Sam and Nikki

Aquarium

2012-01-19T22:02:00.001-07:00

We took the kids to the aquarium this afternoon. Evie didn't seem very interested in looking at the fish, but Jay was running from tank to tank yelling "wooooow!" and "whooooa! Pish!" (Yes, he says "pish" instead of "fish.") Pretty sure he loved it. Unfortunately he moves too quickly from one place to another, so we didn't get many pictures, and somehow didn't get ANY of him with the otters or penguins in view.

In front of the Otter exhibit

Evie hanging out in the wrap

Jay with cousins Reece and Remi

Jay and Reece with the jellyfish

Mother and Daughter

2012-01-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

There is a picture of my mom holding me when I was a baby that has been a favorite of mine for as long as I can remember. It is a beautiful picture. I stumbled across it on my computer earlier today and decided, spur of the moment, to recreate it with me holding Evie. It's not perfect, but I think we did a pretty good job. And I think both of these pictures will be forever dear to my heart.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T17:25:00.000-07:00

We got to spend this Christmas in Arizona with my family and it was so nice to be there and hang out with them! I also got to talk to my brother Jared, who is currently on a mission in Mexico, so that was awesome. I miss him.

We mostly spent our time hanging out, eating, and watching the kids ride around on little cars in the back yard. It was a little hectic, as both of my children were screaming disasters a lot of the time, but it was nice none-the-less. Any vacation is a good vacation, especially when family is involved!

Here are some pictures from the week.

The awesome hat was a Christmas present from Kayla and fam. LOVE IT.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-29T21:57:00.001-07:00

Well, we made our first long trip with the kiddos to Oregon for Thanksgiving this year. We had initially not planned on going but decided last minute to surprise everyone (Thanks Sumo and Dani for keeping quiet). The kids did great on the ride and we had a blast.

Dinner Table

Carter and Gray coloring (Hey Hudson!)

Bentley

Jay loved the car.

Cheezy Taytum (or Timmy as we call her)

Huddy Buddy

Table all lit up and ready to go.

The Bird

The kids all opening Christmas PJs from Grandma & Grandpa

Oh Christmas Tree! The story of getting this thing in the house is now known as 'The Birth of the Tree'.

Evie

Alright chumps, let's do this!

Sunrise on the morning we left.

We had a great time and are truly thankful for our families. Happy Thanksgiving!

She's Here!

2011-10-08T08:06:00.000-06:00

On Thursday, October 6th, 2011, we welcomed our little girl into the world. Weighing in at 7lbs 4oz, 20 inches, she is perfect. Her entire birth story is over on the baby blog. If you don't have access to the baby blog, let us know and we can get you added.

Baby #2 - Make your guess!

2011-10-04T10:32:00.001-06:00

Now that I'm almost 38 weeks along (and feeling like a whale), let's make some guesses about baby #2! Make a comment on this post with your guesses on:

Date she will arrive
Time she will arrive
Weight
Height
And anything else you want to throw in (Will she come out a boy instead of a girl? 6 fingers on one hand? Webbed toes? Hey, anything is possible!)

Good luck!

Baby blog

2011-09-28T22:33:00.001-06:00

Just a heads up - there have been a few updates to our baby blog over the past week or so. Head over to check it out!

Staycation 2011

2011-07-12T12:24:00.000-06:00

We had such a good time in Klamath for our Staycation. We ate a lot of good food, had nice pool time, golfing, crafting, and really enjoyed ourselves. (Warning: lots of pictures)

Jay has now ridden a horse as many times as his mother.

He really thought the horse was cool.

ATV rides are the best!

This is the junk-food table. Sad that we went through 11lb. of gummy bears.

All the kids in their matching 4th of July shirts, getting ready for the parade.

Watching fireworks.

I love Taytum's face in this one.

Jay found a new best friend in his Grandma.

We rode the trolley.

Delicious crab legs for Seafood Night.

Dad playing the guitar.

Remi eating marshmallow. What a mess!

All of the grandkids. This picture will be outdated in October then again in November!

Mr. Cool

Jay loved swimming and loves getting dunked.

The bugs were out in full force, as usual.

Mommy and Jay.

We rode some miniature trains as well. They were great.

The view is always spectacular.

It was a great trip and we're sad that it's over already. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for such a wonderful time, good eats, and lasting memories.

More pics from the trip can be seen here.

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T12:09:00.002-06:00

Sam is really an amazing dad to Jay. They have so much fun together, and Jay absolutely adores his daddy. The smile on Jay's face when Sam walks in the door at the end of the day is priceless. Often Jay and I will wait on the balcony for Sam to get home so Jay can see him get out of the car. And every time, Jay's face lights up as he points to Sam and says, "da!" It melts my heart every time.

Father's Day 2010:

Father's Day 2011:

Happy Father's Day, Sam!

(cross-posted on our baby blog.)

Tuesday Love

2011-06-07T10:23:00.000-06:00

I love Tuesdays. You see, I made up a chore chart for myself to help keep on top of cleaning and laundry. Each day of the week (except Sunday - my day of rest!) I have a handful of jobs I have to do. I have a monthly calendar printed out and each day is filled with my chores for the day, and I check them off as I do them. (Because I love to-do lists. Who doesn't love crossing things out as they get them done??)

One of Tuesday's chores is to wash all linens. While the act of stripping my bed, washing sheets and towels, putting all the towels back, and re-making my bed isn't super enjoyable, there isn't much better than clean sheets and a freshly made bed. Slipping into those clean sheets at the end of the day is magnificent. I am pretty sure I sleep better on Tuesday nights because of the clean sheets.

Don't you just want to climb in?

via

(P.S. That duvet cover is hand made! Some day I will endeavour to make one like it. Love love love.)

A Quote

2011-06-05T18:29:00.000-06:00

I love books. I love reading, But I'm not really one to read classics. I've tried a few and always really disliked them, and generally don't even finish them. But I've been trying. I am currently reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (on my new kindle, anniversary present from my husband, which I love), so I am pushing through it, and this quote popped out at me:

"It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humour."

How true. When I think of the words "infectious" and "contagious" they generally have negative connotations. But laughter is far from negative, and is very infectious.

It was good timing to read that quote, too. Just about an hour ago I told Jay to give daddy a kiss. He walked over to Sam, opened his mouth wide (gotta love the open-mouthed slobbery baby kisses) and right as he got close to Sam's mouth, Jay let out one of the biggest burps I have ever heard.

I fell on the floor crying from laughing so hard.

Memorial Weekend 2011 - Boise, ID

2011-06-01T10:54:00.000-06:00

Sam had Memorial Day off work (yay for paid holidays!) so we decided to head up to Boise for the weekend to spend time with Sam's sister Dani and her family. We always have a blast when we visit. We didn't take too many pictures of our day-to-day activities, so I'm pulling a couple of these pictures from Dani's blog!

Dani and I did some crafting for our girls while the boys watched who knows what on TV. It was fun to finally be able to join in on the girly-crafting stuff. Usually I just sit back and watch! We made some binky clips and hair bows.

And of course I used my time wisely, getting some snuggle time in with our sweet niece, Bentley.

Jay started showing his jealous side. Every once in a while he would have a mini tantrum while I was holding Bentley. So occasionally I'd show her to Jay, and give him some hugs and kisses while I was down there to comfort him. He decided it would be a good idea to snuggle with Bentley, too (possibly the cutest thing he's ever done. And how sweet is Bentley??).

We took Jay on the trampoline, and he thought it was pretty awesome (as did the adults. We were cracking up at him).

On Memorial Day we went to the Field of Honor in Eagle City. 600 flags to honor service men and women! It was really neat, and the kids had fun running around.

Taytum

Carter, Andi, and Taytum

Carter and Andi

Andi

Carter and Jay

Jay wouldn't cooperate for a picture with dad.

Or with mom.

But he was good enough to smile for the family picture. Better than nothing!

After grabbing some lunch, we headed home! Thank you for housing and feeding us, Dani and Jefferson! We had fun!

AZ Trip

2011-05-18T14:43:00.000-06:00

Now that all the fun ultrasound stuff for baby 2 ("baby girl" from here on out, unless we think of a name soon) is done, I can post about the trip Jay and I took to Arizona! I have a bunch of pictures, but mostly just from 2 days, when I met up with some friends who also have March 2010 babies for play dates. Somehow I just never thought to bust out the camera during the rest of my trip! But I do have a few phone pictures, so that will have to suffice.

We got to AZ late Friday night. Saturday morning Jay was up by 5:30 am (6:30 Utah time, so it wasn't that early, but it felt early) and promptly climbed into the toy bin at my sister's house.

He had a blast with all of the new/different toys (and had just as much of a blast with his own toys when we got back home 11 days later).

That morning my sister and I loaded up the kids and went to the park for a little to let the boys play. Somehow I managed to get Jay to keep his hat on for a while, which was awesome because it was hot and he was definitely not used to it!

Jones on left, Jay on right

Saturday was the first playdate. These little boys' names also both start with J, and Kayla came along with Wes and Jones, so we had 4 little boys born within 1 1/2 months of each other all with J names. It was a riot watching them walk around together.

Not easy getting three 14-month-old boys to cooperate for a picture

Jay begging for chips

Our attempt at getting the 3 cousins in a picture together

This was all at Freestone Park in Gilbert. I had my high school senior pictures taken there, but didn't realize what a cool park it is! After the playdate, Kayla and I took our boys over to where the train depot and the carousel and other rides are. Jay loved driving this car and Jones was an excellent passenger.

On Wednesday I took Jay and Wes (Kayla stayed home with a sick Jones) to the Phoenix Children's Museum where we met up with one of the moms from the playdate (unfortunately the other couldn't make it). It was a lot of fun.

The rest of our trip consisted of just hanging out and then passing around the stomach bug to our entire family with the exception of my mom (and somehow Kayla managed to get a cold instead of the stomach bug. Not sure how that happened). So, the end was kind of sad since we were all sick, and Jay and I ended up staying an extra 2 days to avoid flying home while sick. Unfortunately, Sam caught the stomach bug before we even got home! Thankfully it was short-lived for all of us.

Here are a few more phone pictures from the week.

He loved the cat bed (don't worry, the cat doesn't use it)

Haircut!

Just like his mom. If your back is getting tickled, don't move! It might stop!

Loved playing outside

Throwing a tantrum at the airport because I wouldn't let him on the moving walkway

It was really nice to get away for a bit and see my family. It was sad to leave them, but we are glad to be home, too.

Ultrasound video

2011-05-17T18:39:00.002-06:00

Baby 2 is a...

2011-05-17T17:03:00.002-06:00

(cross-posted on our baby blog)

Baby girl!! I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that we are going to have a daughter. We are SO excited. We would have been thrilled with a boy, too, because Jay would have such a blast with a little brother, but we are very happy with a little girl!

I did the same thing with this baby that I did with Jay. Starting at around 11 weeks I was convinced of one gender (the correct gender) and then a day or 2 before the ultrasound I decided I wasn't sure. And the day of, I switched my mind to the other gender. Both times I should have stuck with my original instincts!

We got 4 printed pictures from the ultrasound. She was wiggly, just as I expected, so we didn't get a great profile shot, but it was better than nothing. When we saw between the legs, I immediately thought, "if that is the legs we are looking at, and I'm pretty sure it is, that is definitely a girl!" Then my doctor said, "well, looks like a girl!" He pointed out the 3 "lines" that mean girl instead of boy, then went on to look at the rest of the important things - bladder, heart, kidneys, etc. etc. Everything looks perfect. She is measuring 2 days ahead.

Head on right, facing us, little hands next to body

Another face shot

Baby girl!

And my favorite, the profile (with bonus leg and hand!)

The gender poll results:

And Jay's reaction?

He couldn't care less. :)

We got to record the ultrasound on DVD, so I have that uploading to youtube right now, but it's taking forever. Hopefully it works. If it does, I will post it in another post.

Yay for baby girl!

Oh yeah! And a belly shot from today. Still look fat instead of pregnant.

Internal Battle with Money

2011-04-19T10:02:00.000-06:00

I have a constant internal battle going on. About money. You see, I love having new things. I love having nice things. But I absolutely hate spending money. It's very hard to reconcile with myself. I window shop all the time. I am all about finding good sales and budgeting and spending as little as possible, but that doesn't mean I don't want all the beautiful jewelry I see as I browse online at Zales.com because I got sidetracked by all the pretty sparkly things when all I meant to do was find the nearest location.

Whoops? I really should stop looking, but I can't. It's all too pretty! And shiny! And sparkly!

How pretty is this pendant?

And this one (in Jay's birthstone!)?

And these three rings?

(my birthstone!)

I just can't stop looking. Too pretty.

Baby #2

2011-04-13T20:02:00.000-06:00

We will be welcoming Baby Stewart #2 into the world in October! We are very excited for Jameson to be a big brother.

I made a much larger post and put up a gender poll on our baby blog, so be sure to head over there to check it out and vote! (If you don't have access and would like it, leave a comment here with your email address and I will add you!)

Loving my baby

2011-04-06T10:36:00.000-06:00

You know how sometimes kids just drive you crazy? They hang on you when you're in the kitchen, and grab your book while you're trying to read, and talk loudly while you're trying to watch a movie or TV show, and are just generally in the way? I've realized over the past couple weeks that those things often don't drive me crazy. In fact, I love them.

When I'm in the kitchen cooking or washing dishes, Jay wanders over and latches onto my leg. He'll hang there and pretend to eat my leg, or use my leg (instead of his hand) to do an indian call. Instead of getting frustrated and shooing him away, I stand there and think, "Yay, my baby loves me! How cute is he?" And I'll playfully bump him with my hip, then he laughs and runs away, then runs right back to me to do it again. When I'm reading my book on the couch and Jay comes over to try to take the book from me, I reach out and give him snuggles and kisses, and we often end up rolling around on the floor together because he thinks it's hilarious and I can't get enough of his smiles and laughs. Forget the book. My kid is way more entertaining. And when he's talking and yelling while I'm trying to watch a movie, I can't help but smile and laugh at him because he's so cute, and his "words" are the funniest things I've ever heard.

Of course there are times when he still drives me crazy (Stop getting into the drawer with the tin foil! And no, it's not ok 5 minutes from now either. Or tomorrow. Or ever.) , but I've become a whole lot more lax about a lot of it recently, for what reason I am not sure. I just know I adore my baby. For about 10 minutes this morning he sat in my lap and laid against my chest, and we happily spent the time together, avoiding all other household chores. It was perfect.

And here I am still avoiding household chores even though Jay is napping. Oops. Bad housewife. I guess I'll go sweep the kitchen.

Fashion Blogger (for a day)

2011-03-28T08:13:00.000-06:00

Because I am so awesome *cough cough*, my sister asked me to be a fashion blogger for a day on her blog. The post is up today! Check it out!

Gardening

2011-03-24T10:48:00.000-06:00

I missed the Wednesday Want again. I really stink at this blogging thing.

Now that we are moved and settled in to our new place and summer is right around the corner, I am interested in starting a small garden on our balcony. The problem is that I have no clue what to grow, what is easy to grow, what can fit in a smallish pot/box, etc. etc. Is it too late to start growing things for the spring/summer? Does anyone have any advice on what I can grow? (I feel I should note that I hate tomatoes.) Our balcony faces west, which means it has potential to be in direct sunlight during the afternoon, but I can probably but up a shade of some sort if necessary. I just need ideas!

What happened?

2011-03-17T21:45:00.000-06:00

It's already been over a week since my last post. I had no idea. I completely meant to do another Wednesday Want this week and it slipped my mind. It's been a busy week! Our little boy's birthday was yesterday. He is ONE YEAR OLD. I can hardly believe it. And what a handsome one-year-old he is!

Love that little man.

On a completely unrelated note (because I really have nothing to blog about), I made Cheesy Chicken Pepper Pasta tonight and it was absolutely delicious. Not as cheesy as I expected, but tasty tasty! It would also be delicious with shrimp instead of chicken. It's not super often I find a new, easy, really yummy recipe, so I was thrilled tonight when I tasted this and decided it needs to go into a regular rotation.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We did not celebrate. We never do. Last year we were in the hospital with a 1-day-old baby, and we were given some green soda and a green blanket by the hospital staff. I think that's the most I've ever done for St. Patrick's Day....and all I did was drink the soda. I don't even wear green. Is that lame?

On that note, I am going to read then go to bed, and pray that J-man sleeps through the night again tonight. Fare thee well, blog world.

Wednesday Want

2011-03-09T16:46:00.000-07:00

I don't usually do a Wednesday Want but why not, right? It will at least keep our blog semi-active. And after I saw this doily bowl I couldn't help myself. Love it! (The website is in german. I translated it using Google Translate and it is fairly easy to understand, though I had never heard of Efaplast before. I guess any modeling clay would probably work...)

Via

New place

2011-03-07T19:47:00.000-07:00

We are all moved in! And surprisingly mostly unpacked. We have a few boxes left in our bedroom and one of the other bedrooms still needs to be finished, but other than that, we are good to go!

We love our new place. For those of you who have read my blog for a while, you know we had some really shady neighbors at our previous apartment. Our new neighbor came over the day we moved in and introduced herself and gave us milk because she knew that since we were moving we probably didn't have any. What a nice lady!

Living room, as viewed from the hallway. The door on the left is our front door. The sliding glass door goes to a balcony.

Kitchen, also viewed from hallway. The door is a pantry!!

Hallway. Washer and dryer in closet on right, bathroom on right, 2 bedrooms on left, master bedroom straight ahead.

Bedroom #1, AKA the-one-that's-still-messy.

Bedroom #2, AKA Jay's room.

Bathroom. (Jay got a hold of the toilet paper. Just ignore it.)

Master bedroom with walk-in closet.

Master bathroom.

Not bad, huh? We really like it. We definitely upgraded. An extra bedroom, an extra bathroom, a washer and dryer! and a dishwasher! and a pantry! There are playgrounds, an exercise room, a pool and a hot tub. We are within walking distance of a library. We are only about 2 1/2 miles from Sam's sister and her family. Yeah. I think we'll be happy here.

Cake Smash

2011-03-01T10:26:00.001-07:00

I posted some of these on our baby blog, but since it's private I think a lot of people forget it exists. I will post some of the pictures here for those of you who forgot about the baby blog or don't have access to it. (If we know you and you want access, leave a comment with your email address and we will add you.)

Jameson's first birthday is in 15 days. FIFTEEN. I am going to cry. We did a cake smash photo shoot, because I've always wanted to.

Oh how I love that little boy.

It's Official

2011-02-18T21:27:00.000-07:00

We have a new apartment! We will be moving. Soon. Sam's work is moving up to Salt Lake, so we are moving so his commute to work every day isn't quite as long. The apartment has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms (upgrade!!), and the complex has a pool, a little fitness center, and 2 or 3 playscapes that we can take Jay to. I think it will be perfect for us. We put the application in a while ago but just learned today that we are fully approved and have an apartment reserved for us.

It's a little bit out of the way of everything, and still a longer commute than we originally wanted, but we love the complex and the location is so quiet. We like quiet.

I am a little nervous about starting over. New neighbors. New ward (church). New home to get used to. But it will be good. We are really excited.

Picky Child

2011-02-17T12:36:00.001-07:00

Jameson used to be a champion eater. He'd shovel down whatever I put in front of him and never have any problems. In the past number of weeks, however, suddenly he is very picky. And I am beyond frustrated.

He won't eat bread or toast anymore, unless it's cinnamon raisin. He only eats noodles if they have a sauce of some sort (I have found that a little butter and garlic powder is much cleaner than marinara). He refuses most vegetables, even ones that he used to love (green beans! He now spits them out like they are of the devil).

The possible lactose-intolerance doesn't help. I used to give him cheese and yogurt. Then he started throwing it up. The thought of him throwing it all up again makes me queasy so I refuse to give him dairy for a while.

He does eat fruit like it's going out of style. He will eat a tub of peaches or pears without thinking about it. He'd eat a whole jar of mandarin oranges if I let him. He eats whole kiwis all the time, and would eat an entire apple if I thought it was good for him. Out of all the vegetables I have tried to feed him, he will eat peas, cauliflower and carrots, but only if I force them into his mouth first. Once they are in his mouth he realizes, "oh yeah, I kind of do like that," and will eat the rest. No other veggies.

Oh and he loves scrambled eggs. But he can't exactly have scrambled eggs and fruit at every meal. I don't know what to do with him!

Any advice, suggestions, or sympathy is appreciated!

So in Love...

2011-02-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

...with my two boys. They mean the world to me. Sam is an amazing husband and father, and Jay is the funniest little kid ever. They both bring me so much joy every day.

September 2004 - Possibly one of the very first pictures of us together. I don't recall any taken before this night.

November 2006 - First pictures together after Sam got back from his mission

January 2007 - Pre-engagement engagement pictures

March 26, 2007 - Wedding day

March 16, 2010 - A few short hours before Jameson was born

May 2010 - Jameson's blessing day

And November 2010 - Most recent family picture

I adore these boys and am loving our little family together. Happy Valentines Day!

Professional Photographers

2011-02-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

It is a fairly frequent occasion that I hear someone say they are having professional pictures taken of their child and they come back with prints from Sears or JC Penney. In my opinion, these are not professional pictures. The photographers are not professionals. They are generally minimally trained on the equipment, and that only happens once they are hired. A "professional photographer," in my eyes, is a freelance photographer.

The issue that most people have with freelance photography is the cost. It is a LOT. And the photographers themselves know that. But what the clients don't know is why it costs so much. Heather Lilly recently did some number crunching and made a post on her blog about the breakdown of the money that comes in from a session. Check it out. It is eye-opening.

I need opinions

2011-01-19T15:42:00.000-07:00

It seems like the norm now-a-days is to throw a huge birthday bash for your child's first birthday. The problem is we really don't have many friends in the area, and very limited family (Sam's sister and her hubby and 2 kids). So....we don't really have anyone to invite. Is it really lame to NOT have a 1st birthday party? I'll make Jay a cake to smash and take pictures, but I just have no idea what to do. I feel like we need to do something, but since we don't know anyone that makes things difficult. What would YOU do? (His birthday is eight weeks from today!!! *sob*)

2011 Goal Update

2011-01-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

I am proud to say we are doing fairly well on our list of goals for this year and January isn't even over!

-We went through our closets and cleaned out clothing we don't wear. We took 6 garbage bags full of clothes to DI last week. SIX! I was so proud.
-I've already finished 1 new book and am really excited about the rest in the series, so as long as I can get my hands on them, I will probably finish them quickly.
-I have cooked more healthy meals and the recipe book is in the works.
-We've been doing better with family prayer and scripture study.
-We have decreased some more of our debt and increased some of our on-hand savings.

Since Sam just started working full time our whole monetary situation has changed, so this week I am hoping to work on our budget again to get everything nailed down. It is going to be a little rough figuring things out, but once we get it down it will be amazing to have everything settled and to know exactly where we stand.

Goals for 2011

2011-01-04T13:02:00.001-07:00

I'm not usually one to make resolutions (at least not good ones, and I prefer the term "goals" anyway.), but I want this year to be different. We need goals. So I decided to make a list. A public list. Hopefully that will help us stick with it! And if you happen to have any suggestions on how to stay on track with any of these goals, leave a comment. It would be greatly appreciated.

Nikki:
Cook healthy meals more frequently
-Make a recipe book with favorite healthy recipes for rotation
Keep Jameson's scrapbook updated
Read 25 new books
Consistently exercise
Throw away/donate anything that was not used in the past 6 months

Sam:
Run a 5K
Run a 1/2 marathon
Read 15 books
Learn to play guitar
Clean out clothes closet
Take more pictures/expand photography business

Family:
Weekly Family Home Evening
Attend the temple more frequently
More consistent family prayer and scripture study
Date night at least once per month
Stick to a financial budget
Get out of unnecessary debts
Increase on-hand savings

Christmas Letter

2010-12-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

We didn't send out a Christmas letter this year, and this blog has become all but defunct. I am going to try to revive it and I thought an online Christmas letter (a little late) would be a perfect post to help get things going again.

2010 was the biggest year so far for our little family, and all because of one little boy. Jameson (AKA Jay) made his grand entrance into our lives on March 16 and has changed our lives forever. The first four months of his life were hard with him being a really fussy baby and not sleeping much (the latter has not changed), but he has turned into such a sweet and happy little boy with a huge personality. He started walking full time within the past week, at just under 9 1/2 months old. We have our hands full.

Sam is going into his last few months of schooling for his bachelors in Exercise Science at BYU. He was recently offered a full time job doing technical support for the LDS church, which he has been doing part time since January of 2007. They love him there and want to keep him for as long as possible. Plans for physical therapy school have been put on hold, but we hope to see them resurface in the near future.

As for me, I quit my job at Sewell Direct in February to prepare for and stay home with Jameson and am thrilled with that decision. I absolutely adore being a mother and love that I get to spend so much time with my baby boy. I have been spoiled with multiple long vacations to see family since my biggest obligation can be carted along with me. (Thankfully he generally does better than expected both on planes and on long car rides.) I spend my days smiling and laughing at all the news tricks Jay pulls out.

We are having a grand time as a family of 3 and are excited about the coming year and all the new experiences it will bring.

Snow snow snow

2010-12-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

This is our current view out the windows of Sam's parents' house.

And it just keeps dumping. We might never make it home!

Merry Christmas from Jameson!

2010-12-25T15:16:00.000-07:00

Gap Casting Call

2010-10-11T07:24:00.001-06:00

Alright guys, team up and vote. I know chances are slim of him winning (Um, the top kid has like 23 THOUSAND votes...I think they cheat.) but let's try anyway! You can vote daily. And yes, you have to put in your email address, but you won't get emails from Gap unless you ask for them, so vote away! Because he's pretty cute. :) (And he's even in a GAP shirt. Can it get any better?)

Vote here!

Bandon Golf Trip

2010-10-10T17:54:00.000-06:00

Round-trip plane tickets: $382

Travel golf bag: $100

Meals, snacks, swag, etc.: $$$$

Playing 54 holes of golf on professional courses with your dad and brother: Priceless

I just returned from one of the best vacations and most memorable experiences I have had to date. I was able to spend 3 days on the Oregon Coast golfing with my dad and brother at Bandon Dunes. We had the opportunity to play 3 different courses, all professional and all true links courses.

It was some really incredible golf and so much fun. We had a blast walking the fairways chatting, laughing, and really enjoyed ourselves. We had pretty good weather considering where we were. The wind blew all day, every day. And we're not talking a small breeze -- 30 mph winds with stronger gusts all day. Only had a bit of rain on a few occasions but only for a few minutes. All in all, it was awesome and a great experience - one that won't be forgotten any time soon.

Here are a few pics from the trip. The rest can be seen here.

Random Memory

2010-09-27T22:08:00.000-06:00

This just popped into my head, so I thought I'd share it, and at least Sam's family can get a kick out of it since I'm sure they remember it. You may have had to be there. It was so perfect.

We were on family vacation in Sunriver, OR. Sam's brother-in-law, Jefferson, has a text message tone that is Michael Scott saying, "That's what she said!"

One night Sam's dad gave a fairly serious "lesson" on marriage and working together. He gave us a little quiz on which we graded our efforts in our relationship. During the quiz, Sam's mom said, "These are really hard!"

And that's when Jefferson's text message tone sounded. Talk about good timing.

My Baby Can Dance

2010-09-26T21:50:00.000-06:00

In which J makes a new friend

2010-09-26T19:07:00.000-06:00

Or 2. He loves the baby on the box!

A Sunday Afternoon Walk to the Park

2010-09-12T21:47:00.000-06:00

Oregon Vacation

2010-08-09T12:22:00.000-06:00

Ok, I totally forgot to post pictures from our trip to Oregon. I'll just do a quick overview. :)

We started in Salem for our nephew's (Hudson) baby blessing.

We went on a hike to a waterfall while we were there.
(I thought I had someone take a picture of me and Jay at the waterfall, but I don't remember who....if someone happens to have it, could you send it to me? :) I don't care if it's ugly!)
The girls with all the babies right before the hike:

Then we headed down to Klamath Falls, to Sam's parents' house, for a few days. We spent a lot of time in the pool.

Then we went up to Sun River. We took another hike to a water fall.

We spent some time at a park. (I know, my narrating is so exciting. I apologize - killer headache.)

(Left to right: cousins Jay, Hudson, Remi)

We hung out at the lodge.

And we played games!

Ok, there was a whole lot more we did, but Sam and I slacked at taking pictures, so most of these were emailed to me! It was a really fun vacation and it was so nice to get away for a while. I'll end with a couple family pictures.

Thank you to Paul and Suzanne for an awesome trip!

My Boys

2010-08-05T18:57:00.000-06:00

They pretty much rock.

Reminiscing

2010-07-31T07:42:00.000-06:00

1 week old.

I want another one! (Yeah, I'm not ready. But I want one!)

Ah, Validation

2010-07-24T21:34:00.000-06:00

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/22/AR2007052201554.html

She just neglected to mention lack of sleep because your kid wakes up multiple times every night. The rest is spot-on.

2-Week Vacation

2010-07-19T08:58:00.000-06:00

Jameson and I spent the last 2 weeks in Oregon. Sam came up after 1 week. Talk about a fun vacation! Unfortunately we can't find our point-and-shoot camera, and carrying around a larger/nicer camera isn't really fun/logical all the time, so we don't have that many pictures. But, of course, we have some pictures of our little boy. We had at least 5 people look at Jameson and say, "Look at that baby's hair!" It keeps growing longer and thicker, and yet continues to stick straight up. Our kid rocks.

(I'll get around to posting some of the pictures we did take soon.)

Property Inspection

2010-06-30T11:39:00.000-06:00

We got a memo on our door today from the management company of our apartment. It says we have a property inspection scheduled for tomorrow between 9am and 10am. This is fine and dandy. Then it proceeds to say that if we will not be home, to leave our door unlocked. I'm sorry? Is that even legal to request? I will be home, but if I wasn't going to be, I would most certainly not leave my door unlocked simply because someone posted a note on my door requesting me to.

They got a nice little email from me requesting they consider safety hazards in the future.

Condoms to First Graders

2010-06-24T12:52:00.000-06:00

FIRST GRADERS!!

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20100624ptown_puts_condoms_in_kids_hands_schools_making_them_available_to_everyone_-_even_first-graders/srvc=home&position=also

I have no words.

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-20T10:33:00.000-06:00

To our amazing fathers, and to my husband and my baby's daddy, happy Father's Day! We love you!

Parents

2010-06-18T09:00:00.000-06:00

I took this picture the other day of my parents and love it. Look how happy they are together! Truly it shows the essence of what a happy marriage should be.

How I Know Coke is Better Than Pepsi

2010-06-18T08:51:00.000-06:00

According to a 2009 Zagat survey about fast food restaurants, the top 5 large fast food chains (up to 5,000 locations) and top 5 mega fast food chains (more than 5,000 locations) are as follows, with my note regarding which soda they serve:

Fast Food – Large Chains
Panera Bread – Pepsi
Chipotle – Coca Cola
In-N-Out Burger – Coca Cola
Chick-fil-A – Coca Cola
Au Bon Pain – Pepsi

Fast Food – Mega Chains
Subway – Coca Cola
Wendy's – Coca Cola
McDonald's – Coca Cola
Taco Bell – Pepsi
Burger King – Coca Cola

7 out of 10 serve Coke instead of Pepsi.

Also, my husband's grandpa drank Diet Coke every day. Even in the hospital when he wasn't allowed to drink anything (hip surgery at age 94), they gave him little swabs with Diet Coke on them. He lived til age 96.

I'm just sayin'.

Jay & Jones, plus Welcome Hudson!

2010-06-08T09:34:00.000-06:00

I forgot to include this picture in my Arizona posts, but I love it. Jay and Jones, loving their wubbanubs.

Also, welcome to our new nephew Hudson, born June 2nd! Congrats Ben and Sharon. He's a cutie and we can't wait to meet him.

Happy Anniversary! (little late)

2010-06-07T22:18:00.001-06:00

Nikki is making me do this post....I apologize in advance.

On May 26th we celebrated our 3rd year of marriage. Crazy how fast time flies. This July it will be 6 years since we met. So much has happened in 3 years of our marriage but I'm grateful we've made it this far and that she has put up with me for so long. :)

I got off work early so we could have some extra time together. We ran a few errands once I got home then my friend Morgan came and watched Jameson for us for the remainder of the evening.

We hit a matinée showing of Iron Man 2. It was a good film and we both enjoyed it. It wasn't nearly as good as the first but it was still good. After the movie we went to Chili's for dinner. It was nice to be out together and not worry about having to get Jay home for bed or feeding him, though it was a little odd not having him around. What was life like without him??

After dinner we ran to a few other places, the grocery store, then made it home. Jameson was good for Morgan and we were happy to see him again. It's a strange feeling being away from your kid, especially for Nikki who is with him every minute of every day.

It was a good anniversary together and we're both glad we got through another year and so happy that we have a new addition in the family. Hopefully Nikki can put up with my crazy antics for a few more years. I know she's hoping that said antics don't rub off on Jay.

Nikki, I love you. You are my everything and I would be lost without you. You guide me, inspire me to be a better man, and you are easily the hottest, sexiest woman on the planet.

I had to say that last part because I know that she'll hate it :)

Waking Up Angry

2010-06-07T08:18:00.000-06:00

Do you ever have dreams where your significant other does something that really upsets you, and then you wake up completely angry with him? That was last night. We were at the mall and Sam walked right up to this girl (my personal trainer. apparently I dream big) and kissed her. Right in front of me! He looked at me like, "whoops," but the damage had been done. I was so mad. I told him we were done, and as I gathered up my stuff, this girl asked Sam for another kiss. He refused twice, then gave in and kissed her again. I grabbed Jameson and stormed out of the mall.

So glad I realized that wasn't real before I actually saw Sam this morning. I hate those dreams.

More Arizona Pictures

2010-06-03T10:32:00.000-06:00

Ok, a little delayed (maybe a lot) but I have more pictures from our trip to AZ!

5 weeks apart

All 3 cousins (Jay, Jones, and Wes)

Arizona Weekend

2010-05-17T22:49:00.002-06:00

We went down to Arizona this past weekend for Jones' blessing. We didn't take near enough pictures. I've really only got 2 to post.

Jay had his first dip in the water (other than the bathtub). I didn't get any smiles out of him, but he was perfectly content to just sit there in the water with me.

And Aaron took some family pictures for everyone. Sam snapped a couple of Grandma with the grandbabies at the same time.

(grandbabies left to right: Jones, Jameson, Wes) (and I just noticed you can see the umbrella on the right side of the picture. I should crop it, but I'm lazy, so you'll just have to deal with it.)

I will be asking my family for copies of pictures they took, so there may be more to come. Eventually.

Oh my...

2010-05-12T17:24:00.000-06:00

These girls are super talented, but what are we teaching them? So sad. Welcome to heaven, pedophiles.

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

2010-05-07T09:37:00.002-06:00

Oh my. It's mean to tempt me. How delicious does this look?

http://annies-eats.com/2010/05/07/triple-chocolate-mousse-cake/

Neglect

2010-05-06T16:45:00.000-06:00

I have pretty much been neglecting this blog since Jameson was born. It's funny how suddenly my entire life revolves around this tiny little person. All I do every day is take care of him, so it seems I have nothing else to write about. So I thought I would just share a couple things.

I am loving the jewelry here. The orchids and lotus flowers and leaves...so so pretty. Now if only I had a little spending money.

I am dying to make this but I need a substitute for rum...and I don't have an ice cream maker to freeze it in. Anyone have suggestions for either of those?

I am planning on starting P90X soon. I just need our cranky baby to cooperate and sleep longer than 20 minutes at a time somewhere other than my arms.

That's really all I've got. So exciting, no?

Tired Mommy Moment

2010-04-28T21:45:00.000-06:00

We give Jameson Prevacid for reflux. It comes in chewable tablets so we crush it up and give it to him in a syringe with some water. After I gave him his dose tonight, I realized there was still quite a bit of residue from the pill left in the syringe. I didn't want to get up to get more water, and I had his bottle sitting right next to me, so I just decided to suck some milk up into the syringe from the bottle...

I ended up dropping the syringe into the bottle and I couldn't get it back out.

Whoops.

(Sam got it out for me while Jay just stared at me like "Where's my milk, woman?")

Jones Moncur

2010-04-22T11:24:00.002-06:00

Jameson has a(nother) new cousin! My sister's little boy, Jones, was born 2 days ago.

Welcome to the world, Jones! We can't wait to meet you!
(Birth story on my sister's blog here.)

Rat...Still

2010-04-19T17:51:00.002-06:00

Remember way back in June when I posted about our crazy little neighbor boy losing his rat outside our apartment complex? Those neighbors moved out over 6 months ago. I saw the rat today. Well, its shadow anyway. Through our window.

I hate rats.

Ugh.

Baby Blog

2010-04-01T09:09:00.002-06:00

The baby blog is now private due to an outpouring of comments from people I don't know judging us for a decision we made. If you'd like access (and I know who are you), leave a comment with your email address.

Lester the Molester

2010-03-26T13:05:00.000-06:00

So today at work I ran into my friend Jed. We've worked together for a while but I hadn't seen him in a couple weeks.

Anyways, he is growing this really awesomely-disgusting Lester the Molester mustache. It's creepy and gross and really neat all at the same time. So when I saw him, our conversation went a little something like this:

"Hey Jed! I like your mustache!"

"Hey Sam! I like your kid!"

Seeing as how he had this sick mustache and looked like he should have a Chevy van parked outside with limo tint and we just had our baby last week, it was kind of scary. He decided that he probably shouldn't be saying things like "I like your kid" while having that mustache....

Welcome, Baby Jay!

2010-03-18T00:28:00.003-06:00

Jameson arrived on March 16, 2010, at 11:43 AM. 8lbs 1oz and 20 inches. We are so in love with our baby boy. Full birth story and other details here.

Fail

2010-02-15T18:16:00.003-07:00

On my first official day off work, I totally failed at everything.

Our toilet has been having problems for a little while now (handle getting stuck down so it would run constantly, randomly overflowing and then proceeding to flush just fine). Management sent a handy man out to fix it last week. He fixed the handle and adjusted the water level and since then it's been working fine, until today when it filled up with water almost to the point of overflowing, then only flushed 1/2 of the water away. Awesome.

Our plunger sucks. It doesn't do anything because it doesn't actually plunge like it should. Sam and I share a car, and he was at work with it, so I couldn't really go out to buy a new plunger. I walked to the nearest store, a Family Dollar. They had no plungers, so I walked home. (At 8 months pregnant, that was actually quite a feat for me. Plus there was a really awesome rain/snow mix coming down.)

I started making a sauce for some pasta for dinner while waiting for Sam to get home and the sauce turned out nasty, which I'm sure was completely my fault and not the recipe. I threw out the sauce and just poured some alfredo sauce over the pasta instead, only to realize there wasn't actually enough alfredo sauce for that amount of pasta. So our dinner was bland.

Once Sam got home, we bought a new plunger and tried it, and it's an awesome plunger, but the toilet was still doing the same thing. So I called management to have them send someone over to see if something else was the problem. A handy man is on his way over. Sam decided to try to flush again, and magically it works.

Go figure. Now I'm going to feel like an idiot when the handyman shows up.

This was not the way I planned on spending my first day off of work.

EDIT: I'm not crazy. We had the handy-man look at the toilet anyway and he came out of the bathroom saying our toilet basically sucks because it's really old and the flapper doesn't work very well and he's going to put in an invoice to management to replace all the stuff inside the tank. I knew something wasn't right.

Officially Done

2010-02-13T10:30:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was my last day of work for what we are hoping is a very long time.

What a weird feeling.

Jameson can come any time now. :)

Happy (Day Before) Valentines Day!

2010-02-13T10:18:00.003-07:00

While I was still asleep this morning, Sam told me he was going out to take some pictures. This isn't an abnormal thing since he started his 365 project so I thought nothing of it. When I got out of bed a little later, these were waiting for me, along with a big bag of chocolate covered gummy bears (my favorite):

I have an awesome husband.

How I Plan to Lose the Baby Weight

2010-02-05T08:47:00.003-07:00

I am 85% sure my motivation to lose weight will decrease significantly once I am taking care of a newborn, so I figure it's probably a good idea to have a plan on how to lose this baby weight once Jay is here. I started thinking of the best/most enjoyable ways for me to burn some calories and get back in shape. Here's what I've got so far:

1. Dance while cleaning. (This is totally going to be me when I'm home alone with baby.)
2. Wear ankle weights a lot.
3. Walking. (Maybe, eventually, running.)
4. Tennis.

The one thing I really wish we had access to is a pool. I would love to be able to just do a few laps or some water aerobics. Alas, we are not so fortunate. Tennis and dancing, however, are also very enjoyable. And they burn a lot of calories. Now I just have to wait and see how I feel after Jameson arrives.

How to Get Water Spots Out of Micro Fiber

2010-02-04T19:42:00.003-07:00

Our kitchen chairs have microfiber seats. A while ago I tried to wipe something off of one with a wet rag. Bad idea. We've had a huge water spot on that seat ever since. Then, tonight, Sam spilled his soda on our microfiber couch and tried to clean it by spraying it with some spot shot. I thought it would be fine since we got some stain resistant thing put on the couches. I was wrong. Big water spot.

So I turned to one of my best friends: Google. I found this forum where a guy who owns a furniture store gave his recommendation. Baby wipes and a blow dryer.

It works miracles!

We used a baby wipe to dampen the area, then used a dry rag to scrub vigorously while blowdrying. The water spots disappeared immediately. It was awesome. So, if you have any water spots on your precious micro fiber furniture, try the baby wipe/blowdryer trick. It is amazing.

Ebates & Diapers.com

2010-02-01T12:05:00.002-07:00

I've already told a couple people about this but I feel like I just got a killer deal so I wanted to share so anyone else who needs diapers or pregnancy stuff or baby stuff can also partake in the awesomeness. (I am not doing this just so I can get referral bonuses. I really think we got a good deal and want others to as well.)

First - sign up for ebates. I've heard this from multiple people lately, and I did sign up a while ago but today was the first time I actually used it. Seriously. Sign up. (If you feel like being nice you can say nlstewart2(at)gmail(dot)com referred you so I get a little bonus. :) )

Ebates offers 1-4% cash back on diapers.com, plus they have useful promo codes.

I've heard multiple times that Pampers Swaddlers are the best diapers for newborns, so I decided to get some from diapers.com (thanks to my sister who introduced me to the site). They have a pretty good price on an 84-count pack of newborn Pampers Swaddlers. Shipping is free if the order is over $49, so I decided to look around a little bit. I found a breast pump for $34.99 with really good reviews so I got that. Ebates had a promo code for 10% off non-diaper or formula purchases, so I used that which brought the price down to $31.49. Then I used a $10 promo code, also from ebates, for a pack of the diapers. (You can also use promo code NLST3983, which is a code for $10 off which I got to refer others.) The free shipping policy applies before the $10 off, so we qualified for free shipping without having to spend the $49.

Total order was $42.48, which means I got the diapers for about 13 cents per diaper (compare to Walmarts 25 cents per diaper for the same kind). Even if I say we split the $10 off between the pump and the diapers, I still got the diapers for 19 cents a piece. PLUS we'll get a little cash back through ebates.

My sister bought 3 packs of newborn diapers so she could get the free shipping (and you can never have too many diapers). With a $10 off promo code she found, she spent around 21 cents per diaper. A whole lot cheaper than Walmart!

New Years Resolutions Updates

2010-01-31T11:39:00.002-07:00

Since it's the last day of January, I figured it was a good time to give an update on how I'm doing on my New Years Resolutions.

1. Cook more often. I've actually done fairly well at this, though not as well as I'd like. I still feel like I just don't have enough time after I get home from work to cook a good dinner. I am planning to cook a lot more once I am done working (in 2 weeks!)

2. Keep the house clean. I've been doing a lot better than I was before. I used to look at things and say, "I should probably clean that...." then put it off until I forgot about it. Now I clean it right away (in most cases). The one thing I've been really proud of is the dishes. We used to wait to wash the dishes (we have no dishwasher) until our sink was too full to fit any more dishes. It's a rare occasion now for any dirty dishes to be in our sink. I clean them right after we use them, and it's awesome.

3. Lose the baby weight. Obviously can't really do this one yet, since I am still pregnant, but I did have another dream that baby Jay was here. Again, I didn't actually go through the labor part. He just appeared, and the plan was to stick him back in my belly so I could give birth to him. I begged the doctor to just let me keep him out because I wanted him right then. He was so cute. Spiky blonde hair, light blue eyes, and a little button nose. I have to wonder if he'll look anything like he did in my dream. We're getting so close!

Preggo Dreams

2010-01-29T10:29:00.002-07:00

I know this is baby-related, but I'm posting it here instead of on the baby blog anyway because this blog needs some love.

Last night I had a dream that I went to the hospital to pre-register (which I didn't even know we should do until yesterday, so it makes sense that I dreamed about it), but I showed up at the hospital to fill out the forms with my baby already in his car seat. I didn't ever give birth to him at all. He was just...there. Already in the world and doing great. My mom was with me and she brought up the point that we really didn't need to pre-register because I wouldn't be going to the hospital to deliver. They couldn't stick the baby back inside me just so I could deliver him like normal (though I had thought that must be an option, because I hadn't delivered him yet, and I wanted to).

It was a very confusing dream. I couldn't figure out what to tell the nurses at the hospital because really, I hadn't delivered my baby, and yet somehow there Jameson was, strapped in his car seat. Then I put my hand on my belly and felt a bunch of movement and realized there was still a baby inside my belly, so I needed to pre-register anyway.

Talk about weird. Now, I've never been a believer that dreams actually mean something. However, in this case, I'd like to believe that it means I'll have such an easy delivery that I won't even feel like anything happened! (I know. Wishful thinking, right?) And I'm hoping it does not mean that I will get pregnant again right away.

I'm still a little confused by the whole thing. My baby must be magic.

Food Love

2010-01-22T12:02:00.003-07:00

I love food. I always have. That, I think, was the main reason for me gaining a bunch of weight when I first moved up to college, and then even more once I got married. And learning to cut back on food was what helped me lose a lot of that weight again. I still have a problem, though, because food is just too yummy. So, when I eat well, I'm always really proud of myself.

Today's meals thus far have been awesome.

Breakfast: Multi-grain cheerios and a banana
Lunch: Yogurt with granola and an orange
For snacks later today while still at work I have an apple and some apple sauce if I want it.

And that makes me feel good. (We'll just pretend I didn't eat that Twix for my morning snack.)

Work Calendar

2010-01-14T11:58:00.001-07:00

So close...

Happy 2010!

2010-01-01T11:53:00.002-07:00

It's rare that I make any New Year's resolutions, but this morning a few things have crossed my mind, and seeing that it's the 1st of the new year, I figure what better thing to do than make them my resolutions for the year.

1. Cook more often - I have never been a good cook, and it isn't something I enjoy. I hate making a mess, I hate how long it takes, and I hate when it doesn't turn out like I want it to. I do feel bad, however, that Sam and I are always at a loss when it comes to dinner time. We eat out way more often than we should, and when we don't, our meals are really just not that great. This year I want to actually have recipes planned for the week and cook them.

2. Keep the house clean - Living in a small apartment with not much storage space has been difficult and I find myself just throwing things in random places, rather than actually putting things away. Also, the deep cleaning has happened like once per year when it really should happen way more often.

3. Lose the baby weight - Ever since starting to gain weight with this pregnancy, I have been super motivated to lose it again after the little guy is here. I know that will probably change when I'm tired and trying to take care of a newborn, but I really would like to be back down to my pre-pregnancy weight (hopefully lower!) by the end of the year. I should have plenty of months to accomplish that.

Considering I don't typically make resolutions, I think those are 3 pretty good ones to have this year.

Happy 2010!

Illness

2009-12-13T10:08:00.002-07:00

We can't seem to get away from sickness. Sam had what seemed like the flu, then I got swine flu, then I had a cold, now Sam has food poisoning.

Not a great winter in the Stewart household.

Brrr...

2009-12-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

It's a bit frigid outside today.

So Tired

2009-12-06T12:09:00.005-07:00

We got home from our wonderful Thanksgiving vacation last Sunday evening. Monday went by without flaw, then I woke up Tuesday morning with a really sore throat and a stuffy nose. Despite having been gone from work the full previous week because of Thanksgiving, I decided it was probably best not to go in to work, in case I was coming down with something. During the day it seemed to go away, then the evening came and I spent all night tossing and turning, blowing my nose, sucking on cough drops, trying to breathe in as much of the steam from our humidifier as possible.

Wednesday morning I felt better, so I went to work. Wednesday night it hit again. That's been the story throughout the entire week. During the day I am mostly fine, except for a slight stuffy nose which really doesn't cause a problem. The evening is the complete opposite. I cough, I can't breathe, my throat is raw, and thus I cannot sleep. I swear I've gotten NO sleep this past week. Last night was the worst, and unfortunately now it is lasting into the day (it's just after noon, and I still can't breathe through my nose).

After another sleepless night, I got out of bed this morning to start getting ready for church. Sam asked me what I was doing. Clearly with my constant sniffling and almost non-existent voice I was not well enough to go to church. Then I basically started coughing up a lung while trying to explain to him that I wanted to go.

He didn't let me go. Probably a good thing. I'm going to blame the pregnancy for my immune system being so bad right now. I'm so sick of being sick!

There is a first time for everything

2009-12-05T14:38:00.001-07:00

Today, for the first time ever, i went out in public with my hair down after air drying! This is i big step for me. I think i figured out the secret: major thinning mixed with brushing before washing out the conditioner and then not touching my hair after that. Oh beautiful day.

Sleep-Learning

2009-12-05T08:47:00.002-07:00

If I could learn stuff in my dreams, I'd be a pro at driving stick shift by now.

The Smiling Tree

2009-12-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

I walk past this tree almost every day, and i always hear tons of birds chirping away as i get closer. They stop making all noise as i walk by, but i can still see the small chubby birds sitting on all the branches. They start singing again as soon is i pass. For some reason it makes me smile.

Thanksgiving!

2009-11-30T20:37:00.007-07:00

Thanksgiving was a blast, and we're so sad it's over. I headed up to Oregon to hang out with some of Sam's family on the Saturday before Thanksgiving (that's where the 7 hour layover in Portland came into play). All the girls spent Saturday through Monday just having girly time and doing all sorts of fun crafts. (All pictures taken with a point-and-shoot...sometimes taking out a big nice camera is just too much of a pain!)

Monday night was my surprise baby shower! Having just had a weekend full of girl time, I thought it was a little strange when all the girls proposed having a "girls' night" on Monday night, just going out for a late night dinner after the kids were asleep. I was clueless, though. We showed up at the restaurant and surprise! There were some balloons and a pile of gifts waiting for me and baby boy. :)

After my shower, we headed back to the house, and had a surprise baby shower for Sam's sister, Summer! She's due in March, too! (Back left)

Sam and the other husbands showed up on Tuesday and Wednesday. We played pool, Donkey Konga (which is really fun, might I add), and bingo. We picked out fabric for the crib bedding, which Sam's mom is so kindly making for us! (You'll have to wait until it's finished for a pictures. It's going to be so so cute!! Thank you, Suzanne!) We ate a ton. We had a Christmas gift exchange. We decorated the massive Christmas tree (I want to say it's 15 ft tall...not positive on that, but it's very large), and we went out into the mountains and snow to cut down a smaller tree for the basement.

It was a blast and we're really sad we had to leave! Thanks a ton to Paul and Suzanne for everything!

(You can see a few more [mostly family] pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/StewartSJ3/Thanksgiving2009#)

Portland airport

2009-11-21T15:15:00.001-07:00

I'm about 4 and a half hours into a 7 hour layover in Portland. The carpet here is hideous.

Sharks Territory

2009-11-17T08:32:00.003-07:00

On the way to work today Sam and I saw a car with a California license plate. The license plate frame said "This is Sharks Territory."

My first thought was San Jose Sharks. Ya know, the hockey team. Reminded me of my dad's turquoise and black jacket that I used to steal sometimes when I was little.

Sam's response? Snapping his fingers and whistling West Side Story tunes.

Oh the differences in how we were raised.

How To Get a Job

2009-11-11T12:43:00.003-07:00

(This ended up being really long, but it was fun to write! And if you're looking for a job, it could be really helpful. If you don't want to read this, you may want to read the interview examples at the bottom anyway. They are entertaining at least.)

Being involved in the hiring process at my work has given me some really good insights into what gets people into interviews and ultimately into the job. I am constantly amazed at some of the things people say or do when it comes to applying for jobs. And not in a good way. So I decided to make a list of a few things that people can do to get a much better chance at landing that job they want.

1. Read the ad.
This sounds like it would be obvious, but apparently it isn't. A few things to look out for:
A. What are the instructions for applying? If they say, "Include a cover letter," include a cover letter! If they tell you to write what position you are applying for in the subject line of your email, do so! (And even if they don't tell you to do that, specify what position it is anyway, otherwise your resume will most likely get overlooked.) If they say to explain why you think you would be a good fit, explain!
B. Is the company looking for full time or part time? If the ad says they are looking for someone to work part time, tell them you are looking for part time. If the ad says full time, say you are looking for full time. Even if you aren't! Why? If you say you want full time when the employer wants a part time employee, they will assume that you are only looking at their job as a temporary thing until you can find a full time job, and that is a major drawback. If you say you are looking for part time when the company wants full time, they simply won't hire you.
C. Does the ad specify wages, hours, responsibilites, etc? Then don't ask! If you ask the employer a question that is answered in the ad, they will assume you cannot read or follow instructions and thus will not hire you.

2. Proof read your resume, cover letter, and email. A lot. Employers will notice if there is a typo, a grammatical error, a change in tense, etc. Customize your resume to the position you are applying for. And do not save your resume in a format that someone using another computer may not be able to open. If the employer can't open your resume, they will not probably not ask for another one, and thus you will not get the job. Be brief. Your resume should not have complete sentences or paragraphs. If your resume, cover letter, and/or email are long, the employer will get bored reading it and will not bother to find out if you are qualified for the job. And do not leave your email blank! Include a short message specifying the position you are applying for and where you heard about it.

3. Research the company. You should know exactly what the company does before you go in for an interview. Check out their website if they have one. If they don't, call their main desk and ask a couple questions before going in for an interview. If you don't know anything about the company, the employer will assume you aren't very interested in it and will be much less likely to bring you on to their team.

4. Have questions ready for the interview. Employers will almost always ask if you have any questions. Have some good questions ready to ask! Ask something about the company that maybe you couldn't figure out from their website. Ask why your interviewer likes working for the company. Think of at least 3 good questions before going in for the interview. Do not ask about dress code (you can ask that if you get the job), wages (you sound desperate), potential for moving up in the company (again, desperate), raises (do I need to say it again?), etc.

5. Be presentable. Wear nice clothes to your interview. Shake hands with people you meet. Smile. Listen to the interviewer (do not interrupt) and answer the questions in a way that will make you sound like a good employee.

There is so much more I could say, but I think that covers the basics. I wanted to give a few examples of what not to do in interviews (all from experience with interviewing potential employees) before this gets too ridiculously long.

Example 1-
Question: What motivates you to work hard?
Answer: Constant work. If I am given one project for a day and am told I need to finish by 5, but I know I can finish it by 1, I'll drag it out until 5 o'clock just so I have something to do.
(Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. No employer wants to hear that you'll dawdle on your projects just to pass the time instead of looking for new things to do.)

Example 2-
Question: We typically ask for a 1 year commitment. Is that something you can do?
Answer: Well....no. I'm looking for a career.
(Clearly not serious about the job. That interview was over before it began.)

Example 3-
Question: What do you know about our company?
Answer: Oh I didn't get a chance to check your site.
(At least ask questions, instead of just blowing it off.)

Example 4-
Question: Can you give me an example of a time you have had to multi-task?
Answer: Just this morning I was doing dishes while ironing my shirt. I'd put a dish in the dishwasher, iron a sleeve, put another dish in, iron the other sleeve...
(I don't think I'd consider this multi-tasking. And if I did, it has zero relevance to the job. Come up with answers that relate to the position you're applying for.)

Example 5 (from a co-workers experience interviewing)-
Question: Here are a bunch of different types of cables. Take a look at them and see if you can name them.
Answer: .................I'm a girl!
(Thank you for that fascinating piece of information. You could be a horse for all I care. Try to name the cables anyway.)

Whew. Did we all have fun?

Haircut Suggestions Needed!

2009-11-08T21:07:00.004-07:00

Ok, I desperately need a haircut, but can NOT decide what to do. My hair is very difficult, you see, and I have no idea what would look cute on me. I'm hoping you guys can help!

A little hair background:
Thick thick thick
Very fluffy (not the good kind), straight/wavy/curly depending on what section of my head you're looking at. You name it, I've got it.
Current length is 3-4 inches below my shoulders

I want to keep my hair shoulder length or longer to make it easy to pull back. Ya know, I'll be having a kid in the somewhat near future and won't always have time to do my hair. Ponytails and buns are lifesavers. Going curly every day is out of the question because my hair won't do that anymore thanks to the few sections of stick-straight-and-won't-do-anything hair. Going straight absolutely requires at least 25 minutes with a straightening iron (after 10-15 minutes of blow drying).

Is there anything I can do that doesn't require spending 30+ minutes in the morning to look good?! I'm so lost. (I've also tried this beachy waves look and all I got was fluffy fluffy fluffy, as is typical when I try to just do the wavy look. So that's a no-go as well. Awesome.)

(I do realize I just ruled out basically every possible hairstyle, but maybe one of you is a genius and can help me anyway...? I'm hoping.)

Our Baby Boy

2009-10-28T19:06:00.001-06:00

We're expecting a little boy!

Women and Abortion

2009-10-20T16:49:00.002-06:00

This isn't meant to be a controversial post, so I apologize if it is.

Earlier today I was doing some Google searches to see if being able to feel your own heartbeat in your stomach while you're pregnant is normal (it is normal, sometimes even when you aren't pregnant). I came across a Yahoo answers link that led to a question by a 12 year old girl, in which she said she has been feeling a heartbeat in her stomach lately. She just had her period 3 weeks ago and has never had sex, but could she be pregnant??! Clearly the heartbeat she's feeling must be a baby's heartbeat, right?

A few people responded to the question. The first answer was something like, "Well since you just had your period 3 weeks ago you probably aren't pregnant."

Another answer was, "You're probably just feeling your own heartbeat. I'm pregnant and I feel my own heartbeat in my stomach all the time."

Only one person was smart enough to say "You've never had sex. You aren't pregnant." Why did no one else come to that conclusion? That was certainly my first response.

That got me to thinking - how often do girls go into abortion clinics to get abortions only to have the doctor there say, "um...you aren't pregnant." So I did a bit more Google searching and came across this site: http://www.womantowomansupport.net

On that page it says, "Some women are not pregnant, but abortion clinics have been known to perform abortions on them anyway."

.........Why are women going to abortion clinics before they even know for sure they are pregnant? Am I missing something? I can understand wanting to know earlier than a home pregnancy test would tell you, but GO TO A DOCTOR, not an abortion clinic. Obviously there is a conflict of interest there.

I'm so confused.

Letter to our house guests

2009-10-05T22:45:00.001-06:00

Dear spiders,

Please vacate our home immediately. You are not welcome here. If you continue your residency here, i will find you and smash you. And then flush you down the toilet. That is a promise.

Sincerely,

Woman with a plethora of men's size 13 shoes with which to smash you (courtesy of a tall husband)

Fall Wreath

2009-10-03T13:32:00.004-06:00

Finally made my fall wreath today! I thought about putting fall-colored flowers on, but both Sam and I like the pretty leaves, and I love the little ball things (see picture 2. What on earth are they called?) so I stuck with that.

Sorry, no straight-on picture...there is a big cement wall right in front of our door that sort of prevents me from getting far enough back to get a picture like that.

Neighbors Update

2009-09-30T15:34:00.008-06:00

I never really followed up on our last post about our neighbors. They did come back, after probably only like 30 minutes. Disappointing. (My guess is they gathered their drugs or whatever they had and stashed them somewhere else in case the police came back with a warrant.)

It's been pretty uneventful since then. No more visits from police, no more weird stuff going on.

Until today, when Sam came home and found this note, which the wind had blown off their door (and which he so kindly put back on their door):

In case you can't read it, it says: "You have been notified previously that the lease has been terminated due to illegal acitivties in the home. Orem City has required that we evict you from the premises. If you fail to provide documentation that Orem City will allow you to stay on the premises, then you must vacate the premises."

The conditions below say that if they aren't out in 3 days, legal proceedings will be instituted and the tenant will be held liable for three times the amount of damages assessed by the court for unlawful detainer, including damage to premises, court costs, and attorney fees.

Ouch.

Sayonara!

Gender Poll

2009-09-22T13:13:00.001-06:00

I posted a gender poll on our baby blog. Go vote!

Neighbors.....again

2009-09-11T21:27:00.004-06:00

Our property managers really should take a good look at the type of people they keep putting in these apartments.

This story is about our brand new neighbors (who are always up until 5 AM singing and running around. This is not about the multiple old neighbors who have all been evicted already).

Police show up tonight, banging loudly on our upstair's neighbors' front door, yelling "PROBATION!" That makes Sam and I stop and listen. After much knocking and banging, they try the back door. Still no answer. We know the people are home, because we heard them walking around (darn creaky floors) right before the police showed up.

Sam decided to go outside to see what was going on. He came back in within a few seconds to get the phone number for our property manager. We both went back outside, the police thanked us for the number, and then asked if we knew if our neighbors were home. We said they were, because we heard them walking around not all that long ago. As we were walking back inside, I heard a small part of the conversation between the two police:

Police1: Do you want to handle it or do you want me to?
Police2: I can, but we don't even have a warrant yet.

Now I'm really curious. Probation? Warrant? What sort of people are these neighbors of ours? A couple minutes after the police left, we heard tons of movement upstairs again. It was like a mad dash of a bunch of people. I said to Sam, "Sounds like they are gathering stuff to leave..."

A couple minutes later, 2 cars from our parking lot were driving away.

I won't complain if they don't come back.

Vent

2009-09-11T09:09:00.002-06:00

I need to vent about stupid customers. I know, I really shouldn't, but honestly people should not feel so entitled to everything for no reason at all.

This past weekend was a holiday weekend. That means FedEx, UPS, US Postal Service, etc ALL took an extra day off. No shipping or moving of packages on Monday. Sorry, people, but they take holidays, too.

The past couple days we have received a ton of irate emails from customers who are complaining because "I placed my order a week ago!! Where is my package??!" These are people who live on the east coast. We are shipping from Utah. Over a holiday weekend. AND THE CUSTOMERS GOT FREE SHIPPING. For free shipping across the country, why on earth would they possibly have their package within 1 week, of which three of those days were non-business days? I just don't understand why they think it's been such an extremely long time that we deserve to be yelled at for it. We shipped their packages the day they ordered. What else do they want?

This is an email from a customer today:

It would be greatly appreciated if you can tell me
the status of my order WHICH I PLACED 4 DAYS AGO.

Oh yes. All caps. They went there. Clearly 4 days is an absurdly long amount of time for a package to go across the country.

Also, 4 days ago was a holiday.

It's a Wonderful Life

2009-09-03T21:06:00.005-06:00

Have you ever seen the movie It's a Wonderful Life? I actually don't think I have, but I've heard this quote from it multiple times in the past, and I just adore it:

Clarence: "Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives."

Our lives are about to be touched by another, come March 2010. We're in love already.

New Ride

2009-08-31T18:38:00.003-06:00

We got a new car! Before you go thinking "with what money?" let me explain - we now have one car only. And we'll be saving around $200 every month in car related expenses! Plus we now have a new/longer warranty, no old car that will require spending money on fixing it up, better gas mileage (way better!), and starting out with new equity instead of being way down in the negative. Plus, it's really nice. 2009 Mazda 6, brand new. Very sleek!

(The trunk is huge.)

The only problem?

I don't know how to drive stick!

Summer Vacations

2009-08-19T13:27:00.006-06:00

Alright, I've put it off long enough. I stink at blogging lately, I know. I'm sorry. I'm busy!

It's been a really fun summer. In July, as per yearly Stewart tradition, we spent a week up in Sunriver, Oregon with Sam's family. It was a really nice vacation, full of bike riding, crafting, swimming, eating, playing at the park, and just hanging out.

I'm pretty sure everyone had a sore bum by the end of the trip because of all the bike riding we did! All the girls did glitter toes. Twice! The boys played lots of Mario Kart on the Wii. (Ok, and I joined in sometimes - it's fun!) Sam and I hiked to Benham Falls last year for fun. It's just a short 1/2 mile hike. Everyone took the hike this year. It's beautiful, despite all the mosquitos.

We also went to Rhythm on the Range, which is a weekly event on the golf course with music, food and fun. The kids always love dancing around to the music.

Thank you to Paul and Suzanne for a great vacation!

This past Thursday we flew down to Phoenix and then drove from there to beautiful San Diego for a vacation with my family. (It's awesome having 2 families who both do family vacations every year.)

We spent a day at the beach (pictured below: my dad and nephew). The water was freezing, but it was really nice to just lay out on the beach. I'm pretty sure all of the girls fell asleep for a bit.

We also spent a day at Seaworld. It's amazing how they can train the dolphins and whales to do tricks on demand. Let me just say I was glad to not be sitting in the "soak zone," especially for the night show!

And we spent a day at the zoo!

We drove back to Phoenix on Monday with my sister and her husband and were supposed to fly back to Utah that afternoon. Our flight was cancelled! After 5 hours at the airport, we went back to my parents' house and took a late night swim. We were back at the airport early the next morning, but it was fun to spend one more night with my parents.

Thank you to my mom and dad for a wonderful time!

Well Hello

2009-08-12T20:18:00.002-06:00

Yeah, we haven't blogged in a long time. Post coming soon: Summer vacations (next week sometime).

Test message

2009-07-30T15:36:00.001-06:00

Just testing from my phone.

Note

2009-07-27T17:17:00.002-06:00

Sam found a note on his car after work that said, "30 yr. old looking to be adopted. [phone number]" Strange. Sam called the number and got some guy's voicemail.

UPDATE: The guy called back and he is legitimately looking to be adopted. Awkward.