Currently, In the Life of Whitney

I am now 25 as of yesterday.  I feel so grown up.  I can rent a car all by myself!  Last year I had to have my brother in law put his name on it because I wasn't old enough.  Although, I'd been married for over 3 years and had a kid and had the money to pay for it.  I felt silly.  But now, I'm bound no more!  I'm free to go anywhere I want!  Well... almost anywhere.  And if Jaren's with me it never would matter since he's been a grown up for lots longer than I.  Although, he's leaving his 20's this year and he seems to be taking it personally.  So anytime I mention feeling old I get quite this withering look.... 

I've also been training for a half marathon that's coming end of this month.  The training was going well until about 2 weeks ago.  Each run started to feel like it was dragging and felt difficult.  I bought new shoes and they really aren't agreeing with my feet.  I have blisters on each of my fourth toes (the one's next to the pinky's).  Right on the outside.  Painful.  A new blister on the insole of my left foot, an ankle that hurts and now after each run my KNEE'S hurt.  They used to not bug me so much.  And it feels like I'm just pulling  and pulling myself along.  It's discouraging.  Friday I did 11 miles in 80 degree's and it feel terrible.  My time was HORRIBLE and I didn't enjoy it.  Now, that's not what I signed up for.  But texting my sister in law, the marathoner, Lena, mentioned I might be burning out.  I realized I've been pushing myself quite a bit for quite a while.  I think I need to cool it for this week.  So, I'm going to try to do 5 miles 3 times, then a 10 mile Friday instead of 5, 6, 7, and then 12 like I had planned.  I hope it works.  I want to enjoy my runs and enjoy this half marathon.  Good luck to me.

Naomi is hilarious.  I need to video and take millions of pictures because I think anyone struggling to find happiness in life just needs a toddler.  Well, I guess a toddler and a massive dose of patience.  Because she can test mine quite a bit.  But, it seems every day she is doing something more and more funny.  Like waking up and saying, "Help!  Help!" over and over from her crib thinking that will get me in there faster.  Or holding her fork in her mouth, then stabbing it down into her food trying to spear it using no hands.  Or putting 15 animals on a little people train (I took pictures, they'll come someday - it's quite impressive).  Or making everything kiss.  A vulture and a seal, a bulldozer and a garbage truck, a puppy dog and a bunny.  Or, yelling, "POO! POO!"  around the house.  Repeating what we say, "I do."  "Cute."  "Stinky!"  "Alright"  "Otay"  Dancing and sitting on animals and jumping and scooting on her bum.  The other day she was looking at a Disney Princess book and pointed to Belle and said, "Mama"  I was like, "Ohh, that's so sweet, thinking I'm Belle"  I was just telling her how she would be my favorite always when she turned the page and pointed to Sleeping Beauties Fairy Godmother and said, "Mama"  Well...  then she turned the page again and pointed to the crocodile on Princess Tiana's page and said, "Mama" and LAUGHED.  Alright, she lost it.  Then she looks at me, smiles and says, "Ow whow"  Which is , "Love you".  So, I forgave her.  As long as she doesn't call the crocodile Mama again.

This week I'm trying to do 637 things before I take off to Washington for our mostly annual Oregon Beach trip.  This will be the first uber long drive with Naomi.  9 hours without stops (so, 10.5-11 with them) the first day.  Then a few days later 7 hours without stops (so, probably 9 with them) to the beach.  Then 7 hours back to Washington some days later, then I'll split the trip home (by myself) by stopping in Boise, then heading the rest of the way home (by myself) the next day.  All in all I'll be gone for almost 2 and a half weeks.  We still don't know if Jaren can join us at the Beach.  I sure hope so, because that's a long time for him not to see his baby.  Or babies.... :)

But I'm really excited about spending so much time with family.  And nervous because Naomi seems to have some sort of phobia of children.  Not all children, but lots.  And people she doesn't know.  I'm hoping this will break her of it, because it drives me CRAZY bonker bananas. 

Oh, good news is she eats EVERYTHING.  She'll at least try everything and eats just about all of it.  She tried broccoli yesterday and seemed unsure of it, but still took a few bites anyway.  She still wont touch dolls or anything girly except necklaces and chapstick.  She loves anything with wheels and animals.  Hard or stuffed.  Mostly stuffed dogs.  Still loves Dora, Bubble Guppies, Baby Signing Time and her favorite song will probably always be Wheels on the Bus.  Oh, and I'm her favorite person.  Still :)  I kind of love it.  And I don't think I'll ever teach her the word, "Mom."  I like the sound of, "Mama" too much.  I hope she's 16 and says, "Mama, can you make spaghetti tonight?"  Or, "Mama, Jameraqui asked me on a date Friday, can I go?"  Or, "You know hot pants went out of style in the 90's, MAMA" 

One thing that's nice about burning hundreds and sometimes thousands of calories 4-5 times a week is that I eat whatever I want and I never gain more than a few ounces, only to lose them the days I run.  But I still can't figure out why I still have more stuff in the love handle region now than I did before I had Naomi and I'm running like a crazy person.  I'm just hoping that someday I can find a way to get that to go away.  Probably not till after the next kid.  Oh, and no babies coming anytime soon.  We keep decide to wait to start trying.  Lots of different things.  I just hope they are less than 3 years apart.  We'll see, though.  Can't say I'm too disappointed when I have a headache that makes me want to bury myself in a glacier and I can take Excedrin.  Like today.  Which is why I'm writing this, because I'm mad hopped up on caffeine.  And now I'm off to switch and fold laundry. 

Toodaloo! 

Hapity Birthididityday

To my Jaren! (On the 19th)

He is wonderful.  And sweet. And fantastic.  And my favorite.  And nice.  And patient.  And thoughtful.  And super good looking.  And he makes really good sponge bob mac and cheese.  And he is 4 years and 8 1/2 months older than me.  And he doesn't act it.

What I mean is he doesn't treat me like I'm so much more immature and inexperienced than he is.  That I'm only 24 and he's a big whopping 29.  The wisdom he has on me.

Nope.  He comes to me and talks to me about his day.  About work.  About friends.  About situations.  And then he listens when I talk back.  And when I give my opinion and advice and suggestions.  And what's even better is that when I suggest something, he usually does it.  And a lot of the time it works out.  Because even though I'm 24 I'm pretty much mature enough to be 25.  And even though Jaren is 29 he is mature enough to be 34 and he even looks 26.   I told him so.  And he said "thank you".

The point is that I love him.  And that I am so grateful every single day for him because there is no one else on this earth that would respond to me in the way that he does.  When I'm super emotionally charged he is incredibly patient and understanding.  When I need to talk and talk and talk because Naomi just doesn't talk back and I need someone to talk back he listens and talks back.  In fact, when I'm particularly pent up and need to vent and go on and on about everything he sits down, turns off the T.V. and says, "alright, let's talk about feelings"  Which means let me know exactly what your thinking and feeling and we will discuss it.  And I always always feel better.  And it makes me feel important when he asks for my advice on things.  And keeps me in the know with things going on.  I need those things and I'm grateful he knows that.

He also let's me know how much he appreciates me.  Even when all of his shirts aren't ironed or the floor isn't picked up.  Because a lot of times he notices that I vacuumed, then the toys were scattered on the floor.  And he notices that because there is a sink full of dirty dishes there is dinner for him in the oven.  And he says thank you.  And he goes back for seconds (because he knows that's how I determine if he liked dinner).

The point is that he is wonderful.  And he is mine.  And he is the best baby daddy I could have ever hoped for.  Naomi says he's the best daddy she could have ever hoped for, too.  Because today she decided to let go of furniture and walk into the room until something got in her way.  My baby is walking....  And she said, "Bye"  At least that's what it sounded like.  And she said it while waving bye to her Grandma and Grandpa.

Anyway.  I drove back from Twin Falls (where I was visiting my brother Nathan, his wife Stephanie (who also used to be my roommate in college) and their little boy, Conner) this afternoon and when he ran into town to get his picture taken for his new lisence I finished the card I was making him and I wrapped his presents.

And I numbered them.  Because there is order to this chaos.  Kind of.

The front of the card.  

I can call him old all I want because forever he will always be 4 years and 8 1/2 months older than me.

I'm no artist.  I think I'm the equivalent to an 8 year old when it comes to drawing.  But this is how we like to do our cards.  We draw pictures and write on them.  I tried to find the ones from years past, but couldn't.  As soon as I do I'll share them.

The best thing about this?  That his arms are longer than his legs.  He has quite the shapely behind.  I'm wearing a spanx dress that hides every out of place bump and I'm wearing heels! (can you tell?)  And I'm always the one behind the camera capturing priceless moments.  Like Naomi's first steps (that I haven't take a picture of yet.... and barely caught on film tonight)

He loves my cards.  They are very wordy.  I'm always very wordy if you haven't noticed.  And I am such a great artist he knew right away he was the sumptuous bummed kneeler in the picture.  Oh, and Naomi wrote him a little note, too.  She's so thoughtful.

This big giant Time book that I'm particularly proud of getting for him.  He loves history and was pleasantly surprised.  Normally I'm a pretty predictable present giver.  Clothes.  

Here is the rest of his loot and booty.

A snazzy shirt that he really liked.  I knew he would.  And some super nice socks because he is kind of a sock man.  Ask his FOUR sock drawers.  Seriously... FOUR.

This fancy little number.  He was excited about it, except that we don't have room in our closet for it yet.  I told him I'd make room or we could wait till we build a home and have a giant closet.  He said we could wait, but I think I'll surprise him by moving my coats to another location....

Can you tell what these are?  I told him I'd make him lasagna.  The kind where I make the sauce from scratch and slave over it for hours.  He said no, I want mini pizza's.  So the three on the right are his - with just canadian bacon.  I'm not so picky.  I have canadian bacon, green pepper and mushrooms.  Mmmm...  Did I tell you I worked at a pizza restaurant for a few years?  I am a master pizza maker.

UPDATE:  In the process of writing this post my daughter started vomiting in her crib.  So I ran upstairs and she continued to throw up a good 4 to 6 times after that until 2 a.m.  During that time Jaren was there every second.  She refused to lay down by herself - even in our bed.  Which is unusual.  Usually she likes to sleep all on her lonesome.  She wont sleep on you.  Not last night.  It was so sad.  Anyway, he got me set up on the recliner and each time that she'd start to vomit again he was there with a towel.  He traded me off a few hours later because I couldn't sleep in that position and my head was killing me.  He couldn't sleep either, but didn't let me know.  I slept beautifully next to him on the couch.  He could have asked me to trade him off again or simply kept me up to keep him company.  Nope.  And when she decided it was wake time at 6:30 I told him he could go sleep and I'd take care of her.  Nope.  Stayed out with me because she was still not in the best of moods and was very needy.  He is the most wonderful father.  The best husband and I am so grateful for him every moment of every day.  It's time's like last night that remind me why I want to have 325 of his babies.

Happy Birthday to my Jaren!

Happy Birthday to Me!

As you read this I am trundeling down the road for 7 hours with Jaren on our way to Portland to go to a wedding. Doesn't feel like a birthday since we are traveling. But I plan on making a tasty cake when we get back.

Also, Jaren let me pick any restaurant I wanted to eat at tonight and I picked Ruth's Chris because never in my life have I ever had steak that good. And we don't get it very often - maybe once a year if that. He didn't complain because it's his favorite splurg, too. So that will be nice.

23. Sure, it's still young, but I feel older. I'm definitely not 19 anymore. My 19 year old body is long gone - I feel older. But being pregnant could have something to do with that. :)

Have a happy day!

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?