Missing shoes and a stuffed Frog

I've been frantically looking for some of Sarah's shoes for a little while. Frantic because not all of them are Sarah's... some are actually Kaiya's on loan.
Anyway, I looked everywhere today in the kids' room and had no luck--until I noticed that the stuffed frog on top of the little shoe shelf had his mouth zipped shut.
I thought, "No way." Then, unzipped the frog's mouth to find all the missing shoes.
Oh, Jake.

D-Bag

So, I am a douche (bag).

Sorry, Michelle.

But you have been known to vote for the most negative options in the past from your home computer, work computer, and even Brad's laptop for good measure.

That being said--I'm happy you want me to move out of my house someday.

Sorry I called you late last night to make sure you weren't really mad at me.

Because I really am that emotionally needy.

All in all... I thought it was funny.

Okay--who's the jerk?

Not really "jerk", since I asked for it... I'm just betting it was Michelle (my sister) who voted (twice) for "Never. Suck it up, Alicia."
She knows just how emotionally unstable I am about the thought of NEVER leaving this house. And she's mean (and funny) enough to vote twice.
Michelle? What do you say?

Sarah Sweetheart

"Sarah Sweetheart" has become our little name for our girl. I guess it's kind of like calling Jake, "Jake the Snake", except you know, edgier.

I love this little girl.
She is just so sweet.
She's pretty even-tempered and laid-back.
She loves attention and will try her best to smile and flirt to get you to talk to her.

She loves to be held outward so she can see what's going on.
She loves her hands... especially shoving them in her mouth as often as possible.
She adores her big brother and is always trying to watch him and what he's doing.
She loves to eat and is getting pretty good at the whole solids thing.

When she's sad she gives us fair warning by sticking her bottom lip out as far as humanly possible. Then come the real tears.
She's a great night-sleeper and has taken very well to her crib in the kids' room.

She startles easily.
She rolls over and is working on sitting.
She laughs and squeals and tries to talk to us.
She looks pretty in everything.
She hates bath-time.
She looks like her daddy.

I love her smile, her double-chin, her big eyes, her birth-marks, her chubby legs, her cleft chin, her dark hair, her Jakey nose... I love everything about her.

I always hoped for a little Sarah. I just can't believe she's really mine.

Hello, Autumn.

Nothing says Autumn like a brisk walk with the ipod and the kids in the double-wide.

Oh, and this gem.

C'mon, Fall. Bring it on.


Bless you, Febreze.

The Lion King

We went last night and it was amazing. Seriously, the costumes are so incredible and really have to be experienced to "get it". So cool.
Thanks, Blaine for the awesome birthday present.
Thanks, Michelle for sitting the kids. You saved us. Really.
Thanks, Lizzy for hanging out with me during intermission and showing me pictures of those boys of yours. They are perfect.

My date with Brett and J.M.

I don't care what anyone says...I love John Mayer.
I have for years, and I will for years to come.
I admit, there was a short time (The Jessica Simpson Days) where I questioned my loyalty to J.M., but then I remembered when I dated the guy-who-kissed-his-sister and I decided to forgive him.

So, when my brother, Brett asked me if I wanted to buy his buddy's ticket last minute, I jumped at the chance.
If you have never seen John live, then you are missing out (fan or not).
He's that good. Really.

Plus, he's hilarious.
He always spends a good amount of time talking to the audience and I love it.
This time around, he spent some time discussing time travel (a la "flux capacitor"), and his personal style vs. "dressing for two". He even equipped us all with a new phrase that will send our enemies reeling: "I want names." I can't wait to try it out.

He also performed. :)
Mostly stuff from Battle Studies and Continuum--which was frickin' rad. I love John's bluesy side best.
But he also blessed us with a little "Why Georgia Why", as well as a couple cool covers... Otis Redding's "(Sitting on) The Dock of the Bay", and Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'". Amazing.

I loved every second of it and I especially loved basking in J.M. greatness with my buddy, Brett. He's good people and an awesome people-watching partner. We were hating on all kinds of drunk-dancers together.

All in all it was a perfectly dreamy end-of-summer night.
Thank you, John Mayer.
Thank you, Blaine for taking the kids solo... and dealing with a very sad Sarah girl.
I love you for it.

Jake's Par-tay

Jake's party was a success.
We were able to have Steve, Chris (Nona and Poppy), Sean AND Amy here in town from New Mexico, so we made the most of it and partied all Saturday with Mint Juleps. (Anything to get Sean here haha.)

Okay, I need to brag a little. I've been wanting a birthday banner for a while now to use for all our birthdays. Well, I got ambitious last week and sewed one up, but here's the genius of it... I used boyish fabrics for one side and girly fabrics for the opposite side. I feel so smart. S-M-R-T. I used good 'ol printable iron-ons for the lettering. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Birthday balloons on the ceiling.

Birthday cupcakes.

Birthday Mint Juleps.

Cute Bretty and Megs in the background.

Doug and Jen laughing at something upstairs.
Amy and Markelle.

I love the chaos of these get-togethers. It's awesome how everyone jumps in to make the little marshmallows play nice and be happy.

Opening presents...

Mack truck from Mom and Dad.

Boring clothes from Mom and Dad.

Thanks for the tool/drill set, Nona and Poppy!

Thanks for the Mr. Potato Head, Jack! (Okay, and Markelle and Brent.)

Thank you, Amy for the boat... bath time will be rockin'.

Thank you for the Cars carrier, Kaiya (Michelle and Brad.)

Scotty and May May--Jakey loves his little car toy.

Actually, EVERYONE loved this toy.

And, Brett gave this awesome "That's What She Said" t-shirt. Who knew Walgreen's carried this kind of stuff?? Love it. Thanks, Brett.

Jake, anxious to keep opening. This kid made out like a bandit.

The kiddos playing with the race-track from Mom and Dad.

And the big winner: a bike from Nona and Poppy! (Thank you!)

(Disclaimer: I should point out for my mom that her present is in the mail and will arrive in time for his actual birthday and the original party date.)
(Disclaimer #2: I entrusted Jen to take pictures of Jake while opening presents and she didn't take a picture of the one from Doug and her... Jake loves his Toy Story magnet book.)

Kaiya helping to put the bike together.

Jake loves to help his daddy.

Nona got this little cake for Jake. He loved it.
He's really been into birthdays lately. Singing "Happy birthday to you" all the time and talking about blowing out candles. Funny kid.

Carefully destroying his cake.

Riding his big-boy-bike tandem style with Kaiya...
This is a little too reminiscent of Michelle and me riding the Vino scooter together around Orem. Good times.

I love these buddies.

Big birthday boy.

And Kaiya wanted to be a part of all of it. She was good to show Jake how it's done.

Funny girl.

Kaiya loves the camera. I wish my own kid would pose like she does.

I seriously love these two... they are only about three months apart. People often ask Michelle and me if they are twins and we love it. They are great little buddies.

Kaiya girl.

Chris laughed out loud when Kaiya sat down next to her and said, "Pretty nails!" She hasn't had many little girls around to notice her pretty nails. Get ready for "Girldom", Nona.
In the meantime, Jake was ramming his bike into her feet, yelling, "CRASH!"... Now, that she's used to.

Pretty girls.
Michelle's due in October with her baby boy. I can't wait!

These pictures are from today. I was trying to take a picture of Jake's new shirt from Brett, so I could email it to Matt (on a mission in Montana).

"I'm TWO!"

With two of his favorite presents: Mack and froggy boots.

Happy birthday, Jake.