BIG NEWS!

It's official! My baby sister, Tammy, is getting married. She is engaged to Adrian Tinajero. We are very excited for them.

Kendi's Birthday

Check this out!!

Look in Deseret Book's Mother's Day Catalog. Page 59. They featured one of Jared's images.

Me Too, Me Too

I really enjoyed reading other people's "60 random things," and I didn't think that I wanted to do it, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. So, for the sake of my brain being over-occupied, I'm just going to get it over with.

1. I have never lived outside of Cedar.


2. I've been to Lake Powell hundreds of times.


3. I don't swim well without a life jacket.


4. I have four sisters and no brothers.


5. I like spicey food if its made with jalapenos, not red chilis.


6. I like day old popcorn.


7. I have never had my ears pierced.


8. I have never had my hair colored.


9. I love to have my toenails painted.


10. I have never had my fingernails painted.


11. I like to buy shoes.


12. I don't like to wear shoes.


13. I want to have vision correction surgery.


14. I am a hunter, but not for sport.


15. I believe that animals should be respected and used for the purposes God intended.


16. I had a difficult pregnancy with Kendi.


17. I drove a 1981 Chevy Luv in high school.


18. I almost cried when my dad sold the Luv for $100.


19. Jared was my first real boyfriend.


20. I wish that I was more athletic.


21. I have vertigo.


22. I have really bad blood circulation.


23. I've been stranded while snowmobiling in a wicked snow storm over night.


24. I ran x-country in high school.


25. I met Jared in art class.


26. I grew up working construction with my dad.


27. I often don't wear make-up.


28. I used to be considered very well dressed.


29. I've been in the emergency room more than all my sisters combined.


30. I was almost trampled by a herd of elk while camping under the stars.


31. I didn't even wake up when the elk ran past.


32. I hallucinate when I get sick.


33. I don't like sugar that much.


34. Sour Cream is my weakness.


35. I can't get back to sleep at night if a am woken up.


36. I think I'm claustrophobic.


37. It is physically difficult for me to talk loud.


38. Venison Steak is my best meal.


39. I hate to listen to gossip.


40. Awkward silence doesn't bother me.


41. I don't have time to be doing this.


42. I wish there wasn't such a need to be fed.


43. I realize the metaphor of spiritual and physical feasting.


44. I hate answering the phone.


45. I prefer to work by myself.


46. I can't imagine living without Kendi.


47. I don't know how many kids I want to have.


48. I always take Jared shopping with me.


49. I enjoy silly romance novels.


50. I hated the Twilight series, but I didn't put them down till I was done.


51. I don't care to have a large house, but I would like lots of land.


52. I was allergic to water when I was seven.


53. Every car I've ever had was a hand-me-down.


54. I am a small town person as long as I'm close to a big city.


55. I worry about what other people think of me way to much.


56. I believe that there is only one culture - God's.


57. I don't blame people for the way they were raised.


58. I love to be silly with Kendi.


59. I was voted most shy in high school.


60. I regret not finishing school when I got married.
61. I had way too much fun in high school.
62. Jared and I couldn't be any more different.
63. I watch every episode of American Idol.
64. I like taking a really messy room and making it sparkle.
65. Cooking didn't come naturally to me.
66. When I want something really nice a try to recreate it myself.
67. I'd rather be in the mountains than at the beach.
68. I don't like hot tubs.
69. I love and hate owning a business.
70. My best subjects in school were ones I didn't really like.
71. I like to be challenged.
72. I'm up for any adventure.
73. I think this is enough about me.

A Pleasant Weekend

Who knew that having a yard sale could be so much fun? Of coarse it helps if you make a lot of money. And I didn't have any high hopes about it either. So we were very surprised that we did so well. Our neighborhood was having a community yard sale and I had a couple of furniture things that I wanted to get rid of. I went and got a bunch of old art prints and frames that have been kicking around just to make it look like we had more stuff. We ended up selling a ton of it. Some people were making fun of us for selling Jesus art at a yard sell, but we were selling our old stuff just like everyone else. Except we accepted credit cards. I've never experienced a yard sale before so I was glad I did some research beforehand. I found out that yard salers are out at the crack of dawn and done by noon, which is exactly what happened.

It turned out to be a beautiful day and our winter-white skin got a little sunburned. We took Kendi to my parents house to take a nap and Jared and I went for a bike ride. We really enjoyed getting some exercise. I'm not as completely out of shape as I thought I was. Or maybe it was because I borrowed my sisters really nice bike.

After being zapped by the sun we were completely exhausted so we just chilled with family the rest of the day. Jared and I decided that we need to take more days off and spend more time having fun. It was really worth it.

Easter

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Roller Coaster

WARNING: Long detailed post about potty training.

I started potty training Kendi a couple days ago. It has been the biggest roller coaster ride ever. It started off really well. We used the doll-that-wets meathod. I was thrilled at how fast Kendi caught on to teaching the doll how use the potty. She did everything by herself. Then when it was Kendi's turn she sat right down and used the potty like she been doing it forever. I was so excited.

Then after a while Kendi got really sick of anything that had to do with the potty. She would completely ignore me when I tried to prompt her to go. At this point I didn't know how often Kendi needed to go. I got really bummed and thought that Kendi must have thought that it was all just a little game. I kept her in her undies so she would know if she wet her pants. I didn't know if I had done the training all wrong or if I should even keep trying. She stayed dry for the next couple of hours and then she told me she needed to go potty and sure enough she did in the potty. Now I was excited again. This was right before bed so kept her in her undies at night to see what would happen.

After she had been asleep for about an hour she woke up screaming because she had wet the bed. I tried to get her wear pull-ups, but she refused. She only wanted her undies. So I put her back to bed thinking that this was going to be a long night. To my surprise she slept all night a woke up with dry pants. She even stayed dry for an hour or so.

I knew that she probably had to go potty really bad so I coaxed her to sit on the potty a couple of times, but she wouldn't use it. I was feeling a little frustrated at this. And then while Kendi was standing right next to the potty she had an accident. I figured every kid has to have an accident while standing next to the potty right? I had her practice using the potty and then had her help the doll again and she still had another accident. I was really bummed at this point. So we practiced some more. Maybe the accidents and all the practicing is what got it to sink into her head because after that she started using the potty again.

My mom came over to get Kendi in the afternoon and I thought that this might distract Kendi, but I was ready for a break and my mom said that she would take over training. I was a little worried because Kendi was past due for a B.M.

After a few a hours I went to get Kendi. She hadn't had any accidents, but hadn't gone potty the whole time either even though she kept saying that she needed to and had been sitting on the potty a lot. I wondered if she was afraid to have a B.M. on the potty, but I didn't really know. She didn't have any accidents during the rest of the day, but she was acting miserable. She kept sitting on the potty and getting right back off. She got to the point of screaming so I put a pull-up on her hoping that she would just go, but she didn't.

We put her to bed and she kept waking up all night. By morning I concluded that she must be constipated. She hasn't been constipated in months. WHY NOW? She had a ton of gas. She thought that she needed to sit on the potty every time she had gas so she was asking me to put her on the "big" potty every five minutes all morning. I'm not exaggerating. I finally put her in pull-ups hoping that we could just get through this constipation episode. I put her down for a nap and decided to take one myself. I'm not a napper so this was huge. After 20 minutes I heard her cry. Luckily Jared works at home and knew that I was trying to sleep so he picked her up. She had finally had a B.M. She had definetly been constipated. Jared put her back down and she took a long nap.

I decided to take it easy with the potty training. When Kendi woke up she was sitting with me on the couch eating yogurt. She told me that she needed to go potty. I asked her if she wanted to go to the potty and she said something about her yogurt and then wet her pull-ups. She looked up at me because she knew what she had done. I asked her if she wet her pants and she said yes. I told it that it was a no-no and that she needed to use the potty next time. I was thankful that she wasn't constipated anymore. A short while later, she told me she needed to use the potty and she did. We were both very excited about it.

My mom came to get her again and I let her go wearing pull-ups. I know that Kendi knows what she is supposed to do and I will continue to encourage her. It may take weeks of training at a slower pace, but I feel like its not worth being stressed. My stress effects Kendi too. Its hard being a first time parent because its the most important thing I've ever done yet with the least amount of preparation.

Any advice is welcome.