Us and the Kids

Youth Olympics

2012-01-29T18:59:00.000-08:00

Each year the Glendale Arizona Stake holds Youth Olympics for 3 weeks in January. It is for ages 14-18 and there are all kinds of events (chess, table tennis, volleyball, cooking, photography, track & field, etc...) I participated as a youth growing up and now I am the Young Women's president so I was very busy the last 3 weeks with all the activities. Not only do I get to work with all the girls at church, one of them happens to be my niece, Carley. It's so much fun. She made a video this year for cinematography and got first place! Here is a link to the video. It is well worth your 4 minutes of time. For more information on our Youth Olympics check out this article in the New Era (our youth church magazine). You might see a quote from a certain 16 year old (me!).

December in review

2012-01-05T09:54:00.000-08:00

December flew by with moving in, getting unpacked, school parties, church parties, family parties, christmas cookie decorating, gingerbread house building, and spending time with family. Santa brought Carter a basketball hoop and he was so excited! Charlotte got a shopping cart and pushes it around everywhere.

some favorites from the photo shoot

2011-11-23T08:14:00.000-08:00

A project

2011-11-21T18:54:00.000-08:00

My sister's friend had her house burn down one year ago. Amy went over to help her clean up. 6 burnt stockings were all that were left of her Christmas decorations. My sister took the stockings without her friend knowing and gave them to me. She asked if I could do something with them for her friend. This wall hanging is what I came up with (one year later! but just in time for Christmas this year!). Amy was giving it to her friend today. I hope she likes it!

Happy Halloween

2011-11-02T08:42:00.000-07:00

We had lots of Halloween fun this year...two trunk or treats, a school parade/party, and trick or treating.

Pumpkin Patch Fun in Pictures

2011-10-24T06:55:00.000-07:00

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

2011-10-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

Sean participated in a chili cook off yesterday with people from several different companies that work with his. He won first place!! Love that trophy!

Lake Powell

2011-09-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

Carter doing some tricks (one handed) on the ski. He told me he was going to do some jumps on his next turn.
We go to Lake Powell with my family every year (for as long as I can remember). It's a great vacation. We stayed on a houseboat that is nicer than my house! We were sad to only be able to stay for 3 days while everyone else who went stayed for the whole week. We missed those from the fam who couldn't make it.
Charlotte was of course as happy as could be because there was plenty of dirt for her to play in!
Carter was happy because he got to go fishing!
Char's first sea doo ride--we had to pull her away from the sand! That's seriously all she did all 3 days...it was very relaxing for me!
I'm so proud of Carter...he learned how to waterski! I got lots of good waterskiing and wakeboarding in myself, the water was perfect because the lake was dead this time of year!
The three little girls in matching outfits from Nana. They will have so much fun together when they are older.

Happy Birthday Char Char!!

2011-09-18T14:51:00.000-07:00

Can't believe she is 1. Love this little girl so much. She has such a fun personality. Here's what she's up to as a big 1 year old:

-2 teeth

-walking

-still a mama's girl. so much that she needs to wake up every night to see me!

-shakes her head no when you ask her a question

-says bye, hi, hello, mommy, mama, dada

-loves Carter

-gives high five, hugs, and kisses

-loves baby dolls and dirt!

-loves to sing, can't keep her quiet in church!

Cousins

2011-09-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

3 kindergarteners
2 second graders

2 fifth graders

2 eighth graders

Only 1 cousin (who is in school) is missing because she is in high school. All of the others are at the same school. I LOVE it! I love seeing Carter's older cousins walk him to his class in the morning when I drop them off. I love when I go to lunch with Carter and watch Carter and Tyler play "chase" with Mallory and her friends (Tyler and Carter are going to love having a girl cousin their age when they are older!) It's so great knowing they all have each other at school, in the crazy world we live in.

Spencer and Marlee are going to have a long commute for their kids to get to school with the rest of the cousins, once Madi starts school!!!

11 months old

2011-08-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

this little monkey is 11 months old. here's a little info about her:

*1 tooth

*taken 1 step

*sleeps through the night, mostly

*takes 2, 2 hour naps each day

*says mama and hi

*gives kisses, hugs, high fives, and claps

*misses her brother very much while he is at school :(

*climbs up the stairs and started coming down them backwards yesterday

*gets into EVERYTHING

*loves her mama

First day of Kindergarten

2011-08-15T10:14:00.000-07:00

I can't believe summer is over and it's time for school! Where does the time go? Carter woke up early today and was so excited for school. He wanted to get ready and go! I shed a few tears as he walked into his classroom after the bell rang. Love that kid. He and his cousin Tyler are in the same class.

Family Vacation

2011-08-02T17:14:00.000-07:00

Seriously, every picture of Char is her eating sand. But look how happy she is!?!

We stayed at a resort outside of San Diego with my family for a week. We went to the beach, went to Sea World, went to the San Clemente Pier, played games, went to the Mormon Battalion Museum and had a blast!!! Char ate a TON of sand, but she was happy! Carter loved the boogie board and I enjoyed getting some sun!

9 months

2011-06-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

this girl turned 9 months old last week. seriously, how did that happen? she crawls all over the place, eats anything you give her (loves zucchini and strawberries!), is finally drinking milk from a bottle (yah!!), stands on her own, is almost 30 in. tall, is 21 lbs, and has curly hair. Can you see those curls in the picture? LOVE them. LOVE her.

Hiking in Sedona

2011-06-14T08:41:00.001-07:00

When we were up north at the cabin, we took the Ranger and drove down the back road to Sedona. It is so pretty and such a fun ride. We then went on a hike. The kids did great. Char loved the Ranger ride and the backpack ride. She started out on my back but wouldn't stop pulling my hair, crazy girl!

Caitlyn, our older daughter (ha ha), came with us too! Charlotte sure loves her and has even reached for her over me! That is a big deal, since Char is such a mama's girl!
Sedona is all the way at the bottom of the valley we are are at the top of in this picture. Such a fun ride!

we're in trouble

2011-05-22T21:17:00.000-07:00

earlier today, sean and i literally had a conversation about how it seems like charlotte gets into way more than carter ever did at this age. later i took the kids outside to water the gardens. i put char down at one end of the yard and went to water the other garden around the corner (just as i do every day). i was seriously gone for 3 minutes. when i came back around the corner she was all the way at the other end of the yard, as happy as can be in the just previously watered garden! what the heck!? i thought girls were supposed to be less active than boys?!?

Congrats to the Grad!

2011-05-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

she's not the grad! but isn't she too cute?! this girl is crawling now and pulling herself up to stand all over the place. she's growing too fast.

Photo Shoot

2011-05-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T22:15:00.000-07:00

Sean made me a delicious breakfast and surprised me with my favorite flowers. So pretty. Carter gave me the necklace and card he made me at school. He was so proud while I was reading his card...he is growing up way too fast, it made me cry! On the inside of his card was a questionnaire he answered about me. It is too cute not to share.

My mother's name is: Jessica

She is 20 years old

Her hair is blonde

Her dress size is 80

Her favorite color is yellow

Her favorite food is cauliflower

Her favorite TV show is Hannah Montana

Her favorite thing to do is lots of dishes

My favorite thing to do with my mom is help her feed my pets

My mom is special because she helps

Something my mom always says to me is can you help me clean up your toys?

Something that makes my mom happy is when I clean up my games

Something my mom does that makes me laugh is tickle

When my mom was a little girl she was big

When I am not home my mom, if it is my birthday-she would decorate

My mom is really good at playing the Toy Story match game

My mom and I are the same because we both have blonde hair

My mom and I are different because I came out of her tummy

I know my mom loves me because she says thank you for helping

My mom's favorite place to go is Arizona

What my mom likes most about my dad is he helps her move something outside or inside.

I'm so lucky to be this kid's mom and Charlotte's too of course! So grateful for my mom and Sean's mom. We're pretty lucky all the way around.

My tank top was not brown!

2011-05-05T15:29:00.000-07:00

pictured above: SIL Katie, brother Russ, and Me (not pictured is my friend Lana who did it too--will post that later!)

Last Saturday a group of us ran in the Warrior Dash. Here's a video to get a small taste of what the race is like. (minus the beer for us!!) It was a 3.4 mile run with 12 obstacles throughout the run. It was so much fun! I totally fell straight down into a hole in the mud pit up to my chin when I first stepped in so I just started swimming through the rest of the mud pit! I was attempting to not get that muddy. Ya right, I was covered, head to toe! The worst part was at the end when you stood in a line and they hosed you off with fire hoses--freezing!

Race stats: 57th out of 695 in my age group. 1170th overall out of 6378 runners. Total time was 36.07.60

Can't wait for next year! Who's in?

take 32

2011-04-29T16:44:00.000-07:00

who knew it would take so many tries to get a decent picture with only the 4 of us!

**Easter Sunday. I made Carter's tie. It matched my skirt. Sean asked me to make him one too. I thought he was joking. Apparently he wasn't. Carter told me he hated the tie because it had pink in it, but he would wear it one time for me. So nice of him.

Easter festivities 2011

2011-04-25T02:40:00.000-07:00

*bought 3 baby chicks (actually roosters, want one? seriously.) for the primary party. took them to both family parties. they were a hit

*picnic at the park with the klippel family. carter wrestling with uncle mike led to all the boys wrestling. good times were had by all

*easter baskets. carter loved his treats in his basket. char loved her basket

*egg hunts. 4 different times.

*easter dress. my mother in law made her dress. i LOVE it. so many people asked where i bought it at! can you believe i found the perfect matching shoes for $2 after the dress was made? me neither!

*easter lesson. i was in charge of sharing time (the lesson) in primary. i asked several people to come in, pretending to be someone who knew the savior and share their story of how they knew the savior and testify of his resurrection. they did a wonderful job. the kids loved listening to them and the spirit was so strong. so glad to know our savior lived and died for me and to be able to celebrate this with friends and family

our date

2011-04-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

Sean got Coyote tickets a few weeks ago but couldn't go to the game so we got a babysitter for Char so Carter and I could go to the game. We had so much fun together cheering for the Coyotes, getting ice cream after the game, and being secret agents after the game as we dodged the bad guys all the way back to our car. This kid cracks me up. Here's a conversation he had at school that his teacher sent me: "one kid called me Miss Amber and someone said, 'that's not Miss Amber, that's Miss Linda.' I joked with the student and told him Miss Amber was young and pretty and I was old and wrinkly. One student said, 'you don't have any wrinkles Miss Linda' And then Carter said, 'yes she does. Look at her forehead!' It's a good thing Carter is cute or he might not be graduating from preschool!!"

Where does he come up with this stuff?!

Routines

2011-04-17T17:53:00.001-07:00

LOVE this girl of mine. she is 7 months today. she has become pretty good at a few routines. she is on a great nap schedule. she is finally sleeping through the night pretty consistently. she loves her baths in the big tub with her brother. and although she HATES the car seat, she LOVES our monday, wednesday, and friday morning routine. as soon as carter leaves for school we are off in the stroller for a run. we usually go around 3 miles and she is as content as can be. i look forward to our runs together. i am sad that we probably only have a few more weeks (if that) of this routine before it is way too hot outside to run. maybe we can replace it with swimming laps in the pool?!

this boy is 5

2011-04-07T21:15:00.000-07:00

Carter requested Puff Pancakes for breakfast. After school, Sean came home from work and we all (plus cousins Mallory and Tyler upon Carter's request) went to see the movie Hop. Carter and Tyler then went to soccer practice. After practice, we told Carter he could pick what he wanted for dinner. Shockingly (not really) he chose Pei Wei. After Pei Wei we came home and opened presents. He got a scooter and a camera. He and Tyler watched a movie but were asleep after only a few minutes. It was a super fun day for a fun 5 year old!

A little info about Carter at age 5:

Favorite food: Puff Pancakes

Favorite drink: Chocolate Milk

Favorite movie: Avatar: The last Airbender

Favorite show: Dino Squad

Favorite sport: soccer and tball

Best friend: Tyler and Mallory

Favorite toy: all of them

Favorite restaurant: Pei Wei

Favorite color: blue and green

Favorite song: It's a party in the USA

Favorite thing to do: wrestle with Daddy

This kid is a total mama's boy and I love him! He can get a little moody if he's hungry, he's got an amazing memory, loves to do puzzles, ride his bike, play sports, quotes The last Airbender cartoon like crazy, and is a pretty funny kid. Crazy he has been in my life for 5 years. Can't wait to see what the next 5 are like, and the 5 after that, and the next 5, etc...

6 months

2011-03-27T00:32:00.000-07:00

*baby girl turned 6 months on st. paddy's day

*we celebrated with some green pancakes, she was in heaven

*she loves baby food and any other food item you give her; especially some ice cream. she does not like to share the yummy treat as you can see in the picture!

*loves animal crackers, pizza crust, and the peanut butter sandwich she stole from her brother. she really wants to eat anything even with no teeth

*rolls both ways

*sitting up on her own

*almost up on her knees

*wakes up once during the night to eat

*loves carter & caitlyn

*19.2 lbs, 28 inches

*still no bottle :(

Making their debut appearance...

2011-03-05T11:39:00.000-08:00

Last night was a talent show at church. Caitlyn had worked hard with a friend to make up a dance and then her friend couldn't be there. Luckily, Carter and I had been over when the girls were working on the dance so Carter had the whole thing memorized (his memory seriously amazes me). Caitlyn asked him to fill in for her friend and he said he would! On one condition of course...that I do it with them. So in our debut appearance, I give you "Dynamite."

5 months

2011-02-18T01:09:00.000-08:00

*finally loving stroller rides and rides in the bike trailer

*rolling over both ways

*laughing a lot (mostly at Wendy & Steve & Caitlyn! -they can always get her to laugh)

*sleeping 6-8 hours at night. yea to no more every 3 hours!

*always smiling

*always spitting up!

*loves to suck on her two fingers

*drools like crazy

*especially for grandma's viewing pleasure

Disneyland in (lots of) pictures

2011-02-03T12:40:00.001-08:00

*side notes:

1. the characters LOVED Char and she loved sucking on their noses or pulling whiskers. sometimes it was awkward though because they would spend so much time playing with her even though there was a huge line

2. Carter was scared of Baloo

3. Carter didn't want to do the fast rides at first. After I made him try them (i know i'm mean!) he loved them. he says space mountain was his favorite ride. but we did the teacups and the toon town roller coaster at his request like 5 times

4. I threw up in the car on the drive there and let me just tell you it was the funniest and most disgusting thing at the same time. another post for another day? maybe.

5. Is it weird that random people asked to take char's picture because of her cuteness? she was seriously such a good baby on this trip.

6. we had so much fun on carter's first trip to disneyland and our first trip in nearly 20 years! thanks to russ and katie for talking us into going!!

4 months

2011-01-18T07:02:00.001-08:00

*25 inches

*16 lbs

*smiles like crazy

*loves to hold onto her silky that nana made

*takes several 1 hour naps throughout the day

*doesn't like the bottle anymore

*loves to be up looking around/talking to everyone

Future babysitter?

2011-01-11T13:27:00.000-08:00

I asked Carter to play with Char while I finished getting ready. Here's what I saw when I came back in the room. He was as happy as could be to play with her but only if he had the headphones on when she was crying. He may be onto something...

Christmas recap 2010

2010-12-28T21:54:00.000-08:00

*lots of cuteness*checked out the zoo lights
*climbed the rock wall at glendale glitters
*traditional christmas cookie decorating (the kids finished and we off playing so the adults partook of the fun!)
*a month full of fun activities from our advent calendar
*more cuteness
*just opened her first present christmas morning
*opening my new bike trailer from santa!
*checking out his new sled from santa
*caroling in the hall on christmas eve. classic memory made.
*performing the traditional nativity christmas eve. carter really wanted me to be a donkey so he could pull me. the things mothers do...
*i heart christmas time and this ultimate cuteness.

the stockings were hung

2010-12-17T07:25:00.000-08:00

when we moved during the heat of the summer, christmas was the last thing on my mind. so i forgot to get out our christmas stockings. i needed a new one for char this year so instead of digging through the storage shed to find my box where my stockings were i decided to make us all new ones.
i LOVE how they turned out. special thanks to my mom for helping me figure out the lining--that was tricky!
now we are officially ready for this guy.

Santa

2010-12-14T06:58:00.000-08:00

Our ward Christmas party was last Friday. Carter was so excited to see Santa! My sister Amy was Santa's helper. Sean was in charge of the event and did all of the cooking by himself! Primary was in charge of the decorations so I was at the church the whole day too. It was a long day but it was worth it...the food was great and so was the program. But I am glad it is over!

Vote for which Shutterfly card YOU like the best.

2010-11-29T20:55:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the Christmas photocards at Shutterfly yet? LOVE. LOVE. LOVE them. There are so many to choose from. It is hard to pick a favorite to use this year. Here are my top 6 faves (I know it should be 5, but I just couldn't decide!). You tell me which one YOU like the best!*I like that you can have more than one picture on the card, because just like I can't decide on my favorite card, I also can't decide on my favorite picture.
*Wouldn't this one be so great to add your Christmas letter right on with your picturs?! Perfect, right!
*LOVE how simple this one is.

*Both of these cards would look great with my pictures because the brown backgrounds match what my kids are wearing in their pictures.
*LOVE the snowflakes, and again the simplicity of the card. Classic.

Now YOU decide. Tell me which one you think I should use this year. Ready, go!

To see the cute photo cards I've posted here and the other designs, click here.

But wait! There are other things you can get at Shutterfly! If I were having a Christmas party, there are lots of invites to choose from. Check it.

Need a cute Christmas gift for a loved one? What about these photo calendars? So easy--yet they will be cherished for a lifetime! Go look at them, here!

Go check out their Christmas cards and see what YOU can do to get 50 free Christmas cards!!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-29T06:45:00.000-08:00

All 27 of us went to my parents cabin for Thanksgiving this year. The festivities started on Wednesday night by going to Polar Express in matching pajamas! Thursday morning we had our first annual Turkey Trot and then spent the rest of the time eating and playing!

**click on collage to enlarge**

2 months

2010-11-15T19:58:00.000-08:00

*23 inches
*13 lbs
*spits up like crazy!
*smiles like crazy!
*starting to "talk" and laugh
*loves to snuggle and not lay down by herself

*p.s. isn't her outfit the cutest? the sweater was mine when i was a baby!

right where i wanna be

2010-11-09T14:35:00.001-08:00

last night, sean got home from work at 7. we got take out and watched a movie with carter while the baby slept. it was an ideal night. sean's friend told him he was lame, since it was our anniversary. whatev, i say. after 8 great years, there's no other place i'd rather be than with my little family.

baby blessing

2010-11-07T22:26:00.000-08:00

in our church babies are given a blessing when they are a few weeks old and then baptized when they are 8 years old. sean gave char a beautiful blessing yesterday. most of our immediate family was able to attend the blessing and then we had yummy food afterwards and a fun time hanging out. thanks to everyone who came!
this dress was made for my grandpa to wear when he was blessed. it is over 100 years old! both my sisters and i were blessed in it as well as two of my nieces. charlotte was beautiful in the old dress and even had a new bracelet to wear from her grandma!

happy halloween 2010

2010-11-01T06:42:00.001-07:00

a preschool party and the ward trunk or treat, a cute ladybug (thanks marlee!), an awesome ironman, making caramel apples=LOTS of halloween fun

6 weeks

2010-10-29T14:45:00.000-07:00

Seriously, where is the time going? It's only been 6 weeks, yet it seems like she has been here for forever. The last 2 weeks have been rough with Carter being sick, Char had a fever off and on, and then I got strep throat. Now that we are getting over that, things are starting to get back to normal!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-22T09:57:00.000-07:00

We decided a couple weeks ago to have a Halloween party with some of Carter's friends and cousins. When I woke up yesterday and was rushing to get everything set up, I had two crying children. I thought, "this party was a bad idea!" So I called my sister Wendy and she and my mom came to the rescue to help me get things set up! The weather was perfect outside and I think everyone had a great time. Carter told me later that it was the best Halloween party ever.

1. Charlotte enjoying the party in her new Halloween dress. Do you love it as much as I do? I made it the day before for the party for her.

2. We decorated cookies

3. We painted pumpkins

4. We dressed up as mummies

5. We decorated Halloween shapes (spiders, cats, bats, etc)

6. We ate lots of good food! We had pumpkin shaped sandwiches, cupcakes, caramel toffee dip with cinammon sugar chips, candy corn pudding, halloween marshmellows and oreos, carrots and slime dip, and slime punch with floating ice hands in it!

(not pictured--making some really cute ghosts. take a styrofoam cup, draw a ghost face on it, heat oven to 350 degrees and place cup in there for less than a minute--watch it melt into a cool ghostly shape!)

**most food items were taken from Our Best Bites

4 weeks old? and a mission? What?!

2010-10-19T03:15:00.001-07:00

Sean's nephew Tanner is leaving today to serve a mission for our church in the Belgium, Brussels Mission and will be speaking Dutch! Tanner was only 9 years old when I started dating Sean. It's hard to believe he is old enough for a mission!Charlotte made her first debut at the zoo last week and did fabulous!
She is becoming quite the chunky monkey. I can't believe she will be 5 weeks old on Friday. How is that possible?
Carter LOVES being a big brother and is such a big helper. The other day he was holding her and singing to her, "I'm your big brother, I love you." I wish I would have caught it on video.
Time goes by so fast, I barely even have time to take a shower these days!

What's in a Name?

2010-09-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

If you'll remember, from day 1 Carter said this baby's name was Rose. Once we found out we were having a girl, we knew we had to use the name Rose somehow. I didn't want to use it as a first name but thought it would make a cute middle name. However, the girl names we had talked about didn't seem to fit with Rose as a middle name. While discussing name possibilities with my mom one day, she suggested Charlotte. Charlotte Rose. We instantly loved it. (as a side note, the booties she is wearing in this picture were made for me when I was a baby by my grandma Charlotte)I especially loved it because Charlotte was my grandma's name (pictured below with my dad and grandad). I was really close to my grandma growing up and have fond memories of making Christmas cookies, playing rummikub and yahtzee, going on walks at the cabin, and eating her delicious cinnamon bread! So it seemed all but perfect to name her after someone whom I loved so much and who was such an example to me of someone who was loving, kind, generous, virtuous, and I could go on and on. Char has a great legacy to follow that's for sure!!

Introducing

2010-09-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

Charlotte Rose was born on Friday the 17th a little after 5pm. She weighed in at 7lbs 13oz and is 20 inches long. Both mom and baby girl are home from the hospital and resting; the big brother couldn't be more excited!

About to Pop!

2010-09-06T16:55:00.000-07:00

things I adore at four

2010-09-05T16:54:00.000-07:00

*big helper

*sticks his tongue out when he is concentrating

*hard worker

*perfectionist (this is both good and bad, because sometimes he gets upset if it is not perfect and he won't believe me that it really is ok if he colors outside of the lines every once in awhile)

*strong (he's always been freakishly strong--the other day he lifted and carried a 20 pound bag of ice over his head--is that weird?--maybe all kids do that)

*momma's boy

*really good memory (this is especially great since his dad is the complete opposite!--carter will still talk about things that randomly happened a year or two ago)

*snuggles with me every morning when he wakes up

*wants me to lay down with him at night (this won't last forever so i love it)

*loves his cousins (he's asks to play with them every day and now that we are living at nana and grandad's house he can just about do that!)

*shy (last week in primary was better but when the substitute came in and sat by him, he quietly moved over to the next seat! he later told me he was just feeling a little shy)

*holds my hand everywhere we go (even when we walk in the house--again i know this won't last forever, so i love it!)

*loves to cook

*never stops moving (i wish i had half the energy he does!)

Highlights

2010-08-23T09:23:00.001-07:00

Carter started preschool last week and goes 3 times a week now. I cried a little when I dropped him off--wonder how I'll handle kindergarten!! I was nervous with how he would do (he wouldn't even look at his new primary teacher for the first couple of weeks!), but he is really loving it and is excited to go every day. I think it helps that his two cousins Mallory and Tyler go with him. It's fun to see him be so excited to learn.
Sean and I went to Sea World just before Carter was born so we decided to make it a tradition and go before this baby girl is born. Our niece Caitlyn was able to go with us and it was so much fun. A quick trip-but so fun. They loved Shamu and getting soaked!

he won't look at his new primary teacher

2010-08-07T07:29:00.000-07:00

but he'll do this with no hesitation!!

The surgery/recovery

2010-07-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

(Just after surgery)(Just before surgery--he looks so excited to be there!)

New phrases heard in the past week:

1. I am going to die (usually said during the night when he wakes up coughing)

2. Why did you make me do this? (also usually said during the night)

3. I told you I didn't want my tonsils out.

4. Take me back to put my tonsils back in!!

What does he do?

2010-06-23T21:47:00.000-07:00

I'm glad you asked. Here is a link for a news report that was done on the project that Sean's company is overseeing at the airport. Sean's been up on the huge bridge that they show--scary! Sean's not with the sub-contractors building the bridge; he is more behind the scenes, drawing the plans for the sky train, ensuring sub-contractors are doing their job, etc...

It will be great to see the finished product...one day!

Click here for the video.

Post-edit: Sean has ensured me that his job is much more complicated than what I have listed. He works crazy long hours so I can account for this, but I wrote it like I was explaining it to Carter, easier that way, ya know.

6 months

2010-06-14T21:03:00.000-07:00

I thought I looked tan from being at the lake, but after looking at this picture, I am still pretty white. Onto brighter news, I have recovered from my back injury and am feeling great. I celebrated by mowing the yards for the first time on Saturday.

Roosevelt Lake

2010-06-12T07:43:00.000-07:00

We did a little boatingA little tubing
A little fishing (thanks to lots of help from uncles and not clueless me!)

did a little hiking

tried skiing (carter--not me, but i was very sad to miss out on all the perfect water every single day! i guess having a baby is a little more important than skiing this year)
did a little relaxing
it was a fun week at the lake with the Forsberg family but we missed sean!!

a future pro?

2010-05-23T17:07:00.001-07:00

Carter and Caitlyn earned a bowling trip and Wendy and I were finally able to take them. They had a lot of fun and I think we may have a future pro on our hands. (and maybe a trend setter with that awesome Spider Man bandaid on his forehead! Nelly may have thought it was cool to wear a band aid on his cheek--but he was way off. Carter has the style down.) I'm just sayin'...check it out for yourself on the video.

boys are cute too

2010-05-16T10:25:00.001-07:00

I know it's going to be so fun to dress a baby girl but man if I was having another boy, I would for sure be keeping these onsies and not be giving them away! And I would be making a bunch more of the tie ones, tell me that isn't so cute!!

Finally it's done!

2010-05-07T16:00:00.000-07:00

Remember when I was almost done with projects? Then I realized I had to switch rooms around for the baby. Sean was really excited about this. We took everything out of the workout room and turned half the garage into the new gym. Carter is now residing in his new room; he wanted to decorate with cars. I pretty much had everything on hand, revamped a few things, and bought only a couple of things for the room. The best news was that the room was already painted a grey/blue color so there was no need to repaint!!! I am pretty excited about how it turned out, but the best part is hearing Carter singing in his room "I love my new room, it's the best room ever, my mom made it for me, I love my new room, it's totally awesome."

Get ready for some pictures...

1. I had this picture of my dad, uncle, and great Uncle Johnny in New York in front of some old cars. I blew it up, printed it out, and painted a frame I already had red and there you have it.
2. Carter made sure I took a picture of his new garbage can. He throws everything away in it, even if we are in another room and he has something to throw away he runs to his room.
3. Sean bought this light while he was working/living in Louisiana last year. I painted it red to match the room.
4. Carter really wanted a clock in his room. My mom gave me one she had that was yellow. I painted it red and cut out the car pictures from scrap material and glued them on the clock. I also painted the picture frame below the clock to match.
5. I made the checkered banner for Carter's birthday party and it was the perfect length of one of the walls in his room. The curtains were the ones already in the room. I just glued on some Cars chipboard pieces that I already had to help tie them in.
6. Carter has been asking for his own quilt for awhile now, after watching me make some for his cousins. He loves his that I finally finished for him!
7. I used extra material/ribbon to create a picture board in the room.
8. When Sean and I got married we started collecting license plates from the places we traveled. Perfect for Carter's car room.
9. I bought the two middle signs from Hobby Lobby for 5 bucks, Sean brought the bigger signs home from work. Hensel Phelps is the company Sean works for.
10. My mom bought this trunk for me when I went to college--perfect for holding all of Carter's trucks.
11. A close-up of the quilt and the embroidery work on it.
12. This is my dresser from high school.
13. This might be my favorite part of the whole room. My mom found this Cars piece of material and I bought the wood from Home Depot for 4 bucks and made a frame for it, all by myself!! I bought the tool chest from a garage sale and keep toys in it.
14. The view from the doorway.

I heart my boys

2010-05-07T15:58:00.001-07:00

Sean was able to have the WHOLE weekend off for the first time in a long time. So we took advantage of it and headed up north to the family cabin. I LOVED watching Carter fishing with his Daddy.

The results are in...

2010-04-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

When the doctor told us what we are having, Carter said, "I was right!!!"

That's right folks, we're having a baby GIRL!!!

Cast your Vote!

2010-04-29T09:50:00.000-07:00

We go to the doctor tomorrow to find out what we are having. Carter is still sure the baby is "Rose." I think it's a girl too, but I think that is mostly because of how sure Carter is! So we have two votes for a girl so far. What do you think?

Gila Valley Temple Open House

2010-04-25T08:34:00.000-07:00

Carter and I went with my family to the Gila Valley Temple Open House this weekend. It was so great to be with Carter inside the temple (it only would have been better if Sean could have been there!) and talk about why we have temples and answer his questions while in the temple. Carter has an amazing memory so I hope this is one experience he remembers for a long time.

**For more information on temples and why our church builds them, here is a short video:

Table Redo

2010-04-14T12:36:00.001-07:00

My SIL Steph, gave me her old kitchen table and bench. (I already painted the bench red and added it to our current kitchen table). Here is a before and after of what I did with the table. (well the before isn't a true before, I had already put the first coat of primer on the top when I remembered to take a picture--but you get the idea)
It is the perfect sewing table now! Our house doesn't have much storage space and with the baby on the way I had to clean out my craft stuff from the baby room closet. So where to put it all? I painted the table black and then attached Velcro to the material to the table and put all my craft stuff under it!! Very accessible, all in one spot, but hidden! It has been so nice to sew and not have to move everything off my kitchen table for dinner and put the machine in a closet. I LOVE it. Thanks again Steph!

For the unbelievers out there

2010-04-12T09:46:00.000-07:00

the proof is in the photo. the baby bump exists.

**photo courtesy of carter

Happy Birthday Carter!

2010-04-07T07:36:00.000-07:00

Carter has been going to some birthday parties lately so for his birthday he really wanted a party. He wanted a car party and a pinata. Everyone took a turn hitting the pinata then it was back to Carter. He kept hitting it and all the kids would run in when candy dropped out. It was a great system. Carter only cared about hitting the pinata and the kids only cared about the candy! We had fun decorating bikes and going on a "bike parade." Amazing, how a group of 10 4 year olds can really tire you out!!

P.S. Can you spy my baby bump in the pictures above? I am 4 months now and definitely showing. (click on the picture to enlarge it)

quilts

2010-04-03T16:40:00.000-07:00

I gave Carley and Tanner their birthday quilts last month. Carley wanted bright colors and animal print. Tanner wanted zebra print and sports. I am really loving my embroidery machine for the quilts. Now I just have Carter's quilt to make--don't think I'll have it done in time for his birthday, which is in 3 days, since I haven't even started it yet!!

I think he likes him

2010-03-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

(Above) This is how Carter went to sleep last night, in Buddy's bed that we bought him.

Meet the newest member...

2010-03-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

Carter got an early birthday present today and named him Buddy.

To run, or not to run

2010-03-10T05:48:00.000-08:00

When I did this triathlon in November 2009 I was 6 weeks pregnant. This run was seriously killing me. My SIL Marlee (in the black and yellow) ran with me the whole time and really pushed me to run faster. We had a goal of passing that guy right behind me, I didn't think I could do it, but I finally did. Katie (in the white and blue) joined up with us at the end and helped me finish. I could really feel the effects of being pregnant. I was cramping and extra tired during the triathlon. I had already signed up for a relay race in February. But after this triathlon, I dropped out. 3 weeks later I had a miscarriage. So I was now back in the relay race and really started training hard for it. One month later I found out I was pregnant again. I was placed on "moderate activity" by the doctor. No running. So I had to drop out of the race, again. I am happy to report that I did not have to rejoin the race again. Baby Rose (according to Carter!) will be here in September.

Projects!

2010-03-01T14:37:00.000-08:00

I've been busy the last two months with a few projects around the house and gifts. It's been fun, but I am excited to finish one more quilt and be done with projects (yeah, right!)

1. made some burp cloths

2. made an apron for a niece

3. made a cover for some storage in the garage

4. revamped a bench my SIL gave me for my kitchen table

5. revamped the top of my hutch after 7 years of the same stuff, it was time for a change!

Gonna brag, just a little

2010-02-13T11:24:00.000-08:00

Carter's training wheels were all bent, so when Sean got home from work this morning, instead of fixing them he just took them off and told Carter to try it without his training wheels. Sean gave him a quick lesson before he tried it on his own, and I held the back of his bike for about 5 seconds and he has been on his own all morning. No crashes yet! I am so amazed with this 3 year old! The best part, was seeing Carter's face and how proud he was of himself! LOVE that kid.

How to have fun at Wal-Mart

2010-01-19T15:15:00.000-08:00

As a general rule I typically try to avoid Wal-mart. However, when we are in Sierra Vista, with my Mom, we have to make an appearance there, kind of as a general rule. Our trip last week to see Spencer and Marlee was no exception! But Carter taught us a few ways to have lots of fun in Wal-Mart.

Step 1: Get in the cart and pile all of the bolts of material on top of the cart. Then insist that everyone call you "Jack" (the hamster) and feed you crackers through the "cage."

Step 2: Lay all the bolts of material across the cart and then lay on top of them. Make whoever is with you pull you around making the sound "whoooo wooo" as you take your patient to the hospital, while the patient lays on the ambulance bed.
Follow these steps and you are sure to have a fun time at your local Wal-mart.

I told you I was serious

2010-01-09T14:45:00.000-08:00

What did I give at the baby shower I went to today?

An embroidered baby blanket and onsie.

knitting with paige

2010-01-07T22:49:00.001-08:00

My sister Amy and I went to a knitting class tonight. Paige, came over to fix my row for me. I borrowed Amy's tide stick, to remove a stain. Paige was not happy about this.

Thanks for teaching me how to knit Paige, I believe I will knit a scarf that will make you proud. Sorry for being off task. But I'm more sorry that I didn't look in a mirror after 1pm today.

I know what I will make you...

2010-01-06T17:18:00.000-08:00

Baby gifts?
Wedding gifts?
Birthdays?

Embroidered, embroidered, embroidered!

Yep, that will be my staple gift from here on out, just tellin' you now.

I got an embroidery sewing machine for Christmas. I am LOVING the possibilities with this thing. Think of all I can do with the quilts I have been making for my nieces and nephews. I have two to complete in the next 2 months! I can't wait to get started on them. I went to the class yesterday to learn how to use the machine and here is my first project I made today! Carter wanted his own towel, so we embroidered a snail on one and a fish on another for him. So fun!

A New Day

2010-01-03T21:14:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year! We met up with friends on New Year's Eve at the Tempe Block Party. Sean has been wanting to go to this literally since the day I met him. We finally made it there and I finally heard the sweet words, "you were right!!" The highlight of the block party is a toss up between the magician who had to try 3 different times to get his assistant to lay on the sword correctly so it could go through her stomach or the guy at the ferris wheel asking if I was over 18, otherwise I couldn't take Carter on the ride!
After the block party we went to the Anselmo's house for fun and games.

Right after midnight, we left for the cabin up north. We spent the New Year's Day sledding. Carter was in heaven. He has spent the whole last year asking every couple of weeks when we get to go to the snow again. Glad we can quickly visit it and then quickly come home!

Christmas Magic

2009-12-26T14:12:00.000-08:00

I love the magic of Christmas, the fun times spent with family, the traditional Christmas Brunch with the Klippel clan, the Christmas Eve Mexican dinner and festivities, the yummy peppermint cheesecake that I had to search at 3 different stores for peppermint extract and still didn't find any-who knew it was such a hot commodity this year?, fun with cousins, matching pajamas, seeing what Santa brought, and hearing the joy from a 3-year old who exclaimed, "this is just what I wanted!!" with every single gift he opened. LOVE it.

Busy times

2009-12-22T12:01:00.000-08:00

We have been keeping pretty busy the last few weeks, but that's why I love this time of year!

1. Carter at Uncle Spencer's graduation

2. Carter, Spencer, Madison, and I at Spencer's graduation (he received his MBA from ASU)

3. Our BFF's Dan and Stefani had to unexpectantly make a quick trip to Phoenix. We were so glad we got to see them on a night Sean didn't have to work! Our lives haven't been the same since they moved to Colorado....we want them back!

4. Santa made a surprise visit while decorating cookies.

5. Even I got to visit with Santa for a minute.

6. Carter had so much fun decorating cookies with his cousins at Aunt Amy's house!

Merry Christmas Mormons!

2009-12-15T20:57:00.000-08:00

My friend Emily had this on her blog. I thought it was pretty funny!

your opinion needed

2009-12-13T17:42:00.001-08:00

This weekend we went to Sean's work party. This was our first official office party. My company never had Christmas parties since all the employees work from their home offices across the nation. I guess we did go to a couple of Sean's office parties when we were dating but he worked with family so that doesn't really count as a true office party, right? Anyways, we had fun dressing up and had a nice dinner. (I was really excited about my gray tights that I wore with my dress but you can't even tell they are gray in the picture.)

Then the entertainment began. There were prizes to be won. Sean won the first prize at our table. The centerpiece. Bonus. The end of the night came and no other prizes came our way. As we were leaving, Sean asked me to grab the centerpiece.
Seriously, I asked?
Ya, we won, he said.
Me: I am not taking that THING home, it's so ugly.
Him: It's not ugly, it's a fireman.
Me: Do you have a sudden allegience to firemen?
Him: I won it, just put it in your purse.
Me: I am not putting it in my purse, I don't even want it.
Him: Just put it in your purse
Me: No
Him: proceeds to put said ugly centerpiece in my purse
Me: If we take that home, it is going on your nightstand
Him: that's exactly where I want it

Now, here is where your opinion is needed. Let's put it to a vote. Who hears me on this one and thinks this is U-G-L-Y?

Yes, I really did put it on his nightstand and so shall it remain there.
Let's take a closer look, shall we. A fireman nutcracker. Classy.
Oh, but the story continues:

Me: hey, can you grab the wreath (it was laying in the middle of the table with the nice nutcracker in the center of the wreath--and it came with the cute door hangar).

Him: I'm not carrying that thing out of here

Me: you'll bring home an ugly nutcracker that we'll never use but you won't bring home a pretty wreath?

Him: nope

Me: if I am carrying the nutcracker in my purse, you are carrying the wreath

Him: not gonna happen

Me: fine, I'll carry it, but your nutcracker is still ugly.

My comebacks continue to amaze me. But seriously, thumbs up or down on the nutcracker?

The answers

2009-12-11T09:19:00.000-08:00

1. b (did you really think I kissed my cousin?)

2. c (toilet paper---so embarrassing!)

3. a (secretary & treasurer)

4. b (softball)

5. b (5 siblings)

6. c (1981 BMW)

7. b (stereo was too loud--i miss my system in the t-bird!)

8. I was asked to leave a hair salon because...I had ring worm on my scalp and they couldn't do my hair. Seriously the MOST embarrassing moment in my life. I was just home for summer from BYU. I went to a beauty school to get my hair done for my brother's wedding. The girl started to get my hair ready and then said "hold on." She came back with someone else and they were looking at my scalp. That lady gathered others to come over (so now there were about 10 people standing around me) and she said, "this is what ring worm looks like and we cannot do someone's hair like this." I was horrified. She then asked me, "have you been playing in a barn recently." Hmmm, let me think about that, NO! Hair lady then said, "have you been in the sand lately?" Hmmm, let me think about that one, NO! She then told me (remember I am still sitting in the chair with 10 people standing around me) that I needed to go to the doctor and could come back after I took care of it. Humiliated I left, and obviously I have never been back. So if I wasn't in a barn or in the sand, how did I get ring worm you ask? The night before I left BYU to come home, I was outside saying goodbye to a group of friends. The friends were sitting in the grass and I sat with them. In the circle was a cat, and it was a stray cat that they were petting. I do not like cats at all. It came up to me a few times and I pushed it away. So I touched it and before washing my hands, I touched my scalp. So lesson learned, never touch stray cats and then touch your head before washing your hands. Or avoid the hair salon if you do!

9. a (Pretty Woman)

10. a (true). You had to write your name on the board and miss recess in 1st grade if you had to go to the bathroom. I didn't want to miss recess but I couldn't hold it any longer. I didn't say anything to my teacher but when I came back after recess, my desk was moved to the back of the room by myself!

Snowball fight

2009-12-08T17:00:00.000-08:00

Phoenix style...
Today was the big Snowball fight in our backyard in our barefeet. These are the kind of snowball fights I like!

Christmas Fun

2009-12-05T10:08:00.001-08:00

I made a Christmas Advent Calendar this year and was going to put a treat behind each day of the month until I saw this. I used some of the ideas from her list and added my own. Since we don't have snow to build a snowman with, we used marshmallows and m&m's. We also made Christmas Tree decorations. Have you done this before? It was a lot of fun. To make the dough: mix 4 cups of flour and 1 cup of salt. Then add 1 1/2 cups of water. Knead for 3-4 minutes. The dough should be firm. Cut into shapes and then bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees. Using water colors, paint the decorations and then bake for another 15 minutes. Carter has been really excited to see what he gets to do each day and I am excited for this new tradition! Today, we went through Carter's toys to donate some, and I was really surprised, at him as he really thought about each toy and decided on which ones to give away. Can't wait for our upcoming "snowball fight..."

Have any ideas for me to add to my list?

(Jeremy and Billy, I'm sure you have a ton of ideas, so please share!!!)

The big day

2009-11-30T14:40:00.000-08:00

Sean threw me a party for my 30th birthday. We had yummy food, good friends and family over, roasted marsh-mellows in the fire pit and drank hot chocolate. I wish I had remembered to take pictures! One thing Sean did at the party was pass around a quiz about me. Then we stood around the fire and shared the answers and some funny stories.

How many questions can YOU get right?

1. Jessica once kissed her cousin

a. true

b. false

2. Jessica walked around at a school all day with what hanging out of her pants?

a. maxi pad

b. paper toilet seat cover

c. toilet paper

3. What positions did Jessica serve in HS student council?

a. secretary & treasurer

b. Pres & VP

c. VP & treasurer

4. What sport did Jessica make Varsity her freshman year?

a. volleyball

b. softball

c. basketball

5. How many siblings does Jessica have?

a. 3

b. 5

c. 6

6. In HS Jessica drove this car:

a. 1987 VW rabbit

b. 1995 Chevy Truck

c. 1981 BMW

7. Jess was pulled over by a cop at BYU because:

a. she was speeding

b. stereo was too loud

c. her taillight was out

8. Jess was asked to leave a hair salon because:

__________________________________

9. Her favorite movie is:

a. Pretty Woman

b. Pretty in Pink

c. ET

10. Jess peed her pants in first grade?

a. true

b. false

Traditions

2009-11-28T12:15:00.000-08:00

I LOVE this time of year because all the traditions begin. Every year since I can remember my family went up north to cut down our Christmas tree. Sean joined this tradition when we were married and instantly loved it. And then after about the 2nd year we were married my whole family went fake on me. They all got fake trees for some reason! Except for my sister Wendy and her family. So our two families carried on the tradition. And then about 4 years ago Sean's twin brother Brandon and his family started going with us. And this year, Sean's sister Jen and her family came with us. It was a lot of fun! We are happy to carry on the tradition, whoever comes with us. The more the merrier!
P.S. doesn't our Thanksgiving table look beautiful?! Table courtesy of Brandon and Julie.

Old toys for new kids

2009-11-21T16:02:00.000-08:00

Two of my nieces and nephew spent the night last night. I love them but they sure did wear me out today! I think I have been cleaning all day! I made breakfast then cleaned up breakfast. We made cookie dough then cleaned up cookie dough. We cut out the cookies then cleaned up from cutting out the cookies. We cooked the cookies then had to do dishes. We frosted the cookies and then had to clean up from frosting cookies. Then it was lunch time and there had been a special request for homemade pizza. So I think you are getting the routine. After lunch, I tried to take a little nap. I laid down for 20 minutes and had questions/requests from little kiddos about every 3 or 4 minutes. Then I had an idea! I brought out my old doll house that was mine as a little girl. It requires a lot of set up so I don't get it out often. Caitlyn and Carter (don't tell Sean!) were in heaven! Right now they are playing and they are having Family Home Evening. So cute!
Sometimes the old toys are the best toys! Now I think I will close my eyes for at least 3 or 4 minutes.

In all things give thanks...

2009-11-17T18:20:00.000-08:00

I love this area that I have set up for Thanksgiving. It reminds me everyday to be thankful for EVERYthing. This weekend Carter had his first spend the night at a cousin's house. While I had fun going shopping with my sister on Friday night, I was so lonely Saturday morning! Sean was at work and I was alone. I missed Carter getting into bed with me in the morning and snuggling up to me. I missed his tugging at me to come be with him while I try and check my email in the morning. I missed him yelling out my name from the other room. I missed him bargaining with me why he should have a cookie for breakfast and not a waffle. Mostly, I just missed HIM. Sometimes, I find myself thinking, "if I only had a few minutes to myself..." Saturday I had way more than a few minutes, but I was sad. I couldn't wait for him to come home. It was a good reminder how much I love this kid and how much I love being a mom. When I was in the 6th grade me and a few other girls put together the first ever School Yearbook. It was nothing special. But we took a picture of every 6th grader and asked them 3 questions:

1. What is your nickname?

2. What is your favorite saying?

3. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Here were my answers:

1. J.J.

2. "don't forget to smile."

3. just be a Mom

All I have ever wanted to do was to be a mom.

I am thankful to be a mother.

And I am especially thankful for this kid and all his craziness. Life would be boring without him!

50 FREE photocards

2009-11-17T06:09:00.000-08:00

I saw an add for 50 free photocards on this blog and I tried it and it worked! The only difference I found, was that the code only worked on 4x8 cards not the 5x7 cards. Go get your free photocards today! Click here to start!

I'm really liking this...

2009-11-15T18:15:00.001-08:00

These are the 4th and 5th quilts I have made this year for my nieces/nephews. I have loved learning how to quilt! And as long as they keep asking, I'll keep making them. The next nephew that asked for one has a birthday in February! This sports/zebra one was for Hunter. This princess/tinker bell one was for Reeslyn. I used most of the same material in this quilt that I used for my niece Caitlyn's quilt. But I love how different they are. I love the creativity that quilting allows me to have. Most of all, I LOVE seeing their faces when they open their gift. It makes all the hours of work worth it to see the huge smile on their face when they first see it!!

What was she thinking (during the triathlon, anyways)?

2009-11-13T06:17:00.001-08:00

"Wow, I've really made it now, a star is in the same race as me.""I want to cross that finish line!"
"I don't think I can make it...seriously...I am so tired."
"I'm so happy Marlee said she would run with me during the run portion. But this will probably be embarrassing since she'll run faster than me and she just had a baby 7 weeks ago!!!"
"I really wish I had swam a few times before this race..."
"Marlee wants me to go first in the swim, so she is trying to get me to do rock, paper, scissors with her. No way!"
"I'm so glad I am DONE!" (I got 1:15; almost the exact same time I got last year, my swim was slower than last year but my run was faster. I got 5th out of 39 in my age group!)
"Why do they have speed bumps on the final part of this bike course? So annoying."

Another year...

2009-11-08T06:30:00.000-08:00

Happy to report that 7 years later, we're ready for more!

Halloween

2009-11-02T06:15:00.000-08:00

We went to our ward party and then the next morning drove down to Sierra Vista where we went to another ward party and trick or treating in the neighborhood. I'd say we are good on candy. We had lots of fun trick or treating with the cousins and enjoyed Madison's baby blessing on Sunday. Great job Spence!

Makeover

2009-10-28T15:55:00.000-07:00

Remember when I mentioned I would be sad if my house burned down because I had a new makeover in one of my rooms? Well, as of yesterday, now I have two makeovers so I would be twice as sad if my house burned down.

My sister Wendy came over yesterday to help me paint my family room. This half wall was white and then the kitchen/family room was a light yellow. I have never liked having the half wall white because it gets so dirty but never knew what to do since one side of the wall was a light tan and the other side was yellow. So I picked out a darker tan color than what's in the living room and painted the half wall and the family room/kitchen area the same color. I really love how it turned out. Thanks for the help Wendy! With a little hard work and some spilled salsa, I'd say we did pretty well.

My next makeover was my laundry room. We have been in desperate need of a new washer for quite a while now. I have also been wanting a freezer for a few years but didn't want to put it in the garage. Walking through Home Depot a couple weeks ago I saw these stackable washer/dryer sets and a lightbulb went off! If we got the stackable set we could fit a freezer in the laundry room too!! Major space saver, and I even had 13 inches left over to put some shelving in. I am absolutely loving this set up. And the best part is, I almost forget that I hate doing laundry because when the cycle is done, instead of an obnoxious buzzing noise, there is a delightful chime, making me feel happy that it is time to go and get the laundry!

don't burn the house down, kids [read Sean]

2009-10-25T19:27:00.001-07:00

Mental note: when leaving a husband who has not slept for 20 hours with the kids, while you go have fun at your Super Saturday, remind him to not bake cookies. He just might fall asleep for a minute or two and forget that he had them in the oven. It might be a good precaution, just so the house won't burn down, cause I kinda like my house {especially after a new makeover in one of the rooms!} .

post-edit: just to clarify, the house did not burn down. we just had some really burnt cookies!

U2 concert

2009-10-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

We went to the U2 concert on Tuesday night with my sister Wendy, and her husband Steve. I haven't been to a concert since 1998 when I saw Boyz II Men!! Sean has been to several since we have been married but we have never gone together. Our tickets were in a suite and it was so much fun! Black Eyed Peas were the opening act and I LOVE them. It was fun to dance (even though I couldn't get anyone else to dance with me!) to the songs. And U2 was AWESOME, of course.

Thanks for the fun night guys!

I heart Superman.

2009-10-18T17:32:00.001-07:00

Superman stopped by to help make applesauce. He's a nice guy. I hope he flies in tomorrow when I am cleaning.

Reason #7 why I need to live in the same location as my husband

2009-10-13T19:25:00.000-07:00

Nights like tonight.

I got home at 6:30 from work/picking up Carter. Sean had an early night and was home at 6:15. When I picked Carter up he was *literally* screaming that his stomach hurt. In the car he fell asleep. When we got home he woke up and was crying again about his stomach and I wasn't able to console him. I got him to lay on my bed and was trying to take care of him and get dinner finished. I try to have dinner ready for Sean right when he comes home because he works on average 15 hours a day. Seriously. He has only had 4 days off in the 5 weeks he has been home. I don't know how he is functioning, he works CRazy hours. It's still kinda like he is in Louisiana because we don't get to see him much, Carter is asleep most nights before Sean gets home. But I'll take seeing him 1-2 hours a night over none at all. But back to the story, (remember, I am trying to clean, finish dinner, and take care of a crying child). Sean came in and told me to just focus on Carter and that he would finish dinner and clean the kitchen (it was a disaster). I was finally able to console Carter and came out to a nice clean kitchen with dinner ready.

I would highly recommend looking into arranging the same living location as your spouse if you haven't already.

i love the fall because...

2009-10-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

*i don't have to go running outside at 5am to beat the heat

*i have to put a jacket on in the morning because it is 60 degrees outside

*i can decorate my house for halloween

*i can eat apples and carmel dip (YUM)

*we get to play outside all day long

The Old and the Beautiful

2009-10-02T13:56:00.000-07:00

I posted them in reverse order, but you get the idea. After sitting in the hot sun for 5 years, our swing needed some serious TLC. My mom had this extra material at her house and I gladly took it and spruced up the swing a bit. I think I will add a couple pillows to it?

Our shower faucet began leaking at the beginning of the year. But remember how I have been husbandless for the first 8 months of the year? So it continued to leak and it became corroded and just gross. We got a new one and had it installed today. I absolutely LOVE it!
That's just gross.

Take your son to work day

2009-09-29T18:57:00.000-07:00

Did you know that today was take your son to work day? I didn't get the memo either until about 8am this morning when my son needed to be dropped off at my SIL Jen's house but we were stuck in traffic. I soon realized that it was indeed take your son to work day to avoid being late to my 9am training. He liked drawing on the board with me, erasing everything I had written down (before I had a chance to copy it down on paper!), copying what I was saying to the teachers, playing on the computer, and spending time with mom.

How did the teachers like having mini-me in their class today? I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow when the survey results are in...

Spend the nights...

2009-09-27T21:01:00.000-07:00

You might call them sleep overs or slumber parties, but at our house they are officially known as spend the nights. I didn't know what this term meant when I first heard Sean refer to memories of spend the nights as a kid. Now the term has stuck. We had Carter's best buds (his cousins Mallory and Tyler) over for a spend the night recently. We had lots of fun having picnics, playing games, going to Splash Park, playing Super Hero/Prince and Princess, and eating treats!!

A spend the night is much more fun than a sleep over, don't ya think?

Preschool

2009-09-17T17:59:00.000-07:00

Preschool was so much fun today. I used my new Promethean Board that I received this week for my new job.. The kids LOVED using the board and so did I!!!