My Colton Family

signing off.... for now

2011-11-28T19:40:00.000-08:00

I've been dreading this decision, but I finally decided to put the ol' blog on the chopping block.

Circumstances simply don't allow me to be a good blogger right now. And lately I feel like I'm starting to become the "jack of all trades, but master of none" as the saying goes. My life is much different now than it was 4 years ago when I started this blog. There are aspects that require more time and attention than ever before. Specifically: my job as a freelance designer, my family, my home, and my own health and well-being.

I'm sad because I enjoy blogging. It's my journal and it's been so fun to share a window to my life with my friends and family who are far away. At least I'll be able to keep in touch with most of you via Facebook. And posting my FB status is much less time-consuming since they only allow a certain number of characters. (Hmmm... is there a way for Blogger to limit the number of characters you type? That would help me manage my blogging time!)

My blog will still be here, and I'll know when someone posts a comment, so you can still contact me that way. And hopefully someday, when my kids are less dependent, and when my house and life are in better order, I'll be back.

:)

la vida loca

2011-11-07T00:19:00.000-08:00

It's been too long since my last post... again. It's not my fault. My life is like a car with a broken accelerator. I'm only allowed to go 15 mph or 75 mph. Nothing in-between.

*****

Why does everything always happen at once? That's what happened last weekend. There were kids costumes to finish, two Halloween parties to go to, shopping to do, appetizers and pie to make...

Our ward Trunk-or-Treat party on Saturday.

... and the primary program was on Sunday. It was a daring move to do it the Sunday after the trunk-or-treat party and before Halloween. But the program was wonderful. And Josie actually stayed on the stand of her own free will for the first 20 minutes! She didn't sing, but didn't cry, either. Amazing!

I was sure Josie would have one of her performance-related breakdowns. It was her speaking part that finally did it. She hid behind the podium when it was her turn. The congregation got a good chuckle from that. She came down and sat by us. But then Jon said he would take her to McDonald's if she went back up. She didn't walk, but RAN back to the stand and told her Sunbeam teacher in an excited voice,

"My poppa is taking me to MCDONALD'S!"

Hey... if it prevents public emotional breakdowns, it's fine with me!

That same weekend, I found out about a church-owned farm that allows members to pick as many tomatoes as they want (for free!) before harvest, but it had to be done before the 31st. Well, I certainly couldn't pass that up! Especially since my garden did so horribly this year.

I went on Saturday morning and came home with 9 grocery sacks full of softball-sized tomatoes. It didn't seem like too many when it was in the back of my station wagon. But it was much different once I got them into my kitchen. I questioned my sanity. Jon questioned my sanity.

You get a sense of how huge this field is when you see how small the cars are on the other side.

This is one of the things I love about living in California.

I spent most of Sunday afternoon and evening canning whole tomatoes in pint jars. And doing 6 loads of laundry. (why, oh why did laundry day have to coincide with the tomatoes??)

The next morning we took Josie to McDonald's as promised, and then to her preschool Halloween party at the park.

With her classmates

Our attempt to get a good picture of them together in costume. Josie only makes goofy faces and poses these days.

Pink hair!

Just FYI, that cheap pink hairspray stuff will get on EVERYTHING your child's hair touches. Consequently, we threw Josie in the bathtub almost immediately after we got home.

That's a balloon snake she got at the party.

Then I went grocery shopping, got some quart-sized canning jars, went home, bottled more whole tomatoes, carved pumpkins with Josie, sent Jon off to work his nightshift, made dinner, watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown with the kiddos, cleaned the kitchen, handed out candy to trick-or-treaters, put kids to bed, made two batches of salsa and bottled them, and put a batch of tomatoes in the food dehydrator. Needless to say, I was dead after all that.

But the insanity wasn't over! The next day was Tuesday, and I had to prepare a sewing activity for Wednesday night Activity Days. (For those of you readers who don't know, Activity Days is a twice-monthly activity for 8-11 year-old girls in my church.)

I went fabric shopping with the kids at the only place in our small town that sells it.... Walmart. Can I just say... Walmart has the ugliest fabric, ever? After leaving the store empty-handed, I realized I locked my keys in the car. And there was a scary, crazy guy wandering around the Walmart premises, yelling randomly at people. So, after getting yelled at by Mr. Crazy Guy, I walked back into the store and called Jon's cell phone about 5 times, trying to wake him up. Poor Jon had to get out of bed and drive across town to unlock my car.

Tuesday morning is story time at our local library, so I took the kids there next. Then it was home again, lunch, naptime for Jack, more laundry, client projects, dinner, and then my second attempt to find cute fabric. We drove to another town so we could go to JoAnne's. Luckily, I found some nice Thanksgiving-themed fabric for our potholders. After the kids went to bed, I spent two hours rotary-cutting and ironing about 70 squares of fabric on my family room floor.

The next day was Wednesday. I put the last sack of tomatoes in the dehydrator, sewed a potholder, worked on client projects, played with kids, and had a fun/chaotic sewing activity with the girls.

Oh... and did I mention I've had the worst cold during all of this? Oh yeah.

I'm just now starting to recover from last week. The adrenaline let-down and this winter-ish weather made me want to do nothing but sit in front of the TV and drink hot chocolate today. I'm so excited for the holidays! I just hope that I don't have a million things collide in the same week for a while.

But the best thing about this crazy week was:

My new nephew! Isn't he a doll? He was born on Wednesday Nov. 2nd, 3 weeks early, and just one day after Jack's birthday. I have a feeling they will be good buddies.

essentials

2011-10-23T23:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I abandoned my family for two whole days (gasp!) and drove to Reno with some of my best girlfriends from our former ward to attend a Time Out for Women conference.

Can I just tell you how much I love these ladies? I miss them so much!

There were so many great speakers at the conference. So many uplifting and encouraging words. But one speaker in particular stood out to me. She talked about life's difficulties and how to focus on the essentials: prayer, scripture study, family, you get the idea.... And when we do the essentials first, we find time to do all our other tasks.

Jon's mom came for the weekend and helped Jon out with the kids. They went to Fairytale Town in Sacramento.

I've decided to try it out, being the task-oriented, OCD person that I am, and see if I can actually get more done. And, I added one more thing to my essentials list: getting to bed earlier. I've been a night owl for Way. Too. Long. and it's killing me. I don't want to be a grumpy, sluggish, sleep-deprived mommy anymore. But at the same time, I don't want to let my house go to H-E-L-L or not get my freelance work done because I stop staying up late to finish it.

Well, I've gone to bed before 11:30 (yeah, that's early for me, folks) and read my scriptures (which I've always been horrible at) for the past few nights. So far, it hasn't affected my ability to get things done. I think staying up late was making me too tired during the day to be my best, most effective self. I know... duh!

Grandma Glenna was so happy to meet Jack.

The real test will be the next few days while Jon is working his 12 hour shifts. It's always harder to get things done when I'm a quasi-single mom. But I have high hopes!

heigh-ho, heigh-ho... it's off to work he goes

2011-10-18T23:17:00.000-07:00

This is always the scene at our front door when Jon leaves for work:

Josie always asks, "Can I watch Daddy drive away?" She can't get enough of him. Neither can our cat, apparently! (But I think she's most likely hoping one of the kids will accidentally open the door so she can escape this madness.)

Yep, he's pretty popular around here. And that's just how it should be.

hunger strike

2011-10-11T23:37:00.000-07:00

Remember my post about Josie and her ultra-picky eating? Things are not getting better. And today, Josie took it to a whole new level of frustrating.

*****

It all started yesterday when Josie, being her normal, picky-self, chose not to eat her lunch or dinner. We had leftover black bean soup for lunch and homemade chicken pot pies for dinner. Chicken pot pies for heaven's sake! But she wouldn't touch it. I stuck to my guns, and didn't let her eat other things. And Josie didn't seem to care.

This morning, I made this lovely thing for breakfast (which was awesome, by the way Natalie!) and thought Josie would be all over it since she hadn't eaten since the previous morning. But something was wrong with her when she woke up. I found her lying on the bathroom floor. I asked her what was wrong, and she said her legs weren't "working" and they hurt. That scared me a little. She's never had that complaint before. I thought maybe it was just growing pains.

She said she wanted to get a cup of water from the bathroom sink, so I got her a cup and left the room to check the oven. She started bawling. I went back to the bathroom to see what the matter was and found her crying, holding the cup under the barely-trickling faucet. She knows how to turn on the faucet, so I didn't understand why she was having so much trouble.

I filled her cup and tried to get her to sit down and eat breakfast. She refused to eat and told me she wanted to lay down because her stomach hurt. Oh great... I thought, She's got the flu or something. Josie left the table to use the bathroom. After about 5 minutes or so, she still hadn't come out. I went to check on her and she was laying on the floor in front of the toilet. What the heck...? She wanted to go back to bed.

I helped her into bed and took her temperature, which was normal. What was going on? I was starting to get really worried. Josie hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours and she wasn't acting like her usual self.

Thinking she was most likely ill, I decided it was more important to get some food in her belly than make her eat the pear crumble. So I cooked up some bacon and eggs for her (Josie's favorite breakfast). After she ate them, it was like watching a wilted flower spring back to life! She started playing with her toys and doing normal Josie-things. I asked her how she felt. No tummy ache... no leg pains. She was fine!

Good grief.

I don't think she was faking at all. I truly believe she was having hunger-related aches and pains. I've always been told that "kids will eat when they're hungry", but Josie would rather die than eat my food, apparently! Leave it up to Josie to defy the laws of childhood.

And after all that, the stupid cycle started all over again! She refused to eat lunch, and by about 4 p.m. today she was begging for dinner. I still had some of that yummy chicken pot pie in the fridge, so that was it. She didn't want to eat it, yet she kept complaining about how hungry she was. My blood pressure was going through the roof at that point. I made her sit down next to me at the table and I spoon-fed her a few bites of the pie. She was crying... I was crying (although, I think my emotions were partially due to PMS), but she finally ate the darn thing. Ugh!

I am so sick of this! It's been months and I feel like I'm losing this battle.

What concerns me the most is her weight. Her preschool teachers take the students' height/weight measurements at the beginning and end of the school year. In August of last year Josie weighed 30 pounds. Sometime in March or April is when all these food-hating shenanigans started. In May of this year she weighed 35 pounds. Now she weighs 34. At this rate, Jack is going to pass her up in no time.

I'm about an inch away from giving up and letting Josie eat as many hot dogs and pizzas as she wants. Because what's worse? diabetes or starvation??

air show

2011-10-09T22:53:00.000-07:00

Hey locals,

Did you know there's an air show at the Livermore municipal airport every October? I didn't.

Did you know it's not crowded at all and you can easily get a good view of the planes?

Did you know that kids love planes? Of course you do.

And best of all, did you know that admission ad parking are free?

Ya' gotta love free kid's entertainment!

I wish I had known about this two years ago! Josie had a blast watching the planes take off and do tricks, and she had a blast with her little friend, Bryce.

They had a variety of vintage war and passenger aircraft. It's not a huge show, but that's kind of what I liked about it.

She also got a free foam airplane toy-thingy. She and Bryce "flew" around the tarmac with them the majority of the time. So fun.

Mmmmmmmm....

2011-10-02T15:25:00.000-07:00

At least one of our children enjoys eating:

no pictures today...

2011-09-22T23:24:00.000-07:00

...but I want to say a few, mostly unrelated things:

1. Jack has the best little boy personality in the world. Yup, he does. Proof, you ask? He fell out of his stroller onto the pavement while we were visiting the zoo last Saturday, and got a nice, purple goose egg on his forehead. He cried for about 30 seconds. And then he endured another 2 hours walking around the zoo, during his usual nap time, no less. And he didn't fuss one bit. (I just have to brag about it.)

I remember being so surprised at how little Jack cried right after birth. It couldn't have been more than a minute or two. I don't know how I got such a calm, mild-mannered child.

2. A word of advice: If you ever find an incredible, spectacular deal on craigslist, drop everything you're doing and go get whatever it is immediately. Even if you're not sure how you will get it home. I missed out on the used furniture score of the century a few days ago because I didn't think I could pick it up right away. I could have, actually, but didn't have the forethought to figure out how. I'm still mad at myself over it. The good news is I got a similar piece of furniture off craigslist the next day. The bad news is I paid five times as much. Lesson learned.

3. Jon is the best husband in the world. He drove 50 miles (each way!) to pick up aforementioned piece of furniture. Just for me.

4. I think I'm finally submitting to the fact that I will never have time to do it all. And I'm learning to enjoy my time with my kiddos instead. It's not an easy thing for me and my OCD tendencies. The kitchen floor hasn't been mopped in a month. My vegetable garden is empty and probably will be for a long time. But oh well! My kids are small and cuddly for just a nanosecond in the eternal scheme of things. I want to enjoy playing with them and quit thinking, "what do I need to do next?" the entire time. I'm still slightly aggravated about my messy house, but only slightly. That is an improvement!

5. The Autumnal Equinox is tomorrow. We're only a week away from October. I was so tempted to put up my fall decorations today, but it's been so. dang. HOT! Mid-nineties all week! It just didn't feel right.

California seasons go something like this:

Spring - April-July
Summer - August-November
Fall - December (I raked leaves on Christmas Eve last year! Ugh!)
Winter - January-March

Come on, California, get your seasons straight.

down and dirty

2011-09-15T00:24:00.000-07:00

It's 11:30 p.m. and I still haven't had a shower. It's just one of those days...

My vegetable garden has been mostly a disappointment. I just can't seem to figure it out here. Growth issues, small fruit and sometimes no fruit, insect infestations, and just when I thought mother nature had kicked my butt enough, a gopher moved into my garden while I was on vacation in Utah.

I hope none of you readers ever have to deal with gophers. They are not easy to get rid of. Our gopher killed the tomatoes and parsley, grrrrr! (I probably shouldn't care, though, the tomatoes were dying anyway.) I had to set the traps 3 times and it took 4 days, but I finally caught him this morning and now he is resting in peace in my garbage can, the little bugger!

Then I tore all the dead and dying plants out of the garden and now it's nearly empty.

I think I'm going to take a break from gardening for a while and sign up for this instead.

*****

We bought an infant bike helmet for Jack a few weeks ago and I decided to take him for his first ride in the trailer today. I thought it would be fun to pick Josie up from preschool on the bike. Her preschool is on the opposite side of town, about 1.5 miles away.

The idea was doomed from the start. Jack was tired and grumpy and looked very uncomfortable in the trailer seat. When we got to the preschool, I discovered one of the tires on the trailer had a leak and was completely flat.

Yay.

So, I left the kids with the preschool teachers and had one of the other moms drive me home so I could get my car and drive back to the preschool to pick up the kids.

I spent the rest of the day playing "camping" with Josie, trying (and failing) to clean my scary garage, and working on a last-minute client project. Oh, and cooking another dinner that my family hated.

So, after dinner we just let loose.... let everyone have fun and get messy. Because everything, including me, is a mess already and the kids need a bath anyway.

I cleaned all the bird poop off the patio with the hose. The kids love to splash in the puddles aftewards. It's the simple things.

This is my attempt to get a shot of Jack and me. I'm sporting the no-makeup look a lot these days.

Josie's face in this picture reminds me so much of Jon.

I love, love, love these chunky baby legs! dirt and all.

I'm going to go take a shower now.

now that I'm no longer in crisis-mode...

2011-09-10T23:22:00.000-07:00

... I'm finally writing a post! Trying to get a million things done before going on a week-long vacation took priority over the blog, unfortunately. And I had to hit the ground running once I got back. This is the first time I've felt like I can truly relax!

I decided I'm not a fan of this blog-post-once-every-two-weeks thing. Makes me feel like the precious moments of my life get ignored in order to tell the whole story. But posting every day takes more discipline (and time) than I think I'm capable of.

So, I'm trying to decide.... is it better to do a long summary every couple of weeks? or a shorter thought-of-the-day post every couple of days? I think I'm starting to favor the latter. We'll try it and see how it goes.

*****

The kids and I spent a week at Grammie's over the Labor Day weekend. Southwest had a killer deal on tickets back in June that I simply couldn't pass up. I was a little worried about taking two small children on a plane by myself. But thanks to new dollar store toys and cheerios, everything went pretty well.

Playing on Grammie's backyard swingset.

Enjoying a delicious carne asada lunch with my sister, Jen, and the kids. This was the real deal, too. I didn't think Utah had good, NorCal-style Mexican food, but luckily I was wrong.

My brother, Alec, has spent the last four months working in an isolated gold mine in Round Mountain, Nevada. He was pretty glad he could get out of the boonies and spend the holiday weekend with us. Jack was sleepy when I took this and cuddled right up to his uncle. So cute.

Step right up, single ladies! Alec is going to be a super-duper daddy someday.

The main event during the trip was my dad's wedding. He and his bride, Nina, got married in the Salt Lake temple on Saturday, Sept. 3rd.

The Hagen wedding party: my cousin, Tamera, and her husband, Steve, my aunt Bonnie, and me.

After the ceremony, there was a dinner at the Lion house. Grandpa was so happy to see his grandkids.

My mom, Jennifer, the kids, and I went to the annual Soldier Hollow Classic sheep dog competition on Labor Day. It sounds like a weird event to go to, but it was pretty amazing. The dogs are incredibly smart. There was a lot of other interesting things to see: Diving dogs, sled dogs, K-9 dogs, and Josies favorite: the petting zoo and pony rides.

No fear this time! My baby's growing up.

That night, my siblings and I went to Tamera's house for a barbeque. I met her first grandbaby, Camrie, for the first time. She's just one month younger than Jack. Tamera's daughter, Torrie, has a surprise baby on the way, due in January. She's going to be one busy momma!

Now that's a couple of happy grandparents.

On the last day of our trip, Katy Lee (a.k.a my second mom) met us at a duck pond and helped Josie feed the ducks.

This was Jack's first trip to Utah. My longing to move back to Utah to be closer to my family has grown stronger. I think it may have something to do with having a second child. But the Colton family must stay the course for now.

that's my girl

2011-08-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

Josie is 4 years old today. I can't believe it's only been four years since I rushed to the hospital and suddenly became a parent. It was such a drastic, scary, wonderful change in my life. I say only four because I can no longer comprehend what my life was like before Josie came along. It seems soooo long ago! So foreign. And I don't ever want to go back. (I already dread losing her when she goes away to college! *sniff*)

Josie had a Blue's Clues party with her friends on Saturday. Complete with doggie ears.

Searching for clues with her Handy-Dandy Notebook. (Which were simply dollar store notebooks with a picture of the Thinking Chair pasted on the front. Aren't I clever?)

To celebrate her four years here on earth, I've compiled some random Josie-isms for your entertainment.

*****

After arriving at church 10 minutes late, Josie says to me,

"Even though we're late for church, I still love you," and then gives me a hug.

Playing "rollercoaster" on our stepladder. Her imagination is running wild these days. I love it.

Overheard her saying to the swimming instructor,

"Mommy's not tired today. Yesterday... UGH! Mommy was sooo grumpy."

A conversation with same swimming instructor:

Teacher : "Isn't this fun?"
Josie: "No. This is terrifying."

Josie is truly terrified of pools these days, and most of her swimming lessons have been filled with screaming and crying. So one day, Jon offered her chocolate ice cream if she didn't cry at her lesson. It worked.

While chasing Josie around the house, trying to put on her pants, Jon says,

"Josie! Come here and put on your pants! You're making Daddy angry!"

Josie says, "I sorry Papa, I was just teasing you a little bit."
(Hmmm... a little dose of his own medicine, I think.)

I wonder if she felt like something was wrong here.

While walking down our street with Jon, to the barking neighbor dogs behind the fence, she exclaimed,

"Stop roofing! I not coming at your house!"

A sculpture Josie made for me out of random stuff she found in the backyard. She loves playing with leaves, twigs, and rocks. (Why do we have so many toys, anyway??)

This puts a whole new meaning to the words "play money".

Josie and I were going through some fabric scraps together the other day and, while holding a piece of fabric in her front of her, she kept saying to me,

"I neeyo holy Fred."

I thought she was saying 'I need a holy Fred', which didn't make any sense at all. After about ten minutes I finally figured out that she was quoting a line from one of her favorite songs.

"So... a needle pulling thread."

Can you name that tune?

Watching the local 4th of July fireworks from our towns' small train yard. It's the best (free) seat in the house.

Happy birthday, Josie girl. Mommy loves you so much.

part 2 - Utah

2011-08-15T23:30:00.000-07:00

What happened to this week? Josie is back in preschool. We're currently adding a bedroom to our house, so everything is crazy messy and I'm sitting here typing on my iMac at my kitchen table. Jack is crawling all over the place and chewing on everything, and I'm praying my living areas will be back to normal before Josie's birthday party this weekend. She's going to be FOUR! Where has the time gone??

So, where were we?

We left Lake Tahoe and drove directly to Utah to visit with family. We decided to drive through the night and let the kids sleep in the car, since Jack can't stand being in his carseat for more than 3 hours. We arrived at my mom's house at 3:30 a.m.

Jon's sister, Angela, and her family drove down from Montana and stayed for the weekend. Meeting in the middle worked out so nicely. Especially since there's, like, a 20 hour drive between us. And Josie LOVES, LOVES, LOVES her cousins.

It was a whirlwind weekend of fun.

Our first stop was Cherry Hill for swimming and mini-golf.

Moms and kids.

Josie used the shoveling technique.

The couples went to dinner at Rodizio Grill while my mom watched the kids. Frank (the grill-meister) loved it.

Billy, Jon, and Frank.

Angela, me, and Jennifer.

When we weren't out doing things, we hung out at my mom's house.

My sister, Jennifer, is expecting her first baby in November. And it's a boy. I'm so excited that Jack will have a little boy cousin his age!

Both Jon and Angela have one brown child and one white child:

Josie and Alyssa (7 yrs.) stuck together like glue. They are the Cherokee, brown Cash children.

Alex (8 yrs.) and Jack are the blonde, white Colton kids. Aren't genetics funny?

On Sunday, we drove to Temple Square. We went to the visitor's center and walked the grounds.

The weather was crazy the entire weekend. Rain, wind, and general muggy-ness. It felt more like Missouri than Utah!

On the last day of our rendezvous, we took the kids to the Ogden Treehouse Museum and out to lunch.

We spent a couple more days relaxing with my fam and then drove back to sunny CA. We drove through the night, again. The way back was a little too adventurous for my taste. We got caught in the most intense lightening storm... ever. I thought we were going to die. Then, we stopped for gas in Winnemucca during some sort of biblical roach/beetle infestation. Freaking-huge insects, about 2-3 inches long, were crawling everywhere! We had to watch carefully where we stepped. Insane. Also, we didn't get home until 5:30 a.m. Jon and I didn't sleep a wink in the car, either.

But, we did discover a nice thing about casinos: They have clean bathrooms and are open all night. Perfect for a 3 a.m. potty stop in Reno.

mini-vacation - part 1

2011-08-07T22:28:00.000-07:00

It's become a yearly tradition for us to make the 12-hour trek to Utah every July. We like to go during Pioneer Day, but our plans got a little messed up this year.

Jon has been taking five-day courses in composite drawing for the PD. His second course was scheduled right in the middle of our usual Utah vacay week.... at a resort at Lake Tahoe. Yup. Jon had to spend an all-expenses-paid week in a hotel equipped with a heated pool, spa and fitness room in the middle of an alpine resort. Poor guy.

I wasn't about to let him suffer through his week alone, so the kids and I joined him for the last couple of days.

Here we are going for a swim. Josie sticks to the wall like glue. Even with her special floaty suit on.

This is what happens when you try to get her to swim.

Jack's chunka-wunka tummy and legs make me giggle.

He loved the water! At this rate, Jack may learn how to swim before his sister.

Watching cartoons in our room. I love how Jack is pulling Josie's hair, and she's ignoring it because he just does it sooo much.

The view from our room.

We met up with our cool friends, the Perrys, and hung out at the lake for the afternoon. It was surprisingly hot, so the cold lake was perfect.

Jack noshed on that watermelon like it was his last meal. I'm pretty sure he ate all of it.

I guess I need to start eating "skinny fries" if I want to be tiny like this cute girl!

Strangely, Josie had no fear of the lake. She's a mystery!

My favorite picture of all:

Jack, this is the only time in your life when you can get away with being fat and sitting in nothing but your underwear and hat on a crowded beach. Hope you enjoyed it.

to starve, or not to starve?

2011-07-22T22:47:00.000-07:00

I'm having some serious self-doubt today. Maybe somebody out there can give me reassurance, or advice, or something.

Here's my problem:
Josie doesn't eat. (Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration... but only a little bit!)

Let's start from the beginning... to give a little insight.

Food is a big deal to me. I care about what kind of nutrition my family is getting. But this is a fairly recent development. I used to be the kind of person that just ate whatever sounded good. I didn't eat junk all the time, but I didn't get enough veggies and other nutrient-rich foods, either. I worked full-time and cooking was lower on my priority list.

It wasn't until after I became a stay-at-home-mom and Josie started eating solids that I found myself wondering, "What exactly am I putting into her little body?" I started reading nutrition labels, which totally freaked me out. So, I started cooking from scratch more often, and included more whole grains, legumes, and veggies into our Colton family menu. I don't think I qualify for health-nut status (we still like our Domino's pizza every so often), but I try to provide healthy food for us most of the time.

The rule in our house is if you don't eat what you're served, you don't eat until the next meal. I refuse to be a short order cook. I try to take Josie's maturity level into consideration, though. A few new recipes I've tried are probably a little to adventurous for her taste, so after she eats a bite or two she gets to eat something else if she wants. But that is a rare occurrance. Most times, if Josie doesn't want her dinner, I cover her plate with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. If she asks for food later, I pull out the plate and tell her she has to eat her dinner before she can eat anything else. Most of those times, she doesn't eat until breakfast. It sounds mean, but I don't want her to ever get the idea that Mom will cook me whatever I want for dinner.

Josie has been pretty good about eating healthy for most of her short life. She eats salad, tomatoes, and loves eating raw green beans out of our garden. But now there's a problem: She's become so picky during mealtimes, she's barely eating every day! And this has been going on for MONTHS! Seriously. The only time she will eat a substantial meal is if it falls into one of the following food groups:

- Breakfast (breakfast for us usually includes one or more of the following: cereal, toast, eggs, bacon, pancakes, or fruit smoothies)
- Cheese (this includes pizza, quesadillas, and cottage cheese)
- Hot Dogs
- Fruit (thank goodness she'll at least eat fruit!)
- Bread (Josie's dinner roll literally becomes her dinner roll, if you know what I mean.)

She still eats a few veggies here and there, but not like she used to. And she's very particular about how they are prepared.

Today was a typical day:

Josie ate a PB&J and two eggs for breakfast. For lunch, we went out to a new, Chipotle-esque restaurant here in town. I ordered a chicken quesadilla and a bottle of milk for Josie. She drank her milk, and that was it. (She probably would have eaten her quesadilla, except I let them put tomatoes on it... what was I thinking?) I didn't give her any snacks that afternoon because I wanted to make sure she would eat her dinner. I made veggie burgers with fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers for dinner. Josie ate the bun. Just before bedtime, Josie said she was hungry. So, I followed the usual routine, took her unfinished plate out of the fridge and put it in front of her. Josie poked at her veggie patty for a while, but started to get grumpy. So I put her to bed.

AAAAGHHHHH!!! What is wrong with this kid?? Is it an eating disorder? or just extreme stubbornness? Am I being cruel by letting her go without food for so long? Should I just give in and let her eat whatever she wants? I don't know what to do anymore.

on the move

2011-07-19T22:37:00.000-07:00

It's all over, folks.

Jack practicing his army crawl.

Gone are the days of putting Jack down, leaving to use the bathroom, and finding him in the exact same spot when I come back. Poor Josie won't be able to leave her teeny-weeny, itsy-bitsy Disney princess accessories all over the house anymore. (But that doesn't mean she won't. ugh!) Time to baby-proof my kitchen cabinets and cover the electrical sockets.

At the same time, it's so fun to see Jack reaching his milestones. He's definitely a lot more physical than his sister was at 8 months. It's probably a boy thing. Plus, his newfound mobility might give my aching back a break. We don't call him our Chunka-Wunka for nothing!

finding balance

2011-07-07T22:20:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed the posts on this blog have been short and sparse as of late. I really do want to spend more time recording things in this little, online "journal". It's just that my life seems to be spinning faster and faster, and I'm struggling to keep balance.

This is not all bad, though. I've been blessed recently with a lot of design work, and I'm grateful that I can contribute to my family's income. Before I was married and had kids, I used to fantasize about how nice it would be to be an artist working from home so I could take care of my kids at the same time.

HA!

What was I thinking?! There is no such thing as working and taking care of kids at the same time. It's so impossible, I resorted to hiring babysitters a few times last week just so I could work in my home office without interruption.

Jon would normally be able to help me more with the kids (since he is off 3-4 days out of the week anyway), but he's been working from home, too. He is working on a comic book for a small publisher in the Bay area. It's nothing huge, but he's been trying for so long to break into the comic biz that he couldn't refuse.

Also, Jon recently joined an MLM. I won't go into details about it here because a lot of people (including me) scatter like cockroaches under a light when someone starts talking MLM. I don't want to scare my friends away. I'll just say that I have been pleasantly surprised at this particular business. And it has been such a blessing (yes, a blessing!) in Jon's life. The only downside is, he has been very involved in the business lately and doesn't have much time for childcare.

Jack has been such a stinker. He's still waking up 3-4 times per night. I'm not sure why. At first I was convinced it was teething, but now I don't know. Sometimes he will eat a lot at night, other times he's not that hungry but wants to nurse just for comfort. I've switched to bottle feedings at night just to see if it would discourage him from waking so often. We'll see if it works.

Between my work schedule, the kids, and not getting enough sleep, my goal to de-frump myself has mostly failed. I want to work out so badly, but Jack hates the gym daycare. I still take him there once or twice a week, but I get called on the PA system about 25 minutes afterwards to go get him because he's screaming. Those poor daycare ladies! And dieting is a joke. The minute I try to curb my eating habits, my milk dries up. I comfort myself by thinking that if I had been born in the Middle Ages, my baby and I probably would have thrived better than a skinny-mini mommy and her baby. (I mean no offense to any skinny-mini mommies.) My body just has it's own food storage system.

I finally decided to make peace with my fatness... for now. I hit some of the fourth of July sales and got a couple pairs of denim shorts and several nicer shirts. So, at least I have some decent clothes that fit me. It's a little bit of a self-esteem boost.

I have to keep reminding myself that this is all temporary. Jack won't be nursing and waking up in the night forever. And he won't hate the daycare forever. And I won't be carrying around an extra 35 pounds forever.

Things are just hard right now. Finding the balance between work, motherhood, and taking care of myself is not easy. This is just a particularly difficult phase of my life. But I suppose every phase of life is difficult in it's own way.

I salute every one of you working moms out there! It is tough!

some good pictures, finally

2011-06-30T23:42:00.000-07:00

Some days I really wish I had one of those swanky, digital SLR cameras so I could take sweet pictures like these:

I've been wanting to have some professional photos taken of the kids for a while now, but my life just keeps getting away from me.

A lady in our stake took these last week. Didn't they turn out so great?

I love the look they're giving each other here. It's so typical of them.

water babies

2011-06-22T08:51:00.000-07:00

I just want to take this moment to say......

... IT IS TOO DANG HOT!

We hit 100 yesterday. It's making me wish we still lived in the Bay Area with all it's mild temperatures and morning fog.

Our solution to escape the heat? Taking a dip in our luxurious, inflatable swimming pool!

Plenty of plastic dinosaurs floating around in it for everyone! Yay!

No bathing suits required! Underwear makes awesome swimwear.

And when we're not swimming, our pool sports a lovely, white-trash pool cover:

After our swim, we might enjoy some hot dog slices mixed in Spaghetti-O's for dinner, and wash it down with some Kool-Aid.

Speaking of Kool-Aid... have you seen this?

7 months

2011-06-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

Jack is really growing up. I love seeing him learn and develop, but I also miss his cuddly newborn-ness.

He's starting to eat solid foods. But I have a feeling this boy will be nursing for a while still. His body doesn't digest solid food very well yet.

I love how he's strapped in his chair like a fighter pilot. Baby stuff has to be ridiculously safe, right?

He's got his two bottom teeth.

And guess what else? He's sitting up unsupported now. He can't get himself into this position, and he falls over quite a bit, but his balance is getting better all the time.

Jack watches his sister's every move. He's fascinated by her.

Also, Jack is a roller. He rolls and rolls to get where he wants to go. It's so funny to watch. He'll probably figure out pretty soon that crawling is a much more effective mode of travel. Time for me to start baby-proofing!

Now, if he would just sleep through the night again, life would be awesome. Teething is the devil. And it's the reason why I can't remember anything and why I leave the milk in the cupboard sometimes. I don't think I've slept for more than a 4 hours stretch several months. It's a good thing Jack is so squishy-cute, or I might be tempted to leave him in a basket on someone's front porch, just so I can sleep for an entire night!

the beat of a different drummer

2011-06-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

I've been such a lazy blogger as of late. So much going on. Not enough time. Even to write a complete sentence. Bleh.

Josie finished her first year of preschool. For the last day, the kids put on a little program for the parents. Just three songs. A great video opportunity, right? Well, Josie laid on her stomach, facing away from the audience for 99% of the performance. I guess it's better than the total emotional breakdown she had at Christmas. And she did sing the last 3 lines of the last song. So hey, we're making progress, folks!

I love her laugh at the end. Such a goofball!

grandpa Colton

2011-05-25T23:02:00.000-07:00

It's obvious these two are related.

Jack is so chunky, he drives people to cannibalism.

Grandpa Colton met little Jack for the first time a couple weeks ago. He and Nana drove all the way from Montana to spend the weekend with us. It was such a nice visit. Thanks for making the trip, Grandpa!

dirtiest man

2011-05-17T00:13:00.000-07:00

Josie hates taking baths. But, she hasn't always hated them. It seems her hatred of hair-washing and face-washing started as recently as 6 months ago. Who knows why. Whenever bath time rolls around, she tells me repeatedly that she does NOT want to take a bath.

"No... I'll do it tomorrow," she says.

I try to explain to her that if she doesn't take a bath, she will get very dirty and stinky, and nobody wants to be around a dirty/stinky person. Lately, I don't have the patience to explain for the uptillionth time why we take baths, and I simply tell her to get her butt in the tub.

Today I used a scare tactic. As soon as Josie started to protest, I said I wanted to show her what would happen if she didn't take baths. I pulled out Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein. Josie loves that book. There's a poem in it entitled, The Dirtiest Man in the World.

I think the illustration alone scared her straight.

Oh I'm Dirty Dan, the world's dirtiest man,
I never have taken a shower.
I can't see my shirt - it's so covered with dirt,
And my ears have enough to grow flowers.

But the water is either a little too hot,
Or else it's a little too cold.
I'm musty and dusty and patchy and scratchy
And mangy and covered with mold.
But the water is either a little too hot,
Or else it's a little too cold.

I live in a pen with five hogs and a hen
And three squizzly lizards who creep in
My bed, and they itch as I squirm, and I twitch
In the cruddy old sheets that I sleep in.

If you looked down my throat with a flashlight, you'd note
That my insides are coated with rust.
I creak when I walk and I squeak when I talk,
And each time I sneeze I blow dust.

The thought of a towel and some soap makes me howl,
And when people have something to tell me
They don't come and tell it - they just stand back and yell it.
I think they're afraid they might smell me.

The bedbugs that leap on me sing me to sleep,
And the garbage flies buzz me awake.
They're the best friends I've found and I fear they might drown
So I never go too near a lake.

Each evening at nine I sit down to dine
With the termites that live in my chair,
And I joke with the bats and have intimate chats
With the cooties who crawl through my hair.

I'd brighten my life if I just found a wife,
But I fear that that never will be
Until I can find a girl, gentle and kind,
With a beautiful face and a sensitive mind,
Who sparkles and twinkles and glistens and shines -
And who's almost as dirty as me.

After we read it together, Josie got right up, and without any hesitation, said,

"Let's get in the tub."

weekend with Jen

2011-05-13T22:35:00.000-07:00

We made our annual trek to Yosemite this past weekend. My sister, Jen, flew into town the night before so she could go with us.

Here we are headed south on the 99. The five of us barely fit in Jon's car.

We drove to the south entrance of the park this time. The idea was that we would hike to the Mariposa grove of giant sequoias and then head to the Wawona hotel for dinner.

It seemed like a perfect plan, the trail was paved and the weather was lovely.

The spring runoff was everywhere! We must have seen dozens of these tiny streams.

However... I didn't know the hike was over 4 miles each way, and I didn't know that it was mostly uphill. Which wouldn't have been a problem if we hadn't had two small children with us and a massive double stroller. We didn't make it all the way up. But, there were several giant sequoias along the trail, so we got a good dose of trees.

We were exhausted and ready for some rest when we got to the Wawona.

It was Jack's first overnight trip. He slept surprisingly well!

We were so excited for dinner. The Wawona hotel has THE BEST food. We've eaten there 3 times, and never been disappointed.

That's my can't-wait-for-dinner face.

We digested our food on the lawn after our meal.

We drove to the valley the next day. We did the short hikes to Yosemite and Bridalveil falls. We relaxed in the meadow and got ants in our pants.

This is how Josie hikes.

This is how Jack hikes. (Except I usually have my eyes open.)

The biggest rock, ever.

Getting soaked at Bridalveil falls.

Thanks for the shower! We love you, Yosemite. See you next year.

******

Some days I wish we lived in Utah, just so we could be closer to my family.

This was one of those days.

Josie blew the candle out before Jennifer got a chance. That one-year birthday candle was all I had, so happy 1st birthday, Jen!

Some days, I am so jealous of my friends who have family nearby. Friends who get to eat Sunday dinner with the parents. Friends who celebrate family birthdays together. Friends who get to leave the kids at grandma's and go out on a date with their spouse.... etc., etc.

Thanks for visiting us, Jen!

But, thanks to telephones, Skype, and air travel, my kids have had a lot of quality time with family. And thanks to modern day automobiles, the drive to Utah can be done in 11 hours (which is nothing compared to what our pioneer ancestors went through!)

I used to worry that my kids would never get to know their relatives. Being around my grandparents was a big part of my childhood, and I don't want my kids to miss out on those relationships. But, I honestly have to say that I don't think my kids are missing out too much. There isn't a day that goes by that Josie doesn't talk about Grammie or Grandpa. She even asks about her aunts and uncles sometimes. She knows her relatives love her because they sacrifice so much to spend time with us. I am so thankful for that.

firework

2011-05-01T23:56:00.000-07:00

This video reminds me so much of myself when I was a little girl. I loved dancing to energetic music. My siblings and I used to leap and run around the house to the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas CD when we were small. I remember taking a dance class when I was very little, probably around Josie's age. There wasn't a lot of stress on perfect form, because I can remember randomly prancing around the room to fast-paced music. I'm sure it looked a bit like this:

Watch out, Katy Perry.

Josie's dancing skills have come a long way since this.

I really should enroll her in some sort of dance class. All little girls love to dance, right?

Josie behind the camera

2011-04-25T01:10:00.000-07:00

Josie's taken an interest in photography lately. Here are some of her most interesting photos:

Josie took pictures of all our ceiling fans.

She seems a little fixated on feet, no?

That's a marshmallow peep in Jon's mouth. This photo pretty much sums up how I feel after a weekend of noshing on Easter candy. I need a serious detox.

Here's the "'puter", complete with Daddy's favorite time-waster, Bejeweled Blitz.

And this is what I look like while I'm cooking, from Josie's perspective. *sigh* As if I need any more reasons to lose weight.

proof

2011-04-13T00:42:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was proof that my family could survive without me (almost). I was pretty useless for a few days after my surgery. My wonderful mom (a.k.a Grammie) flew into town and helped with the kids.

Jack was surprisingly content while Jon and I were at the hospital. My fear that he would cry from the moment he woke up until I got home never materialized. He was all smiles for Grammie. He even drank from a bottle for an entire day without any trouble. I was so relieved, but also a little offended that he didn't seem to miss me! I guess I should just be grateful that I have such easy-going children.

We did a few Easter-y things. Grammie and Josie made a little basket together full of home-made pom pom chicks. Grammie bought an Easter dress for Josie:

I like poofy dresses for little girls, don't you?

{Speaking of Josie, we finally gave up on our anti-thumb sucking measures and opted for the metal mouth "appliance". I wish we would have done it 2 months ago. It's expensive and food gets stuck in it a lot, but the thumb sucking is gone. Hoo-ray!}

Grandpa Colton sent a box of Easter presents.

I guess Easter falls into the gift-giving-holiday category, alongside Christmas, Valentine's, and... I guess that's it. For us, at least. Does anyone get gifts for any other holiday? (4th of July presents, anyone?)

The motorcycle-riding bunnies were a hit.

This was Josie's first time using a bubble gun. She forgot the first rule of firearm safety: don't point the bubble blower at anything you don't want to get soapy.

But she got the hang of it.

Jack enjoys watching his big sister.

We made an Easter tree today. (Actually, it's just two floral branches tied together with cheap-O wooden ornaments hung on them. 40% off all Easter decor at Michael's right now. Woop, woop!)

She loves it.

The Easter tree is pretty much the only thing I accomplished today. And I made dinner and picked up toys for the first time since my surgery. But, my house is still a disaster. Jon has been Superdad during this whole ordeal. My mom left yesterday, so he's doing double duty. I'm not allowed to carry Jack for at least another week, you see. He was kind of cracking me up with some of his comments today,

"I have so much to do... and I don't even have time to take a shower!"

Hmmm.... sounds familiar.

But at least I know that Jon is capable of taking care of things when I'm out of commission. I shouldn't doubt him anyway. He's always been able to step up to the plate when necessary. Thanks, honey!

frumpy

2011-03-31T00:42:00.000-07:00

The first step in any 12 step program is to admit that you have a problem. Well... I think it's confession time for me:

I am a fat, frumpy housewife.

It might sound silly, but there has been a change in me that needs some fixin'. Seriously. I was looking through some recent photos of myself, and what I saw made me depressed. Double chin, very little to no makeup, clothes that didn't fit properly, etc.

A lot of it has to do with having my second child recently, of course. And maybe I have a valid excuse for these dark circles under my eyes. But I know I can do better. I used to take showers every day. Leaving the house without makeup was unthinkable back then. I used to wear nice clothes, not just sweats or whatever I had in my closet that wasn't dirty or too tight. I had a pedicure that wasn't 4 months old. I used to style my hair regularly, not just throw it in a ponytail each day.

*sigh*

My standards have fallen. Too far. It's hard being a mom, and we're so focused on doing things for our children, our spouses, our homes, or for our church callings, right? We forget to take care of ourselves.

It's time for me to whip myself into shape! So, just for the record, here's my gameplan:

#1 - Surgery.

No, no... I'm not talking plastic! I haven't been watching the Housewives of Orange County. I've had a hernia in my bellybutton area since before Josie was born. I never bothered getting it fixed because it was so small. But having two kids has made it worse. Especially after having Jack. (Let's just say that I might be accused of shoplifting if I wore a tight shirt at a department store.) So, next week I'm going under the knife. I'm thinking it will be a good anti-frump kick-off. Woooooooo!

#2 - Diet

I hate dieting. I never stick to them. I just need to eat less. And be smarter about what I eat. It's hard because breastfeeding makes me hungry all the time... but sometimes I eat for fun. Especially cereal. That's not good. If anyone has any tips on food that is filling but not high in sugar or calories, please send them my way!

#3 - Exercise

This one is usually easy for me. I love to run and bike. But it's been difficult to get into my usual regimen, for a few reasons:
a) I've had injuries/pregnancy during the last year or so. Yup, those two belong in the same category.
b) Jack is too young to take to the daycare at the gym, or to put in our bike trailer.
c) Sleep deprivation.

These are just excuses. I can still exercise. I can start with lower intensity, lower impact exercises. Like walking. I don't have to go to the gym to exercise. I can get off Facebook and go to bed earlier. And Jack will be 6 months old on May 1st, and old enough to go to the gym daycare.

#4 - Routine

I think my lack of daily routine has resulted in self-neglect. Taking a shower and putting on makeup should be just as routine as brushing my teeth before bed. This will probably be easier once I can get into a morning exercise routine, because exercise = sweat. I sweat a lot. Exercise without a shower afterwards is not an option for me, unless I want to gross out all my friends. And I don't, because I like having friends.

Alrighty friends, now that I've laid it out for all to see, I have to do it.

Here's to fighting the frump!

stream of consciousness

2011-03-25T08:15:00.000-07:00

What to write? Hmmm..... I've been so busy. I have no clear message today, just a stream of random thoughts.

One of Jon's co-workers told him once that "you don't know what it's like to have kids until you have two of them." I have to agree.

I'm surprised at how little sleep I can get by on these days. Although it's probably not good for me. It's probably giving me dain bramage.

Jack got a Bumbo. He is so chunky, his butt gets stuck in it when I lift him out.

On the flip side, Josie can fit in it pretty easily (for a 3-yr. old, mind you). How can these children be siblings??

Josie has her daddy completely wrapped around her little finger. It's funny how her behavior is so different around him sometimes. I'm trying to teach Jon that catering to her during emotional meltdowns is not the best way to go. It's not easy for him. But he's learning.

I'm still suffering from home improvement-related OCD. It's hard to get anything on my list done when two little kids are in the mix. However, my nifty sister gave me some relief by sewing me some groovy curtains for my kitchen window:

And speaking of windows, we got a few of ours replaced, including our sliding glass patio door. {Word of advice: never hire Home Depot to do these kinds of jobs. Our windows had to be done TWICE because the messed up the first time.} Now we have DOUBLE PANES! Yay! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that our electric bill is going to be lower this summer.

happy St. Patty's day!

2011-03-17T14:39:00.000-07:00

I like St. Patrick's Day for the same reasons the fourth of July is my favorite holiday...

1. There's no gift exchanges
2. There's no elaborate planning involved (unless you want to!)
3. There are fun activities for kids, usually for free (parades, fireworks... that kind of stuff.)
4. It's an excuse to make cookies and other good things to eat. All holidays seem to revolve around food, right?

We went to the parade in Dublin on Saturday. It was pretty good... but a bit long, and a little too commercial. (I'm sorry Mr. Window Company Owner, but putting a few balloons on your glass truck just so you can drive it in the parade and hand out flyers is lame. ) But Josie still loved it. She adores parades.

There were a lot of dogs in the parade.

The leprechauns broke into our house while Josie was at preschool this morning. She found evidence of their visit when we got home:

Luckily, someone in our house has just the right size feet for the stamp job.

Josie's only green shirt was in the wash. But her pants were green.

Josie got a little nervous and kept asking me if the leprechauns were hiding in the house somewhere. We walked through every room together to make sure they were gone.

Josie's favorite toys

2011-03-03T23:42:00.000-08:00

Josie's Grandpa Colton gave her a Disney princess mini-doll toy set for her birthday last year. Have you seen these things? Anyway, it came with Sleeping Beauty, the three fairies, 3 stretchy plastic dresses and a mirror. Josie was hooked.

Unfortunately, these are the most annoying toys in the universe. First of all, the plastic dresses are nearly impossible to put on, even for an adult. I can't even tell you how many hours I've spent dressing and undressing these dolls. Also, some of the pieces are sooo tiny they get lost almost immediately. I have to check the carpets carefully before I vacuum to make sure I don't suck any of them up.

That's Chip, the teacup, in her hand.

Trying to get the dress off. (note the tape around Josie's thumb. Yeah, we're still working on the thumb sucking.)

I'm glad that Josie has a toy she enjoys, but I feel like the Disney company is trying to mock me somehow,

"We know that your daughter is already obsessed with Disney princesses, but we thought you parents would LOVE it if your lives were consumed with them as well! HAHAHAHA!!"

Consumed is right. And it doesn't help that Jon loves to spoil his little princess with her favorite things.

This is how it's been so far:

August 2010 - She gets a Sleeping Beauty set

October 2010 - Josie sees a "Belle doll" set at Walgreens and begs for it until...

December 2010 - She gets Belle set for Christmas, along with an Ariel doll stocking stuffer

January 2011 - Sleeping Beauty's head breaks off. Jon tries to fix it with super glue and effectively destroys it. Jon secretly buys a new Sleeping Beauty doll set and tells Josie he "fixed" it. Now Josie has extra Sleeping Beauty dresses and a pink horse.

February 2011 - Belle and Ariel go missing. We tear the house apart trying to find them, to no avail. Josie is sad, but moves on. Sleeping Beauty inherits Belle and Ariel's dresses.

Valentine's Day - Jon gives Josie another Belle set. This one is bigger and comes with the Beast, a horse and carriage. Kathryn is not thrilled about this.

March 2011 - Kathryn is trying to plug in the baby monitor in the electrical socket behind her bed, and discovers Belle and Ariel just beneath the headboard. Happy day! (for Josie) But, now there are two Belle dolls. Awkward.

*****

Josie watched Cinderella for the first time this past weekend. We went to Wal-mart today where Josie discovered a Cinderella set, complete with pumpkin carriage. Guess what she wants now....

for the record

2011-02-26T22:32:00.000-08:00

Jack:

Is still growing like a weed! This kid can really eat, and it shows.

Here he is at one month.

Here he is yesterday, almost 4 months old. He weighs over 16 pounds now.

The first three months had it's problems, but Jack is such a good baby now.

Wait... what am I saying?

Jack has always been a good baby, but now he's so good, I want to freeze time so that he can be like this forever. He's an expert nurser and goes to sleep at night without much trouble. He has a happy nature. He's always smiling and giggling. I think he must be extra ticklish because he always laughs when I change his shirts.

My only complaint is that he doesn't like to take naps. I think he's just a fun-loving guy. He never wants to stop moving. He cries out of boredom if I sit on the couch with him for more than a few minutes. He loves me so much, he wants me to carry him around the house and play with him all the time. He likes watching his sister play. Lately, he's testing his hands and getting grabby with anything he can touch. He's also figuring out how to suck his thumb.

Speaking of thumb sucking...

Josie:

Josie had her first dentist appointment a couple weeks ago. They did X-rays and a cleaning, and much to my surprise, she breezed through the entire ordeal like a pro! That's the good news. The bad news is that Josie needs to stop sucking her thumb soon, or else her teeth and jaw are going to become deformed.

We've spent the last couple weeks trying everything to stop her.

I tried incentives first, but that didn't work because Josie sucks her thumb unconsciously. (She wouldn't stop even if I promised her a unicorn!) Then I bought two kinds of bitter-tasting nail polish, but she chipped the nail polish off with her teeth and kept right on sucking! Ick! I tried putting a glove on her hand, but she just took it off. It's become clear that she does not want to stop.

The only other options are

a) a locking plasic thumb guard that costs over $70, or

b) a mouth "appliance" that the dentist puts on the roof of her mouth for $250

So today, I wrapped a couple band-aids and some masking tape around her thumb, of course. She did not like that. She tried to trick me:

"Momma, I not sucking my thumb anymore."

"Really? You're never going to suck your thumb again?"

"Nope. Can you take it off??"

Nice try, sweetie.

Who needs expensive thumb gaurds?? Boo-ya!

Josie has changed over the past several months. She's become little Miss Silly Pants, and does a lot of things that drive me crazy. Like having emotional breakdowns when I wash her hair, or trying to "help" me with the housework by soaking every clean hand towel with water and wiping stuff with them, or using my entire book of postage stamps as stickers. Very, very expensive stickers.

Josie wearing one of her Sesame Street wall decals.

Maybe the terrible 3's are the new terrible 2's. Or maybe it's because she's no longer the only child.

What I love about her 3-yr.-old self is watching her learn. She's been a Sunbeam (the name of her Sunday school class) for two months so far, and it's so cute to hear her sing Primary songs and tell me what she's learning at church.

I asked her what she learned on Sunday, and she replied,

"Jesus got hurt. He was helping us."

Yup. That pretty much sums it up.

Jon:

Jon has been my hero lately. Ever since Jack was born, he's been Super Dad. He's always willing to help me with the kids whenever I'm about to lose my cool. But... he's stumped if he hast to take care of both kids at the same time. Then it's usually cartoons to the rescue. (This is exactly the reason why he goes to work and I stay home.) I think he just tries too hard sometimes. He wants to give each child his all, but you can't do that when there's more than one!

Also, don't ask him right now if he wants to have another one. He's not too sure. I want another one, though... someday.

Kathryn:

The newborn phase can be so hard, but I'm in a better place now. I'm slowly putting things back into my life. Things like gardening, cooking, cleaning, working, and home improvement projects. I'm trying to get back into shape, but it's going to be a long, rough road. I'm heavier now than I've ever been before in my life. Jack was born right before the holidays... a.k.a the worst possible time to try to lose weight. I actually gained a few pounds in the weeks after I gave birth. Ugh!

My strategy is to not buy any new pants until I get back down to a reasonable weight. I only have 3 pairs of fat pants that fit at the moment, so hopefully that will motivate me.

I'm also trying to avoid baked goods for a while. Breastfeeding makes me ravenous, which is bad if there's a box of chocolate chip cookies on the counter. When the sugar withdrawals get bad, I just look at myself sideways in the mirror and the cravings subside.

bathroom makeover

2011-02-18T14:07:00.000-08:00

This makeover has been a long time coming. Probably because I've spent the last year either

a) being pregnant and tired/sick

or

b) dealing with an infant and 3 yr. old 24/7

But I'm finally starting to get my life and hormones back to normal! I finished the last piece of this makeover last night.

When we first moved in, my bathroom looked like this:

HORROR! Pink cabinets!

Here's what it looks like now:

It's a pretty simple and inexpensive makeover, actually. Our bathroom wasn't too bad to begin with, it just needed a little help.

I started by painting the cabinets a dark, chocolate brown color and putting on new hardware. Then, I removed the ugly, plexiglass shower doors and replaced them with a plain white shower curtain. (Seriously... do you have any idea how hard it is to wash a child in a bathtub with glass doors? Did I also mention they were ugly?) Got some new bath towels.... and then my bathroom sat like that for months.

The last piece of the puzzle was the shower curtain. I searched and searched and SEARCHED for a curtain that had the right color scheme, but to no avail. Then I saw this tutorial on Design*Sponge's blog.

Ding! If I couldn't find a shower curtain I liked, I could print my own. I bought a plain, white fabric shower curtain for $10 at Target and planned my design.

Yes, I might be a little crazy.

The only thing I did differently was I didn't buy actual fabric paint. It's expensive, hard to find anywhere other than online, and the colors are limited so you basically have to mix them with other colors. Instead, I just used plain old acrylic craft paint and mixed it with GAC 900 Fabric Painting Medium. You can get it at Michael's and it makes the paint more permanent and washable.

I didn't take photos of my process ('cuz it was 10 p.m. and I was trying feverishly to get it done while the kids were asleep) but the whole thing from start to finish was around 3 hours. Not bad at all. And I kind of like the "distressed" look that resulted. What do you think? I used a rubber brayer, but I'd like to try a sponge roller next time I do a fabric printing project, just to see if the coverage is a little better.

Bathroom... check!

"photoshop" it

2011-02-10T00:14:00.000-08:00

I saw this cartoon today:

(click to enlarge)

It's especially funny if your a graphic designer.

It brought back so many memories of my working days. Especially at one company in-particular (that will remain nameless). This company did not understand how I did my job AT ALL.

I created presentations for sales people and production coordinators. They thought Photoshop did all the work. They thought all I had to do was press the "yellow" button to make something yellow, or press another magical button to turn a stick figure drawing into a photo of a real person.

What was even more maddening, is that after working there for over a year, one of my colleagues asked me how long it would take me to put a flower pattern on something. I told her I would have to draw the flowers first. She gave me a blank stare and asked,

"Why? Don't you just get all your artwork from the clipart CD?"

I wanted to punch her in the face.

THE clipart CD?? You mean the one whose clipart looks like it was created in 1990 for MS Word??

"Um.... no. Never have."

I quit that job, as you can probably guess. I reached my breaking point when I realized that my boss thought being a designer was simply knowing how to use Photoshop.

Then I started thinking more about it....

.... and even though my job description has changed a bit since then, some things have remained the same. People who have never been a parent or caregiver of children just don't seem to understand my job.

They don't understand why it takes an hour for stay-at-home moms to do something that would only take them 15 minutes. They think feeding and changing diapers is.... just that. They don't realize that feeding consist of begging, coaxing, trying to prevent food from splattering all over the floor. They don't realize that we moms have small persons tugging on our arms while we type, or that said persons never go to sleep when we want them to.

Ya' feel me, mommies?

HOWEVER...

Taking care of my children has been much more rewarding than creating a bunch of Chinese-made junk destined for a landfill. It's the most important job I've ever had. And one of the hardest, too. But getting a hug and an "I love you" from my 3 yr. old and hearing my baby's first giggles are worth it.

Jon and Josie on the swing.

I never want to quit this job. Even if some people don't understand it.

not much to report....

2011-02-07T19:33:00.000-08:00

....except that we have our own, home-made bubble machine:

I'm in love with a boy

2011-01-27T00:41:00.000-08:00

I'm hopelessly in love with this boy:

Jack in his blessing outfit

And I'm pretty sure that yours truly is his favorite person in the world. Just look at how he gazes into my eyes:

Isn't that an "I love you" look?

We spend lots of time together, having deep conversations. He has so many things to tell me.

I wish I could capture his "talking" on video. But, he stops whenever I get the camera out... of course.

Just sitting and talking to Jack is part of my new year's resolution. I read and article once that said there are basically two types of people: task-oriented people who have difficulty enjoying the moment with their loved ones, and people who are good at enjoying the moment with loved ones, but have a harder time completing tasks. I definitely fit into the first category.

I need to learn to let everything go and enjoy my children more. So, I'm trying not to care that my floors are crummy, my laundry is all over the place, and my yard is one giant compost pile. It's not easy, but having my cute little boyfriend around helps a lot.

the "farm"

2011-01-17T19:40:00.000-08:00

My mom was in town to visit us this past weekend. We drove out to the country and stayed overnight at her Uncle Harold's place. Harold grew up on the Palmer farm, but eventually became a dental surgeon and moved to northern California.

It seems they could take the boy off the farm, but never quite get the farm out of the boy, so to speak. There used to be quite a menagerie of animals on the property, but my aging uncle sold his sheep, goats, and cows in recent years. Now, Harold's passion for livestock has turned to raising bulldogs. He has two; a momma-bulldog named Diesel (yes, Diesel is a girl), and one of her full-grown puppies named Iverson.

Harold sitting with his baby, Iverson. He always wears overalls.

Iverson's mug shot.

Josie chasing Diesel around the yard.

Josie was, surprisingly, NOT afraid of the dogs. Dogs normally make her nervous, but she loved the bulldogs... until Iverson stole her blankie and put it in his bed. Then she cried and cried until I took the blankie back. Poor Josie. (I think that's the dirtiest that blankie has ever been, by the way.)

Harold's grandson lives on the property with his wife and two children. They keep chickens and two miniature goats there. Josie had a blast playing with the cousins and playing "farm". She helped feed the chickens and goats and gathered eggs for our breakfast.

The chickens (and the children) have plenty of space to roam on.

The freshest eggs she's ever eaten! I don't know why she has no shirt on. It's ok, though. All the kids spent most of Saturday morning partially naked due to dress up games.

They had a large meyer lemon tree in the yard that was loaded with ripe lemons. They're sweeter and milder than regular lemons. We took some home with us and made the BEST lemon pie. Seriously, if you ever get your hands on some meyer lemons, you simply MUST make pie!

Trying to pick lemons. They're hard to pull off!

The booty.

Josie had such a great time at Harold's house, she hardly slept during the night. She kept waking up and saying, "It's time to get up!" She wanted to play with the kids and animals so bad. It was better than Disneyland for her.

Jack didn't have such a bad time, either. He had plenty of arms to hold him.

I love the facial expressions in this picture.

Here he is with great-aunt Jackie.

whoa, boy!

2011-01-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

Step right up, folks, and see the AMAZING, EXPANDING, GROW-A-LIFIC boy! He grows right before your eyes!

Jack at 2.5 weeks

Drum roll please!

........

.........

TA DA!!!

Jack at 8 weeks. He's outgrown his nifty Puj Tub!

In a mere six weeks, this kid has gained nearly FIVE POUNDS. He weighed in at 13 pounds 4 ounces today at the doc's. And unfortunately, he's quite the mommy's boy. He never wants me to put him down. Ugh...... my back is killing me!

Jack is wearing 6 month-size clothes already. He eats constantly. Apparently, my only purpose in life is to be his personal milk dispenser. He's the polar opposite of his sister. Josie didn't eat nearly as much (we practically had to force feed her at first!) and didn't weigh 13 pounds until she was well over 6 months-old.

ACK! I'm already dreading my future grocery bill.

december 26

2010-12-29T13:43:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Christmas a day late this year. Jon had to work all day on the 24th and 25th, so we asked Santa to come to our house on the night of the 25th. We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner on Christmas day. Josie didn't know the difference. I was a little reluctant to celebrate Christmas late, but now I'm glad that we did things the way we did.

My dad flew in to spend the holiday weekend with us. It's a good thing, too, because he was the only one who took any pictures! Geeze, what is wrong with me?! Sleep deprivation, maybe?

hanging out on Grandpa's bed

Grandpa gave Josie "dinosaurus", as she calls them.

She helped Jack open his presents.

Josie got a Melissa and Doug-brand cupcake decorating set. It has dry erase markers shaped like icing tubes that you "frost" the cupcakes with. So cute! I love Melissa and Doug toys.

The other reason why December 26th was special is because it was Jack's baby blessing day at church. Fortunately for us, our ward doesn't meet until 1 p.m., so we had plenty of time to open gifts and get ready.

He's wearing the same outfit his uncles Alec and Dan wore when they were blessed.

Here he is in his blessing outfit, doing his best Popeye impression.

Here we are in front of our church building.

This year was the first year that Josie really understood the whole Santa thing (despite her emotional breakdown... see prevous post). It made the holiday so magical. It was fun to watch her excitement as she opened her gift that she had been wanting since October. What would Christmas be like without the excitement of little kids, really?

pantophobia

2010-12-18T16:52:00.000-08:00

Let me preface this post with a short video clip:

I'm afraid Josie has the same psychological problems as Charlie Brown.

Just this week, she had a complete emotional breakdown during her preschool Christmas program. All she had to do was sit in a row with her classmates and sing three Christmas songs for the parents. But instead, she cried so hard and wailed, "Momma! Momma!" the ENTIRE time. I felt so bad for her, it made me cry! My tears might also be attributed to the fact that I got a grand total of 4 hours of sleep the night before, but who knows. Ugh... I was so embarrassed, I wanted to crawl under a rock and disappear.

It wouldn't have been so upsetting to me if it had only been Josie's first breakdown. Her track record of emotional breakdowns at fun activities is almost perfect. She freaks-out at preschool programs, carnival games, birthday party games, trick-or-treating, sitting on Santa's lap, and pretty much anything that involves groups of kids having fun with each other.

Perhaps a more appropriate name for Josie's psychosis would be funophobia. (Is that a word? Are there any Latin experts in the house?)

[Speaking of Santa... you should have seen Josie's reaction to Santa at the ward Christmas dinner last weekend. Oh boy. She cried like she was being tortured, and that was while she was merely waiting in line to see him. She never even got close to his lap!]

In line for Santa. Looks like she's in line for the electric chair.

It's difficult for me to watch her struggle with this problem. Mainly because I was like her as a child: painfully shy and apprehensive about social situations. I used to cry every morning before going to kindergarten. No joke. Jon was shy as a child as well, and is a bit of a mental case to this very day. And together, we've created a race of super worry-warts.

DUN-DUN-DUN!!

Will Josie ever learn to relax and have fun? Will Jack suffer the same genetic fate?

Just look at those furrowed eyebrows! What on earth could this baby be concerned about??

Jon and I got over our anxiety eventually, so perhaps there is hope. Only time will tell.

my week

2010-12-12T19:56:00.000-08:00

Jack is going to be 6 weeks old tomorrow and I'm not out of the woods yet. Meaning, I'm still in the no-schedule, constant-feeding, sleepless-night stage of Jack's infancy.

However, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm happy to report that I did accomplish some things this week. (Yay!) And did some fun things too. Much of which wouldn't have been possible without the infant carrier that my friend loaned me. Lately, Jack seems to be happy ONLY when he is inside this:

I don't know how I would clean the kitchen without it!

I turned 30 on Tuesday. Wa-hoo. *twirls index finger in the air*

I'm a little sad that my twenties are over, but I'm also happy to be where I'm at. If I had the option of being my 21-yr-old self again, I would have to say "no". Life was hard back then. Life is much nicer now.

Jon took Josie to Target and let her pick out some gifts for me. You might think that a 3-yr-old would pick out random things like Lysol or a can of beans or something like that. But, my little girl actually chose stuff I needed.... without any suggestion from dad! She gave me a set of chip clips, a can opener, a tablecloth, and a pair of gloves. She probably heard me complain about my old, cruddy can opener several times while preparing dinner, and she was smart enough to remember I needed a new one. Amazing!

My sweet friend Natalie did me a huge favor by driving all the way out to our place and taking some family photos for us.

These were taken at a gazebo in the local park.

My sister, Jen, and her husband Billy flew out on Wednesday and spent the weekend with us. Since going out to visit fun places is generally difficult with infants, we spent a lot of time at home doing Christmas-y activities. We got our Christmas tree and made some ornaments for it. We drove around and looked at lights. We took them to Trader Joe's (that was fun for them, since they don't have any in Utah.) We also made graham cracker gingerbread houses.

Um... no. Billy is not licking the knife in this picture. You didn't see anything.

Josie got a lot of help on hers.

Jen had some good getting-to-know-you time with her new nephew.

There's a scary, glowing eyed gremlin in the background!

We had such a lovely time. I wish my family could visit me every weekend. When is somebody going to invent teleporters, dangit?!

when holidays collide

2010-11-30T13:31:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is December and the world is in full Christmas-mode. I started to put up our holiday decorations over the weekend, but I just couldn't bear to get rid of our beautiful pumpkins that we never carved for Halloween.

I NEVER miss a chance to carve pumpkins on Halloween... normally. But since our Halloween was abnormal this year (i.e. - it was the day before I was induced and I was trying to get a million things done before my world got turned upside-down), we never carved them.

So, we finally got a chance to do it over Thanksgiving weekend.

Josie was trying so hard to help with the cutting part.

Here's the results:

Christmas tree, Charlie Brown, and Santa.

Retailers start putting up their Christmas wares by Halloween these days, so something like this was bound to happen eventually.

newborn daze

2010-11-21T14:38:00.000-08:00

It's funny how I've spent most of my time sitting on the couch in front of the TV for the past 3 weeks, but still feel exhausted. There isn't anything really new or interesting for me to write about since all I've been doing is sitting around in my pajamas, nursing, eating, and sleeping. It's what happens when there's a newborn in the house.

Jack has gained over a pound since we took him home from the hospital! He's the complete opposite of his sister. I had to practically force feed Josie when she was a newborn and it totally stressed me out. Jack eats so much, I find myself nursing on the couch almost every hour sometimes. He's outgrown his newborn clothes already.

Jack's little face is changing. He looks different now from the last post, don't you think?

My sister gave me the coolest baby item ever invented. (thanks, Jen!) It's called the Puj Tub. It's a flat piece of foam that folds into a seat and fits into a standard bathroom sink. It's so much easier to bathe a newborn in it because it supports the baby completely so that mom can have two free hands. Jack doesn't cry at all during bath time because he feels more secure in it than in a regular plastic tub.

Right now, our little guy likes to stay up late and sleep all morning. He must have gotten the night owl gene from his daddy. I'm so blessed because Jon has been taking care of Josie in the mornings for me so I can sleep in. Jon has really been my lifesaver during these past few weeks. I am a seriously lucky girl to have him!

he's here

2010-11-07T15:27:00.000-08:00

It's been much too long since my last post. I was so busy trying to accomplish some last-minute tasks before the baby came, my poor blog has been neglected.

Yup, our little guy is here! I'm so relieved. Pregnancy was really starting to get annoying. Sorry folks, but I'm just being honest. I'm sure some of you moms out there can relate.

His name is Jackson Thomas Colton. I love his name. Jon and I chose it after watching Michael Douglas' character in Romancing the Stone long before we even had kids.

If I have any male readers out there, just be warned that the remainder of this post may get slightly detailed. I know my girlfriends like to hear childbirth stories, so bear with me if you please.

*****

About three weeks ago, I went in for an ultrasound because I suspected that baby was getting too big already. They estimated his weight to be 7 lb. 12 oz. Wowza! That's pretty big for having three more weeks to go. So, my doctor scheduled me for an induction 4 days before my due date.

It all seemed pretty reasonable to me until I started doing research about childbirth induction on the internet. All the possible side effects freaked me out. Especially the excessive pain and death part. (ACK!) I spent the remainder of my pregnancy trying just about EVERY natural childbirth-inducing trick in the book. Got a few contractions, but no baby.

The morning of my induction date came. I hadn't slept much. I cried and cried because I was scared. Knowing what was going to happen to me that day made it worse, I think. I might be one of those people who deals better with stress when I don't know what's coming. But Jon reassured me that everything would be fine, and reminded me that childbirth is risky regardless of how it happens.

We went in to the hospital at 7 a.m. and filled out some paperwork. We got into our delivery room and the nurses hooked me up to the machines so they could monitor the baby's heartbeat for an hour or so. My doctor came in at 9 a.m. to administer the induction medication. I spent the rest of the morning laying in my bed trying to catch some sleep. My contractions were coming, but were so mild I was able to relax pretty well. Jon was happy that our delivery room had cable TV.

Here's me at lunchtime. I was still smiling at this point.

At 1 p.m. my doctor came back and broke my water. Then the contractions got stronger. And stronger.

This is what I looked like at around 5 p.m.:

I was begging Jon to kill me.

I don't remember labor being so painful the first time. Maybe I subconsciously blocked it out of my memory.

I had a couple doses of intravenous painkillers while I was laboring, but they didn't seem to help much. It's weird because I had some when I was in labor with Josie and they helped quite a bit. So, I've decided that if I ever need to be induced again, I'm going for the epidural. Oy!

When I was ready to push, I had to wait about 7 minutes for the doctor to arrive. Those were the longest 7 minutes of my life! The pushing part wouldn't have been so bad except Jack's arm came out with his head. Ugh.... yeah.... No so bueno. I tore pretty badly as a result.

After 12 minutes of pushing, the little guy came out with hardly a cry. He was alert and looking around the room. I was amazed at how calm he was.

Just out of the womb.

His weight was an average 7 lbs. 15 oz. The ultrasound had to be waaaay off! Oh well.

We brought Jack home on Tuesday evening. Josie kept saying, "He's sooo cute!" I think she's going to be a good big sister.

He is the sweetest little guy. He eats well, sleeps well, and hardly cries (so far!) I can't believe how blessed I am. The second time around feels so much easier than the first. (Hopefully I'm not jinxing myself for saying that.)

random Josie

2010-10-19T17:23:00.000-07:00

Maybe now would be a good time to post some recent Josie-portraits. After all, her little life is about to be turned upside-down with a new baby brother, and who knows when she will have another photo-op for herself after that.

Not because Jon and I won't want to take pictures of her, but because we might be a little too sleep-deprived to notice those fleeting, cute moments for a while.

Taking her puppy and elephant for a walk. Her love of animals never ceases.

She looks so grown-up in this picture!

Oh... never mind. Some habits die hard. *sigh*

My Dad flew in for the weekend. But for some reason I didn't get any good pictures, shame on me! I guess it's because we mostly sat around and ate food. That's all I really want to do right now anyway.

This is a game Josie made up called "higher". She and grandpa sat on the futon bed and threw stuffed animals and pillows into the air. Fun times.

Trying out mom's rain boots.

The preschool did a field trip today to Joan's farm and pumpkin patch. Josie was so excited about it, she's been talking about it since last week. So excited, in fact, that she could barely go to sleep last night!

What would the world be like without the enthusiasm of children?

She was hesitant to feed the goats at first, but she got over it. I still had to help her keep her hand level, though. A lot of feed spilled on the ground. Oh well.

She got to pick out her own, small pumpkin. They were all wet with morning dew. So, of course our girlie-girl didn't want to get her hands wet while choosing one.

Refusing to have picture time with the class on hay bales. Maybe she's afraid of hay. But I think it's more likely she's afraid of doing fun, new things without her parents.

Jon and I decided to be cruel and MAKE her sit on the hay bales.

Can you see her? She's facing the wrong way.

Ahhh! A train and a plastic horse. That's more like it.

another month? really?

2010-10-09T16:35:00.000-07:00

As you can see by the floating fetus widget over there on the right, there's about one month left of my pregnancy. But, based on how I feel, I'm guessing that this baby is going to be early. He has to be.... or I will die.

I don't see how I can get much bigger or more incapacitated, without being on bed rest anyway. I can't tie my shoes. My belly is so high and sticks out so far that my maternity pants are barely staying up. I'm certain there are about a million toys under the couch right now, but they're stuck there until after my bowling ball of a belly is gone. Vacuuming has become a test of endurance. Grocery shopping has to be completed within 15 minutes or so, before I start to feel faint.

Any amount of time spent on my feet has to be countered with twice the amount of time sitting on the couch with my feet up. (Or at least that's all I feel like doing anyway.) Oh, and did I mention that we got rid of our cable last week? So, sitting on the couch is boring now. My feet are swelling. They didn't do that last time. There are so many things my body has been through this time that didn't happen with my first pregnancy. And I'm ALWAYS tired.

And I'm only going to get bigger?!

My basketball belly.

But I shouldn't complain. I'm so happy that my baby is healthy and that everything is working out otherwise.

I just need a robot that can scrub my floors.

October 1st

2010-10-01T23:48:00.000-07:00

Today is October 1st, but my Halloween decor has already been up for over a week. That's how nuts I am for fall and it's holidays. And what's even more nuts is the amount of time I spend choosing and arranging decorations. It's pathetic, really.

We have a bigger space now, so of course I had get some new stuff. I went to nearly every store in town looking for a few pieces to add to my Halloween collection.

Here's what I did with the living room:

I love my crown molding shelf wall. It's where I always put some of my favorite things.

The owl and retro-pumpkin jar are new. The framed print behind them was photocopied from a book of Maxfield Parrish illustrations.

I've had this little house for several years. It's one of my favorites.

This was my splurge item: a mounted Norman Rockwell print from Art.com. Luckily Jon shares my appreciation for classic illustrators, so he didn't mind.

White pumpkins are so pretty.

We got all our pumpkins at Farmer John's Pumpkin Patch. Yup, we've already been to a pumpkin patch. Did I mention I'm a little nuts?

tumble time bus

2010-09-29T23:19:00.000-07:00

Josie has been in preschool since the middle of August. She LOVES it. Every time I pick her up from class she asks,

"Can we doe do preschool dumorrow?"

Yes, she's still struggling with some of the consonant letter sounds. But her slightly-delayed language skills have improved quite a bit since she started going to preschool. I think being in an environment where she's forced to communicate with people who don't understand her unique "Josie language" has helped.

This week, the class went on a field trip to the Tumble Time Bus. Josie loves riding public transit buses already, so a bus with gymnastics and other activities was just the ticket for her.

"Cheese!"

The kids are adorable in their matching t-shirts.

I know I'm biased, but isn't she the cutest kid of all?

why I'm thankful for digital

2010-09-23T22:50:00.000-07:00

When Jon and I were dating and newlyweds, we took all our pictures with a standard 35mm film camera. It's amazing how times have changed in the last 8 years! Nowadays, I hardly know a soul who uses one of those things.

Digital definitely has it's advantages. For instance, there's no chance that you will triple-expose your film.... like I did with these:

These are a mixture of Hill Air Force Base air show and beach trip.

I was devastated when I got these back from the photo developing counter. Somehow, Jon and I managed to use the SAME ROLL OF FILM for several occasions during the dating-to-newlywed era of our lives. At the time I got these pictures back, I felt terrible because something irreplaceable was lost.

But now I can laugh.

I call this one, "Crowded Head Overlooking Elephant Seals"

This is like one of those western paintings with native americans or animals that are hidden into the landscape. Have you seen those?

Us at the beach, with key rack from Jon's apartment, and scowling Jon.

It gets better...

Oh, the agony of... opening presents??

These are a combination of me opening gifts on my 22nd birthday in our tiny newlywed apartment, and reference photos that Jon took of himself for some illustration project he was working on. Doesn't it sort of remind you of the movie, Ghost? Except Patrick Swayze's character probably wouldn't have been trying to punch his girlfriend in the face.

we have a header! among other things

2010-09-13T23:25:00.000-07:00

My family blog finally has a header instead of icky, HTML text! How long have I had this blog?? Uh... never mind.

I really should be ashamed of myself, being a GRAPHIC DESIGNER and all. I couldn't take 20 minutes of my precious time to make a simple header before now?

I blame it on Facebook.

In other news:

1. Josie is making progress in the potty training department. Just when I had given up all hope! A combination of M&M bribery and forcing her to wear underwear (despite the risks!) seemed to be the solution. Now she's wearing "big-girl underwear" 90% of the time, except at night when she's asleep. She hasn't conquered bedwetting completely... yet!

I'm proud to report that Josie used the potty all by herself in nursery at church yesterday. (Our nursery has a restroom off to the side with a child-size toilet.) That is a big first for her to use the potty in a place other than our home without mommy being within sight. Huzzah!!

Jon is even teaching her how to clean the toilet.

Cleaning the toilets is one of Jon's few household jobs, mainly because I hate doing it. Maybe he's trying to pass off his responsibilities to the offspring already?

2. Doesn't this face make you wanna smile?

Josie was saying, "I'm so tired!" when we took this picture. She looks exactly how I feel lately.

3. I got a much-needed break from the daily grind last Saturday by going to the Time Out for Women conference in Sacramento with some of my girlfriends. The speakers were inspiring and reminded me how much I have to be thankful for. Like, a husband who could watch Josie for me all day, for example. Thanks, honey!

4. My elusive next-door neighbors finally introduced themselves to us a few weeks ago. They are an elderly hispanic couple. We brought goodies over to them for Valentine's Day, but never spoke with them because one of their grandchildren answered the door.

Months later, one of her grand-daughters called me over as I was unloading groceries out of my car in the driveway. She explained that her grandparents didn't speak much English, but that she would translate for her grandmother who wanted to talk to me.

She told us that she thought we were good neighbors and wanted to knit some clothes for the baby. How sweet is that? Well, I was blown away by the gift she brought over to my front door last night:

According to her grand-daughter, this woman can make a set like this in just a few days! Can you believe that??

I feel bad that I can't communicate with this neighbor very well. She is so sweet and generous. I've been wracking my brain all day trying to think of a way I could show her my gratitude. Should I bake her something? or maybe bring her dinner? I would love to have her over, but the conversation would be terrible!

the wedding

2010-09-06T01:18:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, how long has it been since our last installment of the Colton Courtship story? Too long, I'm afraid. I apologize to any of you who have been dying to read the final chapter... 'cuz I KNOW you are, right??

*****

The day started out with a luncheon at the Lion House for our families and temple wedding guests.

This was arguably one of my favorite parts of the whole day. The food at the Lion House is incredible and the surroundings are so fun.

After lunch, it was off to the temple to get hitched!

Being a Saturday in June, you probably could guess that the Salt Lake City temple was very, very busy. And you would be right. I don't think I will ever see so many brides in one place on one day ever again. (Unless Josie gets married there on a Saturday in June.)

Jon and I went to the sealing room to meet our wedding guests. We waited. And waited. And waited for what seemed like ages for the wedding officiator to come in. A woman came and brought Jon and I both out to the hallway and told us that our sealer was MIA, but that someone else would be there shortly to perform the ceremony. So, we sat in the hall and waited some more.

Finally, a man brought us back into the room and introduced himself as Rex D. Pinegar. I'm sure he must have been busy working in the temple that day, so it was so nice of him to perform our sealing on the spot like that.

After a beautiful ceremony, and lots of happy tears on my part, we had the opportunity to exchange rings. Unfortunately, in the rush to get ready that morning, we had forgotten Jon's ring! Oh well. Temple marriages don't require rings and Jon and I were just happy to be married.

It was windy that afternoon outside the temple, which made my long hair and veil a total pain. I finally took it off and finished our photo session without it.

I love this photo of Jon. Doesn't he look so happy?

Jon and I drove my mom back to my parent's home to get ready for the reception. We had an hour or so to kill before we had to start getting ready, so Jon and I decided to leave for a bit. My younger sister protested, saying that we needed to stay and help get the decorations ready. But my mother reminded her that it was MY wedding day, and I didn't have to do anything. Nice....

Jon wanted to go to Barnes and Noble. So we did. How random is that? Get married, go book shopping, buy a soda, have wedding reception... only in Jon's world, I tell you! When we came back to the house, my sister didn't believe that we had been book shopping, (if ya know what I mean.)

Jon and I were getting back into our wedding clothes when the near-disaster happened. Jon kissed me, getting lipstick on his lips, and then kissed me on my stomach, leaving a red lipstick stamp on my white wedding gown. PANIC!! We scrambled to find some dry cleaning fluid. Luckily, one of our neighbors who was helping with the reception had some. The red lipstick crisis was averted.

We had a photo shoot just before the reception started.

Jon doing his best James Bond pose.

This is the photographic result of divorced/re-married parents who refuse to stand next to each other for pictures. Ahhh... what's a wedding without a little family drama, eh?

Speaking of family drama:

We all look way too happy, don't we?

We stood in line to greet our guests for what seemed like forever. My dear, sweet grandpa tried to stand with us, but he wasn't getting around on his feet too well.

This is one of my favorite pictures of my grandfather. Sadly, it's a low-resolution version of the original which has been lost. I tore my house apart one evening looking for it, to no avail :(

Our pretty cake.

We saved the top tier of the cake and left it in my mom's big freezer. I took it back with me as carry-on during one of my flights from a Utah visit the following year. (I'm sure that must have thrown the airport security screeners for a loop.) Jon and I enjoyed it on our one-year anniversary. It was still yummy!

Getting a chance to sit down.

Jon and I didn't get ready to leave the party until about 10 o'clock. We changed, packed our bags, and got seriously riced by Jon's dad:

That rice down the shirt ended up all over our hotel room floor.

Off we went in our crappy car, so lovingly decorated by Jon's sister.

We spent 2 nights in the lovely Inn at Temple Square, then packed our car to the ceiling with as much of my stuff as we could and drove off into the sunset to California. That was our honeymoon!

[We still want go on a "real" honeymoon someday.... to some place like Hawaii or Italy. Maybe on our 10th anniversary? or 15th? Basically whenever the kids are old enough to stay with grandma for a week.]

*****

So, there you have it! I can't believe we've been married for eight years already. And sometimes I can't believe we're still in California. I think the moral of this courtship story is that you never can predict what life will bring. Our plans will always change. I believe Heavenly Father has a plan for everyone, and sometimes (if not most of the time), it doesn't match our own. But I'm glad that, through the guidance and blessings from Heavenly Father, Jon became part of mine.

phone etiquette

2010-08-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

Jon is such a tease. Sometimes, he gives people a hard time over the phone. Especially people he doesn't want to talk to.

*****

We got a call from a collections agency this morning. They aren't after us, thank goodness. They are after someone we know who THEY think might live with us. We get these calls every once in a while.

Jon answered the phone. A recorded message proceeded to say something like,

"Congratulations, Susan Smith*! You have won our 1,000 dollar grand prize! Press one to claim your prize."

(Apparently, this particular agency tries to trick people into talking to them with this message.)

Most people would just hang up in this situation. I mean, it's obvious it's some kind of scam, right?

Well, Jon thought he would have a little fun. He presses one. A woman on the other end says,

"Is this Susan Smith?"

"Yes, this is Susan." replies Jon in his deepest, manliest voice.

"Uh... Susan is a woman," replies the caller.

"I am a woman!" says Jon in his deep voice.

Caller hangs up.

*Name has been changed.

****

Sometimes when Jon is on the phone with a customer service representative (especially ones who put him on hold for 30 minutes) he'll put THEM on hold just for spite. In the middle of their conversation, Jon says,

"Can you hold for a minute?"

"OK, sir," says the service rep.

Jon puts the phone on the desk, turns on his music, and surfs the internet for a few minutes while he sings along.

I don't have the nerve to do this sort of thing. I care too much about what total strangers think of me.

cousins

2010-08-22T23:23:00.000-07:00

After Yellowstone, the third stop on our summer vacation was Montana. Jon's dad and sister, Angela, both live there. But most importantly to Josie, it's where Alexandra and Alyssa live.

That's Alyssa on the left and Alex on the right. It was all fairy princesses, all the time with these two. Josie was in heaven.

Josie had so much fun with her two cousins, she literally didn't ask me for anything for THREE WHOLE DAYS. I can't emphasize the significance of that enough! Relaxing with your child and not hearing, "Momma, can you (insert action here)?" every 10 minutes is my idea of a perfect vacation.

A popular pastime at Grandpa Colton's house is jumping on the trampoline. Josie must have spent hours on it!

Josie also discovered Barbies in the toy room at Grandpa's house. In this picture, she's probably thinking to herself, "Where have you been all my life, Barbie??"

We celebrated Josie's birthday a few weeks early so she could have a party with her relatives. It was a princess party, of course.

Each girl got a crown and magic wand.

Dancing with balloons is always a hit.

Josie got stage fright and wouldn't blow out her candles.

The five little girls enjoying their cake and ice cream. The two on the left are step-cousins.

She was one happy girl!

Later that evening, we took the girls to the county fair for dinner and to ride some carnival rides. Seriously... it was the best day of Josie's little life.

The Three Amigos.

Riding on the car ride with Alyssa. I love how they're both sitting in the back seat. They know!

On the carousel.

I never could get all three of them to look at the camera at once.

Again, just further evidence that my daughter is the most spoiled child in the universe.

It's been nearly 3 weeks since we were there, and one of Josie's burning questions is still,

"Can we see Awex and Awyssa?"

So, Angela... when are you gonna bring those kids out to Cali?

burning questions

2010-08-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

The following are conversations that happen between Josie and I at least 50,000 times per day.

J - "Where's Daddy go?"
K - "He's at work."
J - "I wanna see Daddy!"
K - "You can when he gets home."
J - "Aaaaawwww" (with an annoyed tone)

J - "Where's my blankie go?"
K - "I don't know, where did you put it? Go look for it in (insert room name here)"
J - (Goes, looks, but can't find it and cries) "WHERE'S MY BLANKIEEEE????!!!
K - (Drops everything, sighs, and locates blankie) "It's right here, Josie!"

J - "Can we go da circus town?"
K - "Not today, honey."

J - "Can I see da kitty?"
K - "The kitty is in the garage/hiding from you/doesn't want to see you right now."
J - "Aaaaawwwww!" (annoyed again)
(Other variations of this conversation include some of her friends' names.)

J - "Can we go da birthday party?"
K - "There is no birthday party today."
J - "Oh."

Now you know what is most important to Josie in her life right now.

Yellowstone

2010-08-13T23:37:00.000-07:00

It's nearly a week after we got home, and I finally have time to post more vacation pictures. It took me a few days to get my life back in order, but I'm finally getting caught up. It went a little like this:

unpacking + cleaning + unanswered emails + multiple doctor appointments + church callings + Josie starting preschool = one crazy week!

*****

Can you believe that this was the first time that Jon has ever been to Yellowstone?? He lived in Rexburg, ID for 3 years and in Montana with his dad, and never went there. That was half the reason why we decided to go, plus we were driving from SLC to Montana anyway. So, we decided to make Yellowstone our second stop on our vacation.

Yellowstone was apparently THE place to be this summer. So many of my Facebook friends were there during or around the time that we were there. Kinda weird....

The weather forecast scared us a little bit. There were quite a few thunderstorms and rain during our trip, and Jon nearly gave up our camping reservation to opt for a hotel. But I didn't pack and haul all our camping gear over 800 miles just to stay in a hotel, darn it!

So, we camped despite the weather reports. It rained for a while the first night, but having a couple of tarps and some rain ponchos made it quite comfortable.

We covered our picnic table and our tent with tarps. They kept us nice and dry.

The next day was beautiful. No rain, just mild temperatures and sunshine. And lots of Buffalo.

We hiked down the canyon to the brink of the Lower Falls. If we had known how scary it was beforehand, we might have chickened out. It took me a few minutes to get over the vertigo!

If you go over the railing here, you're in for a spectacular fall!

Jon is so paranoid. At first, he wouldn't let Josie get near the chain link fence that keeps visitors from going off the cliff. Naturally, he was afraid that the fence might break and she would fall through. *sigh*

We ate lunch at the shores of Yellowstone Lake and then drove to Old Faithful. But Old Faithful isn't as faithful as it used to be. We had to wait around for a while to see it erupt.

We're waaaaaaiting......

The next morning, we visited a stinky geyser basin.

Mmmmm.... sulfer-y.

We decided to say goodbye to the park and drove to West Yellowstone where we ate lunch and visited with an art instructor Jon and I both took classes from at Ricks.

I think the drive between West Yellowstone and Helena, Montana was the most scenic on the entire trip. We made our way through a small canyon with a winding river. We passed adorable little log cabin campgrounds and ranches. There were fly-fishermen and white-water-rafters here and there. The cool, cloudy skies and green grass made me want to stop and play in water for a while. But Jon was in a hurry to see his family.

Pshhhht, whatever!

This picture was the best I could do from the moving car. Let's just say that if I ever get rich enough to own a summer home, this is where it will be.

We drove through a heavy rainstorm at one point. After living in California for 8 years, I realized how much I miss summer rainstorms. Summer rain cools down the air and make the earth smell fresh. It's so invigorating. (Do ya know what I'm talking about, my fellow Utah/Idaho-transplants??)

If someone could bottle that scent and sell it, I'd be the first to buy it. I'd spray it all over the house when it's been 100+ degrees for a month here in Endless Heat Land.

freak show

2010-08-07T23:59:00.000-07:00

We made it home safely tonight from our 2 week+ road trip across the mountain states. My living room floor is covered with random luggage and camping gear, and I'm so tired and blogging-starved that I will ignore it until tomorrow morning.

Before I start posting photos from our trip, I'd like to show you what happens when you don't pick your cucumbers and squash for over two weeks:

The fork was thrown in there just for scale. The cucumber on the very top is about the size I would normally pick them at. I told my house sitter that she was welcome to any of the ripe vegetables she wanted, but apparently she's not a fan of cucumbers.

These round ones are pattypan squash, which are supposed to be picked when they are only about 3 inches in diameter. But they grew to the size of acorn squash! I don't know what I'm going to do with them or those gigantic zucchinis. They're probably too tough to eat. Any suggestions?

As for non-vegetable freaks, I have to show you my fingernails:

My fingernails have NEVER been this long in their lives. They may not seem so to a lot of you readers, but for a girl who nibbled her fingernails until she was in her mid-twenties and plays the piano, this is freakishly long! The lighting is horrible (because it's after 11 p.m.) and they don't look very pretty, but I had to document my LONGEST. NAILS. EVER. before I cut them off.

I forgot to bring clippers with me on the trip, and somehow I managed to ignore how long they were getting. Two of them broke within 30 minutes of returning home. I guess long nails don't last under normal life conditions.

Stay tuned for more on our vacation later. (You're soooo excited, right??)

why Josie is spoiled

2010-07-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

Josie is the most spoiled child ever. She is the only grandchild on my side of the family, and when we visit, she gets to do more fun stuff in one weekend than I used to do in one year.

Like watching fireworks with her auntie Jen:

And going to the rodeo:

And riding carnival rides with Grandpa:

And going to the zoo:

And riding on the zoo carousel, once with Grammie:

And then again with Jen:

And riding on the zoo train:

And play with the old toys at Grammie's house:

And did I mention that Josie got to watch movies for the majority of the drive between Reno and Salt Lake City? My siblings and I never had portable DVD players on long car trips, and we drove across the entire country once! Sheesh.

Do you know why I'm spoiled? Because I have enough babysitters here in Utah to give me a chance to shower and do my hair each day, go clothes shopping, go to the temple, and just do absolutely NOTHING.

It's great!

*****

We're off to our next stop on our vacation tomorrow... Yellowstone National Park! Can you believe Jon's never been there?? So, it's over and out until I can get more pictures uploaded to the interwebs, and that may not be until later next week. See you then!

the real thing pizza

2010-07-19T01:32:00.000-07:00

I said a while back that I had discovered the most authentic Italian thin-crust pizza recipe ever. I didn't think it was possible... but thanks to my Food Network hero, Alton Brown, it has been surpassed!

The key to getting an Italian-style, brick oven pizza at home is as close as your backyard grill. This was my first attempt at grilling pizza, and I have to admit, it took me a couple of tries and slight tweaking of my pizza-dough-making-methods before I got this recipe just right. So, I've included a few tips based on my trials and errors that will hopefully help you get the perfect pizza, dear readers.

I'm so excited about this pizza, my toes are tingling!

Are you ready for this?

Grilled Pizza Dough:
16 ounces all-purpose flour (by weight, not volume! If you don't have a kitchen scale, well... get one! )
1 envelope of instant or rapid yeast, or 2.25 teaspoons (You definitely want to use instant or rapid rise, not plain-old Active Dry yeast! It won't rise fast enough.)
1 tablespoon of kosher salt
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of malt barley extract (this is Alton's "secret ingredient". It's thick like molasses, and gives the dough a nice flavor. It can be found in most health food stores.)
10 ounces warm water (about 105 degrees)

Alton's instructions:
Place all the ingredients in the work bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low with the dough hook until the dough comes together.   Knead on medium speed for 15 minutes.   After 15 minutes test the dough structure with the "window pane" method, which is this: stretch out a small piece of dough until thin. Hold up to a light source, such as a window. If the dough forms a thin membrane that you can see light through without tearing, it is ready. If not, knead the dough more.  

[Kathryn's notes:
Honestly, my dough never achieved "window pane" thinness. I kneaded and kneaded and kneaded the dough (for a total of about 30 minutes) and the texture never quite reached perfection. Maybe it's the flour I was using, or the yeast, but I'm not sure what to blame.

Just keep in mind that your dough should feel very soft, and a bit on the sticky side. If it's not soft and sticky, the texture will be tough when cooked.]

Place the dough in a greased container, cover, and let rise for 1 hour, until about double.   After one hour, section the dough into four equal sections. Each section will make an individual size pizza. Punch down each section. Roll into a ball. Cover with a towel and let the four balls rise again (also known as "bench proofing") for 45 minutes.  

While your dough  rises, get the tomato sauce ready:

Slice 2 large tomatoes into thick rounds (about 3 slices per tomato). Place tomato in a large bowl, add 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 tsp. kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes. Toss to combine, and let marinate until your ready to start grilling.

Now would be the time to get your grill going, especially if you are using charcoal (as I did).

[A note on charcoal grilling:
After your coals are red-hot, spread them out as evenly as possible in the bottom of your grill with some long tongs. It will ensure the pizza crust cooks evenly and doesn't get burned in the center. If you use propane, you don't have to worry about this.]

Before you grill the pizza, you need to grill the tomatoes!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: fresh tomatoes are the only way to go if you want authentic Italian pizza! Pizza sauce is supposed to taste like tomatoes. Store-bought pizza sauce doesn't, and consequently is the devil.

Grill the tomato slices until they are soft. Put them back in the bowl and mash them up until they are slightly chunky.

Get your other toppings ready:
sliced fresh mozzarella
chopped basil
grated parmesan cheese

Once you start grilling, you have to work fast, so keep all your toppings and equipment close at hand.

Grilling equipment:
Pizza peel, or upside-down sheet pan
tongs (good to have in case your crust doesn't flip perfectly)
kitchen timer
olive oil
oil brush

Once the dough has risen for 45 minutes, roll out each one to about 1/8 inch thick, about 12 in. diameter. Place each pizza round on your pizza peel or sheet pan.

Oil top of dough with 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil. Flip the dough, placing oiled side down on the grill. Cover and grill for 2 minutes. (This is where your kitchen timer comes in handy.) After 2 minutes, brush 1-2 teaspoons of oil on the other side and flip the crust.

[I don't have any photos of the oiling/flipping part of the recipe. It's requires too much speed and attention for me to worry about handling a camera at the same time. In fact, I recommend cooking this pizza only when you have a guaranteed 20 minute block of uninterrupted time. That might mean making this pizza only when your hubby is around to watch the little ones, ladies! You don't wanna burn your crust.]

Spread tomatoes on crust, then sprinkle with mozzarella, parmesan, and basil. Cover and let cook for another 2 minutes, until the bottom of the crust is starting to char.

Here's what the toppings look like just after I placed them on the pizza.

This is what the pizza looks like after it is cooked. I improvised a pizza peel with a metal pizza pan and a pair of tongs. It worked pretty well!

Just look at this (slightly blurry) crust:

Isn't it a thing of beauty? I mean, where can you find this type of crust besides a brick oven pizza place?

And the flavor.... HOLY CRAP!! If I were blind, I could have mistaken my backyard for an outdoor pizza restaurant in Rome. Crispy, yet slightly chewy crust, fresh tomatoes and mozzarella..... nothing... I mean NOTHING I've had in the States even compares to this.

My old pizza recipe is good, but I'll save it for rainy, winter days when grilling isn't possible. From now on, this is how I make my pizza, people!

worst. engagement. ever.

2010-07-12T01:44:00.000-07:00

OK.... here comes chapter 7 in the Colton Courtship Story, as promised. Don't worry folks, we're almost done.

*****

You've probably heard the saying, The night is always darkest right before the dawn. It sums up our engagement pretty well. Those few months before the wedding were difficult for a lot of reasons.

Reason 1: College Algebra

My brain cannot comprehend mathematics. It's always been that way. Thankfully, the Lord blessed me with a father who has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, so I had a built-in private tutor if I needed one during my K-12 years.

But I had no tutors at BYU. And my college algebra class had about 200 students in it. And I hadn't taken algebra since my junior year in high school. And I had to get at least a "C" grade to pass the math requirement for my major.

I was doomed.

Reason 2: Sleep deprivation

Jon and I needed a little financial cushioning to get by until I could get a decent job somewhere in the Bay Area. So, I got a second job working at the Orem Target.

I worked part-time, graveyard shift, unloading trucks and stocking shelves. My hours were technically supposed to be from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., but we didn't get to go home until the daily semi-truck delivery was empty and all it's contents were unpacked and stocked. So, oftentimes that meant working until 8 or 9 a.m. It was exhausting work.

I started there in March, about one month before the spring semester was over. That month was hell. I had two jobs, plus classes (that included the dreaded college algebra) and finals coming up. I don't know when I slept.

I was so sleep deprived, I ended up sleeping through TWO of my finals! ACK!! I had to meet privately with both teachers and explain the situation, and they graciously allowed me to take the finals late. That included my college algebra class. By some miracle, I passed the class with a C+. That was a happy day. I will never have to take a math course ever again!

After school was officially over, I concentrated on making money at my two jobs. My days went a little something like this:

8:30 a.m. - 12 noon - office job at Continuing Ed Dept.
12 noon - 1 p.m. - lunch at home
1 p.m. - 8 p.m. - sleep
8 p.m. - 10 p.m. - wake up, dinner (or breakfast... whatever) then relax until
10 p.m. - 7 a.m. - stock shelves at Target
7:30 a.m. - shower and get ready for my office job

You can see why my body clock was completely messed up.

Reason 3: Jon's car

Ahhhh.... Jon's 1989 Eagle Premier (a.k.a The Worst Car Ever Made) was always a thorn in our side.

This is not a picture of the actual car, it's just one I found on the interwebs. Our car was indeed white, but had chipping paint all over it. Nice...

When Jon left for San Francisco, he left his car with one of his old mission buddies in SLC. After Jon and I got engaged, I went to pick up the car, since it was going to be "our" car soon anyway.

It was a cold, icy Saturday. My mom drove me to the apartment complex. When we got there, Jon's car had a flat tire. (It was apparent that Jon's buddy hadn't exactly been taking great care of the car.) So, we went to purchase a can of air, just to inflate the tire enough so I could drive it to a gas station and air it up completely. When we got back and aired up the tire, the engine wouldn't start. Jon's buddy gave it a jump and it started. I drove it to the gas station and aired up the tire. But the engine wouldn't start again. We had to get another jump from a kind stranger. Fearing that the engine wouldn't start if I turned it off again, we drove straight to my parent's house. That way, at least my dad could take a look at it and I wouldn't be stranded.

By then it was Saturday evening, and my dad determined that the car needed a new battery. But all the auto parts stores were closed. My dear dad went to the store first thing on a cold, snowy Sunday morning and bought a new battery for me, and installed it in the car. My hero!

Unfortunately, that was just the beginning of a million little things that went wrong with that car, both before and after the wedding. The automatic seat belt motors broke and I had to special-order expensive parts from a junkyard to get it fixed. A bolt somewhere in one of the wheels broke one night while I was driving to work, and hence the wheel wouldn't turn. There were leaks in everything... the oil, the anti-freeze, etc. I was constantly checking fluid levels. (I have to say, owning a crappy car does force one to learn a little bit about car maintenance, which is not a bad thing.)

In total, we sunk over 2,000 bucks into that car, which is now rotting away in a junkyard somewhere. Good riddance!

Reason 4: my mom

(sigh) Yes, it sounds terrible. I don't want to seem completely ungrateful to my mom, because ultimately, she did do a great job of helping me get my wedding together. I was so busy working my two jobs, I would have never been able to do it myself.

However, she also tried to convince me over and over again that I was making the biggest mistake of my life. My naive younger siblings were confused as to why I would marry someone that our mother was so obviously opposed to. My dad didn't voice his opinion one way or the other.

I felt so alone. There was no one close to me that knew my fiancé for who he really was. And to top it off, Jon was hundreds of miles away!

I did find comfort in one person, though. Jon's former mission president was head of the Spanish department at BYU Provo. Jon had introduced me to him during the previous summer at a mission reunion. He is the type of person I hope I can be like someday. The Holy Spirit is so strong around him it feels like electricity. I visited with him a couple times, just to talk about what I was going through. I was amazed at how easy it was for me to talk to this man who I barely knew, and it was sweet of him to listen to this random, emotional college girl. His advice brought some peace.

Well, things got so bad between my mother and I that I seriously considered eloping. It was impossible to make wedding preparations with someone who was totally against it. I insisted that my mom and I needed mediation, which we got in a session with a professional family counselor. That was probably the turning point for my mom's attitude. She realized that there was going to be a wedding, whether she supported it or not. She decided to support me, albeit only half-heartedly.

So, the wedding preparations went into high-gear. Like I said, I couldn't have done it without my mom's help. She is the queen of frugality. She found an awesome designer dress on Ebay for less than $150. The wedding cake was done by a friend of a friend and amateur wedding cake-maker. My parents prepped their colonial era-style house for an elegant, old-fashioned reception complete with real candle sconces and a live string quartet. My mom's friends in the ward threw me a bridal shower and even made my bouquet! They are some talented ladies, for sure.

This was our reception invitation. I took the photo myself at Baker beach, using the timer on my camera. I also printed each one individually on transparent vellum on my little HP deskjet. It was overlayed on the invitation so the text showed through the photo. All I can say is, when Josie gets married, her invitations will be done professionally. It's so much work!

(the address is blurred to protect the innocent)

Jon flew in from San Fran one week before the wedding and stayed at a friend's house. He almost didn't make his flight, though, because he had some difficulty getting an appointment with his Stake president to get his temple recommend. He got it only at the last minute. Whew!

We were so happy to finally be together again. My hard-knock life at BYU was over. All the hardships of the previous months were starting to melt away. We had been apart for over nine months, only seeing each other for a few days during that entire time. And now we were together for only a week before getting married. Honestly, it felt a little weird!

Two days before the wedding, Jon went through the temple with me for my endowment. Jon's family started coming in from Arizona and Montana. It was time to get married, finally!

This polaroid was taken by Jon's dad at the hotel he was staying at. We were some happy dorks.

TO BE CONTINUED..... with the final chapter of the Colton Courtship Story: The wedding!

to-do list

2010-07-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

I have a small dry erase board where I keep my to-do list. Josie got ahold of it and personalized it with some of her artwork:

Those scary faces are "monsters", according to Josie.

I was having a crazy-busy day and was probably not spending enough time with Josie. But when I saw her doing this, I had to stop for a minute and enjoy. Kids are great for that.

I thought it was fitting that my to-do list was covered with monsters. It pretty much sums up my week.

(I will have a new installment of the Colton Courtship Story soon, in case anyone cares! haha. Things have just been so busy around here lately.)

last straw

2010-07-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

I'm officially giving up on potty training today.

Josie broke the camel's back, so to speak, with her accident on mommy's bed a couple days ago. We had a mouisture-proof cover on it, but the pee somehow managed to soak into the mattress anyway. I dabbed up as much as I could, cleaned with the Bissel, cleansed with a vinegar/water solution, slept on the couch for a night so it could all dry out... and now my bed smells like salad dressing.

This accident was far worse than the couch cushion accidents, the what-feels-like-a-million carpet accidents, and even the accident in the shopping cart at the grocery store.

The frustrating part about all this is that Josie was potty trained, for about 2 weeks back in April. She's still totally capable of using the toilet. But something's gone wrong. Since then, she hasn't used the potty unless I force her to. I've tried to start all over, using the bare-bottom method because it worked the first time. But it's not working anymore. Josie just pees wherever she is.

I can't take it anymore. I'm going to lose it if I have to clean up any more pee! All this time I've taken comfort in the fact that Josie was at least doing #2 in the potty, but even that has gone out the window. She pooped her pants so bad last night I had to give her a bath afterwards.

EPIC. FAIL.

My hope that Josie would be potty trained by the time she turns 3 yrs. old is quickly fading. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised. After all, Josie didn't crawl until she was 13 mos. and didn't walk until she was almost 18 mos. And her potty-regression is probably only going to get worse when the baby comes. So I give up.

If you'll excuse me, I'm going to Target to buy diapers.

*crying*

backyard camping

2010-07-01T22:05:00.000-07:00

Jon wanted to start a new Father's Day tradition this year: Backyard campouts!

I know Father's Day was a couple weeks ago... I'm a little behind in my blog posts.

We fired up the old charcoal grill, roasted hot dogs and ate dinner on the patio...

...no pants required. (I was trying to encourage potty-usage that day. But there is still no end in sight in the potty training department. Grrrr.)

I think this was Josie's first, real s'more.

We need to start eating outside more often. Cleaning the food smears off the floor and table is as easy as spraying with the hose.

Josie LOVES sleeping in the tent. She was so excited about it, she couldn't fall asleep until 11:00!

The best part about backyard camping with Daddy is that Mommy gets to sleep in the house, and enjoy the peace and quiet in her own bed. Ahhhh!

sun dried tomato focaccia

2010-06-27T22:54:00.000-07:00

If you know Jon well, you know that he is an Italian food snob. He became one on his mission, and it has since rubbed off on me.

Ironically, Jon likes the Olive Garden. I asked him why, and he said it's because he doesn't consider the Olive Garden to be an Italian restaurant. Ok, then!

Focaccia is one of those things that has to be made a certain way to gain Jon's approval. And since we've never found truly Italian focaccia in any restaurants (yet!), I decided I would try to find a recipe and make it for him.

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com, modified it slightly, and now it's become a regular dish in the Colton home. It's also another reason why I love my trusty, old Kitchenetics mixer.

I know it's not pretty like those KitchenAid mixers people keep on their countertops, but this baby puts function over form. Not only can it mix, but it has attachments for slicing, shredding, and blending, too!

My favorite part... is the LID! Which means no powdered sugar flying everywhere when I'm making frosting or dough getting pushed out of the bowl when I'm making a big batch of cookies.

Sorry, just had to brag.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup warm water
3 cups bread flour (I've used AP flour, and it works fine, too.)
2 tablespoons dry milk powder
3 ½ tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Salt is crucial to good focaccia. Don't forget it or it will be tasteless. (Somethin' I learned the hard way.)

3 tablespoons butter, softened
2 teaspoons rapid rise yeast
½ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes

Add a couple of teaspoons of olive oil to the dough mixture if your sun-dried tomatoes aren't packed in oil already. Olive oil is another one of those crucial ingredients.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crushed (I used chopped, fresh rosemary)
1 teaspoon garlic salt (or just regular kosher salt, if you wish)

1. Place water, flour, powdered milk, sugar, salt, butter, tomatoes, and yeast into mixer with dough hook and combine well. Knead for about 15 minutes.

2. When the dough has come together and is nice and stretchy, take it out of the mixer. Knead for 1 minute by hand on a lightly floured surface. Place in a large, olive-oiled bowl and turn a few times to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a damp cloth and let it rise in a warm place until almost double in size, about an hour.

3. Brush a 10 x 15 inch baking tray with olive oil. Use hands to push and stretch dough into pan. Make small indentations (or "dimples") with your finger tips. Brush top surface with (you guessed it...) olive oil, and cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise again for 30 minutes.

My Pampered Chef baking stone is perfect for focaccia-making.

The "dimples" create little pools for the olive oil that is brushed on top.

Don't skimp on the oil!

4. Sprinkle with parmesan, rosemary, and garlic salt.

5. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until nicely browned. Cool slightly, and cut into squares for serving.

Mmmmm.... buono!

not-so-happy valley

2010-06-22T23:59:00.000-07:00

Since today is our anniversary, I feel that I should celebrate with yet another installment of the Colton Courtship Story.

It's been 8 years!!! And I'm turning 30 this year, too. I will be a twenty-something no more! *sobs* But honestly, I'd rather be 30 than 21 again. Life was a lot harder for me when I was a 21-yr.-old, as you will soon find out.

********

In the last chapter, Jon had flown away to San Francisco to attend art school and I was mourning the absence of my sweetheart. I was also preparing to move to Provo, a.k.a "Happy Valley".

My apartment at BYU was (how shall we say it nicely....) a dump. And my 3 roommates were high school friends and Wisconsin-ites. Lovely... eh? I ended up moving into another apartment within the same building a couple months later because my roommates were so immature I couldn't stand it.

Meanwhile in San Fran, Jon had the good fortune getting an Academy of Art-regulated dormitory in one of the prettiest parts of town. (Although, it was quite an adventure for him to find it, coming straight from the airport with nothing but his 3 suitcases and an address. You'll have to ask him about it sometime.) It was in the Presidio, a now-defunct military base, right next to the beach. He also had the good fortune of having the entire place to himself. The previous 3 roommates had moved out, and the slots were never filled.

The only problem with living on the beach in SF is the humidity. There is fog practically every day, even in the summer months. So much fog, that Jon's entire box of letter envelopes sealed themselves. Thank goodness for email!

San Francisco is full of all types. One Sunday as Jon was waiting for the bus to go to church, dressed in his Sunday suit, a small group of punkish-looking youth walked up and stood at the same bus stop. Their tattoos and piercings were scary, but Jon soon noticed that they were nervously shifting their feet and eyeing him. When Jon moved closer to them, they moved away. They must have thought Jon was scary in his white shirt and tie. Crazy.

Back in Provo, I had gotten a job as a janitor for the Fine Arts building. Basically, I was the janitor's janitor. (How's that for being on the lowest rung?) Every weekday from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. my job was to clean and re-stock the janitorial closets on all 4 floors of the building. It was a big building. At the end of the week, my meager paycheck barely covered the cost of the cheap phone cards available at the Maverick gas station. I bought many-a-phone card so I could talk to Jon as often as possible.

Then the world as we knew it changed suddenly in a terrible act of terrorism. I remember the morning of September 11, 2001 as vividly as if it were yesterday. I got up to go to work as usual, got dressed in my grubby janitorial clothes, and walked quickly across campus in the crisp coolness of the morning. I didn't know what had happened, and none of the other early-risers walking past me seemed to know either.

When I got to work, my boss, a sweet, little old white-haired lady, informed me there had been an explosion at the World Trade Center. That was all she knew. I worked my shift and headed home to shower and get ready for class. My apartment had free cable, so I turned on the TV to see what had happened. My roommate and I gasped in horror as we watched the videos of the plane flying into the second tower and the dust-covered New Yorkers running for their lives. I remember walking through the student center that day and seeing a girl sitting at one of the tables, crying as she watched the news on the TV. It all seemed so unreal.

I painted this for an assignment in one of my classes. A nice gentleman at the Provo fire department actually posed for me so I could take reference photos. Firefighters are nice guys, aren't they? When it was done, I gave a copy to the fire department so they could hang it in their office.

Jon was listening to the radio in his apartment that morning. He didn't have a TV. I think that's when his love for conservative talk shows started.

It's not that 9/11 has anything to do with the Colton Courtship Story, but it was a significant day in general. And flying on a plane to visit Jon got more complicated. But we're not quite to that point in the story yet.

I felt so lonely without Jon. I was sitting on the balcony in front of my apartment one evening in October, having my usual phone conversation with my sweetheart. (The balcony wasn't private, but it was more private than my bedroom.) Now that Jon and I were apart, I realized how much I needed him in my life. Shame on me for taking Jon for granted!

"Let's get married," I told him.

I was serious. But Jon didn't take me seriously. After all, he had been waiting for me to come around for almost a year already!

His response was something like,

"Ok, sure... whatever."

Several weeks later, I was home on a weekend and attending church with my family. Sacrament meeting was just ending and my mother was sitting next to me on the pew. She looked at the ring on my finger and asked me where I got it. I guess she had never noticed it before, and I hadn't bothered to tell her about it since Jon was a sore topic of conversation for us. When I told her it was a promise ring Jon had given me, she was not happy. She told me, Promise rings are tacky, innapropriate and out-moded... or something like that. My response was,

"Well, there's a reason why I'm wearing it." That's all I said.

Oh boy.... that's when I knew the $#@% had hit the fan. I could see it in my mom's face. I decided to end the conversation right then and there and walked straight out of the building, walked home, got into my car, and drove back to Provo! I simply couldn't face the conflict that would surely take place at my parent's house after church.

You see, my mom had figured that Jon being far away meant that our chances of getting married were slim, but she figured wrong. That night over the phone, I informed her that Jon and I were indeed going to get married... for real. I think she nearly had a nervous breakdown, poor woman!

During Christmas break, I flew to visit Jon in SF for a few days. He had just moved into a different apartment, in a much different (read: ghetto) neighborhood. It was cheaper there. One of his buddies from Ricks was sharing rent with him. And if you think you've seen the messiest, grossest, saddest bachelor pad ever... you would be wrong because you never saw those guy's apartment. Ugh!

Here's a picture Jon took of me at the Baker Beach, just a short walk from his Presidio apartment.

I took this picture of Jon somewhere in Chinatown.

We went ring shopping at the mall. That's probably when Jon realized that I seriously wanted to get married. He had no money, of course. He had a part-time job working as a cashier at a Ross store, so diamond rings weren't exactly within his budget. But that was okay with me. I wasn't the type of girl that required a huge rock to get engaged. I saw a modest ring that I liked, and Jon took note of it. We left the store.

This is a group shot of Jon and his co-workers at Ross. You can't miss him. He's the only non-Asian guy!

Later we went to the food court to get lunch. Jon said he had to use the restroom. When he got back, he said,

"I bought the ring."

Wow, I thought, Jon doesn't mess around!

He didn't give the ring to me, however. He wanted to properly propose to me, and doing that would require another visit. Really, I think it was just an excuse for me to visit Jon again!

When I got back to BYU in January, I traded my janitorial job for a much better job doing design work for the Continuing Education Department. It totally kicked the pants off scrubbing mop sinks! And I made a little more money, which I was going to need badly if Jon and I were going to get married.

Over Valentine's Day weekend, I took another flight to SF to visit my sweetheart. Jon suggested we go to the beach one evening. At first I thought the idea was a little nuts since it was getting dark and it looked like it might rain. But then I realized that he was probably planning to "officially" propose to me that night, so I decided to go along with it.

We took a bus out to Baker Beach, which is the beach that Jon lived by in the Presidio. Unfortunately, the bus line was running crazy-late that night, so we didn't get to the beach until it was dark. Baker Beach is a little scary at night due to it's relative seclusion and lack of street lighting. (But the view of the Golden Gate Bridge all lit up is awesome.)

I knew what was going to happen next. Jon got down on one knee and presented the ring to me. He asked me if I would marry him, and of course I said, "Yes!"

Then there was a slightly awkward pause.

"Well, aren't you going to put the ring on my finger?" I said.

"Oh, right!" Jon said. He was so nervous, he forgot to put the ring on my finger. I don't know why he was nervous. It's not like I was going to say "no" or something! Silly boy...

We didn't get a chance to savour the moment very long because it was starting to rain. And we still had to walk almost a half-mile back to the bus stop. By the time we got on the bus we were both drenched, but very excited. We were officially engaged, finally! After a year-and-a-half courtship, we couldn't deny our destiny. (Wow, that sounded cheesy. Sorry!)

But upon returning home, my joy was met with trials and opposition like I had never experienced before. Sadly, what was supposed to be one of the most exciting times of my life turned out to be one of the most difficult.

TO BE CONTINUED....

commitment(?)

2010-06-15T01:03:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. You guys are probably getting sick of hearing about the Colton Courtship Story by now... but sadly, it drags on! Now do you see what I meant when I said that we dated for waaaay too long?? If only someone could invent a time machine, then I could go back and do things right and spare you all the tediousness of reading all these blog posts.

You'll be happy to know that this one is shorter than the last. (Whew!)

******

I had prayed about marrying Jon, and I think I knew that I wanted to marry him. Yes.... I did want to marry him! I did!

But... if I did, that would mean we would be on our own. What would happen to my dreams of becoming a successful artist/designer? How would we afford school? An apartment? What if we got pregnant?? ACK! I was overwhelmed by it all. And I was young, so perhaps my commitment-synapses in my brain hadn't fully formed yet.

My heart was saying "yes", but my head was saying "whoa!"

We kept dating through our last semester at Ricks. We took a figure drawing class together. All of our fellow classmates knew that we were practically joined at the hip.

These are some of my life drawings from college. There's no way I could do this now. I haven't done figure drawing in a loooong time. Drawing the human body is like playing an instrument: if you don't practice, you forget how to do it.

During a class critique one day, Jon overheard one student comment to another,

"Dang! Jon and Kathryn's kids are going to be able to draw!"

(That's fine if they can draw, but I secretly hope they become doctors or scientists. We have plenty of artists this family already, if ya' know what I mean.)

Jon and I were still not ready for marriage... not quite. (Ok, maybe I was the one that wasn't ready.) Looking back, I wonder how the course of our lives would have changed if we had gotten married that summer. I don't think it would have changed much. We probably still would have moved to the Bay Area and I would have gotten a job to support Jon through school. Sometimes, I wish that Ricks had become BYU Idaho (a four year institution) fifteen years ago. That way, we both could have finished our education together as a married couple. Oh well, c'est la vie.

As the time for graduation drew near, I had to decide what my course of action was going to be. Jon wanted to attend art school in San Francisco. I wanted to as well, but the high price tag was daunting. I wanted to be an artist, but ultimately, becoming a mother and staying home with my future children was more important. So, the price of art school didn't seem worth it.

I did this self-portrait for one of my assignments at Ricks. It's supposed to symbolize my journey to California. It turned out to be somewhat prophetic. If you look carefully, you can see Jon in the SF skyline.

I decided I would transfer to BYU Provo in the fall. Jon would have gone there too, being the selfless person that he is. He would have followed me anywhere. But I knew in my heart that Jon didn't belong at BYU. He needed to go to a school where he could learn from the best of the best. Jon knew it, too. (I mean no offense to any BYU art graduates. It's an awesome school for a lot of things, but not art, in my opinion.)

Here's us on graduation day. We got our AA's! Our class was the last to graduate from Ricks College. They changed to BYU-Idaho the following semester.

Summer break was upon us. It was time for me to head back to Utah and get a job to save up for rent money again. But Jon and I didn't want to say goodbye to each other just yet! So, Jon decided to move in with his brother who was living in an apartment near Hill A.F.B. (Only a 20 minute drive from my parent's home. Huzzah!) He got a job at a book depository and did some freelance work for a yearbook publisher. It took me a few weeks and a few interviews, but I finally found a good job doing silkscreen designs for an awards manufacturing company in SLC.

We spent many hours together that summer (much to my mother's dismay). We didn't have much money, but we still managed to have a good time. We watched old movies and cooked dinner together. We went on long walks. We watched fireworks and a free air show at the air force base (where I got the worst sunburn of my life!) We took my brothers to Peter Piper Pizza. Isn't it sweet that Jon would treat my lil' brothers to pizza and arcade games?

But all fun times come to an end. School was starting again soon, and I dreaded seeing Jon leave. I still wasn't ready for marriage. Seriously... what was wrong with me?!

Just a few weeks before he left for San Fran, Jon gave me a promise ring. (Do people still do that?) Anyway, we were chickens. We should have just gotten engaged and gotten a real ring. But that would have forced us to tell everyone when we were getting married. And honestly, we didn't know! I wore the ring on my right hand, just to prevent suspicion.

The day came for Jon to leave on a jet plane. He bought 3 suitcases at the D.I. and packed them with as much stuff as he could. The rest went into a huge box that I mailed to his new address. I drove him to the airport and walked with him to the gate (this was pre-9/11, back when non-ticketed people were allowed to go into the terminals.)

I don't remember what we said to each other right before he boarded the plane. I don't think we said much. (I'm one of those people that starts bawling in emotional situations as soon as I try to talk. It's better for me to just keep my mouth shut.) I bit my bottom lip in an effort to stop myself from breaking down in tears, which made Jon think I was being insensitive. But I was too embarrassed to make a scene.

My heart was aching. I watched as the plane slowly taxied to the runway. What had I done? I thought. Would our long-distance relationship survive? What if he found someone else in San Francisco? When would I see him again? WOULD I ever see him again?? So many questions swirled in my mind as the tears started coming. I hurried back to my car and went home.

TO BE CONTINUED...

meeting the parents

2010-06-10T02:14:00.000-07:00

Whew! I finally feel like I've accomplished some things during the past two days, (namely vacuuming the whole house, painting my bathroom, and getting some design projects done) so it's time for the fourth chapter of The Colton Courtship Story.

It's a long one, sorry!

*****

During that fateful weekend in July, things between Jon and I had changed a lot... in a very short amount of time! We were going crazy for each other. It's amazing how a little different perspective can alter the way you feel about someone.

But sadly, Jon had to return to Rexburg and I had to remain at my parent's house for the rest of the summer. That is, until my family and I went on a cross-country trek to Pennsylvania! ARG!!! Now I was going to be even farther from my new sweetheart!

My dad had accepted a temporary teaching position at a small, prestigious, private university in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Lewisburg is a little town in a rural part of the state, home to many Amish and Mennonite people. And college students. (Imagine an isolated college town like Rexburg, except all the students are trust-fund kids who get drunk on the weekends and most of the local farmers are Amish. That's basically what Lewisburg is like.)

Oh, and it's humid.... as evidenced in the photo below.

It was an unfortunate decision on my part to get a perm before we traveled to the eastern united states. My hair was in a constant state of frizz the entire time. This desert-girl was not accustomed to ANY kind of humidity.

During the few weeks before school started, we spent a lot of time visiting historical sites from Virginia all the way to Maine. The above photo of my brother and I was taken in front of Ralph Waldo Emerson's home in Concord, Massachusetts. (As you can clearly read on the sign. I just like being redundant.)

There are enough pictures and memories of that trip to fill a whole 'nother blogpost, but just to give you an idea of what a whirlwind trip it was, here's a short list of places we visited:

Philadelphia, PA
Plymouth Massachusetts
Sleepy Hollow cemetery
Nauvoo, Illinois
Palmyra, New York
Niagra Falls
Jamestown, Virginia
Somewhere in Maine where we had the best lobster in the WORLD!

Etc., etc.

And somehow during that time across the country, Jon and I managed to sneak long-distance phone calls to each other whenever possible. I got a phone card. I spent several, muggy evenings in the laundry room of my parent's rental home trying to have private phone conversations with Jon. This was back in the day before cell phones were commonplace among people younger than 25. Or, at least that was true among the poor college kids I was acquainted with.

When it was time for me to go back to Ricks, I flew from Baltimore, Maryland to Salt Lake City. Some good friends of my mom's were there to meet me and take me to my parent's house to stay for one night before heading back to Ricks the next morning. Jon drove down from Rexburg that day just to pick me up and take me back to school. Sweet of him, huh?

My mom's friends chaperoned us that night at my parent's house. Jon and I were so happy to finally see each other again after nearly a month apart. We sat in the family room, practically glued together for a while. Jon whispered,

"Ti amo, principessa."

Which means, "I love you, princess." in Italian. That was the first time he told me that he loved me. I have to admit it... his fluency in the Italian language could make me weak in the knees at times! And still does.

Now you're probably wondering where the blogpost title "meeting the parents" comes into play. Well, right here, actually!

Jon's birthday is September 2nd, and just happened to fall on Labor Day weekend that year. So, after getting settled back into my dorm, Jon and I made the 4 hour drive north to his dad's house in Montana to celebrate his birthday weekend.

Jon was soooo tan back then! It was because he worked landscaping for the school at the time.

Jon's dad was very gracious. The fact that he let his son bring home some strange girl he'd probably barely heard of was impressive to me.

Funny story: Just hours after meeting Jon's dad, he was driving Jon and I around town and decided to get his car washed. It was one of those automatic carwashes that you stay inside your car for. He put his money into the slot and started into the carwash, but forgot to roll up his window. He was sprayed directly in the face with a jet of water. I was sitting in the back seat, trying soooo hard not to bust up laughing. I couldn't possibly laugh at my boyfriend's father after just meeting him!

Jon and I had a great time in Montana. We couldn't get enough of each other... even after spending another whole weekend together!

Not long after that visit, I had a sudden, stark realization. This relationship was getting serious. Jon was a few years older than me and probably wanted to get married. I was 19. I didn't want to get married yet. I wanted to get a degree and a career first. But I really liked Jon.

I had reached a crossroad. I seriously considered breaking things off. But I just couldn't do it. We had so many common interests. We could talk about anything. And Jon was so thoughtful and giving. How could I possibly let that go?? So we continued on that semester, seeing each other constantly. (It's a wonder we got any of our homework done at all!)

I prayed to ask my Heavenly Father if I had made the right choice, if Jon was really the one for me. The feeling I got was a warm confirmation that it was right.

So what now?

This picture was taken while we were on a student field trip to San Francisco. (Little did I know that the Bay Area was going to be my future home!) This museum had a special display of Peanuts-related memorabilia. And, I probably needed psychiatric help much worse than Jon did at that time!

It's funny how challenges come when you're trying to do the right thing. It was during that semester that my parents were also starting to realize things were getting quite serious between Jon and I. My mother, bless her heart, was worried. She had her own ideas of what was "right" for me, and unfortunately, they did not include Jon. She didn't dislike him, but she was afraid I was going to marry a "starving artist" and be destitute for the rest of my life.

Her worries translated into negative words, tears, doubts, and lots of things I won't go into detail about. Which made it even more challenging to inform her that I was going to spend the first part of my Christmas break with Jon at his mom's house in Arizona. I felt it was important for me to meet Jon's mother and two sisters.

I decided that I would fly with Jon to Phoenix, spend a few days with Jon's family, then fly from Phoenix to Baltimore to spend Christmas and the rest of my break with my family.

As we flew further and further southward, I could literally feel the temperature rise inside the plane. We had just come from 5-degrees-below-zero-Idaho, and landed in 75 degree Arizona. It was heavenly!

Jon's mother lives in Yuma, one of the southern-most parts of the state, just miles from Mexico. They are famous for sand dunes and the historic Yuma Territorial Prison. It was kind of like the Alcatraz of the Old West. Escape only meant dying of thirst somewhere in the dessert wasteland.

This is a shot of Jon's sister, Jackie, his step-sister Jessie, and me at the prison.

We took a picture of this random trailer in the dunes as a joke. I told my mom this was Jon's mom's house just to see what her reaction would be. *snicker*

This is Jon's mom and Jessie sitting with me and two HUGE half-wolf dogs.

And this is probably the first and last time I will ever see Jon riding a horse, dear readers. I love riding, but Jon H-A-T-E-S it. It's because he doesn't know how to hold himself up when the horse is bouncing him around in the saddle. He did it just that one time for me, but never since.

The trip to Yuma was worth every penny. It gave me an important glimpse into how Jon treated the women in his life. He laughed and joked with his sister, Angela, putting his arm around her shoulders in a loving-big-brother sort of way. To see Jon treating his mother with respect and kindness spoke volumes to me. I knew that was how he would treat his future wife.

Whether or not his wife would be me was still questionable, despite the spiritual confirmations I had already received.

TO BE CONTINUED....

best friends

2010-06-03T23:04:00.000-07:00

I love these pictures of Jon and Josie. They were taken in a photo booth at the mall. What I love most is the caption at the top that says, "Best Friends", because it's so true.

Josie had a hard time figuring out exactly where she was supposed to look for the photos.

These two are inseparable. Sometimes, I swear Josie loves her dad more than me, but I think it's just a symptom of "absence makes the heart grow fonder" syndrome. Plus he spoils her. There isn't anything that Jon wouldn't do for his little girl, and believe me, she takes advantage of it!

When Jon is at work, Josie tells me, "I wanna see Daddy!"at least five times a day. She gets so excited when Daddy comes home, giving him big hugs and shrieking, "Daddy's home!" I can't tell you how happy it makes me to know that my daughter has a close relationship with her father already. I hope that never changes.

I know Father's Day isn't for a couple weeks, but I just have to say that I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful husband. He has so much love to give. My children are so blessed and I am so blessed to have him.

Happy Father's Day early, honey!

(sidenote: the new Blogger HTML format is giving me a headache. I can't seem to get my fonts looking right. Sorry. I guess I need to take another HTML course, 'cuz I need a refresher!)

eggplant parmesan snack sticks

2010-05-29T13:43:00.000-07:00

I bought an eggplant during my shopping trip to Trader Joe's this week. I didn't really have any plans for it... it was 99 cents and kind of an impulse buy. I could figure out what to do with it later.

Today I decided I better use it before it went bad. I searched on allrecipes.com for some kid-friendly way to cook it and found this little gem of a recipe. I'm always trying to find ways to get Josie to eat more veggies, and this seemed like a good bet.

The consensus: it's YUMMY!! It was nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Josie gobbled it up, not even realizing that she was eating a vegetable. (I told her it was "special" french fries.) And it's lower in fat because it's broiled and not fried.

My version of the recipe has a few modifications, but I dare say it turned out great! I have a feeling this will make a great after-school snack for our kids someday.

Ingredients

1 medium eggplant
1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup bottled marinara sauce, warmed

Directions

Preheat broiler.

Cut eggplant lengthwise into 1/2-in.-thick slices, then cut each slice lengthwise into 1/2-in. strips. (You could also peel the eggplant first. I wish I had. Josie got a little weirded-out by the purple skin, otherwise she might have eaten more of it.)

In a shallow dish, combine the breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, and garlic salt. Dip eggplant sticks in eggs, then coat with breadcrumb mixture. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray.

Spritz eggplant with cooking spray. Broil 6 in. from the heat for 3-4 minutes. Remove from the oven. Turn sticks and spritz with cooking spray. Broil 3 minutes longer or until golden brown. Serve immediately with marinara sauce.