It's a Celebration...

Cel...e...brate... good times! C'mon!

Mags and Bells are jumping for joy because the little miss is now wearing little girl undies...

There is something to be said about waiting this long to train, it's literally been a snap.

Hallelujah.

Hmmm...

I'm kinda lovin' this whole Father/Son bond.

(I think Joel's lovin' it too)

The Festivities

We decided to have cake and icecream the night before Joel's birthday so that everyone could come.

Last year was a bit of a write off, and because it was Joel's 30th, I wanted to make sure the cake did his birthday justice.
Over the last couple of years he's really developed a love for golf.
So much so, that while in school he decided to sell his iphone to put towards a set of clubs.
So after some thought I decided that I'd do a Golf Bag Cake.
I started working on it alone, but after some grumbling, growling, and stomping (and because he just can't help himself), Joel came into the kitchen and asked if he could help. He really is a cake pro and I really did need his calming influence, so as lame as it is, Joel helped decorate his own birthday cake.
In all honesty though, I really did love doing it with him and I'm glad he joined me.
Even Mags pulled up a chair and contributed by snacking on M & Ms.

His actual Birthday morning we made Monte Cristos and sweet sweet Addi had sent me Mama's homeade jam to go with it.
The only thing that would have made that breakfast better was if we were actually eating it in San Francisco.
It was heaven.

During the day we did exactly what Joel wanted to do...
lounge around, goof around with the kids and play Super Mario Brothers...
I tried to be nice and give him all the good stuff (1 ups, fire power, the penguin suit) "because it's your birthday".

We then met up with the rest of the crew for some celebratory asian cuisine at PF Chang's.

So after having cake with family and friends...
playing with the kids...
and dinner with family...
I finally got a little of him to myself and we went on a date to a movie.
It was the first time that either of us had seen a movie in 3D, and it was definitely something to be documented.
I think we were both in awe.

So there you have it...
Joel is now 30 and he's still the fun-loving guy he's always been.

The Big 3-0

30 things I love about Joel Williams...
(I'm not kidding... seriously 30 things)

1. his hands... he's got such nice strong hands... good long fingers... his knuckles aren't all mangly... and mine fits perfectly into his.
2. he looks super good in a hat.
3. i could ride in a car with him for weeks at a time... he's soooo funny in a car.
4. his love for old "whose line is it anyway" and "america's funniest home videos" reruns... he'll laugh and laugh. i pretend that it drives me crazy... but i really do find it endearing.
5. the fact that my 3 year old will sing along to 80's bands... thanks to her father's obsession with them.
6. he's such a good dad... miss mags squeals every day when he gets home from work... she'll run up to him as if diving into a giant bear hug and then stop just before making contact... say "dirty?"... he'll respond "yup dirty" so they'll lean towards one another for a kiss instead.
7. i never, ever, ever question who i am with him... he loves me just the way i am.
8. he tolerates my ocd behavior... and i think it's rubbed off on him a bit too.
   
9. the birthday cakes he makes me every year... so fun and creative.
   
10. he's a snuggler.
11. he can do some wicked funny stuff with his face... ie. rapidly alternate eyebrows, wiggle his ears, flare his nose, etc... one time i asked him to show his parents some of his tricks and he cooly responded that he wasn't my personal traveling circus... hi-lar-i-ous.
12. he can sing...
13. and play the piano at the same time.
14. he has never criticized me... not even once... and there's no doubt i've deserved it.
15. he likes to help me in the kitchen.
16. i'll find all kinds of projects to re-finish and he'll do the re-finishing...
    
17. he'll still kiss me goodbye in the morning, even though i'm dead to the world with my mouth wide open and more than a little drool dribbling down onto my pillow.
18. his jean butt.
    
19. we both love chuck taylors.
20. he's a worthy priesthood holder.
21. i can sing in front of him and not feel the least bit shy.
22. he loves loves loves the mountains... waterton to be exact... i love to tell the story about how the first time we went there together he pointed out bear's hump to me... like i didn't know what bear's hump was... i'd grown up there, just the same as he had, but he was just so excited to be there with me... he couldn't resist.
23. his family is always... always... always put first... it's never even a question.
24. our night time chats, where i do all the chatting and he'll fight his eyelids with a vengeance so that he seems interested in the millions of things I have to say.
25. i never have to ask him to take out the garbage.
26. he'll let me throw cold water on him in the shower and he doesn't get even... whenever i do anything slimy like that, when he tries to retaliate i'll shout "no don't, i'll cry, seriously don't, i'll really cry" and he'll back off with a heavy eye roll. ahhhh! so slimy... i know.
27. both of my kids look the most like him... no really... i joke about it bothering me that neither of them look like me, but i really do love that they both have so much of their dad in them... he's a looker, so their blessed to have his looks.
28. he's taken me on such an adventure thus far.
29. he has a really really good heart... like one of the best.
30. the Spirit told me multiple times that he was the one for me... after just meeting him i found myself watching him goof around one day and verbally (like out loud) saying "i love him" to myself, which was ridicu-lo-so considering i didn't even really know him and i'd never ever used the 'l' word before... another example... while we were dating he went away for a summer to work, it was really hard on me and made me question whether we should be together. when he told me that he was coming home early, i announced i was leaving on a road trip with my best friend and wouldn't be there when he arrived. he was coming from california and i was coming from alberta heading to utah on to texas... literally on the 1-15 in the middle of no where while it was my turn to drive i happened to look across the double lane at the oncoming traffic and saw him driving north as i headed south (he had just happened to look at the same time too and saw me)... c'mon... what are the chances... i was definitely being told something.

So there you have it... 30 of a million reasons why I am so grateful for January 25 1980.

Happy 30th Birthday "J"... I so dearly dearly love you.

Thank-you Anderson

Imagine my delight and surprise when I woke up this morning to feed Anderson only to discover it was an hour later.
Yup.... Mr. Anderson did his first 12 hour marathon.
8:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. at 9 1/2 weeks.

I'd like to think this little smirk was Anderson's way of saying...
"you're welcome mom... you're welcome."

Two Peas in a Pod

Just warming up after a tub.

Garden of the Gods

We went up to the Garden of the Gods yesterday.
We've lived here for just over six months and it was our first time (how sad is that).
It really is a beautiful place.

We watched this college student rock climb for awhile and Maggie kept saying "my turn".
The climbers even offered to strap her in and just lift her up a little ways,
but I knew that Maggie's words were way louder than her actions.

I wouldn't mind that challenge sometime, it really did look exhilarating and I bet the view from the top is amazing.

This occurred just as we reached the car...
good timing lil' Ander... good timing.

You know it's time when...

A little story for the day...

This afternoon we were out and about running errands. While wandering around a furniture store Miss Mags dropped a bomb in her diaper and it needed to be taken care of. I was holding Anderson and raised my eyebrows at Joel like "good luck buddy". He then informed me that he'd love to change her diaper, but the men's washroom didn't have a change table in it. So I dutifully handed Joel our sweet smelling child and he passed me our sour smelling child.

Now the next part is a little hazy...
I was obviously distracted, but I don't know if I was looking at furniture or talking to Joel or what, but I certainly wasn't focused on the bathrooms. Maggie ran ahead of me and started pushing on the bathroom door saying "come on mama, let's go!"

and well... I followed her in.

Once we got into the washroom I unhooked the change table and lifted Maggie up onto it.

As soon as she laid down I thought...
"I hope this table doesn't break... it doesn't seem equipped to hold a 3 1/2 year old."
Not a split second after thinking this, someone came bursting through the door...
he was tall and balding...
"time stopped"
and the only thing I could think was "oh my heavens, he's probably wondering why I have practically a teenager still in diapers... I'm so embarrassed"
That's right folks...
I wasn't even remotely mortified that I'd walked into the gentleman's bathroom, but rather that anyone... anyone... saw that my miss mags was not potty trained, and about to break the baby's change table.

The gentleman on the other hand was incredibly confused... at first he began to apologize but then he looked up and saw the little stick man on the door and looked to me for some kind of explanation.

I picked Maggie up, explained that I'd just followed her into the room without even looking at the door (and just for everyone wondering, the urinals were at the back around a corner) and apologized for the confusion while quickly pushing the change table to it's upright position.

As Mags and I exited the bathroom, Joel looked up from a chair where he was waiting for us, and said "what are you doing in there?"
I responded "I just followed Maggie in..."
... and...
"you lied! There is too a change table in the Men's bathroom!"

So the moral of the story is this...
You know it's time to pottery train you child when...
you're much more embarrassed of the fact that they are still in diapers,
than you are that you were hanging out in the men's bathroom.

Just call me "Thrifty"

My brother-in-law gives everyone nicknames all the time...
mine's "Thrifty"...
here's just one reason why...

Sweet Rocia found this dresser on Anthropolgie's website...

I found this dresser about 6 years ago in the storage room of my sister and brother-in-law's basement suite.
I asked their landlady if she'd be interested in selling it...
she said I could have it...

At the time it had a pretty nasty brown stain on it, so we stripped it down.
I've yet to decided if I want to paint or stain it and give it a real home...
but oh how I love it...
especially now.

Jesus wants me for a...

..."no nanks"
That's what Mags has to say about that.


So I'm sure you can surmise that miss Maggie has been invited to join the ranks in primary, and has politely (and when pushed, not so politely... like I'm talking head back, snotty nosed, crocodile tears wailing) declined.
I honestly wasn't expecting her reaction, all last month her nursery was slowly introduced into the primary each week and she was loving it. Each Sunday after Sacrament meeting I would ask her if she was ready to go to nursery and she would promptly respond... "no primininary". Even when we took her on her first official day, she practically skipped down the hall, we took her to her seat, blew her a kiss, (I choked back tears... seriously and was even a little disappointed she didn't cling to my neck or something (careful what you wish for)), and she was all smiles.
That was the last I saw of that smile that day...
An hour later as I was walking out of Sunday School I could here a child sobbing, a familiar sob...
I looked down the hall and coming towards me is her entire class on their way to the classroom and she is bringing up the rear of the line with a sad sad face. Let me tell you... when those sad brown eyes met mine, the expression of "complete meltdown" doesn't quite cut it. She started wailing... and threw herself into my arms.
I was a little bewildered and had to double check to make sure this was the same child I'd dropped off...
same hair - check
same dress - check
same boots - check
After a moment of soothing...
I asked her if she would like to go back to primary...
which she promptly (between sniffles) responded "no nanks".
I then said "but Jesus wants you for a sunbeam"...
which again promptly (sniffles were once again becoming sobs) responded "no naaaanks!"

We spent the rest of class time sitting just outside of her classroom on a chair discussing the importance of primary. I for sure thought that at some point she would have decided that sitting on my lap doing nothing would motivate her to want to go back to class but to no avail.

This last Sunday was a small improvement, but Joel and I had to take turns sitting with her. As we switched off between sharing time and going to her classroom Mags asked if we could go home, said she was hungry, and then alleged that she needed to go potty... anything to get out of where she was going.
Joel did take her to the potty and then to class.

Oh well... at least in our little lives in our little home she's definitely our little sunbeam.

I took this after her first day of primary...
so obviously she wasn't permanently scarred...
what a goof.

2 Months...

Little Mr. is 2 months...

Christmas eve was the first night he'd slept through the night, we'd put him down at 9:00 p.m. and the next thing I knew the sun was rising and the clock said 7:20 a.m..
Merry Christmas to us!
He now consistently goes down every night at
9:00 p.m. without a peep and wakes up between 7 - 7:30 a.m.

Now... if i could just get him to cooperate when it comes to nap time.

note :
top left : Miss Mags is getting him to smile for that picture
top right : if you look close he may just have dimples, not quite as prominent as Maggie's, but they are there

So because I didn't have a blog during this time with Maggie,
I'm going to use my friend Michelle's idea and post a picture of Mags when she was at the same age.
It's so entertaining to see the similarities and differences between these two little hoodlums.

Brown Vs. Blue

I never would have thought I'd have a blue eyed baby...
especially after having Miss Mags and they were so so so brown...
but I think the picture speaks for itself...
Mr. Anderson is a blue eyed boy...
Thanks Papa Parry and Grandpa Dave!