Ashton, Spring Break, and a Puppy Rescue

I have been slow to post things recently. But we have done a few things worth mentioning.  Let me start with Ashton!

Ashton turned 7 on March 29th. This year we made him a chocolate mousse strawberry cake with cream on top. Not the traditional birthday cake, but he loved it! He also asked for chocolate dipped strawberries on the side. Being the awesome mom that I am, I of course delivered. He loved all his presents! But he was particularly excited about the watch we gave him which pleased both Curtis and I since we spent a good month looking for the perfect analog wrist watch. Also, Ashton promised to take off his training wheels after his birthday. When we took them off he just rode off like he had been riding a bike for years! He was riding off curbs, on the grass, and on gravel like a pro. We were so proud of him. Ashton has grown up so much this year. I can not believe my little Ashton is so big! We love him very much.

Ashton was pretty pleased with his loot!

Tower of presents. And this was not even all of them!!

Wow! My own watch! Its got indiglo!

This last week was spring break. Because Curtis is taking an advanced EMT course we were not able to go anywhere. So we did the staycation thing and planned out each day with something fun to do. Some of the things we did included visiting Mom's old workplace at Timpanogos Cave National Monument, hanging out with friends, going to the park, and visiting the Aviary in Salt Lake. We had never been to the Aviary and I was pleasantly surprised.  They have a lot of neat birds to observe. We even got to see a bird show where the birds were just inches from our feet. It was a lot of fun, and I would recommend it to any family or bird lover. The kids also got to go off with Grandma Dudley to Thanksgiving point to visit the dinosaur museum and the animal farm. On Saturday we were going to hang out with a dear friend of mine, but Ashton ended up having severe abdominal pains and throwing up. So Spring break ended with our family getting sick yet again.

We did not take too many pictures because I forgot the camera but here are a few of the aviary visit.

Curtis always takes pictures of Bald Eagles. Its his favorite bird.

 In addition while we were playing, Curtis was in the garage half the time putting a new lift on the Cruiser. It turned out taller than we wanted... at this point we are not sure if we are going to lower it or simply put larger wheels and tires on it and call it good. Time will tell.

Before

After

After

And finally, this last week Curtis was called out on a rescue where a dog and his owner were ledged out on two different ledges.  Curtis got to fly up on a helicopter to the top of the cliff, rappel down 100 feet to reach the dog, harness the dog and rappel the dog down another 80 feet. Then Curtis put a leash on the lab and walked him down a scree slope for another hour and half. This really made me smile since although my husband tolerates dogs, he really does not like them all that much. Too many bad experiences I suppose. But in saving this dog from the cliff's edge I believe that he softened up and actually started to like this little dog more than he will admit. Which means that maybe one day he will be a dog owner after all:)

Curtis before he started his rappel. He had to hurry before he lost all his light. Such a handsome guy.

You can see where the dog is stuck. From the middle, he is slightly down and to the left.

If you look closely you can see a black lab just below Curtis's legs.

Close Up

Giddy for March

 March! March has become one of my most favorite months of the year.

With March comes little green people, four leaf clovers and a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Have I ever told you I love Shamrocks? Well I do. My friend Sarah Farnsworth gave me my first Shamrock while in college, and ever since then I have been in love with the plant. Saint Patricks Day has become one of my most favorite holidays because greenhouses sell Shamrocks this time of year! And with Shamrocks comes luck! And March has truly been a lucky month for me. I married Curtis in March! How much luckier could a girl get?

Curtis and I got married on March 20th. Which was the first day of spring! And with spring comes daffodils! Daffodils are absolutely my most favorite flower in the world. Why? Because when I was 9 and 11 years old I lived in a quaint little town in Oregon called Albany. And on my property grew hundreds and hundreds of daffodils all up and down the hillside. I would lay there on the grassy hill with my cat, and close my eyes and smell those daffodils and life was good. Daffodils make me smile. And they are yellow! And yellow was my favorite color all throughout high school till I claimed no preference for any color because all colors are beautiful in their own unique way.

March is a tease. It uses the feeling of spring flirting with you incessantly making you think that winter has finally left. But then it snows on you! Yep a tease. Reminds me of... well me. Maybe that is why I love March so much! Because I relate to it as much as a human can relate to a time of year. I love March.

PS If you ever want to give me flowers, Shamrocks and Daffodils are always welcome. Preferably not cut of course. Anyone who knows me knows I prefer potted plants. Does that make me even more complicated than most woman? If so, I apologize.

Shamrock Leaf. Shamrocks can also be purple!

Shamrock Flower. Flowers can also be pink! Love the Shamrock Flower.

This smell is pure bliss. I thank God every spring that I have no allergies.

While The Children Are Away

While the Children are away, the parents will play, and Becky will miss them more than you can understand. That is right folks, Curtis and I went on a cruise without our children and we were gone for 9 days. We visited  Roatan in Honduras, Belize, and Cozumel, Mexico. The weather was perfect at all three ports, our excursions were all well chosen, and our time together was precious. I did however miss my kids and was relieved to get back to them at the end of our adventures. We had a mishap getting home which detained us in Houston for 24 more hours but other than that things went very smoothly. Although I need to warn everyone that Frontier Airlines is not a customer friendly way to travel and if you can avoid them I would urge you to do so.

I will not go into detail about the entire cruise, I will however post some pictures with captions for your enjoyment.

Roatan, Honduras 

As always Curtis starts his day with 2 chocolate Milks. This was of course followed by another 2-4 chocolate milks for every dinner:)

Standing in front of our ship.

We ported in Mahogany Bay. I spent more money here than I have spent in our entire marriage!

Getting ready to dive near Anthony's Key. We had our picture taken by another diver and gave him our email, we are hoping to get actual dive pictures soon.

After dive. Hair doing its own thing as it always does but isn't it gorgeous there! I think we may have to go back one day.

No he is not compensating for anything:)

We were pretty tired after today so we hung out in the room. Curtis watched Iron Man 3 times during this cruise ha ha.

 Belize

Curtis and I on a river boat

A short clip of the river boat ride. They would stop whenever we came near a fisherman to be polite.

There was a spider money in a tree near the river. I had a candy bar and the monkey came out of the tree in hopes I would share. I shared:)

First ruin we saw in Lamanai. This one was not as tall as the others.

At the top of one of the Mayan ruins.

This one was scary for me to climb. It made me very nervous because the steps got pretty narrow toward the top. Curtis however climbed it without even using the rope they provided.

On my way up

View of the jungle from the largest ruin in the Lamanai area. You could hear the Howler monkeys call from here.

Curtis climbing the last ruin. This one was not as tall as the last one. Many of these ruins were used as sacrificial areas.

It was eerie for me to think they used to play a soccer like game with fresh human heads after the sacrifices had been made in fields just like this one.

Curtis climbing down the last ruin.

 Cozumel, Mexico

On our way to the mainland!

We took a tour of a cave called Head of the Stone. It was only discovered in 2007\.

Before they let you go in they burn resin and ask permission to the Mayan God to enter this sacred place.

They made us shower down and remove all chemicals from our body. They also required everyone to use their gear to keep the cave from getting contaminated. All good things. Walking sticks were provided to help balance yourselves so that people do not grab onto the formations for support. Brilliant idea.

This cave has not been completely mapped. They do not know how big it is.

Trying to keep things fresh in the marriage:) What can I say, I am sappy.

Some parts of the subterranean river were pretty deep. Caught in the act!

Curtis was helping out a younger kid on our tour.

The cave has several openings. All of which were pretty.

This cave once was part of a coral reef. Evidence of such is all over the cave.

Many little critters live in this cave.

The tour description described this as a treacherous cave. I did not find it to be treacherous at all and in fact it was pretty easy to maneuver through. The rooms were large and the spaces going from one part to another part of the cave were not tiny.

How people say these are ugly I do not know.

 The rest of our cruise went smoothly till we tried to come back home. the fog was so thick we were 8 hours late coming in, which in turn made us arrive 30 minutes before our flight left. Frontier airlines would not allow us to attempt to board and we missed our flight. Although by doing so we got to see Curtis's Uncle Buck which he had not seen in many many years.

Uncle Buck

I would like to personally thank everyone who helped out with the kids and getting us to and from the airport. Without all of you we could never have pulled this off. You are all awesome!
 

Remembering to "Feel"

2013 was a great year. I have no complaints. I have a husband who loves me more than anyone, children who love me more than anyone, a cat that loves me more than anyone... what more could I ask for?! I am indeed a lucky woman. And as Curtis and I lay in bed last night listening to the rumble of the fireworks he asked me what my new year resolution would be. And in all honesty I could not come up with anything at the time. So I responded, "I guess I will keep on working on becoming a better person, wife and mother."

As I have thought more about Curtis's question, something has actually come to mind. It has been something that I have been thinking about a lot this last week. It came to mind while cleaning very late one night. I had been and still was pretty sick from what I have determined was the flu, but things needed to be done so I was heading outside with trash at 11:45pm. As I stepped outside into the frigid air I looked up and saw the stars shining oh so very bright. And for the first time in several weeks I remembered to feel. I not only saw those stars, I felt those stars and it felt so good.

Over the past month things have been insanely stressful for me. And to add to the stress of daily life I was blind sighted by some very harsh words written by my X. With all this stress and added stress I started to shut down putting up emotional walls to some who did not deserve it and others who probably did. As my walls went up I started to feel less and less towards most people and things but continued with my daily life trying to be a good person despite the void that had been recently created within me. It was not till that Saturday after Christmas when I saw those stars that I realized I had not "felt" for a while.

Do you ever wonder who is looking at the stars at the exact moment you are?

 During a really rough time in my life I used to tell people that I would rather feel pain than feel nothing at all. Curtis thinks I am crazy but I hold to that statement. You can see, hear, touch, and taste all you want but if you don't feel what you are experiencing you are missing out on the true essence of your experience. When I listen to a guitar being stroked, I feel the music. When I taste that superb cuisine I feel the flavors. And when I see those beautiful stars I feel love. That's right, stars remind me that I am loved and love is the best feeling of all. Feeling those stars the other night reminded me that walls were not worth losing the ability to feel beyond you basic senses.

So this year my new year resolution is simple. I will try my best to remember to "feel" life as I experience it and to keep my walls down. Happy New Year my friend. Hope you remember to "feel" as well.

Becky's Thoughts- Trust

When I was a little girl I saw a commercial. A lady in the commercial proclaimed that if you could scratch DRY in you skin you needed to run out and buy her moisturizer. I looked down at my forearm and proceeded to scratch out DRY and found out that I was one of those people who needed that product! I ran to my mom and told her immediately. She sat me down and told me that I was too trusting, and that just because someone says something does not mean its true.

As I grew up, although I understood what my mother told me, I was still overly trusting. No one as of yet had ever really hurt me and I believed that mankind in general was good. But then life gave me some major challenges and I had to deal with a large amount of dishonesty. Even then I clung onto the hope and belief that the dishonesty that I was dealing with was not real, that it would stop. I struggled greatly within myself those years. I wanted to trust with my entirety but for the first time I found myself doubting. I found that not knowing was the only way I could escape from it. So I would try my hardest not to find things. But they would surface again and again. My ability to trust had been destroyed.

Trust is a fragile thing. It is easily broken and can not be fixed with ease. Trust is something that has to be earned. If you continually do or say things that are dishonest it makes it very difficult for someone to respect and trust you.

One can regain trust back but it comes slowly with a lot of work and dedication. And even then, that person may never trust you again. Some people are definitely more forgiving than others.

I am thankful for the fact that I can trust those who I am closest with. Life is so much easier when you are not burdened with deceit. And that goes both ways. I know that by being honest with my fellow man it makes my life easier as well. As for my current status in trusting people, its still not what it was, but it is healing.

Jace Turns 3

Jace turns 3 on the 16th. We celebrated his birthday a day early since we were with the Dudley clan. I can not believe how time has flown. It seems like it was just yesterday I found out I was pregnant with Jace.

This year I broke my cake making mold and actually used fondant. Usually I do not bother with fondant because I honestly do not like how it tastes. But fondant seemed to be the logical choice for this cake so I whipped up a homemade fondant and constructed this Handy Manny Toolbox. I can not take credit for the tools themselves. Those were part of Jace's present. It turned out pretty well considering my lack of fondant knowledge and expertise. But the important part was that Jace loved it!

This last year has been fun and challenging with Jace. He is such a cute and intelligent little guy but also very headstrong. I am looking forward to what lays around the corner with this little fella. He is a pretty special guy.

Here are some pictures and videos. I apologize for the poor quality in the pictures. Jace has taken up the habit of playing with my camera and changed the setting without me knowing it. I also included two videos of Jace blowing out his cake and dancing with his new tools. And finally a video I took of him the other day when he went out to play in the snow.

Ryker loves chocolate and decided to climb on Grandma's table to get some more!