The Rowleys Roll Through

We had a great unexpected visit from our great friends, the Rowleys, on Monday when they came through town on their way to a wedding. It was fun to add them to the guest list at the "Hotel Stewart" and spend most of Tuesday hanging out with them.

I knew that more than a few of you would be interested to see how the Rowley kids have grown! It had only been three months since I'd seen them, but I swear they had grown a foot a piece. Parker loved having his old buddies around.

Yep, he's still got it

Oh, he's got it. It was a crowning moment in my life to hear the best blues I will EVER hear, played by the most talented guitarist alive, live. I have been a Clapton fan ever since my high school prom and "Wonderful Tonight," but my love for him has only increased as I've discovered the rest of his grandiose collection of music, in particular his blues stuff.

The concert itself was a little bit funny; our seats were in the second row from the very tippy tippy top of Kemper Arena, which created a little bit of vertigo for the first ten minutes or so, but I quickly got over it. Bobby Cray opened for him and he was fantastic. Stage break - enter Clapton. Unlike other concerts I've been to (my first being New Kids on the Block - woohoo!) this guy really has no stage presence, is not out there to chit chat with you or wow you with his pyrotechnics. Nope - he is here to play. And play he did. My favorite, of course, was his acoustic set, which sadly only lasted four songs. But both Peter and I really enjoyed listening to him jam with his amazing band. After five full minutes of thunderous applause and screaming for an encore, I mentioned to Peter, "Wow! He really makes you beg for it!" Those of you who know my husband's corny humor will appreciate his response: "Well, he is Clapton. He makes you CLAP - a TON." ha ha ha ha.

I must add that I've never been a part of a more chill audience. It made me feel old, and that actually made me feel good about myself. And for those who haven't been to a concert lately, almost extinct are the days of waving lighters to the ballads - in its place we find the days of waving your cell phone or digital camera, flashing your backlight. So funny! It was a night of fabulous entertainment, and one I will never forget.

For your listening pleasure, I've added some of my favorites to play on the blog for a while. Enjoy!

Parker Funnies

• Snickers egg = "Sneekers" egg
• Bagel = "Beegle"
• Clover (as in four-leaf) = "Grover"
• The other day after losing my patience with him: "Mom, you're losing your temperature! You're gonna LOSE it!"
• While cutting his hair: "Mom, STOP! You're freakin' me out!"

Destructo Boy!

Tyler is in full-fledged mischief mode. A story from yesterday to illustrate:

Yesterday morning, he tore up three pop-up books. I'm becoming quite the book repair specialist.

Later, I gave him his lunch of pizza bites and peas in his high chair, which he threw most of on the ground (not unusual). I tried to bribe Parker into picking up the pieces and throwing them away, to which Parker replied, "But Mom, I want to vacuum them up." This is usually something we let him do with our dust-buster, but I explained to him that the pieces were too big.

Whilst finishing my own lunch, Parker thought it would be a great idea to squish all of the peas on the ground. Why? "So they would be small enough to vacuum!" was his reply. After I gave in to cleaning up the mess, I noticed Tyler had escaped.

I found him in my bathroom, unrolling the toilet paper off the roll, for the third time that day. Picked him up, set him outside the door, cleaned up the t.p., and then came out to find that he had emptied all of the kleenex's from the box next to our bed. Cleaned THAT up, to look up and see him tearing apart our family picture album! AAAAHH! Finally stuck him in his crib until I could recover the house from the mini-tornado that is my son.

As if my seemingly innocent boy knows what he is up to, he often closes doors behind him when he enters a room or closet. I think he is taking after his big brother, as sometimes we have found that he is "doing his business." I didn't think they understood privacy at this age! But mostly I think he hides behind the closed doors so as not to disclose his secret identity - Destructo Boy!

Meet Me in St. Louie

Some of the best memories we’ve had as a family have been the spawn of spontaneity. We made another great one last weekend when we decided, pretty much at the last minute, to head to St. Louis, Missouri for part of our spring break. We went with our great friends, the Thayns. We had never been before and had a fabulous time!

Our getaway included trips to the Magic House Children’s Museum, St. Louis Zoo, and the famous Gateway Arch. We also had fun riding a steamboat on the Mississippi, swimming at the hotel, and sneaking a date in to dinner and then the temple. We had so much fun with our friends that we’re kicking ourselves for not having done it sooner!

If you want to see more of our pictures from the trip, double click on my flickr badge at the left. Happy Spring Break!

St. Paddy's Day

Yesterday we had a blast at our annual St. Patrick's Day parade!! You would not BELIEVE the number of people there...and everyone in green, of course! If you look in this pic (taken from the newspaper), you'll see Peter in the background! We will really miss these small town shindigs next year...

Forever Pink

I love parties. Last night I threw a "Forever Pink" party for three of my friends, Jeanie, Mindy and Katrina, who are all expecting their fourth boy (having had no daughters) in the next couple of months. Katrina (left) actually gets induced today! Although they are all troopers about having all boys, I thought it would be fun to have a party in which the gifts given to them were not for the baby, but rather items that would help them retain some feminity in their maddening, male moments.

We had an awesome turnout and it was so much fun to see the great things they received - lotions, an array of shower/bath goodies, journals, gift certificates, and lots of chocolate. One person even made them "breakfast in bed," which was a wrapped bowl of her homemade granola, an apple, and some chocolates on a plate!

For the food, I chose to do a chocolate fondue (very estrogen friendly), along with some savory veggies and pita bread to go with my friend Alyson's famous hummus. I had lots of help and was so pleased to see the table turn out exactly how I had envisioned!

I couldn't have pulled it off without the support of my husband and the help of these two, wonderful friends of mine, Debbi & Alyson. After the party, we had fun "cleaning up" the fondue. Thanks to everyone who helped - party on!

Time Out

Last weekend my SILs, Heidi & Katie, and their families came down from Iowa and up from Arkansas to hang out with us. The SILs got some major female bonding time at "Time Out for Women" in Kansas City. I think it was the first (and certainly not the last!) day we've spent together, sans kids or hubbies. It was so much fun! The theme of the event seemed to be "sieze the day" - one of which I always need to be reminded. The speakers were fabulous, and Heidi even won a $50 gift certificate (that she graciously shared with us!) at the Deseret Book store there. We ate brownies and some nasty hot dogs from a roadside stand for lunch. It was sweet.

The guys did a great job of keeping the kids entertained while we were away. Luckily, it was a beautiful day so they all did a lot of outside play and even found time to squeeze a game of Pirate's Cove in while drugging the kids with popcorn and t.v. Miraculously, we got the kids down at a decent hour on Saturday night, so we could all play a game and chat. Fun times - can't wait to see them again at Easter!

Tyler Turns One

Today is Tyler's first birthday! We can't believe he is one already. Most of our celebration took place over the weekend, when we had the Iowa & Arkansas Stewarts with us to party!

I was pleased to see that Tyler dove right into his cake. This is a first for our family, and although he was in somewhat of a trance from lack of sleep, he perked right up when we brought his caterpillar cake to him for the slaughter. His cousin, Eliza, even found it in her heart to help him out at one point with the frosting. It looked like World War III had broken out after it was all over - always a sign of a great party!

Thanks so much to Debbi for her decorating expertise, and to our family for celebrating with us!

Kiddo Pics

As evidenced by the pictures, Parker is as busy as ever. He loves playing soccer and t-ball (as long as it's only five minutes at a time) in the backyard. He created a "temple" out of blocks, complete with the angel Moroni! He also had fun making a sugar cube castle with Dad one Saturday. While my friend Debbi and I were hanging out, we caught our two lovebirds "pretending to be husband and wife" - in bed! I do not suspect that any hanky panky was involved, but I think we'll play with the bedroom door open from now on!

Tyler is following in the footsteps of his brother when it comes to his love for cars. Our cozy coupe is a big hit with our li'l bubby and he loves to drive our matchbox cars whenever he can get them away from Parker. His new word is "wooooooow," in a low, gruffy voice that makes him sound like a dinosaur whenever he is impressed by something new. He continues to be happiest in the bathtub and whenever we feed him sweets. We sure love our little guy!