Mother of 5

I'm sure Melissa wouldn't even bat an eyeball at adding Dylan to the mix. She's an amazing mom and makes it look like a cake walk. And to tell the honest truth, the kids were really good. I think I only had to threaten a spanking once. The highlights were that I did their hair all really awesome on Friday and took them to the zoo to wear them out so they'd sleep the rest of the afternoon. Well, they froze their tiny butts off, but I think they had fun. After the first monkey house, I had Canyon across the handle bars of my jogging stroller. By the giraffes, I had Laynie on my back. So, was the plan to wear them out or me out. Really, Laynie slept for 3+ hours from running most of the zoo.
I thought it was going to be a bad omen when within an hour of being at their house, Laynie wet her pants. But that only happened once and later she told me that I was perfect and Wes was scary, so how could I complain. Really, all the kids are scared of Wes, especially when he yells at Dylan or Mela.
Really, I think 5 kids is do-able; I just don't want to do it for real. Matt and Missy, I will watch your kids anytime though. It's easy when you love them. Ok, my complaint is that Dylan wants me to play with him all the time since the kids left and it's making me crazy. He used to play happily on his own.

Skiing

I forgot how much I love skiing just by missing last year. We used the last of our 2-for-1 passes to Alta on Saturday and my brother went with us. It was a beautiful day, it was warm, the sun was shining. My favorite kind of day. We skied for 5-6 hours and my legs were only kinda tired at that point. Even though we skied some tougher runs. My brother needs a helmet, because on our first run he went through the trees (like he has since he was a kid) and crashed head first into a big pile of powder.Check out Wes' action shot. I couldn't see from the sun glaring on my screen, and Wes didn't know I was taking it, and it makes him look like a way more gimpy skier than he is. He's a pretty good skier for the owner of 2 snowboards. I plan on doing more skiing yet this year, so as much as this spring weather is beautiful, keep snowing in the mountains!! I haven't even been snowboarding on a real hill yet. My sis-in-law Toni taught me a few weeks ago. She's an amazing teacher if anyone wants to learn. Also, if anyone has an awesome pair of goggles they're looking to get rid of let me know. The foam on my 15y/o ones is falling off and blows in my eyes and doesn't seal to my face so my eyeballs freeze. I'd buy some myself, but I've kind of spent more than I should have recently on a new ski jacket, running shoes and a wakeboard. I'm spoiled. How can I even complain about goggles?

OK, what would really make me happy is if we could drag my Dad out to the slopes. He loves it he just needs to make time to go.

Dylan Walking (not really)

At Wes' cousin's wedding this little toy was produced. His cousin's kid, Parker, has one at home and was proficient in pushing it around. So, I wanted to see if Dylan could do it because he's almost 14 months and will only take a few steps, usually when prodded.Well, I'm a cheapskate and I don't like things cluttering up my house, so I don't buy Dylan toys often. But I've found something that works just as well, has multiple uses, folds up and stores in small spaces, and we already have it.

How to Eat an Oreo

This is for posterity and it's very important to me. I've been working on perfecting this technique for years, and I think in the last week I've hit upon perfection. Turns out it's a six-step process.

1. Get some Oreo's. Do not buy them from Costco, they do not soak up the milk as well.

2. Pour a glass of milk. Any percent milk will do. I drink skim, it makes me feel better about the fact that I'm about to slam a stack of cookies. The glass must be wide enough and the milk deep enough to completely submerge a full size Oreo.

3. Get a fork. "A fork?" you ask. Yes, trust me. You are going to gently spear the Oreo from the side. All four tines through the creamy center.

4. Dunk the Oreo completely in the milk. Note: no milk or crumbling cookie on your hands, due to fork.

5. Watch the milk carefully. Bubbles will come up from the location of the submerged Oreo. Do not get distracted by conversation or other things or you will miss the last bubble come up.

6. After the last bubble rises, remove the Oreo from the milk and it will be perfectly soaked to the point that if falls apart in your mouth. I prefer to put the whole thing in at once, but I have a big mouth.

I got a new WaKeBoArD!!

This is my new wakeboard. I'm really excited to do some awesome things on it in a couple months. Every year my family goes to the boat show, because boating is one of our favorite things to do. Dylan sat in 1/2 the boats and pretended to drive them. We have to start them young to raise them up right, you know. Anyway, I really think that I needed a more advanced board to pull of some harder stunts with more ease. So, for the entire length of the ExpoCenter I harassed Wes until he caved. Really, it's my birthday present...at the end of May. Isn't it going to be the best birthday ever?!?!!!

Happy Anniversary to Us

Thursday was our 7th Anniversary, so yeah! We got away for the night thanks to my parents and Jenny. Then went skiing the next day. Not the best day of skiing ever, it was snowing and cold, but it beats a day at work.

Dylan Stands!!

So I left the room tonight and came back and Dylan was standing!! Wahoo! By himself!! Not holding onto anything! And this is what Wes was doing... Not saying, "good job, I'm so proud of you for standing." Then Dylan was finished by the time I ran downstairs to grab the camera. Luckily, he obliged us with a few more tries before bed. He may walk yet. Just hopefully not this weekend when we're out of town for our anniversary.

JK this is a big haircut

So I started thinking about donating my hair to Locks of Love back in September. And I've had 2 friends do it since which really inspired me. Inspired might be overstating it. I was sick of my hair and considering hacking it off myself if I didn't cut it soon. So here's the before picture.This is what I cut off.And this is what I look like now.I'll admit, I'm a little rusty on fixing short hair. It will take some getting used to, and I'm not feeling so feminine right now. My androgynous body with short hair makes it hard for ME to believe I'm a girl, chipped nail polish aside. I don't regret for a second that I cut it off. And the beauty of hair...it grows back.