Summer is Exhausting...

Sometimes my life is better than fiction.  I mean, really, I have these four darling boys that I get to hang out with all day, every day, and even if I tried, I couldn't conjure up the things they do in real life.  Like they are the best book I've ever had the privilege of reading and it is the actual "Never Ending Story" with new pages and chapters every single day.  Holy smokes I'm lucky.

Let's take for instance, Dax Man.

Yesterday I went to check on him after I'd laid him down for a nap.

He wasn't there.

He wasn't in his brother's bed.

He wasn't lying on the floor.

He wasn't in the closet.

I panicked.

Thoughts of abduction were swirling 'round my head.

There was a full-on Mama Bear whirlwind of activity accompanied with complete panic.

Then, I spotted him.

High atop the dresser all peaceful & "newborn looking",

And posing like he was ready for an Anne Geddes shoot minus the flowered head piece.

Lord have Mercy on me.
Apparently he spotted a coveted binkie & between snagging that & turning on the lamp... things just got plain old laborious as they do.

But really, would you just look at him?

He's like a virtual cherub sleeping on a very hard and uncomfortable cloud.

At this rate, the next time you see me, I'll be the girl with three adorable little boys & a full head of gray hair who is rambling about nap time gone awry and how I must get to the next chapter asap...
Or something equally metaphoric with undertones of complete & unabashed LOVE.

Whew.

You can call off the dogs now, and cancel that World-wide Defcon 5 Alert I put out.

Disaster averted.
Weekend ON.

:)

Ride Hard...

I'm just gonna say it right now...

I am nervous about posting these pictures because the level of cuteness is sort of astronomical and someone might just want to steal them a piece of this tiny (sorta blurry) cowboy hug...

That's right... it's rodeo season.  

Bring on my babies in Wranglers, Cowboy Hats, John Deere gear and Boots...

Then let them walk around and just listen to the "Ooohs & Aaahs" from the crowd.

No joke - it slays just about everybody who ever did walk the planet earth.

Baby Cowboys = Adorable.

So, I'll let the pictures do the talking and I'll be double checking the dead bolts tonight for sure!

I love everything about a good rodeo.  The people, the events, the food, the smells (yes, all of 'em), the sunset, the whole going to collect your belongings beneath the bleachers no short of half a dozen times bit.  Rodeos make me feel like a girl of the west... and I am a freak about being an All-American, Tough as Nails, Western Gal...

With the CA-UTEST boys to ever grace a pair of Wranglers... 

Soon to Be Mutton-Bustin' Champs.

Hash Tag Watch for us at a Rodeo near You!

Rodeo-ers Out.

What is Wrong With Running...

In a word?

RAGNAR

For some reason I got a bee in my bonnet and decided I should become a quasi-hard-core runner again.  I crack myself up, you see.  Anyway, this past weekend, my SIL -- Carrie, Me, Three of my Cousins, One Cousin-in-Law and their two boys, along with some rad Red Rock girls decided we would just go run our hind ends off non-stop for forty-eight hours....  It was... an experience!

It was equal parts exhausting and exhilarating.  You're entranced by the gorgeous scenery and then you are smacked down to reality with the smell of your car and your cramped legs in tight quarters.  You feel so energized & strong & fast and in the next minute so tired & weak & slow.  It is just something else, I tell you.

But now that it's over I have literally talked RyGar's ear off about it, and dang it - I think I might just do it again sometime... you know in another year when he's recovered from managing the home front.  :)  

There's just some magic when you do something pretty challenging and you feel so gosh darn accomplished once you finish.  And these people?  Freakin' Cream of the Crop.

I loved every minute with them!

Now, before you point out our nerdy Harry Potter get ups, let me be clear in saying that we were joking about it... like, "let's make fun of the Harry Potter addicts" and get all goofy with it.  Besides, our sponsor was the power company that my Dad is the CEO of, so we had to fit "POWER" in there somehow.  But low and behold, all the Harry Potter geeks of the world are THE NICEST people on the planet!  I can't tell you how many times we were asked to pose with another runner for a keepsake picture.  They were all giddy and happy and flashing their cameras at us.  And let's be real, it was a small taste of feeling like a rock star with roadies, you know?  And it tasted pretty sweet.

While I was gone, Kaelster, Dax Man and Acers told all our family and friends, "My Mommy is running super fast and super very far."  Then they took off while Ryan did something totally irresponsible like go to the bathroom by himself, and went for their own run around the neighborhood.  No lie, he had to sprint to catch them as they pumped their little arms and showed their obvious inherent skills!  :)  They made it pretty sweet to come home and I am so proud of RyGar, Father of the Year, who wrangled them all weekend mostly by himself!

And that... is probably one of the last big races of the season for me, unlike my new friends, who are doing this all again next weekend on the other end of the state.  I guess they really haven't figured out that these relays are exactly what is wrong with running... or maybe they have it all right. :)

Summer Decoded...

Let's begin with splash pads.

As before mentioned, my boys are professional splash parkers.

If ever there was an Olympic event... we would totally qualify.

We pretty much rock all water...

Except swim lessons for Dax who has showed his true stubborn side and is STILL trying to convince his teacher that he should be in "Kael & Alli's" class and that his teacher is really Miss Aubrey.

Little turkey.

Anyway, bless you swimming pools & splash pads.  And on dry years like this one, I promise, I don't take you for granted... I watch weather reports and reservoir percentages.  I'm an eighty-year-old man on a rocking chair overlooking a field with a mason jar of goodness in hand... 

At least at heart.  :)

Sun... 

Just look at those little tan muscley bods?

I swoon.

Snacks...

As if I needed to point these out.  Do note the Dorito/Cheeto faces of ever tiny little face.  This summer stuff brings out the porker in all of us.

Cousins...

Time with cousins is like the stuff that summer bucket lists are made of.  There are six little boys all within two years time that were kickin' it together last week.  And let me tell you, it was magical, if not a tiny bit exhausting.

Show & Tell with Grandma...

Listen, my kids must be able to sense this woman's endless fountain of patience and they test it every time they see her.  Yacking her to death about any and everything, asking her for a million suckers which she produces like a sweet Grandma.

She's a saint.

Did I mention water?  In the form of rivers, fountains, pools, streams, puddles, sprinklers, hoses...

OK, OK... Water.

Air Conditioning... 

They seem to be in tune with their internal thermometers and after a few hours of constant action outside in the sun, they call a truce and head in for some Mickey or Daniel Tiger in the cool house.  And there they stand, Tic Tac Toe, as usual.

And that is summer decoded to this point in time.  

P.S. Is anyone else dying that we are in our last week of June?

Stop It... 

JULY?

Sheesh.

Another Day - Another Stay...

Have I mentioned my kids LOVE to travel? 

I think we totally egged this one on when Grandma Hooky & Grandma Gail bought them little blue roller bags with their names embroidered on them before they could even walk.  Oh, I've mentioned those too?  Well, they're the cutest little accessories EVER for my trio of darling bell hops so I might just mention them a thousand more times. 

The point is... These kids love to hit "the road again" & again, & again.  And I feel lucky that they are little travel troopers even though there is MUCH schlepping and the occasional "I'm so tired break down" involved.  In general they are cooperative and easy-going and when in doubt throw in a can of Gerber cheetos and some chocolate milk OR visit the magical, mystical elevator and/or ice machine and all those "ungraceful moments" sort of dissipate. 

So for Father's Day, why not join our Daddy-o in another supremely amazing hotel room (that's your standard double in case you were wondering - but from their perspective it is the Taj Mahal) for swimming, a late night par-tay involving double fistin' some donuts... followed by a complete zonk out by everyone except for Mom & Dad.  Don't be gross... it wasn't like that.  

  

Have you ever stayed in crisp hotel linens with a bunch of little obnoxious sleepers?  Holy something... the "shhhhushing" of the sheets becomes as loud as a freight train barreling through your room at 2:30 a.m. -- of this I am certain.

And so the rest of this post in pictures... because really, sometimes that's all you ever really look at in a blog post anyway, yeah?  Yeah.

Fresh outta GQ mag.

The littlest donut lover in the land.  He ate his weight in donuts. 

Photo Bombed by his own Mom!  Travesty.

Summer butts drive me nuts.

  

Couldn't even make it 'til check out time. 

And then we feel grateful & tuckered.

We party hard like that.