Just Matt and I.

I'm always bummed when I go to someone's blog and all it consists of are photos of their kids and you have to scroll down fifty pages just to find a picture of the person whose blog it actually is. So here is a photo of myself and Matt, sans Sawyer. And also just a fun little survey I borrowed from a friend's blog.

8 TV shows I watch
1. Friday Night Lights
2. Greek
3. One Tree Hill
4. Real Housewives of Orange County (I'm ashamed to admit it, but it's true)
5. House Hunters
6. Fringe, occasionally with the hubs

7. Lost, if Matt lets me since I can't help but ask a bazillion questions since I'm so, well, Lost.
8. Amazing Race, but only the last few episodes so I can see who wins.

8 favorite places to eat and drink (and my favorite menu item there)
1. Cafe Rio's super delicious Barbacoa Salad with their amazing dressing. Mmmmm.
2. Starbucks iced coffee with white chocolate flavoring in it
3. The Habit. Their lettuce wrapped char burger has become quite the habit.
4. T.G.I.Friday. Sizzling chicken and shrimp platter is sooooo worth the calories.
5. Pick up Stix's Pad Thai
6. Thai Kitchen in Simi, their thai iced tea ice cream (say that ten times fast!) is out of this world.
7. Chipotle's Barbacoa Bowl.
8. Our new favorite Red's Barbecue in Simi whose tri tip salad has left me dreaming about it ever since.

8 things I look forward to:
1. Buying a home.
2. Celebrating Sawyer's first birthday.
3. Getting into the nursing program.
4. Finishing the program and getting my first nursing job!
5. Writing and publishing a children's book.
6. Going camping as a family.
7. Getting back to scrapbooking someday.
8. Having our own place to decorate.

8 things I love about winter:
1. Snow
2. Snowboarding
3. Hot cocoa
4. Cuddling up under warm blankets
5. Roasting marshmallows in the fireplace
6. Drinking hot cider
7. Getting to bundle up in cute coats, scarfs, hats and gloves
8. All the holidays that come with it

8 places I always go:
1. Costco on a bi weekly basis. Sometimes just for the samples. Yes we are one of those people.
2. The shopping center down the road because Sawyer and I got for walks down to it.
3. Moorpark college every Tuesday and Thursdays nights for Microbiology class.
4. Starbucks sometimes to study, sometimes to meet up with a friend or sometimes just for a moment alone.
5. The Swim Academy in Santa Clarita every Thursday morning for Sawyer's swim lessons.
6. Cornerstone church in Simi every Sunday.
7. The backyard to play with Moxie.
8. Target when we are bored and can't think of anything else to do.

8 things on my wish list:
1. A home of our own.
2. To be able to have Sawyer continue with swim lessons.
3. To get into the nursing program sooner rather than later.
4. My family closer.
5. To go camping this summer in our tent and one day own a pop up trailer.
6. Have a backyard one day.
7. A gym pass to Total Woman.
8. A racing bike so I can join Matt on his treks and a trailer so Sawyer can come too.

8 things I am passionate about
1. Matt
2. Sawyer
3. my family
4. entering contests because one day I'm bound to win one of them!
5. becoming a better person
6. planning a vacation at least once a year
7. making lists!
8. blogging

Raincow Boots.

When we were waiting and waiting and waiting some more at the SLC airport I saw these fantastarastic boots at one of their giftshops. I fell in love. I wanted them sooooooooo bad. I mean obviously they were made with me specifically in mind. If a rainboot and a cowboy boot had a baby these are what would be born. Sadly they were close to $60 buckaroonies.

But then Matt scoured the internet found them on line for twenty.

My feet and I couldn't be happier. And we were in luck too because it's been raining so I've been able to get some good use out of them. Don't you worry though, I'll be wearing them rain or shine anyway.

Nicknames

Just a few of the names that Sawyer goes by.....

Baby Bebo

Boo Boo Bear

Mr. Stinky

Silly Head

Buddy Boo

So Fresh and So Clean Clean.

One of the perks of living at Matt's grandma's house is that she has a cleaning crew come in every other week to spruce the place up. That means no cleaning the bathroom, dusting or vacuuming for me! Yahoo! Although I think by the time we move I'll have forgotten how to scrub a toilet.

My favorite thing is coming back after they've cleaned and seeing this:

Sawyer's pack n' play neat and organized.

And his crib all nicely made up.

The best part is how they tidy up Moxie's crate. It cracks me up every time.

Those cleaning ladies really know how to spoil us.

Caterpillar Killer

Desperate Times Call for.....Rice Cereal.

I was really trying to hold out on starting Sawyer on solids. Our pediatrician recommended waiting until he was 6 months since it's been proven they have less food allergies that way. And since I am the queen of food allergies I was going to wait. That is, until I've had to get up just about every hour at night to feed him because he's starving and have been running on no zzzzz's.  Last night at around 3:00 or 4:00 am (not really sure because I was so groggy) after being woken up for what felt like the twentieth time in a row, I had a bit of meltdown. Or a lot of meltdown. Tears. Throwing things. Yep, the whole works. It was a tantrum and all due to lack of sleep. That's what happens  after only getting 4 hours of it every night for 3 weeks in a row.  

So I caved. 

We went and got the feeding essentials tonight.

He'll be five months in a week so I'm hoping I can keep him on just rice cereal until he is closer to the six month mark before introducing other food. 

Here comes the airplane. 

Open up the hangar!

Looking a little skeptical about the whole situation.

Until he realized it was surprisingly delicious!

I'm hoping it does the trick and he'll sleep for a good stretch tonight from having a full tummy. Cross your fingers for me. And for Matt since I'm sure he's tired of having a cranky wife! 

Presidents Weekend in the Beehive State

It's a good thing a picture speaks a thousand words because I have lots to say about our fun filled fabulous weekend, but no time to type ⌚. We've been back home for a whole 24 hours now though so there's no excuse to not have them up yet. 

At our hotel after arriving in Utah around midnight Wednesday night. He's looking a little cozy. Great, does this mean he'll want a king size when he upgrades to a big boy bed?

Hi grandma!!!

Park City. Hello  snow,  I've missed you so. 

❄❅❄

All the men I ♥

Dad and I. 

Grandma babysat while we were out playing in the snow. When we finally got back Sawyer looked at me with this face as if saying "are you my mother?"

Confirmation complete. You ARE my mother!

☺

Wasn't quite big enough to go on the mountain with us, but still showed his support!

At Brick Oven later that night having a dinner par-tay with all the extended family.

☕ 

Sawyer made his rounds to see all the cousins. 

Pretty sure he got a big kick out of Janna, Tanner and Shannon. 

Bath time for stinky. 

Unfortunately after getting dropped off at the airport at 9:30 am on Tuesday we found out our flight had been rescheduled for the next day.  Another misfortune was that I had an exam that night that  I needed get back in time to take!

Luckily we were able to get another flight on the same day, but not until 5 pm.

So we spent the next seven hours roaming the halls of the SLC airport. And thank goodness for super technologically advanced phones because Matt was able to email my professor and reschedule my exam. Phew!

✈

Back home it's always nice to sleep in your own bed again and of course play with the toys you missed so much.

We had a great trip and lots of fun with all the family and cousins we got to see. Thanks Annie and Phil for putting us up for the weekend, feeding our hungry faces,  and entertaining us!  

Engagement Pics

Matt recently came across a cd of all our engagement photos. It was fun looking through them since they were taken exactly 4 years ago. You can tell we were so giddy around each other because the majority of them are of us goofing around, laughing or making ridiculous faces.

It's true what they say that when you are in love you gain weight. You can tell in the engagement ones we've got a lil' extra puff, fluff and stuff. They were taken in February and then by our wedding in May we had both slimmed down. Neither one of us realized it at the time until I had to get my wedding dress taken in last minute and Matt had to do the same with his suit. I like to think that was because we were both trying to look fabulouso on our wedding day (and not because we were too nervous to eat).

Cheers to what will be 4 years of marriage this May!

Oh Bother.

The people who live in a golden age usually go around complaining how yellow everything looks. ~Randall Jarrell

I've decided that to make a new and improved version of myself I am going to try my darndest to stop complaining. My first new years resolution was originally to stop gossiping, but when you get down to the root of it gossiping is really just complaining about someone else. Looking deeper I think I've fallen prey to complaining in some circles just to fit in. There's always that coworker or acquaintance where just about the only thing you have in common is to whine, whether it's about work, school, your spouse or life in general. Now when it gets to complaining about your significant other I've tried to draw the line at that so instead I would say nothing at all. Who really wants to hear about how wonderful, intelligent, handsome I think my husband is and how great he treats me, when all they can seem to talk about it how awful their own relationship is. Sometimes I feel like one of the main reasons I complain is because I feel like doing the opposite would be bragging. I guess that's my own issue. I don't want to make someone else feel bad by talking about how great everything in my own life is so instead I downplay it. But let's face it, my life doesn't suck at all. In fact it's terrific! And most likely a lot of complainers out there have it just as good as me. So there you have it. That's my goal to become better and I'm asking that those I talk to frequently to hold me accountable to it. If you hear me being an Eeyore, a Grumpy Gus, a Pessimistic Pam, a Whining Wendy, a Bellyaching Beatrice, I hope you call me out on it. I've been blessed more then I deserve and it's about time I started acting like it.

Sawyer Stats and Other Tid Bits

Had his 4 month check up today and he is in the 95th percentile for height at 27 inches long and 75th percentile for weight at 16.7 lbs. I guess that means he is going to be tall and skinny? 

My brother Ben came to visit us last Sunday and we had lots of fun hanging out with him during the day. I'm really looking forward to when he and Chantal move closer so the cousins can play together!

Sawyer is super excited to go see Grandma and Grandpa Howell and Uncle Bryson this Thursday when we meet up with them in Utah. Some of us are going snowboarding and some of us are staying behind to babysit the little man. Now if only this stupid sore throat that decided to grace me with it's presence yesterday will get lost. Arrrgh. Is it just me being a pessimist or is that the way it always works, a cold or some sort of sickness manages to sneak in when a vacation is looming in the  horizon! Boo. Not fair. Well I'm still determined to go snowboarding even if I have to load all my pockets with lozenges and kleenex. Sawyer got a new sweater for $3 for the colder weather, but just couldn't wait to wear it. 

And I just couldn't leave out these videos. This is apparently the little dude's new thing. I heard him whisper/talking last night in the other room with Matt. I had to sneak into the room recording otherwise I knew he would stop when he saw the camera. It's funny and creepy all at the same time. Can my kid be talking to aliens? It sure sounds like it. Great, just what I need. (Mom you know what I'm talking about!) Tried getting him to do it again in the second video and he did briefly, but then stopped. I guess the alien conversation had finished.