Sam Killed A Bald Eagle With His Bare Hands

If anyone knows my bebe, you know he LOVES to be outside.
so this labor day weekend we went to the mountains! this is what happens when daddy takes off his shirt.

we usually stay in panguitch, but we were much too slow on the whole planning thing and ended up staying in duck creek.

it was nice to fish and explore somewhere new

mommy and buddy played on the shore while daddy fished.

see look daddy's over there

we walked

and walked

then figured it was time to get a little dirty

have you ever seen a cuter boy?

good stance bud

here comes sammy,

he picked me some wild flowers

:swoon:

:)

and here is the biggest trout he has ever caught in a stream

buddy got to kiss it!

(he kisses everything!)

here fishy, fishy, fishy

here fishy fishy fishy

sammy went out to catch a few more fish

while he was out fishing the stream

some super nice game wardens came by

and asked to see our fishing license

being the law bidding citizens that we are

we had our $64 fishing licenses handy.

a few minutes later sammy comes walking back with

the super trooper
and tells me to please stay by the car

because we are getting a ticket!

a ticket for what you ask?...

"unlawful taking/possession of protected wildlife - fish"

"unlawful taking/possession of protected wildlife - fish - live bait"

apparently in the swell stream we were fishing in

one is not allowed to fish with live bait, i.e. worms

and one is not allowed to keep any fish that is over 15 inches long

deputy dewey let us off with a firm warning for fishing with worms!!!!

gave us a ticket for our huge fish

and took it!

we have to call the state of utah within the next 14 days and they will decided what the fine will be

(where are we in mexico?)

hopefully i won't have to bake sammy a cake with a file in it.

he took our dead fish.

hope he choked on the bones during dinner

(you know dang well he went home and smoked that fish)



bye fishy, fishy, fishy

kissing the elk at the cowboy smokehouse

(he is gonna be super upset one day when he learns that daddy and grandpa shoot them)

on the way home we stopped in cal-ranch

it's kinda like a walmart meets basspro meets a feed store meets a trailer park

do you think i could convince anyone that jack is a girl?

just in case we need to go into hiding

since my husband is a protected wildlife killer?

ride em cowboy

we don't take too kindly to your kinda folk roun' her'.

well, all wells that ends well.

sunday we went back to our peaceful meadow in panguitch

where you can fish with all the worms you'd like

sammy caught some very nice trout

and he also caught the back of a RAV

in the back of his head.

he was loading up the car and there were gale force winds out that day

the back of the RAV door slammed right into his head,

brought him to his knees.

so we got some great pictures,

an egg on the back of sam's head

a nice little fine

a stolen fish

and some amazing memories with my two favorite boys

happy labor day ya'all

Muddy Buddy

So buddy has been having a rough week he is getting like 5 teeth in all at once
some big ones in the back side

and then last night his face met the end of a coffee table

so i thought it might be nice to get a little mud on the tires

nothin' say lovin like a good roll in the mud

and really he is just so darn cute

oh what would dada say??

don't worry sammy...

no water drips were harmed in the making of this film

MiMi's Been Holding Out On Us

Attention Everyone!
MiMi has a BA (for those who don't know.. that is BadAss) water park like 1/2 a block from her house!!!!

and chunk monkey LOVED it!

have you ever seen anything so amazing?

it's the back of his neck Nana

just for you

love this wet buddy

little boy in a big park

my knight in shining armor

ohhhhh... look at that

it's a swing!

and we went rock climbing

and we found a tunnel

O!

needless to say, it was pretty darn

amazing!!!

i wonder what other amazing parks MiMi hasn't told us about :)

It Smells the Same

I have never met a 15 month old who LOVES to read as much as Jackamo does so this past weekend we took him to the library for the very 1st time..
we of course went to the Green Valley Library (mommy's old stompin grounds)
the 1st thing sammy and i said when we walked in there was
"It smells the same" :)
it's a good smell, the smell of knowledge, dusty books, circa 1985 computers, little old ladies and VHS's


and he LOVED it

maybe there's some better books over here


yes, yes, this is the one i was looking for

have you ever seen something so sweet?

we discovered that jack not only loves books

but he LOVES puzzles too

(dirty, germ-ridden, cootie-face puzzles)
and i found what i am getting sam for christmas

(not kidding)

he was so proud of himself for putting all the

balls where they belonged.

Jack was very proud of his dada too

I had all intentions of letting jack check out a few library books..

but then i got to thinking...

jack puts everything in his mouth...

and well i just don't know how comfortable i am

with my bebe eating library books

not only would i probably have to pay for the drool soaked pages

but who knows where those books have been

so we played, read and then came home to

our nice

only/been/slobbered/one/by/jack/books

he's gonna be a genius

What's Popular Isn't Always Right

So the rumors are true.... I'm the HAPPIEST girl in the whole USA.. last month all my wishes came true.

I get to be a poop cleaning, floor mopin', dinner makin', baby lovin', jack kissin, jack readin', jack chasin', jack playin, jack feedin' domestic engineer or as we were called in the ol' days a SAHM (for those not up on the cool lingo, that's a Stay At Home Mom).

It's not the most popular choice, i know and many people may think i am a little insane for wanting to do laundry, yearning to wipe poopy butts, and begging to cook dinner every night.
But it's what I've always wanted.

and oh what a month it has been.. busy busy.

we have discovered that jack loves cheese pizza, grilled cheese, turkey, veggies from MiMi's garden that i turn into yummy soups.

we went to Parker B's graduation.

have had some great days in the pool.

skyped with our Nana.

make yummy dinners

we no longer have any baba's only big boy cups. (Way to go Jack!)

we saw a movie with Maddie and Chels.

(well MiMi and Jack didn't, thanks Mi for walking the halls with him)

we make lots of funny faces

for us THIS is what's right. this is what our family needs.

Remember the poster board that was up in your english teachers room

"What's right isn't always popular, and what's popular isn't always right."

It may seem that we are "going against the grain" and maybe we are,

but for us it's what's right.
Thank you to everyone who has helped make our dreams come true.

plus how could i not be home for THIS!

much love, nik

The Day of the Mother's

where to start where to start....
I have ALWAYS and i mean always wanted to be a mom.
and when i say always i mean ALWAYS
i would like to think that i am a pretty good mom
but that is because i have the best mom..

I truly stand in awe of her...
have always had a respect for my mom, an unconditional love and an appreciation for her
however i do not think one can fully understand the depths of a mother's love until you are one.
all the "I love you more" "No, I love you more" s in the world don't measure a mom's love
(and by the way your mom really does love you more)

I remember a few years ago wondering how my mom:

took me to 100 bazillion hours of dance classes... and was okay with it when i didn't want to dance anymore,

understood when i wanted to sing rather than play the violin... her dream for me,

sat through endless choir concerts... when i was always the last group to sing and all the "crappy" ones went 1st,

was heart broken by my heartache... when she knew damn well that my 1st-10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16th toad boyfriend was not my prince charming or the one she had been praying for since before i was even born
she once drove to California all night long just to hold me when the latest dummy had broken my heart, she told me that she would take the pain for me and she rocked my teenage broken heart in her lap. she knew my heart would heal and that this was just some silly ol'boy and there would be another, someday to sweep me off my feet and the sun would surely rise the next day and my heart would go on... she somehow new my pain was real, never laughed it off, never said "i told you so" (even though she did tell me so...)

i never understood how she was not mad at me for totaling out my car (or the second one for that matter) 14 days after i had my drivers license...even after she had told me a hundred times that she could not teach me how to be a defensive driver.

she didn't even get mad when she was teaching me how to drive and i hit the house.. she just said call your dad and let him know he needs to show you how to fix stucco tomorrow

she was always there to listen to my endless ramblings about this and that interested in the smallest detail of my day... and really how excited can the life of an 11 year old be?

and even as i got older and my mistakes were bigger, when the hurt was more than just a scratched knee... when the heartaches were more earth shattering... the consequences life changing... she was still my #1 fan... she never waivered in her belief of me, even when i had no faith in myself.. she has been there clapping for me at my highest of highs (dancing on the Jerry Lewis telethon when i was 8, i peaked young) and holding me in my lowest of lows (need we mention those?)

i never understood all that until now...

i know jack will have his fair share of bruised knees and broken hearts.
i know he will be into one thing one minute and we will buy all the necessary "stuff" and then the next minute he will be into something else.

i know he will want to do things that i will think are too dangerous and he will do them anyways
i know he will find someone other than me to love and some pretty little girl will come along and steal and probably break his heart (i will run her over with Auntie Whitty's truck)
i know we will disagree, argue about cleaning up, go through the terrible 2's, 12's and maybe 22's

i pray that i will have an 1/2 the compassion, understanding, patience, warmth, honesty, drive, openness, heart, and faith as my mom.

the old saying goes "when you know better, you do better."
well then i should have NO excuse because i was raised by the best.

and i now know why she held me when i was hurt, because she was hurt.
if my heart was broken, her heart was broken.
if my day was good, her day was good.

she was able to rejoice, protect, defend, cheer, laugh, cry, be silly (my dad is not the only silly one) because she is my M-O-M my hurt is her hurt, my joy is her joy and my heart is her heart...

i get it now...
and i love you more