The One

One by one, as my sisters-in-law have become "of marrying age", they have approached me to find out how I knew that Jason was The One. Given that two of those three are not married as of yet, I'm worried that my response might have been too specific, but this is how I knew Jason was The One.

(Emily and Allison, consider this post for you!)

Even though Jason and I met in April, we didn't start dating until September of 2003. After a month of dating, I knew I wanted to marry Jason. Three experiences helped me know.

No. 1. I had a list (so cliche, I know). When I was a freshman in college (in 2000) my bishop suggested making a list of all the qualities I hoped to some day find in a husband. I don't know that I would recommend doing this if the list said things like, "Must be from Denver, have hazel eyes, and a double jointed left thumb", but it was a chance to reflect on what was really important to me- things like, "Makes me laugh, inspires me to be the best version of myself, and does not yell in anger". And a few fun ones, like "Loves chocolate as much as I do, holds my hand in public, and delights in spoiling me".

I had fun dreaming up the list, and then I forgot about it until after Jason had proposed and I was packing up my apartment to move into our first place. When I found the list, I couldn't believe it- Jason fit every single "quality" I had hoped for nearly 4 years earlier. I just reviewed the list, and there were 52 attributes on it. And yes, he still fits every one today.

No. 2 Early in 2003 my dad gave me a blessing that very specifically told me that the Lord had a greater plan for my life than it's current status if I would just get on with it! I just needed a little more faith and a little more action, and I would be headed in the right direction. I know now that Jason was part of that plan.
No. 3 My patriarchal blessing pretty clearly states that being friends with someone first would lead me to find my husband (a fairly novel concept for me at the time). Once I stopped trying to date every thing in pants, relaxed and started having fun with friends, I found someone worth getting to know!

And more than anything, as most any married person will tell you, I JUST KNEW! I was completely enchanted by Jason. I couldn't believe that someone so considerate, helpful, and spiritual as well as tall, dark, and handsome was interested in me. And yet, somehow he made me feel like he was the lucky one because I was dating him. We knew we were meant for each other. Once we figured it out, happily, there wasn't any turning back.

Someone's In the Kitchen...

It feels like we spend a good chunk of time each day in the kitchen. Thankfully, the kids love it in there, so I can usually get meals prepared and cleaned up with happy kids nearby.

I certainly don't require that Leah wear a helmet in the house, but after seeing how much she runs into things with it on, it may not be such a bad idea!

And after a long and painful night, it was so fun to see Adam so happy in the kitchen! I don't know how many times I'll say this before I learn, but seriously, non-toy toys are the absolute best for my kids! I'll be requesting Pampered Chef and KitchenAid "toys" for them from now on!

Buongiorno!

Check out my new scarf- imported from Italy!

Avoiding Spring Cleaning

"Look Mom! It's a marshmallow roasting in a campfire!"

Leah and Adam are such a hoot at the breakfast table. Leah likes to stare out the window at all the birds that are playing in the backyard. The robins always come in twos, and I told her they are a mom and dad looking for worms for their babies. She told me she thinks they are looking for the lost babies that have fallen out of the nest. Sad!

"I'm looking for a banana piece this big!"

Adam shovels as much food as he can get his hands on into his mouth. He has pretty much given up on baby food, so I spend extra time preparing meals that he can share with us. He loves fruit, and thankfully I remembered that bananas rolled in crushed up Cheerios are much easier to pick up. Then comes the clean up. I've taken the cover off the high chair and started stripping him down at the kitchen sink before hosing him off. He is quite a messy eater!

Jason spent last week in Italy at an international corn conference.... nope, can't even type it without laughing. Sounds funny, but who knew the life of a plant breeder would provide such exotic traveling experiences?

The kids and I had a pretty good time breaking the rules while he was gone- pajama days, dinner at the park and extra TV when I was about to snap. Now Jason's back and busier at school than ever. He brought us some fun things- we planted the tulip bulbs he brought from his layover in Amsterdam right away!Now we're busy with spring cleaning- it's hard to believe we've lived here long enough to necessitate deep cleaning, but I'm finding that there is plenty to be done. Good thing I have good helpers like Leah and Adam to get the jobs done!

Speaking of Sleep

Sleep is something that Leah gets. As in, she doesn't get the importance of clothes that match, hair that is pulled out of her eyes, or watching where she is going so as to not walk into the door/wall/chair/tree/car. But she gets sleep.

It hasn't always been like this, but she did take two naps a day until she turned 2, and she still takes a two-or-more hour nap at least five days a week. She understands sleep, she likes it, and it likes her. She is a clumsy mess when she is sleep deprived.

Some days she asks me when it is time for a nap. She forgoes stories so that she can just get to sleep. Of course, some days she just doesn't want to go to bed. Last night, for example.

After going through the bath/books/bed routine, I heard her wandering around upstairs (the toy room is right outside the kid's rooms). When I went up to shoo her back into bed, she told me she was getting a book.

"Look!" she said. "The sun hasn't gone to sleep! It's not bedtime yet!"

"Fine," I told her. "You can look at one book."

She picked this one.
After 15 minutes or so, the sun had gone down, and I went up to tuck her in. I found her grabbing this.
"Fine," I told her. "You can look through your book until you're tired. But don't get out of bed again. Go to sleep."

And when I went to check on her 45 minutes later, the book was back on the shelf in the toy room, the flashlight was back on her dresser, and she was tucked into bed, snoring away.

Sleep. She gets it. And I love it.

De-lightful!

Guess who slept 12 hours straight last night?!?!(Wouldn't it be weird if the answer wasn't Adam?)

I'm so proud- there is hope smiling brightly before me, and it's name is sleep!

Day One

My first memory of Jason is from church. We were in the same BYU singles ward, and our ward met in the Benson building. Our "chapel" was a science lecture hall complete with a giant periodic table on the wall. We met for the first time around April of 2003, and I remember looking down from the seats of the room after church and seeing Jason reviewing a list of some sort and looking up into the crowd. He was the elder's quorum president of the ward, and he was probably looking for someone to talk to them about home teaching. I remember he had on a nice looking suit and glasses.

That's it. Pretty remarkable, huh? Of course, now in my mind I picture swarms of people faded out around him as he looked up into the crowd at me, and the music swelled as our eyes met for the first time.... But no. It wasn't anything spectacular, but that's what I remember.

Over the next few months, we started to hang out as friends- we saw Pirates of the Caribbean together with a huge group of people from our ward/apartment complex, and one night we went with a mutual friend to Ben and Jerry's (where Jason claimed he'd never been before). At that point I hadn't really been involved in the ward. Jason, on the other hand, was Mr. Popularity. I was always impressed that he knew everyone and was so nice to everyone.

So we knew of each other and that was about it. Then, one fateful September night, my car broke down. The hood was jammed, and in spite of taking it to three different mechanics, I couldn't find anyone who could fix it. Then the battery died. It was the night of ward FHE, and I asked a guy if he could me try to fix my car. He said yes, and suggested that we ask Jason to help because he knew a lot about cars (fast forward to present day: ha! Ha! Ha!) A few other "helpful" guys came along, and all swarmed around my car, each trying to figure out how to get the hood popped. Jason got the hood open and set up the battery to charge overnight. Most of the other guys had lost interest by this point, but again, I remember being so impressed with Jason and his willingness to jump up and serve right away. In my memory he was even sitting on a couch, hitting on another girl, but hopped up as soon as I asked him for help. What a great quality for a future husband!

The next day, we drove to the auto store to buy a new battery for my car. Another guy tagged along, but Jason quickly got rid of him by putting him to work changing the battery while he chatted with me. I told Jason I needed to repay him for all of his help and we dropped off the other guy and headed to the Malt Shop in his car, the Cougar (oh, the epic saga of the Cougar! That is a post for another day).

We ordered cheese fries and two shakes, sat down in the corner booth by the door, and proceeded to have the most awkward, uninteresting date either of us had been on in a long time. I distinctly remember thinking, "Well, he'll make a good friend, but man, let's get this over with!" (In Jason's defense, he says he was thinking the same thing.) So we headed out to his car and he offered to let me drive it. I'm not a total car-girl, but it was shiny and fast, and I drove it up to Bridal Veil Falls. We parked it and sat on the hood and started talking under the stars... and things started to get dreamy.

We talked and talked for hours, and when the night was over, I was enchanted. It was the best last first date I could have ever imagined. I went to bed hoping that Jason felt remotely the same way about me, hoping that he would call me the next day.

And he did.

But that, too, is a post for another day.

Things That Make Us Happy

Packages! Doesn't matter what's inside or who it's from. Boxes delivered to our doorstep are almost as much fun as playing with the boxes once they're emptied out.
Non-toy toys! At least once a day I vow to myself that I will never buy another toy again- why bother?
Sunny days, our backyard, and our new wagon! Comes complete with cup holders and seat belts- things sure have changed since I was a kid (can't believe I'm actually old enough to write that).

And $2 dollar dress-ups.
We also love trips to the park, friends that stop by to play, and pretend play- mostly that's just Leah, but I try to love her incredible talent for casting roles, dreaming up plots, and including me in her fantasy land.

The Beautiful Blogger Award

Lauren nominated me for the Beautiful Blogger Award. Thanks, Lauren! So sweet, and timely, as I am quite happy with my new blog look myself.

As a recipient of this award, I must:

1. Thank the person nominating you for the award.

2. Copy the award to my blog.

3. Place a link to their blog.

4. Name 7 tidbits people don't know about you from reading your blog.

5. Nominate 7 bloggers.

6. Place a link to those bloggers.

7. Leave a comment letting those bloggers know about the reward.

So, for my 7 tidbits...

I love American chocolate. Most people think European chocolate is much better, but what can I say? I'm an American girl!
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Which brings me to the fact that I was born in Alabama. I pull out the twang once in a while, but I generally keep it to myself.
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I washed the dishes with my Gloveables on tonight... and I liked it!
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I am a bit of a water snob. Or maybe the water here is just gross. Either way, I've started stocking up on bottled water, and I like that, too!
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I use the little water sprayer at my kitchen sink to blast caked-on food out of the kid's clothes- try it! It works so much better than the measly drip in the bathroom.
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I am a fairly recent first time owner of a Dustbuster, and I honestly don't know how I lived without one for so long. I use it to suck up the bugs that make their way into our house. The flies here are so lazy, I can even suck them up!
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Over the last 4 years (read:childbearing years), I have gained and lost over 120 pounds, and expanded and shrunk through 5 pant sizes. My clothes are now organized into 5 sections- maternity, postpartum/nursing, nursing, weaned-but-still-eating-like-it's-for-two, and completely-independent-of-another-human-being-until-the-next-comes-along! I've given up giving away clothes that are too big or small because, chances are, they'll fit some time in the next few years!

As for my 7 blogs, I'm going to list 7 blogs that I enjoy reading (in no particular order)... in case you need more Internet-suck ideas.

1. Asking Jane- mother of 11 answers mom's questions.
2. Not that you asked- mother of 2 young kids reflects on motherhood hilariously.
3. Young House Love- adorable couple I love to hate with a great sense of decorating style.
4. Bloom- kind of a catch all motherhood/homemaker/crafty blog.
5. EnSTLYEpedia- my freshman roommate- inspiring mom fashionista.
6. Snippets of Wonderful- real life home decorating ideas.
7. Sense to Save- young mom's financial thoughts.

And I actually had to scrape to come up with those 7 blogs- how do I spend so much time online? Happy reading everyone!

Scooter

Adam is 8 months old today! Crazy, I think. We're creeping closer to the day that I think he should no longer be waking up two or three times a night to nurse and then rocked back to sleep. But we're not there quite yet.

Adam has started scooting! He has only rolled over on that one night, but he has started getting down on his belly from sitting up and then scoots himself backwards until he runs into a wall or, in this case, refrigerator. He started up by the phone and scooted himself all the way back to the fridge. Can't say I blame him for wanting to get off the nasty carpet. And I got a little video of it, too. I love how he's so proud of himself!

Hard to believe another month has gone by. We're headed into baby-proofing, crawling, and increasing my fears of falling down the stairs. We're also increasing our food budget, since Adam is still eating like a champ. He has little interest in baby food, but will eat and eat and eat any table food he can get his chubby little hands on-Cheerios are still the favorite, followed by pears, peaches, carrots, and pancakes.

Still Life

Birthday flowers in full bloom
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Paper Sarah gets a new dress

We Were So Poor...

When Jason and I were first married, we were poor. At least, we thought we were poor. Now that we have one income instead of two and two extra mouths to feed, I've realized that "poor" is a relative concept.

I had graduated from BYU and thus lost my student job, and Jason was working at the MTC while going to school full time. In addition to my student job, a few months before we got married I took a job as a housekeeper for a mother of 4 young children in Provo. Once she realized what a poor cleaner I was, but that I was great at playing with her kids, she hired someone else to clean her house and I played with the kids and did light housework- laundry, dishes, and the awful task of cleaning out their minivan. They even gave me a raise after I graduated because they though having a Bachelor's degree in Sociology makes you worth an extra buck an hour.

(Hermano Morales heading into the MTC)

Her husband was a lawyer, and they were so impressed with my child care and cleaning skills that they offered me a job in his office as a legal assistant. Makes sense to me even as I type it out...(?) But they wanted me to work at home and at the office, so after our wedding, I split my days between caring for the kids, answering phones and typing memos in the legal office, and driving to Mapleton (20 minutes or so south of the office) to care for the files of the older, senior law partner. Maybe that sounds like a good set up, but it wasn't. It was an embarrassing use of my college degree, and I quit after a week of juggling the three jobs. I didn't have another job lined up but I had to quit that job. I quit on a Friday, the next Monday I had an interview with W.W. Clyde, and I started what would be my 2 and a half year job as an administrative assistant with them the next week (the bulk of my married life BC).

(Making the big bucks at WWC)

We were so blessed, and definitely not poor after that... although I'm sure we still lamented over not having all the money to do everything we wanted to do... funny how your perspective can change so much once you're 3 years into graduate school!

But! In that first week or so of marriage, when we were combining our finances- debts and assets- with no real steady source of income from my part, the numbers were adding up quite meagerly.In fact, we were so poor that....

*We had to count up all of our change to go buy a half gallon of milk from the grocery store. I'm guessing that it was only because we chose not to use our debit card, but doesn't that just sound poor?

*You already read about our bed (which we bought with a credit card), but we put our kitchen table and chairs on LAYAWAY because we couldn't afford to buy them out right and didn't want to charge something so frivolous and unnecessary. I don't think stores even offer layaway anymore.

*When we did finally get the table and chairs, I can remember sitting down and having a decision-making conversation about tithing. We decided at that table that we would pay our tithing no matter what. And we always have. And we've always been blessed. Since we made that decision, I've never really felt "poor" again.

And we had so much fun as poor starving college students! But more on that later...

Swingin'

The weather here has been fantastic for the last few days, and we've had so much fun playing in the backyard. The owners of the house left their swing set behind, and we got a swing for Adam. He loves it!

Leah is getting pretty good at swinging herself. She got some new dresses today. I've pretty much accepted the fact that she is a dress kind of girl... for now, anyway! So I'm embracing it and making sure she has a few to rotate through.

Must... not... touch the grass! (and check out that floofy faux-hawk!)

Leah loves the back yard just as much as I do. I hope the weather stays this nice!

If you only ever watch one video on my blog, this must be it... Leah and I were playing the Three Little Pigs.

And now you have my permission to not watch this one- I just love Leah's dancing style and completely uninhibited movement. Ah, to have the confidence of a 3 year old! And I should mention that, yes, that is a pallet she is dancing on. All the kids that have ever played in our backyard love it.

This is Adam in his swing. He loved it, but I think the wind surprised him.

One Year Older and Wiser, Too...

Presents in the mailbox, flowers delivered on my doorstep, afternoon trip to a day spa, tasty cupcakes, Skype, cards, calls and emails...

I stayed up til midnight just to enjoy every minute of a wonderful day.

Happy birthday to me! Thank you so much to everyone that made me feel so loved on my day!

Use before 01/01/2020

It occurred to me the other day that I probably won't always have 300 cute kid moments that I want to blog about each day. When I have teenagers, I won't have Leah-isms or adorable baby Adam pictures. I realized that this blog has an expiration date, of sorts. So, I'm going to blog while I can!

Thoughts on Leah-

I've decided that Leah is a 99.9% homebody. She just likes being home. She puts up with me dressing her up and dragging her to new and adventurous places like the library, dance class, or even the toy store, but as soon as she gets home, she pulls her hair out of it's pigtails, changes into her favorite dress of the day, and resumes her imaginary play where "you be Leah and I'll be cousin Sarah and I'll knock on your door after I get off the airplane" (which she pronounces errrrrr-plane). The home-bodiness is a little frustrating, but it also makes it very easy to just stay home. Home is where Leah's heart is. I think that is a good thing.

Leah likes to talk about her feelings. Going along with the home-bodiness, we took the kids on a walk around the neighborhood yesterday, and Leah spent the whole time asking when we could go home, how far away our house was, and that she was feeling nervous because we were going so far from home.

Today, I asked her to take a pile of rags up to the laundry room, and she told me, "When you give me these rags, I feel like Cinderella".

Jason complimented Leah on her post-braids wavy hair tonight, and she clearly disagreed. She furrowed her brow and shook her head and said, "No! It's all fuzzed up."

Leah has started checking out the sacrament-passing deacons. She leaned over to me today and said, "That's Izzie's big brother. He is so nice to me."

All about Adam-

I don't blog enough about Adam, and I think that is because he's just a simple, easy-going little guy. He adores Leah- laughs and laughs whenever she is around- and loves me even more.

I saw him take his toy back from another baby today- it was the first time I've seen him defend his turf.

He's eating like a champ. He gets three solid food meals a day, and still nurses like a pro. He just likes food- pears, bananas, and Cheerios are his favorite.

He has light blond hair- just like I did as a baby- that is gathered in a little floof on the top of his head. It reminds me of Calvin- always sticking up.

I feel like Adam's first year is going by so quickly. I've started looking forward to life AW (after weaning), but my heart still melts whenever I see my baby boy. I feel like there aren't nearly as many surprises the second time around- I'm not as eager to see him hit milestones because I know they will all come eventually. That has made it easy to cherish every day with my sweet little man.

Jason-

Maybe I'll always have things to blog about when it comes to Jason. He's busy. And going places. More on him later.

As for me?

I get the least amount of face time on this blog, but I think who I am is reflected through my family. I love my family, and I feel so fulfilled through motherhood. I don't think I'm very poetic or eloquent when it comes to saying it, but I think those that need to know it most do. I hope that means I'm doing something right.

All of the pictures in this post were taken by Leah- I especially love those luscious Henscheid lips on Leah!

Further Proof

A few more places that prove how small kids really are-

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The kitchen sink
Inside drawer organizers
Inside a night stand
In the toy room
Surprise!

Muscles

Adam had us all cracking up at dinner tonight with his hot moves- we would say, "Where's your muscles?" and he would stick his arms straight out and flex his little muscles.

Then he started doing it to avoid eating his veggies- smart boy!

And not to be outdone, Leah showed us her stuff, too. Odd that she actually looks buff.

And I will eat them with a fox

We had fun with food coloring today- first mixing water colors, then making green eggs and blue pancakes. Leah was fearless when it came to trying the food, and we spent the meal reciting lines from "Green Eggs and Ham".Leah has started asking hard questions, most of which start with "Why". Some are easy to answer, like "Why did you name me Leah?" or "Why does water turn into snow?" and some are a little harder, like "What is water made out of?" and "Why are balls round?"

Jason recounted this conversation to me- talking about the fish that refuse to be swallowed by the pelican on Finding Nemo.

L- Why didn't they want to get swallowed?

J- Because they didn't want to die.

L- What's die? (She knows the answer to this, or at least, we've talked about death before)

J- It's when your spirit leaves your body and goes to heaven.

L- Dying isn't a big deal, Daddy.

J- No?

L- Nope. Jesus died and then he was resurrected, so we can die and just be resurrected, too.

And after watching The Restoration the other day, Leah told us, "I prayed to Heavenly Father that he would help me take my dress off, and I saw a light shining in my room and Heavenly Father was in it and Jesus was in it and they said, 'Yes, we will help you', and then my dress popped off, and they helped me."

Oh, the faith of a little child.