FRANK's® RedHot®

FRANK's® RedHot®

We got chosen to review Frank's red hot sauces. They sent us 2 different bottles of hot sauce, an apron, a pad of coupons, and recipe cards to share-all for FREE!!

We took the buffalo dip to a birthday party and it was a hit. The sweet chili sauce was at our new years party but my husband said it was better plain to dip wings in.

I enjoy being a member of smiley360 because I get to review cool things for FREE!

It's pretty sad when at Disney world you'd rather be in the bathrooms because: 1-they are air conditioned 2-you can sit down 3-there are no lines; however, considering how  they charge to get in, the least they could do is provide decent toilet paper?

My early birthday present!

It came it came it came! I have been waiting for this for a long time! And thanks to my awesome husband and my survey taking, I earned all the money for it. I didn't pay a thing for it, it was all amazon gift cards and PayPal money. I'm so excited to use it!

Gabriella is 6 months!

I'm not a photographer by any means, but I wanted to get some sort of pictures to mark Gabby's six months! Here they are, I had fun playing with them, staying up WAY too late!

Snow cones!

You know you're jealous. We won this baby at Jacob's company picnic!

Christmas

This last year Christmas was a bit insane. We visited 6 houses in one day, with plans to go to another the next day (which didn't happen due to a snow storm). And that was only with one child. I can't imagine doing that with two! This year we decided we need to tone it down A LOT. This year we are going to try out something new. We won't go anywhere at all on Christmas day. We will just stay home and enjoy it with our own little family, and if people want to see us, they have to come to our house.
I also have thought I would like to try out less gifts. It just makes for a cluttered house anyway! It would be a lot better to do something for others instead. I thought we should try it while Spencer is still little and doesn't quite understand yet.
We'll see how it all goes- like I said this is a trial run year!

Facebook

Last month while all my cousins were here, we had a you tube video viewing night. We watched Studio C's Facebook friends song called "the 10 most annoying people on your news feed". At first I liked posting a lot of stuff, but then I realized I was probably like one of those people on the song! I also noticed I didn't like having  everyone know everything about my life 24 seconds after I posted something. So I've decided to cut back on my Facebook posts.

Gossip

I've come to realize lately how much gossip can affect others. I'd been thinking about it a lot and then there was an ensign article about wholesome language and there was also a link to a New Era article about gossiping.
http://www.lds.org/new-era/2013/08/choosing-not-to-gossip?lang=eng

I really enjoyed the articles and made me realize that I shouldn't participate in it. It can really have an impact on people, decisions, perceptions, etc. I've decided my new goal is to not gossip about others, situations, etc. I noticed how down I felt after a certain particular phone call that included me just listening to straight gossip about others. That whole day I just felt terrible, and wished I had never heard any of it, because it affected me so negatively.

So here's to my goal!

Dumb it down

Since becoming a mom, I feel as though I've gotten less smart. Not totally dumb, but like my smarts have been leaking out. I went to nursing school and I swear half that knowledge is gone! Does anyone else feel this way?

Insomnia...

The past month or so I've had TERRIBLE insomnia. Even when I wake up early so I'll be tired that night it still doesn't work! I can't take melatonin while I'm breastfeeding either. Aah!

Personality mirroring

Andy Bernard:
I'll be the number two guy here in Scranton in six weeks. How? Name repetition, personality mirroring and never breaking off a handshake. I'm always thinking one step ahead. Like a... carpenter... that makes stairs.

I think I do this personality mirroring too! It's never intentional, but I've caught myself doing it a lot lately. So if you see me acting just like you when we're chatting, that's probably why. I've never thought about it but it's actually pretty funny.

Well that was embarrassing!

Today I accidentally added too much excitement to relief society. I was teaching and almost passed out. I wasn't locking my knees, I had eaten breakfast, so all I can figure was I'm a bit dehydrated? Yeah I was reading from the manual and all the sudden my ears got fuzzy and my vision was going black. I was holding onto the podium so I wouldn't fall over. I kept trying to read but because my vision was going black I couldn't see. I must have looked like I was going to fall over because all the sudden everyone was grabbing me and sitting me down. Someone gave me some jelly beans and water while someone else ran to get Jacob (who was also teaching). Jacob decided to take me home to lay down. I'm currently laying in bed with my feet up still feeling a bit shaky and weak. It was totally weird, and shamefully embarrassing.

I'm not the fun one...

While my cousins have been here, I've come to an interesting conclusion. I will not be the "cool"or "fun" aunt. I'm the over paranoid one, the one who doesn't let anyone do anything fun. I'm lame!

May! And the 1st of June...

Here is a little peek at what we've been up to...
We meet Jacob for a picnic lunch at the park by his work. This is something we do frequently, but it was Gabby's first time. She was a trooper and loved it. There is a river and lots of ducks and geese. Sadly, because we got there closer to one instead of noon, the ducks and geese were already full and didn't want to eat our bread.
For mother's day I got that nice necklace. I've always wanted one and figured now that I had 2 kids it would actually be worth it. I wear it everyday and love it!
We finally got our garden planted! We had started our peas and radishes back in march/April but nothing ever came up. Just this past month, one pea and two radishes decided to come up randomly. We decided this year we'd get starts for a lot of the plants we've never had luck with from seed. We got everything planted Saturday of memorial weekend, but somehow our wonderful soil has turned to sand? We couldn't build the hills without getting it wet which is strange because we usually have great soil.
This year was our 5 year anniversary. We had originally wanted to go to Hawaii later this year when Gabby was older, but it didn't work out. So we went up to park city on memorial day and stayed there for our anniversary. We stayed at the hotel park city on our own little cottage with a private hot tub overlooking the golf course lake. It was so nice to get away and just be us again! A big BIG thanks to Kathy and Les for watching the kids(luckily they were super good!). We even got real massages. I didn't realize how much it was going to hurt though. Still worth it! We of course did shopping at the outlets and enjoyed eating out. We also got to go to the Salt lake temple for a live session. That's where we got married and it was neat to think that we were there exactly 5 years ago that day. I loved the live session and the cute old people acting their parts and the Lucifer guy being funny. We came home on our actual anniversary so that night we took the kids to apple bees. It was kinda nice, Gabby and Spencer slept the entire meal! Spencer woke up at the end to eat his chicken fingers and celery.
See me there with a race bib number? I actually did a 5k. I walked it with the double stroller and Jacob ran. I finished at 59:15, just under an hour. I think I want to do another one just so I can beat my time. Janessa was right, it is addicting! Almost the entire Jensen family did it too, we were just missing Trevor and Julienne. It's a funny story, but all the boys and a few others ran the race the wrong way and actually ended up running more than a 5k because nobody knew where they were going! You'll have to ask Jacob or any of them the story, it's pretty funny. After the race we all went to kneaders for breakfast, and Trevor and Julienne biked to meet us there for Trevor's birthday.
Phew, that was a long post!

2 kids

Well, I just have to say that 2 loss isn't quite what I thought. At first, it was pretty easy. Now, it's getting really difficult. Gabby sleeps great, but Spencer doesn't. I have absolutely no free time at all because now we don't have Spencer nap in hopes he sleeps better (still didn't work). So pretty much, I get nothing done. Can I just say how much I really miss doing anything at all? I got to go to the temple today, and I enjoyed that free time way too much, as in I didn't want to go get my kids afterwards. Both Jacob and I have lots of things on our to do lists and we never have time for those things, or each other. Sometimes I wonder how much we could accomplish in a free afternoon/day if we got a babysitter.
Someone please tell me it gets better. And does anyone have any tips?

These days...

So a few weeks ago, I decided to rejoin pinterest. I had joined before but I didn't quite get the concept and so it overwhelmed me a bit. So I deactivated my account. That was a few years ago. I decided now that I needed something to do in the middle of the night to keep myself awake when I'm feeding Gabby, plus I have seen tons of cute things come from ideas on there. So I reactivated my account and started up. I have to say I love it, but it has made me a little more envious lately. I'm usually okay with what I I have, because I've really been blessed with a lot. But I kept finding myself wishing I had a bigger or different house because most of the projects I wanted to do won't work with our older, smaller home. It made me long for perfectly organized shelves and rooms, etc. So now I just have to keep reminding myself that I've been blessed with a lot and should try to keep my pinterest envy under control ;)
Another thing I've been noticing lately is that I wish I could keep my house clean for just even one day. When I'm tired, the last thing I want to do is clean, but it brings me a certain amount of joy to clear something away and see it clean for a little bit. I can't tell you how maddening it is to constantly be stepping over train tracks, to be tripped by them when it's dark, or finding fake food EVERYWHERE. I can't wait for the days for that to be over just so I can have a clean house. I find it stresses me out a lot more when it's messy than when it's clean.
I have one last point to make. Does anyone feel like they are a better mom when you get a chance to get out of the house for a bit to go to work? Or do something for yourself? Just curious.

Vote!

Will you please take the time to vote for my brother, Tye, and his fiancee, Lauren? They are so cute (especially their little boy, Braylon) and would love to win!

http://www.inspiredgiveaway.com/2013/03/the-finalists.html?m=1

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly baby photo books are the perfect way to preserve your baby's precious moments.

We were just loving having miss Gabby around at our house! At her 2 week appointment, The Dr was concerned because she had only gained 2 oz in a week and a half so he had me come back the next week for a weight check. She rallied right back from only gaining 2 oz and had gained 9 oz! My sweet little chunk is growing so fast! She is now 8 lbs 10 oz and I'm sure she's more than that now, because she's been eating a lot more the last few days.
We have a few nicknames for her as well : Gabby, Gabbers, Gabs, princess, sweetheart, pretty girl, girly. My favorite is how Spencer says her full name, Gabriella. He can't quite say it so he says Gabby Ella.

We are loving our little cutie-who knew having a girl was so much fun! I painted her toenails this week which was fun and they are way cute. I was almost giddy with excitement over it. Spencer is enjoying her- when she does tummy time he insists on getting his blanket and doing it with her every day. He also has to make sure she wears a bow. If I take it off for any reason, he says "he needs a bow!"and gives it to me to put on (we are working on the he/she his/her thing).

On a side note, having my baby at Ogden regional Family Birth Place made me realize how much I missed the place. I did my preceptorship there 2 years ago. Here is to hoping I can get a job there someday!

Gabby

Gabby is 1 week old today. Here are some pictures of her!

Gabriella is here!

I realize I have been a terrible slacker at blogging. I didn't even blog about Christmas! But, our new little girl is here and I have to put a little about her arrival on here.
We ate at 5 Guys the night before she came and it gave me such bad heartburn all through labor that I was throwing up. Yuck.
My blood pressure dropped super low right after getting my epidural and I was blacking out. Not much fun either.
My epidural stopped working about an hour or two before she was born. I felt a LOT. OUCH!
She weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces. I cannot believe she weighed so much.Spencer only weighed 6 lbs 13 oz, so I was expecting something similar.
She was 19.5 inches long, the same as Spencer.
It only took 3 pushes from 1 contraction to get her out-yay!
She has thick dark hair, which is weird because neither Jacob nor I have overly dark hair.
She has some looks like Spencer and me too. I can't see Jacob yet.
She is so cute and we love her already! Sadly, Spencer hasn't been able to visit due to the policy during flu season, but hopefully he will love her too. He already told us she can't be born yet, because she didn't have any arms, lol!