Good Sport

Merry Cozy Christmas! Nate was a fantastic sport this year. He winced at the idea of matching pajamas for our Christmas card picture this year. Lovingly, he gave in. The best part was when he came out of the bedroom with the new knowledge that he was wearing womens pj's. Only technically. The only way you would ever know is by the way the shirt buttoned. Anyhow, he got over it real quick. Nate's sister Chelon snapped a few quick photos for us. Thanks Shonnie! Now you all know what we will be wearing Christmas morning. Happy Holidays!!!

Giddyup!

So, I'm just soooo elated that Matie Kay is back in business. Yes, my layout link officially allows you to choose from free lay outs, once again! ECSTATIC!!! Seriously, overjoyed. Yes it may be slightly ridiculous at how appeased I am, but hey, I've come to appreciate the sillyest of smallest things =). I love her... well, I think I would, but I do love her layouts!!! Can you tell by all of the superlatives and exclamation marks that I am overzealously excited? Oh, and my mom can read this one better now. I'm not that great at picking outmy color schemes. I never pay much attention to what color works better on which. Thanks Matie Kay!

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

Christmas Story?

"Once there was a snowman..."

Our backyard... plus 4" of snow

Fun Days with Dad

So, Nate and Jack are enjoying their time together. Jack loves when his Dad pulls him through the house in his Lego wagon. Yes, it is supposed to hold his jumbo legos, but it has turned into a fun wagon as well. When I got home today, Nate said Jack built a fort. Jack, all by himself, pushed the stool over to his high chair and made himself a fort. He played in it for about 15 minutes, or so I'm told. Here are a few pics Nate has taken...

...Also, for those of you who may be wondering, I am loving my new job. Justice, Inc. is a fabulous employer when it comes to acknowledgment and rewards. Business has been surprisingly off the charts. It definitely has kept me on my toes. We've had management from other stores here to train me the last week and a half, but I don't feel like I'm getting much off the floor training. Luckily I love hands on learning. I've had to work more than my 40 hours a week, but I really haven't minded. It will stop as soon as I hire my new Assistant Manager, which I am out scouting for. In the mean time, I am fortunately paid hourly, so when I go over 40 hours I get time and a half. I am so used to being salaried. I used to think that was cool. Yeah, cool until you are working 60 hour work weeks during the holiday, and only getting paid for 40. I honestly feel so blessed. Everything is working out fantastic. Nate and Jack are getting along amazingly. Of course there's that natural mom part of me that wondered if everything would get done the way it should. I gave into my trust and I am so glad I did. Nate is doing so great! I even got a pleasant surprise of 2 clean bathrooms when I came home yesterday. Oh how I love my husband!

Craziness is Back

Well, lately we've made some huge changes to our lives. Nate lost his job, and so we had some things to think about. We decided to have him go back to school and finish his degree while I support the fam for a while. God has really blessed us in filling our needs lately. I was about to accept an offer from my old employer ( which would have been over a 2 hr commute every day... without traffic), when I got a random phone call. Justice Inc., a girls clothing store had been given my application from Gymboree. They needed a store manager. At first I was torn, but it was a no brainer the more I thought about it. I accepted the position. It is 5-10 minutes up the freeway. It's a brand new store. More square footage and a new challenge. I've never had to build a business from scratch. It's been exciting, and I look forward to the future ( Especially way in the future, when I get to stay home again, and all this hard work pays off in a big way!). Thank you for the prayers and support. We'll keep everyone posted.

Jack, Jack, and MORE Jack

So, I've been a productive photographer lately. Here are some fun recent photos...

1920's Jack
and his collectors F1 '60s Mercedes model that Grandpa Miranda gave him for his B-day.

Jacks latest trick. I walked in, and then ran back out for my camera.

Monkey Jack
Happy Halloween... muah ha ha!

"Hello... hello?"
Well, the words aren't quite there, but the action sure is.

Birthday Number One

I can't believe it! A year has gone by so fast. It's been so incredibly fun to see Jack Jack grow. The date was October 13th. It was so nice that his b-day was on a Saturday. We just kept things really small. My cousins, Nate's sister and husband, and Nate's BFF and wife came to join in the festivities. It was perfect, not too much stimulation, but enough for Jack to be excited. He just stared intently at everyone as we sang him his birthday anthem. Now, I've decided that every parent secretly wants their kids to dive into their first birthday cake (despite all the possible mess). Well, to our dismay, Jack refused. Any time we tried to even stick his hand in it, he cried. He would lick it from our fingers, but no way would he use his own. Then, sitting to close to the cake resulted in foot in the cake. Even then, another scream. Maybe it means he'll keep his room really clean. Maybe even love his chores!? Eh, a mother can dream...

Rediscovered

So, I have never claimed to be a reader. Last thing I remember reading, and loving, was Matilda when I was in elementary school. I think I read that thing 5 times. For a kid, it was a decent size book. Then, with Jr. High and High School, I quickly gained an aversion to reading. I hated being told what to read, and especially how fast to do it in. You see, I am a horribly slow reader. I like to blame it on the fact that I have a crazy imagination. When I read, I can't just read. No matter the subject, no matter how stale the content, I have to picture everything in my head. I like to see the WHOLE picture. School always made that hard for me. Reading started to stress me out. I felt like I couldn't read the way I wanted to... until now. "Everyone and their moms" has been telling me to read the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. They all tried to convince me of how fabulous it was. I told them all, "sure, but you'll have to bring me the book, because there is no way I will come pick it up my own." Honestly, school had ruined me, or so I thought. Well, my sister-in-law, gave me the first of three. All I have to say about that is, it hasn't even been a week and I am already 200+ pages into the third book. For me to even get through one 500 page book is a miracle. The funny thing is, they just keep getting longer. I don't even care. It's a phenomenon. So maybe, just maybe, I have rediscovered my love for reading. Thank you Ms. Meyer!

Curb Appeal

We just added a new front door to our house.
If you ask me, it's night and day. Thank you to
my beloved dad and mom who gifted it to us as a house warming present. Thank you, thank you, thank you! It's so nice to have a door that shuts and doesn't let any light in from warping and lack of insulation. Yahoo! Here's a before (it's before we moved in, so it might look quite a bit different)... and an after, or two.

Mysterious Ways

So, we all know how the Lord sometimes works. Tonight, I ran into an odd string of circumstances that made me see the possible chance of an overseeing hand. I had our Evening in Excellence for Young Womens in our church tonight. I was in charge of putting together a video of all the Young Women. It turned out really well. I put in their baby pictures, intermittently, and added some music. I was actually quite proud of it. Well, in the midst of today I managed to snap it in half. Yes, I somehow closed up my stroller while the DVD was behind the seat, and SNAP! I freaked out, knowing I would have to reburn it. It wouldn't have been too bad, except for the fact that I didn't use my computer to do the project. Anyway... long story, but by the time I got the new DVD and changed my clothes (yes, I was already behind schedule) I was about 20 minutes late to the program. When I walked in the door, it was technically time to play the DVD. Instead, (maybe they didn't see me come in yet) they had the next girl give her talk. It was quite obvious that she had absolutely nothing prepared. It kinda made a weird lull in the evening. She should have been the last thing on the program. Frankly, it would have been a really weird ending to the night. But, because I had broken the DVD, had to make a new copy, and arrived late, the video was still left. It was a good ending to the evening, and everyone left on an upbeat, happy note. They all really enjoyed laughing at themselves, and seeing what each other had to say about their year in Young Womens. The baby pics were a hit. The best part was that the girl who gave the previous talk (and you could tell she was a little embarrassed about her lack of preparation) was the girl who did the original recording for the video. It was a nice way to acknowledge her, and relieve her raw embarrassment. So, although it stressed me out, and I don't like to be late, I had to laugh at the afterthought of... well, maybe the Lord just knew.

Manic Monday

Oh, it's been a crazy day, and it's all my fault. So, typically I'm not a reader. My sis recommended I read the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I've been slow to start, because I don't have a huge desire to jump into books. Little did I know what I was getting myself into. I've read 250 pages in just three days. That is absolutely amazing, seeing as how I am the slowest reader in the world (I blame my aversion to reading on my ridiculously slow pace). As a result, I did absolutely nothing today but read. Whenever Jack takes his naps, I typically clean or do something more productive. But to be honest, I'm kinda proud of myself. The TV wasn't on today, and I was incredibly entertained. I'm hoping that this is the beginning of a reawakening to my love of books. I used to love to read as a kid. So manic my day was because I put everything off 'til Nate was just about home. Since then it's been go go go: a quick clean up, dinner fixins, a quick trip with my YW presidency to buy decorations for Wed. night, Jack in the bath, a quick jot on the blog, and now I need to go cut Nates hair before we get on our way to bed. It's all been crammed into the last few hours, but it was worth it. I can't wait to read more... who knew?!

Once There Was a Snowman....

So, not really, but it did snow, yesterday, for the first time, in the valley, this fall. It was only for a little while, but places got between 1-4 inches. Not too shabby. If you ask me, snow is pretty, but I can wait. Once it really comes, it's lovely, and then I get really tired of it. I wish I could live in snow, without really having to live, the daily routine things, in it. You know?

A Night Out

Nate and I got to go out last night... just the two of us. I started thinking, and I realized that it was only the second time we have gotten out, since Jack was born. Yes, sad, but true, he was born a year ago. Last time we got out was for my birthday. This time, it was just dinner with friends. We went to PF Changs. It was so lovely to have an adult dinner. Oh the joy of just eating my food, and not feeding anyone else. No picking up spoons, or cutting up little pieces of my dinner to share. It makes me stop and really think of how important it is for us to get out. It was nice to be with other people. Still, the nicest part was to be out on a date with my husband. Big, huge, thanks to Nates sister, Chelon, and her husband, Ricky, for giving us the last minute chance to have a baby free dinner. Jack really loves them, and he had an extra special time with his Uncle Ricky. We can't thank them enough.

The new FHE goal... check in

This week was fun. We had dinner at Paul & Nicole Brouwers, while starting the lesson/scripture part of the lesson. It was on family history. Then we filled out first generation pedigree charts. Sad how much I really didn't know (dates, etc.) when it came to my relatives. Then on the back we glued pictures we took of our families. Under the picture we wrote a brief personal history. Mine just had my schools, houses, siblings, yada yada yada... It was funny to think back and reminisce as we laughed with each other. Family Home Evening has not been our best feat in the past. We hope to improve vastly starting NOW. We've had 2 consecutive. We'll see how it goes from here.

Last Weekend

So, Nate is related to Anson Call. He was involved with a lot of historical church things. He was basically the man called to run the LDS colonies in Mexico. Long story short, the Church dedicated a monument to him at the This is The Place Heritage Park up in Salt Lake. Elder Oaks was there to speak and give the dedicatory prayer. We were excited to see him, but didn't want to bother him amongst all the crowd. So, we walked down to the monument and took some pictures. On the way back up, Elder Oaks happened to be on his way down. We luckily crossed paths. He shook Nates and my hand. But, my favorite part is that Elder Oaks shook Jacks hand, too. He said, "Well hi there little guy." I was stoked. Anyway, an event for the baby book, for sure.