Silly Goose Update

On Sunday before Christmas, we took a little family picture. My skin neck fat is not cute, but it was the best one of Jasona and Clara. I also tried to get the "perfect" picture of Clara in her "Christmas dress" (aka a hand-me-down from Rachel. It's actually the dress Emma wore at our wedding, but I'm glad I had one for her to wear). Instead I captured plenty of Clara's personality. When the lights on the tree are on, Clara can't resist crawling behind the tree to the extra lights that are in a little pile on the floor. She moves super fast and than once she's behind the tree, she turns around to smile at me.
Clara is very showy. She will do things then look around to smile at anyone around her. In church, she just will sit and smile at people, waiting for them to acnkowledge her. She gets so proud of herself when she reaches up and makes noise on the piano.

She often sticks her lips out and sometimes it's accompanied by scrunching her nose and breathing in and out very quickly.
Clara has always loved lights. Anything shiny or that has lights will surely captivate her.
And of course she's quite a silly goose. She really has a hilarious little personality and keeps us laughing. Lately she's become obsessed with books that have a spiral or comb binding. She'll sit forever and turn the pages and once there are no more pages to turn, she turns it around and starts all over. Also, today in church she would start to crawl away and if I grabbed her leg, she'd crawl backwards and go into sitting position. Her goofy little smile makes me laugh harder because of her teeth. I still am getting several comments that Clara is busy. I don't blame them, she never stops moving, but it keeps me entertained. She loves my hair and while I am feeding her she'll pull my hair in front of my face. She giggles so hard when we tickle her LOVES her blankets and pillows. She lays on them, loves them and buries her face into them.

She crawls the normal way 95% of the time, but still slithers sometimes. She doesn't seem to have any desire to stand without hanging on to anything, let alone walk. This morning I tried to get her to walk while holding just one hand and she wouldn't move the foot on the side of the hand I was holding, she just moved the opposite foot so she ended up pivoting in a cirlcle. It was awesome. She dances to music and rocks by herself on her horse. She gets very frustrated when I don't know what she wants (or she doesn't get what she wants) and I try not to laugh at some of her expressions when it happens. She squeals, grunts and sometimes will make two fists and stiffen her body so much she shakes (that's the funniest one). She can sign "more" and "finished" in sign language, but they look very similar. She loves to read and often has such a determined expression on her face. She says daddy, ohhhh and ah-oh. She loves dogs and can finally clap. She doesn't do it unless we do it, but she can. The day she decided to clap was the day she decided to finally start signing "more". Something must have clicked with her coordination. She loves to kiss and will even pucker sometimes. Sometimes I think of how long a year is and I wonder if I did enough. I wonder if I took every opportunity to teach her and enrich her life. So here's the Silly Goose herself in all her silliness.

Totally different subject: Amy introduced me to Tostitos flour tortilla chips and my goodness, they are so good. They are on sale at Fry's right now so I bought some for the first time and it's a good thing I don't have any cheese dip to eat them with, otherwise the whole bag of chips and the whole bottle of cheese would be gone. YUM! Maybe I'll go buy some tomorrow. :)

Parties, lunch & 8:15pm

Thursday night we went to a wedding reception for a couple in our ward. It was a small affair, but we enjoyed ourselves and the wondeful food. I was telling the bride that now that I've experienced certain things in life, I get so excited for others that have the same opportunity (marriage, having a baby, etc.) It also reminds me of my wedding day and how blissful it is to be a newlywed... and actually how blissful marriage can be (at times, ha ha) no matter how long you've been married. After that, we went to our very first Ugly Sweater Party. After attempting to find the best looking ulgy sweaters at Goodwill, I left empty handed after realizing the sweaters were almost as much as I pay for my "nice, non-ugly" sweaters. My mom watched Clara while we went to the reception so she loaned me a sweater and my dad loaned Jason one. I don't even know if someone got a picture of Jason in his because the party-pooper wouldn't wear it very long. We had fun at the party visiting with high school friends. Maybe someday we'll have everyone together, someday when everyone realizes Arizona is the happiest place on earth so they should move back. Thanks to Lindsay, Clara had her first Jello experience and LOVED it.I'm pretty sure Tyler won for the sweater competition. What was better when he walked in, with the sweater, leash in hand (dog on lease, of course) with his very nicely dressed brother... Hmmm, if I didn't know any better I really would've had some speculations. Lucky for him, Lisa showed up not too long after. And lucky for the rest of us Emily took charge and orchestrated a fun get together.

Today after I got some of my work done, I went and met my cousin Lisa and her little boy Travis for lunch at Wendy's. She's my only girl cousin on my dad's side and only one of three total cousins on his side. She's more my sister's age, but it doesn't stop us from having a good time. She brought Clara a birthday gift (some DARLING pj's, a sweet little outfit and wooden alphabet blocks... once again I wonder, why can't I ever seem to give the perfect gift?) and we just ate and talked, pretty much my two favorite things to do! Her little boy is at that age where he is so curious and asks every question imaginable and always has an answer for questions directed at him. I just love observing kids at that stage. You can just see the wheels turning in their heads. Hopefully it's not eight months until we see them again like the last stretch was!

So tonight, at 8:15pm... well, that's when Jason went to sleep. No jokes there. Seriously, you'd think he doesn't sleep at night. He went to bed kind of late last night, but not late enough to warrant going to bed at 8:15pm on a Friday night! How boring is that? He goes to bed a good hour or two before me most nights and I'm pretty sure I don't sleep in an hour or two more than he does, yet he ALWAYS seems to be tired. In his mind, it's because I stay home and sit around all day while he goes and works hard. That's funny, because I don't remember sitting around once today... even if I wasn't working as much as I do, I still wouldn't have time to sit around. Oh well, until he babysits for a full day or two, I don't think he'll understand. After he went to sleep I was going to read one of my new books, but I got a little carried away reading about different tax forms on the IRS' website. Who knew I could get wrapped up reading tax stuff like I can blogs... I want to take more tax classes. That's something that goes bye bye quickly if you don't stay up on it. Plus, there are always so many new laws and regulations, unless you are in that specific line of work, there's no way to keep up with the changes. Friday night at 8:15pm... husband asleep and wife reading various documents from the IRS. Anyone want to hang out with us next weekend?

Yippety Skippety!

On Saturday during the birthday party, Jason's friends from school started calling him to tell them they'd passed the "EIT"... which meant Jason's results were at home in our mail box. He anxiously waited until the evening when we headed home but opened it when he got back into the car after getting our mail out of the box. I think I was more nervous than him to see the results...Wahooooo!! I was so excited. This last semester has probably been the worst for me. Other semesters were worse for Jason because of the stress of his grades, but this one kept him away from Clara and me more than any other. He was working pretty much full time (always at least 30 hours a week, usually closer to 40), had four classes (two of them had labs) and was studying for the EIT. He was gone ALL the time and at times, went a few days without seeing Clara and even some without seeing me. I was glad when the semester was over and now I'm glad to know he passed so he won't have to be studying for the next EIT exam in April during next semester.

For those of you that don't know but might care, the "EIT" is actually now the "FE". EIT= Engineer in Training FE= Fundamentals of Engineering. After becoming an EIT (passing the FE exam and having a degree OR having the required four years of relative work experience), you have to work for four more years and pass the PE (Professional Engineer) exam to become a PE, which entails getting your engineering stamp. Jason has enough experience so once he gets his application approved, he will be an EIT, while his friends at school will have to wait until they graduate to be eligible. I'm so proud of Jason's accomplishment and hope I can be a little more supportive during the next phase in his career. :) He has certainly risen above his surroundings and I'm sure he'll continue to do so!

Christmas Time

We had a lovely little Christmas. On Sunday our program at Church was mostly music, which I think is the best. Sunday night we drove around and looked at some lights. I spent Christmas Eve day shopping with Angela, wrapping presents and getting excited for Christmas Day. That night Jason and I read about the birth of our Savior and sang some songs. Clara wasn't really interested. Mostly she just wanted to smash my glass nativity pieces together. I missed going to my parent's and hearing the story of Wally. There was no reason we couldn't go, just a miscommunication. Hopefully next year I'll get to hear it. Jason and I cleaned and then watched a few Christams movies and then went to bed.

I woke up at 730am without my alarm because that's when Clara normally wakes up. She wasn't up so I decided to try to shower real fast so I'd be ready to go to my mom's when she did wake up. She still wasn't awake when I got done getting ready so Jason and I opened a few of our gifts. Finally, at 835am, we decided to just wake her up. I guess we could've just done our gifts later, but I just thought of that. Anyway, we had fun with our little family and then went to my mom's. I took more pictures than this but just realized they are on Jason's computer and I'm way too lazy to go get them right now. Clara almost was excited to open presents.We ate breakfast and then hung out there the rest of the day! On the way home, we stopped by Ryan and Kathryn's to say hi (their girls were sick so they didn't come over). Okay, Clara isn't looking at the camera, BUT, the important thing to note is her little pigtail. :) It was her first day of pigtails and my goodness it was cute. It didn't last long, but I enjoyed it nonetheless! And the little leggings from Auntie Angela are just too cute. Oh my gosh, I love having a girl!!I have thought a lot about why I like Christmas so much, even when I can't give the gifts I'd like to. Obviously, I enjoy it because I love to think of the birth of Christ. I love the spirit I feel when I think about what a significant and glorious birth that was. I love the cold weather, I love the feeling int he air and I love time off from work. I didn't work on Christmas but even better, I didn't feel guilty for not working like I normally do on days I "take off". I just love how life seems to slow for a few days and we get to spend lots of time with family and relax and just enjoy life. As the day came to a close, I did get a little sad thinking I would have to wait another year for Christmas, but I am also looking forward to the New Year. Each New Year is like a new beginning bringing the opportunity to start fresh and to set goals to be a better person.

Celebration

On Saturday, Angela's birthday, we celebrated her and Clara's birthdays. We had our little party at my mom's and got an 8-foot sub for lunch. Man, that thing was BIG! I spent way too long decorating my cupcakes but enjoyed every second of it. Perhaps that is really what my calling in life is. I was proud of them and even more proud when Angela noticed the little designs are to match the "flowers" that Angela put on the invitations.
We ate inside but migrated out front for the cake. I found this lady that bakes cakes in cans (see her book here) and using that idea, decided to make Clara and Angela mini cakes. I think they turned out totally adorable and look forward to the next excuse to make one. Clara's was more than once referred to as the leaning tower of Pisa, but it survived, even after she picked at it for several minutes. After we sang, I enjoyed watching Angela pick at her cake in front of everyone right along side Clara. Clara was hilarious. She began by, oh so inncocently, pinching little bits of frosting off and eating it. She really liked the frosting.
She picked and picked and from the spectator's point of view, she hadn't done much, but from her view, you can see she was getting plenty to eat.We turned the cake so she had a fresh slate of frosting to pick at and that's when the real fun began. She stopped being ladylike and started grabbing fistfuls of frosting AND cake. She LOVED it and was having a great time. When she had a mouthful, she still enjoyed the feeling of squishing cake and frosting through her little fingers.She was more than happy to share with anyone that wanted a taste.Lucy was a very loyal cousin and stayed by her side for quite some time making sure Clara was getting enough to eat and that what she was eating, did, in fact, taste okay.

Once there were no obviously large chunks of cake left on the plate, Clara tipped the plate and shook it. And then, she began licking and chewing on the plate. I guess I shouldn't lick my plate clean in front of her anymore... I didn't realize she'd copy me. Seriously, I've never done this and neither has Jason. It's interesting to see things that they figure out on their own, just using their common sense.
Now this is a very satsified little baby. I'm sure she can hardly wait until her birthday next year. Little does she know her cake and frosting intake will be moderated for birthday #2!
I totally forgot to bring an extra change of clothes, so Clara opened presents in her diaper. She got some fun toys and cute clothes. She was good and had a really fun day. Thanks to everyone that came and helped us celebrate her and Angela's birthdays. Thanks to my mom for letting us use her home... AGAIN (someday we'll have either a bigger home or a landscaped backyard to accomodate larger crowds) and for all the fun stuff she got. Clara is so blessed to be so loved and I'm so blessed to be her mom!

Happy Birthday ARM!!

And when I say that, I'm not referring to one of my upper appendages, rather my dear Angela Ruth. Yeah, she doesn't have word-forming initials any longer, but that's how I know her. Today Angela is 23 and I hope she had a Happy Happy Birthday! Her and Clara celebrated, so we'll have more on that later. For now, I'm going to do my last birthday list (maybe... it's getting too time-consuming). Angela says she looks up to me, but everyone knows the dorky sister (me) always looks up to the cool sister (Angela), no matter who's older. Here are 23 things Angela does better than me/is better at than me: 1. decorating 2. accessorizing 3. being a good friend 4. designing 5. creative thinking 6. working out 7. buying gifts 8. writing 9. reading 10. memorizing 11. learning and understanding the Gospel 12. closing her eyes in pictures 13. buying cute shoes 14. creating her own style 15. taking pictures 16. getting arrested 17. grades 18. accepting different people 19. being attractive 20. playing the piano 21. eating healthy 22. appreciating helvetica and 23. dressing. Anyone that knows Angela knows she's an amazing and brilliant little girl and I happen to be very proud that I'm her sister. But who wouldn't be? I love you Angela and can't wait until we live next door again. Ha ha. :)

Okay, I went through some old pictures and died laughing when I found two with Angela's eyes shut... Ang, that's not a new thing, sorry. Also, I found so many of me loving Angela. I LOVED and still LOVE my sweet little sister. Finally, you might all dispute number 23 above after looking at this picture. Are you serious!?!?! We really dressed in those clothes? I don't think that was EVER in style!

Little Birthday Goose

One year ago today Clara joined our little family. I still remember the day perfectly and how exciting it was to experience child birth. I couldn't imagine having a little baby of my own to love and hold whenever I wanted. It's one of those things that you have to experience to really know what it's like, you just can't imagine (for me, anyway). I remember having her, them giving her to me after she was cleaned up and thinking, hmmm, I must be one of those moms that it will take a little while to develop that bond. Sure enough, my love for her grew exponentially over the next few days and I began to understand the love of a mother.


Looking back over the last year I think how different my life is now and I sometimes think how I felt happy, but now looking back, my happiness pales in comparison to what it is now. I guess my wise sister Rachel was right when she told me having kids is like paying tithing, you don't realize the blessings of it in your life until you do it. There have been many times when I have experienced a high from the joy that Clara has been in our home. Special moments where she smiles at me or giggles and I am filled with this euphoric feeling that is literally a natural high. The burning in my chest is nothing less than my heart swelling with love that I have this marvelous opportunity of raising such a precious little spirit.

From day one, well, actually from the first time I felt her move in my tummy, Clara really hasn't stopped moving except when she sleeps. She is quite active and as she gets older, her adorable little personality becomes more and more obvious. Clara has a very strong, independent personality but is also very loving and sensitive. She certainly enjoys attention and to entertain anyone and everyone. She is a very happy baby and is rarely grumpy unless she is hungry, tired or sick. She loves to scrunch her nose when she smiles.


I often worry about whether or not I will be able to teach her everything she needs to know and if I can somehow help her gain a strong enough testimony so that she will stay on the straight and narrow. I often think to myself that if kids knew how much their parents loved them, they would never do anything wrong. Unfortunately, you can't understand that love until you;re a parent. I can't help but think that our Heavenly Father must have similar thoughts... "If only they knew how much I love them!" That must be why love is so influential and can be so effective in inspiring others to do good. Hopefully Clara always knows how much Jason and I love her and want her to be happy. We want the best for her and the way we raise her will be based on that.

Clara loves to "talk", play with mom and dad, explore new things, play with her toys, tickle me and then laugh about it, be a goofball, go outside and chew on things. Everyday is happier because of Clara and I am so glad I've had her sweet little spirit to keep me sane this last year. I love this little girl more than words can tell and it seems sometimes more than my little heart can handle.

Don't Judge

Parents of sockless and/or shoeless kids really shouldn't be judged... I got Clara ready, instantly picked up the camera to try to get a few smiley pictures since she was extremely happy and this is what unfolded in less than a minute. Why do I bother?

Food

It seems pretty much everything that's been going on in my life lately relates to food, which isn't a bad thing. But first I have to clarify that on my last post where I shared Jason and my conversation about my hair, he corrected me. At the end, he also said he liked my hair because he really just likes my face. Oh how sweet... On Tuesday I met some of my old co-workers for lunch at Cheesecake Factory. We had a good time joking around with each other and catching up. I wish I wasn't so far from the office so I could go visit more often. Afterwards, Clara and I walked around the Biltmore for a little bit. I love shopping, even if I don't buy anything. Tuesday night I was up late again. You see, I got another one of my great ideas. I wanted to do something for my co-workers at KS and MBP for Christmas, so I decided to make sugar cookies. They looked beautiful when they were done, but it was almost 2 in the morning and I still had work I absolutely had to do. So yeah, it turned out to be not such a bright idea. I didn't get a picture, which means I was really tired. I worked until about 330am and went to bed wondering why I do that so frequently.

Wednesday morning I had a meeting at KS for their retirement plan and it went great. I love productive meetings! After that I delivered all my goodies. Is this gross? For lunch Wednesday, we had cheese crisps. I love it when some of the cheese escapes the confines of the tortilla and gets fried. I think when I was little my mom would fry cheese, so I decided to make some fried cheese. It's kind of a gross thought, but if you think about it, all of the greese seperates so it's probably less fattening than eating straight cheese. Please tell me someone else does this!

Wednesday evening was KS' Christmas party at The Cheesecake Factory. Nylene watched Clara and we had a great time. I figure there's no need to have a family reunion when more families show up at the KS party than the actual reunions! HA! Jason got this HUGE burrito and Angela was completely fascinated by her mini magical lamp (too bad this one had salad dressing and not a genie in it). There was something funny going on with my food, but I was surrounded by good company. I'm not exactly sure what Jason's goal was in this picture, but if it was to look like a creepy crazy man, I'd say he accomplished it. After dinner, we had a little gift game and Jason and I scored! Jason got an ipod nano (which, I might add, he's pretty much been playing with ever since... even if we had money to buy him something nice for Christmas I don't think he would have liked it near as much as that thing!) and I got a giftcard to Kohl's. Oh goody, now I can buy Clara some clothes and not stress out about it. It is "funny" to me how little things like that always happen at just the right time.

Today I had a BOD meeting to go to in Phoenix. I took Clara and ended up just walking in, saying hi (while the administrative assistant held Clara) asking if anyone had anything for me, and leaving. But, they had invited me to stay for their Annual Steak Fry, so I stayed around to eat and mingle. Jake Flake was there and he kindly held Clara for me while I got my food. He's such a funny guy. I had a good time overall. It was, however, a relief to have it over because it was my last meeting of the week. I've had a lot of meetings this week and I'm not used to it so I'm trying to figure out how to keep things in order when I'm running around like crazy.

Okay, I have all these random comments in my head that have been making me laugh:
My neighbor's four year old son as his mom was changing his little sister's blow out: "Neighbor! Hurry come look, Kimberly exploded!"
Court at the party referring to his mom: "...Grandma Santa Clause" (I tactfully asked if that was the same as Misses Clause)
Jason, after saying bye, but just before he hung up the phone with Clint: "Enjoy your chocolates." (Clint got chocolate nuts at the party). This one, you probably had to hear it to enjoy, but I'm still laughing thinking about it. Jason said it so seriously and with no sarcassam in his voice and it was so quick Clint barely snuck in a laugh before the phone hung up.

Trains, Work & Men vs. Women

Having a husband is fun stuff! Lately when Clara and I go do something, Jason comes... what a new and enjoyable concept for us. Last Saturday we just kind of hung out. My mom bought me a desk at Goodwill for my "office" (aka the Guest Room that I'm no longer allowed to call the "front room"). It's old and not the most beautiful thing, but it fits PERFECTLY in the tiny little nook that was previously just wasted space. In the evening, we went to Wal Mart and then to Chili's. Jason got a little bonus and I told him he could eat wherever he wanted for working so hard for our family and I wouldn't complain about spending the money. We were right by Chili's and he loves anything that sells meat, so that was his choice based on convenience. The last several times I've eaten there, my food was pretty blah. The conclusion I came to after having the same experience is that it's not what I order, but the whole restaurant.

Sunday Clara and I stayed home from Church per Jason's request. Clara has been sick so not only did he not think it was a good idea to expose her to other kids, but he wanted her to try to get some rest. She did get a great rest, but I missed Church. I look forward to being uplifted, socializing and being reminded of the covenants I have made and the renewed energy knowing I can start the upcoming week fresh and work on being a better person.

We went to my mom's for dinner and afterwards went to see a train display. There were several homes that had these trains on display, but we just went to the one in my parent's neighborhood. Wow! I'm not sure that's what I would do with my disposable income if I had that much, but I can see how one can start something like that and become totally obsessed. It was really neat. It was like a little mini city. I especially loved the tiny little REAL plants all around. I didn't have my camera, but we took some (several, ha) with Kathryn's camera, but they are being held ransome until I give her pictures from the last four years... Don't worry Kathryn, that's fair, I don't blame you. :)

Monday was another action-packed day. I have so much going on this week and luckily, it's work and play all mixed together. In the morning I had to go meet with the Treasurer for my new client. I was so grateful my neighbor was willing to babysit; it made it so much easier than having to take Clara to someone's in the car. It was weird being in my "old" work clothes and carrying my baby in them. The two worlds never really existed at the same time, so it was weird. I was gone for just over an hour and glad I don't have to do that more than I do. The old life I dabble in... (makes me sound like some kind of addict) And the new life I LOVE to death...The rest of the day Clara and I played, delievered a few Christmas goodies and went and got my hair cut. Last time I got my hair cut, it wasn't as short as I had mentally prepared myself for. This time, it was much shorter! I was thinking the last time it was this short and the conclusion was NEVER! I actually love it, but didn't think Jason would. This is not the best picture, but the other one's I took make me look like a googly-eyed big nose freak, so this will have to do.We went to my mom's to meet Jason and seconds after my mom saw me she complimented my new hair. Niether James, Daniel nor my dad said a thing. I told my mom Jason wouldn't like it, but at least he'd notice because last time I cut off like 5 inches and he didn't even notice. So, Jason met me at my mom's and we went to meet lots of family and friends at the Train Park in Scottsdale. Well, we drove all the way there, still nothing. We got out, walked to the park, found our group and Suzanne said, "Your hair! I love it." At that point Jason didn't have an option but to notice. Just a reminder of men vs. women and confirmation that my husband is 100% man for not noticing I had chopped 9 inches or so of my hair off! Jason told me it made me look like a little kid and I was full of energy and a bit hyper and he asked if it's cause I looked like a kid. I told him to honestly tell me if he liked it and here's what our conversation was like:

J: Why'd you do that?
A: It's cute, isn't it?
J: Yeah
A: Seriously, don't you like it?
J: Sure
A: Tell me the truth, I won't care if you don't
J: No, I like it... It will grow.

We rode the train and the carousel and had a great time. I had never been to that park and highly recommend it, especially the train ride through the many Christmas lights. We waited probably almost an hour for the train and that was after we cut Cindy who'd been there forever. The way I saw it, it was a good time to visit and take pictures. Clara was super giggly and full of smiles. She loves having Jason around.
The park is free to get in and the train is $2/person and kids under 3 are free with a paying adult (it's just a little train, not the one below). Jason said it was the Desert Polar Express. Ha ha. It was weird because I felt like we needed to hurry because we were wasting Jason's time... Kind of like after I quit every time I hung out with someone I felt like I was wasting precious time. Oooo la la, I can't wait until he never has to go back to school! :)