The G-files

Pumpkin Cutting 2011...

2011-11-05T16:31:00.005-06:00

We had a family tradition at one point where we all would go up and pick out our pumpkins and do the corn maze, but in the last couple of years it appears we have dropped this tradition. Wanting to stick with some of the tradition I took the boy out to go get our own. He was a man on a mission and knew exactly what he wanted got in and go out.

Given that he is now 10 and in previous years I had let him try to clean out the pumpkin, knife was still handled by me but I made him grab a spoon (ok he came back out with a ladle so I sent him back in for a spoon). Since he chose a huge pumpkin this year, and by huge it was so big he could not carry by himself we were out there for some time while he cleaned it out.

Now every picture has been posed because he thought they would be funny to show. Finally I got tired of waiting for him to clean so he was excused and I finished. Once he came back he thought he would see how clean I got it...

but obviously I didn't make the hole big enough for a close up inspection.

He did his own design and I was the cutter. I decided on mine to make a pumpkin although I have been told it looks like an apple. Coming to my rescue was the neighborhood kid who said it was a pumpkin too and then a polite reminder that he was only in 2nd grade so it really didn't count.

Sticking with at least one tradition I allowed H to destroy the pumpkins. The big one again was too big so he went at it with a bat.

Safety first, which is why he had the helmet and gloves on. :)

And again sticking with some tradition, you broke it you clean it up, hence the bag for picking up the pieces.

The kiss that missed...

2011-07-28T20:08:00.005-06:00

Alright, I know you can get cheaper books at Walmart or where ever but I love to go to the book fair at H's elementary school. Usually anything they sale there he gets points on for reading.

It is wonderful. He gets to choose a few that earn him many points and then he gets to choose a few fun ones for him and we typically pick up a new book off the wish list for his teacher as well. We walk away spending a pretty penny but all worth it in the end because most of the funds are given to the school.

In one of our shopping trips we found this book, "The Kiss That Missed" by David Melling, I LOVE THIS BOOK. It is just a cute little book about a king who is too busy to spend time with his son. On his way busy being the king he blew a kiss and guess what, yep, it missed the boy.

The king then sends his trusty knight to track down the kiss. This kiss goes everywhere, a dark scary forrest, wolves, bears and yes even a dragon is in this book but the kiss is captured in the end and returned where everyone is happy and the king promises to not be in a hurry anymore.

It helps to remind me to take time to spend with the little lad before he is too old. The reason why I bring this up now is because H loves to say goodbye but to have missed kisses. Yes, we blow a kiss and the first one always goes on by. The second kiss usually lands on us and we rub it in. As he is getting older he doesn't want to kiss mom anymore but he really likes to play this game with me and I find it adorable.

I feel special...

2011-06-29T22:24:00.002-06:00

I am a nerd in so many ways. I still am learning this blog thing and although I have had the followers thing on my blog I guess I never really looked at it. I must say I feel extra special to have 5 now and they are not just family.

And to feel even more "special" I guess some where along the line I turned off the notifications of those commenting on my blog and I never knew or checked it out, I feel special for being so "special" and not realizing what I am doing with this thing.

Thanks my lovely followers. :)

Blog name meaning...

2011-06-27T20:50:00.006-06:00

Well originally it was hmgfamilyfiles (Hunter and mama), it is mostly about the 2 of us and seriously who would not be able to gloat about this cute, little, adorable boy (yes, even if he chooses to wear stockings on his head and hands). I tend to use it to rant about little things that urk me here and there or to boost up something I love. If I find the time I like to put down the musings of the little one when I come across them in his school journal (he wants his own blog as he gets older he says, I am sure that will be interesting). It allows my friends and family get to know me better by going through this blog. I in turn love to "cyber" stalk them back and read up on their life with their family, lots of cute little ideas I have come across.

I ended up changing it to the G-files because it fits me a little bit more (think along the lines of the X-files, yes, that geekdom coming out again). Same talk just different name, shorter for me.

Something I crave a lot...

2011-06-24T20:49:00.004-06:00

I LOVE Cafe Rio!!!! If my body would allow it I would eat there EVERY day. I crave it significantly. We would go there once a week if not more and we had gone there sooooo much that they would know my order. We don't hit it up as much anymore because I have learned my body does not allow it.

Sorry Costa Vida you do not compare. I love their tomatillo dressing, I ordered a huge tub of it once just so I could have more. I can't say I have a favorite item because I like them ALL.

Who is my biggest impact...

2011-06-23T21:55:00.004-06:00

Who has had the biggest impact on my life, I can sum it up with one word... Hunter. I know some who will read this will be like really come on. I am here to tell you that I would not be who I am and where I am in my life right now without him.

He is gives me the most joy in my life, not all of it but most. He makes me want to be a better person because I see parts of me that I hate coming out in him so I want to change those habits to get him to be the best person I know he can be.

I know it is corny and crazy but he has been the biggest impact on my life, I only hope to live up to the highest standards to make him as proud of me as I am of him.

15 interesting facts...

2011-06-22T20:38:00.003-06:00

I don't know how interesting this is about me but hey they are facts and maybe you can tell what kind of a personality I have...

1- All things frogs, I don't know why or how my obsession started with frogs but I LOVE them. Over the years I have accumulated many frog items so pretty much every room in my house has something frog related. My son gets items that are frog related and I laugh because he appreciates the gift and once everyone is gone I get told "I think they forgot to give this gift to you".

2- If it ain't a frog it has to be purple. Alright technically periwinkle is my favorite color but all things purple are great. I love that the boy talked me into a purple couch although I HATE that the dog and cat fur show up so well on it.

3- My eyes are a Hazel green, most days green but still some brown. The boy had blue eyes for the longest time but they are now a Hazel blue green, he loves that they are part green because he wants his eyes like mine.

4- Yep forget it being all things me being on this list. I can always find a way to rope the boy into any conversation. I wouldn't say I have no life without him but it is a more fulfilling life. :)

5- I have attended the Parade of Homes in the past few years and guess what I have hit up EVERY house on the list for those years. Crazy.

6- As I was younger I had to have both my legs in casts. They were thigh high and I woke up after surgery and they were too tight. They then had to cut them them wrap them with ace bandages. I remember getting to use the power skooters at the grocery store because of them. I then had walking casts and they had a little balancer on the bottom that I walked on. I also had to learn to walk all over again because of the amount of time I was in the casts, let's just say it is easier when you learn the first time.

7- I have never had a traffic ticket, I don't speed for the most part and even though I have been in two car accidents in my life never have had a ticket. (knock on wood)

8- Although they are not as tough anymore I have some incredibly tough feet. I can go barefoot almost through anything, they are softening up as I get older so I can't walk on the rocks or the goat head stickers or even the really hot pavement anymore I once was able too.

9- My monkey toes, I love my monkey toes. I can do pretty much anything with my toes. I even was working on writing for some time but haven't tried in a while. I bet if I kept at it I could though... I may need to look into this one again.

10- My HUGE candy apple head. My family always makes fun of my big head, it is huge, we weighed it once I remember this as a child and it was heavier than everyone else's. I must say my big brain just needs to have a huge noggin to hold it.

11- I love things that are miniature. I love the small little bottles and such that I come across along my way in life, just so cute.

12- I have only had I worked at the recreation center for 7 years and I have been pretty much at my current job since. I have had a few other little jobs here and there but I seem to be dedicated to my jobs.

13- I truly believe I have only kept my head above water financially because I truly believe that the Feng Shui rule of keeping your toilet lid down helps. If I happen to have to spend a whole lot of money because of something I blame it on the toilet lid being up, usually from my family visits, occasionally the boy but even less from me. (I know I am crazy)

14- I am a geek at heart, I may not know all the ins and outs of comic books and the "geeky" things but I love it all. I love that the boy is getting geeky and schools me in things of geekdom.

15- I have fallen in love with Heber City, I don't know why (partially a lie) but I want to live there now.

I can't promise I will be as strong as Kathleen at doing this list but here it day one. I don't have many current pictures but this one is fairly current and it is one of my favorites.

Getting ready for the nice guy...

2011-06-19T20:57:00.006-06:00

My sister put it best, I have a tendency to go after the "bad" boy, hence the reason why I love Chuck Bass and Jacob. Knowing that I tend to develop these crushes on married men or men with girlfriends or even men who in no way shape or form would ever give me the time of day or even guys that I will never see again. I don't know what the appeal is other than if I do this I won't tend to get my heart broken and I don't have to tear down this wall I have built.

What is funny right now in my life my 10 year old son is ready for me to date and I must say I don't think I am on the same page. I know I say I am but I have made a number of mistakes when it has come to guys and I know it is part of "growing up" but I am done with the mistakes. I don't want to put forth the effort to date if it really is not going to go anywhere. I want a dating service that will just do all the leg work for me and I just have to show up. A lot of that is because I work full time and I am a full time parent to my son through out the year.

Of course I don't see myself dating anyone soon because I don't feel as pretty as I once did. I know that most of it is in my head but I have gained a lot of weight and I have never let it go to my head until recently and now I just feel big and I feel like I don't have the self confidence that I once did to obtain a man in my life.

I am reading a friends blog and she is incredibly inspiring and is making me re-evaluate my life and feelings. I know if it is meant to be it will be but I know I can't be sitting back just waiting for it to happen. But again it is the self confidence I once had was gone.

This weekend I developed a crush on a man and I was actually embarrassed to talk to him and I know at one point in my life I would have had more self confidence to talk to him. I did pick up on a few things in our brief conversations and know now that he was married so it never would have worked out anyway but instead of talking to him directly I picked up the conversation he was having with the other guy helping out at the station we were.

I need my self confidence back and maybe this is what I need to get off my behind and start working out to lose the weight so I start to feel better about myself. Even if I don't lose the weight I know I will feel better about myself anyway I just need to start.

I offer my friend lots of words of wisdom however she doesn't know I am a chicken myself and really don't act upon the words I give to her, it is easier to say the words than to act upon them. I am sure she will read this and think I am full of, well you know what, but now maybe I can start to act upon those words as well.

My half marathon experience...

2011-06-12T10:47:00.008-06:00

My time for the half sucked big time but I didn't have much training to go behind it so I must say it was a bigger accomplishment just to finish. Overall I would like to do it again with some real training behind me.

This wonderful journey started the day before, we rode up on the train to get our packets (we being Mary, H and I), while we were at the expo I was convinced if H had this orange visor that he would run better. I must say he wore it for 2 days but I bet he couldn't tell you where this is now. Money well spent not really but money well worth it to make the boy be happy for two days, I must say yes. While we were at the expo he got to try his hand a Kinect dodgeball.

I chose my first one to be the Ogden Half Marathon because my sister always talks about how beautiful the course is and it is basically down hill so worth the pain and suffering that follows the race. The two above pictures are from the start line. I signed up for this race thinking Mary was going to sign up for it as well. She did, just not the race I thought she would do, she chose the Marathon. Her, Megan and Mike were all doing the full. So it kind of made me loose determination to train because I was by myself. I did fairly good but really I was no where close to where I needed to be. Once it warmed up some too it H was a great joy and rode on his bike on my runs carrying water for us to drink. I love that little man at times, he was being very helpful for this race but it came a little too late so next time I get to be better at it.

There were some great views, two were taken before the camera got too sweaty. I don't remember what mile I go to with my run (ok really my run is more of a very light jog but it is what I do) but I got through I want to say about half way (the stop where Scott was at, maybe my sister can help) and I was feeling really good. I was about a mile after that I started feeling the pain. I am glad I decided to get a back brace to wear because I know I would not have been able to complete with out it.

The other two pictures were taken after the sweat took over the lens (I know gross but it's my blog). The running joke from Mike was he was going to use all the toilets in the race, sort of like a marking of territory. Jokes on me because I did practically use everyone. I thought I could miss one and you know what I regretted missing it. I missed using the one at the 3k mark and I regretted that one the most because my last 3 miles were the worst. I was no longer running, I was walking at best and I guess I looked terrible because even the spectators were coming up to me asking me if I was fine.

I had my knee hurting, my back was killing me, my muscles ached and I had feet problems (which later I find out were blisters). I got worried my son and mom were not going to make it in time along the course, come the 3 mile mark I was sure they would. H kept texting me but finally I came up to the finish line and got worried I had missed him. Finally he sent a text of I see you, I looked ahead and saw him. He was so excited to cross the finish line (rule breaker me) they allowed him to cross the line with me he was so happy and thrilled for me. Even though my eyes teared up along the way with all the encouragement from everyone along the way, that moment got to me the most having him be so proud.

Overall it was a decent experience and would like to try it again. I decided I preferred doing it alone because I hate thinking others are being held up by me so I didn't' mind doing it alone. I appreciate that my mom was able to bring the boy up so he could see me finish. I am still mad that my sister didn't try to contact me until AFTER I crossed the finish line to let me know she didn't make it, but it was all good and I plan to do it again.

Unaccompanied Minor...

2011-06-04T20:58:00.004-06:00

Okay, H has been flying back and forth from my house to his dad's house since he was 5 and by himself since he was 8 so he is a well traveled little boy. He is good on planes and usually falls asleep even before the plane is up in the air.

My complaint in this whole process is there have been a number of things that have happened in the whole unaccompanied minor process. Maybe my experiences have been out of the norm but we have been doing this for awhile now so really come on how many times does something need to happen for it to be un-normal.

He flies Delta and because of his age he has to fly on a direct route which is all good and dandy because less of a chance for something else to happen to him. We get to the airport and we have to go to the counter to check him in because of the paperwork that needs to be filled out and the additional fees. As we go to the line for the counter of course the "monitors" there don't seem to think I know what I am doing and always try to get me to go to the kiosks and want to see the ticket info I have. I explain he is an unaccompanied minor so I am going the correct way.

Most times we have a nice enough agent helping us but sometimes we get the one that you can tell is really annoyed at being there. Not sure if they are annoyed with our situation because he has to fly by himself or if they just are having a bad day or even if they are just ready to go home because I know I have had those days. We always check a bag, most of the agents look at me like really why are you checking this because it will cost $25. I know how much is costs, he wants to take his stuff with him. I question sending his stuff with him because it doesn't seem like they want it or need it there but it is the only stuff that is stable in his life that he can take with him at this point so to me I would pay whatever for him to feel comfortable.

Next thing that changes on each trip, the paperwork you have to feel out. I don't mind filling out the paperwork but you should be consistent on what you need me to feel out. Some agents are more helpful than others where they give me his dad's address or they feel out everything and I just need to sign but we have had the ones that get upset at me because I don't have his dad's address memorized, he has a new address pretty much each trip I am sorry I don't care to learn them if they are going to change anyway.

Then I get the instructions and I am told I need to wait at the gate until the flight has taken off and they will put him on the plane first. Which again I am fine with but then the gate agent takes his ticket and some of them call him first other prefer to load them last. I am fine with either one when you take the ticket just tell me instead of making me try to figure out which you prefer. Sometimes you can see the plane from where they load, other times not. I have been told at times I can leave once it leaves the loading zone other times I have been told I need to be there until the plane is in the air. I have been told only once, once mind you that the plane has left and I can leave now. I have gone up and asked before when I can leave and I get the look at really why are you even still here. I thought I was following the rules I don't know.

Typically TSA has never caused me any grief up until today and this is why I am even writing any of this down. They have been pretty consistent through all of this process, well today I was told to next time put the ticket through the scanner and not carry it with me. If you didn't want me to carry the ticket, which is what I all the times before then maybe instead of calling me through the machine ask me to put the ticket through and not cuss me out because I didn't read your mind.

I really don't mind any of this and it would never has caused me to get upset today if they and the airline could be consistent through all of this. It is hard enough for the child leaving or the parent (or other) sending them away but really don't you think some consistency would help us to feel not only more safe but secure in knowing you are going to take care of my child?

That is it, sorry I have ranted and if you made it this far good for you but I appreciate the ear.

Golden birthday boy...

2011-04-10T11:08:00.006-06:00

Oh my beautiful son, today is his birthday and because we can't be at the park because of the fun Utah weather I didn't want it to be uneventful for him. As my sister took him to see the movie Hop yesterday I ran out and bought as much golden items as I felt like I should.

I waited until he was a sleep and I decorated his room. There were 11 gold balloons, yes he is only 10 but I was worried one would pop or deflate so it wouldn't float up by the time he went to sleep. I also hung gold stars from his light and got a gold door hanger.

I got woke up this morning by one quiet little boy, "mom, my room is decorated?", it was almost like he thought a fairy came in and decorated. I explained that I had done it and he was even more happy.

I told him even though we couldn't have a party I wanted him to enjoy his day. He even gave me one of his gold balloons because he noticed there were 11. He also has a gold necklace and is running around the house rapping his little heart out. Oy, I have created a monster, the above picture is him in "rapping mode".

H was also given gold nugget gum and the closest to gold candy I could find because the lady cut in front of me and took the remainder of the gold coins.

And just to keep up the tradition, his interview...

How old are you? I'M 10!!!

What is your favorite animal? A shark, to be specific a tiger shark.

Why is a tiger shark your favorite? Because he can swim up to 20 miles per hour. (he really does know lots about sharks)

What is your favorite color? Navy blue slash camo. (the slash was from him)

What is your favorite toy? My favorite toy is my DS, well I do know you will give me a DS 3D.

What is your favorite food? My favorite food is (pounding the couch imitating a drum roll) fried chicken.

If fried chicken is your favorite food why do you not eat your mother's? Because they are not fried enough.

What is your favorite thing to do? If it wasn't snowing (which is what has been happening the last two days) I would be playing outside. If it was snowing it would be playing Poptropica (which is his way of saying can you hurry up and get off the computer so I can play on it).

Is there anything special that you want to tell people on your birthday? Well if they were all here I would say "thank you for all your presents and I love all of you and I hope this is the same thing next year."

If there was anything in the world that you could have what would you want? Anything in the whole world, I would probably choose any DS game that I don't already have.

What would you like for your birthday? All the love that I can get.

Anything else you want to say on your birthday? Yeah, I wish that I could bring the laptop with me while I wait for everyone to show up I can play Poptropica. (this is if we were having a party today)

Local disturber...

2011-03-22T23:50:00.003-06:00

Today while driving to daycare we pulled up to the stop light and the boy was looking out the passenger window. I could see him get a little tense and he looked straight forward as a delivery truck pulled up beside us.

I didn't think much of it while we waited for the light to change. Then he says "mama, the truck beside us is a local disturber." It took a few seconds for what he said to sink in so I looked at him and said "huh?", he was cautiously trying to point to the truck and said again "a local disturber". I looked at the side of the truck and it said local distributor. I explained the difference and we laughed because he said "oh, good because I didn't want to be disturbed."

Of course I think we should have that caution on our car because he is a disturber himself but I am sure most would think that too.

Lucky as can be...

2011-03-19T18:50:00.004-06:00

As a parent but even more so in my case as a single parent I must remember to control my temper more. I know I don't get upset when it comes to some things but I may lose my temper over others. I tend to take more of my stress out on the boy and he really doesn't deserve that.

We fight tooth and nail at times but I must take advantage of the time I have with him. If I push him too hard as he gets older is will only keep him further away.

Today I did and said somethings that I regret in a fight we were having, why did I do it? Because I knew it would make him cry and I wanted to see an emotion other than the dislike and hate I see coming from his eyes at me at times when we fight. I must remind myself he lives with me full time, even though it may be all fun and games when he gets to see his dad I know by the end of the time he thankful to come home and be an only child again. I get jealous and I let it get the best of me at times. As he gets older he will realize that the rules and stipulations he has at home are there for good reasons.

As a parent I must remember the good times more than the bad and show him the love that he deserves.

As a parent I must remember that I am as lucky as I can be when it comes to him because he is a wonderful person to be around and I am learning as much from him as he is from me.

As a parent I must remember to love the sweet innocent face more than the mean face that we get even if we know the rules we set forth are for good reasons and not what is deemed as "just being mean"...

I must remember this face, well maybe not the face exactly because that one kind of scares me ;) but the memories behind the face that show me I am loved.

V-day change of heart...

2011-02-11T21:22:00.002-07:00

If I have liked Valentines day before I don't recall, I hate it. It has nothing to do with the holiday really itself, I just feel that if you love someone you should tell or show them all the time and not have a day that makes you do it. The boy has stepped it up a notch this year and I must admit that I have really enjoyed him gifting me this year.

He created this beautiful heart valentine for me, it has purple, my favorite color. I have this hanging up at work.

His next wonderful surprise consisted of me being asked to work late one night. What?! Me work late, that ludicrous! (see previous post) I got to a part where I didn't want to start another project so I asked my sister if I could come home. I love that she helped him out with this because it's hard that he doesn't have someone all the time on hand to help him out with things for me. I love her comment of "I love your son to death but he is SO SLOW MOVING." I know it was said with pure love in her heart and meant nothing by it because I feel the same way some times.

Needless to say these Cherry Chocolate cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting were some of the best cupcakes I have ever tasted. I must say everything tastes better with love behind it.

113 hours...

2011-02-01T19:04:00.002-07:00

I am a work-a-holic by nature, I must admit I get this from my parents and I want to be a proud mother who can say my son knows I bust my butt for him. Can I just say working 113 hours over the last two weeks has really gotten to me this time? I am so exhausted that I honestly can say I can not think straight.

Why do I work this hard? You mean other than the work ethics my parents have put into me? It is because I don't want to be one of those people that just has things handed to them. I know I should accept the help when it is offered but I just can't get it through my head, I would rather me be the one who does or gets what I want. This is my down fall when it comes to guys in my life, they don't seem to want a girl who can do it on their own and as much as I might regret it I would prefer to call my dad to help me over a guy.

Oh I am sure there is a man out there that is willing to put up with this but he has yet to be found. Can I say though the boy is willing and ready for me to date, he has directed me to web dating and thinks that is a good thing, it will come with time I just need to get the work out of me.

Christmas treats, yum, yum...

2010-12-14T21:47:00.003-07:00

I am really bummed I won't get to eat any tonight and the boy can't wait himself. I need to make a few packages to send out to som of my employees out of the state, I want to make sure it gets to them in time and before they take time off for the holidays.

I love these chocolate haystacks that we had as growing up, I remember helping my mom make them and they would really only be made over the Christmas holiday. As I was making them tonight H yelled out "I know what you're making, they are sooooo good, you're making extra for us right?". And I also made some chocolate covered pretzels.

I am excited to have some tomorrow, hopefully we are able to package some up before we eat them all.

Megamind Mega Fun Night...

2010-11-27T23:53:00.004-07:00

Code can Dreamworks make a bad movie? Code I don't think so. Even what you would call their worst (other's opinion not my own) it was Cars and really I think that was a great movie too. H wants to see a few movies before his upcoming trip, tonight was Megamind. It was in 3D and the boy loves the 3D, I have come to like it. They have come a very long way since I went to the theatres for 3D with the red and green plastic film glasses. I even got a kiss from the boy at the end when Megamind and the girl are together *love it*. We even got pictures of us in our "gansta hats and glass" as it was put. We had fun, it was a great movie and if you haven't seen it the code go out and see the movie, you won't regret it.

Thanksgiving Story on Black Friday...

2010-11-26T15:32:00.003-07:00

Last year was the first time I have ever gone out for actual shopping on "Black Friday" I must say I really don't see the hype for it, sure I got all my Christmas shopping done on that day but really I wouldn't say I had a good deal that it was worth my while. I must say it was fun just to go out and hang with my sister and friends, I will do it again but it will really be for the company. When I have my son I don't go out for shopping then, no offense but I would prefer to spend time with him. I must thank my family for picking up a few things for me and looking for others.

I got the joy of serving Thanksgiving dinner, a week before the holiday I had realized I didn't have anything bought yet. I got it all bought and was working on cleaning the house then. I know it's family but I need to be able to feel comfortable in my house if we will have everyone over, clean is the only way. It was not the cleanest but survivable.

The night before I was working on cleaning when I get the call from my sister, "Hey, you coming over to help tonight?", yes that's right I forgot about the race day packets and helping with the race. If I didn't have enough to do already, but we made it over to help after we got the boy's room cleaned. We worked on the packets got them done and had to head home and worked on cleaning more. My wonderful young son saw me getting more stressed and was willing to work on cleaning so I could prep food for the next day. He cleaned until 2 in the morning with me prepping food. I must tell you I was never more proud of him then him stepping up to help me out, I love these moments when I see what a wonderful young man he is becoming. I let him sleep in as long as he needed the next morning while I got the turkey and food cooking. I want to thank my sister for letting me get out of helping on race day (I promise next time I will be more prepared) so I could finish cooking and cleaning.

Usually my dad comes over and gets the turkey prepped and in the roaster the night before but he didn't come down this year. I woke up and was getting it ready. I remembered to wash it off and the the innards bag pulled out and the neck. While I was covering it in homemade rosemary butter I was looking at it and wondering first, which was the breast side and second where were the drumsticks because don't they normally stick out? I got all confused and didn't know what I was doing so I went to the back of the turkey. Oh wait there is the drumsticks tied up with a plastic thing. Yes, I realize I am not a cook by nature but come on I should have credit for taking the bag and neck out.

I am sure it is easier to remove the plastic from the turkey if it is not all buttered up and in a roaster but why would I make things easy on myself. The turkey was not done in time, when we pulled it out it was still not cooked all the way, I felt that I had ruined it all but they all made me feel better about it (yep I over react and still I wonder where the boy gets it from).

My family usually never eats my stuffing/dressing (call it what you will I call it stuffing) and H will usually eat it with me. This year just to please us two we decided we would upgrade Stove Top, we added in fresh onions, celery and dried cranberries. We did use half a package of bread chunks too, but my family gobbled up the whole pan! Who knew!

I appreciate my mom for bringing me a bottle of wine, it was wonderful.

Then we were watching tv going through ads and talking, we got all worked up because of an actor on the tv and who he was and what he was in. It was all good fun though. I couldn't have asked for a better day.

The boy will not be here for Christmas, he will be celebrating Chanukkah (harmonica according to the boy)with his father and step family. H said they say a prayer all the time and his dad says he does not need to say a prayer because he is Christian but that he should try anyway, I let him know that a prayer comes from your heart and it doesn't matter who you are praying to as long as it comes from your heart so he can pray with them to share their holiday.

State Capital Field Trip and Mean Mom Story...

2010-11-21T22:58:00.007-07:00

One of the few things I get to do as a working mother is find the time to go on field trips with the boy and his class. This was one part of a two part trip that was taken about 3 months ago, I just have not had anytime to blog about it. The boy loves learning about history and politics but our non-religious side came out as we were pulling up to the state capital, "mom, that's the temple." It took the remainder of the time explaining to him the difference between a temple and a capital building.

Our first stop was to the knock off Liberty Bell, yes it has the crack and all. They allowed the children to touch and "ring" the bell, the ring is in quotes because they rang it by just hitting it with their hands, with close to 30 children it made some noise.

Then we made our way to the representative room, they took us to the upstairs and sat us in seats. The old woman who was our guide, bless her heart, wanted only questions about the room itself because she could answer those, but the kids were not interested in that at all they wanted to ask about the rules and laws. The actually thought this was the court itself but we finally got them to understand this is where they make the laws.

This room is much smaller than I expected, when you see it on the tv it does look so much larger.

Then there was the "gold" room, I really didn't get to hear much about this room because one little, young man decided to throw some attitude (ratatouille style) and got pulled out into the hall. We spent the remainder of the time fighting with each other.

But the view was great!

We got a class picture on the stairs, can you find H?

There he is with a mean smile because he and his mom were fighting.

I am just reminded of our parent-teacher conference though and H had to write a story about what has been bothering him, his was not of the weather or peer pressure or anything as interesting as that, no his was about his mean mother. What has been bothering him is I have taken away video games from him for a very long time because he has not earned them back yet, he has not liked this very much. So he said how this bothers him that I have grounded him but at the very end he let me know that he knows that I still love him even if he is grounded for it. What more could a mother ask?

It's already October... Eeks...

2010-10-10T09:06:00.002-06:00

I can't believe it is already October, so much needs to be done this month. H is wanting to get the decorations out but me being a mom I want the house cleaned first. I am off to a good start got the living room cleaned, next up we tackle the kitchen.

Hopefully we get it all done and then the boy will be just as happy as mom.

No punch reward...

2010-09-20T21:31:00.005-06:00

I always feel like I have to explain the whole punch comment to everyone because I don't want them to think I am like hitting the boy or not, they have a punch card at school we are treated like a demerit so the teacher will paper punch their sheet. My wonderful young boy finally go 0, which really is more of an accomplishment for me because I finally signed all of the 100 papers that are sent home for me to go through and sign then return (I don't think I have signed so much in the k - 3 as I have this first month in 4th).

Knowing that he wanted to go to the fair and honestly not going with my family I was really not wanting to go there this year without them, I gave the boy the option of going to Boondocks or to the fair. He excitedly wanted Boondocks.

We went to Costco and got discounted passes and made our way there (I know me at Costco on a Saturday, yikes, but I survived).

It started off really fun, he wanted to do miniature golf first. Of course he got all annoyed because I was beating him so then I had to pull the "oops guess some how I have lost my skills at playing mini golf just so my son is happy today" trick and quickly he started liking the game again.

He got to go to the smaller track to race, he wanted to do the bigger one but he is still about 8 inches too small. While standing in line there were two boys that were being very obnoxious and then they started to beat each other up, I had to step in to break them up because I guess their parents were no where to be found to stop them from fighting. When it was finally their turn to race H was with them, the reason why this story is significant is because H finally passed them after he got on stuck on the course and there was a small part of me that was really rooting him on.
We then went to the arcade, of course, it is like his favorite part of going to places like this is playing whatever he can. The problem with him being an only child and having me as a single parent is I don't necessarily just let him win, I just get to the point where I really don't care to win so I let him win frequently. This is bad, very bad. Why is it bad???? Well because when he does start to lose he gets extremely upset and frustrated and "the game totally cheats" attitude comes out. He was so upset that I almost made us leave at this point but I decided I wanted to drive one of the go carts first so I would give him the chance to chill out before then.

As we get in line for the go carts where I would drive he would ride, if did everything I could to get him to cheer up... guess what it worked. I was rather proud of myself because I don't normally succeed, picture below for proof.
We got to ride and I chicken out of letting step on the gas from the get go but I think we did pretty good of catching up to everyone and we even passed quite a few. He enjoyed every minute of it.

Last time we were at Boondocks my experience on the bumper boats was less than desirable, I was ready to scream at one kid and I actually think I did, but I had the boy convince me to get on this time. He was so ready to take me down.

He was so happy I got so wet, he tried to hide back his smile. I enjoyed it this time, even if I still got soaking wet from other punk kids, including my own this time.

But I think I did pretty good getting him wet too.

And don't forget prizes, he was so happy to get this inflatable hammer and yes it squeaks (oh joy for me)...

And of course the LARGEST smarties I have ever seen, the are like a quarter size around! Seriously freakishly large.

When all is said and done I am proud of my son, it is not easy being my kid but he does a pretty good job most of the time. I love him and am really glad we could spend the day together having so much fun.

Spiderman, spiderman...

2010-09-14T21:11:00.005-06:00

I am a geek at heart, I am not good at remembering all the nitty gritty details when it comes to the geekhood but I like it none the less. I am quite proud to say that the boy is taking after me in the geekness and even better yet he does remember the details.

I have worked at my job for 10 years now, there are many new faces that I don't know names to but there are some old ones that I consider friends with. In my many hours at work sometimes to get through the day I find ways to amuse myself and hopefully others. One of those ways is at the end of some of my emails I put a note of "Thanks, from your friendly neighborhood AP girl". One of the guys I work with got a kick out of this and we have joked back and forth about this. He even sends me invoices to enter with some fancy artwork of the Spiderman symbol on it.

Well one day I had one of my girls bring me a package and inside was a Spiderman comic book, seriously made my day, I left it out for all to see and of course had to explain the inside joke. Well I did finally get around to telling my friend thanks for the comic, he said he was cleaning out some stuff at home and wanted to know if I wanted a few more. I gladly accepted to take these off his hands and brought them home to the boy. There are 8 in all, probably not worth anything but they are still great, the boy was so excited for them.

H made a thank you letter that I am to send out to him. It reads like below...

"Dear Mr. Q,

Thanks for the Spiderman comics I read the web of Spiderman spider-armor. I love Spiderman. Your the coolest. Too bad that I haven't met you in face.

Sincerely,

HIG"

He even drew a picture of Spiderman's face and on the back a picture of Venom's face with a screaming victim.

Fun Friday, okay so it's Monday...

2010-09-13T22:17:00.005-06:00

This year in school they get to have Fun Friday's, as long as they don't have more than 4 punches (demerits) and they are caught up on their school work. This includes any number of things, last Friday they were supposed to walk to the CommonCents store to get Icees. Well not enough parents had volunteered to help out but it was also quite cold so Mrs. G ended up postponing it until Monday. I had planned on showing up on Friday but had completely forgotten so I made the effort to make sure I was there today because really come on this is totally cool in kid land.

I love to help out with his classes when I can, I don't get to do as much as I want because I have some serious deadlines at work but when I can make it work out I try as much as I can because when I show up to class for him H treats me completely different and even though I know he loves me I know he really shows it while I am there to help out. I am not sure if it is boasting that he has a parent to come in to help or what but it makes me a proud mother on one cute and adoring little boy when I am there.

When I showed up I was talking to the teacher and she had made mention that CommonsCents were not going to donate the Icees this year but she had gone in and begged them to reconsider, so an extra special thanks to Mrs. G and to CommonCents for making this happen especially with many companies making many cutbacks for such things. The kids LOVED this, they had so much fun.

The three boys in the middle are the terrible three as I call them now. Garrett, Hunter and Travis. Garrett has been friends with Hunter for years now, they have gone to the same day care and school since before kindergarten. Travis is a new friend of Hunter's who has just moved into our complex, he is a pretty good kid. Hunter makes friends so easy and many of them call him his best friend, but between Travis and Garrett I totally am sensing some strong competition for Hunter's attention, but he does a good job of mellowing them out in the end so it makes me proud of him.

Shopping with mom...

2010-09-12T23:47:00.005-06:00

H for the most part is really good at shopping, there are a few things that happen that can get on my nerves though but as long as we are in a hurry we don't normally encounter problems like this.

First, avoid the toilet paper/paper towel aisles or you will need to check behind every one to find him.

Of course sometimes his "hiding" is not as good as he would like to think, but most parents know how that goes.

Second, avoid going towards the pillow sections, he will literally sit there until you go to find him and then he can't even get out by himself, you have to help him up.

And last but not least, avoid shoe shopping unless you want him wearing the booty socks the whole time, but really who can a void such a cute boy?

Remembering heroes and other things...

2010-09-11T22:30:00.004-06:00

I know, how cliche but I remember talking to H about 9/11 a few months ago, this date is significant to America now and I usually don't hide things when it comes to my son, he asks and I may not explain all the gory or unfortunate details but he does get the truth.

9/11 happened in the same year he was born, he was just 8 months old and I was riding the bus on the way to work. On the back seat I had a walkman, not an iPod, and I was listening to my radio station I normally do on the way to work. I couldn't believe a word I was hearing, I cried the whole way, not much work got done in our office that day.

I have not been one that has wanted to have a family for a number of different reasons, listening to everything happening only reminded me why I didn't want to have children because it is hard for me to even think today on how we can live in a world with such tragedy, but I have learned to find the good in things, I struggle still with this but usually the best moments with my son help to remember what is right in the world.

There are many different heroes, some step up in the heat of the moment and others are heroes by choice. We just want to offer a wonderful thanks to any and all heroes but most importantly we want to make sure that any heroes that have fallen in duty your bravery is forever rewarded in our hearts.

Genius vs. dummy...

2010-09-10T16:33:00.002-06:00

Okay, so the boy is old enough now that I give him chores.

Usually most of the chores are the ones that I had when I was younger growing up and hate to do even to this day. One of these chores is helping me to load the dishwasher, he is in charge of the silverware. No way he could screw this up and it was always the most tedious part of the dishes that I hated.

Now what urks me the most is I have done this for years and years but I never thought of what he has decided to do. When he puts the silverware in the dishwasher he sorts them out in the basket.

Why oh why have I never thought of this growing up and even in my adulthood? So a chore that took me 3 times as long as him now only takes him a matter of a minute at most to grab the clean silverware out of the basket and put them into the drawer. I tell you I don't know if I like my son being smarter than myself.

How fair is this that he has taken just moments to figure this out and I never have? I forget that he does this so when I have him do his chores before he can play and it takes such a short amount of time I just get more annoyed with myself.

Really...

2010-09-08T23:29:00.002-06:00

The comment really is just for me, really has it been that long since I have blogged, I feel so bad.

School has started, my little one is now in 4th grade. He loves it, I don't know how we are going to pass because homework means serious business in this class. Wow, he has had so many punches (aka demerits) because we have not signed something or turned it in on time. I guess we will only learn as we go.

My favorite thing overheard at the first day of school after the teacher described Fun Friday's and what fun things they usually do "This is going to be the best year ever!", more power to you teach for getting them to say that.

My other favorite thing so far is a homework assignment that H had, a questionnaire about his name, it goes like this...

Why did your parents choose your name?
It was the only name they could agree on. (this is a very true statement)

If you were named after someone, who was it?
Isaac is my dad's Jewish name. (again true)

What nicknames do you have, and how did you get them?
Hunt from Garrett. (I have never heard him call this and part of the reason why I agreed to Hunter was because you couldn't shorten it)

Do you like your name? Why or why not?
Yes cause it's a good name. (glad he likes his name)

If you could choose another name, would you, and what would it be?
If I got tired of Hunter it would be Officer. (is this because you could choose it as a profession? I love the way his little mind works)

Adventurous Trip...

2010-08-07T19:19:00.006-06:00

How does one's vacation start, of course we get to the airport with plenty of time only to find out that our plane was delayed. Well I have decided to try the online check in thing from Delta and had print out our boarding passes before we got to the airport, nice but still new to it so it kind of through me off. We get to the airport and we have bags we have to check, well because we were using the AMEX card we got to check our bags for free.

Well given that I don't know what to do at this point because we have our boarding passes and we have to check bags but Delta only has two options from what I could tell when we walked in, the desk side (and they guard that sucker tightly and you are seriously not allowed over there with out good reason or the Kiosks), I needed neither so I wait in a line in hopes to make it to the man there barking orders at other passengers. This man then started yelling at a couple that were going through the exit, they said all they needed to do was to check their baggage because they had their boarding pass, I was thinking score, I know where to go now, but I didn't dare just to go there without having his confirmation. When I finally got his attention he then looked at my passes and asked if I paid for my baggage, I looked at him confused and you could tell he was annoyed with me, he then asked again. I looked at him and said "I don't know what you mean by paid, it says the bags were free." He looked at the passes again and asked if I was able to show the counter my Skymiles number, I said yes and like he didn't believe me because he asked right back "are you sure?". I finally make it up to the counter and have my sky miles card ready for the counter, well the lady there didn't even want to look at it, so why was this man such a jerk? Whatever. We were told that our plane was delayed, which is fine, we are still making it there so it's all good. H pulls out his Nintendo DS and starts playing his games (first picture on top).

Finally after the plane and catching a bus we get on a train (much like the UTA Frontrunner) called the Coaster and make our way up to Carlsbad. The only thing that has got H off his DS is pictured to the left. He quickly put it away when I told him I spotted the ocean. The game was away for the rest of the ride. This picture does not do the ocean views we saw along the way any justice but it still is good.

We finally get off the train and we were going to walk to the hotel, it really didn't seem that far away on the map but I kind of freaked out and decided that we would call for a taxi and take that to the hotel.

That brings us to the stalking ant (not aunt) that H found. Yes, according to him it is Mr. Ant's wife (an ant he caught and tried to keep back home, he did so for about two months). I asked how he knew it was her and I was told he knows what the ant looks like. Sorry Mary lady bugs have nothing on ants.

If I make mention I am talking to Mary he makes sure I ask about the cat and dog so hopefully she is being a very good sub mom to them.

After finally making it to the hotel, H has decided that instead of sitting on it or sleeping it in he will jump in the bed. But really what mother could say "no" to a face like that? Even with all the problems we have been having H is looking at this as an adventure, I can only hope to improve on this.

I will try to blog later but who knows, I may get too involved and this may be my only blog about this trip, but a girl can only hope.

Hunter's Pizzaria, now open...

2010-07-27T21:57:00.004-06:00

The return of the boy, yes he has returned only in time to make sure I have enough crumbs on my couch and floor to annoy me to death. Upon said return we were in his room (he was all to excited that I was able to hook up cable in his room on his tv). Well we found a box lid (?!, not sure why or what for) and on the box lid was something he wrote however we did not know what it said. I think he just randomly decided he made a sign for his Pizzaria. Well we find another lid (still not sure why and I am sorry to say yes sadly his room is that messy that two random box lids could be in his room and we don't know why) but this on was blank. I told him he could write on that one instead, I guess he now has a pizzeria that has EVERY pizza in the world. But I am sure you could get his all time favorite cheese (yes you have to order cheese even though a pizza comes with cheese or he will not be happy), mushrooms, pineapple and pepperoni (aka peppers, only to be pulled off and given to others because he really doesn't eat them and he can't just let them sit on his plate).

Upon his return he has decided to camp out on the floor instead of sleeping in his bed. He has also decided that EVERY doll he as will sleep with him and sleep on him.

Ah, the return of the boy, my life would not make sense with out him.

Top 10 Movies...

2010-07-19T22:34:00.003-06:00

So while I have been waiting for *stupid* Comcast and *stupid* Tivo to try to work together *stupid* digital converting and it will wig out just the same, but whatever *stupid* Comcast.

Anyway, while I have been waiting I decided to come up with a list of my top 10 favorite movies, not necessarily of all time but what I could think of. An all time list would be considerably longer as well as it would take more time than I have to think to analyze the list. I order from least to the best...

10- Okay really I couldn't think of a the 10th one, but really having a top 9 list doesn't have the same ring to it.

9- As Good As It Gets - Loved this movie probably more than I should have, but I am sure that a major part was the company that was there when I got to see it.

8- Girls Just Want to Have Fun - Seriously fell in love with Sarah Jessica Parker in this movie and it had Helen Hunt. Great time, made me jealous and I wish I could dance but I live through movies and other people's lives.

7- Dreamworks How to Train a Dragon - I loved this movie, not sure what it was that made me like it so much but I am seriously glad me and the boy go to go and see it. It has become his passion, although short lived, for a while.

6- Lilo and Stitch - Really another good one, of course because it is based in Hawaii (even if cartoon), but I really liked the story line. Even though it was a sister and sister relationship I love letting H know that even that we are broken we are still good. And he loves to tell me where my madness level it, let's me know to bring it down a notch.

5- A Few Good Men - I don't really like military/army type movies and such but there is something about this movie I just love and don't mind seeing over and over. I remember when my brother was running for student body council and we made posters quoting this movie (bad words taken out).

4- Dark Knight - I know it was rather dark but really this was one of the best Batman movies (sorry it may be in my eyes only but I feel it) ever. I think what puts it in this list though is Heath Ledger's performance, I miss the guy and the Joker will never be the same if played by someone else.

3- The Hangover - Of course Bradley Cooper playing in it all hottie and GQed up that really helps but I laughed through the whole thing, great, great movie.

2- The Devil Wears Prada - I love Ann Hathaway, she is great. I really never in a million years thought I would like this movie. I even protested it for the longest time. It came on tv once and I decided what would that hurt? LOVED it, I have watched more times than one person should (really I should own a copy but no I don't) but it is a great movie.

1- Star Trek - This is probably the only other movie that I love more than The Devil Wears Prada. I was trying to pinpoint a favorite part in this movie but really I couldn't and just dubbed the whole movie my favorite. I can watch this again and again. Of course I don't because I would have to devote time to watch the whole movie just because it is so good I can't pause it or anything. Maybe with *stupid* Tivo and *stupid* Comcast being a pain in my side I should start watching all of my movies.

The Devil's Slide... (nothing bad just another memory)

2010-07-06T22:24:00.003-06:00

We would drive all the time to Pennsylvania and Ohio to visit our grandparents, New Mexico sometimes. Even though we would drive straight through (me usually topless in the very back with no seats and yes I was young enough to be topless still), our only stops were for gas, restroom and if we were lucky enough to eat at a restaurant it only meant that my dad was too tired and needed to sleep so we would get to go in and eat while he slept in the car.

I remember first learning about the Devil's Slide in Weber Canyon from my dad. He had decided to pull off and look at the slide from the viewing area (honestly I don't remember the other kids being there so this may have been just us but I think we all were there because I seem to recall my mom being there too). I googled this landmark and there is not much on it really but the story he told stuck with me because I remember trying to call him out on his bluff. He told me that the devil slides down on it every February 30th.

I remember thinking about it and then looking at him telling him that there were only 28 days in February. I don't think he realized that I was the smart one in the family *wink, wink, nod, nod* so then his reply back was, exactly, that's because he is the devil.

Late night memories...

2010-07-03T22:29:00.002-06:00

So one of my first memories of staying up late is when I was sick and I got to go downstairs and watch tv with my mom and dad when I was a young child. I remember that being one of the coolest things ever because I got to be alone with my parents and I got to watch their tv shows.

I remember that they were watching of the many "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies and I feel in love with them. I don't remember being scared of them and I know my love for all things scary grew from there.

I think horror movies are great, most of them have no effect on me really. Every once in a while I do have one that spooks me just enough that I have this feeling in the pit of my stomach but it has never stopped me from watching them. Usually it is the more real ones that get me (sorry you are running as fast as you can from a guy who is walking with a limp, not real, your going to out run them), one in particular that I always recall as actually scaring me is "When a Stranger Calls Back".

I would hope that my son would share in my obsession, but alas he has fallen into the others category who get too scared so you can't watch them (sorry more choose not to watch them). But I can only hope it is a phase and he will out grow that and join in watching them with me later in life. If I want to see them now I have to wait up late and watch while he is sleeping.

The picture is of my leg and the boy and us staying up late at our new house. We are in the bean bag (kind of miss that gigantic thing I should clean up and pull it out of storage). I miss those pajama pants they are what I was wearing when I went into labor with H. They recently had to retire because they just fell apart. Good times growing up.

Team Jasper (and Alice) and outlook on love...

2010-07-03T21:37:00.006-06:00

I am fairly sure I have talked about this before but instead of me finding the previous post I will just write a new one. Why is it there are really only two teams to choose from in the whole Twilight saga. Really book Edward beats book Jacob, but that is paper. Movie Jacob beats movie Edward (sorry mom and Mary, besides I wouldn't want my mom to attack him if by chance he were to come across). But really my heart belongs to Jasper. There is just something warm and wonderful about him (book and movie) that I adore.

I went to Eclipse, I think this one is my favorite out of the three and a lot of that comes from more screen time and story line for Jasper and Alice. They are my favorites, even though I dreaded the midnight showing with some of the crazies (hated the no air situation) it was great to be with friends and my sister. I started to feel weird that we were the only ones that were not taking pictures of each other just sitting in the seats (no they were not even dressed up or anything) so we pulled out our cell phones to try to fit in better. Below is me and my sister (I look like I am going to fall asleep but I was awake for the whole movie).

Given that I don't believe in much when it comes to love anymore, too many things have happened in my life that has tainted it. I won't lie, it is lonely at times but I have way too much at stake anymore and the relationships that I have had that involved H has just become too much. He is way to precious and I will not put him through it all again unless it is it and it will take some time to get there... Anyway back to my original rambling. As for love, the whole Edward and Bella romance is too much (maybe I think this because I have not found the love of my life), I find lots of aspects of the two of them a little overboard and I don't think love is like that. I find the Jasper and Alice love a little more believable, theirs compliments each other that I find a little more relatable there fore I find it more appealing which I do think is why I like them more. Alice is the type of girl I would like to be, but I know I am so far away from but she is very peppy and cute and likable.

To all the guys out there... hopefully I find a love closer to theirs in the future, I don't hold out any hope that I will fall in love again but know I am not closed off just I am done being the one to search and do the work. I am a strong and independent woman who has been doing things by myself for a rather long time so don't expect me to call you for every little thing. Now if you call me asking for help I probably will accept it, not willingly. Also just know, it will be a very long time for H to be a part of your life, he is by far the most important person in my life so he will be protected. He has been hurt by others so now I am tainted but if you really want to be in my life I am sure I (and H) will be worth it, you just need to put yourself in our shoes and know where we are coming from.

Seattle memories...

2010-06-28T23:01:00.003-06:00

I wish my memory was better about when we took this trip but I am fairly certain he was 4. One of my favorite memories about growing up was a trip we took to Seattle. Of course this trip was really for a job interview for my dad but he took the whole family up. We actually got to stay in a hotel, truly rare considering my dad didn't fork for a hotel on the way to Pennsylvania (if we couldn't make it there with in 48 hours we weren't going on vacation there). We did get to go to the Space Needle and most importantly we got rent a VCR and watch E.T.. I know not a big deal to most but hey in a family with 5 kids doing this kind of stuff was seriously the best.

Because of these great memories I remember loving Seattle and wanting to share the experience with H. We went to their zoo and can I just say Hogle Zoo does not even compare to any zoo I have been to outside of the state, I actually cringe to go there and see them caged up and only wish that they will work on making it a better experience. I should go back because I know they have made some improvements but really I know they are nothing like anything I have seen so far.

H LOVED the Space Needle. We walked there from our hotel, it was quite a long walk but I remember having to explain to him why there were people sleeping on the street. I forget how sheltered we are and more importantly how much my little boy will need to grow up to know these things. We hit the Children's museum and there was a little carnival thing next door and everything.

Well at the zoo they had a bird exhibit, this is another one of my favorite pictures. He loved having the birds fly up to him. It was great. I hope to take him back again.

San Diego Zoo...

2010-06-22T22:04:00.002-06:00

I am terrible at remembering dates of things, I believe we went to San Diego in 2007, but off hand I don't recall. We did end up going with my sister and the zoo was one of our stops. I have gained a lot of weight over the past few years, I need to reminisce more so I can remember why I am trying to lose it, other than to be healthy and for my son.

The boy has a very hard time just allowing a natural picture, if he knows a camera is on him he hams it up for you. But he is still cute none the less. I like to have pictures of us together. It doesn't happen that often but it I love it when they do.

The boy actually took the picture up above, it is of me and my sister outside of the zoo. We LOVED San Diego, we will be going to Legoland this year. I am hoping to lounge at the beach for the majority of the time but we will see.

Slug bug...

2010-06-21T23:26:00.003-06:00

Ah yes, the good old days where you would punch your siblings until they were black and blue, now a days you politely tap them so they just know you could have done more than that. A few years back I was trying to teach H the game, well at the time there were not a large number of real "slug bugs" out there, it was hard to find the beetle bugs for me to teach him the game, then for unknown reasons the boy couldn't differentiate between the beetle and a PT Cruiser (really I have no idea why but thought it was cute), so to help with this I allowed the Cruiser to be part of the game. Well it only grew from there, then he wanted convertibles and motorcycles and even more recently he wanted Mini Coopers. On one of our walks with the dog we came across an auto body repair shop and there was what is being called an "old school" Mini Cooper, I guess it kind of looks like one right?

Cleaning day...

2010-06-07T22:06:00.003-06:00

So before my wonderful, young man left for his dad's for the better part of the summer I forced him to help me clean. Of course he struggled with me but I finally won out int he end, I had to hold the video games out until he agreed to help. I took this picture while he was helping me and I love that it shows how overly dramatic he is and it shows the pain and agony I put him through while cleaning. I love the Rambo look too, it was a ribbon he had found while cleaning so he tied it around his head. The picture shows him carrying the money jar which is rather heavy but the picture is just too cute.

After we took the picture we were laughing so hard we forgot to keep cleaning, but the thought of cleaning was there at the beginning for a few moments. Oh well, we tried.

Catapulting Indiana Jones...

2010-06-06T21:47:00.004-06:00

H loves Indiana Jones, he has a shirt that looks like IJ's, a hat, a whip, a gun and a "man" bag. His grandma gave him this get up for Christmas one year. He can't stand that he doesn't have IJ pants and I have to convince him he can wear any pants. He loves to run around wearing it. Before he left for his dad's he dressed up for a whole weekend. It was rather cute going to the store while he had his hat on and his bag. I didn't get a picture of him dressed up all the way but after our Lowe's class for building his catapult.

He was oh so excited to build a catapult, he said it would make him be a real viking. During this class it was more successful than the Mother's Day Trellis that we tried to complete. The whole time we made it he asked if he could catapult an egg. I finally agreed, it was not very successful, then we tried to give it some height, he finally just decided to catapult it with his hand and it finally cracked. But it was lots of fun none the less.

Busy, busy, busy...

2010-05-25T22:26:00.005-06:00

Wow, it's not that I don't have tons to say, I just can't find the time to get on. Hunter leaves soon, hopefully I will be able to update more then. He got his haircut last week, he wanted me to get my haircut before he left. I am sporting a new do for summer. Now he says the dog is the next one for the family cut and then we will be like the 3 musketeers. Why does the tin foil in the hair always make me feel like I am trying to contact life off of earth?

Mother's Day Surprises...

2010-05-09T21:19:00.003-06:00

Ah, I am not big in holidays where I feel that you should be doing some or all of the stuff for more than just one day in the year, but I must say I really enjoyed today.

First off yesterday we finished Hunter's stepmother's presents, we painted flower pots with her favorite color green and chalkboard paint. He chose tomato seeds to send with them.

One of the pots he drew on says "stop smoking now", I asked him if she smokes, he says no he just wants it to say that. They are his presents to her so I don't have much to say, I just hope she understands that it is him and doesn't read into it.

He did get to talk to her today, but not his dad, not sure where he is today but we waited up late for his call.

On to my day, I insisted that we went to bed at a decent hour the night before, I told H that I did not want to be angry and upset or have a fight that could be

controlled by us just getting a goods night rest. When I woke up I watched some tv, then H woke up and came in and climbed into bed with me and asked me if he could make breakfast in bed, he said all he could make is cereal and I could tell he wanted to do more so I told him how about I get up and help him make the waffles and sausage and then he could serve it to me in bed. He was excited by this idea. I let him do all the measuring and such so really all I was trying to do was to supervise him.

Once the stove was off I ran off to my bedroom. He came in and acted like a waiter and took my order of two waffles with just a little bit of butter, syrup and four sausage links with a glass of milk. I told him to put the waffles on the plate he had made me while he was with his dad over spring break. Oh my little boy was so happy to serve me breakfast in bed, I am glad it worked out for him. Just a little tough to make it a surprise when it is just the two of us but I think we succeeded very well considering.

After my breakfast he told me he had one more surprise for me and he brought in this picture. He checked out a book at school that was teaching him how to draw cats, he drew me one. I love it, it is a very good picture.

He let me just watch tv all day, I even fell back to sleep. We got up and went to Aunt Tami and Uncle Andrew's house to play with the family. It was just a wonderful day, I couldn't have asked for a better day to spend with my son and my family. Worked out wonderfully.

Correction...

2010-05-02T21:57:00.002-06:00

I guess the name of the blue bird was Bluey not Louis, my mistake. I was informed that I was wrong.

Funny thought...

2010-05-01T22:43:00.002-06:00

We went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point today, it was a complete win. Pictures will follow once I get them all dumped on the computer, just too lazy to get that done today.

We had lunch down there and H decided to save just enough room for icecream so he only ate half his food. We went shopping found a Webkin doll that is a otter or eel type creature. His name is Furry Vengence (yes after the movie) and he has a new blue bird doll that makes real tweets (yikes, why did I let him get that one), his name is Louis (pronounced loo ee).

We finally made it over to get icecream, Mary was trying to sale the boy on visiting Sub Zero Creamery (can't remember the name) and pulled up a video on her phone showing them making the icecream from scratch. She had made a comment of "you thought you loved icecream you will love this icecream" (at least close to that). He turned to look at me with a look on his face of "she is so crazy, what is she talking about" and said back to her "I already love icecream, you can't make me love it twice".

What a fun day, I am really glad we decided to go, raining or not it was a blast!

Sign my year book...

2010-04-29T22:16:00.003-06:00

Well my sister and I vary on what we found fun in high school. I LOVED going to dances, stomps and games. I also enjoyed the last day of school when all you would do is walk around getting signatures and little notes from friends and teachers. Usually I liked that because it always would boast you up and who doesn't want to feel special?

I have found my old year books and was showing the boy old friends, boyfriends and family. Again he just loves to hear what stories you can share with him. I started reading some of the old comments and came across one that was done by... wait for it... Mary! What in the world was she thinking considering her snide comments and despise to all that is fun and lovely in high school.

I was laughing so hard reading this so her comments are below...

Off to the side she states "this was my split personality to" which only makes me think she has signed somewhere else but I haven't found it yet if she did.

"that you have a terrific summer swimming your butt off to beat you abnoxis little sister (Mary). You may think she is a piece of crap now butt wait till she has got money (grown-up, got a job) you'll wish you never had said that she was a female dog. Now you other sister is something else. She can break a mirror just by looking at it. Even though you say she is so cute really isn't. If you look with your heart and not your eyes you'll see what she is. She is a hairy monster that lurks around your bedroom trying to scare you. You think she's a cudly little green muchins. But she NOT! Listen to me. I know the truth. I was once a ... that you're little sister (Mary) get along better. Give her some licore. She deserves it. But Tami deserves it more. I hope you keep splashing both your sisters. They both deserve it. Stay cool and your sister Mary

Not sure exactly which sister she was talking about but most of that was with in the parenthesis of the split personality warning.

Love it!

Oceans...

2010-04-24T17:01:00.002-06:00

Well we like to hit up the Disney Nature movies during the first week because during the first week they donate the proceeds to back to the earth. We did get to see "Oceans" and my son is quite the little google guide. I don't think I have ever expressed how much he loves the ocean and ocean creatures. I thought I had a love of it, I pale in comparison to him. Even though he did get some of the shout outs in the movie last night wrong, he still knew way more than I did (and yes by shout outs I do mean we are one of "those" people in the theatre, more because the boy does not understand he should be quiet during a movie and when he has something to say it just gets said).

His love of the ocean does come from me in the most part, my only dream is to make a trip to Hawaii in the not to far distant future. I love fish (not eating them by any means) and would love to live by the ocean one day and just venture out to the beach and hang out all day. He has numerous books regarding Sharks and other sea life and he does actually read them and loves to just call out the knowledge that he retains (I am jealous of his learning habits and only wish it was that easy for me).

Our trip to Sea World was one of the best trips he ever had and we talk about it all the time. We are looking forward to our vacation this year, he deserves a wonderful trip for being so kind and letting me work as hard as I have been able to while we got a new accounting program, he has stayed out of trouble and has had to deal with me coming home in a terrible mood.

Oceans is a great movie, they did have a more powerful "green message" than "Earth" from last year, but it was beautifully shot. Can't wait until it comes out on DVD.

9 quirks to love...

2010-04-18T22:42:00.003-06:00

Okay, so even though sometimes these are just so annoying these are things that I love about Hunter.

1 - Slug bug consists of not only the beetles but motorcycles (and not skooters), PT Cruisers, convertibles and now Mini Coopers. There are many rules to this game too, my favorite is if you are the first on to slug that day you have to say "game on" or that does not count.

2 - We seem to collect a ton of hand sanitizer, it is something he has picked up since everything has gone around and they use it alot at daycare and at school. When he sees it for sale he asks to get one, but then he changes his mind and says "we should get two, you know just incase". This happens with a number of things, just happened most recently with the hand sanitizer.

3 - Picks up a Real Estate book all the time, his reasoning is "it is not the same one that we have already", even though it really is.

4 - Gets too excited when we buy random gifts for people that the very next time he sees them he either tells them or gives it to them, even though I say we should wait for their birthday or Christmas.

5 - Tries to annoy Aunt Mary by liking things she doesn't like Jacob and the $5 dollar footlong Subway commercial song.

6 - Orders pineapple and mushroom pizzas, I get looks all the time from waiters making sure they had heard him correctly. It is even best when he orders it with peppers (pepperoni) but then pulls off the peppers to give to me.

7 - Gets excited if there is a "boring" paper out on the porch that he can give to Grandpa.

8 - Kind of goes along with number 1, always orders two just incase he is that hungry, but usually never eats the second one. It usually sits in the fridge with the stickers he puts in there that supposedly should last longer because that is where they belong????.

9 - My all time favorite, "remember when", he loves to have real childhood stories told (his own or others) if you start it with "remember when" I promise you he will remember it and then 5 minutes later he will ask you "remember when you told me that story".

Back to funny...

2010-04-15T21:30:00.003-06:00

So my loving sister has pointed out I have been to serious in my blogs lately so I am going to lighten it up some. I follow another blog and she interviews her children on their birthday, obviously her questions get way funnier responses. If you make it through the interview at the end you will see an all too funny conversation between he and I during dinner tonight.

Can I do an interview? What's that?
I ask you a bunch of questions. Okay.
How old are you now? 9.
What is your favorite color? B.lue
What is your favorite thing to do? Play video games.
What is your favorite food? Chicken.
Is there anything special that you want to tell people about on your birthday? I love my mom.
Are you just saying that because your mom is asking you the questions? No, I really love my mom.
If there was anything in this whole wide world that you could have what would you choose? a million bucks.
What would you like for your birthday party? A lot of Dreamworks How to Train a Dragon stuff.
You know you are getting that already so is there anything else? Maybe my grandma, grandpa, Mary and my cousins (I interrupt him at this point)
Those are people so you think you're getting people? Oh, I don't know then, I don't have an answer.

Him back to me "Mom, are you doing a surprise for me?" If I was doing a surprise do you think I would be asking questions?

Alright as promised at dinner Hunter told me that he wanted to have a little bacon cheese burger and a cheese burger. I ask him if he was sure because they are big, he says yes, so I let him. After we sit down and start sorting out the food he says I thought mine would be smaller.

And again he pulls out the bacon and the conversation goes like this below.

"I like pig"
"That's bacon"
"I know but it's pig"
"But you know bacon comes from pig but they call it bacon"
"No it is spelt minuse the b-a-c-o-n but add the p-i-g"

Truely I hope he was trying to toy with me.

I also had quite the conversation with him regarding the bathroom, it did included sound effects, not a dinner conversation to be held around just anyone.

Birthday boy...

2010-04-10T21:34:00.011-06:00

Where does one start (this may be long, sorry), I was cleaning and then I started organizing my photos online and decided to write about this beautiful being that I have been blessed with. I don't have all the photos online yet, but found some good one for this.

Hunter was born April 10, 2001 at 4:14 am. His birth was rather fast, I mean at least listening to all those horrid stories where it would take days. I left work and after an hour and a half commute from the West Desert finally made it home. I ordered a large Domino's pepperoni pizza, ate the whole thing and fell asleep on the couch watching tv. I awoke and was making my way to the bedroom when it felt like I had peed my pants, I thought that was weird. Experiencing a back ache I started thinking maybe I didn't pee, and what does every child do when they start not feeling good do, I called my mom. I remember talking to her on the phone and she suggested that maybe we should just go to the hospital, you know just in case. I agreed.

It was a little after 9 pm. I WANTED the epidural, sorry, I may act strong but so really not at times. I ended up throwing up the pizza and my blood pressure started dropping so they had to give me some oxygen. But come 4:14 I had a son. I had to yell at my mom for leaning on my leg, that hurt. She cut the cord. They had asked me at one point in time if I wanted a mirror to watch, and again sorry but really who wants to watch that? He had come out with his hand to his forehead, I remember the red mark on his forehead for the longest time, I thought it would never go away. He has a little birthmark on his bum, of course it took me forever to get use to that because I just kept thinking I wasn't wiping good enough. Trust me no matter how many times you wipe, the mark will stay.

He was super sensitive to my breast milk, no matter what the doctor and I tried it caused more problems than it did help him so we started formula. Yes, he had expensive test even as an infant. He would not settle just for any formula, no generic cheapy for him. I had to finally start getting the expensive stuff, soy everything added to it for sensitive stomach stuff. We have been doomed to fight always, even in the womb he had more hiccups than I could even stand.

Of course I tried to get him to crawl, guess what he skooted. In fact my brother-in-law called him "skooter". The boy would not really crawl, he then started to pull himself up and walked with assistance. Later in his life I finally find out that step is actually a crucial link that is needed in his brain and his karate teacher (who worked with ADHD kids during the day) taught us a few techniques that helped him in school some, trust me it has helped even if his aunt says he is ADHD, yes I know jokingly but you know deep down you are thinking, "well maybe".

I always thought he was a brilliant child, what mother doesn't, he knew all his colors before he was two. He would line up his hot wheel cars all perfect in a row. He had to continuously wash his hands, I started thinking he had OCD, now a days I have to beg him to wash. He still has to have things just a certain way and has melt downs if they don't go his way, really come one I have no idea where he gets that from (I am trying to forget the Mother's day outing I had planned and it didn't work out and my darling brother had to step in and come up with something else because I was crying on the side of the road, but really come on that is totally different right???).

He makes friends so easily. He love animals and sometimes I catch him with a tear when he sees commercials for the Humane society, which I find funny because if I am crying over a movie he has to ask me why I am crying. He doesn't understand why he gets frog items from my family and looks to me and I tell him "sometimes they forget you like your own things and just buy things that mommy likes too". Of course he can't believe he got a pig cutting board because that is something Mary likes, but we love using it!

He has learned how to manipulate the system, if mom says no he can usually get it from Grandma or Grandpa. I let him know how spoiled he is each time and his only response is "true" and yes that is his actual word.

I love this little boy more than anything in this world. I know a big surprise and a huge cliche, but I promise you I never would have known until I had him. When I am around other kids now I know they can get on my nerves but it is so totally different when it comes to your own. I don't know how any one parent can ever repay to a child what love they have for them, but I promise you it is not from a lack of trying.

My only hope for this young lad who turns 9 today is that I can teach him to make the right decisions and the same values and standards I have learned from my parents. I never truly appreciated them when I was growing up but I do appreciate them more than they could even know now and they have my son to thank for that.

I gathered pictures the best I could from his birthdays. I am missing the all but important picture of the day of his birth, sorry, I am slowly organizing them. I am also missing his ultrasound pictures and my belly shot, not sure I will ever find those and that makes me sad, but I am more happy that we have time and memories together.

He returns tomorrow from his dad's, I can't wait to see him.

As for the pictures, going from top to bottom. 1st birthday, 2nd birthday breakfast, 3rd year potty shot (what mom doesn't get that shot and try to embarass their child with it), 4th year birthday party at daycare, 5th year just a shot at the park, 6th year friend birthday party, 7th year friend birthday party, I want to say the last one is his 8th year but I just liked it so I grabbed it.

Happy Birthday Hunter. Love you babe.

Astrocamp...

2010-03-30T22:09:00.004-06:00

H signed up for Young Astronauts at his school this year, he has to set a good example and work really hard in school in order to stay in this program. Today was one of the field trips and we went to Astrocamp. It was great fun, of course the picture on the left shows H on the bus ride up. I thought there was going to be a large number of kids heading up but there were only 15 kids on this trip. I took pity on one little girl that I know doesn't have a whole lot of friends and decided to sit next to her. Well then I think H got a little bored and decided to lay down, caught a picture.

We were in the electricity room first and I didn't get pictures in there because the teacher wanted the adults to be active participants so the remainder of the field trip pictures are in the machine room.

In the electricty room though it was really a whole lot of fun. We got "shocked" by running a current through our circle. H got a little "hurt" and at the end was crying, I know he was fine but I am not sure why he started crying but by the time of the last experiment he was a willing participant again. Given that he he was a little hurt and crying it made me feel like I needed to step up and show him that the remainder of the experiments were not going to hurt him.

The picture above though had them doing a pulley penny test, they had to determine how many pennies they had to put in the cup to make it lift off the ground. Of course my genius son got his right, it only took him 10 pennies. The one to the left show a complex machine (I tried to upload a video but I guess I don't know how to make them work from my blackberry), they had to guess which the ball would go, again my genius son cracked the code and was able to guess right on everyone so the assistant actually cheated on his turn to make him finally lose one. It was loads of fun still.

We had a special visit from the "Professor", really the teacher just dressed up and showed them a few more fun tricks and fun things. He was a hit with the kids. They all did such a great job that we were asked if we wanted to have our class name on Mars, when they send up the next rover machine it will have the class name on there with them, they are so happy they will be on Mars.

On Saturday we were going to eat at Tuscanos, but there were too many people and we had a movie to catch but we returned today for food. H LOVED the resturant. He was absolutely dumbfounded that not only did it have a salad bar but the meat dish was brought around, he totally had all the guys coming over to deliver him food, they loved him. He wishes we could eat there everyday, infact he gave it the Hunter Two Thumbs Up Award.

When asked what his favorite part of today was I am proud to say he said it was that I was able to go with him today on his trip. I know I have worked a lot lately and I know that he leaves on Friday but he always makes me cry when he can make me feel so loved. I don't always get to do what I know is important to him and he easily bows out knowing that I have to work, but I don't give him enough credit for being such a good kid. He has more love in his heart than anyone I know and I am absolutely blessed to have him be a part of me.

Walking advertisement...

2010-03-24T22:45:00.003-06:00

I should get paid for my all too cute son to walk around and be a commercial for the brands we normally use. Take for example H knows we use Verizon, when AT&T commercials come on he shouts out that they are liars and because we use V it is so much better. When he sees Luke Wilson in a commercial or movie he likes to point out that is the liar from AT&T. I just laugh every time he does this, you think it would get old but it doesn't.

My favorite this past week was we decided to make spaghetti and meatballs and until I can make my own tomato sauce I am stuck buying our favorite Prego. While I was looking at their varieties H got tired and just laid down in the aisle, yes I do love my son and sometimes I need to remind myself when he does these types of things, he then looks up to me and tells me "you don't have to buy Prego". I look at him thinking that is odd, he is just as picky as I am about such things and I ask him why. "Because I eat my vegetables so you don't have to buy it unless you want."

Well then it hits me, he is saying this because of a commercial he has seen. I don't say we watch a lot of tv, but we do watch a good deal. In fact most of the week we are too busy with dinner, work and just taking care of the pets that we don't have time to, part of the reason why I got Tivo so I can be with H and watch the few shows that I do watch over time. But curse him and my baby sister for watching something once and they know it all so well inside and out. I wish I had their memory sometimes.

Just want to share one of my favorites as he has been growing up a few years ago Verizon had a monkey on the commercial while the guy walked around and asking "Can you hear me now? Good.", well that lives forever with me because H would walk around as a younger lad than he is today reenacting that commercial.

Which is bigger...

2010-03-22T21:57:00.004-06:00

Well let's start with one magical night that I decided I would cook, while eating the food I did one of my favorite things and asked one handsome young lad to fetch me some water. He returned with a blue cup, being as thirsty as I was I decided to let him have that cup and asked that he return to the kitchen to return with a larger cup for me.

Well, I guess I did get what I asked for. :)

On another eerie night while eating at our favorite Monday hang out, yes the staff there knows we come in all to often and we talk to each and everyone of them so Sizzler we love you. I was talking to the boy and I knew he was lying to me, straight to my face. I explained that my cell phone knows if someone is lying and it changes them colors. Well I being the sly mother that I am changed it to black and white and he tried to get out of the way of the picture, well it only added to the effect, but it looks rather eerie and he almost looks like a ghost.

After the "lying" photo was taken he didn't believe me, so I changed it back and took a picture of me just to prove to him the non liars look normal.

Oh what he does not know does not hurt him, at least yet, right?

And lastly, while shopping and getting a smaller grill for our already too small porch I found one and was trying to take a picture of it for some advice from my baby sister. I tend to use her for some of my major purchases because I don't really have another voice of reason in my house. You think the boy would be more helpful, but no, according to him we can just use the card and not wait for payday. I explained that the card must have money on it to use, he really didn't grasp that idea, he is learning my shopping habits.

The best part about this photo is he likes to be in photos with people not only to "ham" it up, but he loves to put bunny ears on them. Well low and behold he has bunny ears on the grill.

Only my boy.

Again I ask, what are they teaching them in school...

2010-03-17T20:39:00.002-06:00

Maybe the focus was on Canada was because of the Olympics but really is that a good excuse. On our walk today the boy sang the whole way which really is not bothersome I find it cute, sometimes we make silly songs. On this wonderful walk though today he sang "O Canada", I asked him where he learned that, he said music class. I asked him do you know the "Star-Spangled Banner", I was then told he doesn't he was only told to sing it once but obviously they worked very hard for Canada.

I say if we are going to share in some of the spoils of Canada, they should be teaching them the right country's national anthem.

Maybe next year?

Funny kid thoughts...

2010-03-14T08:50:00.002-06:00

So I had asked H what he wanted for dinner yesterday, he said hot dogs and we picked up a package of Nathan's hotdogs for dinner. While getting them cooked he says "These are Nathan's, that's not fair why do Nathan and Iggy have things named after them?" (Iggy's is a sports bar and grill), I turned to him and I say "you have something with your name too", he turns and looks at me and says "That's true but it's just furniture". I didn't realize there was a rank on what has your name, but to the boy there is.

While we were shopping at the store though of course the boy does what he does best and just is him, running around playing with all the toys possible and just putting , well while he was being him I had some lady walk up to me. I thought she was going to tell me that he said something or hit someone with a toy, but much to my surprise just kept complementing me on him. She said he had such personality. Usually I am very humble but when it comes to compliments about my son I just love it and I have even more pride him him than he could ever know. Of course when I told him what she had said he decided that the remainder of the shopping trip was going to be filled with more action, so what I roll my eyes to at times I guess other find a bubbling personality. I should learn to love it more.

Pictures together...

2010-03-13T00:21:00.002-07:00

Okay, I know I have accepted my choice but one of the downfalls of being a single parent is there are very few times we are together in front of the camera together. I may not like a picture of me very well but I am willing to get over that just to have more shared memories of H and I together. Here are a few of my favorites that I have come across trying to clean up.

I am an admitted geek, I may not know it all but I know enough geeky things so when we were up at the Clearfield Boonaza one year and they had Star Wars characters running around for photo ops I just about died. It was one of the coolest things ever. I do think that H believes this is the real Darth Vader, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him right?

We went to Disneyland when H was 5, this was around the same time that H dad stepped back into his life and he was starting Kindergarten, it was a very eventful year. We took some time out to escape on vacation. I loved this trip, we rode on the Buzz Lightyear ride more times than I probably could count. He chickened out while standing in line for the Star Wars ride. He was so excited to drive a car around the track like a crazy driver.

And of course Tigger, Tigger almost got knocked out by me. My lovely sister Mary had to make mention before we left about blonde, blue eyed boys are the most popular for being kidnapped. I wanted to beat her up so bad but I was so super paranoid the whole trip. Well while leaving the Pooh Bear area we were walking and talking about meeting Pooh Bear and getting his and Tigger's autographs. While we were walking I notice out of the corner of my eye some one grabbing his other hand. I was ready to totally pound when I look over and it is Tigger. Then we all go skipping but we had to make it a short trip because H then announced that he needed to use the bathroom. Tigger escorted us to the bathroom. I watched H as we walked through with him and he was smiling so big and was so happy that everyone was looking at him.

We got to go to San Diego probably close to 3 years ago with Aunt Mary so she was there to help tak this picture. It was one of my favorite trips so far for a number of reasons but mainly because H LOVES sea life, in fact sharks are his favorite "animal", he has so many books about sharks and he knows a great deal about them. Granted there are not that many sharks at Sea World but he LOVED being there. He asked if he could have his birthday party there, if I had more money I totally would grant him that wish.

This is just proof that his dad was around shortly after birth, it took a few years for him to get his stuff together and as tough as it is for him to be back I wouldn't change it. My parents put aside their differences (for the most part anyway, they still take jabs at each other every once in a while) and get together so we can all be a family during most of our funtions. I don't see H's dad and I getting that cozy with each other but I think we have come a long way. This picture was taken by his dad because he liked to watch us sleep, when he got up for the camera it woke me up. One beautiful sleeping baby though, of course many nights were not like this but I made it through, he is almost 9 now.

Our first swimming trip, Mary joined us out at Deseret Peak in Tooele. The first trip of many because the boy would live in the water if I would let him and he wouldn't freeze to death.

Fan Sanfrisco...

2010-03-09T22:31:00.002-07:00

Okay, I am just adding this on because of a friend's blog and how she finds her kids saying wrong things so I am just pointing out that Hunter technically always corrects me when it comes to things and it is not some nice way of correcting either, he gets a snide little attitude behind him and I have to point out when he is being rude (not that I am the best example but I told him he can always call me out on things now too) but when he gets things wrong he doesn't realize in the least that he is saying things wrong. When I repeat them to him correctly he just says what he is saying and it is still wrong, I find them cute now. While working on his home work even while looking at the word he kept saying Fan Sanfrisco, but I wouldn't have him say it any other way.

Ever since he was a baby I have been trying to get him to call roast beef "roast beast", he looks at me and rolls his eyes and tells me that I say it wrong. I remind him of the Grinch Who Stole Christmas and he just gives me his look and tilts his head.

I also try to get him to understand that you can't win someone in a game, you can beat them because they are not a prize, you would think I have asked him to try to kill someone and we totally banter back and forth about that phrase.

I must say my friends kids are just adorable when they say it wrong and you can only have great memories when it comes to such words, love the "girl" cheese sandwich story.

I have to point out that my older sister's boys will say your name and if you don't answer back "what" it is like they don't know what to do, so now I just answer back with their names but they are starting to catch on and just carry on but I loved trying to confuse them.

Also H will tell me "but mom" and I turn to him and ask "I am a butt mom, does that make you a butt son", he gets annoyed every time I point it out, but I still love to do it.

I see alot of therapy coming to him for all the pain and suffering I put him through.

Things I love...

2010-03-05T14:18:00.002-07:00

So recently I have been thinking of the things I love, this probably doesn't cover them all but just some that have come across my mind recently...

1. My son, of course that is the obvious one. I love him when he tries to make me happy only to come to find out he was doing things that he should not have done, but the intent behind it makes me love him even more and I just forget it.

2. My family. They are a handful and they drive me insane to the point where I just want to yell at them, but they are there for me and even if we have a full on fight we can still get together and just carry on with life. I have lost lots of friends in my life but my family has always been there for me.

3. My house. I may not be able to keep it clean and it is small and of course not the house that I want in the end but given that I am doing it on my own I am proud of it. I can only try to make it better. I only wish I could give my son his very own yard but we will make due with what we have and he does because he loves me (again one of the reasons why I love him so much).

4. A child's laughter. Yes, technically this goes along with #1 but it is not just my son's laughter that I love, I love just walking in a store hearing a child or at the park. It is the most sweet, innocent sound that I love and it always makes me feel better.

5. My sister's friends. I don't have a whole lot of my own friends, I have lost touch with many of them for a good number of reasons, mainly because my beliefs are different than theirs in many ways. I am also so shy even to this day (another reason why I love my son, he in a way always gets me to step out of my comfort zone and pretty sure he is why I am as social as I am now), but her friends have taken me in, I dare say they call me their friend too but I do look at them as a friend now so it helps. They help me want to help out my sister as much as I do at her work.

6. Freshly cut grass. Seriously I am so allergic to grass, but I love that smell. GAP use to have a perfurme that smelt exactly like it, I wish they still carried it and yes I did buy it and I did wear it, so I would walk around smelling like grass (what kind of weirdo does that and since I was the only one that is why they stopped selling it).

7. Fresh money bills. I am seriously a freak still (and if you look back to #5 they may not admit to calling me a friend now) like the smell of a fresh dollar bill. It can't be a gently used, brand spanking new only.

Again I said there could be tons more but I just thought of these real fast. Who knows I may have another some time in the future.

Valentine's Day...

2010-02-13T17:58:00.004-07:00

Well I am one who believes in this commercialized holiday, I truly feel why does it take one day for you to tell the ones you love that you love them. Does that mean you get the other 364 days off in the year to not tell them? A friend of mine from FB put a quote up from Ashton Kutcher who basically says the same thing.

To me every day is Valentine's day, don't get me wrong I do get into the commercialization at times and purchase things for the boy, but I make sure I do special things for my son and I definetly tell him I love him everyday. I don't remember using the "love" word so much while growing up, and even though I love my family and truly would do anything for them it is hard for me to tell them to their faces that I love them. This is why I probably go so overboard with my son and tell him I love him so many times it is probably overkill.

I won't chastize anyone who loves this holiday and I am all for it if it allows you to open up your hearts and share it with those you love at least once a year, but I only ask that you make a vow with yourself to do something special other than this day or just their birthday or anniversary, find one day that has no significance and do the same type of appreciation and love that you make efforts for on Valentine's and let them know you love them just because and not because there is a "day" that tells you to show it.

Happy Valentines!

For Mrs. B and the dog did what...

2010-01-28T22:26:00.003-07:00

I know Mrs. B did not really want me to talk about her, but I can't help it I finally got something out of H that I thought I would just share because he is just so cute!

So H mentioned that he loves learning his home row, it took me a bit but I finally clued in to what he was talking about. He loves to go to computer lab and he loves learning new letters on the keyboard because I guess the little modules they use have characters of sorts, he likes getting to the end because they sometimes sing and dance. I mentioned he is learning to do typing in elementary school but I learned that stuff in Jr. High, he thought it was great that he was as smart as me in JH (probably not a far stretch but I still think I have him beat). G-pa stepped up and said he is still learning the keyboard, he loved the fact he was smarter than him (and yes again probably not a far stretch but I think the old man wins just by age alone).

I know she will be leaving soon as her son will be out of the school, I think this year but I wanted to make sure she knew we love her and has inspired the kid to get through the keyboard (even if he puts his fingers there and then still chicken pecks at home).

I posted on FB that the boy had a very hard day today at school but he pulled through and at least according to him he did not get in trouble but I guess they had a lot of school work today, I feel bad for the kid but I did let him know that all those days I have such a hard day at work is a lot like he felt at school today, he was a little more understanding. I only hope I gave him enough balloons and tickles to really cheer him up.

And just you know the picture shows that even if the dog eats the homework, well I guess in this case tore and threw up on the homework, we were able to tape it back together and clean it up and we got the library homework done, hopefully not late but done.

It can be done...

2010-01-17T22:01:00.002-07:00

For as much as I love my sweet, handsome and adorable little boy, there is a down side to him at times. I have such a hard time cooking a meal that he will eat at home. No matter how hard I try I can not win sometimes.

As an example he LOVES drumsticks and chicken strips, however if I tend to make them forget it, I am lucky I actually get him to chow down one, which if he normally eats chicken on the bone he chows down so much that I get grossed out and ask him to stop because he is just sucking the marrow from the bone at that point (yes I know totally gross and way too much information).

Come this past week, I am really trying to cut a lot of sodium out of my diet and work on trying to eat more at home to prepare for this new diet I want to try out once I get some time to fully read the book, I made two meals that H actually liked.

First was a play on Top Ramen (yes, it is a staple at my house and please do not judge me) where I cut out some of the seasoning in the packs so it was lower in sodium. I then cooked up steaks and cut them into thin little slices and sauteed onions and mushrooms (yes, my crazy picky, young son LOVES mushrooms). He loved it! He even went back for seconds! That is unheard of when it comes to my meals at home.

The second meal was cooked tonight, it was a play off of a knock off recipe for my favorite soup in the world from Olive Garden. I even thought that the kale in it would make him not want to eat it but a rule in my house is you have to try it once before you can hate it, and you still need to try it in the future. He ate it, no second bowl but he did say he would eat it again if I made it, seriously I will take progress where I can get it.

Family math night...

2010-01-14T22:21:00.002-07:00

So even with all the work I have been doing (of course it is only work if I can stop having complete melt downs and crying) there have been a few precious moments with H this past week. I don't mind working but it is so very important that my son knows he is the world to me and he truly will come before work when it is important to him.

This comes to Family Math Night at school (before this we had to work together to get his snowman decorated so he could put in on the board to show me come parent teacher conference), we went tonight. The joy on his face for him to see me pick him up from daycare is enough to kill me sometimes, but it is what is needed to get done in order to make our life better. We went to grab sandwiches and ate before heading over.

Even though the instructions and directions on where to go were right there, it was like a scavenger hunt to him. We had to find the way to the classroom. I beat him really good in one of the games (it was a mistake to let him win so many times before because he cries sometimes if he doesn't win with me) but he beat me on the other. He finally did decide that he wanted to try out the "Smarter than a... whatever grade you were in" and I actually remembered some things and once he was able to figure out how to work the controller (you think the principal would have offered some sort of instructions) we did rather well. Which led back to one more classroom for more games and yes I was winning but then forfeited many hands so he could win (I then started pulling out the correct cards for him to get higher up in points). He was so proud to beat me on that one, but is it really beating me when I set him up?

All in all we had a total blast, I am so glad I made this night for him, he is a good kid and I wouldn't change him for the world. Now he did mention that one of his friends plays a game that kind of freaks me out and I mentioned that to him (something along the lines of a devil game, devil's peak or something like that) and he turned to look at me and said "yeah, it kind of freaks me out and he totally embarrasses himself in front of 10 people", but I good thing it is only 10 and not the whole school right.

I have taught the boy nothing...

2009-12-21T22:46:00.002-07:00

So I feel like I am a failure as a mother, and no it has nothing to do with me not providing for my child (because other than my nephews I have not met another spoiled boy who gets what he wants), it has more to do with having him not able to tell the difference between Whitney Houston "I want to dance with somebody" and Michael Jackson "Thriller". For some unknown reason when we were listening to Whitney on the CD we popped in he turned to me and said "I love this song, you know Thriller by Michael Jackson". They couldn't soung anymore different than if they tried.

Now I know he gets this from me, I have a bad habit of not remembering things very well. I confuse actor's real life names and screen names continously, I figure if I come close or you know what I am talking about then I am good. When I can actually pull it off some people I know don't believe me anyway and have to verify what I have told them (No I am not actually pointing fingers at you yet Mary, Ally McKay or Ally McBeal what is the difference really).

H has got on to northpole.com tonight too and I have found out that not one thing I have bought for him this year is really what he wanted because what he had originally asked for was a journal, well now they are all completely different things. I asked him about a video game I got him tonight, he said that he would like it okay but it was not his choice. Seriously I think he is going to be disappointed in Christmas because he is not getting what he wants or a better way to put it what he is wanted at the time.

But overall he is a good kid, I know he will put on a happy face and be happy with what he got and he loves to choose out what we get to take to the shelter every year because he knows that will make other people happy too but it is just a parent thing when you want to make your child happy. Given that I don't have many years left to make Christmas magical, I just need to accept that he will be happy and I don't need to get him all that he wants.

Also how in the world did I decide that we would make our pajamas this year, and no I cannot make a snowflake out of fabric so they are snowballs (or really just polka dots) but I will carry on and try to get them complete so we can wear them for Christmas Eve.

He is looking forward Christmas Eve too, he is so happy that I won't be working (yes, many, many late nights recently so I am really thankful he has been so patient with me) and it will be a long weekend for the two of us.

Season of joy...

2009-12-05T21:33:00.002-07:00

I have been slacking but not just because I am lazy but more because I just have been busy and have not found the time.

I think I really do love Christmas the best, well besides my birthday which in itself is a holiday. I just like giving, I really don't like to get gifts for the most part, unless there is a meaning behind it. I really would just rather spend the time with my family and dear friends. They mean more to me than any present in the world could give to me (well unless you are talking about a trip or even a new house in Hawaii because sorry folks I would ditch you in heartbeat :D).

This year I am making treats for our neighbors, depending on the time it could be just a s'mores kit (idea stolen from another blog I follow) or I may be willing to try out making cake pops (minus the sticks, and still another idea stolen from another blog, but my sister follows that one). Could be both but who knows.

I plan on getting up some pictures here shortly of our recent adventure to the Festival of Trees, but I could be holding out a promise I can't keep. ;)

Dear Santa, define the word "good".

Black Friday shopping...

2009-11-28T10:51:00.002-07:00

Wow, I went out once years ago shopping and I never really wanted to go again. I usually would go out after the crowds died down but even if I went the time I usually go it would have been just as crazy. I remember helping my mom work "the event" at Mervyn's a couple of years in a row, I think that was more fun than shopping it.

It was fun overall because the company I went with (my baby sister Mary, Stephanie and Mandy) and it was fun to run into my older sister Norah and my mom at Target even though some how yet again I have found another way to make my mom get ornery.

Really I can't say that I bought anything that had a really great deal (I know then I am just shopping and I should have gone out another time), but I did buy most of my presents and that means I am done with one a few other little things here and there so now I don't have to worry about finding much time to shop with H around.

We hit up a number of stores Target, Micheal's, Old Navy, Shopko, Hobby Lobby, Bed Bath and Beyond and Kohl's.

Shortest wait line so was probably Hobby Lobby, even though I had one item that did not have a tag that we could find and so I didn't even know what price it was the cashier knew right away what it was so I was very impressed. BBB was probably just as short there too.

The longest wait line and by far the longest time I have ever waited in a retail line my sister ended up timing it. 52 minutes, wow! My mom and my older sister went up to one more up north and they knew the people who worked there so they got in and out.

Now most of this would have been so bad and I would have been better had I had more rest the nights before (helping me sister and the SODA Center set up for their Thanksgiving run), my coffee wore off during shopping and I just felt like I was dragging. They apparently are going to get me an IV for next year to keep me going, I would settle just for a trip to Starbucks.

We were not able to locate the megablocks that Tami (yes, another sister but don't worry last one, just three of us, she is the middle child). But my mom did, she called as we were heading home.

We got to tired to go catch a movie and relax after, but still an overall success.

I again will probably go again but not for the shopping just for the company that was kept while we were out.

H gets back on Sunday and we get to get a tree next weekend. We will also be going to the Festival of Trees again and I will be looking forward to that.

Family fueds...

2009-11-16T22:16:00.002-07:00

Your family would not be your family if you could not get into a fight but know that they will love you just as much in morning.

The current family fight is what to have for Thanksgiving dinner. It is definitely more fun to be just a bystander instead of the one in the fight (yes, the one that involved me before was Walmart and let's just say what I thought was innocent fun in the pictures being sent around turned into something ugly so the W word will not be brought up again). Food will be food, my sister just needs to take the same attitude as I do when it comes to it, make what you want the rest will have to just deal. I was told that all the specials (stuffing with out onions and the potato chunks for my older sister) did not need to be done anymore, guess what you will get what you get and you won't throw a fit. I say more leftovers for me so that works for me.

Well I guess you could be like the pie culprit though and just take it all home even though we didn't get any, we were too full from food to eat it then.

Day of cooking...

2009-11-14T19:36:00.002-07:00

Oh my goodness, I have spent the whole day cooking or baking which ever you want to call it. I was asked by my lovely boy to make apple pie a few days ago. I made the pie dough from the recipe of my mother's which I just love and it has many memories for me. Well I came to find out that the little boy only wanted the pie made so badly was because he wants to throw a pie at his Aunt Mary's face. I compromised and made a whole bunch of mini pies (made in a muffin tin) and told him he and I can have a food fight with them before he left for his dad's.

As if the pies were not enough I also made bread, that turned out pretty well too.

Then to top it all off instead of us getting to make our pizzas last night because we went bowling instead so we made the pizza tonight for dinner so I made the crust from scratch too. The boy's topping choices are mushrooms and pineapple, yes he LOVES mushrooms. I didn't start liking mushrooms until I was way older so I find it odd that an 8 year old child loves to eat mushrooms so much.

Oh what a day, it was fun though but I think I have had my fill on carbs for some time now. But it gave us a fun project to work on inbetween chores.

Cleaning fun...

2009-11-07T23:31:00.002-07:00

On most nights the boy and I have a conversation question that we normally ask "what was your favorite part of today?", on the way home from visiting up at my sister's house he asked me. I stated it was when he helped me to clean out our front closet and how he cleaned up his room (my intent was to get him to try to clean up more around the house).

I asked him what his was, he says when he got dressed. Stumped I couldn't figure out why getting dressed was the best part of today so I asked him questions. He kept giving me his "really don't you know what I am talking about" look. He said when I was dressed like a model.

Yes, while cleaning he got dressed up in some of my heels and went and got some of my clothes and "posed" around the house. I was able to capture a picture so I can torture him with when he is older and I meet his girlfriends. I totally would post it but I had to swear I would not show ANYONE, more for the reason he doesn't want his grandpa to see and to give him a hard time.

I did mention to him that I would show his future girlfriends, he was giving me his little look he gives to me now and I just said back "that is a right I have as a mother that I get to embarass you with your childhood pictures, and don't worry they will find it absolutely adorable", I just got an eye roll and he changed the subject.

Good times I tell you, good times.

Music and Lyrics...

2009-11-02T20:40:00.002-07:00

Last night there was only a handful of things on, well one of them happened to be "Music and Lyrics" with Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant. I didn't think it was something that the boy would like to watch but I chose it anyway because he has not kept up on his reading minutes at home so he doesn't get many options of things (yes I know I am the mean mom he always talks about).

It is hard for H to adjust to time adjustments of any sorts and he also has my genes so insomnia is bound to be there for him, I had to stop giving him naps before he turned 2 because he would be up all night and yes even a 5 minute nap will have him up for most of the night. While he was not sleeping he got up and wrote some song lyrics, I can only think he was inspired by the movie.

Band: Killer Boy : HIG

I can't sleep I don't know
What is the mater with me do you know
what is wrong with me (corus.)

Help me I want to sleep but I cannot.
Please take care of me or I'll be sick for a whyil I can't go to school intail I am beter.

Then he writes his favorite knock knock jokes down too. But I loved the song and I left his spelling because he is so cute. He is having a hard time going to sleep again tonight but hopefully we can get him back on schedule soon because he does better in school and such so hopefully we can get him there.

Spook-tacular time...

2009-10-18T17:20:00.003-06:00

Although I think my sister is trying to keep me and the boy away we have found our way in, my sister does not have the lung capacity to blow up balloons. Well orignially we were going to use my mattress pump but the pump wouldn't blow up the balloons, so I just used my very own pump. Then I also found out how incompentent she and I both are at tying knots but it seems I ruled out on that one, although I for some reason had trouble on some of them.

So once we blew up the balloons and worked on a 30 foot web (which we tangle up really good just moving it to the inside of the building), we had to raise it in the lobby about 20 feet (probably more I just am really bad at distances) up in the air. I think this is one of my favorite decorations we have made and done over the past few years of putting on this wonderful event. We have come along way from staying up to 2 or 3 in the morning using coffee grinds for bone mashers (yeah we won't be doing those again anytime soon, fun idea but pain in the butt to make).

Spook-tacular is a community party that is held at the local recreation center (aka SODA Center). Fun rides, fun food and just plain fun! October 30th from 5:30 - 8:30. Don't go to the Jazz game come and have fun, I guess if you must go to the pumpkin walk to but make sure you come for lots of fun the Rec Center.

Halloween fun...

2009-10-13T18:24:00.003-06:00

We cleared off the porch and have pulled out the decorations. This is the boy's favorite holiday, I truly think this holiday beats Christmas for him but he will never admit it.

H LOVES to decorate the house, if I would let him he totally would turn our whole house into a haunted house. I find this so funny because the thought of going to a hauted house terrifies him but he loves to buy the scariest items I will allow him to buy. He gets to chose a new decoration every year, we still need to shop for this year but he was sick over the weekend and just getting the decorations out was enough for now.

I was going to make his costume this year with the new sewing machine I got, it started off as him going to be Yoda. When we went to the store looking for a mask and a green light saber (yes it has to be green and not any other color because that is now what Yoda uses, and when I said I would paint it then he just rolled his eyes and said no way that is not the same) suddenly he decided he was going to be Harry Potter. This gives me time to work on my sewing skils so I am cool with that.

We already had most of Harry's costume because when he was 3 or 4 (I can't remember now) he was going to be another one (no I can't recall) but decided that he had to be Harry minute. Even if everyone (especially the boy) thinks I am the meanest mom gave in and went to work. Well I had found the cape and we bought a yellow shirt and he used a stick for a wand and I could not find glasses anywhere so I made them out of yellow sunglasses which I took the dark glass out of and then colored with a black crayon. It looked like the most poorly put together costume but he thought he was Harry for the night. Good times though.

And yes, duct is holding the cape up so it is not so long to trip the boy!

I love this story...

2009-09-25T18:09:00.004-06:00

I keep crying when I hear this story, it warms my heart. Sorry it is cutting off, I still don't know what I am doing, the last one I posted was just fine. But great story.

58 days...

2009-09-22T23:19:00.004-06:00

Yes, it is only 58 days until New Moon comes out. An exclusive behind the scene picture, love it. Mr. Slade it is nice to know you have a sense of humor, looks great.

Those of you Buffy fans this is a little belated but Sarah and Freddie welcomed Charlotte Grace Prinze this weekend! Congratulations.

New Moon new trailers...

2009-09-13T22:20:00.003-06:00

Just saw the new New Moon trailer, I don't think the boy can watch the movie in the theater, this movie is way more intense but I guess we can see if he still wants to or not and with prior viewing through me first.

I love Edward and Bella, but really my heart belongs to Jasper and Alice. But really Jacob is looking mighty fine since his hair cut and some beefing up. Come on Mary, you can't say he doesn't look good.

Again all I can say is I have no life so yes this stuff appeals to me. And after a huge discussion with the boy a number of nights ago, really I don't think I will be bringing a man home anytime soon. I will get there, the love of my life is still out there but I am just enjoying being a mom. Besides I get to check out all the hotties so really no complaints from me at this point.

Middle sister...

2009-09-10T19:53:00.002-06:00

The best thing about Tami is she has baby Iggy and the back yard that we can do a slip and slide. I am writing it as it is.

Superb older sister...

2009-09-05T20:15:00.002-06:00

So H decided to blog about each one of our family members, at least the first thing that comes to mind. We love all of our family to we just wanted to let them know.

The favoritest thing about Aunt Norah is she has "my best cousin" (Iggy falls in second because he tackles him like a man).

We love you Norah and oddly enough it is another shout out from the bath tub. Gotta love the naked shout outs!

Busy baby sister...

2009-09-02T18:23:00.003-06:00

I don't think she really knows how much she saves my sanity. I miss her tons when she is "consumed" but events at the SODA Center, just know I miss you (and H says so does he screaming it out from the bath tub, so that be a naked shout out).

Can't wait to help out on Saturday, hope it is something good.

Just because...

2009-08-31T20:57:00.003-06:00

Well just because it is the end of the month I thought I should do one more post, not that I have anything significant to discuss so what else other than New Moon. Below is the picture of the Volturi, which really I am fine with but come on Dakota Fanning as Jane? Not that I have anyone else in mind but I think she has just been played out. I guess I will hold of judgements until I see her in the role, who knows she may surprise me but right now not pleased with it.

I really did like the fact that they were using a bunch of small screen or no names in the roles, Kristen Stewart was the only one that really anyone had heard of. Yes, there are a few others that made names for themselves but really you looked at them thinking "what else did they play in".

I figure I will talk about it because I will have to wait for the video, at least at that point I can see it with the boy. With the plans to go back to school it just cuts out a lot of the fun stuff, we will see but I won't hold out any promises.

School is teaching what?

2009-08-27T18:01:00.002-06:00

So it is back to school this week, H had music today the song goes like this:

"Pepsi coke came to town, Coke-a-cola shot him down. Dr. Pepper fix him up, we all started to drink 7up."

Beats last year where they were learning a song based on the fast food restaurant chains.

Heroic dog...

2009-08-22T08:27:00.002-06:00

Just took the dog out before going and spending the day up in Park City. As we were coming in...

"Mom, Daisy saved my life." Yes, this is all being said in his overly dramatic tone.

"Oh really, how?"

"Because as we were walking I didn't see the dead smashed snail but Daisy pulled me out of the way because she saw it."

Wow, didn't realized that smashed snails were so deadly but good to know I have a dog that will save you from them.

Beware of the snails, they just might get you.

Two year plan...

2009-08-21T17:04:00.002-06:00

Since I decided I will not be able to afford anything more than I am living in right now, I am making a two year plan and then goodbye to what I call my heartache of the past few weeks.

That's it, goodbye.

My car will hopefully be paid off in just a few payments all of that money will go to my credit cards to hopefully pay them off. I can take a cut in pay because I am getting the money that I should from H dad plus back support too.

I have been bringing home sadness, anger and hate and I am done.

Cooking adventure and laughs...

2009-08-20T21:31:00.002-06:00

Ha ha ha, sorry I am still laughing at my escapade right now. So for the CSA (community sponsored agriculture) we got cabbage. I find this just a funny that everyone of my family that got one is making cabbage rolls (a childhood favorite).

I bought a thing of hamburger meat to use, also we went and got sauerkraut, tomato sauce and more cabbage so I could make the rolls. I completely underestimated how much meat that actually was! I have three fairly large size pans filled with GIGANTIC rolls (really more folded over than rolled because I was trying to get all the meat mixture I had into the cabbage I had), well lets just say that still was not enough.

My last pan was more like a cabbage roll lasagna because I was just layering because I didn't want to run out and buy anything more. But I ran out of tomato sauce! So I found one small can and used that, but in the back of my fridge was a jar of spaghetti sauce, that is now on my cabbage lasagna.

Oh good times, I try cooking but it turns to be more work than it is worth some times.

FYI, to make me feel better I went out and did something very nice for my boss so I could get the anger out of me. I get along with her personally, but work ethics wise I can't stand her anymore, it is out of control although the last two days she has done some work, but she actually did some talking to me today.

Next battle is proving that Mary DID ride on the colossus at Lagoon.

Stay-cation day one...

2009-08-13T20:55:00.028-06:00

Alrighty you bloggers that are so much better at this than I am, I don't think I am doing this right because it is taking so long to do this but I did it anyway.

Instead of going anywhere for vacation we decided to do a stay-cation and do things "around the town. Today started with breakfast with Grandpa at a "mom and pop" run down joint that has good eats.

Then it was dinosaur day camp, which I just found out they really don't teach you anything about the dinosaurs, you just go and do fun things. How do I know this, let's just say kids are very honest. At least he had fun and he looked forward to getting on the playground equipment.

Although he has dug this up many times before he "found" the dinosaur eggs (see picture below). But leave to my son to be the polite one and get bullied by a toddler who was trying to bury his discovery, other than just looking at the kid he did not say one word to this kid but it was great to chuckle at the looks he gave.

Before I joined him I decided to walk around and test out my new camera. I have some pretty pictures that I took while walking on the path behind the dino park.

Let's just say that trail behind there is very sucluded and if you wanted to kill someone and dump their body in the river, I think you could get away with it.

But it was a nice little walk

and I enjoyed

testing out my new camera.

On our way home we hit up Chuck-E-Cheese's (where a kid can be a kid and yes he repeats this phrase EVERY time he talked about it today) because the boy has been talking about it forever about how he wants to go back, we had a bucket full of coins that we needed to get rid of from the

last time and a redemption ticket too.

The game to the left was a favorite, it was like jump rope with a light. He enjoyed it much.

Can I just say parents when redeeming for your prizes instead of taking 45 minutes to get through the three kids you had with you to have them choose out prizes please help them along. Again just to boast my son up he got up there and the lady was trying to be so nice because he was so patient that she was going to let him have any of the 1500 ticket prizes (he only had 1420) because he was so close and he waited for the group in front of us that I noted above AND the family that just cut right in front of us (I waved to the helper and told her it was fine because she was going to tell them to wait). But my truthful and very honest son wouldn't take the prize that he wanted with the additional points she was willing to give to him he chose out many others instead. Well it was either her was being honest or obsessive-compulsive (probably more of the latter) in saying he didn't have enough for that. Proud to say we were done at the counter in less than 5 minutes, if that.

He got some snotty nose thing, fake vomit, a transformer car toy (push and go thing) and other little knick knacks. I told him he was gross.

The last picture there was us finally home, we took the dog out for a walk and the boy was playing dead and the dog was attacking him. Good times.

More items planned tomorrow, not sure if I will get posted for tomorrow though but I will let you know all the excitement (and yes, the mean mom that I am even scheduled a dentist appointment for the stay-cation).

Where a kid can be a kid, get it, kkk-kid, chchch-cheeses. ha ha ha (yes a real quote from the boy on why Chucky-Cheese's says where a kid can be a kid).

To cheer up the boy...

2009-08-12T22:43:00.004-06:00

And thanks to BS she figured this out for me so I can post this. H knows she can't stand Jacob but I think he likes him just as much as he likes Edward. This is just to spite my loving sister who will take this so well just because she knows it will make him smile just a little. So in response to her "Die Jacob die" comment...

Not substitutes...

2009-08-10T17:30:00.002-06:00

I tried my hand at potatoes au gratin from the magazine and discovered that you should not substitute paprika for cayenne pepper and neither should you sub cinnamon for nutmeg. But on the plus side the boy ate all his potatoes which is funny because I choked mine down, go figure.

I will try again with the correct ingredients.

Meals and a yard sale...

2009-08-09T17:56:00.005-06:00

So I have tried again to cook, I don't want the good food I have been getting from the CSA and the Co-op to go to waste. My BS (that is baby sister, although you could sub what it really means and we would still be talking about the same person) showed me a magazine at the store that porportioned meals to cater to two. I am not a big leftover eater, there are a few dishes that I will actually eat that are left over (sorry, it is my picky palate that is sensitive to many things). I tried my hand at a chicken and vegetable dish last night, with many substitutes to foods I already had. Pork instead of chicken, paprika instead of red pepper, limes instead of lemon (I prefer lime anyway) and other sort of substitutes. I actually really liked it, it was good, very greasy still but good. I know some things I will change the next time but over all it was good. The boy ate some of it, but it the lime taste was a little too tart for him so he chose not to eat much of it. I was promised if I make it again he will try it because I told him I could just put the lime on my part of it so it is not so sour for him.

I have learned I need to have a recipe in front of me to cook (portioned to two, yes I know you can do it yourself but I just don't) but I am a rule breaker, I try to sub the ingredients with items I have around the house and spices that are boy approved.

My kind OS (older sister, I had this explained once on twitter but it seems as though BS has either forgotten or as always just never listens to me, Tami would be MS for middle sister), allowed us to use her yard for our yard sale (THANKS), I actually made some money this time, it was great. I still owe BS for lunch though. We plan to hit up some yard sales this weekend looking for items. I did it last weekend too and got a new big mirror to replace the one in my bathroom,I am still holding up hope there is an outlet behind it because it is ODD that I don't have an outlet in my bathroom currently an orange extention cord is be run down the hall to sub for it (just ugly and inconvenient). But with many other things my luck is there is no outlet and I will have to carry on with the cord. But I also found a small desk that the boy can use for homework and such. It was a light lime green color. We sanded it and painted it to the boys liking. We bought a desk lamp to put on it and everything. I am hoping this will be a great addition but it may just end up collecting toys as the picture shows it has Legos on it right now. Hopefully I will find more additions, the mirror was $5 and the desk was less than $1 because I got a bunch of other things. I was excited!

It must be jelly because jam don't shake like that. (yes, that is some kind of fat joke ;))

My young Edward...

2009-08-06T19:37:00.003-06:00

So the little boy in my life got hurt on his skooter again today. This one was a little more nasty than the last and a lot more blood. He has scraped up his elbow and the side of his hip bone.

I am only posting this because the sweet young man was all worried that his white shirt now had blood all over it, mind you this shirt is just one of those cheap undershirts and it is not that white given that he had worn it most of the day. He is sobbing to me telling me his blood is has ruined it, I assured him that the shirt will live but he may not because of his blood all over.

***If you have a weak stomach do not proceed***

Well guess that was a mistake because between the sobs he has decided he needs to take his dirty fingers collect the blood and put it in his mouth. I ask him what he thought he was doing, he said he had to put the blood back in his body so he still had blood.

I should know better!

Oh well, he mended (he keeps calling his boo boos boobies) and because it is Thursday he is reading currently but I just couldn't pass up such a cute story.

Live long and prosper.

Good memories...

2009-07-31T21:09:00.002-06:00

While at work today I had a conversation with one of my co-workers who has been trying to get a "home" of sorts as she has moved from her previous one (I am unclear of the whole story, but I think she is going through a divorce). As we were talking she mentioned her son (now 18) will be leaving in 6 weeks for college. She told me to treasure what I have with my son because before I know it he will be gone.

This is something I already know, I see kids around the neighborhood who are just running around and for what seems all day. The thing about these kids that run around is their parents don't seem to care for where they are at and never check in with them. I am just dumbfounded with this. H knows I check in on him frequently. It makes me sad that their parents don't know where there kids are half the time.

The best part about this is H knows I like to spend time with him and want to frequently. I know he has to grow up and venturing out with his friends adds to this and as hard as it is I can't stop it. But I LOVE the fact that he loves to spend time with me. Sometimes when his friends come over he sends them away because he doesn't want to play and he wants to just snuggle with me. I secretly love this more than he can even know, but I do my mommy duty and tell him it is fine for him to go and play, "not today, there is always tomorrow or Friday (usually this is at the beginning of the week)".

I think I have done good with him and am more proud of him then any one person should be of their child. He is great, I only hope we can have this same relationship as the years go on.

Take the time to love the ones you love, it may show them the love in your heart and it will only grow and get stronger as the years pass.

My celebrity quote...

2009-07-30T20:16:00.007-06:00

I must wear the movie star sunglasses for a reason. I am very proud of myself for doing a 5k by myself, no baby sister there to hold my hand. I think I could have pushed myself more but I have more to come.

While getting ready to start the race I had a reporter come up and ask me why I was there. I must have impressed him with my story because he published it. I am not sure if I know how to do this correctly so incase the link below doesn't work I made sure to copy the text so you can read it. I wish I had a picture of me doing the race but that was not in the stars. I was most excited about coming around the corner and seeing H standing at the finish line. He proceeded to run up to me while I was running wanting to run in with me. I heard my friend Julie (more a family friend than just my personal friend) calling to him because he was going to miss his race, I had to run even faster to get him to his on time. Thanks Jules for watching the boy while I did my race, I am so proud of you mother for doing the race too.

While starting the kids race Mason said he would buy a pizza for any kid who can beat Kevin in. Well there was one boy who did (sooooo not my son). Then Kevin came in, there were many kids that made their way in, many way younger kids too. Finally H made his way in, but I guess at one point in time Kevin went back out. H thought he was beating him so he raced in as fast as he could, proud mommy cheering him on. All he could talk about over the weekend was how he beat Kevin in and he wants his pizza. I told my sister this and she says even Kevin says he owes him one.

First, Mason was the one that promised the pizza not Kevin, so no pizza from Kevin. Second, Kevin made it in way before the boy so there is no need for him to be buying the boy a pizza. But I think it is very nice that he feels bad and wants to buy him one because Kevin is a good kid. Although not all of her employees deserve the praise they get from my sister at times, I see many of them have good hearts and really they win me over because they really love H.

Shooting from the hip:Good job, Crystal
by Scott Schulte
Jul 28, 2009

I am not a morning person. Especially on holidays. I was thrilled when my boys got older and no longer wanted to get up at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning to see what Santa Claus brought. Now, sleeping is OK on the holidays.

This is why even when I competed as a runner I searched for twilight races (races that took place at the end of the day) as compared to those awful early morning runs. It’s a major part of the reason I now choose to run in the heat of the day...because I’m awake.

With this in mind I sought out people at Friday’s Handcart Days road race to ask what would make them get out of bed on a day off to go race. I had lots of answers like those people who are early risers or those preparing for a big race in the near future — but the person who stands out the most was a very nice woman named Crystal.

The Bountiful resident explained, “My 8-year-old son went to spend some time with his father who lives in Kentucky, and I decided I wanted to train for something.”

According to Crystal, running gave her something to do when her son was away. Crystal said, “I have to admit, running was not my first choice, but my sister, Mary pushes me, and that helps.”

I lived out of state for the first six years after my divorce and away from my sons, and I hated it. Having things to do like running or lifting weights filled, even if just a little bit, the void left by my kids living so far away. Since I understood this, I was real impressed with my new friend, Crystal, and her decision to run rather than pout while her son was out of state.

Crystal admitted to me that she anticipated being the last runner to finish the race, but that was of very little interest to me. I was and remain so impressed with Crystal for two reasons. First, as I said, Crystal took a pro-active approach to a time that could have otherwise been very sad. Second, Crystal chose to be a runner. She could have chosen a lot of things to do, but Crystal chose to get out and push herself beyond her limits to reach personal goals.

The race went off, and I became busy interviewing people and looking forward to getting home and back to bed.

Later I wondered what had happened to Crystal.

It didn’t matter where she finished the race. She’d won no matter what.

Good job, Crystal!

My story link, and no I am not smart enough to figure out how to link more than just the My.

Don't you know who I am?

The return of the boy...

2009-07-20T07:43:00.004-06:00

He did get in on Saturday, and bonus he didn't have to go back on the plane to get things he forgot (last time we had to get someone escort him back on to get his DS). He had a hat on so I didn't recognize him through the window getting off but I thought it was crazy that there was no one else getting off. This flight had TONS of unescorted kids this time, H was the youngest so when they got off the plane he drowned in the sea of teenagers that got off with him.

He is currently sleeping, we fell asleep on the couch last night, I don't want to wake him, he looks so precious, and those of you who know he is up and running around even before I get up most days so the fact that he is sleeping means he is tired from his adventure.

We have swam both Saturday and Sunday, that kid likes to swim. It has helped to cool us off because my cooler is sounding very sickly. I don't think my dad will approve but I think I will be calling a professional to come and look at it. I got a picture of him last night coming home from the pool. He is excited for that new movie coming out this week, G-Force, he has already chosen out who he is going to be. That will be another way to cool off too.

He grew, I still need to line him up and measure him from the last time before he left so I can see how much he grew, but his hair is long, it took Mary a long time to convince him to grow it out (I would prefer it to be short but it is his hair so I let him decide). But he may end up caving because he has thick hair too, really hot during the summer.

I am excited to spend the 24th with him (that is a holiday here in Utah), it allows us to do fireworks and such together. Plus our home town does a pretty big celebration so we can have fun doing that together.

I missed him, I am glad he is back.

If you lack the courage to start, you have already finished.

Parade of Homes 2009...

2009-07-11T21:24:00.007-06:00

Well I let Mary talk me into doing the parade of homes tour. It was interesting, makes me sad though because I am sure I am stuck where I am for a very long time. It was fun to get to spend some time with my sister even though I was out ALL DAY touring homes.

The picture below is of a playroom under a staircase that reminded me of my oldest nephew, although I think he loves Hannah Montana way more then this movie now.

Also she may not find it as funny but at the end of a long and exhausting day Mary's seat belt got all twisted up and she was getting really irritated. Well I thought to help cheer her up now that she is home I would remind her of the time that H was caught exercising in the back seat with the seat belts from both sides when he was sitting in the middle. I apologize for the quality, I guess I can send the videos to the online folder but I can't send them from there out.

Check out Mary's blog for more extensive pictures of the Parade. Besides the Madagascar one I took a picture of a closet so I can redo mine.

The most precious things in life can not be built by hand or bought by man.

Way to go big sis!!!

2009-07-04T19:43:00.001-06:00

Woo hoo!!! Happy 4th! My older sister did a two mile walk today, yes she complained, yes we were the last walkers but she did it!!!! (The picture is just for my liking)
Twilight and New Moon

Happy 4th of July...

2009-07-03T07:45:00.002-06:00

Well almost, but I may forget to get on and blog considering all the festivities. I think I like when H gets to go with his dad at the beginning of summer, then they can celebrate the 4th with him and when he returns he gets to celebrate the 24th with me. Hopefully that is something we can work out but who knows.

I remember driving in the car with the boy and he brought me to tears with a conversation. On of my co-workers returned home from Iraq a few months ago but I did share with her the boys thoughts, which brought tears to both of our eyes because I told her even though it was hard for her I am thankful for all the soldiers protecting our country. The conversation with the boy consisted of him telling me how happy he was for our "army" guys (I am sure he meant it for all forces, he is eight). He kind of let it go at that, I was curious what made him say this so I asked why they make him happy. He then said because they can die while trying to protect our family from the bad guys, he turned to me and asked if that is what the cops do too. Just knowing that he knows that there is a price for things and it shows the good heart that he has (because honestly I wonder if I taint him at times) makes me so proud.

The boy is the most patriotic little man I know, he loved learning about all that stuff this year in school. I had to go to D.C. this past year on a business trip, he was really jealous. It is a plan of ours to make the trip back with him so he can see it all. Of all the places in the world he still asks when we get to go (there and Hawaii, but that one will be a while). I myself don't remember being so gung ho like he is about politics growing up.

This year he was so excited to go voting with me. He really loves Obama, and the night of the election he was cheering when Obama won a state. But it was still really close when it was bedtime, he woke me up in the middle of the night asking who won. I really didn't know because I went to bed before the results were in and I went about just watching other programming anyway. We found out and he was so excited. Who knows he may be a politician when he grows up. I just hope that passion for this stuff stays with him as he grows up.

Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that made you smile.

Find a penny...

2009-06-30T21:33:00.003-06:00

So on my walk out with the dog tonight I came across a shiny, new penny. Most people just throw them out or don't think they have much significance (especially not now given the recent economy left behind by a certain someone, let's just leave it at that). I on the other hand LOVE pennies. Everytime I see them I pick them up. H actually calls pennies (or any coins for that matter) wishes, because you can throw them in a wishing well.

I have done this since I was a little kid. In fact while picking up said penny tonight I remembered that I opened my first banking account at Zions with my pennies I had collected. I filled up an old popcorn tin that my brother sold while he was in boy scouts. I remember the tin very well because there was a picture of a boy on it that reminded me so much of my neighbor Brandon. I had collected $32 in pennies, really not much if you think of it but that is 3,200 pennies, so really it is alot of pennies. I now have probably about the same amount in my banking account currently but I was proud of my collection of pennies and I am glad I still collect them and remember when I was young of all the silly things I did as a kid.

Just so you know I did see Star Trek again tonight, did I mention what a great movie that is?

We are all pathetic, creepy and can't girls. That's why we fight robots.

Ugh, working out can hurt...

2009-06-24T21:51:00.003-06:00

So even though my baby sister can do a 3.2 (or something like that) all up hill it still kills me to just run for some time. I have been doing a 1 minute run to a 4 minute walk, I just upped the ante and did 2 run 3 walk. Didn't go as far as I have been but I even ended it with running for a little more then 3 minutes.

Really for me to remember that I ran for more then 3 minutes is really amazing because I am seriously stupid when I workout, no kidding, I dumb down. Remembering my name is even hard, so I will NEVER pick up guys while I am working out because of it.

Also just so you know I use the term "run" loosely because really I think at best it is a light jog, but really I think I see ladies with walkers go faster then I do when I work out.

And just so you know I think I should be studied because when I work out I have toxins leave my body. I turn bright red and I itch like crazy, all over it drives me insane.

I've been a bawdy little monkey.

4 more weeks to go and Ragnar relay and myself...

2009-06-21T21:39:00.004-06:00

I know deep down that H misses me however there are some days where it really gets to me. I find myself crying over silly little things and I think about it and then I find some way for it to come back to him. Most of it stems from me being lucky on not getting to talk to him for more than 3 minutes 3 days a week. I am just reminded on how much better of a person I can be when I actually try to get him to talk to his dad longer even when he tries not to and I try to make sure we make it quiet so they can hear each other. Only 2 weeks down, 4 more to go.

Well again my baby sister has survived another Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay Race (or however it is worded). She was having troubles getting the team to come together but it pulled through at the end, even if they had to get a random guy. I am glad he turned out to be pretty cool and a good fit for them. Not only am I proud of her but her whole team, they are a great bunch of people and I am glad she knows them, it makes life that much better to have such a great bunch of people around (random or forced into it) it sounds as though they had a lot of fun despite the weather.

This has been the second week of working out, I went running again today but I ditched the dog. I walked her at the beginning and the end as a warm up and cool down but she drags me down and I want to make this work out good. I am proud of myself, even though I am not working out as much as one would hope I think I am at a very good start. I just can't wait to show the boy that with enough dedication his mother can run a 3.1 (although I will tell him 3.2 all thanks to Mary). It will be the best feeling ever to have him see me and cheer me on. Not as far as Mary can go but it will be enough for now, a great start.

Forecast for tomorrow a few sprinkles of genius with a chance of doom.

Joel McHale...

2009-06-16T21:26:00.004-06:00

My dear, sweet comedian man friend. I worship thee. He is really nice not just good to look at. I know, I guess I need a man in my life so I stop having such crazy crushes on celebrities. Rob Pattinson, Bradley Cooper, Chris Pine, Hugh Jackman... (there are so many more those are just the ones I have wanted or have seen their movies lately that I can recall). But really even if I had a man I would still have these crushes so it wouldn't do any good, I just want to be happy being me and spend all the time I can in the world with my son because really he is only going to want me for so long. Relationships can come afterwards. Yes I get lonely and yes it is hard at times but I would not change it for the world, I am very glad I have H, he means the world to me.

I like this picture other than I am squinting when I smile, I need to work on my modeling technique (Mary says do what Tyra says). I am glad it was such a better picture though but that is all thanks to Mary's friend Mandy who was smart enough to bring a camera. I am not sure where my camera is at the moment, it is MIA so hopefully as I am cleaning I will find it. So after I lose some of the weight (I could call it baby weight but come on the boy is 8 now, it is just pure laziness now) and practicing my modeling techniques hopefully I will have another chance to get it straight.

Maybe I could photoshop us in photos of weddings and such and just say he is my husband but he is traveling, no one I know seems to know him so I think I could pull it off. I might even get presents out of it.

It's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.

Happy birthday to me...

2009-06-13T00:03:00.002-06:00

Well it was actually Friday and I realize this may be too late but I thought I would try. Got to see Joel McHale!!!! Got a surprise present from my son, he is a wonderful boy, it made my day even better. But still when I see the pictures he sent I wonder why I even bother trying to pack him clothes because he is not wearing anything that was sent. Oh well, you win some you lose some.

Artist rendering by the boy...

2009-06-09T20:43:00.003-06:00

Just for you Mary, the picture of your favorite. The best I can tell is the part on the left is he and Garrett. Then split shot to them "spying" on the ground with five girls in the distance. The picture makes the words seem so much more fun to read. If they were not so cute and innocent I would say we have stalkers in the making.

This is day two of boot camp, so far so good. I am waking up extra early tomorrow to work out before work so I can have time to work on my cake. Dark purple, light purple, pale yellow and a green (shade still to be decided). I get to use my new colors, so excited. Then Joel McHale on Friday, I can't wait! I want to make a shirt that says "It's my 32nd birthday and all I want is a hug from Joel McHale!", I am going to borrow Mary's tiara too!!! (FYI, no money for the shirt but it is a nice thought anyway)

The boy's odd and funny thoughts...

2009-06-07T08:28:00.002-06:00

So I am cleaning while H is gone inbetween making my birthday cake to take into work this week (New Moon trailer inspired). Making cakes for me is fun because it allows me to create.

Anyway H has all of his school stuff just all around the house and I am going through it all to decide on what to keep because you just can't keep it all. I decided to read his journal, if it were a personal diary I wouldn't have read it but this is one that the teached discussed with them and he saw me flipping through so he knows I would have read it. I am going to type them just as they are written because I feel it adds to it too. Keep in mind that I have told him that he needs to try to sound out the word and try to spell it first before he asks for help, that way he can figure out the different sounds.

If translations are needed let me know, but I had to decipher the handwriting so I think that was the hardest part.

Just some of the funnier or sweet thoughts that were in this journal...

08-27-08
What I like second grade is Recess because I like geting chased Bi girls.

09-29-08
I feel happy because I am going ot play army by my sler (I think he meant myself). because is it fun.

10-03-08
I feel happy because I have friends. one of my friend me.

10-21-08
I feel happy because I am going to play kickball it is fun to play and it well be 2nd grade agints 6th and 5th grade and 4th agints nowan.

12-22-08
I played starwars at Recess it was fun. I was OBKOBI Garrett was YODA. Gary was R2-D2.

01-06-09
at Kentucky I went to bedstory at theaads it was very very fun. Then it was sahrday then I came back home then i saw my mom.

01-16-09
Today we had a Ronald McDonald Assembley. my favorite thing was win mcdonald act like a bump on a log.

01-30-09
In January I played Army with Garrett and I watch Girls. That's really fun when I and Garrett played Army and watch Girls. It was awesome and cool. (this was then followed by a picture he drew of him and Garret hiding and three girls.

03-12-09
Today is loved ones Day and grandpa because he is hurt bad we fix stuff.

04-24-09
If I could change the world I would add a other state.

05-08-09
some of my best memories of 2nd grade is 2nd grade.

05-15-09
If I lived in the ocean I be a dolphin and I would play ball with Garrett and Makayla. I would be wet all the time.

06-05-09
This is the last

The boy is off...

2009-06-06T20:34:00.004-06:00

I sent H to his dad's for six weeks. I can't believe he is gone for that long. I just don't know what to do when he is gone, it is like he is my identity anymore. I am sure I will find something but I just don't feel the same. I do like to do something for myself when he is gone. I usually get my hair done or something.

I get to see lots of movies when he is gone too, that is one of my favorite things to do but I don't get to do it that often because I like the scary, action packed movies and I think most of them are inappropriate and too scary for him. Whether I rent or venture out in public I do see a good number of movies while he is gone.

I also catch up on my tv because I really don't get to watch a whole lot when he is around, at least not a whole lot that is not cartoon related. Call me crazy but I like to spend time with my kid and even though he may not admit it on most days he does like it too. In fact he gave me a hard time when I was reading the Twilight series because I was not spending enough time with him.

I miss him, but I know he will have fun so I guess I will live yet again.

Triathalon Sister...

2009-05-30T23:52:00.007-06:00

Woo hoo little sister! You rock. Sorry the only pictures I was able to get because if you look below baby Iggy fell asleep and everytime I put him down he would wake up. Hope you enjoyed the sign, H thought you would like the glitter and fireworks.

Meeting up with Grandpa.

Drinking and talking.

The sleeping boy wonder.

Waiting for the race to be finished, those are small rocks not sand.

The sign by the boy for his aunt.

Oh, make that his best aunt. Sorry folks, I think the boy may have chosen a favorite.

Great son...

2009-05-29T23:19:00.002-06:00

I know I talk about how wonderful I think my son is, even though some days I feel like I just want to strangle him, but when I have someone else make a comment to me on how good a kid he is I get even more boastful.

I have always said that he makes me strive to be better and I really believe that. I can promise you I would not know any of my neighbors if it were not for my son. He loves to go out there and meet them. Because he has been sick lately he has not had a presence outside as much and our neighbors have been concerned. I tell them he is sick and we get through that talk and such, well then they have to add in their piece of how wonderful he is with all the kids that are so much younger than he is. They just think he is wonderful to play with their 18 month olds.

I say he takes pity on a few other boys in the complex here, but really he just has a good heart and just wants to be friends with anyone. He even is really good to all the adults. I sent him out the other day to take the dog to the bathroom and I see him over talking to an older lady (a grandma) with the dog. I just got told today by her that he is really a great kid. She says every time she comes out he rushes over to tell her hello and just chats with her.

Two of our neighbors had babies and he had to rush out to get presents for their babies. He is the best and I can only hope to have the love in my heart that he has in his.

Good night boo, love you muches.