Reindeer Really Do EXIST?

I apoligize in advance for these photos - they are from my phone and really fuzzy.

On to the story! We took Murphy on the Polar Express train ride a couple of weeks ago and as part of the experience Santa boards the train and gives each child a bell from one of the reindeer's harness - just like the story in the book goes. After this an elf comes by to tell each one which reindeer their bell came from. So they were walking through the train car telling the kid two seats down that his bell came from Blitzen and the next that his came from Donner and she turned to Murphy and told him that his bell was from Rudolph. He turned to me with the biggest eyes and says, "he's real?"

Christmas Magic. Love it.

Tree Cutting

We have been so lucky for the last two years, we have tagged onto one of my dearest friends' family Christmas Tradition and been able to go with them to go cut down a tree. My family used to do this sort of thing when I was little and I love being able to pass these fun things onto Murphy. So here is what we came away with - it is seriously just perfect.

Photos by Trina

The poor thing has fallen down not once - but twice since putting it up a couple of weeks ago, but it is still pretty as can be (after we tore all of the ornaments off and re-trimmed the tree). I think that we have figured out the stand - but then again it is still three weeks until Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Zoo Lights Rock

We took Murphy to go see the zoo lights with his little friend Ali. They had sooo much fun looking at all the lights! Well worth the price of admission. Though the kids were a little worried when we couldn't see Nelman the Zebra because he was sleeping - but the cheetah was more than happy to to us and looked as though he was ready for a late night snack!

More talent in her little finger...

Go check her out - she's amazing.

Do it.

Words you'd rather NOT here when you are going to get your eyebrows done...

...(heavy Persian accent) you lay down here - you're here for the bikini wax, correct?

NO - just eyebrows thank you very much!

So I just had my first experience with getting my eyebrows threaded, which is where instead of wax they take a really long piece of string fold it in half and twist it into your brow pulling out little hairs in its wake. CRAZY!

As I lay down on the table to get my brows whipped into shape, the lady hands me a kleenex saying, (heavy Persian accent) "this is for you!". I asked her if I was going to cry and she told "you may!". And I did.

But it was so worth it! What is it about having clean brows that just boosts your confidence level???

The funny thing was after we were done was when the lady asked me what my name was and if this was my first time - so the conversation I thought we would have instead of the "you here for BIKINI wax"!?

Halloween is coming...

...and Murphy is counting the days.

It's Official!!!

I'm official! No we didn't just get hitched - but I haven't been able to wear my gorgeous wedding ring that we got when we got married due to skin sensitivity to white gold. So my adorable hubby suggested we get one in platinum that I could adorn my cute little hand with. I went to pick it up today and could not be happier - it is so me. Simple and beautiful. Thanks Baby!

Seriously - I couldn't make this stuff up.

Today I decided that I would run a quick lunchtime errand, to get my brakes checked on the car. So driving over there I notice that my cell phone is dead. Well, I am waiting to see what the verdict is on my grinding brakes and they come in about 15 minutes later, call my name and tell me that I need new pads and roters on the front. Sweet. And it will be two hours...

Ok, I need to get back into work, problem is I haven't made any previous arrangements to be picked up, I don't have a cell phone and I don't have any cash (buses don't take credit cards do they?). Side note here I have only ridden the city bus once - and that is because it causes panic attacks - I never know if I am going to pull the cord at the right moment etc etc.

So I head into a Walgreen's and ask if I can write a check for over the amount of my purchase, and the guy looks at me like I am living in 1980 (who writes checks and for OVER the amount?). He tells me the only way to get cash is to use a debit card - well I would happily do that except I have been waiting over 20 days to get my new debit card in the mail because the previous one was compromised (are you getting the part where I just couldn't make this stuff up?). Some days I should really think a situation through before heading out on my "quick lunch-time" errands.

Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas Anymore

So I am not home right now, in fact I am in Denver at a business conference. One think with business travel is nothing ever goes just right. You either bring the right clothes and the wrong shoes or you don't have a car at the airport in your name etc. But I have the right clothes with the right shoes and i even had a car at the Hertz waiting for me. I also had to ride 20 minutes in a shuttle bus with a stinky scout troop who was on their wait to some scavenging outing in the middle of nowhere complaining about how there was mandetory showers - everyday. Are you kidding me? Serioursly these boys hadn't taken a shower in a few days just in anticipation - I could SMELL them.

So anyway, I get in my car drive the 20 miles to downtown, get to the hotel lounge for a bit and head to a Rockies game - in a suite! - and guess what. It got rained out - no game - not even a snippet of one. Oh and come to find out all of the poeople that weren't at the game two blocks away were told the couldn't go ANYWHERE because there was a threaght of tornaodos ripping through downtown. Yep I was outside in Coor's field when I should have somewhere very dry and enclosed.

This should be a great trip.

Mommy & Me...

Murphy, my little man, thanks for yesterday, I had so much fun with you. There is nothing like waking up with you and slowly starting our day with watching episode after episode of the crazy sponge in square pants. Walking hand in hand to the local aviary and having you be absolutely ecstatic at the fact that the parade floats will still meandering by while trying to find their was home was adorable. The perfection that can only come from a park stand cafe was wrapped up in your grilled cheese sandwich (which you will still talking about this morning). I think that we both enjoyed the ferris wheel immensely and I loved when you looked over at me with that cute smile and said "this is scary"! I think this picture pretty much sums it up - lets do it again next year!

Funniest moment of the day was when I was asking you to drink some water so that you didn't get dehydrated and you turned to me and told me that you weren't DEHYDRATED you were FRUSTRATED and that you were going to have to put me in timeout when we get home.

WE ARE FAMILY!

Cute pic by Lacie Mae

Okay so I am hope that song is stuck in your head - because it is going round and round in mine.

On another note: We just weighed in for the biggest loser contest here at my office, and though my weight stayed exactly the same (seriously two days ago I was down 5 up 2 yesterday etc etc), anyway I have lost INCHES people INCHES! An 1 1/2 off my waist (bye bye sucker) and 2 inches off my butt (can't miss ya till your gone) and 2 INCHES off my thighs!!! I could run around the office jumping up and down, but instead I chose to post it here - don't you feel lucky!!!

So now the next thing - I am training for a marathon...kidding I'm not, I will leave that to my crazy gym lovin sister. But I do feel like we started down a road with our little family of being just a little bit healthier with our eating and I have started making it to the gym on a regular basis which is incredible for me. Here's to the FUTURE!

Oh BTW my cute handsome hunk of a hubby lost 11 LBS!!!

So what can you eat?

We are into day 3 of our fast/cleanse/diet/new way of living thing. And after two days of being completely tired, cranky and having horrible caffeine withdrawal headaches, guess what? I am actually enjoying this. I feel better now (after the headaches have gone away) and I don't always feel like i am looking for the next caffeine boost.

We are eating things that I have always been too afraid to try!

We have also been getting the amount of fruits and veggies that we should be - not that we were doing bad before but I definitely wasn't getting my 6-9 servings of those things EVERY Day. Now we are - I have had strawberries, peaches, pineapple galore and I have not felt this good in a long time.

I made tempeh (google it), we are making tofu tonight - yea! I don't think that we will continue like this forever but it is really nice to have cut out the vices (coffee - me) and just eat things that are healthy.

Quantum Wellness - Day 1

We have decided to take a quantum leap, we are reconnecting with our food for 21 days. We (Josh and I - I am sure that Murphy will still sneak in some chicken nuggets) are giving up all animal and animal by product (CHEESE!!!), gluten, sugar and caffeine.

Wish us luck! Day one, going well so far. We had soy yogurt and fruit, something vegan for lunch and then summery quinoa for dinner. Yum!

The reason for this cleanse isn't nessesaryily to loose weight, but more to refocus on what we are really eating. I don't know what is in a box of mac and cheese - and I probably don't want to. Do you know what goes into a hamburger?

The other part of this cleanse is causing no harm - that means no harm to animals, fish etc. Something about that speaks to me, I have always been an avid fan of the farmers market, believing that if you buy closer we are all better off.

By the way - I really miss my coffee.

My little man...

Please ignore me in this pic - but isn't he sooo adorable!!!!!

...woke up this morning and as he was sitting on my lap waking up with a few cartoons. He rubs his eyes and asks me "mom, do I get to stay home the whole week now"?

So adorable, because every Saturday morning Josh and I excitedly tell him that he gets to stay the WHOLE weekend with us (no daycare), and he woke up hoping that this morning was Saturday.

Cheers to Saturday mornings.

What do you get for three hours at the zoo?

It was members night at the zoo last night which I thought meant would be a nice quiet almost private tour of the zoo. Boy, was I wrong - way wrong. Turns out almost every family in the state is a member of the zoo and decided to take advantage of the so called private tour.

We arrived at the zoo at a little before six, just in time to wait with everyone else and their siblings - great start. As soon as we get in the zoo Murphy notices that the TRAIN IS RUNNING!!!! So we must ride it asap - which is actually smart because since it is an old train you never know when the sign that says "Train Closed Check Back Soon" will go up. So we ride the train which seems to have a new engine that actually turned the 5 minute ride into a 2.5 minute ride - blink and your done.

So we meandered down the path to where the new carousel ride was, stopping along the way to see the white crocodile (very cool). When we are hit with more people than be in one place - seriously probably 100+ people waiting in line to get tickets for the carousel. Whew - well instead we decide to check out the bird show that is about 15 minutes away from starting and just happens to be next door. Murphy is getting really fidgety about this time I mean who comes to the zoo to SIT? So the show finally starts and they announce that because the birds (people eating hawks) fly really close to the audiences head that you should NOT stand up. Ok we can handle this. We are sitting there about 5 minutes into the show when Murphy starts dancing - the potty dance. So we walk really lowly up the steps to the back so as not to get eaten when the nice gentleman guarding the gate tells us that once we go out we can't come back in (because of the whole people eating hawks thing) so I wave Josh out since we won't be able to go back in and am explaining to Murphy as this is happening that we won't be able to go back when tantrum ensues - big tantrum with big tears tantrum - starts yelling about how he can wait to go to the bathroom after the show ends (only problem is we are now outside the magic gate that the nice gentleman is guarding with no way back in) 10 minute tantrum and potty break later we finally meet in the middle with watching the rest of the show outside the gate.

So of course there is still the matter of the carousel ride and the very long line. So Josh the fantastic dad that he is waited in line while we finished watching the bird show from the outside. After the bird show ended we walk over to see how much longer dad has in line just to find out he has a LONG time left. So Murphy and I walk over to get some food which took at least 45 minutes and two tantrums. Walk back just in time to jump on the newest kid magnet at the zoo and find our perfect seats (Murphy a Large Gorilla and a small rhino for mom - and dad stood to make sure that Murphy did not fall off the large gorilla). And guess what - the carousel went around 2 times - probably less than 60 seconds and the ride was over.

Wow three hours and two very tired parents. I think we might skip the exclusive members night next year and opt for any given day of the year instead.

When is Barney actually cute?

Oh sure I am with you I absolutely cannot STAND the purple monster - seriously did they create this thing thinking ha ha! parents will HATE this!

Last night my heart was softened towards Barney, as I was trying to get Murph to go to sleep and he was desperately trying to procrastinate closing his eyes, he turned to me and said "mom, sing the I LOVE YOU song". And then after I would sing each line Murphy would repeat it in his sing song voice.

I love you - you love me - we're a happy family. With a great big hug (gives me a hug) and a kiss from me to you (gives me a kiss). Won't you say you love me too (I love you mom). This is what heaven is made of I am sure of it.

Daddy...

Murphy wants you to know - we miss you.

He doesn't understand why you couldn't just build your bikes here in Utah instead of traveling all the way to California for a week | and the fact that you aren't going to pick him up from daycare today is just beyond what he could hold today. Next time if you wouldn't mind - just tell work you'll have to stay here because Murphy needs you to pick him up, sometimes mom just won't do.

love,
mom & murphy

Mommie's Day

Wow I have been in the "Mommy Club" (the really fancy one, where you initiation gift is a certificate for a guarantee that your purse will forever be full of milk/juice crackers etc. long after the bottles have left) for three and a half years now. I know I haven't really been that good at documenting here what has transpired, but maybe you've gotten a glimpse of how much fun we have. Murphy has changed our lives into something magical (believe me it isn't all magical, the tantrums and being screamed at by a toddler don't really fit into that area - but it's like birth, somehow even through the pain you know you would do it again {given the chance - ahem Josh}) every day with the little monkey we "discover" brand new things - did you know that worms are all related and should be put in a pile so that they can be acquainted with one another? Me neither.

I just want to say to all of you lovely women out there (some that I know and many I don't) Happy Mother's Day, may your journey down this road be full of wonder, excitement & love.

And to Murphy my love - thank you for making me a part of this day, you make me giggle and look at things completely different than I would have ever thought to.

Hey babe, don't worry I didn't forget you - thank you for creating our family - I love you. We joke a lot that we don't have "movie love" - but i don't think anyone in the movies has what we have.

Oh and lastly, Mom (of course I saved the best for last), Happy Mom's Day. You have shown me a shining example of what a mom should be, you have been there through every thing in my life whether you knew how to be or not - you were always there. Thank you - I love you.

So I really shouldn't but I really can't help myself...

email exchange between the hubs and myself this morning:

me: so we are ok with never sleeping for the rest of our lives right?

josh: No. No I’m not... I let Fozzy out and he peed and then started to run around. I fed Baxter 2 cups and Fozzy half his old and π of the new food. He then walked over to me as I was changing and started dropping a load. I had to run out sans-pants and drop him off in the gravel. I then ran downstairs and threw on some pants. Fozzy was waiting at the step where he had taken his crap.

me: I seriously just spewed my licorice nibs - thanks for the visuals.

josh: I didn’t tell you the best part. I had on my arm warmers and my knee warmers only. So picture that.

me: wow. classy. welcome to the neighborhood.

We have an announcement...

We are going to add another member to our family today - no Josh and I haven't been practicing (much to the chagrin of some). We are getting a little labradoodle to add to our brood! We are really out of our minds excited!

MEET FOZZIE

Cute Tidbit

So the other morning Murphy was directing me from the back seat on how to get to his baby sitters house and I was really impressed he guessed three left correctly! So the next turn was a right and he again told me to go left so I asked him what left meant and he answered a corner all matter of fact like.


Such a cutie!

Sneak Peak...

Somebody's Turning Three.

Photo by Simplicity Photography