Jaxn'Rod

Here are some gems in the form of pictures from my phone.

My supermodel child.

I said, "Smile for Natasha." (She got him the shirt he's wearing in this photo.) He said, "show this a Tasha." It was totally NOT snotty--it was like he was trying to show off for her...:)

Good ol' Home Depot Craft day with Daddy. He is always really proud of the nick-nacks he brings home. :)

Proof of Rod's voluptuous curves...the kid is a tank. A tank with  curves.

They say this happens to babies--it's a first for us. We were in shock. And in love.

And of course, it happened after church on a Sunday. Nothing wipes a kid out like 1 o'clock church...:(

Those darn bee's...

Rod got STUNG!! TWICE!! On his NOSE!! Or he was bitten, we aren't sure. And it probably was a wasp or hornet, not a bee. But again, we aren't sure, cause we weren't really watching.:( Anyway, it was at like 8:30pm outside at a friends house. Rod was banging on one of those green meters that are in yards. Just being happy, and then he started screaming--the kind the mother knows is not fake, and he had his fists rubbing his face and shaking. It was really sad. I was looking for the source of the pain on his face and I saw the red holes on his nose right away.  But I wasn't positive he had been stung until his nose started to swell. Stupid bee's.

You can kind of see it's swollen on the right side of his face--It looks more swollen in person. Poor kid, at least we know he's he's not allergic. Love you Rod!

Cousin fun!

Kaitlyn and Ethan came over to play with Jax--they had lot's o' fun! Ethan and Jax haven't always gotten along very well--so it's really fun that they do now. And they really DO, it's wonderful. And they love each other now. Yipee!!

 Here is a little glimpse of our attractive yard. It's getting a complete make-over this fall. And it is in desperate need.

The ground is so stickery and pokey, so happy day that we got Natasha's old tramp--else they wouldn't be able to play outside...crisis averted.

 Anyway, the kids look so cute in Jaxton's clothes--they didn't bring swimsuits, amazingly his clothes seemed to fit both of them really well. :)

 Fun times in this scorching heat.

Love you guys!

Rod's funny face

Here is my beautiful boy.

 

He started doing these faces (shown below) and he breathes in and out of his nose super fast and loud. 

It is SOOO funny and SOOO cute.

 Boy I love him.

My Birthday

My birthday was on Friday the 13th.

Justin was on his "A" game for my birthday this year. (I'm sure it had nothing to do with my crazy wife threatening's that may have happened multiple times over the subject...;)

Either way. He had the whole day planned! Even babysitters!! (Might I add, the "babysitter" part is WAY easier said than done---it consisted of 3 kid turn around's with 3 different sitters--GO JUSTIN!!)

It was wonderful!!

Speaking of "3's", we got only 3 pictures of the day (see below).  All within about 3 minutes of each other. Go us!

 Everything didn't go quite as he had originally planned, but it was still SUPER awesome.

His plan:

*wake up and be on the road by 8am*

That one almost happened...we were only about 15 minutes off.

*Drive to SLC and eat breakfast at the oh-so-famous-for-being-delicous Little America Buffet (something I have been DIEING to do--very thoughtful)*

So we drive all the way up there and realize that they don't serve breakfast on Friday's. EXTRA LARGE BUMMER.

 BUT, thankfully, we remembered a Man vs. Food episode in SLC where they ate yummy looking schtuff at Bruges Waffles and Frites. So we headed there and got the most delicous waffles we have ever had. Gracious. You have no idea. It's a yeast recipe, so they have to let it rise--heavens. AND THEN they make their own "whipping cream". They have to scoop it out with an ice cream scoop. Please re-read that last sentence.

 It was a VERY HAPPY TIME eating that waffle with my honey on the roof with an overcast sky. Be jealous. ;)

 *To Park City we go to do the Alpine Slide, Sky Coaster and the Zipline.*

This worked out pretty well except we didn't plan on it taking as long as it did. There was a lot of people there. Also, apparently as on member of staff informed us, "the summer visitors aren't as 'experienced' with the lift" this forces the staff  (insert HUGE eye-roll) to slow the lift down to about 1/2 mph. I'm not joking. It took about 30 minutes to get up to the top for the Zipline (we did that first) and then wait in line at the Zipline and then zipline down for 10 seconds and then wait to get back on the lift to do the Alpine Slide, then wait 30 minutes on the lift and so on and so fourth. 

I HATE waiting.

And then the Sky-Coaster was a 40 minute wait. Just standing there. Waiting. Doing nothing. For 40 minutes.

BUT, It was REALLY fun. I'm so glad we were able to do it--they kept threatening to stop the rides if it rained--and it looked like it was on the verge of raining the entire time. I think that anxiety of the rain made the long waits worse than they would have been--you didn't want to wait forever and not be able to do the ride. 

The Zipline was by far the freakiest for me. I really don't like the "falling feeling" and it really drops at the beginning. Justin was in heaven. He said "My didn't even go that fast"--all I know is that his was going faster than mine and mine was WAY to fast for me. :)

Alpine slide is just a classic good time, as long as you don't get stuck behind a kid that is freaking out.Which both of us were able to avoid. I love that slide. Justin said he didn't break the whole time, which was his goal. I don't get how he didn't go shooting off the edge...

The Sky-coaster was probably my favorite. Loved it.

Anyway, really fun time.

 *On to the Outlets in Park City.*

Justin knows that I like to shop til' I drop, so he planned that into our day. And I had some "birthday money" that was burning a hole in my pocket so it worked out marvelously. And I got some perdy-darn cute clothes and some perdy-darn good deals. Love it when that happens. Justin was oh-so-patient and went into whatever store I wanted for as long as I wanted. Let me buy whatever I wanted without giving me weird looks or eye-rolls. However, when I opened 2 different credit cards to get 40% off--the Tawny's-birthday-happy-Justin switch wore off. Imagine that. :) Also, Justin bought me a really gorgeous/fun watch. Been wanting one of those for a while now...Gracias baby-cakes.

*Dinner somewhere I wanted, maybe Fuego's? Our Park City favorite?*

In hind-sight, "Tawny, why didn't you stick to his awesome plan???" Should have done Fuego's but I was REALLY wanting to try something new at Cheescake Factory, (we don't go there often) so we went all the way back to SLC (per my request--my bad, sorry babe) just to find it was a hour wait.(Surprise! Surprise!) Our 3rd babysitter was at home and that just wasn't going to fly with us--the clock was ticking. So we went to CPK--I seriously CRAVE their Pear Gorgonzola Pizza. YUM. They had a long wait too. So we hopped in the car, drove home, and got Cafe Rio take-out in Orem. Can't really go wrong with Cafe Rio, lets be honest. :)

And then, my birthday came to a close, we were done.

Super fun right??

Big thanks and love to Justin--way to go babe!! It was perfect. Also, BIG thanks and love to the babysitters! My mom, Debbie, and Arianne and Chanel. STUDS, who made this evening possible.:)

Hugs and loves all around!!

I also just want to mention--because I know my family reads this--that when we did my "Birthday Affirmations" It was like the best 30 minutes of ever. Triple love. Thanks for that, it was definitely a huge highlight.

4th of July!

 The fourth was SO fun and festive, as always. One of my most favorite holidays for SURE. We did the balloons in the morning and then we hit Kneaders for their french toast! oh my yum. Then the parade, of course! Many thanks to Grama Wing and Debbie for saving our spots!!! Then we went to Grama Wings for some Gause family fun---I didn't get any pictures...:( Which is seriously unfortunate because there were some pretty amazing Twister games taking place.... So we ate and chatted then headed to my Mom's for our annual BBQ. So, because my camera loads in no particular order below is a modge-podge of pictures of the day.

There was a LOT of cute nakedness going on at our family party...mostly by babies...;)

Jax hitched a tall ride--thanks Uncle Carter!!

One of Rod's tantrums at the parade. Screaming into the blanket. Wonderful.

Now if this isn't the cutest picture of someone taking a picture--I don't know what is.

c-u-t-e!

Going to eat at Kneaders after the balloons.

Rod "stealing" blueberries. I thought it was SO cute.

Tash just looks so candid all the time!!

Auntie and Niece cuddle time!!

Family picture!! Chanel is in it... kind of. :)

At the parade!!

Justin BEFORE he went inside and played Nintendo 64 for 4 hours.

Family picture #2 at the balloons.

So my mom bought a pool---highlight of the night for young and old. :)
Jax WAS wearing a swimming suit at one point. I don't know what happened...he might be trying to get rid of that tan-line...;)

The cuteness and innocence of newly weds that wear homemade matching pants.
Melt. My. Heart.

Did I mention Jax LOVES the pool??

The all-to-familiar face of "whinny Rod".

BUM WAR!!

LOVE.

LOVE!!

 We had quite the festive spread. and dad. :)

I made the CUTEST Jello ever.
Too bad jello isn't super delicious. LOVED looking at them though. Kind of a huge pain to make. But totally worth it. Could have stared at those suckers for hours.

Par-tay.

hehe

Beautiful child of mine.

Cheese face!

Rod is obsessed with feeding himself lately. He'll be starving and wont let you feed him--insisting on doing it himself. but he ins't very good at it. So it's pretty frustrating for both of us. :)

Like I said. We ALL loved the pool.
I even got in with my sisters and we had a blast for quite awhile. We were laughing so hard we all almost peed in the water like 3 times. For me it was closer to like 12 times...

Also Carter and Arianne memorized the Bill of Rights.

 

It's dark--but this is a cute video of the kids dancing to the fireworks. I hope you can see it, it's clearer on my phone.

WE LOVE AMERICA!!