So Proud of Him

BSC and I went to Target tonight to pick up a few things. We did our usual routine: One of us doing the shopping while the other takes The Boy to the toy aisle for some entertainment. This time the boys went off to play while I gathered the items from our list. After putting the shampoo and conditioner into the shopping cart, I turned around and saw my two guys coming toward me, with Nathan riding a bike.

Now why am I so proud of this? Because his daddy didn't even flinch at the thought of letting Nathan ride a pink and purple bike around in public. I know a few dads who would have a fit at the thought of their boy playing with such a "girlie" item. I am ok if Nathan plays with his cousin's dolls, I'm ok if he wants to play dress-up, and I'm ok if he rides a pink bike. Making a big deal out of generally gender-specific toys to a two year old could potentially have a negative effect on him when he's older. So, good job BSC, you've risen above the typical male stereotypes and passed on an excellent lesson to your son!

Holiday Favorites

We made it back from almost two weeks away visiting family and friends in Oklahoma. There's way too much to write about the events during the time we were gone, so I'll just highlight the time with some pictures.


Christmas morning with my side of the family. Nathan was more interested in copying Grandpa by putting bows on his head.


On BSC's side, the traditional "dirty Santa" gift exchange was especially vicious. Three awesome gifts were stolen from me. I ended up with a gift nobody wanted.



Second Christmas with BSC's side of the family. Nathan made out well. See all those gifts? Those are all for him.


I'm pretty sure Mr. Potato Head was his favorite.


Tulsa was in the 70's off and on the entire time we were there. It was amazing. We took Nathan for walks around his parents' land.


We found some train tracks, and ten minutes later a train.

But most importantly, Brandi had her baby!

We have been busy!

These past few weeks have been full of fun, including ...

A family trip to Yellowstone:

A fancy date with my sister:

This is the diamond ring we didn't win:

But at least we look freakin' hot:

And my shoes were too awesome:

And a surprise 30th birthday party for my sister:

And the fun isn't going to stop. My mother in-law is currently in town, I'm throwing a wine and cheese party on Friday, my first book club meeting is in a couple weeks, we're flying to Texas for our fifth college reunion and my sister got NKOTB (New Kids On The Block) concert tickets for her birthday which we'll be rocking out to in November. Wahooooo!!!

Anniversary/18 months/Fathers Day

Thanks for all the great advice on our anniversary celebration. We decided to spend the money on a really nice dinner that if we were using our own money, would have never done. We went to La Caille, a very nice French restaurant/winery tucked at the base of the mountain in Salt Lake. The area is beautiful and has several peacocks, rabbits, swans and ducks milling about the cottage. A particularly large and beautiful peacock sat right above my head for the majority of the meal. To make you jealous this is what we ate:

Pre appetizers: Baguette, Marinated Cucumbers and Sliced Duck

Hors devours: Escargot (me) and Pate (BSC)

Salad: Crab & Avocado (me) and Wilted Spinach (BSC)

Main Entree: Sirred Duck (me) and Rack of Lamb (BSC)

Dessert: Grand Marnier Souffle (me) and Crepe Suzette (BSC)

Coffee: Copper Cappuccino; cappuccino with butterscotch schnapps, creme de cacao and chantilly creme

After-dinner refresher: White and dark chocolate covered strawberries

I felt like I was going to explode by the time we were done, but it was so yummy. I have never spent so much money on a meal for two in my entire life. Was it worth it? Yes. If I was spending my own money? Probably not.

A couple of weeks ago, Nathan turned 18 months old. As with everything this month, his letter is going to be a bit late. I know, I know, I'm awful. But life has gotten a bit out of hand lately.

Today is Father's Day. Happy FD BSC! You are a wonderful husband and daddy. I couldn't have asked for more.

Yes, I'm back. Back from vacation, back to work, back on the blog.

So, vacation was great. We had seven full days packed with family, friends, food (BUENO & BRAUMS!), and fun. It's always hard to come back from vacation. I feel like I need a few days to recuperate, especially traveling with a seven month old. His schedule was totally off the entire time we were there. He would only nap for an hour each day, which makes for exhausting days for me. But he did great on the plane, I can't complain about that. Our flight out of Utah was late, and we were hoping he would sleep. But he didn't. Luckily he just laid across our laps and snuggled in his blanket most of the way. Poor guy didn't go to sleep until 1am. The way back he was a bit more energetic with it being an afternoon flight, but I think he was so exhausted from the entire week he ended up sleeping over an hour. It was so nice having him sleep in my arms. It's not that often I can hold him while he sleeps, so I relished every moment of it. My legs were falling asleep and I was totally uncomfortable on the plane ride home, but I loved watching him sleep peacefully on my lap.

Visiting Oklahoma reminded me of just how much I love it there.

Here's some pictures for you to enjoy:

Nathan and I totally exhausted after a VERY long day.

Nathan and Grandpa Kent (BSC's dad)

Nathan with Grammie Debi and Izzie ... who didn't enjoy her hair being pulled

Nathan with Grandpa Tom (he's got lots of grandparents)

Notice a trend? He always has to have something in his mouth ...

... again ...

... and again.

First he'll look at it ...

... then straight to the mouth!

Our little red-head.

The fam

This has nothing to do with our vacation, but Nate met a new friend the other day. This is Jace.

Before we get started, has anyone else been having problems with comments lately? For the past few days I've run into some hassles while trying to comment on some blogs. Either the word verification image won't show up, or the comment page doesn't show up, or a message comes up saying that blogger cannot process my request at this time. What's going on here people?

Anywho ... so this past weekend my mom turned 50. That's right everyone, she's now the big FIVE-OH. After some secret planning and scheming with my aunt and dad we pulled off a pretty amazing surprise party if I do say so myself. So, I've posted some pictures from the party below ... enjoy:

Yep, that's good ol' BSC. He dressed up like a tennis yuppie for the party because all of my mom's tennis friends were there. No, it was not a costume party. Yes, he did it just to make fun of my mom and her friends.

This was taken right after my mom walked in the door. She was so surprised she started crying and hugging everyone. I guess she didn't know what else to do. We thought she knew the whole time we were planning, but I guess we pulled it off. That thing on her head? She had to wear that during the whole party.

The entire house was gobbed up with black and white streamers, balloons, and "over the hill" decorations. This particular decoration is my favorite. Look at that bouffant hair!!

She got gag gifts o' plenty. Here we see her holding up the rather large granny panties (I hate that word by the way).

I have more fun pictures to show like the rude cake we got her and Benny (our youngest cat) hung over after the big event. But Blogger has not only decided to give me crap about commenting, but now posting pictures seems to be a problem too. So sorry, that is all.