Tagged

So Alice tagged me. Let's see if I can answer her questions.

8 Favorite TV Shows

Office
Prison Break
Ghost Hunters
Biggest Loser
Lost
Amazing Race
I can't think of anymore...

8 Favorite Restaurants
Cafe Rio
Costa Vida
JCWs
Pier 49 Pizza
Ruby River
Carl's Jr
Chick-fil-a
Ruth's Chris (We've only been there once, and that will probably be the only time, but boy was it good!)

8 Things that Happened Yesterday
Watched XFiles Movie (stupid)
Went bowling
Went Christmas shopping
Went bed shopping for Jenna
Worked on ward Christmas breakfast
Did laundry
Had to deal with Jenna not taking a nap

8 Things I am Looking Forward to
Christmas
The new year
The recession to be over
A raise
Jenna sleeping in a big girl bed
Jenna being fully potty trained
Organizing the garage
The ward breakfast to be over

8 Things on My Wishlist
A clean house
Jenna being potty trained
Go to Hawaii
Lose some weight
Run in a race
New carpet
More time in a day
A nap

8 People I Tag
Anyone who wants to do this (It's harder than it sounds!)

Catch up

Well, it's been awhile since I have had a chance to blog (as Melissa likes to remind me:)). I know I have been busy, but when I sat down to write this blog, I couldn't remember what I have been busy with. So, I decided to check the camera. Unfortunately, I haven't been the best photographer lately, so I don't have many pictures to remind me what I have been doing. Here is what I did find though...

Jenna is really into going "bye-bye" lately. Here she is getting ready to go to church. She has put on her coat and zipped it up, put her lion hat on, and grabbed Mom's scriptures. She is ready to go! She has also neglected to clean her mouth after breakfast.

We went to both my family and Joel's family for Thanksgiving. Here is the setting at my parent's house. We eat in their garage since there is plenty of room out there and it is heated. It works out pretty well and Mom makes it looks more festive than just a garage.

Jenna had a great Thanksgiving. She got to eat all the bread she wanted. She did not want to let her baby go while she ate (by the way, that is my dad's old high chair she is in. Yes, we are a family of pack rats).

Dessert was yummy! (That is a toy cup in front of her, not our dessert)

We put up our tree last weekend. Jenna loved helping. We found a Santa hat in a box and put it on her. At first, she wanted nothing to do with it, but soon she didn't want to be parted with it. She even slept with it on that night.

My little girl is getting so big! I guess it's about time we keep her clothed.

Jenna had a rough day last week. She stepped on a toy at school and the other end came up and hit her in the mouth. It gave her a big ole fat lip. It must have happened right before I picked her up, because she was still pretty upset. When we got home, she walked right in, asked for cartoons, and sat down in her princess chair. She didn't even take the time to take her coat off. She just wanted her cartoons to comfort her.

We had a weekend of Christmas shopping this weekend. We went to the mall and splurged on some chocolate suckers from See's candy. Here is Jenna after I cleaned her up four times already.

I also celebrated my 30th birthday a few weeks ago. Joel and I went out to dinner, but that was about it. I wasn't feeling well, so we didn't want to do much. I think I caught the bug Jenna was just getting over (sound familiar, Anna Marie?). My co-workers decorated my cube, brought treats, and took me to lunch. They treated me really well. A couple of them were feeling guilty because they forgot my birthday last year, so they were trying to make up for it this year.

We have been frantically trying to plan the ward Christmas breakfast. It has been one roadblock after another. I can't wait until it is over. Hopefully it will turn out okay. If it's anything like the dream I had about it last night, though, we are in trouble.

We went bowling with some friends last night. Jenna was with us and was getting a little impatient waiting for us. I let her bowl with me on my first try every frame, and guess what? She got a strike! She's a natural. Sorry, hon, she might not be a WNBA star--she might be a bowling champion!

I think that about sums it up. I will try to be a better blogger, but if not, Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Baby!

This last week was Jenna's 2nd birthday. It was so fun!

It started on Saturday by going to the store to pick up another present or two, and Jenna picking out her birthday cake and treats for school.

On Sunday, we had a party with Joel's family. Jenna helped me bake her cake to get ready (by help, I mean she stood and watched so you don't have to worry that she stuck her fingers in it or anything). Once it was done, she just stood there staring at it saying "Happy Birfday!". To distract her, I pulled out a candle so she could practice blowing it out. She got pretty good at it, but wouldn't you know it, when the pressure was on she would have nothing to do with it.

The Harrison's came over and gave her way to many presents. She was swimming in presents between what Joel and I gave her and what everyone else gave her. She got a new doll, a peg/hammer toy, a book, some slippers, a cell phone, and the list goes on. Joel and I tried to get shopping for her birthday done early, but it just backfired on us because we just wanted to buy more. We are awful.

On Monday, they sang to Jenna and had treats at school. When I picked her up, she just kept saying "Happy Birfday!". Joel, Jenna, and I went to Winger's for her birthday dinner. Jenna wouldn't eat a bite of anything. Oh, well. We came home and opened presents from my side of the family and a couple more presents from Joel and me (I told you we were bad!). By the time she was able to play with them for a few minutes, it was time to go to bed. I was so sad it was all over because it was so much fun. I can't wait until Christmas!

Waiting patiently (sort of)
Practicing
Opening presents
Curious cousins
Her new doll, slippers, and cell phone
She got a new tent and tube thing that she LOVES!
We got her this cheep-o buggy thinking she wouldn't want to sit in it and break it like her doll stroller she has now. We were wrong. I guess it's good that it was such cheap plastic because it just kind of bends under her weight rather than breaking.

Harrison Halloween Party

Every year, Dave and April host a little Halloween party at their house for all of the grandkids. They do such a good job. They feed us and have little activities for the kids. Everyone looks forward to it every year (Sorry, April, I guess that means you have to keep doing it!). Here's a few pictures from it.

Getting ready--oops! I forgot the gloves!
Is she a princess or a queen? Either way, she looks like a diva!
The fam
Jenna was being sneaky and tried to get out of the small hole in the chair. She got stuck.
Doing the bean bag toss.
Jenna found a book on the treasure hunt. She couldn't wait to get back and read it.
Playing with the glow sticks Grandma and Grandpa gave her. She came home with a ton of goodies. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Pumpkin Patch

Since the one thing we forgot to do when we were at Cornbelly's was get a pumpkin, I took Jenna to the pumpkin patch yesterday. Although it wasn't really a pumpkin patch. It was a whole bunch of activities with pumkins there.

Checking out the chickens.
"Quack, quack!"
This one just feels right.
Trying to lose mom.
She loved these little cutout things. She had to stick her head in all of them.
Climbing the slide while avoiding the steps that are supposed to help you up.
Going down the slide.
Jenna has found her pumpkin!

Long day

My new schedule at work allows me to have every other Friday off, so this last Friday Jenna and I spent the entire day running errands and getting things done. She was such a good helper all day long--even in the afternoon after not taking a nap due to a nagging cough that kept her up. Here is what we did:

Stripped all the sheets off the beds. We did have to stop and read a book every couple of minutes, but she helped me tear things apart.

Went to Costco. She did the best ever here. She stayed on the cart the entire time and helped organize things for me. We stayed and had a hot dog after we shopped and she went and found a table for us and carried her own drink there.

Went to the post office. She really hammed it up here. Everyone in line just loved her. She helped me pick out a box to ship a present and she helped by giving the cashier my credit card.

Did the laundry. She wasn't a huge help on this one, but she did make it fun. She just acted silly with all of the clothes and towels.

Voted. She was so patient. We were there for an hour and a half and there was not a single melt down. She even pushed all of the buttons for me.

Went grocery shopping. She was so patient and helped put produce in the bags and put things in the basket.

Oh--and she went potty all by herself without me even asking--twice! One of those times was even #2!

I am so lucky to have Jenna as my little girl.

She was finally able to catch a few minutes of sleep.

Drumroll please...

So, we have made a decision. Jenna is going to be Cinderella for Halloween. I was searching for an outfit on the internet and Cinderella was on the monitor. Jenna saw it and kept saying "Pretty dress!", so I had to get it. I wasn't really into the princess thing, but she looks really cute in the dress. (Thanks for offering the turtle costume, Beth! It sounds really cute. Too bad we had bought the Cinderella costume the day before you commented. We still need to get together, though).
This picture was taken at like 10 at night after we got back from Cornbelly's. We had just gotten it in the mail and wanted to try it on her really fast.

Potty Time

So we bought a new toilet for the basement bathroom, but it hasn't quite made it downstairs yet. I caught Jenna lounging in it the other day. It was hilarious! She was just drinking and swinging her feet. (Don't mind the mess in the back. She had just finished counting all of our canned vegetables. She can count to ten! Brilliant I tell you, brilliant).

Cornbelly's

A couple of weeks ago we went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point with my family. I guess it is turning into kind of a tradition. We went last year for the first time and were kind of dreading going this year. Last year was freezing and there wasn't a lot to do. This year was tons better. The weather was great and they had a lot more to do. Here are some of the things we did:

Played in the princess castle.
Played in the princess bounce house.
Played in Cinderella's pumpkin carriage.

Played on Cinderella's carriage some more.
Dressed up like a princess (yes, she is my homeless child princess. I picked her up from day care and took her straight to Cornbelly's so I didn't have time to clean her up or fix her hair).
Played with cousin Abby and Bekah.
Rode the "horses".
Jumped on the giant air pillow.
Played on the many slides they had.
Played on more slides.
Went on the "train" ride.
Went through the David Archuletta corn maze.
Survived the corn maze (we almost didn't because we were all going crazy listening to David Archuletta music the entire time).

We also went on the very bumpy hay ride, looked at various carved pumpkins they had, and watched the pig races. Afterwards, we headed to the slowest McDonald's in the world and ate dinner. Aunt RaShelle gave Jenna an early birthday present as we were leaving. I made the mistake of letting Jenna hold it. It was open by the time we got home. It was a book and some candy jewelry. Jenna absolutely loved it. I just read the book to her 4 times in a row earlier today!

Thanks for taking us Grandma and Grandpa! We had a lot of fun!

The layered look

I have been going through a lot of clothes lately--pulling out the 2T's and putting away the 18 monthers. Jenna likes to help by trying everything on. A couple of weeks ago, I was putting away the swimming suits and pulling out some underwear. This is what I got...
This one is blurry, but you get the point. She is wearing two swim suits. This is what she was wearing when the home teachers came over.
This one is dark. She is wearing 11, yes ELEVEN pairs of underwear (plus her diaper). When I took them off, she had little red marks on her legs where they were cutting off her circulation.

Halloween Ideas?

So Halloween is just a few weeks away. We have no idea what Jenna should be. We don't want her to be the typical princess (although that is probably what she would want to be, but it's not about what she wants--kidding), but can't find anything else we really like. Any ideas? What are your kids going to be this year?

Blindsided

So Joel and I were asked to go see the bishop this last Tuesday. We assumed it was about our calling as the Marriage & Family Relations teachers. We haven't had a class for a couple of months so we thought he wanted some input on how it's going and who should attend the next session of classes we will teach. We were dead wrong! We got another calling. We are now the activity committee chairpeople. I never would have guessed that. We are excited. I guess the committee was disbanded about 6 months ago when the last chairperson got a new calling, so we are starting from scratch. We are supposed to have 4 activities a year, and since we have never been to a ward activity, we need any help we can get. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

It's done!

So, we are done with the basement for awhile. We got the carpet last Friday. The color wasn't what I really wanted, but it is growing on me. It's really soft and clean. Jenna loves to run around in circles down there now. As soon as the carpet guys left, she ran down there and just ran and jumped. She likes all the extra space we have now.



When the carpet came, Joel was at a conference for the weekend for work. He was anxious to see what it looked like, so I made a little video of it for him. It's not that exciting and has no sound, but here you go. Sorry I am focused on the carpet, but you can kind of get the idea of what the rest of it looks like. I was going to make another video so you could see more, or at least take pictures, but we are in the process of moving all of our crap down there so it is a little bit of a mess right now.

Happy Birthday Gampa Harrison!

September 11th was "Gampa" Harrison's 70th birthday. Yesterday we had a big surprise party over at the park across the street from our house. We had dinner, visited, and played with the kids. It was a nice little gathering and I think everyone had fun. Thanks, April, for planning all of it.

Of course the only pictures I took at the party were of my little princess. Here are a few shots.

She can't wait for cake!

Still so excited (don't worry, she didn't actually touch the cake.
So serious
She is SO big! She can climb the ladder to the slide now!