Back at it

I'm home and getting back into our family groove. Our "groove" really wasn't disrupted much at all. Mark had it all under control. I had no doubt that would be the case but it would have been nice to have felt a little missed. Yes, Cooper was counting down how many more "sleeps" until I returned home but I really did get the impression that things were going on just peachy without me. This is the only picture Mark sent me while I was gone..............



Yep, it looks like a normal day at casa de coop 'n cruz.

I can now tuck another notch on my Film Festival belt. All went well and I have more crazy stories to file away. What a different life! I have quite a few celebrity sighting (blah, blah, blah, blah) stories but only two that had me quite twitter-pated;

1) I was able to chat it up with Zac Brown of the Zac Brown Band and watch his entire family (including 4 adorable little girls ----even a 2 yr old!---learn to ski). He was my kind of Dude. I loved that he was wearing Carhartts to ski at snobby Deer Valley. I even asked if I could take a pic with him to send to "my husband who is a huge fan" (I totally threw Mark under the bus). I'd share the pic but he looks great and I look like a crazy old stalker lady with a crazy stalker grin. Very creepy.

2) I got to discuss the latest season of Dexter (and it's surprise twist) with Edward James Olmos! Yes, I'm a dork. I was more excited about my EJO sighting then I was about sitting near Robert Redford (aka "Bob") a few years ago.

Best of all, I got to work with great friends and see all my buddies who help us make the magic happen at the hotel, ski shop and all over the mountain. They are by far my favorite "celebrities" and the reason I come back year after year. I love being the "hired help" with them. Most of all, I love the camaraderie and relationships we've built over the years.

When it's all said and done, I'm glad the festival is only 10 days long because when it's over, I'm oh so glad it's over. And it was soooooooooo incredibly awesome to be greeted by hugs and contagious giggles when I came home. It was validation that maybe I was missed just a little bit and I truly have made the best career choice as SAHM.

Deserter

(Not really because I'm coming back! I promise!)

'Tis the season where I ditch my family and head for the hills! Well, that's a little dramatic don't you think? Actually, I'm leaving tonight to work The Sundance Film Festival. Unlike last year, the family isn't coming with me this time. I'm on my own. Mark is taking time off work and gets to experience our daily routine for 12 days.

Coop, Cruz and I tried to show him some of our hangouts over the past several days. We took him to the Indoor Gym where we have discovered a playgroup and showed him the ropes at the library for story time. I even gave some of the Moms I've met at said places a heads up that if they see a scruffy bearded, shaggy haired Man with my kids to make sure to give him a hard time. Not really, a few of the Moms I have met already know to be on the look out for Mark and the kiddos and said they would make sure they made him feel welcome.

I can't wait to hear how everything goes. I'm anxious for the change of pace but am honestly going to miss their guts! Until then, I'll be on the red carpet. Watch for me on E!

Oh, one more thing....if I didn't feel guilty enough, both boys woke up this morning congested with scratchy voices. Oh Mark, you are a good man!

Elmo

Elmo has his 4,367,227,742th fan! I'm not even sure how it happened. Coop started a fondness towards Pablo at about this age so it's no suprise. The only difference is that Cooper started his attachment based on the influence of books and watching TV. He didn't have an older brother that monopolized his television viewership.

This is proof of the magical powers of marketing and advertising. We do have plenty of Elmo books, a few Elmo toys and he's plastered all over his Pampers but I had no idea how much influence they really had on our little boy's precious little brain. If I were to say that he LOVES Elmo, that would be an understatement. I think it's adorable and love how excited he is when he sees anything Elmo (which just so happens to be added to his growing vocabulary). He still rarely says "mama" but he's got "Elmo!!!!" down.

Ever since we discovered this new obsession, Cooper has graciously allowed us to watch Sesame Street every once in awhile and Cruz now has a little friend to snuggle with.

Snuggle Time.

Hand-me-down slippers.

Look at this face when he discovers who's on his shirt!

And then the craziness ensues!





He really does go into Elmo freak mode.




Here he is going into his WearingMyElmoSlippers Pre-funk dance.


From there, it's pretty much a blur.......

Go Elmo! Go Elmo! Go-GO, Go Elmo!

Welcome to the family, Elmo. Our Casa (de coop'n cruz) es su casa!

Hike

Phew, it is exhausting trying to catch up on the blog. I close out this marathon holiday recap with a mention of our first hike of 2012. We went to Snow Canyon and explored "Moqui (Moki) Mountain". Cooper was excited to show Dad the Moki Marbles and hiked the whole way all by himself.

Family Photo

After our hike, we met Grandpa and Grandma and took Grandpa out to lunch to celebrate his birthday. We wanted to celebrate with him in person since we knew we'd be back home on his actual birthday (January 16th). Happy early birthday Grandpa Pat!

Haircut

Cruz got his hair did while we were in St. George. I'm sure you're saying to yourself "What hair? He's Bald!". He actually does have hair amongst the baldness. It's just really blonde and really fine. We decided it was time to de-mullet-ify (it's totally a word...or should be) the poor guy. It was getting out of control and Mark and I didn't trust our hair cutting skills as we have a horrible track record.

Cruz's face looked about like this the entire time. He sat very still and let the darling stylist have her way with him. I love this shot because you can see Mark reading to Cooper in the background. Let it be known that I wasn't in any hurry to get Cruz's hair cut but the shagginess was driving my long haired hippy husband nuts. Go figure.

Warm

Another highlight of our trip was the weather. It was warm and sunny every day. We took full advantage of it and played outside whenever we could.

Coop and his new scooter. Thanks, Santa!

A common view of Cruz these days. Running away from us. I imagine in his head he's saying, "Freedom!" just like Mel Gibson in Braveheart.

Danger, Danger!

He's already wanting to do EVERYTHING his big bro does.

I stand corrected. He isn't always running away from us.

Marty

It's about time I introduced the interwebz to our dear friend Marty The Monkey (voice by, Grandpa Pat). We first met Marty on our holiday visit to Utah in 2010. Marty is quite the guy. He's funny, witty and sure to turn even the grumpiest of grumps into a happy person. Cooper LOVES Marty. He was an integral part of our family throughout our stay with my parents last year. Of all the toys my parents have in their arsenal (believe me, they have tons), Marty shines above. He is very special to us all.

My Dad and Marty are a great team. They can turn Coop's mood around just like that. And his timing is impeccable. Often, when Cooper was on the brink of having the mother of all tantrums, Marty was the only one that could turn his mood around. Marty will always have a special place in my heart and he makes me smile every time he and my Dad hit the stage.

Our first encounter, December 2010.

Hey Marty, how have you been?

Ringing in the New Year with a dear friend.

Grandparents

Several posts into my holiday recap and I haven't even mentioned the Grandparents! Shame on me as they were the main focus of our visit. We were so lucky to have the opportunity to spend time with both Grandmas and Grandpa Pat all at once. It really made our holidays special and unforgettable. In this day and age with everyone so often scattered across the country, it's rare that families can spend time together all at once. It really was the best Christmas present we could have asked for.

Of course, it wasn't far from our hearts that we were missing a very important piece of the grandparent puzzle, Grandpa Toby. He is missed, loved and thought about every day. His absence made our time together even more special and appreciated.

Santa 2011

You may recall from last year that our Santa visit wasn't all that successful. Actually that depends on who you ask because truth be told, there's nothing funnier cuter than a crying kid on Santa's lap shot. I was quite pleased with last year's result but don't tell Cooper that.

I thought for sure this year would be different (can you sense the foreshadowing?). Cooper couldn't get enough of talking about Santa, pointing out all the Santa decorations throughout the month and going down right bananas when he saw Santa in the Christmas Parade. He even had his speech down for what he was going to ask Santa for when he saw him: A scooter and a Thomas with a Snow Plow.

With all the Santa talk, I thought for sure we'd get a great photo. Jenny and I couldn't wait to take the boys to see the big guy and we decided earlier in the month that we'd wait until we were all in St. George so that the grand parents could enjoy all the fun and the boys could do it together.

When the big day arrived we prepped the boys and dressed them up in their Going to See Santa best. They were excited and all for it (or so I thought). Jenny got her shot. Two darling boys in matching sweaters soaking in all the Santa love. When it came time for our boys to sit with Santa, Cooper suddenly went blank. Santa? Who's that? I'm busy now. Can we go explore the rest of the mall? Didn't you say we needed to look for some picture frames? He wanted NOTHING to do with the man.

The picture below of Pete and Charlie was taken by yours truly. Before I noticed that "outside cameras weren't allowed on the Santa Set"......Ooooops...... I was THAT Mom that barged on set with her camera without reading the sign. I immediately put the camera away as soon as I noticed the sign. I would have to buy the Mack Daddy Photo Package if I wanted to get "my shot".

Cruz wasn't a big fan either. Before we realized that Cooper was going to completely ignore Santa, we put Cruz on Santa's lap. It didn't take long before he started crying. If I wanted "my shot" I'd have to hurry and convince Cooper to climb on board. Mind you, I'm all about crying kid shots but I'm not all about scarring them for life. I knew I had about a 20 second window before the innocent cries would turn into a future of NEVER wanting to see Santa (or anyone dressed in red) EVER again. So there we sat, Pete and Charlie happily eating their candy canes that Santa gave them and still grinning ear to ear over their experience. While Big C slips into nothing to see here mode and Little C is sitting all by his lonesome and crying on Santa's lap. One of Santa's helpers took a shot of Little C. I got half of "my shot". I politely declined while Mark rescued Cruz. I figured if we were going to have to buy the Mack Daddy Photo Package then by George (keeping it clean for the kids), I was going to have 2 miserable children in the shot. Not just one. It was a package deal.

Mark tried to console me as we walked away by joking that we could just photoshop our kids onto the "illegal" pictures I took of Jen and Ryan's kids. So that is exactly what I did.

These are for you, Mark.

Pete and Charlie

Coop 'n Cruz

Togetherness

You'd think after spending 4 days together I'd get at least one perfect picture of all 4 boys together. That was not the case. Every attempt we'd make went a little something like this...........

Take 1.

Boys, stand in front of the tree so we can get a picture of you.

Wait. Where's Charlie?

Bring in the other baby.

Take 2.

Great. Now smile and look cute.

Don't just look cute.

I need smiles!

Take 3.

Cruz, stop pulling on Charlie's ear.

Work with me here.

Say "Cheeeeeezzzzee".

Take 4.

Cruz: "Cheese?...did someone say cheese? Or was that clap?

I get the two confused all the time."

And yet another attempt at getting them together in their jammies.........

I finally just gave up.

Christmas with Cousins

Jenny, Pete and Charlie were nice enough to drive from Salt Lake to spend time with us the week before Christmas. It was so much fun. I love that the boys are getting to know each other so well. They really are great friends. We spent our time playing, laughing, wrestling with Grandpa and EATING. Oy, did we eat. It was wonderful to get to celebrate the Holidays (a little early) with them.

Gingerbread decorating eating.

Tree decorating or something like that........

Gift exchanging.

Drive

We couldn't talk about our trip without mentioning the drive. The drive was doable but long. The boys and dogs really did surprisingly well. Truthfully, we were shocked at how great they did. The weather on the way there was very cooperative as well. On the way home.....not so much.

Mark and I woke up at 4AM, finished the last minute things that one might do to head out for 3 weeks and were on the road by 4:45am. Cooper woke up because he was so excited to hit the road but Cruz pretty much stayed asleep.

Since we were bringing the dogs with us, we didn't have much room in the car. Everything we took with us had to go on the roof or scattered amongst the seats but the waaaaayyyy back was reserved for the dogs. Not the most ideal situation for them but it worked.

The drive took about 12 hours (including about an hour and a half of stretch our legs time and potty breaks). We arrived in St. George at about 4pm which was perfect. Early enough that we were able to drop the kids and dogs off at my parent's while we found our rental house. The trip was pretty uneventful thanks to a DVD player and games. The only negative (which I'm embarrassed to admit) was a diaper leak by Cruz. He was so good that he didn't let us know that he was wet and when his diaper hit maximum capacity, he remained content. When we stopped to let the dogs run around about 2.5 hours away from our destination, I realized his car seat was soaked! Poor kid didn't even care. That's what a trooper he was.

Exciting road trip photos...........

Cooper's face when we finally turned on the DVD player.

Pit Stop time. Brothers holding hands.
This was back when Cruz LOVED holding hands. Three weeks later, that is no longer the case. How quickly things change. Cruz can no longer be bothered with silly hand holding.




More hand holding.

Doggie Play Time.

To sum up the drive home, the kids and dogs did great again but the roads SUCKED. The drive took about 2 hours longer and was bumper to bumper for about the last 2 hours. Luckily the boys slept during that time but that meant that they were AMPED when we got home at 10:30pm. Mark and I were spent and ready for bed but the boys weren't having it. They (which meant we) stayed up playing until about midnight when we finally forced them to go to bed. We were lucky to have a 6 AM tandem-ready-to-play Wake Up call the following morning. Needless to say, I am still tired.