true friendship knows no age

Elliot, Kash's best friend, has been sick and out of town the past few weeks so we haven't seen much of him.  In the times that Elliot is gone I think to myself, "We can do this!  Kash will be O.K. when Elliot eventually moves away." (Elliot's dad is in his last year of his residency so it's almost inevitable that they will be moving once he's done).

Then the two are reunited again and I forget how much Kash truly loves Elliot.  It's actually amazing how much he values Elliot's opinions, how excited and giddy he is when Elliot is around and how much no one else in the world matters except Elliot.  I've never seen him play with another kids like he does Elliot. It's almost as if you can actually see Kash's face beam a little brighter when his favorite friend is in the room.  I know it seems dramatic but after I saw these two reunited today I couldn't deny that their little toddler friendship was real and true!

Sometimes I think these two little blonde Mormon boys are friends by default.  Since they were about 18 months old they've seen each other at least three times a week (or more some weeks) because of church, preschool, playgroup and date night.  I used to think that they were just friends by circumstance, but today I was reminded that they are truly the best of friends.  They have similar styles of play, humor and learning.

That's not to say that they never fight or disagree, but all real friendship has to be tested right? ;)  Kash does have a hard time realizing that while Elliot is his best friend he can still be friends with other kids too, or at least be nice to them.  And if you start something with Elliot you best believe you will be answering to Kash (not because Elliot gets his bodyguard...it's because Kash loves Elliot so much he feels the need to fight his battles.)  Things that we are definitely working on, but it is secretly cute that Kash loves his friend so much.

Their friendship reminds me of the many best friends I've had in the various places I've lived.  That friend that just fits with everything that you are.  The friend who you can be your true self around.  They love all the things you love and make you laugh until you cry when everyone else thinks you two are dorks.  The friend who is selfless and puts your needs in front of their own.  While it was hard moving around so much as a kid I feel beyond lucky to have found a special "best friend" in each place I've lived.  Some I've kept in better contact than others but for the most part I'm lucky to have real friendships that have lasted the test of time and many, many miles.  Friendships that no matter how much time has passed since we were together last it's as if middle school, high school or college was just yesterday and we're able to pick up right where we left off.

I'm glad that Kash has found this at such an early age.  It makes me happy to know that he's capable of such a friendship and of such a deep love for another person.

So, will we be O.K. when the day finally comes for Elliot to move?  Yeah, we'll be alright (after months of therapy I'm sure haha)...but it sure will be heartbreaking to see my little boy say goodbye to his first best friend!

classy girls weekend 2013

for the record the record there's not much classiness going on during our weekends together...

It had been too long since I had a "classy girls weekend" with my besties.  Sayward has been through a lot lately with Ascher being sick and twins on the way that Juli and I thought a bestie visit was in order.  So I packed up Nix and we headed to sunny Arizona in April.

Juli and I wanted to surprise Sayward with a baby shower but got a tip from her husband that a girls weekend might be more up her ally.  And since she was the women of the weekend we wanted to please her, and we are always up for some low key girl time!

sayward's surprise from Erica Turnbow on Vimeo.

Needless to say from her reaction on the video she was surprised!  It was a great weekend.  I loved being able to just hang out with my girls.  We did some crafting, ate ice cream, stayed up waaayyy too late, stalked people we don't know on Instagram, talked about our favorite blogs and about mom things, went on walks and pretty much just enjoyed every second together.  I feel so lucky and blessed to have found two best friends who understand and get me so well!  We have definitely had our ups and downs, like any real relationship has, but our friendship has endured arguments, 100's of miles apart, marriages, babies and more.  I'm so happy these girls are still in my life on a daily basis!

So when's the next Classy Girls Weekend???  I'm ready!

Best of luck Smelly who is actually going to lose about 12 lbs as she delivers those sweet babies today!  You are in our prayers, and I can't wait to meet those little girls of yours! 

zoo time

If there was one thing I was determined to do while the Deweys were here was get them to the zoo!!! BSDewey is obsessed with zoos and was extremely disappointed at their last visit when is snowed in March and we didn't make it to the zoo.  

Well this time we made it. It was nice because we went on a Thursday and at one point I'm pretty sure we were the only ones there.  Do to nap schedules (and the boys will blame the girls for taking forever to get ready) we got there a little late and didn't get to see everything but I still think it was a good time.  Hopefully Bryan wasn't disappointed!

Nixon was also in for a treat, seeing as how this was his first trip to the zoo.  He loved it! ha

The seals behind us were awesome!  Making hilarious noises, waving and performing for us.  Sadly a week later one of them died :( 

This is the only pic I got of the Deweys...their freakin backs!  Really disappointed in myself for not capturing at least one front few of this cute fam! 

butt crack

pumpkin fest 2012

Ok so we didn't actually make it to Pumpkin Fest this year.  I know, sad--it is a Turnbow tradition after all.  But it ended up being really cold that day and I wasn't willing to take newborn Nix and 2 year old Kash out in the freezing temps.  So what do you do if you can't go to one of your favorite events of the year? CRY! Have your best friends fly in from Arizona, find a place that sells pumpkins, take a bunch or picture and dream of how great life would be if they lived here to go to events like this all the time.  It was actually by coincidence that Bryan and Juli were able to come during a weekend packed full of Halloween/Fall events, but it turned out perfect to have them here!  It was like a dream come true for Juli and I to be together in the fall, pushing our babies around and going to festivals!

Of course everyone else had fun too!  I was actually a little worried about how Kash would be with Ava since she's a year younger than him but for the most part they got along great!  I think our boy may even have had a little crush on the pretty little Ava.  At one point after Juli got done doing Ava's hair Kash looked at her with a surprised look and said, "You look different! You aren't going anywhere!" haha I guess Kash really likes a girl with a bow in her hair and wanted her all to himself.

Since we couldn't make it to Pumpkin Fest we heard about our local nursery and garden shop having a lot of pumpkins and activities for kids.  So we packed up the kids to check it out. And it didn't disappoint!

baby's 1st pumpkin

The Love Train

LOVE Ava in this picture!  Her first jumpy castle! 

Kash had a lot of fun picking out his own pumpkin this year.  At first he picked the biggest one he could find and then we quickly made the rule that he had to be able to carry it.

We loved sharing this tradition with our besties, and hope they can come back next year! ;)

a 2 yr. old's version of a bestie

Anyone who has spent any time with Kash in the last few months has heard about his beloved friend, Elliot!  Over Easter weekend Kash kept saying, "Where's Elliot?" as if it was just a given that he would be at our family events!  It got to the point that Aunt Joy said she wished Kash loved her as much as he loved Elliot!  Don't we all...

During church a few weeks ago Elliot and his sister sat with us during sacrament due to both of his parents being in the choir that Sunday, well you would have thought someone had told Kash that he could eat all the Easter candy in the world, he was pretty excited.  During the closing prayer Kash said ever so lovingly, "I love you Elliot!" just the way he tells us he loves us!  Blaine and I weren't sure how to take that one.

Kash thinks and talks about Elliot ALLOFTHETIME! We'll be driving around and Kash will beg to go to Elliot's house or ask what he's doing and when he can see him next.  In fact last night through his baby monitor we heard Kash lying in bed talking about going to Elliot's house. (insert eye roll from parents.)

Kash has no qualms about letting the world know how much he loves Elliot either.  A few weeks ago we walked into church and Kash yelled ELLIOT!!! and jumped up and down when he saw his BFF as we walked in late to Stake Conference.  He also thinks every blonde boy under the age of 5 is Elliot, that always make for some awkward situations. 

And from what we hear, luckily, the love doesn't just go one way...Elliot is pretty fond of Kash as well.  Which is always a good thing because one-sided relationships kinda suck.

Not sure exactly what started Kash's love for his pal Elliot.  Despite seeing Elliot on average of 3 times a week due to nursery, play group, date group and the occasional hang out with his family, Kash wasn't really into any of the kids we saw on a regular. I think it was around the time he broke his leg and was cooped up in the house for almost a week that he started to talk about Elliot.  Distance makes the heart grow fonder?  Possibly.  But I will never forget going to one of Blaine's basketball games that Elliot was at and as soon as Kash saw him he hobbled from across the gym screaming Elliot's name and didn't leave his side the whole game.

I'm happy that Kash found a friend that he loves so much and for the most part (they are 2 year old boys) play really well together.  Because for awhile there I was afraid Kash would never make a friend.  He used to hate nursery, hate hanging out with other kids and was mean to kids at the park.  But it's pretty sweet to see how much these two boys enjoy each others company.  And if we can convince Elliot's parents (lucky for us we get along really well with his parents too) to live in Aurora, Colorado forever maybe these little blonde headed boys will be life long friends.

oh target

I interrupt what will be a long string a Christmas posts to bring you some amazing Target finds.  The other day Karen and I were walking around Target when out of the corner of my eye I saw mustard yellow home decor.  I know many (including Ms. Karen Turnbow) think mustard yellow is sick, but it's somehow my favorite color and  I seem to incorporate it in my life as much as possible.  So when I saw this aisle of adorable home decor I dragged Karen down it.

First thing that stole my heart was this pair of mustard lamps:

I would love this pair for our living room.  We currently don't have any lighting in this room and I've been searching for the perfect lamps.  Unfortunately at $50 a piece I might just buy some cheap ones and spray paint them.

Then I saw this lampshade and thought it would go perfectly in our bedroom on our night stands (on top of a lamp of course): 

 At 20 bucks a pop this one is more manageable.

And then this is the part that my sweet sister-in-law thought I had lost my mind.

All of these items were sitting  on the shelf and I quickly threw them together and started screaming, "How cute would this be for a little girl's nursery!!!"  Karen reminded me I wasn't pregnant and who knew if I would have a girl next.  Her comments weren't registering and I seriously (and maybe still) contemplated buying this combo and saving it for the day I have a little girl.  Luckily I left my wallet at home so that's as far as the crazy went.  And since these pictures were all taken on my iTouch the colors aren't coming out as pretty, but I promise this combo is sweet in real life!

They also have these adorable pillows right now:

Cute right?  I couldn't believe all the awesome finds in just one aisle!  Unfortunately, these are just seasonal items and I'm sure they will go quickly.  But if nothing else I've been inspired!  You've really out done yourself this time Target! 

utah trip: besties

The beautiful view from Juli's dad's house.  We are always feel so lucky that he lets us stay there! 

The main reason we ventured to Utah was because my best friend Juli was blessing her baby in Logan and my other best friend Sayward just had a baby as well.  I hate that we don't all live in the same town, and it only gets worse when they have babies and I'm not there to meet them right away.

Luckily things are always the same when we get together and it's like we started right were we left off.  Granted, our conversations are geared more towards, babies, birth, nursing, poopy diapers, etc now, but that is our lives at the moment and I don't think we would have it any other way.  

I loved seeing my besties with babies!  It's awesome to watch your friends grow and mature and become mothers.  And of course I was super emotional about meeting these two little babes.  I couldn't help but cry when I met Ascher for the first time, and when I saw Ava in her beautiful blessing dress I couldn't hold back the tears.  Yeah I'm a freak what can I say! 

Although I was enjoying all the newborn baby holding Kash was hating it.  He would get super jealous anytime I would hold Ava or Ascher, good thing Blaine was there to distract him most of the time!

Sweet baby Ava, and her cute little smile!

Baby Ascher loved me ha

Love this picture!  Almost 10 years later and so many new people in the picture!  Thanks for making this picture happen Nat.

The girl of the day

We feel so blessed to have such great friends that despite the fact that we all live in different states that we get to see each other so often!  Thanks for a great weekend friends, we miss you!!!

birthday boy

Kash had a great birthday and was very spoiled!

I decided to go with a dog theme because Kash loves dogs!  Anytime he sees a dog he squeals/laughs and gets very excited.  It was fun to have all some of our friends and family over to celebrate our little boy's first year.

baby shower

And finally the reason Kash and I went to Utah...for Juli's baby shower!  Being with my best friends in Logan is one of my all time favorite things, I seriously have the best friends ever!  And I think they are the best because they are the best for me.  We all totally have the same sense of humor, have the same interest and apparently love having babies! :)  It was great to see all you girls!

happy birthday juli

Dear Pooge,

Happy Birthday! I wish you were here so the Turnbow's could show you a good time on your big day (and yes we still know how to have a good time even though we are crippled and knocked up)! Or I wish we were all in Logan so we could do our traditional girls birthday dinner, stay at the restaurant for hours after our meal was done laughing the night away. To be followed maybe by a Slurpee run to visit our favorite Sev guy, Steven, and then cruise Main in Scratchy. Then maybe we could go home and get in a few more hours of laughs in until I got grumpy/tired and decided that it was time for bed. Which would really mean we could go to our separate rooms and chat online (to each other) for a few more hours!

I miss you so much and feel ever so blessed to have you as a best friend after all of these years. If you were here today with me I would totally make you something like this (but it would be a really moist not so cakey cake)!I hope you have an awesome birthday! And sorry to break it you, you're in our "old" club now! :)

Love,
E