Priceless

Every holiday (and I mean EVERY holiday), Chase gets a cute vintage style card with a 2 dollar bill, and a little note in it from her Great Grandma (my Grandma) Nelson.She has been getting these cards since the day she was born. I put all the cards with all the 2 dollar bills in Chase's baby book hoping that one day when she is looking back at all of her baby memories she will know how special these cards and bills are.
My Grandma is awesome. Did you know that in the past 5 or so years my Grandma has become a world traveler? She has been EVERYWHERE! Yes, it is hard to imagine her trecking around the world, but she does it! She just slaps on those birkenstocks and shes good to go! One day I want to go somewhere with her (and take lots of pictures because she never takes pictures!).

So, this post is dedicated to my marvelous Grandmother! For taking me to get 711 nachoes, renting movies with me, spyteching with me, sharing books with me (I get my love of reading from her),hanging out with me, having the most infectious laugh I have ever heard, and for all the other priceless things she has done for me and my little family. She has been through a lot, and taught me a lot, and is pretty much the coolest Grandma I know.

My little witch

Last night was the ward Halloween party. It was fun for about an hour, and then Chase was over it. She definatly made a cute witch though. We are hoping she lasts a little bit longer on the actual night of Halloween.

Chase and Nana

This was her attempt at doing the Hokey Pokey. As you can see, her style of dance is mainly just jumping around.

The knew routine

Chase's bedtime routine used to be as follows: bath, brush teeth, read story, go to bed.
We recently got her a toddler bed to replace the crib. The routine is no more. We now fight tooth and nail to actually get her to go to bed. When she does actually go to bed we give it about 15 minutes until we hear her door creak open, and she comes running in ready for action.
Tonight was the best. I am in our bedroom on the internet, Jamison is in the kitchen studying, and I hear Chase's door open. The next thing I know I can hear Hillary Duff music on t.v., and Jamison and Chase are dancing in the living room. It was classic. I really wish I would have had the video camra. Jamison has got some sweet moves (along with Chase of course). Apparently she decided "why go to bed, when I can dance?" So, as a family we danced to Hilary Duff, and apparently that was all she needed, because now she is fast asleep.

New find

A few weeks ago I was on my way home from the condo (may it burn to the ground), when I drove past this quant little boutique called Tiara. After futher inspection I realized they sold childrens clothing so I decided to check it out. I am so very glad I did. If you are like me, and love vintage style childrens clothing (for boys and girls), you must check it out. The clothing is so unique, but in a totally adorable, funky way. I found these hair clips for Chase there, and the great thing about them is that she can wear them in her hair, and then when it gets colder they can clip to her little winter hats to make them more stylish. Love it! I love finding places like this! I had to share it with everyone!
If you have any special finds, or great "not well known" places when it comes to childrens clothing and accesories, do share!

Loving fall / LOTS of pictures

The view from our front window. I love it when the leaves start to change.

Walking to the Halloween house.

Last Sunday morning we went and walked around spirit lake. The leaves were gorgeous! And as you can tell from the pictures she is a daddys girl. She is all smiles with him, but no such luck with me

Look! a squirrel.

Where did it go?

Just hangin in mom's shades

If you have never been to Cucina deli in the avenues, you must try it out. The food is delicious and the atmosphere is so nice. Perfect place to go eat on a warm fall day.

Possible mullet in the works? Lets hope not.

Carving Pumpkins! Mine is the awesome witch on the left (which I will admit I used a stencil to carve)

Do vaccines cause autism?

Disclaimer: due to the comments I have recieved I must not have made it clear that I do 100% believe in getting your child vaccinated. My confusion is when is the best time to do it.

Whilst waiting in line at Target today I was flipping through a magazine when I came across an article about Jenny McCarthy and how she helped her son beat autism. It was a very interesting article about the things she did (such as drastically changing his diet) to help him overcome his autism. And it got me to thinking... do vaccines really cause autism, or do they not? The whole thing is very confusing to me, and I often don't know what to believe. I have done a lot of reading on the subject and what I have found is that almost all mothers ( I have read about) with autistic children have said that yes, after their child recieved their vaccination is when the signs of autism began to show. But most doctors (including my pediatrican) say that no, there has been no link found between vaccines and autism. I have also read that although vaccines dont cause autism, they can make it manifest itself in children that are genetically susceptible. I am no scientist, but just by looking at the numbers it is very convincing that vaccines do have something to do with it, being that 15 yrs ago it was like 1 in 10000 children will be diagnosed with autism, and now its around 1 in 150.
Being a mom you learn to trust your instincts. You can tell when something is wrong with your child, even when no one else can. That is why I tend to believe every mother out there who has said that vaccines had something to do with it. They have nothing to gain from saying that, while drug companies have lots of money to gain by saying that vaccinations do not cause autism.
I wish I would have researched this better before I allowed Chase to recieve her vaccinations, but all I really did was ask my pediatrician and a few other young moms, who all basically said that nothing has been proven. I know that getting your child immunized is very important, and should definatly be done, but quit honestly I am really confused about when is the best time to do it. Is it best to start when they are brand new babys (like my doctor told me), or is it best to wait until they are 2 (like many moms say they wish they would've done when there child was diagnosed with autism)?

http://specialchildren.about.com/od/autismandvaccines/i/vaccines.htm

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/06/vaccines.autism/index.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/03/AR2008090303396.html

High School Tag

1. Did you date someone from your highschool?
Yes, but no one seriously

2. What kind of car did you drive?
Nissan stanza (big brown), and a Nissan Sentra

3.Were you a party animal?
I was not

4.Were you considered a flirt?
No, I was shy

5.Where you in band, orchestra, or choir?
No

6.What was your most embarrassing moment in highschool?
Probably when I passed out infront of lots of people, and some kid had to go get my friends to help me.

7.Were you a nerd?
No. I "thought" I was pretty cool

8.Were you on varsity teams?
No

9.Did you ever get suspended/expelled?
No

10.Can you still sing the fight song?
No, and I never could. Didnt even know we had a fight song.

11.Who were your favorite teachers?
Never had favorites, and now that I think about it, I can't remember any names except for Mrs. Liddle.

12.What was your school full name?
Cottonwood Highschool

13.School mascot?
Colt

14.Did you go to the Homecoming dance and with who?
I think I went to Homecomeing with Otis, and that was the only time.

15.If you could go back, would you?
no

16.What do you remember most about graduation?
Chelsea and I running out of the school, ripping off our robes and changing in my car, driving to 311 concert, going home and showering , going to all night party, losing the cash I got as a graduation present, panicing, finding cash, leaving for Laguna Beach the next morning.

17.Where did you go senior skip day?
I dont think we had a senior skip day....but I did skip a lot of school

18.Were you in a club?
colt news...is that a club?

19.Have you gained some weight since then?
i suppose

20.Who was your prom date?
cody jensen (i went to judge prom my senior year..or was it junior?)

21.Are you planning on going to your 10 yr reunion?
no. everyone I care about I am still in touch with

22.Looking back, what advice would you give yourself?
probably the same as chels. dont be so insecure.

I tag everyone I went to highschool with

love it!

I found these papercut prints via this etsy shop, and I can totally picture them in Chase's room. The only problem is the ballerina prints are sold as a series and I am thinking we can't afford them, but I also love the one of the girl on the swing and am so tempted to buy it.

I wish I was talented enough to make something like this myself. Sometimes I envy crafty people.

time thieves, peeping toms, and smiles

Chase woke up very early this morning. (5:00am). So I put her in bed with me hoping she would fall back to sleep. She did not. I then decided to stick her infront of the T.V. (gotta love the Disney channel) hoping it would relax her into maybe just a few more hours of sleep.Am I a bad mother for this? Maybe. But I cherish my sleep. While she is watching T.V I hop on the internet to do the usual.....check the blog...facebook...myspace...ksl....etc etc etc and before I know it a lot of time has passed, time I spent on the internet, time Chase spent watching T.V. I didnt realize all the time that had passed until Chase came in and grabbed my hand, led me to the couch and snuggled up to me, which led me to think "I should have been doing this all along. Its so much more fun!" Ah, the things our children will teach us.

That is the tender part of the story, this is the creepy part.

We are snuggled on the couch enjoying Mickey Mouse Club House, when I see a face in our living room window. What the?? To say the least it scared me to death. You see, the window in our living room is very close to our front door, and for some unknown reason people get the urge to look right in our living room window to see if we are home and what we are doing before they actually ring the door bell (keep in mind you dont walk past this window to get to the front door, if you wanted to look in the window you would have to go out of your way to do so). This bothers me to no end. Its makes me wish I would have got blinds, instead of my lovely curtains (which apparently when are opened people see as an invitation to just look right in). So, it turns out I actually knew the peeping tom, and I guess they were just seeing if we were home (said with extreme annoyance), instead of just ringing the door bell. So please, if you come to my home, knock on the door or ring the doorbell. I can no longer be responsible for my actions if I see another random face in my window.

What do the above pics have to do with anything? They don't.They are just my latest attempts at capturing a smile on camra from Chase. She has this funny habit of turning away or screaming whenever a camra is pointed at her and someone says "smile!", or anything else that could possibly be said or done to get a child to smile for a pic. She actually really likes doing just the opposite of what anyone tells her to do.
Smile or no smile, she is still the cutest thing I have ever laid eyes on.

Take me away from here.

I found this via this is my heart it is a good heart. I quit like it.

Eagle Eye

This movie was very good. I highly recommend seeing it. Why?It is totally intense , the story line is good (if a little far fetched), but Shia Lebeouf.......oh Shia..... how have I not noticed how amazingly good looking he is before?

Hello Winter.

This morning we woke up to lots of snow falling. Chase was totally mesmerized by it so we took her outside to play and she loved it (even more so when she realized she could eat it). Not sure if I'm ready for winter. Kindof wishing we lived in Hawaii right now.

Tim Burton + Alice in Wonderland= It will be amazing

I am so excited for this!!! Its not coming out for a while, but I think it will be brilliant. And the best part? Johnny Depp playing the mad hatter.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/sep/25/johnnydepp.timburton

My favorite time of year

I love love love the fall. I love the colors, I love the weather, and all the fun traditions that come with fall and Halloween. Last week I busted out The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, and Chase has insisted on watching it everyday since. I have been dieing to watch the old Sleepy Hollow cartoon, but I cant find it anywhere. The Johnny Depp version will have to do. I love me some Johnny Depp.

Anyways, back on topic here...some other things I love about fall....carmel apples, homemade donuts, my grandmas homemade chili, taking Chase to the pumpkin patch, Halloween movies(only the not to scary ones) etc, etc.

There is a house just down the street from us that goes ALL OUT for Halloween. I have always thought that excessive holiday decor was tacky, but I love this house. We walk Chase down there every night. A few years ago they started doing a pirate theme, and play the pirates of the carribean theme song (from the ride). If you are in the area and want to get in the Halloween spirit, take a stroll past this house .You will love it .

(my picture doesn't do it justice)

And with the new season comes a new Jamie (dont you love my transition). After 4 years of wearing glasses I have finally come to terms with the fact that I have horrible vision and contacts would just make more sense. You see, this way I can actually wear the cute hats I buy without my glasses getting in the way. I have the urge to run my glasses over with my car, but I will refrain because I am sure they will come in handy when the contacts get old.

Confession

I idolize Gwen. Well maybe not her so much as her style. I wish I could pull off the red lipstick. And not just pull it off but be able to go everywhere and anywhere wearing it and look as amazing as her.Looking at her hair makes me want to die mine platinum blond again. I kindof miss the old school Gwen. From the No Doubt days. In Junior High I wanted to be just like her, and 13 years later I still kindof do.

I have said it before, and I will say it again. I LOVE this show.

Today I vowed

to never take Chase to the grocery store with me again. She threw a tantrum (whats new?) because I wouldn't let her out of the cart. I made the mistake of putting a jar of salsa within her reach. She picked up the jar of salsa and threw it to the ground, and I watched helplessly as it shattered everywhere in the aisle. The flood gates opened. I was at my wits end. I just wanted to disappear. I was beyond grateful for the incredibly kind woman in the aisle with me who looked at me with the look of understanding in her eyes and told me not to worry, she would go get someone to clean it up. Lesson learned? No.

Mall, today, Chase in stroller, another tantrum. I let her get out of the stoller to walk, and she bolts. I am chasing her down the mall (I guess her name is appropriate...). I finally get it under control, and the oh so nice lady behind me in line gives Chase a sticker (because of course the millions of treats I packed to bribe her into obedience are of no use). So this blog is a thank you to those nice people for not looking judgingly, but with understanding and helping me out. I am so very grateful.

Oh yes, and I can't end this without mentioning her new love of putting all things on her head. She will take off her pants and put them on her head. She will literally drape a blanket over her face and walk around the house until she smacks into something, and then laugh hysterically. Its awesome.

Suburban Heresy

If you haven't already checked it out, you must do so now. My friend Chelsea is an amazing makeup artist who has started a blog dedicated to all things makeup. So, if your like me and could use some good tips and want to keep up on the latest trends check it out!

suburban heresy