Father's Day

What is the best gift you can give Jaysen for Father's Day?

An afternoon of watching golf in his Man Cave......

Happy Father's Day Jaysen!

Nice Try Jaysen....

Jaysen came home the other day and saw that our next door neighbor was having a mowing service come to mow her lawn. Now, our next door neighbor is a single mother who is a nurse and therefore works long hours and sometimes odd shifts. Her son is only 8 and she has HER grandmother come to watch him when she is at work. It also helps that her boyfriend has a mowing service.

With the background out of the way here....

Jaysen walks into the house and tells me that he thinks we should hire out a mowing service to take care of our yard because he just really hated mowing the lawn. For all you moms out there....I'm hoping you are feeling my pain here. :0) $150 a month to pay for a service because you just don't want to have to do it. Mind you....as far as the yard goes....that's all he has to take care of. I just looked at him and told him that if he got to hire out someone to mow the lawn then we were going to hire a maid because I really hated cleaning the house. :0)

He didn't think that was funny.

So, the mowing service idea was put aside. Several weeks later Jaysen gets the brilliant idea that Landon is now old enough that he should be able to start mowing the lawn himself. Landon is 9 years old. Our lawn mower is not the fancy kind that propels itself forward. Yeah......Both Landon and I gave Jaysen the "are you kidding me?" look. Jaysen attempts to sweeten the pot for Landon by offering him money. Of course, Landon accepts the challenge.

As you can see.....Landon had quite a bit of a struggle trying to push our monster lawn mower.

Poor Jaysen had to take over after just a few minutes. Landon was really upset that he wasn't able to pull it off. Jaysen is just going to have to be stuck with doing it by himself. Don't you just feel so bad for him? :0) {Merciless teasing has gone on over this....can you tell?}

BUT! The saga continues. Jaysen is now sure that we need a riding lawn mower.

Have you seen our patch of grass? I don't think he would even be able to turn it around in our small yard. :0)

I'm quite interested to see what idea he comes up with next. :0) He's as bad as my children! Honestly....I wouldn't have him any other way. He does keep us smiling......

taking it when we can get it

The weather changes have been driving me crazy. It's 70 degrees outside one day, and then all of a sudden we're back to wearing coats. I need the sun to stay. There's something about a sunny day that just makes me FEEL better. You know? So, when the clouds broke on Saturday afternoon, we decided to take advantage of the glimpse of blue sky and get outside. We, meaning Mackenzee and I anyway.....Jaysen may have had to be dragged out to the car and forced into going along for the ride. :0) Amazingly enough, he did end up enjoying himself once we were out amongst "nature".
We drove down the canyon towards Centennial Park and stopped off at this waterfall. After watching from the sidelines for a bit, we decided to jump the cement barricade and climb down to the area behind the waterfall.

Because it had rained SO MUCH that day I was worried about the path being too slippery for Mackenzee or even Jaysen holding Mackenzee. So, I went down first to check it out. See that pink dot? That's me. :0) And my muscles. :0)

Here's the up close picture just in case you were wanting to see my magnificence a little better. :0) OK....so being out and climbing around gave me a bit of a natural high. Nothing wrong with that. See the waterfall behind me? I was getting more than just a little bit wet standing there.

Kenzee wanted to get close to the water too, so Jaysen took her over. She didn't want to get down though.....there was mud. :0) She was very proud that she "walked" underneath a waterfall though. She bragged about it to Landon when he got home the next day. I promised him I'd take him back over there so he could do it too.

I'm itching to go out with the kids and Jaysen and do more stuff like this. I used to hike all the time in my "pre-children" era and I really miss it. Now, if the weather would just WORK WITH ME I could really get back in touch with my young and sassy self. :0)

My hot date

Isn't he handsome? Jaysen took me to a Valentine's Day dinner and dance last night. Though the dancing portion wasn't quite what I had hoped it would be, the dinner was good and the company was SO FUN! I had a blast and it was nice to go and do something grown-up. I got to dance with my hubby, get dressed up, and eat fancy food.
Thanks for taking me Jaysen. You are the most awesome hubby ever! I love you!

Happy Birthday Jaysen!

Yes, it's true. The hubby has stepped up a number. He is now 35. *gasp*! :0) Just teasing.....

All Jaysen wanted for his birthday this year was a new pair of golf shoes and to go out to Sakura for dinner. Honestly, he made it pretty easy on me and the kids. Mackenzee and I did surprise him with some balloons and snickerdoodles at work yesterday morning, though. So at least he had one thing that wasn't expected. :0)

We went out to dinner with his parents, his brother Jeff and his wife, and his brother Bob. The kids came along for the ride too. It's always more fun to have kids with you when you go to a Japanese Steakhouse. They LOVE the fire! Well, except Mackenzee. She did better this time than compared to last year, but was still not really sure about the flames right in front of her. Towards the end of the show she ended up climbing under the table. Maybe next year she'll have better luck. :0)

Anyway....Happy Birthday Jaysen! We love you so much!

Not A Creature Was Stirring...

SH! Be very, very quiet. Jaysen is exhausted from keeping up with all of the football games.

It can be pretty tiring sitting on the couch like that. I don't see how he does it.....

:0)

Snow?

So, it snowed on Saturday. And...it snowed some more yesterday. As most of you know...I am not a huge fan of the white, wet stuff. It's cold, it's hard to drive in, and it makes it really hard to walk when you are wearing sassy heels.

Since I do not enjoy the weather, I tend to stick to the indoors. Jaysen...he feels the same way as I do. But, he's way nicer than me about it. :0) Let me explain.

Mackenzee has been dying to play in the snow since Saturday. Well, Saturday was landon's birthday party and then by Sunday the snow had turned icy and hard, which makes it no fun to play in. With the new soft snow covering the ground, there was no denying her the opportunity to jump right in. {Unless you are me of course}. Jaysen came home early today so that he could shovel the sidewalk and driveway before it got dark. He told Mackenzee that she could go out front and play in the snow while he worked. She was elated! Thankfully, Landon's old snow pants fit her this year, so I bundled her up and sent her out with her dad.

I stayed inside nice and warm. :0) Hey! dinner DID need to be cooked! It definitely wasn't going to cook itself! :0)

Landon...he stuck with me. He's not a huge fan of the snow either. Smart boy.

Well, not long after I sent Mackenzee out Jaysen popped his head in the door and told me that I needed to go outside and take some pictures of Mackenzee. Why you ask? Jaysen built a little snow "hill" in the front yard for Mackenzee to ride the sled down. What? I thought he hated snow? And...after Landon saw what was going on, he couldn't resist going out to play too. As for me? I took some pictures and happily went back inside to finish cooking dinner where it was nice and warm.

Of course, the second it was dark outside Jaysen closed up shop and made everyone come in. Apparently you can catch pneumonia after dark. :0) Or something like that anyway...

Jaysen said so.

After the kids warmed up with hot chocolate and some homemade soup, we broke out the gingerbread house kit. Normally we decorate these with the Burnham cousins at Grandma and Grandpa Burnham's house. This year the gingerbread house was just dropped off to us as there wasn't going to be a time when we could all get together to do it. :0( We still had fun though. I thought they did a great job on it, and added a little touch to it myself. Can you tell what my addition was?

We are getting closer and closer to the big day! So much is going on it makes it so much fun for the kids. I've posted a few more things today, so don't forget to keep scrolling down to see what Landon has been up to! :0)

Vogue!

What do I get when I try to capture a warm and fuzzy daddy/daughter snuggle moment with my camera? See the smile? See the eyes pretending to be closed?

She saw me get the camera.

Yeah....she's posing. Moment of innocent snuggling gone as the model in Mackenzee shines through. Sigh....

At least it's still a cute shot, right?

Just Peachy!

I have wanted to more "homemaker"-ish for a long time. I don't sew, though I really want to learn. My mom is an amazing seamstress and my grandmother is the Queen seamstress of them all. And then...there's me. Sigh.

Though this is the third year I have planted a garden all on my own, this is the first year I have produced more than a few green beans. Bugs ate everything the past couple of years at my old house. :0( This year...I've finally got tomatoes, corn, squash, and jalapeno peppers! The watermelon plant still died...but hey! It's a start right?

I picked more strawberries this year so that I could make more freezer jam. I think Jaysen would die without it. :0) But beyond that, I have never canned ANYTHING all by myself before. I helped in the process growing up, but haven't ever done it alone.

Well, Jaysen's mom has a peach tree. And she wasn't going to can them. And so they would be FREE! My mom....she has about 40 million quart canning jars and said she would give me some....for FREE! So how could I NOT can some peaches? Seriously! FREE!

So, yesterday I went out to Jerome and with the help of Mackenzee and Rita I picked two ginormous bins of peaches. Sadly, though I grabbed my camera on the way out, the memory card was not in it. So, no pictures of my little one picking them. :0(

After picking, we went out to my mom's house for a crash course in canning. Fourteen jars and two hours later, I had it down. I had only made a slight dent in one of the bins of peaches though. :0)

Today...

today was the day I pushed up my sleeves and finished off the first bin without my mom's help.

I did have others helping though. :0)

Notice how thrilled Jaysen was to come home to a messy kitchen and a pleading wife. Isn't he so nice to get his hands all peachy for me?

And look! Another 14 jars! I did it! I know...It's sad how excited I am. But it's my first time! And they turned out...and the lids sealed and everything! {That was my biggest fear}

Now....only one ginormous bin and about 30 jars left.

Anybody want some canned peaches? :0)

Honesty is the best policy

My sister is going to kill me for posting this picture. {I love you Smelly!}

We had a fun weekend at my mom's house scrapbooking and chatting away. While there, Melanie, Shelby, and I decided to color our hair. Why? Because we can.

I went dark as I did last fall, Melanie went darker to a light brown shade, and Shelby got some pretty blonde highlights.

So, after I got home and Jaysen saw what I had done to my hair THIS time {I change my hair frequently...I always have} I asked him what color he has liked the best. He, of course, tried to give me the "appropriate" answer of...."whatever you like, I like". The problem is that I don't want a politically correct answer. I want the truth. I like looking sassy cute for the hubby. :0) Anyway...after 5 minutes of attempting to drag the truth out of him he finally drops the bombshell...

"I like you better blonde."

What? What? Sigh.

I asked him last year, when I went from blonde to brown if he liked me better blonde or brown. His answer? "You look great both ways." Safe answer huh? If he would have just been honest...we could have avoided the whole month of red....and now to the almost black again. Sigh.

He was concerned I was mad at him after he made his revelation. Mad that he was honest? No. Frustrated that I just dyed my hair chocolate brown and could have dyed it back to blonde if I would have known? YES. Sigh. That's what I get for having such a nice hubby who didn't want to hurt my feelings.

Punk. :0)

He told me not to just go and change it back just because he said he liked it better blonde. I let him know there was no way to go from DARK brown to blonde without ending up with ORANGE hair. So, I am staying dark...for now.

Perhaps I'll go purple next time.....just to teach him a lesson in honesty.

It is always the best policy you know....

{love you Jaysen}

Are you ready for some football?

Today was the first Bronco game of the year. Boise State University played Idaho State University. Oddly, though we cheer on BSU in our home, my cousin plays for ISU. So, we rooted for the orange and blue, but cheered for one player on the opposing team as well. :0)

Being the fan that Jaysen is, he wanted to have a kickoff party. So, we invited oodles of people and made oodles of food and got ready for the big game.

Do you think we had enough to eat?
On top of the snacky foods, Jaysen decided to break in his new charcoal grill. Apparently the nice gas grill he got for Father's Day last year wasn't going to cut it. :0) {Pictured are Rob, Jaysen and Ryan}

Unfortunately the game was fairly boring as BSU was ahead several touchdowns by half time and ISU wasn't ever able to catch up. Humorously enough, we had ISU alums at the party rooting for their team at the party too {It was Zach and Holly...not that I'm naming any names here...}. :0) I'm thinking perhaps they should have chosen the BETTER team. :0)
The kids had a great time playing outside and in the play room in the basement. Mackenzee was in heaven having so many friends over. As usual, she was sure the party was for her. :0) {Pictured is Cole who decided to make a funny face instead of smile}
Here are some of the kids messing around in the play room. {Logan, Jackson, Landon, Shelby, Maggie, Breanna, and Mackenzee}And, as usual these girls were inseperable. Mackenzee was so excited to be able to finally wear her new BSU cheerleader outfit. She even begged to sleep in it tonight. But, as I have told you all before...I'm a mean mom, so she had to change to jammies. :0) Jaysen has got her saying, "Go Broncos!" and "Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.....touchdown!" all while shaking her blue and orange pom poms. He's already brainwashing her. :0)

Maggie was Mackenzee's quarterback and looked super cute in her little football uniform. It was so nice to have so many kids around that were close enough in age that they each had a playmate to goof around with.

All in all, I think we ended up with about 28 people at our house. It was crazy! But, we had a great time and were so glad we have such good friends to share in our good times. :0) So, we have now officially moved on from weekly golf league to weekly BSU games. It's never ending around here, but it's fun to have something we can enjoy together as a family. {Even if I don't really care about the game even the tiniest bit....}

4 years and counting

I was a single mom. Because of this I had to work full time. My son was my entire life at that point and so dating wasn't really important to me. I worked all day, so my nights were dedicated to him. The only dating I did back then was blind dates. My friends would set me up with some guy and it would never make it past a second date. If there was no connection, it wasn't worth it to me to keep it going. Fun dating wasn't an option, because it took precious time away from my son.

My neighbor set me up with a guy from one of her college classes. She said we were a perfect fit because I was a "Molly Mormon" and he was a "Norman Mormon". Ummm....ok. She obviously didn't know me as well as she thought she did. :0) She knew I loved to bake and that I loved family time. Apparently that makes you a Super-Mormon or something. {If that's the case...a lot of you that aren't Mormon now qualify as Super Mormon. :0) } Anyway, he came over...and brought his roommate along with him. What? And he came over at 10:00 pm. Ummm....3 year old son. Bedtime....he obviously had no clue. But, I figured I would endure him for a short period of time and he would then graciously leave. It didn't happen that way. He was oblivious to my hints for him to leave. And the conversation? He bore his testimony to me and talked about how his mission made him strong. What? On the first date? Sigh....my son tried to throw him a ball, and he didn't even know how to interact with the kid. He was clueless. The date was HORRIBLE. Blind date hell is how I like to refer to it. I swore I would never go on another blind date after that.

I was an assistant manager at an apartment community at that time. It was after this horrible experience that one of my residents {who I knew from high school} told me that her cousin {who I also went to high school with} had someone she wanted to set me up with. Really? Are you kidding me?

I was such a snot. I told her that I would think about it, but that my answer would be no if his name was Jason {I had already dated a couple of them since getting divorced. I figured they were bad luck} or if he was divorced {because when couples divorce it's always the mans fault right? Can you tell that I was still a little bitter towards men? And how hypocritical could I be? I was divorced for heaven's sake!} I really think I just didn't want to go through another horrible blind date again. Another guy that wouldn't cut it. It was kind of depressing. I had actually just resigned myself to being ok with being a single mom forever. It wouldn't be so bad right?

I ended up saying yes even though his name did turn out to be Jaysen {at least it's spelled differently right?} and he was divorced. I honestly wasn't holding out much hope. I told my friend from high school that we had to double date because there was no way I was going alone with some stranger. So, on October 9, 2003 we all went to Chili's for dinner {Jaysen picked me up at my house though} and then we went bowling. I tied him. Best game I've ever bowled...124! At that point we separated from my friend as they had to get home to their babysitter. Jaysen and I went to Dairy Queen for dessert and stayed there until they closed. I still wasn't sure about him after that first date. We went out again a week later. This time it was just the two of us. We went to see a Nicholas Cage movie and then out for dessert afterwards. We talked for hours again. He liked 80s music. I was intrigued. I still wasn't sure if I liked him or not, but knew there was something. I figured even if we ended up really good friends, it wouldn't be a loss.

Date #3 was exactly a week after date #2 and exactly two weeks after date #1. It was like he wanted to make sure to give the "proper" amount of time in between them. It was during this date that I knew. Which was scary. He accidentally met my son that night. I hadn't introduced them yet because I didn't want Landon to get to know him if he was just going to disappear. But, there was a flood in one of the apartments and so I had to go take care of the emergency call after work. I rushed home to get ready and Jaysen showed up right after I did. I told him to sit down and wait because I needed to touch up a bit. Landon came out with his little basketball and Jaysen taught him how to "slamma jamma". It was adorable. Anyway...our 3rd date was great. He knew I loved photography and so he took me out to Shoshone Falls and gave me a photography lesson {he has a degree in it} with his fabulous camera and all the lenses and cool gadgets that went with it. Afterwards he took me to Sunsations, which is a spa, and hung out for an hour while I got a massage from a masseuse there. He paid for it. :0) And after that we went out to Johnny Carinos for dinner. {Italian...my favorite!} Again...we talked until they were closing. They had to kick us out. It was a fabulous date.

After that, I lost ten pounds. I was stressed out. Have you ever heard about people praying to know if the person they are dating are "the one"? I didn't do that. I prayed that if he wasn't the one that God would make him go away. I was scared because I knew I was falling for him and I didn't want to get hurt again. It was a horrible feeling. Luckily I had a friend that talked me through it and I made it through it. Jaysen never went away. And I'm so glad.

We were married May 22, 2004 in the Boise Temple. It's been four fabulous years. We added a new member to the family since then and are now complete. Landon and I weren't meant to be alone. We needed Jaysen and Kenzee to finish the circle. My heart is so full of love for this man who completely changed my world. He opened my heart up again, when I didn't know if I could let it. His unconditional love for me amazes me. His spunk makes life fun. His compassion and love for our children is truly one of the sexiest things about him. :0) I love him more and more every day. I can't wait for the years to come!

It's Jaysen NOT Jason.....

So, I thought since I posted all about my kiddos, that I would share about the hubby too. Why not, right? This blog is a form of journaling and attempting to keep up with the scrapbooking that I swear I am never going to get to. :0)

Look at the chubby baby! He's 4 months old in this picture. Jaysen's mom said he cried for the first year of his life. I blame Mackenzee's temperment on him. :0)

This is our engagement photo. I wish I was still that skinny. :0)

Some things you may not know about the hubby. I did a post all about him when it was his birthday. So, I revealed quite a bit already. :0) With his approval of course!

He has a degree in photography, but isn't a photographer.

Would play golf every day if his mean wife let him. :0)

Wishes his wife would golf so he could have the excuse of "family time" for golf time. :0)

Loves to watch movies.

Favorite movies are based on a true story or history movies.

Loves the history channel.

Doesn't have a favorite color. {who doesn't have a favorite color?}

LOVES Mexican food.

Thinks he's funny. :0) I could tell you stories....sigh.

Makes the best milkshakes.

Is six years older than his YOUNG wife. :0)

Is the best daddy and loves to spoil his kids.

So, now you know. From cranky baby to OLD man. :0) We love him very much and are so glad to have him for our own.