A Touch Of Tyrell

We spent the weekend in St. Johns AZ with my Dad. My Grandma's funeral was Saturday afternoon, and although she is my third grandparent to pass away, it was the first funeral I'd ever been to. It was a good service and I managed to hold back the tears while hearing so much about her life and personality from her children's eyes. I learned about her history and my ancestors and where I come from. As we drove in the funeral procession and they placed her casket on her grave site I started to get weepy. I had to walk away when my uncle knelt down and placed his hand on her casket. He was saying his final goodbyes and it was too much for me. Afterwards I was able to talk with cousins and relatives that I haven't seen in years. It was so nice to be around people that share my same blood. Later that night we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows around the fire and played games with my dad and brother and their wives. Sunday after church I wasn't ready to go home. I ...

A few Saturday's ago we went to the Bass Pro shop so that " Everett could see the fish " but really it was Jake's excuse to check out the guns. On the way home we stopped at Carl's Jr. and took some ridiculous family pictures. Jake's Dad's name is Karl so you are looking at the real Karl Jr. and Karl III (actually it's just his middle name that has been passed down...) Lol, we are so awesome!

Everett was obsessed with you tube for a little while. We had cars permanently typed in the search space and he watched video after video on our phones. One video was of cars that change colors when you dip them in warm/cold water. He watched that video countless times.  I tried to find him some color changing cars but it's okay that I didn't... now he likes to dip his regular cars in water. Works for me!  (*sorry my child is always naked... I should start drawing undies on him or something!) Everett has about 40-50 hot wheels/matchbox cars and his very most favorite one is the garbage truck. He LOVES that thing. He also loves to run outside when he hears the garbage and recycle trucks drive by. Lucky for us they come on different days every week.  I think it's darling that he's obsessed with cars. I can't think of a better $1 toy he could love so much!

My dad took me out to lunch today. We talked and visited while Everett ate our fortune cookies and behaved so nicely. We had a good visit and then it was time for him to drive back home. About an hour later he called and let me know that my grandma had passed away. My entire life we have always called her Nanny. Nanny suffered from a stroke last December that left her unable to live on her own. She was in a nice home with several other ladies and caretakers just 30 minutes away. We were able to visit with her as a family a few weeks after we moved here and it was nice that she was finally able to meet Everett. I spent the next two Sundays visiting with her and I loved to hear her stories from when she was a child. She had the best memories of growing up on the ranch with her many, many brothers and sisters; she being one of the youngest. Her stories were magical and at times made me wish that life were still that way. I am so thankful that I was able to hear about her favorite ti...

 I'm a big believer in birthday weekends and this weekend was mine. Friday night Everett played with his best buddy Rhett while Jake and I went to Cafe Rio and then Goofy golfing.  Jake was a champ and picked up my ball after every hole. We got stuck behind a big, slow group of girl scouts so we went and had some ice cream..... then came back to finish the game. The weather was amazing. It was the first birthday I've spent in shorts!  We had a great time together. It was especially sweet since it was our first date night in over three months. We should probably find a regular babysitter and go out more often!  Everett had a great night too. He went out for ice cream, to the mall play place, and ended his night jumping on Rhett's couch. What a lucky kid! Jake has had to work every Saturday since we've lived in AZ but managed to take a break yesterday to do a little birthday shopping. He never dissapoints! ...

Man, I miss my friends.  I miss all of them but I miss my friends from the gym the very most. I saw them almost everyday and they all played such a big role in my life over the last 18 months. They were like family.  We did a lot of things together and ran a lot of races together. I knew that I would miss them when we left WA but I also knew that I would miss them even if we were still there. These days, instead of sculpting my body into a machine at the gym... it's sculpting itself into an easy bake baby oven at home.  Even though we prayed and hoped to someday have another baby, sometimes I just can't believe that we are actually going to have another child. I wonder about the gender, their looks, attributes, personality, name, how I'm going to decorate their room... everything. I just really hope that our future little person is nice to me because their older brother makes me wonder sometimes if I'm capable of doing this.  And then sometim...

I've been meaning to write down some random things about AZ that I don't want to forget about once they become "normal". 1. I wasn't expecting to see so many pine cones here 2. I wasn't expecting for it to be so green and beautiful either. The flowering bushes are amazing 3. I wasn't aware of the amount of dust that blows in and covers everything 4. It seems like it might be easy to customize your license plate here. I've seen some pretty cool ones like Lwyrmom (I'm assuming lawyer mom) and Mrmeanr (misdemeanor?) and several others that I can't remember anymore 5. WA has the nasty, disgusting, slimy slug but AZ has the cockroaches, scary-looking spiders, all sorts of lizards, and the potentially-deadly scorpion... all of which we've seen already. I'd rather have the slug back 6. There is some sort of bird here that sounds EXACTLY like a human whistle. The first few times I heard it on my morning walks I would...