Whirlwind trip

Remember that one time we took a whirlwind trip to California to be on Ellen?! JD got there several hours before I did and rented a 2014 Mustang convertible to drive around town. Haha. . . we sure felt like celebrities zipping around in that baby! 

Man, those two weeks of intense "baby booty bump" fame were crazy, fun, and definitely unforgettable. I can't believe I ended up going to Universal City, California because of that video. What a memory!

Waterpark Wednesday

We took our first trip to Seven Peaks yesterday! It was only open for a few hours in the afternoon because it's not quite summer yet for the school-aged children. It was also a little overcast so that probably contributed to the smaller crowd as well. We hung out in the lazy river, jumped a few waves in the wave pool and even took Tenley in our laps down some of the bigger slides. It was wonderful to walk right up and get on! We thought Ten would be excited and playful, but she had a flat affect pretty much the whole time. She wasn't scared or unhappy; she was just calm and quiet. I wanted to get a few pictures before we went into the park, but Tenley wasn't in the mood. 

Haha, the picture on the left is such a "Tenley face." Whenever she doesn't want to do something or is reluctant to listen, she turns her head away in an almost bashful manner. It is too funny. I don't know where she learned this, but it is a predictable mannerism during teeth brushing, diaper changing, and car-seat buckling. 

Camping season

The weather is warming up and it's camping season again! I never knew I'd fall in love with camping quite the way I have. Perhaps, I should've seen it coming. . . an affection for the crisp mountain air runs in my blood. My dad is definitely a camping man. However, the Texas heat doesn't really lend itself to an enjoyable camping experience, so we didn't go much at all while I was growing up. Things have changed. JD's a pro at this camping business and makes it a point to go regularly with our little fam. We've camped in the snow, camped with friends, camped with family, camped with just the stuff off our backs, camped in our living room, and camped with a baby. Basically, I feel like I've done it all ;)  

We'll be camping again this weekend with JD's family. It's a fun tradition and I love spending time with them around the camp site. In anticipation of the upcoming trip, I uploaded a few scrapbook layouts from some of last year's camping adventures.

Baby chicks.

My in-laws are the biggest animal lovers I know. They've had nearly every animal you can think of as a house pet (. . .okay, maybe not every animal). But currently, they have a few chickens residing in their backyard and we sure do love those fresh eggs!! A few days before Easter, the Knowldens got a few new baby chicks. Oh my adorable! Tenley had no idea what to think of those little chicks. She wanted to touch and hold them, but was terrified when they moved or pecked at her fingers. Haha, serious cuteness overload.

5 "Baby booty bump" Lessons

The last few weeks have been a little surreal. On Sunday April 27, I entered an Instagram dance-off for moms hosted by The Alison Show in hopes of winning a $250 gift card to The Land of Nod. I had two entries: (1) the original clip of me dancing and (2) an "outtake" clip of me dancing and knocking my daughter to the ground with my bum. The latter clip was hilariously accidental and just too funny not to share. On Monday April 28, I sheepishly posted it to Facebook knowing it would surely brighten a few peoples' days. The response was overwhelmingly positive and many people shared, liked, and laughed at the video. I posted it on YouTube that night and sent it to The Ellen Degeneres Show via her website. On Tuesday April 29, I woke up with 700 views on YouTube and thought: "That's crazy! So cool." By the time I went to bed, I had 14,890 hits and I thought: "How did that happen?!" In the first 24 hours, I was contacted by several agencies asking for the rights to the video, but I ended up partnering with Storyful. And, boy, am I glad I did! Over the next few days, SO MANY people e-mailed, called, and messaged me about use of the video and I just directed everyone to Storyful. It has been such a blessing to delegate all that stress and headache to them. By Thursday May 1, my "baby booty bump" video hit one million views and had been shared by countless news and radio stations across the country. It was all over the Internet and television: CNN, The Today Show, E! News, ESPN2, the iFunny app, AOL, Time. You name it: I was probably there. It was totally overwhelming and time-consuming to keep up with all the hype! On Wednesday May 7, I was in the audience of The Ellen Degeneres Show and had to pinch myself as I heard Ellen discuss the powerful "thrust to my daughter's face." On May 8, my little snippet aired on Ellen. As of today, May 13, the video has 2,350,583 views on YouTube. I still can't believe it.

I've learned a lot from having my video "go viral." Some things are personal and/or confidential, but here's what I want the world to know.