Ready for Summer

Not because we're having a psycho snowy one but because I'm dadgum tired of nasty winter germs. I was just down and out for TEN whole days with the stomach flu! True, I wanted to lose the rest of my baby weight from Cade but preferably not in that fashion. I had nary a calorie stick to me for more than a week. And for someone whose hobby is food, it was a tragedy. Count on me to ruin all that hard work. A Texas sheet cake was made today and I'm making up for those lost days.

So, in a nutshell, there are no pictures to document our Valentine's Day. Because really, who wants to see a picture of me by the toilet? Poor Evan. I had promised him an evening of romance - aka Take Out and me in my pajamas curled up on the couch - and instead I curled up on my bathroom floor. By Day 8, Evan was at the drugstore purchasing a pregnancy test. Because I thought I was either dying or pregnant - let's be honest ladies, doesn't the first trimester of pregnancy sometimes feel like you're dying? Now my mom and sis are in town and I plan on getting some pictures of us doing something fun because if there's one thing for sure, it's that my 3 year old deserves some fun.

Oh and I'm not pregnant. Promise.

Christmas in February

Here is Christmas/Colt's 3rd birthday/Random pic of Evan's birthday all brought to you pretty darn close to Valentine's Day. What can I say? Typical.

And now for a quick trip to confession - I have made at least four maybe FIVE Texas sheet cakes since my last post. Evan and I have eaten them all. By ourselves. In a matter of two maybe three days. Which is why we went running on Saturday and why I can barely move. Because those cakes call for a LOT of butter. But I'll be darned if I'm not happy every time a take a bite ... and then another.

PS - anyone else wish my sister would quit acting like me and actually post something? I have heard that imitation is the best form of flattery but still. I'm missing her rambles...

A quick shout out

To the pioneerwomancooks.com. I love this woman. She makes me want to be a pioneer. Her recipes for Chocolate Sheet Cake (aka Texas sheet cake - we Texans are cocky enough to think we invented it), Apple Dumplings, and Sigrid's Carrot Cake are to die for.

Evan's latest goal is to not eat sweets. I'm not what you would call "supportive." So I've resorted to tempting that man like the devil - and it's working.

If you live by me, come grab a piece so that I'm able to wear something besides sweat pants by the end of the week. If you don't live by me, come visit, and I promise to make you something that would make all pioneer women proud.

ps - that picture is not my picture (it's the pioneer woman's picture) but really doesn't it make your mouth water SO much you drool a little?

29

Happy birthday to my main man (well... my only man)! Happy birthday to the man who introduced me to the word "budget" - and we have savings because of it. Happy birthday to the man who washed and folded FOUR loads of laundry for me on Saturday while I spent 3 hours at Wal-mart (I do love that store). To the man who puts up with my many nights of leftovers for dinner or worse (Ramen). To the man who gives me backrubs anytime (and I do mean anytime) he's sitting next to me - and sad to say but I'm a taker, not a giver on those.

Thanks for working so hard for us so that I can have a trip through the Wendy's drive thru every now and again. You're the best husband and father this girl could ask for!

Ps - I'm the idiot who decided to homemake a carrot cake (we're talking about actually grating the carrots) and begin potty training my firstborn on the same day.

Pps - Christmas recap to follow soon.

Pictures (recent ones even!)

Thought I'd post these pictures before Easter. We were much more successful with Santa this year. Colt marched purposefully up to Santa, got on his lap with no encouragement from Mom and told him very seriously that he wanted "presents." Consider it done kiddo. Is it just me or is it so fun to have a kid actually start to understand Christmas and Santa and baby Jesus? And is it just me or is it so fun to use Santa and presents as a constant bribe to get your kid to behave? Tis the season. (Ps - those aren't highwaters or shorts on Cade, promise).This is Evan's favorite picture from his work holiday party (sarcasm here). I'm just keeping it real folks. Sorry if I'm not all about getting it on for the camera. After all, we are the sober ones sweetie.

Ahhhhh...much better. I'm LOVING this background. Who's with me? What can I say, I have a knack for these things.

I'm not sure if we're doing Christmas cards this year or not (it's only the 19th - I still have ages to decide). If not, Merry Christmas to everyone - hope your holidays are so wonderful!

Long Trip

Remember when I used to blog? I got back last night from 2 wonderful weeks spent in the motherland, aka Texas. It was wonderful to come back to Denver, back to 10° weather. Glad to be home. We drove down to San Antone to spend some time with my family. On the way home, I decided to swing through Dallas and visit two of my friends from the college years. Thanks so much for letting me come Haley and Rach! On Wednesday Rach and I took our kids to the Dallas Aquarium, otherwise known as the "jungle," as Colt put it. One might say he's been watching a little too much Jungle Book. Gotta love trying to get a picture with 2 toddlers. This is the best I got. And this is Cade thinking he's having just as much fun inside the stroller as he would outside, actually seeing the animals. Oh the innocence of youth.

Sidenote: after our wild adventure in the jungle, Colt decided to come down with the flu (luckily, no throwing up on our flight home, Hooray!). As I was cleaning Colt up from one of his "episodes" in the bathtub, I came out to clean up the sheets, etc. that Colt had managed to get his remnants of dinner all over (sorry for the graphic language). There was nothing for me to clean up. Rach had cleaned up someone else's child's throw up. I couldn't believe it - bless her heart. Seriously. If that's not a friend, I don't know what is.

Without further ado, here are our Halloween pictures. I know, I know, in December. What can I say, I'm one lame blogger. I also give into peer pressure. More specifically, spousal pressure. After all of my whining and complaining, I gave in. I dressed up. I was cranky and pouty while I did it, but I did it anyway. Evan came home from work, laid out what I needed and in no time we were ganstas. Pretty authentic, huh? I guess that's what happens when you marry someone from da hood.

Quick Trip

This past weekend we drove to meet up with my parents and sister Heather (who's going to BYU right now) in Provo for the weekend. We're true blue and though the Cougars lost last weekend ruining their chance at a BCS bowl (sniff, sniff), we showed our support by driving for 16 hours to spend one short day in Utah. That's 15 hours too long for our 2 children. Did I mention that we bleed blue? And that I love any chance I get to see my family?

On a side note, this is Cade about to fall asleep for a nap. I love that he slept this way and am patting myself on the back that I remembered to document it, before he started sleeping on his stomach.

And one last side note. My friend Katie inspired me to admit that I'm not a huge fan of Halloween. Whew. There, I said it. Here's hoping that y'all don't erase my name from your sidebars. I LOVE fall and Thanksgiving and the leaves turning and Christmas and well a lot of other holidays. I just don't get into the dressing up. My almost 30 year old husband feels that we should STILL be dressing up. And I feel pressure because I'm a people pleaser like that and I like to make him happy because well, I love him. And I don't get into dressing up my kids. I wish I did. I think if I was creative like Gen or Chanel or any of my very talented other friends, that I would probably get into it more. But I go to Wal-mart, convince Colt that his long lost hero is Batman, pay the $15, and call it good. What's more, at preschool, one of the moms was asking all the kids what they wanted to be for Halloween and Colt was confused. Because I'm a bad mom that way. This Friday night I'll be giving him a crash course about why he's Batman and having him memorize, "Trick or Treat" until next year when we repeat the vicious cycle. Okay, I feel like I just went to confession. Evan, I hope you're reading this because my days of dressing up are over.

Good Times

In keeping with tradition, I'm back for my monthly post. Or more simply put, I finally remembered to bring my camera somewhere and what's more, actually take pictures. This past weekend we had our first Carleton "Girls Trip" (not so much a trip for me because everyone was so nice and came to Denver). In a nutshell, it was too much fun.

Evan left on Thursday to go meet up with his "bros" (his two best friends from Cali) in Moab and do manly things like not shower for days, mountain bike a million miles, etc. No doubt he was excited to avoid a houseful of some SERIOUS estrogen. We women kept it nice and girly. Lunch out, chick flicks (which included rewinding "the kiss"), shopping at the Outlets, pedicures, the local Farmer's Market, RS broadcast, and celebrating Heather's 19th birthday at yummy Maggiano's (pictured above). So fun to have so much time with these girls that I love.

And of course, Evan came back from his trip without a single picture for me to post. We're pathetic that way.

This little guy was the belle of the ball this weekend - for lack of better terms. I think he was held for almost every nap, which I will mention, I am paying the price for this week. And as for Colt, he's relearning the word "no."

Some Family Fun

We've been partying around here. Lots of fun company visiting and a few weeks ago, a trip to the Six Flags here in Denver with Evan's work. I must say, I'm a trooper (how's that for tooting my own horn?) Nursing a 3 month old under a blanket in 100 degree weather. Still it was so fun - not because I rode any rides or really did anything besides try to keep my baby and I cool - but because Colton had so much fun. Isn't it funny how much fun you have when your child has fun? That might be cliche but really it's the honest to goodness truth. Here's Colt with his buddy Harlan, getting ready to ride the roller coaster. Let's keep this real and say that he certainly didn't get his daredevil genes from his mama.

Colton riding the train with his daddy. Notice how Evan barely fits in the thing.

Naptime anyone?

This pretty much sums up my day. Thanks to Robby and Amy for the ever handy squirt bottle.

Adventure #2. Evan's work hiked a "Fourteener" (Colorado speak for a mountain that's 14,000 feet high). So Evan decides that this is the perfect father/son outing. He's decided that he's going to wake our meltdown prone 2 year old up at 4:30 am and carry all 35 pounds of him up the mountain. The experienced mom in me thought, "Riiiiiiight. You have fun with that." Somehow it worked out and Colt not only behaved but had fun. How does it always work out that way? Had I taken him, guaranteed he would have been screaming the entire time.

One of our cheesy engagement pictures...but really aren't engagement pictures supposed to be cheesy?

Last but not least, Happy 4 years to the hubby. We really lived it up around here. We grabbed some Chinese take out, exchanged cards and proceeded to fall asleep watching the Olympics at 9 pm. Four years and two kids later will do that to you. We're wild that way.

Busy, busy, busy

I've been anti-blogging lately because of our crazy but fun last couple of weeks. No posting (no shock there), no reading, no commenting but due to some requests from aunts and grandparents here's the documentation of some of what we've been up to...

Cade's blessing. Thanks to all who came (especially those who traveled and Stewy and Robyn who came even though they could only stay for the blessing part - the most important part but still). I'm looking a little squinty but it was the only picture where you could see both kids well and what can I say...I sacrifice for my children. I'm a giver that way.

Baking bread. Somehow I feel so "homemakerish" when I do things like this. I love it. Now all I need is a bonnet and I don't think I can get much more Mormon.
Watching fireworks. Don't you love Evan's shirt? He wears his patriotic apparel every 4th of July. I love this man something fierce.

Restraining myself from eating this little guy up. Completely edible don't you think? I always thought it was funny when people described babies this way. Then I had one and then another one - and I completely understood.

Pictures not included:

Landscaping our backyard - finally finished! Thanks to Evan's parents...

Cutting all my hair off. Evan laughed when he saw me - he says it was a "good" laugh but maybe not the best first reaction wouldn't you say ladies?

I love to eat

Which is why the hubby did so awesome on my birthday (or shall we say birthday weekend - I know I'm not the only one to drag these things out). I just polished off the Twix bar "Colt" gave me and on Friday ate myself into oblivion with PF Changs, French toast and Coldstone. Which is what prompted my sister Heather to ask (after finding out what I did on the big day), "How is that working with the whole losing the baby weight thing?" Niiiiiccce. Which is why after our frog adventure (hence the pictures) I went on a jog with Evan. You know it's been "awhile" since you've exercised when your 2 year old can't stop exclaiming, "Look Mommy runs!" Yes, honey, Mommy does know how.

Onto the frog. Evan caught him while Colton was napping and was determined to keep him around till Colt woke up. Now here's the part where you can tell Colt is being raised by the girliest of girls. The above picture is when the frog escaped (see clenched fingers) and below is where the little frog got a little too close (see him preparing to jump). Thank goodness for Evan (or Farmer Evan as I want to call him when he wears his "yardwork" hat) who will hopefully make sure these boys have the right amount of testosterone.

Feeding Elmo, Lake Powell, and other stuff

It's blurry but I had to show everyone (I'm sure a teenage Colton will forever thank me for sharing this with the world) but everytime I feed Cade, Colton is determined to nurse Elmo as well. In all actuality, Elmo nurses from Colt's belly button. I must say that I cannot wait to show Colton's future wife this picture.

In other news, we just got back from a WONDERFUL week at Lake Powell with my family. Everyone pitched in and stayed home with our kiddos which allowed me to try waterskiing again. We had a boat growing up and my natural aversion to large bodies of water coupled with me liking my feet on stable ground led to me never getting up on the skis. After being assured numerous times by family members that alligators do not reside in Lake Powell and with Evan in the water with me (so that the Loch Ness monster could take him first) I finally got up on skis. I think my family was in shock. Heck, I was too. I ventured out of my comfort zone and tried to go over the wake and bruised my tailbone in the process. Moral of the story - don't try anything crazy and you don't get hurt. The picture I didn't get but wish I had was Evan on skis. I may be biased but he was so fun to watch. He catches air people! The downside to this is he bruised his rib. Actually, now he thinks he may have broken it. Moral of the story - don't try anything crazy and you don't get hurt.

Colt loved being in the boat - not so much the cold water but definitely the boat. Thanks again to Mom and Dad for an awesome week!

Last but not least, a Happy Father's Day to my man. About a week after we started dating, I knew without a doubt that Evan would make an awesome dad. It's documented in my journal people - I'm not making this up. Colt adores Evan and Evan deserves to be adored. For Colton, Lake Powell was full of "cliff jumping" with Dad, finding lizards and snakes with Dad, and tubing with Dad. I'm reveling in the fact that Cade is a mama's boy right now (I have the food) because I know it won't last.

Oh and this picture of Cade is for the adoring aunts and grandparents out there that want an updated picture. I am loving those chubby cheeks. It's nice to know that all those night feedings are paying off.

Two weeks later...

I'm getting no sleep at night, am finally able to sit normally (childbirth HURTS!), and am madly and deeply in love...again. Cade McCoy Jones made his debut May 4th just before noon. I was just telling Evan how awesome my experience was this time around. Colton took 17 hours from start to finish with an hour and a half of serious pushing. With Cade, I felt my 1st contraction at 8 am and only had to endure 10 minutes of pushing. So I guess that his head was not as big as we thought (yea!) and he weighed in a whole pound lighter. A pound makes a difference folks. Granted, we took him a week before he was due but well worth it in my book.

It is amazing to me how darn easily you love this little person. How easily you love him just as much as his older brother. I'm making the adjustment to 2 kids now. I'm trying to give Colton some extra love and attention since he always starts to misbehave RIGHT when I'm nursing. I'm surrounded by poop and pee and well, weiners. It's the truth people. But though I know that what I'm doing might seem mundane, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but with my boys.

The proud older brother.

Ps - after a day and a half of negotiations, we settled on Cade. Marriage is all about compromise right?

GOING PRIVATE

Okay folks, I'm definitely going private. Evan and my mom have been begging me to do this for FOREVER and I'm finally paranoid enough to do it. If you read this (even if you're a friend of a friend of a friend) let me know, so I can invite you!

Help Wanted

The battle lines are drawn in our house. The name game war is definitely at full throttle people. We have less than 2 weeks to decide on Junior's name (it's official - I'm getting induced a week early. We had an ultrasound last week and it seems that this baby got Evan's "larger than average" sized head and the doc thinks it appropriate to not risk me trying to birth a watermelon).

Let me preface this post by saying that Evan puts up with me ... very well. He is generally easy going, mellow, even passive at times. But when it comes to naming his sons, he unfortunately puts up a very impressive fight. With Colt, I knew from the beginning that my favorite name was out. So there was no hope, no fight in me. Now, two weeks before delivery I find out that my favorite name is out? What?! I told him last night that he had put hope into my heart and now was ripping my heart out of my chest. One might say I can be dramatic at times. Still I got my point across. With that said, I need suggestions! I need to prepare for the possibility that even after watching his beloved wife labor and bring forth another son, Evan might remain impassive and refuse me my favorite name.

So please, if you have suggestions, pass them my way! Evan's favorite right now is Callis which I might add is NOT happening. Here is a time where my foot is absolutely planted in cement.

On another note, I have been quilting today! Or should I say, Chanel has been patiently trying to teach this perfectionist how to cut squares. I can be awfully slow. But when the finished product is done, I will post pictures. So my bathrooms aren't clean, no hospital bag is packed, and the carseat is not installed BUT this baby will have a darn cute quilt!

Yea for weddings!

I don't know that this has ever happened before but let it be documented that I updated TWICE in one week. I think I'm in a little shock myself. But I did determine that my brother's wedding was blog worthy. So here's a congrats to the happy couple who have now been married a whopping 4 days and are sailing on a cruise ship out in the Carribbean somewhere. I'm so happy for them and it was so much fun to watch Adam beam pretty much the entire day. I always feel such nostalgia at weddings and it's safe to say that I'm still very much satisfied with the choice I made a few years ago. I do love my man.

Cheesiness aside, here we are at the reception. Do we look tired? Oh wait - it's because we were almost asleep on our feet. It was a whirlwind trip to say the least. We flew in Thursday night, wedding on Friday, flew out on Saturday. Colt was tired too - he just tends to manifest it by getting more wired ... and more wired. Awesome huh? This is the most we could contain him for the picture.

Seeing as how this baby will be here in roughly 3 weeks I was a bit nervous traveling so pregnant. Not as nervous as the flight attendants though. On the flight out, I was rubbing my belly as I had a contraction. The flight attendant looked nervously at me and then my belly and then me again, frantically asking, "Are you okay??" I just laughed and said a little too brightly to be believeable, "Of course!" Pretty much we're both thinking: this baby better stay put because she and I both didn't want to become intimately acquainted as I delivered on the plane. Our obedient baby did indeed stay put.

Update: I have successfully finished off the Teddy Grahams and have now moved onto Oreo's Cakesters. This is serious heaven in a box folks. It's a soft oreo! A SOFT oreo people! Run, don't walk, yourself to the store.

How we watch conference...

Or should I say how Colt watches Conference? He had to have his own little alcove underneath the computer desk the whole weekend. I thought it was too funny and of course (as the biased parent that I am) way too cute. Conference was wonderful and I was way too thrilled to hear the talk from Elder Ballard that was specifically for young mothers. LOVED it!

This past Friday night I had plans to go out with Chanel and Kristen to dinner. When we showed up at Kristen's house to pick her up, I was totally shocked to find a surprise baby shower instead. I even blushed. I just have to say how touched I was at all the work Chanel and Kristen did to put it together and for all the people who came! Thanks again girls! I was also impressed by the smooth lying abilities of Evan and Chanel. I am obviously a very trusting person because I ate up every single one.

Speaking of eating - I bought some chocolate Teddy Grahams today at the store "for Colton." If anyone has any ideas on how I can stop eating these things, that would be wonderful. Especially because Evan and I are now topping the scales at the exact same weight. Still I somehow seem to feel no shame and can't seem to get myself to stop eating these devil bears.

What we've been up to...

Has it really been a month since I last posted? I have to thank Chanel for these pictures, seeing as how she is documenting Colt's childhood for me. My mom is beside herself with gratitude. We crashed the neighboring neighborhood's Easter egg hunt on Saturday morning. I saw our Bishop there and couldn't stop myself from rambling on that I didn't belong there and was crashing the party. Maybe there's just something about the man that elicits confessions - I certainly couldn't keep my mouth shut. Embarrassing. Here's Colt ducking behind the starting line before it was time. I thought my dad would like the hat - we're teaching him young (and I love how he has to wear it backwards because that's how his dad does it).

I got Colt to pick up the eggs by telling him we were playing "Clean Up." I thought I was being pretty clever. Hey - it worked.

This last picture is of Colt at swim lessons with Chanel's little girl Lauren. Stinking cute. The class goes until I'm 3 weeks away from delivery. Hopefully the baby stays put - a poolside delivery is not what I have in mind.

My mom and sister came into town and it was so nice to have 4 extra (and willing) arms to help out. With the extra help, Evan and I were able to go out to a Denver Nuggets game and I lovingly gave him my hot dog that came with the ticket. Pretty much I hate hot dogs but I felt giving all the same.

We've also been going through a new phase (hopefully it's a phase). Colt can't get through the day without pulling off his pants and saying the whole time, "Pants Off!" While it's not such a problem at home, in public it gets to be a little embarrassing. Especially because Evan and I are firm believers in wearing pants. Thankfully, it's warming up so luckily for me it's simply a fashion preference and not a health hazard.