happy anniversary...

yesterday was our anniversary...5 years! time flies when you are having fun, and finishing undergrads and two kids and halfway through law school....and i love it. ALL of it:) especially my cute husband. love you kendall!



(our engagement pic....i was having a great picture day that day!)

We Wish You a Merry Christmas....

and a happy new year! we are back, but i bet you didn't know we were even gone, because A) i've been MIA on the blog and B) we didn't even know we were leaving until we left, almost! Kendall was always going to be gone to go see his brother be married in Nauvoo, IL but the plan was for Ethan, Avery and I to stay by ourselves for 5 days with no reinforcements and no breaks and no one to see, because most of our friends are out of town and ....and ...the closer we got to doing that the more it sounded like i did not want to be within 10 feet of a situation like that and then my sister erin decided she was going to visit my mom with her girls (sans Gabriel husband) and we got a check in the mail from some fortuitous thing kendall did (a fellowship at school...it was a scholarship check technically) that would pay for almost all of our last minute tickets and then we booked them and went! So we went to be with my mom and dad (sans Kendall) and it was a lot of fun. I forgot my camera but erin got some good ones and she's going to send them to me so i can share....hint hint, erin, send that CD whenever you have a minute:)

so my mom has cancer, i don't know if you guys knew this but she's been having chemo for about 3 months and she is seriously, THE cutest bald person i have ever seen. if you've got to be bald, and you've got to have chemo, you might as well be as cute as my mama! seriously, cute!

the kids were good, ethan loved playing with dellah and ruby (cousins) and Avery stole everyone's heart, because how could you not love a baby and i got to be with the fam, which is always fantastic!

but i do want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and we love you all!

new pictures...

here are some recent pictures. we are having a good time with the cooler weather!

the future....

it's almost a cinch that ethan and avery and any other future children will need glasses because both kendall and i have astigmatisms. so maybe this is a peek as to what ethan might look like when he's older with glasses....(these are kendall's glasses that ethan has on now!)

keep on trucking...

so i know you haven't heard from me in a little bit. it's one of those times that you wonder waht in the world you should write about..because it is life as usual going on. we are all still getting used to each other, mainly me and avery are doing that. getting into sync hopefully with each other. ethan is doing well, he continues to say the cutest "adult" phrases, which i think is so funny. not bad "adult" just grown up things, like yesterday he's jumping up and down pretending to be a bunny or something and he says, "what do you think of that mommy? what do you think of that?" very funny.

kendall is studying like crazy for finals and i think it is going well. it's hard to say sometimes but he seems happy with how it is going.

i made a wreath for our door yesterday in an effort to inject myself with holiday cheer. it is harder this year than others for some reason. maybe because we actually get the chance to do things at our own home this year and we have never done that before, so i'm not sure how to proceed. on the one hand, i'm excited because that means we can start doing our own traditions etc. and on the other hand...what are those traditions? and which ones do we love and want to continue. this is a conversation i need to have with the "studying" one. we'll see when i can do that:) in the meantime, i'll do what i can and get more into the holiday spirit.

how are you all doing? if you are reading this and feel like writing a comment, but don't usually leave one, be daring today!

Pumpkin Bars...

these are my pumpkin bars...i believe the recipe filtered down to me from my friend Nikki, so i can't take credit for it really but i love them all the same, such a great treat for the fallish time of year. very tasty:)

Pumpkin Bars

4 eggs
1 C. oil
2 C. pumpkin (15oz can)
2 C. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 C. nuts (always optional, i don't put them in most of the time simply because so many people are allergic)

combine ingredients in the order listed, mixing well after each addition. Pour into greased jelly roll pan (18x12 roughly) and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting this recipe is from Better Crocker (which is where the Pumpkin Bars came from roughly as well, i think)

1pkg. cream cheese (8oz)
1/4 C. butter or stick margarine
2-3 tsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla in medium bowl until smooth. gradually add in the sugar, 1 cup at a time until smooth. spread on COOLED pumpkin bars, and enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving...

i must say it, even a couple of days late..

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

i am so thankful for all we have, for my children, for my husband and that loves me no matter what and a great family (extended and immediate). we have been so blessed and when days are less than perfect, just take a minute and enumerate the blessings...and all will be right with the world again. love to you all!

the Wilsons

mysteries of motherhood...

one of the things that is hardest for me to figure out about my kids is, are they sick? does anyone else have this problem. as ethan is older it has become easier but espeically when he was a baby and now with Avery, i am sometimes at a loss. why does she cry like that, it sounds painful and different than her other cries. she doesn't have a fever, does her ear hurt? why don't we ask her? oh wait, she can't talk:) so that's a quandry and while i don't want to be one of "those" moms that take their kids in to the doctor because they have a hangnail, it is hard to tell! i have recently been in a quandry, wondering does her reflux medicine need to be increased because she weighs more...does she want to be unswaddled (kendall's favorite option because ethan stopped liking it around this age), do her ears hurt...why does she cry that painful cry....

more often than not with Avery, at least, part of the reason is...she has to poop. she is VERY gassy and sometimes it's hard for her to poop. so she had a big poop this morning and (cross your fingers) seems to feel better. she's such a happy, calm baby, now that the reflux medicine is doing its job, so when she cries like that, we know something is up. but sometimes...it could just be the hangnail couldn't it?

New Pictures!

here are some new pictures of us! hope you are all doing well!

all's quiet on the southwestern front...

we seem to all be well now. thanks for all your support and for staying away from our house when we weren't well:)

anything new for the wilsons?

we were riding in the car today, avery was crying (she has no love for her carseat) and i was making shushing noises and some other noises (trilling etc.) to try to get her attention so she'd stop crying, and ethan says, " you be nice to avery, she's just a baby!" i thought that was cute that he felt he needed to stick up for her, protecting her from my shushing, using a phrase i am sure i have said many, many times to him.:)

other than the occasional sound byte from ethan, we are all doing our normal..i just went to a book club today, love that book club. it's so fun to talk with friends and eat and eventually get around to discussing the books we read...although that is not always our top priority and i like it that way:)

our kids are total gems. i love them so much. what nice little people they are. it is really sweet to hold avery and have her smile at me spontaneously and realize that she might recognize me for the milk and love i give her, by now. and when ethan busts out with his, "i yuv you mommy" during the day intermittent with the constant asking to watch CARS the movie, it just makes my day!

now i will gird my loins, so to speak, for Sunday, which is a wonderful day, but not always the day of rest it was designed to be:) happy sunday y'all....

ready to be done...

with this bug...last night i started feeling nasty and true to myself...can't throw up! that is sometimes a bummer, actually. i feel better as today goes on, so i think it was just a one day thing for me, but really, if the smallest of us gets this, i will be sad! it's certainly making a run through our family. i'm ready to be done:)

and daddy makes two...

kendall threw up today. kendall with the iron stomach and the never gets sick or stays home from anything attitude...went to the doctor today, got a shot in the bum of anti-nausea medicine and is still asleep from that episode...poor guy! when it hits, it hits hard.

i keep praying for avery and i to be delivered from this sickness...i can't stand the idea of a 10lb. baby throwing up like that! ethan threw up again last night and i took him in today and now he's on a probiotic because apparently anti-biotics kill good stomach cultures as well as bad and then he got this virus, so hopefully this helps. so far so good, cross your fingers. and poor kendall...that medicine makes him so sleepy. we are going on our third week of being sicky here at our house. if you need to come over for some reason, just do what Yolanda did today and knock and then stand about three feet back, so as not to catch a whiff of anything!

i'm totally sympathizing with Melissa on this one, hope you guys get better soon!

poor baby...

okay, so ethan is on an antibiotic and we think all is going well. then he didn't eat much at lunch. he's okay, i thought. then he took a 2 1/2 hour nap...red flag mom, why didn't i see this coming? then we go out to dinner with his mom and dad and brother who is here from out of town, and he doesn't eat again, really, and is very very sad/cranky/clingy/any other adjective of sickness...still not getting it, then he falls asleep in the car and wakes up about 3 minutes from our house crying and i say, "ethan do you feel sick" the answer is a resounding yes accompanied by THROW UP again. that poor car seat. my poor son. what is going on with the children in our ward? seriously, they are all being taken down by this thing...it's like the bug that wouldn't die. and now it's the weekend and where do you take him on a weekend? the answer, no where if he's not throwing up all the time, then wait until monday and take him in...no church for us on sunday...that would just be infecting more innocent children...

just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water....dun dun dun (dramatic music here).

maybe, friends that we hang out with, we just have to keep ourselves and our children at home until we are reasonably sure no one is sick anymore...but i thought he was over it, so how do you tell? this is sure a tricky bug. any suggestions?

we are back on the gatorade bus tomorrow...no food for ethan...that is so sad. hope you all are well, that were sick and i hope he gets well soon, too!

*As a Sidenote (in honor of audrey's awesome sidenoted post) HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALACEY!(NOVEMBER 3)*

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! I, as usual, was a little late in getting everything together this year, not because of no good intentions...i was going to do it last week and then ethan was puking all week...so it didn't get done...there's always next year for getting done on time. But it was a lot of fun. I made our costumes and i think they turned out well:) we went to our ward's trunk-or-treat and had a lot of fun with our friends. Please see the pictures to observe us being a "modern stone-age family"! Hope you all had a great time as well!

tagged again...

i got tagged by Jackie to do this 6 habits/facts about myself, that you may not know...so here goes!

1. I am a compulsive email/blog checker

2. I love to read and I am currently reading 2 books at the same time.

3. I love to cook and try new recipes.

4. I love to make things; anything with my hands...cooking, sewing, etc.

5. I like to eat.

6. Fall is my favorite season, and being in AZ when it's fall other places is sort of difficult. I need to go somewhere that has a fall, every year:)

those are some things about me. I tag: Brooke, Elise, and Tina

and the verdict is....

and here's the weirdest part of today...
i took ethan to the after hours clinic today because we thought it has gone on long enough and we just wanted to make sure that he's okay...and his throat was a little red and lo and behold...


he has strep.


weird.

apparently sometimes strep presents as gastrointeritis. weird. anyway, hopefully with our omnicef we will be on the mend soon.

thanks for all your prayers and well wishes!

this too shall pass...

but not yet.

still tossing his cookies....but he's in good spirits...amazing!

you know you've talked about where to throw up to your two year old too much when he starts crying like he's going to throw up and you say "run, ethan run" and he turns and runs straight for the bathroom....although he never made it...see previous post for a reiteration of my thankfulness for tile flooring. never a good sound...all over the floor. mmm mmm mmm...not good.

anyway, send up a little get better prayer for ethan.

still throwing it all up...

so ethan was fine on monday, just a little puny, low grade fever, no throwing up. tuesday...no fever and we ALMOST made it through the day until about 6:40 and he threw up all over the floor, thank heavens for tile floors! poor thing! then i was changing his diaper right after (also gross) and he looked at me and he said, "sorry for throwing up mommy" how could you really even feel bad about it after that? he was so cute and sincere. times like that make up for all the other yucky stuff huh? he's a sweet boy, wish he could stop tossing his cookies though:) hope none of the rest of us get it! may you all be vomit-free!

one of the joys of motherhood...

i say that a little bit sarcastically, although i love taking care of my children...when they get sick, i just get a little bit grossed out. i mean throw up sick, other sick i can deal with, but throw up sick, i feel nauseated as well! ethan has no fever or anything, just threw up on the way home from church in his car seat. and i'm not talking about a little bit of throw up, it was pretty prolific. and it smelled...like nasty! okay so i thought maybe he'd had too many fruit snacks or something in nursery that day (because i could see them ALL, in all thier undigested nasty glory, they were red by the way), and then we'd be done with that. so he had some applesauce for lunch and took a nap. then he got up and a few minutes after he got up...threw up again, all over me. it was very applesaucy, in both texture and color...and smell--like rancid apples. pretty gross. so he's been drinking gatorade and sprite (alternately) and he hasn't eaten anything else, mainly because he hasn't said he's hungry and i've been too scared to ask because if he's hungry and he eats....will he throw up again? and what is this stomach bug with no fever or anything? like i said, a joy of being a mother, but it's all part of the wonderful package deal (no sarcasm in that comment, just love:))

Cupcake...

we got "boo"ed with Halloween treats the other night and they were delicious chocolate cupcakes...thank you M.H. for those;) but here is a picture of Ethan when he ate one...kind of scary, like the Joker from Batman...a good Halloween look,yes?

No News...

You know that saying, "No News is Good News"? I understand what that means, but I am at a place in my life where there's no news...meaning there's not much new and exciting going on, things happen and I think..."what could I write about that?" and I never can think of something interesting enough to actually put into cyberspace...weird.

so you moms out there...what do you do with your kids during the day? We have hit a slump in our regular activities...they are too regular and not active enough apparently. so what are some fun things you do during the day?

we are doing well...just trying to get used to each other, as always, just when i think i have got a handle on something it changes...we changed yesterday after i was telling my mom that maybe i was feeling a little more comfortable...i spoke too soon:) it's fine really, i just need to remember that all little people change at the speed of light and that's life, and life is good.

send those ideas on over of things you do during the day...we need some new inspiration!!!!

locked out...

It finally happened. I remember people telling me stories about how their children have locked them out of their houses and for that reason I always unlock our door when I get Ethan out and have to go back for Avery or groceries etc...except for yesterday, when I didn't unlock it and I was about one foot away from being able to put my foot in the door, holding Avery's carseat and ethan, laughing in a maniacal two-year old way, thought he was playing with me and SHUT THE DOOR! I had put my keys and bag down on the kitchen table so I could get Avery out of the car. so I am stunned and standing inches away from my two-year old son with no keys to ANYTHING (read: our car to be more specific) and no cell phone...this looks bad. I am talking to Ethan through the door and telling him I can't open it (because that's what he wants me to do as he slowly works himself into a freak-out)because my keys are inside, when I remember that we put an extra key in one of those nifty magnetic boxes on our car...lucky thing! Also lucky that Avery is alseep. So I get the key (which is usually so far under the car I have to lay down to get it but this time, it was easily within reach...prayers are answered:)) Then I tell Ethan I'm going to get a key, stay where you are, I'll be right back, and leave my small child in the house and drive away. That was scary to me but I tried not to think about it. It was almost 5 and I wasn't sure when the Housing Office closed but I was hoping not at 5. I pulled into a handicapped spot at the very front of the office, left the car running (with sleeping Avery in it, so I had more motivation to get in and out quickly) and ran inside and said, "My 2 year old son has locked me out of the house and I need a key, now!" so I gave them our address and then I left and they came a couple minutes later with the key. When I got to the house, I didn't hear Ethan crying at the door and I was afraid he had wandered away to Somewhere Else and jumped off something big and was hurt..but I knocked on the door and called his name and he was right by the door still! Whew! Then they came with the key...and we both cried some more and were shaky for a few minutes after that. Scary, then we decided he should NEVER do that again. Thank heavens for the people at the housing office who unlock doors.

tummy time...

Avery doesn't like tummy time much (which is a shame because i'm pretty sure the doctor is going to tell us tomorrow that she needs more of it because she's not holding her head up as well as she should...ethan was the same way) but here the guys are making her feel better by joining in.

bathing beauty...

here is a picture of avery's bath seat...

here is avery in her seat....
and while i was on the phone for an extended amount of time...this is what happened....
apparently he can get in the tub by himself, that's a new development, we'll have to keep our eyes on him even more now....why was the bathroom door open anyway? the world may never know.....

Schedule of a new mom...

so, here is some insight into how our time is parceled out for all those who may not have a little baby yet or need a reminder of what that's like:)

lately Avery has been eating every 2 hours...that's fun:) and that's two hours from when you started not when you ended....

she typically will sleep at night around 8 for a while, wake up at 1:30 or so in the morning to eat...wake up at 4:30 or so in the morning to eat. Enter Ethan who wakes up at 5 for some unholy reason...i go in to help him go back to sleep. Then Kendall gets up at 5:45 to get ready to go to school....Then Ethan is up for the day by 6 or so....Then if we are blessed Avery will keep sleeping until 7 or 7:30, then it's up for the day and eating eating eating for her. and a nap on the horizon...when? where? i love naps. i try to get one everyday but some days it's hard...

but would i trade it for anything? no. i love these children. they are my joy and even though mornings are never my favorite...Avery has started smiling at me and Ethan is pretty okay in the morning and he tells me he loves me, even though i'm grumpy...the love of children is amazing. i love it, so much! i wouldn't trade them for a million naps!

Blessing..

Avery was blessed on September 30th, by her father, and it was a beautiful blessing, if i say so myself:) we didn't get very good pictures of her, because by the time we got home to take some (kendall's dad was ordained a high priest right after her blessing so we hurried to that building to get that done and didn't have time between to take pictures) she was at her wit's end, and hungry so here is what i have for now...we are going to take some pictures of her in the dress sometime this week, hopefully:)

MOM video...

pretty funny...

mom mom mom

it made me laugh, hopefully it will make you laugh as well:)

crib recall

have you heard about this simplicity crib recall? look for more details at this link to the Today Show...i think ours might be one of these...gotta check that out!

Back from CA...

we are back from CA and the kids are recovering! Ethan went into his room tonight around 6:45 and laid on his bed and our coversation went like this:
Me: (holding a crying Avery who doesn't like her reflux medicine i just gave her) "Whatcha doing Eth?"
Him: "laying down" (Gosh mom, can't you SEE what i'm doing?)
Me: "you are laying down?" (quick on the uptake there jen!)
Him: "yes, i want to go to bed"
Me: "you want to go to bed?" (very incredulously, which he didn't catch since he's 2)
Him: "yep"
Me: (still holding a crying Avery and Kendall is gone to Mutual by this time) "okay pick two books and let's read 'em!"

and the miracle of all is he actually did go to sleep. There is definitely something to be said for that. i'm not sure what that something is, but it needs to be said:)

as for the trip, it was great to see my family: my mom and dad, sister Erin and her two girls, and of course my brother and his family (whose house we were staying at). We had a great time, but if you ask me what i did on the trip, i'd have to say "i fed Avery pretty much the whole time" because everytime i turned around, i was feeding her again...three hours, three hours, three hours. that's how it's supposed to be, but it just felt like i was doing it a lot. which i do, but ...you get the picture!

Anyway, this Sunday we are blessing Avery and my mom and dad are coming down for that before my mom starts her chemotherapy, so that is the last time i will see her for awhile, unless i go sometime without germy kids or something, which doesn't seem that possible since i am nursing Avery, see above comment (three hours...three hours...three hours...). So that's our life today.

Good night.

new look...

so i jumped on the "change my blog layout" bandwagon. i think i like it! makes me want to figure out how to make one of my own, create it myself, but i don't think now is the time to take up HTML configuration!

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'

Mostly because it is going to be mid to low 70's and i will get to see my family and especially my mom and my brother's family (who i haven't seen in a while plus i've never seen their house) i am really excited to go on our trip. we leave friday morning and get back on monday so if we are MIA that is why! hope you all have a great weekend. my nephew is getting baptized so we are going to witness the blessed event:) may the airplane gods smile on us and not get us sick and may Avery not scream her head off on the flight.

STREP THROAT!!!

red and white patches in the throat
difficulty swallowing
tender or swollen glands (lymph nodes) in the neck
red and enlarged tonsils
headache
lower stomach pain
fever
general discomfort, uneasiness, or ill feeling
loss of appetite and nausea
rash

if you have the above listed characteristics and have two children under the age of 2 and 3 months....and are leaving on a trip tomorrow...you are ME! i got strep on sunday night and am just today starting to feel normal again. my throat still KILLS but at least the fever is gone etc. nasty stuff strep and i seem to get it a lot. it must have a special place in it's nasty little heart for our family because the first illness ethan ever got was...you guessed it! STREP THROAT!

pictures of the avery girl...

here are some pictures of avery...love to you all...i hear my "boss" (read: ethan) calling me.

magic couch

apparently we have a magic couch.

my sweet little 5 week old daughter, Avery, loves this couch. She will sleep on this couch when she will not sleep anywhere else.

why is that?

it is a mystery to me why babies seem to like the things that are not for babies. i should send Thomasville a letter telling them that apparently their couches are not just for big people to sit on but tiny babies love them too.

will wonders never cease?

on raising boys...

and maybe girls are the same way but my sister in law-who has two boys- said something to me last night that i totally agree with and thought was pretty profound in a humorous way.

Little boys are like puppies, they need to be let outside at least once a day or they start to chew on the furniture.

mine is like that, is yours? i was just realizing, with the new baby and everything, that we still need to get out and do things so that we all don't feel cooped up like a bunch of chickens.

funny ethan-isms...

Ethan says funny things...

yesterday i was burping Avery and he was sitting beside us, and he says, "Mommy you don't hurt Avery, you be soft!" Apparently he thought i was being too forceful in burping her.

Then he gets out his toy dogs and says, " oh mommy, look, my doggie is so cute! i love him. Don't touch his eyes mommy! what a cute doggie...don't touch his eyes mommy!" we tell him not to touch Avery's eyes and kendall's parents have a dog, whose eyes he cannot touch...so somewhere deep down, he hears what we say to him (smile).

On a more serious note...

Adding a new person to our family hasn't been the easiest thing I've ever done. Let that be my understatement for today. There are some days...like today, where I did not get out of my pajamas until 2, did not get a shower until 3:30 and that was only because Kendall came home early (which is very rare and very nice!). And some days I feel that my head might actually explode if I have to repeat the same phrases I say everyday...one more time. (Allow me to wax philosophical and sentimental for a moment) But, there are times when I see that this is the best thing I have ever done.

I realize that my son doesn't know much more than what I teach him. Frightening as that is, I also recongnize the great potential I have to put positive, loving thoughts and interesting information in his head...and not let him watch T.V. mindlessly. It is amazing to watch him learn, I can literally SEE his mind expanding some days. The connections he makes between things we have read and seen, are great. He applies knowledge and he grows everyday. That is amazing.

I realize that in my little daughter I have a great woman in my home. She is going to be a wonderful person (as is Ethan), and I privileged to be her mother. I hope I always feel this way and let her know that.

I got a forward from a friend today about "invisible women" maybe you've gotten it too. It's a mother who talks about how she can say something to her family and they don't respond...some days she feels like she is just a pair of hands, or a car that needs to pick someone up, or an source of information but not a person. Then she gets a gift of a book about the great cathedrals from a friend, and it changes how she thinks about her life. The great cathedrals were made by people whose names we do not know. Those people built these amazing buildings with the knowledge that they would be mostly anonymous, that many intricate details would be seen only by God. But they built them because they had faith that God does see the work of thier hands and appreciates the sacrifices they've made.

You see the similarities. I am building "cathedrals" and someday, hopefully, people will look at my children and say, "What nice people they are."

Thanks for letting me say that. Some days, it needs to be said and remembered! Good job to all you other mothers, for building your little cathedrals into great people. I appreciate what you do.

The BIG Five

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Meeting kendall
2. Taking driver's ed (which is funny to those of you who know me because i did not actually get my license until i was in college...i'm not that lame really i just had excellent people to drive me around and didn't want/need one until then)
3. Babysitting
4. Getting ready to go to high school
5. Going to stake dances and actually enjoying them

5 things on my "to-do" list today:
(technically i don't have a "to-do" list because i have a new baby but today was an exception)
1. get dressed
2. take avery to the doctor
3. meet friends at Barro's
4. get diaper wipes
5. make it until 7:15 when i could start getting ethan ready for bed

5 snacks i enjoy:
(i am such a snacker!)
1. popcorn
2. candy
3. chips
4. granola bars
5. fruit

5 songs i know the lyrics to:
1. numerous Disney songs
2. My List: Toby Keith
3. She will be loved: Maroon 5
4. Bigger than my body: John Mayer
5. I could not ask for more: Edwin McCain (happens to be "our song")

5 things i would do if i was a millionarie:
1. pay debts
2. buy houses for my family on the same block
3. help other people go to college
4. buy Kendall the sports car he wants
5. have the best, kick-butt sewing machine they make and know how to use it!

5 bad habits:
1. eating too much
2. not being as tidy as i'd like
3. getting upset too easily
4. perfectionism (i'm working on this one...it's getting better)
5. being impatient

5 things i'd never wear again:
1. those glasses i had in elementary school (large and round)
2. flannel shirts and "no fear" t-shirts
3. most of the Dance Team outfits (hello--body stockings are not very comfortable!)
4. uncomfortable shoes
5. anything that cinches me in and makes it hard to breathe

5 things i like to do:
1. be with my family
2. sew
3. be crafty in general
4. read
5. read blogs and emails (too much, see audrey's addiction reference)

5 favorite toys:
1. digital camera
2. computer
3. sewing machine
4. play-dough (does that count?)
5. my george forman grill

5 people i tag:
1. Audrey
2. Melissa
3. Alacey
4. Annie
5. Tina

TAG YOU'RE IT!

Jackie R., Hottie C. and Erin S.

I'm IT!

I've been tagged....by Audrey...happy reading!

1. Where did you meet your husband?
(this is not a picture of the incident described below...it's just an "Early" Kendall and Jen pic)
August 9, 1997, at a Stake Dance in Lakewood, WA when I was 15 years old and he was 16. He had just returned from being at EFY with all my friends (I did not go that year), and as all my friends were girls he was one of the only guys with our group that night. They introduced him to me, and we danced a couple of times. We had a very funny conversation, which is one of the first things I think of when I remember that night. I thought of him afterwards as that really funny guy who danced with me more than once (because that was a rarity). That night, incidentally, I also met his sister, Katie, who now lives in AZ and is, of course, one of my great friends. As another side note: Kendall had his eye on another of the girls in our circle of friends at that time, and they went out for a little while.

2. What was the first thing you said to your husband?

It was probably something like, “Hi, Kendall, my name is Jen.” And that was the beginning of a beautiful thing.

3. Where was your first date?
(this is the actual Applebee's in Puyallup)
Our first date was December 27, 1998; we went to Applebee’s in our hometown of Puyallup, WA. There he asked me to go to the Jr. Prom. Which took me a minute to process because we were class officers (Kendall: president, Jen: secretary) and we had been planning the prom ad nauseam by that time and I hadn’t even thought of actually going to it. So he said, “What are you doing on January 14th?” or whatever day the prom was and I said, “Nothing, (small chuckle) I don’t usually plan my time that far in advance” and then he looked at me a little sideways and said something to the effect that that was when junior prom was, didn’t I remember that? And I felt very sheepish and said I wasn’t doing anything special and he asked if I’d like to go with himJ so that was our first date at Applebee’s.

4. Where was your first kiss?

After the above stated Jr. Prom, on the doorstep of my parent’s house.

5. Did you have a short or long engagement?

By whose standards is what we have to ask ourselves here? By those people who wait a year or two to get married, then it was short. By those people who meet each other and then two weeks later are married, it was quite longJ we got engaged 11 days after Kendall got home from his mission (that was in September) and we got married on December 27, 2002.

6. Where did you get engaged?

(Engagement Pic)

We got engaged on the grassy lawn across from the Provo, Utah Temple. Down on one knee, the whole sha-bang. It was very romantic and sweet. We’d taken a walk to get there because we lived very close, and it was nice weather outside.

7. Where were you married?

We got married in the Seattle Washington Temple, on December 27, 2002, during a wind storm. The light flickered while we were in the Temple…a sign? Only the good kindJ

8. How did the reception go?

Beautifully, my parents and Kendall’s family and all the people who helped with it should get a medal. It was not an easy thing, my dad did a faux ceiling in the gym, the decorations were beautiful, the food was awesome and I selected all the music, so that was quite good as well. We had a line for a little while at the beginning and then we dispersed and greeted guests as we walked around. While we were in high school, Kendall had made me a story of how we met etc. with pictures and for our wedding we had a slide show of pictures and then Kendall read the story he’d written for me, on the slide show while funny pictures of us passed by. It was very sweet, I cried…for heaven’s sakes!

9. How was the honeymoon?

Quite an impertinent question, but it was lovely. We stayed in a very nice hotel the first night and then went to a cabin that Kendall’s grandparents owned at the time, which was located on Harstene Island, a couple of hours away from our families.

Pictures of the Kiddies...

Here are some pictures of our kids from labor day! hope you all well!

another thought about the wipes...

if they are good for uses other than cleaning poop off little bums, what does that say about what is actually in the wipes? no wonder some kids get diaper rash for no good reason...something to think about....

miracle baby wipes...

Has anyone else besides my sister and me noticed the extraordinary powers of baby wipes? My sister Erin asked me one time about a year ago now, if I had noticed that wipes are amazing and I replied with something witty like, "well, no I haven't" and she said that she has been very successful cleaning lots of things off of clothes and other fabric surfaces with wipes. Let me illustrate a few instance in which I have used baby wipes to great avail.

1. Obviously, they work when changing diapers.
2. Ethan got a little bit of blood on his shorts one day (he's a boy, not too uncommon:)) and I used a wipe and it came almost all the way out with the wipe and then came all the way out in the wash.
3. Yesterday, Ethan happened to draw on my futon cover with a brown crayon...and a wipe was utilized...completely gone!

Those are just a few of the uses I have put them to. It is quite amazing. And we are not talking, only Huggies or Pampers wipes work this way...I get the huge box of the Costco brand and they are great too. I'm not sure what they put in those things but try it...it works. You may never buy another "Shout" wipe or Tide-To-Go Pen again. Really, try it.

my son's sudden hearing loss...

He doesn't really have any hearing loss, not in the medical sense of the phrase but come on! When you hit two years old do you just tune out most of what your mom says or what? He actually, at one point, started telling me to go in the other room...as in "mommy go over there" when he wanted to do something he knew i had told him not to. Now he goes on the other side of our couch when I am feeding Avery to do whatever it is he wants to do...and when I ask him what he is doing I get silence, silence silence, until I have to use my "stern" voice and then he comes over to me, acting all innocent and says, "What mommy?" Cute, right? Riiiiiiiiiight. Anyway, he has new heights of not listening when it comes to Avery...as if I haven't told him, precisely 18 times before 7am that he cannot touch Avery's eyes...ever! But i'll say it approximately 2 million more times before the day is over. Such is life. We must always keep in mind, he is two, he is two, he is two...but he will not be two forever and there are such precious moments in all of this, I wouldn't wish it away. It's a complicated emotion:) "I create feelings in others that even they don't understand...ka-chow!" Love that movie, anyway, that's my thought for today. Pondering on the mind and motives of my two year old. Tomorrow...the moon.

first timer...

so i've joined the blogging universe. i'm not completely sure what i'll say here or if it will be very interesting to anybody but me and...well me:) but, who knows, i'll give it a whirl. so we just had a new baby in our family and she is amazing...what a cute little bundle of love. i'm still in that hazy period where my clothes don't fit, somedays (read: most days, at this point) i wear my pj's all day and barely get my teeth brushed, but i'm loving it. some days are hard as any mom will tell you because my son is still two years old and he still wants undivided attention but at the end of the day it's all good, because he says things like, "mom you're my friend!" which is so freaking sweet it hurts! so yeah, we are doing alright.

i welcome you all to my blog and say, post away and enrich my life!