Friday, September 14, 2012

aloha

back in May (yes, may... ya know, over 3 months ago)... 
cosmo graduated from ASU with his 2nd Bachelors degree in Aerospace Engineering. 
(his first bachelors degree was in business finance)

so to celebrate, we took a trip to Hawaii and stayed with my cousin tyler and his wife lauren 
we went to Oahu for half the time, and flew over to Maui for the other half.
(this is going to be picture overload... we were there for 10 days)
i was nervous about flying with Van, but he was a champ

Van was not a fan of the water.. we learned that early on in the trip.
this is his first time experiencing the ocean. 
i think he was scared of how loud it was, and i'm pretty sure he hated his hat. 
especially because we are nice parents and made fun of him in it.
i was worried about that pale skin!



belly!

he was NOT pleased with us


the Dole Plantation:
i dream about this stuff... dole whip

relaxing:
 cosmo was off playing in the water, van slept, and i enjoyed the surrounding scenery



every restaurant we ate at, van insisted on chewing on the table. 
at first i tried to stop him, but then decided it just wasnt worth it. 
this was the highlight of his trip

tyler decided he'd give it a try also

a japanese temple 
(for the life of me, i can't think of the name right now)
 the surrounding grounds were beyond beautiful 

lighting incense in the temple
you had to remove your shoes to enter 
up these stairs was a gazebo tucked away to meditate in

van and cosmo ringing the prayer gong

flying over to Maui on a little plane

downtown lahaina at night
we went on a little hike into some amazing eucalyptus trees 
and i snapped these two pictures of van and cosmo

 this picture makes me laugh every. time. 
he looks like he is plotting something evil


the road to hana
 i have a million pictures from this drive but i randomly selected one since i couldnt decide and didnt want to bore you with a gazillion of them
it was an all day drive around the island and is very remote and secluded.


 this was our hotel in maui
van loved getting fed first class on the balcony overlooking the ocean

in lahaina we ate at this amazing breakfast place called sunshine cafe
it was essentially a house on the beach that had been converted into a little cafe.
cosmo being a smart alec when i wanted to take a picture
 picture in the banyan trees


haleakala national park
this is the highest point of maui and drives you to the top of the volcano and you can look down into the crater
it was rad because you are above the clouds
it was FREEZING

ty and van
i love any excuse to put a beanie on that chubby kid
me, cosmo, van, tyler, and lauren on top of the crater

kua aina burgers on maui
i could have eaten the fries all day, every day


back on Oahu
waikiki beach


trying the water again. still not impressed


dinner at duke's on waikiki beach

tasting the table at duke's
i'm a winner!

introducing van to one of my favorite stores ever,
only located in hawaii
88tees



 malasada's at leonards
i could live here and die happy (and obese)


it was my dad's birthday while we were out there, so we took these pictures for him
this day was raining so we did a lot of driving around the island site seeing 
and eating a lot of yummy food.
van is not even in the water, but he knows its behind him lurking.. not happy.
we had a more then amazing time. 
vacations are slightly different with a baby on board, 
but van was a little world traveler and held his own
i have a million more pictures but i think i'll quit while i'm ahead..

until next time hawaii....
aloha.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

wish you were here....

the only way i know how to cope, is to write.. so here goes...

it was a normal sunday morning.
sitting in church attempting to listen to the talks while wrestling with my 9 month old baby.
my new phone started buzzing. unsure of how to shut it off, i quickly answered it and hung up.
it was ashley.
i shot her a quick text.
hey sorry i'm in church and don't know how to work my phone! whats up?
.....i wish i wouldn't have asked.....
she text back immediately telling me she had news and asked for me to call her.
i told her i would call in about 30 minutes when church was out, but of course, my impatient curiosity got the best of me and I handed van to cosmo and told him I would be right back, walking out of the chapel, phone in hand.
I found the closest empty room and called Ashley.
She immediately picked up.
i hadn't even said hello and her voice cracked out a sobbing "jenn....."
my body tensed up, preparing for news that i knew was not going to be good.
"josh was killed in a car wreck yesterday morning..." she managed to blurt out between sobs.
I don't remember anything else that was said.
the whole room began to spin and everything went black. i felt like i had just been hit in the gut by a ton of bricks; the wind completely knocked out of me.
how? what? why? 
my emotions escaped me.
i finished up the phone call and walked like a zombie back into the chapel. my tears were welling up as the realization of events begin to set in.
i sat down next to cosmo.
my whole body started shaking as i leaned over and whispered the news to him as fast as i could.
he looked at me in disbelief as his hand grabbed my leg in an attempt to comfort.
the tears began. one after another they fell down my face.
no one in the room existed.
my mind raced back to memories.
late night conversations and days filled with fun. there was never a dull moment with josh.
he knew who he was and was one of those people that sincerely didn't care what anyone else thought.
his small stature covered in tattoos. his energy was contagious and he almost dared anyone not to join in on his infectious good times.
he loved 80's metal and taylor swift. (sorry josh, was that a secret?) he tore it up on the drums. he loved wings at native new yorker and when going out to eat, you couldn't ask josh where to go, or that is where you would end up. even if you had already eaten there the past 2 nights in a row. he told stories with so much enthusiasm he could make a trip to the dentist sound exciting.
i'm reminded of how he held my hand during my first tattoos and laughed at me as my grip tightened.
during a particular rough patch in life, josh told me i was beautiful every time i saw him.
every.single.time.
when i would blush in embarrassment he would tell me i needed to hear it and believe it and he wasn't going to stop.
we were both turning 30 this year.... he's still so young....
i think about nights spent at the monastery. josh was always the smallest one on the sand volley ball court and it always made me laugh to see how pumped up he got about playing.
there were halloweens and birthdays. there were nights that were "perfect".

the closing song began to play and it snapped me back into reality.
my face was soaked from tears and my body felt numb.
i forced on a smile until we could go home.
cosmo gives me reassuring glances as he teaches his sunday school lesson.
the seemingly normal day, turned tragic, finally comes to an end.

see you on the other side josh. miss you already....

joshua slayton october 14, 1982 - july 21, 2012

Friday, June 8, 2012

you sneaky mom!

when van takes his naps, if he is being extra cranky, i will just duck down and sit on the floor by his crib and pop up and give him his binki when he spits it out and pop back down and wait for him to calm down and fall asleep. this is a lot easier then going in and out of his room and he usually goes to sleep within 5-10 minutes.
on this particular day, i was doing just that and playing on cosmo's phone while i waited. 
all of a sudden it got really quiet.
maybe he's out..
then i felt a pair of little eyes looking at me.
i looked up to see this

he had pulled down the crib bumper and was staring directly at me, looking quite offended by the whole situation.
i started laughing so hard because it caught me so off guard. he had never done this before!
luckily, i had cosmo's phone with me and snapped this quick picture
 have i mentioned before how much i love this kid?

Monday, May 14, 2012

being a mom is awesome

for mother's day, cosmo did a little photoshoot with van and gave me the pictures in a little book.
here are the reasons why these made me smile and laugh all at once and reasons you know a dad took the pictures

1) these were taken with his iphone
2) van is not wearing any pants
3) his tie is a newborn tie that i had not packed away yet
4) of course poop has to be included

i was seriously laughing and loving every single one.
i love my boys
cosmo being one of my boys. i'm not making a baby announcement or anything

it started out innocent enough...
the surprise message at the bottom
seriously guys. i love my mom.

eat your heart out ladies
i am one lucky girl
i have loved being a mom these past 7 months
nothing is better
of course i've had my moments where i cry and have no idea what i'm doing, but we all do...right?...RIGHT?!??
i couldnt ask for a better kid. he makes me laugh at the dumbest things and i have turned into one of those mom's that the only thing i ever talk about is my rad baby
but seriously, he is rad... 
i am tired and the wrinkles are collecting under my eyes and i couldnt ask for anything more.
happy mothers day!