Justification

"But Mom, it's blue and blue is a boy color"

(I don't think Kylie is too sad about not having a sister anymore)

Auditor For a Day

It was the annual "bring your kid to work day" at Jason's work and Kylie has been looking forward to it ever since she went last year. After a day of games, magic tricks, presents and pizza Kylie once again concluded that her dad pretty much has the funnest job ever.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Kylie has really been missing her friends from school and since we don't do sleepovers, I told her that she could have another late night pajama party. It was so cute to see them all so excited to see each other and it was funny, as soon as they got together they all started whispering about the boys from their class. Heaven help us. The night was filled with fingernail painting, dance parties, lots of junk food and impromptu games of musical chairs and freeze dance. We attempted to watch a movie, but they were all too excited to sit still and just wanted to play Barbies instead. We called it a night around 10:00 and Kylie was sad to see her friends go. We found out today that she will be in the same class next year as her two best friends, Noelle and Marlee. To say she was excited is an understatement. They are such cute girls, so I think I was just as excited too.

An Unforgettable Day Somehow Forgotten

Thursday started out as any other day, checking my email over a bowl of Trix cereal. I came across my sister's comment on my blog that said "happy anniversary!" I sat there totally confused thinking, anniversary of what?....anniversary that summer's almost over...anniversary that my pregnancy is half over....I was stumped until it hit me. Oh my gosh, today is our 9 year wedding anniversary! Talk about sad and pathetic. What's even worse is that it was actually her husband that remembered. What's even worse is that when I checked our mail there was an anniversary card from our pool builder in there. Great, so our brother-in-law AND pool builder remember, but we don't (which in a way creeped me out because no where on the contract between the questions of what kind of pump we wanted and the color choice for the finish, do I recall seeing a question about when our anniversary is). Jason was in Vegas so I called him and was both relieved and disappointed to see that he had forgotten too. He was coming home that night, but unfortunately the house was going to be full of 6 year old girls for Kylie's little party (thanks again, Julie for the cute anniversary gift, you are so thoughtful!), which doesn't rank too high on the list of romantic evenings. I scrambled around and found a baby-sitter for Saturday night, so it will be fun to celebrate then. Jason was so cute and picked out a customized candy arrangement with all my favorite candies--Yorks, white chocolate pretzels, swedish fish and even the nut rolls. Everything I love and everything I really didn't need all rolled into one, pretty much the perfect gift. What's even sweeter is that by the time he picked something out he was about to miss his plane so he sacrificed eating dinner for the sake of the present. Now that's romantic. Besides, it's not just about the day, it's about the incredible past nine years that we've had together. As a little tribute, I'm finally getting around to recording our "love story". I totally regret not keeping a journal during our dating years and I'm already worried that I'm beginning to forget the details. So for my own journaling sake, here it goes....(it's going to be long, so you may just want to skip this :)

I was fresh out of highschool, only 17 years old. My parents were moving out to Utah from Georgia the summer that I graduated, so I decided to just move up to Provo and try to find a job before school started. I found some great roommates and was having a blast "spreading my wings", finding my independance, dating lots and definately not looking to settle down. One day a boy called for my roommate Katie, she wasn't home and so I ended up chatting with him for a little bit. He sounded pretty cool and said that he and his friends were going to be stopping by to see Katie. I asked her about him when she came home and she told me that his name was Jason and that he served in the same mission as her. When they all came over I immediately thought that they were the coolest guys ever. They were all so funny and so fun to be around. I thought it was awesome how they had all been so tight since middle school and they were just such a unique group of guys--mischievious and naughty but good boys nonetheless. They were all living in Ogden selling security systems for the summer and I always looked forward to when they came down to Provo to hang out. I even tried bribing them to come down one time with promises of a nice Sunday dinner. I think they may have been disappointed to drive 1 1/2 hours for the infamous refried bean taco dinner. It was a fun summer hanging out, but he was dating a girl from Ogden and I ended up having a short little fling with one of his friends. Towards the end of summer they invited me to go with them for a day of wakeboarding on the lake. I remember thinking how cute he looked out on the boat, and he would flirt with me each time he came off the board by telling me that he was cold and we would end up snuggling a little bit under the towels. When it was time to head home, they stayed and hung out at my sister's apartment where I was staying for a couple of weeks before I moved into the dorms. We had been flirting the whole day and the inevitable happened when Jason busted out his famous pick up line "have you ever kissed a Chinaman before?" It was too cute and I couldn't resist. I thought we had kind of hit it off (he wanted to kiss me for heaven's sake!), but a week or so later he had told me that he would pick me up from work so that we could hang out. I was more than disappointed and a little ticked to see that instead he asked his friend to come and pick me up. I told him I wanted to talk to Jason, but he said that Jason had told him not to bring me over. I had gone from ticked to pissed and demanded that he took me to see him. He was at his sister's house and was just about to leave with his friends for a last quick Vegas trip before school started. I was mad..we talked...he told me he was getting more serious with the Ogden girl and then he headed off to Vegas. I pretty much wrote him off as a jerk at that point. I was surprised a couple of weeks later to get a phone call from him late one night. His car had broken down in Vegas and so he drove his brother's car back and asked me if I wanted to go with him for a drive. I really don't remember what we talked about but somehow we must have started to rekindle something because the next thing I remember we found ourselves making-out under a tree in Kiwanis park. He must have done some pretty smooth talking. Then to top off the whole evening he told me that he shouldn't have kissed me because he was getting more serious with the Ogden girl and that we probably shouldn't hang out anymore. He went straight back to jerk status, but I was surprised to find myself actually feeling more sad than mad. We had had such a fun summer hanging out getting to know each other and for some reason the "forbidden love" was tempting. School started and for the next month I was having a blast, but Jason was still somewhere in the back of my mind. On Labor Day his friend had called to see if I wanted to go to the lake with them again. Of course I wanted to, but I wasn't quite sure what to think when I found out that Jason was going to be there too. I was a little nervous, but once I saw him we both couldn't stay away from each other. We had the best time on the lake, then afterwards we went back to Provo and we took a walk through these paths behind the RB on campus. We had a long talk and he told me that he had broken up with his girlfriend. I can't remember everything that we talked about, but I'm sure he said something to me along the lines of, "you are the one for me, I missed you every second of every day since the last time I saw you a month ago. I should have never wasted my time with that lame chick from Ogden when you were the one for me....." Or something like that. We went with his friends to see the "Truman Show" that night, which we considered to be our first date. We were pretty much inseperable after that. We hung out every chance we had, I loved dating an "older man" with a car (it's a huge deal when you're a freshman and nobody has a car). He was a good sport to hang out at the dorms with me and even go with me to a few of the lame freshman dances like "buddy ball". We made several trips to Vegas which were always a blast. He taught me how to snowboard, which I learned to love. We went to Ogden to see his friend's band play at a club (we met up with some of the people they hung out with, including his old girlfriend. She totally got all dressed up and was flirting with Jason the whole night. It was kind of funny.) He wrote me songs and seranaded me on his guitar. We went to "Fall Flings" and "Spring Flings". We would stay up talking until 4:00 am. We went grocery shopping together. We went to eat at poor college favorites like Sounds EZ Pizza and the Grilled Pepper. He would wake up early every day to drive me to my job since I didn't have a car, which usually resulted in him missing his 8:00 class that he ended up failing. We spent many Friday nights at the Nicklecade and bowling at the Wilkenson center. I don't think that I had ever lived off such little sleep or laughed that much in all of my previous 18 years of life. The big "I love you" came unexpectedly. We were at Freshman friday (once again he was a good sport to go with me) and I just remember he was doing something really funny, I was standing on a little hill and I looked down at him and without thinking, I blurted it out. I was really emberassed because I don't think we had been dating for that long. He didn't say it back, which made me even more emberassed, but that night when we were back at his apartment he told me that he loved me too. I wasn't emberassed anymore. Later in the year (I don't remember exactly when) we were sitting out on a grassy hill on campus by the bell tower just talking. We had always joked about getting married, but this was the first time we talked about it really seriously. We ended up talking until around 3:00 in the morning and I couldn't go to sleep at all that night because I was so love struck. He ended up proposing to me on the last day of finals. He tried to surprise me with the ring, but was too excited to keep it a surprise and ended up showing it to me before he proposed. He took me to that same hill where we first started talking about marriage. He had surprised me with a set of scriptures that had my "new" name, Jamie Ann Young, engraved on them. Two months later we were married in the Mt. Timpanogas temple. Here we are 9 years later, still just as happy and even more in love. Happy anniversary, love you!

Rantings of a Hot (temp wise, not sexy wise), Cranky, Pregnant Woman (consider yourself warned)

Jason's been traveling ALOT and since I've already watched every episode of "A Baby Story" (and emberassingly enough cried every time the baby came out--despite how obnoxiously cheesy the parents are, I still can't help but get a little teary. I'm so lame.), there's nothing left to do but blog and wallow in my self pity as a temporary single mom.

I was so excited for summer to come, I had visions of blissful playdates, late night pajama parties and endless fun. What I hadn't planned for was the non-stop fighting, tattling, cabin fever, constant clutter and boredom. I used to take pride in the fact that my kids were the best of friends, I remember going days without as much as a disagreement between them. Now it seems like they go from bosom buddies to mortal enemies in 6.2 seconds and I'm at the end of my rope. It doesn't help that all my summer plans have to revolve around these ridiculous gas prices. Yeah, $85 a tank will do that to you. We are either sitting at home all day or else I plan to get every possible errand done in one day so that I don't have to go out again. I'm just asking for trouble. I do miss the days of having so much free time to do errands while the kids were in school. A quick Wal-Mart trip turns into an all day affair, especially when we have to make 3 potty breaks, one of which is when Jayden conducts his business. This is not a simple matter, no it involves atleast a 20 minute time block, clothes completely stripped off and an occasional verse of "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam" echoing through the bathroom stalls. It doesn't help that "my" cashier isn't working that day either and only the cranky old ladies are available. Yes, that is a sign that I spend WAY too much time at Wal-mart when I have my own cashier (and the fact that the word "Wal-mart" is mentioned in 50% of my posts). We're on a first name basis...he asks about my pregnancy, I ask about his girlfriend and pretend to act interested because it means that he price-matches my milk for $1.99 every time, even if it's not on sale. We've also become quite chummy with the bakery lady. She sneaks my kids 2 cookies each instead of one. Friday is her last day, she got promoted to cake decorating at another store, maybe I should send balloons....oh the exciting life of a stay-at-home mom. I really don't know where I'm going with all this, but it does feel kind of good to do some good old fashioned whining.

Why is it that everytime Jason is gone, all the creepy bugs come out. I've had to kill scorpions and black widows while he's been gone, but none of them compare to the monstrosity of the wolf spider the other night. I did use his shoe to do the dirty work, I thought it was only fair. I have never seen a spider so juicy and the thought of that green slime I had to clean up makes me vomit in my mouth all over again.

Somewhere intertwined with all the fighting, my kids do still make me laugh on occasion. Jayden believes that any hair that sprouts on his arm or leg is a definate sign that he is reaching manhood. He'll proudly admire the hair glistening in the light and check every day to see if he has grown any more. Today he was showing off his leg hairs to me, but as soon as I tried to feel it he immediately pulled his leg back and said, "Stop! You're going to rub it off and then I'll have to start all over again!" The fact that he is completely serious is what makes me laugh the most.

Now I'm feeling guilty for all my venting, we have had a fun summer for the most part and I really do love my kids. But speaking of guilt....yesterday was one of "those" days. Kylie's prayer at dinner time pretty much summed up her attitude towards me all day when she said "thankyou that Jesus loves the kids more than the parents". By the end of the day I was completely out of patience and energy and was counting down the minutes until bedtime. Kylie had a huge melt down after dinner and I'm sure it's because of all the late nights and lack of sleep, so I especially wanted her to get a good night sleep. I put them in bed at 7:30 and by 9:00 Kylie was still awake and had been calling me up there every 15 minutes for one thing or another. The last time I completely lost it, I stormed up the stairs, threw open her door and demanded to know why she was still awake. Apparently she was still awake because she had been working on this:

Worst mother of the year award goes to Moi.

Me In All My 22 Week Glory

We're going for the beached whale look in this month's glamorous belly shot :) The pregnancy is going good...Jason started being able to feel the baby move around 20 weeks, but the little guy always gets shy whenever the kids try to feel it (it could be due to the fact that they are suffocating him as they put their entire body weight on my belly in an effort to try and find him). The biggest problem at this point is just trying to pin down a name. Boy's names are hard! I hear a name I really like and then it makes me cringe the next day. Here are the top 3 (in no particular order) and I need your votes!

1) Damon
2) Micah
3) Brycen
We'll add in #4 as "Landon" for good measure...

101 Reasons


101 reasons why when it comes to dads, we think you're as good as they get...

1.plays hide and go seek 2.takes us to Home Depot 3.reads us 3 stories at night 4."Bouganie" 5.lets us play games on his phone at church 6.makes us Mickey Mouse and smiley face pancakes 7.shoulder rides 8.hiking trips 9.lets us get his newspaper in the morning 10.plays Barbies 11.lets Jayden build stuff with his tools 12.goes down the grass hills on the bike when mom is too scared 13.throws us really high in the pool 14.does the best cannon balls 15.plays baseball with us 16.lets us ride in his car and race mom 17.knows how to "burn rubber" 18.always brings us back a surprise when he goes on trips 19.he loves mommy 19.makes the lawn look nice 20.calls us when he's at work 21.brings us a treat home from work 22.does funny dances 23.tim tam parties 24.daddy dates 25.good swim teacher 26.sings Hannah Montana songs 27.makes the best steak 28.likes to eat steak and wings with Kylie and shares his A-1 sauce 28.dolphin rides 29.plays trains 30.takes us for the fastest rides on his bike 31.good hoola-hooper 32.makes us laugh 33.builds forts and has sleepovers with us in them 34.lets us sneak ice-cream 35.lets us stay up late when mom's not home 36.takes us to the park 37.teaches us how to do the Chinese yo-yo 38.takes us on vacations 39.lets us help him mow the lawn 40.hugs us when we're crying 41.takes us to Chick-fil-a 42.lets Kylie go to work with him when they say it's okay 43.knows how to do the special button on Kylie's pj's so that it doesn't come undone 44.does "star wars" with Jayden 45.says "I love you" lots 46.gives zurberts 47.plays fun games at Family Home Evening 48.lets us snuggle with him in his bed in the morning 49.he is really tan 50.does "crazy eyes" 51.buys us good birthday presents 52.lets us sit on his lap and drive the car in the neighborhood 53.does crazy driving 54.lets us play his guitar 55.knows how to build lots of things and fix lots of things 56.he's really strong 57.gives us blessings when we're sick 58.dresses nice 59.good at snowboarding and wakeboarding 60.said that he's going to teach us how to snowboard and wakeboard 61.pushes us high on the swings 62.movie parties 63.lets us pick out treats at the store when we're good 64.taught us how to make tooting noises with our legs and armpits 65.kills scorpions and spiders 66.works hard so we can have money 67.lays in bed and reads Junie B. Jones to Kylie 68.wears matching hats with Jayden 69.taught Jayden to stand up when he goes potty 70.really good at skipping rocks and tried teaching us 71.takes us fishing 72.lets us ride in the back of the trailer in the neighborhood 73.gives us rides in the wheelbarrow 74.comes to stuff at school like donuts with dad and graduations 75.used to throw us high in the air when we were little 76.tell us that we look cute and that you like Kylie's hair when it's curled 77.you protect us and keep us safe 78.taught Kylie how to ride a bike without training wheels 79.doesn't really know the phonograms, but still tries to help Kylie learn them 80.bought Jayden a cool hat 81.lets us jump on the bed at the knight's castle (sometimes) 82.lets us watch BYU football with him 83.takes the pepperoni off our pizza for us 84.shares his food and treats with us 85.always shares his gum and lets us help pick out the gum 86.knows how to get the airbubbles out of our special drinks when they don't work 87.takes us out to eat Chinese food 88.gives us all his fortune cookies 89.does monkey faces 90.pushes us the fastest in the strollers and shopping carts and always beats mom 91.backyard campouts 92.always brings the futon mattress into the family room to watch movies on 93.carries us up the stairs on his back 94.laughs when we tell jokes or do funny things 95.plays games like "Guess Who" with us and always lets us go first 96.shares his chapstick 97.cleans out all the cat poop from the sand box 98.taught us how to use chopsticks 99.always plays with us when we ask, even if he's busy 100.taught us how to burn ants with a magnifying glass 101.loves us more than anything in the world!

Happy Father's day, we love you!

love,
Kylie and Jayden

Vacation On a Whim




Ooooohhh, I love summer vacations, especially the spontaneous ones. Jason has been traveling alot and this past week he had training in LA. When they go for training they have to room with another co-worker but on Tuesday he called me around noon and told me that his roommate was going home because his daughter was sick. That empty hotel bed was calling our name and so I dropped everything and we headed off into the sunset. Normally when we go on vacation it takes me a day or two to pack and clean, but I managed to shower, get all of us dressed ready, packed and on the road in 1 1/2 hours. I was in the middle of my cleaning day and left the house a wreck, it was so not like me. I won't lie, dreadful thoughts filled my head on the trip home of the house that needed to be cleaned, the laundry that needed to be washed, the YW lesson that needed to be planned and the Wal-mart that needed to be shopped. But it was so worth it. The kids traveled great, Jayden slept and Kylie rocked out to her Ipod (I love listening to her singing along). We even had an occasional rousing game of "who can say 'Edwig' first", compliments of Jayden. Jason rode a train to San Bernardino where we met up for dinner then went back to the hotel. It was one of those fancy-shmancy-valet-parking-mini-bar type hotels right smack dab in downtown LA, it was totally fun living the high life for a week. The next day the kids and I found plenty of things to keep us busy within walking distance. Museums, fountains and even a nice grassy spot at the park to eat a picnic lunch amongst the sleeping homeless people. After Jason's meetings we went to the City Walk at Universal Studios for dinner and a nice little stroll to see the shops and street performers. I think the cotton candy was the highlight of the evening. I forget that everywhere else it gets cold once the sun goes down and I was so not prepared. I thought I was being cautious to atleast pack one long sleeve shirt and jeans for everyone. We ended up wearing the same clothes every evening because it was so cold at night. By the end of the week you could tell what food we had eaten each night for dinner just by looking at the stains on the kids' clothes. The next day was our big adventure. Instead of dealing with traffic and parking we decided to try our hand with public transportation. Heck, at 25 cents a ride it made me wish that Gilbert had it's own bus line! The kids and I trecked through town to the bus stop and rode it down to the California Science Center. It was definately an adventure and the pregnant tourist lady with the 2 kids definately stood out like a sore thumb. In Gilbert we totally blend in, but I forget that outside of AZ and Utah most 27 year olds are climbing the corporate ladder and not the ladder at the playground to chase their 2 kids. I always get so many comments and I feel like I should wear a sign that says, "Yes, they are mine. Yes, I am young. Yes I am pregnant with the 3rd. Yes they are half Asian. Yes, I think they're pretty cute too." Eventually we made it, the kids loved the bus ride and had just as much fun at the science center. I decided to take them to the IMAX theater to see this movie about pre-historic sea creatures. I was a little nervous that they would get scared, but they loved it (although Kylie spent half the movie with the 3-D glasses off and Jayden spent half the movie trying to catch the fish as they jumped off the screen). That night we went to dinner by the Santa Monica pier and enjoyed walking around and doing some shopping. I bought Little Junior's first outfit and I love picturing him wearing it, it makes it seem more real. The next day Jason finished around noon so we headed to the beach. Once again, I was not prepared in the weather department. Who would have thought that it would be freezing at the beach in June? The cold weather didn't stop the kids from getting in the water and they had a blast. It was also cool walking on the rocks and finding all the crabs hiding in the cracks. After braving it for an hour or so we headed to Loma Linda where we spent the night with some friends. It was relaxing to get away from the crowds and noise of the city and enjoy a nice evening of eating pizza in the backyard while the kids played and then frozen yogurt at a cute little shop. We went out for breakfast the next morning before saying our good-byes to a fun family vacation. It was the perfect little getaway and I can't wait to head out for another trip to Vegas and Utah in another week!

Who Doesn't Love Good Old Black and White Beach Pics?

Hoola Oh-la-la


I'm kicking myself for not bringing my camera to our neighbor's b-day party. For her 10th b-day they rented out a room, decked it out in disco, hired a DJ and the kids had a hay day (yeah, good thing we're not worried about keeping up with the Jones' here-yikes!). I always knew that Jayden had some groovy moves, but man can that boy get down! He was going crazy on the dance floor and had everyone laughing. They had a dance off competition and he came in first place. His prize was one of those fish that swim in the water. He affectionately named it Zachary and he became his dance partner for the rest of the night. We also discovered Kylie's hidden talent with the hoola hoop. They had a hoola hoop contest and Kylie was so excited when she won. She hoola hooped the night away and the next morning she told me that her stomach hurt. I was so worried that she was getting sick, but we figured out that it wasn't that kind of hurt, she just had sore muscles from the major ab work out she got from the hula hoops! (Kylie cracks me up, she insists on wearing this "party dress" to every b-day party she goes to :)

Something Clicked

By the end of preschool Kylie was able to read simple words and books and so I thought for sure by the end of Kindergarten she would be reading really well. She has improved a lot but she just never really had the desire to read. She was always good about practicing her reading group book through out the week, but she never wanted to even try reading anything else. She would get emberassed and frustrated if she didn't know a word and would just give up. I didn't want to push it because I wanted her to learn to enjoy reading and not dread it, but I always wondered if and when something would click. Something did click and it seems like it happened overnight. On Saturday we were out and she started reading all the street signs and store names and got so excited with each new word that she could read. When we got home she asked if she could read books while she fell asleep, she picked out a stash of books and a little flashlight, then for like an hour I could hear her up there reading each word and doing such a great job sounding out the words that she didn't know. It was music to my ears. Normally she wouldn't attempt a book that she hadn't heard before, but for the first time she read the book "Biscuit Goes to School" all by herself. I couldn't help but stand outside her door and eavesdrop with a huge smile on my face. She's done the same thing every night and I hope her excitement and love of reading doesn't die out!

PS-the Spalding phonogram program at her school is great and all, but there is one thing that makes me laugh. They teach them that "si" says "sh" (like in 'session'), so it always catches me off guard when she is reading the word "sit" and it comes out as "shi..."