mom and dad are cool - really

friday nights are usually crazy at our house with three teenagers coming and going with their friends. last friday night, it ended up that everyone was going instead of coming and ethan found himself with just lame old mom and dad to hang out with. what's a four year old to do?

he wasn't so sad when he found out dad was taking us for ice cream.

and agreed to sitting at the tiny kids' table no less!

(thank goodness the chair i sat in didn't break and thus my self esteem remained in tact).

so over all,

the seating could've been more comfortable,

but the ice cream was really good,

and the company, was even better.

i love how ethan is holding our faces in this photo.

mom and dad aren't so bad after all.

the cheering section

for the past several weeks, lacrosse has taken over our saturdays. besides the fact that i haven't had time to paint allie's bathroom, it's really ok with me, i know cheering on spencer is a worthy time investment. the painting will ALWAYS be around, but spencer will eventually leave the nest. it's been a few years since either of my boys did any sports, at least the outdoor kind of sports where you bring your own chair and cheering section. it's something that i've fallen back into naturally, i had forgotten how great it is to sit on the side lines in all kinds of weather, and yell like crazy for my kids.

from a cheering section perspective i have to say that lacrosse is one of the more fun sports i've watched.

it's pretty exciting, and i seem to have a hard time not yelling, so i do, a lot. usually too much for rich. things like, "get him!" or, "hit him with your stick!" or my new favorite, "forget the stick, use your body!" i wonder why rich doesn't like to sit with me? heck if i know.

spencer is definitely enjoying himself, although one of these days i need to photograph his bruised and beaten body the day after a game. despite the bruises, i mean, battle scars, he is loving this new sport of his. the timing has been perfect for him, he has needed this outlet in a big way and it seems to be a really perfect fit for him.

it's only his first season ever playing, so he's still trying to pick up the skills, but i see a lot of potential for him to be really good. he's such a natural athlete, tall and thick and super strong. he gets that from me of course.

one BIG bonus of being part of lacrosse this year, i get to sit next to kristy and alternate chatting and cheering for our athlete sons. just like old times.

 it's crazy to me, to think that EIGHT years ago, this scenario is originally how kristy and i met. spencer and kyle ended up on the same soccer team in kindergarten, we chatted and cheered way back then too, and we've been friends ever since. lucky for us.

so i can paint another day, for now i'll be the cheering section. it's way more fun than painting anyway, and when the game is over i don't feel like i want to burn my clothes.

double digits

i'm not entirely sure if rich really knew what he was getting himself into ten years ago today, but i am sure that i have felt real gratitude every single day since then, that he jumped into the proverbial frying pan with both feet. we really do have something to celebrate today.

ten years of not just making it work, but making it great.

ten thank yous to my ricardo mas...

1. thank you for helping me become a better person.

2. thank you for making me laugh, a lot.

3. thank you for being my safe place.

4. thank you for letting me be yours.

5. thank you for being an amzing father to our children.

6. thank you for having such a strong work ethic.

7. thank you for thinking it's important for me to be home with the children.

8. thank you for buying my wood floor before your tv.

9. thank you for telling me that i'm easy on the eyes.

10. thank you for stretching your comfort zone every day.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABE,

I AM CA-RAZY ABOUT YOU.

100 list revisited

i have been thinking all year that i need to do another 100 things list. it was so much fun the first time trying to think of 100 things, that since then, things that i could add to the list keep popping into my brain. the list ended up being sort of introspective and revealing and a great way to journal i think. i love to read other's 100 list, i always learn lots of new stuff about them and enjoy seeing how much we have in common. i decided that i would try to add to my 100 list slow throughout the year so i don't forget anything that pops into my brain. so here goes.

101. i don't really like ketch up.
102. i won't do a "structured" diet because i'm afraid of yo-yo dieting forever.
103. i once "drank" a pan of macaroni and cheese - true story.
104. i am crazy about felt food, i know i don't have a ton of use for it, but it makes me giddy.
105. i very much dislike the two deep lines that have formed in between my eyebrows.
106. i am not an eyebrow plucker and i'm ok with this. i just never learned how and now that i'm older, i just think it's cruel and unusual punishment.
107. when my kids were little, i used to stir a can of tuna and a can of peas into their mac & cheese. they didn't know for a long time that it wasn't called "mac & cheese & tuna & peas".
108. mounds candy bars might be my favorite treat, at least as far as candy goes. i love dark chocolate and i love coconut so they are a perfect treat.
109. i don't think i could wear a bathing suit if lands end didn't make them.
110. i like the managability of length of my hair now, but miss how feminine my long long hair made me feel.
111. my organization projects always seem to make things worse before they make them better.
112. i think i may have permenant brain and inner nostral damage from all of my spray painting projects. i really need to buy a mask!
113. having babies has killed my bladder.
114. i am becoming accutely aware of how much time taylor has left before he graduates high school.
115. i signed up for a national geographic subscription today! i loved reading NG when i was younger and hope my kids will love it too.

i've been tagged!

I was tagged by my cutie sister-in-law Lisa and I've never done this before, but it sounds fun, so here we go! Here are the rules:

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags other people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I love the written word, I love to read everything, books, magazines etc. I also have a book of great quotes that I keep close by for scrapbooking and card making. I also print them out and hang them all over the house. I really love having favorites printed in vinyl and hanging them around the house, my only dilema is to not have "over kill" and so I'm currently trying to select my favorite handful and this is a hard job. One of my favorite quotes ever is: Some are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same...Pearl S. Buck, who also just happens to be one of my favorite authors. I think I love this quote so much because it totally sums up my mothering, but I think I'm a little bit of both, kissing and scolding, and she's right, it's love either way.

2. I love having a clean house with everything put in it's spot but it takes a backseat on a regular basis to playing with Ethan, volunteering, homework, webelos, and life in general. I've tried over the last year, of people wanting to tour our new home, to let go of the feeling of dread when I see clutter. We live here after all, it's supposed to be a little cluttered right?

3. I began scrapbooking because I love photography and I thought it was a great way to showcase some of my favorite photographs. Ironically enough, I became a much better photographer from scrapbooking because I quickly learned that a page can only be as great as the photograph. I wish I had more time for scrapbooking, it's very theraputic for me, I think that's why I love to blog so much!

4. I love hearing my kids practicing their instraments, even if it is like pulling teeth to get them to practice in the first place! The other day I heard Taylor playing a Jack Johnson song and I thought someone left iTunes running! I was so excited when I realized it was him, all these years of $60 a month for guitar lessons are finally starting to pay off! Allie and Spencer are great pianists, I love listening to their progress and am always amazed and how great they are. Most of my spiritual experiences in life have been through music, it's a wonderful channel for the spirit to communicate to me.

5. I can mud! I didn't know this was a skill that I posessed until we bought this old house that has needed tons of work, including mudding in almost every room! Some rooms have needed it more than others but after about six rooms now, I am a highly skilled mudder! It's kind of fun too. Imagine that.

6. If it is not written down, then I can't remember it. I have been known to shout from the shower to the kids to write something on the grocery list, because I know that if I wait until after the shower, it will be gone from my memory. I have a great memory for memories though, I will tell a story about something I remember from when I was little and my mom will say, "wow, you were like two or three when that happened!" To be honest, I'll take the memories over the grocery list!

Ok, that's six, that was kind of hard! I'm going to tag Patsy, Kayleen and that's it, I don't really know anyone else who hasn't already been tagged recently!

blue and red ribbons

This year I decided that it was about time for me to suck it up and enter some of my photographs in the Davis County Fair. It sounds silly I guess because it is just Davis County, but I was worried I would get my socks knocked off by the incredible talent around here. Well, Taylor and Allie both have taken some fantastic pictures this year and I thought that more than anything I wanted them to have the experience of competing (and I thought they would rock!) So, I couldn't very well make them enter w/o entering myself so off to the printer for some foam mounting I went. I was a little discouraged when I looked up the rules and regs because it said that if you sell any of your photographs for money then you had to enter the Professional division - sigh. I was hoping to enter the adult amature division because I thought my chances would be a little better. I ended up entering two different classes, my awesome sunset picture went to landscapes and my cute picture of the twins went to portaiture. Allie entered in the youth division, flower catagory and Taylor entered the youth division for landscapes with an incredible sunset pic he took on Easter while fiddling with the camera trying to get a good pic of Laurel Anne. I thought my picture of the sunset would do well but I wasn't too hopeful about the portait, mostly because most professional photographers take portaits for a living and so I thought that of all the classes, pro portaiture would be swimming with entries, and I was right, tons of really incredible work. We missed the awards breakfast because our Saturday was crazy as usual so we had to wait until we picked our pictures up to find out if they had won anything. To our delight,
Allie won FIRST PLACE in her class,

and Taylor won SECOND PLACE for his class!

As for me? Well, my sunset picture didn't even place! I was kind of bummed until....I saw a BLUE RIBBON on my portait of the twins! HOLY CRAP! I won first place in the pro portaiture class! I seriously can't believe it, and like I said at the beginning, it is just Davis County, it's not like I was invited to do a gallery in New York or anything, but I have to say, it does feel very nice. A little pat on the back and some bragging rights that I really needed. Funny how those things always come when you need them most, huh? So, now we're thinking that since they're already mounted and ready, why not enter them into the state fair? I'll let you know.... Here's to taking great photographs! :)