While the Cat's Away....

Today I found myself surprisingly boy-free for two hours and eighteen minutes. Zach was at school, Ben had been invited to a friend's house for a last-minute play date, Josh was at preschool and Luke was down for a nap. It is amazing how quiet the house gets. And what did I do? Did I vacuum my very Ruby-loved carpets? Did I wash down my pee-covered toilets? Did I pack for our three-day camping trip? Did I get on the computer and check my email or blog? No. I flat-ironed my hair (which I never have time to do), I made myself a delicious lunch of tofu, mushrooms and zucchini sauteed in lemon juice, shallots, soy sauce and garlic, and sat down to read my book and paint my toenails. It was so nice and completely lazy. And even though my black pants are covered in Ruby fur from my un-vacuumed carpets, I feel so chill this evening.

Josh Has His Day

"Joshie, I missed you so much today! How was your first day of preschool?"
"It was the best day ever, Mom. It was pretty much my favorite."

I'm geared up.

I'm strong and brave.

I am dang cute!
And A-O.K!
I'm off!
And yes, Mom cried.

Finger Painting

We had TONS of gigantic pieces of packing paper left over from our move, so I saved a pile to use for some super-sized art projects. Today we made giant finger paintings outside in the sunshine. Ben and Josh really enjoyed themselves, especially painting their entire hands and feet, and getting all gloopy, gloppy and colorful.

Hmmm...What to do on a Hot, Sunny Day?

Trick mommy into thinking Luke's going to walk for the umpteenth time, but refuse to take a step (heh heh heh)?

Or hang out at the park with some of our favorite all-boy families (10 boys, three fams)?
Or chill in the shade with the babes from those same all-boy families?
Or jump on the tramp with the sprinkler blasting us?
Or climb a cool and leafy tree? Or sell lemonade for .25 cents a cup?
Or maybe go for a dry jump on the tramp before bed? So many choices. Only two days...hmmm, we will just have to do them all!
So I know it doesn't make much sense, but five days into the new school year we had two days off. The boys didn't mind as much as I did, and quickly jumped back into their recent habits from our lazy summer days.

When Carrie Came to Town

Carrie Holmes is a friend I absolutely treasure. She has known me since I was just out of diapers, and has been my friend through thick and thin. I moved onto Carrie's street just before I turned three-years-old, back in 1980. We grew up together making mud pies, building haunted houses in her basement, and singing "Take This Job and Shove It!" Carrie is the one who introduced me to my love of running, because she didn't want to do Cross Country alone back in our Freshman year. Since then, despite moves here and there, and distances near and far, we have remained great friends. And the reason is that Carrie is one of those people who is a true blue friend. She truly cares about her friends, motivates, supports and is always there for all of us. Her thoughtfulness for and devotion to her buddies is so admirable. And she has always been this way. I wish I could say that it was just me and my coolness that compels her to stick close to me, but really, there are scores of people out there that would say the same about her. She is an amazing person, and I am so glad to have her as a friend. Oh, and did I mention that she is sky diving above Mount Everest in a month. The girl is incredible!

Here are some pictures from her visit. I forgot my camera the first day when we went up to Longmont to watch her sky dive. But it was so cool! I was immensely impressed. Luke loved watching the parachutes flying in to land. The kids had a blast with her, and I must say Josh LOVED having a new buddy. Every second was, "Carrie" this and "Carrie" that. I was feeling a little neglected...but not too much. Mostly we watched Olympics and chilled together. I had to keep telling her that we usually don't have the TV on at all during the day! I was embarrassed at how much we watched, but we were like addicts! But we did get out to Garden of the Gods, out on the tramp, out to the park, and ate and ate yummy food!

The Way We Were

Friday was the official day Adam and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. So in honor of that day, I thought it would be fun to post our favorite wedding picture. I can't believe it has been ten years, but at the same time I can't believe it has only been ten years. When I think back on the MANY memories we have made together (we have known each other since I was 13, after all!), I feel so content and peaceful about our past. No regrets. The time together has been full of laughter, long chats into the night, a few tears (most of them tears of joy), cuddles galore, purposeful work and abundant play. He is the perfect partner in this dance of life. He is an amazing and loving father; he's really the best...just ask one of his sons! To be super cheesy and quote from Jerry Maguire, we truly complete each other. What more could I ask for? And as I think of our future together, in two years, ten years, twenty years, fifty years, I don't feel any fear at all, I am excited to face it all with him. Love you, A! We are MFEO...it's like a little clue! (sorry, inside joke movie quote, see if you can figure out what it's from ;)).

School Day No. 1

Yesterday, after a special breakfast of "Grandma pancakes," Adam and I walked our two elementary school boys up the street to begin the school year. Zach is excited to be a second grader, as he is no longer in the "little" grades, but the "middle" grades instead. He loves school and was looking forward to seeing his friends again and was quite pleased with his teacher ("Yes!! Mrs. Crouch!"). Ben walked confidently into his classroom, looking back to wave and smile, following the line of other Kindergartners who look so little among all those other big kids. I have come to expect the tears to flow on the first day of school. I always feel 100% fine, and almost think that this year it won't happen, until they walk away from me into the school, and then the floodgates abruptly open. Thank goodness it was a nice sunny day and I had my sunglasses on; although I was by no means the only parent with wet cheeks.

The boys had a great day and came home grinning. Ben really likes his teacher and his classmates. His goal is to earn a "green ticket" for following directions and behaving well every day, which he can save up and earn prizes from his teacher. He was also excited to tell us that there was only ONE other kid in his class who was taller than him. If for no other reason, the happiness on his face to be one of the tall kids was validation enough for waiting to put him into Kindergarten. Ben's birthday is August 31st, so he could have started last year but after much debate we decided to wait...for many reasons we are incredibly happy with that choice, even if being patient was hard for all of us! Zach, the seasoned pro, was happy about his first day, but very nonchalant, like the first day is no big deal anymore...been there, done that. He came home speaking new French phrases already and singing the song they are learning in music. I feel it is going to be a great year for them both.

Where did my babies go? They grow so fast! And don't worry, I saved some Kleenex for Josh's first day of preschool in a couple of weeks!

I Wanna Grow Old With You...

Puerto Vallarta was just amazing. It was the first week-long trip Adam and I have taken just us two since our honeymoon and it was so nice being just us two. He is still the one....

We spent most of our time at the pool or the beach, reading books and playing in the water (I finished four books!). It was very hot, and the rainy season too (don't worry, it was just like Colorado, with storms in the evening but sun all day), so most of the pictures in the slideshow below are shiny-skined and poofy-haired, but hey, I am not complaining! Everyone thought we were honeymooners, and when we told them we were celebrating our tenth anniversary they wouldn't believe us until we proved our ages! The locals loved that we had four boys, we had comments ranging from "Perfect! Like a big Mexican family!" to "Mucho cuchi cuchi!" That second one was always from the men. No surprise there.

We tried to get off the beach a few times. We walked to the local mall and caught "El Caballero De La Noche" or "The Dark Night" to all the gringos out there ;). We took a couple of scary, crazy bus rides into town for dinner, and a walk on the Malecon (the boardwalk) to look at all the beautiful and strange works of art along the downtown coastline. We cruised to Las Caletas, a beach unaccessable by land, for an artistic and dramatic show, and delicious dinner. And our favorite, we took a tour into the lush jungle and not only flew over and through the tree canopy on ziplines, but also repelled down waterfalls (I repelled down a WATERFALL IN MEXICO!), rode the mulas, and risked our necks in these giant ATV's that had supershocks and felt like rollercoasters driving on the cobblestone, washed-out streets. We loved every minute of that day. It was awesome! Who am I kidding? We loved every minute of every day!

Really, we just enjoyed the beauty of the location (Ah! The sunsets!) and the joy of each other's company. It was hard to leave. The last morning there we took two walks on the beach before heading to the airport. But we missed our boys and were excited to see them. It was a trip we will cherish, as we have cherished these past 10 years.

Adam put together the slideshow below, it is much smoother on our computer. So sorry for the jerky pictures, but you get the idea....

We Love Washington!

The boys and I have finally returned from our three week journey to our favorite state, the home of our hearts, Washington State. It is good to be home, but we already miss it. The two-and-a-half day drive there went fabulously, the boys, even Luke, were easy-going and mellow. While there, we stayed in Issaquah with my parents, but got in visits with many of our family and friends in the area. My sister came into town for the weekend from So Cal, and my cousin Bek from Oregon. The weather was beautiful and sunny most of the time, but even the cloudy days were nice. It made me homesick all over again! We hiked, shopped, swam, walked, watched movies, visited with my mommy-night-out girls, scrapped, played at parks, visited, visited and more visited. We had some great overnights--the boys stayed with their friends Ian and Evan, and Aunties Sara and Loya; I had a wonderful kidless overnight with my Grandmother, Jackie; and we all got to sleep at Titi and Uncle Zach's. Ben got a special birthday Build-A-Bear outing from auntie Sara. After a week-and-a-half there, we headed up to Everett to stay with Jen and her family for four days so we could visit our old friends and neighbors up there. We loved every minute of our visit with everyone!

The four day drive home was an adventure of its own. We planned on camping in Yellowstone, and because it was kind of a tacked on adventure, we were highly unprepared. The Boy Scouts would have kicked us out! We had only blankets for the boys, not sleeping bags, and just like here, the nights get pretty cool even after a hot day. Neither my mom nor I had pillows, and it is amazing the difference a pillow makes in a good night's sleep. I was up half the night worrying the boys were freezing or trying to get comfortable. Not to mention we had no matches! MATCHES!! Who forgets matches on a camping trip?! Fortunately, we had nice neighbors who let us use their lighter for our lantern, since we didn't get to our campsite until after dark. Thank goodness for easy tents! The tent we had when I was a kid had like 4,000 poles, I can't imagine what I would have done if I had to put that together in the dark! The rest of the ride included two blow-outs by Luke, one asleep wetting by Josh and a six-foot near miss of crashing into a deer. The insult added to the injury was that the night after our camp-out (meaning both my mom and I were running on barely more than four hours of sleep, and a day of exploring at Yellowstone), we had planned on driving to a town called Riverton to sleep. But there were NO ROOMS!! The next nearest town was Casper, two hours away. Yes, Wyoming is a beautiful state, but I don't think I have ever driven through so much open space. Miles and miles of no human settlement. Our hero, Adam, called six hotels in Casper before finding one that had a room for us, and it was their "emergency" room, he had to charm the woman on the phone and ask three times before they released it to us. We pulled in at 12:30am. It was crazy. Who knew Wyoming was such a popular place to go hoteling? Anyhow, we are here, safe and sound. My mom and I have had a good number of deep belly laughs that have brought us to hysterical tears over the journey home. Fortunately, the boys were good sports through the whole thing and even asked if they could camp in the backyard last night.

A quick stop in Bosie on the way to WA to visit with our old pals the Richardsons who have the most ADORABLE kids. Sorry guys, Hallie is spoken for!

Visiting our old neighbors, Ian and Evan Parker. The boys just idolize these guys, and rightly so. They are great guys!

Playing at the park with Titi and the little girl she nannies, Kara.

Hiking at Cougar Mountain State Park with Nana and Auntie Lili

The McKenzie Women

My sis and I with our Grandmother, Jackie (aka "Tutu", Hawaiian for Grandma).

My mom with my cousins, Dave and Bek, my sister and Grandma.

The Build-A-Bear Turtles, Aunt Sara and Ben.

Meeting my girlfriends from high school for a walk around Greenlake, Carrie, Liz and Amy; Carrie I have known since I was three!

My sis-in-laws, Alea (lovely, Al!) and Ash. I am so lucky to have these girls as my family! The boys with Grandma and Grandpa Conlin. Their house is at the end of a two-year remodel, so we had to meet at parks for our visits in order to keep the paint off the kids!

At Willis Tucker with the Gierok kids, Hannah and the Brown kids.

A Hug-O-War.

Madison (Zach's betrothed), Zach C., Josh, Zach B., Hannah and Benny.

Beth wasn't happy about having to take this pre-makeup picture, until I reminded her how nasty and sweaty I looked just after my run up Seattle Hill. She is definitely the lovelier of the two of us, even without makeup!

Meeting our old church friends for a playdate at the park.

Some of my favorite Everett moms, Kristin, Kedra, Leah, and Jody (Jody's son and Luke are only three days apart, it was fun to see how he had grown!). My scrap girls, Jen, Emily T., Mary, and my friend Emily S. who stopped by for a chat.
Hannah and Ben, friends for life.

Jen and I, the reason Ben and Hannah will be friends for life (because we are too!). Zach had a chance to visit his BFF Carson twice. And was begging for more!

My Mom and Dad, if you haven't had a chance to know them, you are missing out. I love you M and D!

The boys with Nana, Papa and Tutu.

Yellowstone needed its own slideshow, so here ya go! If the slide show has ended, just refresh the page. The pictures show our visits to the different thermal features of the park, such as the Mammoth Hot Springs (the big white rocks), Norris Geyser Basin (the expansive one with the big boardwalk through it), Grand Prismatic Spring (the really big bright blue colored ones and our favorite), and Old Faithful (big spout :) ). We also saw a grizzly bear, elk, bison, coyote and many more animals, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (big waterfall) along with many other lovely falls. As you can see, it is a very BIG park! It is a beautiful sight!