i'm going to tri...

joy, deb, katy, me, and teresa after the running with angels 5k

once upon a time, i was training for the moab half marathon. it was a goal of mine to run a half marathon, and i was so excited to complete it. however, i met jayson a couple months before the race and suddenly my training program tanked. when race day arrived, i didn't feel as prepared as i'd hoped and i chickened out and only ran the 5 mile race. it's been hard to live that down and i really feel like i disappointed myself.

however, i also felt during that race that 5 miles was the most i'd ever like to run at one time. maybe it was because i was so ill-prepared, maybe its a.d.d., or maybe i don't love running like i thought. maybe i don't believe in myself enough. whatever it is, i decided that maybe i'd like to try something different.

a triathlon.

it sounded challenging enough, and diverse enough to do. i've been looking for a race for awhile, but between kids, no bike, and total inexperience in the field, i wasn't sure where to begin. i don't think i've known anyone around here who has participated in a race i could enter. the only race i knew anything about was the spudman, and that seemed out of the question.

so a couple weeks ago i was feeling especially out of shape and fat and resolved that it couldn't continue. a triathlon was the answer. i had to do it. i found a triathlon in american fork in may. it is a women only triathlon and a sprint distance (the shortest). 300 meter swim, 12.4 mile bike, 3.1 mile run. i could do that. it'd take some real training because i haven't lifted a finger in 9 months, but i believe i can accomplish something like it.

last week i bought a bike.

today i registered for the race.

i'm committed.

i have two friends doing it with me so far--elisa (my bff from high school) and stephanie (my bff from my mission). my sister-in-law is almost on board too, she just needs to believe she can do it.

and now, i'm inviting all of you to join me may 22nd. my goal is to finish and lose some of this muffin top i've aquired. that's it. if you join me, i promise i'll ride my bike with you, run with you, or swim with you a couple times before the race.

if you want to enter, go to triutah.com. registration opened today at noon, and last year they sold out within two days. so if you are interested, i'd hurry on over.

i'm so excited. and so nervous.

get-r-done!

family pictures

Do you need your family picture taken? I can't speak highly enough of Jon Canlas. He's the best in the state, bar none. Jon shoots 100% film, which really sets his work apart. But seriously, even if his pictures weren't phenomenal, I'd have him shoot your family pictures or wedding just because of who he is. He makes you feel totally comfortable and you will want him to be your best friend by the end of the shoot.

Last November, Jayson attended a workshop taught by Jonathan Canlas. We were so honored and flattered when he asked us to come model for his workshop in Park City in October. We knew I was going to be gigantic, but that just kind of added to the fun. Besides, all of the attendies and Jon made me feel like I was beautiful and not a tank (THANK YOU!).

Here are all of Jon's pictures. The other attendies shot beautiful photos too, but Jon's pictures are the best (duh).















Jayson and I both commented about what a wonderful experience it was to have our pictures taken by Jon. We walked away feeling more love, more commitment, more peace. And here I thought we were just going to walk away with photos.

Call Jon. He's totally worth your money.

happy halloween

halloween wasn't a big deal this year--we had too much going on. so we put mae in her costume from last year. she couldn't have cared less that she wore the same thing two years, and tinkerbell fit much better this year anyway.

mae was really excited because i let her wear lots of makeup. and i told her she could take some "pixie dust" (glitter powder) to the trunk or treat.


penny and i stayed home and handed out candy to the five trick or treaters we had. i found penny's shirt, hat, and monster socks for $0.97 each at the gymboree outlet in march. i love those monster socks.


happy halloween everyone!

photos

here are a few pictures of miss penelope:

penny has reddish hair. copper color, actually. it's pretty fitting, don't you think? i don't think it will stay--i think it will fall out and go blond like mae's hair, but i hope it stays reddish.


big sister mae loves penny. she loves her a little too much sometimes. but i'd rather have it that way than any other way.


here is a rare picture of penny awake. i swear she sleeps 21 hours a day.


here is penny with one of her new friends, claire. penny has many many friends born these last few weeks. we're so glad to have so many new friends!

welcome, penny.

i haven't blogged much since penny made her appearance, so i thought i'd share a bit about her arrival.

i was pretty worn out and tired of being pregnant at my 40 week check up. my doctor told me that i would most likely be overdue. that didn't sound too fantastic to me, but when he offered to induce me, i froze up. thankfully jayson was there to remind me that i had said that morning that i would jump at the chance to be induced. i had wanted to let things go naturally, but by that point i was so miserable that i was ready to get this show on the road.

i checked into the hospital two days later at 5 a.m. i was so lucky--my neighbor and good friend was my nurse and saved me the "suite." my room was gigantic, and the best part of the hospital where i delivered is that you labor, deliver and recover in the same room.

they started my pitocin at 6 a.m. the anesthesiologist, who happened to be jayson's former bishop came in next and started my epidural. my epidural with mae was terrible, but this epidural was fantastic. dr. taylor is a saint. as he walked out, dr. judd walked in and broke my water (about 7 a.m.). i labored very comfortably, but penny wasn't very comfortable--her heart rate was all over the place. luckily, things progressed quickly and i was complete and ready to go by 9:15. dr. judd came in at 9:30 and penny was born at 9:59 a.m. and, i watched the whole thing (a first for me!).

this delivery was a completely different experience than mae's birth. it was incredibly comfortable and quick. i loved my nurse, my anesthesiologist, and my doctor. my epidural wore off quickly and i was up and walking around 2 hours later. i even got to take a trip to the nursery and watch penny have her first bath. i've heard a lot of people complain about the nurses checking them constantly--but i think the nurses came in twice the rest of the day. i felt so great, that we went home the next morning. really, it was one of the most amazing experiences i've ever had.

we're so grateful everything went so beautifully. she's amazing.

Penelope Kay

Penelope Kay

October 21, 2009

7 pounds, 3 ounces

20 inches

We're all so thrilled.

baby horsie

Mae has been insisting for a couple months that she has a baby in her tummy. She was very sure of herself--always telling me that "baby horsie" was kicking, or asleep, or crying. We indulged her for awhile, because...why not? But as my delivery date approached, we figured we had to address it somehow.

I had a conversation with her where I told her it had been really fun to pretend, but that there really was no baby in her tummy. We assured her that she would get a baby to take care of now, and that someday she would probably have a baby in there. The next thing I knew she was curled up under the table whimpering. She was so sad. So we decided to make a big deal about baby horsie's birth.

Off to build-a-bear...


...where baby horsie came to be. She adores this horse. She takes great care of her.


Oh boy, she's growing up. She's amazing.

Mae is so excited for her little sister to get here too. She tells her everyday that she's ready for her to come out so they can play. Now if only this sweet baby would listen!

summer recap

in between the chaos that was this summer, i did the following things on my list:

*not cut my hair (okay, i trimmed it a couple times and once was a pretty major trim...but i didn't substantially cut it, which is a success for me)

*rode the heber creeper



*went fishing (THREE times!)




*attended my third wasatch county demolition derby. and don't be jealous, but jayson got to be a judge. ok, be really jealous.


*made a new summer playlist. we danced to it a lot.

*made lemonade out of lemons (literally), thanks to my very talented sister kendra and her appearance on the aol holiday blog.

*rode a chair lift (this was beautiful)






*canned peaches

*outdoor movie (thank you ward activity, even if it did rain)



i did not:

*walk a 5k, but i played some tennis.


*watch hot air balloons, although i did see some fly.
*sit on my new flagstone patio (no $$)
*play kickball
*paint my toenails every week. i can't see my toenails, so i had to rely on others. katy did it for me twice. thank you katy.
*outdoor concert
*go to cove fort (jayson really wants to do this)
*drive alpine loop in the BMW. maybe this week? it's perfect right now.
*go to moab. really, we still haven't been? i can't believe i haven't taken jayson here yet.
*golfing with jayson. he's catered more on golf courses this summer than actually played.
*ride bike from bridal vail to utah lake (next summer).
*batting cages. there is still time.
*go on lots of walks. this one is hopeless. my walks are 4 blocks at best.
*make ice cream in a hand crank bucket. i did get a hand crank bucket, but it's broken and i'm not sure i can fix it. but peach ice cream sounds delightful, and peaches are amazing right now. this week?!?!?!?!

the highlight of the summer was having my parents come home, and having all my family in town. it was crazy, but so much fun. this summer was chaotic, but that's how we roll. yeehaw!

changes

it's been a crazy couple weeks for us.

three weeks ago jayson was called into a new bishopric in our ward. he's the new first counselor, and he loves the men he works with--bishop scott holden, second counselor steve sumsion, and executive secretary mike groneman. it's going to take a bit to figure out how everything works--for both of us. there are new meetings, new responsibilities, new commitments, etc.

this week we opened headquarters, and i think it's been one of the longest weeks of our lives. it's been so much work, but it seems like it will be worth it. we had our highest grossing day on saturday. it was busy, but it felt more controlled than other days. the extra space is nice. but, it also feels like we're starting from scratch. there are many things we need to get used to and figure out. trial and error is the only way to get things sorted out, so the next few weeks are going to be interesting. we'll have to give it some more attention.

and, today marks one month until baby penny comes. she's bound to shake things up around here too. (we're not 100 percent set on penny yet, so don't hold me to it).


isn't it amazing how changes seem to all come at once? i never thought i'd say this, but thank heavens winter is almost here because things seem to slow down a bit for us during the cold months.

but then again, that was before we had indoor seating at j dawgs.

vip open house

(j holding a ticket from our vip open house)

go here for pictures from last night. lots of family, friends, and hot dogs. it was an amazing night.

it is time.

pheh. it's done.

since january we've been working on a big project. and it's been a long and exhausting run. but it's also been fantastic in many ways. tonight, we open for the first time and our emotions are running high.


here is "hq" (headquarters), or j dawgs new home. it's adjacent to where we are now (858 north 700 east in provo). this new space represents a new era for us and j dawgs, and we'd be lying if we said we weren't nervous.

the shack has been really good to us. i don't think anyone could be more attached to a 10'x10' building than we are to it. jayson and i met here, spent part of our first date here, and many many hours here. it's kind of a third person in our marriage, but in a good way. at the shack we have met people from all different walks of life and made some of our best friends.

but we've outgrown it. we can't continue to operate efficiently here. it's just too small.

so we're opening up next door. it has indoor seating, a bathroom, a heater/ac, a 12 head pepsi machine, a tv to watch cougar football, and everything else you might want in a hot dog establishment. except it's not the shack, and that makes us a little sad. but we've felt multiple times that this is the right move for us and we need to make it. so we have trusted in that and moved forward.

tonight we open for those who have helped us finish this project. and as long as we don't blow it up tonight, we open tomorrow for everyone else. we're so excited.

we still don't know the future of the shack. we will keep it (absolutely), and figure out it's new role in j dawgs soon. to go orders? car hop? a new food product all together? not sure, but it's ours and no one will take it from us.

until then, come see us at 858 north 700 east. it's beautiful inside.

back to school

it's back to school time around here. can you feel it in the air?

i have always loved this time of year. it always meant back to school shopping, new notebooks and pens, new classes, new experiences, new friends and most importantly, the return of old friends. i really loved the shopping back then (surprised?), but what i really miss now are the classes.

i miss the lectures, the readings, the projects, and the papers. i've been dabbling on uvu's website here and there dreaming of what class i would take this semester. sometimes i even look at degrees and dream about going back part-time.

sometimes, i almost sign up.

b-24

this post deserves more energy than i have. but then again, it isn't really my story to tell....

on tuesday jayson had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; the collings foundation came to utah. they tour the country bringing the old "war birds" to local airports and offer rides on them. it isn't cheap to ride on their planes, but considering this is the only b-24j still flying you can understand the price.

about five years ago, jayson bought his dad a ride on the b-24. scott's been waiting a long time to be able to take this flight, and it turned out that this week would work. we were so excited to watch him fly on this plane, because we knew it would mean a lot to him. as time got closer, we all saw what it would mean to jayson too, so we decided that they should fly together.

from wikipedia:

the b-24 was produced in greater numbers than any other American combat aircraft of World War II and still holds the record as the most produced U.S. military aircraft. It was used by many Allied air forces and every U.S. branch of service during the war, attaining a distinguished war record.

jayson and i have both been fascinated with WWII for a couple months now, so this was really exciting to see this part of history so up close and personal.

here are a couple pictures from the day:









(all these pictures were taken with film, which jayson has fallen in love with (again) since the film is not dead workshop with the crazy talented jon canlas).

i heard the flight was unbelievable. we've been watching band of brothers lately, so jayson really tried to envision what it must have been like for the soldiers to ride on these planes.

we met lots of fantastic people that day--a gentleman whose brother flew a b-24 on d-day and didn't make it home from the war alive. also, a sweet sweet lady and her daughter who flew with jayson. we were talking to them a little bit when they got back, and noticed the lady was pretty emotional and the daughter was holding some old dog tags. as we started to listen to her story, we heard that she met a man before the war and was engaged to him when he left to fight. he flew a b-24 on d-day and survived, and went on to fly 30 something more missions. he made it home safely from the war to marry this lady and they had 7 children together. they lived a happy life for the last 60 or so years, until he passed away last month. this flight meant a lot to her and to her daughter, and it was so wonderful to hear how special this experience was to her.

i'm so grateful to those who sacrificed so much to give us the freedoms we have. this experience was something i don't think jayson or scott will forget any time soon.

see scott's pictures and recap here.

on their way home...

my parents finished their mission today. i'm sure it was an incredibly bittersweet moment for them. they've been busy for the last two years serving the people in five African nations.

they are taking a week to relax a bit before they head home. they'll arrive next tuesday to a house full of excited livingstones.

we are so proud of them, and so happy we could share them for the last two years.

as always, you can read more about their adventures on congochatter.blogspot.com. stories of these young missionaries will melt your heart.

reprise

so i hate to go on and on about potty training, but i am in love with this method so i just want to say a word about it.

the guiding principles of this method are love and consistency. but i might also add that there is no fighting (not because it's a principle not to fight, but because it is not possible), coercion, or bribing (that doesn't mean no rewards). accidents are important as they are how a child understands what is happening in their body. you are to remain positive at all times and there is to be no reprimanding or punishing.

as of 5:30 today, we've had one accident. it was at about 4:00. she hadn't gone to the bathroom since around 11:30, so i was waiting and waiting for her to yell "mommy, i'm peeing." that's what she says when she has to go--one in four times she probably already is going. but most of the time, it means she needs to go.

from about 2:00 on, i was anxious. i knew she had to go and i just kept reminding her, "let me know when you need to go potty." i knew her little bladder could only hold so much and that sooner or later she was going to need to let it go. in the afternoon she has a tendancy to hang on to it.

it would have been really easy for me to make her sit on the potty and tell her she needed to go. i could have told her it was time, because it was. i know there are a lot of methods out there that encourage that. the truth is i'm and adult and i understand the body and i know that she probably needed to go. but that wasn't what was important.

mae is the one who has to learn when it's time to go. she's the one who needs to understand the signals her body is giving her; what it feels like to be full. and the only way she's going to understand that is if she has accidents.

i think life is sometimes like that. at least parenthood is like that. God trusted me enough to throw me into something TOTALLY new and said, "have at it. you're in this for good; i've thrown away any crutch you might have. so here's what you should do, but you're in charge. and you're going to have accidents, lots of them. but we celebrate the accidents because that's how you'll learn."

i have a whole new outlook on accidents. they're all part of the learning process. of course we can prevent accidents, but doesn't that just dely the learning process? when accidents happen in potty training, i'm not frustrated at all. i think that has helped my whole outlook on this process. i dreaded the thought of potty training, and maybe i'm just really really lucky--but so far this has been one of the most enjoyable weeks of motherhood for me.

big girl

i'm out of interesting things to blog about, so here's this post while i think of anything better to write:

yesterday at 2:00 we dumped all of mae's pullups and diapers in the trash. we've been at it for 30 hours, and so far:

success: 9
accidents: 3
false alarms: 2

she's doing great. i'm using the 3 day method because i've heard so many great things about it, and because it really makes sense to me. it has been a really positive experience for us so far. mae's been really happy and so have i. she had one pretty huge accident yesterday and two smaller accidents today. after each accident today she has had three perfect potty moments--tells me she needs to go and does it all perfectly, including compulsively washing her hands while singing her abc's.

i waited a bit longer to start training than some others, but i really believe she is ready for this now. this week turned out to be the perfect time to go at it--which is fantastic because i think if i didn't do it this week, i'd be doing this in december. which would have been fine too. but whatever...6 less months of diapers is a good thing.

i know i'm not out of the woods yet; we still need to address wearing shorts/pants/skirts, going on the go, relapses, etc. but i'm so happy with the progress we've made so far.

we've got a big girl in the house now!

moose loves corndogs

mae wanted to make sure her moose got a nutritious dinner. like a corndog.

ode to summer, 2009 edition

it was really helpful to have a list of things i wanted to do last summer. i did most things on my list, resulting in a fantastic summer. those that i didn't do will appear on my list again this year, along with many new additions. this summer is going to be busy since my parents get home, but i hope to make time for a few other adventures.

here's my 2009 ode to summer:
*walk a 5k
*not cut my hair
*watch hot air balloons
*ride the heber creeper
*sit on my new flagstone patio (this would require making the flagstone patio)
*go fishing
*demolition derby
*play kickball
*make a new summer playlist
*paint my toenails every week
*outdoor concert
*squeeze lemons to make lemonade
*go to cove fort
*drive alpine loop in the BMW
*go to moab
*ride ski lift at sundance
*go golfing with jayson
*can peaches
*outdoor movie
*ride bike from bridal vail to utah lake
*batting cages
*go on lots of walks
*make ice cream in a hand crank bucket

michigan

i loved college. i really really loved it, and i could list lots of reasons why. but the number one reason is the people i met there. they are my best friends (for life) and no matter how long it's been since we've seen each other, we pick up right where we left off.

so when kimberly called me and told me she was getting married, i told her i'd be there. and then i found out that three other of my roommates were going to be there too, without husbands. uhhh...party, anyone?

we kicked off the festivities with a bachelorette party for kimmie. here she is...doesn't she look fantastic?

we had manicures and pedicures. here are the five of us that lived together at one point or another--kim, becky, ruth, me, harmony.


me, ruth, harmony, and becky. i love these girls.

after we were pampered and feeling relaxed, we went to dinner and gave kim some "gifts."


then we had a few days to relax, shop, eat, shop, stay up way too late, etc before the wedding. i didn't get too many pictures, because i was way too busy enjoying myself. thankfully, becky did!

here we are before the sealing (without the bride).


after the sealing...

since i really love these girls (becky, kim, and harmony are all from the same hometown), i went out to visit them in michigan in 2001. i stayed with kimberly's family, and fell in love with them. they're fantastic. i also stayed with the jensens for a day after jayson and i went to toronto two years ago. here i am with kim's sister, becca.

and her brother michael. i had to take this picture because a couple weeks ago we catered michael's wedding lunch. while i was busy cooking, mae was outside playing. she came running inside and said "mom, uncle drew is here!" i was pretty confused, until i saw michael. turns out he does look like my handsome brother, drew.


here are the girls again. me, becky, ruth, and harmony.


this time with kimmie.

and fine, i guess ben can be in the picture too.


harms and me.

and the sexy roommates again.


i had such a good time in michigan. congratulations kimberly and ben! have fun in mexico, and don't get sick.