something he doesn't want to do. I'm "not his best friend anymore". I'm also "not his boss" because his job is NOT at home, it's at school.

And, my favorite, Grandma is "just like an ATM".

My Foot is No Longer An Excuse

So yesterday I went to a podiatrist about my foot. It's been hurting for a month or so and it's getting to be a big deal since I'm on my feet for work. So I have plantar fasciitis. No big deal, it's just basically an inflammation of the connective tissue on the bottom of my foot. I have to wear more supportive shoes or insoles and do these stretches. My foot pain has been my excuse not to work out for a month now. Foot problem solved. Damn it. Now all I have to do is buy better shoes and I'm off working out again. Damn it. He even told me where to go (Salt Lake Running Company) and which kind of shoe to buy. Damn it. So now I have to work out. Sigh. So now while I procrastinate about getting the proper foot gear, I've decided to make the ultimate work out play list for my ipod. Here it is so far.

1. Perfect Drug- Nine Inch Nails
2. Best of You-Foo Fighters
3. Been Caught Stealing- Jane's Addiction
4. Hey Ya- OutKast
5. Time to Pretend-MGMT
6. Laid- James
7. Just-Radiohead
8. Melatonin- Silversun Pickups
9. Lost-Coldplay

I think it's long enough. I'm not sure. I'm pretty lazy right now so I don't know if I'd make it past the first three songs. Now all I have to do is drive to Draper and buy me some shoes. Damn it.

Um...Mr. King?

I love Red Lobster. Brandon loves it more than I do. After realizing last night that there was nothing in the house to eat, we decided to roll across town and go out to dinner (it is endless shrimp right now too). We were seated quickly and our waiter approached us , introducing himself as Mr. King. Um.....Mr. King? No first names? Anyway, for some reason I thought this was very, very funny and I had to keep my head down to order my water. I had to distract myself with Hayden's complementary coloring activity just to get through it (the answer to the skateboarding unscramble game is "pads" by the way). Every time he came near us I worked on not giggling. I checked out the name badges of other Red Lobster employees. Evan, Carl, Andrea, Rob. They all used their first names. Maybe Mr. King is special. He did like to use big words. When Hayden commented to Mr. King that he had spelling homework to do so could he please get our check ( I know, we are working on the rude thing right now), Mr. King let us know that he also had homework to do later. Statistics. Very impressive Mr. King. Very impressive.

Smart, Scary Smart

When I was taking the sheets off Hayden's bed today to wash them, I spotted his white board. He sometimes sits in bed at night with his white board, drawing. We had gone to the library yesterday and Hayden picked up some books about electricity. In one of his books he saw a chart similar to the one he drew. He decided to make his own. He then charted all his favorite electronic devices and their power sources. ? Seriously? He's a freaking smarty pants. When I asked him about it all he said was, "Yeah I made a chart about power sources last night." I get the feeling I'm going to wake up one morning and he will have built himself a laboratory in his closet. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to help him with his homework by the time he's in third grade.

Not the Sharpest Knife in the Drawer

So our dog Bandit tries so hard to be a good dog. He so wants to be a good watchdog too but he's......how should I put this.......not so smart. He loves us and he's potty trained, but those are the only two things he's good at. He barks like a crazy dog whenever anyone knocks on the door, alerting us to the dangers of people who announce themselves. Because all good dogs know that burglars knock and are welcomed through the front doors. Bandit has now found something new to protect us from. The Killer Air Freshener! Dun Dun Dun (dramatic music)! It's this Air wick freshener with a battery that you can program to go off at regular intervals throughout the day. So every 36 minutes Bandit flips out when the innocent little air freshener hisses out some fragrance. I had to put it up pretty high and out of the way because it will hiss out some fragrance in your eye if you happen to walk past it at just the right moment. It is fairly disturbing to be typing in your quiet house, with a baby sleeping, and your not so smart dog growls at your staircase.

(The offensive freshener seen here first up close, then in its natural habitat on top of the closet)




(Bandit, seen here, is keeping close a close watch on the garbage can lid, which occasionally surprises us by opening on its own when the can's too full)

The Stinky Part of Living in Herriman

So I like living in Herriman sometimes. I love all the walking paths in my neighborhood and the big open feeling you get out here. It's nice that it's close to the freeway so Brandon's drive to Utah County isn't so horrible and it's not too far from my work. Last year they opened up a new school down the street that Hayden now goes to. It's a lovely school with a wonderful staff and a great group of kids.

Now here is the bad part about living in Herriman. It's not done expanding. It changes boundaries all the time. Now I find out yesterday that they are building a new elementary school up the street. The boundaries for Hayden's school might be affected. Oh please oh please oh please leave him in his school. We love it there. There are five schools whose boundaries could be affected. One of those schools has a student population of 1,400. Our school is the second highest with 950 students. My neighborhood has a bit of an identity crisis. We are right in the middle of where Herriman meets up with Riverton and South Jordan. Sometimes I picture in my head all the city planners for South Jordan, Riverton and Herriman sitting in a room, fighting over who has to take us into their borders. Hayden's current school is in Riverton's boundaries and the new one is in Herriman. Does that matter? I sure hope not. I'm adding this new stress to my stress about the party.

Party Planning is Giving Me a Headache

(Notice the serious expression on Hayden's face. This party is serious business)


So Hayden is turning 7 at the end of this month. He wants a friend party this year, not a family party. I'm all sorts of stressed out about it. His birthday is in fall, a tricky time in Utah for weather. I'm afraid if I do my original plan of renting a huge inflated something or other, that it will rain and the kids won't be able to use it. The same problem applies to my other plan of taking the kids to Boondocks. I'm obsessing over it. I checked out the Outdoor Weather Planner at KSL and everything. Historically the chance of rain that day is around 14%. That's low right? I'm really stressed because I'm a mommy that wants him to be happy and I'm terrified that something will go terribly wrong. Like no kids show up, or Hayden screams "I hate this present" every time he opens a gift, or Hayden gets bored at his own party and tells everyone to leave (that seriously could happen, I'm not just making stuff up to stress about). I thought typing this blog about the party would help relieve some stress. I was wrong. I don't' need to type. I need some chocolate. Or cookies. Or chocolate chip cookies. I finally go back to work today after my 13 days off. There are lots of cookies at work. I'm sure I'll plan the perfect party tonight at 9 during my break, while I eat a Kit-Kat or pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from the bakery. Sugar clears my mind. That's my story and sticking to it. Wish me luck.

First Pair of Wranglers

Okay, aren't those little Wrangler shorties cute? I mean, I know everything my kid wears makes it cute, but they might have been that cute to start with. Thanks Suzy and Grandfather!

I Just Had Too Much Hair

Okay, this first shot is what my hair looked like last Friday. I'd had enough. Becky and Jen have wanted me to cut it for a while now. I told them I would as soon as it wasn't so hot (I couldn't give up my pony tail for work with those high temperatures). I realized that all I did was put it in pony tails. I basically stopped doing my hair. So I went to the stylist Jen loves named Holly at Salon Rain in Murray and...................

Ta Da! Shorter!! I like it so much better. I put way too much shampoo in my hand yesterday morning when I was in the shower though. Forgot I had half as much hair. Becky was nice enough to come with me. Since Jen has always cut my hair I'm a little deficient in the ways of the salon. I love Becky and her hair is cute on her, but it's way too short for me so I walked into the salon and told Holly "I don't want it that short" and pointed to Beck's head. Poor Becky didn't know she was coming as the example of what not to do. Luckily Holly thought it was fun to do what she wanted to do to my hair and it worked out. I've never had my hair highlighted with foils before either. I'm glad Jen instructed me to have her only do the crown since that alone took over an hour. What if she'd done my whole head?! Holly just kept saying, "You have a lot of hair." When she started cutting the back, she looked at Becky, pointing to the floor and said "Look how much I just cut off". She was kind of menacing when she said that, kind of like when Jen would cut my hair and do whatever she wanted. I guess most people don't go into the salon saying "Whatever, I just want less hair." It makes stylists very happy. You should try it sometime. It's funny to watch. But only if you really feel "whatever" about your hair. I suppose if you feel strongly about how you want to look, giving your stylist all that freedom would be bad.

Turned out cute though didn't it? She's awesome. Now if I can just manage to style it myself.............................

The Texans Invade!

Brandon's Aunt Tammy and his Grandfather were nice enough to come visit us from Texas last week. It's always so fun to have them here. Whenever they come we play marathon card games and dominoes (notice the cards on the table). And since they know that it would take a miracle for me to figure out how to play poker, they are kind enough to play easier games. They taught us a card game named Golf where lowest score wins. I didn't always come in last. That's always my goal-to not be last. We have to get our butts down to Texas next and visit the rest of the family there. It's our turn. I wanted to tell them thanks for coming, thanks for Wendover, thanks for the gifts and thanks for the company. We miss you guys already.