Naked Gardening

That's just how we do it here in Vegas

Fork?

Please explain Daddy, what's that pointy thing for? My mom said it's just one more stinkin' thing she has to wash, so why bother. She has to wash me anyway, so let's eliminate the middle "man" known as the fork. Thank You.

Scout

Scout, Scouty McScout Pants, Scouter, Smoosh, Pee-Foot, Drooly McDrool Pants, Whichever you prefer...go for it! She's adopted many names in her two and half years. I think she's looking at me like this because she's confused about who she really is. Identity Crisis. It happens to the best of 'em. Poor thing. Anyone else wanna take a shot at what she's thinking? I'd love to hear your thoughts. What about this one?

There is absolutely, postitively, without a doubt, under any circumstance no explaination whatsoever for this.

And her most recent name...Weirdo.

Hair Today...er...uh...well...maybe not.

As my sister Angie said of my nephew Ben: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow...

Problem with that is that Ben had hair. A lot of hair. Long hair. Curly hair. Thick hair. Get my drift... A LOT OF HAIR. I thought that title was so appropriate for a haircut. However, when you're cutting this hair, the barely there, white, blonde, scarce, baby hair, not so much. Oh well!

This is Anthony's first haircut, just after he turned one! He had the best barber in the world, trained at the Conair Clippers Pamphlet School of Trimming. Tony worked those clippers like a pro. And the client...he was happy. Not a great tipper, but no complaints about the 'do.

I'm not sure he knew he was actually getting his hair cut. He thinks he just got to play with something that's normally "off-limits"Yes, another satisfied customer from Mr. Tony, Professional Hair Trimmer Trained at the Conair Clippers Pamphlet School of Trimming. His schedule is booked for months, so if you want an appointment, it doesn't look good, sorry.

Bug Man and Bug Boy

Bugs are problem here in the desert...But don't worry, we have these guys to make sure that those pesky pests aren't a problem... There they are now...looking for the bugs, to squish, squash, and spray.

I think the little apprentice may have found something promising...

Note to self:

Thoroughly check your garbage can before taking it out. You never know what may have found it's way in.

Happy Father's Day!

Dear Dad,
Happy Father's Day! You're the best dad a girl could ask for. And the best "Pop" a grandkid could ask for. Although I've graduated to adulthood, you continue to DO, DO, DO. "Dad, I don't like the mirrors in my dining room!" Mirrors down, wall patched, textured, primed and painted. "Dad, I can't find the bookshelves I want in Vegas, can you go to Target, see if they have 'em, buy 'em, and drive 'em to Vegas?" I have 7 matching bookshelves. "Dad, we're flying in around 11." Flight delayed, late, LATE, LATE. Dad's there to pick us up. "Dad, can you go check out a car I called on, buy it and I'll come pick it up this weekend?" Car purchased, washed and gassed. "Dad, I don't need this car anymore, but am having a hard time selling it...can you come drive it back to Utah and sell it for me?" Car transported and sold. "Dad, I gotta get all my stuff to Vegas, can you drive me there, in the world's biggest heap of a truck, drop me and the stuff off, then turn around and drive back?" Here, in Vegas with a truck load full of crap. My crap.

I know this is a super short list, but if I wrote everything you've done and continue to do for me, we'd both be here a while! You're the best example to me and have never let me down. We've had countless daddy/daughter dates, which I cherish. And lots of laughs. I'll never forget you taking me square dancing in the 3rd grade, or waking me up, so I could drive you to the airport so I could have your car the days you were out of town. Trips to Iceburg and shared Hostess cupcakes. Trips to Hires and more recently, In-N-Out. You're the most giving, selfless, generous man I know. I love you so much and I'm so thankful for you. Happy Father's Day!

Love,
Your Little Girl

Honk Chew

Need I say more?

Happy First Birthday!

Anthony turned one!!! I cannot believe a year has gone by. It's been such an awesome year. He started walking about 11 months, and hasn't looked back since! He threw him a little family shin-dig with cake and ice-cream. It was a lot of fun. He got lots of fun toys including a jungle-gym (as if our house wasn't cluttered enough...thanks Grandma and Grandpa!) that he loves! For his birthday party, my great friend (and Anthony's future mother-in-law) Megan made him this AWESOME banner, that I will change the number on and use for every-single birthday until he's 50. I love it! It's so cute and creative.

When it came time for cake, I stripped him down and let him at it. Except, he didn't really WANT at it. He looked at it like it was a foreign space invader that landed right there on his high-chair. What the heck, foreign space invader, what are you doing here?Perhaps, if I look away, it will beam back up to it's spaceship and GO AWAY!Nope. Darn, it's still there.Maybe if I just give it a little poke...pinch... Nope, nothing. Well, it's not THAT bad...No, wait. Maybe it is that bad. Get off my fingers.Perhaps, a second chance... It's ok, I'm gonna be ok, just lick it off my fingers and then maybe it'll go away.

***Mom chops a big piece out to show boy that little invaders aren't hiding in it...it's actually just cake.***

Sorry mom, didn't work... Please get me outta here. NOW.

Here is a picture of all of Anthony's grandparents, and his great-grandpa. What a lucky little man! Glad you all could make it!

"Well, I learned something this weekend..."

Tony says to me as we're leaving Disneyland with Anthony dead asleep in the stroller.

"Oh yeah, and what was that?"

"That one year old's don't care about baseball games or Disneyland."

"Hmmm. What else did you learn?"

"That my wife was right."

I just had to share that because it might be the only time in history my husband has or will admit this.

We planned a trip to Anaheim with Tara and her boyfriend Toshi for a little weekend get away. Tony was jonesing for a baseball game, and I will admit, I was excited to go too. The Angels were playing the Mariners, and Toshi, being from Seattle is a Mariners fan. Perfect. We drove down Friday afternoon, the last weekend of May and I will admit, I was petrified about spending 4 hours in the car with Anthony. I had Tony's mom try to have him nap early, so he'd sleep at least part of the way. He slept and slept and slept. Surely he's going to wake up soon, I kept thinking to myself. Nope. Slept the entire way. As we pulled off the freeway in Anaheim, he woke up and looked at me like it was the best nap he'd ever had. Ever. GREAT! Score. We went to Johnny Rockets for dinner, down at the Gardenwalk in Anaheim. Great little mall with restaurants. It's about time Anaheim built something like that! Then, off to downtown Disney. We love the little shops and live performers down there. We pulled up to where we usually park, and we were directed to another parking lot. The Disneyland Park parking lot, to be specific, top level, last parking spot on earth. It was SO far. I guess Disneyland is popular at the end of May (DUH.) We had a good time, albeit short. But, fun.

Saturday Morning, we got up, and headed to the beach. Got out of the car to find a place to eat breakfast and it was FREEZING and WINDY. Bleeech. Went to breakfast in Huntington, at IHOP. After it was a little warmer, still stinking windy. Again, bleeech. Got our gear and headed toward the water. We set up shop just down the way from Dwight's food rentals, and right next to the kite flyers. Did I mention I'm terrified of Kites? I know, it's crazy and irrational and there's nothing to warrant such fear, but I am afraid. Why, you ask? I have no explaination for it. I was never viciously attacked by a kite, nor was a kite mean to me when I was little. None. Anyway, I digress, back to the beach. I was so excited to see what Anthony would do with the sand and all that water! He wasn't freaked out by the sand, but he did pretty much stay on the safety of the blankets and towels. When we took him down to the water, he was all about jumping in! It wasn't as cold as I anticipated, but it wasn't the Caribbean. He kept pulling Tony closer to the water, and sat down in it a couple of times. It was so cute.

I felt it my motherly duty to explain how the tide works, and the lunar pull, and quantum physics. I think he got it.I feel also as though I should explain my turbin... cold wind = ear ache for me. Bathing suit cover solved the problems of the world.I love Love LOve LOVe LOVE when my little man feels like he needs a mom snuggle.

So, after the beach, we headed back to Anaheim to get ready for the baseball game. Once cleaned up and in our Angel's gear... we headed out. The first thing we saw once at Angels Stadium was the memorial set up in front for Nick Adenhart. Although I never saw him play and certainly didn't know him, it really did make me teary. What a great guy he was and I'm sure is sorely missed by all his family, friends and teammates.

I wasn't ever opposed to taking Anthony to the baseball game, but I knew he'd be more interested in climbing around the stadium than he was the actual game. We were sitting right by the stairs and all he wanted to do was climb up and down. I let him, once, then thought maybe he'd like to wander around the mezzanine. Nope, straight back to the stairs. So, I walked with him around the whole stadium and ended up in the gift shop. Where he proceded to re-arrange the entire place. And I let him. He was happy and occupied, so I did my best to clean up after him, but we did spend the majority of the game there. Happy as clams.

This was before the game started. Before the attention span was totally lost, and before he eventually passed out on my shoulder.

Tony felt bad that I didn't get to see any of the game, so at the top of the 9th, Angels up 3-O, he said, "let's go!" Anthony was already out cold on my shoulder, so we headed out. We reached the gates and the usher got a message on his radio that they tied up the game. As Tony, Tara and Toshi walked ahead of me, I stopped and ashed the usher, "seriously?" He said, "Yup." So I caught up to the crew and they all said to me "yeah, right. He just told you that because we were leaving early." "No, it really sounded like they did." I don't know why I was making a case for them. So Tony pulled his phone out, pulled up the scores, and who was right? ME. That's who. So, they turned around, and went to watch the rest of the inning. I found me a comfy chair in front of a TV by the concessions and waited. The game went into a 10th inning, and I told them to stay, I was comfy, baby was sleeping. But, here they came. We listened to the game on the way back to the hotel and they lost in the 10th. Why oh, why is it that a baseball game which is potentially boring (I've heard, I would NEVER say that about baseball...) gets all the action at the bitter end? I don't get it. Then, of course, on Sunday...the game we didn't go to, they won. Go figure.

Sunday morning, against my better judgement we headed over to Disneyland. I had said SEVERAL times up to this point that I would absoulely, positivly, under no circumstance take a one year old to Disneyland. I think it's ridiculous. They can't do anything, we can't do anything. Crowds, Strollers, Lines, Crazies... WHO would subject themselves to that? Who I ask. Well, aparently me. Tony has an old valet customer that works there and has gotten us into the park before fo' free, so we thought we'd go say hi to her. Regardless of getting in, Tony still wanted to go say hi. We found her and she did get us right in. What a sweetheart. I felt justified in giving in because we weren't spending our life savings on passes. First we saw Pluto, and stopped to say "HI!" He makes Scout look like a chihuahua. We went over to Dumbo and waited in line about 25 minutes. Not too bad. However, my precious baby didn't give two hoots about it. Tony and I were excited to see his reaction, but nada. The look on his face was as if to say " I do this everyday, what's the big deal with the big dumb flying elephant anyway?" Stinker. Well, it was actually my first time on Dumbo too, and darnit, I liked it.

Next, we took him over to Toon Town, and got him some lunch, then let him climb around there. That was fun, and he really did enjoy himself there. He loved playing this piano and was so cute not to get in the other kids' way.

He loved this Jack o'lantern. And then, when most kids were trying to get OUT of jail... he was begging to get in!He didn't seem too concerned to get out of the way of dumbell's flying out the window onto the pavement below.

So, after Toon Town, Tony & I got some lunch, then headed to Pirates of the Caribbean. The line wasn't too bad, and Anthony needed a little "freshening up" so the crew (Tony, Tara & Toshi) waited in line, and by the time I got back from freshening, they were almost to the front. Nice! So we hopped on. Anthony was sitting on my lap, in the front row of the boat. After the first drop, he turned around and climbed up me and clung to my neck like a little monkey. He put his head on my shoulder and his eyes kept looking back and forth. About half way through...OUT. Sound asleep. SOUND asleep. He was done. Tuckered out. We put him in the stroller and decided to leave while he was snoozing. A good time to hit the road, we decided.

As soon as we loaded him in the car, he woke up. For sure he'll doze back off and sleep all the way home. It's been a long day! Not so. Fifteen minutes on the road and he way getting cranky. I climbed into the back seat, pulled out the laptop, put Elmo on the DVD and held it for him. The. Entire. Way. Home. That was a long drive. And though it was not so comfortable, it was worth it. He was pretty content the whole way home. No complaints from me.

"Well, I learned something this weekend..."

Lesson learned. Babies don't care about Baseball games or Disneyland. And although we did both, and the baby didn't care, I'm so happy we did. I had so much fun and I'm so glad we just did it. We have great memories and pictures to show for it!