Mr. Incredible & Dash

We had a fun Saturday trying to explore a little bit more of the beautiful city we live in. I pretty much know the Marina, Pacific Heights and a little bit of downtown. We just kept driving, & drove through Castro Street and ended up at this amazing place, Twin Peaks! Bad picture of me, but cute of the boys...Gotta love em! What was great is Steve kept saying how cool this place was too! Score for me!
The boys with the city view in the back. I bet you could see Steve's hotel!
Mama & Joe with the marina and Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. Notice Joe's new Airwalk's that I had to get him, size 5 foot!
Here is where my Mr. Incredible and Dash story comes in! First of all, love this picture of the boys just relaxing together. Ok, Steve thinks this is stupid that I am posting this, but I need to for myself. I think it's hilarious! This morning I wasn't having a good morning: 1. I have NOTHING to wear to church! 2. I couldn't find 1 piece of Joe's toy that I wanted to take to church for entertaining purposes! 3. Joe was starting to get impatient and was being difficult to dress! Steve started saying something, probably like, "you have plenty to wear," or "you look great in what you have on," or "do you really need that toy right now?" I got frustrated and being the crazy wife I am told him to go on ahead and that I'd bring Joe. Knowing he should do what I say at that moment, he left and I ASSUMED he had taken the keys! I left and ran into him in the lobby and he asked if I had the keys. NO! And I locked the apartment! O...Fabulous start to a Sunday morning! This is the 3rd time I/we/he have done this. The first time, a locksmith came and for 15 minutes $125 and the 2nd we were able to hop over our deck from the next door's building...Does anyone know what the word assume breaks down to? Ass-u-me! Figures, so instead of blaming anyone (more than once) I decided to go to church and try to enjoy myself. Well, today Joe made that a little difficult, but I'm still crazy about him. And this is where he gets the name DASH! He managed to dash past everyone trying to get him so that he could play a duet with his mother for the opening and closing hymns in relief society. It should be a calling for someone to tame that boy while I play! So after Steve took the Sacrament, he was going home to try and get in through the back door, which I figured was locked also, but I let him go. After church, I saw him walking towards the building, and thought, Sweet, he must have gotten in! Negative, but I did come home and find these hilarious marks!
So Steve went to our nice neighbors Barry and Roberto and asked if he could hop from their balcony to ours. Luckily, they were home (they live in Argentina and visit about 10 times a year), and let him. No luck with the door, so he leaned from our deck to this pipe? to escape from the building next to ours. Why he didn't just ask to exit Barry's, I'm not sure...When he leaned on it from our balcony, pretty much it caved in...So he pretty much had to jump...It is about a 6 foot high drop, maybe a little more, so I can see why he didn't just jump in the beginning. There is his handprint, don't tell anyone where we live...We could maybe get in trouble
And there is the pipe or whatever it is that is now dented! Wow, my husband must be MR. INCREDIBLE he is so strong...Next time, hopefully he'll realize his strength so that he doesn't crush metal like a soda can! I will admit that he does lift up all of the furniture when I vaccumm and Joe really has started to DASH around the apartment, but my elasti-girl traits have not kicked in yet...I'm still plain old Jen!

Tuesday Tell All...The Working Girl

Well, I first worked in high school for my parents at Thomasville Home Furnishings. It was pretty much whenever they needed a little extra help with fabrics, inventory, or answering phones. I love working for them if I go to Valencia! My job was pretty simple and most of the time, it was just an excuse to be with my parents. My favorite bit of work there happened at not the best time. My dad had to have an emergency back surgery and as unfortunate as it was, I got to take over his job for about a week. It was soooo fun! I got to do commission reports and record daily sales. When pay checks came out, a couple people obviously double checked their pay checks since a young girl had done all the math and complained to my dad that I had done some things wrong. Like a professional business woman :), I called them into the office with my dad and went over their commission reports. I had not made one mistake! Not only did they apologize to my dad, but to me too! I can be a pretty smart cookie!
My first "real job" was a pretty humbling experience. A roommate of mine in college was a manager at a McDonald's and needed help in the labor department. A few of us said we would help her out and work a couple days...I was the only one who pulled through! I only worked the cash register and boy my parents were proud. I remember them coming up on a vacation and coming in to get breakfast. My mom seriously wanted to take a picture and Chelsea was like, let's get the heck out of here! Needless to say, it opened up my work ethic!
My next job was Hollister in Salt Lake at the Gateway. I enjoyed it and I know some of you are thinking it's an annoying store because the music is soooo loud, but one day the stereo's weren't working and I was dying for the music to come back on! I was sick of listening to 10 different phone conversations of junior high and high school girls! I know, sometimes the music is overwhelming, but random strangers phone conversations are annoying!
I worked at a childrens store called Little Things Mean A Lot. Such cute clothes, I stocked up before hand, but they were so expensive and now that I know how fast babies go through clothes I will not spend a lot! I loved working with older little grandmas!
I worked at Lincoln Academy as a teaching assistant in kindergarten for a year and a half. It was a great experience and I got to teach without the degree so it was perfect, but I think it's annoying that the teaching assistants got paid so much less than the teachers, because besides the training conferences and portfolio writing, we did the same things & worked just as hard. Kindergarten is a fun age, but I am loving not working anymore!
On the side I've taught piano and tutored and that was the easiest money I've made!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Yesterday Steve, Joe & I made sugar cookies. Knowing that there would be way too many for us to eat, we took a plate to some friends in the building and then a plate to this guy who works in the mart downstairs most nights and weekends. We realized after we left "our friend" at the mart, we don't know where he's from, how old he is, or even his NAME! All we know is he always smiles and waves when he sees us, he loves Joe, and he has always been willing to help us. Like if I'm missing that one ingredient on Sunday that I forgot to get at the grocery store, he'll give it to me free of charge because he knows we don't buy anything on Sunday. I'm good for my word and I'll pay him back. Or like that one time we locked ourselves out of our apartment and he got us all the tools we might possibly need to get in plus water and any snacks we wanted. So yesterday when we took him cookies, he asked what he could do for us? I explained we just thought he might want a snack for the later part of his shift. And then both times we saw him today he waved and kept saying thank you! So to our friend, we don't even know you, but thanks for your example of kindness! I love this holiday and love everything that it means! I love that people can still say Happy Easter on the news, though they can't say Merry Christmas! I love Jesus and am so grateful for the atoning sacrifice He made for me and for all of us!Daddy and Joe wanting to get out of their Sunday clothes!
Mommy and Joe, boy do I love my son!
Wow, look at what the Easter bunny brought while we were at church! Isn't he so cute, that was the 1.2.3. cheese face!
Grandma! Save me! There is no chocolate in these eggs! What is this woman thinking by filling these with goldfish! Grandma tell Grandpa I love my Easter outfit that he surprised me with when I was a baby! O and Grandma I love you and Grandpa the most! You are the best grandparents any little boy could have! I can't wait to see you in less than 2 weeks! Sheeze Sheeze!

Joe-loves

Joe is becoming very talented at putting the shapes in the shape sorter, the coins in the piggy bank, and the tennis balls in their container. He was getting pretty bored and wanted to find something that fit perfectly into a little hole and decided to put his dad's cell phone into his ball popper! I had to take a picture of it! We had to pretty much take apart the toy to get Steve's cell phone out. It didn't help that when it would ring it would vibrate farther and get wedged worse in the toy. Luckily Steve got home and of course got it out quicker than I could! And yes, Joe was saying Sheeze for the picture!
Joe is more and more like Grandpa Joe everyday. He wears his pants pretty high up so they don't drag on the floor! Joe has started dancing and it is adorable. He even tries to dance on the wobbly bed which just sends us into laughs and wrestling matches. It is so fun that he is trying to find his voice and trying to copy what we say. Sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes I need to be careful of what I say!
Matching boys after their walk last night. Joe is the best helper at unloading the dishwasher, which I might have already said before, but I just love that he likes to help and be involved. Joe is still his mommy's boy and on Sunday he let the Relief Society know it. I had to get up to play the opening hymn and Joe looked around nervous for a couple seconds before he started screaming! Heather had to take him out for me, which then her Kena started to worry about her mom, which led Hillary to pitch in and take care of Kena, which led Hillary's Sarah to get a little worried about her friends and mom, so Hillary's cousin took Sarah! Joe, nice job on the domino effect!
*This is the most exciting, I think...Joe has started letting us keep his arms folded and he's started bowing his head during our family prayers. He waits until the Amen part to look up and smile, like, "look at me!" I made it! I didn't think I would ever think it's as sweet as I do. It melted our hearts and family prayer has now been a bigger priority than it was before. I love my sweet boy and can't get enough of him, even though last night we only slept for a combined hour due to teething!

Tuesday Tell All...Collections

What did you collect as a child? What, if anything, do you collect now?

As a child, here are a few of the things that came to my mind of things I collected.
Don't hold anything against me, some of these things are weird!
*I went through a phase, pretty much all of elementary school, collecting things from the Sanrio store, mostly of the duck or frog character.
*I collected marbles.
*In fifth grade, I started collecting pogs...Who knows why, because I didn't even know what or how to play with them?!
*I feel like I always had lots of dolls, really pretty ones that were very elegant and real looking.
*I collected the American Girl Collection of books along with the Full House books.
*Here's for the kicker, the bic pencils that were black with the little bright colored clips on them, well my friends and I would break those clips off and keep them in our cool pencil boxes. It was a sign of friendship! How retarded!? I remember cleaning out my pencil box and having like 70 of those little clips once!

Now I find myself collecting accessories for our place. Not that I'm good at accessorizing or decorating, I just like it. I think Steve enjoys finding nice shelves or frames for our place too so it's nice to do it together.
My friends also know that I like to collect recipes because anything good that they make, I immediately ask for the recipe!

I am my mother after all!

My mom goes all out on holidays, birthdays, and even Sunday dinners. I was feeling a little homesick since we won't be there for Easter so I threw one here!
My friend, Tami, and I threw an Easter Egg Hunt yesterday with the help of so many of our lovely friends. It was such a blast, and I thought it turned out pretty well. By the picture you can't really tell , but there were lots of bright eggs hidden by the Easter Bunny!Our morning started by Stephanie doing a drive by to get a feel for how crowded the Moscone Recreation Center was (that's where the party was supposed to take place). She let us know it was PRETTY crowded and that there was a championship game going on. Ok, so do we want to go with plan B, hunt in the church and clean up afterwards...Um, not really and since the weather was cooperating so far, we decided to go to a completely different park. As Tami and I were making sandwiches and getting everything together, we were calling everyone that said they were coming! It ended up being about 20 phone calls going out and pushing the party back a half hour!
Once we got to the park everything went swimmingly. We had yummy sandwiches, chips, drinks and treats. We stuffed about 180 eggs the night before, while Joe helped and made a mess of Tami's apartment! We stuffed with children friendly gold fish and big kid and parent friendly chocolate! Steve helped Joe hunt while I ran around like a nutty mother with my video camera and my digital camera. It was an adorable sight!
Joe was able to get a good amount of eggs but was more interested in what was in the egg. He smacks his lips for chocolate and we were surprised at how well he was able to suck chocolate from the wrappers!
Ryder and Tami, Ryder was so interested in the eggs! He got to sit on the blanket with the babies who can crawl, but would probably rather not on the wet grass. So the eggs came to their blanket!
Sweet Kera and Haidyn, totally not as pro picture as Patrick, but it's cute! Kera talked me into chopping my hair! She is the hair connoisseur as Lindsey would say!
Joe (mouth full of M&M's) and Ryder with their baskets. Neither of them care about the crazy lady behind the camera!
Haidyn and MaKenzie with their eggs and fishies! Haidyn is trying the Joe method of sucking the chocolate out of the wrapper. Pretty in pink princesses!
On the evite, I put that the husbands could play football, basketball, tennis, but most husbands showed up looking as good as their wives! In shorts came Dallas & Steve both on the same wave length to challenge anyone in tennis. So afterward, they played. Jamie, Dallas' wife, ditched me in the cheering section to take home their cute new baby, Caleb, so I doubled cheered for a minute and then decided Joe was bad luck so we left! Sweet in motion picture! Yay Sexy Steve!
I'm hoping Steve won in the end! Thanks everyone for such a fun time! Thanks for all of your help so we didn't have to break the bank!

more fun name things...are they right on?

What Stephen Means

You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong. You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know. You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do. You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life. You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You're most comfortable when you're far away from home. You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are influential and persuasive. You tend to have a lot of power over people. Generally, you use your powers for good. You excel at solving other people's problems. Occasionally, you do get a little selfish and persuade people to do things that are only in your interest. You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out. Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia. Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

What Joseph Means

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you. You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries. You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice. You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life. You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you. At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself. You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong. You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know. You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are influential and persuasive. You tend to have a lot of power over people. Generally, you use your powers for good. You excel at solving other people's problems. Occasionally, you do get a little selfish and persuade people to do things that are only in your interest. You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out. Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia. Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

What Jennifer Means

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you. You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries. You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are loving, compassionate, and ruled by your feelings. You are able to be a foundation for other people... but you still know how to have fun. Sometimes your emotions weigh you down, but you generally feel free from them. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?
My cute sister in law Sammy had this on her blog and I thought it was cute and went along with my name post so I had to do it for all 3 of us! Funny to see which parts are true and which aren't!

Tuesday Tell All...What's in A Name?

JENNIFER ROSE: My name was going to be Olivia, but my dad put the kabosh on that, and named me Jennifer Rose. Jennie was my great grandma who lived to be 105 and was a very strong woman. Rose was my grandma who was a very feisty stubborn strong woman. Pretty much I had no hope, I am my grandma Rose as most people would say!
NICKNAMES: Jennie-the-Rose, Jennie, Rosie, Jen, Jen Rose (by my cousins), Rosebud, Sissy
I absolutely loved my beautiful grandma Rose. And yes, I have her nose! She introduced me to the yummiest root beer floats and Full House, which to this day if it's on, I will watch and have sweet memories of her. She taught me how to tie quilts and I remember her always having those big quilting things up in her apartment. I was around her for a great while of my life. My mom consistently took great care of her for 18 years, and off and on she actually lived with us. I was sleeping with her the night of the 94 earthquake and had never seen my grandma move so fast!
Here are the 2 wonderful women I'm named after Jennie(sitting), Rose(standing), and my sweet mom's brother Uncle Kevin. Isn't he so handsome? He had me convinced when I was young that I was such a good singer, somehow my sweet young singing voice got lost, because I stink at singing now, but from time to time I serenade my honey.
Here is my sweet little lady a couple months before she passed away...Note to friends, don't ever let your loved ones go to a home, ok I know it's not that easy, but as I'm sitting here typing about my wonderful grandma, I'm in tears because of how hard this visit was. Steve had to carry me out because for the first time, she'd forgotten who I was and just thought we were nice people to bring her treats and play with her hair. When she was peacefully slipping away, March 20, 2006 I got to talk to her and whisper how much I loved her and what a great grandma she was by cell phone and my mom said her eyes lit up...she was probably just trying to make me feel better since I was a wreck, but its ok.
****Cool story about my grandma Rose, she lived in a home about an hour from us by my aunt for the last few years of her life. I remember telling my mom, I am driving up to see grandma this week whether you let me or not. It was supposed to rain, and I'd just gotten my license. I told her I'd had this weird dream that my grandma had been hurt and had to go to the hospital...Long story short, I didn't get to go, my aunt Ilene called my mom and my grandma had fallen and had to be hospitalized. My grandma was the only grandparent I was raised with (paternal grandparents had passed by the time I was 5 and maternal grandpa before I was born) so I was pretty attached to my grandma. I loved her the best and am sure she planned to get baby Joe down here quicker than Steve and I were planning because we got pregnant less than 2 months from her passing! xoxo
JOSEPH HANK: Joe was named after my daddy and Hank was Steve's great grandpa's name and Steve's middle name. Joe "Hank" was born 100 yrs and 1 day after Hank so we thought it was fitting. Hank passed away at 100 and a few months. Joe & I were 1 1/2 months short of meeting him in Canada, but I've heard non stop about what a wonderful man he was.
NICKNAMES: Baby Joe, Stinker, Joey, Love bug
And of course, my hubby is pretty fabulous so to have a child with his middle name must mean we think that child is pretty fabulous himself. Blessing day, I'm so grateful to have a husband who honors his priesthood and was able to make this day so special for our family!
Loving his papa. Just from the short 2 1/2 years of being married, Joe is lucky to have Hank as his middle name because when people think of Stephen "Hank" they probably think of the genuine, strong, patient, motivated, friendly person I think of.
Onto Joe's elder twin...my daddy. We weren't thinking of Joe for a name, we were set on Carter, but because I helped teach a kindergarten class with a Carter in it, we decided to hold off on that name! This picture is the first time the Joe's met. My dad wouldn't let anyone else hold him at the airport and had every one else get the bags. It was precious for me to watch!
At our family vacation, Coronado, Joe loved chillin with Joe there also. They are both pretty mellow and like their space. If you get in their way, they will let you know, and let you know pretty quick.
I'm glad we named him baby Joe because when he is older, it will be fun to tell him about the great father and man he was named after. He will need to know how to be a hard worker because Joe is an extremely hard worker. He will need to know how to play golf, football, and tennis because Joe excels at all of these sports. He will need to be wise beyond his years in the doctrine of the church because Joe is. He will need to make a yummy batch of egg nog and "not burnt"pancakes because those are what Joe makes in the kitchen. He will need to enjoy reading and find an author who his daughters will fall in love with so they can have mini book dates and be able to connect like Joe did with A walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks. He will need to be a daddy that spoils his girls just to let some lucky guy clean up the mess. He will need to be a stylish dresser like Joe is,(if you can't tell in this Christmas picture). We will get him Frasier DVDs so he can understand Joe's sense of humor. He will need to marry a sweetheart like Joe did who will, no joke, turn down his bed sheets, make him midnight snacks, lay out his clothes, remind him to take his diabetes medications, does a ton of work for their business, and plan his summer family vacations (when indeed it's hardly a vacation for her). Then he will a happy man!

Long post, sorry, but I was excited to document this for when I print out this blog!

Wonderful weekend, not so wonderful ending!

We got up Saturday and went to Crissy Fields with our friends the Ence's. It was way fun to just relax and have fun in the sun! I love watching Joe parallel play, he doesn't play with the kids yet, just next to them & tries to take their stuff! Ryder was pretty patient though, and they both had yummy treats so they would steal each others. We ran into Nettie from the Bay Ward and her sister has a brand new pug that she brought over for us to see! SOOOO CUTE!In the evening we went and finally tried Osha Thai! Yummy! We loved the Ambiance of the restaurant. And at all times we had the asian waiters at our table talking to the cute baby boys. I'd wonder why Joe was content and smiling and I'd look over and there would be a waitress playing peek a boo with him, jumping from behind the flower pots.
I just love babies sleeping, it is the most precious thing! Especially when they wake up an hour earlier than usual and are exhausted from church! I just can't help giving him millions of kisses when he's sleeping!
We park our car at the church so we don't have to pay $350 a month for a spot in the garage, and every Saturday we try and move our car so that people will be able to park their cars in the parking lot. K Steve found a place last night, and when we went down to move our car back before street cleaning, this is what we found! Some ridiculous person CALLED the police and said the car was blocking their driveway. That would be a negative! It wasn't and whoever wanted to leave could've easily gotten out! My poor hubby, trying to do a helpful thing and this happens. I told him at least this was the first one we've gotten, and we've lived here 6 months. I think we are doing pretty good!
Other than that, our Sunday was wonderful. We made the cafe rio salad, well mainly Steve did because I wasn't feeling well. He was such a sweetheart today. Had it been up to me, the pork would have burnt because I didn't feel I could get up. We had an awesome day at church and love the Spirit we feel there! The bishop spoke and I loved the message he and his wife had to share. His was about priorities and getting them in order. I am reading this book that my sweet daddy gave us for Valentine's Day called, Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart. A quote in it says, When all is said and done, more is said than done. I really like it and think it totally makes sense. I need to stop saying and start doing! Hope all of you had a wonderful weekend with your hubbies home and the gorgeous weather!

Tuesday Tell All

What Not To Wear
The topic for this week was to pick something from our closets that we thought would be out of style in 5 years...Well I don't have any pictures of these random items, so I'll just describe them. As much as I would love the style of long shirts to stay in, I don't think they will forever. I have some peasant skirts that were really in last year, and I think they are already out! I wish for a certain item to go out though and that is guys in skinny jeans. Ok, ok I think Tim McGraw looks good in whatever jeans he wears, but the guys in girls skinny jeans just kill it for me. My younger brother told me, it's the emo style, but I don't like to see any guys in spandex with their booty's hanging out. I ran into a friend while I was visiting Valencia and he was working at a skater store (I was shopping with my brothers), he had skinny jeans on that were seriously sagged to his knees, a huge sweatshirt that went to his knees(where the pants started) and an ugly beanie. My heart went out to him, obviously he took a little different path... I always felt awkward when I worked at Hollister and guys would come in and shop for jeans on the girls side! I just think guys aren't supposed to wear girls skinny jeans and I hope that fashion is out in 5 years!

I needed a change-Be prepared!

I loved my long hair but can do nothing with it in San Francisco. I curl it, it goes straight immediately, I attempt to scrunch it and end up with straight hair filled with sticky moose. So, my sweetheart of a friend Kera told me about this nice salon that cuts hair for $15 on Monday. Never had I had such a precise, nice haircut and I love it!
I know, Mother, it is REALLY short in the back, but I warned you! I can spike it out if I want and that might be kind of fun. No, Joe didn't get a haircut, he still has his foxtail in the back, but just wanted to be in the pictures with his new mommy.
At least 12 inches of my hair will be going to Locks of Love! Yay! Someone will be blessed with my long hair and it might curl for them! Mucho thanks to Kera for coming and visiting me and referring me to Ryan and mucho thanks to Heather and Tami for watching my baby for the 3 hours I was getting this new hairdo. xoxo Mother, don't start crying...it can grow back, but I like it. I look more like you except for the color!