The Meandering Thoughts of Jan

For the record, I do not like potty humor. I don't find it funny. There is a reason my preschooler knows the word "crass". (He is the main culprit of potty humor in our house.) Yet, here I am processing the delightful topic of baby poo. It was 11am and I was already showered and dressed. A win! I was cooking my breakfast of oatmeal, thinking of what a blissful day it was, with the golden leaves peeking in from outside my window. So young, and naive my morning self was. Also, you read that right, breakfast at 11am, even though I had been up since 5:45am. But food evaded me as I got the kids ready for school, then broke up fights between the older two, which led to my oldest and I discussing how I need to work on my parenting skills as he ate his breakfast and I made his lunch.  But now, it was my time with the older children gone. Baby was in his high chair babbling along to our listening party of T Swift's Midnights . (I did not stay up until midnight last night to he...

Happy 10 months! Milestones He now plays peek-a-boo where he will hold a blanket up to his face and pull it down, waiting for our reactions. He is finally sleeping through the night. Not all the time, more like a handful of times, but I'll take it. He can stand when holding onto something without having one of us hold him up. He calls me "Mama," but not consistently. He usually says it when he is sad and I come get him from his crib or if he wants me to hurry up and give him his food. Every once in awhile I will get a happy "Mama" as well. He also will sometimes say "num num num" when it is time to eat or if he is hungry. Likes Avocados (sometimes), Mangoes, Berries, Apricots (sometimes), Apples, Bananas (if other fruit is mixed with it), Cherries (mixed with apple sauce), Sweet Potatoes and Cereal. Cars. He kicks like crazy with excitement when one drives by. Favorite toys: Anything with tags and his octopus that plays music. It us...

Hey, January is almost over, so let's talk about goals and stuff. I've got to be honest, January always brings a small dose of anxiety for me. I distinctly remember thinking on January 5th "We are five days into the new year and I haven't done anything!" Now, I don't have these type of thoughts on February 5th or July 5th or October 5th, only in January. However, I believe goals are a good thing. Let's be honest, it has been a goal of mine just to write this post for over 2 weeks now, so time to get some goals, at least one, accomplished! First, let's see how 2014 went. 2014 Highlight Reel Road Trip to St. George (We always have a couple of those) The Announcement Some Bucket List Adventures Buying a new house and moving The arrival of the cutest baby in all the land Family Mountain Adventures and Festivities And every Instagram post full of baby pictures . 2014 was a really big year for me. Experiencing pregnancy for the f...

I feel like in life I've always been one who is running 5 minutes late all the time. Honestly, it tests my husband's patience, as he is a punctual person. However, since having a baby, apparently now I run a month late. These things happen. General Conference was good, as always. I especially thought it was cool to hear some of the speakers give talks in their native languages. That was rather historic. I enjoyed it all at home in my pajamas holding a little baby. As seen below. My view during conference: a sleeping baby, scribbled notes and an angel on screen. :) Ok, that is actually Pres. Eyring, though he is kind of like angel. Also, never mind the drying rack next to the TV. I have to admit, I was much more tired this conference than past ones. That's what happens when one has a little baby. I did my best to pay attention, but my notes weren't nearly as detailed. My favorite talks from this time around were given by Elder Lynn G. Robbins , Elder Jorg Klebing...

Ok, so my baby didn't really come in a baby carriage, it was actually a much more messy process than that, but my baby did come! Umm, like 3 weeks ago. I kind of fell off the blogging wagon being pregnant, but now life with a newborn...sorry people, I'm just lacking when it comes to communicating in general. But yes, my baby came, two weeks early to be exact. Labor and delivery went pretty well, though I have to say giving birth to a baby was one of the most intense experiences of my life. It kind of blew my mind a bit and is hard to put into words. Yes, it hurt and yes, I cried and had a whole lot of adrenaline pumping. However, it's just remarkable to hold a little squirmy baby that was once inside of you. We sure love this little guy. Baby is doing well. He was pretty little when he was born, 5lbs to be exact. My doctor said that was caused by some health problems I had during pregnancy. However, my doctor said though he is a little baby, he's a strong baby. He...

Last week, we had a mini mission reunion. Ultra mini since it was just me, Jason and Jun, who is back in the US, plus spouses and kids, well one kid.  We went to Hires, such an eatery staple for us.  It was fun to see old friends and catch up. Jason, Me, Danny, Jun, Katie and Liza. The day before Halloween we had our neighborhood trunk-or-treat at the church parking lot.  I was asked to help out with the photo booth, since my job is helping set up photo shoots.  I'm not sure how great of an idea that was, because then I turned into work Jannifer who can be bossy Jannifer.  I had to walk away a few times so the young women who were helping out wouldn't hate me.  Ironically, I didn't get any pictures of this event. For Halloween night, we hung out with Noelle, Jared and Baby C.  We made Halloween pizzas, ate a little too much candy and watched "Edward Scissorhands", such a classic. Here's my jack-o-lantern pizza. Noelle's spiderweb pizz...

Sept. 3rd - I was in line at H&M and they had a box of plasters aka band-aids. It made me so happy to see it called that. It reminded me of England and all things that remind me of England make me happy. Sept 3rd - I love movie theater popcorn, I love Danny and I love funny movies. (Not in that order, though.) So I was pretty happy that Danny was kind enough to see "Austenland" with me and get me popcorn.  The movie was hilarious.  Sept 6th - Nothing like a Christmas photo shoot on a warm September evening.  I felt bad for the kids that had to dress up in winter attire and pretend to be caroling.  It was already rather toasty. Sept 7th - Noelle and Jared had us over for dinner and we made homemade pizzas, yum! Sept. 14th - I got to babysit this cute baby boy one Saturday morning. We had hours of fun. Sept 16th - We went to listen to the Utah Chamber Artists in the Cathedral of the Madeleine.  The cathedral is absolutely lovely...

As I mentioned in my blog post below, my sister Noelle and I had a craft night together, which got us through the BYU/U of U game.  We made two different crafts which I promised to unveil once they were complete. First, a picture of the supplies Noelle and I in craft heaven. The final products! Now a how to: First, the wooden "Boo".  Noelle and I got this idea from our sister Michele's craft blog !  Even though Michele lives a few hours away from us, it was our way of still having a sister craft night together.  (Michele we missed you!)  For the "Boo", we used wooden cut outs from the craft store.  We traced the letters onto different fun patterned paper and used mod podge to glue the paper on.  We used ribbon, stickers and paper to add the little embellishments. For the second craft, Noelle found these paper pumpkins on pinterest. This blog is where we got the instructions. I would recommend using stiffer paper and paper wi...

We took a long weekend trip down to St. George over Easter to go to my new niece's blessing.  Almost the whole family migrated down and we had such a great time together.  It was gorgeous weather, almost like being transported to summertime.  We ate delicious food, played games, went to an egg hunt at the park, there was swimming, golfing, tennis (I didn't get pictures of the sporty activities) , dying of eggs, church and might I add great company.  Prepare yourself for many pictures. Before we headed down to Southern Utah, the Easter Bunny made an early visit to our house so we had road trip treats and something to wear for Sunday.  What a thoughtful bunny. Meeting my new, little niece.   My sisters and their babies.  There is so much cuteness in this picture. It just so happened that Talena was also in St. George celebrating her birthday.  I was excited that I got to go out to dinner with her and other friends to commemorate th...