Why are Kids SO Weird?!

I apologize in advance for the quality of these photos as there were taken in the moment and could not be recreated.

Why do they feel it is necessary to organize their necklaces like this just so they can mess them back up again?

And then insist on their puppy wearing them?

What makes a kid think that taking all of Dad's shoes off the racks and laying them here would be fun?

Or pulling all of Grandma's baking goods onto the floor?

And that making a tower out of them could be so fulfilling

And what makes them beg to eat a whole orange bell pepper and think it is the best thing they have ever had?

And why when they put themselves in timeout it is fun and they love to shake their finger no-no but when you do it they hate it?

And where do they come up with feeding the brand new Easter Bunny, my mom got her, frosting?

And making sure that they have a bag and bunny in hand while "leaving" saying buh-bye?

And also that their new friend is all wrapped up for nigh-nigh time as they pat it, rock it and gives it a pacifier?

I am assuming that most kids are this weird...because I do not teach her these things! So they must all come down here with their own "special" ideas. Right?

Zoo Passes Expiring Soon...Sad Day

With our passes expiring in a month we thought we would hit up the Zoo one last time! Well at least until we know where we will be the rest of the year. We picked such a great day! We thought we would try and see some of the things we hadn't yet. Crazy that that is possible.

Camryn and I on the Skyfari. Our 2nd time, Ryan's 1st. But this was the first time that Camryn liked it. She kept saying Ca-Ca because we were like birds.

They just reopened the Polar Bear Exhibit and the polar bears were excited about it! Well either that or they were so hot that they could only survive in the water. Either way your kids will enjoy this video or your inner-child.

This guy was showing off and I was excited to see it so close up. So weird that this is what it does when it is threatened but I guess it gets everyone's attention. Don't you wish human's did something cool like this?

After finally finding the tiger. (Yes, we have tried on multiple occasions and always got lost. It was worth the hunt though) We watched the Sea Lion show. It was a nice change in pace and we had perfect seats for all the action. Camryn sat still the whole time. We have been wanting to go to Sea World for a while and it was nice to get our fix in. After we left I mentioned that Ryan was in no pictures...he said about time. So I am glad I could make an appearance for the both of us! We all love the Zoo so much, let's hope we will be around so we can renew our passes! Sad that Camryn will never remember this stuff!

Nursery Girl

That is right it is that time for this little one to graduate and go to nursery! Well not for another couple of weeks...but her teachers were too excited to get her started...so off she went!

She did so well and almost lasted the whole time even though it was naptime. But I am definitely not planning on this being the case every time. But at this point any little break at church would be nice. I would love to start feeling the spirit again! It is too bad that usually at this point you start talking about having another one. Just doesn't seem right does it?

I guess we just have to enjoy what we can while it lasts, and I guess it helps that she is so cute!

Biking on Coronado Island

Whenever we are down in San Diego we trying and do something we have never done. Yesterday that was biking around Coronado. It was such a perfect day for a bike ride!

And as my BIL Jake just said, biking is the best form of exercise. You get to see a lot because you can travel so far in a short amount of time. Camryn loved it! Although everytime they went over a bump she would say "Oh, no!"

She even left her helmet on the whole time! So glad I got a picture of her, she is so hard to capture right now.

Beautiful skyline of San Diego, it really is such a pretty city.

Proof I was there. If you haven't done this I recommend it. It is cheap and super fun! I love spending our Saturday's outside!

17 Month B-day at the Beach

This little girl is such a blast! Everyone always says as they get older they become more and more fun but you never believe them. Until now. We spent a few days down in San Diego for a change. We got to see Ryan's bro Jake and enjoy the sun! Camryn has been loving the sand at the park so I tried out the beach. And boy did she love it!

You could not wipe this smile off her face nor the sand off her body! It was baptism by fire for me as I hate the sand! But I have learned if I want Camryn to not be a princess she must like the sand. Huge sacrifice for me!

But I can't not love going because of this face and seeing how much fun she has.

She would go back and forth to the water and fill her bucket with rocks and shells. Then would die laughing when I made sand castles and made me repeat the process at least 20 times. She has started repeat most words we say and is just such a little girl. No longer my baby!

This one is a little blurry but I thought you needed to see how cute that little body is in her swimsuit! So here is to a great jumping off point and to many more trips to the beach this spring and summer!

JUST SMART NEVIDAD

I don't know why I feel compelled to share this dream with all of you. Maybe in hopes that others have similar experiences and will make mine seem less odd.

I think dreaming is strange in general, why can't we just close are eyes and sleep the whole night? We have to be awake when we don't want to, why can't it be the same for sleeping? Why does something so pleasant have to be so difficult?

So last night I dreamed that my house was the set of some TV show, I wanna say it felt like Desperate Housewives, but I've never actually seen the show. Anyway, I was in the kitchen and there were bleachers at the other side with people sitting in them and some type of reunion show going on. In my dream apparently this was normal. I went to the cupboard and opened it up to see it filled with Chocodiles (this really is my dream). If you've never had a Chocodile, do yourself a favor and run down to your nearest Hostess store or gas station and purchase one. I'm sure you'll shortly after write Hostess a letter and thank them for creating such a delicious treat. However please add in your note that you'd like to see them package them in two's like their Twinkie brothers. I watched a show on it once (sad I know) and they stated that they felt the one Chocodile was enough. How is one Chocodile enough, but one Twinkie isn't? Don't bother me with excuses of calories, you care about as much as McDonalds does and are responsible for obesity in America as well, but I still thank you for the Ding Dong (from the freezer), Suzie Q, and the Chocodile.

Back to the dream. So at some point one of the actresses runs over to the bleachers in excitement and picks up this small Caucasian boy and thanks him for coming back to the show, but when I turn around this little boy was a black girl dressed in an outfit made of intricately cut sponges. Then she started saying highly inappropriate things (I'm sure she was related to Lakisha). I couldn't believe what she was saying, but here's the worst part--these were my thoughts, I am the dreamer here. I'm like the puppet master and these people are just actors in my dream.

I am obviously not bothered by this and start collecting my things to head out for my tennis match. I glanced at the TV and saw a commercial for why you shouldn't let your kids swim with sharks. It was a shot of a little boy swimming in the pool; the camera angle was at the bottom of the pool looking up at a boy swimming, and it shows the shark swimming up behind him. It then cuts to an aerial view above the pool and as the shark swims over...no more boy. I work in marketing and I was sorely disappointed in my brain for coming up with this commercial. One, why was there a shark in the pool? Two, though I do think swimming with sharks is dangerous and maybe kids should be warned, it seems fairly obvious and there was no need for marketing dollars wasted to create an actual commercial. Lastly, the view of the shark swimming alone in a pool was kind of haunting--too much for an audience.

After the uncomfortable commercial that, again seemed normal to me, I ran out the door to my tennis match. Upon getting there I walked past a Dad who was trying to give his adult son a kiss on the lips before the game. I don't know where most of these thoughts came from, but we were just talking the other day with friends that some parents still kiss their kids on the lips. Some of us found this odd and uncomfortable, especially with the same gender children, others found it normal...you? Up to what age if ever?

I finally made it to this much anticipated tennis match and they were calling out names. I ran to a table of uniforms looking for mine. It was of course the last, but on the back instead of my last name being printed on it, it said, "Just Smart Nevidad" in Gothic lettering...I don't know why I knew it was mine, but I did. This must have been a deep thought of the annoyance of growing up with people trying to do funny puns with my last name. I don't know why the "Nevidad", it isn't even correct Spanish, nor is it funny.

So that's when I woke up. My question is, should someone with these thoughts be allowed to have a wife and children? Why aren't my thoughts clear or the jokes actually funny...I'm concerned. Try to look this up in a dream book.

Juror #3

Question-Is there a secret Court House or DMV that normal people get invited to that I don't know about? Whenever I have to go to the DMV or jury duty, I feel like I am the only normal person there.

The courthouse is a magical place where stereotypes come to life. You first get called in and have to wait in a waiting room all day. The place smells like cigarettes, B.O., CK1 and Ross department store. I actually almost turned to the woman sitting next to me and asked her if she used a fork and knife this morning while eating poo, her breath was so bad. Anyway you wait in this room for hours while some lady announces names and recites jokes from George Lopez she watched last night. I thought the South West airlines jokes made me want to punch those khaki-short people in the face--this was worse. The lady talked exactly like Jennifer Lopez but wasn't the eye-candy. They do offer you year old magazines with the sudoku and crossword puzzles poorly half accomplished, and there are 3 computers with solitaire, maj-jong and pin ball. They are of course taken like the slot machines at Vegas with non-blinking, red-eyed addicts. I especially love pinball because there is zero skill, but man this one guy was so intense I found myself cheering him on inside. He was determined not to let that ball get passed him (by the way I have always wanted a real pinball machine-which has nothing to do with anything). Most people brought books which I forgot, so I just stared at people all day, which probably made me the creepy white guy.

I was thirty minutes away from being dismissed for the day when they finally called my name. I yelled a little and then made my way upstairs. It was almost 4:30 so they "kindly" dismissed us and told us to come back tomorrow morning for jury selection--I hate that crap so bad.

I went back the next day and hoped not to get selected. It ended up being a domestic violence case; I thought I'd be real sneaky and let the jury know that my mom is a social worker for a domestic violence shelter; I was sure they wouldn't want me on the jury. That theory backfired and the attorneys asked me a bunch of questions and I of course got, not only selected for the jury, but was the foreman on the case...and was actually really glad I did it! This was such a great experience.

First off I need to apologize to my attorney friends (Blake, Scott, Tim, etc) because some of these attorneys make the bar seem like it was as difficult as testing to work at a temp agency. On a totally superficial note--these attorneys have to make decent money, can't they at least buy a suit that fits, not one that came straight off the rack of Men's Warehouse? They looked like they borrowed their dad's suit that was twice their size. Secondly, I think there is a female attorney suit store that only sales black or grey suits that make these women look like German militia meets Super Nanny. We get it, you're smart, you passed the bar...loosen up a little or at least your bun.

I thought I was going to get kicked out of the courtroom for sure because some of the comments that these witnesses make were killing me. In this case, the woman was watching a movie with her boyfriend and he made an offhand comment about one of the women on the movie--she replies that she is going to "cut his 'bum' " (I'm censoring for the children). She runs to the drawer to get a knife and he tackles her, they wrestle, she runs out to her car and calls 911. There is obviously more to the story, but this blog is already long enough. The woman claims he hit her in the face and threatened her life.

They called this lady to the stand and the fun began. It turns out that this woman had beat up his friend Lakisha (why is there always a Lakisha involved?). The attorney asked this woman if she remembered calling Lakisha a, "stringy "bummed", half Asian, crack whore, blankety blank, blank, blank, blank, blank....." I lost it, I had to put my head down and started laughing. I mean the sheer length of this insult was almost poetry...urban poetry, but it was poetry in its truest form. She proudly replied, "Honey you know I did and I kicked her "bum" too." I couldn't have been enjoying myself more.

In all seriousness, it was actually a neat experience to see our legal system in place. I felt justice was served and I would gladly serve on jury duty again. If any of you want the unabridged/unedited version of this story please feel free to visit, I would love to retell it in all its deserved glory. My civic duty has proudly been fulfilled for a year. Thank you.

Part 3 of 3-The Fish's

Next up...visit with Scott and Kirby! Scott had the whole week off of school so timing couldn't have been better for Ryan. They went a mile a minute! Tennis several times and a round of golf. Ryan was in heaven to have a friend to play with. Too bad for me that Kirby had to work but we were lucky to get her to take off one day so we could hike Camelback together. Nikki and her family have done this a couple times and even took my parents once so we were ready to see what all the fuss was about.

Pre-hike Pic. Ryan wanted to document that he was alive here.

This hike was really cool. Short, like only 3 miles round trip but it is really very steep. This picture doesn't do it justice. The poles are there because it is like rock climbing, so you pretty much have to use them. It got me excited to do Half Dome, but also saw how really scary it will be. However, it will be done without Camryn.

Made it to the top! Ryan carried Camryn the whole way-23 extra pounds including the backpack. Impressive. Doesn't seem that hard but it just took more precision so the baby wouldn't fall out. Probably every person that passed had something to say about how she was doing this hike the right way-being carried. She sure was lucky. But our hard work paid off.

Me with the Kirbster! I am glad we at least got one picture together. Don't worry I was just as freaked out about having her crawl around up there as you are now. Luckily she is not a wanderer.

Scott had planned to do their yard this week, so it was great that he had Ryan to help him out. Well and Camryn.

While I just laid in the sun! They did such a good job though I didn't want to ruin it. We had such a good visit with these guys and so fun to see their house renovations completed! They have done such a good job! They were so generous to let us stay and it was SO fun! And I can't leave out the killer Shoe Party we had in Gilbert! Thanks girls for such a great turnout!

Then it was back to our casa! Camryn was out of control and was so tired but could never fall asleep. Finally we just let her cry and then after like 10 minutes she was silent. We turned around to see this. Hilarious, glad she found a solution...whatever gets her to sleep.

Part 2 of 3-The Watson's

We decided a while ago that we needed to visit my sister, Nikki and her fam in Arizona and do a shoe party while we were there. So we finally had the time and made the drive out shoes in tow. The couple times we had been they were always quick trips and never got to really enjoy the desert. Let's just say that visiting in February (or probably March would be the best) was so nice! We were able to do something you would normally do in the heat of the summer. This little place grew on me to say the least.

But getting to hang out with Nikki's family probably made it all the more better. It is so nice having part of the family together, you are able to spend time together that wouldn't normally happen with the whole family around.

Here is the group. We ate outside this nice mall, listened to live music watched a water show and sat by a fire. Don't mind my daughter's tongue. She is currently at the least photogenic point in her life thus far. Oh and if you haven't tried the gourmet tacos at Rubio's be do so, you'll be happy you did.

Then it was on to Dave and Buster's! What a fun place for a date/following 4 kids around. Camryn was in heaven driving the "cars." Here she is playing her oldest cousin Jake.

Ryan thought that I should try the virtual jump rope because he thought I would be good at it. Boy was he wrong! I think I was the worst out of the whole family! And what do you know Ryan was the best?! I think this was his plan all along. I should also mention that this was the amount of tickets he got for just one turn alone.

Hiking Pinnacle Peak. Such a pretty hike in Scottsdale. Pretty scenery and some amazing houses. And not to mention plenty of Saguaros. This one was probably the prettiest one we had seen. Man those this gross me out when they are all rotted with nasty holes.

Me and my big sissy. I had her friend do my hair while I was there. I love that we got this picture because while there so many people thought we looked so similar. Even Jake's friend said, "Dude, it is so hard to tell which one is your mom and which one is your Aunt." What is your opinion?

I feel like we have so many pictures of Camryn in the backpack but it wouldn't be right if I didn't post this one.

At the top of Pinnacle Peak. It had rained earlier that day and we lucked out with only minor sprinkles the whole hike.

Finally out of the backpack.

After staying with these guys for 5 days we headed down to Tempe and stayed with Kirby and Scott (more on that later). So one of the days I meet back up with Nikki ad Carter at a fun little Railroad park. Where we ate a yummy picnic, rode the train (Camryn had a death grip on me) and watch the kids play on the playground so we could chat. It made me want to have a sister close by so badly! So fun to meet up like that!

We had such a good time staying with these guys. Ryan loved getting to play with Wii with our nephews and having quality time with Carter; Nikki threw an awesome shoe party that was so much fun; And Nugget learn that if we ever give him up he will have a great second home. Thanks so much Watson's for showing us a good time!

Part 1 of 3-Grandma & Grandpa

There is something about having your Mom & Dad come and stay with you. And that something is that it is GREAT!

We showed them Torrey Pines. One of our favorite hikes and overlooks of the ocean.

Made sure we stopped at Board N' Brew for some tasty sandwiches and then on to the Scripps Brich Aquarium. Love that Octopus and Jellyfish! Fascinating.

Camryn giving the fish a kiss.

One thing I learn was that the male seahorses have babies and are pregnant most of their lives. Weird and Gross.

Valentines Day-this little girl finally enjoyed a cupcake! Since her Birthday experience wasn't that great we decided to let her have a do over 4 months later.

Her face speaks volumes

I also had to show a picture of the pretty flowers Ryan got me! Boy do I love tulips and my husband. What a great guy that one is! He is my hero, not Phil.

It was so great having a visit from my parents, they are so generous and loving! And can I say Great Grandparents (not actual great grandparents, but you understand)! Camryn was so spoiled with attention and love! I love you both so much! Thanks for making the drive down!