Ryan, Jayelle, Olivia & Gabriel

Family Photos

2011-10-08T07:02:00.007-06:00

I'm so pleased with how these turned out. Ryan's amazing friend, Debbie, took these for us last Sunday. We've never had pictures taken with the kids, so it was a little stressful trying to get everyone ready. I was so nervous that someone was going to puke all over themselves or me that I didn't get the kids in their clothes until we were in the parking lot of the park. But it was totally worth it when I saw these yesterday. Now we're set on pictures for another year!

Gabriel's Welcome

2011-10-05T08:53:00.003-06:00

The last part of pregnancy was crappy. It always is. I had a lot of contractions from about 33 weeks on, none painful, but I stopped working mid-July. That helped a lot with the contractions, but not so much with the weight gain :) I slept all day, rarely got out of my PJs, and made Ryan bring me Wendy's about 3 times a week after he got off work at 10pm. Yeah, the combination was not lovely to my waistline. I'm still working on about 15 more pounds until I'll feel really good about my weight again, but I have clothes that fit and that's what matters!

Gabriel was born on a Tuesday morning. The Sunday before, I was supposed to play the organ. We showed up to church, I practiced for a bit, then I got really sick. I was so hot, felt really faint and nauseous and couldn't even read my music! We told the bishop to find another plan (five minutes before sacrament started...poor guy.) and went home so I could rest. I drank a bunch of water and laid down the rest of the afternoon. My wonderful parents came and picked up Olivia to give me a break. Ryan went to work and I decided I felt good enough to get some tidying of the house done. I started having regular contractions, and these felt a little different than what I'd experienced before. They were getting closer together, about 5 minutes apart and lasting about 1 minute each. I even started keeping track on my trusty little contraction timer app. LOL. And then I went to bed. And they stopped. Ok, so if you've ever been to that point and had everything just quiet down, you get mad! I was so angry. I wanted this baby out so bad! I couldn't understand why I was almost 39 weeks and still pregnant. Everything hurt; I was out of breath all the time and I couldn't play with Olivia. I was just done!

I was still a little grumpy when I woke up Monday morning, but I took Ryan to work and took the car out to my mom's to do her hair instead of staying home and wallowing in self pity. I did her hair, it turned out great, I packed up Olivia and we headed back into Salt Lake to pick Ryan up from work. We went home, Ryan went to work at his second job and I got Olivia ready for bed. There were no more contractions. I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I would just have to wait until Friday morning to have this child (my c-section was scheduled for Friday, Aug. 19th). Ryan got home about 11pm and we got ready for bed. My back was killing me, so I took a shower. When I climbed into bed, I relaxed and then...for lack of a better term...felt like I wet my pants! I just love that feeling. LOL. I thought I knew what was happening. It happened with Olivia, but I couldn't quite remember exactly what it was like, and I kept second guessing myself. I waited about 1/2 hour, running to and from the bathroom, wondering if I should go in. I finally decided that it was probably a good idea to get checked out just in case, so I told Ryan to get ready. I dried my hair, but I didn't want to waste any time with the flat iron...which made for a lovely case of frizz-head that I had to live with for 2 and a half days. Pretty.
We got to the hospital, checked in, spent a little while in labor and delivery waiting for my doctor to show up, the usual. I was not progressing at all. Not even a little dilation 4 hours after my water broke. I was so antsy. And tired. I decided to have a c-section instead of trying VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) and was so relieved when the decision was actually made. The nurse took some blood when she put in my IV and sent it to the lab. And then the lab called to say she had put stickers with the baby's name on the tubes instead of mine. Apparently they are very picky about these sort of things and wouldn't use the blood for testing, even if they changed the stickers. So I got poked. Again. And away went four more little vials of my blood. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to have any left!

The whole crew arrived shortly after that. We got all set up in the OR. I remember there were mirrors in the OR and I caught a glimpse of myself...not pretty. Hosptial gown+no hair+little makeup...I know I am vain, but I HATE how swollen I get at the end of pregnancy. Ryan was allowed in the room with me the whole time and I was so grateful. I was getting so nervous and started shaking pretty badly from being so tense, and he helped me relax. After the spinal block was done, it took a few minutes for me to get numb enough to start the procedure. The doctor kept pinching to check for feeling and I kept telling her to wait because I could still feel it. I was so scared to feel ANTYHING. There was one point during the procedure when I just about jumped off the table because the pressure was so intense, but overall it was comfortable. I got a massive migraine (I felt it coming on before we got to the hospital) while we were in the operating room and the anesthesiologist put an oxygen mask on me. It was amazing the effect of the pure oxygen on my headache. Headache gone. So fast. I need that at home. Gabriel was born at 3:59 AM, 3 seconds before 4. He started screaming right away.

It sounded just like Olivia's screams and that was the best sound ever :)

Hibernation

2011-10-04T22:04:00.007-06:00

I've been in hibernation mode for almost two months now. And my blog has been suffering longer than that! LOL. I don't have much time...I'd rather be sleeping...so here's what's been going on with us:

Gabriel is growing so fast. He's up to 8 1/2 pounds from 5 1/4 when we left the hospital. He eats much more than Olivia did at his age, but he also sleeps much better and is just more content overall. He is such an easy baby, which I am so grateful for.

Olivia is going non-stop. She talks so much now and some of her favorite things to say are:

"What happened?"
"Oh NO! A baby!" Every time Gabriel makes a peep.
"Hi Mommy! How are you?" Holding phone up to her ear.
And I can always tell when she's getting tired, because she will lay down where ever she happens to be (stairs, porch, playhouse, kitchen floor) and say, "Night Night!"
She is such a good big sister and only tries to hurt Gabe ocassionally, when I'm not paying enough attention to her.

Ryan is just plugging along. He works like crazy plus he's taking two classes this semester. He's doing great, grades are excellent and I'm just so proud of him.

I started back to work a couple of weeks ago, and am working overnights at my group home. It is pretty simple most nights, just cleaning and checking on the girls. I'm only doing Sunday nights and filling in when the other two graveyard shifters have nights off. I really am a night owl, so it's no big deal. I do play sleep catch up the day after, but good thing Olivia doesn't mind a couple of movies and Gabe sleeps a lot :)

Happenings

2011-05-18T21:56:00.002-06:00

I can't believe I am 26 weeks pregnant. Its starting to sink in a little bit, slowly. I have been a busy busy bee the past few months. I made Olivia a scrapbook for her first year milestones, went through all of the baby stuff to determine what was usable for a boy, painted Olivia's room, made graduation announcements for my brother, Chris, made a missionary scrapbook for my brother Alex, and organized everything in sight. Whew! All that is DONE! Which is good, because I have no energy left. Nothing. I feel like I'm starting all over with those first trimester blahs. All that I have left to do is collect boy things as I find sales and cook this baby!

Olivia and I have been having fun with her new stroller. There have been a handful of decent weather days that we've gone for walks and we were able to hit the zoo with Ryan a few weekends ago.

Olivia is so fun and learning so much. She says things like "Dadda, Wh'are You?", "Teef", "Bye Bye", "Where is it?", "Elmo", "Drink", "Its OK", "Good Job!", and her personal favorite, "Bobba". She knows lots of body parts and has this fascination with taking things out of drawers, containers, bags, etc., and then putting them back. OCD? Probably. Must get it from her dad. On a daily basis, I find her clothes stuffed in the bathroom drawers and all of her washcloths in the bathtub. This makes keeping things neat pretty much impossible, but I'm learning to childproof just as fast as she learns how to open and close EVERYTHING. For example: I like to shower in the morning, but I also treasure every minute of sleep before Olivia wakes up. Solution: Take her in the bathroom while I shower. So she usually sits in her bumbo on the bathroom floor and eats a snack while I take a 3 minute power shower! The other day she decided to take the tray off her chair, open the bathroom door and head out into the hallway while I was totally soaped up! This would not normally be an issue, but I live in the basement of my in-laws house, and Olivia makes a beeline for upstairs every time she's set free! So I jumped out of the shower and threw on my robe in time to catch her halfway up the stairs and everyone having quite a nice laugh at my expense. Locking bathroom door from now on. I just can't believe she can open doors. Not even 18 months. I'm so in trouble.

Baby boy (still nameless. LOL) is doing so good. He is quite a mover and hardly ever stops when I am sitting still. Ryan teases me that I should be exercising at night time to teach him how to sleep at the right time. I don't feel huge yet, but breathing is definitely becoming a chore and I have this permanent charlie horse in my right back thigh. I can only assume that is sciatic nerve related and will hopefully go away after delivery. This pregnancy is very different from my last one, but with one definite similarity: My nose is congested ALL the time. It sounds like a small thing, but 6 months of not being able to breath through my nose while I'm sitting or laying down is no good. But, I've had such easy pregnancies that I can't even complain. Minor things. Can't wait to meet this baby!

Ryan and I are enjoying our new jobs. His new job is in addition to his day job. He's such a trooper. We are trying to get ahead in preparation for this fall when we'll have a new baby, and Ryan will be starting a full-time semester at the college. I will admit I may have pushed him a bit to get things going with school, but we definitely both agree that now is the time to take advantage of someone else being willing to pay his tuition!

A post of pictures to come soon! I need a new belly one anyway...I'll get on that!

Oh...PS JAMIE NICOLE JOHANSEN: if you are reading this...You have a post on your blog entitled "WHOA BABY" but I can't open it, and I want to know if this little bundle of joy has made his/her appearance! Let me know! Hope you are well! Love ya girl!

21 weeks

2011-04-14T14:50:00.000-06:00

I probably shouldn't be 'nesting' quite yet, but I definitely feel like I'm getting ready for this baby! I've been trying to clean things out like crazy (like, borderline OCD crazy), organize and take inventory of what we need for a baby boy! No name picked out yet. But we're getting closer, I think. Right now I'm working on the babies' scrapbooks and after those are done, I'm going to paint olivias room (again). What can I say? I'm not in love with how the last paint job turned out, so I'm starting from scratch. Luckily my husband works at a paint store :) And has the patience with me to just let me do my thing when it comes to the decorating!

Our ultrasound was the longest thing EVER! I think I was on that table well over 45 minutes. I ate and drank a lot right before in hopes of getting the baby to wiggle and ensure I would be able to tell the gender! Well, he was sure a wiggly little thing. The gender was quite obvious, but other, more complicated things like heart chambers and spine measurements were nearly impossible to get with him all over the place! We'll be going in for another ultrasound around 30 weeks just to double check where the placenta and cord are in relation to my incision. Good news: my doctor said if I decide to have another c-section, we can schedule it for 39 weeks, if I haven't gone into labor by then. Hey, every week counts at the end!

19 weeks!

2011-03-28T22:55:00.003-06:00

Babies have taken over my mind. I'm sure everyone else can relate! LOL. Sometimes I just sit back and wonder when the exact moment was that my entire life became centered on things like when to take away the bottle, how long to let her cry, how to convince myself that I'm not being entirely neglectful if I do let her cry. Sheesh. And the contents of my purse. When did hairbows, bottle parts and odd socks make their way in there? Hahaha. Just making sure I'm normal here. Motherhood seems so glamorous when I see other people doing it with their perfect kids, but the thought of being mom to two scares me to death just about every time I think of it. I am truly excited, but mostly afraid :) On that note, ultrasound Wednesday! Yay! On the first ultrasound at 8 weeks, little baby looked just like a bean. Hoping to see fingers and toes this time (and a few other things! I really want to know the gender so Ryan and I can start fighting about a name...I mean, picking a name. Hehe)

We've had a little bit of sickness through our house the past few weeks and I'd like to think I handled it pretty well. I haven't really had to deal with a lot of that with Olivia before, but I really didn't mind the sleepless nights like I thought I would...probably due to all of the cuddling! She's never been a cuddly baby, and I can't even remember the last time she actually fell asleep in my arms. So, it was totally worth it. But we're all feeling much better now!

Here's a shot I took yesterday. Bump getting bigger.

It Was Probably Nothing...

2011-03-02T19:24:00.003-07:00

So I had a little bit of a freaky moment today! I got up, went to the store, came home and then went out again to go see Ryan for lunch and a quick Costco trip. When I left the house the second time I was thinking, "Hmmmm....kinda feels like Braxton Hicks contractions. Should I be having them this early?" I had them a LOT with Olivia, but I couldn't remember when I started having them with her (I'm 15 weeks). So I freaked out and called my doctor on the way home from Costco, and was reassured that as long as I wasn't feeling pain, cramping or bleeding, it was probably just from dehydration and stress, and maybe a little something brought on by the UTI that is clearing up. The nurse told me to 'put my feet up and take it easy'. She doesn't know my child. LOL. So, basically, I should be drinking more water to cure EVERYTHING that is wrong with me! I hate plain water. I'll have to figure that out. :) I read on one website later today that the B.H. contractions can actually start in your first trimester, but usually they aren't noticable until late in the second. Moral of the story: I've never been one to call the doctor about every little thing, but when it comes to my babies, I'd rather feel silly for being too concerned than feel sorry if something really is wrong!

Heartbeat

2011-02-23T13:33:00.004-07:00

Just a quick update today. We went to the doctor this morning and got to hear our baby's heartbeat. It was great. I could really hear it this time. With Olivia I just heard the whooshing and kept waiting for something that sounded like a heartbeat. And, I have another UTI. I had one last month when we went in for the first time, and didn't have any symptoms then, either. It's kind of scary to me that I can have an infection and not even know, but I'll just know to keep a closer eye on it now. I was starting to have a little back pain this time, so I kind of knew something was up. Another round of the horse pills for this momma. And I see lots of cranberry juice in my future. :)

13 weeks

2011-02-18T16:10:00.002-07:00

Well, I had energy for exactly one day and ever since the last time I posted, things have pretty much gone downhill. Luckily, my husband makes sure Olivia at least gets dinner every night, even if I am completely ready to crash by the time he gets home from work. I just can't snap out of it! I am exhausted all the time and not quite sure how I am going to figure out having another one! But I just keep telling myself (and this is completely derogatory...just so that you're warned.) that dumber people have done this. LOL. It's silly, but I feel like I'm a relatively smart person with a brain (when I'm not pregnant) and I will work it out eventually. Hopefully, the second trimester treats me better. And I feel like if I can figure out a way to motivate myself to excercise I will feel better, too. And that motivation will probably go something like this: Jayelle to self: "If you excercise for 30 minutes, you can have a slurpee." So that will be super-productive. :)

I have been having some crazy dreams as of late! It's really quite funny. I had to share this one, because it is just so out there!

So my brother is getting married (in real life). They had some issues when they tried to pick up the dress the other day. I dreamed that I was the one that had to go pick up the dress this time. So, naturally, I wore my wedding dress to go pick it up (?). And it was hideous (Shareese, if you're reading this, which I don't think you are, I'm sure you're dress is gorgeous.)! It was burgundy underneath with a peach-colored overlay of lace and sequins and oh...just awful. LOL.

I also dreamed that I went to the store and bought bologna for Ryan's step-dad. I should start writing these down, because I know there are more good ones to come. :)

Totally unrelated note: I have a job interview next week to work in a group home with autistic adults. I hope it goes well. Because this salon is just not for me. At all. It will be part-time and sounds like it will work well with our family's schedule. Wish me luck!

Double Digits

2011-01-27T14:55:00.003-07:00

Wahoo! I am still alive at ten weeks. I am feeling a ton better this week, even though I'm still pretty picky about what I'll eat (nothing sounds good). And all the onion lovers in this house are going to be the death of me. I walked into my closet this morning and all I could smell was dinner from last night. I knew what I had been wearing, but I swear that one sweater made all the clothes in the closet smell! Since I'm not in the mood to wash everything I own, I'll just have to live with it until this ridiculous sense of smell wears off. It's my superpower, for now.

I'm pretty proud of all the things I've gotten accomplished this week. I don't know why I am not satisfied with myself unless I'm running around all day like a crazy person, but I guess if that's what it takes to make me feel good...LOL. After all, can the bathrooms ever get cleaned too often? And can I ever be far enough ahead that I won't be drowning in my to-do lists once I have TWO kids? Better keep it up, I guess.

I've been recruited by our ward choir and these guys are INTENSE. We have a lot of musical talent in our ward and the choir director pushes us hard. She asked me to accompany a few of the upcoming Easter numbers. I've been practicing about an hour every day (more than I've practiced...probably EVER. LOL) while Olivia plays or watches a movie and I'm finally making progress on the music. It's been awhile since I've had a challenge like this musically and I'm kind of enjoying the 'me' time.

I haven't gained any weight, thus far, but that's not saying much. I didn't start gaining with Olivia until about 20 weeks and I still managed to put on 40 pounds. It came off easy enough, but I'd still rather keep it around 25 if I can help it. Good thing I'm still craving green apples :)

This pregnancy was dated by ultrasound, since I didn't know my date of ovulation, and I do trust the doctor's judgement, but I SWEAR I've felt this little one a couple of times. It's way too early for that at 10 weeks, right? Or maybe my tummy is just extra gurgl-y?

This picture was taken a few days after I found out I was pregnant (7 weeks)

News

2011-01-23T20:41:00.002-07:00

So, my good friend Brittney posted a picture of her positive pregnancy test on her blog to announce. Yay for her having twins (Sorry, Brit! I can't help myself...)! I thought it was a cute idea. But if I were going to do that, I'd want to post a pic of all five of the ones I took before I believed it. LOL. We are excited to announce that baby Hegewald #2 will be joining our family sometime in mid-August. My official due date is the 24th (my parent's anniversary) but I'm hoping if I choose to have another c-section that I will have the option to deliver at 39 weeks. We shall see! For now, here are some....thoughts....in bullet point form. Because I can't conjure up a complete sentence these days.

The morning sickness is an all day event, but it's not as bad when I'm at work because I'm distracted. The other days are killer and I think I'm wearing a permanant spot in my mattress from spending as much time as possible on it. Terrible taste in mouth is back (We will forever be bonded, Laura. LOL) as well as a ton of excess stomach acid that makes my belly gurgle all day long.

Cravings so far include: Sour cream and cheddar Ruffles chips, black forest cake, cinnamon rolls, Wendy's chili, and green apples.

Olivia has decided to start waking up three times a night again after two heavenly weeks of sleeping for about 10 hours at a time (those weeks were the best Christmas present ever). Perfect timing. Getting me back into the newborn routine I suppose.

I found an amazing doctor. So grateful for that. Olivia came to our first visit and wasn't the happiest (nap time), but the doctor didn't seem irritated in the least and made things as quick and painless as possible. We had a quick ultrasound to confirm due date. Heartbeat present.

All good things. So fun.

I have so many things to do in the next 7 months. It's in my head. I should write it down, and then maybe it won't feel like so much!

In case you're doing math, my children will be 20. Months. Apart. But I like the idea of them being close in school.

Ryan thinks boy. I think girl. Last time, he was right. We'll see :)

Walkin' the Walk!

2011-01-02T21:13:00.002-07:00

So Olivia's been walking for a couple of weeks now!

Once she got the hang of it, she just kept getting better and better.

Still a little wobbly at times (like right after she wakes up. LOL) but it's so fun to see her progress from day to day! The bumps and bruises are at a minimum now that she's fairly steady. :)

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-22T12:59:00.004-07:00

Ryan decided that a little investment in an Elmo stocking for Olivia was ok this year. I still think it was ridiculously expensive for a stocking, but it is so worth it when I watch her little face on this video. She is such a ham and I love it!

Guy walks into a salon...

2010-11-03T00:41:00.002-06:00

My salon. And this guy was peeved. He was cranky from the get-go. Middle-aged. Collared shirt and tie. All business. Complete with iPhone ("I have to take this."). So I was cutting his hair and all of a sudden he goes "Ah!" More like a sigh of realization than an exclamation. So I asked him if I had done something wrong. He says, "No. I just realized that the song that's on the radio right now is on my RockBand country disc at home!" Man in chair proceeds to let out a "Der...Der...Der" to the tune of the song (his best bass guitar impression, I think). This was, by far, the highlight of my entire week.

Struggles...

2010-10-07T01:18:00.002-06:00

Ok, I'm struggling! I work precisely two days a week. These are 8-hour days, with a half hour drive each way. That leaves me five full days (with the exception of 3 hours for church on Sunday) in which I should be able to get things done. Olivia is almost 10 months old. And yet, I haven't done anything crafty/fun/creative for myself (except for Tyler's graduation announcements a few months ago) since the day she was born. I shouldn't compare myself to others, I know. But everywhere I look my friends are enjoying their various hobbies, while it seems I am doomed to a life of sleepless nights, nap-filled days and barely keeping my head above water. So, either I am just an extremely unproductive soul, or everyone else has some sort of secret! Share away! :) This is how a day off typically goes:

7am Up with the sun...and the baby

7:30 Breakfast, make bed, dishes

8: Shower, get ready

9: Snack

9:30 Naptime

11: Lunch

11:30 Run errands

1: Snack, play, watch Elmo

2: Naptime

3:30 Start dinner

4: Finish up chores

5:30 Dinner, dishes

6: Playtime

6:45 Bathtime, storytime

7:15 Bedtime

And, if I don't fall into bed in an exhausted heap by 8pm, then I am sitting like a log in front of the computer or reading...waiting for the night shift to begin. :) So are you all like me? Where do I compromise to get some 'me' time back? Please and thank you for your swift responses. :)

Update

2010-10-01T10:07:00.002-06:00

Things are pretty routine with us these days! There is nothing new and exciting, but here are a few of the highlights of our lives right now:

Olivia is crawling everywhere. I have got to figure out a way to keep this child contained! Ideas?

Ryan and I went to Tyler's first college band concert last night and it was incredible, save the 20 minute Russian Dance number by the woodwind ensemble. LOL. Tyler isn't a horn major, but he made it into the band and is second chair French Horn. We had a lot of fun being out without the baby.

Ryan and I are both getting into the groove of our new jobs. I'm working only Mondays and Saturdays, so I have the rest of the week to do whatever else I get time to do, since I have a twenty-pound shoulder bag (Olivia, although my actual purse may weigh that much at times)that I have to carry around with me everywhere.

I am in love with our video baby monitor. It wasn't of much use when Olivia was younger and sleeping right next to me, but now that she's in her own room (and standing in her bed) it's so fun to watch her crawl around her bed and pull herself up (oh, and Ryan's personal favorite, "stinkbug" position. LOL). It was a gift (pricey) but I think it would be totally worth it. Now, if only it had a record button!

A Few Forgotten Photos...

2010-09-15T19:23:00.004-06:00

I haven't been taking as many pictures the past couple of months, but I did forget about a few that I had on my memory card. I have tried and tried to get the top ones to upload without being sideways, but I give up. Just turn your heads.

What a dollie! The tiny rocking chair is my mom's and was given to her by her grandmother. She loved that it was just her size. And oh, those faces she makes. I love this girl. Even when she's up at night it isn't so bad anymore. Maybe my body is finally adjusting, or maybe I am just learning how to chill out a little? Just maybe? :)

9 Months and Crawling!

2010-09-14T22:09:00.002-06:00

Olivia is nine months today! She's more fun than ever and getting around the house really well! And yes, we are bribing her to crawl for the camera with a creamy :)

Chompers

2010-08-25T20:28:00.003-06:00

Olivia got her first tooth last Thursday. While we were camping. Lovely. Woke up screaming like you wouldn't believe. I think the other bottom one must be on its way, because she is extremely fussy. AND...I've been mixing the soy formula with regular formula the last few weeks to see if her tummy could handle it. Well, it gave her bad gas, so I went back to straight soy. And she doesn't like it anymore! She got a little taste of the good stuff and won't go back. What a smartie! So I guess we'll go back to the mixing and hopefully her little stomach will get better with time!

Tyler moved down to BYU today. It's kind of sad thinking he's not at home anymore! All grown up. One day my parents will be empty nesters. One day when we all stop coming back. :)

8 Month ABCs

2010-08-15T20:06:00.008-06:00

Olivia is officially 8 months old! Most other moms would be saying how fast the time has gone. But it's different for me. It feels like much longer than that, mostly because I just can't remember what life was like before she came to us. Such a beautiful girl, and we are so blessed to have her.

A: Still on her daily antibiotic for her ureter condition. At least she loves the taste of her medicine!

B: Bedtime is getting a little easier each day. Some days are a step backward, but she is mostly making progress in figuring out that we sleep at night!

C: Isn't crawling quite yet, but will be soon, from the looks of things!

D: Daddy's girl. There is a special smile that is for daddy only.

E: Full of energy!

F: Eating all sorts of foods! I haven't tried making my own baby food yet. Usually we have fruit for breakfast, veggies for lunch, and a mix for dinner.

G: Olivia loves being closer to all of her grandma's and grandpa's!

H: Such a happy girl! Smiling and melting stranger's hearts at grocery stores everywhere. :)

I: Not sure how many inches our little smiley is now, but should get that measurement again in a few weeks.

J: There is a jungle mobile that hangs over Olivia's changing table. It spins and plays classical music. It has saved my life because I turn it on and she doesn't try to squirm out of her diaper while I'm changing her!

K: Olivia now has TWO kitties to play with and she has a special noise she saves just for them!

L: I love our baby monitor. It has a camera that lights up for night vision purposes, but also doubles as a night light. Pricey little thing, but it has given me so much peace of mind since moving Olivia to her own room (thanks uncle Bri).

M: Mr. Mom is Ryan's title a few days a week right now...and I'm pretty sure Olivia couldn't be happier about that.

N: Naps are getting shorter thanks to the sleeping better at night. A little sad about that, but I guess I'd rather have her sleep at night.

O: Incredibly obsessed with Elmo. Elmo's song on YouTube has saved the day more than once.

P: Loves to suck on pickles. Probably all that vinegar isn't great for her tummy, but once in awhile when I'm working in the kitchen, it helps to keep her happy!

Q: Haven't weighed in lately, but pretty sure this little girl is up to about 18 pounds now. Growing too quickly!

R: One of Olivia's new tricks is to reach out, grab both my hands and pull herself up to standing. Great. She'll be walking. Soon. :)

S: Went in Olivia's room the other day after naptime to find her sitting up in bed. She's really figuring out how to move, and her latest and greatest is sitting up from a laying down position!

T: No teeth yet...but I think we're getting really close! The drool is EVERYWHERE!

U: Found a pediatric urologist up at Primary's...hoping to get her in sometime before Christmas for some follow up.

W: Gearing up for Olivia's first snowy winter. At least she's not a newborn...but I think I'll still be obsessed with bundling her up.

X: Our new neighbor Xander is a cute, curly-haired, new friend.

I am skipping 'y' and 'z' for obvious purposes. We must not use those letters much in our house, because my mind is completely blank!

Mid-West Trip

2010-08-02T21:05:00.002-06:00

Our vacation was so special this year! We visited Grandma and Grandpa in Nauvoo, IL, and then headed to Saint Louis for a few days with Aunt Debra, Uncle Reed and many other of our favorite loved ones. We did a lot of fun things. But, in case you haven't noticed, I love bullet point posts, so here are a few hightlights from each state we visited:

Nebraska:

Ryan-"That's the biggest John Deere dealership I've ever seen! Maybe we should stop and I'll have you take a picture of me on one of the combines!" I was less excited about the multitude of green tractors.

Jayelle-"Nothing but corn, as far as the eye can see."

Ryan-"Yeah, I keep expecting to see the Green Giant pop out at any moment. HOHOHO!"

Olivia's first hotel stay. Highly recommend the Oak Tree Inn if you're ever passing through North Platte, NE. LOL

Home of the longest stretch of road construction in the country. '2 miles of construction ahead' the sign said. It lied.

Ryan- "Hey! Cabela's! Exit 49!"

Jayelle- "No, I'm pretty sure the sign said Exit 89."

We never made it to Cabelas. I knew it said exit 49.

Wyoming

Turns out Wyoming is really very anti-climactic after being in such pretty states all week. It was pretty in it's own way...pretty brown, that is.

Illinois:

Illinois-home of the place in which I swore I'd never take a baby on vacation again. But it really wasn't bad. Olivia loved most everything we did.

Toll bridge crossing over the giant Mississippi River.

Birthday shopping at Kohl's. I now feel a little better equipped in the clothing department for my return to work. Thanks Grandma.

Beautiful historic sites in Old Nauvoo and Carthage.

My first time inside the Nauvoo temple. I'd go back just for that. It was beautiful in every sense of the word.

Amazing performances by Grandma and Grandpa in their musical productions.

Humidity unlike anything I've ever experienced. Thought I'd never be dry again. But it was worth it :)

Missouri:

Pool at Aunt Debra's and Uncle Reed's home=nasty sunburn for Ryan and slight sunburn for me. Also worth it :)

Going up the Gateway Arch. 630 feet up in a little 'pod' of an elevator. Amazing structure.

Charming Charlie is this adorable little (big) accessory store. It's kind of like a giant Claire's only ten times better and with shoes and shirts. My parent's got me the cutest shirt and shoes for my birthday. It was such a fun store. A little overwhelming, especially for a non-shopper such as myself, but after you get over the massiveness of it all, it's fun.

St. Louis Cardinals baseball game for Ryan. 2 hour rain delay. Turns out the cheap seats are the only ones that are covered in a rain storm. Ironic. LOL

Flat tire on the way home for my parents. Don't try and get into a tire shop in St. Joseph, MO, on a Saturday. Impossible. Luckily, the Blazer has a full-size spare.

As Promised...

2010-07-20T22:24:00.002-06:00

Ryan and I were engaged on July 28, 2006. Almost 4 years ago. It was such a wonderful time in my life! It involved early, long, tiring days at hair school and late nights with my sweetheart. Good thing we didn't date for very long, because who knows how long I would have been able to keep up the whole get up super early for school then stay up super late to be with Ryan routine :) My typical habit was to stay late at school to make up for my missed hours (since I was nearing graduation and didn't want to have overtime fees), put a few dollars in my gas tank with my tips from the day and drive to Erda as fast as I could (literally)! We watched movies, sat on the porch, talked. Makes me smile just thinking about it.

We had planned a weekend trip to Ryan's family's property at Bear Lake in late July. We were going to leave on Friday after I got done with school and stay until Monday. I called Ryan on Thursday night to see if our plans were still the same, and he was quite short with me on the phone. I thought for sure he was going to break up with me (Keep in mind that at this point we had been dating for only 2 months). I found out later that the reason he was so impatient on the phone was that he had been talking to his dad about asking me to marry him and didn't have much time to talk at that point.

I woke up with a terrible headache on Friday morning and decided not to go to school. And since I wasn't going to school, why not just go to the lake early? So we did (Ok, maybe my headache wasn't THAT bad). Only problem was that Ryan had arranged to pick up my engagement ring that afternoon before we were supposed to leave. And since I was with him and we were leaving early, he couldn't very well do that! So he had to make secret arrangements for his mom to pick it up. When we met his mom up at the lake, Ryan handed me some meat and asked me if I would go put it in the freezer. I thought it was a little weird, but I did as I was told (They had to get rid of me so that they could do the ring hand-off!).

I don't really remember the rest of the day, but that evening we decided to go down to the lake. Only you're not suppsosed to be on the beach after dark. Rules? What rules? So we started up the four-wheeler to head down the road. But this bike wasn't just any four-wheeler. It was a special bike that had to be jump started every time you wanted to go somewhere, and couldn't be turned off until you made it back home. We made it down to the beach on the noisy beast and left it running while we went for a quick little walk. We looked at the stars. Ryan said something that made me cry. And then he pulled a diamond ring out of his pants pocket. With the four-wheeler humming in the background, he asked me to marry him. :)

7 Months!

2010-07-18T20:51:00.003-06:00

Olivia turned 7 months this last week! I am so excited for her to be growing big and strong, but I did realize how much she has grown after holding my 3-week-old niece. She really DID used to be that tiny! What?! She is doing so many funny and cute things! Here are some facts about Olivia at 7 months:

Weighs close to 17 pounds

Was diagnosed with VUR (vesicoureteral reflux) early in the month. She came down with a fever, tested positive for a kidney infection and had an ultrasound and dye x-ray to find the problem. Her bladder refluxes urine back into both kidneys, causing infection over time. Repeated kidney infections are not good for the kidneys (obviously) so she is on low-dose antibiotics (not crazy about this) until we can get into the urologist in a few months. Basically, baby with kidney infection=no fun for anyone, so we continue the recommended course of treatment for the time being.

Sits up really well! She still tips over occasionally, but is better every day!

We may have officially outgrown the Bumbo, but it will make one last hoorah to Nauvoo. Can't beat the compactness of the bumbo as a seat/highchair on the road!

Sleeping through the night! Just kidding. Had to throw that in there. LOL (FYI: still waking up four+ times a night. Eats more in six hours at night than the rest of the day combined. Should fix that one of these days. But for now, I just get the bottles ready before bed and go with it. :)

Eating solid foods like crazy, and loving them!

Had her first Fourth of July and went to bed early :( The life of a baby. LOL

Loves other kids. Like, a lot. Loves to share slobber. Delicious.

Says "Mamama" all the time, but not sure she is really talking about ME. Still, I'd like to think all of that coaching has paid off. :)

Has one Great Grandma Boehmer that cannot wait to get her hands on her!

Will be taking her first real road trip this week to visit Nauvoo and St. Louis. Can't wait to meet/ see all of our loved ones!

Olivia's favorite thing is to watch videos of herself on our phones. Her next favorite thing is to eat paper. I actually had Ryan google 'edible paper' today to see if there is such a thing. Turns out, there is! It's for cake decorating and such, but sounds like the perfect church toy to me. This baby has SO many toys, and yet, she chooses to love the cell phones and the paper. Why even bother buying toys, I say. Yum. Paper.

Chris in pics + I need photoshop

2010-07-07T16:06:00.003-06:00

This is Chris, 17. He was my victim today. I do love taking pictures. I need a good camera. And photography lessons. Then I need photoshop (Or any editing program that has more options than 'contrast' and 'brightness' :). And someone to teach me how to use it. Brittney? :)

Family Photos

2010-07-05T10:22:00.005-06:00

Everyone was kind enough to humor me and even wear semi-coordinating clothing. I think they turned out great. Thanks to the Barney's for letting us use your beautiful tree (Ryan and I have wedding photos from the same spot) as a backdrop.

Happy Birthday Brian

2010-06-30T22:10:00.002-06:00

Dear Brian, it is that wonderful time of year during which we are the same age. For the next six weeks we shall share the magical number 23. And since we're getting old, I think I should definitely apologize for a few of the terrible things I have done to you over the years. So...

I am sorry for never letting you play with my barbies. I preferred (and continue to prefer. LOL) my imaginatory games in solitude, but all you wanted to do was be Ken.

I'm sorry for calling you "Brianna" for however long that phase went on.

I'm sorry for always being jealous of your ability to make friends. Let's be honest, you're just more likable than I am.

Mom: "Jayelle, do the dishes."

Jayelle: "Ok."

Jayelle: "Brian, Mom said you're supposed to do the dishes."

I'm sorry for that.

He's a good guy. I'm proud to have him as a brother. I really do have the best family. I think I know how I got thrown into the group. You know how when you're trying to make even teams to play softball or something and you have one weak player and you're not sure where to stick 'em? So you put that person on the team with the most strong players so that they can make up for the weakness of that one. Yup. I am on the team with the strong players so that they can make up for my weaknesses and strengthen me. True story. Love my family!

Saturday Sunshine

2010-06-11T21:14:00.004-06:00

This week went by quickly! That is good for two reasons. First, because I am counting down to our Nauvoo trip. And second, because I have been very worried that being a stay at home mom would make the days just draaaaaaag on. But they don't. I keep very busy. And feel pretty productive. Most of the time. Good.

I had a BLAST at the splash park with Laura and Brittney and their kiddos. Olivia hated the water. It definitely wasn't her bathtub. But we had a good time and she stayed pretty content just sitting on the grass with mommy and sucking on a carrot.

I worked on our 72 -hour kits this week a little bit. I basically just took stock of what we have, got rid of what had expired, and made a list of what we need to replace. Olivia didn't have one previously, so I started hers with the basics and we'll get everything back in place a little at a time! Because being prepared is expensive if you try to do it all at once!

Brother Heder was my seminary teacher (I can't remember what grade) for one semester in high school. He lives up the street from my parents and is in their stake presidency. His wife's blog has been on my blog list for the past six months. She created the blog in January to share the experiences they had as Brother Heder underwent treatment for Leukemia. He passed away on Wednesday. This is sad news, but the light in all of this is that he was such a great man and is free of pain now. If you have a minute, read some of the posts from their blog. They are short and touching.

Olivia has been taking two two-hour naps each day. One in the morning from 10-noon, and one in the afternoon from 2-4. This is heavenly. And although it restricts me a little as far as what time I can run errands and such, I am totally ok with that. For 4 'free' hours a day, I'll take it! (and by 'free', I mean laundry, cleaning, and dishes)

I cooked dinner every single night this week. They were not spectacular meals. And probably not even well-rounded nutritionally, but I made them. And I have discovered two things in this process. One, that there are a lot more dishes when you eat strictly at home. And two, you have to clean the kitchen three times as often when you make three meals a day. I live in the kitchen. Which is ok, I suppose.

Monday: Pizza

Tuesday: Chicken and Zucchini

Wednesday: Tacos

Thursday: Fettuccine

Friday: Stir Fry

This was a conversation between Ryan and I yesterday:

J: Don't we have free tickets to Toy Story 3?

R: (grumpy voice) Yeah, but why don't you give them away because we can never go to movies anymore. We didn't even go to Iron Man 2. (huff)

Little does he know that I've been planning a surprise date for us to the movies for a week and a half now. I've made arrangements for Olivia (thanks Brit), bought the candy (yes, we sneak it in inside my purse. Naughty, I know), and made a fake excuse about a primary activity to make sure he's home. It's nothing big, but I hope he's surprised and I'm completely excited about it. Oh, the little things you look forward to once you're a parent. LOL

Saturday Sunshine...

2010-06-05T16:39:00.002-06:00

The noise Olivia makes when she sees the cat is SO cute. I can't really explain it, but it's so much more gentle than her other noises. Like she's talking to the cat. Love it.

Brian made it home and was able to make it to Tyler's graduation. He's been in the middle east since last October, so this was the first time he met the baby. Olivia just loves him. We are just so glad he's home safely. It was hard on him. He's seen things I cannot even begin to imagine. He's got the brightest red hair (definitely the reddest from my side of the family) and I kind of hope Olivia's is like that when it comes back in :)

Tyler's graduation was great! I was so stressed out by the time we got there, between getting there on time and then walking down the steep stadium stairs with the baby (I made Ryan carry her. I seriously had anxiety about falling all the way down those crazy steep stairs with the baby.). I think Olivia could pick up on my lack of calmness because she was fussy the whole time. After Tyler completed his parts in the program and his name was read, we left. I was just so uptight thinking that everyone around me was getting irritated about every peep Olivia was making. Yeah. Gotta get over that.

Ryan works late four nights in a row this week. This is NOT a sunshine, because I hate being home alone but I am trying to see the positive. It gives me all evening to work out and clean after the baby goes to bed. I never get anything done until Olivia is down for the night, so good thing Ryan doesn't come home at 5 every day because he would definitely doubt my homemaking abilities.

Seeing all of our families was so good this week. We love all of you!

We are having 'pigs in a blanket' (hot dogs cooked inside crescent rolls) for the first time since I was probably 10. Yum!

Vain moment: My new swimsuit came and it wasn't complete torture seeing myself in it. A plus.

Saturday Sunshine

2010-05-29T14:02:00.004-06:00

It's cheesy, but this is my new attempt at a weekly 'good news' post! So we shall see how it goes.

I worked my last day at the salon yesterday. It was a great day to be there. Some of my favorite people came in and I got to say goodbye. Feels good to be done for now!

I stayed in my pajamas until well past noon today (Probably the result of my 'celebration' of being done with work. This post is the beginning of me whipping myself into shape so that this day isn't a complete waste!). I have NOT done this since right after Olivia was born. Even in those early days of no sleep, I still got up and got ready every day. Saved my sanity. But today...I didn't. And it was great!

Olivia took a two hour morning nap today! That NEVER happens while I'm home. And she is asleep again now for her afternoon nap. Hope it lasts that long!

I'm expecting my new swimsuit in the mail any day now. But I am NOT looking forward to putting it on that first time. Scary.

I've been doing the elliptical after Olivia goes to sleep on the nights that Ryan works late (3 or 4 nights a week). It has been so awesome for me! I don't dread Ryan working late so much because I have something worthwhile to do with myself PLUS I feel so much better when I exercise.

Besides giving me more time with my baby girl, I'm hoping that not working will help heal my hand eczema. It has gotten pretty bad lately with all the hand washing I do at home, combined with all the shampooing at work. Crossing my fingers :).

Next week we are heading to Salt Lake for Ty's graduation. He is giving a speech, playing the piano for the walking of the graduates and also performing a piano solo for the program. Can't wait to go.

Mmmmmm...nanners

2010-05-26T10:14:00.004-06:00

Olivia's 2nd sucessful attempt at rice cereal with bananas. She kept trying to suck her thumb in between spoonfuls. Momma doesn't know about this...it's much messier than the bottle! :)

My Pretty

2010-05-24T11:52:00.004-06:00

Here

2010-05-23T19:04:00.005-06:00

There's a place I'd been looking for

That took me in and out of buildings behind windows walls and doors.

And I thought I found it;

Couple times even settled down.

Then I'd hang around just long enough to find my way back out.

I know now

The place that I was trying to reach was you right here in front of me

And I wouldn't change a thing.

I'd walk right back through the rain.

Back to every broken heart on the day that it was breaking.

And I'd relive all the years and be thankful for the tears

I've cried with every stumbled step that led to you and got me

Here

It's amazing what I let my heart go through

To get me where it got me in this moment here with you.

And it passed me by

God knows how many times.

I was so caught up in holding what I never thought I'd find

I know now

There's a million roads I had to take to get me in your arms this way

And I wouldn't change a thing.

I'd walk right back through the rain.

Back to every broken heart on the day that it was breaking.

And I'd relive all the years and be thankful for the tears.

I've cried with every stumbled step that led to you and got me

Here

In a love I never thought I'd get to get to

Here

And if that's the road God made me take to be with you

Then I wouldn't change a thing.

I'd walk right back through the rain.

Back to every broken heart on the day that it was breaking.

And I'd relive all the years and be thankful for the tears

I've cried with every stumbled step that led to you, and got me

Here

My favorite Rascal Flatts song. Ryan and I started dating 4 years ago this week. He is my 'Here'. He saved me in so many ways. I was finally myself again after this gentleman came along. I am impatient with a little side of red-hot temper. But he continually forgives me. As I got to know him, the past faded quickly. I still hold on tightly to the lessons that I learned through those hard days, but he helped me to let go of all the other crappy stuff!

We got set up. His neighbor worked with my mom. One day my mom said, "There's this nice boy with a nice car and Patrice wants to give him your number." I said, "No."

So she did (I forgive her).

Ryan called me while I was visiting my family in Canada. I couldn't call him back until I was back in the states, because I didn't want to charge long distance to my grandparent's phone line and I couldn't use my cell internationally. Longest wait EVER. When you haven't been on a date in five months and a boy just calls you up out of the blue, you definitely want to call him back ASAP. LOL. I remember driving through Montana and seeing my cell service switch back from 'roaming', but I couldn't very well call him back with my dad and brother in the car with me! Awkward.

I called him that night when we got home. He was at work and called me back on his break. I vividly remember pacing around my bedroom, wearing a hole in the carpet while Ryan told me all about his car (at the time I had no idea what he was talking about) and we said we'd talk again later and set up a date. The next week, I came home one night from hair school to find out that Brian and some of his friends were going to the Joseph Smith movie in SLC, so I thought to myself, 'What a great opportunity to get to know this mysterious, Home Depot boy in a group setting." Brilliant plan, Jayelle. What was I thinking??? My brother's friends are crazy to begin with. Lovely, but crazy. They started jumping in the elevator and I was sure we were all going to die. I was so embarassed! So we dropped him off at the end of that 'date' and I told the others in the car that I was pretty sure I woudn't be getting a call back from that one. Oh well. There'd be someone else.

But he called. And we went on our first 'real' date a few days later. We went to Stoneground in Salt Lake for dinner. Italian food. And I ordered pasta. All over my face about two minutes into the meal. I was really on a roll. Then we went to see X-Men 3. I fell asleep. Charming, once again. And yet...Ryan proposed to me two months later on the beach at Bear Lake. Another story for another day. :)

On a Roll

2010-05-16T21:52:00.002-06:00

This is a little old. Baby girl rolled over for the first time on May 7th and it was just so exciting! Sorry to facebook friends who have already seen this one. I am such a proud momma!

Olivia also turned 5 months this past Friday. Her 5-month Favorites:

Rolling over...mostly from back to tummy, and from tummy to back once or twice so far.
Laughing when we tickle under her chin (thanks to Laura for finding this ticklish spot! LOL). She just giggles and giggles!
Reading books in the bathtub.
Playing in the excer-saucer.
Watching the cute baby in the mirror.
Being outside or looking out the windows.
Basketball. We rarely watch basketball, but a few times we've had it on and Olivia is just mesmerized by the games! Who knew?
Our good friend and Olivia's babysitter, Brittney, told me that Olivia loves to watch Elmo. I turned him on the other day and she just stared. She was smitten. Her first love.

Our little sunshine is growing more than ever. And changing in so many ways. We love her more and more all the time!

Ahhh....Sleep...

2010-05-12T07:24:00.002-06:00

Olivia is nearly five months! Yay! And I am enjoying her ten times more today than I did four months ago. A terrible thing for a mommy to say? Probably. But those first months were HARD for me! Mainly because I didn't sleep for much longer than an hour at a time most nights, between pumping, feeding, changing diapers and then getting baby back to sleep. Oh, how I am so grateful now for the predictable bedtime and the hours of rest! Guess sleep is like other things in life...sometimes you don't appreciate it appropriately until it's taken away from you! Olivia doesn't sleep through the night, but most nights I don't mind being woken up every 3 hours for a quick bottle. Even though I don't mind, it would be heavenly if I could get her sleeping longer at a time, so any advice is more than welcome! Our sleeping routine goes like this:

7:30- bathtime

8:00- bottle and bedtime

11:30- bottle

2:30- bottle

5:30- bottle

8:00- rise and shine!

I've tried giving Olivia more to eat at a time, but just end up wasting formula because she'll only take about 4 ounces. She's still sleeping in our bedroom because I can't bring myself to go up and down the stairs to her room 4+ times a night. And I'll let her fuss usually for about 2 minutes to see if she'll go back to sleep before I give in and feed her.

Maybe she'll just keep improving on her own, but it seems like everyone else has babies who sleep and it makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong! And that seems to be the number one question from my clients. "Is she sleeping through the night?" "No." Cue sympathetic look directed towards the mommy who doesn't know how to make her baby sleep. LOL

Ma Momma

2010-05-09T12:39:00.003-06:00

It's simple. My mom made me who I am today. She still loves me (I think) after all I've put her through. After all the times I didn't show an ounce of gratitude after she had worked so hard. After lovingly dragging me along as a needy child when I'm sure she just wanted some 'me time' because I wanted so desperately to go do 'grown up' things with her. I can actually NEVER remember a time when she has criticized a decision I have made, even when it made for bad consequences. She's never said "I told you so." She's never said, "Jayelle, why are you wearing church socks over top of your tights?" She's never said, "Jayelle, why are you wearing pants underneath your skirt?" She's never said, "Jayelle, why are you wearing your hair in a ponytail on TOP of your head?" You get the idea. Her acceptance has given me confidence. I always felt like I was her ONLY child. She taught me to work first and play after. And when it was time to play, she played WITH us. She taught us songs. I grumbled. I still know more hymns than the average church-goer because of her efforts. She's never too busy for me, although she is ALWAYS busy. She may think I don't notice because I am completely awkward when telling someone how much I care for them, but I hope she knows how amazing I think she is. She's my superhero.

Blessed!

2010-05-03T15:01:00.005-06:00

Happy Family

With Omi and Opa (pre-temper tantrum)
With Grandma and Grandpa and Uncles Chris and Ty
(Olivia speaking: "Get this dress off of me and put me to bed!"

With Uncle Adam, Aunt Cindy, Grandma Daniela and Grandpa Brad

(I'm not sure what I was trying to accomplish by holding Olivia's hand in every picture. It was obviously making her real happy, right?)

Her precious little shoes. I took this picture during church...it was too perfect with her little feetsies against Ryan's suit pants!

With handsome Daddy

Happier times...the morning of the blessing BEFORE we put the dress on! This picture is an especially flattering angle of my thighs, and yes, that's what my hair looks like before the flat iron gets to it. Love the fuzz.

We had a wonderful weekend in Tooele with all of our family and friends that came to celebrate Olivia's baby blessing! Ryan and I were both so nervous about how everything would go, and it is definitely a relief to have it in the past. Huge thanks to everyone who helped with yummy food and creating such a fantastic day for us to remember.

Olivia looked so beautiful in her dress, but I didn't get a really good shot of just her in the pretty thing. I intended to put it back on her and take a few shots today, but our entire household's Sunday wardrobe has beome the most recent casualty of my post-baby mushy brain, and is still in the closet at my in-law's. Oh well!

Announcing...

2010-04-21T12:24:00.004-06:00

I have had so much fun doing Tyler's graduation announcements! They turned out so nicely! I like my creations to be simple, and these were so easy to put together once I found the right paper (Totally worth the searching all over town. I bought all the store had.). I love a good project, but it will be even more gratifying when I get them into the mailbox!

Sweet News!

2010-04-14T17:16:00.002-06:00

My younger brother, Tyler, is a senior in high school this year and just found out today that he will be valedictorian of his class! Yipee! He has always been super successful in mostly everything he does. He will be attending BYU in the fall, with a double major in Piano/Organ performance. So proud. Sniff Sniff.

My bothers are all pretty awesome, in general. You might be jealous, but you cannot have them. They're mine. Get your own awesome quartet of boys to call your amazing siblings. :)

And now I can finally finish Tyler's graduation annoucements which I have been making (I am quite proud of them) and perhaps may post a picture or two once they are done.

As a side note: Ryan is, as we speak, taking a nap and using the baby's Boppy as a pillow. I'm dying with laughter (On the inside, of course. I don't want to wake him up.).

Mostly For Mommy and Daddy...

2010-04-11T19:18:00.003-06:00

Olivia celebrated Easter this week because she and Mommy were in Tooele last week without Daddy, and Daddy was really excited for 'Baby's First Easter'. He is such a good daddy. Just in case you're wondering...Yes, the candy is for me. Yes, the movies are mostly for me as well (Toy Story is my FAVORITE. When Brian gets back, we shall recite both movies in their entirety just for old time's sake.). And yes, Olivia's 'basket' will soon be re-purposed as storage in her room (I am too cheap to buy an 8 dollar pink basket for use only once a year. LOL). Daddy picked out her purple dress. It was a perfectly beautiful day for its debut. What a cutie pie!

Status'

2010-04-06T15:42:00.005-06:00

I am a firm believer in not updating your facebook status more than once a day. It makes the world think that you have no life. FYI. But I have some good ones today. So...this is me not updating my status more than once.

"My almost-4-month old fits perfectly into her new outfit from Costco! It's size 12 months."

"I owe the salon 8 bandaids from my 6-hour shift today. Ouch."

"I love chubby baby legs!"

"I had so much fun visiting my family this weekend! Even though I know they all just wanted to see the baby!"

"It talks! (My baby, that is....and she more just babbles...)"

"I hate wind. Maybe if I ignore it, it will go away?"

"Does anyone else think that Kate Gosselin MUST GO?"

"We put a peephole in the front door and bought a gun so I can feel safer when Ryan's working late. Of the two improvements, I feel fairly certain that I'll be getting more use out of the door hole. LOL"

Not So Many Words...

2010-03-31T13:02:00.003-06:00

It is hard to think of anything to blog about that isn't all about the baby! But our lives ARE obviously all about Olivia right now...so here is some more of her. The first picture is typical Olivia. Arms waving like crazy, twinkly smile, and legs up high. What a girl.

Bath Time!

2010-03-21T22:19:00.004-06:00

Our lives are becoming more and more routine with each day, and I LOVE that! I was so thrown off at first with Olivia because I depend on my routine to anticipate and prepare for each day, and there has been such a lack of that since she arrived. Going with the flow has never been one of my strong attributes. I have felt so out of control (Control? Me? Never! LOL) and the past few weeks, I've finally felt like I can handle things a little better. Progress. I have never been forced to learn so much about myself in such a short amount of time!

Olivia turned 3 months last Monday. She is more beautiful each day. Here are some fun new things she is loving and experiencing:

I bought a Moby wrap. It has basically saved my life (thanks, Erin for the suggestion!). The wrap has become part of our routine, and if Olivia goes in the wrap right after she eats, she goes right to sleep. She is so happy to just sleep the day away while I work around the house or go for a walk and she has been sleeping better at night since starting to take regular naps. I should have tried this wonderful little invention out a LOT sooner.

Speaking of sleeping, Olivia had two nights this week where she went to be around 11 and only woke up once until 7 AM. That may still not sound great, but for me, it has been HEAVENLY. Feeling more and more like myself every day! And a rested baby is a happy baby!

Olivia gets to go to Primary from now on with me, since my new calling is the primary pianist. She is at a point where she'll sleep most of those two hours in her car seat, and the rest of the time she can sit on my lap while I play. It should be an adventure! I am SO excited.

Ryan and I decided to try putting Olivia in her cradle again last week. We have sort of been taking the path of least resistance up to this point, so she has been sleeping in her bouncer, but no more! She has taken to it quite well, and now my feet have room in the bed again!

Bath time is part of our bedtime routine, and our little fishy just loves it. Getting her ready for her bath my second favorite time of day (my favorite is when she first wakes up and is SO happy!) because she gets so excited. Here are some pictures for your (mostly, for my own) enjoyment.

Some Pictures...

2010-03-10T18:50:00.002-07:00

Olivia and Grandma Boehmer
With Uncle Chris(who went into hiding during most of our last visit to avoid a haircut)

We love this girl!

Oh, Alex

2010-03-10T14:39:00.002-07:00

Alex's letter this week kept me laughing the whole time I was reading it. He is so hilarious, without actually meaning to be. He is such a great missionary.

Hey Mom, March is going alright so far; transfers is coming up next week so we will be getting our call next Monday if we are even going to be split apart. It does seem like it's time though since we have been together for almost four and a half months now, and believe me being around the same person twenty-four seven for four and a half months is not ans easy thing to do. Such is mission life I guess. we had Zone conference again last week on Wednesday. We talked a lot about how to Find people to teach in a creative way during those hours of the day in which finding is very hard to do. In fact there was one companionship who wrote Mormon.org in the snow as they walked down the street and their prime investigator was the one who took the time to find out why someone had written this in the snow all along the sidewalk. Our ward had the privilege of providing lunch for the conference and they did a wonderful job with it. in Fact the mission office staff loved the orange jello that was served so much that they basically commanded my companion and I to find out who made it and how they did it. After lunch at the conference there is always a scripture mastery contest and the winner gets a tie if its an Elder and I'm not sure who gets it if a sister wins, but I won the tie this last time that. I was so nervous and shaking when it came to be my turn to so the scripture. I have noticed that the one you don't have memorized is usually the one that is picked for you to do so to avoid that problem i just memorized all of them. I have seen the pictures of the new missionaries that are coming out for here and what do I get to my surprise but to hear that another Missionary is coming from Tooele. This was very cool and only got cooler when I found out who it was, so I guess that Devin Orton is coming to Minnesota at the end of the transfer nest week. i laughed so hard to see that someone I actually knew was going to be coming here to Minnesota. It sounds as if your busy over there and I still can't believe that Seth (our cousin) is going to be leaving on his mission about the same time I went on mine. I have been remembering Brian and how he must be in the middle of the dessert somewhere and not in the cold. or Even in teh midst of gunfire and how scary it must be. I hope he's safe. Love you all Love Alex

I've Been Found Out

2010-03-08T22:42:00.004-07:00

Hello! This is Olivia speaking and I just want you all to know that I am so smart! I have my mommy pretty much all figured out! I have found that as long as I don't sleep for any substantial length of time (day or night) my mommy will be so tired that she'll let me do anything I want! These things include, but are not limited to:

sucking on my empty bottle because I'm not hungry, but I don't really like those binkie things
sleeping whereever I so desire (usually in my bouncer chair), and
eating small amounts at (very) frequent, random intervals.

This awesome pattern will continue for the foreseeable future, since I am only at the peak of my contentment while riding in the car and being held completely upright...neither of which are very conducive to Mommy and Daddy getting much R&R. I love my life!

Mommy speaking: I love, love, love my beautiful baby girl, but I think I may need to read some parenting books after all. :)

Perfect in Purple

2010-02-22T22:17:00.003-07:00

Olivia has really started to grow! I thought she'd never grow out of her newborn clothes...and we didn't have much variety of the tiny sizes, so she wore the same thing every other day! But I can't keep up with all the outfits she has that fit her now! She is 11 pounds and changing all the time! She is so alert and loves to just sit on my lap and look around. There are plenty of smiles, but they are hard to catch with the camera because when she smiles, her whole body wiggles in excitement...making for blurry pictures. Oh well...you'll just have to trust me that she is precious!

Olivia's Favorites at Two Months:

Sitting up (with help, of course)
Eating
Music
Any time she gets to be naked!
Kicking and splashing in her bath
Sticking out her tongue

First Haircut

2010-02-22T15:35:00.003-07:00

I finally got rid of the baby mullet. It was quick...but all those chubby rolls on Olivia's neck made it a little difficult! Much better now, though.

Oh, The Thinks You Can Think

2010-02-02T20:51:00.007-07:00

You can think up some birds.

That's what you can do.

You can about yellow

Or think about blue...

You can think about red.

You can think about pink.

You can think up some horses.

Oh, the THINKS you can think!

Dr. Suess

I never realized how many things about having a baby I had not THOUGHT about. Logistical things. Practical, everyday things that you never notice or worry about until you have to! Some I have figured out...others are still a mystery! My (ever-growing) list:

Where do you put the carseat when at a restaurant? Turns out they have these luggage rack-type things that are really quite bothersome but do the trick.

How do you get your carseat attached to the shopping cart? (I literally panicked when I realized that I was on my way to the store by myself and had no idea what I was doing.) Got that one down. Not rocket science, as you can imagine.

What goes in the car first? Groceries or baby? I chose baby. Baby goes in car, car gets locked, groceries go in trunk, cart goes back to cart return. Problem solved. Works quite nicely.

Purse or diaper bag? Now, you laugh. But seriously! It is extremely hard for me to find a purse that I love, and even harder to find a diaper bag that I feel like carrying around everywhere! I'd love to just have one bag, but then what do I leave with the sitter or with Ryan? Still haven't solved this dilemma. Still carrying around a purse and a diaper bag every time we go out. Ideas?

"Sleep when your baby sleeps." That is what everyone says. How this is makes for adequate sleep I am not sure. There is just nothing that compares to a good 8 hours. And when I have those 8 hours back someday, I will have a new 'happiest day of my life'.

Other moms. My perspective might just be a little bit skewed as of this moment in my life due to lack of sleep, I see other moms in a whole new light! For example, at church on Sunday, I sat on the back row and stared at these women in pure amazement. How did they get that bag full of books and treats packed, get their hair perfect, get their children ready and still manage to get to church by 9 AM? Amazing. I actually cannot comprehend it at the moment. I guess you have to ease into it!

Oh, the things I had never thought.

Good Try...

2010-01-31T18:10:00.003-07:00

That's what Relief Society was today. It was a good go, but didn't work out so much. Is church meant for people with infants? I spent the whole time out in the hallway trying to manipulate the baby, the bottle, the diaper bag and the blanket. And forget about the carseat. It got left in the Relief Society room (as if I had another hand for that! Ha!) as I made my hasty escape from class when Olivia started fussing. Ryan was at work, I don't have any other children in primary to wait for, so why in the world was I there? Hmmm...wondered that myself. And I probably would have left if the carseat hadn't been in the classroom (so close...yet so far! LOL). Oh well. Try, try again, I suppose. But, I do have to say that this baby girl looked adorable! I am so in love with her (I just hate it when people say that about their babies...but there is no other way to describe it! Feels like I've known her forever.) and even though I am scared out of my mind when I look at her and wonder what her life will bring, I can't wait!

Favorites

2010-01-28T12:23:00.004-07:00

Olivia has changed every aspect of our lives, but I'm sure that she is getting used to a few changes herself, after being so warm (and I DO mean WARM) and cozy for nine (long) months. She is doing incredibly well, if I do say so myself. Here are a few of her favorite (and not so favorite) things!

Olivia's Favorites:

Being held close and rocked (duh)

Bathtime-And none of this lukewarm, baby's-skin-is-too-sensitive type water. My girl likes it hot!

Her new swing from Grandma B.-Lifesaver.

Sleeping on the couch with Dad

Staring at the ceiling fans-For whatever reason, they absolutely fascinate her. She just stares and stares...

Grunting-When you're a new mom, they tell you that your baby will have different cries for different things (wet, hungry, sleepy, cold, etc.) but this baby has different grunts instead.

Riding in the car

Tummy time-This girl loves being on her tummy. I know she would sleep better if I could lay her on her belly, but since that is pretty much the cardinal sin of parenthood (higher risk of SIDS) I won't.

Eating-I am grateful that she has been so willing to try new things while crazy Mom and Dad are trying to figure out what makes her happiest. She was getting breastmilk from a bottle, but I could not for the life of me figure out what I was eating that was making her stomach so upset and gassy, so we tried formula for a few days and that, combined with anti-gas drops, helped a ton. We are still experimenting with formulas (and I will be getting another job to pay for the darn stuff! Sheesh!) to try and find what works best, and she has been a champ. As long as it's warm and liquid, she'll eat it!

Dancing with Mom-I'm not posting any videos. You're just going to have to take my word for it on this one.

Olivia's Not Favorites:

Getting out of her nice, toasty bath-Even with a warm towel she still hates getting out of the tub!

Baby lotion (but it just smells so good!)

Getting strapped in the carseat (another duh)

Sleeping in her cradle- Yes, we are going to regret this later, but she sleeps in the reclined position of her bouncer (which I then place right beside me in bed) pretty much every night. Don't judge-I'm working on it. :)

Getting dressed

Straightening out her arms and legs-Which explains why she hates getting dressed! She just loves to be curled up!

Baby Faces

2010-01-12T14:43:00.003-07:00

A display of my child's entire emotional spectrum in just over a minute. :)

Birth Day, Baby!

2010-01-11T21:44:00.004-07:00

I'm trying to be better about taking pictures of our little darling...I just need someone to hold the camera and shoot, since I'm always holding HER. :) I've gotten really good at doing things one-handed and you'd be amazed at the pick-things-up-with-my-feet skills I have developed! Olivia is doing really well. Sleep comes and goes, but my body is adjusting to the crazy schedule. She doesn't nurse, but we've been able to keep her on breastmilk by pumping (what a lifesaver the pump is) and she is 'growing like a weed' as Ryan likes to say. 8lbs. 5 Oz. at her last check-up! And cheesy as it may be, I want Olivia to be able to look back and read about the day she was born. So I wrote her a little letter.

Read on if you enjoy this kind of sentimental thing...

Dear Olivia,

I want to remember all the little details about the day you were born, so I have to get them all out now before I forget. I hope someday when you are ready to become a mom, you can read this and know how amazing an experience it can be!

Mondays were always really routine for your dad and me. Dad always worked the closing shift at Home Depot on Mondays, and I usually had Mondays off work, so we always slept a little late. On Monday, December 14, 2009, we got up and got going around 10 am. Dad made pancakes for breakfast and they were delicious! After breakfast, I started going through paperwork and bills that needed to be filed, since the doctor had ordered me to take it easy due to high blood pressure. Dad left for work just before my water broke at exactly 1 pm. I didn’t know for sure that my water had broken, so I called the doctor’s office to see if I could come in and be checked just to be certain (We had just been in to see the doctor on Friday the 11th, at which point we found out that you were in a breech position and would probably have to be delivered by a C-section). The nurse told me to come right in and I met Dad there at 2 pm. After seeing the doctor and having a quick ultrasound, it was determined that we were, in fact, having a baby very soon!

Doctor Rodgers wouldn’t allow me to go back home, but luckily I had most of my bag packed (Dad told me later that he thought I was a little silly for the pile of items that I had been collecting for a couple of weeks, just in case a situation like this arose, but I am so grateful that I did!) so Dad just had to go home and pick it up, which he did once we got checked in at the hospital. We headed straight from the doctor’s office to the women’s center portion of the hospital, through a ‘secret stairway’ that connected the two buildings. We were taken to an exam room where we did paperwork and the nurse named Carolyn hooked me up to some monitors to hear your heartbeat and to watch any contractions that I might be having. It was supposed to be Carolyn’s day off, but she just so happened to be catching up on some paperwork when the department needed some extra help, so the poor woman had to change into scrubs and be the main delivery nurse for you and I on what was supposed to be her day off (I remember her getting a phone call while I was in the recovery room from one of her kids wondering when she would be home).

After Carolyn was put in charge of us, it all went very quickly. It was about 4 pm when they got my IV started and by 4:15 we were walking down the hall to the operating room. Dad had to wait out in the hallway while the anesthesiologist gave me the spinal block and while Carolyn got me draped and ready for the surgery. I can’t remember the anesthesiologist’s name, but he was so pleasant and I didn’t feel any of the needles that I’m sure were very big and probably pretty scary to look at! After the doctors came in and all of the nurses were there, they let Dad into the room and he came and sat by my head. We were both so nervous, but very excited.

Before I knew it, you were out and crying! It was 4:46 pm. They put you on the scale and told me to look over and there you were, legs straight up in the air (from being folded in half in my tummy!). You weighed 7 lbs. 1 Oz, and were 18.5 inches long. Dad went with you to get you cleaned up while they took me to the recovery room. I just wanted to see you so badly and it was such a relief when Dad finally wheeled you into the room. From there, we took a little trip on an elevator up to the mom and baby unit. We were assigned a wonderful nurse named Heidi who took care of us all through that first night, and we had wonderful nurses through our entire stay.

You were such a good baby and it was so special to just cuddle you while you slept those first couple of nights. We left the hospital on Wednesday evening and headed for home!

Your dad and I were definitely the proudest parents that day!

2009-12-19T16:56:00.004-07:00

As it turns out...I have much less spare time than I thought I would. I thought being at home with the baby would be a walk in the park. They are supposed to sleep a lot, right? LOL. I had imagined laying in bed all day in my pajamas with my baby and FaceBooking my life away. Well, let's just say that I'm doing none of the above. And, while I am thoroughly enjoying this little sweetheart, I have no time to write all the details that I want to! So pictures it is! (Next order of business: a post about what an awesome [surprisingly so] experience it was bringing Olivia into the world!)

The Fun Has Arrived!

2009-12-14T20:38:00.006-07:00

She's here! I still can't believe it. I still can't believe I'm here in the hospital with a baby sleeping next to me. She is perfect in every way. Her adorable red hair is amazing. Her little face is so perfectly round and chubby and even her cries are just angelic. I am so proud of Ryan for being so calm and collected through the whole thing. I am so grateful that I did the laundry yesterday, even though it was Sunday and I was going to wait. I am so glad to have had an awesome nurse who just happened to be in doing office work, but was then assigned to us. More of the story to come, but here a some pictures of our darling Olivia Grace, who arrived at 4:46pm today via C-section and weighed in at 7lbs. 1 oz. and 18.5 inches long.

My Beautifully Crafted Plan...

2009-12-13T14:42:00.004-07:00

...is falling apart! Don't worry, all the REALLY important parts of the plan are still in tact (go to hospital, have baby, bring baby home, be a family) but the details have changed slightly, that's all! As of right now, I have a little, tiny baby head tucked neatly into the right side of my ribcage. And according the the ultrasound that was done at our doctor's visit on Friday, the location of my placenta and the level of amniotic fluid will make it not so easy for baby to be turned around from any outside force. So it's up to her and I! I'm trying all these silly little tricks that I am reading about to try and get her to go head down (and, more importantly, stay that way), but we have a C-section scheduled for December 23rd just in case. And if all goes according to the NEW (but not necessarily IMPROVED) plan, baby will be wearing this on Christmas Day.

Big Bang Theory

2009-11-29T16:13:00.003-07:00

I'm feeling selfish. Or perhaps the hormones are finally getting to me and making me extrememly emotional. But things in general definitely feel more impossible these days. And it's not just the tasks that involve moving my body that seem impossible...but those ARE on the list. :)

Every time I think of how frustrated I am with something, I then proceed to think to myself, "If this is hard now, think of how hard it is going to be with a little baby!" Not exactly a healthy thought process, but that's just naturally where it is heading as my 'ticker' counts down. I find myself constantly telling myself that I need to simplify before our baby arrives, but today I am ready to quit EVERYTHING. But I won't. Yet. LOL

As you can see in the picture, we are now at 36 weeks! As you can also see, there is definitely some change needed in the bang area. I thought I wanted to grow them out. That was working ok up until this point. Now they are too long to really sweep to the side. But not long enough to go behind my ear. And I really don't like pinning them to the side. I really like having straight across bangs. But the stubborn side of me keeps reminding myself that I've been growing them for 6 months and cutting them now would be a waste! LOL. Any opinions? Still not sure what direction I'm leaning to right now, but when I had those good ol' straight across bangs, I saved a lot in the make-up department...not having to put any on my forehead. :)

2009-11-23T22:52:00.001-07:00

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just like people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is just like an old time rail journey ... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

Gordon B. Hinckley

Coming to My Ward? BYOS (Bring Your Own Sweater)

2009-11-22T23:50:00.004-07:00

I'm becoming one of those people.

You know, the ones who think that their comfort in church comes before everyone else's.

I never knew I could be this hot on a continual basis. I've never been like this before. I used to take a sweater with me EVERYWHERE. Not anymore, friends. I had to sit on the stand for entirety of sacrament meeting today. It's even hotter up there. So...since I wasn't going to be able to sit with him anyway...I made Ryan sit on the bench by the thermostat. And I made him turn it down to medium cold (Hey, I could have had him turn it ALL the way down. Give me some credit). And I made him guard it with his life.

Church was heavenly.

The Countdown

2009-11-16T15:00:00.003-07:00

I'm getting antsy...so to get myself through the next 6 weeks, I have come up with a few new ways to count down to D-day. :)

6 more shampoo sets on Beverly & Mary

5 more ward choir practices

21 more hymns to play during sacrament meeting

6 more Relief Society lessons spent wandering the hallway while I'm waiting to play the closing hymn (sitting on those terrible chairs after the first two hours is absolutely torturous. I'm not being dramatic).

5 more doctor's visits(and hopefully only 5 more pounds when I get weighed in at those visits! LOL)

24 more loads of laundry (I know, my 4 loads/week is about to turn into about 10. Oh well!)

6 more times to clean my bathroom. My favorite chore. Yay.

3 more times to fill up with gas

So maybe this'll help me get by during those times when life seems to be in slow motion just when I need it to go by quickly! We'll see! Oh, and now that I see myself in these pictures instead of just in the mirror, I completely understand why I seem to just roll (literally) out of bed most mornings. After all, that's how a soccer ball moves. It rolls. LOL

Why I Shop Alone...

2009-10-29T20:56:00.002-06:00

Showered!

2009-10-25T20:45:00.007-06:00

We went to Salt Lake this weekend for a couple of baby showers. So much fun...so much work! But all totally worth it. The first party was on Friday night and was hosted by Ryan's aunt and mom. They worked so hard, and I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful husband because everyone just loves him so much that they do all this for he and I! We had so much fun and got such great things.

The food was wonderful. We had German sausages with mustard sauces (Ryan's favorite), lots of salads, and lots of desserts. Yum!
These are the favors. I forgot to snap a pic of what was in the boxes before we tied them all up though! They were chocolate 'porcupines' (the party was animal themed) filled with mousse, and layers of yummy stuff (I didn't actually eat one, so I'm not exactly sure what was in it!)

Gifts. We are so grateful for all the wonderful things we were given. We loved it all. The cradle was Ryan's when he was a baby and his mom is letting us use it! I am working on finding a mesh or more breathable crib bumper since this one is the original and is plastic-covered. But no worries...Ryan's dad assured us that it was NOT painted with lead paint...even 28 years ago. LOL

This rocking horse is HILARIOUS. When you push it's ear, it makes galloping noises and whinies, all while the tail and head move back and forth. It is a 'stay at Grandma's house' toy. :)

This is a bad picture, but I just thought it was funny. As you can see, the whole room is about to be enlightened as to what the heck a "BUMBO" is. Google it. LOL

Baby shower number two was on Saturday afternoon and was a combined shower with my step-aunt Laura who is due just one day after me! What a great idea she had to have it together! We chose 'Rubber Duckies' as our theme and ran with it. Ryan even drew little duck-prints on the sidewalk and steps up to the door. He is an amazing artist, eh?

More ducky prints.

This amazing cake is courtesy of my multi-talented and amazing Aunt Martha. She made our wedding cake, but this one is pretty much my favorite of all time! How much cuter can you get??? The bubbles, the bar of soap, the faucet? Amazing :)

Laura and I got some GREAT and practical gifts! I am so grateful for all who took time to come. Best part? We laughed so hard that I am pretty sure I burned off both the chicken salad sandwiches that I ate! Thanks Mom and Aunt Shirleen for being such lovely hostesses!

After we got the showers out of the way, we were able to spend Sunday with Brian, getting last minute things together for him and seeing him off at the airport. He has to report back to Camp Pendelton in San Diego in the morning and then he leaves for Afghanistan on Wednesday. The primary classes in my mom's ward wrote him letters that we sent with him since he won't be able to get mail for about a month. I peeked at a few of them, and those little children are just so sweet! My favorite one was just a picture of a camel. That's all. Just a camel...with one hump. LOL. But I'm so glad that he'll have those to look at. We are going to miss him a lot, but he is in the Lord's hands and we are grateful for his service to his country. Oh, and we all got our "SKYPE" programs working on our laptops, so hopefully we can talk often!

Favorite Post of the Day...

2009-10-19T21:34:00.002-06:00

Went to the doctor this morning (8 am. Way too early. Not doing that next time.). Everything is measuring great (except the scale in the office. I think it is broken. LOL :) and my glucose test was in the normal range, so no gestational diabetes worries. But the highlight of the day has got to be this post by friend of a friend. I've only met Brittany a couple of times, but as she is a very good friend of one of my very good friends, I keep up with her blog. She and her husband are in the process of adopting a little girl after losing their own baby a couple of years ago. I actually don't think it gets better than this. Read it. With tissues.

"It Will Go Away!"

2009-10-07T17:08:00.006-06:00

17 Weeks
23 Weeks

28 Weeks

Working while pregnant has really been an interesting experience. People react in so many different ways when I tell them. But the classic had to be little Mary. She is the shortest little lady with beautiful white hair and I've missed her the last few times she has come in. But this last time I was sitting at the front desk when I saw her pull up. I was basically just waiting for the clock to turn to 5 so that I could go home when she came in. And it was the funniest thing. She totally walked right past me and went to one of the other girls to ask her if she could give her a perm. Didn't bother me. I don't like doing perms that much anyway, plus I was getting ready to leave. The other girl said she could, and that she would just be a few minutes. So little Mary walks to the waiting room and sits down, when I walked over and said hi to her while putting away some magazines. She had no idea who I was. Well, long story short, once the other girls told her that it was me, she came up and apologized for not recognizing me, told me congratulations on the baby (she hadn't known before) and proceeded to explain that the reason she didn't recognize me because I have put on so much weight! "But don't worry, dear. It will go away!" Exactly what every woman wants to hear, right??? Yes, I do look at the scale at my checkups! I know precisely how much I've put on and it is not THAT much. But I was paranoid for a few days wondering if that is all people are thinking about me now! I'm ok with it now, and as I was looking at the few pictures I have taken through the pregnancy thus far it IS pretty obvious that a lot of the 'round-ness' has gone to my face. Oh well. "Don't worry, dear. It will go away!" LOL

The Problem

2009-09-28T20:20:00.003-06:00

The problem is that I had a good little workout tonight and now I want to eat everything in my fridge! "Sigh," says I. "Growl," says my tummy. :)

I Think That...

2009-09-26T22:37:00.003-06:00

..this baby is either going to be some sort of gymnast or world kick-ball champion. I'm just saying that I don't think we have to worry about any kind of muscle weakness in the leg region. The kicks this kid can produce are insane.
...the best times I have with Ryan are when we just talk to each other and laugh and laugh some more...usually when we should be sleeping.
...because of the regular occurance of the best times (above) I am getting into a terrible sleep pattern where I stay up all night talking, go to work in the morning, and totally crash around 6pm...only to wake up and stay up all night again...sigh.
...I am not telling clients at work what we have chosen for our baby's name. I DID tell one guy the other day and he told me it was a terrible name! Who says that?! He said something about it being 4 syllables and only 6 letters and what a mouthful and yada, yada, yada. So no more of that.
...tomorrow will be fun for a couple of reasons. First, it is the primary presentation. :) Second, I get to play "How Firm a Foundation" as one of the hymns. Possibly my favorite to play on the organ. And people might actually sing.
...I probably should have gone to the Relief Society broadcast tonight, but I was too afraid that I would get stuck sitting on a metal chair. I know. Pathetic. But sitting anywhere for that long gets uncomfortable, let alone a hard, folding chair. Good thing they'll re-broadcast it on BYU-TV sometime tomorrow.
...I will make banana bread sometime soon. Yum!

I Give Up!

2009-09-14T20:46:00.002-06:00

I give up! We have three smoke/carbon monoxide alarms in the living areas of our house. They are all hard-wired into the house and all connected to each other somehow. AND...they all keep going off at random times and for no reason at all!!! Ok, so they beep a few times, and then they're done until tomorrow. Big deal. But it always seems to be in the middle of the night. And I'm sleeping. So it's not OK. And it IS a big deal. We've tried it all. We've replaced all the batteries multiple times, rotated them, and cleaned them out with pressurized air to get rid of all the dust. Yes, I am whining. But I'm allowed. :) I'm now going to Google this problem and see if there is something else I can try. Any suggestions would be welcome! In the meantime, let's hope that the smoke and the CO stay away until I get the units put back into their respective outlets(they were ripped out rather violently in the middle of the night a few weeks ago. LOL).

What's in a Name?

2009-09-09T20:21:00.002-06:00

We've chosen a name for our baby! I'm so excited to start sharing it with our family and friends. People have always told me you have to wait and meet your baby before naming it, but I am thinking that the less I have to think about after giving birth is probably for the best! It took us so long to decide on two names that we agreed on that I am glad to have the decision made!

First Name: Olivia

The girl's name Olivia is pronounced oh-LIV-ee-ah. It is of Latin origin, and its meaning is "olive tree". Coined by Shakespeare as the name of a much-wooed aristocrat in his play "Twelfth Night" (1599). He may have derived the name from the olive plant, or as a feminine form of Oliver. Biblical: the olive tree is a symbol of fruitfulness, beauty, and dignity. Today, "extending an olive branch" traditionally signifies an offer of peace.

Middle Name: Grace

The girl's name Grace is pronounced grayce. It is of Latin origin, and its meaning is "favor; blessing". A virtue name referring to God's grace.

Hope you all like it! We sure do!

Happy Leather Anniversary, Honey!

2009-09-09T00:15:00.002-06:00

"The 3rd wedding anniversary is often when a couple is aware of their durability of their relationship. That is why leather is the traditional gift for this celebration." Well, I guess we're officially durable! LOL I'm copying some of my friends and just putting up some fun pictures of the memorable times Ryan and I have shared during these last 3 years. Note to self: take more pictures of us together!

There are some things money can't buy. For everything else...

2009-09-07T18:37:00.003-06:00

Ok, this picture of my mom belongs on one of those Mastercard commercials:

Cruise to Mexico amidst Hurricane Jimena- $$$$

Shore excursion to swim with the dolphins- $$$

Visitor's pass so Dad could watch shore excursion to swim with the dolphins- $$

Dolpins making Dad jealous- Priceless.

ABCs of Me

2009-09-06T20:23:00.003-06:00

My friend Aubrey did this and I thought it was so fun to read!!! Plus, she tagged me...and I have no other thoughts today beyond how quickly the chorister was leading the hymns today in Sacrament meeting...so...

A - Age: 23
B - Bed Size: King...worth every penny. Especially since I've been taking up more and more room lately with my pillow collection(who knew sleeping while pregnant was such a hassle? Especially when I'm so tired all the time?)
C - Chore I Love: Do we LOVE chores? I like feeling like I've accomplished things by crossing things off my chore LIST, but I do not LOVE any chore specifically!
D - Dog's Name: Max. The beagle.
E - Essential Start To My Day: Shower, and I must shampoo my hair EVERY day!
F - Favorite Color: Black or brown.
G - Gold or Silver: Silver
H - How Many Times Have You Been Outside The USA: Trips back and forth to Canada over the years, and to the Bahamas once.
I - Instruments I Play: Piano, and sort of Organ (I don't think that one counts because I cheat and don't play the pedals:)
J - Job Title: Cosmetologist
K - Kids: 1 little girl on the way(think we've decided on a name...will possibly share soon:)
L - Living Arrangements: Husband, Me, Cat
M - Most Popular Dessert At My House: Ryan likes ice cream, but I prefer cookies or cereal :)
N - Number Of Times I Have Stayed Overnight At The Hospital: 0
O - Outdoor Activity I Have Never Tried, But Would Like To: river rafting or kayaking.
P - Pet Peeve: Wow...where to begin...LOL. It truly bothers me when mothers let their children run around in the salon. Kids are welcome, and there is a place for them to sit and read, but they still need supervision. Peeve over. LOL
Q - Quote From A Movie: "Is there anything on this menu that is not swimming in GRAVY?" Yzma, The Emperor's New Groove
R - Restaurant I Could Eat At Everyday: Pizza Hut...good thing that's not an option every day. LOL
S - Siblings: 4 Brothers
T - Time I Wake Up: As late as I'm allowed...but not usually past 9.
U - Unknown Fact About Me: I love to play with Lego! Having kids is going to be dangerous, because Ryan and I are already looking at all the toys we want to play with!
V - Veggies I Dislike: Red cabbage.
W - What Is My Dream Vacation: Anywhere warm with no cell phone service :)
X - X-rays I Have Had: Just teeth.
Y - Yummy Food I Make: Chicken enchiladas, Chili, Funeral Potatoes (hey, they're yummy to me!)
Z - Zoo Favorite: I haven't been to the zoo in forever, but I do like the felines! Lions and Tigers.

I tag.....Oh, I can't pick! If you feel so inclined, please go for it!

Leaving So Soon?

2009-09-04T18:55:00.002-06:00

So some of the articles I've been reading tell me that I won't be able to feel the baby moving so much when she gets bigger. Do all you moms agree with this? Because this is so much fun!!! She moves more at night and when I lay on the couch. I love feeling her move (it reminds me that even though I'm getting fat, it's all for the cause. LOL) and I don't want it to stop!

All you wonderful mommies out there...please help me know what to expect!

23 Weeks!

2009-09-01T17:50:00.005-06:00

I can't believe how far we've come and how good I'm feeling...knock on wood. Life is pretty much normal, if you don't count the obnoxious heartburn and the bazillion trips to the potty every day (sorry...TMI. LOL). That might be due to the fact that this little girl is really active when I sit still, and there is just less and less room for my vital organs these days(like, say, my bladder!).

Yup, everything seems to be going ok, and I'm not sure when this nesting thing is supposed to kick in, but my white board (that wonderful invention that nicely and neatly separates my life into 3 columns of 'home', 'work', and 'church'. Ha! If only it were that easy...) has suddenly filled to capacity with all the things that need to be done from now until next MAY! Talk about overwhelming! But I've always been a list maker, and having things written down makes me feel better for some reason (even though I'm pretty sure that, as much as I want to, it is just too early to be making Tyler's graduation announcements! LOL).

My Husband Rocks...

2009-08-25T18:24:00.002-06:00

Just today, He:

Did the dishes
Changed the cat box
Went to Wal Mart
Took out the garbage
Fixed my laptop (AMAZING...I can't live without the dang thing)
and (the kicker)
Agreed to be my guinea pig while I practiced on our new waxing system at work! Come on, how many guys do you know that would let you wax their necklines without knowing beforehand what in the world they were in for? That is real bravery.

Boy oh Boy...

2009-08-24T14:22:00.003-06:00

Boy oh boy...it's a girl!

Doctor: "Well, I wouldn't stake my life on this one, but I'm pretty sure it's a girl."

So, sorry for all those who voted for a boy! Ryan claims to have had a 'gut feeling' that it was a girl. I didn't have a 'gut feeling'...go figure. LOL. And I just love our doctor. He called our baby a "little rascal" because she is facing my back, which obviously would make it difficult to determine the gender. He acted quite certain, but we are so excited that it won't really matter if we end up taking home a little boy in a little pink outift come January!

Take a Stab at It!

2009-08-13T20:51:00.002-06:00

We have our ultrasound on the 24th to find out what baby is. There are only two options in this poll....twins are out! LOL I'm excited to see what you all think!

Mirrors

2009-08-11T18:13:00.003-06:00

There are too many mirrors at work. I see myself all day long. But today when I took my apron off, I looked in the mirror one final time before leaving and I thought "Whoa, that girl actually looks kinda pregnant". LOL

Too Early...

2009-07-29T10:56:00.008-06:00

Last week/weekend's project...I know its still way too early to be doing this...especially since we don't know the gender of our baby...but I do enjoy a good painting project! The measuring and taping of the squares was the most tedious part of the whole process. Our walls are textured, and we've never had very good luck with getting a nice, clean line when we tape to paint, but I saw a tip on HGTV a little while ago. It suggested putting a layer of clear glaze over the tape before you paint to get a good seal and, for the most part, it worked like a charm!

Ryan's mom made us the beautiful quilt, we already had the curtains, and we got a killer deal on the used crib and table. And now my creativity is used up for the rest of the year.

Brian Update

2009-07-25T20:42:00.003-06:00

Brian leaves for training in California on Wednesday and the news did this awesome piece on his company which is based out of Camp Williams.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=7284045

It aired last night, I think, but I just saw it this morning. He is definitely part of the few(there is NO ONE quite like Brian. LOL) and the proud. Gotta love that boy! Prayers appreciated!

17 Weeks

2009-07-21T15:45:00.003-06:00

Can't believe I made it this far! We went to the doc again today and heard the hearbeat once again (yes, I heard it this time). Next month we get to have our extra fun ultrasound and find out whether we have a lady or a gentleman, but since we'll be out of town the week we are supposed to do it, we have to wait an extra week! Ah! The suspense is killing me. Not that the lack of gender knowledge is keeping me from moving forward with things. We are painting the baby's room tonight. Color: well, it's called 'soar'. Basically the lightest blue that can still be classified as blue. I'm thrilled. I know, blue is a "boy" color, but this is so light, refreshing and calming that I just think it will be perfect even if we come home with a little pink bundle of joy(I'm totally happy either way, but let's be honest here, we don't grow girls very often in either of our families. LOL). So, in response to all the questions about the belly, here is a photo. I will be more diligent from now on, but I haven't felt the need to take pictures until now, because I haven't felt like I looked any different. This tummy just appeared in the last couple weeks, and I'll keep a better record now that I feel like I'm growing!

Go Away! I Already Have a Conscience!

2009-07-20T23:58:00.004-06:00

I cannot take it anymore. There is a cricket somewhere under my kitchen sink. It chirps all night long, starting at about 11pm and finally shutting up about 8am. Ryan doesn't seem bothered by it. That high-pitched creaking is hurting my ears, and ruining my sleep! I finally narrowed down its location tonight (since Saturday I've been hearing it but I could never find exactly where it was), and Ryan was kind enough to clear out the area and spray our bug spray stuff all under the sink. But the dang thing came back. And its still going at it. I think we may need a professional to keep these things away next year, and perhaps keep my sanity. I also realized, as the contents of my under-the-sink cupboard were scattered on the counter, that I should probably find a safer place to store my potatoes than next to the febreeze and the ant bait. LOL

Catch Up and Release

2009-07-19T17:11:00.003-06:00

I got released from Young Women today. I got called to be the ward organist two weeks ago, and I knew that I would be getting released, so I didn't expect to be sad about it at all, but I guess I'm extra emotional about everything these days! I have been crying at just about everything lately (one particular commercial on TV for OnStar where a car crashes into a tree and the operator is asking if the person is ok...you know the one I'm talking about...and I bet NO ONE else in the world gets teary-eyed when they see it! LOL).

Ryan and I took a short trip to Tooele at the beginning of this week. We went to see Brian, since his schedule will be somewhat crazy and unknown (Military life. Ah. Its not for anyone who likes to plan things, that's for sure) until he leaves for California and then for Afghanistan. We had yummy dinner on Tuesday with him and the rest of the fam (well, Mom, Dad, Tyler, Brian and us. Alex is otherwise engaged and Chris was in Emery where all the summer fun is) and then helped him move out of his apartment on Wednesday.

An apartment that has housed 3

21-year-olds for the last 6 months. Need I say more?

Also while in Tooele, we painted my mom's mailbox post and put a new mailbox on top. It looks 100% better. But we had to go to Home Depot before we could start that project because we didn't have any white exterior paint (the paint section is probably my favorite part of Home Depot. If I need to talk to Ryan while he's at work, I just hang out with the paint samples until he has a minute to see me. Its a good place). So, while we were walking to the paint department, I suggested (jokingly) that we should finally paint the front door red like I've been wanting to do for the last 8 years. Mom said, "OK". Now, red is a funny color. Red is hard to choose and get it right the first time. I know this. But I chose a little square called 'Red, Red Wine" in like 5 seconds and just like that, we had a quart of non-returnable, VERY red paint. I was thrilled!

We left with two quarts of paint, one white and one red, a few stir sticks, some lightbulbs and a new mailbox.

We got home and started our projects! I was just itching to get that paint all over that door, but first things first. We quickly realized that if were were going to paint the door, the shutters would also have to be painted to match. And since we had some leftover white paint, the trim around the door needed to be touched up too. And if we were going to paint the trim, we had to go get a spray can for rusting metal to re-do the railing. And why not pick up a new doorknob set to go with the good-as-new door? Commence second trip to Home Depot.

We got the door painted, the shutters down and painted(which also involved the unfortunate elimination of a few wasps nests. They were all over us the rest of the day), the trim painted, the mailbox put back together and the railing taken care of. We were almost done! And then I (once again, jokingly) teased Ryan that he should just use the rest of the spray paint to cover up the swing on the front porch. Of course he ran out of paint about halfway through. Well, we needed another quart of red paint anyway, since we hadn't anticipated having to paint the shutters originally, so Ryan did Home Depot: take three.

After about 6 hours and 5 coats of red paint on that dang door, things were looking pretty good! And Dad got the surprise of his life when he rode up on his motorcycle and saw me holding a red-covered paintbrush in my hand and his front door in his garage. Oh well. It'll grow on him. :)

Ryan also took me to see Music and the Spoken Word while we were in Salt Lake. I haven't ever been to see it live and it was so awesome! I'm always a pretty cheap date, but this was so fun. :) I always watch on Sunday mornings, so seeing it live was a treat. The broadcast we attended marked the end of their 80th year so it was a big deal. There were a lot more people than I expected. They hold the broadcasts in the conference center during the summer because of the number of people that attend, but that's ok because the seats are much more comfy than those wood benches in the Tabernacle, I'm sure. A great experience, aside from the slightly cranky lady that sat directly in front of us, even though we were the only ones sitting in our section (sort of like at the movies, when the whole theatre is empty, but the noisy group decides to sit directly below you so that you can't put your feet on the seats! Ah!). She was rustling in her purse the entire time, writing checks and birthday cards and reading a book (when I googled the title later on, I found out it was a book about a woman's journey as an ex-mormon feminist). So...anyway...maybe she really was there for the music, but either way, seeing the choir was probably the highlight of this particular trip!

And, of course, the one time I forget the camera, we actually do something worth taking pictures of! Oh well!

The Call...

2009-07-18T15:32:00.002-06:00

I received a message on my facebook page from a great friend a couple days ago:

Dear Jayelle,You have not blogged for a long time. This is your call to repentence. :D

Oh, you make me laugh. So after work today will probably be devoted to grocery shopping and perhaps Harry Potter, but new posts to come!

Done

2009-06-18T19:23:00.002-06:00

Dear Cold,

Pardon the interruption, but I am done with you. Please take your friends Fever, Body Aches, Cough, Sore Throat, Runny Nose and Achy Ears and leave promptly. My life must get back to normal! I cannot miss any more work, and I can NOT spend another minute cooped up in this house. I have no course of action planned against you beyond small doses of tylenol and yet another round of ammoxicillin, so please take pity on me. Pack your bags and be gone by morning. That way, I can finally get some sleep in a position other than sitting completely upright before real life summons me tomorrow at 2pm when I am scheduled to report for work.

Thanks so much!

Time to Add the Ticker

2009-06-16T12:15:00.002-06:00

Ah! We made it through the first three months, and we have a good, strong heartbeat (plus, I've only gained one pound :) so I consider it time to share the good news! Ryan and I are very excited, as are our families. I have a feeling that this little one is going to be a spoiled one...just a hunch. We have a great doctor who has been so willing to discuss anything that we are concerned about and I feel a lot better about the whole process after our appointment today. And we only have ONE heartbeat...so that is good. There's nothing like having the doctor cheerfully saying to you "Oh, let's see if there's more than one!" Wow. I think MY heart stopped for a minute while he looked. LOL. Hope you're all as excited as we are!

Alex's First Letter!

2009-05-29T21:02:00.002-06:00

I obviously won't be posting ALL of Alex's letters, but this one was just so dang good! I laughed(mostly at all the computer references he makes. And the lack of any concern for grammar. Oh well. LOL) and cried(because I am so happy that there are people who love him and are taking care of him) all at the same time! I have a long way to go to catch up to him spiritually. He is a giant. We are so grateful that he arrived safe and sound!

Dear Mom
We landed safely yesterday and i found out that flying isn't really all that exciting and we were on a plane that was very small it had an aisle and two seats on either side so it was tiny. I was asleep most of the time on the plane and the takeoff and landing really are the worst part about flying the landing is deffinatly the worst part. We got off and went to the Institute near the university and they gave us lunch in sacks which i didn't eat right away because i was fasting. We went with some of the other Elders and did some Street contacting. We managed to get an appiontment with one gentleman. My training Companion is Elder Madsen and from the first impression i can see that he is a funny guy and made me feel very welcome and i'm glad for it. We got my Bike and it is apparently very worthy of being stolen so we are going to take some plastic bags and tape them to it so it will be less of a target since it is very nice indeed. :) Minniapolis is a strange place Its very Green and There is a Lot of water which can explain why they would have so many mosquitoes. People were kinda Surprised to find out that i had once killed mosquitoes for work so i told them all about the not so facinating but oh so fun job. it is rather nice today its not to humid although i haven't been around long enough to know how that is going to be yet. so i will find out. Oh there are no mountains here and so i am so confused as to what direction we are going and its really annoying. We went to a baptism yesterday as well and it was amazing i nearly forgot how a baptism went. and we past this hill that they use as a ski resort during the winter and all i did was laugh because it was the size of little mountain, maybe bigger, but it looked more like a sleding hill to me. ;) there is someone in our mission who is a little like seth. He built his computer a lot of times and likes to play around with hardware and software.(I still think seth is better) ;)so I heard chris has been enjoying the 500. I'm sure he is it is a lot easier to ride than his bike. and tyler has that organ thing too he will have a good time there and enjoy the plane ;). Oh and i can't go to the Mall of America. which i don't know much about you'll have to look it up.President Howell is very nice and does everything by inspiration. it is the most amazing thing how the lord tells him who needs to go where and when it is truly awsome. well i hope that the garden goes good for you that should be interesting. i am one hour ahead of you so it should be easier to figure out calling and stuff than when brian was out. the internet here is a lot faster than i thought it would be and the internet at the MTC was downloading at 3MB/sec i was sitting there going man i wish my internet went that fast. oh and we were watching church movies incase you were wondering why we were downloading stuff. and they were approved they are the same ones we give to investigators so its good to watch them so we know what they are about. Its cool we are staying in a members home and i have to put my bike together a little bit. Last night i slept wierd and so my chest hurts a bit but dinner last night was very good and so was breakfast this morning. there are now 8 stakes in my mission which is a lot less than Tooele, but it is growing and the people here are religous and very active i have not seen so many people running before.Minniapolis is split into two different sides by the mississippi and so the reason they call it the twin cities is because Minniapolis is on one side of the mississippi and ST. Paul is on the other. I'm stationed in the North St. Paul right so I don't know if the temple is in my area or not but i will find out soon enough. And it seems taht everywhere i go they have these DEll keyboards and they are driving me crazy i really don't like them at all. but i will live i suppose. ;) It should get much better no wthat i'm here i feel more comfortable already. well I love you all and i will take some pictures and send them to you. Love Alex

Alex's Farewell

2009-05-15T11:36:00.003-06:00

The girls enjoying the goodies!

Just think, in a few years, we'll be having parties for you two!

Alex gave a great talk in church and we had some delicious goodies at aunt Martha's house afterward. He's going to be great!

Weekend in Tooele

2009-05-15T11:21:00.004-06:00

We had a great week visiting with our families in Tooele. Alex got off to the MTC on Wednesday and he's doing well! Ryan's brother, Mike, came from Alaska with his family and it was so fun to visit with them!

Nevaeh got an owie on her finger while playing with the goats, and after she got her bandaid, she wanted to put one on Opa as well!

Ryan thought it would be funny to throw Nevaeh into the pond...she didn't think it was that funny.

Omi and Faith! What a beautiful baby!

Tyler's Solos

2009-05-15T10:43:00.003-06:00

It was so fun to see Tyler play at state solo competition again this year. He did so well on his horn and piano solos, but his piano solo is particularly impressive to me! He's extremely dedicated and it shows!

Tidbits from Today

2009-04-07T16:58:00.003-06:00

Went to the dentist this morning. And considering that the dentist is pretty close to the top on my list of things I hate to do, it wasn't that bad. Our cute little hygienist got married just after our appointment last September and she just looked so happy! I just love newlyweds.

On my way home from Walmart, I saw a license plate with the letter RPBCUPS. It took me a minute, but I figured it out. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. :-)

There was a cute mom with two kids behind me in line at the store. Poor thing was trying to put formula powder into a bottle and the baby moved and made her drop the powder all over herself. She took it all in stride and was still smiling. It didn't seem to bother her. Am I going to be that chill when I'm a mommy? Something for me to ponder!

Surprise & Friends

2009-04-04T22:04:00.010-06:00

Surprise: making it to SL to go through the temple with Alex last Saturday. A pleasant one.

Hitting snow on the way home. Not such a pleasant one.

Amaze: something my husband never ceases to do.

Alarm: something I never want to be sounded at the Home Depot in the middle of the night...3 times...because when the alarms are sounded, Ryan is #1 on the calling list!

Startle: my feeling when I looked down and saw my hands like this (black hair color, just another occupational hazard). The picture does not begin to illustrate the blue-ness.

Awe: my reaction to seeing my cousin Jenni's house that she just remodeled. What a lot of work(with some amazing woodworking, courtesy of her hubby Brett), and it is just gorgeous! Love it Jen.

Shock: that I made it through this day of work, without any feelings of never-wanting-to-go-back-ness(long Saturdays make me feel that way sometimes!).

Wonder: that I was pretty much more excited about the new Fast and Furious movie(no 'the' this time around) than any guy I spoke to today. Guys, come on. Fast cars are racing to music! What's not to get excited about?

Yum-O!

2009-03-25T22:46:00.003-06:00

Rachael Ray has probably trademarked that word, but it is the appropriate description for my latest kitchen endeavor! I love desserts that are fresh and have fruit (I'm also a sucker for chocolate most of the time) and this one didn't have a ton of sugar so I thought I'd share!

The recipe is here! Oh how pretty it is!

Dah!

2009-03-21T22:26:00.003-06:00

Walmart. A place where I spend most Saturday nights doing my grocery shopping for the week. I was driving down there on the freeway when I saw big puffs of smoke on the other side of the road a few miles down. Then came the firetrucks, then I saw the FIRE! I slowed down to take a look (typical Utahn, I know.) and it was a truck and a trailer full of ATVs with the trailer completely engulfed in flames. I hate stuff like this. It makes me sick for those poor people whose spring break has definitely taken a turn in the wrong direction. It just stinks. So the freeway was closed going the opposite direction. But no problems for me and after my moment of pity for the poor folks, I continued to my shopping adventure. I got done at the store and all checked out, groceries loaded and started for home. Taking a detour of course because the road was still closed. Then I remembered that we had used the back door today at work and I couldn't remember if I had locked it when I locked up tonight. Well, shoot. So I turned around and headed back to the salon (right next door to the Walmart). As I pulled into our parking lot, I noticed a couple of parked cars and a few people just hanging around the cars. Teenagers, I thought, just bored on a Saturday night. I went in, checked the door and came back out. That's when I noticed that the people looked more like a family, because there were some kids and a few adults. I got in the car and left, but as I was leaving I wondered if I should see if they needed some help or something. It seemed like a silly idea to me since there were so many businesses so close, and let's face it, if they were having car problems, I would not be any help. Plus it was pretty dark, and I was alone. So I left. I nearly turned around, but didn't. I wonder now if I should have. Maybe they could have used the cookies in my trunk that I had just bought (shouldn't have bought them anyway), or maybe they would just have liked to know that someone cared. Maybe, maybe not. Either way, my parents taught me that when you have a thought that prompts you to do good, you should do it. They didn't just teach me that, they showed me many, many times. And apparently it still hasn't sunk in. And for that, I say to myself "DAH!" And I will try better from now on.

Please keep your hands, feet, and head inside the ride while getting a haircut.

2009-03-20T14:45:00.003-06:00

I may not be a morning person, but I try really hard to be nice to the people that are banging down the door at the salon when we open. This morning, the sun was shining! The birds were singing! My hair worked. Plus, I got to sleep an extra 30 seconds because I knew what I was going to wear today! Good morning so far, right? Right.

Now, I do enjoy my job. It's not as much of a creative outlet as I would like it to be, because no one ever REALLY means it when they say "Just do whatever you want", but it's enough to keep me happy!

So this morning I had a lady. Nice lady. Lovely hair. But she had her cup of coffee with her and brought it back to my chair. Fine. I actually don't mind the smell of coffee at all. But she held it during the haircut, and would occassionally take a big swig (have you ever tried to drink something without moving your head? Doesn't work. Moving head=bad haircut), forcing me to pause the haircut while she drank. I found this rather obnoxious. So what do I do? Instead of asking her nicely to put the cup on the counter and wait until I was done, I thought it would be a fun game to see if I could fling the hair just right so that it would fall onto her cup. I succeeded. Problem solved. Haircut turned out wonderfully. Yes, I may need to work on my people skills in the mornings. :-)

The Proof!

2009-03-16T21:09:00.005-06:00

I did it. Tackled two major closets, one small closet and my bathroom drawers. I know, I know, I was supposed to do them on Saturday, but never quite got around to finishing them. So, just in case you are inspired now to clean your own closets, here are a few ideas of what to keep and what to toss.

Keep:

Husband's super decked out Home Depot apron

Cardboard cut-out Salt Lake Temple. (Do you know how long that took to make? Toss it? I think not.)

About ten suitcases. We should go somewhere once in awhile, I suppose.

Giant plush gorilla

Most of my shoes :-)

Toss:

Three non-matching socks in a gym bag. Seriously.

"Santa's Coal" bubble gum...from two Christmases ago.

All remaining clothing from the high school/college days.

About a zillion bobby pins that were missing the little rubber ends.

Two non working flat irons.

My treasured Doc Marten's. Sigh. LOL

Closet Before

Closet After

All in all, I'd say it was a success!

Cleaning out My Closets

2009-03-14T14:23:00.004-06:00

I love the feeling of Saturday! Why?

Because it's the day before Sunday and I always have Sundays "off" (a day of playing, practicing, teaching, reading, but which is technically a day off, since I don't have to go to work).
Work is usually busy, but we have three girls working, so it normally doesn't get super overwhelming.
I can catch up on my chores after work without worrying about work the next day!
The town just has a little extra "buzz" on Saturdays. A good buzz. Like things are being accomplished and people are happy to be getting them accomlished.

Yes. Saturdays are delightful. So, since I am done with work, I am now making a mental list of all the things that need to be done. It is feeling incredibly spring-like outside, so I think a healthy dose of spring cleaning needs to be administered to my closets. I have lots of clothes that I NEVER wear. I have plenty of shoes that I NEVER wear. And my scrapbooking closet is awful, because I just throw the scraps from all my little 'projects' into a pile. I think is how I will spend my evening. Cleaning out my closets. Literally, of course.

Juice and Bunnies

2009-03-09T16:19:00.004-06:00

Ryan is sick. No fun. I hope he gets out of work early today so he can rest and then he has tomorrow off. Last night we had a conversation. It went something like this:

R: You probably shouldn't drink that juice. I already drank from it and I don't want you to get sick.

J: Oh, I'll be fine! Do you know how many people I touch every day? I have built up immunities to so many things, I'll never get sick again. *drinks from container*.

R: OK, whatever. (is thinking, "just don't drink all my juice" LOL)

J: Do you know, last time I got really sick was my first month of college. My cousins had to nurse me back to heath(good times, right guys? haha), I couldn't move, and had to take like 4 baths a day to get rid of the achiness. Hmmm...It HAS been a long time since I've been REALLY sick!

R: Ya, I don't remember you ever being really sick.

I think we all know where this is going! That was the end of the conversation. The evening progressed, we watched a movie, I made some fun cards for my younger cousins for Easter. But this morning and all day I've been pretty much on the couch, facebooking and blogging my life away because I feel so SICK! That's just what I get. Spoke WAY too soon. That'll teach me! LOL.

Anyway, since I've had time on my hands, I've been getting into the Easter spirit! When I was little, my aunts and grandma used to make little bunnies out of washcloths for Easter decorations. I wanted to try them myself, so I looked up the directions, and seriously, they are so easy! They are quick and are so cute even if you don't do the pom pom for the tail, or the googly's for they eyes. Just tying the ribbon around the elastic makes a cute, simple egg-holder, or gift!

Washcloth Bunny

You Need:
White Washcloth (or colored if you want a colorful bunny!)
Elastic and Ribbon
Small Pink Pom Pom
Small White Pom Pom
Two Wiggle Eyes -- 10mm
Scrap of Craft Foam
Glue Gun, or Tacky Glue

Instructions:
Lay the washcloth on the table diagonally so it looks like a diamond. Beginning at the top point, roll down the washcloth to the middle. Roll the bottom up to the middle, so you have a long strip of rolled washcloth. Fold the long strip in half

Now fold that strip in half. Bunch up near the ends to make a head, putting an elastic around the bunch to make a head. Fluff the ends to make ears.
Glue on wiggle eyes, pompom nose and foam strips for whiskers. Glue on pompom tail.

Long Day

2009-03-04T21:54:00.003-07:00

Thanks for everyone's encouragement with Brian's situation. I am feeling more positive and trying to trust that it's in the Lord's hands! I know that Brian will be able to handle whatever he is challenged with. He's awesome that way.

So I don't normally have days like this where I just go, go, go! I love the feeling of a good day's work...my parents taught me well (I was telling my mom about a situation that I encountered at work today and explaining to her how I reacted. She informed me that she "raised a good daughter". LOL). But sometimes I just want a nap!

I finally got home and had to go straight to Young Women's after changing out of my work clothes. I walked into my closet, and on the floor was one of my belts...chewed up.

I have a dog for a cat.

What a day. LOL

Another Call.

2009-03-02T19:17:00.004-07:00

My younger brother, Brian,will be deployed to Afghanistan this August. How long? Don't know.

I'm just going to scold myself ahead of time. "Jayelle, you need a serious attitude adjustment."

Because I don't want him to go.

I'm worried about him being gone. And I wish I could do it for him (weird, huh? I know, but I really do wish that I could make it so that he didn't have to deal with it. As if I could deal with it any better. HA.)

I'm still sorting out all of my feelings on the whole thing. Right now I feel like throwing a giant tantrum...but I've thrown a lot of tantrums in my day and, looking back, I'm not finding any example of a tantrum that was extremely effective. Maybe I'll feel better tomorrow.

What's Your Style?

2009-02-27T21:39:00.003-07:00

Thanks to my good friend, Makayla, for letting me copy her post from yesterday!
She discovered a website called "Sproost" and it has this cute little quiz you can take that tells you what your decorating style is. If you want to take the quiz (and why wouldn't you? lol)

the link is here.
My style was 50% Mountain Lodge, 25% Nantucket and 25% Southwestern. Pretty sure the leather and warm colors of the Mountain Lodge Style are what gets me, not so much all the wood. The Nantucket style is all about light and airy, which looks nothing like my house now, but if I lived on the beach or in some little cottage that style would definitely be something I would go for! The earthy tones and the different textures of Southwestern have always been something I like. And I just loved looking at all the rooms! I'll probably go back to this site to get ideas for decorations for my house, which can always use some sprucing up.

Another Mission Call!

2009-02-25T21:38:00.004-07:00

Alex got his mission call today! I'm so excited for him to serve in the Minnesota, Minneapolis mission. He'll report to the MTC on May 6! I'm sure there will be more news and excitement to come from my end...I'm a little preoccupied with my brothers' lives, and I'm sure they would tell me to butt out if they weren't so awesome!

Love em so much!