wordless wednesday

...because I am too busy today to tell you how wonderful Rich A. is for fixing our car and how furious I am for running over a can of red spray paint. Trust me, there will be a picture soon of this hot mess.
This pic. is from Brennan's first baseball game in the FREEZING COLD!

And they called it a rodeo...

Saturday, Brennan and I attended the Bass Pro Shops Pro Bull Riding at the Qwest center. We met two cowboys, Zack Brown (below) and the dude in the first picture, whose name I have forgotten. (Sorry, long night!)

Brennan has never been to a rodeo of any sort, and I have never been to one this big! I've been to so many horse shows as a child, they all blend together. I know I went to at least one rodeo in high school with my friend Amanda in Jonesville, but it was not just bull riding, it was everything. I remember someone got hurt and an ambulance had to take them away.
Back to Brennan...he brought his V-Tech camera with him and was snapping pictures of everything. He wanted to take one of every brochure, magazine, tee shirt (had to apply for a credit card, no thank you), and hat (had to join a knife club, not happening) We met TWO real life cowboys and had our pictures taken with them, and after that, every man in wranglers and a cowboy hat was a bull rider to Brennan. He was so excited to be there, eating popcorn, snapping pictures, having fun!
Being at the PBR was like going home, in a way. I went to 8th grade at Block High School, in Jonesville, LA, a tenny tiny town, smaller then my hometown of Vidalia. (They don't even have a mini-Super WalMart!) My dad taught me Louisiana History that year and my mom taught me English. One of my classmates was Chris Shivers, who is now a rather famous bull rider. (Why oh why did I not date him, maybe convert him to LDS and then now I would be a rich bull riders wife....nah, Bart is too great of a catch, though maybe he could ride a few bulls, earn a few million, you know.) I thought he was going to ride when we were there, but he did not. Anyways, I remember this wheelchair ramp that is in the courtyard of BHS. Every day at lunch, that ramp would be used by the cowboys to rest their skinny wrangler clad butts. Nice, right? And cowboy hats...I think they just about outnumber baseball caps in that town. So, to see so many hats, boots, and wranglers was like a trip down memory lane.
Enjoying our far away view, but hey for free tickets, not bad.
We left around 9:45, right before they announced the winners, in the middle of the riders picking their bulls for their next event. Brennan was tired and asked to go home. That was fine with me b/c I had a church meeting at 7 Sunday morning. It was not hard to figure the winners out, though...only about 5 or 6 riders managed to stay on the full 8 seconds. The clown/entertainer (who was fabulous, btw) kept making fun of the riders for falling off.
I asked Brennan if he wanted to be a bull rider when he grew up. He told me no because he did not want to get hurt (one bull rider got stomped on his head and his chest and he had to be medevacted out {btw, I made up that word}) and it was too loud.
That is fine with me...because I listen when Willie Nelson tells me, "Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys."

Mama don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys
Don't let 'em pick guitars and drive them old trucks
Make 'em be doctors and lawyers and such
Mama don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys
They'll never stay home and they're always alone
Even with someone they love

And now, for a bit of Garth Brooks...

Isn't it funny...

First off, thanks to those of you who commented or emailed about my rut. It helps to have the love and support of family and friends. No juice boxes or snacks have shown up at my front door yet, but I am hopeful. :-)
Now, isn't it funny that today I was not going to get on the computer until nap time. I have things to do today.
But, feeling like I should go ahead and pay my online bills, I decided to go ahead and take a peek.
And...isn't it funny that one of the blogs I stalk had a bit of inspiration for me. The blogger is LDS and decided to post a talk she had given in an adult session of stake conference a few years ago. Although her struggles are very different then mine, some of her insights from her life and the scriptures were just the perfect things for me to read and relate to my own life and my own struggles. That is one thing I love about the LDS church...how so many talks, when based on the scriptures, can related directly to your own life.
Oh, and isn't it funny that her family was stationed in Ft. Polk for a time (and I am assuming it was in the 90's) and I used to be in Ft. Polk and was still in the Alexandria stake when she lived there (I assume)...we could have attended a stake conference together or something.
So, isn't it funny that Heavenly Father is always watching out for you, sending small bits of love and help in funny places. Now, if He can just inspire Bart and me on how to fix the clog that is causing the basement shower to flood...

Sugar High

Ever seen Empire Records? I used to ♥ that movie and watch it all the time. One of the soundtrack songs is called "Sugarhigh". Although this song is not really appropriate to post here, it was running through my head this morning as I was decorating a cake.

I feel like I am on a sugar high lately. I made this beast of a cake last Friday for a friend's birthday. (Then Bart, Ethan, and I went to her surprise party. It was great b/c I asked her what her plans for that night were and she replied, "Probably just dinner with the family. My DH didn't make big plans." or something like that.)

Today I made a small (really small, a single 8 inch and a single 6 inch) cake for Brennan's friend, Willa's birthday. It's just for her and her mom and brother, but I need the practice so I just baked her a cake and told her mom not to worry about getting or making one. I even used the letter mold my mom gave me a long time ago for the first time. It was not nearly as difficult to use as I thought and I liked the way the letters turned out, other then not planning the placement better and having the A overlap the pink circle. LIVE AND LEARN folks.

My next cake, to be decorated Saturday before the Pro Bull Riding event Bren and I are attending, is a birthday cake for Ms. Lexie who is turning FIVE! It's going to be a Camp Rock cake and I am hoping it turns out well. I've got big plans for it...now if those plans translate into real cake, we will see.

So, enjoy my sugar high. I am...because I can't eat my creations. I just get to play with them, decorate them, and send them on their merry way...to add inches to others waistlines.

The Rut in the Road of Life

Have you ever felt like you were in a rut? Just not able to shake the funk that surrounds certain topics?
That is how I am feeling right now. Old. Tired. Rutty. Worn-out.
I try to shake it, even thinking to myself, "If I did X, then I would probably feel better about Y".
But...
I don't.
I stay in the funk, cringing inside every time someone mentions this funky topic.
You'd probably not be able to guess it, seeing me from the outside. I hide things well.
But, the rut is there, and I feel like it is getting deeper. I am almost about to drown. I keep thinking, "Certainly this rut will be filled in soon.", but no, it is not.
I keep thinking about Bro. Bailey, our infamous LDS Institute director in Baton Rouge (let's hear some lovin' for Bro. B.) and how he would draw an upward hill, with some slopes going downward where times got tough, but you were still higher then when you started your journey. I keep telling myself I am higher then when I started my journey. I have learned, grown, developed. But today (and any day I think about problem X), I feel like I am at the bottom of the rut on the way up the hill of "life". (Oh, that is a cheese factor of about 10)
So, I keep on trying...
Trying to fill in the rut.
Trying to get a better attitude.
Trying to figure out a way to escape, without it being obvious that I am running away. (This might make it seem like I have a bad marriage and am trying to escape. That is not it at all. Bart is a rockstar of a husband, very kind, loving, and supportive. He even unloads the dishwasher every now and then. In fact, he's told me what to do to get out of the rut, but I am just not that bold yet.)


So, until I get out of this rut, somebody want to come bring me a snack and a juice box?


Have you ever been in a rut? How did you get out? Feel free to share your advice. And...if you want to know the rest of the store (RIP Paul Harvey), feel free to email me and see if you are one I will share with.

Why...

Is COOL WHIP so freakin' delicious? I mean, really.


(At PF Changs...stole from Megan's blog)
A few minutes ago I was putting up some laundry and called Jackson to come get on clean undies and pants (potty training SUCKS). I said, "Come here Cracker Jack, I have clean pants."
He says, "I not Cracker Jack, Mommy, I GOOBER BUTT!"

If only it was "Wordless Wednesday"

PF Changs and Karoke...free food and fabulous friends

Saturday night was the MOM's PF Chang's "Re-do" Let's just say the first go round resulted in less then stellar service with a waiter who thought 17 moms who sometimes but not that often go out to eat would want to share food that HE picked. Yeah, right.

After a few phone calls by two rock-star mama's, our group was invited back, "To be treated right". Well, "right" wound up meaning free food (as in apps, dinner, and dessert) and free drinks (as in, whatever you wanted free drinks. Molly Mormon me just got a sprite with cherry juice. Yea, I know that is a Shirley Temple, but come on...I am NOT seven years old. I was not asking for that). I was so glad I did not back out.

Oh, did I mention we had a great waiter who was on his toes serving us? It was overall a great experience.

It also turned out to be Megan and Lori's birthdays, so Elizabeth bought them some balloons to liven things up a bit and make it seem like a real party.
I wanted to go out on a limb and try something new? Yep.
Instead of Beef and Broccoli ("It is what it is..." is how the menu describes it), I ordered Mongolian Beef with broccoli added. Ha! It was the same, but a tiny bit different. What a dare devil I am.
After dinner, I ran home to give Bart some loving feed the baby because we had a little bit of time between dinner and karaoke and the karaoke bar is on the outside of my neighborhood. Classy, right? I bet you wish you had your own Brass Knocker (yep) in your backyard.I really suck at singing. I mean, dogs howl and children cover their ears when I sing. I have even once witnessed a fly drop dead mid-flight during a rousing rendition of "Old MacDonald". Why, oh why, did I go to karaoke? Why did I even pick up the book to take a look? Maybe if I had been a little more into the song selections, the one song Anna drag me up to sing with the Hot Moms would have been one I really knew, not Beyounce's Single Women...I was good at the OHOHOHOHOH part, but that was it. (I bet you thought I was going to say I sang solo...that mistake is not happening again and darn it, I know I blogged about singing karaoke last time, but I can't find the post)That butt is famous by association. That is all I will say about that. Those three really got into the whole karaoke thing...they weren't called the HOT MOM's for nothing.
Oh, and who do I wind up sitting by? Birthday girl Lori? Elizabeth, who left early? NOPE. I sat by Megan...Ms. Karaoke 2010. She's actually won MONEY for singing karaoke. Talk about intimidating.

I perservered, though, coveting her ability to belt out radio tunes and Dixie Chicks finest, as I sat there nursing my single Coke...which I wound up getting for free. See, I had no cash, it cost a dollar, I "kept my tab open" in case I wanted another (remember, dare devil!) Well, when I went to leave, the bar tender, a man-womanwoman who can sing and tend bar at the same time (really, she got my Coke as she was taking her turn rockin' out to some man song) got my credit card, looked at my sheet, and gave me my card back in disgust. She said, "I am not going to run a card for a dollar." HA!

Have you ever sang karaoke? Do you have a bar on the outside of your neighborhood?
OR
What do you like to do for Girls Night Out?

Death Cab Concert...last post for today...or so you think.

Before the concert.
At the concert. We were the first two chairs in box B, meaning we were on the side, but eight rows back. It was neat b/c we had a ton of room and it was very secluded so there weren't people breathing down your neck.
Intermission after Ra Ra Riot. I really enjoyed them, but the second band, Cold War Kids...made me want to vomit.
It wasn't until Death Cab started playing that I figured out putting my small camera on "candle" mode would take good pictures.
Oh, and remember how I was so bummed about not getting to take pictures b/c it was not allowed. Well, I brought the little camera, anyways, and after a TON of others were taking pictures, I figured "What the heck" and took some too.
Overall it was a good concert and a fun night out with Bart. Well, good except Cold War Kids. Sorry if you like them, I just can't stand the singers grating voice. If you are looking for a good band, check out Ra Ra Riot. I really liked them!

When was the last time you went to a concert and how did you go hear? If you could go to a concert now, who would you want to go see the most? Me...Jason Mraz (who is coming soon) or Jack Johnson. Man, I ♥ J.J.

Easter Morn'

Bucket's from Hobby Lobby, with the boys names written with a paint pen.


Brennan was VERY excited to find LEGOS from the Easter Bunny.On the hunt in the house...it was chilly out.
Do you see the hiding egg? Jackson didn't for about two or three minutes, even with me giving huge clues.
Identical outfits for my cute boys.

Thunder thighs...I need to find the picture of Jackson in the basket to compare. Of course, Jack was only a few days old, as opposed to Ethan's almost five months.
The Easter Bunny brought Ethan two new bottles, a bottle brush, and a teether/rattle.

Bart's Gets It

I finally got Bart to join Facebook.
He kept objecting, asking WHY he needed a Facebook account.
Come on...
EVERYONE needs a Facebook account. It's the new Myspace.

Got Facebook? Look me up.

Too Busy for free rodeo tickets?

I have been very busy this week...thus no posts! I have great pictures of the boys in matching Easter outfits (identical...ha!), pictures from Death Cab concert, and today we had Jackson's friends birthday party. So...one day (soon) I will post some pictures and stuff about all the great fun we've had lately, just as soon as life slows down a little.
BUT...for right now...let me tell you, I am freaking. A friend of mine told me about this cool website, eventchaser.com. I am going to get to go to the Pro Bull Riding Championship...I am going to bring Brennan with me (I think I get two Rodeo tickets. Too bad it is not three or four, but hey, you can't argue with free, right???). They also have some Jason Mraz tickets...man, I tell you what, if I were to be given the chance to go to that concert for free...I would PEE my PANTS from excitement. Come on RazorGator...pick me!!! I will take the BEST pictures and write the GREATEST post EVER if you do :-)
So, if you want to be an EVENTCHASER like me, just go to the site and join up. I mean, who would say they don't want to go to crazy cool events for free???

Tonight, I get to be a kid-free adult. (So does Bart!)

Bart and I are going here tonight.


Last time I was there, I was with a good friend, her son, and Brennan and it was more for the kids then it was the adults.This time, the show doesn't even START until eight p.m. and that is one hour PAST my boys bedtime.

This time, we are paying a babysitter to come sit on our couch and watch t.v. while Bart and I get to enjoy one thing we love...a good concert!

Who?

Why...DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE.



We almost didn't get to go. Bart mentioned the concert a LONG time ago, and it went to the back burner of my mind. Then, one day, I was cleaning out the INBOX, saw the email he had sent, and asked if he still wanted to go. He (of course) said yes, so we looked for tickets...only $35. I suggested waiting until Friday (it was maybe Wed.) to get them b/c that is when the income tax return came in and the only reason I would spend that much money for a concert. (Now, when I was in college that was nothing!) Then, for some reason, I went ahead and bought them. Good thing b/c they SOLD OUT that night! Now the tickets we have are selling for big bucks (according to Bart who checked some site) and I kind if wish I could sell mine and use the money to buy a cricut (yep, they are apparently going for THAT much!). Oh, well...we will have fun.

So, now it is time to get off my BOTTOM and get busy cleaning. When a babysitter has to put the kids in bed is a great motivator to get ALL of the house clean, not just the rooms you "see".

Oh, one last thing...no cameras are allowed in the concert. I am SO BUMMED. Maybe I sneak the pocket sized one in...

Happy Easter (by Brennan, age five)

win the easter bunny!
came here
i was so so so so so so so so so so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
xcsitid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
he was so so big
i cant waita to taykc my
picstor

How I get to sleep in past seven on a weekend.

Cereal and milk...ready to go.