-viva las vegas!!

we went to vegas on my parent's dime.

and it was good.

so good that i only thought to pick up the camera one time when the back lighting was so sweet.

how about some highlights?

-spice market buffet with my family. i had prime rib for dinner and dessert.

-getting to go to bed at 8pm while lew stayed up to partner in "hand and foot" with my mom and lose horribly to my dad and brother. even with some high pressure negotiating.

-watching ade and hayden play. finally- someone his same size!!

-feeling the jimmer love vibrating off my little brother as we cheered on BYU.

-helping my dad figure out a soundtrack to his slide show and realizing that he loves his grand kids more than the beatles. (gasp)

-sneaking lemon bars with dev.

-ade's morning hops (with flapping hands) while he waits for his NEXT present from grandma.

-a car full of sleeping lewis boys as we headed home late last night giving me the time to listen to some joshua radin without interruptions.

- and (coming back to write more).

ps- these are the sleeping bags my sister made for the boys for xmas this year.

what took me SO long to post such an amazing gift?

thanks Lodo! they love them so much!!

-snip snip bark

brandon's such a control freak sometimes.

he wanted to cut the boys hair this round but wanted me to stand next to him the entire time and tell him where to make each cut. i explained that i have NO idea how to cut hair which is why i pay people to do it. apparently, that wasn't a very nice thing to say. i didn't take a picture of the final product because i got too bored and pretended to have a headache so i could go to bed and read a magazine.

so besides that fun event, here's some other happenings that i pray i NEVER forget:

1. brooks woke up in the middle of his sleep and said "dad, i'm brushing the alligator's teeth". and then fell back over zonked out.

2. while eating breakfast with ade at our usual whole food's buffet he randomly yelled towards the outside window "knock it off!!" i asked him what that was all about and he said the sun was in his eyes and he wanted it to stop. my 2 year old just yelled at the sun.

3. i was having a rough night of sleep and some how, both boys found me on the couch at 3am. it was a battle of egg beater legs and static hair to try to find our own niches. once we were finally settled, i opened my eyes and found brooks staring at me with a harmonica in his mouth. i said "go to sleep please". he played a short G note and then nodded off.

4. i figured out the genius feature on my ipod and ran in the mountains like a wild goat to tunes all centered around the YYY's Gold Lion".

5. i'm pretty sure i'm allergic to gluten.

6. the boys loved the drinking episode of glee.

7. i got super lucky at last chance (super fast girl clapping with a toothy smile)

8. and my hair is still growing...................

-pure

jo and i had this idea to have a mini valentine's day dinner with our #1's.

(they're called the #1's because they're first borns and they're at a much more joyful stage of life).

so the kids got their dinner/play time/opportunity to tick off other well paying customers that would NEVER bring children to this fine establishment at such a late hour/gift exchange/gourmet s'mores.

and jo and i got another opportunity to curl our hair and eat grass fed beef.

breana's ALWAYS shy for the first 20 minutes she's with brooks.

and then she warms up.

he gets all hyper and loves showing off because she literally laughs at everything he does and says.

and she loves laughing at everything he does and says.

what's that like?....................

it was a great night.

the herb box in scottsdale has the most amazing bathroom.

what's my thing with taking pictures in bathrooms?

i love jo because she's always up for a spur of the moment photo shoot.

and because she's taught her daughter how to be a beautiful friend.

happy valentine's day!

yes- ade's wearing a dress. he was our flower girl.
yes- that's my original wedding dress circa 1998.
no- don't be jealous.

-awkwardly funny and sweet

this was going to be a post about love and husbands and heart shaped pupils.

but i can't stop staring at how weird this pictures is.

look at how much higher my hips are than his- yet he's still taller.

i really don't know how to explain it.

are my legs that much longer?

are my shoes too tall?

are his pants just extra low?

is this what we look like everyday?

am i suppose to laugh this hard on valentine's day?

so many questions.

anyways-

happy hearts day.

(weird photo by jose de orta)

-it's not a doll. it's a baby.

brooks and ben

february 2011

ps- i asked brooks and ade what they wanted to be when they grew up and this is what they said:

brooks- "i want to be a garbage man. but not the driver. i want to be the garbage man that gets to hold on the back and pick up garbage cans. that's cool".

ade- "um....... a kitty".

-not yet

i'm in the stage of life where every single month i take a pregnancy test.
i'm not trying to have another baby yet.
but that's the first thing i think about whenever i have gas or heartburn or sleep disturbance or a bad mood or a fat face day.
or all of the other usual signs of pms.
but i'm not pregnant.
maybe i'm just addicted to peeing on a stick?
anyways- i had a thought this morning at 3am that made me feel better about gurgling stomach acid while watching E!
there will be a day when i'll be too old to worry about pregnancy.
and then i felt grateful for my body.
that's all.
and even more excited that in the future i may have another dress splitting barefoot photo opportunity like this one:

-i got away

it was from a friday 8am- sunday 7pm.

and every single hour was soaked up.

some of the "soaking" included going to bed at 6pm, stalking asian yoga surfers and eating carmel corn for brunch.

thanks jo for being a super muffy hf.

song "lollipop" by mika.
ps- my kids love walking around in public yelling "hey! what's the big idea?"