Cowboy up.

our little family spent yesterday evening at the rodeo.

kate and jake joined us.  actually, we joined kate and jake.

they both have hook-ups for dang good rodeo seats.

close enough to get bull snot on your shirt and rodeo rocks kicked into your drink.

and although it smelt like something fierce, it was a good time.

jace fell asleep five minutes into the show.

blaring music, cheering crowd, and the racket of the rodeo didn’t wake him.

so not typical of jace.  the kid was exhausted, obviously.

an hour in he finally woke up.

i had forgotten how much i love a rodeo.  i love a rodeo. 

we should really go more than once a year.

mutton bustin' was our favorite event of the night.

one little cowboy put on a good show.

he wasn’t letting go of that sheep for nothing.  because that’s the cowboy way.

he got drug for half the arena, he still didn’t let go.

he got drug until his boots fell off.  he still didn’t let go.

then his pants followed.  so not kidding.  the little cowboy finished the ride in his underwear.

funniest rodeo moment ever.

the kid was robbed, though.  he deserved first place.  i mean, he finished the ride in his underwear!

note to jami: you need to sign brooke up for mutton bustin'.

and a sidenote: my brother took the first place trophy in mutton bustin' when he was a little chap.

trophy was bigger than he was.  one of his proudest childhood moments i do believe.

brynlee told us she loved the rodeo clown.  except she didn’t think it was a clown. 

a pirate, she called him.  brynlee loved the rodeo pirate.

i think it was because under his cowboy hat he wore a bandanna harley davidson style. 

and she swore that he had an eye patch.

and she also loved that kate bought ice-cream for everyone to share.

we asked jace what his favorite part was and he said ‘the ladies’!

had me laughing for the rest of the night.  he's two.  heaven help us.

we came home smelling like dairy heifer 4-h.

and the kids were so wild. 

neither one of them shut-up from the time we left the rodeo

until 11:00 at night when they finally fell asleep.

they had such a good time.

they played rodeo.  begged and pleaded to go again tomorrow night. 

pretended they were rodeo animals.  and talked about horses and cowboys.

and i labeled rodeo night a success.  because it was.

thanks kate and jake.  you guys are the best.

The Birthday Month Confessional [2,3,4,5 of 29]

Me and my high school vball team.  I'm #4 in the back.  The chic with the funky bangs!

+ I cannot - for the life of me - swallow a prenatal pill.  In fact, when I’m pregnant just the sight of the pill bottle makes me gag.  Even just the words parental pill makes me queasy.  A pregnant me once decided that maybe the whole can’t take prenatal vitamins without throwing-up phenomenon was all in my head.  So I sat on the side of the bed in our bedroom, had Spencer open the prenatal vitamins in the bathroom where I couldn’t see, deliver me a glass of water and put the pills in my hand.  Yup, definitely not all in my head.  My hand is as far as the pills made it.  We cleaned carpets that very day.  My solution?  Gummy vitamins.

+ My high school volleyball coach joked that I’d inherited my chest from my dad.  Phsaw!  I just needed a few extra years, a freshman twenty {err. . . umm. . . twenty-ish) and a few pregnancies.

+ Sometimes I warm up cheese to melting point and eat it with a spoon.  Pepperjack is my fav.  And warmed up is the best way to eat string cheese, even ask my kids.

+ I like gas station hot dogs.  Especially when it’s covered in relish - the amount of relish that will without a doubt drip down your shirt and onto your jeans {and a little on your chin} while you’re driving in the car.

Do confess:  What is your gas station guilty pleasure?  How are you at taking your vitamins?

*The Birthday Month Confessional is in honor of my 29^th birthday. 

Twenty-nine confessions posted during the month of April.  Hip Hip Hooray.

The Birthday Month Confessional [1 of 29]

I once dreamt that Matt Lauer and I were in a relationship, and a serious relationship at that.  We were proposed to marry if I remember correctly.  Regardless, he was head over heels, totally and completely, wildly in love with me.  And me, him.

Hey, I don’t write the script. . . I just dream the dream. 

It’s a dream that Spence will never, not even in a quadrillion billion years, allow me to outlive.  To this day he mockingly refers to the TODAY co-host as my boyfriend.

Just between you and me, I think Spence is insanely jealous of Matt's undying love for me.

*****

Do confess:  Have you ever dreamt about a celebrity?  And also, who’s your secret celebrity crush?  And please don’t say Tom Cruise because {gag}!  I think my celebrity crush would be Matt Damon.  Yeah, probably Matt Damon.

*The Birthday Month Confessional is in honor of my 29^th birthday. 

Twenty-nine confessions posted during the month of April.  Boy Howdy.

It’s my birthday month and other confessions.

Kate, Jami and me

+ I have a million times more pictures of me and my adult siblings making faces then I do of us smiling and acting civilized.

+ Spence and I are recent Scrubs addicts.  Finished Season 1 in two weeks and not slowing anytime soon thankyouverymuch.

+ Moths scare me {{shudder}}. 

+ I spring cleaned closest over the weekend.  In the process I put one of Brynlee’s now to small sun dresses on Jace and then I laughed until my cheek bones hurt.  Meanest mom ever. 

+ I hate ketchup.  And mustard.  And hot sauce.

+ But I’m passionately addicted to pickles.

+ I will only write in my dayplanner in blue ink. 

+ And also, my dayplanner is one of the top 5 things to grab if ever my house catches fire. 

+ I allow my kids to eat too much sugar.  And I know it.

+ I got the giggles during the closing prayer of General Conference yesterday afternoon.  Not exactly sure what triggered it, but I couldn’t stop.  It was that slumber party giggle where the more you try to control your laugh the more uncontrollable your laugh gets.  Yes, I’m twelve.  Why do you ask?

+ Jace peed behind a building at the park over the weekend.  Twice!  The first time because he needed to use the restroom and there wasn’t one available.  And the second time because the first time was so dang fun he insisted on trying it again.  Boys are so weird.

+ Typing the word “peed” makes me uncomfortable.  Just found that out. 

+ I turn twenty-nine this month.  Did you hear that?  TWENTY-NINE!  And I’m a bit freaked out by it.  Turning twenty-eight didn't seem like a big deal, but TWENTY-NINE!  Twenty-nine is almost thirty.  Twenty-nine is the Farwell to the Twenties.  Twenty-nine can no longer pass as mid-twenties.  Twenty-nine is old spelt capital O, capital L, capital D.  And I realize that someday when I’m 38 or 42 or 68, twenty-nine is going to be “just a kid”.  But I’m not any of those ages so right now, at twenty-eight, turning twenty-nine seems like turning awkwardly old.

And to add to all the awkwardness {because that is what I’m good at} in honor of my twenty-ninth birthday I will be confessing twenty-nine more times during the month of April.  Because ya’ll don’t know enough about me {she says sarcastically as she remembers a handful of blog posts that should have never been published}.  And also, because it has been a sweet, sweet forever since my last confession.  And quite honestly, I’ve missed it so.

Stay tuned for a birthday month confessional times twenty-nine.

Anyway, I’m off to celebrate Monday with one of my favorite gals ever.  It’s about time Breah and I finally get together because, quite frankly, I’m sick and tired of her Christmas present hanging around my house.  It will be like Christmas in April.  Or something.