Oye!!

Have you ever had one of those days that wasn't necessarily bad but didn't go as planned? Well, that sums up my day. It started great and ended great but was chaotic in the middle. This morning I took P to school (even though I didn't work) because I had to go to DMV. I had never received my registration renewal in the mail and when I got online to check about it yesterday it flashed in big red letters that my license had been suspended. WHAT??? I'm the girl that schedules the appointments because I have better things to do with my time than to wait at DMV all day. But I didn't do that today....and I paid the price. After getting my Yukon smogged I headed over to DMV only to find out that there were 113 people in front of me. The numbers were moving fast so I figured 1 1/2 hours would be plenty of time to be seen, get everything taken care of and still make it to my dr's appt. WRONG! I left the DMV, raced over to my dr.'s appt (which went well by the way) and then raced back to DMV. I walked in the door only to find that my number had been called only a few minutes beforehand. I begged, borrowed and pleaded to sneak up to an open counter but the lady was a typical non-sympathetic DMV employee. She handed me a new number and told me to expect a 1 1/2-2 hour wait. That wasn't happening so I left, grabbed lunch and headed down to the DMV in Carson. I thought because it was smaller that it would be faster but smaller also means there aren't as many employees. I probably would've waited 2 hours there but some nice gentleman gave me his number, which was 39 before mine. I finally got up to the counter and found out I had to take a new license picture. So, on top of everything else, I had to lose my "cute" DMV license picture and instead have a typical DMV picture that I'll be embarrassed to show people. Thinking I was done with chaos, I got on the freeway to come home since P was already napping at school. The new freeway wouldn't allow me access off so I had to drive it all the way back to Reno just to hop onto another highway to get home. Once I picked P up from school all was good again. We ended the day doing our annual ribfest with our friends....always a great time! Now I'm relaxing, getting ready to call it a day, and being thankful that I don't have to deal with the DMV again any time soon!

A Heart of Gold

The duck is to P's right but you can't see it in the shadows of the tree.

 

Being a parent is one of the biggest blessings in the world! And it's one that we don't take for granted in the least. But, being biased, I think we have the sweetest, most amazing kid in the world. Rob and I are constantly impressed with P. One thing that amazes me is the empathy that our 3 year old possesses. This morning is a perfect example. I took him to the park with a couple of his buddies so we could feed the birds. One duck limped out from under a tree to see what all the commotion was about. I explained to P that the duck had a hurt foot so P promptly left the flock of birds, went over to it and started feeding it all of the bread he had. When he saw that the duck couldn't come out any further, P climbed under the tree to hand feed it. I overheard him say, "I'm sorry you hurt your foot. My bread will make you feel better." in the sweetest, most compassionate voice. He melts my heart every day!! I am so proud to be his mama and hope that his little brother can be at least half the kid P is!

Nature Calling

OK, so I guess I've had a lot bottled up to share (3 blogs today!!) but I wanted to show you the cool finds Rob and his parents discovered while they were here. Just down the road a ways from our house is an alfalfa field with probably 50 deer! If you go down the freeway a little further you'll find TX Longhorns! I love that we get to see a variety of animals so close to our home. Here are a few (unedited) pics of what we saw......

Failed Artist?

As parents, I feel like Rob and I have exposed P to many things in his early life....travel, a variety of animals, nature, photography, hunting, sports (OK maybe just baseball and NASCAR at this point), books.....but one thing I feel like I haven't exposed him to in the least is the artistic side of life. When I've taken him to community play rooms in the past few weeks he takes an interest in dressing up like a dragon or playing with dinosaur puppets. Every year I say, "This Winter I'll make more time for arts and crafts and "dress up"" but I never do because I hate the mess it causes. Do I want him to be a flamboyant artist when he grows up? Not particularly but I want to expose him to everything possible so he can make an educated choice when he gets to adulthood. So my over-halfway-done-with-the-year resolution is to provide him with more opportunities to do artsy/craftsy kinds of things. And, yes, we will take him to an UNR football game and monster truck races, etc to balance it all out. But, like I said, I want to expose our young son to as many opportunities as possible!

Maternity Photo Op

 

When my friend, Amanda, first announced she was pregnant she made an off-handed comment about me doing her maternity pics. Well, several months later I had the privilege of taking pictures of her. This weekend we got together and I was able to capture her beautiful pregnancy glow on film. I had so much fun with her and her wonderful (and helpful) husband! Here is a sneak peek....

 

Meet Easton William!

 

Yesterday we had the privilege of not one but two 3D ultrasounds. During the first ultrasound we found out that we are, indeed, having another boy! People have asked several times if I wanted another boy or a girl and quite honestly I didn't care one way or the other. But knowing that I have a little (He currently weighs 11 oz.) healthy boy growing inside me makes me love him that much more. P is so excited to meet his baby brother, Easton, and tell him all about life. So, without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to Easton William who will make his big debut in early January!

 

 

Fun Times

The past couple days I worked so I came home exhausted and was not much company to those around me. However, today I was off and we made the most of it! I gave the Herringtons several options and asked what they wanted to do for the day. They love Tahoe (Who doesn't??) so that's where we ended up. P played on the beach, chased ducks, built sand castles and used my little camera to take pics. Then once he was worn out we went to a lake front restaurant and enjoyed a wonderful lunch. It was close to P's naptime so we decided to head home. But once we got back to the valley I decided to take them to Genoa, a small historical town. Mom and Dad Herrington got a kick out of watching the deer on the golf course and visiting the oldest established bar in NV. We had a blast sightseeing and enjoying the day together. Here are a few pictures from our adventures today....

P took this picture withou any help and I didn't even edit it. Very impressive!