Confession...

... I AM A YEAST MURDERER!

So I decided to make Maple Frosted Cinnamon Rolls for Mark's 25th Birthday. I made the dough the day before and then the night before his birthday I decided to roll, rise, and bake them so he could re-heat them for the morning of the big event. Unfortunately I murdered the yeast and the dough did not rise...and they did not turn out as glorious as desired.
Making them was an all day affair including multiple trips to the grocery for needed ingredients, timed cooking intervals (in which I planned Hayden's nap around and he of course woke 2 min before it was time to add the yeast..He was hungry... Things happened out of order)
, and huge mess of dishes. Final result: BIG WASTE OF TIME
oh and to top it off... i did not read the recipe closely...it makes 56 rolls... that is right!!! fifty freakin six rolls. Luckily I only rolled and baked 1/2.

Mark with the average rated rolls

For Mark's birthday he got of course lots of cards from loved ones, caribou from me, dinner out without Hayden (thanks Thompsons) at Dos Amigos, and ......
A new 26 inch LCD HD tv for our bedroom!!!! Thanks to me and all the family who sent checks!!!
I even managed to carry it in, assemble it, move the old tv, and have it ready and waiting in the armoire. It was hard work!!

Brady caught Mark a mouse and left it on the front porch!

I know it was for Mark's birthday because he has never ever done that before.
Thanks Brady!

Check out our little monkey!

So if you are wondering about all those videos I promised... they are on facebook. Sorry if you can't see them because you don't have facebook. They load a whole lot easier there!

Surprise Delivery~ Confirmed!

So it has been nearly 1/2 a century since I have posted and that is because I have been trying multiple times a day for the last couple weeks to load a video of Hayden. Oh! and our computer died due to a serious case of swine flu...thankfully the Geek squad revived it but lost our home budget in the process (the best news I have heard all year!) Anyway, the video is of Hayden crawling the very first time (I am pretty proud that I caught it on tape) which hopefully will load before Hayden starts walking.

So back to the original post...

At the end of August Hayden and I took a lil trip to surprise my dad for his 60th birthday. The day started out at 5:30 a.m. when I woke Hayden to eat and then load in his carseat. We then journeyed to Grandma Petrich's so she could drop us off at the airport. Amazingly Hayden slept the whole 1 1/2 trip. In the airport Hayden smiled at every stranger and charmed anyone he could. At our gate I quickly got him out of the stroller to jump/wiggle/and shake all the energy out of him before boarding. I made the mistake of boarding early and suffered with a wiggling 6 month old in the stuffy plane (the ac doesn't come on until take off) Luckily Hayden charmed the flight attendant into ushering the man who was to sit next to us to another seat and we ended up with the only empty seat on the plane. While the plane taxied to the runway- Hayden had me sweating and stressing as he tested out his vocals in a new shrill scream he discovered. To make it even better we were in the exact middle of the plane so we could be heard by all! He was not thrilled at all with the idea of sitting still. I tried every toy in the diaper bag, tried to nurse him...but it was with no success. I realized I was about to die from the heat we were building up in this juggling baby act and it occurred to me that Hayden too was probably hot. I quickly ripped off his clothes and laid him on the seat next to me...he snuggled up to the back of the seat and fell fast asleep just as the wheels left the ground...SIGH! and a huge shout out to Jesus for that miracle! He slept all the way until landing, and woke up happy! He flirted with those around us right up to the terminal. It couldn't have been better.

We of course rushed out of the plane and ran to find GRAMMY! Hayden flashed her a huge smile...he knows where the gifts come from!

During the car ride to meet a couple of good college friends for lunch...Hayden managed to rip the cardboard baby off the book Grammy had just given him. He then proceeded to demolish the baby with drool and chomping. Grammy was a little sad when we saw what he had done! haha! But it kept him quiet for the ride...I think I need one for the plane ride home.

After a good visit we took the 2 hr drive to my parents home. We went straight to the post office to surprise Grandpa before he closed. I called him on the cell phone and said...

"Hey dad, did you get the birthday package I mailed you?"

"Not today."

"But I sent it delivery confirmation."

"That doesn't mean it will get there any faster."

"But the delivery was confirmed to your lobby ..." opening post office door!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Was he ever surprised! He said he thought mom was having company because she had rolls raising that a.m. but he didn't know it was coming from the frozen tundra!

Next we surprised my Grandparents who were coming over for dinner. Grandma Shores did a double take before she realized it was really us!

On Friday morning we surprised Grandma Gardner by knocking on her door and leaving Hayden in the stroller . When she opened the door...he smiled (he has good timing like that) and she says "Oh my goodness...it can't be!"

The rest of our stay we ate at my two favorite restaurants (Bandidos and Texas Roadhouse), enjoyed mom's home cooking, visited with relatives and friends, went boating, and had a lot of fun! It was a great trip and so much fun to surprise everyone! It went by too fast!!

For the airplane ride home... we boarded last... this time to the front row with the extra leg room or baby wiggle room. We again had an empty seat next to us...until.... the flight attendant asked me to move over by the window so a 6'7" soldier could move to our seat with the extra leg room....oh dear! does he really want to sit by us??!! Hayden tried with all his might to climb onto his lap and check out the patches on his army uniform. Thankfully the man although not super into kids played with Hayden a little bit and didn't seem to mind. And guess what...just like magic Hayden passed out on my lap as the plane started to take off... and again slept until landing... I guess we have it in good with the man upstairs. A miracle both flights was more then I could have asked for!

Boot SCOOT and Boogey

He's Not Afraid to Knock Down Fences

Family Fun

One evening while laying on the floor on his back and tossing blocks in the air to entertain Hayden, Mark says to me:

"What will you give me if I can toss a block into the light?"

Because that is obviously worthy of a prize!

So after several attempts, Mark succeeded in tossing all 10 blocks into the light!

And the prize is:

Winner can climb up and get the blocks back out!

As you can see from the picture, laying under the light and tossing the blocks up and over the light is no easy task from such a distance. I am so proud of my husband! This is exactly why I married him!

Tiggers LOVE to Bounce~

CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THAT SOUND

5 months!

I tried to catch his giggles on video...but he gets distracted by the camera

The 30 day SHRED/SHED

So I was inspired back in the middle of May to start working on my post baby body and finally settled on getting a video (Thanks to the writings of BigMama blog) I bought the 30 day Shred video and am still currently on day 3 ...haha!

Despite that, breastfeeding and bouncing Hayden have proven to be the best work outs so far. A few weeks ago I hopped on the scales at work to see where I was at since I don't own a scale. I was pretty pleased with the results. A couple days later I was at the Dr.'s for Hayden's 4 month well baby check up and decided to see if I had even better results without shoes on. So I hopped on the scale. I was shocked to see a much higher number then the previous results from a couple days ago. "Work scales could not be that far off" "There was no way I had gained that much in a few days." were my thoughts. So I zeroed the scale and hopped on again....same number appeared. Because they use kg I thought maybe my math in my head was off so I checked the chart on the wall...nope the pounds were exactly how I calculated them. I had gained 16 pounds in a few days...then I realized I HAD BEEN HOLDING HAYDEN THE WHOLE TIME!

In other blond moment news.... Mark let our yard grow for a ridiculously long time...(we are the white trash house of the neighborhood) We begin to notice a weed that was all over the yard. It was grass like with seedy stuff on top. Mark and I cursed the Scotts weed and feed he had just used prior to our grass growing binge, thinking it had been tainted with a weed. Later we asked his mom if she knew what kind of weed it was... she said "When you let your grass grow long it can sometimes go to seed."

After a mow our yard looks better then ever before. Mark has decided a grow out is just the thing and is currently giving the mower another siesta. I am threatening to a buy a goat!

Speaking of Shred...make that SHED

Post pregnancy hair shed is upon us! It is horrible...I avoid brushing my hair for fear I will go bald... I have to sweep/vacuum several times a week...then I have to tear apart the vacuum and remove all the hair.. sigh! Hopefully the shedding will slow down or Mark will kick me outside like we did to Brady due to shedding.

After vacuuming house!

Father's Day Re-bash!

Father's day was Hayden's 4 month birthday!

So here is our traditional b-day photo shoot

I really wanted to do a little blog about father's day since it is Mark's 1st one...and because I did one on mother's day.

For father's day, we started out the day with all the boys outside admiring our growing landscape.

After church I fixed Mark brunch with french toast as requested by the guest of honor himself. (and of course hayden helped with the cooking) Mark has yet to decide on his gift a) shelves/organizing garage b)golf gift card c) weed whacker. I'll let you know when he picks :)

Mark has proven to be doing just fine as a father (I had no doubt) He says he is just winging it...haha! I am so proud of him! I know Hayden is going to look up to him...he already watches everything Mark does. I am glad to have such a good example for my son to follow.

Now a shout out to my AWSOME dad!

I feel truly blessed in the parents department...as you may have read before I learned how to be a loving nuturing mother by the example from my mom...so you probably wonder "did you learn to be a father from your dad? what?!" No, I actually learned how to be a woman from my dad. Now you are surely confused and no my dad is not a cross dresser or even the slightest bit feminine. Let me explain:

"Every little girl should be so loved, so welcomed--seen, known, treasured. From this place she can become a strong and beautiful and confident woman." Captivating

That quote basically explains it. My dad has always made me feel pretty; telling me so when I dressed up for church/prom/wedding...; he has always stressed that I look even more beautiful without make-up. Because of this I have rarely struggled with looks, besides the occasional zit crisis or bad hair day. I learned to be confident in my natural beauty. I also learned from him that a woman is a man's helpmate by watching how he treats my mother. She is not superior or inferior to him. He is respectful to her in how he talks to her, listens to her opinions, and treats her. Because of this, I have confidence and independence. He is the spiritual leader of our home, living a Godly life. Growing up I never felt the need to be boy crazy because I had no voids to be filled...my father on earth treasured me and showed me my father in heaven who fills all voids. Dad you set the bar high for any man who was going to be a part of my life. They say every girl wants to marry someone like dear ol dad...well when you have a father like mine it's true. Thank you dad for showing me that I deserve to be loved and cherished, but confident and strong enough to not depend on those things alone. I love you!

Videos WHAT?

So "videos galore" turned into "videos squared"
for some reason it took 3 days for 2 short videos to load.
I will try to add a couple more...but don't hold your breath.
By the way did anyone else notice how obnoxious my screeching voice is when I talk to Hayden...poor kid. I hope it doesn't scar him.

Videos Galore

So are computer, car, ac in car, and cell phone all died within a couple of weeks....yeah exciting I know! Now everything is back in business except the ac in the car. But who needs ac here in the frozen tundra! Any way I have sooo much to post so join me as we go back in time for the last month or so...

This video was from
June 17, 2009

July 1st~Crawling demo/seal tricks

Past Few Weeks in a Nutshell

Mark and I have been furiously working on the yard. Maybe you have noticed the giant burnt patch of grass thanks to our sweet Brady "watering" the grass. We decided to splurge and do some landscaping. Neither of us have experience in this area but we figured we are fairly educated people. So we managed to put in edging, stone, and 5 plants without too much trouble. (Pictures will be posted later.) Due to a certain 3 month old most of our project happened at 11 p.m. It was a lot fun (most of the time) and occasionally stressful...and did I mention expensive. But we are so happy to have made so much progress and hopefully our neighbors won't want to kick us out of the neighborhood anymore (just kidding)!

At the end of May my parents swung by our home on their way back from my cousin's graduation in Colorado. It's slightly out of the way but the temptation is so great with a grandson waiting for them. It was an unexpected trip and we were so EXCITED to have them. While they were here they of course spoiled their grandson and enjoyed watching their grandpuppy at the dog park. Dad helped with some grass planting. And Mom was here to help me through my return to work/withdrawal from my sweet baby. She worked really hard to get him to take a bottle while I was away. Hayden apparently will only accept his Nuby bottle while sitting in his bouncy seat. Silly Boy! It is a huge relief to have him eating when I am gone!

I also celebrated my 25th birthday...basically my life is a quarter over now. sigh! Oh well, I don't feel too sad about it! :) It was really nice to have my parents around to help us celebrate this milestone. I got cards, ice cream cake, brownies, roses, a rosebush, a cushion for my rocking chair, a new outfit, caribou gift card and some money! Thank you all! I also got to go shopping at the mall of america with my mom. Oh sweet mall how I have missed you. (I missed shopping with you too, mom!)

In Hayden news: He has greatly progressed in his ability to grab toys, cashews, fingers, hair, etc. His eye hand coordination is excellent! He also rolled from his tummy to his back, giggled, and sucked his toe. He loves to kick his legs constantly and prefers to be upright so he can see everything. He is starting to get into the "frustrated because I can't move" stage. He often sees toys and such that he wants but just can't reach. He loves to wake up squealing and blowing raspberries while filling his diaper with his daily explosive diaper. Yep daily! He recognizes mom and dad, and cries when strangers hold him. He loves to be outside whether we are going on a walk, rocking in the wicker chair, watching daddy play softball, or going to the dog park. Speaking of dog.... He can't get enough of watching Brady and gets a huge smile when Brady nibbles his toes or lick his face. I on the other hand could do with out the dog kisses all over my baby. It is such a joy to watch him grow and explore the world. And isn't he just so gosh darn cute?!

3 months