Monday Randoms

Since I missed Friday randoms, due to working from home with visitors in the house. . . I thought I'd do Monday randoms . . .

Nolan and Noah drumming on the entertainment center while Ben plays Guitar Hero

1- We discovered where Nolan's bow came from (he will sometimes bow really deeply when you clap and say "YAY!") At the end of each song on Guitar Hero, if you do well, the singer of the band raises his/her hands and bows as if worshipping the guitarist. It's sort of in the background and we never noticed it before, until Nolan started imitating it along with the game. It's amazing the things he sees that we don't. . .

2- I have a cold. It's 90+ degrees outside. That never feels quite right to me. . .

3- We tried a new cupcake place in Salt Lake on Saturday, in celebration of Emily's birthday. Diva Cupcakes. . . I was not super impressed with the cupcakes, to be honest, but the shop is so cool.

4- My son is obsessed with Word World. We bought him some foam letters that are supposed to be for the bath tub. He carries them around, pretends to spell words, and gets a bit disappointed when he squishes them together and they don't turn into anything.

5- Some of the many cool plants growing out in the back yard right now:

The gigantic columbine plant. Apparently these do better in the shade, though I'm not sure their little tag would tell you that. I'll be moving my others by this one soon.
They didn't fare as well in the sun.

And these are what Ben calls "firecracker plants" but they are apparently called "red hot pokers" or "torch lillies" We got them from Ben's grandma's garden and they have absolutely taken over. I need to divide them and move a few. I love them because, while these crazy flowers are gone pretty quickly, the rest of the plant seems to stay green practically year round.

Fathers Day Fun

I'm a little late in posting these. It's been a crazy week since Fathers Day and I'm just now getting around to uploading them.

Our festivities last Sunday happened up in Syracuse. . . hanging out with my side of the family for a yummy lasagna dinner and some fun playing with grandpa.

Grandpa gave Nolan a ride around the house on the table cloth. . . I'm really not sure how this one started, but he sure loved it.

They jumped on the trampoline. Nolan got knocked down a lot by the bigger kids, but he didn't care.

Aubrey took a ride in the swing

Carter the warrior on the trampline.

And Ethan created a sweet ball track out on the lawn. There's just enough of a hill for the balls to go fast without having to add height to the track.

And since we had a little bit of rain that afternoon,

Ben read Aubrey some stories (it was pretty nice for him to read to a kid that didn't run away after 30 seconds)

And Nolan and Aubrey watched some Baby Einstein in grandpa's big chair. I can't believe how big they both look. Crazy.

Searched

While we were in AZ, we went down to a little town right near the Mexico border, called Tubac. They have this great little spice shop where we gathered a few of our favorite things for a ridiculously good price.

I was unpacking (FINALLY) one of our bags from our trip last night and found a bag of dill I had purchased in Tubac. Also in the bag, I found a notice from the TSA saying that they had searched my bag.

Can't imagine why!

I'm guessing they opened it and sniffed it. Do you think I should be worried about using it?

Happy Fathers Day!

To Ben, my dad, Ben's dad. . . and all of the other wonderful dads and granddads out there. Seriously, I don't know what single moms do without people like you on their team. I thank my lucky stars every day to have a husband like Ben who loves being a dad so much. And I'm so grateful to have a dad like mine as well.

This little guy agrees (even if he doesn't LOOK that happy about it)


Turns out it's easier to get a 7 month old to sit still for a photo than it is a 19 month old. Go figure.

Friday Randoms

1- Nolan has a new friend. He has latched on to this small pillow we've had hanging around. I'm not wholly sure where it came from originally, to be frank. But boy does he love it. He carried it for a while last night, putting it down and snuggling with it (as pictured).

I put it in his bed last night, and when Ben went in to get him he was hugging it and would not let it go, even through his diaper change.

I really need to make a cover for it.

Also, convince him that the coffee table is not, in fact, a great place to sleep.

(he was watching Chess with us in these pictures, which I kind of love)

2- We're going to a banquet tonight to celebrate the end of Ben's MPA program. I'm hoping the food is yummy, because going to this event means getting ready for a dressy affair in the work bathroom.

There had better be steak.

3- I feel rather strongly that Max should not have been the guy eliminated on SYTYCD last night. Kupono had a bad week. He should have been the one to go. . .

4- Why don't I eat more pineapple? We had some here at work this morning. Perfect. Ripe. Sweet. . . And it truly made me wonder.

Granted, it gives me canker sores in large quantities. . . but I really should buy it more.

5- I really want a new iphone. It isn't the responsible choice. . . so I won't be getting one for a while.

But I really want one.

The end.

First Real Hair Cut

Nolan's hair was getting way too scraggly for my taste. It's thin and wispy, so I couldn't decide if it was really worth cutting. . . and I certainly didn't feel that it was worth paying someone to cut it. . . but it was getting really bad. Especially over the ears and on his neck.

I know we live in Springville, but he doesn't need to look like it.

So we decided to have a father and son hair cutting event last night, in an effort to make Nolan less scared. We strapped Nolan into a booster and sat him facing Ben and I went back and forth between them cutting with the clippers.

As you can see, Nolan was a HUGE fan of this process.

But I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, considering how much he squirmed.

He looks like such a big boy!

Weekend Fun

A few random pictures from life at the Hess house. . .

Still a climber. He dragged the high chair over to the couch so that he could climb up onto the tray. Because he could. . . It didn't seem that there was another reason.


Soon after returning from AZ, Nolan found the box of animal crackers that grammy had sent home with him and proceeded to "make himself breakfast".


The budding artist tries out his new easel and chair (purchased at IKEA in an attempt to save the walls from more attack by crayon)


We took a trip to the Discovery Gateway children's museum this weekend, and Nolan had a BLAST.

Things I Love Right Now

Laptop bag

I had heard the praises of Crumpler bags sung many many times. I pretty much blew them off. I am a snob about many things, but bags are not one of those things. I'm not sure why. BUT, my laptop bag was literally hanging by a thread, and a new one was necessary for my back and forth to work goings. I wanted red (because I pretty much need everything in red) and I happened across this one in a fabulous Google search. Praise Google!

It's big enough for my laptop, monster that it is, as well as a bunch of peripherals and other STUFF. And it was SO affordable, how could I say no? And the fact that it's a Crumpler bag. . . I love that, even if it doesn't matter.

Crocs
Ben and Nolan both have crocs. And as much as I wanted to be part of the crowd, I couldn't bring myself to get the clog style they have. I knew they had some other options available, but it wasn't until we were killing time in the mall in AZ that I actually got to try some on.

I got myself a pair that I have really liked. They are brown like the ones the boys have, but in a decidedly more feminine style. Phew.

Camelback bottle
I have had this thing for a while now, but I don't think I've ever sung its praises as I ought to have. After many years of spilling water on myself drinking from wide mouthed Nalgene bottles, I have found the light. I'm telling you, if it weren't for this bottle, I would NEVER stay properly hydrated. I fill it with pebble ice and water first thing in the morning and several more times throughout the day. You have to make sure to remove and wash the valve regularly, or it gets a little not so fresh in there. . . I learned that the hard way and had to replace the valve. . . but you can do that easily too. . . no big deal.

Get one. You'll thank me.


Decorator tip/coupler dishwasher bags
As you know, I make a lot of cupcakes. . . And for those cupcakes, I use giant decorator tips to frost them. There's not a really good way to wash them by hand, I found (plus, I'm lazy) so I looked for a different way. Enter these little mesh bags. It's like a lingerie bag for your decorating things.

Even better, though, is that I use them for other things too. Things I wash even MORE often. Like those Camelback valves I just mentioned, the little rubber ring/washer from the blender, & the valves for sippy cups!! And no more worrying that I'll lose this stuff to the heating coil.

Brilliant!

That's all the consumerism I have in me for now.
Until next time

Torn Paper

To add to the coolness of our shoot, Emily had an idea, borrowed from another wonderful photographer, that she wanted to try.

I LOVE the way these turned out. They crack me up. It was all we could do to keep a straight face. . . as you can clearly see.

Zack is Back

Does this make anyone else as uncomfortable as it makes me?



I'm sure it's supposed to be funny, but it really just makes me squirm. . .

Is that because I had a crush on him in Jr. High?

Probably

The Big Reveal

Remember when I showed you a sneak peek of the photos we had taken in Wisconsin?

Well, my dear friend Emily Southerland has finished the HUGE task of processing the rest of that massive pile of photos and has posted them on her website. (Go to Clients and use the password WISCONSIN) Our photos are mixed in with all of Stefanie's family's photos, and there are close to 300 of them. They are all AMAZING, but if you're too time crunched to go through them all, here are a few of my favorites. Hopefully this will tease you into looking at the rest. . . Emily is a genius and her work should be viewed at every opportunity. :)

She's also posted a great post on her blog with more pictures (so you can see a few great ones of Stef's family too)

Thank you, Em, for a WONDERFUL photo taking experience.

Some of our big red round balloons
Nolan got such a kick out of them


Some family photos in front of some really cool buildings down the road from Stef's house




Stoic
Nolan was spinning in front of a gorgeous red door.
The one time he really acted like he was enjoying himself the whole time.

Garage light


Yellow balloon this time

Emily made some fake mustaches out of felt and attached them to sticks.
We got a kick out of them.
My wonderful best buds from the online world