A Different Kind of Saturday

Normally, a typical Saturday in our house consists of homework and cleaning, and if we're lucky enough for Pete to have the day off, it usually means a not-so-relaxing day of shopping and running errands and eating out somewhere.  Yesterday, however, my boys and I did something a little different, and it was great.  Due to the fact that all three of us have been inflicted by a fabulous cold virus, plus the fact that the heat outside has seriously reached the point of melting my very soul, we decided to spend the entire day inside at home, but NOT be lazy couch potatoes. 

We technically started Friday night by getting a head start on fall by making these recycled-book pumpkins while watching Jurassic Park on late-night TV.  This is how they turned out:

I like em, but not sure what to do with them yet.

We started Saturday morning with cinnamon rolls out of the oven.  We pretty much never eat breakfast altogether at home, so this was pretty awesome.

Then we decided to introduce Ryan to some more classic Disney movies; this time we went with Robin Hood.

"Oh he's so handsome, just like his reward posters."

After the movie, the boys played cars on the floor and I did some cleaning and vacuuming.  Then we began working on this recipe for brownie batter cupcakes that I have been drooling over for a while. After we got the brownie batter in the freezer, we made some yummy lunch and relaxed with a couple episodes of Friday Night Lights while Ryan napped.

I really look for any excuse to post pictures of Taylor Kitcsh.

 In the midst of the high school football drama, I also spent about ten minutes re-vamping my Halloween wreath for this year. I think I still need to add a crow or bat or something in the middle, but here it is so far:

waiting anxiously for labor day to be hung...

We spent the evening in the kitchen making fabulous little lasagnas for dinner and finishing the cupcakes (see note below).

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After Bug went to bed, the hubby and I watched a movie on Netflix (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - can anyone tell me what the point of that film was??) and snuggled on the couch.

It was a much-needed stress-free day out of the heat and I loved every minute of it.  I am so grateful for my sweet little family and the time I get to spend with them.  Days like yesterday allow me to take the time to think of how blessed I am, and how sometimes being at home is better than being anywhere else. <3

Note: If you ever plan on making those cupcakes, prepare yourself for a serious sugar and chocolate coma. They should be called "Death by Cake".  Yes they were delicious, but so rich you can barely enjoy it. Prepare yourself.

Ryan's World

I have a confession.
My 4 year old has an iPhone.
(Don't blame me, blame my husband who has an obsession with apple products that I'll never understand.)
But seriously, it's not really how it sounds.  See, Pete has a first generation iPhone that he had been using for years before we finally had the money to get him the iPhone 4 when we were on our honeymoon. So we now have the old phone that still functions as an ipod with games and wifi.  So it kind of became Ryan's phone, because he can play preschool games on it and pretend to text and call people (and trust me, if he knows you by name, he has had some kind of pretend phone conversation with you).

This morning I wanted to blog about our day yesterday, and grabbed the old phone to take a photo of the pumpkins I made.  This is when I joyfully discovered that my son has also been using the camera on the phone. I found at least 30 pictures that had been taken who-knows-when by the little man. I was delighted by the randomness of what a 4-year-old views as important enough to take photos of.  It was such a cute little perspective of the world according to Ryan.

Here are some of my favorites:

"The Art of Oatmeal"

"Culinary Delight"

"Original Art in Chalk"

"Mom's Blanket"

"The Climb"

"My World in a Blur"

"Blast Off to the Moon"

 (This one is my favorite, it's actually the lamp hanging from his ceiling)

My baby is so talented (of course I may be biased).  I love these pictures.  For all you parents out there, I highly recommend giving your little one access to a camera. It is delightful to see the world the way they see it for a little while. :)

The Thing That Should Not Be

My summer is officially over and I go back for one last semester of classes at ASU on Monday.  I spent some time reading through my syllabi for all my classes, and was slapped in the face with reality while reading the 4,000 word course description of my capstone history course: The U.S. Constitution Pro-Seminar. Allow me to share a piece of the endless rambling:

"As an HST 498: Pro-Seminar, the course of study described here represents a capstone experience for undergraduate majors or minors in History at Arizona State University.  A required, advanced course, the semester’s study offers students the opportunity to demonstrate their competence at conceptualizing, constructing, and completing a piece of writing based on primary sources and publishable as an article or a research note in a scholarly historical journal or as a chapter or essay in a scholarly anthology or collection."

ICK.

So yeah, I am a pretty good writer and it comes very naturally for me, and I posses a fabulous ability to BS my way through pretty much anything and get a good grade...BUT...I have been stuck in historical-inquiry-world for 4.5 years and I am SO.OVER.IT.

The silver lining?  I have a love affair with early American history and the US Constitution. So at least there's that.  

When this all over, I'm going to Disneyland.

A Decade.

 A decade seems like such a substantial amount of time. Children turn into teenagers, teenagers turn into adults and parents, fashion completely evolves, significant anniversaries are celebrated, and people continue to ask, "Where do you see yourself in ten years?"  Apparently, a decade is important.

A decade has now passed since I lost my mother.  Ten years ago today, she left this earth and began a new life with her Heavenly Father, her Savior, her mother, her ancestors, and maybe even Elvis.

I spent some time today reading my journal entries from that time, and I cried...not really for the loss of my mother, but for the heartbroken girl who wrote them.  That girl was only fifteen, and the ability to see herself in ten years was non-existent.  Ten years felt like a lifetime away, and an impossible journey to make without a mother or father.  She wrote of being scared that she would never be able to find the same kind of joy she once knew without her mother's presence, and how she did not know how to exist in a world where her mother did not.  

A decade has gone by, and I am no longer that girl. With the help of amazing brothers, true friends and supportive grandparents, I have found joy, independence, love and strength.  I have learned how to exist in a world where my mother does not, because there is no other way.  I am proud to be her daughter, and blessed because she taught me how to survive.  In the past decade I have experienced incredible challenges and amazing blessings, and I know she never missed a moment of it.

I miss her more than words can ever say.  And I don't think my heart will ever stop hurting, no matter how many more decades come and go.  But I can see myself ten years from now, being the woman she raised me to be, and that is enough.

"Wishing you were somehow here again."

Mary Raelene Metcalf

11-1-49 - 8-17-01

Also, click here. Sometimes music is just better than words.

What's that got to do with the price of eggs??

There has been extremely little happening lately, thus my lack of posting anything interesting.  As my summer break is very near to being over, these are the things that have been filling up my free time:

* cleaning
* ignoring the need to do laundry
* eating Taco Bell or Chipotle with Brittany
* stressing, strategizing, and staring at the continuous issues I keep facing in regard to my fall class schedule (yeah, classes start monday and I still haven't figured it out)
* watching Netflix with my hubby
* planning different scenarios for how Pete and I will make it through the many changes headed our way in the next few months
* trying to get Ryan interested in writing any letters other than A and B
* researching and stressing about grad school and what I'm going to do with my life

In addition to all that amazing stuff, I have also been spending some more time reading some new blogs about motherhood, marriage, etc...yet it seems I just keep getting annoyed by everything I read, which inspires a 10 minute rant to my husband, and the weird need to continue to read more aggravating posts.  For no real reason, I feel the need to list the things that are bugging me:

* Women who preach that stay-at-home-mothers are better mothers than those who work outside the home. You piss me off.
* All the things that point out why I really should be a teacher.
* All the things that point out why I really should do something other than teaching.
* Mothers who are so "organic" and "pure" that they won't even let their children play with toys that have a Disney character on them. I'm sure you had an Ariel Barbie when you were little and you grew up just fine. Get over yourself.
* Pregnancy blogs that ignore the fact that some women have horrible and difficult pregnancies/deliveries, or try to make me feel guilty for talking about it.
* Teacher certification INSANITY required by different states.

So what's all this got to do with the price of eggs?  Nothing.  But Andrea reminded me of that quote from While You Were Seeping the other day, and I've had the entire scene stuck in my head since then. 

Summary:  I need to get back to school so I will have less time to be annoyed by people.

Love & Other Drugs

The hubby and I recently watched this movie.  It was cute and funny and made me smile.  But the reason I'm writing about it is because it's one of those movies that just totally hit home for Pete and I.  There were so many similarities with how he and I fell in love, and the obstacles we faced (minus the Parkinsons and Viagra of course).  Unless you know us well enough, you may not fully understand...but trust me, these quotes are awesome...

"Because this isn't about connection for you. This isn't even about sex for you. This is about finding an hour or two of relief from the pain of being you. And that's fine with me, see, because all I want is the exact same thing."

"I have *never* cared about anybody or anything in my entire life. And the thing is, everybody just kind of accepted that. Like, "That's just Jamie." And then you!... Jesus. *You*. You. You didn't see me that way. I have never known anyone who actually believed that I was enough. Until I met you. And then you made me believe it, too. So, uh... unfortunately... I need you. And you need me."

"Let's just say in some alternate universe, there's a couple just like us, okay? Only she's healthy and he's perfect. And their world is about how much they're going to spend on vacation or who's in a bad mood that day, or whether they feel guilty about having a cleaning lady. I don't want to be those people. I want us. You. This."

That is all. <3

Summer Days, Driftin' Away...

I haven't written in a few weeks, so I think it's time to play summer catch-up for anyone interested (or just for me, since I don't write in a journal anymore).  So, this is what the boys and I have been up to this summer...

*  Pete and I went to the most adorable little seaside town called Yachats, OR, for my twinsie's beautiful wedding.  We had an unforgettable little weekend.  For more pics, go here.

So much Love & Happiness

*  Ryan went camping with Uncle Nathan & Auntie YaYa, and didn't stop talking about it for a good two weeks.
*  I finally uploaded honeymoon photos! 
*  Ryan and I are reading the original Winnie the Pooh.  Pooh just fell from the sky after Christopher Robin shot his balloon (he was pretending to be a rain cloud to scare the bees).
* We watched the series finale of Friday Night Lights, and I cried like a baby.

I'm posting this photo simply because Coach & Riggins look crazy hot.

*  I finished my FINAL term of summer school with a 4.0. :)
* We have watched the entire series of Grey's Anatomy on Netflix.

*  I spent an evening in the ER with yet another ovarian cyst. More about that to come.
*  Ryan is learning to write letters of the alphabet all on his own.  He amazes me with how easily he learns on his own, sometimes even better than when I sit down and try to teach him. 


That's about it.  Only two weeks left before I begin my final semester of undergrad classes. I wish I could say I am excited...but I'm not. I really don't want this summer to be over yet...

Can't we just go back here?