What a cool mom

Check out my totally cool race track that I built for the boys in our backyard. I must say...I was feeling like a pretty cool mom :).

This is why we live in California

So it's February 15th, a 3 day weekend, and 82 degrees....gotta love living in So Cal!

We headed down to the San Diego Bay to ride bikes with the kids. Well, we ride and Luke and Tryg get pulled by Dad in the bike trailer. Unfortunately the fam was not complete since Dylan was in Las Vegas with his Dad :(.

First we had to do a little rock throwing with the boys.

It was a gorgeous day!!!

As you can see the kids were ready for their strenuous ride...

So everything was going well. We were cruising along enjoying the scenery and pointing out all the cool boats to the boys. As we approached the USS Midway, Mark slowed down to about a 2 mile per hour crawl as he tried to get the boys attention and point with one hand at the big ship. The rest gets a little fuzzy...I was right behind him and I think the bike trailer kind of clipped this big cement tree planter thing in the sidewalk as Mark sort of fell over the handlebars in a slow motion kind of way. I think my exact words were "oh crap" as I quickly got off to rush to his aid. I found him lying on his back looking a little dazed and confused. Then I noticed the blood dripping from his head! Scary!! Not the kind of thing you want to see! We had a couple bystanders offer to call 911 and one offered a band aid but Mark got up and I quizzed him on what my name was, what year it was, etc.. He gave the right answers so I guess he was okay. We cleaned him up and he wanted to continue with our day so we did. NOTE: no children were harmed in this accident. The bike trailer actually never moved and Luke's comment... "Daddy don't do that!"

Here's a picture of the nice gash in his head....

To fast forward ahead...Mark was feeling some pain in his chest and shoulder and being the loving and concerned wife that I am (and having scary thoughts of him dying in his sleep because of some internal brain injury)...I convinced him to get checked out by a Dr. when we got home. Turns out he got three STAPLES in his head and suffered a BROKEN RIB! This is a guy who used to ride BMX bikes doing all sorts of dangerous tricks and never managed to break a bone and now...this is how he does it! He may have to come up with a better story:) I have a feeling there is a U Tube video out there shot by some tourist featuring Mark's graceful encounter with a tree planter :).

Anyway...back to our beautiful San Diego day...

Next on the agenda...a picnic overlooking the ocean. A little tree climbing. Of course, the day would not be complete without another injury as Tryg was trying to copy his big brother and proceeded to fall out of the tree on to his face! He had a nice scrape/bruise to show for it. Just love this pic.. Then it was on to the promised Merry Go Round ride which they both loved! And....if they didn't cry when it was time to get off of the horsey, they got ice cream. Sooo cute... We managed to ride our bikes back to the car with no additional injuries :) And...as you can see, we had 2 tuckered out little boys. Minus the traumatic incident with Mark's head, it was definitely a day that made us smile and say..."This is why we live in California!"

Happy #2... (and #4)

Yesterday was Tryg's 2nd Birthday. He requested a "Buzz Lightyear" themed party with Lemon Cake of course. Being the good mom that I am....I was happy to oblige :). Okay...maybe he didn't actually ask for those things but I'm pretty sure that's what he wanted.

He had plenty of helpers... Brandon and Melanie get the prize for "favorite present"....a mini buzz lightyear with chopping arm action. Tryg has a way of saying..."to infinity and beyond" in this 2 year old gibberish language. He kind of makes some sounds that resemble "to infinity" and then you hear a clearer version of "AND BEYOND!....whoooosh" So cute! Of course Superman is "BAME" and Luke is "GAGA" who knows how he comes up with those but.... we know what he means :). On to the cake. I was kind of stressed about this one. I know I could just slap some frosting and some sprinkles on his cake and he wouldn't care..but it's just not in me :). Free-handing a Buzz lightyear on top of a cake using nothing but frosting was a bit tougher than I anticipated but I think it turned out okay. At least he knew who it was. Taste testing the frosting.... one of the perks of being the birthday boy.

a close up of my masterpiece....including a little 2 year old's finger :)

Oh how time flies...

Happy Birthday Tryg!

Ahhh....cheap labor

I love that my kids are getting old enough to pull their weight around here!

DYLAN'S NEW CHORE: folding and putting away his own laundry. He's actually quite good at it. Next will be the dishes...although I already told him I can not be bought on that one. My siblings will know what I'm talking about :) Growing up we each had a night to do dishes but if we wanted to get out of it we could pay my mom 50 cents and she would do them for us! Of course she required the money up front and in cash! I'm not sure what that taught us....maybe that you can get others to do your work for you if you're rich??? :) I don't know. Regardless...it was a sweet deal! Love you mom! :)

A Crazy COX Christmas

Happy 2010! Before I embrace this coming year, I need to post some pics from our Christmas week in Utah with the FAM. We headed up to my parents "Mansion" as I call it that is nestled in the mountains of Alpine City. This "Mansion" is grandkid heaven since it comes equipped with a sand volleyball court, jacuzzi, built in 50's diner, pool table, play room, giant big screen TV, trampoline, Grandpa's cool race cars, and excellent backyard sledding in the winter. This year we had 2 grandparents, 5 kids, 17 grandkids, and a partridge in a pear tree :). It definitely made for a crazy loud house at times!

We made the 10 hour trek on the 22nd so we could watch the BYU bowl game on Dad's giant screen. As you can see Jane and I were very "into" it. But...hey we should get some credit for wearing our TRUE BLUE at least :).

Luckily we were blessed with a descent amount of snow which turns Grandma's backyard into a winter wonderland. Luke turned into quite the expert sledder needing no help or encouragement from us. playing in the snow.... Grandma admiring her posterity from on high... Ahhh....the newlyweds (still under 2 years). Kenny acting like a kid in his igloo and Jane....not so sure she likes the cold wet stuff.

Brent enjoying his stylin 80's (little too small for him) jumpsuit a bit too much and Tami...not sure what she's doing. Maybe a standing snow angel??? some sisterly love..

I think Tryg had had enough of the cold at this point

Nothing that a little warmth and story time with Grandpa couldn't fix On Christmas Eve at my parents house we always do a little program where we read from the scriptures about the Savior's birth and sing songs while the kids put on costumes and bring the story to life. It's goofy, spiritual, fun, and serious all rolled into one. And...of course Mom is always good for some requisite tears :). We also added a new tradition this year...A WHITE ELEPHANT gift exchange between the grown ups. And, with our family...you can imagine the ruthlessness that came with that one. Still, everyone seemed to come out of it unscathed.

YEAH.....CHRISTMAS MORNING!!! This year Dylan was at his Dad's for Christmas but joined us the day after (always hard for me). Luke and Tryg scored some cool baseball stuff from Santa this year. Having fun spending time together and playing with our goodies. And of course the treats...

Me, Susi, and Jane headed out for a little run in like 20 degree weather!! Was definitely missing my CALIFORNIA running temps. Although I did think to myself, "If I lived here...I could buy a whole new running wardrobe" and that was kind of exciting to me :).

We managed to squeeze one more day of sledding in before the week was over. Throughout the week we laughed, we bonded, we ate a lot, we fought (of course), some of us cried, and some of us threw up! It was a crazy, loud, fun, and chaotic week kind of like Yosemite but with less dirt! But.... all good things must come to an end and I'm pretty sure my Mom was ready to have her house, sanity, and peace and quite back not to mention the in-laws had probably had their cox - fix to last another year :).

ON THE ROAD AGAIN...

As you can see Tryg was pretty content, however Luke had a bit of a tough time as he vomitted in the car TWICE! Not fun!! And although I wouldn't trade that quality week with my family for anything....after that car ride home I am definitely looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home next year with no traveling :).

Goodbye pretty lights, my beautiful tree, fun decorations, holiday parties, and cute Christmas jamies. Until next year....