3 more months

and then Jamison is DONE with school. I can hardly wait. I mean really he has been in school for SO long. I sometimes forget that the day will come when I don't have a husband in school. He will actually be able to come home after work. He has been in school for so long you would think he was going to be a doctor or something. He is not. But its OK. It just took him a while to figure out what he wanted to do. This summer will be crazy for him, but it will go by so fast, and then....BOO YA, no more husband in school.

We are celebrating by going to Disneyland/the beach come the end of summer, and I can't wait. A much needed graduation present. Since we have been married we have never taken anything more than short weekend vacations together, so its about freaking time!!!

Plus, its going to be the best, taking Chase to Disneyland. She is very excited to say the least.

And now I am going to post some pictures from this weekend. My kids are awesome.

Yes, that is one of the breast milk container things they give you at the hospital. What? it makes a good toy.

A few random tidbits.

Its pretty common knowledge that organic food is expensive. That is, unless you are growing your own garden fresh fruit and vegetables. Alas, Right now we do not have a garden.

While I am at the grocery store I often wonder if I should be buying everything organic?? Or if there are things that it doesn't matter as much???

While surfing the interwebs this morning I came across this website, with this cute little printable cheat sheet. I printed one for myself and plan on sticking it in my purse and consulting it when I go grocery shopping. (apparently there is also an app for this...but I prefer the cute printable version).

Right now I am about half way through the book Little Bee. I must say it is a good book, but it makes me depressed. Depressed because I find myself blown away at the things certain human beings are capable of, but also amazed at how resilient humans are capable of being. (did that sentence make sense?). This book has made me think that we must all have some secret store of strength that we don't even know is there until we have to deal with something that would seem unbearable.

And speaking of having to deal with the unbearable, the past few days I can not stop thinking about this story. It breaks my heart. To think of what this innocent 4 year old child had to endure. Also, I keep thinking about this boys biological father, and how he had no choice but to send his son to live with his mother ( who in my opinion does not deserve to be called a mother), and now his son is gone, beaten to death by his mom's boyfriend, and she did nothing but take pictures with her cell phone. No child should have to endure that. Thinking about it just makes me want to hug my kids and never let go.

My heart goes out to the biological Father. I can only imagine the hell he is living right now.

Quote of the Week, and pretty flowers because flowers make me happy.

“I want so to live that I work with my hands and my feeling and my brain. I want a garden, a small house, grass, animals, books, pictures, music. And out of this, the expression of this, I want to be writing (Though I may write about cabmen. That’s no matter.) But warm, eager, living life, to be rooted in life, to learn, to desire, to feel, to think, to act. This is what I want. And nothing less. That is what I must try for.”

-Katherine Mansfield

(quote found via littlegarden)

When she grows up.

For a while she was going to be a doctor when she grows up. "Just like Dr. Lindgren, I gotta help sick kids."

Then the fireman at Jason's Deli gave her a badge, which then made her want to be a fireman. It doesn't hurt that her Grandpa and Uncle are firemen. I mean it does run in the family.

Sometimes its a cowgirl, sometimes a pilot, sometimes a ballerina.

But whatever she ends up deciding, we will support her.

(and I believe she will look adorable doing whatever she decides...even if its fighting fires)

My little Ballerina

My little cowgirl

Mothers Day 2010

I must say this has been a very nice weekend. Jamison took Friday off of work, and we decided to take the kids and walk around Temple Square. It was GORGEOUS. Hello!! The flowers are amazing!! Good place to just let the kids run, and enjoy the scenery and nice weather at the same time. We also did lunch at the Nauvoo Cafe in the Joseph Smith memorial building. Didn't even know that place existed (the cafe that is) until we walked past it. Had a very yummy chicken pot pie.

Then Friday night was Bunco night. Us girls get together the first Friday of every month to get our Bunco on. Good times were had...as usual.

Saturday Jamison took me to breakfast at the Dodo for Mothers

Day (YUM!), then we went and saw Iron Man 2 (way good!), then Jamison's Dad and Laraine had us out for dinner. I feel like I am getting fatter by the minute eating all this good food.

Then there was today. Yes, I spoke in church. Real glad thats over with. Then we did dinner at Jamison's Moms. The kids had a great time playing in the little metal tub in her backyard (see below picture). Its amazing how something so simple can entertain them for so long. And I also realized I could probably just sit and watch my kids for hours. I find them that entertaining (but I do realize I am most likely the only one who could do that...other than Jamison).

Then off to my Mom's we went. Then home. Now the kids are in bed and I just want to stay up and watch a good movie, then read my really good book (Little Bee). Also, I have a confession. By "good movie" I mean Practical Magic. Yes, I like that movie (its the one with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, and they are witches. Really I just want to live in the house they live in with there aunts in the movie), but its Mother's Day, and I should get to watch what I want...right? I realize I will get made fun of. I am Ok with that.

Cohen and Uncle Dave. Its good to have him back from Hawaii. Also Cohen tearing it up in the metal tub.

Helping Grandma Marilee open her Mothers Day Present.

Yellow roses are one of my favorites.

And my favorite Mother's Day gift. Shoes!! Thanks Jamison! I love.

I must mention, I have got some amazing women in my life...all of whom deserve to have an amazing Mother's Day.

My Mom, Grandma, Mother in laws, friends.

I love you!!!

Last Night

Last night after giving Chase and Cohen baths, and getting them all ready for bed it was still a bit early. Chase really wanted to watch an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba, so I decided we could handle one episode before bedtime. As she was sitting on her little drum watching, Cohen was playing with some toys behind her...then the cutest thing ever. He crawls over, uses Chase's arm to get to a standing position, then just buried his head in her shoulder. He stayed that way for at least 3 minutes, and she just sat there with her arms around him. I had to run and grab my camera. It absolutely made my night. I just keep looking at the pictures. They make me very happy.

Confessions

Today:

When I woke up this morning I could hear muted voices in Chase and Cohen's bedroom. Lately when Chase wakes up, she doesn't wake me up. She instead gets some books and climbs into Cohen's crib and proceeds to read to him. Its actually kind of nice. When I walked in, with my camera at ready, Chase was reading Love You Forever. With every page turn she would say "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be."

I must say, it was a good start to my day.

After breakfast, I sat down to check my email etc...and then it hit me like a large painful brick. I agreed to speak in church on Sunday. Just typing that sentence got my heart racing. I DO NOT like speaking in public, in front of large audiences. I have to speak on motherhood since its Mothers Day and all on Sunday. Why do I so readily agree to these things?

So, instead of checking email I start researching talks and things that I can include in my talk. I came across this talk by Sheri L. Dew. Loved it. But still, it didn't change the fact that I would almost rather get another kidney stone then speak in church. Kidney stones are more painful than child birth. I know because I have experienced both. Maybe that should be my talk.

"Good morning brothers and sisters. Kidney stones are more painful than child birth. Happy Mothers Day. Amen."

After attempting to come up with something to talk about, I realized the morning was gone, and I was still in my pjs in front of the computer while my children were destroying my home around me. So I decided to put it off.

Whats wrong with this picture? I will tell you. Cohen is pulling all my pewter dishes off this shelf, and Chase is watching Sponge Bob in Cohen's walker. Its at this point I realized its time for a picnic.

Picnic time!!!

Bat, bug catcher, and sidewalk chalk. She is good to go.

Wearing Mom's high heels. Don't be jealous of our ghetto backyard. If you try hard enough, you to can have a ghetto backyard.

I decided to cheat for our picnic and get a happy meal for Chase at Mcdonalds. Don't judge me. She eats healthy 95.7% of the time.

On the way she wanted to listen to Perfect Day by Lady Antebellum. Yes, I confess, sometimes I listen to country music. Sometimes I am ashamed of it, but sometimes I can't resist a feel good country song. Jamison pretends he doesn't know I sometimes listen to country. Its better that way. I just consider myself very well rounded when it comes to music.

Also, I like hearing Chase belt out:

"A perfect day.

Wish I could find a way to stay

Lost in this moment now."

Its awesome.

Now, its nearing the evening and instead of working on my talk, I am once again on the computer while Cohen pulls dishes off my shelf.

Peace out.

Today I realized what he meant by "that look".

As I was lugging Cohen around church last Sunday looking for someone, a certain gentleman in our ward approached me and said "You know, both of your children have a certain look."

I replied, "Let me guess. The look of Jamison? I hear that all the time."

He said, "No, they both look like they have a very juicy secret that only they know, and they aren't planning on telling anyone."

Interesting. I had never noticed that before...until today. Every time I looked at Cohen, he looked back at me with this look. This look that said "You are so naive lady. You have no idea the havoc I can cause. Don't believe me? Watch this"...as he proceeds to smack our T.V screen showing me that yes, if he tried hard enough he could knock the whole thing over.

I mean look at this picture. Thats a smug face if ever I saw one.

In fact I got an even better picture of his smugness, but I look similar to a rhino in the photo so I chose not to post it.

Chase on the other hand...I haven't noticed a "juicy secret look" about her (as this man so weirdly put it). It seems all she wants to do these days is pretend to either be a dog, a lion, or a dinosaur. Lately she is also obsessed with spiders, worms, and snakes as in she wants to pick them up and shove them in my face.

Today she kept bringing up dinosaur poop. Not sure why. Probably that weird episode of Dinosaur Train she watched a few days ago that talked about dinosaur poop and all the great things that can be found in it. Eew.

Super Guy to the rescue!!! Thats what Chase likes to say when she is pretending to fly.

Here is our dog...I mean daughter Chase. I know that sounds bad, but if I let her, she would be outside all day long with nothing but her underpants on, pretending to be a dog. And if I refer to her as Chase, she will tell me "No, mom!! I'm a dog!!"

Cohen hates the grass. If I need to set him down on it for any reason, there has to be something for him to sit on. If he is on grass directly he screams.

It also seems that he is close to walking. I love watching him cruise around holding on to this thing. You would be surprised at how fast those little legs can go.

Today we also drove around looking at homes for sale. It seems we are in a state of uncertainty about where we will be in the next few months. We have a few options...if only we could decide which one is best....

I hate making big decisions.

I'm not the only one who watched these movies.....right?

A few weeks back "The wives club", decided it was our turn to go see a "midnight movie" (except we saw our midnight movie at around 7:00pm). We went and saw Alice In Wonderland (and can I just say that I LOVED it).

Anyways, as we were sitting waiting for the movie to start we started talking about movies that remind us of our childhood, and how creepy some of them were, and how when you go back and revisit the movies from your childhood, you end up a little disappointed. Its never as good as you remember (unless your watching Goonies. That movie is always good, no matter the era).

All I can say is, the 80's was a time of some crazy weird movies.

Example: Remember Legend? I loved this movie when I was little. Young Tom Cruise anyone? Also, I think its the only other movie Simone (from Ferris Buellers Day off) was in.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun. I remember my Grandma had a copy of this movie, and every time I went to her house I HAD to watch it. My 7 yr old self thought it was the coolest movie ever. Most people associate Sarah Jessica Parker with Sex In the city. I associate her with Girls Just Want to Have Fun. I am always surprised when someone hasn't seen or heard of this movie (which I think is a lot of people). I mean, its so awesome how is that even possible? :)

Labyrinth is another one of my creepy 80's favorites. David Bowie with woman hair? Check. David Bowie in spandex? Check. Did they not look at him dressed like that and wonder if the world really wanted to see his manly goods in those spandex pants?

So, this version of Alice In Wonderland is a movie I did NOT like as a child. It always creeped me out big time. When I bring it up a lot of people have no idea what I am talking about, but this picture proves that it was a real movie, and I think whoever made it was high on drugs.

Same with Return to Oz. Scared me to death as a small child. We talked about watching it at our next movie night, just to see if it really is as creepy as we remember. Do we dare???

Here is a clip from 1985 version Alice In Wonderland. Watching it brings back that creepy feeling. I hated this movie.