Adios. Goodbye. Ciao.

It's almost time to say goodbye to the month of March. Hallelujah. I hope I don't see a month like that again for a really long time.

To say it's been a little crazy in our house is an understatement. Here is why:

Wes turned in to quite the business traveler. For three of the weeks in March, he was gone 4/5 business days! While many people instantly pity me for having to be a mom all alone, traveling that much is not enjoyable. Wes has definitely learned that his own bed and his own couch are much better than a hotel room. The one positive thing is that he's definitely securing our Southwest Companion Pass and free flights for many years to come.

I developed a new-found respect for working moms. Let me re-phrase, single working moms. Because with Wes' travel schedule I was flying solo a good portion of the month and of course this is the month that work kicked by butt. I'm usually only in the office one day a week but in the month of March I was there all day, every day for 3 weeks straight working on a m-a-s-s-i-v-e project that is finally over. And when I say m-a-s-s-i-v-e, I mean a 1,000 page RFP document with over 50 sections that Dana and I were in charge of managing. Yes, I said 1,000 pages that had to be written and compiled by a group of us. And then we had to make 10 sets of it. It was a real treat. Luckily we had many people ready to help whenever we asked for anything. And I mean, anything. I felt like I was back at BYU working on my final advertising campaign that occupied my life for months. This project even involved kinko's at midnight the night before it was due.

Luckily Wes was able to be in town the last two days before my deadline so he could pick up Nate at the end of the day and get him in bed without me worrying about it. Wes took some photos on one of their nightly walks . . .

Take a look at Nate's tongue. This is exactly what Wes and Grandpa G. do when they are focusing!

My mom deserves a Grandma of the Year award for taking Nate ALOT and I'm VERY grateful to Kiley for taking on a second job of taking care of Nate when my mom couldn't. And Kiley gets a treat every time she watches Nate - he ALWAYS poops at least once for Kiley. It must be his way of saying that he likes her. I consider myself very lucky to have these two around to take care of my little dude while I'm gone. I didn't worry about Nate for one minute while I was at work so much.

I'm definitely ready to be a stay at home working mama again so I can actually spend some time with my little dude. Being gone from 9-6 every day is a long day without him! He's probably wondering what the heck just happened.

While there were moments of fun in the month of March, I'm excited to say adios.

move over just a tad, Sesame Street.

The Hundred Acre Wood found a spot in Nate's heart.



Nate has always L O V E D Sesame Street. And he still does. But he recently developed a true LO V E for the Hundred Acre Wood and all of the characters who live there. It all started with me trying to get him familiar with Disney characters so he'll know who they are when I take him to Disneyland this summer. It didn't take long for him to become obsessed with Winnie the Pooh.

We watch Pooh. We read Pooh. We sing Pooh. Everything is about Pooh. His favorite character is Roo, but he walks around saying Pooh all day long. I even have to sing him the original theme song before he goes to bed. A primary song will no longer suffice.

I had the same love for Winnie the Pooh when I was little so it's been kinda fun watching/reading/singing it all over again.

a day with Had

Nate got to spend the entire day with his buddy, Hadley. Kiley sent me this picture from her phone ~ it looks like they are having a great time in the wagon. This made me smile on a crazy afternoon at work.

Since a few of you asked . . .

Yes, you can hire my friend Megan to paint for you, too! Just email her at megan.amy.patrick@gmail.com and you guys can figure out the details.

megan's masterpiece(s)

I have a very talented friend named Megan. I've mentioned her on here as a fabulous baker and the one with all the yummy recipes. But she's an artist, too. She recently painted a canvas for Kiley for Hadley's room and I fell in love the minute I saw her work. I recently bought some funky Pottery Barn placemats and had Megan paint a similar pattern on two 12x12 canvases for me for my home office. I needed something bright and cheery to accompany the chalk and magnet boards. Here is the finished product:





Isn't she amazing? I absolutely L O V E them and wish I were half as talented as her. Thank you Megan!

trying to win for abbie . . .

Modern Pirate Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

a weekend of visitors

We had some visitors this weekend! We always enjoy when friends & family come to town.



It started with Craig Valentine, one of Wes' good friends from his high school days in Georgia. Craig lives in LA right now so we get to see him every few months. He stayed with us on Friday night and then Wes and Craig went golfing Saturday morning. Once they got back, I had to run errands for work and made a pit stop at Star Nursery on my way home to pick up some flowers. Once I got home, we played soccer with Nate in the driveway and then the boys went to check out the M Resort that recently opened near our house. Nate and I spent the rest of Saturday afternoon planting flowers. Lets just say we were both COVERED in dirt/sand/mud when we were done but it was F U N. {I have no photos of Craig!}

Craig left Saturday night just in enough time for round two of visitors to come! We got to spend Sunday afternoon/evening with Dave, Lynnette & their two boys (Dave is Wes' cousin). We used to see Dave and Lynnette quite often when we all lived in Utah but we haven't seen them in almost four years. It was great to catch up. Nate L O V E D playing with his second cousins. He followed Jackson (the 2 year old) all over and enjoyed having a buddy. I'm contemplating adopting a three year old. It's amazing how Nate suddenly doesn't need his mama as much when there's a playmate.

We learned to share the chair as they watched Finding Nemo . . .





Sunday afternoon was spent outside while the boys ran around and rode firetrucks/bikes & played in the sandbox. The weather was P E R F E C T. This cute family stayed with us Sunday night. Everything was great except that Dave got really sick Sunday night. Food poisoning, maybe? He seems to be doing a little better now. It was fun to have three crazy little boys in our house!

{this is Kaden at 8 months . . . wanting to be a little bigger to play!}



Thanks for coming, Dave & Lynnette. We loved seeing you & your adorable boys.

Nate's a cougar fan, too.

I'm a college sports fan which means I enjoy March Madness basketball. Wes will have it on our TV every minute he's home until we know the National Champion. And when it's March Madness - I'm OK with that many hours of sports.

And it's nice knowing the Cougars won yesterday in my home town. Wes is going to the BYU game tonight against San Diego. Sorry UNLV fans, but I'm kinda glad that the Rebels lost. I won't get in to my frustration on their home court advantage every year because this year that didn't seem to matter.

Nate is wearing his BYU t-shirt today to wish the Cougars good luck tonight. {really, it's because I need to do his laundry}.

---------

And a side note, Nate's last day of tumbling was this morning and Miss Tiffany let them have a "play day" with a new fun toy that all the kids loved. Nate and Hadley like to hold hands - as you can tell in these pictures.

i heart easter candy

As many of you know, I have a serious sweet tooth. Easter candy is by far my favorite candy of the year. The varieties are fabulous. And a lot of my favorites are a once-a-year treat.

I was able to avoid the easter candy aisles . . . until this morning at Target. I got sucked in and bought a few of our favorites. I'm sure I'll be back for more when my candy jars are empty. And I know I'll be back the day after Easter to stock up at 50% off.

Really, how can you resist these two items? They are far better than the regular Reeses stuff. I think I need to go eat one now.

I'd love one of these . . .

Baggu Grosgrain Guest GIVEAWAY!!!!

finally captured on video

There are a few of Nate's "talents" that I wanted to capture on video and I got a few of them tonight. While he's been doing the animal sounds for months and months . . . saying his name and age are a new thing.

Yesterday afternoon, Wes and I walked in to his room to get him from his nap and he pointed to himself and said "Nate" over and over. This was the first time he'd ever said his name. I swear he learns at least one new word every day and i love it. Listen close when he says his name - it's easy to miss.

And yes, I know he's ONE but his favorite number is TWO so that's what he says. But he still holds up one finger to show us he's one.

Only a child of two icecream fanatics learns the word "i-cone" {icecream cone} as one of his first 20 words. He definitely loves his i-cones. i found these TINY cones that are a perfect size for him!

We will be outside ALOT until June.

We've had some fabulous weather recently which means we've spent ALOT of time outside. Whether it's on the back patio, in the sandbox, in our driveway, at the park, or on a walk . . . we are outside. And we love it.

And now that we changed times again with Daylight Savings Time, it's light until 7pm so we can now add in a nightly family walk to our routine. The first one was tonight.

We spent hours at the park this weekend . . .

So, until the scorching weather hits, we'll be outside and loving life.

a glimpse in to our life right {now}

When I think back to life before Nate, I truly have no idea what we did. What was life like with so much freedom? This prompted me to write down what my life is like {now}. Because one day I'll wonder what life was like when I worked from home and spent my days with one crazy and adorable little boy.


{terrible picture, I know. But that's what you get when your arm is sticking out and it covers the flash.}

- Wes works in the California office 2-3 {and occasionally 4} days a week. Wes' travel schedule is a little rough on both of us sometimes but in an economy like this, we are lucky that he has a job. Even if he's in another state most of the time.

- We have a random alarm clock {Nathan} that goes off every morning between 6am-7am.

- We eat at Cafe Rio about once a week. They know us in there and the workers LOVE Nate. We almost always go next door after dinner to get some Nielsen's custard. Last week we weren't going to get any custard but Nate walked out of Rio and walked right in to Nielsen's. He turned back and looked at us like "come on guys . . . this is what we do, right?" He wanted his i-cone.

- Nate is in tumbling every Friday morning with his buddy Hadley.

- Wes plays basketball on Wednesday nights when he's in town.

- We love our Sunday afternoons now that we're home from church at noon. Nate eats lunch and goes down for a nap so we have a few hours of relaxation ourselves.

- I work from home every day but I spend at least one day a week in the office while my mom {or Kiley or Alayna} play with Nate. For the next month I'll be there at least 3 days a week until a large project is complete. I am very blessed knowing that he is a loved little boy when I'm away from him! And I really enjoy having a foot in the business world.

- I have a Young Womens activity every Wednesday night and Wes has a ward missionary meeting every Thursday night.

- I go to book club and bunco every month.

- We go on a lot of walks. Whether it's for exercise, some fresh air or to walk to a friend's house
. . . . we love walks.

- I'm trying to stay on Weight Watchers but I keep falling off that wagon.

- Nate goes to bed between 6:30pm-7pm every night. . . without a fight . . . and it's fabulous.

- We lucked out with a fabulous ward filled with great friends. They make being a working-stay-at-home-mama a great job. And they provide some much needed girl time which I always enjoy.

- Wes still loves to golf and plays as often as he can. Which isn't very often, unfortunately.

- We take Nate outside to say "hi" to the garbage man every Wednesday and Saturday morning. We have an awesome garbage man that waves and honks to Nate every time.

- We have a daily game of basketball with Nate and his little tikes hoop.

- I cherish Saturdays. We almost always get to spend it together playing with our little boy. Nate loves having his dad around.

It's a crazy life but we like it.

Dear Nate,

Can you please stop pooping in the tub?

It's really gross.

Love,
Mom

PS - Why is it that you only poop in the tub when your dad is out of town? I think he'd like a turn cleaning it up.

we teach 'em young in Vegas

Marz & Company {my dad's company that I get to work for} does the advertising for a gaming company, or two. So it only makes sense that we have a fully operating slot machine in our office.

It's Nate {and Abbie's} favorite thing at Papa's office. They stand on papa's chair and drop in quarter after quarter. Nate is usually at the office about once a week with me so he's getting pretty good. He can put the quarter in by himself. {Yes, it's an old school machine that still takes quarters}. He knows what button to push to play the machine. And he cashes out every time he wins.

Like I said, we teach 'em young in Vegas.

So long. Farewell.

For the past 4+ years I've been spoiled.

My little sis {Sam} has worked at the GAP for the last 4.5 years. She quit last week when a different job opportunity came up to give her some normalcy while she's back in school to get her nursing degree. Since she was a GAP manager most of the time, she was very good at following the "don't share your discount" rules so she never bought me anything and then had me pay her back. So it's not that I'll miss her discount . . . but I will miss:

* The bags {yes, bags is plural} of clothes she used to hand me for Nate. She is an awesome auntie and was always buying Nate/Daisy/Abbie/Kyle clothes and never expected Ali or I to pay her back. Nate did send her random gift cards as a thank you, though.

* The phone calls from Sam telling me . . . "we have a pair of x-long jeans in your size for $12. You want 'em?"

* Or the times Gap has a re-call on items and sells them to their employees for 1 cent. And I reap the benefits.

Don't get me wrong, we're happy for ya Sam. We hope this job change means that we get to see you more. But I'd be lying if I said I won't miss you working there. But thanks for ALL of the stuff you gave us over the years. We really do appreciate it. When dad closes his doors one day and I'm out of a job I'll go work retail and let you know about all the sales.

One final request . . . can you please have one of your GAP buddies keep us in the loop on Friends and Family?