Thursday, February 17, 2011

Sweet Sixteen

THEN
{1995}
NOW
{2011}
It's been a fantastic ride! 
Can't wait for the next 16!!!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Catching Up....Again....{sigh}

Remember a few posts back when I said that I would try to update the Blog daily?  Well, I should never make statements like that when I know myself well enough to know--without a doubt-- that daily updates will NEVER happen.
I don't know how some of those bloggers out there do it. 
They update DAILY. 
And it's almost always interesting.
I am certainly not that interesting. 
And, I guess I just don't have that many things to say. 
So, even though I got called out on my lack of daily blogging (you know who you are...RACHEL) it has not prompted me to suddenly become a deep thinker, or a crafter, or a political whiz, and it has definitely not spurred me on to blog more often than maybe once or twice a week.
I hope you can live with that.
I know that I can.
So, since I don't update daily, and we have established that I will never update daily, I will now attempt to catch you up to speed on our going-ons.
Grandma and Grandpa L, and Scott, Katherine, and Bubba {Chase} came down on the 2nd.  For some reason this made me want to "home improve".  Since I (sadly...sniff, sniff) couldn't get the couch I wanted, I opted for a switch-a-roo of a couple of the rooms in my house.  I decided that we aren't 'Dining Room' people and moved my office into the dining room area.  I like the arrangement...it's out in the open and I don't feel like I'm in a dungeon when I'm on the computer.
I un-separated the playroom/ little boys room, and moved one of the dividers down stairs to separate my office from my front room.  Kevin thought I was crazy when I had the idea to do this, but when he saw it I think he was pleasantly surprised that it looked ok.
 My neighbor informed me a week or so before I did it that she can see "straight up into Tanner's room" from her front yard so I also installed a blind in the window over my front door. 
Once that was done I decided that the upstairs hallway needed something.  I don't know why I care about the upstairs hallway...no one sees it except our family and I can guarantee that my boys couldn't care less what the hallway looks like.
But, I had the idea, and when ideas strike, I act!
I really, really like how it looks.  It makes me happy when I walk up the stairs and see my family photos, and remember back to the time when my boys hands were as small as they are in the plaster cast molds. 
By the time I finished all of the re-purposing and re-arranging my guests came!! 
It was about this time that Kevin informed me that our yard guys would be coming to give our yard a makeover. 
Woo-hoo!!!
My dream has always been to live in a beautiful farmhouse with a wrap-around porch complete with a couple of rocking chairs and a hound dog.  It would be surrounded by lush, green trees, and have acres and acres of green grass. 
But then I wake up from my dream and remember that I live in Arizona. 
 There isn't anything lush here, except maybe my neighbor, Jack Daniels. (hee hee)
In Arizona, you decorate with rocks, and rocks replace grass.
I get it, really I do......desert, water (or lack of), extreme heat...but it doesn't mean that I don't want some grass!! 
Well, a fraction of my dream came true last week when the yard guys went to work!
They raked away some of the rock, installed sprinklers, and put in lovely cement curbing. 
And then Ty decided to destroy the curbing...
Yes, those are Ty's footprints. 
He learned a hard lesson as he handed his dad the $50 (that he had been saving to buy a new bike) to pay the cement guys to come back and fix the paver.
But, when it was all said and done, we were the proud owners of GRASS!!  Yipee!!
So, this all happened while G&G Lewis and Scott, Katherine, and Bubba were here.
We had so much fun having them down here!!
We all loved on Bubba. 
He's so sweet and mellow!  We adore him!!!
The only down-side to having a baby in the house is that the boys start getting ideas...to which I have to explain, very resolutely, that this baby factory is CLOSED, and there will be no more discussion about it. 
So, there.
Now, where was I???  Oh yes...we ate at Firehouse Subs and In-N-Out, and on Friday we went to the Swap Meet.  Vaughn found him a treasure, which he wore to Tanner's baseball game on Saturday night.
No, that is not his real hair...just in case you were wondering...
It's attached to the visor.
Nice, real nice. 
And very, very comical. 
I'll give him this:  It was only about 40*.  I'm sure all of that extra "hair" kept his head warm!!!
Even though it was cold, we had a spectacular Arizona sunset...Gorgeous!!
We had a great visit and are so thankful for a loving family!  Come again, soon!!!

The month of February may be the month of love for some people, but for our family it means the official start of BASEBALL SEASON!!!
My favorite season of the year!!
Ty and Treyson had Little League evaluations last Saturday (the 12th), and Tanner has started baseball camp prior to 8th grade try-outs which are in a couple of weeks.
We are going to be super, super busy, but I LOVE it!!

Yesterday was Valentine's Day.  Hmmmm...I don't want to be a hater, but Valentine's Day, to me, is stupid.  Do we really need a special day to do things for the people we love, when we should already be doing it anyway??
I don't know.  I just don't like the holiday.
But, I did do more than usual by making a cake with pink, red, and white sprinkles, and I did grace my kiddo's beds with a heart cut out and a special treat for each of them.  Then we made our favorite dinner...Pizza Pockets!!!
Kevin got a cut out heart and an enthusiastic, "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!",  when he got home from work at 9:15 p.m.
It's a good thing I hate Valentine's Day, or he would have been in big trouble!!!  (hee hee hee)
We're actually going to celebrate our 16 YEARS together next week in San Diego.  That's something worth celebrating, for sure!!

Whew!  So that about sums it up.   
I would say that I'll update soon, but I can't promise that!
xoxoxo 

Oh, wait...I almost forgot...
So, I ventured out today in my SWEATS
That's a big step for me.
And to my dismay, this is the first person I saw...
Yep, it's just me and the old dudes...
and our grey sweats.
Wow.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Personal Low

This morning I realized that I had reached an all-time personal low when I was getting ready to run errands.  No, the errands weren't the low...it was what I was wearing
I looked in the mirror and the little voice inside my head went something like this:
Could I wear these sweats?  I could.  I think.  They don't look too bad....I know they're Hanes brand, but still...they don't have elastic around the ankles.....and they're clean..........well...Hmmmm, I'd better not....Do I really need to go to the store??.........no. not really..no. no, I don't have to go today at all..I think I'll just go tomorrow...maybe I'll feel like putting on a pair of jeans then...maybe...

I didn't go. 
And I'm still in my Hanes sweats.

Sometimes comfort wins out over duty. 
And I probably dodged a bullet...I don't ever, ever want to end up on the pages of
"People of WalMart".com!!!

Think back, though, to when a somewhat-famous grey sweatsuit was worn by none other than Rocky Balboa.  He was the Heavyweight Champion of the World, you know.

And then I found a photo of Stedman Graham sporting a grey sweatsuit in public...and he's shacked up with the richest woman on the planet.
If he can go out in public in his grey sweatsuit and risk embarrassing the "Big O" and her precious pooches, and not look at all concerned about it, then what the heck am I worried about??

I should, however, be worried about, and deeply concerned that I just did a whole blog post about my grey sweats.
Maybe that's my new personal low!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Lazy

I woke up this morning with a pounding headache.
After I got the kids off to school I looked at the giant pile of dirty laundry that needs to be washed.
I looked at the dishes in the sink that need to be put in the dishwasher.
I looked at the piles of papers on the kitchen table that the kids emptied from their backpacks this morning.
I looked at the 6 loads of folded towels and sheets that I washed yesterday, but didn't put away.
And then I took an Advil and walked upstairs to lay in my bed.  It's nice and warm. And my head doesn't hurt when I lay down.
Lucy, however, is incessantly barking at the yard people who are laying the sod in our yard.  That  certainly doesn't help my pounding head.

While I wait for the Advil to kick in I think I'll get lost in early 19th Century England and finish reading Pride and Prejudice--my FAVORITE book of all time.
And when my headache finally goes away and I start on the laundry I think I will put in the 5 1/2 hour movie and enjoy some time with the handsome Englishman, Colin Firth--or Mr. Darcy, as I like to call him.  :)
Dang! I'm lazy today!!

Monday, February 7, 2011

May The Force Be With You

My very favorite Super Bowl commercial: