Changing course.

Surprise!

I am quitting my job at BYU Broadcasting once our second little guy gets here. This is happening in a couple week!!! This was a tough decision to make because I love my job so much, but i couldn't make it work with becoming a mother to 2 kids in the VERY near future.

Over the past 3 years I have had the opportunity to be a mentor to 11 awesome BYU Students. 

Lara (now living in Texas), 

Shar (now a mother of 2!), 

Krystle (now a big wig in Chicago), 

Yvette (hopefully replacing me at BYUTv), 

Kelsey (living in California with her cute little daughter), 

Emily (interning in Argentina at the moment),

Mercedes (also interning in Argentina!), 

Diana (shes a nursing student and aspiring doctor!), 

Kacie (cute new freshman), 

Marissa (comms major, total babe!), 

and Thao (a super genius accounting student!).  

They are all so great, and I am so proud of all of them.

I am not going to lie, I am kind of scared to face my new life as a full time mother. 

Going to work was many things for me:

A temporary escape from a grumpy 2 year old.

Not needing an excuse for not having dinner made every night.

A justification for an obscene fast food budget.

An excuse for not working out, EVER. 

Forced girl talk with my innocent victims AKA assistants.

and many other things. 

 

I will miss it, but I am excited for this new guy to come!

:)

Maybe now i will be able to actually blog... just maybe... 

2012 Catch Up

Well, it has been a while. 

My life has been INSANE the past few (okay... many!) months. I will focus on 3 milestones for this post. 

We sold our wonderful home,

 and bought an awesome one down the street.

As from many of my old posts you all saw that I put a lot of sweat and tears into our beautiful home, but it was a little cramped and we knew we wanted to stay in this great city.  

I made it a habit of searching the real estate listings for homes in the area, and I stumbled on a home with a built in trampoline, huge deck, and a basketball court! 

Both things Kevin and I talked about doing to our backyard, 

when that long lost relative gave us our millions! 

The house had a walk in master closet with a huge master bath, vaulted ceilings, 

and window benches in every room.

only things I could have in my dream home...

I sent Kevin the listing right away, and he told me to jump on it. I knew there was no way it would work, we would have to sell our house and then attempt to buy this one simultaneously.... no way right?! 

After a lot of sweat and sleepless nights, 

we are proud to say... YES WAY!

Sam is going to have a little brother in march, 

4 months ahead of schedule! 

When Kevin and I got pregnant for the first time, I took out a piece of paper one Sunday in church and mapped out all of my children's birthdays. They needed to be spread out close enough so I could have all four of our potential kids before I turn 30.

 This plan we made told me that I should get pregnant when each kid is 18 months, OK plan!

Well, I quickly learned that its hard to plan the exact time you get pregnant... haha.

Touche ovaries!

 Kevin got his dream job in February!

After that terrible layoff the day Samuel was born, Kevin has had a few different jobs trying to find "the one". This job finally landed into his lap, and they game him an offer he couldn't refuse.

He now works with one if his best friends, 

doing hybrid conversions on trucks and vans and then sell their prototypes to large companies. Its way complex what they do, but that's the best explanation I can come up with! 

He is kind of like an inventor! Totally awesome right?! I love that guy. 

 Well, that is it for now! If anyone even reads this, please push me to write more!

:)

Easter Photo Shoot

I went back to my hometown, Sacramento, for Easter this year. Since all the sisters were reunited, (my little eskimo sister, Joanna, lives in Alaska) we decided to take some pictures of the kiddies. My good friend Amelia is a photographer so we hired her, and she got some great shots!

Sam had no problems giving the camera some lovin'.

Jakie was Mr. Model, while Brody wanted nothing to do with the camera. 

Mom's have a special talent for flashing a smile, whilst covering up the "I'm going to kill you if you wont smile for the camera!!!" face they really want to make. The children, well... their faces say it all.

Thanks for looking! 

:)

Life Through the Lens of a Father...

I was looking through all our pictures and I found some random ones I never saw before today.

 Kevin must have uploaded the pictures from his phone recently.

 It was such a treat to look at our son through Kevin's eyes. 

 Every single picture tells a story, and they keep lighting up my face. 

This unstable mother might have shed a couple tears looking at some of these...

I hope you enjoyed these even a fraction as much as I did.

:)

Feelings and Priorities

Being a mother is a stressful and exhausting job, yet there is nothing more rewarding. Your child provides a never-ending supply of firsts, so you are constantly filled with pride, excitement, and suprise.

That feeling you get when you feel like your arm is going to fall off from holding your son’s hand while you drive, because he needs your attention in the backseat. It doesn’t hurt or bother you one bit, because feeling needed and feeling those tiny fingers holding you tight makes it all worth it.

That feeling you get when your son leans back and nuzzles into your lap during story/prayer time at night, then drifts off to sleep.  Suddenly you aren’t tired anymore, and you can spend a few more minutes enjoying the silence.

That feeling you get when you are at work, you smell poop, and you realize your son left a little reminder of him on your hands. Gross, but I am convinced I am not the only mother this has happened to... Any mothers willing to admit it?!?! Please humor me.

That feeling you get when you go to wake your baby up from a nap and you come across this...

That feeling is joy.

Now on to my rant about photography/blogging, 

I can’t help but laugh when I look through the pictures on my phone and camera and can only find pictures of my son... and a little bit of Kevin, and I never can find a picture of myself.

I remember the single days when all my pictures were of me and my posse, mostly comprised of face shots so you can remember/show off how good you all looked.

After I met Kevin, the pictures of my super handsome boyfriend started flooding my phone, so I could remember/show off how good my property/boy looks.

It amazing how the photos/blog posts on a person’s camera/blog shows where their priorities lie.

Examples I have seen/jeered at as of late:

displays of expensive outfits that I cant afford (barf/I secretly want to steal your whole wardrobe),

bragging (if you are trying to teach me your ways, then yay! If it makes me feel bad about myself, then boo on you),

showing off thrifty outfits (brag away you fashion blogger queen, I love it!),

home improvements/decor (my obsession, please proceed), 

crafts (never gets old),

money saving tips,

cute/funny baby pictures (always fun to look at by a biased mother like myself),

memories,

blah..blah…blahhh…

I dare you to look at your blog/facebook and tell me where you see that your priorities lie. I had a hoot looking at mine!

Enjoy your weekend, I am so excited for out valentines date night tomorrow night with Krystle  and Michael!
:)

Celebrating the best year of our lives.

First, a little about my night.

I really do love where I live,

On my way home tonight from the store I almost crashed into a deer... twice.

(a different deer 2 different times in less than a minute) 

This is a normal occurrence here,

I guess thats why our city is called Ek Ridge.

Anyways, back to the star of the show.

Say hello to the Birthday Boy!

We had his birthday party last saturday at our place.

We chose a race car theme, perfect for Sam since his favorite toys are cars.

 I went a little pintrest crazy while picking out the food for the party. Above you will see:

Spinach Dip Mini French Bread Bowls

Nutella Swirl Cupcakes

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Not seen (Ham and Cheese Sliders)

All homemade (for all who know me will gasp in disbelief)

 I made a Chocolate Cake with Mint Chocolate chip frosting for his Birthday Cake!

 (all homemade... down to the peppermint essence and chopped dark chocolate bits)

GASP!

 He enjoyed every last bit of his piece.

 This morning was Sam's actual birthday so I made him 

BIRTHDAY WAFFLES!

 They are just what you think they are.... okay maybe not.

They are normal waffles 

(My Aunt Christa likes to use cake mix instead of waffle batter) 

Topped with a scoop of ice cream and whatever toppings you prefer. 

I chose whipped cream, a cherry and hot fudge.

 I think Sammy liked his birthday waffle ;)

And we couldn't keep the kitties away.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMUEL KEVIN!

:)

Transformation is Complete...

I have turned into my grandmother.

Kevin and I occasionally joke that as soon as a ring went on my finger I turned in to my grandma. I cringe at every brake light while Kevin drives and I am always checking the speedometer. That, I think, is forgiveable.

Even the occasional "whoopadiddy" is excuseable. But yesterday I did the unthinkable....

I said "Heaven's to betsy!" while changing Sam's stinky diaper.

Yes. Those words came out of my mouth. Transformation is complete.

 

Now I just hope I can be as beautiful as her one day. 

:)

My new favorite time waster....

 

A Few lessons learned/Way Late Halloween Pictures

1. I learned not to try and let a babies diaper rash dry out when they have diarrhea...
2. I learned that when you cut your hair and you are a mother (even a totally [self proclaimed] cool one), someone is bound to tell you that you have a "mom hair cut."  Even if you don't have said mom hair cut.
3. I learned that some people are out to get you. Just because.
4. I learned that no one can take you seriously when you have a retainer in your mouth... and your 23...
5. I learned how much I love bosses that respect and appreciate you.

Thats it for now.

We are off to Las Vegas in the morning to meet up with Gma and Gpa Johnson at my Aunt Cindy's for the Thanksgiving holiday.  So excited!

:)

P.S. Here's our last minute halloween costumes for our church's Trunk-or-Treat. Last minute I decided to actually dress up this year so snuck upstairs and rummaged through Kevin's closet and put this piece together, and surprised kevin with a reminder of how cool (again, self proclaimed) I am. He told me I was weird and that he was not going to dress up. After some shameless begging and pouting to no avail, I gave up and went upstairs to get Sam ready. When we came downstairs we were surprised to see a handsome firefighter in the kitchen! Sneaky Kevin snuck down to the fire-station and got his Fire Suit. I was SO HAPPY!

After the church activity our friends, the Patey's and Muhlstein's, came over with their precious daughters and we had a baby photo shoot.
Thanks for looking!
:)

Decorrhea

Sorry for all of the home improvement posts, I have just been way behind on blogging lately.

Here is the front room. 

(I will be staining that curio to match the piano and mirror in the near future)

 Pumpkin and book:Hobby Lobby; Plant: Walmart; Frame: TjMaxx

 Kitchen Table

Light Fixture: Home Depot; Wall Art, Plant: Hobby Lobby; Pumpkin and plate: DI; Candle Centerpiece:Pier One

My first attempt at picture wall, with the help of my fabulous friend Jessica Bartlett.

Large frames: Hobby Lobby; Small frames: Aunt Edtih and DI; 

 Here's a picture to help put it in perspective.

Our Fireplace :)

Painting, plant, and E: Ross; Vase: DI (spray painted); pot and lantern: Hobby Lobby

A snapshot of the past...

 (Soon we will stain or paint the mantle, re-tile, and paint the gold)

Our new(repurposed) entertainment center!

Buffet: Aunt Edith; Tree: Yard Sale; Candle: Ross; Flower: Hobby Lobby

***Imagine a cheap black/modern entertainment center with wires/N64/Xbox360/laptop all exposed, 

and thats what this corner looked like last week.***

I might have an addiction to Hobby Lobby...

and I am proud of it :)

Its what on the inside that counts

Kevin praises me for all of the home improvement projects I have done over the past year...

(another picture of the Kitchen)

 ... But, he also HATES that I cant seem to ever finish a project!

(the insides had not been painted until last weekend)

... and After!

Sure when the cabinets are closed it looks the same...

"but my mah-mah-mah momma said" ...

Its what on the inside that counts ;)