My Rant....

Please feel free to totally avoid reading about my rant. This is just me complaining about stupid things, and I get that. But I have recently seen, once again, that some things just never change.

This past week, I received an invitation in the mail to my 10 year High School Reunion. Which in some ways, it seems strange that I have been out of high school for 10 years already, but at the same time, Graduation seems eons ago! I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't a huge fan of high school. I was actually super glad it was over, and I moved onto bigger and better things. (i.e. college, marriage, kids...life!) I went to Prescott High School in Arizona. It wasn't a huge HS, like the one Patrick went to in Mesa, we only had about 300 in my graduating class. For those who don't really know, Prescott is a fairly small town (at least it was 10 years ago, it has changed quite a bit since I lived there) and there wasn't much to do.

I had a handful of good friends that I went to school with that made my 4 years at PHS fairly bearable (no I didn't flunk a grade, my high school had grades 9-12 on it). However, I have lost touch with the majority of them for one reason or another over the years. Some we just weren't that close I guess to make the effort to do so, some we just took separate life paths. Some I feel (and this is just my assumptions based off of their reactions and comments to my life) don't approve of me... and I quote... "JUST being a stay at home mom." instead of going to years and years of school and having a demanding career. Which I think that is fine if you want that, but I never did, I always wanted the family life.

On weekends in Prescott, there wasn't much to do except go out and do the whole party thing, which usually seemed to take place out in the Forest that surrounded Prescott which was constantly patrolled by my father and his other cop friends just doing their job. So not only did I never go to these parties because I didn't drink, but I also valued my life enough to NOT get caught out in the forest at one of these parties that my father broke up every weekend. I'm pretty sure that would have not been a wise choice for me to meet my father, in full cop gear, gun on hip, with his team of officers, at a drunken party like he had found on many occasions some of my classmates. So I laid low on the weekends just messing around with my friend in town.

Which brings me back to the whole reunion invite. It made me laugh and roll my eyes that every event for this reunion is at some bar in downtown Prescott. Seriously?? Has NO ONE grown up in the last 10 years that any "fun" we try to have in that little town has to revolve around some drinking party?? Why waste time at the bars?? Why not just head out to the Gravelpits or out Copper Basin to party like everyone did in HS?? Come on!!! Even the "Family BBQ" is advertising the drinking that can take place. Some things just never change! I can just see it now, it will be all the same cliches hanging out catching up on old times, drinking, people making fools of themselves, and acting like things have never changed. I'd like to think I've changed... for the better hopefully. I mean it's been 10 years! My priorities are WAY different now then they were back then. I don't care about 99.5% of the people I went to High School with. If I do, then I still keep in contact with them via Facebook, blogs, or email. I'm pretty sure you couldn't pay me enough money to go and partake of these festivities. Not that I could go... the reunion is the same weekend that my baby is due, so I hope to have a newborn in my arms by then instead of hanging out with all the crazy drunks reliving the good ol' high school days.

That is where I'd rather be anyways, at home, with my husband and kids enjoying the life I have made for myself. I like to think that I've done some great things in the past 10 years. I've gone to awesome places, gone to college, met many friends that I'm STILL friends with, experienced life... both good and bad, happy and sad. Married an amazing man and had... almost... 3 incredible kids with him. This is what I wanted for myself 10 years ago in high school. So I'm pretty happy with the way the past 10 years have turned out for me.

Water Balloon Fights

The other night, Patrick needed help filling water balloons for some scout activity they were doing for their Pack meeting.  So being the stellar wife that I am, I helped him fill and tie LOTS of balloons. We were given way more then we needed and told that any extras we could have if we wanted. So we filled them up for the boys so we could have what Patrick called a "good ol' fashion family water balloon fight." The boys were more then excited for that! They waited eagerly for us to finish filling and tying some balloons for us to use. And of course they laughed their silly little heads off if one popped and splashed Patrick or me.

Finally we had enough to have a little water balloon fight of our own.  (please disregard how horribly ugly our rocks and dirt of a back yard are, we are working on it!)

Brayden was ready for action!

Conner was just waiting for the right moment to throw it at me and get me wet!

Look at that pure joy on his face as he tries to get his brother!

First we had the boys go at each other... they loved it!

Then we had them get up on the trampoline and we would throw the balloons onto the trampoline to get them. It was funny though, because the balloons didn't break right away, it took a few bounces, so you never new when it would explode by you!

Then we all got our "ammo" in a bowl, and it was pretty much a free for all! 

The boys had the best time!

I must admit it was pretty fun for the parents too. It would have been more fun if we actaully had our backyard landscaped so it wasn't just mud splattering all over our legs and feet when a balloon missed it's target, but we still had fun, nothing a quick shower before bed couldn't fix. 

The boys are already begging us to go buy some more balloons so we can do it all again. I think we will have to give our poor fingers a rest... we tied about 100 water balloons... it left injuries. But we will most defiantly do it all again soon!

Conner's Big Day!

Conner is such a funny kid!! If you remember from a few posts back, I mentioned how he had quite the agenda for his birthday. Well he got to do pretty much everything on that list... and then some!!  He had a great day!!!

 

We of course had to get ready, so he had picked out some balloons and streamer at the store so we could decorate the house a little...

He of course wanted to help out... in fact, being Mr. Independent that he is... he wanted to do it all, and pretty much only let mom help to tie the balloons after he blew them up, and tape the streamers up where it was too high for him to reach.

He helped to mix the cake batter and mix up the frosting. Then much to his dismay, mommy did the rest. Coloring frosting is not exactly a child-friendly job. He taste tested the frosting though to make sure each and every color tasted good enough. Mom then made his Optimus Prime birthday cake.

Not 100%, but it was good enough for Conner to say "thanks for making me such an awesome cake mom!" So at least he thought it was the best cake! That is all that matters!

He made sure we sung to him, like we wouldn't have done that anyways, but he just had to make sure!

He asked for "the biggest" piece, so Patrick cut him a pretty big piece, and despite his best efforts, he was only able to eat half, but it was a good effort!

He also got to go to swimming lessons on his big day, which he loves. He is doing so awesome at it, he's getting better and better each time he tries something.

After swimming lessons, it was off to McDonalds for his birthday dinner!!  

(I can hear the members in my family laugh about this, because every year when I was around his age, I chose to go to McDonalds for my birthday dinner too. It was my favorite place to eat. Granted, there were only like 3 fast food restaurants to even choose from in Prescott at the time, so I didn't even have much variety. I am happy to say that both I and the great town of Prescott have expanded out from just McDonalds. I prefer to eat at much better places these days!)

We let the boys play for a while in the play land after they ate, and Brayden saw this chair and told Conner he needed to have his picture taken in it since it was of course his birthday!! Conner was super excited about that idea, and it did make for a cute photo op!

Conner also got to hunt for his presents, as requested, one was hidden upstairs, and lots downstairs!

They were hidden in the food storage closet...

...the pantry...

...everywhere!

He got lots of great presents for his birthday! Brayden and Conner have had so much fun playing with all his new toys!

Things we love about our Conner:

~he is a ball of energy!! 

~he always makes sure he says "love you" to everyone

~he loves to give everyone in his family hugs and kisses

~he loves to cuddle with pretty much anyone who will cuddle with him

~he's such a sweet little boy

Some of Conner's favorite things:

~Dogs

~Playing with his big brother

~Riding in his Daddy's truck

~Going to friends houses

~the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie

~Spongebob

~helping mom go shopping

~his blankies

~playing games with his family

~donuts and/or ice cream

~riding his scooter

Conner is such a happy kid!! We are SO LUCKY to have him in our family!

WE LOVE YOU CONNER!!!!!

**Click here if you wanna see info/pics from when Conner was born that I wrote about last year. He has some pretty stinkin cute baby pictures!

Our 4th of July Weekend!

I love the 4th of July!!!

I always have. I love the BBQ's, fireworks, events, patriotism, the decor, everything. Growing up in Prescott, everyone from there knows that the 4th is like the biggest holiday that town sees all year! There are parades, events on the Courthouse Square, TONS of tourists, fireworks, and of course we cant talk about the 4th in Prescott without mentioning the Worlds Oldest Rodeo! Which I have only been to once in my life, but one day I wanna take my boys there, just for fun. Not that we are Rodeo kinda people, but everyone has to go to the Prescott Rodeo at least once in their life... right?? 

When we lived in Utah, Patrick and I discovered that we LOVED going to Sugarhouse Park to picnic, feed the ducks, play, and watch the fireworks. It was really the only place in Salt Lake that had a big firework show. We did this every year we lived up there. The last time we went to the Sugarhouse Park Fireworks I was literally about to pop from being so pregnant with Conner. Seriously!! He was born 5 days later!!! The following year we joined in on the Prescott 4th of July festivities with my family, then we moved here to Vegas. The first 4th we had here, I remember being soooooo disappointed. I was still getting used to being in Vegas and trying like mad to survive my first killer summer here with temps hovering around 118!!! So we didn't want to melt by going to watch fireworks, so we just went and parked in the vacant lot by Patrick's office where you could see fireworks from all over the valley. This did NOT satisfy my craving for 4th of July festivities. I missed Utah a lot, and we still didn't 

even know anyone around here to even ask about where to go for good fireworks or events or anything like that. So last year, I wanted to get back to our normal way of celebrating, yet to no avail again... it was still 110 degrees at 10 pm as we sat in the back of Patrick's truck from the same vacant lot by his office watching fireworks. We were all roasting to death, and it wasn't that much fun. So this year I was desperate to find a way to make one of my favorite holiday's successful. We wanted to get outta town, we were gonna go up to Utah and go through the new temple during the open house, see our wonderful friends we left behind up there, and of course... go to Sugarhouse Park. However, the closer it got to the 4th, the more apparent it became that we wouldn't be able to go anywhere for multiple reasons beyond our control. I was really bummed!! I wanted so much to have a fun 4th of July all together as a family. After being depressed about it for a few days, I went to work trying to figure out what to do to make this a great 4th of July.  And I'm very happy to report that we were SUCCESSFUL!!

Here are the boys watching the ducks and hunting for turtles.

Such cute brothers!!

Conner being cheesy!

Apparently Brayden thinks he's Mr. Cool gangsta as he chows down on his pizza and lemonade.

Patrick finally getting some relaxation!!!

We spent the weekend at the Rec Center pool with the boys, who loved every minute we were there. We ate ice cream cones in the hot summer afternoons. Ordered take out one night. We took a picnic to the Dinosaur Park not far from our house and watched a pretty decent fireworks show from Aliante Station. And the best part of all.... it WAS NOT a million degrees and we didn't feel like we were melting! We all had fun, ate good food, laughed, and I am happy that maybe now we have finally found a good way to celebrate the 4th here in Vegas!