joku rakastaa

the hunger games

2012-01-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

i would rate this series a must read. after i started reading them, i couldn't stop. i think i read all three in a week - which is saying something for me. i started reading hunger games on a thrusday i think, started catching fire on a saturday - had to go pick up mockingjay before sunday rolled around because i knew i would finish cathcing fire on sunday and finished mockingjay by wednesday. i would have probably finished earlier if i didn't have to go to work! i forced myself to leave the books home... LOVED these books! i only wish there were more...

i have to admit that i made hunger game references during my staff meeting the other day... i got called a nerd haha :)

instagram

2012-01-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

one of my favorite things about my iPhone - besides it doing things i want it to do without all the delay like my android eris - is instagram! i heart instagram. i can see why it was nominated the top app of the year or whatever. anyway. i love it.

my november photo challenge was done on instagram so you've seen the pictures before and you've seen them on facebook too.

also, i love pinterest like everyone else. so many good ideas that i feel were already there but just needed some coaxing, right? haha. jk.
you may have seen a few of these already.

the consistency of a 4 year old

2012-01-02T19:08:00.000-07:00

here is the other little interview i gave him the next day... changed his mind on a few things :)

what's your full name?

JOREL OWEN NUGENT

how old are you?

FOUR

what's your favorite game?

FOOTBALL

what's your favorite toy?

DIESELWORKS

what's your favorite show?

UPSIDEDOWN SHOW

what's your favorite movie?

MEGAMIND

what's your favorite color?

YELLOW WITH GREEN

what's your favorite food?

MMM MILK

no that's a drink, whats your favorite drink?

MILK

what's your favorite thing to eat?

CAPTAIN CRUNCH

what's your favorite thing to do with mommy?

HELP FOLD CLOTHES

you never fold clothes...

HELP WASH CLOTHES

what's your favorite thing to play with mommy?

GAMES

what's your favorite animal?

ZEBRA

where is your favorite place to go?

AUNT JAANA'S HOUSE.. NO, NO, NO... COLIN'S

who's your best friends?

COLIN

what does mommy tell you?

SO I CAN GET ON THE COMPUTER

no, what do i always say to you?

SO I CAN'T GET ON THE COMPUTER

no, what is something i always say?

UMM, TELL ME

i don't know, you tell me! what is something i tell you a lot?

SO I CAN PLAY WITH MY TRAINS?

what do I say?

TO GO IN TIME OUT?

don't i tell you i love you?

UH YEA

how does mommy show you i love you?

SO I CAN GET ON THE COMPUTER

new year interview 2012

2012-01-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Interview

(even though these answers changed the next day - i did another mini interview where there were different 'influences' - this is what we came up with) i'll transcribe for you:

Me: how old are you?

Jorel: FOUR

what's your full name?

JOREL OWEN NUGENT JOREL

do you know how to spell it?

MMHMM

how do you spell it?

J-O-R-E-L

what makes you happy?

PLAYING MY TRAINS

what makes you sad?

WHEN I GO IN TIME OUT

what makes you laugh?

WHEN YOU TICKLE ME

what is your favorite thing to do?

FOLD MY ARMS [he had a lesson on this in church that day]

what are you really good at?

I'M REALLY GOOD PICKING MY TRAINS UP [also in his lesson on how to choose the right]

what are you not very good at?

SO I COULD BE... SO I COULD GET TO CHURCH

what are you not very good at?

SO I GET BAD

what's something that you're not good at, that you want to be better?

UH, CLEAN UP MY TRAINS

what is your favorite food and drink?

CHOCOLATE MILK AND.... POP TART

what's your favorite color?

GREEN

where is your favorite place to go?

UH, CALIFORNIA

who are your best friends?

MY FRIENDS THAT GO TO MRS. JENN'S HOUSE. JOHNNY AND BROOKLYN AND GAGE AND ADAM AND JAYDEN AND JAXON

do you have another friend that's not at mrs. jenn's house?

BABY STEPHEN DOESN'T GO TO MRS. JENN'S

is there anyone else that doesn't go to mrs. jenn's?

IT'S JAXON [he really doesn't go to mrs. jenn's anymore, but the next day the only friend he had was colin]

what's your favorite movie?

THOMAS

which one?

THE ONE THAT HAS THE RED BOOK

what is your favorite t.v. show?

UPSIDE DOWN SHOW [when we watched wipeout the other day, he said he liked it more that the upside down show]

what are your favorite books?

THE THOMASES

if you were a cartoon character, who would you be?

SIMBA

what does mommy do when you're not around?

PLAY HIDE-AND-SEEK

what do you do when mommy isn't around?

PLAY HIDE-AND-SEEK

what is something mommy always says to you?

SAY YES SO I CAN GET ON THE COMPUTER [he wishes!]

what do you and mommy do together?

WE CLEAN UP THE GEOTRAX TOGEDER

how are you and mommy the same?

MMM, BLUE... AND YELLOW

how are we the same?

[if you listen close enough you can hear him] *TOOT*

how are you and mommy different?

I HAVE BLUE AND WHITE AND RED AND YOU HAVE YELLOW AND GREEN AND WHITE AND YELLOW AND GREEN... WE'RE THE DIFFERENT COLORS

how do you know mommy loves you?

HMM, WHEN I PLAY WITH MY GEOTRAX

who are your favorite people?

AUNT JAANA AND BABY STEPHEN AND UNCLE PAUL AND UNCLE JAKE

what is your favorite toy?

THE DIESELWORKS

is there anything else you want to tell me?

MMMM, NO

christmas 2011

2011-12-28T23:31:00.000-07:00

was so glad that my sister's little family was able to make it back for christmas too! we also had my cousin and his fiance from finland here which made it that much more special. we had another great time with them all here. christmas eve was spent doing some white elephant gift exchanges. gifts were in the morning, we had jorel be the "elf" and hand out the presents with grandpa's help. jorel was SO happy to have gotten the one thing he asked for - the DIESELWORKS (thomas the tank - who else?). he was so worried that santa forgot it... the day after we took a little "hike" in zion to make sure the Finns got to go back and see it. always a good time!

photography by jaana

2011-12-20T17:04:00.000-07:00

while my sister was here for thanksgiving, she took some pictures of jorel and i in the leaves! so that's what we used for our make-shift christmas card, but here are some more of those pictures. loved them as always sissy!

J's Kids

2011-12-10T23:23:00.000-07:00

like i said in my last post - i am NOT a photographer. my day care provider wanted updated pictures of her kids and i happen to have a camera. she also offered a trade and since money is so tight i decided to try it out. if they didn't turn out we could always try something different. but she said she liked them, even though i thought they could have been a lot better. i only had my one lens that got spotted with havasupai water, so got all splotchy, but, anyway. she does have some pretty good kids. thanks for letting me try!

being 4

2011-12-09T22:34:00.000-07:00

i wanted to get some pictures of jorel before he was too far into being four! he was a little restless but was so good to let me get some of him. i actually was asked by my day care provider to get pictures of her family, for trades, so after an initial resistance, i said okay. i am NO photographer!! so i practiced on jorel one evening hence these pictures :)

i haven't really done any updates on jorel for a long time. aside from him being adorable, him being 4 hasn't been so bad either. it really is amazing the things that they can learn and pick up on in such a little amount of time. he has finally began to understand what it means to share - aside from with grandpa. he is very kind hearted and doesn't like it when other kids cry, but he's also a softy and doesn't hesitate when he's had his feelings hurt or has been told no to something that he really wants. he is really hard to give time outs to at the moment because he thinks i'm playing a game, until i usually bring him to more tears clarifying that i'm not joking and the 4 minutes begin. he is still OBSESSED with thomas the tank engine and gets them out to play almost everyday. he has been eating a lot more and in phases, so you can tell when he really needs it. He is 35 pounds and about 39.5 inches tall. how is time going by so fast?!

merry holidays

2011-12-09T20:10:00.001-07:00

here's another make-shift christmas card... 'tis the season! :)

toys 4 tots

2011-12-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

had the great privilege to be able to play in the Toys 4 Tots softball tournament this year thanks to my friend, kim, from high school. this tournament is so cool because there were over 90 teams entered, plus each team member on the roster needed to bring a $10 dollar unwrapped toy in order to play. with 10 people on the field and some ready to rotate in on each team that gives over 900 toys! i think that is just awesome. there were a lot of teams from northern utah, idaho, nevada, plus all the teams from here. even though it wasn't really warm - friday we played in a snow/rain mix with some wind and saturday it was just cold - it was a blast. the only person i knew on my team was kim and i'm so glad that my teammates were so cool. i thought we played well together and had a lot of fun! thanks guys for a good time!

hair, again

2011-12-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

so i got my hair done today... it's been quite a while since i had done anything to it, and finally did the ombre look that i'd been eyeing for a while. my sister suggested it, and so i went to Marki to get it done. My usual hair dresser moved and so this is her little sister, and so i was good with it! she did a great job and i'm glad her sister let me know she was at Julie's!

30 days of photos for november

2011-11-30T21:35:00.000-07:00

I decided to join my sister on one of her little photo challenges. I enjoyed it and I love that it made me take a picture every day and sometimes challenge me on what I could come up with. Here are the pics:

Day 1: Self Portrait

Day 2: What I Wore Today

Day 3: Clouds

Day 4: Something Green

Day 5: From a High Angle

Day 6: From a Low Angle

Day 7: Fruit

Day 8: A Bad Habit

Day 9: Someone You Love

Day 10: A Childhood Memory

Day 11: Something Blue

Day 12: Sunset

Day 13: Yourself with 13 Things

Day 14: Eyes

Day 15: Silhouette

Day 16: Long Exposure

Day 17: Technology

Day 18: Your Shoes

Day 19: Something Orange

Day 20: Bokeh

Day 21: Faceless Self Portrait

Day 22: Hands

Day 23: Sunflare

Day 24: Animal

Day 25: Something Pink

Day 26: Close Up

Day 27: From a Distance

Day 28: Flowers

Day 29: Black and White

Day 30: Self Portrait

yummy in my tummy

2011-11-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

thanksgiving was yummy as always. i always love having family around, it just makes the holidays that much more enjoyable. we had "the Germans" here for thanksgiving along with my sister's family and little brother and the usual gang. my cousins and i spent most of friday passing time waiting for my sister to get here - we didn't eat until saturday - so we went out shopping on black friday, but not really to shop, just to pass time. grabbed some sushi and custard. had a good ol' time... we didn't "do" a lot over the weekend but always have such a good time spending it with family. the dinner on saturday was delicious and we played some scrabble... it always goes by too fast! took a bunch of silly pictures and just really enjoyed each other. of course, i didn't get a lot of pictures, cause my sister was around, but here are a couple:

no, i'm jorel

2011-11-01T20:29:00.000-06:00

i really like halloween. last night was no exception. jorel dressed up as thomas the tank engine - surprised?! - i was a girl from the 70's. we went over to the sis's house and did trick-or-treating with the cousins. the kids had a great time and got lots of candies.

a funny moment through the night was when jorel would go up to the door and the people would ask him if he was thomas, he would say "no, i'm jorel." the first couple of times he said it pretty nicely, but about the last 10 minutes when someone would ask, he was a little more angry. it was so funny. i've been laughing about it ALL day!

i'll just show you the pictures now :)

such fun cousins!

mom took these pictures of our cute little fam - above is how we normally are, but below we are cooperating... i know, aren't we darling?

subway

2011-10-30T13:27:00.000-06:00

and as much as i talk about food, i'm not talking about the restaurant chain... i am talking about the Subway hike through Zion National Park. my friend bill had permits to go and invited me along, and since i have never hiked the subway, i was all about it. now, we didn't hike the whole thing, but we hiked about 9 miles round trip. only our feet got wet, and i may have fallen down once... but as bill is a landscape photographer, we made it about taking pictures, and i'm glad we did because it is a beautiful place! thanks bill, for taking me along! you see a lot of different things while on this hike. the formations are pretty great. here are some of the pictures that i got :)

{four}

2011-10-23T22:56:00.002-06:00

today i started out the day knowing i was now a mother of a FOUR year old - EGAD! wow. i have a four year old... time really does go by so stinking fast. so today we celebrated! well first, i woke him up with a birthday song and him breaking through the streamers across his doorway (thanks pinterest). he tried to crawl under them and then, after some prompting realized that it was to go through and not under haha. i did get it on video and it's pretty hilarious. he picked out a ding-dong for breakfast and after watching him in the primary program for church not being able to hold still - maybe okaying the ding-dong wasn't a great idea. oh well . he provided some good entertainment for us. when we got home from church he was so patient to wait to eat his cupcakes until his cousins got here and we ate first. we had some good bbq grub and opened presents and then when the cousins left we did a bath with glow sticks (also thanks to pinterest). ended the night watching his birthday express thomas movie. it was a pretty good day overall. although he could have probably used a nap, but he is still going strong (it's 10:20 pm - with NO nap). i'll share some pictures i took of him throughout the day. wow. he's four.

so excited to be four!

how old are you jorel?

cupcakes!

cousins!

blowing out the candles

presents!

gator golf from his cousins

chocolate mustache!

glow stick bath

havasupai

2011-10-07T18:03:00.001-06:00

i had a cool opportunity to go hike in the grand canyon in the havasupai tribe lands and for work! so all expenses paid, i just had to spend the trip with a bunch of teenage girls :) but it was well worth it. 10 mile hike in and 10 miles out - which was a bit more difficult since the last mile and a half are pretty much straight up the side of the grand canyon and it was only 100 degrees! havasupai means people of the blue-green water and boy was that water beautiful. if you want more information on what this place is, you can check out http://havasupaitribe.com/ but i will share with you some pictures that i took but they really don't do the place justice! those of you that have been there before will notice how different it is since after the big flood a couple of years ago - i had never been so it was all new and beautiful to me. ps i can't post pictures of the girls because of confidentiality reasons, so there are a lot more pictures, but only a few that i can share.

the start of the hike - you can kind of see the trail going through the canyon

our camp site right next to the water

havasu falls

light painting - i actually tripped in this picture hence the trail of light at the bottom, i'll have to tell you the story sometime...

a little ways down from mooney falls

mooney falls

rock falls

pre-camping

2011-09-25T23:07:00.002-06:00

before i left for a few nights to go to Havasupai for work, i decided that jorel and i should have a fun saturday together. the lion king in 3D was first on the list. WOW. i felt like a 5 year old. and just seeing it in theaters again was pretty darn cool. and in 3D?! the lion king was one of my nieces favorite movies before she passed away from leukemia, and it just so happened that her birthday was the day before the release of the movie. my emotions may or may not have gotten the better of me at parts, but it was so enjoyable and to share it with jorel (who is about the same age as my niece was before she passed) made it pretty special. maybe this all sounds cheesy, but it was pretty awesome. after the movie we ran over to sportsman's warehouse to grab a few camping/10-mile-hiking supplies. after we got home, we ate and then went with mummi and grandpa ron to the SUU football game. they have season passes and a couple of extra seats so they invited us to go along. it was a lot of fun and a fun-filled saturday. :)

yumz

2011-09-11T22:22:00.000-06:00

i'm glad we have this little frozen yogurt place here in hurricane called YUMZ. and so is jorel. we've enjoyed it a couple of times this summer. also, we've enjoyed each other this summer. he's also been doing nursery rhymes at day care and here he is with his humpty dumpty. we took ginger out for a ride too because it had been a while and i needed to vacuum my car anyway. and since jorel runs around most of the time in his undies around the house, the other day it was raining and he wanted his rain coat on to run in it for a little bit, so that's all he had on and his flip flops

peach days 2011

2011-09-04T22:51:00.000-06:00

this year i got invited to play in the peach days volleyball tournament so i started out my labor day weekend playing volleyball from 4:00 pm to 4:00 am! it was so much fun and my team was a blast. i was so glad to have an old high school friend, jamie, come down and join us that i hadn't seen or talked to since high school! it was so good to catch up with her and our other really good friend, tami, also. i was so grateful to be able to play and visit the night away with my friends. one of our other teammates got proposed to so it was just all around exciting. we were sponsored by cedar post pawn and didn't do great, but had fun nonetheless. the next day i wanted to be able to participate in the little celebration of our town's heritage and let jorel enjoy some of it too. we missed the parade because of the late night (early morning?) so went down a little before noon and met up with mummi and grandpa for some funnel cake. they left and i let jorel do some of the rides and such. i also entered a couple of pictures into the art contest and won sweepstakes ($15!) on one of them in the amateur division. even thought it was a little contest, it was still pretty cool. i won on the foot picture below. we went home after a little bit and came back for a navajo taco, to pick up my winnings, and for the fireworks. jorel ended up with a "light saver" also? spoiled.... :)

more jorel, more cousins, and more ginger

2011-08-27T21:44:00.000-06:00

jorel just keeps getting bigger and bigger. the other day he got ginger in the wagon and tried to pull her all around the yard. she was a little heavy. later that day, the cousins came over for grandpa ron's birthday (happy birthday grandpa!) to play and they ended up putting the slip'n'slide under the "new" jungle gym that "grandpa" got for his birthday. pretty creative, eh? they really have a lot of fun together.

photoshop

2011-08-21T21:23:00.000-06:00

i finally got CS5 and am loving it! finally able to edit RAW! since my computer crashed i was using gimp and got a teacher discount on the photoshop so went for it. jorel said he wanted to go see the temple after church one day so i used it as an opportunity to try out my o-flash and use photoshop :) i'm definitely no pro, but its fun anyway!

missouri

2011-08-16T21:07:00.000-06:00

man, i just can't keep up on anything! this trip happened a month ago but my sister, mom, and i and the two kids went and took a really, really fun trip to missouri to see family and celebrate with my cousin for his wedding. it was such a good trip and the kiddos did great (with only a couple of come-a-parts). i was just going to post some pictures, but i decided to tell about the trip too. so this ended up a lot longer than intended!
mom , jorel and i drove out on the 10th of August (Wednesday) to Burbank to be able to fly out with Jaana and Stevie. i was so excited to take a trip with my sister, because these days its usually us traveling alone to see one another. we left after work so got in kind of late. jorel had to ask and ask and ask where we were (are we in california?!) about 500 times before we even reached vegas! he's a crack up. i also asked him some questions while we were driving to try to keep us all entertained. here are some of those questions:

What is your favorite song? its a small world and the pirate song
Who is your best friend? colin and baby stephen
What is your favorite color? orange
What is your favorite food? cereal
What is your favorite snack? fruit snacks
What is your favorite movie? thomas and friends: thomas' snowy surprise
What is your favorite song to sing? my life has a gift, my life has a plan, my life has a purpose in heaven it began...
What is your favorite thing to play? thomas
Where is your favorite place to go? disneyland, on a plane, the zoo train
What is your favorite book? thomas and the golden engine
What are you going to be when you grow up? get big and tall
What is your favorite vegetable? banana
What is your favorite fruit? apples
What is your favorite shirt? Lightning McQueen
What is your favorite sport? i want a fort!
What do you want for your birthday? a present
What job do you want when you grow up? (with some coaxing this time - firefighter, doctor, etc) firefighter, mom is a doctor
What do you think of mom? krista!
what is your favorite animal? baby cows
What do you think of mummi? she's nice
What do yo think of ginger? she's mean. she tore apart my sandwich

he also ate all of my trail mix i bought and seemed pretty happy about that:

the next morning we got ready to get to the airport and packed all of our stuff in jaana's car. after a quick bite at in-n-out, we got there and got through security and then found out that our flight was delayed not just a little bit but 3 hours! the kids did pretty good staying entertained, but we were all pretty anxious to get onto the airplane! our schedule that we had planned out (especially jaana for stevie) was totally messed up. we got to the hotel WAY later than expected and were pretty exhausted after the day was over. plus us getting all of our bags to the airport was pretty ridiculous. we were so happy to drop that luggage off! we were totally "those people"

@ jaana's

@ the airport

we ended up sleeping in a little more than we had planned and jaana was going to help our cousin take the wedding pictures so we had to get another quick bite - this time at chik-fil-a (yum!) and went to the temple to watch the couple walk out and get all those pictures taken. mom and the kids and i went back to the hotel to let the kids eat and nap and such before the rest of them got back. we only had a moment before we had to head to dinner - which, of course, we were fashionably late to. leave it to us!

@ the St. Louis Temple

after dinner we decided it was time for a swim and a shower. after the shower we decided to have a little mishap. jorel slipped getting out of the tub and sliced his chin open. of course at first i thought it was SO bad, but it stopped bleeding pretty quickly so by the time i got back from the lobby with the band-aid it looked better. but, man, it made me nervous for a moment. as soon as the ban-aid got on he was okay, but wouldn't move his chin. we had a couple of crying kids that night and it was kind of chaotic for a moment, but its pretty funny looking back on it. i didn't get a picture of it right then, but i did get one the next couple of days.

so that next morning we decided to get out and see some things in st. louis since we had a little bit of time before our 4 hour drive to joplin. we started out with breakfast at this super yummy super cute place called My Daddy's Cheesecake Bakery and Cafe. after that we went to the zoo to ride the "shoe train." admission to the zoo was free, but it cost 12 dollars to park and 5 dollars a person to ride the train. it was all worth it and i think more zoos should do it this way. we didn't have time for anything else and only saw the top of a tiger's head but the kids seemed to enjoy it.

@ the cafe @ the zoo

after the zoo we went to the arch. this really is a magnificent piece of architecture. but we were grateful when we got down underneath it in the air conditioning and were able to get a drink! we didn't have enough time to ride up to the top (bummer!) but it is a pretty cool place. the arch was designed by a Finnish man so its really part of our heritage :). st. louis is really cool because as you drive around and look at all of the different places, you really do see some of the history of it.

@ the arch

we had to get our of st. louis in order to make it to my cousin's reception (late again!) and ended up changing on the way and i was driving so i changed in the car when i got there! it was pretty entertaining. but we made it! we didn't get to see the tornado damage like we wanted to, but drove through some of it and it really is devastating. jorel enjoyed hanging out with his cousin luke and he danced it up on the dance floor. he also was giving everyone hugs that he thought were hard enough to make everyone cough. so if you didn't he got mad. what a goof.

@ the reception

we spent that night and most of the next day visiting with family and celebrating my grandpa's 94th birthday. he is pretty amazing. my sister got some great pictures of the day and some 4th generation photos. jorel ran around with grandpa rick and luke all day. i'm pretty sure that he wore them out. i ended up getting really bad allergies so i was walking around with tissue all day :(. i didn't get any pictures that day but my mom got a couple (notice jorel's half smile because of his chin! haha):

@ aunt diana's house

after the festivities we really weren't ready to leave all the family but it was time for us to get back to st. louis so we could catch our flight in the morning. we got to the hotel really late, but we were ready to crash. in the morning we got ready for the airport and weren't thinking and forgot to fill the rental up with gas! ugh. luckily budget reimbursed us some because that was a really expensive rental and that's not including the free car seat! blah. we got back to jaana's and she went to the adele condert (jealous!) and i ended up sleeping my little sickness away.

@ the hotel and on the airplane

back @ jaana's (mom took this one too)

the next day mom and i drove back and then it was back to work. but it was such a great trip. i'd do it again!

goggles

2011-08-07T20:39:00.000-06:00

not much to say about these pictures except jorel got new goggles....

he also has continued to be a little nudist and the other day wanted to dress up with this cowboy and pirate outfits a.k.a hats... made for a few good pictures...

we have also spent a couple of days at the ever so popular hurricane splash pads, he stayed on the yellow spinning thing pretty much the whole time we were there on day, so that's all i have a picture of...

ginger has also been a good dog lately since my mom has been home and let her out of her kennel more. she is still crazy, but not as much as an attention hog? okay, she still is...

i had some time alone while my parents took jorel on vacation with them. so my friend trina and i did some fun stuff for my birthday. massages, pedicures, the pool, dinner with her hubby and james and attempted movie, but had to leave before we finished it. it was a great day. *we did all of this on saturday because my birthday was on sunday but yeah, no pictures...

i've also tried using those sally hansen real nail polish strips, you know, the ones with the patterns on them? i am a fan. for the most part. they do last longer, and i can't paint those patterns on by myself! but the clean up is pretty messy. but they are kind of cool and the best of all is there is no dry time. this argyle one is my favorite so far.... also i've had a pack of bubble tape around lately. my friend said, "typical baseball fan" haha. :) what can i say, i am one...

last but not least, jorel has recently fallen in love with the slip'n'slide. after he let me cut his hair, i let him go at it. at first he tried to jump and and go, but he eventually got the hang of it. i even joined the fun. he would sing a little song before he went some times. it was pretty comical, this kid. and i tell you, skip the store bought and just get some of that plastic you use as a cover up when you're painting or something, goes way faster and doesn't hurt nearly as bad...

and seriously, check this kid out! why is he getting so big?!?!?!

and that pretty much wraps up July. where is this time going?!

Zion National Park

2011-08-07T19:14:00.001-06:00

i don't get to go to zion or places like this very often because i'm not keen on hiking by myself. so i found a friend, james, some day in july to go with, and his kids. we "hiked" the river walk and the kids seemed to have a good time. jorel had a kid from day care recently pass away in the river - what is with all of these deaths lately :( - and he was saying how he was scared to fall in the river. i felt bad for him, but when we got down to the river, he played in it a little bit. he was nervous a lot of the way so i tried to explain to him that if he stayed on the trail he would be okay. he kept wanting me to hold him, but he made it pretty good. it just broke my heart. we had lunch after and took a look around the gift shop, because the boys wanted to. (i was out numberd on this trip 5 to 1). jorel actually got warn out for once. it was a nice day, not too blasted hot but man, oh man, were there a lot of people in zion that day! and that is why you shouldn't go to zion on a saturday during the summer....

cousins

2011-08-07T18:46:00.001-06:00

jorel has so much fun with his cousins (my beautiful step-sister's kids). they have got to spend quite a bit of time together and i know jorel really appreciates it! he just adores those kids! jorel got to go on vacation with all the cousins in the motor home with my grandparents over the 24th weekend and had such a good time. i was bummed not being able to go but my brother, Mika, and his wife, Jessie stopped by on their way out and visited all night with my little bro and i. we had some really great laughs. but here are some pictures of the kids playing in papa ron's hot tub.

becoming a licensed teacher through ARL

2011-07-21T16:31:00.000-06:00

in the state of utah, you are able to become a licensed teacher if you have earned you bachelor's degree in your given field and are working full or part time as a teacher. i have been teaching for over a year now and have recently began my progress to becoming a licensed math teacher. the first step was to take the praxis II test. it is a content knowledge test in your field so i had to take a 50 question 2 hour test on math. i was pretty nervous about it because i hadn't even taken a test in about 5 years! but, i passed! so i don't have to take it over. i needed a score of 138 and scored 148 on it. so my next step is to take the following few classes to finish.

Methods of Teaching Secondary Mathematics and Application of Computers and Calculators in Mathematics

Instruction, Technology, Assessment, and Planning

Creating a learning Environment

Introduction to Special Education

and

Literacy Strategies

soon enough i'll be a licensed teacher and i'll get a raise! hopefully these classes won't take me too long to finish - i have 3 years. wish me luck! :)

broken

2011-07-16T23:10:00.000-06:00

a couple of weeks ago i was uploading some pictures and when i took my camera out of my bag, something was missing... the inside of my lense! it was a bummer. but, it is replaceable. take a look:

i dont' quite know when it happened, there could have been many moments i suppose, but the focus ring cracked just enough to allow for the part that holds the glass just fell right out! at least it wasn't a really expensive lens!

baby, you're a firework

2011-07-14T16:39:00.001-06:00

the 4th of july is one of my favorite holidays. ever since i was little i can remember loving it - sitting on our roof or at the park or at the beach watching fireworks with the family and grandpa making sound effects for every one that went flying into the air. this year we stayed home and participated in the Hurricane's celebration. i bought a wrist band this year and let jorel play the games, jump in the bouncy house, and go down the big slide. he raced in the races and had such a good time. he picked out lip whistles for his prize. we wen to our friends house again to see the fireworks. they are the best for inviting us!

bossypants

2011-07-14T16:11:00.001-06:00

if anybody likes tina fey, they should read her book "bossypants." it was hilarious - cover to cover (i mean look at it! <----)! the way it was written i could imagine her sitting in the room actually reading it to me. she really is a woman to look up to.

more jorel-isms?

2011-07-14T16:01:00.001-06:00

jorel has had this blanket since his aunt deni gave it to him for christmas, but has only recently found interest in it. he LOVES it now and tries to take it everywhere. he puts his arms in it every night to sleep. if he wants it, he'll asks for his "snuggly one" instead of his snuggie...

yesterday we went to the park after dinner and getting back into the car, he said, "mom, i love you, thanks for taking me to that place." it was very sweet and kind of out of no where.

when the sprinklers are on and running over the trampoline, he pretends its his car wash. also he is terrified of going through an actual car wash.

speaking of the trampoline, jorel has decided that he likes to climb up and then jump OFF of the trampoline - he is SUCH a boy! (he also was jumping off a stack of chairs in sunday school)

speaking of being a boy, he loves to run around in his underwear, especially his boxer briefs and also likes to sleep in them...

when jorel is playing with his toys and making them talk, especially with his thomas trains or cars, he plays like he's telling a story - for example "'i'm puffing around the bend,' says thomas."
he is such a little stinker monkey!

family visit

2011-07-12T20:51:00.000-06:00

we were so lucky to have my sister's cute little family make a trip out to see us! and so soon after we had been out there. i know babies grow fast and change a lot, but man, within the month we had seen little stevie, he was rolling over and laughing and being so much more interactive. he is just so great! he was decked out in his brand new helmet and glasses and it just melts your heart. jorel got to play uncle paul's iPad and they became great friends all over again. of course, i think i took maybe one picture while they were here. i mean, come on, my sister is professional and SO good at it. and i mean she is good and i'm not just saying it because she is my sister - check it out for yourself! (there are some links at the bottom). we mostly got to hang out and visit and eat and took a special trip to wal-mart for my best bro-in-law. i can't wait to take a girl's trip out to missouri in just a month! yay!

camping for work

2011-07-12T20:38:00.000-06:00

one of the many joys of my job is that we get to go on some really cool outings - i may have mentioned this in the past. the first week in june was our annual camping trip. despite the fear of how cold it would be with still 3 feet of snow up on cedar mountain, i prepared and slept pleasant both nights i was up there. we camped at pine lake, about 15 minutes from bryce canyon. the girls were pleasant and the food was delicious - our science teacher is quite the good cook! his dutch oven potatoes are to die for! it is also quite amazing how many of our girls have NEVER and i mean NEVER EVER roasted a hot dog or made s'mores over a fire. we played games and hung out and we got to hike in bryce and get too much sun, i was so pleasantly surprised with the great weather. it was a good time and makes me look forward to next years trip even.

i wonder if this lady has ever roasted a hot dog?

was she a sight to behold!

Stevie P's Christening

2011-07-10T22:58:00.000-06:00

over memorial weekend we headed out to california to be a part of a big day in my little nephews life - and his parents. this little fighter of a kid was getting baptized. it was a really quick trip again - darn it - we drove out there friday after work, stephen got baptized on saturday and we went on home on sunday. it was a really good trip though. of course i didn't take very many pictures, so i'll steal at least one from my sister. :)

the baptism was a really cool experience. it is an armenian church and most of the prayers were in song form and very beautiful. there was a little bit of english, but very broken and hard to understand. it was a great experience to be a part of though. jorel was being a big poop during all of that - and i can only think his nap wasn't long enough. afterwards was a big get together with lots of family, friends, and yummy food, and jorel was better.

bummer to have such a short trip, but the cousins did have time to nap together! silly boys.

we got back sunday night and monday was memorial day - i don't remember doing anything for it except for maybe going to the "circle store" and barnes and noble to let jorel play with the trains and i even got a book to read. weird...

in-n-out

2011-07-10T22:34:00.002-06:00

here's a look into the things that jorel has been doing lately. you know how at in-n-out they have the stickers they give to kids? well jorel decided to imitate one - you'll see in these pictures, it was pretty funny.

this was from back in may. some of the girls at work like to hear the funny things that he says, and so here are some of their favorites and some of them happened a while ago and maybe i've even told them already, but pretty funny anyway:

jorel was running around the house and decided that he wanted a piece of bread after seeing me eat one. so i was holding his piece of bread while he came a took a bite out of it. he went running off again and came back to me and said "YOU ATE MY FREAKING BREAD!" and all i could do was laugh because he was the only one who had taken a bite out of it.

one that happened more recently was when he was sitting on the toilet and had a little toot he said "Mom, that was my steam." Keep in mind that he is OBSESSED with thomas the tank engine. next time he called it his "steam puff" that's how i know it was related.

while visiting at my sister's house he walked into her room while she was pumping and he said "oh, Aunt Jaana, you're getting milk out of your belly buttons" meanwhile pointing at her "belly buttons." all she could say was "yep" haha. oh man. i hope i won't have to explain that one later....

he's starting to come up with funny names for things by association of what he knows. like target is now the circle store and maverick was the big rectangle store.

his leg hairs were eyelashes one day.

while jorel was treating me to my father's day dinner at red robin, his pants were barely high enough to cover the essentials - he's been doing so many things on his own, and when those pants are up, they are up. i didn't notice "mom, my pants aren't working" until he was climbing on the seat and lifting his arms. maybe you needed to be there for that one... just love him!

anyway, i know there are so many more, but these are the ones i'm remembering right now. he is just too funny and is growing up too fast. he's the best!

oh yeah, if mom is mowing the lawn, you won't find her without jorel

one at a time

2011-07-10T22:15:00.000-06:00

so, like i said in my last post, i really can't believe that three months have gone by and i haven't hardly even looked at my blog. i guess this is the typical journal patterns that i have, but usually it is a little bit longer, so i'm trying not to let it get too far away from me! so instead of updating them all here, i'm going to break them up into different posts. :)

alive and....

2011-07-03T20:25:00.002-06:00

has 3 months really just gone by? i can't take how fast time is moving, it's craziness! guess i better at least let you all know i'm alive... maybe i'll actually update sometime soon.... the end.

just a pic

2011-04-30T17:29:00.002-06:00

just had to share another picture from our california trip that my sister sent me last week...

meeting thomas

2011-04-24T18:08:00.000-06:00

last weekend jorel and i took a short trip out to my sister's to be able to go meet thomas the tank tngine. we drove out on friday and got there about 7 then got up saturday morning to go to filmore and to the festivities. It was a pretty good set up, but i do have to say i was a little disappointed in my grumpy little boy. He didn't even want to RUN! that NEVER happens. he was getting over a cold and I woke him up from his sleep and nap time and it just wasn't a good mix. although, he was pretty excited to ride on thomas. he just didn't want to listen and couldn't understand that we couldn't stay in one place forever. ugh. but oh well. we did get some pictures of him smiling and it is always good to see my family and my cutest little nephew who is already growing up too fast. he was so great when we were out and about. after thomas i got to meet up with an a friend from my elementary school days who i haven't seen for 13 years! it was really nice to catch up for a short time. we drove back on sunday a little bit late and then i got sick :( it hasn't been the best week, but happy easter anyway!

riding on thomas!

little stephen in the bright sun excited to be on thomas too :)

his tattoo of diesel 10

THOMAS!

annie and i

checking out his tattoo in the bathroom mirror

this was how he wrote his name about a month ago - he's just getting so smart!

jumping up and down like the easter bunny and holding still for a moment...

Come Next Spring

2011-03-24T12:34:00.000-06:00

kind of sick of having that last post up, i'm not that obsessed with my hair, really! so i thought i would post something new. i've been really busy with softball but we did finally get a win on the season so that's good - our schedule is on the side calendar ---> so if you ever want to catch a game... or maybe you just miss me, i'll probably be at the fields, come say hi. ;) jorel has been doing okay, going through the typical 3 year old things i think. he hasn't gone to bed before 11 pm since day light savings time, but also saying some funny stuff and just being cute as ever. he has been spending a lot of time with grandma and grandpa while i'm at the fields, so i miss him sometimes. he's been patient with me, and been a pretty good boy overall. my stress levels are high right now because all that is going on so i'm trying to stay up beat! but i am pretty warn out by the end of the day. work has been pretty busy, but it keeps you on your toes. you may not know it but it's pretty exhausting to be with teenage girls ALL day! and coaching is just as exhausting as playing, if not more-so! i also got to meet up with an old friend that i haven't seen in about 8 years, i think, it is and it was so nice to spend some time with him. wish i would've taken at least one picture, but i didn't :( anyway. that's about it really...

My JV/Varsity team

Good looking group, eh?

this is the face that one of his toy trains makes - he's so funny!

new hair... again :)

2011-02-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

so some people have heard that i got my hair cut... and i have! i only have pictures from my webcam right now (that i took at work haha) so here is the new hair! i like it a lot :) i hadn't cut my hair in almost a year and it needed it so bad!!! the back is a bit of an a-line cut and turned out nice so i'm pleased :)

before

after :)

sledding

2011-02-19T18:10:00.000-07:00

we went up to the mountains in cedar on friday and played in the snow. it was really jorel's first time playing in this much snow and he really seemed to enjoy it! we may have to go again... the snow was so powdery and fresh that jorel had a hard time the first time going down because of all the snow that came flying in his face. once he got some goggles on he was all for it. he also really liked eating the snow and sucking it off of his mittens. coming down from the mountain he said "HOLY CRAP, icicles!" it was so funny coming out of his mouth and a bit of a shock when he said it so i just cracked up laughing! what a goof!

pancakes

2011-02-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

this morning i made jorel a mickey mouse pancake and he was so excited to eat it, but then when he was done he said "i want mickey!" and wanted to cry...

just the boy

2011-02-11T22:08:00.002-07:00

have i overwhelmed you yet with my updates? there is so much about jorel that i haven't shared and wouldn't even know where to start. he is hilarious and so cute and such a turd and mean and nice and sweet and growing and learning and getting smarter and smarter and the list can go on forever! he really is so much fun, even though so exhausting. the goods definitely outweigh the bads by a lot! time just goes by so fast... and he just does and says the funniest things!

we still love bath time

he's discovered the greatness of the webcam when he can watch himself - got him to sing us a song: (sorry about the sound delay)

how about new years, too?

2011-02-11T19:06:00.000-07:00

we were at my sister's for new years meeting the new little guy. she had the in-laws over for new years too and we all celebrated while the babe slept through all of it. it was a lot of fun to be with all of them for new years. jorel took some pictures, too because i was trying to keep him entertained :) so happy new years to everyone? yay!

these are pictures through the eyes of a three year old :) aren't they just awesome?! he would take a picture of stephen and then turn the camera around and say "look, that's you!" these are just cute and funny...

christmas - yes, i know it's february

2011-02-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

so since i won't have anything to post for valentine's day (oh well, maybe next year?) i thought it works to upload christmas-ish pictures....and yes, i'll overload you. my older brother's family came into town this year and that was really great because we haven't seen him and his family in a while! we also had some fins come for christmas too so it was really nice to visit with them and get to know them better. and as you all know, my sister had a baby over this time too... and he is doing good too. we had floods and so we lost power for a little while one night and got out the oil lamps to visit at the table.

jorel made a gingerbread (well graham cracker) house at day care - i love that she does stuff like this

christmas eve pj's

making karelian pies -YUMMY i tell you!

christmas day

jorel lucked out as usual :) got lots of cool stuff - here he is playing in his new superman pajamas and his grandparents from indiana got his this really awesome motorcycle! (thanks guys!)

so much fun!

fyi

2011-02-08T00:24:00.003-07:00

i didn't get to that update obviously....

holidays?

2011-02-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

did they even happen? yes? oh and they were so fun... i can't believe i haven't posted christmas or new years yet! we had some good fun times with lots of family, floods, power outages, babies... and i haven't even said one word about it?! i know it's a little late but before it gets any later i better update that this weekend... so expect some posts i suppose

btw little stevie pie is doing pretty darn good. no more surgeries for a few months if he keeps this up. way to go little buddy - (jorel is adamant that "baby stephen" is his best friend, it's very cute)

nephew

2011-01-27T20:56:00.002-07:00

i had the chance to go back out to cali to help my sister with little stevie while her husband went back to work. things are looking up and i was so so glad i could be there. sure is a blessed little family and i know the best is coming for them! my sister got a great pic of the two of us that i needed to share :)

ain't he a doll?!

doing better

2011-01-17T18:18:00.000-07:00

the good news is that little stevie is doing better and is going to be discharged from the hospital at the end of the week. i'm sure his parents have had all they can take of the hospital for now, but thank heavens for modern medicine and technology! he sure is a strong boy and i can't wait to go see him at the end of the week. love you little stephen so glad you're doing better - let's keep that going :)

prayers

2011-01-08T20:27:00.001-07:00

as many of you know my 2 week old nephew has undergone emergency heart surgery just yesterday. his condition is stable which is great. my sister is keeping us updated as much as possible on this precious little one. her blog has some information on what they have gone through. dxeechick.blogspot.com thanks to so many of you that have shown support and love for them as they go through such a hard time. it's a scary thing to have such major surgery for such a little guy, but he sure is a fighter. we are now hoping for a quick and safe recovery so keep them in your prayers for a while. thanks again.

so much for this little guy and his family to go through. breaks your heart :(

*picture from paul's facebook

eyelashes

2011-01-06T09:18:00.002-07:00

had the opportunity to meet my new little adorable nephew. he is just such a handsome little bugger! you can just see how smitten my sissy and bro-in-law are over their new addition, and how smitten they are with each other after going through such an awesome thing together. it was a great and short visit and worth every second. plus we got to ring in the new year together! yeah!

Stephen Paul Peltekian - check out those eyelashes already!

announcement

2010-12-24T19:18:00.001-07:00

needed to share the news that i have a new nephew!

Stephen Paul Peltekian came into the world at 6:44 am on Thursday, December 23rd 2010

He was 7 lbs even and 19 1/4 inches long! Congratulations to my sissy and bro! Can't wait to meet the little guy! :)

portable north pole

2010-12-18T13:58:00.004-07:00

my day care lady told me about this site, how cute is it?!

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/JLGlG_JrI7SV92IcSg2-Tw

christmas card?

2010-12-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

won't be sending out any christmas cards this year, again. darn.

getting into the christmas spirit

2010-12-11T13:58:00.003-07:00

so the last couple of years i've really had a hard time getting into the holidays. i don't really know why, i have a few hunches, but i really try for my son. this year i'm putting in more effort to go do christmas related things, and it's paying off. Jorel really seems to love all of the things about christmas. i even fully participated in our company ugly sweater contest and took it hands down :)

poor jorel was really sick on tuesday and wednesday, so i took him into the doctor tuesday night to find out it was an ear infection - in both ears. we watched a lot of movies over the course of the sickness - including midnight showings of cars and finding nemo.

the amoxicillin is really helping because he slept for 12 hours last night! the sleepless nights were really catching up to us so i also slept for 11 hours... he was feeling so much better yesterday that we got outside to play because we were definitely getting a little stir crazy - even though he did go to day care the last two day. he also decided that he would actually pedal his tricicle.

i decided to take him to the polar express reading at Barnes and Noble and took along our friends (thanks for driving, so i guess you took us along!). and thanks to Jenn for inviting us! we also sat on santa's lap and all jorel wants for christmas are "little cars." thats the only thing he's told me too! so i guess we can satisfy him with cheap gifts, so i'm grateful :)

jorel's face is shiny because of the aquaphor on his too-many-blows nose

well baby

2010-11-25T16:42:00.002-07:00

@ age 3

jorel's stats:

height: 37 in

weight: 31 lbs

healthy.

and here is a recent picture of me... hahaha (didn't realize how many laugh-lines i really had)

baby on the way

2010-11-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

not for me sillies. MY SISTER. a couple of weekends ago we went to my sister's baby shower. my sister's sister-in-law (who i just claim as my own, too) threw the best baby shower ever! it was just an incredible celebration; catered with yummy food, lots of family and friends (co-ed), and just adorable decorations. she even thought about the kiddos that were going to be there and included a craft table. she's just adorable. my sister is so lucky for the family that she married into. they really are wonderful people. can't wait for that little one to join!

seriously cute decor right? there were more super cute animals on every table

poop!

2010-11-15T10:58:00.002-07:00

in the underwear is very annoying, especially when it happens that way most of the time when he's with me (or he waits until i put a diaper on at night or nap to go - like last night he pooped in his sleep) and i'm really trying to be encouraging but oh man it's hard not to get mad....... but you can't stay mad at this face for very long:

poop!

2010-11-04T11:22:00.000-06:00

in the potty :) i know it may not be a big deal to you, but it's a huge step for our potty training! he does really well at day care, of course, and struggles a little bit when we're at home, but we're working on it, and i'm changing a lot less diapers which is awesome! yeah jorel!

aaaaarrrrgggghhhhhhhhh!

2010-11-04T11:03:00.000-06:00

jorel was a pirate for halloween. he wore his costume to day care on friday and wore it all day and loved it - he didn't want to take it off. saturday we met up with the cousins and went trick-or-treating. sometimes i wonder why the heck i bother dressing up, but i guess i do think it is still fun sometimes. it was jorel's first year and he liked it. he asked me a couple of days ago if we could go again... cute boy :)

3!

2010-11-04T10:30:00.002-06:00

so only a little over a week ago, this child had a birthday:

we started the day - just like last year - with the happy birthday song (as made popular by the beetles, apparently)... but we really celebrated on our california trip (that was kind of the whole point of going to disneyland) - i was asked to take pictures of our companies 5K that morning and then i had a city league basketball game - but we did have cake on his actual day - it's an airplane!

i thought that this sequence of pictures was funny - this was the second time blowing out the candle and it didn't quite work - he tried so hard to blow it out, and you can even see the fire move on the candle (the 3rd pic) but the last pic is the best, he was so bothered that it didn't go out...

and then he tried again...

we then opened some presents, i don't even think he looked at the gift until all of the paper was off of it!

and then that was about it. hope that he had a good day - he said he did :)

california, here we come

2010-10-31T22:45:00.000-06:00

and there we went... there is so much to catch up on! i still have to go all the way back to the california trip - that feels like already too long ago, and another one is coming up really soon for my sister's baby shower! can't wait! anyway... i don't know that i'll share a lot of words - cause i never do, but i'll share lots of pictures. that's what it's all about anyway, right? :) anyway....

we did so much fun stuff!! we made the most out of our stay thanks to my amazing sister - i'm just going to throw in that she got AMAZING pictures of our trip - so mine don't really do it justice - check her out though (there's a link below). we did something everyday and wore ourselves completely out. i went into work monday morning and left early to go get the little man from day care. we tried to avoid getting struck by lightning getting into our rental. luckily that was a success so our trip continued. we got there at a decent time and so got to visit for the night. tuesday we started our plans - it was an early birthday trip for the now three year old - that post to follow - so we tried to do stuff that we new he would enjoy, and we would enjoy with him. we started with travel town where there are a bunch of life-size trains that you can walk around a couple that you can even climb on and a smaller one to ride around the little town. it was so satisfying even only being there an hour that he said "that was a good day" when we were walking back to the car. we followed with a trip to the zoo, which wasn't nearly as entertaining for the kid, but being able to pretend that his animal crackers that he had for lunch were a family made it worth it for him. plus the chimpanzees were being pretty playful in the rainy weather and he's still talking about the giraffes, so i call it success!

wednesday was an all day rainy day, so we went to a kids space museum, which really wasn't that much about space, but it was an interactive museum that he could get his hands on stuff - he threw a fit when it was closing because he didn't want to leave.

thursday was disneyland day!! you just can't go wrong. he got his classic mickey mouse ears, a birthday pin, a birthday call from goofy, and one of those cool silhouette cut outs. plus he loved all the rides and when i ask him to tell me a story it's about disneyland and he wants to go back everyday! sorry kid, it's going to be a while, you're no longer free... :(

friday we really didn't have any plans, but while jorel was taking a nap we decided to drive out to the beach to play in the sand and chase seagulls. we were meeting my little bro later so didn't have a ton of time there, but i just barely cleaned the sand out of my purse so it was worth the drive and i even got out my good camera for some pictures. don't do that a lot with my sister around because hers are just so much better!

saturday we drove out to the pumpkin patch - Lombardi Ranch really because it wasn't just pumpkins! i think i was starting to get a little worn out but really enjoyed it anyway. props to my preggo sister! we rode in a wagon, on a little train, got some candied apples, and picked out some pumpkins to bring home. it was such a good trip and i really didn't want it to end, but decided i had better not wait until 4 pm to get a move on like i usually do... work feels extra early when i do that! it was such a great vacation and much needed too. my sis and bro-in-law are the best for having us for a whole week!

oops, this ended up longer than i expected... it was just so much fun to share!

ugh.

2010-10-17T23:12:00.004-06:00

so i was going to update on our fabulous trip out to cali - but with how the weekend is going i say - "see above"

i'll fill you in later

in the meantime - you can look at my sister's blog for what we did while in cali. it was a good time had by all, of course! and thanks again sissy for the great vacation, it was well worth it! hope you've recovered better than i did :)

btw, have i mentioned how awesome my sister is? because she is in so many ways

boring

2010-09-26T21:33:00.001-06:00

i was looking back at some of my blogs and man am i boring... or is it that i just write boring? or maybe i just live my life boringly and don't have much excitement to share... i don't know what it is... why am i so boring? anyway - here's another boring post

it felt like it was 100 degrees here again today. let's welcome in july, oh wait, it's supposed to be october? what happened?! that means it's jorel's birthday month and he's going to be 3! wow! i seriously can't believe it. but he really is the best... we're going to celebrate it in great style and early. those of you that want to get him gifts can pass and just send a nice card in stead. did i ever mention how spoiled he is? and he can't wait for another little cousin to play with! and i can't wait for that niece or nephew!

fall is here?

2010-09-18T14:12:00.004-06:00

so mornings are cold, evening are nice, football season has been upon us for a few weeks now, it's mid-september - and it's 100 degrees outside. yes it changes 40 degrees in the 24 hours that we're given in the day... i'm not complaining, and it's a great time of the year anyway. the mornings and most evenings it feels great. jorel and i have gone to a couple of football games this season, and he seems to be getting into them more and more, actually cheering and kind of watching some of the game. it's really fun to watch him, even though he doesn't really know what's going on. anyway, we've definitely been enjoying the outdoors including our friday work activities. we've done kolob, toquerville falls, and kanarraville falls this last month. too bad jorel doesn't come along, although i don't think he would be ready for these ones anyway! so now i'll post some pics... i suppose, i don't really have much else to talk about!
the pics in order:
1. jorel just being funny in his baseball helmet
2. kolob
3&4. toquerville falls
5. jorel lifting weights
6&7. jorel loving the animals
8.tarantula we saw in kanarraville
9&10. kanarraville falls hike
11. #75 is my nephew sam
12. jorel watching sam playing (he plays for snow canyon high)

time flies...

2010-08-28T09:44:00.006-06:00

i really don't feel like a month has already gone by since i last updated!

it rained on the 8th....

i had a really great weekend starting on the 14th. my sister came into town and we got to play!

sunday i learned how my sister shot houses for their business homeview and we went to see trina. we also got to meet her new little pups. jorel was super interested...

monday we went up north and stayed with my cousin and her family who i haven't seen in years! sad to say that they only live about 4 hours away and it's been so long... tuesday we rode segways and went to the best dave matthews band concert and then headed back wednesday. my sissy left thursday and i went back to work. it went by too fast as usual. and i stole these pictures from my sister:

we had some really great thunderstorms this month too - which has kept it not a million degrees everyday, but has also made it so humid all summer... and really thats about all that is exciting that happened in the last month... yeah me...

summer fun ♥

2010-07-27T19:24:00.006-06:00

swim :)

WATERMELON! (takes after me)

a blanket i made for a friends brand new Mason baby (and the chicks too)

i couldn't tell who was having more fun, grandpa or the babe

and on my birthday we shot off fireworks and i was lame and burned my thumb... 26!

recent happenings through pictures

2010-07-07T11:02:00.015-06:00

some of these pictures are a little bit older, but i thought they were still worth sharing

jorel with his mater and his scab in the middle of his head

helping grandma with yard work

ginger being lazy

jumping on the trampoline with sprinklers

more baseball

hiking in new harmony

in his "dancing shoes"

tender moments with grandma

sweaty feet

2010-07-07T10:53:00.005-06:00

when i got back from the camping trip, jorel had these scabs on the bottom of his feet. it almost looked like he had been running around on really hot cement. so i took him into the doctor to get them checked out - thought maybe it could be athletes foot also because he wears shoes ALL day some days and doesn't get a breath. but the doctor that we saw said that unfortunately that he just has really sweaty feet! i mean i kind of knew this, i mean, it does kind of run in the family, but didn't realize that they were THAT sweaty! the poor dear... he doesn't complain about it much, and we just need to keep powder in his socks and shoes and lotion at night. sometimes they seem like they hurt, but he doesn't complain too much... he's too busy running around everywhere to stop and worry about it. i'll have to get a picture of his poor little feet and post it a little bit later

the 4th

2010-07-07T10:30:00.008-06:00

hope everyone had a good holiday weekend, and it was better than ours.... Although we were able to play on the fourth with some good friends, leading up to that even wasn't so much joy - see post below ): - and i was hoping very much to get out of town that weekend to see my pregnant sissy (!!!) but i guess that will have to wait. At least we had something to do monday night because of our great friends. we crashed their neighborhood cookout and it was nice to visit with some new people. we even had a great view of the city fireworks. so thanks to friends for making it a good weekend after all (: Oh and now i'm really craving disneyland! (and their freaking awesome fireworks... NOT pictured) and i'm sure that jorel is too. who is feeling better by the way and got a new haircut yesterday (just another shorter one to keep him cool) he got a little beat up hanging out with his super awesome friend but still followed him around like a puppy dog... they are already such boys, i can't imagine what it'll be like when they're older! (right jess?) haha Love those boys :) we also went to see toy story 3 with them on opening night - so fun!

well....

2010-07-02T12:09:00.002-06:00

happy birthday month to me,

i had to stay home from work today cause jorel ran a really high fever yesterday and i was puking...

and we're not quite feeling better yet

fabulous

2010-06-29T11:23:00.003-06:00

my birthday is next month... i think i'm going to celebrate the entire month,

i just don't know how yet, but you're all invited!

@ Pine Lake

2010-06-26T00:39:00.005-06:00

I got to go camping for a couple of days for work - i know right? - near bryce canyon. the campground we were at was called pine lake. beautiful land out there! i hadn't been camping for so long, and we used to go camping ALL the time when we were younger, that it brought back a lot of good memories. even with a bunch of teenage girls, it really was a pretty good time. one of the highlights was the hike that we took into bryce canyon from sunset point to sunrise point. not an easy hike, but it was so cool!

Slip 'n' Slide

2010-06-21T11:24:00.004-06:00

What's better?!

the hair cut

2010-06-05T23:46:00.006-06:00

that i probably need to get fixed... i don't really have much else to post about because it's really the same stuff different day right now, but anyway... this picture isn't too bad, and maybe i need to re-dye my hair! but she didn't do a great job on it so i'm planning on going to fix it to give it more of a "style"

ps... yes i put make-up on just to take the picture cause that makes me feel like i like it a little more :)

redemption

2010-05-30T20:43:00.003-06:00

i almost forgot to post the train cake that i made!! i attempted to make a train cake for jorel's birthday in october that pretty much ended in disaster. although it was pretty dang hilarious. so not-the-other-day a month or so ago i redeemed myself, this is what it was supposed to look like the first time: (kind of)

(yeah me!)

warmth

2010-05-23T11:51:00.014-06:00

last weekend was a pretty good one. my friday work days (the days we get to do the outdoor learning while hiking and stuff like that) set up my weekends pretty good. the 15th was my mom's choir's spring concert. she is part of the Hurricane Heritage Choir and they put on a cute show. she has always been an amazing singer and i'm glad she's getting to do it again.

i went on a night-time four wheel ride with a friend right after the concert and it was a great night for that. on sunday it got so warm that jorel got to run through the sprinklers! he loved it and we put it close to the trampoline so he could enjoy both at the same time. we've been having some nice weekends, but this weekend it is so windy!! boo on that. but it's still been okay. we went to my step-sister's salon's grand opening - it's called Solutions and it's out in the santa clara area. they have some fun stylist so if you're looking for a change... anyway. i got my hair cut while i was there cause they were having $10 hair cuts. anyway. there really isn't a whole lot going on for us other than work these days so the free time has been nice. here are some pics of jorel in the sprinkler... he's so funny!

BRING ON SUMMER! :)

afternoon @ the park

2010-05-09T10:38:00.005-06:00

i just thought this was a funny moment.... check out his left shoe and then his reaction to it.... he stood there for a moment trying to figure out what the heck was happening! it was cute (maybe only to me) :)

anyway, we played at the park yesterday... he also got a hair cut on friday so he has a nice cool summer do for now. you never realize how much hair they have until you cut it off!

did i mention he loves the park?!

ginger

2010-05-05T19:49:00.007-06:00

my poor dog get's so neglected during softball season, but she still loves me anyway (thanks to mom and ron for taking care of this too!). isn't she cute? we'll be having some bonding time in the near future.

also recently i had a weekend at my sister's and a day in vegas joining the girl's weekend and both were super fun. i'll update on those next - but my sis has some pics on her blog if you want to see the fun - photographybyjaana.com/blog check it!

new

2010-05-05T19:22:00.003-06:00

so yet again my schedule has changed. since taking the part time teaching position at my company, i had been offered a full time position since our history teacher is going to go teach in morocco. cool for both of us!! so i'm now working full time and enjoying it. i just started my full time schedule on monday and softball was over on tuesday so i've been making the adjustment and it's pretty nice. the days go by fast because these girls usually need a lot of help. and although i love my softball girls, it's usually a relief of stress and pressure when it's over. it was a tough season and i'll really miss our seniors :(

also i bought - and am still buying - my sister's old camera from her since she got herself a new one, hers was up for grabs. during the season i took it to a couple of games and got some shots - they're not great, but it was fun to take some pictures anyway :)

celebrating new beginnings

2010-04-11T10:23:00.006-06:00

Easter:
Saturday:
in the morning we went to the city's easter egg hunt and got too much candy! we visited jena and kamdyn who we haven't seen since our disney trip in september, what? i know, we just both got super busy... it was weird. then we met up with my mom and my brother to eat some carl's jr. and check out the dixie state college art show. there were a lot of cool things there. and jorel got to draw on the sidewalk a little bit. that night we colored our easter eggs and jorel didn't want to stop but because we ran out of eggs, we had to.

Sunday:
this was a day of laziness... we opened some gifts - thanks grandma judy and grandpa tom for the books and clothes. the pirate potty is a big hit right now because he's loving pirates!! (hence the pirate hat on the toilet) how did you know? :) we are kind of starting potty training and even though he hasn't really used the potty yet, he's been doing pretty good sitting on it. i'm not going to stress about it (too much) because when he's ready he'll do pretty good. he got to wear his nice outfit that we picked up from target and looks so good on him! he is just one handsome little fellow! he got his wall-e electric toothbrush and a toy story blanket that actually covers his whole body (he's getting SO big). It was a really good weekend - especially cause it was the first i've had in a really long time!!

coming a long way...

2010-04-11T10:09:00.002-06:00

i was just going through some old videos the other day and came across a couple i thought i would share....

what a stud, right? :)

busy spring

2010-03-21T21:31:00.007-06:00

our life right now....

talk to you in may!

Okay, maybe i'll be posting before that, but there isn't any guarantees! So just a quick one - i've been at the fields late all week so it's been a little exhausting especially after i've already felt like i've put in a full day... but anyway. i had today off so i gave jorel a hair cut and we jumped on the trampoline and took a nap :) it was a great spring day!

here we went...

2010-03-10T18:45:00.005-07:00

our trip to california was one of the best!! it's always fun to go see my sister but there was something about this trip... maybe because it was all about me... maybe not but it was SO much fun. we left thursday morning and took our time - but hurried to get there. i actually enjoy the drive and think it is an okay distance to travel especially with good company. jorel always does a pretty good job in the car so there are no worries there.

we ate at Zankou - a great chicken place right next to my sisters and we pigged out - this was the first trip to burbank that we've made without going to bob's big boy! weird.... friday we decided was disney day so we tried to get some sleep because we were planning on doing the "tourist" disney day and try to get in as much as we could... we were much successful and got in a whole bunch! there were rides even my season-pass-holder sister hadn't been on so we conquered! the pics of this magic of a day are on my sister's photogblog @ photographybyjaana.com/blog - and they are the best pics ever - seriously check it out :) plus they are pretty much all the pictures that were taken the whole trip - most of the ones i took are already on my blog haha. good for me. disneyland was a little more crowded than we expected but well worth the trip. jorel was a dream and its funny what a different experience that he had from 5 months ago. his favorites - that he's still talking about - were the "horsies that go up and down," "the boat pirate," dumbo - of course, "geotrax train" better known as the monorail, and he just told me that the roller coaster was his favorite - wouldn't have guessed. silly boy. oh and captian EO! AMAZING!!! jorel even kept his 3D glasses on the whole time. it was just so much fun. the only bummer of the day was that the fireworks were cancelled because there were high winds - but we stayed well into the night. i even got to see the stray cats that hang around and keep the rodents under control apparently. bet you didn't know that!

so come saturday we were ready to hit the museum, but silly us didn't realize that it closed at 5 until after we were on our way to Pink's hot dog stand. The world famous to say the least. i went for their chili cheese dog and it was pretty dang delicious. it had started raining friday night and went on and on most of saturday so really we just took it easy that day. which was good because we were all probably pooped from disneyland. we watched a movie that night and ordered pizza and visited the rest of the night.

sunday the girls got up and went shopping for a little bit - i found a new purse for myself - and we browsed through a couple of stores and just chatted and it was fun. we then had to get ready to leave... we stopped by the in-laws house with some Thrifty's ice cream - which, BTW is the best ice cream in the world... and then we were off. i don't usually cry when i leave - but this time i was so sad to go. it was way too short as usual and i definitely was not ready to go! here's to celebrating the right way!

announcement... kinda

2010-02-24T10:16:00.003-07:00

2 years ago i started on this thing that kept me up late at nights and stressed me out with big loads of reading and homework and took some valuable time away from the little man and now it is all over! i really can't believe that it has already been 2 years and now i have my MASTER'S DEGREE! pretty cool, eh? now just to figure out what i really want to be when i grow up... something that will at least pay for my student loans! YEAH ME!

MBA in Finance done!

and yes i do feel quite accomplished - if you couldn't tell :)

so now what am i going to do? yes, i'm going to disneyland!

just pics

2010-02-17T20:03:00.002-07:00

pics of the turd being a turd.... :)

sing-star

2010-01-31T00:50:00.007-07:00

the last couple of months jorel has really picked up on singing. he started out with stuff like amazing grace and row, row, row your boat and becomes obsessed at times with singing twinkle twinkle little star and the abc's - although he skips a few letters in between - he's been singing happy birthday to himself since his birthday and occasionally to me or his aunt jaana. he belts out how great though art - the alan jackson version - and the song from wall-e. occasionally he throws in some of the best dance moves that i know he didn't get from me... what a stink bug!

and, no, he can't sit still very long

love

2010-01-27T16:31:00.002-07:00

seriously.... it's true... i love his face! how can you not?

16 Hours

2010-01-17T22:19:00.005-07:00

here is a new look into my currently busy life... so i officially worked my first 16 hour shift (even unaware that it was happening) at my new second or third - who's counting? place of employment. I'm working at Sunrise Academy 3-sometimes 4 - days a week. i still work at backstreet the other three days and now have started open field 3 days a week for softball. so yes, that means i'm working 6 days a week and sometimes 7. it's going okay now that i'm somewhat adjusted - it was hard at first - and although today was a long day it went by pretty fast. i hope that jorel can make the adjustment and forgive his mom for being gone so much :( he really is a great kid! and my sweet family even came and got me at 11pm since my car is in the shop... but that's another story. guess i better get going on my homework - ONLY 5 more weeks and i'll be able to graduate with my MBA!!! and you're all invited to the after party!

OMG Christmas!

2010-01-15T00:03:00.006-07:00

okay, so i know it has been forever that i've had a real update... and i know I'm not the only one who has gone into blogging hibernation, but because i always seem to let my journal-ing go down the drain, i decided to try and not let that happen. really, it doesn't seem like a whole lot of exciting things has happened in the last couple of months, but there has been quite a bit when i think back. it just is going by so fast that i forget! i might need to start doing "in the moment" updates or something so i don't forget :) my memory can't be going at the age of 25! haha. so i guess i'll start with christmas even though thanksgiving was full of great food, it didn't even seem like a holiday with missing family members. most of family came for christmas and it was so good to have every one here! of course i didn't take any pictures because sissy was here and she took care of it so if you're really curious to see some you can go to her blog... oh wait, i do have a couple. heres some of the many many gingerbread cookies that we made and some decor:

jorel got SO spoiled with all the gifts from family and friends - thanks to all of you who got him stuff. aunt naana and unc paul for the clothes and {future} disney trip - YEAH - aunt lala for the cool dump truck that taught him not to climb into trucks that dump, aunt leena and uncle ossi for the coolest tracktor and pull, mummi and papa for the awesome table/chairs and bed, grandpa rick for the gift card - very useful - grandma judy and grandpa tom for the train (which mommy had already bought, but yours was cooler cause it was remote controlled (: ) puzzles, movie, doodle pad, and the list goes on and on.... he sure is loved! here he is enjoying some of those gifts and playing with his good friend, don't they look like little men? it drives me crazy! but so stinkin' cute - and who really needs all those new toys when you've got a laundry basket or two?:

also wanted to show off how super amazing my sister is at what she does!!! these are only a select few out of all of the awesome photos that she took for us for our "holiday" shoot :) - but its late and i couln't get them to load so those will come later (the little card below is an example of one)

trial and error?

2009-12-22T23:49:00.004-07:00

so i went back and forth about sending out christmas cards, and even went as far as making some myself. so once i got the awesome pictures that my sister took of j and i, i couldn't help but put something together - but talk about hard to choose a photo! but sorry to all of you who enjoy cards in the mail, cause you won't be getting one from me. so we just want to say:

goof monster

2009-11-28T12:03:00.002-07:00

he is just getting more and more fun! love it!

bravery

2009-11-28T11:55:00.004-07:00

i think i can handle jorel's sense of bravery because he seems to understand what "be careful" means. we like to go to the park and he loves the ginormous slides! sometimes it scares me a little bit so i stay close, but he loves to do it all by himself. he's getting to be such a little man!

his friend, my friend

2009-11-28T11:23:00.004-07:00

my good friend and i took our kids to pirate island pizza a while ago, and they sure did seem to enjoy themselves. they knew how to play skee ball the right way!

my friend has been in the process of moving for the last couple of months so i went along to grub some 5guys and help them pick out blinds. i kept the kiddos entertained the best i could...

then came the actual moving day - finally! for them - and so i watched his friend while they got moved. he had a cast on his poor little broken leg and he sure is a trooper! we had cars and toy story on while they played their little hearts out and enjoyed a couple of little snacks. jorel and i sure have found some good friends :)

i said i would

2009-11-28T10:51:00.005-07:00

post halloween pictures!!! i know, another month late - but i stole a costume idea from my sister's past halloween and jorel was frankenstein's monster - although it only lasted about 10 minutes... it only cost me maybe $2 so it was appropriate i suppose. we headed to the hills' house for some fun games and great food. thanks guys!

and now a happy thanksgiving!

and then he was...

2009-11-11T23:23:00.006-07:00

2!!!

i know, this happened a month ago, but it needed to be said :) photo courtesy of Jaana www.photographybyjaana.com/blog <---- check it!