Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

For those of you who don't know, this is mine and Jordan's first official Christmas together. I grew up not celebrating holidays so every year we never had a tree in our house or any decorations. At first, the idea of having a tree was so weird to me. But as time went on I actually started getting excited about decorating it. This is a very exciting year for us! So on Saturday we went out to get a tree with James and Heather. We decided to go for a real one.

(Click on the pictures to see them bigger.)

Since I'm new to this whole tree thing, I wasn't aware of some things. Like I didn't know you were supposed to buy hooks separately from the ball ornament things. And I didn't know how to set up a real tree with water and everything. Jordan gave me the run down about how to decorate a tree. Apparently the lights go first. lol.
We even set the mood by listening to some Christmas music and Jessalyn waddled around playing with all the ornaments and walking back and forth around the living room and dining room. Luckily she really hasn't attempted to take anything off the tree yet. She was just touching the ornaments that she could reach.

Since I was getting into the spirit, we picked a red, white and silver theme for our tree. A few months ago we started our collection of ornaments since we didn't have any at all. We found some on sale and we each picked out our own. Well, we picked out Jessalyn's and Penny's but you get the point. I think they really fit our personalities. A piano for the music man of the house, lipstick for the beauty guru, a tiara for the Princess and a bone for the puppy!

Daddy helped Jessalyn put her ornament on the tree. She was pretty interested in the candy he had in his mouth as you can see her eyeing it.

And Jordan put the finishing touch!

We put it by the patio window so you can see it perfectly from outside.

I love how it turned out!

Messy Face, Thanksgiving and a Birthday!

Here are a few fun pictures from this past week. Last Saturday we went to a baby shower for our friend Karrie. She is having a baby girl and Jessalyn was very happy once I handed her this ice cream cone cupcake. I couldn't get it back because she was too busy stuffing her face with it.

She has been very independent lately and only likes to feed herself. I was eating a yogurt and left a little bit in the container and left it in her reach on accident. She was very excited about what she found so I decided to give it to her in her high chair so she could feed it to herself. When she was done this is what she looked like. lol! I think she was proud of it because she was showing it off. While I was cooking dinner, she was playing with the pots and pans. Of course. Isn't that like a required baby thing that a baby must do at some point?

She started climbing on the shelf in the cupboard...

And she made it! But a few seconds later she fell backwards and good thing I was there because I caught her just in time. She was pretty scared after that and was done with the pots and pans.

Thanksgiving was great! We went over to James and Heathers and had such delicious food. Heather made the best turkey ever. It just melted in your mouth. Yum!

Jessalyn loves her cousin Logan. She was watching him play Angry Birds.
And then she enjoyed a delicious cookie made by her Aunt Heather.

The day after Thanksgiving was Caleb's sixth birthday. Jordan and I went out shopping to see if we could find some black Friday deals. We go a later start than most at 8 am but we did get a few good deals.

After shopping we went over to James and Heather's for pizza and cake for Caleb's birthday. Jessalyn has so much fun whenever we go over there.

The boys have lots of fun toys to play with and they are always fun to follow and watch what they're doing. Logan is so good with her. He's very helpful and he plays really well with her. She even kept trying to give him kisses! Isn't that so cute!

The kids had fun playing with Caleb's new birthday presents.

And Jessalyn thought she was pretty awesome eating cake with the big kids all by herself while mommy and daddy sat on the couch. Haha! She was chatting away with the boys and enjoyed the cake very much.

Our Love Story!

Since our five year wedding anniversary is coming up in about two months I thought it would be fun to tell our story about how we met and fell in love.

*Warning* This is very long but a great love story and worth the read! Haha.

Around this time of year it has been seven years since we met.

It all started here at park place mall the end of 2004 and the beginning of 2005.

I was working as a hostess at Metro Grill. I was already working there for about a year. Jordan was working for American Valet right outside the restaurant. He had been working there around the same amount of time as me. All of us Metro hostesses became friends with most of the "valet boys" as we called them. The valet boys would come in and chat with us hostesses when it was slow and there wasn't anything else to do.

I didn't notice Jordan until a little bit later because he was so quiet and mostly kept to himself. But once I did notice him, I guess you can say I believe in love at first sight as cheesy as it sounds. I thought he was so cute and would secretly watch him at the valet stand. I was curious about who this boy was so trying not to be too obvious I asked one of the other valet boys what this cute guys name was. Jordan? I remember thinking I never thought of him as a Jordan. lol. But what's even funnier is that when I was little my name was always Jordan when I played house.

Us hostesses were always very friendly to all the valet boys when they came in to get a drink or use the bathroom. I said hi to Jordan a few times when he came in but he was so shy and quiet he never said anything back. So I gave up and didn't say hi to him anymore when he came in. A few days later, it was slow and I was in a joking mood so when Jordan came in to use the bathroom I told him "You can't use our bathroom." I said it in a jokingly serious tone. He laughed and gave me a jokingly sarcastic look and proceeded to the bathroom. Come to find out I had to be mean to get this cute boy to talk to me. Haha. From then on he became my chatting buddy.

In some ways, working there was a little bit like high school. I decided to tell one of my hostess friends about my crush on the valet boy and she decided she was going to tell one of the other valet boys that I had a crush on him. Well, with that little game of telephone the names got mixed up and he ended up telling him a different girl had a crush on him.

My crush only got bigger after chatting with him so I started asking him when he worked next so I would know to go to work dressed up extra nice. I would get so excited to go to work whenever I knew he was working. This was back in the times when AOL instant messenger was popular. So instead of asking for my number he asked for my screen name. Pretty nerdy and ancient. Haha. I went home that night and signed on hoping he would send me a message. But nope. Then it hit me. I gave him the wrong screen name! The next time I saw him at work I told him what I did. That was on a Saturday when the mall and the restaurants were really busy so we didn't get a chance to talk much. He told me he would write down his screen name when he got a chance.

For some reason that day he was giving me extra butterflies. So much that I could barely concentrate on my difficult job of greeting people and seating them at tables. lol. I was constantly looking outside to make sure he hadn't left work yet without giving me his screen name. I even told one of the girls "What is wrong with me. I can't concentrate!" Then I saw him grab his stuff getting ready to leave. I was sure he forgot about giving me his screen name and I had no idea when we were both going to work next. I was getting pretty disappointed when I saw him walk away but then he started heading toward my direction. I walked over to the door and he handed me a little valet tag with his screen name written on it. We told each other when we worked next and went on our way. I was so excited that he remembered so I went to put the tag in my purse. I told one of the girls about it and she asked if he gave me his number. I didn't even think to look on the other side. I pulled it out of my purse and turned it around. There was his number! I was even more excited.

One of the girls convinced me to call him as soon as I got home. And if anyone knows me, I was never the kind of girl to call a guy. I always waited for the guy. But this was so different. When I got home I literally went straight to the computer to check if he was online. He wasn't so I took a deep breath and dialed his number. I don't exactly remember what we talked about but the conversation wasn't very long because he was with his brother James. He did mention that we should hang out sometime.

We chatted and worked with each other a few more times before we actually planned our first date. I still remember what I wore for our first date. A long sleeve dark blue abercrombie shirt with a long beaded blue necklace, jeans and black boots. I even wore my replica Jessica Simpson wedding ring that I just got in the mail. Haha. I was and still am obsessed with her. He came and picked me up at my house in his little white honda. He was such a gentleman, opening all the doors for me . He hasn't changed. He's still the gentleman he was on that first date. We went to dinner at the Bamboo Club right next to where we worked. The food was delicious and the conversation came so easily. It was by far the best date I had ever been on.
After dinner, we went to the theater in the mall and watched Meet The Fockers. While we were waiting for the movie to start, I was telling Jordan about my Jessica Simpson obsession and showed him my new ring. I handed it to him and he accidentally dropped it on the floor in the dark movie theater. I could tell he felt so bad but I really wasn't worried about it at all. He searched for it on the floor and found it and apologized. He probably thought that was the end of us. Haha.

But it definitely wasn't. We were inseparable from that first date on. We saw each other every day even though we lived about 40 minutes away from each other. January 14th rolled around. We were hanging out at my house and started having a deep discussion about our relationship. That's when he asked me to be his girlfriend officially. But I was hesitant at first. Not because I didn't want to be with him. It was because I was recently getting out of a long on and off two year relationship with somebody that was no good for me. He also recently got out of a relationship with someone who completely took him for granted. My past relationship issues made me scared to get into another one. But I decided to go for it and give it a try so I said yes.
It was about three months into our relationship that we knew this was for real. We knew we loved each other and said it. We even started talking about marriage. I knew he was the one and had no doubts about it.
Dating Jordan made me realize what a real relationship was supposed to be like. We never fought, we never broke up, we never questioned our love for each other and we were completely open about everything. We weren't hiding anything. This was all completely opposite from my last relationship.
Our one year anniversary was rolling around on January 14th, 2006. Jordan had a whole day planned out for us. I made him a scrapbook of each month of our first year. We started our day off with a romantic picnic lunch at the top of Mt. Lemmon. I wasn't paying attention when he told me to dress warm because I wore flip flops. I was pretty cold but it was still a great lunch. After lunch we went back to his house to exchange gifts and cards and to relax for a little while. For dinner we went to a fancy restaurant called Flemings. We even got special treatment because it was our anniversary.
After dinner, we drove out to one of the casinos to see one of Jordan's favorite musicians, Jim Brickman, in concert. His music is so beautiful and romantic that it was a perfect thing to do for our anniversary. Half way through the concert Jim Brickman announced that there was someone that wanted to ask someone a question. Then he said "Is there a Jordan out there?" I didn't realized that he was asking about my Jordan until he stood up and pulled me along with him. Everything else was pretty much a blur from there. He took me up to the front, said some stuff and I was so shocked that I'm not even sure what he said. But what I do remember was he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. In front of thousands of people! Obviously I said yes! We sat back down and all I could do was stare at the big sparkly ring on my finger. After the concert we felt like celebrities. Everywhere we went everyone was saying congratulations.

Exactly a year to the day, we got married. Everyone always says the first year of marriage is always the hardest. But honestly we're still waiting for our hard part. We've definitely been through a lot but has never been between us. The troubles we have gone through have always been about things happening around us. And we are so lucky to have each other to lean on to get through those tough moments. They have only made us stronger as a couple.
And now we are so blessed to be a family of four. (Can't forget about Penny) I'm looking forward to our future because it only keeps getting better. I'm especially looking forward to our five year anniversary because of special blessings that we are going to able to share with each other by going to the Temple and being sealed for all time and eternity.

A Picture an Hour

I saw one of my favorite bloggers do this and thought it was a fun idea. Basically it's Jessalyn every hour of today from when she woke up to when she went to bed. It was a very laid back day today and we just stayed home. She wasn't feeling too well and had a runny nose.

Hour one: we usually wake up and watch a little bit of tv while we eat some breakfast. This morning she decided to pick out which bag she wanted from the Vera Bradley catalog. Haha.
Hour Two: Her daily routine consists of taking all of her babies out of her toy crib and sitting in it for a little while. Sometimes she likes to take everything out from the drawer in the crib. It has a lot of fun stuff like bracelets and her own cell phone.

Hour Three: Snack time! She was eating some cut up bananas and of course sharing them with Puppy.

Hour Four: More play time! I don't know why I bother sometimes but during the day I put all of her babies back in her crib and as soon as she sees me doing that she goes and takes them all out again.

Hour Five: Nap time. She looks like a peaceful little angel when she sleeps.

Hour Six: After nap time, it's time for lunch. I usually have to share with her some of whatever I'm eating.

Hour Seven: Reading her favorite book in her favorite chair. She looks really into it doesn't she. Haha.

Hour Eight: Helping mommy put away the laundry while she plays with her baby.

Hour Nine: Snack time again. She was stealing my yogurt from me. I would give her a spoonful she would walk away and eat then come back for more.

Hour Ten: Daddy's home! And she REALLY wanted him to hold her if you can't tell by her face.

Hour Eleven: Dinner time! Dinner isn't usually this messy but we were eating beans so of course she has to have some too. And she had to take big handfuls and feed herself.

Bath time. This was right after dinner. I had to have daddy help me take off her messy clothes so I could put her in the bath right away. I think bath time is her favorite part of the day. It has been since day one.

Hour Twelve: Sleepy time. After her bath we put on her nice warm jammies. She hung out with daddy for a little while and helped him finish his homework. She was also petting his beard. It was almost like she just discovered it. lol. Then it was time for milk and fell right to sleep.

Our Walking Baby!

Jessalyn has been close to walking for about a month or so. She still crawls when she wants to get somewhere faster but she waddles around the house and I giggle every time I watch our silly little zombie baby. This was her tonight just walking around with her little snack all excited.

13 months- Puppies and Books

This time last year, I had a one month old. Looking back, that first month was such a blur. I barely remember how tiny she was. My memories are so blurry because I was so delirious and sleep deprived.
I must say I am completely loving this age right now. This girl of ours is so much fun. She's been talking our heads off lately. She looks at you and mumbles a bunch of baby babble and we usually respond like we knew exactly what she's talking about. And she usually has such a serious look on her face.
She gets really excited when she is eating something good that we are eating. She usually gets so happy that she has to give both of kisses. It's almost like the kiss is saying "Thank you for this delicious food." lol.
I think her favorites things right now are puppies and books. Especially her puppy. She loves getting kisses from her puppy. She will hold her face close to puppy and go "mmm" waiting for her to lick her face. It's pretty darn cute! I have to stop Penny before she tries to lick her face off because Jessalyn might let her.
She has a nice collection of books but she has a few of her favorites. But the best kind of book is one about puppies! She loves the one that she's reading in the first pictures at the top. She loves to give all the puppies kisses.
Along with all the fun stuff there is not so fun stuff. Like the temper this little girl has. Sometimes it's hard to say no to her because of the tantrum she will throw if she doesn't get what she wants. I know she knows what no means but she really loves to test us. Most of the time when we say no she will laugh and try whatever she is doing again. She usually has a suspicious look on her face because she knows she shouldn't be doing it. Sometimes it's hard to take her seriously because of how overly dramatic she can get. It actually just makes us laugh. But we love this baby girl to pieces.

I forgot to post this last month but these pictures were exactly a year from each other. She was beautiful from day one and just keeps getting more and more beautiful!

Quotes To Live By

I've read this quote a few times before but at this point in my life it really hit home. It really makes me think about the relationships you have in your life and how much they change as time goes on. Sometimes they change for the better and sometimes they change in ways that you never thought they would. I've been in situations where I've tried really hard to make certain relationships work but in the end you realize that it's not really meant to be.

I have always been a firm believe that everything happens for a reason. I question what the reasons are but even though it may hurt at the moment, it was the right reason in the first place. I've learned that it's best to just move on and not dwell on it. I've grown up so much in the past few years. I think I grew up faster than some people that are pretty close to me. I found the love of my life at nineteen and got married at 21. I was already starting my dream career out at the age of 20 and became a mom at 25. Sometimes a lot of those things don't happen until someone is in their thirties. I've made big decisions for my family which has made me grow up even more. I'm 26 now and I could say now that I really know who I am and what I want.

I'm so thankful for my husband. He is truly my best friend and the one person I can count on when it comes to anything. He knows my deepest fears and secrets and sometimes he knows how I'm feeling even before I do. I'm thankful to have my daughter who will grow up to be my best friend like it was with my mom. I'm thankful that I have that stability in my life to know that whoever changes around me that I still have them to never question where we stand.

I'm also thankful for the close friendships I have but I realize more and more that they are few and far between. I hold on to the ones that are worth it and move on from the ones that don't make the same effort that I do. Life is too short.