-my "fresh to death" child

in fear of taking away from the amazingness of jo's wedding,
i decided to make this post separate.
because although i was blown away with the beauty and effort that went into everything last weekend, i have to take credit for my favorite part of the festivities:

we realized brooks can dance.

not only does he have the moves (including a new break dance hand spin move we've never seen before)- he's not afraid to show them off.
our baby danced, made requests (boom boom pow, ima be and who let the dogs out), and literally torn that place up for 2 straight hours. he refused to let me sit and enjoy some conversation with my fellow dining guests or a bite of that gorgeous wedding cake.
he had 1 thing on his mind.
and that was some shaking and grooving.
with his momma.

pulling him off the dance floor- kicking and screaming- was
probably my proudest moment of motherhood.

so bummed we didn't capture a picture of him in full effect!

-ding! dong! ding! dong!

yep.
that's it.
we were there.
the MOST AMAZING wedding in the universe.
jonelle is officially mrs. g. and it was definitely a celebration.

i love weddings more than anything.
fresh flowers, shiny people, good food, romance in the air,
and the memories of how my own love story began.
anyone got an extra 2 seats at their upcoming wedding?
we're really great guests.
we'll even split our meal.

ps- if lew can't come, i can always bring my pencil skirt twin:

-i'm high on rawk

i got a call at 8pm the other night informing me that i needed to get dressed and head over to some shady underground mesa venue immediately. and wasn't i soooo glad i did?!
this is kerri:

she's basically my dealer.
when i say no, i'm too old, i'm too tired, i feel fat, i don't need anymore, i'm over it-
she says no.

and because i will forever be addicted to all things mxpx, i am forever her slave.
for some reason, kerri's always on top of our favorite little punk band's whereabouts.
i admired her ability to constantly deflect shame associated with being too old to jam with 15 year old boys- belting out every single lyric.

notice- the face of an addict:

mike came to arizona and gave us an acoustic show.

and now i can go back to my mom life.
damn you kerri.
and i love you.

-carlos willies

my little brother has the cutest family.
they just posted a video that i think proves it.
click here to see what i mean.

-happy happy

happy birthday
my man!
there's 2 things brandon really hates:
taking pictures of food
and
public birthday celebrations.
but he obliged to both because he's married to me- the bday queen- and knew i always get what i want.
we went to The Capital Grill (thanks to a $100 gift card i received from a client) and had steaks and his favorite-
fancy restaurant mac and cheese.
it just tastes that much better when it costs $15.
and then to cap off the elegant evening of dining we went to walmart.
barf.
i told him he needed to pick out some gifts for the boys to wrap and give to him in the morning.
it's either that or i'll buy him stuff i want like a swiffer vacuum or lip gloss.
once again, he obliged.

he's not of frequenter of "the wals" and upon entrance, he said the greatest thing of all time:
"oh yeah. i love it here. i can fart and not even care".

at least it will smell like some quality cuisine.
because that's how we do.
love you lew.

-weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

our friend just turned 5.
colton, the man in the green, just threw a super sweet party at pump it up.
because nothing says happy birthday like a mild neck injury and a wet sock from a mystery puddle.

ryder and colton

the greenes.

arizona lewis

it was strangely satisfying watching my whiney teething 18 month old fly down the 20 ft. slide in horror.
because i'm an amazing mom.

teague, pris, tiffers and me.

for the making of above picture, watch this:

it makes me laugh.

-sweep the leg

sometimes inspiration hits you at the weirdest times.
one minute i'm doing the dishes and trying to figure out dinner
and the next minute, i've loaded up the car and i'm heading to supercuts with my heart racing in pure excitement.
brooks has been needing a sheering.
i've been searching for a suitable style.........

bingo.
who wouldn't want to look like hollywood's hottest villain?
karate kid quotes welcome and....................GO!

ps- how much do you looooove alli (with an i)?

-yee haw.

this is kelli and whiz-

she's the type of girl that will roll out of bed after a night of st. patricking
to introduce my boys to the wonderful world of horses.
i think they got their first real taste of heaven.

brooks was nervous and had that "i'm trying not to smile" look on his face the whole time.

this kid hardly noticed the chinese splits position he had to endure.
he was so serious about this horse biznass.
and whiz respected the hell out of him for it.

and after the ropin' and ridin' was over, we fed carrots to this mop head.
as the wise mother, i carefully explained the importance of a flat hand around a horse's mouth.
and that you can't eat the carrots that fell out of the pony's mouth and into the hay.
details.

and this is kerri (kelli's sister ((and my co-punk band obsessed friend))).
see how grown up we are now?
dare i find a greater morning with my boys?

-70 yard hero

before i start, let me just say that i hope to raise hardworking and goal achieving men.

ok.
saturday was brooks's first race.
a WHOPPIN' 3K.
i woke him up early, fed him a hearty breakfast and gave him a pep talk during the car ride over that included words like pace, strive, push hard and finish strong.
i was so excited when the starting gun blasted and we were off for our mile-ish run.
"come on bud! you're doing great!!"
his dinosaur vans were slapping the pavement like a thoroughbred and i felt uteran pride.

and then he quit.

there is no tapering in effort when it comes to a 3 year old.
within 50 yards of the starting line brooks decided that this whole race bit was bullcrap and he wanted to be back in the bouncy castle inducing whiplash to some overplayed "boom boom pow".

"lewis boys aren't quitters. come on b!"

NOTHING could restart this nugget.
so i did what every competitive mom with shwagg bags and no hair tie would do.
i picked him up and ran the freaking thing to show him that quitting was not an option.
with the finish line within 20 yards, i plopped him down and told him to go for it.
he ran like the wind.
a blond, floppy haired, hydrated and well rested wind.
totally worth the shaking biceps and 15 swallowed curse words i endured.
i love my brooks.

he totally earned his turn for some sweet photo opp's.
yooooou're welcome.

click here to learn more about an amazing organization

-the end of me.

why NOT to take an 18 month old to the movies:

5:10- movie starts. there's only a handful of people in the theater. sigh of relief.
5:11-14- he's eating the buttered popcorn. he's so content, i don't even mind the greasy hand prints on my new black jeans.
5:15-17- oh great. he's discovered the squeak in his chair and is doing the jackknife maneuver over and over again to speed up and magnify the squeak.
5:18- crap. there goes half of the bag of popcorn. right onto THAT floor.
5:19- he's off of the chair. phew.
5:19:30- he found my diet pepsi and in a way washed off the hand prints by pouring the cup down the entire right side of my body.
5:20-21- oh sh*t. he's eating the popcorn off the floor like a dog. no hands.
5:22- fit #1 begins as i pull him off the floor and back into his seat.
5:23- fit #1 ends. jackknife squeaking resumes. my patience wearing.
5:25- fit#2 begins when i noticed the squeaking ended only because he has somehow lodged his head into the seat crack.
5:27-30- fit #2 ends. head dislodged. stomping and ice skating on dirty spilled popcorn begins.
5:31- fit #3 begins when he finally slips on the popcorn and tips over the remaining popcorn.
5:32- fit #3 ends. moving up front and playing on the emergency exit stairs begin.
5:33-38- he's content on the stairs. wow. i think i actually just watched 5 minutes of this stupid movie. wish i had my soda.
5:39- he's back to sitting next to me and has found the only other seat in the entire theater that'll squeak when jackknifed.
5:40- jackknifing ended by me when i feel a nervous breakdown setting in.
5:41- running up and down the aisle begins
5:42- running up and down the aisle ends when he catches the toe of his red croc and face plants
5:42:15- i'm running to the bathroom to keep blood from completely ruining my new, ruined black jeans.
5:43- with the help of an empty popcorn bag, two bendy straws and fierce determination, i perform my own hysterectomy in the the bathroom stall.
i'm not having anymore children.
ever.
we did get in a couple rounds of DDR.
so i guess that was good-

next time, it's just me and the 3 year old.
and some WD 40.

- my best friend's getting married.......

yep.
she's tying the knot.
and even though she has a 9 year relationship and 2 kids with the old ball and chain- we (her self appointed bridesmaids) decided to give her one last whirl on the town before taking the vows.
jonelle refused to let us call it a bachelorette party so we'll just say it was a girl's night out with some dancing, free drinks, a worn out taxi biker and some camera shots up the skirts.
aka- the night i laughed harder and longer than any other night in my life.

there's a shot of that damn pumpkin bread pudding that i can't stop thinking about.

here's to you jo.
may your wedding be as beautiful and bubbly as a sweaty glass of diet coke.
and may your new wife title not make you forget about how fun girl's night out is.

-not much else to say

serenity now.

i'm on a sunshine and naked baby overload.

so awesome.