why, hello.

Just a little photo that I took of my husband and I last weekend while out on a date. 

Our night out was simple but sweet. We first grabbed a little nibble at Orange Leaf Yogurt (now my new favorite dessert spot!) then headed out to see The Amazing Spiderman 2. No, our boys do not know we saw this, nor am I ashamed to admit that I really liked it and have even added first one to our Netflix queue. ;) The Blue Square location on the USU campus (where this photo was taken) had us both feeling supa cool (okay, actually kinda warm because of the fire). Bart actually asked out loud..."Is there any way we could go back to college?" I was all for it too, as long as I could do it with him. We're hoping to really do this once our kids go, cause 50 year olds trying to relive the young and fun days isn't at all weird...

Bill Watterson

Today my son had his first friend over that he invited. Up until now, I've been the one to arrange all of his play dates. The conversation went something like this...

Benjamin: "Hey mom, I see my friend is outside! 

Me: "Oh really, what's his name?"

Benjamin: "I don't know, let me run over and go find out."

Moments later I made the decision to allow the neighbor boy to come over to our house and his mom and I were quickly confirming details over the fence. I know I must've have said more than once... "I'll be sure to supervise the whole time!" I'm actually glad I was there to watch it all because at first Grant was feeling a bit like the odd man out. Normal since B&G are usually together all the time but kinda hard nonetheless. The scene happened at our playset...we only have 2 swings and now the new boy was sitting in Grant's swing next to his brother. I crouched down low to Grant's stoic face watching them as he was and gave him a hug. "That's my swing" he said to me quietly. I told him he was right, but that it's important to share with our guest. I thought he was going to get more upset about it, but he didn't. He too could tell his brother and our new friend were having a good time. Quite impressive for a 3-yr old, I know. I then found a game Grant and I could play together which he was happy about (as well as I). Just when I was about to detour Grant inside I heard Benjamin call out to his friend, "Oh, and we have a baby too! Mom, could you please bring out Elyse?" Yes, she was requested by my son who now never leaves the house without his fake cell phone, Batman wallet, and black aviator shades. Later on, Grant was invited to join the boys riding around on their bikes. We all had a fun day with our new neighbor friend. The End. ;)

Read this book today to my boys and was hit by this part....

"So she sat down and thought and thought and thought, until at last she sighed, "Now I understand. It was not enough to carry wisdom under my wing. I must put it in my mind and in my heart. And to do that I must learn to read."

This was such a good reminder to me both as a wife and parent. Not literally to learn how to read, but to better read situations and act as rationally and lovingly as I can.

Too often I think I've got these roles down, then...wham! I'm hit with a really tough moment/day/sometimes week. I don't want to carry the stressful re-inaction(s) of the disaster(s) with me but I very often do and really despise the yuckiness (and sometimes guilt) I feel after they happen. I know not to be so hard on myself and that every person/family has things to work on, so I try to look for the take-away....the silver lining that for whatever reason was there to teach me/us a lesson. Because as a partner and parent I believe we have to be willing to continue to learn. A lot. As my son Grant reminds me..."Mom, you are my teacher."

By trying to view each day as new learning opportunity (how many times have I said that on this blog?!) to stay more connected to my mind and my heart, I hope I show my husband and children how thankful I am for them ~ the true reasons I GET to do what I do AND love what I do, albeit challenging.

Hope you all have a great weekend! We're hosting a little cookout with friends tomorrow afternoon where I'll be making this salad. We're hoping to get in another trip in to the pool too....there's only a little over a month left of summer so we plan to soak up the silliness and tiredness of it all in its entirety.