Creed woke up before anyone else this morning. He woke up whining and I rolled out of bed to go and answer his call. I fed him breakfast and yet the whining continued. By now, I'm really confused. Mini pancakes usually do the trick for him, especially since he can dip to his little heart's content in his bowl of maple syrup goodness but alas, the whining continued.

I took him downstairs in hopes that a basement filled with toys would help his little self and it did. For a moment. I tried to sneak some additional snoozes on the worn, comfy green couch we've had for 10 years now. It just knows how to mold you and, mold me it did.

However, Creed still whined. Unhappy with anything for a long moment of time.

The airplanes wheels got stuck and he couldn't get them out. Whine.

The bat cave tipped over. Whine.

He got stuck squeezing through the two couches. Whine.

Oh, it was never ending.

So, I changed a diaper. Got a sippy cup, wrapped his blanket around his shoulders like he loves and yet, it still continued.

I put him in his crib, opened up the shutters and hoped he just needed more time to wake up. He was content for a few moments and then the whining continued.

I went back in, swooped him up and felt beyond helpless. The whining had to stop and yet, I didn't know how to make it stop or what my little guy needed. Then, I saw it. The secret weapon laying comatose, unaware of my struggles, laying on our bed. Jared.

Creed loves Jared. Oh, does that boy love his daddy.

So, I took the wiggly, whining boy and laid him on my pillow next to his dad. I got his blanket and put it over him and walked away and what I heard next was amazing.

Nothing.

What I saw next was tender.

Who wouldn't love that?

Hakuna Matata

We had a perfect Saturday afternoon. Seeing The Lion King at Capital Theater and then lunch at Olive Garden. Fabulous!

We had great seats and I must say, I had great company. The majority of my family also went but our tickets weren't near them. However, we did get to sit by Erin and her friend Paul.

Jared enjoyed Lion King better than Wicked and I think they were pretty equal, but if we would have had the same seats for Wicked, it would have been fantabulous!

Note to Self

This is what happens when you leave the strap of your nice, expensive camera dangling from the counter.

Yeah for Gillian who encouraged me to buy filters for my lenses when I got my first SLR several years ago.

Hopefully several things will come from this accident. I will begin to understand the power of a 17 month old who likes to pull, push or throw items from wherever he's standing and said 17 month old may be one day closer to being out of this destructive stage where he insists on body surfing on the counter and table to see what he can knock down or what big mess he can make.

Thank goodness he's cute.

Time Out

Earlier this week I looked at the calendar and found nothing scheduled for Friday night or Saturday. NOTHING! No where to be, no one expecting us or counting on us. NOTHING!

I checked with my sister Erin and her calendar showed the same thing. Score! {she ended up ditching us on Friday night but luckily grandma Taylor came to her rescue and allowed the boys to have a sleepover}

I booked us a hotel downtown Salt Lake, packed our bags and put them in the car. Dropped the kids off at my moms house and came back home to pick up the hubs for dinner, as he was told we were doing.

We went to a fancy restaurant where we had a gift card {we've had it for two years} and our fancy meal ended up costing us $2. We did a little shopping with another gift card that's been lost in the pit, I call my wallet and then headed to SLC.

I was driving and told Jared that I needed to show him something {we've been furniture shopping and he assumed we were going to another store} but I stopped at a downtown hotel and got out to check us in. Surprise!

We went to a late movie {Scott Pilgrim vs. the World}, ate lots and lots of popcorn, slept in a king size bed, went out to breakfast, did some furniture shopping and came home to get the boys from grandma and Erin.

So much fun! So needed.

Next time, we're leaving the state!

My sweet neighbor saw me giving my bushes a haircut and decided to reward my ambition with some fresh tomatoes from her garden.

Seriously, it was the best.reward.ever!

So for lunch I had myself my FIRST of the season tomato sandwich with Havarti Cheese on good 'ole cheap white wonder bread. It was so good. I ate two.

Yup, we're not afraid of carbs around here.

Yesterday morning I received a phone call from Christina. It was early, like before 9a.m. early. It went something like this:

her: "I need an out tonight, I'm thinking of going to a late movie. Wanna come?"

me: "why, yes. yes, I would"

I started the bedtime routine early. I fed and bathed the boys. Scrubbing the outside dirt off their little feet, slathering them in lotion and in a freshly laundered set of pajamas. Their teeth were brushed, hair was combed and they were ready to be tucked in to bed.

Important Note: All Jared needed to do was to read them a book and put them into bed.

I walked out the door with Christina to go see Eat, Pray, Love. A movie based on a book I really enjoyed. Here's my two cents on the movie.

A little slow. A little long. Julia Roberts is fantastic and I thought the casting all around was great. It's been years since I have read the book and I'm pretty sure some parts were missing but overall, it was good. Not great, but good.

I returned home to find my kids tucked into bed. As I started inquiring about how bedtime went I started to learn that Jared felt it was just too nice of a night to put them kids into bed by 8. So they went outside to play.

Say What?

{sigh} once again the boys played outside in the summer evening with no shoes. They stayed up past their bedtime and well, got dirty once again.

So it's official that Jared and I parent differently in some aspects. I like routine and clean feet and Jared enjoys summer memories and playing so hard they {literally} drop into bed at night.

However the kids go to bed. They wake up happy, refreshed and ready to start a new day so it looks like we're doing something right. Raising happy kids, with dirty feet.

We're lovin' this.....

for the wii that is. Streaming netflix through the Wii is the smartest and easiest thing. We love it!

Easton isn't feeling well. Woke up with a fever and has been dry heaving. Being able to stream movies and tv shows through the Wii without having to endure the ads for Pillow Pets is a dream come through.

I feel bad for our little Larsen Video which I'm sure won't last much longer and Hollywood Video has already shut it's doors here in town but for the same price that I could rent some DVD's for the weekend, I can have unlimited for a month. Seems like a no brainer to me!

Summertime at our house

Consists of chasing Creed down the street. It's almost certain that he doesn't have shoes on and he's got a popsicle stain on his shirt and running down his arms. The majority of the time he looks behind him to see if he is being pursued and once he realizes that he is, he puts his little short legs in high gear and runs.

Luckily this day, I have shoes on. Most the time I don't because I wasn't expecting to have to chase him because two minutes before he was in the house.


At the end of each day, the feet in our house look like this. I don't know what it is about shoes but my kids won't keep them on. Every night no matter the time, we have to jump in the tub and wash feet and once we start washing their feet we realize they are just dirty boys and they end up taking baths to get the dirt off of their tired bodies.

Creed has stolen Easton's "4-wheeler" and cruises around like he owns the road. Lately he's into "popping wheelies" and needs all the help he can get, he says he can get more height when he sticks out his tongue.

Summertime is coming to a slow decline around here. The kids are most certainly going to be in withdrawals when we don't have friends showing up at our doorstep before 9am and we don't allow them to play in the street, while we talk to other parents in the middle of the road until 10pm.

We have loved our summer. It's been as low key as you could get which I think is perfect for a family of 3 boys ages, 5, 3 and 1. Naps have been taken, watermelon has been consumed and wonderful, friendships have been made with our neighbors all while standing under the stars watching our kids enjoy the simpler times of life.

Summer Storms

Last night after dinner we were treated to a fabulous summer storm. We opened up the double doors in the front of the house and sat and enjoyed the lightning, rain, hail and kids splashing in the puddles!

I had a moment of anxiety as I saw my newly washed windows be covered in rain {dirty filthy rain I'm sure} but quickly got over it as my house became cool and as the kids were eager to get outside and ride their bikes through the puddles.

We've needed rain all summer, however, we wish it would have checked our schedule first. We've got a summer party and a scout campout that may be very, very wet!