Terrific Thomas'

The Wizard of Oz

2012-01-21T10:46:00.001-08:00

Jefferson's new favorite book is the Wizard of Oz (He got it for Christmas). He always wants to read it. Jason is really good about reading it at night to him and Addi even though they are on their 3rd time through. It's about 100 pages, so it takes a little while, but Jefferson LOVES it.
Quite frequently you can hear him telling us that we have straw for brains. That might be true in my case, but not Jason's.
At least he's not telling us that we don't have hearts.

I wonder what he's going to be like as a teenager.

So, if he says something offensive and a little strange to you, just know that he loves the scare crow, tin man, and lion. I happen to think it's funny.

6 Months!!

2012-01-21T09:05:00.000-08:00

Hi, I'm Addison Claire and I am 6 months old!

Some new things about me are:
I am rolling around like crazy, which is fun. Although, it makes my brother mad because I usually roll over to his train tracks and promptly take them apart while he yells, "Addison, don't touch, don't touch." Ahhh, good times.
I am sitting pretty well on my own except for a few topsy turvy moments.
I like baby food. Currently, carrots and applesauce are my favorites, but we'll see as time goes on.
I am finally growing hair in the bald spot on the back of my head, but I have developed the bad habit of pulling my own hair when I am nursing. My mom is trying to help me break this habit. Hopefully I'll have some hair left after she does.
I sleep pretty good. I am doing well at putting myself down for naps, but I like to cry a little before I do just so Mom and Jefferson remember that I am there.
My favorite toys at the moment are my keys, caterpillar rings, and my blocks that make the crinkle noise. Also, I will go for any book you put in front of me. I just love to rip up the pages.
I haven't gone to the doctor yet, so I don't know how much I weigh or how tall I am, but I am growing, that's for sure!! I'll tell you the results next week.
I love my brother. I think he is the funniest guy on earth. He likes to hold me and kiss me and tell me he loves me. He might not feel the same way when I start crawling and stealing all his toys.
I think that I'll be getting some bottom teeth soon. I love to chew on things and my gums are white. I'll try not to be too grumpy, but I won't promise anything.
I love my Daddy to bits. I love to hear his voice as he reads to me and Jefferson before bed every night. So soothing.
Well, that's it for now. We'll see how much I grow in the next month.

My mom just loves my dimples, don't you?

Finally-SNOW!

2012-01-13T09:52:00.001-08:00

After waiting and waiting, we finally got some snow. It's been the driest winter in years. Jefferson was beyond excited to go play in the snow and build a snow man. But first was had to paint. I have been wanting to do this and I knew it would be a hit with the little man.

I got some clear squeezy bottles, ketchup bottles would do as well, and I filled them with water and food coloring. I did green and blue, then purple and orange. I didn't want to do yellow and red because I didn't want people to think it was pee and other stuff. Beware of yellow snow.

Jefferson had a great time. He thought it was the most fun thing. I just love when I plan things and he really enjoys them. It makes the time spent thinking and planning well worth the effort.

Jefferson thought it was great fun to throw snow balls. It was really great packing snow and he got us good a few times. Here he is planning his attack on an unsuspecting Dad and Addison.

We really don't have any baby winter gear so we had to mash together some of Jefferson's old stuff and some boots of Addison's. She had a great time watching her brother run around. She thinks he is hilarious, which really makes me happy.

But, she eventually got cold so inside we went to get warm and read. Lovely end to a lovely day!

Ohh, the Fun!

2012-01-13T09:42:00.000-08:00

We recently started Addison on solids and that is always an adventure. See for yourself- I will translate Addi's facial expressions.

Okay, let's do this, I am so ready for real food!

Okay, rice cereal. Not great, but I can do this.

Sweet potatoes, what the heck? There is nothing sweet about that orange goop.

I think i'll like applesauce better. Let's try that next time. Not bad for a first try, not bad at all.

Christmas and other randomness

2012-01-13T09:26:00.001-08:00

I know, it's about time, right? Well, the holiday season was merry and bright and we had a great time with family. The Monday before Christmas we took the kiddies to the big nativity at the tabernacle and listened to the narration and the music. I had brought some chocolate gold coins with us to try to demonstrate the story of the three wise men so that Jefferson would understand better. I thought it went well...

Jefferson showing us the gold to be given to baby Jesus

... until the next day when Jefferson came up to me and said, "Mama, I really need to eat more Jesus gold." And that is what he has called it ever since. We're working on it.

Christmas went really well. Jefferson really got it this year so he was really excited, and that made us more excited.

He really loved the planes, bus, and rocket that was in his stocking. It was hard getting him to even open the rest of his presents because he just wanted to play with his "magic school bus". Love that kid!!

I'm a little worried due to the fact that Addison is a champion present opener even at 5 months. It doesn't bode well for the years to come. She ripped into those things, but didn't care what was inside.

In other news, I got a hair cut- that I desperately needed-REALLY! I like it, what do you think?

Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly...

2011-12-18T18:19:00.001-08:00

... or was that Deck the Baby with Christmas tattoos?

I came down the stairs yesterday morning to find Christmas tattoo adorned children. Jefferson was so proud of his, he had to show everyone.

Let me translate

2011-12-16T11:44:00.001-08:00

Todays activity involved writting a letter to Santa. This is Jefferson's letter- let me translate.

Dear Santa,

I have been a good boy this year- well, mostly anyway.

I really do love my family.

All I want for Christmas this year is Rudolph.

Love, Jefferson

Advent Days 9 & 10!!

2011-12-10T19:39:00.000-08:00

I have been looking forward to these two days since we first started the advent calendar, so I
was pretty disappointed when day 9 came and we couldn't decorate our tree. You see, this is the 8th Christmas for me and Jason and this is the first one where we have actually had a tree (unless you count the 3 foot one we have had all the other years). I was so excited and Jefferson kept shouting that he was ready. We drove 30 minutes away to get the tree- decided to go for a fake one due to cost and other issues- got a prelit one-then got home and found that the top half the tree didn't work. Boooo. I was quite sad due to the fact that the nice family evening I had planned went down the drain. Jason spent hours trying to fix it, Jefferson got frustrated and started kicking it, so I took Addison and hid upstairs. Jason, being the trooper that he is, took the tree back today and got a new tree. We had fun making the ornaments and putting them on. Jefferson is soooo into Christmas this year- he is a bit obsessed with Rudolph lately. Addison just happily laid on the floor and watched the goings on.

It looks a bit bare, but we like it's simplicity. The rosettes were fun to make and cute. I'll probably make more smaller ones to fill in some of the holes. Jefferson and I had a blast making the birds. He absolutely loves them. I like them because my great grandma collected cardinals and it brings a more family feel to the tree.

Day 10 we were set to make "ginger bread" houses. I never use actual ginger bread. We had a great time. Of course, Jefferson consumed more candy than got put on the house, but what are you going to do?

He just wanted to eat the house. Typical boy!

The master piece. I think it turned out pretty fun. I wanted to go for a Weasleyesque Christmas house, but we did not have enough graham crackers so I scaled it back.

Jefferson went to look at it one last time before bed and he came up and told me that he couldn't open the door inside and then asked me what was going on in there. So I told him that a bunch of little boys and girls were in there getting fattened up to be eaten by a witch. Was that the wrong thing to say?

Advent Adventures and Christmas Presents

2011-12-05T09:13:00.001-08:00

On day 3 of our advent adventures we made candy cane reindeer and mice. It is so easy and Jefferson just had a blast. He loved the reindeer so much that he carried it around with him the rest of the day telling all sorts of stories about what the reindeer was doing. And then the next day he insisted on taking it to church so he could show his teacher. I am surprised that the candy cane hasn't been broken yet. It is just a lot of fun watching him get so excited and involved in what we are doing. Today we are going to cut out snowflakes and hang them from the ceiling, so that should be fun as well.

What do you get a small baby for Christmas? Well, I decided to make Addi some bean bags. They were super easy and I think they turned out really cute.

Jefferson had a blast "helping" me with the beans. By the time I was done there were dry pinto beans all over the kitchen floor. Oh well!!

Only a Mother

2011-12-03T07:34:00.000-08:00

Only a mother would wake up at 5 am to feed her 4 month old and not be able to get back to sleep because she is too busy worrying about her 3 1/2 year old who hasn't pooped in 2 days, and said mother has no idea how to "teach" her son to relax his sphincter muscles to do said pooping (thats what the peditrician told me to do) while sitting on the toilet. This is ridiculous and makes me feel like a horrible mother and quite frankly I am so tired of it that I am at the point to tears, but how on earth am I supposed to TEACH THAT!

Ringing in the Holidays

2011-12-01T12:57:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again!! This year I have decided that we need to create more fun and tradition in our household, so I put together a couple advent calendars to go along with the nightly spiritual reading for the season.

I found this first one in a magazine, although, I have seen it in quite a few other places. It is really simple, but adds to the fun and decoration. You need 24 Christmas socks and clothes pins. I wrote the numbers 1-24 on the pins and hung the socks. In each sock is a scroll of paper with an activity written on it to do that day.

Some examples are: Cutting out snowflakes, drive around and see the lights, make treats and take them to friends, color Christmas pictures, making sugar cookies, snow painting (can't wait to do that one), watching "The Polar Express", Decorating the tree, Making thumb print reindeer, or what we did today... Make doughnuts while decorating for Christmas. And being the bad mother that I am I let Jefferson eat as many as he wanted...he is on his fourth!! What can I say, bring on the Holidays!!!!

The second advent is Santa Claus and his missing beard. Click on the picture to read the poem at the bottom. Essentially, we will add a cotton ball to Santa's beard everyday until it's full (24) and that night Santa with come. It's cute and very cheap, so why not. Jefferson already loves it. He asks if he can touch Santa all the time.

Here he is putting the first of Santa's beard on this morning. I have a feeling Santa's beard is going to be of an unusual nature:)

Lastly, be have a book called "A Christmas Treasury for Latter Day Saint Families" It is full of stories and quotes and such to read each night for 24 days, focusing on qualities to develope during the holiday season, such as, hope, gratitude, wonder, generosity, compassion, forgiveness, courage, contentment, etc. I really enjoy it.

I hope everyone is having fun ringing in the beginning of the Holidays!!!!

2011-11-23T07:31:00.000-08:00

Tired of the same old Pumpkin pie year after year? Well, try this to shake things up a little.

Roasted Marshmallow Sweet Potato Pie It is so delicious- slightly sweet and smooth and gooey!! Enjoy!!!

I got the recipe from the Rachael Ray Thanksgiving magazine and here it is....
1 refrigerated pie crust
2 sweet potatoes (about 1 lb.)
1 cup buttermilk
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 bag (10 oz.) marshmallows (1 in. size)
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350. Unroll pie crust into 9 inch pie pan, crimp the edge and prick the bottom all over with a fork. Cover the crust with a sheet of foil and fill it with dried beans or other pie weights. Bake until crust is just dry and lightly colored, about 10 minutes. Remove foil and beans.
2. Meanwhile, pierce the sweet potatoes in several places. Microwave on a paper towel, turning once, until they are easily pierced with a fork, about 7 minutes. Let cool, then peel. Using food processor, pulse the sweet potatoes until smooth. Blend in the buttermilk, then add the eggs, brown sugar, and salt and pulse until combined, about 30 seconds. Pour filling into prepared crust. Bake the pie until the center is just set and puffed and the pastry is golden, about 50 minutes.
3. Preheat the broiler. Cover the top of the pie with large marshmallows, mounding then in the middle; fill the empty spaces with the mini marshmallows. Place the pie on a baking sheet and broil until brown, less than a minute. Turn off broiler, close the oven door and leave the pie in the oven until the marshmallow topping just softens, about 3 minutes. Transfer to rack to cool slightly.

*****Thanksgiving is my most favorite holiday! You get together with family and eat lots of great food and just have a grand old time. To me it is Christmas with out all the stress and presents. This year I have so much to be thankful for. First of all I am incredibly grateful for my family. I have two of the most healthy, beautiful and entertaining children. They bring me joy and comfort everyday. I have a fabulous husband who is the greatest in so many ways and I am lucky to have found him and tricked him into marrying me. I have the gospel and the greater perspective that it provides in my everyday life and doings. I have a warm house on these cold days, transportation to get where I need to go, food in the fridge and in my belly, the greatest parents and siblings a person could ask for, an education at a great college that helps me to teach my children on a daily basis, friends I can count on, beauty to see out my windows each morning, Jason'S good job to provide for us, etc, etc, etc. I could go on for a while, but who would actually read all of it.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!

The Wonder of Fall

2011-11-04T08:58:00.001-07:00

Fall is my most favorite time of year!!!!!!!

Cornbellies

2011-11-04T08:25:00.000-07:00

Saturday, before Halloween, we went to Cornbellies Corn Maze and had a blast. I thought it was just going to be the corn maze, but it was so much more. We went with my parents and sister and goofed around. It is quite expensive to do everything, but we got in for free because Costa Vida was one of the sponsers. Lucky Us--Thanks Dad!!

Here is The Man bouncing around and having a grand old time- once he actually got to the top- he had a little trouble there. Sometimes it wish I was little again-but only for a few minutes.
They had tons of bouncy houses, play sets, giant lincoln logs, rope climbs, duck races, haunted places, bull riding, gem finding, a hay maze, snacks, etc. Soooo fun!

Jefferson going down one of the many slides.

The Pig races....

The goat races...

The corn maze- it was a NASA theme this year. My dad gave Jefferson some dried corn and he tried to eat it. It didn't taste too good. We made it through in relatively good time only skipping about 4 clues. Mom thought we would never get out.

This kid loves big tractors and trucks, so he was in heaven when he got to sit on one. I love that curious children are so easy to please- everything holds wonder!

Boo at the Zoo

2011-11-04T08:11:00.001-07:00

Jefferson had been begging and begging to go back to the zoo since this past summer, so I thought going for Halloween would be a lot of fun. I was right! Jefferson had such a great time. I don't think he actually cared about the candy, but it was a nice bonus. We ran around for a couple hours and got to see most everything. Jefferson loved the tigers. He kept saying, "Wanna go see Raja" That's the tiger from Aladin. He is so in love with animals.

Elephants are pretty much his favorite. Just ask everyone he greets with a nice elephant sound. I am really trying to get him to start saying "Hi" instead of blowing at everyone- strangers and family alike.

Me and Addi- she slept a good portion of the time.

Us in front of the elephant that sneezes. We literally had to drag Jeffers away from this thing. He talks about it constantly. Luckily, since it was cold, it only sneezed gusts of air instead of water like in the summer.

The happy boy!!

Playing at the little playground. He had such a great time. It was totally worth the drive and payment. Trick or Treat!!

Pumpkins

2011-11-04T08:07:00.000-07:00

Our fabulous pumpkins. Jefferson would not even think about touching the pumpkins "yuckies" because it was "grodie" (His words)

Pumpkin Walk 2011

2011-10-25T07:58:00.001-07:00

We went to the Pumpkin Walk again this year for FHE. It was a lot of fun because Jefferson is older and found a lot more delight in the surroundings. He even got to pet a very large horse on the walk to the park. It was a little chilly and dark, but that did not diminish his joy at seeing all the pumpkins. I am often astounded at peoples' creativity and find myself a bit envious. There were some very nice scenes. I think the theme this year was " My Favorite Things". There were football scenes, movies, cartoons, humanitarian services, flower gardens, etc. Here are some of our favorites.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E Mickey Mouse

I love this picture of Jefferson. He was so excited he just could not keep still. Constant motion-that is what he is.

One of the most artistically painted scenes was Gilligan's Island. Gotta love those old reruns.

Gilligan and the Skipper- they had all the characters, but these were my favorite.

This is for Jeff and Kelli- the Calvin and Hobbs lovers. So funny!! Off to the side there was a girl and at her feet was a disassembled snow man and she was saying she didn't want to play anymore.

While I am not a huge fan of Winnie the Pooh you gotta appreciate Tiger and how he was put together- all pumpkins and squash. Very cute.

Where the Wild Things Are- very appropriate for Jefferson.

We had a great time and then headed over to my Aunt Jo's (or Purple Shirt, as Jefferson affectionately calls her) and Uncle Darwin's to visit and warm up before heading home. I love this time of year- the beginning of the Holidays and all the fun and tradition they bring.

Update

2011-10-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

I have been hearing that some people for some reason have not been able to post messages on this blog. I think that I have found the problem and fixed it. So, try to leave a message and if it still does not work let me know. THANKS

Halloween

2011-10-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

Jefferson pretty much refuses to wear costumes and since Addi is so little I am not going to bother spending a ton of money on a costume for her. So this year I had a cute (at least I think so) idea about shirts that I could make for them. Now, Jefferson is a great kid so the shirt doesn't really mean he's evil, but I thought the play on the boy/girl stereotypes was fun.

Here they are. Jefferson is the TRICK....

And Addison is the TREAT!!

Trick or Treat everyone!! I don't have to choose, I have both!!

3 months

2011-10-20T08:21:00.001-07:00

Addison is officially 3 months old today. I can't believe that the time has gone so fast. She is such a fabulous baby, I can't even express how great she is and how much we love her. She is smiling and laughing and babbling tons now. Although she will do these things more with Jason than she will with me. I am totally okay with that. I love that already she has a strong love for her daddy. He wanted a daddy's girl and now he has one. I think a lot of it is that she loves his voice. For the last few months of pregnancy we were really good about reading chapter books aloud together-me, Jason, Jefferson, and baby-so she would really know Jason once she was born. It makes my heart melt to see them together. On Sunday in Relief Society I was sitting next to an older lady that Jason home teaches and we started singing the opening song, when all of the sudden to turns to me with a fearful look in her eyes and asks, "Where's your baby?" I chuckled and replied, "Oh, Jason has her. He really wanted to take her today." Then she started laughing and said, "Ohhhhh, that is just so cute." I completely agree.

Maybe, eventually we will have a green eyed baby, but for now the blue eyes are winning out. That's okay because they are just beautiful and let us know that our kids are a good mix of the two of us. Addison really looks a lot like Jefferson did as a baby, but in a more feminine, delicate way. I happen to think she is gorgeous-no bias here.

I tried to get her to smile for the camera to show off her too cute dimples, but it was too distracting for her, so instead I got this weirdy face.

Among other things Addison really sleeps through the night. AND.I.LOVE.IT!! She really only fusses when she is hungry or really tired and Jefferson won't let her sleep. He is very protective lately. He'll tell me when she needs a diaper change, or when she needs to be moved or fed, or when she is crying and needs to be picked up. It is fun watching their relationship grow. Addison prefers to be sitting up instead of laying down and squirms like crazy. She is a mover and a shaker. She'll need to be to keep up with her brother.

So far I have lost 31 of the 40 pounds I gained. Some of this is due to the fact that Addi still eats about every two hours except at night. But these last pounds aren't budging. I broke my tail bone during labor and it is slow to heal and exercising makes it hurt. I'll run 3.5 miles and feel so good and motivated and then the next two days it's hard to sit down. It's one step forward, two steps back, but I'll get there eventually. Life is good!! My kids are beautiful and so much fun and I have a fantastic husband and I can't believe that I am so blessed. Hopefully I can be a good enough mom and wife so I can feel like I deserve such greatness in my family.

Addison's Blessing

2011-10-10T15:09:00.001-07:00

We blessed Addison yesterday and it was such a great time. Family came into town from near and far and it was a great experience. After what happened with James it was a special and emotional day for me. Once I found out I was pregnant with Addi I always had this day in my mind as a focusing point to stay positive. I know families are eternal and I know that Addison is such a blessing in our family. Thank you to all who could make it and help us celebrate this beautiful addition to our family. The blessing went really well and Jason did a great job. Addison is so loved and will be a good example to all those around her.

These fabulous pink cowgirl boots were made by my Great Aunt Jan. I absolutely love them and since it was a little chilly yesterday it was the perfect day to wear them.

We have sacrament last so I didn't dress her until right before sacrament- she's a spitty baby, but DANG she looks so darn cute.

After church we had every one over to eat and enjoy the company. The cake was fantastic and I am glad that it is almost gone because I would have eaten entirely too much.

Thomas Family: Sisters Jessica and Lisa with family and Jason's parents

Dixon/Harmon Family: Aunt Jo and Uncle Darwin, Aunt Marla, Mom and Dad, and little sis Jessica

Grandma Thomas with Baby Addison

Scripture Stories According to Jefferson

2011-10-07T17:59:00.000-07:00

Jefferson and I were discussing some scripture stories this morning. Specifically, the story of Nephi and his borthers going back to Jerusalem to get the brass plates from Laban.

While we were eating dinner I asked Jefferson to tell his dad what we talked about. This is how the conversation went:

Me: Jefferson tell Daddy about Nephi and Laban.

Jefferson: Nephi and Laman (Laban) and the sword.

Me: Tell Daddy what Nephi did with the sword. What did he do to Laban?

Jefferson: He cut off his.......HAIR. (This was followed by much laughter on his part)

Oh, if such simple things could fulfill the word of the Lord. Hair cutting is much better than Head cutting.

9 week update

2011-09-22T17:37:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Addison had her two month check up. I knew she was getting bigger, but I didn't realize just how big.

Birth Stats: 6 lbs. 15.8 oz. 21 inches

2 Week Stats: 7 lbs. 12 oz. 21.5 inches

9 Week Stats: 10 lbs. 15 oz. 24 inches

This girl is packing it on. She still eats about every two hours, but she gives me at least a 6-7 hour stretch at night. She is a much better sleeper than Jefferson. She is smiling a lot now and it is so fun to see because she has a dimple in the exact same spot that Jefferson does. Even though she is just about 11 lbs. she still doesn't fit in 0-3 month bottoms. Due to her length she is pretty much a string bean. She is in the 53% for weight, but the 91% for height. She is such a joy and I am really having fun with the bows and flowers and such. I reaaly need to take more pictures of her--sorry for the lack in this post, the most recent are from a few weeks ago. Will do better next time.

Waterfall Canyon

2011-09-08T09:09:00.001-07:00

For Labor Day I really wanted to do something outdoors. I have been itching to get outside and enjoy nature as a family for quite a while, so when I heard about Waterfall Canyon I knew it was a great idea. Monday morning we packed sandwiches, grapes, fruit leather, and crackers and set out on our way. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. It was not too hot and there was a very nice breeze. The hike itself was not too bad. It was 3 miles round trip. A little more steep than we thought it would be, but Jefferson did awesome and Addison slept the whole way up, woke up to eat and the Waterfall, then slept the whole way down. Sooooo beautiful!!

I'm the tiny person on the right. You can tell I have Addison in a carrier on the front of me. I got to the waterfall first to Jason took a picture from down below. I felt so great. I was so hot because Addi was on my front and I had my camelbak back pack on my back. Makes for one sweaty Kara, but atleast I was balanced. It was actually pretty funny because a lot of people had the same idea we did, and a lot of women would stop and ask me how old our baby was. And when I would reply, "Almost 7 weeks", they would get this bug-eyed look and pat me on the back and say, "wow, way to go", or "I wasn't even out of the house when my babies were 7 weeks". It made me laugh and feel good about myself. I have always loved hiking.

Jefferson absolutely loved the waterfall and finding "moster" rocks along the trail. He did so great. I was worried he would get super tired because of how steep and rocky it was, but he did awesome and he didn't stop talking about it all day. He did cry on the way down because he didn't want to leave the waterfall. So sad!

Ahhh, the beauties the Lord has layed out for us the enjoy. Such a great day!!

Me and My Place in Space

2011-08-23T12:03:00.001-07:00

Jefferson's current favorite book is called "Me and My Place in Space". It talks all about the solar system, galaxies, and the Universe. We read it A LOT! So it was quite a nice surprise that Jason's work held an open house for families of employees to come and see their last rocket from one of the programs. (Only employees are usually allowed on the work sights- so I had never seen where he worked) We got to see the rocket, the control room, the bunker, some moon rocks, and the Rocket Garden. It was a really fun day. Jefferson is still talking about it.

A sort of family picture in front of the rocket. Jefferson really wanted to go look so we never got a picture of him actually looking at the camera. The picture only shows the top half. It was quite large. Jeffers wanted to climb in the bottom where the fire comes out and he kept waiting for it to "shoot into the sky".

Addi enjoyed most of the trip from the comfort of the carseat.

He is very interested in what is inside. Good thing it's only a model.

Some moon rock!!

The Rocket Garden. This is basically all Jefferson can talk about these days. He wants to go back so bad. He thought it was the coolest thing he had ever seen.

He loved playing around in this segment of a rocket. He tried to run up the sides and bavk and forth and he really liked that everything echoed inside.

Bonus!! They were giving out "Punch out" rockets so you could "build" your own. He loves it. That night Jason had to put the poster and the rocket on his wall so he could see it all the time. I am so glad that he enjoys books and being able to see the things that he reads about.

Really great trip followed by homemade shortbread with strawberry jam and delicious watermelon from our garden and naps.

This is what happens....

2011-08-16T07:02:00.000-07:00

...When Jason Gets Bored

He starts yet another photo shoot of his favorite little girl.

Luckily she cooperates...

...for awhile, until Jason gets more bored and brings in props.

Addison does not think it's funny.

Here you go Mom!! It's is super short on her now, but she got to wear it one more time.

My First Sunday

2011-08-09T07:32:00.001-07:00

Addison and I got to go to church on Sunday. Granted, we only went to sacrament, but that was better than nothing to me. I really have a hard time missing church, so it was good to get out and go. Jason decided that he needed to have a little photo shoot of her first Sunday. If you ask me, Jason is smitten. And he might deny it, but I think he secretly loves the hair bows and dresses. It is hard to dress this girl, because she is too long for newborn clothes, but she is way too skinny for 0-3 clothes, hence the onesie underneath her dress. At her two week check up she had gained 3/4 lb. and grown 1/2 in. It's funny because for weight she is in the 33%, but for height she's in the 84%. Can we say "basketball". I see a power forward in her future.

Any way, here are the pictures of our lovely lady!

She just melts my heart!

With all her eating she is starting to get chubbs in the face- cracks me up.

She loves to stretch out while sleeping, just like Daddy and Jefferson.

I think she looks a lot more like Jason than Jefferson did.

Proud Daddy!!

Addison's Birth Story

2011-07-26T17:57:00.001-07:00

I went to my 39 week appointment on the 18th and was pleasantly surprised that things were progressing along very nicely, so I was a little surprised when my doctor asked if I wanted to have a baby on that Wednesday. It didn't take me very long to say, "Well, sure". You see, I think my doctor knows my state of mind very well. I have been quite nervous about going into labor after what happened with James, so I think for my peace of mind and his as well, he wanted to induce me so they could track every thing that was going on the whole time. Let me tell you, I was glued to Addison's heart monitor. I had Jason keep turning it up so I could always hear it. Things went very well and I am so grateful to have this little bundle of girlishness in our home.

Jason and I headed to the hospital very early Wednesday morning leaving Jefferson with my mom. (Thanks Mom!!!!) At 6:15 they started me on a small amount of pitocin to get some stronger contractions going ( I was already having some, but didn't even realize it). At 7:15 my doctor broke my water and let things get going. You know, I have been potty trained for quite some time now, so it was not fun to continually have fluid just randomly coming out. Sorry if that was TMI. Any way, Things were going well, I was watching TV, relaxing, breathing through the increasingly difficult contractions and around 1:30 I was feeling a lot of pressure and was at a 6+ so I got an epidural. I am proud I lasted that long because Addison's head was faced the wrong way making things a little harder. So, the epidural worked okay. It mostly just numbed my legs, but not the contractions. I got about an hour and fifteen minutes of rest and then the nurse emptied my bladder and HELLO... massive pains. She checked me right before and said I was at an 8 and it would probably be another hour, but 10 minutes later I made Jason go get her because it was bad. She came and I was complete. Only problem was that my doctor was doing a procedure in the office across the way. She told me not to push and he would hurry. Well, 30 minutes later, just as I was about to cry he came running in and two contractions later we had our sweet Addison without tearing or struggling and at the last minute she turned her head to face the right way, so it was perfect.

Recovery has been really good. Jefferson is adjusting okay. He has his moments where he doesn't understand why I can't just get up and do something with him or for him. He trys to push Addison's head away while I'm nursing if he really wants something, but he's getting better. If you have any tips that would help send them my way. Thank you for all the well wishes!!

Shes's Here!!!

2011-07-21T18:32:00.001-07:00

She's HERE!!!!!!

July 20th, 2011

Addison Claire Thomas

6 lbs. 15.8 oz.

21 inches

Here's a few pictures to wet your appetite and tomorrow I will post some more with the birth story. I will say that it went very well and I am doing great and so is Addi.

You can see that Jefferson was much more interested in "real" tv than in the baby. Such a funny kid, although once we got home he started calling her a monster. These next few days should prove interesting.

Sweet Baby!!

Sleeping with arms out just like dad and brother.

All snuggly!!

And yes, she does have hair. Yeahh!!

Photo Dump

2011-07-18T10:20:00.001-07:00

In preparation for the new baby Jason finally bought the new lense and flash for the camera that he has been wanting. I do have to admit that they make the pictures a lot better. In light of that Jason has been going a little picture crazy and always wanting to do what I call his "Photo shoots". They don't really work all that well with wiggly three year olds, but we got some really cute ones.
I just love this face. I just want to smother him with kisses.

Such a handsome boy. I am really curious about how a girl is going to look.

He loves to watch for airplanes and helicopters.

People around here have the most gorgeous gardens. So jealous!

They recently put the Angel Moroni on top of the Brigham City Temple. So beautiful. It is coming along.

Took Jeffers to the pool after hours of gardening. Our local pool is very kid friendly. Mostly Jefferson just wanted to go up and down the water slide and has not stopped talking about it since then.

I did not take him down the slide. I have enough balance issues as it is right now.

Some garden shots. Peppers are coming along nicely. Salsa, here we come.

Some of our cucumber plants and corn. We do have a lot more growing, we just didn't get good shots of it. I ate our first Roma tomato on a sandwich yesterday and our first cucumber, yummy. Jason is trying to sneakily get rid of the zuchinni, but we'll eat those too.

Me at 39 weeks. I think I look pretty cute, just don't ask me how I look on the day of delivery.

The Reunion

2011-07-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

Since my family is so spread out we can really only get together about every two years, so it is a special time. The week before the 4th my whole family got together at my parents house and had our little reunion and tons of fun. I always enjoy the noise of kids, laughing, eating, and playing. Jefferson was in heaven. I am not so much fun these days, what with being very pregnant and all. He loved running around with his cousins all week long. The day after we got back we were sitting at the breakfast table and Jefferson turned to me and said, "Mama, wanna go home." I told him we were home and he responded, "No, wanna go home to Gramma's." Oh, well thanks. It is understandable though. Lot's more room to run around and he can go outside pretty much all day because they have a fenced in yard and a trampoline (his love). Any way, it was great to see everyone. Here are some of the things that we did.

Three of my brother's children helping to make a pinata for a gathering of my mom's family. No final picture because let's face it, it wasn't all that great. I blame the poor structure on pregnancy brain. Plus, the kids liked it and just wanted the candy, so all was well. It was an ice cream cone, by the way. Pinatas are very easy to make, and really fun for kids to help with.

We went bowling. And I realized that being hugely pregnant and bowling do not go hand in hand. My five year niece beat me. Seriously, your whole center of gravity is off and I think I pulled butt muscles. We'll have to see if my theory holds true when I am no longer pregnant. Brynna still might beat me.

Go Dad Go!!

There was golf...a lot of golf.. at least for my brother, but also my dad, sister Kelli, and Jeff's boys Keyan and Tracen. For the others there were manicures and pedicures. My toes have never looked so pretty!! And there was a lot of water fights going on. Jefferson always seemed to be soaking wet some how. Oh yeah, it's because he figured out how to turn on the sprinklers by himself. Atleast he had fun!! Although Tracen might disagree, due to the fact that he got soaked while jumping on the trampoline and got blindsided by sprinklers when Jefferson decided it was time to turn them on.

We went to the Zoo. Kids had a blast, especially with the new dinosaur displays through out the park. Jefferson still firmly believes that they should not move or make noise, so he did not appreciate them as much. Especially the one that spit water and the T-Rex. Thanks to everyone for helping me out due to not being able to run after him. The little guy is seriously fast.

A little fun on the Carousel. Jefferson was upset because he only got to ride one animal. He wanted to go back and ride the tiger and the zebra as well.

A little BBQ fun. Jason made homemade rootbeer, which tasted really good, but kind of freaked me out because it wasn't brown. We had hot dogs and hamburgers and all that good stuff. We had lots of fun with the smores. Really good times.

My lovely sister Vanna, I mean Kelli, demonstrating the deliciousness that is the gigantic Campfire marshmallow.

We spent Saturday at the park with extended family eating and playing games. Note to self: when having a pinata during the summer, do not put chocolate in it. It will melt and make a complete mess of everything. Like I said-pregnancy brain.

It was fun to all be at church together which hasn't happened in years and to just relax and enjoy the company. Love you guys!!

Baby at 37.5 weeks

2011-07-08T08:07:00.001-07:00

Here's our little girl at my last appointment at 37.5 weeks. I think she is starting to look a little squished, don't you. I think it is about time for her to make an appearance. Jefferson was 8 days early so I am still hoping that she will do the same, but you never know. The doctor measured her head and femur to approximate weight and he said that right now she is about 6 lbs. 4 oz. and she has long legs. Well, I could have told him that considering I can feel her kicking my hip bone at times.

Sooooooo excited!! Can't wait until she gets here!

Excuse Me....

2011-06-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

Jefferson, my three year old son, just came up to me and said,

"Hey doll, wanna dance?"

Whhhhhhaaaaattttttt? Watch out girls. He may be only three, but he is on his way to becoming an honest to goodness ladies man. Yikes!

Dinosaur Park!!

2011-06-14T11:30:00.001-07:00

On Jason's day off last week we decided to take Jefferson to the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park in Ogden. Oh my heavens, if your kids are the least bit interested in dinos and you are anywhere close, I urge you to go. It is sooo fun and absolutely cool. We could have spent hours there. There is the outside park and there is a two story museum. So much to see and do.

Jefferson loves dinosaurs, but he was freaked out a little bit at first. The dinosaurs outside are to scale and I don't think he realized just how big dinos really are. We had to keep telling him that they weren't real-hence, the picture of us breaking the rules and letting him touch his favorite- the Triceratops. It didn't really help that the first dino you encounter out of the doors after paying is the huge T-rex (remember-to scale) and in front of him is his bloodied lunch waiting to be eaten- oh, and the park has dino noises piped in surround sound. He was just waiting for that T-rex to move and eat him. The look on his face was pretty comical, but it didn't take long for him to calm down and start running all over the place.

The favorite. It was so neat to see so many different dinosaurs and their varying sizes.

You can tell how huge this one is by seeing Jason and Jefferson underneath trying to touch it's belly. SO big, they had to make this one a tunnel.

To give the kids a rest they have a playground area. It too is full of dinosaurs. The slides, swings, climbing dome, etc.- all dino stuff. Really nice.

Also, one of the really cool things is that at the back of the park there is a education center. We stopped in there so I could rest a little and cool off. They have coloring pages, puzzles, books, etc. But the coolest thing is this wall. It is covered in wooden dino bones that are velcroed to the wall, so kids can pull them off the wall and build their own dinosaur. Jefferson had such a blast. And to be honest- so did Jason. They each built a dinosaur.

Building his dino!

They also have fun little things along the walk ways. Photo ops, dinosuar footprints, sand to dig and dust for dino fossils, etc. Jefferson just loved running around and finding all the different things.

The stegosaurus is his second favorite.

Once you're finally done outside you can go into the museum. That is where you will find the fossils and pictures and stuff. They had some animatronics upstairs, but they were too life like for the Jeff-man. Once the T-rex turned it's head toward him and roared- Jefferson was DONE!

So, I knew there were wolly mammoths, but did you know there were wolly rhinos? UGLY!

Jefferson talked about this place for days. We will definitly have to go back!

Perfect Days and Side Projects

2011-06-09T07:39:00.001-07:00

Last week Jefferson and I had a really perfect day. It was the first official day of school out and even though Jeffers is not in school we thought it would be fun to mark the day. The morning was gorgeous. It wasn't too hot and there was a nice breeze, plus I felt like I had a lot of energy. With that, we set off to the park at 9:00. We were the only ones there and Jefferson had a blast going up and down, up and down, up and down the slides. He was positively giddy. I love seeing him so happy and full of laughter. After the park we walked to main street and dropped off a little project I have been working on to be laminated and then we headed to the library.

Seriously, Jefferson asks to go to the library almost every day. It makes my mother heart so happy. He did great. Not once did he get possessive of the alphabet puzzle (he thinks it's his) and he played with the other kids nicely, and helped me pick out books (monster books, ofcourse). He didn't put up a fuss when it was time to head home and hour latter and happily carried his favorite monster book the whole way home. We stopped back off to pick up my project and then began the journey home, which took us past the Brigham City Temple that is being built.

This was the coolest part. They have started putting up the paneling on the outside so it really looks like a Temple. When we were walking past I noticed that there were quite a few people standing around with cameras. Not too many, but enough for me to wonder if something was going on. I kept walking because it was lunch time and nap time, but as I got to the corner I heard a loud horn and then saw a crane moving. So we turned around and...... I realized what everyone was waiting to see. Jefferson and I got to witness the raising of the block that sits at the top of the Temple bearing it's purpose: Holiness to the Lord, The House of the Lord. In that moment I was filled with the Spirit and I can't wait until the Temple is completed. It will be such a blessing to those in this city. Onward home we went with a new spring in out steps thanking the Lord for out good timing. And a fabulous day.

The Project:

At the start of every year I go through our church magazines. We only keep the conference issues and it would break my heart to get rid of all the other ones, especially with all their beautiful art. So I decided to go through and cut out the pictures that I loved and really could be a teaching tool. I started making church books. I would go through the scriptures of the children's hymn book and find things to put alongside the pictures. It really is great becuase it opens the door to so many stories and principles that just don't come up all that often. It takes a little time, but I always love the finished product.

You're already paying for the magzines so, really, you are getting a customized church book for the price of laminating ( I use the good sturdy stuff).

And I don't feel that the stories or principles are complicated when I use children's song lyrics or simple scriptures to tell the story.

Plus, the artwork is just beautiful and even if that is all Jefferson notices, I think the spirit will take care of the rest. So fun and easy. Try It!! I relearn stories at the same time so I feel that I am bettering myself as well as trying to teach Jefferson.

Baby @ 32 weeks 4 days

2011-06-05T08:15:00.001-07:00

This past week at my doctors appointment we got to take a little peek at our little girl. Sooooo cute. I am curious though, because at the 20 week ultrasound she had my nose, as did the two boys, but in this picture she looks like she has Jason's nose. So, I guess we will find out in a little while whose nose she has. She is definitly a mover and a shaker. It comforts me though, instead of annoying me. It lets me know she is doing good and having fun it there. We'll see how the next seven weeks go as she steadily gets bigger.

Peacefully sleeping

And this is what I like to call her Bitter Beer face. I think the doctor caught her just as she was taking a drink or something. Kind of funny. He saw that one and said, "That's not a good one, lets get another." Funny!! She just takes after her cousin Ada. J/K Beth! I don't think it looks that bad. Just funny.

Completed Blanket

2011-05-31T11:34:00.001-07:00

I finished the baby's blanket a while ago, but kept forgetting to put the pictures up, so here it is. I really like how it turned out. It is not so girly, but still feminine. What do you think?

This is the backing. I really like it. It may be brown and blue, but the butterflies bring out the girly side, and we finally found a fabric to match the pink to go around the border. Super cute, I can't wait until she gets here. 8 weeks to go (hopefully a little less).

No, we haven't picked a name yet. I am drawing a complete blank. I keep praying that it will come to me in a dream or something. Any ideas? Suggestions are welcome.

We're Back!!

2011-05-21T11:35:00.001-07:00

So, we're back from Texas and settled back into our routine. It was a pleasant and crazy trip. Atleast we flew this time instead of driving. MUUUUUUUCCCCCCHHHH better.

We mainly went to Texas because Jason's little sister Rosa got married. She and Jon were sealed in the San Antonio Temple and let me tell you, that temple is gorgeous. I haven't been in a lot of temples, but the ones I have been in are bigger. San Antonio is a small Temple, but I think one of the most beautiful. Some one told me that it has the most stained glass of any temple in the world. Each of the rooms just inspired awe and thought. We were so lucky to be able to attend a session the night before the sealing. The sealing itself was very nice, although very short- I'm talking 10 minutes short. The couple looked so happy and elated to be together for eternity. Sorry for the mass of pics, there are a ton more, maybe I'll post some more later.

These are the corsages the sisters (in-law) got and they were made by Rosa and her friends.
We are a happy family. I am 30 weeks pregnant in this picture and unfortunately about that many pounds heavier. This girl just doesn't want to let anything go. If you can't tell, Rosa's colors were red, white and black.

The happy couple!

Rosa's side of the family. I'm trying to hide, but Sandra doesn't provide much cover due to how tiny she is.

While other pictures were being taken the boys figured out that the wall behind the railing could be used as a slide. It provided a good half hour of entertainment.

Rosa and her siblings (minus Joe who's on his mission in Utah)

Cali the cutie as flower girl with Rosa!!

Congrats to Rosa and Jon and best wishes for all the fun, joy, adventure, etc. to come!

We Love You!

A Lesson in Action and Reaction

2011-05-03T08:49:00.001-07:00

Recently we had to have a little scientific discussion with Jefferson due to an unfortunate event. He was playing at his cousin's house and decided it would be fun to push the swings. No problem, right? Well.......

Here he is pushing the red swing.....

Then pushing the tetter-totter.....

Whoa, hello, didn't realize that they would be coming back. The red swing smacked him in the head on it's way back and gave Jeffers a nice little bruise.

Maybe it's better to just push one swing at a time.

Easter morning

2011-04-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

Easter morning was nice. We got up and Jefferson got to "find" his goodies. Let me explaing the sand pail. When Jason and I were engaged we decided to do Easter baskets for each other. But when we got to the store we didn't want to spend the money on the silly baskets so we found one dollar sand pails and the tradition has stuck. So, there you go. Jefferson got a Toy Story and pail.

My little sister Jessie has a stuffed frog that Jeffers carries every where when we are at my parents so I decided to get him his own. He now carries this one everywhere. Books are never a bad idea and he likes them a lot. Plus, of course, the candy.

I forgot to take a picture before church and during nursery Jefferson got in a fight with a table and lost. He got a bloody nose and proceeded to wipe it on his sleeve. That is why Jason is covering his arm. But they are still my handsome boys. LOVE THEM!!

Church was wonderful and gave me a lot to be thankful for and a lot to ponder on. For dinner we had delicious honey glazed ham, mashed potatoes, and fruit salad. Soooo good. And Jefferson even ate the ham. Of course I told him it was bacon. Well, it's the same family, right.

The dying of the eggs!

2011-04-27T08:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday night we colored a bunch of eggs. This is the first year I feel that Jefferson was really able to do it himself and he had a great time.

Emmaline didn't really care about dying the eggs she just wanted to eat it. That girl sure loves to eat.
Here is David showing us his massive muscles. It cracks me up every time he does this.

Jefferson loved doing this. Every time he would put an egg in he would say, "Good job". He is all about self affirmation. When he would take the egg out he would say, "Woooowww, yellow" or what ever color it was. I love the simple amazement he gets out of these types of things.

And yes, he got a hair cut that morning, you can tell from the previous post.

Landon was very sleepy so he wasn't so sure about the whole egg thing.

Jason got his turn with the Jeffers.

And we left Grandpa with the mess. J/K we helped clean up.

Easter Festivities with Jason's Fam

2011-04-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

Jason's family came into town from Texas to attend Rosa's graduation and while here we had a little Easter fun. Grandma and Grandpa brought Easter goodies and the kids got to find their baskets on Friday night. Jefferson was just glad to go outside again. Seriously, you would think this kid was born in the forest. He would live outside if he could. You can tell he has already been out for most of the day due to his hair and flushed face. But he sure is happy!!

They got tiny pinwheels in their baskets and were so entertained. Here is cousin David giving it his best.
Below is Aunt Jessica with cousins Landon and Issac with their baskets.

Jefferson just really loved playing with his cousins. The next morning he kept asking to go back to Landons house to play.
Thanks grandma and grandpa!!

Park City

2011-04-22T08:51:00.001-07:00

The week after Jason was in Chicago we went to Park City for three days. My parents had gotten a time share, but could only use it for the second half of the week. They graciously offered it to us for the first half and my mom watched Jefferson so we could have a little babymoon. Guys, let me tell you, this suite was awesome. Loved it. It had a kitchen so we got breakfast stuff and some snacks. It's hard to go out for breakfast, especially when one person is pregnant and gets up earlier than the non-pregnant. We had a really nice time relaxing. Even though the weather was not that great we walked around a lot, drove up to the huge fancy homes in the mountains, watched movies, ate lots of good food, and just got to hang together. It wasn't much but I really love the times when we're sitting on the bed and I'm resting watching the news and he's next to me reading the paper. Love it. So homey.

Okay, so since the weather wasn't great we didn't really get any pictures. But one of the best things about the suite was the gigantic bath tub. Seriously, I could have spent forever in there if I wasn't so worried about cooking the baby. It could have fit more than two non-pregnant Karas. I made Jason take a pic so we could remember how big and nice it was. You know, for when we have our dream home.

The piece of paper is there to provide some perspective.

And this is just me chilling on the couch watching the news. 26 weeks and growing too fast- I feel huge for still having 14 weeks to go. Jason might have to roll me to the delivery room.

We're Back

2011-04-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

We're back! A couple weeks ago Jason had a business trip in Chicago, so for that whole week Jeffers and I went and stayed with my parents. Honestly, he likes it there better than home, and I don't blame him. He gets to run around a lot and has more people to talk to. He gets to sleep in a big bed and Nana actually has tv so he can watch cartoons in the morning. We had a great time. We did some shopping, baking, sewing, talking,etc. It's great to go home some times. One of the days we took Jefferson to the Aquarium. The whole way there he kept saying, "Mama, see Nemo and Dori" He was so excited that my mom had a hard time getting him out of the car seat because he was shaking with glee. It was hilarious.

Here he is pointing to Nemo. He was so proud of himself when he found him. He practically screamed, "There he is, there he is". The kids next to him thought it was pretty comical. He also found Dori, but Nemo was the best.

Loved the sharks. He was very upset that he couldn't actually touch them. He was mad that he couldn't touch anything. The sting ray touch pool was too deep for his little arms.

He was appeased a little with being able to touch the fake stuff. And he had to touch all of it.

Loves the frogs.

The penguins were a pleasant surprise and they were fun to watch. Jefferson was fascinated.

At the beginning of the South America exhibit they had a body temp tv. You can tell the Jefferson had been running wild and my mom was the one who got to chase after him. Pregnancy does have it's advantages. We had a great time, Thanks Mom!!!

Jefferson's Birthday Part I

2011-04-04T09:06:00.001-07:00

Jeffers' birthday falls on or around conference so we usually celebrate his birthday that weekend with my family. He is to the age now where he understands what's going on so it was a lot more fun. All day Sunday he kept asking, "Mama, sing happy day song?" It was really funny. We did have to sing and let him blow out his candles twice. He even practiced blowing, but a good portion of the time spit came with it. Just ask Jessie.

His fun dirt cake with worms and bugs. He loved it. He would have eaten all the worms and bugs if we had let him.

He got so excited when we started singing to him. He was beside himself with glee. Blowing and blowing

My gosh, he is getting so big. He's not my little boy anymore. Sad.

Everyone pretty much hit the Jackpot when it came to presents. Aunt Jessie gave him Cars books and it took about 10 minutes to get him to put them aside to open the other presents. Jessie became his fav this weekend. He would follow her around saying, "Jessie, jessie" It was cute.

Nana and Papa got Jefferson a shirt and a Thomas magnadoodle thingy. He really enjoys watching it disappear. He will hold up his hands in the air and announce every time it "disappears".

From Jason and I, Jefferson received dinosaur stuff. He loves them. It was so hard to wait to give them to him because Friday and Saturday he was asking for dinos and I had to keep saying no. When he opened the bag he would say, "Wow, a dinosaur!" with each one. We are glad he likes them. He also got a dino encyclopedia and a floor mat to play with his dinos on. We had to start immediately and he takes some dinos to bed with him. It is a lot of fun to watch his excitment.

Kelli, notice that he is wearing your Harley shirt in honor of your gift.

Thanks for everything everybody. We had a great time. Even on the way home Jefferson was asking if we could go to Grandma's today. I tried to explain that we were there and had just left, but whatever.

A little April Fools

2011-04-04T08:58:00.001-07:00

The fam and I went to my parents for conference weekend and we decided to have a little April Fools Day fun on Friday night. We had breakfast for dinner: delicious waffles with fresh fruit and we had dinner for dessert.

Aren't these the funnest things ever? The hamburgers are white cupcakes and brownies with different colored frosting for the condiments. The french fries are made of cut up pound cake baked in the oven for a few minutes. Can't eat more than one, but it was a lot of fun to see every ones' expressions.

My dad, the marketing man, laughing at the silliness of it all. Too bad Jefferson was already asleep.

Sneaky:)

2011-03-28T09:16:00.001-07:00

Would you believe that these delicious looking muffins have butternut squash in them. It's all just part of my evil (okay maybe not evil) plan to get Jefferson and Jason to eat more healthfully. And it seems to be working. Yippppeeeee!

These are the applesauce muffins from "Deceptively Delicious". They are not very sweet, but warm with a little butter and they are great. And, hey, Jefferson ate squash this morning, which he wouldn't even do when he was a baby. Score one for Mom!!

Jefferson has a big problem with texture, due to an unfortunate sickness after eating masses of strawberries. So the only fresh fruit he really eats are apples. I have gotten the hang of the fruit issue. He will eat any dried or freeze dried fruit and I mix fresh fruit puree into his all natural applesauce and into other things. Plus, Fruitables juice is great. It's the vegetables that are still a problem. But as you can see, we are making some progress. Hey, I am not above trickery.

Of course, he felt he had to lick it first, even though he had been saying, "Mmmmmm yummy muffins" for about 15 minutes while he watched them bake.

Annnnnddddddd, success!!

The Next Best Thing

2011-03-23T11:38:00.000-07:00

What do you do when it's still too cold to go outside and play and have a picnic?

You climb on the bench at the kitchen table, pull up the blinds, move your food to the windowsill, and watch for the airplanes that you keep hearing. He did enjoy himself. He kept telling me there were planes in the grass. He wishes.
Atleast he ate his lunch. We are making slow but steady progress in the picky-eating area. Thank Goodness. And yikes, these pictures make my kitchen look terrible.

Thanks Aunt Kelli!!!

2011-03-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

So, Jefferson received a surprise present in the mail from his Aunt Kelli today. He saw it after his nap and excitedly proclaimed, "A Christmas present". All presents are Christmas presents to him. He's still getting the hang of various holidays.

He loves to unwrap! (with his trusty duck and turtle looking on)

The great lopsided smile. He immediately started counting all the "otter-cycles" he could find. Kelli is sure trying to make sure that my kid was "born to be wild". It's great!! Thank you Kelli, although, you left out the black bandana with skulls on it. And the chaps.

Ouchy!!!

2011-03-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

Wow, that looks like it hurts!!

Jefferson decided to be a little too hands on when it came to helping Jason make strawberry pancakes on Saturday. Once he touched the burner he started screaming like a banshee. He knows not to touch the pan, but I guess he figured the burner wouldn't hurt. He knows better now. It was so sad. He cried for a good long while until Jason gave him a blessing and he almost immediately calmed down. He clutched his blankie in his burned hand to keep from using it all day and he would not let us touch it at all. He even ate left handed (which was pretty impressive considering it was beans and applesauce). Today he was better. As soon as he got up he was sticking his hand in my face. We have had this conversation about 25 times today...

j: Ouchy mama, have ouchy.

m: Yeah, how did you get your ouchy?

j: Touched a stove. (he said "snow" until he got the hang of the word "stove")

m: Really! Why don't we touch the stove?

j: Is hot, berry hot.

m: Yep.

j: Hand's hot.

m: Well, until it gets better I guess.

He actually has been really good about it. He hates bandaids (like his mother) so I was worried that he would try and pop it or something, but no need to worry. Even though it's big he seems to forget about it most of the time. He is back to using both hands and thankfully he was able to leave his blankie home during church. I guess it's just another teaching opportunity. Now hopefully he knows not to touch hot pans OR hot burners.

Decisions, Decisions

2011-03-10T08:53:00.001-08:00

Ever since we found out that we are having a girl I have been trying to decide which baby quilt to make her. I was never a girly girl so I tend to want to stay away from lots of pink, but who knows. I want all of your opinions. PLEASE!!

This is Jason's favorite. It's a little more modern, but a little toned down.

I love red. It's feminine, but strong. But is it too strong?

I really like these fabrics because they are more old fashioned. It reminds me of a quilt my grandma would make. Together they are more quietly feminine without being pink.

Here's the pink, but with some greens. Once again, this is more old fashioned, but has more pink to it. What do you think?

Please, please help me decide.

A Heavenly Gift

2011-03-03T16:10:00.001-08:00

Exactly a year from the date that Jason and I found out that our little James would not survive the pregnancy, we found out that we were expecting again. I did and still do believe that it was a gift that we found out on that day. I knew it was going to be a hard day and then to be able to have an equally great memory to share that day really helped me to see the miracles in life. Now, don't get me wrong, I was not and am still not (to a degree) the happy, carefree pregnant women. As much as I felt it was the right time to start trying again, and that I would be able to do it; it was nothing compared to when I actually had done it. I was absolutely terrified those first few weeks. My thoughts ran along the lines of, "What the heck am I doing, I can't go through that again" to "Please, please, please let everything be okay". I still am a bit nervous and probably will be until the baby is in my arms, but such is life for someone who has gone through a tragedy like ours. As of today I have been breathing a little easier because we had our big ultrasound. And YES, everything is where it should be, and functioning as it should be. You may say, "Well, of course it is", but as a parent of a child that passed away because things not being where they should be, it was a big concern. Don't get me wrong, I am TOTALLY happy, just nervous. Jason took a holiday so we could spend the day as a family and go out to eat and have some fun. It was great. I even got a few celebratory outfits.

Here is our little one's profile. It looks like my nose is dominant. I thought that maybe since both boys had my nose that this one would have Jason's, but nope. Mine. The technician said that our baby looked like a little "who" with the little button nose, but I love it!

We got a couple 3D pictures at the appointment. Sleeping as usual, although this kid has a nack for kicking my blatter-not fun. Jefferson was very considerate in that aspect.

Okay, before the suspense kills you....... it's a GIRL. Our very first. I am nervous to have a girl, but also very excited at the same time. I am due in late July and can't wait to have this new addition. I know this is silly, but all prayers are appreciated for the safe arrival of our little lady, and please don't forget those that are trying to bring more children to their families.

Oh Sundays

2011-02-28T08:55:00.000-08:00

Sundays tucker this poor kid out. We have late church (12:30-3:30) with sacrament last. Whoever thought of this schedule obviously didn't have young children. The mornings aren't bad, he usually plays trains and "helps" mom and dad get ready. We read scriptures and so on, but 12:30 is his naptime and it goes until 3:00- most, if not all of church. So we get to church with him on the edge of being tired and then he gets 2 hours of running around with his friends. We get him back for sacrament and he is about to get really grumpy. If we're lucky and none of his friends are sitting close he will sometimes fall asleep for the last half hour. IF we are lucky. If not, it's a wrestling match for that hour. Most after church activities look like this...

He is not sleeping, but contemplating the meaning of life with his current favorite stuffed animal who is aptly named "Duck". While I am cooking dinner Jason is usually reading a gazillion stories to Jefferson to pass the time and keep him from turning into a crazed child. Yesterday it was Alladin over and over again. He calls this story "Camel" because he likes the animals in this story. He always associates stories with the favorite animal in it. And Yes, monsters do count. He LOVES monsters- silly kid.

Happy Birthday Jason!!

2011-02-24T11:30:00.000-08:00

Happy 31st Jason!!

Jason's birthday was yesterday and it turned out great. We had a really good evening with Jason for his birthday. For dinner we had really good lasagna (thanks mom!), green salad, fresh from the oven whole wheat bread with our bottled peach jam from our tree, and lastly, Jason's favorite spice cake for dessert. Sooooo good, but soooo filling. I had to stretch out on the couch afterwards.

Next, we opened presents. Jefferson really thought it was Christmas again and once we reminded him it was Dad's birthday he decided it was his birthday and had to "help" open up the cards and presents. Funny kid. Jason received a 3-in-1 waterproof blanket and a really nice leatherman that he can clip to his belt. Very McGyverish. He also got some movies that Jefferson helped pick out. He got the Karate Kid Trilogy and The Sorcerer's Apprentice. We watched the second after dinner and it was a really fun family friendly movie. I recomend it.

Jefferson picked out a really great card with a dad dressed as Super Man on the front (he loves the oldschool superman movies) and when you open it it plays "We Are the Champions". I think Jefferson liked it more than Jason. He kept opening and closing the card, laughing this gut wrenching laugh each time, it cracks me up.

This is my some-what sad atempt at making a regular cake cool. Oh well, it tasted good.

Happy Birthday Jason!!! Love You!!!

May I Tempt You...

2011-02-14T08:24:00.000-08:00

...With These Little Beauties For Valentines Day!

I got this recipe from www.picky-palate.com (which I love), and they turned out even better than I thought. I should have put a ruler in the picture because these babies are huge. They are called Brownie Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies and they are divine. You can really only eat one due to the fact that they are gigantic, but oh are they good. I made them for our wards Valentines recipe exchange and everyone told me I was a genius for putting a brownie in a cookie. Sadly, I had to tell them that I stole the idea.

Brownie in the middle!!! What's not to love? Mine didn't flatten out like the pictures on the website, mine just got huge, like, bigger than my palm huge. Fabulous!!!

And on a side note- I found these on www.craftgawker.com (which I also love) and thought they were so cute. If Jefferson was in school I totally would have done valentines like this. Aren't they great? Love them pirates.

Happy Valentines Day!!
Now I have to go cut out hearts with Jefferson to place all around the house for Jason. FUN!

My Outdoorsman

2011-02-11T13:28:00.001-08:00

Jefferson absolutely adores being outside. Nothing makes him happier. Usually I have no problem giving in to his wishes of outdoor enjoyment, but winter is hard. It has been really, bitterly cold this winter and we get a lot of wind. So needless to say we haven't ventured out much. Jefferson is constantly asking if we can go out and since his is older now it is hard for him when I say no. Soooo, he has developed a new habit that I finally caught on film.

Our windowsills are quite wide and he has discovered that he can stand on them. He does this everyday. He will stay there for 30 minutes just looking outside. In the mornings he gets my stool and looks out our bedroom window by pulling the blinds up. After nap time he will climb his book shelf and look out his window and talk to the tractors and cars that have been left in our neighbors yard. In the afternoon he stands in our living room window. The first and last don't bother be too much, but his bedroom habit I do not appreciate, because he usually can't get down so I have to go save him when he starts yelling, "Help, help!" If he fell it would probably not end well.

Here's praying for warmer weather!!

Wee Wonderfuls

2011-02-01T17:22:00.001-08:00

While I was wandering around the library this last weekend I stumbled upon this book...

I love looking through craft books to see how creative people are and to see if I can replicate some of the ideas. Now, I don't have any daughters (there are boy things, but it's mostly girl stuff) but I do have 7 nieces. Let me tell you...this book is awesome. The dolls are so incredibly cute and the instructions (including pictures) are clear as well as the patterns at the end of the book. They do not seem all that complicated. A lot of them don't even require a sewing maching. I am seriously thinking about buying this book. I love homemade presents so much more than store bought and these are just the thing for little girls. Here are just a few of the ones I really liked.

Tag-a-long Doll: You make a cute little apron and there is a slot just for her. Aren't the dolls pigtails so darn cute?

The three dolls are called Sleepover Pals: Easy to make dolls that come with their own sleeping bags that roll up and tie so you just have this little bundle. So fun. You may think these dolls look small, but they are 8" tall.

The two bears are Melvin and Marian the Bear Librarians: They gaurd your books. They have to be my favorite so far. Aren't they just the cutest things?

The stick dolls are Hansel and Gretel: although the pattern does show you how to make more costumes so these are really just story time dolls. So fun, the outfits just slip on and off the wooden spoon.

The topsy-turvy doll is called Margot: So great, two dolls in one. And from the picture it may look difficult, but reading the instructions made it sound so simple. Great idea!!

Lastly, this is Patchwork Penny: Her outfit is a patch work of fabric and she comes with a matching small quilt. Of course you have to make all these things. But, dang they are adorable. These kinds of books that are user friendly and so cute really spark my creativity. Does my creativity count if the ideas are some one else's? Oh well, whatever. I just can't choose which on to make.

One Funeral That Almost Became Two

2011-01-25T09:12:00.000-08:00

A little background is in order for this story. First of all, Jason's grandmother Alice (paternal) passed away this last week so we drove up to Boise over the weekend for her funeral. Secondly, Jefferson has become a daredevil. He will climb anything and he is honestly the fastest kid that I have ever met. He runs on his toes, which is how sprinters train. He will bypass me in speed probably in the next year. It's rediciulous.

Lovely Alice

So, we were at the funeral on Friday afternoon and it was lovely, except for the fact that Jefferson had not gotten his nap. When he is tired he resembles a drunk. He becomes so clumsy. After the funeral some of Aunt Kim's friends put together the most beautiful dinner in the gym for family. Seriously, the center pieces were fabulous. They consisted of huge decorative vases filled with silver and purple glittery balls and the vase had a purple ribbon tied around it and it was sitting on top of a square piece of glass with little fake diamonds sprinkled around. And next to the vase was a picture of Alice in a beautiful frame all on top of a white table cloth. Soooooo pretty and the food was great. I let Jason eat and watched Jefferson and then we switched places, or so I thought. Here I am eating a sandwich and here comes Aunt Kim with a muddy and soaking wet Jefferson. Jason's 11 year cousin found Jefferson outside in the parking lot playing in the puddles all by himself. Fabulous. Sighing, I continue to watch Jefferson for a while before asking Jason if he could watch him so I could finish eating. Great, he took him and walked around. Weeeeellllll, I was walking over to get some dessert (there were like 10 kinds!!) and I hear this massively loud crash followed by about 75 collective gasps. I turn around and see my kid on the floor laying on top of a huge amount of broken glass. Jason had let him onto the stage with the other kids and then started talking to someone else. Jefferson thought it would be fun to run through the curtains not realizing that on the other side there was nothing to stop him. So through he ran, and ran into the biggest center piece that had been placed on the center of the stage. There was so much glass!! He took that with him as he did a swan dive off the stage. Miraculously, he landed completely flat on his back so there was no one point of impact and he only got 3 tiny cuts on his lower back. I was so freaked out. It was horrible. Five seconds after it happened Jason stuck his head out of the curtain and asked, "What happened?", if there hadn't been so many people concerned and worried that man would have gotten an hearful, let me tell you. I was just waiting for him to start swaying and vomiting (signs of concussion) but that didn't happen. Actually, he barely cried.

Anyway, after going back to Kim and Steve's he fell half way down their hard wood stairs. Seriously, I think this kid has a death wish. Is it possible for a mother to have 5 heart attacks in a day. Every one kept joking that since flying off the stage didn't work he tried to do it off the stairs. Tender mercies. It was one stressful day for this lady. I think I need to buy a leash or a padded helmet. What do you think?

Jefferson's New Trick

2011-01-14T08:20:00.001-08:00

My kid is so dang funny. He cracks me up, but occasionally I wish he was a little more quiet. Usually if he wakes up and it is still dark outside he will go back to sleep or lay in bed looking at books being QUIET. This week, however, he learned a new thing. At 5:45 on Wednesday morning I started hearing some noises. I was awake because Jason gets up at 5:30 and I usually lay awake for a while to make sure he actually gets up. I then go back to sleep until 7. Not that day, nor any day since. You see, Jefferson has learned that he can now reach his light switch, which is a little high, so I didn't see that coming. So he now proceeds to get up whenever he wants, turns on his light, and continues to play until he decides it is time for him to have breakfast (which is usually mentioned within two seconds of him seeing me). So Wednesday I got to lay in bed listening to the sounds of cars crashing, trains choo chooing, books being read, the bed being jumped on, drums being banged, tambourines being shaken, and a little boy yelling, "Ouch ouch, my finger, my finger, fiiiinnnnnngggggeeeerrrr." And that is how the last three mornings have gone. Hopefully the novelty wears off soon or I am going to have to start going to bed at 9:00.

The Great Bathroom Redo

2011-01-05T08:59:00.000-08:00

When my parents first moved into their house a little over two years ago this bathroom was terrible. It was the worst thing to look at. It physically hurt me to go in there. The counter was a hunter green laminant. The walls were and awful mint green, and the wall shelf was this wierd mottled pea green color. Plus the shower curtain hooks were tropical fish. Why the previous owners thought that looked good, no one can say. Maybe they were color blind, or just design impaired. Anyway, since my parents haven't had the time or resources to fix it, we (the kids), decided that would be part of Christmas. It turned out really well if I do say so myself. We did, however, forget to take a before shot so just imagine.

The counter is granite and we changed out the sink hardware.

We painted the walls and spray painted the wall shelf.

We took mom to Target and helped her pick out new towels, rugs, and shower hooks.

And....tada!!

Soooooooooo much better. I can now go the bathroom without closing my eyes. J/K. Kelli did most of the work since she is the super women with the know how, but we all helped and Jason was very excited to be able to use his new drill.

Christmas Recap

2011-01-05T08:37:00.000-08:00

It's about time, I know. We had a really great Christmas this year. We spent it at my parents house with my oldest sister and my youngest sister. It was a blast. Christmas morning was great due to the fact that Jefferson was the only small child there. We were able to get up and eat breakfast first and take our time with the presents. We had these really great pumpkin cinnamon pancakes and clementines. So delicious. This year we kinda switched things up. Instead of the parents doing Christmas for the kids, the kids did Christmas for the parents. It was awesome to see their astonished faces when things just kept coming to them.

Of course, we didn't leave out the J-man. The first thing he went to was Jason's present. He opened the box and pulled out the drill and was saying, "tool, tool." He is such a boy.

Then he got to the Choo Choo trains. He is obsessed. I should have given them to him last because once he opened them he ignored all the other presents. He still had a pile to open by the time everyone else finished.

Ignoring presents

This is stinky getting the much wanted quesadilla maker. Jefferson lovingly refers to it as "dinner".

This is mom and dad's reaction to reading the card that let them know we would be redoing the hideous guest bath upstairs. Will post more on that later.

And lastly, Aunt Kelli got Jefferson a Toy Story basket ball hoop. I do think she kind of regretted it by the end of her stay because every five seconds he was asking her of Aunt Jessi to play "B-ball" and he was not very good at taking no for an answer.

So much fun and such a good time. I sure do love that family of mine!!!

2010-12-22T09:58:00.000-08:00

To all of our friends and family:

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Love,

Kara, Jason, and Jefferson

I'm Finished!!

2010-12-18T09:14:00.000-08:00

I woke up to a scene like this outside my window this morning and it was and is still coming down.

I audibly sighed thinking of all the things that I needed to do today that required me to leave the comfort of my warm home. Jefferson's response: "Brrrrrrrr, its cold mama". Tell me about it. But, first things first. I donned my workout clothes and hit the treadmill. I know, I know, I only had 1.8 miles to go to finish, but there is something about knowing what's to come once you finish working out that makes you more tired and it's hard to come up with the required energy. I surpassed my goal today and let Jason know that he better start planning our date. To tell you the truth, I probably would not have finished if it wasn't for this blog. When I would wake up I would groan, but then I would remember that you guys were watching and would know if I was being lazy or not. I probably would have finished a week earlier, but I did get a little lazy. YIPPEE FOR ME! I did ask Jason if he thought I would finish and he said, "Ofcourse", what a good husband.

Tis the Season

2010-12-07T11:20:00.000-08:00

Once again, this year we went to the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake to ring in the season. The day after Thanksgiving they have this big to do and it is a lot of fun. We went with my parents and sister and got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus and a huge tree, which they lit with a really cute children's choir singing. All the while they had free hot chocolate (the richest stuff I have ever tasted), candied almonds, and hot fresh scones with honey and powdered sugar. So fun!!

After being in the courtyard we went inside to decorate ginger bread men. Jefferson had a lot of fun. Some kids pretty much just dipped their cookies in frosting and sprinkles. I wasn't entirely sure what was under there after they finished.

Then we went and wrote letters to Santa, which the hotel mails for us. I wrote one and so did Jessie, but I couldn't get my parents or Jason to write one. Party poopers.

Jefferson got to mail all our letters for us. I think they are going to North Pole, Arkansas.

They had a gingerbread house contest, and Christmas window display/game, teddy bear town (which Jeffers hated due to the 7 foot grizzly mascot that scared the heck out of him. He started yelling HOME, HOME, AWAY, AWAY, pretty sad) It was really fun though and a great way to start the season. We didn't take pictures with Santa because the line was too long and it's only open two hours. Plus I don't think Jefferson is ready for Santa yet. Don't want to traumatize him, although it does seem like a tradition among parents. Maybe next year.

The Nativity Scene

2010-12-02T11:31:00.000-08:00

Jefferson and I were putting up all of our nativities today and I thought it was a good time to talk to him about Baby Jesus and Christmas. Well, we have quite a lot of Nativities thanks to my mom, so we had the same conversation about 12 times.

Me: This is the Baby Jesus

Jefferson: Baby Chase

Me: NO, Baby Jesus

Jefferson: Baby Chase

Baby Chase is his cousin who he missed terribly during Thanksgiving. Apparently there are some things that I need to work on, concept wise, with my kid. They do sound a little similar though.

Thanks Giving

2010-11-23T10:29:00.001-08:00

One year ago today Jason and I found out that our baby would not survive. This past year has had its ups and downs and we have really tried to focus on giving thanks to our Heavenly Father for what we do have and had. It took a lot on my part to be thankful. To this day I don't think that I can honestly say that I am grateful for what happened, but I can say that I am thankful for my growth. Growth in faith (hard at times), growth in understanding, growth in my spiritual vision, and growth in my love. Sometimes the hardest words to utter are, "Thy will be done". I think that as we grow in life, taking the good and the bad, it becomes easier if you honestly mean it. And I have worked really hard to honestly mean it. It is so EASY to be thankful when things are going your way, but it is BEST to be thankful when they are not. So over the last year here are some of the things that I have become grateful for and will continue to be grateful for...

My Husband is number one. I was talking to a cashier at the grocery store the other day and I said something about Jason and she replied that I had married Prince Charming, and she was right. He is the greatest blessing in my life- through good and not so good.

Jefferson is the light of my life. He is such a character that is was and is really hard to be sad around him. He is the future. I cannot be sad with one miracle because one is better than none. We all hope for more, but if it isn't to be, than one is better than none.

My family is fabulous--roudy meals, playful banter, and crazies included. They really surrounded me when I needed it and they always will. I just hope that I am there for them the way they are for me.

My ward FAMILY. They really are family. They are the most kind, unjudgemental people I have ever met. Always willing to lend a hand, shoulder, car, etc. They were and are my personal angels on earth.

Food. Come on, who doesn't love food. It may seem strange, but I have learned a lot through food. It is a way to show love, compassion, interest, etc. As a member of the Relief Society nothing says I love you like a delivered meal in a time of need, cookies on a birthday, candy just when ever. Really, we could all take a lesson from food.

Nature. When I need to find peace the most I go for a walk. Nothing calms the soul like a view of God's creations. There is a plan, we just have to have faith.

There is so much more that I am thankful for: A home, a working furnace, the scriptures, a living prophet who is such an incredible example of who we should be, my tredmill, the library, great music, my health, my friends, etc. The list goes on and on, as it should.

May you be full of Thanks Giving as well this season!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

One week to Turkey Day!!

2010-11-18T08:21:00.001-08:00

YIIIPPPPPEEEE!! Less than one week until me and the fam go to my parents house for my most favorite time of the year ever!!

In our ward the RS has a monthly recipe exchange and for November we did Thanksgiving traditions. Well, it was the same last year and I didn't want to take the same recipe so I decided to take turkey!

Check out my gaggle of gobblers.

They were so fun and everyone loved them. Turns out I was the only one to bring turkey. They are made of Cocoa Rice Krispe treats cut with two different sized circle biscuit cutters and decorated with candy corn mimi m'nms, and pretzels. They are definitly and hit with the kiddies.

We're Going on a Leaf Hunt!

2010-11-11T11:37:00.001-08:00

Anyone who really knows me, knows that fall is my favorite season and Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. That said, Jefferson and I have been reading up on it in preparation for the big event. "Thanksgiving Rules" is a really funny book for children, "Thanks for Thanksgiving" is about being thankful, and "We're going on a Leaf Hunt" is, well, self explanatory.

Once we read it we decided to go on a little hunt of our own. We searched for green, yellow, orange, and read leaves. It wasn't too cold today so it was a great time. Jefferson always wanted to hold the biggest. He climbed and pulled, rolled and ran. Great fun!!

Yellow

Red

Orangish Yellow
Big Yellow, Big Big Yellow (according to Jefferson)

Green

Brown

He just wanted to climb the rocks, but I made him pick a leaf while he was up there. All in all, a great, free, fun adventure.

My Budding Chef!

2010-11-11T11:22:00.001-08:00

Like any true Dixon, Jefferson loves pancakes.

He has become my little sous chef (sorry Jessi, you're out). As soon as he got up this morning he was asking for pancakes and since I have the recipe memorized it was fast. This is it was fast until Jefferson realized what I was doing and decided he wanted to be in charge. He quickly moved a chair to the stove where he proclaimed it was "hot hot hot" and then waited until I poured the batter. Then he flipped...

the pancakes.

He then made sure they were flat like they should be.

Then he scooped them up and put them on his plate and promptly said,"Good Job!!"

I asked him to say cheese and this is what I got every time.

It is GOOD!!

Watch out Bobby Flay, here comes Jefferson!

Picture Fun!

2010-11-07T13:23:00.000-08:00

I have always loved the look of silhouettes. I think they are fun and classy. I then saw an article in my Martha Stewart Living magazine about different takes on silhouettes and decided to give it a try. I did mine in Photo Shop and they are really super easy and fun. I think that I am going to make a collage of different poses and people from my family. Something like that would be fun and special and classic. Here are the first few I've done. What do you think? If you have some pictures you want done just send them my way!!

The Classic Silhouette (me)

A half silhouette (Jefferson playing soccer)

A funky silhouette (Jason taking a break from vacuuming my car to pose)

My New Goal!!

2010-11-05T11:42:00.000-07:00

So, with fall coming on really fast and the mornings being colder and darker I decided that I needed a goal for myself. The purpose of this goal was to keep me motivated to be healthy during the winter/holiday months and to keep me focused on something other than the things that are not happening. So starting last week I made a goal to run 100+ miles before Christmas. As a reward, on Christmas break Jason is going to take me on a day long date!! He is so nice that I know he will take me out even if I don't reach my goal, but that is why I am blogging about it; so you can keep me accountable. Now, 100 miles might not seem like much to run in 8-9 weeks, but it is butt cold at 6 in the morning and my bed is so darn comfy. And lets face it, I love food. Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday and I believe in moderation in all things. So to keep me from becoming a much larger version of myself I set this goal. I think I am going to put a ticker at the top of the blog, but we'll see. Since starting last week I have run 25 miles. A quarter to my goal!! What do you think? How do you guys stay healthy through the holiday rush of delicious cookies, pies, cakes, chocolate, etc?

Is that you KelliAnn?

2010-10-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

So, I was looking at my calendar this morning and realized the girl in the picture looks a lot like a 10-12 year old Kelli. It wouldn't surprise me if it was due to her personality :)- I mean, it fits. What do you think, family of mine?

Let's take a closer look. Am I right?

Halloween Fun!!

2010-10-25T11:49:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween/Fall!! I love this time of year. The beautiful trees, the crisp air, the winter clothes (so much cuter than my summer clothes), etc. Our garden is finally slowing down, so the other weekend we went out to clean up and pick the last produce before the freezes start, and what did we find? Holy cow!! We had our own pumpkin patch. I turned and asked Jason just how many he planted and he said not that much. Yeah Right. We came home with 20 sugar pumpkins and that was after giving about 30 away and there are still a bunch out there that are still ripening. I'm going to have to start door bell ditching. They do make really good pumpkin bread, pie, bars, etc. REALLY GOOD STUFF.

Awhile ago Jason decided to stop picking the squash without telling me so the next time I went I was faced with giant zuchinni. I picked most and left two to see how big they could get by Halloween so I could paint them. I thought that was pretty creative until we went the to Pumpkin Walk in Logan and saw zuchinni as skunks or penquins. Oh well, I tried. They are cute though.

Every year in Logan there is the Pumpkin walk. Groups of people make scenes out of pumpkins, squash, and other things. It was really fun. The following are some of my favorites. I wanted to post more pictures, but this post would have been crazy long instead of just long.

Jefferson is currently obsessed with Harry Potter. I know he is only two, but man he is crazy about monsters, snakes, spiders, trains (Hogwarts Express), flying, etc. So it all fits. He even started throwing his golf balls in the air and then yelling "seeker" and trying to find the golden snitch. It was so funny until he tried to do it during sacrament. Any way, when he saw this he ran straight toward it yelling, "Potter, Potter". He is so cute!

Another fav is Woody! More his size.

Some really amazing work were Popeye and gang. If you zoom in you can tell they are pumpkin heads and other assorments of things. So awesome!!

We also have A Bug's Life

The Madagascar Monkeys were so great. These people are so totally creative.
Madagascar Giraffe. Awesome zuchinni and pumpkins.

A New Nephew!!

2010-10-22T11:32:00.000-07:00

We have a new nephew! Jason's little sister Jessica had a little boy over conference weekend (I know, sound familiar--he even weighed the same as Jefferson). They named him Isaac Tyson Thornock and he is darn cute.

I have to say that I was really pretty nervous about going to see him. At random times the loss of James will completely blindside me and I struggle to set it aside. As my family knows, I am the sensitive one- meaning I am a crier- not just sad crying, but all emotions crying. It's ridiculous and annoying, but my lot in life. So, I was nervous about how I would handle a newborn little boy who was not ours, but I think I did pretty well. Issac and Landon look a lot alike and will bring a lot of joy to the family. Landon loves him a ton and will be lots of fun when they get a little older.

Sweet little boy

The affectionate older brother

The new and bigger family

Jefferson and Landon playing peek-a-boo around the fish tank. There was laughing and squeeling all around. It just makes you laugh. Jefferson is all about scaring people right now. I have to pretend to be scared about a million times a day. He thinks if he shuts his eyes I can't see him and then he opens them and screams BOO!! So fun!

End of Summer Fun!!

2010-10-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am alive. I took a bit of a blogging break due to the non-creative juices that were or were not flowing, but I am back with a little end of summer fun. (Summer did not technically end until September 23 or there about)

Jefferson really loves animals. Really, Really loves animals!! I took a week and decided to teach him about birds. We got a bunch of books and we watched for them outside. He is always pointing out bird houses so I decided that we would make one.

Exhibit A: Ugly cheap boots

Exhibit B: Cute colorful birdhouse/feeder

Pretty fun, huh!! It was really easy and Jefferson loves to point it out. Unfortunately, due to a lot of wind storms the bird feeder is usually empty so we have not seen any birds gracing us with their presence. Hopefully some will come soon.

Jason's dad and sister drove up to drop said sister of at BYU and Grandpa came to visit us for a couple days. I can see where Jason gets his gardening from. That was really the first thing he wanted to show his dad, so I let them have some guy time at the garden. We recently dug up our potatoes and we had masses, but it was really fun. Like digging for treasure. We got some really hug ones.

Grandpa and Jefferson sharing some weeds. Those are the peach trees in the back. We picked ours in the middle of September and, oh my, they were so big and delicious. Loved them.

We also celebrated my dad's birthday. Such a great fellow. Love him!!!

And lastly (at least for this post) we went to visit Jason at his work to watch a test launch for a rocket booster. Jefferson was a little nervous with so many people around, but he quickly got over that and started throwing rocks.

Pretty loud!! But pretty cool!

Our First Trip to the Zoo

2010-08-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

This past week I have been teaching Jefferson all about animals, mostly the wild variety. We got a ton of books at the library (so many so that they told me I was at the limit) and sat down every day and read. Most interesting is that Jefferson is so much more willing to listen when the books are non-fiction. He really is his father's son. He was very good at identifying almost all the animals that we found at the zoo. He did call the prairie dogs rats, but in all honestly they are pretty rat like. We had never taken him before because we thought it would be a waste. We didn't think he would pay attention or even realize what was so cool about the animals. But know he is old enough and interested enough that we made the trip. My mom was kind enough to come along and join the festivities and we had a great time. Jefferson loved it so much that we couldn't keep him in the stroller. Even while it was moving he would slither out and run. He is such an energetic child, but it was great to see.

Anything with feathers is a bird to Jeffers, except an owl that is. I really wanted him to spread his feathers, but he was alone so he had no reason. One of these days I'll capture it.

Jefferson's favorites were by far the elephants, giraffes, and unfortunately the snakes. It took us a while to get him away from the elephants. They had a baby that just turned one and he had a great time watching him play with his ball. We had to stop by again on our way out of the zoo.

Jefferson is deep concentration trying to figure out what the elephants were going to do next. I love these pictures. It's like I can almost see what he is going to be like when he is an adult.

Our attempt at a family pic, but obviously the elephants were much more interesting.

I really don't like osteriches. They freak me out. And I swear this one was staring right at me with angry eyes. It definitly wanted to eat me.

The giraffes were great. This one really liked to lick the pole and Jefferson's response to this was, "Taste good?" Classic!

Another cool looking bird.

A moe-ney (Jefferson's word).

Jason absolutely measures up. He is the greatest.
It was such a fun day, unfortunately Jefferson won't stop talking about the snakes and he is really mad at me for returning the library book about them. Hopefully he'll grow out of it before he starts bringing them home.

Oddity of the Day!

2010-08-07T16:05:00.001-07:00

My tomato is giving your tomato the finger. Take that!

Bounties of our Garden!!

2010-08-03T12:15:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that summer is almost over. It's gone by really fast. I have gone from, "what if nothing in our garden grows?" to "Holy cow, why did we plant so much?" But I am grateful for the lessons we are learning, for the ability to be self sufficient to a degree, and for the yummy healthy food we are eating. When we went to Texas things were progressing nicely and when we got back a week later it was like our garden had taken growth hormones. It was crazy. Especially the zuchinni. But I love it so I was okay with that. Jason, on the other hand, wanted to put them back in the ground as fertilizer (he is not a fan of vegetables).

We planted about 20 tomato plants of various color and variety and I am in love. The little orange guys are so delicious I could eat them like candy. The darker one in the right corner is one of my heirloom tomatoes and it's called Black Crim and it is heavenly. I just have tomato sandwiches for lunch with these guys. I am bottling a lot of them due to our over abundance and it will be nice to eat them in the winter and know where they came from.

Do you like my siamese straight neck? I almost cried when I cut it in half to eat because I thought it was so cool.

My very first Green Zebra heirloom tomato. I was so excited for these babies. Had one on homemade wheat bread for lunch and it was fabulous. Slightly tangy, but also fruity. Can't wait for more.

Jason picked our first ears of corn last night and he was a little giddy. The corn has been his baby. It's one vegetable that he will gladly eat. It was really good too. We have a few different varieties so I am looking forward to eating them.
Jason was also excited that he got to pick our first two pumpkins. They are the sugar variety so they aren't as big and don't take as long to ripen. You make pumpkin pie out of this kind. They are so good. We do have a lot coming on though, so don't be surprised if you hear your doorbell ring and you find pumpkins instead of people.

We have picked all of our peas, green beans, and radishes. We are still picking masses of tomatoes, peppers, zuchinni, and straightneck. Some cucumbers, pumpkins, and corn. And we are still waiting for the canteloupe, honey dew, potatoes, and watermelon to ripen. With all of this bounty I am just really thankful to the Lord for all that He created for us. Food is not just for survival, but to enjoy. And He has made it really enjoyable for us. The cool thing about Brigham is that almost everyone has a garden and they all grown different things. So last night Jason took squash, tomatoes, and peppers to the Bishops house and we traded for fresh heads of garlic, jalapenos, and a good amount of his early peaches (so fabulous). I can't wait until ours are ripe. People are so willing to trade and give away produce and help one another out. It's quite common in Relief Society to have someone raise their hand and say, "I have a lot of so and so, does anyone know who needs some?" Love it!!

Brigham City Temple Ground Breaking

2010-07-31T10:03:00.001-07:00

Today was the ground breaking ceremony for the Brigham City Temple. This was such an important event for so many of the people here because the people here tend to stay forever. I mean, a good deal of our ward was born and raised here, and then had their children and raised them here, and so forth. These people have roots. And although we have only lived here for a little over one year, the joy I felt at seeing so many peoples' dreams realized made me feel so close to the Lord. The people in Brigham are good people. So even though there are two Temples within half an hours distance this is a fabulous blessing.

While this choir was small it sure packed a punch. Right before the ground breaking they sang "The Spirit of God" and it brought tears to my eyes. So many have waited so long for this moment.

President Boyd K. Packer was the presiding General Authority and he was just great. His wife (above) also spoke and they are such soft spoken, kind hearted people.

When President Packer got up to speak (above) the first thing out of his mouth was, "I am Home". I think that really meant a lot to the audience. It did to me. It was so heart felt and emotional that you could feel his love. To describe the history of Brigham and how things have progressed in this city was amazing. The Temple is to be built in the middle of Brigham on main street, right across from the Tabernacle. The ground it will sit on used to be a school. That school is the school that Pres. Packer attended as a child. It will sit at the highest point in the city, along with the Tabernacle to be a beacon unto those who believe and those who do not. A panel on the front of the Temple will bear a peach blossom. Nothing could be more suited to Brigham and it's people than this. Pres Packer said it was to remind us who we were and who we are and those we have come from. I can't wait to see it.
Here is a picture of the first shovel of dirt, but you really can't tell. It was exciting to see it finally getting under way.

This is what the Temple will look like upon completion. It will be beautiful. I wanted to get a family picture, but it was a mob. I barely made it out alive, well maybe just with my camera intact, but seriously, wow!! They invited anyone who wanted to come and turn some dirt to come up and the picture was right next to it so I to do some pretty fast moving just to get a picture.

There were so many people there. The great thing about this Temple is that so many people live within walking distance. We walked and it took us 8-10 minutes. There were people just sitting on their lawns listening and a lot sitting on the Tabernacle ground listening. It was also broadcast to all the churches near by. It may take two years to build, but we as a people are ready and waiting. It was a beautiful morning and there was no better way to spend it.

Our Summer Thus Far!!

2010-07-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a long while since I blogged last, but lets face it, we have been really busy or I have just been too lazy to sit down and put my thoughts together. So prepare yourself for alot of pictures due to being a little behind.

Our summer has definitly been full. After reunions and partys we had gardens and projects, trips to Texas (where our AC decided to leak INSIDE our car--two inches of water by the time we got to my brother), trips to the water park with Jason's family, more parties, swim lessons, racking chest coughs for two weeks, more gardening (we are overrun), and just every day living. So here are some highlights with more to come later on. I promise.

This is my nephew Keyan and I love this pic of him swinging while we were waiting for the fireworks to start on the 4th.

Jefferson had a fabulous time jumping on the tramp with his cousins and the sprinkler. Such simple pleasures and so mch happiness. I love it.

One of my fast projects was to make Jefferson this blanket. I grabbed four cowboy bandanas when they were super cheap and sewed them together. Then I added the backing fabric and badding and viola!!! So cute and he loves it. I hear about "Woody" all the time

We have spent a lot of time at the library and at the
park. Jefferson is soooooo in love with slides. He

can't even wait until I come to a complete stop
before he shimmies out of the stroller to run up the
stairs and go down the slide. As soon as they are in
sight (a block away) he starts yelling "Slide, Slide" over and over again. It is comical.

Just some more fun at the park!!

Minnetonka Caves!!

2010-06-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

Our second day in Bear Lake we drove about 12 miles north and toured Minnetonka Cave. The day was actually quite nice, but we knew that the cave would be chilly so that is why we are dressed warmly. The cave was really amazing and fun. We went down really deep, down many steps of natural and man made stairs. Since it had been raining and the cave is still "live", Jason had to carry Jefferson the whole time, which Jefferson did not appreciate.

Me and my sisters. Our brother and other sister could not make it. We missed you guys!

Here we are at the mouth of the cave. I was really excited and really wanted to see a bat.

The stalagmites and stalagtites were really quite fabulous. It still amazes me how there are so many natural wonders out there to see and learn about. Gorgeous!!
Those three structures are called the Three Sisters

If you look close and see the dark brown spot sort of near the center--that is a bat. I almost didn't get to see one, but on the way out I finally did. At the bottom of the cave the guide turned off the power to show us how pitch black the cave was Jefferson promptly started screaming. He did not like it at all. We tried to hurry and settle him down because screaming is not good for the bats since they "see" with their hearing. I think Jefferson might have caused a few bats to fly into to a wall or something.

We had a lot of fun!!

Bear Lake Part I

2010-06-12T14:42:00.001-07:00

Our big Bear Lake family trip began with our annual Harmon Family Reunion in Sandy. We have this every year for the decendents of Esse and Estella Harmon, who are my great grandparents on my mother's father's side. Esse and Estella had 12 children, 11 of which lived into adulthood. Those 11 had children, who had children, who had children and so forth. It was calculated that as of this year Esse and Estella have made it possible for 873 children to come to this Earth. That just blows my mind when I think about it. Crazy!! I apologize for the huge amount of pictures, but I really liked them so, ohwell!

Below and to the right is my dad playing with Jefferson who affectionately calls him Papa, Pop, or sometimes Popeye. It is really cute. Above is some of the extended family who came to the reunion. Below and to the left is my sister and her husband who are abnormally silly (okay the picture was my idea, but they make it funny).

Here I am with Jefferson, running crazy at the park. He had such a great time playing with cousins and other relatives. It's times like these that I really wish we had everyone living on the same block. Life would be great.

After the reunion my immediate family drove to Bear Lake, where my sister Kelli had scored us a fabulously great condo close to the lake. Seriously, it was awesome. Thanks so much Kelli!! We got there Saturday night and on Sunday we had our own church and then we took a walk along to marina. It was a beautiful day. It was a little windy though, as you can tell by my hair.

Here are my boys walking back from looking at the boats and the fish spawning all along the shore. Seriously though, those fish were going nuts, pardon the pun.

Here is a cute light house that we passed along the way. It did turn out to be fake though.

Cute duckies that the little ones couldn't get enough of. Jefferson and his cousin Chase were quacking away. But the big one hissed at me.

All in all it was a really great day. Although some of us got tuckered out towards the end. Gotta love the daddies.

More pictures from the rest of the vacation to come. I know, you are just so excited!!

Memorial Day!!

2010-06-11T08:02:00.001-07:00

We have had quite a lot of vacation in the past week and a half, so bear with me as I post pictures over a few days. On Memorial Day we went to the cemetary where both sets of my grandparents are buried to honor them and remember them. Both of my grandfathers are veterans and were honored with American flags at their grave site. Jefferson had a heck of a time letting go of my mom's father's flag so we left that one for last. He is such a boy sometimes, it cracks me up. He started out just running around with the flag and when we turned our backs for just a few seconds, we turn back around and see that he is using the flag to beat the crap out of other peoples flowers. Sorry! I hope they didn't mind a few less blooms on their plants.

James is also buried at this cemetary and thankfully they were able to get his headstone in in time for the holiday. As you can tell it is still fairly new because the grass needs to grow up around it. I tried to be really strong and just be thankful for all our blessings and be glad that we got to have him for the little time we did, but towards the end I just started crying because the only thing I could feel was the fact that I miss him so much sometimes that it hurts. Don't get me wrong, I know what happened was a path we had to take and for the most part I am doing really well, but it still hurts and it probably always will. But I also feel the love that surrounds us when we hurt and that is a great comfort.

My dad's parents

My mom's father

My mom's mother

We had a really good weekend with some BBQ-ing and some shopping and some R&R. I love spending time with my family. They are the greatest and have been such a great support to me and Jason. I am thankful for the men and women that served and do serve to keep our freedoms and to protect us. It is a blessing that we all sometimes take for granted.

I have never seen a cemetary so beautiful with all the flowers and so crowded. It made me really proud to be an American.

Rain, Rain Go Away!!

2010-05-27T11:25:00.001-07:00

On another dreary day of clouds and rain (to due to irrigation times we could not go anywhere) I have decided to update everyone on our garden progress. It has been really fun watching things sprout and begin to grow. For instance, we have peachlites!!! They are just starting to come out of the blossoms. It really amazes me how things grow. The Lord truly thought of everything.

This is Jefferson next to our corn that is starting to peep it's little sprouts out of the ground. Jason is so excited about the corn. I really hope it does well.

Below is our peas. Aren't they pretty? To the right are the radishes. I am really excited to try different ways to cook and eat them.

Above are the potatoes. I really didn't want to plant them due to space and yield, but Jason really, really, really wanted to, soooooooooo we planted some potatoes. Our pepper and tomato plants are doing well. Some of my heirloom tomato plants have blossoms and I couldn't be happier. The melons haven't shown their faces yet, but we are patient. The onions and beans are getting ready to show up and the squash is also being a little shy, but they'll get over it. I know I forgot some other plants, but oh well.

My violas are going strong. They are just so pretty, but for some reason these flowers pictured here decided to overtake the lovely pink ones and those aren't growing so well. This is my first year planting though and I don't think I have a particularly green thumb, so I still consider it a success.

I love to walk out the door and have these beauties be the first things I see.

Sports Week!

2010-05-26T11:28:00.001-07:00

I have recently decided (thanks to a few friends) that we are going to spend more time learning and not just mindlessly playing all day. So I pick a subject every week to learn about and then I try to do something with Jeffers everyday to help him learn about it. On Monday we read a ton of books about sports and we talked about all the different balls (he is only two).
On Tuesday we colored pictures about the various sports. Jefferson is really getting into coloring lately. He'll go get the crayons and paper while I am getting ready in the morning and be very content. After that we made Sports magnets so he can learn the different types of balls. He really loves these things and they were so easy!

Today (Wednesday) we took an adventure to the local park where they have a really nice outdoor court. It is such a nice day and we had it all to ourselves for a good long while. We brought the basketball and the soccer ball. Jefferson just really loves to kick things. He had so much fun because the hoops are easy to adjust and we put one really low. He thought it was great we I helped him "slam dunk".

Look at that form. Give it a few years and he will rock the court!

Even I had a really good shooting day.

Nothing but net!!

Me and the little stinker. It's been fun so far-tomorrow we are going to the library and on Friday we are going to make granola bars for snacks while we play sports. Jefferson loves to help in the kitchen and I want to encourage him all I can in that area. Maybe it will help him to not be such a picky eater!

Summer Fake No. 2!

2010-05-20T09:11:00.001-07:00

While it was quite gorgeous last week, weather wise, it has been suck-o here for the last few days. It has been dark and dreary, rainy, and chilly. Plus allergies are making their appearance and that is pretty annoying, but there have been some bright moments.

My beautiful red zinnias are blooming. They are just so pretty blooming one layer at a time. It's suspenceful really, wondering everyday if today would be the last layer. They are spots of sunshine in the rain soaked days.

Our peach tree at the Stake Orchard is doing really well and is just so nice to look at. I cannot wait until it is laden with juicy peaches. If you don't know--one of the greatest things about living here is the opportunity to learn about agriculture. Our stake has an orchard and for a small fee you can "own" one for a season. All you are required to do in prune at the beginning of the season, weed, and thin the peaches. We have learned a lot from the nice people in our ward and have had a lot of fun as a family seeing it's progress and taking care of it.

Our tree, number 107.

More pretty blossoms. Soooo beautiful.

The stake also has garden plots for those who don't have yards (like us). So we purchased a huge long row for a very small fee and have been going crazy. Jason is obessesed. Absolutely. He has gone totally engineer on the sucker. Don't get me wrong, it's really fun to watch, but sometimes it's just silly. He sits up late at night programing and doing equations to find out the perfect balance of chemicals for our fertilizer, and hand fills jugs upon jugs of water to go water the plants because irrigation hasn't started yet, he tested the soil, and took pictures of the seeds, etc. He is just so lovely. It is great. I weed and plant where Jason says, but pretty much this is his baby. Jefferson just likes to throw and eat the occasional dirt clod. We have planted potatoes, peas, carrots, raddishes, onions, tons of different tomatoes, green beans, corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, cucumbers, zucchini, straight neck squash, and peppers. I just hope we can keep it all alive. I am completely excited to be overrun with vegetables. It's going to be fabulous.

Summer Fake Out

2010-05-03T07:27:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we had the most gorgeous weather. We were in heaven. We played outside everyday and basked in the glorious sun. And then last week, guess what it did...it snowed and hailed and the wind blew so hard it knocked over the playground in our complex. SOOOOOOO ridiculous. It would be comical if it wasn't so aggravating.

Anyway, here are some pictures of Jeffers playing when it was nice. Hopefully the good weather comes back soon so we can plant our garden. More on that later!

When we first got to the playground Jefferson headed straight for the slide. No big deal right? Except Mommy wasn't paying close attention and didn't realize the giant puddle of water at the end of the slide. Oh well, it didn't phase him a bit. He just kept right on playing till it was time to go.
He would hang on the bar at the top of the slide but he wouldn't go down. He's done it before, but this time he wouldn't. He just kept climbing up and down.

Pretty green trees. I love spring and the beginnings of summer.

Chill'in at the bottom of the slide looking all GQ. He is so handsome.

The only weird thing was the old man walking around with a metal detector and digging about the whole time we were there. Oh well, everyone has to make a living some how.

Little Pretties!!

2010-04-28T07:36:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while, but Jason had to replace the fan in our computer so we went on a small blogging vacation. I'll be catching up over the next couple of days.

A couple weeks ago my mom and I went and visited my Aunt Jo and she kindly taught us how to make necklaces. It was a lot of fun and it was great to be with adult women for a change. I still have one more to make- it's a pretty red one-so I'll have to post a picture of that later. They actually are really simple to make you just have to have all the parts. Hopefully we'll learn how to make earrings soon!!

Here are the ones that I have made so far.

I have always loved cameos and was so happy when I found this beautiful pendent.

We had so much fun! Thanks Mom and Aunt Jo!!

I AM 2!!

2010-04-07T11:26:00.001-07:00

I TURNED TWO YEARS OLD ON MONDAY!!!!

We have done a lot of celebrating for the last couple of weeks. We celebrated Jefferson's birthday a week and a half ago with family that would be out of town. We celebrated with family on Easter since we were together, and we celebrated on his actual birthday. He made out like a bandit and he loves all of his toys and books. He really loved urwrapping the presents. It was really hard to get him to wait, if he saw a present, he was going to open it. It was pretty funny.

This is the monster that I made him. I think he is still a little iffy about it, but I figured that if he had a monster of his own that he would never be scared of the monsters under his bed. He has his very own monster to protect him. Maybe I'm jumping ahead a little, but I thought they were really cute. I made one for his cousin also.

A lot of the presents he got are for outside and I can't wait until it gets warm. Now we will have things to do outside instead of just running around. He got a tricycle from me and Jason and he loves it. We are still working on the peddling concept, but he likes to scoot as well. It should be a real fun summer.

Here he is with Papa. Papa is trying to show him how the baseball and glove work. Jefferson just loves to throw things so I am glad it is a really soft ball. I have been hit, more times than I can count, with various balls and other objects.

Jefferson's cake was decorated like a basketball and I made chocolate molds of other balls (baseball, soccer ball, football, basketball) to go around the bottom of the cake. It doesn't look fantastic due to the fact that I really wasn't feeling well when I made, but at least when he saw it he said, "Ohhh, a baaaaallllll".

We had a good time and I know Jefferson had a great time. We really appreciate all the great gifts everyone sent and gave. Thank you so much.

Easter Fun!

2010-04-06T11:46:00.001-07:00

So Easter was really fun and relaxing. We didn't do a whole lot. I made cheese danishes from scratch for breakfast and we also had fruit salad which was really good. Jefferson didn't know the day was any different from any other day so we didn't make a big deal out of it. We did dye eggs and we had an egg hunt just for him in the living room (it snowed over night, can we say enough already?) and he had a blast. He cheered for himself every time he found an egg and towards the end he would do a little dance. I love seeing him so happy. Conference was really nice and I learned a lot of things that I need to work on, but it was also uplifting. It is so nice to have prophets and apostles on the earth today.

Here is Jeffers and Jason with two real eggs that Jefferson helped color. He had so much fun.

Here he is at the beginning of one of his dances. He is such a character.

I got this idea from Martha, ofcourse. Jessica and I used vinyl electrical tape and made cool designs on the eggs and used different colors. It was a lot of fun and after some trial and error we have decided to do this every year and see who can come up with the coolest design.

Here we are showing off our eggs even though you can't really see them.

Jefferson is already a little engineer. He just couldn't wait to help dye the eggs and see what was going on. I have a feeling that when he gets older he might just have a lab in his closet or something. I am going to have to have a fire extinguisher handy at all times. I can just tell.

He especially liked dropping the dye tablets into the vinegar and watching them bubble and sizzle. He thought it was great. I have the best kid in the world.
Hope you all had a great Easter. Jefferson did get two books. One on the miracles of Jesus and one about Bible stories, but they did take a back seat to the bubbling and sizzling. Maybe next year.

Happy St. Patricks Day!!

2010-03-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!

So, I really wanted to make something green for dinner and Jason did not appreciate that idea at all. He did not want to eat green eggs and ham nor green mashed potatoes, etc. And when I suggested naturally green foods like green beans, peas or spinach he decided he wanted pizza for dinner. He really hates vegetables, which is a constant struggle for me because I quite enjoy them. Instead of pizza I am making a delicious Irish Stew (except I am using beef not lamb)that I found at http://foodwishes.blogspot.com and with that we are having home-made potato bread. I think that is a very appropriate St. Patty's Day meal don't you? Jason just doesn't know how to get into the spirit of the holiday. I am sure he didn't even wear green today. I will have to pinch him.

This is Jefferson after a shot of Irish whiskey. J/K

Hope you are all enjoying the luck of the Irish today!!

Skillz

2010-03-15T11:43:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time in the not so distant past, I played a lot of basketball. Seriously, the ball was like another appendage. However, since having Jefferson and being busy with life I haven't been able to play very often. Well, I haven't been able to play at all. It's really sad. So Jason got called to the Young Men's Presidency and as part of his calling he is over the sports. Every Thursday Jefferson and I would accompany Jason to the church and watch the basketball games and Jefferson would pretend he was four feet taller and that he could play with the big boys. It was really fun to watch and it made me long for the good ole days when I was on a team. So, the other night we had a ward game night and half of the gym was left open for basketball. I grabbed a ball and quickly shot a basket from the free throw line. AND. I. AIR-BALLED. REALLY. BAD. I was so heartbreakingly embarrassed at how bad it was. I have now transfered all my hopes and dreams of being a great basketball star onto Jefferson. He already has mad skills! Check it out.

This kid can jump. NCAA here I come. (We don't really care for the NBA)

Here I go again!!

Okay, so Jason was helping, but he'll get there.
We're working on dribbling and passing.

I sure hope he likes basketball when he gets older:)

Right now he just likes anything involving a ball.

Craft Month!

2010-03-08T11:37:00.001-08:00

According to JoAnn Fabrics, March is "Craft Month" so I decided to take full advantage of the coupons and the excuse to make lots of fun stuff. Last week I started out by taking Jason's "too short pajama pants" and turning them into pajama shorts. His pants get short on him really fast and it drives me crazy to see him walking around the house in flooders. I know I am OCD about some things, give me a break. They actually turned out really good and are the perfect length. They came in real handy when Jefferson was sick. In an hour time span Jason went through about three pair. I also turned one of my "too short pants" into to crop pants for this summer. It was super easy and took no time at all.

I started these last week, but finished them today. I took a bunch of my extra fabric and made two reversible half aprons. They are also pretty easy and can be finished in an hour each. I now have a lot less fabric scrapes which makes me happy because now I can go buy really pretty new fabric.

The flip side

Next up on my list are these really cute fleece monsters that I saw in the JoAnn advertisment. I am going to make it for Jefferson's birthday which is coming up in a few weeks. I also want to sew new pillows for the couches, paint various letter "T's" that I have collected to hang in the kitchen, tweek our Europe pictures so I can finally hand them in the office, finish putting together the cook book that I started, and many more things. We'll see how many things I will actually get done. Wish me luck!

What cute things are you making?

Vomitous Maximus

2010-03-03T09:12:00.000-08:00

My sweet little boy is sick. He is almost two years old and he had never thrown-up. I was counting my lucky stars on Monday night when Jason yells"KARA!" And I knew that my luck had run out. Jefferson had refused to eat almost every thing that day and had only drank his strawberry milk for dinner and had eaten a few strawberries. That did not make a good picture. It was horrible, awful, disgusting, the worst smell ever. And it was everywhere. He definitely made up for the fact that he had never puked. He got about 3 baths that night and I was up until midnight doing laundry incase we needed to change the sheets again in the middle of the night. As gross as it was, my heart was breaking. Jefferson was so scared. And I felt horrible. I would have gladly been sick instead of him.

Well, two days later he seems to be felling a little better. He still won't really eat, but he does drink water and some juice. He gets to watch "Sid, the Science Kid" and lay on my shoulder most of the day. I don't get anything done and on top of that I am starting to feel yucky, so I may not get anything done at all this week. But that is life and hopefully we will all be healthy by the weekend. But what really gets me upset is that it is actually nice here and we are stuck inside. It sucks bad! Hope you all are healthy and enjoying the nice weather!

The Big 3-0!!

2010-02-24T11:27:00.001-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON!!!
Well, it finally happened. Jason is no longer a young adult. He is just a plain adult now that he has reached the ripe old age of 30. J/K. I was having fun teasing him about this yesterday due to the fact that I have a few more years until I reach this point. It's amazing to think how much time has passed since I met him when he was 23, crazy! So many good things, great things, fabulous things, and some heartbreakers, but that is life and I am sure glad he's been there to experience them with me.

For his birthday dinner of choice he picked pizza. So after pizza he got to go to mutual and supervise the deacons per usual, but once he got home we opened presents and had some cake. For all of you who know Jason you know that he is particular in his gadgets. I always want to get him something he likes, but it won't be a secret because he has to pick it out himself. His gadgets are beyond my understanding. I gave him a deadline to let me know which tools he wanted so I could order them, but alas, he could not find one he really liked. So he had to settle for less exciting presents.

Jeffers couldn't be bothered to participate due to the fact that I finally let him watch t.v. It had been awhile so he had to watch every single second.
He got some new work shoes since the ones he wears were hurting his feet. Jefferson promptly put them on.

He also got some work pants. I know, I know you are jumping at the excitment aren't you? However, the favorite was the mag light. Jason has wanted one for awhile and Jefferson thought it was magic or something.

He wouldn't give it back and he kept trying to shine it in our eyes. In about 10 seconds he figured out how to turn it on and off and that it makes cool shapes on the wall. He is going to be smarter than me in a couple years.

And here is the apple spice cake. It looks a little droopy, but it tasted good. Happy Birthday Babe!!

Happy Valentines Day!!

2010-02-14T17:57:00.001-08:00

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO ALL MY LADIES OUT THERE!!

Here is one of my favorite Valentines. However, I don't think he was all that happy about being put in this embaressing shirt. I just couldn't resist. He is absolutely so darn cute.

Since the holiday is on Sunday, (and let's face it, we wouldn't have gone out anyway) I decided to make one of our favorite meals with a little twist. We had meatloaf and garlic mashed potatoes, but as seen in the picture, I shaped the meatloaf into hearts. I was so proud of Jefferson because he is such a picky eater and he ate dinner with his fork and he ate it all. It was so nice to not try to force him to eat. That must have been his valentine present to me.

These are the cupcakes I made for my Sunday School class. I teach the 14-18 class and they chowed down. One of the smaller boys in my class ate 4. They were really great today. I had a lot of fun. For our dessert Jason picked strawberry shortcake (shocker right, he is all about strawberries) but I haven't made it yet, hence the no picture.

And, lastly, these are the beautiful roses Jason bought me. Aren't they great? I hope everyone is having a great day and reminding all those around you that you love them. And know that I love you all too. Happy Valentines Day!!

Some Reflections

2010-02-06T15:20:00.001-08:00

For the two months before James was born I often wondered what life was going to be like when I wasn't pregnant anymore and didn't have a baby to care for. How would I feel emotionally? physically? spiritually? I never really asked the question "why?" because what good does it do when you know the Lord has a plan and that sometimes we hurt and cry, but in the end we are blessed. I guess that is what I really want to talk about in this post. The fact that never once through out this whole experience did I ever doubt this was how things were supposed to be. It's hard, but the Lord never left my side and I guess that is why I am happy. I think that some people look at me and wonder why I'm happy after all that we went through, but they don't understand that I know that this was the plan for our family. I guess it does sound a little wierd, but I don't think I would trade this experience for anything.

No foot is too small to leave an imprint on the world.

Just like any other trial, it is afterwards that we see the blessings that were bestowed upon us, so I would like to share some with you. Some are small and silly, while others meant a great deal. My doctor decided to do the ultrasound for the gender four weeks early- we were able to find out about the problem a few days before Thanksgiving instead of a few days before Christmas. This gave us a good amount of time to prepare and somewhat understand what we were going through. My parents moved to Sandy from Wyoming. They were close enough to lend the much needed support that we needed. My mother told me that even before she knew I was pregnant she felt prompted to start putting our family on the prayer roll at the temple. I have a faithful husband that was able to give me blessings that sustained me through physical and emotional stress. My doctor is LDS and was able to understand my viewpoint and gave us a wonderful option when I had no hope of one. Volunteer groups helped us to celebrate instead of grieve. I have never felt such an outpouring of love than I felt that first week afterwards. My testimony has grown tenfold it seems. I have witnessed the miracle of life, but also the peace of death. The Lord has his hand in both and He never left my side.
I still have times when I feel that someone is missing, but then I remember where he is and I am grateful. Because of James I have found a strength in myself that I never knew I had. I have found greater love, faith, testimony, and many more things because of him. I was very blessed to be able to be his mother.

I don't want to sound too preachy, but these things have been on my mind and since tomorrow is Fast Sunday I wanted to write them down ( I cry way too easily to ever say these things out loud) I would also like to leave a quote that hit a note in my heart the other day. I have been reading a book called "21 Days Closer to Christ" and it was remarked that "To know the voice of the Shepherd is a privilege and a blessing. Setting aside time to listen to the voice is our responsibility." I am so glad that instead of turning away, I turned towards. No matter how hard this time has been I know it would have been so much harder if I had turned the other way. So tomorrow in church just remember to listen.

Random Holiday Pics!

2010-02-01T11:17:00.000-08:00

So, with everything that was happening with James and such, I never got a chance to post our Holiday pictures. We did have a very nice Christmas and New Year. We spent it with family and friends and enjoyed the time to relax (and shop ofcourse)

Here are my beautiful blue eyed boys. I love their eyes. I am so glad Jefferson got Jason's blues instead of my greens. They are so handsome!

You just have to love this kid. You can't help it.
For Christmas the big present from us to him was this rocking chair. It took me forever to paint it, but I think it turned out really cute. He sits in it sometimes, but most of the time he likes to push it over and use it as a jungle gym. Oh well.

Jeffer's cousin Ada got this microphone and once he saw it Christmas was over. He couldn't have cared less about his presents. He took it and walked all over saying, "hello" into it and then holding it out to the closest person to say it back. It was really cute the first 10 times. After that it was like, "Get that slobbery thing out of my face man." We did end up getting him one of his own though.

Sweet little guy!
Like I said, you gotta love this kid.
Jefferson inhereted my need to be clean and so he really likes to sweep and vacuum. It drives my mom crazy because he can open the closet door now and he is always trying to pull the vacuum down the stairs. Here is when we had just put away all the decorations and he was helping my mom clean. He had a blast.

It really kind of tuckered him out. He looks so cute though.

Jason's mom got him this remote controlled car and once Jefferson saw it, it was immediately under his control (atleast when the battery is in) He loves the thing so much. It was really funny to see his reaction when it first started moving. He is so used to cars he has to push that this was the best show on earth.

Holding Heaven

2010-01-25T14:05:00.001-08:00

James Cyril Thomas

January 15, 2010

13 oz., 8.5 in.

James is such a beautiful little (very) boy. Things at the hospital went very well, as good as they could have gone. The labor process was a little long due to the fact that they had to start me from ground zero, but in the end it all worked out. The spirit has manifested to me multiple times that we made the right decision, but it was still hard. Our little baby was born stillborn and after the labor we realized that even if we had done a c-section the outcome would have been the same. I know that some people might want explicit details, but the experience was very special for us and we would like to keep it that way. We would ask you to respect our wishes and thank you for doing so.

There are volunteer groups that come to hospitals and help families handle births such as this (and many others). One such group is called Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. It is a group of professional photographers that volunteer their time so families can have special pictures like this to always remember their child. I can't tell you how much these pictures mean to me. The photographer did a beautiful job and she helped me to see that this doesn't have to be a sad and tragic event; that James is special and we can celebrate him. The picture above is my favorite. Those are our wedding rings and it shows just how tiny he was, but it also helps me to remember that families are forever and he will always be our little boy.

This is my second favorite picture. I think it is so tender to see Jason holding his son. He was a great strength to me during the whole process and I couldn't imagine going through this with anyone else. I love you so much Jason!

To tell you the truth I was really amazed at how well I held it together during the hospital stay. I did have to keep reminding myself to "Hold on a little longer. You can do it", but I also kept thinking that I didn't want all the pictures to have me crying in them. We are grateful that we got this opportunity to be his parents and I wanted the pictures to show that.

He was so perfect except for his tiny organs. It is awe inspiring that at 24 weeks he had perfect teeny tiny fingernails, and beautiful ears, eyelashes, and perfects little toes, and the most precious little nose (Mom's and Jefferson's). His fingers were so long already, he would have been tall like his dad.

The other group that helped us was a group made up of parents who have lost children themselves. One couple came and cleaned the baby and dressed him, gave him a hat and booties, and a blanket. They also created a memory box with various things in it including ink prints of his hands and feet. They also did plaster prints of his hands and feet. It was so great to have those details taken care of for us by people who understand the highly emotional situation you're in. They also gave him that tiny teddy bear.

I have never seen a hat and booties so small (and hand made), but they were perfect and very precious.

Our little family.
The graveside service was beautiful. My dad said a few words and Jason dedicated the grave. Jason did a perfect job and said just what I was feeling in my heart. This whole experience has been very difficult, but I found a strength that I didn't know I had. I have a new testimony, not just of the Plan of Salvation, but of the Atonement and the gospel as a whole. Every one has been so kind and loving. We have been well fed and taken care of. The nurses and my doctor were so kind and I feel like they are family now. I have received so many hugs and they truly do help. The hardest part was having to deal with people that did not respect our wishes concerning the viewing of the baby and kept pushing the issue until their own curiosity was satisfied. I don't think it matters if you don't understand why we made certain decisions, and if you only came to see what the baby really looked like, you came for the wrong reasons. You should just respect the wishes of parents that have just had to bury a child. It was extremely hurtful and that is all I'm going to say about it and move on. A lot of pictures we have kept private and we will keep them that way, but we do want to show some to celebrate this beautiful and special child. It was a learning, growing, and painful experience, but we are better because of it. I want to thank all of our friends and family who have expressed so much care and concern for us and have gone out of their way to help us heal. Most days are pretty good, but some aren't and I expect it will be like that for a while, but I know where he is and who is taking care of him and that makes me smile. For his short time here on earth he was so so loved and I look forward to the day that we can see him again.

That's the Plan Stan!!

2010-01-12T12:04:00.000-08:00

So....the time has come. On the last visit to my doctor's we determined that things are not looking good and since we are coming up on the age of viability for the baby, we should induce for the safest and most hopeful outcome for baby and me. The baby is really not all that big, but you have to understand that with all the organs on the outside the added mass will make delivering the baby difficult. On Thursday evening I am going to the hospital and they will give me some medication to help make the cervix softer to prepare for the labor inducing medication the next day. We are hopeful that things will go smoothly and as they should. Our biggest worries are the positioning of the baby (currently stomach and organs down) and the baby being born whole. There is a large chance that things will get left behind and that we will finish the delivery with some minor surgery to make sure everything has been removed. I am also worried that it will take a long time, something that would make this even harder. Since we have had time to sort of come to terms with this situation I have been able to read and pray a lot and have come to the point where I know that I will mourn, but that life is a blessing and it must go on. I have a fabulous husband, the greatest little boy, the best family anyone could hope for, and the gospel to understand that we will see our baby again. I don't know how people get through such difficult situations without it. With that said, I would ask for your prayers that everything goes well, because, let's face it, I am still scared. We will probably have to do some genetic testing to determine the gender, but we will have a graveside service where our sweet baby can be put to rest and be close to family. I think that will be the most difficult part, but I know it's not the end. This months Ensign seemed to be written just for me. I am positive that most all the articles touched on my thoughts and feelings as of late and helped me to gain peace. My mantra for this month is from the First Presidency's Message: "Hold on a little longer. You can do it." I am thankful for all the love, support, and prayers that we have received and am so glad to have friends and family so wonderful. Count your blessings, hug your spouse and children, hug your parents and be thankful for the gospel and the hand of the Lord in our lives. I love you guys!!