Flashback Saturday!

Just look at us.  Look at that full head of hair on Tommy's head.  I like to call it the "Mesa Wave."  Mmmmmm!  And look at all the hair I don't have on my head!!  Yuck!  What was I thinking?!  It's called, we were newly married and what does EVERY girl do the minute she gets married?  No, it's not what you're thinking guys!  (we've all heard the joke.)  We chop all our hair off and then get depressed about it (not about the new marriage, the hair!)

This has always been one of my favorite pictures.  Thanks for finding it Mom!

I Think My Bike Hates Me!

She's been throwing me to the ground and kicking me to the curb! I think it's because I've ignored her for too long and her feelings are hurt.  What's that saying about "getting back on the bike?"  I'm over it.  (And yes, those are stretch marks through that bruise on my booty.)

"Mr. Poopy-Pants"

It seems as though my Tommy has gotten his panties in a wad these days.  Our family likes to refer to it as "poopy pants."  (we're a little sick and twisted around here.)  He's decided he's changed his mind about my blogging, saying I rip on him too much in my posts.  Hmmmm.  Ok, maybe just a little.  But he's such a jokester, and it's always fun and games 'til the cards are turned around to my boy.  

But really, all joking aside, he is the best.  I'm not going to ramble off my "101 things I love about my husband," but I will say he is my bestest friend and I love him so so so much! (even if he was in the school choir, thanks Rod for informing me).  We really are a blessed family.

"Band Geek"

So Tag comes home the other day and says he wants to be in "strings" class at school.  Hmmmm.  I didn't really know how to respond to that.  So I told him I'd discuss it with his dad when he got home.  Tommy's reaction?   "?!@#$% no!  He's not going to be a band geek!  He's just trying to get out of class."  Tommy thinks he's so tough.  By the way, Tommy knows this from experience.  He played the French horn.  'Cause that's not gay or anything.  Anyhoo, I tried to talk Tag out of it, giving him every reason in the book to talk him out of it:  he has basketball 3 days a week, I have Keagan in gymnastics, it'll be expensive to rent a cello -- yes, cello.  That's what he wants to play.  I even tried talking him into guitar, but he wasn't having it.  He said EVERYONE in his class is doing it.  I don't know what to do??  I want him to have every opportunity to try things out.  I don't want to hear years from now how I never let him play the cello.  Now, so help me, if that kid doesn't practice, I'm gonna be very very upset.  Plus, I don't know a darn thing about the cello or where to begin to help him practice!  Aaaaargh!

Now, to all those "band geeks" out there, I'll admit, I was, too a "band geek" back in the day.  I played the flute.  Ha! Ha!  Make fun all you want.  I swear, it was cool to be in band!  I went to a very small school, my graduating class was 54.  Let me tell you, there wasn't a whole lot to do in that town besides milking cows and cruising down Main Street.  Well, everyone was in band.  I was even a "letterette" (the E to be exact.)  I was dang good, too! ( I just wanted to wear the short skirt and moccasins.)  I bet I can dig up a picture somewhere.

So with that said, I'm going to just keep my mouth shut and let him do his thing.  

Ouch?

I'm going to start off with a little disclaimer -- This entry is by far a little too much information, and for those of you who may be a little sensitive, please move on to the next blog (you can refer to my previous post, "So Sorry" below)  Anyhoo, back to my story.  So basically I'm feeling like crap all week, I thought it was a bladder infection, so I started a prescription and after the 5th day, I thinking, "What the heck?  Why is it not going away??"  Well, turns out, it was a sweet, cute and cuddly little kidney stone.  Tommy says it looks more like a dingleberry.  I'm not going to explain what that means. He's such a sucker sometimes.  He's not going to think it's so funny when he goes to brush his teeth in the morning and realizes I shoved it in his toothbrush.  Hee!  Hee!

But all is better now.  I think I'm gonna put it under my pillow tonight and see if the Tooth Fairly will leave me any money for it.  

"Re-Pregnant?"

So yesterday, Tag comes up to me and says, "Mom, can you get re-pregnant?"  What the heck? Re-pregnant?  "Ummm, No, dude."  I honestly felt a little bad when I had to tell him, "My body can't get pregnant anymore."  So then he said, "Well, maybe you can go to the doctor and he can help you get re-pregnant."  Poor little guy.  He wants a little brother so so so bad.  Sometimes I feel a little selfish for making that decision, but I really really just want to be a SANE mom.  I want to just enjoy each of my kids and always give them each the attention and love they need.

Ok, but seriously, re-pregnant?  It's about that time to 'splain to him about the birds and the bees.  Heaven help me!!  Can you imagine having Tommy explain that to you?  The poor kid is going to be scarred.

"Peace Out" Homies...

I'm checking out for a few days.  I'm starting "Breaking Dawn" on Monday.  Tommy is so thrilled.  No shower, no make-up, messy house, and Filiberto's for the next few nights until I finish this darn book.  Adios.

Not to be outdone...

by her older brother and sister, my sweet little Swazzles has been up to no good these past few months. I have to say, I think we're over the yucky "terrible two's" hump.  She has waaayy mellowed out for the past month or so, but here's a little peek at the little treats my girl has left me with. The first one is when she decided to dump out my entire makeup drawer and apply it to her ENTIRE body.  Let me tell you, it was a beast to clean off.  I didn't realize how much oil was in my shimmery loose eye powder!  It literally took days to get it out of all her "crevices."

The next one was when she got a hold of my stamps.  No explanation needed.

And her daddy's favorite she decided to take the keys off of Tommy's laptop.  It was really hard to keep from laughing out loud.  He didn't think it was quite as funny.  Thank goodness I'm married to MacGyver, he got all but one put back on.  And she has done this not once, but twice.  How do they think of this crap?!  

And finally, the last pic.  She really is after her mother's heart.  I caught her popping her dad's zits.  Now how does she get away with it? I have to bribe him every time I see one.  If you know my Tommy like many of you do, it's not hard to figure out what he wants in return for some zit poppage.  So, overbite and all, this little chick has us wrapped around her finger.  Love her to bits!

Somebody up there really loves me!

I'm gonna brag a little bit - because that's what moms sometimes do.  I love this kid.  We made a deal about a year ago that if he reads the Book of Mormon, I'd bribe him with something worth $100 or less.  He decided on MarioKart. It took a lot of convincing, but by golly, he did it. And I didn't even have to remind him to read each day! Today was the Big Day. He was so stoked to get it, but I was deep in conversation with a good friend on the phone so he had to wait a little (like 15 minutes) to open it because I needed to have the package un-opened for a photo-op,  and boy oh boy, you would've thought it was the end of the world.  I've never seen such crocodile tears!  *notice the red eyes in the pic.   I've asked him if he understood any of it and he said, "Not really."  But it's a great start and will hopefully become a routine.  Plus, I might have bribed him with a prize each time he reads it.  I don't care.  Whatever works!

A little randomness from the Keager

This little chica sure keeps me on my toes.  She loves to write random notes around the house.  My all-time favorite Keagan quote would have to be when we were in church and she and Tag were writing notes back and forth, and she passes one to him that said, "Neener, neener, cheese weiner!"  What the heck?

So here are a few of her ramblings.  You can barely see what she wrote, but it was a note she posted on her door that said... "Club Members Only.  Rules - no saying bad words, be good, no making a mess, and don't be mean!"  Ha! Ha! 

Someone, please pinch me!

Am I dreaming?  Is this for 'rizzle?!  My boy can mow the lawn!!!!  Just look at the sweat on his shirt.  I swear, there was a time when I was growing up that I seriously thought the only reason my parents had me was to be their personal slave.  No joke.  Now I see where they were going with that!  He even unloads the dishwasher!  I am one proud, happy momma. What a stud! 

... A Few More Montana Pics

Aaaaahhhh..."The Tanner Treasure"

Last week Tommy and I were invited by some friends of ours to their place on Flathead Lake in Montana.  I am NOT kidding around when I say this was by far the coolest place I have ever been, Fo' Sho! It was so dreamy.  We took the kids to school on Monday and jetted up to Missoula for a week of fun.  We spent 5 days doing nothing but sleep in 'til 10, (not quite my "full sleep-in" as my dad and I like to refer to it) surfed, jet-ski'd, rocked out with Rock Band, (which by the way, why haven't they come up with Rap Band?  I would KILL it!  Holla'!!) rode mountain bikes a torturous 8 mile loop, and ate waaaayyy too much.  I seriously think I gained like 25 pounds while we were there!  It probably didn't help that they had a soda fountain in the house.  I would routinely wake up at 10:15 and go straight for the soda fountain for my morning Diet Pepsi before anyone could get a whiff of my sweet morning breath.  

On one of the last days, we went to one of the neighbor's houses and went down their sweet water slide.  Mind you, the water going down the slide was soooooo cold, I think that's really why our faces are so scrunched in the pics.  It. Was. Freeeeezing.  And of course, it didn't end there.  Their neighbor, George was kind enough to let us hang out in his arcade room. Wish I had pics of it.

The last night we were there, we grabbed a bunch of ice cream and took it on the boat for a sunset cruise.  All in all, it was a wonderful trip.  It was great to be with old friends, and make some new ones as well.  Thanks Dallas and Krista.  We owe you!

First Day of School!

The kids were stoked to start school this year.  They both have great teachers.  We're thinkin' it's gonna be a great year.  I usually walk them to school on their first day, but my Keagan wouldn't have it.  I asked her if she was nervous at all, and if you can just picture her "valley girl" talk, she said, "Like, no Mom.  I can go by myself."  Plus I decided to let them ride their scooters, so I had to chase them down the street with my camera.  They were so bugged.  I just keep telling them, "Someday you'll be glad I took these."

So Sorry...

I guess, for my last post.  I got a little reprimanding from my dad about the "naked Tommy" video.  I didn't realize it was actually going to offend some people and make such a stink. But I have to say, my whole reason for starting a blog is, again, for journaling purposes. These are not freaking billboards, people!  Maybe I should just go "private?"  My blog just isn't going to be fluffy fluff-fluff about my perfect life, perfect children, most adoring handsome hunky-hunk of a husband who buys me "Sprinkles" cupcakes and sends me flowers daily.  Sorry!  I like to add the fun stuff in-between.  Years from now, I want to look back and see that we were once fun, spunky peeps, instead of "old crusties." And there might even be a little "boobage" every now and then.  Get over it.

So if I'm offending anyone, simply, DO NOT READ MY BLOG.  You know who you are.  Go stalk someone else's.

"Thomas en los Estados Unidos!"

Whatever that means, Jimmy.  We had a ball at Lake Powell this year.  I will post more on that later, but for now, here is a sweet treat for everyone's enjoyment.  My Tommy decided to go barefoot, NAKED, wearing a sombrero behind a jetski.  Please note that you can't see ANYTHING, although Tommy begs to differ, but the commentary is awesome, and Jimmy Jam's laugh is always hilarious.   (Tommy's going to have an absolute coronary when he reads this, if he ever reads my blog at all.)  Enjoy!

I think it's time...

To take the bottle away.  Swayze is two and a half now, and it's just that time.  I've been hesitant to do it because she is like a momma bear and her baby cub.  You just don't come between the two.  I have a lot of reasons why it's taken me so long to take it away, but she's my last baby.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I've tried to switch to a sippy cup so many times and she just ain't havin' it!  Now it's to the point where she doesn't drink it so much, be she sucks on the nipple like a binky.  I mean, come on!  I know, I know, it's my fault.  I see other kids with bottles and think, "Oh my gosh!  Take that thing away already!"  Hello... my kid is the same exact age as those kids!  But I think she can finally understand and I can sort of (and I really mean SORT OF) rationalize with her, so everyone cross your fingers and say a little prayer for the Swaz-nasty and her mother.

**Please note that there are probably about 15 more pics of this chick with her "ba-ba!"

"Black Lavender"

For journal purposes only, I had to post a pic of my sweet new ride.  I'm doing this because I'm very sure that in a few years from now, I'll look back at this car and say, "What the HECK was I thinking on this one?"  But for now, I think it's the shizzle.  Cocky, you say?  Maybe just a tad.  I got the idea from a little known show called "Rob and Big," again, my dad would be so proud.  He hates the fact that I still watch MTV.

I love it when I pull up into the Sonic drive-thru for my daily Diet Coke run and all the punk 16 year old kids say,"What up Big Black? Are you Dyrdek's girlfriend?"  And I'm thinking, he wishes!  Just a tired, crabby mom with 3 screaming kids in the back fighting over which movie to put on.  But I have to say, it still makes me feel pretty cool, especially from the kid at the window, N8.  You ask, why do you spell it that way?  Well, I'm going through the drive-thru one day and I notice a tat on his arm the the letter N and an 8 ball.  "See?  Nate!"  Duh, why didn't I think of that?  He thought it was awesome, me, not so much.

But I have to say, the best part of driving this car was when I was yet again going through the good 'ole Sonic drive-thru the other day and my favorite employee, Gabe says to me, "Hey, so I saw your car pull up the other day and it's this teenage girl driving, so I asked her if this was her MOM's car."  Are you for real Gabe? I'm 31 and NOT old enough to have a 19 year old daughter!!  So with that, there happens to be 2 "Big Blacks" cruising the streets of M town, I'm not as cool as I thought I was, and Gabe is missing a few tools in his shed.

Rocky "Puke"

So... everyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE vomit.  Needless to say, it seems to follow me wherever and I mean WHEREVER I go.  We decided to take the kids on  a last minute trip down to Rocky Point.  We made it the whole way down to Mexico without any carsick kids.  Yay!  Anyhow, the kids were having a blast on the beach, everyone was having a great time.  And sure enough, Keagan walks in our room the next morning, says 'Hi and proceeds to throw up all over the room, yep, that's right, 4 TIMES!  I don't think she had anything left in her by the time she made it to the toilet.  And of course she didn't want anyone to feel left out, she passed the sweet little Mexican "bug" to Tag and I.  We are a such a giving family. (And just as a side-note, Tommy and I made an agreement early-on in our marriage that he cleans up the throw-up and I get everything else.) hee-hee!  Well, our fun-filled trip didn't end up being so fun-filled, but it was still nice to be out of this 110 degree heat.  Thanks Cloward Family for the use of your sweet condo.  And I promise, there is no trace of throw-up anywhere!