Snakes, Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Learning to wink

Mason recently learned to wink.  He thinks it is so cool.  

Love this kid. 

 

Family Rules

This is probably one of my most popular boards.  My boys love reading all the different lines out loud. 

This board works best if you lean it against the wall or hang it.  This picture was taken at one of my boutiques so I didn't have wall space available.

 

For the Love of Horses

I have been thinking a lot about things in life that are special to me.  My goal is to capture those moments so I can remember them forever. 

This is one of those moments.  Mason thinks my dad is one of the coolest people on earth.  Mason loves 'helping' my dad work on animals.  Which usually means Mason is carrying some type of medicine that the animal needs.  My dad has a way of making the boys feel so special.

On this afternoon I asked my dad if we could see his favorite horse.  My parents have a horse breeding stables and they also do some horse racing.  

 

 

My dad is so proud of this horse.  He is beginning to tell us about her latest horse race.

 

"You will never believe how awesome she is!!  Get this..."

 

"She calmly walks up and gets ready to race.  She breaks out of the gates and then all the sudden she takes off and leaves every other horse in her dust!!!"

 

"As soon as she crosses the finish line she calmly walks over to the winner's circle and just hangs out until they take her picture."

 

"NOW THAT'S A HORSE!!!"

 

I knew I would always appreciate capturing my dad in his element.  Hanging with his horses.  But I didn't realize how much I would be grateful for these pictures with this horse.  A couple weeks ago my dad called me and told me that this horse got a rare bacterial infection and died before the horse trainer could get it to my dad's clinic.  My dad was very sad and I was sad for him. 

Glad that I can remember this moment forever.  A moment that my dad will never have again. 

Falling

Why oh why is falling down so darn FUNNY???

My mom used to laugh at us all the time when we fell down.  She would say that she was sad that we got hurt, but if we could have only seen ourselves fall we would be laughing too.  At the time I thought that was a pretty lame excuse for laughing at your kid. 

BUT... NOW I AM THE SAME WAY! 

It is simply hilarious!!  I laugh at myself, too!!!  I could hardly catch my breath the other day when I stubbed my toe on the edge of the bed.  Sure it hurt.  But it was SO funny!

Fortunately for America's Funniest Home Videos, there are a lot of people that get pleasure in someone else's pain. 

These pictures were taken at the park a couple weeks ago.  Mason loved this little spinning seat!!  I can't help but laugh as I see Mason's hands stretched out and eyes as big at golf balls! 

Other than a mouthful of sand, he is just fine.   

                

Sam and Becca

These were taken in my grandpa's river.  I have some of the best childhood memories in this river! 

This is my brother, Sam and his gorgeous girlfriend, Becca.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BECCA!!!!!!

                                           
                                             

4th of July 2011

 
 

 

Cuddling

I can't think of anything I enjoy more than cuddling with my boys!  If I sit down, at least one is in my lap.  And I love it.  I really do. 

Something has changed over the past couple weeks.  Not sure if it is the boys jumping higher or if I am leaning too far over to pick them up. 

But I keep getting bonked in the nose by their very hard heads!!!  The kind of bonk that makes your nose crack, eyes water, and sharp pains shoot straight to the brain!

Just the other day Mason was sitting in my lap and threw his head back and accidentally 'cracked' my nose. 

He quickly turned around and said, "What that noise, mom?"  

I had my hand over my eyes as tears automatically flowing down my face.  I told him it was my nose. 

He then said, "Nose no make that kind of noise."

"Well, hmmm.  When a nose gets hit by a head... it sure makes that kind of noise." 

Conversations with Connor

I have been working on having more meaningful conversations with Connor lately.  Connor is like me in a lot of ways.  He tells REALLY, REALLY long stories.  It has given me an appreciation for Jon listening to my stories all these years.  Jon will on occasion say something like, "Tiff, do you think it would be possible to summarize your 4 hour long story into 5 or 10 minutes?" 

Over the past couple weeks I will show Connor something and he thinks it is really cool.  He will usually says with a huge smile and big bright eyes, "Mom, your a genius!!!!!"

That line has a nice little ring to it.  I have to say that it makes me more excited to have quality Connor time!  Love that his little mind is so excited to learn!

 

 

Hanging with the kids

My nephew spent a week with us during the summer.  We enjoyed things like touring the fire station, Santa Barbara Zoo, and the beach.

Connor was so thrilled that he could cross the monkey bars without falling!!

 

 

The boys had a blast digging holes in the sand!

 
 
 

Mason was not crazy about being cold and dirty.  He found my chair, his blanket and pacifer to be much more enjoyable! 

 
 

Enjoying some mountain air