Ward Christmas Party

So this is what has consumed me for the last month. I am Activities Chair for our ward and we had our Christmas Party last Saturday. We had a Night in Bethlehem. I was really pleased with how it all came together.

Clay Collins is amazing not only because he built this for us, but he put it together in about an hour. It was perfect for our program at the end of the evening.

We created an open air market to serve dinner. I thought the booths looked very cool and I was so appreciative of the people that came to help me set up.
We had tables set up, and also had lots of families that sat on the floor, on their blankets, to eat dinner. I think the kids, especially enjoyed this.



It went well and I think most everyone had a good time. I was kind of a zombie on Sunday though. We came home from church, had lunch, I put Parker down for a nap, and then took a 3 hour nap myself. I woke up a whole new person. I am excited for Christmas, excited for new and old traditions with my family, excited for parties, excited to focus on the birth of our Savior--it is such a fun time of year!

Thanks Lisa

Thanksgiving was AWESOME!! Love you guys!

Strep Throat

Last Monday, Jacob woke up with a scratchy throat and by the end of the day his voice was worse and he had a fever. I took him to the doctor Tuesday morning where they did a strep culture and sent it to the lab. Because we it went down to the lab after 11 o'clock (I looked at my watch as she was taking the culture and it was 11:05), we had a to wait an extra day for the results.

The good news was that Friday afternoon, the doctor called and said it was negative. He didn't have strep. I was relieved that whatever the bug was seemed to be gone and we could attend the weekend's birthday parties and church without worrying about infecting others.

The bad news was that Friday afternoon, the doctor called and said it was negative. He didn't have strep. He had missed almost an entire week of school for a cold that, looking back now, was cleared up by Wednesday night. He missed his Thanksgiving feast at school on Friday morning and we were stuck in the house all week under quarantine.

Friday was a day of mixed emotion. I am happy to report that he is doing great and will be heading back to school in the morning.

Jacob and Charlie: Take Two

This is the age Jacob and Charlie were when they met. It is so fun to watch Parker and Dylan and see so many similarities between them and their older counter parts. Sometimes I wish I knew what these two were thinking ... sometimes.

May the Force Be With You

I'm not sure if you noticed, but we went with a Star Wars theme this year. Jacob decided he wanted to be Darth Vader (which I thought was odd because he has never actually seen any of the movies) and the rest just fell into place. Parker was a pretty cute Yoda, I felt I rocked the Princess Leia, and Jamie made a dashing Obi Wan Kenobi (even though he was too cheap to spring for the Jedi robe).

On Halloween night, we went to a friends' house for some delicious dinner and then it was off to pound the pavement.

This was the crazy group we ran with.

Yoda was a little behind for most of the evening, but he held his own. He caught on really quickly to mumble something, hold out the bag, and have treats dropped in. The saddest part is that he is allergic to 98% of the candy. Thank goodness for suckers so all of his efforts weren't wasted.

It was really fun to go with a group, both for the kids and the parents.

Hope you had a Happy Halloween too!

The Parties

We had so many fun parties for Halloween this year (I definitely got my money's worth of the boys' costumes). We had our church party the Saturday before which was a lot fun. I may be a little biased though because I was in charge of it.

Two days before Halloween, we headed to Napa to party with our friends. Here is Jacob, Charlie, Maddie, and some little boy. (Sorry about the terrible picture, I did well to get them to hold still this long.) Lisa had planned a really great afternoon. The kids had a costume parade then came back for a few snacks. There were lots of games and treats. We stayed late and had dinner with our friends we miss so much. We had a great time, right up to the point the next morning when I realized I left the boys' costumes in Napa. Lisa was kind enough to meet me in Vallejo for the hand off. Thanks again, Lis. You saved Halloween.

Jacob had his class party that was really cute. Way too much food and a costume parade on the playground led by the local high school's marching band. The lovely butterfly is one of his teachers, Mrs. Cooper.

We also managed to squeeze in the Goblin Grotto put on by the city the night before. We went with our friend Ronna and her family. There were lots of cute games to play and they even had cardboard fronts to represent lots of the businesses in town. Doors had been cut into them for the kids to trick or treat.

Guess which one was Jacob's favorite.

We had a busy week and I'm not sure that we have all recovered, but it was definitely fun!

Pumpkin Patch

It was October so it was time to head to the pumpkin patch. Josie and I and the boys went to Half Moon Bay about a week before Halloween.

The little boys in the bouncy house.

The slide we all went down a million times. It was the end of a slow day so the guy let us go down as many times as we wanted without paying -- it was awesome.

No really, Parker had fun.

We go to this same pumpkin patch every year and the boys always have a great time. Sometimes it is cold enough to get some hot apple cider and sometimes it is so hot we get water and a cookie. Either way, we ride some horses, pet some nasty animals, ride the train, hang out with our friends, and then go to Safeway to buy our pumpkins where it is cheaper. Good times.

Girls Weekend

A couple of weekends ago, I left the boys behind and headed down to Arizona. I met up with 3 of my old college roommates and we had a great time.

Me, Megan, Tiffany, and Julie

The weather was hot and so was our car. I figured if I was doing a kid free weekend, I needed to do it right, so I rented this beauty.

Jules had tadpoles that she was going to share with us. She washed out a shampoo bottle, put two little guys in it, and wished us luck. The flight home did not agree with them.

It was really fun being with people I care so much about and haven't seen for a really, really, really long time. We ate, swam, enjoyed some Cafe Rio, went to the Mesa Temple, shopped, went to a movie, and laughed. Thanks girls for a great weekend, let's do it again, but let's not take another 10 years!

Oh Yeah, And Strawberries...

For those of you at home playing "Parker Allergy Bingo", the next item is strawberries. Strawberries. And yes, we found out the hard way. An ER trip and some Benadryl later, he is dong fine and ready to discovery his next allergy. To recap for those of you in the Bingo hall that fell asleep: eggs, peanuts, milk and now strawberries.

Tagged -- All about my husband

1. Where did you meet?

What a cute story – who would have guessed that on the same day we would both go to the same AA meeting and meet with the same parole officer? It was a magical coincidence and a sign that it was just meant to be (side note: I totally got off parole before he did).

2. How long did you date before you were married?

Is the answer supposed to be in hours or days?

3. How long have you been married for?

9 years, but to me it feels like FOREVER.

4. What does he do that surprises you?

Anything useful.

5. What's your favorite feature about him?

His ridiculously bowed legs. He’d be 2 inches taller if they were straight.

6. What's your favorite quality about him?

He is always very serious.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? What is it?

Baby Mama

8. What's his favorite color?

Any color he can recognize (he is partially color blind and still thinks taupe is a made up color)

9. What's his favorite food?

Free.

10. What is his favorite sport?

Hockey. 50 pounds and many moons ago he played for BYU.

11. Who said I love you first?

We are both still holding out on that one to see who breaks first.

12. When and where was your fist kiss?

On a date and on the lips.

13. What's your favorite thing to do as a couple?

Not be with the kids and regain what little sanity we have left.

14. Do you have kids?

We have 2 boys. I wish someone would ask us “when are you going to have another”, because we NEVER hear that and we wouldn’t have another kid otherwise.

15. What's a hidden talent that he has?

Sewing. He sewed my wedding dress and ½ the clothes in my closet. His favorite is macramé.

16. How old is he?

32 going on 81. He is old and busted. His warranty ran out a while ago and unfortunately we lost the receipt.

17. What's his favorite type of music?

Anything in an elevator. Sometimes he will ride to the top and walk down a couple floors just to finish the song.

18. What do you admire most about him?

That he was smart enough to marry me.

19. What's his favorite past time?

Civil War reenactments; although, when he is on the South side, it is the “War of Northern Aggression” and they came in a close second.

20. Do you think he is going to read this?

He is illiterate, but he might look at the pictures.

(For those of you that know Jamie, it will come as no great shock that he had a hand in writing this -- okay, he wrote the whole thing.)

Jacob's 5th Birthday

Last Saturday was Jacob's birthday. He had a great day that included a Spongebob party, complete with this awesome cake that his dad made.

Let's take a look where this 5 year old, garbage, shark, Spongebob lover came from. This is when he was just a few days old and had jaundice. We had to stick him in baby light box for a week to help his billiruben levels go down. I did not enjoy.
Our good friend Cheri took Jacob's 1 year pictures. (If you are in Utah and you need an excellent photographer, look her up. www.cherirodasphotography.com) I love that he looks like one of his stuffed animals.
This was Jacob's 2nd birthday. After I took this picture, I could finally understand why everybody told me he looked just like his dad.
Three year old Jacob with his good buddy Charlie. (Yes Jacob is in his underwear and yes Charlie has a sad little cast.)
4 and a big brother.


Jacob is so sweet. He really is very thoughtful and loves being a big brother. He knows what he likes and good luck getting him to decide otherwise. He is quite a chatter box, but I almost always know what he is thinking. I love you Jacob! I am so glad Heavenly Father sent you to our family!

And yes ...

even at the beach, it's all about garbage!

The rest of our trip

I even made it to a wedding in between beach trips. My darling nephew (he is the oldest child of my oldest sister) got married in the Nauvoo temple and all of my siblings, except one older brother, was there. It was an almost perfect two days! My sister and I jumped on a plane early Thursday morning and flew to St. Louis. We drove up to Nauvoo and spent a couple of hours enjoying the history and sights, especially because we were both kid free.

This is Trevor and his cute, new wife, Shadow. Yes, Shadow. The darling one in red is my oldest sister, LeAnne, and this is her family. She has five kids and now a daughter-in-law -- crazy!

This was our ride. We rented a Spyder and it was a ton of fun. We even had truck drivers honking at us. It was perfect convertible weather.
The Nauvoo temple quickly became a favorite. There is so much history and it has a unique beauty. I gained a new appreciation for the early Saints and all that they sacrificed.
This is me with my three big sisters! They are each different and amazing and I love them. L to R (which also happen to be oldest to youngest) LeAnne, Cynth, Lauren, and me.
That's my cute mom in the middle and this is what we did A LOT! Just laugh.

It was so fun to be with my family and just enjoy them. We are all spread coast to coast and it kind of sucks. We just hung out the rest of Thursday as people starting rolling in. The ceremony was Friday morning and then we had the wedding lunch. From there we said our good-byes, made a quick stop at Carthage Jail, and then it was back to the airport (with a quick stop to shop first, of course). We got back to Virginia late, late on Friday night, I slept at Lauren's and then headed off to join Jamie and crew Saturday morning.

Back to the Beach

We were able to spend a week with Jamie's whole family, it was great! We were at the beach for a week and then a couple more days at Grandma and Grandpa's before it was time to head home. Once again, Jacob was in cousin heaven. Between Jamie and his two brothers, we have 7 kids, the oldest celebrated her 7th birthday last week (Happy Birthday Ashley!). Lots of little kids = crazy.

We even managed a family picture.

It was lots of digging in the sand ...
and playing in the waves. Kudos to Grandpa, he was in the water with the grandkids almost everyday and almost everyday he got wrecked by the waves. He kept going back for more just because his grandkids asked him too.
We also went to a water park that was perfect for our little group. It was very age appropriate for the kids we had. It wasn't too big, so it was easy to keep track of them. Nothing was very deep so they were comfortable to play and explore. They had this awesome tube slide that Jacob went on, by himself, over and over.
There was also a little slide that Parker was all over! He would climb the stairs and wait for his turn. The lifeguard was too cute, he would help Parker on and give him a little push if he needed it. Jamie would catch Parker at the bottom and he'd be ready to do it all over again.

In case I didn't mention it, we had an amazing 3 weeks! Thank you to all the family that housed us and the cars you lent to us. Jacob is still talking about our trip. Can't wait for the next one!

Parker's First Cookie

Tonight Parker was able to enjoy a chocolate chip cookie with the rest of the family. There was an article in a recent BYU Magazine that talked about a mom that created an allergen free cookbook after discovering her daughters numerous allergies (thank you to the friends and family that thought of us and guided us to the article). The cookbook is Sophie Safe Cooking and it has a lot of great basic recipes. Parker can now have pancakes, muffins, cookies, and much more. All the stuff I thought he would never get.

Thank goodness we are here together and we benefit from each others experiences. Like Emily Hendrix that spent hours and hours testing recipes. There are so many moms like me whose burden she eased a little.

Unexplained Absence -- Part 1

Remember that time I posted almost nothing in the month of August? Yah, we were gone. Where and for how long? (That's kind of you to ask.) We headed to Virginia to visit family and we were gone for almost 3 weeks. It was a blast!

We started at my sister's house. We spent a few days at her house and then it was off to Bethany Beach, DE to her beach house for the weekend. I realized I didn't actually take that many pictures, I was too busy just hanging out and relaxing.

This is Jacob and his cousin Mitch. They are only a month apart and they are too funny. Mitch was giving Jacob pointers on riding the waves. It ended up being Jacob mostly just standing on the board in the surf. When the wave would wash back out and move him an inch, he would come running back, shouting, "Mom, did you see me surfing?"

Parker enjoying some snacks. This was a lot of what he did the whole time, but seriously, how cute is this kid?

The boys burying Mason (the oldest of my sister's boys) then dumping water on his head. Good times, good times.

We got back from the beach and just hung out some more. We went to a really cute park that was huge and even had this fun carousel, for free! Unfortunately, it was hot as blazes and we didn't last as long as we would have liked.

While we were there, Jamie and I celebrated our 9th anniversary. We left our boys with my sister and went out to dinner. The restaurant was very fun, the food was delicious, and the conversation was uninterrupted. It was a really nice night. (We actually spent a lot of it talking about what fun trip we could take for our 10th anniversary!)

We really did have a lot of fun and loved that we got to see so much family. The boys and I were loving being somewhere else and having fun people to hang out with. Jamie worked a little less and sort of got to relax. We did get to see him more and we all enjoyed that. All in all, it was 3 crazy fun weeks.

(Don't worry, there is more to come!)

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Jacob had school this morning, nothing out of the ordinary these days, except that this was the first school day that was also garbage day. I was dreading the fight it would be to get him to go to school when he realized there would be a chance he missed the garbage man. I was pleasantly surprised when there was no argument when it was time to leave. There was still discussion about the garbage and all it entails, but no freak out.

It seems ridiculous, but it was a huge relief that I didn't have to fight him over this, let's just say he is highly opinionated about the garbage. My relief was a little short lived, however.

I spent most of my Jacob free morning watching Parker run to the window when he heard what he thought was the garbage truck, pretending to be interested in all the garbage cans he could see on the street, and reading one Jacob's trash books over and over. That's right friends, I just might have another one. When we told Jacob he needs to be an example to Parker, this is NOT what we had in mind.

Already

Jacob is in Kindergarten! Yesterday was his first day of school and we all survived. He was moving a little faster that morning, getting in the car and buckled before the rest of us were in the garage. He even had a little extra bounce in his step as we walked towards the school. I kind of laughed at this and asked him if he was excited. He replied, "Nope, just nervous."

When it was time to go into the classroom he was a little apprehensive to let me leave, but reluctantly, he finally did.

Jamie had meetings in Redding (just below the Oregon border) the day before and the day of Jacob's first day. He couldn't stand to miss it though, so he drove home late the night before, came with us to school, and then headed straight back. What a dad!

I was anxious to hear how Jacob's morning went. I stood around with the other parents waiting the arrival of our new Kindergartners, when I see my son with a goofy expression marching towards me. I knew he had a good day.

Later when he called his dad to tell him how his first day went, he told him, "It was a little scary, but pretty great." We are excited for Jacob and all of his adventures, both scary and great, that lie ahead. Mostly, I just can't believe that I am a parent of a school age child, already.

30 and still got it!

Turns out it was my birthday on Thursday and I turned the big 3-0!! When Jamie asked Jacob what he wanted to get me for my birthday that I would like, Jacob said "How about me and Parker in a box?" Jamie agreed that I would like that but wondered if he had any other ideas.

This is what he came up with. (I love that my boys know me so well.) So, I got a pound of See's and some Dr. Pepper from Jacob and Parker.

I had a small party the week before and went out to lunch with some girlfriends on Thursday afternoon (I forgot my camera at lunch and the only picture that was taken is on a camera in Vegas).

On the night of my birthday, Jamie and I went to dinner at Kincaid's in Burlingame. My steak was delicious and we had a table by the window so we could enjoy the view of the bay. Then went to see Batman. (Thanks again Laina for watching the boys and thank you Ronna for letting Jacob come over that afternoon!)

This was my gift from Jamie. (Any suggestions? I'm leaning towards the Honda Pilot.) I know, I did good in the husband department.

It was a great birthday and I felt very celebrated. Thank you to my dear friends and family for the calls, cards, gifts, and well wishes. 30 is bound to be a great year with so many amazing friends!