The Exit Sign!

So tonight was inevitable...I feel a bit guilty (sheepishly rubbing my hands as if I conjured up the grandest scheme)for possibly nudging a bit hard, but it happened! (And I am not remotely regretful about it!) Wah Ha Ha Ha...the "Exit" sign I speak of will be in the front yard advertising the "FOR SALE" of Tree-c's house which will be on the market tomorrow! She filled out all the paperwork, and for those of you who have sold a home, you know what I mean about paperwork, my good lord! And as she dated that last signature she turned to me and said "if I sell my house and you leave me I will burn down your house! and I mean it!" It wasn't "baby, i'm so excited, I love you and I can't wait to move in with you..." NO! It's "I will hunt you down and kill you"...she's so funny! (In a little bit scarey way sometimes...ha ha ha)

And now it's baby steps, we will have to pack her and get the house ready, albeit quickly, in case there is a mad rush for a small two bedroom 1 bath inexpensive home with a GIANT yard...but we are none the less, taking the steps. When her house sells, we will move them into my house while we continue to look for our "dream home" and sell my house...

Thanks for all your words of encouragement, and I have to give credit where credit is due, if it weren't for great friends who continuously reminded me that good things happen to good people, and that I deserve someone who loves me as much as I love her, I would have missed out on the last year of my life, and the rest of the life I am enjoying each day as it comes along. THANKS K & B...I love you two very much!

Keep the happy thoughts coming our way...TTFN!

1 Year

I have been up and down with my emotions the last few days, and don't really want to air the dirty laundry, but I am needing an escape of sorts for my thoughts, so I decided to spend a few moments here, instead of in my head.

Saturday was my and Tree-c's 1 year anniversary. 1 year from the day we decided to "be exclusive". Some of the comments I have heard over the course of the last few weeks..."what, you don't live together?" "or, 1 year? wow...it seems like just the other day". Excluding the close to me who said "only a year, it seems like she's been in our lives for the whole time". I love you two! :)

But so my head is all, "yeah, it does just seem like the other day", but my heart says "it's been forever". My head is all, "should we live together? do I need my space and my alone time?" my heart says, "I want her to be the last person I see when I go to bed and the first person I see when I wake up...what are we waiting for, I want to live with her".

I also have her heart and head to contend with. All the what if's that a mother and a scorn woman from a past long term relationship might worry about. All the longing to not be alone in living and raising her son, but the concern of loving and losing again.

Is love risk enough? Is risk love enough?

Tristan keeps posing the big question "when are you and mommy getting married?", the answer "when we all live together". And I mean it when I say it. I am anxious for the day I get to turn to her and ask her to share the rest of her life with me. To stand before each other and in front of all our families and friends and express our love and commitment to each other for the rest of our lives...silly me, I am a hopeless romantic and I can't wait to stand in that spot with her in front of me, sharing in that experience...so what stops us?

The living arrangements.

I will ask again, is love risk enough? Is risk love enough? Today, I am not sure!

You Might Be a Redneck!

So this weekend we had the opportunity to do alot of fun things, agian! I swear, one of these weekends, I am just going to say we stayed home and did nothing, and boy will that be a great blog! :) HA HA...but this weekend we started it off friday night by me cooking dinner, t-bone steaks, fresh trout that we caught on one of our fishing trips this summer, and corn on the cob. It was delicious if I do say so myself. Even Tristan, who normally belly-aches for chicken nuggets and ranch dressing no matter what I attempt to cook for him, LOVED dinner! WOO HOO...success. Saturday morning I had to work for a couple of hours, but then we went up to the zoo to see what the cooler temperatures of fall would bring. Again, success, the bears were out and playing, the gorillas were rolling around, and the white aligator even popped it's head out of the water, prior to saturday, we hadn't even seen it move a muscle. So we had a great afternoon at the zoo!
Saturday night brought an event that I had never partaken of. Please excuse me if I offend, but I have never had the opportunity to see the type of people that we saw saturday night ever before, and I honestly laughed out loud at some of the behaviors of these people.
Some friends of mine from down in Provo and I have been talking all summer long about how we hear the roaring of engines (and it's louder in person...not that Tristan minded as you can see, he fell asleep)as the Rocky Mt Raceway holds their (it seems) nightly rituals of oval races, figure 8's, and straight track races. I had never been, although had threatened many a time to cut my hair back into my 80's and then some mullet and head on over to the races. Let me just say that the exhiliration of cars crashing into each other, and the roar of the engine so loud you could barely hear the person next to you is pretty darn fun! But the women of the races crack my shit up...let me splain (in the best mustered up Ricky Ricardo voice I have). So were sitting there, watching a 100 lap oval race. About every 2-3 laps there would be a random car bumping into another car to try to get better position, and I guess this isn't allowed and some people get a little testy when this type of action is made. The women in the stands would flip this driver off as he rounded the curve, they would cuss and hollar at him as if he could hear them. This group we were watching was obviously family and close friends of the driver being bumped...I guess he just had to keep a certain position, not even win the race to be the champion of the whole year. So they were a rootin! Each time (100 laps) he would round by us, they would hoot and hollar. They would cheer and hug at him keeping his position. The the white flag comes out, last lap, he's going to do it...the checkered flag comes out, he takes 5th (I think) but one position in front of this other car that was in battle for the championship. Next thing I know, one lady is falling over faint, she is hugging everyone, bawling with joy, the she stops, takes a knee, and seems to be about to puke. The driver pulls around near the group and reaches his arm out with a woo hoo cheer and they clap and cheer. "Unofficially, car ?? has just taken the championship" they cry, they cheer, and the driver flips some 360's in his car, squeeling tires and burning rubber, literally! WOW...I imagine it was a little like when Brandi Chastain ripped her shirt off after winning the National Championship in the Women's World Cup Soccer game a few years ago...okay, for me, not as exciting, but I imagine for these women, it was that exciting! :) It was just a new experience for me...but one I would go enjoy again...that's for sure. Tristan and I were able to do the chicken dance for Lagoon tickets, but sadly didn't win. I will throw in some photos of that too. Oh yeah, and we ran into Sum, Mer, and Cam who were also at their virgin experience at the Races too! :)
Today we got up, Tristan and I made breakfast, we watched a movie, then packed a lunch and headed up Millcreek Canyon for a picnic and a small little hike. The leaves are turning, the canyon is beautiful with the fall colors...one of the many reasons I love Utah in the fall. Enjoy the photos...and we'll catch you again soon!

TTFN

The Cape

The last few days Tristan has been on a "cape" kick...he must have a cape with bats on it, not a "Batman" cape per say, but a cape with bats on it. So him and Patrice were off to the fabric stores to find the fabric. Black shiney satiny felt like fabric for one side, and bright orange cotton fabric for the other side, the orange fabric which adorns black bats...Tristans favorite animal. He was so excited he could hardly wait to show it to me.
The last two days have been spent trying to figure out how to sew the damn thing together. Patrice pulled her sewing machine out of the deepest darkest corner of the basement and attempted to thread the machine with black thread. She called me a little while later to come help her fix the damn thing because she couldn't get the bobbin to go back into the bottom of the machine. My mom and dad are both very established and amazingly beautiful quilters, I however haven't a clue how to even sew a button back on a shirt...so for me to even tinker with a sewing machine was almost laughable...but what the heck, I will try anything to help my girl out.
So a little while into it, I get the whole thing back together, get the thread threaded threw all the little cracks and crevasses and turn it on...the little wheel will spin, but the needle wont go up and down...I wanted to throw the damn thing! Then I wanted to run out to the nearest sewing machine establishment and purchase a new one that I could sit and read the whole instruction manual and know exactly how to sew. Cause that is what I do, when I get anything new, I am a manual reader! But we were late, had to get to softball...WHICH WE KICKED SOME ASS I MIGHT ADD! Great game! WOO HOO.

So anyway...small tangent, I decided this afternoon to go pick up Tristan from day care a little early, took his little helmet and drove the Vespa to pick the little man up. He was so excited when I picked him up, he ran straight over and jumped into my arms and goes "did you bring my helmet?" Well of course, do you think his Mother would allow me to pick him up without having a helmet, shoulder pads, knee pads, elbow pads, a rope to tie him to me and to the scooter all to drive on back roads about 3 blocks down the road....HA HA HA okay smallish exadurations. (how the hell do you spell that word? WHAT THE!) But yes, I brought his helmet. So we get back to my place and we decide to watch Boomerang (the greatest channel on Directv, just ask Tristan) and share a cantelope. When Tree-c got home it wasn't long until he started asking about his Cape again...so now back to the story.

So I had called my cousin Tina, who loves to sew (not really sure that she does "love it", but she can sew, and I knew it, so I called her) and was thrilled that we wanted to come over and visit and have her help Tree-c with the cape.

They DID amazing! By the time we left Tina's house, the cape was sewn, Tristan and Cameron (Tina's youngest) were thoroughly exhausted from running up and down all their stairs, and Tristan decided we needed to buy Tina's house..."come on Heid, we have enough money for it, i'm serious". He says the funniest things sometimes. Tina and her family are actually moving and putting their home on the market in the near future. Hmmm...we'll have to see.

So tomorrow is "show-n-tell" at Kindergarten...his last comment before I got out of the car "what if they think my cape is dumb?" "Buddy...your cape is awesome, and even if no one else likes it, you do, and that is all that matters!" That seemed to ease his mind...we'll see what tomorrow brings!

I will add a photo soon...

TTFN

And So It Starts...

For those of you with children not quite school age, let me explain my newest head shaking astonishment.

Week one of kindergarten, you would think it would be all about coloring, maybe a little finger paints, some singing and banging on pans learning the hokey pokey...NO. Well, that stuff may have happened, but what we get out of Tristans explanation of "how was your day" was "if you buy me some cookie dough, I can go on a car ride with dark windows to a pizza party with a cool braclet!" "here, here is the paper". What? I think to myself, in the HELL is he talking about...well, I take the bright green paper he hands me and find out that we are starting a fund raiser! Seriously, week one? Kindergarten? Seriously though...cookie dough, frozen mini pizzas, soft pretzels, churros, brownies, punkin pie, apple pie, and a few other assorted items. As I read on, I see that for any one item that he sells he get's a glo-in-the dark braclet. The kid that sells the most items in the school gets a ride in a limo (hence the car with the dark windows) and the class that sells the most gets a pizza party. He's so funny...

So here it starts...wanna buy some frozen treats for Tristan's fund raiser? We gotta help our boy get his braclet and limo ride to lunch! :)

Oh, and when your kids start their fund raising years...we'll be there for them too! :)

TTFN

Working...on the sabbath! HA HA

So here I sit at the record store, listening to a little jazzy piano music waiting for my obligatory 6 hour once every two months sunday shift to slowly creep by and thought I would blog a little.

Saturday afternoon Tree, Tristan, and I went to a friend of our's daughters b-day party and meet a couple of bloggers "Twins and Two Moms". Such a cute little family! What a small little world.

After the party we were fortunate enough to have Tree-c's mom watch Tristan for a couple of hours so we could go to our local Lesbian watering hole to celebrate a couple of friends of ours birthday's. First of all let me just say, $2.50 for a f-ing bottle of water for the Designated Driver? And $7.50 for specialty shots? I can't afford to go drinking anymore! A little into the night I leaned over to Tree to ask her what time it was, it was just creeping up on 10:00pm. I was done for the night and ready to go pick up the little man! HOW FUNNY! On the way out however, I did see a couple of old familiar faces, it was great to share a hug and introduce Treec. All in all it was a good evening.

This morning I got up at 7:00am and went golfing with my dad and Kenny. Went to Wingpointe and played 9-holes. I out drove them both on a few of the holes, and only lost to my dad by 2 strokes. It was a great beginning to the day.

This afternoon Mer, Sum, and Cam are planning to come over to have a hot dog and let the boys play. Should be a good afternoon!

Okay...have a great rest of the weekend TTFN.

Utah State Fair

Jack, Alyssa, and Tristan getting ready to ride a pony.
Cam, Alyssa, Jack, Tree-c, Tristan riding the spinning dinosaur.
Tree-c & Tristan in the fun house
I just can't help but show off these photos of some of the most adorable kids I have ever seen! We went to the fair with a large group last night (friday 09/07) and had a great time riding rides, eating corn on the cob and greasy treats...and we even tried a fried snicker for the first time! So fun to see everyone that was there...have a great day!

Our Labor-less Day Weekend!

We started off the weekend with a bang. It was Tree-c's b-day b-b-q, which I mentioned in the last blog that there were a few surprises. Tree's Dad (who never really showed up in the last 34 years) showed up with a new 32" All-purpose Camp/Dutch Oven Table...something that she has wanted for quite awhile now! Another one of her surprises was an ice cream cake...Tristan picked it out, it was decorated as a hot pink present with a Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy toy on top. Chocolate Brownie ice cream with chocolate cake...hello can you say RICH? It was good though, and it was exactly what she had hoped for. I got her windows tinted for her in her new car, and let me just tell you how difficult life is in this "fast food" "ATM" style world we live in when you can't role down your windows. Imagine driving up to have a double cheeseburger with fries and having to hand the money to the person without being able to roll down your window. Not that I am ordering double cheeseburgers with fries, 'cause I am not allowed to eat that food anymore....SHHHH!

Saturday we spent the day being lazy, we got up leisurly, something those of you with kids will understand it's not past 8:00am and usually not very leisurly...ha ha. But we went to breakfast at IHOP where Tristan proceeded to spill the new blue lemonaide all over the table and narrowly missed spilling over onto Tree's lap. Then we headed to "downtown", one of Tristan's favorite places to go. If we could pack a lunch and spend every weekend at the Gateway playing in the fountain, he would be in 7th Heaven! On our adventures downtown, we always have the pleasure of finding a transient (or bumb if your politically incorrect). I have tried to teach Tristan that some people aren't as blessed as us and they don't have a house to live in, and they don't have jobs, so they live on the street or in shelters. I have also taught him that if they are "working" then the deserve our money, but if they are just begging, then we don't give them anything. So whenever he sees a street performer, whether it's the bagpipe guy, or the little band that sings in the restaurant area, he is all about giving them money. Well, Tristan has a tendency to see coins laying in the street, and he is saving up for our Disneyland trip this December, so on Saturday he had found two dimes. He was so excited to put them in the "Disneyland Money" bank but then as we were eating a guy that seemed not all there started playing (if I can use that term loosely) a trumpet, pretty much the same three notes the whole time he was there. WELL, Tristan being the sweet (and I use that term loosely...ha ha, just kidding) boy that he is asks me to walk with him, he takes my hand and walks forward toward the trumpet player. He reaches deep into his pocket and takes out one of his two dimes and places it into the mans trumpet case. The he turns and heads back to finish his pizza. What a cute little gesture.
Sunday we got up early to take Grandpa's fishin boat out onto the lake at East Canyon. By the time we got the motor running it was noon. We got to the lake, found Kyla and Becky's camp, said hi and then headed onto the lake. It was my first time backing a boat trailer down a ramp...boy was that an interesting feat. Patrice got out onto the trailer to push the boat off, threw Tristan into the boat and was going to wait for me after I parked the truck and trailer...when I got back I guess Tristan had had a complete come apart when the boat started floating and he was the only one in the boat...it was his first time and come to find out later that day, it was the "scariest part of the day". Almost everyday we have a "what was the best part of your day" conversation. It's one of my favorite things we do all day. :) My funnest part of that day was singing camp songs with Tristan, Alyssa, and Jackson. We had a blast...Tristan's new favorite song is the "baby shark" song...thanks Becky! :) So cute! Oh yeah, and I ended up falling into the lake that afternoon because Treec didn't know how to stop the boat and we rammed into the boat dock and then didn't have a rope to tie it off, so as I grabbed on the dock to hang on and the boat floated out from under me...I just ended up diving in, I only have a few bruises...ha ha ha. That day we got skunked fishing!

Monday we got up at 5:00am to get to Tree's dad's by between 5:30 and 6:00am. He was taking us in his little boat to Scofield to "TROLL". Talk about a fun fun fun time. It was fun to spend some time with Tree's dad. I am not counting on him sticking around, but I will be really grateful and so happy if this is just the beggining of the rest of their relationship. We caught 19 fish all together, and had a great time!

When do I get another holiday/vacation so I can rest and sleep in instead of having to Labor. :)

Okay, off to bed - remind me to talk to you about the "winds" that tore Patrice's trampoline apart.