10 Years = Trip to Las Vegas

It's not quite our ten year anniversary.  That comes along in July, but we decided to treat ourselves to a fun get away while the weather wasn't so hot, and it wasn't so crowded.  We had a wonderful time just hanging out by ourselves and doing whatever we pleased.  My Mom came out and stayed with the boys while we lived it up in Sin City (translated: ate at 4 buffets, stayed up late, lost money on the slots and roulette, saw a live Price is Right, Cirque du Soleil, and Phantom of the Opera, not to mention, we ate and ate and ate and ate). You wouldn't think that two Mormons could have that much fun in Vegas, but we did!

Here at the Bellagio Fountains.  We enjoyed the water show a few times and decided that we liked Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon" the best.  (I secretly like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" the best.  My love for the Fab Four will never die). Did you know that this little pond is 8 acres?  Neither did we until we read about it on Wikipedia.  

 We thought you might like this picture of what the inside of our nostrils looks like while we stand under the gorgeous ceiling in the lobby of the Bellagio.   

 I found this lovely chocolate fountain and had to have my picture taken with it.  I love flowing chocolate.  This gem was behind glass or I might have taken a few sips.

 What would a vacation (or day for that matter) be like without Noah taking a picture of me when I wasn't expecting it.  It's one of his favorite tricks to play on me.  I don't even know what I was doing or thinking.  I may have been daydreaming about our next meal while gazing at the skyline.  It's too hard to say.  

 Later I tried to get him back and get a shot of him mid-bite.  I wish it weren't so blurry.  I also wish that maybe he would have had a stranger look on his face or maybe even a booger hanging out of his nose. All in good fun.  all in good fun.

 We ate a fancy, delicious dinner at a late hour and felt very grown up.  We didn't have to order a single chicken nugget or chocolate milk, and we didn't have to apologize to anyone around us as we were leaving.  It was all rainbows and butterflies.

 As mentioned, we went to a live Price is Right show.  No, we didn't win a single thing, but it was fun to watch and fun to get name tags.  

And I played this ginormous slot machine and won three dollars.  With that kind of winning, I might just start using my grocery money to gamble.  

In case you're wondering, this is what winning $3 looks like:

Not pictured, but to be mentioned:

• We did miss our kids a lot, but not too much.  We had a GREAT time, but we were happy to get home to our babies.  Mimaw Kay had it under control  Phew!
• We liked the Cirque du Soleil show very much, and we liked Phantom of the Opera, but we did get a little, teeny tiny bit bored in Phantom.  No judging please!  
• Our feet hurt.  They hurt a lot.  We were out of practice from our jaunts around the city in New York.  
• We stayed at the Vdara, which we would highly recommend.  It was so nice and fun.  We loved sleeping in.  
• Our bell boy, Zachary, was the closest thing to a best friend that we had there. 
• A Snickers bar from the mini-fridge is $5.  
• Clearly, Noah and I neither knew when to hold them, nor when to fold them.  If we did, we might have made some dough.
• There is a secret path from The Vdara to The Bellagio, and it made our day to discover it.

{Insert Witty Title}

If you know anything about me, you know that I always, always clean my house on Mondays.  I do this because I like to have a fresh canvas for us to trash all week long.  This past Monday was not that different, except that I took my house-wifey duties with a big, fat chip on my shoulder.  Sometimes I can't stand the thought of folding one more towel or scrubbing the toilet only to have some little boy pee all over the seat an hour later.  {sigh}  We Moms have it tough sometimes.  Well, you'll be happy to know I got over it.  Mopped the floors, scrubbed the tubs, and vacuumed the floors.  And as I sat relaxing in my bed that night, I had to admit how much I love having a tidy home.  As monotonous as it can be, I love to do that for my family.  I love that they can count on me.  I love that every night they get dinner, and that most nights they complain about whatever I make (except Noah, he is a gracious and complimentary eater).   I love it even as it is exhausting me.  It's one of those crazy/mixed-up things about being a parent.  It's like when you are so excited to have a weekend get away from the kiddos only to find that you miss them the entire trip and can't wait to get home.  I swear this has got to be the hardest job on the planet.  

Well, back to the real business.  We had a great week besides the aforementioned chip on my shoulder. After we left the library, we found this cute memorial park and decided to linger for a few.  Wy and Cy, my day time pals at the water feature wishing with all of their little hearts they were wearing swim trunks.

Climbing a tree while a sour-faced man kept glaring at us.  It's a free country!  We can climb if we want! 

Crossing this little bridge.  They did stop to dance, but I could not load the video.

Calvin decided to open his own library here at home.  He deviated from the standard shelf format and went with the basket route instead.  That's what I like about the Calvin M. Shafer Memorial Library.  You literally have to dig for the good read you're after.  

At the sign-in page, you can register to win a prize after reading 100 books.  You win a three ring binder.  I want that binder SO BAD.  I've been reading like crazy to try and get it.  

I was his first patron.  I borrowed two books of poetry which look very, very similar to a few that I once owned only yesterday.  

Also important to note is that Noah and I decided it was time to get some new pillows.  And we decided that we were going to get our dream pillows.  My pillow is the one on the left, and Noah's is the one on the right.  No, the irony is not lost on me.  That's why it's blog fodder.  I chose a nice foam, latex one, while Noah went for the Jumbo Sobokowa (which he claims to be very comfy.)

This weekend, we took a quick trip up to the Tent Rock monuments.  We had a great time.  We took the boys on a small, but fun hike.  Before we even got started, Wyatt saw a squirrel and threw him a graham cracker.  I wish you could have heard him chewing on it.  It was so funny.  

Cyrus lasted about a half mile (which I think is quite a bit for a little boy).  Then he grabbed a ride with me.  

Noah was a great leader.  You can tell he was an Eagle Scout.  He brought his fancy, Marine knife and binoculars.  Every few yards, he would take his knife and cut off a cactus limb or stab a tree.  The boys thought it was crazy-awesome.  And I'm not going to lie - - I did too.  So we hiked and rested and walked and stabbed and rested and walked and hiked.  

Noah showing off the chopped off cactus limb.  It was cool to look inside.

We have only a few regrets about our hike: wearing long pants (it was too hot) and not getting the full menu from Denny's when we stopped afterwards for lunch.  It turns out the hostess only gave us the promotional menu, and we thought that was all they had, so we ate sorry lunch.  

A Great Time To Fly A Kite

A Few of the Haps at Our House:

Cy is loving this one particular book.  I can't even remember the name, but it is a counting book.  He likes to sit down with you and count all of the pigs, boats, dinosaurs, etc. that he sees.  What is very cute is that he calls eleven, "E-beb-in."  Cutie is still a Cutie.

 About a month ago, we decided to get a little plant growing kit and some vegetable seeds and see what we could grow.  Well, needless to say, these plants have taken over my kitchen window and need to be transplanted into a bigger space.  We are having so much fun with it.  Who knew?  You just stick a seed in some dirt and BAM! you have a plant.  I just hope we actually get to eat some of this stuff.  We each picked a few plants.  Dad - spinach, Mom - lettuce, cilantro, and basil, Calvin - peas and cucumbers, Wyatt - hot peppers and Broccoli (and if he could grow Ranch dressing to go with it, he would), Cyrus - tomatoes.  Wish us luck!  We are setting the bar low and hoping for at least one salad and maybe a bowl of salsa.  We'll keep you posted.

 Over conference weekend, we took some time between sessions to fly some kites at the park across the street.  Say what you will about Albuquerque, but you can't deny that the wind makes flying a kite a lot of fun.  It was so easy that we just held up our arms, and the wind took the kite high in the air.  And when the excitement of the high-flying kite wore down, we sat on the ground and flew them some more.  Wyatt even managed to squeeze in a little nap.  It was just a perfect day.  The warm sun, the wind, the family together.  It is the stuff of dreams, I tell ya.

 Even Cy could easily fly his kite.  He just strolled around the field with it.  The only problem is he would walk right in front of the other flyers and tangle the string.  But even that is forgivable when you are Cutie.

 A few weeks ago there was a breakfast for the primary teachers at our house.  We had crepes and good conversation; what more do you need?  Calvin thought it was so much fun when I busted out the tablecloth.  He knew something fancy was going down.  So, he wanted to take pictures of the event.  

He wanted me to pose with the butter.  

 And pose with the tiny loaves of bread that we gave out for favors.  

 And he had to show the yummy strawberries.

 And let's not forget the whipped cream.  

 Yes, our Calvin is going to be a famous photographer one day.  

Family Updates:

Noah - Once again, everyone in the house got some death-flu bug, and Noah didn't so much as cough/sneeze one time.  He strolled right through the illness without missing a day of work. He suffered in other ways, however.  Dinner was not happening for about a week.  He doesn't complain, and he nurtured the rest of us like a pro. He brought home pizzas, picked up Dr. Peppers and Peeps, and tucked us all into bed when we grew weary of sitting on the couch.  He's a keeper.  

He works every other Saturday, you know.  We miss him on those off Saturdays.  Yesterday happened to be a day off, and we soaked up every minute of free time.  We ended the evening with a hot date (gasp!) at Joe's Pasta House where we broke all caloric barriers.  In fact, we had to come home and just lay around and groan. But it was well worth it.  A few weeks ago, Noah got some fancy food at a fancy grocery store.  Namely - caviar, pate, anchovies, a giant bagette, and some cherry cider.  Needless to say, I was not interested in any of those things, but he convinced Calvin to try them all.  He polished off the rest of the caviar tonight on his homemade pizza.  And you know what?  As I was gazing at him across the table with his fancy fixings, I have to say he had a very fancy aura about him.  Methinks he was on another plane of luxury than us plain pizza eaters.    

Katie - As mentioned, she fell prey to sickness.  I don't take sickness lightly.  I don't like to suffer or be uncomfortable, and this was no exception.  The saving grace was that my appetite was just fine.  No throwing up, just fever and chest/coughing junk.  So I managed to drive our sorry sick butts to Sonic Happy Hour two days in a row for sodas and even milkshakes.   I hate being sick. I hate when the kids are sick too because I feel so bad when I can't fix it.  Aside from sickness, I have not been tremendously busy.  I thought that I would give being a vegetarian a try.  I don't eat a lot of meat, but sometimes it grosses me out.  Sometimes it doesn't.  Usually it does when I have to prepare it. Anyhoo, I thought, "I'll just give it a try for a week and see how it goes."  WELL, halfway through the week, I forgot I was a vegetarian and realized it as i was pounding a turkey sandwich. I realized I wasn't giving up my cold cuts.  So, I've decided to be a sometimes-atarian.  I will eat it when I feel like it, and I won't when I don't.  In other words, nothing has changed.  

Calvin - You know by now that Calvin's beloved 3DS got stolen.  It was a sad, sad day.  We thought that we would just go ahead and replace it, but once the initial shock wore off, we found that he wasn't missing it too much.  We will probably get him another one one day, but for now we are enjoying the face time that a lack in 3DS brings.   Calvin has many friends at school.  His best friend is a sweet little kid named Khayden.  They are besties and hang out just about any time that they can.  We like when he comes over because he and Calvin and Wyatt all play together very well.  A few weeks ago, Calvin dropped my phone into the toilet.  It was a sad, sad, day.  We have recovered, and I got a new phone.  But let's just say that it was a pretty unpleasant moment for that poor phone.  

Wyatt - I know I say this all the time, but the boy is really still into HULK.  We got him a Hulk t-shirt the other day.  He has been wearing it constantly.  The first day he got it, he would say things to me like, "you got me this because you know how much I love Hulk, huh?"  or "I'll love this shirt forever and ever."  If I would have known, I would have bought that poor child one earlier.  He has so much pleasure from it.  Wyatt hates to clean his room.  On a particular messy day, I told him he couldn't come out until he cleaned it.  It took him a full 24 hours to clean it.  I let him out for meals, but aside from that he spent a lot of time in there just hanging out in his messiness.  At one point, I heard him trying to convince Cyrus, who was standing outside the room in the hallway, to come and help him.  I knew he was desperate because Cy's specialty is making messes, not cleaning them.  Cy didn't fall for it.  He ran away as fast as he could.  

Cyrus - He is as sweet as he is cute.  And messy, too.  He dumps out flour and throws clean clothes on the floor.  He hides things in strange places.  I sometimes find my hair clips in the crock pot or spiderman in the blender.  He likes to snuggle and "mooch" (smooch).  He is getting so big and has abandoned his nap, which makes me very sad.  I'm having a hard time figuring out when to exercise now.  Every few days, he will crash on the couch for about an hour.  Just the other day, he and I were watching a riveting episode of House Hunters when I heard the tiniest snore come from him.  I had my arm around him and his head was leaned on my side.  When I went to lay him on the couch, I noticed a large pool of drool on my shirt.  He was out cold.  

I forgot to mention Easter.  We had a great Easter with lots of fun Easter egg hunts.  Some of the little kids met at the park for an Easter egg hunt.  My friend, Jen, snapped these cute pics of the boys.  It was so much fun.  For Easter dinner, we had ham, rolls, scalloped potatoes, deviled eggs, and strawberry pie for dessert.  So tasty!  The only thing missing was family.  We sure missed all of our family in Tennessee.  

Cyrus trying to get Jen to take a pic of the food in his mouth.  Boys will be boys, no?

 The whole crew: Calvin, his friend Khayden, Cyrus, Calvin and Wyatt's friend Jack, Wyatt, and Me.  Is it just me or am I always surrounded by boys?

 Cyrus steady chilling in The Big Pink Bag.  Janice, I always think of you when I use it, which is very often!

Shafers & Seares

**Scroll down and pause the music before you watch the video**

There may have been some talk of past good times.  There may have been some very late nights.  There may or may not have been several large desserts consumed in a short amount of time resulting in poor sleep quality.  One member of the party may have been pushy at The Standard Diner, bullying another out of a sandwich choice.   There may or may not have been some busy-bag, sweat shop abuse occurring.  There may have been some "chilly" walks to the park.  Pizza was possibly consumed at more than one meal.  The truth about how often Noah and Katie snuggle on the couch may have come out.  Someone just might have spent a lot of time in one particular chair reading one particular book.  Some ladies (one of which might be pregnant, but it isn't me) may have gone to the nail salon and out to lunch.  One man may have felt let down because another man now eats meat sparingly.  The Beeper Story may have become an instant classic.  One Pilot might have bumped, yet not damaged, another Pilot.  There might have been a cute toddler adding an "s" to every word. That same toddler may have refused to kiss the toy Hulk.  Four boys may or may not have played for hours on end, not bothering their parents even a little bit.  In fact, they may have played so well that their parents might have forgotten to put them to bed until midnight.  There could possibly be some regrets that there weren't more pictures taken. However, Taylor could have possibly made the best video of the weekend.  What we do know is that there definitely were some excellent friends having an excellent weekend.   

This Week

Before we get started with this week's happenings, let's just get an eye full of Cutie.

And a lovely surprise shot of Cutie's Mom - - - - mid-blink and mid-word.  And no, I was neither asleep nor drunk.  That's my normal look.  That's why Barbizan Modeling Agency won't leave me alone.   

On Saturday we decided to go out to lunch after Noah got out of work and then head to the mall for some shoe shopping.  It seemed like no big thing. And it wasn't really a big deal except that towards the end of shopping, somewhere before the Pumas and after the Vans, we started a quick and steady decent into shopping hell.  Kids crying for candy, pants being bought without bothering to have them even tried on because we just wanted to get out, a pit stop at the germ-infested play area, a mom heavy-laden with three kid's coats + her own coat, and one little boy (who shall remain nameless) who needed a nap.

Cyrus at the stinky play area before things got ugly, and we had to abort the Find-Your-Kids-Shoes Mission

Hot Stuff

 So, before the mall, last Sunday night, we decided to put Cyrus in his own big boy bed.  We split the bunks and put Calvin in his very own bedroom.  Cyrus likes his new bed and mostly because he likes to get out of bed and wander around.  Anyway, we have had a lively week of teaching him how to stay in his own bed.  It looks like we have a few more days of learning. He's a tough cookie.  

We thought for sure that Calvin would miss sharing a room with Wyatt and ask to switch back, but this is not the case.  He is loving his bachelor life, and I can't say as I blame him.  

The boys have been LOVING the trampoline.  I love it, too, except that it makes me feel like I am going to pee my pants.  So I mostly cheer them on from the back porch.  

Cy has given up his nap (for the most part).  We knew something was up when he wasn't ready for bed before midnight on days he was napping.  So, sadly, he is a little cranky at the end of the day. Lucky for me I get a few more snuggles in.  

And no nap means we get a little more of this:

And even some of this:

Wyatt has fallen back in love with everything related to The Hulk.  So this translates into lots of time without his shirt on, clenched teeth, and the phrase "Hulk Smash" being repeated quite a bit.  On another sad note: his hamster Chippy passed away.  It was so sad to tell him and even sadder to take him to the burial site.  Believe it or not, I cried.  It was very sad.  We won't be replacing him.  Instead we took Wyatt to build a bear so that he could get  something to help him not be so sad.  

Wyatt and Calvin were the best of pals today after church. Noah, Cyrus, and I all got a su-weet nap while they played and played and played.  I hope that this is a foreshadowing of this week's spring break.  I'm crossing my fingers for no fights and lots of fun.  And I wouldn't mind a couple of naps either!

Cyrus: Man Of The Hour

As mentioned in previous posts, Cyrus has strong opinions about what he wears everyday.  However, it always includes a hat and shoes.  I have been trying to remember to take pictures of his wacky outfits, but it turns out I have only remembered twice lately.  So here are a few examples:  Over sized hat, "lellow" (yellow) shirt, brown pajama pants, one snow boot, and one church shoe on the wrong foot.  

In this outfit he has on a t-shirt, a light weight jacket, a red coat, blue basketball shorts (because, you know, he plays college ball), one long white tube sock, and snow boots.  Note: it was not snowing and we weren't going anywhere.

Andrea, this one is for you: the yarmulke Boston Red Sox hat made for a six month old.  Also humorous is that he is actually flipping through a magazine in the check out line.  He gets bored just like the rest of us.

 And this is just gratuitous adorable-ness.

 And finally, one of the many places that I find his toys that makes me smile.  He has trapped Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor in my decorative jar.  I left them there until he took them out because I just think it is so cute.  I also find these guys in my make-up drawer, on the edge of the bathtub (it is a little disconcerting that they watch me bathe), in the refrigerator, in the utensil drawer, and lastly, sometimes in his diaper.  Don't reread that. You got it the first time.  He stuffs things down the front of diaper on occasion.  It's always a treat to change him; I can tell you that much.