saturday fun

Today after cleaning the house I decided that we were going to get out and do something fun. Wyatt had been playing a computer game far too long and started to get ornery, so he obviously needed a break away too. I wonder if other kids get ornery like he does after playing video games...

But, back on the subject. We first headed off to Barnes & Noble. I love that place, the smell, the people watching! It's the best. In the kid area they also have a Thomas the train table with a track set up and a bunch of the cars. There are usually a few kids gathered around, and that's the first place Wyatt heads. We hung out there for awhile, found a quiet place to sit and read a few books. I obviously didn't take pictures of Wyatt at Barnes & Noble, that might be a little weird.

Next we headed to Gardner Village, which I do like, especially this time of year. But, if you're one of those girls that just {insert sarcasm here} LOVES shopping like I am, take a 4 year old boy with you. You will be in and out in no time! It was lovely. We walked around and laughed at the crazy witches, I was able to get him to pose for some pictures, ran into our friends Linnea & Joe, looked at a few more witches and then went on our way. It was fabulous. The pictures are the best though, his expressions make me laugh. Next time we go I'm sure it will be with cousins and probably a little more fun!

Our second to last stop was a pumpkin patch and I wish I would have snapped a few pictures, they had some of the biggest pumpkins! The lady said the white pumpkins start at $5 and depending on size can be upwards of $100. Who would spend that on a pumpkin?! So crazy. But they had bouncy house things to play on, so Wyatt was content.

And finally ended the night at my friend Audrey's. She just moved about a mile away from us and I went over to help her get settled. Wyatt watched movies and somehow talked Audrey's roommate into playing games with him while we unpacked and organized.

Pretty safe to say we definitely had a fun day!

And then some random pictures of us. I always try to get something serious out of Wyatt, and sometimes I prevail, but usually I'm smiling and he's pulling a silly face. These were before we started out on our fun adventure today.

my warrior angel

This is really sappy. You've been warned.

Wyatt saved my life. I can go into that day, the years prior, the minutes and hours afterward, but this would be a novel one could publish. Or be put on a lifetime movie. So I'll just leave it at that.

Today started out not too shabby. I've been sick; which is weird and doesn't happen THAT often; and I was kind of a baby about it. However, I didn't have a fever last night and woke up feeling pretty okay. Besides the DayQuil that I took causing a few airhead moments, I was fine. Met JG to pick up some work stuff, went to Village Inn once Lizzie (JG's daughter) had her braces off, and cam back home to work and carried on.

Then this afternoon came and dropped the straw; get the reference? I try not to get upset in front of Wyatt but it happens, and he's always very sweet and very careful around me. I don't blame him.

The evening went on, Wyatt played with his friends (great distraction!) , I cried to my mom and I'm still alive. I've been sitting in my room doing a little work and just kind of goofing around. And then my angel came in, squeezed behind me on the chair I was sitting on and started to comb my hair with what I'm assuming is a My Little Pony comb his cousins left here. He made small talk while he combed my hair and told me how pretty I am, so obviously I had to

immediately forgive him for telling me I was chubby earlier. 4 years old, but smart and observant. After a minute of combing my hair he left the room and came back with my tooth brush, tongue scraper thingy and floss. I now understand why he hates me brushing his teeth. Someone else trying to gently brush your teeth is heinous and sends chills down your spine.

So here I guess is where it gets really sappy? I can't think of anything more I'd rather be doing right now. Wyatt is the sweetest, most honest and sincere part of my life. Of course a husband would be nice and it would be nice to not have the dad talk anymore, but I know it will happen when it is supposed too. I am lucky to have Wyatt and know he is with me right now for a reason. He is a special little kid and not only made a huge influence on my life, but of those all around us.

Love you more little warrior.

smart kid

Here is the conversation I just had with Wyatt...

Wy: "Mom, are you still sad?"

Me: "Ya, a little"

Wy: "Do you want your mom? We can drive over there and see her."

See, even Wyatt knows that Moms can make everything better.

I hope he still feels that way when he's 28 too.

Mom!

This is a bike without training wheels.

This is a boy laying on the ground next to his bike with no training wheels.

Boys famous last words: "Mom, you let go of me!"

Better luck next time champ. Keep with it and you'll be riding in no time.

<3

My Boy

He loves to pose for the camera. What a goof.

Sunday @ The Park

Sunday was a beautiful day in Salt Lake. As sad as I am about the pool closing, I love this time of year. The temperatures are perfect and I love having my doors and windows open!

crazy,

My life is... crazy. Where has this summer gone? I swear it was just Wyatt's birthday, that we were going to the pool, hanging out with the neighbors, riding bikes and camping with friends. But it's September... the middle of September! Kids are back to school and it is so quiet around here.

Since I apparently have no idea what to do with my child as far as pre-school and waited until the last minute to ask anyone what the crap do I do, Wyatt hasn't started yet. (Sorry Kid) I have however found a great place for him to be and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that once they process his stuff there will still be a spot open. As for now, I get to be his teacher, which he doesn't seem to mind too much. As long as he is learning right? Once again, sorry kid. I'm still figuring it out.

September also means Labor day which in turn means family trip to Panguitch. I always look forward to going. We spend one day at Panguitch lake, one day at Bryce canyon and then whatever else sounds fun. This year just about convinced me that living in a small town would be pretty sweet.

I didn't take a ton of pictures, but here are the ones I have, so enjoy.

.

<3

sing

My favorite moment today happened when Wyatt first woke up this morning. Usually he will find me wherever I am and depending on when he wakes up, he will climb in bed and cuddle with me or climb on my lap and let me hold him for awhile. Well this morning Wyatt woke up and immediately started singing. I wasn't sure what he was singing until later when I asked, but it made me smile. Love my 4 year old.

Four.

This handsome little boy is 4. I can't believe it has been 4 years since my life changed forever and for the better.

We celebrated his birthday which was on a Tuesday with JG. Lunch at Chick-fil-a, shopping spree at Target and then dinner at Benihana. When we got in the car Wyatt told me what a great day he had. We had his birthday party this past Friday with my family and a few friends. It was a fun night and I'm grateful to those who came to celebrate with us. Saturday afternoon we joined some friends for camping and had a blast. It has been fun celebrating Wyatt's birthday and he makes sure everyday to ask me if he's still 4.

Wyatt's Favorite Things:

Transformers

Spiderman

Iron Man

His cars & car mats

Camping

Swimming

His new big kid bike

Cookies

Wrestling

Asking Questions

Climbing out of the patio when mom's not paying attention

Playing with his buddies

Sleeping in. (My personal fav)

Wyatt has been such a blessing in my life. I'm so grateful for the support of family and friends in helping me raise Wyatt. He is so sweet and fun and I couldn't be luckier.

love you bug.

And so the car saga ends...

I've had my altima about a month now and I absolutely love it. Perfect fit for us!

the car saga, part 3

Just when you think it can't get any crazier...

Sunday afternoon/mid-evening I was over at my moms cleaning out the car and getting it ready to stick on ksl and craigslist. My friend (and neighbor) Heather called me up and let me know that 3 state troopers were at my house and wanting to talk to me. So, I left Wyatt with my brother and headed back home. Then I get a text that 4 more showed up, then 2 more showed up. I started to get nervous... I mean, 7 state troopers looking for me? This can't be good. I pull up, get out of my car and immediately have one of the state troopers in my face asking me where my car is, who was just driving my car, and so on. I explain that no one has driven my car since Saturday night and that it is at my moms house because I didn't feel comfortable keeping it at mine. At this point it is quite obvious that they aren't here to let me know they caught whoever stole my car. A second trooper walks up and pulls me away, asks for my drivers license and has me get in the back of his car. Um WTH? I was probably asked 6 times what my mom's address, like I was lying about it? I don't know the reason. Then we were off to my moms, me in the back of the troopers car! He is looking me up on his computer, asking me questions about the whole situation, then asking me MORE questions about everything. He asked the same question 5 different ways to see if my story would stay the same, obviously. And it did. Right before we got to my moms he FINALLY let me know what was going on. It felt like hours at this point when really it was maybe about 20 minutes. He explained that a high speed chase had just taken place in a gold honda with my license plates on it. Um... come again? They needed to make sure that I was not involved, that the car was where I said it was, and that there weren't any signs that it had been driven. So we (me and 5 of my state trooper pals) pull up to my moms house just as my sister and her fam were getting home. The looks on their faces were priceless and at that point they still didn't know I was in the back of the car. He finally gets me out, we walk over to the garage, open it up and he goes "Ya okay, this is not the same vehicle" and I burst into tears. They apologize and all that good stuff. He even offered to give me a ride back home, which was nice, but one ride in the back of a trooper car is good enough for this girl.

I knew this sort of thing happened, but never thought it would ever happen to me. So.. my license plates are still out there. I would assume that they probably have taken them off the car from the chase. It will be interesting to see what else happens and who will come knocking on my door next. Can this week please just be normal? Please bless I can get this honda sold quick and find a new car. I'm completely over it!

the car saga, part 1 & 2

This week has been a weird one for sure. But we will start with Wednesday morning....

This day I was up earlier than usual, had already cleaned most of my house and had finished a few things for work. Wyatt was playing with a friend outside and running up and down the stairs between our houses. I was in the kitchen finishing cleaning when the boy Wy was playing with asked where my car was. Me just thinking he didn't know which car was mine, I walked outside and pointed and started to say "right there....". I sat and just looked for a minute before I realized that my car was not there. I had them run up and get my friend to come down. I tried calling the police but my phone would not dial out. I have nightmares that start this way! I had to turn the stupid thing off and back on and finally put in the report. My mom and sister both came over, the cop came and left and didn't give me much hope. And quite honestly, at that point I didn't care and didn't think that I would see the car again. My neighbor saw my car at 9 am when he left for work, at 10:50 is when I noticed the car was gone. What the french?

Now we fast forward to today, Saturday. I had been with my mom most of the day for a family party. At about 7:30 we loaded up the car with some boxes to put in my dumpster and headed home. We got to my complex, dumped the boxes and as we were turning around out of the corner of my eye there was MY stolen car turning down MY street. My heart started pounding. Someone had the nerve to steal my car in the daytime and now someone was going to dump it as well?! My mom pulled up next to the car and I rolled down my window and there is a girl just sitting in my car. I looked at her and said "You are in my car" she kind of looked at my funny and replied "No, I just bought this car from my friend Sarah". When I looked at it more closely they had taken a blanket I had in the trunk and it was in the back seat. I pointed that out to her and she started freaking. I remember I just kept saying you are in my car. I tried to hold her back but she made a run for it.

A few minutes after she took off 3 men I have never seen before all of a sudden appeared, and they were acting all sorts of weird. They were checking out the situation and one of them got on his cell phone while the other two jumped in a truck and took off. We got that license plate number because they were just acting WAY too sketchy. The one on the phone stuck around until the K-9 unit showed up. I'm sorry, I don't care who you are, that's weird. One of my neighbor girls was listening to them talk and could understand what they were saying, and they were definitely talking about my car.

When I made the police report the officer told me that if I were to come across my car to not touch anything and call right away because lots of cops and guns will show up, he wasn't lying. One cop processed the "scene" while the others went out looking for this girl and the guys who left in the truck.

This honestly has been like the weirdest experience ever. My car doesn't lock anymore, they spray painted the fender black which confuses me, because it already was..., and the passenger side door handle is hanging off. I'm lucky I have such great neighbors, one of them followed my mom to her house in my car where we are keeping it for the moment. I don't even want to get back in it.

So here is my car tonight... #1 - Items left in the car that were not mine aka "evidence" #2 - This is my building. My parking spot is literally 6 spots over to the left. If you are going to steal a car, I probably recommend telling your friend WHERE you stole the car from and then ask them not to come visit you. #3 - this is my moms car, we pulled up next to her and I started flipping out, I terrified poor Wyatt who was in the back of my mom's car, he was really upset and I felt horrible. #4 - The one item I am so relieved that was still in the car. His car seat. They had taken it from the back and stuck it in the trunk. And taken some of my DI items... so thanks.

There were still items of mine left in the car, they took his spiderman scooter probably for one of their kids. I'm just glad these fools weren't smart enough to sell the expensive car seat. And one of them must have been a real estate agent because they took three key boxes from my car. (Sorry JG).

I have been so freaked out that Peter actually came over to spend the night. I highly doubt they will come back, but you never know, people are ridiculous. Either way, I'm definitely grateful for my brother being here tonight. Puts me at ease a little bit. SO CRAZY! How does this happen?

The best thing that happened this week was this little guy, and I was able to be there to witness it. Talk about an amazing experience. Owen Benjamin Warner, 6lbs 10oz and 19 inches. My sister Andrea had her baby the day after my car was stolen, he is an early surprise but we are all really glad he is here and he is absolutely perfect. Well done Andrea and Steve.

I'm excited for Amy to come home from Ireland tomorrow! We will be able to swap stories! Her adventures in beautiful Ireland and my ghetto fabulous stories. Ugh. We have missed her but glad she was able to go.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that nothing else happens. Wish me luck!

Busy...

Where has the time gone? I can hardly believe that it is May already. But do you know what May brings this year?

May brings these 4 beautiful men that I have waited oh so patiently for for a year.

I.Can't.Wait.

And if you don't know who these men are, we probably can't be friends anymore. Kinda serious about that. :)

~~~

But enough about them. ..

Wyatt and I went on our first family camping trip together with our good friends Tiffani and Chad this last weekend. We ventured south to Yuba lake (right as the snow started falling in Salt Lake) and had such a fun time. It was a little chilly at night, but Chad kept the fire super warm and we were the first to break in their new tent trailer (heater inclu

ded). Wyatt loved camping and won't stop talking about it. I actually heard him telling our neighbor that we were going camping tonight. Oh how I wish. I hadn't been camping for so long that I forgot just how much I love it. Thank you Tiff and Chad for having us tag along with you, we are so excited for this summer!

I will post pictures once I grab them from Tiff. Of course I couldn't find my camera ANYWHERE only to come home and find it sitting on top of my junk basket in the kitchen. Oh well right?

~~~

I have this new love....

I read about this granola here and have looked for it in every store that I've visited recently. Well the Fresh Market that I ALWAYS go to went out of business. Probably because the Wal-mart by my house turned into a Super Wal-mart (Rambling sorry). So the other day I ventured over to Smith's and what did I happen to find? Some Love Grown goodness! I have only tried the Raisin Almond Crunch so far and it is delicious. Add a little almond milk, let soak for about two minutes and you're golden. I actually just entered to win 3 bags of this on this blog tonight.

*Crossing my fingers*

If you come across some, buy it. It is a must try!

click here for to learn about this great co.

soda goodbye

This is my poison of choice. I used to find it delicious, but recently I've just been drinking it to drink it. Not only do I get the caffeine headaches from withdrawals, but I also get them when I've had to much in a few days period. Which is where I am today. My body is dehydrated and hating me right now. My head is pounding and I feel like throwing up. I've also noticed that working out is a little harder as far as breathing goes. It's weird. So ONCE AGAIN (how many times does one have to say goodbye?) I am giving you up. No more Dr Pepper runs for this girl.

What's your drink of choice? How does it make your body feel? Not just temporarily but the long term affects.

Gluten Free?

To be or not to be gluten free, that is the question. I have become a gym rat, I feel better and if I do say so myself starting to look better. However, I'm not here to brag about that. With this new found love of the gym and fitness I am starting to recognize what foods my body likes and what my body doesn't like. I love bread, my body does not. I love sweets and ice cream, my body does not. Headaches and stomach aches follow pretty quickly after eating these things, and in my mind it isn't really worth it. And I'm not going to fool myself and say that never again will I eat these things, but I will limit them to rare occasions.

I recently came across this blog. She has great recipes, tips and whatnot. And quite frankly it has inspired me. So we'll see how I do!

My favorite breakfast (Thanks Jenn T)

I have found the steel cut oats at Harmons.

I am sure they are available elsewhere, I just haven't looked.

Just a few blueberries are plenty.

Too many can overpower everything else.

Some people know my struggle with bananas, but I love them with my oats!

You boil 3 cups of water and 1 cup of the steel oats. It makes enough for me to have breakfast for 2 or 3 days, and on day 2 and 3 the oats aren't so chewy, but I like them chewy too.

I logged this meal today on my calorie tracker: 237 Calories

Anyone else gluten free? Or have any good recipes to share?

Oprah's... er I mean Jenn Gray's favorite things.

There are many perks to working for Jenn. She is a great boss, friend and I'm not going to let this get too mushy for her sake :) She also has this knack of finding pretty much the greatest things. I'm not sure how she does it, but she does. And if you are lucky enough, you get a package containing all of them! (Hi-five Piper, we're awesome!)

These Hot Tamales Jelly Beans are.. well nothing short of amazing. If you love Hot Tamales, then you will love these. Hi-Chews are a little Mamba-ish but better, strawberry and apple seem to be the favorites. Jenn spit the mango flavor out the window, so I'm assuming that means it was not her fav. Both of these sugary snacks lack high fructose corn syrup, so that makes them that much better.

I must say I am excited to try out my new Purex products. Jenn explained to me that fabric softeners are made with oils which wear out your clothes and towels faster and are actually flammable, with warnings not to wash your children's pj's and stuff in them. Hi.. kind of scary. Which is why this Purex stuff is great.

Here are the ingredients for the Purex Complex Crystals Softener: Sucrose (Sugar) Bentonite (Clay) Peg Distearate (Blending agent) Fragrance, Sanolin Blue (Colorant). These crystals smell really good!

The Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets look awesome too, drop it in with your laundry and transfer it all into the dryer. Simple and easy. I'm excited to get my laundry on and try them both out!

job chart

I decided to make a job chart for Wyatt, he is old enough where he has jobs. Plus this makes it "fun" for him. My cute neighbor Heather pretty much provided everything for this project. Cricut machine and laminating machine. She's a lucky woman! Anyway.. I think it turned out pretty cute. Michaels only had one package of the Velcro dots I needed, so I will have to go search elsewhere to finish it.

He really enjoys helping with the dog. I have moved her food where he can get to it and showed him how to fill the water up. He constantly is checking to make sure she has food and water, it's pretty cute. When the day comes that fini is no longer at our house, I'll probably have to replace her. :)