Cameron turns 7 !!!

So another year, another son of mine celebrates a birthday! This time its Cameron who is 7. How can this be the little thing that grew inside of me not so long ago?? Goes by so fast, and yet so many fun memories of my little sunny-boy Cameron. He is quite the dramatic child in our household! I always joke around that he should take up acting and get PAID for his antics...oh well, keeps us on our toes, that's for sure!!

I love the thrilled look on his face in this one...



So we did a home party and he invited quite a few kids...I figured they would all show up, so for a pretty decent percentage, you gotta invite a lot of friends to begin with. We decided to do a movie theme, just without the movie theater! Our LCD TV would do the trick. I put together little bags of candy and added in a movie ticket into each one. Then I got some little popcorn box holders from the grocery store that would be perfect for the microwave popcorn I bought...too bad it was too peppery and gross, that's what you get when you try and go 'natural', I guess! lol

Cameron wanted baked potatoes for his birthday dinner, so that's what we had and I also made him a homemade cake. I can't stand store-bought cakes; they are too sweet and artificial, and just plain gross!! People have always raved about how yummy my homemade cakes are, and I have to agree. Besides, a helluva lot cheapter, too!

For his friend party we had the typical pizza: feeds many, and cheap. I made cupcakes for his friends and just had him blow out another candle from the previous cake I had made him. I noticed that most kids aren't so fond of the cake-part...they licked the frosting right off and left me with a bare-naked red velvet cupcake that got thrown out...KIDS, right?? :)






Cameron was thrilled his best buddy, Jaden Warr, was able to make it! Jason and I were really good friends with his mom and dad, but they are since divorced and so the kids stay with their dad on the weekend, so Lance was good enough to bring him and his siblings, over for the big day! If anyone was going to come, I was hoping Jaden would at least make it, so it turned out great. They've been best friends since they were 2 and are like 2 peas in a bod, really! My friend Melanie's kids, I love them like my own!! (Well, almost ;)




Cameron got a scooter from his parents and some mini wrester guys and a mini wresting ring where they can duke it out...he loved them!

V-day!

Valentines morning...here's what the boys got, great big red alien-like things! They loved them. We got Payton a big-eyed giraffe, since he is still the baby and I thought it woule be cute for him. They got a couple of treats with it and that was it. I really have a hard time justifying spending a lot of money on these silly holidays...we only celebrate it because it's about the LOVE we have for eachother, namely our sweet boys...they look a little sleep-deprived, probably because they were from a weekend full of mini-quakes out where we live! Scary, I think so! 3 within 2 days over that weekend was more than we really asked for :-/

Jaeden



Teagan




Cameron



Braxton~ yep, still asleep ;D



Payton aka Pay-Pay



This is really what our boys look like when the masks come off ;)




Later that night my sweet momma came over to sit with the boys so Jason could go out for dinner...we went out for sushi at our favorite restaurant, Blue Fish. Then we went to Red Mango for some froyo, yummmm!

Wax Museum

3rd graders do what's called a 'wax museum'. This was back on February 4th. They get to pick someone famous or someone who made a difference in this world, and do a report on them and try and dress the part.

Teagan chose Lou Gehrig. It was very educational for ME in helping him prepare, because I learned a lot about him that I never knew before and have a new found respect for him and what he went through!

I was glad Teagan picked him because we basically had all of the 'costume attire' he would need, so that made it easy...I'm sure one of the reasons why he picked him in the first place, is because he already had a Yankees Gehrig shirt anyway :)

It was cute to see all of the kids dressed up...some of their costumes were so unique and creative! I could definitely tell which kids' parents made them do their report poster on their own...and I realized I probably did way too much for Teagan's poster to make it look nice and organized and clean! Oops! He helped me in putting everything on the poster and read books on Gehrig, etc. I guess I just can't see how teachers can expect 3rd graders to put together a nice poster of their person without the parents help; guess that's my excuse anyway! lol

So here are a couple of shots of Teagan...and remember, they are supposed to be posed like a wax figure, so I can tell he was a little bugged with me asking him to pose for the camera and smile! Haha, yeah right. :)

Tucson part II

Me 'n Jason on the veranda at the Signature Grill...I thoroughly enjoyed eating lunch out in the fresh air!

Ok, so I'm going to try and sum up mine and Jason's little venture down to Tucson 2 weeks ago...obviously we survived and didn't go down in a flame of fiery glory in an airplane crash, like I seemed to envision every now and then while up in the air...I'm probably one of those people who SHOULDN'T fly, as I tend to have a wee bit more anxiety than the average person! lol

Enough about me...well, let's just say the morning we were to leave, my boys weren't the nicest of boys (at least my oldest wasn't) and that just made it that much easier to walk out the door, say BYE! and get a couple of days of PEACE!! Holy crap, wasn't the best of heartfelt exits, but maybe I needed that kind of an ending to a beginning of (almost 3) kid-free days, and I really could have used 1, maybe 2 more on top of that to recharge my mommy batteries...but hey! beggars can't be choosers so I'll take what I can get!


My Delta cookie :)



This was only the 3rd time I've flown in my life, so I have to say I'm just in awe at the beautiful views down below when you're tens of thousands of feet up in the air! I just kept snapping away in the airplane and I'm sure the passengers around me thought I was a little ridiculous...but then again, I suppose in my mind I was living like it was my last day on earth! I couldn't resist taking picture of some of God's great creations from a different angle.




Afterall I was in an airplane and airplanes do crash sometimes, and I was pretty sure I would be the one to end up dying that way...so I figured I'd have lots of pics to have of my last minutes on earth to share with the world!!! And then we landed in Tucson :D

Tucson city limits...pretty much a desert. Not much green in sight!


Some kind of mining pit...or the world's largest sink drain!


WHAT THE...?!? Apparently the Tucson airport shares it's lanes with the military jets...good to know we weren't in the midst of a war or attack :)





We stayed at an amazing resort called Starr Pass at the JW Marriott. Wow. Didn't have the most expensive room, but it was perfect for us and we had a beautiful view of the hills and cacti (that's plural for cactus, you know).



The first day we got there was on Sunday, and we basically just relaxed in our room, went to a business meet and greet and ordered room service...ahhh, and all kid-free! I just want to make one thing clear, though: I LOVE LOVE LOVVVVVE my kids...so much!! But becoming a stay-at-home mommy has been a wonderful yet sometimes, rude awakening to the demands of being a mom and having to pretty much be the one to hold down the fort!

A few view of our room...




A waterslide our boys would TRULY appreciate...too bad they were a few hundred miles away from it! mwuahahahaha



View to a kill from our room...yes, you CAN golf in winter if you go a few hundred miles south :)


Lunch at the Signature Grill....my sweet hubby and his yummy salad



Me and my salad...yummy...not me, the salad :)




Our pigeon friends we had lunch with: Larry & Barry~ haha! They quite enjoyed the free lunch they were getting out of me!



Some of the pretty vegetation of the desert region:




Don't TOUCH


Wow, this cactus really magnifies the fact that I AM vertically challenged :)




So I've definitely learned over the years to take advantage of any little break I can get from them because then I can get that quiet time to myself and get away from all the noise and chaos, and come back re-energized and ready to go full speed ahead all over again!

Monday Jason had his seminar meetings to go to, so I woke up when I wanted, headed to the gym and had a great workout, then stretched outside in the warm SUN! It was wonderful...came back to the room and had a nice warm bath and was actually able to read my book and just take as long as I wanted...SO nice. We met up with some clients later on for a drink (virgin for me) and then went back to our room until dinnertime.

We went to an AMAZING restaurant called Primo that was in the restaurant...they have all kinds of organic dishes and grow the veggies and herbs that they use, out in a little garden adjacent to the restaurant. They use local products as much as possible and they served them in a really creative way.


Us at Primo restaurant

Later that night we met up with a couple of people who work for CLVS and sat outside around the chimnea and chatted it up for a couple of hours...wow it got cold out!! Strange how the desert can be so arid, dry and hot in the day but FREEEEZING at night. So we went in when I couldn't feel my toes anymore :)

The next day Jason had a couple of more seminars, but got to take a break for lunch and we went to a restaurant called Catalina BBQ and Sports Bar. The chef has been featured on The Food Network so we thought we'd give it a try. It sat right next to the golf course and we were able to sit outside to eat because afterall, we were in the far Southwest and could enjoy it being in the 70's :)


A hungry little bee...look a little closer :)

They have a roadrunner on site...Yes, a roadrunner; they are, in fact, REAL!! He came up while we were eating and the waitress said that he is a 'regular' and will pose for a picture if you feed him! So I threw him a piece of toast and yep! He definitely stood there and posed for me so I could take a picture, he was so cute. And he had a name! Jasper, haha :)


Just me...


Me and Jason


Crazy Tucson mountain skyline at dusk




So as all good things come to an end, so did our mini-trip down to Tucson have to end eventually...After lunch we went back to the hotel and I sat outside the hotel on the patio and read and at choco sunflower seends while Jason went to his last meeting...ahhh, one of the best parts of the trip for me, just to relax and be with my own thoughts :) I put in my earphones to block out the vulgar phone conversation some Big-O tire redneck-exec was having with someone and just enjoyed the lovely AZ weather.

So off we went to the airport and turned in our rental back in and waited to get on our plane...in the meantime we enjoyed some downtime with Pegasus :) Can't wait to do it again with my honey!!

At the airport to go home, boo :(


Dang, I'm a poser!




Plane ride home...what else do I have to do other than take pictures?? :)



Almost home! Approaching the Salt Lake Valley at night...


Touchdown to the ground at the airport...what a beautiful sight to see, the American flag to welcome us back home!