Mini Heart attack!

This morning began like any other day at work. I started working on some AM (morning delivery) orders... and then began working my way through designing some arrangements to display in the cooler. I made some really beautiful $100 arrangements like the one below:

Carol, the manager at my work, asked if I would design some amazing and unusual arrangements for the cooler since our big re-opening is tomorrow. I agreed to started working on them as soon as I finished my orders for that day.

I worked diligently, seeing as how I was only going to be working until noon. I was just about finished with my last arrangement for the cooler when a lady bought one of the ones I had already done earlier that morning. She was so pleased and it made me really happy. After receiving the great praise, I was satisfied with the final arrangement I was working on and placed it in the cooler. I told all the other ladies I work with I'd see them all tomorrow.

I was at a stop light and decided I'd call Tyler to let him know I was on my way home. It was shortly after I hung up my phone that I reached over to the passenger seat to grab my jacket to put my wedding rings back on. -- I don't wear them for work because my hands get pretty dirty and I don't want to gum up my pretty wedding ring.-- I was careful to keep my eyes on the road and pulled over the jacket, putting my hand inside the pocket where I zipped them up for safety. I felt around inside the pocket and slowly realized it was empty. CRAP! was my immediate thought, I've lost them. Now just to fill you in on the reality of my situation, the floors at my work are gravel, and it's nearly IMPOSSIBLE to find a small white gold wedding ring in gravel. I KNOW, because two summer's ago when I worked at the same place lost my wedding ring. Luckily two years ago I got lucky and someone happened to see them while we were searching. This time I knew I wouldn't be so lucky. So now that you understand I was looking for a needle in a haystack, I'll continue...

I calmly called my work and asked someone to look at my station to see if they could find/ see my wedding rings. They put me on hold and then got back online to say they didn't. At that moment I felt my heart sink. I pulled the car off on a side road, at which point I was half way home. I thanked the lady and told her I'd come back to look for them some more. When I hung up I called Tyler back to tell him I had to go back to work because I couldn't find my rings. He told me good luck and was reassuring that they would turn up. I on the other hand, was not feeling an certainty of peace. I quickly and quietly said a prayer that I'd find my rings. I normally would feel stupid about praying to find something material, but my wedding rings are so much more special to me because of what they represent- our commitment to each other for eternity.

On the drive back to work I turned off the radio and drove in silence, hoping to feel some inner reassurance that things would be okay. I can't honestly say that I felt anything... at least not right away. When I got to work I explained to everyone there what my rings looked like and even gave a description of them to the retail ladies IN CASE someone turned them in. This is what the scribbled description looked like:

Three separate bands, the odds of finding all of them were less than likely, but on the other hand the odds of finding one was better. Although I thought the chances of someone finding them would be slim, I hoped that if someone had that they would have the morals to turn them in to lost and found. Nonetheless, I searched... for an hour, turning over every piece of gravel, retracing my steps, digging into buckets of flowers in hopes that maybe they josseled loose out of jacket while I was working, I even wrote down all the numbers of people's arrangements I did in case they fell into a bouquet that was delivered. I was relentless in my search for my precious rings and despite having the outward calm and optimistic appearance, I was a wreck on the inside. I could feel my hopes sinking lower and lower towards despair. I thought: 'This is it, they're gone. I will never see them again. There's a couple thousand dollars... gone.' I walked to my car and sat in the drivers seat and called Tyler. He answered and I was all but in tears when he said 'hello'. I told him I couldn't find them and I looked everywhere. I said, They're lost! I felt so horrible and do you know what my husband said in reply? "Kati, it's okay. It's just a ring. You're still married to me. I love you. This made me feel slightly relieved, but still horrible that I lost them. I agreed with him over the phone that I'd come home and we could go back together to look so more before giving up completely.

I bawled on the way home and tried to take lots of deep breaths as to not get into a car accident. When I walked through the door Tyler hugged me and told me how much he loved me and that it was really okay. That just made me cry harder and them eventually I calmed down again. After Tyler and Quincy finished getting dressed we got into the car and drove back to work again. While we were in the car I choked back tears and Tyler squeezed my hand for comfort. He told me not to give up that we might find them. I replied, "Well I think we need a miracle." We arrived and I retraced my steps with Tyler and he remained quiet and calm as we searched. I even showed him inside my jacket pocket where I put them feeling inside the lining and looking again, for the 5th time. I was searching through a large arrangement in the cooler when Tyler said, "Kati." I looked up in hopes that he might have good news. He was reaching his hand in my jacket pocket and had a slight smile on his face. He had found them. They were underneath the zipper.

Now, I know that some of you reading are thinking, DUH, you couldn't find them right there in your pocket, but NO. They WEREN'T in there. I swear. Tyler's a little notorious for not being able to find things right in front of his face, but not me. Plus I searched those pockets thoroughly before going back to work, and then again when I got back in front of Carol. I guess I can never really say for certainty, but I believe that Heavenly Father heard and answered my prayers for a small miracle. I know that he looks out for me and loves me so much he gave me my rings back. :)


What I learned today is that I will NEVER wear my wedding ring to work again.

Hey Good Lookin....

.....What'cha got cookin?

I think I've already told you all, but Quincy LOVES to be in the kitchen, not JUST IN the kitchen but up on counter 'HELPING'. He's never content just sitting there, he has to be able to see what we are doing and likes to do the same. So as you can imagine, who had the first hand go up to help Tyler make breakfast.......Quincy.

He's pretty cute though.... he looks so intent on doing just what dad does.

Our Little GQ

On Monday I had had enough of Quincy's wardrobe, or rather the lack thereof. He had practically grown out of everything he owned. So I went through his clothes and washed, folded and pressed the things which I knew Other Mother's (the baby/mother consignment shop) would take. After everything was all packed ready to go my boys went with me on yet another shopping adventure. They were such good sports. While I went through every rack in Quincy's size, 12-24 months, and picked out the things which Quincy was in need of. Tyler was a great support in entertaining Quincy while I dug and searched. He also gave some great opinions on things.

After we had gone through each rack, there were probably 4 or 5 stuffed full of some great finds, we had the task of trying them on to see how much room he had to grow. All in all, this was quite the process, as Quincy would have much rather have played with the kids in the "play section". After about an hour's worth of work we found some really great fall/ winter items. He has plenty of long sleeve shirts; he looks like the quite the little man in them. They all pull over, which I think will be nice as we venture closer and closer to potty training
(yay? yikes!). He also got another pair of great jeans, which looked brand new from GAP, they are 18-24 months, so they're big but he can wear them with shoes, plus he's just so darn handsome in them! He got a church sweater vest and a cute button up shirt for church too. And lastly, we found a brand new hoodie sweatshirt and some zip up sweaters. He looks adorable in everything. I told Tyler before he was born that my little boy was going to well dressed, not running around in Incredible Hulk T shirts and Batman shoes. I know, there will come a day when I don't have a say, which is precisely why I'm taking advantage of the fact that he doesn't 'say' anything yet.

I have to say, Tyler was feeling ambitious because he was really persistent about getting Quincy some new shoes. We looked at Other Mother's while we were there but they didn't have anything in his size. We searched at Wal*Mart, Payless Shoes, Old Navy, Babies R' Us. and then finally Tyler decided he wanted to look at the footlocker outlet. It was pretty out of the way, but he thought that we should go there first before hitting up the mall. Well, after driving ALL the way out there we found out there the Footlocker Outlet was GONE! OH NO!!!! We were pretty shocked and sad to say the least, not mention that gas we used to drive out there. ....Like hello, they should have called us personally to tell us they were going extinct! The nerve! :o)

But in all seriousness, it was a let down. We did however remember there was an OshKosh Outlet there and since we drove all that way we decided we should at least look. We went in and finally achieved victory! We found some great sturdy, versatile church- play shoes, that are still big enough for growing room. Plus they were 40% off AND the only pair in the size we needed. Don't you just love days like that where things work out after many fails?

So here are some pictures of a couple of his new outfits:


I like the picture of him and me where he's actually SMILING! It never happens. He's like a pre-teen. Always grouchy and awfully stubborn. I guess it makes sense cuz he's pre-toddler!

Here are those shoes we got. They're pretty manly eh?

And this shirt actually came from Kent and Teesy last Christmas and it's JUST fitting him. Good thing since it'll be getting colder soon. On a side note, Quincy pushed this empty laundry basket around all day. He loved being in it and 'hiding' in it. What a funny kid!

Tagged!

3 Favorite last Purchases:
1. White Blouse from Banana Republic
2. Groceries - I love full cupboards and a refrigerator
3. New clothes for Quincy- he looks like a little man!

3 Favorite Movies:
1. Mean Girls
2. My Best Friend's Wedding
3. Mr. Brooks

3 Things I haven't done yet:
1. Traveled outside the USA, or off the West coast, hopefully someday!
2. Taken the initiative to get my own business up and running full speed... this will happen sooner than later... as I'm determined to get it established.
3. Today, showered.... I know it's 1:30 in the afternoon, and I have every intention of getting around to it. I've just been cleaning. Don't worry I brushed my teeth at least!

3 Things I cannot Live Without:
1. Family, lately Tyler and Quincy, but immediate family also.
2. Chocolate!
3. LOVE. Tyler knows more than anyone else how much I need to be loved.

3 Favorite food Dishes:
1. I like Chinese/ Stir fry
2. Pizza is an all time favorite
3. A really good pasta salad or green salad with all the works (vegetables)

3 Favorite TV Shows:
1. So my scandalous shows I've been recently following are 90210 and Gossip Girl
2. Though this new season brings my old favs. Heroes, Chuck, and a new show Fringe
3. If I had cable though I would be stuck on What Not to Wear and Divine Design. I guess that was more than three.... but so what? :)

3 Last places I traveled:
1. Hmmmm.... I haven't been out of town for about 4 or five months and lastly it was Vancouver, WA. to see the best parents, and grandparents, ever.
2. A week ago I was in Fruitland to see Quincy's other grandparents.
3. And locally I was just in Wal*Mart and the OshKosk Outlet.

3 Favorite Desserts:
1. Ice cream, Bunny Tracks
2. Cheesecake or Dairy Queen Ice cream cake
3. Pretty much any chocolate, but in Candy bar form Twix.

3 Things I would Buy if money weren't an issue:
1. A two story beige house with black shutter details/door, and white trim. It would have a huge nicely landscaped yard with lots of cut flowers and colorful shrubs and trees and also include a large garden space. It would be fully furnished with modern interior design done by some trendy/ chic designer and all to suit my taste.All the rooms would be glamours and classic , yet functional for our family and practical for kids. And the best part of it would be a complimentary maid who cleaned the Kitchen and Bathroom for me-- I hate those two rooms for cleaning.
2. A brand new AUDI, four door car, black leather interior and... well I don't really care what color paint on the outside. Probably black also. It would have really nice shiny rims though.
3. A private jet to fly wherever we wanted for free!

3 wishes:
1. That money grew on trees-- and we had acres full of trees-- don't worry I'd put it all to good use.
2. That every time I got pregnant my body would better than it did before I was pregnant. It seems to always be the other way around in real life, which is discouraging to me. Wouldn't it be great if you just kept getting better looking. I'd have a million kids! ;)
3. That I could see myself and others through Gods eyes.

3 People I tag:
1. Katie Stacey
2. Heather
3. Kelly

My BOY!

Every now and then I get a few moments when Quincy isn't screaming at me for attention or running away. I try to enjoy those brief moments with him as much as possible.


As you can see though... the happy snuggling moments don't last very long.

You, You, You, You, You, You, YOU.....

.....I wanna talk about me! So I guess if you haven't heard that country song you're probably pretty confused right now.

Anyways.

I've been busy lately... working, being a mom, and of course being an amazing wife! :) I just thought I'd post a blog about the work I did this weekend. I spent an entire DAY of work designing wrist corsages and boutonnieres for a homecoming dance! It was fun, but challenging since most of the orders had special color requests and flower preferences. It was really fun to brush up on my basic skills though. It's been so long since I'd done anything that basic. I spend most of my days at work completing orders for $60-120 arrangements. I love having the flexibility at work to switch between wedding work and everyday stuff. I'm getting lots of practice and knowledge that will go to good use for running my own business from home.

Now if only I could get a better camera to take some higher quality pictures for my personal portfolio.

Oh... and as a side note, I was pleased to return to work and find a note from a lady who's bouquet I designed for her 91st birthday who couldn't praise my design enough. She told my fellow co worker that she would love to talk to me because she was thoroughly impressed with my work. It was nice to hear something like that. I should keep her as a reference :o) Although, at 91 years of age, I don't know how long I could keep her as one. Not to be disrespectful. I was just happy to hear that someone really liked what I did. It's always nice have clients praise what a good job you did. I usually get a few of really great compliments on my designs, but every now and then there's that angry customer who HATES what you did because you used a flower they can't stand and failed to inform you about.

****Sigh*****

Such is life though.

It's Mario Bartelli and Bobby Flay!

So since you all know that I've become the new Rachel Ray, I just thought I'd inform you all that we have some new chefs in our home: Mr. Mario and little Jr. Bobby Flay. Quincy has more recently discovered a love for 'helping' in the kitchen. He gets so mad when we are in there cooking or baking and he's too little to see what's going on. He yelps, whines, grunts, and cries until someone will pick him up and plop him on the counter so he can be part of the action. Quincy will sit there happily on the counter watching everything, not saying one peep. His favorite part though is getting the "leftovers" from the cooking extravaganza.... like when I made these chocolate peanut butter squares, he and Tyler got to lick the spoons. I couldn't help but laugh looking at these two. Quincy looks just like his dad! They were both in ecstasy licking up the yummy peanut butter mixture. They might not be the real help I'd like in the kitchen all the time, but they sure make me laugh!



I don't think my boys could have any more fun than baking in the kitchen with me!

Mr. Snuggles!

I have to say, Quincy is all boy, which Tyler is quite grateful for-- no sudden desires to play with barbies, put on mom's clothes, wear makeup, or that sort of thing. However, despite being ALL boy, he does have moments where he shows a more gentle, sweet, and caring disposition. He has recently learned how to take his stuffed animal bears off a small table in his room and is quite proud about it. We call all of them "Mr. Bear".........and so he packs Mr. Bear all over the house. He even gives Mr. Bear hugs and kisses. It's pretty cute. Quincy is quite the little snuggle bear!

Farewell Summer!

The weather is finally starting to cool down into fall weather. I suppose it's about time, since I think tomorrow is officially the first day of fall. I decided that Quincy should have one last "swim".... we filled up our bath tub and I put him in his swim trunks and got all his bath toys and his beach ball and let him just have at it. He was havig fun at first, but was mad that I had the camera in there and was taking pictures, as you'll notice his face in the shots below.

He looks like he's saying: "Mom, STOP TAKING PICTURES AND PLAY WITH ME!"

This ugly face proceeds throughout all of these. I miss those days where he did nothing but look at the camera and smile in delight. It was fun while it lasted I guess....

Annual BSU Football Game:

Tyler and his old roommate, Matt, are making quite the tradition. Last year Matt flew from California to Boise to go to a BSU football game. He flew in Friday night and left Sunday afternoon. They had lots of fun last year and decided to do it again. Here we are a year later and are making it quite the tradition. It looks like Tyler will have one weekend full of sports to look forward to with his friend Matt each year.

This year I got to go, because we left Quincy with Tyler's parents, much better than sitting at home while your husband and his friend have a great time. Kent and Teesy picked up Quincy Saturday around noon, so that left the three of us with a day wide open! Our first mission was to find some cheap orange shirts since it was an "orange out" game. Seeing as how our seats were on the 40 yard line in the front row, we figured we should sport some BSU colors-- preferably orange for this particular game. After we found our orange shirts-- I like mine best-- we decided we should figure out where we were going to have our late lunch. Tyler suggested a couple of sports grills where he thought they would have TV's, so they could watch the BYU/UCLA game. We ended up going to a grill called the Ram. Here's what it looked like from the outside:

Before we even got in the restaurant this is what we saw lining the spaces in the parking lot:

It's like you're not a real Boise resident if you don't have your flags up for the BSU games. I guess in that case we don't make the cut for die hard fans! On our way over to the Ram, Matt proposed calling our friend Bridget, she also went to school at BYU-I, and having her join us for lunch/ dinner. Luckily Bridget agreed to join us, which meant I wasn't the only girl and had someone to talk to about things not regarding sports. Bridget, YOU WERE A LIFESAVER!

After we stuffed ourselves full of yummy sports-grill-type food, which Matt treated us to-- THANKS MATT!-- we headed over to the game. Alas, Bridget didn't have a ticket, so we had to say our goodbyes and she left on her scooter. Lucky for us though, the Ram is only about two blocks away from the stadium, so we left our car parked there and walked right over. We leisurely took our time walking around, since it was only about 4:00 and the game didn't start until 6:00. There were SO many tailgaters, with the complete works set up, grills, BBQ's, digital TV's, radios, couches etc. It was pretty crazy, how some fans really get into it. We made our way to the practice stadium and I was so glad because I got to watch this:

The cheerleaders and spirit/ dance/ pom (whatever you want to call them) squad performed some short routines and dances. It was really fun. The band was also in there practicing and they played a couple of songs while the cheerleaders danced. It was awesome! It reminded me of the good ole' days cheering in high school. I loved football season! I love hearing the band play really loud, the crowds in the stadium cheering, I loved being right down on there next to the football players, I loved pre-half time jitters when we were about to go out for the halftime show, I loved bundling up in our fleece jackets when it got cold, and I loved cheering on the winning team! As you can tell, watching the BSU cheerleaders was lots of fun for me, because it brought back a lot of great memories. In fact part of me wishes I had gone to a college which offered competitive cheerleading, for which my coach assured me she would write a letter of recommendation. But sadly, my days of cheerleading are gone, and I've been faced with the reality that I'll just be another spectator in the crowd of other fans. *sigh*

As much as I dislike watching sports on TV, I make up for it when going to a game in person. I love that there is so much to see and hear-- other than sports commentators. The stadium was PACKED! The crowd was so loud, and it was fun to be under the lights and feel the intensity.

It was a great weather for a game, as you can see in this picture:

And the weather cooperated even later into the evening and night. We were comfortable in our jeans and T-shirts... and had a great view of the game and the moon! Sorry this picture is blurry, it was more complicated to try and get a shot with the stadium lights and it being dark skies.... my flash wouldn't cooperate.

All in all it was a great weekend. Tyler had fun, Matt had fun, I had some fun mixed in there, and of course... Quincy had fun.

Until Next year!

Family Outing!

Yesterday we went to the Nature Center in down town Boise. I will give Tyler 100% credit for thinking up the idea and planning our family outing. He gets good ideas every now and then. :)

We first went into the visitors center which had lots displays and media information about various types of animals. Here Quincy is looking at all the different types of ducks. I think he was mildly confused as to whether they were real of not.

There was lots of information about the animals:

Then we got to the cool part with live stuffed bears, mooses, wolves, etc.

I asked Quincy what he thought this animal was, referring to the bear. He's so funny. He was very thoughtful and then after a great amount of contemplating the question he clearly answered, "Dog" and pointed to the bear. To Quincy everything is dog. He doesn't know how to say other animal names, well sometimes he'll say "tat" for cat, so every kind of animal is a "dog".
Despite not knowing how to say other animal names, he is very smart about telling us when he sees a dog on TV, in a book, from the car, in our neghborhood etc. He even tells us when he can hear a dog! We'll work on the other animals names.

I thought this was mildly creepy and obviously Quincy did too. It had a sign that said: "Crawl into the Bear's den". It was this mock bears den with a stuffed bear carcass laying over the top. I thought it was gross and if I was a kid, I definitely wouldn't be crawling inside to see what other creepy things were in store!

Some more "dogs" -- what some of us like to call wolfs.

A big cat

After our fun learning adventure in the visitor center we went outside for a nature walk. We saw lots of pretty trees and since we forgot our stroller at home, Quincy got to do lots of walking also. It made our family outing a little longer because he wanted to do it himself, without holding our hands, and go at his own pace.... slow.

There were lots of man made streams and ponds with fish in them. They had cut outs in the cement walls that lined the streams so you could see the fish through the glass. I thought that was pretty neat.

Towards the end of our nature walk Quincy found a flower for mom.

We even saw a pretty pond with lily pads in it, not like the gross ones that are all molding together and swampy looking like you find in various lakes in Washington. Though this "pond" was man made.

We had such a fun time exploring and it was fun to watch Quincy fascinated by all the different animals. We are so glad that Tyler took us on a fun family adventure. Besides being together as a family the whole time, the best part was that it was FREE!

I'm sure we'll visit again, especially as Quincy gets older!