Ev and Whit

Toddler + Summer = FUN!

2011-07-04T13:53:00.002-07:00

Work hard, play hard is our motto this summer. Jaycee is such a big helper! She likes to clean the floor and wipe everything down with me inside, and loves to spend time outside weeding with daddy.

After all that hard work, this little lady needs a treat! We spend a lot of time sitting on her step eating, looking for bugs, watching the neighborhood, talking with her friend Brooklyn and looking for the neighbor dog, Rex.

Before play time, Jaycee needs to get ready to go. The other day she was in her PJ's and brought me her hat, belt and shoes. This girl knows how to accessorize.

Even with the 95 degree plus temperatures, Jaycee insisted on wearing her coat (don't worry, I only let her sport it inside).

pLaY tImE!

We have spent a lot of time this summer playing with water. We have our neighborhood pool, grandma and papa's pool, White Water, our baby pool and Slip 'N Slide. She started off the summer a little uneasy with the water, but now really likes it.

White Water:

Like I said, one of her favorite activities: Bug hunting.

We also recently discover a place called Jump Mania. She was in heaven.

My friend, Syd and her little girl Paisley, were down for a visit so we went to the zoo with them. SO wish they lived closer!

Ev met up with us after a few days working in KC. He will thrilled to join our girl day at the zoo :)

Taking care of her friend...

After a fun-filled day Jaycee is ready to go to sleep. Or, at least make sure we are asleep. She loves to help us go 'night night' and shhh us to sleep. I love how her eyes are very closely watching Ev to ensure he is asleep.

Just love this little girl! Excited to have another night of fireworks tonight! Happy 4th!

Two Big Milestones...

2011-07-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

Two big events happened in Jaycee's life as of late. I feel like we are really starting to get into this whole kid stuff, which is so fun! Especially for Ev and I. The first big event was....

Jaycee's first time at Chuck E. Cheese!

Bad pics, taken with my phone...

She had so much fun dancing with the ummm... what do you call those 'creatures' on stage? The mouse, bird, dog, pizza guy...

Of course she had to attempt to beat the record on the shoot out with dada.

AND.... the second life changing event...

Jaycee's first time at gymnastics!

In this photo we told Jaycee to give us her game face. True cheerleader in the making!

She LOVED to run on the trampoline.

Excellent balance beam skills.

Tumbling away!

I was very excited for this day! It was for 18months and up, and you better believe she went right at ~~before~~ 18 months old.

Looks like we may need to purchase one of these:

YoUtH cOnFeReNcE!

2011-07-03T22:32:00.002-07:00

Ev and I got to be chaperons for youth conference this year. It involved sleeping in tents with 1000% humidity, bugs, lots of walking, questionable food at times, one shower for the whole place and some pretty adventurous activities. Doesn't that just sound like my kind of weekend?? Well, it was actually a lot of fun! The event took place at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch in Arkansas. They do have cabins available (although they were full when we went, I asked :) ) so I would definitively go back if I could stay in a cabin!

Here is the group from our ward prior to our departure.

Ev and his little Jimmer buddy!

My sister Alissa went as my 'assistant'. I would not have survived the extremely difficult activities had she not been there to talk me through it! Also, if you know me, you know I am obsessed with checking the weather all the time. I have every text message alert/app you can possibly sign up for when it comes to severe weather. Why do this you ask? I don't want to risk one weather alert group to not be on their A game when needed. Hence the back up. Anyway, one night it was supposed to storm. "Some storms may become severe". We are in a tent people. In the middle of nowhere. In a place where bad storms happen. So I was checking my phone at least every 20 minutes, looking at the radar like I am a meteorologist. Finally at 4 am the 'storm' was getting close. I was either going to stay in our tent (Alissa was with me) or head to the car. I woke Alissa up and we went to the car. And it was only rain.

There's Kailey just doing her thing...

Hating. Everything. In. Life. Here. (photo doesn't do it justice)

Honestly the part in the photo above was more scary then this one below for me (although I was still terrified).

Kailey was a beast with everything! She was the only girl to try this WAY scary part... I would have died if I saw her attempt it. Boys got nothin' on her!

This is the first time all three of us sisters were able to attend youth conference together. Chapman sisters 4 life!

Such a fun time!

These youth really are doing a great job! It's getting more and more difficult to be good in this world, but they are striving to do so. I was very impressed with them. Although I only have photos of the 'fun' activities, we were able to have spiritual experiences along the way, as well.

Joplin Tornado

2011-07-03T21:53:00.000-07:00

Words really can't express everything I have thought about with what happened on May 22nd with the Joplin tornado. I grew up in Joplin (though attended a different high school), went to Church in the building pictured below, shopped in the Wal-Mart now gone, had my first job at Shakey's that somehow survived the tornado even though buildings around it are damaged/gone (next to Wal-Mart), and so on. Even though since graduating high school I haven't been to Joplin too much, it still hit very close to home for me.

It really is true that even if you look at photos and watch videos showing the destruction on Joplin, you can't really grasp it until you go there. There is just so much damage. I read there is three times as much debris as the World Trade Center when it collapsed. But along with that, the amount of service and volunteers helping was amazing. People were so eager to help in anyway possible. While we were helping people find items in their homes, numerous people drove by asking us if we needed water or food. Tetnus shots were given by the dozens. Every church found a way to help feed, clothe, comfort those in need. I know it will take a long time to get Joplin "back to normal" (although what is normal after something like this occurs?), but good things can also come from this.

Here are some photos someone posted on Facebook of our Church building. Here is the door we entered each Sunday and Wednesday. The YW room is on the right.

Amazing how some things were untouched.

The bathroom on the left is where those people who were in the church at the time of the tornado went for cover. After hearing the story of their survival, I think it's pretty clear someone was looking out for them.

Joplin High School directly across the street.

Like I said, good things have come from this though. Many of my friends I grew up with have come back from college to help in anyway. We had a Joplin Stake reunion at Chedders, then some of us decided to check out good ol Shakey's.

The night after the tornado, before putting Jaycee down to sleep for the night, I held her for a long time while she fell asleep on me. I thought about those moms unable to do that anymore. My heart breaks for them. I don't understand why things like this happen, but am grateful for the knowledge that families are forever. It has been a good wake up call on how special each day should be.

Celebrate Good Times, C'mon!

2011-07-03T21:14:00.000-07:00

We've had a lot to celebrate lately. It all started with the surprise party Ev and some of my friends threw for my birthday. Thanks guys!

We played Minute to Win It games. Very entertaining!

A little picture time before our date (to get me out of the house...).

While we were out, Jaycee was busy taking care of these babies.

We also celebrated my sister, Alissa, graduating high school!! It has been awesome hanging out with her this summer!

My dear friend, Kristi and their wonderful family, adopted a baby boy, so of course we had to celebrate!

It was great to actually switch roles, and plan a party for Kristi! (she did my b-day party, along with every baby shower in the state of Missouri).

She got some great gifts for this lil man! Love the wipe carrier, which fits her personality perfectly!

One of my gifts for her. What a great example of love and service they are to us!

We will soon have another reason to celebrate as my brother is getting married July 15th in Utah! Hip hip hooray!!!

Secrets 2011!

2011-07-03T20:33:00.000-07:00

The last week in April we got to spend a week at Secrets Maroma Beach in Mexico as an incentive trip for Ev's work. It. Was. Awesome. I would highly recommend this resort to anyone. SO nice, great service, all-inclusive, beautiful beach, etc. One of the best parts was being there with all the work peeps. We really do enjoy hanging out with everyone, and hopefully we will be able to attend these trips every year, so that makes it even better! Here is a lil recap:

*This was the longest we had been away from Jaycee, so that was a little difficult, but I handled it pretty well. We actually only skyped two or three times and called/text very few times. I knew she was in good hands so that made it easier to have a relaxing week. Thanks fam! (I did attempt to Skype more, but apparently grandma and papa were having too much fun playing to answer some of my calls! Photo showing my anxiety about this...)

"The guys". Ev will be wearing linen pants to better fit in next trip :)

"The Wives". Ya know, just doing our wifey thing...

We went to the 'club' at the resort called Desires. Parttyyy time!

On top of chillin' by the pool/beach, eating massive amounts of food, going to the nicest spa I will probably ever go to, and the boys golf trip, we visited Tulum. It was neat to see in person some ancient history within our religious beliefs. We commented on how everything they did was so symbolic... made us feel completely lazy with how we do things!

So... on our 5 year anniversary (which very nicely seems to be right along the dates of these trips), Ev competed in the Secrets Idol. I talked him into doing this because the winner received 4 days to Secrets (they wait and tell you after the competition that you have to purchase 7 days first). Anyway, it was so funny. Ev sang his heart out, and somehow even with the whole company there, still has a job. He will probably never live this down. He ended up getting second place (which turned out to be a better prize than first place, massage to the spa). He even beat a Mormon Tabernacle Choir singer!

His chest said, "Happy 5 years", then on the back "Let's Pre-plan".

Ordering enough room service to feed the whole resort.

Fun in the sun. Loved it!

Kelsey and I even got to be guests at a beach wedding. Ok, actually we were totally creepy and just watched the whole thing from our chairs on the beach.

Boys will be boys...

Had so much fun with these peeps:

At the Awards night. Ev with his boss, Terry.

Photo shoot.

The fun didn't stop there in Mexico. On the way home we got upgraded to first class. Score! Ev just enjoying his steak on the plane.

This trip really set the bar high for our future vacations! I joked that after this trip I would be encouraging Ev to work longer in order to qualify for them each year. Hawaii 2012! Thanks, dear!

"Hoppy" Easter!

2011-04-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

Last year Easter Sunday:

This year:

Jaycee about had an anxiety attack when she saw her new dog book. She. loves. dogs. It is so fun having her to make all the holidays magical again!

We had Easter dinner at our house with my parents, Alissa and Kailey. My dad gets very EGGcited about the Easter bunny!

The gang... minus the boys who will be home in a few days from SVU. Ryan will only be home for a few days, but Derek will be here for a while hopefully.

I love this stage Jaycee is in right now. She is learning something new everyday and is such a sweetheart. She makes numerous animal sounds, prays {followed by a very animated amen}, tries so hard to put her shoes on all by herself, and just does her cute thing. What a joy she is to us!

It's no secret the girls in my family love shoes, Jaycee has inherited this love as shown below.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

*Sorry for the blog overload, but I really do want to blog more often, which meant major catch up! My goal will have to wait though since we will be gone all week. Oh someday...

April Fun

2011-04-24T17:37:00.001-07:00

Jaycee goes pee pee on her froggie toilet for the first time.

Jaycee loves to hunt down bugs in the house, clean the floors and watch the neighborhood action.

She also loves to play with her hats and shoes, and her mommy loves playing dress up with her.

Checking out Bass Pro is always a safe activity with our animal lover.

Playing on the play structure.

Daddy and Jaycee love to eat.

But more than anything Jaycee loves the outdoors, nothing beats a cruise in the wagon.

She can be a daddy's girl sometimes.

Silver Dollar City fun!

The Pure Madness of March Part II

2011-04-24T17:14:00.001-07:00

No words are necesary, other than the sign is for the little girls.

The signs for this weekend, were really all Whit. She's got the gift, what can I say, I married up.

We're practically all swamp people. Shout out to the Harris family who we stayed with. Melissa and Whit go way back.

Snakes and Gators.

The joys of getting a flat tire with a baby in the middle of no where Mississippi.

Our MVP of the trip, Kailey. She was (and always is) a huge help!

Jaycee even witnessed the Jimmer.

As you can tell we did in fact go down to the swamp land. A pretty cool place with a variety of people, cool architecture, beignets but ultimately the final stop for the Cougs and their MM run in 2011. Losing in overtime basically killed the trip, so not much positive to say other than great company.

The Pure Madness of March Part I

2011-04-24T16:49:00.002-07:00

We could not pass up the opportunity to see The Jimmer in The Denver. First it was Woffard.

Then two days later, still in Denver, the new Holy War began. The Cougs looked very impressive against the Zags.

Throughout the post you will see awesome signs we made for the games. I'd love to take all the credit, but the majority of it was thought up by Triznaynay himself and executed by Lesley the lefty. But I think all the inspiration goes to Whit and her insisting on "are You kidding me?!"

I almost forgot Les made an awesome shirt that said, "We're naming her Jimmer." (ps-If you haven't heard Les is having a baby soon, good luck with that Les, hope the birthing goes well).

Here we are getting are Olive Garden Saucy-ness on.

Doing the Denver thing in between games.

Celebrating Victory.

Working on vacation, yeah we're hardcore like that.

Lots of pre-game energy and enthusiasm.

The Jimmer, we had pretty awesome seats for both games.

Watching the game intently all while tweeting and FBing (or possibly texting the babysitters back home).

Ev doing his thug thing.

A very memorable and historic trip that will never be forgotten. From the unlimited Drury soda, to the after game celebration at TGI Fridays (which was full of "cheers" - remember however, keep it below the shoulder), to sleeping on full beds, to pink eye, to getting a taste of what its like being a celebrity (everyone, I mean everyone, wanted photos of us and our signs), to Steve's coat, to the countless number of chest bumps, to switching rooms almost every night, to that awesome strawberry syrupy dipping sauce stuff (dang!!!!!), to of course witnessing one ugly win and one beautifully impressive win and ultimately pushing us onto New Orleans.

Is It Summer Yet?

2011-02-25T18:55:00.006-07:00

I am so ready for summer to come so I can no longer be in hibernation. It was good weather for a few days this week, then today it was brrrr cold again. The walk in between when she wakes up from her afternoon nap and dinner time is crucial! So please come back sun!

I just love this lil girl to pieces. She has been talking a lot, including her new word "yes". It is adorable. We talk all day and have so much fun together. I really feel like she understands so much of what I say.

We always clean up her toys and put them back in her toy box, but the other day it made me feel like I may be creating a clean freak when we had only been playing with her toys for a few minutes and she started putting them all away. I guess it's better than being a slob...

She is getting SO big! I can't believe it. Oh, and she loves to stick her tongue out all the time.

We have been in 'project basement' mode lately. All the hard stuff was pretty much done when we bought the house, so we just get to do the fun stuff. Ev borrowed a paint sprayer when he did the primer, and came upstairs looking like this. Our carpet gets installed next week, then we have doors and molding to complete. It will be so nice to have all that room down there to enjoy!

So what do Jaycee and I do all day? Welp, here's a look into our schedule:

7:30-8:30: Jaycee and mama wake up {if Ev is home, they do their thing while I get some more beauty sleep}.

Eat a yummy in the tummy breakfast.

Do our morning chores, clean, make bed, dishes. Read {including my favorite Cinderella}, play with babies, draw, tickle Elmo, ride her pony, pull everything out of the bathroom drawers. Since I am easily distracted, I have a no tv rule until Jaycee is asleep for her nap. It helps me get all organized/feel good about the start of the day.

10:00-12:00: Morning nap/I get dressed for the day.

Eat lunch. PB & J is her favorite. She breaks the bread apart and licks all the jam and peanut butter off first, then will eat the 'plain' bread.

We try to go somewhere in this time. I go crazy if I don't get out of the house. Grocery store, shopping, lunch with the girls, go to our little park if it's nice...

2:30/3:00-4:30: Afternoon nap/my rest time. This nap time is getting shorter, and she spends more time talking so I fear she may be doing one nap soon. I don't know that I'm ready for that.

Go on a walk. Get all the dogs in the whole neighborhood to bark or chase/play with Jaycee. She LOVES the dogs here and goes crazy when she sees them!

6:00: Dinner

7:00: Bath time. Last night she pooped in the tub. Oh how I need a raise. {Pictured with aunt KK}

7:30-8:30: Bedtime.

Umm... I think we should be afraid of the following photos. A sign of things to come?

*Blogging question- any tips on a better layout for photos? It seems like I can move them where I want when I'm editing the post, then when it's on the blog it is completely different. Help!

Another Recap of our Life

2011-02-01T23:23:00.010-07:00

I love to read blogs, but man o man, I am so not on my blogging A game lately. I really want to post every little thing we are up to, but before I know it the day is over. I guess I just need to prioritize better. Anyway, what we've been up to lately:

*Pics were taken by Mere. Thanks a bunch Mere! I have been into the vintage looks of pics I see on blogs lately, so I did play around editing some... ugh, I don't know though. I should take a photo class someday and learn more about photography/editing.

1. Went to Oregon. Ev had a work meeting there so we were able to lengthen the trip and spend time with the Carlile fam. It was so fun seeing the cousins Jaycee, Gunner and Riggs together. They each have their own personalities even at such a young age. I actually saw a shy side of Jaycee this trip- I think having two all boy cousins running around was very interesting to her.

We fed the ducks, {Jaycee is wearing her cousins clothes because mommy was too lazy and didn't get her coat/hat from upstairs. We should have known they would sneak in bread, too! Adorable.}

went to a children's museum, played at the Albany indoor park,

went to a family/kids day at the local college,

took some Sears pictures of the kiddos, ate {which also means feeding Tootsie},

took baths,

counted down the time until Ev and Trevor were done with their work meetings,

discovered how badly we need a wagon,

watched the BYU games, hung out with friends in Chris's sweet downtown loft, and rolled in style in the awesome mini-van. Although very roomy, I don't think I will do the mini-van thing.

2. Surviving the Blizzard 2011. We are snowed in and I think we may go crazy after being inside all week! I read in the news they are predicting this to be the worst winter storm since 1912. We went to the store before it hit, so we should be good to go. I am a little worried if the power goes out, but our gas fireplace can work on batteries if needed. Although I'm not sure how long those would last us. Lots of blankets and a slumber party may be in our near future! Tomorrow it is supposed to get reeaaallllyyy cold. {Is there much difference in temperature after 5, 10 or 20 below zero?}. It's funny because it was crazy weather like this all the time in Rexburg, but for some reason all the hype of this storm kind of makes me excited... bring it on!

Kailey came up the night before it started snowing because we knew she wouldn't have school and would rather be stuck here playing with us. Today we went out and played in the snow while Jaycee was napping. We attached a rope and trashcan lid to our 4 wheel drive Pathfinder {yep, keeping it classy, I know} and had some fun. *I had a video of this but it's taking forever to upload. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow. As you can see in this video below though, I think cabin fever may already have hit Ev.

Yep, so that's us right now. Life is good. Just livin' it up in our igloo! Maybe tomorrow we'll take Jaycee on a walk in her stroller. Hmmm....

Jaycee's Winter ONEderland!

2011-01-02T21:34:00.008-07:00

We had so much fun celebrating little Jaycee's first birthday on New Years Eve! I know everyone says how quickly it goes by, and I will have to agree. I love watching her grow and learn, but there are some days I just want time to stop and for her to stay little forever. She is such a blessing to us. I can't imagine life without her. She is such a social little thing, too. She has so many people who love and adore her. She will go to just about anyone {other than Santa, of course}, and spends the entire time at Church waving to people.

She loves her babies and is so gentle and loving to them. She gives them kisses, hugs and rocks them back and forth. She loves dogs! Thankfully both grandparents have a dog, so we are off the hook for now. Most mornings right when we get her, she says "dog. dog. dog." She also has a unique way of saying Miley {my parents dog}. Another thing she is consistently saying now is "Jesus" either when we ask who it is in a picture and when we ask where is Jesus and she will look at his picture. Such a spiritual child, I know. Today I helped out in Nursery and took her. Prior to today she usually would just eat the crayons, but I was a proud little mama when she sat at the table with the 'big' kids, watched what they were doing, then colored her picture! I kid you not, I almost cried at how big she is getting! Ah...

Anyway, back to her party. Those in attendance were my fam, the Peters family {who are basically our adopted family} and the Tompkins family, who have a little girl Jaycee's age.

The invite.

We first did a little time capsule activity where everyone wrote a little something from memories of 2010, to advice as an 18 year old {when she will open it}.

We watched a movie my brother, Derek, put together. It's on my Facebook, and I highly recommend you watch it. Tear jerker. Notice Jaycee waving to herself on the video.

Then we opened gifts. She got so many great things and is enjoying all of them! She even got squeaky zebra shoes she wore at church today. So fun. Also, thanks to Ev's aunt and uncle for her party dress which now fits her perfectly- instead of a Ralph Lauren logo it has her own initials. Adorable!

Then it was cake time! She first gave the cake a kiss {because who doesn't do that?}, then ate each letter one by one. She figured it out though and by the end had cake flying everywhere.

Here's some pics of the set up. Ev made some yummy white waffles for our waffle bar.

We did a little candy bar for everyone to take home. {fyi: rainbow twizzlers = gross!}

Thanks to everyone who means so much to Jaycee. We couldn't ask for a more perfect daughter and look forward to another fun filled year together!

Well... maybe next year on her birthday we can go without the super glue all over her hands!

First Christmas!

2010-12-31T16:03:00.008-07:00

*We are just going to skip over the fact that I haven't done a post in over two months, and go right into the Christmas festivities! New Year coming, rejuvenated to blog more!

This was the first year we really did the whole Christmas thing as our own family, since past years were during college and we traveled to the Chapman/Carlile houses. Then last year with Jaycee due right around that time and me not wanting to buy Christmas decor knowing everything would soon be 75% off, we kind of skipped some parts. Having Jaycee around this year made Christmas that much more special! Love the picture of Jaycee watching Ev hang the lights.

We enjoyed a classic Church Christmas activity. We sported some pretty sweet sweaters. When the older ladies complimented my outfit {and were not joking...} I did not know how to respond without offending them. My go to line was, "Yes, it is festive." I thought Jaycee would be more curious with Santa, but turns out she is not a fan. Maybe next year!

My poor mother really dreams of us being a musical family {especially since they live in Branson and have friends who are performers}. Her Christmas wish was us to 'gather around the piano and sing Christmas carols.' Lovely.

It was an epic Nativity reinactment, complete with my dad as the angel, Derek a donkey and my mom riding the donkey.

It must have been confusing when the time up until Christmas I told Jaycee she could not open her gifts, then all of a sudden I am encouraging her to. Santa brought her a little table and chairs set, and she loved all the other goodies she received.

I asked Ev to marry me again {and replaced his lost wedding ring}.

One lesson we learned this holiday season was to not send square Christmas cards. Who would have thought it takes extra postage. Sorry to those who had to pay to receive our card!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, as well!

Black Bear, Black Bear, What Do You See?

2010-09-19T14:17:00.006-07:00

We had a great time going to the zoo with Ev's parents a while back. Jaycee was very into seeing all the interesting animals.

Her face the majority of the time:

I crawled into a little tunnel so we could do this. When we crawled out there were many adults we had to crawl around to escape. You do what 'cha gotta do, huh Jaycee?

Waving to the animals.

I can't imagine what goes through a child's head when they see something like this...

Be the bear.

Just doing some work on the farm with gma and gpa.

Jaycee using the skills she learned at the zoo by attacking daddy!

Thanks for a fun night guys! And putting up with me saying, "I don't want to see any birds. I just want to see a tiger."

Bend 2010: Best. Weekend. Ever.

2010-09-12T20:29:00.006-07:00

We rented a house in Bend, OR with some peeps Ev works with over Labor Day weekend and had a blast. Prior to the trip many meetings were held, and the official title of the event was named. Best. Weekend. Ever. It really was great and fun to just hang out with the group.

Minute-to-win-it games to decide who got the master bedroom. It was very intense. Sadly, Ev lost in the finals to Tyler. Dumb Kleenexes. Fun to watch though!

Lots of Rock Band was played this trip. "All You Need is Love" and "We All Live in a Yellow Submarine" with everyone singing were highlights.

Of course, Ev + pool table= Splash. (and the fact that 3 balls were missing meant a lot of this game).

The food was great. Special thanks to Chris as food chairman. Well done.

Since we had so much food left, we played a game with the winner able to select two items first, and so on. Spouses were unable to communicate with one another. Also, very intense.

What we came home with.

Doing their thing. This is their boy band pic.

Livin' it up in the backyard. Life doesn't get much better than this.

We stopped at a neat restaurant on the way home right on the lake. Also very pretty!

Sunriver 2010

2010-09-12T19:55:00.004-07:00

The Carlile Family Reunion was about a month ago. You can read more about it here or here or here. It was a great time and very entertaining, especially with all the wee ones around this time! Ev is putting together a video of the event, so since a picture is worth a thousand words, here ya go. Can't wait for the next one!

Just floating down the river. Taking it easy.

Cousin time!

Just one crazy bunch of people.

Missouri Getaway

2010-09-07T22:03:00.002-07:00

So Jaycee and I took a trip to Missouri to hang out with the fam. It was a lot of fun (and also seems like so long ago!). This is what we were up to...

Click here to be redirected to youtube to watch the video.

Too Much To Blog About.

2010-09-05T23:11:00.003-07:00

I have so much to blog about. Missouri. Sunriver. Bend. Ugh. Stay tuned. This is what we were up to today. So much fun. So little time. I know, the suspense is killing you all.

7 Month Photoshoot

2010-08-19T13:20:00.008-07:00

We got some pics taken of little Jaycee. By the time our schedules worked out, they ended up being her 7 month pictures. Adorable. Eddie and Amy were great to work with! If you're in the Portland area, use 'em!

Jaycee and I took a trip to Missouri that I will blog about later. We are off to Sunriver tonight. Shall be fun!

2010-08-05T14:31:00.009-07:00

We took a weekend to the coast. It was a blizzzle-blast. My girls are awesome.

Seaside.

Jaycee saying to herself, "yeah I am awesome."

Petting Zoo in Tillamook.

Tillamook Cheese Factory, pure awesomeness.

Cannon Beach.

Astoria, Lewis & Clark Monument.

Astoria, Coast Guard Ship Tour.

ps-Did you know they have satellite TV for the guys on the boat?

Whit, just getting her bearings.

Ev getting his baby bjorn on.

Next year Jaycee.

Columbia River Pier just a few miles from where it pours into the Pacific.

Look for an awesome video, with some great footage to come soon.

First 4th!

2010-07-04T21:20:00.003-07:00

Happy Late Fathers Day!

2010-07-04T21:04:00.002-07:00

Since I have been out of the loop in the blogging world, I need to send out a very Happy Fathers Day to Ev. Jaycee and Ev are quite the buddies together. They have their own secrets and get into trouble when mama's not around. The relationship of a father and daughter is a special one, and it is neat to see theirs continue to grow. Ev is an awesome dad and still gets Jaycee if she wakes up in the night and changes multiple diapers a day. He takes such great care of 'his girls' even if we're cranky at times! Thanks, dad for also being such a wonderful dad to me! From him going to all my cheerleading activities, to sending out his daily texts... I think I'm pretty lucky!

Ev gives Jaycee her bath at night while I do my nightly tidy. Here she is when she had carrots for the first time. We gave up trying to keep her clean and just let her have fun. Gotta pick your battles with parenting, right? And yes, I have had too much fun with photo editing tonight.

The New Adventure Begins

2010-05-25T08:52:00.005-07:00

It's a bit of a bittersweet time for us right now as we begin this new chapter in our life. I am very anxious to be with Ev longer than a weekend again, but am sad to leave family, friends and everything else about 'The Show Me State" we have loved. It's been a short, but good time in Missouri. We bought our first home and had little Jaycee here. I've had a few 'moments' this week (packing makes the move very real), and I go into Jaycee mode. I lay like her and stop all productive things I could be doing. We didn't expect to move this quickly, but am extremely grateful for the career opportunities Ev has in store. So, onward and upward to Portland we go! Ev and his dad drive the UHaul out this weekend, and Jaycee and I fly out Tuesday.

Miss Jaycee Happenings- She is such a trooper when we go places. Last night Kailey had her 8th grade promotion in the 100 degree gym with no AC, and Jaycee just hung out with grandpa in the back, didn't fuss at all. She will not sleep on her back anymore, which at first I absolutely hated, but I am getting less paranoid about it. I love that she will see something she wants, get very excited, and go for it with all her might. Such a determined little thing! She has been eating rice cereal, which is a real treat. Even though it is a messy process, she looks adorable covered in it. I just love watching her learn and explore new things. I was telling my brother last night that even with the lack of sleep or poopy diapers, when she first sees me when she wakes up and gives me a huge smile, that makes it all well worth it! I feel so blessed to be her mom! I just love that little girl to pieces!

We had a little photo shoot with my fam now that Jaycee had joined the Chapman Clan.

Whit's Birthday

2010-05-16T18:14:00.005-07:00

As you may already know, May 17th is Whitney's birthday. What you may not know is a few things I will discuss in this blog. I don't want to go down the sappy, smoochie, love love, alley that some bloggers do (you know exactly who you are). I will, however, share a few things with you that I do love about Whit and some of life's events that happened this year.

This year a lot has changed for us, in fact it has probably been the biggest year of Whit's life. I would say the main reason for that is because she transformed from career woman to being a mother. I have to tell you Whit, you do have the prettiest baby girl I have ever seen! You are a great mother to our beautiful baby girl. Also you did some pretty cool things for the first time during this year of your life; march madness, epidural, time our for women, truly experienced mothers day, blessed baby Jaycee, fired a real estate agent (which was not pretty nor would I recommend it), put on the nativity at church, helped put up Christmas lights, had a baby shower, went on a Branson-wide scavenger hunt, went to a St Louis Cardinals game, experienced most corners of MO (STL mainly), entered a walk-a-thon in Danville California, sent your husband off to the fathers/son campout with three adopted boys for the weekend, oh and did I mention you went through labor and had a baby!!!!

Anyway babe you truly are the best. Here are just a few reasons why:

- You're the only wife I know that encourages her husband to participate in a different city league team for Tues, Wed and Thurs night.

- You are an 11, on the 1-10 scale of beautiful women.

- You make me laugh all the time.

- You laugh at my lame jokes (you know the ones that are so lame, that only maybe Les would laugh at, yeah those ones).

- You encourage me in my career dealing with funerals.

- You're the lowest maintenance, high maintenance of the low maintenance wives in the world.

- You go to Wal-mart and buy $41 worth of groceries, you have $40 in cash, you use your $40 in cash, then charge $1 to your credit card.

- Your redneck accent is awesome and should really shake things up out here in Portland.

- You make some awesome enchiladas, chicken-n-a-roll, chicken devon, poppyseed bread, chip dip, little smokies and a number of killer crock-pots.

- Your milk is obviously very high quality considering our baby is off the charts in the weight department and she is healthier than Tony Horton.

Love you, and have a great weekend get-a-way lined up if you ever join me out here!

4 Years!

2010-04-29T08:54:00.002-07:00

Four years ago we were just two crazy kids, now look at us! We've done a lot over the past fours years, I can't wait to see what the future holds. I sure love you, Ev! Even if you are hundreds of miles away from me right now :) It's been a dream hasn't it? Happy anniversary!

Summer, Summer, Summer, Summer Time!

2010-04-15T18:36:00.008-07:00

What I'm looking forward to most about summer time: Spending many days outside with this little bundle of joy! Here we are enjoying Alissa's track meet today. (By the way, awesome job Alissa and Kailey- you guys are da bomb!)

Sorry to leave some of you hanging in terms of the Portland update. Long story short, Ev was offered a position at the home office with his company. It is a great position and will be a wonderful opportunity for him. We will miss the Chapmans a ton, but good thing we have eternity with them :) Ev starts next week there, and us girls will most likely go out when the house sells. We hope we won't be apart too long, but that would mean more time to spend with Jaycee's crazy uncles who will be home for the summer.

14 WeEkS

2010-04-09T14:06:00.006-07:00

Since I missed Jaycee's big 3 month mark, I am making up for it with a 14 week review of her life. I am absolutely crazy about this little girl! Adorable! Here are 14 little Jaycee-isms.

1. She discovered her tongue yesterday, and has been sticking it out ever since. One day I'll teach her that this is rude. Until then, I love it.

2. She is a chubby little thing. I especially love the dimples on her knuckles.

3. Even though Ev and I won't be trying out for American Idol anytime soon, I believe Jaycee has a singing talent. We often find ourselves just listening to her let it all out!

4. She loves getting her diaper changed and has from the beginning. She props her legs up and everything.

5. After numerous tries of putting her whole fist in her mouth failed, she put her problem solving skills to the test and now sees it's a whole lot easier to settle with the thumb only. I'm still hoping she will eventually take a pacifier instead...

6. She is a diva in the making. From the ruffle bum pants to all her stylish dresses, she is quite fashionable. I'm just glad she doesn't try to rip off her headbands yet.

7. Every once in a while I catch a glimpse that makes me think she is so meant to be the oldest sibling in the fam. Sometimes she'll just stare at other babies with the 'what in the world are you doing' attitude.

8. Since the weather is finally getting nicer we have been going on walks which relaxes her so much that she just falls asleep right away. I'll have to remember this for our next kid during those first sleepless nights. I can see it now walking the streets at 2 am...

9. Her latest favorite toy is her play cell phone. What is society coming to that a 3 month olds favorite toy is a phone?!

10. Jaycee is a daddy's girl through and through. Ev was working on her 'shot' the other night. Still has to work on the follow through though. Don't worry Ev, you have time.

11. Unlike her mom, she is very happy in the morning. There is nothing better than waking up to such a beautiful, happy sight!

12. I don't think it will be too much longer for her to take her pre-crawling to the next step. She is getting closer... which makes me nervous since my day will be a lot crazier then!

13. She is a great traveler. On the flight from Portland to Missouri she slept the entire time except to get her diaper changed and fed during the Salt Lake layover. This is great since we will be making that flight a lot here in a bit. As most of those readers out there know, we are moving to Portland once our house sells. It will be so hard to leave, but we are up for another adventure (and glad that Ev will be home every night!).

14. It's so fun seeing her personality start to come out. Although she is growing up so fast, I love seeing the little changes in her daily. It's been such a blessing having her in our family!

Jaycee Growing

2010-03-26T11:36:00.003-07:00

Jaycee has been busy growing and developing her personality of late. Here are a few photos over the past few weeks.

Here mother found baby, after dad was instructed to watch her during a Blazer game. The sling has come in very handy I must say.

Oh yes, I remember this one. I discovered out luggage makes for a pretty cool piece of transportation for Jaycee. I pulled her around in this for a while.

Here is mom and Jaycee with Sis Allred from the Branson Time Out for Women.

Pictured here is Jaycee telling Dad her picks for March Madness. She hasn't done too hot considering she had Temple winning it all.

Here is Jaycee at her happiest time, the morning. She loves waking up, getting a clean diaper, eating and of course singing!

Here is Jaycee doing her best to please both mother and father with her wardrobe.

These last four are some quality father/daughter time.

She is getting so big and growing so fast. Let us know if you want to babysit, we are always looking for ways to share our little bundle of joy with others.

:-)

Excitement in Oklahoma

2010-03-26T11:11:00.006-07:00

Well as it does most years, selection Sunday fell the day before my birthday. This year Whit surprised me with two tickets to the 2nd weekend of March Madness (sweet 16). But then only a matter of hours later we discovered that the beloved Cougars would be playing in Oklahoma City.

Without missing a beat my good wife strongly pushed me into getting tickets to the BYU game as well. As a good, devoted and supportive husband I agreed, and we purchased some great tickets. In fact they were awesome seats (as seen in the photo below). We were the front row of the corner section. The only problem was we were the only BYU fans on that half of the arena.

We arrived about an hour before game time and took in the whole experience, for example; going courtside to watch warm-ups, Jaycee insisted she get a picture with Jimmer (as seen below), running back to the car because they didn't let us take our detachable lens in the arena, feeding Jaycee (as seen below) so she will be all ready for the action, etc.

It was a fabulous experience. We couldn't have picked a better game to see live: Jimmer dropped 37 points, Llyod Jr had 26 points, the game went into double OT, we got all kinds of looks because of a crazy screaming BYU fan (me) strapped with a 11 week old baby to his chest, broke the one and down curse and of course beating Florida is always a great experience no matter the contest.

We did have a little time to check out Oklahoma City. We visited the bombing memorial of 1995 (I think), drove down-town, had my wife tell me numerous times how she would never live in Oklahoma, paid about $20 in two days in toll fee's, and saw interesting road signs like "don't drive through smoke."

One other cool part about the trip was that on the way home Whit graciously drove and Jaycee and I sat in the back seat and watched live games as I streamed them onto my laptop. I thought there was no way driving through the middle of no where Oklahoma/Missouri it would work, but I was pleasantly surprised when it did.

My two girls are awesome, and I think they may have had more fun than I did. Thanks for a great birthday Whit, guess the pressure is on for May.

Problem Solved

2010-03-03T21:35:00.003-07:00

Ev thought Jaycee had outgrown her PJ's, so this is what he did. Priceless.

Life as of Late

2010-02-28T21:49:00.007-07:00

It was another fun-filled month for the three of us. To recap, this is what we were up to during the month of February:

We watched my sisters kick some trash for their Church bball team. Although they were great to watch, I must say the best part was seeing the coach in action: my mom! If you know my mom, you can see why I made sure to be there. She did a great job, including keeping stats on the girls. I'm sure they're already starting training for next season!

We saw Kailey perform her cheerleading skills at Spokane High School homecoming. She's only in 8th grade, but she's the best that town's ever seen!

We celebrated Love Day on our first official date post-baby. Sure is great to have wonderful babysitters so close (Aunt Alissa and Kailey are already training her on her volleyball skills and such.). She looked so cute on Valentines Day. I love playing dress up with my real life doll! *Cassie: Yes, I made those follower clips. So easy and cheap. She has them in pretty much ever color now.

We slept. I finally feel like we are out of 'survival mode' as I called this first little while of parenthood. Jaycee is smiling, sleeping on more of a do-able schedule, and getting so big!

We went to a dance at Church. It was 'dressed to impress', but Ev and I decided to bring it back to the 80's. I became a big fan of the style as I was getting ready... big hair and fun make up. You can't really go wrong!

We finally decorated our bathroom. It has been simply practical since we moved in a year ago, so I'm glad I finally like it. I'll take some pics after I hang the last pictures and the finishing details.

We also took Jaycee on her first little road trip to Saint Louis. She did pretty good, although I am curious to know how many people requested room changes during their stay at the hotel.

We cheered USA on during the Olympics. I am a huge Olympic/USA fan, so I was devistated to see USA go down against Canada. It doesn't matter the sport, be it curling or hockey, if USA looses, I get emotional. It makes no difference to me that Ev spent two years in that country.

We are excited for the upcoming events including Jaycee's big 2 month check up (Ev says I better fatten her up before her weigh in), Ev's birthday, a mini Time Out weekend our Stake is putting on in Branson, my brothers coming home for a bit during Spring Break, and of course the Madness of March!

A 'SUPER' Week!

2010-02-10T16:22:00.006-07:00

Jaycee had her own little Super Bowl Sunday for her baby blessing. It was such a special occasion. Thanks to those who were able to join us for it! Cousins Riggs and Jaycee hit it off right away to bring home the W.

Here are some of the key players...

MVP goes to Jaycee!

Time for the after party! Yummy in the tummy!

When all was said and done, she just took it easy in her big girl chair.

*Hopefully Grandma Pammy has some more pics from all the other excitement that went on that week to post soon!

Just the 3 of Us...

2010-02-02T19:10:00.005-07:00

Way to multi-task, Ev and Jaycee!

Our little sleeping beauty! She is a doll! I love my little buddy!

Since Ev has to go to meetings before Church and I still have to get myself ready, this is what Jaycee gets to do while I get all dressed. She likes to rest up before 3 whole hours of Church!

"Whit, I need you to print off when babies should accomplish certain things, because we are going to beat them all." - Ev (See video for their training together)

One Month Birthday for Jaycee

2010-01-30T16:52:00.006-07:00

It has been an exciting month in the Carlile home. I thought I would make a list of the things I have learned over this period of time. Whit has been giving me a bad time since I haven't posted in a while. I created a list of 20 items in no particular order. So here it is from the male perspective......

1. When buying diapers, don't judge the size of the diaper by the baby in the photo on the packaging.

2. When wiping a girl, the proper technique is front to back.

3. The placement of the epidural needle is critical to a successful epidural. (Special thanks to our Doc who nailed it, even though he was an OU fan).

4. There is a difference between a cradle and a crib.

5. If you are driving and you have to pull over so Whit can feed the baby, pull over at a Sonic during happy hour.

6. If your wife doesn't pump or you don't use formula, that means more sleep for you (husband).

7. When your girls (wife and baby) don't get enough sleep, they can get cranky.

8. It is okay to breast feed in public, with a hooter hider, if baby cannot wait until later.

9. Baby clothes require separate laundry detergent.

10. When your wife leaves you with the baby for the first time, and you perform test "let the baby scream until she is worn out" don't chat about it on gmail or your wife may find out what you have been up to.

11. Do not plan next child to be born two weeks prior to you being gone for a week in Phoenix for work. Especially when southwest cancels all flights the day you are planning on leaving.

12. Do not waste your time trying to convince your wife the "let the baby scream to sleep technique" can be effective.

13. Taking good, quality photo's of a new born can be very difficult.

14. Do not print photos at Walgreens, way too expensive.

15. Do not be offended when your wife regularly tells you how large your head is. (Its just because she is used to holding the babies small head).

16. Watch out for these sayings from your wife after you become a father: "Man, you are dressed like a DAD today." or "All the sudden you snore very loud." or "Ev, dress socks with basketball shorts? really???"

17. When going to bathe baby for the first time, you should probably tell mom before you go ahead and do it. I guess the babies first bath is a bigger deal than I realized.

18. When it doubt, burp the baby.

19. When watching basketball or football and holding the baby, look down at her every once in a while or mom will think you are more interested in sports than baby.

20. The connection between baby and parents is amazing and like nothing else.

I love being a Dad (and husband)!

*All photo's taken at one week of age.

Sneak Peak

2010-01-19T21:21:00.004-07:00

Us girls are keeping busy by doing the baby stuff- sleeping and eating- while Ev is in Pheonix for a few days for work. We sure miss him already! I'm pretty sure I held Jaycee for 95% of the day today. I just can't help but sit and stare at how beautiful she is. SO in love! I am also loving that Grandma Chapman is staying with me while Ev is away... a little more sleep has been nice, even though she does pretty good in the night considering she is a newborn.

I just saw our photographer put some pics up on her blog of our photo shoot of Jaycee. I anxiously await seeing the rest of the pics... stay tuned!

Jaycee's Pink Palace

2010-01-08T19:38:00.004-07:00

Here is little Jaycee's room. She seems to only be here when she's getting her diaper changed. Of which, she had quite the messy experience today, hence the changing pad cover is soaking in the sink at the moment. It is a bright room that's for sure! The chair was a great $10 find off Craigslist that we had reupholstered. We will have the ottoman recovered in the same fabric at some point probably.

Jaycee is doing great. Every night gets a little better. She is just a dream! She tested out her swing... I'm not sure she really knows what to think about it.

Jaycee Stella Carlile

2010-01-04T19:20:00.009-07:00

We welcomed Jaycee Stella Carlile into our family on Dec. 31, 2009 at 9:32 am. She weighed 7 lbs 14 oz and was 20.5". We are SO in love with her already. What a sweet little girl she is!

Going into the whole labor process, I was always anxious and nervous about what my 'birth experience' would be like. Since I like reading the details of others' births, the following is what went down a few hours before she entered this world. Skip below and check out how cute she is if you could care less about the details :).

I was already at 4cm going to the hospital. At midnight we arrived to be induced. After getting all settled in, they started the pitocin and got the epidural going. I told them if I could get the epidural in the parking lot, that would be fine with me! The anesthesiologists did a great job with the epidural, (which is surprising because he is an OU fan<---inserted by Ev) I felt nothing but could still move my legs and such. The next few hours were spent watching ESPN (since at that time there are mostly informercials), eating a popsicle and ice, and watching Ev sleep in the tiny chair (I was way too anxious/excited to sleep!). Around 7 am they broke my water. Things started going very quickly after this-- just an hour and a half later I was all set to start pushing. When he said I was a 10 and going to start pushing, I had a little emotional moment thinking about the fact that it was really happening, she would be here soon. I think all those episodes of watching A Baby Story really paid off because I only had to push for 61 minutes (that and in between pushes I told myself to get her out quick so she wouldn't have a cone head :) ). The last few minutes of pushing was the only uncomfortable part, I knew she was so close and I think I just got a little nervous. Sure enough though, all of a sudden she was here! I couldn't believe it. Ev then cut the cord and got to watch them do all the after labor stuff. It was such a special experience with our little family now together. Ev was so wonderful through the whole process (although I did make it easy for him!). So 9.5 hours, a few episodes of Saved by the Bell and some ice chips later, our little angel was here!

The past few days have been going well, considering she is a newborn. She eats great and often. We had a doc appointment that went perfectly. Poor thing gets to be the tester as we figure this whole parenthood thing out! I don't know what I would do if Ev wasn't as great of a dad as he is. I think I've only had to change one or two diapers if that tells you anything. She is a daddy's girl that's for sure!!! And I love having a buddy to match bows with. We often just sit and stare at here... we just love her to pieces!

Tis the Season!

2009-12-15T10:39:00.007-07:00

I can't believe it is almost Christmas already! For a long time I had in my mind that around Christmas = baby time, so to think everyone else is on board with the Christmas spirit now (since I have been since August...) makes me very anxious for our bundle of joy to arrive! Here is how we have been celebrating so far:

Our Church does a big Nativity Celebration every year where hundreds of nativity sets are on display, a live nativity is shown outside (including animals) and many of the Branson performers come and sing from their Christmas shows. My favorite was the group SIX. I was the rep from our ward this year, so it was nice to help out on the inside scene a bit. It was a little strange walking into Church hearing the sheep and donkeys make their animal sounds... not something you hear every Sunday.

I think Ev's favorite part of the Holiday season is eating the yummy sugar cookies we decorate. Check out the guilt on his face from all the cookies he snuck past me! Pam, I am sure you remember that face all too well, too! I decorated one for our little girl... next year Ev will have a partner in crime to sneak more past mommy.

I have tried other sugar cookie receipes that have not turned out that great, but I think we found a winner this year. Yummy in the tummy!

BEST ROLLED SUGAR COOKIES

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Ingredients:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese,

softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1.	In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Other than our Christmas lights hung outside, I have done very little decorating. Since it is the first year we are in our own home for Christmas I just can't get myself to buy decorations knowing they will be like 70% off the day after. So, this is pretty much all I have done this year. Hopefully I can get some goods for next year. As much as I want our girl to arrive now, I would feel guilty not having a tree/decor up for her first Christmas. So stay in until at least the day after Christmas!

Lastly, I usually love making/sending out Christmas cards, but I skipped out this year since I figured we would send out baby announcements shortly after. I know, I know, now you don't have to run to your mailbox daily in anticipation for our card. Sorry! We do wish everyone a Merry Christmas though!

For your entertainment...

2009-12-14T09:26:00.005-07:00

I have been trying to upload a number of these old video clips I am laughing out loud at watching now, but only two of them are working. I will keep those other videos on hand though when I feel some comic relief is needed in the blogging world.

It's hard to think this time last year we were finishing up finals for the last time. We often reflect on the fun times in the 'Burg. We sure miss our friends and college life, but I must admit I do not miss the Rexburg weather right now. Ev, as mentioned, I had other videos to upload- but only yours made it. Sorry :).

This first one is when the Beaves upset USC. Yes, Ev was VERY excited to say the least.

So, you gotta love the dances of BYU-Idaho. At first Ev was not thrilled about going to the Valentines Day Dance, but from the look of this video I think he had a great time. When he's feeling it, he does not hold back. Wow...

Thanksgiving 09 (finally...)

2009-12-04T20:41:00.004-07:00

I am finally getting around to the ol bloggin' world again. We spent Thanksgiving here in Missouri with my family (which actually hasn't happened in a few years). It was great to spend time with the family, especially seeing my brothers from college. As my dad says, Thanksgiving is all about the 4 F's: Family, Friends, Football, Food. This year was no different.

Thanksgiving was kicked off with the Turkey Bowl, of course.

We enjoyed the traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

Had a little photo shoot session. For some reason Derek is just completely weirded out by the idea of me having a baby inside of me. I can't wait to see his huge hands hold our little girl (he has got some abnormally large hands...). I know he is very excited about being Uncle Derek.

Kailey and Ev were very successful in regards to Black Friday shopping. They got up extremely early and returned with a ping pong table. We have been working on improving my skills, so watch out! I may be a main contender in the next Wilson Family Ping Pong Tournament... that's all I'm saying.

Ev put lights up on our house. It was a big moment since this is the first time we will be at our own home for Christmas.

And now with the baby update... everything is going great. She continues to dance inside me. She is in the correct down position, getting ready for go time! Lately I have heard Ev say numerous times how 'motherly' I am becoming. But, Ev is really taking in the father role, too. Let's just say he was in our childbirth class last night during the first half of the Beaver/Duck game. If you know Ev at all, you know this is a HUGE deal. Other than that, we are just playing the waiting game for the time being...

Baby Shower

2009-11-15T18:48:00.007-07:00

It was all things baby, pink and fun last night at my baby shower! It was so fun being with friends and family at this very exciting time. Huge thanks to everyone who helped out with it all!

Here are the girls--My mom (aka Grandma), sister Kailey, me and sister Alissa. They did a great job with planning such a fun party with my friend, Kristi and others who helped out. I also think they need to go into diaper cake making now.

Can you tell they are very excited about this new addition to our family?!

My friend, Melissa, who I grew up with came with her mom and little baby girl. Seems like just yesterday we were livin' it up at girls camp... now we are having babies. So fun! Also, a huge thanks to Kristi who so kindly let us party at her house. She is such a dream! My high school friends Chelsey, Cristi and Amber also made the treck up to the Ozarks for the party. It was great to see them-- they are all so beautiful and fun to be around.

No baby shower would be complete without some wacky games. I had no idea they made so many kinds of baby food! Really, who feeds their kids some of that nasty stuff? Some of it was more like cat food! No thanks! The prizes were sure cute, too!

We got very spoiled with all kinds of great gifts! From diapers to bows- she has it all and we are very grateful for those who were so generous to us! I'm thinking she will be the best dressed baby around.

Ev made a guest appearance at the end of the shower. I think he was scared to come in...

Thanks again to everyone! We are very ready to have her join our family... just about 7 more weeks!

Photoshoot

2009-10-29T10:23:00.002-07:00

Ev and I got to be models yesterday for Capture the Moment Photography. She sells her photos on istock (I believe that's what it is called), so she is always on the lookout for models, and we just happen to want some pics so it was a great fit. These are just a preview of some of them. She was nice enough to e-mail me a few right after the shoot. Fun stuff! And Ev was a great sport through the whole process!

Time Out for Women

2009-10-25T11:54:00.004-07:00

This weekend I was able to attend Time Out for Women with some of my friends from Church. It was my first time going and it was a lot of fun. It was held in Kansas City so we were able to do some great shopping, eat at Cheesecake Factory and PF Chang's on top of the actual Time Out for Women event.

I'll just share a few highlights from those things talked about at TOFW. Kind of long, but I wanted to jot a few notes on the blog about it.

Jenny Oaks Baker performed Friday night. She is such a talented violinists. She was a lot of fun to listen to and incredibly talented! I got her 'Best Of' CD which I have already listened to numerous times today. A funny story she shared: She was in a singles ward, and like most single wards- was spotting that right guy to sit next to. She ended up finding a good one to sit by. As he was trying to impress her, he shared how his dad was a Bishop, Stake President and now a Mission President. Jenny thought he seemed a little too confident in this and replied, "Well my dad's an Apostle." His response was that that was cool... so she knew he was a keeper and they ended up getting married.

Michael Wilcox then spoke to us. You can tell he is very knowledgeable about the gospel. One night he was marking his scriptures and his young son came up and starting coloring his scriptures, too. After a while he looked at his sons page and it was an exact replica of the marks on his page (which, you can imagine, wasn't just one little word highlighted, but a lot more detailed). The son then started to cry and said, "my lines aren't as straight as yours." Michael then explained that sometimes we feel the same as this with the Savior, but that we will get 'our lines straight' with time. Another comment he made was that of a great lesson he was taught and can change your life. It is when you realize that the woman you love, loves you. He said the same thing goes with Heavenly Father. The God you love, loves you.

Emily Watts spoke on Saturday. She also was a great speaker. She spoke about various parts of motherhood, including how when you become a mom, you become an obsessive counter. I thought this was so true of moms... having to make sure everyone gets not only the same number of skittles, for example, but the same number of reds, greens, and yellows. She said, "Everything I know about charity, I know from being a mom." She spoke a lot about the 'fruit' of being a mom, usually meaning kids. She asked the question then of what if the 'fruit' of being a mom, is me {the mom}? She shared that this will change the way you think/parent. She also told a story of when her daughter and her were prom dress shopping. We all know what a treat this is when you are trying to find a modest prom dress. They ended up finding one that was pretty decent, it just was barely too low cut. She told her daughter she thought it would be fine. Her daughter said that it would be fine if she was going with someone other then the specific guy she was going with. Emily said she wanted to call up that boys mother and say, "thank you for raising a son that makes my daughter want to be modest." I hope I can raise our boys to be like that, especially in these times when it is more important then ever!

John Bytheway {I hyper linked some quotes from him on some website} was not scheduled to speak to us, but Sheri Dew was unable to make it so he took her place last minute. Personally, I think this was a great fix! I read his books to teenagers growing up, so it was great to hear him as an adult. He quoted Sister Hinckley who said, "Decide what's important and move at a pace comfortable for us." He also had us ask oursleves, "What's it like being married to me?" I plan on focusing on this question, because I know it must be difficult! He had a lot of great stories and quotes, but I will not do them justice here!

Wendy Ulrich then spoke. You can tell she is just the sweetest lady. One thing she said I thought was interesting was that we've all heard, "If a thing ifworth doing, it's worth doing well." She took it one step further and said that there are something worth doing badly... and be willing to do better (motherhood, missionary work, etc.). She distingished between sin and weakness which I think sometimes we mix up.

The last speaker was Kris Belcher. She was great! I don't think I've laughed so hard in a long time as I did when she spoke. SO funny! She has such an amazing personal story. I would encourage others to read her books or listen to her speak if possible. Too many great stories to tell here. Loved it! Some notes: Our will and Heavenly Father's will need to become one, and his will is not going to change. There is purpose in struggle, that helps us get through the day and look forward to tomorrow. She is a living example when she said that bad things will happen but that we need to find ways to work through them (one way she does this is through laughter). She said we are commanded to have joy!

Overall, great weekend. Now I better go eat some food!

October Happenings

2009-10-19T09:30:00.012-07:00

October has been a fun-filled month for us thus far. I'll break it down for ya...

We celebrated my dad''s birthday on the 4th by throwing him a surprise football/ref theme party.

We've watched Alissa and Kailey do their thing with volleyball and basketball.

My cousin, Dawnielle, and her baby came to visit the land of the Ozarks. It was great seeing them. I think it made my family that much more excited about having a baby around come January. My dad was able to bless their baby during their trip, as well.

We wished the birthday girl, Adrienne, a happy birthday on the 13th.

We were busy pranking ward members and friends for a Halloween Challenge we participated in this past week. We were put into teams and the week before the big Challenge (basically a fun-filled scavenger hunt around Branson), we got extra incentives for pranking the other teams. One of the pranks we did was write 'Just Married' kind of stuff on their cars. One prank someone did on us was to rearrange our house a bit, and place dixie cups filled with water all over our bathroom floor. Dad, we will get you back for letting them in our house! It was a lot of fun and I feel like we now know the ins and outs of Branson a lot better!

We had our ward activity which consisted of a Fish Fry and a Trunk-or-Treat. Notice the pic of Ev and Brian. While we were busy getting the activity all organzied, he was at our house stealing Ev's jersey and pranking us!

Last night we partied with the now 17 year old, Alissa!

And today we wish a Happy Birthday to Les!

Ev is currently just letting the good times roll as he is busy working on getting our backyard filled with grass. He loves to work outside and do all his 'manly' things. This weekend I am going with some friends to Time Out for Women in Kansas City. I'm sure it will be one big party! Other than that, I am just getting bigger and bigger as the days go by!

All Things Girly...

2009-09-24T13:12:00.004-07:00

I am having so much fun with all this little girl stuff. Let's be honest- everything is just so cute! Even the things to hang their bows on are adorable! I am going to make something on my own, but got some great inspiration from etsy. Love it!

Modeling Mizzou + Minnesota Style

2009-09-06T15:10:00.005-07:00

The Bjorkman family has graced us with their presence this weekend. After a van full of girls, including a dog, (and Steve) traveled down to the Ozarks- it was party time. The trip has been filled with the boys golfing, girls hitting the outlet malls, cheering BYU on to victory, yummy food (fyi: Blue Bunny Peanut Better Panic is the best ice cream known to man, I've recently discovered), lots of entertainment from the girls, and more. My sister, Alissa, also stayed with us last night and we were pleased to see our girl will be in great hands with her soon to be aunt! We had a little modeling photoshoot before church today. Here are some pics from that adventure:

St. Louis

2009-08-30T17:46:00.005-07:00

Ev has had to go to St. Louis quite a bit for work lately, and since all I need for my job is my computer- I have been able to tag along with him. One of my personal favorite parts of going together is waking up in the hotel knowing all I have to do is roll out of bed, take a 20 second elevator ride down to level 1 and BOOM- breakfast is served. Such a dream! On this last trip we finally saw some of the sights St. Louis has to offer.

In other news... our little girl is sure growing big (at least I am growing big, which hopefully means she is, as well). Even the ward members are noticing the difference, as many of them came up to me today and said, "Oh wow, I can really tell you're pregnant now!" I wonder if it would be weird to say this to others who are just putting on a few pounds... can you imagine the reaction, "Oh wow, you are really gaining weight!" I think it would be pretty funny. I feel 'Hershe' move all the time, which has to be the coolest feeling ever. Ev has been able to catch her moving from time to time, too. We changed our guest room to what is now called 'Project Pink'. I am waiting to post pics of her room until it's all done, so that may be a bit. Ev has been a handy man in there though- hanging up the bead board and such. He just got called to be the Elders Quorum President in our ward- so that is sure to keep him busy. I know he'll do just great at this new calling. Also we made a huge change in our family--- we said goodbye to our full size bed, and hello to a king! Wow- well worth it. The place we got it was going out of business, and the saleman was a real piece of work. Needless to say, being married to a salesman has its perks and we came out on top.

Overall, life is just grand for us. Not much to complain about, and much to look forward to!

Overdue Update

2009-08-16T06:45:00.005-07:00

We have been so bad at taking pictures. We will hereby recommitt to start taking more pictures again. Since our last post lots of things have happened.

Whit has been to AZ to visit her Gpa and family. We went to a Wilson family reunion. Whit's belly has grown to a very noticable size. To be a little more specific the growth has really taken off the last week or so.

I have been busy with work, really enjoying it. Whit has also been busy with her job, but what really keeps her busy is shopping for baby stuff of all kinds. Also she has been making all kinds of different hair things and other accessories for our baby girl Hershe. (Pronounced "Hershey"). I came up with the name, it is her offical name while in Whit's belly. The reasoning behind this name is, since we are having a girl which referred to as "her" or "she," I thought why not combine the two = Hershe. Then when we have a boy it will be, Heman. Brilliant, I know.

Well here is a very few random pictures and a video I found on our camera.

Can You Tell?

2009-07-23T07:57:00.004-07:00

So precious seeing her move around and such! She even opened her mouth for us.

Smile! The first of many photos!

She works out like her mama!

Her little feet were crossed...so cute! Already sitting like a lady!

Can you tell we found out yesterday what we're having?! We are so excited! It makes it so much more real now that we don't have to say 'it' when referring to the baby. Now we just have to wait 5 months to meet her!

So fun shopping for her. I had to get her the Puma outfit so she can be ready to play some tennis with her daddy!

Ed Freeman, A Real Hero

2009-07-11T13:06:00.001-07:00

You're a 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley ,11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam . Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8 - 1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in.
You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're not getting out. Your family is 1/2 way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.
Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter, and you look up to see an un-armed Huey, but it doesn't seem real, because no Medi-Vac markings are on it...
Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Medi-Vac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway.
And he drops it in, and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board. Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the Doctors and Nurses.
And, he kept coming back.... 13 more times..... And took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Ed Freeman, died last Wednesday at the age of 80, in Boise, ID . . . May God rest his soul.
I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, but we sure were told a whole bunch about some Hip-Hop coward beating his "girlfriend"; or the passing of Fawcett & Jackson.

The King of the Jungle

2009-06-24T16:21:00.005-07:00

Whit has really been into watching the Discovery Channel, particularly the Lioness and her cubs. Similarly to those expecting Lionesses out there, we also are expecting our little cub January 5th. We are roaring with excitment and gratitude for this blessing and opportunity.

"No You're Not Hardcore, Unless You Live Hardcore..."

2009-06-20T08:33:00.003-07:00

I had the opportunity to work out with my Dad yesterday morning and see what he has been up to over the past 6 months. To give you a little background, At the start of the year Mom and Dad committed themselves to an excerize program. I think Lesley had a good part in making that become a reality.

So I don't have all my facts exactly right, but I am pretty close...

- at least 4 days/week

- Starts working out between 6:45-7:00am (wow)

- For about an hour work out

- Showers at the gym then Dad goes straight to work. Mom goes home to shower.

- The warm up alone really gets your heart rate going.

- One free weight exercize my Dad did, was 3 sets of 20 raising the roof with 17.5 lbs per arm. Sure that doesn't sound like a lot of weight but you try it. :-)

- Then a number of other workouts; arms, shoulders, legs, cardio, stairmaster, etc etc

Hats off to you Mom and Dad. You have shown a determination that only few can do. Your efforts will bless you in so many ways, and you family!

We Congratualte you. And the real reason behind this post was to say, Happy Fathers Day.

Soon they will look this youthful again. They are already half way there!

1146 day anniversary

2009-06-16T21:27:00.006-07:00

Since I have been travelling I can't help but not think about this milestone anniversary that Whit and I are starring right down the muzzle of. It made me think of how grateful I am for my beautiful, best friend, yeah thats right BFF's baby!

Man I am so indebted to our blog and the great journal it has been for us. Looking back at some of things we did in '06 and '07 sure brought back great memories. I do not want to make this long, because as I saw from my last post people don't read the words, just look at the pic's.

Enjoy a few pics over our past together. We've had some great times in the past 1146 days, and I look forward to the many days ahead! Miss you Frau, see you soon.

A Boy's Favorite Weekend

2009-05-31T17:41:00.003-07:00

Background (March-ish):

Typically at church I remain very quiet (refering to Priesthood opening exersizes). But when Whit and I moved here to Springfield, I was pretty quick to make my mad camping skills known throughout the ward. I mean lets be honest, my camping skills are comparable to Lebron's skills on the bball court. I don't know why but I have just been blessed with this gift, to be at one with nature and to have an innate ability to understand the camping way of life. All things camping just come to me.

The Story (Present time):

Friday my trusty Father in Law and I picked up four boys. Joseph age 12, TJ age 10, John age 8, and Zach age 5/6. We also had Derek on board. We drove about an hour to Table Rock Lake, near Branson. We packed the Envoy so full I felt like I was going to sell pest control again packing up the Taurus with stuff everywhere. Stuff at your feet, on your lap, stuff on your side as a pillow. I didn't even have it that bad, it was the two little boys that you could barely see their little eye balls they were burried so deep. You know stuff...camping stuff...sleeping bags, tents, marshmellows, footballs, pillows, liter fluid, hatchets, fishing polls, lawn chairs, etc.

It was the weekend every boy looks forward to all year long, the father and son campout. We arrived Friday evening and set up camp.

Here is Joseph in front of his tent.

Left to Right, here is John, TJ and Zach and their tent.

Here is my tent, pretty must the sweetest tent a man can have. I mean what is not manly about this tent? Nothing. I think the length of time that a man has had his tent says a lot about him. I mean who wants to be that guy that stopped at the store on his way to the camp out and bought a tent? Not me. My tent and I are going on 8 years (its hard to believe, time flys).

The evening festivities included: Words from President Chandler, roasting hot dogs, marshmellows, smores, starbursts (Thanks Les, delicious), camp fire man talk, a plethora of trips to the restroom for the little guys, a little football, and just hanging out.

After the boys all fell asleep (which took about 3 hours), Rich, Gus and I just did our manly thing hangin' by the fire. Derek was also there for part of that until he went off playing capture the flag with his posse (spelling?).

The next day we had a vegan breakfast, which was interesting, not your typical father and son campout breakfast, at least not where I come from. Then we headed down to the lake. Swimming, rafting, boating, fishing, and of course lots of peeing in the lake. Yes that's right, on multiple occasions this scenario played out...

Zach: "Evan, I have to go to the bathroom, REAL BAD!!!"

Evan: "Okay, no problem, lets walk on up to the restroom."

Zach: "No, Evan, I have to go to the bathroom...NOW."

Evan: "Okay, just go in the lake then."

Zach: "uhhh..." (Zach swiftly runs to the lake gets in maybe up to his ankles, drops his swim shorts, and bam. He goes to the bathroom inches away from where his buddies are swimming. To say the least, he cleared the area fairly quickly.)

The situation repeated four times throughout the day.

Then we broke camp and headed home. Of course stopping at the golden arches on the way home for lunch.

Lessons learned: Be careful what you ask for. Camping still rocks, but rocks a little less with allergies, don't let young boys drink 3 soda's in about a 10 minute time period, be descriptive with your bathroom instructions, and never go camping with little guys without backup (Richard and Derek).

Thank you's: Richard, Derek and Gus. You each made my weekend much better. And minus that one part where we lost one boy for about 25 minutes it was a great experience, see you guys next year!

And of course, thank you Table Rock Lake, we could not have asked for a better weekend.

Get to know the Birthday Girl...

2009-05-17T06:35:00.006-07:00

It is very common to find Birthday blogs, across this fine blogging world. But since this is a milestone birthday, and a very special birthday, I wanted to do something a little different for the blogging world.

Many of you out there that read our blog, do not live in Nixa, Missouri. Since that is the case I want to bring each of you into the dynamic mind of the birthday girl, Whitney. I have put together 22 questions and asked for Whitney's immediate response. Remember I asked her these questions right when she woke up too, so that may have an effect. Hopefully this will help you to get to know Whitney a little better. So....

1. If you were a candy, what candy would you be?
A: Mr. Goodbar, kind of nutty

2. Name the first professional sports team that comes to mind.
A: Portland TrailBlazers (Yes, I'm doing my job)

3. What is the first thing you think of, when you see the color purple?
A: tinky winky tella tubbie (I hope I spelled that right)

4. Who is the tallest person you know?
A: First I thought Ev, then I thought Yao Ming...wait...

5. What is your favorite store to shop at?
A: Banana Republic

6. How old, is old?
A: 86

7. Pick one: Facebook, Twitter, or Blogger.
A: Facebook (duh)

8. If you could go out to eat anywhere right now, where would it be?
A: Olive Garden

9. What is your most hated house hold chore?
A: Floors (moping)

10. If you could have any super power what would it be?
A: To read peoples minds, I like to know everything

11. What was your first thought when you woke up this morning?
A: Why in the world is that curtain half way open! (Sun was glaring in her eyes)

12. What do you think the greatest invention in your life time has been?
A: I'm not saying the first thing that came to mind...ok...hair straightner

13. Name one thing you miss about being a kid.
A: Liking to run (that really says it all!)

14. If you HAD to change your name, what would you change it to?
A: (This one was very tough)

15. What was your favorite music group when you were in middle school?
A: N'Sync, but I wasn't a die hard

16. What was your favorite childhood injury?
A: When I broke my wrist doing a back handspring at lunch. Then I went all day not going to the doctor, yeah thats how tough I am.

17. If your house was on fire and you could grab only 3 things, what would they be?
A: Evan, Laptop/External hard drive (photos), and my Reasons book that Ev gave me when he asked me to marry him.

18. If you were a cartoon character, which one would you be?
A: Tazmanian Devil, because we live in Missouri and its always a tornado here (without misssing a beat)

19. If you were an animal, which one would you be?
A: A Lioness (she has been watching a lot of animal planet lately)

20. Have you ever been told you look like someone famous? Who?
A: hahaha, Whitney Houston

21. Why does caregiver and caretaker mean the same thing?
A: oh, cause you provide and give them things, yet you can take away so much being in charge of them.

22. What would you like the blogging world to know on this, your 22nd birthday?
A: I have a couple things so you better be ready to write. 1, Olive Garden does not put as much alfredo sauce on their chicken alfredo now, I am assuming because of the current state of the economy. 2, I very much appreciate when Ev mowes the grass diagonally. 3, right now its 9:26am so if were going to church I need to go get in the shower!

Happy Birthday Cowboy

2009-05-12T15:00:00.003-07:00

Wishing one of our favorite cowboy's a happy birthday. May your day be filled with gladness. Ride on cowboy, ride on.

And remember, "If it can't be done on a horse, it aint worth doin'."