Not to beat a dead horse but....

here is an article I saw online yesterday. Aw, science. Is there anything it can't do? :)

Our Day at Wheeler Farm

Today Vessel and I went with my friend Josie and her two kids Bryson and Kyler to Wheeler Farm. Vessel had a lot of fun looking at chickens, turkeys, cows, horses, sheep, pigs, and bunnies. It was a nice cool day and it was great to get some fresh air.

Vessel on a saddle. My grandpa would be so proud.

Although this picture is a bit blurry, at least he's smiling.

Vessel in the pumpkin patch. He looks like such a lumberjack in this shirt.

So many pumpkins to choose from.

Vessel (holding a Vessel-sized pumpkin) and Mom.

In the corn.

Corn kids: Vessel, Kyler and Bryson.

Mom and Vessel take a ride on a tractor.

Vessel was fascinated with all the animals, especially the bunnies. He put his hand in through the wire and let the rabbit tickle his fingers.

Sitting in the old privy outhouse.

What Makes Me Happy

Besides Mike, Vessel is the best person at getting me to smile. I love our son so much and feel very blessed to be his Mom. Here are some cute pictures Mike and I took today.

This little rocking chair used to be mine when I was just a wee lass. For Vessel's birthday we are going to strip the stain and repaint it for him. In the meantime, he has been using it for his acrobatics. He climbs up and stands on just about anything. Especially potentially dangerous things, like wobbly rocking chairs.

Vessel's hair is kind of getting out of control these days. No matter where we go someone comments on his little mohawk fauxhawk. We are debating about whether or not to cut it. These 2 pictures really show off Vessel's dimples as he giggles hysterically. His smiles and laughter make me float.

We went and bought some pumpkins this week and this is the one Vessel picked out for himself.

We went out to the sandbox this evening with Vessel's Tonka and had some fun playing in the dirt and pushing the truck along. (I used it to hold the mail until we got back to the apartment.)

Copy Cat

Vessel copies everything we do, whether it's clapping our hands, waving hello, smiling, or smacking our lips. Lately his favorite thing to do is "laller" (making sounds while moving his tongue.) It cheers me up every time.

Stuff I Love

Flat Earth Fruit and Vegetable Crisps http://www.flatearth.com/








Rocky Mountain
Chocolate Factory
http://www.rmcf.com/

These are 2 of my new favorite snacks lately. While I was at the grocery store they were having a sale on these Flat Earth fruit snacks so I picked some up. Those sales, they always suck me in. I really like to munch on crunchy, fruity food so these snacks hit the spot for me. They come in a variety of flavors including Apple Cinnamon Grove, Garlic and Herb Field, Peach Mango Paradise, and Tangy Tomato Ranch. I have only tried the Wild Berry Patch so far though. They have actual fruit in them, and the package says they contain no artificial flavors or preservatives, so that's a good thing. Granted, eating a piece of fruit would be better for you, but I thought these were a good alternative to something like potato chips.

The next snack comes from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I really love this season because you can find caramel and candied apples. But RMCF takes it a bit further. They have concocted a variety of dipped apples to satisfy your sweet tooth. A few days ago our friends dropped by and got us a couple of these delicious apples. One was dipped in caramel, then white chocolate, then covered in oreo crumbles. The other was dipped in caramel, white chocolate, and brown sugar & cinnamon. They were both SO good. Unfortunately they're a little over $4 for each one, so if you really want to splurge I say go for it. I don't know if I can justify paying that much for an apple, but they are seriously tasty.

RADIOHEAD!

Most of you know I love the band Radiohead. They have a new album now, In Rainbows, but is only available to download from their website. It sounds like a great concept, but to be honest, it would be much easier for me to just go to the store to purchase it. But I can understand why they are doing it this way. No record label to go through and you can pay what you want for it. Nice, eh? Too bad I've never downloaded music before so I don't even know what I'm doing. Does someone want to download it for me? Come on, I'll be your friend.

Crash and Burn

Have you ever had one of those days? Or one of those weeks? I’m having one of those weeks. It’s just not going well for me lately. For the past little while I’ve been having lots of vivid dreams about my mom. I miss her terribly. I would give anything to just be able to call her up and talk to her. As much as I try to push her death out of my mind, there’s always something that reminds me. I just want to talk to her about motherhood and ask her questions and tell her all about Vessel and life in general. I want to be able to ask her advice and share things with her mother to mother. For some reason it’s all just catching up to me now. It’s been over a year since her passing and I am just now seriously feeling the effects. Seems like a delayed reaction. Is this normal? I feel angry sometimes, like the timing was so wrong. She left too soon. It seems unfair. It’s not fair that her 24 year old daughter had to make the arrangements for her funeral and it’s not fair that her 20 year old daughter, totally inexperienced with the so-called “real world,” had to watch her mom and best friend die in her arms after trying to resuscitate her. These things shouldn’t happen, yet they do. God works in mysterious ways. But I have yet to uncover the mystery of my mom’s death. Why her? Why then? Why in that way? It was so unexpected. Maybe if she had some terminal illness it would’ve been easier. I’d have a chance to say the things I wanted say and tell her good-bye. I’d have an idea of her wants and wishes. But no, it was so abrupt. And the regrets are unbearable sometimes. I kick myself for all my “should haves.” I just really miss her and nobody seems to understand how hard it still is.

General conference was this past weekend and I was really excited to be able to listen to the talks. I felt like I needed some spiritual uplifting and comforting words. But unfortunately, I didn’t get to listen to most of conference for various reasons, so I am sad about that. And it seems that this past week has been a struggle spiritually for me and I can feel the void in my heart from slacking off on stuff I should be doing better at.

Today I had a rock in my gut that never went away. I feel like people are judging me when they don’t even know me. They don’t know what kind of person I really am. They just make assumptions. I have some indication that certain people look down on me and my decisions by the subtle things they say and do. Unfortunately they fail to understand or recognize my circumstances and reasoning.

Today even strangers have been so mean to me. After my crossing guard shift I had to go turn off the school zone lights. To do that I have to make a left hand turn to get to the switchboard. Well, while I was waiting for a break in traffic to make my turn, the people behind me were none too pleased to have to wait behind me so they laid on their obnoxious horn and yelled obscenities out their window at me, making sure to call me an F-ing b*tch and other choice names. Not only that, but in the same day I got honked at by another lady because I tried being nice by letting someone else go in front of me. To top it off, while I was at a stop light later this afternoon, from the corner of my eye I noticed a lot of movement taking place in the car next to me. So I looked over to find two men waving at me. I didn’t recognize them so I didn’t wave back and just turned away. I looked over at them again and they were still waving and making obscene gestures with their mouths and hands and generally being gross and offensive while continuing to get me to wave at them. I shook my head “no” so they flipped me off several times while mouthing the words F-U. Then when the light turned green they steadily stayed right next to my car and wouldn’t let me pass them. It was scary since I was the only one in the car (Vessel and Mike weren’t with me at the time.) What is the world coming to? There are so many crude and mean people these days. That last incident in the car was what really threw me over the edge and I just broke down and cried. I needed a good cry though, since there had been so many things eating at me all week. But tomorrow’s a new day and I suppose there’s no other way to go but up.

Another installment in the 5th grade notes series

To Skyler,
Will you go out with Samantha? She's never had a boy friend before. And I felt really bad. So. Please understand. Samantha really likes you. Can you go out with her? Thamk

*courtesy of Sophie

Lion Boy!

It's official: summer is over. So today I decided to go through Vessel's dresser to pack up and store all of his summer outfits and baby clothes that don't fit him anymore. It was so sad. All of his cute newborn outfits and onesies were in there and I actually got a little teary eyed. Hard to believe he was once so small. They even had that newborn baby smell still. It brought me back. Among all the clothes I found this lion costume that I believe used to be Isaiah's (our nephew.) I put Vessel in it thinking maybe he could wear it for Halloween, but it fit a bit too snug and the sleeves were just a bit too short. He looked so darn cute in it none-the-less!

He could barely crawl on the linoleum without slipping due to his super slippery paw gloves!

Here he is attacking his daddy while daddy tries to take his picture.

Check out what my little bro can do!

Dave made this animated music video, and I have to say it's totally sweet. Check it out!