Day One-Hundred and Twenty-Seven: Chit Chat

She is such a talker!

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Five to Twenty-Six: A little premature

A really awesome habit I have noticed about my husband is that when he enters new situations he seeks out the really "important" people and becomes their friend. At the Art Institute for instance, his closest friends are: the head of the Graphic Design department, various teachers that have important friends, and the director of the Communications Department. I didn't believe in networking until I saw how well he did it! One of his friends got him an interview as a junior designer at Qdoba. The day that he had the interview, I just started preparing to congratulate him. He was a shoe-in. He's a fantastic designer, has amazing references, and is a wonderful interviewee. They had already mentioned that they don't usually offer jobs to undergrads but they just loved him so much. Plus, I had a really good feeling about it. He came home to my very fancy sign and just laughed because he wasn't going to receive an answer from them until the next day. I wasn't worried though. He already planned to meet with the friend, the Head of Graphic Design, to move his schedule around so that he could fit a full time job in with his full time school schedule (bless his heart...Hey! That's the first time I could say that phrase in such a fitting way). 

To both of our surprise he didn't get the job. It was not because he was under qualified. In fact, they said he was TOO QUALIFIED. He hasn't even graduated yet and a huge corporation thinks he is too qualified! How do you cope with such information. Finding out that you don't qualify is one thing. You know where to go from there: improve. But when you are already too good: dumb down? It's not really something we should be upset about. I was disappointed. But how could I be upset that people think my husband is really good at what he does? So instead of a solemn "Welcome Home. Shoot, I really thought we had our big break that time..." I decided we should have another celebration! 

Everything on the menu that night was overcooked, over-manly, or had something to do with Bunnies...because they overproduce. 

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Four: Tutu

Target is the ultimate place to buy baby clothes. I have found things for $1 on MANY occasions. I took a trip to target while Jace was hard at work. Everything I bought was under $2.50 except this little thing. It was a whole $4 and well worth the extra buckage. You can't get much cuter than a tutu swim suit.

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Three: Slow down!

She is getting so big! I think a couple times a month your baby will do something that just amazes you and you realize that somehow, even though you feel so incapable, they are learning new things all the time. Since Jadyn has a fairly easy time sitting in the Bumbo, we decided to try out the UltraSaucer (P.S. some toys have really lame names). I was blown away by how well she did. After a week or so of putting her in it every day I can now leave her to play for about 20 mintues. Hallelujah I can eat breakfast in peace! She is growing up.

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Two: Not a day too soon

I am a believer that you shouldn't say things out loud because they will probably come true. For instance, on this day I was thinking "Gee, Jadyn is 4 months old now. I wonder if she is going to start teething soon." BAM! She is. The screaming, oh, the screaming. Luckily she is as sweet as a baby can be so she only has short outbursts. Most of the time she puts on a happy face for mommy even though I know she must be in pain. I felt so bad for her. I bought every teething thing I could find! Teething tablets are now like candy for her. She gets just as excited to get a tablet as she does to get her pacifier.

Magic Daddy

This doesn't really fall into a certain day. It is a re-occurring fact. Jace is magic. Granted, he does not have the massive strength I do because he gets extremely tired from holding Jadyn pathetically fast, but it only takes a few minutes in those big, comfy arms. Sometimes he is holding her out to look at him and she just passes out. I'm not sure how he does it, but if he were a super hero his name would be "The Sleeper".

Day One Hundred and Twenty One: Swim Swim

The date that the pool would be opened was extended! So we mozied on over so Jadyn could have a little swim. She really seems to like the pool. This suit is the one that my little sister wore when she was Jadyn's age. The elastic had about 5 minutes of life left in it so we enjoyed it to the fullest.

    

Day One Hundred and Twenty: Surprise!

Whenever my mom goes out of town, my dad feels the need to do a project that he has every intention of finishing before she gets home. Of course, he underestimates time, his tendency to buy really cheap material that he will more than likely break while in the process and will end up spending more time and more money for a seemingly simple project. What usually happens is my mom comes home to everything covered in fiberglass dust, a wall knocked down, and dad severely injured. Jace has lessened these occurrences drastically due to his choice to do projects exactly the opposite of the way my dad would like to. So this time, my mom came home to find her guest bedroom she has been working on for weeks was finished! It was painted, the base boards were up and shelves were in. What a nice surprise. 

Day One Hundred and Nineteen: A Happy Reunion

I am so behind on my blogging that these next few posts will be from a very vague memory tucked away in a random corner of my head. I counted from Jadyn's birth date to make sure I was actually on the right day and Yipee! I was.

Jadyn was greatly missed by the men. The first thing Grandpa did when he came home from work was scoop Jady up and take her to his office. They were both hard at work.

Jace went for her first when he got home too. 

Aunt Mindy let us borrow the Bumbo she was borrowing from her sister. We'll send it back with them at Christmas. This little seat is fabulous. I can cook and eat and do dishes while she watches me and chews on stuff.

Day One Hundred and Eleven-One Hundred and Eighteen: Baby Sister goes to college

I can't believe it! My sister is in College. My parents and her left a week before orientation to spend some time with the family in Utah. The night before they left Moose sat down with me on the couch, journal in hand and we had a good laugh reading about what kind of sisters we were. I was blown away by how much she really saw of my life: the good and most shocking was the bad. Such a young, sweet girl wrote some very deep insights about her rebellious older sister. It tugged at my heart to know that she had been experiencing the hardest times of my life right along with me. She truly is my best friend.  During those awkward times you get caught laughing in public for no apparent reason, it has almost always been because of something I knew her and I would think was hilarious. It is her beautiful voice I hear sing in my head when I look to the words of a Hymn for comfort. Somewhere around 90% of my childhood pictures have her in them. When we moved to Colorado, she was the only friend I had (except you, Carly, of course...but for dramatic effect just bare with me). And when Jace and I moved back in with my parents, she was again the only real friend I had. This hit me a couple hours after they drove off in a car packed with all her belongings. This was it. I will more than likely never live in the same house with my sister again. It's even a gamble that we will live in the same state! We will see each other during holidays and talk about our separate lives. My best friend has grown up. It has been a very long time since I felt this yearning, but for the thirtieth time in my life I said, "I don't want to grow up." I want her here with me forever. I am so happy for her. I am so excited for her to have her own adventures and donate plasma to afford it. But I certainly miss her. When Melissa hinted that she may like to have me there to see her off, I didn't hesitate. Jadyn and I were on a plane thursday morning to Salt Lake. Accomplishment #1 on the trip was of course successfully getting through security at the airport without Jace--with Jadyn--in a timely manner. Melissa and Mom had spent the week in Utah camping, getting Carter ready for his first day of school and SHOPPING. They saved a little of that for my arrival as well. I may have splurged a bit but then again,  when you spend virtually nothing  two years of marriage, everything feels like splurging.

We watched Carter's soccer game. It's not the best picture, but it is the best moment I captured. He just assisted one of his teammates in making a goal. What does he think of someone else scoring a goal even if they are on the same team? "Thumbs Down!" Mindy's still working on the teamwork concept. 

We also went bowling.

Brett's still learning how to hold a baby.

Travis. What can I say?

We finally got to meet Brett's mystery woman: Vic. I approve. 

Jadyn was such a good girl all through the driving. 

She snuggled up to her giraffe on the way to Rexburg. 

It took two full days to unpack this girl. But she's worth it...

cuz I love her and all her luggage (name that movie girls!)

We were too lazy to walk to the other side of the dorms to stand next to the nice sign that didn't have a dumb "Loading Zone" sign...you get the drift though. This is where college began for me. Good old Ricks hall. Good memories. College just flew right by! 

And now it is her turn, starting at Ricks Hall. It is somewhat like ground zero for us girls now. 

It's a good hall. 

I didn't really cry when my mom left me at college. But I was not Melissa. I'm not saying she is more of a wuss than me. I'm sure she would vouch for the fact that it is probably the other way around. Melissa has seen all her siblings leave home, all the way down to number 5. When I left she was still there with mom. The youngest and mother always seem to have a special bond. She was mom's buddy when everyone else was gone. So when it came to saying good bye to our dear Melissa, the family member that has always been waiting for you to come home, we all cried. You will be missed ya goon. I love you so much. And I am sure I am missing you more than you are missing me now. You're too busy conquering the world. Just remember that your big sister will be waiting for you to come home.