Happy, happy birthday, Daddy dear...

Today, this great man turns 51!  What a lucky girl I am to have such an amazing dad!  Happy, happy birthday daddy dear!  I hope your day at Nascar was super great, even with the rain!  

51 facts about my dad...

1. He is the baby of his family.  He has one brother and one sister.
2. He played the trumpet in the marching band in high school.
3. He grew up in Pueblo, CO
4. He is a BYU grad.
5. He met his sweetheart at BYU.  He was dating another girl when they met!
6. He only dated my mom for five weeks before getting engaged.  They got married less than two months later.
7. He has four children, two son-in-laws and one grandbaby.
8. He is a Harley Davidson man but he really only likes to joy ride.  He prefers to site see as opposed to riding really fast.
9. He never rides his bike without a helmet.
10. He HATES fishing and swore he would never allow a fishing pole on his boat and I don’t think he ever did.  Not that I know of anyway!
11. He doesn’t like snow or cold weather.
12. His mom died when he was 17.
13. He is the best “air guitar” player you’ve ever seen.
14. He loves Boston, Journey, and The Styx and can always be caught air guitaring during the “bridge!”
15. He is a real life Macgyver and Tim the Tool Man.  He can fix ANYTHING and figure out how to make ANYTHING.
16. He loves Nascar but prefers to record the races so he can fast forward or sleep through them!
17. He is a VERY loud sneezer!
18. He has worn glasses for as long as I can remember.
19. He is very out spoken and sometimes puts his foot in his mouth on accident!
20. He is the Bishop of a college ward and loves it!
21. He is now the king of texting but he used to get on Wess’s case ALL THE TIME about texting too much!
22. He is a very hard worker and loves his job as an Appraiser.
23. He grew up water skiing with his dad.
24. He has a group of guys that he grew up with that he still keeps in touch with… the “gang!”
25. He loves fountain Pepsi but has started to drink Diet Pepsi and even Diet Coke.
26. He called me “stinky” when I was little.
27. Now he calls me babe.
28. I can call him and ask him the most random things and he almost always has the answer and if he doesn’t, he figures it out and calls me back.
29. He would do anything for anyone.  He loves to serve others and has taught our family the importance of service.
30. He serves as the Chairman on the Coins for Kids board.  He gets really stressed every year, but he LOVES it!
31. He likes Snickers, jelly beans and salt water taffy.
32. He LOVES spaghetti and is the only person I've ever seen eat it while laying on the floor.
33. He wears either Merril or Keene shoes almost everyday.
34. He loves my baby and is darling with him!
35. He is very particular about most things and likes things done his way.
36. He typically packs for trips a week in advance and wants everyone else to do so too so he can pack the car.
37. He is a master packer.  He can fit masses of things into a regular suitcase
38. He is the sandcastle king.  I CANNOT wait for him to build sandcastles with my baby!
39. He has had to re-plant his entire yard AT LEAST ten times.  He just has a really hard time keeping grass alive.
40. He HATES working on sprinklers!
41. He loves any excuse to buy a new tool.
42. He lets me borrow anything I need or want from his garage even knowing that he will most likely have to come find it at my house if he wants it back!
43. He always says, “K,” to himself when he’s doing something.  I do the same thing!
44. He loves my mom’s family.
45. He watches Fox News and listens to talk radio. 
46. He likes to listen to books on tape.
47. He doesn’t mind shopping.
48. He still thinks that my mom is sexy!
49. He is great with food storage and is a really good case lot shopper.  He can always tell me which store has the best deals on food to stock up on.
50. He taught me how to eat oatmeal with brown sugar and graham crackers.
51. He is the very best dad and grandpa a girl and grandbaby could ever ask for! 

Happy birthday Pops!  We Weavers all love you so very much and are SOOOO grateful to have you as our dad and friend!  

xoxo Love you!

The week in review

This last week was mostly spent at home or at my mom's with my sick little boy.  He was pretty miserable all week with what I thought was just his nasty cough.  Unfortunately, the cough was not alone in tormneting my sweet boy.  Come to find out, after a whole week of misery and a weekend of pure "you know what," we learned that my little man has a TERRIBLE ear infection.  Once again... Mom of the Year here!  I should have taken him as soon as he started acting super fussy but I thought it was just his cough.  I feel so bad!  I've decided that ear infections are the devil.  The only good thing about them is that they clear up so quickly.  Thank heavens!  Drake has been on his meds since last night and is already acting SO much better.  I am so grateful!  We have had a few really rough nights so hopefully tonight is better!

The only outing we made it to last week was a little park play date with the Fackrells.  Drake was of course, not cooperating with the camera but Dylan was as cute as ever!  Love those shades and love these kids!

        

          

This last week, I also noticed that Drake likes to "put things away."  He puts all kinds of things in drawers, the bath tub, the toilet (yuk!), in his cars that have cabs, and in any cup or bowl that may happen to be laying around.  It's pretty funny to open a drawer and find a binky, a plastic cup, a plastic fork, a toy and whatever else he decided to leave for me!  He has also learned how to spit his juice out all over himself and who ever else may be holding him when he does it.  It's more like a dribble, but he manages to make quite the mess with it.  Funny baby!  

I am really happy to report though that I have dealt much better with the "baby messes" than I thought I would.  I am typically a super particular person about my house and keeping it just so and I thought having a little mess maker around would make me a tad bit crazy, but it actually hasn't at all! I find myself caring less and less about having the contents of my drawers strewn all over my kitchen or random toys scattered all over the house.  I do make a point to always pick up in the evenings or before we leave the house but when it's just Mr Big and I at home all day, I let him do what he wants!  He doesn't need a Nazi mom and honestly, I don't want to be one!  So... if any of you that happen to read this end up in my house when it's a wreck, I'm sorry!  Soon enough my babe will be a big boy and will have to learn to clean up after himself, but for now, I'm just going to let him be a baby and not worry about it AND... I'm going to enjoy it!!

Snipes... (aka Wessley)

In exactly 14 days from today,

my Snipes will be home!

YAY!

I am really so excited!

So much has happened during these last two years.

Our family has grown by two.

When Snipes left,

I had no plans for a baby.

Now I have a kid!

I can't wait for him to meet my little one!

They will be buddies, for sure!

It will be so fun to have our whole family together again!

I can't wait!!

Why is this picture so huge??

The weekend

I've decided that I REALLY need to be better about just jotting down a few memories about everything that we do because life is flying by and this is the only type of journal I have. I'm pretty good about taking pictures of the babe, but I need to be better about writing down the things that he does from day to day and I can't forget about Chris and I! I think I MIGHT have three pictures of us since the babe was born! Pretty sad!

Anyway... it was great to have daddy home for a few days this last weekend. We didn't do anything super exciting but we were able to spend our first night up in Brian Head in the Weaver's fabulous new cabin and were even able to hang our with G & G Weaver for a bit before they had to head home. It was really fun to get out of the STG Parade traffic for the night and enjoy the change of scenery!

This little man has been a bit of a pill these last few weeks. He has gone from having three teeth to now sporting seven and has been miserable in the process! Poor thing! I do have to say, he really could have been worse, but I'll be glad when the teething is over! On Saturday morning he was being especially whiney so Chris plopped him in this box we had sitting on the counter and Drake LOVED it! He thought he was so cool! He would have sat in there all day, had we let him! It's so funny how the dumbest things really do entertain these little ones the longest!

We only got to spend an hour or so on Saturday night at the cabin with G & G, put it was still fun! Next time we'll be sure to get there earlier!

Sunday morning mullet! Obviously this baby needs a hair cut BAD! Macgyver is just not cuttin' it any more!

And last, but certainly not least... this precious face! Ha!! This is the classic, "get that thing out of my face," picture! Gotta love it!

Oh... can't forget these:

Drake has turned into such a daddy's boy! Up until now, he has been a complete momma's boy and I loved it but would sometimes feel bad for Chris. I know he didn't mind, but it's sad when the babe doesn't want you! Now, I am feeling bad for myself! Not really... but it is kind of sad when I go to get him out of his crib and he sees daddy and pushes my hand away so he can reach for his dad! I tell Chris it's because I have to be the mean parent, telling Drake "NO" to this and that, changing the diapers, dressing, etc and he gets to be the fun parent! I'm sure this really isn't the case, but it makes me feel better!

Two nights ago I woke up to a Sea Lion barking in my son's room! It took me a minute to realize what was going on but once I woke up completely, I knew. The Croup had come to our house! Yuk! I had a feeling that night before I put him to bed that he was coming down with something because he was sounding a little junky, but I didn't think it would turn to croup so quickly. It's seriously the saddest thing I have ever heard! Luckily, it doesn't seem to be a horrible case and last night was actually much better, so hopefully it's gone in a few days. I really am so lucky though. Even being sick, my little one is still pretty pleasant. He's actually WAY more snuggly which is fun for Chris and I because good snuggles from the babe are hard to come by these days!

Oh, I've saved the best for last with this one! Mom of the Year here really out did herself yesterday morning! Not only is my child sick and barking like a Sea Lion, but he now has a sweet rug burn and bruise on his forehead from diving off the bed! Yep, that's right! I left my little son on the bed for less than three seconds while I grabbed a clean diaper and came back to find him screaming on the floor next to my bed. Seriously, could I be any dumber!! I felt SOOO bad then and still feel terrible every time I look at the damage done to his sweet little forehead! Mom of the Year, I tell ya, Mom of the Year!! Nice!

Well, that pretty much sums up the last few days. On to the next!

The dishwasher and the trike bike!

What a good little helper I have! He was SO proud of himself when he figured out how to climb like this. I'm sure I shouldn't encourage it, or let him do it for that matter, but it is just too cute to stop!

Grammy and Pops gave this trike bike to Drake for Christmas and he LOVES it! This was the first ride outside and he was thrilled! He still needs to grow a few inches before we can really take him for rides because his feet don't reach the peddles, but for now, he's happy with a little stroll down to the next street. He is all business when he's on his bike! He even makes his car noises and leans around the corners. What a funny baby!

The hat

He wasn't a fan!

The PAW-ty!

Mr Big's very first birthday was a success! We celebrated with a little family party at my parent's house and had a great time! Drake was obviously not impressed by the singing or the cake and was honestly pretty whiny until almost everyone left but... it was still a good night! My little son is just not a big crowd kind of a guy! He prefers the more "intimate" parties! Maybe he'll have more fun next year!!

We were so lucky to have our wonderful family and friends with us to celebrate our little man and missed everyone that was too far away to come!

We love you all!