Travis and Jessica

What we've been up to...

2011-06-15T22:13:00.030-06:00

As you can see we've been up to lots!! These are the most recent pictures from my phone. I really hope I can put all (or most) of this stuff into separate posts because we've had some huge milestones, good times, and great stories that I'd love to keep forever! Here are the pictures though. That's a huge start!

Trav, Kass, and I went to Viva Salt Lake this year with our friends Devan, Kelli, Laci, and Chris to begin our summer concert fun!! There were quite a few bands performing this year. We were only interested in the later bands so we showed up around 6 pm to see Royal Bliss, Ed Kowalczyk (of Live!), and Fuel. I was mainly excited about Royal Bliss (we've seen them before, and they are great!) and of course Live!! We grew up listening to their stuff, so it was such a build up knowing that we were going to see him performing live! Neither band let down, either! It was such a great way to officialy welcome summer!!

After Royal Bliss played, Kass, Laci, and I went on a mission to meet Neal, and we were totally successfull! He's a badass, and I'm so glad we got to hang out with him for a little bit!

Waiting for Live to set up!

Chillin with Neal!

Kass came out with heels and we all asked her "You're wearing heels to the show?!" Her response was "Uh..yeah..I always wear heels." --This is the result :)

Lots of graduations!! We went to 3 Graduations this year, and unfortunately missed one :(. We're so proud of everyone who graduated!! (Auntie Tammy with her Masters in Special Education, Katie--High School, Laci--High School, and Daniel--High School). The Graduations were...well...as fun as Graduations can be I suppose! I will say that no matter how boring it is to sit and listen to talks and a million names...I still get chills every single time I hear a friend or family member Graduate! Such a wonderful feeling!

Auntie Kristine was a really great sister and planned an awesome, awesome surprise for Auntie Tammy's Graduation! Uncle Mike, Uncle Tom, Auntie Boop, Auntie Pam, and Bubba all came down from California to be there when Auntie Tammy walked up to get her diploma! We had such a wonderful time, I wish we all lived closer together so we could see each other on a weekly basis!! (Love and miss you all!!)

Idaho trip to see the bestie!!

My favorite little girl turned 2!! She's getting so big!

Birthday festivities were at the park this year with a RockStar Diva theme! (So fitting!) We hung out, ate some good BBQ, and played Catch Phrase by the fire with the fam! Presley was so adorable opening her presents--Every single present brought a HUGE smile to her face!

Baby birdies!!!

Despite the poop all over the place, these little guys were adorable!! PS..don't ask me how I got the second picture so close up without zooming. It would be embarrasing if I had to tell you that I tried to balance on the tire of my car, and in the middle of the snap fell down to the ground. Man..our neighbors should pay for the shows that I put on almost on a daily basis!

Lovin me some nephew!

He is perfect, and beautiful, and I love this little guy!! Even when he throws up on Auntie Jess. We're in the process of working on that one!

Photoshoots for mom!

I made my mom a block letter set that said "Mom" for Mother's Day! The O was a heart, and I put a picture of us on it. It turned out adorable, and our mom loved it! We had lots of fun taking pictures, too as you can see.

The hardest part is having two sisters pick a picture to give to mom to display. I don't suggest doing that anytime in the near future. Word of advice and future note to self..don't give your sister an option :)

Crafts!!

I've been steadily busy with craft projects!! I started selling on Etsy as well as a craft store near my house, and I've shipped orders out each week for the past few months! I love it, and I started a US map where I color in each state that I've shipped to! So far I'm at 13 states!!

Fishing Trip with Grandpa!

I absolutely adore fishing, and so does my Grandpa. He actually professionally fished for quite some time when he was younger! We're in the process of making a video of our fishing trip. Hopefully I'll have it ready soon to post on here! It was one of the best days I've had in a really long time, plus we caught some nice fish!! Since then, Trav have gone back to that spot, and caught some even bigger fish!! In fact, I caught my biggest trout at that (secret) spot! (4 lbs 22 in)

Gardening!

It was a LOT of work this year, but we pulled through, and planted our garden! We waited way longer than last year to plant because of all of the rain we've had lately. But Trav and I manual labored it up all day! Our plants are much smaller this year, and we tried that black weed stopper stuff! I can't wait to not have any weeds to pull!!!

Vegas!!

K, Vegas totally needs it's own post because I have a ton of pictures, and lots of stories!! We had a blast though!

Watching flowers bloom!

This is my first little bloomer for this year!! Yay for perennials!

New toy!

I bought the May 2011 Macbook Pro. She is my baby, and I totally daydream about her!

Happy.

2011-05-28T20:46:00.002-06:00

I'm laying on my couch right now, and the tears are flowing. The greatest tears. Happy tears. Tears that are burning as they run down my (very!) sunburned face.

This has been one of the greatest days in a really long time.

I have so many pictures to upload from today and they'll be up really soon! I just wanted to get a few things out first.

My Grandpa called me yesterday and asked if I wanted to go fishing early this morning. Now, if you know me, you know very well that I could never turn down a fishing trip. I'm the girl in below 0 weather, begging the guys to stay for just a few more hours. Fishing is my passion.

Enough to where I met my Grandpa this morning at 6AM. Showered, and ready to go.

The weather was perfect. The fishing was amazing. The fish we caught today are the biggest that I've caught in a really, really long time. The company (Grandpa and I) was much needed and long overdue. I learned so much, and aspire to one day be able to fish like my Grandpa.

10 hours fishing, and we were both down to keep fishing but decided when putting one foot in front of the other was a struggle, that we could call it a day. 10 hours though. I love that my Grandpa will hang with me for 10 hours for no other reason than to fish.

If only I could talk Trav into that!

***

After coming home, showering, BBQing some Fish, and telling fish stories (which will come soon--with pictures--promise!) I laid down to relax and check my usual pages online. One of them being my sales at a local craft store.

Every day I log in to this site to see which crafts have sold. I've been selling out of that store since February, and so far I've had to pay booth rent every month because I'm not getting enough sales to cover commission and booth rent. (If only I was selling at this store like I am on Etsy--)

Until today.

May will officially be the first month where I can walk into Quilted Bear and say "I'm here to pick up my check, please."

What a perfect, perfect day.

Life is good.

2011-05-26T09:41:00.000-06:00

It was the greatest sandwich ever. All 5 bites.

2011-05-01T11:59:00.003-06:00

Hi, hello. My name is Jessica, and I'm sort of (deathly) scared of spiders. The following story is one that I can only hope I'll forget..but I know that's completely out of the question. Especially because I have evidence.

And the evidence is too funny not to share.

You see, the evidence is a sandwich all mayonaise down on the rug that I'm a freak about. Serious.

...

Kass and I woke up pretty early this morning, and started watching TV. Tummys started grumbling a few minutes later so we went into the kitchen to make the best sandwiches ever.

Pickles, cheese, and (the last of the) turkey. Yum!!

I grab a soda, and sit down on the loveseat.

Usually this is not the case. About 6 or so months ago, I went to sit on this couch and before sitting down, I simply moved the pillow to the side. Good thing I did because there was a spider in between the cushion of the couch and the pillow. Now, each time I sit on that couch, I do a spider check. Except for this time. :(

So, we're watching The Voice, and I say to Kass "Man, these sangwiches are delicious. Best ever!"

A few minutes later at the exact same moment, Kassi and I jump up! (We have spi-dar like cats have reflexes.)

THERE WAS A SPIDER CRAWLING ON MY LEG!!!!

Moments later the sandwich was flung, tears came flowing, I moved faster than I have in a long time, and I was rockin' some Olympic worthy knee touch foot stomp moves.

This lasted for a solid 5 minutes until Kassi came into the back room and said "Jess, I'm pretty sure he's a goner."

...

Now, the worst part of this story besides the fact that I wasted a pickle, had a spider crawling on my leg, and the mayonaise on my rug is the fact that:

The spider is not dead, and is still somewhere in my living room.

It's going to be a rough week avoiding that room. It's sort of a common place to hang out.

Oh, and if you're wondering about my empty tummy and turkeyless fridge, Kassi was nice enough to share her sandwich with me. :) Sisters are totally the greatest!

Takin the gloves off.

2011-04-26T10:23:00.004-06:00

I've been laughing uncontrollaby lately. It feels like the times in High School where the teacher stares at you because you and a select few are laughing so hard, and you can't stop.

And then you look over at a friend to help calm you down, and it only makes the situation worse as you realize they are red in the face and failing to hide an outburst.

So, I should work on this. How do you work on holding in laughter? Oh, maturity? Well then...nevermind.

...

At least yesterday...I wasn't alone in the laughing outburst.

At work I'd done some testing with an agent. Another supervisor slides over and here ya go:

"Oh hey..she's already been tested. She's great, we just have to wait for a schedule to come up that she's able to work. There's no need to test her again."

"Oh cool...Um, is that in a report or something so I can check first before I bring them up here to test?"

"Well..not exactly..but..it's on my "to do" list today! So, in the meantime, if you just want to tell me the name before you bring them up, I'll let you know if they've already been tested or not."

(Trying to picture a visual of my list of people to test today when "Nau"--another agent-- pops into my head.)

Me: "How about Nau?" (Pronounced "now")

"Oh..um..like, what do you mean? Make the list now?"

I said it with such force. He was a little scared. We cracked up a little. The end.

Attempt at couponing...

2011-04-13T08:47:00.002-06:00

Ahh! I'm extremely behind!! I need to finish going through my trip to New Orleans pictures and start going throuhg Vegas pictures!!

They will make it one day.

I promise!

In other news (as you probably know if you follow me on facebook) I've been selling things left and right lately!! It's so exciting for me. Each week I find myself in the post office, shipping something to a different part of the world. It's great!!

Finally..the purpose of this post.

I've always sort of admired the organized mommy bloggers who post about their couponing experiences. Look!! I got 300 dollars worth of stuff, and only paid 17 dollars! I've never really had the time or patience to even know where to begin.

I'll start reading through their how to and I'm usually lost within the first paragraph.

I'm not going to commit to anything crazy like that...but I'm (we're) going to attempt it.

Travis was so excited to show me something when I got home from work yesterday. I went to sit next to him on the couch and he said "Grab a pair of scissors!" He couldn't believe that each week, we'd been throwing away all of these coupons! It was the cutest thing. He even knew what a "manufacturer" coupon was, and I had no idea.

I think it will be sort of fun looking through all of the coupons, and cutting them out. :)

Wish us luck!! And..if you have any tips/tricks that you'd like to pass on, feel free!!

Highly Educational Conversation.

2011-03-28T16:15:00.001-06:00

Katie: We should go to the festival of colors tomorrow.
Me: Oh! It's going on tomorrow, too?!
Katie: Yes! From Twelve to Noon.
Me: Really? Only for 2 hours?

The neph--Pics that make you go "Oh!"

2011-03-22T10:30:00.003-06:00

Kass and I had the pleasure of visiting Otto and the fam last night! They were nice enough to have us over to their house for a BBQ. (Thanks!! It was delicious!!)

It had been a few weeks since we've seen the nephew, and we were so excited!!

Turns out, little has changed...and he's still a sleepy head.

At least he's learning to sleep in style, though.

He was crackin us up with his random faces.

It's the most wonderful thing.

Especially, when I found out that tickling his chin, causes this face...

Poor blake..because after I found that out..he was non stop getting chin tickled.

Unless I was taking pictures.

Which (finally) eventually woke him up.

Halfway-ish.

He wasn't so excited to be awake...so I let him snuggle up and go back to sleep.

Either way, it's a win-win.

Love you Blakey!

-Favorite Aunt Jess.

How does he know?!

2011-03-21T08:35:00.004-06:00

I'm talking to my dog this morning as I'm searching my closet for something to wear.

"Hey hun, let's go potty!"

He looks at me like um. no..I'm good.

"C'mon Trey, let's go potty!"

He stands up, and stretches. Taking his time, he makes his way over to me.

Seeing that I'm still looking through my closet, he makes a split second decision and takes a hike back to his bed!!

This, apparently, isn't his first ro-dey-o.

I so love this dog! :)

Trav's dropped jaw was priceless.

2011-03-08T09:17:00.003-07:00

Travis got a new iPhone (finally!) on Sunday. He was so anxious to get it up and running but he needed to get a sim card for it before he was able to make/receive calls or text.

"I'll go first thing when I get off of work tomorrow, and get a sim card. Tonight I want to put music and stuff on it though. Can you delete the data and stuff from the previous owner?"

"Sure babe..I'll just restore to default."

That's where the adventure began.

We found out that when you "restore to default" it locks the phone up until a sim is put in. You cannot access music, or anything else on the phone. Oops.

So, we hop in the car (in the pouring rain) and drive over to Grandpa's house. I'd given them an extra sim that I had so we were going to give that a shot.

--Insert Trav's hopes going back up here.

We get the sim, I call ATT and they are closed.

Bummer.

In not giving up without a fight, I look online to see if maybe there is a 24 hour service number.

Finally find one, call them, and find out that you can only have a number assigned to a sim card once.

Back to square one.

The rep at ATT said "You can buy sim cards from Kiosks in Wal-Mart or Best Buy, though. It doesn't have to be the actual ATT store"

Sweet!!

--Insert Trav's hopes going back up here.

I call Best Buy. Sunday. Closed.

I call Wal-Mart. ATT Kiosk closes at 8. It's 8:30.

We decide to make the trip to ATT anyway...maybe we'd get lucky.

Go out in the pouring rain for a second time.

Find the ATT kiosk, and ask for sim cards. Find out they are 25 bucks, and that they do have one!!

--Insert Trav's hopes going back up here.

Realize we both forgot our wallets.

Back out into the pouring rain, grab the wallet, and go back to Wal-Mart.

Buy the sim card, get home, and I call ATT.

I work with a nice lady from India for close to an hour. We needed to activate the sim card, change Trav's number, and make sure everything was set to go. Trav is pacing the living room at this point, anxious and asking every 3 minutes "Is it working? Is she going to be able to get it going tonight? Did you ask her about this?"

Then he sits down and I put it on speakerphone.

"Sir, you have 3 choices to pick from for your number. They are blah, blah, and blah."

"The first one sounds great"

"Okay, let me just go ahead and activate that for you. One sec. Okay, your number is going to be 801 254 (Silence)"

Trav and I immediately notice the very large letters at the top of my phone that say "Call Failed".

I guess at this point my dropped jaw was pretty priceless, too...but I could only see Trav's and it's been enough to keep me giggling all week!!

Thank goodness this nice lady called us back, and we were able to get him up and running that night. It only took 4 hours. No biggie.

Trip to Alabama--Part 2--Section C

2011-03-03T12:26:00.001-07:00

I started this post yesterday, and posted it today, so if you'd like to read about it...it shows up under my birthday wish thank you post :)

Happy Birthday to Me!

2011-03-03T08:39:00.002-07:00

This is just a quick pop in to tell everyone thank you so much for the birthday wishes!!

I worked during the day, and then Trav took me out to Friday's and then bowling (my favorite)! We hit up the arcade again and Trav's high score on the basketball hoop was still there from the last time we were there. After a couple of tries I finally beat it!! Only to have him try some more and beat my new high score!! Ugh..maybe next time! :)

I want to give a shout out to my cousin Amy Loo...I loved your "Happy Birthday" Grandma used to sing to me every morning, so it was so great to open up your text and hear you singing to me!

I loved it so much..I even made Trav sing Happy Birthday to me last night just before bed. It was absolutely adorable.

Thanks again everyone, for making my day so great!!

Trip to Alabama--Part 2--Section C

2011-03-02T10:28:00.006-07:00

When I found out I was going to Alabama, one of my very first thoughts (besides palm trees) was fishing. I absolutely love to fish, so you can imagine how excited I was knowing I was going to be next to water with all different kinds of fish. Fish that I've never even seen before. I was so anxious.

So, to start out day 2...we went fishing!!

At first we fished off of the pier in Fairhope. (About a mile away from my Aunt's house.) The weather was not really the greatest. It was super windy, and sort of later in the morning, so the fish weren't biting.

Determined to show me an Alabama fish, we picked up and went to another spot. We were on a mission!

At the second spot (a few docks down), the luck wasn't any better. We did however see a friendly little man on a motorized wheelchair cart. He'd come and talked to us while we were at the first spot, and then he'd made his way down to spot number 2 in the meantime. So, we got out and asked if the fishing was any better at this spot, and found out that it wasn't. He did tell us a pretty cool story though. He said that on this dock, there is usually a Pellican. One that was hurt when hurricane Katrina came through. He said that lots of the locals know about him. They've named him Henry, and they bring him food because he's not able to fly very well anymore.

At the time he was telling us, it was just a story. I'd tried to picture what Henry looked like, but I really wanted to see him!

Lucky for us, a few minutes later...in flew Henry!!

He stayed for a little bit, let me grab some pictures of him, and then was on his merry little way.

As were we.

We got in the car, and tried one last place. "Fish River" at Weeks Bay. I mean if there were fish anywhere..it would have to be fish river, right?!

Right!!! It was at this place that AK pulled this beauty out of the water!!! They weren't super excited about it because it's "just a flounder" but I couldn't really contain my excitement...I mean, this "flounder" is totally the fish on Finding Nemo with 2 eyes on one side and none on the other side (See exhibit B). It's completely flat, and if I wasn't obsessed with Finding Nemo, I could honestly say that I've never seen anything like it in my life!! It was awesome!

They said it was pretty rare to catch a flounder out of this river because they generally sit at the bottom and you have to use a jig to tap them on the side because it's not like the swim through the water, and can actually see the food. It was sort of a hit and miss type thing. It was fate. I had to see an Alabama fish!! Plus, if you look at exhibit a, you'll see that apparently this little guy was starving. He tried to put his teeny tiny mouth on a not so teeny tiny piece of shrimp. Way to take it like a champ Mr. Flounder. It was worth the sight of you.

After fishing, the plan was to go back home and shower/get ready for the day. That soon changed when I realized we were only about 30-45 minutes away from Gulf Shores. (The beach town that we'd stopped at on the first day) I begged and begged to just keep on heading that way, and make our way back to Gulf Shores to see the beach just one more time. (Just kidding...I didn't really have to beg. AK was pretty much like hey..this is your time, we'll do whatever you want. It was so great. Thank you AK :))

Soooo...back at Lulu's we were. For some crazy reason...I put my butt in the butt bucket. For picture purposes I guess. I did put a fresh layer of sand in there though, before my bum came anywhere near the bucket!

Lulu's has the most amazing, neverending sandpit behind the restaurant. I so love this place!!

I played with the sand as long as I possibly could. It was so fun to just relax, and play in the sand. No worries. No stress. ...Well...it was kinda stressfull when my sand castle collapsed. Turns out you have to mix a little bit of water with the sand in order to build. So technical.

We took a few pictures on some ginormous chairs.

Played a little ring game.

Played in the sand a little more...

And then we left. We were all starving, so we went down the road (still in Gulf Shores) to get some grub at a place called The Hangout

And oh man!! I thought I loved Lulu's!!!!
The Hangout was just as wonderful!! Instead of a neverending sand pit, they had a beach behind their restaurant.

Actually...the beach was more to the side of the restaurant. So, as we were eating, we were watching the parasailers. It was crazy windy that day, and this one dude was catching some mad air!!

After we ate, we of course couldnt leave until we went to the beach. I wanted to bring some sand and seashells home.

So, we seashell hunted. Which for me only lasted about 2 minutes. I was so distracted by drawing in the sand...

And feeling the sand between my toes (my favorite!!!)

And learning about how the oil spill is still in full effect...and actually seeing that on the shells...

And taking pictures...

And chasing waves. (Yes, the water was freezing. No, I didn't care.)

I couldn't get enough of the whole feet in the sand/water thing. And I sooo miss that.

It's unfortunate that it was so cold and windy. I could have stayed at the beach allll day!!

I was happy to see that rollerblading on the beach is prohibited, though. I was super worried about someone trying to perfect that sport. Thanks beach rules. You probably save lots of lives.

At first I started with just my feet in the water. Then I wanted to walk in a little more, so I rolled up my pant legs. Then AK wanted to take my picture...I turned around (back against the waves) and a huge wave washed up against me. The result was an "Oh, well...already wet...might as well keep playing" attitude, and some very wet pants, necessary of changing.

The hangout had the raddest decorations! They had a wall full of old school lunch boxes, and this wall with pez dispensers!!! So great!

Then it was time to beat the storm, and head home. Thank you Gulf Shores. You were beautifully wonderful!!

To end the perfect second day of my vacation, we got ready (finally around 8ish), and went to a local bar to play some poker. I do have to say that Alabama "poker" is like nothing I've ever played before...but it was fun, and friendly (for the most part. ;))

We couldn't call it a night without pictures (basically a photoshoot) by the famous fairhope clock, so that's what we did.

It was another very, very busy, packed tight day but every single bit of it was worth it!! It was packed full of good times, and great memories!!

Tomorrow we'd wake up bright and early, and head to "Nawlins".

Blake's baby shower

2011-03-01T10:44:00.003-07:00

Saturday night I stayed up really late.

Making sure everything was just perfect for the next day. The day where we'd celebrate the birth of baby Blake, brought to us by Otto and Carlie!

I had so much fun picking out outfits and gifts for this little guy.
It melted my heart to see him wearing (and sort of fitting into) my favorite outfit. --Totally wears it like a champ.

We each did our part to help out with the party..Kass and I were in charge of the games, Megan made the most delicious cake ever! Camille made an amazing diaper cake! (basically a pro) Kristy had some yummy treats ready, and Carlie was able to provide most of the entertainment. Her show and tell was the best of the day by far!

Blake was so stoked for this shower that blessed us with his presence 6 weeks early. He was able to be passed around about every 5 minutes. Lucky little guy.

I doubt this is a biased opinion..but aren't these the most precious stubby fingers you've ever seen?!

Thought so.

The turnout was wonderful! Carlie and Otto received lots of much needed stuff including but not limited to a stroller/carseat combo (Grandpa and Auntie Kristine), clothes (basically everyone), Diaper Genie (Camille), diapers, wipes, bath stuff (everyone), walkers, crib sheets, customized blankets/burp pads (Auntie Tammy/Grandma), Personalized letter set (Favorite Aunt Jess), bottle toppers, jammies, socks/washrags/onesies/Winnie the Pooh outfit (Kass), beanies, knitted sweaters, baby monitor (Jessi), and I know there was so much more but I was a little distracted by the 5 lb of goodness laying in my arms.

Games turned out to be really fun! We played 5 games. Our champions were Alexis, Jessi, Carlie, Kristy, and Auntie Tammy!

Isn't this the yummiest picture you've ever seen?

Yeah?

Well what about this one? What if I throw it into the mix?

I agree. It's too hard to choose. He's so precious.

Everyone took their turns holding him, but I think Grandma held him for the longest. He was so content and comfy snuggled up in something she was able to create for him. It fit him just perfect, and I know she's proud.

Here we are. Kassi and I, just being Aunts 'n stuff. Trying to perfect our newly aquired title.

So far on my Aunt "to do" list I can cross of 2 things:
Feed my nephew.
Change his bum.

Dear Blake,

You're one loved little guy. You're probably still too little to be able to tell right now, but you'll know soon enough. I can't wait to take you out on play dates to the aquarium, shopping, and to the zoo. I'll be nice for now, and push "cheek pinching" to a later date down the road...but don't worry, it will come with time. For now, I'll just kiss your little cheeks. I will have you know though, if you don't wake up for me a little more..cheek pinching will come a little sooner than you're going to want. So, please work on that.

We all love you, and couldn't be more happy about you being here with us.

I love you,

Aunt Jess.

I adore him.

2011-03-01T09:50:00.004-07:00

I sometimes (always) hint to Trav that I love flowers. It's definitely a well known fact. They are so beautiful, and the thought (especially when it's a complete surprise) is all warm and fuzzy feeling.

The other day I walked in from work to these sitting on the table.

With a card that said "This better make you happy! :)"

Joke...but we're working on that. :)

It was a wonderful gesture, and I'm not sure how he knew I'd appreciate the flowers, but he did. :)

I walked into our bedroom and gave him a hug, and as soon as I saw him..he had the biggest smile. ever. He knew he done good. It was adorable.

We decided we deserved a date night, so he took me out to eat, and we went to All Star for some bowling and arcade games.

We thought we were basically robbing the place when we won 500 tickets off of 15 bucks. And then we realized if you wanted the big prize (Wii), it was 38000 tickets. Total rip off!!

We left with a flobbily 0.50 cent back scratcher, but we had an awesome time and as it turns out...that thing comes in handy!!

So looking forward to the next time!

going...going...going...gone!!

2011-02-25T10:51:00.002-07:00

I'm having attachment issues!

I made this little guy last weekend.

Turns out, he was pretty special. Totally reversable, and also very adorable.

He officially sold today, and I'm going to have a hard time shipping him out!! Chances are real good that I'll have to make a few more, and maybe even keep one for myself!!

Bye little guy! Enjoy your journey.

The right place at the right time?

2011-02-22T14:30:00.003-07:00

Updated--with picture!!

As you can see in the picture, it's not like they could see the man from a distance. It's like his bum was almost touching the window.

I wanted a picture for this story, because I think it would immensely help with the visualization but unfortunately that's not happening anytime soon so put on your thinking caps, and use your imagination!!

I was at the gym the other day, and decided to take advantage of the attached tanning place afterwords.

I walk in, and they indicate there is a 13 minute wait for the bed I want. No biggie. I take a seat, and patiently wait.

A few minutes into the wait a group of 6-ish girls walks in. They are hysterically laughing. In fact, one of them even falls on the floor.

Annoyed, but extremely interested, I'm thinking "Seriously?! What could be that funny?"

Then one of them says to the lady behind the desk "Are you aware there is a man in that room (points to a room with a huge window which faces the front of the tanning place), and he's undressing and putting lotion on? And also, he didn't close the blinds"

Insert laughs coming from everyone in the room

(It's at this point that I wonder what exactly the man is doing...he's in a room, about ready to tan. Putting lotion on, and he thinks no one is watching. Is he flexing? Checking out his muscles? Putting lotion on his feet? (Sorry for that image..but if I have to have it, then so do you!) ...And the laughing is uncontrollable.

Lady behind the counter turns completely red and says "Alex...?"

Manly voice: "Uh..yeah?"

"Did you close the blinds?"

"Well...(long pause)the windows are tinted...right?!"

"No, no they're not. Sorry..."

Silence...

Then one of the 6 girls who walked in broke the awkwardness with a kind "Dude, we saw it all!"

How nice of her!!

That poor, poor man!! hahaha...how he came out of that room when he was done tanning is beyond me!!

His "goodbye" consisted of:

"So, did you all see everything?"

I mean, I wasn't expecting much of a goodbye..after all...there was no way he was going to even come close to his entrance. Dude totally came in with a bang. And a show.

A tattoo..the impact.

2011-02-18T09:21:00.003-07:00

"I honestly don't think I could love this anymore." I said to Kass the other day as we were both sitting on the couch, watching TV.

I never thought having a tattoo on my foot would mean so much to me. Actually, I never thought a tattoo could mean so much, period.

I've always loved the way they look on people, and almost every time I try to analyze them. I put together a story for their tattoo. Why do they have it? What is special to them? What's the background?

I've always wanted one.

The problem was, I had to have a story. I had to have one that would mean so much to me I would never, ever regret it.

And, that's exactly what I got. A story. A meaning. A tribute. It's a story with an end that pulls at my heart strings every. single. day.

This little guy on my foot tells the story so well.

I see it each and every day and I am reminded (not that I need the reminder) of something so special to me, that I'm not even able to find the words for.

I believe that's the definition of "tattoo".

Update!

2011-02-14T16:33:00.002-07:00

Almost as soon as I hit publish on my last post, my Aunt texted me:

How many letter sets did you have for sale at Quilted Bear?
--Three for now, but I'm bringing some more by today. Why?!
There are only two now.

That's right folks..that means I offically got my first sale at the Quilted Bear!

After we contained my excitement, she told me that she got her first sale as well!! Woot!

I so love Valentine's day!!

For future reference when we're big, rich, and famous and we're wondering what our first sold items were:

AT- A Quiet Toy (10 dollars 50 cents.)
ME- Letter set "xoxo" (19 dollars 99 cents.)

11 days!

2011-02-14T09:26:00.004-07:00

Wow..it's almost been a half of a month since I've blogged. That is horrible! Everything here has been pretty busy, actually. We've officially moved into The Quilted Bear and are selling things left and right! Just kidding. Still waiting for the first sale! We've only been in there a few days, and we're still getting the shelf stuff all figured out. My aunt and I have been busy little ladies working each night on a few more things to bring in to the store. I'll post some pictures once we get a little more settled.

Other than the craft world, things have been about the same. I'm sick right now :( Hoping to get over this junk in the head stuff real quick. My team took me out to the Cheesecake Factory a few weeks ago to celebrate my 5 year anniversary with the company. I still can't believe it's already been 5 years. I'm so lucky to have landed this job as my first job. Sometimes I wonder what things would be like if I hadn't started out with this company. Would I be on the same path that I am now?

I'm still working on my vacation pictures. It really is a love hate relationship looking at those pictures. I love the memory, but that's the part I hate, too. The fact that it's just a memory! If only it could have lasted a few months!! I am so thankful that I was able to go on that trip, though. It was so much fun to go and see what seems like a whole different world.

We have ourselves another Vegas trip in the making!! I'm counting down the days!! We booked our flights already. We leave on March 31st, and come back April 4th. That will be a nice little good times, poker playing, palm tree looking getaway.

As far as a nephew update goes...He is doing much, much better. He is able to eat more, and is digesting well. They are hopefull that he will be able to come home this week! I have yet to hold him :(. Since he's in the NICU, they are very strict about how many times he is able to be held in a day/how often he can have visitors. Technically, he's still supposed to be in mommy's tummy until the 13th of March, so they want him to be as isolated as possible so his little body can focus on grow, grow, growing. I, however..would be fine with him staying 4 pounds forever. I think he's perfect just the way he is. I don't understand the rush on him growing. I'm sick now, so I'm not able to go see him. As soon as I feel better and can't get little Blakey sick, I'll go see him...and hopefully be able to snag a few pictures!!

Last but certainly not least...Travis said the wonderful words last night. "Babe..do you want to BBQ some burgers tonight?" "Wait..you mean on our BBQ???!!! Outside?!?! Yes! Yes, I do!" Yesterday was such a nice day. It got me thinkin' about last summer. About BBQing every night, forgetting how to even use our stove. About gardening. About mowing the lawn. About staying outside until bedtime. And about camping. Ahh... The good old days and nights of spring. I'm so excited for that time of the year.

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

And, sorry about the 11 day thing. Holy Moly. You'd think at least something blogworthy would have happened in 11 days. I mean, dang.

He squoze my finger.--The facts.

2011-02-03T12:04:00.002-07:00

I am now the Aunt to a beautiful baby boy.
He was born Feburary 2nd, 2011.
Blake was born 5 weeks early.
He is itty bitty.
4lbs 12oz 18in.
I saw him for the first time when he was around 2 hours old.
I put my finger inside of his hand, and he squoze.
I am now a proud (first time) Aunt to a beautiful baby boy.

I'll see him again on Saturday, and come back with pictures!

Trip to Alamaba..Part 2--Secion A.

2011-02-02T09:24:00.004-07:00

Okay, so first things first...I totally lied.

I thought I'd be able to put my vacation portion of this trip into one post, and I was completely wrong.

New plan of action: I'll be posing day 1, day 2, and then day three (New Orleans)!

So, to pick up where we left off...It's Tuesday morning. My Aunt has just picked me up from a 14 hour flight. I've had roughly an hour of sleep. Basically I've been up since 7AM Monday morning. I'm extremely tired, but so excited at the same time. It's a weird feeling.

I landed in Pensacola, Florida which is an hour outside of where my Aunt used to live. We took the long way home so I could check stuff out! During which I contemplated taking a couple of hours to catch up on some beauty sleep (turns out after you fly for 14 hours, you need a little bit of that). It was a raging battle in my head, I was exhausted, but as soon as I reminded myself where I was, and how little time I had, there was no way I could lay down and take a nap!

Our first stop was at a place called "Flora-Bama". It's smack dab on the border of Florida and Alabama.

We bought some scratch lottery tickets, and won a dollar. Bought another one, won another dollar. Bought another one, won another dollar. Rinse and repeat about 6 times, seriously. Then finally, on our last one..we won 10 dollars! Sweet, got our 10 back, and bailed.

Bailed to inside of the bar.

It was on our first stop that I saw one of the coolest things on this trip. It's a freakin' Lobster getter, claw machine!!! You know the claw machines where you spend 15 dollars trying to win a 35 cent stuffed animal? Yeah..it was one of those, except for your prize was a lobster. A lobster!! Seriously?! Hello, how awesome is that?! It's really a shame that (it wasn't the season/right day/perfect time) all of the lobsters were sleeping in the corner, and I wasn't able to catch one!

The picture below is in the parking lot of Flora-Bama. You can see the Welcome to Alabama sign, and in the picture to the left, you can sort of see our rental van.

Oh, and in case you don't happen to notice...you can see the beautiful bright blue skies. Man, it's so hard for me to look at these pictures. I thought I'd get a vacation fix and be good for awhile, but no. It was more like a vacation tease, and I'm ready to go back..right now. Please.

The inside of Flora-Bama sort of reminded me of Coyote Ugly in Vegas, and the only reason I say that is because of the bras hanging from the ceiling! It looks like there have been some hoppin times in this place. I can't wait to go back and see what it's like on a weekend in the summertime!!

Prepare yourself for my beach ramble..

Lately, everything I hear about the beach is mostly talk. Meaning, it's been a really, really long time since I've actually been to the beach to experience it myself. So, naturally, I thought it was so overrated.

People would say they could spend hours on the beach, I think..."ugh..doing what? Boring."

Then they'd say they'd go to the beach any day of the week, and that they missed the beach. I mostly just let it go in one ear and out the other. No big deal, it's just water, and some sand.

And then...we walked out the back doors of Flora-Bama, and there she was.

Lookin' all sexy and stuff. The water was so beautiful, and the white sand was soooo soft. I instantly took my shoes off, and ran to the water.

I know you're thinking "It's the middle of winter, she's crazy!"

You are right. But I didn't care. I. absolutely. loved. the. beach. And yes, I could have stayed there for a lifetime and never got sick of it.

The water was freezing, but I still stood in it until my Aunt was halfway up to the car. (the skies are so deceiving!! It was cold the whole time I was there!--of course they were having a cold front. The one time I vacation there!)

I was blown away by the sand. It was so, so, so soft, and beautiful!! In fact, I brought some home...and out of all of my luggage, it was the sand that I was constantly protecting!

I love the beach. I miss the beach. I want to go back to the beach. It's so not overrated, it's basically the greatest thing, ever.

The drive through Gulf Shores, Alabama was so pretty!! I never ever ever ever pictured Alabama to look the way that it did. It's more like Florida, really. I pictured it to look sort of HIC-y. I pictured people missing their front left tooth, and saying thing like "Welcome to Aleh-beyam ah" while they were chewing on a piece of cornstalk.

Apparently I was slightly wrong.

If you're like me, you're facsinated by the landscape.

If you're like me, you've never seen houses on stilts before.

If you're like me, you're pretty sheltered, and you thought the white stuff in the picture above was snow.

Apparently it's white sand. But it looks just like snow! Crazy!

If you can look at these pictures, and not want to go on a vacation, there might be something wrong.

If you've been reading my blog for awhile..you know that I love (have an obsession) with palm trees. To me, they scream vacation. I don't live in an area where I see them on a daily basis, so when I do get to see them, I like to take excessive photos. They are so pretty!!

This next picture is my absolute favorite!!! How dreamy and catalog like does this place look?!?!

It's called LuLu's. This is where we ate on our way to the house on the first day. I loved every second of this place. It was absolutely adorable, plus the beach sand had somehow made its way to this place. More on that later. I totally played in the sand.

We got some grub at Lulu's, played in the sand, ate the most magificent Key Lime Pie I ever have and will eat, choked down the hottest pepperoncini's We ever have and will ever eat, and then it was on to Fairhope!

Fairhope is a small town in "low-uh" Alabama. It reminds me of Oakley mixed with Sugarhouse. Two small towns that I've lived in. It's really pretty, and full of trees. It's green all over, and there's water within a mile almost everywhere. The people there are super friendly, and it's true...in the South, everyone calls everyone "Sugar, Honey, Babe, Dear" They also say ya'll like no one's business. Even the man at the fast food restaurant said "Is there anything else I can get for ya'll?" I got a kick out of it, every time!

My Aunt took me to the Fairhope Pier before going and seeing where she lived, and I decided that I really, really, really wanted to go back there and take pictures of the sunset on the water.

I also decided that since we were so close to the water, I wanted to fish that night. I was soooo anxious to fish in Alabama. I wanted to catch a fish that I'd never seen before, and I also wanted to catch a monster. Not asking for much. More on fishing later, though.

The sunset did not disappoint! I wish I would have showered a little quicker, though!! We should have been there about 5 minutes sooner, but we caught the end of it. It was perfect.

Next (yes, this is still my first night) we went to a local bar, and I had a couple glasses of wine. We hung out with some friends, and met with some of the family. I had to catch one more picture of the sunset as we were walking up to the bar (which just happened to be walking distance from the water) because I couldn't get over it. I couldn't believe I was in such a beautiful place, and I was so excited to explore the next day!!

Before calling it a night (which if you look in the picture below, you will see that I lasted until a little after 9PM) we went to a Sports Bar a few minutes away from my Aunt's house, and ate All you can eat crab for 19.99.

Let me say that one more time...

All. You. Can. Eat. Crab.

Let me show you a picture..

Okay, that still doesn't do it justice, but I feel a little better. I cannot even put into words how yummy the crab was. I can tell you that the rest of the trip (and even once I got back into SLC) I was hinting at doing the "crab deal" for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Because, I could definitely do that.

We got home and hung out with the fam (Sandra, Marge, Carol, and Randy) for a little bit, which by the way I loved, Marge's house was so homey, and Carol/Randy live accross the street so they were there most of the time. It was so nice to relax and visit them in their hometown. It was great to hear stories, and then meet the people in those stories. We talked about old times, and plans for tomorrow!

Then, it was finally time for bed. At that point, it wasn't a matter of wanting to go to bed. It was a matter of not being able to stand up anymore--eyes shutting by themselves--turning down fishing--needing to go to bed.

Tomorrow we had a big day planned!!

Random bits

2011-01-28T09:33:00.004-07:00

..Still going through my vacation pictures..

I went to The Wood Connection the other day and picked out these adorable letters!! I made this, and now I'm working on xoxo. The best part about that whole ordeal is the fact that it's a wood shop. They just happened to be fresh out of the "O" that I needed. Instead of me waiting for the next "shipment" to come in, the kind man went to the back of the shop, and cut me some O's within about 5 minutes. I cannot tell you how happy this makes me!! Love it!

A week or so ago, I decided I'd start to build up an inventory, so I bought some words to stock up. I wanted to work on them a little each night. As it turns out though, this is still what "Home" looks like. I got another order early this week that I've been busting out, and I had to hurry and finish the Valentine's Day letter set before the season passes! Maybe one day I'll be able to casually work on "home".

I ordered some earrings from Etsy so I could see how they were shipped out, if the lady sent business cards, how the pictures compared to the actual product, etc...And well...it turns out that my picture (below), looks a little (lot) more like the actual product than hers did. I was actually so excited to purchase these earrings. I thought the little rock piece was going to be bigger than a quarter. In reality, they're smaller than dimes. :( Oh well though...I'll still sport them. It's just crazy how pictures can be so deceiving!

My little guy always sits in the most relaxed positions, and I love, love, love it. So much that I have 34389 pictures of him sitting in the same position. It never gets old! This one, however, is one that we've never seen before. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. We are so lucky to have this little guy as our doggie.

My sister went to her first Opera performance (Hansel and Gretel), and she looked so beautiful!! A good friend took her, and they had a wonderful time. I asked her how it was when she got home and she said "It really was just like the movies...the whole time it's like Oooohhhhhhh...AAAhhhhhhh.....OOoooooo..." (Sung in her best singing voice).

I ordered this case for my phone a few weeks ago. It was from a site where you can create and submit any design, or use designs that other people have uploaded. You stretch it, resize it, and position it to get the perfect look! I love how it turned out!!

So, remember my first sale? Well, I got my second one and they want the exact same thing! So, I've started making this again. :) It will be slightly different as they want theirs connected! I'll post pictures when I get it all done! I'm excited to finish it tonight!

We were at the store the other day, and Kassi noticed the "Make your own jewlery" section. She was overly excited! "Jess!! Let's get these, and make our own earrings!!" I agreed, so we purchased a few to give it a shot. Once we got home, the mood changed a little. Kass decided she didn't want "us" to make our own earrings...she wanted "me" to make "us" some earrings. So that's just what I did! We love how they turned out, and I can't wait until "we" can make some more!!

And, last but soooooooooo not least. I officially have a new home for all of my crafts!!!! Yesterday my Aunt and I met with the booth coordinator at The Quilted Bear in our local town, and she totally loves our stuff!!!!! Our booth will be ready mid-February, and we'll be in business. Literally. The Quilted Bear is a store that I've admired for so long. It's for handmade crafts (sort of like Etsy in real life, I guess), and it's one of those stores you can get lost in. I've spent so much time there, and I cannot believe that now I'll be spending more...not because I'll be shopping, but because I'll be stocking!! I cannot wait!! I'll definitely post pictures once we get everything all set up!

(This picture is one of the locations about a half an hour away. You can kind of see what the inside is like though.)

2011 goal--get your first official sale.--DONE!

2011-01-21T09:15:00.003-07:00

I know I'm in the middle of my "Vacation" post series, but I have to take a quick break from that and show this!!

That, my friends, is my first sale in Etsy! I made it for a Neapolitan color theme wedding.

Oh, and if you look kind of closely you will see that I have business cards now!!!

..basically official and stuff.

PS..I made my business cards..in Excel. I have some others currently in mail transit, so I'll post when I get them! I'm all sorts of excited!

Trip to Alabama--Getting there!

2011-01-18T14:28:00.007-07:00

Let me preface this by saying Please note: It has been at least 7 years since I've left the Utah/Idaho area. You will notice signs of a severe rookie during this post. You will also notice that I took a lot of pictures. Please refer back to the first sentence in this note.

Now, let's begin!!

Due to the fact that life likes to throw completely random/difficult curveballs at you all of the time, my Aunt decided to pick up everything in Alabama, and move 30 hours NW. Finally back home!! She flew out there to pack things up, and prepare for the 30 hour drive back. No one wants to/can drive 30 hours by themselves, so that's where I come into play on this "vacation".

Deciding which flight to take was an easy call for me. I could leave Monday December 16th at 8 PM, or I could leave Tuesday morning at 5AM. Easy peasy. I'd take a night flight over a morning flight anytime!!

The only issue with this night flight, is that it was a red-eye flight. Meaning that I left at 8PM, and would arrive to my destination at 10:15AM...the next day.

Yeah, I still chose the 14 hour flight.

Whatever. So, I'm not a fan of mornings, and would rather take a 14 hour flight as opposed to taking a 6 hour flight. No biggie.

I knew it would be an adventure, and I was so excited!! Excited mixed with a little bit of stress. It was just a couple of weeks before Christmas, and I needed to shop/wrap still. I worked Monday all day, meaning I had to have my bags (for a week) packed and ready to go on Sunday night. I was out of town with work the week prior, so that left me the weekend to make sure I had everything ready to go! Also, apparently there is a 50 lb bag limit for your luggage, so I was just a little stressed over that as well. PS--It's a good thing Auntie Tammy had the wonderful idea of weighing yourself, and then standing on the scale with the bag. Genius. I would have never thought about doing that!!

Every time I'd talk with the family about the trip/flight, they'd give me advice.

"Make sure you take your stuff with you everywhere you go!!! Even if it's to use the restroom!"

"Find your gate before you explore the airport. DO NOT miss your flight!!!"

"If you get lost, follow the crowd, you will be fine."

And my favorite--from my Grandpa--"Jess, make sure you have quarters. Do you need some quarters? You don't want to go without!" --which reminds me, I forgot to tell my Grandpa that they take debit cards on the plane!! My quarters are no good there ..Technology, crazy..

Turns out, navigating the airports was pretty fun and not hard at all. The fact that I had 3.5 hours per layover really helped the situation, too.

I did get a kick out of my first adventure at the SLC airport though. This time "the crowd" was going in the opposite direction. I totally felt like a rebel.

So..I had it all planned out. I took (too many) some pictures of this guy because I was really worried about having to take my shoes off in security. I was not a fan of being barefoot on a floor that lots of other bare feet were on. Ew.

I had to do it anyway, but I saw this man after and thought I should totally use him as my inspiration, and not freak out about taking my shoes off for a few seconds. I mean, he was rockin no shoes throughout the airport!

Fast forward almost a month later and I'm watching a show with Travis when all of a sudden I see this man!!! On TV!!! He is famous!!! Trav said he hasn't worn shoes in over 10 years, and that's his way of life! Crazy. Anyways, he has his own show on TV. It's called Dual Survivor. I guess it makes sense now. During the time I was having a personal photoshoot with him, without his permission...Some lady went ballistic when she saw him saying "Oh my God!! I love your show, can I shake your hand?!"

I guess you could say in a way I met someone famous, and out of all of the states I went to...it was in my home state!! Awesome!

I had plenty of (worried family members) time to kill at the SLC airport before my flight left, so I decided to grab some grub in case they didn't offer anything on the plane.

I enjoyed a delicious BK salad!

And then it was time to board the plane!! Remember, it's been a really long time!! I'm sure everyone else could tell, too. I sort of wanted to be one of those people who just sat there on the plane with their head back, resting their eyes, waiting for the flight to be over. Or like the ones who peacefully read with their personal reading light assisting them.

Instead I was the one on the edge of her seat, freaking out a little because she couldn't wait for take-off. I was the one who took a million pictures out the window...even though every single picture looked the same as we were still on the ground. I was the one who took pictures of the mini pretzels because I thought they were the cutest things in the world. I was the rookie..but I loved it!

Oh, and the best part? I sat next to one of those people who were like "Ugh..just another flight. No biggie. I'll just sit here and read." She was cranky, and sort of annoying. Also, this flight was only around 45 minutes long, so the plane was very small (unlike my neighbor lady). It was sort of awkward, but we made due. Didn't say one word to each other. I was also going to note that we didn't even look at each other, but the glare she gave me when the kind lady said "Phones will need to be put away in 5 minutes or so" counted as a look, I suppose.

I worked on Monday, so I started my 14 hour flight out in my work clothes. Ha..bad idea. Well, not horrible bad I guess. I looked good for the first little while (40 minutes), but definitely changed at my first layover in Denver.

My under the plane bag had rollers on the bottom of it, and I thought I was so cool. Next time though, I'll definitely be cooler if my carry on bags (aka--the bags I'm dealing with for 14 hours) have rollers. I can't even explain how much of a pain in the ass it was to cart those things around everywhere!! They were so heavy!!

(You'll see a random picture of a Vegas gate. I seriously considered a quick trip during my layover. That would have been delightful!)

The first layover was around 3 hours and 40 minutes. It was after hours so everything in the Denver airport was closed!!

The airport was crazy huge though, so at first I walked around and took some pictures.

Then I realized that I was carting a ton and decided that it was time to get serious and 1--change, 2--sit down!!

I finally found a map, and secretly wished that I'd need to take the train in order to get to my gate.

--My wish came true!!

So, I boarded the train. The train of humiliation is basically what it ended up being.

Because of that fact that I was 1--exhausted 2--excited to take a picture on the train 3--a rookie, I sat on the bench at the veeeerrryyyy back of the train.

..and took a picture. I thought the tracks looked cool.

So, I took a few more pictures.

And then I realized I could see my reflection and thought to myself "Self, it'd be super awesome if you could catch a picture of the tracks and your reflection. Oh, and it'd be cool if you were like smiling or something in the picture."

So, I took my advice and took (way too many to admit) a few pictures.

It was pretty hard to capture a good reflection.

And then it dawned on me. Just because I was at the back of the train, didn't mean that I was back there by myself. In fact, what it meant was that everyone on the train was staring at the girl who sits by the window of the train and takes pictures of herself the entire time.

I know this is true because when I turned around....yeah....you can probably guess what happened.

It was sort of awkward. I simply smiled, and tucked my phone into my coat pocket. Then I was on my way!

Once I finally found my gate, I had about 2 hours to kill. At this point it wasn't super late, and it was my first layover so I was kind of excited. I found an outlet, and got all comfy. There was a couple about my age who sat pretty close, so we were able to keep each other company for the biggest part of the layover. It actually flew by!

Another lady was sort of escorted to the gate by one of the security guards. She was in a wheel chair so he helped her with her luggage and all of that. It was really nice. I talked to her for awhile too. She was a sweetheart.

About 30 minutes before boarding, someone came around and told us that the gate was switched, and we had to move everything to the new gate. I instantly wondered what the lady was going to do. The man took the wheel chair when he left.

I noticed her grabbing her cane, so I went over and told her I'd grab her bags for her and take them over.

I hadn't even planned on mentioning her, but I noticed that when I took the pictures of the second plane I was in (soooo much nicer and roomier), she was in the pictures!!

If you look closely, she's the lady in the red vest type thingy, with a white shirt under it.

She was such a sweetheart! :)

By the time we boarded the plane taking us to Charlotte, I was tired. It was around 4 in the morning and I hadn't slept yet. This was going to be the longest flight, so I'd planned on sleeping for a couple of hours.

There were three seats accross on this plane, which was so fantastic!! I was at the very back of the plane, and for the first 5 minutes or so of boarding, no one sat down next to me. I was so hoping that I'd have all three seats to myself so I could really get some sleep. Plus my first experience with a neighbor wasn't the greatest.

And then the very last person got on the plane, and his seat was the aisle seat of the three. We had an open seat in between us, so that ended up working out really well. He was about my age, too. A lot better neighbor...in fact, I didn't sleep at all on that flight. He ordered some pringles, and I ordered some lightly salted almonds, and we talked the entire time. He was from Colorado, and taught guitar. He was facinated about Utah, and the different laws and such. It was good times, but we were both sooo tired. It's just really hard to actually get some sleep on a plane.

I got to Charlotte around 5am. That was nice because the stores were actually open. It didn't do me any good, because all I really wanted to do was sleep..but I did walk around a little. I loved the Charlotte airport. It was really cute.

I got in line at a breakfast place and got a little something to eat. Everyone in front of me ordered "grits" so I figured I'd do the same. Bad call. They are not so neat.

The coolest part about the Charlotte airport was the rocking chairs!! They had a huuuuggge row of white rocking chairs. Next to each one was an outlet. It was the perfect setup!

I sat down on one after I ate, and wanted to take out my laptop and kill some time but the fact that I'd have to take it out, plug it in, and put it away in a short time mixed with the fact that I hadn't slept yet, and was exhausted killed any motivation, so I just sat in the rocking chair...rocking. I stayed there for about 30 minutes. At one point I took out my phone and wrote a few notes down. Sort of like a mini blog I guess...

"Pensacola is the next and final stop!! I have three hours to kill at the Charlotte airport but that's okay. It's adorable and I found some rocking chairs!! The best part? They don't cost 7 dollars! Everything costs 7 dollars, I swear! Other than that, North Carolina is freezing!! They said it was 11 degrees today, and for some reason they don't believe in heaters in this airport. The people are different here. It's hard to explain. It's so much more diverse. I love it! It's cool to hear the different languages and see the different styles. Man, some people think things look good. I wonder if they look in the mirror before they leave.

PS..note to self: Next time you fly for 14 hours, please bring a pillow, an apple, and a toothbrush. Also, invest in a rollie bag. Even long rides on the escalators start to hurt."

Then I tried to sleep. It was so cold though, and so not comfortable. Also, I was really worried about my bags being by themselves while I slept, and that if I fell too asleep, that I wouldn't hear them announcing my plane boarding, so after maybe a 15 or 20 minute power nap, I got up and took pictures of the sunset...which was sort of cool because at the same time, a plane was landing so I watched that as well.

Another short plane ride (which I was actually able to sleep for a good 30 minutes on) I was no longer the picture taking rookie. I was definitely the Ugh..another flight type.

Except for when we got into Florida! I was wide awake, and excited!! I was finally there!

Next, I'd grab my luggage from the bag claim, and go meet AK outside! It was time to bust out a vacation in only 3 days!! (...and off of an hour of sleep)

What's Christmas season without the Temple lights?!

2011-01-14T16:06:00.003-07:00

...The answer is "Not nearly as good"

The lights downtown SLC around Christmastime are so beautiful. I went with the fam a few weeks ago to check them out!!

There were 12 of us this time! (Me, Kass, AK, Auntie Tammy, Uncle David, Alexis, Daniel, Katie, Megan, Jo, Her Mom (Sorry!), and Sam!)

Besides the freezing factor, it was fun! We stopped on the walk back to the car and got some hot cocoa, compliments of AK. SWEET!!

Megan came prepared with hand (nose) warmers, and Kassi came prepared to pose.

It was a lovely adventure during the greatest season out there!!

PS..if you're keeping track, that just about completes my Holiday pictures. Next up, vacation pics!!!! I've been so excited to go through and edit and post and remember and wish I was still there and document this trip!! Coming to a blog near you very, soon!! (Keep in mind though...I was able to document close to 1000 memories during that trip. Lucky me!)

The pink dots on the D are my favorite.

2011-01-12T08:51:00.003-07:00

Update:
Since they're my favorite, and it's kind of hard to see them on the picture below, here are the pink dots! A. dor. a. ble. Right?

I've mentioned this recently, but I'll mention it again. I was a busy. busy. busy. lady around the holidays. My cousin Megan hinted a few times that she wanted the letters "Dance" for her room. I knew the first time that she'd mentioned it that that's what I was going to be making for her for Christmas.

To clarify...She told me starting in Septemberish about the dance letters.

To admit something that totally shows who I am...Her letters were finished on Christmas Eve. Whew. I don't like to cut things close, do I!

I had a couple of other requests, and ended up making hand made gifts for a good chunk of the fam. I had a great time doing it, and loved the way they turned out! It's so nice to watch someone's face light up over something you made with your own two hands.

I was able to post these examples in my Etsy shop, and guess what?! I got my first sale!!! I've had my Etsy shop open for awhile now, so makes me all sorts of giddy.

Oh, and speaking of Etsy, I made this really cute (I think) collage of pictures (mostly from my vaca to Alabama) to use as my default Etsy pic. Maybe the picture of my flip flops with beach sand on them triggered my first sale. Sweet!!

While we're on the Etsy topic...I was fixing up my blog a little the other day and accidentally deleted my etsy shop button!! Boo! That will be coming back shortly. Hopefully.

In the meantime, if you want to check out my shop it's definebliss.etsy.com.

Love you all!! Have a great Hump Day! (How is it not Friday yet?!) Be back soon!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-10T10:13:00.003-07:00

We started Christmas a little early this year. Trav, Trey, and I did our Christmas on Christmas Eve (Mainly because the suspense was killing me..) Also, because it was hard to keep Trey's treats from him any longer! He enjoyed his new toys, and still has his bones. I don't know what it is with him. One bone lasts a few months, lol...

Christmas Morning Kass and I woke up early and started at Mom's house. Levi got a bike, and a 360!! Lucky duck! Next, we went to Dad's, and finally to Grandpa Wootens.

It's still a very hard adjustment (and still hard to believe) to not have Grandma there. She would have been proud of us though, we did it. Everything was great. The food, the family time, giving presents, the games. Everything. We love and miss her sooo much, and wish she was still with us. We are however, extremely thankful that we did have the time we had with her. The memories are something that each one of us have. She was a special lady, and has a special place in the heart of every person she ever met.

Catch Phrase was one of the games we played this year. It's a must each time we sit down to play games!! Some of the others this year were Scattegories, Pit, WhoWhatWhy, and Last Word. We love our fair share of games!!

There was plenty of help needed this year. Christmas came sooo quickly, and I was about 7 states away from Utah (with my Aunt--Pictures coming very soon!) just a couple short weeks before Christmas!! That meant when we got back, there was lots of shopping, and wrapping to do!!
Kassi even did her part, wrapping until she was blue (red) in the face!!

We managed to get everything all done, and as always everything turned out wonderfully!

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas this year!!

But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be on your own front door!

2011-01-04T16:44:00.006-07:00

It (was) beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!
Everywhere you (went)

Soon the bells (did) start
And the thing that (made) them ring is the carol that we (sang)

Right within our hearts
A little late, but better late than never right?! More to come about our Christmas this year, but this is what it (looked) like at our house this year. We (I) had everything out and setup the day after Thanksgiving! I went out of town the week after and came home to outside lights! Trav was nice enough to hang them while I was gone. ..Now, if only he'd be nice enough to un-hang them this weekend.

We had a little more room this year so I was able to set up a village. Most people (I think) don't do villages as much anymore, but this is something that has been passed down as a tradition from generation to generation. In fact, most of my village this year was provided by my Grandma throughout the years. I know she'd be proud, and I can't wait to keep adding to it each year!

We had a real tree this year (same as always). I took it down New Years Day, and woah. Now I know why Trav is not so much a fan of real trees. (I'm not going to tell him it was a pain, though. Definitely not telling.) I didn't want to take precious vaccuuming time away and use it for counting pine needles, but I bet there were a million spread out on my carpet/rug...so.glad.that's.cleaned.up.

I'll be going through Christmas Day pictures this week so stay tuned!!

Problem.

2010-12-27T12:25:00.003-07:00

I figured that due to the amount of recent big--blogworthy events (see: Christmas, Christmas crafting, Downtown Lights with the fam, and Vacation...), it would be a good idea for me to get blogging. Well, it was at that time that I plugged in Mrs. Mac, and started to select the pictures I wanted to share with everyone...and...well...

This is what I got.

If you can't tell from that pretty picture, I will be MIA for a few days while I sort through these pictures!! Lots of stories and pictures (obviously) coming up though! :)

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-24T11:41:00.002-07:00

Thanksgiving was (as always) wonderful, and busy!!

We started the day out at Aunt Amanda and Uncle Marks for dinner and games! Kass and I were both on our diet still, so we packed lunches and stayed strong!! We were able to eat some turkey, and some salad. So, that was wonderful!

Next, we went to the Wooten's for dinner and games take 2! It was really hard, especially during the prayer, to not have my Grandma there. It feels so different. Hard to explain. Not real still, I guess.

Overall though, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This part of the year is my favorite!! I love getting together with all of the family!!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and Christmas (tomorrow!! :))

The answer is yes!

2010-12-09T09:06:00.002-07:00

Yes, I have a lot to blog about!
Yes, I know it's been forever.
Yes, I'm sort of sorry.
Yes, I have been extremely busy.
Yes, a "real" post will be coming soon!

and my favorite ones...

YES, you've come to the right place if you are looking for adorable iPhone backgrounds!! (Download the app "Cuptakes". It's .99, but totally worth it!)

YES! I, too, have been looking for a cute girly iPhone case, and I finally found the perfect ones!! (Go to getuncommon.com! It will make you happy!)

I'll post soon, and Happy Holidays!!

Our first tattoo!

2010-11-28T00:10:00.003-07:00

When Grandma was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer, Alexis, Kassi, and I considered getting a tattoo, in her honor.

I was too scared to mention this idea to Grandma because well, she probably would have talked us out of it. I know that I for sure would not have done it if she didn't want me to.

Therefore, we waited...and thought about what we'd get.

Alexis wanted a butterfly. Grandma loved butterflies.
Kassi wanted Tinkerbell. She was Grandma's favorite.
I had a hard time thinking of something original, but finally decided I wanted a needle and thread. Sewing was a very large part of Grandma's life. Each member of our (large) family has a special blanket (or 2 or 3), made by Grandma. When we were younger, she would sew us a pair of pajamas for Christmas, and she'd make a matching set for our dolls. It was so wonderful.

I've always sort of wanted a tattoo, but I wanted to make sure what I got was something that I'd never grow out of, or regret.

A needle and thread was the perfect thing.

It truly means a lot to me.

I'll never grow out of it.

And, every time I look at my foot, I'm reminded of what a special lady my Grandma was.

Kassi and Alexis decided a needle and thread would be a great idea as well, so we all got matching tattoos!

Alexis was the brave one and went on Saturday. Once Kassi and I saw her tattoo (on Sunday), we decided we couldn't wait any longer! We fell in love!

We called AWOL tattoo and found out that Kory would be ready to go as soon as we got there.

10 minutes later we were in the car and on our way.

Holy cow. It was really happening. I was freaking out. Yet, so excited.

Meet Kory. He made the magic (PAIN!!) happen.

Alexis said her tattoo "Hardly" hurt. I have to agree, this part was pretty painless and I was so glad!

And then he started the tattoo and OH. MY. GOD. it was painful!! At one point Kory said "Okay, awesome! We're all done with the black!"

"Oh, nice!! Thank God!"

"Now we just have brown, purple, and gray, and then we're all done!!"

--Not the greatest news in the world, but I stuck with it! (I totally thought I was going to be one of "those" people who leave with a portion of their tattoo finished. I was dreading having a half needle on my foot for the rest of my life!)

So, I crunched my toes, and squinted my eyes...and took deep breaths.

And before I knew it, it was over!! (It only took about 35 minutes!)

Before we got to the shop, I told Kassi that I wanted to go first. I knew if I watched her, I'd chicken out.

Leaving the shop, I confirmed my assumption. Kassi made the tattoo seem as if someone was breaking every individual bone in her foot. She said "Jess, you made it look so easy. I'm positive mine hurts worse than yours!!"

But she pulled through as well, and now we each officially have our very first tattoo!!

We love and miss you Grandma...and hope you like them.

Oh yeah, we looked up the color for Pancreatic Cancer awareness and it's purple. How perfect is that? I love purple!

On Friday November 5, 2010...

2010-11-27T22:53:00.007-07:00

...I did something for the first time. Ever. (So far)
I felt so accomplished.
I felt so relieved.
I started thinking of new toys I wanted with the extra money, instead of thinking of saving it.
I bragged a little.

I wanted to go and buy a truck.
I was so happy!
I did something that I know for a fact would make Grandma proud.

(She co-signed for me since it was my first loan. She wasn't the least bit hesitant. A few years later I asked her why she did that for me without any worries. I had just graduated, and was at my job for less than one month. She said "She just knew she could trust me.") Turns out she was right. I'm still at the same job, and I never missed or was late on a payment. Crazy how she knew me better than I knew myself.-- I wanted my first call after paying it off to be to my Grandma. I know she knows, but it's not the same. I want to talk to her so. bad. --

On Friday November 5th 2010, I made the very last payment on my little girl!

Five years, and lots of money later...she is ALL MINE!

Halloween at work--2010

2010-11-22T12:29:00.004-07:00

Each year, the Supervisors at work work with their teams to decorate a cubicle. This year they turned out amazing!!

(Double click to increase the size of the picture.)

Love. Hate.

2010-11-20T23:27:00.004-07:00

I love that I had Friday off. (If you're keeping track, that's a three day weekend for me! WOOT!)
Hate that I had a Dr. appointment on Friday, and that they drew blood. :( (I don't know how I'll ever manage when I'm prego. I had to ask the blood drawing lady to please stop because I was about to pass out. Sweaty, numb, Nauseous, Chills, Dizzy...the whole bit.)
Love that I was so productive on Friday! (Ended up going to about 9 different places. Gotta love day off errands!)
Hate that I had to make a Dr. appointment for Mrs. Lappy. Turns out she was really sick, and I had to leave her with Dr. Mac over night! :( it was my first night without her, and I found out that I have serious attachment issues. Plus, it was sort of a strain to get comfy while I was holding my iPhone, watching Housewives.
Love that I was able to pick Mrs. Lappy up today, and now she's all better!!
Hate that I had to drive in a really scary snow storm!
Love the snow storm now that I'm home!
Love that I set up the house for our Christmas tree!! Can't wait!
Love that AK hung out at the house for awhile.
Love The Price is Right on Wii.
Love staying in on this wintery night!

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!!

PS- Things to come:
Halloween cubicle decorating contest pictures! (Hopefully before Thanksgiving!)
Remember when I did something really exciting a couple Fridays ago? Well...I finally got what I was waiting for in the mail, and I'll be blogging about that very shortly!
Christmas/House pictures!

Come to think of it...it WAS #1 on the list of most popular girls names in 1987.

2010-11-17T13:03:00.002-07:00

This conversation happens at least 3 times a week and, bless his heart, I think it's adorable.

Security Man: (Yes, another Security Man story) "Have a great night!"
Me: "You too!"
Security Man: "Hey, can I ask you a question?"
Me: (Think to myself "What would he need to ask me, he already knows my name..") Smile and say "Sure!"
Security Man: "May I ask what your name is?"
Me: (Really? I just told you two days ago..) Smile and say "It's Jessica"
Security Man: "Jessica! Okay. I've got to get all of these Jessica's straight!"
Me: "Yeah, there sure are lots of us!"

Three times a week.

This conversation takes place with the same man three times a week people.

I'm so confused.

Awkward conversations with the security guard. Part one.

2010-11-12T17:06:00.002-07:00

"Have a great weekend and drive safe!"
"Oh I will!! Thanks!"
"Be careful with that car right there!"
I look to the car right next to mine--"yeah, it is a little close huh! Gotta love that!"
"No, that ones my car."
"Oh! Well ya, I'll be careful! You um...have a great weekend!"

Halloween 2010--Dress up!

2010-11-11T10:49:00.003-07:00

So, you may have already guessed that for Halloween we were clowns!
I was sold when I saw the shoes, and the glasses. Not even because the glasses looked really rad,

but check out the nose!! So great, right?! The only bad part was nose condensation from wearing them all day.

I never thought I'd say that I had a problem with nose condensation.

Anyway, Kassi, AK, and I all dressed up as the cutest clowns I've ever seen! It took quite a few stores, and brainstorming to put our outfits together, but they were great!

Later that night, Trav, AK, and I went to the same party that we go to every year with some friends(Devan and Kelly). Kass and I just started the HCG Diet not too long ago and might I add right here that it is not the greatest idea to start that around the holidays! Oh man!! Halloween was a challenge for sure. I'm a sucker for pumpkin cookies. Travis is a sucker for saying "Oh man, I wish you could taste these. They are so amazing."

Um, hello. Lesson number 1 on what not to say to someone who is just starting a diet!

I stayed strong though. We took pictures, and more pictures, and then some more pictures. It kept me occupied! The below pictures that I'm about to release are (supposed to be) confidential. AK will most likely strangle me, and so if you never hear from me again. Blame it on my Aunt. But really, they are cute pictures, and her faces are adorable.

The end.

Idaho. Bad Weather. Roman's 3! Cake Decorating Pros.

2010-11-11T09:25:00.006-07:00

No, this is not what I did on Friday. I'm still waiting for something to come in the mail!

This is a "I've been slacking and this happened around 3 weeks ago, but is post worthy" post.

So, first and most importantly--I was in Idaho for my bestie's son's birthday party. THIRD birthday party. I can't really believe those 3 words. How has it already been three years since the day I met his 4 pound self in the hospital?! Wow!

I do have to say though, that the older he gets, the better the parties are! He is so animated about everything! He went cake shopping with us and was so let down when we walked out of almost every store without a cake!

"Where my birt-day cake?!" he kept saying over and over.

To calm him down, we tried to give him some rice krispy treats (Every kids favorite, right?)

Wrong.

"I don't yike it."

--I might have given him things all weekend (knowing he didn't like them) so I could hear that adorable phrase.--

It was a football themed party this year, and since Roman doesn't just sit in one place..it's a bit of a challenge to get multiple good pictures of the kid. (Unless you count a blurry, motion picture as a good picture.)

This years dilemma was the cake! Mari forgot to pre-order the cake and all cake stores need at least 24 hours notice! What were we to do?!

Well, we finally resorted to buying to ColdStone cakes (has to be ice cream cake!!)

Totally football themed, right?

Yeah..we had a little work to do!

This was the end result and I think they turned out SO wonderful!! Especially for this being our first time acting as cake decorators! I think we took up an even harder challenge being that these cakes were ice cream cakes! Decoration=takes lots of time + ice cream cake=melts in no time= Not a good combination!

But we handled it, and they turned out so cute! Roman even "yiked" them, so that was a plus, too!

Another plus was whoever bought him his "I-Man" (Iron Man) action figure. The kid could not put it down. (See pictures!)--I think I-Man may have even had a little taste of the cake. How sweet of Roman to share!

The drive home was really scary. The weather was bad! In fact, it rained non-stop from Friday until Sunday, and didn't slow down at all on the way home!

As always though, it was good times, and totally worth the drive! Next up, Presley's SECOND birthday party! I cannot believe how fast the time is going!

I never thought this day would come!!!

2010-11-05T15:34:00.003-06:00

So, I just did something totally exciting today, and I can't wait to tell you all!!!

The bad news is that I have to tell you and show a picture, too. Well, I don't have to, but I want to.

The other bad news is I'm super busy at home and work these days (hence I'm still sporting my Halloween header) so it will have to wait until (hopefully) this weekend.

Be be excited, it's amazingly wonderful!!

Have a great weekend!

1 store, dinner break, 4 stores, Auntie Tammy's house, and 4 hours later...

2010-10-29T13:55:00.003-06:00

It was time to relax, and go to sleep. For tomorrow, we would officially have the coolest costumes ever!

Stay tuned. Full pictures coming soon!

Have a wonderful Friday and HAPPY Halloween!!!

Silly Kassi. We'll give you a Pumpkin 101.

2010-10-26T20:28:00.002-06:00

Posting about our Pumpkin Carving Party reminded me of a conversation between Kassi and my Aunt Kristine.

AK: Hey, keep your eye out at the stores for pumpkins. The cheapest I can find is 0.11.
Kassi: Okay.

Jessica: Pumpkins are only 2.50 each here.
Kassi: Well AK found them for 11 cents. We have to beat that. 2.50 is way too much.
Jessica: Right, Kass..11 cents means 11 cents per pound not 11 cents per pumpkin!
Kassi: Ohh!! I was wondering why she wanted to find them for cheaper than 11 cents, I thought that was a really good deal!!

"Whatever it is"

2010-10-26T18:53:00.002-06:00

I'm (mostly) from Idaho.
My entire family listens to Country.
My sister and cousins know (and openly, loudly) sing every possible Country song known to man. I think it's to spite me.
I've always secretly found something really cute about cowboys.
I'll admit, I've cried at a fair share of Country Songs.
While I'm admitting stuff, I'll get this out of the way too--When I was younger (a lot younger) I would sit at the boom box with my grandpa. We'd listen to the Country station and press "Record" as soon as a song that we both really liked would come on. This happened on a daily basis for quite some time. We were tape making pros. My favorite song was Ex's and Oh's.

If you know me pretty well, you know that somehow all of these things have taken a quick turn in the opposite direction. I'm not a fan of Country music. Or at least mainstream country music.

I am however, a really big fan of music. Country is pretty much the only genre I'm not a super huge fan of.

A portion of my dislike for Country music was quickly changed when Travis came home from work one day...excited to tell me about a song that we just "HAD" to get. He proceeds to download this song, and play it for me.

"Whatever it is--Zach Brown Band" is playing on our home stereo and I look at him, give a little chuckle and say ... "Country?! Are you serious??" (He's about as not for country music as I am, so it was surprising!).

"Yeah, just this song. It's a good one." he says back in a shy voice.

"Uh huh! Suuure"

(Background: Trav's boss at work is a HUGE Country Music fan, the other guy in the shop likes rap/hip-hop, and the rest like rock so their day consists of 1/3 listening to Country, 1/3 listening to rap/hip-hop, and the last part rock. Due to this, Trav is becoming quite familiar with Country, and I always give him crap for it. Deep down though..I think it's adorable.)

Listening to the lyrics was enough (and is every time) to tear me up! Something about Trav coming home to show me a Country song that he liked was pretty cute. :)

Of course I couldn't tell him that.

So, hopefully out of all the songs on my new playlist, "Whatever it is" doesn't play when he reads the blog. Oh yeah, and I hope he doesn't read this post..that would make this girl a little red-cheeked.

Third Annual Pumpkin Carving Party!

2010-10-26T14:14:00.008-06:00

Three years ago, we decided to dedicate one day near Halloween and get together as a family to carve pumpkins.
Turns out, it was a really, really good idea. Everyone looks forward to this day, and it's so fun to get together as a family and carve pumpkins!
This year, we decided to change it up a little bit.

For a few weeks now, we've been keeping an eye on the pumpkins at local grocery stores to find the lowest price. (Big family!)
I got to thinking about it, and realized that I've never ever been to a pumpkin patch, and I've always wanted to experience that. I brought up the idea, and we took it and ran with it.
Ran all the way to this cute little field of pumpkins, next to someone's cute little house.

We piled out of the three cars, and scattered throughout the field to pick our very own pumpkin (or two).
Everyone was on a mission to find the best pumpkin!

We learned a few things along the way:
Pumpkin patches are awesome, and we'll most likely add this to the tradition.
Pumpkins are not actually still on the vines, so there is no picking.
Pumpkins are pretty pokey, and it starts to hurt after you grab stems over and over.
Pumpkins come in ALL different shapes and sizes and colors, and they are definitely not all as round and good as the ones at the stores. (Which makes it sort of fun.)

After piling the pumpkins in the wheelbarrow, Katie man-armed the thing up to the front! Total success! (And, there was even still tons of pumpkins left after our 25..or something like that. I thought we'd quite possibly clean them out!)

Oh yeah, another thing we learned is that next year we should dress for the occasion.
This lil' gal done showed us up! (One day I will have a pony purse just like hers. Promise.)

We piled all of the pumpkins into AK's truck, and we were on our way! It was good times Maybe's Pumpkins Patch! We'll see you next year.

After piling the pumpkins, we saw the perfect picture opportunity, and took advantage!! (Wish you could have been there Grandpa! ...And Grandma--I know you were there. Right next to Harley, behind the girls. I wish you were physically there, though. You would have had such a wonderful time. (I miss you!)

Auntie Tammy took on the official job of pumpkin washing and pumpkin seed cooking! (Sweet!!)

Then it was time to carve!! The living room turned into a pumpkin carving, mess making, tools passing, Halloween music playing, food sharing, story telling, picture taking wonderland.
One of the topics that came up this year was how we love to have friends over to share this tradition with us! The first year Megan brought a friend, next year it was Katie's friend, this year Kassi brought someone, and Mariah's friend came! Love it! Maybe next year we'll be able to leave the pumpkin patch with 50 pumpkins!!

Now, for the pumpkins!!
Camille picked the coolest looking pumpkin! I've never seen anything like it!

My pumpkin (left) (that I wasn't able to finish! Apparently I'm a slower than average pumpkin carver) and Megan's freestyle pumpkin (right) for Grandma.

Kassi's pumpkin (left) (She carved two. This is the one to remember. Trust.) Alexis's second pumpkin (middle), and my first pumpkin (right)

Alexis's second pumpkin (left) (took second place in our pumpkin carving contest), and Carly's (Baby Blake's) mini pumpkin (right)

Harley's pumpkin (left) (I love his pumpkin because it had a face on every side! Good job Harley!! It turned out cute) Katie's pumpkin (freestyle--middle), and Kassi's second pumpkin (right) (told you.)

Carly's first pumpkin (left) (took third place in the pumpkin carving contest!), Carly's second pumpkin (right)

Aubrey's pumpkin (left), David (middle--freestyle--wicked tongue), and Megan's second pumpkin (right--freestyle)

Mariah's pumpkin (left), and Harley's second pumpkin (right)

We had a carving contest this year, and these are your three winners!! (1st place Jessica, 2nd place Alexis, 3rd place Carly) --Although all of the pumpkins turned out adorable!!

Good times at the pumpkin carving party this year. AK made some Taco Soup, and the house is definitely the most festive house on the block now.

The countdown is on to next years fourth (holy cow) annual pumpkin carving contest!!

PS: I'm still not a fan of chainsaws. Hopefully one day I grow out of that fear.

2010-10-18T16:12:00.003-06:00

This time of the year is the greatest. In fact, the other day I was just telling Travis how excited I was for all of the Corn Maze's, Pumpkin Carving, and Haunted Houses when I realized there was one slight problem.

October is already half over!

AND I will be in Idaho next weekend, and Halloween is the weekend after that!!

Where September and October have gone..I'm not quite sure.

I decided we better jump on these fall/halloween festivities before we miss the boat!

So, Friday we (Trav, Me, AK, Devan, Kelly, and Nirvana) ventured to the first (and hopefully not last) Corn Maze of the year!

The Crazy Corn Maze in Sandy was so much fun last year that we decided to go there this time, too!

As always, we had fun navigating through the Corn Maze. We took AK's Corn Maze virginity. That was awesome! Everyone was one hundred percent sure (thought they knew) of the way we were going to find our way out of the maze, so it was interesting having 6 leaders. Thanks to "G" (GPS) (Love you Grandma :)), Devan's killer navigational skills, and my patience explaining to everyone that "Yes, we are headed back to the beginning. Yes, we are on the right track. Again, the entrance is 5 feet away from the exit." we found our way out!
We even scored a few shortcut paths.
So, that was nice.
Except for it felt like you were walking on two parts of where the earth has split itself. Very awkward walking.
But they worked, and we're officially pros.
Oh yeah...and thanks to an app (of course). The flashlight outshined (?) Trav's treasured flashlight, so that was sweet!

Stopped for a couple of cute pictures!

And then it (unfortunately...but fortunately) was time for the Haunted Portion! Advertised this year as "3x bigger, and better!"

I'm not quite sure if I agree with the better part, but the bigger part was definitely true. They included a short walk through another corn maze, which was kind of nice. I wish there would have been more "Boogey Woogey Woogey" men though. The chainsaw was stinky toward the end, which sent my heart to the floor and gave me enough butterflies to basically lift me off of the ground. I was really fortunate this year, actually. Instinct told me to trade Travis spots just at the right time, and it just so happened as we switched sides, chainsaw dude was on his side! Score!! ..I still had to remind myself to breathe after we'd passed him though. I really, really, really don't like chainsaws or the men/women who run them. I think that's a horrible addition to the Haunted House, but then again, the adrenaline rush is sort of fun.
I'm a big baby when it comes to Haunted Houses, but they are still a must!! Speaking of being a big baby, I almost peed my pants! We were walking through the non-scary maze part, when I decided to look to my left into the corn thinking about how much cooler it would be if people jumped out from the corn, but no such luck yet. Anyways, so I look to the left and notice something. Something that doesn't look like corn, or a stalk, but doesn't really look scary. Just sort of curiosity provoking. So, I say "Hey guys, what do you think this.." at which point a very mean, scary man jumped out from the corn, and scared the bejebus out of me. I hope he did not pee his pants from laughing too hard. Wait...actually, I hope he did pee his pants. That's what he gets!

Nirvana came with us and she calls the monsters the Bogey Wogey Wogey man. It's adorable. Another thing that's adorable is how she is 3 and we both screamed about the same amount throughout the Haunted House (which was a lot). Okay. That's not really adorable. I'm a baby.

Before the Corn Maze adventure, Devan, Kelly, and Nirvana came over to our house for some dinner. It had been a few months since I've seen Nirvana and one of the first questions she asked me was "Where's your sister?" we had a short conversation about my sister, which ended in me telling her that she didn't have any toys for her to play with, and yes she can watch Scooby Doo in her room. I thought it was fascinating though, that she knew, and remembered my sister after only meeting her once or twice.

And then my Aunt came over and this was their conversation:
AK: Hi, I'm Kristine! What's your name?
Nirvana: Nirvana, but where's your sister?
AK: My sister? Well, she's at home. Do you have a sister?
Nirvana: Um..well..no, but I got friends.

What a cutie!! Although, I still don't get the sister thing.

After the Maze/Haunted Maze we enjoyed (finished off the) fresh hot donuts, and (took the last) carmel apple. The people in line behind us totally loved us.

Plus...I don't see anything wrong with a mini horse.

2010-10-17T20:55:00.003-06:00

I didn't listen to myself.

In fact, I think I made things harder on myself.

Actually, I know for a fact that I did.

I went back to my Dad's.

Not just to see her,

But to bring her back to our house to play and sleep and eat and cuddle.

She mainly slept,

but I'm okay with that. She's a really good girl.
I'm okay with that, too.

Taking her home was hard.

She seems like she didn't want to go home either.

Which didn't make things any easier.

My brilliant idea to hang out for a few hours was actually a bad idea.
A really bad idea.
I kinda wish I didn't bring her back to my house, and let her work her way up to my shoulder for a little nap. And I kind of wish that I didn't give her a bath, or make her a little bow. I shouldn't have held her the entire time, and let her meet Trey.

Because all of those things...
they are making it really hard for me right now.

I'm attached to this little girl, and it sucks.

Fall: Voted best in..

2010-10-17T01:33:00.002-06:00

colors...

decoration...

picture opportunities...

smells...

and everything else.

I know I have the same request every year but...

fall,

will you please, please, please just stay forever?

A Puppy Story--

2010-10-14T13:18:00.004-06:00

--To be read every time I long to buy another puppy.

It started about 6 weeks ago when my Dad's dog had her puppies. I went with my sister Kassi one day to see them.

And, then I went back again with Travis, to see them again.

Then, I went back again by myself.

I had fallen

totally, and completely

in love with her.

Let me clear that up some. By "I had fallen..." I mean that I still am one hundred percent in love with this little girl and I hope (even after this weekend, and the following examples) that no one wants to buy her.

So then Trey and I started to convince Trav that we need another puppy, and that Trey wants a friend. (Trey mostly let me convince Trav, he supported me though, I am sure of it.)

The only problem with this situation is that my love..well, she's a Great Dane puppy.

Apparently she is supposed to get big or something.

The other problem is that Travis does not want another puppy.

--

To sort of cure my puppy craze, I told Mari that I would puppy sit for her for a few days. She bought a puppy from someone down here, and wasn't able to come pick her up for a few days.

Kass and I went to pick her (Bernelli (Nelli)) up over the weekend. We took her to a nearby school to play, and to take lots of pictures.

The puppy craze was cured after a few hours.

And even though

--You cannot let a puppy out of your sight for more than 30 seconds.
--Puppy pee and puppy droppings are not nearly as cute as the puppy.
--Sometimes puppies like to scratch you with their really sharp claws.
--Puppies get scared at night, and they make really loud noises which can prevent one from sleeping. This also causes Travis to be a little cranky.
--You cannot leave your house as much when you have a puppy.
--Working a full time job and trying to potty train a puppy is no bueno.

I still want a puppy.

Now that Nelli is gone, I miss her. Especially when I look at her:

I should probably stay away from my Dad's for a few days. Unless I want a mini horse with droppings the size of a basketball.

I don't think this post went the way I was intending. I'm not sure if it's enough to steer me out of a puppy purchasing decision!

It always happens when I have to pee really, really bad. (tmi? Sorry.)

2010-10-07T17:52:00.002-06:00

but how can I pass up bagging an elderly gentlemans (80ish) groceries when I overhear him telling his wife that's he's "not much of a bagger but he'll give it a shot". I gave it a few seconds while I watched him struggle to lift a couple bottles of some elderly people health drink before I stepped in and bagged his groceries. There's just something about these types of situations that pulls at my heart strings and sends me leaving the store, wiping tears and hoping that they'll have someone waiting for them at home to help put those groceries away.

The smallest things mean so much to some people, and I love being a part of that :)

The reason I do the cooking at home. Part 2.

2010-10-04T15:17:00.003-06:00

First of all, check these numbers out because they make me happy...

292 Posts since I started this blog almost three (crazy!) years ago.
5913 Views

That's like almost 300...and almost 6000. Wow. Awesome! I'm glad I'm still keeping up with my blog, and I'm glad you are all still reading!

Now, onto the story that will most likely make you smile on this long Monday afternoon.

My sister is currently staying with us. She is what you would call a complete rookie when it comes to cooking. She is 21 now (well, in 15 days) but that is just not acceptable! I'm watching out for her future husband/kids, so I've been having her help me out in the kitchen.

I refuse to hear about her children and husband eating Ramen Noodles more than twice a day.

The other night just as I was walking out to the grill to start the meat, I toss her a pack of this simple pasta, and tell her to follow the directions.

I come in a few minutes later and she is still standing there reading the package. She's got one of her eyebrows raised, and she's in deep thought.

"How come you haven't started it yet?"

"Well, the package doesn't say what to put the oven on."

"Kass. First of all, you cook it on the stove. See where it shows a picture of that pan right there? Yeah, that doesn't go in the oven. Second of all, you just have to boil the water and butter together. You can really put the stove on whatever you want. I usually put it on high and watch it carefully."

"Oh...I hope one day I can remember all of this."

I hope so too, sissy. I hope so, too!

No worries though, it will come, and we will keep practicing, promise!

Baylee--Newest Project.

2010-10-01T14:52:00.005-06:00

I've been going wood letter crazy lately.

My latest is something I made for a baby shower.

It kept me busy for a few days

I think it turned out

adorable.

Any way you look at it.

Don't you agree? (Double click the picture to see it a little bigger! ..I widened my layout, but I'm still trying to figure out how to make the pictures bigger!)

Highlights from the weekend.

2010-09-27T08:40:00.005-06:00

1--It was the weekend.
2--Friday night we stopped at Jimmy Johns for some yummy subs, and pickles! Then we went to Hillcrest to watch my cousin Katie perform in the drill team.

It was the third performance we've seen so far this year, and it's wonderful to see the team improve! She looked so good out there! As for the team, unfortunately the same cannot be said. It was fun to watch though, and the weather was crisp. There were grandparents sitting in front of us, and behind us. It's still weird for me to see older grandma's because I'll always wonder. Wonder how it would have been. Then I fight back the tears, remember the good times, and bring myself back into reality.

And...

back.

The set of Grandparents in front of us were really sweet. Their grandson was number 22 and they were so proud. I shared our seats (you know those fold up seats that you use when you sit on bleachers and they make life so much easier?) with them, and they were just so excited! The set of Grandparents behind us had a daughter who was one of the 5 attendants for Homecoming Queen. I don't think they could be anymore excited, and they convinced everyone around them that she was just so sweet. Later that night, we found out that their Granddaughter actually made Homecoming Queen. It was a nice end to the night, since in a way we knew her so well. I was totally rooting for her.
2--Trav took me to a movie, and I dominated him at the hoop shoot game.
3--Drooled over some other crafts I want to make. I have quite the list for myself. Can't wait to start!!
4--Saturday we did some yard work, cleaned the house, and gave Trey a bath. I harvested :) the garden.

Auntie Kristine took Kassi out for lunch and brought back two smothered burritos for Trav and I. So wonderful!! (Thanks AK!) Later that night, we had Mom, Kelly, Levi, and Grandpa Smith over for a BBQ, and watched Avatar! (I don't think I'll ever get sick of that show!)
5--Went 3-0 on my Fantasy Football League. (Woot!)
6--Attempted some pictures of the snuggie and I, and sort of failed. (It's really big!)

6--Watched my boys finally win a game!
7--Played games at Grandpa Wooten's.
8--Called 911 because somehow the propane tank caught on fire. (Cancelled the call because my Uncle saved the day.)
9--Enjoyed a delishous BBQ (Stovetop) dinner with the fam!
10--Spent a little bit of time at home, relaxing with Trav's mom and sister.

It was short, but good times!!

September is over, and I think I blogged twice.

2010-09-23T09:17:00.006-06:00

So, here's the wrap up. AKA--25 (or quite possibly more) blog stories I slacked on, and am compiling into one post.

I didn't think I was up to very much...and then I checked the pictures on my phone.

Two things to note before I start:
1--Phone pictures. Quality. Ew.
2--Random, random, random.

People always ask to see my dog, so I figured I'd take a few pictures of him to keep on my phone. He wasn't as fond as the idea as I was though.

No explanation really needed. Poofy eyes. Hard day. Pretty flowers.

Amy Lou, Alena, Audie, and Danny came down a week after the funeral. It was nice to have company for a long span. Even though I went home everynight, it still felt like a vacation! The first night they were here we went up to the Dam Jam and camped over night. Alena and I formed a sweet bond. (Thanks to cupcake making/Spa Treatment giving/Coloring Apps!) The next day we had a BBQ at our house, and another BBQ at a friends house the next day! It was so good to see my cousins. It's been so long!!

The little cousins enjoyed it, too! Alexis showed Danny a little on the guitar. (It was so cute, I wish I would have had my camera!! Apparently there is no flash on my phone :( )

Other than that, they played games, tag, hung out, and watched movies!

The Nay Family Band (My Aunt/Uncle/Cousins) played on the biggest stage to date!!

Yep! That's right, they were asked to perform for the Kennecot Company party at the Rio Tinto stadium!! The party was two Monday's in a row, and we all agree it was the best gig so far..everything was free including the entry, all food, drinks, candy, popcorn, snowie's...everything!! Then, after the festivities they showed a movie on the big screen (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs). I couldn't get Trav to stay for it the second time but Levi, Harley, and I hung out and watched it with my Aunt and the fam. It was good times!

Levi and Harley stood in line for a total of about 2 hours waiting for a clown to make them balloons. The balloons were popped less than 30 minutes later, but they had fun together. They don't get to hang out very often, so it was good for them to see each other.

A few weeks later Katie had her very first Drill Team performance! The opening game was at the Rio Tinto stadium, so back we were. It was a pretty eventful evening. It was on a Friday night and Trav had planned for us to go to a BBQ at our friends house. I kindly reminded him of Katie's performance and he said he would go to the BBQ but they'd wait for me to be done with the half-time show, and start cooking when I got there.

Perfect.

We get to the real stadium and find out that it's 8 bucks a person, plus 5 for parking. Seriously? Thirteen bucks to watch a 2 minute half-time show? I could care less about the football game, but whatever. Kass and I get up to the ticket booth, ask if we can just go in. We let them know we will only be there for the half-time show.

Shot down.

Paid the money, and went inside.

Family, if your reading...skip over this part.

My wonderful family tried to pull a fast one, telling Kass and I that the halftime show started at 7, when in reality...the actual game didn't even start until 7:30. Little liars.

We get all settled in and it starts to rain a little. I'm thinking "Oh, this is awesome...I love the rain!"

Then, it started pouring!!!

We were soaked in no time.

Remember that scene in Dumb and Dumber where they are on the motorcycle and Harry is on the back of the bike and he is absolutely freezing...He can't feel his fingers. Floyd looks back and says "Ooh. Maybe you should wear these extra gloves... my hands are starting to get sweaty."

Yeah...same thing happened with my Aunt and the extra umbrella. Needless to say by the time we got the umbrella, we were soaked.

It didn't really phase us though. We ate blue airheads, and enjoyed the rain. The game took forever to get to half-time, so that was kind of frustrating. Finally, the half-time show came, and we were all excited to see Katie perform for the first time on the Drill Team.

Then we heard The Voice.

"Attention, due to severe weather conditions, this evenings half-time show has been cancelled. Sorry for the inconvenience."

What??? Cancelled??? We paid 13 bucks, missed a BBQ, and soaked ourselves all for nothing!!

We left, and made it to the BBQ right on time. 10 oclock.

While we're on the subject of Katie's performances. Let's talk about her second (first) performance. The one where some kid who drives a truck that looks similar to this one:

thought it would be the best idea in the world to create a third row of cars by parking behind my car, which was already behind a nice, white suburban.

This definitely made for a not happy Jessica. Come time to leave (before the game was over) I go to my car, and realize that I'm blocked in, both ways.

Long story short--A few walks back and forth from the announcing staduim, cop calls, and one hour later, said kid finally comes to move his truck. (No worries. I almost made him cry. I highly doubt he will be blocking someone in anytime soon.)

The best part of this story is the ending. It totally resembled a scary movie where at the end everything repeats itself. You know, like where you think the bad guy is gone forever, and then it changes scene's and now you're watching the scared couple shop in a grocery store, and the bad guy is secretly following them with his new haircut and clothes to complete his disguise. Or something like that.

So, kid finally comes to move his car, I yell at him and walk back to my family. On the way back there is a man talking to the cop.

"Hey, I'm not sure who I talk to if I'm blocked in, but would it be you?"

I shoot him a ifeelsobadforyou smile and say "Good luck, Sir. I was just in the same boat, and waited an hour."

PS--Who does that?? So ridiculous.

Look at the size of this hail!!!

Oh, and if you're wondering why I have green all over my hands it's because I was frantically trying to grab my little green bamboo sticks in which I use to stake my garden, so that I could get a cover over it before the hail completely ruined it.

Oh, you're wondering where Trav was while I was being hit in the head with marbles, trying to fix my garden, almost heartbroken...

He was under the porch. Laughing at me. Saying "By the time you get it covered, it's going to pass...blah, blah, blah I'm a mean boyfriend."

Speaking of garden! Here are a couple pictures from the garden. At first it was really slow, and lots of work for what seemed like nothing, but now it's amazing!! I know now why they call this season "Harvest"! We have had so many cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers, and radishes, and about 5 Bell Peppers so far!! I love, love, love it, and can't wait to garden again next year!!

We went to a Bees game the other night, and it was pretty fun. Turns out they are really long, and I know nothing about baseball! Since it was one of the last games of the season, they had a firework show! That, on the other hand, was one of the best firework shows I've seen in a really long time!! It was so awesome to be so close to where they were lighting the fireworks off. It seemed like everytime they lit one off, you could actually feel the boom! Plus, they played music while they were lighting them off, which I really enjoyed!!

Trav took me to Lagoon a few weekends back. We decided to go on a Sunday, and it was a great idea! We didn't have to wait in any line more than about 5 minutes! We're totally getting old, and Lagoon is not the same as it used to be. I can remember literally begging to stay until close every time we used to go to Lagoon. This last time, we rode our chosen rides 1-2 times, and a few hours later called it a day! As you can see, I wasn't too into the idea of taking pictures. I did grab a few of the Ferris Wheel though! I rode it for the first time ever, which is crazy cuz it's been there for so long!! It was fun though!! Thanks babe :)

I've been looking for an efficient earing holder for forever! I actually almost ordered one off of Etsy, but never got around to it! Then the best thing happened, I clicked over to see what Kevin and Amanda (http://www.kevinandamanda.com/) were up to, and Amanda had the cutest earing holder craft project up!! So, I tried it, and love it! I'm sure I'll be making more of these! Thanks Amanda!! Good find!

And, last but not least. I saw this picture on the internet (middle one) of a lady with a super cute braid/twist thingy...and I've been trying to duplicate it and have not had any luck yet. I'm determined though!! Does anyone do this?? Is there an easy way to do it? It is so cute!

And holy cow!! If you made it through that, thanks!! :)

Also--For the sake of everyone, the spider picture should be on the next page now!! (Fingers crossed)

Shipped!!

2010-09-21T09:01:00.003-06:00

I only maybe cried a little when I shipped my iPhone to some man (who in turn, thinks I'm a man..weird.) in Florida.

I'm totally a rookie when it comes to eBay, but I plan on changing that as my first sell was a complete success. (See: Bought my 3GS for 200 bucks and sold it for 426 bucks.)

I hope I don't let it all out when they handover my i4. That would be embarrassing. Today at work is going to be the longest...how will I ever get to 5 oclock with this phone constantly on my mind?! I cannot wait to go pick up my new love!!

Oh, and speaking of love...my Trav came home from Minnesota last night!! It was so many parts of wonderful! He was gone for 4 days, and it was horrible. I missed him dearly. Plus, I had to kill one spider by myself. I also stuck my hand into a spider web without even knowing, freaked out...and then had to remember to breathe when I saw the guy sitting in the web. Holy Moly.

Oh, and guess what Trav brought for us???

Besides the super awesome hat, and his Vikings hoodie, and my Vikings hoodie (which is better than his)...

...

...

...

A Vikings SNUGGIE!!!! I cannot wait to rock it.

Also, I bet you can't wait for pictures, so I will rock those too!!

Happy Tuesday!

I love...

2010-09-09T15:02:00.004-06:00

these things, in this order:

1) Writing a to-do list.
2) Forgetting to add something.
3) Doing that something.
4) Writing it on my to-do list.
5) Immediately crossing it off.

The feeling of accomplishment is such a great one.

My biggest fear...or so I thought.

2010-09-08T12:11:00.002-06:00

I'm 23 years old and I thought I had it figured out. In all of my 23 years, I've (and most likely anyone who knows me) always known that a spider, little or big...will almost immediately put me into cardiac arrest.

Well boys and girls, I have run into something that is even worse than a spider.

Curious? (It might be a good idea to skip the rest of this post. If you're like me, it will haunt you and give you nightmares for the rest of your life...but I just have to share. It's not fair that I'm the only one with this image in my head. So, it's your choice. At least I'm warning you.)

Turns out 1 ginormous spider with hundreds of baby spiders on her "abdomen" will just about make me poop in my pants at the same time that my heart stops.

I'm so glad that (up until Saturday) I've never seen anything like this in my life but why?? WHY, WHY, WHY, WHYYYY did that have to change?

Also, WHY would something like this be chillin on our front porch days after we sprayed?? :(

I have no faith in you Ortho. Your supposed spider killing spray is whack.

A letter to you.

2010-09-01T22:04:00.005-06:00

Dear Grandma:

I've thought and thought and thought about how I wanted to express my thoughts on all of this, and the other night as I was laying in the hotel bed (at 12:30am when I couldn't sleep because of everything that's been on my mind) it came to me. I'm going to write you a letter.

When we first moved to Idaho, one of my absolute favorite memories is when I would get something in the mail from you. I loved reading your handwritten (and sometimes typed) letters. They were full of things to make me giggle, and things to make me feel warm and fuzzy, all around.

You were really good at doing that.

One of my favorite packages came a week after we had talked and I told you that I had Strep Throat. I remember laying on the couch, feeling absolutely horrible, when my mom came in from work with a box.

"Your Grandma sent you something today."

I opened that box and there was my very own Grandma-made wubbie, with a handwritten letter to help me forget that I was even sick.

It's been years since that day, yet I still have that wubbie, and I'm very protective of it. It is ripped and sewn in 3 different places, and the pillow is hanging on by a few threads but it is the best blanket anyone could ask for. (You know how that is. You loved your wubbie the same.)

..

So, where to start? I'm not sure, but I do want you to know that I miss you.

A lot.

I think about you every. single. day. Sometimes it's great because I can think of you and the wonderful memories we have, and smile and I'm okay. But sometimes, it's not as easy. And, then the times that something else is on my mind, the wind will blow, and I will hear the wind chimes and immediately I know you are there with me, and it's comforting.

Speaking of wind chimes. That was really clever. We were (mostly) all in different rooms at the time, and at the time we heard the chimes, we all came together in the living room, and we knew you were okay at that moment. Thank you for that. :)

People probably think I'm crazy, Grandma...I'm so used to calling you on a daily basis that now instead of calling...I pretty much just talk to you. Well, I still call your phone sometimes to hear your voice. The voice that says "See ya later" at the end.

..

I let you know when I make it somewhere safely, because I always have. I talk to you out loud lots of times when I'm driving by myself. It helps me and calms me down, so I know you are listening.

We had lots of family come down for your funeral, which was nice. It's been a really long time since we've all been together. I wish it was for another reason though. I know we all do. It's sort of a weird feeling when you know everyone has the same thing on the back of their mind, yet, we're trying so hard to make the best of the situation.

Speaking of your funeral though, it was beautiful. I finally met Judge Robertson and Harry Papasideris. You've talked about them all these years and I always sort of pictured what they looked like by the way you described them. I saw them at the viewing. Harry walked right up to me and asked how I was related. When I was able to contain the tears enough to tell him I was your granddaughter, he smiled and said he knew me because of how much you'd talked about me. I saw Judge Robertson and knew right away who it was. She came over, and we talked for quite some time. We talked about how wonderful you were, and she asked what your favorite color was. I think she sent some flowers to the house. I can't even explain how wonderful it was for me to meet those two. You always talked about them, and it was nice to put a face to all of the wonderful things I'd heard.

Travis was a Pallbearer, along with Dad, Uncle Mike and Tom, Uncle David, and Otto. They all looked very nice.

The service was wonderful. I wanted so badly to stand up there and tell everyone how special you were to me, but I couldn't. It was really hard for me. Alexis was nice enough to read a talk that I'd put together. I told three of my favorite stories/memories (that time with Dad and the spider, the cranberry juice hospital story, and of course..the stand tall to lead us all story), and it seemed like everyone was laughing. That was good.

That week is something I don't want to remember as much as I keep you in my thoughts and memories, but there are a few things I do want to remember, so I have noted them here and elsewhere.

You know how you always give Grandpa crap about using his finger when he talks. You say he wouldn't be able to do anything without his finger goin the whole time he's talking? Well, on our last day with you, your finger was going just as much as Grandpas. I thought it was cute.

I'm so glad I was able to leave work and see you there at the hospital. I know you're happy I was there too. I needed to hear you tell me you loved me one more time. And, the hug is something I will always remember, along with the many many hugs you always gave us :)

Linda Mae came down on August 3rd, and now I know why you always talked so much of her. She is so sweet! I know I've met her before, but I couldn't remember. I was really young. I felt like I knew her so well though, because of how you talked of her. I don't blame you though. I think she is such a great lady, and you know what? She really reminds me of you. We went to a gig at the Rio Tinto stadium where the girls played, and I had so much fun hanging out with her, and getting to know her more. I can't believe how much she reminds me of you. I can totally see now how you guys would have so much fun together.

Well Grandma, it's taken me awhile to write this but I want you to know how much I miss you, and how thankful I am that you are my Grandma. I've learned so much from you and I can't wait to share your legacy with everyone, especially my children. I know I always told you this, but I truly hope I'm half as great as you are. I've always wanted to be just like you, and I will be. You've been the perfect example. So, thank you.

Oh yeah...I almost forgot! I went to Price this weekend, and I was freaking out because I forgot toothpaste, and didn't want to have to go to the store my first night there. I finally convinced myself that I would just have to go to the store anyway, either that or check with the Hotel front desk to see if they had any extra toothpaste. Once I got into Price though, I went to the back seat to grab my stuff, and on the floor of your car, in a sample box, was a brand new tube of toothpaste.

Thank you. :) You've always been there to save me from basically any situation. Big or little. Locked out of my car, or simply in the need of some toothpaste. It's good to know that you're still there, watching over me.

I know you don't want me to be sad, so I'm working on that. (It's hard though. Extremely hard.) I'm glad that you are no longer in pain, and I'm sure it was so nice to see your mom again. I just have to remind myself of how lucky I am to have had all of the time that we had together. I love you so, so much, and I miss your smile. I miss your advice. I miss your laugh. I miss how much you made me laugh. I miss your hugs, and how you always knew what kind of day I was having even before I told you. I miss house hunting together. I miss our talks. I miss calling you. I miss watching TV together, and shopping together. I miss my Grandma, and I want her back..but I know you are in a better place. So, until next time...I love you Grandma and thank you for everything.

Talk to you soon.

Ann Marie Wooten 10.24.40 - 8.3.10

Boys and Girls, get ready!!

2010-08-31T08:40:00.004-06:00

Okay, so yesterday was wonderful. Work flew by. I had to run to Best Buy after work, but we'll skip the story because that was the only not wonderful thing about yesterday. Met Trav and Kassi at Grandpa's, and Auntie Kristine was cooking tacos. De-lish. Megan was there, working on some homework from school. (somehow I find joy when the kids have to go back to school. It's pure jealousy. Summer vacations are overrated.) We ate with the doors and windows open, and the breeze felt wonderful. After we cleaned up, Auntie Kristine, Megan, and I took a trip to Hobby Lobby (weakness). Megan had a notebook for Biology that she needed to decorate for a grade, so we had fun picking out stuff to decorate. On the way home, we stopped for some Have It Your Way frozen yogurt. Auntie Kristine spotted a baseball on the side-ish of the road and said it would be a good idea to throw it back into the field. Jessica was nomitated, and humiliated. Apparently the "field" was a littler further than I'd anticipated. Got home and made the cutest Biology notebooke possible. Dropped Megan off, and went home to bed.

Just a simple day with the fam, but sometimes those are the absolute best.

Speaking of yesterday, and it's perfectness...the weather reminded me of someone, and his name is Fall, and I miss him dearly.

Is anyone else as excited as I am about this up and coming (almost here!!!) season?

If yesterday wasn't a very solid reminder that it's just around the corner, I'm not sure what else could have been.

In fact, it was yesterday that reminded me all day long that it was time to go and get the Fall stuff out of the storage and let the fun begin!

(I know it's still a tad early, but I'm totally the proud owner of the house that you walk into from the hot, hot summer sun...and feel like you're in the dead middle of fall. Don't judge.)

How can I wait though??? I feel like a little kid at Christmas time. I can't pass up the home-y feeling that fall brings. The leaves. The smells. The crisp air. Football. Sweaters. Wubbies. --Even better...Grandma-made Minnesota VIKINGS Wubbies! The Holiday season. The opportunity to take tons and tons of pictures and they all turn out wonderful because everything is so beautiful. Raking leaves. Rolling in the leaves. And the colors.

Nope. I will never be able to contain excitement for this fine time of the year.

And yesterday, come back!! More please!!

Internet. How I love thee.

2010-08-26T19:43:00.003-06:00

I've been in Price this week, at the Holiday Inn.

Last night I realized a few things:
1- I'm blonde. (Trav's right about that, as much as I try to deny it.)
2- I think I'm addicted to the Internet.

7:30- Get home (to the hotel) from work, finish eating my dinner.
7:32- Crawl under the blankets because I'm a little chilly. (See: Ilovetobecold and ThisiswhatIdowhenIcan. The air might have been turned down to 58, but I won't admit I'm that crazy.)
7:33- Contemplate turning the air off. Decide against doing so.
7:35- Pick up my iphone and try to go into a new GPS app that I downloaded a few days ago to check it out.

--Realize that I don't have an internet connection and set my phone back down.

7:38- Get bored again. Pick up my phone and click on the apps store. (Keeps me entertained for hours.)

--Realize yet again that I don't have an internet connection and set my phone down.

7:41- Pick up my phone, and click on Safari. I had a brilliant idea to look up and save a bunch of wallpapers for the future.

--You know what happens next.

7:41- Watch a little TV.

On the first commercial- Pick my phone up again, and click on Facebook. Remember that I've picked up my phone to do something Internet related 4 times in the last 10ish minutes, and giggle a little.

At which point I decide to just try to get the internet connection to work so I can post something on Facebook.

Bad news: It took 15 minutes to post 10 words.
Good news: I felt accomplished, and kept myself busy for 15 minutes.

Family Time!

2010-08-19T12:58:00.008-06:00

The last couple of weeks have been busy, busy.

If you are going off what I have blogged about, you would quite possibly think the opposite. I have been slacking. Big time.

These last few weeks have been hard though.

I haven't really had the words to compile a post.

I lost my Grandma on August 3rd, and ...

See, no words.

I'm still working on that.

..

Before I get extremely behind though, I have tons of pictures!

(Double click on the pictures to see them a little bit bigger)

We've had a bunch of family come down recently, and considering the circumstances, we had a great time!

In the Wooten family, there's nothing more satisfying than a full house, 25 conversations going on at once, spending time together, reminiscing, and game playing. Oh, and watching the Nay Family Band play some music for us..we were able to enjoy that, too!

I was privileged enough to take on the annoying role of interrupting everyone and insisting they pose for pictures! I like the result though...it's totally worth the nasty looks and moans! (Just kidding, it wasn't that bad. But sort of like that.)

Harley, Auntie Boop, and Auntie Pam playing Parcheesi.

My bestest was able to come down for the weekend and meet all the family! She also brought some amazing enchiladas, and her little princess!

Speaking of her little princess, we all witnessed her throwing a tantrum fit.

I can only hope this is how my kids throw their fits. Quiet, and peaceful.

The last time I saw this much family at one time was way too long to even remember!! It was so cool to see all of my cousins, and how they've grown up!! We all enjoyed spending time together.

We played games...

Posed...(Grandpa and his girls)

Posed some more...(Grandpa and his boys)

Some more...

Take 1...

Perfected!

And BBQed in style.

...What, you don't cut hair at your BBQ's?

Weird.

And simply enjoyed each others company.

It was hard without Grandma.

She's always been the go-to person, the organizer, the glue, the shopper, the personality, the laughter, the complainer because we're not recycling, and well...the everything.

She was with us though, in a way that's going to be hard to get used to.

But still there.

Miss you all already, and hope the next trip is already in planning!

Sneak Peak--Family from California, Alabama, and Oregon!

2010-08-18T16:55:00.000-06:00

...More pictures and stories coming this week!

5 years down, many more to go!

2010-08-13T09:34:00.004-06:00

We met 12 years ago.
I thought he was a show-off at first.
He thought I only liked "Mexicans" (I remember the day I told him that. Seriously? I had to have been the coolest 13 year old ever..or so I thought.)
He moved to Idaho with his dad.
We hung out.
A lot.
I lied to friends to hang out with him.
I never told him I liked him.
After a couple of years, he moved away from Idaho.
We didn't talk for 3 years.
That sucked.
I went to a family reunion with his dad and he was there.
We picked up from there like we'd never stopped talking.
He moved to California for work.
He suprised me one day, and said he'd come back for me.
Five years ago today, he asked me to be with him.
Finally.
We love each other more than anything.
We love to fish together.
He loves Call of Duty.
I love Mario.
I love that he compromises, and plays Mario with me all of the time.
He probably loves that I compromise and let his dinner get cold while he finishes up his Call of Duty.
We love camping.
I love how he fits right in with my family.
I love how they love him.
We love our little doggie. (All 60 lbs of him)
We love our little home.
And our garden.
We love football, and can't wait for this season to begin.
We love music.
He loves my enchiladas.
I love making him laugh.
One of my favorite things about him is how he calls me every day, during his lunch break. We have the same conversation almost every time, but I look forward to those calls every single day.
He called me this morning while I was getting ready for work, and I was in a hurry (like usual) so I had to cut it short.
I feel bad.
At least he knows me by now, so I'm sure he didn't take it to heart.
Plus I'll talk to him at lunch :)
But still.

I love my Trav so very much.

Happy five years babe.

Travis and the biggest Albino we've ever seen!

2010-08-11T21:14:00.003-06:00

While I was enjoying some quality girl/family time in Wendover, Travis was enjoying some quality family time with his mom, sister, and brother in Price! He drove down for the weekend and on Saturday they went fishing. As much as I don't want to admit that Travis caught a bigger fish than me...I must post pictures. (Thanks for the pictures/hourly updates Janet!! They totally made my day!)

He pulled this baby out of a little stocked pond for kids!!! One where him and I have fished before and caught little baby fishies!! He said a lady nearby measured it and it was 2.0 pounds! I think she's crazy though...it looks waaaay bigger than that! Trav and I agreed that her scale must have been broken ;)

(Insert jealousy here.)

(and here...)

(and once more here.)

I was so excited for him though, I could hardly contain myself! (He couldn't contain himself either, it was adorable.)

Here is where I insert my sweet, mushy, lovie dovie stuff...(the goods)
He called me to tell me how excited he was and I said "Man babe! I wish I was there, fishing too!" to which he replied "I know. The first thing I thought about when I pulled the fish in was how much I wished you were here!" (so I could rub it in your face)<-- I usually leave that part of the story out, because it's not relevant. The first sentence was the cutest thing ever.

A Special Wendover Trip

2010-08-11T19:18:00.003-06:00

A few months back I was at my Grandma and Grandpa's house. Grandma had just brought in the mail and handed me a flyer. It was my very first coupon flyer from Wendover, where I had finally earned my free room Sunday through Thursday. (Exciting, I know) Grandma and Auntie Kristine also got one that day, so a trip was definitely in order.

At this point, we didn't know about Grandma's cancer. As far as we knew, she'd been saved by a miracle surgery where the cancer was taken completely out. We planned a trip to Wendover a few Thursdays away.

Fast forward a week, and our family was presented with the worst news a family could ever receive. Grandma's cancer had come back and now we had the Dr's estimate of Grandma's time left with us thrown at our face like a ton of bricks.

Plans were canceled, switched, moved, and remade to arrange for family to come and visit.

The Wendover trip was pushed to the 29th of August and as much as we all tried to make time go as slow as possible, and not wish for a fast tomorrow while trying hard to keep what was so heavy on our minds to the side so we could enjoy our time together, we were excited for this upcoming date.

Uncle Billy came down for a visit and we had a great time. (See previous post)

Auntie Kristine finally came home, with no return date. (Something we've all wanted for over 5 years)

Grandma just kept talking about how excited she was for our Wendover trip. I remember one day specifically where she'd mentioned it four times. She was so excited to get away, and forget about everything. Live in the moment.

So, Wendover came. Auntie Kristine brought down an electric scooter/chair type thing, and we brought that for Grandma. For the first time in almost months, she was able to do what she wanted, when she wanted. At first, it took some getting used to with all of the buttons and switches, and levers...but by the end of the first night, Grandma was a pro. You could see the joy glowing from every part of her body.

She started out slow, and by the end of the night sped up so fast that she was looking back (while driving!! :S) telling us to catch up!

She would stop and mess with about 6 buttons to get things just the way they needed to be when she stopped. (She was all about saving the battery)

She would even notify passerbys that she was "New to this" when they would join us in the elevator.

She absolutely loved the cart, and so did we.

Since we were there on a Thursday night, the casino was pretty bare, which was perfect. We had the run of the place, so we all stuck together. Grandma found her favorite slot machine, and we played around her.

We stayed up until 12:30 that morning, enjoying life...and the wonderful pleasure of each others company.

At one point, I was playing a nickel machine next to Grandma and some guy walked up next to me and sat down, starting a conversation. I answered with short answers, mostly minding my own business. After about 5 minutes, Grandma came zipping over and said "C'mon, let's go play these over here."

Thank God! Saved by the Grandma.

This is something she's famous for. Always watching out for everyone else.

The night ended, and Auntie Tammy took Grandma up to the room to go to sleep. Auntie Kristine and I decided then to play some poker. Grandma gave us each 50 dollars that night, and I saved mine for poker. It was special to me, and I wanted to see if I could stretch it. Well, stretch it is just what I did. That 50 dollars turned in to 1600. The most I've ever made playing poker. (We won't talk about the end result on this post...because it doesn't matter) What truly matters is how unbelievably grateful I am to have had this weekend with Grandma. I would have never guessed it in a million years, but this perfect weekend, would be the last weekend I'd ever spend with my Grandma. (I will be posting specifically about that later.)

Friday came and it was time to go home. Grandma didn't want to go home. We were having fun, and the worries had subsided. Auntie Kristine and I worked our magic at the poker tables (She came home with 800 dollars!!) and we were able to score a room for two more nights. If we wanted, we could have stayed the whole weekend. We stayed Friday night, and left early Saturday morning.

The drive home was quiet. Sleeping off and on, we were able to enjoy a sun rise (which I haven't seen in a very long time.) It was a beautiful way to end such a perfect weekend.

I will cherish this weekend for the rest of my life and I would give anything to have just one more, exactly like it.

Oh, how I wish that was a possibility.

Grandma was the first person to ever take me to Wendover, and I was there for her last trip to Wendover. Who would have ever known this place would hold such a special place in my heart. I am so thankful for that weekend in Wendover.

And gosh dang it. I miss my Grandma.

Cedar Fort trip

2010-07-27T13:36:00.012-06:00

Thursday night some of my family drove out to a really small town called Cedar Fort.

We were told it was their town celebration, and that there would be a potluck before the infamous Nay Family Band's performance. Let me tell you...after working all day, and then driving for an hour, I was totally looking forward to the potluck!!

On the way there, I was imagining what the town would be like. My Aunt said it was close to Saratoga Springs, so right away I thought it would be young couples, lots of people, yummy food, picnic tables, and pavilions.

Once we got to Cedar Fort, we met up with my Aunt and followed her through a town with one stop sign, more dirt roads than paved, friendly people who drive four-wheelers with their knee, hold a cup of something with one hand and wave as you pass by with the other hand. I felt almost at home. My Oakley (Small town in Idaho where I grew up) home that is.

After a short drive on a windy dirt road, we'd arrived. We thought, but secretly kind of hoped not. No one was there, and there was definitely no potluck. There were three cars total. Ours, and a truck/trailer with some mics on the trailer.

It was 10 minutes before the action was supposed to begin.

A little worried, my Aunt got out and talked to the man in charge (friend of theirs)and he assured her that once the sun went down, the town would quickly pour in, and it would be a happenin' place.

So we waited...

And waited...

And little by little...

People started to show up

Arriving in style.

Everyone seemed dressed for the occasion, and I felt out of place (having just come from work). Later, we found out that after the fam performed, there was a "Town Pageant" and that's why everyone was all dressed up. At one point, I'd mentioned to my Aunt that I felt out of place, and conveniently enough, my Grandma had a bonnet in the back of the car. My Aunt was so nice to go and get it for me.

I'll save you from that picture. (You're welcome.)

The whole time, I could not get over how much like my little town, this town was. Party at the rodeo grounds, not one soul around, and then suddenly the town is there, yummy potluck food, waving, talking, friendly people. It was great

Auntie Tammy and the fam got all setup and started to play

They played for a little over an hour, and it sounded great!

Free petting session/rides (awesome picture opp!) :)

So, almost every show they play at, there are little girls who think Megan (my youngest cousin) is Hannah Montana. She's had people ask for autographs, and request songs, etc, etc...

Tonight was no exception. One lady brought over her little daughter and said "She wanted to come over and see Hanna Tannah!"

Megan was sweet enough to add Hannah's song "I Miss You" to their set, which made for one (probably 2 or 4 or 10) happy little girl(s)!

They ended with Grandma's favorite song (Across the Great Divide) and Grandpa's favorite song (The Crawdad Song).

It was a cool little experience, and brought back so many memories. In fact...that night I had a dream that Trav and I quit our day jobs to "go back to high school." It was basically a dream full of Oakley memories.

Good times!

Meet Mari.

2010-07-27T09:42:00.002-06:00

She's the bestest.

...and my bestest.

She came to visit last weekend and I'm already ready for round two.

Come baaaack Mari!!

The end.

New Music!

2010-07-26T13:18:00.002-06:00

I put a new playlist up today. I made it so it will auto-play every time you open up my blog. I heart these songs that much!

Enjoy :)

Expensive...in the best way.

2010-07-26T11:15:00.004-06:00

Here are the promised rings! A few weekends ago, we went to Snowbird for the Mountain Music Festival. With any good festival, you have great booths, right? Well, if that is the case...this was a fantastic festival!! We scored at the booths!

Kassi and I went looking and stopped at the first booth. I picked up a beautiful silver, flower ring, with a moon rock in the middle of the flower. I was almost sold.

Then I asked the price.

"...Oh, that one? It's 99 dollars."

"Oh, wow. Okay, thanks"

I set the ring down, and will forever have a free image in my head.

Kassi then says "I was looking at these booths a little earlier and I found some rings that look pretty cool at this other booth, and they are 4 dollars."

Can you guess where we went next?

We almost bought enough 4 dollar rings to equal the price of the beauty which was the silver flower ring, but that doesn't matter.

These rings were so much more special. They were custom, and this wonderfully talented man was engraving on the spot. Whatever you wanted.

The ones you see in this picture are my choices. The first one I bought said Imagine. Kass and I wanted to get matching "...Woot..." one's, so we did. The last one was picked by Grandma. It says "Live like there's no tomorrow."

These four dollar rings are priceless to me. They are wonderful, wonderful, wonderful AND, they are made out of coconut.

Isn't that the coolest thing in the world??

Sushi Virginity--Taken forever.

2010-07-22T14:56:00.003-06:00

Can I please have it back? I've decided I'm not a fan. I went with Kass and Auntie Kristine to try Sushi for the first time ever. I chickened out and got a California Roll (not even a fan of that!!), and then Kass talked me into (threw one of her rolls onto my plate) trying some kinda something with raw something is all I really remember. Ew. Ew. Ew. Auntie Kristine and Kass ate their raw stuff, and I decided to go for something cooked.

I think that's the way everything should be.

Cooked.

However, to make a really long story short...apparently when you go to a Sushi restaurant and order ANY type of food less than "Fully Burnt," it comes out mooing. Who would have thought?

I tipped .10 for the first time in my life (Auntie Kristine didn't tip anything!) because the service was absolutely horrible and our waitress clearly had better things to do than to pour us more water, and bring stinky, raw fish.

I'm glad I'm able to cross "Try Sushi" off my list, but I'm happy to say that I'll definitely NEVER go to that Sushi place again, I now know how to order steaks at Sushi bars, and I'm not a fan of Sushi.

I'll step down now before the tomatos come flying. (Even though I really don't understand what everyone loves so much about Sushi.)

Modest Mouse @ Pioneer Park -- 7.8.10

2010-07-22T14:36:00.003-06:00

Modest Mouse opened up for this years "Twilight Concert Series"

Being that they are my favorite band, I had some mixed feelings about this.

Of course I was so excited, because any time Isaac is playing 2 feet away from me is good times...

But, the show was free.

I mean...kudos to Isaac for playing at the park in front of 40.000 people and not making as much as he would if it were a paid show.

But I knew there would be so, so, so many people there. I was right. There were 40,000! Although I wish he would have played a show the next night where people would have to pay to see, I really enjoyed the show. I didn't take my camera in this time, since it was my third time seeing Modest, but I couldn't help from snapping a few (lots) of pictures of some of my favorite people, ever.

Setlist:
Paper Thin Walls
Fire It Up
Dashboard
3rd Planet
Here It Comes
King Rat
The Devil's Workday
Dramamine
Bury Me With It
Blame it on the Tetons--Always been a favorite played live.
Dance Hall
Here's to Now--Ugly Casanova
Fly Trapped In a Jar
Float On--First time I've ever seen them play this song. Probably because they were in front of a crowd where 95 percent of the people only knew and were chanting for this song. Oh well, it was still very enjoyable.
Parting of the Sensory--Definitely one of my favorite songs.
Gravity Rides Everything--Favorite song of the night.
The View

Encore:
Satin in a Coffin
Spitting Venom

...Pure bliss...

Snowbird Mountain Music Festival

2010-07-22T09:42:00.006-06:00

A few weekends ago (See: still behind on blogging) was the 12th annual Snowbird Mountain Music festival. Our family has been going the past 4 or 5 years and we always have a good time! The last couple of years there has been a charge, because lots of bands come to entertain, however this year everything was free! ...Well, besides the Scentsy booth I couldn't pass up. And, the ring booths (Pictures coming soon). I'm okay with that though. I feel like me paying someone else's bills and scoring some super awesome goods while doing so is a fair trade.

And anyway...the festival was free. I had to spend the saved money on something.

Back to the festival...if you're ever in the area (Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah), you should definitely make a pit stop at Snowbird. It is absolutely beautiful and the festivals and such (especially this Mountain Music one) that they host up there are sooo much fun!

We stayed at the Cliff Lodge this year. There was a pool on TOP of the roof of the Hotel. Nuff said.

We started the day each morning watching the (Insert really long, professional name here) Instrument Competition. Anyone can join. There are two divisions: Novice, and Open. They hold the competition for all types of instruments. It's a blind judging session, and when it's your turn, you get up on stage and perform two songs. Based on the points you received from the judges, they choose a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. In the open division, first place gets a donated instrument (whichever instrument they competed in). I love watching all of the people get up there and give it their all!! The age ranges from 10 (or so) to 65+, so you see all kinds of stuff! Later in the day, they have (my favorite) a singer/songwriter contest. This year they had 11 singer/songwriters. Something about live music--singers--and songwriters totally makes me the happiest Jessica ever.

Another thing that makes me the happiest Jessica ever is spending time with the fam up in the mountains! We were all there this year: Grandpa, Grandma, Auntie Tammy, Uncle David, Alexis, Stockton, Katie, Megan, Kass, Jon, Me, and Travis. AND, I totally forgot until now, we actually were welcomed by the emcee on the stage! He said something like "It's so nice to see all of the familiar faces coming back each year! The Nays, and their wonderful parents and family who come to support them each year, the SoandSo's, and the SoandSo's."

I took lots and lots of pictures. Here are a few of my favorites!

Megan competing, and receiving her 3rd place ribbon. (She played beautifully!!)

Trav drove up for the day on Saturday, so after we watched a little bit of the music competition he wanted to ride up the mountain on the Peruvian Express (Ski Lift). We rode last year and I couldn't remember very much about it, except for I thought it was beautiful up there, and I remembered there was an awesome cave thingy at the top. So, I agreed. We got on the chairs, and Travis said (laughing) "I can remember last year, you were a little baby! You were so scared. It was funny." Um awesome. How did I not remember that I was scared and WHY was I scared? Well...I was soon to find out!

The lift is SO steep!!! Also, you are just in a lift chair, with no seat belts. Once we started to go up at a steeper rate, I instantly remembered why I was so scared last time!! I do okay as long as I don't move at all. Once in awhile I'd snap a picture but for the most part, I kept pretty still!

It's pretty bad when you are going over very tall trees in a little shaky (ok, Trav assured me they were very sturdy and "Could hold quite a few Semi's full of stuff") chair. It's also bad when you look at your boyfriend to try and talk him into never doing this again, and you notice he is thoroughly enjoying it.

Once we got to the top, we got off the lift and walked through the cave to the other side of the mountain. It has a hiking/biking trail map to show where you are, and the view is so, so, so pretty!! I really want to go up there in the fall to take some pictures. I'm trying to think of another way to get to the top though so I can ditch the chair ride. Any ideas?

Once we got back down, we decided to go on a hike. I was behind documenting everything most of the time, but it was nice for the two of us to just get away from everything for a little bit, and go exploring!

I made him pose lots, but he was a trooper...so I took advantage :)

Love the flower with the clouds in the background. In fact, I love all of the wild flowers in the mountains!

On our way back, we stopped to look at some trees with (probably) awesome stories.

Another favorite about this festival is all of the music lovers who go. It's 100 percent normal to start a "Jam" where you just start playing, and people come join/watch. So, as you're walking from place to place, you see people jamming.

This jam consisted of my Aunt and her family. They played for over an hour and people started to come, and watch, and clap, and there was even a shy little girl who ran up and dropped a dollar in one of the guitar cases.

Grandma and Grandpa had been resting up in the room, so when Auntie Tammy and everyone started to play music, I went up and brought them back down to watch. As you can see, there were quite a few people watching. All different ages. The little boy was a favorite. He'd come right up to where they were playing and clap, and dance, and try to strum the (huge) bass. He was fascinated.

Unfortunately we weren't able to go to the pool on the roof (21 and up), but we had a blast swimming and hanging out together at the pool! Kassi sported Auntie Tammy's swimming suit and I wore some pj pants that I rolled up...with intentions to put my feet only in.

Do you know how hard it is to say no to 3 cousins, 1 friend, and 1 sister?

That being said, I swam too!! We played "Colored Eggs" "Hands Up Stands Up" "Racing" and all of the games that I haven't played in SO many years. It was good times!!

Snowbird I love you, and I'll see you next year!!

The Fourth at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

2010-07-19T15:36:00.005-06:00

On July 5th, we all went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for a delicious BBQ and fireworks. Unfortunately, this is the first year (since we were all younger) that we were all able to be there for fireworks. Trav and I usually do our own thing, and my cousin Alexis is usually doing her own thing, and Kassi (sister) as well. I'm so glad Grandpa kept pushing for and asking when we were all going to come over and do fireworks. I love getting together with the family and reminiscing. We have always been so close as a family and really have a great time when we all get together. Tonight was no exception!!

We started the night off with a BBQ! Everything was home-made and so, so yummy!! I tried BBQ'd french bread for the first time ever (Auntie Tammy, you're a genius!) and loved it!

After we cleaned everything up, we were going to start playing games but it started to get pretty dark, so we went out for some firework fun instead!

We used sparklers in a way we'd never thought of as kids, and actually fought over boxes, lol.

After a few practices...we perfected letters! :)

Then Auntie Tammy gave us an amazing, Utah bought firework show! (They mostly look the same, and don't get all crazy, but the quality family time was totally worth it.)

We picked out some parachute fireworks where the little parachute shoots into the sky and slowly falls down. I think that was definitely the majority favorite!

Towards the end of our firework fun, Kassi got home from work!! We were all so excited to see her! Ever since she started working her second job, this is pretty much what we see out of her:

We showed her our new found love for sparklers, and she joined in for a few minutes..

(I wonder if she'd still be as excited if she knew her hair was on fire.)

I'm so glad we had this Fourth of July together. Grandma and Grandpa sat outside on chairs and just enjoyed everyone being there so much. It's so ironic that this is the year that everyone decided to be at Grandma and Grandpa's. We found out about Grandma the very next day.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth.

Fourth of July -- 2010

2010-07-19T10:22:00.003-06:00

This year for the fourth, we stuck with tradition. Luckily Sugarhouse Park was able to raise enough money to keep the show going. Who knows what next year will bring, but I'm hoping they're still able to keep the show going. I love going and watching the fireworks!

We got there around 8, so we had a little time to kill before the show started. We met our friends Devan and Kelly at the park, and Trav's mom, and sister came with us this year. The weather seemed SO much cooler than last year, so that was awesome! As soon as we got there, Trav was determined to get a "Snowie". That's the first thing we did last year because it was so hot! So, we were off to find a sticky Snowie, and it was a success. Stickyness and all. After that, Janet, Laci, and I decided we were hungry so we walked up to A&W. The sunset was too much to turn down, so I documented it.

Lots of times.

The firework show was okay. We generally like the Liberty Park (24th of July) show better, because the grand finale is like 30 minutes long, and there's booths and stuff to look at while you're waiting for the show to begin, but as always, it was nice to get out, relax, and watch the pretty show!

Camping...two weekends in a row.

2010-07-15T16:44:00.004-06:00

Camping two weeks in a row is the perfect start to any summer, imo.

Last year I had to ask someone what imo meant. (Rookie, I know.)

Oh well, the past is the past, and this year I'm rockin' it.

Sort of like how I "rocked" going camping one weekend, going out of town during the next week for work, and then going camping again the next weekend, which happened to be the day I got home from out of town.

Packing was pretty easy that month. :)

Anyways, here are some pictures from our camping trip like 3 or 4 weeks ago.

Turns out I like to post lots of pictures on the blog. Also, I'm pretty indecisive, so I have a hard time deciding which pictures should stay and go.

But I don't like to wait for them to individually load.

So, I throw them all together into a collage (Well, not really throw...sometimes I try to make the pictures look pretty, and put them in a collage with other pictures that "flow".

That way I only have to wait for a few pictures (of pictures) to upload.

I know it's taking the easy way out.

Don't judge.

1-- I've always wanted Trey to love the water. Kinda weird, I know. There's just something about a puppy swimming, playing in water, that I absolutely adore. This time when we went camping, I decided to trick him by throwing a rock into the river behind our tent and tell him to "Go get it!" (I knew he wouldn't want anything to do with the water if I just told him to "Go in") Being the disciplined doggie that he is, he ran right into the water. I know if he could speak English, he would have thanked me over and over. From that point on, we couldn't really get him out of the water. He really loved it! It also helped while we were packing things up, I'd throw a rock in and tell him to go get it and he'd spend a good 20 minutes in the river looking for the same exact rock that I threw :). I am almost as excited as I was the first time he lifted his leg to pee on a tree

2-- I'm trying to talk Trav into us getting a truck. In the meantime, Trey and I share the front seat. Um, not necessarily a favorite of either of ours. I suppose it's good "quality" time though. I took the first picture on the way up, and the second one on the way back. He was a tired little boy on the way home. I don't blame him though. Peeing and marking territory on every single tree within a mile radius has got to be rough. He lives a rough life I tell ya

3-- I adore these flowers, and love how they look against the black car that was passing them. I bet the people in the black car thought that I thought they (or their car) was awesome, but that's not the case. They can still think that though, I suppose.

We saw this blazer catch on fire on the way up the mountain. I didn't know that the name of the vehicle was a literal name. That's a super quick way to put a damper on things. (Note to self: Don't buy a blazer

4-- Camping was wonderful, as always! Someone was in our spot so we had to camp right next to it, which wasn't so bad...but we're thinking about putting a permanant sign by our spot that says "The Johnsons" or something. I hope that's not illegal. We did all of the usual things: Fished, Rafted, Canoed, Cooked, Hung out, Made someone fall out of a boat, Laughed, and had a great time! --Even the falling out of the boat (canoe) part. One thing that we tried that we'd never done before was cook "Hobo Dinners". These are probably the most amazing thing in the world! I highly suggest them..we are definitely going to add this little dinner to each of our camping trips from now on!!

Super big catch up...

2010-07-14T14:58:00.002-06:00

...Coming soon. I have been so busy (emotionally and physically) lately that I have been slacking on the blog. I plan (as soon as I sort through 300 plus pictures) to start posting what we've been up to lately.

"Lucky"

2010-07-14T14:48:00.002-06:00

This post has been saved under "Draft" since March. Unfinished. There's been so much going on since then, and I didn't finish it. I think in the back of my mind, I was waiting to post it when I could end it with a happy ending. Isn't that how stuff is supposed to end anyway?

I think now however, it is necessary to post this. (I will want to know the details years down the road.)

Monday 3.22.10 was filled with waiting, hoping, wishing, texting, praying, thinking, and researching. Oh, and working.

Knowing at that very time, my Grandma was with someone extraordinary. Someone we will never forget. Someone she probably won't remember much as far as that day goes, but in theory, will never forget. Not the kind of special-extraordinary person you would hope for anyone to have to be with, but the kind that you are glad when they are with them. Well, after the hoping, wishing, praying parts anyway.

Can you guess who it was?

His name is Dr. Ott, and he is one of the best surgeons in the West.

We couldn't have been more blessed to have him dedicate his Monday (or at least the first 7 hours of it) to be with my Grandma.

A few weeks ago, we found out my Grandma had pancreatic cancer. (If anyone prayed, that's what you were praying for ;).) I just didn't have the words at the time, or really the desire, to put it out on my blog. It was/still is such a shock. Life can be taken so quickly. I can't imagine how my Grandma and Aunt felt walking out of the room after receiving the diagnosis, and hearing that is generally only permits 6-12 months of life.

Can't even begin to imagine.

We were lucky though. Truly lucky.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the fastest growing cancers, with minimal to no symptoms, out there. Usually when someone starts to have symptoms and gets checked it's too late, and the cancer has spread.

...

I'm not going to finish that. I'll just finish up with the catch up. If I can get through this all today. Who knows. Maybe this will sit in Drafts for a few more months.

Grandma had the surgery, and everything went very well. Dr. Ott said over and over her recovery was going great. Towards the end of her hospital stay, she had a minor setback: During the surgery, one of her lymph nodes was accidentally nicked, causing lots of bleeding/leaking. Ott informed us the easiest way to fix this is to keep a drain in Grandma and have her go 2-3 weeks without eating. She would have an IV running 24/7 with enough nutrients to keep her well. It's not something she necessarily needed to stay at the hospital for, so she checked into a Nursing Home (only because a RN had to do the IV stuff). She was doing great, walking a little more each day. She looked fantastic! After 3-4 weeks (I believe) she was able to come back home. At that point, she started to walk less, and never really felt better from the surgery.

A few weeks back, she went in for her CT scans to make sure the cancer was gone, and figure out when chemo could be set up to prevent it from coming back.

On July 6th, we got the results of the CT Scan.

There is no pretty way to say this so I'll just be blunt.

The cancer has come back. In fact, they think it was there the whole time (just not big enough to be visible to the eye). It is now Stage 4 Pancreatic cancer and there is nothing that can be done. They've given our Grandma, Mom, Aunt, Wife, Sister, Cousin, and Best friend "Months, not years" to live.

I've never had news as hard to grasp as this. It's really taken a toll on me, and my whole family. As for now, we are planning visits for everyone to come from out of state to see Grandma, and taking every day as it comes. I've not wished for the weekend to come quicker since. I hope these next few months are the longest of my life. I cherish every single second with my Grandma and truly hope they last forever.

After we thought we were so lucky. We thought we caught it in time and were so fortunate. As it turns out, I guess we are lucky...just not in the way we'd ever, ever imagined. We're so lucky to have had Grandma as long as we have. She has changed, and blessed our lives and will continue to do so forever and ever.

We love you so much Grandma. We're "Lucky" to have you.

Tomato Progress plus To-do's for next year

2010-07-01T13:51:00.002-06:00

The tomatoes...

...are growing like crazy. I'm a little worried about the number of actual tomatos on the plants (See: zero), but I hear they should be coming any time.

Things I should remember for next year:

-Start earlier (March/April-ish) and plant your own seeds for everyting.
-The best soil is toward the fence. (In fact...it wouldn't be a bad idea to work some miracle grow into all soil.
-Buy at least 6 Lemon Cucumber plants.
-Say a little prayer as you plant each of them. They need it.
-Buy something to control the little mini weeds.
-Plant in straight-er rows so a cultivator can go through the rows.
-Follow directions on spacing of seeds.

That's all for now!

The story of a shared radish.

2010-07-01T11:51:00.003-06:00

Once upon a time(5.19.2010), a girl decided she was going to plant a garden. She figured there's a first time for everything and that it could actually be sort of fun.

After doing lots of research, she found that it wasn't as simple as throwing some seeds into the ground, and eating delicious veggies a short time thereafter.

She also found that because of how late in the year it was, there was not enough time to plant seeds and still have big, healthy vegetables. So, she went to the store and purchased some baby vegetable plants.

When asking for the radish plants, this girl found out that it wasn't too late to plant radish's from seeds, because they "grow like weeds".

Very excited, this little girl purchased a package of radish seeds along with her established baby vegetable plants and raced home.

With the help of an expert (her grandpa), it was time to get started.

The plants went in without a problem, and the seeds were sprinkled very carefully.

Next was the waiting game.

This little girl went out into her garden every single day, making note of the progress, and giving her thirsty plants the water they needed to grow big and strong. She was so very anxious and kept asking experts "Exactly how long does it take for things to start growing?"

Time passed, yet only weeds were growing. Lots and lots of them.

The little girl worked diligently in the garden to get every single weed, almost the second they popped up (her boyfriend might tell you otherwise, but she did.)

One day, as she pulled a weed, she noticed it was a different type of weed. As it turns out, she'd accidentally pulled her very first start of a radish.

Devistated by what she'd just done, she called it a night.

About a week or so later, the little girl was out in the garden and she noticed 5 or 6 of these "different" types of weeds (radish plants). She was ecstatic! Even if everyone said they "grow like weeds" she was still very excited to see something grow from just a tiny little seed that she'd planted.

Just yesterday, the seed was done doing it's thing and the little girl and her boyfriend were able to share the most wonderful radish they'd ever tasted.

A home-grown (self-planted) radish.

O happy day!

First Camping Trip--2010

2010-06-24T16:17:00.003-06:00

Well we finally had a weekend where the weather wasn't cold and rainy so we went camping with Trav's family (Dad, Mom, Brother, Sister, Nephew's, and Nieces). My sister Kassi came along this time too, which I think is actually her first time camping with us, so that was really nice! I took lots of (but not enough) pictures, as always! Enjoy..and look forward to more during this next week...we're going camping again this weekend!! Woohoo!

When we first got there, someone (genius) showed the kids how to throw rocks into the lake. They were occupied with this for about 2 hours! Then on Sunday when we were packing up, it kept them busy again, so that was awesome!

I know it's one of the most popular things to take a picture of, but I enjoy taking pictures of the sunset on the water, it's so unbelievably pretty!

Pictures from the drive up (we went to Scofield in Price, Utah) and some from the trip.

Trav's dad brought his boat but for the most part, we played on the shore. Tyler was SO excited to catch a fish. He kept saying over and over that "He just caught 4 fish last weekend, and was really good at it!"...He ended up catching the biggest fish this weekend, so he was pretty stoked about that!

With the little fire that we were able to make (Scofield has close to nothing for wood), Duane needed to retire an old American Flag. That was pretty cool. I'd never seen that done before. Some of the pictures turned out really good! I love the Stars one.

I can't wait for this weekend, we're going up into the Uintah's, where we usually go, and it's soooo pretty up there!! The fishing is fantastic, too!! I'll be back later to post some pics of this weekend. Trav was in his cousin's wedding last weekend as well and I need to get pics up from that. AND, my garden is starting to look more like a garden! My plants are growing and I need to update! Coming soon, I promise!! Dang it! I'm so behind!!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Preview. Sit tight!

2010-06-21T15:35:00.004-06:00

We went camping this weekend and I got some really cool pictures! It's going to take a few days probably to get them posted because I have a few setbacks (See: messy house, still need to unpack from my week of work in Price, Utah, still need to unpack from camping this weekend, sunburned, and tired) but here's one to enjoy in the meantime.

Oh, and my Etsy shop (Jump there with the button on my sidebar) showcased on Saturday. That's all sorts of exciting!!

Happy Monday!

Slexting?

2010-06-19T10:40:00.002-06:00

Going camping this weekend and supposed to be getting stuff ready but I just had to pop in and share this story with you all. (Now that I'm done laughing and bawling!)

This little story features my sister, Kassi and my cousin, Alexis. Unfortunately I had no part in it, except for waking up to both of their texts, explaining the situation.

Before I begin--I'll give you a few facts about my sister, Kassi.
-Avid texter.
-Avid speeder.
-Due to some unfortunate circumstances, she's recently picked up another job. (Working for the US Census.)
-Avid sleep talker.

Today, we're able to add another to that list.

-Avid slexter.

What is that, you ask?

Well, last night at approximately 11:30pm, Alexis called Kassi. Kassi was asleep (See facts above) and did not answer the phone. Well, a few hours later (1:21am), Kassi awoke thinking for some reason she needed to text Alexis back. So, she did just that.

Here's the text:

Who colptede for theus cen benru_a?

Get it?

Me either.

After Kassi woke up, she realized that she had slexted (sleep texted) HAS ANYONE EVER HEARD OF THAT BEFORE??? I sure haven't. In fact it's sort of creepy, but hilarious at the same time!

Kassi's awake interpretation: I'm with the US Census Bureau. Who completed the Census form?

Dear Kassi,

Keep work at work, and give your cousin a break. She's just barely out on her own. Give her a little slack when it comes to the Census forms, a?

Also, you only get a few hours of rest each night. Take advantage, and PUT YOUR PHONE DOWN for once.

Love,
Sissy.

Word to the Wise.

2010-06-14T13:30:00.003-06:00

I can't remember how that saying goes. It might be word from the wise. But whatever. You get the point.

So, my advice today: Don't lock your keyboard and then clean it off. Apparently it's easy to press a combination of buttons that tell your computer to not unlock for you. The result is not pretty.

To buy: A working timer.

2010-06-14T12:06:00.002-06:00

Apparently the one on the stove doesn't work. I learned last night that even though the timer still says "35 minutes," it's okay, and suggested to take the cake out of the oven after it's been in there for over an hour.

Yeah.

It was a good idea at first. It even looked good after it was frosted.

Don't ask how it tasted.

Also don't ask how many peices Trav ate in one sitting, because if I told you three, you would think that's gross.

Guessing Game!

2010-06-07T12:05:00.002-06:00

I finally started something I've always wanted to!!

Any guesses?

Here's a hint ;)

Fishing, Crafting, Visiting, BBQing, Wanting, and Loving.

2010-06-01T15:09:00.005-06:00

Love this!! Trey and Kassi, sharing a pillow. So adorable.

Ok, I'm going to have to blog a lot this week because if I see these cute puppy wrinkles every time I open my blog, I will give in and bring home another one, and Travis will not be happy. Must. Blog. More.
*Also, while we're admiring the beautifulness that is this puppy, if you can't tell he was trying so hard to get under our gate. Our neighbor's daughter was visiting and brought her two dogs (one of them being this puppy). The second the puppy came to visit, he darted to the gate and wanted to play with Trey, who was on the other side...doing the same exact thing. It was the most precious thing I've ever seen. If there weren't 42 dogs in our front yard, I would have let Trey out. He gets a little hump crazy, so instead, I brought wrinkles around to the back and they met. I really, really want another puppy.

Thanks to the long weekend, I was able to get a few crafts done and I absolutely LOVE how they turned out. This one is a shadowbox frame with real objects inside (actual block letters, real (fake) flowers, etc..)

And this is just wood block letters. The first of many to come. I'm officially in love.

We were able to do some fishing, which was nice because I was pretty bummed about having to cancel our camping trip/ :( (See: Weather,yousuck!)

That just about sums up our Memorial Day weekend!!

Flowers update!

2010-05-26T11:52:00.006-06:00

A- These flowers (wish I knew the name) grow like weeds and snow doesn't phase them. They are wonderful, wonderful, wonderful...and pretty. :)

B- Apparently Lilies don't rebloom until the next year. Sad. Day. They were definitely my favorite. They do however, have pretty little bush looking things in place of the flower. That's a plus I guess.

C- Can't remember what these are (big sign of my rookiness...I just picked flowers that were pretty. I didn't look at the names...or even save the little tabs telling you the names...I also didn't look to see how long their "bloom" period is, see exhibit B.)

I am excited to see everything continue to grow though!!

Gardening: Things I've learned thus far.

2010-05-25T14:57:00.006-06:00

Note from the author: For some, these gardening posts may be extremely boring (and sometimes long), and I want to apologize in advance. This year we are trying the "garden" thing for the first time ever so 1) I'm super excited and 2) It'd be nice to look back on this next year and see what worked and didn't work for us. I'll try to include lots of pictures and keep things interesting, bear with me (or go back to working) :)

Glad to see that you stuck around!!

Biggest thing I've learned--gardening is not just planting seeds, and eating delicious veggies a few days later.

So far it's meant learning, tilling, raking, worrying, pulling, preparing, shopping, asking, planting, hoping, watering, checking, bugs, spiders, weeds, dirt, mud, wishing, and so much more.

It's been a great process though. I actually enjoy coming home from work and "working" in my garden.

To kick off the gardening season and get our garden area ready this year, we rented a tiller from Home Depot. Sixty bucks for four hours. Not bad. My Uncle did my grandparents garden, and then he brought the tiller over so Trav could do ours. It was cute/funny watching him get the hang of the tiller. It was even cuter/funnier when he was finished and the first thing he said was "Man. That thing is a man-hater. It will definitely make your arms feel like jell-o!" (as he was flinging them about aimlessly).

Once the garden was all tilled, we waited. We heard through grapevine that it's best to till, and then plant a week or so later so you know where weeds/dandilion patches are going to be popping up.

During the "wait" I thought it'd be best to prepare myself for gardening so I read and took notes from tons of articles online. I thought out exactly what I wanted to plant, envisioned where exactly I wanted everything to go in the garden, wrote down all of the stuff (shovels, hoe's, rakes, etc...) I needed to buy, and felt pretty good about things.

The day after I did most of my research, I was driving home from work and I got a call from my Grandpa. He basically said come and pick me up. We are going to go shopping, and plant your garden today. (I think it was a Wednesday.) Even though I had read and taken notes and prepared myself, I was worried. It's one thing to read these things, and write stuff down and have a pretty picture in your head...but it's definitely another to put the plan into action and actually have little baby plants in the ground, depending on you (and some other nature type stuff) to help them grow.

Grandpa was a trooper! We went all over, hunting for "good plants". First stop was Lowe's. Then Wal-Mart. Then back to Lowe's. Then to Western Gardener. Then back to Wal-Mart. Grandpa picked out some plants for his garden, and I picked out all of ours, except for Asparagus. Apparently that takes 2-3 years before it produces, so I crossed that off of the wish list. I bought 1 Cherry Tomato plant, 1 Cucumber plant, 2 Lemon Cucumber plants, and 9 Bell Pepper plants. (That was the smallest pack they had, so Grandpa took 5, and we planted 4). Grandma had bought me a couple Tomato plants about 3 weeks ago, so I've been babying those and preparing them for planting, too! I also bought some Radish and Onion seeds, and just planted them last night!

Next year I'd like to start around March or April-ish and start everything from seed. I don't want to have to buy plants at all. So, there's goal number 1 for next year.

Before we could plant anything, I had to rake to "get all of the soil flat". That part sucked. It was difficult because after we tilled (which un-flattens the soil a lot!) it rained, and then was sunny, and then rained...so there was about 1-2 inches of hard-er soil above the nice stuff. Finally, Trav came over and finished the raking so Grandpa and I could get to planting!

Grandpa started digging holes while I mixed up some Miracle-Gro.

My first ever veggie plant is this cute little Cherry Tomato plant. :)

By the time we got all of the plants planted, it was just starting to get dark, so we called it a night. I'm so glad I had my Grandpa there to help me out!! Even after all the research I did, I still would have done things way differently.

After the plants were in the ground, it POURED. They got a little beat up, just after the first day. I was worried because I know they go through a "shock" phase at first. That's all they needed was for it to pour on them!

The next day the sun came out, but only for awhile...it poured once again, so I called Grandpa to make sure they were going to be okay. He laughed and said they would be fine.

Meanwhile, all the rain helped weeds to magically appear.

I certainly hope...

my veggies...

grow as fast and healthy...

As these weeds!!

Here's the part where I really start to learn uncommon, garden stuff. Like um, what to do when it freeking snows at the end of May and you are scared because your little veggie plant babies are covered in snow!!!

I made two different calls, and was told to do two different things to cover them. I ended up deciding to go to Western Gardener and bought some stakes and a "frost-preventing-plant-protecting cloth"

It was kinda fun putting the stakes around the plants and laying the cloth. It was nice to know that I was protecting my little veggie babies.

Well, I'm sure that's enough reading for anyone so I'll stop here!

TBC with many more gardening adventures...Definitely!

Letter to the weather creator: Part 2.

2010-05-24T13:16:00.005-06:00

Photo taken just now. Looking outside my desk window:

Dear Weather Creator,

That was quick. It was nice doing business with you. Don't ever do that again.

Thanks!

Another letter. This time to the weather creator.

2010-05-24T08:51:00.004-06:00

Dear weather creator,

Are you freaking kidding me?? Let me remind you of today's date. May 24th, 2010. Got that? MAY 24th. Next week will be June. I'm only a little frustrated but I do understand you may just be confused. That's why I'm here...I wanted to write and remind you that IT SHOULD NOT SNOW THE LAST FEW WEEKS IN MAY or really, in May at all.

See these?

Yeah. Unacceptable. Please make it stop.

If you need other reminders, I could send you a picture of my flowers. They won't look like flowers. Just big snow balls. If that's not enough...I'm sure a picture of my very first garden, with all of my plants covered in snow might pull at the heart strings a little. Let me know.

Most importantly though, I have a camping trip coming up this weekend. I better not have to cancel.

For today only, I'll say goodbye to the sunglasses and hello to my winter coat. That's only for today though, and I'm not happy about it. Tomorrow will be bright and sunny. Do we have ourselves a deal?

Weekend Recap: Random Bits.

2010-05-23T21:46:00.003-06:00

Sad that the weekend is over. Definitely looking forward to next weekend! (First camping trip of the year)...if the weather permits. I'm crossing, crossing, crossing, crossing, crossing, crossing my fingers that the weather warms up a little bit! I'd go camping in the rain and wind, but Trav's not a fan...so hopefully the weather starts to improve so we can go!

Friday I came home from work, finished laundry (documenting that because it's the first time in a long time that I've had absolutely no laundry...and it won't last long), raked the garden a little, and watered my little plants :) (I know I haven't posted pictures yet, but I still need to plant a few things so I'm waiting...but, it's coming together!! Wait until my first vegetable grows. You'll see more pictures of a tomato (or cucumber) (or bell pepper) than you ever hoped to see. Promise. We had some friends over, played poker, and hung out. Super fun.

Saturday Trav went out with his Dad for his birthday. (Which is today) Kassi was over visiting, and I'd just bought Guitar Hero 5 so I decided to stay home. Made myself a delicious salad, sat down to take my first bite and got a call from my Grandpa.

"Hey there pal. What are ya doin?"

"Eating a salad, and hangin out with Kass."

"Well dinner will be on the table in a few minutes."

"Oh, well...I'm eating a...okay, be there in a few."

"Well you'll have to come pretty quick. It's pert-near ready."

Click..

He's a man of few words, and never says bye. When he's done, he just hangs up. It's adorable. haha.

So, I put my delicious salad away and went over for dinner. Ended up staying the night, since Trav was out anyway. It was nice to hang out with the Grandparents. Sometimes things get busy and we don't get to see them as often as we'd like.

Came home this morning, gave Trav his presents (Some clothes and Fight Night) I think Fight Night was a mistake. He. Has. Not. Stopped. Playing.
He also plays with his jaw dropped. Makes me fall in love with him all over again.
He barely let me fight someone under his "career" but I talked him into it and I won. Thank God.

After brushing my teeth this morning, my neighbors came and knocked on the door. Apparently when I had my water on, water was coming UP in their sink!! After taking out all of the possible pipes and cleaning them out the problem was still there so we called the landlord (thought about how lucky we were to not own this place and have the problem in our hands..although it will be that way soon enough) He came a few hours later. Two hours later, and three trips to Lowe's (poor guy) the problem was fixed!

About 30 minutes before the landlord came over, Trav and I were in our backyard and noticed it started to smell like a fire. Then we could hear crackling and then came the smoke!! It was right on the other side of our neighbors fence so I ran over to their house to let 'em know. We went into their backyard to see what the deal was and there were two little kids (like 7 or 8) on the other side building a little fire pit and burning stuff!! A few minutes later a fire truck, ambulance, and two cops showed up! Hopefully the kids got a scare. That could have been bad.

Trav wanted enchiladas for his birthday dinner, so I made a pasta salad, Spanish rice, and of course, enchiladas! It was a yummy dinner!! They take forfreakingever but they always turn out soo good!!

We played a little guitar hero, some more boxing, ate some cake and ice cream, and now it's time get some sleep!! Today has been busy, busy!! Hope everyone had a good weekend!!

The job with no requirements necessary.

2010-05-19T16:46:00.003-06:00

Today my lunch at Wendy's was 5 dollars and 61 cents.

After deciding that I didn't necessarily want or need 4 more pennies to add to my collection, I pull up to the window and say "Oh, I have a penny!"

The young girl at the window looked at me like I'd just informed here that I was there to rob the place. She was terrified. After a few seconds, she mumbles "Well, I already have it here. I already counted it out." (Looking to the register, trusting every cent it tells her to give back as my change.)

I gave her a few seconds to maybe process that 4 pennies plus the one I was going to give her would equal 5 pennies a.k.a. a nickel.

Didn't work.

"That's okay, I'll just give you this penny, then you can put all of the pennies back in the drawer, and give me a nickel."

(Insert long moments of silence here.)

"OH, okay, so...your change would be 30 cents then, right?"

Sigh. "Yes, that's fine. Thanks!"

WHAT ON EARTH WOULD THESE CHILDREN DO IF THE CASH REGISTERS WERE DOWN AND THEY HAD TO MANUALLY COUNT OUT CHANGE?!

That would be a scary, scary day.

New Word. Pruh-View.

2010-05-19T14:20:00.004-06:00

I made up a new word today at work. Feel free to use it at any time.

Preview- pru·view /ˈpruhˌvyu/

Pronounced [pruh-vyoo]

-noun

1. to view or show beforehand or in advance.

Notes: To be used in place of pre-view when one intends on sounding sophisticated.

Is it Friday yet??

One week- No posts- No bueno.

2010-05-13T13:35:00.003-06:00

I haven't had a chance to post yet this week and probably won't get one, so I'll do a quick update. Nothing super exciting going on right now..I do have some pictures from fishing last week that I'd like to get up here soon!! Maybe I'll shoot for those next week! We discovereed a little fishing pond within a couple miles of our new place and have definitely got our money's worth for our fishing license's so far this year!

The beginning of this week, my Grandparents ordered supplies to redo their roof so Trav went and helped with that a little bit.

Last night we were both tired so Trav suggested going and renting a movie and just kinda hanging out, so that's what we did! Here's the downfall though,

Travis

picked out the movie.

Travis

decided he wanted to get The Fourth Kind. (Super scary!!)

and the best part...

Travis

fell asleep during the movie, and left me to watch it by myself!

Thanks Babe :)

* I must give him a little credit though, he did wake up every time I nudged him and told him he just had to watch the next part with me because I was going to wet my pants. What a sweet man. Also, if you have not seen that movie, SEE IT!! Definitely the scariest movie I've seen in a minute!

Tonight we're going to an orchestra concert where we're excited to see my little brother and cousin play in the orchestra!

Tomorrow I'm going to Idaho for the weekend!! So excited to go down there and hangout for a weekend! It feels like it's been forever! Plus Presley's turning one so it will be fun to get everything set up for her party, and take lots of pictures!!

Next weekend we're hoping to go camping. It all depends on the weather. So, here's to hoping that the end of May brings fantastic weather!! ( I know, that shouldn't even be a request, but apparently in Utah Spring is the new Winter.)

*Travis and Jessica*

What we've been up to...

After Royal Bliss played, Kass, Laci, and I went on a mission to meet Neal, and we were totally successfull! He's a badass, and I'm so glad we got to hang out with him for a little bit!

Waiting for Live to set up!

Kass came out with heels and we all asked her "You're wearing heels to the show?!" Her response was "Uh..yeah..I always wear heels." --This is the result :)

Idaho trip to see the bestie!!

My favorite little girl turned 2!! She's getting so big!

Birthday festivities were at the park this year with a RockStar Diva theme! (So fitting!) We hung out, ate some good BBQ, and played Catch Phrase by the fire with the fam! Presley was so adorable opening her presents--Every single present brought a HUGE smile to her face! Baby birdies!!!

He is perfect, and beautiful, and I love this little guy!! Even when he throws up on Auntie Jess. We're in the process of working on that one!Photoshoots for mom!

K, Vegas totally needs it's own post because I have a ton of pictures, and lots of stories!! We had a blast though!

Watching flowers bloom!

This is my first little bloomer for this year!! Yay for perennials!

New toy!

I bought the May 2011 Macbook Pro. She is my baby, and I totally daydream about her!

Happy.

It was the greatest sandwich ever. All 5 bites.

Hi, hello. My name is Jessica, and I'm sort of (deathly) scared of spiders. The following story is one that I can only hope I'll forget..but I know that's completely out of the question. Especially because I have evidence.And the evidence is too funny not to share.

Takin the gloves off.

Attempt at couponing...

Highly Educational Conversation.

Katie: We should go to the festival of colors tomorrow.Me: Oh! It's going on tomorrow, too?!Katie: Yes! From Twelve to Noon.Me: Really? Only for 2 hours?

The neph--Pics that make you go "Oh!"

He was crackin us up with his random faces.

It's the most wonderful thing.Especially, when I found out that tickling his chin, causes this face...

Poor blake..because after I found that out..he was non stop getting chin tickled.

Unless I was taking pictures.

Which (finally) eventually woke him up.

Halfway-ish.

He wasn't so excited to be awake...so I let him snuggle up and go back to sleep. Either way, it's a win-win.

Love you Blakey!-Favorite Aunt Jess.

How does he know?!

I so love this dog! :)

Trav's dropped jaw was priceless.

Trip to Alabama--Part 2--Section C

I started this post yesterday, and posted it today, so if you'd like to read about it...it shows up under my birthday wish thank you post :)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Trip to Alabama--Part 2--Section C

He stayed for a little bit, let me grab some pictures of him, and then was on his merry little way.As were we. We got in the car, and tried one last place. "Fish River" at Weeks Bay. I mean if there were fish anywhere..it would have to be fish river, right?!

Lulu's has the most amazing, neverending sandpit behind the restaurant. I so love this place!!

I played with the sand as long as I possibly could. It was so fun to just relax, and play in the sand. No worries. No stress. ...Well...it was kinda stressfull when my sand castle collapsed. Turns out you have to mix a little bit of water with the sand in order to build. So technical.

We took a few pictures on some ginormous chairs.

Played a little ring game.

Played in the sand a little more...

And then we left. We were all starving, so we went down the road (still in Gulf Shores) to get some grub at a place called *The Hangout*

And oh man!! I thought I loved Lulu's!!!!The Hangout was just as wonderful!! Instead of a neverending sand pit, they had a *beach* behind their restaurant.

And feeling the sand between my toes (my favorite!!!)

And learning about how the oil spill is still in full effect...and actually seeing that on the shells...

And taking pictures...

And chasing waves. (Yes, the water was freezing. No, I didn't care.)

I couldn't get enough of the whole feet in the sand/water thing. And I sooo miss that.

It's unfortunate that it was so cold and windy. I could have stayed at the beach allll day!!I was happy to see that rollerblading on the beach is prohibited, though. I was super worried about someone trying to perfect that sport. Thanks beach rules. You probably save lots of lives.

The hangout had the raddest decorations! They had a wall full of old school lunch boxes, and this wall with pez dispensers!!! So great!

Then it was time to beat the storm, and head home. Thank *you* Gulf Shores. You were beautifully wonderful!!

To end the perfect second day of my vacation, we got ready (finally around 8ish), and went to a local bar to play some poker. I do have to say that Alabama "poker" is like nothing I've ever played before...but it was fun, and friendly (for the most part. ;))

We couldn't call it a night without pictures (basically a photoshoot) by the famous fairhope clock, so that's what we did.

It was another very, very busy, packed tight day but every single bit of it was worth it!! It was packed full of good times, and great memories!!Tomorrow we'd wake up bright and early, and head to "Nawlins".

Blake's baby shower

Saturday night I stayed up really late.

Making sure everything was just perfect for the next day. The day where we'd celebrate the birth of baby Blake, brought to us by Otto and Carlie!

I had so much fun picking out outfits and gifts for this little guy.It melted my heart to see him wearing (and sort of fitting into) my favorite outfit. --Totally wears it like a champ.

Blake was so stoked for this shower that blessed us with his presence 6 weeks early. He was able to be passed around about every 5 minutes. Lucky little guy.

I doubt this is a biased opinion..but aren't these the most precious stubby fingers you've ever seen?!

Games turned out to be really fun! We played 5 games. Our champions were Alexis, Jessi, Carlie, Kristy, and Auntie Tammy!

Isn't this the yummiest picture you've ever seen?

Yeah?Well what about this one? What if I throw it into the mix?

I agree. It's too hard to choose. He's so precious.

Everyone took their turns holding him, but I think Grandma held him for the longest. He was so content and comfy snuggled up in something she was able to create for him. It fit him just perfect, and I know she's proud.

I adore him.

I sometimes (always) hint to Trav that I love flowers. It's definitely a well known fact. They are so beautiful, and the thought (especially when it's a complete surprise) is all warm and fuzzy feeling.

The other day I walked in from work to these sitting on the table.

With a card that said "This better make you happy! :)"

Joke...but we're working on that. :)

going...going...going...gone!!

I'm having attachment issues!I made this little guy last weekend.

Turns out, he was pretty special. Totally reversable, and also very adorable.

He officially sold today, and I'm going to have a hard time shipping him out!! Chances are real good that I'll have to make a few more, and maybe even keep one for myself!!

Bye little guy! Enjoy your journey.

The right place at the right time?

Updated--with picture!!

A tattoo..the impact.

Travis and Jessica

Birthday festivities were at the park this year with a RockStar Diva theme! (So fitting!) We hung out, ate some good BBQ, and played Catch Phrase by the fire with the fam! Presley was so adorable opening her presents--Every single present brought a HUGE smile to her face!

Baby birdies!!!

He is perfect, and beautiful, and I love this little guy!! Even when he throws up on Auntie Jess. We're in the process of working on that one!

Photoshoots for mom!

Hi, hello. My name is Jessica, and I'm sort of (deathly) scared of spiders. The following story is one that I can only hope I'll forget..but I know that's completely out of the question. Especially because I have evidence.

And the evidence is too funny not to share.

Katie: We should go to the festival of colors tomorrow.
Me: Oh! It's going on tomorrow, too?!
Katie: Yes! From Twelve to Noon.
Me: Really? Only for 2 hours?

It's the most wonderful thing.

Especially, when I found out that tickling his chin, causes this face...

He wasn't so excited to be awake...so I let him snuggle up and go back to sleep.

Either way, it's a win-win.

Love you Blakey!

-Favorite Aunt Jess.

He stayed for a little bit, let me grab some pictures of him, and then was on his merry little way.

As were we.

We got in the car, and tried one last place. "Fish River" at Weeks Bay. I mean if there were fish anywhere..it would have to be fish river, right?!

And then we left. We were all starving, so we went down the road (still in Gulf Shores) to get some grub at a place called The Hangout

And oh man!! I thought I loved Lulu's!!!!
The Hangout was just as wonderful!! Instead of a neverending sand pit, they had a beach behind their restaurant.

It's unfortunate that it was so cold and windy. I could have stayed at the beach allll day!!

I was happy to see that rollerblading on the beach is prohibited, though. I was super worried about someone trying to perfect that sport. Thanks beach rules. You probably save lots of lives.

Then it was time to beat the storm, and head home. Thank you Gulf Shores. You were beautifully wonderful!!

It was another very, very busy, packed tight day but every single bit of it was worth it!! It was packed full of good times, and great memories!!

Tomorrow we'd wake up bright and early, and head to "Nawlins".

I had so much fun picking out outfits and gifts for this little guy.
It melted my heart to see him wearing (and sort of fitting into) my favorite outfit. --Totally wears it like a champ.

Yeah?

Well what about this one? What if I throw it into the mix?

I'm having attachment issues!

I made this little guy last weekend.

If you're like me, you're facsinated by the landscape.

If you're like me, you've never seen houses on stilts before.

If you're like me, you're pretty sheltered, and you thought the white stuff in the picture above was snow.

Apparently it's white sand. But it looks just like snow! Crazy!