Wild Montana Skies

July 8, 2013Leave a comment

The summer vacations continue! We landed safely (and on time thankyouverymuch Allegiant)last night and as I loaded up the pictures today, I realized how bummed I am to be back in the desert. MT has a little piece of our hearts and it gets harder and harder to leave.

This marked Auggie’s first real trip and plane ride. It went….ok. Not amazing but not horrible either. There was a fair amount of crying before and after takeoff but I think the temperature was to blame. Temperature you ask? Yes, it was 117 degrees while walking across and standing in line on the tarmac and then at least 102 on the plane. Peter bought a little battery operated fan and I totally made fun of him…until we were sitting on the plane. Yes PW, you were right. The fan was a fantastic idea. Pun intended.

Someone did really like taking off.

Eventually we got to this. I got to eat my Mike and Ikes AND read my book. The return flight? Not picture worthy…

This girl? Is amazing.

The worst part about traveling to the ranch is that once you land after the 2 hour flight, you have a two hour drive. It’s rough when you’re an adult. It’s murder when you’re a baby and just. want. to. crawl. We finally pulled in and turned the banshees loose in the grass. After a little unpacking when the sun was finally setting around 11pm, we sat on the deck in rocking chairs. I was holding Auggie and my brain was buzzing. And much like a loud noise stops you in your tracks, the dead silence hit me like a train. I suddenly was able to take a breath and realize that we had made it. We were in one piece and not in too bad of shape. So there we sat, breathing in the cool air listening to the soft squeak of the rocking chairs and letting vacation begin.

It’s My Kinda Town…

July 1, 2013June 30, 2013Leave a comment

When we saw friends Karen and Patrick in January, Patrick issued PW a put up or shut up on a visit to Chicago. Patrick has been living there for nearly the last decade and Peter is always saying we need to go. You can only make your wife cheer for the Cubs for so long before you actually have to take her to see a game. (side note: I’ve now been to two more major league baseball parks than Peter. Which kills him. )

So, we booked tickets, PMac and Karen’s guest room, and dropped the kiddos at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. The party started at the airport when we decided we had time for margaritas (plural) before our plane ride. Patrick and Karen had planned a full weekend of baseball, great meals, a little sight seeing and a lot of fun. It kind of went like this: arrive, drink, drink, eat, drink, sleep, eat, drink, drink, baseball, driiiiink, eat, drink, eaaaaaat, drink, drink, sleep, repeat. It was, in a word, fantastic.

Game #1, Cubs v Astros. Bleacher seats.

We actually believed that it was going to miss us. We were wrong.

Three hour rain delay felt much shorter with the assistance of many many beer vendors. And a batting helmet full of nachos. No really. Like an actual sized batting helmet. With nachos.

How do I know our friends are professionals? They brought their own ponchos. $0.69 v $10.

Watching the mechanics of rolling back the tarp was so cool.

I love the ingenuity of the people that own the buildings across the street from Wrigley. They remodeled the rooftops with bleachers. Genius.

The ivy. Properly trimmed to keep jerks like me from picking it.

After the game, we headed home to change and then back out to The Loop for dinner at The Girl and the Goat. Reservations in June were booking for August…thank goodness Karen is a smart thinker and booked our reservations in February! It was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. Tapas with amazing ambiance, good wine, great servers, no time to take pictures because we were too busy eating a drinking. But I did manage to snap a picture of the Chicago River from the cab – so pretty.

Saturday brought sunny skies and game #2 – or as PW called them “the really good seats”. We were in the 6th row behind home plate. I’ve rarely seen Peter as excited and happy as he was for the pregame, game and post game.

Panorama of our view

Post game bar crawl. Happy camper.

Our last stop of the night was Red Ivy – an all encompassing Chicago sports bar. We caught game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals and it was a blast. Everyone in the bar was electrified – it would have been hard not to cheer for the Blackhawks.

Duh duh du duh duh du da da da duh duh!!

(Chealsea Dagger. Look it up)

Check out that mullet.

We went home tired, a little hung over but oddly well rested. It was the break from parenting that we very much needed whether we knew it or not. Getting to laugh with old friends, swear, sleep in, drink at will and have conversations that were only inturupted by more food, drinks or funny comments was amazing. Big hugs and thanks to Patrick and Karen for being the most amazing hosts! Can’t wait to see you in the desert in July and for the big day in 2014!!

Happy Anniversary!

June 24, 2013June 24, 20131 Comment

I love the song Hey. Ho. from the Lumineers (Baylor calls it the song where “they yell a lot”). When they say “she’d be standing next to me” it always gets me – there’s something so powerful knowing that the person you love is standing next to you.

Today PW and I are celebrating our 8th anniversary and all I kept thinking about were the places and times we’ve stood next to each other…

He stood next to me at our high school graduation

He stood next to me all through college

He stood next to me at our college graduation

He stood next to me on an alter and said “I do”

He stood next to me when we moved 3,000 miles to DC

He stood next to me when I cried desperately homesick

He stood next to me when he graduated from law school

He stood next to me when we drove from Phoenix to DC twice and DC to Phoenix twice

He stood next to me when Baylor was born

He ~~stood next to me~~ held me up when Mame died

He stood next to me when Auggie was born

He stood next to me through countless hard times, millions of good times, struggles, triumphs…he’s always there with a smile, a hug, a voice of reason and a shoulder to lean on.

So here is to the last 8 years and at least 88 more, Peter!

Here Fishy Fishy Fishy

June 13, 2013June 12, 20132 Comments

Baylor has been in swim lessons year round since she was about 10 months old. Lately I have been getting the business from a few parents as to why I would do that. I questioned it a little myself until Baylor jumped into the club pool before PW was near her. If you’ve ever watched a kid panic in the water, seconds seem like hours. I saw the flash of panic on her face when she came up for air as the pool was deeper than she thought. As Peter made his way to her, I saw the panic quickly be taken over by muscle memory. Her head went back and her chest came up – she back floated for a second to catch her breath, get oriented and then calmly rolled herself over and kicked to the wall. I realized then and there that the last 156 swim lessons have been worth every penny.

Fast forward a few weeks and we’re in our lovely neighbor Melissa’s pool. Baylor was splashing on the steps and then decided she would swim to me – she swam half way across the pool with “scoops” (arms) and side breaths. I. Was. Amazed. I have been in the baby pool with Auggie during lessons for the last 6 weeks while Bay was in the big pool. I had no idea her strokes had gotten so good. When Peter joined us later, I thought his jaw was going to hit the cool deck as he watched her swim so well.

Want to go where we go? Check out Hubbard’s Family Swim School. Indoors (no sunscreen, no sun, no bugs, no chlorine), year round in a heated pool. What’s not to love?

Yoga Oh No

June 12, 20132 Comments

I’ve been back into yoga for a few weeks after several years absence. And it’s been awesome. It was easy to jump back into plank position and the added stretching of the tight muscles created carrying around my 25 pound squishy baby (totally worth it, but the hunch back is sooo not in) is fantastic.

So yesterday I was atempting bakasana or crow and I was doing quite well. Feet off the floor and holding steady. And then Mo, the instructor, had me try to it up a notch. Crow transitions to a head stand – eek. So as I tried to sloooowly go from this:

to this:

When I did this:

That’s right. I was the girl who very ungracefully fell over at yoga. And made a nice loud thud as my knee slammed into the wood floor. Thankfully it didn’t hurt all that bad and the class was either into their own pose or chatting to notice so it wasn’t too embarrassing. And I guess better my knee than my head. But until my crow starts looking a little better, I’ll leave the handstands to the professionals.

Oh How They Grow

May 15, 2013Leave a comment

I have been looking for a fun and different growth chart that the kiddos could share – the standard kind are A. too small (my kids are giants) and B. just boring. I found what I had been looking for on, duh, Pinterest. It was a large board made to look like a ruler and it was rediculously cute.

I have a deep desire to get some stuff checked off my to do list in an attempt to sleep well at night – (I’ve been having those dreams where you are headed to class, but you can’t find it. You get there and you’re not sure if you’re there on the right day and time)- so Peter bought and stained the board and then we tag teamed the decorations. I followed the instructions on 517 Decorations which were descriptive and simple. She had a cleaver way to get the numbers on the board and gave the font and size which made it a no brainer. It is hanging in their room and looks awesome! Using their check up records, I marked in purple and green their height from birth to now. The only down side is that I now have to measure Bay after every dinner where she eats green beans because we told her they would make her grow. There could be worse side effects….

Thanks Mommas

May 13, 2013Leave a comment

I thought about writing a post that called out some of my friends for the amazing things that they do and that I admire them for. After starting a draft, I found myself worrying that I might accidently insult someone. Like if someone wrote about me “she works hard and keeps her house and family pulled together!” my first thought would be that’s so nice! I love when my friends lie to me and my second would be wait, but I am a good mom to my kids too, right?! People think that part too, right?? So I decided I would write out the things that I’ve learned from my momma friends sans names. Because at the end of the day, the lesson is the important part so here goes:

~Laugh. Make simple things funny. Instead of responding with an honest answer all the time, give a funny answer once in awhile. Your kids have their whole lives to be serious. Make them laugh now while they still think you’re funny.

~Work it. Work hard at your job and then work hard at giving your kids your full attention.

~Be cautious. They’re little and sometimes delicate While it’s good for them to learn cause and effect (jumping off of the couch will hurt), it’s equally important to not let them learn the effect of their cause all the time.

~Give in. It’s ok to lose the battle BUT, lose graciously.

~Listen.

~Shut up. Don’t be quick to give the answer to their question. Let their imagination wander and ask them what they think the answer is and then be gentle when giving the real reason.

~Save the drama. You are not always going to win every day. Some days you’re just going to survive. Don’t dwell on the negative, look at the positive that happened in the day and then get ready to make the next day better.

~Rest. You are not a robot. It would be cooler if you were but since you’re not, let the laundry sit and you do the same.

~Be kind. Teach your kids that not everyone is as lucky as you are and that it is our duty to care for those around us.

~Don’t judge others. Mostly because we’ve all been that mom that is walking the SCREAMING kiddo into preschool while the baby is still in his jammies with a dirty diaper and blueberries on his face.

~Don’t judge yourself. Some days you’re the mom who got a shower AND both kids out the door. Some days you’re not. Both are ok.

~Laugh. A lot. Enjoy the simple things. Smile.

So thank you to all the lovely moms I get to call my friends. You are all an inspiration, whether you know it or not.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Home Grown Tomatoes

May 8, 2013May 7, 20131 Comment

My delicious Black Cherry tomato plant got whacked by the hard freeze in January. I had it covered, but apparently without a heater, a warm quilt was no match for the three day cold snap. I sadly watched the first morning of the freeze as all the leaves on our plants took on a purple tint – a sure sign they were done.

I couldn’t find another Black Cherry, but I did find a Sweet Millions and another cherry variety at my favorite nursery. I wish I had a time lapse camera because these things grew over night. In 8 weeks, they went from seedlings to producing handfuls of fruit! And they are good. Really good. Like I don’t get any inside because I eat them as I water plants good. And our strawberries are going bonkers – it’s a good time to be hungry in the yard.

Cherries

Sweet Millions not quite ready yet

I’m giving the roses credit for bringing the bees for the tomatoes

Delicious strawberries

Boys of Summer

March 20, 2013March 20, 2013Leave a comment

We are a baseball family. We played baseball, watch baseball and hope that our kiddos like it as much as PW and I do. Peter stocked up on spring training tickets the first day they were available. We’ve been to I think 4 games already and have two more on the calendar. It is a lovely way to play hookie, get a tan and enjoy cold beer.

We decided to take just Baylor to a Rockies v Dodgers game and sit in the grass. We knew we wouldn’t see much of the game, but we wanted to have some big girl time with Bay. We got to Salt River Fields (my second favorite stadium) early, laid out a quilt and proceeded to eat until we were full. She got to get lemon aid from the vendor, hot dogs from the concession stands and Italian Ice in a baseball helmet. She and Peter scoured the stadium looking for Dinger, the Rockie’s mascot, and she had her glove ready to snag any foul ball that came our way. The weather was perfect. She was happy. It was a sun soaked memory in the making.

Dinger. She is in love.

The crowd in the grass

Italian Ice in a batting helmet

Run For Their Lives

March 19, 20131 Comment

We have had the pleasure of befriending the B family over the last year. Baylor and Ella have been in the same class for the last two years and Olivia, Ella’s older cool sister, is one of Baylor’s favorite people. Gretchen and Mike are their hilarious mom and dad and two people that Peter and I are always excited to spend time with.

This past January marked the end of TWO YEARS of chemotherapy for Olivia. She had been fighting leukemia for almost half her life and so we were excited to participate in all of the celebratory runs, luncheons and parties. We ran on Team Olivia in the Children’s Cancer Network 5 and 10k a few weeks ago. It was a fantastic event – there were games, obstetrical courses and tons of free food and swag. We ran like crazy and had a ball and the kiddos did too. We were so excited to follow Olivia in the kid’s walk as this was the first time she would be doing so as a survivor.

I did not anticipate the kiddos cooperating so I told PW to run on and I would just get as far as the kids would allow. Apparently running in a large group was wildly entertaining because they were angels the entire time. We finished the 5k in 38 minutes…which when you’re pushing a jogger that weighs 75lbs (no joke, we added it up), isn’t too shabby!

Ready to run…errr, ride!

Auggie, Baylor, Ella, Olivia and Morgan