EXTREMELY Belated Birthday post

So as I have said in the past, I haven't been too on top of the whole blogging thing. But like my journals in high school, I have to back track and update on the fun things that happened that I missed writing about. So the last big event was our Disneyland trip. Next is Cailen's birthday!! Now, he turned a year on June 4th, so you see how late this is....We celebrated at work with friends and the girls before we left that job. We wanted them to be a part of the celebration as they were such a big part of his first year of life. So here are some pics at the West Ridge Birthday Bash:

We tried to have Cailen practice for his family birthday party but he was definitely hesitant.

So our friend Brian tried to show him how it was done!It was a mixture of a birthday party and a goodbye party because it was our last day at work.

Then came the bday party with the family! We had it at my mom and dad's house so there would be plenty of room for the Disneyland themed party. The kids all played outside, we watched a Disney movie and there was Disneyland/theme park food - popcorn, pizza, pretzels, soda. It was lots of fun! I had fun decorating :) We even had some awesome cakes! Here are the pics:

Cailen got to try the cake thing again. He was a little bit better this time around!! In fact, he ended up puking up the frosting, since that is pretty much all he got to on the cake. Fun times. All that led to the bath tub, which got pretty gross looking! It was fun!

So that's it in a nutshell! It is crazy to think that he is a one year old. But we had some friends who had a baby not too long ago and it is even crazier to think he was ever that little! Time does fly! I am so excited for all the fun new things he will be doing in these next years. I'll try to keep you posted (and this blog updated!!)

Fun Things

So a couple fun things to update about: A few weeks ago, I got my hair cut! Ok not all that exciting, but for those girls out there (who am I kidding? I know it's only girls who read this!!!) any sort of change can be a big change. And I got bangs. That throws everything out of wack, especially because she changed my part. Very exciting stuff, I know. But here is the before and the after:

Ok, so nothing huge, but it was huge to me and I wanted to post about it. So I have. In other news, I have pictures of my garden! Don't be expecting greeen giants or anything, it is pretty little! But still, something has grown and that in and of itself is amazing! So look at what I have managed to grow:

(please ignore the weeds!!)

Our pumpkinOur tomatoes

Our corn

Our zucchini, cucumbers and squash Our romaine lettuce Our artichokes

Our carrots
My herbs! The pots contain rosemary, oregano, thyme, dill, parsley, cilantro, mint, lavendar and basil!

They're all little babies (well except for the pumpkin and tomatoes that my sister in law planted at the beginning of the su mmer) but they're growing and I'll have my fall crop :) I'm excited. K, that's all for now because it's past Cailen's bedtime so I'd better get back to my motherly duties!

Adult Content (no not like that)

Here is a post of just me. No Cailen. I thought I would put some of my reflections and activities in a post so people know what I'm up to. Granted, I'm a mother, so there may be a mention or two about Cailen, but he will not be the focus. So...the first thing I was thinking about writing about actually is about Cailen a little, but it's ok. It was really a neat moment and I think you have to be a mother or at least a parent to appreciate it. Cailen usually falls asleep in our bed (we're suckers, I know) and then we often move him to his crib. He is actually doing better about sleeping in his crib, he just doesn't like falling asleep there. Anyway, he really needed a nap yesterday and he was going around in just a diaper so I sat in my rocker, pulled him on my lap and covered him with his fuzzy blanket. He layed against my chest and just rested there until he fell asleep. He even started snoring a little! I have to tell you, it was so adorable. He is a cuddler a lot of times, but not like this. I just took a minute to just ponder on the wonder of my little baby and it was just really cool. He is so much fun and the energy and life that is in him is amazing. Then when he calms down to sleep, he really just looks like a miracle. It was pretty cool. Being a mother is definitely worth it.

On other topics, my garden is starting to look fabulous! Well, by fabulous I mean there are actually green things in it. Wahoo! Our corn actually does look amazing. It's growing like crazy. Our tomatoes and pumkin have been growing for a while and so those aren't as exciting anymore. Except for they are producing so that is extremely exciting! I just didn't plant them (my sister in law did) so I'm not as proud of them. The corn is coming along, the Romaine lettuce and artichokes have been growing, and FINALLY today I saw some zuccinni, cucumber and squash breaking through to reveal their beautiful (tiny) green leaves! I do believe our carrots are growing too. Those are just a little hard to tell the difference of from the weeds. I need to do some weeding for sure. I can't go out and take pictures of my garden right now (Cailen is sitting on my lap "helping" me type my blog-he's actually looking at the laser from the mouse and banging it on the keyboard...fun times. But one of these days I will post pictures of me EATING stuff from my garden and THAT will be the real feat.

I also can't put pictures up because I can't find the stupid cord to attach my camera to the computer. I had a few more things I was going to talk about but they require visuals so they will just have to wait until a later date. I was supposed to go to the zoo today but that didn't work out so I think I might just get all "house-wifey" and do some cleaning and folding laundry. Very exciting, let me tell you. But I definitely wouldn't trade it to be out working a 9-5 job and not have Cailen or have to put Cailen in day care. I love being at home! Ok, so off we go, maybe tomorrow I'll track down that cord and can put some pics up with my posts. Till then.

Heaven Sakes! (Disneyland)

Heaven sakes, it's been WAY too long since my last post! Talk about taking forever. I was supposed to get on that same day to do the Disneyland pictures. How lame. But I am going to try to do it today. There is laundry to be done, dishes, vacuuming, books to be read, etc, but I am going to sit here and get this done!!! Granted, I don't have a ton of free time at the moment (as can be witnessed by the lack of posts in the past), so it is going to be a shorty of a blog. Which is kind of depressing because something like Disneyland deserves a good amount of space and time dedicated to the coverage of such a vacation. But alas, I am going to have to do a summary. K, as far as pictures, the most exciting part of blogs in my opinion (unless there are exciting announcements, of which I have none, don't worry), I am going to put a few in here and then just include a link to the rest! Smart move isn't it? K, anyway...

Disneyland! So much fun. Would you believe that it was only my second time going in my entire life? Well, true. Sad but true. I went when I was 5 the first time. So I don't really remember it. Plus, I got an ear infection when I was there, so I kinda missed out on a lot of it. So this was my chance to really see the Happiest Place on Earth and experience it with Cailen!! It was a lot of fun taking Cailen. He had a blast! His favorite place was probably the Tiki Room:

He loved the singing birds and stuff. He made a really funny face when the storm started:
It was fun to be able to take Cailen on most of the rides. It really is a place made for the whole family! Here is another of my favorite pictures:
Me and Mark as we entered the park. We're excited in case you can't tell.
Cailen got so excited with the honeypots! It was so cute. He LOVED most of the characters we took pictures with, like Buzz Lightyear, Winney the Pooh and Tigger. He has a mad face on for the Goofy picture...not sure why. But all of those you can see by clicking on the link because frankly, this is taking far too long to wait for these to all upload. So I am just going to put the link in now. I chose pictures that I liked, so it's not all of our pictures. I took out the ones of all the parades and stuff, mostly because there were so many but also because it didn't have anyone you know in it! So, here you go!

http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=263251217019481807/l=408205731/g=87154656/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Disneyland was a lot of fun and we are going to make sure and go a couple more times before Cailen turns 3 and we have to pay for him :) Hope you have enjoyed these pics, I know I love looking at them. I mostly do this for my sister Heather because she can't be around to see us (ok, Cailen) as much, so Heather, I hope you liked these pics! There will be more to come because this trip happened in MAY!! And it's July and things have happened. But that will all be later because I am going get another load of laundry done, ha!