It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

In honor of warm temps and softball season starting, this week's Random Photo of the Week features my hot hubby doing what he loves most, whacking the softball. Not my best photo by far but I am so stoked for the season to begin! Our first practice is tomorrow and I cannot wait to get the bats out and warm up the ol' arm. I have a batting title to retain and what better time to start working on the batting average?!

I'm curious... what things do you get pumped up about with the warm weather that is upon us??

New Edition to the Family!!

Ha! Now that you've all been duped into thinking we're having another baby (which we're not, btw), meet Mel.

Tyson loves our dogs but he also loves fish. I had the brilliant idea that maybe he would like a fish of his own. I don't have a great track record with fish tanks. They get dirty quickly and fish are known to up and die on me at a moment's notice. I am seriously rolling the dice by getting this kid a fish but what the hell, right? It's a goldfish for crying out loud.
So anyway, Tyson was SO adorable at the pet store. He had been coached the whole way there that we were going to get him a "fishie". We walked into PetsMart and he immediately runs to the display (empty) tanks and yells "fishie!". That's my boy. I discreetly corrected him and pointed him towards the wall of fish tanks that was glowing from across the store. He turned and ran towards them, proceeding to push strangers and employees out of the way in the process shouting -- you guessed it -- "FISHIE!" I was trying so hard not to laugh and wishing sorely I had brought my camera. It was a moment I will never forget, that is for sure.
Tyson waited so patiently for Mel to acclimate to his new home.

Mel trying to establish dominance by hypnotizing Tyson. He's got one hell of a stare down, let me tell you.

There's something magical about the way a kid sees the world. Such innocence and happiness can be found in something as simple as a pet goldfish. Ah to be young again.

Ever Wonder...

...what a nearly two year old wants to do when hubby has to work late and watching more TV is out of the question? Walk to your local park, of course!! We load up the vehicle (ok, so it was just his miniature car) and head out.

Climb up onto awesome slide:
Head down, face first of course!

Try valiently to take out Mom on the trip down:

Dust yourself off:
And repeat: Over, and over, and over.

Summer Spoon Daisies

I love to garden.

Call me a dork, but as soon as the thermostat starts going up and the Lowe's commercials start playing every few minutes on the TV/radio, I start getting the itch to work in the yard. There's just something about the music in the commercials that makes me long for the warm sunshine on my back and sweat on my brow. With that comes the satisfaction that I am growing things in the earth and making something beautiful. Here are some Spoon Daisies that called my garden home last summer. I am anxiously awaiting their return.

Jungle Jim's

One of the downsides to working full time is not being able to be there for EVERY second of Tyson's life. Although I love my job and that part of my life, sometimes I wish I had a few more hours in the week where I could do fun stuff like take Tyson to Jungle Jim's Playground. Due to the cruddy state of the economy, Doug was forced to take a couple of days off of work (he has since landed another job, THANK GOODNESS!) and figured it was a good time to take Tyson to play with his friend Jordan.

Here is my agile child climbing in the basketball game to steal a ball. Instead of imparting our son with a moral compass, Doug snaps photos of his crime. I knew there was a reason I married him!

VICTORY

Here they play the old favorite Skee-ball...

Although he whines incessantly to sit on rides like this jeep one, he apparently screamed and threw a fit once the vehicle is actually in motion. Weird kid.

A side note: Did they steal the lion fountain from Hogle Zoo? Or have I been fooled into thinking my whole childhood that theirs was the one and only????

Sunrise in Vernon, Utah

Where is Vernon, you ask? I asked the same thing on my first trip there. It is a small (as in no stop lights small) town in the west desert. Waaaaaaaay past Tooele. We had camped over night and I woke up to this beautiful sunrise.