Hair Today Gone Tomorrow

As I rapidly approach the big 3-0 there are some things that must get done.  Donating my hair is on my list:).   I always thought it would be really neat to donate my hair .  I've cut a handful of peoples hair when I was working in a salon as they donated it.  I  thought it was a neat thing, but at the time, thought it wasn't something I could ever do.  As I get older I know that I'm not the type of person to have hair down to my bum when I'm 40, 50, or ever again.  So, three years ago I committed to grow my hair out until I was 30 and donate it, because my grey hairs aren't decreasing in number and the desire to dye it will only increase.  I didn't quite make it to 30, but I did get it long enough to donate, and that's what matters.  As I've been preparing for the donation I learned a few facts.  It takes 20-30 hair donations just to make one wig!  A single real-hair wig costs over $1000.  My hair is a small contribution, but I hope it will make someone happy and feel beautiful.  

  

Before:

My hair went to the middle of my back, and when I looked up at the ceiling it would touch my pants.  I, for the most part, found my long hair to be incredibly annoying. It was always in my way, hot on my neck, collecting baby spit-up, getting pulled easily, etc.  For my boys though, my hair was a play-place and they loved it.  One of Noah's favorite things to do was to hide under my hair and play peek-a-boo.  Hyrum liked to twist it and tie it into knots. Owen liked it when I would tickle his neck with the ends.  The boys loved it when I would be the tickle monster and let my hair down so it would tickle their faces and necks when I would pin them down. (I took the picture below so they could remember what it looked like).  I've had long hair for the majority of their lives, even thought I feel like it was such a small portion of mine.  Cutting it off wasn't hard for me, but I can completely understand why some people have such a hard time getting rid of their long locks.  I can now empathize with the situation.  As for me though, we had a little hair party with the   remains:

What to do with 10+ inches of hair before it goes in the mail?. . . 

 After: 

 I know I look kind of creepy in this picture, but I forgot to have Brett take a picture before he went to work, so I was trying to take it myself:). . I love my new haircut! 

Farewell hair!  Hello freedom!

9 Months !?!?!?!?!

     Our baby seems to be growing up SO fast!  I can't believe he's already 9 months.   Our little Baby bubbles is such a sweet part of our family, and I'm so happy to have him with us. Owen is a happy baby.  Jerry Seinfeld said, "A two year old is like a blender with the lid off". . . well, in Owen's case it's nine months. This little man is go, go go, nonstop.  People ask me if he ever just holds still, because for the most part he is anywhere and everywhere except sitting still.  I cook dinner, and he takes EVERYTHING out that is in and spreads it on the floor.  I feed him lunch, and what's not in his mouth is everywhere on the floor.  I put my makeup on and he 're-organizes- our closet:

When we are outside (up until last week) he would beeline it for any and all dirt and stuff it in his mouth, while pulling out all the flowers that stand in his way.  (Luckily we found out babies that crave dirt are deficient in a certain vitamin and so after putting him on Poly-Vi-Sol drops he doesn't eat dirt as often) With all of the dirt meals he was able to get a lot of baths:

We've always called him Baby Bubbles and from the above picture you can see how fitting that is.  He LOVES the water.  Owen is our first baby to blow bubbles in the water at about 7 months.  It's his favorite thing to do during baths.  He will actually stick his entire head in the water and blow bubbles over and over again.  This was his first bubble bath in a long time, and so the bubbles threw off his bubble-blowing groove, but he still dunked his head a few times. 

Owen is a FAST crawler, he stands alone for several seconds, walks along tables and chairs, says Momma, Baba (which means brother, and several other things), and Mmmmm(which means he wants yummy food).  He is such a joy to our family.  He loves his brothers so much and sometimes laughs just when he sees them. He is already wrestling with the boys and giving kisses to everyone he loves.  He's affectionate, curious, energetic, and determined.  

Water!

It's been REALLY hot here lately and I've been dying. . . I realize it doesn't compare to Arizona heat, but still.  We decided to finally get the Slip and Slide out for Family Home Evening this week and it was a hit. . . for all ages!  We got it out again on Tuesday in the front yard so that the neighborhood kids could play too.  It was fun.  I think the pictures say it all:)

 The big boys have been taking swim lessons for the whole month of June and it's been great seing them improve.   Noah was always making his teachers laugh and he was very comfortable in the water.  Hyrum was SO excited to get his head under the water this year and be a 'little fish'.   He's been practicing his ice cream scoops and treading water.  

Family Festival

Our little town had its annual family festival last week and it was awesome!  I can't believe we haven't gone before.  There were a lot of rides both for kids and adults to enjoy, firefighters spraying water for everyone to cool off, food, a bake-off, and the day ended with some amazing fireworks that we had front row seats too from our deck.  Here are some pictures from the day:

 Owen was such a good sport.  He was in his stroller pretty much all day, but he was still happy:)

Here's the big slide.  There was a lull in the line for a while and the boys went down at least 4-5 times.  They loved it!

 I made Banoffee Pie for the Bake off and won the bake off grand prize (a fancy 16 piece dining set), which was pretty cool.  If you want the recipe, CLICK HERE.  The firemen working the hose and the city council people were the judges.  The funny thing is that between the car and the booth, I let Hyrum hold the pie (which was in a cake carrier) for just a minute while I was messing with the stroller, and he dropped it!  I was amazed that only one corner of the whipped cream was smashed, so it wasn't that bad. 

Soccer

I can't believe that I forgot to mention that the boys finished soccer.  They did awesome.  Hyrum pretty much dominated the field at every game. . . it helps being the oldest one on the team by almost a year and also being a good 6 inches taller then everyone else:)  It was fun, and Hyrum was always asking his coach to be put in.  Noah did a great job too.  They were both really good at kicking it in the right direction (most of the time) and mostly just having fun.  They were split up twice for playing 'huggy brothers', aka wrestling, during the game.  These boys are such great buddies and I love it!

The last game of the season was pretty interesting.  It was REALLY windy, which made it incredibly cold.  I had been gone most of the day and didn't realize that it was that cold, so when we got there we were the only ones in short sleeve shirts and shorts. . . in fact most people wore winter coats and blankets.  Hyrum and Noah were good sports and didn't complain much.  Brett was working late so I was there solo.  A family sitting next to us had pity and gave us a big blanket they weren't using.  We all huddled up in it and attempted to stay warm.  After a while Owen was done being patient and decided to unleash his banshee screams.  That seemed to open the gates for the boys discomfort and desire to go home.  After about 5 minutes of a screaming baby and both boys whining/crying I decided to call it quits and start loading our stuff up to go back to the car.  As I was getting things organized the coach announced that the game would be called in 2 minutes.  I started to pick things up and carry Owen, a lawn chair, two water bottles, and my purse to the van while Hyrum was on the field playing. Two men sitting next to me came to assist what probably looked like a serious basket case.  One of them had a big wind resistant umbrella that he held next to me to block the wind and the other carried my chair.  I like to think that I looked like a rockstar with two body guards rather than a frazzled mom with spit up on my shirt, hair in knots, and children screaming:)  Anyway,  I got two of the boys loaded and walked back to get Hyrum and their trophies and snack.  It was a fun night:)  I am grateful to be surrounded by so many kind people.  

Lightroom

Ok, I’m really not good at Photoshop and not great at Lightroom either, but I’ve been LOVING playing with all the fun things on Lightroom.  If you are wondering what Lightroom does here are a few examples.  You can do a lot more with it, but I just slightly enhanced the pictures.   

Before                                                    After         

Monticello and Moab

Next year we are having a Rushton reunion in Monticello, Utah so my parents wanted to scout out the area.  I met up with them and my sister + kids.  Brett was on a business trip all week so it was a great reprieve and fun to be with the fam. 

We took a tour at the cabins we’ll be staying at.  There was a ginormous dog that the boys named ‘Bear Dog’.  Noah loved him and pretended to ride him.  The cousins had fun exploring.  I’m excited for the reunion next year, it’s going to be so fun!

Owen is such a happy baby. He was Grandpa’s little buddy.  One of my favorite memories growing up was our occasional trips to A&W to get a rootbeer float.  To this day I have fond taste memories of this yummy treat.  In my mind all other root beer is an abomination.  These five little cousins (ok two of them didn’t have any) got to enjoy the beauty of the float!

After enjoying some floats we ran into some bikers and they were really nice.  Two of them picked Hyrum and Noah up and let them sit on their Harleys.  It was pretty cool and the boys felt like rock stars!

We had fun hiking and exploring Moab.  The boys had fun.  Owen got his own personal ride up the stairs.