3 year old in the house

Jocelyn has been acting three lately. She will be so grown up and helpful and independent sometimes and then at other times she’s throwing fits (and I mean kicking, screaming, hitting, out of control ones), and hitting or taking things from Lillian. She’ll waffle back and forth in one day, even. She had really struggled at the end of last week with everything from eating to napping, sharing and getting dressed and I thought perhaps we could use a little Jocelyn/Mommy time to form a friendship again instead of battles. I took her out all Saturday morning and we did the Home depot craft, went grocery shopping, picked out a Christmas gift for Lillian, got her a cheeseburger and I thought we had a great time bonding.

Well, the next morning Jocelyn woke up with a vengeance. I literally had to sit on her and wrestle her into her Sunday dress so we could try to make it to church on time (I had to pack up her breakfast and put it in my church bag because she wouldn’t eat a bite of it). She had ripped all her curlers out of her hair the night before because I wouldn’t let her stay up late so her hair looked like crap and due to her inconsolable kicking and screaming I finally went and strapped her in her car seat and made her scream in there for 10 minutes while I got Lillian ready for church and we all left. That night, however, she asked Jared and I to come listen to her lesson so we came in to where she had pillows all laid out so we could sit on them while she proceeded to open the scriptures, the gospel pictures, activities, etc. and teach us a lesson about "Jesus and the scriptures". How can one yo-yo back and forth so dramatically? She was even telling Jared and me how we needed to take turns and share when she handed us the activity! At least I know she has it in her somewhere, I just wish she’d use that side a little more frequently! Amazingly frustrating! I’ve been trying to take her to story times at the library, a creative play group that we found out about in Santa Cruz, taking her to friends houses to be with other kids, anything to give her a little more social outlet in case that is the issue. I’m at a loss, but after talking with Jared and a couple older women/mothers I know, I think it just must be her age and her efforts to figure herself out. She’s not out to sabotage my sanity!
She is a happy girl and loves to “nest” throughout the house. In any little corner or nook of the house I am bound to find several pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, heated rice bags and her parachute all gathered together as she snuggles in and tells me she is “sailing on the sea”, taking care of her toys, or other such adventures. She’ll even invite Lillian on her adventures and I love when they play together so well. She is having fun playing with the little nativity I set out just for the girls. She had me make a “gate” out of cardboard to pen up the animals, and a star for the angel to sit by. We’ll tell the Christmas story over and over while Lillian takes off with various pieces of the nativity. The other day Jocelyn told me “I’m not sure where Myrrh is?” as she has named each of the wise men with the gift they are carrying.

Christmas Frenzy

We didn't waste any time once we returned from our trip to get ready for Christmas! On Sunday evening we busted out the Christmas music, and dusted off decorations that have been in storage for four years. Monday we picked up a $20 artificial tree off of Craigslist and we were ready to rock and roll! I'll have to admit I was a little sad to take the step into the artificial tree world since growing up we had the family tradition of picking out a real, heavenly smelling tree every year. Jared and I did this our first year and it's so fun, but we are making an effort to be more economical and, let's be honest, when can we find a time when everyone is in a good mood, fed, and ready to go spend an hour or two searching out the perfect Christmas tree? As much as I long for that, it's much easier walking out to the garage and dusting off an artificial tree. Maybe one of these years when we have the time/money we will have a real tree again but that was not this year! And you can't beat having a 7 foot tree for $20 that can be re-used year after year. Props to Jared for taking the 2 hours to set it up AND put the lights on it, all while letting Jocelyn "help" him. Lillian and I had to step in the second night when these two had lost steam and put up the garland and ornaments. Of course, while sipping home made wassail and listening to Christmas music. I love the holidays!

Trip to Utah

So on Sunday we returned from our Thanksgiving venture to Utah. We had a blast and, miracle of miracles, none of us got sick! Until the next day after we got home when Lillian busted out a sore throat, runny nose and cough-BUT, I'm not going to complain. I was so thankful that we finally had a trip where nobody was down and out sick! Yes, I called it a trip, NOT a vacation because we were running like mad the whole time. We drove up through Idaho to visit my Grandma and extended family up there, down through Logan to hit up more of my extended family and 3 younger sibs, and then down to Jared's parent's house where we remained the rest of the trip.
Lucky for me, my older sister lives in their basement with her cute little family so we were never lacking something exciting to do. We went to a family night at the roller skating rink, the Temple, Wheeler Farms, a Rec Center with an amazing indoor pool with playground, river, slide, etc. (Thanks Rachel), to dinner at various sisters' houses, the local discovery park, Cabelas, to a movie (yay for going out with my honey on an actual DATE since we had some willing, safe, and free babysitters). We had a couple rockin' cousin dance parties and Jocelyn was in 7th heaven playing with ALL her cousins (except the Titus'-We Missed you guys!). Lillian took most of it in stride, except on Thanksgiving day when there were 30+ people for dinner and she got a little overwhelmed. What can I say, she's used to a quiet little house with just a few of us! We'll break her into this big family thing before too long...We're taking her to my parents house after Christmas with most everyone there so that should warm her up to the idea again...
The best part is that we carpooled with my parents and took their family van so parts of the all day trip my Dad was driving, Mom riding shotgun, the girls asleep on the first bench, Jared listening to music/sleeping on the third bench, and me watching a movie or sleeping on the second bench thinking: This is the way to Travel! Thanks Parents for your generosity and willingness to travel with two kids 3 and under! It certainly made the trip easy on me. Not that the trip didn't have some low points, but the girls were good troopers and I'm eternally grateful for portable DVD players...
Girls with my Maternal GrandmaJocelyn reading with Grandma
Wheeler Farm & Logan Temple
Girl Cousins during Dance Party Lilly begging to get out of her car seat

Everyday Adventures

I have put together a photo book online, and had it printed for every year that we've been married. A "yearbook" of sorts to quickly and easily recollect past years and fun times without taking too much time, shelf space, money, etc. And for those of you who know me well, you know I am NOT a scrapbooker and never will be so this is my meek attempt. Well, as I was looking through some of the photos from the past year I realized we have a ton of pictures of vacations or birthdays, family visiting or special occasions, but not a lot of everyday occurrences. These pictures were my effort to capture some of our everyday adventures. The times when you usually don't take your camera because they seem so mundane. Now I will have some to include in our photo book this year. I will have to post more later because I have yet to capture some of them on camera, but here are a few:

One of our usual visits to the Beach

Playing in the toy "corner"

Buckled into the car seats

Feeding the llama who lives behind the back fence of the property

Eating breakfast


Jared Biking to Work

Grocery Shopping

Go Utah State!!!!

So my sister Kelsey goes to Utah State right now along with my two brothers. It makes Jared and me a bit nostalgic because that is where we met, dated, and were newlyweds. For Jocelyn's birthday, Kelsey sent the girls some Utah State tattoos or "stickers" as we call them at our house. We made her this video to thank her for the stickers, but I thought it would speak to all USU Aggie fans (which actually includes almost all of Jared's siblings and ALL of mine, in-laws included).

Halloween at Our House

I love holidays. Everything from St Patrick's day to Thanksgiving to 4th of July and everything in between. Jared thinks I go overboard, but I love decorating for them, listening to holiday related music, making traditional holiday food, dressing up,you name it. This year for Halloween we participated in it all and I think we are sufficiently "halloweened out." That doesn't mean I'm stopping. Jocelyn and I already put up our Thanksgiving decor and I'm pouring over my recipes involving cranberries, turkey, and mashed potatoes...
So some of our halloween fun included participating in an event at our local Disney Store where kids could come up dressed in their "disney costumes" and play games, go on a parade around the store, etc. It was actually a highly chaotic and disorganized event but I put that fact aside to enjoy the fact that Jocelyn was running through the mall in a princess dress and glass slippers and that Lillian was thrilled to see all the other kids dressed up in costume along with her. We also went to a dance party at the library one night (which actually ended up being Lillian and I dancing with the librarian and other kids to tunes such as "thriller" while Jocelyn sat pouting on the side because she was in a "shy" mood as she informed me on the way home). We've carved pumpkins, attended a halloween party at a friends house, a "trunk or treat" and carnival at the church, and hosted a "spooktacular" dinner at our house with Jared's coworker and family. As I stated earlier: thoroughly halloweened-out. We dressed up as the three little pigs and Jared was the big bad wolf. Of course, our noses lasted for 1 second, ears came off after 2 seconds, sticks, straws, and bricks were lost after 3 seconds and people were wondering why we were all dressed in pink with funny tails on. You can't win all of them, right?

Joining the Blogging World

I've fought against the trend for a good 15 months now. First with the excuse that I had a new baby, then with the excuse that we had an anciently slow internet connection (a valid excuse I must say), and then that we were busy moving. Now these excuses have all slipped away, so I am finally crossing something off of my "to-do" list! I am entering the world of blogging...
I've done decently well at keeping up with friends' blogs and I really do enjoy reading their posts and seeing pictures of their darling kids, but now I'm going to put myself out there and see how it goes.
I even told Jared 5 months ago, when looking at everyone's cute blogs "I think it comes down to this: I either spend time with my children or I blog about them." Well, I am going to attempt to do both now that I'm getting a full night of sleep. Hopefully I succeed and, if not, perhaps I'll keep my sanity by connecting with old friends and other moms amid the daily grind of diaper changing, feeding, doctors appointments, cleaning, whining (both from me and my children), laughing, laundry, cooking, etc. So I'm not making any promises of how cute, current or clever my blog will be. It is what it is, and I refuse to put any pressure on myself~