My pathetic attempts

Funny story:

I was looking on a friends blog and saw what looked like a wonderful blueberry muffin recipe! yum! That couldn't be too hard to make-right?

Wrong!

Leave it to me to screw up an easy recipe. (this is the girl who butchered instant pudding mix.)

So, I thought I would be the cute little domesticated wife that cleans the house and whips up some homemade blueberry muffins. The only problem with that is:

I can't read instructions.

I just can't. I don't get it either.

So..... the reason my muffins are purple is because I mixed the berries with the oatmeal at first instead of the juice with the oatmeal. On top of that, instead of combining things in seperate bowls, like instructed, I just dumped it all into one. at the same time.

For Goodness sakes.

This is why I don't cook:

Really, I thought they tasted just fine. Maybe cuz I made 'em. And I worked hard. Andrew & Jax would disagree. They practically had to choke them down. Sad stuff.

For the REAL , actually Normal , yummy recipe: click on this

(hope you don't mind Noelle! :) they are way good!!)

Yes, I do blog everyday.

I just discovered a place that I am deeply in love with. I almost peed my pants with joy at the beauty of it! It's like heaven! It's everything I've been looking for , and just when I thought places like that don't exist in St. George, I stumbled upon it. Turns out it was there all along on Tabernacle Rd hiding behind a big normal looking building. What took me there? What drew me in? I haven't a clue. My sub-conscious maybe. My obsessiveness? Whatever it was , I am sure glad I found it. To see more of this lovely place go to: http://aleciasphotography.blogspot.com/








Can you believe I finally understand manual mode??!?! They're not half bad. I'm gettin there & starting to like it. I would like to get more comfortable with it. And by golly, I will. There's a lot to do, buttons to push, settings to adjust, but I can get EXACTLY what I want...







And I think right here I did..... this picture was barely edited! Yipee! Wahoo!

for Shaylah.

Isn't this little girl SOOOOO cute?

Shaylah, these are for you....

(i figured this would be a very easy way to get them to you)

Play group.

Andrew & I have tried to come up with reasons why having another child right now would make any sense at all. The only reason we ever come up with is this: Jaxon NEEDS a playmate.

Well, today...Problem solved

Jaxon & I attended our first official "play group". My visiting teachers invited us, and I decided it would be healthy for both of us to get out and be social.

Jax has a blast with other kids. He loves to watch them and follow them around. Poor kid. He doesn't get out much. But I am glad my ward has this play group! It's a great chance for the kids to play and the mom's to talk!!

Fun stuff.

And the weather was soooo delightful. We were actually SWEATING. Can you believe that? It's February. Can I say this enough.....I LOVE ST. GEORGE!!

this is what happens...

...when I have nothing to do.

take very, very random pictures of the Jax.

i love this kids hair. yes, it is long and girlish at times. Call me what you will, but I am NOT cutting it. nope. it took him a too long to grow some.

Jax does a good job of acting like he can read. He almost had me fooled til I saw the book was upside down.

Jaxon is totally enthralled with pulling all the books out from his bookcase.

I wish I was as enthusiastic about cleaning it up.

Love the lashes. I think its a Mom thing.

Child at play.

Boredom

I am "working" a 12 hour graveyard shift right now. It is 4 a.m. & I am desperately fighting sleep. Luckily, I got to bring my trusty laptop to work. To help stay awake, I've created these fun little collages of the Stinky Man Jax.











Oh, the woes of babyhood.

Terrible 2 came early!

I've always dreaded "terrible 2s" with my own children. I have a brother who was truly a terror tornado at that age. I remember running with my Mom to try to catch up to him to prevent his evil acts, but by the time we cleaned up one mess, he was on to the next. I remember rolls of toilet paper flooding the toilet, bananas being mashed into the couch, lotion rubbed all over the windows, topped off with him pooping on the sidewalk and running down the street naked. It was kind of funny, but It couldn't have been too funny for my Mom. What a stinker!

Well, Today Jaxon decided he would give me a run for my money, and test my patience. He's usually a pretty good boy....but I can tell, the terror is beginning. He put a stamp pad in his mouth, which left him with a pink mouth. I went & put him in the bath tub, where he then pooped A LOT in the water. (It's the 2nd time this week he's done that!) I took him out to try to clean up all the poop, and I look back to see that in the 2 seconds I was doing that, he had managed to pee all over the carpet. Then he ran into the bathroom at full speed when I tried to catch him, and slipped on the wet floor, landing on his head! Holy Hannah! What a morning!

I wish I had pictures, but it was all happening so fast, and I wasn't really in the mood. Plus, who wants to see poopy bath water?

I know the Terror Tales will only get worse from here....stay tuned to hear more throughout the next few months. Can't wait!

My Rantings.

Yesterday, we went into the Doctor for Jaxon's 15 month check-up. I am just so used to having Medicaid, that when the lady at the desk asked if we had insurance, I just said, "..crap, NO!" Then she said, "Well are you able to pay right now then?" And I said, "Well, how much is it gonna be?" She said, "At least $130, and we don't finance, you have to pay it all right now." That's when I took my sorry butt & sorry son's butt, straight outta that office. No way can we pay for that! UGHHH!

This concept makes me so mad: People who WORK HARD , get no health insurance. People who DON'T WORK, (or who work, but barely don't make enough & qualify, that was the category we fell under for awhile, & now I'm just bitter we don't anymore) get FREE STUFF! How can this possibly be fair though? The government is pretty much rewarding the lazy. People don't want to work, because of all the benefits they get if they don't. Then there are some people, who really truly need this help, that actually get it. That percentage is small, I think. I think most people milk the system. They lie. They do whatever they can to get what they think they deserve: hard working citizens taxes! BAAAAAH! I get very worked up about this, as you can tell. Maybe it's because I am in the first category. And I HATE HATE HATE to see sometimes where my taxes go. Have you ever driven through a "goverment housing" neighborhood? If you have, you will not like what you see. These people are given the best of things! Their apartments are SO NICE & big! With garages & yards, & pools & clubhouses! I believe people should WORK for those things. Not only is that disturbing, BUT these people have LARGE TOYS & EXPENSIVE CARS that they are able to afford because of the cheap housing they lied themselves into, which who really pays for??? Yeah- that would be us! The rest of the us who live in the REAL WORLD where WORK is not a lost concept!! Now, there are people that really do deserve to be in there, but in my opinion , there aren't many. I think it is a great system- don't get me wrong- for people who NEED it. But the system is getting very much abused. I don't understand how some of these people sleep at night knowing they are just mooching off citizens hard earned cash. How are they not eaten alive with guilt? And where is their pride? What is wrong with our society??

So, today , I took Jaxon into the Health Department where shots are a whole heck of a lot cheaper than going to a stupid clinic. He didn't get his 15 month check up, but I think he's prety healthy, so that'll be ok this time, I guess. At least he got his immunization shots, that's the important thing. Another thing: Why are Doctors so dang expensive? C'mon they don't actually really need to charge that much. Things are ridiculous & are probably just gonna get worse in this economy! Yikes!! I would like it very much if someone would just go ahead and reward those of us working our butts off with FREE HEALTH INSURANCE. Yes, free. At least for kids. How great would that be??

Family.

Okay, we took these yesterday using my tripod. Yeah, I know they are not the greatest, I'm still trying to figure things out. BUT I am going to use them for something and need opinions on favorites. What are your favorites??




number 1.





number 2.





number 3.

number 4.

number 5.

number 6.

number 7.

number 8.

THANX!

Love Day

Valentines Day turned out pretty nice, considering we have a baby. (C'mon, you've gotta admit, Valentines Day will never be the same, or as big of a deal when you have kids!) But it was still nice. Well except for the fact that I had to work 12 hours the night before. That kind of put a damper on things, because I had to come home and sleep half the day away, then be tired for the rest of the day. And this is where my complaining ends. No, but really it wasn't that bad because Andrew, being the sweetest husband he is, really tried to make up for that. I woke up to flowers & balloons, and a bowl full of my favorite: Chocolate Chex! It was wonderful! Andrew got me some perfume that I love. I got him a new outfit for church. Later, Andrew's parents were so kind and watched Jax for us while we went to dinner & a movie!! It was fabulous! I'm thankful we have family around to watch the Jax! Hope everyone had a Happy Valentines Day!




Okay. I look real dorky.

Best perfume from Maurices.













This little silly dorky cat was "from Jaxon".
Ha ha. I love it!












this is his "put the camera away, you are annoying " face. I've seen it often.














Jaxon basically thinks these balloons belong to him. I haven't the heart to tell him otherwise.


He's so cute. He says "bloon!" He's a smartie. But STILL wont say "MAMA" !! UGH!!!

Getting Ready

This is Jaxon's favorite place to be while I am getting ready: Front and center, where it's all happenin'.

Typical Jaxon.

.

New Calling

We got our first calling in Church a couple weeks ago! We teach sunday school to the 15-16 year olds. Sunday, (as in yesterday) was our first time teaching! We have like 6 kids in a very very small room. We of course still have Jaxon; he's STILL too young to go to nursery (3 more months!) But even with a rambunctious , energized 1 year old running around, it still turned out okay. The kids are really good kids. It's something very different for us, but we think it will be a good experience. It's kind of exciting!

A Blessing in Disguise, maybe?

Andrew got laid off (til march) at Walmart Distribution. It is both and good and bad news depending on how you look at it. Yeah- we're probably gonna come up short on bills for awhile, BUT it is SOOOO nice to have Andrew home on the weekends to spend some time as a family. It's a nice break for him too. He doesn't have to work 7 days in a row anymore! (Well until sometime in March, that is.) As far as money goes....I think as long as we keep paying tithing, we will be fine, somehow. He still has his Sky View job, and I have my CNA job. Right now, I am just so excited to have him home!!

Birthday Party!

Friday was Carson's (my nephew) Birthday Party!! It was Jax's first Birthday party he's ever attended that of course wasn't his own. It was a lot of fun. Jaxon had a blast with all the kids, like he always does. Carson is 5! He's so fun and cute.

Lizzie & Jaxon

Monica & Tyler- these are for you- you can have 'em! I took a bunch more if you want those too...