Brough to You by the Letter S

Time got the best of me and I'm late in doing this, but only by a few days. This last weekend, Shane kissed his 20's good-bye. He turned 30 on Saturday. And we did some celebrating! But I'll get to that after some pictures that show a few of his 30 years.

Baby Shane.

I LOVE this picture...for a few reasons. First of all, look at that face! Second, the outfit. And third, the holding of car keys. Perfect.

Fast forward a lot of years. One of his first big purchases, Moby. Ain't she a beauty? She sure caught his eye...and had his heart for many years for that matter!

Meet high school Shane. These pictures pretty much sum him up as a teenager.

Hangin' with his boys...doin' what they did!

Yeah, he's got skills!

Meet missionary Shane. Getting ready to leave the MTC...last picture with some fellow Twin Falls Alum.

This was shortly after we started dating. We were on our way to Salt Lake for General Conference. This is still one of my pictures of him to date. Maybe because of how much he had me falling for him.

This was the first of his Birthdays that we celebrated together, still dating. Spring Break 2003 in Moab. He was turning 23. I gave him Teva flip flops.

Now he's husband Shane and far exceeding my expectations of married life.

Don't ask.

Another birthday. Dinner at Kyoto's 2006.

And here we are today!
My mom was gracious enough to come to Boise for the weekend. I surprised him with a little "Downtown Get-Away." We had dinner at PF Chang's. Went to the Steelhead's hockey game and stayed at a place in the heart of it all. It was great (we just won't talk about the fire alarm incident at the hotel that kept us up from 2-4 in the AM!)!!
The boys were in hog-heaven with Grandma. Thanks Mom.

And we had 2 of his 3 brothers in on it and were there to help us celebrate!!! So fun.

I have so much love for this man. I am beyond happy to experience this life by his side. Happy Birthday Shane! I know you are going make this next decade look good!!!

The Old is now New!

It's done (and I'm doing a little happy dance). Here are the pictures to prove it!

To my helpers: this would have been such an un-fun thing to do alone. Thank you for being my cheerleaders and busy bees. I loved having you here!

The table that no longer matches. Oh well.

Ta Da!!!

That bright white microwave is due to die any day now. It will soon be replaced and it will be black, which will make a huge difference.

We added hardware. "Antiqued Silver." Silver, but not shiny. Shiny is just not my style. I love them and think they compliment any black or stainless steel appliances.

So there you have it. It's not perfect, but it's mine. I worked hard on it and I love it. I think it updates and modernizes the house a bit. Although, I still have other items that need to be brought up to speed along with it (kitchen table, some appliances, and I would love to paint the walls something other than white...maybe even a red accent wall. Hmm...will I ever be satisfied?). Step by step and little by little. That's how we have to do things around here.

To my bathroom and laundry room cabinets: I've got my eyes on you!

Cousins

These boys played so cute together. And we've had some great weather, so they were able to play outside lots!

Also noteworthy: Phil & Brooke had their baby girl yesterday. Lydia Annette Tucker. She has curly hair! We can't wait to meet her!!!

Preview

I decided to take a huge risk this week. I've been wanting to do this for forever and finally got up the guts to do it. My sisters came to town for the week to help me out and give some major moral support! And I was/am nervous. But it is turning out. Slowly. Here is just a little preview of what I've been up to this week. This is what my kitchen cabinets looked like Monday.

This is from yesterday. Black baby!!!

Please keep in mind that these pictures are of the messy, un-finished product. But you get the idea. I've learned a lot in the process and it is turning out just the way I wanted...with a few bumps along the way. More detail to come!

Confession

So here's what I've decided. I'm a good Baby-Mom. I can even pat myself on the back for being a good Baby-Mom without any hesitation. Give me an infant who eats, sleeps, and poops every 4 (or so) hours...I can SO handle it. I'm good at reading all the signs and keeping that baby on a good schedule. I can whole-heardedly say that I've got mad infant-soothing skills. Have I just had good babies, you ask? Nah. I mean, yes they were good babies, but I'm not about to give them all the credit! (I am making this baby thing sound way too easy. and it's not.)

Alright, time to switch gears. Toddler-Mom. I. Stink. Really. The end.

Here's the thing, I don't necessarily enjoy all the things that are meant to entertain toddlers.

Examples:

Markers. I have heard way too many horror stories that involve these "washable" gems. Most end with marker-decorated walls, tables, carpet, and faces. This might not be that big of a deal to some. But it is for me. I love my little boys dearly, but I'm not quite ready for their art projects to adorn my kitchen table. And still, they only color for like 2 minutes tops.
Paints. Everything I mentioned about the markers, times 10!!! Holy mess!!! It blows my mind a little every time I entertain the thought of doing something like this with them. Maybe someday in the back yard...but they'll have to be without clothes.
Play-Doh. Do I even need to expound?
Baking Cookies. I can see myself doing this a lot with them...but not for at least a year, right?!

I recently tried going to the library with my two toddlers. It was a joke! I have one that loved it and one that absolutely did not want to be in that room. Can you guess who?! Anyway, I certainly can't leave one unattended while I chase the other around the rest of the library. Again...maybe in a year, or so?!
Parks. These are great. But they play on the small area of the jungle gym that they are physically capable of playing on for 15 minutes (or so) and then start to run away. And then I look like a crazy-person trying to keep them safe and contained. I feel like every other mother is looking at me thinking..."Seriously, you need to really get it together. My kids NEVER run away without looking back. Seriously!" This option has great potential. But it is still trying...for now.

Indoors Play Place. Safe (mostly). Contained...check! Bonus: eating lunch someplace other than my kitchen, while they play their little hearts out! I just can't get past all of the creepy-crawlies that must be hanging around waiting to get them sick. Am I being too paranoid about this?

In the end, all they ask to do is watch TV and eat fruit snacks. How sad is that?! And they have lots of toys. They just get bored of them so quickly. We read lots of books. But we just can't do that all day. Maybe this is a dumb question to some, but WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO ALL DAY?!?! I know that part of the problem is that they are still a little young for most activities. But two-year-old's still need stuff to do and a way to learn, develop, and get their energy out. They are still taking a pretty good nap in the afternoons most days. I can't even wrap my brain around a no-nap day. That's a lot of time to fill!!!

So while I might be able to boast about my victories of being able to master feeding an infant every 4 hours, I am definitely struggling in my current state. Am I just looking at this all wrong? Do I just need to buck-up and dive into the art projects? Please don't think that I don't enjoy my toddlers. I love 'em and spend most of the day on the floor with them acting like a dog, or an elephant, or a lion, or a race car. I just feel a little...I don't know...stuck, maybe?

Alright all you genius toddler-Moms, give me all you've got!

Sad Bunch

Wow. What a week. It started out on a positive note. Monday we had great weather and got to play at the park. Then Tues.- Now happened. RSV happened. Not fun. Lots of fevers, throwing up, running noses, Motrin, coughing, wheezing, and leaky eyes. We are doing breathing treatments on the boys over the weekend hoping to get it cleared up by Monday. We'll see. Still having lots of fevers and tears today. Darn. Shane isn't feeling too hot either. Being sick stinks. Everyone knows it, and having it hit your family reminds you of just how miserable it is. Hopefully we are all back on our feet next week.

They sent us home with a dinosaur mask to try to make it appear more fun to the boys. It didn't work. And when I say, "should we go get the dinosaur nose?" They know EXACTLY what I am talking about and instantly start crying. Sad.

Cade-Dinosaur. He was so sweet with this last night. He kept it on without me holding it there, no problem. But his eyes just slowly filled up with big ol' crocodile tears while he stared at me. Sweet and heart-breaking all at the same time.

Carson-Dinosaur. Man, he hates this thing and fights it like crazy. I don't blame him.

Hopefully we are back to looking more like this soon.