My Ideal Cruise Vacation

I have always wanted to go on a cruise. From what I have heard they are amazing. So much to do and see. You get tons of great activities and food on the ship, plus you get to make stops at other great places. Carnival Cruises offers a lot of fun Caribbean cruises. My favorite vacation ever was to Cancun, so I would love another Caribbean vacation. Ah, seeing the beautiful ocean and swinging on a hammock on a beautiful beach sounds so nice right now. Of course whenever I do go on a cruise I want it to be during winter time so I can get away from the snow and cold and enjoy a few days of sun and warmth, lounging by a pool with a cool lemonade.

I think a cruise would be the perfect getaway for our 10th anniversary. That's not for 4 more years (we just celebrated our 6th, yay!) but that gives us time to plan and save. Since Carnival has such great prices for their cruises, the only real issue is getting to a city where they sail from. We don't live by any ocean so it would be a few days' drive or a plane flight to get there. A little road trip to Florida sounds fun, like a little pre-vacation vacation.

Aches and pains

So, I've had a headache off and on for most of the last month. I went to the chiropractor because I know it's a problem with my neck being out. Unfortunately that didn't last long until I hurt my back trying to be a kid again at the playground a few days later lol.

Right now it hurts so bad I want to cry and just lay down in a quiet, dark room and get a good night's rest. Unfortunately I doubt the good night's rest will happen. Nathan hasn't been feeling well and I'm sure he'll be up a lot tonight. Last night he slept horribly and Hubby and I are both exhausted. I need a break or Orlando vacations with no kids for a week.

So, I really was going to post about something else, something more interesting than my complaining, but I really cannot concentrate lol. It's way passed my bedtime and I just can't think anymore. My mind keeps wandering and my eyes keep wanting to stay closed. Goodnight!

Monday Madness

I do have 4th of July pictures, and I will try to remember to get them up sometime this month lol. We had a really fun 4th at the park with some of my family. We also did some lame fireworks on the 3rd at home haha, but at least Jason liked the sparklers this year.

Anyway, today I need to do a bunch of cleaning up. Dishes, laundry, vacuuming, etc. I have a pile of clean laundry that is taking over my bedroom that I really really need to get folded before I wash anything else. I also need to run to SLCC to sign some paper at the financial aid office and then later I have an appointment for a light treatment. It'll be so nice when I don't have those appointments twice a week.

My little sister spent the night last night so when she wakes up I'll ask her if she can watch the boys for an hour while I run to SLCC.

I'm obviously trying to put off my cleaning which is why I spent the last few minutes rambling about nothing important lol. Maybe when I'm a little more awake I'll actually post something worth reading.

I just can't get enough

I can't even express how much this little guy has me wrapped around his tiny fingers. He's so adorable and fun and happy. I just want to hug and kiss him all the time. I love making him laugh and seeing his big, slobbery, almost-toothless grin. I'm trying to enjoy this time as much as I can, where he is just so dependent on me and when he sees me his whole face lights up. He makes my heart happy.

Garden

So, one thing I haven't updated on in a looong time is my garden. Last year I started my garden blog and updated it every few weeks with pics. This year, not so much. It's doing ok. I decided not to try corn this year, and a few other things. I planted tomatoes, green peppers, peas, potatoes, lettuce, and radishes. The lettuce and most of the radishes got destroyed the first few weeks from Jakey digging in the garden. The first 4 tomato plants got eaten to pieces by birds so I had to plant more and put some netting around them to keep the birds away, and they are growing ok. I actually had one tomato starting to grow but Jakey reached in and pulled it off. The peas are growing great, but the boys keep picking the pods off before they are done lol. The potatoes are growing like crazy, but who knows if there will actually be many potatoes. Last year I only had about 6 even though the plants grew a ton. And we did get some strawberries this year, but the birds kept eating them as soon as they were ripe. The flowers also got ripped up by the birds and only a few have survived. One of the hosta plants I planted last year actually popped up this year, to my surprise, but it's been eaten by bugs a ton and hasn't grown very big. The front flower bed is doing great though, tons of flowers all over.

Hopefully by the end of the growing season I can update on the yummy tomatoes and peas and potatoes I get :) Homegrown veggies are so much yummier.

Patriotic

Yesterday our church's primary did a patriotic parade to celebrate the 4th of July. It was a lot of fun. We decorated the boys and their bikes and joined them for a ride around the block. Afterwards we ate hot dogs and chips and lemonade. It was really fun for the kids.Aren't they just adorable?! I love my cuties.

"The Goon"

Here are a bunch of pics from our day at Lagoon. If it looks like it was freezing cold and rainy, that's because it was. Brr! But the boys had a blast and we got lots of pictures of them on the rides.








We finally were so cold and wet that I told Hubby we needed to leave. While shivering uncontrollably and walking for hours may be good fatburners, they aren't so good for arthritic joints. I was so achey and chilled to the bone by the time we got home I had to go take a nice hot bath. But it was still a fun day and the boys really enjoyed "The Goon" as they call it lol.

The family that plays together, stays together

Ever since we got rid of our satellite service, I've hardly watched TV at all. I mostly watched HGTV and DIY during the day and dreamed about designing my kitchen with granite countertops and Kohler faucets and stuff. But not anymore. Instead we've been playing our Wii a lot more. Mostly MarioKart. Jason is actually getting a lot better at it. Before he would just drive into walls and around in circles endlessly, but now he can actually finish a race, and he isn't always last. We also downloaded some of our old favorite games like Super Mario World and Zelda and it's just been a lot of fun to play with the boys and our family and friends.

Angel Baby

I just had to post this pic, of Nathan on the slide at a playground, because he is just the cutest thing ever! I could just eat him up. :) What I really love about the pic is how the shadow on the slide behind him looks like a halo. It's just perfect on him. He's the sweetest little baby ever.

Runner

So, a few weekends ago I ran my 5k, like I posted before. And I haven't run at all since then. Not because I don't want to (well, maybe a little bit) but mostly because I never have the time or energy. This last week, there has been something every single day that's kept me from running. I'm going to try harder to get out this week. I have to. I have a 10k in less than 3 months and I am not at all ready! Anyway, here I am in all my sweaty about-to-throw-up glory. No, I didn't actually throw up, but almost. I don't know why races do that to me. I never have that problem when I run my normal workout, but by the end of a race I'm fighting not to puke. Hopefully I don't after my 10k. I think I might try working out with Hubby's ipod again, find a nice beat to run to. A lot of the other runners I saw used ipods, and I was reading a running messageboard about music to run to and how it can help you keep a steady pace so you don't wear yourself out too soon. So far what I've been doing is just singing "Eye of the tiger" in my head throughout my runs lol. Corny, but it does help.

Oh, I almost forgot the funniest part about my 5k. As I neared the finish line my family was waiting for me. Jakey saw me and yelled, "Mommy!" and ran up to me lol. I had to keep going and Hubby tells me Jakey had the most confused look on his face that I just ran away from him lol. The other spectators thought it was pretty funny that he ran out to me lol.

Build it

My brother and SIL bought Jakey some Lincoln Logs for his birthday. Unfortunately Jakey was only wearing underwear when he opened the present so I'm not going to show you those pics lol, but instead you can see who actually spends more time playing with them- Jason. Jason's the builder in our family, Jakey's the deconstructor lol.

That reminds me of a toy my siblings and I used to play with. They were these big waffle blocks that we built tons of stuff with. Hm, can't remember what they were called, but I don't think they sell them anymore. I'm going to look up what they were. Oh, guess they actually were called waffle blocks. They were made by Little Tikes, and they sell mini ones still, but the giant ones were awesome. I bet I could find them on ebay or something, but they probably cost a bunch. I love that you can find just about anything online and pay for it with PayPal or Total Merchant Services or whatever.

Hm, sorry I keep rambling. LOL I'm just tired and my mind doesn't know when to shut up when I get going about something. I still have plenty of pics to go through to.

And now, back to the show

OK, done with yummy dinner. Crock-pot barbecue chicken, mmmm. I love making chicken in the crock-pot because it gets so nice and tender and falls off the bone. Jason says barbecue chicken is his favorite lol. Usually the boys just pick at their meat and only eat a few bites, but Jason scarfed his right down. We are still trying to get Jakey to eat his dinner. He's being a stinker about it.

The only thing I don't like about using the crock-pot is that it takes up the whole sink to soak and wash it. Makes me wish I had one of those huge farmhouse sinks I see on HGTV. I could fit all my dishes in there with ease. Of course that would probably cause them to pile up more before I got around to washing, so I guess it's good my sink isn't that big lol.

Alright, back to the pics!

Break time

OK, time to take a little break and see if dinner is ready. I didn't realize how much time it would take me to go through the last 2 months of pics and find the ones I want to post. Don't worry I still have plenty to come lol. I have tons from Lagoon last week, so that post alone will take me some time. And dinner just smells too yummy to wait any longer lol, so I am going to eat first.

Jakey's 3rd Birthday

Alrighty, here are a few pics of Jakey opening presents at his birthday party. He turned 3 on June 1, and we had his party the following Saturday. We had a ton of people show up and we ate and had a great time.
Ugh, well evidently most of the pics of him opening presents have me looking absolutely disgusting in them so I won't subject you to more than those 2 lol.

And here is a pic of him eating his little cake. :) I made cupcakes for everyone else. (and I only ate 1. Or 2. Or maybe 3. OK, I'm not sure how many I ate, but who can eat just 1 cupcake?! At least I have a good metabolism or I'd need to get the best diet pills available to counteract all the sugar I consume on a daily basis. Anyway, back to the post.)I tried to add a video of us singing Happy Birthday and him blowing out the candle, but it's not working. I probably did something wrong lol.

I love to see the Temple

We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House a few weeks ago when the inlaws where down here for Jakey's birthday. I love going to the temple open houses and seeing the inside of the beautiful temples with the boys. This one is really special because it is the new temple for our area, so we will be going to it most of the time now. I'm really excited.

One fun part of evening was the little golf cart things that we got to ride from the makeshift parking lot to the temple and back lol. Fun as in 'I don't know if I want to laugh or throw up' lol. I had a death grip on the side of the cart, while holding baby in the sling. Who needs diet supplements when you get to purge yourself from a ride in the death cart? haha. It actually wasn't that bad, I just was feeling kind of dizzy and sick that day anyway (no, I'm not pregnant! LOL just a pinched nerve in my neck. Yes, one of these days I'll go see my chiro about it.) and the fact that the refreshment tent afterwards was on a slight hill and was messing with my sense of balance.

OK, next up, birthday party pics!