Friday-Dad and Jules Arrive

Ok, we had such an action packed visit with my family that I can't possible fit it into one post, so I will split up the posts by activities. First off, on Friday morning I went to take Davin to his 4 month check up (a couple weeks late-stats: 13lbs. 4oz., 24.5in.) while my mom and Weston went to the airport to pick up my Dad and my sister, Julianna.

After visiting and eating lunch at the house, we headed over to Mulligan's for some mini golf. Weston was so excited to play and LOVED it. He would sorta hit the ball at the start then pick it up and put it 2 inches from the hole and tap it in, then tell Mom, "I got 2!" It was hot and exacerbated my already existent farmers tan, but totally worth it. That night my youngest sister, Melanie and her new husband, Brad, showed up at dinnertime and that night we swam in the freezing cold pool at the hotel.

Auntie Jules meet Davin for the first time! They are already little buddies.
Weston pushing his ball into the hole from 2 inches away, thereby beating us all.
Dad and Jules conspiring to ruin Mom's put. :)
Me and the boys in the little lounge after the game where we were desperate for some cold drinks.

Work Week Blues.

Its just been a blah couple of days at work. Its been a few of those days where it feels like I am running around working like crazy, but really don't have much to show for it.. Its the kind of week where at the end of it all, I hate trying to document my time. Like I feel guilty for taking so much time to do some of these things (like, send an email to a vendor and then to a client... or make some phone calls).

I go through these phases of feeling like I am not pulling my weight at work. I suppose everyone does. I am kind of between big projects right now. Also, I am supposed to finish up this other project, which is really cool, I just have project management breathing down my neck because we are already over budget. (I tell myself we underbid it anyway, and that assuages the guilt a bit, but its' still there.) Its not even like they are breathing down my neck, they are actually (so far) being pretty good about it, its just the fact that I know they are worried about it.

Don't get me wrong, my work is pretty cool. We just had a pretty cool 15 year anniversary party. See pictures below. We cleaned out the warehouse in the back and set up a rockband and such. I played guitar while our CEO (after a glass or two of wine) belted out "Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi.


Anyway i'll post a link to this project when I am done with it...
In the meantime.. i will test the limits of how many times i can check digg in one day.

Holy crap. we are all wearing the same shirt.

Shout out to Alann and ye old Lovesac, still kickin' it at work.

Expect more fun and exciting posts from Shannon Later....

End Lunch. End Rant.

Photogs

We are having a great time with my mom so far! The rest of the family will be trickling in tomorrow then the madness begins! :) Anyway, we are already playing hard and enjoying every minute of it.

Last week Weston was watching Sesame Street and Elmo's World was about cameras and taking pictures. Weston came and asked me to take his picture.
Then he wanted to take my picture. He pretty much has zero aim, so I crouched really low to make sure he got me in there. He felt so grown up taking a picture.
Mom arrived yesterday morning! Davin has a hard time with new people right at first, but it only took about 15 minutes for him to get used to Grandma B's presence. She brought him a cute little squeaky cow toy, which helped significantly.
Weston, of course, had to have his turn too.
Grandma B brought Davin's completed quilt. It is adorable. I love it and it looks so cute in his nursery. Here he is enjoying the new play spot. Weston didn't love being left out of the picture. Good job on the quilting Mom!
Last night we started on the whittling down of Mom's multitude of gift cards by having dinner at Macaroni Grill. It was surprisingly nice even though we had both boys with us. Davin is pretty mellow.
This morning we went to Gardner Village and hit up the quilt shop, the petting zoo and fed the ducks/nasty fish. Weston is really getting the hang of breaking the right size pieces off and throwing them out.
He was significantly more brave this time around at the petting zoo. . . check out those horns!
Weston took his pony ride all by himself! He talked to us the whole time though and told us that he was going to leave and go in a circle. It was quite cute.
I'll post again after the weekend fun with all the family. I'm so excited to be crazy with my little sisters and to visit with my Dad and make homemade ice-cream and play mini golf. OK, you get the picture that I just can't wait. :)

Yesterday . . .

my computer was not cooperating on putting up images, but today it seems to be doing better.

I am so excited about the season finale of So You Think You Can Dance, but sad that it will be over for another year. Also, I sincerely hope one of the girls wins it since the boys aren't nearly as good. I suppose The Office and Lost will be back in not too terribly long, but still.We're enjoying the heat here . . . oh wait, we're not.
Holy Smokes, Heather, I can't believe your daughter already has an autographed poster! That is so funny. Here is a loverly little portrait of Bret and Jemaine, aka Flight of the Conchords. Hilarious.

Like Sands Through the Hourglass . . .

Ok, no specific title here because I really have no idea what direction this post is going. I have been in the weirdest (not good) moods lately. I think that my hormones are shifting once again because . . . (trumpets please) I'm done breastfeeding! The downside to the end of breastfeeding is that my arthritis is making a comeback and my personality doesn't do well with chronic pain. (for those of you who didn't know, I have had rheumatoid arthritis since Sept. '03). I went to the rheumatologist today and got some meds, so hopefully they will kick in asap.

In the meantime we have not been doing much. We had a pretty fun weekend. Friday night we hung out with the Burton's and watched Flight of the Conchords into the wee hours of the night. Saturday we (meaning Ian) worked around the house and then went to a BBQ party at Ian's boss's house. It was lots of fun to visit in an informal setting and there were about 10 diggers for Weston to play with in the playground (yes they literally have a playground in their backyard).

I am supposed to be mopping the kitchen floor at the moment, but Davin just barely fell asleep and Weston is napping and I really want to have a break. I'd rather have Weston "help" me mop than do it right now. Otherwise I can't have a second of quiet while trying to put together a coherent post. Weston is an extreme chatterbox and it is literally NEVER quiet unless he is sleeping or pooping. I know that sounds weird, but take my word for it, I know when he's pooping because I don't see or hear him for about 10 minutes (he likes a private spot).

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my mother Wednesday morning. What really gets me is that she is in UT already, but she's at her sister's and not here yet. Sigh. Anyway, then this weekend my Dad and little sister are flying in and my other little sis and her hubby are driving down from Rexburg. I am SO looking forward to their visit. It will be so nice to have the company and do fun things together. I'm just hangin in there until they come to be with me. I will have lots to post about later in the week, so stay tuned.

Playing Catch Up

We have been pretty busy around here as most of you know. This is kind of a long post . . . WARNING . . . but full of all the fun things our cute little family has been up to. We had a wonderful visit with Ian's parents and sister last week. After Jim had to head back to work in Portland, Denny and Aly stayed another few days before driving home. We had a blast. We went to the mall to let the boys play and expend some pent up energy (well, mostly just Weston had that need). Here they are at the dino playground. Weston loves to hold Davin these days and really Davin seems to like his brother's attention. It's adorable.
One of the rare moments of us out and about without me behind the camera.
Weston's first carousel ride. It made me nauseous, but Weston loved it and didn't want to get off.
Grandma Denny took this picture of our sweet elfin baby. What a grin, huh?
Weston playing blocks in his room. He is superman every day now. He even sleeps in his cape. Then when he wakes up he says "Superman needs his boots." What a dork. :)
Grandma Denny with her grandkids.
I liked this one of Grandma and Davin.
Ooh big milestone while the Bowles' were visiting . . . Davin started reaching for stuff! He really started going for the toys on his toy bay on the bouncer. It is hard for me to realize that at almost 4 and a half months old we are going to have to bust out the high chair soon and he is learning so many new skills!
"Good morning to you, good morning to you, we're all in our places with bright smiling faces and this is the way we start our new day!"
Playing ladder ball at our neighbors' house during their Pioneer Day party (it's a much much bigger deal here than anywhere else in the world but a good excuse for a party and fireworks). Weston couldn't get enough of playing with the big boys.
Happy 24th of July! Weston loved getting to do sparklers and poppers again so soon. Amazingly enough he lasted until 10:30pm in a fairly decent mood.Father and son. They are a handsome pair.
Today we met up with Dawnie and Mason for lunch at the park. Dawnie is loaning me her bumbo for the next several months (THANKS AGAIN!) and Davin loves it already. After we got home from the park I put Dav in the bumbo to watch the end of Sesame Street with Weston and Weston was jealous of Dav's new chair, so he had to sit in his chair too. My little couch potatoes. ;)
Weston and Mason playing at the park.
This is the first 2 minutes of Davin trying out the bumbo at the park. He was so pleased to be sitting up like a big boy. Plus he loves to watch Dawnie talk. She is very pretty, he has good taste. :)
I am so grateful for my wonderful boys. We really do have fun together and like each other.
We had a bit of a rough time this morning. Weston threw a massive tantrum and I really didn't know what to do. I ended up letting him scream it out in his room, giving us both some time to calm down. While he was in there I tried to figure out my next move and came up blank. My go to solution failed (calling my sister to see what she does with her kids) and so I had to go it on my own. I think it turned out ok. I just hope some of our discussion post tantrum about choices and consequences/apologizing and forgiveness will stick. If anyone has any other parenting of a 2 year old advice, please let me know. I would love to have some tricks up my sleeve for when he won't listen/obey and can't be reasoned with. It has been fun catching up on your blogs. I'm not even halfway done yet though, so be patient with me. OK, back to catching up on So You Think You Can Dance. Don't tell me who got kicked off last week . . . I'm getting there!

Back . . . Sort of

Well the computer is back in the house and hooked up, but it doesn't have any of our stuff on it yet.  Ian will be restoring it to it's former glory tonight/tomorrow, so I won't have pics to post or anything like that for a few more days.  Thanks for all your comments!  I miss you guys too.  It's going to take me a bit to catch up on what y'all are up to but I'm excited to read lots of new posts! 

It's kind of sad that I was without the computer for less than a week, but I was having serious withdrawls.  I was actually kinda depressed.  It really helps me feel connected to all my friends and family and I had really missed that.  I also missed having my music on all day.  I did, however, focus on some serious reading and got through Twilight and New Moon.  I'm taking a little break and then I will read Eclipse before Friday, when I will be attending the midnight launch party for Breaking Dawn (I think is the name of the new book) with my friend, Dawnie.  Wahoo for a girls night out . . . I am so looking forward to it!  

Check your blogs for my comments starting . . .  NOW!