Yes, this is your Christmas Card.

Merry Christmas!!

Love,

Justin & Jess

Monster

Dear Mom and Jen,

This is what our monster looks like...he really is cute!! Our pictures just didn't look very good because our monster has a little bit of jet lag. His ears are all droopy and he needs an eyebrow wax so you can see his cute little eyes.

Love,

Jess

Turkey, Dog Scarves and Monsters

Can I just say that I LOVE THANKSGIVING...not just because we get to remember to be thankful, but because we have a special day to eat!! I love mashed potatoes and gravy and turkey. We are so grateful that we live closer to family and get to take short plane trips instead of 5 hour ones!! This Thanksgiving we were able to fly up to see Justin's family and spend the weekend with them. (They are pretty funny people!)

Justin and his Dad (Turkeys prepping the Turkey)

Our super cute nephew Logan man giving us the cheese

On Thanksgiving Justin's sisters got together and made crazy headbands for everyone...Indian headbands with feathers for the girls and turkey drumsticks for the boys...it was pretty funny!!

Angela and Missa

Those are supposed to be turkey drumsticks!!

We got the chance to spend more time with our super cute nephew, Logan. He is getting so big and is seriously the funniest little man!

Justin and Logmanster playing cars

Angela and I (Angela is going to have a baby in like two weeks!)

Dog Scarf Dexter

It's been a little bit cold at our house...we just barely turned the heat on this last week because it was just too cold! Dexter gets a little bit cold...so he tries to take advantage of any body heat we radiate.

So we found this cool little monster in the Seattle airport and he really had to come home with us...because really...he's cool!!

Our cool new monster for our jellybean

Isn't he COOL?? He looks better in person! My mom and sister think he's ugly...rude.

It's a GIRL!

So last week, we found out we are having a GIRL!! It was a pretty cool ultrasound because they check to make sure the heart has all the chambers and they check for a bladder and kidneys and the little brain and do all sorts of measurements...and then they tell you what you are having. It was kinda weird, but very cool.

Here are her little arms...


She has been moving around A LOT this past week and when we went for the ultrasound, she refused to move at all. She stayed head down as far as she possibly could. The ultrasound tech couldn't get us a profile shot because our little lady wouldn't cooperate. (Figures...she definitely gets that from her father!!) The tech kept poking my stomach trying to get her to move...she wouldn't budge. So, all we got were Skeletor shots...it's a little weird, but what can you do...so here's Skeletorina.

And here's a little foot....


I keep hearing stories about people being told they are having a girl and then they really have a boy. Hopefully this doesn't change...so for right now...WE ARE HAVING A GIRL!! And we are both very excited!!

I voted

Today I voted!

And by the way people...you are holding out on me...I haven't gotten any pumpkin pie bars recipes at all. :(
And no preggo pics for anyone because my camera is still broken. :(

A Beautiful Little Something for Sunday!

My family sent me this link to watch a slide show of some amazing photos taken by a man named Mark Mabry. Desert Book is putting out his book/CD/DVD and show some clips from them here... http://deseretbook.com/reflections/

Check it out!! It's beautiful and it's put to the song Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Which is one of my favorites. I had never even heard it until I saw the movie at the Kirtland Visitor's Center. You leave Kirtland singing it in your head! It's so beautiful, I love it!

Some other things...mostly food...because really...it's food.

It snowed a couple of weeks ago!! Crazy!! I got a little bit excited and had to take a picture!!


These are a couple of just really good recipes!!

Best Lemonade Ever (or Limeade in this case!)

1 3/4 cups white sugar
8 cups water
1 1/2 cups lemon juice (or lime juice)

1. In a small saucepan, combine sugar and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve sugar. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until chilled.
2. Squeeze lemons for 1 1/2 cups juice, remove seeds but leave pulp if desired. In a pitcher, stir together chilled syrup, lemon juice and remaining 7 cups water.


So Tasty!! My hands hurt a little afterward because we don't have handy gadgets and I squeezed about a million limes. But it was so worth it. I love the little pulpy things!!

Sesame Chicken

Sauce:
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup chicken broth
1-2 tablespoons sesame oil (to personal taste)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 tablespoon chopped garlic
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 dash red chili pepper flakes (Or more if you are my husband)
2 teaspoons cornstarch (or more if you want a thicker sauce)

Chicken:
4 chicken breasts-cubed (If you don't want to marinate the chicken in the ingredients below, it's still yummy!!)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon sherry wine (I just used chicken broth)
1/2 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice Powder (optional)
2 drops sesame oil
cornstarch to coat

Other ingredients:
veggie oil or peanut oil for frying (I didn't deep fry mine, just stir fried!!)
sesame seeds to garnish
sliced green onion to garnish
prepared rice to serve with chicken and sauce

Directions
1. Combine chicken ingredients EXCEPT cornstarch and let marinate for 30 min in the fridge.
2. Remove chicken from marinade and toss in cornstarch (if you are NOT going to deep fry - skip the corn starch!). Cook chicken in hot oil until cooked through. Remove from pan and keep warm in oven while making the sauce. (I just left mine in the pan because I added some veggies and let those cook while I was making the sauce-I already had everything for the sauce in the pot because it doesn't take that long to stir fry and I just had to heat and add the cornstarch)
3. Combine all sauce ingredients EXCEPT cornstarch in a sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
4. Mix cornstarch (for sauce) in a little water (about 1/4 cup) in a cup until dissolved then slowly add to the sauce mixture while stirring and heat until the sauce is thickened to your liking.
5. Add chicken to sauce until heated through.
6. Remove and sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onions.

Notice the veggies swimming in sauce so that Justin will eat them??

Alive!!

So I have a job now. Are you all just so impressed? I work at the cutest baby/maternity boutique downtown!! The owners are super fun and I don't dread going to work. It's supposed to be part time, but it has been more like full time the last couple weeks...so I leave the house about 9:40 am and get home at about 7 pm...I know that's not too bad as far as hours go. But, I am preggo and my back has been killing me!! So really by the time I get home, I eat some dinner and veg on the couch til I go to bed at 9:30 (yes, 9:30 every night!!)

Our life recently:

1. We went to a Chili cook off for our ward and won the judges place trophy (which is about 2 inches high and plastic, but we are very proud). It was so good! We were making it and it simmered on the stove for a couple of hours...our crazy dog sat in the kitchen whining. We thought he needed to go outside-no. We fed him his lunch, which he woofed down and then sat in the kitchen whining some more. We had no idea until the next day when we reheated some of the leftover chili and he did the same thing again. So, we had to let him try a taste, which was probably a bad idea by the way. I have never seen a dog act that way about anything. You would think we were dealing drugs or something. For crying out loud...it's just chili. But in his defense, the judge thought it was the best.

2. This post would have pictures but our camera has decided to pass on. It died the other day and refused to be resurrected. Sad...Here's what kind of pictures our camera takes...

I believe this was a picture of me...aren't I so beautiful??

3. I would take a picture of the tree outside of our balcony because the colors are amazing...but something about a camera. I LOVE THE FALL!! It makes me want to bake and make soup. So the other day I made pumpkin squares with cream cheese frosting...SO TASTY. But it was a recipe I haven't tried before and the pumpkin portion was not my favorite. SO IF YOU HAVE A GREAT PUMPKIN SQUARES WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING RECIPE I WILL BE SO GRATEFUL IF YOU WOULD LET ME KNOW WHAT IT IS!! Thank you!! One of the other things I love about the fall is that you can wear sweaters and drink hot chocolate and apple cider and have the best apples (Honeycrisp or Pink Lady are my FAVORITE). I love the fall!!

4. I HATE politics-they make me want to cry.

5. I am 16 weeks along this week. The baby is doing fine. I am getting bigger and had to break down and buy a pair of maternity pants the other day. I was not happy about it but they are way more comfortable than fighting with unzipped-unbuttoned-held-on-by-hair-elastic-pants. I bought a pair at Old Navy and they ripped after I wore them 3 times. Those ones were returned and I bought the pair from work that I would probably never buy but because I have store credit and I get things at cost....I got them. They are FABULOUS! And no holes. I love working at this store!! They gave me a shirt that says "rub my bell for good luck" and has a picture of Buddha on it. It's hilarious [we will see how I feel about people touching my belly-no one has so far (except Justin-but he's allowed)] probably because it's not cute yet. I think pregnant bellies are cute (the round ones, no lumps!) but we will see how I feel about my own belly.

6. I can't really remember anything we have done recently because my brain cells are on vacation. I hope that they are somewhere warm and tropical. Maybe they will send me a postcard so that I know where they are!!


I don't really have anything else at the moment. I don't love posts without pictures, but what can you do??

PLEASE send me your pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting recipes!! I will love you forever!

Sorry...Blogging Slacker..

I have been a blogging slacker lately...but I have been totally busy, which is great. I have a job now and will post about that later because I love it.

Here is something absolutely HILARIOUS!!

It's called Cake Wrecks...here's the link.

Check it out!!

Preggo

So I think it might be time to notify the blogging world of a soon to be addition to our family. I am pregnant! 10 weeks this week and due April 13, 2009. Right now it just kinda looks like a jelly bean. I would scan a copy of my first ultrasound...but I can't remember which end of the jelly bean is the head. (I am going to be an AWESOME Mom!!)

Things on my GET THAT AWAY FROM ME list:

• anything cooking in our oven (mostly chicken nuggets-SICK!!)
• eggs of all varieties
• pretty much anything that has a strong smell that I have to cook
• watermelon
• that roasted red pepper soup I made right before I started feeling sick...I hid it in the back of the refrigerator because I couldn't stand to look at it....I found it last week...it had been in the fridge for about a month....super sick.
• nachos from the BSU games
  

The list really is bigger than this but I try not to think about things that make me sick...makes sense huh? Maybe I am just a wuss, but I never thought I could feel like this. I love to cook! But, I have cooked dinner 2 times in the last 2 months. I just verified with Justin. Two times in two months...ridiculous. I just can't stand the smell. One of the times I cooked with a kitchen towel wrapped around my nose and mouth so I wouldn't smell what I was making. You know what else is really weird...I have crazy strange vivid dreams EVERY night. I dream about kosher pants (yes kosher pants!), hats, being back in school, swimming, flying, exploring caves...it goes on and on and on. Luckily I have only had one night with really bad dreams (crazy men carving squares on my chest with a scalpel - awful dreams!!) Weird stuff. I feel like I am all out of wack! I go to bed at 9:30 for crying in the mud!

I asked Justin the other day....

"How far apart do you want to have our kids?"
(I meant in years and he knew it)
(And assuming of course that this trial child goes well)

He answered: "At least arms length, that way they can't touch each other and fight."

Good call Honey!! That's why I love him!!

BSU Game (AKA: Insanity with Uncle Don and Alex)

Saturday night we went to the BSU v. Bowling Green game. Uncle Don had some extra tickets and he invited us. That Uncle Don...he's so nice. It was pretty crazy! Boise people are serious fans...Serious fans.

Jess and Justin in crazy orange t's

There is something that you have to know about Uncle Don...he's pretty crazy. He insisted on getting my picture with lots of random things/people. Here are some of the highlights.

Here's me with the tuba guy. (He thought we were pretty crazy!)

Here's me with the BSU cowgirl and her horse.

Justin, Alex and Uncle Don showing some Turf Towel pride.

Cousin Alex!! Crazy Dude!

We had a great time with the game and they won 20-7! Thanks for taking us Uncle Don and Alex!

A Poem

Mr. Cranney has passed the bar,
he deserves a golden star,
I wish I could buy him a car,
but our budget won't stretch that far.

The End. :)

I can't say I never win anything...

I don't mean to brag....but I have won over 2,000,000 pounds sterling in the UK lottery, received a very generous grant of 850,000 from OXFAM and I won some crazy ridiculous amount in the Swiss Lottery. What am I going to do with my new found wealth you might ask????? For starters I will definitely host that girl who is being terrorized by her evil step father (I think she was supposed to be from Mali?) or maybe I will help one of the millions of poor souls who has nothing better to do than clog my email with junk!!!

I HATE junk mail, more specifically I really detest scam emails...However, Justin found this awesome web page where some crazy guy scams the scammers - he calls it scambaiting!! The good stuff is in the Letters Archive! I have attached the link below...

www.419eater.com

Seriously hilarious!

Trip to Washington

We flew to Washington the day that Justin was done with the Bar Exam!! NO MORE STUDYING!! I am so excited! Now we just have to wait until September for the results.

The next day was Justin's Birthday! Honey you are old!! We spent the day relaxing...it was awesome! Thanks Coldstone for another amazing cake!

OLD MAN!

The next day we went canoeing in Seattle on some lake...I can't remember what it was called. It was beautiful when we weren't fighting waves from the millions of boats that were there that day. The Blue Angels were practicing for their show and you could see them from the lake.

Cheryl (Justin's mom) and Justin

That night we went to a Mariner's game with the Williams family (Angela's in-laws) and had a great time even though the Mariner's got spanked...it was a little bit sad. (So sad that we left before the game was over...they only scored after we left...sad.) But we had a great time and the nachos were super TASTY!

Jess and Justin at the game!

Angela and Melissa

Saturday we went to the Oregon coast! It was a pretty nice day - still gray and not too cold. We built sandcastles, played in the water (a little), flew kites, had a very tasty picnic, played frisbee, soccer and we all got really sandy.

Justin and Jerry and a sandcastle

Cheryl and Justin on the beach (my husband is not wearing a sweatshirt...and is in shorts...we were all in pants and coats! He is a polar bear!)

On Monday we drove to Mt. Rainer and did a little hike. It was a beautiful day and the area is georgeous!! It was sooo beautiful!

Jerry and Cheryl

Cheryl, Jerry, Jon (Angela's husband), Logan (Angela's son) and my Justin

A crazy beautiful waterfall!

Justin and I @ Mt. Rainer

We also spent a few days relaxing and doing a little bit of shopping. We had a great time! Thanks Cheryl, Jerry, Melissa, Angela, Jon and Logan Man! It was great to see you guys! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for driving us to the airport! You ROCK!

Jared to the MTC

My brother left for the MTC on July 23rd...I had to be there!! So the day after we got home from our weekend trip to see my family, I left again...with Dexter. It was nice to see Jared again...see him in a suit...all grown up like...he's so cute!

Jen, Elder and I

The Fam

Slurping broccoli cheese soup through a straw...classic. (We had lunch at the Brick Oven before we went to the MTC.)

That weekend my Mom, Dad and brothers when on a camping trip and my sister had to stay home because of her work schedule (convenient huh??) so I stayed with her so the Boogey Monster wouldn't get her. She made me dinner!! How nice huh? Poppy Seed Chicken.

Salad, Poppy Seed Chicken and Jen (you guys are so cute together!!)

A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE TO MY DAD: I do not know where you got this hat...but I think that it might have to meet an unfortunate end...very unfortunate....

Good Luck at the BAR!!

Justin,

I know that you probably won't read this tonight, but I just wanted to tell you good luck tomorrow!! You are going to do great! I love you so much and really miss you! One day down, two to go!!

I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL WEDNESDAY!!

Love you FOREVER!!

Jess

Home for another visit...

This past weekend, Justin and I were able to go visit my family. My brother, Jared, is leaving for the MTC on Wednesday and the family was getting together. We drove down on Friday (I drove while Justin studied...shocker!) and I spent the afternoon shopping with my Mom while Justin studied. That night we went to visit Justin's seriously cool cousin April, her seriously cool husband David and their super adorable baby, Breea. We had some Mexican food and played Ticket to Ride. It's a really fun game!!

April, David and Justin (April won...figures!)

Justin and Jess (I beat Justin!! Take that!!)

Saturday morning we had a great breakfast: bacon, hash browns and french toast. Then we all went to go see The Dark Knight. It was really intense! Justin loved it and I liked it but thought it was kind of scary...there were some parts I couldn't even watch. I had a headache at the end of the movie from clenching my teeth. Heath Ledger is the Joker and he's really creepy. After the show, we went to Uncle Craig and Aunt Wendy's house for a BBQ. Nice grilling Uncle Craig! We had lots of tasty stuff and some really chocolatey chocolate cake. Then we had to run back home and change for family pictures. Do you know how hard it is to get shirts for three girls that they all are OK with?? It's pretty much impossible, but we did it. Anyway, this really nice lady, Lisa was our photographer. We took pictures FOREVER...but hopefully they turn out. It's also very hard to get my brothers to sit still longer than like 5 seconds. We started taking pictures about 6:30 and got home about 9:00. This is a picture of my handsome husband and I on the back deck. He is SOOO CUTE! He works so hard and I love his guts!! LOVE YOU BABE!

Jess and Justin

Sunday, we went to church and listened to Jared speak. He did a GREAT job!! It was really weird to see him so serious. Usually he is so funny! He is going to be a great missionary. Good Luck buddy!! See you in two years! Love your guts!! He leaves for the MTC tomorrow!! So weird. We had a BBQ at our neighbor's house (they had a baby blessing and we had a "farewell" and since our families have been friends forever, we combined them...it was a great idea. There was tons of food!!) So we pretty much played the rest of the day...cards, lightning and the boys wrestled. Thankfully no one is dead...the rest of us watched just to make sure.

Jordan, Jared, Justin and my Justin...I don't know where Jason was.

McCall (my bros girl), Jen, Dad and Mom...and all the dogs watching Jen eat a hot dog.

Justin and I had to come home on Monday because Justin has to study. The bar is next week...I am going to be so glad when it's over. That's all Justin does...study, study, study. He can't wait until it's over, I can't wait until it's over and Dexter can't wait until it's over!!

Question

Do you think the bearded lady at the circus shaves her legs?

Older....and Wiser?

I am now a quarter of a century...Do you remember when you were a little kid and your birthday was one of the greatest days of the year. I used to get so excited and now it's just another day, but with cake! My birthday was on Monday and I was excited to spend the evening with Justin!! He had to study during the day for the bar and as our friend Tannith put it..."trying to remember why he thought this was a good idea." I went to the pool to enjoy some sunshine and a little bit later Grandma and Grandpa brought us cupcakes!! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! We went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant in town and it was pretty good. I really miss the Mint Cafe in Cleveland!! We walked around downtown and looked in some of the shops. Then we came home and had some Coldstone ice cream cake...SOOO GOOD! It has peanut butter cups and a layer of peanut butter and chocolate ice cream and chocolate cake and the frosting is awesome - it's so rich and creamy.

Justin, you are my favorite husband! Thanks also to the Deb and Ben - I am pretty sure he remembered the cake we had at your house...SOOO GOOD!

Isn't he just so handsome!!

CAKE! Don't mind me, I look really weird in this picture.

My favorite husband also got me flowers for my birthday...daisies!
They are just so bright and happy! Thanks Babe - you are the best!

Another thing that is great about birthdays is that people call you! I love it when people call me!! Thanks family for the phone calls and the awe inspiring songs...you guys truly are amazing talents. I have already called David Letterman to try and book you...but I haven't heard back from him yet. I am sure that I will soon as I sent him a tape of your amazing singing! :)