Taylor Tidbits

Front Porch

2012-02-07T16:27:00.001-07:00

I think that I have a cute front porch and because I like my front porch, I have been motivated to find cute seasonal things for it.

For February I made this wreath-thing for the front door.

I found the tutorial on Pinterest. You've probably seen it and thought the same thing I did: That looks like a lot of work.

If you did see it and you did think that...

You would be right.

Not hard work. Just lots of time but I watched a three day photography workshop last weekend on my computer so I had lots of time to make the roses while I listened to that.

I like how it turned out.

Now this (the love sign)...

I did NOT make. :)

But I found it at Michael's craft store for 1/2 off so that's almost as satisfying!

Plus I think it's cute too.

Project 52

2012-02-06T09:17:00.001-07:00

Want to check out what I learned during my camera project last week?

Click

Yes

Give me a break :)

2012-02-06T07:32:00.002-07:00

I overheard Michael and Jesse having a conversation yesterday that went like this:

Michael: I MISS summer.

Jesse: Ya. Me too.

Michael: Why do you miss summer?

Jesse: I miss wearing those shoes that you don't have to wear socks with.

Michael: I miss when we get to go play at the pool all day.

Jesse: I miss that too. And I miss when we go get ice cream at Sonic.

Michael: I miss when we play at the park in the morning. AND!! I miss when we go camping!

Then they talked for a long time about all the fun things that they could remember about our camping trips.

Why am I telling this sorta boring story?

Well. I worry a lot because I feel like I'm too grouchy when I take the boys to do stuff like they were talking about. I feel like I try to plan a lot of fun things but the fun things are a lot of work for me so I end up doing a lot of yelling and being frustrated and then I wonder why I even bother with the activity if I'm just going to ruin the fun anyway.

After hearing the conversation I feel like maybe I'm a little harder on myself than they are. In the whole conversation they didn't mention one thing about me being bossy or frustrated. All they could remember was that I took them.

Anyway.

Just gives me a little incentive to keep planning fun stuff. I'll still try to not get frustrated in the process but maybe I'll give myself a little break if I snap every now and then because obviously my boys do.

Pity-Party is OVER

2012-01-30T16:34:00.005-07:00

I'm tired of being tired.

It was a hard a month.

Along with things that I've already mentioned, I also got hit with a nasty stomach flu last week that had me throwing up every 20 minutes for about eight hours.

It was a bad 8 hours.

Jacob had it too but he rebounded by the next day.

That's a 3-year-old body.

My 30-something body took 3 days to recover.

Yuck.

It's all over now so I'm declaring that my winter-funk be over too. But I realize to make that happen I need a plan and my plan is:

Out with old!

I'm going to organize my life one room at a time and hopefully by the time spring comes, my spring cleaning will be all done and I'll have lots of time to do fun outside stuff.

I started today and I started with my clothes closet.

Darn!

I should have done a before and after picture.

Oh well.

Just know that it was a wreck and now it's organized and clean and there is a big garbage bag full of clothes waiting to go to Goodwill.

It's strange how that simple project makes me feel so much lighter and happier.

Now for a couple of random pictures.

Spencer got this helicopter-thing for Christmas and has been a little bit selfish with it. :) Sunday he finally let Michael fly it after he had been drooling over it for the last month. Spencer let Jesse fly it too but after an immediate crash, decided that Jesse is still to young to play with his toys. :)

Speaking of Spencer.

Today I was holding Jacob and said to him, "I love you! I love Jacob. I love Michael. I love Jesse. And I love Daddy!"

Jacob replies, "I love Pencer. (Spencer) I love Jojo. (Joseph) I love Jom. (John)"

I miss my Grandma

2012-01-26T09:40:00.003-07:00

I was working on something at my desk today when this picture came up on my screen saver.

It's from my Idaho visit in August.

It's such a normal sight.... (My extended family visiting. Hanging out. Supporting each others big accomplishments. (Brigham had just returned from a mission)). That it took me a second to remember that this picture will never look quite the same.

I want to know when these kind of moments will stop taking my breath away and making my heart hurt.

Grandma C

2012-01-19T14:31:00.011-07:00

I feel like the last three days have been a weird dream.

Monday afternoon I got word that the funeral for my Grandma would be the NEXT morning. I hurried and threw a few things together for me and the boys.

Sam decided not to come but before you think him a bad husband he told me it was my decision. If I needed him he would drop everything and come but we both knew that it would be really hard so I told him to stay.

I picked Emily up in Provo and we got to Pocatello at about 1am and were able to get some sleep before we met our family at the church the next morning at 11am.

The funeral was sad but also had the overall feeling that we were all grateful that Grandma didn't have to suffer long and grateful for the privilege of having her as our Grandma. (Mom, sister, friend, etc.)

The whole day was spent with funeral stuff...

Visiting with our family...

Want in on the joke in this picture?

My cousin, Brady, yelled out... "Oh! All of you quit sucking in!" And then to his wife who was taking the picture... "You better hurry and take the picture before one of them passes out!" :)

And remembering things about Grandma...

I stopped and took a picture of the house that I always remember visiting Grandma at. She sold it a few years ago.

I also stopped a the 'penny candy store' just down the road from Grandma's old house and loaded up.

When I was little and we would visit Grandma, she would walk us down to the store and buy us penny candy.

It was a sad day. Happy day. Hard day. Good day. Long day...

That night I went up to stay at my parents house.

I let the boys stay up late because as I watched them doing things like this...

I kept thinking:

These are the memories that my kids will remember about their Grandparents and getting to bed 'on time' just seemed so silly.

I had the same thought later that night at about 3am after staying up late while my dad told us stories about my Grandma and after Mark kept me and Emily awake even after we had gone to bed by getting in bed with us to chat.

The next morning Emily and I left and I got home at about 8pm...

Just in time for a Primary meeting.

Later that night I realized that I didn't appreciate such a quiet house (Sam was in Salt Lake) after such a whirlwind three days...

I did finally get to sleep but I let all of us sleep in this morning.

Today I'm feeling happy to be back to the new normal.

I want to write down a few of the details of the last visits with my Grandma so that I don't forget.

I think I already said but Grandma held my hand the whole time I was with her. She's always done that. If I was standing within reaching distance of her, she was holding my hand.

I remember she called my attention to her hands and told me that they were 'old and ugly'.

I told her that the only thing I saw were hands that had held mine since I was a little girl.

I had my boys with me and she asked Michael if he knew how to yodel.

She could and she would always show anyone that would listen.

She yodeled for Michael that day.

She was genuinely interested in details about what my kids were up to.

When I first walked in and asked if she knew who I was (she did) she seemed a little offended that I would really think that she wouldn't know who I was! :)

As I left she she called out 'Bye Honey! I love you! Love you!' again and again until I was out the doors and down the hall.

I love that those words are the last I heard her say in this life.

Elaine Snell Lamont Christensen

2012-01-16T08:43:00.005-07:00

I got a a text from my mom this morning...

"Grandma Christensen passed away quietly this morning at about 3am."

I knew it was coming. Her health has been bad for awhile and about a week ago she had a stroke but even before that... I think some part of me knew.

When I went to Idaho for New years I had such a overwhelming feeling to see her. (She was staying at the 'Memory Care' unit of a nursing home.) I stopped to see her on the way up to my parents house and again on my way home. As I sit here right now I am SO grateful for those two sweet visits.

I had been warned before the visits that she may not know who I was but as walked into her room, her face lit up and and when I asked if she knew who I was she smiled and said...

"Krista! Of course I do".

She seemed so happy to see me and held my my hand for the entire visit (both of the visits) and told me over and over how much she loved me.

Although... She didn't need to tell me. I've always known that she loves me. I think she loved her family like crazy!

That's a little inside joke because the truth is...

Grandma was a little crazy. She was almost childlike but I think that's one of the reason that I love her.

I've been sad this morning.

Honestly... I knew it was coming but it hurts a little more than I expected it to. It's just weird to think of this world without her in it.

I've never lived in a world without Grandma.

Actually... My world and alot of the people in it who are important to me exist because there is a Grandma Christensen.

Even though I feel sad right now, I also feel happy for Grandma.

This life was hard for her. She had alot of trials and right now I'm imagining her happy. A happy reunion between her and several people... Grandpa. Kieth. Uncle Brett.

I love you Grandma.

These pictures make me smile.

I bought this Bday cake because I knew she would love it and then squished 80 candles on it and made her blow them out.

I remember how excited she was.

Why?

2012-01-14T11:17:00.003-07:00

Do you want to take a guess as to why I'm posting a picture of this little rock?

I'll give you a hint:

It has something to do with The Little Man.

We were driving to Walmart this morning when he started to cry and tell me his 'Nose Urts!"

I'm grocery shopping with little kids so I'm already annoyed so I tell him to 'Stop Whining!"

He does so I just assume that it was nothing but when we got to the store and just after I stuck him in the grocery cart he turned his head and sorta sneezed onto his coat. And there where he had sneezed:

A little rock.

My mouth dropped open and I asked if he had stuck a ROCK up his nose.

Sure enough.

All I want to know is... WHY?!

Randomness

2012-01-13T14:13:00.005-07:00

I saw some version of this on Pinterest.

I think...

I'm sure I didn't come up with something this cute on my own so I'm guessing that I at least got the idea from Pinterest.

I found these cute cabinet door knobs at Hobby Lobby and attached them to this board that I painted black.

I'm going to hang it in my bathroom and hang my necklaces on it.

I like it so much that I might make a few more of them for coats?

Hats?

Just to admire?

I don't know. I'm still working out the details.

These next few pictures are ones that I took before I decided to dump my 365 project.

Actually. I didn't totally 'dump' it. I just gave it a make over.

You can read about it here.

I really like this last picture.

Not because it's a great picture or anything. Just because I took it just after Husband texted me and told me to go check out the nice sunset.

It makes me feel all tingly when I know that the Hubby see's something like this and thinks to tell me.

Does that sound stupid?

Bleh

2012-01-12T16:07:00.003-07:00

It hit me early but it hit me hard.

Every year I brace myself for the let-down after Christmas that always sends me into a funk. January-ish rolls around and find myself hibernating...

Avoiding phone calls and social situations.

This year I tried to plan for the funk with projects that I promised myself I would do. And I pep-talked myself with all sorts of motivational crap...

I guess it is what is.

I have done a few things.

One thing: I changed my mind on my 365 project and worked something else out that I'm actually excited about but I can't find the motivation to sit down and blog about it.

I've also worked out a go-to-the-gym-to-earn-a-new-camera-lens plan that Sam has agreed to and I'm actually sticking to but that's in the morning and then I have the whole day to loose my motivation.

Maybe if I give myself a deadline?

Like...

I'll allow myself a few days to be lazy and depressed but it absolutely ends on...

Tuesday.

May 1, 2012. ;)

Until then... You can find me on my couch watching HGTV or Friends reruns.

But don't bother coming over to see because it's unlikely that I'll answer my door.

Family pictures and Idaho trip wrap-up

2012-01-08T10:17:00.006-07:00

Editing pictures with 4420 people in them is ALOT of work.

Not just the editing. The organizing, planning, clothes coordination, etc. is alot of work but surprising the taking of the family pictures went smoother than I anticipated.

I was sure that by the end of the 'ses

sion' I would feel like running away to my room and crying (like I did the last time we attempted family pictures) but there was no fighting me!

A few opinions that I had to argue but nothing bad.

Anyway.

Even if there had been disagreements, it was worth it to get updated pictures of my entire family since we don't know when the next opportunity to get another one will be.

I'm posting this picture because it makes me laugh.

We did individual family pictures and the single people in our family started feeling left out so they decided they wanted a 'singles' picture. Gea thought it looked cute and tried to convince them that she should get to be in it but they kicked her out...

Now.

To wrap up our Idaho trip.

Sunday evening we hung out... I think we watched a movie.

Jesse came down with some weird flu/fever Sunday afternoon but by Monday morning it was gone.

We packed up and left my parents house at around 10am on Monday.

The drive home was about normal.

Long.

We stopped a few times to eat, gas up and stretch and let the kids run around.

Then we were home.

I have to say that I love visiting my family and I honestly don't mind the road-tripping but no matter how good the trip goes, I'm always SO happy to come back to my house and sleep in my own bed.

It could be one of the best things about a vacation!

Idaho Trip

2012-01-03T13:33:00.011-07:00

My brother, Juan, is going on a two-year mission to Brazil so my entire family gathered at my parents house for a long New Year's weekend together.

I had to start the trip off right by stopping to take pictures in Idaho Falls.

I got to my parents house on Thursday night and was able to make it to a temple session with most of my family.

Friday, Emily, Sarah and I and our kids went Idaho Falls to do a little shopping and go to lunch. Friday night, I ditched my kids with Sarah ;) and Emily and I went to a movie and then met Gea and Taylor for Coldstone.

Saturday we went to Idaho Falls again to go Ice Skating but the rink was way to crowded so we decided to go to the roller skating rink!

It was alot of fun but it reminded me that I'm getting old because all I could think of was how NOT worth it, it would be if I fell and broke something.

Like my hip.

I had Michael, Jesse and Jacob and Jacob did surprising good.

For a three-year-old.

And compared to his big brothers who had ZERO balance-ability.

Stop!

Here's the new 2012 deal for this blog.

One of my goals is better time management and to help me achieve that I am going to spend less time editing and worrying about picture quality.

This blog is just to record my everyday life with mostly snapshots that may or may not be considered 'good' pictures.

If your interested in pictures that I spend time and energy on to make them as good as I can, you'll have to pay a visit to my photography blog or 365 blog.

(That's TJ. He's lived with my family for... A year or two? I don't know.)

Saturday night Sam, Joseph, Spencer and Jessica (who couldn't come when I did) all arrived from Grand Junction.

Mom had Gyoza (a yum-food my dad learned to make in Japan) ready for us.

After dinner we spent the rest of the night doing various activities...

This is Jocelyn trying to tell Emily that KRISTA is her favorite Aunt and wants me to hold her.

We draw names for Christmas and decided to exchanged the gifts for New Years instead of mailing them for Christmas.

Apparently Sarah really LOVES Anne of Green Gables. :)

This Elf Ornament if from me because we have an inside joke where we all 'know' that Brigham is our Mom's favorite kid because...

Well.

It's Brigham.

Anyway. This ornament says "Oldest Child: Mom's Favorite!"

Ha! Sorry Brigham.

You just got booted!

(This is a picture of Emily's gift that didn't make it on time. :) It's a message table for Emily to do her esthetician stuff on.)

Playing with the Xbox.

Games.

Laughing at all my funny jokes.

(Sorry. That's another inside joke that I don't feel like explaining.)

Obviously I didn't take all of these. I won't name names but RACHEL likes to steal my camera and snap away.

I say if they are on my camera, they are my pictures though...

If I want them. :)

I think people started going to bed around 1am or so. I lasted until about 2am...

The next day we had to be to church at 9AM!

Juan and Marc both spoke in Sacrament Meeting and I knew Marc would do good but Juan did really well too. :)

After church we had dinner and then I scouted out locations to take a picture of our ENTIRE family.

(Twenty-three people!)

I found one that worked.

But you'll have to wait for those pictures.

Because I'm tired of editing and posting.

Gotta have goals

2011-12-28T14:10:00.004-07:00

I know I'm a bit early but I'm going to be in Idaho for about a week over New Years so I'm trying to start off my year organized.

First up.

My 2012 Goals!

Actually.

First I should evaluate myself for my 2011 Goals.

If I were going to give myself a letter grade for them? Well that would be a big-fat F!

Mostly because I can't even remember what they were and the ones I do remember, I failed at miserably!

That's okay.

New Year.

New chance to do better.

And to help myself out a little...

Last year I posted my goals on this blog in January but I know that re-did them later and I can't find them.

Anywhere.

So this year, my goals are going on a wall that I'm sure to stare at Every. Single. Day.

It's the wall right next to my computer!

I've posted my goals on the board that I use for all my other reminders. (School notes. Invitations, etc.)

It's perfect.

I think.

It will either remind me all year what I need to do and keep me motivated or it will be a big, fat reminder of what I'm NOT doing and make me feel inadequate.

I hope it's the first. :)

Now. Hi-ho, hi-ho. It's off to Idaho I go!

I should warn you that when I get back this will be a dumping spot for lots of pictures.

Obviously.

Christmas Day

2011-12-26T14:22:00.006-07:00

Guess what?!

Santa made it our house!

I'm a little disappointed in my boys.

I had to wake them up! What kind of kids can sleep in on Christmas?

Anyway.

We got up at about 6:30ish and...

Checked out what Santa brought.

Sam checked out what sort of pick-me-up he could find in the fridge. I'm guessing that drink has lots of caffeine in it.

Tsk. Tsk.

Santa must love me!

A new flash for my camera!

All I needed was a few action scenes to test the shutter speed while using my new flash.

I didn't have to look far...

Next.

We opened a few gifts.

The boys have a Christmas store at school. They earn money at home and then pick out gifts from the 'store' without any parental help.

It's fun.

I got a ring from both Michael and Jesse.

Aren't they lovely.

Not to mention high-quality.

The best thing about them is that they totally GO with everything.

They even go together! (Gold. Silver. Pink. Red.)

I, OF COURSE, wore them both to church! :)

New church clothes and we were all ready for church.

Man!

I have cute boys!

After church we came home and ate food, watched movies, ate food, played games, ate food and then we ended the day eating food.

Today I woke up, looked around and started.

Before I noon, all signs of Christmas were packed up and stored neatly in the garage.

Don't get me wrong.

I love Christmas and usually I'm dragging decorations out the day after Thanksgiving but once it's over.

It's over.

The good news is that I love the New Years.

Not just the holiday but the whole idea or a new year. It feels like a good opportunity to forgive myself for things that didn't go well last year and re-commit myself to being a better person.

It feels like a fresh start.

More to come on my personal fresh start details!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T23:17:00.003-07:00

Okay.

So this isn't Christmas Eve but it's on my camera and it's funny...

And leading up to Christmas Eve, we've done a few Christmas-ey things.

Exhibit A...

Exhibit B...

(Treats for our friends.)

Now for today.

I spent most of the day in the kitchen. I started with these (Stolen Bread) because Christmas isn't Christmas without them.

While I baked the boys were SO good. They played without too much fighting.

Then they did crafty things.

It was so nice.

Sam spent most of the day watching the Bronco's get their butts kicked but...

We have a little deal.

I hate the noise of a football game because it's just that.

Noise.

So Sam is a great husband and mutes the sound.

The deal is: He gets to watch all the football he wants with out his wifey being annoying and complaining about it and I still get to listen to my Christmas music.

Tonight...

We have some friends who felt bad for us that we didn't have family around and invited us over to share their Christmas Eve fun.

I love that our friends are also our substitute family.

We had a lovely dinner.

Made some cookies for Santa.

And read the bible Christmas story while the kiddies acted it out.

And just in case any of you have forgotten how that one goes.

Joseph and his 'great with child' wife, Mary, went to Bethlehem to be taxed.

Mary rode a donkey.

The inn keeper told them that he didn't have a room for them but that they could stay in his stable.

Then shepherds came to see the baby.

Ooops! Forgot a picture of the wise men but that's okay.

It was ad-lib anyway because we know that the wise men didn't get to see Baby Jesus until he was Toddler Jesus.

After the play, we sang a few songs around the Christmas tree.

After all that fun we came home and skyped my parents.

Aka: Grandma and Grandpa.

Then I made the boys let me take a few pictures.

I bribed them with the promise of opening one present.

What could it be?

I think Michael is figuring out that it will ALWAYS be new PJ's.

All of us IN our new PJ's.

Last...

A note and cookies for Santa.

And now.

The kiddos are nestled, all snug in their beds.

The stocking are hung by the fireplace with care.

And we have hopes that Santa soon will be here.

So that he can finally get to bed...

Because a little birdie told me that he has church at 9am tomorrow!

Merry Christmas to all!

And to all a Good night!

Another 365

2011-12-24T17:00:00.001-07:00

Check out my new (sort of) project!

Project365-Part2!

amazon.com is for this mom!

2011-12-21T08:45:00.003-07:00

Dear Amazon.com

Where have you been all my life!

Why didn't I know about you at the beginning of my Christmas shopping? I just did in 15 minutes what would have taken me 3 hours at Walmart. AND... I did it in my slippers while sipping a smoothie and I didn't have to be annoyed by the dude that always invades my personal space in the checkout line!

As if that wasn't enough... I also got all my items for what I feel was a very good deal WITH free shipping guaranteed to be here on FRIDAY!

HELLO!

Christmas shopping is TOTALLY DONE!

Merry Christmas to ME!

Love, Krista

Merry "Mickmas" from Jacob!

2011-12-20T18:39:00.002-07:00

Heart shaped bokeh

2011-12-16T20:55:00.002-07:00

Wanna see a cool new trick I learned?

This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces photo challenge – www.iheartfaces.com

Wanna know how I did it?

All I did was cut a long strip of construction paper and tape it in a circle so that it fit around the end of my camera's lens.

Then I cut a circle the size of the end of my lens and cut a little heart out in the middle, taped it to the first piece of paper and slipped the whole thing over the front of my lens.

I played around with some pictures and found that I had to be in pretty close to my subject and I had to use a really open f-stop (this one is 1.8. The one I did of Mary and baby Jesus in my last post was 3.-something but I was in really close to her...) for the background to go completely out of focus.

To get the first picture I held my hand up in front of my lens, focused on it and then moved my hand and released the shutter.

Fun! Right?

Now I'm curious to figure out the technical/mechanical reasons for why the camera does this.

I wonder how people figured things out before Google?

The reason for the season...

2011-12-16T20:47:00.003-07:00

I worked on Sunday's Sharing time lesson tonight. The lesson title is "The Birth of Jesus Christ" and I think I'm finally starting to feel a little of what makes me love Christmas time.

And it doesn't have anything to do with baking, shopping, gifts or stress.

This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces photo challenge – www.iheartfaces.com

40th

2011-12-15T22:35:00.003-07:00

I called my dad on his birthday a few days ago and he made sure to remind me several times that it was his 40th birthday.

We talked for awhile but just before I said good-bye he thanked me again for calling him on his 40th Bday.

Me: You know dad... I'M closer to 40 than YOU are. How do you feel about THAT?

Dad: Huh.

**pause**

Dad: Hmmmm (fake-chuckle) I guess you are... (fake-chuckle, chuckle)

And that, my friends, is how to make both me AND my dad feel really old.

Loosing my mind!

2011-12-15T14:10:00.000-07:00

I'm trying really hard to 'feel' the Christmas spirit but honestly all I've felt so far this year is is stress and panic.

I won't bore you with the details of my need-to-get-done list because I'm sure that all of you have a similar list and I'll just come across as whiny and ungrateful.

But to prove that I have too many things to remember:

Today I working on my never-ending list. In the middle of it, I met my Visiting Teachers for an early lunch/brunch at a bagel-muffin place. It was a nice visit but it was short because I had to pick Jesse up from school. I fed Jacob while we were at the bagel place because I had to take him to preschool as soon as I picked up Jesse.

Since Jacob started preschool I've had to re-work my daily schedule. Among other things, it's was nice when everyone ate at the same time but now all the kids have to eat at different times and I eat in the car on the way to where ever...

Anyway.

I dropped Jacob off and did a few errands. Baby G was tired and fussy so as soon as we got home I put her down for a nap and instructed Jesse to leave me alone until she woke up because I needed quiet time to get some stuff done.

At about 2pm I heard someone crying and went to inspect. I found Jesse making the noise and asked what was wrong.

"I'm hungry and you didn't give me any lunch!"

BAD Mommy! I need a time-out.

Fun for the whole family!

2011-12-14T12:47:00.002-07:00

While doing some computer clean up I discovered...

I also found this creepy little gem.

Oh Christmas Tree

2011-12-14T09:03:00.008-07:00

A friend asked me about the tree picture in my last post.

I started to answer just her but decided that maybe someone else might be wondering too...

She asked how I took the tree picture and had it come out so bright and then she mentioned that she should read the manual but this is a time when the manual will lead you astray. :)

Now if you have your camera in AP you will get a dark picture. The only way (that I know) to take this picture is to switch to manual mode and over-expose the picture. Or at least your camera will tell you that you're over-exposing.

It's wrong.

If that's all confusing you could probably use settings similar to the ones I used...

First I used what my camera told me was a correct exposure.

ISO: 100 F5.6 1/6sec

Not what I was hoping for so I tried again...

ISO 100 F5.6 1sec

Much better.

Couple of other things.

With a shutter-speed this slow you HAVE to use a tripod. (I even used the self timer so as not to shake the camera at all when the shutter released.) I could have bumped up my ISO and/or opened my F-stop which would have made my shutter-speed faster but that would have made the picture look a little different than I was wanting.

But that's another subject.

So...

Are you super confused. If that was too much, just go back to my camera settings. Use them (and a tripod) and see what happens. Oh... And if you want to have a person in the picture they have to hold perfectly still for the picture. Which is why there are no kids in my picture. :)

Deck the halls

2011-12-12T08:41:00.006-07:00

It's a good thing for my kiddos (and Sam) because without them, I might have bah-humbugged decorating the tree this year. But... Now that it's done, I'm so glad to have it and I'm feeling much more Christmas-ey!

Anyway.

We started the fun with cocoa...

Then on to the the decorating.

And.

The finished product!

Proof

2011-12-07T13:04:00.006-07:00

I have good kids.

I don't know if all mom's think that their kids are special but MINE really are! :)

Exhibit A

Jesse threw up last night at the dinner table.

(That didn't start off how you thought it would... Did it!? :) Keep reading. The proof is at the end.)

Sam was as scouts and vomit falls under his jurisdiction due to the fact that I vomit when see, smell or clean up other people's vomit.

I had no choice.

I had to suck it up and be a big girl. And I did. I cleaned up the puke.

I puked during the job but lets not focus on that. Let's just focus on the fact that I got it all cleaned up.

I was so concentrated on the worst-mommy-task-of-all-time that I was oblivious to the fact that Michael was watching me and I'm guessing was concerned for me. Half way threw my kitchen clean up I heard something about puke on the bathroom floor.

Fabulous.

When I was finished with the kitchen I went to check on the mess in the bathroom and was surprised to find it vomit-free.

I asked Jesse where the mess was and he informed me that Michael had cleaned it up.

Exhibit B

Jesse: Mom? Do you need anything?

Me: No... Why?

Jesse: I just want to make sure that you are really comfortable...

I call these conversations Jesse-isms. He says things like this on a daily basis.

Exhibit C

This is where you would expect me to insert a feel-good story about Jacob, right?

Well. We all know that's NOT happenin'.

Let's just say that the reason I love Jacob so much is that he pushes me to be a better mom. He challenges me. He's a game changer.

Let's face it.

It just wouldn't be fair to all the other mom's if I just had a Michael and a Jesse. Every mom should 'get' to experience a Jacob!

Bah Humbug

2011-12-06T16:20:00.004-07:00

It's December 6th.

Did you know that?

That means it's SIX days into December and I STILL don't have our Christmas tree up which is a really odd thing because I'm usually dragging Christmas decorations out as soon as Thanksgiving dinner is over.

And the lack of motivation doesn't stop there.

I have done ZERO Christmas shopping. No Christmas cards. No baking. Nothing.

It's not that I don't want to do it. I just have a bajillion things to do so the fun Christmas stuff keeps getting bumped.

Saturday I was telling a friend that I was thinking about calling in sick for life.

Guess the joke's on me.

Sunday morning I woke up feeling a little off. The 'off' feeling continued all day. I felt a little achy but ibprofen got me through what I needed to do at church. It even got me through a couple of visiting teaching appointments and making 'family dinner'. (Us, Spencer, Jessica, Joseph and John.) But that's where the magic ended.

Half way through dinner, the smell and look of the food started to make my stomach turn and I ended up throwing it up before the dishes were done. By the time I went to bed that night I had thrown up a few more times and I had chills so bad that I thought my teeth were going to shake out of my head.

Sam made me take something that put me to sleep for awhile but by about 4am I was sleeping on the bathroom floor in between puking in the toilet every few minutes.

It was fabulous.

The joke part is that I did in fact, call in sick for my life on Monday. The good part is that I have an amazing husband who took care of everything. I think. Honestly, I was so out of it, I wouldn't have known if he didn't. All I know is that every now and then I was aware of him asking things like: Do you need a drink? Do you want to eat anything? What time to do the boys catch the bus? What time do I pick Jesse up?

Good news.

I'm happy to be back to to my crazy life today and maybe we'll even manage to get the tree set up...

Maybe.

He makes his momma proud

2011-12-03T13:46:00.003-07:00

Jesse and I were doing some shopping today and in between stores we were listening to Christmas songs in the car.

A song called "Mary did you know?" was playing and Jesse said:

"Mom. This is a REAL Christmas song."

"What makes you say that?"

"It's singing about that Mary is going to have a baby and I know that the baby is going to be Jesus. And that's REAL Christmas."

Love that kid!

Good start to the day.

2011-12-01T09:58:00.002-07:00

Wanna know what I love?

Quiet mornings like this morning where I work on my pictures.

Lexie sleeps on my feet.

And Jacob drags his train tracks out and builds a track next to me and then plays while I sit here and feel blessed.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T08:10:00.012-07:00

I planned for Thanksgiving for a month because almost my whole family migrated to my house for the week.

They got here on Wednesday and left Sunday.

Here's how it went down...

First things first.

Several peeps in my family hadn't met Jocelyn yet so there was lots of fighting over the baby. I'm pretty sure that I'm still her favorite though. :)

Thursday we decided to eat kinda late (5pm) to give everyone a chance to enjoy the lovely Nov. weather in GJ. Sam and Juan went and played football with a few of the kids in our ward that morning.

I think there were some other things going on but I'm not sure because I was pretty much in the kitchen or visiting with my sisters/mom most of the day.

Dinner was pretty normal... For us.

20-something people. I had to move all the furniture out of my front room and steal a couple of big tables from the church but everyone fit... We even had the missionaries join us.

I actually had ulterior motives for the invitation.

I've been super impressed with one of the Elders and he's kinda cute and going home... Actually. I think he went home (to Alaska) on Monday. I was hoping that one of my sisters would make friends with him, he would go home, they become facebook friends and then get married.

Is that too much to ask?

After dinner and lots of pie, there was lots of sitting around doing these kinds of things.

Just in case anyone is keeping track...

This is Joseph's woman. We're taking bets on it going 'somewhere'.

I think the odds are good.

Ah.

Taylor... You look good with a baby. ;)

So. Thursday night we decided to run to Walmart and check out the shopping thing.

Um.

Holy CRAZY PEOPLE!

The only thing I was even a little interested in was an Xbox but figuring out how to get one was like dealing on the black market. You had to get a ticket from I still don't know where. Then you had to wait in a line threw the back of the paint section and then a bunch of big burly dudes brought the games out on a big pallet and started shouting out numbers.

I didn't get one.

But that's okay because as Sam and I were trying to figure out how to get out we realized that the check out line went from the registers all the way back into the garden section.

Craziness I tell you.

Friday the boys went and did boy stuff.

I think it involved guns and me and my sisters (and Marc :)) went to the mall. I realize where I get my hate-of-shopping. My mom. But none of us really love it.

Maybe if I had tons of cash... ??

That afternoon we all met up and did some more sitting around... And eating.

Hey! I just noticed that Marc has his shoes on my couch!

Get 'em off!

Jacob didn't get any naps while my fam was here and Friday at about 6pm, I found him like this. Not that Sam is helping the situation. :)

Saturday we decided we needed to work off some of the crap we had been eating and did some hiking.

Well.

Most of us anyway.

A few of 'us' (Spencer, Jessica, Marc and Jasmine) thought it was too cold. :) And Joseph had some excuse about needing to prepare a talk.

The rest of us had fun though. And it wasn't even a little bit too cold.

I don't understand how this tree is growing out of a solid rock...

Again...

Taylor trying to be the cool family photographer!

Pfhh.

Reality check.

When you have to crop pictures of yourself so that you big fat butt doesn't show... It's time to lose some lbs.

It doesn't help that I'm standing next to Miss-100-pound-rock-hard-abs-girl.

Some lunch...

One good thing about Taylor and all his cool photography equipment...

It shows Sam that my little habit could be worse. Taylor defends that his stuff is hand-me-downs from his dad but it still shows Sam that there is alot more that I could be buying. :)

Lexie didn't come on our hike because when we got to the trail, we realized that dogs weren't allowed but we did take her to a look out that was really high.

I chose the lookout sorta on purpose to make my dad sweat a little. He's not a fan of heights and he's even less of a fan of his kids being around heights.

So you can imagine that this is a good way for us to tease him...

Anyway... Lexie was super excited that she was able to finally come with us until Juan took her to this edge. She took one look down and went straight to her belly, put it in reverse and started to cry.

My dad kept saying how he always knew she was a super smart dog. :)

Saturday night.

More hanging out.

Also, we had a Bday Party for Juan who turned 20 on Sunday.

There was a tie in this but I thought it was funny to use the bag. Obviously he did too.

This must be where Juan realized that all the presents he is going to get for his bday and probably for Christmas will be things he can use on his mission.

(He leaves at the first of the year.)

We ended the night with me getting a hair cut.

Do I look nervous?

Well. If you were getting your haircut this short, you would be too.

Now does Gea look nervous? She made Emily style my hair while she watched and worried about me maybe hating her in a few minutes. :)

It was a bit of a shock and I'm still getting used to it but I certainly didn't hate it and I think she did a great job.

Alright.

That's it.

Sunday I had to get up for Ward Council at 6am, reminding me that party was definately OVER.

My family all left after Church.

I was definately ready to go back to some normal and peace and quiet but Monday was a huge let down.

After weeks of planning and then several days of lots of people and stuff going on... An empty house and kids back in school was a little depressing.

I've snapped out of it though.

Too much to do to have time sit around and feel sorry for myself.

Speaking of which.

I gotta go.

The last three chapters: What the?!?!

2011-11-21T21:16:00.003-07:00

Dear: Hunger Game People... again,

I just finished the books.

None of you can ever recommend a book to me again.

Love, Krista

Books

2011-11-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

Dear: People who convinced me to read The Hunger Games books...

I would like to request that each of you take a turn coming to clean my house and cook for my family. Between Twilight last week and Hunger Games this week, my house is a wreck and my family is surviving on Mac & Cheese.

Also.

It seems that I have decided that I LOVE to read. I didn't know this about myself but now that I do, I am looking for suggestions on my next good read.

I do have one request though.

I think that I need a nice relaxing book.

I have ended every chapter of The Hunger Games with a gasp, often accompanied by an out-loud "WHAT?!?!" or "Holy CRAP!"

Love, Krista

More patience

2011-11-19T10:10:00.003-07:00

Jacob had another speech evaluation yesterday morning.

I've been preparing myself for a few more months of paperwork and evaluations but yesterday afternoon, I got a call from the school district saying that they had an opening right after Thanksgiving break and they really wanted Jacob to start right away.

The preschool will be every weekday except Wednesday.

I'm suddenly a mom with ALL of her kids in school!

I don't know how I feel about that.

Anyway.

I feel like all of this is a huge blessing and I'm just hoping that we've caught things early enough that Jacob will be 'caught up' by the time he goes to Kindergarten.

The evaluation lady yesterday, noted in Jacobs file that he definitely has a serious speech delay and that he also has some other delays with social and learning things. Not huge but she seemed concerned that he wasn't doing a few more 'normal' 3-year-old things. Especially since he has two older brothers.

I HATED hearing all of that and I think she knew it so she kept reassuring me that early-intervention will be just what Jacob needs and he'll be just fine.

Patience... YUCK!

2011-11-14T09:53:00.004-07:00

I've been working on getting Jacob into some speech therapy through our school district. In order to participate in their program, the kid has to qualify...

Translation: He has to have 'development delays'.

It's a weird feeling for me...

Hoping that he qualifies but at the same time, feeling a little bit sick that he does.

I took him for his first see-if-he-qualifies appointment on Friday.

The counselor asked me lots of questions then she turned to Jacob and talked to him. (I think to test the things I had told her were a concern.)

I had a mix of emotions as I watched her.

I partly felt relieved. Feeling like the concerns I have had for a long time were being validated. But mostly I felt MORE concern. The counselor didn't even say anything and I knew that she was agreeing with ALL of my concerns. It's a hard thing to see your fear for your child, mirrored in a professionals eyes.

This whole thing is harder than I thought.

I'll just keep telling myself that even if it's slow... Jacob IS progressing. He's not staying the same and not getting worse so I just have to force myself to be patient.

Random pictures

2011-11-10T16:35:00.001-07:00

In between my reading, (totally reading Hunger Games next... You three commenter's are about the 423, 424 & 425th persons to tell me that I HAVE to read them.) it was my turn to have the kiddos at my house for preschool. We learned about birds so we built some nests.

A big one out of couch pillows. (Aren't they cute baby birds?)

And one out of...

Well. Sugar. I try to tell myself that rice-crispy treats are healthy because they have cereal but who am I kidding? Cereal soaked in butter, sugar and then topped with sugar 'eggs'. The kiddos like them though.
I have the BEST husband in the world.

May I present Exhibit A
This is Jacobs posse... Doggie, Cow, Tiger and Baby... Taking a little nap on my living room floor.

Some explaining

2011-11-10T12:52:00.002-07:00

Dear Blog,

I'm not deliberately ignoring you.

Okay. That's a lie. I am. But I have a good reason.

Okay. That's a lie too.

I don't have a good reason.

I have a bad reason.

I've been reading...

Oh. I can't even say it without embarrassment.

So first let me explain. I like to have friends. And sometimes to have friends, you have to do what they are doing to fit in...

Did that sound like I am in HS again and am planning to participate in some juvenile delinquent activities?

It's not THAT bad.

Okay. I'll just say it.

I've been reading... The Twilight series!

I've seen the movies and I like them. Mostly because, like I said before, I like to hang out with my friends but I haven't ever read the books. Well. My sister told me that I was doing myself an injustice by skipping the books and that I had to read them if I planned to go to anymore movies.

Then I let it slip to my friend Aimee that I hadn't actually read the books and with her 'encouragement' I started reading the first one on... Saturday? Maybe Sunday.

My days are all blurring together.

I have to read all the books by next week because that's when the next movie comes out...

That's been my excuse, anyway, for neglecting trivial things like housework, dinner and... Showering. But the truth is much worse.

I think...

I think I might actually like them.

Please forgive me.

I'll TRY to quit neglecting you. But no promises.

I have to go... 'work' on something else now.

-Krista

She-Devil

2011-11-05T10:19:00.003-06:00

Doesn't she look sweet?

That's what I thought but after 1 week of watching Baby G, I'm here to report that she makes Jacob look like an angel.

And that's not easy!

If I would have known how hard and how much energy this little thing was going to take, I probably wouldn't have agreed to watch her but I did...

So.

That's that.

Here's the thing. I think she has been held non-stop for every moment of her life and now she gets really upset when she is not being held. She also has a major case of separation anxiety... So bad that if I even walk around a corner she starts screaming so hard that she shakes and can't breath.

Yesterday while I cleaned my house she followed me from room to room screaming so loud, I thought she was going to damage her throat.

I know her mom's goal is to be able to send her to a daycare when she can walk but I honestly don't see how that will be possible. To try and help the situation, I'm doing my best to not carry her around or pick her up when she cries for no reason. Which is basically any time she is not sleeping or eating...

I think that my ipod is going to become my new BFF.

BOO!

2011-11-01T14:32:00.007-06:00

I don't hate Halloween but I'm kinda Scroogey about it.

(Scroogey: Grouchy and lazy about contributing effort towards something)

(My blog. I can make up words and definitions if I want.)

I love Halloween because it is associated with fall-time and I LOVE fall-time.

I even love candy...

For me.

Not my kids.

I think it's hypocritical of me to limit their sugar all year and then one night I dress them up and encourage them to go beg for it.

I'm not against kids eating a little sugar but I know first hand what a lot of sugar does. Have you looked in Michael's mouth lately? All fake teeth.

Not my fault.

They were all rotted out (That's right. ROTTED out.) before he ever joined our family. The dentist that capped them all assured me that it was because of excess sugar.

And ZERO brushing.

Anyway.

Saturday we had a church party with games, dinner and trunk-or-treating. We had fun. The boys ate and loaded up their loot-bags with lots of sweets. (Donuts, cake, cookies, candy, candy, candy, etc.)

Which is fine but I warned them several times that they would not be eating all of it.

When we got home I let them pick out about 20 of their favorites and then put the rest in the give-to-trick-or-treaters-bowl.

Problem: We only had ONE trick-or-treater on Monday.

I think lots of people feel the same that I do that it's risky to let your kids ding-dong at strangers houses.

Which is why I didn't take my kids at all last night.

That and they we still have plenty of candy from Saturday.

See.

I told you.

Miss Scroogey.

I did rent them a spooky movie and let them eat some candy so they seemed happy with staying home.

In fact.

They wore their costumes to school all day and I don't think that they wanted to put them back on.

That's was alot of rambling.

Here my pictures.

I just decided that I don't like this picture...

It looks like Jesse is missing an arm but I want a picture of his face and I don't want to go back and edit a different one.

So do me a favor and pretend like I didn't do such a weird crop...

In other news.

A couple weeks ago I got a call that went like this.

"Hi. I was told by Brooke that you do daycare and I'm hoping that you might be willing to watch my little girl during the day for a couple of months."

Huh?

Long story short.

She sounded desperate for help.

I could use a little extra cash for Christmas.

I told her yes.

I started watching New-Baby-Girl yesterday.

It's going okay. Baby Girl is a little... alot clingy. She cries whenever I leave the room or whenever someone other than me comes into the room. She's okay with Jacob but doesn't like Jesse, Michael or Sam yet.

I'm sure that will get better but it's still hard to have another baby around. Diapers, bottles, baby food, getting into stuff.

But nothing that I can't handle for awhile.

I do have to say.

She IS a cutie.

And even better.

She's a SHE!! :)

Warning: I think this is the longest post I've ever posted!

2011-10-26T13:02:00.018-06:00

I know you've been dying with anticipation to see what I did in Boulder, UT last weekend...

WHAT!?

You haven't!?

Oh well.

First of all...

The drive was really nice. I had a hard time deciding on whether to leave Thursday night or Friday morning. I'm glad I picked day-time because the drive was gorgeous.

Even The Little Guy's grouchiness did

n't ruin the lovely drive. :)

You want to know one thing that I LOVE.

The view down the little dirt road to my Grandma's house looked the same Friday as it did twenty-whatever years ago.

The little park near my Grandma's house has changed a little but not much and I LOVED watching my kids play on the same things that I played on when I was a kid and have just as much fun as I remember having.

Juan got a little crazy with the merry-go-round-pushing but it was good entertainment for the people who weren't actually on the merry-go-round.

This one...

Rachel's head fell back and she literally couldn't bring it back.

SO Funny!

For me. :)

Jesse was alone on the merry-go-round here and when it started going fast he started to yell...

"Be a MAN Jesse! Come on! Be a MAN!!"

Lots of fun.

Until Rachel got sick and the merry-go-round fun was over.

Of course.

We never get through any activity without at least one stop at time-out.

Or mom making kids pose for pictures.

Michael looks super excited about my interrupting his fun to pose.

Friday night Rachel, Juan and I went for a little walky-walk and took a couple sunset pictures.

One thing I can always count on at my grandma's house is food like this.

Homemade, Home grown, and yummy.

Michael FINALLY lost his other front tooth. I've been working on it for two weeks. I kept feeling like it was ready but the front felt 'stuck'. I finally just yanked it out to find the reason. I super long 'root' in the front.

All good now though.

At grandma's house... We always play games for a few hours every night.

Spencer tried to teach Michael and Jesse how to play chess. I had to laugh. It was a lot of fun to watch. I think Michael sort of caught on but Jesse...

Not so much.

Saturday we discovered that my Grandma had an apple tree that was loaded with apples and she wouldn't be able to use all of them.

Spencer and I (and my boys) were good grand kids and relieved her of quite a few of them.

Saturday afternoon, we 'big kids' ditched our 'little kids' with my mom and went for a little hike.

Jacob threw a fit as I was walking out and I decided not to leave my mom with him and his tantrum and I ended up taking him.

Oops. An unfortunate encounter with a cactus.

But who cares about that.

Look how cute my fingernails are!

See that squirrel running away from Jacob?

He's a smart squirrel.

We stopped at a couple of lookouts and spent some time playing with my camera.

When we got back, my mom was relaxing with Baby Girl so I don't think she minded being left home with the kiddos.

We left Grandma's house after church on Sunday.

It was another nice driving day.

Especially because I'm getting super smart.

Right before we left I fed the boys lunch and we left at naptime after a long weekend of late bed times and lots of playing.

Guess what all that equals.

You got it.

Kids that sleep almost the whole way home!

That meant lots of time for me to sit back and enjoy blue skies, an open road, a few conference talks, my favorite-music playlist on my ipod and lots of time to think.

I seriously love road-tripping. Which is funny because what I just described is a description for torture to Sam.

But for me, I had about three hours of calm and peacefulness.

It was super good for my soul.

A few things that I thought about while I drove.

I love that my boys have the opportunity to experience alot of the same things that I loved about my Grandma's house when I was a little girl.

I love the reminder that having fun doesn't have to cost any money! The only money I spent in Boulder was for a few ice cream bars at t

he gas station I used to buy tootsie-pops at when I was 10. (It looks exactly the same as it did when I was 10. The only difference is that my Grandma retired from working at it last Spring.)

I love the amazing example that my Grandma is of faith and...

Well alot of things. Maybe a list of things that I admire would easiest.

She's a mother of seven.

She became a widow in her forties.

I love that when she talks about my grandpa she says: "Your Grandfather" It's sounds so respectful of him.

She's always planted and taken care of an enormous garden every summer.

She mows her own lawn.

Her pantry/cellar is full of homegrown garden stuff that she has bottled and preserved.

She cooks yum-food.

She makes amazing quilts.

She's 80 and has more energy than I do. :) (Side note: I know Grandma is 80 and I guess I assume that she hears like an 80-year-old. Not so. We can be whispering in the living room and she can hear us from the kitchen. Gotta remember that when we feel tempted to say mean things about her mean dog... :)

She isn't concerned about wearing mismatched socks and a well-worn shirt on Saturday but Sunday... For church I've always seen her with pretty curled hair, a nice dress, lipstick and pearls.

The way she lives shows me that she believes in God and has faith and trusts that He is in control of her life and knows what's best for her.

I know my Grandma has alot of people around her that help her with alot of things but I'm certain that if they weren't there, she would figure out a way to do what needed done.

A few years ago we were visiting and it was cold and my mom and uncle were trying to explain to my Grandma that she wasn't using her wood-stove (her only source of heat) correctly. After several minutes of both of them giving her instruction, she said...

A bit sarcastically.

"My goodness. I don't know how I've managed to not freeze these past 30 years of building my own fires."

I laughed a little because: The correct way to use a wood stove is to keep someone from freezing. She's 80 and hasn't frozen so it seems to me that she's using her stove 'correctly'. :)

Alright.

That's all I can think of.

I got home just in time to make it to a baptism that I had to give 'the holy ghost talk' at. Which... My Grandma doesn't have internet or even a computer so I had to prepare it with...

Get this.

Actual books and church magazines... Not the lds.org online ones!

Crazy!

I know!

The day (and I guess this post) ended with this.

Nice.

Whoopsie

2011-10-26T08:33:00.006-06:00

I discovered pictures from back in July on the camera that I carry in my purse...

They're mostly from the week that I spent in Idaho.

This is 24th of July (Pioneer Day) play that my brother was in. Marc is the third one on the top.

This is my car loaded with happy campers, ready for all the fun I promised in Yellowstone.

This is about where the happy campers started to lose hope in a fun, exciting camping experience.

I sorta want to pretend like these are Sarah's real glasses...

I won't though.

She forgot hers and these were left in my car by someone.

Marc maybe.

I laughed hard that she had to wear them. :)

This is Brigham as soon as we got home from picking him up from the airport.

Remember I told you about how we floated the canal with ICE WATER in it?

These are from that.

Good times.

When we all got back to our trucks, Joseph and Spencer decided that Emily had to be sacrificed since it was her brilliant idea to float the canal in the first place.

(Can you see how Joseph's skin is red from the hour we spent in the cold water?)

The next three pictures are just interesting things at random times in Grand Junction...

Boulder

2011-10-24T13:23:00.004-06:00

I got to spend the weekend at my Grandma's house in Boulder, UT and just as I expected...

It was a great weekend.

I have LOTS to say and LOTS of pictures to post but I don't have LOTS of time so you'll have to wait.

Okay. Maybe I'll share one picture.

Family field trip

2011-10-18T08:22:00.006-06:00

Sunday was a lovely day.

The primary program that I have been working on and worrying about happened, went well and best of all...

Is OVER for another year.

*big sigh*

After church we let Jacob have a little nap and then we took a drive up to Lands End with John, Larissa and Hunter. (Larissa's son.)

It was a PERFECT fall day. It was cool. It was colorful. It smelled like fall.

Have I ever told you how much I LOVE fall!

Alright.

Enough of the chit-chat.

Here's the pictures.

Field trip #2

2011-10-17T20:45:00.004-06:00

Jacob had his first field trip ever last week.

Does it look familiar?

That's because it's the same pumpkin patch that Jesse went to on Monday.

Our preschool kiddos had alot of fun picking pumpkins, visiting the animals and jumping on the...

Bouncy thing.

They did not have fun when we tried to make them all pose for a picture with the pumpkins.

Ehh.

It was a long shot anyway.

Trying to get four 3-yr-olds to cooperate at the same time.

Field trip

2011-10-17T20:38:00.002-06:00

Jesse had his first-ever school field trip last Monday.

He was SO excited about it.

AND...

Since I'm down to just one kid during the day, I was able to volunteer to go and I honestly enjoyed it. It was alot of fun to see Jesse interact with his classmates and get a little peek at 'who' he is when I'm not around.

I realized that the bossy/in charge thing that he does at home that drives me crazy could actually turn out to be a valuable thing for him.

He seemed to be a leader in his class the kids seemed to like him and want to do whatever he did.

Now...

If he can learn how to use that without being bossy, it will be a great thing!

These are a few pictures I took of Jesse and two of his 'best friends', Steven and Tode. (pronounced Toddy)

Old?

2011-10-12T17:21:00.003-06:00

Something has happened.

Something strange.

Grand Junction has a college so the restaurants and stores have lots of college kids working in them...

I noticed this strange thing awhile ago and thought maybe it was a one-time type of thing but I've been paying closer attention and it's not a one-time thing.

The college kids... They call me 'ma'am'.

And in this post...

I call the college kids, 'kids'...

Am I old?

Do college 'kids' think I'm a grown-up?

CA or bust

2011-10-09T14:44:00.002-06:00

Sam's parents have been talking about moving to California for a long time so I'm not sure why I was so surprised when they actually sold their house and gave us a moving date.

Maybe because they have been talking about it for so long. :)

Anyway.

Friday we drove to Vernal to help them pack up their moving van and 'relieve' them of a few of the things that they didn't want to take with them...

The two biggest things: Their food storage and their washer and dryer. We sold our W/D last year because our house already had a set but when we moved, our new house didn't have them. I actually had to do laundry at the laundry mat last week and it only took about 4 minutes for me to remember how much fun that is. (Does sarcasm translate correctly if you don't actually hear me speaking?)

Actually.

I don't think I fully expressed to MIL and FIL how grateful I was so...

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! :)

I actually enjoyed doing the MOUNTAIN of laundry that was waiting for me on Saturday! (Of course. Sam folded it all. :)

Also while we were in Vernal, we got to meet the newest members of the Taylor family. Actually. I've already 'met' Crew (David and Marcy's baby) but he's gotten so big since I last saw him. Not to mention CUTE!

AND...

Sam's baby brother has a baby!

Andy is a daddy.

Kinda makes me feel old.
I'm so frustrated with myself that I didn't think to have Jessica (Andy's girlfriend) look at me in this picture.

Guess I was just thinking about how sweet sleeping Jaylynn was.

So. That's that.

Les and Janet left a snowy, cold Vernal on Saturday morning.

I would be sad...

But then I think about the fact that in order to visit them we will HAVE to go to California and I don't feel so bad anymore.

I'm thinking we plan a visit in about four months.

California in February?

Yes please!

Jacob van Gogh

2011-10-04T14:51:00.002-06:00

Jacob is finally learning to enjoy his alone-time while the big boys are at school.

Aspen

2011-10-02T14:04:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we took a little day-trip to Apsen, CO.

We mainly went to check out the fall colors.

But we checked out a few other things while we were there.

Like:

Cool buildings.

Fake Buffalo.

A Farmers Market.

The John Denver Memorial.

We did alot of walking on streets like this.

And pathways like this.

We stopped often to check out cool stuff or throw sticks in the water.

And, of course...

I convinced the boys to 'pose' for me a few times.

I thought about trying to Photoshop their Gatorade mustaches off, but...

I don't want to.

Plus.

I want to remember this day how it really was.

Messy boys and all.

I don't know WHY Jesse insists on smiling with his mouth shut! :)

Michael is still trying to figure out how to smile without a front tooth...

He didn't figure it out...

So I told him that we would just do some 'cool' pictures.

We played at a park for a few minutes.

Had a picnic at a park.

I told Sam that he always looks like he hates me in pictures.

He told me "That just how I look!"

Goal: Get a picture of Sam NOT looking like he hates me.

Does this picture make anyone else laugh?

AHAHAHA!

Anyway.

I had fun and I think ALL my boys did too.

All I want for Christmas...

2011-10-02T14:02:00.000-06:00

Michael had a super loose tooth and when I realized HOW loose I got a little frustrated with him for not telling me about it because the new one is already starting to come in under it.

Anyway.

He didn't tell me because he was scared about me pulling it out.

After I did pull it, he said... "Oh. THAT didn't hurt!"

I think he looks really cute and at the same time, really goofy without a front tooth. :)

The other front tooth is a little loose too, so I'm sure it will be coming out in a few days.

Baby Girl

2011-10-02T14:00:00.003-06:00

Spencer and Jessica came over last Sunday...

and while they were here, I stole Baby Girl and took some pictures of her.

Ehh.

I'm learning that I kinda suck at Baby Photography.

I just can't seem to figure out what angles, camera settings and editing work best. It's kinda driving me crazy because I think Baby Girl is stinkin' cute and I can't seem to capture in my camera what I see when I look at her.

Soccer

2011-10-02T13:56:00.003-06:00

I signed Jesse up for fall soccer and I think that he is really liking it.

And... He's pretty good which makes it fun for me to watch him.

Plus...

He's SO cute!

A story

2011-09-28T14:38:00.004-06:00

Once upon a time...

I had two little boys. They were super sweet. Polite. Obedient. The Hubby and I would take our little family to restaurants and sweet old couples would compliment us on our 'well behaved children'. I would be at the store with my 'well behaved children' and notice a mom with a crazy out-of-control brat... I mean... child and think to myself... "Sheesh Lady! Get control of your child. You're the mom. Act like it!"

Then.

Baby Boy came into the picture.

And I am suddenly the mom in the store with the out-of-control braaa... uh... Child.

The tantrum on the ground.

The screaming and yelling.

The hitting.

The mom dragging the kid across the parking lot while he screams and everyone watches.

Alright.

This may all be a little funny but now I'm going to get to the serious stuff for minute.

Jacob has a communication problem.

I've known that there was something wrong since he was 18 months old. I just haven't wanted to deal with it. It was easier for me to agree with everyone that kept telling me that some kids just start talking later and that he would eventually (seemingly over night) start talking just fine!

I'm still not consumed with concern. I know that Jacob WILL eventually start talking. However it's time to start dealing with the fact that he can't talk right now and that's causing lots of other issues.

Here's where we are:

Jacob has become aware that people, even people his age, are able to communicate with each other in a way that he can't.
Jacob is a stubborn, determined little boy that knows what he wants and what he doesn't want and his frustration with the fact that the people around him can't understand what those things are is making him and everyone around him frustrated!
Jacob shows his frustration by biting, hitting, kicking, screaming and crying.
The fact that I know how hard Jacob can be to 'deal with' sometimes makes me hesitant to involve him in social situations. (Church nursery, preschool, gym daycare, play dates without me, having babysitters, etc.)

Some friends told me about a speech program that is offered through the school district so this morning I went down and filled out some paper work. While I was filling it out, a counselor, who was just walking by, stopped because she was smitten with Jacob. She thought he was super cute.

Because he is! ;)

Anyway.

She asked him what his name was and a few questions and I knew immediately that she recognized that he wasn't responding like a typical 3-year-old. I hadn't even told her why we were there yet but once I did, the agreement on her face suddenly validated all of my concerns for the last year and a half in a way that both made me feel relieved AND really upset.

Like I said before. I know that Jacob will eventually be able to talk but at the moment it upsets me because I know that opportunities that he should be having right now are unavailable to him because he can't communicate!

I was thinking about all of this last night and I remembered how I felt last year on my trip to Mexico. To be in a place where everyone around me was speaking a different language was intimidating and at times, frustrating. And even then... I was still able to communicate with my sisters and I knew that my BIL was there to translate for us. I can't imagine if I had been there alone without a translator.

I imagine that that's kind of like the world that Jacob is living in right now and it seriously breaks my heart!

At least I've got a direction to go in now... We'll see how his speech evaluation goes. If nothing else, hopefully the therapist can give me some help on what I can do to help Jacob be less frustrated.

Jacob less frustrated = ME less frustrated.

And that's a win-win situation for EVERYONE.

Ever heard the saying "If momma ain't happy, ain't NOBODY happy!"

I'll let you know if we 'live happily ever after'. Actually. You can just keep stalking my blog and find out for yourself. :)

Fallen of the workout wagon.

2011-09-27T12:39:00.004-06:00

For most of my life, I've been comfortable saying that I'm a person that works-out on a fairly regular basis.

Looking back at the last few months... cough-cough... Most of this year... I can't really say that 'I work out'.

The only time that I can really fit in a work out is before Sam leaves for work at 7am. That's means I need to be at the gym no later than 6am in order to get a good work out.

Here's my problem.

I've have NO motivation to get my fat butt outta bed in the mornings. It's not even that I can't do it or am too tired when the alarm goes off. I do hear the alarm and every morning I make the clear, deliberate decision to NOT get up.

This has caused a couple of problems.

1. I think I'm a little more grouchy and impatient with my family when I'm not working out.

2. I've gained a few pounds.

3. I'm noticing that some things are getting a little bit harder for me when it comes to bending, lifting, twisting, etc. This could be age too. :)

I REALLY want to start working out again! Or maybe I should say: I really want my used-to-have motivation to work out again! I've never thought working-out was fun, but I still always felt like I wanted to do it. I don't feel that anymore.

I think if I could get started again, the desire might come back.

I just have to get started!

Does ANYONE have any ideas?

A contest?

A bet?

A motivation mantra?

A reward?

A plan?

ANYTHING that has worked for you? Or friend of yours? Or a friend of a friend?

#13

2011-09-25T21:46:00.002-06:00

Thirteen years ago, I made the smartest decision I've ever made and married this guy in this temple.

1st NEWBORN shoot

2011-09-22T20:57:00.007-06:00

Jessica came over this morning and I TRIED to get some sweet newborn pictures of Baby Girl.

I say TRIED because after FIVE hours I ended up with only about FIVE pictures that I actually like.

Jocelyn was just so fussy and unhappy but Jessica and I were sure that she would eventually give in and just go to sleep.

Didn't happen.

She's a stubborn one. (imagine my evil laugh at what I know Spencer is in for with his little princess!)

It's really been bugging me how unsuccessful I was with the photo shoot so I spent the afternoon watching YouTube videos and I think my biggest mistake was not finding my space heater to make the room nice and cozy.

There were other mistakes but that was my BIGGEST.

Now if we can get Baby Girl to stay teeny-tiny for awhile... I could try again?

I did get a couple.

I couldn't decide whether I liked this in BW or color better.

This is one of ONLY three pictures that I got of Baby Girl sorta-asleep.Little stinker!It wasn't a totally wasted day.

It was really good practice for me and in one 5 hour shoot I probably learned more that I could have from 5 months of reading about newborn photo shoots.

Also, it gave me lots of time to chat with Jessica. I definitely don't do that enough so...

I take it all back.

Today's photo shoot was actually really GOOD!

Pictures

2011-09-22T20:44:00.006-06:00

These are a few pictures that I have taken over the last week or so for the photography class that I am taking right now.

First...

You have NO idea how hard it is for me to post THIS picture.
This next group of pictures...

After I got done, Jacob ran away and a few minutes came back with his Tiger and blankie and told me to take pictures of HIS baby.

Happy Birthday BABY!

2011-09-19T13:27:00.010-06:00

Sam's birthday was on Saturday.

For his 'real' birthday fun, he went golfing in SLC for two days and this week he'll be gone most of the week on a hunting trip.

I don't get it but it's what he wants.

Sunday we had a little party for him.

The missionaries were over for dinner so they got to participate in the fun, along with Spencer, Jessica, New Baby Girl, John, Larissa, (Johns girlfriend) and Hunter (Larissa's son).

Funny story:

We're at a friends house for dinner and to watch the BYU/UT game and I decide to be obnoxious and announce that it's Sam's Birthday.

Of course they all wanted to know how old he was and Sam kept telling them that he was 36...

Born in 1975.

I decided not to argue the point in front of everyone but when we got home I told him that he was born in 1976 and was just turning 35!

He was super surprised since he's been telling everyone all year that he WAS 35.

So. On his cake I made this little sign so that we and when I say we, I mean HE would know how old he is. :)

I think that Sam feels like the whole birthday thing is a little bit...

Stupid.

But like most of the silly things we do, we do it for the kids because they LOVE silly things.

Sam's a good daddy and knows that and makes sure to make it fun for them.

When it was time to blow out his cake candles, he pretended like he couldn't so that Jacob could help him...

Which...

Actually turned out to be a bad plan because in the process of blowing out the candles, the cake got a little shower and everyone got birthday cake with a little of Jacobs spit.Check out Larissa and Hunter in the background.

They're admiring Baby Girl which is what I got to do all morning. I went over to Jessica's house to hold Baby for a couple of hours.

I told Jessica as I was leaving that I was going to have to come over every day to get my baby-fix. Jessica laughed and agreed to be my 'dealer'.

I think she still thinks I was joking. :)
Jesse is telling Sam how AWESOME this next present is...A tackle box!

I'm sure Jesse thought it was awesome because he loves it when Sam takes him fishing and a new tackle box MUST mean more fishing trips!

Happy Birthday BABY.

I'm SO glad that I'm not married to a 36-year-old yet! :)

DONE!

2011-09-18T14:58:00.002-06:00

Sam was gone most of the weekend for a golf-thing in Salt Lake. I decided to use the opportunity to lock the kids outside and get all the unpacking done.

I needed a bookcase for the space I'm using for my office and I couldn't find one that I wanted or that I thought would work for me so...

I borrowed my brothers tools and built me one.

And while I was at it.

I built a desk that would fit perfectly in the spot I wanted it to fit.

Dear Santa,

I know it's a little early for what I want, but I'm thinking maybe some POWER tools!

Love, Krista

I finished "mission unpack and organize" at about 2am Saturday MORNING. Then I used Saturday to clean and bake and make our new home feel like our home.

It worked.

I feel so relaxed today!

Wanna see the outside?

Notice the big garage and then the extra garage that Sam's truck is parked in front of...

LOVE the extra room in the garage.

LOVE the extra room in the house.

LOVE the extra room in the yard...

And so do the kids.

And Lexie.

I thought about taking pictures of the entire inside of the house but that's a little weird.

Right?

Meet my brand new niece!

2011-09-17T22:23:00.011-06:00

Jessica's parents came to visit last week and since they live in Oklahoma and Baby Girl is their first Grand baby, Spencer and Jessica had her blessed on Sunday.

After church Spencer brought his people over to my house and we took a few pictures.

I think that this one is funny...

It's what new parents and grandparents do when Baby Girl makes a little fuss.

Jessica's mom was sweet with Jesse and made sure that he got to hold Baby Girl for a second.

(I wouldn't let Michael get near her because he had some crazy flu all week. Complete with sore throat and fever.)

I think that he liked her.

Who wouldn't?!

She's so teeny-tiny and cute!

Jealous Mom?

;)

I'm baaak!

2011-09-15T19:26:00.004-06:00

YAY!

We finally have internet again!

Did you know that there is alot that you can't do when you don't have internet.

Not even waste-your-time stuff but real stuff that I HAVE to do.

I'm not going to stress myself out with expectations to catch up this blog. I will give the highlights though. (Without pictures. Sorry.)

My SIL had her baby a couple of weeks ago. The same day that we moved, actually.

I told Spencer it was a pathetic excuse to get out of helping us move.

Sheesh.

'It' was a girl. They named her Josslyn... I think I spelled that right.

Rachel came for a visit the same weekend that the baby was born. We decided to ditch the moving party and go to the hospital to do some lovin' on the sweet new baby.

But first we stopped at the store for some baloons...

As I'm paying for them, the cashier says...

"A girl huh! Granddaughter?"

I froze where I was and looked at him.

"No... Niece. My brothers daughter."

"Oh! So your GREAT-niece?"

"No... Just my NIECE!"

Seriously! Am I starting to look THAT old? How did I go from the cashier making me prove that I was at least 16 to rent a video (I was 23) to having the cashier think that I'm old enough to have Grand/Great anythings!

Oh course, Rachel got a good laugh.

I'm sure it was her fault in the first place. We had Jacob with us and I'm sure the cashier-guy thought Jacob was Rachel's kid and I must have been her mom.

I'm never going anywhere with Rachel again.

Actually.

It just hit me.

I've have this problem my whole life.

When I would run errands for my mom with Rachel (I was 16-ish and Rachel was 3-ish) I would try to work it into the conversation with the cashier that she was my sister, not my kid.

Let's move on, shall we?

Tonight at the dinner table:

Jesse: Mom? Are we going to have anymore kids?

Me: Um... Probably not.

Jesse: Hmmm. (Disappointed)

Me: Why?

Jesse: Oh I was just hoping to have more brothers.

Me: BROTHERS? You want MORE brothers?

Michael: Ya! Me too. I want more brothers and maybe SOME sisters.

So let's sum up.

I'm a Grandma that needs to have more babies.

Smart fish

2011-09-09T19:58:00.005-06:00

"Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming!"

This is my personal mantra for the last two weeks...

And probably the next two weeks.

Wanna hear the complaining and whining or want me to skip over it?

It goes a little like this:

Packing, moving, packing, church responsibilities, packing, me sickity-sick-sick last weekend and still not fully over it, school, Michael sickity-sick with a high fever, moving, cleaning, blah, blah, blah.

At this very moment I'm at our 'old' house. (Which we have for this entire month because of a misunderstanding with our landlord and apparently when there are misunderstandings with your landlord, the tenant it always wrong) I'm using the Internet to prepare my sharing time lesson for primary because the Internet won't be hooked up at our new house until next week. I'm also doing laundry because we don't have a washer and dryer at our new house yet.

Anyway.

I think I was going somewhere with this story...

Right.

I called my brother, Spencer, to let him know that he would be helping my with my sharing time thing on Sunday since he is a returned missionary and I need one of those. We were chatting about some other things and I mentioned that I was at my old house doing a few things when he started laughing.

"Wait. So... It's hard to keep all your houses straight. You've got so many of them these days."

He's right.

At this very moment we have THREE houses that we are responsible for and worrying about! It's exhausting!

Goal: ONE house.

The Talk: Part 2

2011-09-01T13:24:00.005-06:00

Remember when I told you about Michael knowing more about sex than I thought he did? Well, I've wanted to...

No. I take that back.

I've known that I NEEDED to have a more detailed conversation with him but I've been putting it off.

With school starting, I decided to just get it over with.

I thought maybe Sam should do it but he didn't seem to want any part of it. That's okay because I kept the talk pretty vague. I figure when it's time for even more details... It will be Sam's turn.

So basically. This is how it went. And the only reason I post this stuff is because talking to kids about sex is not something I've heard alot about and I was totally lost on where to start so maybe this will help someone. :)

I got my ideas from my friend, Megan, who has a son about the same age as Michael and she has already done 'the talk'.

I basically asked Michael to tell me what he thought sex was and again, he had a pretty good idea. I decided that what he knows is enough for now so I left it at that but then I explained to him what our beliefs are about sex. It's something special between a MAN and a WOMAN and that it's something that is saved for after we get married and then... As per Megan's suggestion, I told him that it is for making babies. Then I told him that sex isn't something to laugh and talk about with his friends at school but if he ever does hear something, he could come ask me or his dad and we would tell him if what he heard was right or not. And if he thought of any questions, he could ask us.

It actually wasn't too uncomfortable of a talk until...

Yesterday when he thought of a question.

"Mom. Sex is for making babies? So. You and dad never had sex?"

Crap.

I think that Megan's approach might be a little flawed for our 'situation'... :)

Oh... And since I KNOW you all want to know. I told him the truth.

That we have never had sex.

Okay I didn't say that.

I told him we tried to have babies but that God must have wanted us to have a family by adoption and have him, Jesse and Jacob be part of our family because I wasn't ever able to get pregnant.

He didn't have any more questions after that. Well... Not that he asked out loud. I could see the questions bouncing around in his head.

I'm scared for when he decides to ask them. :)

Personality traits

2011-09-01T12:47:00.004-06:00

I'm busy today but I'm forcing myself to sit on my big, fat, SORE backside for an hour while The Little Guy naps.

(It's sore because I recently discovered that over the summer, I somehow gained close to 15 pounds! It's okay though because seeing the highest number I've ever seen on my scale, motivated me to get back to the gym... No pain, no gain... Wait. Shouldn't it be LOSS? That's what I'm hoping for.)

Anyway.

A few things I wanted to record.

I've had these little men living in my house for awhile now and I was recently thinking about a few of their 'habits'...

These particular habits are ones that I have found to REALLY annoy me. I'm sure I have habits that annoy them but they don't have a blog so you don't get to hear about those.

Sorry.

I'll start with Michael.

He laughs.

When things AREN'T funny.

When he's in trouble or nervous. It's the reason I got the call from his Principal last year.

It usually goes down like this:

He does something naughty. I find out about it. I begin the mom-lecture about the 'naughty' he committed... He starts to laugh at me. I get frustrated. He laughs more. I get mad. He laughs harder. I get furious.... He cries.

We're both working on how to handle this habit...

Now for Jesse.

I've mentioned it before but the older he gets, the more obvious this 'thing' is.

The kid is "Rain Man!"

He has patterns he likes to follow. He hates surprises. He always wants to know exactly what's going on. He NEEDS to know 'the schedule' at all times.

This move has made this personality thing all the more obvious. The house is in disarray and Jesse knows why but he is constantly telling me exactly what is going to happen ("We're packing today and tomorrow, bringing all our stuff to our new house Saturday, putting it all away... etc.) and even then, I can tell that he is a little uneasy by the chaos.

He does this with everything. Every morning he wakes up and tells me the schedule for the rest of the week...

I'm constantly telling him... "Jesse! Don't worry about it! Just worry about what we are doing RIGHT NOW. RELAX and have fun!"

One more thing about Jesse. This actually is how Michael is too but I learned that about him two years ago.

I have to PRY information out of Jesse about his day at school.

This is how our conversation went while we were walking home from his bus...

Me: How was your day?

Jesse: Good.

Me: What did you do?

Jesse: Just some stuff.

Me: What kind of stuff.

Jesse: Colored a pictures.

Me: That's all you did all day?

Jesse: No.

Me: Well. What else did you do?

Jesse: Just some other stuff.

Me: What 'other' stuff.

Jesse: Just 'school' stuff.

The conversation continued like this until we got home and Jesse said... "Mom! I don't know. I don't feel like telling you EVERYTHING!"

However... When it's the other way around, Jesse wants all the details. He always wants to know everything that Jacob and I did while he was gone.

Now don't go thinking that since I'm not mentioning Jacobs habits, he doesn't have some doozies!

In fact, I think his might deserve their own post!

Later though.

I guess what I'm saying is that it's interesting to watch my babies turn into people. :)

We interrupt this busy week for some pictures of my cute kids!

2011-08-31T17:34:00.006-06:00

It's one of THOSE weeks...You should see my calendar. It looks like a pen threw up on it.

I won't bore you with the busy details of my life because I realize that it is just life. I'm sure that I'm not the first, last or only woman that feels like maybe I CAN'T be super-mom.

I'll just tell you the fun stuff for this week.

The boys are still loving school.

Jesse had a kindergarten assessment on Monday and just like I knew, he is super-duper smart for his age. :)

It's because of his elephant-brain. The kid never forgets ANYTHING!

It's sometimes annoying.

Jacob started Preschool on Tuesday.

It's the same deal-eo as I've done with both M & J.

A group of moms.

Rotating having it at our house and all following the same preschool book.

Could he be any cuter?!

Um. No. He could NOT.

Notice the boots?I got them out of Jesse's hand-me-down stuff and they're a little big but after I let Jacob try them on...

I haven't been able to convince him to NOT wear them.

He's adamant about wearing them everywhere and there are just some fights that aren't worth fighting. :)

Other hi-lites for the week.

Wait...

It is elephants that never forget, right?

Anyway.

We get the keys to our new and improved but most important, BIGGER house tomorrow. I think we'll move this weekend so that I have all next week to clean and fix kid-damage in our current house.

Also.

I am loving my photography class! I've already got a notebook half-full of notes. Too bad the class just happens to be happening during chaos-month. It's alot more time-consuming than I had thought it would be but I'm glad about that because I feel like I'm getting my "money's-worth!"

That's it except for two more pictures that I grabbed of Jacob this afternoon while we were enjoying a snow-cone break.

Assignment #3

2011-08-28T21:54:00.005-06:00

My next assignment for the photography class that I am taking is due tomorrow...

I've been thinking about how I wanted to do it all week and finally decided to just take Michael and figure it out as we went...

The assignment was to get pictures that showed:

Perspective

Rule-of-Thirds

and

Finding your subject using texture, lines, frames, etc.

(We didn't have to show all of those thing in ONE photo.)

Is anyone else annoyed by how big Michael is getting?!

No?

Just me?

Okay.

Carry on.

School is hard work

2011-08-27T12:44:00.004-06:00

Jesse gets home from school at about 12:30pm. I have lunch waiting for him and then right after, Jacob takes a nap and Jesse had 'quiet time'.

He can read a book, color, play a quiet game, etc.

However...

This is what he has ended up doing during quiet time every day this week...

Before and after and after

2011-08-24T12:51:00.003-06:00

I can't ever decide what I like best...

So maybe ya'll can help me out.

The first picture is a SOOC image. (Straight out of my camera. NO edits.)

2nd picture is a few minor tweaks in LR that took just a few seconds.

The 3rd is photo shopped... Obviously. Not major changes but a few adjustments here and there. It didn't take a ton of time but definitely more time than the other two.

What I want to know is:

Is the end result worth it?

Sometimes I feel like I prefer the more natural LR one (not the SOOC one) that doesn't look like I've done a bunch of photo shopping on.

But maybe I'm just trying to convince myself of that because it's less work for me. :)

1st Day of School

2011-08-24T09:26:00.005-06:00

Michael AND Jesse started school today.

Michael is in 2nd grade and Jesse is in Kindergarten.

They have both been looking forward to today for quite sometime.

I got them up this morning and we had breakfast and then they picked out their 'coolest' new

clothes.

The Little Guy had a few little meltdowns about the fact that all I had for him were his boring old clothes and no new shoes.

I think next year I'll get him a new outfit just so that I don't have to deal with the tantrum. He kept throwing his shorts at me and yelling... "No! No like!"

A similar scene played out when he didn't have a cool new backpack to put on.

I decided to take the boys to school today but normally they will ride the bus together in the morning. Jesse will get home before lunch and Michael will be home around 4pm.

When we got to the school this morning, Michael seemed relaxed and happy to be back to school.

Jesse...

Maybe not so much. :)

As soon as we got to the school he got really quiet. I was standing with him, waiting for the bell to ring when:

Me: You okay bud?

Jesse: Hmm. My throat feels kind of funny.

Me: Why?

Jesse: I think I feel like I'm going to start crying and I don't want to.

Me: Why do you feel like you are going to cry?

Jesse: I don't want you to leave me here by myself.

OH-MY-GOODNESS!

I died a little inside and I thought seriously about grabbing my baby boy and taking him back home and forgetting about all this silly school business!

I didn't though.

The bell rang just then and we went to his new classroom. As soon as he saw his friend from church he went right in and hung up his backpack...

I'm so anxious for him to get home so I can hear how his first day went!

Photoshoot!

2011-08-23T19:50:00.010-06:00

Guess what I convinced my sisters to do for me while they were here?

I'm taking a photography class right now and they GOT to help me with my assignment...

There is ONE little problem with having my sisters help me.

I end up with lots of pictures like this...

And this...

You see.

When you know someone really well, you know things about them like:

We are all really big dorks.

And there is nothing funnier than watching someone who you know to be goofy, try and be cool and sexy-model-like.

It always ends like this...

Weekend fun

2011-08-23T19:38:00.004-06:00

My sisters, Emily and Rachel, came for a visit this weekend.

They got here Friday night.

Saturday afternoon we spent at the lake, enjoying the last of summer vacation. It was nice to get a little sun...

But even nicer to play in the water since it was a super hot day.

Hey! Emily and I have the same 'dance face'. :)

Mostly it was fun to just hang out.

I've got to figure out a way to get a few of my sisters moved to Grand Jct.!

My only idea is to get them married to a Grand Junction boy...

Anyone have any ideas for me?

Saturday night we stayed up late watching movies, painting our nails and eating unhealthy food. The next morning while I was sitting in church I had to laugh at myself a little...

I must be getting old because getting up early and sitting through church after a late night and bad eating was physically painful!

Totally worth it though.

I think.

#3

2011-08-23T17:06:00.007-06:00

My baby turned 3 on Sunday and really isn't much of a baby anymore.

In fact... He thinks he's old enough to be able to make any and all important decisions that come up in his life.

We disagree a little on those but we're working it. ;)

We had a little birthday party with our family peeps on Sunday.

While everyone in my house was doing this after church...

I was whipping up this...

Later that afternoon, Spencer, Jessica, John and Joseph came over for dinner and birthday cake.

Of course, Jacob loved all the attention.

And the gifts were a hit too.

At three Jacob is energetic. I know people say that about most three year olds but I REALLY mean it.

I wish I could figure out how to bottle some of his extra energy and use it for myself.

Jacob has no problem showing us what he is feeling.

If he is happy, we know it.

If he's sad, we know it.

If he's mad, we know it.

If he's frustrated, we know it.

He loves to play outside. He loves to play with his big brothers.

He is the loudest kid I've ever known.

And...

He's stubborn. If Jacob doesn't want to do something, there is no forcing, convincing or bribing him to do it.

It's something that has really challenged me during the three years that this crazy little boy has been a part of our family.

Last of all... Jacob can make us all laugh. He has the funniest faces and reactions to things. He does the silliest things and even when I'm frustrated with him he can do something that instantly turns my frustration to laughter.

I think we're in for a wild ride with this one but, holy-moly... We sure do love him!

Ready for school!

2011-08-19T22:10:00.005-06:00

I did ALL of the back-to-school-shopping today.

I took the boys at about 4pm and just got home a few minutes ago.

I know!

I was one of THOSE moms that was walking around Walmart with kids that should be in bed!

I can admit it. I judge those moms.

We started at Kohl's for the clothes. Then Taco Bell for a gross, unhealthy, but cheap dinner. Then Walmart for the supplies.

Pencils.

Crayons.

Paper.

You get the picture.

Here is the realization that I came to while I was standing at the checkout in Kohl's.

Back to school shopping...

WAAAY more fun when the stuff was for me and my mom was the one doing the paying.

Sometimes I hate being a grown-up.

P.S. Mom(s), The house is just a few blocks from where we are now. We're still renting. We move in on Sept. 1. Pictures to follow later. Love, Krista :)

Playing 'Musical Houses'

2011-08-18T18:20:00.003-06:00

We're moving!!!

Again.

I'm so excited about the bigger house and yard that I'm not even thinking about the fact that I have two weeks to pack my house and move my family.

Shouldn't be too big of a deal.

I don't have that much going on.

Just taking care of kids.

Church stuff. (Primary program quickly approaching!)

School starting. (see last post)

Photography workshop that just started. (1st Assignment due Monday)

Hmmm.

My sisters are coming to visit this weekend. Maybe I'll do the little 'Sarah trick' and when they get here surprise them with the gift of getting to help me pack!

Say whaaat?

2011-08-18T15:54:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I was having a conversation with a friend about how summer has caused routine to go out the window.

You know.

Going to bed late.

Sleeping in.

Not exercising.

Irregular meal times...

Anyway.

She says... "I guess things will have to start going back to normal next week when school starts."

Huh?

I mean. I knew school was starting soon. But. Next week! I guess my brain hadn't put it into those terms yet and suddenly I'm in panic mode!

I haven't taken either of the kids school shopping.

We don't have a single school supply.

I haven't even gotten Jesse current on his immunizations!

I guess my list making, be prepared skills have been on summer vacation too.

I better go find them.

Oh baby!

2011-08-11T10:30:00.004-06:00

My sister-in-law (who lives here) is due to have a baby GIRL this month.

(YAY for more girls in our family!)

I had a baby shower for her last night in hopes of hooking her up with lots of sweet baby stuff. And since I have lots of great friends... I was able to pull it off.

I wanted to bust out my camera way more than I did but I know Jessica is feeling...

Big.

And maybe not totally comfortable with a camera in her face and I'm smart enough to know that what a 9-month-pregnant-lady wants, a 9-month-pregnant-lady gets.

Or I guess in this case, doesn't want.

So.

No pictures.

Except one.

But out of focus.

I don't know what she's talking about.

I think she looks adorable.

Now that the shower is done... Jessica can go ahead and have her baby any time now.

In fact.

Today would work.

Speaking of 'babies'.

I went into Jacob's room the other day and found this on his bed.

He calls this Tiger 'his baby' and I guess 'his baby' was taking a little nap.

Did you know?!?!

2011-08-07T13:04:00.003-06:00

People read my blog?

I checked my site meter thingy and it says alot more people than just my mom is spying on me.

That partly makes me feel good that you (whoever you are) think I'm interesting enough to read about and partly it makes me feel sorry for you.

Because I'm not interesting.

Sorry. :)

You can keep thinking that I am though.

Sam went to Vernal yesterday to hang with his brother...

Am I too old to say 'hang with"?

And go to his nephew's baby blessing today. He took M & J with him. I really wanted to go but the guilt of missing Primary for THREE weeks in a row was too much.

I told my first counselor this today, thinking that she would feel bad and give me props... Am I too old to say 'props'?... for 'taking one for the team' and maybe even tell me that I should have just gone but I guess last week was so crazy that she didn't feel bad at all!

I think her exact words were... "I want to feel bad but... I don't." And then something about how three in a row was unacceptable and two was pushing it. :)

I guess it's nice to feel needed anyway.

Where was I planning to go with this story?

Oh right!

So Sam took the 'big boys' and left The Little Guy with me. I looked at it like it would be an easy-breezy weekend because there would be no one for Jacob to fight with or scream at.

This was true but it also meant that there was no one for him to PLAY with!

Except me.

This is what I heard ALL the live long day!

'Mom! Mommy! Watch! Watch Mommy! Mo-om! Look! Watch! Look! Mommy! Watch! Mommy! Watch! Mommy! Mommy! Mo-om!! LOOK!!"

I'm crossing my fingers that the boys get home today before Jacob wakes up from his nap!

Additions to Idaho

2011-08-04T09:34:00.003-06:00

I was thinking last night that I forgot to add a little story...

The road to Mesa Falls is a little twisty and on our way home I suddenly heard Jacob from the back seat say... "Mommy! I sick."

I think it was Jasmine that turned around and said: "Whoa! He puked!"

I quickly pulled over and the second I stopped, the four adults sitting in the middle seat, bailed out the door to get away from the smell.

Now I'm not very good with vomit and after much dry heaving, Gea started to feel sorry for me and asked to clean it up for me.

Which only made me feel guilty so I pulled myself together and acted like a real mom and cleaned my kids vomit up for the first time in my life. (Sam usually does it.)

See!

Didn't you want hear that story! :)

Also on that drive home, we had 9 people in my car. Including myself.

I looked in my rear view mirror and noticed that the car was full of my immediate family. Brothers, sisters, my kids...

And not a single one of those immediately family members is blood-related to me.

I found it ironic...

Also...

This morning I was looking through my pictures and found this picture ironic.

The house behind Jacob...

Is the house that his birth mom grew up in.

Idaho - Whoops! One more thing!

2011-08-03T22:54:00.006-06:00

Sunday afternoon I convinced Spencer and Jessica let me take pictures of them.

I was a little disappointed because I had a vision of pictures with sunset light and silhouettes but it was overcast. :(

I have to say though. I've been looking through the pictures tonight and there are several that I really LOVE!

Jessica did a great job on the color of her shirt and it doesn't hurt that she's 9 months pregnant and tiny. I'm sure that she feels huge but the pictures that I took of her facing forward... You can barley tell that she has a belly.

Anyway.

Here's a few of my favorites.

Idaho - Wrap up

2011-08-03T22:04:00.009-06:00

Saturday evening a few of Brigham's friends came over and a game of water volleyball started.

I would have played but:

#1 I wanted to take pictures and...

#2 I didn't want to make anyone feel bad about themselves by having to stand next to me in swimsuit.

I'm nice like that.

These are my aunts giving their approval of Emily's new man.

Sarah... Watching the game with her eyes closed.

That takes talent!

That night we hung out. I can't remember what we did.

Sunday we went to church and listened to Brigham talk. That afternoon we ate and visited with friends and family that came to see Brigham.

That night we hung out again and played cards...

The next morning turned out to be a BAD morning to pack up. It rained all morning. All of our stuff was in our tent and it was a pain to pack it all up in the rain!

Somewhere in the middle of packing it all up I got frustrated and may or may not have lost it a little.

I blame it on a combination of stress, sleep deprivation and the fact that even though I had been there for a LONG time, I wasn't feeling quite ready to go home.

WHAT?

Not ready to leave my parents house after a two week visit?

I know!!

I did walk into the living room at some point and saw this and admit that I instantly felt a little better.

Seriously.

Who wouldn't!

Make sure you take the whole situation in...

Remote.

Flashlight.

Uculele.

'Hat'.

Little boy in overalls!

Idaho - Saturday

2011-08-03T21:14:00.010-06:00

(Did I mention that Joseph, Sam, Spencer, Jessica, Emily and Dane (Emily's man) were all here by Friday night?)

We had several ideas for fun on Saturday but the idea that won was to float the canal by Taylor's parents house in Rigby.

It was a great plan except we didn't think to check the weather.

The canal water was ICE cold and right about the time we launched our tubes the weather turned cloudy and a bit chilly for swimming in ice water.

Any part of my body that had to spend more than a few minutes in the water went numb. Luckily I got one of the good tubes and was mostly out of water.

The 'float' took about an hour and even though it was cold, I had alot of fun and I'm glad we went. I even brought Michael with us and he said the he had a good time too.

After that we went back to the house where the little kids were playing on the flooded lawn and in the hot tub.

Two of my aunts and one uncle were visiting and they and my mom had warmed up leftover dutch oven lunch/dinner for us. While we were outside enjoying it, we also enjoyed a show...

First. Brigham brought two hammocks back from Brazil and the first thing he did was rig up these redneck hanging systems.

We all made fun of him while we was doing it but when he was finished they actually worked pretty good and everyone kept using them.

I was in one and looked over to find that Brigham had decided he should be able to use the other one.

The one Joseph was using.

He finally evicted Joseph but Joseph grabbed a knife and cut it down!

I think Joseph figured that he could do that since he is the older brother.

Guess he didn't take into account that 'little' brother put on a little weight in the last few years.