Valencia is not the same without my 2 faves!

Meags and Chels! Most of the time, I make my trips match with one of yours and this time you guys will be in Valencia at the same time without me! Valencia is just not the same without Meags coming over all the time to find mama Sue's treats, play with Joe and have some good family fun! And Chels, I think this has been the longest separation we've ever had! 3 1/2 months is too long! Tell Ben he needs to step it up! Love you girls! Ben, JK and I kept hearing that song Low and I was going to put it on here for you guys, but it was taking FOREVER so play it because playing that somehow reminded me of the sweet lay out days, the cheer competitions where the poor high school boyfriends would just come to carry around our stuff, curling the hair parties for my poor mother, limo to prom, drives through Valencia looking for who-knows-what, cookie pies, BJ's pizookies, drive to find the ghosts that Ali knew were there, Bachelor parties at my house, Glen Ivy spa day, and fun girl talks mainly about me, but then sometimes about Meags and how she's gone black and isn't gonna come back! That's why I vote Pax! Love you girls xoxo!

Joe's first zoo experience

I have been wanting to go to the zoo, but have been too intimidated to get there on my own. Luckily, with a little help once again from Heather and Kena, we went! Joe & his friend the stone camel
Joe & Kena liked the still statue animals more than the real things, probably because they could slide off of them
Kena's first carousel ride!
What kind of friend am I? I leave poor pregnant Heather with 2 children going up and down at different times so I can take a picture!
Me & my love
Talk back to me, are you my friend?

Congrats Brady & Lacee!

Steve's best friend of forever got engaged last night April 8, 2008 and is getting married to the beautiful Lacee on May 8, 2008. We are so happy for Brady and Lacee! I am glad that Brady has found someone good enough for him that will take good care of him and keep him in line. I can't say enough about Brady that will get across what a wonderful guy he is. I love Brady because he never judged me and was my friend from day 1. I love how much he loves Lacee, not only can you hear it in his voice, but he says the sweetest things about her. I don't know Lacee very well, but I know Brady and this is why she is lucky to be marrying him....#1 He is very handsome...#2 He loves & lives his religion...#3 He is so hilarious...#4 He gives great advice...#5 He is going to be the best dad (besides Steve)...#6 He is smart, motivated, and talented...#7 He's good at golf...#8 He is honest, loyal, and trustworthy...#9 He has the BEST family, not everyone has the whole package but Lacee will be getting it ALL, wonderful sister in laws, brother in laws and Jim & Brenda...a mother in law like Brenda is hard to find...#10 He is the sweetest most genuine friend and we are going to have a hard time sharing him, but are looking very forward to getting to know Lacee because if Brady loves her, we love her!
Congrats guys! Can't wait to see you for the big day...can't wait for the future family trips, and Lacee, fyi Steve & Brady want to live next door to each other and share massive backyards someday...so you might be stuck with us!

Tuesday Tell All...Living on the Edge

If you could do something dangerous just once with no risk
what would you do?
Hmmm...when I see the word risk I think of business ventures and I think they are dangerous and risky for everyone involved. If there was no danger and no risk, I would love to open a business whether it be for Steve's passion or my own. I have watched my parents do it and therefore would love to do it myself one day.
I would love to work at a zoo or Sea World for a day with ALL of the animals going from lions and tigers, to bears and elephants, to monkeys and gorillas. I would really like to be on the other side of the fence with them, which would be crazy---especially at the San Francisco Zoo.
I would love to be a Cirque de Soleil girl for a night...and flip, fly, and bounce through the air. I love those shows!
I think motorcycles are SOOOO dangerous. Mainly because Steve and I have seen way too many accidents from safe drivers. If motorcycles were all of the sudden safe, I would love to take a ride with Steve through a beautiful canyon.
And lastly I could see myself jumping from a plane or bridge IF there was no danger!

Tuesday Tell All...Made By Hand

This week we were challenged to talk about something special in our home that was made by hand. Because I'm too lazy to take pictures and upload and post them, I'm just going to talk about these things.
The Christmas before we had Joe, Steve and I decided we needed to cut back on gifts. I understood because I seriously think I should have married Santa Claus. I love to give EVERY person in my family a gift and I like it to be an awesome gift...so to cut back I made these wooden plaques that say Home is Where Your Story Begins. I made one for each of my sister in laws (5) and one for my mom and mother in law and myself. I'm no crafty person by any means, but I loved that I was able to put time and effort into this for the wonderful women in my family. I tried hard to make them match the colors of their houses. I've been to 2 of my sister in laws houses and their signs are up in plain sight. That meant more to me than any monetary gift could have ever meant. Every time I see the wooden sign, I think of my family and the awesome blessing that they are to me.
I also love baby blankets that I have from my aunt Ilene for Joe & from my grandma that she made for me!

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!