Chase, Meag & Preston

the end....

2012-01-25T18:29:00.000-08:00

i can see it, the end that is. It is coming up quickly. Yesterday marked my 39th week, and today i had my dr.'s appointment. Sadly, there was nothing too exciting to announce since my last weeks appointment (still dilated to a 2 and 70% thinned). I was kinda bummed out, because since my last appointment i have felt quite crampy with a loss of energy, so of course i expected progress, but no. Which is totally fine, since i am really in no big hurry to get her here...i am still putting finishing touches on her nursery & trying ever-so-hard to teach preston how to be soft and not hit (which by the way, i am failing at .....hints, please). Thankfully, i still feel pretty dang good considering i'm 39 weeks. I got started a week early with Preston, so i never got to experience any of these labor feelings...it is kinda fun not knowing what to expect or when, but the planner-side of me is kinda freaking out as well. Regardless, we are getting ever-so-excited to meet her. There is something so very precious about newborns. oh i can't wait.

so hang in there friends, an exciting baby announcing post will be coming shortly.

until then, enjoy these awesome pictures of my growing belly @ 39 weeks, along with Preston finger-smears all over my mirrors, and my dirty bathroom, which will get cleaned tomorrow....oh and preston twirling himself up in the shower curtain, that's a really fun game to play.

soak it up....

2012-01-11T19:34:00.001-08:00

I have approximately 3 weeks before baby #2 arrives.
that being said, i have been trying to soak up everything this sweet boy of mine has to give.
some days it makes me sad to think it won't just be the two of us anymore, we have quite the connection.
When i first found out i was pregnant, i was pretty sad that i wouldn't have as much time as i "planned" to give Preston all the attention that i thought he needed from me.
Lately, i linger a little longer rocking preston to sleep. I've never really been one to let preston rock-a-bye, partly because i thought he needed to fall asleep entirely on his own, and partly because he wouldn't let me rock him. Well, he's wised up a bit, and lets us cuddle with him a bit. And even though he's fully capable of falling asleep on his own, most nights i rock him till he's fast asleep. Because i can.
Who knows, things might not change that much for us when baby girl arrives, but i'm not taking my chances.
I'm going to play, make messes, love, cuddle, teach, and be silly with my little guy as much as i can while its just the two of us.
so for three more weeks (+ or -)...were going to be soaking it all up, enjoying life as we know it....

the festivities

2012-01-03T19:57:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas.

We spent Christmas eve and morning with my family and as usual it was wonderful. My parents brought our christmas gifts to us earlier in the week so that we wouldn't have to haul it all home, so it was a simple morning, but wonderful nonetheless. They gave Chase and I quite the loot of food storage, which might sound boring, but i find it quite awesome. My mom is the queen of food storage, and if i could be 1/100th like her, i'd be sitting pretty. so thanks m&d for getting us going in that direction. practical but perfect. plus my mom gave me a facial which i am dying to use, but think i will wait till after babies arrival to have a little r&r time while she watches my kids. They gave preston a new slide, which is currently his FAVORITE toy in the house. He spends most of the day either sliding down it, or jumping on top of it yelling my name so that i will watch him. I will have to post a video of him on it later. he seriously loves it. Thanks mom & dad. Sadly, i didn't get a single picture @ my parents house so all i've got is this one from rach. After church, we headed to the Jones to spend a few days with them...Do notice the 14ft Christmas tree that i decorated, it was quite the job, but i'd say it turned out quite nicely.

Preston enjoyed playing in the little red car patiently waiting to open presents...he's cute. and then, he opened his fun gifts from Grandma Kath & Papa Ru....he got a fun car track & a bike, which he quite enjoys as well. I had no ideas for preston this year, so i set the grandparents free, and they chose great gifts.The next few days following Christmas were spent playing in the snow & relaxing. Preston wouldn't keep gloves on his hands so he didn't love being put down in the snow but he loved being outside watching the other boys sled & play and riding with dad on the snowmobile.

And these next pictures might be my favorite. Most of the cousins were swimming in the pool @ Grandmas, but we had already taken preston earlier in the day, so we weren't going to take him again....well, he had different plans. We walked into the pool room to find Pres sitting nicely on the pool steps in all his clothes waiting for someone to come swimming with him. Don't worry there were adults in the pool, just not chase or i. To say preston loves that pool is quite the understatement, but i was so happy that he just sat there and didn't go any deeper than the steps.

Can't believe 2011 is over. it was a fabulous year...full of fun & surprises. and i can't wait for what this next year will bring.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-21T19:24:00.000-08:00

cards are sent out.

neighborhood gifts delivered.

shopping complete.

halls are decked.

presents are not wrapped.

we are ready for christmas.

we hope you all have a happy holiday.

love, us

{28}

2011-12-16T18:21:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, the man of our house had a birthday! We celebrated by going out to lunch at Famous Daves and doing some shopping. i know right, birthday shopping on his birthday, i was quite surprised it was allowed. but it was for him, so it was okay.

We are pretty lucky, pres & i, to have this guy in our lives. he treats us pretty dang good. I can't even describe how much Chase loves his boy, they have a cute relationship. and i just love him for more reasons than i can name. He's a great other half for me, and a great daddy too.

clearly Preston is the most fun to take pictures of, even if it is daddy's day.

16 months

2011-12-02T21:02:00.000-08:00

say it isn't so.... is he really 16 months old. about to be a big brother? oh dear. sometimes i fear for his little sister, and other times i think it will be the sweetest relationship formed. the doc said yesterday at his 15 month appointment (even though he is almost 16 mo) that it will be most definately a love/hate relationship. which i expected. Not too many changes in the the little guy since i last posted about him. he has had some rough bouts with sicknesses the last little while. yuck, can it be over yet? it seems to be one thing after another, but i tell you if i have to catch anymore throw up in my hands, or change 14 poopy diapers in one day again then i'm taking a vacation....hopefully we can be done with it all soon, even though its unlikely since were rapidly approaching sick season. we will most likely opt to stay indoors for the majority of the winter. Preston sure does keep us laughing and smiling though. he is getting the funnest personality.

I've been jotting down some of the things pres is up to these days that i don't want to forget

-cries terribly when he sees his daddy leave for work, or a meeting. he is used to chase just being gone when he wakes up, but now that the season is over he has to watch him leave, and doesn't like it one bit.

-Asks for lots of attention from Chase and I, he is sure to make sure we are watching him when he is doing something funny or mischevious.

-loves giving kisses. big-wide-open-mouthed-kisses.

-loves to honk our noses, especially when i am rocking him and he is supposed to be being quiet.

-LOVES to lift up my shirt and give baby sister a kiss, sometimes i ask him where baby sister is and he lifts up my shirt to show me, other times he just goes straight for the belly and attacks it.

-attempts to climb onto anything possible in our house.

-loves to feed himself. although he is terrible at it.

-quite possibly my favorite of them all is how he folds his arms everytime he gets in his chair so we can say prayer, or at bedtime. sweetest thing ever.

-kinda turned into a pickier eater. he's not too bad, but definetely worse than he's ever been. But, he loves cold cereal, especially cheerios and ramen noodles. and anything sweet.

-can seriously untwist ANY lid with his mouth. If it has a twisty lid, and it can fit in his mouth, he will get it undone. we have certainly learned the hard way with this one, as drinks have been dumped on him, my makeup all over the floor, and so many more. i don't think we can stop this habit either.

-chipped one of his front teeth, most likely due to the fact that everthing goes in his mouth. oh well, its a baby tooth.

-still loves baby einstein.

-LOVES to dance.

-throws WAY too many fits for my liking.

-loves taking baths and swimming at grandma & grandpas. getting very confident in the water which makes me quite nervous.

-will cuddle with me and only me. occasionally he will lay his head on someone elses shoulder but will only let me rock him or cuddle him.

-likes to drink out of cup like mom & dad, usually he takes of the lid to his sippy so that he can drink out of the cup like a big boy.

-doesn't have a huge vocabulary, but we've heard him say several things a few times.

-momma, dadda, mooo, no, this, that, duck, kitty, horsey, down, ball, nana (banana), shoe, baby, chair....and i'm sure more but thats all i can think of right now.

-he jibber-jabbers all day long though, and we can't wait for them to turn into actual words.

-He often claps for himself when we say good job preston, but it is a silent clap, i've never actually hear noise from his hands....a good golfers clap i'd say.
He's a fun little guy.

a little of me

2011-11-23T20:07:00.000-08:00

I saw this cute idea on the adorable blog little miss momma the other day and i thought i would quickly jot down a few things too...

i'm weird because.....

-i do not enjoy cuddling while sleeping

-have never left preston with a teenage babysitter, except for once but i had already put him to bed.

-i absolutely love prestons slimy-wet kisses

-can't stand when i make dinner and its hot-n-ready, but the hubs takes his sweet time getting to the table. who enjoys a cold meal, uh not me!

-love to cuddle up to the warm clean laundry fresh out of the dryer

-i won't drink a glass of plain milk. only chocolate.

-i make a ba-jillion lists to check off but never really check them off

i'm a bad friend because.....

-it takes me an eternity to listen to my voicemails

-and almost just as long to return the phone call

i'm a good friend because.....

-i'm a good listener

-i'll go to lunch with you anytime you want.

i'm sad because.....

-my one-on-one time with preston is coming to an end

-i am having a rough time directing myself on decorating baby girls room
-Preston chipped his front tooth on something.

-my dr. keeps calling baby girl in belly a boy, and that makes me nervous.

i'm happy because....

-little P-man took two 2+ hour naps today.

-hunting season is officially over!! yay for having husband back!

-i just got my hair colored.

i'm excited for....

-crazy black friday shopping

-multiple thanksgiving dinners

-baby girls arrival

-christmas

i'm grateful for...

-the opportunity to be a mom

-a healthy body

-family

-the gospel

-my husband

-a full nights rest

baby kisses

2011-11-15T18:56:00.000-08:00

Preston is good at giving kisses. I adore them. others, (namely Melissa & Avery) turn their head as fast as possible when they see his wide open mouth coming at them. Always a bit of slobber involved. gross i know, but i'm his mom & i will take as many as i can get from him.

We (pres & i) are staying at my parents house for the week "babysitting" my sisters and cousins while our parents are vacationing in Jamaica. Its not too rough considering that 4 out of the 5 kids are in high school. The other in 1st grade, and Preston is in heaven following her around and doing what she is doing. She actually seems to love it as well so its a win/win. I'm getting lots of jane snuggle time this week & i'm pretty happy about that. We miss Daddy, but can't wait to go home to a complete hunting season & then we will enjoy daddy all to ourselves.

and lastly, snapped a 29 week belly photo this morning. should be 30 week according to my last posted pic, but since my date got changed its not. here is to 11 weeks left. kinda can't believe it.

hopefully will get fabric picked out for her bedding & such this week at one of the worlds greatest fabric stores here. (the Gathering Place)

a boy & his truck

2011-11-08T10:09:00.000-08:00

Grandma & Grandpa Jones gave Preston this awesome truck for his birthday. the boy really does love his truck! You'll notice that i've duct-taped the tail gate of the truck, this being because Preston would open it up and climb into and then continue to climb on top of the truck, i thought that by taping it shut i would solve this problem. Negative. He climbs up through the driving position now. We've only had a few minor spills thus far, none that have taught him a lesson though. He absolutely LOVES to honk the horn, and when he honks it, i can hear him giggle at himself across the house. he thinks he's pretty cool stuff. He still cannot drive forward in it, i think because it is lifted off the ground quite a bit, but he loves to reverse and push & climb all over it. his favorite however is looking through all the windows and playing peek-a-boo with me. I think its pretty darn cute!

***on a different note: i had a dr. appointment yesterday, and She has changed my due date once again. I have consistently measured small according to my due date, so as of now, my d.d is January 31st. I've kinda been expecting this to happen so i'm not too bummed about it, i'd rather it be changed now that a month before my "expected" due date and then move it back. We'll let her cook as long as she wants to in there. Other than that, all is well is the baby dept.

halloween 2011

2011-11-03T11:25:00.000-07:00

We had a very low key halloween this year. we thought about going trunk or treating but ended up not. Preston had already eaten more than enough candy as the trick-or-treaters knocked on our door....and lets be honest, it would be me who would end up eating the majority of it. Really, what kind of mother am i letting my child gorge on candy before dinner. The kid loves candy. Then we went over to a friends for a little halloween dinner. Preston was a cute little dog, and actually liked his costume which surpassed my expectations.

here are a few pictures from our night...

28 weeks...

2011-10-31T11:11:00.000-07:00

and there you have it...my belly @ 28 weeks! this pregnancy continues to fly by super-duper fast, and smoothly!! i honestly feel weird saying it, but besides the growing belly and sweet little kicks....i pretty much don't feel pregnant. i am however, assured that there will be some hiccup along the way at some point. It can't be this smooth/easy. I did fail my 26 week glucose test a few weeks ago, so i had to go in for the long & dreaded test that i am all too familiar with from last pregnancy...but thankfully i passed. I was pretty pesimistic about it since i had failed with preston and @ week 26, but so so happy to have passed this time around. finger pricking=yuck!

So, now i need some advice. i am pretty dang nervous to bring a brand new little babe home to a wild little 18 month old....I know he will probably not care or even know what is going on, but is there any suggestions out there on how to make the transition easier for preston, or how i can try to prepare him in even the slightest bit now before her arrival? I am well aware that it will be a lot of trial and error, and jealousy in our household for a while, but if there is anything any of you have experienced that may help me out to ease this transistion, do share please!!

2nd question: do i move preston from his crib into a big-boy bed pre-baby or post-baby? I don't want to keep baby girl in a bassinet next to my bed for very long (preston lasted about 2 weeks), but i don't want it to be traumatic for preston either to be giving his bed up? so do i buy another crib or go for the toddler bed?

oh yeah, happy halloween. i'm sure my halloween post will follow later this week, or next at the rate i have with updating my blog.

a simple day...

2011-10-24T15:04:00.000-07:00

today has been filled with a whole lot of nothing. every now and again i enjoy these kind of days.

*Preston woke up in just the nick of time to make it to exercise class, which on most days is a struggle trying to get through because of the fact that Preston sees his Grandma at the front of class teaching and he can't quite understand why he can't run to the front of class to play with Grandma like he usually does. today a fellow-exerciser had a headache so she volunteered to watch the busy boy while i worked out.

*The rest of the day has been spent wasting much too much time on pinterest (as usual), searching for the perfect fall boot, thinking of yummy fall recipes to create, and writing up my fall to-do list instead of accomplishing any of it.

*All the while sneaking in some great cuddle time from Preston who is working on 3 big-ol molars popping in, they must be bothering him because he doens't snuggle just for fun. and while its sad he's hurting, i'll enjoy the sweetness of his head resting on my shoulder.

*I keep walking past the mirror and noticing a belly has finally/definetely emerged. i still feel like i'm in the "fat-stage"...but thankful to see a belly popping out. As of yesterday i entered into my third trimester...which gives me a feeling of nervousness and excitment. we have a lot of baby-prep to do with preston.

*i'll leave you with a few pictures we quickly snapped at our fun community pumpkin walk this weekend. I love fall!!

my big boy

2011-10-12T15:11:00.001-07:00

isn't he sweet? and grown up?

I told you so....once we found out we were having another little babe Preston decided that he better grow up quickly, and he is succeeding. Most days i love that he is turning into my little boy, but others i miss my baby. One thing i know for sure, is that i like him!!

Decided to write down some of my favorite things preston is currently doing for my memories sake:

-When he wants to sit on my lap, no matter how far apart in a room we are, Preston will turn around and walk backwards until his little bum finds my lap to sit on.

- His LOVE for the game of peek-a-boo. brings an instant smile to his face

- When he knows i am about to lay him down for a nap, he hurries and lays his head on my shoulder to snuggle. he must know i love his snuggles, and of course, i resist laying him down just to enjoy 10 seconds worth of a cuddle.

- How he loves to slam dunk the basketball on his little hoop. He's pretty good too.

- He brings me books to read to him all day long, but he NEVER sits still long enough to get past the 2nd page.

-The way he is beginning to understand. It amazes me. I can tell him to get his shoes and socks and he will then he'll sit on his bum so i can put them on. When i tell him that we are going to go outside, or change his diaper, or get in the tubby...He runs right to the location and waits for me. so cute.

-Beginning to say more words. I have heard him say many before but he's not so consistent yet: but ones that he can say are mama, dada, kitty, cow, down, duck and ball. Although he is not good at saying them on command, just when he wants to.

-He blows sweet kisses, and continues to give an abundance of kisses (especially to me)

- i weighed him yesterday just on our scale and he weighed in at 27 lbs (with his clothes on). but still, he's a chunker.

We continue to feel blessed and lucky to have this little guy in our lives.

and i doubt that feeling will ever change.

Baby Jane

2011-10-12T09:51:00.001-07:00

My sis Melissa had this sweet, adorable & perfect little girl yesterday.

Her name is Jane.

There is just something about new babies that make my heart melt.

i like her alot. time to go snuggle her.

congrats Trae, Lis & big sis Avery!!!

crash, bang, boom!

2011-09-26T17:18:00.000-07:00

yuck!!! looking at these pictures makes me literally sick. this last thursday i was headed up to my in-laws house to see chase and take him some stuff that he had forgotten at home and needed for work. I really didn't want to go anywhere that day because i feel like i have been gone so much....and i just wanted to stay home for a night, but when chase needed something, i decided to go. I drive the gravel road to my in-laws house quite often and although that doesn't make me like it more, i am not as scared driing on it as i used to be. We have had several problems with our tires on our Commander so i usually try to drive slow anyways to avoid any problems. This day was no different, infact, i was driving much slower than normal because Preston had just fallen asleep as i was driving up there and i wanted him to have a longer nap, so i was driving at a steady 20 mph. I could see a truck coming down the road in the opposite direction due to his cloud of dust that he was stirring up while driving, so i stayed clear on my side of the road and we passed each other, only to quickly see another truck following him way too closely in my opinion and not on his side of the road, and i did all i could to slow down more and pulled off as much as i could but it was too late, and he hit me head on!!!
I have never been in any sort of an accident before so i was quite shaken up and scared with the whole situation. When we hit, my airbags went off and then all i could hear was fluid rushing out of my car and that just made me real nervous, so i got out of our car, which my door was jammed slightly, and rushed around to get poor preston who was just scared with what had just happened. Thankfully he was asleep until the crash and then he woke up to the boom....It took him a while to calm down, i'm sure partly due to my level of emotion at the moment. Once i realized we were both ok, i told the other man involved (who was also ok) that i just needed to walk. so i took off down the road, mostly because i had no cell signal where the wreck occured. So i walked about 300 yards down the road till i could get any sort of signal, and even then it was touch and go...I got a call out to my mother in law, who was in Idaho Falls, and had her call someone to let them know what had happened. the biggest thing on my mind at this point was little princess inside my belly....and while i felt that everything was ok, i was really nervous and scared. It literally took an hour and 15 minutes from when the wreck happend for the cops to show up, thankfully there were no serious injuries or we would have been in trouble waiting and waiting up there. The officer wouldn't issue any citation because he said that there were no lines on the gravel road and no witnesses so its hard to tell where the collision occured. Plus the other man had moved his vehicle off the road from where the wreck happened so cars could get through, so therefore they couldn't tell exactly where the wreck took place. i am quite upset about this, because i feel so confindent that it was not my fault at all and he should have been issued a citation, but i guess we will deal with the card we're dealt.

Anyways, to wrap it up, car is totalled...still waiting on all the insurance business to go through. But Baby Girl, Preston and I are ok. I have been sore for the past few days, and i don't enjoy getting behind the wheel yet. Certainly won't be driving up on the gravel roads for a few days. but i feel blessed and lucky to be ok

well.....

2011-09-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

we are so excited to be having a little girl!!! i am totally shocked. Chase was sure all along that it was a girl, so much so that when i was like 9 weeks along he started praying for our baby girl. I thought it was for sure a boy. But nonetheless, we are thrilled. When we went in for our ultrasound, i just had the tech put the gender in an envelope and we were getting together later that day for lunch with family and thought we'd open it up together. My sister in law Lauren ordered cupcakes, half "its a boy" half "its a girl"...and right before we opened the envelope we passed around the cupcakes and everyone chose whether they thought it was a boy or a girl. Lauren and Chase were the only two who chose girl cupcakes....so i'm not the only one who thought boy! I love the tiny bit of my mother in law Kathy that you can see in this picture below, she really thought boy....look how suprised she looks. Oh dear, we are so happy, and i am now starting to feel slightly overwhelmed with all the girl stuff out there, and it is confirmed that boys and SOOO much easier to prepare for. I just this week came out and said that i am ready for two, or maybe not so much ready, but excited and think it will be good for preston to have a little sister.

This pregnancy continues to be the easiest thing on earth (knock on wood)....still no symptoms, I'll be the first to admit that it is weird to feel this way, but i certainly won't complain. Hopefully little angel face isn't being nice now so that she can act up later. due date did however get pushed back a bit, which i've been expecting since i've been measuring small, so she'll make her arrival sometime in the end of january. I'll take all the time i can get. I need to do some major training with big brother.

the day of our ultrasound, Preston literally woke up from his nap looking like a big boy, and not my baby anymore. Its sad a little bit. But again, very exciting.

my boys...

2011-08-18T14:42:00.000-07:00

oh how i love my boys. they are mine and they are wonderful to me!!

Here is the look of my hubs that i get all-too-familiar with in the next few months. thats right, hunting season has begun, ready or not. unfortunetly there were a few things we didn't check off our summer to-do list, and now they become almost impossible to do. But despite the fact that we see much less of each other during this busy season, its still a good one. and chase enjoys it, so thats most important. Thankfully, my inlaws have built their new home quite close to the ranch so Preston and I have plans to move in with them one or two nights a week so that we don't miss daddy/hubs near as much. We are just grateful for a good job.
And as for this little boy of mine...we are going to enjoy this time with less-daddy and do some major bonding (were pretty tight as it is, but we could always use more) He isn't my baby anymore, and that makes me a little bit sad. However, he is giving into my constant plea for a snuggle, and occasionally he'll give in just a little, and i like that. Hopefully with age, he will realize just how important his momma is to him. We had his 1 year appointment this week, and just as expected the boy had taken a leap in the growth charts and has grown. He is 25 lbs (97%) and 31.5 inches tall (96%). He is a big boy, and still just happy and busy.

I feel like a pretty lucky lady to have these two in my life. They make me happier than i could ever imagine.

An EPIC experience

2011-08-16T18:27:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, me and 12 other crazies, ran in the Cache-Teton Epic Relay. We ran the 205 miles from Smithfield, UT to Jackson Hole Wyoming....and it was so much fun. I was the captain of the team, and with that a little additional stress in my life making sure i found 11 other runners and seeing that everything else fell into place. And it did, everything went so well...we had the absolutely funnest team ever and i am so proud of everyone for doing so awesome. We pretty much stick entirely with the 5 other runners in your car, and rarely see the other 6 runners except for at vehicle exchanges. We had such a ball with our 6, and i know the other 6 feel the same way about their car, so it worked out rather nicely. Our team finished in 33 1/2 hours, and that was pretty dang near what we were expecting to finish it in, so we did awesome.

I was runner #6, my leg was ranked 2nd hardest on the team, running 19.5 miles total. and i was pretty dang nervous going into it because on a normal day i can handle the 2nd hardest, but being almost 18 weeks pregnant is another story. But everything felt PERFECT! and i did much better that i expected to do. My first leg was 6.8 miles, and it started out slightly downhill for the first little while, as i was going down the hill i could see this MONSTER hill that i knew i had to climb once i got to the bottom of my downhill portion. Once i knew i was getting close to it, i told myself to not look up and just push through it, so i did just that, I got to the bottom of the hill, and put my head down so all i could see was my feet and the road, and i just put one foot in front of the other, and made it to the stop of the 1.5 mile hill without stopping or seeing what i was running up. It was a pretty awesome feeling to make it to the top of the hill and it gave me the energy i needed to finish my last couple of miles of that leg. My next two legs were 6.7 miles and 6.03 miles, and they went pretty good as well. I'm a pretty competitive person, but i knew i had to listen to what my body was telling me as well so that i would not do anything to hurt me or the little babe, and i was lucky enough to feel really good and finish all of my legs without ever walking.

My sis, Mckell, designed us our awesome team shirts that you will see in the pics towards the end (thanks Kell). It was a beautiful run and i am already looking forward to next year. So grateful for wonderful teammates who rocked it, and made it the enjoyable experience that it was!!!

One of my best friends, Jana, who is AMAZING!! she was in the other car and totally rocked all of her killer legs. She had the hardest Leg out of the whole relay and did so good. She's AWESOME!!my mother in law is AWESOME, and did so good. i'm lucky to have her and be able to do these fun races with. she's great motivation for me. love her!

this & that

2011-08-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

I just love this little boy. I've been thinking alot lately about being his mom, and how it is such a blessing in my life. Imagining life without him, is unthinkable. Why we were trusted to watch over, protect, provide, and help him through life is beyond me, but i will gladly take the challenge. And chances are that i will fail at times, but thank goodness this little love of mine is forgiving and understanding. I can't imagine not being his mom, and spending everyday with him trying to teach him the things he will need to survive. I'm a pretty lucky lady.

Which brings me to this next darling photo. For some strange reason Heavenly Father has decided that i need to be a mom to yet another darling child, already. yes my friends, that is my official announcement. oh dear, i am scared....very very scared. I am almost 18 weeks along. Which puts me due in January, and also puts my children 17.5 months apart. and now you can see why i am so scared. I am just now coming out of the shock, and that i why i have waited so long to share this little secret of mine, that and also that i have not really felt a single symptom of pregnancy in the last 18 weeks, so i figured if i felt so good, i just as well keep it a secret while i can. Thank goodness for my sweet husband who keeps assuring me that it will be alright. Please don't get me wrong, i am very excited...just also very surprised. My little babe, and lis's little babe will be 3 months apart, which will be very fun.

anyways, that's the surprise of the day. bet ya didn't see that one coming did you? me neither. but now that its happening, i'm just gonna roll with it...."he never said it would be easy, he only said it would be worth it," I'm gonna keep telling myself this, and in the end it will all be worth it i'm sure.

So, again i am so grateful for the opportunity to be a mom. and for being trusted with these little angel children. i will just have to raise up to this challenge now. and i will.

p.s. doesn't this sister of mine look amazing for only have about 2.5 months left. uh yeah!

Preston is 1

2011-08-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

oh wow. i have 1 year old. there is a chance that i am still in denial of this. certainly not sure how it happened so quickly, but i am so certainly sure that this little boy has brought us more happiness and smiles in the last year than anything ever before. he makes us giggle everyday. and even though he is hands down the busiest little body that i have ever seen in my entire life, i love every second of him! He seems like such a big boy to me, and has started to show a very humorous side to him that keeps us laughing. hands down the greatest year thus far in our lives.

Here is review in pictures of what went down on his birthday:

starting with his absolutely adorable birthday invite created by my ever so talented little sister, Mckell.

Next up: A trip to the zoo with our good friends, the obergs, who came to visit for the weekend. sadly no pictures of cute sammy. but their little girl violet is the sweetest thing you've ever seen. It was a rather HOT afternoon at the zoo, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless. Do notice Prestons very cheesy grin in this next picture...it is becoming a regular face in our house. he is silly.

and lastly: The party. His party was so very last minute planned. None of our family members could come to his party so i debated for a long while whether or not to even have a party, and on tuesday i decided to throw something together and we just invited a few friends over and it turned out just perfect. It was small and simple and perfect for preston because he had absolutely no idea what was going on. He was slightly disappointing when it came to eating his cake, I thought for sure he would go crazy with it, but i think the bright green frosting threw him off, i should have given him some of the chocolate cake i made for everyone else. but it was a great day.

We sure do love you Preston.

Backpacking

2011-08-01T11:34:00.000-07:00

A week ago chase and i were trying to decide how we wanted to spend our last few weekends together before Chase starts hunting season. We knew we wanted to go backpacking since we had just bought our new packs. So we quickly made plans for Preston, bought last minute items and took off at 5 am Friday morn. We went to a place called the Bighorn Crags. We had such a fabulous time and it was so beautiful. We hiked 9.5 miles the first day,and then just hung around the lake the next morning and then did the same route back. quite to workout, backpacking is hard, but we had so much fun together and were so happy we quickly decided to go. Can't wait till next summer. chase and i before take-off

This lake is called the Crater, it was our favorite lake. we camped at a small lake right behind this one, and had this entire valley all to ourselves.

we stayed in a one-man tent. I was quite worried that we would suffocate because it looked so small, but suprisingly we both slept really well.

such a fun, beautiful trip!!

Driving....

2011-07-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

this kid has a slight obsession with driving things...pretending of course. When we walk out into our garage and i want to go play on the grass or something, he turns right around and heads straight for the lawn mower. He really just likes to turn the knobs on it. He does the same with our car, when we are bored in the house, we can go spend a good 20 minutes or so sitting in the car, listening to the radio, which preston LOVES to experiment with varying volumes...and push all other buttons in sight. easy entertainment if ya ask me.

Family Reunion

2011-07-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

We had our annual Garrard Family Reunion over this last weekend, and as usual it did not disappoint, i however, did on my picture taking. hopefully i can snag some of someone else s when they post them. You will notice our fun family shirts, we sported these on the last day when all we did was take naps, and play lots of out door games...hence the sick hair and no makeup and sunburned nose. not too attractive, but i didn't care. Preston was having a fabulous time running around with all the cousins...he just wanted to keep up so badly. He's cute. I do however think he is going through a bit of stranger-anxiety...or maybe it is just that he missed his parents since we hadn't seen him the 4 days prior to our family reunion. you'll notice he got a darling little haircut, which although he is adorable, I haven't decided if i like because he looks like a big boy now. he is 11 months old today!!! i really do love my family, and am so grateful for all the memories i have with them. Everytime i leave any Garrard Family function, i always tell Chase that that is how i want my family to be when we are older...you can just tell that there is no one else they would rather be with, and we always have so much fun together. already marking my calendar out for next year's reunion. hope you all had a happy fourth too!

Wasatch Back 2011

2011-06-21T08:55:00.001-07:00

Whoa, i think i might finally be recovered from The Wasatch Back last weekend. I ran on my aunts team and we had so much fun. Our team name was "Speedy Spuds"....and we were pretty speedy ;) actually, we placed 34 out of about 90 all womens teams!! We had a really fun group of girls in our car! We got approximately 2 hours of sleep in the 32 hours in took us to run the race. serious exhaustion. you'll notice the nasty/ridiculously hilarious "spud" outfits that we were given to wear....needless to say they didn't get too much wear out of our car. I didn't train quite as well as last year, but it was still fun and i did ok. my first leg was 3.4 miles UP the first part of SNOW BASIN road. killer butt workout! but i was very happy that no one passed me while running that leg. my second leg took place at about 2 a.m and was 5.5 miles, i love the night run. and my last killer leg was 7.7 miles DOWN DOWN DOWN into park city, i ran through Deer Valley resort and while it was much harder than expected to run straight down the mountain it was fun. On my last leg BYU Mens team passed me...they finished the race in 18 hours. that's ridiculous. anyways, it was oce again so much fun, and i can't wait till next year.
V

can you believe all the snow that was still there. brrr.

yeah for the speedy spuds

until next year.

a 10 month old

2011-06-09T20:45:00.000-07:00

yep...that's right, i am now a parent of a 10 month old. A very very busy 10 month old. now, i know i say that Preston is busy in almost all of my posts, but i feel his level of busy-ness has increased 10-fold this last month. he is exhausting. it is a very good and pleasant exhausting, but none-the-less, exhausting. Yesterday we were at my moms house and i kid you not, the child did not stop moving for 3 seconds in 3 straight hours...except for the 2 minutes that he and i were swinging on the swings. My little sisters were taking a nap and when they woke up they couldn't believe that he was still on the move. He makes me laugh everyday because he is just so silly and curious. i think he has A.D.D...because he is constantly from one thing to the next. silly boy.

He is walking now. He is getting much much more confident in it. I think his most steps is somewhere between 10-12, but when he started he would only walk in between chase and i, but now he will take off on his own. It is so fun to see him learn new things, and i am lucky to be able to spend everyday with him and watch him learn and grow.

He is starting to jabber a lot more. He will say dada, mama, baba, and lots of other noises. I think he only really knows dada and mama, and the rest are just jibber.

He is done nursing, and now drinks from a bottle a few times a day. he used to take a bottle when he was a newborn up until he was 3 months old and then he quit, and much to my surprise when i quit nursing i tried giving him a bottle and he loved it. He drinks both formula and cows milk. When i took preston to his 9 months appointment the dr. told me to start giving him some cows milk to up his fluids at that point i was giving him soy milk occasionaly, but the doc said to go straight to cows, i was quite hesitant to do this because all i've ever heard is to wait until a year to introduce cows milk, but with the dr.'s go ahead i did it, and he loves it and has had no problem adjusting to it.

He loves to be outside (what child doesn't) we are just bummed because this summer has been such a downer with the yucky weather. so we enjoy regular walks outside when the weather is decent and it is hands down his favorite part of day (next to when daddy comes home)

Other than that, i wouldn't say there have been too many changes from his 9th month. He still continues to be greatest blessing and joy in our lives and we just can't get enough of him, even if he wears us out by the end of the day. He is so much fun and still the happiest little guy ever.

Happy 10 months sweet little boy

it's her birthday....

2011-06-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

well technically, it is our birthday, But i want to do a big ol' shout out to the greatest girl i know.... So HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER! it has been the strangest, hardest, longest year of my life having you live clear across the world...But you've almost made it, and i admire you and look up to your strength, and positive attitude through all of life's struggles, especially those thrown at you while living in Brazil. Words will never be able to tell you how seriously amazing i think you are. everyday i'm amazed. Most of all, i am so grateful that you became a mother before i did, because you have set an incredible example for me...thanks for paving the way. I hope you know how much i love you!! i am counting down the days till you come home. But for today, i hope you have a great one. LOVE LOVE LOVE you.

just words today...

2011-06-01T16:09:00.000-07:00

a few random things

-i am so excited to eat the asparagus that i just picked by the ditch in front of my house today.

-happy to have decent weather today so p.j and i could enjoy ourselves a walk.

-found a yummy recipe on pinterest the other day, and i made it for dinner, from my sample taste-test it is going to be a keeper.

-I have yet to find a food that Preston either doesn't like or won't try. champion eater that kid.

-that kid is almost a walker, he has taken two steps several times today..but it still makes him nervous.

-i almost have my whole garden planted...i think i'll finish the rest tonight when chase gets home.

-So many area's here in firth are flooding, makes me so grateful for all that i have, and also makes me want to be a better neighbor and help those in need.

-we have sprouts of the grass we planted a few weeks ago coming up. oh happy day.

-got released from my young womens calling on sunday. I had been in the YW for 3 years. kind of a bitter-sweet feeling.

-still need to plan our backpacking trips for the summer to use my new pack. suggestions still welcome.

-slightly jealous that my fam is vacationing in sunny-sunny california right now.

-need to go lay the littles down for a nap...yes, at 5:30 p.m. The kid is a sleeper.

now if that is not random, i don't know what is. such is life today.

namesake...

2011-05-29T16:46:00.000-07:00

we just got back from Utah where we were visiting the grave-sites of some family members. One special one, is both Chase and Preston's namesake. Chase's great-grandpa, Preston Jones. We had never been to the cemetery he is buried at but i am happy we did this year because we now have little Preston who carries the same name. I don't know much about Grandpa Preston, but i do know he was a wonderful man... i hope my little boy follows in those footsteps.

My sweet little niece, Charlotte, is also named after a relative. my F-I-L's sisters name was Charlotte, and so that is who she is named after. isn't she just the cutest thing you've ever seen?

binky business...

2011-05-25T10:04:00.001-07:00

So, here's the thing....Preston loves his binky. and i love that he loves his binky. It has been so nice to have something that can soothe him, or put him back to sleep when he wakes in the night. the beloved binky has come to my rescue time and time again. Now, even though i praise the bink, i do not want a child that is addicted to his binky until he is 4 (slightly exaggerated, but still)...Our goal has been a year...and then we will do away with it. Now i am beginning to realize that they year mark is biting us in the behind, we are about 2 months away. And so, here i am asking for advice as to how i should wean my child from his little friend....I try to only give it to him in his crib and carseat right now, even though sometimes, on certain rough days, i fail at that and surrender to him and let him have it. **And while i say our goal is a year, it really is, but if i happen to make it a few weeks or possibly even months after the year mark...i hope not to be found hypocritical...i will try.** When we went to the dentist a few weeks ago, i asked him what his suggestions were, and he said for sure gone by 2 years...preferably a little sooner or else it begins to screw with their teeth...and we don't want that.
So friends, i am open to any suggestions, so that when august 6th is standing infront of me, i will have a plan in place, or already have begun it, and maybe, just maybe conquered it.

lately...

2011-05-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

.....we haven't been up to a whole lot.

Preston loves to be outside, and cries when i take him in, so when its sunny outside, we can be found, sitting on our front steps, with a messy-messy face, no shoes or socks on, just playing. pretty simple, but makes the little boy pretty happy.

A few weekends ago, we (the jones) packed up and headed to montana for a few days of fishing. unfortunately we had the wrong season-opener day, so there we were, in montana...unable to fish. so the little boys just fished in the little pond, and we enjoyed ourselves, and being together. didn't do a whole lot, but it was still fun to get-away for a few days.

all the little boys, ready for bed.

mason and his fish

grandma & boston

Easton and his fish

Preston and Boston-They are only 3.5 months apart...so fun

And here we have the current-sick little boy. This after he and i went for a little run, which he enjoyed, but he has just been feeling yucky. So we took him to the doc that night(saturday) the diagnosis: ear infection, pink eye, bad cough, and runny nose. YUCK! his eyes weren't pick at all like typical pink-eye but she said that there are many variations....thankfully the drops cleared them right up and he looks much better.

But i thought his hair in these pictures was hilarious. like i said this is right after our run, and i didn't touch his hair, this is just what it looked like from the wind blowing in it while running. so funny. poor thing though, you can just tell that it is not his usual-happy smiley self. i hate it when he is sick.

mothers day....

2011-05-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

so i'm a few weeks late....but, I had a pretty darn good mothers day. kinda fun being a mom, and having a day about you. Chase & Preston got me this super sweet backpack. We've been wanting to get into backpacking since we live in the perfect place for it. Once i see it all big and full like this picture, it makes me a little nervous, i don't think i'm tough enough to carry all that. But we're excited. Chase will be getting the same thing for fathers day. Anyone know any good places to go backpacking?

favorites....

2011-05-18T12:02:00.001-07:00

These, my friends, are amazing. greatest flavor ever. trust me on this one, and go buy yourself a bag (or two or three). and enjoy.

trip to the zoo

2011-05-09T19:05:00.001-07:00

We went to the zoo last week while Lauren and Addy were here. Preston was asleep for the first part of it, but once he woke up...he was in heaven. Mostly because he enjoyed being outside but he loved the animals and little play ground area as well. We will most likely be frequent visitors of the zoo this summer. if we ever get decent weather that is.

9 months

2011-05-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it? i sure can't. he's been out as long as he was in. kinda strange to think of it. I've enjoyed the second 9 months a whole lot more than the first. Preston is such a joy. We love him more than we ever imagined we could. and each day, we love him more than the one before. Here are some things the little Presto-boy is up to these days.

-He loves balls. he starts yelling and kicking his legs every time he see's one, especially my big exercise ball.

-He loves his Grandmas. He cries when they leave the room that he is in. I think they like that.

-Loves to read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See"

-Stands all by himself and is getting so much better at it each day. He can ever go from sitting to standing straight up all by himself.

-Has learned that he can spit his food out when he doesn't like it, and he doesn't just do it politely, he spits it all over the plays.

-He loves to go swimming. He has the same reaction to the pool that he does to balls.

-He weighs 21 lbs. 11 oz (70%) 29 inches long (76%) Head 44%.

-Sleeps through the night.

-Still nurses 3 times a day (morning, afternoon, bedtime)

-Is like a garbage disposal, he will eat almost any food i put in his mouth....particularly finger foods that i feed him or he can pick up.

-Cheese and yogurt are his favorite. He has a bowl of oatmeal every morning and loves that too.

-He is the worlds.worst.snuggler. he refuses to snuggle. There has been a rare rare moment right before bed that he will fall asleep in my arms if he is either too tired or fell asleep nursing. its sad really. i try really hard. but he is stubborn, and way too busy to cuddle.

-can say mama.

-continues to be the busiest little body on earth. no lie. Even his doctor couldn't believe how insanly busy he is. He won't sit still for anything. possible case of A.D.D

-Has found that he likes to be tickled. for about 2.2 seconds he will allow someone to tickle him, then he's off to the next.

With that, it is my first official mothers day. So blessed to have preston in my life. He makes me so happy every single day. he just gave me the slobberiest mothers day kiss of my life, but i'll take it, because kisses are far and few between. I am grateful for all the wonderful examples of motherhood that i have around me. especially my mom.

My sister just did a post on motherhood, that i love. she is a great mom. It relates to how i feel as well, she is just better with her words. check it out here

Happy mothers day
and
Happy 9 months my sweet little boy.

wild hair & the crib monster

2011-04-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

This little kiddo has some serious wild hair. It is quite comparable to that of a baby chick. So much so that i have had several people stop and tell me how adorable he is, and how is hair looks like little baby chick-fluff. not something i am at all offended by, simply because it is oh-so-true. I think it has a mind of its own, because as much as i try to style and add product to it to tame it down, its only a short matter of time before it returns to its "natural" state of fluffiness. I really do think it is darling, I just wish that i had some amount of control over it. I feel he looks slightly homely when we go out somewhere and the recently-styled hair, has turned back into its naturally-fluffy-wild hair. But really, if my hair could look like that and make me look that cute, i'd work it for all its worth.
Now, onto the crib monster, I do believe that when i lay this little boy in his crib, a transformation happens.... Not only does he rib his crib apart, but he also eats his crib. those darn teeth. looks pretty innocent in the first picture. but do notice the second picture. not so innocent anymore my friends. Haven't quite figured out how i am going to solve this little problem, but i do hope i can before the whole thing is eaten up. little monster boy!

currently carless....

2011-04-20T20:33:00.001-07:00

i said bye bye to the beamer today.
it was bitter-sweet.
Sad to think of all the memories we have had in this car....
Here are just a few....
-we had our first date in this car.
-we drove this car on the day we got married.
-this car moved with us to idaho, then to utah, then back to idaho.
-we brought our sweet little preston home from the hospital in this car.

we have loved this car, it has been so fun. but now, we'll move onto bigger things.
we've just got to find it first.
any suggestions?

Another Favorite....

2011-04-19T10:35:00.000-07:00

This little baby is AWESOME (the kidco babysteps electric food mill)! My mother in law gave it to us when we had Preston, And we have loved every second of it. It takes any food, and turns it into baby food consistency. Sometimes i make lots of something and put them in ice cube trays and freeze them to use whenever, and other times i just throw in whatever we are having for dinner and Preston gets the same thing. We've used it to make babyfood since he started eating solids, and just add a little more or less water to whatever we are making to get the right consistence for him at the time. This product is something that i would not go without!

syd + prom

2011-04-16T21:27:00.001-07:00

That's my cute sister Sydney before she heads off to her junior prom. DOESN'T SHE LOOK STUNNING!!! wish i could have been there to see her in person, but i'm sure she knocked her dates socks off. pictures are via Rachel's cell phone, hence the poor quality. but you get the point. love her dress.....SO MUCH!

54 degrees

2011-04-12T12:31:00.000-07:00

I don't believe 54 degrees has ever felt as good as it has today. kind of sad right? but really, it's wonderful. Came at just the right time too, if it would have been cold, gray and UGLY again today i probably would have sunken into a deep depression or something of the sort. But, instead....Preston and I hit the pavement for our first jog of the season together. It was pretty fabulous....not the running (because that by all means, was hard...and a painful reminder that i need to get my bum in shape for this, this and this coming up this summer), but just the fact that we were able to step outside and see sunshine and not snow. Also we were able to test out our new stroller, and it passed. which i knew it would since i've been planning on getting this stroller since before i even wanted kids. (btw..It's a Phil & Teds stroller)
So, here is to more sunshine-filled days.
KEEP ON COMIN'!!!

you are my sunshine

2011-04-07T16:19:00.000-07:00

little preston, you are my sunshine.
my only sunshine, you make me
happy when skies are gray. You'll never
know dear how much i love you. Please
don't take my sunshine away.

today is a gray day outside. and quite frankly i am tired of gray, cold days....
But my little angel brightens it without even trying.
I am eternally blessed to have him. For his precious smile that he gives me
everytime he sees me. He's my buddy. He makes me so happy.

thank you, thank you little man for lighting up my day. every.single.day.
i love you.

8 months

2011-04-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

The little boy turns 8 months old tomorrow. somebody please tell me how this happened? isn't he just 3 months old? Either way, he is pure joy in our lives. Not too many changes since months 7, except he is a master mover and does so all day long. He is still busy busy busy. He can climbs up stairs like a champ, and continues to pull himself up to everything that is within reach to him. Which has resulted in a few small bumps on the head. Chase and I agree that he is quite fearless and determined. If he see's something he wants...more than likely he is going to do everything in his power to get it. cute, but slightly dangerous at times. He would probably be content to eat all day long if i let him...he eats his regular baby food amounts each day but he loves to have bites of our food all day long. cheese, yogurt, bread, and popcorn are some of his favorites. He's a pretty fabulous part of our lives. i just wish it would slow down a bit.

little boy loves his play table (make that Avery's play-table). He plays with it for a couple hours each day. He just scoots around it pushing and eating all the buttons. He still is in the put-everything-you-see-in-your-mouth phase. A phase he has been in since about 3 months. We thought it would pass, but no, it hasn't. At least it is helping him learn how to feed himself finger foods.
Here's to another fabulous month little boy. Lets try and make this one ear-infection-free.

essentials

2011-03-30T19:52:00.001-07:00

i have contemplated doing a small little series of posts of some of my favorite things. I used to have a "favorites list" in which everything that i found wonderful was written down so that when i was feeling like nothing was wonderful in my life i could turn to this list and rejoice in all the little things that brought me happiness. I loved that list. i should go searching for it. i may or may not have gotten a little bit of grief for this list, because it was large, and it was thought that i had TOO many favorites. is that so? well, i still have lots of favorites. today i am going to share with you a few of those, and maybe next week i'll share some more, and so on and so on.

today we'll focus on some of my beauty favorites. the cool thing about all of these is that my mom introduced me to all of them. i'm afraid she's slightly addicted to QVC, and because of that she tries out alot of beauty products, then she is kind enough to gift me with her favorites, which then in turn, become my favorites. thanks mom.

1. let me introduce you to moroccan oil. have you met? you should. This little bottle of heaven, makes my hair feel like, well heaven. smooth, silky, and shiny. really it does the trick when my used to be blonde hair got looking like straw and when blow-dried-too-many-times hair needs a pick me up. this does the job. just a little oil on my wet or dry hair leaves me feeling like i just left the salon. oh, how i love that feeling. 2. The lovely Purity by philosophy. put simply this is the most gently face cleanser i have ever used. I have pretty decent skin (knock on wood) and so with that, i really hate to wash my face. (my esthetician sister in law should be very disappointed in me) but..i do. I always have. until this gem entered my life. I'm still not perfect at it. In fact, most nights i'd rather sleep than wash my face, but when i do, my skin thanks me...so i have a large jug of this stuff that stays in my shower and i love it. but the jar is almost empty, and that is no bueno. It really is pure. and wonderful and leaves my skin feeling refreshed every time.

3. Oh this makeup. what would i do with out you? i have been a faithful user of bare minerals makeup for about 8 or so years. and i still love it as much as i did the first time i used. probably more actually. sometime i wonder if i should venture out there and try something different, but then i'm drawn back in. I am in love with their foundation. especially their new matte finish. and don't even get me started on the summer bisque, its an amazing concealer. i feel naked if i leave the house without the foundation on my face, and i rarely if ever do leave the house without it. slightly vain about it, i know, but i am. and then there are their eyeshadows. oh how i love them. i might have 20 too many. they stay on, and the variety of colors that they offer is awesome. not to mention they last almost an eternity (that's why i have so many of them). I have heard that mac eyeshadows are wonderful as well...so maybe i should give them a try. but for now i am sold on these babies.

do tell, what are your favorite beauty products that i should try and add to my favorites list?

new do & the boy in action....

2011-03-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

yep...i made a return to the darker side. as much as i enjoy the blonde-ness, my hair is not as naturally blonde as it used to be. The girl who did my hair (whom i absolutely love) didn't even touch my whole bottom layer, and the color on top totally matches the bottom. kinda crazy. always takes awhile to get used to, but i am really liking it.

don't mind my cheese grin and preston's snotty face (tis the season).

And here is the boy in action. almost impossible to get him to sit still for a picture. isn't he cute? his newest thing: pulling himself up onto something, then letting go and standing all by himself. he can't stand for long, but he's getting there. then he takes off like he is going to run across the room...thank goodness for padded diapers, and a little extra chub on those legs that help to cushion his frequent falls.

We are at my mom's house for a few days, and she just keeps saying how busy and exhausting it is following this kid around because he doesn't sit still unless he's watching baby einstein. its true, it really is. But it is also very fun to see him learning new things. i however wish he would slow down just a bit, i'm not ready for my baby to grow up. i give him till he's 10 months and he'll be walking. slow down kiddo

might be the death of me....

2011-03-24T20:57:00.000-07:00

you see that yummy little treat right there....yeah, we'll i'm kinda addicted to it. There is just something completely perfect about it...the peanut butter to chocolate ratio is spot on, and oh so heavenly (huh aunt Jill). I don't usually gravitate towards a regular Reece's peanut butter cup, but you better believe that when Easter rolls around, i am the one keepin' Reece's in business. I usually buy the bag of them where the "cup" isn't quite as big as this one pictured...makes me think i am doing myself a favor by not eating the big one.....so that's when i try not to look down at the already half empty bag of them on my way home from wal-mart (yeah, they are that good my friends). Hurry up easter, because i have no/little self control when it comes to these babies, and i love them, but i sure like my waistline better, and its going to quickly disappear if they don't go away. so help me out, and go buy yourself some, so i don't empty the stores.

(sorry sis, i imagine this post is something similar to me eating an american string cheese in front of you every.single.time. we skype. I'll try and save you one.)

little dude....

2011-03-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

for my own sake, i thought i'd update on what the little man is up to these days. HE IS BUSY!! Preston is a full on crawler now, and he doesn't stop. constantly on the go-go. when Preston is not crawling everywhere, he is pulling himself up onto anything he sees. he loves to stand up. When i lay him down in his crib to go to sleep, and then i watch him on the monitor, all i can see is him doing laps in his crib, throwing in a couple sommer-saults, then pulling himself up and chewing on the top of his crib. once he had warn himself out and just cannot play anymore, he gives in and goes to sleep. oh he is funny! He loves paper, i have to be very careful that i don't leave any paper out, because that is his go-to-entertainment. He could play in his room for days. he is so happy and content in his room, it is his comfort zone. He and i are both loving the semi-warming weather so we can get out and go for walks. He loves eating, especially what we are eating. infact as i am typing, he just stuffed 5 cheerios in his mouth, that is whats for breakfast at our house today. and he really really loves chocolate cake and ice cream, he gets that me no. He will eat baby yogurt 6 times a day if let him, i won't though, but really he would. Preston still lights up everytime his daddy walks into the room, its precious. and just in case you were wondering....i still really love my little dude.

you can thank me later....

2011-03-20T17:50:00.000-07:00

i am currently making a yummy little treat. it is one of my very favorites. As it is in the oven, i thought i would quickly share it with you so you can make and enjoy. it will not disappoint and you cannot mess it up.

Cinnamon Popcorn

preheat oven to 250
2 bags plain microwave popcorn (or i use air popped and kinda guess on the amount that would equal two bags)
1/2 cup butter (not margarine)
1/4 cup light karo syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

let these 4 ingredients come to a boil, boil for 2 minutes, take off heat and add:

1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda

stir together, it will be foamy.

then pour of the popcorn, mix well. spread on a cookie sheet. and put in oven for 30 min. take out and stir every 10 minutes. Take out of oven, drizzle with melted white chocolate chips (about 1/3 of a bag) i like to put them in a ziplock and microwave, then cut a little corner out of it....let cool. then enjoy.

grandpa's little buddy....

2011-03-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

I had these pictures sitting in my drafts for quite sometime, and i kinda forgot about them. They are priceless to me. Preston went through a little phase where he didn't really like my dad, i think he scared him....but he's definetely warmed up to him now (we just need to keep our visits regular now). But i am 100% certain that these two will be great buddies, my dad is a pretty awesome person. He is a great dad, and i am so lucky that my kid(s) get to have him as their grandpa. They are pretty lucky!!! He is so patient and fun and playful with them, and i can't wait till preston can play with him more (but really i can wait, he is growing up too fast). We love you Grandpa!!!

i'll claim her...

2011-03-09T09:13:00.001-08:00

So my little sister, Sydney was nominated for "Athlete of the Season" for the 1A/2A division. 5 girls and 5 boys were nominated in the area. In their highlight they did on Syd, they said she averaged a season double/double....with 15.7 points per game and 10.8 rebounds, totalling for 376 points in her 24 games. She's good. She's real good. She even scored 33 points in one game. I was able to watch her play a lot of games this season, and it was so fun to watch. her. Her team won the consolation game at the state tournament, which she had 21 points in. Anyways....turns out, she won. She is the Athlete of the Season. Yeah Syder!

Not only is syd a stellar athlete, but she is the sweetest girl i know. like really really sweet. and she's adorable, with great style. we share clothes....ok, i share her clothes mostly.

I'm pretty proud of her. and super excited that she's just a junior, which means lots more fun games next year.

Good Job Syd...your awesome...I love ya.

7 months.

2011-03-06T19:56:00.001-08:00

that's what we do all day.
eat. play. sleep. repeat.
over and over and over again.

can't believe he 7 months old already.
it is kinda a bitter-sweet feeling. it would be totally sweet if i had any recollection of what the first 3-4 months were like, but honestly, i can't remember because they went by too quickly, and he changed so fast. wouldn't change a thing. hands down, best seven months of my life.

what cute looks like....

2011-02-27T20:34:00.000-08:00

pretty sweet huh?

Preston had his 6 mo. appointment this week. two days after being diagnosed with double ear infections. poor little guy. but he got over them quickly, and was a champ at his appointment. i hate that he has to have shots, but i am very grateful that he takes a binky to soothe him when he is sad. anyways, here are the little mans 6 month stats, even though he is 7 months next week

weight- 19 lbs. 7 oz.
height- 27 in.
head- somewhere in the 40%

doc said the kid looks great. and he does.

he all but crawls, infact tonight he did crawl full on, but he pretty much army crawls all over the place.

he is the busiest body ever. like never sits still or relaxes. we have our hands full as soon as he is full-on-crawler. but its cute.

still doesn't giggle much (like a gut-belly-giggle) but the kid smiles all the time.

he's still fantastic, and as you can tell, we still like him. i am fully aware that he consumes our blog and pretty much every other aspect of our life. and we like it that way.

fun in philly....

2011-02-21T16:38:00.001-08:00

we made it back from philadelphia, we had a good time. mostly good because we were able to spend time with Chase, and Lauren and Addy came up to see us for a few days after we didn't make our flight, so that was certainly fun to spend some time with them. I realize now, i might have been slightly dramatic about the whole flight situation....still sad i missed state basketball, but its ok. Syd's team took 4th place, and she's a pretty stellar baller. the whole ticket thing was an honest mistake, so i can't be mad about it. but we are happy to be back, little boy is still sick, infact, probably worse....his cold is getting better, but i have a feeling its turned into an ear infection, and his second tooth made its appearance this last week too, so that is fun to deal with. but i can sure tell that he is happy to be home where he can play and sleep comfortably and take it easy. and so am i.

the bear in these next photos was really crazy, just like the biggest teddy bear you have ever seen, didn't move much, or growl, just chilled, and was pretty cute doing it. but still weird to see a giant bear right in front of you.

stuck....

2011-02-17T12:27:00.000-08:00

in philadelphia.

and i'm not very happy about it.

here's the story.....

a few weeks ago i decided to book a ticket to Philly to come see Chase while he is out here working. so i did. with only one stipulation, i had to make it back to boise by Thursday to watch my little sister play in her state basketball tournament. We found the perfect ticket. great. So, Preston and i came out and visited chase, played a few days in philly (and by playing, i mostly mean getting lost because our dumb gps was a piece of crap). but nonetheless, it was/is very nice to be able to spend some time with the husband/daddy since we hadn't seen him in 2+ weeks. sooo, Thursday morning rolls around, we get up super duper early to get to the airport, baby boy wakes up 2.5 hours than the usual due to the hustle and bustle of the airport, go to check in....."no i am not Karin Jones", i tell the workers 3 times as they try to locate my ticket....hmmm, they say "we can't seem to find you in our system, do you happen to have your itinerary"..i sure do, i whip it out, hand it over, only to have the kind worker-man tell me that my ticket is booked for a return date of MARCH 17th, not feb 17th. (the secretary at chase's work booked my ticket....and made a big oops) so, i start having a breakdown, crying more tears than i have cried in quite some time, call my mom at about 4:30 am their time, begging her to find me a ticket home asap. to make the already long story a little shorter, neither my madre, or the united workers could get me on any flights in the next 2 days without costing me a whole arm and a leg (like literally $700-$900 for a one way). so thats that. i'm stuck. can't get back to boise till saturday @ 3 p.m. and even if syd makes it to the championship game, i still miss it. very very frusterating! I am just devestated that i can't be there to watch syd play ball. i have a good feeling abut them this year. ahhh, sigh. but clearly, whats done is done, i should stop whining now. but it kinda does stink just a little.

plus my little boy is sick.

fun with grandma

2011-02-11T11:39:00.000-08:00

we've been playing at G&G Webb's house for the last week and a 1/2. It's been pretty sweet being with my family and letting preston have a little bonding time with them. Last week we went to several ball games...Preston does so good at them and loves watching all the people (plus the popcorn). This week we've just been taking it easy, and its been so nice to be able to stay with my parents instead of staying home all by myself while chase has been gone.

Preston loves my mom, however, he gives her the stiff arm every time she holds him and turns away. He will happily go to her (or anyone for that matter) but he has to have me in viewing distance. But my mom is awesome, and doesn't even care that he does this...i'm very sure its only temporary, because the last time we were staying here, my dad scared preston every time he looked at him, and this time....their good buddies. He's kinda going through an i-love-my-mommy-alot phase. kinda annoying, kinda cute. It will be interesting to see how he is when he sees chase next week after not seeing him for 2 wks

All i know, is that i am extremely blessed with a great family, who helps me, loves me, and supports me in all i do.

oh plus...the littles had a corner of his tooth pop through this week. oh the joys of teething.

1/2 a year.....already!

2011-02-07T09:37:00.000-08:00

So, heres the thing....my little baby Preston turned 6 months old yesterday. I'm still baffled by how and when this all happened, but it did. 1/2 of a year old already. somebody freeze time please! I hardly remember what life was like pre-preston. and i am alright with that, because life is pretty darn wonderful now that he's around (not that it was bad before). I know everyone told me how fast time would go once i had my babe, but really...this fast? Changes still occur almost daily. He is getting a fun little personality. I can't imagine life without him.

some things Presto is up to these days...

-He LOVES LOVES to sit up. He started sitting up around 5 mo.(still wobbly) but he's a champ now!

-He is starting into the crawling phases. He can scoot himself across the floor to get something he wants (especially his binky).

-He also loves to stand up and walk around. he has been able to walk while we hold his hands since about 4 months, and he loves it.

-He loves food. Especially grown up food. Whatever i am putting in my mouth, Preston wants in his. It appears that i am starving him because he always wants something in his mouth. He's pretty good with his baby food, but really likes a little chocolate cake or soft popcorn pieces. Pretty much anything really.

-Loves his daddy. Unfortunetly he is M.I.A. for the month of Feb. (this is probably a whole lot harder for the daddi-o than it is for pj.)

-Sleeps pretty awfully! with an occasional decent night.

-Weighs 18 lbs. 10 oz. (went to the doc the other day to get his ears checked, and they weighed him with his little clothes on so its slightly un-official)

-Will smile at pretty much anyone (most of the time)

-Has incredibly fuzzy hair. slightly hard to manage. People will tell me how cute it is, followed by a "do you ever try to put stuff in it to calm it down"....uh yeah, actually, right before we left the house we did. not much will hold it in place. still very adorable.

we kinda like this little boy.

family photo....

2011-02-02T22:03:00.001-08:00

it was a blistery, cold, windy day....but we managed to get just a few where we all look decent. here's one. i really do love this family of mine. they make me happy.

Happy Birthday

2011-02-01T13:57:00.000-08:00

It happens to be this lady's birthday today! She's pretty fabulous and we are very lucky to have her as a mom, mil, and grandma!!! She is a great Grandma to Preston and i feel blessed to live by her and learn things from her constantly. I admire her for her patience and kindness! She is the one who keeps me in shape by teaching her awesome exercise class 3x's a week! She really is pretty awesome. We hope you have a great day! WE LOVE YOU!!!

thanks grandma and grandpa....

2011-01-28T11:56:00.000-08:00

for building such a beautiful new house

and for putting an awesome swimming pool inside so i can learn to swim.
you're the best!

love, preston
he really does love to swim! and its so cute watching learn to kick and splash.
Chase and my FIL are out of town so Presto and I headed up to stay with grandma for the week.
isn't the pool gorgeous? we're kinda lucky.

mmmmmm.....

2011-01-25T16:11:00.001-08:00

daddy was in charge of dinner.

in his defense, it really is hard to get food in a
mouth that shakes back and forth
because we can't get it in fast enough.

abs like that.....

2011-01-14T20:17:00.000-08:00

i find it strange that i envy my little boys abs. he can do crunches like nobody's business. and then this....sitting all the way up on his own, i know it looks like lis is helping him, but she wasn't. and he did it like 10 times prior to that. he's tough. like his daddy. guess i've got some work to do

jazz game

2011-01-13T12:16:00.001-08:00

my parents are vacationing in sunny san diego this week, so they graciously gave Trae & Lis, and Chase & I their 8th row jazz tickets. not too shabby! I was hesitant to take Preston because it would just make for a late night, and it was his 3rd long night spent watching basketball games in the gym that week, but really, who was i kidding....he was a champ, and loved every second. were so happy we took him. It was a very fun night, especially having lis around to spend it with. the jazz won too, so that was fun.

Preston took a little mid-game snoozer and the poor kid was tucked away so snug in his car seat that he woke up looking like he just got out of the tub, he was sweating soooo bad.

the holidays

2011-01-06T17:57:00.000-08:00

We had a very enjoyable and fast holiday season....filled with lots of parties, family, friends and food. It was so fun having Preston this year, although he had no idea what was going....clearly more fun for us to have hime than for him. We spent Christmas at my families since the Jones were vacationing in sunny mexico. Then we got together with our friends Phil, Paige & Cash, and Erik, Sammy & Violet for new years....it was so fun to get the kiddos together, it was the first time they have been together since they were born....it might be a battle for violet between the boys, cash won this year, he even got some hand-holding in on her....and it was cute. Anyways...we've had a fabulous year (2010) and we are so so excited for what this new years has in store for us. Hope you had a great holiday too...

Aunt Melissa and Avery are finally in town for a visit...and we are so excited. Avery loves little preston, who is not so little anymore. She's pretty darn cute with him, and she has called me mommy at least a dozen times, and its adorable.

the simpsons....

2011-01-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

just added a new member to their family......and he is cute!!!!!

thanks aunt holly for the shirt!

holiday re-cap should be coming soon.....

Happy Holidays

2010-12-22T20:05:00.000-08:00

I unfortunetly did not get christmas cards out this year...i tried, i really did, but of all the self-portraits we took of our selves for cards last minute consisted of Preston chewing the crap out of his hands, and Chase wearing a dread-locked Bob Marley shirt which i wasn't so much a fan of for christmas cards. so...this will suffice.

We have had a fabulous 2010 and we have been so blessed. Chase has been a busy busy boy working so hard up on the mountain this fall, and had a great, successful year. He has proven to be the greatest daddy to sweet Preston. He far surpassed my expectations, i knew he would be a great dad...but i mean, he is really really good...He loves his little boy, and they have a special little bond that is so precious. Preston & I are so grateful for Chase and all the hardwork he does for our family, and his positive attitude through it all. I, am now the lucky little lady who gets to stay home and play all day with my adorable little Preston. I cannot think of anything better or more worthwhile than to be watching Preston grow and learn each day. I just finished my last class yesterday for school and now just need to apply for graduation and i am DONE. It feels so good to be done! I miss my sister dearly in the far-far-away land of Brazil, and it has been a great challenge for me not having her here all the time, especially since i now have a child and i look up to her as a mother in so many ways. And now, to the greatest thing that has happened in 2010...sweet little PRESTON SCOTT JONES made his arrival on August 6th, weighing 8 lbs. 1 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long. He hasn't stop growing since, and every day we are amazed and the things he learns and how much he changes. We never in a million years imagined how wonderful it would be to have a little babe, but it is without a doubt the most amazing blessing in our lives. If Preston had a kiss-counter on his face, i'm sure it would read 1,875, 549 (or something like that). He is such a joy. We are so excited for what this next year will bring us, and we hope you have a great holiday season and new year as well.

(couldn't decide which one i liked better..chase felt a little sad to not show up on the christmas blog-post, but he got over it.)

Merry Christmas

oh this boy

2010-12-16T19:46:00.000-08:00

This cute little boy of mine is now 4.5 months old. I am not so sure how that happened, but i do know that it has easily been the best 4.5 months of both mine and chase's life. Preston is so sweet and nice, and gets cuter every single day (and i don't know how that is possible but it is). It amazes me how much and how quickly he changes every day...i don't particularly like that part. Here are a few things Presto is up to at 4 1/2 months......

He ABSOLUTELY loves his bath....chase loves to give him his bath everynight...and preston just giggles and kicks his little feet the whole time.

this picture is just really cute of him...he loves to sit up and be talked to.

He is getting ready for his 1st christmas.....

we went out to dinner for Chase's birthday on tuesday and chase was eating ribs, after he finished he gave Preston his bone and he loved it so much, chewed on that bone for a very long time.

He sat on santa's lap for the first time and was a very good boy.

AND this makes me laugh every single time he does it...when i lay him down on his back he tries so so hard to sit up, he doesn't love his back so much. He sleeps on his tummy and when he rolls over on his back during the night it wakes him right up and he really hates it. He is working on having a 6-pack by christmas, and he's almost there.

Other things Preston does....

-he was a good sleeper at about 3 months..and now he's not so good. right now he is on an every other night schedule where he sleeps good one night and the next night he doesn't...kinda crappy, but i'm sure he'll get it one day.

-He smiles so much...especially at Chase and I. He loves it when his daddy comes home, and chase totally takes over and doesn't let me have him until its time for bed.

-He sometimes squeels like a little pig at night when he gets fussy. He doesn't cry, just squeels-we just laugh at him, and he doesn't really liek that either.

-He chews on everything, especially his hands. if he can grab it, he will eat it.

-He loves to stand up.

-He had is first hair cut last night and he was a champ. He was getting some really long stragglers (because all the other long ones fell out, darnit). really though, they were like 6 inches long compared to his other 2 inch long re-growth. and he had a terrible mullet in the back, so we got rid of that.

-He weighed 16 lbs at his 4 mo. appointment and was 25 inches long (however we think he is longer) and his head landed in the 13th percentile. we figured thats why he looks like he has such big ears, its because his ears are on such a little head. still adorable.

-He's still pretty darn cute, and we still count him as a blessing every single day.

happy birthday baby

2010-12-15T16:29:00.000-08:00

yeah, this handsome young man turns 27 today. he is without-a-doubt the worlds greatest daddy and husband. he treats preston and i so good and we are so lucky to have in. we just got a new computer so i don't have any pictures on it yet, BUT if i did, i would show you some pics of how cute chaser is with preston. cutest thing ever. He got a new gun, an i-touch and a drill for his birthday and i'd say he's a pretty happy camper. anyways...i know he won't see this post but we'll wish him a happy day anyway.

update posts to come...oh my i have so many pictures, that i think i might just skip them and start with current things.

are you ready for christmas?

MOO...

2010-10-31T13:55:00.000-07:00

the little boy was a sweet little cow for his first halloween, and boy was he cute (but really, when isn't he). Unfortunetly, he has halloween-hater parents who didn't join in on any festivities for the evening, so we took him to dinner with us dressed up in his costume. We've vowed that in the future, when halloween activities might actually be fun for him, we will give in and participate. He didn't quite love the hood on his head, and wasn't about to give us any sweet little smiles when i pulled out the camera (so unlike him)...i think him and avery made a no-smile-on-halloween-pact. and it was fullfilled. but nonetheless, he's adorable.

Hope you all had a happy halloween too!

is it possible.....?

2010-10-15T14:31:00.001-07:00

for this child to keep getting cuter?

um...yeah, i think so.

this little man, had his two month appointment this week ( a week or so after he actually was 2 months) the champ weighed in 13 lbs 8 oz. and they had his measured at 23 3/4 inches long, however, i had a feeling they were wrong, so chase and i measured him ourselves at home, and we got a good stretch out of him and he was 25 inches long. The boy loves to smile at his momma..makes me pretty happy that he's a momma's boy. of course it does, look at the kid.

future heartbreaker

2010-10-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

no explanation necessary. he's just plain cute.

we're alive...

2010-09-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

I think most can agree with me that it is about time i post some pictures of my little preston man, since he is now 6 weeks old. I've just been so happily consumed with him that i haven't and i'm sorry. Preston is growing growing, weighing in somewhere around 12 lbs. give or take. He is a great eater, decent sleeper, and loves loves loves to cuddle (he gets that from his daddy)...he's adorable in every way and we love him.

A few weeks ago Lis and Ave flew in for a visit and we have been having a fabulous time with them. Avery is darling and acting so grown up, she loves preston (even tho it looks like she is choking him to death in one picture below)...She loves his bottles, binki's and blankets and loves to suck on them, which is weird since she would never take one herself as a baby. We have been busy busy since they got here, and i have spent a lot of time at my mom's house while chase is gone working. We've been to Logan to celebrate Spencer's birthday, hang out with kell, meet little violet (who is so so precious and sweet), and out to lunch with our friend Michelle. We've also been to lots of volleyball games and Preston does fantastic at them (i knew i needed to break him in early because there will be many many ball games in his future). My sisters and mom threw me a baby shower yesterday and Preston got lots of fun things....Lis made the cute cake stands and cake balls. Preston has got lots of snuggle time with his Grandma and Grandpa....It will be a sad day next week when lis and ave head back to brazil but it has been so fun having them here....

I continue to find myself completely smitten with my babe, and he just makes me so happy!

(sorry about the picture overload, but enjoy)

alive....

2010-09-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

hi. yeah, its been a while, i am aware. my little man is almost 5 weeks old...thats sick. can't he just slow down and be little for just a while longer. i am so in love with the little guy, and i just find myself loving on him everyday, allday...so therefore the blog has been entirely neglected.

preston is such a champ...he's very content and happy and the only time he fusses is if he has gas or is hungry or tired. everyday when chase gets home from work (and especially if he's been gone overnight) he sneaks in prestons room and peaks at him and always comes out and says "doesn't he just melt your heart everytime you look at him?" to which i always reply "yes". he really does though.

I have lots of pictures of the little boy, but they are on my camera whuch is left at home. so i'll leave you with a few from a recent photo shoot (when he was 2 weeks old).

sweet baby boy...

2010-08-15T14:14:00.001-07:00

A little over a week ago, this sweet sweet baby boy entered our lives and changed it forever. Chase and I hold him and stare at him all day long and fall more and more in love with him. It is hard for me to think about what life was like without this little man in my life. I am so blessed. He is proving to be such a good baby (so far)....and even when he cries, it makes me so happy to have his sweet spirit in my life. i just can't get enough of him....so i've gotta go kiss those sweet cheeks a few more times.

(adorable pictures taken by my adorable sister Mckell....Preston only peed on us about 5 times while we were torturing him...he's already forgotten about the torture...so sweet and forgiving)

lets talk about PERFECT

2010-08-07T12:28:00.000-07:00

our sweet little

PRESTON SCOTT JONES

8 lbs 1 oz

8:36 p.m.

21 1/2 inches long

and seriously perfect.

we are all doing so well, and can't get enough of him.

2010-07-30T14:22:00.001-07:00

busy busy busy....

2010-07-26T18:51:00.000-07:00

the last few weeks have felt like a whirlwind of events. Its been a fun summer and its wierd to think its almost over...1.5 weeks left till this little babe is supposed to make his arrival...please bless its no longer than that. however, i still feel amazingly well, so i can't really complain. I went to girls camp last week for a few days...the first day i thought i would attempt a hike to see if i could get anything going....but no, 8 miles later and i felt just as great as ever...went to the doc tuesday following and she said i was at a "good 1" so maybe a little somethin somethin did happen. she also asked me if i wanted to be induced next week....hmmm, so tempting but no thanks. ask me again next week and we'll see! This morning at exercise class i thought i just might shimmy that babe right on out, we were doing a little too much jumping up and down and running around the gym.....i might retire from exercise class for the last week of this pregnancy and just walk...but we'll see...maybe not.

I've been kinda busy making a few wedding cakes this summer, i wish my sis were here to help me out with them, but i've managed, and have had a few wonderful helpers along the way....

(my friends sister Ashley MacKay took the beautiful pictures which make them look much better than thay actually are---except for the "U" one which is in my kitchen)

I had a baby shower here in firth, and recieved so many wonderful things....no pictures from the shower, except i did take a pic of this beautiful and adorable quilt that my dear friend Des made for me, i can't wait to show you how cute it looks in baby j's room, but its stunning and i am so in love with it. i feel bad that the picture does not do it justice, but trust me....

anyways...i keep hoping my next post will be that our sweet little bundle has arrived....and it probably will be since i'm pretty terrible at posting regularly...but until then....we just keep waiting.

little happenings...

2010-07-02T10:38:00.001-07:00

oh goodness..i am boring.

no pictures this post, again.

i'm am freaking out a little that my little guy will be here in 5 1/2 weeks (or less)....where exactly did all the time i thought i had go. although i am so ready and excited, i am also so not ready and anxious/nervous. am i sure i can do this?

I honestly still feel super super amazing....the only thing i can complain about is the lack of sleep that i have been getting, good prep for whats ahead of me i'm sure. baby boy is measuring right on. i still am able to go to my workout class on m.w.f., and i'm so thankful for that, except that 5:30 a.m rolls around so quickly after 3 hours of sleep at night. I keep telling myself that if i can make it to 36 weeks and still be exercising then i'll be good and maybe take a few weeks off to totally relax, but we'll see how i feel, maybe i'll keep on keepin on till i can't anymore.

I've kinda decided this little guy is going to be a wild one for me, but shy around all others. he is so crazy and active when its just me, but anytime i feel him kicking and try to show someone (even chase) for them to feel him going crazy, he stops. either way, i absolutely love the feeling and it gets me very excited.

i have a long list of to-do's and i feel like i've got all the time in the world to check it off, but i don't. and i need to get going....painting babies room next week hopefully...then i'll show you his cute room. oh i can't wait.

chaser and i celebrated our 3 yr. anniversary on monday. really. three years already. seems bizarre. he's just wonderful......in all ways. wonderful for me, wonderful to me. i am lucky. we went to utah for the weekend to relax, shop a little and just enjoy what will quite possibly be our last get-away childless. thats a crazy thought.

i promise pictures next time. maybe i'll actually take some this weekend at our family reunion.

until then, thats all folks.

its noon....

2010-06-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

and I've already eaten 3 bananas....

i wouldn't say that i crave them all the time, but if i see one, then i think of how good they taste, and grab another one.

Sis keeps telling me i need to do a new post for her to see, and this is the best i can come up with for the day. i'll work somethin up sooner or later.

until then, have a good day.

heather mickey

2010-05-31T20:39:00.001-07:00

....is simply amazing. i love her work!

lots and lots

2010-05-28T14:03:00.000-07:00

whoa, i have lots and lots of pictures to post from the fun week we've had.....

Chaser + the kiddos
lately chase has been super cute with our nieces and nephews (ok, he's always super cute with them,) but i've just been noticing more as i realize were both prepping for parenthood. he's cute & so are our nieces and nephs...Lauren & royce have been in town with their sweet little Addy Pie & Dalton & Holly were also in town with their two cute girlie including the newest addition Coraline, who we had never met. they are all so sweet and cute....so lucky to have fun cousins for our little babe to run around with.

Chase w/ Adalyn

w/ baby Coraline

& w/ Mason who absolutely adores Chase. Chase says all the time how he wishes we could have a replica of Mason because he is just so cute.

Coraline's Blessing + Family Lodge Vacay

On Sunday, Sweet Coraline was blessed while Dalton & Holly were in town. They had the blessing at our lodge in Utah and it was perfect. she is really an angel and so cute. The rest of the fam stayed up at the lodge and relaxed & played for a couple of days and it was so fun for all of us to be together....we celebrated Mason's 3rd birthday and we had family pictures too which i'm super excited to see how they turned out....

Girls Afternoon

yesterday, Laur Shar & I went and got our hair did by Lauren's darling friend Cassie. It was so fun for all of us to just sit and talk for the afternoon while we were getting it done. should have taken a final product picture of us, but i didn't...but they all turned out so cute! (thanks Cassie!)

Baby Shower

Last night i had my first baby shower thrown by my fabulous sister in laws + mother in law. They really are wonderful and i am very very lucky to have them!! It turned out wonderful, and made me more anxious/nervous for little baby J to come, but i got some great things that i am so excited to use. I have awesome awesome family + friends....and i was so fun to catch up with them at the shower. Thank You everyone for making it so wonderful!

Me w/ my cute friend Paige who is having her own little guy in 6 weeks, she was in town from Moscow, ID, so it was so fun to see her. she's an adorable pregnant girl!

This little lady is set to have her baby tomorrow if she hasn't already had it....she looked absolutely amazing, and i was so so happy to see her, even tho she should have probably been at home resting.....Thank you so much Brookie for coming, it meant so much to me!

I really do have the greatest families & am so blessed!

i'll throw in a little extra (mostly for lis) of my growth....this is 28 weeks i think, can't really remember. still feeling great and getting so excited!

its gonna be just fine....

2010-05-16T16:36:00.001-07:00

So, sister & ave took off this week to live on another continent...needless to say, its been a weird few day, not being able to pick up the phone and just call or text when i want. BUT, Lis kept saying that it was going to be just fine, and indeed it will be...thanks to modern technology that allows us to video chat and such. It will be a grand adventure for them i'm sure. its pretty hard not to miss those cute faces though....

Brasil is lucky to have them, and i'm certain they will be put to good use within the next week or two and have ward callings and such.

I however, will still be counting down the days till their next visit in August (maybe if their lucky i'll save baby J's arrival for when their here) Note: that would be lucky for them, not so much for me...making me slightly overdue.

until then sis, enjoy the beach and the sun. loves!

lately....

2010-04-27T14:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend lis and ave came to stay with us for the weekend to spend some quality time before the big move =(. can i just say how much i am going to miss them. I've already had one minor breakdown, and i can only imagine several more coming especially as i prep for the little babe without my sis's help. can't even get started on little ave.....anyways, we had a great weekend, full of thrifting, crafting, eating and etc. Saturday night we met my parents for dinner and picked syd up. Everyone at church was quite confused and having to take triple looks at us. And all the boys in my ward drooled over cute syd....Ave even went for a lawn mower ride with uncle chase (she love's him and smiles whenever she see's him...adorable), even though we don't have a lawn to mow yet.

I'm going to logan tomorrow to help lis get packed up a bit. The ONLY bonus for her moving is that she is keeping all of her stuff in our basement while their gone, which means i get new clothes/new home decor while their gone. That is however the only good thing i have thought of thus far.

It is super crazy to think the we have just over 3 months before baby J makes his arrival. We are so very very unprepared at this point, but still extremely excited. We got our garden planted this week... {we love gardening}. We are prepping for the Trek that we will be going on in June. Call me crazy for going and being 7 months pregnant, but i just keep thinking all the pioneer women did it, why can't i. We will be going 18 miles total, 6 each day. I've been super lucky and have felt so good that i've been able to keep active and exercising, i'm just praying that i will continue to fill that way for the next few months. Other than that, not much has been going on. enjoying the spring weather when we get it, getting very excited for summer.

on growing....

2010-04-12T19:03:00.000-07:00

i decided it was time to show the belly...its been kinda strange having a belly start to pop out, but quite honestly, i love it and it makes me so excited. Most of the time i just feel/look fat and as if i've just put on some extra lbs, but here is proof that there actually is a little babe sprouting inside. He is getting quite active which is so fun...last night he was having a little dance party right when i was trying to go to sleep, but i'll take the punches and kicks whenever i can! it makes it so real and fun. only have roughly 17 weeks left...holy crap, feeling very unprepared right now, ok i take that back, i AM very unprepared at this point...but i'm workin on it.

I seriously feel amazing great...like as good as when i wasn't preg...so i'm feelin lucky. hopefully that feeling will last for a while longer, cuz i'm enjoying it.

The first pic is @ 20 weeks and the other two are @ 23 weeks.
changes are happening daily. and i love it.

and.....

2010-03-24T17:54:00.000-07:00

The results are in, and we're having a......

And we're so HAPPY!

busy busy busy

2010-03-09T18:25:00.000-08:00

....i'm still here, busy, but here. We just returned this morning from our latest trip to NYC and Connecticut to visit our ever so adorable new niece Adalynn (in which i'm missing now). We had a great time and are happy to be home, for 5 days...then were off to San Diego for the week with my family. And then, i've vowed to not take another trip for the rest of the year because i am truly SPENT. most likely it won't really happen, but my home needs some seriouse TLC and my bed is desperetly calling my name, so hopefully we can stay put for a while (plus our poor church callings have been seriously neglected, i really do feel bad about that). I have been an awful photographer on all our latest adventures, i might be able to round a few up here and there. I am just so grateful that i've been able to travel around with Chase this winter, so much better than being apart.
....as far as my pregnancy goes....i seriously could not be feeling better. i feel great and we are just so excited to find out what were having (in 2 weeks)! its still a crazy crazy feeling to think i'm about to be a parent, but i couldn't be happier....

i almost forgot...

2010-02-21T19:52:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot to post my FAVORITE picture from mexico.....

yep...its true.

i'm about 16 weeks, and we couldn't be happier!

mexico 2009-2010

2010-02-14T07:29:00.000-08:00

Wow, apologies for it taking me practically two months to post about our mexico trip. here is proof that we really did go, and we really did have a wonderful time. It was so nice to be able to relax and have nothing on our agenda. i should describe all our pics, but i won't bore you with that. just know that we had a great time, and feel so blessed and lucky to have such awesome in-laws who have such an awesome beach house they take us to each year. its seriously pretty awesome. until next year....

i'm alive

2010-02-04T21:09:00.000-08:00

hey there,
wow, i've been missing for a long long time. apologies. lots has been going on. we returned from our fabulous vacation in mexico (post will come soon) and we had two days at home before we headed off for california for a sportsmans show for chase's work...we were there for a week, got home on 25th, had a few days at home, then i went to my parents for a few days to watch my lil sis play ball, got home and left again on tuesday for Pennsylvania....we drove....it was long. i've crossed through 10 states in 2 1/2 days, but we're hear for 10 days so hopefully i can find some time to do some major updates to my sad blog. but i am alive and happy.

for really great news, my sis in law lauren just had her baby tonight.....22 in. 10 lb. 15 oz. angel....i think chase and i might drive to connecticut to see that sweet thing tomorrow, i'm so excited and happy for her and royce!

until then....have a good one.

{M}

...adios....

2009-12-26T11:31:00.001-08:00

we're takin off to relax on the beach for the next three weeks....no school and no work, can't think of how it could possibly get any better than that. later

cake #2

2009-12-14T19:52:00.001-08:00

This past weekend, one of my best friends from college got married (wish i had a pic of her, cause she looked beautiful) anyways, she asked me to make her cake, (so with the help of Lis, of course, and my friend sammy too) this is how it turned out.... I love the way it all came together!!!

lately....

2009-12-01T14:01:00.000-08:00

A FUN LITTLE VISIT.....
Last week, Lis and Ave came to spend a couple of days with me before we went home for Thanksgiving. It is always so fun to have them around. We stayed up late, shopped, and did some crafts...one of which is shown below...we love how they turned out and it was so super easy.

NEW MOON

one word....amazing!!! i seriously loved this movie (Sammy, your description nailed it right on!) My little sis rach was jumping out of her seat when Jacob came on screen, i'll admit that he was lookin pretty good, but i'm stickin with Edward. I didn't have really high expectations for the movie, because i wasn't that impressed with Twilight, but this surpassed all my expectations. loved it.

JAZZ GAME

My parents took chase and i and two of my little sisters, Syd and Rach to the Jazz game after our Thanksgiving Feast on Thursday...it was a really fun game, we hadn't been to a Jazz game for a while, so it was fun to go. Thanks mom and dad!

LAST, BUT NOT LEAST.....BLACK FRIDAY!!!

you can see what time the clock says, but unfortunetely that is not the time we woke up to go shopping...We actually drove straight from the Jazz game in Salt Lake...went to my parents house to drop of Chase and my Dad and got right back on the road to go shopping, so in reality....we never slept, the 1:52 is just the time we were pulling back out of our garage. SO EARLY, but it worked out good because we really weren't even tired since we hadn't been to bed yet....Once we met up with our shopping crew we headed to Walmart (at 2:45 a.m)....and waited there until 5 a.m.....thankfully they let us in the store to hang out until the registers opened so we weren't freezing.

I know Black Friday shopping is crazily insane, but i love it. Even if i don't need anything for myself, i think it is so fun to go watch all the other crazies....even tho i'm one of them. I did however, get some good deals this year. and had a great time!

I hope you all had a happy thanksgiving as well....and can you believe that its December...i can't. But i'm sure happy it is, i love this time of the year. enjoy it!

milestone

2009-11-17T12:05:00.000-08:00

chase and i bought our first home last week. We are so excited and it is so beautiful! i'll post pictures soon. For now, i'm just busy enjoying it, and putting it together so i haven't taken any yet. But WE LOVE IT so much! plus....we've got extra bedrooms now, so come visit.

a plethora of events

2009-11-01T20:13:00.000-08:00

Park City

Lauren and Royce flew home for a week...so first on the list of fun things to do was head to park city for the night, to relax, shop and spend some quality time with Laur while she was in town. We had a great time, except it just wasn't long enough. I haven't been to park city for a couple of years, and i forgot how much i loved it. We stayed at a beautiful resort that was on the mountain side, and it was crazy to see them already blowing snow to get ready for the season. We went to a yummy pizza and pasta restaurant, and had such a fun time.

_________________________________________

Family Pictures

Since Laur was in town...and she won't be able to come for a while since she's havin a sweet little baby in Jan, we decided to have some family photos. I'm sure they turned out great, because we had an awesome photographer...i'll post the real ones when we get them back...but for now, you can gander at the snap shots i got.

isn't he cute?

just a little extra of my "J" pumpkin. I think its been 4 years since i had carved a pumpkin...i'm not a big halloween fan.

________________________________________
Lauren's baby shower

On saturday, we threw Lauren and her sweet baby girl a baby shower. She is due the end of January, and she looks great. It was so fun to see her with her cute belly, and i can't wait to meet the little princess that she'll be having. She got some very cute and fun stuff. It amazes how crafty people are. so fun.

All of Laur's great gifts.

This is the cute frame + bows that i made with Lis's help on the bows. It was a fun little project.

________________________

Trick (or) Treating

It was so fun to go trick or treating with Easton and Mason. They are seriously adorable. I love them, and there cute personalities. Aren't they cute.

We had such a great weekend with our family....I love this time of year, and always feel so lucky and blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.

lately....

2009-10-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

not much has been up....were keeping really busy with school and work....i just keep missing my babe, he's such a hard workerwhich i'm grateful for....but its tough sometimes.He had to get stiches today at work, not sure on all the details I just know he fell, and luckily there were several dentists hunting this week with him, so they stitched him up. He's says its nothing major, but its still kinda sad.

anyways...he's pretty awesome, that husband of mine.

the reception...

2009-10-04T21:17:00.000-07:00

The friday following the wedding was Kell and Spencer's reception...and again, wonderful weather (for fall at least)....My mom has wonderful sisters and sister in laws who are so awesome in helping to get ready for the receptions, and it is so fun to see it all come together. I am pretty much an Avery hog when i am around...i seriously cannot get enough of her, and she likes me....alot. The backdrop for Kell and Spences reception turned out so good i think, we have been collecting lanterns for a long time and it came together so nicely. Its crazy how months of planning lead to one night, and then its over. But it was fun and everything turned out great.

The wedding & the adorable newlyweds

2009-10-04T16:56:00.001-07:00

My darling little sister got married on Thursday and it was a wonderful day (except that my husband had to work...ugh)...But after the horendous weather on Wednsday we were a little worried that it would be a yucky day on Thursday for their wedding, but they must be living right because it was beautiful. And She looked stunning.....i am in love with her dress and now a huge fan of fall weddings because everything turned out so great. It honestly is a little wierd that kell is married now, cuz she's just my little sister...and now she's all married and grown up...but i could not be more excited about having Spencer in our family....he's awesome.

I cannot eliminate pictures...so i pretty much post them all, which i think is fine.... Their sealing was amazing...they had one of the seventy perform their sealing (+ i just got done listening to him speak at general conference (Brent Neilson), which was really amazing)....I am so happy for both of them. being married is such a great thing.

The beautiful bride

{so cute}...now of random pics of me and my sisters

cake making....

2009-10-04T16:37:00.001-07:00

Lis and I made Mckell's wedding cake....I had never made a cake before and lis had only helped with mine...so we were major beginners but we are creative and ambitious so we picked a design and jumped right in. It was a lot of fun to make, and my sweet friend Sammy came over and helped us while i was in logan to make it, and i'm so glad she did because it made it so much easier to have a 3rd person. It was quite time consuming, but very fun for me because i got to spend the day with lis, ave, and sammy....We think that it turned out so good, and we are really happy with it. We made it out of styrofoam, except for the topper, that was real cake (except kell and spenc never even cut the cake, but oh well).... pics are from start to finish. enjoy.

school

2009-09-18T19:39:00.000-07:00

[IS NOT VERY FUN]

{i need a break & were only 4 weeks into it}

labor day

2009-09-10T17:15:00.001-07:00

I went home on monday for Kell's bridal shower....it is still so weird to me that she is getting married, and even weirder that its in 3 weeks. but i am so excited for her. Her bridal shower made me want to have another one...such fun gifts. I think that her announcements turned out adorable...(Thank you etsy)

The rest of the day was spent going out to lunch with the girls + dad. pretty chill....but always fun to be home with my sisters. aren't they cute?

Then, on tuesday night my parents came up and went to the State Fair with me, i found my newest obsession...frozen chocolate covered raspberries....i paid $5 for about 6 dipped raspberries...a little pricey for the amount, but totally worth it. (now i'll just make my own) But really they were {that} good.

Thats all!

13.1

2009-08-31T19:28:00.002-07:00

{TOP OF UTAH HALF MARATHON}

The week after i finished running the Wasatch Back in June, i was still on runners high, and signed up for the Top of Utah Half Marathon, one week went by....didn't go running, two weeks....still didn't feel like running, three weeks and even four weeks....still hadn't hit the pavement to go running, not even once. anyways....long story short, i was having a super hard time motivating myself to go running, {thankfully i have a super awesome mother in law who teaches aerobic classes weekly to help keep me in semi-decent shape for 2 1/2 months}....so when the race approached last weekend, i had tallied up a TOTAL of 4 runs in the last two months, none of them over the distance of 4 miles...hahaha, really?! So i couldn't decide if i was really gonna go through with it or not, and when it came down to it, i decided that i would do it...but had little or NO expectations for myself, ( + i would be able to go spend the weekend with lis and little ave) so i went. My good friend Jana had signed up to do it as well, but both of us had slacked somewhat in training, me more that her. But we both decided to do it, laughing at ourselves the whole bus ride up the canyon where we were to start the race.

seriously, i kept thinking "what in the crap am i thinking" last year when i trained for my half, i worked my butt off and trained so hard, but for some reason it was hard for me this year. Anyways,.... race started, and there were like 3000 participants, it was crazily packed, but i loved the atmosphere, the canyon we ran through was beautiful, and the adreniline that i felt was pretty high.....

crazy thing is, the adreneline NEVER left, the running got a little difficult at mile 10, where the uphill started, but i am pretty darn pleased with how it all turned out (especially for not training) I met my goal of never walking, and finishing under two{2} hours. I finished the race in 1 hour and 50 minutes.... and i placed 18th in my age division. I was seriously shocked! but really happy, and it felt really good. (i'm kinda sore now, but i guess thats my payback for not training @ ALL, right)...anyways...it was fun, and i'm glad i did it.

{jana & me: pre-race}

{jana's friend Betty ran as well, and did awesome}

{i can finally see the finish line, and it looks good}

I am super happy and proud of Jana for doing it, she did so awesome too, and really if it weren't for her i probably would have dogged out on it...so THANK YOU jan, your awesome!

And of course i have to throw in a few of sweet little (but getting bigger) Avery + lis...miss you both already...loves!

{boring}

2009-08-20T18:50:00.001-07:00

the last few weeks have been slightly uneventful....hence the zero{0} blogs in 5 weeks. it happens. wish i could say something super exciting was coming up. Chase started the DREADED hunting season on sunday....dreadful for me, wonderful for the Chaser man (but i'm sure he misses me too, even tho he loves his job). I sure do miss him for the 3 months that he is nearly non-existant from my life. but hopefully it won't be too bad.

I start school next week...gross! but its my last semester EVER. thats pretty awesome.

little sis, Mckell, got engaged a few weeks ago. SUPER excited for her and mr. spencer mendenhall. he'll be a fantastic addition to the fam. yeah for them.

my annual anticipated ALUMNI volleyball game is this weekend. Thats always something fun to look forward to. i miss volleyball. a lot.

we had a fun summer. kinda sad to see it gone, ok, really sad to see it gone. But i do love love love the fall.

....until something cool happens, peace!

lots of green stuff

2009-07-23T10:55:00.001-07:00

In the spring, when i was buying my seeds for our garden, i called and told my sisters that i was going to have "one hell of a garden this year." Then i realized that neither chase or i had ever grown a garden before, so it could be a trial and error process. But we have had nothing but success in our garden thus far. I am so impressed with chase and our garden, he babies it so much...and takes such good care of it. It certainly is not perfect and were already thinking about what we will do different next year in our garden, but we sure feel blessed to live in this beautiful place and have the opportunity to grow a big garden. and everything tastes so yummy and fresh. This year we planted lots and lots and lots of squash, cucumbers, tons of tomotoes, peppers, green beans, pototoes, brocolli, cabbage, peas, carrots, red beets, onion, and corn, and so far all have turned out great. we are happy gardeners.

Big ol' thanks to my amazing mother, for always growing such an amazing garden...i'm sure glad she is skilled in the field of gardening because i have turned to her for gardening advice many a times. thanks mom!