And the #1 reason it's time for Dad to come home is...

Mom locks herself in the bathroom for 30 minutes for some SANITY!!!!

Yes, it's that kind of day.

Now That's Music I Can Jog To

One of my favorite moments of the day has become our morning walk/jog. Not because of the exercise or the fresh air (although those are both good things), but because of the entertainment it provides.

Because each morning, as I'm huffing and puffing along, Kyle's sitting comfortably in the stroller jamming out to "High School Musical." Listening to the mp3 player with the headphones on, he belts out tunes at the top of his voice. He knows most of the words and it makes me smile every time. Truth be known, sometimes I even join in. It's a good time.

And while I'm on the topic, I'll put in a plug for "High School Musical 2." It premieres August 17th. And I'll be tuning in.

Little Sneak

I'm in the process of cleaning and organizing my entire house, in hopes that boxes will be packed in some semblance of order (ie: So we don't find trash and wrappers in with our clothes or dishes). This evening, I was finishing up Kyle's room and was checking under the bed one last time. Imagine my surprise when I found Hershey's wrappers and a half-eaten cookie hiding under there!

Now, I know they haven't been there for long, so I wasn't worried about bugs. However, I didn't know that my son was such a little sneak! Somewhere in the back of my mind I recall the Hershey's wrappers (his yelling, "Don't look!" as he runs down the hall is my first clue that he's sneaking something), but the cookie was a complete surprise.

My parents will say that this is a taste of my own medicine (don't even start, Dad), but I think I'm going to have to start regular room inspections. Does anyone think I should be worried?

Happy Anniversary

Today's the big day. Seven years ago today Kevin and I walked through the temple doors and came out eternally joined. And so far it's been "happily ever after." Don't get me wrong, we've had our share of trials and hard times. But I guess we've been blessed in the fact that none of those trials have ever put a strain on our relationship. We look at each other at least once a week and think, "How did we get so lucky?" We really do. How grateful I am that opposites really do attract. How grateful I am for a wonderful husband who is so good to me, puts up with all of my faults, and loves me in spite of them. And the love that I feel for him surpasses all expectations when I see what a wonderful daddy he is. Happy Anniversary, babe. I love you.

And now, for some fun facts about us. Some you may know, some you may not.

1. We met 8 1/2 years ago in a dark alley.
2. That dark alley just happened to be between two buildings up at Utah State University.
3. The meeting was brief
4. So Ruth wondered why some guy named "Kevin Turner" started calling her.
5. Ruth's roommate wondered, too.
6. Because Ruth's roommate had the hots for him.
7. Kevin finally tracked Ruth down at work and asked her out.
8. Our first date was snowshoeing.
9. At night.
10. Ruth wore jeans.
11. Kevin still wonders why
12. (She didn't have any snowpants.)
13. When asked about the date when she got home, Ruth said, "It was fine. We probably won't go out again."
14. When asked about the date afterwards, Kevin said, "She was nice. But I probably won't ask her out again."
15. But higher powers had something else in mind.
16. The second date was to a hockey game, where Ruth flirted madly with Kevin.
17. (according to Kevin.)
18. Ruth won't deny the claims, but may have been spurred on by her roommate's interest in him.
19. Ruth held Kevin's hand first.
20. Ruth was Kevin's first kiss, but he initiated that one.
21. It only took him 2 months to get up the nerve.
22. It was nice, but they broke up a week later.
23. That was the first of several (as in a dozen) break-ups.
24. None of them for good reasons
25. Aside from the fact that was Ruth was 18 and didn't want to get married
26. and Kevin just didn't want to get married period.
27. He was still holding out hope that young men could go on TWO missions! :)
28. Eight months into the courtship, Kevin tried to break-up with Ruth again.
29. This time Ruth said, "Nope. Not going to happen."
30. And it didn't.
31. From that point on, there was no going back.
32. Ruth worked at A&W
33. Kevin would come to visit her every night.
34. He would even give her a hug, even though she smelled like grease.
35. Now that's true love.
36. We once drove to City of the Rocks in the middle of the night with some friends.
37. We slept in the car
    
38. and woke the next morning with no change of clothes and no toothbrush.
39. What were we thinking?
    
40. We were engaged exactly twelve months from our first date.
41. We went snowshoeing again.
42. This time Ruth wore snowpants.
    
43. But this time Kevin brought about a dozen people along.
44. Luckily, none of them were around when he got down on one knee.
45. (Ruth's not a fan of public engagements.)
46. Ruth said yes.
47. And the madness began!
48. We got married in the Salt Lake Temple.
49. Even though we both really wanted the Logan Temple.
50. (long story)
51. But now we're glad we chose the Salt Lake Temple.
52. Our first apartment was in Logan.
53. It had cinderblock walls.
54. But we loved it.
55. We went to school and worked close to campus.
56. We walked everywhere, even though we had a car.
57. Pre-kids days, we used to walk for miles.
58. For fun.
59. No wonder we were skinny.
60. Before marriage, Ruth rarely ate cheese, potato chips, or popcorn.
61. These are staples in Kevin's diet.
62. He eats them every night.
63. So of course, Ruth partakes as well.
64. No wonder she's not skinny anymore.
65. Ruth's big weakness is candy.
    
66. Chewy, sticky, bad-for-your-teeth candy.
67. Kevin's a hamburger kind of guy.
68. Ruth...not so much.
69. He loves The Training Table.
70. She loves The Olive Garden.
71. So we go to both.
72. He loves volleyball.
73. She loves soccer.
74. We both need to play more often.
75. He also loves golf.
76. But he makes sure that he plays that on a regular basis.
77. But she doesn't care because it makes him happy.
78. And he lets her do whatever she wants.
79. Kevin's very kind and generous and would give away his last meal if someone needed it.
80. He's a good influence on Ruth.
81. Kevin tends to stress.
82. Ruth doesn't.
83. But luckily, when she does, Kevin's not stressed.
84. We make a good team.
85. We'd been married three years when we had Kyle.
86. Hopefully we'll add lots more babies in the future.
87. Because parenthood is love on a whole new level.
88. Kevin and Kyle share a very special bond.
89. Ruth used to be just a little bit jealous.
90. But not anymore
91. Because she realizes how lucky Kyle is to have that with his daddy.
    
92. Life has taken us on some unexpected turns.
93. We never thought we'd end up at the University of Utah.
94. But we did.
95. We never considered the military.
96. But we joined.
97. And we're happy.
98. I think we'll always be happy.
99. Because we have our faith.
100. And we have each other.
     

Commissioned Officer Training

Here are a couple of pictures of Kevin at training. Trust me, it's as weird for me to see him in uniform as it is for you. We bought the uniforms before he left, but I never actually saw them on. It's like he's a completely different person...strange. He looks good, though, if I do say so myself.

During one of their classes.

I have no idea what they were doing in this one. Attention!

One more week until my honey comes home!!!

Dancing Queen - I mean KING!

You are witnessing Kyle's very first mosh pit experience:

We went to a Peter Breinholt concert tonight. I love Peter Breinholt and apparently I've passed that on to my son because the moment the music started, he started grooving. And he had some pretty crazy moves with involved pointing fingers, one-legged jumps, somersaults, and other spastic things. I don't know where he learned it (nevermind the fact that we dance together at home all the time. I'm sure I don't look like that!) In any case, it was a family-friendly affair, so I don't think the people around us were too annoyed. However, I did noticed blankets started inching further and further away from our group's crazy boys.

At one point during the concert, Peter invited all the kids up to dance. Ironically, after all of Kyle's crazy moves, he was too timid to join the throngs of tiny dancers. Luckily, the invitation was extended for several more songs and my boy finally got up the courage. In fact, by the end of the show he was grabbing Coy's hand and racing for the stage.

It was the perfect night. Good music, good friends, beautiful weather, and some rockin' dance moves by some cute little boys. This was one of their favorites:

I know, special.

Little Man

One of the latest pictures I've taken.

Funny Man

Kyle: "I love this dog! She is so licorice!"
Ruth: "Licorice???"
Kyle: "Yeah, I love it when dogs lick me."
Ruth: "Oh, 'lick-er-ish!!!"

Very Funny Man

We were driving along the freeway, when all of sudden I hear from the backseat:

"I am a bird brain. I am a bird brain!"

Don't ask me why. I really don't call my son names.

"Welcome to Colorful Colorado"

We just got back from our visit to Colorado, and I kid you not, we passed this sign more than once. The state didn't seem particularly colorful to me, but that didn't stop us from having a good time. We went to visit my Grandma and were spoiled rotten. We sat around relaxing and visiting, and had so much fun. It always makes me wish we could visit more often. As we were driving away, Kyle frantically waved goodbye and yelled, "I love you all day, Grandma!"

Relaxing

This is the portion that I like to call "relaxing." Much of our time was spent around the house playing and visiting.

Standing by the beautiful flowers in the backyard.

Relaxing on the cool and breezy deck.

Kyle discovered a new favorite toy: a baseball set that actually pitches the ball to you. Watch out - Grandma's got a mean swing!

Convincing Daisy that it's fun to snuggle with him on the chair.

The best part of every trip to Grandma's: Rootbeer Floats! Complete with official A&W mugs and spoon straws.

Garden of the Gods

We went to visit Garden of the Gods while we were out there. I find it a little humorous that they make such a big deal about these few red rocks, when we can find so many just a few hours south. But I guess it is kind of cool that they're smack dab in the middle of lots of green trees. In any case, it was fun.

"Rock climbing"

Good thing he has those Turner genes. I don't think I would've made it through.

I know, flattering.

Cheyenne Zoo

No, the zoo wasn't in Wyoming. That was just the name of it. And what a zoo it was! I don't know if it's just because there were so many hills to walk or what, but that is one BIG zoo with more animals than I could shake a stick at. Just to give you some idea, there were at least 15 giraffes. That's just a few more than the 3 or 4 we're used to.

Petting some pig-like creature. I forget what it was called.

Cute little baby chicks. Or dinosaurs. Or whatever.

Kyle didn't want his face painted, so he had his arm painted instead - with a long, green "rattlesnake."

Kyle and Gillian had so much fun together.

The best part of the day? Definitely the carousel ride. Kyle could barely hold on because he was shaking with excitement.

The Dinosaur Park

Kyle has a new obsession, and it's all due to a visit to the Dinosaur Park up in Ogden. I'm fairly sure we saw every dinosaur species known to man, but we also got to have a picnic lunch "in the forest," play on the playground, visit the educational center and the museum. We had a great time. Here are a few of the highlights:


Best Buddies. Please don't bring it to Kyle's attention that he's the woman in the photograph!

Doing what he does best - CLIMBING!

Isn't that just about the scariest dinosaur you've ever seen?

Checking out the binoculars in the museum.

After eons of searching, we finally found the T-Rex. The only problem? Apparently, the T-Rex had killed another dinosaur, which was lying on the ground complete with "gash wounds" and "blood." Try explaining that to a 3-year-old.

They're still very concerned about that poor dead dinosaur.

Surviving

I've had a few concerned queries about my lack of blogging lately.

• Is she so depressed that she can't even bring herself to blog?
• Has she been so bored that she doesn't have anything to blog about?
• Has she fallen off the face of the earth?

The answers to all of the above is NO. Despite missing our husband and daddy like crazy, Kyle and I are surviving. In fact, we've been keeping so busy that time is going rather quickly. My blogging absence is, in fact, due to my computer.

You see, our desktop computer is rather...tempermental. And Kevin took the superspeed, reliable laptop with him, so I'm left with this...JEWEL. Not only will it shut down at inconvenient times, but it doesn't like to download pictures. And it refuses to load the software for my spankin' new camera, which I just so happen to take all of my pictures with. I just haven't felt like dealing with all of those issues.

But you can't keep me down. I'm figuring out solutions to my computer problems and I'll be back in no time!

Vitamin Fortified?

I hate to admit what a bad mother I am, and this might tell you what kind of week we've had, but I have to share a secret:

My son has eaten a 22.5 oz. box of Fruit Loops in less than a week. By himself.

I could feel guilty about this, but I choose not to. After all, if this is the worst problem we have, I think we're doing pretty good. And there hasn't been a day yet that he's eaten cereal for all three meals. Two, yes. But not three. Besides, they're vitamin fortified. I looked on the box.

I'm lazy, he's happy. I'm sure we'll survive this for a week or two.

Customer Service

Dear McDonalds,

Although I'm not a big fan of your food or your germ-infested play area, I would like to thank you for making toys that entertain my son for hours. While all of his more expensive toys sit in their respective places in his room, his McDonalds toys travel with us wherever we go. I could probably throw his entire car collection away and he wouldn't notice, but if I even dared touch the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle from his Happy Meal, he would die right there on the spot.

However, might I make one suggestion? Please, please, PLEASE will you refrain from making "talking" toys in the future? If I have to hear Baby Ogre belch one more time, I think I might pull my hair out. Or scratch my eyes out. Or throw the toy out of our moving car. And none of those things would be good.

I appreciate all that you do to entertain my son, but silent toys are just fine with me.

Sincerely,

A Frustrated Mother