Watermelon Felon

The other day we discovered that Taj really likes watermelon!  The weather has been so nice here that for dessert the other day we went out back to enjoy our treat.  Good thing we did because Taj got messy with his slice!  Can you see in the picture of him smiling that he even has watermelon juice on his forehead?  He got a little too enthusiastic and missed his mouth! :)  Forget the cupcake on his birthdays.  We are going to let him have watermelon from now on because that was a lot more fun to watch him dig into! :)  Isn't it wonderful how much you really really love your little kids!

My man the Track Star!

So the other day Mark got up and ran a 10k!  He doesn't run....well on a regular basis.  But only Mark who hasn't worked out in a while could just get up and run a 10k...just like that!  He is serving with the Young Men in our ward and the 10k was one of their activities that he participated in.  I just had to blog about it because it blows my mind...I honestly think I would have killed over and died there in the middle of the street.  I didn't think to take pictures until we got back home so, although its hard to tell, these are pictures of Mark re-enacting the running...not actually running. 

My Girls

So these are two YW in my ward that I literally hang out with all the time.  They are both 15 (they hit the big 16 in Jan/Feb).  And when I was in the ward before I was their Beehive advisor...but fast forward 2 years later they are just some of my favorite friends.  They come over after school a lot and we have cheese tortillas and well....hang out.  I never knew I could still kick it with the teenage generation (being so mature and wise in my old age).  But I have a lot of fun with these two.  They are smart, happy, silly and also happen to have great taste in music!  Plus they are my new favorite babysitters.  Its fun to have them over so often too because Taj has already gotten to know them and likes hanging with them!  So this is my shout out to the coolest 15 year olds I know...Melissa and Morgan!  Melissa was chewing M&M's in the second picture...that explains the multi colored goo in her mouth! :)

Modest is Hottest

This last weekend we had one of the best date nights ever!  First of all we got real babysitters (the kind that are still too young to vote and you have to pay).  Someday I will do a post about them.  I really like the YW in our ward.  Morgan and Melissa are two that I really like hanging out with...and they are fabulous babysitters...but back to the date.  We then met our friends Troy and Leeann, plus their brother and sister Brandon and Krista at a great restaurant downtown called Firefly!  We loved it.  All the food is sort of appetizers portions so everyone gets a dish (or two) and you all share.  Great meal to have with friends because you try lots of new things (stuffed dates...YUMMY!) and it really stimulates conversation.  Then we went to the Hard Rock for our concert.  It was Matt Costa and Modest Mouse (pictured above).  We are big fans of both bands so the night was amazing.  Luckily we stood next to two (slightly tipsy) diehard Modest Mouse fans...who insisted we keep on dancing.  So lets just say I got my rock out on like I was 14 all over again! Nothing like peer pressure from some drunken strangers to help me lose my inhibitions! :)  It was just a really great night!  Its so fun to have such cool friends to hang out with and enjoy great music with.  If you haven't heard of them I recommend you check them out.  Modest Mouse has like 12 albums (might be exaggerating but there are a lot).  I dig their lyrics....they're clever.  Plus Modest Mouse's guitarist used to play for the Smiths.  Oh  yeah....and I also want to give a shout out to my friend Jessica who went to the concert solo just because she liked them and hoped she would find someone she knew there!  She found me and now we can go to lots of shows together!

Swim Party

Tonight we went to the annual Wright Engineers Swim Party.  (Might I just say here...I LOVE the company Wright Engineers!  It is such a great family company and we are so lucky to be part of it.)  They had it at a nearby YMCA and we had a blast.  Taj loves to be in the water.  There is also a picture of Matt who sits right next to Mark at the office and his son Grant!   And then how sweet is that picture where Taj is so high up in the air that his top half got cut out of the frame! :)

Happy Reunion!

Yesterday I got see a great friend!  Sarah Roberts (now Clark) was my first companion on my  mission in Missouri!  She lives in AZ now with her husband and cute son Max.  But this weekend they were on their way to Utah for a wedding and made a pit stop here in Vegas (thanks Ryan!) to have lunch with my little family.  The boys had  the best time meeting and playing together and it felt so so good to see my wonderful friend!  I love you Sarah!

Eden Love

The other day Mark got a letter in the mail from Eden!  I get the mail at like 2 everyday but since it was addressed to Mark I resisted opening it for him. :)  But the instant he walked in the door we tore into it to discover a beautiful picture that Eden drew just for him!  He was quite flattered that little Eden was thinking about her Uncle Mark while she is all the way in TN!  It is posted proudly on our fridge and Eden might just be getting some "original artwork" herself in the mail soon.

p.s.  We were all quite impressed with her coloring skillz by the way!

Play Date!

Today we are baby-sitting my friend Marianne's little boy Nicholas who is only 2 days younger than Taj and it has been a blast!  He is so cute (as you can see by this pic) and the easiest go lucky kid.  It is really fun to watch the two of them have such a good time together.  And a good time they have had, if you notice the toys strewn everywhere!  We have also discovered that Nicholas is a mean dancer so we have been rocking out a little bit to.  Its been a really fun day!  

P.S.  Taj is waving his heart out to the camera in this picture, hence the blur! :)

Super Dork

Ok...so I have stopped washing my hair.  Not altogether but not often.  I mean come on...I put product in my hair everyday to make it clumpier and stickier...so I figure why not let nature help! :)  However, tonight Mark and I discovered that it would pretty much stay wherever you put it (you know, like those troll dolls from the 90s?).  Anyhow we (being super dorks) had a hey day molding my hair and Mark snapped some shots of the different creations.  I have to admit in retrospect I think...I should do junk like this with my hair more often, but in public.  Why is it that we don't think we can pull stuff like this off?  Mind you I realize this post really does reveal that I am a super dork, but I have come to embrace that fact (tonight anyway). :)

Lovey Love Notes!

I feel like I should preface this mushy post with a little story.  The other night we were just lying in bed falling asleep and something came over me and I proceed to tell Mark about how much I admire him and all these great traits about him.  He was wide awake during this part of the conversation and, frankly, ate it up. He then snuggled me and said in a sleepy voice "Yeah and your hot!" Ok...of course this is almost always nice to hear but I assure you it was just default response, you know?  Then I said "Well can you think of anything else you like about me?"  He took a long pause (well...long in my world) and then said something about how funny he thinks our inside jokes are.  (Sure this also nice but hello not about me and solely me!  Are you with me girls?)  But the icing on the cake was the very next statement out of his mouth, "What were we talking about again?" shortly followed by loud snoring!

Anyhow, it was evident he was just really tired but I did have to tease him about his overwhelming romantic nature the next morning.  It was no big deal and we went on about our day but then I started finding little notes around the house in spots that I'm always at (my ipod, bathroom cabinet, jewelry box and scriptures).  Anyhow...I loved it and so I wanted to share.  You might note the "mysterious eric" one.  I have no idea.  My husband is super random....really random.   But this was my romantic moment and I ate it up!  Romantic Eric (?) and all!

Taj-O Flicks

If you haven't lately its fun to check youtube for some new Taj videos. (see instructions to the left)  They are pretty ghetto by way of filming but main character always makes the movie!  I recommend Tickle me Taj and Tumbling Taj!  Family will appreciate these much more than the average viewer but even if you don't know Taj I guarantee you will be smiling by the end of the videos! :)

Uncle Tim Time!

Today we had a fun surprise!  Our brother-in-law Tim Irwin was passing through town so we meet him for lunch.  He lives in Lehi, Utah but is in the film biz so his work takes him all over the world!  You can check out his blog link from here (its Ranch Exit).  He does a lot of sport films but his real love is documentaries.  He is currently working on one called Jawbreaker which follows a rock band from the early 90's.  But this weekend he will be going out to Primm, NV to film some sort of baja race for Oakley.  We ate lunch and then stopped at Frye's (the coolest electronic store in the world).  A good time was had by all.  Tim is one chill cat and a really cool uncle.  

Road Trippin!

My friend Hannah took me on an adventure this weekend!  We and her husband Blake took of into the desert to fulfill a lifelong dream for her, owning a VW squareback!  She just bought a yellow 1973 VW squareback from ebay and we went to AZ to pick it up!  Mark stayed home and took care of Taj for me!  It was a quick but fabulous trip.  We left Friday night and got back Saturday night.  They (well Hannah) was starting to get really nervous about it as we were driving up to the guys house, but the second she saw that car it was love!  But I think they really made a great buy!  The previous owner seemed to know all things VW and had taken great care of the car so it is in great shape.  He gave them tons of info and showed them all the tricks and tweeks that the car requires.  But being a 73...no AC baby, so we pretty much melted all the way home, but it was still a super fun road trip and I can't wait to roll around LV with Hannah in her new ride!