New Chateau

These are views out the master bedroom window in both directions.

That's what I like to call home. We love it- this is our new 2200 square foot townhome recently purchased with an unwritten "live in it for at least two years" clause. We are tired of moving. 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, full walk-out basement.... it's brand new, close to everything, there's a park about 100 yards away. I'm also not complaining about the $20-30k instant equity (right place, right time).

Meanwhile, I have set my goal: take my nerves down and my patience up a notch each day. By the end of the week, I should be the star mother that I know is inside me somewhere. Things have been stressed filled lately, but we are settling in.

My baby girl Grace turns four tomorrow and Ruby turned two on the 4th. I can handle this. It's kindergarten that will give me an ulcer. The other day, Ruby was being the goon that she is, and Grace looked at her and said, "She's such a funny kid, huh?" Luckily, Jake and I were both home and both heard it. At that moment, leaning over the counter laughing uncontrollably together at our daughters, is one that is branded in my memory and always will be. These are the moments we live for, right? I spent the good part of Sunday afternoon on a gigantic walk with my daughters, the whole time thinking, "this is a nice memory to make with them, I will remember how fun this was". Then, it was upon returning home and the small, simple things made me realize what life is for. It's for laughing, and having realizations of how amazing the people you love really are.

A bit displaced

Just slightly homeless. Homeless in a very brief circumstance, but the homelessness leaves its print no matter how short. Moved out of a home, can't move into a new one until the stupid appraisal gets reviewed or some such nonsense which will take several more days. Meanwhile, we are living with Hannah, Sean and Kayla, who are all turning out to be great housemates. It snowed today. Something tells me it will be snowing in April like it did last year.
I have been staring at my hands today. They are getting wrinkly. There are real permanent grooves forming in these babies. They are looking like my moms always did, a little extra skin on the under side of the fingers. I loved my mom's hands. Not so fond of what my hands are looking like, but I better love it.. these things only get worse. I have a million things to say and only a few hops of energy left in me tonight. I am so grateful for my family. They give me a piece of asphalt to stand on (and in some cases, live in). I see my sister Hannah almost every day. She is my best friend, and I am so grateful for the gift that she is in my life. She's the only one that I'm not embarassed to cry in front of! Anyone of my siblings would be as close if we lived in the same place, I am sure of that. I love all eight of them with a passionate longevity, surpassing nothing except the love I have for my Jakie and my girls.
It's almost midnight... I'm taking the girls to the Children's Museum tomorrow. There's a new one in the Gateway Mall, downtown Salt Lake, that is supposed to be really great. My blogging community really fulfills me in ways I would never expect. Thanks for always reading and being supportive- everyone. Loves.

Florida: Disneyworld and a Wedding.

Grace and Ruby riding the carousel at Disney World's Magic Kingdom. How do you get away with riding rides without pants on? You have to be a kid (and you have to be wearing cheap diapers and have had that cheap diaper leak all over your pants and subsequently, the immaculate floor of a mickey mouse souvenir shop).

This is a photo of me and Grace in front of Grace's first roller coaster ride ever! She loved it!

Left to right: Grace, Alex, Jessie (Jake's sisters), Ashley, Reef, and Oz (Jake's sister-in-law, nephew and brother).

Gracie's beautiful profile while driving along Florida's beautiful highway.. on the way to Disneyworld!

The bride-to-be givin' Gracie a little love.

Alex and Ben fresh from their wedding in the Orlando temple!

Gracie and her little cousin Reef. Can you tell he doesn't like to be held?

Jake surrounded by kids--

I never have been shy about public displays of affection :)

Me and Rubes at the airport...She is wearing a Bears jumpsuit because.. again, her diaper leaked all over her clothes. I need to buy better diapers. We had a great trip!

Thanks to all our family there who are more giving than we deserve.

Little photo treat

Gracie and her Papa Smylie at Clearwater beach last spring. Nana Smylie took the photos and made the montage. Be grateful. I am sparing you the pain of a repetetive photo of me with highlights, every time you open my blog. You're welcome.

New hair and lovin' it.

This whole blog thing. I love it and I hate it. Mostly love it because it's fun, hate it because it makes me feel underaccomplished. I make myself feel so neglectful that I haven't published in a week. But I won't won't won't feel that way anymore. Release the stress---- there it goes. mm. Now I can finally eat my junk food again. Nothing beats a bowl of popcorn and a Mountain Dew. Well, maybe two bowls of popcorn. They're mini-bags, ok?? Geez.

So someone told me today that I don't look old enough to have two kids. THANK YOU. People that say that should win the lottery. Either that, or they have moms and know how much it means for a woman to hear she looks young. Can't believe I'm at the age where I actually start worrying about that!!

The girls and I are going to Florida next week. Jake will join us on Friday, and his sister will be married in the Orlando temple on Saturday. We're excited. I LOVE Florida. Except there is nothing worse than going to a warm location in the dead of winter. I mean, really. Pluck me from 10 degree weather and put me on the beach and I MIGHT shave my legs, definitely don't have a tan, and look sickly next to every single other Floridian. Half of Jake's family are Floridians. I am going to have to burn the heck out of my skin leading up to the day of the wedding- red is better than white.

Sidenote, went blonde again and plan to continue in that direction. Keeping the brounette brain, just changing the hair. Ha ha ha just kiddin. I shriek at the thought of posting a huge blaring photo of my face, but hey, everyone knows what I look like already, so whatever. Just focus on the hair.

Funny babies

I was laughing so hard I had tears. TEARS!!! Thanks to my sister Hannah for sending this to me.

Gideon leaves!

I had to throw this one in of Ruby... maybe it's just me, but that chunk of chocolate muffin on her bottom lip looks like the most delicious thing in the world. Yummy.

Below is a sequence of kissing scenes starring our missionary, Gideon, and his two lovely and very precocious neices.

Below is my brother, Gideon, who went into the MTC to serve an LDS mission. He will be gone for two years! Going to miss ya Gid. Doesn't he look so tough? He was nervous I think.

We are absolute idiots, really. I think we look like we're going to prom together. He's going to come back all grown up. I will miss listening to Nickel Creek over and over and over with my bro. He's the only one I know (besides Jared) that can actually sing Chris Thile's mandolin solos. Amazing.

From left to right: Sean, Hannah, Baby Kayla, Gideon, Me, Jared, and my cousin Camille. 'Bout 20 degrees out.

Let's try this again

Our house is under contract again! Another offer came through this weekend after the home was only back on the market for a couple of weeks. The offer is even better than the previous one was, so we are really happy. We love the house, but it's too expensive at this point, so it's a relief to have it sold. We are set to move on February 19. I am SO SICK of moving. Not really sick of moving, as much as sick of unpacking. It's horrible. The worst part of unpacking is all the hodgepodge containers that the odds and ends get thrown into and then you can't find anything- like the toilet plunger, nightstand lamp, things like that.

So that's the news for now. I am getting so excited for our trip to Florida in February! I am dying for Spring... I can almost smell it coming.

Jobs and goals

I guess I just needed a blast from the past, little Ruby. This picture was taken around this time last year. Jake's mom is a really great photographer, I don't know what I would do without her.

So. I got an at-home job doing email customer support for H&R Block. It's temporary, just until April, but it's really great money and I can work while the kids are screaming and running around! I will be working really early in the morning, but Jake got a later shift at work, starting at 1pm, so he will be running the house in the mornings while I am upstairs on the computer (this is what I normally try to have happen, but now I officially have to be on the computer, so to me it's more money and a grand excuse). I think I overheard him say something to Grace like, "Gracie, we are going to make pancakes every day and go to Toys R Us!!" Ya.. we'll see how long that lasts!!

Well, we have lived in our new house for a week. It's a lot nicer than the one we lived in before, but we are selling this one still. We'll see what kind of offers we get and go from there. Now that we only own one house, things are a lot simpler.

My brother Gideon left to go home for 2 weeks before his mission! I already miss ya, Gid! He'll be going to the MTC on Jan 24th and to Atlanta sometime after that.

I am going to start a goal list for 2007. I will try my best to achieve all of them. I think I'll start it on the right-hand column. Here goes nothin'.

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!!!!!