Random Thoughts....

I love bath time!! It's the one time both the kids are totally happy and entertained. I thought the one of Dustin holding Liz is so cute. He just started hugging her as soon as I broke out the camera! This blog is mostly random stuff I guess. I haven't posted a blog in a while and these are some of the things that have happened since we hiked the butte, plus some random Jen thoughts. One of the things I wanted to mention was that we took a trip to Portland to go to IKEA. SO FUN!!! IKEA is one of my absolute favorite stores. We just got up one weekend and said, "Let's drive to IKEA!" So we packed the kids up and got out of Dodge! The kids were really good in the car, and as soon as we got there we all had to find the family bathroom so we could change diapers and all that good stuff. I mention this only because the family bathroom at IKEA is so amazing. For one thing, there's cute decorations all over the place. On the walls, hanging from the ceiling...what store puts decor inside a bathroom!! There's also a play area with chairs and toys, which kept Dustin entertained the whole time I was cleaning Liz up, and a nice step stool so Dustin could wash his hands and get on and off the potty. There's a big chair in the corner, a diaper changing station with free Huggies wipes, and a dispenser that dispenses free diapers. FREE DIAPERS!!! I never thought such a thing could be possible in my lifetime. There's also free bottle warming, and jarred baby food! We had so much fun just browsing around. We left with toy boxes, kitchen utensils, mixing bowls...that store is dangerous!!!

Here's a random thought. I am having the hardest time getting Liz to drink her bottles. It's like she started solid foods and has no desire to drink from a bottle at all. She'll only drink 4 ounces max. I've tried cutting back on solids, I've tried spacing out longer feedings, I've tried skipping solids all together...nothing works. She went from drinking 30 ounces a day to around 16. Anyone have any ideas?

Dustin is at a really fun age right now. His speech has really taken off and he's repeating back everything we say to him. It's a lot of pressure knowing that he picks up on everything I say and do!!! Some of my favorite things he says right now is poo poos, o.k., anku mommy (thank you mommie), ere'dit go (where did it go), and my most favorite thing he does is sticks out his hand and says, "hand?" when he wants me to hold his hand. Love it.

I also wanted to say how grateful I was to go to the temple last weekend with four other couples from the ward. It was so great to see familiar faces and it made the experience more meaningful in a way. The temple has such a wonderful feeling about it. It's impossible to leave the temple in a bad mood, and sharing it with members of our ward family made it that much more enjoyable. I felt so much love for everyone. Dustin watches Cars constantly and Filmore sums up my feelings perfectly with his line, "There's a lot of love out there, y'know." Sigh, I never thought animated movies would pop into my head to describe a temple experience. I guess that's the mommie brain in me.

On a last note, since the weather has been so crazy, I've been desperate to come up with inside things to keep Dustin entertained. And one of my strong suits is not arts and crafts...at all. But, Dustin and I pulled out the glue and finger paint and made a rocket ship together one cold and rainy afternoon. I had to post it because it is so rare that I do anything crafty. Here is Dustin "helping" me.

And here is our beautiful creation.
(I told you I wasn't crafty!)

True Eugenians

I've heard several times that you're not a true Eugenian if you haven't hiked Spencer's Butte. And I am happy to announce that after over 2 years of living in Eugene, we finally hiked the Butte. And not only did we hike it, we carried both our kids on our backs the whole way up and down in true Eugenian style. As you can see, we had Dustin in the backpack, Liz in the front pack, and Tim and I huffed it the whole way up the mountain. The kids were amazingly content riding their taxi's to the top. They were a good workout for us. I was a little surprised that you actually kinda rock climb at one point, which added a level of difficulty with a kid throwing off my center of gravity. But, it was totally worth it to see the view at the top. We all sat and had some snacks and let Dustin climb around. It was such a clear and pretty day, we could see everything. Just beautiful. The way back down, however, was another story. We decided to go the opposite side of the mountain and be adventurous. Within the first 5 minutes, we lost the trail and ended up having to repel down a very steep cliff of mud!!! Yikes. All I can say is that we must have some good guardian angels taking care of us because we all made it down safely in one piece. All in all though, definitely a worthwhile Eugene experience.

This nice little cliff was what we had to go down to get back to the trail! I swear it's even steeper than it looks!

Happy Birthday Dustin and Tim!! And Easter Too!!

Whew! I am finally blogging about our busy weekend! We had 3 birthdays to celebrate, and Easter. We were partyin fools. My brother has a birthday on the 21st, and Dustin and Tim have their birthday on the 24th (yes, Dustin was born on Tim's birthday, he got the best present ever!) so we usually have a big family party to celebrate the 3 birthdays. This year, Tim made the best steaks ever, and we had an amazingly huge chocolate cake from Costco. My sister and her hubby drove down from Kennewick to celebrate with us and got to stay in our freshly painted guest room. It was fun to have everyone together and hang out and eat food.

(I told you the cake was huge!)

The next day was Easter, so we got to party some more! We colored eggs, cooked a ham and had a huge brunch with everybody, had an easter egg hunt and then opened Easter baskets. Dustin and Tim were so funny coloring the eggs. Tim was trying really hard to make his swirl eggs look pretty and Dustin just wanted to make a mess. After Tim gave up trying to get Dustin to make "pretty" eggs we all had a good time. Dustin had fun ploping as many eggs as he could into one color, and then he would move right on to the next color. He didn't really care about the end result, he just liked picking eggs up and dropping them.



The egg hunt was super fun. We hid plastic eggs all over the living room and Dustin picked up his little bucket and knew just what to do. Every time he saw an egg he'd run over and pick it up and yell, "egg!" And then he'd open it up and yell, "trrrreeeat!" He was so excited! I think he did that same thing for every egg.
The next day was Dustin and Tim's actual Birthday, and unfortunately, we spent the morning at the doctor's office because Dustin got an ear infection. Bummer! We kinda just took it easy for the day, and then we had some friends over in the evening for cake and ice cream yet again! Tim got a motorcycle helmet and a Wii for his presents and we bought Dustin his first tricycle for his present!

Happy Birthday to both my boys! I love you so much!

My First Race!!!!

I had a first this weekend that I wanted to put out to the blog world, and that is that I ran in my first, official, pay to run race! I did the 10k Clover Run over in Springfield to celebrate St. Patty's day. (Because nothing screams celebrate like paying to run in the rain) Of course, there was an 80% chance of precipitation that day, and this was one of those times they weren't lying. We were good for the first 5k, which was on a really fun wood chip trail, that would have been really awesome if it wasn't so muddy. But the last 5k was on a road and then things got pretty wet. Thankfully, I didn't have to run alone, because I ran the first 5k with Chelsea and Derek and then Chelsea kept me going the last 5k. (Which included a few rather steep hills) And when I say she kept me going, I mean that pretty literally. She was totally my cheerleader, I don't know if I would have made it without her. I didn't talk very much the last 5k, because I was huffing up a storm, and Chelsea was practically breathing normally and kept saying things like,
"You're doing great Jen"
"Just think about pumping your arms"
"We can catch that person up there, just lengthen your stride"
"Ok, this is where we pick up the pace"
"You can do it, just take little steps up this hill"
So great. I'm going to record her and play her on my ipod every time I run. I highly recommend her. Anyway, that's the farthest I have ever ran before, so thank you Chelsea.

On another note, yesterday after church, we all laid down to take a nap, and of course, Dustin woke up long before Tim or I were ready to wake up, so me, being the loving wife that I am, went downstairs and hung out with Dustin so Tim could sleep a while longer. After about 45 minutes or so, Dustin asked, "Where's Daddy?" I told him Dad was upstairs sleeping and to go up and get him. Dustin took off upstairs and I snuggled into the couch and started reading. I heard banging around upstairs and shortly after that I heard the baby wake up, and then I heard them all playing upstairs. I was totally enjoying my time to myself and thankful that Tim was keeping them upstairs for me. After about half an hour or so, Dustin comes back downstairs, so I go upstairs to see what Tim is up to. I can hear rustling coming from Liz' room, so I go inside and find complete havoc!!! Dustin had opened up the closet, opened our filing cabinets, pulled out the files, and tossed them all over the room and in the baby's crib!!!! I walk in to find the baby eating my patriarchal blessing, pictures torn, and paper everywhere!!! I pick up the baby, take what's left of my blessing away (does anyone know if there's been any studies about excessive paper consumption?) and go to find Tim....sound asleep in our bed!! He claims he never heard the banging of filing cabinets and the shredding of paper, or Dustin climbing in and out of the baby's crib, even though this all took place in the room right next door! Dustin came into get him, but he rolled over and went right back to sleep through the whole thing!!! Sigh, I would have taken a picture, but our camera has been dead for quite some time now. Please don't turn us in to social services!!! We watch our kids, I swear!

My first tag!

1-What is his name? Timothy Hess (Timmah!)

2-How long have you been married? Five years

3-How long did you date? We dated for 3 months and were engaged for 3 months so I guess 6 months. Hey, when you know, you know!

4-Who eats more sweets? Tim, by far. He was born with a sweet tooth. Especially for things like Hostess Donuts and cake pies.

5-Who said I love you first? I think Tim did....but honestly....I can't remember! It was love at first sight. I can't remember a time when we hadn't said I love you.

6-Who is taller? Tim. But not by much. He's barely 3 inches taller than me without me shoes on. But when I have my heels, we look like Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

7-Who sings better? Probably me. But that's only because I've had more training. Tim would probably be better than me if he had learned when he was younger.

8-Who is smarter? I can't answer that because my husband reads my blog....j/k...he's smarter when it comes to tools, mechanics, and computers, he's also a way better writer than I am, not in a grammatical sense though. He's hopeless at spelling and grammar.

9-Who does the laundry? Mostly me, although Tim usually helps me fold and he puts his own clothes away. I have trained him well!!!

10-Who pays the bills? He does. I get too worried if I pay them.

11-Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you're facing the bed, he's on the right side.

12-Who cooks dinner? I cook more often than he does, but Tim normally cooks at least a couple times a week.

13-Who drives? Tim ALWAYS drives when we're together.

14-Who is more stubborn? Me, I always want him to understand from my point of view. Tim is way better at letting things go.

15-Who kissed who first? Tim kissed me first. I was DYING for him to kiss me though. I almost thought I would have to go first, but he finally laid one on me.

16-Who asked who out first? My Mom asked Tim out first. My Mom invited him to dinner, and he took pity and actually showed up to meet me. But I believe I asked him if he wanted to hang out the next day.

17-Who proposed? Why would I propose? Tim packed me a picnic and brought his guitar and we hiked up a mountain overlooking the city, he sang a song he had written for me and the proposal was the last line. He was shaking so bad though, I totally knew what was up.

18-Who wears the pants? We both wear pants. I don't care so much for dresses.

Here's another tag.One word answers only.
1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Your hair? wavy
3. Work? kids
4. Your father? yikes
5. Your favorite thing? shower
6. Your dream last night? forgot
7. Your favorite drink? smoothie
8. Your dream car? minivan
9. The room you're in? kitchen
10. Your fears? kids
11. What do you want to be in 10 years? happy
12. Who did you hang out with last night? girlfriends!
13. What you're not good at? drawing
14. Muffin? costco
15. One of your wish list items? treadmill
16. Where you grew up? Canada
17. Last thing you did? eat
18. What are you wearing? jeans
19. What aren't you wearing? earrings
20. Your pet? none
21. Your computer? crappy
22. Your life? blessed
23. Your mood? good
24. Missing? chocolate
25. What are you thinking about right now? kids
26. Your car/truck? old
27. Your summer? love!
28. Your relationship status? happy
29. Your favorite color? pink
30. When is the last time you really laughed with meaning? yesterday
31. Last time you cried? forget
32. School? associates
33. Least favorite weather? cold
34. Soup? chicken
35. Movie? musicals

Just day to day stuff....

Yesterday was kind of a busy day with a few firsts I wanted to write down. One, is that Liz is sitting up!! It's not very long before she falls over and eats it, but she can stay sitting for about 30 seconds if I give her a good base. I think she just keeps getting cuter and cuter all the time. Two, is that we took the kids to the movies for the first time. We bought tons of treats and popcorn, hoping Dustin would sit through it if we bribed him. Alas, he only lasted about 45 minutes before he got totally bored with Bee Movie, but he and I went and played in the arcade till Dad and the baby came out. Liz, of course, watched the whole movie and didn't even make a peep! For any of you who don't know Monday's are 50 cents for three or more people at Cinemark 12 in Springfield. I think it's an unadvertised family day. So, we had 45 minutes of popcorn and candy eating, which was good enough for me. Also, I did something I never could picture myself doing before I married a guy with super thick hair, and then had a son with super thick hair that grows like a weed. They both got hair cuts by yours truly! I've cut their hair before, but never this short, and never after it had grown so long! I've always been afraid of clippers, but both Tim's and Dustin's hair grows so fast, Tim convinced me we would save a truckload if I would just try it. And I did. And I completely surprised myself!! Me, the girl who can't french braid, can't use bobby pins, doesn't know a thing about hair, actually gave a decent hair cut. Well, on Tim anyway. Dustin was impossible because he never holds still for longer than 2 seconds (If anyone has any good ideas, let me know. I've tried snacks, movies, nothing works) but, he doesn't look horribly mangled or anything. So here are my two handsome boys after I worked my magic, and the massive amount of hair that came off my burly men, plus some left over cereal from that morning (sorry!).

A great day....

Last weekend we went over to the coast for a little day trip. It was cold and foggy in Eugene, but absolutely beautiful on the coast. One of those really rare days where the sun shines all day and there's no wind to knock you over. Beautiful. The kids were super good on the way over and then we had lunch and went up to Heceta Head Lighthouse. Dustin walked the whole way up to the Lighthouse and all the way back down! When we got to the top Dustin pointed to the lighthouse and ooooooed and awwwwwed and watched the big waves crash against the rocks. Liz was super content hangin out in the front pack. We played on the beach for a while and packed up and went over to my Dad's house where we were served a steak and potato dinner! With brownie cake desert!!!! I couldn't have asked for a better day. The kids were happy, we were happy, and we finally got to go outside in the SUNSHINE!!! Both the kids fell asleep on the way home and went right to bed which was amazing. I just felt so grateful for my hubby and our family. I never realized how fulfilling family life would be when I was younger. It's seems like it's portrayed as a bad thing. Like your life is over once you get married and have kids. And it is a lot of self-sacrifice. But I think that's what makes it so fulfilling. I feel like I've discovered a whole new dimension to myself by becoming a wife and mother. My capacity to give has grown beyond what I thought I was capable of, and I'm sure it will continue to grow. So here's to all you wife's and mothers out there!!! And here's to all those wonderful days that remind us how precious our families are!!!

Spiritual Thoughts

The other night I had a dream...and in that dream I got a phone call from a distinguished sounding gentleman who said he was a member of the stake council and was fulfilling the role of Journal Advisory Committee and was calling to see if I had been keeping a journal or not. I stammerd and chuckled a bit, before admitting that I in fact, had not been keeping a current journal. But then, a thought occured to me. "Wait! I keep a blog...does that count??" I said, hoping he wouldn't mark me on his list as a "non-journal keeper". The man laughed and said he felt that if I was keeping spiritual thoughts in this blog of mine that it could count as a journal. I hardly ever remember my dreams, but for some reason this one stuck with me. So I figure I had better listen to this dream and write some spiritual thoughts so that if the Journal Advisory Commitee ever calls me, I can tell them about my blog!!
Like everyone else lately, I have been thinking a lot about prophets. Mostly about how grateful I am for President Hinckley and how deeply his words and actions had an impact on me. There were so many times that the Spirit undeniably testified to me that he is the mouthpiece of the Lord. But I am really excited for the new Presidency too. I love President Utchdorf (I think that's right) and I am sure that President Monson will be just as amazing as President Hinckley was. I am also really grateful that we are studying the teachings of Joseph Smith in Relief Society. He has become even more real to me in just a few chapters than before. Any of you who aren't in Relief Society, should still read the lesson book because there are so many good things in there! Today, I was so struck by Joseph Smith's teaching that one of the most important things that we have in the Church is the Prophets and Apostles testimony of Christ. That he lived, died, was resurrected, and still lives today. It is so wonderful to have leaders in the church who are so close to the Lord and to have an actual account of a prophet who saw him. It also made me think about how everything in the Church is centered around the Savior. That is what the gospel is all about and I love it!!! Sometimes callings can be tedious and there are times when the demands seem great, but when it comes down to it, the gospel is amazing and wonderful and I am so grateful to be a part of it!!!!

Little Tykes...

It's been quite a while since my last blog and a lot has happened so I'll start at the beginning. First, I'll reminisce about life with 3 kids. It was fun! Busy, tiring at times, but for the most part it went pretty well. When I look back now, things were kinda a blur, but I think everything went really well. Dropping Christopher off at his new family's house was really sad, mostly because Christopher was so upset. I swear he knew all along what was happening. From the moment we found out that we weren't going to be able to adopt him, he became really needy and wanted to be held a lot, and it just got worse once we started transitioning him to another family. I've surprisingly been able to hold it together though. I think Heavenly Father has been blessing me tremendously. I miss him, and think about him often. What makes me so sad, is that he had such a hard time once he went to live with the new family that they had to move him and his brother to yet another home. I've written letters and made phone calls to practically everyone at the foster care office to try and get Chris back with us, but they insist on keeping the brothers together. The foster care system is so difficult, all about policy and procedure and not what is best for the child. But I feel I've done what I can, and hopefully we made a positive difference to Christopher. Dustin had a few rough days after Christopher left, but he seems to have adjusted pretty well. He loves our new foster baby, Liz just as much as he loved Christopher. He gives her kisses frequently, and likes to help me burp her. She is the best baby I have ever seen. She hardly ever fusses, she sleeps through the night, and she lays on the floor and coos and smiles
all day long. It's wonderful. The most recent event was the morning we woke up to find everything covered in snow!!! We bundled the kids up and took them to the park and Dustin had a ball!! He was throwing snowballs and catching snowflakes on his tongue. So cute. This is just a fun little father son moment I posted below.