Lunch with the kings

   Nick calls me around 12:00pm and asks if I would like to join him and the boys for a fabulous lunch at Taco Bell. I agree since I could use a break from shipping.

   I meet them at the South Taco Bell and I actually beat them there! Once inside I realize there is only 1 available table, so I snag it! Five minutes later the King clan arrive. Nick looks very defeated as he enters. 

    The kids look like they are on the verge of tears, except Titus who seems very happy to see me! He greets me only momentarily as he goes to order lunch with Nick. I look at the boys and stupidly ask them whats going on. Thats when it starts, the back and forth bickering that so many parents dread. "Well, Taylor had stuff on the bedroom floor and........" "NO! You did ARTHUR!" I stop them, and explain that there are better ways to handle these types of situations.

   Poor Nick. (It apparently took these bickering boys 3 hours to clean a small pile of toys from their bedroom floor. If not for the bickering it would have taken a half hour at most! Either way it did get done.... eventually) Nick arrives with the cups for our soda, and all the boys run off happily to fill them with colored syrup and bubbly water. Taylor comes back to the table first and starts pushing his soda back and forth. In a split second his soda spills all over him, the bench, the table and the floor. CLEAN UP CREW? THE KINGS HAVE ARRIVED! As we are cleaning the mess, they call our number. Figures. Nick goes to pick up the food, while Taylor keeps trying to walk through the sticky mess to apparently sit on the sticky bench! I ask him several times to sit at the other end of the table, you know, the non sticky, dry side. Finally we all sit down to eat and thats when Titus realizes Taylor has chips and cheese and he doesn't! Titus begs Taylor for some chips and Taylor refuses.

    I can see it coming in slow motion, the melt down. I ask Taylor for 2 chips for his little brother. He obliges and then tears well in his eyes. Oh my, POOR NICK! I feel so bad for his day. The melt downs have started. Titus quickly uses all the cheese given to him and insists on more, as Taylor is mixing hot sauce in the remainder. I try to get Titus to eat his cheese roll, "There is LOTS of cheese in here!" I say as I try to divert his attention. Well he is four and has caught on to this trick! DANG! Taylor then gets a bunch of cheesy, hot sauce mix on the table. I can see the frustration with the day on Nicks face. I offer to take them to work with me but he says no, not today. Just a small snippet into a meal with the Kings! The day had gotten better by the time I made it home today so YAY for Nick!

Things you will NEVER hear a girl say..........

#1~ All 3 boys watching a Bionicle movie; The villan is taunting the heroes. Suddenly Titus screams out " Just chop his eye out already!"

#2~ We are at Taylor's Christmas pageant; As I am filming you hear Titus, "Mom. MOM. I just wiped a giant booger on your back!"

#3~ Boys playing super heroes; Titus, "And I just shot acid all over you!", Arthur, "NO! You missed me! I just chopped off your arm!"

#4~ Titus walks up to his Lego set and says "Welllll, Heloooooooo sexy!"

#5~ Taylor farts and Titus says "Eeewww! That sounded like an old mans fart!"

#6~ Happy birthday to you, you stepped in some poo! Don't waste it, just taste it, happy birthday to you!

#7~ Titus picks his nose in the back seat and I hear "Just touch it Arthur! Do it! Just touch my booger!" as Titus is shoving his finger in Arthur's face.

#8~ From the back seat I hear "could you drive faster?! I need to poop so bad!"

#9~ Titus has a new phrase, "I'm gonna die to death!"

#10~ We are browsing an antique store where we see an old child's potty seat. When Taylor comes across this same chair we hear, "EEEWWWWW GROSS! THIS IS AN OLD CHAIR THAT PEOPLE USED TO TAKE A DUMP IN!" as it echoed through the whole store....

#11~ Nick is showing Titus a scrape where a fork got him, while unloading the dishwasher.  Titus says with a sly smirk, "You should have shown it to me, I would have melted it with my blow torch!"

Oregon Garden Getaway!

   Nick and I just had the most amazing weekend away at the Oregon Garden Resort! We left Grants Pass at around 5:30am and grabbed some Dutch Brothers coffee for a nice leisurely drive to Silverton Oregon.  Once we arrived we had plenty of time to tour this nice small town. Silverton has less than 10,000 residents, so it was small indeed. We found a charming downtown area with some fun shops to browse. We were really just killing time before our 12:00 appointment at the Gordon House.

   The Gordon House is one of Frank Lloyd Wrights designed homes. It was really fun to see the inside of this home and how he makes everything line up perfectly! Another fun fact, the Gordon House was moved in 2001 from another location where the owners were going to tear it down! So after much adoo, the house was moved 40 miles to it's current location, just outside the Oregon Gardens. They had to cut the house into several pieces mark and map them and pack them away for their journey to the new location. They traveled at a painstaking 4 miles per hour for 3 days before arriving. The house was then rebuilt to exact measurements and put together like a giant puzzle.

   After the Gordon House we went to the Resort for our first ever massages. It was fabulous!

The Resort treats you like you are a VIP. Beautiful rooms, nice restaurant, lounge and relaxing spa. The hot tub was nice too!

   The Oregon Garden was fun even though it is winter and a bunch of plants died this year. We have several pictures of cool plants we would like to add to our yard some day, such as a Monkey Puzzle Tree. The problem with them is they cost a fortune! They have a ridiculously slow growth rate so unless we buy a ten year old tree, it would get stomped! Saturday at 3:00PM we went to the Fireside Lounge, (inside the resort) with our books, and we enjoyed a quiet afternoon reading and having some happy hour specials. We did not move from our seats until about 8pm! It was the most relaxed I have ever been! Anyway, if anyone is looking for a nice getaway with affordable prices, check out the Oregon Garden Resort. I would highly recommend it!

Monkey Puzzle Tree

Cool Twisty Shrub

The Gordon House

Nicks sweet Valentines Day letter to me

"My dearest Misti Dawn,

I really do consider myself the luckiest man alive. I really do. You are an amazing wife and mother, and I still smirk just a little when I write your name next to mine. Call it self satisfaction in knowing I duped someone as awesome as you into being all mine for the rest of our lives. I love you more and more by the minute. I'm sooooo glad you still love me after I turn down the heat! Whew, had to get that off my chest. I can't explain to you how exciting the future is to me. There is really no one else who I'd love to watch the kids grow up with, patiently waiting for each horrific stage of childhood to wear off, keeping each other sane and child-abuse free. With all the crazy crap that seems to endlessly swirl around I've never flinched in my admiration, desire, and love for you. You are so specal to me. Thank you for the awesome family and home.

Love forever, Nick"

Tears welled as I read this super sweet letter. I couldn't have asked for better husband!

Camping Weekend.........

     You think camping would be relaxing? I will tell you otherwise! Nick and I alone would be relaxing, with 3 boys, not so much! We had our fun of course, but not without the bickering, and arguing that brothers so often do.

    I would have to say the highlight was the Harris beach. Nick and I told them several times that, due to the freezing conditions and wind and a lack of towels and so forth, they could not play in the water. Taylor and Arthur went on ahead and started walking in the water anyway. (I really don't know why I bother saying anything!) So naturally, Titus followed suit and was water bound in no time. Not five minutes into the water play, did a big wave come and scare Titus. He ran and fell into the inches of water along the shore line. Screaming and crying followed and the best part was, I got it all on video. I will be sharing that one with his future girlfriends!

   It will be second in the race with the "Booger incident" coming in first. Oh I cannot wait! You can view the video of the beach incident here;