Freckled and Fair

Having red hair and freckles is an interesting thing.

It really is.

When I was little (acutally, I still get it today....especially with two other redheads in tow!), I caught the attention of a LOT of old(er) people:

"Where'd you get that RED hair?"

"You know, my youngest son has red hair"

"Before my husband was grey, he had bright red hair just like you!"

"Look at that beautiful hair!"

As I got a little older, what I wanted was to catch the attention of boys! But the more tan and blonde my friends were, the more white and freckle-y I felt!

Admittedly, it was hard for me. I used plenty of sunless tanning lotion and makeup to cover-up what I thought were flaws. My mom would tell me over and over that "white is vogue, Jamie, white is vogue".

My friends would roll their eyes because every single time we'd see a redhead I'd immediately ask "Is that the color of my hair?" I wanted so badly to know how I stood in comparison to the rest of the population. I grew up in an area of California where red hair was rare, so I didn't see many of "my kind" around me. And since there are no red heads anywhere in my family, I sort of felt like the odd man out.

In my life, I have seen plenty of both the not-so-hot redheads (the ones who give us a bad name) and beautiful redheads (the ones I'd pray to look like). And about a million times in my life I've wondered where I fall on the spectrum!

Now, at 30 years old, I can say that 98% of me honestly doesn't care and is COMPLETELY fine with having red hair, freckles and fair skin. Seriously. In fact, I like it! I say 98% because there is probably 2% of me that still occasionally day-dreams about being tan. And quite often, little children will ask me "why are there spots all over you?" and I'll feel an ever-so-slight brush of insecurity.

But I've learned that there are MANY different kinds of beautiful, and everyone's definition of beautiful is different!

And I caught the attention of the most important "boy" of all. Before I came around, Tucker always joked that he wanted to "find Ariel and marry her". Well, he did it! His mom had red hair and now we have daughters, nieces, nephews and cousins with red hair. I don't feel so "alone" anymore!

I found this interesting, a site dedicated to my "kind" : http://www.dougbarber.com/red/index.html

Kids are Like Puzzles

(forgive me, but my only EIGHT MONTH old camera is messed up and taking bad pics)

One of my favorite things about being a mom is watching each of my daughter's personality unfold. I love to learn about them and wonder which personality traits of theirs are inherited and which ones are learned. I love to wonder what is in their future. I love to see their talents unfold.





Lexi is my tender 4 year old girl. I always think of her as a butterfly because it just describes her so well! She always has her own timetable for EVERYthing she does. And when the time is right, she emerges from her cocoon with perfection! She is shy and sensitive. She can also be quite stubborn. When she doesn't want to hear what I am saying, she can literally turn off her ears in a way I've never seen before. But I've learned to give her space and she'll come around.





As an example.....we have about 20 puzzles around here (jordyn went through a phase of really loving puzzles). Lexi's tried them over the past year, but she'd get frustrated quickly and would stop. But, over the past month or so, something just clicked and now she does them at lightening speed! She'll do 5 within a few minutes! She's so proud of herself!

I Pledge Allegiance

Today I taught my very first lesson.......in a school classroom!

For the credential class I'm currently taking, one of my assignments was to create a lesson plan, and then video myself teaching it! Jordyn's Kindergarten teacher graciously let me take over the class for about 45 minutes. The lesson was on "The American Flag".

I was both confident and nervous. The confidence came from: having (and being familiar with) a child the age I was going to teach, and also having done Primary Sharing Time lessons for the past 2 1/2 years. The nervousness came from actually doing a lesson in front of a REAL teacher, and also knowing I was taping it for my professor to critique. Aaahhhh!

But I enjoyed it, I learned a lot from it and I am so glad to have yet another assignment checked off!

*A big thanks to Kristy for making this possible by watching Lexi and Pey!

Can You Help?

On Sunday night I got a semi-urgent call from a friend in the ward "Can you help? The missionaries don't have a dinner appointment for Tuesday night....can you feed all four of them?"

Uhhhh (thinking to myself.....I'm usually willing, but this isn't the best week, hmmm)......yeah, sure I'll do it. Service equals blessings, right? I could use a few blessings.

Knowing I was going to feed 4 young men around the age of 20, I figured I'd better make plenty of food. The menu:

• Baked potatoes (baked in the oven in olive oil and garlic)
• Caesar salad
• Lemon alfredo chicken
• carrots
• rolls
• brownies from scratch

I like to treat these boys the same way I'd want someone to feed my son (if I had one and if he were on a two year mission for the church). The girls think its fun when missionaries come over.

So you can imagine my confusion when 30....

45......


60.......


90......


......minutes went by, and still no missionaries at my door. Admittedly, I was a little irritated by this point. With no answer on their cell phone, we decided to go ahead and eat.

I was so glad I invited Lindy and her kids over, so at least SOMEone else enjoyed some dinner. Because Tucker was a pretty boring dinner guest since he was overtaken by the flu.

120 minutes later, when the missionaries called to say they got "tied up" and "already grabbed something to eat", I was still working hard on not feeling irritated.


But don't worry, I worked through it by eating at least 20 of my homemade brownies.

Today...

..........I'm wondering why I don't do Flashback Friday anymore? I really liked that. My goal is to start up again.....next week.

..........I am also wondering how it is that I am getting so little sleep each night? Why am I literally up 5 or more times each night, with any possible combination of sick, whiney or unhappy children? I'll go to bed, look at the clock and think "good, I can get 7 solid hours of sleep"....and then some how I am up on each of those hours NOT sleeping. Sometimes I feel like I am lifting myself out of the dead.

..........I DO NOT feel like finishing my "Annotated Lesson Plan for ELL Students" paper, AT ALL. I feel like this every weekend....my assignments are due on Saturday night and all I want to do is get a babysitter and go on a date....anywhere to do anything except homework.

..........On that note, why does it cost so much to do dinner, a movie and a babysitter? That can end up being like $80 easily. WOW.

..........I am sad because Peyton is whiney and sick and I feel both bad for her and a little bit irritated at the constant whining. Poor baby. Poor Mommy.

..........I am LOVING the cool weather. I love the 60's so much.

..........I fell asleep while Lexi and Jordyn were at school and Peyton was napping. And I can't even remember the last time the heavens aligned in that way. Maybe a year ago? I was supposed to be doing homework, but was so tired I accidentally laid my head down on the couch.

..........I am wishing I had an interior designer to come over and help me get motivated on some changes around the house. My creativity feels at an all-time low for some reason!

..........I am happy and thankful, and praying I don't get sick like everyone else!

My Jo-Lyn

Oh Jordyn, Jo Jo, Jo-Lyn......


There are so many things to say about my Jordyn. I haven't done a post dedicated to her in a while, so I think it's time.


Jordyn will be 6 years old in 6 weeks. She is a passionate child. Sometimes the word "intense" slips out of my mouth, but I think "passionate" has a more positive conotation. She feels things so strongly - whether it be happy, sad, mad or curious - that it just oozes out of her.


Jordyn is my incredibly helpful oldest child. She naturally assumes this role in our family. She is very aware, especially of MY feelings (pressure!) and she is an extremely quick learner. She has [nearly] effortlessly excelled in Kindergarten. I think the transition of full day Kindergarten was a little hard at first, but now she is in the groove. She loves her teacher and loves going to school. Jordyn has tested in the top 99% of kids in her school and is in the top reading group. She LOVES to read. She always wants to read to Lexi....and Lexi usually obliges for a while, and then starts to say "you go too slow Jordyn". Jordyn is an eager child. She also loves her daddy and has his daring streak. She is always willing to try something new and usually loves it. Jordyn is a happy and enthusiastic child.


Jordyn is also challenging in some ways for me right now. Her "leadership qualities and passion for life" sometimes come across as "controlling and physically agressive [with Lexi]". I want SO badly to help her to steer these behaviors in the right direction, but that can get very confusing when I am angry and exhausted from dealing with repeat behavior for the 100+ time. I'm sure if I were watching myself as an outsider, I'd have tons of advice. But its totally different when you are emotionally entwined. I honestly don't know how to get her to stop hitting and pushing Lexi when she's frustrated. And what's more confusing is she is not even 1% like this at school. She also has been very disrespectful to me for like 6 months. Sticking her tongue out and slamming her door and even telling me "no" in a very teenager-like tone. I try to stay calm and ask her to go to her room, or take a quarter out of her jar or put a frowny face on her chart....I've tried so many different techniques. I just don't want to handle it the WRONG way and make it worse. Maybe I should get the Supernanny here to give me some pointers? And what's so interesting about raising children, they are SOOOO different. What I learn from my relationship with Jordyn will hardly help me with Lexi because they are so completely different in literally almost every way. Not good, not bad, just different.


Even with the challenges, I love Jordyn SO much and I am thankful for the way she challenges me, the way she loves me, the things I learn from being her Mom.

Here are some pics of her recent "Transportation" field trip.

Always reading!

Jordyn with her class

Getting on the train!

Jordyn and Daddy

Jordyn and Freddy, her "boyfriend", as she likes to say

The Kids!

The kids had so much fun with Tiff and Eliza this weekend! Jordyn and Lexi loved having another little "sister" around and they were so cute with her.

We played outside in the 70 degree weather a lot, had a birthday party for Eliza (with a Jessie" [from Toy Story 2] cake made by yours truly), and Tiff & I even went shopping for a few hours without ANY children (for the first time in 2 years!).

We used to sit around and wonder which beach we should go to next.....and now Tiff and I are chasing 4 kids around! And it's still a blast........but I think we ARE a little more tired these days!

I Love This Girl!

Ten years ago, Tiffany and I met while going to BYU-Hawaii. And ever since then, I've wondered what I ever did without her?

Even though we haven't lived in the same state for the majority of the 10 years, we've stayed close friends and managed to visit eachother a lot!

I was lucky enough to have Tiff come out here this past weekend with cute little Eliza. We had to squeeze a trip in before Eliza turns 2......tomorrow............and has to have her own plane ticket!

Tiff makes me laugh, she makes me feel 'normal', she loves to analyze for hours (like I do - Tucker is always in awe at how long we can sustain the same topic of conversation), she challenges me, she teaches me, she is an example to me, she is spontaneous, she eats treats with me and she has the greatest laugh in the world. It is totally contageous. Thanks Tiff! I love you!

Here are some fun pics of the past 10 years.....

1998 - Hawaii (Heidi, Tiffany, me, Rebekah)

2001 - Vegas (me, Tiffany, Heidi)

2004 - Pismo Beach

2006 - at my house (before Peyton and Eliza!)

2008 - this past weekend!

Cutest Shoes Ever

Last week my mom saw these shoes and couldn't resist buying them for Peyton and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE them! Out of all her shoes, these are my absolute favorite and I just cannot get enough of them. You can't tell by the pic, but the stitching is light pink. Pink & brown together is probably my favorite combination. I love her cute little chubby size 5 feet, and I love 'em even more with these mary janes on!

*These are Pediped shoes, the Isabella Mary Jane style.

Goodnight Grease-Ball !!

Tonight was a normal night.

(Well, besides the 20 people who were over for Eliza's birthday party....but that's my next post.)

So the normal part.............Peyton went to bed about 8:00. She was tired, so I knew she would just crash out.

Boy was I wrong. After talking in her bed for about 25 minutes, Tucker went in there and then I heard......

"Jamie, we have a problem".

Uh-oh.

Uh-ooooohhhh.

I ran in there...............and immediately started laughing. Do you know what Pey had been playing with for 25 minutes??

VASELINE!!!

ALL over herself and her bed. I mean ALL over. She was so proud of herself, I couldn't help but laugh! What a stinker! Now we have to pull her crib away from the light switch and away from the dresser, so her crib's basically in the middle of the room so her little hands don't go wandering!

Be Mine

Happy Valentine's Day!

By the way, it is a pet peeve of mine when people say "valentimes". Why do they do that, anyway?

We had a great day today.

First of all, Peyton got up at 5:30 am. I can't think of a better way for her to say "I love you Mommy" than getting up 2 hours earlier than normal just to spend time with me. [ok, really I can think of a million better ways....]

After Harmony, my mom came over to deliver special Valentine's treats to me, Lindy and the kids. She had these really cute matching aprons especially made for all of us! Aren't they adorable? She even ordered personalized Valentine cards for us! The aprons were delivered with cooking utensils and all! She even gave each of us an apple....to counteract the mounds of valentine candy the kids were inhaling! THANKS MOM! I love you!

(Carly, we want a picture of Alyson Joy in her apron when it comes in the mail!!!)

Then tonight Tucker and I managed to get away for a couple hours to have a nice dinner together at Spike and Rail, a nearby restaurant. Tucker ordered the salmon and I got the halibut......which, by the way, was a very romantic choice with MOUNDS of fresh garlic on top. Oh yeah, who wants to kiss me now?



Tucker got me some earrings and a necklace - I always love to get jewelry. THANKS TUCKER! I love you!! xoxoxoxo

Thoughts of a [scabbed] 4 Year Old

Lexi is doing much better, though her myriad of scabs provoke plenty of questions from onlookers!

Speaking of my sweet Lexi, she has had some funny comments lately that remind me of the pure innocence of these precious little children....

"Mom, when I turn 6 will I lose my 'L'? Because Jacob said when I turn 6, my 'L' will turn into a 'J' like him"

"Mom, someday will I go to the store all by myself?"

(Singing loudly) "Mom, do you think Jesus can hear me?"

Lexi: "Mom, when will my birthday be this year?"

Mom: "What do you mean honey? Your birthday will always be November 24th"

Lexi: "No Mom, the twenty-fourth is when I turned FOUR, so when will it be when I turn 5?"

Cell Confusion

I need a new cell phone.

I've sorta had bad luck with cells, so I've been using family hand-me-downs for quite a while now.

Which I don't mind. Except my pink hand-me-down RAZR from Kristy is now dying. The keys freeze up and I can't enter in a phone number, nor can I text anymore. I think the 1,000th drop finally killed it.

I'm eligible for a free or discounted upgrade, but there are like 100 phones to choose from! It overwhelms me.

Too many thoughts. "I like flip phones" "I like any color other than black so I can find it in my black-hole of a purse" "Maybe I should get a Blackberry and be more organized - but its not a flip" "I don't care about the MP3 playing stuff, I like my iPod" "It needs to be durable!"

I need help. Can you tell me about a cell phone you either LIKE or DISLIKE and why.....

A (un)Typical Sunday Night

We get to live in the same town as my Mom and Dad, along with my two teenage siblings who live at home, and my Sister Lindy and her family. (Carly and Alyson are far away in Utah). Anyway, sometimes we see eachother a lot, and other times we get busy and it'll be a couple weeks between. Same with Sunday night dinners. There have been phases with my Dad bbq-ing at my parents' house, there have been phases of having dinner at my house, and there have been phases where we all do our own thing.

So tonight was a "bbq at the parents' house" night. The girls LOVE it when we get to go to Grandma and Grandpa's. Between Lindy's two and my three little ones, we create quite the ruckuss when we come over. Here's a sneak peak into our evening....along with a dramatic ending:

Dad's really got the barbequing down! Yummy!

Its hard not to bite this one!

Lindy and little weeble-wobble Paxton

Tucker playing with the kids. This was a nice, calm game of "throwing the pillow AT the kids"!

And a little game of Bingo

Kristy was quite focused and worked out while we all pigged out to dinner!

Grandma gave Peyton a great variety of food! Here's some chicken & veggie soup.....

....her OWN bowl of mashed potatoes!

.....and even her own chocolate ice cream cone!


Ryan and Tucker chatted a bit


and then the nice calm evening came to a screeching hault. Or I should say "screaming" hault! We were in the living room chatting and suddenly Jordyn came screaming and crying in the house "Lexi's getting hurt! Lexi's getting hurt!". My heart dropped and I immediately knew what had happened.



They were playing in the garage and found the key to the treadmill and turned it on. Lexi was caught between the treadmill and the garage door....and couldn't get out. We all ran out there, Tucker grabbed her and brought her in. And she screamed bloody murder for about 40 minutes while we tried EVERYthing we could think of to calm her burns. She had a big one on her leg, and then 10 smaller burns all over her body (elbows, fingers, legs, ankles, wrists...). It was so sad!!!! She was hysterical. We sprayed antiseptic spray, and held cold towels on her. I gave her tylenol and we tried to get her in a cold bath. After about 30-40 minutes, she had realized that the spray did take the edge off the burn (and the Tylenol kicked in) and let us spray a ton more. Then our wonderful friend "doctor Dane" came over with some stronger topical solution and ointment. How could we be so lucky to have a house call from Dane every time we're in crisis mode like this????


Poor, poor Lexi. She was so tired and so worn out from being so upset. Lyric and Jordyn were quite distraught...really everyone was. Its so sad to see your child in pain and not really be able to take it away. We all learned a good lesson, especially me. We got her all wrapped up and feeling a little better.

Whew! What a night! And THAT is a peek into a typical family get together....with a little twist at the end!

Dinner Talk

Tonight we had Chinese Chicken Salad for dinner. I bought the salad kit at Costco....all you add is lettuce. It was a quick dinner, and really yummy! One kit is $10 and will feed our family for two nights. Not bad.

So, as we were eating dinner, Jordyn was telling us about how Freddy, Nathan and Sebastian were chasing her and Zoe at recess today. She said the boys got in trouble (I guess the age-old game of chasing girls is outlawed these days?) and they told the teacher they were chasing the girls because they wanted to be their friends. The teacher told them that is not the right way to become someone's friend. Ugh, I keep having flashes of all the boy issues we'll have over the next 18 years.

Next, I started telling Tucker my most recent frustration. Or at least I tried. Usually we have to interrupt our own conversation every 4-5 words to say to the girls "no, its not your turn. I'm talking to Daddy right now". Anyway, I was telling him how TIRED I am of hearing "I'm gonna be Gabriella, you're Troy, okay? " and then " NOOOOO IIIIIIIII want to be Gabriella....you were Gabriella last time!" I actually feel like I'm close to hating High School Musical because 90% of our conversations, arguments or requests revolve around this show, the music or the characters. And its been this way for about a year!

So then I asked Tucker if maybe it would be the same thing if we had boys, but instead they'd fight over "I want to be Darth Vader!". He said maybe, but that he and his brothers always had a different favorite. So he was always Luke and Spencer was always Han Solo and it always worked out. But I'm sure that didn't mean there wasn't any fighting and I'm sure if Momma Judy were here she would agree.

And finally, I'm including a sneak peek into the new phase of Peyton. Well, not really new, but the intensified phase.