I'll Take A Vow

to never take a baby into a movie

until they are old enough to be able to pay attention to the movie - how old is that anyway?

I took Jaren to Twilight and there was a screaming baby throughout at least a fourth of the movie. Did the mom take it outside so as not to bug the people who payed 3 bucks to enjoy the movie? Nope. It was then that I officially vowed to never take a baby to a movie. I will find a sitter or wait to rent.

Happy New Year!

Then and Now: Christmas Edition

I am back in Idaho. Getting here went smooth and we didn't miss any flights. Read the post before this to hear a horrifying travel story. Jaren actually laughed about it today while we were in the air port in Salt Lake. I didn't. I'm still a bit traumatized, I think. :)


Christmas went very well. It was so very nice to spend time with everyone. We missed my brother Kevin, his wife Lena and their little spitfire, Isak.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas and is still enjoying the spirit of it.


I was on facebook last week and saw that my sister, Lindsey had posted a picture from Christmas 2005 as her profile picture. I took a look and couldn't believe what I saw.

Feast your eyes, my friends.

That's right. Horrifying! I had just lost most (but, as you can see, not all) of my freshman 20. The look on my face is horrifying and really confusing - I don't quite understand it. And the double chin? Ehhh. Lindsey, though..... I think she was mad cause she just got plastic for Christmas and I got a game.

So she had to recreate the picture this year.

It took a few tries and I still don't think I can make that face again consciously. I hope my subconscious has forgotten all together. But Linds, she has the glaring thing down pretty well. I see it a lot, actually.

I am now going to come back into the blogging world! woohoo!

Never Again - Christmas Travel

I am in Washington with my family for Christmas. It's so nice to be with everyone (except Kevin and Lena and Isak, and fetus that has put mommy on bedrest so they couldn't be here - we all miss you).

Oh, but getting here. Getting here has given both Jaren and I migrains. His worse than mine :)

We got to Idaho Falls to fly out at 1 p.m. early and sat and waited... waited... found out our plane was delayed 20 minutes.

Okay, that's not too bad. We have an hour layover in Salt Lake, now we have a 40 minute one, we'll still make our flight.

So we wait, wait, 1:20 comes and goes, now the flight is delayed till 1:50

I start to panick a little, we might miss our flight. We go check with the lady at the counter and our flight to Tri Cities is delayed 40 minutes.

Few! We'll still make it.

So we wait.. wait... 1:50 comes and the plane barely arrives. It takes 30 minutes to get people out, feuled up, lugage unloaded and loaded, then us loaded. By the time we get into the plane I'm quite worried. I tell Jaren he had better be ready to sprint and cut people off.

We land, we are out after everyone else infront of us which drove me crazy. As soon as we get off the ramp I take off. I was a good 15 feet infront of Jaren, we get to our gate to see that our flight is delayed till 4:30.

Oh! Well... that's okay. Just means Lindsey (my sister) will have to wait in Tri Cities a little longer to pick us up.

At this time it's just after 3:00 p.m. and I'm hungry so we walk up, get $9 sandwiches (ouch) and eat. Then go back downstairs to wait. We are sitting by the smoking room, they were the only two seats available in the entire terminal. We sit, I read, Jaren looks at the screen and the time has changed. Our flight has been delayed, again, till 5:30.

Blah! It's 4:00 right now. Better call Linds and tell her it's off another hour.

So I do. She's okay with it because it gives her more time to shop at the mall there. But there were so many people in that room that it was really starting to smell. And I don't do well with smoke, so we decide to go for a walk. We get up, and walk for a while just around the airport to different terminals. It's 4:50 now and we decide to sit at these chairs just by the stairs that lead down to our terminal. We are sitting infront of a flight schedule screen and are watching. We get up about 10-15 minutes later, so just after 5 to go down to board our plane or see if it's delayed again. We go down the stairs and look at the flight board. Our flight is GONE.

From the 45 seconds it took us to leave the chairs and get downstairs and look at the other flight screen they have taken the flight OFF. So I feel my stomach clench and we run to the gate.

NO ONE is there. Half the room is empty when an hour before it was PACKED. No worker at the gate. But there is one at the gate next to it.

Mind you, I am FREAKING OUT. Seriously panicking. I don't care that there is a line. I ask her, "WHERE IS THAT FLIGHT????" "WHERE IS IT?!" "It was supposed to leave at 5:30!!!!!"

She tells me that she doesn't know, but if I went to the service desk they could tell me. I think I remember mumbling something not so nice to the lady (I mean... she didn't deserve it, but who else was I going to yell at?!)

We run, again, to the service desk. There's a line of about 15-20 people waiting. I could care less. I walk up to the edge, ask the people who were being helped if I can ask this lady a question, they say yes (because I'm sure I looked wild and ferocious). So, I turn on the lady, "Where is flight 4720?!" "It was supposed to leave at 5:30 - no one is there! Is the plane out there? Can they hold it? Can i just run out there and flag it down?"

I really did ask these questions.

She typed in the flight number and said, "No, they flew out at 5:06"

"WHAT?!!!" Panicking, panicking... freaking out. what?! calm down... no... i can't, we missed our flight, WE MISSED OUR FLIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

She makes a phone call and I hear this, "We have another one. No. Look, something went wrong here. No, hey, I'm not pointing fingers but we have a problem."

She tells me that she will help me as soon as she takes care of the people that she was currently helping. I say ok and stand there. Sure, everyone in line looked like, if the air port allowed guns they would pull them out and bust a cap in our heads. I did not care. Not one bit. I was so worked up.

Then, the family that was also being helped next to the ladies that let us in tells us that they are also trying to get to Pasco. They have been in Salt Lake, for two days. And the only flight they can get on is on Christmas day.

Two days. Christmas. Two days. Christmas. No.... no... no no no no NO! We can't leave until CRHISTMAS?!

So, I can't help it. With like, 30 people shooting daggers into us, I start crying. I'm sure everyone thinks I'm being dramatic. but NO. I CANNOT miss this Christmas! Esepecailly the Christmas Eve party at my Grandma's that happens every year. My Grandma is very very sick and I HAVE to be there! So.. I cry and try to stop. But I can't. I think I set off some water works because the girl that was being helped right next to me starts crying and is saying, "My babies, my babies, I need to see my babies!" When 30 seconds ago she was fine. The helper lady splits up the mom and daughter to get the daughter to Arizona tonight. The mom will come on Christmas, she just wants to get her daughter to her babies.

Then the helper lady says, "Okay, I can help you now." So we start to step up to the counter and the guy that was next in line walks up infront of us and the helper lady says, "No, sir, they were waiting." He is MAD. Looks so mad and annoyed and backs up and glares at us. I didn't look.. I didn't look at the line, I knew they all wanted to throw us out to get run over by a plane. Did I care that I cutted? NO. We just got hosed by Delta. I don't care.

She brings up flights. Christmas night is when we can get into Pasco... no.... There's nothing going to Spokane. She asks if we want to split up. One of us could get to Pasco tonight and one of us would have to wait till Christmas. I look at Jaren and there's no way. No way we could be split up. So we say no. I wish that we could just share a seat. I mean the flight is just an hour and 50 minutes, it wouldn't be too bad. Stupid saftey regulations.

Then Jaren asks about Seattle. Seattle was closed the day before but has been taking flights all day now. She says there are two seats to seattle tonight, we would get in at 8:45. I grab my phone, call my mom, tell her that someone needs to get to seattle (3 hours away) to get us. She calls my dad, arrangments are made, and we are on that flight. Unfortunatly the only seats available are first class. Oh man, that's too bad. I guess i'll take those complimentary tickets. That was the only thing I was excited about.

1st class... never been in first class before.... hmmm....... they have big seats. that will be nice.

We take the tickets, go to the gate and sit there and wait for 2 1/2 hours. Neither of us gets more than 20 feet from that gate. We have learned our lesson.

About an hour before our flight was supposed to take off Jaren got nervous and wanted to make sure that the tickets we had were not standby, that they, were in fact, real tickets for real seats - just for us.

He goes to the desk and asks the lady. This is their conversation
Jaren: I just wanted to make sure these are not standby tickets.
Lady: (looks at the tickets) Nope, these are real tickets.
(loos at them a little further)
Lady: wait, your not supposed to have these
Jaren: (with a huge knot in his stomache and blood boiling) Be that as it may, we HAVE them and we are going to Seattle tonight.
Lady: (still looking at the tickets) Sky west was not supposed to do this. They do not have authority to do this. (getting worked up)
Jaren: They did because you guys screwed us
Lady: Hey, a lot of people today here are getting screwed.
Jaren: No, not like this. They had the time our flight was going to leave, then left without announcing it or changing the time on the board. So we missed it.
Lady: (softening up) Oh.... okay. Here you go (hands him the tickets)
Jaren: Thank you.
And then walks away

That was a close call! I know I would have died. DIED if we couldn't have gotten on that flight. I mean, our bags were alrady on their way to Pasco. Lindsey picked them up, thank heavens.

So we get on the plane - it's delayed 30 minutes. It's okay. Were on it, I don't care. Everyone get's on - there are NO open seats. We had to get someone to move to another seat so Jaren and I could sit by each other. She was nice and didn't mind.

Then a couple comes on and says, "these guys are in our seats" Pointing to the first row in first class. The stuardess (sp?) looks at their tickets (which were just little reciepts) and at the peoples tickets who were already sitting there. They have big tickets and the seats, go to them cause they have the more real tickets? I think the reciept people just had standby reciepts. So the girl says, "there are NO seats on this plane???" Looking sad and mad. The stuardess says, no. The girl says, "we have been here since 5 this morning!" and then leaves.

Me? I am so so so sosososososososo grateful to be sitting in those seats. That we still got to where we wanted to be in the same day. We are SO LUCKY.

We fly into Seattle - the view is beautiful. I wish I had my camera, I would take picutres, it was so clear, breath taking. I hoped that I would fly into Seattle sometime again at night and sit on the right side of the plane.

My dad picked us up. We got home at 2 in the morning. I'm exhausted it's 3a.m. my time and I slept horribly the night before. Vicki and Stephanie and Nathan and my mom and dad are all up and gathered around us talking to us and are glad we are there. I still don't care that I cutted in line. Do I feel bad? A little.. but really, we got hosed.

I got 5 hours of sleep last night and I don't care. I'm home. I'm with my family. I get to go to the family party tonight. Jaren and I are together. I am happy and grateful and full of thanks and still feel so so lucky and blessed to have gotten on that flight.

Jaren has an upset stomache from all of the events yesterday - I have a huge headache and I just don't care. I'm home!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day today and tomorrow. Remember why we really celebrate Christmas. Christ is the reason that we can all return home someday. I'm full of thanks and happy feelings.

Merry Christmas!

and if it was any of you or your relatives i cut off in line, sorry. the lady told me to stay :)

The Biggest Loser?

We just watched the season finale of The Biggest Loser.

We hardly watch an episode throughout the season (because there are other shows on at the same time we have on a higher priority) but the big unveiling of the amazing weight losses - we can't resist!

I kept saying, "Ed is so sweet! He loves Heba. It's so cute to see someone so in love with their wife!!"

And Jaren yells, "ME!! I love you! Your my Heba!" hahaha. Then I say, "besides us in this house." and he yells, "yeah!"

For those of you who have ever seen a season finale of The Biggest Loser... do you ever kind of sort of wish you were morbidly obese so you could go on that show and loose tons and tons of weight and win $250,000?

Yeah... me neither.....

I asked Jaren that same question and he said, "No! We will get that treadmill and you can loose as much weight as you want and get toned up but there will be no getting fat in this house!" HAHAHA.

He thought I was serious!! hahaha... ha.... hah....*cough*

But really! How amazing! Heba lost just about HALF of herself. If anything, this motivates me to get running. Which is why we have decided on a treadmill! We looked at reviews and saw it in person and made the final desicion.

A Sole F80. Were ordering it TONIGHT!

I wanted a Precor.. but they are just a little bit pricey.

Woohoo! A treadmill!!!

sorry i've been gone so long. school ruined my life, then my internet decided it had been worked much too hard and stopped working. then i decided i had been worked much too hard and left the state for a few days. now both my internet and i are back! but give me a few days to catch up. but catch up i will!!

Thorn In My Side

School is officially OVER!

I AM SO HAPPY.

I finished my last final yesterday and about cried (yes, about. tears didn't actually fall, but they welled). It felt SO good. Like two anvils were taken off each shoulder and I could breathe and function again.

This semester has been the hardest out of all 9 of my semesters. I'm 13 credits from graduating and I've finally had a semester that really really made me want to quit. It was only 13 credits(I've taken 15 in one semester before)! I've taken two anat and phys classes on blocks (one semester of info squeezed into half the time - 6 weeks) and that was tough.... but nothing like this.

So many times I would get so frustrated and overwhelmed, I just wanted to be done. But I know it's ridiculous, I'm about finished and it would be horribly stupid. So that was out of the question, or consideration - whatever.

I guess I just want to write down how hard this was. I fear I will forget the pressure in my chest 85% of this semester. If I ever have a kid that is crying because they don't want to continue on - it's too hard, I want to remember that I felt the same way and I can tell them to continue on, they can get though it because I did.

I've never been so happy with a 78% in my life. Kinesiology was so challenging. So interesting and fun and I loved the class, but it was SO HARD. Took so much time, but I know that if I had spent more time I would have had a better grade. I love health. I love learning about the body and it's functions and how to keep it healthy and how to fix it. This class was perfect for all of that. It just had SO much information. Every muscle in the body I had to know and that was no biggie, I did that in my anat and phys class. But in this class you also have to know each muscles origin and it's insertion and all of the actions it performs and what nerve innervates it. I love that stuff! But it was SO MUCH INFORMATION! And not just that, I had to be able to discect an action (like doing a pull up, or batting or sitting down or crossing your legs) and tell you which muscles were being used (agonists), which muscles were stabilizing and neautrilizing the action and then what class lever system and the anatomical name of the joint and ligaments and how each of those worked and why they are there. UH!! See? Probably causing some of you anxiety just reading about it. Anyway... just really hard.... it's so nice to be finished.

Next semester will be cake compared to this one. I just have a bunch of exercise classes and a few classes that will require studying and tests. I thought I was scared to be done, but after the feeling I had yesterday I am very aware I will be invigerated when I finish. It will be so nice. I will probably be bored trying to find something to fill every second of my day because that's how it is in school, but it wont take long to get me into a groove.

For now I just want to get my house spotless, catch up on blogs and set up Christmas decorations in the next week. I'm going to craft, watch TV and cook and clean and take care of my husband and I'll read a few books - everything I couldn't do in the last 4 months! WOOHOOO! So excited!

Oh yeah! And I'm famous again!!!
I'll tell you all about it later.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, It's Only A Day Away

If you can't already tell, this is me. (Well, I took a picture of a burly man and tried to make it me. I hope my face isn't that masculine)

Been studying for this for 5 hours so far.... have 2 more before I take this final.

I feel this way. What way is "this", you ask?

You tell me.

What words come to mind when you see this image?

(let's leave out, weird, hermaphrodite, ugly, horrible paint skills, butch, botched hair cut, flat chested.. you know, obvious stuff like that)

Bicycle(s), Anyone?

Please press play and listen to this as you read the post.








I have now seen just about everything.







wait for it











Not one, not two, not three, but FOUR frames on that thing.

Now, you are wondering, how the heck does he ride it?

I've seen it. It's the most bizarre looking thing. He jumps all the way down when he's done (do his ankles ever hurt?).

How does he get up? I don't know!! I haven't seen that, but I imagine he just pushes off the ground and climbs on up.

Look at how long the chain is!!

The funniest thing about this is that it's at BYU-Idaho.

Five Guys and Why I'm Famous

Here is the conversation

Me: Sometime when we are down here (Utah) we should stop and eat at this one place, I got a burger from there when I was here last - it was really good.

Jaren: okay, where?

Me: Five guys or something

Jaren: Five guys! Yeah! We sell potatoes to them.

Me: YOU DO?!!?!

Jaren: Yeah, have for years

Me: I didn't get any! We HAVE to go! This is so cool...

Jaren: Yeah, pay to grow them then pay to eat them......

Me: But I'm going to tell them the fries are YOURS!

Jaren: You will not.

Me: YES, I will.

It's true. Yours truly(meaning Jaren - I just stand and cheer on the sidelines) grows the amazing fries from Five Guys.

They claim "We use only Idaho Potatoes" and it's true!

They should say:

"We use Mr and Mrs Potatohead Idaho Potatoes - they are especially yummy because they are grown with love"

This is the most exciting day of my life. I feel famous. I am famous! You are all so welcome to know me.

Success!

I am officially the real Mrs. potato head!

I was able to keep all of my settings, my followers, my little gadgets and gizmo's on my side bar... EXCEPT for my blog lists.

It's a really good thing that last night I spent a good 2 hours going through and bookmarking every bodies blogs. Otherwise I'd be in big trouble.

I'll update that list Sunday or Monday.... if you want me to stalk your blog than I suggest leaving me a comment sayin so.

Have A Great Weekend!

Sleep Deprivation Makes My Head Heavy

Forgive me for being absent from your blogs. One word: School. Oh, another: Finalsweek.

I checked for mrandmrspotatohead and someone has it! I'm a bit upset about it. They don't have ANY posts. Just some pictures on their sidebar. Bunch of malarkie. I bet they don't even potato farm..... (what? bitter and angry you say... how can you tell?)

So I checked out therealmrandmrspotatohead (not to be confused with the fake ones) and it's available. So that will be my new address. I'm changing it tomorrow morning. So if you want to find me (I hope you do), find me there!

For my Child Language and Lit class I had to write a childrens book that consisted of pictures of family faces and familiar things for my future children. I knew about this assignment from the first day of school back in September. I just had no idea what to do. Finally in October I decided on doing an ABC book.

I wrote the wording last week
Found the pictures for each letter Tuesday this week
Printed them all out at Wally World yesterday
Picked up paper and a notebook and sleeves yesterday
laid out each paper with the picture and made cute wording with word art (5-6:45)
went to mutual (6:45 - 8:30 p.m.)
checked email (8:30 - 9 p.m.)
started cutting, slicing, gluing, sticking, positioning, making beautiful and crafting my book at 9 p.m. (jaren says he will stay out with me)
still beautifying my book at 11 p.m. (jaren falls asleep on couch)
11:30 p.m. - me: "Jaren.. you can go to bed" jaren: "in a little bit......"
11:45 p.m. - me: "Jaren... you can go to bed" jaren: "In a minute........"
12:00 a.m. - me: "Jaren, sweetheart, go to bed" jaren: "okay.... I'll wake up when you come to bed" me: "uh, huh... okay"
still working... put in a movie (1 a.m.)
movie over so I turn on Law and Order, everything else is infomercials! (3 a.m.)
FINISHED! at FOUR A.M.
crawling into bed at 4 -
me: "I'm SO tired"
Jaren: (really loud cause he's trying to wake himself up) "YEAH! cause you were up forever!" me: "yeah.... I have to get up in two hours"
Jaren: "why did you stay up so late?"
me: "I had to finish!"
Jaren: "yeah.... ok..... your feet are COLD!"

It was funny, he tries to wake himself up but is mostly incoherent.

I woke up at 6, whined and whined, got read, went to class, turned in my beautiful book, came back home, skipped my next class, went to sleep for three hours, woke up, went to lunch, went to my 3:15 class and am now home.

SO. TIRED.

I didn't get any pictures of the finished product. After it is graded and I get it back I will take some pictures of my favorite pages and post them.

But, I did take a picture of the mess I made before I cleaned it up just a few minutes ago.


(see those indian couches from 1994? They are officially getting replaced!)
Jaren called this a disaster of scrapbook proportions
It's all clean now! But I have a feeling I'll be falling asleep here in about an hour.

I will be back activley stalking as soon as I finish this semester next Friday.

remember: therealmrandmrspotatohead.blogspot.com (it wont work until tomorrow: Friday)

Going Private?

Kidding! Kidding! I'm not going private, but I am going to change my address.

I'm afraid I'll loose my blogroll, I have everyone on google reader so that should save me, right?

We decided we want our last name off of everything so we (Jaren) will sleep better at night. So, it would be greatly appreciated if you will change our name on your blogroll on your page if it contains our last name.

Here are some name ideas:

• Jaren and Whitney
• Whitney and Jaren
• Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head
• Whitney is awesome
• Jaren loves Whitney
• Whitney is my idol
• Some people that live in the boonies in Idaho
• Baby Hungry Blog
• School is for fools
• Do these jeans make me look fat?
• No dear, your fat makes you look fat
• Where did all of the tamagachi pets go?
• Mirror Mirror on the Wall.. Who is Farest of them all? Whitney is
• Jaren is a stud
• Jaren, not to be confused with the name Jared
• The coolest couple on the earth (or just in Idaho, or just in Rexburg)
• Who I want to be just like

You get the idea.

I hear it takes a few days to get redirected properly and since I'll be out of town from Friday to Sunday I figured this weekend would be great to do it! So I'm changing my blog url on Friday. I will post our new address tonight once I make sure it's freed up.

If you can't find us and are having thoughts of jumping off a cliff (into water, of course) don't fear. I believe you can find us by typing "Jaren and Whitney, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head" into a google search.

By the way - This is my 100th post!

And what a memorable one it is. To comemorate this occasion I'm giving away a FREE CAR! Well... almost free, you have to pay taxes, and at least I'm adversizing that so your not fooled like on the Price is Right thinking you can just drive it off the lot just like that.

I'll announce the winner when I have my new bloggy address up.

i should probably mention the free car is just a matchbox car. Or a train car. Or a drawing of a car. Or a thought of a car. Whatever I choose.

The Internet: Where Worlds Collide

I spent an entire weekend with these two girls.

I met Amber once the month before and met Alexis for the first time that weekend.

What did I learn?

• you can make awesome friends on the internet
• staying at someone's home you barely know can be quite fun
• Alexis is the most stylish prego I have ever met
• Amber is super talented and she doesn't even really realize it
• Amber is an awesome mom
• two girls who grew up together can make you feel like you also grew up with them - even though you didn't
• the hostesses husband makes awesome Sunday breakfasts
  
• husband also let us girls hog his wife and his bed till the wee hours in the morning (he fell asleep on the couch or with his son... not quite sure which)
• i love playing connect four with a 6 year old
• i should have put all of my notes from middle school and high school in plastic sheets in a huge binder
• that I want to spend weekends like that again and again
  

I also spent some time with Victoria who I had been wanting to meet in person for a while now. We met online through a mutual friend 7 years ago. Never spoke again and she randomly found me on Facebook in June or May.. can't remember. We've become really good friends and It was so great getting to spend time with her. She has the cutest little boy that I want.

Here's to the internet for rekindling friendships and making new ones! (but not for meeting weirdos and stalkers and creepies. Oh, and bad gossip and basically anything you want to know is on here! Can't promise it's true, though. My goal is to put myself on Wikipedia)

Treadmills Are Cool

I have two weeks left of school for this semester.

I have enjoyed this week off oh so much.

Probably a little too much considering that I got NO homework done and I had a good days worth.

I am feeling fear for tomorrow. Isn't that horrible? I am just NOT into school... at all.

I am so grateful this semester has flown by. But I'll admit I'm a little nervous for next semester to be over and then I'm finished.

Come April I have my Bachelors and..... then what?

I'll say it's a good thing I'm married and settled.

By the way... I do know what I'm doing when I'm finished. Hopefully making a baby and then I'll go back, take 5 classes, get certified to do Medical Billing and Coding. And that's that.

I'll be able to work from home and start at a very good amount.

See, I have my life figured out. It's just a little weird to live it out..... I've been going to school since I was 4.

I can't wait to be done!

Can you tell I'm in a bit of a rambling mood? Feels good to ramble.

I have been exercising for 3-4 days a week for the last month. Until this last week.

I feel like I blew right up and gained 5 pounds. When in fact, the scale disagrees....

I cannot wait to get back to the gym tomorrow.

By the way, we are looking for a treadmill. Any advice on good ones?

Hope everyone had a great week of Holiday!

Oh and p.p.s. or p.s.s. (however it works) I found couches! Beautiful, wonderful, amazing, lustful, down filled couches. We are discussing them and are going back to look hopefully tomorrow to decide if it's really what we want. (Oh... but I WANT)

My Pay it Forward Gift

I participated in Pay it Forward and was in the top three comments in Wendyburd's post

I came back from my Utah trip to find a package for me

Inside were these shirts

One for me! And one for Jaren!

She drew them herself and they are great.

Thank you!

Thankful Thanksgiving Thursday

I stole this image from Mindi's blog. Thanks!

Is there a more perfect day to do Thankful Thursday than on Thanksgiving itself?

I think not.

1.) my husband. he made me oatmeal this morning. oh, and because he loves me unconditionaly.

2.) blogging. it has introduced new amazing friends into my life. Especially ones that teach me that Etnies are for high school and Converse are for grownups. I now own a pair of black chucks.

3.) my home. it's cozy. and it's a home. and i can't wait to decorate for Christmas! (my tree might or might not go up tonight)

4.) my faith. It is constant through my whole life and is the one thing that always makes sense to me. makes me feel good and happy and like i have a purpose. and like i belong and can be forgiven even though i'm a feeble disobeying human.

5.) time. without which my husband would not be talking about how he is getting excited to start trying get pregnant (next year).

6.) this week off from school. i NEEDED this week to sleep in and sit around at home. to recoup from school.

7.) veggi wraps. cucumber, feta, tomato( i'm trying to like them!), avocado, spinach and a torilla. Mmmm..... so addicting.

8.) Amber. she let me stay at her house while i was in utah with barely knowing me. and then she did get to know me and still likes me!

9.) my family, immediate and in-laws and distant - i am so grateful for them all.

10.) julie's peanut butter cup cookies. i love them with all of my heart.

11.) thanksgiving dinner.

12.) my sleep number bed. so comfy.

13.) hot water. running water for that matter. ever think how easy it makes your life?

14.) my car. i live 15 minutes from town - i need it.

15.) love. it's all you need.

happy thanksgiving!!

The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread??

I was on Tamn's blog looking at her post this morning. I left a comment I thought was a little funny about Labor Day being for mother's who have been through Labor. Then I am about to close out of the page and what do I see??

"Labor Looks" on her sidebar as an add.

I thought... huh, how funny. Wonder what that is. So I click on it.

Labor GOWNS! Like cute, frilly gowns you can wear instead of the boring blue one.

The best thing?? They are so affordable at $48! I don't think I do sarcastic on my blog very well... but I really can't decide how I feel about these.

I'm not at all surprised it was an add on Tamners site. So funny.

They are so modest! Closing all the way up in the back with the gown going below your knee's. Cause I'm sure modesty is an issue while you are birthing a child........

If buying one of these things will make me look as fabulous as this girl when I deliver - sign me up! But can I get that in a guarantee?

What do you think?

Here is the link to this site.

Happy Birthday to Jaren!

It was on the 19th - almost a week ago, I'm a horrible busy wife.

I haven't told enough of "Our Story" yet for you to understand exactly why I will love Jaren for the rest of my existence.

He is the most patient person I know. He loves me, ALL of me. It doesn't seem to matter what I do, he finds it endearing and I just wait for him to notice someday that I'm by no means perfect or always cute. Sometimes I even think he is just saying "your so cute" to convince himself that what I am doing really is cute. But he says that isn't so - and I love him dearly for it.

Jaren is the type of person that will sit and listen to you whine and cry all day long and help you out. He will drop whatever it is he's doing if it means making your load a little lighter.

For example. When we were dating but not boyfriend/girlfriend (my doing), I took a trip to Utah. I forgot my scriptures at my Aunt and Uncles house. They were my only set and I read them every day (something I need to pick up again).

On a Friday or Thursday... I'm not sure which, he came to me and asked if I wanted to run to Salt Lake that Saturday. I couldn't believe he wanted to run down and back in a day! (SL is 3 hours from Rexburg)

And he did. He drove me all the way down there, we had dinner at the Macaroni Grill and I doodled on the tablecloth and we got my scriptures. We also received frozen cookies from my aunt - sooo good. Then he drove me back and we got in around midnight - I had to work at 6:00 a.m. the next morning.

It took no time for me to realize what a genuinely good guy he was when we met. Unfortunately, it took me a lot longer to realize that he was supposed to be my genuinely good guy.

Here are a few of the things I love about him.

• he never complains about the house being a mess
• he doesn't complain about all my time blogging
• When I say, "I'm thirsty" he get's up and brings me a glass of water (that took NO training, he learned that one all by himself :)
• he tucks me in every single night - even when I'm going to bed before him
• he can't go to bed without me
• he misses me when I'm gone
• he switches laundry over for me (when I ask)
• he laughs at my jokes (which are pretty lame)
• he pretty much gives me whatever I want (pretty much)
• he is so understanding
• he took me to the Chiropractor and doesn't ever complain about the bill (someday I'll tell that story)
• he doesn't tell me I look nice every day, he does however, tell me I am cute and beautiful and pretty most every day, but those days when he tells me I look nice - it means I really do
• If my tank is empty he will leave early in the morning and fill it up for me (we have tanks on the farm(my front yard))
• he changes my oil and washes my car without me asking
• he mows the lawn (even though I was supposed to "learn" and do it this year (didn't happen) and now I am supposed to "learn" and start doing it next year-ya, we'll see)
• he wants to build me my dream home
• he lets me talk about babies
  
• he listens when I ramble and ramble and cry and whine
  
• he understands my need for friends and social contact even though he doesn't feel the same way

I know this list was a little longer than I intended. I could go on and on. But I wont. You will get to know him through our stories.

I will tell you this conversation I had with him the day before his birthday. Oh, and one I had with him the morning of.

November 18th:
me: Jaren, your turning TWENTY SEVEN tomorrow!
jaren: I know... I'm old
me: I know! I married a 25 year old and now your turning twenty seven. It's so weird. I'm married to a 27 year old
jaren: I even feel old
me: does it make you want kids? Your going to be 27 with no kids!
jaren: not really.... just makes me want to get everything done.

hahaha, maybe you have to know him and how adamant he is about wanting to wait a little longer for kids.... wait a little longer.... that he still says no even though. And what does "get everything done" mean anyway? My guess is finish the home we are living in (it is still under renovation) so we can put babies in it. At least.. that's what I choose to think.

Morning of November 19th:
me: okay, today you are boss. take advantage because after today, for the next 364 days I'm boss
jaren: okay.... i'm tired
me: what are you going to do next year when we have a baby (because hopefully by this time next year we will have a newborn) and he is crying and i can't pay attention to you?
jaren: (patting the pillow next to him) i will just lay him here and we can both sleep in together

probably one of my favorite things to come out of his mouth about our future children (because it's a rarity)

anyway.... enough. Here are some pictures!

He said no presents. I got him some anyway. I don't think I've ever mentioned how much I love birthdays.

I tell him to smile and this is what I get. This is how taking pictures usually goes, Me: Jaren.. Jaren smile! WITH TEETH! Jaren: (face you see above). I'm sure in his head he's thinking: probably should have never got her that camera

I frosted cupcakes and decided to write on them. These were the cupcakes set aside for us to eat right away.

The hearts are what came out when I was first trying to squeeze the tube. Then I tried to write "Happy Birthday" on two cupcakes.

Nothing says "Happy Birthday, Love!" like, YOUR OLD! If you can't read the last cupcake (I mean, you should be able to read it if you have 20/5 vision) it says, "YOU NEED TO HAVE BABIES" subtle?

There is green frosting on his mouth. I made him stop eating so I could take a picture... I'm so mean. He wasn't too happy about it. Can you see the camera despair again in his eyes?

Twilight All Night

So, naplobomo didn't work for me this time. Maybe next year. I'm still in Utah and I just got my internet to work at Amber's house. Woohoo!

I decided to let everyone know what I thought about the Twilight movie.

First, I liked the books. I think they are a fun escape from reality, they are complete fiction which is why I don't get to critical of them. And I think it's great that Stephanie Meyer wrote these for fun and now has enough money to use as mattress stuffing. I wish I could come up with a story that could make me millions.

Maybe something like this...
Once upon a time there was this girl who wanted so bad to be a fairy, and she tried and tried to make herself one. Like flying off the trampline with wings.. didn't work. Jumping from flower to flower.... that just made her mom mad. And then one day, she found a tree stump with a large hole in the bottom. She crawled in and....

Are you curious what happened? Would you pay 20 bucks a book to find out WHAT HAPPEND??

Give me some feedback, I need to make millions so I can buy everything on my lust list down below.

Back to the Twilight movie.

I tried to go into the theater with no expectations. And that I did. I thought the movie was great. I think they followed the book better than a lot of other book movies. The only thing I didn't like.... were the awkward camera angles. It killed the moments for me! The beautiful romantic moments... killed them.

Other than that. Great! I'm going to go again this week and take my husband. I just know he'll want to read the books after seeing it. ;)

p.s. the meet and greet was great. I'm sorry I had to leave early and that I didn't get to talk to the middle of the table. Next time maybe I'll invite a select few, and then rotate through my blogroll every few months. Would that work?? Oh! And Julie gave me a flower pot looking thing with tissue paper. Well, come to find when I opened it there were these AMAZING peanut butter cup things. Julie- I WANT that recipe. Not only have I eaten all of mine, I'm eating Amber's, too.

And Amber is being the best hostess. And Alexis keeps crawling into my bed at night because she can't sleep without me.

Noproblemo?

I have officially (besides the first of November) fallen off the nablopomo bandwagon. I didn't post yesterday. Too much to do!

I'm late to go take my test, which will probably make me late to my class, oopse.

I'm really excited for tonight. So excited that I hardly even studied last night (that's my sinky excuse, I hope it's a good one and my teach will give me a few extra points on this quiz... hahahhaa..ahh...).

Just a reminder:
Dinner tonight at Sampans in the South Towne mall at 7:00 p.m. - be there!

I hope to see everyone! Sorry Antarctica, you lose again.

I'm sorry for the MIA on your blogs lately, I haven't looked at one since Wednesday. I probably wont be able to until Tuesday.

Have a GREAT weekend!

Meet and Greet 2

I know your all so excited! I know I am.

If you haven't voted in the poll, please do now. We need the number to reserve a table. Even if you can't go, let me know so I know how many people to cross off my Christmas list.

Dinner is officially at 7:00 p.m. at Sampans in the South Towne mall on Friday the 21st. Reservations will be under both Kristina's and my name. So.. Whitney and Kristina, or Kristina and Whitney, however you like your green eggs and ham Sam I am.

I really hope everyone that is around can come. Believe me, the last one was so much fun you'll want to be there.

P.S. Today is my wonderful husbands birthday. I'll post pictures and about this wonderful man tomorrow :)

Lookey What I Can Do!

Shauna at Trying to Stay Calm posted a sweet post about how to make those hearts.

You know.... ♥♥these ones!!♥♥

Here I am, just about computer illiterate, I know how to blog and sort of use Word. So sad all the time because people do such cool things with a computer and keyboard. No one wants to learn me how.

Finally someone is going to teach me how to show my love out loud on the internet!

Not so fast, Whit.

She only showed how to make them on a keyboard with a number pad.

*tearing up* But I have a laptop!!

I thought about commiting bloggy suicide (no I didn't). I gave up all hope. Knew I could never love a comment.

I was wrong!

Shauna emailed me and told me how to do it on a laptop. So here it is. I know I know, the masses are squirming at the edge of their seat in anticipation.

Okay, for those of you with a laptop, find the blue Fn key. Then find the Alt key. Press them both down then press your blue 3. Mine is on the letter "L".

Fn+Alt+L= ♥

For those of you who are lucky enough to have a key pad, you hold down alt and the 3 on the key pad.

For some reason this has really excited me. I'm in a super good mood. See... I'm very easy to entertain and please.

you just have to surprise me with something from my lusting list 2 posts down to bring me true happiness. Kidding! sort of....

Leave a heart at the end of your comment

X♥X♥X♥ (see.... so much more personal and people can figure it out w/o having to guess what that darn O means.

Paying it Forward

I decided to play "Pay it Forward". Wendyburd is paying it forward to me and I am going to pay it forward to three other people.

"Here are the rules: The exchange focuses on doing an act of kindness without expecting anything in return other than that the recipient will, in their turn, pass the kindness along and pay it forward in their own way. This is how it works... I am going to agree to send something fun, inspiring or uplifting to the first 3 bloggers who post a comment on this entry (please leave your email address if I don't all ready have it.).

In turn you will then post about this on your blog, link to me, then send something to the first three people who sign up to play along through your blog. There are no cost restraints, but don't go crazy! The little something you send can be something you made, bought, were given or found. No biggie, just a gift that will make the person smile. Maybe something unique from where you live? And remember that kindness doesn't have to involve money; there are untold ways to help others every single day, everywhere you go - just look around."

Comment away!

p.s. Wendy, feel free to scroll down to my last post and send me one of those. Kidding!! kind of....

p.s.s. no, I'm not sending potatoes (especially one in the shape of a heart)

ps.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s COME TO DINNER FRIDAY!

Top 11 Expensive Things I Want

But can't afford.

For any of you who have an extra few grand lying around wanting to be spent on a bloggy friend- Here's my list of things I can't afford but would LOVE!

#1

Bose: Ipod Sound Dock $299.00

#2

16 Gig Ipod Nano in Green $200.00

#3

Rock and Republic: Richelle in Black Patent $278.00

#4

William Rast: Daisy Super Flare Jupiter Wash $220.00

#5

Rock and Republic: Kasandra in Pandora Charm Blue $234.00

#6

Anthropologie: Bracing Gale Overcoat $248.00

#7

Anthropologie: Castellum Top $148.00

#8

Coach: Madison 1 Point Graffiti Tote $898
OR/AND

Coach: Lindsay Vintage Leather Shopper $798

#9

Anthropologie: Secret Joy Dress $168.00

#10

Anthropologie: Fruit Moon Dress $198.00

#11

Camper Shoe $123.00

I'll add a few things that are more feasably priced.

BKE Sole: Surfer Shoe $27.o0

On Your Feet Actress Shoe $19.75
Restricted: Swan Shoe $29.62

Someday I'll be rich and then I'll have everything on this list! (yeah right. Jaren's laughing at me on my Indian couches)

Stephanie's Baby Shower!

Alright. Today was the big day. Stephanie's baby shower. I woke up a little after 8, ate breakfast then got started cleaning at around 9:30. Not kidding when I say I cleaned ALL DAY until the shower. My house was filthy! I ran into town to pick up some things for games for the shower and some groceries. I came back, we hung up streamers and then everyone started walking in the door.

Lindsey even came out to help. I bribed her with promises to buy her lunch, of course.
She get's ahead of herself. Here she was putting up streamers but couldn't find the tape. I couldn't resist a picture in her helpless state. I found it in between the cushions by her left foot. (she did this repeatedly until I finally told her to put the tape in her pocket)

Food!

Going to get food!
Steph was super excited to open her presents. And can I just say she got a TON of stuff. There were a lot of people there!
Don't quite know why I was looking behind me. After Steph opened her presents we passed them around so everyone could see them.
She got a lot of cow things (because my family owns a diary farm). It was really funny. If you click on that picture you'll see the cow blanket she has.The girl behind me in green is less than 4 weeks away from her due date. Her baby shower is the one I went to the Saturday of Kristina's meet and greet I wasn't able to make it to.

(What I'm thinking in my head): Look at all these PRESENTS! I want some. That is the cutest little boy outfit I have EVER seen! I want one. I want a baby boy. I want a baby. I WANT ONE (or two)! Let me tell you something. That positive (or demanding) thinking thing does NOT work. I am not pregnant!

This is the cutest diaper cake I've ever seen.

This little boy was so cute. He was dancing to his mom's ring tone "It's a hard knock life, for us" It was so funny (as you can see on everyone's faces).


1/2 of the room (I counted 15 people, not including the babies)
The other half (I counted 11 more, not including myself and the other people up and mingling). There ended up being around 28 people)

Lindsey Lady Lovely Locks and I

We played a candy game and his mommy won a Baby Ruth (for baby girl) and he got very upset because she wouldn't let him open the WHOLE candy bar (in which I thank her for the sake of my newish (is just over 1 1/2 years old still new?) carpet)

I couldn't resist taking this picture. I tried to get him when he was screaming and throwing his head back. I don't know why it was so funny to me.

All in all everything turned out wonderful. I didn't have to worry about food because Steph, her mom and sisters took care of it. My house needed a good deep clean and it got 95% of one. The other 5% will come throughout this week. Jaren FINALLY put up lights outside and they are so bright! I don't think anyone knows how excited I am. I hated how dark it was, no porch light-NOTHING since we got new siding back in January. I'm SO EXCITED!!! I can see!!

Okay, thanks for all of your advice and suggestions of great games to play. I decided less was more and only did a few things. I had a friend, Breanne, give me a great idea. You give out cards to each person with random letters on them. For example, "DLSDI" or "SKEFD" or "MLDAIC" and they make a saying, advice, scentence anything that partains to stephanie and her baby. It turned out to be pretty funny. I let them rearrange the letters to fit their scentnce as long as they only used one word that started with each of the letters. I also bought a small notebook and had it passed around so that people could write advice in it. I was a bit bummed that it didn't make it around to everyone and only 15 people wrote in it.

I also played the candy game, where you take a word about babies/pregnancy and match it with a candy bar. Like, OBGYN= Butterfinger, Baby Girl=Baby Ruth, Baby Diaper=Mounds. It was fun, BUT. For the life of me, I went to 3 of the 6 stores in Rexburg(I barely had time for that today) that I know carry candy bars and I COULD NOT find a Big Hunk OR a 100 Grand that wasn't in a pack of 30 assorted candy bars - that only had 4 100 Grand's in it! Uhg. Frustrating. So instead I bought "Pay Day" and told everyone that when the delivery happens a huge chunk of would be happiness comes out of your... fill in the blank (with Pay Day). Oh! And I couldn't find a Fast Break! I had to buy a 10 pack of mini Fast Breaks. SO. ANNOYING.

But everyone left and everything got picked up and my house is CLEAN! Wahoo! Who wants a shower is next???? (As Jaren get's up to hit me upside the head)