The J Man

Today I got around to editing the photos I took of Jace a few days ago and it was a good day to do it. Jace had a bit of a rough day today- so did I. This afternoon after I told him to stop throwing the ball in the house he kicked me in the shin and said "I'm gonna dang you!" I am not sure what that means but it sure didn't sound nice! He had a nice long time out in his room and chat with his Dad afterwards. No more dangin' mom (and Mom needs to stop using that word!) So, it is nice for me to look at his cute smile and remember that moments like we had today are just moments- most of the time Jace is a sweet and hilarious 5 year old boy! Here are some of the things I love about my little J dude:


1- I love when he kisses me goodnight. And tells me "Don't let the spider-chicken-elephant-teranadon-monster-snake-walrus bugs bite." It is a different list of random animals every night. And I am always surprised at what makes the list!

2- I love when he plays theme songs on the piano. Or tries to figure out the tune to Primary songs or Christmas songs and then after a few tries I hear him say "Awww, forget it!" Although I encourage him to keep trying, it makes me laugh every time. He is quite the pianist!

3- I love when he talks about his "wildest dreams coming true," a phrase he has picked up lately. Only his wildest dreams right now usually consist of getting to wear his spiderman shirt or having a PB&H sandwich for the second day in a row. Way to dream big, buddy!

4- I love watching him read- it is so amazing to me! Especially when we read scriptures and he picks up words like "salvation" or "prosperous." And I love the proud smile on his face after we tell him good job.

5- I love making up stories with Jace. For example- one of our favorites is about 7 superhero friends, named Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Ironman, Buzz Lightyear, Luke Skywalker and Mr. Incredible(this list grows longer every month). These friends journey to a planet called Arkintack (Jace made up that name) and go hiking in the woods where they run into an old abandoned magical hideout filled with all kinds of special weapons and spy equipment to use on all their bad guys (I won't go into the lengthy bad guy list). So they fly the weapons back to the Metropolis City Museum (or Gotham City Bank) and get 'em! Then the police come pick up the bad guys, throw them in jail and the super seven fly back to Arkintack and have a hot pizza in the magical house. All in a days work! Today the super seven found a time machine and went back to the time of dinosaurs where they met a Triceratops that had FOUR horns (imagine that!) and Spiderman was so scared that he stayed inside the time machine and hung out on the ceiling. Because he can do that. But most of all I love the smile pasted to Jace's face for the entire story:)

6- I love when Jace draws sweet things for me. Last week he led me outside to show me this:



7- I love watching Jace watch NBA/NCAA highlights with his dad in the morning. I love seeing how much he looks up to Tim- and how he roots for the Utah Jazz. Oh, and i especially love when he tries to sing our Alma mater fight song (UTAH STATE HEY AGGIES ALL THE WAY... GO WAGGIES GO WAGGIES HEY HEY HEY!!!)

8- I love watching his tricks, which lately consist of break dancing(to this song:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFX2pk-FtEU), doing handstands, and, one he just picked up today, juggling plastic grocery bags (after saying "Ladies and Gentlemen! Presenting Jace Juggling!" and then breaking into this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8vINCq_IAI). Funny kid!

So yeah, we have our moments, but gosh I love this boy! And I feel so blessed to be his mom! And just check out his handsome eyes- just like his dad's:)

I will post Ethan's set tomorrow- Until then!

High School Flashbacks

Since we have started our work out program, I have been listening to Yahoo Music on M, W, & F mornings because Tim takes the ipod to the gym while I stay at home to do my weight routine. I don't know if any of you are familiar with Yahoo Music, but its basically free online radio stations you can play by genre. So this morning I was a little tired of listening to my regular Adult Alternative and Indie and Pop stations, so I decided on 90's Alternative just to shake things up. The instant the first song started playing- BAM! Song after song, it was like a total time warp! I seriously was having major flashbacks to my freshman year of High School, when I was first introduced to the wonderful world of Alternative Rock music. I could even remember people and places and smells from when I heard these songs- it was 1995 all over again! I got all excited about the good old days of Green Day, Beastie Boys, Weezer, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Cake. It was awesome! Until I realized how old these songs are, then I felt every bit like the almost-thirty-year-old-woman-trying-desperately-to-hold-onto-her-youth that I am. It was a weird mixture of pleasure and pain. And then this memory of my dad listening to The Who and Poco and Starship (speaking of Starship- We Built This City was our early family theme song- we loved it!) and talking about the good old days of music while I thought "Geez, my dad is old!" popped into my head. Then I realized, oh my gosh- I am my dad! It is only a matter of a few years before my kids will be saying the same things about me and my 'lame' music. It was funny, when Tim got home from the gym, he could totally tell how much I was enjoying my blast from the past as I was saying "didn't you love this song? Maybe we should download it!" He just smiled and looked me in the eye and said "Mandy, this music is really old. Do you really want to download 'Spoonman?'" It was then that it all fully sunk in- I am getting old. How did that happen? Man, life is flying by way too fast! And I don't want to get old. So I am going to go listen to some Beyonce ("AAAALL the single ladies... All the single ladies!") and pretend that I am young and hip... just as soon as "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is over... no wait, "Machinehead" is on now- sweet! BUSH!

By the way, thanks for all the great music advice! I have found some great new music so far- I am loving Missy Higgins (thanks Aly!) as well as some of the other suggestions! Also, I took some cute photos of the boys today- it has been too long since I had photos of the boys on the blog- and we were in a rush so they are shirtless- Tim will be thrilled:o I will try to post them tomorrow along with the snow photos from last week. Have a great weekend folks!

(Ooooh, "Under the Bridge" is on now- Go Chilli Peppers! Okay, I need to stop- I have to go get ready for my run- 6.2 miles tonight! Wish me luck!)

Let's talk music..

My IPod has gotten a lot of use since I got it last summer. I listen to it in the car, while working/surfing at my computer, when I run, clean and cook- so basically I listen to it any time I am not sleeping. I focus better when I have music to listen to. But I am getting a little tired of my music and I need some suggestions for some new stuff. Can you all help me out? I am pretty desperate- I even downloaded some weird Indie music from a guy called Mika a few weeks ago- but I am now regretting it. I do like some Indie, but Mika was just a bit too weird for me. I like all kinds of music(except Heavy Metal/But Rock)- here is a list of some of the music on my IPod right now:

LOVES: Better Than Ezra, Lifehouse, Mat Kearney, John Mayer, Jack Johnson, Keane, Indigo Girls, Cold Play, Collective Soul, Tori Amos
LIKES: U2, The Fray, One Republic, Snow Patrol, Faith Hill, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Daughtry, Rascal Flats, Death Cab for Cutie, Adele, Cranberries, James Blunt, Jason Mraz, Rob Thomas, Feist, Leona Lewis
LIKE(but can't listen to too often): The Shins, Pearl Jam, Dixie Chicks, Nora Jones, Sara McLaclan, Colbie Caillat, Dave Mathews (with the exception of Ants Marching- I love that song)

I know there is new music that I have not yet discovered and there is also old music that I like that I have just forgotten about. For example, a good friend of mine reminded me of Alanis Morisette a few weeks ago- I can't believe I forgot about her! I used to love her, in fact that was the first concert I ever went to (no wait, that was REM- ahhh, good times! Maybe I should download Everybody Hurts or Shiny Happy People for old times sake?) Anyways, I am open to any and all suggestions!

And now I have one song to suggest to you all:
Mat Kearney's new single
I LOVE this song- I have listened to it so many times over the last few days! I actually didn't love Mat Kearney when Tim first introduced me to him, but he has grown on me and is now one of my faves. The same is true with BTE and Collective Soul- two of Tim's favorites that I now love! If only I could get Tim to make it through a Tori Amos song maybe he would grow to love her too...

My appologies if this double posts from YouTube- they always seem to have issues when I try to post from there.

Happy listening everyone! Photos to follow soon...

1 Down, 83 To Go

So I read the Body for Life book and decided to do the program with Tim. And today was our first day. So how did it go, you ask?

I am hungry. And my armpits(or pecks... whatever those muscles are) are sore. And I can't get the sweet vanilla taste of protein shake out of my mouth. But otherwise, it went really well! And really, you eat quite a bit with this program (6Xs a day) so I am certainly not starving. But they are small meals. And I am used to having bigger meals and feeling full so the absence of that feeling is an adjustment for me. But I am sure I will get used to it. And the great thing with this program is you get 1 free day per week where you can eat whatever you want! Woohoo!

We took our before photos Saturday and it was really depressing. Honestly, I don't care who you are- no woman wants to see a photo of themselves in a two piece in bad lighting and no use of the liquify tool in photoshop. I guarantee even Heidi Klum gets some liquification on her photos. I am not complaining about being fat by any means, but I am not very fit. And I really want to be fit. So hopefully this will help me get over my sheman fear and have a nice toned body for the summer. At least for a few months- then I will probably be pregnant again and have to start all over (this time with added stretch marks for my before photo- great.) Kinda sounds like my theme song should be Carly Simon's "You're So Vain", but I really just want to feel healthy and fit. And be able to beat Tim in an arm wrestle. And maybe compete on American Gladiators with a name like "Aurora Thunder". That is all I want...


Updates to come- we got 8 inches of snow last night and I have a bigger and better snowman to post...