Winegardner Adventures

Why (I think) I want a bunch of kids, Part 2: the real version

2012-01-29T18:51:00.000-07:00

Hopefully everyone can think of the family: They are loud, they have a LOT of fun, there are so many kids, aunts, uncles, grandbabies, cousins, nieces, nephews, moms, dads, sisters, borthers that you can't keep everyone straight. If you are family on my mom's side- think Martindales, my dad's side- think Jespersens. That's what I want. A Big, Loud, Fun, Crazy family. No, I don't want to be pregnant 6 times (I've decided I have to have at LEAST 5 to get the big loud family, but probably 6+), no I don't want 6 newborns, and no I certainly don't want 6 teenagers! BUT I do want a huge loud crazy family. I know you can have a small family that is loud, fun, and crazy, but they are missing a key ingredient (for me): BIG. Plus, I feel like I have so much love to give! Do you ever feel like you are bursting with love? I love pretty much everyone (there isn't really anybody that I don't like.. I like everyone. So if you think I don't like you, you are wrong- I do.) I was so excited to have Jase because I remember when I had Samantha, it made my love for everyone else GROW, and I knew that when I had Jase it would grow some more. I have never been concerned about not loving someone enough or as much as someone else, rather sometimes I worry I don't have enough people to love in my life! I WANT to 'have joy and rejoicing in my posterity', because isn't that one of the greatest blessings we can have?And for you pessimists out there, YES I realize I'm not guaranteed my large family will be loud, fun, and crazy, or that any of my children will even reproduce. But it's something I want, so I think I'm going to at least do my part in making it happen! (that being said, I AM allowed to change my mind! :))

Why (I think) I want a bunch of kids..Part 1, that really has nothing to do with it. haha!

2012-01-29T18:38:00.000-07:00

After having Samantha I was sure I was content with having just 1 kid. Pregnancy was a nightmare, newborns are nightmares (they ARE so sweet, but really I wish I could just skip the first 6 months), breastfeeding was a nightmare, after-effects of being pregnancy and giving birth were nightmares. Then Sammi turned 1. And I had a special experience where I knew I needed to have another baby. Somehow I forgot how miserable it all was and readily signed myself up for more. Pregnancy wasn't even 1/10 as bad. It seemed more normal. I was only sick 24/7 the first trimester, someone introduced me to zofran and bananas as anti-nausea, I could stand up for longer than 30 seconds without passing out. It really wasn't so bad! Then came the newborn stage. Hard, yes, but somehow easier. I was definitely more tired, and about 4 times as busy instead of twice as. But I enjoyed it a lot more. It was nice to have Sammi and my bestie around during those harder months. I have known since I was pregnant with Jase that I would be having more babies. I just knew. No this isn't an announcement. No there won't be one coming in 9 weeks. Part of me wishes there would be an announcement in 9 weeks. Or even 13. But there won't be. We are not in a position where we can have another one or where I can even be pregnant. Not for awhile. But that doesn't really matter that much, because I know I will be having more babies when the time is right. This post ended up not being at all what I intended to write about, but oh well!

BAM!

2012-01-22T23:07:00.000-07:00

Here I am!! So, I have a friend that wrote this blog post that I think is so amazing, really guys go check it out! It isn't even long, so go! now! I just love the perspective. I am really good already about doing #s 3, 4 & 5, working on and getting much better at doing #2 when I'm "soft" from being prego, and a far cry from #1. BUT that is my goal for my next pregnancy (don't worry folks, Jase JUST turned 1, it won't be for awhile longer) "1. I will drink up every moment of change my body goes through while having children, whether I'm growing or shrinking. Every. Moment." I really want to be able to do that. I feel like I have come so far over the last 9 months about body image. I have learned to truly love my body, I have no desire to be as skinny as I was when I was at my skinniest (between having Sam and Jase), I have learned to truly LOVE my curves. And when I got sick and lost weight, I on purpose gained it back, and not as muscle but as curves (aka fat).. On PURPOSE. So maybe it was only 3 or 4 pounds, but I feel like I have come a long way to know what is healthy for me, and despite the nagging that sometimes goes on in my head to be skinnier or to not gain the weight back, I have chosen to love me for me, and have embraced being at a place where I feel really good, and to be at a place where I am not pushing myself to reach an 'ideal' that isn't quite ideal for me. It feels good! Anyway, I just loved her post about how our bodies are beautiful and the changes they go through are beautiful, and I am looking forward to my next pregnancy and (hopefully) learning to embrace and love the changes that my body will go through.Anyway, I know I have a LOT of catching up to do, things have been busy BUSY! Hopefully I'll have time to do a real update later this week, so stay tuned... But don't hold your breath! :)

2011-12-31T16:53:00.001-07:00

I'm thinking a lot right now about New Year's Resolutions...Thinking about the difference between a resolution and a goal. Another blogger pointed out a resolution she was making and emphasized it wasn't a goal, which I had never really thought about before. It seems to me that a resolution is a changed state of mind. Resolving to do something. Dictionary.com says: the mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; firmness of purpose. I looked up the definition for goal, and with a goal it seems to have an end point. For example: I will run a marathon on May 1, 2012 (which is AWESOME, if that is one of your New Year's things- go you! I am in no way putting you down and I'd love to join you!) would be a goal, whereas if you stated that you resolve to exercise 3 times a week, it means that it would be a habit you would establish and hopefully keep until you die. I think in the past I have done a lot of in between type stuff, like "read my scriptures every day" which is kind of like a resolution, except that my intent was to make it until Dec. 31 of the next year. So this year I want to really set a resolution or 2 or 3 (we'll see how ambitious I am feeling later), and I think I will also set smaller goals that will help me to achieve my new resolve(s).
Just as a side note: I am in no way criticizing the setting of goals for New Years, I love that it is a new year and we can all hopefully make ourselves better this coming year. I am also in no way saying you need to change and start setting resolutions! I just was thrown into thought when I read a friend's blog and she stated she was making a resolution NOT a goal- because it was something important to her that she wanted to change. Anyway have fun tonight everyone! Party hard (mormon style, lol)!!

Jase!

2011-12-29T15:24:00.003-07:00

My sweet little boy is 11 months and 10 days. This is exactly (to the day!) how old Sammi was when she started walking all over the place (she was weird. Walking wasn't a process for her. One day she couldn't take more than 1 step by herself, and the next she was walking all over the apartment without falling). Jase has yet to take a step by himself, but that's ok! He is my cautious little boy. He started crawling about a week before he turned 10 months, and said his first word "Boo!" (he loves to play peek-a-boo) a week or so before that. He is kind of a funny kid. He has 4 or 5 words right now and 3 are communications. His first was 'Boo', then doggie (I don't even know how to type the way he says it..), then "Hi!" he also says 'da?' or 'uz-da?' (means what's that). And I'm fairly certain but not 100% certain that he says "ba" (ball). It's just funny because most babies learn mostly nouns, but so far he is all about communicating. He says "hi!" to everyone! At church he loves to stand on the bench and say "hi!" to everyone he sees. He says it when we first see him, when we open a door, when we say it to him.. He loves to say 'hi!' and the way he says it is so cute. It sounds like a recording because he says it the same way every time, and is quite enthusiastic about it. So cute :) He loves to be held and point at things until we take him over to it. When we get to what he is pointing at he says 'uz-da?' and we tell him what it is, he touches it and points some more, then points at something new to go look at.
It's so interesting to me how different him and Sammi are. At his age, she was all about cruisin around, pulling the dvds off the shelf, go-go-go and do-do-do. He just wants to examine and explore everything. He is partial to his mommy, but Sammi is still his favorite. She can make him laugh like no one else can. I LOVE listening to them play, it is music to my ears.

...

2011-12-27T15:16:00.003-07:00

I have quite a bit of catching up to do, I don't really know where to start because I only have time for one post right now... I guess I'll start with Christmas. Thank you everyone for your great ideas! We actually ended up being able to do presents on Saturday, and had Sunday be more Christ-centered. It went REALLY well. Saturday was sooo much fun! Then Saturday night we did Christ-centered Christmas Eve things and on Sunday we did extra things to keep the right focus. One of the things we did came from and idea that my sister in law Briana had of having everyone share a story about giving or a story about CHRISTmas after we ate Christmas breakfast, and it was SO amazing. Everyone had something awesome to share, and we all felt the Spirit quite strongly. I'm glad we were able to have a secular Christmas and a spiritual Christmas. It was a great experience and I think I want to take my cousin's and some others advice for next year and the years to follow where Christmas isn't on a Sunday and try to make Christmas Eve more Christ-centered. Also, I think we are going to make the breakfast thing a yearly tradition.

We had a great time, and so much fun! We were so blessed this year!! Thank you everyone!

How do you do it?

2011-12-17T12:46:00.004-07:00

Keep Christ in Christmas, that is. This year in particular. SO Christmas is on the Sabbath this year, which I think is an amazing and beautiful thing. This year I am struggling to know what to do to keep Christmas about Christ. I am all for Santa (and won't be getting rid of him, so don't suggest it) and the magic that comes with him. I guess here is what I feel about Christmas on Sunday. One of 2 things happens-- you open all your presents and say 'ok kids, have fun playing with them tomorrow!' Or you allow them to play with them, and they yell, play, fight (come on, you know it will happen, don't kid yourself) and do other things that aren't in accordance to the Sabbath. (at least how I was raised). You make an exception since it's Christmas. I feel like making an exception and not maintaining the Sabbath spirit since it's Christmas is what Satan wants us to do. I understand quality time with family is important, and a great activity on the Sabbath, but I feel I would be kidding myself if I think I can maintain the proper Sabbath Spirit when I'm making an exception on Sabbath day standards. I feel like it would be such a shame to waste the opportunity to have that added Spirit with having Christmas on Sunday.I feel like Christmas Sunday (whether it's on the 19, 22, or 25 or whenever) is a special day to truly reflect on what Christmas means on the ultimate gift that our Heavenly Father gave us when He sent His son to this earth so that we can have eternal life. I feel that this year it can even more easily be overrun with Santa and presents and the worldly side of Christmas than most years.
I GET that yeah, we should keep Christ in Christmas no matter what day of the week it is on. I get it. It's more important to me this year, because I feel like now my Christmas Sunday is going to be overrun with worldly things. I also get that there is a middle ground, which we are going to try to do.
So what are YOU doing to keep Christ in Christmas this year? As a child I remember our parents telling us that they wrote Santa a special letter to see if he could come on Saturday so that we could focus on Christ on Sunday. Unfortunately, that isn't an option this year. I struggle with what to do. Obviously we are doing presents Sunday since that is our only option, but I think we are just going to do our best to treat it like Sunday. Only let Samantha play with toys she would be allowed to play with on Sunday, and I think for awhile before we go to church (at 1) we will get into Church mode and prepare for it properly. But my question is still out there: What are you doing this year to keep Christ in Christmas?? And do you have any ideas on what we can do to better improve the spirit of Christ this week, and change our focus? How do you teach that to a 3 year old? And also, what are Your thoughts on doing presents and Santa on Saturday?

Shooting on Thanksgiving

2011-11-30T14:16:00.003-07:00

Jeremy, Ethan, Jimmy and I decided to take the morning and go shooting. It was a blast! At the very end of the day we were shooting golf balls off of tees. Some of the shots were about 75 yards away. The very last thing we decided to do was to see if we could set off a shotgun shell with a .22 round. It didn't ever go off, but we did hit them. Its not easy to hit something the size of a quarter from 150-200 feet away!

We only had one mishap, Jimmy didn't hold one of the rifles tight enough into his shoulder and the scope ended up cutting open his eyebrow :p

Politically correct

2011-11-12T20:25:00.007-07:00

I officially dislike blogging. I was going to write a post about a great new pair of jeans that I just got, but didn't want to offend anyone with some comments that might not be politically correct for me to say. Do you know how stupid that is? Nothing I was planning on saying is the slightest bit offensive. What to do?? Speak my mind anyway? Make the blog private? Give up blogging? Use blogging strictly as an activity/ update log? What are your thoughts? Does anyone else ever run into this problem? Anyone else feel like they can't speak their mind because they might say something that might offend someone?

PS- if you've got a curvy rear end and a smaller waist go try the Levi's curve ID jeans!! I was hesitant to try them because when I think Levi's I think cowboy, but I got a really cute pair of skinnies that actually fit my rear AND my waist, and that actually cover my rear end when I bend over AND they are low rise!

Update

2011-11-07T15:05:00.001-07:00

Want to know how thrilled I am about catching up on the blog? Not at all!! All of the posts are going to be very not-wordy and I'm not going to bother editing any pictures at all. We have had a lot of fun, and are not minding our new town too much. The people here are great! Really really great! (the place itself is less than desirable :)) Hopefully getting all caught up will help me to feel excited about blogging again since hopefully it won't be a chore next time like it is now. Anyway, it's been a fun and busy last couple of months, so enjoy!!

Halloween

2011-11-07T15:04:00.000-07:00

This Halloween was really fun! I love dressing up! Samantha was pretty sick, which is why pictures of her are limited (The next day was a 'let's go to the ER cause Samantha stopped breathing' kind of day). After the ward trunk or treat we had some friends over for games and yummy food.

Babysitting

2011-11-07T15:03:00.000-07:00

I mentioned before that we were babysitting my cousins right before moving. It was SO much fun. I don't know what I was expecting, but I should have been expecting loads of fun, because my cousin is so funny, so of course her kids are too. I miss them! Cara (her oldest) and I had a ton of fun. Anyway, the last night we were there... welllll it was kinda late and we were kinda looney. Hahah! I have about 100 pictures from that night, I'm not putting them all up, but be prepared for picture overload! Also, a lot of them are scenario pictures. For example we'd say "what if we found out Sharon was an alien?" or "what if..(insert random thing here)" anyway I can't remember what all of them are, but that's where most of the goofy pics come from!

"flick"

I think this one was "get out of the picture"

rock band?

Sam

I think this one was "be the only one in the picture"

Our family picture :)

Pirate's Dice! Maddie was waaaay too good at this game. Cara and I had to team up to take her down! haha!

Cara and I :)

Samantha's birthday

2011-11-07T15:02:00.000-07:00

Samantha had a great birthday this year! I can't believe I have a 3 year old. Crazy.
These are in reverse order, but I just don't feel like fixing it today! So here ya go! The Saturday after her birthday we had a little party for her, and I can't possibly post pics of all her presents so here are a few highlights:
We got her a bike!!
I would have to say the best part of the above picture is Ethan, baahahah

Silly string!! Sam thought it was amazing.

While we were babysitting, my mom came so she could see us one last time before we live much farrther away, and she gave Sam her present there, and it was a hit. :)
The day of her birthday we took her to the park to play and have a picnic. So fun! And look how huge my big guy is now! He is about to cut his 8th tooth! Glad I'm not breastfeeding!

Yummy eats

2011-11-07T15:01:00.002-07:00

My sweet little baby loves to eat things he isn't supposed to. I am on of THOSE moms. The kind that doesn't let her kids have sweets until they are 1. This has proved significantly more difficult with Jase than with Sammi. Two reasons: 1- Sammi loves giving him treats and 2- I am much more distracted! The above picture is him when he discovered one of Sammi's left over birthday cupcakes while I turned my back! Yumm!

Fortunately for Jase I'm also one of THOSE moms- the kind that lets her kids eat dirt! :)

Sam sharing her sucker.

Poor Jasers

2011-11-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

Samantha is obsessed with her baby brother. Maybe she isn't always the kindest to him, but she really does love him a lot, and always wants to play with or harass him. She easpecially loves to put hats on him.
(excuse the horrendous mess, this was taken while packing!!)

Painting daddy's nails

2011-11-07T14:59:00.000-07:00

This post proves how much of a hold little girls have on their dads!

Things I will miss

2011-10-07T13:21:00.005-06:00

This week has been an INSANE (but so fun) week. Jacob and I are watching my cousins 6 kids, plus our 2! Um, note to self, being a mom of 8 is exhausting. Especially when the 3 youngest are almost 3, 17 months, and 8 months. And it's not like they made it hard on us-- she made us freezer meals, so cooking is just warming stuff up and putting together some fruit or a salad for a side. Plus they are really well behaved and are pretty good about doing things when I ask. Anyway, we are still in Utah, but all of our stuff has already been moved to CA, and we will be taking off for there when we are done babysitting here. So I've been thinking about moving, and I really am excited to be going somewhere and having new adventures, and maybe I'm not Utah's biggest fan (though I am NOT a hater), but there are some things here that I am going to miss a Lot.

+Family- Briana(one of my best friends) and Jimmy that live here, but also my family. I know my family lives up in Idaho, but now it is going to be a 14 hour drive instead of 4 1/2. So we definitely won't be seeing them much.
+Friends- in particular my bestest bestie (you know who you are :)) but also all my friends in the ward, and my other mommy friends that live in the area.
+Food- Hello, Costa Vida!! Unfortunately where we are going there is not even a Cafe Rio, which makes an ok substitute. So sad. I will also be missing: BYU creamery (mmmmm!! BYU ranch!! And ice cream!) Shirley's (I have NEVER tried a better cinnamon roll- think yours are better? Make me one, but you probably won't win!) Kneader's, Texas Roadhouse, Farr's Fresh, Carrabba's, Tucano's... k I could make this list REALLY long, because the restaurant selection I think is about 2. No joke. They of course have loads of fast food, but fast food in my opinion doesn't really count as real food.
+Having the mall literally a block away. The closest mall will be about 1 1/2 hours away. This will be good for my wallet, bad for my wardrobe. Also, last time we were at the mall there I was in the minority as a white person. Talk about culture shock for someone who grew up in Idaho!
+Having clean air. Okay, the air here is far less than ideal because of the pollution, but what I mean by that is hardly anyone smokes!! Smoking is disgusting, and that is one thing I really like about areas highly populated by Mormons- it's rare to have people smoking.
+Modest clothing options everywhere!! There is even a modest clothing line at Wal mart! Pretty sure they don't have Bella Bird at the wal mart where we are going (but maybe....?)
+Speaking of modest clothing I will miss just the overall modesty. Sure, there are plenty of people here who don't dress modestly, but they fall outside the norm.
+SNOW!!! Some of you commented that I was moving just in time because snow is annoying. I LOVE snow. What is Christmas without snow?! Did you know I have a REALLY hard time getting in the Christmas spirit without the beautiful sparkling white radiance of everything covered in snow? It's magical is what it is, and I will miss it!!!
+joyschool-- hey RC friends, is there a joyschool going on there? I was going to be able to start joyschool this fall with Samantha, but we are moving. Sad.
+The grid system for addresses. (or do they do that in CA? I think they kind-of do, which is better than nothing I guess)
+Having most people the same religion- My OB is LDS and I'm pretty sure he doesn't think my strange Mormon underwear is at all strange.
+The rain. I know Utah is a desert and we don't get that much rain compared to most places, but where we are going could perhaps be called a death desert. Rain is scarce. (it is close to death valley after all)
+Lush green grass. The grass that grows where we are going Literally is the grass that my dad always killed because it's pokey and hard. Seriously, we got some weed killer that was safe for grass... turns out the grass we are growing in CA is on the list of nuisance grasses that the weed killer kills. Oh sigh.

So these last ones seem a little negative towards our move, so I am quickly going to list some things I am looking forward to:

+Moving forward!! It feels good to have a plan for life! I am so excited to be moving forward toward our goal of PA school.
+Hanging out with the McClellans! Jacob's best friend from HS and his wife and kids live there, and they are really awesome people!
+Hanging out with Ariel!
+Our Halloween Party!!! If you are reading this post, and will be in RC the Saturday before Halloween come to our party!! We are going to start at 7:30 or 8, so leave your kids with your parents or a babysitter and come! Really though, take pity on us and come, we have very few friends there!! :)
+Getting to know new people and making friends out of our friendly acquaintances (Tara, I would LOVE to take you up on the play date offer)
+Not having to drive in the snow. Really guys, I'd rather have snow, but I'm trying to look on the bright side that I won't have to drive in it. Even though I am PRO (haha just kidding)
+Being closer to Disneyland. 'nuff said.
+No bi-polar May and June. By the time May and June roll around I'm usually ready for Summer, and Utah likes to tease you with random nasty weather til the end of June. (though we might not even be around by that time)
+Not knowing what's ahead! Some people hate that feeling, and sometimes I do too, but mostly I think it's so fun!
+Free rent. Gotta save every penny for grad school!
+Missionary opportunities

Moving to....

2011-09-24T20:43:00.006-06:00

The Golden State- Not to be confused with the Sunshine State. That's where we are moving. The Golden State. Don't worry, it's not for forever! (Thank goodness- can you tell I'm not a huge CA fan? Fun to visit, but that's about it.) I decided to post about this just because I don't want to be one of those people who just disappears and people just have to assume we've moved, til they one day look at our blog and find out we are no longer residing in Happy Valley. Plus I'm bored of having to tell people why we're moving. We're just moving, ok?! :) For reals though, I wish we had a one word answer for the question, but unfortunately it has an explanation. So- hear it is: Jacob is in the process of applying to PA school. We aren't extremely likely to get in next year, because he doesn't have a lot of medical experience, but we figure it's worth a shot anyway. Meanwhile, we are going to be working on getting him some experience! CNA courses here are a good $1000 bucks or so. OR the ones with on the job training require you to work for them for a year afterwards, which isn't going to happen. SO we decided to go back to CA where he can pay in-state tuition at the community college and it will cost less than $100 bucks..AND we can live with his family for a little bit and save some money for grad school. Most of you are probably thinking I am crazy to move in with my in-laws, and I would have to say that yes, I am crazy. Life goes on though. Plan for after he is done with the course: Work, of course! Once we find out whether or not he is in PA school for next year, is how we will decide the next course of action. If he doesn't get in, we will probably move somewhere like TX (or maybe somewhere else) to try to get residency (did you know TX schools LOVE residents? Yeah, like love 95% residents- wow). If he does get in, we will probably stick around until school starts (a lot of schools start in May, so that wouldn't be too bad, right?).
Anyway, now you all know our little plan. Very cool, huh? Right. Anyway, I have been far too busy to blog what with sick kids, sick self and attempting to pack because moving day is in ONE WEEK!!!!!! No joke. Come over at 8:30am and help us load up the trailer, we'll have some sort of treat or something :)

A Samantha update

2011-08-31T13:28:00.004-06:00

I know Samantha isn't yet 3 years old, but I'm not sure I'm going to have time around that time to do an update about my silly little girl, so here is a 34-month update instead :)

Sammi is very energetic and loves to play and giggle. She loves her baby brother soooooo much!! It melts my heart watching them play together. He adores her and she adores him. Every morning the first thing she wants to do when she wakes up is kiss and hug her little brother. After they wake up from their nap, I can hear them giggling and I go in and they are playing peek-a-boo and just laughing hysterically. I love it. She loves to make funny sounds at him, she likes to do pretty much anything to try to get him to smile, but they play a LOT of peek-a-boo. I know their playing nicely won't last forever, so I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts :)

I feel like my constant reminders of having her say "May I", "Please" and "thank you" are finally paying off! Recently she has become very good at saying 'May I (insert want or need here) please" and it is music to my ears.

She is so so smart too. On no effort at all on my part, she now knows a few songs, all the way through! She can sing ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle, Personal Penguin (her 'special song' we have sung to her since she was a baby- look it up, it's a cute song that goes along with a book), Wheels on the bus, and a few others.

She knows her letters, and what sounds they make- though she isn't very interested in them, so it's hard to get her to talk about letters when she isn't in the mood.

She gets angry when other kids steal toys out of her hands and has no reservations in smacking or biting them to let them know she doesn't like it. We're working on that one, though I don't think she will change much until there is some sort of solution I can give her other than being nice even though they took something (any ideas? I feel like she just feels the unjustice of having a toy taken, retaliating, then getting in trouble for it). I would be mad too if someone stole a toy right out of my hands! :)

She would probably love it if we decided to go live outside. She LOVES being outside, and actually just loves getting out of the house in general (like her mama :)) she loves going to the library, grocery shopping, Wal-mart, picking up daddy, whatever!

She is such a girl and loves new clothes. She loves playing dress-up. Her grandma gave her a chest of princess dress up clothes for Christmas last year and she played with it every. single. day. Usually multiple times a day. Finally, in July I got sick of picking up the dresses multiple times a day and packed up the chest and hid it from her. We just got it out again a little bit ago, and she still loves it just as much :)

She loves to be independent, and she is pretty feisty. She will definitely let you know if she doesn't like something. She is also sweet and caring and cuddly. Still, at almost 3, she loves to snuggle. We snuggle every single day. She also loves to cuddle with her brother (he is snuggly too, but he doesn't like to snuggle with her, probably because he is so big and it's pretty awkward haha) and her daddy. She loves animals.

She is my own personal bug slayer! If she sees a bug, she will go get a shoe, squish it, then go flush it down the toilet. She is my hero!!! (In case you didn't know, I hate bugs, they are scary!!) Hopefully she can be my bug slayer for forever. It would be sooo nice to have someone around to kill bugs for me when Jacob isn't here to do it.

We love our sweet little girl and she brings so much joy and happiness to our home :)

One of life's greatest questions- Answered!

2011-08-22T09:18:00.004-06:00

First- I am not trying to offend anyone by posting this, I'm not trying to imply anything negative toward anyone. I saw this posted by someone on FB and just thought it was great. I have been asked what I do all day as a stay at home mom, and it's hard to come up with What, exactly, it is I do. Because I know I'm really busy and exhausted (particularly mentally and emotionally) but it's hard to pinpoint. So here is the answer, pretty well said:

And really, whatever situation you are or are not in with working, mommying, not working, not mommying, or any combination of the 4 or anything else you can think of, this is in no way meant to be negative towards anyone. I was just excited to see a well-stated answer to this question!

August?

2011-08-20T23:30:00.003-06:00

How is it the 20th of August?! I just don't understand. I knew it would be crazy busy, but I feel like I went from saying that Jase was 6 months old, and it felt like less than a week has passed and I was being corrected that he is in fact 7! (as of yesterday) Anyway we should be home on Tuesday (maaaaaybe Monday, but doubtful) and hopefully this craziness will die down!!! One day (hopefully next week) I will look at all your blogs and maybe (ha!! high hopes!) update my own and let you guys in on the craziness.

Proud

2011-08-10T12:38:00.007-06:00

I'm so proud of myself! I gained 2 pounds... On PURPOSE! That is correct! I feel like I have come so far that I was able to do that. A couple weeks ago I realized I was 2 pounds below where I wanted to be. (And I KNOW that weight fluctuates a couple pounds depending on time of day, your period, and many other factors... When I say 2 pounds below, I have a 3 pound range that I like to have to fluctuate around in and I was 2 pounds BELOW that for multiple days.) No big deal, right? Right. Part of me was excited, but part of me was concerned. I like my curves! (not that I have tons, unfortunately!) I am trying to embrace who I am and my natural body type, and my natural body type is NOT thin. (it's also not larger) My body is so average. I have everything most girls have. A waist, a chest, a bum. My body is by no means perfect... I wish I could make my legs slimmer without completely losing my chest, but I can't! :) Anyway I am just proud of myself because I am finally at a point where I FEEL good and feel beautiful and I don't feel like I need to be any smaller. I am at a point where I am really healthy and I don't care if other people think I am 'too big' because I am not at the super thin 'ideal' the world tells us is ideal. I don't worry about my weight too much. I just watch what I eat and stay active. It's a good feeling, being where I want to be, feeling like I am bettering myself each day, but not down on myself for not having a 'perfect' body. I really think everyone should try to reach this point, it is such a load off of the shoulders! I've stopped comparing myself to others, because I know that I am at a point where I feel really great, and it really doesn't matter if someone else is built smaller than me, or even if someone is built the same as me but is still smaller. It really doesn't matter to me anymore. I'm at a point where I feel really good and I feel like I look good. It has taken me a long time to get here, I have felt pressured to be thinner since I was 11. That is more than half of my life, and I'm just happy to be at this point :)

PS- I now have tunes on my page!! (but they aren't on autoplay, which I know some people don't like :))
PS again- I have been keeping up on my book page/ reivews really well this summer, so check it out if you want a book recommendation! I also added a section on the bottom where I went into a more detailed explanation of some of the books

Yipes!!

2011-07-19T14:55:00.000-06:00

Whoops! It has been a LONG time since I did a good update. Um, 8 new posts today. I tried to keep them pretty short. I realize I could have combined them into probably 2 or 3 posts, but I use this as my journal, and often go back and use this as a reference so I like to keep things separate so I don't have to try to remember where I posted about something.
Anyway life has been good, it's been a great and busy summer! Jacob will be graduated in 3 weeks and 3 days! YAAAAAY!!!!!!

The Dirty Dash

2011-07-19T14:47:00.000-06:00

Back on June 4, we ran The Dirty Dash! It was sooo much fun! It was a 5k (3.1 miles) obstacle course mud run up at Soldier's Hollow. (soldier's hollow is up by Heber City, kinda by Park City). It was incredibly fun, but hard too!! Haha! We had to climb over multiple stacks of hay bales, we had to climb through large muddy pipes, we had to go over a bunch of 6 foot tall walls (these were fun, but really hard!!) On both sides of the walls were tons of mud and huge sprayers spraying so hard you can hardly see. There was about maybe 1/4 mile of sludge. That was my least favorite. It was really hard to run in. Hard to even walk in, actually! There was a part where you have to do high legs through a bunch of tires. OH and basically the whole things is steep up or down hill!! And then at the end you go on a HUGE blow up slide that has sprayers going on it (my favorite part) and then a huge mud pit at the end. It was fun, but I had a bit of a tummy bug, and combined with the heat and all the obstacles, it was harder than I thought it would be. But it was still sooo so fun.
Us right after the run.. It really was so much fun :)

We stopped and got sno cones on our way home. These pictures were taken after our first 'shower' they had ICE COLD water you could shower in. Quite possibly the worst shower of my life. I feel really spoiled saying that.

And these are our clothes.. We wore them during our first 'shower' (the cold one) and this is actually after they'd been rinsed for a few minutes already. Sooooo dirty.

Summer BBQ's

2011-07-19T14:46:00.005-06:00

We have had a few BBQs outside this summer and we love them. :)

Jacob cooking our meat!

Happy kids :)
This was our delicious meal!!!!! K, I just looked up a recipe for steak marinade and stumbled across this one , and I HAVE to recommend this one to others. It is called Best Steak Marinade in Existence and it is definitely the BEST I have ever had- though I haven't had a ton of steak marinades.. I grew up eating a lot of steak (the men in my family are carnivores) and my dad likes it the way it is. But really, it is WAY good.

Haircuts

2011-07-19T14:46:00.004-06:00

I gave both my kids haircuts on Sunday. They have both had them before. I think it was Jase's third and Samantha's...maybe 10th? I don't know, she kinda had a mullet as a baby that I kept cutting off, so she has had a lot. I am NOT sentimental about hair at all, haha. I would much rather have my kids hair look clean and nice than let it grow so I can save a lock- not to say I care if anyone else does, I think it's a cute idea, just not for me :)- Anyway, the most I have ever cut off of Samantha's hair is about 2 inches, and I cut about 5 inches this time, so I thought it was post-worthy. I like it, it is SO much easier. But I wish I'd taken pictures of all the fancy/ fun hairstyles I would do for church, cause now it is too short! I kinda hope she wants to grow it out again, just so I can do more fun styles, but we'll see what she wants!

Before

After- a cute little bob she loves it! She calls it her Rapunzel hair (ya know how Rapunzel gets her hair cut at the end of Tangled...)
And a last pic of her with her cute short hair dressed up. She dresses up probably every day, multiple times a day.

Fun

2011-07-19T14:38:00.002-06:00

While we were in Idaho for the 4th, we went to Driggs on Saturday for their festivities and it was fun! We saw part of the balloon races in the morning, and we saw some fun shows. BMX biker guys, a car show, and a dog show- not a dog show like the ones on TV, but some guy that has been on all the late shows (jay leno type stuff) with his dogs cause they are really good at catching frisbees and doing tricks- and an air show. The kids also swam in the pool and had a BLAST.

this picture makes me laugh so hard (above) Landen is so funny.

This last picture is just here because if you enlarge the picture and look at the sign on the right it says 48* F. I'm jealous. I think the low here last night was 72. Blech.

Zoo

2011-07-19T14:30:00.003-06:00

We went to Idaho to celebrate the 4th of July and it was so much fun :) On Friday we went to the zoo in IF with Busselbergs (my sister's fam) and my parents.

We rented a wagon to pull the kids in- this was such a good idea. I recommend it if you have more than 1 toddler!

Angela (sorry, you got cut off!), Maggie, and Michael
Sam feeding the goats :)
Sammie and Landen- cute cousins! They played really well together this time!

Pulling daddy in the wagon :)

Stewart Falls

2011-07-19T14:17:00.005-06:00

So I know I have multiple posts throughout the years on Stewart Falls, but it's a really great hike. Anyway we went and took our kids. I think next time we go, we will leave the kids. It probably took us twice as long as it would have otherwise, and those front carrier packs for babies aren't that great for all day wear over long distances! I think going with 1 kid that needs to be carried would be fine, but both...not so great. And Sam did walk part of it, but she is quite slow! :)
There is snow completely covering the river still (people were walking on it.. you'd be so toast if you fell through- which it was QUITE warm when we went) this is a little tunnel where you can see how the snow is just covering it. very neat.
Look how much water this year!!! If you have ever been before, you know this is an insane amount of water.
Sammie and Daddy :)

Random Stuff

2011-07-19T14:02:00.008-06:00

After bath time. He is kind of a melancholy guy :)
Practicing sitting up! Since he won't do tummy time, we practice like this a lot.
This is what Jase looks like when we get home from 7 peaks :)

More tummy time pics.. I'm starting to wonder if he'll ever learn to crawl? Seriously, he just rolls over or lays there crying until he falls asleep (usually 5ish minutes) silly boy.

This is our favorite little pose that Jase does. We love it, because we do p90x yoga on Thursdays (Jacob is doing p90x and I like to join him for yoga) and this pose is called 'happy baby' and he totally does it when he is just happy and hanging out :)
Jase started solids a bit ago- he is doing REALLY well and LOVES food- and one night poor guy was just so tired he fell asleep while eating! :)

Our happy little fam one Sunday after church :)

Full

2011-07-15T15:01:00.005-06:00

My heart is so full today. And has been since yesterday. Today I was able to attend the funeral of a great- uncle (and by great uncle I mean my moms uncle and my great-uncle -though he was a great guy too!) and hold a one day old baby. I wasn't super close to my great-uncle, but funerals can still be emotional and so good for the Spirit. They remind you of the plan of salvation, and testify of it's truthfulness.
The sweet, beautiful baby that I held is so perfect. She was born with a minor imperfection, but is still so perfect, and is the most beautiful thing in the world. It's been a good day and I'm grateful that I have been able to experience it. I'm so happy to be a member of the Church and have the knowledge we have of life and death. The Church IS true.

Perspective

2011-07-10T10:27:00.002-06:00

This blog belongs to a friend from back home. A year ago she lost her sweet little girl (who is 2 months younger than Sam and looks a bit like her too!). I love reading their blog because it makes me a better person and mother. That's the reason I'm sharing it with you- it helps keep things in perspective and is a good reminder of what is truly important. It isn't a downer blog at all! (Though some posts will break your heart) Their most recent post is particularly touching.

Inspiring blog!

2011-07-07T13:39:00.002-06:00

I know I've been a horrible post-er lately, but oh well. The only time I have to post is when the kids take their afternoon nap at the same time- which I gotta say when I got Jase's schedule to line up like that it was HEAVEN. And it still is. I just have other things I prefer to do during that time. (like clean! Or look at other people's blogs haha) Anyway I have a LOT of posting to do, but some other time! For now I wanted to share a blog I stumbled across today! This girl is amazing! Very talented photographer. I thought this post in particular was quite inspiring. Go her!!! I'm not trying to lose weight, but I just LOVE that she saw something in herself that she wanted to change and she is going for it and doing it!

OKAAAAAY

2011-06-30T12:25:00.003-06:00

So I randomly made my blog private a little over a week ago. So sad for you guys, huh?! Just kidding. Anyway, it isn't private anymore (obviously). I enjoyed having the freedom to write whatever I pleased, and it was kind of liberating to have my blog accessible to ONLY Jacob and I :) BUT I love my readers (including you new ones I didn't know about until I made it private- leave a comment sometime so I can check yours out too!!!!!) more than being able to write whatever I really want. Let me clarify- I love updating and I LOVE that I have this record of our lives. I LOVE it. I have many times been able to use it as a reference to remember how or when something happened, and it has been a huge blessing and I hope my kids appreciate it someday- this record of their lives and how things were. I remember going through photo albums remembering things and how they were, and hopefully my kids will like this as much as I liked that (and this even has words- how much cooler would the old photo albums be if they had words?!). I think that by going private I would update less, and it's (now) important to me that I have a record of our lives. It's fun to look back and remember all that I have forgotten (this blog is less than 3 years old!).

Anyway, I only made 2 posts while it was private, so that's all you missed are the 2 following posts:

More Memorial

2011-06-23T21:47:00.000-06:00

So on Memorial Day (or maybe it was the day after? I just can't remember) We decided to go up and hike Stewart Falls with the kiddos! Unfortunately they said there was a LOT of snow and a LOT of mud. So we decided to wait a few weeks. We went down and played at Bridal Veil Falls then another park up in the canyon. It was really fun!

Yes, I know, I'm really pale!

We had so much fun running and jumping and dancing and playing! It was such a great weekend, and such a blessing that I was able to spend so much time with my sweetheart. He is my best friend and my everything. Love you babe!

Memorial Weekend

2011-06-23T21:33:00.000-06:00

We went with our good friends to Trafalga over Memorial weekend (Saturday, I think?) ...Unfortunately I only got a pic of their son, and our little fam, but oh well!

Alone

2011-06-17T16:33:00.003-06:00

Most people are going to think I'm a freak show, but oh well.... I'm kinda sad--Tonight will be the very first night that Jacob and I will be apart since we got married!! That's right. We celebrate 4 years in just over a month and we've never spent a night apart!! Ya know, I think if we'd done it right away like most couples it wouldn't be a big deal, but I think since we waited for so long it's just so weird. It has been almost 4 years since I slept alone in a bed. Jacob got a new calling and is going on a campout tonight with the scouts, so I'm going to have to get used to it! (especially when August rolls around! Scout camp!!) I'm not looking forward to it, but I am kinda looking forward to having my house clean for a longer period of time, and kinda looking forward to being able to blog tonight after the kids go to bed (that's right, blogging is on my extra 'me-time' to do list tonight!) Well, wish me luck. I'm sure it won't be that bad, but I'm kinda sad and wondering how well I will sleep all by my lonesome. :/

Nerd alert

2011-06-07T23:08:00.002-06:00

ok, so everyone should do the summer reading program at the local library!! This year they are giving away book lights!! I LOVE book lights (yeah, I'm a nerd.. and I don't care.)! And you only have to read 3 books to get it. Not bad.
Hopefully tomorrow I will write something that interests/ applies to more than 5% of my readers....

Beauty

2011-06-02T08:21:00.005-06:00

So as many of you know, I am into having good health. It is something I am interested in and something I strive for. On Sunday, our 5th Sunday meeting was about emergency preparedness (which apparently in our new ward is a common 5th Sunday topic, or so I hear). I kinda sighed, because let's face it, emergency preparedness tends to be a bit of a dry topic. Jase was fussy, so Jacob of course left with him, even though I offered. (Emergency preparedness may be one of those topics that we both tend to want to take care of the baby, haha). And well, I'm sure you can guess what happened... Yep, it turned out to be really good and I felt the Spirit quite strongly. A little background: So basically me quest for beauty that I have decided to start is just that I really want to believe that I am beautiful. I don't want to care about what others think of my body. And most importantly when others are trying to compete with me, I don't want to let it get to me. I want to be above all that, because it's juvenile and very degrading. Also, I don't want to compare myself to others. I can often tell when others are doing it to me, especially when it's all the time, and it's a degrading thing to do to people and it makes people feel bad, and I certainly don't want to be making other people feel that way. It's all so negative. So basically I want to be to the point where I don't care when others try to compete with me or compare themselves to me, and I don't want to compare myself to others. I just want to feel good about myself and love me for me! I do believe that feeling good about yourself goes hand in hand with keeping yourself in good health. I do NOT believe you have to be skinny to be in good health (though I tend to hold myself to this standard..doh!). But really, you need to be eating healthy foods and exercising regularly to be in good health. In my quest for beauty I am trying to find a balance where I have a healthy lifestyle, but not obsessive or too worried about it. I want to FEEL good. But (for me at least) part of feeling good on the inside goes with feeling good on the outside (health wise).
Anyway, back to the 5th Sunday meeting. It consisted of a few different speakers and 2 of them really touched my heart. The first one was about gardening and the lady was saying how her 4 year old prefers salad over pizza or hamburgers, because that's what she's grown up on and enjoys. It made me want that for my children. I don't want them to be addicted to foods that are bad for our bodies. The other lady that really touched me talked about how when she was 28 she had 3 (or 4?) boys and the oldest was 5. She had had bad health her whole life. She was constantly getting sick and started to have arthritis in her hands and just felt awful and was having a hard time taking care of her little boys. She started eating whole foods and within months her arthritis was almost gone and she wasn't getting sick as often. Now she is 62, has no arthritis and rarely gets sick and doesn't have any health problems- and she looks great too! She testified that if we truly live the Word of Wisdom, then we will have the blessings that are promised. She also testified how those promises are for this life, and we can have them in this life! And I agree with her. For a LONG time I have known that the word of wisdom isn't just don't drink, don't smoke, don't do drugs and don't drink coffee. It is so much more! It's not overeating, it's eating healthy foods, it's exercising regularly! It is taking care of our beautiful temples that Heavenly Father has blessed us with. There are many foods out there that are processed and enriched and enhanced and chemically altered. Many of them are addictive, and I feel that part of the word of wisdom is being free of addictions to substances. I will be the first to admit that I am not perfect and have a long ways to go. The lady then said that it is our job to study up on food, find out what is healthy. Read books, and learn for ourselves how to better live the word of wisdom! I have done research on good health quite a bit, it is something that has always fascinated me, but I'll admit taking action on the things I've read hasn't been as big. I've made small changes here and there, but nothing huge.
Well, I Love to read. The book idea sounded great to me! A couple of days ago we went to the library and I got 2 books that I felt would help me learn more about food. I didn't want a book about how to restrict my diet and be skinny- I wanted a book about eating whole foods that seemed in line with the word of wisdom. Last night I started the first one, and I have already read a bunch of it. I'm hooked. I would like to recommend this book to everyone. It's by Jillian Michaels (don't judge- it seems to me, she knows what she's talking about. She has helped hundreds get in better shape!) and called Master You Metabolism. I'll give you a little summary: she talks about how all the over-processed junk we eat is affecting our hormones. Our bodies aren't designed to know what to do with a diet coke- nothing about it is natural. So we consume all these over-processed man made chemically altered foods and it throws off our hormones. When our hormones are skewed it throws off our metabolism. Our bodies are designed to eat the basics- not man made products that resemble them. It is an amazing read. It is very relatable and well written. It's interesting and I really think all should read it!
A couple hours ago Jacob and I went through our food and got rid of a bunch of stuff. It was very empowering and liberating, and we are excited to start making some positive changes in our lifestyle and diet!
I know most of your are uninterested about what I have to say about my quest for beauty and being healthy, so I decided to start another blog, just for that. It's something I enjoy writing about and don't really care if anyone reads it, but in case any of you are actually interested I'll post a link to it, then those who aren't interested don't have to sift through those posts to get to what they want to read about. (not that I really even know what anyone wants to read about, haha) As of right now, we can only connect to the internet for about 15 seconds at a time (took me 3 times connecting to get to this page where I could write- thank goodness I don't have to be connected to write on here!) so the new blog probably won't be up til next week sometime when we have real internet!

Update!

2011-05-24T10:46:00.010-06:00

As my friend Katrina calls it.. Feast or famine blogging (4 posts today!)! That seems to be all I'm capable of since having Jase, haha!

Samantha- is potty trained! yaaay! I briefly tried back at the beginning of November right after she turned 2, but she didn't want anything to do with the potty so I decided to wait. I didn't really want to push it when she wasn't ready, I was exhausted enough being pregnant! :) After the holidays were finally over I only had a couple of weeks left until my due date, so I again decided to wait until I'd had Jase and things calmed down with having a newborn. About a month ago I decided to go for it, and it wasn't too bad, I feel lucky! I'm kinda one of those 'go big or go home' types sometimes, so I went all out. No more diapers! It didn't take her long to catch on. After the first accident she started sprinting for the potty while going (did that a couple of times) and successfully told me before nap time that she needed to go! She stayed pretty consistent- just had a couple dribble accidents that afternoon as she would start going, then stop herself and tell me she needed to go. The next day she did really really good and would tell me every time! She has only had 3 accidents since and one of them was my fault (left the lid to her seat latched shut on accident and she couldn't quite hold it long enough!). We are so proud of her! Though it would have been nice to have a break and have zero kids in diapers, things worked out really well for us! If you think your kid would respond well to this method, I definitely recommend it! Every child is different (obviously), so I definitely don't recommend it to everyone. Samantha is doing well otherwise, though we both wish the sun would stick around for longer periods of time so we could play outside more!

Jase- is our cute little guy. Still a pretty mellow little kid, but also super whiney. Does that even make sense? He just fusses when everything isn't exactly how he wants it (picky, picky boy!) but still only does tummy time for about 30 seconds before he decides it's too hard and lays his head down and goes to sleep. He is 4 months old, and no, doesn't roll over, which doesn't surprise me considering his lack of effective tummy time. His favorite place to sleep is in my arms, even though I really only let him sleep there now during church! I have tried to establish good sleep habits with him, but he's a stinker. He's been sleeping 10-11 hours at night for over a month (don't tell me I'm lucky- it took a lot of work to get there!!) but wasn't napping very well. He has been doing better the last few days though, and is now finally taking naps that are longer than 20 minutes. Three- four 20 minute naps was not very fun. Grumpy baby and grumpy mommy!

Jacob is still plugging away at school and is excited to graduate in August! yay! He works so hard for our family :) He is starting up his internship which he is excited about. He will be translating Spanish at the hospital. The cool part is that once he has completed his 100 hours he will be a certified translator, which will look pretty good on his grad school applications! :)

I am up to the same old. Being a mom and trying to do some projects in between! I continue to be surprised by how busy I am with 2! By the time I've worked out and showered that has used up pretty much all of my spare time!! It's pretty much the same as with one, just double haha! I have no idea how people with twins or working mommies do it. These last 2 weeks have been frustrating for me. The first of the 2 weeks I was sick Tuesday-Friday with a nasty stomach bug, and last week I had a cold. Frustrating because I am trying to get in better shape for our Mud Run that is in 1 1/2 weeks! It is a 5k obstacle course mud run and as of right now I can barely run 3 miles (I have said it before and I'll say it again- I am dreadful at running, while I have worked out most of my life, I still can't run..). I think it's going to take me a lot longer than I originally hoped to finish it, but oh well! This one isn't about the time anyway, it's about having fun and getting dirty! :)

2 1/2 year pics!

2011-05-24T09:51:00.000-06:00

4 months!

2011-05-24T09:17:00.003-06:00

Our sweet little boy turned 4 months! He had his checkup and I once again was surprised by how chill he was about getting his shots. All this time, I thought they were a huge deal, but it was really just Samantha and her dramatics! :)

His stats:

14 lbs 8.5 oz- 40th percentile 25 1/4 inches 70th percentile. I don't remember the head measurement but it was 50th percentile. Samantha was 13 lbs. 5 oz. and 24 1/2 inches- it is fun to see their difference in size!

isn't this the cutest onesie EVER?? Thanks Ariel!

Picture post

2011-05-24T09:04:00.000-06:00

eating mango
cutest boy ever!
We babysat cousin Landen one day and he LOVED being on the bike!

typical tummy time naps...
more tummy time naps....

Summatime!

2011-05-17T17:03:00.002-06:00

I know today isn't a very summery day, but summer will be here soon! I like setting goals for the summer, because I usually do a pretty good job at keeping them- better than New Years goals, for sure! These are my goals this year:

1- Wear sunscreen every time I'm going to be outside longer than a half hour!

2- Continue working out 3+ times/ week

3-Read at least 10 books and record about them in my 'books' page (not as many as I read last year, but I feel more intimidated by 10 this year than my 15 last year! 2 kids just take up more time!)

4-Read to kids at least 20 min a day, at least 4 days/ week

5-Grow in my love for myself

I'm going to expound on #5. One of my best friends started her own Quest for Beauty a few months ago. She is one of the most inspiring people I know. I look up to her so much. She has been through a lot and has so much strength. She is a beautiful person, and I have loved seeing her confidence in herself grow and seeing her discover that she is truly beautiful. I think that we are all so beautiful, but I really don't see that about myself. I have decided to start my own Quest for Beauty and try to better my self image. I am unsure where to start, so if anyone has any input they would like to add, please do! What do you do to love yourself more and not let the world degrade you?

A GREAT tip..

2011-04-29T15:33:00.007-06:00

So I realize most people aren't really interested in health and wellness, so you don't have to read this. This is mostly because I am interested, and I really think this is an awesome tip and want to share!
So I got a month to month gym membership a few weeks ago (surprisingly inexpensive. Less per month than a 1 yr contract and I got all the fees waived) with some spending money I've been saving. With my membership I got to meet with a trainer for FREE. yay! I just have to share some insights on what the trainer said. VERY interesting. He broke down REALLY what matters when losing weight. And it all makes perfect sense when you think about it.
Nutrition is 50% of weight loss. Weights are 40%. and Cardio only 10%. I wasn't surprised by the nutrition part, but weights surprised me. But really, if you just give it a little thought, it makes perfect sense. Let me explain.
So, nutrition- really, it does matter. You WON'T lose weight unless you are consuming less calories than you are using. No. matter. what. (k fine, I guess you could get lipo or whatever else) So, eat 1 piece of pizza instead of 4, have 1/2 T of ranch instead of 3. Look at how big your portions really are, and consume less calories! And strictly weight loss speaking (healthy speaking aside!) quantity matters more than quality. If someone is eating 1200 calories of junk a day, they will lose weight faster than someone eating 2000 calories of healthier foods.
Weights- the trainer explained to me that for every pound of muscle you gain, you burn 50 more calories a day simply by existing. Gain 10 pounds of muscle and don't consume any extra calories and you'll lose a pound a week simply by breathing. FYI: 5 pounds of muscle= the size of about 3 tangerines. 5 pounds of fat= about 3 grapefruit. wow.
Then we have cardio. It really does make sense that as far as weight loss is concerned, it is only 10%. I very strongly think everyone should do cardio 3-5 times a week because it is soooo good for you, but if you think about it, you can go burn 400 calories on the treadmill, but it doesn't really keep burning later. Whereas weight lifting you get the calories burned while doing it, and it keeps giving back!
Anyway I know most people don't care, and to some this is old news, but I just never thought about the muscle thing before. Anyway, for those who care, just thought I'd put this out there!

A Year From Now...

2011-04-19T12:54:00.000-06:00

You Will Wish You Had Started Today! (or really even a couple months from now)

Now, I'm definitely Not little miss goal-oriented. But lately I've been doing more goals, and it feels good! When I saw the above quote (on Pinterest! yay, everyone should join, for real!.. oh and its not a quote site or anything, haha) I was just thinking about how HAPPY I am that I have been working towards my goals, and how true it is, that really, you just have to start something, and then before you know it, a couple months will have gone by (cause time REALLY does fly!) and you will be well on your way to completing your goal. Have you ever Not started a goal that you wanted to, then looked back and said, 'dang, if I had started 6 months ago when I wanted to, I would be there by now!' I think we all have.
K, I'm not like a motivational speaker or anything, but seriously guys! Start your goal TODAY! or better yet, NOW. Just do it! Before you know it, you will be there! Don't put it off until tomorrow!
“You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’ve collected a lot of empty yesterdays.” -President Monson, quoting Professor Harold Hill from The Music Man

Festival of Colors

2011-04-19T12:52:00.000-06:00

This year we were able to go to the festival of colors! yay! We are glad we were able to experience it while we're still around. It fell on the weekend we were blessing Jase, so Ariel Don and Zach were able to come too! So fun!
All of us covered :)

Before pic
More before.. Didn't get one of Bri and Zach!

My sweety :)

OK, I just had to document this eye thing. Look how cool it is! At one point during the throwing when I couldn't really breathe because the air was so thick, I was bent over squinting my eyes shut tight and someone nailed me! Cool result, huh?

Samantha's baby

2011-04-19T12:39:00.004-06:00

Samantha still loves Jase to pieces. And he loves her back. He usually will smile for her, and he loves just watching her. The other night as I was putting Sam to bed, I had to run and go get something so laid him down on her bed and came back to find this! They were both so thrilled, haha! And Samantha was soo disappointed when I picked him up, I think she was hoping he would get to sleep with her :)

dinnner!

2011-04-19T12:32:00.001-06:00

We had a really good meal on Sunday. Some baked rigatoni, baked zucchini, and french bread! YUMMM. No picture of the pasta, but I got the recipe from..... where? can you guess....Pinterest of course! I also made my baked zucchini, loosely basing it off of a recipe I found on there. OH and the zucchini? NO oil. Actually if you must know, there wasn't any fat added to anything besides the french bread (and then, less than 2 T) and all the ingredients I used were low fat. AND Jacob loved it. Low fat things taste good people! :)
The french bread recipe I got here. And it was really yummy. Really REALLY yummy. Though to be honest, it didn't taste much like french bread- more like a dinner roll. But still- delish! :)

Lately

2011-04-19T12:29:00.003-06:00

Things have been great lately! :)
Starting to be more social!

HA, ok Samantha got into my lip gloss, and decided to kiss her baby brother (below!) so cute!

happy boy
So every once in awhile we watch our neighbors' little girl who is 10 days older than Jase. This picture was taken because they both decided out of the blue at the exact same moment that they were starving to death (funny how one minute a baby's fine, and the next they're convinced death is inevitable if they don't eat?)
Little Sam dressed up like a rockstar. She does this all by herself.

Bath time!

2011-04-19T12:22:00.000-06:00

Jase is super funny in the bath. All he does is stare at the shiny faucet. He loves it! The first thing he does is reach for it and lean in towards it when we put him in.

Identity crisis

2011-04-04T08:33:00.017-06:00

This is something that has been on my mind since becoming a mom, but more so lately. It struck me how very different I must be when one of my best friends described me as being someone who thinks things through... What?!?! Me????? So strange. I feel like I started discovering myself when I was about 16/17 then went off to college to finish finding out who I was! I thought I'd finished figuring it out. Then I became a mom. I guess I don't really know who I am anymore. I went from being voted "Most Spontaneous" by my senior class and my mom calling me her 'Hakuna Matata child' to being described as someone who thinks things through. I was one of those people who was super involved. I did student government , I was in a bunch of clubs, I went to all the games, etc. And I didn't do any of it with college in mind. I did it all with socializing in mind. In high school and college I was this lively, fun-loving, spontaneous, free-spirited, flighty, uninhibited, unstable, playful, adventurous, no worries, ungrounded, unreliable, self-centered person (all of those words are words other people used to describe me, though mostly siblings used the more negative ones, but I think they definitely applied :)). Accoring to the 'color code' type tests I was very much a yellow/white....And now...? I don't know who I am. One of my friends recently posted a personality test thing on her blog and I went to take it and started answering, until I realized I didn't even know how to answer. I never finished the quiz because I don't know me anymore, haha!

Through my many thoughts on this the last 2 months or so I have come to a few realizations:
-My being happy is still largely dependent on interacting with others (yes, I realize this is pathetic)
* I get into a funk when I go without socializing for more than a couple days
* It is the thing that is most rejuvenating to me. Sure, scriptures, exercising and going outside and crafting all help, but for me it isn't the same. I NEED people.
-The MOST rejuvenating thing for me is still to go on an adventure with people. It just rarely happens anymore.
* I love just saying 'hey ya wanna...(insert fun active thing here)' and then going and doing it right then and there, no questions asked.
* I hate having to plan my fun. But if I don't it never happens.
-I still care way too much about what other people think of my appearance
* I've really and truly never cared what anyone thought of my personality.. this may seem like I base everything on appearance, but not so. See, I have always been confident in my personality (therefore no reason to care what anyone thinks), but insecure about my looks. Where does this leave me now that I don't really know my personality anymore? I don't know.
-There isn't much room for adventure in my life (I'm not saying this bitterly, but matter-of-fact-ly)
* Save your 'oh but the adventures with children!' (that's NOT the kind of adventure I am referring to. I am well aware of the adventures with children) and the 'but you can still make it work, go for it'... If you say the second one, I am going to assume you are willing to watch my children for about 8 hours so I can go have one. Right, that's what I thought.
-Motherhood has forced me to be a more prepared person.
* I can't count the number of times I've forgotten stuff in the diaper bag or going on trips. Not good when you need something for your baby and you don't have it!!
-Sometimes I feel like a wild bird stuffed in a cage
* No really, I do. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to burst open because this energy inside me wants to break free!

While writing this post, I think I have come to a conclusion:
I don't think I am a whole lot different of a person. I think motherhood has forced me to develop some qualities I wouldn't otherwise possess. I think all these qualities are good ones, though very different from how I was before. The same things make me happy and help me feel good. I am basically a more mellow version of my old self, which I am sure some would say is a good thing. I think just where I am at in life right now I have very few opportunities to be so free.

What inspired me to finally write this post that I have been thinking about and forming for the last few weeks was reading a friends blog last night. She had a picture of her beautiful mother in her early 20's (I think) and said something about how we always think about our moms as just "Mom" and when we finally think of them as a 'woman' we realize we don't know anything about them at all. I was just thinking about it, and how there is so much truth to that, because I think that I am definitely a different person when I'm in 'mom' mode than I am when I'm not. And I'm usually in mom mode. Even after the kids go to bed, I don't usually switch it off. I think switching off mom mode for me is going OUT. Not to go shopping, and not on errands, but OUT for the sole purpose of having FUN, without my kids (but with other people, obviously). Doesn't happen much, but that is okay.

Just in case I come off as sounding like I am miserable and discontent as a mom I want to add this: Being a wife and mother has brought me more joy than I ever knew it was possible to experience, this post is simply about some thoughts I've had lately.

Advice needed!

2011-03-31T09:58:00.003-06:00

Lately Samantha has had a little problem. Ok, actually she has had the problem for a long time, but it has gotten a lot worse the last month or so. After she is done playing with a friend, she throws a huge tantrum. Huge. On Tuesday we had some friends over for a couple hours and after they left she threw a huge fit and I told her if she acted that way again after playing with friends she would have to have a break with friends. Yesterday she went over to our upstairs neighbor's to play and when I went up to get her she ran and hid from me and threw a huge fit. (We had made cookies together earlier so I simply asked her if she wanted to go home and have a cookie! She didn't end up getting it because I ended up having to carry her thrashing self out). When we got home I reminded her how I'd told her that if she acted that way again we wouldn't be able to see friends for awhile, so we couldn't go see friends tomorrow (which is now today.. and I am way bummed, we had a fun invite to go see tangled which we haven't seen yet)
I'm just not sure what to do! I don't know is she fully understands what she is missing out on today. I wonder if she thinks it's just one of our boring days at home? I worry it's a bit complex for her to fully grasp the concept of her punishment, (though I always try to remember a friend of mine who told me that kids really do understand more than we think they do...who knows?!) but I don't really know what to do! Help please?
Oh and also sometimes this fit throwing branches out into other things, for example when it's time to leave the park or come inside after a walk (but not as often as leaving friends)

2011-03-23T16:29:00.002-06:00

So I made about 7 or 8 new posts today! They are all short, besides kind of the last one! Remember I use this blog as my journal, so some of them are kinda dumb, just stuff I want to be able to look back on and remember. :)

Samantha and Jase

2011-03-23T16:23:00.003-06:00

They have a lot of fun playing together, and Samantha doesn't even mind when Jase wins!

Samantha gives him piggy back rides...

Then Jase sits on her chest and bats her face.....
Then he thwomps her and sits on her face!
Then they do tummy time!

Her 'do!

2011-03-23T16:21:00.002-06:00

Proof that I do actually style Samantha's hair sometimes! This is before church last Sunday. She doesn't really like to sit still long enough for me to style it, so she usually just ends up with it brushed and sometimes a bow or simple braid. oh well!

First bike ride of the season!

2011-03-23T16:19:00.003-06:00

Jacob and Sam went on HER first bike ride since winter! (Jacob rides his bike to and from school unless it's snowing) She loves going on bike rides! I wish Jase had better head control so that I could strap him into a front pack and go too! Maybe in a few months!

Rex Lee Run

2011-03-23T16:12:00.002-06:00

I convinced Jacob to do the Rex Lee Run with me this year, pushing the stroller. It was actually a LOT of fun, we both really enjoyed it! I was only 7 weeks postpartum, so we mostly walked, but we did a small amount of jogging downhill (actually it was mostly for my shin splints, they don't get as bad going downhill if I jog on my toes). We finished in about 43 minutes, not the best time in the world, but really, not horrible since I'd only been exercising for 3 weeks!

Baahaha at the end, poor samantha's fingers were ICY cold, because she was holding onto her cup and snack the entire time! I think she thought they were going to fall off if she let go! so sad! haha!

Samantha the baby

2011-03-23T15:41:00.002-06:00

Samantha has been doing good adjusting to having a baby brother. She LOVES him, and thinks he is the best ever. The other night I asked her (for the first time) "Samantha, who's your best friend?" and she replied enthusiastically, "baby dase!" She wants to be just like him. We called him exasperating and Samantha immediately responded "I exasperating!" And now, when you ask her how old she is she says "2 months!" and if you try to tell her she's 2 years, she gets really mad. So funny.

So the other day I was feeding Jase and Samantha brought one of her doll's bottles to Jacob and asked to be fed.

Then I lifted Jase up to burp him and she said 'I need burp!' then did a huge fake burp and asked for more! ha!

Chunky Chunkster

2011-03-18T11:56:00.004-06:00

Well our sweet little chubby boy is super chubby!! He had his 2 month checkup today and it is fun to see the differences between him and Sam.

Samantha- 22 1/4" 10 lb. 4 oz. Jase- 22 1/4" 11 lb. 3 oz.

(I want to say that I was BORN longer than they both are/were at 2 months!)

Nice huh?! He is sooo cute and chubby :) its fun! As he is getting older it is fun to see how different their personalities are. He is Mr. Content with life (unless bathtime just ended, he is hungry, or has painful gas) but quite serious. We work SO hard to get those little smiles out of him! And Samantha has always been the biggest drama queen, from day 1! But she was a VERY smiley, VERY beam-y, happy little girl. Here is an example of her dramatics vs. his chilled- out-ness! Her 2 month shots (and every time she got shots for that matter) she screamed and howled for at least twenty minutes, whereas he cried for about 30 seconds, and whimpered for maybe another 10. It was nice!

At last!

2011-03-09T11:08:00.005-07:00

I hate easter candy. I think jelly beans of any form and peeps and robin eggs are wretched and horrible (though I'll admit cadbury creme eggs are ok), and don't get me started on the Cadbury mini eggs. That's right. Why everyone loves them, I will never know. For me they are ranked in disgustingness at the coconut/ cough medicine level. Even the smell of them makes my stomach churn. Plus they cost an arm and a leg. $4 for 10 oz of candy is crazy. Anyway the other day I was thinking about getting some for Jacob (cause he loves them and I am a good wife..though I didn't buy them at that time!) and I saw these beauties:

I decided to try them and what do you know? An easter candy I not only like, I LOVE! Yummo! Plus it was less than half the price of those eggs!

Caught up?

2011-03-06T19:29:00.002-07:00

No, but I did write multiple new posts tonight! Most of my recent posts have been really 'wordy' lately so I decided to give you all a break and made a bunch of 'picture-y' posts :) enjoy!

little boy :)

2011-03-06T19:24:00.002-07:00

Starting to like bath time.

Daddy loves pulling faces with his chubby cheeks :)

He's getting SOO big!

Doing one of the things he loves most- soaking up the sun!

Samantha and Jase

2011-03-06T19:09:00.002-07:00

I feel these pictures portray how Samantha and Jase feel about each other. Sammi is all smiles and so excited every time she gets to hold her little brother, and he either just kinda sits and tolerates it, or starts crying, haha!

Like brother, like sister

2011-03-06T18:57:00.003-07:00

remember this post? Well, we did the same thing to Jase! Poor kids, we post such horrendous pictures of them sometimes ;)

I think they look a lot alike! (no, really though, I do!)

President's Day in Idaho

2011-03-06T18:48:00.003-07:00

We went to Idaho for President's Day. It was fun. Jimmy went with us. The boys talked about guns and went shooting and we went to the sand dunes and went sledding! It was a lot of fun!

Ty and Sammi next to the snowman we built with her

Jacob, Jimmy and Sam
me dorkin it up!
Ty and Sam
Jimmy going penguin style!

Life with Jase

2011-03-04T13:02:00.003-07:00

I can't believe it's been SOO long since I last blogged!!! That is crazy. Things are going really well, I feel like life is settling down a little bit. When people say that 2 kids is quadruple the work of one, they are not kidding! Well, to be fair, it depends on the day. Some days are easier and I would say it's only double the work, but for the most part it's at least triple. Maybe that will change once he starts sleeping through the night and sticking to a schedule? I've been trying to get him on a schedule like crazy, but he resists :) I feel like having my kids on a good schedule is what helps keep me sane. Sanity will come soon, I hope! ;)

Life with Jase has been pretty good. He is such a sweet little guy! He is my little snuggler. I know he is only 6 weeks old, but he seems more serious than Samantha. He had his first big (non-gas) smile on Wednesday night, but has yet to show me that cute little grin again! That isn't the only reason I think he is more solemn. I can't really explain it, but his demeanor just seems more serious.

Losing pregnancy weight this time is a bit harder. When I gave birth to Jase I was within 1 pound of how much I weighed when I gave birth to Samantha. The weight seems more content to stay on this time. I started working out at 1 1/2 weeks post partum and busted out a stitch (haha! It didn't actually hurt much, but it was kinda scary!) so waited another week to work out again. I really started stepping it up and pushing myself hard at about 4 weeks. I have 6 more pounds to get to where I told myself I had to get to, and about 10 until I'm where I would like to be. Those who knew me when Samantha was about a year old and how thin I was (5'7 1/2 and 116! I had issues with fatigue and being lightheaded all the time) - do not worry, where I want to be is about 10 pounds more than that! A much healthier weight for me! I know Jase is only a little more than 6 weeks old and I should feel lucky to be where I'm at already, but I've just been working so hard at it, and wish the results would come faster! Plus, no one mentioned to me that your skin stays loose longer after the second one (ha! Now I am telling all of you guys :)).

Samantha is doing really well. She absolutely loves to help out with Jase. She is often asking to hold him and gives him hugs and kisses all day. She also loves to bring him her toys and either lay them next to him, or line them up close by where he can look at them. She is such a good big sister!

It is also harder to get things done. My only time to really accomplish anything is during Sam's nap, but I find that if Jase is asleep during Samantha's nap then I can't help but take a nap too! I usually force myself to straighten up a bit first, but I have a hard time resisting the call of my bed!

Question for all you mommies of 2 kids that share a room: Jase is currently in our bedroom with us, but him and Samantha will be sharing a room. We moved Samantha out of our room at 2 months, which was perfect. When did you guys move your kids into the same room?? I need some advice! Thanks!

Birth story

2011-02-17T16:29:00.006-07:00

Well, here it is, my birth story! Free time is hard to come by, so this isn't going to be as in depth as it is in my personal journal, but oh well! Also, this is NOT a birth horror story.. in fact, it's quite the opposite, and I look back and am a little jealous of myself of how easy it was, because next time is sure to not be such a breeze. Oh well!

So at my 38 week appointment (I was 37 weeks and 6 days) I was feeling pretty miserable. I was super emotional and the last week had been really hard. I'd had Samantha at exactly 37 weeks and it was just hard psychologically going that extra week! My intention was to have my doctor strip my membranes since I hadn't been having any contractions (or so I thought) besides the same old braxton hicks I'd been having for the last 6 or 7 months, and I wanted to be Done! Anyway, while my doc was checking me, (oh, I found out why it hurts SOO bad when I get checked- I have a posterior cervix. Nice.) I asked him to strip my membranes, and he said that unfortunately, he could not. Because I had tested positive for the group B strep. I almost started crying, I was so upset! Then he looked at me funny and asked if I was sure I wasn't having contractions, because I was at a 5!! A 5!! I cheered up considerably at the news... 5 is supposed to be the magic number. They almost always admit you if you go into the hospital and are at a 5!! My doctor got all serious and talked to me more about testing positive for group B strep. He said it's no big deal if you have it, they just like you to be on an IV with antibiotics for at least 4 hours before you give birth, and then there aren't any problems, otherwise they have to do all these tests for infections on your baby. SO then he told me that if I started having ANY contractions I needed to go in ASAP. He said I didn't need to time them or anything, just go straight in! I was overjoyed, and decided to go home and do all the things (besides castor oil) that are supposed to help you go into labor.

Later that night, I was able to get some contractions going about 10 min apart, (they weren't painful ones, but the machine doesn't pick up how intense contractions are) and after they'd stuck around for over an hour, we decided to head on over to the hospital! I got admitted super fast-- they checked me and I was at a 5 plus (they said that's like a 5 1/2), and since I was having a few contractions and had the group B strep, that's all it took! My doctor actually told them to Not check me any more -he didn't want my water to break- so they hooked me up to the antibiotics (which was actually kinda painful.. I don't think I like IV antibiotics at all, it burned going in!), and I requested an epidural (aaahhh, not a good decision) so that I could sleep through the night (it was about midnight when I requested it). I got my epidural and it wasn't a good one. Apparently there is a slight curvature to my spine and he got the epidural a little to the right. I was beyond numb, like unable to move my leg by myself on the right side, and on the left it was just barely numb. Like restlessly numb, and it didn't feel good. At all. Anyway as soon as I got the epidural my contractions stopped, and the nurses were thrilled. 4am rolled around, and I'd been on the antibiotic for 4 hours, and they gave me another dose- I guess ideally you are on the antibiotic for 8 hours, but 4 hours is enough. So they gave me some more. They said my doc had a meeting in the early morning that was supposed to get over at 8, and that he would come in and break my water at that point. (I still wasn't contracting even a tiny bit)

8:15 rolls around and there's my doctor, all excited, and he breaks my water then heads over to the office (my doc's OB office is attached to the hospital). Still no contractions!!! 9 o'clock rolls around and the nurses hook me up to a very small amount of pitocin. By this point, my epidural feels even worse. No numbing at all on the left side, and kind of a dull ache on the right side. I start feeling contractions about 3 minutes later, and a little before 10 a nurse came in to check me and said I was 'almost there' about 5-10 more minutes. Well, after she'd been gone about 1 minute, there it was- the urge to push! I yelled at Jacob to call the nurse! The urge to push was SOOOO strong!! The nurses came in and informed me I would have to wait a few minutes for my doctor to come over before I could push. It was NOT what I wanted to hear! It was horrible trying to keep my baby inside! I didn't experience this urge to push with Samantha, because of the epidural, but it is STRONG. Anyway my doctor got there and I was able to start pushing. I was terrified of bursting open, so I held back and only pushed halfheartedly.. anyway it only took about 4 1/2 halfhearted pushes, and our sweet little boy was born at 10:08 am. The first thing Jacob said concerning the labor and delivery process was "everyone is going to hate you when you tell them you were in labor for only an hour" ahhh I am a lucky girl.

Now I'm just wishing I hadn't gotten an epidural, because everyone knows it's the "cool" thing to not get an epidural when you're Mormon (why, I will never know.. but it seems you get major cool points among fellow Mormon mommies..) As for me, I don't enjoy pain, so I intend to get one with the rest of my kids (ha! or kid..2 more seems like too many). As a friend of mine's husband says "You wouldn't go to the dentist and get a tooth removed without Novocaine just so you can say 'you did it' so why on earth would you not get pain medicine during birth just so you can say 'you did it'??!"

*** I would like to add that I know there are other reasons to not get an epidural, and that is fine, I just will never understand why people don't get one for the sole purpose of being able to say they 'did it'

UVRMC vs Orem Community

2011-02-17T16:12:00.002-07:00

We've all heard it all before.. "Orem Community is sooo much better". When I was pregnant with Samantha and UVRMC bound, I brushed this off for exactly 1 reason: No one could tell me why it was so much better, because no one had delivered at both hospitals! I got uninformative answers when I asked why consisting of "it just is" and "the nurses are nice".

When I got pregnant with Jase, I was unconcerned with switching hospitals, but I definitely wanted a new OB! My last one(s) were horrible and never gave me the time of day. When I have a concern, I want it to be addressed, and not just brushed off and ignored, which meant I needed a new doctor! I had heard really good things about Dr. Young, and he truly is such an amazing doctor. He genuinely cares about his patients and loves babies and is so so nice. I love him! Though, I don't necessarily recommend him to everyone. If you are super low maintenance and your main concern is getting in and out of the office as fast as you can, do NOT go to him. Sometimes there is a really long wait at his office, because he'll have emergency C-sections or a bunch of deliveries, etc. and since he works by himself, sometimes he falls behind. But if you like feeling like your doctor cares about you and don't mind waiting to get extra good care, then he is for you!! (oh, and all the nurses at the hospital would comment on how much they liked him or how 'no one works harder than Dr. Young' when I told them who my doc was. Most of them go to him.) Anyway Dr. Young's office is attached to Orem Community hospital, which meant I got to deliver there! So, take it from someone who has actually delivered at both-- Orem Community is, in fact, significantly better than UVRMC. Here is why:

- the room was about 3 times as big. This is NOT an exaggeration.

- a huge jetted tub in the bathroom. Ahhhh I soaked in it multiple times while I was there.

-Not only are the nurses "nice" like I was told, but they are significantly nicer and friendlier.

-The cleaning staff is soooooo friendly. Weird? perhaps. But I totally made friends with our cleaning lady.

-Yummy food! Ok, I don't really remember much about the food at UVRMC, but it was really good at Orem Comm.

-Nourishment room. When I had Samantha Jacob spent like 20 or 30 bucks on food at the hospital, which is ridiculous (and who wants to run home and eat then come back? talk about inconvenient) At Orem Comm they have what is called a nourishment room. A room full of fruit, beverages, crackers, frozen foods like pizza and burritos and many more snacks for the husbands to eat while they are there. Very nice!

-Jacob had a fold out COUCH. At UVRMC he had a fold out Chair- very small and very uncomfortable.

Anyway, I'm sure there are more things, but it really was so much nicer and a much better experience- if you are trying to decide where to deliver, I hope this helps!

The life of a pumping mom of 2!

2011-02-10T10:05:00.004-07:00

I know everyone wants to hear my birth story. That is coming later. For now, I just wanted to write one little entry while I have a spare 15 minutes (assuming Jase stays asleep that long!). I have about 5 posts I need to write over the next couple of weeks, and wanted to jump on getting at least one done.

So pumping. Holy cow it's a lot different pumping with 2 kids rather than 1!! So, obviously breastfeeding didn't work out this time, which I am fine with. I don't have time to go into the details, but this time around I decided my No.1 priority was to enjoy him as a newborn, simply because last time I spent a long time being frustrated/depressed and even a little resentful of Samantha, just because breastfeeding didn't work out. I decided that was wrong, and of anything I wanted to do differently this time, it was That. Plus, my intent was to only breastfeed for about 4ish months anyway (I know, I'm a sinner!! But the hormones released during breastfeeding cause physical problems for me, and ultimately by stopping early is me putting my relationship with my hubs at a higher value than breastfeeding, which is 100% true... If anyone wants to know more about these physical problems- ask me, I'm an open book, but not to the whole internet ;))

Anyway, so breastfeeding didn't work out, BUT it is February, and I really wanted my sweet little boy to get the antibodies from breastmilk at least halfway through March during the flu/cold season. So that left pumping. I pumped for Samantha for awhile and it was a Pain. It takes 2 hands to pump, so if she ever woke up while I pumped, I either had to stop early or make her cry. Not fun. This time it's a little worse, because not only do I have a newborn, I have a toddler who is constantly in demand of my attention. Also, it doesn't help that Jase is an impossibly slow eater. In the beginning I was trying to increase my milk supply by pumping about every 2- 2 1/2 hours, but I HAD to decrease. This is how my 2ish hours would go-- 40-50 minutes to set up, pump, clean the pumping gear, and take care of my milk. Spend the next 30-50 minutes feeding Jase (see? SLOW eater). which would leave about 20-50 minutes until I had to start the whole process over again. Now, I'm not trying to complain, I definitely got myself into this, and now I only pump about 4 times a day, so it isn't as bad, but I guess mostly I wanted to discuss how pumping is the worst of both worlds (the breastfeeding and formula worlds, that is). Not only do you have to spend a LOT of extra time, you are stuck at home more, because unlike BF and formula, it isn't very transportable (I am renting one of those hospital pumps that are all big, this isn't a hand pump..) and you for sure can't do it in public. Plus you have to take care of and wash your bottles. You can't read or anything while pumping because it takes 2 hands, so it can get quite boring, you still have to deal with plugged ducts and sore nipples. It doesn't save you any money, because it's about $15/week to rent one (formula doesn't cost that much for a newborn!) .. Needless to say I'm excited to be done! I'm currently building up a nice supply in the freezer so that I won't have to pump too much longer! Thank goodness for that! Anyway, I know pumping goes a little better for some (though I haven't talked to anyone who did it with 2 kids of different ages) although the general consensus seems to be that pretty much everyone feels like they are stuck at their pump allllll the time. Which is how I feel. And it really isn't completely awful, and I'm grateful I can still give my son breast milk without getting frustrated with him.

Ahhh more posts to come soon, hopefully!

I spoke too soon...

2011-02-02T14:05:00.002-07:00

Don't ya hate it when you speak to soon, and jinx yourself? Me too. My friend recently posted on her blog about her hemorrhoid (oh and FYI, if you haven't given birth, you should probably skip reading this blog post, it might horrify you a bit...) and some really wretched stuff that went with it. I commented and told her how I dealt with mine for 11 months after I had Samantha, but that I was home free from them this time, so she shouldn't let it affect her decision on whether to have more kids... Well, I jinxed myself. I am in SOOO much pain. I love food, but food and I are NOT friends until my hemorrhoid goes away!! I am officially on a liquid diet, because I can hardly sit right now. When was the last time you cried because of a physical pain? The last time I did was today, while using the bathroom. I also screamed a little. I need to find something to bite down on for next time.

Why am I blogging about this? WELLLLL I am wondering- have you or anyone you know ever had one surgically removed (aka burned off)? I've heard it's excruciating. BUT know what was excruciating? Dealing with it for 11 months last time. I'm wondering if anyone knows how bad it really is to get it removed. I'm desperate. Please let me know if you know! I've never talked to anyone who has had it done, the nurse just said it's really painful.. But I'm already in a lot of pain.

Since we're throwing me a pity party... Samantha has been sick for a week and a half now, and I went to great lengths to keep her away from Jase (which was really hard because she is OBSESSED with him) because how sad is that for a brand new little baby to get sick? Well, I found out. My sweet, perfect little boy is super congested and coughing all the time and really snotty. Poor guy. Sometimes I can't help but cry when he is coughing. OH and I'm pumping (more on that later) and I think my liquid diet is going to be bad for my already diminishing milk supply. Oh well. Such is life, I guess.

OK I am done complaining. I really am lucky and blessed, and life isn't really that bad. I will blog about the joys later. When I have more time. In the meantime, if you know ANYTHING about getting a hemorrhoid surgically removed, fill me in!!

Jase is here!

2011-01-21T16:29:00.003-07:00

Our beautiful son joined our family Wednesday morning! 7lb. 7oz. 19.5 inches. Mom and baby are doing great, and we couldn't be a happier family of 4!

Ginormasaurus

2011-01-15T18:24:00.000-07:00

I know I said no more belly shots. But I had to take a picture last night, because I want to remember how 'ball' shaped I am. I am carrying SO different this time around! Anyway it's Huge. I'm Huge. One day he will come out, right?

On a happier note- Jacob took me on a REALLY fun date last night! It was the perfect date to go on at 37 1/2 weeks pregnant. It was our 'last date' before baby comes and also, his bday is on Tuesday, so we were celebrating that! We went to Tucano's (yay birthday club!) and it was really good. We haven't been since we went for his bday last year, and it was a LOT better experience this time! Seriously, don't go there for lunch. Spend the extra $5 and go for dinner. It's probably 5x better. And their Brazilian lemonades-- yummo! Then we went to Color Me Mine and made a cute mug. Seriously, I think it is going to turn out sooo good. I will post a picture of it after we get it back- it's going to be That amazing. :) It was the perfect activity because it allowed me to release all of my creative energy, yet I didn't have to exert myself. I'm very sore lately and most things aren't fun for me, so it was perfect. So relaxing and rejuvenating.

An upgrade

2011-01-13T11:21:00.003-07:00

My sister told me to update my blog. I feel like nothing interesting is going on, because the thing of most interest is still inside my uterus!!!

BUT we did upgrade our vehicle! yay! We used to drive an 03 neon. Killer car ;) Anyway there was barely room for the 3 of us, and to put a second carseat in it was just ridiculous! After months of thinking about it, we ruled out SUVs (we REALLY wanted to pay cash and not have a car payment, and one that will last was out of price range) We also wanted one that would last us til Jacob is done with grad school, plus a little longer. So 3-5 years. And we really are Not planning on having any more kids until he is done with grad school, but I have seen way too many couples have "oops" babies, plus sometimes the Lord's plans are different than ours :) Anyway, we realized that left us with a minivan as an option. That's right, we now drive a minivan! Crazy, huh?!

This isn't ours, but this is the same color and model. nice huh? You know you're jealous of our minivan-ness ;)

Want to know the best part? It is an 03 with a PERFECTLY clean carfax and only 36,000 miles on it. Not bad, huh? It really hadn't been driven much. The only thing is that the inside is taupe and the back rows of seats are tan. (ha, taupe and tan.. seriously that's the difference- barely noticeable) anyway because of that we got a pretty great deal on it. Anyway apparently the only other owner was for a guy in a wheelchair and so the seats were removed, and when they put it back to normal, they used tan seats instead of taupe. We are excited.
OH and if you know anyone looking for a small car that looks like this (again, not our car but same color and model) give them our number, it's for sale!

So blessed

2011-01-04T18:03:00.000-07:00

These last few days have been really hard and stressful for me. I've kind of been freaking out about being a mom again and how I am going to handle it. It really never concerned me before, I always just knew I could do it.. until a week or so ago when it hit me! Anyway it's been really humbling and I am so glad for it. Nothing like a big piece of humble pie to make me realize how lucky and how very very blessed I am. I have the most amazing husband. No, he isn't perfect, but he truly is perfect for me. I am so grateful for him and that he honors his priesthood. I love being able to go to him for a blessing and getting that extra comfort and peace. I am soo so grateful for the gospel and my Savior's love for me. I know that He truly loves each of us so so much! I'm so blessed to have such a good little girl. Yesterday morning I was feeling very ill. I couldn't get warm and my whole body ached, I could hardly move. I laid in bed with the covers all around me trying to get warm and brought a few toys up on the bed for Sammi to play with, and she stayed there with me for an hour and a half!! She would play, then come over and kiss my cheek and say "love you mommy" or crawl under the covers with me for a minute or two and say "I cuddle!" She really is such a good little girl, I'm so lucky.
My friends and family have also been a great support for me, and I love all of you so much! (that sounded really cheesy, but know that I mean it sincerely)

New Years Resolution

2011-01-04T17:54:00.004-07:00

This year I thought a LOT about what I could do for a New Years resolution. I don't know if anyone else is like this, but most years if I make a list of goals, it ends up being about 20 goals long because there's so many things I want to change, and I do it for a day or 2 and end up feeling bad about myself because I can't keep them all (go figure.. who can set that many goals and actually keep them?) I decided this year I would set ONE. ONE goal. That's it. I want to add another one in every few months, but I really felt like I needed to just pick one thing and then do it for the whole year. Obviously I am going to try to be better about doing all of the little things in life that are important, but I really wanted just one thing to CHANGE about myself. Not the same old habits of 'eat this many calories a day' or 'only 2 desserts a week' or 'read my scriptures EVERY day' or 'go to the temple twice a month' etc etc etc.. (oh and not saying those aren't good things-- they are, and I am definitely trying to be better at them!) I wanted to make a change in ME. Not my habits and routine but just change something about myself that I could implement into my life and that will make me a better person forever.

Curious what I decided on? Here it is:

My goal for this year is to simply be a more uplifting mother. That's it. I feel like I tell Samantha 'no' a lot, and that I get after her about everything. I decided I want to build up my children, and help them have greater confidence in themselves. I don't want to be a degrading mother that is always nitpicking at her kids and making them feel bad about themselves. I want to try to focus on the positive things Samantha (and the rest of my kids!) is doing, and not the negative.

Panic Mode

2011-01-01T06:54:00.001-07:00

Panic Mode has officially set in. I'm kinda freaking out about this whole being a mom again thing. How am I supposed to be a mom of 2? I am Not excited for the first 6 months, and especially not excited for the first 2 months. The first two months mean no sleep. And now, since I have Samantha they REALLY mean no sleep! I most likely will be taking care of Sam or the house during his naps.. Oh well. And what if he has colic?! Sammi had some nasty colic. 6-8 hours a day.. every day.. Pretty sure I lost my sanity then, and it will just be worse with a toddler around to take care of. Anyway I have less than 5 weeks left. I know people with their first pregnancies can't wait to get their baby out, and that's definitely how I was the first time, but MAN, it seems like it's all coming so fast! How do I prepare for this?! How am I ever going to sleep again? How am I going to have time to do anything?? How am I going to keep a clean house? I Hate when my house is dirty. Like, really really hate it.

Oh and just so everyone knows I think we are going with Jase for a name. Not our first pick- but oh well, that's life.

dooo do do

2010-12-29T22:30:00.004-07:00

So we are stuck in Idaho for now. We were going to go home yesterday, but Jacob was eager to eat the duck he shot, so we stayed so we could eat it. It tasted nothing like chicken and a lot like beef. Not what I expected. Anyway it's been snowing and blowing like crazy here and apparently snowing like crazy at home, sooo here we are. Maybe we will go home tomorrow, maybe not til Friday. We will see.

Samantha calls every mom or woman she likes "Momma". This includes many of my friends, nursery leaders, my mom, and my sister. She's been doing it for months, but I keep forgetting to record it. It does bug me a little, but oh well. :)

We have had a LOT of fun here, and she is such a little goon. She provides a LOT of entertainment. Today marks 5 weeks left of pregnancy! Crazy! I'm getting BIG. I don't think I'm going to take any pictures... Too embarrassing.

OH and I just want to add this: Remember my post about cleaning the temple? Jacob and I were able to go on Tuesday while grandma babysat, and it was cool. We both had a whole new appreciation for the temple, that we could never have had if we hadn't helped clean. So, if you get the opportunity, TAKE IT!! It really was neat.

First ER trip

2010-12-22T18:53:00.004-07:00

So we are here in Idaho for Christmas break. So far, so good. We apparently left behind a huge snowstorm, which is super sad, because snow never sticks around for long in Utah, so it will probably be gone by the time we get back (but I've got my fingers crossed it'll stay!) It's been good.

My poor little girl had her first trip to the ER. Don't worry, it wasn't really an 'emergency', but no one else in Rexburg would take our insurance, and she NEEDED to see a doctor. Just for the same old, same old- her asthma. I get so frustrated with her asthma sometimes. She is on singulair, which is supposed to help (and it definitely does) but she always has her bad reactions when we can't go to her normal doctor-- the weekends or when we're out of town. Anyway she could hardly breathe, she was wheezing Really badly. After 2 albuterol treatments and no improvement, we started calling around and ended up in the ER. After 2 breathing treatments, a chest x-ray, a test for rsv (do you know how dreadful that test is? Poor girl) an oral steroid, a steroid shot with a giant needle, and a prescription for steroids, they sent us on our way. Basically she had a small chest cold (but no fever, runny nose, etc.) and her asthma just took over. so sad.

It's been a fun trip, and I'm glad it happened at the beginning and that she is doing so much better and should have fun the rest the time!

Something cool

2010-12-22T18:39:00.002-07:00

So I have never in my life heard of a temple being cleaned by members who are asked to volunteer. Maybe this is something that happens elsewhere, or maybe they just don't ask people in the BYU stakes. Anyway, my mom asked us if we wanted to go help clean the Rexburg temple on Monday night because their ward was the ward doing it. Anyway we went, and it was a super cool experience. Our group got to vacuum and clean the ordinance rooms and celestial room. Some of the things they do to clean are so cool. They have this carpet rake that they use to get rid of footprints, and it makes it look soooo good! Want to know what else is cool? People go clean Every. Single. Night. (ok, so not Sunday..) From 9:45-midnight. But they vacuum, dust, shine, and polish EVERY night! Cool, huh?? That's why the temple is so clean. They clean the whole thing every night! And they do stuff like clean the light fixtures once a week. Crazy, huh? We were talking to the guy who was over our little cleaning group and he was telling us all about it. (Him and a few other guys are there until 5 a.m. pretty much just cleaning all night). Stuff I do once or twice a year, they do once a week! Anyway it was a really neat experience, and I'm kinda hoping we can do it again sometime. (hopefully when I'm not large with child, haha)

Update

2010-12-13T09:36:00.006-07:00

Samantha has been doing really well lately. She has been getting shy around strangers, which is weird for Jacob and I because we are used to going to the store and having her yell "Hi!" at the top of her lungs and wave and smile at everyone. She's a little smarty pants (I'm sure everyone says that about their kids though) and we love her so much! Last weekend we went to Idaho because my sister little girl Maggie was being blessed! Samantha LOVES baby Maggie. It made me excited for when Baby ? makes his appearance :) I didn't get a picture, but she was so cute holding little Maggie! Very precious.

Although she has been shy lately, she still is very friendly. We were at Men's Wearhouse the other day looking for a suit for Jacob, and there was another little girl there that was 3. Samantha kept going over to her saying "Come 'ere! Come 'ere!" Finally Sam went over and grabbed the girls hand and dragged her over to look at her book with her. They sat and played and chattered and looked at the book together. The other girl spoke much better English, but still seemed to understand Samantha's "Book! See? Like it?" And other condensed sentences. This is a picture of them playing together at the store:

Jacob is doing well. He has finals this week and is excited to be moving on to next semester. We're both excited for school to be over this summer! We are so excited for Christmas, and all ready to go! We only have 2 presents left to buy, which is really nice! This year we actually started budgeting for Christmas back in September. We are on a VERY tight student budget, and Jacob has been "donating" (not sure why its called a donation, since he gets paid??) plasma so that we can have some money to spend on something other than the bare necessities. Anyway, since September we have been putting in 10 bucks for our Christmas budget every time he goes, and I'm so glad we did! It's been nice to be able to spend a little bit of money on others for Christmas :)
Me? Same old. I don't like updating about myself, haha. I've been keeping really busy and time has flown by since Halloween! Thank goodness! I'm not really looking forward to January, being hugely pregnant (ok ok so I already am hugely pregnant!) and having time crawl by without the holidays, but oh well! I think I'm going to come up with a bunch of projects to do and goals for myself so I can't think about how pregnant I am :)

Baby Question Mark

2010-12-13T09:13:00.003-07:00

That's right, baby question mark.. We are still in search of a J name.. Don't worry, we've read through all the J names about 30 times. I don't think we've missed one. Anyway, I will make a delicious baked good (I'm a good baker!) if YOU can come up with the J name we use.... Or if someone wants the responsibility of choosing, be our guest. You might think 'oh you've still got 7 weeks (yay only 7 weeks!) you have plenty of time! That's sorta true. Except we've been trying to think of one since we started thinking about having another one back in October 2009. 14 months of work and now down to 7 weeks. It FEELS like crunch time! And don't bother with the suggestion of using whatever random J name and calling him by his middle name. The middle name is chosen and not something that he could go by if he wanted to be socially accepted in this day and age!

Anyway little Baby ? is doing well. Very aggressive kicker. It's fun to watch him inside me :) Yesterday little Baby ? was sliding his leg along my stomach and you could totally see it. It was this lonng thing poking out, sliding around. I remember being able to see Samantha move around and poke me and be able to identify legs feet bum and head, but I don't remember her sliding like that. It was cool.

Things are going well. I've been itchy, but that definitely doesn't mean cholestasis is back! Time and tests will tell with that! As sore as my back has been, and as bad as my heartburn has been (didn't get either of those last pregnancy) this pregnancy is still about 10 thousand times better than the last. After having Sam, I wasn't even interested in having a boy, but if these 2 pregnancies signify the difference between my boy and girl pregnancies, I want all boys! (I can always adopt a girl later)

I have a doctor appointment this afternoon with an ultrasound to make sure everything is going well- FUN.. and here is a recent pic.. I definitely wasn't this pokey-outey with Samantha, even at 37 weeks when I gave birth! oh well!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-13T08:13:00.003-07:00

For the first time, this year we were able to go to CA to celebrate Thanksgiving. In the past Jacob hasn't ever had more than Thursday and maybe one other day off, so definitely not worth the 9 hour drive each direction to be there 9 hours! This year we were able to go for 6 days, and it was fun! Smart as we are, we didn't take any pictures.
Some highlights

-Harry Potter 7 and Chili's
-Jacob and I had a date night and watched Eat, Pray, Love (I personally recommend the movie)
-It took us 14 hours to get home because of nasty snow in UT. Actually, I take that back. The snow really wasn't that bad, it was the traffic jams and accidents and people forgetting how to drive in the snow that took forever.
-Samantha got spoiled by everyone, but only took about 2 days to get her back into her habits of saying 'please','thank you' and getting used to not being waited on hand and foot :)
-No Black Friday shopping-- it was really a relief! even though a part of me enjoys black friday shopping.. there is something thrilling about the excitement in the air, and getting up early just for that special gift for someone you love!
-We all got sick! Well, Jacob was already sick, and Samantha and I got sick the first day we were there. The last time I got sick was back at the beginning of June when we went camping with my parents.
-PRETZELS.. I ate a lot over the break... ooooooh happy day! (now I have limited myself to 1 bag every 10 days. I get to buy another bag on Wednesday!! yay!!)
-Games! Family bonding time is important, and I love playing games to bond haha :)

It was a fun trip! It's always fun to see family, but I'd have to say the worst part was being jammed into our itsy bitsy car (Jimmy rode with us) and being 7 months pregnant on a 14 hour drive!

Content

2010-11-17T16:45:00.005-07:00

Lately I have been feeling so content with my place in life and with my family. I look at Jacob and am so overwhelmed with love for him. He is so perfect for me. He is so sweet and makes me so incredibly happy. Not to mention he works so so hard for our family! I am overwhelmed with love for Samantha and our little guy that will soon be joining us. Having kids is truly the most incredible thing. I was reflecting the other day on the feelings and emotions those first moments of holding Samantha. I loved her more than I had ever known love in my entire life. And somehow looking at Jacob, I loved him more than that even! I keep hearing from or about people that are so miserable, and usually it seems to be a result of the poor decisions they are making in life. My heart aches for them, and I hope one day that they can figure life out and know for themselves the joy that they can have. I'm so happy and grateful for my decisions that have led me to this point in life so that I can have all these wonderful blessings. I am especially grateful for my choices that led to a temple marriage, so that I can truly have my family forever.
I'm also so grateful for the gospel and the direction that it gives me! I love the gospel! It is beautiful and pure and simple. I'm grateful that when I'm having an 'off' day I can feel my Heavenly Father's love for me so deeply. And know what? He doesn't love just me. He loves every single person, unconditionally, no matter what.

Don't get me wrong- my life is by no means perfect! I have daily struggles too! I'm just trying to be grateful for what I have, and what I know most of you have too!

"Put some windex on it"

2010-11-17T16:43:00.000-07:00

Jacob and I seem to be saying that to each other a lot lately. Except with the word "aquaphor" instead of windex. (For those who are lost on the quote, think My Big Fat Greek Wedding).

The stuff is amazing! We got some because Samantha gets eczema and the doctor recommended it. We put it on her after every bath, sometimes mixing it with a little prescription cream if we feel like she needs it. I'd heard of moms with cloth diapers using it as a diaper rash cream (because they can't use the zinc oxide on the cloth ones.. ruins them somehow). Samantha has sensitive skin and gets nasty rashes easily. Now when we see one start coming on we whip out the aquaphor and it's gone by the next diaper change! So nice! We have also used it on cuts, scrapes, scabs, cracked heels, chapped and cracked lips. It's kind of like vaseline, but not. It absorbs into the skin quickly and doesn't leave you feeling gooey and yucky. Anyway we love it. We like it better than Desitin , A+D ointment, Balmex, Butt paste, etc. for diaper rashes, and the many other things it does are great too! (though I have yet to try it on a zit!)

Ham

2010-11-12T09:37:00.005-07:00

I tried to take some nice pictures of Sam the other day.. None of them turned out, probably because she is 2 and LOVES pulling faces at the camera, but here is one that made me laugh: (click to enlarge, it really is better big!

My first recipe!!

2010-11-12T09:14:00.003-07:00

I'm not one who likes to cook. I do it sometimes anyway, because we'd starve or have grilled cheese every day if I didn't. It's not that I'm a bad cook. I actually have a really good nose/taste buds and can usually tell EXACTLY what I need to add to make things a little better..but I still don't like to cook. Maybe that's why I haven't posted a recipe yet? Anyway we kinda came up with this AMAZING recipe (I'm sure there are many like it though..) I like eating veggies, because I like the way they make me feel. But let's face it, they aren't much to taste plain, unless you grow your own. (maybe that's why I don't like the taste much? Cause I grew up with homegrown? Thanks a lot mom and dad ;)) And frying them seems counter-productive.

Also, this recipe might drive some of you nuts. My mom probably wouldn't ever make it because it doesn't contain any measurements.. I definitely cook like my dad- throw stuff in 'til it smells and tastes delicious.. Here goes!

(doesn't it LOOK amazing?)

What you need:
a bunch of veggies and a couple potatoes
--I used 2 potatoes, 3 large carrots, asparagus, green beans, broccoli and half an onion (next time I plan on adding a red bell pepper)
spices!
--I used Lawry's seasoning salt, garlic powder, large kosher salt, sesame seeds, annnd maybe some celery salt and onion powder (next time I plan on using a TBS or 2 of Worcestershire sauce- isn't that stuff amazing? don't know why I didn't think of it sooner)
EVOO- extra virgin olive oil 1 or 2 Tbs, tops

Directions:
I like to leave peels on my fruits and veggies when I can, because most of the nutrients are contained just barely under the skin! So I scrubbed my potatoes and carrots and sliced them up to bite or 2-bites size, and sliced half an onion. I poured a very small amount of EVOO on them, dumped some spices on them and stuck them in the oven at 400. The potatoes and carrots need to cook for about an hour, everything else 25ish minutes. I cut up the rest of the veggies and after enough time had elapsed (about 35 minutes) I pulled out my potatoes, carrots, and onions and added the rest of the veggies and then poured on a tiny bit more EVOO and dumped a nice coating of the above mentioned spices on it, and mixed it up, then back in the oven for 25 more minutes.

It's REALLY really easy, and the veggies taste so so good! Very flavorful!

Haaaalloween!!!

2010-11-04T09:02:00.004-06:00

Here it is, my oh so typical Halloween post. A little late. We went as Monster's Inc. Jacob was Sully (though not a very good one.. but hey, it we had a very small budget and only cost a couple dollars to do all 3 costumes) and I hope Sam and I's are more obvious. Although the wings don't really go with her costume, she got those from Tinkerbell who was also at the party we went to on Friday night.

Saturday was a fun day. Since she was officially old enough to go do all the activities around town (they all said ages 2-12) We took Samantha to the provo mall in the early afternoon for a few activities and trick or treating and she had a lot of fun. After that we went trick or treating along Center Street and she also had a lot of fun there. She would say "treat" instead of trick or treat, but oh well! We were going to go to the Monster Mash party in the Riverwoods, but decided against it since it was pouring rain! We also were going to trick or treat around the neighborhood, but didn't make it very far, even with an umbrella! It was really cold windy and rainy! So we decided to go to university mall... I don't recommend this to anyone. For multiple reasons. 1-- It took us about 45 minutes to acquire 8 pieces of candy because it was SOOO packed. 2-- Everyone was so rushed about giving and getting the candy, they didn't even give her time to say "trick or treat" or "thank you" 3-- I didn't feel like anyone even cared about anyone else's costumes, everyone was just greedily in line anxiously awaiting their next piece of candy. and 4- there were people there who would go to one store and push their way through where it bottlenecks where the candy is being handed out, then go around the line to the next store. Not only is that annoying, but a terrible example to their kids, but oh well.

All in all it was a fun Halloween, and I kinda wished we'd stopped before we went to the university mall, but it was still fun! Samantha loved it and it made me excited for next year (we're definitely doing cooler costumes next year!)

Mummy!

2010-10-26T09:13:00.001-06:00

Here's our pumpkin we carved this year! Pretty cool, huh? Jacob did most of it :)

10 months?!?!?

2010-10-26T09:11:00.001-06:00

That's right 10 months.. Apparently there is a new wives tale floating around that says pregnancy is 10 months... I'd like to clear this up for those of you who are confused. The first time I heard it when I was pregnant with Samantha I literally laughed aloud. I'm kinda one of those people that thinks about things a lot in my head. In the car I zone out and just think about how the numbers on license plates go together. For example: 78254.. I would eventually come to the conclusion that 7x8-2 is 54. And I even put the parentheses around it in my head, if needed for order of operation.

Anyway, needless to say I have known probably since I was 8 that there are Not 4 weeks in a month.. There are almost 4 1/2 (with the exception of Feb.) Let's do simple math here.. If there were 4 weeks in every month.. There would be 48 weeks a year, but there are Not 48 weeks a year, there are 52 weeks and 1 day. (unless it's leap year, but we aren't going to go into leap year.)

So back to pregnancy being 10 months (haha). I can see how those who haven't thought about how many weeks are really in a month could think this. You know, 4 weeks in a month, pregnancy is 40 weeks long.. 10 months, simple math!

To further prove my point, I have taken the minute or 2 to literally go through the calendar and count out 40 weeks. OK so they base your due date on 40 weeks after the first day of your last period. Say I began my period on March 1, 2010. My due date would be December 6, 2010. That's right.. 9 months, 5 days. If you want to get even more technical, you technically are Not even pregnant the first 2 weeks of pregnancy. For those of you who have not taken sex ed-- You ovulate and are fertilized approximately 14 days (2 weeks) after the first day of your period. Which takes us down to about 8 months 3 weeks (or 38 weeks) of actual pregnancy.

We are already pregnant 9 long months, why turn it into 10? So men can feel all bad for us? Well, they don't. They wish pregnancy was shorter just as much as we do!!

here it is.....

2010-10-22T12:25:00.001-06:00

the baby bump at just under 6 months!

Duck pond!

2010-10-22T12:17:00.004-06:00

Now the weather is finally not boiling roasting toasting and finally acting the way fall weather should, Samantha and I have been going to the duck pond at BYU once or twice a week for the past few weeks! It's been fun, I have a friend that lives right across the street from the duck pond and sometimes Sam and I will go before/after we pick her up/drop her off, or sometimes we meet Jacob there during one of his long breaks (MWF he has a 4 hr break between classes). Anyway it's been a ton of fun, Samantha really LOVES the ducks!

Blowing kisses to the ducks (she blows kisses at everything these days, her latest favorite to do it at is pumpkins)
Throwing bread to the ducks!

2!

2010-10-21T14:12:00.004-06:00

Yesterday Samantha officially turned 2!

She had an appt a few weeks ago and weighed in at a whopping 23 1/2 pounds putting her in the 10-15% and I don't remember how tall she was, but it fell just under 50%, so she's a pretty small little girl!

She is so funny and has such a fun little personality! She is obsessed with owies and loves kissing them and getting them kissed to make them better. Lately she has been shrieking just for the sake and fun of shrieking and we told her that if she kept doing it she was going to get owies in her throat (she had stayed up all night coughing the night before because of her excessive shrieking) and she ran over and kissed Jacob's throat and said 'all better'.

She's pretty smart and getting better and better about talking in sentences.

She is becoming very polite and has started saying 'please' 'thank you' and 'you're welcome' without being prompted every time.

She has ZERO desire to learn colors. She knows that anything bright pink is pink, but that is all! As hard as I try, she just ignores me, haha.

She is still deathly afraid of the poop and the toilet. Plus, her bladder apparently isn't ready for potty training yet. So far everything I've read says that they should go 1-3 hours with a dry diaper as a sign their bladder muscles are ready. She still squirts every 15-20 minutes. This is frustrating to me, because I REALLY want to potty train her before her baby brother comes along.

She loves babies and loves helping mommy. I don't know if it's a good thing. It takes me almost 15 minutes to unload the dishwasher when she 'helps' as opposed to the normal 5, and I make sure to fold laundry while she is asleep because that takes even longer with her, haha!

She still loves to dance. She LOVES her play doh and finger paint she got for her birthday. I think coloring is still her favorite activity other than taking care of her 'babies'

She loves owls- they are definitely her favorite animal, followed closely by lions. I think the only reason she even likes lions is because they growl, and she loooves growling.

She loves clothes and shoes... Jacob doesn't like this part one bit!

When Jacob gets home she yells "Hi, Babe!!" very enthusiastically. (I always call him 'babe' and that's how I greet him...) Sometimes when she is calling for him she says "Jacooob!"

Lately when she is being naughty (finds a tube of chapstick or something else she knows she isn't supposed to play with) she runs in her room and shuts the door.. Little does she know that's what I take as my cue to go check on her, haha

She tells us she is hungry by lifting up her shirt, pointing at her tummy and saying 'it hurts!!!!'

She doesn't cry when she wakes up and wants out of bed anymore (and hasn't for awhile now). It's just "Momma! Momma! Dadda!" over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over until we finally go get her.

She is a fun little girl and always keeps us laughing. We love her so much and are so happy she is part of our family!

Bananas.. the pregnancy cure all?

2010-10-18T21:32:00.001-06:00

I think that we as pregnant women underestimate the power of a banana. My first pregnancy I had No clue how amazing this fruit is. This time around when dealing with morning (or 24 hr as I like to call it) sickness my wise sister told me to eat a banana every morning. Ok, so it didn't cure the morning sickness, but it definitely helped enough so I could clean my house again!

When posting about pregnancy a couple months ago I said something about how bad I had RLS last time, and only get it on occasion this time. A friend of mine commented and said that her husband learned in a bio class that bananas and milk help prevent twitching muscles and RLS and such things. I told Jacob and he explained to me what he learned in bio and how it made perfect sense because of some scientific thing or other..haha! Since then I have been eating a few bananas a week and drinking lots and lots of milk and guess what? NO RLS! yay! I just had to share, because I had no idea my first pregnancy and reeeeally wish I would have!

It's official..

2010-10-18T21:22:00.003-06:00

Samantha no longer sucks her thumb!! So they say your child should stop finger sucking and/or taking a pacifier by the time they are 2 1/2 to prevent permanent dental problems. Samantha will be 2 on Wednesday, and I wanted her done by age 2. She's DONE! Her thumb hasn't been anywhere near her mouth since Wednesday night last week. Last Wednesday this beauty came to me in the mail (not randomly, I ordered it off Amazon)

It worked like a charm! I wasn't going to put it on until that evening because nap time is the best time of day, but she found it in my purse and brought it to me all open and with a little smeared on her hands going "prettys!" (she loves nail polish) sooo I washed it off as best I could.. but it doesn't really wash off, haha. Anyway it was funny, the rest of the afternoon when she would habitually put her thumb in her mouth she'd immediately pull it out with a disgusted look on her face and say 'gross'. she didn't associate it with the "nail polish" she'd put on earlier, and she didn't associate it with mom and dad... it was kinda like her thumb just now tastes bad and that's the way life is. There were no tears, no drama, no traumatic moments, nothing. It was wonderful. Much easier than the pacifier removal horror stories I hear :)

Just to clarify...

2010-10-15T15:25:00.004-06:00

We've had a LOT of people ask us if #2 was an accident. I just want to say: NO. Not even a tiny bit!!! We felt SO strongly that it was time, and we are so so excited that the Lord has blessed us and that we get to welcome another of His children into our home.

What I don't get.. why does everyone ask? It's not like him and Sam will even be close together- they will be 2 yrs and 3-4 months apart. Now, if they were like, 18 months, I would understand the questions.

Sam's Birthday Party!

2010-10-10T16:24:00.005-06:00

We celebrated Samantha's birthday 2 weeks early because my parents and a brother were in town visiting and we figured we might as well so that she could have a party, plus she doesn't know it wasn't the 20th.. so if you ask her how old she is, she'll tell you 2, even though she's still got a few days.

I'm incredibly proud of the cake I made her- it's all homemade, not store bought, including the owl and bird. My friend Mary helped me and we had a LOT of fun!:

Samantha with her new snow boots, Uncle Mat, and grandpa

tearing off the wrapping paper

posing for the camera in her new skirt and new shoes!

Getting ready to blow out the candles-- we were all very impressed, she knew exactly what to do with the candles and blew them out w/o any trouble!

Mom and Dad got her fingerpaint!! She loves it and we let her make her first painting that night.

Grandpa showed her that her body makes a great mural for painting...

Right before bath time, what a mess!

It was a really fun evening, thank you everyone for presents, she really and truly loves every single thing she received!!

President Packer

2010-10-10T16:10:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to write this post and say that I love and sustain President Boyd K. Packer!!!! I listened attentively to his beautiful talk during conference and didn't even realize that there was anything to be discussed until people started posting things on facebook about saying they support Pres. Packer, or how offended they were.... To those who are/were offended I just want to say this: The Lord will not allow a prophet (President Packer is a prophet) to lead us astray. It's that simple.

2010-10-03T16:00:00.003-06:00

Well this beautiful (though very warm) weekend has been interesting. Poor Jacob has had a rough time! I threw my back out yesterday morning and couldn't even walk or hardly move. It really was a good time for it to happen though. I didn't have anywhere I had to be, I was planning on sitting around watching conference anyway, so it kind of helped force me to stay relaxed. Samantha got a stomach bug that's been coming out the lower end... We thought yesterday was nasty, until today came along, haha! Lucky for me Jacob is awesome and I really did find the perfect weekend to injure myself, and haven't had to change any of the nastiness! Isn't he so sweet? Anyway I'm fine now.. Walkin like a champ, ha, so no worries! (oh and if any of you have any recommendations on one of those maternity support belts, let me know!)

Wasn't conference so amazing?? I love conference, they always say exactly what I need to hear.. and truth be told it was nice not having family around and having it be just us- I got a lot more out of it and was able to listen to more of it with only Samantha and Jacob as distractions. So each time conference ends, I like to set a couple of simple goals for myself to work on until the next time. I'm not really one for sharing that type of stuff, but there is one thing I really wanted to put out there:

Last week in Sacrament Meeting, the talks were on what they are usually on the week before conference-- and that is: conference. Ha. Anyway I just remember one of the speakers said that the general authorities (and other speakers, I imagine) rewrite their talks 13-16 times!!!!!! That is a lot! The point she was making with it was that if they are rewriting their talks that many times and putting that much effort into it, we should probably be listening to them more than once or twice and reading them more than once or twice. I sometimes will put on conference to listen to while I'm doing things around the house, but I am definitely still guilty of not listening to/reading the talks as often as I should. So this time my goal is this: Listen to each talk at least 5 times, and Read each talk at least 2 times.

I just want to challenge those of you who read my blog (which I know isn't that many, haha) to do better than you did last time. If that means you only have to listen to them again once and read them once, then do it! We need to take advantage of the words of our living prophets!!

weight weight weight

2010-09-28T10:03:00.005-06:00

My drawers were getting too cramped as I've expanded and have had to wear more and more maternity clothes, so this morning I decided to go through and take out all my "normal" clothes. I looked longingly at all my cute little t-shirts... all size s and xs... and thought about how much work it took to get to where I wanted to be, and how much harder everyone says it is after baby #2.
If I let myself think about it too much, I get really stressed out about it. I want to look like what I looked like before, but looking back I think I spent WAY too much time worried about it. I'm definitely one of those people that is very conscientious about my appearance, and even when most of my small t-shirts were a little on the big side for 4 or 5 months there I still thought I needed to be smaller. And that's not actually the size I'm aiming for next time, I had low blood pressure issues when I was that size, and I HATE low blood pressure issues (I get them when I'm pregnant too, not fun).
I don't know, I just struggle with thoughts of finding the balance. I want to be healthy, both physically and mentally when it comes to my weight. I get frustrated looking back because I just think that I should have been content with where I was at when I looked great, and FELT great. Jacob always tell me not to go back to how I was when I was at my smallest, because he LOVES my curves, and they were pretty much gone.
Basically I want to look great and be healthy, but I don't want to be thinking about it very much. I just want to FEEL good. I want to look in the mirror and not criticize my body and just be satisfied that I'm keeping myself healthy and feel healthy and know that I am healthy and have that be enough, no matter what I look like on the outside. (granted if I'm TRULY keeping myself healthy, it can't look that bad on the outside:))