Category Archives: family

Weekend Fun/Update/Crazy Uncle Kirk

The new job is…wow…a whirlwind, but I don’t want to disappoint my loyal blog follower…s? With a quick count on my fingers…Yes, followers because 2? is technically plural. {thank God I have 2 sisters!} Anyway, the new job: been busy with industry research, looking into PR contacts, relaunching a brand, drinking from a fire hose, asking too many questions…little stuff like that.

Before I had decided to take a new job, I had planned some time off for an Antelope hunt. When I didn’t draw the tag, I kept the time off for a family camping trip. Then, I got the new job. My dad and sister still went camping. Andy, Ry, Dante and I were going to go spend Saturday night with them. Then Dante decided to play with a skunk (third time this year!). Since we didn’t want to leave him home alone outside overnight, we decided to make it a day trip instead. Here’s a quick recap of our day:

We played in the water…
We went for a hike…
A really dusty hike…
We enjoyed the scenery…
We shared fresh fruit…
and ate it nearly as fast as it was cut…
We made fresh ice cream…
We played in the dirt…
We laughed…
We ate…
WE HAD FUN!
 On our way to the trailhead for the hike, we ran into Uncle Kirk and Aunt Sandi, so they joined us for the rest of the day! We also came to the conclusion that Uncle Kirk (the one wearing Ry’s hat while making ice cream) will be “that crazy uncle” that Ry always has stories about. Every family has one.

Weekend Recap (and a little business)

Let me just start out by saying, what a great weekend! I need more weekends like this last one.

After dinner on Friday, we decided to take a walk outside. The great thing about having 12 acres? We don’t even have to leave our property!
Ry is not the biggest fan of grass in her shoes so once we get to the back of the property where the cut grass is a lot longer, she always asked to be picked up. Daddy always obliges. Mama? Not so much.

Look Ma! I have a blackberry tongue! (Sweet shades, no?)
Daddy and the Monster
The beautiful sunset from the back of our property.
Using the last bit of sunlight for a few minutes on the swing.
Saturday morning, Ry was up at a bright and early 6:45 am. We spent the morning watching cartoons and eating breakfast. By 9:30 Ry and I his the road. We had lots of errands to run– Gas station, Target, Costco, Grandad’s house, Winco and 4 hours later, finally back home. Ry fell asleep on the way home and proceeded to sleep for nearly 3 1/2 hours! I used that time to do all kinds of productive things like…eat lunch, check my e-mail and facebook and start 1 load of laundry. After she woke up we played outside before coming in for dinner and wrapping up the day with a bubble bath. Oh, how can I forget!? While at Target we bought some Dora the Explorer undies and she wore them for a couple of hours after her nap. We set the timer for 20 minutes and when the timer went off we ran to the bathroom to sit on the toilet. She never actually peed in the toilet. Oh no…she waited until she was standing on a chair in the kitchen helping me cook dinner. Oh well, at least she was on the linoleum, right?
“Come one Mom…let’s go outside!”
Sunday was a little less than perfect. Why is it that Ry always decides to be a perfect angel on one day, then a total terror the next? She woke up at 7 AM and by 7:15, she had already gone into her first timeout. The morning proceeded as such and by the time Andy got out of bed at 10 AM I had about had it with our child. He laughed at me for getting frustrated with her and when I snapped back at him that he hadn’t been with her for the last 3 hours he responded with the fact that of course he has no idea what I’m talking about because it’s not like he’s with her 5 days a week. Touche, Andy. Touche.
Later that morning, Ry and I headed to Albertson’s to pick up a few things. I had decided that we were going to make cookies later that day! The cookie making was a successful disaster. Ry had a ton of fun “helping” and made a giant mess along the way. Turns out she really loves peanut butter cookie dough. I wish I had a photo of her chocolatey face after “helping” unwrap the mini Reese’s cups we put in the cookies. After the cookies were done, she took a nap. When she woke up from her nap, we put another pair of Dora undies on her for round 2. This time? She peed on the slate. We’re getting there. For Ry, the evening wrapped up with dinner then reading “White Snow” (read: Snow White) on the couch before heading off to bed. After that, Andy and I watched the Bounty Hunter movie with Jennifer Aniston. (funny movie) then headed to bed. Perfect weekend, no?
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Now for the business…
  1. I am beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done at the current job before this Friday. And, I have no idea what my workload will be like once I start my new job. So, I may be taking a little time off from the blogging to help ease the stress. Or? Another likely scenario is I will be blogging more to cope with the stress…we shall see. Moral of this story is: don’t be surprised if I don’t post as much in the next couple of weeks.
  2. Mine and Andy’s 5th anniversary is thie Friday. Yes, Friday the 13th…ooo-oohh. Spooky. Ok, not really. But, if you have any fantastic ideas a a fun date we could go on, I am all ears! Please?
  3. I have added a new feature to the blog. It’s called “Intense Debate”. It basically makes commenting on the blog a lot easier. No more annoying word verification junk. So, feel free to comment.
  4. Of course, I can’t forget to remind you to click twice to vote for me on Top Baby Blogs. I am currently on the 4th page…anywhere between #86 and #93. Top 100! Awesome, right? You can actually vote every 24 hours…you know, in case you were wondering.
    Click To Vote For Us @ the Top Baby Blogs Directory! The most popular baby blogs

And, with that, I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Ry’s Camping Adventure

One of the things on our “to-do list” for Summer break was to take Ry on her first camping trip. Andy and I love camping but haven’t been in a couple of years. We decided it was time. {I think I had mentioned in a previous post how since I didn’t have to go to Minnesota we had planned the camping trip, then I ended up having to go. Instead of cancelling the trip, we just decided to move it up a day. I took some of Thursday and all of Friday off and we came home Saturday.}We are both big outdoor people, so we knew Ry would have a blast. We don’t camp in campgrounds which means no running water or toilets. For once this Summer I was happy about the fact Ry isn’t potty trained yet! But, just because we aren’t in a campground, we aren’t really “roughing” it. We packed so much stuff that we ended up having to pull the trailer…because the SUBURBAN just didn’t have enough room. Anyone else see the problem with that statement?! Some things on the “to pack” list included: tent (of course), sleeping bags, sleeping pads, 2 coolers (1 just for drinks, duh), 1 giant red tub for dry foods, 1 giant red tub for other stuff including lanterns, bug spray, towels, etc, our clothes, Ry’s clothes, a pop-up shade tent, a 3 burner camp stove, 5 gal propane, black tub full of cooking supplies (yes, I have a full set of pots/pans/dishes/silverware just for camping), a couple of 5 gallon jugs of water, camp chairs, camp table, oh and we can’t forget the kid and the dog.

Camping with a 2 year old is…well…different. Yes… different is the right word for it. I actually have many words to describe it, but “different” is the best all encompassing word. We had a great time and I can’t wait to go again.

Hope you enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed our first camping adventure!

We asked Auntie Kristen to come with us and she was able to take Friday off too! I think she had a good time with Rylee…Ry sure does love her Auntie.
Ry ended up a HOT MESS by the end of the first night. That child loves dirt. (And to think I was afraid she’d be a girly-girl…HA!) She made sure to include Baby Yellow in most of our activities, of course. Her blanket got a thorough washing when we got home too. She didn’t quite grasp the concept of “Keep it off the ground”.
We went for a little hike…*little* being the operative word and also meaning short! (Turns out Mom and Dad are really out of shape.)
We played in the little daisy patch in our camping area…(Ry was not as big of a fan of the daisy chain as we thought she would be!)
And of course…we made s’mores! (Ry didn’t really like the marshmellows, but hey, she tried it!)

I may be incriminating myself here…

But seriously? I don’t care. The photos from Julia’s wedding are finally avaiable to view online! I guess technically, they have been for a week now, but I’ve been to busy to post about it. Anyway, turns out it took so long for them to post them because there were over 1,000 photos to go through and they posted almost 1,000 of them. Julia sent me a text message when they were available for viewing and promptly called me a camera whore. I wonder why…

Roman Studios did a great job. They were fun to work with. They stayed way later than they were contracted to, but when you have great people to photograph? Why not. I mean, if they would have left early, they wouldn’t have caught any of this…

Or this…
Or my favorite…
(This is Julia’s Dad…I grew up calling him Pops or Papa)

The one I’m glad they didn’t get…me attempting to head bang.

Summary: Best friends wedding + Live band + Open bar + No kid = a Lifetime of Memories