Welcome to Our Life

Saying Goodbye, twice

2012-01-25T13:50:00.000-08:00

I really don't know how to sum up the last 7 or so months, except really to say that we've had enough change to last quite a while! We really left, we left the land of Elvis, B.B. King, and enough humidity to make me change my clothes three times a day and headed to Arizona.

Memphis was hot when we left, as you can see by swim diapers and swimming suits. This is really the only moving photo I have. Ha ha

And this is what we came to:

Cactuses

hot (117 degree hot), dry sun, and more cactus's

oh, did I mention there were cactus's every

where??

We spent A LOT of time at the pool. The benefit of living in an apartment! As you can tell Javen thought being thrown in the air was pretty cool stuff. I also thought sitting like a beached whale at the pool and being able to cool off wasn't so bad either.

And here we are two days before one of the biggest changes:

Sweet Kate was born on Nov. 2nd

at 5:35 p.m.

We really loved Phoenix, once it cooled down. The dry air was not good for us, but once we invested in another humidifier and a few jars of raw local honey we were fine. And in case you were wondering since school was the reason we moved there, Jason had a incredible experience at the office he was at which made everything beyond worth it. We were also able to get out and do some hiking once Kate came.

The day we left we had to ride the desert breeze

train, Javen is obsessed.

And yes, we even saw Santa walking his dog. He offered a few ho ho ho's.

Leaving AZ to Utah was bittersweet also, mostly bitter because the weather was PERFECT when we left. But at least we get to play in the snow here!

Kate just stays inside and gets pictures taken

or bundles up in her car seat

We are excited to be here and it's good to be close to family again! It's also good to be this much closer to graduation and a little less change.

First Things First

2011-06-21T10:00:00.001-07:00

Back in the middle of May I was for whatever reasons feeling a sense of urgency to take some family photos. Mostly because I wanted to take some in Memphis before we left, before it got too hot, and before I got too big. I was telling my awesome friend Heidi my great plan of how I was going to just take out my tripod and camera and go for it but because she is awesome she wanted to help out quite a bit, okay she took all the pictures for us. Thank you!

We went out to Shelby Farms park because this place has really kept us sane since we've been in Memphis so we have a lot of memories here. I didn't think it was possible but it's getting ridiculously hard to get Javen to look at the camera so we are lucky we got a few thanks to Heidi's jumping/take a picture at the same time skills!

Okay, so maybe I was being a little dramatic in this pic below, but ummm..yeah that's pretty high

More to come soon...hopefully sooner than 4 weeks

So, remember when?

2011-05-18T05:12:00.000-07:00

Remember when we did some remodeling on our kitchen a few years ago? (Go here if you need a memory refresher) Remember how I was like 37 weeks pregnant and really did warn Jason of the next project I might want to pick up a.k.a. Jason will end up doing- if we have another baby? Well, here you have it:

major home project #2: the before

and, the after:

the beginnings of baby #2:

Javen was even kind enough to help daddy pound out the tile. I think he spent more time helping than I did.

This really was just a coincidence of timing, but still funny to think about. And in my defense I did try to help lay the tile until my perfectionist husband was afraid I would make it uneven. Which I'm sure I would've so instead of helping I was usually passed out asleep napping somewhere. Although, I did help a lot with the painting. Overall, I think it turned out pretty awesome. There definitely could be more done to it but I'm just happy not to be stepping on carpet when I get out of the shower!

No, we have not been washed away or blown away!

2011-05-14T09:01:00.000-07:00

I have had a lot of people asking if we are okay from the flooding. Thankfully we are not in a flood zone so yes. Although with all the crazy weather I'll feel lucky if we make it out alive by August. Okay, maybe that's a little dramatic but really between all the tornado sirens I've heard lately and the flooding I've definitely had my share of nightmares. I HATE tornadoes. There, I said it. Now I feel much better. But, thank you for the phone calls and messages. Really, it means a lot.

So with that being said I feel I need to explain why it's been two months since I've put anything on here, but there really isn't an explanation. Since Jason's boards have been over (which I have to mention we just found out he PASSED!! Hallelujah. I'm so proud of him!) he's been able to be around a lot so I've mostly just been enjoying all my time with these two awesome people.

Colette and Heather (my step-mom and sis) came out last week and it was so good to see them! Heather was awesome enough to travel with her little Zak to give Javen a friend while they stayed and they were pretty dang cute together. Enjoy some of the flooding photos!

I had to throw this one in: Man capris??? Did I miss something?

We way overestimated ourselves

2011-03-04T18:26:00.000-08:00

This week was Jason's spring break and since we didn't go anywhere we had a big list we were going to accomplish:

-celebrate Jason's birthday

-sand bathroom cabinets and stain

-tile bathroom floor - the flooring right now is carpet- isn't that gross??

-paint bathroom

-study (Jason has his first round of boards in two weeks

-take a hiking/camping trip

It looks do-able in a list right??

We did celebrate Jason's birthday. We did it well, with a lot of food of course. Fresh sub sandwiches all day because that is what he loves and some amazing, if I must say so myself, homemade cream cheese brownies and ice cream. Some great friends stopped by and brought balloons. No birthday is complete without balloons!

As you can see Jason turned 27. This is crazy to me because I met him when he was just 22. You are probably laughing at me..but it just feels crazy. I fell in love with him at 22, but each year it amazes me how much more I love that guy. He's pretty awesome.

We did accomplish a few other things on the list...we sanded the cabinets and that is about it. But, hey, the break isn't over yet so hopefully we can at least get them stained.

And most importantly there has been A LOT of studying. This is why everything else on the list was neglected. We can't wait until boards are over. But on a more positive note we can officially say Jason graduates NEXT year!! Not in two, three, or just in a few years. NEXT year. I am getting just a tiny bit excited!

One more thing we have been doing a lot of.....

(please try not to focus on the weeds...we are working on that)

This kid LOVES to swing, and it's even better with his rain boots on.

About the boy, mostly

2011-02-04T13:37:00.000-08:00

Recently our lives have mostly consisted of school, school, a little bit of work, school, and Javen of course. We did attempt to go Lindy Hop dancing, ha, but too bad there aren't any pictures of that one! They would be comical I'm sure. It brought us back to our Logan country dancing days, which is pretty much what we ended up doing. Country dancing and trying to make it follow the beat of the music. But, back to why I originally started this post. This is mostly for family to see some updated pics of the boy, no longer baby, (sniffle) that runs our house. He just turned 18 months. I feel for some reason that is a big deal. Is that a big deal? Anyway, here they are:

We've actually gotten quite a bit of snow, for here. We taught him to throw snowballs which he thought was pretty cool.

He tried to pull his diaper off this night and gave up. Later we found him riding the truck and couldn't resist following him around with the camera!

He LOVES to brush his teeth, but only when Mom and Dad are and only with a toothbrush that looks exactly the same.

And he is extremely curious about everything, which I love about him. And he loves his books. Lets hope that one stays!

He is keeping me busier and busier that's for sure and it has been so fun. But on another note-pray for spring. I think I'm done with cold weather for now!

over 1500 miles west of Memphis

2011-01-13T06:32:00.000-08:00

We partied with these awesome people for the holdiays:

Just because we are cool:

Temple Square Lights:

We spent quite a bit of time with my mom but I don't have those pics yet.

We spent LOTS of time in here:

Javen made a new best friend. Cameron also taught him his new favorite word within 2 minutes.. ME! ME!

Sledding Christmas Eve:

Here are the boys reverting back to childhood:

We actually did get a good family photo, but I just think this one is pretty funny. This is how we all felt after trying to get all of the kids and babies to smile. They were pretty much all crying or making faces like these:

(Javen is growing hair! Wahoo!)

A few other things worth mentioning:

-the annual ski trip: The last year it has to be annual! Jason has improved his skills enough to brave the black diamond runs. I'm still perfectly happy with blue squares.

-I was lucky enough to inherit the booty pop. I'm just not brave enough to show you the pics. It's pretty hilarious though, and extremely uncomfortable!

-I went with my sister to the Mormon Tabernacle-David Archuleta concert, which I heard was amazing. We left 5 min. into it because that's when the 24 hour flu caught up with me. Then it got passed around.

-Did I mention that we drove?? Yes, we did. And I hope that we never have to do it again! Except to move.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Live and Learn

2010-12-06T09:20:00.000-08:00

Saturday we ran with about 12,000 people in the St. Jude marathon/half marathon event. We did the half, no full marathon for us! Somehow I talked Jason into doing it with me and he has been an absolutely awesome running partner. Training together was so fun and the race was definitely worth it. The thing with first experiences is you always learn a lot, like when you run past a water station slow down to drink it or else you will get more water up your nose than in your mouth. Yes, that happened to me. Or, if you have to use the bathroom before the race and think it's just from being nervous use it anyway or at mile 9 you will literally be running for the bathroom! We ended up finishing in 2:06:12 which overall we are happy with. We had been training to finish in right at about 2 hrs. so I can't complain too much. It was definitely a fun experience and hopefully I will be running more of these in the future!

Running down Beale St.:

(above photo from here)

We ended at the Autozone park-the baseball stadium downtown

Our medals:

And of course, no event in Memphis is complete without an Elvis or two:

(above photo from here)

Checking that off my list

2010-11-15T17:49:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we talked our friends into going with us to this place. Okay, it wasn't very hard to talk them into it. I decided this was on the list of must go to places in Memphis because everytime we drive by it there is a line out the door. So, because of course there was a line out the door when we went we had to entertain ourselves somehow.

Wade, Heidi's husband was there too, but I'll spare him of the embarrassment of the jumping photo. (you're welcome.)

(Candice, Heidi, and I)

We started off with the fried pickles. (excuse the horrible photo quality) Let me tell you I hate pickles. hate them. But not these. They were actually so good!

Yep, that is a lot of chicken. 18 pieces of it. (the other two were on another part of the table) And it didn't disappoint. Definitely the best fried chicken I've ever had.

The next day we ran the Eye 5k for Jason's school. We felt the chicken the. whole. time. It was still fun though. I ran it in 25:20 and Jason in 23:50. My goal was under 25 min. but with all that fried chicken I feel okay about it.

Jason looks soaked because he was. It rained and thankfully they provided people to watch the kids! I don't think Javen minded at all. By the way he snarfed down that entire piece of pizza in about 12 seconds!

Meet the Flinstones

2010-11-01T06:43:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

And because Javen looked really sad in the last photo here's another one:

San Juan, PR

2010-10-22T05:21:00.000-07:00

Every October there is a COVD (an optometry organization) meeting and we've been able to go the past two years. Whoever got to pick the spot this year should get to do it every year.

The first few days we spent in Old San Juan:

And it was HOT and we felt like this:

I was trying to get Jason to take a picture with me after we had walked about 1,000 miles, Javen had dumped water all down him, and we had been taking pictures all day.

This is how we kept Javen entertained:

The next few days that the boys went to class we spent in old San Juan shopping, taking pictures, posing, and taking more pictures. Sue reverse parallel parked this on a downhill one way cobblestone street. It was a proud moment. Until we had to move because we were informed that spot was only for taxis. Dumb.

I'm not sure what this is but everyone else was taking pictures of it so I thought maybe I should too.

The posing:

One night Jason and I were able to go Kayaking at the bioluminescent bay area. It was awesome!

This is a dramatized and possibly photoshopped photo of what it looked like:

(The water did glow-and it was amazing-but not quite like this) photo from here

We spent a day hiking to other lookout areas

And to here:

And exactly one week ago today I was sitting on this sand:

and doing stuff like this:

Our guide told us it has been featured as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It is now a goal of mine to one day own a part of this island, although that may require selling all of our possessions(in 20 years when we have some worth selling) plus a few limbs. Maybe it will just be my happy place for now.

Did I mention that I think he is the cutest boy?

September Visitors

2010-10-02T19:21:00.000-07:00

Jason's brother Cade and his wife Kelsie came to visit. Cade had an interview at SCO and got accepted. Wahoo Cade! It was fun to have them out but my camera didn't make it past their cute boy:

It was fun having them and we're glad they were able to come stay!

The next week my Dad and Step-Mom came for a quick trip. We did lots of eating out, eating ice-cream, and cheesecake. We did find time to explore in between all of the eating. The first day we went to the zoo and this was the face Javen had the entire time:

The petting zoo-we were trying to get him a little closer:

Isn't this guy great?

We discovered what Javen would look like as a china baby..what do you think?

We obviously thought it was hillarious:

But this guy was pretty serious, I think he was scouting out which person was going to be his next meal. Seriously look at those creepy eyes!

Colettle hadn't seen Beale Street yet so we thought she needed the experience of watching people eat BBQ and inhale all of their second hand smoke.

It really was fun, aside from the second hand smoke. Javen even thought about dancing to the blues band, until it got so loud our brains were vibrating.

We love all ya'll! haha. Thanks for coming and we miss you!

Want one??

2010-10-02T19:02:00.000-07:00

Last Thanksgiving I did a post with Javen wearing these awesome hats...and here they are again! Aren't they cute? Go here to buy some. They have some darling girl ones too.

Doing something I told myself I would never do

2010-09-16T05:36:00.000-07:00

I let my baby swim in the ocean for the first time. Naked. With lots of people (who were not naked)

We forgot his swimming suit so we let him walk in a little.

And it quickly turned into this. He was loving it so much we had to let him get in. This is the face he made every time a wave hit him.

And then his diaper started doing this and the poor kid could hardly walk. We had no choice, the diaper had to come off.

Just so you know, we now have some really good photos to bribe Javen with one day. hehe. He did make one cute naked baby at the beach though!

We tried to squeeze in as much of Charleston in 5 hours as possible. The result was not a lot of pictures and future plans to go back. (It's been added to my list of places to visit that one day we will get to.)

The custom house..one of the only tourist pics we got besides the beach. We did have an amazing lunch and drove by Fort Sumter of course, but no photos.

We went to a few football games and Javen got a little too excited over the cheerleaders...but we'll just pretend he was this into the game.

And just for fun here are a few more pics from Gatlinburg. We hiked 4 miles one way to get to this one:

Ramsey Cascades

This was the view from our cabin:

I love vacations, especially when they involve the mountains and the ocean.

Gatlinburg

2010-08-31T06:04:00.000-07:00

Jason had a week off between semesters and luckily we have in-laws who love to travel as much as we do. We met them in Nashville and took off to the Smokey Moutains for a few days.

I don't have the photos yet of all of us together, but here's a little family pic.

Javen spent most of his trip in this carrier. Which thanks goodness he loved it. And if your looking for an extra good workout carry 20+ lbs. on your back!

See? He loved it.

He even fell asleep, I don't know how but he did.

We also had our 4 year anniversay while we were there. Wahoo! Here's to us, four years later and it keeps getting better and better.

This really doesn't do the scenery any justice. It was amazing. We mostly hiked to waterfalls, but I don't have those pics yet either.

The next few are my up-close and personals with nature...I got to borrow my mother-in-laws macro lens and had way too much fun.

This little guy has a story..we called him the alien. We looked and there seriously was nothing holding him in mid-air, which is why we concluded that he must be an alien. He followed us back to the cabin too by riding on our car. crazy. Just look at him. Alien, right?

I know this one is a little blurry but I've never actually seen a centipede. He did this cool little curl up in a ball thing when you touched him with your foot. we tried to get a photo of it....but lets just say we were a little too forceful and this little centipede is no longer. whoops.

Maybe if my eyes were this big I'd be able to see better.

Sue braved this one. I was too big of a chicken, but she got a great pic.

The last stop of our trip was this site. I don't remember the name, but it's the highest point of the smokey mountains. They say this is what it looks like pretty much every day...which I assume is the reason for their name.

The trip was amazing and hopefully I'll get around to puting up some waterfall photos. We spent the rest of our trip in Charlotte, NC and Charleston, and those places need thier own post.

Am I the only one that does this?

2010-08-13T07:17:00.001-07:00

I was looking through some photos from our recent trip and came across these. We went skiing with Jason's parents while we were visiting. We didn't ski at all last summer so it's been a little while but Jason still managed to look like a pro:

And then there's me, who obviously by my face, does not look so much like a pro:

and another one...

and again. This one isn't too bad, but maybe next time I will try to look like I know what I'm doing

The reason for our vacation.

2010-08-09T06:18:00.000-07:00

These two lovely people tied the knot.

This is thier engagment photo-it's the only good pic I have of both of them together

The Bride:

The newly announced Mr. and Mrs. Tufts:

A few (very few..should've taken more) photos from the party:

We hadn't seen him in a long time! Isn't he cute? (My nephew)

The 2nd best part about the day was putting Javen in a bow tie. I was way more excited about it than I probably should have been! (this pic is only to show you the bowtie...I look horrible)

A lot of firsts

2010-08-06T13:57:00.001-07:00

We just got back from visiting family for my sisters wedding. (I'll post about that a little later) We had a great time as usual with family. Javen had a few new experiences:

First time on the piano. He went wild.

He decided his hands weren't enough.

First time on a four-wheeler with Pa. I think he thought he was driving.

And of course he had is first birthday party! Well, three of them. We did one at home before we left to see family. He got a little shy.

party #2 at grandma's. Not quite so shy.

party #3 at the Ogden Tree House. I wasn't there but from what I heard it's an awesome place for kids!

I seriously can't believe he is one! Well, mostly it's just wierd to say I have a one year old. I do have to say though how much fun I have had with him in the last year. I never thought it was possible to find so much joy in your child. (Sorry for the mushiness..just had a reflecting moment)

Baby Steps

2010-06-22T05:46:00.000-07:00

He started walking on Saturday! This makes me so incredibly happy I had to share it with you all.

This was the first video we took. I don't think there is anything cuter than a little baby toddling back and forth trying to walk!

Making the move

2010-06-15T17:31:00.000-07:00

The results were finally posted today for where we will be for our extern sites (during our fourth year of school)! It has been a LONG, stressful, emotional, hard, and prayerful process. We have been thinking of going anywhere from the New England area to Alaska but finally put our choices and we are really excited actually about the results.

We will be here (Chandler, AZ) fall of 2011:

(image from here)

And moving on to here (good old SLC) spring of 2012:

(image from here)

We won't be leaving for a year but it's so nice to know a little bit more of our future. It was actually a really hard decision to leave Memphis for externs, but in the end we feel good about it.

My Sister Came

2010-06-02T07:39:00.000-07:00

(Like 3 weeks ago)

Let me just start by saying this- I feel very fortunate that Jason and I have had the opportunity to live away from home and see new places. We have loved it and have had so much fun. But, it is hard to miss out on fun things like birthdays, new babies, and currently wedding planning. Lucky me though, my engaged sister was nice enough to come to Memphis and do some wedding shopping..and more shopping. We did do other things though.

We went to Memphis is May; or in other words the world famous BBQ festival and saw people like this:

And we saw shirtless, sweating, potbellied men shoving in pounds of BBQ pork in the 90 degree sun. mmmm. I was going to get a picture but thought that might be a little awkward as I stood two feet in front of them pointing the camera.

Here we are admiring all of the coveted pig awards:

We also went to a baseball game. And here is the best pic I took:

And of course, we had to see Elvis and pose like him:

( I know we look alike so to clear the confusion this is Catie)

Thank you for coming, and making me feel a small part of the wedding planning until July!

Ahhhhh

2010-05-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

I meant the title in a relaxed sort of Ahhh way. I have never been SO relived the weekend is here!

First off, I tried to see what life would be like as a full-time Mon-Fri. 8am-5pm working mom. Wow. is all I can say. I have to hand it to the mothers who do it. I am in awe. (It was an orientation for a one night a week job)

Everything in our house as of last night was a disaster. I am currently washing the same load of clothes for the 3RD time! Yes, the 3rd time because we kept forgetting to move them to the dryer. The back yard is close to resembling a jungle, and I should just stop there. My stomach also decided in the middle of the week that it needed to violently empty everything from the inside of it to the outside, in anyway possible. And not allow anything else in.

BUT. on the bright side, it is the weekend! AND it is a long one. We are going to do anything that does not involve school/work/illness/babysitting. Happy Memorial Weekend!

faces and photos

2010-05-10T10:50:00.001-07:00

I narrowed down to a few...sort of.

He's getting pretty good at facial expressions. A gene he must have inherited from me. (Especially the pouty lip. Definitely me.)

All photos taken by Sue (Jason's mom)

quick visit

2010-05-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

We went for a quick trip to surprise Jason's Mom and it was well worth the effort! It felt like we were only there long enough to say hi, spend a day outside, and then bye. I love surprises though..to see the moment click here (the video in the middle of the page). Jason spent some much needed time outdoors away from books and a desk.

Can you tell by their faces this is their favorite thing to do?

Jason

his Dad, Scott

Happenings

2010-04-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

I kept meaning to post earlier than this, but it just wasn't happening. So here I am finally, posting about some randomness that we have been up to lately.

Jason has been finishing up his 2nd year and will be moving onto his 3rd year in the middle of May! Wahoo!! He has survived learning IM injections, IV's and injections in THE EYE! Keep in mind they had to practice all of this on each other, that's why I say he survived. I have been trying to survive the outdoors. If I touch anything outside I end up feeling like this:

(taken from here)

Did you know you can actually SEE pollen?? Enough to make a black car look like it's a dark shade of green! But onto something more fun, Javen is as busy as ever and making us laugh every day. We found out he is very ticklish and is loving to see how much he can splash water during his baths. And because most of my posts include him and I think he is a cutie here is a recent photo:

Oh, and one more very important thing has happened. Thanks to a good friend I found out this store just opened up within 20 min. of my house! Yay!

(taken from here)

Spring Break

2010-03-10T10:18:00.000-08:00

Last week was Jason's spring break so we got a chance to take off for a little while. Our destination was Florida but I begged for a detor in Savannah, GA so we stayed there for a day. It was such a beautiful and charming place. I couldn't quit taking pictures. So sorry for the overload of photos but I was having way too much fun. All of the awesome parks are in the middle of downtown. We didn't even see most of them because there were so many.

The pic above is still in Savannah. Tybee Beach is about 10 min. away, but clearly it was a little cold. Sadly, where we were in Florida was a little too cool for the beach too but we still got to feel a whole lot more sun than we have in the last three months. Our lovely hosts Wade and Francine let us stay with them and showed us around.

Wade, Francine, and sweet baby Lana

Can you see what is wrong with this pic? Yes, that is a HUGE 10 ft. ALLIGATOR! This pic was taken very quickly because he looked a little hungy to me. All these alligator pics were from a park we went to with NO fences. Crazy people. We had a good time though and it was wonderful to put on shorts and sandals!

Redemption

2010-02-17T17:10:00.000-08:00

I don't usually post stories, but this story has come up quite a bit recently and I feel the need to let everyone know that there is hope for me.

When I went to college my cooking skills were VERY limited. Okay, they were pretty much non-existent if 95% of the meal didn't come from a box/can/frozen bag that only required warming. With time thanks to friend/roommate meals I did learn a few things. I felt like I could cook a meal, or at least help cook a meal that didn't involve a box/can/frozen bag.

Then I met Jason.

I realized I was in trouble, or should I say he realized he was in trouble when we had probably only been married a few weeks or so (just long enough to have gotten back from our honeymoon, unpacked, and ready and excited to use our very own kitchen that spanned an entire 7 ft.) and he wanted to make a white sauce for something..I don't remember what. This is how I remember it going:

Me: What's a white sauce??
Jason: What??!! Uh, oh.

Anyway, you get the idea. I realized he obviously had MUCH more experience than I when it came to the kitchen. This motivated me to impress him and learn a few things. A few months later I had a brilliant idea for dinner. Clam chowder. It was cold outside and something warm sounded perfect. (You need to know that for our wedding we got these silver canisters of all different heights that you put flour, sugar, brown sugar, etc... in) While I was making it I couldn't get it to thicken up well after I had already put in the flour so I proceeded to add more flour, but nothing was working. Jason came home and we ate it anyway.

Poor guy.

I told him I couldn't get it to thicken and added a lot more flour. We started to eat and noticed it seemed a little sweet. Sweet clam chowder. Eeew. We were both choking it down when I realized I had grabbed the powdered sugar canister instead of the flour canister. Yes, we ate clam chowder sweetened with powdered sugar. We both spit it out and hadn't even attempted it again until yesterday.

I want you all to know it went well, and I did manage to use flour this time.

{photo credit}

I would like to think that I'm not the only one who had/still has a lot to learn about cooking/sewing and homemaking in general when I got married. What are some of your funny stories from when you were newly married and completely messed something up?

Need a good laugh?

2010-02-15T18:15:00.000-08:00

This just might possibly make me laugh every day for the rest of my life:

Not something you see...

2010-02-10T09:58:00.000-08:00

very often in Memphis! We woke up to all this snow..okay..the whole 3 inches of it, Monday morning. Everything was cancelled/closed because I guess 3 inches can be deadly to drive on. We weren't complaining though.

I didn't take any pics of our house and the snow so I thought these pics of the temple would show it well.

I was really excited to make a snowman and snowangels and let Javen play but after about 5 minutes of being outside we came in. I'm ready for spring!!

These pics below were all last week. We've had some crazy weather. Everything was cancelled/closed for this too...but ice really isn't driveable so I see the point.

The "snow"days have been fun, but I'm starting to miss my flip-flops, t-shirts, and shorts. Maybe I should just go somewhere warm. One day.

Last week

2010-01-17T16:16:00.000-08:00

was life changing. I've learned I hate the site of one thing on Javen. Boogers. He got sick last week and had LOTS of them. I was going CRAZY wiping this kids nose all week. (I even suctioned it so much that it bled! Only a tiny tiny bit I promise, but I still felt really really really bad and vowed to never do that again.) This picture is the only one I got of the bubble and doesn't do him justice on the massive ones he was producing. We did manage to make it through however and he is getting better. No more booger bubbles.

And then, another thing happened. He started to army crawl! My times of laying him down and knowing he will stay there are about to be over. Okay, for now he really can't go that far but I know I don't have too long before the messess and injuries begin!

His idea of actually crawling right now is this, and he pushes himself backwards. It's so fun to watch. Probably because he's my child, but he really does amaze me and I'm in awe of how it's possible to love such a little person so much. On a side note: he'll be six months on the 30th. WOW.

December Highlights

2010-01-06T12:36:00.000-08:00

I contemplated not even doing this post because it would be so long. But, I'm going to do it anyway. I'm just highlighting a few moments...okay...a lot of moments. Sorry for the length and randomness. We were spoiled again this year and got to go see family in Utah. It was so great to see everyone. Love you guys!

Watching Javen disover himself in an ornament.

Don't worry, the hill was small.

I forgot how much fun snow is. Sad.

The real highlight of skiing was that niether I OR Jason fell the entire time, with the exception of Jason just kind of squatting down one part of the run. (I'd like for you to think that I am better than Jason at skiing and didn't have to squat like he did, but that's not true. He went down harder runs. But you can still think that if you'd like!)

Watching Javen and Zakary play, kind of. I can't wait until they really can play together!

Being in the same state as her when she got engaged! Just made me feel better :)

Watching Javen tear the paper off of presents.

I have missed the temple square lights! It was FREEZING cold and we really were only outside for about 5 min. max but it was still incredible.

Just a few more things to highlight: The FOOD!! Cafe Rio, Neilsens, Leatherby's...I've missed them! Also, I sunk in and got some skinny pants...and I love them.

So Excited

2010-01-04T07:56:00.000-08:00

For this girl!

She is going to marry him:

(pics taken from Catie's blog )

Wahoo!

Turkey Holiday

2009-12-02T12:45:00.000-08:00

We headed to see the fam to start off the holidays. It was quite eventful in random ways:

-It was the first time the scale has gone up since being post-baby, but the food was worth it!

-Javen got to meet his great-great grandparents (which I don't have the pic) and it was great spending time with everyone.

-I learned to crochet darling little beanies. I know, I know, those of you who know me well are probably gawking but it is true. I never said I was good at it but, yes, I learned.

-I sewed a project that I'm actually pleased with (which I can't say what because it is a present)

-And made a dang good apple pie from scratch with Kelsie.

Of course this was all with help, but I did it nonetheless. Jason's response to all this in his exact words: "What did you do with my wife?!"

-And of course we took TONS of pics and I just have to post a few....

I think this just might be my favorite pic..ever (above)

poor Javen is being left behind, but it was fun hanging with these little cuties!

Yoga

2009-11-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

We did this for the 3rd time yesterday, I am sore and it's not getting any easier!

I have a newfound respect for ANYONE who can do yoga. The video is an hour and a half, so far we can only make it 45 min. before my whole body starts shaking uncontrollably!

Look what we found

2009-10-28T17:53:00.000-07:00

In our tree!

Don't worry, we got him down. And we are keeping him. He's kind of fun.

Yes. We think we're funny.

HAppY HaLLoweeN!

Loving October

2009-10-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been hearing a lot to cherish every moment. Mostly from cute ladies at the grocery store when they see Javen...but it's been on my mind a lot. I've decided maybe I'm hearing this so much for a reason and should apply it to more moments in my life, not just the ones I have with him. This month has been easy, there has been so much to LOVE! :

General Conference

Visiting family in Denver, CO

Javen got to meet cousin Brynli for the first time!

(I don't have a pic of everyone together..and I like this one)

The amazing scenery and fall weather

and it being perfect weather for this:

What is there to do in Memphis?

2009-10-06T16:03:00.000-07:00

This really is my family: Part 4(the last one)

When Jason and I came here to find a house we ran into a younger guy from Memphis at the airport and thought he would be good to ask what there is to do here. He told us about all of the fun bars and what not. Then we asked "what if you don't drink"
His response "oh, uh, then there's nothing."

My Dad came last week to visit and we decided to see what there was to do, besides Graceland. Here's what we found:

There's the Pink Palace museum, which is a huge mansion that was built by the inventor of the first self-serve grocery store, but he never lived in it.
This is from the victorian era exhibit. See the wreath framed above? Made out of human HAIR from each member of the family. A sign of wealth. Eeew.

You can visit the Stax museum and see the 1972 24-karat gold Cadillac which belonged to Isaac Hayes. This thing was way ahead of it's time, complete with a mini TV in between the drivers and passenger seats and a mini refrigerator in the back. I think it marked the beginning of the "bling bling" for all the rappers and soul singers. I didn't take a picture, but you can see it here.

You can pose as flowers at the Botanical Gardens (which I LOVE)...and is FREE on Wednesdays!

Javen seemed to enjoy it all :)

the stress is gone

2009-09-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

...at least the kitchen stress anyway! Here are the green cabinets! I can't take any credit for painting the walls. Our amazing ward friends came over and painted them for us! I guess that's southern hospitality. What do you think?

I had to put this in. This is the old kitchen with old wood cabinets, ugly green walls, and a horrificly (my own word) dirty old floor! Seriously...it had black lining the walls and under the cabinets. Somehow the middle of the floor only managed to get cleaned. It had to go too.

Pinnacle Mountain

2009-09-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

We were feeling a little mountain deprived so we decided to find a place to hike. We ended up in Arkansas and it was beautiful :)

We tried to make sure Javen stayed covered but he really didn't like his hat all that much...I don't blame him!

It was so nice to go hiking again, although I really thought I was going to pass out after two miles! Sad.

Family...Part 3

2009-09-08T06:10:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my Step-mom Colette and step-sister Kristina (yes, we have the same name) were able to come out. We blessed Javen that Sunday and Jason did a great job! We had such a good time and Kristina is an amazing cook, I should have taken pictures of the food! Thanks so much for the help and we love you guys.

Jason also went back to school while they were here..yay..onto the second year! We thought Javen might like to try out what Dad does all day!

25 years later...

2009-08-25T06:28:00.000-07:00

Jason's blessing outfit!

8.22.06

2009-08-21T07:07:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow marks three years from the day I married my best friend. It's been better then I ever would have imagined and I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband. I love you Jas and thanks for being more than I ever could have asked for!

Family: Part 2

2009-08-20T10:12:00.001-07:00

Right after Jason's family left my Mom and sister came in and again cooked meals, did dishes and laundary, and Mom jumped at the chance to take a few "night shifts". I have to say thanks for just sitting around and lounging. I was sick most the time they were out so we did a lot of watching chick flicks and ate a lot of sugar cookies...and the dough. :) Doesn't sound too bad huh? We did manage some good BBQ, the Mississippi and of course cheescake!:

Thanks again for spoiling us and the little guy!

Family: Part 1

2009-08-20T08:59:00.000-07:00

With our new addition we've been really blessed to have a lot of family come out and help. Jason's parents and his brother and his wife were able to be here right after Javen was born. Besides feeding, changing diapers, and tummy time, here's a little bit of what we've been up to:

Scott and Sue at the mississippi river walk

Kelsie about to devour an amazing cheescake. We are convinced this is one of the best parts about Memphis. The cheescake factory doesn't stand a chance against this place!

(sorry Kels, I liked your face the best)

And of course, as Jason would say..we tortured Javen with A LOT of picutres..but we got some really really cute ones :)

Thank you guys so much for all the meals, dishes and laundary done, and "night shifts" taken so we could sleep and everything else you did!

A few close ups

2009-08-06T06:39:00.000-07:00

Javen Jace Kowallis

2009-08-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

He's here! We love this sweet little guy so much and can't get enough of him already!

Born: July 30th at 2:37 a.m.

Weight: 6lbs. 10oz.

Length: 19 inches

Everything is great and he is healthy and perfect! We'll post more a little later but everyone is doing great :)

How to stress out your husband....

2009-07-24T12:03:00.000-07:00

-Start off by being about 37 weeks pregnant for the first time. This really seems to be a good stress inducer, especially if the doctor tells you the baby could come any day.
-Then, instead of cleaning and getting ready for the baby and family to come like most do, tear apart and re-do and crucial part of your house. I have chosen the kitchen!

(Jason took this because he said he needed proof of how crazy I am going....and it's too hot outside and in the garage,
forcing our living room to become our work area!)

(We've painted the cabinets green...don't worry the wall color and trim are changing too)

-This all works really well if like mine, your husband wakes up at 5:30 to go to work, so when he comes home he is exhausted, but see's the giant mess you've created and decides he needs to help out of fear it won't get done. After all of this, I have warned Jason he may need to think really hard when he wants a second one...who knows what project I may pick up next time!

I do have to admit, Jason has been VERY patient with me and helped out a lot...(he's probably done more on it than I have!)

I'll post some before and afters when it done!

A little sneak peak....

2009-07-01T13:33:00.000-07:00

We have been SO curious to see what this little guy is going to look like and today we got a little preview...but not quite what we were expecting. Long story short we were only able to get good pics of his legs, feet, butt, ....and other parts in that area. We are confident he is a boy!

His thighs are huge! These will definitely come from Jason, but....

long skinny feet?? (like me) We're still not sure what we are

going to get and definitely still guessing!

Atlanta

2009-07-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

We were feeling a little overwhelmed with the fact that we are soon going to be responsible for a child. So, we did what any poor, married college students about to have a baby would do...we took a vacation....

Atlanta we discovered is an awesome city. We saw so much, but I'm just posting a few of the things we did and saw

This is from the Bontanical Gardens...which was incredible! (I risked my life taking a picture of this giant bumble bee....so I hope you enjoy it!)

I know you have all been waiting for this one....I feel huge! 34 weeks....wow!

The next few are of the Coca-cola factory. I never realized a soft-drink could be advertised as something so life changing....you need to go to see what I mean.

So, I just realized yes, the coke bear has his "paw" on my butt!

This is my favorite! They had tons of fountains from different flavors of Coke all over the world and even after trying a ton of them I still hate Coke! This was Jason after some strange tropical mango Coke mix...bleh.

One of our other favorites was the Aquarium. It is the largest in the world and was really pretty amazing.

Jason loved the

Beluga whale

The Jelly fish! One of my biggest fears....but they are amazing to look at when you are separated by THICK THICK glass.

Look at the giant Manta-ray behind us!

This is a horrible washed out picture...but we were in a hurry. The steeple coming out of our heads is the Atlanta temple. It was beautiful.

One of life's lessons

2009-05-19T06:31:00.000-07:00

When you are almost 7 months prego most of the clothes in the women's section become off limits! ...here is my proof:

(about 26 weeks...I'm 28 weeks today and have definitely grown since here...more pics to come)

Believe it or not sometimes I forget I have this growing belly. While I was shopping with my sister I saw this cute jacket and it hit me when the third button that goes around my ribs...not even my stomach...would barely come together! I guess it's good self-discipline, maybe I will just stick to shopping for shoes until my feet swell!

Here's some funny...and not so funny changes I've been experiencing:

1. Little old ladies at the grocery store give me this cute little adoring smile....it took me a while to figure out why all of the sudden people were smiling at me. Now I at least don't feel so uncomfortable.
2. My stomach will randomly "pulse" outward when he decides to kick me and I'm sure I look like a crazy person because I start laughing to myself everytime even when I'm in public somewhere.
3. Some nights I wake up with horrifying leg cramps and I get angry Jason doesn't feel the pain so I make sure to make enough noise to wake him up so he will massage my calves for me....sorry Jason!

One more thing....we just got back from visiting family and I have to say thanks to them! We had such a good time and miss you guys!

you look interesting??

2009-04-21T07:18:00.001-07:00

I have been trying to keep up on running a little lately and my work had a 5K fundraiser this past weekend. I thought it would be a great opportunity. It was a rainy morning so we layered up a little, and maybe somehow in the process ended up looking a little funny. When we got there to get our numbers the lady looked at us and said, "you two look interesting....you get #'s 1 and 2!" We weren't quite sure what to think??
Maybe we just have a Western look or something? Then the photographer started taking our picutres...maybe they'll label it "the interesting couple of Youth Villages 5K."

I'm proud to say I finished and Jason was good to run a long side me and pretend he was getting a good workout!

mexico

2009-03-31T07:35:00.000-07:00

I know, I'm a little behind, but better late than never right?

About two weeks ago we drove a LONG at least 20 hours one way for all this:
(it was worth it!)

Jason's family has been going to Mexico to do eyeglass trips for a while, and this year was especially awesome because Jason was able to help with exams. His education is paying off! YAY!
Jason doing an exam on a minninite lady

This is what makes it worth it :)

Every time we find the goofiest glasses....these were the winning pair!

(John & Rachel....precious)

This is what I did most the time....adjustments (as you can tell from the picture most of the time I was clueless!)

We did some sight seeing...and one day I want one of these so I can decorate with bright colors. I don't think I could paint my house this color in the U.S.!

Hacienda-translation-huge house!

All of the wood work and tiling was incredible.
This is just one picture of the inside. This house was HUGE...for the sake of

time I'm only posting this one.

Church History Lesson:

The place we stayed in was called Colonial Juarez...which is where a lot of the members fled when they were being persecuted by the U.S. government, and there are still a lot of members there today. This was the first mini-temple built and President Gordon B. Hinkley recieved the revelation to build mini-temples while he was visiting Colonial Juarez!

The trip was so much fun and we are so appreciative of what we have every time we come back! Thanks to Jason's parents and the Whetten's who let us stay at their house again. Oh, and thanks John, Rachel, and Jason for driving while I slept in the back seat! :)

Our Little Secret...

2009-03-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

Okay....so we've been keeping this a secret for well...five months next week! This is the first picture of our little BOY! We are so excited! (We didn't like the second one's we got.) He's set to come August 11th...which means I am facing a brutal Memphis summer! The doctor said everything looks great and we are very glad to not hide it anymore! It's getting a little difficult to hide my growing stomach.

i love modern technology!

2009-03-08T13:32:00.000-07:00

I've never been appreciative enough of the invention of the microwave until going without one for nearly....7 months! Here is our most recent staple purchase:

Yes, it is now a staple...and I don't know how we lived without one! Farewell to: heating things up on the stove (uk!), melting butter in the oven and creating messes,

and welcome to popcorn, oatmeal, and perfectly heated up leftovers with no pots and pans!

P.S...my handi-man Jason installed it himself :)

It Has Happened!

2009-02-22T15:02:00.001-08:00

The dreaded. The painful to the ears. The southerness!

Last night we were leaving a hockey game with some friends, and to my horror I hear out of Jason's mouth:

"Well, see YA'LL later"

Ahh! My mouth dropped. Jason's converting to the Southern ways…

(just a hilarious Southern picture…don't worry…Jason isn't planning
on looking like this too!)

Dilemma.....

2009-02-11T18:45:00.000-08:00

So...I need some opinions, or words of advice. It's about school..bleh. I am trying to figure out ways to finish my RN and through a lot of research I've come down to two of what I think are my best options..(I am not really too excited about either of them)
1. Wait until we go back to Utah and finish...will be MUCH cheaper but I will have to re-take an exam to apply..and we all know how fast we forget what we learned in school!...plus there's a possibility of one or two little Kowallis' running around by that time..
OR
2. Online! much more expensive..by almost triple the cost! Could be done in less than a year, but..online RN?
Anyway..if anyone has any help to offer that would be great!

i have missed you.....

2009-01-20T11:25:00.000-08:00

This was at 9am this morning......I felt like a kid I was so excited

and this was at 1:00 pm today....maybe next year

Christmas Vacation

2009-01-04T15:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I was a little overwhelmed when I got thinking about all of the pictures I could post and things I could write about our Christmas vacation...so...I was very pleased with myself when I came up with this brilliant idea. Okay, it's not that brilliant, but I liked it.

Our top 10 things we did over Christmas Vacation:

10. I finally was able to read a novel after not being in school! Whoo-hoo! My choice...Twilight of course...and I'm only 1/2 way through the 2nd book...so no giving anything away...Megan and Caitlin!

9. Not having to cook=not having to clean up=happy me :)

8. sleeping in..some days

7. Finally getting to eat my favorite Nielsen's ice cream! There is nothing better

6. Being able to take pictures of such a beautiful place...Hawaii! I didn't get hardly any of Utah. Which I am sad about now...and sorry Memphis...it just doesn't cut it for beautiful.

5. Mountains! Breathtaking. I forgot to get the one's of Utah.... :(

4. This one I didn't get pics of either..I'm very disappointed in myself, but we went skiing at snowbasin with my Dad and loved it! ( I only fell twice as a result of tripping myself with my ski poles! ) I am improving

3. Hawaii of course! We went with Jason's family to the beautiful island of Kaui! It was amazing and we had SO much fun. We even got to ride these trikes through the sky...and I touched a cloud! Now I can scratch that of my list of life goals to achieve! I could write about it for hours!

2. Visiting old friends. These are well...not my roommates, but should have been...the girls that got me through college. They are great..and as you see all married :) I didn't get pics of my other friends that got me through nursing school but we got to see them too.

1. And finally...family! We love them..and we got to welcome the newest member..Cameron born on Dec. 27. We were even able to visit them. I didn't get pics of all of my family...again my sad picture taking...but it was definitely what we needed, too see them

This is Trent and Cecilie...new Mom and Dad. Cameron is below

Here is my family..part of them. I love you guys! Getting big!

And last but definitely not least..Jason's family. They are wonderful and we love them too! Thanks for Hawaii guys!

Grrr...

2009-01-01T18:11:00.000-08:00

Update coming soon on the last few weeks. Our computer is being slow and I don't have the patience tonight!

Always On Our Minds!!

2008-12-05T17:48:00.000-08:00

We will be here in less than two weeks, that is less than 14 days! We're also so excited to see our families and go back to Utah for a few days! See you guys soon! Happy holidays :)

No wishes for us

2008-12-05T17:32:00.000-08:00

Tonight we decided to pull the wishbone from our very own first homemade Thanksgiving turkey! (thanks to the in-laws) We have been letting it dry out for over a week...and maybe we were a little too enthusiastic about it??

We broke the wishbone into three pieces! :( The middle piece went flying away. My piece was bigger though, so I guess my wish has a better chance of coming true than Jason's.

crazy campers

2008-11-25T18:50:00.001-08:00

This last weekend some of us had a crazy idea to go camping...it's Tennessee, can't be too cold right? The little white specs on the sleeping bag are the ice crystals we woke up to in the morning! They were all over the tent! We didn't realize the humidity might actually cause ice...guess we weren't thinking...oops. We figured it got down to about 25 degrees...with humidity on top of it

In the morning I managed to stay warm with pajama pants on under my jeans, two jackets, a winter coat, gloves, and a beanie that never came off! Jason is a human heater, so he was fine. :) We still had fun, but maybe next year we will go earlier

Our "hike"

2008-11-10T08:10:00.000-08:00

Okay..so after a few months of stalking everyone elses blogs..I think it's time I put something on my own! I was told by a few pessimistic Memphians the "during the fall the leaves just turn brown, die, and fall off!" I was so sad, but, the past couple of weekends we were determined to prove them wrong. We set out on a drive to go for what people around here call a "hike"

This was just possibly the most beautiful thing we saw all day... I had to throw it in!

If you look you can see some vine things hanging from the trees...we couldn't really figure out exactly what they were...(sorry about the order of these pics, I couldn't figure out how to re-arrange them..I have much to learn in the blogging world.)

At the end of the "hike"...or really just a nice walk with a few minor elevations here and there we found this...the Mississippi! There was sand right off of it, it was just like a beach..kind of crazy!

We were very excited when we figured out the vines were stable enought that we could swing on them! This is just one of the ones that we found.

Jason....trying to look manly

I was excited to see some red on the trees..with a little bit of yellow

All in all..not too bad. I can't say it's as pretty as Logan canyon, but definitely better than just turning brown, dying, and falling off.

Beale

2008-09-21T14:28:00.000-07:00

After we made up we managed to make a few friends and went down to Beale street. It was definitely not downtown SLC on a Friday night....we were followed by numerous bums yelling things at us we couldn't understand and I'm still feeling smoke circulating through my lungs. We did se some amazing blues bands and rode the trolley. It was pretty fun.

Homecoming and Beale Street

2008-09-21T14:11:00.000-07:00

Homecoming gave us the opportunity to come to an end of all of our recent disagreements...round #1...Jason won

I figured out that Jason must have a lot of anger built up inside when he decided to whip around and smash me in the face...look at the joy on his face! (Jason really did feel bad, we even hugged after) round #2...needless to say, Jason won

After getting hit in the face I realized I probably wasn't going to win....so, I decided if I was going to fall of, then I was making Jason fall of with me. round #3..... I like to think I won.

Convocation

2008-09-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

Jason's school has sort of a "white coat ceremony" which really felt like a pre-graduation. It was good, but long...as you can see from the picture of the back of a man's head, the church we were in didn't allow for very many good pictures while they were walking in, I actually had an open spot to snap the picture, but he must have felt like standing just as I took it. Tom Sullivan spoke, and sang. He was born premature which caused him to go blind, but became and olympic wrestler, actor, singer/songwriter, and many other things. He sort of made us feel unproductive...but was inspiring none the less.

Moving in...finally

2008-09-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

Well...as most of you know we were here for about almost three weeks without our stuff and it all just arrived about two weeks ago. It was kind of nice without it and we are not looking forward to moving again..but we are very excited to have things like our garbage cans, a kitchen table (although the floor was nice) , and a vaccum!

Here is a funny story that happed to go along with it all...Jason was outside mowing the lawn like a good little house owner and the neighbor came to him and said " I almost called the cops the other night because I thought I saw two black boys sitting on your kitchen floor!" Jason laughed and said "No, that was just us eating dinner!" I'm sure the neighbors are wondering about us!

Walking in Memphis!

2008-08-31T14:12:00.000-07:00

We have officially moved far, far away from home after a long 25 hour drive! Jason drug me along with him so he can go to optometry school at Southern College of Optometry. We are excited to be here, but it is very different and I have a personal goal to leave in four years without ever saying ya'll...I'm going to try really hard. So far we have encountered many things like a little river in our back yard from the buckets of rain fall and of course the adventures of Beale street..during the day of course. We are getting used to life here and the humidity. I've realized I will be doing a lot more laundary after having to shower and change twice yesterday! Jason officialy starts school tomorrow and I will go back to job searching...bleh!