MJ

Those of you who know me well had to know this was coming :) I pretty much ADORED Michael Jackson. It was a dream of mine to see him in concert one day. I really thought I would get to have that experience. But now, I will just have to reminisce about all of my MJ memories…

• The first time I watched Thriller was in my Great Grandma's living room and I had nightmares about it!
• When I was 8ish, I would turn up the Dangerous CD in the basement and dance & sing my heart out. I have such fond memories of the goose bumps and emotions I would get listening to him, even at a very young age.
• I thought “Liberian Girl” was “Librarian Girl” for so long! This may explain why I loved to read so much :)
• I remember LOVING the Black and White video. I watched it again this weekend and was laughing at the special effects. Remember when the morphing faces at the end was like, the coolest thing anyone had ever seen?! We’ve come a long way :)
• "Speechless" brings me to tears every time I hear it. It reminds me of my 2 boys :)
• Anytime anyone even mentions meeting Michael Jackson or going to his concert, I lose all sense of control! I turn into a 13 year old girl and flip my lid. I have no control over it and I'm sure it annoys Cory to no end. MJ is my Jonas Brother... times a trillion!
  

It is definitely a weird feeling to be this sad about someone I have never even met. I grew up with Michael Jackson. I danced, sang, cried, and laughed with him. He inspired me, entertained me, and gives me goose bumps every time I hear one of his songs. There has never been a time in my life that there wasn't a Michael Jackson. And now there is. It makes me so sad that I'll never get to hear a new song sung by him or run out to buy his new CD. It's a part of my life that is gone forever. Alright... now it's time to get a grip! I'm off to blast MJ songs and dance around the house with my little boy so he will know who the true King of Pop is :)

Daddy's Day!

I LOVE DADDY!!

Dear Daddy,

Thank you for being such an amazing dad. Here are all the things I love about you...

I love flying the kite with you.
I love to take showers with you.

I love you for always being around.

I love that you play with me constantly

I love giving you Monster & Dolphin hugs.

I love when you throw me into the Love Sac.

I love going off the jumps and ramps with you.

I love playing with our mini skateboards and ramps.
I love that you don't baby me and you make me tough.

I love tickling, chasing, jumping, yelling and wrestling with you.
I love that you get me french fries when mommy won't let me have them.

I love that I get to have 2 whole days of just daddy and me time every week.

I love you for teaching me to mow the lawn, water the lawn, skateboard, & many more things.

I love that you take me to do fun things like go to the river, see the goats, & go to the pet store.

I love doing all of the things we do together that mommy doesn't know about :)

I Love You,

-Your Little Buddy

Dear Husband,

Thank you for being the best dad I know. Thank you for helping me so much with Holdyn. I cannot say it enough. You are always willing to do your part and take care of him just as much as I do. I am so proud of you and love telling people all about what an amazing father you are. I know Holdyn is safe and well cared for when he is with you and that is worth more than words can explain. I don't worry when Holdyn is with you because I know you are taking great care of him and keeping him very entertained. I love watching you play with him and how much joy he brings you. I can see how much you love him every time you two are around each other. I love watching the joy you bring Holdyn as well. He ADORES you. On top of all of that, I come home to a clean house all of the time. You really are Super Dad! I love you so so so so so much :)

Friends

I have had the same basic group of best friends for 8 years. Other friends have left my life and others have come into my life, but these 4 girls have always been there. We sometimes go awhile without speaking to each other because life gets busy and distracting. But as soon as we're in the same room with each other, it's like we're right back in high school. I love these girls. I have been lucky enough this past month to see them more than usual and I can tell a difference in how I feel after I've been with them. Spending time with them is good for my soul.

Jamie is the friend I can talk to about anything and everything. She's the only one who is a mommy so far. She just had baby Brody and I am more than thrilled for her. It is an indescribable feeling to see someone you love go through this amazing experience for the first time. Desi is the friend who gives me the very best advice. She makes me feel so much better about things. When I am down on myself, she knows exactly what to say to make me realize I'm a pretty strong woman. She completely cares about the advice she's giving me, she's not just saying words so hurry the conversation. She can somehow help me look at things in a way I've never seen them. I always walk away from our conversations with a sense of clarity.

Nessa is the friend I can relate to domestically! Although she is not married nor does she have kids, she is like me in the sense that marriage and children are the most important things in life. So we relate really well to each other. Plus, she wants to be a sex therapist so you can imagine the fun conversations we have!
And last but not least, Kristen... who can make sitting in my basement fun by having the idea to decorate our wine glasses! She always thinks of fun things to do and seriously makes me feel like a kid again. She is so adventurous, always travelling to different countries and doing fun things. And she's a flight attendant so I get to hear funny flying stories. I get such a kick out of her stories :) She's met Prince Charles and many other celebrities, rode camels, ate dinner 160 feet in the air in Dubai, travelled to too many countries to list, but is still that down to earth girl from high school. I got to spend all weekend with her and although I didn't feel great, she made it so fun :)

One of my favorite things about these girls is how great they are with Holdyn. They love him so much. He calls Jamie "Aunt Jamie," and talks about her baby all of the time. He is so excited to meet Brody! Some of these friends can't wait to have babies and some of them don't want babies at all, but they are all so good with Holdyn and love to play with him. They don't mind hanging out with me and my loud kid!

I love how different all my friends are. Although we all have similar things that tie us together, we are all EXTREMELY different. They each bring something unique into my life. It takes effort to remain friends for this long and I appreciate every one of my friends for taking that time. You are all so important to me and I can't wait to be 80 and laying by the pool with my portal friends raft racing :)

So Far This Summer...

This is the Summer fun we've had so far :)

Our summer really began Memorial Day Weekend. We pretty much swam the whole weekend. It was very relaxing and Holdyn loved it! It didn't take Holdyn long to love to swim again :) He was jumping off the side and jumping off the diving board! I think we wore him out pretty good because he got his very first beating (butt swat) on Memorial Day. Don't worry... he absolutely deserved it! We had so much fun swimming with our favorite pregnant gals over the weekend. Jamie and Nicole were both weeks away from giving birth and they are both way more darling than I am in a swimsuit! Holdyn loves talking about the babies in his aunts' bellies and talks about all the things he's going to teach "Aunt Jamie's baby!"

I can't wait for those boys to be best friends :)

We've been super busy these past couple months getting our yard done and playing outside every second Holdyn is awake! These are my first flower beds that have actually lasted longer than a couple weeks! I have really enjoyed them and appreciate all the hard work Cory and Carter spent on them.

Grandpa got tired of hearing me call on every KSL ad out there for a little play gym for our monkey. So he gave us some money to buy this...

Holdyn LOVES it! Thanks Grandpa :)

We've also been playing in Holdyn's frog pool...

Daddy even filled it up with warm water and added bubbles so he could take a bath in it!

I love this picture of him with his gardening glove (Thanks Aunt Amber!) and his shovel!

One quick funny story because I never want to forget it... Holdyn loves the Peacocks in Aunt Amber's backyard. He calls them "Cock Cocks!" The other day, Amber asked him what his favorite bird was, thinking he was going to say cock cocks. Well, he pointed to his arm and said "Daddy's birds!" Daddy had just gotten 3 Tody birds tattooed on his arm and this response did not make Aunt Anti-Tattoo very happy! But I laughed super hard. He is for sure his dad's son!

I threw a baby shower for Jamie at the end of May and it was so fun! I love seeing all the cute baby gifts. Jamie looks so darling (you can tell I'm pretty tired!) Baby Brody will be here any day now!!

Holdyn did something the other day that made me cry and laugh all at the same time. Carter and Cory were wrestling around with me and Holdyn lost his mind on them! He ran right up to Carter and kept wailing on him until he left me alone! It was the sweetest thing to have my little boy immediately rescue me without any thought in his mind that he could get hurt in all of the ruckus. He is a daddy's boy for the most part, but I know that he loves his Mama and would do anything to protect me :) Having a little boy has been so special to me. I know I will always have him to watch over me.

Daddy got a new toy so Holdyn has been going to the park to watch daddy play! He loves being able to run around and play with the big boys. It's so funny to watch these kites fly those boys!

One of my favorite summer nights so far was when we had a picnic at the park and watched daddy fly the kite. I got to sit on my butt while Holdyn munched on his corn on the cob, played baseball, and ran up and down all the hills...

Uncle Carter brought him some bug juice, which he LOVES!
But not as much as he loves his uncle!

He is a cute little monster :)

We went to last week and Holdyn LOVED it! He ran around to every exhibit at least 10 times. He was a little scared of the Jelly Fish, but he loved looking at all the fishies. He wouldn't touch the sting rays or the star fish. He kept telling me, "Look Mama! Ewww, sick!" He needs a little friend though. He kept running up to all of the little kids and following them around. Poor kid needs some playmates! Of course we didn't get any pictures because Holdyn broke my damn camera right before we got to The Aquarium. Oh the joys of having a little boy!

We can't wait for all of the Summer fun to come!