Yummy...

A Glimpse Into My Childhood

Meet Craig. He is my dear old Uncle. He is (obviously) my dad's brother. Older Brother. You would NEVER know that he's older based on how he lives his life. Every year he and my Aunt Susan travel to some different part of the world and backpack it. Coming up on 60 (holy crap, that's old :) ) he is the most in-shape guy I know. He skied 50 times this winter. (Not THAT hard to do if you live in Tahoe...)
Anyways, Uncle Craig has always lived in Truckee. My whole life. He and Susan have always always always been two of my favorite people. I remember as a child thinking it so strange that they weren't married. (Silly hippies... ;) ) I remember asking them all the time when they were going to get married. Their response? If it ain't broke...
I have SO many great memories of Uncle Craig. In fact, I have a scar on my left pointer finger from when I was playing a game with him when I was around 12. He ended up with a layer of skin from my finger in his mouth and I ended up with a scar. Every time I look at it I smile and think of him.
My fondest memories of Craig were ones that were a yearly thing (until I was too old for it... although if I would let him he would probably still try to do it.) Every summer when we would go visit him in Truckee we would go swimming. He would chuck Kelly and me across the pool. He would throw us up and we would do flips before landing not-so-gracefully in the water. He would play games with us in the pool. He would tease us and taunt us and tickle us. I will never ever ever ever forget those fun days of playing with my sweet Uncle Craig in the water... it's probably the closest I've ever come to flying.
So, I find myself, 25 years later, watching my amazing Uncle doing this again, with my adorable little nieces. When he was in town for Bryan's graduation (I know, so nice of him to come!!) he went swimming with everyone and was throwing the Ladies EVERYWHERE!!! And, like their mother and myself, they were digging it! They fell in love with Craig just like Kelly and I did when we were their age. They love him even though Santa is going to bring him coal. They love him even though he doesn't make his bed just right. (That's right, Grace actually went in and remade it for him because "the pillows are suppose to stand straight up, Uncle Craig!")
I love my Uncle Craig. I hope he knows that we'll take care of him and Susan when they're old and senile. I hope he knows that I smile EVERY time I think of him. I hope he knows that my kids will hear about him long after he's dead and gone. I hope he knows what a great impact he's had on my life. I really hope he knows how much I love him and his larger-than-life heart.

Pictures from Graduation

Here are some pictures of Bryan's graduation. I don't know how to add captions to the pictures so you'll never know who half of the people are. :) Enjoy!

She's Finally Crawling

Addilyn finally started crawling a couple of weeks ago, but life has been too crazy to blog about it until now. She started about 2 hours after her one year check up. I vented to the ever so patient doctor about how I was worried about her. So... just to prove me wrong, she decided to go for it.
All it took was a sparkly flip flop laying on the floor. I looked up and there she was, going right for my shoe. Typical girl... anything for a cute shoe! I already tell she is going to be a great shopping companion!

Dr. B.

It finally happened! The day that Bryan has been working so hard for. On June 14th, Bryan graduated from dental school. I know you are all SO bummed that you missed it so, here is your very own chance to watch the big moment. I am so proud of him. He deserves this more than anyone I know. He has worked so hard at school and at balancing school with our crazy life. I couldn't be more proud of the man that is he and all that he has accomplished... even if he did look like Harry Potter in his graduation gown. :) Congrats, baby! I love you!!!

A Few That I Love

On Addi's birthday we went out and took pictures of the kids. The whole reason I got this camera is to capture my kids and I am not being very good about doing actual "photo shoots" with them. Here are a few of the ones that I love in the "mommy" part of me. On my photoblog I have the ones I love from the "photographer" part of me.


Carter accidentally "loved" Addilyn too hard and hurt her. In turn, it made him cry because he felt bad. I loved the picture from both angles. Carter's and then Addilyn's.



Below is my life, caught in one simple picture...

Addilyn's Favorite Trick

As I have mentioned before, Addilyn is quite the little dare devil. She LOVES being thrown around. This is one of her favorite things to do with Daddy. She seriously laughs hysterically through the entire thing.
You can see the excitement on her face in this first one.



She flings herself off of Bryan as hard as she can and get pretty far...

She also loves being thrown up in the air. Look at that mouth. I bet she's eaten a fly or two in her day.

Addilyn's Birthday

Addi's birthday was so much fun. We started the morning off making a giraffe cake. After a nap (only Addi unfortunately) we headed to Grammie and Granddad's for cake and swimming. We didn't want to do TOO much celebrating without my side of the family so we decided to save the presents for when my parents are in town for Bryan's graduation. We did cake first and while my little girl was shy at first, once daddy helped her have a small taste she... ummm... dug right in. So, for those of you who wish they could have seen her in action, I will provide you with a play by play. (I know, how EXCITING!!)

1. innocent giraffe cake that Mommy spent far too much time on, minding his own business.
2. I wonder if this flickering thing will hurt me. We should have taken a time out and had her watch Amanda Jergensen's little girl's birthday video. Luckily Bryan was a little quicker than Cameryn's daddy. ;)
3. After Daddy giving me a little nibble from his finger I think I may taste a bite... while remaining a dignified lady, of course.
4. You know, this crap ain't bad...

5. YUMMY! I could get use to this. Is this how Mommy is going to let me eat now that I'm a big girl? I'm digging in!6. Oh yeah, bizzo! This giraffe is going DOWN! (***Note: This picture makes me giggle because she has her lip wrapped around her fingers.)
6. Oh... ummm... am I being un-lady-like? Do I have something on my face? Oopsy...
7. What have we here? An WHOLE PIECE of this cake, as they call it? I wonder if I can fit the entire thing in my little one year old mouth... 8. I believe I can. Look at me go!!! Mommy ain't got nothing on me! (***Not true. I can eat cake like no body's business.***)9. Hugs. My new best friend.

Addilyn's cake eating experience is only trumped by the Ladies' first birthday. When Kelly tried to take Grace's cake away from her (which she had one hand FIRMLY on, while eating furiously with the other) she SCREAMED bloody murder. Seriously, Bloody Murder!!!

Bryan's Birthday

Bryan's birthday was this past Thursday (as mentioned in the previous post). He doesn't have much of a sweet tooth so we were just going to call it good with no cake. We figured we were going to have enough cake on Addi's birthday 2 days later. Well, all day long Carter kept talking about going to "Daddy's Birthday" and how there was going to be cake with candles there. We were going to get to sing Happy Birthday, too. How can you NOT do it after hearing all that? So, I ran to the store when Bry got home, got a 6 pack of cupcakes, and we sang to Bryan. Carter had his own cupcake that he got to blow the candle out on. He ate his cupcake and we took the other 5 to the kids across the street from us. Bryan's birthday was wonderful. His mom came and watched the kids while we went to dinner and then (are you ready for this...?) grocery shopping. I know, but money's tight. Hopefully next year we can do more. But just spending time with him alone was worth it. He's so very amazing and I am the luckiest girl in the world!!


Bryan was watching Carter blow out his candle...

YUMMY!!!