Before..... & After

i finally DID IT!  I've been wanting to cut my hair for a while now but lets face it I didn't have the guts! BIG haircuts usually end in BIG tears, so i delayed it.... for about a year!  For girls... well I know for me personally hair is apart of who you are and frankly I hide behind mine.  Weird I know!  Anyway with my birthday coming (yesterday) and a new year ahead I knew I needed a change (....and honestly I got so sick of blow drying it!) so I found a hairdresser I loved and entrusted her with my big change.

Whack!

In like 5 seconds it was all gone.

12 inches donated....

AND....

I waited...

No tears.

I'm still waiting but there not coming. 

I think, I love it!

Not because I think it's prettier but because it takes me  5 mins TOPS to blow dry!

...now that, I LOVE!

.......so behind

i'm slacking

i have so many events to blog

photoshoots

cute pictures

& funny moments

...........but summer is not allowing much time for that!

someday soon I'll get caught up:)  promise

in the meantime two big events this week:

Mason started swim lessons.... So cute I can't even handle it
(weird that i even have a kid old enough to enroll in something!)

&

I made the appointment

I'm chopping off all my haif thursday

I'm so nervous I could puke

Because I have cried... okay bawled after everytime I've ever had a major haircut, I've thought about this for over a year. haha. just to make sure I want to do it.

Now that is takes me 30 full mins to blow dry my hair... I'm more than SURE i want too!

If no pictures are posted after thursday.... it didn't go very well:)

Someone special is turning {8}

This is my beautiful niece Hannah's. She's turning {8} this week and gets to be baptised next month! She is so excited! We thought we'd grab some pictures to remember this special time:)

More here

Happy Father's Day to my man!

Father's Day has always been a holiday I wanted to ignore or have it go by really  fast.... kind of like valentines day when your single! Cause for many years I've been... single, you could say. I love my dad. I really do. It took me years to come to where I am now but I've grateful to be where I am, but I'll admit I wish it was with him in the picture sometimes. Up until a few months ago he'd never even met my kids... I guess technically he still hasn't but a few months ago after years of not seeing him we ended up the same family function and my kids were there. I think I held my breath the entire time. I wanted to be strong but I'm not going to lie, when he didn't even look at them.... it broke a part of my heart that I didn't know was still possible. I cried the whole way home. Long story short our relationship has always been complex. There is zero anger left in me and just sadness remains. I love him and I always will. A part of me is glad we're an eternal family because eternity is a long time to not like your daughter so maybe he'll break eventually:)

I was a very lucky girl to have the mom that I did, a special man named Bill who claimed me even though he didn't have too and eventually a father in law that I would call my own any day of the week!


Now, i love father's day because somehow, someway, I lucked out in the 'father for my kids' area. Seth is an amazing husband but he was born to be a Dad. Not just a dad but a dad to Mason & Aiden. I can't even type this without getting emotional. He is truly, truly one in a million. He has NEVER, ever been too busy for them. Not once. He walks in from a long day at work and the first thing he does is set down his laptop, give me a kiss and then goes and finds the boys. He doesn't sink into homework, yard work, watching sports... nothing until he has had time with them. I thought that would be something that faded over time but it's literally been everyday since we brought Mason home. He has been an active, hands on dad in every stage, newborn to toddler. He connects with them in the cutest of ways. He takes time to listen to Mason. He will seriously lay out on the floor and play with Aiden when there is a million other things on his to do list! He is patient, he is loving, he is accepting, he is thoughtful and he is so interactive with them. Not only are we blessed to have the boys but the boys really are blessed to have him. He is amazing. I remember wigging out... no literally wigging out after we had been chosen for Mason. It was an intense time and we were adjusting to everything adoption was throwing at us, through all that it sunk in that I was going to be a mom and that Seth was going to be a DAD and not that I thought I'd be anywhere near perfect but I completely paniced and told him if he wasn't going to be a good dad then to tell me NOW, not just a good dad but that he really need to take this role on 100%. That he needed to be their hero, nothing less. Mason needed to be able to look up to him and trust him and KNOW KNOW KNOW that he was loved. I started to cry and said you can never leave him. I basically told him to tell me now if he couldn't fill that list cause if not I didn't want to bring Mason to our family... wow, I think back to that and realize the intensity of the situation made me lose my marbles for a moment but luckily my sweet man knew right where that freak out came from and looked at me and said "I promise I won't be your dad... I'll be mine" I trusted him.


He did not let me down.


He still hasn't.


I have a sneaking suspicion that he won't let these two little boys down either.
 

 
 

The only picture i could find on my computer with my dad... yes i look like I'm going to the prom but in white! oooh, if only we could do re-do's... not the husband part just the style part!:)"

Mr. Mom is throwing in the towel!!!!

I'm going to make this short and sweet.  Lacey has been in Texas for 3 1/2 days, both the boys are taking a nap at the same time (miracle) and I am laying down for a much needed nap before I completely lose my mind.  I honestly don't know how Lacey does it.  From the moment they get up until the moment they go to bed at night, it is constant...I don't know what to call it.  Don't take this the wrong way, I love my boys with all my heart and have loved playing cars with them, jumping on the tramp, running errands with them, watching movies, working at the shop (that was an adventure) etc.  I just have a completely new respect, love, but most of all, ADMIRATION for Lacey.  I understand why you can be frazzled by the time I come home from work as early as 3.  I can understand why you wouldn't want me to leave once I've come home.  Not that you want to "box their ears" and "hang them up by their toe nails" (my dad use to say that to us kids all the time, jokingly of course) but because of the support.  There is strength in numbers.  Anyway, I said this wasn't going to be long.  Here are a few pictures taken earlier today to prove they have survived.  Aren't they handsome?  I did not post any pictures of myself because I didn't fair so well this weekend.  Hurry home dear.  I miss you and love you so so so so much.  Goodnight!

As you can see by this last picture, I don't have much time to clean up after these 2 tornadoes.  Now, goodnight!



Aid's One Year Photo's!

The weather FINALLY warmed up enough for me to do Aiden's {ONE YEAR} pictures!

This kids totally cracks me up with all the different faces and attitude he can pull in 5 minutes flat!

There were so many to choose from. I'm thinking I'll make a collage later of all the gomer faces he was doing that had Seth and I rolling! He is the funniest kid! I can't get enough of his Mater smile!

Love you my Aiders... You handsome bug you!

 

A weekend away...

I was a dork and didn't bring my good camera for our anniversary weekend in Park City but that's okay because I barely remembered to take any pictures... plus it's always hard when it's just the two of you because I despise hold your arm out and try to take your own picture... never flattering on me! :)  Never-the-less we had Seth's point and shoot and captured a few of the things we did. 

-we stayed at the park plaza resort (thanks to groupon:)
-Ate some of the most delicious food over the weekend: Ciseros in Park City (ate they last yr and I just had to go back for their grilled pesto Salmon!) and Market Street Grill in Salt Lake City. The second night we stayed at cookies because we was taking us Les Miserables the next day so we had the pleasure of waking up to one of her amazing meals on our anniversary... I forgot what it was called but it was bacon on bottom with eggs and cheese on top then cooked in the oven, a side of real hashbrowns and yummy fresh fruit! I laugh at how I used to be a picky eater and now my getaways are planned around the yummy food!
-Alpine side
-Fast Five (impressed)
-A little shopping
-Les Miserables  (A-mazing!!!!!)

The whole weekend was wonderful and it's so good to get away from it all and have a few days with just my hubby. I love that it's totally second nature for us to be alone together and be best friends... (those 5 yrs without kids did us good:)

These lovely troopers came and stayed the whole weekend at our home and took care of our boys!
 THEY ARE AMAZING!!!
We are so very grateful for our family that does so much for us and his aunties and uncle mike for spoiling them while we were gone.

7 years later...... {may 29th,2004}

an internship

a few crappy apartments

college graduation

4 moves

a career change

our 1st home

2 kids

a mini van

&

7 years later

WE'RE STILL STANDING

AND

your still my best friend

...........imagine that:)

happy anniversary
i love you

Out with the old:( In with the New:) .... for a good reason though

This weekend we sold this.........

My beloved Camry (aka camy... i know original:)

it's the ONLY car I've ever owned in my name

i went through HS and College w/out having my own car to

then being blessed with getting to pick this baby out with only 4 miles on it!

Sounds dumb but I'm emotional.

I loved this car!

HOWEVER

It was for a good reason

This weekend we also got this....



We once heard somewhere

 "if you build it, they will come"

:)

here's to starting the process for #3

wish us luck

FSA's Annual Celebrate Adoption Walk

Last Saturday we were apart putting on the FSA's Annual Celebrate Adoption Walk. It went so well and we were SO supported by our family!  It's been so fun to be on the board of FSA (families supporting adoption) we've made great friends and are able to be involved in something is so close to our hearts! We started with our official walk and at the end we met in the middle of the track and paid tribute to our families and their amazing birthmoms. Then everyone let go of a ballon in honor of who they were celebrating!  We had signs on backs of who we were 'walking' for. Seth and I each took one of the boys name for our signs then we put their birthmoms names on theirs.  It was a fun day and so good to have so many family members make such an effort to support us. Afterwards we came back to our house and celebrated Aiden's birthday!