Hello....Jerry.

On Thursday night we saw Jerry Seinfeld with our good friends the Sampsons.

Here are Mike and Aric...aren't they cute little twinners. They didn't even mean to match.

Here's me and Amy. This picture doesn't do us justice. We blame the photographer.

My stinkin' skirt kept flying up in the wind, so I had to do a Marilyn pose on the grate.

Here are a series of ridiculous pictures of us trying to take a picture by ourselves. Normally we would have just asked someone sitting next to us to take it. Unfortunately I sat next to an old guy who had his arms folded the whole time and certainly didn't exude any I-wouldn't-mind-taking-your-picture vibe. He hardly laughed through the whole show. And Aric sat next to a guy who was very engrossed in the magazine he was reading and besides that he had on way too short of shorts. So this is what resulted of our trying by ourselves...

Finally I was the brave one that asked some decent people behind us to take a picture.

Doesn't it look like Aric and Mike are on a double date with me and Amy?...

It was a great show. He had Tom Poppa open for him. I seriously cried from laughing so hard. My abs are still sore. Afterwards we enjoyed shakes and fries at Red Robin. Our waitress had the highest voice ever anyways...it was a fabulous way to spend the evening.

Oh and by the way...I must apologize for my lack in posting. It is definitely not for lack of things to post. We've been in Oregon and I have been kid free for the past three days so I have been using my time most wisely....cleaning and organizing...and reading. More on that later. Oh and this song is for my brother Eric, he requested some Buble on my playlist...are you happy now Rico?

Tagged Again!!!!

This is from my cousin Leah aka LeeLee.

Three Things...

3 things on my to do list today

1. Pack the girls for a week with my mom and step-dad
2. Feed the Sampson's frog and water their flowers
3. Mow the lawn

3 snacks I enjoy

1. All natural fruit leather (apricot is my fav.)
2. Hostess cupcakes
3. Red Vines

3 places I've lived

1. Boston, Mass (go red sox!)
2. Fargo, ND (ugh....)
3. Provo, UT

3 things people don't know about me

1. I hate pickles, even the smell makes me queezy
2. Alka seltzer makes me throw up
3. I was arrested once, that's all I'll say about that.

Since I just recently tagged, I'm not going to tag this time but definitely do this if you need something to post and just say that I tagged you!

Highlights from last week...

We had a very busy week and if I weren't so exhausted I would be doing the happy dance now that it is over.

We celebrated our anniversary with Italian take out (pizza hut pasta). We always eat Italian on our anniversary because we found a tiny, authentic family run Italian restaurant to eat dinner at on our wedding night. I had been sick all week and didn't want to miss my ballet class and Maya had been sick all week so this is what we looked like at our romantic anniversary dinner.

Maya and Eden were very quiet the whole time. Maya said "You guys just enjoy your dinner and talk about how much you love each other and we will be really quiet". (She took this picture of us) Aric got me an ipod dock for my car and I got him some head phones for the ipod. Not that exciting but we will be seeing Jerry Seinfeld next week...and that is exciting.

We celebrated Eden's Pre-School graduation. Which, if you haven't already noticed, got its own post so read on...plus Eden learned a new skill that also got its own post.

We finished the last week of school for Maya...sort of. She ended up getting sick with a fever that kept her from participating in all the festivites. As room mom, I was in charge of the end of the year party that celebrated all of the summer birthdays (Maya is one of those kids). So on Thursday we made cupcakes and took them to the party that she wouldn't be able to party at. She was a good sport about it. I think it bothered me more than it did her.

Last but not least, we hosted three other families as we took part in the community garage sale. We were up way late getting stuff ready and up way too early putting everything out. It was a long day but how can I complain when all I did was sit with my friends all day, people watching and barganing. And on top of that I made three hundred bucks! Needless to say, it was certainly worth the effort of going through all of our stuff and getting it garage sale ready. The only bad part....this is what I looked like afterward. That is a sunburn my friends.

I'm telling ya, I was in the shade most of the day with a sweatshirt and a blanket. I seriously don't know how this happened. My friends that hung out with me didn't look like this. There was no amount of cover up that could fix it so I went to church looking ridiculous. People think I went snow skiing, which is totally possible because it snowed in the mountains last week!

Pre-School Graduation

I started a Pre-School co-op when Maya was little and I just finished up Eden's second year. There are six other moms that do it with me. We had it twice a week for a couple of hours. We used my curriculum and had themes and letters every week. I have dedicated YEARS of my life to Early Childhood Education between college, teaching in the classroom and four years of organizing co-ops, I think I've got it down pretty well. I have loved teaching my children and it has been fun using my education and sharing it with these other moms.

So we graduated our little crew last week. Here they are, minus Brayden who was too shy to get up in front of the audience. Eden has had her outfit picked out for months!

Here she is performing as one of the "good fairies" during our rendition of "Little Bunny Foo Foo" She was born to play that part.

More singing and performing.

I can't believe my baby is off to Kindergarten.

(Oh and I was so crazy busy trying to get out the door, I forgot to change my shoes...nice flip flops huh.)

Eden's Big News

What do you see in this picture?

My two kids riding their bikes....look closely at Eden, she is on two wheels!!!!!

Guess who taught her....not me, not Aric and not Maya....my six year old niece Mari taught her! I was so not looking forward to those lessons. Maya didn't learn until she was 6 1/2, it was so painful to teach her. And now Little Miss Four Year Old is taking it to the streets.

Maya cheering her on...

Here she is getting some pointers from dad...

Still a little wobbily...

Getting some serious speed...

And check out those I-just-learned-to-ride-my-two-wheeler bruises. OUCH! When Aric asked her if she got those bruises from me beating her she said, "No! I just fell of my bike like a million times!"

But do you think this face cares about the bruises...

...I don't think so.

Father's Day

Father's Day is kind of tricky for me. I didn't have much of an interest in father's day until I had Maya and Aric became a father. In fact, it was a very difficult day for me, in some ways it still is. I'm not sure I'm ready to get into all of that, so I won't. I will just say this, to the men who were there, my tios, my Grandpa Bob, Gary (married to "my Karen") and to my step-dad Joe who came later on in my life...thank you and I love you. You have been wonderful stand-ins.

Today I honor Aric, the father of my children.

He has shown me what it would have been like to have the best dad in the world. Everyday I watch him with our children I see what I missed. But then again, I also see what I did right. I refused to settle when it came to finding the father of my children. I made sure I got it right so that my kids would have it right. Here is what they got...

A dad who will sit through Princesses on Ice, High School Musical, Annie and listen to the Wicked soundtrack over and over again...just to name a few very unmanly things we put him through on a regular basis.

A dad who will take them to dentists and doctors appointments just so they can get treats afterwards.

A dad who will blow dry their hair and even attempt to put in pony tails.

A dad who will make them pancakes, waffles or french toast for every meal if I let him.

A dad who will rearrange his work schedule to be at soccer games, school functions, piano and dance recitals.

A dad who tells them they are beautiful every single day and tucks them in every single night with a hug and a kiss, and a jump on the bed.

A dad who will give them a priesthood blessing at the drop of a hat when they need one.

A dad who will always be there to love them, watch over them and protect them.

This is the father of my children. This is why I celebrate father's day.

Nine Years and Forever to Go!

Nine years ago today at roughly 10am I was in the Chicago Illinois LDS temple, promising to be Aric's wife for time and all eternity. I have to be honest, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Looking back it is scary to think about how little I really knew Aric and how little he really knew me. We had only dated about three months when he proposed and six months later we were married. Thankfully we were both committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ and we were very prayerful when made this humongous decision, it didn't hurt that we were totally into each other and crazy in love.

Fast forward nine years, six bosses, three houses and two kids later...we are still committed to the gospel, we are still praying everyday and we are still into each other...each others business that is and instead of being crazy in love, we mostly drive each other crazy but we are definitely still in love...most days.

I wanted our first song to be "We are in love" by Harry Connick Jr, but Aric thought it was too cheesy and besides that Aric doesn't fast dance. We went with "And I love her" by The Beatles. I picked it out, Aric went along with it, mainly because we couldn't agree on any other song and we both liked the Beatles. Plus my Uncle Al, who happened to be our Bishop at the time, is a die hard Beatles fan and we knew it would make him happy.

"...Bright are the stars that shine, dark is the sky, I know this love of my will never die...and I love her. A love like ours will never die, as long as I have you near me..."

Very sweet, very mushy. But our love was very new and it was kind of all about the girl. How self centered of me! And even though it is a beautiful song I don't think it totally refects our personalities. But it is still our song. (You can find it on our playlist below, it's after this song)

Nine years later I still love that song and it makes me all warm and fuzzy when I hear it. But now that I really know Aric and he really knows me, this song by Sara McLachlan says it all. It is called Push. I tried desperately to put this on my playlist but I couldn't find it anywhere. (Except on youtube playing as a video of "House and Cameron" played in the background. If it would have been Jack and Kate from Lost maybe I would have posted it) Here are the beautiful words.

"Every time I look at you the world just melts away. All my troubles all my fears dissolve in your affections. You've seen me at my weakest but you take me as I am. And when I fall you offer me a softer place to land.

[ CHORUS ] You stay the course you hold the line you keep it all together. You're the one true thing I know I can believe in. You're all the things that I desire, you save me, you complete me. You're the one true thing I know I can believe in .

I get mad so easy but you give me room to breathe. No matter what I say or do 'cause you're to good to fight about it. Even when I have to push just to see how far you'll go, you won't stoop down to battle but you never turn to go.

Love is just the antidote, when nothing else can cure me. There are times I can't decide when I can't tell up from down, You make me feel less crazy when otherwise I'd drown. But you pick me up and brush me off and tell me I'm OK. Sometimes that's just what we need to get us through the day."

So here's to you Aric. The poor soul who got stuck with me forever. Thank you for staying the course, keeping me all together and being a soft place for me to land. Thank you for saving me and taking me as I am. Above all thank you for loving me on my worst days and giving me my best days.

Happy Anniversary, I love you and I'll try really hard not to push you too far today.

Lemonade Update!!!!

Back in January, Aric and I had the spirit witness to us that it was time to adopt a baby through LDS Family Services. Little did we know what would be in store for us. After our initial meeting with our caseworker we were feeling pretty low. We had no idea what a long tedious process this was going to be. After sulking for a day or so I decided that this was my job. Everyday I would get up and go to work on the paperwork, make phone calls and schedule the needed appointments. So on any given day I was filling out background checks, searching for birth and marriage cerificates, scheduling doctor appointments (we all needed to get physicals), getting stuff notorized, finding our tax form, getting fingerprinted, filling out hours worth of very personal qestionaires, building websites and scheduling interviews and home visits.


I would find myself totally neglecting the house and my family. I would stay up late working on this stuff and would be so dead tired the next day, I could barely get Maya off to school. After awhile I decided that it was no different than my first trimester when I was pregnant with my girls. So I just tried to remember that all these headaches and frustrations of getting approved was my morning sickness and insomnia....first trimester issues.

Well fast forward four months later and here we are, finally APPROVED!!!!!!

(I'm holding the approval letter in this picture of us jumping for joy)

Our caseworker has really worked hard for us and I know it's because he has felt the spirit too. I seemed to be calling him, emailing him or stopping in his office on a regular basis, so maybe he just wanted me off his back, in any case, he made it happen. I would hand deliver any form he needed because I didn't want to waste even a day sending it by mail. I still can't believe it. It is still sinking in. We are actually going to have a baby! I don't know when, sometime in the next year we hope. But after three years of trying and dealing with all the heartache that goes along with it, I can handle sitting around waiting for a phone call. And let's face it, I won't be sitting around at all. I've got a nursery to decorate!!!!! WHOOO HOOO!!!!!!


So if you would like to check our profiles out, we have two of them, you can go to http://www.aricandjessica.weebly.com/ or go to http://www.ldsfamilyservices.com/ look under AricAndJessica E50. The LDS website will hopefully have our profile updated tomorrow. Please be sure to pass on the info, especially if you happen to know a baby in need of a fabulous family.


THANK YOU for all of your love and support. I know the journey is far from over but at least we are finally in the game! I know there are some of you out there who are dealing with the infertility and adoption rollercoaster, I am so touched by your courage and strength. Your courage and strength has helped me get this far in our journey and I know I will continue to lean on it during my times of discouragement. And a special SHOUT OUT to the rest of you incredible people that I call family and friends. Your love and support has sustained us this far and we are grateful for all of your prayers. I have felt those prayers lift me, carry me and push me. I am truly humbled by the people that the Lord has put in my life.

Dance! Edee, Dance!

After three long hours in the car we made it just in time for Eden's recital. I signed up to be the backstage mom and I am still recovering from that nonsense....Anywho....Here are some backstage photos...(Due to all the adorableness, it is impossible for me to make these pictures smaller)

The four hour ordeal just about sucked the life out of me, but it was so worth it to see Eden do her ballet performance to "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" at the end of the song, all the dads went up to carry the girls off the stage...so adorable! I didn't get very good pictures of them on stage due to the "no flash" rule, which Jessica R. totally disregarded, so she probably has better pictures than me.

And I'm telling ya, when it comes to hip shakin' my kid totally rocks!!!!! During the "hippy hippy shake" tap dance she stole the show with those hips. What can I say, the latin blood is some powerful stuff.

Overall it was a long night but I know Eden felt like a superstar. She had lots of fans there, besides me, Aric and Maya...my mom, my sister and four of her cousins came to support her. Plus there were other families there that we know and love so it was a great experience for her.