Sleepy time!

I came home from rehearsal on Saturday to find Jake asleep on the couch, Sage taking a nap, and Jaxon like this! I guess they were all tired huh?

Excitement at church

Well, today was full of surprises!  As we hurried ourselves to get ready for church, Jaxon complained of a stomach ache (he called it a throat in his belly) and we passed it off as nothing.  We got to church just in time to sit in the very back (which turned our to be a blessing) and take the sacrament.  After we had been given the water, I ran out to throw away a banana peel and some uneaten string cheese from Sage.  On my way back in I heard what sounded like a water bottle being pored out, and a dear ward member had taken Sage from Jake and I thought it must have been Jaxon who spilled it.  The only problem with that scenario was that I had not brought a water bottle to church.  As I neared closer to the action at hand, I saw Jake carrying Jaxon out as he vomited on a nearby chair. 

Now, I can not continue until I tell you about my deep and abiding fear of throw up.  This is not your average not liking vomit, this is more.  I can't hear it, smell it, or be around it without wanting to vomit myself, and rip all the skin off my body, throw it in the washing machine just to make sure I am rid of the foul substance.  It's an intense hate.

So Jake was gone, someone had taken Sage out, and I was left with a pile of bile (hehehe) all to myself.  I must thank dear Bridget for immediately lightening the mood.

"At least you'll have something good to blog about!"

Hence, this post.

Another kind soul was quick to help me, and before long it was cleaned up, and I was out the door to start a load of my tainted skin. 

Poor Jaxon.  While I was gone he told Jake he had to go potty.  Just wait until mom get's back, he told him.  He asked again, and them lifted up his shirt to look at his stomach, and lost it all.  Afterwards in the bathroom Jaxon asked Jake, "What was that daddy??"  There is nothing worse than throwing up.  It's so unnatural!  So now he is sitting on the couch, playing nintendo, with blankets protecting my couch, and a bowl by his side.  I know everyone of you mothers out there have experienced this, but today is a first for me. 

Wish me luck!

You know what I love about blogs?  Well, there are a number of things, but what strikes me today is that I can make a cake, which before the days of blogging would have been admired by my husband, who would have oohed and awed, and that would be it.  Well, now I can post it for all you dear readers to see and you all make super nice comments and build my self esteem!  So thank you for your kind words, you are all wonderful!

I'm not going to lie...

sometimes I amaze myself! : )

I love a good party!

 There is something deep within me that LOVES to throw a good party.  Whether it be my sister or husbands 30th birthday party, a New Years Eve party, or a spooky Halloween party (not that I've actually thrown a Halloween party, much less a spooky one) But there is one party that tops them all, and that is......

A baby shower

I don't know what it is, but I just love everything about baby showers.  The cheesy games, the super cute decorations.  I love it all.  I've only thrown 3 showers in my life so far, but I know there will be many more to come.  I would like to share some photos of these happy occasions.

Now this is a photo from the very first shower I hosted.  It was a flower theme, and I loved finding everything flower that I could.  And notice how the plastic forks are decorated with curled ribbon.  I pay attention to details folks. Now I know you don't know these women, but the one on the right is my bosom buddy through and through.  But I'd like you to pay attention to the little party favors in the background.  Those are little chocolates that I made and had them in little flower pots.      And of course, the cake.  This was one of the first I ever decorated.  I thought it was pretty spiffy. Now for baby shower #2.  I threw this one for the above mentioned bosom buddy, Maegan.  She loves pink, so the theme was pink.  Plus, she was having a sweet baby girl.  Instead of cake, I made cinnamon roll party favors with pink frosting.  DELISH! This is where the magic happened.  In my old apartment in Rexburg.  Look how tiny it is!  This shower posed it's challenges, in that, the new mom did NOT like baby shower games.  So it took some creativity to make it fun, but I think I pulled it off.  (Do you love how I'm just singing my praises here??) And now to my most recent baby shower.  This was for one of my book club friends.  Remember, the ones that are ALL pregnant.  Here we are lined up in order of due date.  There is one girl missing from this picture.  Isn't it cute though?  I love everyone of these women!  Oh, and by-the-way...I AM NOT PREGNANT!

 This is the "cake" I made for the party.  It was a pea in a pod theme, so these cupcakes have little candy pea pods on them.  They were really cute.  And also very delicious!

Here is the mom-to-be, Kari, holding the watermelon carriage I made.  Just so you know, it was VERY easy to make, and turned out so cute. 

It was another successful baby shower, especially since all these women are pregnant with their first babies and we all just love to chat about all the many baby related things there are to talk about. 

There's nothing like a baby shower to keep my spirits high!

With Mine Own Hand

I finally figured out a way to get this song on my blog.  I promised my sister Heather, who is in Africa right now that I would post it so she could listen.  By-the-way, click on my sisters link and check our her blog.  The pictures and stories from Africa are amazing.

This is the song that I sing in the show I am in.  Please buy tickets if you haven't already.  It really is going to be incredible.  The website is www.nephi-story.com.

Romantic Getaway

And much needed!  We began the evening taking a short hike up Larch mountain where we saw 5 different mountain peaks.  It was incredible.  This is Mt. Hood.   

some pretty flowers on the trail

the view of the Columbia River.  Beautiful!

This is where we had dinner, (thanks Rick and Heidi for the girt certificate).  The View Point Inn.  It's an amazing little resort with a fantastic restaurant that overlooks the gorge.  You see that open door right in the middle?  That was our table. : )

We showed up in time to watch the sunset.  I don't know if there is anything more relaxing then waiting for delicious food to be served, watching a sunset in the company of the man you love, and having no children around.  It was bliss.  The sunset was amazing         

This is where they filmed the prom scene in the movie Twilight!  I felt just like Bella and Edward. : ) And here's a random picture of us with our server.  He just decided to take it, and who am I to say no?  It was a fabulous night, I would suggest it to anyone who needs a romantic escape.

Shark Attack!

My friend Bridget let me make her son this awesome shark attack cupcake thingy-ma-bob for his birthday.  Isn't it so cool?  I felt like a little kid making it, I was so excited.  The sharks are twinkies cut up and dipped in frosting, the life preservers are donuts, and mini ice cream cones for the buoys.  So if you have a kid who likes sharks, here's a fun idea, or if you'd rather I make your kids cake, count me in! !

Prego Fever Book Club

When Jake and I started dental school here in Oregon, I was so excited to get to know the wives of the students and make all sorts of new best friends.  Well, as it turned out, almost all of them were childless and had some career where they were busy and made money.  This obviously was not going to work out well for me, seeming as I had one child already and was 3 months pregnant with #2.  Sure enough we didn't have much time to spend together, as they were busy with work, and let's be honest, it much easier to be friends with others who have kids. 

Well all of that has changed.  One by one these girls have become pregnant, although there were still a few who were holding out on us.  Now, in a group of 10 who meet for book club, I am the ONLY one who is not expecting a little bundle of tears and poop.  Oh, I mean bundle of joy! : ) I am beyond thrilled for all of them, and beyond thrilled that I am not one of them! 

One by one at our book club the pregnancies were announced.  There were 4 girls who confessed, 2 of which weren't planning on telling, but couldn't resist when everyone else was.  I couldn't stop smiling.  I've literally been waiting for 2 years for these awesome women to join the motherhood club, and they all just happened to do it at once.  We have due dates every month from August to March.  I just keep thinking we should be on Oprah or something. 

So congratulations to all of you!  Let's just hope it's not contagious!

Family Reunion

   This 4th of July was spent at Birch Bay State Park with all of Jake's family.  I had been over 3 years since we had seen some of them, and I hadn't even met some of my nieces and nephews.  It was so nice to spend time with family.  The trip was nothing short of adventurous, and everyone managed to keep a good attitude through all the excitement.

Our first day in Snohomish we all donned our family reunion shirts and headed to the park for family pictures.  Trying to get 10 kids to hold still for a picture is practically impossible, but hopefully we got some good shots in.  I love this little family picture.  Except Jaxon had to stick his hands in his face.  Oh well, it adds character.

 

The first night of the campout was cold, too cold,  and after dinner was over and we were sitting around the campfire we heard a faint rumble in the distance.  That was easy enough to pretend you didn't hear, but then the flash of lightning sealed the deal.  It was going to rain.  And rain it did!  I counted 3 separate thunderstorm that night.  It was actually very cool.  I kept thinking of the line in the hymn How Great Thou Art, "I hear the rolling thunder".  It would literally roll across the sky.  Somehow the kids managed to sleep through the whole thing, which might have been a good thing, except that Jaxon was able to sleep through peeing all over our sleeping bags and air mattress as well.  When I woke up and felt that it was wet, I just prayed that we were all really sweaty.  I ended up not sleeping much at all that night, as you can imagine.

When we woke up, we found out that my nephew, Luke, had thrown up in his tent.  Pee didn't seem as bad at that point.  I spent my morning at a laundromat, where I spent $12 just to wash our sleeping bags.  Unfortunately is was raining pretty hard, and our plan for that day had been to go to a waterpark.  I was  bummed, because I was looking forward to it.  Jake and I found a flyer for a little family fun place and thought that might be a fun option. 

When I got back from the laundromat, this is what I saw. 

My fun sister in law Jessica set this all up.  You have to follow your color string to find a prize.  Very cute.

We then headed out to the family fun park, which was great.  Even in the rain everyone was excited and having a good time.  That's a pretty amazing family, if you ask me!  My family would not have been so cheerful.

This is on the creepy train ride.

I told you it was creepy.  This was one of the displays we passed.

Getting ready to kick some go-cart butt!

This just might be my favorite picture ever.  It's just too cute.

What a poser

 

We didn't let the rain or cold weather stop us, that's for sure.  The next thing we did was head down to the bay and let the kids play in the smelly, crab filled water.  Blech!

That night we played BINGO!  I won 3 dollars and a Twix.  Woohoo!

This is the gorgeous sunset we watched that night.  It told of better days ahead and was beautiful!

The next day, which was the 4th, started with a drizzle, but as soon as the sun popped out from behind the clouds we raced to the waterpark.  It was in no way warm when we got there, and all the kids really wanted to do was sit in the hot tub, but eventually the sun broke through all the clouds and it turned out to be a perfect day for a waterpark.

But first, I have to mention our special Olympics .  I'll just give some picture highlights.

 

That's my brother-in-law Jarom.  He's cute and he's single.  I'll give you his number if your interested! : )

These in-laws of mine sure know how to throw a party!  Okay, now some waterpark photos.  (who thinks I add too many pictures to my blog raise your hand.  No one?  That's what I thought!)

 

It was shaping up to be a fabulous independence day.  We headed back to the campground and Jaxon and I took a good long nap.  It was very much needed.  I woke up to a delicious dinner, cooked my Joe, and more games!  We played the candy bar game, which is the one where you roll the dice to see who get's a 6 and then you start unwrapping a candy bar and then eating it with a knife and fork.  Well, I rolled a LOT of sixes, and I have never eaten so much chocolate without a second thought.  Usually I put myself through a whole guilt trip, but not this time.  I just shoveled it in as fast as I could.  It was awesome.  Eventually I started sharing with all the little kids who looked enviously upon me!

 

That's my brother-in-law Jarom.  He's cute and he's single and he likes chocolate.  I'll give you his number if your interested! : )

 

 

 

 

The night was spent getting caught lighting off fireworks, and then watching others perform awesome shows around the bay.  Sage fell asleep in Jake's arms before it was over and after most had gone to sleep, there was great conversation around the campfire.  There is something magical about campfires that let's everyone be comfortable to say whatever they want.  I love campfires.

Jake and I headed out the next morning after another great breakfast, and were ready to get home and do some laundry.  Thanks Christensen's for the fun reunion.  We really did make memories to last a lifetime!

 

Cute group hug of all the siblings.