Gifts

Yes I know. I haven't blogged in a LONG time. I do have things to blog about with lots of pictures too. I will try to find some in the next little while to do so.

Until then, let me show what I have been doing. This year for Christmas I decided to save money and make as many of the gifts as I can. I did buy some gifts because some people knew what they wanted so I got them those items (it's nice when people actually say what they want - yes, less surprise but whatever-I'm tired). Since I know my little nieces and nephews don't read my blog, here are some things I've made for them.

The top picture is a cat hat and the bottom picture is a dinosaur hat. The girls are getting the cat hats and the boys are getting the dinosaur hats. I'm also making them super-hero capes but I'm not done with those. I will post all of the items I make after I'm finished.

I hope the kids really like them. It's something fun they can play around in.

Running

I'm not a runner. I've never been a runner. In middle school when we had to run around the track I would start running, then walk, then maybe run a bit, then walk. I pretty much would run only to guarentee that I wasn't the last person but in the middle of the group. I do admit that I want to be a runner. It's a great way to burn lots of calories but it's also hard. I know people who are runners and they tell me how much they hate running. (not very motivational)

I've started working out each day on my lunch break. We have a gym that is free for me to use in our building. I go around 3 p.m. because usually I'll be there by myself. (side note: I eat my lunch at my desk around noon then workout around 3 p.m. - So Cherie don't worry, I don't starve until 3 p.m.) We have a treadmill that I use the "fat burning" program on. It asks my age, weight, target heart rate, speed I want to go and how long I want to go. Then it changes the incline to keep my heart rate at the set rate. Today was really easy at my faster pace walk I do and I was doing 6% and 7% inclines. After my 30 minutes I thought I'd try running for two minutes. I've read many places that it is good to start at 2 minutes running and gradually increase your time. Well I started to run and I made it the whole two minutes!! I was so proud of myself. I may have felt (and looked) like this:

Instead of like this:

But sometime in the future I'll be more confident in running. I know that it's best to take small steps and I feel that this was a big one for me. I'm going to continue to try running for 2 minutes after each 30 minute brisk walk on the treadmill until I feel confident enough to add another minute. Yeah me!!

I'm a Mormon

I love the "I'm a Mormon" campaign that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does. It really has uplifted me to be more open with my religious belief. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I love it. I have been truly blessed.

For our Young Women in Excellence night in our ward each of our Young Women created their own "I'm a Mormon" videos. They did a wonderful job. Some spoke of being dancers, basketball playsers, their love of animals and their love of missionary work. It was wonderful to see our young women be so open with their beliefs and willingness to share it with others.

I came across this "I'm a Mormon" video of a French women. She is also a wonderful example of our belief system and how important serving others is. It also reminded me of how much more I can do for others. This is probably my favorite "I'm a Mormon" video. At least for now. :)

Lunch with the Fam

Hutch was off this week from school due to fall break so he and Agent P came and visited me at work today and we had lunch.

Hutch had made this amazing curry chicken salad. We had it on crackers. It was also really yummy to eat alone. I can't say enough about how yummy it was. Hutch, you did a great job!!

Agent P looking out the window in the break room. He loves to run all around my office and see everything.

Eating lunch. Well, eating crackers. He ate a few crackers and his string cheese. He wanted to play around my office rather then eat his lunch.

He's the hardest worker in my office. When he got to my office, he ran right to my desk and picked up the phone and said, "Hello!" No one was on the other line but he still thought it was fun.

Me and my sweetie! I love him so much! I'm so grateful for all of his hard work in school to help make our life better. He truly is a wonderful, loving man and I thank my Heavenly Father everyday to be lucky enough to have him.

Lunch

Today for lunch my besty Stephanie came and visited and brough lunch. I always love spending time with her. Even though it wasn't for as long as we'd both like it, it was really nice to spend some time together eating and talking. I love you Stephanie and I crave you and your time as well.

The Book of Love

Hutch sang this song to me on our wedding day. I still can't listen to it without crying or at least having my eyes swell up with tears while I try to hold it in since I'm listening at work. :) I fall in love with him over and over again each day. You can read and sing to me forever!

Catching up!

I just blogged 5 posts (6 including this one) so if you're just noticing the new blogs, there are 5 of them. Enjoy!!!

Book Club

I'm in a fun book club with two ladies. It's great because it's easier to schedule get-togethers when there are only three calendars. It's also fun because we're great friends! This past book we read was my suggestion. It was "We're Just Like You Only Prettier - Confessions of a Tarnished Southern Belle" by Celia Rivenbark. It's hilarious!! When we get together to discuss the book, we have dinner and we like to match the theme of the book with the dinner. Since this book was about southern things, we had a good southern meal.

We had an amazing beef brisket, collard greens, black-eyed pees, salad, corn bread and a homemade blackberry lemonade. It was soooooooooo good! Then for dessert we had an incredible peach and rhubarb cobbler with vanilla ice cream. Jealous? You should be.

Or you could be jealous that you're not in a book club with these two amazing and wonderful women.

JT Reunion

Each year Hutch's Dad's side of the family has the Jorgensen/Taylor Family Reunion. This year Hutch's sister Tifany, her husband and us were in charge. We were lucky enough to have plenty of family members help out.

Here is Hutch driving us to Idaho. My parents let us use their trailer.

Agent P is relaxing in the back watching a movie. We did pretty well on the long drive.
Since we were involved in planning we didn't get to spend much time together and a family doing stuff. We did, however, get to go on a mini-hike.

Hutch helped Agent P up the mountain. We actually had to help him slow down because he just wanted to run straight up.

The view of our campground. It was a very beautiful location. Hot, but beautiful.

Agent P trying to eat a rock. He thought it was funnky to pretend like he was going to eat it.

Me and my sweetheart!
Here is a video of Agent P hiking. It's funny that even a pile of dirt is a slide to him.

Coming back down the mountain. P preferred to ride down the mountain on daddy's shoulders.

There was a great climbing treen in our camp. Agent P enjoyed sitting in the middle and relaxing with a lolly pop.

Defending his tree. He has a stick and a sucker and knows how to use them. :)

Swinging on the tire swing. He only rode this once because he didn't like that he couldn't hold his sucker and swing at the same time.

Helping Uncle Vondell put the cooker together. They have their own language. P would talk to him with his gibberish and Vondell would answer back in the same gibberish.

Hanging out in the trailer, coloring and watching Toy Story.

Heading home after a long and fun weekend.

Agent P's 2nd Birthday!!

Agent P turned 2 years old this year. I can't believe that my baby is already 2. He is growing up way too fast. Luckily he's not too grown up to cuddle with me. We had a Dr. Seuss party for him at our house. We invited lots of family and friends. He loves having people over, especialy when they bring him presents. :) (this will have a lot of photos, enjoy!)

The pile of presents. He got A LOT of gifts. He is loved!

This is our backyard. We set up tables and canopies for everyone to sit under and eat their lunch. We set up Dr. Seuss books for the centerpieces and hung different colored paper lanterns.

Here are some family members waiting for the party to start. I used the same "Happy Birthday" sign that I made last year. Hanging from the ceiling are quotes from different Dr. Seuss books. We also had the movie "The Cat in the Hat" playing on the TV.

For lunch we served Green Eggs and Ham Sandwiches. The eggs were very tasty! After hard boiling them I cut them in half and put the yolks in a bowl and put the whites in a bowl of water with green food coloring and let them sit for a bit.

After lunch we played some games. This one was "Pin the Hat on the Cat". A special thanks to Stephanie for printing the cat out for me.

Even the grown ups played along.

The birthday boy preferred to sit and watch the games and read a book.

More family watching the games.

The winner of pin the hat on the cat! He won two rackets and a ball for playing with in the pool.

The birthday boy steeling candy. We had a small candy buffet for everyone.

The other game we played was a fishing game. I cut out pictures of fish (One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish) and had them in two bowls. We had two teams and each team had to fish out one fish, run to the end end and put it in the bowl. The first team to get all of their fish to the other side won a basket of candy bars.

It was finally present time. P had fun opening his presents. Then he opened the present from his mom and dad. His very own vacuum!

The boy loves to vacuum. After opening that present, that's all he wanted to play with. He didn't want to open anything else.

He's crying because I gave the vacuum to Uncle Jamie to take out of the package. He didn't understand that it needed to be taken out of the box and put together. Jamie said he has never felt so much pressure to be fast at opening something. He was nervous. Agent P didn't care to open anymore presents until I opened this one for him from Grandma and Grandpa Beardall.

Buzz and Woody dolls from Toy Story. He was excited to get them. He stopped thinking about his vacuum for about a minute. Then he realized that they had to be taken out of the box too.



He finally got to play with his vacuum. He was very happy about that. I'm surprised he didn't want to sleep with it. But then he did have his Buzz and Woody dolls to sleep with.

Then we got to sing Happy Birthday to him and he blew out his candles. He loves blowing out candles. When we're at someone else's birthday, we have to hold him back so he doesn't blow out their candles. Isn't the cake awesome! I wish I had a better picture of it. I'll have to get one from my mom. She made it. It's the Cat in the Hat's hat. Around the rim of the hat are prints of Dr. Seuss books printed on edible paper and put on fondant. It was a really fun day!! Happy Birthday Agent P, we love you!!





Midvale Elementary

I went to Midvale Elementary when I was a child. It was a great school and I had some wonderful teachers. I met a lot of my friends there that I'm still friends with today. They're tearing down Midvale Elementary to building a new one a block away. So they had an open house to celebrate the school. My friend Jessie and I went. We've been friends since first grade. In fact, this is the room we met in. Our teacher was Mrs. Kemp.

This is the inside of the classroom.

This is outside the classroom. Everything seems so small now. I remember feeling so overwhelmed at the size of the school when I was little.

This is the first stage I ever performed on. We had a program every year. There was even one year when Margo Watson came and led a special choir of students from every grade for a special concert. I was in the choir (pretty much anyone who wanted to be in it was in it) and my mom played the piano for it. Such memories!!

Agent P loves the stage!! Here he is performing on the same stage as him mom did many years ago.