Niels and Suz

The Big 1

2011-11-18T22:31:00.000-08:00

Banner made by Claire's "Grandma" Becca. Isn't it fabulous?

It is mind blowing that an entire year has already passed since we brought home our baby girl from the hospital. It has been the best and the fastest year of our lives. (hopefully the feelings are mutual, little lady.)

It's so crazy how much they change.

We originally planned on her1st birthday party being a low-key and intimate affair. But 24 adults and 11 children later, we had a pretty sizable celebration at hand.

This is Claire's baby book that I took apart for a decoration. They are big envelopes that I put pictures from each month inside of and then on the back of each one there is space for me to write her stats and milestones for each month. I love it!

I'm not a crafty person by nature but have somehow always manged to surround myself with friends that are. Thank goodness for them and for Etsy. One of my best friends is a very talented sewer and she designed a dress that she named the "Claire" dress, inspired by you know who. It is so perfect and fitting for her. You should get one too.

I think it is an unwritten rule in the book of motherhood that children's birthday cakes are supposed to be homemade. While I might lack in the craftiness area, I can usually compensate in the culinary sector. Except for when I am making a giant cupcake, apparently. I ended up making this cake, not once, not twice but three TIMES before I finally got it right. The bottom would turn out okay but the top was super tricky with timing and temperature. But I was grossly determined to make it happen and was not willing to accept defeat and purchase one. You know, because Claire would have totally known the difference and would have looked back at her party pictures in 20 years and wonder why I was so lame. Why are mothers so crazy?

Needless to say it turned out and I think she liked it.

She loved opening presents. Or should I say she loved watching us open her presents. We have put a few of them in the closet so she doesn't bored too fast. Would it be horrible if we gave some of them to her for Christmas? What's the rule on re-gifting to your own children?

We had a great time celebrating Claire's big day. We will really miss not having family and close friends to celebrate with when we move to Georgia. Here's to another wonderful year Claire Bear!

First Year Slideshow

2011-11-11T15:48:00.001-08:00

Enjoy a quick 2 minute recap of Claire's first year. This silly girl is such a joy in our our lives and it is so bittersweet to watch her grow up. We love you, baby girl!

Halloween

2011-11-10T22:28:00.001-08:00

Halloween is way more fun with cousins!

"Brothers" Weekend

2011-11-10T14:51:00.001-08:00

I can't imagine the mischief, silliness and craziness that would come with raising four sons that are all two years apart. Surely my mother-in-law must have constantly had her hands full and her patience tested to the max. I can see why she took a five year break before she had two daughters. I would likely be certifiable if this was my lot. Yet, when I see old pictures of Niels and his brothers, I can't help but to think how much fun these boys must have had growing-up together.

Trouble

Poor Niels

One of these skin tones is not like the others.

The Silly Side

The Serious Side

Today, they are spread out all over the U.S of A so they obviously don't see each other that much. So they decided to plan their first-ever boys trip in August. The plan was to meet back east but Hurricane Irene royally thwarted that idea. So plan B was planned and executed and they all met in Provo for the BYU v Utah game in September. As luck would have it, it was the absolute worst game of the season. But alas, they still had a good weekend.

What was intended to be a brothers trip quickly evolved into a mini family reunion. Niels' mom happened to be visiting from Germany, and once his dad and step-mom heard that all the siblings were going to be together (with the exception of one daughter serving a mission in Chili) it was a no-brainer to make the trip from Reno. And then there's me and Claire who decided to hop in the car last minute and crash brother's weekend too.

Family dinner at Tucanos!

Volleyball is a pretty standard activity at most Jensen gatherings. But this isn't your ordinary picnic volleyball. They are all very good and slightly competitive which makes it pretty amusing to watch.

The brothers and their sister, Sarah

And what's a boy trip without any toys? Or an entire arsenal for that matter.

It was a quick trip but they seemed to pack in a lot of great stuff. Thanks for letting us share your weekend with you!

Moving for Dummies

2011-10-22T23:51:00.000-07:00

A lot of people have been asking me lately about how I feel about our big upcoming move to Georgia. To be honest, it's still pretty surreal to me because it seems so far away. I can say, "We're moving to Augusta," like it's a programmed response. But I say it without really considering everything that really encompasses. But then I also have days when suppressed reality surfaces and my type A genes kick in full blast and suddenly all the hairy logistics of moving, coupled with the thought of reinvention in a new place (after just getting settled here) begin to mimic minor IBS-like symptoms.

On one such day last month I figured I would ease some anxiety by making some calls to a variety of moving companies to gather quotes. It seemed to be a pretty logical and responsible thing to do to start mentally planning financially. In other words, I needed to know how much to cut back at Target and Amazon. Well who knew that Little Miss Planny Pants here would be practically laughed to scorn?

So I suppose my calls maybe did sound a little ridiculous after all:

"And when is your moving date, Mam?"

"June."

"2012, Mam?"

"Yep."

Awkward silence ensued on every call as each rep conjured up the nicest way in their heart to tell me that I'm basically crazy and to try back again next year.

I suppose I will have to be patient. But in the meantime, if any of ye have wisdom to shed on two young novices in regards to moving cross-country, we would love to hear your two-cents. Perhaps you have an opinion about the different options (pods, hiring movers, shipping cars, Uhaul, etc.) ... or you know a thing or two that we might not consider. Either way, thank you in advance.

Reno

2011-10-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

While Niels was jetsetting the U.S. for 9 days interviewing for residency programs, me and the little lady decided to take a quick trip to Reno to visit Aunt Jessica. Sadly, I somehow managed to delete about 20 great pictures from our adventure whilst uploading them to Picasa. I don't even want to talk about it. Pictures are such treasures to me and I was really upset about it. BUT, the silver lining here is that I had emailed a handful of them to Niels while we were apart so he could get his daily pixie fix.

She was just a little excited about the whole airport/flying thing.

She loved playing with her cousins!

Niels' dad and stepmother live in Reno as well so we stopped in for a quick visit with the grandparents.

Fish out of Water

2011-09-26T16:19:00.000-07:00

Claire had never seen a splash pad before and we figured she would be scared since she cant walk/run and play in it. So we decided we'd just get her feet wet real quick.

That was until she wanted to get her hands wet ...

And her clothes wet ...

We of course were not prepared with a change of clothes or diaper. But it was totally worth it.

Needless to say the splash pad has become a common outing in our weekly repertoire.

Georgia on my mind

2011-09-25T21:39:00.000-07:00

It looks like we are packing our boxes next summer and heading down south for a few years. Niels decided he loves school so much that he wanted to specialize. So he will begin a 3-year residency in periodontics next July at the Medical College of Georgia, located in Augusta.

Our big decision came down to Georgia or Oklahoma City, and to me it felt like we had to choose between Mars or Jupiter. I know little about both places and have never been to either. So I basically told Niels to take us where he would have the best training and where we would be happiest. No pressure, honey.

Albeit very far away from family and friends, we are excited for the next chapter in our "student years" journey. So far I hear Georgia is beautiful and the people are very friendly. I'll be honest I'm slightly nervous to be in right in the thick of the Bible belt. But I think me and the southern belles will jive just fine. Anytime I get too worried about it all, I just look at Claire and think about her calling me momma with a nice heavy accent.

One of the best perks about living in Vegas is that so many people are always stopping through from/to California and Utah so we always get a fair share of company. I'm pretty sure nobody will just be stopping through Augusta, but please know that the door and the white picket fence will always be open if you are ever looking for some good ol' southern hospitality.

Claire-a-dactle

2011-09-23T23:21:00.000-07:00

It’s been a few months since the last update on the pixie chubbs. Needless to say she has become a completely different baby in the last few months. She is so fun right now and we are loving how she is starting to understand, react and communicate in her own little expressive way.

It’s interesting how we think every new little stage of hers is our favorite . That is until she hits the next stage and we fall in love all over again. Yep, we are still smitten. I actually worry sometimes about having child #2. This sounds awful, but there are days where I have anxiety about having another baby because I can’t imagine loving another child as much as Claire. Yet, at the same time I of course know that I want more children. I guess it will all work out and my heart will grow or something. I hope some of you veteran parents have felt this way before or perhaps I am a heartless matron.

Dear # 2,

Sorry in advance.

Love, Mom

Anyway, back to # 1. She is crawling and cruising all over the place and is days away from taking her first steps. We aren’t encouraging that too much, because she is wild and we know she is going to be all over the place. Also, I feel like once babies are walking, they aren’t your babies anymore. And that would mean it’s time for # 2 and you know how I feel about that (see above).

People say she is a nice mix looks-wise of me and Niels. We still don't see a ton of resemblance on either part. Although, one day I was about to claim some of her features... until the lady at story time asked me if I was her nanny.

I still can’t get over how brown she is. I slather her in 200 SPF, she wears a sun hat and sits in a canopy pool float and she is still somehow glitz-pageant bronze. The best part about it all is folding back all her leg rolls and seeing white inside.

Her newest bag of tricks include: clapping, waving like Miss America, covering her eyes and “hiding” when asked “Where’s Claire?", standing/balancing for long periods of time.

Current favorite pastimes: books, swings, big dogs, dad & anything involving water.

And we're back

2011-09-23T22:08:00.000-07:00

Here we go again with another earnest effort to keep up in the blogosphere. Letting myself go, letting the blog go. It’s all Claire’s fault. (I love pulling the baby card. It works every time.)I’m excited to be back with the latest Jensen happenings. More to come very soon ... but if the suspense is killing you please be advised of the following: Things are great.Life is good.Claire is ridiculously fantastic.More meat to come on those bones.

Dad is hysterical

2011-06-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

Claire thinks Niels is the funniest thing alive. Don't mind her post nap crazy hair and runny nose.

Camera Shy

2011-05-22T21:33:00.000-07:00

It is crazy how much Claire has changed in six months. As much as I would like to have her pictures taken every month, we settled on getting them done for her first year at newborn, 6 months and one year.

Basically I provided the cute baby and my friends from high school provided all the talent. She is an amazing photographer, and she makes the adorable headbands.

Ya, we still kind of like her. Lots.

Dear Claire

2011-05-05T16:35:00.000-07:00

Dear Claire,

You're 6 months old today. 6. Months. Old. When I heard you babbling to yourself this morning in your crib, I silently stood at the top so you couldn’t see me, and I got a little misty eyed looking at your chubby little bagel legs and thought about how you were just a little pixie not too long ago. You’re still my pixie, and always will be, but you have certainly become one healthy baby. Pixie chubbs or my sweet meats is what I like to call you these days. I know it is so cliché but I cannot comprehend how fast this journey called parenthood has all gone and I finally understand what everyone meant when they told me that soon I wouldn’t remember what life was like without you. You are so much a part of me. I have developed a deeper and stronger level of love then I could have ever imagined. It’s like this … I love your dad very much, but I realllllllly love you. It’s totally different. And I always kind of hated when people told me that I wouldn’t understand something until I had my own kids… but I am telling you now, my sweet daughter, that you won’t understand how much I love you until you hold your own first baby in your arms.

I don't really know where to start with this or what to tell you. But I wanted to to say some sweet things now, so I can recall them on the days when you are naughty and I feel like selling you to the gypsies.

The first month of your life was pure bliss for me and your dad. Your Grandma Julie put it best I think when she said she had never seen any parents so goo-goo-ga-ga over their child. Yep, we were smitten. It was the strangest thing. We just stared at you for hours and examined, and often re-examined all your beautiful, petite and feminine features. I may be a bit biased, but you were a beautiful newborn. Because you are our first child, we didn’t have any concept of what “the norm” was for newborns. But after several nurses and moms saw you, most if not all of them commented on how incredibly alert you were for a newborn. I don’t know, I guess I just figured all babies were as bright eyed as you. Your Aunt Jen still can’t get over this picture taken of you just minutes after birth:

She explained that most babies come out with their eyes sealed shut, squinty and swollen. But not you, apparently. I quickly realized that you were indeed very alert and curious about the world. Your beautiful, big brown eyes have continued to take everything in ever since.

I loved how attentive you were as a newborn but I didn’t necessarily love how you were the exception to every book I had read that said newborns typically napped 16-18 hours a day. You opted for the cat-nap thing instead. After about three weeks, the absence of sleep, the constant giving of myself and all the new emotions that were introduced the moment I first held you had all caught up with me. I felt like a walking zombie cow that had to be milked every 2 hours. I thought I would never function in society again and that I was doing everything wrong already. A few times I cried to Dad and a few other friends that I was already a terrible mother. Sleep deprivation makes you do crazy things. Everyone claimed it was simple … just nap when you did. Like, duh. But seeing how you rarely napped, I rarely napped. Now that's simple. Everyone also said to just suck it up and stick it out for 8 weeks. And on that note, they were all right. Once you hit 10 lbs. you were like a new baby that enjoyed sleep. The heavens opened.

Maternity leave was pretty much the best legal right ever established. I couldn’t believe that I was getting paid to stay home in my pajamas and love on you. But, like most good things it ended what seemed way too soon and 10 weeks later I had to go back to the grind. I thought for sure I would be ready for a break and for some adult conversation by then. But alas, I only lasted for a month. It went something like this. I was pumping in a dark, cold closet outfitted with servers and wires. What can I say, I worked at a male dominated office. Well that is where I decided that I would rather eat Ramen Noodles every day until dad finished school than have to miss out on you. It was kind of a crazy impression because I have always enjoyed working and being busy and never really desired the title and the accompanying stigma of being stay-at-home-mom. But I felt strongly that with you was where I was supposed to be. I really don’t like to say I quit work. I’m not a quitter. I prefer to say I switched jobs. Motherhood is hard work, little lady. But it is the most rewarding work I have ever done and I am happy to be home with you.

You make some awesome noises and expressions and you have the most heart-melting, and yummy smile. Oh dear, I just said yummy. I am such a mom now. Speaking of delicious, you have more rolls then the Lion House and it is beyond adorable. You are borderline Michelin Man and I LOVE it. It makes me so happy when you get really excited and your legs and arms spaz like crazy when I reach to pick you up. The best is when you think something I do is really funny and you get a HUGE grin but you hold back on laughing. You are a tough audience some days. This may not sound like the nicest thing, but I really like to pop out and scare you sometimes because your little surprised face is so dang cute. And if that isn't mean enough, your sad face is cute too so I’ll admit that sometimes I let you cry a little longer when I know you are faking it.

You are already pretty independent. You are… well… opinionated I guess would be a fitting word. You are pretty particular about how you like things and aren’t afraid to vocalize it. You’ve got some pipes, sister. And I think it is just great. My hope as your mother is that you always speak what’s on your mind and stand for what you desire and know is true.

You mostly hate to be rocked or snuggled unless you want your bottle and you must be held facing out looking at everything. It makes me sad sometimes, but I can’t complain about how you like to be in your bed and you put yourself to sleep. It’s a beautiful thing… EXCEPT for on Sundays at church. I have contemplated inactivity a few times, but your dad always helps me see the big picture. He would.

The holy grail of parenthood occurred when you were 5 months and you decided one day that you wanted to sit up and play by yourself. There were no stages with you learning to sit. You didn’t want to do the whole wobbly for a week falling over type thing. You just decided you wanted to do it one day so you did it, and did it well. I can walk away from you for longer than 5 minutes and you are still content with life. Life is good. I hope you continue to have that drive your whole life. You can do and be anything when you put your mind to it. So corny and cliche, but true.

I love your guts, Claire Marie. Please don't grow up too quickly.

Xoxo,

Mom

# 4 Syndrome Part II

2011-03-30T21:08:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

# 4 Syndrome

2011-03-30T20:45:00.001-07:00

I am really trying to be cautious about not doing too many things for Claire in the memorabilia department that I know I won't realistically find the time or energy to do for my future posterity. Am I the only one who feels this pressure?

Perhaps this all boils down to the fact that I'm child # 4 in my family. Enough said.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitter. I don't blame my mom and dad. I only have one kid and I already have a hard time jotting notes and remembering to keep track of all the crazy milestones we are supposed to keep track of. I can only imagine how hard it will be when/if I have 3 other little ones running around. And for the record, I'm still trying to judge if Claire's first smile was actually a direct result of a satisfying gas bubble. So I have a few potential "first" dates listed in that slot.

Nonetheless, I am not naturally a scrappy or crafty kind of lady. So I decided to throw this digital diddy together really quick on Shutterfly. And by really quick, I mean it only took me 5 months to finish. Easy enough to do for all the rest of em', right?

Blessing Day

2011-03-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

Claire's blessing day was a great affair. Over 50 family members and friends joined us from six states, and Germany for the big day. We feel very fortunate to be surrounded by such an amazing circle of support.

Niels did a nice job and we were pretty surprised that by some miraculous measure Claire didn't make a single peep with practically half a football team surrounding her.

Isn't she a dream in white?

Grandma and Grandpa Colton came all the way from Germany!

Grandma and Grandpa Jensen

Niels' Grandma Haycock suffered a stroke in December and is living in an assisted care center until she improves enough to move back to her home. We were so touched that the center allowed her to leave for a few hours so she could attend the blessing.

The Thomas Clan

The Vegas Cousins

More Family and Friends

Practically my second family, The Hofheins, made the trip from Utah and helped make it a very special weekend.

A big thanks to all our friends and family for your love and support!

Brianhead

2011-03-02T08:22:00.001-08:00

What better way to vacation than with six adults, three babies and a two-bedroom condo in the snow? Okay, I suppose I can think of a few ways. But nonetheless, we combined forces with two great couples from dental school and their babes for a great President's Day getaway at Brianhead. We stayed at Niels' grandparents' condo, which is conveniently located right across from the resort. Not too shabby.

I was a little nervous about how it was all going to work out with all the different schedules, but it worked out surprisingly well and we packed in some amazing food and skiing, and of course a whole lot of baby talk and play. (I wuv baby talk.)

The Mommas and the Poppas:

Niels, Claire, Matt, John, Lincoln, and David

Me, Claire, Mimi, David, Becca, and John

To simplify things a bit we rotated covering meals. The other two couples really brought their A-games and shared some impressive authentic dishes from Korea and Russia, where they served their respective missions. So we enjoyed authentic Korean bulgogi beef lettuce wraps and Russian borsch. Niels served in Argentina and while I fancied the idea of following suit and making empanadas or some sort of amazing beef, I took the Costco route instead and made their take and bake chicken pot pie. Ha! Gotta love Costco. Maybe next year we will be a little more creative. Maybe.

Coupled with the great food, was fantastic skiing. We rotated couples so that 2 couples were watching 3 babies and 1 couple was skiing. Niels is way more skilled than I am but we still had a great time. We were talking about how we don't go skiing often enough to really ever improve. It's almost as if regain our sea-legs the first day and on the second day we do great, but then we don't go again for another year. You'd obviously have to live close to snow to get really good. And on that note, I'm happy with just being okay at it.

Claire was an awesome little traveler. Niels attributes the altitude to her chronic fatigue. She slept in the car both ways as well as the majority of the time we were there. Now there's a reason to move close to snow.

Claire and her two boyfriends, John and David:

It will be a little more crazy next year when all the little ones are walking around, but we are definitely looking forward to it!

Giggles

2011-03-01T10:30:00.000-08:00

Baby giggles have to be one the best things ever after baby feet and pudgy leg rolls. Enjoy Claire's first belly laughs. Ironically enough, this was a few hours after she had shots which makes us wonder what was really in the injections since she hasn't done this since. I'm so happy we had the camera close by.

Oh, and I can assure you that we actually do get things done around here sometimes even though she's not dressed and the bed is not made ...

Look Who's Talking

2011-01-15T15:07:00.000-08:00

This was taken in December, and she pretty much does this all the time now... she's gonna be a talker.

Forever

2011-01-05T18:23:00.000-08:00

Love this. Did I mention he is smitten?

Stimulation

2010-12-17T10:30:00.000-08:00

Many people have told us the first 6 weeks of having a baby are the hardest and then it gets a bit easier and fun. So here we are at 6 weeks and are excited to see what's on the horizon.

I can say that I am starting to feel a little more human and less of a zombie lately. No, not becasue she is sleeping through the night like some of the fibbers who claim their babies do at six weeks. Although ... she did hit the 10 lb. mark and it's amazing what a little meat on the bones does. She is now doing two, four hour streches most nights which isn't record setting, but I will take it instead of every one/two hours. Not to say that I don't like getting up to feed her, becasue I secretly kind of love it. I just hate the after effects the next morning.

I feel bad for her sometimes becasue I feel like she must be so bored. I mean, we are a lot of fun and all, but we struggle with knowing what to stimulate her with at this age since she doesn't really smile or make loud squeels of delight yet. So we have just been guessing a bunch and putting her in front of a lot of things. So far I have gathered that she enjoys the following ... I think:

Her Dad. I remember when we used to stare at eachother like this.

Her Swing. I felt guilty at first putting her in it what I felt was too often, but the girl loves it. And let's be honest, mom and dad love it sometimes too.

Bathtime:

Mom's silly home made black & white note cards.

The mobile. Our cousins Matt and Becca let us borrow this beauty that she thinks is pretty neat. Thanks guys!

1 Month

2010-12-07T21:53:00.001-08:00

Time is flying by and Claire is already one month old. I have LOVED being home with her all month and am pretty much dreading going back to work in January even if it is only part-time. This is the first time I haven't worked since I was in high-school and I have always kind of thrived on being busy and stressed. Of course motherhood is still insanely busy and stressful but on a different level and I am surprisingly doing a lot better than I thought I would with the new pace of life. I expected to go pretty stir crazy, to be a tad insane and to have a severe bout of cabin fever. But on the contrary, I have found absolute joy in being a homebody and being with this little miss all day long. Don't get me wrong, I have had my hard days and have had a few sleep deprivation/hormonal breakdowns but it is all worth it.

We have enjoyed learning and trying to figure this whole parenting thing out together. Niels is already such a great father and he is completely smitten. Actually, the relationship is very much mutual. She locks eyes with his thick black frames the minute he walks in the door and melts to sleep in his arms. He had never changed a diaper in his whole life until she was born and I would say that he has likely changed more than I have. I am so grateful he loves to help.

Here are a few highlights and notes from month 1:

Birth weight 6 lbs. 11 oz.
Weight at 1 month: 9 lbs, 6oz.

I love how every baby guide book claims that most newborns sleep between 16-18 hours a day. Not our baby, that's for sure. Claire pretty much hates daytime naps and fights sleep as hard as she can. She is super alert and extremely observant and just wants to hang out and look at ceiling fans, blinds and dad's face as much as she can.

We moved her to her room at week 3 because she is a very noisy sleeper. It was like we had a barn in our house. She lasted about a week with us before we moved her about 15 feet outside our door to the loft, only to be moved about 10 more feet into her room a week later. We are a little ridiculous.

She hardly cries, but is very vocal and tells us when she doesn't like something by grunting kind of like a dinosaur or fidgeting until we figure out what the heck she is trying to tell us. We tell her she is "spicy".

She gets bored in about 5 minutes when you put her down anywhere. She just wants to be upright and on the move all the time. Not sure where she gets this from …

She LOVES her hands. We swaddle her as tight as we can at night since that is the only way she will sleep and she always finds a way to break her hands free. It's really quite impressive.

She HATED her first real bath. You would have thought we were dipping her poison. Luckily we bought this highly referred yet kind of funky looking bath contraption and she is starting to dig bath time.

We love our baby girl!

A few thoughts

2010-12-06T19:38:00.001-08:00

I know it is so cliche to say she is growing up too fast. But I finally understand first-hand what everyone has meant all these years and completely validate its truthfulness.

I always found it kind of weird when people would say that they could just stare at their newborn baby all day. Ya, I understand this one now too.

I think it is corny when couples claim they are "over the moon" for their baby. But I get it and would say that we share the same sentiment (even though it is still corny for the record).

I find it ironic that Winnie the Pooh is the character of choice on diapers … just saying.

I am confused by the seeds in baby bowel movements. Last time I checked milk did not have seeds in it. Sadly, these are the kind of thoughts that result after days of no sleep.

Sleep when she sleeps ... lofty suggestion.

It's amazing what can be accomplished with one hand.

Nothing in the world feels better than your new baby sleeping on your chest with their feet curled up under them. Nothing.

Nursery

2010-10-26T22:20:00.001-07:00

(Click to Enlarge)

Slowly but surely the nursery is just about finished. It still needs a few more things on the walls and some other minor touches, but it is mostly there.

Well I found a way to justify the mini chandelier purchase after all. It's called IKEA makes amazing things for cheap. Thank you, Switzerland. And thank goodness for a great friend that made the pit stop at IKEA in California to seal the deal. I also took the advice left in my comments from my previous nursery post and installed a dimmer light switch. Brilliant.

My friend Stephanie gave me some great dresser knobs from Anthropology for my birthday 5 years ago. I liked them but I thought it was a random gift at the time because I wasn't quite sure what to do with them. I am very much not a hoarder but I have felt the need to hold onto these knobs for all these years because I knew I would use them some day. Nice work, Sonk. They work perfectly and add nice character to the dresser.

My most favorite item in the nursery was the first gift I received about a month after we learned we were expecting. My extremely talented best friend whipped out this beautiful "egg money" quilt in five days. You can't nearly see how amazing it is from the picture, but there are about 300, 1"x1" squares of adorable retro fabric. All of the fabric is from scraps my friend either already had or that she gathered from her fellow quilter friends.

Recently I have been spending more time in this room than in ours, aside from sleeping of course. I really enjoyed nesting my little heart out during my first week of maternity leave. Who knew folding and hanging tiny clothes and sitting in a rocker could be so entertaining?

Baby Flood

2010-10-25T13:08:00.001-07:00

This little girl is definitely equipped for arrival thanks to the amazing support of family and friends and to some incredible baby showers … 4 of them! I feel like it might be more fitting to say I was flooded instead of showered. We are still in awe every time we walk in the nursery and see all the itty clothes, blankets, etc., etc..

Unfortunately I didn't snap any pictures at my first shower with all my friends from church since I am a complete amateur at this baby shower thing and was having too much fun taking it all in to take any shots.

My second shower was a double-shower for me and another girl in the office that is due the same week as me but with a boy. It was so great to have someone to check-in with frequently and to compare notes with that was experiencing similar things as me. The shower was our boss' idea and they graciously sponsored the event and turned over the logisitcs to our marketing/PR department to make it happen. They did such a wonderful job with the food, décor, details, etc. etc. There are about 50 people in a pool for a gift card for guessing the closest date/weight/length.

Shower numero three was a great experience. My sister Jen organized it, but many people

pitched in to help her with all the details. There was just something so special to me about being in a room filled with most of my favorite people in the world … people that have essentially helped mold my character and are a huge part of who I am. People that have known me my entire life, childhood friends, high-school gals, college peeps and of course family. I went home that night so thankful for the people in my life. I don't believe in coincidences all that much. I feel pretty strongly that different people are placed in our paths at certain times and throughout different experiences and hardships to help us get along. Looking around the room at this shower reminded me of this very thing.

Shower number 4 was a total surprise. I am pretty hard to surprise most of the time since I am pretty intuitive but these ladies did a great job keeping under wraps. The Young Women and my fellow fabulous leaders were sneaky and planned a little party when I took a mini-sabbatical from mutual last month to take birthing classes on Tuesday nights. They set up a mini sweat shop and made hair bows and flowers. I am pretty excited about them and about the fact that they all met my acceptable head-to-bow-ratio size requirement. They also surprised me with a fantastic quilt they made.

Our little miss made out like a bandit after all of this was said and done, and there were literally only a handful of essentials left to pick-up. She is one lucky gal to have such an amazing fan club before she is even born. We feel incredibly lucky and blessed and are getting really excited for her to get here and play with all her gifts!

Go Gators

2010-10-25T12:33:00.001-07:00

Handsome Devil

Niels' 10-year class reunion was earlier this month on 10-10-10. Clever, right? Even though I wasn't super thrilled to waddle in 9 months prego it turned out to be a fun night and on a whole it was surprisingly less awkward than we both expected. I was pretty grateful that we both went to the same school so I knew most of his friends and didn't have to be a wallflower all night.

I will say that I do think it is interesting how Facebook and blogs have eliminated much of the excitement/shock factor of class reunions. We show up already knowing what people look like, where they are working, how many kids they have, what they "like" and of course what they need for their Farmville crop. My prediction is that reunions will eventually become extinct because of this very thing. Perhaps the 10 year events will stick around but I am thinking that the 20^th and 30^th ones will eventually become a thing of the past. Just saying.

September

2010-10-25T07:59:00.000-07:00

September started with the great news that Niels passed part I of the NBDE (National Board of Dentistry Examination, becasue I know you were wondering). In a previous post I celebrated the milestone of him just taking the dang thing, but I figured we shouldn’t get too rowdy until the results came back even though I knew he’d be fine. I'm so proud of him and it definitely feels good to officially be more than half way through this chapter of life we call dental school.

Both of us are especially enjoying the additional time he has after school these days now that he is in his third year and is mostly in the clinic working on patients. That basically means a decrease in tests and homework, and an increase of interesting patient/procedure stories. One of my favorites so far is when he had to extract a man's front tooth because there was no way to save it and when he was all done with the procedure the patient looked at him with an extremely puzzled face wondering where his replacement tooth was. Um, there was no replacement tooth to put in … poor guy.

I think I may have mentioned before that I kind of like my nieces. Avery, the youngest of the brood turned 3 last month. This kid makes us laugh nonstop and usually without even saying anything. We just look at her mischievous eyes and can tell she is always plotting something in her little head. It is so interesting how siblings grow up in the same home with the same parents and have completely different personalities. It has been so fun to watch these girls grow up. Unfortunately, it’s happening way too quickly but word on the street is that’s how it happens. I guess we will experience that for ourselves pretty soon.

September equals fabulous soccer weather in Las Vegas so we have enjoyed going out to a few of the girls’ soccer games. Sydney has played for a few years now and is really becoming quite aggressive. It has been fun to watch her team advance from all of them huddling around the ball a few years ago, to actually spreading out and having strategies and plays.

Now Taylor usually does dancing/acting classes but decided to try her feet at co-ed soccer this season. She's doing great, but I can't help smiling when she runs with her hands out like a dancer and occasionally calls her uniform her costume.

We also took 8 hours of "prepared" childbirth classes. They were worthwhile-ish but I am not sure how helpful they were for me since I had read about most of the content they were teaching or I had heard about it from friends. However it was nice to be able to ask the nurses questions and I also think it was good for Niels to learn more about the whole process. AND he got to learn awesome skills like swaddling.

One of the funnier memories of the class is when we got to tour the hospital and more specifically the delivery rooms. We walked in with our group and the nurses started pointing out all the amenites, the crazy amounts of machines and the stale hospital bed. I got slightly misty-eyed and then I looked at Niels and his eyes were somewhat frothy as well. When we compared notes later that night we discovered that we were both emotional for two completely different reasons. I told him that the tour kind of scared me and gave me anxiety becasue I was envisoning myself giving birth the entire time and he laughed and said he that he was emotional because he was excited. Classic.

FAIL blog

2010-10-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

I get frustrated when I neglect the blog and then feel like I don’t even know where to start and how far back to go when I finally catch the wild hair to update. I feel silly for going back a few months because bc by then most things are not all that newsworthy anymore. And then I begin to argue with myself about why we even have a blog. I say, “Self, we really aren’t that interesting. Maybe I should dump this thing.” But then self rebuttals and convinces me that we are having a child any day now and cute children ensure fresh blog content regularly. Self wins debate. Let’s just hope she’s cute, and not just that motherly bias kind of cute.

So until our little content maker arrives in t-minus any day now, I will dig into the archives and post some of our latest happenings and whereabouts.

2010-08-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

It feels slightly foreign yet very liberating when Niels doesn't have to do anything school related and doesn't have to feel bad about it. Sure there are nights where he decides to sluff and just hang out with me instead. But of course the consequence usually entails staying up late the next night or two to catch up. Pesky consequences. Technically he is on "summer break" but has been studying like the Dickens for boards so it doesn't feel like it. Not even one bit. But the good news is that BOARDS ARE OVER as of yesterday and it feels pretty dang good. (I love how I say it like I'm the one who took them.) But really ... it is a huge milestone for him, and I would venture to say for both of us because I swear our automated and programmed response to pretty much anything the last few months has been, "Oh we can't do that until after boards." Luckily he still has a week and some odd days to fit in a few fun things before he's back to the grind next month. It is sooo nice to be able to just lounge at night and and watch movies and not have to stop them half way for him to go study. I love it.

I'm pretty sure painting the nursery and registering aren't necessarily what he had in mind for "fun" the first day after his big test, but I am pretty stoked about our hot date to Babies R Us tonight and am thrilled that he is home taping walls as I type this. And I'm confident assembling the crib isn't what he had in mind for day two of freedom either ... thanks honey. I will be one happy momma when it is all done.

I don't know how to make these awesome photo collages I am seeing on other blogs (your shared wisdom would be appreciated if you do) but here are a few pics of inspiration for the nursery. Not sure exactly what we are doing just yet, but the walls will be aqua. I am loving the little dainty chandeliers right now, but I know it is kind of ridiculous to have one. I guess we will see if I can think of some way to justify it in the next week or two.

29 Weeks

2010-08-13T15:22:00.001-07:00

She's cooking nicely.

Pros:
She is finally large enough that not only can we both feel her move, we can sit back and watch her move without even touching. Craziest and greatest thing ever.

Cons:
Don't have too many to name. In fact I have felt great overall and feel pretty lucky. The only minor beefs I have are with Charley and his horses striking my calves in the middle of the night, and the fact that little miss has decided that my sciatic nerve is super comfy to rest on.

Reality:
I am starting to feel some anxiety about not being as prepared as I would like to be at this point. A lot of things have been on the back burner because life has been crazy and we have felt like it is still so far away to start getting things ready. But we are realizing that 2 months will be here faster than we know it and we really need to get on the ball. Perhaps we should register, choose a name or maybe decide what hospital we are delivering at... just some minor details.

We did however order our nursery furniture and it came in this week (we went with rocker style # 3 if you care). Everything is just sitting in ginormous boxes in our living room waiting to be put together. It would be a grand understatement to say we are looking forward to Niels finishing his boards this month so we can go full-force on the baby business next month.

Hello Cupcake

2010-08-12T14:19:00.001-07:00

Have you seen this book?

If not, you should pick it up next time you're at Target and thumb through it for some cheap thrills (I just assume you go there regularly becasue I do).

I hit a drought for ideas for mutual last week so we tried our hands at these creations, sans the Starry Night Masterpiece. While they all look pretty cool, let's be honest ... they don't look super delicious at first glance.

Corn on the cob: Super easy. Just frosting, assorted Jelly Bellys and a Starburst.

Spaghetti with Meatballs: Piped frosting, Ferrero Rocher Chocolate ball, Strawberry preserves

Sunflower: Mint Oreo, frosting and a red M&M

The New Diggs

2010-08-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

So I’ve been MIA for a while. Mainly because July was the craziest month for us in a long time, if not since we’ve been married. The biggest of all the many events of last month is that we moved. Nothing too crazy, just a few miles south of where we were. But the hectic part was that we only had about 30 days to find something as it was somewhat unexpected, and it was almost as if we looked at the calendar and said, “When would be a really hot, busy, and inconvenient time to move?” and went with it. Besides it being a thousand and four degrees outside, Niels has finals and his National Boards this month and I am seven months pregnant. But alas, everything actually went very smoothly thanks to great family and friends who helped a ton.

Niels says I think the move went smoothly because I didn't have to do any manual labor (reason # 47 I like being pregnant). However, I did all of the nasty contracts and paperwork as well as most of the unpacking and organizing which is just as difficult in my book. I picked up some fresh Winchells’ Donuts for our helpers the morning we moved and I had to laugh at myself as I held a cake donut (white frosting with rainbow sprinkles in case you care) in one hand, and I directed everything that needed to be lifted and moved with the other hand. It was pretty amazing. I'm thinking child #2 might need be scheduled around our next big move in a couple years.

I'm not going to list our new address here for obvious potential creeper purposes, but I will say we have slightly upgraded in the street name department by no longer living on Anticipation Court.

We really like the neighborhood – quiet, friendly, clean and there is a nice community pool that doesn't have hoodlums in it.

We had several rental leads from friends, but most of them didn't have enough space for Bertha, Niels' big, black and beautiful baby. She arrived safely in the new place and fits nicely in our front room.

We are acclimating nicely and it is starting to feel more like home everyday. But there are a few quirks we don’t love about it. I discovered that’s kind of the name of the game with rentals. There is no such thing as a PERFECT rental so you pretty much need to make a mental list of things you can bear living with and the things that you can’t look past. While weeding through the dozens if not hundreds of rental listings I found myself thinking things like, wow that is an awesome floor plan but I just can’t do the mauve carpet, or the ivy wall paper or (insert any other heinous feature here) … I just can’t.

Sure, I realize that might sound ridiculous because it is only a temporary dwelling. And yes, I do realize that we are in dental school and should be living the stereotypical one bedroom apartment lifestyle with crate boxes and cinder blocks. However, with the way the housing market is in Las Vegas right now there is definitely room to be picky. There are so many places available so it is somewhat foolish to rent an apartment when most are just as costly if not more than rental homes. And again, it's all about having space for Bertha.

Anyway, like I was saying … overall, we enjoy the new place. We love having more open space which will be especially handy when little miss arrives. The features we don’t necessarily love, but make the "we can live with list" include things like having carpet under the kitchen table area, oak cabinets, hokey bathroom light fixtures (you know the kind with five 60- watt light bulbs in a row screwed into a silver rectangle), etc.. So while there are probably about 15 things that bug us about the house, there are really only two things that drive me crazy enough to spend the the time and/or money to change asap.

# 1 This brass beauty in the kitchen has to go.

# 2 White walls. We have TONS of wall space in this house and it is all white with white blinds. I don’t know why this drives me crazy but it does. We aren’t painting the whole house because that would just be a silly waste of money, but we thought we would give at least our family room and kitchen some pigmentation. A HUGE thank you to my step-dad for doing this for us since I can't inhale fumes right now (reason # 23 I'm happy to be pregnant) and Niels is up to his ears in Board preparations. Pictures forthcoming once we get things up on the walls.

The good news for you all is we still have a guest room. We have loved hosting a good share of visitors at Hotel Jensen the past two years and hope people will still come even after baby J arrives on deck. Actually, now that I think of it … if you come stay with us we will graciously allow you take baby night duty. Deal?

Humpty Dumpty

2010-06-28T14:38:00.000-07:00

Some long-distance relatives and friends have requested proof of the following:

16 weeks

21 weeks

We Rock

2010-06-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

Minor predicament.

I am having a real hard time deciding what kind of rocker to buy for the nursery. I have looked at probably hundreds online and we have gone to test drive about 30 of them. Gotta love how awesome date nights are when your pregnant. Anyway, while all of them are comfortable ... well mostly, none of them are shouting pick me. The above pics aren't the actual ones we like per say... but are more or less the 3 styles we are considering.

Your motherly (or fatherly) input please ...

Good Morning, Dad

2010-06-16T10:40:00.001-07:00

I have been horrible at keeping a pregnancy journal, let alone a normal journal but I did want to capture this morning.

On a typical morning, Niels rolls out of bed 15 minutes before I do and showers, while I take advantage of those precious 15 minutes and sprawl out on our queen-size bed and assume my pre-marital, non-vertical conforming sleeping position. Don't get me wrong, I love being married and waking up next to my dreamboat every day, but my fantasy of a king-size upgrade cannot come soon enough.

Anyhow, like I was saying ... Niels typically comes in and wakes me up after his shower. He lies by by belly, offers a kiss to his daughter and then places his hands and cheek on my skin hoping to feel the movement that I have been telling him about and feeling myself for a few weeks. He waits for a minute and after no response, I reassure him that she's still pretty tiny and he'll feel her soon enough.

This morning he came in and followed usual morning protocol, only to get thumped back when he applied pressure with his cheek to my belly. He looked at me with such a priceless expression and held still as she bumped him back a couple more times. Good morning dad. I love you but can you please get off me? You're invading my space.

Will Work for Food

2010-06-08T14:25:00.000-07:00

I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve such wonderful managers at every job I've had. I even enjoyed being a grunt-worker intern.

I should mention that I didn't start out on the best of terms with my current boss when I came on board. We had a rocky first few weeks trying to develop that working dynamic. But ironically enough, ever since I told him I was expecting (which btw, is on my top 10 list of hardest things I’ve ever done thus far in life) he has been overly kind to me. He came in my office after a lunch appointment one day last month and asked me what I had for lunch. When I told him I hadn’t eaten yet and that I was probably just going home to grab something since I live so close, he looked at me funny, put money on my desk and told me to go get myself something nice.

My face turned pink, and I’m not talking about pregnancy glow, because I was slightly caught off-guard. I told him it really wasn’t necessary but he insisted. And since I have certainly learned when and when not to challenge him - I just smiled awkwardly and thanked him profusely a few times.

Being a woman, my brain is instinctively wired to over analyze the motives of many given situations. I was so impressed/touched by his kind gesture - you’d have to meet the man to understand. But then again I couldn’t help but to remember that his offer came only after I mentioned that I was going home to eat. Perhaps he felt bad and pitied me. Or, maybe he thought I only have fill in the blank (weird, gross, unhealthy, etc.) food at home. Ok, I know neither were the case, but I still find it entertaining to think of worse-case scenarios sometimes.

Since then, he has graciously decided to sponsor my lunch intermittently every week now. In fact, he was leaving for vacation last week and came in before he left and said, "I won’t be here for the rest of the week so that’s for Wednesday," he put down some cash on my desk … "for Thursday," added another bill to the pile … "And for Friday. I want to make sure you are eating, and eating good stuff." It is all so incredibly generous.

I really do struggle accepting his money, but I know he genuinely enjoys doing it and obviously deems my healthy baby as a worthy cause. I have been trying to pay his generosity forward when I can by doing things like tipping for take-out food (which I usually never do), or by bringing back unexpected treats for my colleagues (depending on what I’m craving that day) like Sonic Cherry Limeades, chips and salsa or one of those trendy/fancy cupcakes.

Maybe when I get huge with child in a few more weeks, he will begin retracting his offers.

2010-06-04T08:25:00.000-07:00

Part 1 of Baby J's nursery has arrived.

I. Love. It.

DVR-U kidding me?

2010-06-01T16:41:00.000-07:00

So we decided to join the rest of the planet and get DVR. I have been sitting on the fence about buying it for last two years. I hear they say once you have it, you can never live without it. Kind of how I feel about texting, Diet Coke and The Holy Ghost.

We are only 2 days into ownership it and I can already tell it's going to be fabulous. I love the fact that I will be able to fast forward Mary Murphy's comments on SYTYCD and that I don't have to watch another political commercial for Nevada elections. It is beautiful.

I got it for Niels for Father's Day, but let's be honest ...

Ultrasound

2010-05-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

I usually silence my cell phone at work but luckily I forgot to last Friday. I was in a one-on-one meeting with the bossman when I heard my phone go off not once - but three separate times within 5 minutes. Now I'm not usually that popular while I'm on the clock so I briefly excused myself to check and see who was trying to catch me.

It was my doctor's office calling to tell me that my doc had a last-minute surgery come up during my scheduled appointment in a few hours. Of course I got heated instantly because I assumed they were going to tell me I had to wait an entire week to come back in since Niels can only ditch school on Friday afternoons. Instead they said that if I could come in right then that I would be seen, or else I would have to wait the week like I assumed. So without even processing the fact I had to ask bossman permission, and without even checking if Niels could get out clinic two hours earlier than expected, I automatically told the nurse I would be there stat.

I was already down the elevator and in my car before I got Niels' voicemail 3 times. Sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. So I may or may not have called the school operator and told them I had a medical emergency and that Niels needed to call me. Ok, so I did do that. Is that horrible? I just did not want him to miss our first child's ultrasound because I was being selfish and couldn't stand waiting any longer. Yet, I kept on driving like a Utah mom with road rage without knowing if he was going to make it and I felt pretty sick about the whole thing. We finally connected and luckily he didn't have a patient so he was able to just drop everything and meet me.

It was a good thing we rushed there and everything. Only waited a brief 45 minutes in the lobby.

So there we sat waiting, and I was doing everything short of the potty-dance to hold my liquids in for the ultrasound. I finally asked the nurse if I could use the facilities and she looked at me funny. Is she really asking me permission? When I explained that I was holding my liquids for my ultrasound she looked at me even more confused, looked down at my chart, and said that she only had me down a standard office visit today.

I locked stares with the nurse with my onset misty eyes and explained that I hadn't been in for over 7 weeks and just wanted to know that everything was ok with our child and that the doctor said we would be looking at the development today.

Long story short - I misunderstood my doctor at my last appointment - or so he says - and no ultrasound was scheduled for another 3 weeks.

But alas, I discovered that tears and a pathetic sappy frown go a long way when your pregnant. I think my brother-in-law says it best: "Never say no to a pregnant lady." When we finally went back to a room, our doctor came in and eventually gave into my hormonal antics. He said it would be too premature to look at all the organs and all the other good stuff that day but that we could do the gender ultrasound if we wanted to. Um, yes please.

Needless to say we spent the next 20 minutes with a friendly ultrasound tech who showed us a lot more than just the gender. Our little girl appears to be growing nicely and her innards look good so far. It was crazy to see her moving around on the ultrasound screen becasue I couldn't feel it at all! I'm sure that will change in a month or two. Anyway, the body is fascinating and I am amazed everyday by what this little one doing.

We've got a little poser. Propped up on her side with her hand on her head. And that tiny bum!

Old Wives' Tales

2010-05-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

I enjoy surprises and spontaneous events. But my other half, well more like my other three-fourths, is slightly anal and an organized planner by nauture. Thus the reason I am not one of those women that wants the gender of their baby to be a surprise.

The suspense is killing me.

We have an ultrasound tomorrow and I have had a few pep talks with the little peanut. Well to be politically correct, baby J is the size of an avacado this week, but that sounds weird. Nonetheless, I told the little avacado that there will be none of this leg-crossing shy business. We want to see spread eagle frog formation on camera tomorrow.

In the meantime I thought it would be entertaining to test a few wives' tales for kicks and giggles.

Chinese Prediciton Chart:
My best friend swears by this ancient method as it has worked on all 3 of her babies. But then again she is a little wacky. Basically you find the mother's age and then the month of conception.

Now I am a tricky grasshopper becasue my b-day is in February, and that's the month when the magic happened (TMI?) so I don't know if I was 25 or 26 which is the difference between a boy or girl.

Result: Non-conclusive.

Golden Pendent Test:
The test: Hang a gold pendant over the palm of the mother’s hand. If the pendant moves in a circular motion, it will be a girl. If it swings back and forth, a boy is on the way.

Well riddle me this old wives, what the heck does it mean if it swung in a circular motion over my left palm and a back and forth motion over my right?

Result: Non-conclusive.

Cravings:
The test: Craving sweets like chocolate? Then a sweet little girl is headed your way. However, if sour and salty things like citrus and pickles are your thing, then a boy is on the way.

I haven't had a ton of cravings but I certainly prefer saltier foods, which is soooo not usually like me. I am a usually a candy junkie and it pretty much sounds disgusting most days. The only things I have needed as a result of sudden impulse are: Taco Bell, Orange Chicken and Sonic Cherry Limeades. Super healthy.

Result: Boy

Acne:
The Test: Take a a good look in the mirror. Zitty teen complexion, girl. Soft and smooth without a blemish, boy.

Result: Boy

Baby Heart Rate:
Now this one seemed to me to be the most scientific, but it has been proven to be just a myth. But we will play along anyway. The Test: over 140 bpm its a speedy little girl, under 140 and its a low key little boy. At ten weeks Baby J was 160 bpm.

Result: Girl

Soooo basically we have no idea and the old wives are full of it. However, my maternal insticnts are telling me boy, but the father says girl. Stay tuned.

Shake it up

2010-05-04T09:34:00.000-07:00

For all you pregnant/non pregnant people , this is a really good protein shake that I discovered while blog stalking a few weeks ago. You do it too, don't judge.

It is quite delicious and filling. When everything else sounds horrible this still hits the spot. Anyway, thought i'd share the wealth. I usually eat it with a piece of dry toast.

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1 cup of nonfat milk
1 cup frozen fruit (i like the frozen mixed berry mix from Costco)
half a banana
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 cup uncooked oats (this makes the texture kind of gritty so if you're not into that sort of thing, nix this)

Skidattle to Seattle

2010-04-28T11:31:00.001-07:00

I have been pondering the many lifestyle changes a child will bring. Many friends have offered varying candid advice about this very thing, and while everyone seems to have their own little "thing" that rocked their world when kids arived on the scene, every single person mentions how easy traveling was pre-kiddos.

For this reason, we have decided to "babymoon" in Seattle in July. We wanted to go somewhere besides our usual SoCal getaway and somewhere that was relatively close since we only have 4 days to jam this thing in.

I have only been to the rainy city for a quick day trip, but I have heard mostly great things all around. I am soliciting you all for any suggestions on cool things to do/places to see & eat. Let's be honest, I'm mostly concerned about the latter since I will be pleasantly plump with child by this time.

Jessica, please do not suggest driving to Forks to see where Bella and Edward met.

2010-04-23T11:49:00.001-07:00

Mu husband has a mistress. Her name is music.

He could spend all day with her if it were up to him, but luckily he knows who # 1 is.

He is so extremely open-minded about so many different styles and genres of music, in fact he started guest blogging on this music blog. However, he will not recognize a single country artist or song as quality music. He literally despises it all. With a passion actually.

I rounded up one of my best cowgirls to go to the Ketih Urban concert with me last week since Niels can't help himself but mock this picture everytime it comes up from shuffle on my iPod. Granted the man has a better frosted weave than I do ...

Niels also hates the fact that I have kind of, sorta have a secret crush on Tim McGraw. This just made it all the more amusing when I found out recently that they share the same birthday - May 1st. Coincidence? I think not.

Sappy

2010-04-14T15:50:00.000-07:00

I'm not usually a mushy/sappy person, but with the recent surge of hormones racing through my body I can't really help that I got choked up today ...

Watching the Today show and saw footage of a 11 year-old girl embracing her family after being lost in an alligator ridden swamp for 4 days.

Driving to work when I looked back over my shoulder to my typically empty back seat. I suddeny pictured a little car seat back there and got all misty-eyed. I'm riduculous.

Thinking about my best friend's daughter turning 13 yesterday. Where did time go? I am old!

Looking at Noelle's birth/hospital pictures of her new son.

Looking at Jessica's new blog header with her family and her itty bitty Conner on her shoulder. So precious. I miss them so much.

Realizing my phone has been textless and quiet all week because Shea is still in Brazil.

And on a superficial note: I got choked up when my button popped on my favorite work pants. I guess it's time to do that silly rubber band trick.

3

2010-04-09T13:52:00.000-07:00

This year...

1. We are celebrating our 3rd anniversary

2. Niels starts his 3rd year of school.

3. We are adding a 3rd member to our family.

They say good things happen in three's.

I'm a believer.

Dogs, snails and puppy dog tails

2010-04-02T14:09:00.000-07:00

You have all heard about my fabulous nieces and the girly sleep overs.

After eleven years of dress-up, hair bows and lip gloss ... it looks like I am going to have to add some trucks, legos and tools to the toy box. Look who decided to rock our world.

Introducing the first nephew/grandson im my family:

Baby Aidan

Looking forward to trying to figure out this whole boy thing.

Swanky

2010-03-22T15:52:00.000-07:00

Bob hair, feathers, lace, flapper dress, pearls, hats, vests, smokes, speakeasies & mobs.

I'm sure you have been asked at some point in your life the question of where you would go if you could time travel. I think it would be awesome to revisit the 20s; sans the whole depression part.

We went to a roaring 20s themed murder mystery party this month with Niels' dental crew gang. We were slightly skeptical since we have never been to one of these shindigs before. We thought it could either be very corny or pretty awesome depending on the spectrum of participation from all the "characters".

I'm thinking that I could pull off a platinum bob ....

"Kitty Cocktail" and "Cy Ramsey"

Needless to say there were no lame among us and it was swanky good time.

My Lucky Charms

2010-03-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

I love being an aunt in case you didn't know.

My girls came over for a sleepover last week. We are thrilled that my sister recently started letting Avery, the hilarious and ever so micheivious 2 year-old, join her older sisters in all the fun. We made homeade pizzas, went to Yogurtland and Uncle Niels read bedtime stories.

After a late night of good times and an early start to the day at 6:15 am (for some reason they cannot sleep in at our house) I decided to go mess up my sister's kitchen and bake some St.Patty's rainbow cupcakes. Or, "nupcakes" as Avery calls them.

They were super easy and they loved them. Really you could do them for any holiday and just change up the colors.

Pre-term

2010-02-24T22:39:00.001-08:00

While my given name is Susan, if you know me well enough hopefully you would agree that I am very much not a Susan, and a complete Susie.

I often question if Susie will become too juvenile of a name at a certain age. Something seems weird about a 70 year-old Susie. I don't know why I fuss over it so much. But I will argue that the Susie to Susan jump is far more life-changing than say Mike to Michael or Matt to Matthew. I don't know why, it just is.

I had a brief experience last week that almost forced me into pre-term Susan before I was ready to go there and age myself 20 years.

I started a new job last month and I am obviously still acclimating to the office and my colleagues. My new bossman is a little intimidating. I'm sure that will change over time, but he called me into his office last week and the following conversation occurred, or something like unto it:

Boss: (In a slightly annoyed tone) “Please call IT today and have them change your name to Susan Jensen in the system. There is another Susie Jensen in the company directory that works in our Arizona division and it is causing problems when I try to email you. It will just be easier all-around if you go by Susan ... thanks.”

Silently I stood in front of him with my compliant, “yes sir”, “ jump how high?” new employee face, completely annoyed with "Arizona Susie." I processed my options and counter-offered the big guy.

Me: “Can I have IT try and hard-code my name somehow into your Outlook so you don’t have any problems? I’d really rather not go by Susan if at all possible.”

Needless to say Susie Jensen lives happily ever after. The end.

Tell me how you really feel . . .

2010-01-16T15:52:00.000-08:00

I knew Niels didn't enjoy the smell of my nighttime lip balm, but I didn't realize the extent . . .

Groupie Love

2010-01-11T12:34:00.000-08:00

We defrosted in southern California for the second week of Niels's break. The main catalyst for the trip was a "Home for the Holidays" reunion show for the band he played in during college, Orange Whip Groove.

Most of the fellas (well actually all of them) are from California, but they graciously allowed a Las Vegan in their circle to tickle the keys.

It was great to see the whole crew and hear about all the changes real life has brought in a short three years. For some, a few kids are now in the mix, coupled with some real jobs, and some are still living the grad school dream.

I wasn't really expecting much in terms of a turnout, but the venue was pretty awesome and there were over 100 people there. Not too shabby! It was fun to revert to the groupie days of following the band around for all their gigs. Nice work OWG!

>

Roots

2010-01-06T21:28:00.000-08:00

My roots run deep roots in Malad, Idaho. Having only spent the first four years of my life there, I don't remember nearly as much as my three older siblings do. But that's ok considering that I am the most normal of my kin since I lived the least amount of time there.

While the town doesn't mean a lot to many people, perhaps not even some it's residents . . . it is very symbolic to me. It is a heavy reminder of my amazing family roots, and of the wonderful times of my family before my dad passed away. Thoughts of "what if " flood my mind every time I visit . . . mostly what if we actually stayed and I grew up here?

While this is simply the only grocery store in the town to most, Thomas Market or Thomas Foodtown is the grocery store my grandfather built and operated. He passed the torch down to my uncle, and he recently sold it to his son (in the photo). It obviously has been updated over the years with all the bells and whistles. I sure hope the Walmart empire will never ruin this place.

Circa 1980s

Where else can you get "Ho-made" pie?

The legendary Malad Drive-in. It was closed the day we went and I had to forgo the iron port and cheese snack combo I had been dreaming of for weeks. Saddest. day. ever.

Our house. So crazy to me that I lived here since I obviously don't remember it at all.

My dad's resting place

2010-01-04T10:26:00.000-08:00

Forgive the duplicity of this post me if you follow Jessica's blog.

My best friend is pretty much amazing for many reasons but mostly these three:

She has 3 children and she is my age
She is graduating with her masters degree in May
She attended my wedding 7 days after giving birth AND slapped on a bridesmaid dress.

Well, I was lucky enough to go visit her and her fam last month to see her new baby boy, Conner. He is a miracle baby after spending nearly a month in the NICU with a few minor complications. He's a tiny man and I love him! I brought him a few 0-3 months outfits and I think they will fit around 9 months.

All gussied up for his blessing. So handsome.

Nothing like a frigid downtown Reno parade!

Cute lil' momma

Me and the Sadie lady

So maybe I get a little nervous when it snows really hard. Especially when I have to travel in it. And maybe I over-exaggerate a little when it comes to inclement weather. It stormed in Reno and I thought I was going to be snowed in for weeks. While I could think of worse things than being stuck with the bff, life goes on and a girls needs to get home. So when life deals me bad weather, I hire the local teenage potheads from her complex to shovel us out!

(Notice Jessica cheering them on the background.)

The downside of living with your dentist

2009-12-16T10:26:00.000-08:00

A few nights ago Niels came in the bedroom to take a break from studying and I was already in bed with lights out just about to fall asleep. The following conversation followed:

Niels: Babe, are you asleep?
Me: Not yet . . .
Niels: Did you already get ready for bed?
Me: Yup
Niels: You brushed your teeth?
Me: Sure did. (did he really just ask that?)

3 minutes goes by as he starts his nighttime routine in the bathroom

Niels: What toothbrush did you use, honey? (I realize most people only have 2, but we usually have about 6 going at once)
Me: The electric one. Are you really checking the bristles to make sure they're wet? Like I'm 5 and lied to you about brushing my teeth? (Seriously?!!?)
Niels: Yup.
Me: Wow.

Tradition

2009-11-28T11:57:00.000-08:00

Just in case you missed this beauty last year. Or perhaps you want to make it a tradition and watch it every year like us . . .

If you don't watch the whole thing, make sure to go to 3:20 -ish.

True Love

2009-11-20T12:29:00.000-08:00

I spent 3 hours in his chair last week to see him practice what he preaches.

It was nice because I could give him honest feedback that most patients wouldn't, or I could just bite his hands when he hurt me. He has exceptional chair-side manner, but maybe I am biased.

He practiced this one about 8 times . . . good times.

Whale of a Tale

2009-11-19T20:49:00.000-08:00

Niels was sort of a guest blogger today. Check it.

5,6,7,8

2009-11-19T09:42:00.000-08:00

I have several adolescent-ish guilty pleasures, one of the main ones being that I love watching So you Think you Can Dance?

While I have been more loyal and dedicated to some seasons more than others, I really enjoyed season 5. So in pure teenage/groupie fashion I went to see the top 10 dancers live on tour with my friend Ally. We danced together back in the day, so it was only appropriate.

If you don't already know, all of the dances on the show are usually meant to express some sort of theme, or they are intended to tell of some kind of story that a choreographer envisions. Now I am not one to get emotional when it comes to interpretive dancing. Mainly because I rarely see or understand what the choreographer was intending to portray. (i.e. Melissa and Ade's Breast Cancer dance that everyone cried about. Don't get me wrong, it was a beautiful dance . . . but I still just don't see how it correlated!) But one dance in particular really moved me last season. I literally got goosebumps and a little misty-eyed when I first saw it, and again when I watched it live last week. Silly, I know. That is the first time a dance has ever done that to me.

This piece is about addiction and I find it so brilliantly powerful. Again, while I find most interpretative dances to be pretty abstract and out-there, I find this one to be very direct and moving, even if you aren't into dancing. The song is great as well.

I may also have a certain affinity for this dance seeing how addiction has impacted both of our families on several levels. I am pretty confident that if you haven't personally been affected by some sort of addiction, you will likely know someone who has and you can appreciate this dance:

Watch Lyrical Dance videos and dance lessons at DanceJam.com

Who Needs Flowers

2009-11-13T10:05:00.000-08:00

What girl doesn’t love fresh flowers?

In the early days of our relationship, I occasionally found little discreet ways to hint to Niels that tulips are my favorite flowers and that I thought roses are so cliché. I just thought he should be aware in case he ever . . . wanted to know or anything.

Needless to say, I felt slightly crushed when he directly shot down my passive hints by telling me that fresh flowers are overpriced, they die too quickly, and that they were not a part of his poor student budget. Zing. I thought that was pretty Debbie Downer of him initially . . . until I discovered that he would give me things far cooler than an occasional tulip arrangement.

Niels has always been a music buff. He lives to find new bands on blogs and he is constantly updating his iPod with fresh tunes. And then you have me who gets around to changing my songs out about thrice a year . . . if that.

Who needs flowers when your husband makes you awesome new music mixes every month? They don’t die, they don’t cost a dime and they are one of a kind.

I listen to each mix all month long and by the time I am burnt out the next month’s mix is ready. It’s a fabulous system he has going really. Oh, and his disk art is always the best part.

At first glance I was confused by this one. He said, “Look closely, it’s a mixture in a beaker.”

This month's was pretty good too - the labeled cornucopia.

Do you put ham in your cornucopia?

Scrappy

2009-11-12T18:05:00.000-08:00

When I got laid off this summer, one of my closest friends reassured me that I would be ok because I have always been “scrappy.” An awkward silence followed and then I replied, “Um, thanks? . . .”

I’m sure she meant well and that it was one of those intended compliments people give you like, “Wow, you look really comfy today.” Nonetheless, I sat for a minute not really sure what to make of it. Over the past 4 months I have realized that I am indeed scrappy.

A day or two hasn’t passed these last few months without someone asking me if I am working yet, and/or how I am staying busy with my time. I either give the long or the short answer depending on who is asking, and what my mood is that day.

The truth is that I have been staying crazy busy with tons of side work- short version.

Long version - I feel very fortunate for how things have come out of the woodwork and have fallen into place. Some might already know that I have been working as a virtual assistant for over a year for one of my former professors. I know, it kind of sounds kind of futuristic and somewhat Jetson-esque. Anyway, he has an established career with a well-known institution, but also runs a PR consulting firm on the side. I mainly do research for him, edit case studies and manage some of the operational things he doesn’t have time for. For a while, I juggled assisting him and doing my full-time job with HP. I really enjoyed the diversity it added to my daily grind.

After I lost my job this summer, I seriously tossed around the idea of how I could make a business model out of assisting people remotely from my home because I enjoy it so much. I started doing some preliminary research and soon discovered that I wouldn’t be able to compete with the ridiculously low rates that VAs charge in places like India and in the Philippines on sites like Elance.com. They seriously work for practically nothing!

I hadn’t thought twice about the whole thing since then, but somehow managed to pick up two more clients. So, I am now assisting 3 people remotely and it is working out fantastic. The best part is that I will still be able to manage them when I start my new job next month. I will be a crazy lady, but I guess I have always enjoyed a full plate.

While some friends already know the details of my new job, it is still too premature to announce them to the World here. More details to follow . . . stay tuned.

Utahrds.

2009-09-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

Congrats, Utah. Apparently It's now cool to wear flip flops and socks in winter.

After all these years, I'm now thinking that maybe I shouldn't have made fun of all the BYU zoobies in shorts and sandals every snowy winter. Apparently they were under cover fashionistas.

The 80's Called

2009-09-18T11:51:00.000-07:00

And it wants it clothes back.

To say that I am completely underwhelmed with the recent fashion trends would be a grand understatement.

I work with the youth at my church and have recently had several healthy doses of: Are you kidding me? I wore that when I was a kid.

Ironically enough, I recall my mom saying the same thing when I was wearing flare bell bottoms in seventh grade. Ladies and gents - we have come full circle.

Side pony tails, zipper jeans, neon wannabe Rayband sunglasses, neon everything, stone wash denim, Keds, plaid, splatter paint apparel . . . and other ridiculous things that seriously should have skipped this fashion resurface cycle I am just discovering. Although, I haven't seen banana clips resurrect . . . yet.

Now on the other side of the dime, I would be thrilled if 80s butt rock music came back. I am not lying when I tell you that Monster Ballads is on my top 5 list of albums I own. Just saying.

Too Much Time on my Hands?

2009-09-10T17:14:00.001-07:00

Because I am slightly a type A personality that thrives on being busy and productive, I have found the hardest part about being unemployed (minus the whole sans income thing) has been staying productive and doing legitimate things with this newly acquired surplus time. Sure I enjoy a good vacation as much as the next person, but I actually enjoy having a full plate. Dare I say that I like being stressed to some extent? I dare.

So far I have found several things and random projects to occupy my time while seeking new employment. It has been nice spending additional time on things I already enjoy doing like cooking, gyming, reading, hanging with Niels, etc. But I have also picked up some things that I wouldn't normally do if I was busy with work. Things like trying to learn how to sew (?!!?!?), or paroozing through my 8th grade Spanish class notebook to refresh the skills, trying to figure out how the heck to do genealogy, etc.

Well I decided to venture into another unfamiliar realm and dedicated one of my weeks to creating my two-year-old niece's birthday present. Now I would say that I am creative, but I would argue that being crafty is a whole other beast. I embraced this fact, I found my inner Martha, and soon a project was born.

To sum it up, I would say that Avery is a wild child. So freaking cute, but a handful. So I thought I would make her some quiet activity folders that I have seen all these kids play with at church. They are genius! Now most people won't see my project as a crafty endeavor, or will think it is not a big deal. But this was pretty huge for me people. It required:

A ton of coloring, and I mean a TON:

A ton of cutting:

Luckily I had a part-time employee at the sweatshop:

Lots of laminating:

Some more cutting:

I'm really ok with not seeing scissors for a while . . .

Some of the finished products:

Good thing that she's totally worth it:

Who Wears it Better?

2009-08-31T17:01:00.001-07:00

Two People, One Look. You decide who wears it better . .

Miley or Hilary

Serena or Angie?

Jon Gosselin or Niels . . . .

Skipping Town

2009-08-31T15:49:00.000-07:00

We skipped town and spent a few days in San Diego last week. We didn't do the Zoo, the Animal Kingdom or the whole Sea World thing. Perhaps when the kids come along down the road, but we only had a few days and didn't want to battle the summer crowds and the overpriced admissions.

Instead we just bummed around and relaxed. Neither of us have been to San Diego a ton, so we really enjoyed exploring and walking around. Personally, I am a big fan of their downtown Gaslamp District. It was lively and hopping, but not overly crowded like New York. It was also nice and refreshing not to have SMUT in your face everywhere you turned.

We didn't take a ton of pictures, but here are a few:

Kayaking the La Jolla Caves

You can see the sea lions behind us

It was pretty cool to see these sea lions up close. We were actually right next to them but I couldn't take my camera with me on the Kayak, so I went back after and got an aerial shot.

We also saw dolphins and leopard sharks right next to us. To be honest, I was freaked out by the sharks a little and our guide picked up on it. Apparently I don't hide fear very well. So he reassured me that they were "bottom feeders" and didn't want to eat me. Riiiiiiight.

Waiting for the sun to burn off the clouds at Mission Beach, but it never did. So much for tanning.

Niels has decided what he wants to put in our future backyard. No big deal, just a surfing simulator machine. We watched the qualifying event they had going on for the "Flowrider World Championships" in Singapore this fall. What if your title was Flowrider Champion of the World?

We went to Old Town for some authentico Mexican Food and toured around for a bit. My favorite part of the day was going inside the old dental office. As we were walking out some woman shrieked "I absolutely hate dentists!" I'm guessing that Niels will have to get used to that becasue many people share that same sentiment.

Padres Game

This picture is mostly for Becca and Jen. Basically I hate wearing athletic shoes with jeans! It feels so wrong and tacky, but desperate times called for desperate measures!

Niels was a fantastic sport with me being overly fixated with winning tickets to see Wicked again. We tried all three days, but had no luck. He vows never to do dumb lotteries again.

1 Down

2009-08-17T21:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our official one year mark of moving back to Las Vegas. One year down, 3 more to go.

We like it here and we are really enjoying this chapter of life. However, we are really looking forward to seeing where chapter 3 takes us in a few years.

The Big Fat Persian/Mormon Wedding

2009-08-16T16:39:00.001-07:00

I remember going to many bar mitzvahs in junior high school and being in complete awe of the new and unfamiliar traditions and celebrations. I had a similar feeling last summer when we went inside the Hagia Sophia and some of the other mosques in Turkey and we watched local people partake in their praying rituals.

I actually have always been naturally curious about the affairs and lifestyles of different people and different cultures. Some may call it being nosy, and it sort of is. But not in a bad way - well at least I think so. Perhaps this explains why I enjoy blog stalking, or "BLALK-ing" so much, and yes I just admitted that (you do it too).

So what I'm really trying to get at here is that we went to an Iranian/Mormon wedding last weekend. It was hands-down one of the cooler events we have ever attended. Our friend Brigham (um, can you tell he's LDS?) went to high school with me and Niels. And his wife Sameen is a dental student with Niels at UNLV. They had dated for 5+ years and finally sealed the deal.

Both Niels and I were pretty intrigued to see how it would all go down because Brigham and Sameen are both very pious in their respective religions. Needless to say we were both really impressed by the whole spectacle.

They started with the present day Iranian wedding ceremony. Basically there was a bench that faced a long table with several different objects and foods traditionally associated with marriage in their culture.

There are way too many to name, but some of the most interesting items were: The Koran, golden fertility eggs and walnuts, live goldfish, real sugar crystals and the mirror of fate.

They sat on the bench under what they call a wedding cloth where different members of her family rubbed sugar cubes together over their heads in order to wish them a sweet life together. Thankfully there was a paper on our table that explained all the symbolism of the items, as well as the translation of the entire ceremony as it was performed in the Farsi language.

My favorite part of the whole ceremony is when the celebrant asked Sameen if she would be Brigham's wife. As part of the ceremony, she didn't answer and was silent and her family members replied to the celebrant that she was too busy to answer because she was out picking rose petals. So the celebrant asked Sameen a second time if she would be Brighams wife. Again, she was silent for a moment and her family members replied in Farsi that she was out feeding the sparrows and couldn't be bothered right now. The celebrant asks Sameen for a third and final time and she says, "Baleh!" (yes). The entire room went nuts. Everyone started making all sorts of loud clicking and rolling noises with their tongues and hands - It was fantastic.

Mr. & Mrs. Brigham Joffs

After everyone calmed down from witnessing the lively Iranian celebration, they had everyone sit down and the Bishop came up and civilly and lawfully married them. Talk about a tough act to follow! He did a great job, and both ceremonies were done so tactfully.

We truly had a great time. I really can't think of any other wedding we have stayed at for five hours like we did for this one. We danced to ethnic music intertwined with Michael Jackson, we had great food and saw some old friends from high school. Persians definitely know how to throw a great party!

Specialty drinks menu. So classic.

Financial Cuts

2009-08-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

As of late, most everyone I know is trying to find small shortcuts to save a little bit of cash here and there. For some it is out of pure necessity, and for others it is for pure enjoyment of having a little extra padding left in the checking account at the end of the month. For us it is a good mixture of both.

I have found it very interesting and telling to hear what things or services some of my friends and family are cutting back on, or completely axing out of their budgets. I have learned that what is deemed as an absolute necessary/can’t live without thing or service on one persons list, can be a totally disposable or vain thing on another persons.

For example . . . my sister called me last month to inform me that she was getting rid of her cell phone completely. Thankfully her shenanigans only lasted 6 days. Then there is my friend who cut back on her cable package so she could keep her tanning membership. Another friend has to have her bi-monthly pedicure, but can't dish out the dough to go grab some lunch.

Let me be clear . . . I’m not judging here - I am simply noting that everyone has their own financial priorities and quirks, myself included!

I’m just saying that I could never get rid of my phone, and I am destined to be pasty for the rest of my life so I can live without the tanning membership. Sure I love a good pedicure, but I enjoy a few good lunches a LOT more.

I'm sure there are some of you that might look at the things that we have chosen to ax and retain in our budget and could feel differently.

Financial tweaks:

Cut Fancy Cable
Cut Internet (share with neighbors)
Cut caller ID (this one is killing me)
Eliminated soda runs
I give Niels his haircuts (double standard - this won’t be working both ways)
I have turned into that annoying lady in front of you at checkout with all the coupons
I don’t go into Target without an action plan or list.
Didn’t renew my Costco membership (again, killing me)
Got rid of the kitten
I have been very creative with the dusty cans and boxes in our pantry
Thermostat is kept at 81 in this Vegas summer (poor Niels)

Sticking around (for now) :

Cell phones
Gym membership
PEST CONTROL – especially after Jen’s run-in last week!
Nice-ish shampoo & conditioner
Nice-ish toilet paper
Fresh produce
My hair cuts

Dear Blog

2009-08-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Blog,

Sorry for the recent neglect. I have been too _______ to update. Please accept my apology.

Warmest Regards,

Susie

T-Shirt Logisitics

2009-07-01T16:24:00.001-07:00

Looks like there are some people that are interested. In oversight I forgot to mention a few details. . .

Please email me your size that you would like and your home address where you want it shipped. Then I will reply to you with my address where you can send me a check (Don't wnat to post it here for all the ceepos.)

Email me susie.jensen@yahoo.com

Once I receive your check I will send you your shirt, or if you live in Vegas I will just bring it to you.

Thanks for your help!!

Lady Lumps

2009-06-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

Flashback to 8th grade health class:

Mrs.Walker, my 6'1" stalky black woman teacher stood in the front of the room and declared to all the boys in her deep military voice, "Gentlemen, they are not boobies . . . they are not hooters and they are certainly not ta-ta's . . . they are breasts. Understand? They are breasts."

My sister-in-law's mother has breast cancer and so she designed these awesomely comical shirts in order to raise money to walk in the Susan G Komen 3-day walk for a cure later this fall.

This is my other sister in-law, Sara modeling the shirt.

If you are interested please let me know and I can make sure you get one. They are $15 (shipping included) and again, it is for a great casue.

I am thinking I should send one to Mrs.Walker.

She Rocks it

2009-06-27T09:57:00.000-07:00

"Why is Sydney shaking her butt and singing Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer?" -

The text message I received from my sister Jen the day after her girls slept over at our place and played Rock Band all night.

Perhaps I should claim a small part of responsibility for this . . .

That's right, amidst all the aspiring dressed up doctors, astronauts, police, and _______ (fill in the blank with ordinary occupations) at her kindergarten graduation, she was dec'd out as a rock star.

Are you kidding me with these? So cool.

Future Josie and the Pussycats, 2021.

Love this girl .

On the Wagon

2009-06-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

You know, I went many a years without drinking soda when I was in high school and in college. H2O was hands down my drink of choice.

And then I started working in an office where DietCoke was in stock 24/7 in the mini fridge at no personal expense. Overtime, I became that women that I used to mock. You know, the one that prefers Diet Coke for OJ at breakfast, or the one that craves the fizzy 32.oz fountain drink on pebble ice at lunch? Disgusting, I know.

Now that I work from home I don't keep it stocked in my fridge which helps quite a bit. However, anytime I leave my house for anything it is just natural to stop in and fill er' up. Especially because it is so blazing hot here it always sounds refreshing.

Well my friends, I am on the wagon and I am done with the brown sweet nectar for a while. Who's joining me?

Thanks Logan for the great visual aid.

Verdict

2009-06-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

So I have decided Mary Murphy unanimously wins the crown on this one.

Although, if you mute her when she is giving commentary and press fast forward on the slowest setting (if you are so lucky to have Tivo), she can be pretty funny to watch.

LOVE the Show . . .

2009-06-10T14:51:00.000-07:00

But, I can't decide who is more painful to watch:

You decide.

Peanut Gallery

2009-06-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

My favorite shot at last month's family picture session was not the grand kids and the grandparents . . .

But rather, this circus making them smile on the other side of the camera.

Followed by the brother shot with Ben laughing so hard because Trevor is squeezing his tush.

PETA

2009-06-03T14:14:00.000-07:00

So I have been trying to help my grandma find homes for her kittens. My grandma is your token cat lady you have heard about. The single old lady who has eleventy cats. She has so many because she never wants to give her kittens away to anyone that she doesn't know. I thought that to be a little extreme and I thought I could easily help her out by using Craig's list as she is very un-tech savvy,

That was until today when I went to post a classified and these words of caution appeared:

"As you may be aware, animals given away for free can, and unfortunately often do, meet gruesome fates. They can end up in the hands of animal abusers like Barry Herbeck, a Wisconsin man who was convicted last year of torturing and killing animals he obtained through "free to good home" ads. He confessed to taking his kids with him when responding to the ads so people would be comfortable turning animals over to him. People known as "bunchers," who obtain animals illegally from random sources to sell to research facilities for profit, often acquire animals by answering "free to good home" ads. Small animals advertised as "free to good home" are sometimes acquired by individuals who intend to use them as bait in training other animals to fight. Gerbils, hamsters, and young kittens are often acquired to be used as snake food."

Maybe the cat lady has point. reason #345,765 I absolutely despise snakes.

Please let me know if you or someone you know is interested in adopting a kitten. Even if you are in Utah, Arizon or California, I will be in these states this summer.

Thanks.

Your Thoughts Please

2009-05-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

Among the many things that have changed in Vegas from when we grew up here (aside from Wet n' Wild being gone but that's a whole other entry!) are these large advertisements that scale some of the hotels.

I suppose they do the trick.

I mean who wouldn't want to see Donny and Marie magnified this large?

Or these guys?

But more recently, the Luxor Hotel slapped this on all 4 sides if its physique and it drives me crazy every time I drive by it. Mainly because I don't get it. Yes, I see that it is supposed to look like a video recorder . . . but what of it? Please comment and enlighten me with your deep thoughts about what this campaign might mean.

2 Years ago Today

2009-05-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

I was doing this

And a little bit of this

And a whole lot of this

Happy Anniversary Honey

Not your Average Joy Ride Story

2009-05-21T00:09:00.000-07:00

**Warning** This is a long post, but it is similar to a real life episode of CSI Las Vegas

I never park in our driveway. So needless to say I was a little violated and overly freaked out by the fact that my car was stolen from my driveway the first and only time I parked in it since we moved here last fall.

2:45 p.m: A friend came over for lunch and left my house at 2:45. I walked her out to her car, stopping at my car first to get something out of my backseat for her. My keyless entry remote has been broken for a good few months so I have had to manually unlock my doors with the key. So I unlocked my car (key in door) grabbed my friend’s things and then we chatted for a few minutes. She then left and I walked back inside my house (keys still in car door).

3:30 p.m.: Niels came home from school and asked me where my car was once he came in the house and saw that I was at my desk (which by the way has a window in front of it that overlooks my driveway!!). I replied with sassiness as I stood up to look out the window, “It’s in the driveway sil . . .ly. Oh my gosh! My car was stolen!” I ran down to my purse only to realize my keys weren’t in it and it suddenly donned on me what I had done. It hadn’t even been an hour window since I had come inside! I immediately called the police and filed a report. Two officers came over to take down some more info and assured me this happens frequently and that it was probably some punk kids on a joy ride since school had just got out. They said it would likely surface in a nearby parking lot soon since I called it in so fast.

4:00: I bought my car from a good friend 3 years ago and she went all out and dropped some pretty cash on a fancy Lo-Jack system on the car. If you are unfamiliar with Lo-Jack, basically it is a wireless tracking device system that is undetectable to the eye. A random number of sensors are installed in a bunch of miscellaneous places in your vehicle so that no two cars are alike. Thus, making it virtually impossible for a crook to uninstall or deactivate – that is if they even know your car has it. So I called Lo-Jack to tell them my dilemma and they proceeded to tell me that b/c I was the secondary owner of the car, they could not guarantee to find my car in 24 hrs. They said they would guarantee it within a week. So at that point I knew I would get it back, now I just had to think about what kind of condition it would be in when they found it in a ditch with the windows bashed in and the tires slashed.

4:15: My shock buzz began to settle (let’s be honest no it didn’t), and I suddenly got all nervous that “they “ had my keys and my garage door opener. I told Niels that we needed to have a locksmith over stat, and then I locked up our garage door system. He told me I was overreacting, and usually he is right with that, but this time I wasn’t having it. Just then that same friend that was over earlier for lunch called and said that her husband had some locks he could come put on right away. That brought my stress level down another notch.

At that point I had done everything I could do within my control. So I just sat down and tried to absorb what had just happened. A plethora of thoughts surfaced:

Who was on my street at that time? It is not a through street and there is very little foot traffic if any besides the mail/trash men. Very quiet.
We live at the end of the street . Who was walking all the way down here?
How did someone see my keys in a car door within 45 minutes of leaving them there? Call me crazy but I don’t think that would necessarily be an eye sore to the average passerby. (Heebie jeebies started kicking in)
I was inside my house when this all went down. What if they would have come in? What if I would have seen them taking it from my desk window? Would I have yelled at them?

6:00 - 8:00:I needed to get away from the situation so we decided to go catch some dinner. Shortly after we were done I got a call from the Police informing me they had found my vehicle and asked me if I wanted to come get it. They asked how long it was going to take me to get there so I was under the impression they had found it abandoned and they were waiting on me to hurry there so they could leave and take care of another one of the dozens of cars that were probably stolen that day.

Boy was I wrong.

8:30 - 12 am: We arrived to a parking lot of 3 cop cars, 3 under cover cars, and 2 bicycle cops. Now this might be your average car theft scene in a small town like Provo. But like I mentioned before, there are about 1,200 cars stolen each month in Vegas so I knew something was up when I saw all the cars.

The officer greeted us and told us it would be another 40 minutes before the CSI van came to do DNA testing. At that point I looked behind me to see 4 people cuffed on the curb. We got back in Niels’ car and tried to get a peek at my car. At first glance from about 50 ft away, it didn’t look like there was any exterior damage. CSI showed up and did their thing and started taking tons of pictures of my car form every angle you could imagine. I started to get pretty nervous at that point and thought maybe someone had died in my car or something. I couldn’t understand why all the pictures!

The officers came back over after an hour or so and said they found which one did it but that my keys were not on him. Btw, they were undercover cops dressed as tacky tourists and they were awesome. So they ordered a search warrant so they could look inside his motel room for the keys. That cost another 45 minutes. Meanwhile they took all 4 of them off to jail, and then I asked if I could take a look at my car finally.

No damage. In fact ironically enough, everything of monetary value was still in the car. And then, I opened my glove box to find it completely empty. My stomach just sank as I tried to recall what info was in there.

Meanwhile, the cops finally got the warrant to go inside only to find a stolen motorcycle, crystal meth makings, and boxes and boxes of people’s stolen bank statements, personal data, ids, credit cards.The place was an absolute mess. This was a group of identity thieves. They didn’t want my car. They just wanted to be me.

Luckily they had only brought my stuff inside the motel and they did not have time to do anything with it between their meth party and when the cops followed my Lo-Jack to find the car/them. Realistically, the only two concerning things I was missing were my registration and my insurance card, but who knows what kind of tricks they could have pulled off.

We hung around the motel for about another hour as they weeded through all the nastiness to find all my crumpled paperwork and anything else that might have been mine. They finally released us and after 4 hours at a crime scene we were ready to go home.

Sure, it sucks this all happened. However, I feel very fortunate about my outcome: car was found, it was in one piece, keys back, and paperwork back. But I am mostly happy and at peace (kinda) that my stolen car lead the police to find a guy who had been stealing identities of many people all over the country.

I still get nervous if I think too hard about why on earth that man was in front of my house at that very time window, but for now I just have to be grateful for the positive things of this all.

My brother consoled me best:
"You can’t allow yourself to keep beating yourself up with “What if’s.” Such hypotheticals are irrational and they spark unfounded fears. You should be happy you got your car back in one piece and nobody was injured. The thief probably didn’t go into your house because thieves are cowards, unknowing as to whether you were a big guy or you had a dog or you had a gun. This is definitely not Provo and we’re in the midst of a bad economy…these things should almost be expects. Criminals like him are lazy and they contribute nothing to our society. They try to take the easy way out and target hard-working people like you."

Amen, brother.

Downtown Cooking in Vegas

2009-05-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

We can always count on the food being amazing at Ben and Sara’s house anytime we are lucky enough to join them. In fact one of the reasons we were bummed that they moved to LA from Vegas the same month we moved here, was knowing that we would be missing out on some great dinners. I mean they are great, but their food is better. ;)

So after auditing culinary school for 2 years and hosting many plush gatherings, parties, state fair food demos, etc., it came as no surprise that our sister-law started her own culinary demonstration business in LA, Dowtown Cooking.

This week she came on tour to do a class in Las Vegas. So it wasn’t really a tour, but it just sounds cooler. . . Anyway, she was here this week and I was able to go to her fabulous class on summer salads, and I LOVE salads so it was right up my alley.

I really enjoy cooking but I had never been to a formal cooking instruction before so I wasn’t really sure what to expect with one kitchen and 13 other domestic amateurs. To my surprise, everything flowed real well and it was a great time.

Her whole business mantra is “elegant food made simple,” which I really feel fits well. because everything we made looked so pretty and delicious, but it wasn’t insanely difficult or didn’t require a bunch of unfamiliar ingredients.

The Head Chef

Sara demonstarting cilantro lime shrimp on the barbie.
(Seeing how using the grill is the only time Niels cooks dinner, I will pass on these tips with him.)

The fruits of our labor:

Spring Panzanella Salad: Croutons, Leeks, Asparagus, White Beans, Secret Sauce

Asian Salad with Cilantro Lime Shrimp and Liguine

Caprese

Minted Fruit Salad:

Not pictured: Raspberry Peach Cobbler, Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade

Thanks, Sara. Good luck with the new business!

Only in Utah . . .

2009-05-18T00:07:00.000-07:00

If you've read my blog for a while, you have seen my random pictures of things I saw when we lived in Utah, that would only be found in Utah.

If not, here are exhibits: A, B, C, D, & E

A new one from our trip last month:

Funny how I didn't see the Torah or the Kuran.

Butchered

2009-05-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

His name is frequently killed. Some of my recent favorites:

“Brother Nielsen” – Said over the pulpit at church

“The Niels’s are here” – Said by 6 year-old girl who thought it was our last name.

Guy at the auto shop: "Niels? (awkward pause) Why the s on the end?"
Niels: “Um, (awkward pause) because it’s my name.”

“Milt and Suz” – Guest parking pass at grandma’s neighborhood.

"Nils L" - Nizzle for shizzle . . . another guest parking pass

“Niels? . . . Ah yes, like Niels Diamond!” – Tour Guide in Jamaica

Null Hypothesis

2009-05-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

Surely you know someone that has spontaneously developed a new hobby – sports, crafts, music – whatever it may be . . . and then has compulsively bought almost everything that is associated with their new pastime.

I have known such someones, and I have been one too.

Last year I was a dedicated trainer for the SLC half marathon. Sure I liked to jog, but by no means was I a long distance runner when I registered on a whim for the race. Last time I had done a race was when, well . . .

So anyway, I bought new fancy running shoes, read a ton of online articles, religiously followed my schedule, choked down nasty electrolite goos and goops, took glucosimine supplements . . . you get the point.

T'was the week before the race when my cousin-in-law Lori decided that she would run it last minute with me. She didn’t train at all, but because she was a gym go-er, and an overall healthy person she was confident that she could do it, no prob. You could imagine that this made me feel pretty lame for being so hard-core with training when she decided to run on a whim. What felt like a big feat to me, was was Easy Street for her. So we both ran and finished and we did pretty well. My body felt just fine the day after the race which came as a HUGE relief after hearing/reading all these post-run crippling stories while I was training.

Well when the registration and training schedule came around this year, I reflected on my experience from last year and decided that I was going to train “Cousin Lori” style this time around. My plan was to stay active and to go to the gym and cross train regularly, and then just run at least once a week. I figured this way that I would maintain the endurance needed to run 13 miles. Easy, right?

Well . . . my strategy was completely void .

Sure, I ran and I finished this year. But I added 30 minutes to my time, and pretty much beat the life out of my knees. I had the endurance down just fine, despite the whole altitude change and all, but my knees were not used to all the impact from the concrete since I hadn’t been running regularly.

Ironically enough, Lori trained this year and she totally rocked it. Niels' sister, Sarah ran it too.

The course was so beautiful and so many people and other crazies came out to support with signs, random musical talents, and water. Because of these things, I actually had a great time and felt just fantastic until about mile 9, and then my knees literally began buckling on me! Needless to say it was not a fun sensation. I pushed strong until mile 11, gained some humility and walked mile 12, and then pridefully decided that I could/would NOT walk across that finish line. If you only could have heard the subconscious pep talks that were going on in my head. 2 Hours 37 minutes later, I pounded out the last mile and crossed the line.

Nothing too horrible in the recovery department. I was out of commission for a few days and my knees are still mad at me when I run longer than ten minutes.

I guess this is where I add my profound thought . . . Like with any goal you wish to accomplish, you can likely always achieve it, but it will always come easier if you prepare in advance and gradually work towards it.

Kind of like how Blaine and Dane from "The Biggest Loser" did.

And we're back

2009-05-15T17:19:00.000-07:00

So I thought I was going to do away with the blogging thing.

I have just been in this writer's rut for a while, and some days I feel like life has become very busy, yet somewhat comfortable and monotonous for us. School, work, calling, school, work, calling, yaddah, yaddah.

After receiving some emails, some "WTH?!" texts, and a few calls, I have decided to heed to the fellowshipping. I am returning to the fold.

Prove it

2009-04-08T13:08:00.001-07:00

I had this friend in high school who had a minor obsession with heart throb Josh Harnett after Pearl Harbor came out. Then again, who didn't?

Randomly one day she told our group of friends that she scored the chance to meet Joshy in LA, and talked it up big time for a few weeks. Ironically enough, she "dropped her camera in the pool" while she was there and the film was totally ruined. Consequently, she had nothing to show us, but lots to tell, about her wonderful afternoon with Josh.

Because it all sounded too good to be true, I chose not to believe her because the evidence was gone to prove it. So high school/Mean Girls of me, I know.

Well this story surfaced in my mind as I sit here in Costa Rica without my camera. Nope, I didn't drop mine in the water . . . I left it at the gate at LAX before I even got on the plane to come.

So I have no evidence, and not even a tan to sport, to prove that I was here.

So when I post stories or tell you about my trip when I get back, it's ok if you don't believe me.

Brainfreeze

2009-03-27T12:18:00.000-07:00

I love this picture of my girls from a recent cousin sleepover we had at our house.

To me, it is so symbolic of the care-free innocence and enjoyment of childhood . . . Then again, I'm 25 and I still feel like this when I drink Slurpees.

Being Lazy in AZ

2009-03-27T11:54:00.000-07:00

We still have some years to see where the good winds will take us to eventually settle. But if I controlled the winds, one of the places I’d have them blow us for good is Arizona.

We spent last week in Arizona for Niels’ spring break. I particularly enjoy Arizona because it seems to be a hybrid of all the good things I like about Las Vegas, Southern California and Utah.

We arrived just in time to smell the goodness of the annual orange blossoms blooming. Did I mention that I am still blown away by the fact that citrus thrives in such severe heat in the summer? Anyway, I wish I could have bottled the scent that was in the air and brought it home to release in my house. Amazing.

The oranges taste even better than they smell, so we made sure to pick about 50 of them straight from the tree to bring home.

There are about only two places I will eat hot dogs: 1) Costco 2)Baseball games. Baseball isn’t necessarily our big thing, but our friends are intense Angels fanatics so we thought we'd join them for a spring training game in Glendale.

We also hiked/rock climbed Camel back Mountain with Niels’ mom and step father, Dave. I hope I can still scale mountains in my 50s. They rock.

I still had to work while we there, but luckily Penny kept Niels company.

Ch, Ch, Chihuly

2009-03-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

If you have been to the Bellagio in Las Vegas, you have seen the unmistakable work of Dale Chihuly.

He created the amazing glass flower ceiling that hangs in their main lobby:

Even though he looks kind of interesting/pirate-y . . .

The man makes amazing creations and is incredibly talented.
(Sidenote: did you know that many glassblowers eventually go blind because of the extreme heat their eyes are exposed to?)

Last week we visited his new traveling exhibit at the desert botanical gardens in Phoenix with Niels' mom and step-father. It was quite unique and impressive.

We were in awe and couldn’t stop commenting about what a challenge it would be to make all of these pieces, to transport them, to install them and to take them down and get them ready for the next city. I mean, look at this!

"The Sun"

"The Moon"

Our Favorite. Niels titled it, "The Marbles I Used to Play With"

Although impressive, I wouldn't necessarily hang this chandelier in our home in fear for our lives, or the lives of any of our future children.

"The Spanish Hat"

"Cattails" (being artsy with my camera)

If you're in Phoenix soon, include this on your things to see

Patent Pending

2009-03-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

*Discalimer: I stole this post right off my sister's blog.
My brother, Ryan, is graduating from law school this spring and has started counting down his last grueling days of class recently. My sister made the comment to him that I would make a construction paper link chain for him to cut a link off each morning before class. He laughed and told us that he would prefer an advent calendar so he could enjoy the little chocolate surprises every morning.

Hmmm......do they make graduation advent calendars? No, but that wouldn't stop his ridiculously, dedicated sisters.

A few bead organizer boxes, my niece's leftover Valentine's candy, a deluxe hot glue gun, saran wrap, some highly decorative graduation scrapbook paper, and some mad Mormon skills later.... the most ghetto fabulous graduation advent calendar was born......

Congratulations, Ryan! We are so proud of you! Don't worry this wasn't your graduation present. We're still making that. ;)

You're the Weiner

2009-03-05T10:21:00.000-08:00

Now you too can be a winner like me. Lucky you!

My crafty/creative sister-in-law posted this, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

The first five people to respond to this post will receive something made by me for you. It will be my choice what I make, but it will be tailored just for you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year. (might be December 31st, but you WILL get something)
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange :)

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment will receive a personal surprise made by me.

Happy commenting :)

Pura Vida

2009-02-26T11:14:00.000-08:00

Typically, I try to disappear when Niels has big tests so he can really focus on doing well. Apparently I am a distraction.

While I usually jet off to Utah to see old friends or go into the office I remotely work for during his crazy weeks, an opportunity presented itself to go somewhere a little further and little more exotic than Zion during his finals week in April.

Some friends have asked me to join them as their nanny on their trip to Costa Rica. I have never been and have always wanted to go, so I am pretty excited. It will be a decent amount of work, as the kids are . . . um, well very energetic. But, they are very cute and say and do the most classic things that keep me laughing.

So while Niels is pounding the books, I'll be watching three kids, ages 8, 6, and 2. That's a fair trade, right?

Please let me know if you have been before, especially with children and if you have good ideas of things to do/see!