New Year's Eve

We got some money for Christmas, so we thought we would have an exciting New Year's Eve by booking a room at the Hilton in Salt Lake and watching the fireworks out the 10th story window at midnight... and watch CABLE TV for a night! I envisioned Jake and I, with arms around eachother and city lights on our faces, gazing out the window at the early hours of 2007... glancing back at our beautiful girls sleeping peacefully on the bed next to ours. What really happened is that Ruby started doing a whine/cry (which is ETERNAL and never stops) around 11 p.m... Gracie and Daddy fell asleep around then and moody Ruby and I rang in the New Year together, watching CNN and listening to the fireworks. It was a lovely night. Until 4:30 a.m. when Ruby woke up again (I blame it on teeth, sinus infection, earache, tummy ache... who really knows?). After finally going back to sleep, Jake with Ruby in one bed and Me with Grace in the other queen bed, at promptly 7:30 a.m. sharp, Grace peed the bed and everyone laying in it. Which was me and her. The whining again commenced and the whole family was up by then. A LOVELY morning!!!

I am being sarcastic, but really, we had a great time. It was so nice to be 'away', and we really do have so many things to be grateful for.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS: 1. Be a better wife and mother (the specifics of which I will keep confidential :) 2. Help achieve our financial goals for 2007. And last but not least... 3. For heaven's sake, keep blogging!!!!!

Christmas 2006

"New Gasses"
Sugar. The best present.


Jake woke up Grace on Christmas morning and she very literally told him groggily, "Daddy, I'm still tired!"

"I recall last night somebody saying something about Santa, but WOW."

Now those are some sexy legs.

Just a little bit of baby fat, no biggie.

Gorgeous Grace.

New gasses, kitty, sweater, what else does a girl need?

Gracie and I in the kitchen cooking some pumpkin chocolate chip bread.

I hope with all my heart that everyone had a great Christmas! All of our love to you.

Joy to the World

I love this picture, and I'm sure we all needed a laugh. The new house contract fell through, we are dissapointed but saw it coming since the buyer's condo was not selling. They will probably make a fresh offer after the new year if they can get their condo under contract. Meanwhile, our house is back on the market and we lowered the price $5k, so we'll see where that goes. We are still set to go to close on January 12th on the house we currently live in.

Happy holidays to everyone!! We have made this our year of setting goals and we will put our goals under the tree as gifts to ourselves (I know, cheesy). Writing goals down will make them 100% more achievable. As a sidenote, I don't know about anyone else, but my feet and legs haven't been warm since September. Maybe I should make "getting warm" one of my goals...I just can't handle the cold, and for the past few years I have been either pregnant or nursing during the winter and have been MUCH warmer. But this year I am back to my old self and my old self is COLD. And I can't sit by the heater all day, I've got other things to do... like watch that the heating bill doesn't skyrocket. Kisses and hugs to everyone, we do miss or family and friends that can't be near us.

Good News

Both houses are now under contract! For those who didn't know, we were selling the home we live in as well as the spec home. We are so relieved to have them both under contract! Nothing is completely certain until we sign the closing documents, but it's nice to be closer than ever and we're welcoming any back-up offers. We are set to close on the home we live in on January 15th. So we will move on or before then. We don't really know where, probably an apartment until we can get things figured out... like where we want to live, etc.

This life of ours is crazy.

Jake passed his series 7 (Stock broker) test on Friday, and we're really happy about that... now he has to study for his series 63 (State Broker test). He should be taking that in the next 6 weeks.
Well, that's all the news for now. As a sidenote, we are freezing our behinds off in Utah. Inversion has come and hasn't gone away. Inversion is when the air is super cold and hangs in the valley and is exacerbated by the moisture from the lake... basically, really cold, unhealthy air for weeks on end. No snow, no wind, no rain, just cold. It's a party I tell you.

Just some thoughts

I had gone to bed at 12:30 a.m. last night. At 4:30 a.m. my brainfog finally allowed me to spring half an eyelid open. I heard my baby crying from her crib in the next room. My body was like lead, seriously, and the bad attitude came FLOODING toward me. Couldn't escape it. She's 21 months old, do the math, that's almost TWO. And she keeps waking up. Why? WHY? So I turned my feet toward the floor, let my down comforter fall from my shoulder and shivered. So I had to get these legs to lift my body up to walk. There, I did it.. I am running on momentum only. If I stopped walking I would probably just fall back in bed.

Why do kids wake up? Why can't I get ONE full night's sleep without someone wetting the bed, needing a drink, needing to go potty, coming into our bed.. just one night and I would be good for another year! By this time I am opening my bedroom door. I struggle into the dark hallway and my eyes are literally glued shut with sleep. It's the best I can do, so I will just have to remember the distance to open the girl's bedroom door. My hand pushed it open and the crying was razoring my ears. It was so dark and so cold and I was SO TIRED.

In the moment before I bent down to pick up Ruby I thought about those long sleepful nights when I was pregnant with Grace. No school, just full time work and that feeling that one gets when waking up at noon. AHHH. Then the peaceful breakfast that follows. A little email, a little news, orange juice, cereal, toast, donut, whatever happened to be there.. and we used to have to much food because we were married and both working and man were we rich back then.

My mind starts to focus back to the problem at hand. I think maybe I can just back out of the room and she will stop crying, go back to sleep, and I can snuggle back in my covers. No such luck. I reach down to pick her up, glancing over my shoulder at Grace to make sure Ruby's cries aren't waking her....... What? Ruby is burning up! She has a fever, my baby girl has a fever!!! Poor thing! I better rub my eyes so I can wake up and fix her a cup of juice!! Let's get her out of her hot jammies and a cold cloth for her forehead! Let me just run to the bathroom to get the Tylenol! She might need me to stay up all night which would be completely fine! And that's how it is being a mother.

Mini Jake.

This photo says everything I want to say. But I'll still say it. She is wearing a very beautiful crown of plain white paper stapled together in the back with foam Spongebob stickers all over it. Made by Dad. She is holding a Goldfish cracker that she probably ate in place of 'dinner'. Authorization to skip dinner given by Dad. She has chocolate pudding smeared on her cheeks (she likes to wipe her face with the back of her hand after each bite). Chocolate pudding served by Dad. She is wearing a white T-shirt with chocolate pudding dripped all over it. Mess overlooked by Dad. Her shirt says, "My Dad Rules". Purchased at Old Navy by, none other than, Dad.

Gracie and Jakie have many things in common.

1. A disdain for being told what to do

2. Sugar addiction

3. Healthy enthusiasm for ToysRUs and the 20 minute drive it takes to travel there

4. Love for the snow, no matter the temperature outside

5. Tantrums

6. Kicking things when angry

7. Making funny faces during not-so-funny moments (when I'm mad)

There you have it. Nothing but a Daddy's girl (a mommy's girl most of the day, but a Daddy's girl when it counts!!).

Mission Call

Gideon, my younger brother, got his mission call on Wednesday night! He is called to serve in the Atlanta, Georgia mission! He will go into the MTC on January 24th. We are so excited for him. I will miss him so much, but I know this will help him turn into the man that he is 'supposedly' going to someday become...

Life goes by way faster than we'd like it to. I can't believe it's winter here again. We spent last Christmas in our home in Arizona... It was Ruby's first Christmas. That year we got Ruby a sesame street popup music player thingy.. this year she would probably want a doll that talks and cries. Both of the girls have grown up so much in the last year.

Now we are in Utah. Jake went snowboarding yesterday, snowboarding being one of the main reasons we moved back. He likes his job and is looking forward to being a licensed Stock Broker by February. He studies a lot for the tests coming up. Me, I eat Clif Bars for breakfast and hope that I can be a good mom while I make one phone call an hour, surf the MLS all day and try to stay awake. At night we like to watch The Office and eat junk food after the kids are in bed. We just got caught up on Season 3. That's all for now, I am excited for Christmas, so imagine that I baked you some Christmas cookies with this blog entry... chocolate mint brownies... homemade toffee... mmmm...

Kayla, etc.

They named my little neice! Kayla Catherine Dunnigan. She is so beautiful. The top picture is not flattering but really funny, I couldn't help posting it. My bro took the photos yesterday.

So. More news. Our investment house is under contract. We are so thrilled. We counteroffered and they accepted it, so we are just waiting for them to get their condo sold and it looks like we will close around December 29. We are very excited. It's fun being in Real Estate!

Tonight I had dinner with Kelly Iorg, Celeste Richardson, Kristan Pratt and husbands. We had fun and ate at Los Hermanos. It just cracks me up how old we all are having kids and families. Friendships just get better with age.

No, they haven't chosen a name!!!! Something to do in the meantime...

The Strange Questions Survey
Have you ever licked the back of a CD to try to get it to work?:	Yes!
What's the largest age difference between yourself and someone you’ve date:	Hm... I dated a guy 5 years older than me.
Ever been in a car wreck?:	Yes.
Were you popular in high school?:	... not really.
Have you ever been on a blind date?:	no.
Are looks important?:	I wish I could say no, but in this world yes. To me, they're not important at all.
Do you have any friends that you've known for 10 years or more??:	Yes!!! Many. The longest- Laurel
By what age would you like to be married?:	Married at 22.
Does the number of people a person's slept with affect your view of them?:	um, ok.
Have you ever made a mistake?:	Puuuuhlease, tons!
Are you a good tipper?:	Ya, after being a waitress I have to tip well.
What's the most you have spent for a haircut?:	Oh, maybe like 50 bucks. It was worth it!
Have you ever had a crush on a teacher?:	Yes of course!! I loved Mr. Chapman and a couple teachers in college were cute.
Have you ever peed in public?:	In the woods??
What song do you want played at your funeral?:	Abide with Me... weird question.
Would you tell your parents if you were gay?:	Yes.
What would your last meal be before getting executed?:	A Cafe Rio salad and Reeses.
Beatles or Stones?:	Beatles all the way.
If you had to pick one person on earth to die, who?:	Any Al-Queda operative
Beer, wine or hard liquor?:	yuck yuck and yuck
Do you have any phobias?:	Yes, I hate bees
What are your plans for the future?:	Be the best mom ever and have my kids love me and be my best friend!!!
Do you walk around the house naked?:	Only when we don't have siblings living with us... so not since August.
If you were an animal what would you be?:	Probably a butterfly... ha ha I hate questions like this.
Hair color you like on someone you're dating?:	Black
Would you rather be blind or deaf?:	definitely deaf
Do you have any special talents?:	I am really good at staying awake.
What do you do as soon as you walk in the house?:	Take off my shoes.
Do you like horror or comedy?:	Comedy, for sure.
Are you missing anyone?:	Yes, my Dad.
Where do you want to live when you are old?:	By a warm beach.
Who is the person you can count on the most?:	Jake.
If you could date any celebrity past or present, who would it be?:	Probably Owen Wilson. He would just make me laugh so hard.
What did you dream last night?:	I dreamt that we sold our house.
What is your favorite sport to watch?:	Basketball.. but I hate watching sports.
Are you named after anyone?:	My Grama Jeannie.
Non alcoholic drink?:	First choice, water, second, Root Beer and third, Mountain Dew.
Have you ever been in love?:	Yes. Yes yes. Best feeling in the world.
Do you sing in the shower?:	No. I have to listen for my kids to make sure they aren't screaming downstairs.
Have you ever been arrested?:	No. I have been pulled over for drunk driving though. Wasn't drunk. just tired.
What is your favorite Holiday?:	Christmas, OF COURSE.
Would you ever get plastic surgery?:	No way.
Have you ever caught a fish?:	Yes. and as I tried to pull it off my line, it jumped down my waiders. Haven't fished since.
Take this survey Find more surveys Bzoink - The Original Survey Site

New little cousin.

I just had to post this picture as well! Ruby LOVED holding her, and screamed when we had to take her away. She just kept repeating "BEBEEEE" "BEEEBEEEE"! It was so sweet!