--The Ohlin Fam-Damily--

Happy New Year! 2012: The Year of Restoration

2012-01-01T13:49:00.002-07:00

I know I have been a total slacker with the blog. I can honestly say I do miss posting our story up here. Although, I cannot promise that I will keep up with posting pictures (as Blogger is really slow and ridiculous to get them posted on in my opinion), I will try to at least keep up with my thoughts and the text version of our life and events!

Generally at new years everyone tries to come up with goals to create a "new" self. I am not making goals to create a NEW me.... I am making goals to RESTORE the OLD me. For some reason this year I have allowed myself to lose some of my best traits. I slacked. Alot. The biggest thing that I slacked on was taking care of my health and my body. I worked SO hard to develop the skills and might I say "talent" of staying healthy and keeping my body in shape. For those of you that know me from my younger days, you will know how hard that was and what a huge change that was in my life. This year, I allowed myself somewhat of a break because I felt like I was over-stressed or something... but in the end, taking that break just ADDED to my stress level. It added to my mental, emotional and physical stress levels. So this year... I choose to RESTORE OLD LINDSEY.

Back to healthy and light eating I go. I know it will take some adjusting and hard work, but I am ready for it. The time has come to get the old me back and take hold of the reins and stop these unhealthy habits I have been developing.

Besides my health, I will be focusing on getting back to smarter parenting. Jared and I have slowly been developing some of the "Love and Logic" skills and then we kind of just went lax over the holidays. We are going to be getting back to that this year. That is our MAIN GOAL as a couple and as a FAMILY. We want to bring back peace into our home.

The other thing I want to get back into is reading uplifting, educational, historical, and spiritual books. In 2010 I read SO SO many books and I felt like I grew tremendously as a person. This past year I did read quite a few books, but not nearly as many and not nearly as many books that I felt helped me progress as an individual.

So today begins the Year of Restoration. Hopefully I will remember to keep you guys updated on my journey!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Summer Family Fun!

2011-09-25T15:22:00.005-06:00

Aden and I at Cabella's
Teaching our two year old to shoot... lol

and our much more mature five year old... haha

AHHHH!

Baby Isaac Caldwell.... Karie's newest addition!

Schishter Karie and no name... (well they eventually did name him hehehe)

Owen's first four wheeler ride!

He had QUITE a bit of fun, I must say!! :)

This summer was a little different than most. We worked a ton at my mom's and were just flat out busy. We didn't get much done in our yard this year, until the past month or so, which is really odd for summertime. We generally spend our entire summer working on the yard, but we tried not to spend any money and it usually takes a bit of money to pretty up the yard!

It's a sad thing when summer comes to an end, but we did have some fun together this summer and these were just a few of the highlights.

10 Year Anniversary of 9/11

2011-09-11T20:34:00.002-06:00

I know I still have alot more to catch up on, but today is a really important day in not only the history of this great country, but in my own life. I cannot believe it has been 10 years since that day I woke up and was getting ready to go to my second or third week of 10th grade and I turned on the news in my room as I always did and saw a report of a plane hitting into the World Trade Center. I didn't really get the full realization of how BIG this really was and how HORRIBLE this event would truly turn out to be. I was in a hurry to leave so I didn't get to watch much of the report and the story soon left my mind in the early morning rush. We went to pick up my cousin Julie and my friend Amanda for the daily carpool. When we were arriving at school, our morning music went to commercial and announced that a second plane had hit the second building of the World Trade Center. Nobody else in the car had heard the report of the first event so they were pretty shocked. Because I really didn't seem to take in how extreme this actually was because it had just seemed like some crazy event, I just thought "oh yeah you didn't hear about that?" My mom was pretty shocked by it and I just kind of played it down, being my self consumed 15 year old self. We went inside and it left all three of our minds almost immediately and we just sort of went on with our day. As we went to our first period (mine being Student Government) we heard the principal come on the intercom and announce the events of the morning and we were asked to join in the nation for a moment of silence for the people who were suffering back east. While we took that minute of silence I remember saying a prayer and asking to help those in need and to help me to be able to remember the events of this day because I knew that one day my children would ask "where were you on 9/11?" I remember the morning clearly up until the principal finished up the moment of silence, the rest of the day is pretty blurry in my memory, but I remember that morning as vividly as if it had happened yesterday! (Probably more than I remember yesterday morning actually lol). It was an amazing experience being able to sit in silence with my fellow students and know that they, too, were all likely praying or at least feeling some spiritual feelings. It's probably how people used to feel back in the day when prayer was allowed at school. It's a shame that that right has been taken away from us. It was an amazing experience and I will never forget it.

I had the opportunity to show Aden some of the footage and interviews (we watched some of Dateline on Friday which was dedicated to 9/11) and share my memory of that day and let him know how much I truly love this country. He had some questions and one that he asked was so cute was "do they know where Roy is?" At first I didn't really understand what he asked but I realized he was thinking that maybe they were going to come fly planes into our buildings. I explained to him that there are bad, sick people everywhere and that is why we must always be careful, but that we always have our family and friends around to be there and help us; but, most of all, we have God there to watch over and guide us. He seemed to understand this and went on to watch his TV show upstairs. It was a great experience to be able to share some of my memories and feelings about that day and I hope to be able to do that more and more in the future as he is able to understand more and more.

It was a very memorable day for me today. This morning I woke up and realized that I hadn't picked out any songs for Relief Society and all of the sudden I got this great idea (or prompting, Im not sure which) to pick some patriotic songs and then it came to me that it was such a special occassion that I needed to pull out my violin and play something to bring the spirit there. I was really scared to think about playing, especially a song I was just going to pick out and practice for about ten minutes! I decided on I Stand All Amazed (mainly because I wanted to have a religious song too) and The Star Spangled Banner. So I went to church with my violin in hand and decided that I would play the song one time through with just the violin and then we would sing it together. I played the song okay I guess, not up to my own standards especially because I was shaky and it made me sound kind of scratchy; but the ladies in the room said I did a great job. They SAID it brought a good spirit into the room, but I didn't feel it that's for sure! I was too shaky! LOL... but I did it and it worked out great. It turned out that I Stand All Amazed was the perfect song for the lesson, too (which was about temple work and eternal bonds etc). I'm glad that I did it at least for myself because it made me feel as if I did some small part to help brighten the day and make the day a little bit more special to everyone.

Anyway... it was a great day listening to peaceful songs and looking at pictures of 9/11 and what not. Hopefully we can continue the tradition of teaching our children of the important events that happened that day and let them see how truly lucky we are to have the country that we do.

God Bless America and Never Forget!

Owen's 2nd Birthday!

2011-09-04T18:02:00.003-06:00

RARRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aden climbing trees.......:)

Owen decided to take us on a nice run around the church.... he is a nut

Opening his gifts.... such a cooty booty!

My buddy!

Happy Birthday to you!

Howdy, howdy, howdy!

Mischievious!!

My cupcakes and cute decorations!

Enjoy! :)

The final product.... not exactly as I had hoped but I was still proud.

ALMOST DONE!!! This cake took much longer and much more work than I had planned on.... it was definitely a process. I used fondant for the first time and I barely got the cake done on time!!

I kind of procrastinated with the party this year. June was so nuts like I mentioned earlier, that time just kind of crept up on me!! I wanted the cake to be perfect and so awesome, but it just didn't happen the way I had planned. It's lucky we don't have lots of money, or I would go insane with these parties. I have so many ideas floating in my head about how to make things fun and cute that it is hard to know when to stop. We didn't reserve a bowery at a park because we thought we would end up being fine just going early and setting one up. I didn't want to "waste" 20$ on that... but next time I think we will!! lol..... About a half hour before the party we realized we didn't have a park bowery to do the party! All of them in the whole city were reserved or in use... luckily the one at our church wasn't being used so we just went there. There wasn't any toys or playgrounds to have the kids play on, but they still had fun with the balls and what not just playing outside on the grass. It was a rush to get it all up and ready to go but we finally did and everything went well. We had cake, cupcakes, strawberries, raspberries, and root beer floats! It was definitely tasty. Owen didn't really know how to blow out the candles yet but it was still cute. Everything he got was basically Toy Story 3 toys since he is completely obsessed. He was so cute opening the gifts and making the sounds of the characters and stuff. It was about the cutest thing I have ever seen. We had a great time! HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, OWEN!!!

T-ball Season

2011-09-04T17:28:00.004-06:00

This is how Owen spent the T-ball season..... hahaha

He's a pretty dang cute kid if I say so myself.....
His coach JR Simmons helping him bat

Aden was actually quite good at throwing and at batting! The thing he needs to work on the most is catching!! He'll get it down, I'm sure... but I was amazed at how well he did without much prior experience whatsoever! :)

Drew mackin' on the girls lol..... caught in the action!

Mom and her big boy!

Aden's first time up to bat! (that kid on the right side was in my way of getting a shot of him and I accidentally slipped and let my mind turn my thoughts into words.... I said "MOOOOOVE!" lol he looked at me and said sorry and got away as fast as he could. hehehe I was just so desperate to get a somewhat decent shot of this moment!! I told him sorry, though. I didn't mean to be rude! I just needed to capture the moment!!!!)

Candid shots... I love them!

The boys in their "dugout" hehe

The season was pretty fun but thankfully short lived! It was sooooo hot during these games and they were twice a week and it was just hard to get there on time with picking up the kids from daycare and getting off of work. It was just kind of stressful! Aden got hot really fast during some of the games and would ask "how much longer do we have?" I would just chuckle and be like ... well Aden about another 45 minutes lol.... kinda funny. He has NO idea what true hot is. I remember playing comp soccer during the summer for an hour and a half at high noon at the end of July lol.... now THAT was hot. Good times. It was fun, though. Hot. It got pretty frustrating trying to keep Owen happy during the games, too. He kept wanting to run out onto the field and "play" and we would chase him everywhere. Most of the time he ended up throwing a fit so we would take him to the play area that was like half a mile across the park (nice planning whoever made this stupid park!! Don't they know that little kids are going to want to play while their older brother's play t-ball???? GRRRRR). So I had to miss pretty much the whole first game, which made me sad. I did get to play with Owen quite a bit, though, I guess. He would always make me go down the slides with him and stuff, too, which did NOT help the sweating/heat situation!!!! Anyway, the season was fun. We were very proud of Aden and Drew. They were pretty awesome and they had a great time! I think he will continue to want to play baseball for a couple years, but only time will tell if he will like it enough to really get into it. Until next year!

June: The Treehouse with Drew!

2011-09-04T17:13:00.004-06:00

Word to the wise... don't leave Owen alone with your infants!!!
He will not be gentle......

Aden and Drew dressing up and being tough guys!

Who will be the true King Arthur? hehe

Owen was a little freaked out when the sheep started to move randomly! It was pretty funny to see his reaction... he was NOT liking it!!

Giddy-up!

Yee-haw, cowboy!

The month of June was a very crazy one, let me tell ya. Karie and Drew were in town staying with my mom until she had her baby on the 25th and so Aden wanted to be over there pretty much daily. It was nice having them get to play together so much, but it was difficult sometimes driving back and forth all the way to Ogden sometimes more than once a day lol.... it was kinda nuts. There were days that he was gone the entire day and we didnt' feel like we even had two kids! He was absent! We kinda started to miss the kid! Anyway, it was pretty great having them around to see and play with all the time, though. One of the activities we did with them was take them to the Treehouse with us. They had a great time, although it kinda sucked because Owen wanted to go to different places than the older boys, so we kind of had to split up most of the time! :( We had a great time, though.

June: Aden's First T-Ball Practice!

2011-09-04T17:02:00.002-06:00

He was SOOOO cute sitting there waiting for his turn. I just thought it was so funny how he was himself and put his hat on backwards even though nobody else was! He is a silly kid!

His first team huddle.... they decided to be the Pit Bulls (from my suggestion of course, lol)

Being a poser for mom hehehe

Aden got to play on his first team sport this summer, which probably wouldn't have happened unless Karie had signed him and Drew up! I was just so crazy busy at the end of May, that it just kept slipping my mind. So it was a good thing that Karie took over and just did it! She was looking for something for the kids to be able to do together during June while they were staying down here until she had her baby. Aden was so excited to play, but I think that having Drew do it with him made it much better! We got him a cute little baseball mitt and on his first practice they gave them their sweet little uniforms and hats. I was surprised at how much of a "uniform" they really were and not just little t-shirts ya know? I guess for $45 you SHOULD get a nice uniform. :) More to come..........

Mother's Day and 25th Birthday!

2011-07-03T21:55:00.001-06:00

APRIL: 6th Anniversary!

2011-06-20T22:19:00.002-06:00

So... guess where we ate for our anniversary? Look at the pictures below....

MMM.....

My favorite salad... well.. almost as good as last year's anniversary salad....
We saw a movie......for once.... Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2! I know... odd choice for an anniversary outing, but... we both seriously LOVED the first one that it was a perfect choice! haha. The second one was probably just as good as the first, if not better!! "LOADED DIAPER!!" (Laugh if you saw the show! lol)

These were cut outs at the theater..... we HAD to stick our heads in.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM soooooooo good.

Now I'm hungry. I have done so well today with my eating... I now suddenly wish to go make myself a bowl of cereal!!! But... I ..... will.......resist. :)

Happy Anniversary to MY Jerber. You can't have him. He's mine.

MARCH: Freeeee Jazz Game! WOOHOO

2011-06-20T21:08:00.002-06:00

In March, our department at work was surprised with a chance to go to the Jazz game and sit in one of the boxes and enjoy all the free drinks and food! It was pretty sweet! Thankfully, we were able to get a babysitter and were able to have a really fun night! Neither of us had ever sat in one of the boxes and it was definitely the best way to see a Jazz game, lol! The food was pretty good and I had about 7 Diet Coke's haha.... I was going to take them up on the free drinks! ;) We had to get something for the boys, so we grabbed a basketball hoop thingy to hang in their play room. They were pretty excited!! It was definitely a great night, and we're grateful that we were able to enjoy it! Hopefully, we'll get to do it again sometime!! (hint, hint....any takers?)

Here we are after we first realized it was just over. Dang Jazz.

These were the years that the Jazz broke my heart.
Here's the view of the box. Livin' the life... kekeke

Bein' ugly. JK hehehe

Date Night Shots lol

I'll try and get some more posts asap!

OK... OK... I suck.

2011-06-19T22:11:00.003-06:00

I never thought I would go this long without posting. I always looked at the people that took MONTHS or even a YEAR between posts and thought "what, they are SOOOO busy that they can't just do a simple update?" Well.. apparently it CAN be true. I think the problem is is that I am pissed off about my Internet Explorer. Every time I try to upload pictures to any websites this stupid yellow box pops up and asks if I really want to continue. The only way I can get it to allow me to do it without the freaking pop up is to turn off my internet security completely and then we got a virus a little while back that freaked me out. So yeah. I don't know. Sucks. Any ideas?

So I will try and post a little bit about the last few months as soon as possible but it won't be tonight. I just couldn't stand leaving you all hanging lol... since I am sure there are SOOOO many people who check this all the time and are disappointed lol.

Anywho... at least it doesn't show St. Patrick's Day anymore right?

Freedom Friday Book Club: February's Book Review

2011-02-25T19:19:00.003-07:00

I haven't posted much lately... it's definitely been a busy month! I've taken on some new projects... which I am really excited about and enjoying... but at the same time I feel a little crazy for adding ONE MORE THING into my life.

I am a member of the social network called AsAMom.org which is basically like a facebook and news source for conservative, patriotic, faithful women and moms. I really enjoy the site and get alot of out it. I have been wanting to do a book club of some sort since now that I have finished school I finally have time to read books I actually want to read. Reading is pretty much my favorite thing to do, so I posted on the Utah forum to see if anyone was interested in starting a book club with me. I had a few people interested so I submitted my group idea to the site (all groups have to be approved by the administrators). Before approving it, I received an email from the site's founder asking me if I would be willing and interested in doing a book club for the entire site rather than just this one for Utah. I was more than willing and pretty excited. So after a few emails back and forth we established how the group would work, the name, and I designed a logo for it. The club is called the Freedom Friday Book Club ("Freedom Fridays" are a part of the site's blog where the MinuteMom posts ideas and has themes to help us gain more freedoms by making ourselves more self-sufficient). February's theme was Finances so we decided to read The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. We had discussions in the forum and today we had a group chat online. It has been a fun experience so far and I am excited to continue with it.

Anyway, I'll bring you my book review asap!!

Single Mother for 3 Full Days

2011-02-20T18:51:00.002-07:00

I did something I never thought I would be able to do just a few years ago. I know it's really not that cool or special and billions of women/men in the history of the world have done this same thing and much more; but for me it is an accomplishment. I spent three full days and nights alone with the boys. Not only that, but I did it without getting too stressed out or too angry. We had alot of fun for the most part. There were a few of those ugly moments where I couldn't take the whining, crying, fighting or screaming anymore but for the most part it was pretty awesome. Aden was excited because he got to sleep with me every night. He enjoyed being the "man of the house." :) He was a pretty good helper for the most part. Odie was wild as usual. All I can say is that I hope I never truly have to be a single mom for any reason. Although, it was pretty fun for the most part; it was a TON of work. I can barely handle surviving it all when Jared IS around much less 100% all on my own. I didn't even have to go visit one of the Grandparents houses to get a little break haha. Like I said... I never would have thought I could survive it alone. I am so thankful I have such a helpful husband and one that doesn't have to travel without me for any reason in general.

Not only did we all survive, but I even finished a book, cleaned my house and my moms, did laundry, watched a movie, and worked out! I'm pretty impressed with myself! haha Well that's about it. Hopefully, Jared will be home within the hour and I can take a well deserved break!!

Treehouse Adventure!

2011-02-17T19:46:00.002-07:00

He kept going over this bar and falling on his hands. Over and over and over.

Hiyiyiyi!

Don't they play so nice together?

I can't keep up with this one.

Such manly men.

We got a membership this year to the Treehouse and I am really excited to have something fun to do with the kids on my days off besides just sitting at home. The kids love going (except they each love their own areas which is kind of difficult). Daddy got to go with them today, too! YAY! I'm sure we will have lots more fun pictures in the future.

January Events.......

2011-01-26T21:07:00.004-07:00

Grandma Hoxer feeding Odie...and Odie feeding himself! He's getting too big

Aden loves to hug Owen and be in his face all the time, which is really cute..... but Owen isn't a fan of being contained or having people in his face too much... so most the time Owen either screams or pushes him away. Sometimes it is really annoying!!

Aden took a bunch of pics of Owen.... kinda cute!!

This is the best one! Check out those boogies!!!! Ewwwwwww hehe

Recently, Owen has started saying thank you ALL the time. I love it so much. He is so freaking cute. He says thank you when you hand him his binkie, food, his toothbrush (which he calls "brusch" and is obsessed with lately!), or anything else. He says it just like in this video everytime, without fail. He never gets anything from you without saying it. I love it!! He also tells you when he is done with his food/plate or if he finds a wrapper on the floor/table (usually from Aden grrrrr) and will say "all done" and have you take it and put it in the garbage or the sink! It's pretty funny and actually quite helpful!! Who would have thought the 19 month old could be so clean??

Happy 28th JerberDay!

2011-01-26T20:59:00.002-07:00

On Sunday was Jared's 28th Birthday, which I have renamed "JerberDay." hehehe.... We had a really low key day.. more like weekend! We went to Olive Garden (had to take the kids because we had no babysitter...) which was actually really fun and Owen was a wild man. (He almost made our waitress spill the tray of drinks because his arms are twice as long as they should be and he grabbed the tray!) Sunday was Stake Conference, which I'm sorry to say, we skipped. (We can barely survive a one hour sacrament, much less two....). I made Jared breakfast, wrote him a very nice little birthday card, and that's pretty much it. To make it a little more festive, I put candles in his toast and we sang to him! kekeke.... I can't believe we have now celebrated 7 JerberDays together. Wow! He means the world to me and I love having a day where we get to focus just on him.

Happy Birthday, My Love!! :)

Daddy-Son Date: Monster Truck Rally

2011-01-26T20:52:00.003-07:00

not t he best pic but the only one of Jared.... haha

He had to wear ear covers to block the noise! Very loud!!

They had tons of fun!!

Other Christmas Events!

2011-01-26T20:35:00.004-07:00

We always celebrate Christmas at Grandma Ohlin's on New Year's Day. We have a yummy breakfast filled with fattening foods, hang out and then open gifts.

Here's Owen trying to escape!!
Aden opening his last Christmas gift of 2010....

Watching Trent's Ipad with Presley and Zack.

Jerber and me!

Aden and Grandma

The little stink who thinks he can do anything...

We celebrated Christmas at the Perkes' house on the Sunday after Christmas. Owen is sitting on Grandpa's lap getting his stocking!

What a weirdo!

Ah- oh!

My widdo boy!

Christmas was fun this year... but after ALL of the many get-togethers I am not ashamed to say that I got enough of it for at least a year! :)

Family History Project 2010

2011-01-21T13:14:00.009-07:00

Throughout 2010, I had been reintroduced to my love of history. I used to be really into it and at one point was 100% sure I would be a history teacher. Of course, that's not how it panned out, but I still do love history. One of the things that really truly rang true to me this year is the saying "if you do not learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it." I had heard this saying before and thought, sure that makes sense. After some studying and reading I have found how very true and profound this statement is. I began learning alot about America's history and making up for some of the things they didn't teach in high school and the history class I took in college. I soon realized that it was great that I had learned all of these things about our nation's history, but I did not even really know my own family's history! One day in July, this really random idea came to me to make a family history book. The idea started out as something just to make for my family, but then I realized what a great Christmas gift this would be for my siblings. I had this picture in my head of how I wanted it to look and what information I wanted to know. I also felt a sense of urgency that this needed to be done now. I still don't know why I felt the urgency, but I do know that if I hadn't done it all at once like I did I probably would have never finished it. So maybe that is why.

Anyway, I began the project in late July. I began thinking of questions I wanted to ask my grandparents and parents. I looked up family history questionnaires to give me some good ideas. I ended up with a 60 question questionnaire that was pretty in depth, but not too personal! I created instructions and made a copy for each grandparent and parent on both Jared's and my side of the family. I gave the folders to them in August and asked them to have the questionnaires completed by November 1st at the latest and asked if they would include a few pictures from different times throughout their life. During this time, I worked on getting supplies, planning the look of the book as well as how to make it. As people completed their questions they would give them to me. Nobody really knew exactly what to do for pictures and some of the granparents were a little nervous about giving me originals, so I decided to go to their houses and scan the pictures I wanted for the book so that they wouldn't have to worry about them getting ruined or lost. A few of them had to be nagged until mid-December to get their stuff done, but it all came together!

Jared's cousins looking at the book on New Years.

Grandma Ohlin checkin' out her book.

My dad was in love with the book, which really made me happy. I also put together a photo album of his and Marnae's pictures. I had to hijack all of their pics for a few months, so this was easy to do.

I made a book for Carson and his future family, too so that he wouldn't feel left out (seeing as though he is my brother too, even though he isn't married yet!). I made books for the families of Grandma Ohlin, Grandma/pa Perkes, Grandma K, Grandpa/ma Gibson, Mom & Steve, Dad & Marnae, Mark & Lori, Jason, Jamie, Kristine, James, Paul, Karie, Blair, Carson, Jen, and us.

Doug and Karie, Doug and Karie.... (King of Queens... if you don't know what I'm talking about.. sorry haha)

Paul and Kristie checking out the book...

Each book included a CD of the book, extra pictures that "didn't make the cut," a personalized table of contents (each book had to be individualized to only have the pages of those people that my sibling/Jared's sibling were related to). The plan for the CD was to have them put that CD in their safe, 72 hour kit, or grab-n-go kit so that if anything ever happened they would have a copy of the book and some family history photos to take with them easily.

Since I couldn't afford to buy stickers and what not for each book, I decided to make my own. I found quotes that talked about history and family. I printed a bunch off, cut them out, and glued them on!

All the books that had to be made, wrapped, and delivered!

Mom opening her history book.

I organized mom's photos for her as part of her Christmas gift. She just had boxes of pictures that were not organized at all so I figured this would be the best gift I could give her!

My nightly disaster putting the books together! (I know it was insane but I truly enjoyed making the books... sometimes I need to let my creativity out!)

Keeping my mom's photo boxes and the books as organized as possible was a difficult feat. Jared was going crazy with the mess..... but he loves me and put up with it :) He was very happy when it was finished, though!

Trying to keep all my books together....

I still have some things to do. For my mom and Steve, Dad and Marnae, and Mark and Lori I scanned as many of their pictures that I could and put them on a jump drive. Once I get motivated again I plan to finish scanning pretty much all their pictures onto their jump drives so that they have a digital copy of them all. Hopefully I get motivated soon. :)

Well ... it was fun. :)

Christmas Loot---

2011-01-21T09:00:00.004-07:00

Aden's Stuff!!
Owen's Stuff!

We're definitely very grateful for the things we were blessed with this Christmas!

The boys still got way too much stuff this year, but it was probably just a little more than half than they usually get from everyone. So that was good! They got some really fun clothes, toys, and treats.

Christmas Day at Ohlin's!

2011-01-14T09:45:00.002-07:00

Unfortunately, Jared and I both had headaches by the time we got here a little after noon.... but it was still fun! Aden got lots of fun stuff, but not too much which is nice! We opened gifts and had lots of fun with the family. I gave Alayna her piano book we are going to start out working from... kinda fun. I got some sewing supplies which was very nice and Jared got some money! Of course, there were a bunch of other things as well but those were the big gifts! Owen had a blast playing with all the toys, boxes and wrapping paper and Aden was obsessed with the robot dude that Jason and his fam gave him! Good times.

His Batman robot.... pretty fun but annoying since it has little missiles that end up all over the house! haha

Odie was SOOO tired but SOOOOO overstimulated... a nap never did happen!! Next up was Grandma K's.... then to Gibson's, back to Ohlin's, then finally back to Hoxer's. It was definitely a fun filled long day!!

Christmas Morning at Hoxer's!

2011-01-11T20:33:00.003-07:00

Jerber opening his presents :)
Gangstas!

Blair checking out my Thomas Monson Biography book Marnae and Dad got me. One of my fav gifts this year! (Awesome book, too, by the way!)

Odie showing off his stuff standing on top of the SWEET chest Marnae found! I was sooooo excited!

He is SO STINKIN' NAUGHTY!!

Aden and his new Toy Story 3 Potato Heads!

My boys ;)

My little Odie... so cute!

Dad trying on Blair's Jordan's... he said he felt "ten years younger" haha Such a dork jk

Aden and Drew and their "Imaginexters"

Christmas at the Hoxer house was so much fun. I love being with my family and getting to see Karie and Blair since they are never around. I got some sweet stuff and again, so happy that the gifts weren't overboard this year. It was a really fun time!

In Need of Motivation....

2011-01-11T20:17:00.002-07:00

I think this is the first time since I first lost my weight in high school that I haven't felt motivated to eat healthy/lose weight/maintain weight. It feels really weird. It also gives me anxiety. Not sure exactly why I'm so unmotivated at the moment... I wish I knew why. I think it's mainly because right now I feel like there are so many more important things to focus on.... but really... it's not that hard to eat healthy. You just have to plan ahead and pack the right foods with you to help you dodge those cravings for the treats.... Anyway... I'm determined to get back on the right track. Yesterday at work, Katie and I made a deal to see who could go the longest without digging into our boss's candy basket. She always has the most tasty candies in there including Twix, Butterfinger, Reese's, Tootsies... and much much more depending on the day. It's really kind of evil of her because she doesn't like chocolate. So she just puts the chocolate there for everyone else to crave and pig out on to gain pound after pound! I know that's not really her intention, but it's kinda hard to not want the candy all day long. Anyway... we'll see how well we both do in not digging into the treats at work. It will be good to have someone to be accountable to. Now I just need to figure out how to stop craving cereal at 10 at night. I know how to do it.. just gotta get going I guess. So here I go.... I'm 100% at this moment BACK ON TRACK. Time for some pilates and then hop on the spin bike while I watch Biggest Loser to remind me what I used to look like! (Ok i wasn't THAT big but one can tell themselves that to scare them into eating better right?). Wish me good choices!

Christmas Morning at Home; My Favorite Part of the Day

2011-01-08T09:49:00.005-07:00

I love how Aden was excited about Christmas, but doesn't know yet how to be annoying to his parents and wake them up at 5am.. or even 7am! Even when he did wake up, he didn't even go to the tree, he just came in our room and said it's Christmas! It was pretty awesome. This year we started a new tradition where we say a prayer together and ask for the spirit to be with us as we celebrate the birth of Jesus. (Thank you to my friend Katie at work for telling me what her family did growing up. Awesome idea!) So we woke up Owen, who thank heavens was pretty cheerful, and said our prayer as a family. Then it was time for our little family's Christmas morning! These pictures go backward, just fyi.....

Here's Aden being as funny as he always is. He decided to put on some of his new undies that Santa brought him OVER his pj's. What a nut!! Or should we call him Christina Aguilera? haha
As you will see, Owen is on that plasma car pretty much the entire morning... which is LOVELY since that gift was actually Aden's....
My boys and me :)

Aden opening one of Owen's gifts that he didn't care to open!

He is a little daredevil... and to be honest I am very scared for the future! I hope my heart is strong... haha

Aden's favorite Christmas gift he got. The JOKER VAN! He had seriously been asking for that since early 2010. We almost didn't get it, but then my mom found it. Saved by e-bay!

Daddy and Owen and the Singamajig!

Cootie bootie

When they first came into the room.....

Our Christmas set up ..... hope they like it!! :)

Christmas morning was great. We truly enjoyed each other. Owen wanted the cookies for Santa and the plasma car more than anything else in the room... which is fine since we only got him one actual toy to play with! The three gifts from us to represent Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh worked out well. Santa brought a few gifts to add into the mix. It was nice. Christmas was small, but nobody complained. We were excited for what we got and the spirit did stay with us. I was truly grateful for that.

FYI: 112th Congress Began This Week

2011-01-06T21:49:00.002-07:00

I'm sure that probably nobody but me cares about this whatsoever, but I care a lot. This was a beautifully written speech. The words, intent, and goals are perfect. I honestly and truly hope and pray that Congress will live up to at least half of these things. I really believe that if they can do what they say and be honest about what they do, our country can come back from the brink. So, here it is. John Boehner's first speech as Speaker of the House. He seems completely sincere. Let's hope!

"Madam Speaker, thank you for your kind words, and thank you for your service. I'd like to welcome our new colleagues and their families. My own family is here as well: my wife, Debbie, our daughters, Lindsay and Tricia; my brothers and sisters, brothers-and-sisters-in-law, and their children.

"I am honored and humbled to represent a great, hard-working community in Congress. The people of Ohio's Eighth Congressional District continue to afford me the privilege to serve, for which I am deeply grateful.

"We gather here today at a time of great challenges. Nearly one in ten of our neighbors are looking for work. Health care costs are still rising for families and small businesses. Our spending has caught up with us, and our debt will soon eclipse the size of our entire economy. Hard work and tough decisions will be required of the 112th Congress. No longer can we fall short. No longer can we kick the can down the road. The people voted to end business as usual, and today we begin carrying out their instructions.

"In the Catholic faith, we enter into a season of service by having ashes marked on our foreheads. The ashes remind us that life in all its forms is fragile our time on this Earth, fleeting. As the ashes are delivered, we hear those humbling words: 'Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.'

"The American people have humbled us. They have refreshed our memories as to just how temporary the privilege to serve is. They have reminded us that everything here is on loan from them. That includes this gavel, which I accept cheerfully and gratefully, knowing I am but its caretaker. After all, this is the people's House. This is their Congress. It's about them, not us. What they want is a government that is honest, accountable and responsive to their needs. A government that respects individual liberty, honors our heritage, and bows before the public it serves.

"Let's start with the rules package the House will consider today. If passed, it will change how this institution operates, with an emphasis on real transparency, greater accountability, and a renewed focus on the Constitution. Our aim will be to give government back to the people. In seeking this goal, we will part with some of the rituals that have come to characterize this institution under majorities Republican and Democratic alike. We will dispense with the conventional wisdom that bigger bills are always better; that fast legislating is good legislating; that allowing additional amendments and open debate makes the legislative process 'less efficient' than our forefathers intended.

"These misconceptions have been the basis for the rituals of modern Washington. The American people have not been well served by them. Today, mindful of the lessons of the past, we open a new chapter.

"Legislators and the public will have three days to read bills before they come to a vote. Legislation will be more focused, properly scrutinized, and constitutionally sound. Committees, once bloated, will be smaller, with a renewed mission, including oversight. Old rules that have made it easy to increase spending will be replaced by new reforms that make it easier to cut spending. We will start by cutting Congress' own budget.

"Above all else, we will welcome the battle of ideas, encourage it, and engage in it openly, honestly, and respectfully. As the chamber closest to the people, the House works best when it is allowed to work its will. I ask all members of this body to join me in recognizing this common truth.

"To my colleagues in the majority, my message is this: we will honor our Pledge to America, built through a process of listening to the people, and we will stand firm on the Constitutional principles that built our party, and built a nation. We will do these things, however, in a manner that restores and respects the time-honored right of the minority to an honest debate and a fair, open process.

"To my friends in the minority, I offer a commitment. Openness once a tradition of this institution, but increasingly scarce in recent decades, will be the new standard. There were no open rules in the House in the last Congress. In this one, there will be many. With this restored openness, however, will come a restored responsibility. You will not have the right to willfully disrupt the proceedings of the People's House. But you will always have the right to a robust debate in open process that allows you to represent your constituents . . . to make your case, offer alternatives, and be heard.

"In time, this framework will, I believe, restore the House of Representatives as a place where the people's will is done. It will also, I hope, help rebuild trust among us and the people we serve, and in so doing, provide a guidepost for those who follow us in the service of our nation.

"To our new members Democratic and Republican as you take the oath today, I know you will do so mindful of this shared goal, and the trust placed in you by your constituents. As Speaker, I view part of my job as helping each of you do your job well, regardless of party. My hope is that every new Member and indeed, every Member will be comfortable approaching me with matters of the House.

"We will not always get it right. We will not always agree on what is right. A great deal of scar tissue has built up on both sides of the aisle. We cannot ignore that, nor should we. My belief has always been, we can disagree without being disagreeable to each other. That's why it is critical this institution operate in a manner that permits a free exchange of ideas, and resolves our honest differences through a fair debate and a fair vote. We may have different sometimes, very different ideas for how to go about achieving the common good, but it is our shared goal. It is why we serve.

"Let us now move forward humble in our demeanor, steady in our principles, and dedicated to proving worthy of the trust and confidence that has been placed in us. If we brace ourselves to do our duty, and to do what we say we are going to do, there is no telling what together we can accomplish for the good of this great and honorable nation. More than a country, America is an idea, and it is our job to pass on to our posterity the blessings bestowed to us.

"I wish you all the very best. Welcome to the people's House. Welcome to the 112th Congress."

Christmas Eve at Kammeyers

2011-01-06T12:08:00.005-07:00

Odie eating his Chineesy
Cuckoo bird and Grandpa K

Owen always wants what Aden has... definitely not the easiest thing to deal with for ANYONE in the house haha

Grandma K accidentally gave Aden Ben's gift... so at first he opened a drum set and was like uhhh what's this. Here's what he really got....

Grandpa reading about the 12 days of Christmas and their real meanings.

Owen and his sweeeet new chair. He loves chairs, so we thought he needed one that wouldn't easily tip over. It's so freakin' cute!

Our plate of cookies... I think I frosted 98.2% of them

He's such a stink!!

We caught Aden inching his way toward Aunt Kristie when Paul got up to grab something! It was so cute. He loves Kristie and it's so sweet :)

The grandkids... or should we say grand-boys??

Christmas Eve was pretty fun at my mom's house. We ate Chinese, exchanged gifts, learned about the 12 days of Christmas and just got to visit with everyone. Good times! It's almost time for Santa!!

Christmas Eve-- Day

2011-01-04T21:51:00.002-07:00

Here's Owen in the pantry. Always finding treats.....

Jared "helping" us make cookies.

Drew and Aden being silly. They got to have a sleepover the night before. Aden always loves it when Drew and Dallin come to town. :)

Karie, me, and Dallin making sugar cookies! Dallin made some GREEEEN cookies which were extra nummy. heheh

My cute sister.

Aden wanted to make cookies for Santa, so since my sister and her family were in town we decided to make them at my mom's with them. It started out with everyone involved and into it.... then somehow... it dwindled down to just Dallin and me, then eventually just me. Frosting the cookies by myself. In the first place I don't enjoy frosting. Second, I HATE frosting cookies haha. I did it for the kids what can I say... I'm a good mom and aunt. JK Luckily Jared finally came and helped me finish the last little bit since my neck was dyin. It was a fun day, though, for sure!

Ohlin Family Traditional Sunday-Before-Christmas Dinner/Gifts

2011-01-04T21:32:00.002-07:00

Every year on the Sunday before Christmas, the Ohlin's gather at the Patriarch of the family's house (Jared's dad haha). We have a ham and funeral potato dinner and then open one gift. PAJAMAS! Wootwoot! Anyway.. here are some fun pics of the kids. I opted not to show any of the pictures with myself in them because apparently I forgot to wear make up or something that day. But if you really want to see a pic of me... this first one has me in the upper right hand corner. I hope that satisfies your Lindsey fix for this post!

Owen got to pass around the presents. There were definitely some "interesting" deliveries.. if you could call them that.

Cheeseball.

Zack was entranced by Aden's Leapster. Guess what he got for Christmas? haha

On Being A Mom....

2011-01-04T18:58:00.002-07:00

I had to post this while it was still fresh on my mind. It's funny the things that you truly learn about yourself through the eyes of your kids. Recently, Aden has been really in to praying and being the one to say the prayer. It has been great watching him slowly learn how to pray; starting out with us helping him for every word, then just the beginning and middle, until he knew how to begin, fill the middle, and end. It's been so sweet to watch. At first, he hated it and we had to beg him. Now, he reminds US to pray before we eat. He even prays in front of large family groups. Anyway... the other day he was praying before our dinner and in the prayer he said, "...and please help mom so that her back won't hurt." Wow... that hit my heart. What a sweet boy I have that he would think to pray for me. Not only that, but he prayed for the thing that was truly ailing me that day. He loves his mom and even can pay attention to what she needs. Not only that, but I learned that my back ALWAYS hurts (which it does) and he notices that, too. Not sure how I feel about that, but that's the truth that it does hurt. I just thought that was the sweetest thing. It brought a tear to my eye and made me so proud to be his mom.

I love you, Aden!

Kamfam Christmas Party 2010

2011-01-02T21:08:00.002-07:00

This pic pretty much describes Owen for the night... haha. He got a soccer ball from Santa....
Jackson and Aden with their new toys!

Odie and Mama opening Santa's gift for him.

ME!

My oldest and youngest. :)

Of course, Owen found the ipod doc and started shakin' it and doing twinkle toes to the tunes. He's a funny little boy!

He pretty much ran for two hours straight....

Preston and Aden playing Hot Wheels

The Kammeyer family party was fun this year. We had a nummy meatball sandwich, played our typical Bingo game, Steve did a magic show dressed in his Harry Potter costume hehe and we got some fun gifts from Santa. Christmas parties are not what I remember them to be when I was little. I would look forward to them all year long. It's hard having kids and trying to mingle with our long lost family. One day I'm sure we will have more time to visit, but for now it's just pretty much all about the kids. And I'm ok with that!

Insane in the Membrane

2011-01-01T21:30:00.003-07:00

Having two boys.. well three including Jared... is always an adventure to say the least. They have energy that is pretty much never ending until the moment they crash. They are WILD. They have no fear... and they make me laugh... and gasp... and cover my eyes constantly. Here is Owen after he was playing on Aden's bed, tried to reach and play with the lightswitch and landed on his nose on the wooden footboard of the bed. Grrrreat. It was NOT a happy time. He was just screaming and it bled. I was so scared and we were worried he might have broken his nose. He cried for quite awhile but finally calmed down. We pushed his nose and what not and he winced a little but we could tell it wasn't broken, thank heaven! It sure didn't look pretty for a couple of weeks. I'm surprised we didn't have child protective services sent to our house! I promise we take good care of our kids! ;/

Here is Aden being a nut like he always is. He decided to put on Jared's pajama pants, pulled them up to his neck and asked me to tie them. He looked like two legs with a neck and a head. It was pretty much hilarious. He was running around and it reminded me of the messed up toy that Syd made with barbie-doll legs on the first Toy Story hahahhaa..... Yeah he's funny.
Check out that cheese-face!

Savior of the World

2011-01-01T21:22:00.002-07:00

Gorgeous shot of the Salt Lake temple if I might say so myself :)
So pretty. Good memories there....

This was the best shot we had of us.. I know.. it's not the best... but yeah. Evidence we were there. My mom invited us to Savior of the World at the conference center. It was a really great way to kick off the Christmas season and to help us remember to always keep Christ in our minds and hearts. It was nice to go with just my honey, too. :)

Thanksgiving 2010

2011-01-01T21:04:00.003-07:00

The Hoxer Grandkids
Owen, Max and Presley being naughty at Grandma Perke's

Tickle tickle!

The cool hole in the wall where Grandpa and Grandma put their folding tables, etc.

Eat up, boys!

Num nums!

SEE FOOD!

Stinkin' cutie. First time getting to actually EAT Thanksgiving dinner!

Oh, how sweet!!

Hello??

Oh they are sharing! :)

Odie and Papa.

I already talked about Thanksgiving.... but here's the quick summary. Ate at Grandpa Perke's in Perry then went and hung out with my fam at the Hoxer home for the night. It was a good day! :)

The Blizzard of the Century-- Or So They Would Have You Think!

2011-01-01T20:28:00.002-07:00

This is a shot of the blizzard that.... wasn't. There was SO much hype around this snowstorm two days before Thanksgiving.... it was honestly ridiculous. I don't think I have ever heard Utahns freak out about a snow storm like they did this year! The newscasters made it seem like the storm was going to be insane and that we were ALL GOING TO DIE! jk... Everyone in Utah (or so it seemed) got to go home early that day. We left about 15 minutes early.... which was nice. Yeah.. it snowed. It was pretty windy. I thought we were going to wake up to about a foot of snow the next morning... but.. not so much. There was like one inch.. if that. It is just kind of hilarious that everyone freaked out so much. I don't understand what made this snow storm so scary to all the meteorologists but the one that we had a few days ago I didn't hear a word about it even going to snow that day! We got about 4 inches this time and nobody hyped it up at all. Oh isn't hindsight always 20/20? haha.. GOOD TIMES.

Spur of the Moment Visit to Idaho Falls November 2010

2010-12-31T21:25:00.003-07:00

Watching Dallin's indoor soccer game
Crazy kids!

We are slowly becoming "antiquer's"

He wishes! kekeke

In Pocatello being crazy at the Arctic Circle. Little stinks.

2010 School Pictures! (October 2010)

2010-12-31T20:45:00.002-07:00

He's getting WAY TOO BIG. Look at that stud!
This is a PERFECT shot of typical Aden faces. I love it so much. So cute!

Brothers. Don't really look much alike at the moment do they? :) They are both so cute in their own ways... personality wise, though... they are without a doubt, BROTHERS!!

We love our little boys!!

Owen's Tube Surgery: November 5, 2010

2010-12-31T13:43:00.002-07:00

I was really nervous about Owen getting tubes put in his ears.. mainly for the anesthesia. It's funny how you can allow yourself to do pretty much any type of surgery/procedure but if it's your kid, it scares the crap out of you! It was definitely a necessary thing... Owen had way too many ear infections and you could tell he just wasn't a happy camper. So we went forward with it. The doctor was Dr. Scott Major, who my mom and Steve know really well. He actually is the husband of the doc who delivered Aden! Anyway, I knew we were in safe hands. We took him in early in the morning, he was scheduled for 8:15 am. He couldn't eat, which, was kind of a hard thing to accomplish with Owen! haha He likes his food! All four of us went to McKay Dee Surgical Center and played in the waiting room ... for about an hour. Of course, they were running behind. We were getting nervous as to how long we would have to hold Owen off from eating. We played with the toys and then finally the docs/nurses did all of the pre-surgery stuff and finally it was time to let them take him. I gave him my blanket from when I was little, so it would be like I was in there with him. :) The anesthesiologist took him. Owen was so cute and the doctor was an older guy (the anesthesiologist) who was way good with kids. We prayed constantly and went back to a different waiting room. Before we knew it, less than twenty minutes later they brought him out to us. He wasn't crying like they said he would. It was pretty awesome. He just wanted us to hold him and feed him. Every so often he would whine a little and you could tell it either hurt or was just uncomfortable. We were so relieved that he did well. They said he had some fluid in his ear that probably had been there since birth, so he probably had no idea what it felt like to be normal. Kind of interesting. He was great the reste of the day and slept for about 5 hours for his nap. We finally woke him up because it made us nervous! He did so well. Since then he has slept so well through the night and he just has been a whole new baby. He is so happy and you can tell he is just plain healthier. It was well worth it and we knew there really wasn't much of a risk with it, but you never really know how someone will react to anesthesia. I hope we don't have to go through too many surgeries or procedures like that with our kids. Freaks me out! We thank God that he did so well and that he is so much happier now. It makes our lives much more peaceful! :) We love you Odie-O!

Just hangin' after the surgery that night at Ohlin's. (On their chairs they were using because their couch hadn't come yet! haha)
Owen's little feetsies and his tag. So cute.

Owen in the car on the way home. He was a little weirded out!

Sitting with Odie after the surgery.. .finally getting his food!

Playin with the toys... almost ready to go in! (You can see my blankie which my grandma Gibson made for me before I was born).

He was picking up big baskets of blocks and moving them around the room. It was hilarious to see this little kid with a huge basket in his arms!

Playing blocks when we first got there.... having no idea what was coming his way!

Happy Halloween, Batman!

2010-12-29T20:55:00.003-07:00

Aden and his fake teeth haha

Cutie booty

Stinkin Linkin

He's so creative hehe

Jared's always posin' :) jk

Aden and grandma Ohlin carving pumpkins

Yeah, I know I already showed this pic... but it had to be shown again.

Wheeler Farm Adventure October

2010-11-27T21:20:00.005-07:00

Me, my boys, and the horses!

Wildman and Mama

Piggies!

Goats! Or.. as Owen called them "doggas" :)

He LOVED the animals... because to him they are all dogs like Haybay.

BIG KID

My boys in their natural habitat :) hehehe

Don't they look THRILLED and ready for adventure?!

After Aden's birthday party and the whole spoiled brat issue afterward with Aden, we were trying to think of ways to just get back to the good old days when kids weren't inundated with toys, toys, toys, tv shows, movies, computers, internet, etc. He was really pretty excited to get to go see the animals. The best part about the trip; it was free!! :) We have been trying really hard to pay off all our debts and just be very conservative with our money because we both truly feel that the next few years are going to be really difficult and that the economy has a long way to go to repair itself. We want our kids to learn to be grateful for the things they have and be able to have fun without all of the "necessities" like tv, internet, and playstations that kids are so used to having. They both enjoyed it and Jared and I had a ton of fun too since we hadn't been to Wheeler Farm for about 15 years or longer!

Aden's 5th Birthday Party: The Batcave (FINALLY)

2010-11-27T20:55:00.005-07:00

The little chunker "Robin" running around terrorizing the party!
Aden got some really awesome gifts and was pretty dang spoiled. Like I said on a previous post... I've definitely learned my lesson on where the line needs to be drawn for spoiling!!

The Batman cake Grandma Marnae made for Aden. She's a pro when it comes to cake-makin!

Aden loved his cake!

All the kidlets and me playing my game I created.... oh the wonders you can create with cardboard, paper, and glue! haha

The Batcave computer and the 5 year movie I made for Aden.

Commissioner Gordon and Robin

Aden got his "pizza party." Aden and Naomi really would be the cutest little couple.. it's a shame they are cousins hahahaha

I'm the only villain.. which is probably true even in real life. ;)

I love that my mom dressed up. I'm sure everyone thought we were weirdos but ya gotta have fun sometime eh?

Aden and his cousin Jackson (who is a year older, and shorter, but Aden idolizes him!)

I think the party was a hit, even though it was crammed and a little crazy! The food was luffly, everyone showed up and the kids had a blast. All I can say is..... it was fun once... but NEVER AGAIN! I hope Aden enjoyed it haha. :) Happy 5th Birthday, Aders!

Slacker!

2010-11-23T15:09:00.002-07:00

I know, I know... I have been a slacker when it comes to blogging (and journaling for that matter)! I have been working on a very important project... well at least it's important to me... and you will get to see it at Christmas. It's been very time consuming and I've barely had time to get pictures loaded onto my computer much less get them posted on here. So I will do my best to catch up on the past couple months worth of events asap! Time is flying by way too fast!

Anyway I thought while it was fresh on my mind I would mention Aden and Owen's Thanksgiving "dinner" that parents were invited to today! At first I hadn't really thought about going to it... basically because I've had so many other things bouncing around in my brain lately. Then yesterday the daycare director asked me if we were going to be able to come or not. At first I said no, just because in my mind I was thinking "duh, I have to work..." but then I thought about it... I work like less than five minutes away and my boss is very flexible with our lunches. So I told them that I would come. So I got there today and they had the tables decorated in the nursing home cafeteria.. it was cute. When I first walked in I saw Aden and he was so excited to see me and then I saw little Owen sitting with all the little toddlers and he just JUMPED for joy and was beaming with excitement! It was so cute to see them in their little school "element." I don't get to see the way they act at daycare and with the teachers or the other little kids, which makes me sad. I feel like there's this part of them that I miss out on. That's why I am so happy I got to go sit and eat lunch with them today.

It was a little awkward trying to sit with Owen and feed him and feed myself as well. They don't have high chairs for the toddlers in the cafeteria and they didn't have sippies for them either so it was kind of difficult to say the least! The food was served buffet style so I got to try and balance Odie while getting our food and he was just a wiggle worm! Anyway... I was a little apprehensive about eating "school cafeteria" food again. I don't remember the last time I ate in a school cafeteria (at least eating the "hot" meal rather than ala carte) and the thought kinda grossed me out! haha Surprisingly, though, the food looked pretty good! I didn't really get to eat much of it because little piggy Odie ate all of mine, including my ROLL which looked REALLY good... but that's ok my belly didn't need it! We sat with one of the assistant directors which was kind of awkward as well because I felt like she was scrutinizing the way I interact with my kids! haha Owen wanted my water and since there wasn't a sippy cup he ended up pouring it down his front and she kind of gave me a look like "that never happens when he is with us.." or something! I was probably being too self conscious, though. Anyway, we didn't think Jared would be coming and all of the sudden he walked in and surprised us! I was so happy to see him and I could tell the kids were too. It was a really fun little event.

Owen got REALLY tired by the time lunch was about over and you could tell he was WAY overstimulated. He usually goes down about noon and that's when lunch started. I felt bad because he was so grumpy and tired, and then I had to leave him and he wouldn't let go of my hand at the door. I felt SOOOO bad... it broke my heart. I hate leaving them. :( It's part of life I guess.... gotta do what ya gotta do. They enjoy daycare though it's just when I drop them off that they get sad.

A really crazy storm is coming in today and it's been suspenseful all day because we really aren't sure what to expect... I dont' remember the last time people have been worried about a storm around here!

North Korea randomly targeted/bombed/shot at South Korea today... so that's... lovely I suppose. I wonder where this little event will take us. I know bad times are coming but I wasn't expecting the wars to break out just yet... but who knows I guess. Only time will tell how bad this incident will impact the world.

Kinda crazy. Anyway I will catch up more later. BYEBYE!

Preparing for Aden's 5th Birthday Party..

2010-10-23T17:57:00.002-06:00

I admit it. I went slightly overboard with Aden's 5th birthday party. It was a lot of work, a lot of stress... but really... secretly.. I had A LOT of fun planning and creating it! I started planning the party about a month before... thinking of all the really cool things I could do with a Batman themed party. There was a TON of things I came up with and ideas I found on the internet as well. Basically, there was NO limit to the things I could have done for this party...the only limit was was limited funds I had to spend. I had a budget of $50 (excluding the pizza/food for the party)...and boy I could have spent over $200 easily. EASILY.

The best idea I had was to turn our basement into the Batcave. I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to accomplish this, but I had a vision in my head. The whole experience sort of reminded me of high school when we had to do assemblies for student government.. coming up with themes, skits/games, and sets. Kinda fun. Anyway I found a ton of things I wanted to buy to add to the decorations but then realized there was no way I was going to afford it. So, I figured out how to make them myself! I ended up printing alot of things off after designing them on the computer and then I also drew things free hand. The biggest project for the whole thing was creating the brick wall. This was definitely a project. We bought about 30 feet of grey butcher paper. Jared helped me draw the pencil lines to keep the rows straight and then measured out the approximate length for each brick. Then I just used a big fat Sharpie and started drawing.... and drawing. And drawing. It took a good four or five hours to get it all drawn, but I finally finished and was proud of how it turned out. It ended up looking pretty dang good if I might say so myself!

Next we had to create Batmans computer station. Luckily our entertainment center actually fit the perfect profile. We just covered it with black butcher paper and then I created little computer screens to put on the sides of the TV. Then we actually created a bat cave with grey and black streamers. We hung some bats as well. Then Steve let me borrow his fog machine and a strobe light to set the mooooood. It was pretty sweet! Then we just finished everything off with streamers and signs everywhere along with a table cloth to block off the undecorated part of the basement and it was done!

I wanted Aden to have the coolest party ever... and I think it ended up pretty dang cool. He was really excited and loved the Batcave, but after it was all said and done I came to regret that we had done so much for it. I'll tell you why on the next blog.... (to be continued).

The brick wall
The dark abyss.....

The "bat" cave

Batman's computer station

NO TRESPASSING!

SWAT Shooting Pics

2010-10-23T17:50:00.002-06:00

This was the view of the house outside our front porch..

Here's the Fox News truck that was sitting outside our house all day long...

Yup. Still pretty interesting that it all went down like that. Anywho... yeah.. there ya have it.

He's Getting Way Too Big!

2010-10-08T13:49:00.002-06:00

Owen does the weirdest things with his binkie! He will turn it sideways, or like this where the bottom part of it is in his mouth. It's kind of amazing some of the things he comes up with! This time he had the binkie AND the bib in his mouth. Gotta love it.
Odie loves wondering around in just a dipe. I love his chunker legs.

He has to get the thing that's hardest to reach-- everytime.

He doesn't like us to break up his food for him, he'd rather have the biggest piece possible. Generally we will not follow his wishes, but this time he happened to grab them away so fast and it was just funny to watch him with these huge graham crackers. He's a tinker tot.

Biiiiiiiiig bite!

My little boy isn't so little anymore. He is so much fun and so exhausting! We love our little baby Owen. I can't believe he is almost 16 months.

The Lion King w/ the KamFam

2010-10-08T13:41:00.003-06:00

Aden being a dork and not posing for the picture!
After the show in the Capitol Theatre. We all loved it and were amazed by the animals.

Aden inside the theatre. I was breaking the rules and it didn't even cross my mind. I hadn't been to the theater in so long I forgot you can't use your cameras!

Such a little stink.

Thanks to my mom and Steve for taking all the Kammeyer family side to the show. I can't imagine what they spent for all of the tickets! I really enjoy going to plays and musicals. It's something we used to do quite a bit when I was younger. I was even in a few of them myself! It was great being able to introduce Aden, and to some extent Jared, to these types of things. I can honestly say I've never seen a better broadway-type show.. except maybe Phantom was pretty close! I wish I could have taken pics of the animals, but oh well :)

When the Hoxer Family Gets Together... WATCH OUT!

2010-08-31T18:48:00.004-06:00

Owen on daddy's shoulders at FatCats for Dallin and Drew's birthday party!
Pretty good little bowler I would say! Here he is cheering himself on haha

5 days apart, yet so different!!

He always wants things he either can't reach, or shouldn't have!

Yes, he did run into this door at one point!

Owen and his weapon!

Tinky tot

Here he is getting into stuff he shouldn't! Such a naughty boy!

Wow.

Eating pizza with the cousins at Grandpa and Grandma Hoxers.

Fighting over grandma's food
This is what happens anytime I am getting Owen food or making him a bottle... holy crap he's a turd!
Makin' messes!

Karie and the little boys came down for her tennis tournament and we got a chance to see the kids quite a bit. All the grandkids hung out at Hoxer's on Saturday and it was kind of a mad house, but it was fun. On Monday, they had a birthday party for both Dallin and Drew at Fat Cats. It was not a good night for our little boys... Aden was getting sick. He even asked to go home. But it was nice to be able to go for the half hour we were there!!

Good times.

Sick of private....

2010-08-15T11:50:00.001-06:00

I'm sick of the whole "private blog" crap. It's irritating me. Sooo..... I'm done with it.

Summer Swimmin'

2010-08-13T14:12:00.005-06:00

Growing up, swimming was always one of my most favorite things to do (that is, until I realized what a chunk I was and became embarassed anytime I had to wear a swimsuit!). People called me a "little fish." I LIVED in our pool (until we moved). I would play that I was Ariel and would try to swim like a mermaid. I would dive to the bottom of the deep end to grab rings, usually all of them in one breath. I loved jumping off the diving board.... life in the water was just fun.

So, of course I want my kids to enjoy swimming like I did. Unfortunately, I just don't have the time or money to go as often as I really would like. I also have pain/fatigue issues that kind of limit how much I am able to tolerate with all of it. Thankfully, my mom bought Aden a Cherry Hill pass and takes him every so often when she tends. We were also lucky enough to go twice this year as well. Not only that, but my in-laws (and my dad) have access to a neighborhood pool. A few times this summer we have been able to go there for pizza on Monday night and go swimming with their side of the family. The boys love it and it's been really fun being able to do that.

Aden swimming at the Herefordshire pool... duhduh... duhduhduhduh...(Jaws...)

Being the silly kid he is... always makin faces!

In the kiddie pool at Ohlin's at the 24th of July BBQ.

Owen and his cute little chunker legs and bum bum :)

In the teeny-weenie kiddie pool with cousin Max.

Can you tell he was sick that day? I can. He had a mild fever. Little did we know it was Rosiola.

The Ohlin-Fam-Dam all playin in the pool :)

Mama and her bubba...

Cutest little stink in his hat. Always wanting mom and dad's drinks!

He's just getting way toooooo big. So sad... but it's fun to watch him grow and learn.

As summertime winds down, it makes me kind of sad! I will miss the warm weather and the fun days playing with my boys outside. I guess I better take advantage of it as long as it lasts!! Next year will be pretty dang fun, I'm sure with Owen being two.... we'll definitely have our hands full at the pool!

The Bookworm Patriots: The Bookworm Patriots Experience

2010-08-07T17:24:00.001-06:00

The Bookworm Patriots: The Bookworm Patriots Experience: "We at Bookworm Patriots LLC would like to welcome you to our blog! Over the next few months we will relate literature to the day's headline..."

I am so excited about this site... this is exactly the site I wanted to create, but just didn't have the time or resources. I am so happy that someone has done it. Please check it out and even if you don't read, read the reviews and learn the important information about our history and our country!

The Overton Window by Glenn Beck (Book Review)

2010-07-27T12:17:00.003-06:00

The weird trailers and commercials for this book got me pretty excited to read it... but I hadn't really planned on buying it way soon just for the sake of frugality.. but because I found out I had the chance to have him sign it, I bought it now. I knew I would eventually.

So after hearing Glenn talk about it quite a bit and him seeming quite nervous for people to read it, it kind of got me scared that I was going to hate it or that it was just not going to be good. I'm excited to say that it exceeded my expectations, and I hope there is a sequel!

I was hooked from the beginning. The story was about a young guy working at a PR firm for his daddy (who I think represented George Soros... read about him HERE or you could watch one Glenn Beck episode on Fox haha) who basically comes up with stories for his high power clients to spin reality into whatever they want the media to report. He meets a mailroom girl in the breakroom named Molly who immediately catches his attention. She posts an invitation up on the bulletin board for a meeting that is basically like a tea party type thing. He ends up going and from then on out his world is turned upside down. He realizes how much power his dad truly has, what is really going on in the country and meets some interesting people along the way including an undercover "right-wing, ex-FBI agent, militia man extremist" guy, an over zealous political activist for freedom, creepy government dudes, sleazy lawyers etc.

It was sometimes difficult to figure out what was actual historical fact or what was what Glenn calls "faction," but thankfully at the end of the book he goes over some of that and tells you where to find out more information about what he talked about. I was really excited about that.

Alot of it was things I had already heard and learned while watching and listening to the Glenn Beck show, but it was definitely very informative and VERY entertaining all at once. I never wanted to stop reading because I wanted to know what happened next!

It was hard for me to not put Glenn's face on the main character of Noah just because I knew it was his book, even though the character didn't resemble him at all (unless he was actually bringing out some of his past characteristics when he was a jerky alcoholic!).

I really feel that 99% of the things he wrote really truly could happen and opened my eyes to some things I had never even considered.

I highly recommend the book if you either like Glenn or if you are interested in politics, the tea party movement, or if you actually like America. If you don't, I REALLY recommend you read it so maybe you'll realize that there really is a possibility of one day losing some of our freedoms. We lose many of them everytime they pass a bill!

Anyway-- it definitely wasn't the BEST book I've ever read but it did keep me very interested and I truly did enjoy it. I learned new things and opened my eyes to others.

Thumbs up from me. :)

Be Careful WIth Your Money Folks.

2010-07-21T12:05:00.000-06:00

ksl.com - Obama signs sweeping financial overhaul into law

Glenn Beck's American Revival: Saturday June 17th, 2010

2010-07-20T17:38:00.004-06:00

Jared, Glenn and I... yeah we're buds :)

Glenn and David Barton who talked on history and faith. He's pretty freakin cool.

David Barton and his SWEET American Flag shirt. He was seriously such an awesome speaker to listen to and learn from.

The boy scouts carrying the flag and leading the Pledge of Allegiance.

Senator Orrin Hatch and Congressman Jason Chaffetz saying a few words and then Jason said the opening prayer.

Glenn's opening segment! Glenn was hilarious and kept everyone entertained all day long!

Pat and Stu from the Glenn Beck Program radio show. They were pretty dang funny.. it was cool getting to see them, too!

I will post more a little bit later and tell you more about it all. :)

Jared and I learned alot and had a ton of fun together.

Glenn Beck's Overton Window Book Signing

2010-07-18T16:41:00.006-06:00

On Friday, the boys and I went down to Deseret Book on South Temple (which is a dang sweet store, by the way, I want to go back!) to the Overton Window book signing. I hadn't read it yet, but I was so excited to have Glenn sign our book and shake his hand. We have never been to a book signing before, so we weren't quite sure what to expect. I had seen some pictures of previous book signings Glenn had done in Salt Lake, so I kind of had a picture, but it didn't really prove to be that accurate! haha.....

The signing started at 3pm, so we showed up about a half hour early to make sure that we weren't at the end of the line. When we got there, there was already a line down South Temple and turning the corner down Main! Luckily, the line was in the shade because it was about 100 degrees that afternoon!! Aden and I went and stood in line while Jerber and Odie went and parked the car.

There was an interesting mix of people there, mostly older (not OLD but about the age of my parents) clean cut men, some women, some "non-white" people, and a few younger people (even some younger than me which was surprising!). It was definitely hot standing there and Aden got pretty antsy. Finally Jared came and took the boys to eat at Subway while I waited in line. The people around me were really nice and we chatted a bit, mainly about how long we thought it would take for us to get through to Glenn and have our book signed! We finally started seeing the line move at about 3:15, but at a VERY slow pace.

They handed out a little paper explaining how things were going to work and what the "rules" were! I thought it was kind of funny that there were RULES for a book signing, but then when I thought about it... there HAD to be rules or else Glenn would be there ALL day posing for ten different pictures, signing ten different books and saying ten different personalized things in those books..... I knew he had a fundraising dinner in a few hours up at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, so in order to accommodate as many people as possible they had to have rules. Basically, we had to have our book open to the title page, no "posed" pictures and no personalizations. Everything went pretty fast, and it felt pretty military-ish! But it was fun. We were all just so excited to get to meet him, we didn't really care. The line weaved in and out of bookcases throughout the store and finally to the very back, in a place that there was no way anyone could take pictures of him from outside. When I saw him, it was pretty cool, but at the same time it just felt like you knew him! I spend about 45 minutes, almost five days a week watching him on TV and probably about an hour a week listening to him on the radio. It really does start to feel like you literally KNOW this person and like you're friends! That probably sounds pathetic, but it's true. It was kind of cool.

Anyway, I got up there, shook his hand, told him it was nice to meet him-- I can't really remember exactly what it said but basically thanks for coming and nice to meet me too. It went really fast, but he signed the book, gave me a good sturdy handshake and I went on my way. Jared shook his hand too and Aden was pretty excited to see him as well! Then I tried to get a few pictures of him, but they really wanted everyone to leave the building so it didn't get too crazy, which was understandable. We went outside and played at the fountains a little and then one of the really nice guys behind us stopped us and handed us a book...it was a children's book about the parable of teaching a man to fish. He was actually the author of the book and was planning on having Glenn sign it, but because of the "rules" he only had him sign his copy of the Overton Window. He decided that our boys were so cute that he thought it would be cool to give us his book. That was so nice and Aden was so excited. We actually had him sign the book for us as well (might as well, eh? He may be some big start someday!! haha)... he used an alias for his book or a penname or whatever and signed it as that and also his real name, which I can't remember! I can't read it, either! Oh well.... still got the signature I guess! haha

It was a pretty cool afternoon and the boys were really good and didn't whine too much! It was really cool to meet someone that I really truly admire in pretty much all aspects... he is very knowledgable, funny, smart, seems to be sincerely nice, successful, AND a member of my church and shares my faith. I don't agree always 100% with EVERY statement he says, but in general I do. I think that he really is someone who sees the big picture, and I truly believe that God does help guide him with the things that he is supposed to tell us and open our eyes to. Someone has to with the way the country is going these days.

Anyway, I started reading the book and so far it's awesome. Here are some pics of the book signing.. I will work really hard at getting the Revival posted up asap but there is SO much info and things to mention that it will probably take a bit!! OK, that's it!! BYEBYE!!

Family Pics for Owen's 1st Year!

2010-07-14T21:43:00.004-06:00

I wanted to thank my bud, Rachel for taking some pics of us with her new camera and honing her photography skills on us! :) We went to the Union Station and took tons of pics and just played around a bit. Poor Rachy is about ready to pop (she's due in like 3 weeks) so some of the pics were kind of hard for her to take but she did a luffly job! We had alot of fun and I loved all the pics! Here are just a select few....there will be more to come!

A New Meaning to Independence Day

2010-07-04T14:32:00.000-06:00

I'm ashamed to admit (although, I'm sure I'm not the only person who could say this)that I never really cared or thought much about America. It was just a given that things happened as they did and because of that, I had the freedom I had and was given that opportunity to just not care! I always enjoyed singing the songs, but I felt stupid holding my hand over my heart. I did, though, because I was generally a pretty respectful kid. I just never really felt it. I was always SO excited for fireworks and for the traditions of July 4th, though. I am definitely a little pyro and loved putting on shows and lighting the firecrackers and sparklers. :)

I thank my Heavenly Father that today, the previous story is not the case. Over the last year I fell into alot of new information and have gradually become more and more interested in our country, how it was founded, and what it stands (or should stand) for.

I never understood why anyone in their right mind would have voluntarily joined the armed forces or allowed themselves to be drafted into a war. It just sounded ridiculous and insane to me. I always held in my mind that I would have ran to Canada if I was drafted! Isn't that such a horrible thought?

I would be so proud to be able to say that someone in my family, or even I, served this country as a soldier. I understand the honor and the courage of the soldiers and as I think to the probable future, I would be proud to allow and support my sons in fighting for this country and our freedoms. If I ever had to lose one of my children, dying in the service of our country would be one way that I could handle it.

As I study the history of my church and my country, I am learning so many wonderful things. It's amazing how much the two histories intertwine. One supports the other and vice verse. I have always had a love of history, but I have never felt such an importance about it as I do today.

My thoughts are really bouncing around right now, I think I'm pretty tired, but I guess what I am trying to say is that I truly love this country and the God that endowed us with it. I am so thankful that we were given the blessing of this country and I feel that it is our duty to do all we can to be good stewards of this gift. I feel a sense of urgency as to what we need to do to either stop some of the things that are happening out right, or guide it in a slightly different direction. I feel that there is much I need to teach my children with regard to faith, freedom, duty to God, duty to family, and duty to country.I fear that one day my boys could be one of those soldiers I misunderstood.

I hope and pray that our country can hold on tight to the liberties and freedoms our fathers and mothers fought and died for. I am so grateful for the life I have in this country, and although certain things could always be better, I truly love my life. I know that my life wouldn't be possible anywhere else. God Bless America. I know he did and always will bless us if we keep our nation in tune with his teachings.

Well I hope any of that made sense... but it's just sort of a rambling of the things I think and feel today.

Happy Independence Day!

New Blog....

2010-06-29T18:32:00.002-06:00

K so I know I'm an odd, odd duck, but I am creating a new blog to post links and information regarding my political views and just important political information that I believe are important for people to read or see..... I haven't started it yet, but I was wondering if anyone would be interested in being a contributor to the blog either with posting abilities or helping me find information to post? Let me know if you are interested at all at jlohlin@Msn.com
THANKS!!!

Random stuff

2010-06-27T14:47:00.002-06:00

So, our Playstation 3 has been broken for about a month and a half or so. It was the "YLOD", otherwise known as the "Yellow Light of Death" that plagues many a Playstation. Basically the hard drive fails and you get a yellow light on the console rather than a green or a red. So Aden has been having withdrawals from Indiana Jones! Steve bought the game for his XBox and finally got it out with Aden and that kid was as bright as if it were Christmas morning! He was so excited to play. He was teaching Grandpa Steve how to play, too. Kinda funny. Anyway, we ended up getting it fixed and it lasted about a day and now it's broken once again, so needless to say we are getting a refund! haha I guess we will be saving up for a new one.
This is the view out of my house, and let me tell you that it is a big upgrade from what it was. Before the railing was white and the paint was chipped and rusty. We have been wanting to fix it for a long time but it was just never on the top of the list... but finally it was since we were having Owen's party. So we just scraped it and spray painted it with a flat black and it looks ten times better than it did. I also got that cute little rug on clearance from Home Depot and was pretty excited about that!!

Here's the side view....

The lady that owned our house had the most random things going on and these stupid little fences were just one of them. She had them about four or five different places. I kept this one because I thought it kind of did add a little something to this very ugly area of the house... except it really needed to be painted. So we scraped off the old paint and repainted the little fence and all the surrounding wood on the porch. It definitely made a big difference. It's cool how such stupid little things can be worth the time. :) There's still many more projects to complete... but it was nice getting these done.

Well that's it for today! BYEBYE

Owen's Birthday Cont'd....

2010-06-24T19:17:00.002-06:00

All of his cool gifts :) Daddy playing with Owen

Owen's BIIIIGGGGG present! It's a climbing wall, slide, soccer goal, football throwing hole and basketball hoop in one! So much fun!!

He's so adventurous! We're in for it....

He thinks he is such big stuff... showin off for everyone!

There is more to come!

Happy First Birthday, Owen!

2010-06-23T17:49:00.007-06:00

Opening his many presents......
Owen in his new pool!!

Aden eating his nummy, nummy cupcake.

What a dirty, dirty little boy heheheheh

The partayers....

I don't think Owen knew the cake was actually food....

Owen hated the sprinkles... what a silly boy. He definitely takes after his momma!

Our widdo boy :)

Momma and Odie at his first birthday party :) So proud!

Grandpa Kammeyer with Owen boy...

Owen's first cake.. compliments of mom

Owen opening (more like playing with) his very first birthday present!

The smash cake!

The party was so much fun and Owen was so sweet and happy. There are more pics to come!! Stay tuned! :)

A Cold Day in July......

2010-06-10T20:53:00.003-06:00

All while growing up, I HATED YARDWORK. Probably more than ANYTHING in the whole world. I complained and complained and complained. My mom would get so irritated. She would always tell me that it would be different when I had my own yard. I always told her that I wasn't going to have landscaping. I was going to have a rock garden. No grass. No trees. No flowers. Just rocks. Then I would NEVER have to do yardwork.

Of course, like most stories go, mom was right.

It is my new love and obsession. I love being in my garden and pulling out weeds, planting things, rearranging, watering.... just making it a beautiful place to be and see.

I look forward to going home and hope and pray that for once it isn't raining so that I can take the boys outside and just enjoy the yard... and maybe get something done! :)

My yard is definitely a work in progress. It will take alot of money and time to complete my yard. The south side of our house is disgusting as well as the north. The garage is hideous and behind the garage is even worse. One day..... dollar by dollar, hour by hour, twig by twig, and weed by weed... my yard will look how I want it to. Hopefully, one day my kids will come to the conclusion that it's fun and worthwhile to work in the yard. We'll see, I suppose....Here are some pics for you to enjoy.

It will be so nice when these things get big!! Maybe one day we will have some privacy!

The peas and tomatoes.... they're starting to sprout!!

We got some good shade loving plants for behind the house and our big nasty tree.

Finally something pretty on the side of the driveway.
Well, good night! :)

I know this is late, but yeah....

2010-05-22T16:18:00.003-06:00

I had to take a picture of our fridge at probably the fullest it has ever been. We never have food.
Chicken Teriyaki with Brown Rice

... mine had tasty sauteed mushrooms as well :)

MMMM chicken.

I had to take pictures of this rare event.

Yes.....

I cooked a meal.

It wasn't from a box or from the freezer, nor did it come in some package all together. I had different ingredients that I cooked and mixed together. Yeah, I know. Pretty amazing. Yes, it was a very, VERY easy dish, but hey, ya gotta start somewhere! Hopefully, one day I will get this whole managing the house, the kids, work AND having the desire or energy or time to fix dinner too.

I just figured, it needed to be documented so I have proof that I did it at least once!! :)

Why I am a Post-Baccalaureate College Drop Out.....

2010-05-18T17:40:00.005-06:00

I spent the past four-five months doing everything I needed to do to prepare to go back to school to finish my pre-requisites. I took the Accuplacer, I figured out schedules, classes, got teachers to make exceptions for me so it would work out, I found babysitters. I had it all in line, ready to go. Got the loan, bought the books, and even started to read ahead to prepare. I started studying for the GRE exam as well. I honestly couldn't believe that I had all my ducks in a row. It all just sort of "fell into place." I took that as a good thing.

Boy, was I wrong.

About early April, I started feeling uneasy about the thought of going back to school. As the days went by, it got progressively worse. By the time I finally allowed myself to really accept that I was feeling anything but excited, I had a panic attack along with nausea. I had been stuffing my thoughts and feelings deeper and deeper, convincing myself that it was just me being me trying to overstress myself like I always do. Anytime there is a change to be made, I overthink and stress it beforehand and try to talk myself out of making the change, so I just tried to convince myself that's what was going on. This was a different feeling, and deep down I knew it. I just didn't want to accept it. Getting my master's, or even eventually my PhD, has always been a goal and main focus for my life, so I really didn't want to hear that I was making a mistake. Never had it ever crossed my mind that I wouldn't be getting a higher degree than a bachelor's. Never.

Finally, the Friday before I was to start school, Jared and I rented the movie "The Lovely Bones." It was such an awesome show (not only because I love Mark Wahlberg!) but surprisingly it hit me so hard that I can really say that it helped change the course of my life. While watching the show, I became very emotional (but hid it like I always do, of course) and it hit such a soft spot thatI was amazed at how I felt. I finally allowed myself to feel the reasons why I was beginning to feel so uneasy; Aden and Owen. The movie is about a young girl who was murdered by her neighbor and about how it affected her family and what it was like for her in what I will call "limbo" after death. The father and mother were destroyed. Dad became obsessed and mom completely withdrew from her life, eventually leaving the family for a time. It was so brutal and sad, but I truly became a parent to that girl. I felt that pain and empathized with her real parents. I felt how I would feel if it had happened to my child and how I would have reacted. I truly felt like I would have been like the mom and just mentally wouldn't be able to handle it, and any reminder of my little kid would send me up the wall. I felt, at the time, that I wouldn't be able to progress and move forward after something like that.

After the movie, the extreme panic and deeply rooted feelings set in. I knew something wasn't right and I needed some answers. I needed to know whether I was creating these feelings out of fear, or if I was feeling these things because of the Spirit and true inspiration. Sunday was conveniently fast Sunday, so Jared and I decided to fast and pray about school and what He wanted me to do.

That morning I had so many different thoughts and urges to just not do the fast, or to fast, but not fully (so I could take my medicine..) but I stayed strong and did a true fast. I prayed in the morning, well more like begged, for guidance and an answer. I knew He would give me an answer because I know He knew I needed it badly. So we went to church and I received my answer. Over and over and over again. I heard it every way possible, from all sides and all angles. Every testimony gave me an answer, each lesson that was taught gave me the same answer, and even every song gave me the answer. There were some really amazing things that were said and happened that day, but I feel that they are pretty personal so I will not post them, but I assure you that it was as if God smacked me across the head and then waved his arms and said "listen up, dummy!" It was that obvious.

I wasn't supposed to go to school. Right now, at least. Now is not the time. Right now is time to focus on teaching my children, rather than teaching myself. I felt a sense of urgency to make sure that I teach my boys the millions of things that they need to know to survive the future that is coming for them. The world is getting more difficult, filled with even more evil, and danger from every aspect of life lies ahead (at least that's the feeling I got, and I know it's true). He basically asked me "if you don't teach them these things, who will?" My kids are only going to be little and teachable for so long and I need to spend this time with them as much as possible, teaching, guiding, raising, nurturing and just enjoying THEM, not me. I feel, though, that down the road, when they are older, I will have the opportunity to go back to school if I want to.

When I finally gave in and accepted my path and CHOSE that path, it was as if the hugest weight and dark cloud was lifted from my body. Since I made the decision, I have been so happy. Life just seems "lighter." It's difficult to describe. I know the decision to drop out of my classes was definitely the right one for our family at this time. I truly know now that fasting and prayer really can work and that once in awhile, when you truly need it, you can get extremely obvious and real answers. It was a pretty amazing experience, and I cannot tell you how happy I am to know that I did what I was supposed to do and what was best for hmy family. Yes, my dreams/goals for even higher education are put on hold, but my family is definitely more important and my first priority. I don't know why I resisted it so long, but it's great.

Anyway, that's my story.

I'm a college drop out--- and it was the best decision I have ever made in my entire life.

I can't stand it.

2010-05-17T17:53:00.004-06:00

I know this is a little late coming, but I had to post my feelings about the murder of Ethan Stacy. I've always had a hard time with some of the stories I read on KSL, and at one point I swore off the site because of it.... but I haven't had a story hit me so hard as a mother and step father torturing and abusing a little four year old boy, letting him die and not treating his injuries, and then disfiguring his body and burying him up in the woods on Mother's Day.

When I first heard about it, I immediately knew the story the so-called "parents" told the cops was a cover up for something. I honestly cannot imagine a four year old just leaving home repeatedly, it just really didn't make any sense. And if he had done it once, wouldn't the parents (or at least good parents) have taken precautions to preventing it from happening again, much less 5 times? Um, yeah. I would think so.

We later found out that my instincts, and probably the instincts of most people hearing the story, were correct. His step dad beat him, who knows how much mom was ACTUALLY involved, they let him suffer, vomit and drugged him to shut him up. They went and got married while they locked him in his room with, likely a concussion/brain damage at the time.

Not only did they completely dismiss the well-being and safety of this child, but once they had finally killed him off, they selfishly did anything and everything they could to hide their sins. Can you imagine, as a parent, or as a human being, stuffing a child's dead body in a bin and then disfiguring it badly enough to try and make identification impossible? My heart aches for him and for the family he had that DID love him.

The worst part of it, for me, is that I have a four year old son. Aden was born less than two weeks after Ethan. I cannot imagine allowing him to suffer for one minute longer than he needed to, even if I was at risk of death myself. I would gladly die for him; gladly. I put my family before myself, and I honestly don't know one mother who doesn't. Obviously they exist. She cared so little about that child that she would go MARRY the man who beat the hell out of him while savagely locking him in a room? Are you kidding me?

Anyway, I know he is in a better place and I know that he is at peace right now. I just hope he knows how much the world really does care about him and his story.

Rest in peace and God bless his family that loved him. Not the ones that didn't.

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T09:35:00.002-06:00

I wanted to wish all the mom's out there a great mother's day! Here are some pictures of three very important mother's in my life-- I'm so thankful to them and all they do for my family and me. Love you!!

My mutti :)
My step-mutti!

My mutti-in-law!

Events of Late....

2010-05-05T20:12:00.003-06:00

Owen had a couple more visits with the doc this past week for his bronchiolitis and his ear infections. He had to have rocefin shots again, unfortunately. If he has another infection, he will be going to an ENT specialist. It did clear up as of Monday, but we are on alert to watch for any signs. His bronchiolitis has improved. They put him on prednisone (a steroid) to help, and it is slightly better, but he's still fighting it.

He's such a sweetheart. I sure hope we don't have to get him tubes. I am scared to death for my little boy to be put under anesthesia. Scary.

We had Jared's grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary last week, which was where our family picture was taken. We ate at the Prairie Schooner, and I was NOT impressed. Last time I went it was soooooo good, but pretty bad this time. It was a great night, though. I hope that we are healthy enough to make it to our 60th anniversary! :)

I am no longer a regular teacher at the DATC, which feels kinda weird. I had to quit to go to school this summer. Then, on Sunday, I got smacked in the face and realized that I couldn't go to school this summer. I'll go more into that in another post, but I did drop out of classes for the summer and fall, and it is no longer in my close future. I will one day, at least I plan to, go back to school to get my master's degree; right now it's not important. I'll really try to post tomorrow about my experience on Sunday. But yeah.. I am just so excited to get the chance to spend my summer with my boys rather than stuck in a classroom missing them.

Well, I'm off to get some things done. BYEBYE!

10 months, 7 days.....

2010-04-28T09:52:00.003-06:00

Well, it took me longer than I had hoped..... but still in decent time. It took me 10 months and 7 days to meet my weight goal!!! My weight loss ticker is complete!! :) I was pretty excited on the scale today. Anyway, that doesn't mean I'm really happy with my body yet, but that will come. Still gotta tone up and tighten all that yuckiness from the prego body! hehe But anyway, exciting nonetheless!

No longer....

2010-04-26T17:25:00.001-06:00

The dress is no longer "my dress." It now belongs to Dillards once again. It was a cute dress, but honestly just didn't flatter me. Plus... I'd rather have a new cute pair of BKE jeans.. kekekek

Another HUGE milestone...

2010-04-19T17:57:00.002-06:00

So yesterday, Owen thought he was even bigger stuff and decided he was big enough to climb up the stairs at Jared's parents. He got himself the whole way up (about 7 stairs or so, and of course with Grandma sitting behind him) all by himself! Grandma didn't help until the last stair when he didn't seem to know what to do at the top! haha He was so proud. He wants to be up and playing with his big brother, it's obvious how bad he does! I love that little boy. BIG BOY!

I can't believe how big he is already. He will be 10 months on Wednesday. Crazy.

He still seems to have his ear infections, as he is waking up at night still. He gets really cranky too. He FOR SURE has bad bronchiolitis, even with the albuterol treatments. I sure hope he doesn't get athsma, but it's a possibility.

On another note, I picked up my textbooks for the summer semester. They only cost me a mere $310 for four books (two of them were even used!). It's for only two classes, as well. It was weird going to get books again. It's going to be a weird experience being back in class that first day, but I am sure I will feel right at home (considering how much I truly do love school and learning). It's just too bad that the classes I have to take for the next little while are chemistry. I sure hope I can learn to love it. I am pretty dang excited about Economics this summer as well as Physiology in Spring 2011. Wish me luck!

I do have some more stories, hopefully I find some time tonight to get it on here!

OK BYEBYE

New Milestone!!

2010-04-17T22:05:00.002-06:00

So, Owen just thinks he is big stuff. Today we were sitting on the floor in the hallway and he suddenly just stood up by himself and stood there for about 5 seconds. Then a minute later I helped him stand up again and let go and he stood for a good 7 or 8 seconds!! Wow. He's a big boy! It's just not that time yet! It's gone by way too fast, but I love watching him grow and progress. Unfortunately, he has double ear infections and bronchiolitis once again. :( He is not a very happy camper and I'm pretty much exhausted. Exciting news, though! YAY!

Vote for OWEN!!!

2010-04-13T10:16:00.002-06:00

I entered baby Owen into the 97.1 zht Baby Idol contest and the voting is now open! You can vote one time per email that you have, so if you have five, vote five times!! :)
He is number 514!

Here is the link:

http://www.971zht.com/pages/babyidol10/

THANKS GUYS!!! Get voting!!

5 Year Anniversary Cont'd

2010-04-12T17:41:00.004-06:00

Outside Cisero's on Main Street.

The yummy breakfast buffet at the hotel on Sunday morning :) MMMM
Us getting ready to head out for the weekend!

The best parmigian chicken ever. EVER. My capellini pomodoro... soooooo good.

The best salad I have ever had in my life. The dressing was so good. Scrumptious.

Tasty cheesy garlic bread... I want some now.....

Oh boy he was so excited to eat this... hehe

I hope this made you hungry, it sure made me hungry. It's a shame I can't eat that anymore. I got so sick the next day from eating this stuff (it's fullll of gluten) and I think that it proves to me I do have some sort of intolerance. Dang it. More to come...

Our 5th Anniversary: Park City Overnighter!

2010-04-12T00:14:00.003-06:00

Writing on our table at Cisero's in Park City. I have to say that this was the best meal I have had in my entire life. I highly recommend this place!

Me with my clear, flavorless, wine.

Jared getting excited for his chicken parmigian!

Our robes! Gotta wear the robes and feel like Hef.

This would honestly be the worst punishment ever. I need one of these signs in my house.

The great little bathroom with the nice jetted tub! Felt very good on my sore feet after shopping all day!

Jared enjoying his two TV's!

Us in our nice little suite. They upgraded us out of the blue free of charge :) YAY!

Eating KFC... yes I know.. don't lecture me. It was dang good and I got the 360 calorie grilled meal, so give me a break!

Our huge, comfy bed. This definitely is a very good arguing point for buying a king size bed, or even a California king.... it would only take up our entire bedroom, but what else do you need in a room? haha

Ok well it's late, so I will go and I will write all about it tomorrow! Good times!

My New Dress.... I think

2010-04-09T00:51:00.002-06:00

I'm having second thoughts... but I loved this dress at the store and I still think it's very cute and fun, but I'm feeling a little anxious about wearing it and feeling weird! Let me know what you think..... In real life I don't look that fat, I promise! haha

Easter Weekend in St. George

2010-04-05T23:13:00.004-06:00

Easter brunch in Bloomington
Aden loved his Transformer... nothing else was of interest

Odie and his basket!

Owen and Aden's "baskets" (or storage bins...)

The family Aden wishes he had.... he was OBSESSED with Paul and Kristie. He wanted to ride with them, he followed Kristie around all day while we were shopping. It was pretty cute.

Loungin on the sofa bed

Owen's accident prone, just like his big brother! He bonked his head on his toy :(

Of course, Aden had to bring the playstation. He even got Grandma to play.

Playin' in the basement of the condo

Owen and funny Uncle Paul

Easter weekend was pretty fun! Owen didn't sleep well at all but it was nice . Friday we ate at Honolulu Grill, which was ok, but it was cool because there was people singing and playing the Eukelele and doing the hula! haha We went to the outlets as well which was fun. Saturday Jared was able to spend the day and hang out with his friend Chris who lives down there. I went shopping with the girls (both Grandma K's and Kristie). We went to Christiansen's, the health food store, and then to the mall. I really was tempted to buy the cute little Volcom and Hurley shirts at Christiansen's for Owen and Aden. Man they were cute. Ridiculously priced, though. When I went to Dillard's I found a way cute 50's style dress and Grandma K made me try it on! I tried on a bunch of dresses and finally decided I had to have one, so my mom bought it for me for my early birthday present. It's way cute, I'll have to show ya some pics. I found some sweet deals on church clothes for Aden as well as a swimsuit for me! YAY! We went and saw Clash of the Titans, which made me never want to see a show in 3D again. I liked the show itself, but the 3D was horrible. Hate it. After that, Jared and I went to Walmart late at night on Saturday and there were SO many people there and like nothing left on the shelves for Easter. We decided to buy things that we were planning to buy anyway. So we bought sippy cups and stuff like that for Owen and art stuff, Capri Sun's and fruit snacks for Aden. Aden was really excited and LOVED his Transformer that he got. On Easter, Grandma K treated us to brunch at the Bloomington Country Club, which was really tasty. I couldn't stop eating the frickin bacon!! MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. Loved it. Afterward, we just headed home and visited the rest of the grandparents when we reached the hometown. It was a pretty good weekend. Jared especially enjoyed the 3am run to Walmart for Orajel! :) heheheh

9 Month Old Cutie Pie Pics...

2010-04-05T22:15:00.002-06:00

Have you ever seen a cuter little baby?
Rub a dub dub, two naked shnakeds in the tub

How did he get this big?

Never sit still... never...

Until you zonk out in your bouncer, while bouncing.

Night night, sleep tight little Odie!

Owen's 9 Month Checkup

2010-03-23T20:12:00.002-06:00

Today was Owen's 9 month appointment! Wow how time flies! Anyway, here are his stats!

He is in the 25-50% for height and weight

He is 27 1/2 inches long

He weighs 19 pounds 5 ounces

The doc said that he is growing just fine, he is a little on the small side, but his head is in the 90th percentile which makes him happy! Yes, our kids both have HUGE heads! I love it.

He was VERY impressed with his development and motor skills. He was pretty amazed that Owen will pull himself up, can crawl already (still has some difficulty..), and stands and walks when you hold his hands.

He's a pretty dang cute kid.

His eardrum is healed up, but his infection is still there. He also thinks that he might have a lactose intolerance because of some of the rashes he gets along with his digestive distress that he has. I guess there are alot of things that can come from an intolerance to the formula, so we are starting him on soy just to see.

What a big boy we have. Happy 9 month birthday!!! :)

Ear Issues.... Round 3... or 4?

2010-03-22T18:32:00.003-06:00

Well, we went to instacare again on Friday night. All of the sudden Owen got pretty mad in the late afternoon while I was at the mall, and I looked in his ear and saw a ton of pus again. Yup, another burst ear drum and double ear infections. Apparently, it never went away. We have done the rocephin shots, omnicef, ear drops, and now they have him on septra. Hopefully this time it does the trick, because it's getting to the point that he will need to have tubes put in. He is such a little sweetheart because even when he is sick, he rarely shows it! It makes me feel bad that he has pain and doesn't tell me! haha He doesn't show signs until it's too late. Anyway, he is doing really well.

Not only that, but this week Owen started crawling!!!! It's not "perfect form" but he wiggles and crawls and bear walks all over the room. He can pull himself up to things and stand by himself leaning on something (while occassionally losing his balance and face planting!). All of the sudden he is such a big boy. I can't believe it. I am not prepared for it either! I forgot how to contain a little baby/toddler! He is able to get into almost anything and there are sharp points and things for him to get hurt on or choke on! We haven't even baby proofed anything yet! It snuck up on us so fast!! So that's our new adventure this next week, I'm sure.

This past week we also found out that Jared is quite vitamin D deficient, which may cause alot of his fatigue, so we got him on some good supplements for that. Hopefully his energy will step up a little.

I finally am going back to the endocrinologist tomorrow to figure out what is goin on with my thyroid and where I'm at. Hopefully they can get me started on meds to get me feeling better as well.

This past weekend was pretty nice, though. It was fun hangin with my little buddy boys. Jared got off early on Saturday and we were able to go to the temple with our ward for the first time. It was a little weird/awkward, but in the end it was a good experience to go. We were lucky enough to go out to eat afterward before picking up the boys from Mark and Lori's.

Well that's about it. BYEBYE!

Idaho Falls Continued....

2010-03-21T19:06:00.002-06:00

So anyway, the first night we had a really good dinner that my momma made. It was these chicken, spinach and asiago cheese sausages. Pretty tasty. Then Grandma Kammeyer (my mom) gave Owen some acai berry juice in his bottle..... not sure why... he's way too young for that kinda stuff... but anyway he had a bad reaction and got a rash all over his body. It was really, really sad. When it came time for bed he just screamed and screamed and wouldn't calm down and go to bed. The screams were horrible, like nothing I had heard from him before. It really freaked me out. I was about ready to take him to the ER or something when my sister and Doug suggested a blessing. They called people in their ward (it was midnight by the way...) and couldn't find anyone that was available that also had any oil! Finally they did find someone after waking up their whole ward and he came over and gave him a blessing. He finally did calm down and Karie snuggled with him for the most the night because he would scream when I would hold him :( I took over about 5am and held him all morning and he never really "slept" but just sort of laid there and whimpered. It was sad. I was pretty exhausted, but very thankful to have people around to help.

The next day we went to Sam's club and had some breakfast and hung out. We ended up trying to go to the Blind Side at the dollar theater, which was a BAD idea. I had planned on my mom being there to help me with Owen but she got tied up helping my brother and his wife at their house. I was pretty upset because I was really excited to see the movie and I was lovin it but he was whiney and tired and I had to go out in the hall. Finally mom came and picked him up and I was able to finish the show.

That night we had some yummy dinner again and then went and played tennis with my sister, Doug and her friend. It was pretty fun. I haven't played tennis in years so it was pretty rough. I also finally realized how BAD my eyes are. I could barely see the ball and I have almost no depth perception. It was REALLY BAD. So I am going to be getting my eyes checked asap. I ended up kind of getting into the groove, but I never really saw very well haha.

Anyway, the weekend was fun. We had a nice lunch on Sunday and Blair and Michelle came over to eat as well. It was really nice. The drive back home was pretty fast and I was really excited to be home to see Jared and hopefully get a good night's sleep!

It is really nice seeing my brother and sister and their family, but I do not like to get out of my routine and comfort zone. It's kinda hard living out of bags and trying to keep everything organized and together. But it was fun and I was grateful I got to go.

OK BYE

Idaho Falls

2010-03-17T23:46:00.003-06:00

Owen at TGIFridays (this was way before Idaho Falls, but yeah, cute so I put it on here!)
Little weirdos
The "Slobber Monster"

Little studs

Rollin' down the hill in Idaho Falls

This past weekend I went up to Idaho with my mom, Aden and Owen. Jared had to work unfortunately. We went up to visit my sister and brother and their families. Aden was so excited to see Drew and Dallin and I was pretty excited to see Karie and Blair... it feels like I haven't seen them in forever. We left Friday and drove up in what seemed like only two hours. It was pretty fast. Owen slept the whole way which was pretty sweet. My mom and I listened to this talk on tape that was pretty good, too. When we first got there we went to the park with the boys and we were going to fly Aden's kite that he has wanted to fly for a couple months and go on a walk, but it ended up being WAY too cold outside so we didn't stay long. The boys rolled down the hill for a bit and played on the play ground and then we ended up just headin back home. Ok, so it's pretty late so I will finish this tomorrow........

OK BYE

Recent Good Times....

2010-03-17T00:32:00.002-06:00

Owen and cousin Drew
Dallin and Aden

Paper bag puppets Aden and I made

Bouncy bouncy!

Our little weirdo :)

More to come......

The Latest...

2010-03-04T16:30:00.002-07:00

Well Owen didn't get better with his antibiotics, so since he has reactions with the pennicillin family of meds they decided it would be best to do the shots. It is a painful shot. It's sad to watch. He had to go in three days in a row to get them done, but it seems like the ear infection is gone. Then Wednesday we picked him up from daycare and he had a horrible, hoarse, cough and breathing. We took him to the doc that night and they were reluctant to call it RSV (mainly because they felt like it wasn't useful to test for it) but they said that even if it wasn't RSV they would treat it the same. So he is back on the nebulizer treatments three times a day and we just have to watch his breathing and get his boogs out. Fun stuff. He is a pretty happy baby even through all of this! Poor thing.

We believe Aden had a febrile seizure this past weekend, although we didn't see the whole thing probably just the tail end of it. All is well, though. He had a fever and went to sleep, then I heard a loud noise and wenst upstairs and he was shaking, had wet the entire bed and drooled (drenched!) all over the pillow. He was shaking uncontrollably and was incoherent for about a minute. Then he stopped. He was fine. I changed his clothes and put him to sleep. We got out the medicine we have (for seizure incidences) and prepared for another one later, but it didn't come. Thank heaven. But he was fine after that. It was pretty weird.

So that's kind of been the week we've had. It's so sad. I hate this time of year. I hate having poor sick little kids. Now I"m getting a cold too. BOOO.

Fun stuff!

Pre-Owen Pregnancy Weight/Size!

2010-02-25T16:35:00.003-07:00

Well today is officially the day that I hit the official size/weight goal for pre-pregnancy stats. At my first appointment on 11/8/2008, I weighed 138, but I had gained 6 pounds already! So technically I started at 132 with the pregnancy. Today I weighed in at 131, so I finally decided to try on my "regular" size pants to see if they fit and I could wear them to work. And.... dun dun dun..... they fit! Nicely, too! Not even tight. (At least this one pair...) It really made my year! :) hehe...

Anyway, I still have 6 more to lose to get to my "real" goal of 125. I'm just so excited that it's finally starting to come off again, what with all the thyroid/energy issues.

Hopefully I will get there before Owen's 9 month birthday, to meet my goal.
Wish me luck!

What's in a Nickname?

2010-02-21T11:38:00.003-07:00

Nicknames are sort of funny, because you really can't plan them. They just sort of develop on their own and take on a life of their own! When we were naming Owen, we thought of all of the nicknames that would possibly come out of his name (to see what rude comments people could say when he was in school haha). His initials are O.J.O., so I thought of what could come of those. I thought of "OJ" or "Ojo" and then out of that came "Juice", "Juicy Juice", "Juicer." The other issues we thought about was how people mispronounce our last name "Oh-lin" (hard O, and "in") as "Ohl-en" (like the "oll" in "roll" and and en rather than in) If that makes sense..... so the last name Ohlin starts to sound ALOT like Owen. So when people mispronounce our last name it sounds like they are saying the same name twice, but I assure you that is NOT his name. I really did consider this because I know he will have to deal with that forever, but I just knew his name was Owen. There were NO other options. That was his name and there was no fighting it. Not only do we just love the name, but it is his. So I'm sure that will cause issues later, but oh well. Anyway back to nicknames....

So I tried to force nicknames when he was first born and they just never really seemed to click. None of them really stayed, and they all seemed forced. I still call him those names occassionally, but who would have known that his nickname would end up being "Oders" or "Odie." The nickname just somehow came naturally because Aden's nick name is "Aders" and "Adie." Not only does the nickname work so well for him, it also describes him! He is odorous! jk... not really. This kid never stinks with how many baths he gets, but it is pretty cute and funny.

I'm sure over the years, new nicknames might develop for the boys, but as for now, I love my little Oder and Adie Babies :)

Happy 8 Month Birthday, Oders!

2010-02-21T11:28:00.002-07:00

I can't believe my little stinker is 8 months old. Where has the time gone? It's kind of amazing. He is so big. Right at the moment, he and Aden are playing with the Batcave and Owen is the "slobber monster." They are just sitting there playing together. It's really sweet. I can't believe how they can already interact and actually somewhat have fun together. We've had to put away all of Aden's tiny toys that Owen could swallow, which was kind of hard, but Aden understood. We only let him get them out when we are around and when Owen is asleep.

Here are some fun facts about our little Owen:
1. He loves sweet potatoes, carrots and peas
2. He HATES rice cereal. I can't get him to eat it ANY way I prepare it, but his formula has rice in it, so he gets enough I suppose haha
3. Owen and my favorite thing to do is hold him and let him look out the front door window. He just smiles and looks out, just amazed. It can make him happy almost any time. I wish I knew how to get a good picture of his face as he looks out. It's the prettiest thing I think I have ever seen.
4. He jibber jabbers all the time with things like "da, ah, ga, guh, ma" You know, the usual jibber jabber.
5. He loves to bounce in the jumperoo. He waits for you to look at him and then gets this big grin and starts bouncing. If you look away he will stop and wait! It's so cute.
6. He gets constipated all the time. It's really sad, and I've cried a few times because of it. :(
7. He's becoming a major chunk. I love it!
8. Aden loves him and Owen just stares and laughs at Aden constantly.
9. He LOVES the tub tub and gets one almost every night, mainly because of how cute it is when he is in there. Even just being naked makes him happy. He must take after his brother!
10. Although, we would get alot more sleep, I have no idea what we would do without him! We love him so much and couldn't ask for a better little buddy.

WE LOVE YOU OWEN!!

I don't love the ten pounds I still have left to lose, though, before your nine month mark..... hmmmmmm. I better get on that, only one month to go!! :)

Thyroid Issues

2010-02-20T12:13:00.002-07:00

So I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis in January and they told me that my thyroid was overworked as much as it possibly could be and would soon start slowing down and burning out. She told me that I would probably start getting really tired and lots of zits and just feeling like crap. Well, she is basically a fortune teller, because that's what has been going on. I have TONS of zits, which is really pretty horrible because I haven't had them for years and now I look like a 14 year old again. Now, not only do I feel like crap, I look like crap and that sucks. Zits suck. I have also become increasingly tired.

For awhile there I really felt pretty good, energy wise. Little did I know it was my thyroid working overtime just making me FEEL like I had energy. My metabolism was crazy! I'm sure it helped with my weight loss there for awhile, too.

So now, I have no energy, I have zits and I am struggling with losing any weight. I took a blood test a week ago and it looks like my thryoid has slowed down to within normal limits, but she thinks it's going to end up going hypo, and then I would need to be on medication, likely for the rest of my life. So I have to go back in 3 weeks to have it tested again and see where I am at that point and hopefully start on medicine to get me feeling somewhat normal again. I need energy to survive, especially when I start classes in summer. I was prescribed some medicine to help with energy in the mean time, but it's really expensive and it feels like it just keeps my mind going and my body still is exhausted. It's better than nothing, but I just wish my appointment was tomorrow so I could get on the thyroid meds and start feeling good again.

It's also really frustrating that I am working out as hard as I can and am not getting anywhere with the weight loss. I started gaining weight as my thyroid slowed down, and now I have finally worked my way back down to where I was. I just can't seem to get any further. I am not giving up, but it ticks me off that my body is working against me. Thyroid issues suck. I feel for all of those people out there that have been dealing with this forever.

Well, hopefully I get it all figured out so I can feel better and reach my goals. Until then, I guess it's just survival mode.

My Poor Widdo Owen Baby.....

2010-02-19T11:17:00.003-07:00

Well, like I told you earlier, Owen has had issues with sleeping lately. He hasn't been acting really upset or moody, he just wakes up more often, which equals less sleep and more body aches for us! Anyway, we didn't know what was going on. We thought it might be that we had started to wean him off of his zantac and reglan because he really seems to be doing well with the reflux. Well, the meds hadn't helped. So Jared picked the boys up from daycare on Wednesday and noticed that Owen had pus in his left ear! He was acting just fine and he had done well all day they said, so he just decided to take him to instacare because pus in the ear isn't really that great! They weighed him and he weighed 19.2 pounds... what a little chunk! They looked in his ear and found that he has double ear infections and a burst eardrum!!! My poor little guy. The doc was just amazed that he wasn't whiney or acting like anything was wrong. He hasn't had fevers or really anything except a cold. Even when he stuck the light in his ear to look around he didn't even budge or seem to have a complaint with it! So all the while I am at work at the DATC just hunky dory thinking all is well! So they got him on antibiotics and ear drops and he has to go back in ten days to make sure that the eardrum heals up. If not, it's possible to have to have surgery, but it's rare I guess. So Jared calls me on my way home and tells me all of this and I just freaked out and felt so bad! How could he have not given us ANY sign of this??? All he would do is wake up more in the night and want to PLAY!!! I don't get it. I just wish we could have known and taken care of it before the eardrum issues. :( He's doing really well, though. He's just a little sleepy and slightly whiney, but other than that it's ok.

Oh, and then today we decided to try one of those little puffs because he seemed really ready to do it. BAD IDEA!! He got one down and the second one he started gagging uncontrollably and I just freaked out!! I stuck my finger down his throat and grabbed it and pulled it out. He was scared to death, but I'm pretty dang sure I was more scared than him. I don't know what I would do if something like that happened to my kids :( So, suffice it to say he is not getting those again for about a year!

Well, time to go enjoy some laundry and Penguins of Madagascar with Aden.

Some exciting motivation... at least in my book...

2010-02-15T21:04:00.004-07:00

So anyway, the school thing has been kind of a big stress for me lately as I have been preparing and figuring out how the whole thing is going to work. It was looking as if I would have to take full time classes this summer, then 9 credits in fall and then one class next spring, and honestly I was beginning to doubt how it could possibly be done. Thankfully, Friday I got some exciting news! I had this girl at the U review my transcripts to see what she said I would need to take to apply and she had told me I needed to take psychology, which I really thought I took at one point. I reviewed my transcript and it really wasn't on there, so I was kinda weirded out by it. All of the sudden it clicked in my head that I had taken it in high school via EdNet through Utah State!! All I have to do is get the transcript from Utah State and then I don't have to take it! That cuts out 3 credits this summer and that is seriously a big relief. On my WSU transcript the class only showed as "transfer credits" so that's why she said I had to take it. I know it's really not that big of a deal to the rest of the world, but it takes a lot of stress off of my back.
I was also told I needed to take Math 1050 because I never actually had to take classes from WSU in math because I tested out of it from my AP scores. Graduate school won't accept AP scores, so she said I needed to take it. In order to take Math 1050 I either had to take two math pre-reqs at Weber in order to get into the class or take the Accuplacer. So I decided to study up and refresh to take the Accuplacer. I was really just hoping to not have to take the pre-reqs, and I was pretty scared I would have to because I haven't taken math since 11th grade! The test (which usually takes an hour or less) lasted me a good 4 hours, but I thought each question out and took the best educated guess I could (after working the problem about twenty different ways!). I ended up completely testing out of math at Weber!!! The testing lady said she personally had never seen it before, which was very nice to hear because I am feeling like my brain has gone to mush. Anyway, I am in the process of trying to figure out a way for the U to accept it, or for the course to show up on my transcript as just a Credit class (not a graded class, etc). So hopefully that will work out and that will be another 4 credits I won't have to take. I am so glad I decided to make this leap of faith and just go for my dreams. I've never really taken this big of a risk, and I am so thankful I have good friends and family who support me and are willing to help me through it, even if I end up failing in the end. If this works out I will only need to take 9 credits this summer, 6 credits this fall and 3 in spring, which would really be helpful because I still need to continue working 30 hours minimum at AFCU, being a mom and I would like to try to stay at the DATC to bring in a tiny bit extra income to help offset the cost of school and pay down the visa/school loans before I need to. In order to go to the grad school program, I will have to take out a TON in school loans, so we are doing what we can to pay off any and all debt (as much as possible, which isn't that much) before we have to take on more.
I honestly can't believe how things are somewhat just falling into place. We prayed and prayed about what we needed to do to better our situation for our family, and we both just truly believe that this is what we are supposed to do. We're going forward with faith, optimism and hard work and giving it our all. If we fail, we fail together and at least we know we tried our best. I've never really wanted something so much. I can't really explain why I want it so bad, but it just feels right and it just feels like it is what I've been looking for all along.
I hope my gut is right.
Anyway, on a different note, Jared has been working weekend nights. Crappy. He's been on Sat, Sun, Mon nights, which is good since we get to spend Fridays all together as a family, but it's really difficult on me for Sunday and Monday days. Have I ever told you how tough it is to take a four year old and a 7 month old to church by yourself at nap time for the 7 month old? It's rough. Doing it with back pain and fibromyalgia is even harder. Have I ever told you how difficult it is to lead the music in relief society while trying to make sure your 7 month old is happy and doesn't cry or fall over on things? (especially when you really don't know anyone and hate asking someone to hold him...?) Well, it's pretty tough. I know it's not the hardest situation in the world, but it's tough for me, especially because I just don't know people very well at church and it's kind of new to all of us even going to church. We didn't go to church for 3 years straight, and it really is hard getting back into it and actually believing that you can handle going EVERY week. It's not easy. I hate going without Jared. I hate feeling like a single mom, but I really need to make sure I get Aden used to it now before he actually has a choice whether to go or not. Owen, hopefully, will never know the difference between going and not going. He will only know that we go to church on Sunday. I honestly HATE being the chorister, mainly because I feel like they just gave me a calling to make sure we came. It's true, it does make it more difficult NOT to go, but I hate that they think they had to give me a calling to keep me involved. Maybe that's not the case, but it sort of feels that way. I feel like an idiot standing up there and I don't dare do any songs that aren't 3/4 or 4/4 hahaha.... One day it will be like second nature, but I just keep hoping that it won't last longer than a year...... (I know that's not really how it goes).
So, on these weekend nights that Jared works, I am a single mom. It's not an easy gig. I dread it all week, actually. Not that I am with my kids, but that I don't sleep. For some reason, the kids just DO NOT sleep well anytime Jared is gone. It's like they just KNOW that I am the only one there to take care of them, so they wake up on purpose haha! Anyway, Owen has been waking up a minimum of 3 times a night, and sometimes just wants to play and sometimes cries. I have no clue what is making him wake up. It could be teething, tummy issues or he is kind of congested too, but not sure what's going on. Aden has been waking up coughing, which is crappy too. I feel so bad for them, but it's like, right after I get Aden to sleep, Owen wakes up, then Aden, then Owen. It's really hard and exhausting. To top things off, my thyroid has finally burned itself out and I'm just tired anyway. Hopefully I can get on thyroid meds to correct that and hopefully soon the kids will feel better and sleep. Jared switches to weekend days next month, so that will be helpful too.
Anyway, things continue to be pretty tough and life is definitely not the easiest, but as long as ONCE in awhile TINY little good things keep happening, I know we will stay motivated to go forward.

OK that's my novel for the night.

Impromptu 7 Month Photo Shoot!

2010-02-06T17:05:00.003-07:00

He can be such a happy baby sometimes!! I love it!
We have a picture of Aden that's really similar to this one, kinda cool to look at.

Such a little sweetie.

I love the "manly" couch shots!

This one is by far my favorite. It's seriously a perfect picture of him!
There are more, I will load them later when I have the patience! :)

Our Day Out: Daddy's 1/2 Day Off

2010-01-30T20:59:00.004-07:00

So on Friday Jared wasn't feelin like working so he took a chance and asked his boss to let him take the afternoon off. YAY!! He actually got to spend an afternoon with us while I was home as well. Doesn't happen very often. Anyway, since Aden saw that we had gone bowling last week, he wanted to go too. We went to Sparetime in Roy. Aden used a six pound ball and wore his regular shoes. Owen just kinda chilled in his stroller. Aden was so happy and excited to learn how to bowl. He had alot of fun, except toward the end he got frustrated because he said that when he threw the ball it was "too slow." Just like Aden. It always has to be FAST!! :)

We went to the aerospace museum after going bowling. We thought Aden would be all excited, but we were wrong. I think WE enjoyed seeing the planes more than he did! haha

Aden actually did pretty good with his bumpers!!

Mom had to make the boys pose hehehe

Aden's first very first throw down the lane...

My cute little bowlin buddy!

Aden checkin out his options for a ball

It was a pretty awesome afternoon. I love being able to spend quality time with my boys, as it is definitely rare that we are all home at the same time :)

Jared's Birthday Dinner at Red Robin

2010-01-30T20:36:00.004-07:00

Owen's first time in a highchair at a restaurant! I can't believe how big he is... :(

Aden and his crazy faces.... he can't take a picture lately without making a weird face!

Daddy's first birthday with Owen

Big boy Oders!

The old man and me! :)

It was a pretty fun night, except Owen wasn't very happy for much of it. I really, really wanted to eat the oreo part of the birthday icecream cake.... man did I want it. Dang gluten free diet. I think Jared had a pretty good birthday and he is spending his birthday money on some parts for his Blazer so maybe we can get it up and running again. Let's pray! I do love a free meal!

The Plans are Established

2010-01-30T13:57:00.002-07:00

So, it's all figured out and the plans are in place. I am currently working on preparing to take some math tests to test out of courses at Weber as well as beginning to study for the GRE. I am going to start an online psychology class in a few weeks as well. This summer I will be taking hopefully two chemistry courses, economics as well as maybe a math class depending on how well I do on the accuplacer. I will continue working 30 hours and hopefully working still at the DATC (we need the income). I don't qualify for grants anymore because I am a considered a second bachelors right now, but luckily I do qualify for a subsidized loan. So here begins the loans, with the promise of much more to come. At least the loan serves a good purpose. Anyway, in the fall I will be taking another chemistry course, and physiology. In the spring I will finish off with biochemistry. This fall I will take the GRE and continue taking it until I get the score I need. Then in January I will be applying to a master's in dietetics program, or two. We'll see. Then hopefully the next fall I will be going to a master's program full time and not working. It's going to be an extremely tough road, but as I recently found out, the only failure in life is the failure to try. If I want it, and need it, I have to work to get it. I can't sit back and hope something happens the way I want it to. I looked over my blog and journal from the past couple of years and just realized that we have had bad luck, but at the same time I haven't done much to try and better the situation. So here it begins.

Wish me luck, pray for me. I'm definitely praying for myself, but mostly for my family that they will be able to endure me, my stress, and less time with me for awhile. I'm going to miss the extra time I do have right now, but in the end life will become less stressful because I will have attained what I wanted as well as be in a much better financial state (let's hope).

So here I come Weber State... once again, and hopefully for the last time!

Owen's Six Month Check up (at seven months!)

2010-01-27T14:16:00.002-07:00

So we finally got Owen to the doc for his check up. Here are his stats:

17.6 pounds
26 1/2 inches long
Above average developmentally on all counts!

Pretty cool. I knew he was perfect :)

We love him.

Happy 27th Birthday, Jerber!

2010-01-23T09:37:00.003-07:00

Wow, he's old. jk... I just wanted to wish my sweet husband a very happy birthday. It's weird how fast time has flown by. We decided not to do birthday gifts this year so we could spend some extra on an anniversary getaway in April. Luckily, the parents are taking him (and his brother Jason) out for dinner tonight at Red Robin, which should be nice. Aden made him a cute card, too. Hopefully, he will have a great day. The best part about it is, he is now four years older than me... heheeh until I turn 24. :) Good times.

Happy Birthday!!

Jared and Lindsey's Day of Fun! (pics)

2010-01-23T09:22:00.002-07:00

I won game number two... I think he let me win.
He smoked me game number one. ...

Me trying to bowl.... kinda sad really! I was good back in the day!

Just like the good old days!

I can't believe how good he is at bowling without even trying.

Us and our big boy before the day of fun....

Is this 7 month old (wow..) cute or what?? hehe

It was a fun day, for sure. I can't wait to do it again, only this time maybe take Aden to go bowling. He would have a blast!

Jared and Lindsey's Day of Fun!

2010-01-18T19:23:00.002-07:00

So today Jared and I were both off and the kids had daycare. We would have had to pay for them to go even if they didn't go, so we decided to take a full day for ourselves. In fact, it was the first day with just the two of us in over a year. I haven't had a day home alone without kids in over 14 months(except for one day where I prepared for an interview all day). Anyway, don't judge. It was necessary. So we decided to just have fun. We weren't at home all day long. First we went to Rod Works where I used the gift certificate I got for Christmas and bought a really cool rod to hang over the headboard. Then we went to the Megaplex and saw "Sherlock Holmes" which was pretty awesome, especially since I love Robert Downey Jr. Then we went to Fat Cats and bowled! Jared smoked me the first game and then I barely beat him the second time. It was such a nice day. Then we just went home and relaxed for a bit before picking up the kids. I will post some fun pics asap.

Unfortunately, Aden threw up at school right before we picked him up. When he got home he threw up again, huge projectile style in the basement all over his little table, the carpet, couch, remotes. Yeah, it was bad. Now we are just hangin out sort of waiting for it to happen again. Luckily, this is really the first time that he has had a bout of throwing up like this since he was less than 18 months old. I'm so thankful for that, because this is horrible to not be able to help him and watch him cry. Now we just hope the rest of us don't get it.

Wish us luck.

The decision is made

2010-01-13T15:57:00.002-07:00

So, after alot of thinking and praying, we have decided that I will be going back to school this summer. The eventual goal down the road is to get into a master's in dietetics program. In order to do this, I need to complete some back-classes (mostly science) and then apply. So I will continue to work at my job and take online classes (mostly) until the pre-req's are completed. It could take a little bit since I will only take about 2 classes each semester, but at least I will be moving forward. When the time comes to hopefully get into the program, we may need to move, sell the house and move in with family, rent it out, or hopefully find some way to stay where we are. Anyway, that is the plan.

Wish me luck, and patience.

Plans for the Future

2010-01-05T12:50:00.003-07:00

I am not really going to talk about my idea for our plans, but all I can say is that if I decide to do them, they are HUGE. Our lives will change.... probably for the worse for awhile, but maybe eventually for the better. (That's the hope anyway!).

Why am I SO afraid of change? Why do I do almost anything I can to stop it from coming, or prevent it? Change is scary. I hate it because I love to be prepared and have every detail calculated down to the hundredth percent. I need to learn that you can't always do that.

I need to learn that change can be good.

I think I'm ready for a change.

Teefies!!

2010-01-04T21:50:00.000-07:00

Owen popped two teeth today! What a big boy!

New Year's Resolutions Part 5

2009-12-31T20:49:00.003-07:00

NYR #9:
Figure out what we are doing with Jared for work and me for school.

NYR #10:
Spend more time together, just Jared and I. Having a four year old and a new baby has really cut out on any sort of time together. We will try and go on a date or two each month.

Who's ready for the new year's count down???

Aden, Jared and I are all hoping to be awake at that time.... we'll see.

Happy New Year! and Happy New Decade!

New Year's Resolutions Part Four

2009-12-30T18:12:00.004-07:00

NYR #7
We will overhaul the storage room, organize it and make everything as accessible as possible with the small amount of space we have.

NYR #8
We will continually focus on charitable acts, or acts of kindness.