Happy Birthday, My Love

I love you more than drinking a vanilla chai latte at a Gary Allan concert on a rainy night. I love you more than eating ice cream in my fuzzy pajamas while watching The Notebook. You are sexier than LL. You are funnier than...me. You are more super than Superman. And you have a great ass, too.

Happy Birthday to my most favorite person in the galaxy. I love you more.

(and your mom too!! Happy Birthday, Maxine!)

My Weekend Rocked

I don't think I have come down from my weekend high yet. It was simply tons o' fun. 

It started Friday night with screaming guitars and a voice like rough velvet at the Gary Allan concert. We met up with my mother-in-law and her fiancee and headed to the casino for the show. I screamed and howled until my voice was hoarse and then screamed some more. It was undoubtedly the best set of the 4 times we've seen him. He played more old songs than usual, and even sang "The One"....which is kinda special for me and my hubby. ;)  After the show, we gambled a bit then went out for ice cream sundaes.

The next morning we scooped up our girls and headed south. We linked up with some friends and spent the afternoon at the Portland Zoo. These birds were crazy. There were $1 juice cups for sale outside the aviary, and I was brave enough to buy one. Three birds landed on me at once and began fighting amongst themselves over the juice, effectively causing me to spill a little on the sidewalk. But it was highly entertaining!

After the zoo and a pretty great Mexican food dinner, we checked into a cheap hotel room for the night. Sunday morning found us on the road, heading north, and feeling spontaneous.....Said spontaneity landed us on Highway 504 pointed east toward Mount St. Helens.

The view from the highway was beautiful as we wound our way through bluffs and ridgetops. We drove right along a surprisingly pretty river of gray mud, which we later learned was a remnant of the "path of destruction".

Along the highway, there were 4 visitor centers and multiple lookout spots. We wandered through the visitor centers and read the stories of the mountain, people, buildings, and towns affected by the eruption. We also played a little...

 It was intriguing to learn that the blast was nothing like the depiction in Dante's Peak. In fact, the people immediately surrounding the mountain never even heard a sound when the top blew off, while people in Seattle (over an hour away) heard sonic booms. Also, no lava came flowing down the mountain scorching everything in its path. Instead, a river of mud and ash flowed furiously, carrying away cars, houses, buses, and bridges. (The river of mud that we saw from the highway, 50 miles from the mountain.)

The mountain views were so gorgeous...until we got super close to St. Helens and the stark contrast of treeless hillsides were all we could see. In some areas, the old blown over tree trunks were still laying in the dirt. The devastation of the land was incredible.

At the end of our journey, this was our prize. Unfortunately, the clouds weren't too cooperative, and wouldn't let us peak into the crater more than a little...

But it was totally worth the time and the drive!

On the way out of volcano country, we succumbed to curiosity. We stopped to get our picture taken with Bigfoot, wandered through the gift shop, and snickered at the books and maps recording the history and sightings of Bigfoot. Although...

Chris hypothesized that maybe Bigfoot is the one who set off Mount St. Helens...

I suppose anything is possible.............

Flashback Friday

I went searching through old pictures to find one to share for Flashback Friday. For no particular reason, I picked out this one of me and my little sister from 2007. We were pregnant at the same time, 2500 miles apart. Becca was only 6 weeks or so ahead of me. It was pretty special to be going through the same thing at the same time, but it was difficult to be going through it so far apart. So for her birthday, my mom and I cooked up a plan to get her up to Washington for a long weekend so we could bump bellies and get pedicures together. It was a fantastic weekend, and I'm pretty sure the babies enjoyed meeting each other in utero. For no particular reason, I'm loving Becca extra much today and sending her many many hugs over the miles. (And Randell too.)


On a completely unrelated note, congratulations to me! I'm getting a new niece or nephew in the Spring!

To My Husband

Lately I've been noticing little things. Little things you've done or said. Little ways you've made me feel completely beautiful. Or utterly spoiled.

Like cooking dinner for our family last night. Voluntarily. (And it tasted good too.)

Being a family with you is magical. Raising and loving our beautiful kids while we're loving each other is such an amazing and slightly surreal feeling. This is the happiest life I could dream of.

I love you.
Tiff

That Tayla

This morning, Tayla toddled out of bed with sleepy eyes and crazy hair while I was putting on my shoes. She hugged me and said good morning. Then she climbed onto the bed and hugged her daddy. And she laid there with him for a few minutes. I proceeded to put on my jewelry and rub on some deodorant. As I'm rushing around, she says loudly, "Mommy, I love you."

I melted into a puddle. I crossed the room to her and snuggled her and kissed her a hundred times. She giggled. Then I had to let her go so I could finish getting ready and leave for work.

She does that alot. She unexpectedly blurts out, "Mommy, I love you," in her little Tayla voice. Almost every day. Usually when I'm in the middle of something or on my way out the door. It never gets old.

So I make it a point to randomly blurt out that I love her and her sister too. Usually when they're being quiet and well-behaved. ;)

It's Raining

The rain moved in overnight. When I woke up, the rain was soft and calm. It reminded me of a freshly washed quilt floating through the air and landing almost silently on the grass. Not completely silently, just almost. Because if I listened carefully, I could hear that perfectly pleasant, rhythmic flutter of the falling droplets. Music to my ears.

I feel inspired by the rain. I feel fresh and happy and renewed. It's supposed to rain all day...

Apparently, Random is All I Do

I've come to the conclusion that I'm very lazy.

I'm going to work on that.

I'm going to stop doing so much sitting.

I'm going to start doing more doing.

This conclusion stems from not doing much this weekend.

Besides sitting, all I did this weekend was shop, take the girls to a birthday party, try my hand at preparing seared tuna, wash dishes, and.....that's it.

The only reason I got to go shopping was for a birthday present.

The girls had a ball at the birthday party.

There was a magician.

I thought he was a little nutty, but the kids seemed to like him.

I loved how Tayla insisted on sitting next to Hailey during the show.

I'm really enjoying the way their relationship is developing.

They can be happy playing together.

They can also be happy playing alone.

Tayla is slightly more dependent.

For example, when the girls are playing alone in their respective rooms, Tayla frequently knocks on Hailey's door, anxious to update Hailey about what is going on over in her room.

It cracks me up.

The seared tuna I made came out pretty well.

Sometimes I really surprise myself.

I don't mean I surprise myself about making a good dinner.

Although, I have been known to mess up dinner on occasion.

What I mean is, I never thought I would try, much less like the taste of something that sounds as gross as raw fish (or semi-cooked fish).

Some of the tuna was very rare, and some was medium-rare.

All of it was good.

I feel weird saying that.

So, you're my witness:

My goal is to clean the house, shampoo the living room (no, I still haven't done that), and do all the laundry before Friday.

And make a haircut appointment.

And look into dance classes for Hailey.

I'm probably the only mom on the planet who has never put their kids into some kind of extra-curricular classes.

Well, hey, I may be a bad mom and a poor housekeeper, but at least I can not cook some tuna!

I'm All Over the Place Today

I feel scattered and unfocused.
I have a lot going on in my brain.
I have been in party mode.
Actually, party-slash-wedding mode.
(Ahem. I mean, I have been working.)
Wedding bells will soon be ringing, and I admit, I'm getting excited.
I love brainstorming and helping to plan fancy shindigs like this.
My sister and I have often joked about opening a party-planning business.
I would love it!
I would thoroughly enjoy all the creating and decorating and celebrating.
And ribbons and balloons and glitter and confetti and streamers and colors and napkins and....
But that whole cleaning up gig is for the birds!
The bigger you create, the bigger the mess!
One problem with being in a wedding: I can't take pictures of the wedding.
Although....I haven't been taking many pictures lately.
It's not that I don't want to.
It's not that I don't have time.
Well, I haven't had tons of time.
But I just haven't picked up the camera.
Speaking of pictures and parties.....here's a flashback:

That was taken in Texas in May 2008, at my mom's surprise birthday party.
That's Hailey, Tayla, and Carley (Jackie's daughter).
That was before Tayla's sassy attitude and before Hailey's first math test.
Before Hailey's teeth fell out and Tayla's hair grew long.
How can something seem so long ago and like just yesterday at the same time?
Mmmm.....that photo also reminds me of steak....
(Because it was taken at a steakhouse.)
It's also reminding me of some of the cool ideas my sister and I had for that party...
And chocolate.
I could use some chocolate right now...
Or a red Coke.
(I clarified for all of you that need specification.)
I tried the Coke Zero.
I love the idea of having all the Coke yumminess with zero calories.
But it's not that great.
I read this morning that cancer cells feed on aspartame and NutraSweet.
Diet Coke may have zero calories, but it tastes bad and feeds cancer.
I feel much better about not drinking it now.
Of course, I also read that milk feeds cancer cells.
Can't win 'em all, Hasselhoff.

A Bug, a Brat, and a Bummer

• I skipped work yesterday.
• I stayed home with Hailey.
• She caught a 24-hour bug.
• As soon as we got home from Chris's softball game Tuesday night, she started puking.
• She didn't stop until about 2:30 am.
• Poor baby.
• She had to miss her last field trip of the summer.
• It was to the skating rink- her favorite.
• Thankfully, she started feeling better last night.
• I could tell because she stopped laying around and started bouncing around and playing with Tayla.
• I didn't sleep well last night.
• I kept expecting Tayla to start puking.
• Every time she coughed, I ran into her room to check on her.
• So far, so good.
• Tayla got another naughty note this week.
• Her crime was excessive lack of listening and failure to comply with teacher commands.
• Brat.
• But she's an awfully cute brat.
• I made Chris a latte this morning.
• That's my story anyway.
• In actuality, I made myself a latte and forgot it on the counter on the way out the door.
• At first I was really upset about forgetting it.
• I might have made an angry face and hit the steering wheel.
• But then I remembered there are 4-6 latte stands between my house and work.

Waiting

Have you ever seen THAT GIRL at the airport?

THAT GIRL....
...that finds her way to the arrival gate at least a half-hour early, just in case, and finds a place to sit with a unobstructed view of that big gray door that will inevitably swing wide and spill the contents of the plane into the terminal.
...that tries with all her might to will away the nervous perspiration.
...that checks her watch then runs to the nearest ladies' room to freshen up because her will-power just doesn't work on sweat glands.
...that attentively watches the airline employees at the gate counter, searching for any indication of a new arrival.
...that channels all her focus into digging up some patience to battle her overwhelming anticipation.
...that studies the faces of every man, woman and child coming through the big gray door, waiting for one face in particular.
...that virtually comes apart at the seams when he finally appears and somehow finds her eyes in the crowd around.
...that doesn't care who's watching when tears of elation drop down her face while she enjoys another long-awaited first kiss.

I have been that girl. (Obviously, I was that girl prior to 9/11, when they decided those girls could no longer anxiously wait so close to the big gray door.) While Chris and I were apart in the beginning of our relationship, I was that girl too many times.

Last week, Chris was only gone two nights. He had a short conference 3 hours away Wednesday through Friday. I can't explain to you why, especially with all the time we've been separated these last couple years, but those two nights felt interminable. When he called Friday afternoon to tell me he was on his way home, a rush of adrenaline ran through my body. I was suddenly that girl, minus the airport and sweat, but with all the same anxiety and anticipation. After work, I couldn't get home fast enough. And when I walked through the back door and found his face...well, I didn't cry because he would've made fun of me. But I was elated to be in the arms of my love once again.

Man, how I love those first kisses.

Dinner Without Daddy is a Little Bit Flexible

• I had a very well-balanced nutritious dinner planned last night.
• Cereal.
• With milk.
• It has vitamins and stuff...
• Don't judge me.
• Anyway. We were out of milk.
• I stopped by Albertsons to pick up milk.
• And toilet paper, if you must know.
• Am I the only one who CANNOT walk by the fresh baked French bread at Albertsons without buying it?
• I bought it.
• Just one loaf.
• Which will be hard as a rock in 24 hours if not consumed.
• I bought it with the knowledge that my girls LOVE the French bread as much as I do.
• So we had French bread for dinner.
• Instead of cereal.
• We split the loaf in thirds.
• It was delicious.
• And soft.
• And warm.
• Mmmmmmmmmm...
• And that was our entire dinner.
• Except for Hungry Hailey.
• Who had a bowl of cereal as well.
• With milk.