Christmas Pictures!

All aboard the choo choo train!! Oh he was so excited!

Who needs toys when you have a movie and Popcorn at papa's and mama's house!

Oh Little miss Rachael Ray!

"I am so not into this... give me the wrapping paper, and I will be fine!"
Oh one tired daddy aka santa, up all night making sure his babes had their gifts!
MERRY CHRISTMAS! Read the post below the pictures!

And to all a GOOD NIGHT, and a GREAT DAY!

Wow, Christmas was rather fun this year! The kids had SO much fun opening their presents. It was so cute watching Lily and Jackson hug after each present. Lily's favorite toy this year was from "santa". It was a kitchen. She said "mommy, now I really am Rachael Ray!" Jackson, oh Jackson.... he got 2 wishes granted... the first and best wish (according to ME, mommy) was his acceptance to the Natl' Jewish medical centers eczema treatment program. We will go sometimes in February. Jackson's favortie gift was his TRAIN TABLE! Oh my goodness.. I was nearly in tears when I saw his face as he ran to his table! We gave him a train engineers hat, bandana and a whistle. he was excited about that... but oh boy..... did he scream with excitement when he saw that train! Jackson LOVES trains. "I want my choo choo" is his favorite sentence.... followed by "get back Lily, thats MY choo choo" he points to her kitchen and says "Lily"s.....yours... choo choo is MEEEEEEEEEEE!"Smart little stinker! Right now as I type this blog I am listening to Lily ask ever so nicely to play with the train.... Jackson says "no, chichen (kitchen) is yours! Guess we need to work on sharing?!?!?! Porter had a simple Christmas. he got a few little tinkers to play around with. Lots of clothes from family, and his favorite present was the paper the gifts came in! So easy to please! hanks to Jake for literally staying up ALL night setting up Jackson train table and Lily's kitchen. I guess now he is officially Santa! Merry Christmas~ Maybe I will get my cards out this week!!!

Fun times....

These are some pictures taken with Jake's Mac computer... photo booth application

Lily is such a goof, she LOVES to play with the photo booth tool! Fun times!! Couldnt get much of jack jack, he was rather disturbed by it all, hahaha!

Why did I open my big mouth!

Well yesterday at church the relief society president pulled me aside and said "Hey Jennie, I just wanted to tell you how much I loved your food you made at the recipe club the other night, I also love your fall decor in your home..... can you..." This is where it gets interesting...."Can you RUN our relief society Christmas dinner, and decor?" AHHH what a honor, but what a stress! So now I have to plan dinner for 100 ladies, decorate a cultural hall, food tables, nativity scene display table, decorate trees etc etc. Can I do it? LETS HOPE! This event is in 3 weeks.. ahhhh better get planning! Any ideas for yummy food? Our ward is SOOOO big... we have a HUGE budget because we dont have many activities! MONEY TO SPEND... food to cook.. stuff to do! AHH so fun, yet so much work!
Kids are great, Jake and I are great. Porter is CRAWLING, eats EVERYTHING we give him, or dont give him. Lily is doing awesome in school. She is learning how to READ, and loves it! She identifies the letters in the ABC, s counts to 25, and is learning SPANISH! Jackson is AWESOME. He LOVES school, and is talking better! It has been so fun watching him learn and seeing him grow over the past few months! I (jennie) amd doing great.... almost to the 100 pound mark! WAHOOOO I hit a weight loss block over the past month, but uh.... well I have no excuse. I have been lazy! Jake is in school, and I think he will be in school for the next 50 years. This kid (34 year old kid) loves to learn, and just loves soaking in as much as he can! lets just hope he will be done SOON! Anyways, thats all for us now... we are heading up to a time share with Jakes family for "Turkey day" on wednesday, it should be fun! Then we will take the outlet stores down and do some christmas shopping!!
Ta ta for now!!

Life's little wonders....

Well October has been.... COLD.. Where did fall go? So far this month has had its dramatic issues like every month in my life. To start the month off.... our house flooded... yea.. FLOODED. We were out and about visiting neighbor friends, and we came home to a water fall pouring out of our ceiling and the smoke alarm. SO again, the smoke alarm is going off (not my favorite sound, especially when you have dogs and babies!) The water was EVERYWHERE. The kids rooms were a mess with water (toilet water YUCK) My room was a soppy mess, and MY CLOSET WAS WET. All my clothes in hampers (yes hampers... I hate folding laundry) We soaked. Long story, already long..... the "fake wood" laminate floors were destroyed, the carpet was also destroyed. So for the past 2 weeks, we have had floor, drywall, plumbers, etc etc over at the house to look at and fix the damage. $13,000 of damage. Luckily...... we are still under warranty! Everything will be fixed, for free! They even upgraded our toilets.... bad toilets were installed I guess?
Towards the middle of the month I had some time (a few minutes) to remember my sweet aunt janet. She passed away from a rough battle with Colon Cancer 4 years ago. She was my dads only sister, and was and is a huge part of my life. I so miss her!
Lily has been in pre school down here in South Jordan for a few months now, and she LOVES it. it is so cute and fun hearing her babble on and about what she learned. $50 a month WELL SPENT! A lady in our stake primary presidency has the pre school in her home. there are only 6 kids in the class, so its really nice! Lily gets the attention she wants and needs! Jackson starts his pre school on friday. I am really excited to have him go to school and work on his behavior issues. He has progressed so much the past few months with his speech, but still needs to work no how he behaves with others. I know I know I know, he is 2.. he is SUPPOSED to be a bully, screamer etc etc... but, and I mean BUT...... something is not quite right, but we are dealing with finding out what is wrong, in order to make it right. All in all, Jackson is a great little guy..... and I love him even when he screams!
Porter has gotten a TOOTH, and he loves to roll all over the place. he gets on his knees and tries oh so hard to MOVE... and ends up doing a face plant and cries... again, we learn how to do things teh RIGHT way, but doing them wrong first hahaha! I was shocked when i saw the tooth popping through! he is only 5 months old! Lily and Jackson were 8 months when they got teeth! I guess Porter is ahead of the game...... he does weigh 18 1/2 pounds!! TOTAL CHUNK! Sorry i dont have pictures right now, my computer has been undergoing a full clean out by Jake, and I cant find anything, and our camera isnt installed to the commputer.... wow, I am rambling! We are all doing great.... the kids re great, life is great!! It will be even greater when our floors are put back!!

BEFORE! Christmas 2005
Thos are my OLD JEANS!

These pants were even too big when I was preggers with Po Po!

Ok, well..... WAHOOOOO FOR ME! I just wanted to share some pictures of me. I have been on a long and ROUGH journey the past 2 years with weight. Well honestly, I have been ona HUGE weight journey most of my adult life. Well in January 2006 I had Lap Band surgery (www.lap-band.com) , and well... it WORKED! I am down nearly 100 pounds, and I feel so good! I have so much energy, and I know I will be around for my kids and my husband. I am not going to lie and say "oh this was so easy" Uh... NO WAY! It was and still is the hardest thing I have ever done! I have to work my butt off, and watch people around me eat such yummy food and I cant eat it! Oh, I stil eat ice cream, you will never get me to stop eating ice cream. Will I eat a whole pint of it....... hmmm sometimes! haha! I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has supported me through out this instense journey. Its far from over, I know I can lose more, and I will! Look out single digit sizes... I AM COMING!!!!

Tag....

OK here we go Kambree.....

1. Who is your man? Jake
2. How long have you been together? 4 years 10 months , 5 days, 9 hours, 24 mins, to be exact!
3. How long dated? about 4 weeks. Started dating in May, engaged in July, married in November. "Hey, when it's right....it's right - why wait?" Copied Kambree.. wow, we have something pretty BIG in common! haha!
4. How old is your man? 34 years OOOLD
5. Who eats more? Are you kidding me??? His talent far exceeds mine in this category -and I'm MORE then ok with that! ;)
6. Who said "I love you" first? Jake did, and he said it VIA EMAIL! HA HA. He said it after knowing me for a mere 3 days... .hmmmm desperate for a wife.... or really in love haha!
7. Who is taller? Jake
8. Who sings better? We are both pretty bad at singing! Jake is good at making songs up to primary song melodies, and Lily is quick to correct him!
9. Who is smarter? Depends! When it comes to life.... I have better street smarts!
10. Who's temper is worse? ME! WOW... pregnancy hormones... do those ever go away? It has been 4 months since I had Po Po, so you would THINK they would go away already!
11. Who does the laundry? Hmmm That would be ME.
12.Who takes out the garbage? He does
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Jake, sometimes Lily haha
14. Who pays the bills? Since I "create" the bills, I end up having to pay them! I am the money manager... am I good at it.... hmm.... at least our account isnt in the red, today !haha
15. Who is better with the computer? I know how to turn it on and type...he knows how to do "all the other stuff" I guess that makes him the "winner".
16. Who mows the lawn? Hm, well we live in a community where the HOA mows it for us.. but our 10 by 30 area in front of the house, sadly, our home teacher mows it...... we dont have a lawn mower!
17. Who cooks dinner? Me, always me
18. Who drives when you are together? We have a rule... whoever isnt driving has to deal with the kids.....so I like to drive
19. Who pays when you go out? Usually Jake
20. Who is most stubborn? I think it that would be him....but I don't know for sure.
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? "I am never wrong"
22. Whose parents do you see the most? Um, my mom lives in the basement..... but Jakes parents live pretty close to us
23. Who kissed who first? Jake... he was EAGER.... (I love you after a few days...... hahaha)
24. Who asked who out? I actually initiated the get together..... it was a blind date set up by a friend.
25. Who proposed? Jake
26. Who is more sensitive? I cry easier, but Jake is very sensitive
27. Who has more friends? Hmmm.. maybe me.... but we both have "couple" friends...
28. Who has more siblings? Me
29. Who wears the pants in the family? We work pretty well together - If I do say so myself ;)

SO much has happened!!

Well to start off, WOW.... I can take a deep breath and FINALLY be calm! My family is doing GREAT. Lily just turned 4 on August 22 and she had a great birthday with all her friends and family. Its been really an adventure watching that little girl grow up! Everyday she amazes me with her little mind and what she says. She just started pre school yesterday and had a blast. She told me "Oh mommy, I love school, can I go tomorrow". Seriously, I needed to record her saying that, and then show it to her when she is in high school refusing to get out of bed. Our stake primary president runs a pre school out of her house, Lily will learn basic pre school education, but along with it, she will be in a joy school curriculum.Jackson is doing GREAT! He sees his teacher once a week, and a behavior therapist once a month. And now he is saying more things, helping us understand him by SHOWING us what he wants, instead of screaming and bashing his head against everything. It was very frustrating for a while! I was at a loss on what to do. No parent ever wants to admit there is a problem with their child, but as his mommy I knew there was something just not quite right. With Jacksons leaps and bounds with his school program, the teacher and therapist are feeling that he does not have Aspergers, but he will still be tested in a few months when he is 3. Jackson loves attention, and when he doesnt have full attention, that is when he rebells. What's his is HIS, dont you dare try and take something away from him, or you will HEAR it. That is one thing we are trying to work on. Sharing is not Jackson's friend right now! And with 2 siblings..... we REALLY need to work on that!Porter is GREAT! He is so stinking cute and fun! I just love that kid! I love his giggly little body! I love that he just needs you to LOOK at him for him to laugh! He is always smiling and loves to be close to people. He had his first taste of rice cereal last night, and well..... of course he LOVED IT! he was going after that spoon like he hadnt eaten in HOURS hahha. We got him a baby gym that lights up and plays music. When we put it over him while he was laying down..... his body twisted and turned and his eyes nearly popped out of his face! I dont think he liked it at first! But now he is "OK" with it for a few mins! We had pictures taken yesterday of all the kids, and I must say..... SO CUTE!!
About ME....... well I going to school in January! I will be taking some culinary arts classes, and starting my own catering business. I will start small, and work up from there! So if you are planning a party, and just dont want to cook... CALL ME! Since I am just starting, my prices are pretty cheap! Jake is in school right now, so I am again a single mom for the time being. It is worth it though.... as hard as it is, in the end when he is done with school (in 10 years) we will look back at these days when I wanted to pull my hair out and scream and say "Oh... those were the good ol' days!". Enjoy the pictures!!love, jennie

My baby girl is turning FOUR!

Oh, where has the time gone. My little Lily Grace is about to turn 4 years old! It has been amazing raising a daughter. She is the light of my life and I love being her mommy! Everyday is an adventure with Lily. Here are 10 things I love about Lily, heaven knows there are like a Million, but here are my 10 favorite!
10. Her crazy personality, never a dull moment with Lily
9. Her love for the out doors, she LOVES being outside, laughing, screaming and being with the neighborhood kids
8. Service- she loves to do nice things for people..... even when she almost burns the house down (read old post)
7. I love hearing her talk about primary and what she learned. She truly loves Jesus.
6. I love her contagious laugh and beaming smile.
5. I love how she is with her 2 little brothers, doesnt always like them, but she always loves them!
4. I love watching her try and solve problems, then when she cant, I love being the one to always help her. Basically, I love that she needs me!
3. I love that she loves to be held and hugged and kissed and kissed and kissed and hugged (you get the point)
2. I love who I am when she is around. I love the grown woman I can see in her eyes, and I love seeing her grow into a gorgeous young little lady!
1. I love Lily! Everything about her, everything she will become and do someday. I love that she looks like me, and I love that she has freckles popping up on her little body! I love love love my daughter.

Being a mother has taught me oh so much. It has taught me about patience, love, service, enduring, miracles, kindness, and the list goes on and on. There is no other job in the world I would ever want. Having a daughter has also taught me about "attitude". Wow.... was I really that dramatic when I was young? Little Lily bug is quite the diva. I love you Lily. Happy Birthday, and thank you for giving my life purpose. You are my life, my light and my love. When I look into you amazing blue eyes, I see wee bits of heaven shining back. You are truly a angel!
Love, Mommy
(Pictures- Lily's blessing dress was made out of fabric FROM my wedding dress. Jake's mom is a awesome seamstress and she hacked my wedding dress up and made a GORGEOUS long blessing dress for Lily. We still have tons of fabric to make another dress when Lily gets baptized)

Porter is SMILING!

Well babies are cute I must admit... mine are pretty cute. Porter has been smiling lately, and well... its so stinking cute to see him so expression other then his normal "dopey" little look! All is well in Stephens-ville... I am finally sleeping.... thanks to Porter. He sleeps for 11 hours a night now (I love you Porter)! We are getting ready to host some family for the Brown Family reunion..... rescue me, please! haha! No, it will be fun. My dad has never met Jackson or Porter, and has not seen Lily, Jake or myself in 3 years. So it will be nice to see him and his new wife. All in all, we are doing great, enjoying the last bit of summer. Jake just turned THIRTY FOUR, and I wil be TWENTY NINE in a few days! Wow, what a bunch of old fogies! Pretty soon I will be dying my hair for a real reason! ahha! Jackson is doing really good. He had a at home evaluation because he isnt communicating like he should be... and his social skills are pretty iffy sometimes. His pediatrician feels he has a learning delay, so he will be tested for a BUNCH of things. His thought is that he has Aspergers syndrome. Which is funny, because I know someone who has a son who was just diagnosed with that. He has a couple of more at home evaluations, and then he will see a behavior therapist, and we will have some answers. All in all, he is such a cute, fun boy.... But as his mother, I do notice some things that concern me. I just want him to go to school when he is supposed to, and learn. We will keep you all posted!

Check out my Slide Show!

So much to be happy about!

Well I have been a slacker the past week, but I have uploaded some new pictures of my babes..... oh they are so cute. This week has been better. No fires, the family bed is now a "couples" bed. Which means, NO KIDS! WAHOO! Lily has done so good! She loves being a big girl, and now she loves her bed. We have to keep our balcony light on at night (her bedroom window faces the balcony) but other than that... Boy wonder and I have our bed back! Some of you know that lil Jackman has a severe case of eczema. Well it has gotten significantly worse over the past few weeks. SO we have to see his team of doctors yet again for more allergy testing and some new prescriptions. It was pretty depressing because we thought it was getting better, NOPE! So hopefully we will get some answers so I can have my happy boy back! Po Po has been SO GOOD over the past few days. He sleeps for around 6 hours a night, wakes up for a little top off, and the back to bed for another couple of hours. Its been nice getting some solid sleep! THANK YOU PO PO! He just started smiling which of course just warms my heart! I put a picture of his little smirk he does... Oh I love him! Lil and Jackman have had a blast since the splash pool opened. We have spent many hours there. Hey, it gets me out of the house, and the kids have fun! It has helped my tan as well! Boy wonder took the kids to the lake this weekend for a paddle boat ride. Well, I am a crazy paranoid mama! The dock worker put Jackman in the back of the boat alone, and Lil and Boy wonder were up front.....you kidding me! I yelled at Boy wonder to put Jackman up front with him. Then I see Lil' hopping from seat to seat, while the boat is going. Oh goodness.... I am getting too old for this drama. Life vests or no life vests... I was freaking out. The dock worker assured me that if the kids fall in, they would in deed float. I was very happy when the boat came back. Enjoy the pictures!

A better day, please?

Wel after yesterday, and the day before.... I kept telling myself "Things can only get better". Well they did. Yesterday afternoon Lil told me why she tried to make toast. "Mommy, I just wanted to make you breakfast, because I love you". Ok, how could you be mad? The house still smells like burnt toast and a little smoky, but thats OK. Over the past 4 years of either being pregnant or having kids I have learned that its the little things that matter most. Its the hugs, snot nose kisses, the I love you's that come from their hearts. How could I seriously be angry with my little girl. She was trying to do something nice for me! Now the toaster is in a cupboard! This morning she did put some bread in the oven (luckily she cant reach the knobs) so she could try and make breakfast AGAIN. So I told her that tomorrow she can help me make a big breakfast.
Having kids does teach you patience. It teaches you to not let the silly things get to you. It teaches you that love is so important! Everyday is an adventure, especially in my house =) But everyday is oh so fun!
Last night Po slept in his bed, HALF THE NIGHT, and in my arms the rest. Hey, its a start! I love that he LOVES me so much that he needs to know I am right there next to him! But wow, it would be nice to sleep comfortably. Will that ever happen while I have kids at home? Will it ever happen again? Even when they are grown and moved out (sniffles) I will always worry about them... oh the joys of mother hood!
What is pretty pathetic is...... Last night Lil tells me "I love sleeping in my families bed". Not Mommy and Daddy's bed, but the FAMILIES BED! Maybe I should move my bed to the living room? haha! Lil knows that she needs to fall asleep in her bed for 1 week and she will get a trip to Wal mart for a treat. Blackmail or reward? What would you call it? hehe!

FIRE FIRE FIRE and SMOKE!

What is your biggest fear? Well ONE of mine is my house catching fire with my family in side. Well, that nearly happened today at about 7:30 am. Po and I were RUDELY awakened by the smoke alarm! I jumped out of bed faster than I ever have before grabbed Po, ran into get JJ and Lil, well Lil wasnt in her bed, she wasnt in her room, she wasnt anywhere. I scream for Lil, as I see SMOKE and hear the high pitch scream from the fire alarm. I hear a little voice from the kitchen saying "mommy, Im on fire". So uh... I bolt for the stairs but in those 10 seconds or less that it took me to get down stairs I thought to myself, "Lil seemed pretty calm for being on fire?" Then I saw her, she was fine, in a little ball scared. Then I saw the source of all of our panic. A toaster STUFFED with 2 english muffins, on fire, and smoking like crazy. JJ was freaking out, Po was freaking out, Lil was freaking out. I was too puzzled to freak out. I just wanted the noise to STOP. So I tried to turn the smoke alarm off, it wouldnt turn off. I opened windows, turned the vent on.... and finally the noise stopped. Yesterday was a bad day, today, well..... things CAN get worse. *sigh* I love my kids!

what more could seriously happen today...

Ok, now this was "one of those days". The day started "ok". Po slept all night, of course right next to me *sigh* BUT HE SLEPT FOR 8 HOURS! The kids woke up, ate breakfast etc etc. Then while I was feeding Po in my room, L and J were in the bonus room "playing" or so I thought. J comes into my room and says "oh no mommy". L had colored ALL over him with marker. Head to toe, even his clothes. So I threw him in the bath. Then after nap time..... I was out side talking to some people and I came back inside to see J again covered head to toe with "fabreeze" air freshener. L said "he is so stinky, so I wanted to make him clean smelling". J has some pretty bad skin issues, and well, the Fabreeze bath didnt really help. SO I had to soak him AGAIN in another bath, slather him in medicine and clean the Febreeze mess they made all over the floor. Then L got mad at me for not letting her take a bath with her brother, and throws a GLASS on the ground shattering it. She then gets naked and tells me in a not so nice way "I not get dressed until I take a bath moooooooooooommy". So I threw a glass of water on her and threw her in her room. Maybe that wasnt the most mature thing to do, but I had HAD IT! She then came out dressed and knew "not to mess with mommy!"
Why do these things seem to ALWAYS happen when you have a baby "attached" to you? And of course if you "detatch" the baby, you have to deal with them crying hysterically? double edge sword. I love motherhood.

Forgot to add....

Our dogs.... yes I said DOGS (PLURAL) Foxy was our first child, Roxy is new. Jake HAD to get a Pug. He has always wanted a Pug. Now we really have a family bed.... Jake, me, Lily, Porter, Roxy and Foxy. The dogs will get kicked off by me about 20 times a night. Oh... the dogs... now seriously, including Jake, I have 5 kids haha!

Family BED

OK, I love my kids, and sometimes I even love our dogs. But what I do not love is having a "FAMILY BED". Lily is almost 4, and STILL insists on falling asleep in our bed, then we have to move her to her bed. NOW, my perfect little adorable newborn has to fall asleep cuddling. As much as I love having a cuddly baby, wow.. how can such a little body fill a king size bed? His little 8 pounds and 21 inches seriously takes up more room than me. I lay in the far corner of the bed worried that I am going to roll over and smother my baby. Sleep? Whats that! Then I look over at my sleeping husband I wonder.... hmm thats just not fair. So I smack him to wake him up so we can share the misery of no sleep together...... well that doesnt work. His body wakes up for a few seconds, says "what you want?" Then crash, back asleep. So unfair.... but so worth it... I love my baby Po But I would love having him sleep in his own bed for once!
Last night I went to a girls night at Z's house, wow... It was so nice getting out of the house. Thanks Z for the yummy dessert, Po says thanks too *wink*. Looking forward to wearing make up again, that is if I am able to wash my face or even shower today! haha!

Uppercase Living, creative vinyl lettering

go to www.uppercaseliving.com
click on customer log in, and register
log in ID is 306848 Token-Stephens
look in the catalog, play with the design an expression tool, and let me know if you want to order anything, or better yet HOST A PARTY!!!

Welcome!

Well, I am new at this whole BLOG thing, but what the heck! Its my time to sit and ramble on and on about my cute wonderful little kids and husband! My name is Jennie. I am 28, I live in a little town call South Jordan in the oh so wonderful state of UTAH! I have been married for coming on 5 years. Together Jake and I have 3 gorgeous kids. Lily is 3 1/2, Jackson is 2, and Porter is fresh from heaven as of 5/5/07. Being a mommy is the best!