California Traffic Tickets: WHAT A JOKE!

So we went to California for Jade's birthday right? (Check out Nov posts if you need help remembering) Anyhow, the night we were coming back from Sea World, we were turning at an intersection, the light was yellow and we went through. It turned red-camera light flashes. Scott and I were both saying "Was that a camera? Are you serious?" Well, we worried a little about it, but not much. I have thought about it a few times since then and since it's been 3 MONTHS I thought nothing would come of it. Wrong. So, so wrong. Scott got the ticket stuff in the mail today. Pictures and all. It states on there he went into the intersection .15 seconds after it turned red. Not 1 second but .15!!!! Fine, maybe he shouldn't have turned but we were out of town, it was dark and we were tying to find our way around! Back to the story. There is a number to call on the ticket. Scott calls to see what we can do about this. 1-To contest you must appear in court (uh, we live in Utah) or 2- Send a letter. The catch to the letter? You have to send your fine in with it!!! Yeah, like some judge is going to change his mind AFTER they already have our money. NOW HERE IS THE RIDICULOUS PART!!!!! We looked up the fine on line. It say $100. Scott asks how much it is with the guy he had called-just to verify. Oh-that $100 listed is for California. They tax people different for other states and for Utah it will be............$429!!!!!!!! Yep, you read that right. A freakin $429!!!!! Are you kidding me? For going through the intersection .15 seconds after it turned red?!?! Oh, and don't think about paying for it on your credit card-they don't accept those. Yeah, we are sick about the whole thing. Sure, we will write the letter, but I don't think it's going to help. We were both so mad, but realize it is one of those things we can't do anything about at this point. I just have to leave it alone now. But.....let this be a warning to any of us planning on going to California any time soon....Avoid turning on a yellow light. They turn red quicker than you think!

An Amazing Prophet

I was talking to my mom tonight and she asked if I had heard that Pres Hinkley had died. My first reaction was how sad I was, yet almost immediately I knew what a joyous occasion it really was. There is no better person more prepared to pass on. Not only to meet our Savior, but also to be reunited with his wife and others he has greatly missed. Scott and I were talking about how we will always feel like he was"Our prophet" The prophet in a time in our lives where we were really reaching and searching out our testimonies and coming to know for ourselves that the church is true. He is an incredible individual who has been such a wonderful example to so many. I know he worked harder at the age or 97 than I have ever worked in my life. The church has grown so much under his leadership as he has reached out to so many people throughout the world. Jadyn was watching a news story on him tonight and they were showing Pres Hinkley in an interview and she said "He loves little kids and I love him!" I am grateful for him and just can't express how much his influence and words have impacted my and my family's life. His example will be with me throughout my entire life. We have prayed for him every night and tonight we will pray for the gratitude we have for being allowed to have him as our Prophet!

He wrote and article in the Dec Ensign titled "These, Our Little Ones" I read this article and it touched me more than most. It was a message that reminded me not only of the true blessing my children are, but also the responsibility I have as their mother!

"Do you want a spirit of love to grow in the world? Then begin within the walls of your own home. Behold your little ones, and see within them the wonders of God, whose presence they have recently come....."

" How much more beautiful the would be the world and the society in which we live if every father looked upon his children as the most precious assets, if he led them by the power of his example in kindness and love, and if in times of stress he blessed them by the authority of the holy priesthood; and if every mother regarded her children as the jewels of her life, as gifts from the God of heaven, who is their Eternal Father, and brought them up with true affection in the wisdom and admonition of the Lord"

I also love the following quote from a talk he gave during his first General Conference as President of the Church

"Now, my brethren and sisters, the time has come for us to stand a little taller, to lift our eyes and stretch our minds to a greater comprehension and understanding of the grand millennial mission of this The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is a season to be strong. It is a time to move forward without hesitation, knowing well the meaning, the breadth, and the importance of our mission. It is a time to do what is right regardless of the consequences that might follow. It is a time to be found keeping the commandments. It is a season to reach out with kindness and love to those in distress and to those who are wandering in darkness and pain. It is a time to be considerate and good, decent and courteous toward one another in all of our relationships. In other words, to become more Christlike"

Gordon B. Hinckley - Gen. Conf. 1995 Apr.

How to be a dad to girls?

When I was pregnant with Jade, Scott always would say that he didn't know how to be a dad to a girl. He has even said it numerous times the past 3 years. I think he has figured it out pretty well. I posted the picture of him last week playing barbies. Well, he has also given in to Jadyn's latest favorite thing to do: Hair. She does his hair while he is watching t.v. and she gets so excited that he obliges.

We were at a Wedding last weekend and she heard some music she recognized and she got really excited and said to Brandee "I need to go once upon a dream with my Daddy!" She was referring to the song Once Upon a Dream. (Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella. Don't remember) Scott will pick her up and dance with her around the house while he sings that song. She loves it and she loves her Daddy. I don't know about you, but I think he is a great dad to his baby girl. She makes him very happy and he loves coming home to see her everyday!

I heard a song the other day called "Cinderalla" I loved it and it reminded me of Scott and Jade. I played it for Scott and said "Isn't that such a cute song?" He replied with "No, that's sad!"

Cinderella

She spins and she sways to whatever song plays

without a care in the world.

And I'm sitting here wearing the weight of the world

on my shoulders.

It's been a long day and there's still work to do

She's pulling at me saying "Dad I need you

There's a ball at the castle and I've been invited

and I need to practice my dancin'

Oh please, Daddy please!"

So I will dance with Cinderella

while she is here in my arms

Cause I know something the prince never knew

Oh I will dance with Cinderlla,

I don't want to miss even one song

Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight

and she'll be gone.

"I love you Miss Hannigan"

What? Yes, I just said good night to Jadyn and was leaving her with her dad to read books and as I was walking out the door she said "Mommy?" I said "What?" and she said "I love you Miss Hannigan......mommy" This was shortly after I had put brother to sleep and walked in our room where she was reading with her dad and she asked me "Mommy are you angry?" Hmmm......she loves Annie so she knows how Miss Hannigan acts. Should I be offended? Concerned? :)

Online friends

For those of you that are around me a lot, you know that for a few years now I have talked about an online website that I read....a lot. It's like a posting board full of mom's. I feel crazy when I talk about it because I talk like I really know these people (though I rarely post, mostly just read other's post) I must admit I have gotten lots of good information from them. Anyway, people on this board will sometimes do get together with people they live by. There have been a few here, but my husband is VERY wary of them-so I've never gone. Well, this past weekend a few were getting together and I decided to go. We actually had a good time. Scott's sister came with us for the first hour to make sure everyone seemed nice enough ;) Jadyn had a fun time playing with some new friends and Jax was really good as well. So now all of you who thought I was crazy before may think I am a tad bit crazier but at least you know I am talking about real people!

JAdyn playing at some water table

Jadyn and JAx in the helicopter. Jadyn kept telling the other driver "Take me to Disneyland!"

New online friends

You would never know these three were all born 3 months apart!

Monk

Monk is Jade's newest best friend and he goes everywhere with us. This is actually my monkey that I think I got sometime after we were married or just before- not sure why I got it though. She takes him in his car seat in the car and if we try to leave him in the car she cries and says he will cry and be so sad. She spends lots of time every day changing his clothes, changing his diaper, feeding him, holding him, rocking him, playing with him, taking him "grocery" shopping, going on "vacation" with him. It's hilarious. She has such a great imagination and I love watching her. She packs so many bags for him-bottles, binkies, clothes, ect. He is never without. I love to watch her pack up all of her things, monk, find her "devit" cards and then push her grocery cart around while she grocery shops. I also love watching her collect all types of things and then announce she is going on "vacation" to see shamu and then tell me not to step on the floor or Shamu will eat me! And of course she does all of this with Monk! It is a little concerning when she disciplines monk because she sure sounds an awful like me! :) I could watch and listen to her for hours!

Holding Monk while watching t.v.

Feeding Monk

Dressing Monk

Monks baby carrier and bag full of "stuff"

She does love to play barbies as well (with monk watching) I had to capture a few pics.

Scott saw this and had me come and look at it before we put it away. We thought it was funny because barbie is driving and the boy is the passenger. I always drive and she's obviously noticed! :) I just love how she's set them all up together

What a lucky girl! She can convince Daddy to play barbies as well! Don't they both look like they are concentrating pretty hard on getting the barbies dressed! :)

An Update

I know, after my last post and such a long break, you all may have though I did loose my sanity! No, no. I'm still here and I have an update

Mon night: This was the night I posted about. Cried for 2.5 hours (some in car seat and some in crib) to no avail. I took him to bed with me at 10:30

Tues night: Nothing, didn't want to deal with it so he fell asleep in his carseat and then when he woke up I took him with me to bed

Wed night: I decided to try letting him cry it out again. I put him in his car seat (in the crib) it took 90 min to get to sleep, and then he cried for another 90 min when he woke up 2 hours later. (That was the LONGEST 90 min yet. It's harder to deal with the crying in the middle of the night. It was loud and I am just grateful Jade was in my bed and a heavy sleeper) But.....he only woke up that one time and he slept until 7:00!

Thurs night: I decided that I wasn't going to do this whole CIO (cry it out) thing in his car seat and have to do it again in a few months when he outgrows his carseat. So.....no more car seat. I braced myself for a VERY long night. Amazingly enough-it only took about 45 min. He woke up once and cried for about that long again, but slept till 7:00! I felt it was a great effort.

Friday: It was time to try napping in the crib. NO CRYING!!!! Are you kidding me! Night time was about 20 min of crying and only slight fussing in the middle of the night!!!!

Sat: Napped in crib-no crying. Bedtime-no crying!!!!!!!!!!!

So there you have it. It was a very LONG week. It's not perfect by any means yet, but we have come a long way since my last post. He has a hard time with naps still, but I think that comes from getting him on a better schedule. Sometimes I think I have missed the tired window. He doesn't have any problems going down at night, but does wake up about once a night and cries, but he is usually back asleep in about 10 min. He probably would go right back to sleep if I went and put his binkie back in, but I just have him put himself back to sleep without it. I remember nights with Jade where we would have to go in and put her binkie back in 5-10 x's a night. Not doing that with Jax.

I can tell that Jax is definitely sleeping much better in his crib than his car seat. It just took some getting used to! Our problem now is that Jax is a light sleeper who goes to sleep in the dark and at 7:30. While we were having Jax cry at night, Jade has been sleeping in our bed. I think it is going to have to be that way for awhile. Jax wakes up when anyone goes in the room and Jade would have a fit if the door wasn't open and the light on. I am just hoping that in a month or so, Jax will be able to get used to his crib more and be a deeper sleeper. We all know Jade could definitely sleep through his crying! She could sleep through anything! I am going to work on getting her in bed by 8:30, but it could very well be in our bed. Scott and I-with our crazy nights, don't seem to mind that much.

So things are better and we are all getting more sleep! Thanks for all of the posts and calls offering help! I really, really appreciate it!

A Miracle and so so sweet!

Suggestions....before I loose my Sanity?

No, really. I need suggestions. Jadyn was such a good sleeper as a baby. She slept in our room in the co-sleeper for 5 months. One night I was sick, we moved her to her crib-she was fine. We would lay her down awake, there was no crying, and she would go to sleep. It was so easy. I slept next to Jax the first 3 months. When I got tired of doing that I tried to get him to sleep on his own which everyone knows didn't work and he would only sleep in his car seat. Fine, whatever, as long as he was asleep, I was ok with it. For about a week and a half now, he isn't even liking the car seat at night (mind you he naps in there every day) So here was the last straw: Last night I nursed him-he fell asleep- and I put him in the car seat. 5 min later he was awake and crying. I put his binkie back in-he kept crying. I knew he was tired so I decided to let him cry. He'd eventually fall asleep right? I mean that's what everyone says. Wrong. He cried for an hour and 15 min. He was really mad and really loud. I asked Jade to go and put his bink back in. She ran downstairs, I hear her turn on the light, climb up the crib, then slam the door-only to report that he is managing to loudly cry with the binkie still in his mouth. After the hour and 15 min I went down and got him out. He stopped crying. I held him for a minute and then laid him down in his crib, rather than the car seat. Wow.....he was SO ticked. But-this crying it out thing is supposed to work right? At 10:00 (that's right, 2.5 hours after I first put him down) I was about to loose it. He was still going strong. With Jaxon crying in the room, Jade was trying to fall asleep in our room, but being next door to their room, it was still pretty loud. I gave in. I went in and picked him up. The crying stopped immediately. Since it had been 3 hours since he had eaten I fed him and he instantly fell asleep next to me. He stayed there until about 4:00 a.m. and which time I moved him back to his car seat and didn't hear a peep from him until 7:30. What is the deal?!?!?! Obviously crying it out won't work for him. So, I am thinking about doing a lamp and music to see if that helps. After that, I am going to trying pumping and letting him get his last feeding in a bottle while he is in his bed and see if that will help him go to sleep without me moving him when he is done eating. After that, I don't know what. For the sake of the rest of us who live hear, say a prayer that one of those things work. Then.... once I can get him to go to sleep, I will work (again) on my 3 year old! :)

A miraculous day of firsts

A day of firsts:
1-First day Jadyn was a Sunbeam
2- First day of Church that Jadyn was by herself in a classroom for more than 20 min
3- First day of church that I left Jade alone in her class, with her knowing it, that she didn't have a huge melt down
4- First time in a LONG time (at least 7-8 years) that I went to Relief Society (besides the 20 min I got a few months ago, the one time Jade stayed in nursery)

It was amazing, to say the least. I was so worried about Primary. For sure though I would try to leave her there and she would break down in tears (Who wouldn't assume that when that has been the reaction EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I tried it in nursery) So we talked all week about Primary. AFter Sacrament she saw one little girl in her new class RUNNING to Primary and the other little girl's mom saying she was already in there. We walked in and her name was on a chair. She sat down and I waited until the teacher got there, and then I told her I loved her and that I would pick her up in a little while (No, she said. Daddy is.) She looked a little unsure, but I walked out and....she was fine! I was complete and utterly SHOCKED. I waited in the hall for about 5 min and then went to feed Jax. I checked back and she had her little arm folded and was being so reverent! So, I went to Relief Society. I checked her once in her classroom and she was just sitting on her chair listening. I saw Scott in the hall afterwards and he was late from teaching so I went to get Jade. She was standing in the hall with her teacher and when she saw me she came RUNNING down the hall and said "Mom! I got a crown!" She was extremely happy and proud of herself. She had a GREAT first day in Primary. So all of my worrying was for nothing and I can only hope next week goes just as well. Awwww, I can't believe my baby is a Sunbeam! I was so proud of her today!

Mommy Daughter date

2 years ago (Christmas 2005) Scott and JAdyn got me a gift certificate to Color Me Mine. I had wanted to go there and it was a great gift. It was up in Salt lake though, and I just never made it up there. Last week I saw a new one in Draper and decided it was time to use it. I also decided that I needed to go out with Jade alone. Scott does this every now and then, but usually it is always me with both kids. So I decided we'd go on a mommy/daughter date. Jade had a great time painting and we were there for about an hour and 15 min. I will post pictures of the finished projects after we pick them up! We ran to Kohls to get Scott a frame for his MAsters certificate that had just come in the mail (by the way-he finished his Masters with a 4.0! Good job babe!) Afterwards I asked JAde where she wanted to eat. She said a pizza place. I asked her if she wanted to get pizza and take it home or eat it at the place. She wanted to eat at the restaurant. That left me a little wondrous as to where we would be. Well, as we were leaving the parking lot I noticed a Godfather's pizza that had sit down. Perfect. We go in and pay for the buffet. Jadyn was being so good and loved picking her own pizza and drink. For some reason she even asked to sit in the high chair! We had been there about 15 min when I look over and-no lie- see this brown mice scurry from underneath one table to underneath the table next to use! Oh my gosh, I almost died. I didn't want to freak JAdyn out, so I went and told the worker (some customer heard me and said "just think of it like Ratatouille" Ya, no.) I sat back down but then decided we should just go. I told Jade there was a mouse (which she was fascinated with and wanted to see it) and that we would take our food home (I know, gross, but she would have been very unhappy otherwise) So I boxed us up, and we were out the door! The funny thing, is I think Jade loved the mouse part the most. We got home and Scott asked her if she had a good night. She said "There was a mouse, he was brown, and running really fast. And we had pizza with sugar on it. And we painted!" So, even the mouse was a fun time to her! I loved spending one on one time with her. I think we will try to trade off every month. I take her one month, and scott the next. Then, when Jax gets big enough, we'll do the same. I love her so much! She is such a joy to be around and so, so, so funny! She has enough personality for 10 people! :) I love ya baby girl!

The other day we were downstairs and Jade was upstairs and I kept calling her and calling her, asking what she was doing. She finally opened the door and said "Dress up!" She looks like quite the diva huh (kills me that the dress is all messed up on top. The sleeves were in the back) She put that ensemble together all by herself! Again, the girl is hilarious!

Kids and computers. It's amazing to me. Gosh, the first computer game I remember playing was the "Oregon trail" and "Lemonade stand" at school in the 4th grade. My, have times changed!

We coming back into Normal

The Holiday's are over. Today Scott is at work, I am working, and Jade is being watched by my grandma (Daycare starts again tomorrow) Part or me is sad to get back to normal like, and the other part of me is ready to get back in to the swing of things.
New Year's Eve was spent at my sister's. There was movies, games, food, etc. Jade had a fun time playing with the kids-a little outsider though since she was the only girl of the 8 kids there! She spent most of the night trying to convince people to play Disney Bingo and Disney Pictionary and then loving when someone obliged! Jaxon FINALLY fell asleep around 10:00. We stayed till Midnight-watched some fireworks and then left. JAde, of course, was wide awake until we left.
New Year's Day Due to going to bed late (1:00) and then being up pretty much all night with my crying baby, it was slow going in the morning. We just laid around and then Jade asked Scott and I to play Bingo and Pictionary with her. Honestly-she beat us both in pictionary. She really did. We were totally laughing because Scott was having to guess something and it was a "place" and after it was done drawing (it looked like a winter village) Scott said "London" and Jadyn said "That's Santa's house" and then up on the screen pops the answer "Santa's village" Are you kidding me? Jade was right. It was pretty funny. After listening to Jax cry all afternoon I decided to take him to instacare convinced his ear infections were back (Lovely that it's Jan 1st and my high deductible insurance plan was just starting over) after spending the afternoon there we were told he is perfectly healthy. Hmmmm.....not what I was hoping for. I was looking for an answer on why he has been crying so much and not sleeping at all. Teething? Who knows. We had a nice night over at the Crosman's! They were nice enough to invite us over for dinner. It's always good to get together with them. There is always some good laughing that goes on. Last night was no exception. Funny what memories from 12 years ago can bring up. Some of us can let it got (Tracy I still say you were a great friend back then) and other can't (Cough: Josh: Cough. Darn lying! :) ) Pretty good times!
With the New Year's comes the need from setting some goals. I like doing this. It gives me time to reflect on what I need to do better at and things I want to accomplish. I may not accomplish all of them, but it's nice to sit down and reflect. I have always felt a little nervous for New Year's and setting goals. It's a little nerve wracking for me to know what the new year could bring and just cross my fingers for good things!
Unfortunately the new year, for me, also brings Spring Cleaning. I make a list of everything that needs to be done and then try to do 2 things a week. I figure each chore takes about 2-3 hours and right now there are 26 items on the list. So-for the next 13 weeks I will be doing some extra cleaning. I hate doing it, but love to have it done. Plus, by the time I am done it will be spring I and can once again enjoy spending time outdoors! Yay!
Any how, as we close out the New Year I want to say thank you to all of our friends and family who have made 2007 such a great year. We love all of you and may 2008 bring wonderful for everyone! We are so happy to be spending it as a family of 4!