Introducing James Hudson Rex

Here is my new sweet nephew. Tabitha and Dale welcomed in their new addition. 7 lbs 3 oz baby boy. In a surprise to all of us (including his uncle James aka Jimmy) they chose to name him James. Such a traditional name from usually untraditional parents. I love the name but am still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that there's 2 James Rex's in the world.
*****Tabby, you know what you're setting yourself up for right?!?****
Little James' older brother was so cute, I was holding the baby and Lincoln kept saying, "Where'd my baby brother go?" He was so concerned about him.

Congratulations Dale and Tabitha and Lincoln. He's an adorable addition to our family.

Bienvenidos a Miami

Welcome to Miami. Once again the Runnin' Utes picked our vacation getaway. Fortunately, this time it was sunny Miami, Florida. Well, at least a little sunny. We had one good day of sun, but we spent that time napping after our red eye flight. Then, it was off to the game. The next morning we got up ready to enjoy the sun. We went down to the beautiful beach. JD swam in the freezing cold ocean, I chose to lay on a towel and soke in the rays.
In this pictures you can see the black clouds behind us. Those clouds gobbled up our sun about an hour and a half after we got there. It went from hot and sunny to total down pour in a matter of minutes. The rain didn't stop for 24 hours.
Here JD and I are at the Utah game. We had great seats. Second row, right behind the team. If you were lucky enough to catch the game you saw us (wheather or not you knew it). Our shining faces were on the screen most of the game, but were slightly blury most of the time:)
Even though the Utes lost it was fun to be down there in the action and to know they could actually hear what ever we yelled to them.
Here's the view from the good seats. For my novice eyes it was hard to get used to them moving so fast right in front of me. I had to move my whole body when they went down the court. My husband would be disapointed if I didn't include the actual game. So, here it goes. The Utes did not play well. Arizona ran circles around them. They had more turnovers than I am years old (well, almost), and couldn't make a 3 pointer if their lives counted on it. With that said, we still love them and support them.....Go Utes!
Now, this surprised even me. I enjoyed the second game of the evening. Cleveland State and Wake Forest. Cleveland was ranked like 10 spots below Wake Forest. Cleveland came out and dominated the game. They played so well. It was fun to root for the underdog and to see those kids win, and win big.

Dishwasher or Spaceship?

Well, I'm now into my 4th week of no dishwasher, and let's just say I'm over dish-pan hands. I'm over rinsing, scrubbing, drying and putting away dish after dish after dirty dish. You may be thinking, "well get over your cheap self, and call the repair man." Well, I got over myself last week. I paid a man $65.00 to come to my house pull the face off the dishwasher, make a call to the service center and tell me the mother board is fried. First, "mother board?" I didn't know I have a space ship in my kitchen, second, $65.00 to tell me what took me 5 minutes to look up on the internet, seriously. So, what did I get for my $65.00??? The ability to order the part and schedule him to come back to fix it. All for the grand total of another $350.00. Is that in pesos???? No !@#$% way am I paying $350.00 to fix a dishwasher that I paid $300.00 for in the first place!

    The following day, my sweet visiting teachers came to my house to visit. Now, mind you these two ladies average age is 83, no kidding. I felt the need to explain to them while the rest of my home was actually in some sort of order, my dishes were spilling over my counter. One of the sweet ladies asked if she could do them for me. Of course, I said absolutely not. Later that night she stopped by with a drying rack for my dishes.

    I now have a expensive decoration placed where a dishwasher should be. One day, I hope to have a new expensive decoration there that actually works.D

'Ode to the Irish

There once was a couple that jumped on a plane,
The arrived in land that always had rain.
The skies were all gray and the ground was all green,
It was one of the most beautiful places either had seen.
They jumped in a car and drove on the wrong side of the street,
The people were so friendly, whom ever they did meet.
High into the mountains and low onto the moors,
They criss crossed the country with nary a bore.
They saw castles and churches, cliffs and the sea.
They crashed into a wall and nearly fell into that sea.
An Irish traffic jam they soon were to learn,
Consisted of cows on the road and that didn't take turns.
They fell in love with the country and hope to return soon,
Where they stayed up late and slept until noon.

Hope you have the luck of the Irish all the day,
and at one time find yourself in this land far away.

Things that made me smile

I woke up (late)this morning to find Carson playing in the hallway. He was wearing a dirty t-shirt a pull-up and his crocs.

Mom- Why do you have your shoes on?
Carson- Because I peed on the hardwood.
Mom- Did you clean it up?
Carson- No, I just put my shoes on.

Autonomy is embraced

The Definition:
autonomy (n.) The condition or quality of being autonomous; independence.
autonomy (n.) Self-government or the right of self-government; self-determination.
autonomy (n.) A self-governing state, community, or group.

The psychologist in me loves this one:

Within self-determination theory in psychology, autonomy refers to 'autonomy support versus control', "hypothesizing that autonomy-supportive social contexts tend to facilitate self-determined motivation, healthy development, and optimal functioning."

In english; I allow my children to dress themselves (often in rediculous outfits, and yes they wear these outside, in public) so they can build their self esteem, and one day become the president of the United States.