Ben's Birthday & Mother's Day BBQ!

 She could be mine, right? I think Cody and Wendy should just make US a baby.

 L O V E him! Mwuah!

 Cody is sick and I look pregnant in this picture..... but I'm not.

 Jordan teaching the boys how to drum properly.

 There were a couple is SICK pictures of me and Annie that I decided to spare you all from. If you REALLY want to see them, they're on Wendy's blog.

 It's fine that Benny Boo Boo is leaving us again. He's going to sell The Living Scriptures in Tenennsee all summer. BOOOOOOO! At least we can talk to him and SKYPE.

 Ben and his 872 birthday cakes. Lucky boy!

 Bentley and Hendrix helped Ben blow out his candles. I obviously haven't taught Hendrix how to blow yet... he really struggled and Bentley got sick of waiting so he just went ahead and blew Hendrix's candle out for him.

 Check out my biceps. I'm really strong.

 Favorite picture of the whole night!

 Grandma Brenda opening up her Mother's Day gifts. Wendy got her a new waffle maker since the old one was tired from all of the waffles it had made throughout it's long life.

I made her a magnet board because she's been wanting one for a long time. Ben and Annie got her a gift card to have her hair done, Julie gave her a gift card to Great Harvest (YUM!) and my Dad got her a book shelf. Happy Mother's Dad Mom! I love you!

Cruise 2011 (Day 4 highlights)

Day 4- Gym, breakfast, laying out by the pool, discovering the awesome waterslide on the back of the cruise ship, naps, FINALLY catching a magnificent sunset, playing games and enjoying our last night together.

Day 5- Travel day. Missing my baby! We had so much fun and loved spending time with Janson and Meagan for FIVE whole days. That's pretty rare around here. It was also really neat to have Judy and Judd with us while Judd is in between chemo treatments. I love my in-laws SO much. We really missed Jaden and Booke, hopefully we can take another "adults only" trip soon. (When I say adults only, I mean WITHOUT children. lol.)

Our fun day on the waterslides!

I wish I had Meagan's abs... *sigh*

 Jordan's model face, lol! He's so handsome.

Oh how I love these women... and sunset pictures. We had an amazing time!

Cruise 2011 (Day 3 COZUMEL highlights)

Day 3 of our cruise was by far, the best. We docked in Cozumel around 9:00 and FINALLY got off the cruise ship around 10:30. We took a taxi to a dolphinary where we got to swim with, ride on and play with an amazing dolphin. She had a baby with her, 3 months old, who was the cutest little thing I have ever seen. She has given birth to 11 babies!! That's a few more then I ever plan on having. I wish I could have taken my camera with me but they wouldn't let me. It was truly an unforgettable experience though.

Later, we watched a stupid sea lion show, ate some lunch, took pictures by the most beautiful, natural lagoon, shopped and walked the streets of Cozumel for a bit, then headed back to the ship. Needless to say... we were a bit tuckered out.

 This is where we swam with and rode on dolphins. Yes, it was FREAKIN AMAZING!

 Macho men!

 I took this, they can thank me later...

 B R E A T H T A K I N G natural lagoon.

I took this picture for Hendrix so that he could see the "Big boat" that Mommy and Daddy went on.

Cruise 2011 (Days 1 and 2 highlights)

Day 1 of our cruise involved flying, driving and boarding. All of the lame stuff. We boarded our cruise around 3 pm and immedietly went to the lunch buffet since we were all starving. Later that night we met our dining crew and enjoyed a nice dinner. I think we were all pretty exhausted from traveling so we went to bed earlier after checking out the entire cruise ship.

Day 2- Gym, breakfast and laying out by the pool on the upper deck. This was our "formal dining night," so we all got dressed up and enjoyed a yummy dinner together. We took lot's of pictures, watched some pretty awful entertainment and hung out for the rest of the night.

 Formal night!

Potty Training..................

Potty training is quite the adventure! Let's just start off with that, okay? Everyone keeps telling me that boys don't really "get" the whole potty training thing until they're about 3 but Hendrix has been going potty in the toilet for the last 3 or 4 weeks and still wearing a diaper but really doing a good job at telling me when he needs to go. So I thought I would take "the plunge" (lol) and put him in big boy underwear and really get the potty thing down. I'll just give you a quick re-cap of the last few days.

Day 1... Oddly, an easy day.
Day 2.... About the same. (This is when I say to myself, "What was I stressing about, this is easy!")
Day 3... A few more accidents but mostly just tired legs from going up and down the stairs all day since both of our bathrooms are upstairs. Convenient, right?
Day 4... Not so great. Can't keep up with the washing of underpants that have become saturated in pee.
Day 5 1/2.... Oh boy, what is going on? We just took Hendrix potty TWICE in 10 minutes with no success and then we find him at the bottom of the stairs SPLASHING in a huge puddle of his own pee.
Day 5 3/4... Sorry buddy, you're back in diapers. We'll go ahead and try again in a couple of months.

Do I feel like a failure? You betcha!
Should I feel like a failer? Probably not, but I do.
It's fine, I'm just having one of those "mommy moments" where you feel completely defeated, like nothing you do matters.... blah blah blah. I keep replaying the events in my mind, wondering what I could have done better or how I should have handled the situation differently but can't seem to come up with any answers. My reaction might be a bit more dramatic then I planned on but hey, what can you do?

Did I mention that Hendrix didn't poop for 3 days because he was scared about going in the toilet? Yeah, that also happened. Neat. I guess we'll just fork up another $40.00 for diapers this month. It's okay Hendrix, you're worth it!