pearly white

can you see it?

one by one

here is a family update, going from oldest to youngest:

travis- busy with work. he will be attending a lot more meetings in april for the upper managment (read- super boring.) he golfed in a tournament this past week, his team came in 5th. he's currently reading the newest in the "fablehaven" series. and of course, watching as much march madness as he possibly can. i asked him how his brackets were looking and he said not so great. there's always next year, right?



me- hosted book club this past week. always a good time. and with this many ladies, my turn only comes up once every 2 years so i splurged on the eats. we had coconut bread, red velvet cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese frosting, garden chicken pasta salad, spunky spinach dip, brownies and raspberry lemonade slush to drink. i was pleased with how it all turned out. the brownie were a new recipe and i loved how they turned out. i will definitley make those again. in fact, maybe as soon i'm done on the computer. they were super easy too! also, travis and i made cookies last weekend that turned out friggin awesome. just my basic chocolate chip cookie recipe but instead of chocolate chips, added frozen rolo halves. oh.my.goodness. they were fantastic!
in a un-related note, i started using the wii fit this week. well, i guess it IS food related, ha! its so cool. my favorite activity is the dance step one. too bad the canned music is lame. oh well. and the balance games are so creative. i'm trying to beat travis' score since he holds the record for all of them right now.
plus, i read some good books recently. finished "nice to come home to" by rebecca flowers. she writes similar to marisa de los santos and i quite liked it. and i'm currently reading one sarah gave me for my birthday called "deep dish" by mary kay andrews. its a novel/cookbook (has recipes in the back) and is endorsed by paula deen. i'm in heaven.

miss sis- loving school, being cute and sassy. what else is there? ;) she is way into dresses lately. wants to wear them all the time. and she is obsessed with her homework that she brings home from miss debbie. i should scan it in. she writes her first and last name the "kindergarten way" (first letter capitalized, following letters lower case, all closely together, no model) and knows her phone number, address (house number, street name, city, state) and birthday (month and year.) she is getting so big! she loves me to quiz her on things she knows.

mr.m- loves school, loves playing basketball with dad (which resembles catch more than basketball but is played with a mini-basketball hence the name of the game) and is a funny little boy. he dresses up either in his knight costume (halloween 07) or his buzz lightyear costume (halloween 08) at least 2 times a day. he is on an egg kick and wants them all the time, morning, noon and night. i promise i do feed the boy! this is a self-taken portrait when our camera elf confiscated the camera once again.
he and marissa also have been playing "hotel" lately which means they drag suitcases full of toys from the family room to mason's room while on "vacation." i think its great they are having such imaginative play times but the messes aren't so great. good thing we are learning to be better cleaner-uppers. :) mason knows all the kindergarten readiness info as marissa, except he doesn't want anything to do with writing his name. i have my work cut out for me this summer.
he also loves me to quiz him on church things when i tuck him in at night. he knows who is in the first presidency of our church, where Jesus Christ was baptized, where Jesus was born and where Jesus lives now. if i omit a question he knows the answer to, he asks himself and answers himself. :)


and finally, mr.jo jo- he is cutting his first tooth. his upper left front tooth. i think the right one is ready to pop out any day now too. we give him motrin at night, but he hasn't been too terribly grumpy. i can tell he is not his happy self sometimes, though. he is a rollie-polie-ollie and can cover large areas of the floor in a short amount of time. and he is moved on from sitting in the bumbo during meal times to the real booster seat strapped to one of the chairs. he loves meal time!
he can shimmy into position to get the things he is interested in. and what is he interested in you ask? EVERYTHING! my hair, the phone, the book, my car keys, his bottle, his sister's hair, the dog, his daddy, the tv, the straw in my drink, literally everything. its a fun age, you can certainly see the wheels turning! and he is consistently sleeping through the night. bed time 7pm and most days wakes up between 6 and 7am. there have been a few 5:45am poopy diaper wake-up calls, but my wonderful hubby answers those calls. much thanks to you honey!
joe is starting to understand when i give him kisses and i swear he kisses me back. not that i'm professing my child is a genius, but i really think he gets what is going on. so sweet. so fun. bought his easter outfit. it has a cap. can't wait to show him off!

a day at the park

mason is sporting a t-shirt that says "mr.mischief." that about sums him up. ;) and miss marissa has the 2 ponytails with pink bows in the background.

sometimes we get tired of the same old parks around here. so this day, staci and i decided to head over the vernon worthin park near the temple in st.george. it was a beautiful day and we had to break out the sunscreen for the 1st time this year. too bad the weather has now turned ugly again with this horrendous wind. but i digress.
moving on, we had a great time. marissa tripped and hit the pavement with her face and her upper lip was all puffy and fat for about a week. but its all better now. :) mason brought a big ball (beach ball-ish) to play with there. he loved holding it and chasing the other kids while holding it. the second someone tried to take the ball away from him, mason got all freaked and super possesive. the idea of, "we can all play with the ball together" seemed to be lost on him. oh well. he'll catch on soon enough i hope.

there were some cute puppies that came over to play with us. the lighter one was a girl named bella and the darker one was her brother named jean luc. they were so frisky and cute! their owner wanted to get them more acclimated to people so he brought them to the park. mason and marissa and i must admit, even me too, we loved playing with the puppies! something about baby animals, they are so stinking cute! the pups loved licking joe's sunscreen and one of the dogs licked him on the chops. joe did not like that and started shrieking. that's when the dogs freaked out and their owner quickly scooped them up and they were on their way.



overall, i'm so glad we live in an area where there is real park weather. in the upper 60's, 70's, not a lot of wind usually, ideal. some snacks, a blanket and camp chairs, and its one of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon.

Troy and Carrie's visit

travis's brother troy and his wife carrie and their 4 youngest children, janel (7 1/2), aly and payton (birthday girls turning 6) and alek (3) came and visited last weekend. it was their spring break too and they visited carrie's brother thayne, who is a pharmacist on the Native American reservation in kayenta, arizona. they visited the grand canyon's south rim and pulled into santa clara late friday night.
saturday was miss aly and miss payton's 6th birthday and we couldn't have been happier that they would be celebrating here with us! my kids LOVE their cousins oh so very much. and seeing as i am an only child, their jackman cousins are the only ones they have. :)

(miss payton's piggy braids. i loved how they turned out!)

we celebrated with sticky buns (a birthday tradition at our house)and then played beauty parlor.


then the birthday girls requested that we all go swimming at the washington city community center. for those who live locally, its awesome. go check it out. so all of us went swimming, baby joe's first time. loved his little swimming trunks. he was so-so about the whole thing. he got splashed one time and burst into tears. the water wasn't too warm so i'm sure that didn't help.
after swimming, we went to pizza factory and had a fun lunch. has anyone else tried the apple beer there? its 100% non-alcoholic, its like apple juice that's been kicked up a few notches. the more i try it, the more i like it. anyway, very fun lunch. then the girls took one vehicle to the outlets and all the boys went back to our house for a nap. troy, travis, mason, alek and joe ALL took naps while the women shopped. talk about lucky dogs.
we found some great deals and fought the other spring breakers through the crowds.
then we hurried home, sat down for 20 minutes and then we were off again!!



lin's in hurricane had their grand re-opening and celebrated with free hot dogs, sodas, a bounce house, slide, obstable course, and had random "characters" roaming. don't know what the panda was all about, mason thought he was from "kung-fu panda." whatever. it was super crazy fun and the kids had the time of their lives playing together.
it was a very full and very fun day. my poor baby was all off schedule, but he coped just fine. what a trooper. we love it when our family comes to town! thanks for visiting guys!

a little something . . .

here is something to tide the folks over until i can get some real blogging done. i will be updating this blog and my good eats blog (red velvet cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese frosting, anyone?) THIS WEEKEND. i promise. until then, here is a bone i'm throwing your way.

party

travis and staci threw me a surprise party last saturday night. pictures/info to follow as soon as i get the pictures from staci's camera. it was a great night!

Happy Birthday Travy

HAPPY 34th BIRTHDAY TRAVIS!!

happy happy birthday to my awesome, hard-working, hottie husband! here's a little somethin' somethin' to celebrate the big 3-4!

10 favorites:

1. sandwich- club
2.band- stone temple pilots
3.tv shows- seinfeld, alias, lost, 30 rock
4.football team- san diego chargers
5.basketball team- LA lakers
6.thing to do-golf
7.cookie- neiman marcus and regular chocolate chip
8.snack- plain lays potato chips and a bowl of cottage cheese
9.book- harry potter
10.playstation game- tiger woods golf

10 dislikes

1.tomatoes
2.late nights
3.big parties
4.bathing the kids
5.answering the phone at work
6.cheap cereal
7.clutter
8.being late
9.people who go slower than the speed limit
10.the boston celtics

10 things that make him happy

1.watching his teams win
2.free golf
3.lunch at don pedros restaurant
4.eating freshly made cookie dough
5.scoring screaming deals on-line
6.researching cars and hypothetical car purchases
7.power naps
8.getting his hair-cut
9.days off from work
10.good music on the radio while driving

4 things i absolutely love about him:

1.his voice, that he sings so well and is willing to share that talent
2.how much he loves his kids. he loves feeding joe his last bottle and putting him down for the night
3.his sense of humor, he is the king of sarcasm
4. that he puts up with me and still likes going on dates and vacations with just me. :)

birthday freebies

thought i would pass along these great finds, who doesn't love free stuff on their birthday?

red robin- free gourmet burger (join their "e-club" and follow their registration steps)

cold stone- free ice cream creation with 1 mix-in (join their birthday club)

baskin robbins- free scoop of ice cream (join their birthday club)

not only did i sign up myself and my hubby, i signed up the kids (all 3) as well. and what's great is that they are for an extended time period, not just on your actual birthday. the red robin certificate is good for 2 weeks, and both ice cream ones are good for 5 days. that is ideal seeing as how my birthday is on a sunday this year (boo.)
we went to red robin for lunch on wednesday and it was delish. travis recommends ordering the whiskey river bbq burger that boasts being, "lasso’d together with Cheddar cheese and crispy onion straws," and ordering extra bbq sauce on the side. that's how he rolls, extra saucy. and the chocolate shakes are fantastic, in case you were wanting to make it as unhealthy and fat filled a lunch as possible.

teeter totter sitting

here he is sitting by himself. well, for the nano seconds i had my hands away to snap the picture. hence the slight blur you are now noticing. what can i say? i'm fast. ;)

i am a blurker

i have been blurking a lot lately. there i've said it. i'm not currently reading a book and therefore have been spending my free time surfing the web. but i have found some gems and thought i would share. happy blurking to you!

freakin' hilarious blog (thanks to my cousin heather for linking on her blog!) she makes me actually laugh out loud.

funny funny funny spoof blog about a young mormon mommy ( i can't relate at all)

very deep, profound, introspective blog written by a couple who lost their almost 2 year old daughter when she died from choking on a piece of apple last may

my friend sallie's new cooking blog, she even does pictures!

and for your photogs out there, a friend from high school (thanks cj!) linked about another friend from high school who is taking a picture every day for a year and posting them on his blog. so far, very cool.

today's pics

poor little mister sacked out when we were driving home from dropping mason off at preschool

7 months

jo-jo is 7 months old today!

yesterday was his well-baby check up and everything is great. here are his stats:
weight 18.14 lbs and that puts him in the 33rd percentile
height 27 inches long and that puts him in the 37th percentile

*a note to joe: you know we love you honey, you really are such a darling boy. you make our family so very happy. but . . . its the 37th percentile business. you have a reputation to live up to. dad married me so he could compensate for the short/fat genes in his family. your brother and sister have lived up to their end of the bargain so far, especially your sister. and now its time for you to start showing some better numbers. i'll do my part and feed you lots and lots of yummy food to help you grow big and strong. and then its your turn to grow like a weed. okay? thanks!

** pictures to follow. i'll be snapping some today. ;)

congratulations

i am so HAPPY for my friends doug and marie caldwell! on february 28th, they welcomed their beautiful baby boy lucas robert-wayne caldwell into the world. babies are always blessings, but this baby is a very special blessing for their family.

almost 2 years ago, doug and marie's darling daughter olivia was stillborn. their love for her, their desire to embrace their experience and not forget their daughter, their commitment to SADS (sudden antenatal death syndrome) and their always present hope of raising a family here on earth; have been inspirational to me and all who have heard their story.
the story of baby lucas is nothing short of a miracle; from the discovery of marie's blood condition to the doctor's perfectly timed phone call and finally to a healthy, full term pregnancy.

while marie was pregnant, they called their baby "rainbow baby." they learned about this term from some of their pregnancy loss support group friends. it refers to the baby who comes and brings light and joy after the storm of losing a baby either in utero or after birth.

welcome rainbow baby. we are so glad you are here! you have made not only your mommy and daddy so very happy, but many, many others as well. my heart is full of gratitude to a loving Father in Heaven for sending this baby. i can't wait to see him in person and give him loves and kisses.

not me

following in staci's footsteps, here is my Monday Not Me list.

i did not have to wake up early today to run to the store to buy diapers because we were ALL OUT. as in, not one single, solitary diaper to be had anywhere. not me. why would i procrastinate? i certainly would not. i always have a spare pack somewhere.

i did not leave my sink full of dirty dishes from yesterday and then this morning, pile more dirty dishes on top. not me. i also did not leave my kitchen counter looking like a bunch of hyenas wrestled all over it. not me. why would i do that? i love cleaning and can't stand filthy messes first thing in the morning. waking up to a mess makes me grumpy so, of course, i always clean before i go to bed.

i did not wear my slippers to drive marissa and her friend to preschool this morning, pick them up from preschool, drop marissa off at dance class, pick marissa up from dance class, and drop mason off at school. not me. i always have perfectly manicured feet and love to wear cute flipflops all the time.

i did not leave my adorable baby in his narfy jammies until noon today. not me. and then, i most certainly did not change him out of his jammies into his ugliest outfit that has a large poop stain. (poop stained but clean) not me. why would i do that? why would i want my cute baby in ugly clothes? i only dress my children in the most up-to-date and stylish fashions. i am not not behind in my laundry at all.

and i do not waste time on the internet if i have household chores screaming to be done. not me. my house is sparkling clean right now, laundry folded, put away and my children are loving, sweet and helpful. why would you ever think otherwise?