How to Start Your Day

Go to the beach.

 Being jealous of all the locals who make it there daily is optional and not recommended but hardly avoidable.

Oh. Um. Just taking a picture of myself.

So let's back up now. We decided to take a quick trip to San Diego. Left on a Sunday after church, hit the beach Monday morning, Legoland the rest of that day, and SeaWorld on Tuesday.

So beautiful and captivating. It was fun to be there with the surfers, the firemen taking a break, the retirees, the young families, and those who just pulled their car up to sit and watch the waves crash.

Snapshots

My camera died as I was taking some cute pictures of Emmy lounging in the Tigger jumper. She's supposed to jump in it. But so far she just leans her head against the straps and chews on it. Anyway, the camera's a goner as far as I can tell, but since we just got it in August I'm hoping to get it fixed or replaced soon.

I was bummed...most of my blogging includes pictures. But I was reading this and realized that it's the perfect thing to do when you don't have a camera. And I just think it's a great record keeping method. I might do some regular installments of it. So here are my snapshots...life as we know it right now...this could get boring/lengthy but I'm loving the idea...

-Nate is doing an in-patient rotation this month. He doesn't see the sun most days. Leaves around 5 something as far as I can tell in those wee hours and gets home between 6:30 and 7.

-I took a break from walking the kids to school because Emmy hated the stroller. We've started up again and I wear Emmy in the Snugli, push Natalie in the stroller, and Jansen rides his Razor with all the other kids.

-We have "dessert" after every dinner. Really it's just an incentive for the kids to finish their food. Some common desserts are: marshmallows, pudding, ice cream, sucker, fruit snacks, or any other treat we have on hand.

-My favorite wind-down time activity right now is reading a magazine and having a snack. I read Better Homes and Gardens, Reader's Digest, Parents, Ensign, and House Beautiful.

-Jansen and Natalie choose what they want for breakfast and lunch. Within reason of course. I choose dinner and they have to try everything but don't have to finish things they "hate."

-Almost every weekday we watch Peep and the Big Wide World (I LOVE this show) in the morning before school and Cyber Chase (I HATED this show. It's grown on me though) in the evening as we are waiting for dad.

-Emmy continues to be a bit of a handful. Her naps are usually just 30 minutes and apparently our home bores her. If we are shopping or at the park, she is fairly content. At home she is still pretty fussy most of the day.

-I wake up about 6:15 and go to bed around 10:30. On a good night I get up maybe 3 times. On a bad night, 7.

-I am reading Book of Mormon Stories for Young Latter Day Saints because my knowledge of the Book of Mormon is seriously lacking.

-I spend a fair amount of time on the computer. I like to check the news, weather, my email, facebook, recipe blogs, style blogs, decorating blogs, etc.

-Nate is painting in his free time. He recently finished a Golden Winged Warbler.

-I haven't cut my hair in over 6 months. I do still like it long, but a haircut is definitely on the to do list.

Well, that's probably enough for now. Now I'm off to discuss with Nate whether we should go to San Diego this weekend...

Future Queen of the Court

But this. This is money. Take a look at me in my uniform. Created by this player. See how cute? Cannot thank her enough for helping me get some second looks from the scouts.

I get a little distracted by the taste of my tutu.

My very first assist.

Ahhhhhh yeah. Keep your eye out for this one.



Lake Mead/Jansen Blogs

Nate took some vacation time on Monday and Tuesday. I am perfectly content hanging around the house when he's home...just thrilled there is another adult in my vicinity...but Nate is always wanting to GO GO GO. Thank goodness, or we wouldn't have some of our great memories and life would be boring. We decided to check out Lake Mead. We did some exploring, tossed a frisbee, and chased birds. Nothing spectacular. But am I glad we went? Absolutely.

***Jansen saw me blogging and wanted to help, so the rest of the captions were created and written by him!

Nate and jessca are standing beside eachothr!they are smiling in a picture so glad for america for us dad!!!

natalie is out on the beach suning herself on the beach soooooooooooooooooo suning out on the beach!
she loves the beach on the beach box 5 $ ooooo natalie!

It's Nice to Have a Sister



Deal With It

I don't recall ever really making New Year's resolutions and putting forth a big effort to keep them. It's just never been my styyyyyyle. I make lists daily in my teenage-boy-handwriting every day though (daily every day - is there an echo in here)...things I want to accomplish. Ideas I jot down when they come to me. Stuff to work on when I have the time.

But this year a motto has somehow evolved and it just keeps coming to mind:

DEAL WITH IT!

I am determined this year to just deal with it. I tend to get a little worked up over small things that have no long term consequence. For example, I might really stress because I'm going to have to wake up Emmy from a nap to go somewhere. Or I will sit and dwell on the fact that Nate will be gone all weekend. Or I fret and worry about the next time my children are going to get sick. Are you getting the idea?

Well, I'm going to do my best to stop. Stuff's gonna happen, days are going to be long, throw up will find us, and I'm going to have to wake up Emmy up sometimes. Do these things matter, AT ALL, in the end? No. For the most part, not one bit. So I'm not going to let them affect me. I will handle it...just like I've handled those same things in the past and survived...and move on. Most likely I'll move on to a pint of ice cream. But hey, it's still moving on.

Now, there are some things that I really do need to resolve to do better at this year. Like cleaning out the lint between Emmy's toes.