Valentine’s Day

I know I’m a bit late, but I wanted to blog about our Valentine’s Day. We had a pretty low-key day. I made heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast because that is a Valentine’s Day must.

Ryan was away at school all day so my little mini Valentine and I spent the day together. I tried to get him to say “I love you!” all day but he wasn’t having it. He did get pretty excited when I gave him a cookie, though.

I made a yummy dinner for all of us to share (even though we had a broken oven).

My Valentines

Hmm. I just realized that we made sure to get a picture of me and Nathan, but not me and Ryan. Isn’t that the way it goes?

After dinner we watched the movie “Chocolat” and ate chocolate -of course!

Dress Advice, Take 2

So, I bought a dress. Dress #2. I was really excited about it and couldn’t wait to try it on. Horrible. That dress does not work for me AT ALL. Bummer. So, I’m going to return it and try again.  This means I need your help again. I went through and picked every dress that I was even a little bit interested in. I’m a little bit limited because I have a coupon so I can’t buy any of the boutique dresses. So, here we go again. And thanks again for the help. What would  do without you all?

Bear with me, because this is a lot of dresses and the best way for me to do this is just give all the links. Here we go. . .

1.

http://www.shabbyapple.com/p-493-amethyst.aspx

2.

http://www.shabbyapple.com/p-420-azure-coast.aspx

3.

https://www.shabbyapple.com/p-723-gray-fox.aspx

4.

https://www.shabbyapple.com/p-703-tanglewood.aspx

5.

https://www.shabbyapple.com/p-743-mariposa-grove.aspx

6.

https://www.shabbyapple.com/p-922-bali-hai.aspx

7.

https://www.shabbyapple.com/p-613-champs-elysees.aspx

8.

http://www.shabbyapple.com/p-929-mauna-kea.aspx

9.

http://www.shabbyapple.com/p-730-double-rainbow.aspx

10.

http://www.shabbyapple.com/p-609-le-coeur.aspx

11.

http://www.shabbyapple.com/p-670-le-seine.aspx

12.

http://www.shabbyapple.com/p-760-samarkand.aspx

13.

http://www.shabbyapple.com/p-48-buttoned-up.aspx

14.

http://www.shabbyapple.com/p-494-jade.aspx

Thank you Thank you!

What we’ve been up to

I already wrote about the yuckiness of our year so far, but we’ve had some nice moments too. And of course, this post should really be titled, “What Nathan has been up to” because it’s all about him! Here’s the past month or so in pictures:

One of Nathan’s favorite things to do lately is “wash” things. He makes such a big mess but it makes him so happy.

Nothing more fun than playing in a big box!

And what came in this big box, you might ask?

A new vacuum for mommy!

It’s smaller than our old one, but oh so much better.

Nathan has also finally decided he likes to sit down and do activities. His favorite thing to do is paint. Sometimes it only lasts 5 minutes, I love that he sits still for even that long.

We had a couple of nice days in January and made sure to spend some time outside in the sunshine.

I caught Nathan lounging on the couch and watching a movie on our Ipod the other day. He has quite the life!

I usually leave Nathan downstairs with a show on while I take a quick shower, but the other day, he decided to join me- with his clothes still on!

I found this great Buzz Lightyear Rocket tent for 75% off and couldn’t resist it. Nathan loves to play in it and apparently fill it with cooking utensils.

When we were outside the other day, I got a great video of Nathan doing all the animal noises he knows. Then, I realized I had accidently taken the whole thing sideways (we’re really tired over here) so this video is attempt two. You can tell he’s thinking, “Mom! I just did this!”

Untitled from Ryan Bartron on Vimeo.

Do you see how short and grown-up his hair is in the last pictures? I seriously teared up every time I looked at him for the first week after we cut it.

Dress Advice

I’ve been trying to find myself a cute dress for church for a long time. I finally have it narrowed down to a few choices but I need some help. First of all, I’m terrible at making decisions. Second, I totally doubt my fashion sense. Here are the three I’m debating about. What do you think?

These are not the best pictures, so I also added the link for each one.

#1

https://www.shabbyapple.com/p-52-ballerina.aspx

#2

https://www.shabbyapple.com/p-348-bon-voyage.aspx

#3

https://www.shabbyapple.com/p-723-gray-fox.aspx

 

Thanks for the help!

Is it February yet?

I hate to say it, but I really don’t like this time of year. It’s just so gloomy. It’s still winter, but no the cheery kind of winter that comes with Christmas. It’s just kind of soggy.

Usually, February is the worst month of all for me. Even though it is short, it seems to drag on and on. I just can’t ever wait to get to my favorite time of year- SPRING!

But this year, I’m begging February to come so that I can get as far away from January as possible. Wait- before I go any further, I would just like to say that I am exceptionally blessed and truly happy with my life. I just want to let you all know why I have such dark circles under my eyes, and why I may be a little grumpy.

We got home from our lovely Christmas vacation to Arizona and I had a nasty back injury from sitting on the airplane all funny. Then, we all got a yucky cold and flu that hit really hard.

The bright spot in our month was the one week we were  all well, and for the first time since November (really) my house was clean and my Mom came to visit for the weekend. It was so nice to see her. Actually, we see her quite often but it had been a really long time since she had come down to see us. We got to relax and spend some time together and we finally went to Sweety’s for frozen yogurt. HELLO! I could go there every single day and not get tired of it. Seriously. 9 different kinds of yogurt and over 60 toppings?! Did I mention that it’s a SELF SERVE frozen yogurt place? Yummy!

Unfortunately, the day Mom left, Nathan came down with the flu. This time it was the barfing kind. Yay. Then I got it, then Ryan got it. Now, we are all well. We did end up taking Nathan to the ER after 4 days of being sick, but thankfully he wasn’t dehydrated yet. They gave him some medicine for his sick tummy, and within minutes he was sitting up begging for snacks (after eating pretty much nothing all week).

Yesterday, we were finally all healthy again and now the car won’t start. Dang. I guess I should take this opportunity to catch up on laundry or something.

So anyway, I’m thinking that this year February can only be a step up, right?

Okay, now a little bit of good thoughts because I really don’t want to be ungrateful. I’ve been following a new diet and so far I’ve lost about 6 pounds. It feels really good to be taking such good care of my body. Although, I’ve been aching for more of that frozen yogurt . . .

Also, I’m planning a giveaway in the somewhat near future. I’ve been wanting to do a giveaway once I hit 200 posts and I’ve got less than 10 to go! YAY!

All right, enough rambling for today!

Christmas Post Number 3

Not only do we get to celebrate Christmas Eve on the 24th, we also get to celebrate Ryan’s birthday. He turned 28 this year and we had a lot of fun celebrating with his family.

His mom made her special French toast for breakfast and Ryan opened up his gifts.

 

Later that day, Janelle, Dan and all their kids came over for an early Christmas. We opened presents with them and spent some time with them that afternoon.

I found this great shirt for Nathan to wear for the holiday. If you can’t read it, it says, “Believe me, I’m nice!”

For his birthday dinner, Ryan wanted to do a Pizza Bar and it was delicious! We made at least a half a dozen different kinds of pizza.

Toppings and Sauces

Bob’s Super Meat Pizza. I think there’s a crust under there.

Yum! Now I’m hungry for pizza again!

We also celebrated with Cheesecake. Of course!

He looks patient, but I’m sure he would have downed that whole thing if given the chance!

Nathan got to “help” blow out the candles. Good thing, cause there were a LOT!

Christmas morning we finally had to wake Nathan up because we were too excited to open presents.

 

Santa came! Although, Santa returned that toy and bought a better one after he saw how flimsy it was.

This was Nathan’s face when he realized that his stocking was full of toy cars!

Grandma

Grandpa

A mini foosball table! Sweet!

Speaking of sweet, here’s a small sample of all the Christmas cookies. Still, I managed to go a whole two weeks sugar free.

After Christmas we headed back to Washington to spend the New Year with my family. Unfortunately, I hurt my neck and back sitting on the airplane on the way home so I didn’t take very many pictures at all. I did get a picture of Nathan opening his new Toy Story comforter for his big boy bed.

I also found a few from Washington before we went to Arizona that I wanted to share.

Ryan trying on Leslie's white elephant gift. In case you can’t tell, it sparkles.

Mom and Dad on their way to a fancy dinner for Boeing.

We made it home just in time for everyone to get a yucky cold. I think we are now finally starting to recover from our wonderful vacation!

Christmas Post Number 2

One of the great things about being on vacation is that you can spend a lot of time relaxing and doing things you’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I spent a lot of my vacation time reading. One day, Ryan spent an entire afternoon building a block tower. He keeps telling me we need to buy some good old blocks for Nathan but I think they might secretly be for him.

He was kind enough to let Nathan knock it over when he woke up from his nap.

Wednesday, the 22nd was a really great day for me. Ryan, Nathan, and I drove up to Scottsdale to visit my Grandma Beverly’s grave. We were going to meet my Uncle Jimmy there (I haven’t seen him in close to 20 years!) but he had unfortunately just had surgery and couldn’t join us. Beverly was my mom’s step mom and she passed away in 1979 so I was never able to meet her. It was a very sweet and spiritual experience for me to be there and feel like I finally got to “meet” her. I know that she played a big role in helping my mom be the woman she is today, and mom has likewise done the same for me. I owe a debt of gratitude to her and I’m so grateful for eternal families!

 

Her grave is right beneath an olive tree that was planted when she was buried. It was only a few feet tall then!

The other big thing that happened that day? Ryan and I went out. As in “on a date”. Big. I know.  We actually went out with Ryan's sister, Janelle, and her husband, Dan, and both their parents. We went to a fun Karaoke bar where Dan and Janelle are regulars. We were the youngest ones there by a long shot, but it was really fun. And did I mention it was a date? Plus, Nathan got to spend the evening with all his cousins, two dogs, and a cat. I’m pretty sure he had a good time too.

See? Proof! It really was a date!

Everyone- minus Janelle (she took the picture)

Dancing!

It’s kind of hard to see, but REALLY?! Palm trees with Christmas lights on them?!

On Thursday, the 23rd we took advantage of the sunshine and went to the Phoenix zoo. It was probably 70 degrees and our family was baking in our jeans and t-shirts. EVERONE else there had sweatshirts on! I even saw a child with a scarf. Craziness!

Nephew Jarin (and his friend) sitting on a gorilla’s lap!

Our family and AN ELEPHANT?!

Ryan and Kallie in a nut shell . . . I mean clam shell!

Nathan “driving” the tractor

Petting the “doats” in the petting zoo.

Nathan’s favorite part was the little people playground.

Nathan and Avery.

Still more to come!