My baby turns 4!

If people understood the joy a four year old can bring to your life, I think everyone would go out and get one.

This guy, in four years, has taught me so much. Aside from the qualities he's helping me refine (patience, compassion, sincerity, humility), he's shown me just how much a human being can love another human being. I am amazed at the sudden joy that overwhelms me when I look in his eyes, when he gives me a big hug just because I tell him we'll go "bye bye", and when he says he wants to tell me a secret and says he loves me.

I am grateful we are able to celebrate the happiness he has brought and continues to bring to my life each year.

(THE greatest chocolate cake ever, seriously, here's the recipe)

Cars puzzles!

(you can't give Drake a car shirt without giving Bubbs one too, it's just not right)

Giant "scary" coloring book

$5.99 at Costco if you can't tell

Cars helmet and in his hand, Holly Shiftwell, the most anticipated present. I guess she's a Cars babe

Sadly, I can't get the video to upload of Drake's reaction to his last gift. He was so excited! He rides it all day around the house and outside, and I love it because Bubba and Con don't fight him for it!

I think it's safe to say he had a great night!

Short Story

One time, I signed up for a 5k. I asked Johnny to go with me, but he'd been ill for a week and really wasn't up for it.

The night before, I talked him into joining me, telling him we'd walk the whole thing.

We got up early and drove up to Salt Lake where the run was.

We registered, got our numbers and t-shirts, and stood around for an hour waiting for the run to start. Johnny spent the time telling me why it's so sad that people say things like "You're a great athlete - for a girl", and if he were a girl, he'd hate himself for not being as awesome as guys are at sports. I got a headache from rolling my eyes so much.

It was wet and cold, and Johnny was ill and wanted to leave.

(Don't be deceived by this super tough photo of him)

As we walked to the starting line we decided to start jogging a little - straight to the car. Turns out, a popular diner that had been featured on the Food Network was right up the street.

I felt so guilty, I really did want to run my first 5k, but how can I deny an ill husband (who had already forewarned me that he'd rather eat a dozen donuts than go running early in the morning)?

Here he is exhausted after walking from the car to the diner, proof he couldn't handle slowly walking around a park.

Good thing the food was excellent or I really would've felt guilty.

What I learned from this experience: don't kid yourself. You don't like getting up early, running, rain, cold, but you DO love breakfast in fun diners, donating to charity, and supporting a good cause.

Next time, donate online from home before going out to breakfast to avoid guilt and a sense of failure.

The End.

Boy update

Update on Johnny:

He was thrilled he got to ride in on a horse at the opening of the (briefly) biggest dodgeball game in history as Braveheart. Here he is trying on his wig.

You think he looks good now, but you should've seen him after I cut it into a mullet and threw in some braids.

Practicing riding a horse before the big moment.

Supposedly he is a "cowboy" from Montana, but truth is he's allergic to horses and doesn't know much about them : )

FACT: Babies look better in mechanic suits.

All baby boys should own a Knucklehead body suit.

Con's favorite chair.

This is a picture Drake took of Con that I feel capture's Con's true personality (and accurate thigh to head ratio).

I took Bubba to the Dr. today and this is how he spent the majority of the time.

Trip - Day 7

This tied for my favorite day of the trip. It was so relaxing and fun to explore.

After waking up in Mont St Michel, we headed to the Normandy Coast, not knowing what to expect. We wanted to visit some World War II monuments before heading back to Paris for the night.

As we drove along the beach looking for some historic sites, we found this farmers market. It was the greatest thing ever! So bright and colorful, selling such fun things! Our first step was getting a monster crepe with Nutella, to eat while we walked around.

If we'd had a way to cook these, I would've loaded up on artichokes and asparagus. They were huge and beautiful!

You can't tell from the picture, but these items are for very robust, curvy women. An interesting item to place next to the fruit and veggie stand.

Being neither robust nor curvy, my souvenir was a table cloth decorated with red poppies : ) I LOVED the tents with the table and bed linens, they were so pretty!

After finishing off our crepes, we picked up our daily bread and cheese. I want to know how to make french artisan breads! (Amber, this may be something we do when you move out : )

We picked up our other daily staples, strawberry tart and coffee eclair, and headed to the beach! We ate, watched the sale boats, and Johnny scanned the beach for old naked ladies.

There were two.

"Let's collect some of the seashells so we can take them home and make fun crafts with them! I'd love to decorate frames or wall sconces!"

"Ok Johnny, whatever you want to do."

Excellent place for skipping rocks.

Looking for more seashells.

We stopped here, read up on what occurred on D-Day and how important it was, and thought about how beautiful and special this place is.

Then said goodbye to the amazing beach.

Headed back to Paris.

We got back around 3:00 and our first stop was the Sacre Coeur. The place was a mad house, and no photos allowed inside.

The view of Paris was pretty spectacular.

After Sacre Coeur there was a lot of walking back to the car, driving in circles to find the car rental return, train rides to our hotel, and more walking to the hotel.

We shopped on the Champs Elysees, walked until it was dark, then stopped at a fun restaurant for a nice dinner on our last night here.

Johnny ordered the seafood platter (meant for four people) and didn't realize that it meant you got the whole crustacean, and had to crack and peel them yourself. I was totally grossed out! What made it more entertaining was that there were couples on either side of us watching what we were doing. As Johnny cracked the shells pieces flew everywhere, making me laugh. If one of the hideous creatures fell on the floor he'd shout "Quick! Step on it, it's getting away!", making me squirt water out my nose. This happened repeatedly. It was awful and hysterical. I still don't think Johnny's able to eat shellfish.

We biked to the Louvre for some night pictures, it was beautiful!

A view of the Arc de Triumph down the Champs Elysees.

We then headed back to our hotel to get as much sleep in as we could before our 5:20am train ride back to London in the morning. We didn't know that the next day would be packed full of complications.