the best days of my life.

i planned to spend thanksgiving eve watching g study and maybe doing some studying of my own, but for whatever reason, he came home from work wanting to play instead. on a whim, i decided we would have our own little pre-thanksgiving dinner (minus the great food) with just the two of us. i pulled out the candles and we ate dinner by candlelight & talked about what we were grateful for. even though it was cheesy and we laughed through the entire thing, eating dinner in the dim light of our regular old dining room still felt special.

later, we headed down to the gateway to catch a movie and check out some of the downtown christmas lights. as we drove home that night, i couldn't help but think to myself that even though both of us are looking forward to a bigger family some day, i know i will look back on these last 3 years and think about how much fun we had and how in love we were. i have made some of the best memories of my life on random nights like these with my husband and i am lucky to have had him all to myself for a while.

christmas is here!

we spent the weekend at the cabin with family & we got to cut down a real christmas tree for the very first time! more pictures coming soon...i love this season!

ps. the tree was almost 20 ft. tall originally & is about 13 now...nuts!

thankful.

• i am thankful for g. i am thankful to be so in love with him and i am thankful he is in love with me.
• i am thankful for eternal marriage and eternal families. this year, i am especially thankful that i know i will see my grandpa again some day.
• i am thankful for my mother. i am thankful she is my "person" and that i am hers. i am thankful for my dad, for the good example he is to me.
• i am thankful for my brothers for being my best friends and providing the comic relief in my life.
• i am thankful for sweet sister-in-laws, funny brother-in-laws and wonderful in-laws.
• i am thankful for morgan, makayla, kate and annie.
• i am thankful for my beautiful friends, new and old.
• i am thankful for dance parties in the kitchen and driving with the windows down.
• i am thankful for rainstorms and city lights.
• i am thankful to be able to see 4 temples from my bedroom window.
• i am thankful for all the times i laugh until i cry.
• i am thankful for the pups, because they make it hard to come home grumpy.
• i am thankful for a warm, cozy home in a beautiful city. i am thankful for christmas trees and forgotten carols and the cocoamotion. i am thankful for snow falling outside.
• i am thankful for pureology shampoo and d&g light blue.
• i am thankful for the scriptures, for conference talks, for my testimony, for prayer, for my Savior.
• i am thankful i just know.
• i am thankful for this past year and for the trials we have gone through. i am so grateful to be able to look back and realize how much i have grown as a result and all the ways i am stronger now.
• i am thankful for my bed and for my little family and for a bright, hopeful future ahead.

happy thanksgiving!

head shots.

i think j bub should be a full-time pup model. he is the most photogenic dog currently living. every time i whip out my camera he follows me around the house and waits for his turn in the spotlight. i would like nothing more than for him to model for kibbles n' bits full time so i can retire and be his full-time stage mother.

and please don't think i don't love little toby. i promise i do. but, his pictures usually turn out something like this....

flirty.

this weekend was the much anticipated birthday bash for all of our 30 year old husbands. i can't believe g is 30. judging by his behavior (and his behavior with certain friends) sometimes i swear he's still 12, but then 9pm rolls around and i find him dead asleep in the office and suddenly he is oh so 30 again.

anyways, 30. we celebrated with an awesome cake & a hilarious slide show. and there may or may not have been a few too many pictures of my husband's bare bum involved, but that's another story for another time.

these boys are pretty hilarious together and i'm glad they're still close. even more so, i'm glad they all married lovely women that i now have the pleasure of calling my friends. thanks to all of you ladies for helping throw this bash together. can we do it more often, please?

dear life.

(i've noticed a couple of friends writing letters to their life lately & thought it was a fun idea. and since another friend pointed out that i am constantly putting "dear" in front of everything i say, i thought i'd give it a try. here's my letter to life)

dear bare minerals makeup: i don't know how i ever lived without you. and now, the thought of using anything but you makes me ill. thank you.

dear j bub: i only tell you this because i love you, but your rolls are out of control. you might want to start incorporating some cardio in your poop-eating routine, my love.

dear linguistics professor: thanks for reminding me that i am in COLLEGE now and no studying + no effort will not always equal an A.

dear linguistics professor: i take it back. i was completely satisfied with my slacker ways and you've ruined everything. thanks for nothing.

dear computer at work: watch it. i may or may not throw you through the window one of these days if you keep freezing on me all the time.

dear snuggie, cocoamotion and gossip girl: thanks for keeping me company while g studies his life away. you are almost as comforting as his arm around me. almost.

dear gjo: you looked really cute in your pinstripe dress shirt and REAL zip-up yesterday. i am jealous of everyone who gets to hang out with you from 7am - 6pm each day.

dear lsat exam: please go easy on him! you have no idea how you have consumed our lives for the past 4 months.

dear trial: i am finally feeling grateful for you. really, i am.

dear christmas ornaments in the garage: only 2 more days and we'll be together again! get ready to shine!

dear life: i love you.

mark + jana.

{mom & dad on the tube in lake powell}

my mom and dad celebrated 32 years of faithful marriage this weekend. they are opposites in every way, and yet, they are perfect for each other. i am grateful for the beautiful example of commitment they have always shown me. here's to many more date nights, weekend getaways, rounds of golf, tennis matches, tube rides, grand babies and adventures together. i'm so grateful you are still in love!

williamsburg & jamestown. the last stop.

well, here we are, friends...the last 2 days of our trip to washington dc. the last leg of our journey was spent in the quaint settlements of williamsburg and jamestown, virgina. these two villages have been historically preserved and the employees, restaurants and attractions are authentic to the time period, right down to what everyone wears and how they speak. i was blown away by the adorable-ness of it all and can i just say, if your name happens to be jana moffitt, this little village might just be your dream come true.

we loved visiting the old shops, admiring the horse & buggies and buying handmade soaps and presents to take home. we also ate at an authentic tavern, which was so much fun. we waited for almost an hour to get in, but the homemade food and old-fashioned atmosphere did not disappoint. being in williamsburg was like being transported back in time.

one of my favorite parts of williamsburg was going on a ghost-tour of the town after dinner one night. our cloaked guide led us through the city with her little lantern and we learned all about the creepy things that have taken place in the historic homes over the years. needless to say, i was scared and g was not.

all in all, we loved every place we visited and had an incredible week back east. our hosts, curtis & bev, were amazing and made us feel so welcome in their gorgeous home. we loved the beautiful scenery and incredible history virgina has to offer and not that it matters, but i would go back in a heartbeat. goodbye east coast. until next time...

in limbo.

"some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. delicious ambiguity." -gilda radner

this quote perfectly describes our life right now.

this is what happens when i'm sick.

my sink starts looking like this:

because i spend all of my time here:

and ps...how 2 people can dirty that many dishes in a 48 hour period is a mystery to me.

i miss this face.

today i got a really sweet, loving, understanding and encouraging letter from k. it was completely out-of-the-blue and just what i needed. it made me so grateful that even though i can't see him or talk to him every day, he still gets me and we still share a special understanding and friendship that can't really be described. so so grateful for my little brother.

arlington national cemetery & such.

so at this point, all this posting is getting pretty embarrassing. i realize this is an insane amount of pictures & i apologize if your bored, but a little nagging voice in my head is telling me i'll regret it if i stop posting about our trip half-way through. after all, i don't keep a journal and i don't scrapbook, so this is it as far as memory-catching goes...

and once again, i'm sorry for all the awkward pictures my sweet husband took of me. he was really excited to be in our nations capital (obviously).

wednesday (only 2 more days to go!) was spent at arlington national cemetery, the american history museum and old town alexandria. the changing of the guards at arlington was awesome & the cemetery was beautiful, but lets face it, that stop was mostly for g, since i am not a history buff myself. the american history museum was fun, but we should have gone sooner, because the museum closed before we had finished going through the exhibits. but man, can i just tell you that the lincoln exhibit in that museum is unbelievable? i cried reading about his remarkable life, which was pathetic and embarrassing. we topped off the night in old town alexandria at the most beautiful and delicious restaurant by the water. it was gloomy and rainy and romantic, to say the least...plus we got to walk on original cobblestone roads. we loved.

just one more post to go & i promise i'm done!

g turns 30 in washington dc.

we spent tuesday, which was also g's 30th birthday, in downtown washington dc. this was an incredible day & an even better way to kick off g's 30th year. we knew that curtis (the relative we were staying with) had arranged for us to go on a private tour of the supreme court building and capital, but we weren't expecting to be able to sit in on a supreme court case in session. when they led us passed the winding lines and seated us in the grand courtroom, we were shocked. seeing all the justices in person was exciting and listening to the details of the case was fascinating. both buildings were gorgeous, but the capital blew us away! what an amazing, enormous building that is. there were detailed statues and artwork down every hall, and seeing some of the more secret locations was awesome. neither of us stopped smiling the entire day...g; because this was all a dream come true for him, and me; because i loved seeing him so excited. definitely a birthday to remember.

washington dc is one of the coolest, cleanest and prettiest cities i've ever been to...we loved every minute.

miss makayla marie.

i am quite possibly the biggest baby lover currently living. i think i've been baby hungry my entire life and since i haven't yet been blessed with children of my own, it's no secret, i love and adore my nieces. i am so thankful for all of them...they are the sweetest group of little ladies and they fill that void in my heart quite nicely.

with that being said, happy happy birthday to my goober grape. it seems like just yesterday that we were living with tyler & jennie as newlyweds and awaiting your arrival. i still remember the day i came home from work early hoping to find out that jennie was in labor and instead, i pulled into the driveway to find your 9 months pregnant rockstar mother out raking the leaves. for whatever reason, i took a mental picture that day and i thought about how lucky you would be to have a mother like her. it wasn't long after, that we finally got the call telling us you'd arrived and as we rushed to the hospital to meet you, we knew we were about to fall madly in love.

needless to say, we were right.

happy birthday goober! xo, aunt jess & uncle greg

this halloween.

 

one smelly 80's leather jacket, jean cut-off vest and disgusting beard later...

we were rockstars.