Tats so sweet

Scary! I was giving Deacon a bath before bed and I saw this wicked melanoma-hematoma-carcinoma, mole-looking-thing growing on his arm. It seemed to have developed overnight.

Upon closer inspection,
it appears to be a {hairy} heart that says 'Mom'.
Tattoos. What a wonderful father/son bonding experience.


Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go check every inch of N8's bod to see if he got a matching one Ü

Ages 3+

I don't always pay attention to the "suggested age" when buying toys. These building blocks are for ages 3+ but I bought them when Deacon was 6 months.

I don't buy more advanced toys because I believe they will increase his level of intelligence, mostly because I'm cheap. I skipped the newborn age toys and just let him gnaw on these. He eventually used them for their intended purpose and we have two toys for the price of one.
(It has increased his intelligence though. I mean, just look at his version of Stonehenge)

Such was my intent when I bought magnetic alphabet letters for our refridgerator. I didn't have grand ideas about Deacon spelling out "I Love Momma" anytime soon (especially since there's only one of each letter---so the closest he can ever get would be "I Luv Mo"). However, I did think that in the mean time, Nathan and I could use them to spell out amorous phrases like, "Love U"--"U R Hot"--"Hugs"--"Hottie with a Naughty Body".

Okay, so there are too many Y's and T's in that last declaration of undying love.

Instead, it's become a game of "how many words can you make up that only use a letter of the alphabet once"?


The packaging said ages 3 and up; does that includes an 8 year old trapped in a 25 year old body?

I Cry For Credit

I have incompetent tear ducts. Or incontinent tear ducts, however you want to word it. Basically, I can't control the tears that come out of my eyes.

I cry when I'm happy. I cry when I'm sad. I always "nervous-cry" when I speak in public (usually this happens when I'm giving a talk or a prayer at church and I try to blame it on the Spirit). I cry for strangers, family, friends, and commercials.

When this commercial first aired a couple of years ago, I teared up every time I saw it. Nathan would give me a hug and I told him I was only bawling because I was pregnant and hormonal. Right now, I am neither of those things and I only made it to 0:26 seconds before starting to sniff.




Who knew I was so emotional about credit?

Yesterday

Yesterday was Nathan's first day of school so I made him pose for pictures. I told him to channel his inner 10 year old---the one who would not be happy with his mom taking a bunch of nerdy pictures. So here he is, shoulders slumped, not smiling. I have to wonder how much of it was really acting.Ahhhh. This pose is much better. He only has to go to class four times this whole semester (most of his schoolwork is self-study and clinical hours at the hospital). Still, he's taking 21 credits, so that's a lot of reading. This may be the last smile we see for awhile {rhyme Ü}.

Later, I stopped by the library and there were 3 little old ladies milling around the circulation desk. One looked up at me and asked if I had something on hold. I nodded and gave her my last name. She went to get my item off the shelf and her breath sucked in....she said, "Oh. This isn't just 'something' that you have on hold here." Her remark caused the other two ladies to look up at her, then at me. They both said, "Oh no. That is not just something."
Then all three crowded around as the first lady presented me with the book. She held it up and passed it to me like you would present a priceless platter. It was so reverent. I felt like I had a solemn responsibility with this book. I was blushing like crazy with their fussing and I totally ran out the door with a hurried 'thanks' thrown over my shoulder.
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Needless to say, you may not hear from me for a few days hours.

Last night, we went to a wedding reception for Nick Taylor. Nathan grew up with him in Goodyear, they played football at Glendale together, and Nick was the best man at our wedding.
Nick, Nathan, Deacon, Luke (Nick's bro)

The reception was at The Pointe, atop the Huntsman Cancer Institute; so we had a great 360* view of the valley

I always have to snap a picture of different cakes for my sister Brenna who decorates wedding cakes as well.

Nathan rarely has an occasion to wear his colored dress shirts, so I thought he was looking totally GQ in his attire.

Even though I was wearing dressy slacks and shirt, I felt under dressed next to him. That is, until I saw this group at the punch table. So I stealthily snapped a picture and added my own captions.
I really hope this is me in a few years. Seriously. I want to be this relaxed and carefree about life. On second thought, maybe she's not relaxed and was so stressed she let them dress themselves?

Happy Birthday Rocky!

Happy Birthday to my brother Rocky! I found some pictures on his web page and the captions he wrote made me laugh out loud.

"I got sucked into an AHA video"

"Making The Fonz and James Dean proud with my pleather"

"I was bringing sexy back long before Mr. Timberlake"

Seriously though, my brother is super talented with his hands. He just finished building his own home, and he did 96% of it all. by. him. self.

This picture is from a couple of months ago, but can't you just imagine a lone man working day after day? Ladies, he's funny--he's handy--and he's single! Ü

Ward Party

Last week, our congregation at church sponsored a neighborhood swim party for anyone who wanted to come. Nathan was really excited when they announced they would be serving this:

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Nice angle, right?

Deacon and I coordinated by wearing Hawaiian shirts for the occasion. Nathan wore a Pink Floyd t-shirt with his swim trunks and got all the compliments Ü

There were 3-legged races, potato sack races, water balloons,
...and lots of swimming!
I was a judge in the cannonball contest. We had marker boards to write our scores on and I guess I was the 'nice' judge. I gave everyone a 9-point-"something" (9.2--9.5--9.8--etc). The other judges called me the Paula of the group. So they must have been Simon and Randy because they were giving scores like 8.5 or 7.0. There were funny award prizes for the winners, such as "Worst Enema" and the prize was some chocolate nugget candy Ü

At the pool they have a splash park for little kids and Deacon seemed to love it.

Apparently the water rotates to different stations. So as I was focused on getting this shot:

This next station turned on:

...and I was in the path of the stream of water:

That's when I realized I was letting my son roam around in FREEZING cold water! I guess this earlier picture should have clued me in:
(yes, he still wears his floaties while on solid ground Ü)
P.S. Let's take a vote!
Is the young man in the next picture
A) too old be playing around the little kids water park
B) looking like he might be nekkid

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Even though she's half the woman she used to be (see amazing before and after weight loss pictures here), she is still twice the woman I hope to become! Full-time wife and mother, full-time student, full-time loser (ha,ha, she won a Biggest Loser contest this month)....Ashley you inspire me! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Cody!

¡Feliz Cumpleañons Señor Castañeda!

If you like me, then you'll probably like Cody because Brenna says he is just like me. She teases that she married her own sister (the manly version). We may be similar, but nobody throws down at Electronic Monopoly like Cody!

Happy B-day Code Red!

Girls Camp 2008

We arrived back from Girls Camp on Saturday. The 3 year-old daughter of one of our leaders ran up to greet us in the church parking lot. Her mom picked her up for a hug and said, "It doesn't look like your dad brushed your hair today. Did he brush it at all while I was gone?"

Her daughter shook her head and said no.
Then the mom asked, "Did he give you a bath while I was gone?"
Again she shook her head and said no Ü.

Ha, Ha, we had to laugh. I do know Deacon was in good hands. He was bathed and walked regularly Ü. He even ate some vegetables while I was gone!
Nate took Deacon to see Aunt Collette on Wednesday and she gave them some vegetables from her garden. Deacon couldn't wait for them to be cooked so he took bites out of them raw.

For camp this year we went to Bear Lake for 4 days. It was fun. In honor of the Summer Olympics, we had our own Olympic theme and tied it into various activities and devotionals. The girls were divided into groups and assigned an "Olympic Village"---aka their tents. They made up the name of their country and a flag to represent themselves. They competed in events like Rock-Paper-Scissors, BB Gun Shooting, and Relay Runs on the beach:
On Thursday we drove to Idaho and hiked to the most beautiful lake at the top of a mountain. It was formed by a glacier and I couldn't believe there was still snow up there in August!

We had 22 girls show up and they had fun....but I think the leaders had more fun. I heard several different complaints each morning at breakfast that the leaders stayed up too late and were loud with their laughing and giggling. Ha, ha. I slept a total of 12 hours over 3 nights. We didn't get up until 8:30 am the last day! I have NEVER been to a Girls Camp where the leaders slept in that late. Even though I was sick the whole time, I'm glad I went. With indoor plumbing and warm showers there wasn't much to complain about!

My favorite part was the "Phrases" game. This had nothing to do with the the Olympic theme, but it was so much fun. I came up with a word/phrase for each girl and she had to try to use it 20+ times a day for all 4 days we were at camp. But she had to try and work it into a conversation so that no one could guess that was her phrase. Some examples were:
Homeskillet
Let's Spice Things Up
Dr. Phil says, _____
Bling-bling
Moo
My personal favorite was the saying, "Aubrey is so awesome." I was listening to the girl who drew it as she tried to work it into every conversation. Meanwhile, everyone is thinking this girl has a crush on me Ü Actually, I take that back. My favorite sayings were the ones we gave to the bishopric when they came up. They had to use phrases like "Precious" and "That really touches my heart." Friday was a full day on the lake with a boat and jet skis. The guy driving the boat kept trying to flip girls off the tubes and wakeboard....all at the same time saying, "That really touches my heart." Needless to say, the girls thought he was crazy until they found out that was his phrase.

We had "closing ceremonies" on Saturday and they handed out medals to everyone. I got the "Don't Bother Me, I'm Reading Award." It kinda made me sad because Nathan reminded me that I get anti-social when I'm into a book :( I didn't think I was reading that much while I was at camp.....until I realized I started and finished a whole book in the first three days, and then started another!



I bought this sun dress for $3.00 to wear over my swimsuit at the lake, but it was too cute so I decided to wear it to church instead!