Like Father, Like Son

There is no question that Dustin is the father of Thomas, & I'm not just talking about their crazy, uncontrollable hair.

They are so cute together, they both love playing soccer {Thomas is already passing the ball to Dustin, Dustin is very proud of that by the way.}

They both like the guitar & singing. {sometimes Thomas will sing if there is music}

Both love the water.

They love to eat,

and I love both of them all so much!

TaTter-TeLL TuESdAy!

DuStIn: When Dustin was younger he would breed and sale Chihuahuas, that's where most of his mission money came from. Dustin has had many unique jobs, he even has sold purses.

JeSsICa: Overall I'm an outgoing person and can talk to anyone, but when I was really young I was WAY shy, my poor mom, I would run away from people all the time, and you couldn't get a word out of me, I know some people might have a hard time believing that, especially all of my teachers during my Jr High years, but it's true. But even now I can have my shy moments when I'm not in the mood to be social. 

Just a few pictures of Thomas I took today for fun, he loves taking pictures.

ThOMaS: Did you know that Thomas has moved three times, and has been at least 12 states, has flown across the country twice, been to Disney World twice, and has gone to Sea World I don't know how many times. He's quite the little traveler. 

Some Art work for Thomas' nursery

Here are some wall art that I designed For Thomas' room.

Our Little Prodigy?

The other day Dustin let Thomas play with his guitar and he loved it and he actually didn't sound too bad. We have a video and I have spent all yesterday and today trying to load it and it wouldn't work so I'm way bummed out, but here are some pictures anyway.

So we might have a little prodigy in our hands.... I guess we will see...

 

TaTter-TeLL TuESdAy!

Dustin: For those who know Dustin really well would already know this, but Dustin's favorite book(s) are the Chronicles of Narnia, I don't know how many times he has read or listen the Audio books, but it's been a lot. And anytime he speaks in church during sacrament or something, he will mention something about them and how they relate to the topic he is speaking about. And I know at least three, wait no, four paintings he did for school that was Chronicles of Narnia. He doesn't care for the movies, but he loves the books. He has told me a lot about them, so this last week I started to read one, I'm not very far because it's been a little busy but so far it's been good.

Jessica: So last week I discovered pinterest, and I'm addicted to it. For those who don't know what it is... well I'm not sure exactly everything about it, but you have to be invited before you can start your own, but basically it is a place where you can "pin" pictures & ideas from the web and catalog it. I love it because so many times I look online and I see something cute or inspiring, or a good recipe that I want to keep for future reference, so I would bookmark all the websites... which can be messy, so with pinterest, you just click on the image save under a title like: "Recipes I want to try" or "Crafts I want to do." and it's all saved right there with the image, and you just need to click on it to get to the website. Also in pinterest you get to see other people's pins and you can repin it for you to keep. Also, like google you can research something and images  come up from other people's "pins" which is nice as well because sometimes when you google there are a lot of random pictures, while in pinterest it's more precise. You can also follow people and see what they are pinning, so you end up sharing a lot of great ideas & images together. The problem is  it can get addicting & it makes you want to work on crafts and your home because there are so many cute things out there. Well, that turned out to be more about pinterest than me, o well...

Thomas: Did you know that Thomas loves when we read books to him. Sometimes he laughs because of my silly voices and expressions, but he loves looking at the pictures and cuddling as well.

One full, fun, & blessed week!

This last week we have had a lot of blessings and fun. 

When we moved to Pennsylvania 5 months ago we only brought what we could fit in our car, so when we moved here in Florida we didn't have that much. So for the last few weeks we had a blow-up bed and a pack-n-play for thomas, and two stools and that was our furniture. We were planning on getting our furniture from different places but we needed to save some money first. Than a week ago someone called and told us there was a couple that was getting rid of tons of stuff for free, so Monday we went to check it out and by the end of that night we had, a bed, office desk, recliner, microwave, vacuum, and much more for free! We couldn't believe it! Than Tuesday I got a new rocking chair from my mother-in-law. Also on Tuesday, the mail man kept coming with boxes and I didn't know what they were and when I opened them up there was some kitchen knives and bunch of kitchen stuff! I started crying, because I couldn't believe how blessed we were, but I had no idea who sent all this stuff than I get a text from my sister Nicole that said: "Did you get my packages?" I couldn't believe it, in the matter of days our apartment was all set up! The Lord blesses us through other people!

Also this week we got to do a lot of fun things. There was a family that Dustin knew growing up that were here for vacation, so they let us swim a couple times at their resort, so that was a lot fun, Thomas loved it! Also this week we got my season pass to the Seaworld parks so Thomas and I went three times this past week and every time I forgot our camera, so no pictures, but we are five minute walk so we will be going a lot so we will get pictures in the future.  Than Saturday we went to Disney World for the Star Wars weekend. It was a lot of fun, we got to see many Star Wars characters but we just took pictures with Darth Maul because he's my favorite bad guy and we came right as he came so there wasn't a huge line. The guy was awesome, and Thomas thought he was funny. We also got to ride the Rock and Roll roller-coaster  which is one of my favorites! 

Even though this move has been somewhat hard on me, I really can't complain because I have a lot of fun here. I mean I get to go to theme and water parks all the time and I do. Everyday we go and do something, and next week we are going to Aquatica water park which I hear is awesome. Also we have a lot of fun couples here, so I'm glad that we are here even though there is a cockroach here and there, and we have no money it's been a fun adventure. 

I thought this guy was awesome, made me what to watch the movies again.

Thomas & I in Hollywood Studios.

I had to put these last two pictures because he is sooo cute, and to show how messy he can get.

New Direction?!?

*WARNING: a really long post with my thoughts, and babbling...

For the last 4+ years I have been wanting to illustrate children's books and young adult books. In college I studied illustration and loved almost every moment of it, I would be lying if I said I loved every second, because there were days I honestly was wondering why I was going into art, but it was totally worth it, I learned many skills that have and can help me in everyday life.

Also those 4 years I learned other skills through work and just experimenting with skills I learned in my art classes, such as design, color, and composition.  That I have discovered other professionals that I would also love to do. I have come to love photography, I wanted to take classes but with my busy class schedule and being pregnant my last year it didn't happen, so I'm trying to teach myself at the moment. Because of working in the floral department at Porters for many, many, many years I developed the skill of floral arranging, again I'm not the best, but I have done a few wedding bouquets in the passed. And also because of good old Porters I have come to love decorating. Than last summer, I spend a week at my sister-in-laws to learn how to create digital scrapbook patterned paper, stickers, kits, baby announcements, and wedding announcements, and I had a blast doing that. 

So learning all these skills, I tend to want to do everything. Moving to a new apartment, I want to make floral arrangements for it, I want to take some cool pictures than frame them on the wall, I want to do all the art that goes up, I want to create my own patterns for fabric, I want to pick out the color scheme and hunt down the furniture for it and make the apartment super cute. 

But to do all of that I need time, and money, which I don't have any of those...

So here's what I have been thinking lately... and sorry if this whole post doesn't make sense and you don't know where I'm going with it  {because I'm not sure where I'm going with it either I'm more just babbling} so I have been thinking: Ok, I want to do all of these things, but I can't do everything because I don't have the money, so how can I make money while doing something I love? The Illustration world is good money but it takes a while to get into the market {which I'm working on, but sometimes it takes years} so what can I do now? something that I love to do, but can make some money right away?

So I have been praying, hoping for some inspiration to where I should put my talents to, not only to help me but maybe to help for my family and provide some extra money. 

Well a month ago my mother-in-law gave me an illustration job, and I did a illustration that turned out well, I didn't think anything of it, than last week my sister-in-law, I mention before, emailed me and said she loved my illustration and asked if I wanted to start doing some illustrations for scrapbooking kits with her because I would do really well and she just started her own company and she's doing really well and I can start getting my name known, I can't help but be excited because I can make money by doing something I love. I not only want to do scrapbooking paper and kits, but I want to do children's wall art with the scrapbook-like style. 

So here is the illustration I did for my mother-in-law, and some things I have just played with, I'm still working on the art work I'm doing for Thomas' room but when I have it figured out I will post them.

I did the illustration on the poster

This one is for a boy room,  I'm going to make it a series. 

I made this one for a girl in my ward, she is expecting a little girl in July. 

  Well if you made it through this post and followed my thoughts, congrats!

7 Months!!!

I can't believe that Thomas is 7 months old! I feel like time is going so fast! I also feel like this last month he has progressed so much.

• He's started baby food this last month, and he LOVES it! I think he could eat all day.
• He's starting to push off the ground with his arms and sometimes his little bottom is up.
• He moves around a lot by just rolling around.
• He pretty much can sit up by himself {I still put pillows around him, but that's me being protective}.
• He talks and sings, and laughs a whole lot.
• He has two little bottom teeth

This age has been a lot of fun, because he is young enough that he still likes mommy-time and cuddles with me, but old enough that I can goof off with him and play little games with him.

TaTter-TeLL TuESdAy!

DuStIn: Did you know when Dustin was in high school he was in a band? He played the guitar and was a singer. They would play a lot of Weezer songs, and he would write their lyrics to their own songs.
JeSSicA: Did you know I'm very good at knowing random things about movies, I will know the composer to the soundtrack, I can tell you the year it came out, and I will know random facts about the making of the movie, and the actors I could tell you about three or more other movies they are in within a few minutes, it's kind of sad, but since middle school I have loved movies and everything about them.
ThOmAs: Thomas loves the water! He loves tub time, he loves being in the pool, and anytime I'm using the sink he loves watching the water, if he is every grumpy sometimes I just turn on the water for a few minutes and than life is good.