josh and jennica

Abby turns 1

2012-01-21T15:19:00.000-08:00

Can you spot the birthday girl?

We celebrated Abby's birth last Saturday evening with a bash! I was so glad that we worked a time when my grandparents were passing through town and could bring my mom along with her. I also have one of the sweetest friends in the whole wide world that made a 4 hour drive with her 18-month-old Crew for the party (and to tell us that she's expecting another baby). Unfortunately, she was so sick from the pregnancy that a few hours before the party started, she headed back home!

Abby eating her banana cupcake. Bananas are her favorite!

A lot of these decorations were recycled from another friend's a baby shower. Handy, huh? I loved how our house felt with all the positive energy there from Abby's guests. I completely enjoyed myself.

Abigail and her first stroller. She has really enjoyed all of her gifts- thank you to everyone!

Josh and his Momma. I am so happy to have them home from Brazil!

The little girls playing in Abby's room

The big boys watching the game on the biggest screen they could find- (our laptop). PS- this is one of my favorite rooms in the house- that desk we found at a thrift store and paid a painter to spray some paint on there- we didn't sand or prime it, and it turned out beautifully! (After I glazed it of course- I have to take some credit!)

No party is complete without cupcakes!

Abby trying to steal anything of Kaya's... So typical.

Here's Abby and the grandma's on her Real birthday (Sunday).

"Uh oh" and sweet bedtime...

2012-01-06T19:05:00.000-08:00

So I took abby in for her 12 month check up and after we'd got most of the chatting out she looked at Abby in the eyes (who was standing on her lap), and said, I'm suprised that she's not communicating more with you. No words or actions? I said, no not really. She said- "I feel like she's totally capable of more"--- I went home wondering if I was not doing enough to help her talk. The next day came Abby's 1st real word. "Uh oh!" It came out of no where- I said it when she dropped something off the high chair- and she repeated me! You could see the little wheels turning as she tries to figure out how to make the sound. So darling.

Here are a few other cute things I wanted to share- Some of them happened like 6 weeks ago, they're all a little scattered.
I really have been enjoying putting Abby down for bed lately. We snuggle in our cozy chair in the dark and I get to daydream while my little bundle sinks into dreamland. One night when I was patting her back as I usually do, and her little hand decided to pat mommy's shoulder too.
Another favorite moment of all time is how she had just finished her bottle and usually that's when she's almost asleep- but she sat right up and got her face close to mine and gave me the cutest squintee giggle. We gave eachother a few rounds of eskimo kisses and she LOVED it- she was squeeling with delight. I thought- oh crap- she'snever going to want to go to sleep now... ButI set her down in her crib anyway and she just snuggled with her blankie and was content to lie there hunched over with her bum in the air- her sleep position of choice these days.

She makes the cutest noises! She has a purr and loves to yell "Yeah!" all day long. "WowAwaWa..." is a typical sound for when she's playing with the dollhouse.
Abby has a hard time sleeping at church - too many cool people she could flirt with... Somehow I got her to fall asleep in my arms in the mother's room though and for one meeting she slept like a baby. The next meeting was going to start soon so they started playing the prelude music, and in her sleep she started bouncing to the music! She woke up a few seconds later, but she always has a pretty big reaction to music- She LOVES it :)

Our First Woodbury Christmas

2012-01-01T20:04:00.000-08:00

This was the 1st year we put up a tree! I got one at Tai Pan at their after-christmas sale last year- I didn't know where we'd be this year--- but I knew it would be the Woodbury's turn instead of being at my parent's in Salt Lake, as usual.
Here is our very own gift display from Santa on Christmas morning.

Abby's face when we went to get her out of her crib to open presents. We opened gifts after we'd gone to church, ate a "Christmas Miracle" breakfast, and everyone had a good nap. (the reason it was a miracle breakfast was because we were craving sausage- but we didn't have any... Josh thought that we could make sausage- and I didn't think it was possible. Thanks to allrecipes.com, we had some of the best sausage ever!)
So about 1pm, we had our "Christmas morning" and opened some necessities, some AWESOME toys, and some thoughtful gifts from loved ones.

New Socks Scavenger Hunt. Am I the only one that has a hard time finding gift ideas for the men in my life? I figured I'm prob not, so I'll share my fun idea- Get a pack of his favorite kind of socks and fold them into balls. Put 1 on the tree with the 1st note attached with ribbon."follow the clues..." I had him outside (clue- baby it's cold outside), in the oven (some like it hot), to about 3 other places and ended in Abby's room with the box of the rest of them (pictured). Love, Abby. He had fun figuring it out.

Abby got a fun walking toy. She's really enjoyed it!

We're really enjoying feeling mostly settled in our new house! We feel way blessed to be here.

Good News for Blogging

2011-12-24T08:31:00.000-08:00

1- We finally got our black-friday laptop!!! I love it! I think it was worth the wait. Time for some major blog catch-up.

2- I figured out how to make it easier to leave a comment here. I'd been told a few different times that it was IMPOSSIBLE to get a comment to save, so it should be fixed now. Comment away :)

And- it's Christmas Eve. That's also very good news.

To-do list:

2011-11-30T11:16:00.000-08:00

2 things that are guaranteed to help my day go smoother: 1-read scriptures in the morning 2- write down a to-do list.

Here's mine and Abby's for today:

1) Shower- this is a big day for us. It doesn't happen as often as it should, but when it does I just let Abby play at the bottom and we get clean together. She has a blast splashing and chatting as we go.

2) Breakfast- (Abby) make sure mom has to chase me around with the oatmeal spoon since she refuses to get a real high chair until we move into the new house. (Jenn) clean up oatmeal mess.

3) (Jenn) Text cleaning girls and call clients for upcoming jobs.

4) (Abby) Pull out at least 23 things from the kitchen cabinets.

5) (Jenn) Put Abby down for a nap. (Abby) pull an all-morning-er (like an all-nighter, but for the morning nap) and play with monkey in crib instead.

6) (Jenn) Put together a basketful of things to take to Urban Renewal. ...We have a bunch of home-decor and clothing that's still "in" but just won't work at our new house. So, hopefully we'll get some good cash from it :) Last time I brought in a ton of stuff left-over from a joint yard sale and let's just say it was definitely worth the trip! ... Try to clean up the house a little.

7) Get Abby out of crib and try to be content with the little that got done during her "nap".

8) (Abby) Bang on everything in the bathroom and try to make as big of a masterpiece (mess) as possible.

9) Get in the car. (wow- who thought getting in the car could possibly be an accomplishment? It just is at this stage!)

10) (Jenn) Go to Kwal and get glaze and paint for a couple little projects at our new house! I've heard their paint is worth the little more it costs than Home Depot stuff, but is it really?

11) (Jenn) Maybe change mind about the Kwal stuff once I see the price and just go to with good old Glidden after-all.

12) Dr's office to get Abby's 6-month-shots. Yes, she is practically a year, but she had a cold the last 2 appointments and who wants to make a trip over there just to make you baby cry really hard? :( Somehow it has slipped to last priority on my daily list for the last 3 months.) We're doing it today though!

13) (Abby) Don't forget to breathe through my nose in a really cute, fast way. It's so fun! Mom and Dad think it's adorable.

14) Drop things off at Urban Renewal.

15) 3:53 pm- Swap cars with Daddy in front of his office. His turn for babysitting!

16) (Jenn) Go to work.

17) (Abby) Make sure daddy plays with me the whole time he's in charge, and then go down like a good girl for the night around 7 so that he doesn't get too exhausted to do it all over again tomorrow.

That's what we're up to today! Hope you have a good one!

Sandy, UT

2011-11-07T07:27:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple last pictures from my time up visiting my family. My computer broke while I've been up here, so this my be the last post for a little while. Hopefully not, but we're pretty sure our little HP is not going to accompany me on any blog posts from here on out.

Messy girl.
She leaves a trail wherever she goes. (usually composed of soggy, ripped pieces of paper. )

Snow on Autumn leaves.

pink sleepover :)

Josh turned 29! (and my friend Chrissy turned 25 that day after!)
So, we celebrated.
I'm not sure how I missed the Birthday shot of Josh and Chrissy blowing out their
birthday candles, but here is the yummy Birthday Key Lime Pies. Best recipe ever
is on Allrecipes.com, just search for highest rated key lime pie!
The ugly one was Josh's cause it was more masculine. Turns out that you can't
whip cream 3 hours earlier and expect it to still be fluffy.

Happy Halloween

2011-11-01T06:58:00.000-07:00

little geisha girl

My dad got this outfit for her before she was born in Thailand. I accidentally
cut off her little bun in this pic(I scored and found an Asian
Barbie at DI) -- that was the cutest part of the costume.

She got such a bad cold that night, poor girl. I always hesitate to wear
costume makeup and every time I put it on, I hate it. Yuck.

We were visiting my parents in Salt Lake since Josh was gone, so here is
Mr. and Mrs. Vampire with my little geisha.

Grandpa Debenham's Masterpieces.
& one little masterpiece made by me :)

Halloween is a big deal at the Debenham House- They play creepy music so loud the whole neighborhood can hear; they get huge candy (we had over 200 trick-or-treaters this year) ... oh, but they only give it to the people that are dressed up. Teenagers with a sweatshirt and a pillowcase get a baby tootsie roll. He he :)

I'm in love with someone in Brazil

2011-10-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

Josh is visiting his parents in Ciuba, Brazil. Lamar (his dad) served a mission in Brazil when he was young, and so did Josh! Of course, Josh has always dreamed of visiting there with his dad, and what better time than now?!

Here's Abigail with some Brazilian attire she got in a package from her grandma and grandpa that still haven't had the opportunity to meet her! They left in June last year and waited patiently in Provo, UT for their visas to arrive (a delayed 2-3 solid months I think it was?). They serve with the Church Educational System there and get to travel around quite a bit. They come home on December 18th- just in time for Christmas!

We can't wait to be all together again!

Moab

2011-10-13T23:27:00.000-07:00

My Dad's side had our family reunion last weekend in Moab. Simply put...

Jammies.

Chilly.

Hike.

Great Grandma

Good job, Grandpa.

Scenic.

Silly.

Windy.

And, cute.

... Nothing really went according to plan, but we have a special bond that glues us crazy Debenhams together forever! I like it that way. I'm looking forward to the next reunion already.

Swiss Days

2011-10-13T21:02:00.000-07:00

We tried a couple times to get a picture of us there, but Abby kept squirming around because she was so scared of the wind-guy thing flapping on top of the SnoShack. She was pretty terrified :) What a cutie.

We came to see Dean (friend of josh's parents) perform, and on his 1st song he called Josh up on the stage to play ... that thing.... (not sure what to call that lovely instrument). We had a good time enjoying the shopping and festivities.

And here's an awesome photo to remember the humbling thing that happened to me a couple weeks ago. I went to grab Abby out of her crib and whipped my hair back to get it out of "grabbing reach", when I heard a crack. For the next 2 days I literally couldn't move or relax my head without pain, and my neck became more and more off-center. This picture I am actually trying to look straight, but it seriously was impossible to straighten it. After a couple of chiropractors, we got me fixed. Whew! I'm so grateful for a healthy working body!

Zion etc.

2011-09-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

We hiked the (paved part) of the Narrows last Saturday.One of our best family pics so far, eh?

Abby gives hiking a "Thumbs up"

Notice the deer behind us- they were everywhere!

Kyle, Kilene, and little Eden came to join us. We're so glad they came to our ward!

We all had a great time!

Cute...

The McFoodbury Family Photo

Now for the ETC... Pomegranate season is here! I am so happy about it.

Kolob

2011-09-15T23:09:00.000-07:00

We finally got a chance to visit the Grandpa Woodbury's cabin in Kolob last weekend. I love everything about our trips up there.

The drive...

Crisp breeze at sunset

The eye of the needle. Josh has pointed that out to me every time we drive up to kolob and I can never find it! This was the 1st time I was ever able to pick it out.

The recreational activities...

The men brought home the ~~bacon,~~ I mean, fish- for us to eat with our alfredo chicken pizza Saturday night. It was weird--- I usually don't get grossed out by fish, but when they brought these bad-boys in I had an overwhelming "grossed out" sensation come over me. Hmmm... Is there a baby in my belly that's causing the change?

Cute Sophie

We were so glad that Justin and Ashley could join us so that we could destroy them in the bean bag toss :) Just kidding- they trounced us big time. We didn't stand a chance.

Katie and Abby just chillin while the grown-ups play

And I just love the feeling of being able to let go and relax!

Last but not least, our daughter already has such a love for the scriptures! Hear is Abby
"Feasting upon the words of Christ."

I knew this day would come

2011-08-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

Abby's mobile! Kinda... She scoots. really fast. One day she was this little content thing that would just sit and play with her shoes, and the next she was off! She grabs at anything in sight and tastes it, and is off to the next thing. I didn't know that this day would come without warning!

She also has 2 little teeth that ironically came the same day I had Abby on my lap on a plane. She did pretty good on the plane, but that night was rough. We were up every half hour for the short 4 hours I tried to sleep. She grew up a ton overnight and she has more personality and is somehow more fun :)

It's hard to get a good view of her little teeth, but here's an attempt!

Also, I've been told that it's really hard to leave a comment on my blog, but I think I fixed it!

Let me know if it still doesn't work- thanks :)

Carolina

2011-08-20T09:51:00.000-07:00

My family got to spend a week in the charming town of Pine Hurst, North Caolina. My dad did some awesome video production work there, so we got to enjoy the trade-benefits of a nice condo on the golf course.

Uncle Chase n Abigail

Abby loves to bounce!

You think your days of playing Marco Polo end when you reach the age of 11, but they don't.
It's still fun at 24 :)

This is downtown Charleston. We took a road trip over there and we lucked out with the weather!It poured all the way there and when we pulled in--- it stopped. It was a lot cooler than the high 90's we were used to.

Abby was SOO excited to get out of the car after the 4 hour drive. Her little legs
were wigglin' and her eyes were loving all the sights.

This restaurant was A-MAZING.

We got to take a carriage tour and it was really interesting to hear about the history about the city of Charleston- it goes back to the 1600's! All the houses are built tall like this close to the coast.

We encountered some flight trouble and had to stay the night in Atlanta unexpectedly, but in the words of my wise brother Blake,"Well... You win some, and you lose some." Abby was sooo incredibly fun to have along for the ride.

We sure missed Josh (and my brother Blake)... Thanks mom and dad for treating us to our fun summer vacation!

6 months

2011-08-10T22:16:00.000-07:00

We babysat for my sister-in-law one day and my cute niece and nephew helped me dress Abby up for her backyard photo-shoot. They were good helpers to keep her smiling. My cousin Chelsea made the skirt!

So, do you ever get that guilty feeling when you're blogging, like you don't want to brag or anything... but you really want to say something like... "Check out this baby! Isn't she a little doll? Don't you want to just squeeze her?! And yep, her skin is as soft and cuddly as it looks!" But you don't want to give the wrong impression, like that if you don't have a little doll baby like Abby then you're missing out... It's a weird feeling that I'm not sure exactly what to do about. We all have our "doll babies" in our own time, right?

A few details about Abby Jane at this stage-

she's about as smiley as a baby can be.
she LOVES her johnny jump-up.
she sleeps in her car seat for naps and her crib at night. it's actually kinda convenient, but it is the only way she'll take a nap.
she sleeps from 'bout 8-4:30 and eats and then wakes for the morning 'bout 8.
she has a favorite toy and when she loses it it's a very sad time for her. lol. that lower lip pouts and she cries out.
she loves peek-a-boo. it's the no-fail smile-maker.
the days of multi-tasking while nursing are long gone. she gets distracted easily when she's supposed to be getting her milk.

We feel undoubtedly blessed for her little spirit in our life!

So hot...

2011-07-31T16:50:00.000-07:00

It has been HOT!

Abby gets very thirsty sometimes. She kicks her legs and puts out her arms hoping that I will share my refreshing water-bottle with her. I will let her hold it and this is what happens (above). Sometimes I'll pour a taste in her mouth and her eyes go wide and she tries to swallow it and most of it goes down her shirt. As soon as I pull the bottle away she scambles and pants to get it again. "more! more! please!" So cute :)

(A little late on posting) 4th of july pics... but here's Abigail with her
Grandpa Debenham who came to visit.

We went to the Washington stake breakfast at the park. We enjoyed yummy
pancakes and good-old home-town music.

Lake Powell 2011

2011-07-15T21:45:00.000-07:00

This was one of my favorite trips to the lake in all my years!

Babies make everything better! My brother-in-law kindly wanted to set realistic expectations about bringing a baby on a lake Powell trip- "I don't think it's going to be as fun as you think it is... it's hot, not safe, small spaces, life jackets..." Umm no. :) I always love the Lake, but bringing her just made everything more fun. She loved all the attention and change of scenery. She was happy pretty much the whole time. 'Cept for the ride home... She was probably as sad as I was about going back.

Abby eating her life jacket and Kaya looking as cute as ever! (My cousin Krissy had Kaya 5 weeks before Abigail). Best buds.

The 2 hardworking guys that made this all possible.

Grandma loves Abby! She had 2 long naps in that life jacket! Lol... So cute.

Wake Surfing.

Josh got a chance to let out some of the Hawaii in him.

Nursing and enjoying the tranquility of a quiet lake and beautiful sunset.

My Cute Little Brothers

Let's just say it's a miracle that no on got injured this time :)

A wedding and a shower

2011-06-28T12:16:00.000-07:00

My cousin Brennan got married in Las Vegas, so we decided to make a weekend getaway and used kayak.com to find an inexpensive condo. I totally think condos are the way to go! We had our own little kitchen and a fireplace and it looked like there was a lot of family-friendly things to do.

"Blue Steel"- Baby style

This was her 1st time swimming and she had a good time.

Daddy and Abby waiting for the wedding to begin

Brenn n Em... He sang as played the guitar while she walked down the aisle. It was really cute.

Onto the shower... My dear friend Whitney, is having her 1st baby and naming him Mckay. We threw a bow-tie themed shower and it was adorably fun!

A wise friend once told me- "It's all about the 1st impression", so we made it cute from the moment you pulled up to the clubhouse. Ok, so the wise friend is Chrissy- the event planner extraordinaire- and she made it cute by planning all the details and letting us all pull it together, together.

Menu- bowtie pasta bar. Yum!

I grew the wheatgrass and it was so easy and fun. I'm still enjoying them in my windowsill. Totally recommend it! Search for wheatgrass on makeandtakes.com and they have some simple instructions. 3 of the 12 I did didn't turn out becuase I had too much standing water in them and it grew some nasty mold, so don't do that ;)

Yay for Whit!!! love, your forever roomates.

1st father's day

2011-06-19T13:59:00.000-07:00

Our little life

2011-06-09T22:38:00.000-07:00

Our little life is full of ups and downs, but here are some little peeks at our "ups" as of late!

This is perhaps my favorite picture right now. I can almost hear her giggle. And her bumbo seat reminds me of how much she is loving her rice cereal. It takes a long time to feed her but she makes it fun 'cause she totally dives for it and is very focused on that little spoon of hers.

So, remember a few posts ago how I was saying how she's in the best stage? Yup- it's still here! She can roll over onto her stomach, but she doesn't usually go very far. She can entertain herself, which is very nice for a busy mom; but she is so fun to interact with! She loves music and she's ticklish just like her momma.

Josh LOVES being a daddy!

This is what happens to onions in St. George if you let them grow for about a year. Cool, huh? We're actually still able to eat the little onions still too!

Some babies like to suck on their thumb... Abby prefers her toes. She loves to greet you with her feet up ready to give you a hug with her legs. It's so cute.

On Memorial day we took a walk in Snow Canyon. It was so funny- Josh mentioned a couple of hours before we left how much he loved his Rainbow flipflops. "It's just such a quality brand that holds up so well. I've worn these for 4 years, and I probably have another 4 years left in them" he remarked... Fast forward to 3 minutes into our walk... his flip flop broke :) After trying various methods to fix it- shoving little sticks in the hole, tying knots, and holding the broken part with his toe, he enjoyed the journey barefoot.

Allconnect made me a deal I couldn't refuse so I am loving my new schedule there! I'm very grateful to have such a good employer. Josh loves the new schedule too. He got a taste of the world of motherhood and he decided he didn't like the whole "working-all-day-and-not-seeing-any-results" scenario, but he's glad he still gets some one-on-one Abby time.

While we wish we never had any "downs", it makes the "ups" so much sweeter!

Remembering our soldiers

2011-05-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

Last night we watched an awesome "60 minutes" tribute to our soldiers. (My family rarely misses an episode of the show and now we've gotten into watching it online). I enjoyed it so much that I thought I'd share the link- ://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml

Hope everyone has a great memorial day! Thank you to all of our soldiers!!!

What a blessing!

2011-05-14T21:05:00.000-07:00

On April 10th 2011, over 400 people gathered in our chapel, just for Abigail Jane. Ok, so the 2 other baby blessings and missionary homecoming may have had something to do with the large crowd, but it was nonetheless a very special occasion.

The reason I'm so behind on posting about this day is because I'm having a hard time finding the words to describe how special the actual blessing was. I'll write something and then delete it- over and over. Let's just say that the blessing could not have been sweeter. I'm so grateful to Josh for being able to know just what to say.

She seemed pleased with all the things she was blessed with.

So we had our family (I kinda forgot how big our family is! Thank goodness we had good weather and could eat outside!) over for dinner and we did "Thai coconut haystacks". They turned out pretty yummy! Seriously could not have been more happy about the warm sunshine that day. Ya know those days that you prepare and think a lot about, and then you're living it, and it's turning out just how you'd hoped? It was a really good day.

Some of my family eating in the backyard.

We invited Brena and Lamar (Josh's parents) but they didn't make it. They said something about being needed in Brazil..? Lame! Just kidding- we sure do miss them but we try not to dwell on it. We feel so lucky to have their nice home and yard to enjoy.

Cute cousins and little brothers.

Abby got lots of attention!

She was totally flirtin' it up for her guests.

We all feel so blessed!

Spring Cleaning

2011-04-26T11:25:00.000-07:00

Just wanted you all to know that my little company is having a special-

$10 off a cleaning scheduled by Mother's Day! (Which is May 8th by the way).

Great gift for mom! A professionally cleaned house? What could be better? I like to take everything out from my mom's pantry, wipe the shelves, toss really expired stuff, and organize it with labels for a gift. She loves it! Here's my site: http://www.discountcleaningsolutions.com/

So, speaking of work, here's a note on that...

Josh and I bought a house! *Post soon to come on that*, but to close on the loan we had to sign a document saying that I would come back to Allconnect. (And, technically I bought a house, Josh isn't on the loan tee he he. I love being able to say that.) So this is my 3rd week back. We have Josh get off at 2pm, I have to be to work by 2:30, and then I'm off at 9. It was actually really fun for the first 3 hours or so, then it wasn't fun at all for a few days, and then I started to get into the swing of things, and now, it's going well. I don't know how long it will last, but we'll take it one day at a time.

The cleaning business is pretty crazy. I've got 2 awesome cleaners, and whenever one of them needs a vacation we get tons of calls with big jobs. Then when they come back, of course, it gets slow again. So, hence the special :) Before my maternity leave was over I went and cleaned with Abby quite a bit and that was fun. Cleaning? Fun? I'm crazy, I know! But for the time being, no cleaning work for me, just hanging out with Abby, managing the business, and setting up cable at Allconnect.

Really?

2011-04-14T22:05:00.000-07:00

Is this baby for real? Could she really be this sweet? She's been so great lately- this is the best stage! Smiley, coo-ey, and getting down the rythm of sleeping and eating.

I promise I will post about something other than the little angel in our life sometime soon.

Sleep

2011-03-26T18:28:00.000-07:00

This was my thought process one morning when Abby slept 7 hours in a row:

Hallelujah! I forgot how good it feels to go to bed at night and wake up in the morning!

...Whoa... I have a lot of milk that needs to be pumped. (walk to the kitchen, pause)

...Oh no. Abby's probably dead. I'm just going to pump and pretend she's alive so that I can enjoy the last ten minutes of life as I know it, thinking I have a beautiful, alive daughter.

...Wait! What if she's still alive enough that I can save her? Is that possible with SIDS? I better check on her.

So I rush to her nursery. She stirs and it's time to feed!

Speaking of the nursery...

For those of you that don't know, we are living in Josh's parent's house while they are serving a church education mission in Brazil. They come home in December. So, this was their office before, and it's the perfect size for a little baby room. It's connected to the master, so we've just had her sleep in there since we brought her home. And yes, that is blue carpet :) We love living here.

The crib was a very nice Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa Debenham. (weird to call my parents that...) Josh used the baby monitor (sitting on the crib) at work as a surveillance camera to let them know when someone came in their office when they didn't have a secretary over the summer months. It's got night vision! So convenient.

I painted a curtain rod lime-green and hung it with ribbon- that way I get to admire her cute clothes all the time :) and use the small space we have.

Josh's uncle spotted our rocking chair at DI, and the green quilt was made by our kind older neighbors- they don't have much, but they do it for everyone that has a baby or serves a mission. They're so generous!

I can't say how often she normally wakes up at night, because there is no "normal". However, she averages only one or two feedings a night lately! Very do-able. A couple of weeks ago I'd been reading a lot about parenting her sleeping habits and I was so confused! One book says you gotta let 'em cry it out, and everywhere you turn I read how you can't spoil your baby, she needs you... I remember my 3 little brothers crying it out and it actually didn't bother me- it made sense, but I just feel like this little life is being molded by me and I want to do it right! I felt like Joseph Smith- so overwhelmed by opinions, and wondered which of them to join? So, I thought of James 1:5- "If any of ye lack wisdom, let him (or her) ask of God." so I said a little prayer and I really felt some peace and direction. I didn't have an angel appear to me, but I felt like this was important to my father in heaven and that this was the right way to go about the sleep issue for me.

She loves her arms to be up. Sometimes I find her looking like she's ready to catch a baseball, just sleeping away! Our little family is getting enough sleep (not what we used to get) but... we can't complain. Totally worth it.

The grandmas

2011-03-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

My mom and grandma (and dad) came down to visit the cutest girl they could think of last week. So much fun!

We went to this yummy greek restaurant and I've got to tell you about it. They're brand new and the food is so flavorful and fresh! They're right by Spoon Me and Stadium 10 Theatres.

$5 Gyro @ Mad Pita Express

This (below) was the french onion soup I ordered at Painted Pony for lunch after we went for a walk in Snow Canyon. Creative presentation, eh?

We had a 4 generation girls party for a few days! We went shopping, drove to Zion, and looked at a potential house to buy, and took baby Abby "swimming" aka bathing in the kitchen sink.

It was like a little vacation, in my favorite town in the world- home!

Now the grandmas are gone and life is back to normal. I really love being a mom.

Sweet...

2011-02-22T01:53:00.000-08:00

On Valentines Day I was holding her in my lap while I was eating lunch and she gave me a big 'ol smile. She's smiled many times before- usually when she's letting out a big poop or having a good dream. This smile was my little Valentine gift to me though! She continued to smile for another minute or two. She gets more and more smiley-er every day.

I caught it on camera Sunday while Josh was taking his shift at church. (stupid flu-season... I'm so excited when we can both go together and show this little baby off!)

For V-day Josh reinacted the night he proposed. He didn't buy 12 dozen roses this time, he just printed out paper copies of them and taped them to the deck. He picked up Olive Garden and we ate it out there by candle-light in our coats. It was very cute. I gave him a list of 100 things I love about him. After dinner we watched the movie Josh had made to ask me to marry him. It was perfect timing to have an evening to concentrate on eachother cause babies tend to distract you from your #1. I can't really consider Abby #2- she's more like a #1.00000000000001. :)

Obsessed

2011-02-07T19:03:00.000-08:00

I always thought newborns were supposed to be boring. (In a way, it's true, Abby doesn't do a whole lot...) But we get a kick out of every facial expression she pulls. We love when she's sleeping on our chest- it's so sweet. Her little grumbling sounds she makes all day make me laugh. She tries so hard to get out of her "wigwam"- my family's nickname for her all swaddled-up (she sleeps way better wrapped tightly). She is pretty squirmy, and I love it when her little arms and legs stretch when she's waking up, and flail out when she's startled.

The "wigwam"

My mom was so helpful!

Daddy's favorite thing in the whole world.

Continue in Patience

2011-02-06T08:10:00.000-08:00

I love these videos! They're on mormon.org, click on mormon.tv anytime you need a pick-me-up or some family home evening lesson ideas... I think I picked this video 'cause of the cute kids in it.

Speaking of cute kids... Here's a few of my experiments with my camera I got for christmas. I tried for a couple of days in a row to capture some good ones we could frame for her room and after her peeing on the pillows, the blankets, the rug, and me- I decided to call it quits for at least a little while (til I gather a little more patience). She may not have the total newborn look when I try again, but she'll still be a really cute baby!

Abby Jane...

2011-01-21T12:17:00.000-08:00

Life does not get any better than this! Our angel girl arrived on Saturday at 1:36 in the afternoon in the old hospital. She was 7 lbs, 7 oz, 20 inches long. The labor was honestly, not bad! I actually keep running it over in my mind. It's like reading a book, I get so excited when I get to my favorite part- when the doctors laid her on my chest- still purple and gooey, and I just about died of bliss. She was so beautiful- and she's mine! Josh and I couldn't have shared a more perfect moment on earth.

Her timing couldn't have been better- she came right on her due date. My whole family was able to see her within an hour of her being born, and my grandparents and Josh's brother were already in town too. I guess it would've been nice if she would've let me get some sleep in before starting actual labor, but thanks to the epidural, I was able to sleep some at the hospital.

Josh and I had just had our last normal Friday night together- we ate at Larsen's Frostop, watched a movie on our laptop, and then about 1am, I laid down to go to sleep. My contractions had been painful all day, but just when I was planning on getting some rest, they started getting regular in their timing. I packed my things and cleaned the kitchen a little since I couldn't sleep anyway, then woke up Josh.

By the time we checked in, the nurse said I was dilated to a 4. "Are you planning on getting the epidural?" they asked. I told them if labor stays like this, I can last, and I'd like to avoid the epidural if possible. The assured me that it's gonna get a lot worse. (They were right!)

So, I decided to take the next hour walking the halls and doing squats through my contractions (usually I couldn't move or talk through them, but forcing myself to squat actually seemed to relieve some of the pain!) and then I was ready for the epidural. I loved it! I was able to get some sleep (even though it made my whole body itchy...) and I was able to relax and kind of enjoy the moment.

Luckily, it didn't slow the labor down much, (with the help of pitocin of course) and slowly but surely, I continued to dilate. I started noticing pain coming back to one side though, and I told the nurse about it (all of my nurses I thought were great, except this one) and she said oh let's just give you some more juice, which just made my numb side numb-er, and the hurting side kept increasing on the pain scale. We finally put our foot down and told her to get the anesthesiologist to come fix it. Right as he arrived I was going through the worst pain I'd ever experienced, but within a minute or two, the pain went from a 10, to a 6, to a 3, and then back to that delightful "0".

About 8 hours into labor the nurse noticed the baby's heart level dropping as she'd drop farther into the birth canal. So scary. We were able to get it going again, and I got a little more rest. The next thing I know, here's my doctor telling me it's time to push! We needed to get her out as soon as possible with her heart rate worrying everyone. Everyone was calling her the drama queen- she wanted things done her way, if not, she'd show us. I pushed a few times with the help of a team of cheerleaders (nurses?) there to keep me pumped. "k, this is your last push- you're so close!" I heard them say probably 10 times. The one that got me to pop her out was when Dr. Chalmers said we'll need to do an episiotomy on the next one if she doesn't come. I gave it my all, and ended up tearing (recovery hasn't been too bad though). And that's when I got to see my perfect little angel. We just stared at each other (both crying, of course) for a moment or two.

They cleaned her up and we got right into feeding- which was so cool. I guess baby girls get a lot of adrenaline so they are able to feed pretty easily that first time. It's been a roller coaster with nursing since then, but I'm glad we know how good it is for our babies. (My grandma was saying at the time her kids were born that formula companies would send the message you were barbaric to try to breastfeed your baby- babies need more than you can give them, don't deprive them- sad she missed out on the cool experience... even though the pain sometimes is worse than a lot of my labor pains.)

We stayed at the hospital for a couple of days which I really liked. So many professionals to help with all of our questions, good food is just brought to you, it's one more day to help get you on your feet before you're on your own. My family came and visited 4 times before they headed back to Salt Lake. My dad and brother cried when they left cause they were going to miss Abby. (There's a dominant crying gene in the family. I've cried at least a couple (...or lots more) of times every day since her birth).

It was so exciting coming home. The world looks so different now. I felt like every car was going to run into us though. I'm way more cautious than I've ever been. The nights were pretty rough at first, and though I'm not really getting more sleep, I'm getting used to the routine, and it's got it's perks- I get some quiet time when everyone else is asleep to just hang out with my sweet (or sometimes, fussy) baby.

"There's a few details to remember about your birth, Abby!"

"Cankles" for Christmas

2011-01-11T19:02:00.000-08:00

I got one really swollen ankle on Christmas day, and one just "kinda" swollen ankle. I pushed myself a little too hard the day before and didn't get enough sleep, so I'm thinking that's what did it. It went down for the most part, but all of my shoes are much tighter than I remember.

The annual Debenham family Nerf war.

Blake

Dad

Parker

Jennica

Josh

Mom

Chase

This is one of the things I look forward to most about Christmas. Santa loves to bring guns to our house each year. I had to sit out for a while cause I had a contraction pretty much the whole time we played- still fun!

Tony and Linds had a fun New Years party for us with games and delicious food.

Look how cute they are...

"Bless you!"

2010-12-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

"Bless you" and your family this Christmas season! We just delivered the majority of our neighbor gifts. (they're Kleenex boxes). We enjoy the tradition each year even though it can get a little time-consuming. I thought the tissues were a cute idea. I figure pretty much every family will use them these coming months.

One of Josh's high school friends had their annual "Eggnogger" party. We played the white elephant game and some how Josh and I ended up with all the sexy gag-gifts brought to the party: we got some warming lube, dice, some huge panties, and sexpanther cologne... kinda funny. ;)

We went ice-skating last night and it was so fun! Skating is one of my favorite things to do, and it's so cool now that they do it outside. They'll be doing it til the end of January at the Sunbowl. Go have a blast before it's gone!

I couldn't quite reach down there to tie the laces. Yeah, that's when you know you're 8 months along!

My parents are having us sell this awesome beemer. (They figured St. George would be easier to find a buyer since it's not exactly made for the snow). Luxury cars are going for way under bluebook, so if you know of anyone that wants a steal on an awesome car, have em call me! It's an '04 with all the upgrades and only 64,000 miles. $14,900 is the asking price, and it bluebooks at around $17,000. Great condition, and fun to drive!

8 months!

My baby shower was so fun. Thank you to all the friends and family that supported us. I always feel a little overwhelmed at these. You people are too nice! The food was quite gourmet, the ABC decor was absolutely adorable, and the gifts were all so helpful and CUTE! We are feeling pretty ready for her to come! My aching back is feeling very ready as well. We just hope to make it up to Salt Lake for Christmas, and then if we come home with a baby, we'd love it! Chances are though I've got at least another 4 or 5 weeks.

Getting ready for the baby!

2010-11-21T21:17:00.000-08:00

Josh was such a good sport and put this changing table together for me. The pieces spread over 2 rooms, and only took like 3 hours to put together. He had a warm-up putting together our crib a couple of weeks ago. I totally lucked out :)

I had a vision of the changing table I wanted and I was just going to refinish an old dresser to do it, but then I found this on my work's online store that I'd earned a bunch of credit to, and haven't ever bought anything with it yet. It was almost exactly what I was planning on making!

Pregancy update... The baby is still quite active! Sometimes I wonder what in the world she could be doing in there! I picture her doing cartwheels..? All I know is when it's time for us to go to bed, that's when the party starts for her. We love watching and feeling her. Josh talks to her and she almost always responds with a friendly kick.

7 months! I think my tummy looks a little lumpy here, but I'm happy 'cause it's growing!

A few other things we've done recently with the house...

I'm a huge fan of Krylon oil-rubbed bronze spray paint- that's what I used on the shelf. I love how I don't feel like there's a mess to hide in there now.

This room was complete chaois for the first few months we lived there, and so this was a huge improvement. I made these cute labels for everything. I used to just plop a whole grocery bag on a random shelf :) Now we can actually find things in there!

I wish I would have shown the light fixture in the "before" picture. It was white, probably from when they built the house about 1991? My parents were getting rid of the fixture and mirror, so I accepted the hand-me-down. Don't ask about the experience putting up the light... Not our favorite activity.

I spraypainted the white curtain rod and plasticy curtain loops with the oil-rubbed bronze paint and they look way nicer!

Halloween

2010-11-10T17:50:00.000-08:00

Our ward had a trunk or treat Saturday afternoon with soup and rolls and a carnival. Josh surprisingly wanted to dress up, and of course I was all for it, but when we got there we were one of the only adults dressed up. Oh well... We looked awesome! Shopping for candy I guessed there's maybe 35 kids in the primary, and they won't all show up, so I'll get the 45-candy bag ... That'll be safe. I needed over 100! Thankfully, Family Dollar is across the street, so Josh ran over for me. But, for a good portion I just had to tell the kids to come back. And you bet they did!

It felt a little weird picking out costumes this year, cuz I have this belly that makes me a pregnant devil, or a pregnant whatever... Luckily my friend Whitney had a "red-neck/white trash" party in her garage and everyone showed up pregnant to that. We had IBC rootbeer and fake cigarettes all over the place. We ate mac and cheese and hot-dogs and everything was served some trashy container. They even had a toilet seat for us to use for playing horseshoes. Very fun idea :)

My shirt says "baby girl" and Josh's is one we've been using as a rag... the cream soda made josh very happy.

Momma Jenn skull, Daddy Josh skull, and Baby Abby skull.

The other pumpkins are Chase and Danita's. I tried to find a setting on my camera that didn't have to flash so you could see how our pumpkins lit up, but it just made it really blurry. I finally figured the flash out after our pumpkins had wilted. Josh is actually quite talented at pumpkin carving; his turned out basically perfect. I'm glad to take this tradition from my family into our own.

2 loves

2010-10-29T17:15:00.000-07:00

I have a new-found love... We decided to try Intajuice with our DixieDirect card last week. I could eat a smoothie everyday, but Josh on the other hand, would rather not. Ever. I was glad when we finally went there together, Josh found this favorite treat from Hawaii... Acai Bowls!

You have to ask for them to drizzle some honey on it, but it is AMAZING! (and healthy, loaded with antioxidants... they don't load up on the sugar like jamba etc does). If you ever want a tasty treat, this is sure to please even smoothie-haters.

Love #2: St. George Farmers Market on Ancestor Square. A guy in my ward was telling me they make this really unique jewelry out of old machinery (he is like Mr. popular there). They have way fresh produce for cheap, it's unreal. Crunchy, golden delicious apples for 50 cents a lb, huge squash and weird-looking cucumbers. All delicious. It's kinda fun to see all they have and get out there on a Saturday morning. (fyi, you can go from 8-12) I think tomorrow is their last day til the spring though. 'Til next year!

my happy pillow

2010-10-13T22:48:00.000-07:00

No, it's not a pregnancy body pillow... But I picked up the base at a garage sale for a buck, and then made the flower to go on it from some scrap fabric and a favorite earing that lost its mate. Every time I pass by our guest bedroom, it makes me smile. I just like it! I may just have to start a collection...

Oh, and here's the 6 month belly shot!

the baby belly/random stuff

2010-09-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

3 months... 4 months...

5 months...

We visited Kolob in August and I LOVED it!

I had been craving some fresh, crisp air and I got it.

It was cold enough to make a fire. We made salsa, fished at the reservior, ate yummy tinfoil dinners and read these books...

This is a Josh-alope. We had a dozen or so of these grow in our garden. They are a freak of nature, and most of them taste and look just like really yummy cantalope inside.

We love homemade pizza! We doubled with Valerie and Ryan... Sorry no photo of them, but... Anyway, their pizza turned out like a giant blob that literally took over an hour and a half to become edible-ish. Lesson learned... If you're using rhodes roll dough, the crust should be much thinner than you would think.

We loved kolob so much that we went up again and took the Williams fam with us. Highlights- bikeride to lookout point, getting stuck in mud up to my knees on our morning walk that turned into an accidental adventure, sleeping in the most comfortable bed ever, intense bean bag competition, dense french toast that turned out amazing from the homemade bread that wouldn't rise, yoga on the balcony, beautiful drive down to church... I think that's about it!

Crash

2010-08-14T05:31:00.000-07:00

One rainy weekend in June I drove up to Salt Lake to visit my mom as a mother’s day gift. I was excitedly calling a few of my friends (mistake #1) to tell them the good news that we’re expecting. And, I got chatting, and I noticed my exit just in time to get off… so I decided to take it (mistake # 2). I hydroplaned and spun around and hit the barrier wall on the off-ramp in just the right spot to total the car. For probably a few reasons, I felt very safe and protected… it was such a huge blessing to not have been hurt at all, especially with a little one inside me.

This is the new car! It's an Acura TL. It may have a few too many miles on it, but we’ll cross our fingers and hope it runs as good as Josh’s old civic.

Our insurance was awesome… Definitely recommend them to anyone! They let me drive a brand new Camero

for free for a couple of weeks and paid us more for the replacement on our car than it we could have sold it for. They were fast and great to work with. (Not to mention they give you a 40% discount on their already low rate for having good credit.) We ended up saving a lot of the check for the house we’ll be wanting a little over a year from now.

It's true...

2010-07-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm over the 3 month mark, I think it's time to document that we're having a baby! We are so excited for little Abigail or James to come to our family.

Getting pregnant is not at all what I expected it to be like. Everyone we're related to gets pregnant the moment they decide they want a baby, or before then... So we thought we'd be the same way, but after 9 months of trying and wondering what the heck was wrong I sheduled an appointment with Dr. Chalmers to see what was up. We had a nice chat about the reasons that were causing our infirtility and at the end of the appointment he suggested I take a pregnancy test just in case. When he came back with the results he was trying hard to hide the grin on his face, but excitedly told me I was "prepregnant"!

My mom, who by the way, knew I was pregnant before I did, had TERRIBLE pregancies so I was bracing myself for the worst, but I've felt great! I think Unisom and B6 helped me a ton. I've just been more tired and picky when it comes to food, but that's about it. :) I don't think it's very fair that some people spend a good portion of their year on the bathroom floor and some feel great, but I'll take it!

I couldn't help but tell everyone about our good news pretty early on, and it's about time I tell my blog.

Powell

2010-07-22T21:06:00.000-07:00

We took our boat to Lake Powell for the first time for the fourth of July.

Dustin, Kathryn and their cute kids came too.

Jack didn't love his lifejacket, or the heat, or the rocking boat, or the stickers in the sand...

But he loved being nakey in the shade!

We planned on going out early saturday morning, and pretty sure the only thing I had ready at about midnight friday night was that our towels were clean and ready to go!

It was comical riding with Grant and Annie at the same time, cuz Grant wanted to go faster and Annie wanted slower, so we tried to make it work, but our poor driver was getting mixed signals.

The girls...

We got an old wakeboard at a garage sale, but it was crappy, so we gave it to the DI. So, it's forced us to waterski, something I'd never really tried before. I picked it up pretty easy, so I thought slaloming would be easy too... Josh makes it looks like it is, but I couldn't get up! Lame...

This is us, all smiles before our boat trailer kindof exploded on our way home. Powell is always fun, but I don't think I've ever been there and back without some kind of mechanical issue.

Subway Hike 2010

2010-07-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

Quail

2010-07-08T22:12:00.000-07:00

Chase and Danita had a sleepover in our guest room so the boys could wake up early and go fishing. They didn't cach anything but we had a nice Saturday out at the lake.

Pros and Cons of the blogging world...

2010-06-12T19:31:00.000-07:00

I have mixed feelings about Blogging. I thought I'd share my thoughts with you so you know where this little blog of mine is coming from...

PROS-
I love how you can stay interconnected with friends and family and can share your life with pictures and stories. I can feel like I'm still a part of the "long distance" loved-one's lives.

I love how it's a journal/ scrapbook that actually gets looked at and used. And started. And finished... Most of the time :) In the back of your head, you know that people are counting on you to update and record your history! (At least I like to think someone likes to read my blog).

I love how it's fun and free, no matter how cute you make your blog.

CONS-

I hate how blogging makes it so easy to compare and look back at your life and think... My life is lame! I have no cool vacations to show off, or amazing crafts I made... No hilarious, publisher-ready story of what my adorable kids did the other day... No noteworthy moments shared with all my coolest, prettiest friends ever. Everyone wants to show their best self, which is great- what should we show on our blog to the world? The moments we want to cherish! But still... Someday it will be fun for us all to be caught up with the Jones' family blog.

I also hate how it can take a good 30 minutes just to try to get your pictures in the exact spot you want them! I always think- "It'll just be a quick post," but that just never works out...

That's about it. As you can see, I'm still here. The pros outweigh the cons. I hope to post again soon!

What we've been up to...

2010-05-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

Josh's parents leave on their mission June 7th to Brazil, so we've been helping get their house ready for us to move in. I've loved organizing and cleaning over there. We're excited to have our own place with a yard! They're giving us a home-improvement allowance, and I literally can't wait to get started. This will be my first attempt painting on my own. Any tips?

We put an offer on a house in Ivins, but alas, the $8,000 credit is over so we'll postpone the American Dream for another 18 months.

I ventured out and I got some bangs! I have had the same hair since I was a junior in high school, so it was overdue. It's a couple inches shorter too and it feels so fresh.

Baby Jack turned one and we had a fun party for him. I love this boy. Is it normal for babies to smile at you every time you smile at them?... 'Cause he does that, and I hope I have a baby as cute as him someday.

Kathryn, the proud mom/roommate of mine made everything you see here. It was so well done. (Lots of prep work was done weeks in advance.) I'm learning a lot from her. I'm so lucky to have her for a sister-in-law!

We hiked emerald pools in Zion National Park

with our friends from the ward, Jon and Kate (minus 8)

It's been a long time since I had a favorite TV show. My last one I can remember would be Power Rangers... But I have a love for this one: Community! It secretly reminds me of Dixie even though I have too much school pride to admit it openly (oh wait... I think I just did admit it openly). a DVR is a must with this one becuase there is so much humor packed into little bursts and it's very necessary to rewind and play again to "get it" all.

Last thing to mention would be my change of work life. My little cleaning business size has shrunk to a teeny business, and so now I'm actually doing the cleaning. I still get benefits at Allconnect even though I'm only part-time, and so it's a really good set-up for now.

Yup, that's our "closet" in the background. We don't have a real closet, but it works!

Costa Maya, Mexico

2010-04-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

We took our own jeep tour of the town and it was humbling to see how these happy people lived. Josh noticed this is 2 trees growing on top of eachother!We got to see some spactacular ruins! It was really fun to think that someone actually discovered this community under the thick mass of jungle that had preserved them so well.

We hit the beach for a couple of hours before it was time to head back to the ship. Josh got to do some fishing and I took a nap :)

Belize City

2010-04-09T19:24:00.000-07:00

We hopped right on a bus for our cave tubing tour and this was our guide. He gave us a short tour of the city and we got to ask questions about their country. It made me very grateful to live in the US.We floated down this river through some beautiful caves. The guides assured us the water wasn't cold, but "refreshing". We even got to see some bats!shopping was so cheap!

Cozumel, Mexico

2010-04-07T22:09:00.000-07:00

We checked out some more ruins. Josh especially liked Cozumel because he got to hunt for iguanas! He was pretty determined to catch one just by grabbing it with his hands. Come to find out, iguanas are really fast!

We rented a couple of these old beetles. Unfortunately, the shop we rented from made us pay for one of the many dings that had probably been there for 20 years. Pretty lame scam!

Grand Cayman

2010-04-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

Snorkling got cancelled because of weather.

So, we visited the town of Hell instead. (we look pretty sad to be there, huh?)Then we found the best beach ever and snorkled on our own.

a little world of luxury

2010-03-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

February 21, 2010. 8:12 am. We dressed for comfort. Donning flip-flops and sweats, we headed to Las Vegas. Instead of dreading a long day at work, we could hardly contain our excitement.

Just when we needed it the most, we got to escape reality and cruise the Carribbaan!

My parents gave us the cruise for our christmas present. (arguably one of the best weeks of my life)

This was Josh's first cruise, and so he was surpised to see that the rooms do allow for two people to sleep comfortably.

We were committed to never-ever taking the elevator, so this was a familiar scene. (embarrassingly, our calves actually got sore!)

Flow- Ridin the FLOWRIDER

Formal nights

Here's the rest of our group on deck. Aaron and Krissy (cousins)

Dave and Susan (aunt and uncle- Jessica and krissy's parents) Tad and Jessica (cousins).

Pretty sure Josh pinched my bum right there, hence his mischevious smile...

Ice skating... on a rocking boat. Needless to say, there were a few minor injuries and lots of laughs :)

Seventies Dance Party on the Promenade

EatingMore eating. This documents the one time I actually got hungry! I was always too full at the time they served sushi, so I forced myself to only eat only 2 or 3 items at the Cafe for lunch and later that afternoon I kinda liked the feeling of hunger. I loved the sushi more.

This was our dining room with all the dining staff on parade.

The shows were unbelievable! This is actually one man dancing.

At the end of the cruise, our cruise director went over the top ten
silly questions real people had asked that week on the ship.
My personal favorites were "Do these stairs go up... or down?"

and "What elevation are we at?" ...He He :)

A house and 3 kids!

2010-02-05T20:11:00.000-08:00

We moved out of our apartment last week and in with Dustin and Kathryn (our brother and and sister in law). They live in Washington Fields in one of my favorite houses I've ever seen. We're in the upstairs playroom/bonus room. It's great! We have a couch, and a treadmill, and some satellite TV, and our own bathroom... everything all in one! They have the cutest kids and so far I think that's my favorite part.

We moved because Josh is working in (yucky) Vegas til tax season is over. I might as well come be with family since Dustin is working long hours too. We'll be moving into Josh's parent's in a few months anyway... so this is our temporary home!

Highlights from the holidays

2010-01-06T09:07:00.000-08:00

Christmas breakfast. My mom has a table-decorating group and they email eachother pictures for each holiday. Kinda fun?

I have all these pictures in my phone (got a new one for Christmas!).... I'm hoping to post, I just need to figure out how...

Christmas Eve at Grandma Hobson's

White Elephant Christmas Party

2009-12-26T18:45:00.000-08:00

I love planning parties and activities... I really do. This one we kept pretty simple

and so I actually enjoyed the party itself, not just planning it.

However, on the way there I managed to:

Slip on my way into Smith's (my feet flew out from under me, landing on my butt with an audience of customers and everything)
Shatter my serving plate for the fruit on the parking lot pavement
Shed a (little) tear of frustration when Josh wanted to put some snack bags of Fritos he found in the kitchen on my Cranberry Red and Deep Sage color-coordinated table. I'd put a lot of thought into how I wanted the table to look, and Fritos were not a part of my vision. Luckily, I got over the last little burst of stress and had a such a fun time.

We brought a cute pet mouse as our gift. Pretty funny :) we have more pictures and stories about our ward activities here: http://www.college19thward.blogspot.com/

Thanksgiving

2009-11-28T12:10:00.000-08:00

My dad's side of the family had our reunion over thanksgiving. Technically it was Josh's holiday, so we were running back and forth- but it was so good to see everyone. We feel so lucky and blessed to have the family we do.

Josh's mom gave me this cute idea, and they were such a hit with our little cousins! I wasn't too happy to find that the stores skipped right to Christmas a little premature (for my liking), so the only candy corn I could find was red and geen.

BBT baby! Bean bag toss was one of our competitive events, as well as Battle of the Genders (when we called it by it's real name we had a few cute little cousins get nervous about it)

We (all 35 of us... sorry no pics of the whole group) hiked around the narrows. It was great to get some fresh air and exercise after consuming a few too many calories the day earlier.

My brother Chase and I ran down the canyon. It was so refreshing!

My dad took all of these photos on his work camera. I'm hoping to inherit one of them if one were to get outdated or something... He takes the coolest shots!

Boating in November?

2009-11-14T18:31:00.000-08:00

Gotta love St. George!

The first group of these pictures are posted in memory of summer... (AND because it takes me about 2 months to get them on here...)Look at those cute farmer's tans...

Eye-Eye Captian! I half-begged Josh not to get the boat, but I'm so glad we have it.
It's already been worth it! (We're 3-way owners with his dad and brother)

And, yes, the rest of these were truly

taken at Sand Hallow in November.

We camped out on the lake!

Anyone up for boating/camping in December?

While the boys fished away (they caught apprx 18 fishees!)

We rocked it at SUDOKU!

sleepin' on the boat.

It was such a beautiful night with a huge full moon,

so the lake has a cool, twilight-y feel to it.

woodbury pumpkin patch

2009-11-06T20:29:00.000-08:00

'Arry Potta! (aka Harry Potter)

Josh had the swine flu (so we think) and so we stayed in the whole weekend and carved a couple pumpkins. It was actually kinda fun to stay cooped in for a change.

Frankenstein

Josh turned 27! He has lots of gray hairs to show for it too, seriously! (He LOVES ketchup if you didn't already know, hence the gift.)

The 2nd Annual Woodbury Reunion

2009-10-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

Our immediate family had our reunion up in Kolob this past weekend.

Grandpa Woodbury actually built the cabin himself!

Josh and I rode on the same bike (yes, at the same time) down this beautiful road.

I was a 'yittle bit scared to go down the hills, but it was a blast.

We had 2 new additions (baby William and baby Jack) to our family this go-around and I was in heaven! They are all way too cute for me to handle.

I missed the first day and a half because I have mandatory training for my new job (that I love, by the way) but Josh told me how they made the smartest omelettes ever. You put all of your ingredients in a ziplosk bag (egg, cheese, veggies, whatev) and boil it! Easy clean-up and moist, delicious eggs that you can't burn!

As long as we're on the subject of family reunions... Here's a few pictures from our Hirschi reunion that I never got around to posting. Back in June we camped in Moab and these are pictures at the famous license plate arch....

I quit!

2009-09-22T10:50:00.000-07:00

I'm downsizing my work load and it feels so good. I'm driving back to St. George right now with my very high-tech boss to interview some candidates for my marketing rep position. He has high-speed WiFi from Verizon in his car! I will be sad to return my awesome G1 phone that I have so deeply fell in love with.

I found a new manager to take over at Green Tea HP and it feels so good to shed that constant responsibility. I have really loved that job and I will miss it. I've met so many great friends there.

Hello Allconnect- I'm ready to take on something new! I start a "regular job" as a relocating specialist at the first of October!

Gunlock Reservoir

2009-07-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

For our last ward activity we went boating at Gunlock. We had Jimmy John's sandwiches, shredded it on the wakeboard, and even caught little fishies (which we named Gunner and Lockey) with our bare hands! We were the pround parents of our first pets... and then they died about 20 minutes later. We'll just forget about the last hour or so when I got so sick that I lost my lunch :( It was quite a feat to set this canopy up, so I just had to take a picture.

Chase and Danita Williams... Some of our very best friends!

1 year anniversary

2009-07-19T09:07:00.000-07:00

Our first anniversary was on July 19th and we were up American Fork Canyon for a family reunion on my side... and josh's-- What're the chances! So, since I'm not much of picture-taker these days, I'll just post the rest of our wedding pics. Finally! All sorted through.

So dramatic...

My little brother Parker and his friends had a blast making everyone italian sodas. It was fun watching them!Alexa was my little shadow through the night.

This makes me tear up! Apparently, my dad cried for a couple hours after we left for the hotel...

What a perfect day. We had a nice breeze for the dancing.
I hoped we could have dancing at our "mormon" wedding, and it worked!

Alaska Trip

2009-06-21T18:43:00.001-07:00

Ever since I can remember, my dad has always talked about how much he wanted to take our family back to Alaska. (I would always encourage the sandy beach trip instead when the subject came up). We finally got to take that trip just about one year ago (right before our wedding). It was just me and my dad and my little brother blake, but we joined tons of extended family up there.

I have the best cousins ever!

All of these pictures are taken at my great uncle Ray's property. We had such a good time biking all over the state. We watched this CRAZY mount marathon challenge for the 4th of July and got to see whales and icebergs on a sea tour. (On which, I vowed to never eat smoked salmon ever again...)

This is a wood-burining hot-tub! Rub a dub-dub :)

The view from the cabin's deck.

Half past bloggin' time, time to blog again

2009-06-15T11:42:00.000-07:00

Even though I don't really have time to post anything, I just had to put something on top of "our new calling" because it's so not new anymore! This weekend we have our ward pool party, and hopefully our "experience" will shine through and it'll be a blast. Anyone that wants to swim and eat and play yard games is welcome to come! Seriously.

Soon to come: pictures from Arizona and Cali, and the final pictures from our wedding... Just in time for our 1st anniversary.

...and our new calling is...

2009-04-25T20:31:00.000-07:00

We recently were called to the activities committee in our college married ward and tonight was our first activity. We pulled it all together more "last-minute" than I would have liked it to be (i LOVE to plan out all the details, right down to who is going to bring the camera to document it all.) We decided to do a barbecue at Vernon Werthen Park with waterballoon volleyball, and a specialty dish competition. We divided it into 3 categories: best salad, best side-dish, and best dessert; with the winners getting a gift card to various restaurants- I'm jealous of the 25 Main winner...

It was such a success! A storm blew in and it was freezing earlier today and I was so afraid that no one would come, but the sun came out and the weather could not have been more perfect. The dishes were so much fun- (so different!) and I thoroughly enjoyed playing waterballoon volleyball and badmitten? Ok, spell-checker, help me out here... Badminton. We had a the perfect sized crowd and I am so grateful to everyone that helped out.

The only thing that could have been better is if I would have remembered that I'm the one I assigned to take the pictures. I brought the camera, but I was having so much fun that I forgot to document it.

Time-Tested Beauty Tips

2009-03-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

Love this! This was a favorite quote of Audrey Hepburn, and one that I'm so glad I ran across!

Time-tested beauty tips:

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone ...

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived,reclaimed and redeemed and redeemed and redeemed. Never throw out anybody.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm. As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands.

One for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

Sam Levenson

Our little apartment

2009-02-27T09:30:00.000-08:00

This random little post probably deserves an explanation. First of all, I have grown extremely attached to our home, and some day I'll enjoy looking back at our first apartment together. But the reason I'm posting it on my blog is because my cute Grandma Hobson (both of my grandmas are very cute) but she wanted to see how it turned out after we got all settled. Lastly- I love seeing everyone's home decor and have some funny/cool ideas I can share. So here it goes-- virtual tour of our little place!

We live upstairs in a 8-complex. You walk in, and you see our living room. Those couches I picked up off my aunt-- They used to be dirty, scratched up white leather! It took hours and hours to stain them, but they're softer and in much better condition now. Worth-while project for the most part.

Here's the opposite angle from the hall. Kathryn and I painted the coffee table in the middle of the room. ***Thank you to everyone (and especially my mom for finding killer deals on it all!) that helped buy furnishings for our wedding gifts.

Next is the dining area. (on the left when you walk in) I'm glad we were able to find a place big enough for a table so we can eat with company over!

I got the fresh tree branch idea from a new friend of mine (Madeline Anderson) in our college married ward. She got some tree branches outside that were just starting to bloom and just put them in a vase. I used to have an ivy star plant on this shelf, but it needed more sun, so I adopted her idea instead. PS- her apartment is so "anthropologie-chic."

From there, you see the kitchen.

Any body wanna remind me how to flip a picture on here?

Josh is getting used to my cooking ;)

Our laundry closet- complete with a paper reminder to change the lint screen on the dryer!

Down the hall is our bedroom. Thanks again to mom for finding all the furniture at RCWilley scratch and dent!

This pillow is a great tool for marital communication. Flip it over, and he knows that the mood is "not tonight" in cold black lettering. No discussion needed.

Josh can't wait until one day when he gets his own sink and drawers. No more sifting through 95% of my hair and skin products to find his 5%.

josh does most of the ironing. what a good boy...
When I first published this post, I didn't put pictures of the spare/office/den/guest/extra room because the pictures I took helped me realize how cluttery it was. I cleaned it up and now I'm finally posting it. Next job is to do something cute with our balcony.

July 19th 2008- the best day EVER!

2009-02-23T14:39:00.000-08:00

Lenzworks (my dad's company) took our pictures, so instead of sorting them for me, they just handed me a ten-pound storage device that has like a million photos on them. It's taken me 7 months and 4 days to finally sort through them all, but better late than never!

Here's a precious moment to melt your heart: my favorite neice, Annie, asked me if I was a princess after we came out of the 'castle.'

My jumpdrive holds about one-tenth of the pictures I'd like it to, but hopefully I'll soon get my other favorites on here.

Engagement pics

2008-12-26T18:19:00.000-08:00

This one is Josh's favorite. We sent this one out in black and white with all of his family's invitations.

We laughed at this one because Josh looks like Cesear Agustus with his "headpeice".

Here's a brief version of our love story: My freshman year at Dixie, Josh had noticed me walk with one his friend's from institute a few times. About 6 months later, that friend wanted to line him up, but Josh told him to line him up with me instead. I wasn't expecting much from a blind date; so let's just say t didn't go awesome. However, we quickly fell in love and had a wonderful summer together... until Josh broke up with me. We both had a hard time with it, but knew it was for the best. I always knew he was the one I wanted to be with forever, so after about a year and a half of being apart, 6 months of being friends, and a mission call to New Hampshire, he got down on one knee and asked me to be his 'wifey'. We were married on July 19, 2008.

Testing, testing 123...

2008-12-23T20:46:00.000-08:00

I'm way new at this, but here it goes!... (gotta start somewhere) I've wanted to learn how to do this for months now, but now I've got a little extra time on my hands while we're up visiting my family in Sandy for Christmas.