Arizona - Plants

If you have never been to the desert before, here is something that you should know.

Almost everything in the desert is harmful.

The hot sun.
The lack of water.
The venomous wildlife.
Even most plants have evolved to inflict pain.

Arizona - Saturday

Saturday morning we got up early and got ready for our busy day.

Sam and Papa Bailey went out back and gathered grapefruit and oranges from his fruit trees. Sam loved taking walks with Papa :)

We got to attend my cousin Lexi's birthday party at Peter Pipers Pizza. No vacation to Arizona is complete without a Peter Pipers visit :) Sam played all the games and won 300 tickets. He picked out a plastic dinosaur as his prize.

After we had eaten our fair share of pizza and cake, we drove over to my Aunt Kathy's house to visit a little before the wedding.

Sam played with Grandma Hipke. She has lots of fun trinkets and figurines in her house to play with.

In the afternoon we got to be a part of Michael and Amber's wedding. It was such a beautiful day and everything went as planned.

Sam spent most of the time with Grandma while I was taking pictures, but it sure was fun having him at "work" with me and showing him off to all of my family.

I mean seriously, is there a cooler kid alive? Sam was a huge hit at the wedding and was very entertaining.

I love my family and it's always great to get to visit and catch up.

Arizona - Thursday & Friday

I was asked to photograph my cousin's wedding in Arizona this weekend and Sammy and my Mom joined me. We flew stand-by (cheap) expecting that heading down to AZ on a Thursday would be easy.

We were wrong.

Come to find out, it was opening day for spring training. The airline was booked with lots and lots of baseball fans.

To make a very looooong, frustrating story short, we got to Sea Tac at 6am and arrived in Arizona at midnight.

Friday morning we met up with my cousin Serena and her family at the Phoenix Zoo. It was such a beautiful day at the park and we had tons of fun.

I asked Sam to give me a "thumbs up" if he wanted to feed the giraffes. He didn't hesitate his answer.

Sam had no fear at all about walking up to the giraffes and handing them lettuce. 

His face cracks me up. He's so cool about it, like its something he experiences on a regular basis.

When his turn was up he gave the giraffes another "thumbs up" and waved goodbye. (My bff Shannon just reminded me that Sam has the weirdest thumbs. They are double jointed or something. Both of them bend straight up at the joint...so bizarre!)

Grandma and I got to give the giraffe a pellet that they reach out to get with their giant tongue.

 I loved it :)

The angle of this pic makes it look like Sam and I have giraffe horns and ears. (PS-He really is happy to be there, but wanted to watch the giraffes, not the camera.)

We also got to pet the stingrays! This was the highlight of the day for me. I think stingrays are some of the coolest animals.

Again, the kid showed no sign of fear.

 We really enjoyed the Phoenix Zoo and had a blast spending time with some family.

For dinner, we took Papa Bailey out to Mexican food at Filiberto's where Sam got a mustache from the quarter machine :)

More pics to come from our trip!

Rain

It rains here in Seattle (WHAAATT??) so we are forced to find fun activities to do in the inclement weather.

Like hunt for worms. "Hi worm, how are you doing?"

Jump in puddles with your rainboots.

Catch rain on your tongue. "Mmm. Dat's good, Mommy!"

And play around with the umbrella.

Dishonesty

Sam has been caught in a few lies lately. It took me by surprise that my little angel, my perfect little boy, was already starting deceive me.

Me: "Did you pick up the toys in your room?"
Sam: "Yeah!"
(I start to walk into his room. Sammy stops me.)
Sammy: "No Mommy, stay here."

Me: "Sam! Did you drop the dog bone into the heating vent?"
Sam: "What?"
Me: "You heard me. Did you drop it in here?"
Sam: "What? That's Brimley's bone."
Me: "Yeah, but who put it in here?"
Sam: "Ummm...."

Me: "Your binkies need to stay upstairs, in your bed okay?"
(I gathered all the binkies, put them away and then started vacuuming our room. When I came back downstairs I found all 3 binks under his blanket next to him on the couch.)
Me: "Sam! What did I tell you?"
Sam: "Whoa, 3 binkies! That's amazing!"

I had the honesty talk with him and explained that if he lost my trust he would have less freedom yada yada yada bla bla bla. At least that's probably how it sounded to him. I'm pretty sure nothing sinks very deep into a 2 year old's brain. Except for curse words...those stick like glue.

I guess the dishonesty was bound to happen sooner than later. I mean really, parents lie to their kids on a daily basis.

"The candy is all gone."
"You're Buzz Lightyear shirt is dirty."
"Yes, Mommy and Daddy are going to bed too."
"Oh no, the Gnomeo DVD is broken!"
"You wouldn't want Mommy's food. It's really yucky."

And we're still all taken aback when they are first caught telling a lie? Silly us.

A lot of giraffes

For starters, Sam is on the mend. Luckily the bug he had yesterday was a 24 hour thing. He's back to his hyper and crazy self this morning.

Yay. (That is not really a sarcastic "yay". I am glad he's feeling better, but notice how I didn't place an exclamation mark? I meant to leave it out.) 

Between piling up the pillows on the ground to create a jumping pit, chasing around the dogs, and climbing in the pantry to reach the candy, Sam gathered all his giraffes together and played "giraffe zoo." His words.

The kid has a lot of giraffes. The group that he has here doesn't even include all of his figurines. You know, the lovely ones that you loudly curse pick up with a smile after stepping on.

It's an impressive collection that doesn't seem to be ending any time soon.

I asked him who is favorite giraffe was and he picked this one. I wish I could remember where this one came from. I think one of the Grandparents gave it to him.

Weeks ago, while sitting on my lap while I scrolled through Pinterest, Sam noticed a room that had a giant stuffed giraffe in it. Since then he has been asking for "a giraffe room, Mommy!!"

Last week, we started on his new room (I love redecorating) and it is coming along nicely. Pictures will be posted as soon as a few more things are finished up in there.

So get ready for some more giraffe filled updates!

Sick

Sam was very sick today so we spent a lot of time resting in front of the TV. Some cartoon was teaching about emotions and Sam was quick to memorize all of the different facial expressions. After the Motrin kicked in (it makes him cray-zeee!) he asked me to take his picture.

I obliged.

Surprised, happy, angry and sad.

Sam is such a sweet boy, even when he's not feeling well.

After the emotions photoshoot, Sam asked me to "take a picture of my new pajamas for Bub to see". They say "rockstar in the making."

Hopefully he will start feeling better soon. It's so sad to see my little guy so sick. (although, he looks perfectly happy and healthy in today's images :)

Valentines Day

Also known as a day where we get each other gifts and then have a normal night.

Matty came home with some dark chocolate (85% is the ONLY way I do chocolate-and it makes me sneeze every time I bite into it. Does anyone else experience this?) and two books, "Tina Fey-Bossypants" and "Stephen King-81 Mile".

I finally managed to buy him something he has been asking for for YEARS. A crab pot and rope. I even designed him a little card to go with the theme of the gift.

That's as cheesy as we get, my friends. We exchanged gifts, kissed and ordered Japanese food. Then we watched some TV and went to bed separately. And that is how you do V-Day after 6 years together. :)

Brad Paisley

This weekend Mom and I got to attend the Brad Paisley concert at the Tacoma Dome. It was amazing. Brad goes all out when it comes to his shows. The visual effects were awesome and of course the music was great as well.

 

On our way to the concert, Mom got a tip from a friend that there was a big surprise happening at the show. So we were anticipating something huge.


When Brad started to sing his famous duet "Whiskey Lullaby" I about peed my pants at the idea that Allison Krauss may come out and sing it with him. I was VERY disappointed when the lead singer from the opening band, The Band Perry, came out to sing Allison's part.

Whaaa, whaaa.

A few songs later he started into the song "Remind Me", which is a song he sings with Carrie Underwood. When the lights came up, there she was singing next to Brad!!

Everyone was freaking out and so excited to see her at the show.

Come to find out, it was a freakin' hologram!! Mom and I figured it out after we started to question a few things like, "why did she tour with him for only 1 song?" and "why did she say up on that riser instead of come down and sing it next to Brad?" After we googled our doubts, we felt pretty duped that we had freaked out over a stinkin' projection.

Darn you and your trickery, Brad! I guess we should have figured it out sooner since the tour was titled "Virtual Reality."

Even though we were deceived, we had a blast and came out loving Brad more than before.

I'm a little bit country!!

Linda Ronstadt

When I was about 13 my Dad bought me a CD of Linda Ronstadts greatest hits. He told me that if I wanted to be a singer some day I would have to "study up on the great female vocalists in rock and roll history."

Who would have thought that my singing career would bring me to dress up and pretend to be Linda on stage.

Introducing, JUST ONE LOOK-a tribute to the music of Linda Ronstadt. Our debut show is on April 24th in Issaquah and we are hoping to book more tribute shows throughout the year. I am so excited to be rockin' out again! I have a great band to back me up and I get to spend time with my Dad, who taught me how good music should really sound.

For your ears: CLICK HERE.
For date information: CLICK HERE.
For your eyes: