Happy Birthday Jenn!!

Today is Jenn's 33rd birthday, so here are my top 33 fun facts about Jenn.

1. She has 5 cute kids!
2. She is the primary president of a huge primary.
3. She is incredibly creative.
4. She not only has good ideas, she actually follows through with them.
5. She's very generous.
6. She loves to give gifts.
7. She cries when she laughs, even if she's not laughing very hard.
8. She loves babies, and has excellent baby-whisper type skills.
9. She has an awesome craft room.
10. She loves the color red.
11. She grew up in Washington.
12. She is an excellent gift receiver because she's tickled by whatever she gets.
13. She is the oldest of 8 children.
14. She loves her family.
15. She is a reader.
16. She graduated from BYU in elementary education.
17. She worked at Campus Craft and Floral and made their Valentine flower deliveries run smoothly.
18. She will do anything to help a friend.
19. She hates to clean, but loves a clean house.
20. She has the quietest sneeze I've ever heard.
21. She has a girl-crush on Jennifer Garner.
22. She loves to watch movies and tv shows at night with her husband Kelly.
23. She wants a bigger house so badly she can taste it.
24. She drives a maroon minivan that's always full of kids.
25. She manages to cram a lot into her days.
26. She always presents gifts in an aesthetically pleasing and often innovative way.
27. She is best friends with her youngest sister (who is also her clone) Angela.
28. She is highly competitive and therefore doesn't like to play games.
29. She loves the "Never On Sundae" dessert at Pizza Factory.
30. She doesn't drink soda.
31. She is the fondue queen.
32. She loves to send & receive good mail.
33. She is excellent at taking care of life's details.

**What do you love about Jenn??
Please wish her a happy birthday!**

8 Hours to Myself!

I have spent my entire week at home, venturing out only to get the mail (so disappointing after Christmas) and late Tuesday night when I met Rebecca for dessert. It's kind of strange to stay inside for 3 whole days. I'm definitely a homebody so it's not really a stretch for me to stay in, but I hadn't really planned to stay in that much, it just kind of worked out that way. So yesterday I was determined to go out by myself. Randy has had many days off and was planning to be home so I got up early, got ready, blogged (of course) and left the house by 9:45am.

These were my many stops:

--KMart to get Martha Stewart Christmas stuff on clearance. I got 3 rolls of wrapping paper, tissue paper, and 4 boxes of ornaments. I tried to get those cute polka-dotted jammies Kristi had gotten for her girls, but they only had a 10/12 and even Whitney isn't that big yet. It wasn't crowded in there so the actually shopping was nice (well as nice as KMart can be), but they only had 2 cashiers open so the lines were still long.


The woman who was ringing me up looked at my driver's license and said, "Isn't it so nice that we look better in person than our driver's license photo?" I practically gasped. I didn't think my driver's license photo was bad, what a rude thing to say. I think she was just making chit-chat because then she launched into a story about her son getting his driver's license picture taken and having it taken twice, but then the 2nd photo was worse than the first but they wouldn't let him have the first photo. Still, I left there shaking my head and thinking what the hell? Nice people skills...NOT.


I then went to the bank (cash, cha-ching), the car wash (so pleasing), and the unfinished furniture store to scout out loft beds for the kids' room. They take 6 weeks to arrive, drat!

I saw this hilarious picture on a breaker box on the side of the road. Dwight K. Shrute makes his presence known even in Utah.


Apollo Burger drive thru where I read my book in line (happy day) and got lunch for me and Michelle. Then I went to Michelle's house to eat lunch with her, hold Eva, and chat for bit. Kristi called my cell phone while I was there, we can't seem to catch each other at a good time this week.


Braved the mall to exchange a couple games we'd gotten for Christmas, but already had. Cruised by Children's Place and Bath & Body, but both were zoos so I left empty handed. Went back to my car to put the heavy games away then drove around the other side of the mall to check our Archiver's. It was way too warm in there but I still managed to spend my $50 gift card and only had to add .85 cents to it (not that I was trying to stick to the card limit).


My big score of the day was at one of those little sunglass stands in the middle of the mall. The sunglasses I always wear are scratched and lame. They're not dark enough and I end up wondering if they work at all, so I've been wanting new ones. I got 2 pairs for $20 and am stoked (can I use that word?) because they're 400UV protection and give much better coverage than my old ones. Hopefully my sun headaches will diminish.

Costco to get groceries, renew membership and buy a King Size Memory Foam bed topper for our bed (Merry Christmas to us from my parents!). I'm so excited about this. The cozy just keeps getting cozier, I may never want to leave.


After that I returned a duplicate gift of Whitney's to Target, and bought a bunch of stuff there. It's so nice that even though it's busy there it's not crazy like it was before Christmas.


I then went across the street to the craft store and spent an hour scoring 75% off Christmas stuff. They have a good home decor section there so I kept going around and around choosing things, then putting them back, then rethinking them and so on. I bought 3 sets of 12 mini-decorative Christmas trees for $5.75 each instead of $25.99 each! I got the world's cutest polka-dot candle for $4, and 13 hanging photo frames for $2.50 each. (I want to go back and frame all our Christmas card photos and turn them into ornaments, thanks to Chanel's idea.) I used my Robert's gift certificates plus a little money. Score! The girls ringing me up were jealous of my purchases (right so). Ha.


I finished off my outing by sending 2 items of good mail at the post office (though I forgot my good mail labels dang it). Apparently with New Year's Day on Monday and then President Ford's burial Tuesday we won't have normal mail again until next Wednesday! Bummer. (Especially for you girls with weekend birthdays.)

So that's my very busy, but good day. I did get a sun headache, but it wasn't bad enough that I had to shut down. I didn't get irritable while shopping (other than at myself for being overheated), and I did all of my errands except for one. I just couldn't bring myself to go to Walmart for a return, I need my full strength for that and I'd left it to the end of the day so I'm sure that wouldn't have been a good combination.

**Have you scored any clearance stuff?
When was the last time you had 8 hours alone?
Is my driver's license photo that bad?**

Happy Birthday to
Melinda, Sarah & Faye!!

Blogging Anniversary!

Today is my one year blogging anniversary! This is my 468th post! That's a whole lot of blogging. When I first started I had no clue what I was doing, but was insanely enthusiastic. I had just gotten a scanner for Christmas so I was excitedly scanning old pictures like crazy, so my first posts have those photos in them. Also, I didn't get a digital camera until June 2nd, so I relied a lot on web photos (some of which are no longer online and have left white outlines on those posts). Bummer.

Since I already blogged about blogging yesterday I will spare you more discoursing today. I just had to mark the significance of this day and this post. I'm so excited to get my first year made into a book and hope Blurb.com will hurry up with their blogger compatibility. Check out the blog gift Laurie's husband gave her for Christmas, it's amazing.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the evolution of my blog both physically and mentally and have loved it. I often wonder what I used to do all the time before I had a blog to write and all of yours to read. I can't remember.

The Beauty of Blogging

I've discoursed many times about why I love blogging, so this is nothing new, but I must add or reiterate how fantastic it is to actually meet long-distance blogging friends for the first time. Today I met Julia for the very first time. It was so fun to sit and talk like long-lost friends for 3 hours! There is just something so cool about the dynamic between blogging friends. It's like we get to skip all the small-talk crap and get right to the good stuff that usually takes years to cultivate. (This reminds of on Friends when Ross and Rachel started dating but got to skip to the 15th date since they'd known each other for so long.) I felt the same way the other night with Rebecca. It's just such a joy to know we all have so much in common, even though our lives are very different.


Julia hand-delivered some good mail she'd gotten for me. She got me this cute tote bag from an awesome book store in New York (I've been to the one in Portland) and a cute picture frame. Thanks Julia!


This is a shot from our blog party last June (2 babies have been born since then and some haircuts!) . For some of you who are knew to my blog since then I will explain. Kristi was coming to Utah so we organized a gathering for everyone to meet her and to meet each other. Most of us knew several people at the party, but we all ended up meeting several new, blogging friends. We had a thoroughly enjoyable time eating, talking and figuring out how we all came together. We're planning to make this an annual event so it's looking like the end of July for 2007.

Here are my top ten reasons for loving to blog.

1. Keeping the best journal of my life.
2. Meeting new friends.
3. Finding out I'm not alone with many of my feelings.
4. Learning new ideas, recipes, and traditions.
5. Circulating good mail.
6. Feeling connected to others from the comfort of home.
7. Becoming less judgmental and more open to new people.
8. Cultivating a desire to reach outside myself more often.
9. Going digital and documenting the minutiae of life.
10. Feeling inspired daily by the good things going on with everyone.

**Why do you love blogging?
Why haven't you started a blog yet?**

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

This is my sorry attempt to show you my awesome gift from Michelle. I had Randy filming with my digital camera. He was supposed to start with me and then zoom in on the gift, but it wasn't focusing clearly so he ended up including me and my many chins in the video. I should really destroy this immediately, but instead I'm posting it for all of you to see. I'm too embarrassed to try filming it again. It cuts off abruptly because of Whitney being loud and calling to Randy in the background. Damn kids.

{The cute tin}

{Melinda Taylor's Info}

{Jennifer Nielsen's Info}

{Shawna Borg's Info}

{Kristi Cutler's Info}

It didn't occur to me to scan the images until after I had posted the video...duh. Hopefully you can get the idea of the kind of creative cuteness involved here.

Delightful Day After Christmas

{The cool bookmark Michelle made for me, that I've been using.}

I had originally thought I'd do some after-Christmas clearance shopping, but quickly realized that would mean leaving the house so I put the kibosh on that right away. Instead, I slept in (delightful), blogged in the morning, cleaned house (which was badly needed), then read my book in the cozy on my bed (my favorite thing to do). I'm currently reading The Reader and have gotten completely sucked into it (hooray), which is particularly great considering I just couldn't get into the last book I was reading (No Great Mischief). The week before that I read and finished The Bean Trees and thoroughly enjoyed that. I keep meaning to do a mini review and post some quotes, but time keeps on going so it has gotten left behind.


My Pink Christmas gift arrived yesterday and was well worth the wait. Stacy (no blog yet) Southwick spoiled me with great style, creativity, and thoughtfulness. She made me a ton of bookmarks to put in the books I send to you all as good mail. Is that a great idea or what? I'm kind of bugged I didn't think of it myself, but I love her design and thinks it's so cool that she thought of that based on reading my blog. She also made me book plates to put inside my books, cute notecards, the cool can which served as wrapping for everything, and this funky object d'art made from a paperback book. I'm delighted by everything!

I also took pictures of the gifts I got from Claudia, Amie, and my sister Lori. I thank heaven for my friends everyday and must say I enjoyed these gifts immensely, especially in light of the many gift cards I got. I know some people think I'm hard to shop for (though that's baffling to me) so I'm always thrilled when someone gives me presents. I love all of these gifts.

{Gifts from Claudia}

These gifts are from my sister Lori. This is particularly thoughtful and sweet gift because 1. She didn't have my name for Christmas. 2. She hates buying scrapbooking supplies. 3. She's poor right now. She had individually wrapped all of these items and put them inside the cute bag pictured under the "S" magnet. I love everything and was totally surprised and touched by her thoughtfulness. Thanks Lori!

These cool gifts are from my friend Amie. The big tile with the quote on it now resides on top of one of the bookshelves in our family room. The black board is the foundation for a yet-to-be-created scrapbook layout that will then be placed on it and covered with acrylic so it will be framed and then can be displayed. I don't have anything like that and am actually going to start scrapbooking again so I can use this great gift. Thanks Amie!


The final highlight of my good Christmas-recovery day was getting to meet and hang out with Rebecca Swindle. I have only recently met her from her blog and her comments on my blog, but have definitely felt connected to her. We share a love for many of the same books and photography, and just seem to relate well. She was in Provo (she left this morning) with her husband's family for Christmas and called to see if I would like to get together for a late night dessert. We met at Pizza Factory in Provo at 9:00 last night (just as they were closing, they probably didn't appreciate us staying so late). It's so crazy that we had never met before and weren't even sure what each other looked like, but then were able to talk to easily and personally for 2.5 hours! After we got "kicked" out of the restaurant we sat in her car talking for along time. It was delightful.


I love meeting new friends from the blogs and have more to meet during the Christmas break. Julia is stopping by to drop off some good mail tomorrow (so exciting to meet her) and then next week Michelle and I get to go have lunch with Jordan. I just keep thinking how amazing it is that last year at this time I didn't know any of these people existed and had so idea what an influence you'd all have in my life. I feel so blessed.

**Do you use bookmarks?
Are you reading a good book these days?
What kind of gifts do your friends give you?**

Our Christmas

Santa came to our house, ate our cookies, drank our milk and left the fireplace screen open. How about that??


We thought the kids would sleep in (foolish us) because they were up till 11:00pm on Christmas Eve, but they came bounding onto our bed at 6:05am Christmas morning (ouch!). We tried to lure them into the cozy with us, and surprisingly they did climb in for a few minutes, but then I felt guilty for torturing them like that so we got up and were opening presents by 6:23am.


We gave Whitney this very cozy robe she had spotted at Target a couple months ago. She loved it! She actually said, "I've waited a long time for this." She also got lots of Littlest Pet Shop toys, some books, a couple dvds, and little plastic animals to add to her growing collection.


This is a gift Landon wrapped all by himself, he said it took him a half an hour to wrap it. (He seemed disgusted by that.) I thought it was hilarious and sweet.


This is the gift that was inside, he made this at Cub Scouts last week. A couple times on the days leading up to Christmas he would say "Homemade gifts are the best right?" I definitely think so!


It was a very gift-card kind of Christmas for me. Randy loaded me up with gift cards so that I "would have lots of options" to get what I want. I do enjoy gift cards, but also enjoy gifts so I guess this is a way of teaching me delayed-gratification.


We gave Randy a new pair of shoes, a shirt, a jacket, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, and an art book. Not too shabby.

We went to see "Night At The Museum" along with everyone else in American Fork. Thank heavens I had bought the tickets online because the next 2 showings were sold out by the time we got to the theater. I was irritated that I still had to wait in line to turn my paper receipt into actual tickets, but at least we go into the show we wanted to see. It drives me crazy that the teenagers working at the theater are so incredibly slow and inefficient. I don't know who manages that place (probably a 19 year old) but I often fantasize about writing them a letter full of suggestions on ways to improve. I never actually follow through with this, because I know they wouldn't care, but it always makes me feel better when I write the angry/helpful letter in my head.

The theater was packed (obviously if it was sold out) so Landon and Randy ended up sitting 3 rows above Whitney and I. It worked out fine and we were happy that we didn't end up sitting in the front row. We all liked the show, so it was a good outing once we got settled in our seats.


After the show we came back home and had dinner with my mom, dad, Lori and Andrew. The kids got to show off all their new gifts, and it was enjoyable to have a casual Christmas dinner. After that we headed up to Salt Lake to visit my mom's mom for awhile. We gave her a super soft throw. I have such an affection for soft fabrics that I seem to be trying to convert the world one person at a time.


This is Andrew enjoying his new (this is his 4 or 5th set) Woody and Jessie dolls from Toy Story.

**How do you feel about gift cards?
What did you get for Christmas?
Do you like to go to the movies on Christmas?**

Merry Christmas!

I'm far too wasted to write anything substantial right now, but wanted to acknowledge this special day and express my gratitude for a wonderful year of blogging and of meeting so many new friends! I hope your Christmas was wonderful. Love, Jill

P.S. Kristi did an amazing job organizing Pink Christmas and posting all the gifts. Check it out here.

Ready or Not

I actually went shopping yesterday. This may not have been the best choice considering my disdain for chaos and crowds, but since shopping time was running out I suddenly had a clear vision of what I still needed to buy. Fortunately I didn't need to get a lot, but it still proved to be a challenging outing. I fear my good-cheer levels were at a seasonal low. I will say I think my hormone levels (PMS) and the combination of the incredibly bright sunshine being reflected off the snow were both key contributors to my grumpy state of mind. I'm light sensitive on a cloudy day, so you can imagine how rough it is for me on a truly sunny, snow-covered day. Not good. It's pretty much a recipe for a headache.




This is one of the shelves I saw at Target yesterday! I was looking for stocking-stuffer treats and had taken this aisle (normally full of already assembled neighbor-type gifts) as a detour route because of the traffic jam of carts on the aisle I needed. I couldn't believe the shelves were literally bare. There was such a shopping frenzy going on yesterday that I can imagine someone came in and swiped the entire contents of the shelves into their cart then happily exclaimed "I'm done!" I hope that wasn't the case, there's nothing quite as thoughtful as rushing into a store then grabbing something while thinking "This will work."

I got home at 4:00 and had a half hour before we needed to be at the church to clean. I was wasted and tried to cram some rest in by lying down on my bed with my cozy blanket. The time passed too quickly, but I think it helped. We met another small family at the church and cleaned for an hour and 15 minutes. When we got home I put my jammies on (oh so cozy) and decided to read on my bed in the cozy. Of course, I fell asleep! I ended up sleeping until 4:40am this morning. Crazy, but at least my headache is gone.

wassail

\WAH-sul; wah-SAYL\, noun:
1. An expression of good wishes on a festive occasion, especially in drinking to someone.
2. An occasion on which such good wishes are expressed in drinking; a drinking bout; a carouse.
3. The liquor used for a wassail; especially, a beverage formerly much used in England at Christmas and other festivals, made of ale (or wine) flavored with spices, sugar, toast, roasted apples, etc.
4. Of or pertaining to wassail, or to a wassail; convivial; as, a wassail bowl.
5. To drink to the health of; a toast.
6. To drink a wassail.

This is the word of the day which was emailed to me by dictionary.com. I enjoy reading a new word each day and am always pleased if I know the definition already (geek). I was surprised to learn the definitions of the word wassail because I always thought it was a warm, holiday drink. It makes that line in the song "and to you your wassail too" make more sense. How about that?

{The cousins at our family Christmas 2004}

So today is sort of like Christmas for us because we're getting together with my family (though it will be weird without Robyn, Jared and the kids this year) for lunch and to exchange presents. I enjoy doing this on Christmas Eve because I like being able to stay home on Christmas Day, plus it's a fun way to get things started. I still need to wrap the gifts to take today and make a dessert of some kind. Fortunately I'm up really early this morning, so I shouldn't have any problem getting these things done. We only have 1 hour of church today and it should be a nice Christmas program so that will be nice too.

**Did you brave shopping yesterday?
Does bright light give you a headache?
What do you do for Christmas Eve?**

Happy Birthday to Alison and Austin!

My Pink Christmas gift did NOT arrive yet, but Kristi has told me it is well worth the wait. So whoever sent it, do not fear, I will just have something nice to look forward to in the mail next week after all the hoopla is over. That's fine by me.

Christmas Eve Eve

I can't believe it's almost Christmas! This month has seriously flown by. It feels weird that Christmas is on Monday because with Sunday just before it (and us not shopping on Sunday) then it feels like today is Christmas Eve. We're pretty much done with everything, but I feel a little panicked because I fear I've forgotten something and then won't be able to go get it.


I also realized last night that I'm not personally excited about Christmas, and that that makes me sad. Perhaps I'm still waiting to fully transition into adulthood so I can be content with the kids' Christmas excitement, but at the ripe old age of 35 I'm still not there! I miss the anticipation and excitement of everything. I used to love opening all the things in my stocking. I'm still a sucker for smelly lip gloss, cute pencils, jewelry items, candy, and whatnot. I do enjoy providing all these things for the kids, but I wish I could get a taste of that old excitement again.



We spent the day at Michelle's house yesterday (3rd time this week for Landon). Michelle was out getting her hair done and shopping, so I hung out and babysat the kids. It was a rather peaceful day. Eva was happy and very cute so she made it easy on me. Lucas and Landon went sledding twice, played video games and some other games downstairs. They've been friends since they were babies and I just love it that they still get along so well.


Eva wanted me to hold her while she watched a show, so we hunkered down in Marc's very comfortable chair/ottoman set-up (it's very conducive to napping). I was dozing a little bit and then realized Eva had fallen asleep too. (I suppose I provided a warm and squishy, soft bed for her.) I had Max grab my camera and take this picture, because it has been so long since I had a baby fall asleep in my arms. She is so cute.


To top off our good day, Adam, Amy and the girls came over (and brought Whitney back from their house) for game night. We haven't gotten together in awhile so it was fun to be together again. We grilled burgers, had Los Hermanos chips & salsa, and m&ms cookies. It was most enjoyable.

I suppose today we will have to finish any remaining Christmas shopping (I still need to do stocking stuffers), we have to clean the church at 4:30 (I thought we were supposed to do it last week, but it is today), and perhaps I will be able to sort through some of the piles in my scrapbook room (yet again). I'm afraid I will lose Christmas gifts in here if I don't find out what's in some of these bags.

**Do you get excited about Christmas still?
When was the last time a baby fell asleep on you?
What do you have left to finish today?**

It's the Good Kind of Busy

The kids and I had a Creative Wednesday at Michelle's house this week. Michelle was busy working on her amazing Christmas gifts, and I made cards. It was so nice for us to regroup and hang out all afternoon. It's so much cheaper than therapy.


This is one of the sights I enjoy during the holiday season. I came home the other day to find this bag of treats on my porch. It is from my very peppy and thin camp director (remember she sang her way up the mountain while I thought I was going to die) friend Toby. It was a bag of chocolate covered toffee. I started out by thinking I would just try some, but quickly moved on to "oh this is fantastic, I'll just have another piece" to "I can't believe I ate the whole bag!"


I wrapped presents for a couple hours the other night while Randy was out with a friend. It was so enjoyable to watch a movie while I wrapped (even if the movie was The Fantastic Four) all those presents. This is the first year we've been on top of things enough not to be wrapping the bulk of the gifts on Christmas Eve! This is much more fun for all of us because it's so fun for the kids to see the presents under the tree all week leading up to Christmas, plus it's less tiresome for me and Randy.


After I got everything cleaned up, this was the pleasing display. I love the glow of the Christmas tree lights so much it makes me wish we could have them all year round. Oh well.


Our anniversary outing yesterday was great. Michelle invited the kids over to spend the day so that Randy and I could go out. We did some shopping at the mall, ate a tasty lunch at The California Pizza Kitchen, and went to the movies to see Deja Vu. It was an excellent day. We got home just after 4:00 so Landon was able to run next door for Scouts, then Amy M. called to invite Whitney to spend the night with Bella. (Amy M. originally offered to have the kids over for our anniversary, but then Randy took the day off work so we weren't going to do that anymore.) Randy drove Whitney up to Salt Lake to their house (of course Whitney left her bag of clothes here!!) then he went shopping for me. (I love this part.) Landon and I had dinner together at home, then I made holiday m&m cookies while he watched a movie. It was marvelous.

**When and where do you wrap presents?
Do you love looking at the Christmas tree lights?
What's your favorite menu item at CPK?
Are you done shopping yet?**