A Boro Weekend :-)

We had a blast this weekend! Friday night wasn't all that exciting, but it was nice to slow down a little bit, watch some TV and spend some time with Sam (even if he couldn't do much.) Saturday morning was spend doing laundry, a few errands, breakfast and trying to get Sam taken care of. (BTW..happy to announce he's feeling better now!)

 Saturday afternoon, a quick trip to Durham and to Burlington (Outlet mall!) then,

PPPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLL!!!

Tucker absolutely LOVES the water. However, before Friday...he never wanted off the stairs very much before.. Because being off the stairs meant that he needs a little help. And OF COURSE, BIG BOYS do NOT need help! However..after a bit of coaxing and some other small children showing him how it was done, he decided to see what all the hype was about. Well...seeing other children swim from side to side and all around, he needed to do a bit of exploring. He would walk around and around the pool, giggling when cannon balls splashed him and such. He would NEVER get close enough to the edge that I was worried though (I would swim or walk around following him just in case..) But suddenly, a burst of energy or something hit him, and SPLASH! HE JUMPED INTO THE 8 1/2 FOOT DEEP END!!!!!! About gave his mother a heart attack!!! (For the record..he was only under for like 2 seconds before I got to him!) After that...I decided no more going to the pool without his life jackets...

Pool time Saturday (with DADA!) was pretty awesome. Daddy finally was able to experience some firsts with Monster Man. Notice his new body glove suit..this and the normal life jacket are our best friends now!

Ok so Tucker is normally pretty shy when it comes to people, especially talking to them or letting them touch him. This lady sat down and he ran over to her gibbering away, just couldn't wait for her to hold him. He LOVED it!

This is Tucker's usual spot...never leaving the stairs!

Climbing down/up the stairs. STONG!

Lowering himself into the pool

OFF the stairs (with mommy)

Treading water all by himself!

Yay Tucker!!

Doing it all by himself!!!

Since we're on the pool subject, I'll skip Sunday just for a brief second. Today, I took Tucker to the pool (twice) and put his normal life jacket on him. However, since Zeke wasn't there, the camera didn't go. He was so excited to be there and have his life jacket on, he went straight to the deep end and got in. He did even better today than ever before!! He wanted nothing to do with the stairs! Tucker wanted to be in the water! He would do it all by himself! He wanted mommy near by (and of course, mommy would of been extremly close either way) and he just had the best time!! I am sooo proud of my little man! He'll be swimming in no time!

Sunday was a great day as well. After a bit of a relaxing morning (I went on a strange cleaning frenzy Saturday night and cleaned out allll our closets and cabinets..3 bags of trash later, I was exhausted) we decided to head to Winston-Salem to the mall..However, we got quite distracted on the way and changed our plans. We ate a nice lunch at KFC (delicious) and then headed to Hanging Rock State Park. However, the lake there was incredibly over crowded and it was much too hot to go on a hike, so we headed a few more miles North to Dan River. Tucker LOVED it!!

Snoozing away on the way there (notice the new kicks..Chuck Taylors for my boy)

Tucker and Dada hanging out

Practicing his rock throwing skills.

And come on, given the choice, who doesn't enjoy being naked at the river!

We had a pretty amazing weekend!

A few weekends back,

we were in Hendo. These are a few pictures from another camera that I really like :)

My little family in the hammock :)

Tucker with his Grandma Young.

LOVE his face in this one!

Such an incredibly little guy :)

He looks reallllly mischevious in this one...wonder what I can get into!?

Officially THE SMARTEST little boy ever!!

Ok, I admit it, I am a little very biased when it comes to my boy, but this kid is freakin' SMART!!!

My parents have a woodstove (2 woodstoves) as their main heating source when its cold (ok, and if I am being honest here, if my mommy is even the slightest bit chilly.) I LOVE the way it makes their house smell (and our clothes after visiting.) But I ALWAYS hated stacking the wood both outside and inside when I was younger...however, on this last trip up there, I actually volunteered to help my younger bro and mom out a bit with some stacking as he used the splitter (I admit, as I am not fond of this "character building" as my daddy calls it, I didn't put as much effort into it as I could of..sorry.) Everyone was wearing gloves and Tucker was playing on the Mule while we worked (yes, we were keeping an eye on him. Yes, the parking brake was on. No, the keys were not in the ignition. I hid them.) After a little bit, Tucker comes walking over to us..wearing gloves!! Smart little monster had put on gloves himself to help us :)



AAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDD..
The whole time we were gone on our cross country (kinda) trip, Tucker slept in the same bed as me. Falling asleep most nights, I cuddled him and he laid with his head on my pillow. He must of gotten used to this. Since we got back and he got back into his own (big boy) bed, he has been using his blanket and random stuffed animals as pillows. So, today I went and bought him a pillow (actually, the 2 pack of pillows was only $1 more, so I got 2), put his new Cars pillowcase on it, and (after lunch) laid him down for a nap. He didn't get up at all (he learned so quick!! SOOOO proud of him!) and started out laying his little head on the pillow. He ended up folding his blanket and using it as a pillow instead. After naptime, he took his pillow, threw it on my bed (after trying to get the Cars pillowcase off), and took one of my pillows and put it on his bed. Smart little booger knew that my pillows were flatter and wanted mine instead :)

God I love this little boy :)

Big Boy

Nap #2-success! No attempts to get up!

Night #3-SUCCESS! Only one attempt to get up, before I even left the room. Sleeping soundly now :)

Big Boy Bed!!

Since Tucker discovered how to climb out of his crib a few weeks back, we converted his crib into a toddler bed. Last night was the first night.

Night # 1: He was terrified of it at first but slept the entire night (from 8 last night til 9 this morning), without getting up a single time. This morning I heard him start to wiggle then him call Mama? Mama? Then some wiggling and little footsteps. He threw his door open and came running to me, crawling up in our bed, saying HI MAMA!

Nap #1: Took us over an hour to get him to go to sleep in his bed. I think he got up, literally, over 50 times.

Night #2: He has been in bed for an hour now and is sleeping soundly..although he did get up about 15 times.

I think its incredibly cute how proud he is of himself when he comes walking out (blankie and all) like a big boy. But we are hiding our laughter..because I know a few days from now, after laying him down for the 20th time within 20 minutes, it will no longer be cute.

But I think my big boy will have this big boy bed thing down in no time :)

Also, we kinda sorta started potty training yesterday afternoon as well. Not too seriously yet, just getting him used to it. I showed him how to sit on it and tuck his weewee down one time. Now everytime, he tucks it himself as soon as his diaper is off. ADORABLE!!!

18 months already, what!??

I CAN NOT believe that my baby boy is already 18 months old!!!!
There is just simply no way...
However, today Tucker is 18 months old...which meant check-up time.

Bad news first: FOUR shots (excuse me, injections.)

Great news: PERFECT little boy.

All the nurses thought he was adorable and came in just to see "the cutest, sweetest little boy ever."

My little man went from 7 pounds 14 ounces and 22.5 inches long to

25 pounds 8 ounces and 34.5 inches tall!!

He is waaay over average in height and a little under in weight..he is a tall skinny little guy!!!

Perfect head, waaaaay advanced skill level.

Talks more than most boys his age (and less that girls his age)

and can do some things that 3 year olds do.

He is right on track and doing perfectly!!

Aaaaaand...now we begin potty training :-)

Bestie McBestie's Wedding :)

So after getting back from our 2 week cross country trip Thursday night, Friday and Saturday were to be filled with my Bestie's wedding and wedding planning. Friday we made her cake and then nails!! Girl's nights are always amazing :-)..Saturday morning has filled with hair appts and getting ready!

Jessica telling Andi that she looked just like a pretty princess! Sooooo sweet!

The cake we made :)

Me and Mo

Sokadom walking Andi down the aisle

joining hands

MARRIED!!!!!!!

Mr. and Mrs. Justin Owens

First dance!

My family! :-)

We never had a first dance. My amazing bestie gave us a first dance at her wedding. I love her :-)

seconds before it was smashed into each other's faces

I love them

Justin

I'm soooooooooo happy for them :) I love you Bestie McBestie!

And I'm glad your having a good honeymoon, but don't miss your flight again tomorrow. Have fun in Mexico. I love you!

Busy, Busy 16 days..

Finally back! The trip was absolutely amazing..couldn't of asked for better weather and besides Kansas kicking our butts, there were 0 issues!

Also, I have to brag and say I can count the number of times Tucker cried on one hand!! He was soooooooooooo good!! Even on the days were we spent 8+ hours in the truck he never cried!! So proud of my little boy :)

Left NC, went thru Tennessee, spent the night in Mississippi. They had the best pool..both ends were 2 1/2 feet deep so it was perfect for Tucker to be able to walk out a bit and try out his swimming skills. So proud :)

Left Mississippi and went to Arkansas for the night. The campground there was kinda rough but we had fun getting lost (even with TWO GPS) on the way to Walmart and Sonic (can't live without their milkshakes!!)

From Arkansas, we went through Oklahoma, Texas and into Albuquerque, New Mexico. (PS...I had never been past Knoxville, TN before) I could not believe how far you could see and the wide open fields. Plus, from watching TV, I always assumed all you see out west is cows, beautiful ranches, etc....I could be wrong and just didn't visit the right parts, but this is NOT true. I saw MAYBE five houses that would be considered "nice" and NO ranches and very few cows. Like I said, maybe I was in the wrong parts but it was not like the movies! But all the views were incredible!

After a cold stay (ok, maybe cold is a bit drastic..after a chilly stay) in New Mexico, we were off for destination # 1..Arizona!!

Arizona is beautiful. Once again, I was expecting deserts of cacti and such..WRONG! I saw a grand total of: 2! That was it! But its alright..I'm not real into sand that doesn't mean beach anyway.

In Arizona, we went fourwheeling, shopping, to the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert, to the Grand Canyon, to Bearizona, to the Grand Canyon Caverns and to the Walnut Canyon Wupatski Pueblo Indian Reserve. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!

The Grand Canyon is just such an amazing place to visit. I could spend weeks there!

(By the way...I have over 5000 pictures, so I am trying to post only a few!)

The Grand Canyon Caverns...beautiful and scary deep looking down! Coolest hotel room ever down in it.

The Painted Desert and Petrified Forest were pretty cool. The forest was really neat. Signs were posted everywhere with penalties listed for even touching a piece of the wood. I'm pretty sure they would of arrested you for even looking at it wrong. Super strict..But the best part of that was the Painted Desert..beautiful colors.

I HAD to visit an indian reservation. I found this one online and it was incredible. These people were very driven and unique. They built all their dwellings in cliffs and "caves."

After Arizona, we headed north to Moab, Utah. Also a beautiful place lacking the green colors I am so use to. But a fourwheeling heaven. Spent a few days doing nothing but shopping and fourwheeling.

From Moab, Utah, we headed to Colorado for whitewater rafting and some more views, especially the wonderful views from Pike's Peak, Manitu Springs.

After Colorado, we were headed back towards the NC mountians...

Butn like I said, Kansas kicked our butts!! Dad bought a new truck 3 weeks before we left on the trip. A BRAND NEW truck. When the truck would reach 1/2 tank of gas, we would start looking for a diesel station...then the "50 miles till empty" came up on the dash...still not worried. Truck stop 35 miles ahead (ding ding 50 miles to empty). Truck stop 25 miles ahead (ding ding 40 miles to empty). Truck stop 15 miles ahead (ding ding 30 miles to empty). Truck stop 6 miles ahead...truck dies on the interstate! Despite what the message was STILL FLASHING on the dash, we were completely out of fuel...

Lucky us! We have 10 gallons of diesel in a tank in the back!! So we quickly refuel and make plans to go to the truck stop to completely refuel and now refill the spare tanks.

Keys in the ignition...and it does not start. Prime it just like the owner's manual explains (let me add, both Dad and little brother know their trucks) and like everyone both boys talked to said, they continue to try to try to prime and start the truck. Oh wait! What's that sound? Sounds like the battery is almost dead! Sniff sniff..what's that smell? Oh yes, that is the starrter burning up!

Well the truck is brand new, only 4ish weeks old, right? Let's call the Ford Roadside Assistance and get their help. Needless to say..that alone took awhile. The man finally arrives and hands over 5 gallons of fuel. Not only had we spent awhile explaining to the operator that the problem was no longer no fuel, but a burnt up starter and dead batteries, we now had to explain it to him. However too small his shirt was, he was incredibly nice. He tried to do what he was trained to do to prime and start the truck. Guess what? 2 dead batteries and a burnt up starter! After several more hours, it was dark. So he said lets tow it to the next exit until tomorrow then I can tow it to the closest Ford dealership. Problem: how do you tow a full sized truck...that has a 38 foot camper/toy hauler attached to it? Oh yes, thats right! You illegally tow it using only a single fraying rope!! After being towed to and left in an abonded brown rock field for the night in the middle of nowhere, he came back for the truck the next morning. Truck and Dad: towed to town. Camper and everyone else: still in the abonded rock field. After a few short hours, the truck was repaired and we were back on the road (ps..you'd think they would include in the owner's manual/tell their mechanics that after running out of fuel, you need a special tool to prime the new trucks...). What were we doing not even a whole hour after finally being fixed? That's right!! We in fact were once again pulled off the road, truck unattached and this time, the camper on jacks..to fix a blown tire. An hour later..the camper was fixed and we were on our way. Thank God Kansas ended shortly after that. Kansas kicked our butts. However, the towman did compliment us by telling my dad that we were all amazing sports about everything. But by this point, you kinda had to laugh..what else could you do!?

Kansas is literally completely flat with miles and miles and miles of nothing but wind turbine farms.

At least the other 5 states on the way back to NC had pretty sites!

And we're back!

Oh the wedding plans :)