There are others!

So here is another post about a link that needs to be checked out. This is a column by LZ Granderson and is all over CNN right now.

I'm so excited to see that there are more parents out there who are screaming for standards for our kids! I posted about my blog stalking earlier for the woman who didn't want to see childhood disappear and it's awesome to see that this is article is not from a white suburban mom but a black urban man! I don't think we're as much as a minority as I was afraid. We just need to be louder!

Another year older...

Guest Post by Mommy:

So as it turns out I'm not as gung ho about getting older as I thought. I haven't been in a great mood as my birthday approached anyway (despite all the fun that surrounded my Dad's awesome birthday). Life had kind of beaten me down and so I was more inclined to just pretend the 18th of April didn't even exist. So much so that I am actually doing this post on the 19th because I didn't want to acknowledge my birthday. I will be changing the date on the post though so that for historical purposes this post will be reflected on the appropriate day. Sorry that was kind of convoluted. Anyway back to getting older and wanting to just kind of not exist for the past week. I had been repeatedly asked by family what I wanted to do for my birthday and when I wanted to celebrate and basically I was just evasive and wouldn't commit. Part of it, as it turns out, was that 27 is a lot closer to 30 than I was really prepared to think about. My sweet husband tried to warn me of this and I remember him saying something about 27 but I guess you're never really prepared for it to be you.

Luckily, my awesome sister in law, Rachel, and her three kids arrived on Sunday and helped pull me out of my funk. (The next post will be dedicated to the fun we've had.) She insisted on a cake, we got my family over here during the afternoon and I got a lot of presents! I really felt loved (despite the lack of facebook happy birthdays.)





Rachel made a delicious cake and then kept my kiddos occupied while Pete and I wandered (literally...we walked) to our favorite eatery (Pizza Factory express anyone?)




All said and done...it was a terrific birthday despite the fact that was grey and overcast and the five cousins all were crying at separate times throughout the day. I think I'll be okay. I can handle 27. I have a house and two BEAUTIFUL and very silly girlies. Like my brother's girlfriend said to me (remember Marty is on a mission): "Well at least you have life all figured out! You've already picked who you're going to marry and married him!"

Happy 50th Birthday, Grandpa!

Grandpa turned 50 today! We had a great time celebrating with him all week. Mommy even went climbing with him. Yesterday we hung out on the boat while Grandpa wakeboarded in the 59 degree water. (He cheated and had on a wet suit!) Grandma, Mommy, and Aunt Angie also helped throw a fiesta for him on Friday night. There was LOTS of food and people and drinks. Oh and really yummy desserts. We didn't get to sing to him until his actual birthday (today).



Oh and Aunt Angie would request you don't look too closely at this cake but Mommy wants to throw out a tip to not try a new frosting recipe that includes using a candy thermometer on a night when you are also making food and decorating for a party of 50 people. She and Aunt Angie owe Grandma a new stovetop!

What has Siena been up to lately?

Guest Post by Cara:


Mommy realized that it has been quite sometime since she updated on Siena. (It's probably been awhile since we've talked about MY new skills too!)

Siena talks to just about anybody now. According to Mommy and Daddy, she used to be just so shy that she wouldn't even look up at someone. Now she'll talk (albeit very very quietly) and play and sit near you! (Okay maybe if you're not a big tall guy like Uncle Nick or Uncle Ben.) She loves to tell stories and play pretend. She's also getting very good at going to the potty without any help at all. I can't believe my big sister that is so grown up.

One of the funniest things that she does right now though is in almost refusing to learn how to write her ABCs. Oh she writes. And likes to sign her name whenever Mommy does. She is actually pretty peculiar. Here are two terrible photos of some of her writing samples. She always stays on the line. In fact she loves it!







Oh and one last picture to make Uncle Marty just a little bit jealous out there on his mission and to show him that we miss him...

Remember this picture?



And now check out this picture....

Grandpa's Adventure Week

Our Grandpa is turning 50 on Saturday!! Apparently, he knew the dinosaurs. Anyway, our Grandpa has decided that this week he will attempt to do something big every day. Today he is climbing in the beautiful Nevada State Park, Red Rocks with a good buddy of his. (And these aren't wimpy sport climbs...Grandpa is doing the multiple pitch-trad climbing kind of stuff.) We decided to kick off the week for him by going to a little park that is a quick 10 minute walk from our house. It's a city park that has no playground to speak of, but a little trickling stream and two huge bouldering man-made rocks. We didn't get there until dark so we didn't do much but we thought of you Grandpa!

I'm a Backpacker!

Last night, I got to sleep in a sleeping bag in a tent with my Mommy! And we had to bring all of our stuff with us on our backs! I was so lucky. Last week, Grandpa called up and invited my Daddy to take me on my first backpacking trip. Grandpa's brother was in town with his kids and they were going to do an easy little backpack trip that would be perfect for me. Daddy's work schedule has been CRAZY and he was so overbooked and overworked. Mommy thought about it overnight and called up Grandpa the next day and said that if we did Tuesday night that she could bring me! Oh it was so much fun!

In truth, my little backpack was much to big for me but I attempted to carry it in and back out. I only lasted a short way both times but at least we tried. Grandpa even let me bring hot dogs and marshmallows for dinner. (Well really he carried them in his pack but let's just say, Mommy doesn't remember the last time she saw him eat a hot dog.)

We left Grandpa's house at about 5:30 pm on Tuesday and drove north west of St. George to a little hike that Grandpa call's "The Vortex." It's not even 30 minutes out of town. We put on our packs and hiked in to the little camp spot and set up our tents.





We started a fire and had our hot dogs roasting before the sun went down. I helped collect as many sticks as I could. I had quite the pile going! And actually here are a couple of pictures of Grandpa and Uncle Nick starting our fire without matches!





Then Mommy took me and my new friend, Savannah (one of my Mommy's cousins) and looked for tracks out in the sand to help me wait patiently for my marshmallows. Grandpa said there had to be stars in the sky before I could cook them. I only ate half a marshmallow when all was said and done but I loved roasting them! Then we sat around the fire and listened to Grandpa play the harmonica. (Mommy sang along with the songs even and told me that Grandpa always brings his harmonica on a camping trip.) Finally, it was time to crawl in to our sleeping bags. I was actually begging to go to bed. So Mommy got us all snuggled down and we played with the camera for a few minutes and then we sank in to sleep.



I woke up all bright eyed and bushy tailed 10 hours later much to Mommy's surprise. The only other time we tried sleeping in a tent, I never fell asleep...even at 1 in the morning. (If you remember that was our maiden voyage in camping last August in which we just drove home at 1.)


Mommy didn't sleep as well because a storm system rolled in at about 4:30 am and the wind was very loud and kept her up. It also made for a very chilly morning. We ate pop tarts and drank hot chocolate before deciding it wasn't too cold to do a short hike. We didn't go all the way to the cool spiral rock formation that my Grandpa calls the actual "Vortex" but that was okay. I still had fun and was a great hiker.



All in all, Mommy says it was a successful first backpacking trip for me. I only cried a little bit when I had to carry the pack back out but once they got me distracted with flowers (which I picked almost compulsively). I was okay. I can't wait to do it again.

Daddy did a Tri!

That's right...my Daddy ran in a Sprint Distance Triathlon today. And we are so proud. He finished in 1 hour 10 minutes, surprising himself. It was a pool swim which meant he stood in line for about 40 minutes to jump in to the pool, even with staggered start times! Craziness.

Here I am waiting for him to run by me. We made it in time for him to make his transition from bike to run which we didn't expect. And Daddy wasn't even expecting us to be there at all so he was really excited!







Then we had to entertain ourselves for about 25 minutes while Daddy ran.


Mommy didn't get a great picture of him crossing the finish line because he came up so fast and she didn't have time to get the camera out and run close to get the awesome picture.


I asked Daddy if he won...which I keep telling him he did.


My Daddy is so strong and amazing. WE LOVE YOU DADDY!