BILLY BOB'S HONKY TONK

 We LINE DANCED at the world's largest Honky Tonk.

This was a surprise Valentine's date.

The only clue Brock gave me was that it's only on Thursday nights and only costs $4.00 for both of us. {my kind of date price} This night was meaningful. Why? Because my husband of 4.5 years took my country line dancing. Not because he's a cowboy and has great rhythm, not because he loves bars and the smell of cigarette smoke, and not because he's cheap. It's because he is spontaneous, loves to surprise me and do NEW things together, and he knew it would make me happy. 

Which it did.

I had to laugh that they advertise the place as "family friendly" which it is with pool, arcade games, a restaurant, and concerts. But there is a bar, and people smoking everywhere. Ha. We're definitely not in Utah anymore.

 Here is Brock in action. I was dancing myself next to him. Next time we go, we'll dress better for the occasion. Although, our van's were definitely more comfy than boots. We had a dance instructor teach us a dance and there was a HUGE group of us that covered the dance floor to learn. So fun! After dancing we ate cheeseburgers the size of my head, and watched a concert by Shelly Russell. Then we explored. It really is a cool place, and there has been SO MANY big country stars perform there.

 There is a hall of hand prints of almost any country star or group you can think of that has been there. I only took pics of a few, but it was fun to look at them all. I discovered my hands are the size of LeeAnn Womack's. Also, I have WAY longer fingers than Kenny Chesney.

 From Left to Rigth, Top to Bottom:

Willie Nelson, Ricky Van Shelton, Kenny Chesney, Johnny Cash, LeeAnn Rhimes, Styx, Blake Shelton, Three Doors Down.

 While exploring we found this sweet shoe shining booth.

Looked like it still gets used often.

I love spontaneity.

I love surprises.

I love dates with my best friend.

I love line dancing.

And I LOVE BILLY BOB'S. 

Oh Brend.

 Growing just like the weeds in our backyard. I thought Cohen grew up fast - boy was I wrong. If I was right, then time is passing by quicker than ever. So quick that every Wednesday night as I drive to the grocery store on my weekly grocery run, I think to myself "I swear I was just here yesterday". 

- He has got some serious attitude at 7.5 months old.

Happy and chill as ever, but he sure lets us know what he wants and when. When he gets impatient he'll grunt/growl and there is a dark red spot that appears right between his eyebrows. Must be a crazy little vein.
- He's LOUD. He loves to yell, but he acts like he's talking. It becomes annoying way before lunch time everyday. During meals it's hilarious trying to carry a conversation. And he obviously doesn't understand 'be quiet' yet. Cohen is most irritated with this matter. So cute, but draining at times. 

- He chews on anything he can reach to his mouth, typical 7 month old. 

- I love his jabber - I think we'll be hearing Ba ba or Da Da soon. I'm working hard at Ma ma. We'll see...

- He is NOT crawling yet, attempting an army crawl, but he's a roller.

- Wears size 3 diapers. Wears clothes sizes 9-18 months. {tall boy}

- Not a huge binky baby, only when going to sleep. Which I love! He hardly ever fusses, only when he's hungry poopy or tired.

- He's not a crier, he more so whines.

- HAPPY AS THE SUN still.

- Giggles when Cohen wrestles him, and I mean wrestles. Cohen did steamroller to Brendon this week and I about had a heart attack, but was fine when Brendon just laughed over it. {steamroller is when you lay on top of each other and roll} He only rolled twice. But still....yikes. New rule - NO STEAMROLLER with Bren.

- Constantly moves! This drives me crazy most the time. He never sits still, even when he's in his highchair eating or even drinking a bottle. He's always kicking his legs, or mostly circling his wrists.

 {photos taken from my old-school phone}

 After changing Brendon's diaper I asked Cohen if he would bring Brend a toy while I went to another room for a minute. This is what I came back to....a huge toy pile! Brend was in heaven. Cohen was so proud until I told him {nicely} he had to clean them all up.

 This babe could live outside.

Even when it's windy.

Even when the wind is chilly.

This week is suppose to be almost 80 degrees everyday.

Shorts. The Park. Popsicles. Bike riding. Runs.

I have positive thoughts about this week,

thanks to the weather alone.

Don't let me down now!

I love you my Brend boy!

You are my happiness.  

MONDAY nights

 

So...every Monday night we have Family Night, Family Home Evening, FHE - whatever you want to call it.

{to find out more about FHE or the LDS Church click here}

And it's a little piece of Heaven.

Even if we have crying kids, a grumpy Mommy, a brain-fried Daddy and toys scattered EVERYWHERE possible throughout the house. 

It's still heavenly in my tired eyes.

Cause we're together - no matter what.

We all know and expect every Monday night is dedicated to spend the evening together as a family. How the evening usually plays out at our house is to start out one of the boys, usually Cohen, stands on the ottoman and yells "welcome to family home evening!" then of course he has to timber onto the couch barely missing a fall to the ground. We then sing a song or two on the piano, then Brock and I give a little lesson. This past week we worked on learning NUMBERS better. We end by reading a few scriptures then close with a family prayer.

In my opinion, it's the perfect way to start out a new week.

Definitely an evening I look forward to.

m y    b i g    b o y

 Cohen is becoming one smart, handsome and grown up boy.

The other day he said, "Mom, I'm your son. And you're my mom!"

That's right Buddy, and I'm proud to called your Mama. Although he is really discovering his free agency more than ever, I still love him. He tests me DAILY but I remind myself that's part of parenting. Something that has been helping us both to make right decisions {him obeying me & me not yelling at him} is when I ask him to do or not to do something and he starts to go do the opposite, I remind him HE can choose to listen or not. Simple as that. It really does help and makes him aware when he chooses to disobey there is always a consequence. 
He is a big help with Brendon and helping around the house. I appreciate his love and positive attitude he has daily.
And as we speak he is playing at a friend's house {the primary pres. in our ward} ALL BY HIMSELF. Weird. He was so excited and talked about Maddi and Carly's house for days after.
One of my favorite things to do with Cohen is laugh with him.
His laugh is contagious and he is quite the jokster.
Wonder where he gets that from.....maybe his father? Definitely.
Cohen loves to sing and play the piano...
I have a goal of teaching him a simple song like Twinkle Twinkle or ABC's by the end of this summer. 

Dallas Temple

 Brock and I finally were able to make it to the temple together!

When I live 5 minutes away from the temple again {key word 'WHEN'} I will never EVER take for granted being so close to it. From our house to the Dallas temple it is an hour drive. So...round trip it took us 4 hours. Well worth it though, of course. I will admit I hadn't made it to any temple for almost 8 months, since Brendon was born. With one car and two little ones it's been tricky, at least that's my excuse.

NO EXCUSES.

I was very shocked seeing this temple for the first time - it's VERY small compared to what I'm used to, it's HIDDEN in the middle of a nice neighborhood and the inside feels like you are in a church rather than a temple. Still very nice, but different.

I love the temple, and Brock and I thoroughly enjoyed being inside the House of the Lord together.

What a perfect place to be to feel peace, to take your mind off of the craziness of the world and responsibilities.

Just what we both needed this morning.

This week I've been feeling more than usual the need to have a 'short' break from being a mommy, and Brock has tests every Monday {at least} this whole semester so not only weekdays/nights but also weekends are spent studying.

What a blessing to be able to attend the temple.

It was cold and rainy so we didn't spend much time taking pictures, but these give you an idea of what it looks like.

 Andy and Beka Philipp watched the boys for us.

And I will say that I never worry for a second when they are in charge. I was worried when I realized I forgot to tell them I had baby food in our bag for Brendon in case we got back later than planned, but when we returned to pick the boys up they both were happy as ever, both had been fed plenty, Brend took a great nap, and no accidents in the undies.

THANK YOU PHILIPP'S again.

You're just like family.

Cohen had so much fun with sweet little Nixon, they did finger paints, had mac 'n' cheese and snacks, played outside...

Perfect day for a two year old.

 Fabulous day in Texas for us all.

S A N D B O X

It felt like Spring this evening. 
While dinner was cooking we headed out back to soak up some vitamin D.
And now that this boy is sitting we stuck him in the sand.

He loved it! I thoroughly enjoyed watching him grab the sand and surprisingly NEVER tasting it but just letting it run through his tiny fingers.

 He thought he was one cool little boy, getting to play with his big brother in the sandbox he loves so much.

He wasn't too sure what to think when Daddy buried his feet, 

notice small scowl on his face above.

Reaching to try and help Co out.

 Successful.
We'll be back soon, Sandbox.

brothers

 They laugh together, and play together, and tease each other now.

And it's wonderful.

There are not too many things on this earth that I love seeing more than watching my two boys become best friends.

{let's hope it becomes a habit}

 New news:

- Brendon is a jumping machine! A friend of mine gave us her Johnny Jumper and he loves it. He is jabbering constantly, as usual, but I'm starting to hear many different letter sounds. Rather than different tones of "Ahhh" or "Goooo" I hear a D sound or B sound. I'm working on "Mama". :) He has been clicking his tongue, and laughing more than ever WITH Cohen, not just at him.

- Cohen is now using an "L" sound when saying words that start with "L" rather than using a "W" sound. His letter sounds are coming along great! He pretty much has them down pat, most days. He is Mr. Question Man, keeping me on my toes. He is the jokster of our family - yesterday while I was feeding Brendon applesauce he came up to us and kissed Brendon on the cheek and got applesauce on his lips, LICKED them and said "Mmmmm!". He and I were driving in the car this week and I turned after waiting at a red light and encouraging he said "Great turn, mom!".

These boys of mine are wonderful.

Life is not perfect by any means.

Just today actually I was telling Brock that I need a Girls Night Out. Not that I don't love my 3 boys, but being a mother to them all 24/7 {which I love} I don't get much time for myself. It usually doesn't even phase me, but I think I may be ready.

Girls Night Out post coming soon. :) 

Happy V Day

I'll be honest...I don't think there will ever be a Valentine's Day that I don't think of my best friend Loni most the day. She was born on V Day and I LOVE her. 

The day was good! To be honest it was just a normal day's agenda, but I love how everyone celebrates their love for each other and expresses it more. I surprised Brock and made pink heart pancakes {of course, tradition} while he was getting ready for school. We ate together at 6:00 am then he was off for a very busy day. I made him a valentine and he created a post on this blog for the first and I'm sure the last time. It was the sweetest thing that has ever been written about me. Made my day. Our deal was no spending money on each other, since we're buying a car in the next week. {YAY!}

Brendon woke up first of the two boys, which is normal. I nursed him then we were just content sitting next to each other waiting for Cohen to wake up. Brend was LOVING this bunny. He was snuggling it and giving loves and kisses. So random, but he also was sharing extra love for the holiday. ;)

At almost 9:00 am I decided to wake Co up. He never sleeps that long, 8:30 am at the latest. He opened his door with a smile as soon as he saw the hearts on the ground, he was cautious turning the corner not knowing what to expect.

I laughed out loud when he didn't even realize the hearts lead to his V Day goodies on the couch. He was too distracted by Brendon on the other couch and just had to go say good morning.

These two boys are VERY LOVED and got spoiled by both grandparents.

Cohen was super giddy about his pink heart pancakes, and good thing I made a double batch cause he was excited about them for days. Lucky him he got eat them for breakfast for about 4 days.

Late morning we bundled up and went on a run through the trail at the golf course with Charity. She just moved into our ward and is job hunting and is in need of a running partner. We've ran a few times and have had a blast! Even in this weird TX weather {hot, cold, hot, cold} we manage to have good runs. She invited over for lunch afterwords and we had a great time.

Back at home, we made big messes, ate WAY more sugar than normal, and played with Co's new sidewalk chalk.

Very low key evening...simple dinner, relaxed, studied, had more sweets. These suckers were from Brock's parents and they wanted pictures of us eating them. We forgot to have them with the boys, so we'll have them try them out later. But for now, here's our best sucker shots:

 Happy Valentine's Day!
I LOVE love.

My Valentine - written by Brock

A Happy Valentine to my Love

For all of those who follow this blog, this will be my first and mostly last blog entry. You guessed it! The husband of the author of this blog is making his first post. Although I do love having a blog for our family, unlike my dear wife I do not find comfort or any other therapeutic benefits in blogging. This Valentine’s day I wanted to not only express my love and appreciation to my forever companion, but also take this opportunity to enumerate all of the wonderful and amazing qualities and characteristics that the author of this blog so often fails to mention.

Wonderful wife: I am convinced that there is not a soul on this earth that knows and understands me better than my wife. She is most defiantly ‘WONDERFUL’ in every sense of the word. She has loved me through my best and worst times. She is my best friend, therapist, and lover. She does so many things for me that mean so much. I hate to admit this, but I have done a total of 1 load of laundry since we have moved here to Fort Worth, made a grand total of 0 school lunches, and have yet to clean the bathroom in our home. Yet every morning there is clean clothes to wear, a lunch packed and not only clean bathrooms, but a clean house. When I come home from a hard day at school I’m usually met by two happy boys and a hug and a kiss from my Wonderful Wife.

Marvelous Mother: The Mother of my two boys! Melissa not only see’s to my every need, but also to the countless Cohen requests; “Mom I want a treat”, “can you get me a snack” I’m done pooping”, “come play”, “mom can you get me juice?”; and Brendon cries/moans (I still can’t figure out what he is trying to say, but Melissa seems to understand him just fine). Thank you for all that you do for our boys. Our boys are who they are largely because of your loving mothering. You are doing so much good for them. I am eternally grateful for your influence on their lives. Thank you for being the mother you are!

Spiritual: I rely so much on her ability to listen to and understand the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Melissa is the one who keeps us track. She always has been the constant in our relationship. The one rarely varies from the right. She is an everyday reminder of what it means to be Christlike.

Good looking: I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Melissa you are the most gorgeous, pretty, beautiful, cute, stunning, elegant, attractive, striking, eye-catching, dazzling, lovely, and Sexy woman I know. I think you are perfect!!

I love you,

ME