These are a few of my favorite things

Bunny, Blankey, Cucumber...These are three of my favorite things...Brandy and Jeff think we're w.t., but we can't go to church without a 'tA-mone'...which is how Maxer says Cucumber. Sounds a lot like 'dA-mone', which is Grandma, but this is a critical difference! don't be alarmed, he'll eat that whole thing.

Swimming Lessons!

Max is taking his first session of Big Boy Swimming Lessons...We did a session of Mommy and Me a little earlier in the summer, but this is Max's first lesson by himself. He's done so awesome, though he cries the whole time. He floats on his back, turns around and reaches up for the side when he gets let go (as seen below) blows bubbles like a champ and kicks like crazy. He likes to monkey crawl along the pool edge. I'm hoping, soon, that he won't cry out my name the whole time, but nevertheless, he's doing so amazing, it's soooo fun to watch him learn! We've got a regular fish on our hands!

$64.11

Are you kidding?!?

Really, I realize that gas prices have been escalating for quite some time, but now it's just ri-gosh-darn-diculous!!! I filled up the gas tank today and it was $64.11...I feel bad for all of you out there that drive very large gas vacuums! Just thought I'd join the ranks to say HOLY COW! If you see me around town on my bike, don't tease me...I'll be getting a tan, and saving money all at the same time!

Sprinkles

Good friends are like stars...

you don't always see them, but you know they're always there.

I'm so lucky to have such amazing friends!!!

Boating!

Last weekend, my cousins Cody and Michele took Max and I out on their boat!! We had soooo much fun. I got to Air-chair...holy weird, and I water skiied for the first time since I was 10. It was a blast. Max was great on the boat, but when it was mommy's turn to get in the water, and mommy fell...he screamed...I think he was so scared that I got hurt, or that I wasn't going to come back up. Even now, when he sees a boat, he says: "wa-wa, uh-oh, down." That means mommy fell down in the water. It's so much fun to hear him talk, and hear what he's thinking and what he remembers. He's so smart. He blows my mind everyday! We also started swimming lessons today and we already learned a new skill!!! We can hang onto the edge and crawl around the pool. Unfortunately, Max is not afraid of the water...he's a little crazy as a matter of fact, so swimming lessons is a must, especially in AZ...yikes! There are a lot of good things about Arizona!
Max and Autie at Saguaro Lake...This is Max's turn

Memorial Day Weekend

Lucky Me!!! Jeff was home the Saturday before Memorial Day, and it just so happened that it was also my birthday, so we decided to have a few friends over for a little slip n slide party. Jeff made some honker burgers that were to-die-for, and we had some YUMMY sprinkles-look-a-likes made by T-dot(hee hee...I hope you laugh at that, T.) We broke out the slip n slide, the kiddie pool and some random large plastic toys and I think all the kids had a ball. It was so fun for me to get to hang out with some of my best friends, and to let Max play with some of his friends all at his house...we don't do that very much. Such a fun, care-free day, though it wasn't my birthday party, it was such a good birthday!

Stephenie Meyer

I'm so slow on getting the pictures I take off of my camera and onto my blog...but I really have been doing some fun things, so here is a battery of new posts...sorry about it!!! Fear not, I was able to go to the Tempe, Arizona book signing and Q and A session with non other than the our favorite author: Stephenie Meyer. My friend Shirley and I went together, and of course I sported my team edward shirt even though this was the release party for her latest book: The Host. Shirley and I have fun times!!! It was neat to get to see her in person, and hear her voice and hear her talk about the upcoming movie and books. With only reading for 10 minutes before I go to bed, I haven't finished the book yet, but I'm liking it so far.

Cutest Twin-kies!

I stole this picture from my sister's blog because I thought it was so cuuuuuute. Just remembering how much fun Maxer and I had in Texas! Such cute little twinners! Can't wait to see you guys again in August!

Texas

Autie and Max got to go to Texas for a couple of weeks, and we had such a whirlwind trip (meaning it went extremely fast as always), that it's hard to recalculate everything we did...we went to visit Max's new twin cousins Clara and Carter who are the stinkin' cutest and sweetest babies. Max adored both of them sooo much and couldn't get enough of saying hi to them. He also loved the doggy Abby a little too much. Now that we're home, I'm sure Abby doesn't miss Max! One of the first things we did was we went to a birthday party for Molly who was turning one. We surprised her mommy (who actually set Jeff and I up) by Max and I stopping in to her party...felt a little funny showing up un-invited to a birthday party, but it was no big deal, and the party was so fun for Max. It was a cowboy/western theme, so we got Max all dude-ed up in some cowboy boots and a hanky...here's my little wrangler. They had a feather hunt, and a boot-legged race and a fun pinata...and Autie's favorite: Cupcakes!!!! Max had never met Molly, so it was fun for them to play. She was so cute!! So glad we could come, meg! We'll see what becomes of their first little wagon ride. :) Just kidding. So fun to see My friend from BYU, even though it was only for a minute! We also got to see my cousin Sherry while we were down there and spend a little time with her. She spent part of her quick trip with Megan, and part of the time with us. The big event with Sherry was that we went to a favorite little shop called Sprinkles...They just got one in PHX, by-the-way, and Lisa and I stood in line for 45 minutes for our sweet treats, but they were soooo worth it...did you think, Lisa?? Anyway, back to TX, we went to Sprinkles, as is sort of a started tradition with Brandy and I and of course, I let Max have some...for all of you who think he never gets treats...I'm not a total witch...:) These pictures are of Sherry and Max...and Max and Autie at Sprinkles!!! Woo hoo!!!

It was hard to get out and about and do the things that Brandy and I were used to doing with three little guys who never slept at the same time, but we managed a few fun outings... We got to go out to eat to some fun places that we'd never been to like the Grand Luxe...is that what it's called? Where we had stinking yummy some kind of chicken (Sherry, Jeff, Brandy and I all ordered the exact same thing...that's weird, right?) And the Dowdles gave in to my hints that I REALLY wanted to eat at Texas Road house even though we have that here in AZ...I LOVE that place! After we were done eating at TX Roadhouse, Max and I went outside early because he was getting a little antsy and there were a couple of tractors outside. Max is crazy about tractors...and it just so happened that there was a guy out in his field moving his tractor around. When he noticed us standing there watching, I asked if Max could come inside the fence and look at his tractor up close (max calls them digdumps). The Farmer guy said of course, I'll give him a ride if he wants, and max just about jumped into his arms...a total stranger, but he was so excited to sit in that big digdump and swing the big barrel around...and of course he found the horn and was honking it. Jeff and Brandy came out of the restaraunt looking for us, and couldn't figure out where Max was and what all the honking was for. Soooo fun!!!

Max Loved to play with Jeff...my brother-in-law...Jeff Mousser wasn't able to come with us this trip. And I think Jeff D got a kick out of Max talking...all of his funny words that he randomly says...and his dancing to handy manny. I think the dowdles will be watching playhouse disney as a staple in their TV watching from now on...Jeff has a special love for Handy Manny and the Safety patrol. ha. Anywas, Max loved being with Jeff (fun that he started saying his name) and here's a picture of them hanging together, working in the yard. Jeff was showing him the June bugs and digging out big rocks, and max was helping dig..ha ha, and throwing the weeds away in the garbage can. Woo hoo! They had snakes in the garage and Jeff even caught a mouse while we were there, which was so fun for Max to see. Max wanted to keep running in and looking at the snakes. He knew he wasn't supposed to touch them, so he just ran over saying: sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss. He's so fun right now. Well, it turns out that I don't have as many fun pictures on my camera as I thought...Brandy has more on hers, but oh well. Anyways, Clara and Carter and Max...Cute Kids!! we can't wait to see our whole family in August for our family reunion. Probably a boring post for most people reading, but we had such a fun time in Texas... we always love going there, and can't wait to go back. thanks for letting us come, Dowdles, we love you!!!

Moonlight Madness!

Holy Amazing experience this weekend. mommy left Max for an overnight experience...and I had the opportunity to hike the Grand Canyon with my friend Tara and a bunch of people from our ward. Known as Club Ed, after the leader of the pack Ed Mcmullin, twice a year a herd of people from Tempe, hike various routes of the canyon. This was my first time seeing the Grand Canyon, let alone hiking it. The best part was that it was a full moon that night, so we hike out at night (sans the too-hot-sun). It was an amazing experience to say the least. The whole time we were hiking, all I could think was: I'm actually doing this. We started at about 2pm and hiked down the Bright Angel Trail. We ate dinner at the bottom at Phantom Ranch--we had steak and potatoes hauled down by Ed and his nephews and a few other studs. (don't be fooled, it was brats and pringles, but it tasted so stinking good)! ...I don't think I'd want to eat that cuisine any other place, the funny thing was that I was certainly craving a hot-dog-ish type thing the closer we got to the bottom. We started hiking back up at 7:30pm-ish, up the South Kaibab Trail, and finished a little before midnight. The moon was bright enough that you could see where you were going without a headlamp, though we rocked those things with pride. Tara and I and Mooker Bentz hiked together, calling ourselves Team Mooker, and we had such a fun time. We ran out of things to say on the way out...actually, probably not, just couldn't talk. It was a hard climb out, and a little chilly when we rested so we just had to keep on trucking. I could go on and on and on about how amazing the experience was, the views, the company and fun, but that would get boring. Thanks so much to Ed for taking us up, arranging our rides, car shuttles and food. I want to go again! Tara was such a fun hiking buddy! Love you T-money! This was up at the top...We weren't sure if this sign was a mirage and we really had 2 more miles to go, But we soon found the bench... and our ride...figured that we were done and were screaming at the top of our lungs. Such an amazing feeling to have accomplished that. Jeff needs to go next time...hee hee :)

The Wheels on the Bus

One of our latest adventures: riding the city bus!!! Lisa and mommy got a cra-z idea to walk out to the bus stop that's close to Rylee's house and ride the bus down to Max's house, get off, and walk back. So, here we are waiting for the bus. The snacks were not coming fast enough, but as soon as we piled into the bus, max was in a daze. We sat in one of those sideways seats, right in front of the back doors and we could see the street whizzing by as the bus driver drove. HOLY COW! We couldn't get him to look at the camera for a picture, or to stop wiggling...so these were the best we could get. Rylee was great, and actually, the bus ride was way better than I imagined, I thought maxer would be all over the place, but he pretty much stayed in his seat the whole time. So, the Pregnant Lady (Lisa) and I walked we figure about three miles back (especially considering we had to turn around to find max's misplaced shoe). We had such a fun time! PS...doesn't max look cute in pink?!?

Max Heart Rylee

Hugs...
So fun, everytime we tell Max that we're going to Rylee's house, he can tell you what he will see on his way there...Eieio (A barn) Church, Steeple (On the Church) and Truck (Rylee's Truck). He get's so freaking excited to see her, and I think Rylee gets the same way. When we're standing at the front door, waiting for Rylee to open sesame, we've told him numerous times, give Rylee a hug when you see her, or Are you going to give Rylee a kiss??? Bada bing bada boom...he totally loves her and loves to give her hugs and kisses. i was lucky enough to catch such a one. Aren't they so stinkin' cute??? We love to play with Rylee!

Pebbles 'n Bam Bam

Check out this action shot...what an athlete! (he gets it from his mom... hee hee). Daddy seems to think that mommy has absolutely no athletic ability whatsoever, so that was just a little plug to defend myself. I'm athletic! Anyways...We've had so much fun the last few weeks, and, so sad, I'm so addicted to watching Lost (on DVD) that I can't seem to find the time to download pictures or update my bloglet. Max and Rylee, aka Pebbles and Bam bam, have had so much fun already in the pool. We put the slide in the baby pool and holy fun!!! They love to play together which is great for mommy and Lisa!

Some Fun Things...

First of all, last week, something quite fundamental occured. I was going about my day as usual, and was on my way to Sonic to get my usual DC +V, route 44 style, of course, and to get Max his usual Water on the Rocks...My Favorite, Megan, handed me our drinks and I pulled up to the gargage can to toss in the straw wrappers. While I was there, there was no one behind me in the drive-thru, so I whipped out my handy-dandy permanent marker to write my name on the cup. YOu might think I'm weird that I go to Sonic everyday...but there are others. Don't be alarmed. Anyways, so I usually write autie or ae because that's what I'm used to, but something crazy happened...I wrote: "mom." Ha! Obviously, I've been a mom for a while now...it's not a new thing...and I do refer to myself as mommy on a regular basis...but that was the first time that I had written it down, without thinking about it, in reference to who I am...so everyone else would know whos drink it was. CRA-Z...
Secondly, I got my hair cut on Saturay...I have an amazing friend who cuts a mean hair cut. She's rad! If you couldn't tell from my sick-nasty hair on Easter Sunday (hence the raunchy picture) I was in desperate need...So, maybe one day someone else will be holding the camera, and I can post a picture of me with my new short hair: so fun!
Third...We went to the park with Max's friend Rylee today to feed the ducks and play on the toys and Max got his first skinned knee. So fun! A milestone for a little boy like a first black eye (check--he got in a fight with the red gingham chair at grandma mousser's) or the first time he wipes his muddy hands either on his shirt, or Mine...(check). I tried to take a picture, but alas, I have a wiggle-y one, so they all turned out blurry, and now you have a post with no picture. Sorry 'bout it...

Em-Aa-Ex (Max)

I just can't get enough of his sweet face...

Happy Easter!

We had an easter extravaganza this last weekend!!! Holy Cow, we started off with the ward easter egg hunt: Max's first official hunt. The nursery kids got to go first, and thank goodness. We put him down with directions to be aggressive. We said Ready, he said "dough" (which means go) and he was off. He passed a dozen eggs or so before he stopped to pick up one of his favorite color: pink. Then passed several more dozen before he found a blue one. After that, it was oh, look, mommy's chasing me, let's run! But he was so cute, and daddy was able to be with us for that one. Daddy headed off to scout, scout, scout, so Max and Mommy drove down to our beloved Maricopa (We really do miss it) where our friend Tara had an Easter Carnival for several friends. We had a picnic, an egg hunt, snow cones, waterbaloon volleyball, bean bag toss and smack kirk in the head with a wet sponge. Max was a little bit more competitive with this egg hunt, but we'll have to practice hunting for next year. His favorite was waterballoon volleyball which we'll have to play for his birthday party this year. It was an absolute ball!!!! Holy Saturday!!! So the Easter bunny came that night and dropped off some fun books and goodies for Max, we went to Church as usual and then had Egg hunt number 3 with cousins and Grandma. Max has so much fun with his cousins! They are all so fun with him, and it's nice to not have to worry so much about what he's doing all the time because he's constantly being entertained. It was a non-stop party, but we hope that we were still able to remember the reason that we celebrate Easter every year, and we are forever grateful for the sacrifice of our Savior. Happy Easter, Everyone!

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!

I'm so excited because I have been waiting for this time for an entire year... Christmas in Arizona is not the best...but when the orange blossoms come out, it's absolute heaven. Every time you go outside, you feel like you're in hawaii!!! It is the most amazing smell, and if it is ever replicated into a candle, or room spray, I must be the first to know! I could smell this smell all day, every day for the rest of my life. I LOVE it!!

Any one wanna come over and smell?

YUM

SoO fUnnY!

Just a quickie for right now, but Max and I had so much fun the other day, that I wanted to post a picture of him real fast. His new fav is Monster Trucks (RaAaHh!) and Daddy took him to the mall on Wednesday night while mommy was at Young Women's and got him a new truck of his choosing. He LOVES the dang thing, and it's so fun! It's a total monster because it actually crawls over things after you push it. Whatever. So we were outside playing and I started chasing Maxer and stopping right in front of him and when he laughs so hard nothing else can function. He stops dead in his tracks (as his doing here) and hardly makes a noise. His little rabbit teeth craaaaack me up, and his laugh makes me sooo happy. He's such a fun little guy to be around! We love to laugh!

(not-so) March Madness

The past couple of weeks, mommy and max have gone on a bazillion bike rides. Daddy came one time, Gage and Carter Robbins a couple of times and Shirley goes with us a lot! We mostly just cruise around the neighborhood looking at houses and finding cactus (poke-poke-poke…owwwww!) and airplanes. If we are really lucky we get to see trucks…and helicopters! Max loves to play at Kiwanis Park at the big covered playground, and feeding the ducks at the lake. We got to go to the gymnastics play gym with Rylee and Reece and Gage and some other fun friends…and Storytime at the library has become exceptionally fun as we know like 4 songs now! A list of Max's new words are Nasty (compliments of Lisa and Rylee…so fun!) Mouse, Stinky, Bike, Birdie, Milk (without signing) please and thank you…also without signing…and if you ask him if he can say something, if he is in the mood, he'll try it…so cute! Max calls Sharks: "nu-nuh" You know, like the jaws theme…and then screams: Ahhhh, afterwards. His favorite foods are Cucumbers, Bananas, Apples, Marshmellows, Pancakes (mommy's boy) and Pink Milk is the preferred drink when mommy is feeling extra nice! We got to see Grama Boo Boo this week and max had the stinkin' funnest time crawling around in the dirt and rocks at her house…and he ate half a bag of frozen peas. HOLY! Boo boo would go back in the house to fix something with dinner, and he'd yell: "Where's that Boo boo!" He's been a little bit of a turkey the last few days: testing mommy's limits is a really fun game, especially when he can lay on the ground and scream and kick when he doesn't get his way. Oh my, hope he's teething or something crazy and that this will pass…or else! But even so, he is our favorite!

Max got a haircut Sunday…so sad, so long spikes…for now. He's still cute, don't worry! We made it through with a blue sucker and the promise of a tubby right after. Haircuts are not Max's favorite thing.

We also got to go horse-back riding this week. Mommy's friend Taras dad has horses out in Queen Creek: Max, Ruby and Brownie. Max got to ride all three of them. Max and his friends took turns riding around the pasture. Max went a couple of times with mommy and a couple of times all by himself: with mommy holding onto his leg from the ground. He loved it!! Best thing, though was a big old tractor…he couldn't get enough of it. Anyway, hopefully we get to go again soon! So fun! We also got to see Great Aunt Bette at Booboos house. Max was a little crazy because we'd just been riding horses and it was close to bed time, so he wasn't on his best behavior, but at least we got to see her. Everyone in our house had the flu this weekend…ahhhhhh! Started with Grandpa, Grandma and Max…then Daddy…then Mommy. Luckily it was staggered, but still no fun…we lysoled everything, so we should be non-contagious…ewww! We hate being sick!Max loves these dumb little movies from wal-mart about trucks. We have two of them with three different shows: Stinky, Raaaah and Ho-Honk!!! Translation: Garbage Trucks, Monster Trucks and Big Rig Trucks…I am so sick of the darn things, I keep telling Max that I don't know where they are. My saving grace is "Baby" The baby mormon movie that Brandy gave max…phew!!! Its fun to watch that one with him because he says everything that he knows when it comes on the screen…all the colors, birdies, sharks, kittys…he counts when they count. SO fun! Anyway, that's the lastest and greatest…ttfn.

SkIrtS

Hey...my VIP, Tara and I had a sewing extravaganza last week and these stinking cute skirts are the product of our genious! With the help of Cheryl, tara and I are on a roll! These are the four that I've made so far...I'm so excited! They had little ties that coordinate and the ruffles are so fun! Anyway, I think Tara's going to start selling them...so this is just to make your mouths start watering! Way fun, get excited! Let me know what you think!!!