Late post, but still thankful!

We spent our Thanksgiving break in Utah. We had such a fun time seeing our families, and being able to take advantage of Utah's dollar movie theater. We ate way too much food, of course, but enjoyed every minute of it. Jordan especially loved getting 5 desserts on Thanksgiving!

We left late last night and drove until about 3 am to miss all of the holiday traffic through Vegas and California. We were successful in missing traffic, unlike last year when we had to stay in Primm, Nevada until the traffic died down. Jordan and I were given the royal treatment and were able to sleep most of the drive. We sure are grateful Benji is such a trooper and stayed awake to drive us safely home.

Speaking of things I'm grateful for, here is just a small list of the things I am especially grateful for this year.


Jordan.
It has been such a wonderful year raising our little basketball man. He has such a great personality! He amazes me daily with his sense of humor and intelligence. I am truly grateful that I have the beautiful, sacred, and fun opportunity to be a mother.


Benji.
I am grateful for how hard Benji works for our little family. I am also grateful for what a great father he is. He is the perfect man for me!

The temple.I am so grateful I can live with my family forever. I am grateful for the peace and spirit I feel in the temple, and I'm grateful there is a temple so close to my home.


My testimony.
I am grateful for the knowledge I have of my Savior Jesus Christ and the Gospel. I'm grateful for a living Prophet, Joseph Smith and the scriptures.


Our growing family.We are excited to add another member to our family soon. I'm also grateful that I've had a wonderful, pain-free pregnancy thus far! (Oh, and we're grateful for Disneyland! :))


Our support system. (You)
We have wonderful family, friends, ward members, and neighbors! We are so grateful for the help we have received from all of you. I have been humbled so many times this year with the help provided to our family from our wonderful family and friends! We are grateful for those that have been willing to watch Jordan, make us meals, give a listening ear, a supportive word or two, and/or a few dollars once in awhile. Thanks to all of you...I'm sure you know who you are.

Now a few more things...
I'm also grateful for our health, our house, food, camera, dishwasher, washer and dryer, yard sales, and my swamp cooler.

We sure hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Anti-feminist heroine...

I was looking at Stephenie Meyer's website tonight, which I don't ever do, but I had a friend that said the picture of what she thought Bella's prom dress should look like was on the website. I couldn't find that, but I did stumble across a wonderful quote from Stephenie. There is a Q&A section about Breaking Dawn, and this was one of the questions she answered. This is just something that has been on my mind, and I like how she puts it.

I kept in the first paragraph, but it's the last two that I love.

**WARNING: If you are reading the Twilight series, or you plan on reading it, skip the first paragraph, or some things will be ruined for you.

Is Bella an anti-feminist heroine?

When I hear or read theories about Bella being an anti-feminist character, those theories are usually predicated on her choices. In the beginning, she chooses romantic love over everything else. Eventually, she chooses to marry at an early age and then chooses to keep an unexpected and dangerous baby. I never meant for her fictional choices to be a model for anyone else's real life choices. She is a character in a story, nothing more or less. On top of that, this is not even realistic fiction, it's a fantasy with vampires and werewolves, so no one could ever make her exact choices. Bella chooses things differently than how I would do it if I were in her shoes, because she is a very different type of person than I am. Also, she's in a situation that none of us has ever been in, because she lives in a fantasy world. But do her choices make her a negative example of empowerment? For myself personally, I don't think so.

In my own opinion (key word), the foundation of feminism is this: being able to choose. The core of anti-feminism is, conversely, telling a woman she can't do something solely because she's a woman—taking any choice away from her specifically because of her gender. "You can't be an astronaut, because you're a woman. You can't be president because you're a woman. You can't run a company because you're a woman." All of those oppressive "can't"s.

One of the weird things about modern feminism is that some feminists seem to be putting their own limits on women's choices. That feels backward to me. It's as if you can't choose a family on your own terms and still be considered a strong woman. How is that empowering? Are there rules about if, when, and how we love or marry and if, when, and how we have kids? Are there jobs we can and can't have in order to be a "real" feminist? To me, those limitations seem anti-feminist in basic principle.

EEEeeeeeeeee!!!!

I'll start with a question.
How can one movie make an entire, sold out movie theater full of women act like 13 year olds? I'm not sure....but it can happen.

Now with the story.
Lately when I want to see a movie that Benji doesn't really care about, I'll wait until Jordan is sleeping and go by myself. Tonight I went to Twilight alone. This is just to make all of my Utah friends jealous, but I bought my ticket 30 minutes before the show started and had a great seat.
I didn't expect to enjoy the movie as much as I did, but I loved it! I have read all of the books and I think they are okay, but I don't love them. I think part of the reason I enjoyed the movie so much is because I knew the personalities of the characters so well from the books. So reading the books probably does make the movie better.

Here are things I loved about the movie:
Edward, Bella, Esme, and Alice. Jasper was my favorite character though...he made me laugh out loud every time I saw him.

The things I hated about the movie:
When Edward went in the sunlight and his skin sparkled...why did it have to make a sparkly noise? The noise ruined it!
Carlisle and Rosalee (the acting and personalities were fine, but they didn't look the part).
Bella's prom dress!!! (The Alice I know would not approve!)

One more thing. There were two or three girls (women really) sitting right behind me and every time they saw Edward, Edward and Bella together, Edward and Bella kissing, Edward and Bella talking, Edward and Bella touching they would screech, "EEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!" Every time.

Kung Fu Panda

We watched this movie yesterday. Jordan cried and yelled every time they hit each other. He laughed once, but mostly he was yelling. I'm happy that my sweet, innocent baby doesn't appreciate violence...yet.

My Belly

So we took a few pictures of my belly on Sunday and this is the only one that really turned out. I guess you get the idea even though it's a little odd. The good thing I learned from this picture is I have awful posture. I am working on that this week. :)

Away in a manger

This is what a nativity scene looks like in the house of a toddler. Not only is Mary broken, but Jordan decided the animals should surround baby Jesus.

My skinny baby

I took Jordan in for his 18 month check-up yesterday. Let's just say Jordan weighs about 2 or 3 pounds more than he did when he was 6 months old! When Jordan was 6 months he was in the 95th percentile, and then every appointment since then he's been lower and lower and now he's below average in weight, height, and head circumference. The doctor isn't too worried since he's below average in every category. That could mean he's about to have a growth spurt. I'm not super worried because he's a great eater, he sleeps well, he has regular bowel movements, he's happy and energetic, and he's above average in language development. He doesn't seem unhealthy or deprived of nutrients, he's just a feather weight. But we are now monitoring his weight anyway. I have to take him back to the doctor in about 2 months for another weigh in. Until then here's to avocados, peanut butter, whole milk, salmon and olives.

This 6 month Jordan weighs the same as this Jordan.

100th post

Welcome to my 100th post! I decided since I always talk about Jordan that my 100th post will be all about me! So here are 20 random facts about me....

• I don't drink the milk out of my cereal bowl.
• I can throw an NFL sized football 47 yards. Or at least I used to be able to.
• I'm afraid of garbage disposals.
• My favorite food is lobster.
  
• I've watched almost every episode of the new 90210. On accident.
• I have a hard time calling people by a nickname, unless I gave it to them.
  
• Steve Young once told me to follow him around the room.
• I own a 9mm Glock, and I have a concealed firearm permit in Utah.
• I don't like The Princess Bride. And believe me that's not a cool thing to dislike in the Mormon culture.

• 90% of the time I get ready or finish getting ready in the car.
• I know how to catch a fish AND clean it.
  
• I probably own 100 pairs of shoes.
• When I graduated from high school I was the last person to receive their diploma. Yes, I'm oddly proud of that.
• I've been pulled over once. I didn't have my driver's license with me, proof of insurance, and my car wasn't registered and I didn't get a ticket. (The officer got called to a domestic dispute.)
• That last fact about me is the most irresponsible I have ever been behind the wheel.
  
• I want to be a foster parent.
  
• I don't know how or why, but I have Ever After memorized.
• I'm allergic to artificial cinnamon flavor. Which is sad because I love hot tamales and chocolate covered cinnamon bears. If I eat them I get canker sores all over my tongue and down my throat!
  
• I took the flag football class at USU 4 times. (Not because I failed, I just loved it.)
• I have to eat multi-colored candies in a pattern.
  

Haha. I just realized two of the three pictures I posted of me are me pregnant...and it's not the one of me in the wedding dress. I think I've been married and pregnant longer than I've been married and not pregnant.

Jordan's alphabet

I have been singing the alphabet to Jordan for awhile, but didn't think he was actually paying attention, until a few days ago. We were at Jonas' house and he has a toy that sings the alphabet and Jordan sort of sang along. I was so surprised! So now we ask him to say the alphabet for us all the time. This is his version.

Jordan's crazy bear

When my dad came and visited he brought Jordan this bear. It talks and Jordan loves it, but it has this sarcastic, evil voice that gets on my nerves. Well, I just thought that was something I would have to put up with since Jordan liked it so much. Then today it said this to Jordan. If you don't understand him he said, "You should seek professional help!" What bear says that!? An evil one.

What happened to Thanksgiving?

I never thought I would be the person that sets up their Christmas tree and decorations right after Halloween, but I did it! I'm also listening to Christmas music. Weird or not, I'm doing it...and loving it!

Jordan isn't holding a toilet brush, it's a brush to clean cups. It was pretty new when I got my dishwasher (and no longer needed it), so when he wanted to play with it I figured it wasn't very germy so I let him. I guess it's still gross, but not as bad as a toilet brush....right? For those that read my blog regularly, you know Jordan obsesses over things. Basketball and waterfalls are the big ones, but lately brushes are becoming the new fascination.

Jordan's chore chart

I know Jordan is young, but I decided he was old enough to have a few chores. I made him a chore chart and he has 5 of them. He helps set the table, helps clean up his toys, he puts his dirty clothes in his hamper, he helps me put the recycling in a bag, and he brushes his teeth. Since we introduced the chore chart a few days ago Jordan has been so good at completing his chores. The funny thing is he does them with great joy. He LOVES helping out. The best part is he's so young he doesn't expect any rewards for helping, he does it because he likes it. I hope this enthusiasm for working hard stays with him!This is how Jordan sets the table...isn't it cute?

Putting his clothes in his lion hamper.

Two men and a baby

I had to post these pictures separate because I think they are so funny. We pulled Jordan away from basketball to take pictures so he wasn't very happy in the first place, but on top of that the first time we tried to get pictures of Jordan and my brothers they each held one of Jordan's feet and held him upside down, so I think he was a little nervous. These pictures are my brothers trying to figure out how to hold Jordan so he would be happy. I think they need some practice. :)

Visitors

Jordan finally met his Uncle Trevor this weekend and got to see grandpa, Uncle Todd and Todd's girlfriend, Megan. It was so good to see everyone, and interesting to try and fit that many people in my tiny house. Jordan learned some patience this weekend from his uncle's never ending teasing. He needed a good toughening up though. It was good for him!Jordan looks a little nervous, but he soon warmed up to Trevor.

Jordan loved watching videos with his uncles.He also loved getting bounced on the air mattress

Todd and Megan

The whole crew.

Jordan loved spending time with grandpa.

My little brother

My little brother Trevor, my dad, and my brother Todd are coming to visit me this weekend. I am pretty excited because I haven't seen Trevor for two years, and he hasn't ever met Jordan. This picture was taken just before Trevor left for the airport to go to the Missionary Training Center in Africa. I was about 11 weeks along in this picture, which is pretty funny because I'm now about 12 weeks along. It's like he never left...except I have a baby.

Oh, my brother Todd is bringing his girlfriend. I haven't met her, and I am excited for that too. I live in a two bedroom house, so it's been fun trying to make Jordan's room into a guest bedroom so she can sleep there.

This is such an awful, awkward picture of me. I think I had just woken up from a nap.

Witnessing history

I definitely have mixed feelings about the election results yesterday. It was cool to witness history and see something happen that many didn't think ever would (except for 24 fans, of course:)). I don't agree with many of Obama's policies, and am a little worried about the outcome of many of them. I think the only way I will ever agree with a politician 100% is if that person is me. Since I have NO desire to have the job as Commander-in-Chief, I am going to support President Obama. I realized today that acting bitter and angry will only make me bitter and angry, and I would rather be optimisic and hopeful. So that is what I will be. I will be praying for him and this country and hope that he will lead this country in the right direction. God bless America!!

P.S. This statement loses all validity if my 2nd ammendment rights are taken away!

My fight

I fought with the maternity pants today, and they won. I caved in and I'm wearing them, but not with pride.

I'm a frugal nerd

I feel stupid posting this since most of you reading this will receive one of these cards, but I am too excited about how frugal I am, I had to tell someone. I really want to send Christmas cards this year, but was a little discouraged by how much they cost. I was going to start looking at garage sales, but I think that would have taken me forever, so I checked out e-bay. I bid on a big set of cards and ended up winning. So I got 7 boxes of Christmas cards for 4.00. That includes shipping. I think I have enough cards for 2 years. Pretty funny.

Jordan even has some Cars cards to give his friends.

Now go and forget you ever saw these cards, and when you
receive one in the mail act so excited and surprised!

4 years ago today.....

Here I am voting in 2004 with my roommate Stephanie. I love my friend Stephanie because we rarely see eye to eye politically, but we are still the best of friends. We have our backpacks on because we did homework in the long three hour line. This was my first time voting, and I picked the winner! Haha. :)

Like it says on my sticker....I voted!

I love voting, and I love it even more when it only takes 5 minutes. When I voted in 2004 I waited in 30 degree weather for almost three hours.

Jordan even got in on the voting action. He voted for Ron Paul.

I promise Jordan doesn't always look like an orphan.