Mr. C

This kid is ALL boy. He cracks me up all day long! His new favorite word is Uh Oh, and that is what he is saying when I took that picture.
He got this bike for his birthday but doesn't ever ride it. Instead he does tricks on it...

He also likes to talk on the phone. I'm surprised he hasn't called 911 yet. He like this toy one that looks like the real thing. It talks to you and says stuff when you move by it.

He is in full on "destroy mode" all day long.  It's impossible to keep up with him.

He climbs on everything and loves the thrill of danger.

Notice his one sock...he has been the one sock bandit from the day we got him.

Cam also has a very unique way of sucking on his paci..

Do you see how his lip comes up over the bottom of it?

He will use any shape or size of paci and he will always put the bottom in his mouth. It is so funny, I am  used to it but when we go out in public we get lots of comments.

I so love this boy....SOOOOOO LOVE HIM!

First Friday 2010

Due to all of the wonderful finalization drama, I have yet to post about First Friday. Oh you don't know what "First Friday" is? Well go on and click here to find out what you have been missing. These are some highlights from last year.
So after much deliberation Aric and I decided this years theme would be....

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Yacht Rock

So now I'm sure you are wondering "what is yacht rock?" and "how is it a theme?"

Well here is the defintion:

Yacht Rock: cheesy pop rock music from the 70’s and 80’s. Artists like Christopher Cross, The Doobie Brothers, Kenny G, Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Toto and a host of other similar bands and artists who performed this genre of music.
Here are the invitations...

 

These were out guests decked out in their yacht rock best...

First up, we have the Romneys and the Brunts. Seriously these guys always have the best costumes. I just can't compete!

Next up is the Nebekers and Sampsons...

 

Here we have the Yosts and the Hansens...

And last but certainly not least...the Jenkins...

This was their last First Friday. They moved the next weekend. We sent them off in grand style.

To get our guests in the mood I had made them a sweet CD full of the best soft rock I could get my hands on. Here is the play list...

ride like the wind – christopher cross

if you like pina coladas – rupert holmes

i keep forgettin’ – michael mcdonald

making love out of nothing at all – air supply

summer breeze – seals and croft

the things we do for love – 10cc

sarah smile – hall and oats

afternoon delight – starland vocal band

baby i'ma want you – bread

more than a feeling – boston

a horse with no name – America

babe – styxx

blinded by the light – manfred mann

lost in love – air supply

don’t stop believin’ – journey

rainy days and mondays – carpenters

still the one - orleans

We played some awesome games like "name that soft rock tune". The best round was when everyone had to hum...so funny!

Unfortunately we didn't get to play sing star because festivities didn't get into full swing until 9pm...Next year we are going to start an hour earlier so that we can truly party. And I am going to start the party planning in July because December does not allow adequate time to give First Friday planning the attention it deserves.

I was not so good at taking pictures this year. I did manage to get these of Cynthia and Ava in the kitchen when no one was looking...

I realize that some people may think these pictures are in bad taste...but if you are reading my blog then you should know by now that we are Mormon and we don't drink alcohol and that is just sparkling grape juice so you should be laughing instead of judging...

The only other picture I got was of these guys. Yes, we hang with some serious winners...

  

So we said good bye to the Jenkins, and soon the Yosts will be gone too. There will be a void left by our dear friends, but since we can only invite seven couples due to the size of my house this opens up two party slots....too bad I can't fly some of you people in for the festivities.

Now that First Friday 2010 has been properly documented I can cross it off of my to do list and go steam clean my nasty kitchen rug.

Still processing...

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that C's adoption is actually finalized. I just knew that going to the temple would be the icing on my yummy chocolate cake...and it was.

(For more information on temples, and why this was such an important event for me and my family you can click here to read more.)

Saturday was amazing. I'm still not sure how to put all of my feelings and thoughts into words. I'm still not sure how much I want to share. So for the time being I will just share pictures.

I made Camden's overalls, his tie...

...and his shoes.

I had great intentions on making myself a new temple dress but when I was half way done with it, I realized it just wasn't that important. It was just adding more stress to my life so I let it go. The cool thing is that I did make the dress I ended up wearing, like ten years ago...I also made Maya's dress, it was the one I made for her baptism. And Eden is wearing the dress my mom made me when I got baptized eons ago. I hemmed Aric's pants, so technically all of our temple clothes were extra special.

My darling girls were so thrilled to be in the temple with us. We had been preparing them for months. They were ready. The vision of them in that room will be forever burned in my mind.

We had so much love and support from our family and friends. Our sealing room only held twenty...so we had most of the men standing. For some reason my mom, Joe and Evelynne were missing from this photo but they were there too. Ev was Camden's escort.

 

And yes, Karen was there...

It was the most glorious day. The rain stopped just long enough for us to take some pictures. My friend Kerry did a great job as photographer. You should check out her blog. She hardly ever posts anything, but she did do a post about our special day.

    
On Sunday Aric blessed Camden. In my church we don't baptize babies when they are born, instead they are given a name and a blessing. Aric gave Camden a beautiful blessing.
(I think Aric looks rather dashing in this photo...)

Eden took this next picture. Photographers were limited due to the time...we were late leaving church.

We eventually did find someone to take this family shot.

Like I mentioned before I'm still processing the amazing events of the past twelve days, but really I have been putting the past five years in perspective. It's been quite the journey. It was hard...REALLY hard, but, oh, so worth it!

I know that God is aware, his peace is real. The love and gratitude I feel is indescribable. My joy is full.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for your love and kind words. I hold them dear.

Happy Tears

There were many happy tears.

I will share more later.

I'm ready.

This is my friend/hair stylist, Karen.

I've known her for about seven years.

I love her.

Today she went through the temple for the first time.

She wanted to come to Camden's sealing so she got herself ready.

Today was her special day.

It was most spiritual for me. 

It was the perfect way to prepare for my special day.

Maya's ready.

(She put this on the fridge a few days ago)

 

I'm ready.

For Reals...

A few of my friends (jessica, ilene, lindsey) have taken on a blog challenge to post themselves being real. They have posted pictures with no make up and have exposed their true selves on their blog. I, for one, think that I am pretty real. In fact the day I read Ilene's post I had posted this picture of myself sans make up and sleep. A few posts before that I did a post about the corners in my house that are shameful.
So today I thought I would update you on my corners and give you a real look at me today.
First the corners...

BEFORE

AFTER

It still could use a good vacuum, but it has been clean for about a month now thank you very much!

BEFORE

AFTER

No, I am not cheating...this is not someone else's kitchen. We have been busy changing our countertops and putting in a new back splash. This was a good chance for me to start a new relationship with this corner. We'll see how long it lasts...

BEFORE

AFTER

So this laundry room corner is clearly the corner I am least proud of.  I'm afraid it has only gotten worse.  The entire counter is out of control! Actually the whole room is out of control...

Speaking of laundry rooms. This is me being real today...

Not showered, not groomed, not even close...

I even answered the door looking this way!

The sad thing is, I really didn't even notice what I looked like until a good five minutes into my conversation when I happened to look down at my mismatched slippers.

I have to admit, I was slightly embarrassed but not enough to think about it for more than a second.
The real thing about me is that, what you see is what you get. I get dressed up on Sundays or outings but that is it. I'm all about comfort and ease or in other words, I'm lazy. I would rather spend time on other things than my looks. Don't get me wrong I can be as vain as the next person when I have a function to attend. In fact, I will go to great lengths to put together just the right outfit. But then it's over and I'm back being lazy.
I get annoyed easily. I am not patient with grown ups. I have a hard time pretending that I'm not annoyed. So I avoid adults who annoy me.
Now here is another truth for you...most people who know me well, know that I HATE cooking. I really, really do. But what you may not know is that I hate it so much that my poor family actually suffers. If Aric did was not so willing to pick up my slack we would all be eating cereal for every meal. I would take cleaning the kitchen and toilets ANY day over cooking. If we ever won the lottery I would hire a personal chef in a heartbeat. I may joke about this, but it really is a source of shame for me. What kind of woman doesn't enjoy feeding her family?! I am working on this issue of mine. I have been diligently working on a serious meal plan. I'll let you know how it goes...
I have road rage. Thankfully having children has helped me bite my tongue, so now I only swear in my head or when I'm alone. I cannot and will not ever understand stupid drivers.
One last confession...the real Jessica relives almost every conversation she's ever had. I am not joking. I think about what I said and how I said it. I think about how it may have been misinterpreted. I worry about how many times I interrupted and if I spoke too much. I'm always afraid that I dominated the conversation and that I didn't listen enough. I worry that I was too honest. Once I had a conversation with my beloved Grandma Marion. In the middle of the conversation I said "...to be honest with you..." and she instantly said "is there any other way to be?" For some reason that has always stayed with me, so sometimes I might be too blunt. Most of the time I tell too much and I am sure I make people uncomfortable. It's like a disease and I don't know how to cure it. I'm just grateful that my family and friends love me in spite of my condition.
So there you have it...the REAL Jessica. Now go on and see how real you can be...