Brag about Husband Time

Just so you know, It was The Best Husband Ever's birthday yesterday. He turned 38. I almost accidentally typed 28 because he doesn't seem that old to me. NOT THAT 38 IS OLD BY ANY MEANS!!! We did the usual birthday family celebration at Fud's. We all had a great time although I don't think he thought this gift from me was as awesome as I thought it was:
I think he liked the cool new shirts I got him better.

Here are some things I think you might be interested to know about Dale:

1.) He speaks perfect Spanish. He once sung the Mexican National Anthem to the employees at a taco shop. They loved it and gave him free food.

2.) He will wipe the floor with you at Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.

3.) He is extremely faithful in the Gospel. Do you know that once a week he wakes up at about 4 a.m. and goes to an early morning temple session?

4.) He never complains when I wake him up at some unearthly hour because I heard a strange noise.

5.) He's never been afraid to punch a guy in the face if he's actin' a fool. Thank goodness this has never happened since we've been married (I can't pay bail) but I know that I'm safe when I'm with him. He and his 4 brothers are a lot like his grandpa who used to say "I will not be interfered with." And they won't. Believe me.

6.) That said, Dale is also the nicest, charming, and warmest guy you will meet. Everybody he meets is instantly his friend.

7.) He is 9 years older than me. When he got home from his mission, I was in 7th grade. SO freaky, I know. But he is young at heart and we are a perfect match. That's why he didn't get married until he was 30. Unbeknownst to him, he had to wait to meet the girl that was meant for him to become a legal age. =)

8.) He is really super strong. He used to compete in power lifting competitions.

9.) Dale is a very very hard worker. He is 100% devoted to providing for his family.

10.) He is a die hard Sun Devils and Suns fan. He's like the professor of college football and the NBA. Every year he gets so amped up when the football and basketball seasons start only to have his hopes and dreams crushed once again by our disappointing teams. I keep telling him he needs to get out of this abusive relationship but he can't.

Happy birthday, Lover Boy!!!

Happy Birthday Card

My next card club get together isn't for a couple of weeks but I have really got to get serious about packing up the house so I thought it would be best to get them done now. Last month, I was adamant about not getting anything out of the boxes I had already packed to make my cards. This month, not so much. I ended up digging through every box I had packed from my office and made a huge mess and had to re-pack everything.

The theme this month is Happy Birthday for a kid or adult. Here's what I did:
I printed the text on a transparency:
Check out this beautiful lace ribbon. I found it at Mystic Paper in downtown Mesa. It was kinda pricey but I only needed 2 yards so it didn't cost very much at all. I wanted to by closer to 80 yards of it though!
It was totally non-intentional but I just realized I used the EXACT SAME colors on this card as the ones I used on my blog. Guess I'm feeling the whole pink,green, turquoise vibe.

Rex's Hot Wheels Party

Last Saturday, we had Rex's birthday party at my parent's house. He totally wanted a Hot Wheels party and that's totally what he got!

We kicked things off by jumping in the bouncer. My mom got this bad boy at the KB going out of business sale for like $2.00. Okay, not that cheap but she did get it for a steal.
We played with the bubble machine. This thing is cool, it makes bubbles inside of bubbles.

Then it was time to crack open the pinata.
Cousin Madeline gave it a more timid approach.
Obviously, none of the kids could do any damage to Captain Faketooth (that's what Rex named it.) It was time to call in reinforcements. Daddy style.

Look at the grin on his face! He gets so excited any time he gets to "do battle" with something!

Dale has played softball for many years. Is this the look he gets on his face every time he swings? He's probably totally embarrassed now.
The victim pinata is now properly distributing the candy:
Thanks Daddy!

Captain Faketooth never stood a chance.
Check out the cake my sis made! Every kid in our fam gets an awesome custom cake designed by her!
Just after I snapped this pic above, Rex leaned in a little too close and singed his eyebrow.

Ouch!
He recovered quickly and Aunt Magi stood closely behind to prevent any more face burning.
I asked everyone who was bringing a gift to get Rex a Hot Wheels set.
Remember when we were kids and all they had was like a strip of plastic for the cars to go down and maybe a ramp at the end? They have come a long way. They now have what they call Trick Tracks sets in which there are different stunts that you can connect together and one stunt sets of the next so you can have a whole room full of race cars doing stunts. That's exactly what we did for the grand finale of the party. Here we are setting it up:
I wish I had a better pic to showcase how awesome it was.

Rex's actual birthday fell on Sunday so we gave him a special breakfast that morning. We made The Best Pancakes Ever (recipe courtesy of my Dad) topped with whipped cream and sprinkles. No candle mishaps this time.
Happy birthday Best Little Dude Ever!

My Baby Boy is 4!

My baby boy turned 4 yesterday, y'all!

I need to stop calling him my baby boy. I might turn him into a softy cupcake. I have loved watching him grow up from a tinsy baby to a ruff and tuff little dude but something in me wants him to stay Momma's little guy a bit longer. Good thing this next baby is a boy. It might help me get over the fact that Rex is a baby no longer.

Here is the story of Rex.

Long before he was born, his Daddy had already chosen the name Rex. It's a good solid manly name and in Latin it means king which is my grandma's maiden name so I guess you could say it's a family name in a way.

It's surprising to me that Rex is so thoughtful because when he was born, he came so flippin' fast that I had no time for the epidural to work and I involuntarily gave birth to him naturally. SO NOT considerate of him. But I instantly forgave him when I saw him and his chubby cheeks.
The plumpness in his cheeks quickly spread throughout the rest of his body and he became a butterball:
Note the chunkiness. The BABY, not me. Anyway...

Rex rocked the mohawk or momock as he called it:
And on Halloween, we got creative:
He loves his sisters and is most-of-the-time-sweet to them:
But catch him in one of his "off moments" and you will find that he can be quite the grump:

If I could describe him in one word, it would be thoughtful. For example, the other day I was getting ready to go somewhere and the kids were staying home with their Daddy. Rex saw that I was leaving so he went into the garage, turned on the light, and then opened the door of the van for me. What a sweet boy. Or maybe he just wanted to get me out of there quicker.

Anyway, I absolutely love my kiddos all the same but there is something about a little boy that makes his mommy's heart melt.
Okay, you can grow up now.

Haircut

Wow, who wrote that post below this one? Sorta turning red over here.

Anyway, I've been debating weather or not to cut Ella's hair. I want it to grow long but she was starting to look like a scraggle-muffin. I decided to give her a itty-bitty trim just to tame things a bit. I am a completely self-taught hair dresser. Meaning, I have no idea what I'm doing at all. I've destroyed my girl's hair in the past. Like the time I tried to give Tabby layers and went a little overboard. I accidentally gave her the Rachel. Which would have been cute about 10 years ago.
This time all that was required was a little trim on the bottom and I think I managed okay. Ella already had layers that were growing out (I need to ease up on the layers thing) so by just trimming the length, I think it looks much better.

Here is the before:
Apparently, this his her idea of a smile.


Here are the afters:
Admiring her cute little self in the mirror:
So I was able to rein in my desire to go all Edward Scissorhands on her and successfully gave her an acceptable hair cut.

Red hot romance!!!

This is Dale again. Sometimes we husbands , despite all our good intentions, just do a poor job of wooing our wives and making them feel special. I do want to say that I've set the bar pretty high for myself because I've come up with some pretty dang good surprises for Alys through the years. But I realize that those times are too few and far in between. Especially in an economic crunch. So what can a husband do to make his wife feel special? This is a serious question ladies! If I can get all the ladies that read Alys' blog to comment with some ideas, I promise that I'll file them away and do each and every one of them for my super hot wife. What does your husband do for you (or what do you WISH he would do) to make you feel special? I need to let Alys know each and every day that I love her passionately. Unfortunately I am "gender-ally challenged" and I need help! What can I do?

Photoshop Brushes

Lately, I have been browsing these cool websites that have awesome photoshop brushes that you can download for free. You just have to make sure you give proper credit. I found these brushes at Obsidian Dawn and look how cool they look!
Okay, she does look a little goth. I think it works with the pic though. But you can make them whatever color and size you want.

Get Well Card

Our card club meeting is tomorrow night. The theme is congratulations or get well. It probably wouldn't work too well if you made a card that said both.

Anyway, It's my turn to host but my house is filled with boxes, so Karolee being as sweet as she is, said I could use her place. I'm exited because now I have an excuse to make an obscene amount of treats to eat serve.

I chose to make a get well card and I'm rather proud of myself because I was very limited as to what tools and supplies I could use. My entire craft room is almost all packed up so I had to make due with what I had laying around (okay, I did go buy the paper.)

Prego Update

I know you are super excited to hear about my 21 week OB appt. Well, I'm going to tell you anyway.

So if you have spoken with me or even been around me the past 3 months or so, you might have said to yourself, "Why is that chick huffing and puffing like she just sprinted a mile?" You weren't imagining things, I have been short of breath for the majority of my pregnancy and I haven't been able to put my finger on it. I could just be sitting and not moving a muscle and all of a sudden, my heart will be racing and it feels like I'm almost suffocating. Okay, I'm dramatizing just a little but you catch my drift, I can't breathe good.

Today, I asked my doc if this is normal and she looks at my chart and says I'm anemic. Oh, THANKS FOR THE INFORMATION! Anything else you've been holding back on telling me??? I don't know why she didn't just tell me that. She also mentioned headaches were a part of being anemic as well. And yes, I've been having those too! So bad that I have to lie down and hold perfectly still so I don't pass out from the throbbing pain. Again, dramatizing. But you know what I mean.

I guess I'm just a little peeved because I got my blood drawn like forever ago and I've been having these symptoms almost my whole pregnancy and apparently, they are easily cured . She told me to get some slow-release iron pills and I should be good to go.

I asked her if my dramatic weight gain could also be a symptom of my anemia. She said probably not. Dang it!