My husband has the best wife EVER!

A few months ago (okay, okay, back in January) I started brainstorming ideas for Doug's birthday. He is one of those people who tries purposely not to show too much of a reaction when receiving a gift, so it's always a challenge for me to get a grin out of him, let alone a "WOW this is AWESOME!" Most of the time he spoils the fun by either guessing what the gift well in advance or "accidentally" coming across it.

Well not this time, mister. I was super sneaky and started dreaming about taking him to see his favorite baseball team (the Braves) play. Flying to Atlanta was out of the question - waaaaay too expensive right now for us. The next best alternative was at a location within driving distance. Conveniently enough, they were set to play in San Francisco on Memorial Day. Score!!

So I bought tickets, sweat bullets when he was nearly laid off, and breathed a sigh of relief when he found a new job and our trip was still on. I laid out the guise perfectly. I presented it as a holiday weekend road trip to see my Aunt and Uncle in central California accompanied by a trip to Yosemite and then a couple of days jaunt in San Fran.

Did I mention I was brilliant? Because I am.

Here are a few of the photos from our whirlwind 1,800 mile road trip.

Tyson driving my Uncle Lamar's riding lawnmower. He got a kick out of it!

Lamar has had a lifelong love affair with trains. He has an entire room devoted to his 4+ tracks and the walls are covered with shelves upon shelves of trains.
Always the clown, Lamar copies Tyson's thumb sucking.
Clearly not much has changed in 26 years, because here is me at roughly the same age doing the exact same thing.

On one day, we drove to an old western town called Columbia. It was fascinating to read the history of this little town during the gold rush of the 1800s.
Tyson enjoyed the stagecoach ride, despite it being so bumpy I worried he would bounce right out!

Yosemite Falls view from the trail. This is one of the ten tallest waterfalls in the world.

At the top, the wind and mist were so strong it covered our glasses (and camera lenses) with sprays of water and blew Tyson's hair back!

Majestic Half Dome, which Yosemite is well known for. One of these days I will make the 17 hour roundtrip trek to the top and buy myself one of the shirts in the gift shop that proclaims "I made it to the top!"

Gigantic trees, although not the famed Sequoias that I had hoped to see. Now I have good cause to go back.

Sunday after arriving at our hotel in San Carlos, we drove to Monterey Bay to visit the Aquarium. It was crazy busy but we still managed to enjoy ourselves.

I love Tyson's expression in this picture. He didn't know what to make of the portal view.

He loved sitting and staring at his favorite exhibit - the penguins of course!

Dinner at the Cannery Row Pizza joint.

Five months of planning and lots of hype later, I got my excited reaction!

Even though the Braves lost the game, it was still a great experience to see AT&T Ballpark and watch a MLB game. It definitely makes Franklin Covey look like a little league field. There were 40,000 people at this game!

So to sum it up, we had a great time, spent a lot of time in the car and are glad to be home and back to our regular routine!

A Stroll at the Farm

A couple of weeks ago during a kid-free afternoon, Doug and I decided to stop by Wheeler Farm to try and catch some photos while the bulbs and trees were blooming. Amazing what a few months will do to change the look of the place!

It was only back in December when the farm looked like this.

Now in full splendor, it is a warm and inviting place.

Who can resist the perfume of lilac bushes and the pretty tulips waving in the breeze?

Remember this gentle giant? He greeted me like we were old friends.

I even convinced my honey to let me take his picture.

Next time, we will take Tyson to experience the feeding of the geese and horses.

To be continued...

Will I Ever Learn?

It's been a while since I posted anything and I swear I have some photos to put on here but for now, a sassy Tyson story will have to do.

The other day I was driving when suddenly the SUV in front of me pulled off to the side of the road and decided to flip a U-turn. Apparently checking your mirrors and looking around before doing this is highly overrated because he did neither and carried on as if he was the only car on the road.

While I am not proud of the exclamation that came out following aforementioned idiocy, it is by no means the worst thing that has escaped my lips.

"What a STUPID ASS!"

Suddenly I remembered where I was and that my almost 2 year old was sitting in the backseat. I cringed and waited for the inevitable. Sure enough without missing a beat, Tyson innocently asked, "What's a ass?"

Resisting the temptation to correct him by saying "you mean what's an ass, sweetie, what's an ass?" I instead started backpedaling, saying to him "It's a word that Mommy shouldn't say and neither should you. Potty word, bad."

"ASS, ASS, ASS."

Shit.

Okay I didn't say that but I was thinking it!

Of course Doug thought it was hilarious.

More this weekend, I promise.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (almost)

Over Easter weekend, we packed up the whole fam damily and traveled to Phoenix (some of us by car, others by plane) to celebrate my Grandma's 90th Birthday. It was a fast but awesome trip. Like most families, we're made up of a multitude of personalities and opinions but we managed (for the most part) to get along pretty well considering the conditions (i.e. 12 hours in a car!). In my typical fashion, I took a TON of photos, so here are just a few that highlight our trip.

First stop after arriving: Cousin Rick's house and nieces Kacee and Kailee insisted on swimming. Keep in mind it's 7 pm and the air temperature had dropped to about 65-70, which made the water a bit chilly. They didn't care. I think they're part fish anyway. Kacee is an awesome big sister, but as this photo proves, she has the typical big sister torture thing going for her. Wonder where she gets that from. Ahem, Tracy?

Rick had invited us over to his house to have cake and ice cream. Grandma was a little embarrassed at the attention but was a good sport. She has issues with her memory, so even though we had been talking about this for over a year, she was still surprised and tickled that we had all come down for her birthday. She is honestly the sweetest person I know.


Tracy catching up with Grandma while we wait for the cake to be cut. It had been about 2 years since they had seen each other. Lots to discuss!

I think Rick was trying to get rid of all the cake. Kailee was the first to get a piece and it was a seriously big piece for a 4 year old. No matter. She polished it off in style. We dealt with the sugar rush about 30 minutes later!
Me and Grandma at her big Birthday bash on Saturday night. She was so excited to wear her new pant suit that was given to her by Rick for her birthday.

Blowing out the candles - sadly, there were only 2. I was kinda hoping for 90!
During an attempted photo of Grandma and her sister Doris, Rick took the opportunity to run up and say "Oh look, a rose between two thorns!" We all busted up but I think Aunt Doris thought he was serious!!

Tyson paused long enough for me to snap a picture of him with one of his favorite toys - a balloon! He had a blast running around the yard (even though it was SO windy and even a little cold. I know, who'd have thought Phoenix would be COLD?!

Meet Uncle Jim.

The funniest damn old guy you'd ever meet in your life. Seriously one of my favorite people on this earth, he has a wicked sense of humor and will always tell it to you like it is. I always look forward to visiting him when we're down there. You honestly never know what will come out of the man's mouth.

While we were all together, I had the brilliant idea that we should take the kids to get a portrait done. After discussing it with Tracy, we thought we should do a western themed photo. The girls are cowgirls, after all with horses and everything. So I gathered up a stick horse, cowboy hat, shirt and chaps for the occasion. Tyson, however, had other ideas and after two trips to the studio, we gave up most of the props and just settled for what we could get. The results were pretty good, given his attitude towards the whole thing. They are a cute set of cousins, that's for sure! They could be siblings!

We managed to torture the kid while we were at the hotel. He hated swimming! Auntie Tracy tried her hardest to help him enjoy it though!

We went to a park to do some family photos and when I was walking up from the car, I saw the kids sitting smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk, just looking at the park. I scrambled for the camera to capture this cute shot.

The Cook family - Mom, Kacee, Kailee, my brother Randy, Dad, Grandma, Tracy, my brother Paul, Tyson, Doug and me.

This pretty much summarizes how we all felt on the way home. Tired as hell and anxious to get back to normal life! We had a great time and it was so good to see our family. Can't wait to do it all again soon!!

Bring on the Spring

Although Mother Nature is determined to postpone it as long as necessary, my Grape Hyacinths are clearly shouting
"It's spring!"

Back on track...

It's been a while since I did a random photo of the week, so here's one of my favorites of the Colorado River in Moab. I love how serene and colorful the river is. You virtually never see the same scene twice because the colors change so drastically depending on the time of day. Did I mention I love Moab? I could quite possibly do a different photo every day for a year and not get tired of the scenery.

Forgive me blogger, for I have sinned...

It has been 14 days since my last post. I wish I could say I was doing something fun, like a blogcation. Sadly it's just that our household has been a little chaotic as of late.

Where to begin? First, I am sad to say that dear Mel passed on. Didn't I mention that I was bad with fish? How hard can it be? Feed them, clean out the bowl once in a while, right? Honestly. It breaks my heart when Tyson walks into the kitchen and points at the bowl and says "Mel?" Like he's asking, where did he go? We are working on getting Mel2 soon. With an upgraded tank (and a less expensive gold fish).

Another exciting event (said with a touch of sarcasm from moi) is that Tyson is now exiting his crib. On his own. Funny story actually.

It all started with one night last week when we were trying so hard to make it through the night without any interruptions (i.e. wailing child due to stuffy nose, dogs puking - another story, another post) when I was awoken at midnight by wailing child. In my zombie state, I shuffled to his bedroom, laid him back down in his bed and grumbled something like "Go back to sleep" and shuffled back to my own bed.

Three and a half hours later, in my half-asleep state I hear him moan and talking in his sleep. I sit upright in bed. That does not sound like he is in his own room. I get up to go check on him, this time going through the bathroom door that connects to our room. For some reason the door is stuck and will not open. Still not fully conscious, I force the door open and look down. There, laying on the linoleum is little man sucking his thumb and fast asleep with two blankies (yes, my Linus planned ahead and brought two). I recall growling, "What are you DOING?!"

I scoop him up and don't have the heart to go put him back in his bed so I take him to our bed. Ordinarily, reason would remind me that this child does not do well sleeping with us (nor do we do well sleeping with him) but it is 3:30 AM and reason is obviously fast asleep. Oh how I wish I was too. After 45 minutes of his tossing and turning and staring at the ceiling, I give up and carry him back to his bed.

Although I didn't take photos at the time, I had him re-create the climbing out of his bed so that I could share his new talent with everyone. He happily complied.

On a lighter note, we are headed to Phoenix over Easter and looking forward to sunny skies and visits with sorely missed loved ones. I am counting the days!