The {Sefcik} Blog

2012-02-16T12:28:00.000-08:00

Our Little Angel

Yay!!! We are so incredibly excited (which is a huge understatement) to be having our first baby!! :) It has been such a surreal experience, I am still having a hard time wrapping my brain around what is actually happening. Could this be for real!? I am now 20 weeks along and am doing so great! Great to the extent that I don't even feel like I have a little angel growing inside of me!!! Once we found out I was pregnant, I was expecting this horrible ordeal since that is all I hear about the first trimester but honestly, it has been amazing!!

Okay, here are THE DETAILS. I am more or less writing this so I can remember everything so besides for my mom, it's probably not very interesting and it might be TMI and it is pretty much a novel... just a heads up!! :)

I got off of birth control in February of last year. We had been trying for about 7 months (Feb-Sept) by the time I decided to go in and see a doctor. Between the 7 months that I had been off of birth control I had only had 2 periods so we knew I wasn't ovulating which was making it way harder for us to get pregnant. I had found a doctor that I had liked and after doing all of the routine checks and everything looking normal she decided to put me on Clomid which was the first step to determine if it was just an ovulation problem or something more serious. I was given a calendar that showed me exactly what I needed to do each day for a month starting off with a 5 day dose of Clomid that I took from October 4-9. Starting October 8-14th I was to wear and Estrogen patch on my stomach, between October 12-18 were our date nights ;) (haha sorry!), October 19-28 start using progesterone cream (if you are pregnant then you continue using this cream until the baby is 10 weeks), and then October 28 & 29 is the much anticipated pregnancy tests!

We followed the calendar to a T and on the 29th we were getting ready to leave our apartment for the Trunk-Or-Treat so I took the pregnancy test and... it was positive!!! At this point I had gotten so used to taking pregnancy tests and them being negative that I honestly had forgotten about it! It wasn't until about 15 minutes later it dawned on me... maybe you should check! When I looked at it I was COMPLETELY in shock. Brady was studying at the time so all I did was walk over and set it on the table where he was to see what he said. I waited, and waited and all I heard was nothing! Needless to say, Brady was in shock too :). Both of us had thought for sure it wouldn't have happened so soon! I called my doctor the following Monday to let them know the test results were positive and they were so surprised that it happened so quick. I guess they've never had a patient get pregnant off of their first dose of Clomid! I know that this angel was supposed to come into our family at this time and we are so incredibly grateful for this miracle.

At the time we found out I think I was 3 1/2 weeks along (technically the baby only 1 1/2) so we were still very early. The only symptoms I had was light cramping and bloating which I had also noticed with the progesterone cream that I was on. I met with my Dr. when I was a couple days shy of 6 weeks and she was worried that my cramping seemed to be getting worse so she sent me out to do an emergency ultrasound to see if I was having a miscarriage. Brady wasn't able to be there with me for this appointment since he was in school and lets just say I was completely having a melt down. At this point neither of our families knew and I was just a wreck. I was SO nervous that we could have lost the baby! The ultrasound tech was so sweet and comforting, exactly what I had needed. She had told me that since I was so early that we might not be able to see much yet but boy was I surprised! I wish I had taken a picture but we saw a vertical line (the baby) and inside was a little flicker that was the most reassuring thing ... the heart beat!! My Dr. had me take a couple of days off of work to relax and see if the cramping stopped and within the next week it had.

At 6 weeks the nausea hit. It definitely was present but very manageable. The worst of it was from 6-8 1/2 weeks but if I was consistent on having something in my stomach it was not bad. To this day I have only thrown up once which I think could have been prevented (I had over heated) and am SO grateful!! I don't know how I got so lucky but I feel very very blessed. These weeks were when I gained most of my first trimester weight... since I was pretty much a human garbage disposal!

We made the decision to not tell our families until we went up for Thanksgiving when I was about 8 weeks along since we wanted to be there when we told them. It was the hardest thing ever, especially when your on the phone and they ask, "Anything new going on?" (Us thinking) "Oh ya know, we're just having a baby but no big deal!!!" But I'm so glad we waited! It was worth it to see their expressions and excitement in person, I wouldn't have done it any other way!

We decided to announce our special news to each family when we were doing Thanksgiving dinner and even having to wait until then felt like a lifetime! Everyone kept on asking and asking us if we were trying! We had to put our best game faces on for a few hours :). We told Brady's family first. What was hard was we were having to leave before they even started eating so getting so many people together in one space without it being noticeable was tricky but Brady's sister set it right up for us! Our nieces wanted to show us their dance so we all filed to the basement to watch. The only problem was Brady's parents decided that they had to stay up in the kitchen to keep on cooking... not part of the plan! Both of us are panicking and Brady goes up to his parents and tells them that they HAVE to come downstairs. His mom is a bit more cooperative but his dad, gosh it was hard! After his dad telling us he won't come down, Brady says "Jamie and I have a present for you guys"... that got them movin! We watch our nieces dance and at the end Brady goes into our room and grabs "The Box". What is inside the box? Well... we hand it to them and this is what they see

The cutest pair of baby shoes ever! When I saw these I had to have them, even if our baby is born in the summer :)

Everyone was so excited and started screaming. We were so relieved to finally be able to talk about it!!! It was such an amazing moment. We stayed a while to talk with everyone and then we were off to family number 2... my mom!

I don't think I can EVER let my mom live this one down, it was just too funny! The two nights before we left to Utah I hadn't been sleeping well at all and we got into town around midnight the morning of Thanksgiving and didn't get to bed until about 3 a.m. so I'll give it to my mom... I was looking pretty bad! I went over Thanksgiving morning to help her prepare for dinner and she looks at me and says, "Are you feeling okay " "Are you sure you are not pregnant?" "You are looking really bad!" "You kind of look like you have the life sucked out of you" "If this is how you look when your pregnant it is going to be REALLY bad!". OH gosh. If she had only known! It was so hard to not just say "Yes mom, I do kind of have the life being sucked out of me" but I wanted to wait until the rest of the family was there to spill the beans. :) Once we went back over to my mom's house for dinner we waited until my brother and his wife arrived after dinner to give my mom "The Box". It was a bit more in character at her house since her birthday was the week before so I had told her it was her present! When she opened it she pulled them out and it took her a few seconds to process... baby shoes? She looks at me and asks "Are you?" and we all start bawling! I think the hardest was for me to not tell my mom since I am so close with her and she knew how much it was something I had been wanting. It was perfect. :)

We brought my brother along with us to tell my dad. Once he opened "The Box" he grabbed the shoes and held them to his feet- too small! All he could say was "Hey, those would look good on a mantle!". Haha, oh my dad! It took him a little while to realize they are not for just any baby but our baby. He was so excited!!

From the 9th week to the end of my first trimester everything went great. The only difference I have noticed has been my appetite as well as my ever growing butt... it is kind of out of control.

Brady and I are so excited for this new chapter in our lives. It has been something that we have talked about from our dating days at the watertower, talking about what we want from our future families and wondering if I should say "Our Kids" or just "my kids". I am so happy to say that dream is finally coming true! Families have always been such a huge focus for me, especially these last few months and I'm so grateful that we are given the opportunity to bring our sweet little angel into this world.

2012-01-13T10:34:00.000-08:00

Erickson Family Pictures

Before we left SoCal for the holidays I had the pleasure of taking pictures of the Erikson family. Can you say fun!? Everyone was so amazing!

And the kids? I"ll let them speak for themselves :)

2011-12-30T14:33:00.001-08:00

Have you heard?

2011-12-09T14:23:00.000-08:00

Rolo Pretzel Bites

Our apartment looks like this tonight... and has for the last two weeks (+ a few other guys). Oh how we love the dreaded Finals week! Usually our apartment is the go to place for studying since we do not have kids yet.

What better way to keep these guys focused on their finals than Rolo Pretzels!? I have fallen in love with this sweet and salty snack for a couple of reasons:

1. It is soo easy and requires only 2 ingredients

2. Chocolate + Caramel + Pretzels = Pure Bliss

Okay... so really the 2nd is the only one that matters for me but this is one of the recipes I resort to when we are all needing a good chocolate fix.

All you need is Rolos and Bite Size Pretzels! I also use aluminum foil which eliminates the whole cleaning up part... what more could you ask for?!

Start by placing as many pretzels as you will need on the cookie sheet.

Get a bunch of Rolos and unwrap them. Then place 1 (sometimes I overindulge with 2) on top of each pretzel.

Stick these babies under the broiler for only a few minutes (make sure you keep an eye on them if you do broil them otherwise you will have a very crispy no good mess, which may or may not have happened to us..). After they are done you can either stick nuts, M&M's or whatever your preference to squish them down but usually for us we eat them right out of the oven! Enjoy these sweet treats while they are still nice and warm, they are divine!

2011-12-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving 20Eleven

Besides the temperature, Fall is probably my favorite time of the year. It's the combination of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas being all so close to each other. There is just something about cuddling up close to a fire with my hubs with hot cocoa that cannot be beat. This Thanksgiving we headed back to Utah to spend time with both of our amazing families. Being so far away makes me really appreciate the moments I get to spend with them... I know I can't take any moment I have with them for granted. I am so grateful to have such supportive families, they truly are such a blessing.

We left California on Wednesday afternoon around 1:00 knowing deep down the traffic was going to be horrible (but hoping it would be okay).. fortunately, we were wrong! Getting out of LA and San Bernardino area took us a little bit longer but it was definitely not as bad as we were expecting. What usually takes us about 9 hours took us about 11 hours. You could say we were beat!

Holidays are usually a crazy time for us since we have 3 family's to distribute our time between so we do what we call "The Family Shuffle". Unfortunately during this shuffle I am always forgetting to take pictures but none the less, it was no doubt a Thanksgiving to remember! Thanksgiving morning I woke up and went over to my mom's to help her with the Thanksgiving preparation for a couple of hours and then back over to Brady's parents house to help with their preparation. If you know Brady's family you know they are always cooking for a large crowd! Their dinner included all the staples of a perfect Thanksgiving dinner including Turkey, Gravy, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes (which I had been craving for about 2 weeks before we left... boy was I satisfied!). To finish everything off John made some amazing eclairs. It was so much fun to catch up on some much needed girl talk with my amazing sisters :)

Around 4:30 we headed over to my Mom's house for our next Thanksgiving dinner. This year we almost missed out on having my brother Cam with us since he was on call back in Arizona. The doctor he was doing rotations with felt bad that his whole family was gone and he sent him up to Utah to be with us (Whoo Hoo!) We were grateful to have his wife Amy and cute baby Ethan to join us as well. I definitely don't get to see their cute faces enough! Kent was on duty at the Fire Station that day so he wasn't able to be with us, but we were thinking of him! Our Thanksgiving dinner included the best of the best: Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Pickles, Rolls and an amazing berry pie that was to die for! I know I can always count on my mom to make a killer menu :)

It is a tradition in my family to go to a movie the night of Thanksgiving and this year was no exception! After we cleaned up we headed up to Thanksgiving Point (fitting right ;)) and saw Hugo. I knew nothing about the movie going into it so wasn't sure what to expect. The verdict? BAD. I usually am not very picky but for some reason... it was just weird! I was also super tired and fell asleep through some of it which might have contributed to that :)

After we got back from the movie to say that Brady and I were tired is an understatement! If you know me you know that shopping has a dear spot in my heart :) but... I just couldn't bring myself to go out and shop all night his year with Brady's sisters. The next day my mom and I went out and still ended up finding some killer deals... score!

Friday night we spent the night with my dad starting off with dinner at the amazing Cafe Rio which we miss so much out in California! There is one that is by the LA Airport but we don't go out that way very often so when we get to Utah, that is a must! Afterwords we spent some time putting up the Christmas tree and getting dessert at Kneaders. I love being with family!

Although I completely failed at taking pictures pretty much the entire trip, I did end up taking some family pictures of Brady's beautiful sister Julie and her adorable family... they are all so photogenic. I love it!

We are already counting down the days until we go back (Only 2 weeks!!)

2011-11-21T10:24:00.000-08:00

Girls Night: Breaking Dawn Part 1

A couple of weeks ago I got a text from my friend Veronica wondering if I wanted her to buy me a ticket to see Breaking Dawn: Part 1 the night before it came out at 8:00 (so happy it wasn't midnight)... of course I couldn't turn down the offer. I'm always up for a girls night! I had to work until 6:00 that night so I wasn't able to get there early with some of the other girls but by the time I got there our group had already gotten the best seats in the house.

There may or may not have been some panicking to get 16 seats together...
Thanks for taking one for the team Lindsay :)

I've never been a HUGE fan of the movies like I was with the books. There is so much that they can't explain in a movie that they can so well in writing so I know I always have to go in with no expectations. Team Edward or Team Jacob? When I read the books I completely fell in love with Edward.. he is the ultimate dream guy! But when the movies came out.. I was not impressed with their choice! As I have watched each movie I can say that he has grown on me but really, I think they could have chosen someone soo much better for the part. When it comes to the movies I am totally Team Jacob!! I think he has played the perfect Jacob. As for Kristen Stewart, I actually think she does a really good job of portraying Bella's emotions, I have really liked her as Bella. The movie definitely had it's good moments and not so good moments (when the wolves talk with each other- it was so bad LOL). The wedding was absolutely beautiful and of course Charlie (her father) is hilarious about the whole thing. They made Bella's pregnancy look horrible as they should have. They do show Bella giving birth and wow... everyone was reassuring me that when I get pregnant it will not be that bad (thank goodness). All in all it was entertaining enough. I'm not super picky when it comes to movies, I love just being out so it was fun to finally have a girls night!

Afterwards we all lined up and posed with the poster boards.. we're pretty cool like that :)

Now we all just have to wait a whole year to see the next one!

2011-11-13T11:21:00.000-08:00

Spooky Halloween {2011}

We had such a fun Halloween this year! Usually I can never get Brady to dress up with me but somehow... this year he had a change of heart! :) I even managed to get a costume for Kip that was only a couple of dollars!

If you can't tell... he wasn't very amused. When I took it off he decided it was his new chew toy.

(Our little guy is growing up so fast... look at those grey chin hairs!)

We started off the night at our ward for their Halloween dinner which was followed by the Trunk-Or-Treat in the parking lot. Brady and I totally spaced buying any spooky decorations for our car but our awesome ward members had us covered.

There were so many cute costumes. The kids were adorable!

Me and one of my Young Women Lucia

Marcy and John were there for the Trunk-Or-Treat. They also completely spaced and forgot to get anything for their car so they ended up using what they already had in their trunk which included a garbage bag and an anatomy book. Notice that bottle to the right?

This is probably only something you'd find in

1. A dental student's car

2. A psychopath's car

Yes that is what it looks like... a bottle of TEETH. So gross!

Luckily for all of us... it was #1!

For some reason we didn't eat too much at the dinner so by the time the Trunk-Or-Treat was over we were starving! We both agreed that we were in the mood for some good ol' Philippes!

They are famous for their double dip french sandwiches. If you haven't been there I would highly recommend it, they are amazing!

It was the perfect way to end the night.

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween! :)

2011-11-09T09:09:00.000-08:00

Note To Self

One of the girls at work showed me this video yesterday. Note to self- don't ever eat your kids Halloween candy! :)

2011-10-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

It Happens Every Year

I always tell myself that Brady and I are going to figure out our Halloween costumes early on so we have time to plan. But here we are again {one} day before our Trunk-Or-Treat and we just figured it out. I don't know it if has something to do with it not feeling like fall out here in California yet but Halloween always creeps up on me.

Here's a hint! :)

and maybe a meow...

2011-10-18T10:59:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our new home

This new blog has been in the works for some time now and I'm so happy to say that it's finally done!
After months of doing research and trial and error
(and almost loosing my mind)
I am very excited with the outcome. There are things
that I will change in the future as time permits but for now.. this will do! :)

Jamie

Ice & Lights

2011-01-05T13:44:00.001-08:00

We finally made it back to Cali after the best Christmas and Thanksgiving break. We drove back on Saturday knowing that if we tried to drive on Sunday the traffic would be horrible and boy were we right! Brady spoke to another 1st year who drove from Las Vegas to LA, which normally takes about 3 1/2 hours and it took him 15 HOURS to get home!! It's kind of weird to think that we are finally back here, and onto our second semester! Only 10 more to go :). We have been having so much fun out here and making some really great friends that we love so much!! So much has been going on and I of course, have been lacking in the blogging area so I honestly told myself that I had to sit here and couldn't move until I had an update! This at least is a start :)

While we were back in Utah I worked some at the office but after Thanksgiving I decided to come back with Brady while he took his finals. I didn't get to spend much time with him since he was either at school all day (he didn't get home until 1 a.m. one night :O) or him and Stew (another 1st year) were here studying at our place till 1 a.m. Luckily, we were able to have a couple of date nights... to the school!

The very official name plate

This is Brady's eternal patient John... and it appears that his ear is in need of some work as well

It was good to see my babe show off his skills and I have a feeling it won't be the last time I'm there! Since we weren't really at our place at all for Christmas I opted on not putting up a Christmas tree which I'm sure Brady LOVED since he didn't have to do it all (haha) but I knew I had to at least get this up!

Love this wreath! Love the price even more! My mom and I found it for a steal after Christmas last year and have been waiting to put it up for one whole year... it was a tough year. Our door feels SO empty without it now. I guess I'll just have to find something to replace it with :)

Right after finals we headed straight back to Utah although unsure of how our trip would be. We had both of the animals and from my past experiences... cats don't do well in cars. It started out a little rocky with kitty trying to claw his way out of the kennel but after we opened the door up, it was smooth sailin'! They both had an enjoyable time... right on my lap! What a life.

That next day we were able to attend Lance and Allie's wedding. It was such a beautiful day and they are the most beautiful couple EVER!

Us at the Temple waiting for them to come out :)

Me with my two beautiful nieces!!! Love these girls!

A week before Christmas I received a call from a job that I had applied for asking if I could come in for an interview! Not wanting to pass up an opportunity for a possible job we decided to make a trip out of it and came back to Cali with Brady's brother Greg and his girlfriend Sky. While we were back in town we went to The Americana, which is a lot like The Gateway up in Salt Lake. They had it all decorated for Christmas and it was absolutely stunning! It's hard to not get into the Christmas spirit after being there.

The pout*

The day before we left for Utah we all decided to go out to San Diego! We haven't been out there since we've moved so we were all really excited. While we were driving we caught sight of the San Diego Temple which is right off the side of the freeway so we decided to stop and walk around. What a beautiful temple!

They had it all decorated for Christmas...

even the palm trees! I definitely wish we had been able to see it at night!

The world is so small when you are a member!! While we were walking around I ran into a guy who had worked in our office in Utah. We also ran into a couple of sister missionaries who knew my cousin that served a mission there not too long ago. We were told by the sister missionaries of the Mormon Battalion Site in Old Town. It was amazing! It was recently redone and is definitely something to see if you are there. We were led around by a sister missionary who we later found out was from Lehi and was serving with a girl I went to high school with. She turned Brady into a good lookin' Army Man. So priceless :)

I want to say they have the Master and Commander ship docked in San Diego... I'm not sure if this is it or not but it is such a cool boat!

This is the USS Midway Aircraft carrier that you can actually tour. We heard it takes about 3 hours to go through the whole thing so we didn't do it this time but we will have to go back and go through!

On our way home we stopped in Vegas to check out Bellagio's Christmas decorations! You could tell they definitely put a lot into making it beautiful!

These bears are actually made out of real flowers... crazy!

Such a fun trip to get us into the Christmas spirit!

More updates to come :)

(hopefully)

(someone might need to give me a call to remind me that you all need updates!)

xoxo

-Jamie

huGs & kiSses-

2010-11-18T07:54:00.000-08:00

This is the most amazing mother,

best friend, wife and woman I know

And it is also her birthday!!!!

My mom has been such a pivotal part of my life and I don't want to know what my life would be like without her. Whenever I am asked who I look up to or who I strive to be more like the first person that always come to mind is my mom.

Growing up, my mom was the one person who I aimed to impress, and was also the one person who could really discipline me and put me in my place (only when i really needed it). I really think that helped our relationship because she taught me that I need to respect her and I do more than anything! I remember a time back when I was little when my mom asked me to go find a book that I had been using and when I couldn't find it I just broke down in tears. That day I wanted SO MUCH to not disappoint my mom and I try to live my life now in a way that would not disappoint her either.

When we moved it was especially hard to be away from my mom since we would spend practically every day together. I remember when we first got to California, I kept on wondering who would I go shopping with!! My mom has been such an influence to so many lives, her piano and guitar students for one but our whole family and every one she meets!!

When I think about having children I hope I can raise them the way my mom did with us because the relationship we have is SO STRONG. It worries me that I won't be as great as my mom, I definitely have a lot to learn but I have the best teacher! They will definitely have the best "Grandma".
(when the time comes and who I'm sure will teach them some choice words) :)

I'm so happy I can be home to celebrate my mom's special day with her!! Love you mom, you are SO amazing!!!

xoxo

leGit laDy-

2010-10-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago while a bunch of us were at Disneyland I got a call from The Ellen Show telling me I had been chosen to be in the audience! The only catch was it was the HALLOWEEN episode so me and my party had to dress up in costume!

The only problem...I have NO Halloween costumes.

Brady's not particularly fond of dressing up so we really haven't done much for Halloween the past couple of years so I had no idea what I was going to wear!

We got to thinking and Mandy suggested Lady GAGA which I immediately thought would be perfect. The only problem was trying to find something modest since she wears leotards, fishnet tights, and meat dresses haha. I did some searching and found a dress that was only $18 (half off!!) that I could wear a shirt and leggings under. It was perfect!

We went to the WB Studio and had to get there 2 1/2 hours before the show started. There were SO many girls from our ward that had gotten tickets. While we were waiting they had workers coming around and looking at the costumes (trying to find the beset once since they did a top 10). Our ward totally swept the costume contest with 5 being from our ward!

Jamie (who was Russell from UP) won 2nd place in the costume contest and Lindsay (the tampax box) won 1st place!

We had car fresheners and cloudy with a chance of meatballs

Ashley (Ketchup) was chosen to play on the game and won a flat screen tv!

While we were waiting the workers also chose people to follow them back that would potentially get to play in the game! We had two girls from our group go back but Mandy stayed with them! They took those of us who were with the people that they had chosen and seated us in the audience, then followed by everyone else.

There was a guy in charge who was telling us how everything worked and turned on the music so we could start dancing! We were all dancing in our rows when this guy pointed me out and told me to come with him. I followed him down to the stage where he then announced "Lady GAGA" and went back into the row which left me on the stage by myself... to dance all by myself! It was so crazy! Thinking back on it now if I had time, I'm sure I would have totally freaked! So yes, I totally busted all my best moves in front of the whole show! It was so fun and since Mandy wasn't chosen to play in the game, they offered her free VIP tickets for todays show where Taylor Swift will be on. Ellen's Halloween show is going to air tomorrow (Friday). I think they got quite a few shots of our group dancing so look out for GAGA! I found this video of us online (I'm around the 0:20 mark)!

TripLe jUmp-

2010-10-20T19:31:00.001-07:00

I came across this video and thought it was so funny! This is pretty much what Brady has to go through for his Triple Jump Exercises (only it is dental but seriously, they are learning stuff like they are going to medical school).

There is no winning with professors

They are ALWAYS right

and it will do you no good to argue with them

Enjoy!

mY loVer-

2010-10-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

Today is a BIG day

Today is the birthday of someone whom I am madly in love with

Little did I know at this point that the "hot" guy I was drawing a picture of at the rec center would be my future husband

Little did I know when this picture was taken that this picture would be the first of many to follow

Little did I know when this picture was taken on our 1 month anniversary that I would now be looking back on the best 39 month anniversaries of my life

I honestly don't know where I would be today without Brady... nor do I ever want to! I'm so lucky to have married such an amazing man who treats me like gold. There is no better feeling in life than knowing that your husband loves you more than anything and will do whatever it takes to make you the happiest girl in the world... a task that he exceeds every day! A few of the many things I love about Brady

1. His dimples... I really hope our children get them :)

2. His testimony- Brady is such a strong individual and his testimony of our gospel is even stronger. He has gone through a lot with Chron's and having the gospel be a part of his life has definitely changed his outlook on everything. He really makes me want to be a better person and strive to be the best member I can be.

3. The way he is around children- Kids can't help but LOVE Brady. Whenever I see him around our nieces and nephews, it makes me realize what am amazing father he will be to our children

(don't worry mom... not for a while :)

I am the luckiest girl in the world!

*I love you more than anything babe*

Babe, can you do me a favor? Go look in the little bedroom... :)

EngiNes roLling-

2010-10-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

This is Kent

He is the best firefighter EVER, he's married to my mom, and today is his birthday!!

Kent has been married to my mom for just over 11 years.

I remember the first time I met Kent, it was at a basketball game at UVU (UVSC at the time) I don't remember much... except that he bought me a churro.

I liked him instantly.

A trait that I learned Kent had early on was patience.

Every time I was over at their house I would leave the front door open and more often than not leave every light on. I think it took a lot for

Kent to not go absolutely insane everytime I came over. Thanks for not going insane Kent!! :)

On one of our Mexico trips, Kent and I

went Para sailing... it was

SO FUN!

He was the only one who was brave enough to go with me :)

When we moved out here, Kent was so nice and offered to drive down the rental truck for us while we drove down our other car. What would we have done without him!

On our way down the tire blew and we had to get it changed out.

Thank goodness Kent was there becauseI think I would have probably had a melt down if it weren't for him.

Kent and my mom are absolutely perfect for each

other and what makes me love him even more is how well he treats

my mom. I know that while we are away on our

*extended vacation*

Kent will take the absolute BEST care of her.

One thing I have realized from moving away is how much you take

for granted the time you get to spend with your loved ones.

Kent has done SO much to help me through out my life and I cannot

thank him enough for his influence on me.

Happy Birthday Kent, we love you so much!!

xoxo

Happy Land-

2010-10-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

Since Brady and I have been out here we decided

to take advantage of the perks of living in California by getting....

Disney Land Passes!!!

We've gone a couple of times since we've been here and love it!

It really makes you feel like a kid again :).

This past week we went with some fellow first years and decided that we would get tickets to World of Color that is showing in California Adventures. Since our showing was at 11:15 we had some time to spare.

We decided we'd try out being bugs for a while...

Although fun while it lasted, I think we'll stick

to being humans for now :)

For those of you who are not familiar with the World of Color, there is

only one word to describe it

AMAZING

It is a water show where they project clips of Disney movies in the water to music and colors. Needless to say we got home super late that night but it was worth every second of it!

Bread Bugs-

2010-09-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

Yeast is scary.

I remember the talk I had with my mom when I was younger about how bread was made.

There are BUGS IN MY FOOD!?!?!?!

That didn't go over too well. I think I went on a strike for anything bread

related for probably 2 days... and then got over it.

Until my recent attempt to re-create my mom's rolls I have strayed clear from yeasty recipes.

(probably for good reason)

Round #1

Doesn't this look appetizing?

TOTALLY my fault. I called my mom for guidance and ended up forgetting to put in the sugar...

Round #2

All is right in the world

raiNy day-

2010-09-19T20:06:00.000-07:00

There are just those days that from the moment you wake up, you know it's going to be a bad one.

Today was one of those days.

I wont go into too much detail but we'll just say I think I am going to have to dispose of a certain dress of mine (Aaron style- throw it on a hot stove and watch it go up in flames, along with the rest of the house)

But that's another story for another day...

I got a call from my mom and Aaron and really, I'm so lucky to have a family that can cheer me up and make my moments of complete embarrassment humorous. They mentioned to me a certain website where people can post about their bad days. For example, here are a few:

Today, during the trailers at the movies, my boyfriend elbowed me in the ribs and smiled when an ad for a weight loss institute was shown.

Today, my boyfriend of 2 years took me to get a tattoo done with his name. He paid for it. After it was done he told me it was over between us and he thought it'd be a nice reminder of him for me.

Today, my doctor told me I had "abnormally large breasts." This wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't a 20 year old man.

Today, on my way to the restroom, I casually glanced sideways through the kitchen window, only to see the cook using his spatula to clean under his fingernails, which made me stop dead. He then flipped my eggs over with it.

Today, my first girlfriend of over 3 years left me for another guy. She said she's looking for someone who can financially provide for her in the future. The dude owns a T-Mobile kiosk. I'm going to medical school.

It's official.... my day could have been worse

Birthday loVe-

2010-09-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

This past week 2 of my most favorite people in the world celebrated their birthdays. I'm so sad I wasn't able to be there with them to celebrate their special days!

This is my older brother Aaron.

How lucky am I to be related to such a handsome guy?

Pretty lucky I'd say!

Aaron and I had the typical "brother-sister" relationship growing up. Aaron knew exactly what to do that would bug me (and usually did it) and knew that by doing so... I would say very choice words to him (I'm sure I will never live that down). As we got older we grew closer and closer and now we are the best of buds! It was so fun being back home and getting together every Sunday to have dinner. I really miss spending that time with him. Aaron is such an example to me and I am SO lucky to have his influence in my life. He is the most dedicated (He will not eat chocolate... I don't know how that's even POSSIBLE!?) and persevering person I have ever met and I strive to be more like him daily! He has taught me so much and I love him more than anything!

This is my best friend Shan.

(With her cute nephew and niece)

We have known each other practically forever! We met in the 7th grade and have been inseparable ever since. We've had so many fun memories together. For our senior trip, my parents took us to Cancun and had such a blast!

We did everything from sleeping in huts on the beach (without getting much sleep from the little creatures trying to eat us all night) to swimming with turtles in the ocean!

We swam through this cave.. it was so beautiful!

We found a coconut sitting on the ground and decided that we wanted to get the milk out! Throwing it on the ground didn't do much good so we decided to use surgical scissors to cut away the outside layers... without much luck!

Shan is such an amazing girl! Pretty soon after we got back from Cancun she had to have hip surgery (1 hip that summer and the other the following summer). The recovery took some time but she is so strong willed and she is now doing better than ever! This past week she was able to climb to the top of Mount Timpanogos... what an accomplishment! Shan has been there for me through thick and thin and I don't know what I would do without her. She is like a sister to me and I look up to her so much! Love you Shan, hope you had the best birthday!

xoxo

Preslee Jo-

2010-07-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

Such a heartbreaking story... our prayers are with them!!

http://www.patrickandashley.blogspot.com/

New Beginnings

2010-02-25T03:26:00.000-08:00

I kept on thinking that the last time I had written on here it was a little before Thanksgiving but I can’t believe it was WAYYYYYYY back in September?!? I can’t believe I let it go this long!! What better time than 4:28 a.m. to tell everyone what has been going on... I cannot sleep so I figure I might as well do something productive! Just a warning, this post is REALLY long... hope you can make it through it! The past 5 months have been crazy/exciting/nerve wrecking/every other emotion that you can dream of. So here is what has been keeping us busy! Back in November Brady took a golfing trip with the guys in his family, AKA "Man Trip" but a couple of days before Brady and I took a usual trip to the pet store. Since being married Brady has become practically best friends with my mom’s dog Harley and we knew we would eventually want one of our own. I guess you could call it "window shopping" since we always go and look but never buy... but this time was different! We came across this ADORABLE little puppy who reminded us so much of Harley! He had the same floppy ears and underbite that shows his bottom teeth! We had them pull him out for us and immediately fell in love! He has been such a fun little guy to have around! It’s hard to think back before we had him... what did we do all day!?! Before we bought him, we knew we wouldn’t be able to keep him at our apartment since they don’t allow animals. But for some time before this we had been planning on moving into my dad’s house eventually when he wanted to rent it out. I made it clear that we would move into that house under certain conditions (getting it fixed up) so that’s exactly what we have been doing!!! We have been painting, Brady has been tiling, we textureized the ceilings, got new carpet in, replaced a lot of ceiling and we still have so much to do! I never imagined how much work painting is! It’s one of those moments when I wish I was not a perfectionist because the ceiling is white and the walls are cream and the lines where they meet just drive me insane!! I think I will eventually have to just stop looking up so I don’t have to think about them haha :). We still have the entryway, 1 bathroom, and the kitchen to tile so we are just waiting for Brady to have a break from school to finish that up! I’ve been pretty busy lately with work and all now with it being closer to tax season and Brady has been SUPER busy with his schooling and trying to figure out this whole Dental School Situation! It has been such a blessing for us to have Brady’s brother Greg around who is in his 4th year of Dental School at USC. Brady has been able to go down and participate in several different services, one of which being the Ayuda Clinic. I was lucky to be able to go down with Brady to one of these clinics and it was absolutely amazing and very humbling! There are so many things that are going on in different countries but it is truly incredible how much is going on in our own communities that we aren’t aware of!!! What the Ayuda Clinic does is it allows under privileged children to come in and get some dental work done for free. It was such an amazing experience to go in and be able to help these children understand the importance of taking care of their teeth. There were stations set up where we would show the children the right and wrong way to brush and floss and what was shocking was to hear that some of the children had never even heard of floss before! From when Brady and I have talked he has said that being at those clinics is what has truly made him want to become a Dentist. It’s crazy how much you take for granted and we truly have been blessed with so much! I know that having gone through these experiences it will be such a motivation to help out as many people as we can with the education that Brady will receive! While we were at that Ayuda Clinic we were able to meet one of the Founders, Dr. Done (who actually started up this clinic with one of the 12 apostles... sorry I can’t remember exactly who it was). We didn’t realize at the time but meeting Dr. Done has played such a hand in leading up to this moment since he works at USC once a week and it didn’t hurt that he was particularly fond of me :). When we returned home from that clinic Brady wrote Dr. Done thanking him for being able to participate in the clinic. For the past six months Brady has been corresponding with Dr. Done expressing his determination to get into USC and Dr. Done had told Brady that he would do everything he could to put in a good word for him. On several other occasions these past few months Greg has been able to do some work on Brady’s teeth to get some more experience ( it was free=sign me up anytime). While Brady has been at the school he has been able to meet the Admissions Staff and one of the times when they were on their way out of the school they happened to pass Dr. Abelson, who for some time was the Dean at USC. After they had passed him everything just kind of froze (think of this as slow motion) Greg thought wait, Brady needs to meet this guy! They turned around went after him and were able to speak with him for a few minutes about how Brady is trying to get into their Dental School. After Brady returned home he was able to get in contact with Dr. Abelson regarding what he could do to better his chances to get into their Dental School. He had told us that he would go to the Admissions Staff and speak with them. When we heard back from him he had told us that he had spoken to them about Brady and that his application is under review and that hopefully they would grant us an interview. While we were waiting to hear back from them about an interview, Greg was able to speak with Dr. Abelson about Brady and he had mentioned that when he had gone to the Admissions and reviewed his file he had signed Brady’s application and stuck it on top of the files. Within the next week we received an e-mail from USC granting us an interview!! We were ecstatic!!! We sent Brady out there the next week and he was able to go through their interview process which he says couldn’t have gone better. While he was at his interview the Admissions Staff was present to meet with them and it was nice because they all already knew who Brady was. When we was meeting with one of them he had said "when you get in.." which blew me away! Could this really be happening? Brady interviewed at USC on February 16th and last night (only a week later) we found out that............... WE GOT ACCEPTED!!!! We are so excited!! To be honest I really wasn’t expecting us to get in this year with the combination of Brady’s DAT scores and GPA but it really goes to show you that miracles do happen!! Throughout this whole process I have really tried to stay grounded and have tried to not get my hopes up because I just didn’t want to be let down and have everything that we’ve worked so hard for come crashing down. It’s crazy that you don’t really think of it at the time, but there were so many crucial moments for this to have happened! I think that if Greg hadn’t been at USC, if we hadn’t met Dr. Done, and they hadn’t met Dr. Abelson that afternoon that there is no way that this would have happened. We’re so grateful for this opportunity and I’m so proud of my babe for being so persistent!! I don’t really think that it’s hit me yet that in 6 months, we’re going to be moving to L.A.!! I’m so excited but at the same time I’m scared and nervous! I’ve never lived outside of Utah where I will be away from family, friends and everything I know. Just thinking of driving on the freeway gives me hives, thank goodness for the Garmin (Thanks Mom & Kent!!!!!!). I know that going through these next 4 years will be hard yes, but so good for our marriage! We’ll have to rely just on us and sadly... we’ll have to start cooking our own Sunday dinner! :) To all of you who made it through all of this, I applaud you! We want to thank everyone for all the support, we wouldn’t have been able to do this without you! We love you guys!

-Jamie

Sweet Addiction-

2009-09-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

Lately I've had this fascination with adorable looking cupcakes like the ones made at the Sweet Tooth Fairy. It really makes me want to throw a party so I have an excuse to buy a few dozen. I HIGHLY suggest everyone that hasn't tried them go to their store and buy some!! I’d have to say my favorite (so far) is the Mint Chocolate and Brady’s is the Red Velvet :). This is their website but just a precaution, it will make your mouth water!

http://www.thesweettoothfairy.com/

-Jamie

Far Away-

2009-09-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

Every year the girls in our family will go on a girls weekend which usually consists of lots of shopping, eating out, and crafts! For this year’s outing, we had the opportunity to spend our Labor Day weekend up at my Uncle Scott and Aunt Catherine’s beautiful LODGE (haha) and spent a good four days in the mountains with no cell phones or TV’s and just each other to keep company. I’m going to have to thank my Aunts aka "The Paparazzi" for most of the pictures on here, they took some really great ones!! The first day we spent lots of time working on the stitching project my mom brought. My "Speed Stitcher" Aunt Barbra finished hers pretty much immediatley and left us all in the dust! I have now finished the one I was working on and am now on my second. Who knew I liked stitching so much!! It’s something that will definitely keep me busy while Brady is studying!

On Sunday we went back into town which took about an hour or so and went to church. On our way back we found the most happenin place in Fairfield...:P

My Aunt Catherine (who is the Queen at making the most adorable cards) put together kits of cards for us to make. They turned out amazing and I'm not really sure I'm wanting to give them away since their so cute!

"Over the River, and Through the Woods" we went!

Or maybe, THROUGH the river :)

There were a couple of horses up there with us which Barbra particularly enjoyed. We found out that they have a sweet spot for grilled corn on the cob.

Aunt Catherine took us all on rides through the area.

What a perfect way to end the perfect trip

Games Begin-

2009-08-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

Stephanie Meyer. I love her books and since I've read the Twilight series and The Host I haven't been able to find a book that I can say I REALLY LOVE. I went out to lunch with my wonderful friend Shan and her Mom the other day and saw The Time Travelers Wife which by the way is pretty good and you should all see :) (kinda sad though). But Shan is a read-a-holic so I know I can always count on her for some good book ideas. This time she suggested that I read a book called The Hunger Games which I had never heard of but apparently it's all the rave right now. Last night Brady and I went to Borders and I convinced him that if he would let me buy this book, we could go and see G.I. Joe tonight... haha what a deal!! So for those of you who haven't heard about this book this is what its about:

The Hunger Games takes place in an unidentified future time period after the destruction of North America, in a nation known as Panem. Panem consists of a rich Capitol and twelve surrounding, poorer districts. As punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol, every year one boy and one girl from each district are forced to participate in "The Hunger Games", a sadistic reality- TV show in which a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district is selected via lottery where the participants, or "tributes", must fight to the death in an outdoor arena until only one remains. The story follows 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, a girl from District 12 who volunteers for the Games in place of her younger sister, Primrose.

Ohh, sounds exciting! Right now I'm only on page 6 but I'm interested to see how it all turns out!!

xoxo

-Jamie

Falling-

2009-08-12T19:14:00.001-07:00

Today my mom and I went up to the Gateway in Salt Lake to go school shopping with my cousin Elise who is going into the big 9TH grade, my Aunt Catherine and my Aunt Barbara. Through lots of Elise torture and trying on HUNDREDS of clothes from my mom (haha JK!), the day ended up being very productive with lots of cute clothes from Hollister and Abercrombie. It was a blast and I can't wait to hear what she decides to wear for the first day of school :). So I came across this video on the web today... all I can say is CRAZY! Who's next!!

Sugar & Ice-

2009-08-11T10:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm not going to lie. THIS LOOKS AMAZING. Especially right now when its a bazillion degrees outside! I found this recipe in my new favorite magazine *Taste of Home* and I can not wait to try it. I will let you guys know how it turns out ;). Here is the recipe.

Frozen Lemon-Berry Margaritas

Ingredients:
4 lime wedges
2 tablespoons coarse sugar
2/3 cup thawed lemonade concentrate
1 cup frozen unsweetened raspberries
2 cups ice cubes
1 package (16 ounces) frozen sweetened sliced strawberries, partially thawed
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 tablespoon sugar

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Directions:

Using lime wedges, moisten the rims of four margarita or cocktail glasses. Set aside limes for garnish. Sprinkle coarse sugar on a plate; hold each glass upside down and dip rim into sugar. Set aside. Discard remaining sugar on plate. In a blender, combine the lemonade concentrate and raspberries; cover and process until blended. Press mixture through a fine sieve; discard seeds. Return raspberry mixture to blender; add the ice, strawberries, blueberries, and sugar. Cover and process until smooth. Pour into prepared glasses. Garnish with reserved limes. Yield: 4 servings.

First Date-

2009-07-31T09:38:00.000-07:00

I was going through some old e-mails and came across this one. For any of you who need a good laugh, this one is HILARIOUS.

How's this for a first date! If you didn't see this on the Tonight show, I hope you're sitting down when you read it. This is probably the funniest date story ever, first date or not!!! We have all had bad dates but this takes the cake. Jay Leno went into the audience to find the most embarrassing first date that a woman ever had. The winner described her worst first date experience. There was absolutely no question as to why her tale took the prize! She said it was midwinter... Snowing and quite cold...and the guy had taken her skiing in Salt Lake City, Utah It was a day trip (no overnight). They were strangers, after all, and truly had never met before. The outing was fun but relatively uneventful until they were headed home late that afternoon. They were driving back down the mountain, when she gradually began to realize that she should not have had that extra latte. They were about an hour away from anywhere with a rest room and in the middle of nowhere! Her companion suggested she try to hold it, which she did for awhile. Unfortunately, because of the heavy snow and slow going, there came a point where she told him that he had better stop and let her go beside the road, or it would be the front seat of his car. They stopped and she quickly crawled out beside the car, yanked her pants down and started. In the deep snow she didn't have good footing, so she let her butt rest against the rear fender to steady herself. Her companion stood on the side of the car watching for traffic and indeed was a real gentleman and refrained from peeking. All she could think about was the relief she felt despite the rather embarrassing nature of the situation. Upon finishing however, she soon became aware of another sensation. As she bent to pull up her pants, the young lady discovered her buttocks were firmly glued against the car's fender. Thoughts of tongues frozen to poles immediately came to mind as she attempted to disengage her flesh from the icy metal. It was quickly apparent that she had a brand new problem due to the extreme cold. Horrified by her plight and yet aware of the humor of the moment, she answered her date's concerns about "what is taking so long" with a reply that indeed, she was "freezing her butt off" and in need of some assistance! He came around the car as she tried to cover herself with her sweater and then, as she looked imploringly into his eyes, he burst out laughing. She too, got the giggles and when they finally managed to compose themselves, they assessed her dilemma. Obviously, as hysterical as the situation was, they also were faced with a real problem. Both agreed it would take something hot to free her chilly cheeks from the grip of the icy metal! Thinking about what had gotten her into the predicament in the first place, both quickly realized that there was only one way to get her free. So, as she looked the other way, her first-time date proceeded to unzip his pants and pee her butt off the fender. As the audience screamed in laughter, she took the Tonight Show prize hands down; Or perhaps that should be "pants down." And you thought your first date was embarrassing. Jay Leno's comment... "This gives a whole new meaning to being pissed off." Oh, and how did the first date turn out? He became her husband and was sitting next to her on the Leno show.

Jewels & Sparkles-

2009-07-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

If you know me, whenever I have some spare time I am always doing something to my nails. Or as my Mom, Kent, and Brady would say "grooming" :) Right now, my new favorite thing to do is *GLITTER TOES*. A lot of people get them done at salons and they cost $25-$30 bucks. I say, skip the salon and do it yourself for less than $5! All that is required is clear nail polish, and your favorite glitter from any craft store (I go to Roberts). There you will find bigger chunk glitter and a smaller dust glitter. Both will work but I prefer the bigger chunk glitter since it stands out more like glitter and the other one looks more like nail polish but they both work!
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Step 1*
Paint your nails with clear nail polish
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Step 2*
Pour glitter on the nail while the polish is still wet. By pour I really mean dump. This step is usually pretty messy. Its best to do this over a paper towel so you can salvage some of the glitter for a later time.
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Step 3*
Wait a few minutes (5 should do the trick) and then shake your leg to get off the extra glitter.
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Step 4*
Paint another clear coat over the glitter.
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After you paint the clear coat over the glitter you can either stop there or I usually like to repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 which helps it to stand out more! These nails are especially great for summer since the look really great out in the sun. Enjoy!

xoxo

-Jamie

Summer Dayz-

2009-07-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

OKAY! It’s official. I am horrible at keeping up on this (as if you couldn’t already tell :P). Things have been so busy as of late I don’t even know where to start! Brady has been busy studying every day, all day, and all night getting prepared for this DAT. He ended up taking the monstrous 5 hour test this past Tuesday and is not satisfied with the score he received. We were hoping to finally be able to enjoy the summer break but… it doesn’t look like that will be so! So now back to studying begins and he is going to re-take it in October. We applied to around 15 schools anywhere from New York to L.A.! This next week is going to be really crazy. We are going camping in Bryce Canyon for a couple of days which for those of you who know how much Brady LOVES camping, looks like I’m in for a lot of work! About a month or so ago we were invited to go camping with a couple friend of ours just for one night, not that bad! We got up there and set everything up and continued the night by the fire and went to bed. The next morning Brady and I wake up and as soon as I get up I am rolling up my sleeping bag, deflating my pad and rolling it up, just getting everything done. All the while, Brady is kinda attempting to shove his sleeping bag into the pouch which obviously didn’t work. He then attempts to roll it up like sideways and any other sort of way he can think of, which again didn’t work. Then it dawns on me, does my husband not know how to roll up a sleeping bag?!?!?! So I’m like OKAY, this is how you roll up a sleeping bag. Fold in the middle, start from the bottom and roll it up as tight as you can so by the time you get to the top it is small enough to fit in the bag right! The whole enchilada haha. He tries it a first time, second time, third time, and still no luck. By that time I’m just like okay, just give me your sleeping bag. I get it rolled up and am taking everything to the car and on my way back I notice the other couple with us. Amanda is standing by the fire (it was really cold) and Robbie is putting all their stuff away. Then I’m like HMM, FUNNY, Shouldn’t I be hanging out with Amanda and doing that to?! We finally get back home and I decide to go over to my mom’s house. When I get there she asks how everything was and asks if she can see the pictures that I was supposed to take! I ended up with no pictures of this priceless moment since I was so busy working haha but looking back on it, it was pretty funny! So I guess you could say I’m excited/worried about how this time around will be. Hopefully I’ll be able to take some great pictures! We’re going to try our best to break Brady in. We considered sending him out with Kent for a while which should do the trick haha. :) I will let you know if he survives!!!!

xoxo

-Jamie

Beginnings-

2009-05-15T13:55:00.000-07:00

Okay! I've finally jumped on to the blogger bandwagon. I've been harassed (okay maybe not harassed ) by so many family members to write a blog that I think its about time for me to start. I can't make any promises that this is going to be the most fabulous blog you've ever seen but I will do my best to keep you all interested! There are so many things that I need to catch everyone up on, I really don't even know where to begin! The only word that can describe these past two years is CRAZY. I really am just shocked that Brady and I have been married for over a year now, its gone by so fast!!! I still feel like I'm a senior in High School! I guess its true what they say, time flies when your having fun! I'm pretty much the only one of my friends that is married and always get asked, "How is married life??". Honestly, it is AMAZING. There are times (yes, it is true) when its not always the easiest thing but it is definitely worth it! For those of you who don't know my better half (Brady), he is the best husband in the world and I am so lucky to have him!! Right now he is preparing to take the DAT in June and pretty much is studying all day so right now, our life isn't too exciting! He is so dedicated, it amazes me! And ya know, its definitely a plus that he is the hottest guy in the world too! SCORE! Haha well I hope you all enjoyed this! I'm going to try my best to do this at least once a week (hopefully I'll get better and do it more). I'll write again soon!*

xoxo
-Jamie