Things

I know it has been a month since I've written. Here are some things that have happened in the last month or so:

Emerald gave herself an interesting hair cut. Her and Tristyn were downstairs playing and all of the sudden it got all quiet. I knew what that meant, but I was in the middle of making dinner and they weren't bothering ME so I just let them alone. A couple of minutes later Emerald came upstairs and I looked at her and said "Why do you look different?" then she said cause I cut my hair. So I ran downstairs and found a TON of her hair lying around. I gathered it all up and I couldn't believe how much she had cut. So I took a closer look and she had cute right up to her scalp. It's like she had shaved part of her head. Nice. I know that most kids to this, but hers was overboard.

Here are some pics of her:

Do you see how close it is? It's going to take forever to grow back.

Tristyn is talking more and more. I love it! His favorite thing is to say "look" well more like "yook" and he's always pointing with his finger. He will find something or think that something is cool and say "MOM.....yook". I had just come home from work this one night and our neighbors had just finished putting up their Christmas lights and a bunch of other stuff in their yard and Tristyn was in the back seat and he said "MOM...yook....coOOool!" It was so funny.

Here are some pictures of the little man that I love;

Here's one of Navek

And finally Yzabelle!

More to come later!

Random thoughts

Man alive...life has been so weird lately! I don't know what to think about it. The month leading up to the election was intense. Election day I was sick to my stomach. The day after was even worse. This kind of "change" that this new president is promising us...uhh huh...we'll see if it's really the kind of "change" we want. It's interesting the way so many people view things differently. I heard someone say that "the nightmare is over" now that Obama is president. We'll some of us think that the "nightmare" is just beginning. I don't think that there has ever been a perfect president, but I do think that some have been better than others. President Bush isn't perfect. I do believe that he has made our country a safer place. And there are other things that he has done that I have liked...tax cuts, rebates etc. But he hasn't been the "best" president ever. I am concerned with Obama. He is TOO liberal. Nothing good has ever come with making our government BIGGER than it needs to be. And the whole Proposition 8 thing in California. Wow....geez. It's really caused a lot of protesting and hatred toward Mormons even though we weren't the only ones involved. I don't like to worry...but I find myself worrying a lot lately. What good does worrying do? It's really just wasted energy. Yikes!

Starting to talk

Tristyn is starting to talk. It is so dang cute! This is one of my favorite stages that the kids go through! I love little voices...girl or boy. The girls are like little princesses and the boys talk like husky little men! I love the way the sounds turn into words and such!


The other day I went over to the door and put my hands up to my face and yelled for Navek come inside from playing. Tristyn was in the back room and he cam RUNNING over to the door and put his hands up to his mouth and said "Yayekkkk!"

The funny thing about him talking is that he mostly just yells! Poor thing, our house is noisy sometimes. When it's breakfast or dinner time he has to yell "UP", "BITE", "DINK". When he comes up to me he mostly just has a normal tone.

Here are a few words with translation:
Emerald---- "Emooo"
Navek------"Yayek
Eggs -------"ezzzz"
Car--------"BBBBBbbbb" (you know...like a car sound)
Socks------"Ahhckks"
Nukie------"Ahhhkiee" (pacifier)

So the other day, actually last week on my day off, I was washing the kitchen floor and Emerald and Tristyn were very interested in helping! So I moved the kitchen table to the middle of my kitchen and swept under it and then got a bucket full of soapy water for them to help me. I got them each a sponge and showed them how to put it in the bucket and squeeze all of the water out! Easy enough right? At first they were wonderful. Then as we kept going more and more water got on the floor...I mean like puddles!! Tristyn would walk over to the bucket and end up falling down because it was so wet. I got some towels and we wiped the floor clean. Then as I was going to rinse the bucket out...Tristyn put his sponge in and took it back out and got the floor all wet again....I was like "Oh my heck"....he looked at me and said really slowly "uhh ahhh eeckk!"
Emerald and I laughed and laughed....so now I will say "Oh my heck" just so he will say it....

I couldn't smell!

Have you ever had a cold that was so bad that you lost your sense of smell?? And we all know that if you loose your sense of smell then you can't taste your food. Ahhhh! I made broiled pork chops yesterday with yummy mashed potato's and i think it tasted good, but I couldn't tell cause I couldn't taste it! It was so annoying! My nose is all stuffy

So later that night I put Tristyn to bed and he seemed to go down easy as usual. Well around 2 o'clock in the morning, I could hear him moaning in his bed. That is totally unusual for him. He always sleeps through the night...even when he is sick! Anyway...something told me to go check on him...so I did. I picked him up and he was really restless...he couldn't position himself to what was comfy for him....So after a while I got this brilliant idea to smell his diaper and sure enough...it was poopy! How horrible for the little guy! My darn nose.... So I laid him in his bed and ran upstairs to get a diaper and wipes and changed him really quick. His poor little bottom was all red and sore! Ouch! I must have put him to be WITH a poopy diaper...too good! I rubbed a bunch of Vaseline on his little bum and he calmed down really quick. I rocked him back to sleep and he was perfect for the rest of the night! I felt so bad though...poor little guy.

I growed and growed

I totally want my kids to feel good about themselves. I want them to beleive in themselves and think that they are the best things since sliced bread....if ya know what I mean. So I tell my girls on a very regular basis that they are beautiful, and I am always telling Navek how handsome and cute he is.

So today I asked Emerald how she got so pretty. And she said this:

(swallow) "Okay (brushed hair out of her face) (swallow) I just growed, and growed and then I got a pretty face (swallow) (brushed hair out of her face) and then I had pretty eyes and pretty hair (swallow) and a nice nose, and I ever ever got pretty!"

New Breakfast

First of all, the next time my heading is spelled wrong will someone please tell me....I spelled never...nevar...der!!

My kids are burned out on cereal, so I got this genius idea to make breakfast sandwiches...they love them, and it fills them up better than cereal. Of course I have to apply effort and actually make them, but whatever..maybe someday someone will make one for me:) Here's a pic of what they look like





It's just scrambled eggs, a pattie of sausage (i get them frozen from Wal-Mart and just nuke them in the microwave) and an English muffin with a little butter on it...Yummy!

The value of one dollar!

Who says you can't get anything good for a dollar now a days!! I got these dresses from yard sales for $1...oh yeah!

Emerald was being little miss model when I asked if I could take a picture of her. She was so funny. And the hand on the hip thing....she does this all of the time. Especially when she is ordering someone around...

Belle wouldn't hold still...but it's a light pink dress with this really pretty flower sequence pattern on the top. Sweet!

This last one is just a dress up dress....it's really twirly so great for little girls.

Aahhh to be a young twirly girl...

Never at the same time!

I love my little girls to death!! Of course I do, duh I'm their mom. But seriously....they have been little pills lately. They are NEVER good together at the same time. When Emerald is all cute and sweet and helpful, Yzabelle is a little devil. She will be a booger on purpose. And when Yzabelle is kind and thoughtful, Emerald is a little devil. She (Em) has been having a biting problem lately, well not just that, but hitting and especially throwing things.
The other day she bit Tristyn for no good reason. I tried to put her in time out and she got all mad at ME for disciplining her. She ran over to a truck and picked it up over her head and was like "I'M GONNA THROW IT AT YOU MOM!" Uhhh okay and some junk. I'M the mom not you! Then she was swinging her arms at me like a mad woman. Talk about anger management issues...geez! And it's so hard to keep a straight face.. because she is so mad about the fact that I AM trying to right her wrong...
Another night we were having dinner and Belle was throwing some kind of fit cause, of course, she didn't like what I had made for dinner. She said something like "I hate it mom, it's dumb!" and Emerald said "No, Belle...mom is pretty!" Thanks for defending your good ol' mom Emerald!
Sometimes when we are cleaning up their room...one is always helpful and the other is a lazy little butt! Can't they just be on the same page every once in a while??!!

It's soccer time:)

It's that time again....we hear it every Saturday morning from our windows. Parents cheering for their kids playing soccer. Navek not only loves soccer, but he is soooo good at it. He really has his head in the game. He is competitive and runs like the wind. I love watching him play. They had their second game this past Saturday. I have been having Navek run during the week so he's not so pooped during the game. It seemed to help this last game.

It was quite the game too. There were two times that Navek kicked the ball out in front of the crowd and followed through. He dribbled down the field ...the crowd was cheering "Go Navek, go Navek!" Then with all of his might he kicked it to the goal and missed my inches. He was so disappointed. Then he pulled out energy from somewhere...it was toward the end of the game and he was really tired...and he kicked it out of the crowd again. He kicked it toward the sideline and the gave it a nice easy kick back toward the goal...straighted himself out and gave it a big ol'kick and it went right in...it was very exciting. He is such a trooper:D I love watching him play. Here are a few pics of his soccer skills...

This was after his first goal....go Navek

This is what he looks like after the game.

Like I said beforeI signed Yzabelle up to play on the AYSO special needs team. I wasn't really sure if she would actually play or not, but this would be an easier team to play on compared to the regular team with kids that are competitive. This last game she had she only ran for a couple of minutes holding Kevan's hand and then she just plopped down and said that she was tired and she didn't want to play...so she was just a spectator for the rest of the game...

Isn't she so cute in her uniform!!!

Gettin ready to play

She would mostly kick with her left foot (her good foot) every once in a while she would be brave and kick with her right foot. I am so pleased with her progress:)

See she's using her right foot...go Belle!!

Very busy

Life is so crazy! I started my new job last Monday and my first week was so wonderful. I think I'm really going to like it there. I am going to try and get my "pre-need" funeral license this weekend then study like a mad woman to get my life insurance license this month!

Navek had his first soccer game on Saturday. He did really, really good-as usual-! He ONLY scored 3 goals and the final score of the game was 3-0, not that I was keeping track or anything:) I need him to do more running though. I think for a 7 year old he gets tired too fast.

Yzabelle had her first game on Saturday too. There is an AYSO special needs team. I was a little hesitant to sign her up-i know how she is with these kinds of things! I told her about her game all weekend. We finally made the drive to the school. The whole time over there she kept saying "Mom, I get tweet and pre-sun?" which in Yzabelle language means "I get treat and capri-sun?" The MOST important part of playing soccer of course!! She seemed really excited! I got out and ran over and got her uniform and came back to the car and got her dressed...she giggled the whole time! Then she sat down and kinda threw a fit... New things are really hard for her. I was patient with her and eventually she got up and we held hands over to the field. She was really shy at first. As long as I was holding her hand she would play. So we ran up and down the field and she kicked the ball as best she could. It was really cute! I was so proud of her. The kids practiced for a little bit then they played a game. There were a bunch of kids there with different disabilities. But for me, it was quite the spiritual experience. These kids are so wonderful and have so much to offer the world. How great it is to have organizations like this that give these "special needs" kids the opportunity to develop and increase their self-esteem! I am so proud of Belle.

Emerald cracks me up as usual. She is so eager to start school. She catches on to a lot of what the kids are learning. I realized the other day how much I appreciate her "mothering" skills. It was one morning that I didn't have to work til later and I was in the kitchen doing some exciting dishes. Emerald and Tristyn were the only kids home. Emerald was directing Tristyn how and what to play...he totally went along with it! She is so patient and kind with him. She does the same for Belle too.

Tristyn can say a couple of words: waa woo (water), juice..with his lips stuck out! by (bite)
I figure he is a little slow when it comes to talking...who needs to talk when you have 3 other people to talk for you:D!

P.S to all of you "Twilight" fans out there. I finished the first 3 books and and half way done with "Breaking Dawn", they are so much fun to read, I almost don't want it to come to an end!! Go Team Jacob =)!! Well I actually can't decide!!

A new job!

I am so happy to report that I am starting a new job in a week!! It is at Meyers Funeral Home. Yes, a funeral home!! I will be embalming the dead bodies!! I'm totally kidding!! I am going to start out in the office as a secretary/receptionist while studying to get my life insurance license. When I have accomplished that, I will start selling pre-paid funeral plans. The guy that I interviewed with said that they have a really good natural marked right there in the office. I am so excited about this opportunity. It is going to be a step in the right direction of where I want to be.

I am half-way through "New Moon" and it is so intense!! I will probably finish it this weekend! Does anyone out there have "Eclipse?" I'm going to be hanin' on the edge I'm sure!!

Navek wanted to join the Lincoln Choir at school. How cute is that!? They are going to be having practices 2x a week until December. I was trying to explain to him that this is a commitment and that he will really have to stick with it. We talked about it for a while, and I think that he thinks that this is something that he can do...we will see!

I can read!!!

Well of course I can read...but do I ever actually do it?? No! I do the norm like magazines, scriptures, newspapers etc...but I can't remember the last time I read an actual book. I guess I thought that I couldn't or something, that only smart people read How silly! I remember back in high school, my comprehension wasn't the greatest and I couldn't find anything that I really felt was interesting. I can think of a ton of books that I have started, but never finished!

Soooo my sister Daisy (who is ALWAYS reading!!) suggested, and has for some time now, the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer. From what I have heard they are very popular and ton's of people have read them. I heard that it was a vampire story...which caught my attention being that I love Buffy and Angel...thanks to Andrew(also an avid reader)...anyway

I have been feeling like I can conquer the world lately. I am in a good place mentally right now. I am determined to make my life better. I am actually starting a new job in 2 weeks with the opportunity of lots of growth and the advantage of making a ton more money (this does relate to the book I promise) I have to do this and I am going to make it work. I am going to be successful, I just am!

So on the subject of conquering the world, the thought came into my mind to try and read a book. Well not to actually try, but to really do it. So I borrowed Twilight from this cute girl that I work with and started it Thursday...my day off. Well, come to find out...I LOVE IT! I can't put it down. I read like a maniac! Me...Jessica...I am actually reading! And it's fun! Who'd a thought! I only have a 100 pages left. So I will finish it tomorrow! I read a 500 page book in 5 days!! Yay me!! It's a really fast read which makes it easy!

The book is written if first person. So I find myself, in my mind talking in first person about how my life COULD be a book. (hey there is enough drama!) It's funny. Like tonight when I was rudely interrupted by my kids after I had been reading for like 2 hours...they were hungry. So I forced myself to come to a stopping point and feed them. But in my head I was like "Then I went to the kitchen and eagerly looked through the cupboards to find anything simple to feed my kids for dinner. Anything to get back to Edward and Bella!" I would talk myself through the rest of the night. "The minutes seemed like hours as I sat in agony watching the Olympics with the kids as I waited for them to get sleepy so I could put them to bed!" Then of course there is Edward, the perfect "guy" so graceful, handsome, witty, poised and just...aaahhhhh!!! It's fun, I haven't gotten into something like this....in forever. I was a little impatient at first when reading because I wanted to know what was going to happen right then! Then I had to remind myself that this isn't a movie that I am reading...it's better. We get the insight and the feeling of the characters. So then I slowed it down a little and really just enjoyed it.

Oh by the way I conducted the rest hymn today in Sacrament...like I told you a couple of weeks ago. Well, I wasn't as nervous as I thought I was going to be. I played it cool! It went really well. It sounded great and I had a lot of support from the sisters in the ward who came up to sing! It was actually not that bad, I kinda enjoyed it!!

I am just proud of myself for reading. It seems like a small accomplishment to some but a big one to me! This just goes to show that if I put my mind to it, I can really do it!! Yeah me!!

Emerald Things

We all know what a hassle it is at night with the whole bedtime thing...right...right!! Well we have this wonderful routine and it seems to: number 1 take a long time, and number 2 take a long time BUT it does seem to work pretty good. For a while I would let Emerald stay up with me at night...well I will get to that in a minute. Here is our routine:
After dinner..bath for Tristyn and anyone else who needs one
get in pj's
brush teeth, feel rat and cat
go potty
I have the kids go in the room and look at books while I put Tristyn in bed (he is the most easy to put to sleep)
I come upstairs and we read one book
We read 3 scriptures..one per child (hey, at least we are reading!)
Then each kids gets to pick 2 songs to sing...so we sing
Open-shut them
Prayer
Bed
I go down and put Yzabelle in her bed... a twin mattress right next to my bed. I tuck her in and we talk for a minute or 2 about her day. Then hugs and kisses and she is fine to fall asleep by herself
Then I go upstairs and tuck Navek into bed same talking like Yzabelle

Emerald is the one that I have a hard time with...she is ALWAYS saying that she is scared...scared of what I have no freakin idea, but none the less she is scared. So a lot of the time she will stay up with me while I write in my journal or watch tv or whatever. She will fall asleep in my lap most of the time. I started to have a little treat for myself...Hagen Daaz peach or strawberry sorbet...oh baby it is soooo good. Well Emerald would have some with me, but she would call it "Peach things" or "Strawberry things" It is so dang cute when she says it. She would come up to me in the middle of getting everyone ready for bed with her bright blue eyes and say...
"mom can we snuggle and have some peach things?"
So this one time I was trying to encourage her by bribes...such good parenting!! And I motioned for her to come to me and I said "If you can get your pj's on and be nice until it's time to go to bed, we can snuggle and have some peach things!" But I told her not to tell anyone. She was so excited that she just had to tell someone..I mean come on she IS only 3. So she said "can I tell Navek" I said no, then she said "can I tell Yzabelle" I said no, the she said "Mom can I tell Tristyn..." I said okay, you can tell Tristyn... So she RAN over to Tristyn and bent down to him and said "Tristyn...mom said that I can snuggle with her and have some peach things!" She was so satisfied!! I think that Tristyn just ran away.

New camera..new shoot!

I took Yzabelle and Emerald out on Saturday evening to the Ogden Temple and did a little mini-photo shoot with my new camera. This is going to sound so lame, but I like my Cannon 35 mm better than this Nikon. And the Nikon is digital. I bought this filter thing hoping for better color.I spent a lot of money on this camera and I don't feel like it takes Awesome pictures...it just takes good pictures...tell me what you think....

Shouldn't the picture be more crisp?

Look at her hand...it's FUZZY!

She's cute but the picture is out of focus...on manual focus

They look so washed out

This one I used a flash.

Maybe I should take the camera classes that they offered me that came with the package that I bought! hahahaha

Some old pictures...

I had a Princess Birthday party for Emerald in April...her birthday was in March...She had a lot of fun!

Navek and Emerald are buds!

She was really tired this one afternoon and I wanted the kids to go out and play. I was doing the dishes and she was laying on the stairs telling me all the reasons why she didn't want to go outside...then all of the sudden she stopped talking and she was dead asleep!

This is when Ezra was here...before he left on his mission. What a good uncle!

My dad had a layover in SL for an hour or so...we got a treat and were able to visit with him for a little while. Lindsey and Zak came with their kids..it was fun. It seems like the kids were more interested in the escalator than in my dad...but whatever, they are just kids! He went to a shop in the airport and bought them all treats! We had a nice hour with him...probably all for this year!!

After their treats...all high on sugar!

Posing with Opah!

I couldn't resist this cute little guy!

Too much fun at the airport!

Look a Like

I have been wanting to do this for a while....go figure that the kids look more like me...except Navek of course...Enjoy!!

Emerald

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family tree software - Family history

Tristyn

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family web sites - Family history

Uhhh. duuhhh!!

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Lookie....Lookie

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Pedigree - Free genealogy search

I'm up and running!!

I FINALLY got the internet at home!! Here is some stuff that i have been wanting to post

This is Tristyn dancing back in Febuary or so...so cute and funny!!

I love the way he is bopping up and down, and has to catch his balance everyonce in a while. It's amazing how his balance has improved over the course of 5 months or so. Wow!

Here are some pictures of him outside playing in the water. I love the one where the water is dripping off his face. Don't you just love his hair too!! Little curls...aawwww!! It's geting pretty long, but I can't bring myself to cut it!! It's getting almost as blonde as Emeralds hair!!