The Clarks!!!

Our Little Artist

2012-02-15T19:06:00.002-08:00

Yesterday while I was working on a Valentine's Day sign for Dustin, Thomas decided to help. Looks like we might have another artist in the family.

Dustin and I celebrated Valentine's a little different this year. Instead of doing everything on Valentine's it just somehow worked out we did stuff other nights. On Friday we went on a double date to see "The Woman in Black", which isn't the most romantic movie I know, but that's the one I wanted to see. I liked it, while Dustin didn't, but unlike other scary movies it affected me a little more, maybe because it involved children and now that I have a child it hit home for me.

Than Monday we went out for dinner instead of Tuesday because I had be babysitting three other kids that day and was tired so Dustin suggested to do dinner Monday and I was ok with that.

On Valentine's Dustin and I gave little surprises through out the day, and ended the day by cuddling and watching a chick flick.

I would call that a successful Valentine's day/weekend.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T09:55:00.001-08:00

Sunday Walk

2012-02-05T20:15:00.000-08:00

Little Update... and Rambling Off

2012-02-04T17:44:00.000-08:00

For a little update...

Life for the Clark's have been pretty mellow since the holidays, so it has been hard to come up with anything to write about.

We have been in Florida now for 9 months, and our plan was to stay here for a year, well that a year is coming up so Dustin and I have been thinking what's our next step? Here in Orlando we've been having a lot fun and like the area for the most part, but we don't want to be working for SeaWorld for the rest of our lives.

"So what's the game plan?" I always ask Dustin, since I like to plan things out. Well, we know he still wants to be an illustrator, and I want to have more children, and at the moment we can't just rely on illustration jobs. So "the plan", yes I put it in quotes because I have learned in life that I can plan things but if the Lord has another plan I go with it. So the plan is to stay in Orlando till September, after the busy season, than move back to the west, Utah, to be more specific and Dustin will work at the Rock Pit to provide for the family, and continue to work on side illustration jobs and take more online classes, and hopefully I will too get more illustration jobs.

We have been greatly blessed, Dustin and I really want to be artists even if it's going to be rougher (poorer, starving) road, and we have been blessed to be getting illustration jobs here and there. Almost every month since we moved her I have had some random illustration job or somehow made money through my art. I know that if we both work hard at it and keep looking towards our goal we can make it! This has been really hard on me sometimes, trusting Dustin in his career and believing that we won't always be this poor. I mean when you tell people that you and your husband are artists a lot of times you get responses like, "So you paint mountains or flowers or something?" or "How can you make money doing that?" -I will admit sometimes I ask that too.... or "What do you do with art?" The last one is my favorite question to answer because I like to "lighten" them, a lot of people think art as oil on canvas hanging in a museum, which is true... but they (not all people, but a few) don't realize art is all over, I mean everywhere, to just name a few...

Advertisement: Someone had to take the picture, someone had to design the poster/magazine/flyer. Someone had to design the logo for the company. Someone had to design the packaging for a product, ex. toys, any apple product.

Movies: I'm not only talking about animated movies, but every movie out there. Someone had to design and come up with the characters/creatures in the movie. They have artists illustrate the story board before they film so they know what each scene is going to look like. In early stages of making movies they have concept artists to draw, paint ideas to come up with for the look they want for the film.

Publishing: Children's books, book covers, magazines, text books, political cartoons...

Design: Web designing, scrapbook paper, wrapping paper, greeting cards, fabric that you purchased for your craft.

Well, I don't know why I went on that tangent, I guess to say that you can be an artist and make money, it's just a long, hard process because you need to build your clientele and have an amazing portfolio.

ANYWAY... back to updating... Thomas is still not walking, he can, he just won't. Dustin and I have been having him walk back and forth between us and he can walk across the room to us, but only if he wants to. I try to encourage the walking by having him hold one hand and walk with me everywhere instead of carrying him, and he does that fine and for now he's just content with that. O well...

His vocabulary is coming along, he can say mom, dad (pa), grandpa, ball, bath (ba), bottle (baba), and probably more than that I just don't recognize it yet.

Anyway, sorry for the long post... I will make it up with cute pictures of Thomas:

The second picture he looks a little crazy.

Good Reads

2012-01-31T11:12:00.000-08:00

Like many other people I'm addicted to Pinterest, Facebook, and blogging.... and sometimes I spent WAY too much time on the internet. When I thought I couldn't get addicted to any more sites, a friend introduced me to goodreads.com, at first I didn't get into it, but the more friends you have and the more books you read and rate and write reviews, it's starts to get addicting (not as much as pinterest, but still...).
So what is good reads? For those who don't know, it's a site where you create a profile and you can add friends, join book clubs, etc.... And you can create lists like: Books I want to read, Books I have read, and Books I'm currently reading, and if you have read a book you can rate 1-5 and write a review. The more books you rate the website starts giving you recommendations of other books, which is very dangerous for me, but it introduces all sorts of books that I would never have known. It's also nice too when you are thinking about a reading a book you can research it and see what ratings it has received and other people's reviews to see if it would be worth your time. And it's fun to see what your friends are reading and you can recommend books to each other.

This was kind of a random post, but I just been having a blogger's blog for this past month and since I received a lot of comments on my post about books that I thought some might be interested about this website, and plus I want more friends on the site :).

This year my goal was to read more books than last year which was 16, and so far I'm doing pretty good.
For this month I have read 4 books, which means our apartment has been messier, less good home-cooked meals, and blogging....

I read The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, I thought this was a good book, I just think I had really high expectations and I wasn't in the mood for this type of book. It does have a great story and a fun twist in the end, it's a series so I want to read the whole series some time. I would recommend this book.

For my book club for the month of January I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer. I thought it was a fun read, a historical fiction that is told only in letters during WW2, I don't think I would have ever picked to read this book, but I did like it.

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, I've been wanting to read this one for a long time. I really liked this one, Peter was not my favorite character but I felt sorry for him. I thought this story was really cute and magical, I can see why it was a hit when it was first scene in a play. If you seen all the movies, than you know the whole story there isn't anything new but I always think the book is better, and it's a quick read, you could finish it in day easily.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol: Again I have been wanting to read this one for a while. Like Peter Pan, if you seen all the movies, you pretty much read the book, but again book is better. This one is really short, I finished it in a few hours. I liked it, not as much as Peter Pan, but I can see people thinking it's weird, but that's how the movies are.

Dustin's Family Visits!

2012-01-23T21:07:00.000-08:00

Right now Dustin's parents and grandparents are here in Orlando for a visit!!! We've been having a great time. Dustin's mom came this past Wednesday so we have been going to SeaWorld and hitting all the outlet malls. Than this weekend Dustin's dad and grandparents came up and we have been having fun hanging out at their resort, going to SeaWorld and Universal. Tomorrow I'm really excited about because we are going to swim at the resort and just relax and hang out all day, than later to 4 Rivers Smokehouse for lunch, which is soooo yummy!

Living in Florida we have been missing our family so it's been great that we have had many visitors since we have moved here, so keep coming family and friends!

Thomas playing with grandma Lisa's I-pad

Hogwarts in Universal.

Love this first picture, too funny.

Thomas having a great time walking on the moving walkway with grandpa.

What happened to my good model?

2012-01-16T19:46:00.000-08:00

Thomas used to be such a good little model for me, he would sit and pose and put a cute little smile, well those days are over. I'm lucky if I get a picture that isn't blurred or him looking away. Well today I did get some pictures of him looking at me and holding still, but with some attitude, almost every picture he was looking angry like, "Mommy, why are you stopping me from playing?"

So here is a picture, I still like it even though he's not smiling.

So after while I gave up & I just followed my little man while he was doing his thing, and this was one of my favorite pictures of the day. So maybe for now on I should try and just take pictures of his daily adventures and not the perfect picture I have in my head.

Actions

2012-01-11T21:19:00.000-08:00

I finally broke down and purchased some photoshop photo editing actions. Before I have been just editing my pictures on my own and it was pretty much self taught. I felt that my editing skills were good for being an amateur, but I always wanted to get the florabella actions because I love them, but they aren't the cheapest either, and soooo many times there have been times when Dustin has told me to get them, and I was so close in getting them, so close that I had all my credit card info and all I need to click "purchase" but I never could because I kept thinking "I can can just edit pictures on my own and just keep self teaching". But than I would keep eyeing at Florabella's actions all the time, I would try to mimic the look I wanted and I would get close but I was never satisfied.

Another reason I didn't get the actions before was because I felt in a way it was limited, because the bundle of actions would have only so many looks, while I wanted more than they offered. Than Florabella came with a bundle that had actions that you could mix and match, and switch up and stuff, than it made it have unlimited options, that I couldn't help myself, and since I have recently earned some money through art commissions and babysitting, I finally broke down and got them!!!

I really like this bundle because you can do the faded look, that is popular right now, or bright, bold colors. So here are some pictures that I had fun editing the other night, some I have already posted on the blog, but I wanted to redo some for fun, since I haven't had a chance to take pictures since I've purchased the actions. Each one I did something different, some are more different than others, but I'm still trying to figure out what looks good, also what I like too now that I got these actions I can see how the lady did them so I'm also learning more editing tricks, which is a bonus.

Of course I didn't take this picture but I wanted to have some fun with some wedding pictures.

Blogger's Block

2012-01-08T21:18:00.000-08:00

So I have been having a blogger's block the last week, hence the lack of blogging, I just haven't really had anything to say, life seems to calm down a little since the holidays so I really couldn't think anything to write about.

But this week was a lot of fun, this last weekend Dustin & I were spoiled with great friends and great dinners. On Friday we had dinner with the Williams, which is always a delight and sooo much laughter, and of course great food (we do a lot of the William's I need to start taking pictures of all the fun times with them). Than Saturday we went to Churrascaria at Universal with the WIlliam's and the St. Clair's to celebrate us winning the best decorated garage from Halloween. It was sooo fun, since Adam works at Universal we had valet parking (yes, I felt like an important person or something), but that wasn't the best part, the food was aMAzEIng! It was a all you can eat Brazilian Grill, and they brought the food to you , all you had to do is flip this coaster-like thing on the green side and they just keep bringing you all the meats to try out. Oh my goodness it was so good, and I felt like royalty there, I ask for food and they brought it too me, I could live like that everyday. Not only was the food good, but just hanging out was a lot of fun, there is always laughter when we hang out with our friends. Afterwards it was so hard to move (I wore maternity pants because I knew I would want the extra room). Than today, or yesterday since it's after 12, we had dinner with the Denham's and it too was so good, I'm pretty sure I put on three pounds this weekend, my sunday dress was a little tighter this week, oops.... it was a tasty weekend for the Clark's.

Since I didn't have pictures of the weekend I decided to post pictures of Thomas, my favorite subject to photograph, but it's hard to get a good picture of this kid, he's always on the move.

A little update about Thomas....

he loves drinking juice or milk and cuddling with me while watching a movie ( I love it)

He's favorite movie is Despicable Me, he will watch the one thing, it's really funny because he will dance to the music and laugh at the minions.

He has no interested in walking, but I'm not worried because when he wants to, one day he will just do it, he's been like that with all the stages, when he decides he wants to learn something he will figure it out in one day and be off.

Some exciting things we are looking forward to this month is Dustin's parents and grandparents are coming to visit us! I can't wait!

Scrapbooking paper is of course designed by my AMAZING sis-in law Crystal Wilkerson.

The Nerd in Me.

2011-12-28T21:34:00.000-08:00

Books from Christmas

I have a lot of nerdy things about me, one of them is my obsession of books, and collecting books. I love to read, I remember the first book I read that introduce me to the world of books, it was James and the Giant Peach from Roald Dahl, and after that I read most of his books, than later I got into Goosebumps, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Mary Higgins Clark's books, and many more.

In 7th grade I started reading some of the classics, and the first one was Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and I loved it! I have read it two times since then, and that book introduced me to the world of the classics. In high school one my favorite classes was AP English because most of the class we read classics and analyzed and discussed them.

Another nerdy thing about me is that I love to buy books, and buy nice copies and to keep them nice and new. Dustin teases me about it, but back in Idaho I probably have 3 boxes full of books, and a lot of them I haven't had the chance to read yet. When we moved a year ago I didn't bring any, and now I have at least 15 in our closet and Dustin teased me that I can't get anymore until I have read every book in the closet. Well I have read all the ones I had before Christmas and some that I got for Christmas so I just need to read 5, I can do that!

This last year I have been able to read a lot more since I'm not in college anymore, so my goal was to read 12 books this year and I manage to read 16, and it was great. I just barely started a book club starting this year that I'm very excited about.

So if you have any books that you have read and love, let me know because I want a good list of books for this coming year.

Here is the list of books I read this year:

The Hunger Games series (3 books) I thought it was a fun quick read.

Little Women I loved it, I can see why some might think it's boring, but I loved how it was written, it was a lot of short stories of all the sisters.

Water for Elephants: I liked the book, but it did have some content that needed to be skipped over and some swearing.

The BFG by Road Dahl: I reread with Dustin this year, we like to read books together when we get a chance.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: LOVED IT!!! It might just be my favorite book, Wuthering Heights which was written by Charlotte's sister has always been one of my favorites, but after reading Jane Eyre I love it more. Both books are gothic novels, Emily wrote Wuthering Heights first, than Charlotte wrote Jane Eyre showing Emily that gothic novels can have happy endings too, so I think it would be fun to read these side by side.

The Time Traveler's Wife: I didn't really like this book, interesting story, but WAY too much language for me, and a lot of content to skip over, so I wouldn't recommend it.

I reread the whole Harry Potter series and loved every minute of it.

The Thirteenth Tale: I just finished this last night, it was a fun read, and it keeps you guessing to the end, and has a good twist in the end, and it kind of has a haunting feel.

Christmas

2011-12-27T13:14:00.000-08:00

We had a great and successful Christmas this year. We were sad that we couldn't come home to our families but we had a great time starting some of our own traditions this year. Christmas Eve Dustin had to work most of the day, but after work we had dinner, I tried to decorate our apartment a little more for the dinner, since Dustin was a little down about having to work so I tried to make it a surprise for him when he got home. After dinner we opened our PJs and a toy nativity set for Thomas and read about Christ's birth. After Thomas went to bed Dustin and built a little castle with some blocks from "santa" and watch Christmas movies.

Christmas Eve

Christmas! I wished all of our lights worked on our tree, o well!

Christmas morning Thomas slept in till 9:30, it was great! And he loved the mega blocks and wrecked our creation in seconds, he was so involved with the blocks that he wasn't interested in opening any presents. For Christmas we received a lot of books, movies, and toys. Dustin's parents also gave us an Ipad which we were very excited about! After Christmas we had a breakfast casserole that I made (one of Dustin's family traditions) and than headed to church. It was a great Christmas even though it wasn't the white Christmas I'm used to, but now that Christmas is over I sure glad that we have nice weather, and we can hang out outside still! Well, I hope everyone had a great Christmas too, and have a happy New Year!

Bow ties and hair clip that my sis-in-law, Emily made.

Tiffany, Dustin's sister gave us a lot of fun gifts and one of them was bath color tablets, Thomas thought it was so cool to have blue water.

Happy 2 year Anniversary!!!

2011-12-21T19:16:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is our 2 year anniversary!

I decided to blog about it today since we are planning on being busy tomorrow.

This year has been the hardest and best year of our marriage! Between having a baby, and living out in the real world as starving artists, and living away from both families we have grown stronger together. Life isn't always perfect but I can't imagine not enjoying life without Dustin, he is my best friend and he's just right for me, he laughs right there with me at stupid stuff, he has the same passion for art, he's a great husband, he doesn't get upset if the house is messy and there is no dinner on the table when he gets home because I was too busy reading the last few chapters of a book, or doing some crazy craft that has made an even bigger mess in our house. I love how he loves me, plain old, crazy, hyper, always doing something... me.

I love this picture above because I feel like that's how we are when it's just us two.

I love you Dustin, thanks for these last two years and I can't wait for all eternity to be with you!

Christmas Card

2011-12-13T16:05:00.000-08:00

For those I don't have their emails:

This was a big year for the Clark family, a lot of changes, moves, growing, and a lot of firsts.

Dustin and I started this year as recent college graduates, newly parents, having new and unknown adventures ahead of us.

So here is our year in a summary:

Dustin: This year Dustin has been able to have a lot of great art opportunities, when we lived in PA he got his first Children's book job, he's had many caricature gigs, and gets to draw people all day at his work at SeaWorld. He also got an art piece in an art gallery in New York and won an award, and had the opportunity to go to a caricature convention for a week and learn more from the pros. He's also a good father, and husband who always tries his best. He's had many callings in the church, anywhere from Sunday school teacher to Elder's quorum secretary.

Jessica: Has grown and learned a lot this year, learning to balance art with motherhood, housecleaning, and homemaking. Jessica loves traveling and seeing new things, that she has enjoyed living in PA and Fl this year. She has learned to drive stick, finally after all this time, but still freaks out on hills (so good thing Florida is pretty flat). She's also learning to live with big bugs such as cockroaches... YUCK!

Jessica has been enjoying photography, art, reading, crafts, cooking, and hanging out with friends. She also loves roller-coasters so she is been having a blast being so close to all the theme parks.

Thomas: Thomas is cuter than ever and he knows it. He has grown and changed so much this year. He started as a dark brunette to a little blondie. He is always on the move, and getting into anything that he can reach. He loves going on walks, he loves going to SeaWorld and loves looking at all the bright colored fish. He has flown across the country three times this year and has been to 13 states. He loves being in the center of attention. Thomas loves wrestling with his daddy and cuddling with his mommy. He is a joy, blessing, and great contribute to the Clark family.

We hope you had a great year like we did. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

My Little Man

2011-12-10T19:10:00.000-08:00

Thomas is still growing as ever, I feel the last few weeks he has put on some weight! I think the whole milk is making him a little fuller, and also he's growing appetite.

I also feel like he picking up things a lot more, he doesn't say any words but I know he understands me when I talk to him. He starting to fold his arms during prayers, and claps afterwards because he's proud of himself. He understands why we clap, so sometimes when we see a show at SeaWorld or some type of performance he will clap. He also loves to dance anytime there is music going.

He climbs on everything, he's already figured out how to take plug outlet protectors off. He's not walking yet, but I know he could if he showed any interest in it, he just cruises everywhere, but sometimes he will let go on whatever he's holding on to to clap, so he's standing on his own, he just doesn't realize he's doing it.

He likes to get into EVERYTHING, nothing is ever safe.

He loves his walker, the other day I saw him walking with it and trying to put things in it like a grocery cart (you can tell he goes grocery shopping with his mom a lot!)

He loved wrestling with Dustin, he LOVES Dustin! Everyday that Dustin leaves for work he cries until I find something to distract him.

He loves pretzels, String cheese, and hot dogs, he likes everything but those are his favorite, at least this week!

I love this little man of mine!

Christmas in SeaWorld!

2011-12-08T20:07:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty far behind in my blogging, I have a lot of things I have been wanting to blog but just haven't had the time, so my goal is to catch up with the blog sometime next week. (fingers crossed). But I wanted to hurry and do this post... so it will be quick, at least that's the plan...

So here in SeaWorld they have a lot of fun things going on for Christmas, most of it is on the weekends so we are planning on doing some of the activities with our good friends, the William's, tomorrow but today Dustin and I headed over there to take some pictures because it will be more busy tomorrow so we wanted to get it out of the way. :)

They have a lot of fun and pretty decorations all over, so we tried to take a few family photos.

Also at SeaWorld they have this Polar Express exhibit, that I actually really love because I love the book and also in the exhibit they make it so Christmas-y and smells like Christmas and everything, so I love it since sometimes it's hard to think it's Christmas when there's no snow here in Orlando, so I head over there a lot with Thomas. So here are some pictures in front of the train.

When you go in, they have it all cute, they make it like you are in the North Pole, and they have this huge Christmas tree where the Beluga whales are. It's really cool because they have the Arctic animals in there so it helps with the illusion that you are at the North pole. The animals they have in the are the Beluga whales, Polar bears (which sleep most of the time but today he was moving all over!), the walrus (which I think is pretty cool).

Also in the North Pole they have Santa. And I think this picture is HILARIOUS! It's a classic, Thomas crying.... made me think of The Christmas Story. I'm really tempted to put it on our Christmas card, I'm probably an awful mom thinking this picture is that funny.

Family Visit

2011-12-02T10:30:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from the visit from my brother, Paul and his family that I mentioned earlier. They are kinda random order, but thanks to my sis-in-law we got some pictures since Dustin had the camera at his art convention. So enjoy.

Thomas at Harry Potter World, he loved Butterbeer this trip, I couldn't feed it to him fast enough.

Paul and I after the big drop in the Jurassic Park ride, we got pretty wet.

Inside Hogwarts, one of my favorite things to do.

Meeting Mickey before Thomas cries.

Worn out in Universal.

I love this picture of Thomas. Thanks Brie!

At Disney, I had to take a picture by Little Mermaid for my mom, because when I was little I watched that show so much that still today my mom can't stand that movie.

Thomas & I eating at Pinnochio's haus (I think that's what it's called.)

In Universal, heading to Harry Potter World, I still get way excited even though I was just there the week before.

BATH TIME!!! I love both of their faces! This is my niece Susanna.

Paul, Brie, and Susanna at Universal.

One of my favorite roller coasters in Orlando, this was right after Paul and I went on it.

Cinderella's castle at Christmas, beautiful.

Hanging out in our apartment.

Fun Pictures of the cousins!

I had so much fun with Paul and Brie!

ONE BIG POST

2011-11-26T17:39:00.000-08:00

Life has been busy the last couple of weeks that I haven't gotten a chance to blog, so here is a little, more like a big catch up post.

Family Visit:

Last week my brother Paul, Brie and Susanna came up for a visit for week. It was a lot of fun, and perfect timing because Dustin was gone that week at a caricature convention so I wasn't alone. Also that week I got to see my sister Jennifer for a couple days because she was here for work so we had a little family reunion and eat some yummy food.

While Dustin was having fun in St. Petersburg drawing with other artists everyday and doing workshops, Paul,Brie, Susanna, Thomas, and I hit all the major parks. We first hit SeaWorld, than Tuesday we went to Disney World and we went to Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. I was excited to go to Magic Kingdom because I had only seen it once and didn't get a chance to ride any the rides. We hit the parks the right time because most of our lines for all of the parks were only 5 minutes long so we hit almost every ride. In Magic Kingdom I got ride all the traditional rides like Pirates of the Caribbean, and It's a small World. It was a lot of fun and tiring at the same time.

Wednesday was relaxed day since we were tired from the two parks but we did go down to downtown disney at night, which is always fun.

Than Thursday we hit Universal Studios, and we were able to ride many rides there as well, and got to see Harry Potter World and drink butterbeer (my favorite part of course).

Than that night Brie and I went to midnight showing to Breaking Dawn with some ladies from my ward, yes I know, not the greatest movie but it's always fun to have a ladies night, but I did get lost finding the theater and that was quite an adventure, ha ha poor Brie seeing me all frustrated and saying, "I don't even like this movie, this is not worth it." I think I liked the movie, I think, I think the acting was better, but there were some grotesque scenes in there, so if you have a weak stomach don't watch it.

Than Friday was another relaxing day, and that night we watched the last Harry Potter movie. It was a lot of fun to see family.

SORRY no pics, hopefully I get some up soon

Our New Couch:

Till now all we have had were two chairs in our living room, but we had some good friends that moved and gave us some furniture so here's our living room, finally our apartment feels a little more like a home, so I did some decorating and made those canvas pictures in the back.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas:

This last week Dustin let me get a Christmas tree, and not only a tree, but a bigger tree than I expected. Since we don't know how long we are staying Florida, we have tried not get too many things because we don't want to pay to move it, and also most of our stuff is in Idaho, so I was surprised Dustin let me get a tree, but since we are not going anywhere for Christmas because Dustin will be working he said we could do something, I was so excited, but we wanted to keep our budget low because who knows what we will keep and what we will get rid of when we move so we went to the dollar store for decorations, so here is our tree, it looks better in life, I want to take a better picture of it sometime but I hurried and took a picture before Thomas got to it, because it didn't take long before he started pulling off the ornaments.

Living in Florida it doesn't feel like the holidays it still feels like summer so I have been breaking my own rule and I have been listening and watching Christmas music and movies before Thanksgiving, trying to get into the mind-set, it's sort of working.

Instead of being Santa, I'm being Ollivander:

Another reason I have been super busy, is because I have been working on something for my mom that she's doing for the grandkids this year. She is getting them all wands from Harry Potter, so I've been going to Harry Potter world a few times, and I've studied all the types of wands so each grandkid gets one according to their birthday, I also wrote them a Hogwarts acceptance letter, along with a letter from Ollivander telling them what their wand is made of and it's powers it possesses. It probably sounds pretty nerdy, but when I was 10 my brother-in-law did something similar for me one year for Christmas, where he carved me a wand and gave me a Hogwarts letter and I loved it so much because I was reading the books at the time, and still today that stands out in my mind so I wanted the grandkids to have the same magical feel, so here are some pictures of us with the wands, that's 30 wands and $900 worth.

Thanksgiving:

Thanksgiving was a little different this year because of many reasons. First Dustin had to work most of the day so it seemed pretty much like a regular day, and since Dustin had to work we stayed here so I had to make the Thanksgiving dinner, which made me appreciate all the years my mom has done Thanksgiving and wanted her there. But I thought my Thanksgiving meal was a success, not as good as my mom's of course, but we were pretty full afterwards so I count that as a success. I didn't take any pictures I didn't have it all fancy and stuff, I know that doesn't matter but I'm funny that way.

Eh?

2011-11-09T18:24:00.000-08:00

Today we went to Thomas' 1 year check up and he's doing great, and developing good! For this last appointment I was nervous because I felt like Thomas hasn't gained that much weight and I was afraid they were going to say he was under weight, but the little guy did gain some weight! He's still little but the doctor wasn't worried, he is now 18lbs 6oz and 31inches.
During the appointment the doctor asked if he said any words, and I told him he's still babbling, so no, but for those who have been around Thomas know he loves saying "eh" and loves when you say it back and forth with him, and he did that in the appointment and the Dr said that counts as a word, so I guess Thomas' first word is "eh?". Maybe the next one will be dada or mama, who knows?

Thomas' First Birthday!!

2011-11-08T11:55:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my little man is ONE! He turned one yesterday, and boy, did he get spoiled. Between grandparents, friends & family, and of course his parents, he got a lot of presents. We finished opening them this morning, to spread out the wealth a little!
We started the day by letting him open one of his presents, which was the walker, and he loves that thing a lot, he thinks it's the coolest to walk around without my help, he just needs to learn how to steer so he doesn't keep running into walls! Than later that day I took him to Seaworld because he LOVES it! When we went to the entrance he was talking out of excitement, it was pretty cute. Than for dinner we had homemade pizza and cake!!! The cake didn't turned out how I wanted because I ran out of time, and also Thomas was pretty fussy when I was making it, but it tasted good, so that's all that counts right?
The cake eating was probably my favorite, at first he wasn't sure what was going on because we sang Happy Birthday to him, than gave him this huge piece, but after a few bites he started chowing down. It was so funny and cute that I started laughing, and because I started laughing, he reacted to it and started laughing and being more crazy with the food (it reminded me of the scene in Christmas Story when the mom was trying to get her boy to eat his food so she said: "show me how a piggy eats" and they little boy went crazy and they both starting laughing and being silly). Afterwards he was a mess, so bath time, and bed. He was one happy camper by the end of the day.
I love my little boy, I've been having so much fun being his mom this past year and I'm looking forward to the next years.

Halloween!

2011-11-01T13:13:00.000-07:00

This Halloween was a success! We had a lot of fun celebrating with our friends in Florida. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays because I love Halloween decorations and of course I love dressing up. I had a lot of funny dressing up this year, mainly because I have always wanted to have purple hair, and yesterday my wish came true, and it's made me want purple hair even more! (Don't worry mom, I won't die it purple). As you probably already know from my previous posts that I'm a big Harry Potter fan and it has increased since my Harry Potter World experience, so naturally we were going to dress up as Harry Potter characters, Dustin and I were Lupin and Tonks, and Thomas was Teddy, there son, he's a metamorphmagus (can change hair color and some facial changing) like Tonks, so we tried to dye Thomas' hair but that didn't go over very well, so in the pictures you can kinda see pink in it.

In Orlando, we aren't the only Harry Potter fans, that we had a big group that dressed up as the characters, we had McGonagall, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco,Rita Skeeter, Bellatrix, two death eaters, Dobby, and Winky as well. It was a lot of fun to hang out with our friends.

Brie did an awesome job at decorating her garage for the little trick or treaters, she did such a great job she won the best garage contest. She used the backdrop that Dustin, Adam, Brie, and I painted for several days, so here are some pictures of us working on it.

Good vs. Evil

And of course I used my scrapbook paper that my sister-in-law, Crystal designed.

Rexburg Visit

2011-10-31T09:57:00.000-07:00

The last ten days I was able to go to Idaho and visit my family and friends, and had a blast! It was so good to come home to good old Rexburg water, Dustin teases me about it, but I think Rexburg has the best water. Seeing my parents was so good since it's been a while, so it was fun to hang out and talk like the good days when I was living in Rexburg. Surprisingly, I didn't freeze over there, but it is a lot colder than Florida.
While I was in Rexburg I got to see many good friends. I got to hang out with childhood friend Sara almost everyday, I felt like I was ten again going to her house and hanging out, it was so much fun. And this last Saturday I had lunch with more childhood friends, Sara, Michelle, and Kylie, I love how even though we don't to see each other for a long time we still can talk like we have never been apart.
I also got to hang out with Aubrey, and again, she is an awesome friend, it was so much fun talking to her and laughing our heads off. I also got to see some couple friends, {the Dyers and Christiansens}that Dustin and I used to hang out with when we were going to school.
Than this last weekend most of my sisters got to come up from and we hung out all day. I love my family, that's probably the hardest thing about living in Florida is we are not near to any family.
I had so much fun, and I was glad that Thomas got to have time with my parents! And now I'm home and life is going to be busy and crazy the next few months.

* Side note: I have been trying to be better about scrapbooking, so to hit two birds with one stone, I might start posting my pictures in a scrapbook format, this way I will hopefully get more pages done!!! I have been doing my scrapbooking digitally because it's so much easier, cheaper, cuter, and everything else. The paper I used for this page are from my sister-in-law, Crystal Wilkerson, who is AMAZING!!! I love her stuff, she designs the cutest scrapbook stuff, you should check out her website HERE. and her blog is HERE

It's getting to be the busy season!

2011-10-15T20:55:00.000-07:00

Starting October things seem to get a little busy with our family between all the holidays, birthdays, traveling, and family visiting, that I have a lot to blog about just this week and I feel like it's going to be like that till Christmas, because we have a lot of fun things going on with our family.

To start off, Dustin's birthday was this last Monday and he turned big 28!!! I married an old man, ha ha jk!

I love this man to pieces! It's hard not to spoil him when it comes to his birthday. This year he didn't get a whole lot presents because he decided he wanted to go to a caricature convention next month for a week, but I did get him a caricature book from one of his favorite artists, the new X-men movie ( I let him open that early), and Cloudy with a Chance with Meatballs. After he worked we spend the rest of the night with our good friends the Williams and had Four Rivers BBQ for dinner, which was so good, and a pie from ColdStone. So I didn't have to make anything I just got to enjoy it! So this birthday was a success!

Also this week, Thomas and I got to go to Universal Studios again with the Williams which was also really fun. Brie & I got to ride a lot of fun roller-coasters like the Rock-N-Roll, and the Mummy, poor Adam was stuck watching all three kids while we did all the fun things. Than later that night Dustin, Thomas, & I went to Sea World's Spooktacular weekend. It's so much fun going trick or treating with your kid, especially when your kid is too young to eat the candy, so you are the one that gets it, and let's just say we scored with the candy at Sea World!

Our cute little monkey!

Dustin's nasty mustache ( I just need to wait till Halloween and it will be gone) Also love how Thomas is wearing half of his costume.

And some exciting things that are coming up in the next little while: Thomas and I are going to be in Idaho this Tuesday for ten days! Then of course Halloween, Thomas' first birthday is coming after that in November. Also in November Dustin will be going to the caricature convention, and my sister and brother and his family are coming up here in Orlando, so we will be hitting a lot of the major parks.

Eleven Months!

2011-10-10T08:04:00.000-07:00

This past Friday Thomas turned 11 months!!! I will have a year old next month! I feel like I'm not old enough to have a kid in the first place, but a 1 year-old? He won't be a baby anymore!

So at eleven months Thomas is still doing his army crawl, he can crawl a little but the other way is faster so he sticks to it. He loves when Dustin and I copy him and make the same sounds as him. He loves to smack his lips, shake his head as if saying "no", he will give you a high five, and he's starting to wave hi, but only to Dustin and me right now. He's at that stage where he doesn't like if one of us ever leaves the apartment without him, and he only allows some people to hold him without crying. He also loves the rain, he doesn't mind getting wet at all as long as he is outside. And he has 7 teeth now!!!

He is a great blessing in our lives!

Also he's getting harder and harder to photograph and take good pictures because he doesn't hold still anymore, he's always on the move!

Disney World

2011-10-01T14:01:00.000-07:00

This last week we were able to go to Disney World and AGAIN we weren't able to take any pictures. The first time we went to Disney we both thought the other person brought the camera, and this time I got everything ready, the batteries, I emptied our memory card, BUT left it by our computer! I was so SAD, because we keep not getting pictures of Disney.
This last week we went to Epcot (the park with the big golf ball) for their Food and Wine Festival with the Lindsey's, and don't worry we just tried the food not the wine ;) It was a lot of fun because they had a lot of different food from all different countries. We also tried different sodas from different countries, most of them tasted like coke, which isn't my favorite, but there was one that i really liked that tasted like a snow cone flavor. We were also able to ride some of the rides they had there, and most of them we could take Thomas. and overall he liked him, and first he wasn't sure, but in the end he liked it.
I was really glad that we got to go to Epcot because that was the only park I hadn't seen yet, so now that I've seen all the Disney parks I would have to say my favorite are Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios but I like them all in their own little way.
This November my brother and my sister-in-law are coming to visit, and I'm super excited! We are planning on taking them to all the major theme parks so when we go to Disney I will MAKE SURE to have a camera with a memory card!!!

Who Needs a Binky?

2011-09-28T12:09:00.000-07:00

Who needs a Binky? When you have a Tylenol bottle to suck on.

I love my silly boy!

What are the Clark's up to?

2011-09-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

Just some pictures of Thomas this last week, I need to get better and taking pictures again, it's just been hard because he's always on the move!

Nothing too exciting has been happening to the Clark family. This last week we did go to Aquatica water park (sorry no pictures, didn't want to get the camera wet) and this time the life jacket fit Thomas better so he didn't cry when we put it on, so we were able to take him to a lot more pools and slides this time. He loved the lazy river and the wave pool. Also now that it is the slower season Dustin and I got ride on more slides and not having to wait in line. We were there for a few hours and Dustin got burned, poor guy.
Also that night Dustin was lucky enough to Universal Studios for their haunted nights, I was very jealous, but our friend Adam only had two tickets, and his wife Brie didn't want to go so Dustin was the lucky one. He said it was pretty scary and they didn't even go to the scariest part. He had a lot of fun, so thank you Adam and Brie for letting him go.

Right now I'm working on Halloween costume preparations (so excited!!!)and getting things ready for Dustin's birthday, and Thomas'. Also I've been commissioned to do a Harry Potter piece for our friends and it's been a lot of fun, I will post it when I'm done. They are also having me do a big surprise thing for their Halloween party I'm excited about! It's really making me remember all the stuff I learned in my creative perspective class in college, to give you an idea how big the project is, the canvas I'm working in on his 14 feet long and 12 feet tall. Here is a picture of the canvas and after the halloween party is over I will post the final product to you, because right now it's a surprise!

TaTter-TeLL TuESdAy!

2011-09-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

Dustin: Right now Dustin is growing out his mustache, and it looks terrible as always when he does. It looks bad because it's blonde hair so it just looks like dirt on his face. The only reason I'm letting him grow it out because it's for his halloween costume, so I just have to bear with it till halloween.
Jessica: So today I went to SeaWorld (surprise surprise) and Dustin's boss did a carciacture ( I can't ever spell that word) of Thomas and I, and while he was drawing me, he was trying to convince me to work for them, but I kept saying how I don' t like to work with customers and retail. Than he told me I could do the letter-animal art stuff (it's when you draw animals in shape of letters to spell out a name) where I don't deal with customers as much. Than I told him if I worked it would only be one day a week thing, that I would only work on Dustin's day off or something, but I wouldn't want to work a lot because I want to be home with Thomas. Anyway, so after some thought and talking, I might just work there when they need an extra help here and there. It's not anything final, but Dustin's boss was interested and I wouldn't mind making some extra bucks, AND if I work for SeaWorld, than I could go to Universal Studios and other parks for free because I would be an employee, so more Harry Potter World for me! DONE! So we will see what happens.
Thomas: So I had Thomas standing on my lap today, and next thing I know, he puts one arm around my shoulders, than with his other hand grabs my face to move it towards him, than he planted a big wet kiss on me. It happened so fast, and it was so funny and cute and the same time, I don't know where he learned that from but it was pretty hilarious.

SeaWorld

2011-09-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

Since we go to SeaWorld almost everyday, I thought we probably should do a post about it. I don't have many pictures of SeaWorld because I usually go with just Thomas, and many of the exhibits don't allow strollers so I'm carry Thomas and it's kind of hard to take pictures one handed.
Last time we went to SeaWorld we got to touch a penguin and got to go inside where they have all the penguins! Which was very cold but very cool. Thomas really liked the penguin, he thought he was funny. So you wonder how we got this great opportunity without paying the extra bucks? Well, I guess everyday at 2 they have a worker talk about the penguins and you can ask them questions, than after they talk they ask the audience a question and the first person to answer it correctly gets a prize, well, since we go almost everyday, I have become somewhat knowledgeable about a lot of the animals and got the question right. So I'm hoping they do that with the other animals too, my goal is to try and get all the behind the scene tours for free. We've been loving having SeaWorld so close.

Thomas Turns Ten Months!!!

2011-09-10T19:59:00.000-07:00

Thomas turned ten months this week! I took more pictures than this put he wouldn't hold still, he kept crawling towards me and trying to grab the camera and everything else. He used to be such a good model when I took pictures, he used to pose and hold still, I guess those days are over!

Thomas is still doing his army crawling but he's getting better at his walking with mommy or daddy.

He is in that stage where he puts everything in his mouth and chewing on things, I have seen him chew on shoes, phone chargers, and many more.

He's also in the falling and getting hurt stage because he's on the move all the time. Also he loves opening cabinets and anything that he can get his hands on, so I can't leave him alone by himself very long. Just today I left him for a second and the next thing I know he had my phone and text message a lot of people so I had to text them explaining the weird text they just got. ha ha

He's a lot of fun, Dustin & I enjoy him so much, we can't imagine life without him, he brings so much joy in our lives! We love him so much.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and the rest of Universal Studios

2011-09-08T19:23:00.000-07:00

I just let you know now, that I'm a big Harry Potter fan, so I'm going to sound really nerdy and tell you a whole lot about our Harry Potter experience! So if you want you can just scroll down and look at the pictures. First thing, Dustin & I loved it, we felt like kids in Disney World but better, we were on a high all day.

Through Primary I have a met a good friend, Brie, whose husband works for Universal Studios and she was able to get me in for free (Dustin already gets in free for working for SeaWorld, but I haven't let him go without me so he's been waiting.) She came with us the first little bit, and watch Thomas for us so we could go on the rides and stuff, she's awesome!

So yesterday we headed to Universal Studios, and of course the first stop was Harry Potter World! And it was awesome! I really felt like I stepped into the movies/books. I was amazed at all the details they put into all the shops, every time we went back to the park we would pick new things we didn't see before. They had floating brooms in the stores, floating wand in the window, the Monster book from the third book in it's cage trying to attack you, in the book store, Gildory Lockhart books with his pictures moving, mandrake plants with their high pitch screaming, the quidditch balls shaking in the box with the snitch flying all over. They had the owlery with the owls and you can really mail things there. They also had chocolate frogs with the character cards, the chocolate frog that was on display was moving. They had some other cool stuff like the actual dress that Hermione wore in the 4th book in a window and there was a measuring tape that was measuring the clothes "magically". Than when you go to the bathroom you hear moaning Myrtle talking, they really put a lot of thought in everything, I love it! O, they also had wanted signs of Sirius Black that were also moving on the walls.

Than going through Hogwarts was AWESOME! I didn't take any pictures of that, because it was dark in there, and also in the end there is a ride, that was also pretty darn good. So when you walk through Hogwarts you see the entrance of Dumbledore's office, the containers they have that has the house points, They had tons of paintings that would move and talk to you. They also had holographic (I think that's what it's called?!?) of Harry, Ron, and Hermione and they were talking to the audience and they hid other the invisibility cloak, it looked really good, they almost looked real. Than the ride was awesome and made me jump a few times, it was really cool, they had it so you felt like you were playing in a quidditch match, they had Dementors, the spiders, a dragon, and you go the the Slytherin tunnel where the snake is and some other stuff from the movies.

Than there were the stores, Ollivander's Wands was the best of course, and they had a lot of wands there and they not only have the character wands but they have these wands where they go by the Celtic Calendar, so you can get one according to your birthday, I guess that's how JK Rowling has it set up, so something about the wood it's made of goes according to the calendar? I'm not sure, and each wood has certain powers, but when I went into that store I came with the thought: "If I get a wand, I want Hermione's" because I have always liked the design of it since I first saw it in the movies, but than when they guy showed me the wand that went with my birthday I was like: "that's my wand!" I know that sounds dumb, but it's interesting because all the wands are made differently so some feel better than others. Mine, has a slight bend to it, so it's somewhat crocked. Anyway, I've debated between wands for a while, because all of them are that cool, I'm telling you now if you go there you will not leave that store without a wand, Dustin tried... when I got my wand, I asked Dustin if he was going to get one and he was like "Noooo, it's ok, it's not such a big deal to me like you," but I could tell he wanted one, I kept asking him, the whole time we were there because he kept bringing up about it. Then we went home around 4 because we were tired and hungry, and he was like, "Hey did you want to go back (because we hadn't even seen half of the park outside of Harry Potter World) and see the other parts of the park?" and of course I said yes! Than we arrived there, he was like "Man, I really want a wand" and the next thing we know we were back in the store having him try out all the wands, so we didn't even go check out the other part of the park, ha ha which I was ok about because I was enjoying Harry Potter world way too much. After about 20 minutes Dustin decided on Ron's wand, and that one is pretty cool.

Than there is Zoko's and Honey Dukes and those were pretty cool, they had the extended ears, and sneakoscopes, and any other object you could think of from the books. Than Honey Dukes they had Every Flavor Bott's Beans, and the Chocolate frogs, Blood flavor sucker (they were really strawberry) and all random types of candy. They also had The Three Broomsticks restaurant that we didn't go to but we hear the food is pretty good.

Also on the streets sometimes they would have performers, we saw the school choir with the singing toads from the third movie, and they also had students from the two other schools from the 4th book come and perform, it was really neat.

Than there is Butterbeer..... let's just say I'm in love. They have butterbeer stations all over, and everyone has butterbeer in their hands, it's kinda funny actually. There was pumpkin juice, but we didn't try that because we were hooked on the Butterbeer, there is the foamy cream stuff that they put on it that is amazing! But the drink is very rich, we got two during the whole day and shared it and it was almost too much for me. But I guess they serve it warm, cold, or frozen, we got it frozen both times because everyone says that's the best. And just incase your wondering, there isn't any actual beer in it.

We did spend majority of the time in Harry Potter but we did go see the Dr Suess section, which was really cute, and there was a ride that we took Thomas in, he liked it until he got a little wet, but other than that he had fun. And we passed through the Jurassic Park section. Than we went to the Marvel section, which Dustin loved. We went on some fun roller-coasters there like the Incredible Hulk, and Doctor Doom's, and they had some super heros driving around on four-wheelers so we meet some of the characters.

So it was a way fun, crazy day. Dustin & I had a Harry Potter high when we got home so when we put Thomas to bed we got our wands and watch some Harry Potter, I know, very nerdy, but we couldn't help it, and we notice we weren't the only ones who were nerdy at the park. It was really fun to see some of the kids who were there, especially when they were trying out wands, and we so two little boys "dueling" with each other.

So if you are ever in Orlando I would HIGHLY recommend Harry Potter World, especially if you like the books because it is pretty amazing and almost feels magical.

Hogwarts express!!! When I was in London I went to Kings Cross Station and went to Platform and 9 3/4 so I feel pretty special.

Honey Dukes, I love the colors in the store, and there was loads of candy there, I wanted to get a chocolate frog but they were $10, maybe next time, I forgot to get a picture of them, they were pretty big.

Hogwarts Express again, it was hard to get a picture with it because there was always a line.

Ummmm..... Butterbeer, we even had Thomas tried it, he like it, he just had to get used to it.

Hogwarts castle, I thought it looked awesome, I told Dustin it beat Cinderella"s castle in Disney World.

Hogsmeade... this will be the only snow I will see in Florida.

Ollivander's store, that was the guy that helped me find my wand, and than here is a VERY nerdy picture of Dustin and I with our wands, see how mine is slightly bent? So cool.

Marvel and Jurassic park sections. We got a picture of Cyclops from X men.

Dr. Seuss, I thought this section was really cute and fun.

TaTter-TeLL TuESdAy!

2011-09-06T19:26:00.000-07:00

Dustin: Did you know that Dustin is a perfectionist, when I say perfectionist I don't mean he has to have everything perfect, he's just a perfectionist when it comes to his art, school, or work. When we were still in school, Dustin would always give 100% on his homework before he would turn it in, if it wasn't his best he wouldn't turn it until it was. And it's the same with his art and work, it's a good thing but sometimes he doesn't get things done because it's not his best according to him.
Jessica: So this last Sunday was the first time I burnt a meal in my life, at least I think in my life, but for sure since I have been married. I tried a new recipe in a crock pot and left for church but I guess I cooked it too long because it was really burnt, it was really nasty, we took a few bites and called it good. So this week I have been making good meals trying to redeem myself.
Thomas: Thomas loves when I hold his hands and help him walk around, he would do it all day if I would be willing to hunch my back all day. He's going to be walking soon.

Another little update...

2011-08-28T17:52:00.000-07:00

So a little catch up...
This last week, as I mentioned before, had Dustin's sister and husband come and visit us. It was so much fun having them here, we miss them already. I wasn't good at taking pictures when they were here, but we did have fun, and that's what is important.
So here's a little update on all of us...
Dustin: Is still loving his job, in most cases, :). He's getting faster, which is good, because more commission for him. He is the 2nd counselor in the Elder's quorum. He's constantly drawing, so that hasn't change. I thought I loved art until I met this man... And his birthday is coming up, well like in 1 month, but I've already started planning stuff for it!
Thomas: Is always on the move! He is loving the freedom of being able to move. He's still doing the army crawl thing, but he's more interested in walking now that learning how to actually crawl. He loves holding our hands and walking around. He loves kicking the soccer ball around, I really think he will like soccer when he's older. He loves to talk, and he likes to smack his lips so they make a smacking noise. He loves bananas, bread, and cheese quesadillas. And his first birthday is coming up in 2 1/2 months and I'm already making plans!

As for me, I'm liking that it's not the busy season here in Orlando anymore, for many reasons: 1) because now Sea World is less crowded and closes earlier so Dustin doesn't have late shifts anymore, 2) cooler weather should be on it's way, hopefully... (when I say cooler weather more like nice, warm weather instead of hot)! and what I'm most excited about is... HARRY POTTER WORLD.... I know I'm a nerd... but that's what I have been most excited about when I found out we were moving here, but we haven't gone yet because we wanted to go on the off season so we didn't have to wait in huge lines and everything, we don't know exactly when, sometime in September or early October. I have been even more excited ever since I passed the Hogwarts castle on the way to the Thomas' doctors apt. I mean how cool is that? I know probably not that cool, but for me it was! So getting all pumped up last week I started rereading the books again since it's been a while, and I remember why I love the books so much! So basically house work and everything else is on a hold for a bit. So that's pretty much what's been going on with me, and that I'm now teaching sunbeams in our primary and it's been a fun, challenging calling.

That's what I saw!

Here are some other recent stuff/stats:

I've seen nine cockroaches since we have been here, not fun.
Dustin & I rode a roller-coaster for the first time together ever, we got pregnant right away after we got married so I couldn't ride on any and ever since than we have had to have one watch Thomas while the other person goes and take turns.
We went on a date without Thomas for the first since we have moved to Orlando, it was a little traumatic for Thomas since we never leave him.
We have had two hurricane warnings but none have hit us so far, thank goodness.
Thomas & I have been stuck in the rain many times this last month
Thomas & I probably have seen the Dolphin and Whale show at SeaWorld more than anyone else (I have that thing almost memorized)

Family Pictures

2011-08-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

This last week Emily, Dustin's sister, took some family pictures for us. We didn't get as many as we hoped because the sun came up way too fast so we had the sun heating us up so it was hard to not be sweating and squinting our eyes. Also during the pictures we got attacked by red fire ants, OUCH! Those things hurt when they bite, luckily they didn't get Thomas, but the rest of us sure got a handful of bites. So considering we were out there for maybe ten minutes with bad lighting, Emily did a great job!

So we didn't get as many pictures as we wanted and poses, but I'm just grateful that we finally have some pictures with all three of us, usually it's one of us with Thomas! So thank you Emily!

Thomas' First Time on the Beach!

2011-08-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

This week Dustin's sister, Emily and her husband, Scott are visiting us & we are loving having them around. They came Wednesday night, so of course the first thing we did is headed over the beach Thursday morning. I was very excited since we haven't gone to the beach since we moved here and we've been wanting to take Thomas, and HE LOVED IT!!! He probably thought he died and gone to heaven. We went to ClearWater beach and it was BeaUTiFuL!

My two boys!

Nap Time!

Tatter-TeLL TuESdAy!

2011-08-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

Dustin: Did you know Dustin is allergic to cats? Yep, they make it so he can't breathe and itch. I like this about him because it guarantees that we will never own a cat, I'm not an animal person in the first place, but I really don't like cats!
Jessica: I hate making decisions, it is the worst, even the small things I would rather have someone decide. It's sometimes a problem for me, because I end up not getting things done sometimes, or I make a mess of something because I keep second guessing myself, or keep changing my mind, something like this happened today and when I told Dustin about it he just laughed because it something I do often, and I always make a big deal about it.
Thomas: Did you know that Thomas almost broke our lamp this last week, I left the room one second, and CRASH! I was scared it fell on him but luckily it didn't he didn't even notice, he just kept playing.

TaTter-TeLL TuESdAy!

2011-08-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

Dustin: Did you know that Dustin never had braces? Yep, his teeth are naturally straight, let's hope that passes along to our children!
Jessica: I have really sensitive skin that I can't wear any foundation on my face or I will have a rash. Once when I was in 5th grade it was popular for girls to wear sparkles on their face, so one day I put some on my face and the following day my face was all red, I remember being so embarrassed about my red face.
Thomas: Did you know that Thomas plays with his ears like I do. I always play with my ears since I was little that they don't have that much cartilage in them, it's just skin, so watching Thomas playing with his ears makes me wonder if his ears will be like mine.

Nine Months!

2011-08-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

I swear each month goes by faster and faster...

This last month Thomas has learned to crawl, well, army crawl. He also will clap his hands and gives you a high five!

He weighs 16.5 Ibs, so he's on the little side, but eats A TON!

We love him to pieces!

Ripley's Believe it or Not!

2011-08-06T07:17:00.000-07:00

Thursday we went to Ripley's Believe it or Not as a family. I have been wanting to go since we have been here since I loved watching the show growing up so Dustin took us! It was fun because I like how the weird and crazy things they have.

So right as you walk in, they had these fertility statues that they claim if a woman rubs her hands on one of them she will get pregnant soon, we thought it was funny because there was a movie going on about people testifying it's power, so first I told Dustin to touch it, than I finally did, so we will see if truly works. ha ha I took my chances...

the tallest man.

This is a sculpture of WALLIE that they used for the movie, it is all made of scrap metal. For our first date Dustin and I watch WALLIE.

We also got our picture taken! ha ha we thought this was so funny we ended up purchasing it. We did one with Thomas in a Shrek picture but it didn't turn out as good so we just got this one.

Catching up, with pictures... with A LOT of Pictures.

2011-07-29T20:08:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel like you are constantly busy and running around but at the same time feel like you haven't accomplish anything? Well I have been feeling like that the last couple of weeks, I have been running around but yet I haven't gotten anything done, maybe it's this whole mommy thing. It also could be that I was working on an art job that I was doing for someone {it's always nice getting paid to paint!} in my ward, so a lot of my nights and free time was doing that so a lot of things were neglected such as: cleaning the apartment, and some dinners were sacrificed {sorry Dustin}, other art projects, and of course blogging ! :) So sorry if you have commented on my blog and I haven't commented back, so I'm saying now thanks for the comments & I always love them.

So here are some pictures of the last few weeks, and of course they are of Thomas! But can you blame me? He's too cute not to!

Here's Thomas looking in the mirror, which he loves!

I realize I rarely have pictures of me, so here's me and Thomas after a bath. And check out my sweet BLUE camera.

Thomas is getting so close to crawling these days!

BATH TIME!

My little cutie!!!

When Two Artists Get Together...

2011-07-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

Sometimes for fun Dustin and I will draw a shape or a line on a piece of paper and than switch and have the other person continue with the drawing, and we keep switching off. We like doing this because well, one, we are artists and we like to draw, but we also get to talk while doing it, and it exercises our creative minds. So here are some from the other day, they are not great works of art but there is something fun about them, at least I think...

TaTter-TeLL TuESdAy!

2011-07-26T08:49:00.000-07:00

Dustin: Did you know that Dustin's favorite band is Weezer, he can listen to them all day, and anytime they have a new CD he will buy it even before he has even heard the music. Last year I remember he mentioned Weezer had a new CD and that we should get it, and I asked him if he had heard the music from it, he's reply was: "No, but it's Weezer they won't let me down, there isn't a CD I haven't liked" so you guess it, we got that CD that day. He really likes the lead singer, Rivers, that Thomas was almost named after him. Ha ha
Jessica: Most of you guys probably already know that I do like a shopping but I don't like to take all day like some girls. When I shop I like to go in and out of a store fast. I look, if I see something I like I get it and go. And after and hour or so {if it's in a mall or something} I'm done for the day, more like for a month or more. I don't really like going in and taking my time and seeing and touching everything. Also I HATE trying on clothes, that I rarely do, I only do it if it's something I'm really not sure how it will fit, but other than that I just pick the item and go.
Thomas: Did you know all of Thomas' toes are all the same length {except the little one, that one is a little shorter than the rest.}They are also very long and skinny like his dad's.

What We Have Been Up To.

2011-07-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post about what is going on with our lives since I haven't for a while, mainly I just post pictures of Thomas, because let's face it, it's more fun & he's too cute not to post pictures! {Yes, I'm a very proud mom!}
Well we are doing good, I'm getting used to Florida and liking it a lot more, maybe it's because I FINALLY got somewhat comfortable driving our car, it's a stick and I never learned how to drive till now, because I have avoided like the plague because let's just say when Dustin would teach me it wasn't our fondest moments, a lot of crying my part, and frustration..., and I wasn't the nicest person to him... oops my bad... But being stuck here with places I wanted to see and do without having to have Dustin drive me, one day I just drove around the parking lot till I got comfortable and than I went on the road and did pretty good. I think I do better when Dustin isn't in the car, because I don't rely on him for help, and I don't worry about what he's thinking when I make a mistake. So now I have been able to get out of the house more!
We've also made some good friends here so that always helps. I've also just been commissioned to paint some parasols (sp) for someone in our ward so I'm making some money as an artist! So if I just keep that up I could make decent money.
This week we took Thomas to his first movie in the theaters! We went to Harry Potter this passed Tuesday, it was a last minute thing, it was Dustin's day off and we didn't have time to get a babysitter and it was during the day that we figured it wouldn't be crowded. The movie was awesome, probably the best one out of all eight movies, and Thomas did really well, he cried few times because it was loud but he slept through most of it. So that was fun.
Thomas is doing good, he LOVES Sea World so it's a good thing we go almost everyday. He loves the animals he especially loves some of their aquariums. It's so cute he's screams out of excitement. He isn't crawling, but he's getting somewhat close, the only thing is he hates being on his stomach so it's hard to get him to practice, so I think he will be a late crawler. He loves attention so it's hard to get anything done when he's awake, but we have a lot fun. It's so fun to see his little personality develop. So here's a little catch up and I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Not that look?

2011-07-14T20:17:00.000-07:00

So the other day, I was giving Thomas a bath thinking life was all good... than I see that look of concentration, o no, not that look, I know that look, his face gets a little red from working on something really hard, and than that smile of relief... if you are a parent you know the rest of the story... let's just say something was floating in the water, so in seconds I pulled Thomas out and did some major cleaning.

The joys of parenthood...

Tatter-TeLL TuESdAy!

2011-07-12T14:47:00.000-07:00

Dustin: Did you know that Dustin looses things so easy, since we have been here, he has lost his wallet twice {yeah scary}, and everyday we are looking for the usual keys, phone. I've become very good about knowing where he leaves things, so that's been good.
Jessica: So the last few weeks I have been addicted to all romance movies especially the classics such as Jane Austen stories. I have been watching them A LOT when I'm working on stuff during the day, and when Dustin is working late at night. Also I have a friend who has two kids and I have been going over there once a week and we watch a classic story, this week was Jane Eyre, ummm.... such a good story, if you haven't seen it or read it I would recommend it! Hollywood actually just came out with a new version this year, so I will be watching that when it comes out to redbox. Just when you think I would have enough of the classics, now I want to start reading some, so I started reading Jane Eyre again & I'm loving it!
Thomas: Thomas is getting so close to crawling, he can slide backgrounds, he just doesn't realize he's doing it, but he's started to almost get on all fours and is rocking back and forth, so he's getting there!

8 Months!

2011-07-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Thomas turned 8 months! He's getting so big, I swear this last week he grew a lot, he's starting to loose that little baby look to bigger baby/little toddler look!

He's so fun to have around, he's my little buddy, he sits on my lap while I work on my art, he cuddles with me, he puts his cheek against my cheek, he gives me the biggest smile when I walk in a room, he goes on walks with me to SeaWorld, he makes me what to be a better person, O how I love this little boy.

First Hair Cut

2011-07-06T12:27:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a good 4th July, we had a good, SHORT, 4th July because Dustin had to work most of the day, so for lunch we had some good old hamburgers, Root Bear, jello. Nothing too exciting. And since Dustin had to work late I went to see Disney's fireworks with some people from our ward, Thomas liked them but in the end he was screaming because he was so tired {it was way passed his bedtime}. Having 4th of July in Florida is interesting because between all the parks and everything, we get parades and fireworks everyday, so it's almost like everyday here, I guess the firework show is bigger but that's about it.

Also on 4th of July we decided to cut Thomas' hair & I think I had a harder time cutting his hair than mine because I thought it was cute, but it was starting to cover his eyes so it was about time. I just wanted a trim, but when Dustin got a hold of the scissors he cut more than I wanted, we cut about 2 inches! I miss his hair! But it will grow back, but we saved some of his hair for keepsakes, so now the little guy has short hair.

Our Future Missionary

2011-07-02T17:41:00.000-07:00

When I found out I was having a boy, one of my first thoughts was: missionary, that I was going to have to send my little boy on a mission. Missionary work has a soft spot in my heart because my dad was a mission president for three years when I was a kid so I had the opportunity to be around missionaries for three years. I got to see the incredible things that happen on a mission, but also some of the hard, not so great things. I also know the importance of a mission & that I need to start now teaching my son about the importance of serving a mission, living the gospel & to follow the Lord's commandments

Like Father, Like Son

2011-06-29T17:47:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-06-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

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

Our Little Prodigy?

2011-06-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-06-14T17:56:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-06-12T16:05:00.000-07:00

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?!?

2011-06-09T19:17:00.000-07:00

*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!!!

2011-06-08T05:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-06-07T14:27:00.000-07:00

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.

Tatter-TeLL TuESdAy!

2011-05-31T18:58:00.000-07:00

DuStIn: Did you know that Dustin is always doing something, he doesn't like to waste time. He is always productive, well almost, I sometimes make him sit down and watch a movie with me but even than he will be drawing while we are watching a movie. He doesn't play any video or computer games on his free time or anything, if he has free time he will either draw, play the guitar, play soccer, or play with Thomas.
JeSsIcA: I would love to learn how to gourmet cook, but right now with a tight budget and not having really any cooking equipment that talent might just have to wait. But Dustin says I can make a "pretty mean meal for a $1.50". YAY! Go me!
THoMaS: Thomas loves to laugh, wrestle, sing, and dance. It's so funny, when I'm listening to music or singing he will sing with me or the song, it's so cute. Also today I danced with him and he was cracking up and having a good time.

The Good and the Bad

2011-05-30T18:13:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to do this post last week, but my computer wouldn't let me download any pictures.

We have been in Orlando for almost three weeks now, and there are some things I like and some things I don't like about Orlando. Let's start with the don't likes:

I don't like how a lot of people smoke here, not only are there a lot of people that smoke here but I have seen so many people smoking with their kids right there! I can't believe it
No one stops for pedestrians here, I have gone on some walks with Thomas, so I'm a mother with a baby so you think people would slow down or stop for me, nope they don't, and if they have to wait for me to cross the street they seem to be a little upset.
There are huge bugs here! And we saw our first cockroach last week, yeah I have been freaking out. I have worked really hard to keep our apartment clean but I guess we are in florida so we are going to see them once and a while.

Now the likes:

I like how there is everything close by, we have two malls, two outlet malls, super target, walmart, costco, sam's club. I think of a store we have it 20 minutes or closer.
And they have a lot of restaurants here that I like, Olive Garden is next door, CheeseCake Factory, Panda Express, Panera, and many more we haven't heard of but they sound good!
There are lot of young couples here who work for Disney World, the other day I met the girl who is Dori in Finding Nemo play, so it's been fun making some friends.
We can go to Universal studios and many parks for free, we are walking distance from sea world and Aquatica (which is way cool water park)
We go swimming a lot.

Last week Dustin started working and he is loving it and doing really well. I don't know if I ever explained his job, well he's a charciature(sp) artist for Sea World, he's considering it more schooling because you learn a lot as an artist because you draw from life, a lot of character designers for movies start this way. It's mostly commission base, so when you start out you don't make as much money, but Dustin is making more than a new guy usually does, he is making as much they said he would in a couple months and he's only been doing it for a week. But the other day he got a rejection, which means the person didn't want the drawing, when he told me I felt so bad and he was like "don't be, I don't mind, I'm in the club now" I guess every one gets a rejection here and there, but if it was for me, I would be in tears, but I think I take things to personal when it involves with my art.

Dustin & Thomas in the pool.

Thomas having a good time in the water, he loves it, well, when the water is warm.

Dustin with his first rejection, he didn't get to finish it before they said they didn't want it.

TaTter-TeLL TuESdAy!

2011-05-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

I haven't been doing my tatter-tale Tuesdays the last couple weeks because of the move, I will try and do better in the future.

DUsTiN: Did you know that Dustin makes friends with anyone, he knows so many people and he just has a way with people. So many times I might meet up with him somewhere and he's talking to someone and I think it someone he knows really well and has a history with him, and later I find out he just met them right there.

JEsSiCA: I have mention this before, but I love Nutella, this past week I ate a whole jar pretty much to myself, it's so good. I try and not get it very often because I can't stop eating it when it's in the house.

ThOMaS: Thomas loves to eat! He's loving the baby food right now, and he gets upset when we are eating and he hasn't been fed yet. And when this little guy is hungry he let's you know.

Downtown Disney

2011-05-21T17:05:00.000-07:00

Last night Dustin & I went downtown Disney for a little date. I'm really liking Orlando now, at first it was a little rocky, but there is so much to do, that Dustin and I decided at least once a month do something that Orlando has to offer. So for this month we decided to just hang out at down town Disney to check it out it was a lot of fun. We also just found out that we can get tickets not only to Sea World for free but we can get in some water parks and Universal Studios for free! We also have some hook ups for Disney World that we are really excited about!

Thomas sleeping before we went to Downtown Disney.

We had a little fun at the hat section of the store....

Had to put a lamp post picture!

Florida ,Thomas, catching up

2011-05-19T07:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy week so I haven't been able to blog or anything at all so here is a little update.

First thing, Thomas turned 6 months last week! He's getting SO big! I didn't really get a chance to do pictures for his 6 months because we have been super busy so I need to take some soon! But this last month he grew up so much, he's rolling all over now and has desire to crawl he just hasn't figured it out yet. He has two bottom teeth sticking out now, and he started eating baby food {which was a little rocky a first but now he loves it!}. And he's a little talker.

Now Florida, we are finally here in Orlando in our new apartment! Last week we packed up everything and hopped in the car and took a few days to get here. We arrived here last Thursday and we stayed with an elderly couple who were amazing and super nice, but they were a little ecentric(sp) too. They had no internet in there home and Dustin and I needed it for directions for our apartment, so we tried to get a map of Orlando but I guess the company that made maps went out of business because everyone uses the internet or a GPS. So we are in a new city not knowing where anything was with no directions whatsoever...
Well, that night we finally got directions to the apartment by calling Dustin's sister and she looked it up online. We head over to our apartment with excitement, it was 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom apartment with a good price, and we couldn't wait to see it. Well we found out pretty quickly that it was in a scary part of the city and we decided not to take it. While driving around that area we saw some pretty interesting signs like "Gay Day -on May 27" and "Get your HIV testing here, get results in 30 minutes". That night I started crying thinking what did we decide to do, here we are in a strange city, with no apartment, and no map to find anything.
Friday, we got up to do some apartment hunting, to make this sort, there were a lot of apartments we looked at some were nice but too expensive, some a little questionable but affordable, and a lot of crying in my part, a lot humidity and hotness, and a lot of driving trying to find our way around town. Finally we went to some Apartment Hunters company, and a chick-or-dude helped us find some apartments. When I say a chick-or-dude I mean someone you're not sure if they are female or male, so this whole time I couldn't decided if the person who was helping us was a girl or a guy, they had sort hair, but talked in a female voice, but had a man build, but walked somewhat female like. So I looked at the name tag and it said "Ryan (sue)" and that made me confused even more. When we left I finally asked Dustin if he knew and he enlightened me and told me she was a girl but she was gay. O GOTCHA! I felt stupid, and said, "Dustin, we aren't in Rexburg any more." but hey she was really nice and we got our apartment because of her.
So after that we head over to an apartment complex that was literally a five minute walk to Sea World which is where Dustin is working. It was a good price and everything, so we checked out the apartment they would have us in, and I wanted to cry, it looked very nasty with dark carpet, and the counters in the kitchen was so sort that I almost asked the lady if this was for people in wheel chair or something. Dustin and I walked out of the place with two different perspectives, he thought "this is great! it's so close to work" and I was thinking "There is NO WAY we are going to move here." Afterwards Dustin and I talked and realized quickly we both had different opinions, and it was our best option so far, so I again I started crying, and crying, and crying. We went to check out other apartments because I really didn't want to go there, but we didn't find anything that worked better for us. So we went back there and started the paper work.
Saturday, went better, we did some shopping for stuff we needed in our apartment, we went to the Orlando Temple {which is very beautiful} and discovered that our chapel that we met in is across the street, I was feeling better about things.
Sunday was great, the gospel is awesome! We made instant friends at church and I was seeing more of the good side of Orlando.
Monday, we went and explored Orlando a little, and went down to some Disney World resorts and downtown Disney and had a lot of fun, than later we were able to move in our apartment, but luckily they didn't actually give us the one we saw they gave us one that was WAY NICER, the apartment was clean, with new carpet and the right size kitchen counters.
Now we are pretty much moved in, we don't have any furniture at the moment but we are working on that. I'm feeling much better about Orlando and our apartment. We are in a way good spot, Sea World is so close so I can take Thomas any time, Disney world and Universal are really close, we have 2 outlet malls, a regular mall, a super target, walmart, costco, samsclub all very close. So things are better and I will try and post pictures of our apartment as soon as we get everything figured out.

New York Trip

2011-05-08T20:31:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Dustin, Thomas & I got to go to NEW YORK! It was super fun. We went to New York, I mentioned in earlier posts, that Dustin received an award and had a piece in the Society of Illustrators gallery, well this last weekend was the award ceremony so we went for that. It was really fun because we were also able to meet up with Brother Huntsman {one of our past art teachers} and a fellow student. We were not there long but we were able to walk around time square and walk through Central Park. Thomas LOVED NYC he was entertained with all the lights and pictures, it was really funny to see. We also walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and that was really cool.
On our way back from NY Dustin and I stopped at the Brandy Whine River Museum and we got to see some N. C. Wyeth paintings and they were AMAZING! You should check the artist if you don't know about him, he did some paintings for the book Treasure Island and many other books.
So a funny story, so there is a scary movie called "1408"that is based of a Steven King story that I made Dustin watch a year ago that scared him so much he couldn't finish it. Well, when we arrived at our hotel guess what room number we had, yep you guessed it, 1408, we both laughed about it, and luckily we survived.

One of my lamp post pictures...ha ha

Thomas & I at time square

Central Park

one of the few pictures of all three of us together

Brother Huntsman, and Hanna. Kinda made me miss college seeing these two people.

TaTter-TeLL TuESdAy!

2011-05-03T17:16:00.000-07:00

My dear friend, Nancy, {you can find her cute Blog HERE} started this thing called Fun Fact Friday on her blog where every Friday she tells facts about each member every Friday, and there are so fun to read, and I loved the idea but wanted to do my own twist with it, so I will be doing my Tatter-Tell Tuesday every Tuesday and tell some little things about my family. So here we go...

DUsTIn: Did you know when Dustin was in high school he had that longer shaggy hair look that had flippy-like curls? But the funny part is, his hair naturally didn't do that like other boys so he would curl his hair with a curling iron and style it and hair spray it. Also during his cross-country races he would blow dry is hair back and hair spray it stiff so when he was running it would look like he was running so fast that his hair was flowing back.

JeSSiCa: I have a thing about lamp posts, ever since my Europe trip I have noticed how cool lamp posts are, so if I can I will take pictures of them, I haven't been very good about it recently, but every where I go I notice them. I think they are very unique and usually have a good design. One day I want to do a photography series of lamp posts, I know it's probably weird.

ThOmAs: Did you know that when Thomas sleeps he crooks his neck all funky, it looks like it hurts but that's when I know he's in a deep sleep.

These are not even half of my pictures I have on lamp posts.

Day # 30: A picture of someone you miss

2011-05-01T17:44:00.000-07:00

It's my last post for my 30 day challenge!!! So for this post I didn't know who I was going to put up because since we have moved I have missed many people. I really miss my family so much! I was going to put a picture of them, but I was thinking how much I miss the people in Rexburg and how much I just miss living in Rexburg. So I googled Rexburg, Idaho to get a picture of the town and I noticed that my house was one of the pictures, and started getting teary-eyed because I really miss that home. My mom did a really good job making this place a wonderful home, it's small, it's needs a lot of fixing, but every time I walked in that house I felt warmth and love, and to me that's what makes a loving home.

Day # 29: A picture that can always make you smile

2011-04-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

I know I always put pictures of Thomas up, but how can you not look at this adorable face & not smile. I'm so lucky to have him for my little buddy!

Day # 28: Something you are afraid of

2011-04-30T09:58:00.000-07:00

I'm afraid of the unknown.When I was pregnant I was afraid about the whole labor and delivery because I didn't know what it was going to be like. Before we moved to PA I was afraid because I didn't know what to expect & where Dustin & I were going to be in the next 6 months of our lives. Now we are about to move to a big city where we both don't have family near by and I'm excited and also nervous because again it's an unknown...

Day #27: A picture of you and a family member

2011-04-28T18:59:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law & I on my wedding day, my mom & I knew her before my brother did.

Day #26: Something that means a lot to you

2011-04-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

The gospel. It bring joy in my life, and I'm so grateful for my parents who raised me in the gospel.

Day #25: A picture of my day

2011-04-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

I kinda already talked about my day in a earlier post not realizing that it was one of the challenges, so here are some pictures when Thomas & I went on a walk {we have been doing that everyday since the warm weather}. Pennsylvania is so beautiful with the trees and everything, I'm going to miss it when we move in 2 weeks! It's coming up!

Easter

2011-04-25T20:46:00.000-07:00

We had a great time this easter. Dustin & I spoked in sacrament and talked about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which was very nice because it made me think more of the true meaning of easter and made it more special to us.

Thomas enjoyed the plastic eggs that his grandma gave him, so we got plenty of pictures with those! Dustin & I also dyed some easter eggs.

O, also I cut my hair, these pictures aren't the best to show it but o well. I like it because now it doesn't get in the way, but I do think I look better with long hair but I wanted something new for a while.

Hope everyone had a good easter!

Happy Easter!

Probably the only family picture that we have.

Day #24: A picture of something you wish you could change

2011-04-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

I wish I could change the weather anyway I want it according to my mood!

Day #23: A picture of your favorite book

2011-04-21T15:13:00.000-07:00

I don't think I really have a favorite book but I do love the Harry Potter series!

Day # 22: A picture of something you wish you were better at

2011-04-21T15:08:00.001-07:00

Playing the flute, I have been practicing again but I'm a little rusty, and of course I wish I was a better artist as well.

Day #21: A picture of something you want to forget

2011-04-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

I honestly couldn't think of anything....

Day #20: A place you would like to travel

2011-04-21T14:57:00.000-07:00

{Sorry for the delay but for some reason I couldn't down load any pictures on the blog till just now so I'm going to do a little catch up with my thirty day challenge.}

To be honest I would like to go anywhere, I love Europe, I want to see other places. One of my goals in life is to hit every continent, but if I had to pick where I would want to go today, I would say Italy. I have been wanting to go back there ever since my europe trip, I loved it!

Day #19: a picture when you were younger

2011-04-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

I'm front and center with the big bangs.

Me in Portugal.

I didn't have any really young pictures of me but these were ones I got from Facebook from other people. Lets just say I'm glad those awkward years are over!

Day #18: Biggest insecurities

2011-04-15T05:47:00.000-07:00

Singing has always been an insecurity of mine, I have a really hard time singing in front of people even though I like to sing.

Day #17: Something that has made a huge impact in your life recently

2011-04-14T08:31:00.000-07:00

Thomas has made a huge impact on me. Not only just the typical things such as: lack of sleep and free time, and having spit up on me all the time.

Having him and having the love I have for him I have come to realize more the love that my Heavenly Father has for me, and understanding Heavenly Father himself as a parent {if that makes sense?}.

Also having a baby of my own I have a greater understanding of charity.

Day #16: Someone that inspires you

2011-04-13T07:33:00.000-07:00

I would have to say Gordon B. Hinckley, he was the prophet that I grew up with and I always loved when he talked in conference he was an amazing man and a great example. I also love the prophet Thomas S. Monson {which is why we named our son Thomas}, he too is an amazing man.

Day #15: Something you want to do before you die

2011-04-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

I want to one day be able to go to a store like Barnes and Noble and see my art on some children's books, {sigh} Maybe one day...

Thomas is FIVE MONTHS!

2011-04-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

Thomas turned 5 months last Thursday, he's growing so fast. He is a very smart boy, sometimes too smart, I can't fool him that much. He loves attention, he always wants me to play with him. He's a big flirt already... and he is the greatest joy!

I love this picture. He is always drooling.

I think he looks like my dad here.

Everyone used to say he looks a lot like Dustin, but recently people say he is starting to look like me. What do you think?

Day # 14: A picture of someone you can't imagine your life without...

2011-04-11T06:22:00.000-07:00

I can't imagine my life without this guy...

He's a wonderful husband, I don't know how I got so lucky but he does so much for me that now I don't know what I would do without him.

He helps me with Thomas, he is so good with him.

He helps me with my art, by giving me good feed back, and encouraging me when I think I can't do it.

He makes me want to be a better person.

He makes me feel beautiful every day! { and that's nice especially when you don't feel so attractive because you smell like spit up and most likely have it all over your shirt}

He hugs me when I cry.

He kills every bug for me, I know I'm a pansy.

He will cuddle with me while we watch a movie.

Let's just say, he's my best friend!

Day #13: Your favorite movie

2011-04-10T14:28:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of favorite movies, but the one that I still love after many years, {the first one came out ten years ago, so it has been years even though they seem like they just came out.}

THE LORD OF THE RINGS!!!

Day #12: Something you love

2011-04-09T20:34:00.000-07:00

Again I can't just pick one thing...

Hot chocolate....ummmm... I can drink it year round and I do!

REAL {emphasizing the real not the fake stuff in USA} Italian gelato from Italy.

Europe for sure, but I loved Portugal I lived there for three years and I want to go back.

I love to draw and paint.... sometimes... I did get burned out a little during college.

Of course, the two men in my life

Day#11: Something you hate

2011-04-08T07:24:00.000-07:00

I HATE spiders, always have and always will. They scare me. poor Dustin has had kill many of them for me.

Day #10: The person you are the craziest with

2011-04-07T17:49:00.000-07:00

I can't just choose one again, I have had some amazing friends, and different times of my life I had different friends that I went crazy with.

Aubrey & I have done some crazy things, like dancing to songs in her apartment, Chocolate fundue, SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE tour {which was AwEsomE!} And many more.

Sara & I have been friends since I can remember and we have done some crazy things too. We made a few movies, and sock puppets, and have had many eating parties with just us two.

Clarissa & I, our senior we were pretty crazy, she helped me a lot my Jr and Sr year in high school. We had a lot of fun going to KFC for lunch and mud volley ball... again many stories.

Day #9: A picture of that someone who has gotten you through the most

2011-04-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

My Family! I'm so lucky to have such a great family.

Day #8: A picture of my night

2011-04-04T18:49:00.000-07:00

Since night time is usually crazy because I'm trying to get Thomas to bed, and he's usually tired and crying so I decided to take a pictures of my day.

He gives me his slobbery kisses few times a day, and I love them!

And of course I kiss him A LOT!

He loves standing on my lap and watching what I'm doing or just looking around the room.

My day and night is spending time with this little guy, what can I say we are buddies!
And yes, it's time to give him a hair cut, it's getting too long and not sticking straight up as much or I need to start combing it or something because it's getting a little too crazy.

Day #7: A picture of a treasured Item

2011-04-02T18:45:00.000-07:00

I love the temple, because of temples we can be sealed for all eternity. Salt Lake Temple is where Dustin and I got married.

Day #6: A picture of a person you would want to trade places with for a day

2011-03-31T07:06:00.000-07:00

I couldn't think of anyone for this one, than I thought if I wasn't married and had an adorable boy right now where would I would I be? Than I thought a mission, so I guess if I could trade places with someone for just a day, I would want to be a sister missionary in Portugal or Italy preferably.
Since my family served in Portugal, I always thought a mission would be fun so I told Dustin that we have to go when we are older since I didn't go when I was 21.

Day# 5: Picture of favorite memory, but I'm going to do memories...

2011-03-30T08:28:00.000-07:00

There were so many I couldn't just do one, and these aren't all of them, but these were the ones that I had pictures right on my computer.

Going to Palmyra with my family {June 2005}

Going to New York for the first time with Dustin {sep. 2009}

Receiving my endowments {December 19, 2009}

Holding Thomas for the first time{Nov 7, 2010}

My wedding day {Dec 22, 2009}

New Year's 2008 celebrating with Aubrey, and Clarissa {not in picture}

First Chocolate Fundue Party with Aubrey {Fall 2007}

Europe trip, aMAzINg! {summer 2008}

Dating Dustin, and hanging out in the Spori building{behind us} doing art work.

And yes, working at Porter's with these people, I still miss those fun times.

Day #4: A picture that makes you laugh (sorry it's a really bad quality!)

2011-03-29T17:39:00.000-07:00

I seriously can't look at this picture and not laugh, Dustin's face is priceless and so funny, the face is so cute and just hilarious, it's seriously so funny to me, I love it. Do you see Thomas at all in that picture?

Day #3 Picture of the cast from your favorite show.

2011-03-29T05:40:00.000-07:00

I don't really watch t.v. and never really have gotten into a show, but I really like cake boss because I think their cakes are aMaZiNG!

Day #2: Picture of the person(s) you have been close to the longest.

2011-03-27T17:54:00.000-07:00

I would have to say my parents, they for sure have helped me through a lot. They were always there when I needed them.

When I was young they helped me when I had an ouie {sp} and put a band-aid on it.
They helped me made my school project when I told them I need it done the night before. {my mom helped me make a water-proof book for my invention in 5th grade, and my dad helped me build a model of a castle out of construction paper}
They helped me with life important decisions {my dad helped me with my art and my mom would spend late hours with me talking about life and boys and which one I should marry.}
They helped me when I had Thomas, they baby-sat many times so I could go to class so I could finish my degree.
They made me who I am today!

Yes, they are pretty awesome!

30 Day Photo Challenge

2011-03-26T18:10:00.000-07:00

So I have been thinking that my blog is pretty boring and that I need to do something fun, so I'm going to do the 30 day photo challenge, I don't know if I will do it in 30 days but I will try...

Day #1
Picture of me and 20 things about me.

I'm the youngest of nine children {I don't think I'm spoiled, but I'm sure my older siblings disagree.}
I said I would never marry a blonde, that I would not marry an artist, that I would never have a long engagement, that I wouldn't get married in the winter, that I would not get pregnant and have a baby my first year of marriage, and guess what? I did exactly all those things, so lesson learned, never to say never.
I love hot chocolate! I drink it year round.
I hate bugs and terrified of spiders {poor dustin is always killing some type of insect for me, I know I am a pansy}
I love cook books, I like to look through them, but rarely do I actually use them but my goal is to try out new recipes.
I like to draw, I have ever since I could remember.
I have been to nine countries, I love to travel.
I can do this trick with my ears where I can fold the outside part of my ear inside my ear {hard to explain but it looks weird}
I cry a lot, just ask my husband, or my brother Michael, and actually my mom!
I'm scared of the unknown {for ex: first time being pregnant I was scared of every doctor's apt. because I didn't know what to expect and like many other women I was scared to give birth, but now I know what's it like I can handle it.}
I like to sing but not in front of people, I NEVER sing in front of people, just recently I can sing in front of Dustin. {I guess I sing in front of Thomas but usually it's to entertain him, and he doesn't know what bad singing is yet.}
I don't know why but I want dark purple highlights {if that's what you call them} in my hair, I think it would be cool, but no one else agrees with me, so a lot of times my characters I paint have a tint of purple in their hair.
I have very thin hair, it doesn't look thin but it's because I rat/tease it a lot.
I'm a mother of an adorable little boy that gives me a huge smile every morning.
I'm married to my best friend.
I get EXCITED very easily.
I rather take a bath than shower.
I love the smell of coffee.
I want to serve a mission with Dustin when we are older.
When I get into a book, I can't stop reading it till I finish it.

Well that's me!

Catching up and Thomas' 4 month pictures

2011-03-20T10:53:00.000-07:00

We are doing well, things turned out well in Florida, and Dustin and I will be moving there mid May because he got a job offer, we are very excited for the new adventure and the nice weather! Also , {I don't know if I mentioned this already} but Dustin entered for a student art show couple months ago and one of his pieces got in, there were 7,000 entries and they only accepted 150, so it will be showing in New York at the Society of Illustrators but we just found out that it won an reward of $500, I'm so proud of him. Here is a link to the piece that won {it's not the finish version but it will give you an idea} It's kinda creepy painting but I like it.

Thomas is doing well, he just keeps getting cuter and cuter, he is known as the mohawk hair baby in our ward because his hair naturally sticks up, but one Sunday we gelled it down. He's a little guy for his age but he is very smart and very alert and always wants to join the party, I swear every time I try to put him to bed before we watch a show or something he stays up, but when nothing is going on he will go to bed, so I guess we have a social butterfly in our hands.

As for me, I've been just trying to figure out the whole mother thing, and try to do the best that I can and not corrupt my kid already, but I love it. I haven't done much art this last month because of traveling and the last few weeks I got sucked into Hunger Games, so if you want a page turner and an easy fun read I would recommend that series, so since that had taken over my life for a bit I'm excited to start working on art again.

O, I guess a side note, this past week was my birthday and I turned 22, and I'm thinking when did that happen? Because that's how old my older siblings are? Than I realize nope, time is just moving by fast. But I had a good birthday, Dustin Spoiled me and got me some things and took me to Olive Garden yum!! We also went to this pretzel place near by which makes AMaZinG flavors of Pretzels that just the two of finish a huge bag of them! So life is good for the Clarks!

Getting read for church, we had to gel his hair down that day.

The two men in my life.

I love these two pictures... Thomas loves his daddy {I pretty sure daddy is his favorite} Dustin can get him to smile a lot more than me.

Here are pictures of Thomas at 4 months! {What a cutie!} He's actually 4 and half now so I'm running behind on pictures.

Matching shirts, again Thomas loves Dustin

Blessings and I'm going to DIsNeY WOrLD!

2011-02-23T16:48:00.000-08:00

I haven't been able to post for a while, because again things have been crazy. Poor Thomas, we have been traveling a lot again. We flew in Salt Lake City last wednesday, than headed down to Idaho for Dustin's brother's wedding that was on Friday, than we flew back Saturday. Than when Thomas thought things were back to normal, Monday we headed down to Florida, the little guy has been to about 11 states now, and have flown two times, he has been quite the traveler.
Now about the blessings, the last month I have seen the Lord helping us so much. This last few weeks especially, Dustin and I have been receiving money from all kinds of places, for example we got about $600 back from the women's clinic because we over paid, than we got money from our deposit from our old apartment that we forgot about, and Dustin getting some art jobs that we were able to pay of the hospital bills. So we have no debt again! We have no student loans so we are debt free! Also Apple care fixed my lap top for free so we didn't need to pay for that either.
And now we are in Orlando because Dustin is doing job interviews so we are here: {for free thanks to Dustin's grandparents time share}

And we will be here tomorrow: {again for free because of Dustin's maybe soon-to-be employer}

So life is great right now, and I will update more after Disney World! I can't wait!

Thomas Turns Three Months!

2011-02-08T09:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Thomas turned 3 months! CrAzY! He's growing up so fast!
Here are some things that he's been up to:

He can hold his head up when you are holding him
He can sit up with some support
On his belly he can raise his head 90 degrees
He loves music, and being talked to
Not only does he smile but he can put on a sad face with his lower lip sticking out, it's really cute and so sad when he does it too, but he does it a lot and I think it's because he gets a reaction from us.
He's figuring out how to splash water in the bath tub
He has daddy and probably me wrapped around his little finger.

We just love having him around, he's my little buddy that I get to be lucky enough to hang around with.

Playing in the Snow, and sad news!

2011-02-05T14:34:00.000-08:00

The other day we got Thomas all suited up to play out in the snow{or just go out side} and I couldn't help but think of the movie, Christmas Story, because I was putting a lot of clothes on him, than I put him in his snow suit and he couldn't really move, and at first he was crying. It was so funny because carry him in that literally felt like he was stiff as a board, {poor kid}.
He enjoyed the great outdoors... for a total of 5 minutes, ha ha. So that didn't last long but hey we got great pictures, and that's all that matter right?

I love kissing his cheeks!

I just think he's the most adorable thing.

Now the sad story, the other day my Mac Book Pro died, well sorta, the screen is black. I'm so devastated, because sadly that was my life, it was my entertainment while feeding Thomas, and most of all that's what I use when I do my art work, so now I can't really draw and paint anymore. We have another computer but Dustin is on it doing his art jobs, and what was so great about the lap top was I could be on the floor with Thomas and work at the same time!
The past month I have been working hard trying to build my art portfolio so when I go to New York I have something to show, and now all my files are on that computer... and yeah, I'm just upset. So now we are debating if we should get another computer or I just use ours at night when Thomas is asleep, and Dustin isn't using it anymore. I don't know, I just keep praying that somehow my computer will start again. Anyway, I hope everyone else is doing great!

Again... running behind

2011-02-02T12:16:00.000-08:00

Again I don't keep posting and I run behind.... so here is a quick catch up. After all the craziness of graduation, Christmas, moving, and New Year's Dustin and I headed to PA. Yep, pretty far away I didn't know what to think since I have pretty much lived in Rexburg my whole life!
But so far PA has been really good, we have meet a lot of new couples and everyone has been so nice.
So to make this post not super long here are some things that have happened this past month:

Dust got his first Children's book job!
I have been building my portfolio and been doing a painting a week! {so check out my art blog HERE}
I'm working on selling my art stuff on Etsy soon
There is a website that will be putting my art work in cross-stitch form and I will be making money though them! Very excited!
Thomas can hold his head up pretty good.
Thomas is 12 pounds now and will be 3 months next week! CRAZY
I've learned how to make my own blog backgrounds!
Drove outside of Idaho for the first time! {I know a little sad but true!}
Almost every night Thomas sleeps through the night! {I know I'm lucky!}

Anyway that's what has happened the last month in a nutshell. Life has been good, I love being a mom, Thomas is so much fun!

Thomas at Grandma & Grandpa West's house