Consumed

Lately I've been consumed with 2 things.

#1. Twilight. John got it for my birthday (I guess I got tired of waiting for the book I was going to borrow) and I'm nearly done. I think I would be done if I didn't have things like Enrichment, Visiting Teaching, and rugs taking up my time.

#2. Finding new rugs and pillows for my kitchen and living room area. My rugs need replaced and I gave away my old pillows when I sold my couch. Who would have thought that it would have been this hard to replace them. I gave up on deciding at the store and returning things one at a time, so now I just buy everything and then I'll take back what I don't want in then end. I have my kitchen rug narrowed down to two, and I'm starting to consider making my own pillows. What's sad is that the pile of stuff currently sitting in my bedroom is only a portion of what I have bought (some of it has already gone back)!

On a completely unrelated note....my children both had issues last night. Ains woke up sleep walking and sat down on her over sized Mickey doll and went potty on him. Owen woke up with a leak comparable to his last huge one, but he leaked on white, so I don't have a pretty picture to post. Sorry!

Twenty-Nine

Yesterday I turned the big 29. I might as well be 30! I had a really nice and relaxing day. I got sung to in primary...you just can't beat that. Ains and John made me a great cake. I thought it was pretty impressive (I did help out by finding a relatively simple cake recipe on the Internet for them).

John took Ains yesterday to get some balloons and decorations. I still can't decide if the Winnie the Pooh or the Sesame street balloon is my favorite. I was banned to my bedroom for a little while after church so they could surprise me. I was told by Ains to take a nap. And if I heard anything to just go to sleep anyways. And if I woke up and heard noise, don't come out! She did a fabulous job decorating! I also got to take a nap and John made me steak fajitas for dinner...yum! I got to talk to people on the phone, which was nice. And my family stopped by later that night to give me presents!!! A really great birthday...thanks everyone! So what do you think, did I look better then...
Or now? I think it's kind of hard to tell! Maybe it would be easier if I had any sort of good posture at all! Why aren't more people telling me to stop slouching????

Folk Dance

Last night John and I went out on a really fun date. Syd was nice enough to come and watch our kids for us so that we could enjoy a night out. We went to dinner and then to a performance by the BYU Folk Dance team. I always liked watching the dance performances while I was at BYU, but I forgot how much I liked them. The show last night was amazing. The dancing was great and they had a musical team that performed a bunch of songs too. I have never seen fingers move as fast as the violin and guitar players fingers' did last night. It was seriously impressive. John even liked the show, even though he usually doesn't get into shows like that. I liked it so much that I think I'm going to take Ains to the ballroom dance team's performance here in the fall (John is a bum and wouldn't go for ballroom dance). I guess I'll have to round up some girls and have a girls night out!

Finished Product (Almost)

I finally got all of the work done in my bathroom. I waited for the paint and caulk to dry, and on Tuesday night I was finally able to get out all of my new bathroom stuff that I bought a few months ago. Much to my surprise, I was disappointed! Not with everything, just my shower curtain. For some reason I just didn't like it when I got it all set up. So I'm using my old shower curtain until I find a blue and brown one I like.

So now the hunt for the shower curtain is on. It's not off to a good start however, because yesterday I tried to return the shower curtain that I had bought to Ross. I walked up to the cash register and handed the lady my shower curtain and a couple of receipts. I told her that I couldn't figure out which receipt it was on. She looked at me and said, "Well, this shower curtain is from Marshall's, that's why you can't figure out what receipt is the right one." I felt really stupid when she showed me the big Marshall's sticker on the curtain that I had looked at several times, but I just had it in my head that I bought it at Ross. I'm brilliant!

Although I didn't like my shower curtain I love the new paint and towels. My bathroom seems so light now. It used to be 2 shades of green, one was really dark, and the ceiling was painted green too. Now I just have to get rid of my pretty green checked linoleum and my bathroom will look fabulous. Hopefully our tax return will help me out with that one!
On a completely unrelated note....I was hoping that the weather would be nice today because some friends and I were planning on going to the park after library time today for a picnic. Unfortunately, we woke up to snow this morning, and lots of it. Carl's Jr. it is!

Some pleasant and not so pleasant things

Pleasant....

Last night John watched the kids while I painted the bathroom. Apparently they had a lot of fun playing dress up.

Not so pleasant....

When I went to get Owen out of bed this morning I found him like this and couldn't help but laugh.
He was completely undressed, but I have a "G" rated blog! Not only was he naked, he was standing next to his PJ's and his MESSY diaper. Talk about gross! He was surprisingly clean considering the pile of filth next to him. He just had a little *** on his leg. So while he was in a completely disgusting situation, at least he was clean about it. (I remeber finding his older sister the same way one morning, but she hadn't messed her diaper first). I told Owen that he shouldn't take off his pajamas and diaper and that it was naughty. Do you think he got it?

Happy Birthday to Me!

Okay, so it's not my birthday...but close enough! So today I got to start working on one of my birthday presents. What is this amazing gift that I get nearly a week early? A non-complaining husband helping me paint my bathroom so I can finally use all of the new bathroom stuff I bought myself in December! Right now you might be thinking, "Oh, poor Jessica! She has to paint for her birthday!" Well, while I might hate painting, I love the end result. My house was so mixmatched when we moved in that I love seeing it slowly start flowing together. I just have my bathrooms left to paint. So it really is the best present.

Unfortunately, my bathroom project is turning out to be a little more difficult than I thought it would be. While scraping paint from my tub and tile I realized that the previous owners of this home were not only sloppy painters, they were also VERY sloppy calkers. So we had to pull out a bunch of calk, retexturize the walls, and John will have to recalk after we paint (adding a day of not being able to use my bathroom). John went and picked up all of our last minute supplies today (why do projects always end up costing more than you think they will?) and we got the ceiling, trim, and texturizing done. Tomorrow is the big paint job! I'm so excited for it to all be over. I'll post pictures when we're done. It can't look any worse than it does right now!

My Secret Fear

I have wanted to find a great book to read for quite some time now. John has offered me a few of his books...no thanks! He also volunteered to get me one from the library. I think it was then that I realized that for some reason I have a deep rooted fear of the public library. I hide it well, but when it comes right down to it, for some reason I'm a little afraid of checking out books. I have only one distinct memory of visiting the public library when I was in elementary school. I always used the school library (the Burley public library was probably comparable to the elementary school library anyway). I remember being with my mom and sister. My mom wanted me to check out "Where the Red Fern Grows." I had no interest in reading a book about different types of ferns and where they can be found in the world, so despite her trying to convince me that it was a really good book, I declined.

I used the BYU library for school purposes only. I wonder what would have happened if I had to actually get a card and wasn't just able to use my ID card. I never liked being in the library, I rarely even studied in there . I think John made me get a library card when we lived in Provo, but I don't think I ever used it. I remember using his library card to get a couple of books when we lived in Salt Lake. But I have issues with checking out books. I have never been a great reader. Don't get me wrong, I love a good book, but I have to get hooked in the first few chapters or I usually toss the book aside and never finish. If I own or borrow the book I can read it at my leisure. That suits me. I know that you can renew books, but something about the whole process just stresses me out.

I don't have a problem taking the kids to the library for story time, music classes, etc., but it is John that takes Ains to check out books. I often have to return books and DVD's , but I have yet to check one out since living here. I now rely on others to get me to the library. When we first moved to our apartment here there was a girl in our ward that introduced me to a movement and music class at a local library. Ains loved the class. We would go and participate and have fun, but never stay to check out books. Our library now requires that you call and sign up for any class you want to bring your child to. Luckily for me, I have a friend that keeps me very well informed so Ains doesn't miss out.

So there you have it. I'm lucky that I married a person that uses the library more than any other human on the planet, and that I have friends that love to use the library and let me tag along with them. One of these days, maybe I'll get over my weird complex, get my own library card, and start checking out books to read. Until then, do you have a good book I could borrow (that isn't about baseball or church history)?

A sad day

I just saw the winners of the roadtrip on the Ellen show, and it wasn't me. While I am very sad, I am also a bit relieved (can you tell I'm trying to make myself feel better?). Karalenn had a trip to LA planned for this week. She is leaving for LA with her family tonight. Maria is on a little trip up to Cascade. Alyssa is pregnant and super sick. I am trying to get my vein "procedure" scheduled and insurance matters worked out. And John was sad that I would be missing my birthday because he got us tickets to see the BYU folk dance team.

While I am completely bummed...I think I would have chosen the winners over us. Not because they look like more fun, we are totally more fun, (and cuter) but they are true die-hard Ellen fans and watch her show together everyday. And they all live by each other. So as much as I wanted them to pick us, I must admit that I would have picked them too. *sigh* I still think it's pretty cool that we got a call from a producer and were in the running when there were well over 50,000 letters sent!

Happy Valentine's Day!

(We need to quit laughing when Owen does his growly face when we say smile or we'll never get a smiley picture!)

This year I've been a little more festive for Valentine's Day than I usually am. I got out a heart shaped candy dish! I know, festive! The kids woke up to balloons and candy this morning. And I woke up to a very nice note and tickets to see the BYU folk dance team next week. But my biggest accomplishment this year has been the daily surprise John has been getting for the past 2 weeks.

This year I got the idea to do the 14 days of Valentine's here (scroll down and read all of her 14 day's of Valnetine's ideas...pretty clever). I must admit that I'm a slacker when it comes to doing things for John to show him that he is appreciated around here, so I decided to give this whole idea a try. We are finally to the final day! Over the past 2 weeks John has gotten things like breakfast in bed, his favorite cookies, a kid free night, Valentine's made by the kids and hidden every where, lunch brought to him at work, a movie night with treats, ironed shirts, a scrap book full of cute family pictures, a container filled with candy and slips of paper with I love you written in 13 different languages (including kingon....jIH muSHa' SoH for any one that was wondering), etc. I must admit that some of my ideas were better than others. I also copied a lot of ideas from the founder of the 14 days of Valentine's (I don't know her name).

So, tonight is the grand finale. This morning I left out a menu for the "gournet" dinner I will be making for us tonight. The kids will get a frozen pizza and then head off to bed early so that we can enjoy our meal. I've been working on preparing spinach salad with poppy seed dressing, bruschetta, cheese tortellini in alfredo sauce, and a fudge cake with ganache. I just hope it all turns out!

I know you are all angry with me right now for not sharing this lovely idea with you sooner, but then that would have ruined the surprise. So you will all just have to copy this fun idea next year! I still haven't decided whether or not this will be a tradition. It was fun though!

Missing

Despite Owens great searching skills I have yet to locate my make-up brush that he "borrowed" this morning. And we have looked several times!

I'm going to be on Ellen.....maybe!

Last week I was watching the Ellen show and she introduced a road trip give away. It was a trip for you and three of your friends to drive a fancy new car to LA to see the Ellen show. I thought,"Hey, that sounds like fun!" I immediately thought of my group of four friends from high school. The number just seemed right. So I called Maria and told her that she should write a letter and win us a trip. We laughed and said we would get together to work on one. Then I called Karalenn and the ball started rolling. She wrote a draft of a letter on Friday night and then Maria and I did some revisions and worked on it a bit more all of Saturday morning (I think John was a little annoyed that morning by the way). So we finished up the letter, attached some pictures and I sent it off.

Ever since (okay, it's been 2 days) we've been joking about how we are going to be on the Ellen show (look through my comments). Karalenn even called this morning to see if they had called yet. Well, today, around 5:30 I got a call from one of the producers from the show!!!!!!! (I'll add one more for emphasis)! Can you believe it? Out of a bagillion letters they got they liked ours, and we are in the running. I have no idea how many people they have narrowed it down to, but I know we made it to the interview phase. The producer just wanted to know a little more about me and the people I wanted to take with me. I was so flabergasted that I'm sure I said something rediculous. Karalenn actually called while I was on the phone with the producer. So I immediatly called her when I got off the phone and we screamed a lot. Then I called Maria, and we screamed a lot. Then I called some other people and yelled. Then Karalenn finally got ahold of Alyssa and I'm sure there was more screaming. In fact, I'm still so excited right now that I'm a little shaky.

So there you have it...I'm a top contender to take a road trip to be on the Ellen Show! My biggest concern now is that you have to be ready in a days notice, CRAZY! I'm sure John would have a great time with the kids. I just can't believe this. And it would all happen in the next week. We noticed after we started writing our letter that the trip is to take place between the 15th and the 26th......Of this month! AAHHHH! Totally worth it though!

Chuck E. Cheese

Today we got to go to Chuck E. Cheese for Ainsley's preschool field trip. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. I used to go to the Chuck E. Cheese here when my friends all worked there in high school. I'm not sure why I never did...I was too cool I guess. Anyways, they have redone a lot of it and it looked well kept up and clean (I'm sure the fact that we went at 10:00 on a Monday morning helped as well). The kids LOVED it. We had pleanty of tokens and the kids got to play lots of games. Then they got to have pizza and pop. I pulled my camera out towards the end of our morning and got a few shots of the kids.
Ains and Chuck E.
Ains, Abby, Kimberlee, and Dallin crammed into the car ride. The favorite of the day for some reason.
Owen playing his favorite game, catch the blowing balls in the bucket. He did this MANY times!
Ains on the rocket ride.

I started taking video of Ains and Owen in the beloved car because Ains started playing around and screaming and Owen started in with his scream which is hilarious and I have yet to catch on video. Unfortuantely for you, I missed his hilarious scream and only got him yelling a couple of times. What was funny was that he really wasn't scared, he just wanted to make some noise! And I have no idea what posessed Ains to pull that face at the end either.

Significant

Look at that handsome devil!
Today is significant for two reasons. First of all it is Kortney's birthday. She turns the big 27 today! It is also signficant because today Owen was officially nursery age and therefore spent his last two hours of church playing with toys instead of walking the halls. I think this milestone is more exciting for John seeing as how I have been in primary and so the hall walking duty has fallen mainly on him. I think John was actually able to enjoy church today, and from what I hear Owen only cried for a few minutes in nursery. So, I guess we'll count the day as a success!

So, this is what I've learned in the past 48 hours...

1. Gluten flour exists.
I was not aware of this until last night when at a bread making enrichment activity. Apparently, gluten flour acts like glue in your bread. If you add it to your homemade bread will make it so that your bread isn't all crumbly, like homemade bread often times is. Maybe the rest of the world is a step ahead of me on this one, but I found it fascinating!

2. New insurance mumbo jumbo.
Upon talking to the doctor today and discussing the expense of my little procedure I was informed that I needed to ask the insurance company about the maximum allowable charges. Upon speaking with the nice man in customer service for quite some time I finally figured out what that even meant, and more importantly, what that meant in reguards to my check book. I would explain it here but it would take forever and is quite boring.

3. When the weather man predicts 40 degree weather for the day, what he means is, don't bother shoveling your walks because it will all melt by the end of the day. Unfortunately for me, I saw snow on the walks and shoveled mindlessly. I guess I got a good workout though.

4. I have the veins of a 50 year old woman. But according to my doctor, although I have old veins, I look much younger than I actually am. (Kiss up)

5. When toddlers wake up grumpy, chances are they will be grumpy until given motrin for the many molars that are pushing against their gums causing excruciating pain. Next time when dealing with grumpy toddler, check the mouth first!

6. Frying sausage grosses me out.

7. Vein procedures are EXPENSIVE!!!!

So what have you learned today?

Time Off

Today I get the afternoon off! My dad called this morning because he and my mom wanted to take Ains to lunch and a movie. I was hesitant at first but decided to let her go. NOT! (I just wanted to use that phrase since I haven't used it in a good 15 years). I believe my first thoughts were, "Absolutely! Yes! What time!" What a nice break for me! I think my parents felt a little bad for poor Ains who has been relatively healthy during our family's week of disease, so they thought she could use an afternoon out of the house. I'm sure she will have a blast...as will I (although I'm still tired from being sick so my "blast" might include a nap). I hope they're enjoying Red Robin and Alvin!

What is wrong with this family???

Our house is infested with disease! And I have proof! Check out all of the medications that have found a permanent home on our kitchen counter.
Yesterday John came home from work early because his throat was hurting so badly. He felt awful all night and was in bed by 8:00. What was funny to me though, was that he got up at 6:00 this morning because he was done sleeping and got ready for work. I looked at him when he came out of the bathroom and just said, "Are you serious?!" It didn't take me long to convince him that he wasn't going to work, and instead he got back in bed and slept until his doctors appointment at 10:00. So now he in on an antibiotic for strep and I'm starting to have the strep feeling on one side of my throat. I might have to borrow a few pills because our doctor visit quota has been met for the year (and it's only February!). We have all visited the doctor in less than a week, and I have to go back for a meeting with the vascular surgeon on Friday. I'm slowly seeing all of the money I wanted to put into house projects going towards medical bills....I really hate that!

On a happier note................I have my camera back!!! So here are a few pictures from last week when Syd and Ains made a snowman at my parents. The snowmen just never seem to end this year. We got another few inches last night. I'm getting really good at shoveling the walks. I guess I have been deemed the family snow shoveler since I seem to be the one doing the bulk of it.

Oh, how I miss my camera!

Owen and I are both home from church today due to our illnesses. Owen still has gunk coming out of his eyes and a terrible cough, and I seem to have some kind of a head cold that has made me very achy. Needless to say, I just didn't think anyone would appreciate us getting our germs all over the church building.

Due to the incredible amount of mucus we have seen in the past few days John and I had the foresight last night to realize that we would be stuck at home as a family basking in each others coughs and runny noses this fine Super Bowl Sunday. So we decided to be prepared with some Super Bowl appropriate foods to fill our fun day. This is kind of funny because neither of us really cares about the super bowl. I could take it or leave it. I think we just didn't want to pass up an opportunity/excuse to make yummy food. So this morning Owen and I got started on some of the snack food while listening to our church services (President Hinckley's funeral services, since I missed it yesterday. Which I really enjoyed by the way). We made 7 layer dip and these Boston Cutie Pies. And let me tell ya, although it might not sound like a lot, making these two things wore me out! I really must be sick. I guess that means John gets stuck finishing food preparations and shoveling the walks when he gets home because it has been snowing all day.

So, we are home, and I'm missing my camera (I still haven't picked it up from my mom's, I know I'm lazy) because today I really wanted to take a picture. After the sheer exhaustion we felt from all of our cooking, Owen was ready for his afternoon nap by about 11:00 this morning. I didn't want to put him down with out some lunch so I made him a peanut butter sandwich and let him at it while I relaxed on the couch. I wasn't giving him much attention...okay, I wasn't giving him any attention because I was on the computer....and when I did eventually look over at him he was all but asleep with peanut butter and jelly all over his face and a big chunk of sandwich stuck to the top of his head. I couldn't help but laugh. It's cute enough when kids fall asleep eating, but the sandwich on the head just made it adorable. And I couldn't take a picture of it!!!! I'm mad at myself now for not getting my camera back sooner. That is officially on my list of things to do, or I might just wait until I'm there cleaning on Tuesday to pick it up.

To Glaze or not to Glaze???

So lately I have been thinking about putting a glaze on my cabinets (kind of like in the picture but maybe a little darker) just to update their look a little. It seems like a really inexpensive and easy thing to do to update the look of my house (is it wierd that I already think of updating our housefor selling purposes and we're no where close to moving?). I have never actually seen it done and so I'm just basing my opinion on what little reading I've done. I've heard of people doing it themselves, I just can't figure out if it is really as easy as they say, or if I shouldn't bother at all. I just want the kind of glaze that is noticeable in the crevices of my cupboards, I don't want to change the whole color of my cabinets. So....anyone out there have any experience with this that could enlighten me a little??? Seriously, I need some imput!