Fishing

While at my parents cabin, Jordyn got to go fishing for the first time. To celebrate such an experience, we got her a new fishing pole of her very own. Once at the lake, we tied a plastic butterfly (it came with the pole, why a butterfly? who knows, ) to the end of the string and

for a little while she was content with that, but then she saw others getting things out of the tackle box and had to see what she could find. She was full of excitement when she found a container of WORMS! She wasn't sure what to think of them when Aunt Toni put one on her hand, but she thought it was great fun when that poor worm got wrapped around the wings of her butterfly. Aunt Toni and Jordyn sat and threw that poor worm into the lake and reeled it back in over and over again. When her cousins, Harley (3yrs) and Callie (5yrs) saw how much fun the worms were, they each had to have one of their own (but they were a bit more daring than Jordyn and actually held theirs). In the mean time, my dad and sister, Heather, were busy keeping the "real" polls in the water for the bigger kids. (like father, like daughter: it's a good thing I live so far away otherwise I wouldn't get away with saying that)

Going for a Ride

At the cabin, Grandpa was lucky enough to take Jordyn (and the dogs) for a ride. Jordyn didn't last very long on the ride (for a matter of fact, neither did the dogs). She did a little better when I took her. When we were headed back to the cabin, the dogs decided they were tired of running and wanted a ride again, which was fine, until their bucket flipped over going down a hill and Jordyn bumped her head on the steering column, then that was the end of rides for her!

Feeding the "ams"

Jordyn has an excellent vocabulary for her age, but there are still a few letters she struggles with, "L" being one of them (and "t" being another). This became very noticeable while we were in Utah and Jordyn got to help her cousins, Sage & Shaylee, feed the "ams".

It was her favorite thing to do. Everytime we went outside and she heard the "ams" cry, she'd make sure that I knew that "ams crying" and that she wanted to feed them. Lucky for her, they got feed twice a day, everyday, so she got her fill of feeding them. She even got so good at feeding the "ams" that she helped Keegan do it.

If Keegan doesn't look interested in the lamb, that's because he's not. He's more interested in watching the goats. Yes, I said goats.

Jordyn was in Heaven at my parents, there were lambs to feed, goats to pet, cows and horses to watch in the fields below, and three dogs to play with!

Bathing Beauties

Jordyn & Keegan enjoying cups of bubble bath water, YUM!

Something From Me!

OK! So this is how this works…The first five people to respond to this post will receive something made by me for you. My choice made especially for you. Of course there are some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! (Of course, I will try to make something that I think you would like.)

2. What I create will be just for you.

3 It will be done sometime this year.

4. You have no clue what it will be… it may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure.

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. (Although, I’m not really the sort of person to make something strange.)

6. I will send it anywhere! It doesn’t matter where you live!The catch? The catch is that you must repost this on your own blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on their blog.

The first five people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!!

Excuses

So, here is my list of excuses as to why I haven't been the best at updating my blog (you might want to sit down and get comfortable because the list is kind of long). For starters, I have been working on these in all my spare time. My goal for May was to get ALL of them completed, but that doesn't look like it's going to happen since Jordyn and I are taking a rendezvous to Utah for a week (and I have about 30 more to complete). We're trying to find a new home for because is developing allergies (don't you just love the WILD hair?). The cat is not the only thing she's had a reaction to, apparently mosquitoes aren't her friend either. Speaking of I've been keeping her busy because has been working long hours and she tends to be his shadow. For fun, we've played with these, and read this so many times that I have it memorized. We helped Daddy build this to help keep all the toys organized. And last but certainly not least, we've been enjoying these from our garden. So farewell until we return from Utah in a couple of weeks!

Twins?

* The two pictures on the right are of Jordyn, the two on the left are of my niece Shaylee (who is now 9)

Get Fit is Finished!

Our fitness challenge actually finished the end of April, and they announced the winners on the 2nd of May. I'm just a little slow in posting our personal results. While we weren't the over all winners (one was a guy who lost 48 lbs and 9% body fat, and the other a girl who got 2800 pts). I lost 9 lbs and 1% body fat, and Erik lost 2 lbs and 1% body fat, and we both got enough points to get a prize. We each got $250 in QLS cash (money to be spent at the gym). So far, we've each bought ourselves a polar watch to help with our continued weight loss journey, and I'm planning on spending the rest of mine money at the spa (our gym has an awesome in-house spa). While I'm still not going to post the before pictures, here's a glimpse of what we look like now. . .

Fear

That would be fear of the unknown known. We just found out that Erik gets to pick his permanent assignment on Wednesday. Since he told me the news, my stomach has been in knots. We're loving his schedule know, and he LOVES the station he's at. While there is a chance that everything could stay just how it is, there is a bigger chance that everything could change. It's knowing what those changes could be that worries me. We've dealt with day shift (not likely for a rookie), evenings (which we have now and are enjoying), and nights (the shift that I fear). I remember the stress and exhaustion that came with the 5 weeks Erik spent on night shift. I was stressed as I tried to find ways to entertain Jordyn upstairs or out of the house so Erik could sleep, he was exhausted because it was near impossible to keep Jordyn out of the bedroom since she knew that her daddy was in there. Remembering those feelings and knowing that that is a looming possibility fills my heart with fear. Another, and greater fear, is that Erik will have to switch stations. He loves the station he's at and I enjoy the fact that he doesn't have to deal with a lot of "big crimes", that he's mainly doing traffic (which he REALLY enjoys doing). I fear that he could go to a station where there's an officer involved shooting monthly, or he's dealing with hardened gang members or other such crimes where he is more likely to get hurt. Don't get me wrong, all stations have those possibilities, and I fear pray for his safety daily, but some areas are worse than others. However, I know that whatever assignment he gets will be what is best for us and that Heavenly Father will up us through it.

Happy Mother's Day

Jordyn wishes you all a Happy Mother's day from our new porch swing (the only thing I asked for this Mother's Day).

New Addition

There will be a new addition to our family in a few months, and it's a girl! (no mom, I'm not pregnant) I'm going to be getting a new sister (no, my mom is not pregnant either). My little brother is FINALLY getting married!

I met the unlucky victim lucky girl, Karen, when I went home over New Years. She's really sweet, but she'll have her hands full keeping Colt in line. The two lovebirds met on Southern Utah Universities (SUU) ballroom dance team. The rest of this post is dedicated to Karen. It's just a few snapshots of Colt, to help you see what you're getting yourself into.

I don't have many incriminating photos, so if you want more just talk to Toni or Heather, they'd LOVE to help you out! I'm SO glad you're joining our family! Congratulations to my favorite little brother and his future bride!!

Planes, Trains, and . . .

Trash trucks, these are the things that my little girl is fascinated in right now. She loves to watch the planes fly over our house, and enjoys hearing the train whistle as it chugs along the nearby tracks, but I've never seen someone get so excited about hearing and seeing the trash truck. Every morning, she runs to her window to see if she can hear the trash truck. Most mornings I have to remind her that it isn't trash day yet. Last Thursday, we were fortunate enough to be up before the trash truck came, as we were getting dressed, we heard that familiar rumble as the truck emptied cans on a neighboring street, so we dressed quickly, grabbed our waffles, and headed out to the front porch, and there we sat and watched and waited as we ate our breakfast. Then, the moment we'd been waiting for arrived, the trash truck turned down our street! It was like Christmas time for my little girl, she squealed with delight as the truck rumbled down our street with the trash men picking up the trash and throwing it into the trucks hungry belly. She even got waves and smiles from the trash men as she waved hello. She then proceeded to run down the sidewalk for fear the truck would disappear, she watched in awe as the truck gobbled up the trash from our street, as it was slowly making its way to another street she waved good-bye, and to her sheer delight, the truck honked its horn in return. Nothing could fill her with more joy than to watch the trash truck, so we anxiously await Monday morning, when it returns to our street.

Randomness

Here's a bit of randomness from the end of April. I love having a little girl with lots of hair, usually, we just pull the front back to keep it out of her eyes, and let her curls run wild, but occasionally, I'll try something a little different. The other day, I did a french braid that went around Jordyn's head, it turned out really cute, the only problem was that her hair is very fine, (and very curly) so it soon fell out.

I've been making all of our bread for the past month or so, but I usually just use my mom's classic white bread recipe (which is delicious), this past week, I decided to try something a bit different and I made wheat bread, it turned out fantastic, and the first loaf lasted about 3 days!

Any one who knows Jordyn knows that she LOVES water, she loves to drink it, and she loves to play in it. Needless to say, she's enjoyed the rainy weather we've had lately, here's a few pictures. . .

*this one is after the rain had stopped. The winds had blown the cover off her sandbox, which then filled up with water (so did the sandbox unfortunately). Jordyn decided that it would be great fun to play in the mud puddle, and enjoyed every minute of it. I didn't mind her playing in the muddy water, until she decided she was thirsty.