Emily's first day of school outfit - help me choose!

Emily starts school this week and I'm trying to decide which outfit should be her "first day of school outfit." I am posting pictures here and creating a poll that will displayed at the right so you can help me make my decision!

Here are the choices: (so far...I really need to look at what all she has)

PARIS

OR

APPLES

Truly blessed!

I have to start this post out by saying that Jason has been gone tonight and whenever Jason is gone, I always resolve to do 100 things after the kids go to bed like cleaning the house or reading, but somehow I never end up doing any of the things on my "to do" list and I always end up sucked into some website or blog. Tonight it was the Seriously So Blessed blog that Afton posted about on her website. It was hilarious, and if you need a good laugh (and are familiar with "LDS culture"), you should check it out.

I ended the night by looking at old pictures and came across several that made me smile. This week, I've had several times where I've just stopped to reflect on little things that I'm grateful for (one morning as I was rushing to get the kids ready and out the door so I wouldn't be late to work, I was incredibly grateful for disposable diapers!). Tonight, I'm grateful for all of the great friends I've had through the years and at the risk of becoming material for the next "Seriously So Blessed" blog, I thought I'd share that I truly feel blessed :)

I thought I'd share a few of my favorite pictures/memories, too. I hope that this brings back some fun memories for those of you reading it, too!

Kim ~ Kim is one of my oldest friends (sometimes it seems like we've been friends "4-EVA" which is an old joke that we had). We met when we were RAs together for two years at Jackson Hall. That experience alone was a bonding experience and we have tons of memories and stories from that. Kim has also helped me through some really tough times. We were lucky enough to be able to work together again for a year last year and I hope we'll get the chance again someday down the road.

Shannon and Kristy (top) and Jamie, Melinda, and Shannon (bottom) ~ When I was in at BYU, I lived at Branbury Park. Melinda and I lived together for a year, and Reed lived there at one point, too. In spite of the reputation it had at the time, it changed all of our lives in one way or another. I met Crystal (see picture below) who has become a great friend to me and who also introduced me to life in Washington. If I would not have met Crystal and taken tons of road trips with her, I probably would not have met Jason. Melinda and Reed both met their spouses through Branbury Connection. So, needless to say, we have lots of great memories of that place!

Like most people, when I was in college at BYU, we did some strange and silly things. My roommates and I were constantly playing practical jokes on each other and people in our ward. I can't even remember what we were doing in that top picture, but if I remember right, we went out to Utah Lake. Sometimes we would pull all of our mattresses out into our living room and have a big slumber party.

Melinda, Jenna (and Jackson), and Jamie ~ I met Jamie and Jenna when I was living in Utah and working at Myfamily.com. The four of us used to go out all of the time for "Sisters Squared" nights and would sometimes end them by spending the night at Jenna's and watching scary movies. Time sure flies, and I can't believe that Jackson is in 2nd grade now!
Shannon's wedding (Lacey & Shannon) ~ Shannon and I met in college at SWT I was her visiting teacher shortly (I think Lacey was my companion, but I'm not 100% sure on that one!) after she joined the church and we ended up being roommates for awhile at BYU. I have a lot of great memories with Shannon (Lacey, too) and one of them was being a part of her wedding! I'm so glad she has joined the blogging world now because hopefully we will be better about keeping in touch!

Crystal, Brooke, Jake, and Katie ~ When I lived in Washington, we were always planning get togethers that ranged from Mexican fiestas to movie nights and even a murder mystery dinner. This was one of my favorites - it was a Christmas in July Party at Jalynn's house. We combined all of our favorite family Christmas traditions and even put up Christmas decorations.

Marcey, Crystal, Tae, and Scott ~ When I lived in Washington, we used to always go out for birthdays. If I remember correctly, this was one of my birthdays, and we went to Old Spaghetti Factory, which I still love and miss. Whenever we go to Washington or Utah, we always go there to eat! (if anyone else remembers this night, I opted to NOT share the picture of the very embarrassing birthday gift that Wendy gave me!)

Wendy, Summer, and Melissa ~ when I lived in Washington, we used to always drive down to Utah for conference weekend. This was an October Conference and we all went to Lagoon for Frightmares.

Kim, Melinda, and Crystal ~ even though they probably hated their dresses and were tired of carrying around my train and taking pictures, they never once complained (at least not to me!)

Last (but not least of course), I'm so grateful for Jason! :) We've got all kinds of memories, but for some reason, not too many pictures together (probably because I really don't like having my picture taken and neither does he)

Husband tag!

I saw this on someone else's site and thought it was kind of fun. Jason would probably hate me posting it here, but he doesn't look at the blog that often anyway! :) Feel free to use the questions on your own blog!

What is his name? Jason

How long have you been married? 6 years

How long did you date? From our first "date" to the time we got married, it was almost eight months

Who eats more sweets? It depends.....he LOVES ice cream (and Rice Krispie treats, I recently discovered), but I eat WAY more chocolate and other goodies than he does.

Who said I love you first? I think he did, but he would probably deny it.

Who is taller? If you've ever seen us together, it's not hard to figure out. Jason is over one foot taller than I am (without my "tall" shoes, of course....but I hardly wear those anymore anyway since I've had kids)

Who can sing better? Jason for sure!

Who does the laundry? Mostly Jason

Who pays the bills? Mostly me

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me

Who mows the lawn? Neither one of us - we have a lawn service! (it's cheap in Texas and if we didn't have one, our Homeowner's Association would probably fine us constantly) I wouldn't know how to even start the lawn mower not to mention actually use it!

Who cooks dinner? Mostly me.

Who drives? Both of us! When we go out places, he usually drives.

Who is more stubborn? We are both very stubborn. When it comes down to it, I think I am probably more stubborn than he is.

Who kissed who first? He says it was me. I could have sworn it was him.

Who asked who out first? We were "set up" the first time. It was a group date. He asked me on our first "real" date.

Who proposed? He did

Who has more siblings? He does - I have one brother and one sister. He has two brothers and a sister.

Jacob's got talent!

Tonight we had America's Got Talent on TV. Jacob stood there dancing his little heart out to the music. It was so cute! Each time they were done, he clapped like crazy. We couldn't help but smile.

And....when it's daddy's turn to do baths at night, you never know what you're going to get! Tonight, I think Emily looks like she turned into a character from a Dr. Seuss book!

The grass is always greener somewhere else!

My kids crack me up. Emily always loves to play in Jacob's room with Jacob's toys (even though many of them are toys that were hers and that she outgrew a long time ago) and Jacob hardly ever plays with his stuff because his favorite place in the world is his sister's room (and particularly her kitchen).

Here's a picture of Emily playing with Jacob's Little People farm. I think she did bring some of her Disney princesses into the mix (she has quite an imagination these days!). Maybe for Christmas this year, we'll give Emily Jacob's gifts and vice versa just to see how they react (that's the "psychologist" in me wanting to do a little bit of experimenting with my own kids!

Both kids are doing great. Jacob has adjusted well to his new daycare and I am so happy! Emily will start preschool next week. She got a postcard in the mail from her teacher this week and was so excited. I'm still trying to adjust to the fact that at this time next year, she will be in kindergarten!

I am finally mostly settled into my new office (although I still don't have ceiling tiles, a phone, or a printer). I have learned to appreciate the little things (like the fact that I can use my computer now at least even if the electrical outlets are 15 feet from my desk and we're not allowed to have extension cords because it's a fire hazard. Sitting on the floor is better than nothing at all! I am LOVING my new commute which is only about 30 minutes each way including dropping both kids off at separate places.

Back to school!

Last week was my first week back at work, which is why I haven't been as good at keeping up with the blog. I am moving to a new school this year, and scarily, it is still under construction. On Friday, they were supposed to be putting the ceiling and carpet in my office and with any luck, I'll be able to start moving in tomorrow. It's been a day by day experience and since no one has been allowed in the building yet, I'm sure this next week will be hectic as we scramble to get the building ready for the first day of school on the 25th!

Jacob has adjusted well to his new daycare, which is a huge relief! Emily doesn't start preschool until September 3rd, so she's been staying with my mom until then and having lots of fun.


Jacob has been a momma's boy for awhile now, but he has been even more clingy (and jealous) lately. If I am holding Emily or hugging her or he thinks she is just too close to me, he will get upset and try to push her out of the way. We've REALLY been trying to work on that! It's been a rough weekend, though, because Jacob is getting two of his molars and hasn't slept very well and Emily has a bit of a cold. Understandably, they've both wanted lots of attention.


Emily LOVED swimming lessons so much that we decided to keep her in swimming. The place where we've been going has an indoor pool, so they do lessons year round. I love it because their main focus in the beginning is getting the kids to learn how to move from their stomachs to their backs and how to float on their backs independently so that they will know what to do if they fall into a pool. In order to move to the next level where they start doing other things, they have to pass a "float test" where they jump in, flip to their back, and float independently (or reach the edge of the pool independently) for 2 minutes and then where they do the same thing fully clothed (including shoes) for 5 minutes.

She is also looking forward to starting soccer in a few weeks!

Diaper Drama

Today was one of those days that people who are thinking about trying to have a baby should experience firsthand! When Jacob woke up from his nap, I could tell that he had a dirty diaper. I was surprised, though, when I picked him up and it looked like it had gone through to his shorts on one side. It's been a long time since that happened. I quickly realized why. He had pulled the tab on his diaper off on one side. It was EVERYWHERE!!

Then, tonight, when I was getting him ready for his bath, I pulled his diaper off, and was getting ready to put him in the tub when....well, you can guess what happened. I got a little shower. I had to run and grab a towel while trying to keep an eye on him so he didn't start playing in what was left on the floor.

You've gotta love kids!

BONK BONK!

Having kids is a constant source of entertainment! One day last week, Jacob hit his head on the wall. Maybe I'm a "mean" mom, but I try to teach my kids to be tough, so instead of making a big deal out of it, I just smiled and said "BONK BONK" in a silly voice (so you don't think I'm TOO mean of a mom, I did want to clarify and say that I did pick him up and hold him right away and if he would have cried, that would have been fine). He cracked up and now he goes around bonking his head purposely and saying "BONK BONK."

Emily got this chair for her first birthday and loved it. Now it is a hit with Jacob. He loves that he is able to climb in and out of it by himself now and I think he feels like a big kid when he sits in it. We just buzzed his hair again this weekend, and he looks so old. I can't get over how fast he is growing up!

He is still such a happy, easygoing little guy. Today was my first day back at work and his first day in his new daycare. I'm moving to a new school this year, and so I needed to find a new place that would be closer to my new school and closer to home. The lady we found to watch him is great and he had a great time today. She quickly realized that he loves to eat, loves to explore, and also commented that he is a happy, easy baby.

Emily handled the transition well, too, and was happy to spend the day with Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Reed. She will be staying with them until she starts preschool again at the beginning of September.

Leaving the kids is never easy for me, and I always dread the end of vacations for that reason, but it actually was a lot smoother than I had anticipated. It helps to know that they are in good hands!

Our latest Sea World trip!

We made one last quickie trip to Sea World this week (our season passes have definitely been a worthwhile investment!) Jason had planned to go with us, but thanks to the rains from Tropical Storm Edouard, he got bombarded with calls at work and wasn't able to come after all. We missed him, but we had a lot of fun anyway. My parents and brother and sister and law went with us.

They have a water play area for kids called Shamu's Happy Harbor. Emily had a BLAST! She couldn't get enough of it and kept wanting to go back. The water was super cold and Jacob wasn't as thrilled. He only lasted a few minutes!

While we were waiting to see the penguins, the music for "the chicken dance" came on and Emily was trying to do her own version. A little girl came along and was trying to teacher her the "right" moves. It was cute to watch the two of them together.

We are all a little sunburned, and very tired, but we're so glad we went! We hope to take another trip out there later this year when things cool off a little bit! I think Emily now has a stuffed animal for every creature she experienced at the park (well, aside from the alligators and flamingos, I guess).

(On a side note, since I wasn't driving, I also had a chance to finish Breaking Dawn finally!)

STUCK!

I couldn't post a picture of this because it would have been cruel to take one, but poor Jacob keeps getting his feet and legs stuck in the slats on the sides of the crib. The first time was a few nights ago. He started fussing around 10:30, which is really unlike him because he usually sleeps through the night without any issues. I went in, gave him his pacifiers (he has to sleep with one in his mouth and one in each hand), and left the room. I thought he just had his foot hanging out of the crib and I even commented to Jason about it when I came back out. He started fussing again about an hour later. I noticed his night light was off, so I figured that was the problem. I turned it on and left again. About an hour later, he started full fledged crying and I figured something must be wrong like maybe he was teething or getting sick. That's when I realized that his foot was STUCK! I felt terrible!

This afternoon, he did it again, except this time his entire leg was hanging out and it was pretty tough to get it out. I told Jason that it looks like we might need to move him to a toddler bed a little earlier than we had planned just so he doesn't keep getting stuck!

More Emilyisms.....(and it's a small world in the blog world!)

Emily has been cracking me up left and right today! Last week, my mom bought her a pink "ballerina" dress and it's been hard to get her to wear anything but that since then. She is wearing it today and brought me the camera and told me that I needed to take a picture to put on the blog! (we don't have the picture yet because the memory card wasn't in the camera, but I will take one and post later today)

This morning, she and Jacob were playing in my room while I was getting ready (we would love to have a family room downstairs, but we don't, so when we're getting ready, our room becomes the family room unfortunately). I could hear a strange noises, but I couldn't figure out what it was. I asked what was going on and of course, she responded with, "Nothing." A few minutes later, she came into the bathroom with a sad look on her face and said, "Mommy, I want to tell you the truth because I don't want to tell you a lie, but I don't want to get in trouble, and I was afraid to tell you that Jacob got ahold of something he shouldn't have." It was one of those proud mom moments for me and I made a big deal about how proud I was that she decided to tell the truth and not a lie!

On the way to lunch today, she kept talking about "When she's a mommy...." She said, "When I'm a mommy, you will be the grandma and daddy will be the grandpa....but who will be the daddy?" I explained to her that we didn't know yet who the daddy would be, but that it would be the person that she was going to marry. She of course wanted to know who that was going to be, and I told her again that we didn't know yet, but that I hoped that it would be someone who was very nice and would take good care of her and then she said, "Well, maybe I could marry grandpa or daddy because they're very nice and take good care of me." I explained that she couldn't marry her daddy or grandpa because they were already married, and that it would be better if she married a boy that was her age and she said (in a VERY dramatic voice), "But mom...I don't really know any boys my age, so I just don't know WHAT I'm going to do!"

Today I learned what a small world it is in the blogging world. My sister was browsing blogs for people in her ward and came across a picture on one of them that she e-mailed to me. It was almost identical to the picture I posted on our blog of the Pioneer Day activity (the one where the kids are playing hot potato). I guess they were visiting and Emily played with their daughter on and off that night. She was sitting right next to Emily when they were playing the game and I guess they took a picture!

Breaking Dawn

You may have noticed the Widget on my site with the countdown to the release of Breaking Dawn, the latest book by Stephenie Meyer. I discovered the Twilight series last summer. We were going on vacation to visit Jason's family and Afton told me how much she enjoyed the first two books. We were at a Deseret Bookstore and I saw a copy of Twilight on sale, so I bought it and I was hooked! Jason got me the next two books in the series, New Moon and Eclipse, for my birthday (I know that might seem like a strange birthday gift to some people, but you have to understand how much I love reading).

I read The Host when it came out and I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Breaking Dawn. I pre-ordered it several months ago (when I ordered The Host). In the past, when I have pre-ordered books from Amazon.com, I have always received them on their release date, so I was very disappointed last night when I logged in to check the status of my order and saw that it wasn't going to be shipped until August 6th?!? Jason knew how much I had been looking forward to reading the book, so he stayed up until midnight and went out and bought me a copy. What a great husband! (I'm sure he's regretting it now because I've had a hard time putting it down today). I'm loving it so far.

My mom, sister, sister in law, and several friends are hooked on the series now, too, and we can't wait to have a girls night out to see the movie in December. If you haven't started reading the series yet, you should check it out - it's great! (and if anyone wants an extra copy of Breaking Dawn, let me know....my Amazon copy should be here later this week)

Bring on the bargains!

I love sharing my deals with family and friends, but I hate posting them on the family blog, so I decided to create a separate Bargain Blog. Right now I've just listed some coupon lingo and tips for using coupons, but I plan to post some of the bargains for the week later today. I get really excited about my deals (to the point where some people probably think I'm a little bit nutty), but it really does pay off. I am able to feed our family of 4 (plus dog) for about $200/month (it used to be $125/month, but I've had to increase it a little bit since prices on produce/milk have gone up).

Here's the link to the blog:
http://melziemomsbargains.blogspot.com/

Feel free to visit!