Tuesday Tell All...Taste

A few of my favorite tastes are:
*Watermelon
*Root beer floats
*Cupcakes
*Cookies
*Bruschetta
*Jamba Juice
*Pizza Factory Breadsticks
*Pluto's Salads
*Guittard Chocolate Chips
*Chicken
*Shrimp
*my mom's roast

Tuesday Tell All (on Wednesday, almost Thursday)...Sight

I love seeing my boys smile...To me it means that for a moment all is perfect in the world. From Steve, I think I did something to make him happy, maybe say something funny, make a good dinner, or do something special for him. From Joe, I know he loves me, needs me, and that we are buddies.
Whenever I see this freaking bridge, I know that we are FINALLY almost to Coronado...And in the last couple years, the Jurca's car has been the first to see not only the bridge, but also the...

San Diego Temple, but don't worry mother you can still call the Matterhorn. No one really cares about that one because it means we are only 1/3 of the way there! xoxo

Tuesday Tell All...One Word

Answer the following with only one word.
I know I'm going to be horrible at this one so bare with me!
1. Where is your cell phone? ....................with hubby
2. Your significant other?.......................Mr. Wonderful
3. Your hair?....................................short
4. Your mother? .................................amazing
5. Your father?..................................wise
6. Your favorite thing?..........................family
7. Your dream last night?........................losing luggage
8. Your favorite drink...........................water
9. Your dream/goal?..............................better homemaker
10. The room you're in?..........................kitchen
11. Your children?.....................................1 fun boy
12. Your fear?...................................heights, parking garages
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years...........settled
14. Where were you last night?...................shopping
15. What you're not?.............................tall
16. Muffins......................................blueberry, white chocolate strawberry
17. One of your wish list items?.................camera
18. Where you grew up?...........................Valencia, CA
19. What you read last........................Twilight Series
20. What are you wearing?........................Mrs. Jurca sweats
21. Your TV?.....................................off
22. Your pets?...................................Ellie
23. Your computer? ..............................Dell
24. Your life?...................................blessed
25. Your mood?...................................Excited
26. Missing someone?.............................Steve Hank
27. Your car?....................................Ford
28. Something you're not wearing?................Shoes
29. Favorite Store?..............................right now, H&M
30. Your summer?.................................Hot
31. Like someone?................................Chelsea
32. Your favorite color?.........................browns, whites, blues
33. Last time you laughed........................yesterday
34. Last time you cried?.........................Brady's wedding

Tuesday Tell All...Summer Memories

I had great childhood summer memories...playing tennis in bathing suits and then running to jump in the pool...hanging out with cousins and family...barbeques and all the good stuff...but this place will always be my number 1 summer memory!
25 years...here we come! Even though I am turning 23, my family has gone to the famous Hotel Del Coronado for the past 25 years. We have seen all of the hotel changes, good and bad. We saw the arcade leave, then the candy shop leave, but it reopened last year(yay!), and the company of family is still the best.

I always took for granted going with my best friend, but now that she is married and far away from me, I will be so grateful for the vacations we will get to go on. hint hint Ben, don't hog her!
I have to tell this funny story about my brother Ben, far left. A few years ago we were driving to Coronado (about a 3 1/2 hour drive) and we were in a Ford F-150...so we could see the bed of the truck. About 2 1/2 hours down the road I think my mom turned around and said we have everything right...JK looked and asked Ben if he put their bag in...To make a long story short, their luggage didn't make it into the truck. It turns out Ben was pretty much walking around playing his gameboy while JK was loading the back of the truck, but every time my dad would walk near, Ben would act like he was helping. You would have had to have been in the car, Ben was pissed, Chelsea & I were DYING laughing because he was trying to act like it wasn't his fault & JK was panicked about not having any clothes. Luckily my sister in law got into our house, which was amazing because my mom locks it tighter than a bank when she leaves, and the suitcase was right in the middle of the boys room, where BEN LEFT IT!
We all give lots of kisses, Max's are pretty good and hard to pass up! We were all dying laughing after he layed this one on his Aunt Chels.
We swim, lounge, eat, lounge, go to the beach, eat, and try to walk it off.
All 28 of us will ride around the island in Surry's...it is quite a site...and at the end we race. My brothers get pretty fiesty and we have had many close calls.

This is my dad's idea of camping...luxurious hotel with the golf channel and a good book. Well, the apple didn't fall too far from the tree, I have to agree with him.
It is so fun for this group to get together and hang out...What a beautiful group of friends!
We play on the beach, make turtles out of sand, bury people, swim, find sand dollars, and chase children.
Notice Steve's hand, he had just found tons of sand dollars with Jack Jr.
We match our kids...not on purpose but it makes for a great photo op.

My mom gives everyone pennies to make a wish...every year...same place outside of Miguel's.

My husband can finally have a break. Love you honey!

We play football at this huge park after dinner.

Thanks mom for taking care of everything to make sure it is top notch!
Thanks daddy for paying for these wonderful vacations and for taking us to the same beautiful place. This is the family, except for Mike and Shuho. O and this summer we will be adding Ben Hudson and baby Ryan. What's so awesome is that we do EVERYTHING as a family. Yes...that's right, this group goes to breakfast, lunch and dinner together every day. The island really has to prepare for us to come into town. We eat at the same restaurants every year and have pretty much the same routine every year. These yummy desserts come to our room with some other chocolates...Not that we need them because every night we either go to the candy store, Moo Creamery, or a gelato place...but they are a great treat!

Hotel Del Coronado is such a nice vacation for my parents to take us on. Most of my fondest memories with my family are from the Hotel Del. The food is yummy, the weather is paradise, and my family is the best!

Tuesday Tell All...Mom's Day

Why I love being a mamama!
*I love the smile that Joe has for me whenever I leave for 20 min. (max) and walk back into the apartment.
*Traditions, family vacations, Disneyland, holidays, and birthdays are soooo much fun!
*There is nothing better than a good morning kiss, especially when I don't even have to beg for it!
*I have something else to concentrate on besides my husband, who doesn't like a lot of attention.
*I always have something new to tell.
*I've discovered that I need to be more patient and less scheduled.
*I've learned that there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done.
*It's amazing that Joe can fall asleep to me singing.
*Children are so forgiving, they love you no matter what.
*I love to be needed, 90% of the time.
*I love each new stage and look forward to the next day to see what cool thing will happen.
*It's so fun to see a personality come out and guess which parent it came from.
*I get so excited for expecting mothers because of what great journey they are about to embark on.
*I try to be a better person, wife, & mom.
*Being a mom takes a lot of work and responsibility and I am loving every minute with my sweet boy.

* I love my own mom and hope I can be half the mom she is. Whenever she would say, one day we're going to be best friends, I would laugh and say yeah right...(yes I know, what a brat) But without that friendship, help, and love I know I wouldn't be where I am now. I now know how you can love someone so much, it feels like your heart could explode. If they get hurt, or if they are hurting, you are hurting even worse. And since I'm such an emotional person, I'm usually crying along with my baby!
Happy Mother's Day to all of my friends!

Tuesday Tell All...Hometown Favorites

Favorite Place to:
Valencia-
grab lunch: Cabo Cabana
go for date night: Wood Ranch, Spumoni
pick up some creative goodies: Home Goods, Kohl's, World Market
keep the kid busy: let him go roam in the backyard
get wet: go swimming in Grandma & Grandpa's backyard pool
buy a treat: Lady Di's Cookies,which my mom has a VIP 20% off card because she goes so much!
shop for fun: Ignition, love going to the Sherman Oaks Galleria with my mama, the mall
get some fresh air: my backyard
splurge: Barnes & Noble(I am my daddy's girl), Kohl's, Citron Spa-a $55 pedicure is totally worth it there! future shopper of Thomasville Home Furnishings
drive for a weekend getaway: Coronado!

my temporary hometown San Francisco:
grab lunch: Pluto's, Subway, Jamba Juice
go for date night: Pluto's again, Pacific Catch, Alioto's
pick up some creative goodies: um...haven't yet, thanks to my personal shopper Lacy who finds my cute things at Krumpets in St George
keep the kid busy: park, beach, Discovery Museum
buy a treat: Kara's Cupcakes
shop for fun: H & M & Steve and Barry's
get some fresh air: beach
splurge: I try not too, but H & M
drive for a weekend getaway: my parents or Monterey hopefully soon!

Tuesday Tell All...Professional Help & Laughing

Since I missed last Tuesday, I'm going to double it up this Tuesday!
Last Tuesday's topic was For what activity would you want professional lessons?

I would love lessons on photography...hint hint Patrick and Kera! I love taking pictures even if they don't come out excellent! I'd love lessons on finishing a basement...hint my sister in law Julie! She finished her basement and it looks like something right out of a Pottery Barn magazine! I'd love lessons on creativity. Creativity with anything, I always feel like I'm not being creative enough in the kitchen or creative with Joe so I'd love any tips!

This Tuesday's topic is What Makes you Laugh...

I'd have to say when me and my sister get together we have a pretty hilarious time. She makes me laugh until I cry, I make her laugh until she pees her pants. It's a pretty good time! I laugh when I see Steve & Joe wrestling. I love sarcasm and people with a dry sense of humor. Recently I had some family visiting, and I laughed a lot with them. I think I laugh easily. I enjoy stupid funny movies, my husband's laugh, Joe's laugh, and funny stories.

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!

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!

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!

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!

Tuesday Tell All-I've Never

I've never...been to a different continent. My sister has gone and toured Europe for the summer twice with her best friend, but me no.
I've never...tried sushi
I've never...done a thing to my eyebrows, they're so light.
I've never...broken a bone.
I've never...let Steve win Settlers.
I've never...loved a ward as much as I love our current ward.
I've never...liked the smell or taste of beef jerky.
I've never...graduated from college.
I've never...liked nutjammers, wings of any type, or peeps.
I've never...changed a flat tire.
I've never...mowed a lawn.
I've never...seen any of The Lord of the Ring movies.
I've never...met a cookie or cupcake I haven't liked.
I've never...gone bungee jumping or sky diving and probably never will.
I've never...watched The Simpsons.
I've never...laughed so hard I pee-ed my pants, but my sista sista has.
I've never...liked speaking in public or playing the piano in public.
I've never...loved my 2 boys as much as I do now & I'm amazed at how it continues to grow.