Shane's getting old!

 Shane had a birthday....weird how he keeps having one around the same time every year! This year we went with a Simpson's themed party, one of Shane's favorite families! We had pink donut cakes...

a life size model of Shane's favorite father figure (which may explain a few things, including his propensity for tighty whities)....

and an appearance from spider pig!

(seriously, I had to take multiple pictures of spider pig because he was a work of art)!

Spider pig was a bit messy...

But then again, spider pig is always a bit messy.....

Too bad I'm not the most super savvy with a computer, because we have video evidence of spider pig's demise that includes a Budster, a sword and a cheering crowd! Spider pig was delicious!

So all in all a super fantastic, Shane is one year older....not sure about wiser, day!

What happens now?

 So I've been a bit neglectful of my blog....turns out I've got a couple of great nieces (and nephew), that are really great nieces(and nephew) that have access to reading my blog and I've been encouraged to keep up the entertainment. So here goes a tiny little recap of this year so far for Gwen, Ellie and Lyman

To start things off strong, or at least strongly smelling, seriously, the bike is a generator of fumes that can rival Pepe Le Pew! 

 Buddy and his dad finally fixed his motorcycle, got it registered and the Budster got his motorcycle permit...

Would it be weird if I told you I spent a fortune in clothes that are supposed to inflate on impact for Buddy to wear, in case he gets into an accident? Too bad the booger won't wear them, I guess I'll have to save the outfits for my old age and just wear them around the house in case I take a tumble and save myself a broken hip! Here is a sampling of what Buddy's clothes can do....

I mean, how could he not want to wear that and fall on purpose....it looks like fun! If you need me, I'll be tumbling down the hallway with my inflatable pants!

So all in all a super fantastic, puffy pants, day!

The yearly rewind

Apparently, I fell off the blogging truck again....I do have a few excuses, not sure if I would call them good excuses, but excuses nonetheless! Since my birthday stunk sooo bad last year, I decided to take matters into my own hands and threw myself the Golden Girls Birthday Party of my dreams! There were costumes, prizes, cheesecake and a rousing game of sardines....what could be better!

The Sophia Petrillo in me was VERY, VERY HAPPY!! Plus, I still have leftover cheesecake in the freezer, what could be better than that! The day before my birthday I started a new job...jury is still out on my thoughts on that. The weekend of my 51st birthday, I ran in my first half marathon, just to prove I could....

I could and I did! Of course, my personal motto of "if you can't run fast, run funny" was alive and well! Apparently,  I didn't think it was so bad since I signed myself up for a full marathon in March.....not sure if I'll be thinking the same thoughts in March!

Buddy and I flew out to Utah the week after my birthday to hang out with my dad for his last few bachelor days....

Then my dad got remarried...

I got to help set up the wedding/reception on Saturday and then send the newlyweds off on their honeymoon and hurry back home in time to work on Monday!

I guess I was still on a runners high, because I signed Shane and myself up for a Christmas themed beer run in our town.....

I figured someone had to run with me to drink the beer at the begin, middle and end of the race....I'm not sure what weirdo created a beer run, but, let's just say Shane came home very happy!

Then Buddy and I took off to Utah again to celebrate one of my niece's weddings....

Not only did I get the thumbs up from my dad during my visit....

I also got to have my first daddy-daughter dance AND take him for a few spins!

Now we are home again! We've had visitors with us this past week, which usually includes hanging out with them to do some touristy trap things....enjoy my touristy trap things pictures...

I'm a sucker for getting to cuddle with animals!!!! Maybe that's why I like Buddy so much! Anyway, we are about to have a ton of visitors again for the next month, but we are also getting free labor for a new bathroom in exchange for the stay (cue back to me starting a new job to pay for the new bathroom)! At least some of the visitors are providing free labor, some are just freeloaders, but it starts with free...so it's basically the same! So all in all a super fantastic, finished the year with quite the bang, day!

 

The big itch!!!!!

Over the weekend, Shane took me camping to Waipi'o Valley. Waipi'o is known as the "valley of the Kings" because it's significance in Hawaiian history where some royalty were raised and protected. Currently, the valley is only open to residents of Hawai'i and you can only camp there if you are invited by one of the 50 residents of the valley. When Shane mentioned he got invited....even though it was our 21st wedding anniversary weekend that usually results in overindulging at a nice restaurant and, if I'm really lucky (or Shane really wants to get more lucky) an overnight stay at a hotel, I hurriedly packed up the gear and high tailed it to the valley.  I think all the mosquitoes did too!!!!

Then, we got to hang out in paradise. We've been lots of time into the valley, this is the first time actually camping there though. The only thing I could think in the morning.....other than, "is it possible to scratch ALL of your skin off?"....was, what an amazing view! It did not disappoint, sadly my bug repellent totally did! Here are a few pictures, which are no where as amazing as the real thing, but you can use your imagination to fill in the blanks on this one!

Sadly, Buddy didn't join us because he was being a pooper scooper and didn't think hanging out with a bunch of Shane's co-workers sounded like the most amazing time for an 18 year old....what a weirdo! I always loved hanging out with my dad's old codgy co-workers! Just kidding, my dad didn't even hang out with his co-workers! Hopefully next time he'll join us (I'm totally crossing my fingers there will be a next time)!  So all in all a super fantastic, my fingers are still crossed,  day!

 

Vacating the vacation!

Since Buddy turned 18, I thought we should have one last hurrah as a family and do a family vacation to celebrate. Buddy and I planned a glorious trip to Europe with lots of sightseeing and even a train ride on the Orient Express (which is really the Venice-Simplon line).....our bank account and our reality maker (that would be Shane) decided otherwise. Like the amazing improvisors we are, Buddy decided that we should take Shane to visit southern Utah because he kept saying he didn't remember going to the National Parks there, even though he grew up in Utah! Since we were in Utah, we thought we should cuddle some kitties....

Do some puzzles with my dad....

and cuddle the kitties some more!

We started out at Bryce Canyon, which I had actually never been to before. It was a great start, since we wandered upon this awesomeness before even getting to the National Park!

It was evening when we arrived in Bryce, but that didn't stop the boys from taking pictures.....

Since one member of the family isn't really into 12 mile hikes (SHANE). Before we even left to go on our southern Utah vacation, one of my niece's joked that I needed to choose carefully which hike would be  THE HIKE that Shane would join us on, because we knew chances were....it would only be one! With that in mind, on the drive down to Bryce Canyon, I made an executive decision to call some people to do something that would join my love of getting outdoors for long distances, with my love for torturing Shane under the guise of saving him from a long hike!

Meet Shane's mule Sally....Sally likes to eat every plant that she crosses paths with, and she enjoys walking perilously on the edge of cliffs!

Yep, those would be the cliffs! 

We had a fantastic time, and sooooo well worth the money to get to the bottom of Bryce Canyon to explore! It was AWESOME! After the horseback ride, we hopped in the car and drove the 1 1/2 hours to Zions National Park! First on our to do list was the one hike Buddy and I would saving Shane's leg muscles for....Angels Landing (it's named that because one of the first guys visiting said that it was so high only angels could land there). We totally lucked out and won a lotter permit to get to the top the day before...Anyway....here are some pictures of our strenuous hike up...

This is the boys pointing to the top of the Mountain that we are climbing... 

The boys of course, had to stop and take lots of pictures....not sure if it was so they could catch their breath or try to take mine away by getting super close to the edge...

Seriously! Boys! 

So once you get to the top, you really aren't at the top and you have one more perilous climb to do. Here is the vantage point of the last leg of the journey.

It's only .5 miles, but it's .5 straight up on a very small, rocky path that you have to hold onto chains to climb....

I'm not sure if any picture will do justice to the fear in your heart that this hike will give you. My death grip on the chains was real!!!! Although, I will say, I am loving the lottery system because there were way less people than when Buddy and I did this hike 6 years ago and I still have nightmares about us falling to our death because we were literally climbing over people to get down because there were waaaay too many people on the trail. Anyway, here is the view from the top, so now you don't have to do it!!!

My fear of heights...and my desire to continue to breathe didn't allow me the opportunity to take a ton of pictures on the way up the perilous stretch, so I decided to get some action shots of the boys coming down....

Yep, that's Buddy's idea of an action shot for me! I'm just waiting for the call from a modeling agency for him!!!!

The next day, we geared up all of our remaining leg strength and hiked a little bit of the Narrows....

I was a little sad the boys didn't want to adventure more on the trail because I love a good hike with chest high water....but the boys had cameras they wanted to protect.....lame-os!!!! Next time I'm bringing some dry bags so they won't be able to give their lame excuses anymore! 

We left southern Utah to go back to Erda to stay with my dad and sister just in time to miss the flash flooding that happened the next day....and to torture my dad with some more puzzles while the boys played video games with Buddy's brother Kevin! 

So all in all, a super fantastic, vacation that we have now vacated, day (s)!