My Hair Journey

This picture was taken in Maui in November of last year. This was when I decided to grow my hair out with the help and opinions of others. My hair was in an A-line so it was a lot shorter in the back.

This picture was taken about 2 weeks ago. As you can see it has grown quite a bit and I can actually put it in a pony tail. Six years ago I grew my hair out almost this long for my wedding and cut it shortly after. Prior to that my hair was this long in 8th grade. I am really enjoying it and can't wait until it's even longer! I haven't even been tempted to cut it. Hopefully someday, I can be sexy. My theory on that is girls with short hair are generally pretty cute and to have short hair, you have to have an outgoing personality. You don't see many shy girls with short hair. But I can't think of a lot of women that I would categorize as "sexy" with short hair, besides Hallie Berry. But women with long beautiful hair often get categorized as sexy. Some of them don't even have cute faces but that doesn't seem to matter. So hopefully someday, I can be sexy. How's that for a random rant? :)

Prayer

After an exhausting day of shopping at Costco, cleaning my home, cooking for my family, and mowing the lawn...I gave the kids a bath, and rushed through the bedtime routine.

Read two books- check
Brush teeth- check
Say prayers- check

Sometimes prayers with little children can be so hectic and you wonder why you even bother. Tonight as I said a quick Amen, I opened my eyes and my sweet little Preston had his arms folded and then popped them open and said a joyful "Amen". My heart is full of love and gratitude. I guess they actually are listening.

Father's Day

My cute step sisters gave me this idea for Father's Day 3 years ago and I continued my little traditon. Stephen and the grandpa's got some custom made cards, luggage tags with pictures of the kids on them and t-shirts and hats that say "Worlds greatest bla bla bla." Hee hee. I was not really a good wife yesterday, Stephen doesn't eat breakfast so I couldn't do that, and I didn't make one meal. Oops. But I did mow the lawn for him on Saturday so hopefully that counts for something. He is such a great father and my children and I are so blessed to have him. I am so thankful that they will be able to grow up with a Father figure in the home who can give them the unconditional love that they need and rear them in righteousness. We are truly blessed.

Candy Anyone?

Okay anyone that has been to my house has seen my dirty little secret. I am addicted to sugar, among other things. I don't think I can go to a grocery store or gas station without buying something. So here is a picture of my stash. I eat a little every day and I quite enjoy it. I justify it by saying if I didn't have it then I would be buying and eating a whole candy bar and this way I am just getting my little fix. Baa haa. Oh and this is not including the Costco sized Rice Krispie treats, Gushers, and Fruit by the Foot. Yikes.

Coeur d'Alene

Got to go on a business trip with my man, with no kids. Here were some of the fun things we did.

-Dinner cruise around the lake (lasted 3 freaking hours, but it was fun)
-Room service
-Got to work out every day at the little gym there
-Read a whole book, cover to cover in less than 3 hours with no interruptions. I was starting to think I was slowing down at reading, turns out I can do it without interruptions. :)
-Sunday Brunch buffet with a chocolate fountain (and everything to dip in it), creme brulee, cheese cake... it was simply amazing.
-Company dinner at a 5 star restaurant. We ordered sirloins which we had to ask to be well done rather than just "pan seared"...I think I would much rather just have a steak, baked potato, and salad for $10 from Texas Roadhouse. Too fancy for my blood.
-The weather was kind of bad so we just stayed in the room. Turns out there are a lot of fun things you can do there...
-Went swimming several times with Stephen. This is my favorite part of the whole trip. When you are married for 6 years it seems like when you have time to talk its just about bills and the children, right? Well I was afraid that our trip was going to be consumed with this. Turns out we do have a lot in common! Ha. Anyways, Stephen was adorable in the pool and we played a lot of childish games. I am not going to list my very favorite things because I want to keep them private, they are memories I hope I cherish for a long time. It was just so nice to not worry about anything besides being with one another. Almost like we were dating again. I think we need one of these trips every single year to reconnect with each other. By the time we left, I was madly "in love" with him.

Camping

(Yes there are children in there)

Katelyn has turned several spaces in our house into "camping". There is our walk-in closet, burrowed in Stephen's clothes, and behind our couch under a table. I have been wanting to get her a tent for a very long time. I was trying to wait until her birthday which is in August, but I got too excited and finally convinced Stephen. I have been doing a lot of shopping around because I am cheap. I found this baby for $20 on walmart.com and it comes with a "pack pack" and flashlight. Katelyn got in and was so excited and just sat there. Preston got in and immediately started rough housing. So now when they get in, it tips every which way and because our living room is small, they run into furniture. About every 5 minutes we have to console one of them from getting an owie. I love it--Stephen not so much.

Deep thoughts by K-Dawg

So I am constantly trying to think of funny things to say on facebook and today I had too many so I am doing a post. And I know some of these are not funny...

-It's humorous to me now that I posted pictures of my ankle looking like that because it looks 10x worse. Bruises everywhere. Good news is I manned up and I can walk on it now.

-I have been occasionally taking hydrocodine for pain and after today I cannot justify it anymore, Dang I am going to miss it.

-Haven't been able to drive since I sprained my ankle, did a practice drive all the way to Quik Wok in Kuna today. Never ate there before and never had the desire until that one day in Garden Valley, when my pregnant sister in law had a craving. Since there are not a lot of options there we found ourselves at the good ol' Crouch Merc. She was craving Potstickers, and of course there weren't any so we went home with microwave Chinese food and egg rolls. Sick you say? I say delicious. I went back the next day and bought more and ever since I have been craving this food. Oh the really funny part about that story is that we went on her little moped scooter. With our ear muffs and snow gloves.
"We're really doing it Harry." We had to start it like 20x because it kept dying, but it sure was the highlight of our night.

-So anywho, I got the food and was sitting there and was so thankful I got it to go because I could not stop moaning! Now that is sick. Since when did chow mein bring me so much pleasure?

-Preston thinks it's hilarious when you tell him no. He seriously laughs and does it again. Stephen lightly spanked him several times today and he still kept doing it. We are in trouble.

-Speaking of trouble..Katelyn has decided my crutches look like guns and "killed" all of us last night, ironically right before family prayer. Then she turned the crutch on her and said, "Now I am going to blow myself." What the crap? Definitely did not get that from one of my shows, and we do not let her pretend they are guns now. Freak.

-I have this friend that posts things on her blog that most would be afraid to say. Everyone always commends her on her honesty and how its refreshing. I find that when I try to do serious posts, I get the least amount of comments. I guess I am not very good about being honest or people are not very good about talking about awkward things.

-Since my cousin past away, I have tried to appreciate life more. I have tried to hug my children more and enjoy little moments that I normally wouldn't.

-A lot of my friends are struggling right now, all for different reasons. I am really thankful for all of their friendships and it saddens me to see others hurt. I also am walking on egg shells waiting for my turn for life to turn upside down. So thankful that things are going so well for me right now though.

-On that same note, I find myself worrying entirely too much about other people's problems. I do need to feel bad for them and do what I can to help, and then move on. I keep worrying about things that are out of my control.

-This year I have made it a goal to actually follow through with things. Like instead of just saying, "We should get together," I actually want to do it. I have initiated several things with people and the ball is in their court, should I reach out again? Don't want to appear desperate, just don't want to be a flaky friend.

-Had a pregnancy scare and am so thankful that I am NOT pregnant. I want this year to be one where I don't have to share my body with another human being. Just me. I am getting excited to see what next year brings though...

-Stephen and I are able to go on a little vaca without children coming up. I am super excited and I know I will miss my kids. Also Stephen will be in meetings for a good portion of the day, so I guess I will bring a good book and plan on sleeping in. Ahhh, can't wait.

-My good friend Sabrina is in town and tomorrow we are going to have a girls night out. I know I had one in April but that feels like so long ago.

-Got to go to a Sugarland concert recently and I LOVE them. I didn't really that much before I went but this girl is so stinking cute and you can totally feel her awesome personality from your seat. I can't get enough! Had a good friend go with me too, can't beat that! You know who you are!!!