lazy.

things i intended on doing today:

• cleaning the kitchen
• attending the primary talent show
  
• vacuuming all the rugs
• doing the dishes
• sweeping the floor
• washing the dog bed
• washing my car
• putting away the 10 billion things on my bathroom counter sink
• doing laundry
• washing our sheets
• making my bed
  
• purchasing a few thank you gifts
• grooming the dogs or setting up an appt. for someone else to do so

things i've actually done today:

• attended the primary talent show
  
• slept for 2 and a half hours afterwords
  
• watched G do manual labor in our backyard with no shirt on
• read a magazine
  

how's 1 out of 13 ?

cali, part 2.

I finally made it to my parents house to steal some of the pictures from their camera. My camera went retarded half way through & we started using theirs. On a side note, isn't it crazy how big a difference the camera makes in the picture quality? These pictures blow mine out of the water...Someday I want a fancy shmancy camera too, Dad!

This is us outside Pantages theater in LA before the showing of Wicked. If you haven't seen this musical before, you must. I loved it so much...The music is amazing! Too bad G opted not to come & hang out in Laguna with Andy instead. You seriously missed out Greg!

Supermodel Megan at the beach.
Us on our bike ride down the Pier. This year, we extended the ride and went all the way to The Wedge. So much fun & what gorgeous neighborhoods we rode through!
Here we are at the wedge. Crazy, crazy waves.

The theater again. I am too lazy to sort the pictures.
Here is us and this teeny tiny BMW for sale we found while shopping on Balboa Island. Jon kept talking about how cool it would have been to buy it and ride it around the U campus! Maybe someday, Jonny.

Hanging around the condo...
Cute Mom & Dad on the Balboa Ferry
This is one of my favorite places!

I love riding the ferry across to Balboa Island and looking at all the gorgeous houses!

More with tiny car.
What am I doing in this picture?! SO awkward!
Body surfing at Huntington Beach. We all had a great time and the waves were huge, I'm not gonna lie, I was a little scared. Megan & I kept trying not to let the current take us down the beach, but I am pretty sure it took about 30 seconds to carry us 3 miles! The best part about California is seeing my Dad act like a kid again. He LOVES to body surf. Once he gets in, we don't see him for hours!

Little Mo.
And lastly, one of me and G on the ferry. I really appreciated this trip because I have been missing Greg like crazy now that he works for Goldman. We used to see each other every day, all day (when we were doing real estate) and now it's much, much less.

A week straight with him was Heaven. Such a fun trip! Steph actually came with us on the Balboa harbor tour & to dinner, but we didn't get any pictures! I was too busy rubbing her belly, maybe. It was so much fun to see her, I've missed her like crazy this summer.

And as always, I have to thank my Mom & Dad for taking us every year.

Here's to hoping they never stop!!!

another sunny day in cali-forn-i-a, part 1.

We've been home from Newport for a week now & I still miss it. I love this trip. Love the beach, love the time with family, love body surfing, love shopping & seeing movies, I even love Annie at the corn dog stand. Every time we go I beg G to let us stay and just never, ever, ever come home. We could have the pups shipped out to us & be the poorest, happiest, tannest little family ever.

Here are some of the pictures I took- More coming soon (whenever I can get a hold of my Dad's fancy shmancy camera)

Buddy at the Balboa arcade. Isn't she the cutest? Me & Mo won so much stuff here!

We went to dinner at a restaurant with live music. It was so much fun because the musician knew every song you could possibly think of. We got the whole place singing with "Sweet Caroline" and "Let it Be" (shout out to Jennie!). Sweet Morgan Ana fell asleep early, so her daddy took her home.

Is there anything more adorable than two grown men fussing over a tiny little girl like this?
I think not.
Mo is on G's shoulders & I love her tiny pink hoodie on Andy's head.This picture makes me laugh. This is the face she was giving me to try to persuade me to get her an ice cream sandwich. I hurried and snapped a photo before I gave in. Look at those huge eyes!

Every year we take a picture in front of the sunsets. This place is heaven on Earth.

At dinner- Scott & Meg's attempts at self portraits! Pretty crappy, you guys!

We have been coming to this same corn dog stand for YEARS. Every year the owner, Annie, freaks out over the size of our family (in Utah we aren't even that big!). We love her & she makes the best corn dogs & diet cokes with shaved ice!

Our condo this year.

Some local musisians were playing their guitars & singing on the pier - Andy & Mo dancing. I don't have any kids of my own to obsess over & snap photos of, so Morgan has to to fill in!

Our 5th wheel, K sweetheart. We love him!

Morgan loves Uncle Greg

Just the girls. We LOVED having Meg there.
Even though she joined us, we were still badly outnumbered (hey it's my life!)

There are sunsets like this every night!

Friendlies.

I had to post this one! Andy was cracking us up (of course) with his faces when they came around each time. Of course Mo is just playing it cool & her daddy is acting like a crazy person. Love you Andrew!

Janes corndogs isn't as good as Annie's corndogs, but the bench is sure cute.

Morgan, the Mermaid.

Jon, the boobs. Is it just me, or is that body completely screwy?

I love this picture. These two are adorable. Just hanging out watching the Olympics.

Morgan LOVED the sand! I kept saying to my Mom, "this would be the best place to have kids because you could just bring them to the beach every single day & they are happy for 8 straight hours!" Seriously, she was a peach. She didn't need any one to play with her or entertain her (but of course we still wanted to). She just dug in the sand, rolled in the sand, jumped in the water, collected sea shells and sang to herself all day long. The only time she was ever grumpy was at the end of the day when it came time to scrub ALL THAT SAND off!

Listening to music and just having a great time...

I love this trip. I wish I never had to come home from it.

Part 2 coming soon....

the best part about summer.

is the fact that everything can be cooked on the grill.
and, of course, that job is reserved for men only.

tonight, husband presented me with this...

and i just had to take a picture because, well husband, you rock.

i heart bullet points.

Things that do not mix:

• Benadryl at 10 pm & a 7:30 am meeting.
• Michael Phelp's abs & a shirt of any kind.
• visiting 2 newborns in 2 days & knowing you are still years away.
• An apple & walnut tree in the backyard & a doggie door. (J bauer is bringing in 10 or more a day)

Also, I have a fish. Given to me & Mon by a sweet co-worker/friend (a cofriend, if you will). Monica named him Azul. I named him Gus. We combined efforts and came up with GrumpiGus Azul Dolsen, or Grump for short. He is a gem. He keeps me company all day at work (especially now that my partner in crime is missing in action). He lives on my desk.

I never knew that fish:

• sleep? (even during the day?!?)
• recognize faces (he misses you dearly, Mon)
• have attitudes
• go pale when they aren't feeling well. (don't worry, he needed fresh water's all)

Jon would be so proud of my efforts. He has been alive for several days.

And one last thing. I did my hair today (the full regimen): Shower, Root lifter, blow dry w/ a round brush. People are going berserk. Everyone who sees me asks if I:

• cut my hair
• colored my hair
• did something different to my hair
• showered

I am thinking this is not a good thing. Showering shouldn't cause such a commotion. Maybe I'll have to stop doing the "bangs pinned back & a messy bun" look every. Single. Day.

It's been a crazy great week. No sleep & lots of deliciously smelling newborns. I have tons of pictures from my trip to Newport (I went there, did you know)? If I can ever tear myself away from staring intently at Gus and obsessing over the newborns, I'll try to post some.

Happy almost weekend to you!

08.08.08

I have nothing to blog about, but there will never be another August, 8th, 2008, so I wanted to write something.

And since this is my blog, I am going to document 2 major milestones in my life. And trust me, they are HUGE.

1. I am no longer terrified of spiders. Yes, yes, I know. Little J is growing up. Up until about a month ago, I had never killed a spider in my life. In my LIFE. My previous strategy was to trap them under cups & let G lift the cup & smash the spider when he got home. But eventually, I got tired of all the cups (and the fact that I have no spine) and so I went ahead, and I killed one.

It was awful.

But then, the next day, I killed another. And another. And another. And now, I am no longer terrified of spiders. And I can kill them. This is HUGE.

2. I can now crack my neck. Is everyone dying of shock?

It all happened last week when I accidentally cracked my neck while reaching for a file. Naturally, my first reaction was to walk outside and jump off of the freeway overpass into on-coming traffic. But once that desire subsided, I realized that my neck suddenly felt better, lighter even. And so I did it again. And now I can't stop doing it. I think I've cracked my neck every morning from then on and I am just as shocked as the rest of you.

Milestones.

I realize more and more how different a person I am today, than I was just 2 years ago. In fact, I have been thinking about that very thing non-stop lately. It's not just that I can kill spiders, or sleep home alone, it's not any of those stupid things. I just feel different. More independent, maybe. More like myself. It's funny to me that being married to Greg has done this. I would have thought marriage would have the opposite effect. After all, I now live with a full-time spider killer. So why is it that I am finally killing them myself? I guess I just married a great person. Someone who is willing to watch me change and evolve and grow. Someone who tells me I am capable of more and someone who would never want to hold me back. Someone who says, "Get over it, Jess, kill the spider".

I love him for that.

10 million pictures of powell.

So thanks for all of that feedback about blogging. You are right, you are right, you are right. It is just for fun, so who cares if it is boring, or it offends people. I have decided to STOP CARING so much. I hope this post offends each and every one of you.

I do.

Kidding. Please don't be offended.

I already told you about my trip to Lake Powell (in a rant & rave about Take-a-poo). Here are some pictures from the trip.

This first one is of my parents STANDING UP ON THE TUBE. Did everyone hear that? My parents. On a tube. Going for a ride. AND STANDING UP. This was a monumental moment for me...seeing my parents do this. That night, as I walked around the parking lot talking to G back at home, he asked how my day was and I said, "Unbelievable". And he's all, "why so unbelievable?" and I said, "My Mom rode on the tube. And she stood up. And she rock climbed & later she jumped off a cliff."

And we both sat in silence, letting that all soak in.

And then G was like, "UNBELIEVABLE".

This one is of my Mom & Dad flirting. I think she was trying to push him off the tube, but really they are just flirting. Jon was pulling them about 10 miles an hour & someone suggested we speed up, but Jon didn't, because then there wouldn't have been SO MUCH flirting.
For some reason, we all spent this particular day trying to jump, flip, or toe-touch off of the tube. This is my Dad's attempt.

And Scotty's....(Please notice the feet behind him-I think those must be my Dads)

Here is one of me getting ready to something magnificent. In reality, I tried to do a toe-touch and landed completely on my back. Randy Randoms of the brothers.



Jon spent a ton of time doing this...

And I spent a ton of time doing this...And we both wore our Bo-Sox hats.
See?
Please notice Jon's goggles. It's because he is a four eyes. Scotty and I chanted "Four eyes, four eyes!" at him throughout this tube ride. We are a loving family.

I left my sun-dress on during this tube ride, because I was sure my Dad couldn't get us off. I was right. Muhahahaha.
This is us slinking into the water. Is that a word?
And here is one of my brothers getting ready to jump off a cliff.

In this beautiful canyon.
This is a sick one of me, but look how cool this picture is.

Sigh. I LOVE Lake Powell.
More flirting by the rents. My parents are so cute together.
And that's the end.