Shark Week!

Shark Week is one of my favorite weeks on tv. I've always had a strange fascination with sharks and I just eat up (haha) all of the shows that are on the Discovery Channel this week. 

In fact, I love Shark Week so much that a few years ago Ben bought me the boxed set of Shark Week DVDs and we still watch them from time to time. 

Dylan has been hearing all about Shark Week too- we even inflated his shark pool toy so he could get into the action. 

Discovery Channel's website also has a fun game available called "Shark Yourself." Little Dylan makes a scary shark!

Who else loves Shark Week?

Must. Buy. Now.

In case you've never heard of a headband or ponytail holder, have I got a treat for you! Get yourself a Carrie wrap- it keeps that pesky hair out of your face when you're trying to exercise, clean, and put on your makeup. 

Ridiculous. Fugly. Hilarious.

Secret Alone Behavior.

Last night after dinner Ben took Dylan with him to the driving range (Tip to the husbands: If you want to go to the driving range without making your wife angry, offer to take the kid(s) with you. She'll be pushing you out the door).  That meant that I was alone in my house with nothing that absolutely needed to be done. 

Heaven, I tell you.

I am alone in my house about once every other week, and it's such a thrill when it happens. No one to monitor, no questions to answer. Just silence and solitude. 

Of course, being alone isn't ideal for the long-term. I remember when Ben was driving a semi-truck every weekend and was gone from Friday night until Sunday morning. I would always dread weekends during that time, because it meant at least 36 hours of being alone. We didn't have Dylan at that time, so I remember being terribly bored. 

What I did discover about myself was what my Secret Alone Behaviors were. You know, things that you only do when it's just you and there's no one to catch you/tell you that you're weird/etc. Here are a few things that I do when it's just me:

Stay in my pajamas until at least 2 pm

Eat cereal for at least 2 meals every day

Pee with the door open 

Watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians/Teen Mom/16 an Pregnant

Narrarate what I'm doing ("Ok, now I'm going to do some laundry")

Right now I'm about to watch the Justin Beiber movie all by myself... something that Ben would never be part of. 

What are some of your secret alone behaviors?

A new favorite snack?

Today I caught Dylan with a new snack. It is definitely not one that I introduced to him....

Yes, that's a candle.

I think that the fresh apple scent was the major selling point for Dylan. 

What's cooking.

I have been in a major cooking rut as of late. January-April were the best cooking months that I ever had-- the monthly menu was arranged ahead of time, groceries were purchased for the following week each Saturday, and 4 meals were made each week. Ben was in food heaven, as he had grown accustomed to fending for himself for the past 6 years and actually having a meal made was a welcome change.

But then came May. And June. And July. It's safe to say that I have fallen off the dinner-making wagon. It's not that I stopped cooking completely, but I stopped planning ahead for the week's meals... resulting in 1-2 dinners cooked each week. 

I'm trying to get back on track and have been preparing my August menu. I'm also planning a special meal celebration one night each month- I'll tell you all about it soon. It's going to be fun, I think. The supersecretcelebration goes along with my personal mission statement as a wife and mama- to make ordinary life extraordinary. Or was that Ames' mission statement?

Tonight's dinner will be the delicious sweet pork tacos that I cooked the night Ben came home from golf over an hour late. 

Any fabulous dinner ideas? I feel like I'm running low on finding new recipes that are easy and delicious. 

What a happy Monday.

I love this little family of mine.

I love that Dylan is getting the hang of saying "cheeeeeese" when he sees a camera.

I love that my Benjamin works so ridiculously hard for our family. 

I love that Dylan will randomly run up to me and say "love?" because he wants to hug and snuggle with me.

I love that my Benjamin is willing to wake up before the sun on Saturdays to golf because he knows that I hate it when he is gone all day on that dang golf course.

And because I can't forget the kitties, I love Oscar and Moo for following me into every room that I go because they like to keep me company. 

That's all for now. 

That's so funny... not.

Here are three things that have happened to our little family since Sunday. Hilarious, ridiculous, and pitiful. Read on. 

Story #1

Disaster struck last Sunday when my family was in town. Ben and my brother in law T were out on a motorcycle ride and my mom, sister, and I were talking in the kitchen. All of a sudden we hear a strange "wwsssshhhhhhh" sound coming from the basement. I peeked down the stairs and saw a huge stream of water spraying out of our laundry room. I ran downstairs and tried to find the source of the water, only to get sprayed in the face. I ran out of the laundry room and booked it to Ben's golf room (I know, ha) to try and shut off our water supply. Guess who couldn't get the water to turn off? Thank goodness my dad was there- he managed to turn the water off on the washer, stopping the spray. The problem? A broken washer hose. Oy.

Story #2

We have a neighbor down the street who is.... special. He's in his 50s and lives with his mother. Seems like he definitely has some OCD going on, as well as some other issues. Anyway, over the past year he has come to our front door 4 times asking us to clean our gutters (which are not bad at all) or to run our sprinklers at a different time, as water from our gutters runs down the street to his and he cleans out his gutters ever morning and likes them to stay clean and dry throughout the day. We've always been polite, although not very apologetic because let's face it, who cares if I want to run my sprinklers at 5 pm? It's not a big deal. We shouldn't have to apologize for doing something perfectly normal- sorry if you are crazypants and can't handle your gutters being wet after you cleaned them. Anyway, on Monday Ben accidentally left our sprinklers on "auto" all day, which meant that our sprinklers probably ran 3 times over the course of the day. Crazy neighbor definitely came to our door at 7 pm, swore at Ben, and told us that he was going to call the city on us. Ben told him to get off our property and don't come back.

*This guy is really creepy, so if either us mysteriously go missing, check the house down the street. You never know.

Story #3

Yesterday evening Dylan really wanted to go to the park. Since the park is so close, I decided that we could go even though it was sprinkling outside. Dylan took his little wagon to pull to the park and I followed right behind. Right when we got to the park the rain started coming down a little heavier. I picked up Dylan (who was screaming in protest) so we could head home. The rain suddenly turned into a ridiculously heavy downpour, and we were soaked within 30 seconds. I put Dylan's wagon over his head and tried to walk as quickly as possible toward home. A minute later a good Samaritan saw how pitiful we were and pulled over in her car to give us a ride home. Even though home was probably less than 1/4 mile away I took her up on it. Thank goodness for nice people- we were absolutely soaked and we were so grateful that someone was willing to help Dylan and I in a downpour.

And so it starts.

I hear that most kids (especially little boys) go through a naked phase. 

I would dare to say Dylan has entered that stage. 

From this...

To this...

To this...

All in the span of about 2 minutes.

Heaven help me... as I'm typing this he is trying to take off his shirt.

Let's hope that I don't start having to duct-tape his diapers closed.

Back from the family reunion!

Last week I was down in southern Utah at the fabulous Ponderosa Ranch for a family reunion on my mom's side of the family. I hadn't been to a family reunion in 14 (!) years and was excited to see some of my not-so-immediate relatives for the first time as an adult. 

The family meets every other year always in a different place- the last reunion I attended was in Boston as a 12 year old. My mom planned this year's reunion and was kind enough to make it just 3 hours from my house- the majority of the family had to fly in from the Midwest or east coast. 

The Ponderosa Ranch was great, because it was right by Zion's National Park and close-ish to Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. We also spent a lot of our time having fun with the activities at the ranch- horses, ziplines, swimming, paintball, you name it. Add on some hilarious games of Mafia and Things, and you've got a great vacation.

It really was so wonderful to spend time with my family on a vacation and get reacquainted with the family that I didn't know well. Here are some pictures from the week!

The house were about 25 of us stayed. About 20 others stayed in different houses and cabins.

Next reunion: Cape Cod 2013!