Kids' Pictures 2010.

Back in December I was the highest bidder of a photo shoot with Becca from BlueCricketDesign from a charity auction. Since it was still cold, Becca and I decided it might be best to wait until it gets warmer; and that way we could use the pictures as Macey and Collin's birthday pictures too, since they're both spring babies. It was a long 5 months to wait! I *LOVE* Becca's blog. Her blog is actually where I got most of my inspiration and know-how to refinish furniture!

I'll say that it was a little intimidating meeting Becca. I mean, she's been on TV! She talks at CONFERENCES! But she is so sweet and cute. I love her. She is awesome for donating her services to a charity auction. We only spent 45 minutes taking these pictures and I am AMAZED that she got any good ones of Collin at all. He is such a busy body and wouldn't cooperate for anything! Seriously, I am so impressed. I told Randy I honestly don't know how she could have even gotten 1 of him. He's a hard one to contain, I tell ya.

I love them all so much I decided to make a video of them to share. Randy is a little embarassed of my song choice but he said it's better than a corny Coldplay song (which was my next choice). I say to him, whatevs. Make sure to turn the volume up on your computer while you enjoy "Me and My Gang". :)

And if you're in Utah seriously, hit Becca up! Her rates are very reasonable for what you get and she's pretty much famous. Just sayin'. ;) 

Big developments.

Collin is now a walking man. Oh my gosh, I can't tell you how much happier he is now that he is pretty much exclusively walking! He is such a perfectionist. Don't know where he got it from. ;)

On top of the walking he is learning lots. Just today we were all in the living room talking... he waddled into the hall, turned around, walked back in the living room with his hand waving at us and says, "Ha". Oh my gosh... pretty much the cutest thing ever.

He also says "Na-Nigh" and waves bye to Randy and Macey when it's bedtime.

Knows where his nose is.

Barks like a dog when you ask him what a doggy says.

Squeals when you ask him what a monkey says.

Gives the best hugs and kisses on command. 

Says mama and dada to the right people... I keep trying to get him to say Macey but he doesn't even try, which makes her cry.

Often tells me or Macey, "DOTE!" (Don't)

And he'll pretty much eat anything you put in front of his face. Including chalk. Yup... that's what I found him chomping on this afternoon when we were in the backyard playing. He got ahold of Macey's sidewalk chalk, thought it looked like a treat and went to town. The weird thing is he never thought it was gross. I think he ate a whole piece. Such a boy! The other day I was talking to my neighbor through our fences and she kept looking over my shoulder and finally said, "He's eating dirt. Is that ok with you?" HAHAHA. It actually probably would have been ok if he wasn't eating the dirt from my garden! ;)


Anyway... I can't believe how fast the Bubbas is growing up. It's so fun and so sad all at the same time. He's not a baby anymore!

Nothing weird to see here.

Just Macey being her usual normal self.

Beautiful Princess.

Bet you thought this post would be about Macey. WRONG. And nope, not about Randy either. :P

Let me explain. Remember Juanita? Well, it took some time to find her. And one mistake. I saw this beast

on KSL, called right away and was astounded that it was STILL AVAILABLE. I told the man over the phone, sold! We will come pick it up tomorrow (after some bartering on my part. What? I am my grandma's kin, after all. She never paid full price for anything, I don't think.) SO... the next day Randy and I took off to Salt Lake to pick up this desk that I thought was perfect for a computer desk. I was going to paint it olive! And antique it! And love it! And get compliments on it! ....... then we get to the house and saw it. It was TINY. Like, child desk. No way Randy could even get his knees under that thing. Since we had driven all that way and I had given the guy an enthusiastic verbal "WE'LL TAKE IT!" the night before, I couldn't just not take it. After loading it up and having a very quiet awkward drive home, Randy finally looked over at me and said, "you're grounded from KSL." HA! ;) This poor thing just took up space in our garage until I found Juanita a couple of months later. Then they both just took up space in our garage. After I finished Juanita, and after some serious pressure from Randy to get that thing out of the garage... I finally decided to finish it and put it in Macey's room. She is in serious school mode right now. She spends literally hours a day coloring and doing her 'homework'. This would be perfect for her!

Turns out, I was right. It is perfect for her, and she loves it. When I got out the pink paint I think she ruptured my eardrum with her squeal of delight. And when it was finally dry and ready to be put in its rightful place... I didn't see her for days. She was busy filling up the drawers with her trinkets and of course the coloring! Anyway, when we put it in her room I asked what we should name it. After thinking for a while she wistfully said, "just... Beautiful Princess." So, Beautiful Princess it is. :)

Her tools of choice

Look at the knobs on that thing! 

Pervert. 

I was talking about how I antiqued them. 

It's that time of year!

WATERMELON! Ohhhh how I love me some watermelon! There are few things in life that I love more than a good slice of watermelon. Luckily, my family thinks so, too. Especially Collin, as we found out yesterday. He held on to the rind for like an hour.

Collin's Room.

Remember this post? Well, I finally got around to doing something fun with his room. It started with this fab bedding I found at Target. It's toddler bedding, and that crib converts to a toddler bed so I figured, why not? I need some color up in this hizzy!

After I got the bedding my mind was filled with ideas. Finally, I decided on going simple and cheap and painted a horizontal stripe. A green one. I *love* decorating with green. It's my go-to color. Randy was hesitant, he thought I should do a burnt orange. And I'll admit, it probably would have looked cool.... but I would have gotten sick of it in .2 seconds. Same with blue, since we already have a blue room in this house.

After I painted I got out my ribbon. My 2nd favorite thing to decorate with. Oh Tai Pan, how I love you and your ribbon. I just accessorized a little with putting some more fun colors on the hanging lanterns and on the lamp shade and on the "C". I was surprised at how much it changed the life of the room! It's so happy and colorful now.  The pictures don't give it justice. At all! It's definitely brighter in person.

I free handed these and cut them out by myself. :) How cute are they? I'm all about the cheap and easy!

Eventually I will take out the recliner and put in a cute bookshelf or something.

Now I'm on the hunt for a cute car to put on his white shelf. Will it ever end? :)

Happy Birthday Randy!

Today was Randy's birthday. He turned 28! Randy's not into big celebrations for his birthday so we kept it low key. He did specifically ask for a "simple" cake. That about KILLED me. You know how I love to get creative with parties and cake! I ended up making him a spice cake in a 9x13 pan with cream cheese frosting. I almost asked if I could at least make it a double layer cake, but decided not to. It's his birthday, not mine, right?! I did however put up the Happy Birthday banner. :) That is tradition and it's not going to change!

He thought all he was getting was a new outfit but I surprised him with a remote to his PS3! Here are some pics. He is such a stink with pictures. Randy will NOT take a normal picture. Ever. Even in his high school yearbook, EVERY SINGLE picture he is in he's pulling some weird face or doing something weird. Haha! My family can attest to his weirdness in pictures. It's really funny. I think he gets nervous or something. :)

Anyway, we celebrated after we had all had naps (which is why the bad hair) and after the Jazz lost. :( Sad face for Randy. (Notice his sweet green Jazz shirt? He is a die hard fan.)

This is where I told him, "don't be gay."

I forgot. His only other request other than a simple cake was he wanted a Coke. Haha! We've been weaning ourselves off the carbonated goodness and have been doing good but every now and again it's ok to cheat.

Haha! I told you. He was pretending to be mad at his surprise present. 

There are so many things that I love about him! He's a great husband, and an awesome Dad. We have such a good time together. I love just talking with him. He's my best friend. Every day he makes me laugh somehow! If you were to be in our house with us you'd probably think we're weird because we have a lot of inside jokes that we reference all the time! Even Macey is in on a lot of them. :D On my wall in the kitchen is the quote "The most wasted of all days is one without laughter". I love that. It's really true. Even when we're stressed out of our minds, we still find a way to make each other laugh and make our marriage work. 

Happy Birthday, Randy!!

P.S. I asked Macey what we should get Daddy for his birthday... she sat for a while and thought. Then she says, "I KNOW! How about a SCOOTER with BYU on it?" Awww. I thought that was so cute. Something she loves AND Daddy loves. Randy liked it, too.

Grandma Robertson 1925-2010.

My Grandma Robertson passed away on April 22, due to a bad heart. She had suffered a heart attack a little over a month ago. Grandma has had several heart attacks in her lifetime, and even open heart surgery. I wasn't sure what to think, but when I heard that she wasn't getting better but was getting worse, I packed up my bags and we took to Idaho as soon as we could. I think having been through a family death already, I realized the importance of those last conversations. They are ones you will never forget, and I wanted to be sure to have one with Grandma where she could respond back to me. I'm so glad we went. I spent time at her house with my Dad and Heather and then came back with Clint to visit. I didn't want to say goodbye. I think I've clung extra tight to her because she reminds me so much of my Mom, and looks like her. When I finally did leave I gave her a hug and whispered in her ear, "Us Judy kids sure do love you" to which she responded, "Well I sure do love you Judy kids."

I spent a lot of time over at my Grandma & Grandpa's house growing up. They used to babysit me while my Mom was driving bus. My cousin KayDee and I were reminiscing when we were little we would go into Grandma's room and put on one of her shirts for our nightgowns so we would 'have' to stay the night. :) My favorite shirt was her pink one with mini black polka dots. We would sleep in the extra bedroom and fall asleep to a fiber optic tree. It was magical. And we would always wake up to the smell of bacon and pancakes! And talk radio. :)

My brother Clint and I would make mud pies to no end outside. And Grandma's house was Clint's favorite place to booby trap me. They had a big sand pit in the back yard and Clint would dig a DEEP hole, and cleverly disguise it. Then he would either call me over to him so that I would run right into the hole, or we would play tag and he would jump over it while I was chasing him and I would fall in. We talked about these memories with Grandma last month and she laughed. She remembered well. She probably sat watching us from the window laughing her head off. :)

So many, many memories that I hold close to my heart. Randy's favorite memory of Grandma is the first time they met. It was Christmas time and I was bringing him home to 'meet the family' (we got married a year later). Grandma of course welcomed him with a great big bear hug and told him she had a present for him. She left and came back with a little square box. Randy opened it and what do you think was inside? You'll never guess. ..... a slinky. She then told Randy that "if this doesn't work out between the two of you I want that back" with a wink. Randy still has that slinky, it's in his end table by our bed. That night I remember he told me "you have the coolest grandma ever!" Haha. I know. That was so Grandma. She could say or do anything and it was cute.

Anyone that ever met Grandma immediately loved her. I thought it was so tender that the officiating Bishop at the funeral had a very hard time. It was obvious the impact that she had had on him. Grandma had a quick wit, was funny, smart, well educated, a hard worker, very patriotic, spiritual, energetic, outspoken, and loved everyone (except for Democrats, haha!). She said a stranger is just a friend she hadn't met yet.

The funeral was beautiful. All the granddaughters sang a medley of Grandma's 3 favorite songs: You are my Sunshine, Pine Trees in Heaven, and Home on the Range. I knew I wouldn't be able to do it, and I was right. I cried through the whole 1st song and was barely able to hold my composure for the last two. I don't do good at funerals. I especially have lots of memories with the song You are my Sunshine with my Grandma and my Mom. It just got me. But I know both Grandma and Mom are proud of me for trying. ;) Grandma was taken to the cemetery in the pony and wagon. We spent hours and hours taking the pony and wagon for rides around the neighborhood growing up. The wagon was appropriately decked out with patriotic do-dads, as she would say.

She will be greatly missed here, but I know she is where she wanted to be. Grandpa has been gone for almost 7 years. She once told me, "I hope he's still interested in this old broad." :) She was anxiously awaiting their reunion, I think. She also has a daughter; my mom, on the other side, and her granddaughter; my sister. Grandma was the last to go of her brothers and sister, too. That must have been one reunion! I'm so lucky to have had her as a grandmother. She has left quite a legacy. I love you Grandma!

Graduation.

Friday, April 22, Randy walked for his graduation last December. At first we were a little hesitant about walking since he's been graduated for 4 months, but his parents thought he would regret it if he didn't. In the end, I'm glad he did. It was a nice ceremony and I got some cap and gown photo ops!

He was the only December '09 grad in the Sound Recording Technology Program. I was proud. There were only 5 grads in April! It's a hard program to get into. I really liked what the dean of the School of Music said. He said he likes to tell his students that they're 1 in 10. Because for how hard it is to get into BYU, it's even harder to be accepted into the school of music and excel.

Funny story about the big day. Since Randy's been out of school for a while, he wasn't sure what he needed to do for the whole walking thing. His counselor told him just show up at 10:15 in the hall of the De Jong, and everything will be there for you. Uhhh, wrong. We got there a little early, luckily. Randy went to check in and asked where his cap and gown was and the lady there gave him a wide eyed look and asked, "you don't have it?!" Haha. Turns out, the cap and gowns were clear across campus, and she wasn't even sure it was open. Randy called me on my cell as I was saving seats for his parents and told me that he was running across campus right now. Talk about anxiety. For a minute there I wasn't sure if we'd even see his name in the program! Thankfully, the Hinckley building was open, and his cap and gown was there waiting for him... and he even made it back in time for the ceremony. Phew!

Graduating Class for the School of Music & Fine Arts

Randy walking across the stage to accept his fake diploma! (His real one has been hanging in his office for about a month now.) I teared up at this point.

This is what Randy thinks of his pink tassel. Haha. That was the color of The School of Music. Sorry, he didn't choose it.

Had to get a picture of Bonnie taking a picture of Randy. I think she took a million... and to the right there was a big line of people waiting to walk by. :) She was a proud mom!

Randy with his very supportive parents.

Proud wife!  (Picture taken from Bonnie's cell phone, the quality isn't great.)

Walking around my and Randy's alma mater was fun. The De Jong hall, where he graduated was where he performed many times with his cello and where I would meet him to go "study" while we were dating. :) Lots of awesome memories at BYU campus. I think the saying is true: "Once a Cougar, always a Cougar." We bleed blue and always will! GooooOOOO COUGARS!!

Sisters' getaway.

I love my sisters. I know everyone knows it and I say it a lot, but it's true. I feel like they have been a tender mercy to me since losing my Mom. We just know. We have so much in common and have the same sense of humor... it's a shame none of us live by each other. For that reason, we schedule an annual 'getaway', sans kids. Well, we always say no kids... but this year is the first that there were no kids! It was such a treat! Last year I towed Collin along, so I really soaked up being kid-free for a day or two. There is never a dull moment when we're together.

This year was my year to 'host'. Usually we will run a race in honor of our mom and sister, but our family is already running an ultra-marathon relay in June so I thought that would do... plus we got word that DAUGHTRY was going to be in Salt Lake! We looked up the date that he was coming and it was a done deal. Me and my sister Heather have been Chris Daughtry's biggest fans ever since American Idol. We have every song of his memorized. It's not very often you get to see a band where you love every single one of their songs! Natalie and Shalean like him, too. (Now even more!)

The concert was Thursday night. The plan was Shalean and Heather would take off from Pocatello and pick up Natalie at the airport and then head to my house so we could get all dolled up for the concert. At about 12:30 I found out that my sweet Grandma Robertson had died. She had had a heart attack about a month ago, so in a way we were expecting it... but I was still shocked. (This will be a whole other post.) My sisters were already on their way here so we decided to keep on keepin' on. The viewing wasn't until Sunday and our weekend would be over on Saturday so it ended up working out. Anyway, my sisters got here and after talking for a while we found our way into the bathroom. Heather did hair, I got out the jewelry, and we all did and re-did our make up. Have to look good for Daughtry, you know. (And we did.)

The concert was AAAAAAMAZING. Kavo and Lifehouse opened. Lifehouse was fantastic! They were great entertainers. The singer even made his way into the crowd and sang with mobs of people all over him. Too bad he went on the other side of the arena. :( Here is a picture of Lifehouse.

The lead singer was so handsome! We couldn't wait to go home so we could look him up. Haha! I loved how they would end the songs. They'd jump in the air with their guitars. Love that! We had a special view of backstage, so we could see Lifehouse before they came on. They were jumping and getting amp'd up, they looked so nervous! Very cool to see.

And then of course, there was Daughtry. What can I say? He is my favorite! I lost my voice from screaming so loud when he came out. When we came home we looked up his official website and saw that his drummer had left the band just 5 days before the concert. Crazy! You couldn't even tell. Seeing Daughtry was totally a dream come true! Especially when HE LOOKED AT ME!

Here we are before it all started. The only time we were sitting, probably. I forgot how fun concerts are. It was so nice to let loose and enjoy! If only the stupid candy nazi at the front door would have let us sneak in our purses FULL of candy and water. :)

After the concert we headed back to my house. We stayed there because Friday morning Randy walked for his graduation. It worked out perfectly, my sisters stayed and watched my kids so I could enjoy the ceremony. (Another post). Randy's parents and I watched him walk, took a few pics, and then met my sisters and my kids for lunch at the Olive Garden. Randy's brother and sister-in-law joined us, too. Once lunch was over I kissed my kids and Randy goodbye and took off driving into the wind with my sisters! We were off to Salt Lake!

Natalie's husband Joel was nice enough and comp'd us a room with all of his Hilton/Hampton points he racks up working in SLC. We checked into the Hampton Inn in South Jordan and were astounded when we opened the door to find we were staying in a suite! At first I was like, don't tell anyone, but I think the clerk made a mistake! Then Natalie figured out it was Joel being a sweetie poo. It was fab. 2 big tv's, a seperate room for watching tv, fridge, microwave, the works.

After some serious retail therapy, we came back to the hotel and decided to go for a soak. We were the only ones in there, it was great! The hot tub turned out to be really hot, so we took turns going from the cold pool to the hot tub. Here is a picture of us at our finest. None of us can go under the water without plugging our noses. I know it looks like we're flipping off the camera, but we're really doing "concert sign", which is an inside joke from the weekend.

After the swim we decided that our room was too appealing to hit up the theater for a movie. We rented Leap Year on PPV instead. Such a cute movie!

The weekend ended too fast. Randy came and picked me up Saturday morning at Hobby Lobby (doing some more retail therapy).... Natalie flew home that afternoon and Heather and Shalean drove back to Idaho. We had such a great time and made lots of memories I will never forget! Love you guys!

A LOT to catch up on.

Phew! The last week and a half have been c-r-a-z-y for us! It's going to take 5 new posts to update sufficiently. I have my work cut out for me!

Stay tuned, first up: Sisters' getaway!