Jake and ashlee

6 sweet months....

2012-02-09T14:44:00.000-08:00

holy cow, i can't believe my baby is almost 6 months old. where in the heck did that half of the year go? any other moms feel like pregnancy drags on and on then your little babies just grow too stinking fast?! As much as i miss J being a sweet newborn all swaddled and tiny, i'm loving seeing his little personality develop. We live in Rexburg, in a married student ward, so it's no surprise that there is a new baby born almost every month in our ward. While nursing J in the mothers' lounge on sundays those sweet new moms bring in their brand new babies and their little cries are so sweet, needless to say, J's cry is not-so-cute anymore, he's figured out the more noise he makes the faster mom moves, so he generally skips the sweet little coos and goes to full on screams. *sigh, but that's ok, most of the time he's a pretty happy go lucky kid. This chubby kid eats more than i do sometimes, i swear. He LOVES big people food. of course we don't share our food with him, but if he doesn't get to see us eat he'll cry. He loves rice crackers and bread, apple juice. He's started babbling really loudly at nights, and when he's sleepy, it's cute, but it gradually gets louder and louder until it's practically a yell, and it's usually at a time we need him to be quiet, like during scripture study or FHE. I like to think it's just because he's excited about the scriptures. :] J thinks the darndest things are funny, the kid laughs when you scare him. I know, crazy, he loves dad to "get" his belly and play "high in the air" (i know our names for games need a little help) i've never been one confident enough to act a fool to make a baby laugh, but i do for J, and i'd say it's worth it to hear the kid giggle, it's so darn cute it melts my little heart.

2012-01-16T20:51:00.000-08:00

This cute little stinker is 5 months old today. Man, i love him :] We have so much fun playin together all day, he does so many cute things and is such a sweet little thing. Can't believe how fast time has gone since he was born!

2012

2012-01-10T11:45:00.000-08:00

I'm usually horrible at making new years resolutions, and so this year my new years resolution was to make and keep one, but i ran into a problem of picking JUST ONE. So i have a whole list of things i'm trying to do better at, and blogging is one of them. I know it's hardly fair of a stay at home mom to use the "there's just not enough hours in the day" excuse, but i'm going to anyway, after all, one of my resolutions is to better manage my time. :]

We had a great Christmas, and New Year. Holidays are so much fun with a little baby to celebrate them with. Jamison was spoiled of course, it's so hard to say no when shopping for him.
Jamison has grown SO MUCH since my last post, i feel bad I've let the time get away without updating my blog with all the new sweet things he is doing. At first i was so sad he was growing so big and wasn't staying a newborn but everyday he does something that makes me so excited to see him growing a learning, and he is much more fun now that he can play. It's fun to see his little personality, such a happy sweet baby. We started giving him cereal about a month and a half ago, at first he thought it was horrible, but now he loves it, we started giving him sweet potatoes, squash, bananas and apples and he LOVES them, if you don't feed him fast enough he lets ya know, and not usually in a nice way. and he's the happiest kid in the world if given a dill pickle to chew on. He's discovered he can spit now, so he's always drenched (if anyone has any suggestions of how to keep him dry, feel free to share :]) He loves scary things, being tossed in the air, being scared, and Jake tickling his belly with his nose. We decided J needed a haircut before we took any christmas pictures, he looks like a young man now instead of a baby, but that's ok. He rocks a sweet mohawk again :]

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun this year for Halloween with our little man here to celebrate with. We dressed up for our ward party on Friday and went to celebrated with our friends! Dressing Jamison up my favorite part this year! Can't wait till next year now! :]

A sweet tired puppy

80's Rocker, 80's chick and a puppy

And on a side note, this little lady killer is 13 weeks old now! How the heck did that happen? We just love him so much, and have so much fun with him! He's a momma's boy, (which i happen to really like right now) but he's growing so fast i'm afraid i'll wake up one day and he'll be a teenager!!

9 weeks!

2011-10-11T07:30:00.000-07:00

still has his daddy's nose!

he even likes tummy time!

--gotta keep that lil' head round!

Jamison is 9 weeks old today and i can hardly believe it! He seems so big! It's so fun seeing him grow and learn, he's started smiling and cooing at us--SO CUTE & on the down side he now knows all he has to do is cry a little and daddy will pick him up. He's still one of the best babies I've ever seen, and I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom, but we really are lucky to have such a good baby. He's happy almost all the time--unless he's hungry then he's a bit grumpy, but fill up his belly and he's good to go! He LOVES to take baths, will smile and kick his legs and splash, and usually will poop in the tub- the down side of that is that one of us are usually in the tub with him. (YUCK)

Blessing Jamison

2011-10-03T08:26:00.000-07:00

We finally got to bless Jamison (this post is a little late) we blessed him on the 25th of September. Jake did a great job on the blessing & it was a great day for us! We got to spend the day with our families and celebrate the special day. It feels really good to finally have it done, i can relax a little now.

Funny noises...

2011-09-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

Jamison has started making funny sounds, sometimes while he is sleeping he'll make little wimpering sounds... Jake was holding him last night and Jamison started doing it, so Jake would copy him and Jamison would do them again. It was the funniest thing. We didn't catch all the good ones on video, but we did get a couple. Pretty darn cute if i must say so myself :] we just love playing with our little guy!

One Sweet Week...

2011-08-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

Well, It's been one whole week since my sweet little boy was born, and i can hardly believe it. Call me a baby, but i get sad everytime i think of how fast time is going. I worry sometimes i'm going to wake up one day and he'll be grown. I LOVE my sweet baby. I'm going to go ahead and blame Madison Memorial Hospital for my baby blues, if they hadn't made our stay so amazing i wouldn't cry about missing the nurses. WE HAD AMAZING NURSES! I became very attached to them during our short stay. I know the tears are just hormones speaking, but i couldn't feel more loved by my Savior than i do now. My beautiful baby is healthy, happy and such a great blessing, and don't get me started on Jake. I'm not sure what I did to deserve someone so wonderful, but he truly is. He makes me feel so special each and everyday, and get sad when he has to leave to go to work. I just can't get enough time with my two sweet boys, and i wish time would go a little slower sometimes. I know my Savior loves me, because of the AMAZING people he has placed in my life. I know the Gospel is true, i can feel it in my entire being when i hold my little one against my chest. I feel SO blessed to have my sweet little family. I wish everyone could feel the peace and love i feel right now. It's truly humbling. I love my family, my Savior and I love my sweet one week old baby boy!

Jamison Douglas Higley

2011-08-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

Our sweet baby boy is here! Finally!

Jamison Douglas Higley was born at 12:19 A.M. Tuesday, August 16th, and is a total lady killer in the nursery! He weighed 5 pounds 15 ounces and is 18 inches long. Just a sweet little guy, with more hair on his head than his mom and dad combined :] WHICH I LOVE!! Jake and I are totally head over heels in love with our little guy and our whole lives have already changed with his arrival. Jake is the best dad / husband, and i'm not just saying that because i feel nice, but because it's true. :] He is one proud papa! and it fits him well. He's changed every dirty diaper, but one, and that's because i wanted to change him, he always wants to burp him after feedings, and loves to play and talk with him, oh, and put his hair in a rad mohawk. ((i'm not kidding, this kid has AMAZING hair!)) I couldn't imagine that being a new mom could be so amazing, but it is. It's a feeling you can't explain, but would love to feel every second of everyday. I love my two boys more than anything, and amist the pain/overtiredness, wouldn't trade it for anything in the world! Watch out little ladies! My boy is one handsom fella! :]

Birth Story:

This is the last belly picture of me 40 weeks and 4 days.

This is right after my epideral, if i look worried, it's because i am. :] i had that look on my face in every picture.

So i wasn't sure how i felt about writing the birth story, i mean, who really wants to know what happend? But as it turns out, i think that motherhood had changed my opinion, afterall, it is a miracle by which we have children, and i couldn't help but want to share. SO... here goes.

Turns out my sweet little baby boy likes to take his time, or well i guess it's more like, make the decision, he wasn't going to go anywhere until he was ready. I was 40 weeks exactly at my last doctor visit, and for three weeks i'd had contractions, but i wouldn't dilate. My doctor decided that he would give us the weekend, (fri-mon) then if nothing happened he would induce me monday morning. Well, nothing happend. So jake and I prepared for and went in at 7:30 AM for my scheduled induction. The doctor was going to break my water upon arrival, but i was still not dilated at all, so they started PIT and the fun began. Contractions started about 30 minutes after we started the pit and were coming strong and regular. It took me from 8:oo till about 5:00 to get to 2 cm. I planned for a LONG night. I got my epideral at about 5:00, which i was kindof disapointed because i wanted to wait till i was more dilated, but i'm glad i did it when i did now. Right after the epideral, the Doctor broke my water and told me that it would take about one hour to go 1CM for most people, but for me it was possible i'd go slower. The epideral only worked on my left side so they had to try a bunch of different things so i could be completley numb. My mom always told me her horrible story when her epideral didn't work and i was preparing for the worst, that i would also have a non-working epideral. After about an hour or so they finally figured it out and i was able to be completely numb. Oh my am i grateful for drugs! The epideral made the baby's heartbeat drop, and they think he was smashing the cord so they had me lay on my side and every 10 mintues of so they would have me turn over, so i really wasn't able to get any rest. They checked me at 9:30 PM and they said i was ALMOST a 5, and we kept up with the turning. At about 10:30 i started feeling pain//pressure on my left side and i began to feel nauseous. The doctor came in a checked me and said i was complete, that i was ready to begin pushing. I wasn't entirely prepared for this part of the event, i mean i thought it was hours away, so it kinda put me into shock that the baby was so close. I struggled remembering to breath, so they put me on oxygen, because when i would hold my breath the baby's heartbeat would drop. I hadn't slept at all the whole day so i was extreamly exhasted and that made pushing really hard for me. After about an hour or so of pushing the baby scared me, his heartbeat got so slow i thought it was going to stop and i decided right then that i needed to get him out! That helped me to focus my efforts and get some real progress done. Jake did amazing, he was the best coach a girl could ask for, i would fall asleep between contractions so he would have to feel my tummy to see if i was having a contraction or watch the screen, then he'd wake me up and tell me it was time to push, he would count down, and even tell me the progress i'd made. Without him by my side i don't think i could've done it. The baby finally arrived at 12:19 and it was the most amazing moment of my life. He was the most beautiful thing i'd ever seen in my life, and i was instantly smitten. My most favorite part was that he had a head of hair. He cried to reassure his momma, but then just looked around the room and at Jake and i the rest of the time. He is the BEST baby a girl could ask for, and perfectly handsome :] Welcome to the world Jamison!

i will post more pictures soon! :]

About to be a mommy...

2011-08-14T07:01:00.000-07:00

It seems a little strange, that tonight I'll go to bed pregnant and tomorrow night I'll go to bed a new mommy. It seemed like the time was dragging the last nine months, but now that it's here it seems like yesterday i was puking my guts out at 2-17 weeks pregnant. :] (glad that's over with) Guess when your sick for half of your pregnancy the second half seems to go a lot faster. Jake and I are super excited! Although we were realizing yesterday that we have no idea how to be a mom or dad, and that this new little baby is going to be more of a challenge than we thought. "you'll figure it out" everyone tells us, and i hope that's true! Jake already has that protective dad thing going on, i find it quite cute, i like that I'm not the only one over- obsessing about the baby, makes me feel a little bit normal, which is saying a lot about a woman who is 40 + weeks pregnant. I know he'll make a great dad, i can tell by how excited he is. Even though i think he tries to hide it as much as he can. :] I'm really bummed that i had to go over my due date, but I'm more comfortable than i thought I'd be, i mean a week ago i was running up all 3 flights of my apartment stairs, although, i think this week the baby is much lower, so that's a no go now. The doctor said that he wanted to give me the weekend to see if the baby will go on his own, But I've had contractions without dilating for the last 3 weeks so i don't expect much to happen, but can you really know? So unless the little man decides tomorrow isn't soon enough, I'll be started at 7:30am! I begged my doctor for the last 2 weeks to start me, i thought being started would be so much less stressful. Having a plan and knowing how many days are left till I finally deliver, sounded like less stress to me, but i think it did the opposite, I'm a big nervous stress ball now. I've learned something new about myself, the less i know the better! :] I just hope everything goes well, and that baby is healthy!

My crafty side...

2011-06-08T18:38:00.001-07:00

I've become a crochet freak! But that's ok, i love it.

shell stitch beanie

Robot (kim's idea)

skunk

Hippo

Lion

Sock monkey (girl)

Blue Bird

Sock monkey (boy)

Owls :]

Happy Birthday Jake!

2011-06-03T12:05:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday to the sweetest man i know!! There's never a dull moment with jake in my life, he ALWAYS can bring a smile and make me (or anyone for that matter) feel better. He likes to act tough, but he's a big softie. I love getting to be with him everyday and feel soo blessed to have such a great friend and companion.

ouch

2011-05-27T14:39:00.000-07:00

This morning i had plans to be creative all day, make cute things, and go to the temple. And maybe do a few chores. instead i've been confined to my couch and a hot bath tub because of kidney stones. Not sure what i did to deserve kidney stones twice in a month and a half, but i'm going to figure it out and never do it again. I woke up with a pretty good back ache, and thought oh man, how am i going to stand and sew with this (i don't have a table to use my sewing machine, so i have to stand at my counter) It quickly turned worse and i figured out i must have stones....again. I called the Doc and they just wanted me to come in to make sure i wasn't going to have my baby...that'd be bad. And we did a little ultrasound to check everything out and caught the cutest pic of the little fart. He was yawning--sure, he can be content and comfortable while i'm wailing in pain. i'm not bitter. Just goes to show that good things can come from bad. Just had to post the picture, the little stinker is just too cute for me not to brag about :]i have to say that it was much cuter to see it in video form, but i'm glad that the nurse was kind enough to print this off for me.

Hands

2011-05-15T18:46:00.000-07:00

Today in our sacrament meeting we got to hear from a member of the high council. For a moment he talked about our hands, and how our hands shape our lives into what we want them to be. He said "Look down at your hand for a moment, scientists say that the human hand is one of the most complex things on the human body. And we are the only organisms that have them in the complexity that we do. Our hands can create as no other organisms on earth." I thought this was super neat to think about. I started thinking of all the things you do with your hands on a daily basis, the basics like put on your clothes, style your hair, eat, clean, write, the list goes on and on, then i started thinking of all the things we could do with our hands that help someone else, your hand can give a friendly wave, shake another hand upon meeting, comfort the weary, pull weeds at and elderly widow neighbors home, in sign language your hand can say i love you, and worthy men's hands can use the power of the priesthood to offer a blessing to the ill. The Savior used his hands to heal, to comfort and to create. Interesting how ours can do the same. Our hands have the abilty to bear testimony of God without our words, if we are using them to serve others. I'm greatful that i was able to go to church today and to get this little bit of food for thought, to be reminded how blessed and loved i really am.

Got the craft bug!

2011-05-14T11:30:00.001-07:00

I am going to make this today! hope it turns out as good as this one! :]

What's new?...

2011-05-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

...PREGNANCY...
a beautiful-ish thing.

Thought it would be fun to post how pregnancy is so far...mostly just so i can laugh at myself later.

For most, none of this is news. But it's mostly just for my entertainment. :]
I got some cool ultrasound pics i just have been dying to post...i think he's handsome just like his daddy...

I am just two days from my 6 month mark - Making me 27 weeks and growing fast! It's a crazy thing, i am amazed everyday at all the changes that my body is going through, i think i have a new pregnancy symptom everyday- at least i use pregnancy as an excuse for how i feel.

this picture is horrid. (i think this was like the 4th one we took and i am NOT a good picture person) but just look at the baby bump and not my face

So my husband and anyone that has to spend anytime whatsoever around me can vouch that pregnancy turns me into a monster of sorts :

Sometimes, ok usually i cry during cheesy commercials

any time i watch a babystory on TLC i am crying within 30 seconds

Ok... crying over everything.

Jake HAS made late-night runs to the store for various cravings such as: ice cream, sno-cones, and if he could've found one, watermelon

UNSATISFIABLE HUNGER
breakfast, then second breakfast, lunch and second lunch, then dinner and dessert

And Most recently:

HEARTBURN

crazy dreams

AMONG MANY OTHER THINGS I'M SURE.

I KNOW I MAKE PREGNANCY SOUND MISERABLE (AND IT CAN BE) IT IS ALSO AN AMAZING BLESSING AND MIRACLE. I LOVE BEING PREGNANT. RIGHT DOWN TO THE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS I CAN'T WAIT TO BRING HOME OUR SWEET LITTLE BOY. I FEEL SO BLESSED TO BE A FUTURE MOMMY:]

Owl Eyes- FOR MY MOM ;]

2011-05-07T08:50:00.001-07:00

Abbreviations:

CH- Chain ST or STS- Stitch or Stitches

DHC- Double Half Crochet SL ST- Slip Stitch

DC- Double Crochet

IN BLACK:

CH 1, Work 6 DHC in 2^nd CH. Join with SL ST.

CH 1, Work 2 DHC in each stitch around. Join with SL ST. ( 12 sts)

Cut, and weave in end, or leave long for easy sewing-I usually just weave it in and sew along the outside of my eye when it's complete. But you can do it however you would like. (Make sure you pull it through your stitch so it won't come unraveled.)

IN NEXT COLOR- (usually the color of your hat)

In the SL ST you just created in black, insert your hook and loop the next color through.

CH 1, (you will have to keep ahold of the new color and the end of the black if you did not weave in ends to keep it snug)

Work 1 DHC in 1^st ST, 2 DHC in next, Repeat till end. Join with SL ST.

Cut this color off, weave in ends or leave long for sewing.

IN WHITE

In the SL ST you just created with the previous color, insert hook and loop white through.

CH 1, (make sure you hold ends tight)

Work 1 DHC in First 2 STS, 2 DHC in next. Repeat till end. Join with SL ST

CH 1, work 1 DHC in First 3 STS, 2 DHC in next. Repeat till end. Join with SL ST.
Cut off white- weave in ends.

IN NEXT COLOR
(usually the color you used for decorative edging on your hat & combined with fuzzy for eyebrow look)
in the SL ST you just created with white, insert hook and loop through the new color

CH 1, (keep ends tight)

Work 1 DHC in each ST around- Only go half way around the eye.
Cut, weave in ends
AND VOILA! You've made an eye!

Back to bloggin'

2011-05-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

It's been way too long since i've updated my blog, and it's quite embarrassing, it's like going back and reading your 6th grade diary, and realizing how lame you were. However, i'm feeling the bloggin' itch comming back, and i'm going to try to keep this baby updated!
This last week was a great week for me i got to go home to preston and spend some time with my family and help Ami with Jr. Miss. I'm always Amazed at her talent and love for life, and wish i had been more like that when i was her age. GO AMI! :] I love ya.

the places you've come to fear the most

2010-02-04T16:55:00.000-08:00

well, it's been a while since my last post. I guess I need to do better. Things have been a little crazy, but i think things are finally back on track, or heading there. Jake and i have learned some valuable life lessons in the last few weeks, and let's just hope we can master the first time around. I read somewhere, and i'm going crazy that i can't remember where exactly, but someone said "instead of asking why is this happening to me, ask, what can i learn from this?" we were really able to put that to the test, and it really gives you a new set of eyes. We are greatful for our challenges, and the things we have learned from them. Life is crazy beautiful.

"...continually failing these trials, but you stand by me nonetheless and you won't let me sink and i'm beggin you, i'm beggin you. . . " D.B.

...what's new pussycat....

2009-08-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

well, not a whole heck of alot has been going on...we have been at jakes parents about a month now, it's been an interesting living situation, everyone goes there seperate ways, everyone is always running, and busy busy busy, i got all of the girls addicted to watching reba....and every episode gets recorded, we are in the 90 somthings now.We feel very blessed to have his family here to help us, and we are excited for our apartment to open up so we can get back to our own place, and out of everyone's way. but i bet i will be sad when i am all by myself sometimes. We decided that Jake's job situation has been a great blessing, even though we thought it was not a good thing...He has decided to work on getting his real estate licence, and will hopefully get it done quickly. I just work and sleep it seems like latly, so we don't get out and do a whole lot anymore.... but we keep ourselves entertained. I can't beleive August is almost over already! It seems like it just started, Last year at this time i was packing to start new in cali and here i am, married in preston, fancy that! It's interesting the blessings the Lord has in store for you when you just listen. I tell jake everyday i miss california and i want to go back, but it's such a great blessing to be where we are, and be with eachother.....anyways, that's about all i got for today, but i will post again soon.....

Job...Move...Life...

2009-07-20T17:55:00.000-07:00

Well it's been quite a while since my last post, you would think i would do better at posting, being home alot, but obviously that's not the case. Jake and i go home about every stinking weekend, we're sure the people in our ward think that we are inactive, but that's not the case, we go to church, just not in our ward. :] and it's not our fault that there is something going on every weekend.... Kadee got a cute kitten a few weeks ago, he is super cute, but he is fiesty, jake is the only person i have found that can calm him down, and every weekend i get a picture of him and the cat sleeping, he says he doesn't like cats....but that's not what the pictures say.

I still can't find a job...but hopefully that will change soon. And we are moving soon, not sure where to yet, but prolly back to preston considering that's where jakes job is going. i guess we will see how it all turns out. :] Well, that's about all i have, i mean i could probably go on and on about nothing, but i don't feel like it, so that's all for now. . .

Peace.

L-L-L-Lydia

2009-06-15T23:14:00.000-07:00

i'm having a love affair with this band.

can't get enoughhhh.

Tye-Dye date night!

2009-05-16T12:14:00.000-07:00

so jake and i like to have a date night each friday night, we just plan something fun to do and have a "date" night, it was my turn to plan the date night this week so i had the idea to tye-dye tshirts and then we went out to eat in them, we got alot of comments on our shirts, we must be the only ones who wear them anymore. :] but we had alot of fun making them! i also had the idea to pull some pranks on some of the couples who live in our apartment complex, some we have only met once or twice. We went to the DI and bought 4 glass bowls, and 4 random gifts, and we popped some popcorn and put it in the bowl and left the popcorn and one of the little gifts with a note and poem and a p.s. on the note that said "the popcorn is free but please return the bowl" but didn't leave a name, and we just left them on the door-step of their apartments! we got a kick out of buying the gifts and leaving them out! and it was really cheap!

these are a couple pictures of what the gifts looked like that we left out. we tried to find the most random things we could i think we did pretty good, a eyeball candle, cat soap holder, coconut monkey, and a pillow with an old couple sewn on.

Our first apartment :]

2009-05-12T15:26:00.001-07:00

The living room The Kitchen

(the 'surf board' table doubles as a dining table and computer desk! )

The bathroom our empty- kitchen table area :]

So, it's a little snug, but we fit perfectly! It's so fun being married and making our first little apartment a home! we just love it! :]

wedding wedding wedding!

2009-04-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

well, it's all over now, i know, i'm WAY late on posting, but i finally got my internet up and running and so i thought i would, the only thing is, because i live in Rexburg i have not made it back to preston to pick up my "professional" pictures of the wedding, so i am just putting some up of the ones i had on my camera that ashlee, chris and lisa took. :] then when i get my good ones, i promise i will post them.
The wedding was amazing! I absolutley LOVE the Salt Lake Temple! it's soo beautiful! The wind was blowing like crazy when we came out though, so i don't know how good the pictures will be, cos my hair kept blowing in my face, and it got all messy. :[ but it was so much fun to be there with friends and family, and just enjoy the moment. i wasn't as concerned about the weather as i was the days before. The reception was beautiful! My mom did such a GREAT job in getting everything together and set up, it was a little stressful during the day gettting everything done, but it all worked out great!
this is a video jake and i did, just because a 2 hour drive to the place your getting married, can seem a little long. and we like to try to keep ourselves entertained. :]
this is me and jake after we fed eachother cake, he had it all over his face and in his eyebrows, and i had a HUGE chunk down my dress, it was the sickest feeling having that all crammed down there, poor jake though, he told me from the day we got engaged that he would not be smashing cake in my face, and he didnt. awe, what a sweetie. hahaha

this is all the jakes and ashlee's. ashlee higley, jake higley, me (another ashlee higley), jake pulsipher, and ashlie pulsipher.

this one doesn't need comentary.

jake and ashlee

the BEAUTIFUL salt lake temple.

jake and i made a pit stop at a mavrick on the way to salt lake, we were hungry and i was kinda tired, so he got us some corn dogs, and me a red bull to keep up the engergy level. (it worked)

12 days left!

2009-04-04T22:21:00.000-07:00

Wow, i really suck at this whole blog thing. i'm really trying to keep it caught up, but i guess i just get too busy and/or sidetracked on facebook ;] anyways, we are down to 12 days! holy moly! and i'm proud to say we have almost everything done. What a relief. Lynette did my bridals a couple weeks ago, they turned out really cute, she does such a great job, and is really fun to work with!

Today we had my bridal shower, it was so fun to get together with everyone and celebrate a little, it makes things a little more real for me, i still don't think it has fully hit me i am getting married yet, beleive it or not. Thanks to everyone who came!!

Just 35 days left.

2009-03-14T00:10:00.000-07:00

34 days!

MAN! time is flyin' by! all of a sudden i am only gonna be a single girl for 5 more weeks. WHAAAT?! pretty much my mom rocks and has been the best wedding planner a girl could ask for, everything is about done except picking out a cake and jake's ring, and mailing invites,and getting a backdrop, and bridals...and reception decorations, and bridal shower, and food. ..ookay so there is still quite a bit to get done. but most of the hard part is done that is good. Jake and I decided that we will most likly be heading out to Virgina for the summer, if everything goes as planned we will leave 10 days after we get married, and be back in august sometime. nothing like living one one coast then the other in a matter of months! :] We are super excited and counting downt the days!

Jake and shane came in on my lunch break at work and went out to the shooting range. Jake just bought a new gun and he wanted me to shoot it. I was all for it till i watched him shoot it. Then i decided it would prolly sprain my wrist, but he finally talked me into it. After i shot it i decided it wasn't too bad, but it took me a while to warm up to it. I still don't really like to shoot it, guns just aren't my thing, but hey, what can i say i am a dang good shooter. ;]

2009-02-20T16:14:00.000-08:00

Jake is going to kill me for posting this, but i love it when he plays his guitar for me. I was in the bathroom getting ready and i ALWAYS listen to music when i get ready, and i was at jakes house so i didn't have any music so i begged jake to play for me, he got grumpy and kept saying no, and i kept begging him to play for me. So, finally, he gave in a played for me. I only got half of the last song he played on video, but he is quite the entertainer. :D

Cali

2009-02-20T15:54:00.000-08:00

I thought since, i have not been working, and all i have to do is sit at home, i could post the pictures of jake and i in cali. He came to cali jan. 24th to pick me up and spent about 4 days out there with me, we went to Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach, it was alot of fun! We love California! We wanted to spend as much time as we could at the beach before we had to come back to Idaho and the yucky freezing snow :/. But it wasn't warm enough to swim, we still had fun!

this is jake and i at laguna

Jake enjoying the beautiful ocean scene, by the way the water was SO COLD!

me being me.

Jake and i at huntington beach.

this is a picture of my grandparents walking down the PCH ( pacific coast hwy) jake and i joked that that's what we will look like about 30 years from now. haha

We all went out to eat at Chuy's- one last night out with the Brandenburgs! i will miss em!

EnGaGeMeNtS!

2009-02-14T19:01:00.000-08:00

photos by: lynette phillips

Well, i guess it's offically offical now, we have our engagement pictures done. :] these are just a few of my favorites i made into a collage. I LOVE OUR PICS! Lynette did such a great job!!

Things are moving right along, i went and got my dress on wednesday and my veil and shoes and everything! Jake and i made our center peices, they are SUPER cute! It's so exciting to watch everything come together! Only 63 more days! woot woot!! I designed our announcement today, and so we will be getting those put together and start addressing our millions of invites. so we can mail them out in time. I didn't realize how much work a wedding was till we started planning, but it's alot of fun!

My Jakey

2009-01-15T20:54:00.001-08:00

This is just a little video of jake, just for fun, he was being a punk, so i got him on camera, he's kinda cute when he is grumpy :] love you jake!

2009-01-15T15:04:00.000-08:00

Well, since i haven't posted for a little over a month if figured i better post and catch ya'll up with what's happenin'. Christmas was amazing! I loved being home, seeing family, celebrating, playing, heck, i even loved the snow. :] I stayed busy the whole time, and even though i had 2 weeks i didn't get to see everyone i wanted to. Things got a little busier than i had planned for, Jake and I got engaged! We are super excited!

It was drews birthday on monday, so last saturday we all went up to Big Bear sledding, it was a pretty fun time, Jens mom was in town, so we had 7 people to pack in a car! The road was soo windy i got car sick, it wasn't a fun ride, but sledding was fun! There is a lake right near where we were sledding, and it was SO pretty and blue! You wouldn't guess you would find it in cali, cos the snow and the frozen water, but sure enough! :]

i know it seems like i should have alot to post because it's been a century since i have posted anything, but i really don't have much else to tell ya'll. :]

2008-12-08T00:11:00.000-08:00

hey ya'll i just thought i would share with you this funny little story of what happen today. So i am just chillin at home alone, cos the brandenburgs had a pot-luck dinner to go to, and i was in my room, and my room is directly above the garage, so if the door opens or closes, i can hear it quite well. and while i was laying here in my bed working on my laptop i heard the garage door close, and thats' usually my indicator for the brandenburgs being back, so i listened for a few additional moments, and realized that the Brandedburgs were indeed, not home, and so i started to panic instantainously, thinking someone was either robbing the place or comming to kidnap me, i didn't worry alot about it till i let my mind wander and i had my music on pretty loud, since i was the only one home, i took advatage :] so i couldn't hear really well, but i thought i had heard the door open and close, and so i thought for sure someone was here, maybe jen had dropped andy off or visa versa ? well i really needed to go to the bathroom, so i get up to go, and it's directly down the hall from my room, strait shot, so i RUN to the bathroom, and i locked the door behind, me. when i had done what i needed to do in the bathroom, i decided that i was just to scared to go out because by then i had come to the conclusion that neither jen nor andy were there when i called both their names and noone answered, so i thought for sure the dude that was kidnapping me would be right outside the door, waiting. So i camped out in the bathroom, luckily i had my ipod with me and the ipod player in the bathroom, so i put on my music and tried to forget things, and texted jake, who didn't help, but only told me about scary movies to make things worse, i gave myself and hour and a half makeover- at 8 at night, until i heard jen and andy come home and decided it was safe to come out. Jen asked me where i was going and i told her i wasn't going anywhere she looked at me funny, then i proceeded to tell her the story, after a long period of laughter and finger pointing, she told me that they had come home for a moment and gotten a couple things, and shut the garage. So i camped out in the bathroom for about 2 hours, so the moral of the story is, always make sure you pee before you really have to go. :] that way you don't get stuck in the bathroom!

2008-12-06T21:49:00.000-08:00

This picture is actually from about a week ago, i was doing some laundry, which was much over-due, and natalie likes to help out in EVERYTHING, cooking, cleaning, folding, and as you can see here, she likes to wear bras. I thought it was cute personally. She is SO MUCH OF A GIRL! and everytime you turn around she is doing something funny, like this. :]

Today i didn't feel very well, and didn't feel like doing much of anything, but if ya'll know me well enough to know i can't sit still and do nothing for anything, so while i sat in bed i took an old magazine and made this long chains out of them, and i made some out of pink and zebra paper too, and hung them up! It looks much better in person, but i thought it was kinda clever! it took me forever, but heck, what else was i to do right? i also started making some drink coasters out of my old magazines too, till the glue decided to spew all over my hands and then i was done, i am still picking super glue off my hands, it's not a pretty picture. Maybe tomorrow or when i have nothing to do i'll finish them up! We'll see. :]

2008-12-06T21:42:00.000-08:00

Today i took the kids up to drews school for breakfast and to see Santa! They were super shy, and just stared at him in awe. It was super cute, the rest of the day natalie kept telling me that she knew Santa was watching so she was going to be good. :] Joshy had a mask that had broken (one of his thousands) and he wants a new one so he took it and showed Santa so he could make sure to get the right one. ;] and Natalie asked for babies, she has been telling Jen latly she wants a little sister, so i'm not quite sure what kind of "babies" she was talking about, but we will find out soon enough i suppose when she wakes up christmas morning to a plastic one. It sure is strange that i am still wearing my shorts and t-shirts and flip-flops in December, and still sweating! ugh. Christmas just isn't the same without snow. It doesn't feel like christmas time at all!

2008-12-04T08:38:00.000-08:00

These are just some recent pics of me and the kiddies. Josh and Drew both rock mohawks now, they think they are pretty rad, and well... they are. :] natalies my girl. always sittin' pretty.

I don't know if you can tell but that is my head just by the "b" in Brandenburg, the Brandenburgs are very touchy-lovy people. ;]

Ah, man i love these kiddies. They keep me busy that's for sure! And they are all VERY witty and clever! They keep me laughing! Over the last week and a half since i have been home i have been telling the kids that Santa is watching, so they better be nice to eachother and help out mommy and daddy, and keep their toys picked up, cos santa knows if they are being bad. Well, another one of the Brandedburg traits is that they don't like to wear clothes, almost all the time the kids are walking around in nothing but thier underwear. So last night when i mentioned to natalie-who was wearing nothing but underwear, that Santa was watching, she got a funny look on her face and then all of a sudden her eyes get wide and she folds her arms over her chest and says "OH NO! SANTA CAN SEE MY BOOBS!" i thought i was going to die laughing at that point. It was the cutest most sincere worry a child could have, then she asked me to help her get a dress out of the closet for her cos she can't reach so that she could be dressed. -- it's moments like this that make me really love my job!

2008-12-03T21:22:00.000-08:00

I finally made it to DISNEYLAND! I live like 30 mins away and finally made it there the day after thanksgiving! woot woot!

This is my home, okay no just kidding, but it would be rad if it were my home. :] this looks SUPER COOL when it's all lit up at night. Also they have everything decorated for christmas, so at night looks super neat with all the christmas lights, and they have fake snow makers and they make it snow, i was amazed, and very excited!!

This is me on the buzz ride, my score ALWAYS sucked, but i still loved it. You are supposed to shoot the lit up shapes with your lazer gun, and each different shape is a different amount of points, i say my gun was faulty, everyone else says i just suck. but whatevs.

if you noticed in one of my previous posts i made a bucket list, that list consisted of many things but two of them were go to Disneland, and smooch goofy. well i went to Disneyland! so i can cross that off, but goofy was nowhere to be found. but i found his house! I'll be back goofy! you just wait!

what can i say? Feel like a kid, act like a kid, NAP like a kid, Disneyland wore me right out! (this is at like 2 in the afternoon, we had been there since like 9:30 or so, and we stayed till 10:30!--long funnn day!!)I couldn't find goofy, but i found ELVIS! which is almost just as good. i didn't get to smooch him tho :/

2008-12-03T14:41:00.000-08:00

Wow! It's already been a week and a half since i got back from idaho. Seems longer than that though, I think I am anxious to get back to Idaho for Christmas. I'm missin home a little. It was so nice to be able to come home for grandpa's funeral and see family and friends.

i think i like this boy a little. ;]

I had Thanksgiving with Jen, and Andy and the kids, Susan, and Ed, and Cindy- Andy's Parents. It was a different Thanksgiving than being home with my family, but it was still a good time. We had alot of fun visiting and getting to know eachother and sharing stories. We all pitched in and helped cook and it was just an all-around good holiday for us all!
after dinner jen and andy and ed didn't waste much time getting to the adds for the sales on black friday! Jen and andy got up at like 4 to beat the crowds, or better be a part of the crowds! CRAZY!
jen and i sporting our sexy aprons! Thanks ma!

2008-11-08T11:38:00.000-08:00

so... i decided to make my very own bucket list...

5o things I want to do before I die:

1. Attend at least one major sporting event. (super bowl, olympics...ect)
2. swim with a dolphin
3.skydive
4. Have my Portrait painted.
5. Tell someone my life story- sparing no details.
6. Learn to Ballroom dance.
7. shower in a waterfall
8. spend new years eve in an exotic place
9. Drive across America- from coast to coast.
10. Own an AWESOME business suit
11. Ride the roller coaster on top of the stratosphere in Vegas (or the worlds highest rollercoaster)
12. Lean to juggle
13. spend Christmas on the beach
14. raft thru the grand canyon
15. grow a garden
16. scuba dive
17. spend 3 months getting my body in optimum shape
18. go up in a hot air balloon
19. Fart in a public place.
20. make a hole in one
21. make my greatest weakness my greatest strength
22. give blood
23. visit the Louvre-see mona lisa
24. go to Paris
25. meet jack black
26. have a star named after me
27. learn to hula- hula in Hawaii
28. learn to play the guitar
29. write my own songs
30. learn to throw a boomerang
31. give a homeless person my lunch
32. build a sandcastle
33. get my fortune told
34. see sunrise on the beach
35. see sunset on the beach
36. go to Disneyland
37. kiss goofy
38. adopt a child
39. attend an opera
40. go on a road trip with my friends
41. go to a drive in movie
42. see northern lights
43. bowl a 300
44. go paintballing
45. learn to surf
46. go to NYC
47. learn how to fence
48. meet the president of the US
49. find a 4 leaf clover
50. be kissed under the Effiel tower

2008-11-07T16:34:00.000-08:00

It has been brought to my attention that i am failing everyone by not posting anything for about a month now... :/ so i will sum up the last month in this post! yay!

so i bought myself some skinny jeans, that's huge! because me in skin tight jeans, ya right! but i did it! and i love them! i'm sure i will be sporting them when i come home for ya'll to see. but in case you can't wait i'll post a pic of them on here for you. haha. just so you all know the tag says "super skinny" so that tells you how tight they are. :]

I finally made a new friend, susan, so i actually have someone to go hang out with instead of haning out with boys all the time or sitting at home. We have fun, and do the most random things, and dare eachother to do some insane things, which gets interesting, neither of us have chickened out yet tho, so i'll keep you posted on some of those dares, one was asking a complete stranger to dance in target, ( thank ellen for the inspiration) one was asking a guy in chillies if we could get a pic with him, just little things like that!

She and her mom and dad invited me to go with them to the Ellen Degeneres show in Burbank about two weeks ago! IT WAS BOMB! We got to Burbank at about 11'o clock, and signed in, the place you wait is in a parking garage across the street from the WB studios. After we signed in we went down and ate at a little tiny, totally delicious mexican restraunt, needless to say it rocked my socks! We got back to the waiting place about 12:30 and we waited for about 5 and a half hours, to hold our spot in line, cos you never know when they will call you in, and if your not there when they decide to, you don't get in, so we literally sat in a parking garage for like 6 hours, it was cool though, totally paid off, you had to dress classy, so i was wearing some boots with heals on them! OUCH! haha, my feet were KILLING! I contemplated buring the boots shortly after i got home, but i think i will just stick them in a glass case and save them as "ellen keepsakes" or something like that. Well when we finally got it, everything went by super fast! They sat us in awesome seats, which are totally random, and they sat Susan on the isle seat! So we danced and danced and it was awesome to see all the "behind the scenes" stuff that goes on. Chris Rock and Elisebeth Banks were the guests, it was rad. Oh, and did i mention we totally scored free digital cameras?! cheyah!

this is me and susan in front of one of the tvs they had in the "waiting area" at ellen! notice the skinny jeans and boots!-------->

Jen had a rockin' Halloween party! That was super fun! I went as a "convict" but everyone kept calling me "jail-bait" can't decide if that's a compliment or a slam? Susan went as a conductor, we had fun, we were the only two single ones there, everyone else brought their husbands or boyfriends, but neither of us have one of those, so we rocked the dance floor solo style!

Just to make ya'll a little jealous, Monday Susan and I went to Huntington Beach, it was about 75 and the water was about 60, a little too chilly for Californians, but for us it wasn't too bad! We played a couple games of beach volleyball with some random people then ran and jumped right in! It was a fun time! I learned though that my bathing suit isn't safe for swimming in or doing really anything in except sitting still, cos the top just wouldn't stay put! Good thing noone was really all that close or they woulda gotten a show! luckily susan was there to tell me if i was having a problem! HA HA.

this is the Pier at Huntington Beach. The building at the end is a restraunt called Ruby's! sounds silly but people actually fish off of it, and catch things believe it or not. i 'm not sure what they catch. but i don't know that i want to know either.

i witnessed some real-live surfing! surfers are HOT. mmmmmmm p.s. they are wearing wet suits.

I uploaded a little video tid bit so you can see what i do on a daily basis, or close to it anyway.... enjoy!
LOVES YOU ALL!

LAGUNA BEACH!

2008-10-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

Last saturday, jeremy and i went to laguna beach! It was soo beautiful! It was kinda rainy and cold all day, but it was still amazing! I couldn't help but get in the water. All i had was the clothes i was wearing, so i rolled up my pants and went and played! it was so much fun! my pants were full of sand, but it was soo worth it! We got subways and ate them on the beach, and a seagul came and we fed him chips, he even ate out of my hand! Then he invited all his friends, and pretty soon we had seaguls everywhere! When we were done eating we left our subway bag by our things and went to play and take pictures, and while we were gone the seaguls made a big mess of it all.

This is the beach we were at!

the water was a little cool, but still soo fun!

HI MOM!

:::just chillin::

2008-10-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

I JUST THOUGHT I WOULD POST A QUICK BLOG OF JUST ME AND THE KIDS CHILLIN... JUST BECAUSE I HAVEN'T POSTED FOR SO LONG!

We are working on natalies picture taking skills! haha. she's pretty good. ha ha. and she LOVES taking pictures. :]

this is me and drew man-- just being rad.

this is what i look like when i am not playin nanny! ha i actually have make-up on! yay!------------------------>

Mr. Joshman ALWAYS falls asleep in the car, weather we are in the car for an hour or if it's 5 mins::: it's kinda handy actually! :]

oh how i love so. cal! It's the greatest place to be!! I get lost alot, and map quest is my new best friend, but, it's rad! Everyone keeps saying its starting to cool off, but it was 104 today... ya right!!

:::::ChUcK e. ChEeSe::::

2008-10-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

Today we went to chuck e. cheese for our playdate! It was way fun and the kids had a blast! I have never been to chuck e. cheese before, so it was fun for me to do that for the first time... even tho it's built just for kids. ha. i had fun!

Miss natalie on the mean monster truck machine!

mason and josh at the top of the jungle gym! those dang monkeys!

josh, sydney, victoria and natalie::: i couldn't get them all to look at the camera at the same time for anything!!! but they are still soo cute.

Joshy ran around like crazy winning tickets cos he wanted to buy a toy dinosaur sooo bad! so he would play a game and get like 2 or 3 tickets and then run to the machine that counted tickets and print a recipt. i couldn't get him to wait and count all his tickets at one time so that we only had one recipt, the dinosaur he wanted to buy was 40 tickets, so we had prolly 9 recipts or so with only 2-11 points on them. it was funny, but he finally got his dinosaur!!!

drew and i did a simulation roller coaster ride, that was pretty fun, if that's all a rollercoaster felt like in real life i would like it! i couldn't get drew to get in any pictures... he was too cool for me. && disapeared and did his own thing the whole time.

~PIRATE DAY~

2008-09-11T11:36:00.000-07:00

Today we had "Pirate Day" we dressed up as pirates and did a scavenger hunt... I made clues that lead to one another, and then the treasure was ice cream...we made a trip to Berrysweet, but they were closed so we had to go to McDonalds. The kids didn't seem to mind, and had alot of fun playing pirates! joshy makes the cutest pirate! At least i think so. . . . .

JOSH::: The Tuff Pirate.

NATALIE: the sweet pirate.

ASH::: The 1/2 Pirate.

joshy took this picture. ha. seems i dnt have a head. :)

i made my costume out of a black garbage bag, the kids thought i was nuts, & they kept making fun of me.

we had a treasure map to follow, with pitures of where the next clue was, drawn on the map so it could help find it.

we had fun being pirates, and finding the hidden treasure!!! && enjoying our ice cream too!!!!

We also read the childrens book; How I Became a Pirate.

Cali....

2008-09-10T16:11:00.000-07:00

This is my new home...in so. cal, where i live with the Brandenburg famiy, who i nanny for.

These are the brandenburs. Jen, Andy, Drew, Josh, and Natalie.

and the other two members of the family, the great dane- hazel, and bulldog -rosie. They are soo cute, but very lazy, they like to sleep in their kennels all day in the nice air- conditioned house. sometimes you can't even get them to come out because they know they have to go out in the california heat. [[poor things]]

so far my time out here has been bitter-sweet. I think i may be suffering from a bit of culture shock, i miss my family alot and miss my friends back home. it's hard to adjust from being on the go all the time and always being with friends, to being home and not know a soul. I am hoping to get to know people and start making friends, that way my experience will be alot better. The family is very sweet, but have different habits than i do, its interesting to see the differences in people.