Birthday boat day!

Happy TurnersEvery year someone in this house gets a little older. This year it happened to be Jess, and what better way to celebrate getting older than to spend the day on the lake with some great friends and perfect weather! For the past few years we’ve wound up on the lake near the end of the summer. Every time we go out we have a blast and make a point to do it more often. Of course the more often part never happens, but we still have a great time.

In years past we’ve had a bigger boat, more people, and MUCH MORE DRINKING! However, with every passing year our bodies get a little bit older and the responsibilities to ourselves and our kids goes up. The decision was made to tone back the consumption and tone up the fun. This turned out to be a pretty smart choice. Rather than ending the day feeling completely smashed and unable to take care of the kiddos, we came home a bit sunburned, maybe a little light headed, but totally able to hang with the boys and not wish we had made better choices throughout the day. I probably should have put just a tad more sunscreen on my arms, but that’s about it!

The group of people on the boat was interesting. Usually its a circle of friends that pretty much all know each other. Yesterday there were certainly some that had met in the past, but we also had some new friends. My sister and her husband were there, we had some old friends we hadn’t seen in a while, and some new friends who brought a great mix to the crowd. In addition to new faces, we also had a tube for pulling behind the boat. Usually we end up in a cove somewhere jumping/sliding off the boat and just kinda farting around the lake. This time we took turns tubing around and really being a bit more active. I think this was clutch in the assistance of not getting demolished by the son and a-a-a-alcohol.

So the birthday boat day was a total success this year. No one totaled their car the night before and had to spend the day in a sling and on pain meds and we subjected to the abundance of fireball in the sky and fireball in a shot glass. It was a great day and we will do it again. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Maybe next time we can take our boys out on the lake. I think they really would enjoy it. Maybe not Jack, but by the time we’re back on the lake he’ll be nearly two, so it might not be so bad. Wait… almost two?! That means he’s almost one now. EEK!! Where has the time gone.

Pics of the fun day!

Great expectations

"Great" ExpectationsBut not the Charles Dickens kind. Well, actually I’ve never read the book, or even seen the 1998 movie starting Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow. So perhaps it’s exactly like that. However, for the sake of this post, let’s just say it’s not.

During that small window each day when it’s possible, Jess and I had a great conversation. We talked about how we have a bad habit of planning big for pretty much anything. No matter what it is, we always set the bar high, but inevitably our reality is far from the expectations. I’ll use last night as an example. For the past few weeks we’ve been planning a fun night at our house with some friends. They were going to bring their kids up, we were going to make some appetizers, they were going to make dinner, we were going to have some drinks and general hangoutary. The kids would play, the music would be on chill, the wine would flow, and at the end of the night we’d all feel good cause the thing we’d planned for weeks had finally happen. Now it’s not like these friends live close or we see all the time. This takes time to plan due to distance and a total of 6 kids between the two couples.

Well, no about 30 mins before we were expecting a phone call with a “we’re on the way!” we got a call with “um…. something’s come up and we can’t make it.” [Insert a lot of the story that I’m going to leave out]. Jess and I both were left with disappointment and a ton of food, wine, and baklava. The next hour was spent trying to figure out how to salvage the evening and still make it epic! Not so much with “let’s calk up our losses and just hang out at home.” It had to be who can we call, where can we do, how can we still have the BEST. NIGHT. EVER. Eventually we decided to go to Target, buy a new game we could all play, get some take-out (it was going to be the best food we could find) and enjoy the evening playing our new game, drinking the wine we had and generally having a grand old time. By the time we got home we had a new game, an order from Burger King and at least 1 grumpy kid. Ok, we’re still going to make this EPIC!!!! Fast forward to post wine and whopper time and we’re on the couch playing Lego Jurassic World and I’m the only one that actually enjoys the game. Ten thirty rolls around and we’re in bed ready to call it a night.

So a night that we had been anticipating for a while fell through, no bigs. The our plan B was put into motion and kinda flopped. Again, nothing to fret over. But for what ever reason going into any plan Jess and I both have a tendency to build them up bigger than they should be. This happens more often than not. Its something we can work on I’m sure, but really it just comes down to not trying to make things a bigger deal than they are.

Life can be simple unless you deem it otherwise. There’s really no reason to get hopes up over something that is rather trivial. Going on a Disney cruise? Get your hopes. Going to the store with 2 kids and expect it to be a total success AND everything is on sale? Keep things realistic and you won’t be flustered when you walk out of there and your kids have no shoes on and are pissed off cause they were out of free sprinkle cookies in the bakery. Life is ever changing and its best to change flow with it. Everyone wins and I fully expect to win. All the time.

 

Half a year later

I honestly don’t even know where to begin. My last post was in December of 2014, and it’s now July 2015. That’s WAY to long to go without posting. So today, I start again.

But where to start? Do I make a post about Jack, Lane, Tough Mudder, my new tattoo, the basement, work, beer, the gym, or somewhere else? Too much has happened over the past 7 months to capture it all. There’s just no way to get it all into a post, and I’m sure I’ve forgotten more things than I’d ever be able to share here.

So now that I’ve wasted the first two paragraphs talking about how much I haven’t talked about in the past year I’m just gonna get right down to things.

65839600-5811-4401-B20E-63067F4660BEJack:
Jack is about to be 9 months old. We love this guy! He’s got so much personality and is such a Turner that it hurts some times. He’s not quite rolling over consistently yet, but he’s certainly done it a few times. He is on baby food, eats everything, and is growing like crazy. Right now he’s teething and about to cut his 8th… or 9th tooth. We’ve lost count as it happens so rapidly. The other week he started saying “dadadada” and then “mamamamama”. So talking isn’t far off. We’ve got a walker that he really enjoys being in because he’s mobile. I have a feeling this kid will be walking before he can craw, which is something he’s not really been keen on as of yet. So, this is a far cry from the last time I posted about Jack. He still frustrates the hell out of us, but I don’t know of any 9 month old that is just always the perfect baby. Oh, and he’s trending about 8-9 months ahead of his age as far as clothing, so that’s always fun.

OCR (Obstacle Course Races):

Watch these. That’ll pretty much sum things up. Jess and I have done both a Tough Mudder and Warrior Dash this year. I have 2 Spartan races coming up in the fall and can’t wait!

Work:
Work is work. I’ve been working on the same project for the better part of 2 years now. The good thing is, its not something that has either a budget or end date. I can always add more features and functionality and as long as our sales team sells it, I’ll be in demand!

The house:
I don’t know what I have / haven’t posted about in regards to what’s been done around the house. We’ve done more landscaping in the back yard, had some more trees cut down, painted some rooms, re-arranged furniture, contemplated finishing things, started new things and generally been home owners who own a home that always have something to do. Also, it seems that no matter how much water I put on the grass it doesn’t want to turn into a golf course.

Jack and LaneLane:
Where to even begin with this kid?! He’s grown so much in the past year that it’s hard to capture it all even if I posted every day. There’s nothing this kid can’t do, especially if you ask him. As a general rule he really can do most things, and even things he can’t he’ll give it a try. This kid surprises me all the time. He wanted some yogurt out of the fridge the other day, so he found a stool, took it into the kitchen, climbed to the top shelf of the fridge and got it. He only likes to ask for help, so you can watch him do something on his own. He loves his family, gets frustrated and communicates why, tells jokes, remembers things that both Jess and I have long since forgotten, is able to follow even the most complex of directions. I want to freeze time so I can keep him at this age forever, but I am also excited to see what’s next in his big little world.

Friends:
It seems that these days its becoming more and more difficult to make time to hang out with my friends. We’ve all got kids now and syncing up schedules and such is always such a chore. On the off chance that we do get to hang out, its a great time. I love my friends and have some really great people in my life.

Jess:
Speaking of great people in my life…. This woman. She’s my best friend. My companion. My wife. My everything. There are days when she frustrates me, days when I frustrate her, but at the end of EVERY day there is such a deep love and respect that I can’t imagine any other life. She has grown so much as a mother, teacher, and person in the past year and I am just so proud of all the things she has accomplished. There really is a never ending list of ways I love her.

The gym:
First off, I still HATE pull-ups. I have continued to get stronger, faster, better, and more well rounded in the gym. But my hands and my grip are still weak and no matter what I do, I will most likely rip. I did the Memorial Day Murph, which has 100 pull-ups and despite finishing I did some serious damage to my hands. Despite my pull-ups not getting much better, I’ve increased the weight that I can lift via deadlift, clean, jerk, push press, drastically. But with that being said this past week I discovered that we all have bad days and my bad day was an abysmal performance while trying to do a bench press. In my attempt to simply do the same weight/reps I’ve done before I failed. A lot. This left me with a sour taste in my mouth, but at the same time, it gave me a drive to get back in the gym and work on my weakness and turn it around.

Varicose veins:
I had them, not so much any more. Many, many, many years in the making and I have finally gotten ride of the veins that were so unsightly in my legs. I’m only about a week out from my final procedure, but I can tell that things are improving. In about 5 more weeks all the swelling should be down and I’ll have some silky smooth legs! Well, maybe not that much, but they’ll be tenfold better than they were.

Chase, Jack, JessChase:
We have a teenager. And a teenager he certainly is. One minute he’s dancing and singing in the kitchen with us, the next he’s completely shut him self into his room and won’t join us for anything. He has some massive mood swings and they come out of nowhere. With that being said, he’s still a really good kid. There are other teens out there that are just unbearable, but not Chase. He has all the signs of being a teen, and just like with our other two kids, eventually he’ll grow out of that phase and move on to the next one. Hopefully the football he’s signed up for that starts in the fall will help him with that.

All the rest:
Like I mentioned earlier, I can’t begin to cover everything. My goal is to keep posting and try to capture as much of the day-to-day as I can. Pics, videos, Tweets, etc., I’d like to get it all, or at the very least a majority of it.

Settling in nicely

So a few weeks ago, or what seems like a week ago I posted about a shittaculer week that we had. I mean literally it was an assplosion of epic proportions. Since then we’ve rebounded quite nicely and have managed to get everyone else around us sick! Well, maybe they got themselves sick, but either way it seems that everyone is now falling victim to the dreaded mud butt.

Enough about that… This December has FLOWN by. But I reckon that’s the way time usually goes. When your in the weeds things may seem to drag on and weeks never end and you have “the longest day ever” syndrome, but when you look back there’s always the sense of “where has this month gone?!” That’s the case with the past few weeks around here. And now, its two days before Christmas and it seems like just yesterday was Thanksgiving. That doesn’t mean we’ve not enjoyed ourselves this holiday season. It really has been a great month and we’ve adjusted well to living in the new house. It just seems like things are more accessible. For example, I’ve had two work holiday parties in the past few weeks and had we still lived in Hampton I would have most likely bailed on both of those. Now it seems like work or downtown is a short drive from here and hanging with co-workers for the holiday parties is doable.

And its not just getting to/from downtown, its everything else as well. I mean if we need to go to the grocery store, Starbucks, Target or to do some shopping out and about, its accessible. Its just very easy living where we do now. We even managed to host a Christmas/holiday party and have people show up! City folk that would have otherwise never ventured to our home had we not lived within close proximity to civilization.

So thats that. Its been a swift month and looking back, a crazy year. 2012 is coming to a close and we’re already planning far into 2013.

What a weekend

This really has been a great weekend. My amazing wife ran in The Color Run – Atlanta (I’ll let her talk more about that), the weather was wonderful, I got to help Chase with a school project that turned out tenfold better than expected and it was Wrestlemania!

Solar System

First up, the school project. Ever since I can remember I’ve always excelled in any sort of project that was due at school. Whether it was a diagram, a science fair presentation, sculpture, plant rubbings, you name it. The main reason was my mom and dad. At the time I loved it! We would spend hours in the kitchen or garage working on the best possible thing to turn in. I would build elaborate objects to turn in that would ensure that I would get some sort of recognition. Regardless of how I was doing in the class or when it was due, we would always be working on the best of the best. I have vivid memories of late nights in the kitchen gluing the last newspaper clipping onto a board showing some info about water purification. I remember building some overly complicated windmill thing for a project in college with the aid of my dad. It has to be this sense of overachievement that led me to what we put together for Chases solar system project this weekend.

At first it was pretty basic. Jess and Chase got a kit to make a solar system and a foam board to put the planets on. We had some tempra paint to paint the planets and it was going to be a slam dunk. However, after some trial and error it was discovered that painting styrofoam was a lot more challenging that initially thought. We tried several different methods, and eventually we got frustrated. I am not one to easily give up so I did some research and found the right kind of paint to use and Chase and I were on our way to get some supplies. An hour or so later and we had an amazing project that any kid would be proud to bring to school. I really thought it looked cool and can’t wait to hear the feedback tomorrow. No matter what I was going to make the project a success. Unlike John Cena, when I said that I was going to put everything I had into it, I meant it.

That brings me to my next point. The main event at Wrestlemania this year was John Cena vs. The Rock. They have been pimping this match for a year. I was extremely eager to see it. I was excited about all the other matches (well most of them) tonight, but I really was eager to see the outcome of this one. I had my money on Cena, but as luck would have it… my money was in the wrong spot.

I spoke with my friend Adam about this for a while leading up to the match, but Cena really had it all on the line. He had to win. The Rock, had nothing to lose. Tomorrow, The Rock will go back to making his movies, but John Cena will go back to wrestling every single week. After such amazing matches as Triple H vs. The Undertaker I was expecting greatness from the Cena/Rock match. What I got was a really good match with a piss poor ending. When the Undertaker finally beat H3 you could tell that both men were simply spent. When Cena was done with his match, he looked like he was just kinda chillin. The ending was so terrible. In my opinion The Rock had nothing to gain from beating Cena and as much as Cena talked about putting his entire soul into the match, I felt like it was a half-ass ending. They had to carry Trips out of the ring, Cena was just hanging out after his match. They really could have ended it better. The best thing that can happen at this point is for The Rock to come out tomorrow and put Cena over. Otherwise Cena is going to have to turn heal. That’s really the only thing, but then again, this is the WWE and anything is possible.

So that was pretty much it. I had an epic time building a solar system with Chase, then I got to watch Wrestlemania with my family and friend. I wish John Cena had won the match, but it’s not “real” so it should be just fine.

“Best friend”

Can someone define that for me? Is it even possible to really put a definition on the term best friend? We’ve all had them. From early childhood we’ve had people or friend that have been our “best” friends. A person we can go to with our deepest thoughts, someone who will be there for us no matter what. We’ve all had that go-to person that no matter what, will tell us what we don’t want to hear, in a way that we need to hear it.
Continue reading ““Best friend””

2011 – Let’s review

2011 started off like any other year, with a wicked ice storm that pretty much shut down the whole state of Georgia. We made the best of it and actually had a really great time. We wouldn’t get that kind of ice/snow again for the rest of the year. I’m actually hoping that we get one again, only this time we’ll have a lil’ baby with us.

February brought us Gracie. A Great Dane that would put us to the test.

Neither one of us had ever owned such a beast. She was one of the sweetest and happy dogs ever, but damn was she a handful. After many ‘discussions’ we finally decided to find another home for her. Luckily I was able to find a nice lady that lived on a farm, a real one night the typical ‘dog farm’. Off to a better home Gracie went and I’m sure she is much happier now.

March ushered in some Spring little league for Chase. He really got into the ‘swing’ of things and enjoyed himself.

Honestly it was a lot of fun. We got to meet some new people and Chase had a lot of fun. I don’t think the Mudcat’s won that many games, but it didn’t really matter to him, he just wanted to play.

I don’t think much happened in April. Well… I mean Chase did get to go a Wrestlemania Art show, meet a bunch of wrestlers and then go to the actual PPV. Oh, and there was Tax Day. Hmm… something else happened… Oh that’s right, WE GOT MARRIED!!!! It was a wonderfully magic wedding. Everything we had hope for. I got to finally call the love of my life my bride, and it was the beginning of our forever. The honeymoon was in Vegas, and well… and we know good and well what happens in Vegas, doesn’t always stay in Vegas. In addition to finding out we were pregnant (but really what could top that) we spent the May kinda floating around in happiness and bliss.

Every summer we like to take a family vacation, and a pregnancy this year wasn’t going to slow us down. For the 2011 Summer Vacation we decided it would be a lot of fun to head to Disney! We loaded up the car and drove down to the most magical place on earth. Chase had never been and neither Jess nor I had been in SEVERAL years so it worked out perfectly. It wasn’t easy for Jess with the heat and the walking plus being pregnant, but we made it. It was a great vacation and a birthday I don’t think Chase will ever forget.

The rest of the summer went on by, carrying with the ups and downs of being pregnant. We found out we were having a boy and man, that made me excited. I was the last male Turner and to be able to continue the name, meant a lot to me.

As August rolled around we started getting read to go back to school, and doing just normal family things. Chase was doing great and really getting into the spirit of being an older brother. He was helping around the house and he just felt a little more grown up. October would creep upon us before we knew it and in addition to me getting a new car and turning 32 it started to really sink in that I was going to be a daddy, very soon.

Between Halloween and right now it’s all kind of a blur. It’s as if time sped up and didn’t really wait. We had our first, and second baby shower and started getting the nursery ready. Baby clothes, diapers, wipes, toys, bottles, all of it started coming in and every time we would get something new it would sink in just a bit more how soon this bundle of joy would be here. Lane’s nursery looked fantastic and in no time at all everything was in its right place and we could start getting ready for the holidays.

Baby Lane's Room
Baby Lane's Room

Our Christmas tree was up BEFORE Thanksgiving, and the house was all set and ready to go. We made our rounds to friends and family. Did the gift exchanges and then it was Christmas day at the Turner household. I couldn’t have asked for a better holiday season. My wife was glowing with that baby glow, Chase was happy and doing all the big brother things and I was doing everything I can to make the house and my wife ready for this baby.

In contrast to the rest of the year, this past week has been filled with lots of taking it slow. Everything we could possibly do to be prepared for Lane, we have done. The bags are packed, the car seat is in, clothes washed and put away, house is secure, etc. You name it, we’ve done it. Now all we need is for Lane to come home.

It’s been such a wonderful year. I’m sure I left things out, but it’s all good. They say that the first year of marriage is the toughest thing you’ll go through other than the 9 months your wife is pregnant. Well, I’ve done both at the same time and I’m more in love now than the day I got married and I don’t see signs of this ever stopping.

That's my boy!
That's my boy!

Thanks for all the memories 2011, but it’s time for 2012!

~SB

I now pronounce you…

The Turners!

It’s been three weeks and we are still going strong! Good sign, right?? What an amazing few weeks it’s been. We have an awesome concert and unforgettable honeymoon to blog about soon, but nothing can overshadow the big day. I knew just as much as I was forcing time to fly by, the wedding day and events would go by just as fast. I remember heading to the ceremony wishing I could press a pause button for a day or so. Everything was so perfectly beautiful. Thunderstorms moved the ceremony inside, but considering our number of guests I think it turned out more intimate and special anyway. All of our favorite people showed up to wish us well. A great friend of mine told me recently that “as soon as you say ‘I do’ everything will just calm down and make sense”.  She was so right. I am generally anxiety driven, and this honeymoon phase has me feeling calmer and more peaceful than ever. I see a path for our family, and for once I don’t feel like it’s a path I ‘should’ be on, but a path I want to be on. I will bookmark this post so 5 years from now I can remember how blissful we were….in the midst of bitching about his socks in the floor. Although, as my husband confirms, we are the exception….so maybe I’ll just come back to check the pics. 😉

Speaking of pics. They are shit. The woman who runs Le Bam got her husband to be the “photographer”. I get this will save her money, and I saw what he was shooting with so I figured “well…that camera will work for itself”. Wrong. SB emailed her about our dissatisfaction, and she claims they were “not ready to be released and needed more editing”. Ya think? Either way, there are a few keepers and enough to get a couple framed. Other than the pics and the DJ playing ALL hip hop songs, this wedding was my favorite so far! Now it’s time to just calm down, push through these last three weeks of school, and spend the summer with this amazing little family of mine that I am just sickeningly in love with. <3