New Years

It's New Years Eve again. How does this keep happening so fast? My life is passing me by.

Flashback Friday

My friend Bridget does Flashback Friday's on her blog, and this week, I loved her subject, so I'm borrowing her idea to post here.

Christmas presents. There is so much build up to all the gifts we receive every year at Christmas, but how long do we remember gifts that we have received? Surprisingly, I actually remember a lot of wonderful gifts I've received. Here are just a couple of the absolute most memorable.

LIFESAVERS: This was a stocking standard. In elementary school, they used to come in these collectible tins. Now they are the storybooks. My family would always cross country ski up to our grandparents cabin the day after Christmas and we would be snacking on lifesavers the whole time. These are perhaps my most treasured memories from my childhood, and to this day I have to take lifesavers with me anytime I go cross-country skiing or snowboarding. Everytime I taste a cherry lifesaver, It instantly feels like Christmas.















BARBIE DREAM HOUSE: 'Nuff said. With a family of 3 girls this was an essential toy for us, which we played with for years, even long after we were too old for barbies.






TRAMPOLINE: When I was in 4th grade, we had just moved into a new house 2 weeks before Christmas. We now had a living room, AND a family room, and therefore only furniture for one of the rooms. The living room was big and empty and had this big vaulted ceiling. When we ran downstairs Christmas morning, I ran full speed into a trampoline set up in the living room! I was knocked to the ground, but my excitement was far greater than the whiplash. The best part was the room was in the front of the house with this huge bay window. As people drove by our house, they could see these girls flying in the air, but they couldn't see the tramp. We spent all winter on that tramp in the living room. I think I slept on it every single night.















PHONE CALL FROM MY DAD: My dad called me yesterday, and he hasn't spoken to me in 9 years.

Jonah is growing up too quickly. Last week he stared pulling himself up and now he's doing it all the time. He keeps falling down and hitting his head. I'm going to have to wrap him in bubble wrap.

Yesterday I discovered a tooth! Finally! We have been waiting for teeth for months, but when it came I was inevitably sad. My baby is becoming a little boy.

Mowgli Jonah

Jonah is starting to pull himself up! He still won't crawl on his hands and knees, but he is super fast at his army/lizard crawling thing he does. He pulled himself up for the first time this week, and last night he started getting on his feet and hands. So cute!

Finally we have internet! I didn't realize how much I use it until I didn't have it for 3 weeks.


It's so nice to be back together again. Here we are in our back yard on Thanksgiving. We had a delicious meal at a local restaurant, FATZ cafe. Jerry had the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, which I would compare to elementary cafeteria school lunch. I had some delicious ribs and was very happy and very full :) Jerry had to work that day from 2 to midnight, so it wasn't much of a Thanksgiving, just another day, but the last month has made us all the more thankful to be together.


We've just been getting settled. Jerry took Jonah running in the jogging stroller. It was very cold, so it wasn't too long, but Jerry was really excited. He's been waiting to take him jogging since we found out I was pregnant with Jonah.




Here is Jonah just being his cool self. Don't you just love the cute little curl above his ear!!

We need a new name for our blog. I was thinking stuff like "Georgia on my mind" but something more original.

Does anyone have any ideas?

We're Here!!

Yay!

We found an adorable little house, which I love. We are all doing well and settling in. Unfortunatly we don't have internet yet, and won't for another week or so. I'm at the library now. I'll post tons of pictures as soon as I can do it from home.

Thanks again to everybody for all your help with our move and all the help ya'll gave to me during the process.

We miss everybody.

Moving Day!

It's finally here. Whoo hoo!

Phew. I'm not flying out until next Monday. That will give me 3 more days to clean and see all my fantastic friends.

6 days?

Well, it is official. Maybe. We are definitely (Katie inadvertantly used the word defiantly, which is spelt correctly--but so you know we are not defying anyone by moving) moving next weekend. Probably. We think that the movers will be coming Thursday and Friday, hopefully. I will be flying out on Saturday. Depending on a few things.

Am I ready to be done with this whole mess? YES! Am I ready to leave? no. Am I ready to get my husband back? YES! Do we have a place to move into? No. Can I be ready to go by Thursday? Probably not. Will it all work out? OF COURSE! My biggest worry... that I won't get 1776 finished before I have to give it back to Brad. Come on, I've only had since last Christmas to read this book!!

:)

Even more pictures for Jerry

Jonah and Aunt Randi
Jonah playing with his bink



Us with my Nana and Papa at our early Thanksgiving

with Uncle Brad

Halloween

Jonah. Cute scary monster.
The petty's
Cousins. Jonah, Mykenzie, Aspen Lucas, Aunt Mykin, and Mykayla.
Trick or treat

Cousins. Sofia, Jonah, my mom, Christian, and Tenley.

Disneyland silly

Most nights around 9:30 pm, I seem to get a little silly. Jerry first discovered this once when we were at Disneyland. Now of course, Disneyland is the HAPPIEST place on earth, so my evening sillies were even sillier. Whenever this happens now, we always call it being Disneyland silly. This is a video of Jonah the other day when I was feeding him applesauce. He thought it was the funniest thing.

Jonah's crawling!!!

Jonah just starting crawling today!! I didn't even think he was close, but out of no where today I turned around and Jonah was going after a bottle of carpet cleaner.

Congrats little man!

Here are some more pictures of Jonah.



Below is one of my best friends Emily and her baby Tucker. Yesterday we went out for lunch and shopping.




Friday night my sister and her family came over for a sleepover. We did hair and nails. (the girls did mine:))

More pictures for Jerry

Me and my sister Emily.

Jonah during the marathon. It was raining the whole time.

single parenting is too hard.

Pictures for Jerry

Georgia, Here we come!!

We are moving to Augusta, Georgia! Jerry has gotten a job translating for a private company (not Army). He left for Baltimore this morning where he will be for the next month training, then Jonah and I will meet him in Georgia. We are so excited about this opportunity, but we are very sad to be leaving our family and friends! I will be really busy this month getting the house ready and trying to get Jonah to sleep (yeah he still won't nap hardly at all) But I would love to see everybody I can before we go, so if you have a minute, come on over and visit. And if you are REALLY bored and need something to do, I will welcome any help. Even if you just want to come over and play with Jonah so I can work on the house I would welcome anything. I know, shameless, but I am worried about being ready.

On other news, Jonah is growing so big. He is just about 7 months old now and still a cutie. He is too big for his swing. (see below)


Jerry ran the St. George marathon with 3 of his brothers. They all did really well and they all finished in under 4 hours, great job guys!

Jonah got into his first mischief. He pulled all the cd's off the shelf and was really proud of himself.


We have been working on our house like crazy. Here is how the bathroom started.



Then I thought I found a really beautiful color of green for the walls. Turned out HORRIBLE!

So we (Jerry) painted it twice in 2 days. This is how it ended up. New floor too! (the pic. doesn't show it, but the stenciling is gone)
Joey helped Jerry build this step in our office.


And...we finally finished our office which we started last February. It looks so good!! I love it. Too bad we are moving and I only get to enjoy it for a month :)



Now I just need to paint that door!



Here is the office before. And yes, that carpet was as gross as it looks!

Silver Lake

Saturday we went up to Silver Lake Flats. We were going to hike up to Silver Lake, but Jonah fell asleep on the way up, and by the time we got to Silver Lake Flats, we realized that we wouldn't have time to hike. So we played by the river and enjoyed the view and the leaves changing. I love the mountains. Silver Lake is one of our favorite spots, and we haven't been there for two years.

Jerry pulling a Michael Jackson.

When you try to kiss Jonah on the cheek, he usually opens his mouth and turns his head. As shown above.

Jerry's bike Trip

Jerry will never get around to posting anything about his trip, so here is a picture, and here is the link to the blog that they guys kept about the trip:

http://www.pettyz.com/The_Oregon_Coast/Home.html

Cupcakes

It doesn't happen often, but about once a month I just can't go to bed until I've baked something. It starts out as just a craving for sugar, but no pre-made sweets will do. I suddenly have to bake. Now.

Tonight I was getting some water on my way to bed, saw some frosting in the fridge, and knew that cupcakes must be baked to go with that frosting. So that is what I'm doing. Making cupcakes. As is usually the case, by the time that my late night treat is made, I don't even want to eat it. Just the baking soothes me and makes me happy.

Last summer when we were living in Jordan, the need to make brownies hit me about midnight. Most of our household was still awake (probably on the computer) and didn't think I was serious when I said that I was going to make brownies. When the chocolaty smell started drifting out of the kitchen, they started laughing shocked that I actually had made brownies. I really don't know where I am going with this story. I just wanted to capture it before old age robs me of all my memories. (Especially since neither Jerry or I kept a very good journal of our experiences in Jordan)

Anyway. If you want a cupcake, come on over. I have 2 dozen and I don't think Jonah and I will be eating them all.

What's new?

Here is Jonah giggling and him sticking out his tongue. I have been trying to capture both in video for some time. Sorry about the poor light and my annoying...sound... I am making. Jonah thought it was pretty funny so I kept doing it in order to capture the video.


So much has been going on and also so little. Jonah can a l m o s t sit up on his own. He is eating rice cereal, and pears when my mom is around. He loves it, but I am not lovin the new smells that are showing up in his diaper. yuck. He jabbers on all day, but mostly loves just hanging out with me. He loves sitting in the high chair instead of laying around on the floor. When he does lay on the floor, he rolls all over the place. He has no teeth yet, but has been drooling and chewing on stuff for a couple of months, so who knows when they will come. No signs of crawling yet, but I know that in his mind, he is planning all the things he wants to explore once he is mobile. I can just tell that he is really smart. He knows what cups are for and when he can get his hands on one he puts it up to his mouth and starts lapping like a puppy. When he even sees one of his bowls or spoons, he opens up his mouth waiting for a bite. He is just so much fun.

Here is a picture I've been waiting for since my camera was dropped in the lake. This is Jonah at Bear Lake, his first camping adventure. It was really cold at night, and I forgot a hat for him, so I put a pair of his pants on his head. It worked really great, oh and is so adorable!

Here is a picture of Jonah and my very best friend from Jr. High, Kelly Armstrong. We have been talking about how we need to get together for like 2 years now, and finally today she came over. I love her so much and think about her often. She is truly my soul sister and we always have so much fun together. Back in the day when she and I were inseparable, I really felt like I knew who I was and wasn't afraid of anything. (which I felt was a rare thing to feel at 14) We were so free and SO FUN! I am so glad that she is back in my life.

Happy Half Birthday Jonah!!!!

Jonah is 6 months old!

and I got my camera back, whoo hoo!!!

I know it's time to add a new post, but my camera is still broken, and I can't think of much to write about. Jonah is super cute. He loves to stick out his tongue and jabber on all the time. (wish I could post a picture)

For Labor Day we went up to Midway on Friday and stayed with my grandparents at their cabin. Saturday Jerry, Brad, and Joey ran the 10k and did really well. I think they had fun. We walked around Swiss Days for as long as we could stand the crowds, then went back to the cabin and had a fun day of making potato salad and playing games. It was really fun. I am so lucky that Jerry loves the cabin and playing games as much as I do. That is what I did ALL the time growing up, and not many in my family go anymore.

Sunday evening we went up to Mutual Dell for Dinner and a campout with Jerry's family. Dinner was AWESOME, but camping was rained out, so we all slept throughout the cabin, lodge, and trailer. We also had an amazing breakfast together. All in all we had a really fun Labor Day weekend.

Jonah had his first cereal a week ago and LOVES it. When I put him in the highchair now he immediately starts howling and making all kinds of sounds because he knows that means that food is coming. It is really adorable.

I finished reading Breaking Dawn and loved it! I can't help it, I love the Twilight books, although the middle two got a little melodramatic. I really liked this 4th book, but think that parts were a little too mature for young teen girls to be reading.

Jerry's Done!

Jerry is FINALLY done with his ROTC training (which he was finishing this past 5 weeks in Ft. Lewis, WA) and is now not only a commissioned officer and a 2nd Lieutenant, but also has his Bachelor's Degree! He graduated this morning. It has been a long time coming and it feels so good to be done. I am so proud of him!

Now... real life. We have no idea what he is going to do now.

Any ideas?

(p.s. still no pictures. I took my camera to get cleaned and I still haven't gotten it back. Jerry's mom has been taking pictures so I will post when I get them from her)

Random unoriginal thoughts that are new to me

Being raised as liberated women, we are taught that we can do anything that a man can do, and more. And it’s true, we can. However, I think that this way of thinking, while empowering, is also very harmful. We are taught that we don’t need men. Men are the enemy. Everything they do is wrong, selfish, or not good enough. “He did the dishes, but he didn’t clean the rest of the kitchen.” “He swept the floor, but didn’t move the chairs to get under them.” “If he really cared, he would do a better job” (i.e.: my way). It can get to the point where we really feel like they are just in the way. The problem with this is that we also really like men. They look good in jeans, can be romantic, and make us feel amazing! So, we have this internal conflict of weather we really like or really hate men. We commit (with much excitement) to spend our lives with them, then get together as women and complain about them. It is a great way to bond with other women, and justify how we are right. I don't want to do this anymore.

As women it is our core feminine nature to just “be”. Not to constantly accomplish and strive for perfection. Now, I know that of course we have to have goals and we have responsibilities, but how much do we expand and complicate those responsibilities? When we can’t accomplish everything we would like, we are unhappy, and we usually blame it on our men for not helping us get everything done that we would like. Well guess what I finally figured out? Men are attracted to happiness, not perfect homes, or perfect appearances, or perfect resumes. The sexiest thing that we can wear is a smile.

All men really want is to make us happy. Most women (me included) have so many outrageous expectations of our men that we don't see how hard they try to make us happy. Then we wonder why some men start to loose interest. We say things like "You don't look at me like you used to" or "You’re not the same man you were when we were dating" If you think about it, they are the same. We have changed. We were just a lot easier to please back then. When we were dating just a phone call could make us gitty all day. Over time we start focus on everything that they aren't doing and spend too much time complaining and nagging. How would we feel if all our girlfriends pointed out all our faults and basically said “nothing you do is good enough”? We would get a new friend. We are always told to count our blessings and it’s so easy to miss the true meaning of that statement, which I believe is to learn to be content, even happy, with things just as they are, because if you really think about it, for most of us, things are pretty dang good.

I have been pretty awful at times to my sweet husband and I’m committing myself stop focusing on things that really aren’t important and to relax and just “be”. It’s going to be difficult because I have been a perfectionist for 25 years, but it’s exhausting and I’m tired of it. Jerry deserves better and I want to be better. His being gone has really made me realize how wonderful he is and how I really take for granted everything he does.

Solution!!!

I finally found the solution to my problem of my filthy house. Since Jonah was born, I have sorta been able to keep the house semi picked up (not to the level I would like, but enough to keep me from totally loosing it). However, finding the will and time to get the cleaning done (mopping, vacuuming, dusting, etc.) has been a huge problem for me. Jonah just isn't the best napper, and when I do have some time, I usually will grab a shower or eat or I've got somewhere to be.

I have finally found a solution! I can just stop sleeping!! I will stay up after he goes to bed at about 9:30 and clean my house. If I stay up for 2 or 3 hours I can get a ton done, and still get to bed by 1. That is what I am doing tonight (although right now I'm wondering why I'm on the computer and not cleaning :)) I already got my bathrooms clean and swept the front room and dusted.

I know this isn't a big deal for anybody else, but for me I think that the peace of mind I get from having a clean house is better than those 3 hours of sleep.

We'll see.

camera+lake=broken camera

Well, last week I went to Bear Lake with my mom. It was really fun, and Jonah did really great camping for the first time. The traveling, not so much. I really wasn't surprised, he really hates the car. Unfortunatly, my camera was dropped into the lake when the lens was open. I hurried and took it apart as best I could and got it dry, but it has a whole lotta sand in every tiny crevasse. Anyway, I'm going to try to take it to a camera place and see if they can clean it and save it, but I have a sad feeling it's gone.

I always feel like I have to have pictures to post anything, and I know I don't, but it really does make these posts so much more interesting.

I just got back from Jerry's family reunion up at Mutual Dell and had so much fun! Besides all the great company, there was a zip line, bouncy blow up slide, we had a water balloon launcher (very fun to hit people who were in line for the slide) and this human rubber band game thing that was hilarious!! I've said it before and I'll say it again. Jerry and his family are just good people. I am so lucky to be part of such a wonderful family. However, being around his brothers made me really miss Jerry. Each one has at least one similar trait of Jerry, and all around me was reminders of him. It's a lot easier to be away from someone when you just don't think about them and try to fill your time and thoughts with other things.

I have been so lucky. His family has been taking such good care of me and Jonah. They have been mowing my lawn, babysitting, just dropping by to visit, hooking up waterlines, fixing waterlines, rerouting waterlines. My family has been great too; babysitting and visiting.

One more thing. I am so sick of being so stinkin hot. I am excited for fall.

good times

I've seen this on a few different blogs, and I had fun leaving my memories so I thought I'd give it a go.

Here is a fun little game...Leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time, or a long time, anything you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.On your mark...get set...blog your memories!!

Hot summer

It's been forever since I have had a chance to post and I guess a lot has happened in the past month. Jerry finally finally finished his classes at BYU! My sister Amelia came to visit from Kansas. Me my mom, and both of my sisters went out for a girls night for the first time since my oldest sister got married 10 years ago. No husbands or kids. It was so much fun! We ate at Bajio, then went to Hale Center Theater and saw Little Women.


clockwise from left: Amelia, me, my mom, and Emily.

Here is my cousin Levi, me and Jonah at the Lehi rodeo. Levi is staying with me for the summer and we are having a lot of fun.

For the 4th of July we went swimming. Jonah loved it!! How adorable is he?

Here he is sportin' it European style in his speedo. Watch out all you single ladies :) Well, we didn't intentionally put him in the speedo, but his regular swimsuit wouldn't fit over the swim diaper and the plastic pants that all swimming pools require.