Still Freezing...

Well, we will probably not have heat until at least tomorrow. Our landlord checked it out and didn't know how to fix it. He called a repair man who won't be able to look at until 4:30 today. Meanwhile, we borrowed an extra space heater from our friends next door and are trying to make the best of the cold situation. Here are some pictures from the last couple of days:

I love how her feet are curled up.

Walking (with only one hand!) with Jake

Jake and I made this tilapia dinner with cous cous the other night. We felt proud... and healthy.

And Nate... this one's for you. It was in the OSH ad we got yesterday.

Because what else would it be? Patio trades?

Ice Ice Baby

First our electricity, now our heater??!! This morning I got out of bed and, as usual, immediately turned on the heater. Normally, I hear three clicks and then about 10 minutes later it will turn on. Well, an hour and a half later, it was still 54 degrees in our house. Poor Jenna's nose was pink! I called PG&E and explained the situation to the lady, who told me the next available appointment wasn't until Monday. I can't believe they'd let someone go FIVE days without heat in the middle of winter! Hopefully, it's just the pilot light and hopefully, Jake can fix it when he gets home from work. Meanwhile, Jenna's space heater is going full blast, I'm bundled up with several layers, a scarf and in bed with my heated mattress pad turned up to high!! Here are some cute pictures of Jenna in her crib:

This weekend was a dark one. Literally. On Friday, as I was primping for a night out, the lights went out! Apparently running the hair dryer for long periods of time is not a good idea, especially when running two electric space heaters. I went all over the place looking for the fuse box but couldn't find it. Jake came home to a wife without make-up and with frizzy, half-dried hair, instead of the cutie I was trying to be. On top of all this, Jenna woke up screaming from her nap after only being asleep for 45 minutes. (She probably woke up after hearing me say, "OH MAN!" when the power went out). Jake found the fuse box (outside) but this place is so old that it has actual fuses, instead of breakers. He didn't know what to do about that. So, we shrugged it off, decided to wait until morning and managed to leave for Outback by 6:30 (for some reason the oven and our bedroom light still worked so I brought a mirror into the kitchen and did my make-up by the light of the stove). Sorry, Melissa, no pictures of my "hot self" because I was not as "hot" as I wanted to be. Jake ordered baby back ribs and BBQ chicken and I ordered tilapia with sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts - quite possibly the best meal I've ever had at any restaurant! On Saturday, I was straightening up the kitchen and turned around to find Jenna like this:
That little squirt! She is always pulling things out of cabinets! It's hard to find the motivation to straighten up! We took her to Stake Conference on both Saturday and Sunday and she was so well-behaved. She loved the nice old man sitting next to us and when we all sustained the prophet, apostles, etc., she raised her hands too, thinking everyone was doing "so big!" She can also walk holding onto just one hand. She's getting closer! I'm sure by her birthday she'll be running around.

You're going to Outback!

When we were little my dad would wake us up by saying, "Today is a special day... you're going to ______!" Usually the blank was "Disneyland" or whatever grade we happened to be in. Well, earlier this week Jake said that we could go to Outback for dinner tonight because he got a gift card from my brother-in-law for Christmas. I have been looking forward to it all week long, especially because Jenna and I haven't been anywhere on account of the weather. So this morning I woke up and thought, "Today is a special day. You're going to Outback!" Today, I will be doing my hair for the first time this week, using my "good" make-up and wearing something other than track pants, a t-shirt and one of Jake's sweatshirts. I'm doing laundry, I'm cleaning the house... it's like we're really going on vacation! As an added bonus, after dinner we are going to a high school basketball game. One of the kids in our ward plays on the team and we promised we would go. I'm actually looking forward to that, too. Well, I only have four hours 'til we go.... better get crackin'!!

Jenna making monkey sounds. She actually makes this noise quite frequently but let's just say she knows what a monkey says. Speaking of monkeys, she can't let go of this book. Yesterday, she slept with it.

Rain, rain go AWAY!

This just about sums up our day:

I think we both felt this way after two days and a night without Jake, a morning nap that was too short, the UPS man walking up to our door just to sike us out by going to our neighbor's (darn it!) and another very rainy, carless day. But, on the lighter side... Jenna is taking a really good afternoon nap, Jake will be home soon and rumor has it there's a Cici's pizza somewhere in the Bay area (Jake heard a radio commercial and called me from work to tell me!) I am going to investigate. That would be a dream come true! And it sounds good right about now. For those of you who have not been fortunate enough to have the Cici's pizza experience, it is an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet that includes a salad bar and some very delicious cinnamon rolls (the real reason we love the place). And it's about $5 a person. Can't really beat that! But it's mostly located in the midwest and east coast, hence the excitement about one in our area.

I hear Jenna stirring in her crib. No, no, no! Not yet!! I was able to get a happy shot of her today and you can really see all of her teeth.

Guess I better go be productive before she wakes up.

I don't really have anything to blog about today and yet here I am. Mostly, I'm trying to keep myself from rummaging through the fridge. Jake and I started the Abs diet yesterday and I am hungry, despite the fact that we get to eat six times a day. There is a pan of brownies over there calling my name, even though I just had two scoops of mint chocolate chip ice cream (it's allowed!) Must keep typing, must keep typing.

Jake is gone for the night in Fremont. I thought I would enjoy the time alone but I'm bored (which is probably contributing to my tendency to scrounge for junk food) and a person can only stand so many episodes of CSI. There's nothing interesting on Craigslist, either. Well, there was that Juicy Couture purse for $140. Ha! It also doesn't help that it rained all day today and we were without a car which led to some very silly antics on my part. At least it made Jenna laugh! At one point, she was on her knees and literally fell over backwards from laughing. We both ended up on the floor cracking up. I think I'd be pretty embarassed if anyone ever saw how weird/crazy/silly Jenna and I (okay, just I) can be. I can't believe she is going to be one next month. I know a year isn't a long time but it has gone by way too fast. She will be going to nursery this summer. That is so weird. It's very fun to watch her learn new things everyday. She tries so hard to repeat what Jake and I say. She stares at our mouths as we say, "Quack, quack" or "spoon." She has also been waving hi and bye a lot this week. She waved bye bye to our neighbor and even put her hand over her mouth to blow a kiss. She's never done that before!

Okay, it's almost 11 which means I survived the urge to splurge on those brownies and I can go to bed and spare you all any further boredom with this post.

I was called to be a Relief Society instructor yesterday. Not sure how I feel about this considering I shook through the whole lesson the last time I taught. I'm sure it will be a great experience. Callings always end up that way.... scary at first, fun in the end. I also discovered yesterday that someone in our ward holds a workout class at the church three mornings a week. I am very excited about this! So now my week will look like this:
Monday: Workout at 9am
Tuesday: Playgroup at 11am
Wednesday: Storytime at the library 10:30am
Thursday: Babysit Brandon 9am
Friday: Workout at 9am
It will be so nice to have something to do every day of the week! There are also a few really interesting classes through the City of Modesto that I want to take. Water Aerobics is at the top of my list but there is also a photography class, some computer classes and yoga. They are a couple nights a week and pretty inexpensive!

We got a call from Jake's mom yesterday. She is having surgery on Wednesday to remove a lump in her breast. She got a blessing from Jake's dad and brother and seems very calm. We don't know much else at this point.

Jenna is loving her sippy cup. I think in the next little bit we will be able to completely do away with the bottle! Yeah! No more formula! No more liners! She also has been standing up on her own more often. She is getting more confident at letting go of things. She loves this monkey (named "Ricky") from Jake's aunt Tanya that makes monkey noises when its squeezed and she tries to mimick the sound. And last but not least, she has a new tooth that she cut while we were in Ohio. So now she's got four on the bottom and two on top!

Cleveland Rocks!

Despite the long day of traveling, Jenna and I got to do so many fun things while in Ohio. We went to Storytime at the library with Missy and Porter where we learned the rhyme, "Acka Backa Soda Cracker," which is great unless you get it stuck in your head for a whole day. "Acka backa soda cracker, acka backa boo! Acka backa soda cracker, I love YOU!" (And that's not all of it!) The library in Westlake is huge. It has everything anyone could ever want, including drive through service, new dvd releases and a huge play center for kids. It was awesome! We also went to the Nature Center where Jenna saw lizards and turtles and snakes. We got to spend Friday night with all the kids during Pizza/Movie night when they watched "Hairspray" and enjoyed some garlic chicken and supreme veggie pizza. Mmmmmm. Thank you, Nate! Amy, Melissa and I went to Old Navy and hit the deal of a lifetime: all clearance items were an additional half off making it all 75% off! I found shirts and pants for Jenna for next year for $2 and $3! We spent two hours there one night and then went back for more the next day! We also had lunch at this really fun place called "Melt." They served all different kinds of grilled cheese sandwiches and the portions were huge. Which reminds me... I left my take-home box in Melissa's fridge. I loved that the menus were stapled onto old record jackets. But the best part of the whole trip was just hanging out: being there when the kids got home from school, helping Brooke choose an outfit for Sunday, wrestling with Andrew, enjoying long talks with my sisters about... well, everything! getting notes from Emma and Leah, tucking in Sydney, sitting with Porter during his VEST treatment, and picking up Macey from preschool. All little things, but things I miss the most.

A very long day....

Unless you have a twenty minutes to read this, you might want to come back later.....

When Jenna was a newborn, I always carried an extra outfit for her just in case she spit up or had a big poop. But these days, I figured she was past all that and I haven't been throwing a spare onesie in my purse. However, yesterday, as we flew home from Ohio, I learned my lesson - not just once but twice. While visiting my sisters, Jenna and I both caught a little flu bug. Fortunately, the vomiting only lasted a couple of days for Jenna (and I was sick just for a day) but she is still experiencing "the back door blues." Yesterday, before we left for the airport, she had a big poop and I was hopeful that she had done her duty for the day. Well, my sisters dropped us off and when we got settled in at our gate I smelled something gross. I peaked in her diaper and, getting it on my finger, realized her diaper was completely full. No problem. I changed her and we sat back down. But I kept smelling something. I looked in her diaper again and there was nothing! I finally figured out that it had leaked onto her pants. We had some time before our plane left, so I went to the bathroom where I washed her pants and dried them under the automatic hand dryer. We went back to the gate and took off shortly after. Jenna slept the entire way from Cleveland to Minneapolis. Perfect! When we landed in Minneapolis, I put in her the stroller, which now has a ripped handle thanks to the careful employees of Northwest Airlines, and changed her diaper in the bathroom then we found the gate for the next leg of our trip. I sat down and took Jenna out of her stroller to give her a bottle. I let out a very loud, "Ohhhhhh nooooooo!" as I realized there was diarrea all over the seat of her stroller, all up her back and on her shirt and pants and I had no time to wash anything in the bathroom. I quickly cleaned her up and, in desperation, called Jake, hoping he'd have an answer for me. He told me later he was trying not to laugh! Thanks, Jake. All I had for her was a zip-up sweatshirt so I put that on her, got a plastic bag from "Simply Books," shoved the soiled clothes in it and we boarded the plane shortly after. People were looking at us and I'm sure it was not because they were admiring what a cute baby Jenna is but wondering why the poor thing had no pants on.

So, once on the plane, we settled in for the long four hour flight. Jenna did great and played nicely on my lap for most of the time. She was a little fussy the last hour as she tried to fall asleep but couldn't seem to get comfortable. Enter: the Asian couple. These people, although there was a language barrier, were very nice and I'm sure had good intentions. However, by the time we got off the plane, I was extremely annoyed. Every time Jenna made the slightest complaint the woman would say, "Oh, cootie gairl!" (translation: "Oh, cutie girl!") or "Hi bah-bee" ("Hi baby"). And every time I would dig through my purse (which was difficult because the lady in front of me had reclined her seat as far as it would go, probably so her smelly chihuahua dog would be more comfortable) the Asian woman would hold things for me and then put everything back in my purse once I found what I was looking for. Once, Jenna got pretty whiny and the man started playing "high fie" (high five) with her, except it was really high four because we was keeping his thumb bent so as not to scratch Jenna with his extremely long thumbnail. (Is that a cultural thing?) At one point, the lady wanted to hold Jenna. Fine. I had pretty much been holding her the entire day and a little break would be nice. But I had to take her back when the lady started kissing Jenna's hands. (Later, I took a baby wipe and gave Jenna's hands a good scrub.) When Jenna bumped her head and cried really hard, the lady wanted to hold her again but I shook my head. So then - and this is the kicker - she picks my purse up off the floor and starts digging around in it for something to give Jenna! Excuse me! At that point, I was done. I wanted to get off that plane, get some clothes on my baby and go to bed! I was done with poop and stale airplane air, plugged ears and strangers rummaging through my things. We finally landed but still had an hour and a half to drive home so I finally got to bed around 10:30, which really felt like 1:30 Ohio time. Whew! It was all worth it, though. I love being with my sisters and their families and will be posting pictures of our trip soon!

Drama Queen

Jenna started making these silly faces as I was talking to my sister, Melissa, on the phone today. Luckily, I had the camera right next to me and took as many as I could. It was as if she was posing for me!

New Year's and Misc.

The past few days have been fun. Our anniversary was the 28th and our friends Matt & Lyndsay were going to watch Jenna while Jake and I saw a movie and ate dinner but Jenna wasn't feeling well so we kept her and just went to dinner at Elephant Bar. I had Jumbalaya and it was SO spicy. I wanted to try something new because Jake always teases me about getting a chicken supreme chalupa and a bean burrito with no onions every single time we go to Taco Bell. He got steak and shrimp, which was really good. He also brought me flowers and I took a picture using that cool color accent feature on our camera.

New Year's Eve was fun. We had Jay & Cammy Harvey and their two kids and Matt & Lyndsay Mauchley over for pizza and games. We played Scene It, Scattegories and an LDS game from my mom called Say It Not. And of course, we had Martinelli's at midnight! Some people had a hard time staying up that late but I think we all made it! On New Year's Day we went to Dublin and partied with the Pittsons (Jake's mom's family). They are always a riot! We had a fun white elephant gift exchange and I got to hold little baby Zach (Jake's cousin's baby). He is extremely cute. Too bad I forgot the camera! A sin, I know.

I can finally put a clip in Jenna's hair! Please excuse the pink in the picture; I was trying to use the color accent, but it didn't quite work out. Next time.... Hope everyone had a fun holiday. I am looking forward to OHIO on Tuesday which my holiday isn't ending yet which also means my diet isn't beginning yet!