Lifeline

20 Years Ago...
1. I had as much hair as when I was born, then my mom permed it. That = Afro! (I will never do that to Mazee!)
2. Jana Bird moved into the neighborhood, was my best friend, and we rode my pink banana bike around
3. I started taking dance lessons from Vickie Jones

10 Years Ago...
1. I had braces and the worst headgear imaginable.
2. I was on the junior high student council.
3. I pierced my belly button, my mom found out, and I'm still lucky to be alive today.

5 Years Ago...
1. I finished my pre-requisites at BYU-Idaho
2. Started nursing school at CEU
3. Was working at Hearthstone Manor, an assisted living center, where everyone set me up with their son or grandson

3 Years Ago...
1. I worked at the State Mental Hospital for 6 months, which was WAY too long!
2. Jake took me to the Kenny Chesney concert and confessed his love for me
3. I started working in the Newborn ICU the same week Jake proposed

1 Year Ago...
1. I was 5 months pregnant
2. We bought our house and remodeled EVERYTHING inside, I will never do that again
3. Jake & his brother Kade reunited after not seeing each other for 4 years because of their missions

So far this year...
1. Jake graduated and started his new job
2. I have absolutely loved being a housewife and mom
3. We have only gone boating once because it's been freezing cold! And it's JUNE!

Yesterday I...
1. Did some swimsuit shopping for all three of us
2. Went to the Parade of Homes with my mom and Mazee
3. Had an Art City Days scone! YUM!

Today I...
1. Watched the Art City Days hot air balloons with Mazee
2. Went on a walk with Mazee
3. Cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned! There's nothing like a clean house!

Tomorrow I...
1. Will go to the Art City Days parade. (If you can't tell, Art City Days is a major holiday in Springville.)
2. Have a BBQ.
3. Watch the fireworks

In the next year...
1. We'll go to Lake Powell
2. We'll go on an insanely relaxing vacation to somewhere warm and caribbeanish
3. I will possibly get a new couch set and new blinds and a new car and a new bedroom set and a sewing machine. I could settle for just a couch set though.

Gotta Love Gas

Prices, that is. I love this. So true...

The Count Is On

Only 26 more days until PuRe BlisS!!!

Good food + Good company + Laziness + Boating + Tan = great time in Lake Powell with fam!

I would take pictures, but...

I'll leave the following to your imagination instead.... Due to my daughter's lack of hair, I always make sure she has either a bow glued to her head (by "glued" I mean stuck on with KY) or a headband on, so there is no gender confusion. Well, last week I put the bow in Mazee's hair and laid her down for her morning nap. Two hours later when she awoke, I picked her up out of her crib, and found the bow missing. I wasn't too worried about the bow and figured it would show up later in her blanket or stuck to her clothes. I had forgotten about the bow until two days later when changing her diaper. Yes, what you're assuming right now is exactly right. As I pulled the diaper open to see what surprises Mazee had left, I noticed a little stringy thing and thought, "What the heck was that?! She couldn't have worms, could she?" I quickly strapped on the new diaper and went back to the old to exam, as nurses are taught to do, or maybe I'm just that sick. Well, lo and behold, it was Mazee's bow that was not so much a bow anymore, just straight ribbon. I laughed and laughed, called Jake to tell him, considered taking a picture for proof and decided people would think I was WAY too crude, and then laughed some more. And now I'm wishing I had the picture.

On another note, I have had this weird thing on my uvula. UVULA = hangy thing in the back of your throat FYI. It started last Saturday morning but didn't seem too bad, then Sunday morning I woke up with a uvula 3 times the regular size! It was disgusting and making me gag and it hurt to swallow. I had about 5 white spots that have now combined into one huge one and about three little ones. I haven't had any other symptoms really, other than some unusual fatigue. I have no idea what it is and have been freaking myself out thinking, "What if a parasite got in my mouth when we went to Utah Lake on Saturday?" We all know how dirty Utah Lake is. Or "What if a spider crawled in my mouth and buried itself inside?" I have had the hardest time eating because anything I swallow scratches the sores, Uggggghhhh! I experienced sweet relief today when I was finally able to eat some pizza for lunch and only had a little bit of burning. Maybe the end of this crap is in sight!

Sorry no pictures of my fascinating discoveries!

Latest Happenings...

I know, I've been horrible about blogging lately, but we've been so busy around here. Here's a few pictures of what we've been up to....

I had to post this picture of Mazee's awesome snot bubble.

We took Mazee swimming for the first time in my parents hot tub, she absolutely loved it.

Jake graduated!! Yay! It was such a fun day with all the family. We ate crab legs at McGrath's after. Yummy!

And of course, a darling picture of Mazee. She's getting so big-- she now has two teeth, says "da-da," and is getting good at mimicking what we do. We couldn't love her more!

Two Weeks Notice

I did it. I gave my two weeks notice on Friday. I was so nervous. My manager was so nice about it, but honestly what could she do, fire me? So I have two shifts left and then I just get to stay home and work on becoming a better wife and mom. How great is that? I think Mazee's going to get really sick of me. Anyway, Jake is loving his new job and all the perks that come with it. Whenever we go anywhere now he wants to take his new truck, but it's so dirty. What can I expect though, he works with asphalt. Needless to say, we're feeling very blessed.

Sincere Apologies

I have been feeling guilty the last couple weeks because I have not been the loyal, freak-out American Idol fan that I was in the past. I've definitely been watching, and we've still been having our weekly Tuesday night gatherings at Grandma Gunnell's house with our dinner assignments and all. But for some reason I'm just not as into it this season. Is it just me? I mean, I used to be calling and voting on both mine and Jake's cell phones for hours. I also went to their concert last summer with Jake's mom, sister, and aunt, which was way fun! I was 7 months pregnant and totally jammed out in loyalty to AI. What has happened to me? I'm just not feelin' it.

The guilt is starting to build inside me. I guess I felt the need to confess my sins today. I'm sorry AI Season 7, I'll do better.

Big Girl Blythe

Is 5 years old today! Happy Birthday Blythe! We love you!

A-Z

Shan tagged me, so here we go....... hopefully I get the alphabet in the right order.


A. Attached or Single: Attached to Jake & Mazee

B. Best Friend: Jake and then my mom

C. Cake or Pie: If the treat is going to be a pastry, I'd rather have a doughnut. I'm a sucker for doughnuts. Isn't that sick?

D. Day of Choice: Saturday. No obligations. No school, no work, just whatever we want to do.

E. Essential item: Hair wax to smooth down all my little baby hairs that are growing in after losing half my head of hair after having Mazee

F. Favorite Color: Probably black. It's just so classy to me and always looks good. Jake always asks me if I'm going "Goth"

G. Gummy bears or worms: Worms. The bears don't give me the "party in my mouth" kind of feeling like the worms do

H. Hometown: Mapleton, Utah

I. Indulgence(s): Diet Dr. Pepper, Redbox

J. January or July: July because we're going to Lake Powell!!

K. Kids: just my sweet Miss Mazee

L. Life is incomplete without: Of course Jake & Mazee

M. Marriage Date: December 10th, 2005

N. Number of siblings: 4

O. Oranges or apples: Well, I'm a huge fan of both, but lately I've been on an orange kick. There's nothing like a nice cold refreshing orange

P. Phobias or Fears: My biggest fear is losing Jake, Mazee, or my Mom and Dad. I would be lost without any one of them. I hope my mom and dad don't die until I do, how do you survive without parents?

Q. Quotes: I don't really have any, but Jake is always quoting Seinfield

R. Reason to smile: because Jake is loving his new job, he graduates in 3 weeks, which means I can quit work any time I want after that!!!

S. Season of choice: I love Spring because the flowers are coming out and it means warmth is coming, but I love Fall too because I just love the feeling of Fall

T. Tag: Tiff, Lacey, Carly, Aunt B, & anyone else

U. Unknown fact about me: I love bargain shopping and especially on eBay. My most recent purchase was the whole set of 25 Baby Einstein DVDs which I got for $35. That's pretty good when you consider one DVD is usually about $12.

V. Very favorite store: It depends what I'm shopping for, but I definitely love Sam's Club. I could spend hours and hours in that store

W. Worst habit: I'm a hoarder. I can't let go of things i.e. clothes, anything with sentimental value even things I drew/made when I was little, coupons- I'm always thinking "I might go shop there so then I could use this 25% off," when I've never even been to that store, and things my mom is giving away- even if I don't need it I think "Maybe I might need/use it someday."

X. X-ray or Ultrasound: Since I work around these, I'd have to say X-ray. They are so much faster and less complicated. The type of ultrasounds we do in the NICU are on the babies heads so it's not as exciting as if it were a pregnant momma's belly

Y. Your favorite food: Oh my lands! Where do I begin? If we're eating out we absolutely LOVE Bajio's, Fazoli's, and Red Lobster. At home I love chicken and rice as well as haystacks, but let's be honest, I don't cook a lot, poor Jake

Z. Zodiac sign: Scorpio. I googled Scorpio and it said this "Scorpio is considered highly passionate, imaginative, determined, persevering, inflexible and self-confident." Doesn't sound like me at all. Weird.

The Pageant

Kathryn competed in the Miss pageant this last weekend, and let's cut right to the chase, she didn't place. Now, I know I'm her sister, so naturally I'm a little biased, but c'mon, those judges had to have been deaf and dumb. Between Kathryn and our cousin Samantha, who also competed, they stole the whole show and it ended up neither placed. If you were there you would agree that the results were seriously wrong. They both had flawless piano performances and looked great in their swimsuits.

Sadly, I didn't get any of it recorded because I was so into the whole thing and so nervous I couldn't hold the camera still. So I only pulled my camera out at the end. Kathryn was absolutely awesome though and I was so, so proud of her. She had such a good attitude, even in the months preceding when everybody had a different opinion on how she should do her hair, what she should wear, and even how she should stick her swimsuit to her bum so she didn't get a wedgie when she walked. Now that's a good sport! Although, she did get a little testy on Friday when I was helping her pick out the make-up. She was a lot better than I would have ever been.




My mom, Kathryn, and I had many talks the weeks before and just talked about how important it was for Kathryn to be herself and do her best, and if she doesn't win then atleast she could just feel good about how she performed. And that's exactly what Kathryn did. Her piano piece was amazing, she was gorgeous and nothing was made up or fake about her. I had the worst attitude because the results were just so WRONG! I had a lot more to say than that, but I'll keep it to myself. (I really am coping just fine, I swear.)

Anyway, it was so fun to watch and to see Kathryn do so well. She's a good example to me. We're SO proud of you and love you Kat!

(The girl on the right was 1st attendant last year and got it again this year. AND the girl who got 2nd attendant (not in the pic) has apparently been in a TON of pageants and finally won something.)

Do I sound bitter? Oh well. I get really defensive when it comes to my family.