stoners

we took a very last minute trip to jackson hole & yellowstone over memorial day weekend (mark decided around midnight the night before we left that it sounded like fun, i concurred, so off we were.).  it rained, snowed and was pretty cold the whole time which was great while we were hanging out in jackson and teton village, it only added to the moutainesque atmosphere. but not so great while at yellowstone, for there were none-too-many animals to be seen and it made for far less pictures taken than should have been. (we have vowed to go back when the snow has melted and the animals have gotten their horns in. our friends, the dunns, were coming as we were leaving and saw bears-- i was terribly jealous.)  snow and cold included, it was a wonderful trip with my boys with the loveliest of drives through the most magnificent mountains.

our trip

we made some new friends....

 [saw this little guy hanging out by the road in targhee.]

hung out in our hotel in teton and around jackson town....

 [there was a whole lot of this.]

 [mad: "mom! you have got to see this bathroom, it is way cleaner than ours!" stink=)]

 [the only bears we saw.]

 [we drove through some of the quaintest, little towns. thanks for stopping at all the random shops along the way, babe, and not complaining about the extra 2 hours it took to get there.;)]

 [we ate at some really great places. we are all aware that food is very important to me.]

 [we saw some art...]

 [and made some art of our own.]

we swam and hot-tubbed a ton in just 3 days....

and ate loads of ice cream (some people had sore throats)....

[yes, even 27 dollar room service ice cream at midnight.]

we had some adventures out in the great wild yonder.....

 [we most certainly saw our fair share of bison.]

 [i realize that most of these pics are of madden but you see the faces the other two pull.;) really, he's the only one willing.]

 [mark drove us down many roads that looked like this one all over idaho, wyoming and montana while exploring.] 

 [mad peed in the woods as much as possible, his dream come true.]

["you can't see the forest for the trees."]

 [huck=)]

 [maxer & old faithful;)]

 ["and it was all yellow.."]

[love these boys of mine and our adventures.]

*song- "upward over the mountain" -i&w

baby child

my baby is almost in kindergarten!

mad had his last week of preschool last week (minus the summer camp he and rosie are going to at miss denise's this month), it's pretty much heartbreaking. i'm just not nearly ready for him to grow up and go and learn correct grammar, his bate-ed and feed-ed are just too cute. nevertheless, life keeps moving on whether i want it to or not, so we celebrated with maddy pie in his end-of-preschool festivities -- rocket day and graduation.

{mad & his rocket}

{max practicing his meditation....the boy.;)}

{we love miss denise!}

{I love you, my little huckleberry.}

{celebrating...}

....that is until he sliced his finger climbing a tree and needed medical attention.

even better than the real thing.

we took the boys to the u2 concert last night,

well.....sort of.  

we got a pizza, parked outside the stadium [in a surprisingly great spot], hopped in the back of the truck and listened to bono & his irish gang do their thing.  

 [mad was a little bothered that we weren't on the inside of stadium.]

 [however, as you can see, max was enthusiastic about the whole thing and kept repeating, "this was a great idea, mom."]

[my angel boys.]

*songs: "even better than..." & "all i want" -u2

gypsying

a couple of weeks ago, i surprised mark with a little "road trip get away" (sans children) to celebrate some really great things that have been happening in our lives the past couple of months (all thanks to markus).  we had such a grand time being all footloose and fancy free (even for just a few days) -- swimming, hiking, staying up way too late, watching scary movies, eating at 2 o'clock in the morning, chit chattin' under the stars, sleeping wherever our heads happen to land, listening to music as loud as possible, acting as if we were some young 20 year olds again and doing just whatever our little hearts desired.  {thanks mama for watching the boys and mom & dad for letting us crash at your house for a couple of nights.}

[the map i made with a few ideas of places we could go....don't bother trying the grand canyon in april, the north rim is closed....and you should look that up before you drive....or not.]

[long drives -- one of my very favorite things]

[road trips must be accompanied by classic rock....it's an unwritten rule.;)] 

[suggestions for driving through the desert: 1. make one of these for yourself 2.wear it the entire time 3. give yourself a native american name and insist that everyone in the car refer to you as such.]

“those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.”

- rachel carson

a promising light & giant lips on my forehead...<3

[we ate at this great mexican restaurant in vegas called mundo.  they had really delicious chips and were very generous with the cotija cheese which is always great in my book.=)]

[he really is, just a real precious slut.;)]

"the day will come, the sun will rise, and we'll be fine." -the avett brothers, "please pardon yourself"

[mark's easter basket, which was only slightly selfish on my part (reese's & magazine). slightly. plus, we're real into scrabble. scrabble, words with friends....i like letters.=)]

[i had an electronics curse on this trip. first, my laptop got a virus and  had to go spend a couple days at the doctor in st. george. then i dropped my phone in the hot tub and it had to spend a couple days drying itself off in a bag of rice.]

[mark rescued my phone from the hot tub,  he's real fast (i couldn't process), but last time we were there i rescued our niece from the pool so, i think i'm more of the hero here.;)]

"and if you're my guide, i'm your guide."

-eisley

[i love this landscape, the rust colored rocks against the bright blue sky....takes my breath away.]

{and i love the honey trees version of "moonriver"..."there's such a lot of world..."}

*songs: "rescue me"-mr. little jeans...i was real into this song on this trip.

what a man, what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man.

i received this little surprise in the mail yesterday from my sweet, sweet husband for mother's day.

a lucky, lucky girl i am to have someone so lovely and true.

and thoughtful.

thank you babe.

*song- "thank you" -angie mattson

hippity, hoppity

easter for the little darlings....

 {the egg hunt at grammy's house.}

{this year i decided to fill the boys in on a little secret about the easter bunny,  the secret being that i am him and he is me.  they refused to accept it (mad swears he's seen him.) and even after walking in on me filling their baskets, they thought it was pretty cool of him to bring them so much money. what's a girl to do??}