Father's Day 2023

 

Paying catch up on the blog here.

Pictures from Father's Day. We are so lucky to have Dustin in our lives.

Snap Shots

The first year babies change so much I feel like I have to take many pictures to capture every moment. It's been fun to see Elizabeth's little personality come through.

Dustin took the kids to a movie the other day.

Dustin standing by his logo design.

First Week of Kindergarten!

Well we made through one week of Kindergarten! 

I can't believe Thomas is old enough to go to school, that went fast.

Last week we met Ms. H, Thomas' teacher, and I already liked her so much! When we walked into Thomas' classroom I got a lump in my throat because it all became real to me, Thomas has been with me almost everyday the last five years and ten months! So this was a big change for me. He was so excited to go to school and he insisted on riding the bus the first day, which made good byes easier for me because it was more quick and somewhat painless ha ha .

Thomas' bus comes pretty early in the morning so our "First day" pictures were a little dark and the boys were goofing off. Everyday Oliver insists on wearing his back-pack to the bus stop.

I took a picture after school, since the lighting was better. Thomas was so excited to tell me about his day, it's really the highlight of my day; I love hearing how excited he is about school. I also really like Thomas' teacher she called me on the second day to let me know how well Thomas has been doing and how she has been enjoying him in class, that was great to hear.

Also this week was Dustin's first week of school this year. He's excited for this year and he feels like it will be a great year, and he's excited to see some repeated students, well, at least most of them ;)

Big 30, Sick, and Sky-Diving

This past Thursday was Dustin's BIG 30TH birthday! And I had some fun ideas and plans to make him feel the big thirty and guess what? We all got REALLY sick this week, and I had zero energy that day, that he had to go and buy his own cake, yup, I didn't win the best wife reward this year... with the little amount of energy I had, this is all I did:

Ha ha, poor guy. But he was really understanding since we all were so sick this week, I've never had a flu last this long. Dustin probably got it the worst, but Thomas and I have been sick all week, and there were a lot of throwing up and a lot of laundry, and just barely are we starting to feel good. 

But honestly I don't feel too bad for Dustin because I did take him to a Weezer concert last month and a couple of weekends ago him and some of his high school buddies stayed at a hotel for a weekend and went sky-diving for all of their 30th birthdays, so I don't feel too bad, but I am super jealous that he got to go because that is something  I have always wanted to do, maybe my 30th birthday...

Anyway, I'm glad this week is over and hopefully next week will be better because I want to start doing some fall stuff!

And Happy Birthday Dustin!  I love you, you are the greatest husband, and I'm so glad I get to be with you forever!-and I'm glad you didn't die jumping off the plane.

Art Class

Dustin and I have been taking an online art class together by a guy that works for Disney, and it's actually not that good, ha ha but it's ok because we only paid 5 bucks each. The guy is more an animator than an illustrator, so he knows his stuff he just doesn't execute it very well. 

Anyway, here are our pieces from the first lesson:

The guy only critiqued some of the students work, there are about 300 students, so he critiqued about 40 and he critiqued Dustin's but not mine. I'm happy he critiqued Dustin's because, obviously, I want Dustin to do well, but I take my art so personally which makes me insecure that I was a little down that mine didn't get critiqued. It reminded me too much of my last year in school, and getting discouraged. This time wasn't too bad because I didn't spend 40+ hours on a project like school, this project I only spend about 5 because I don't have that much time between being a mother and cleaning house. Anyway, here's our pieces, Dustin's is the top one and mine is the Peter Pan one. 

So Much A Like

Sometimes, I can't believe how much these 2 are a like. Thomas is literally a younger version of Dustin.

They both are into the same things, to name a view: Avengers-Iron Man being the favorite, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, drawing, drawing, drawing, and soccer.

Thomas has always liked coloring and drawing but he's really into it now. I got him an Avengers coloring book the other day, and that kid loves to color in it, and if he's not coloring in it, he's probably drawing on a piece of paper. Drawing is probably what keeps him entertained the longest. And just like daddy he rather draw than stop for a bite to eat. 

He also loves playing soccer outside with Dustin, he hasn't quite grasp the concept but he loves it anyway. If you notice in one of the pictures he is also holding a pencil, I fear, we might have another artist in this family. 

I love these two boys!

Three years ago I married the Man of my Dreams!

Three years ago I married the man of my dreams!

Things might not always be perfect, but he really is perfect for me, and I know that more now that I did the day I married him. Many times this year I would sit back and look at Dustin and would be at an awe and think how lucky I am. He truly is a blessing in my life and the Lord knew I needed him.

For some reason this year seemed the be the easiest in our marriage, at least for me. I don't know why that is, maybe because we have become more like a one vs a two, if that makes sense?

I just know that marriage was just been getting better and better!

I love you Dustin! 

Thanks for being such a good husband and father!

Dustin's First Book

Look what we got in the mail!!!

Dustin's first book!

He had all the illustrations done for this book for a while but putting it together and printing it took some time, but we were very excited to get it in the mail early last week!

I thought it turned out great, and when we read it to Thomas he really liked it, so that was the true test!

Anyway, I'm really proud of Dustin for accomplishing this.

Also next month there is a caricature convention in San Antonio that Dustin really wanted to go to because he really had a great time and learned a lot and made some great connections last year in the one in Florida that he went to, and this year it's in Texas. I asked him if that was the reason we moved to Texas, because the last 2 times we have been conveniently close to where they are holding them, but he said no it's just worked out that way. Ha ha sure!

Anyway, he decided not to go because of asking almost a week off of work and also it's costs money to  go and stay a hotel would be another expense. I felt really bad because I know he really wanted to go, so I made a deal with him, if I some how came up with the money to pay for the convention he would go. Anyway to make a long story short, he decided to go only for 2 days,  and we found out that Dustin's grandparents have a really nice time share a mile away, and I got enough art/photography jobs the last 2 weeks to pay for the two days, I think I win the greatest wife of the year award!  Just kidding.

Anyway, I'm really excited because Thomas and I are coming down with him, while last year I didn't go. I will probably go to some of the convention, but not all of it because let's face it I'm far from being a caricature artist. But to stay at a nice resort, heck yeah, and also I've been wanting to go to the River Walk and see if I can go see the Alamo, which are some of the places I've wanted to see here in Texas. They do have a SeaWorld down there, that I would love to go (I have really missed SeaWorld in Orlando) but my pass doesn't work there. But I'm planning on doing a lot of sight seeing while Dustin can hang out with his caricature buddies.

Anyway so I'm super excited to do that in a couple weeks!

BIG 29!

To clear something up before people start freaking out and think they missed Dustin's birthday, his birthday isn't till Wednesday, the 10th, but since he has to work and he wanted to celebrate his birthday with friends and family so we did it on Sunday, so no one panic (mainly family) you didn't miss it and you can call him on Wednesday to wish him happy Birthday. 

Anyway, so Dustin turned 29!!!! (or is going to be 29) I'm so excited for next year when he turns the big 30, I'm going to make it big, with a lot of black balloons and everything else, but I need to be somewhat nice because he can do the same to me when I turn 30, but I'm still very excited! Muahhhaaahaaa

Back to today, we had a great time today and I tried to make him feel special. We watched conference and after the 2nd session we had the Pratt's come over for dinner and we had chili dogs, home-made mac n cheese, fruit and cake and ice cream!

I think chili dogs are gross, but Dustin loves them! He asks for that every year for his birthday, I should be grateful since it's the easiest meal possible to make, but I always apologize when we have people over because the meal isn't the best, but by everyone's reaction, I must be the only one who doesn't like chili dogs. 

Anyway, we had a good chat and eat till we were all full. The chocolate cake was really good but it wasn't the prettiest looking cake because the frosting was so soft and creamy (which tastes awesome) but not the best frosting to decorate a cake with because it is so soft and has it's own mind, it would be great with cupcakes though. 

Thomas thought the candles were awesome and thought they were for him and right away was trying to blow them out (not for another month buddy!) and was very excited about the whole deal. 

After cake we opened presents, I got Dustin an Iron Man action figure that he was very excited about, an awesome Norman Rockwell book, and the movie RocketMan. He loved all the presents, so that's good. 

Happy Birthday Dustin! 

We love you! You are great husband and father and your such a blessing in our lives!

Snap Shots of the New Life in Texas

Well, we are finally Texans!

 We've changed our licenses, license plates, registered to vote, and everything else. It's been a little crazy the last couple of weeks getting everything settled. But I think we are about there. 

The house will be finally finished painted today, and I can finally get every room cleaned up. The washer and dryer is hooked up, and everything is out of the box.

So far we really like Texas, it's nice to be in a house first off, but we also like the neighborhood we are in. There is a WAY nice swimming pool and playground just across the street so we have been taking advantage of that. The town we are in is smaller than Rexburg, but we have a lot of stores close by which is very nice, but the construction here is really bad and crazy. 

Also the weather has been so nice this last week, it feels like fall here! I love it! I have had summer weather for a year and half now. I love how I can wear a sweater! And having Dustin's grandparents next door has been great, it's nice whenever Thomas is grumpy we just head over there for a change of scenery for a bit.

Last week we had my brother Michael and his family come over for dinner and swimming (sorry no pictures I have been horrible) and that was a lot of fun, Thomas had fun playing with his cousins. 

So yes, we have been liking Texas.

Dustin also got a job working at Walgreens at night, so he can be available to substitute teach during the day and working on his teacher certificate and hopefully start teaching next year while we keep developing our clientele as artists and one day have that be our main source of income. 

Anyway, here are some snapshots of the last couple of weeks:

Thomas and Dustin drawing right after breakfast. Thomas really likes to color. 

The house we are staying at until Dustin's parents sell their house:

Walking and playing in the park with Grandpa Hayden.

In the house there is a little loft with a nice big room that we use for Thomas' playroom and he LOVES it! Dustin was very clever and put some boxes together to make a "race track" that Thomas likes to drive his cars on, but of course when I take pictures he doesn't do that, he just plays with the boxes, but you get the idea.  

Than a little UPDATE on Thomas:

Thomas just keeps growing and growing, last week all of sudden he started saying phrases instead of just words. He's been able to say words before but this last week I just feel like his vocabulary has exploded and he will repeat and copy what we will say (if he feels like it, he can be a little stubborn). Some phrases he's been saying:

"What's that?"

"Got it!"

"There he/she is!"

"See it?"

once he said "I need help"

"ready, set GO!"

"BLAST OFF!"

and more but those are the ones I can think of right now.

He's also been really good at asking what he wants vs pointing it to me. He says "help" a lot, "bottle" when he wants a drink, "fish" for gold fish. He's been saying letters of the alphabet but I don't think he knows them yet, he's just repeating what he hears. He quotes movies all the time, he must be my son! My two favorite words he's picked up is Aaaaamen, for amen after prayers, it's very cute. Than there is "ew" every time he sees an insect, and I'm guessing he picked that up from me since I hate bugs and I'm guessing that's what I'ver been saying every time I saw a bug

He's also in a "big boy" bed now instead of the crib, and that was surprisingly an easy transition but I think it's because he was excited for his new room. And not until today he didn't realize he could get off the bed, he would call me when he was awake, which was SUPER nice because I didn't have to worry about him getting out of bed but I think he's starting to figure it out. DANG! And he's been sleeping fine during the night except last night he kept waking up. 

Also yesterday I took the bottle away, which has been not so easy transition. He loves bottles! He also loved nursing, that I was nursing a lot until I could introduce him to whole milk in a bottle. He won't take sippy cups, or any other kind of drink thing. But I have been worried about it because people kept telling me he would get cavities and stuff, and since we've moved here he hasn't eaten anything he just wants to drink, so the other day I got frustrated and cut the tip of the bottle and now he won't take it or anything else. Now the last couple of days have been a pain, because that was his little "security blanket" I think. That now he doesn't have an outlet to calm down or has that security blanket that I mentioned, also it's made nap time and bed time harder because that's how he would start getting sleepy that now when I put him in bed he's still wired up. So I guess we are still figuring that one out, and I hope it's not the reason he kept waking up last night. Anyway I'm hoping he will start taking some type of drinking device soon for all of our sakes!

Now a little update on pregnancy:

Even though I'm not a big fan of pregnant pictures, I've been trying to take more this time, because now, with my second pregnancy I wanted to compare and I had maybe 3 pictures with Thomas so I regretted not taking more, but I still haven't taken a lot, probably 3 so far. Anyway, this is me at 21 weeks, and yes, I don't know the gender yet, and it is driving me a little crazy but that's what happens when you take a 2 week trip and move at the time you can find out, but I do have a Dr appointment on the 24th and I'm hoping I will find out than, many places we called to see if we could just get a quick sonogram wanted us to have an appointment before we did that, so I'm hoping this place doesn't make us to that, the lady on the phone wasn't sure since I was so far along they might do one at the same appointment so I hope they do! 

But with this pregnancy I felt like I was "hiding" it very well that some people in Rexburg didn't realize I was pregnant till I mentioned it, but the last few weeks I just popped out like crazy, and probably caught up with how big I was with Thomas at this point. I don't know how much I've gained, but when I was in Rexburg I had gained about 13 pounds I'm guessing since I didn't know my pre-pregnancy weight so I'm just estimating here. Over all I've been feeling pretty good this last month, my morning sickness lasted a little longer this pregnancy so it's nice to fell almost normal again. 

And now Dustin's update:

Dustin recently took an online class called Character Design by Stephen Silver. Stephen Silver designed all the characters for Kim Possible, and many characters in Cloudy Change of Meatballs to give you an idea of some of his work but he is consider one of the best in the Character design world. It was a really good, a lot of work, and intense class. But Dustin and I learned a lot (I would watch the lessons) and Dustin did a lot of work, I have tons of paper of drawings to prove it. Anyway, there were a lot of assignments but the first one he had to create this jolly, fat character (so the first picture on the left was his first week's homework)  and than after 9 weeks of the class they had to do the same character to see their improvement, so that's the second picture. I think both are good but the second is awesome. 

On the bottom picture is some of the process, the first one was what he originally had after many sketches and finally picking that as the direction he wanted to go. The second, is after I gave him some critiques (he is a lot better at handling critiques by me than I am with him), but I love how we both will push each other. 

Anyway, isn't he awesome??? He does really awesome artwork that I need to show more of, I really think he's getting to that professional level, he just needs that extra 10% than he will be there!

This month I was going to take a figure drawing class from a guy who works with PIXAR and Dreamworks, but the classes are $1000 a piece and I wanted to make sure we had a job lined up before I signed up, we had quite a bit of money in our savings that I could have, but when I finally decided to do it, the class was full. Which is too bad because I think it would have been a good time to do it, because I think the next class starts right as baby #2 comes so I might have to wait to July before I can take it. 

Anyway, this post turned out way longer than I anticipated, but that's what we have been up to the last few weeks!

This is Our Life

Sometimes I feel like our life is crazy trying to live our dream as artists. 

A lot of people ask me how do I find the time to do art and be a stay-home mom?

Well, I don't have a lot of time to do my art that's for sure, but I try to work on it at least once a day.

So here is kinda our schedule for a normal day:

Dustin's work schedule is not always the 9-5 sometimes it's 11-7 and anything in the between. But when he's not working at SeaWorld he's working on other art jobs at home.

I'm lucky most days, Dustin will get Thomas in the morning while I get ready for the day (yes I'm one lucky girl).

After I get ready I usually take Thomas out to do something because this kid goes crazy if he doesn't get out of the house at least once a day. Usually it's SeaWorld and we go see a show or 2 and about half the animals, some days I take him to Aquatica water park, or the park, the mall, the library, and some days this is when I do my grocery shopping. 

This works great a lot of the time because Dustin is working on art and it's hard to stay focus when Thomas is at home because we don't really have a studio that Dustin can work in. 

Then we come home, have lunch, I give him milk and rock him (this is when I read), then nap time.

THAT'S when I do art. 

If  I'm lucky I get 2 hours in, and that's it, so I have to work quickly.

After Thomas wakes up, he wants to sit on my lap and watch a movie while he is still waking up. That's when I do my blogging, editing pictures, research anything about photography and editing. 

After 15 minutes Thomas is ready to play, so I play with him, but he's also good at entertaining himself so this is when I will clean, and sometimes I try to lift weights and do workouts but that's usually a fail because he thinks it's a game. This is when I will do editing if he's playing by himself.

Usually before dinner I will take Thomas for a walk, then when I prepare dinner I will have him finish his movie while he drinks some juice. 

After dinner, if Dustin is home he will play and wrestle with Thomas, give him a bath, while I pick up and do dishes. 

Then read books, prayers, bedtime. If we are on schedule he's down by 8.

We finish picking up, and Dustin is back on the computer painting. 

This is when I would read, browse online, and relax. 

Recently though we started this thing where I would read to Dustin and he would listen while he was working on art. I love doing this because we used to read books together but we kinda stopped, and also I felt like I never had time with Dustin because he was always working. We always have Friday nights be our "date night" but I'm little selfish and I want more time with my husband. So this works great for me, I love it because we talk more and we discuss about the books we are reading. Right now we are on the 3rd Hunger Games book, I've already read them last year but since the movie came out I wanted to re-read them. Next book we are going to read is Timeline from Michael Crichton, again I have read that one before but I think Dustin will like it too. 

On Dustin's day off, sometimes we do something as a family, but most days I take Thomas out of the apartment the WHOLE day so Dustin can work. Thomas loves it, I get worn out by the end, trying to entertain an 18 month-old can be tiresome. We are looking forward to the future when we have a studio so it's easier for both Dustin and I

So what are your days like? How do you and your spouse cope with crazy life and find time for each other?


*A little side note, you know how we had a fire in our complex three weeks ago, well EXACTLY 2 weeks later, same time in the morning, 1:30 to be exact, there was another fire! This time the alarm woke up Dustin, and this time Dustin was the one that said we should get out when I was thinking it was probably a prank, well it wasn't, it was another fire. This time it was about 6 doors down from us, and below us instead of 2 doors down like last time.  I was more calm this time, while Dustin was getting our external drive so we wouldn't lose all our files, this round I smelt smoke quicker because we had to pass the apartment to get to the parking lot, but this fire was WAY smaller. There was only 1 fire truck instead of 3, and we were back in our apartment in half hour. I told Dustin if there is a third fire it's time to move. Now they are saying these fires have been on purpose so they are trying to find out whose doing them, because both apartments were vacant. 

My Supporter

Some of you might have noticed my blog is like a shrine (is that how you spell it?) of Thomas that I have decided to post about my greatest support, the person that makes me want to be better,

 my husband.

As soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was going to happen. -Winnie the Pooh

"It was love at first painting" as Dustin puts it. I met Dustin my first winter semester in college, it was the weekend and I was in art building working on my first oil painting in my college career, when he walked in the room and right away I noticed his blue eyes and his smile ( I have a thing for blue eyes and nice smiles!) I thought he was very cute. He starts getting his supplies ready when he passes my painting and he takes a second look as says, "Wow, I thought that was a picture." First thing he was way cute, and now he just made my day! Because that was the point of the project was to have our painting look like a photograph, seriously that really made my day because I was so nervous for that project. We talked a little here there but nothing happened, we saw each other but we were always working on our art that we never really had an opportunity to talk. 

We both started dating other people, but I always remembered him. I didn't see him often but when I did I always tried talking to him. Even that summer when I was out of school but I knew he was still going to school I would find reasons to head to the art building. I would go talk to a teacher every week about projects I was working on and I would always time it when I knew he got out of class with this teacher just so I could see him, and the funny thing was I was dating another guy at the time. But summer was done Dustin was off track so I didn't see him after that. 

So a year later after we first met, it was around Christmas and I started thinking about Dustin and wondered if I would see him again and maybe we would have a class together since we were both art majors, I really couldn't stop thinking about it. During Christmas break I was about to start dating another guy but I decided to wait and see what the next winter semester would bring because I wanted to be single if I did run into Dustin again. 

Well, that winter semester started,  my first class was 8 in morning, and I still remember this like yesterday. I was sitting there waiting for class to start and there I see Dustin walking in and I seriously got so excited and my heart started pumping, and he gave me wave and sat down to the closes empty seat. YES! I thought, and during our first break (art classes are 3 hours long so we would have breaks) we both met up and started talking. And it so happened that semester we didn't just have 1 class together but 3, I think the Lord wanted to make sure that we would get together ;) The funny thing is all three teachers claimed we fell in love in their class. 

Our first date was the first weekend of school, and the rest is history, or you can just read my blog and here at the beginning because that's when I started really blogging. 

 Dustin really has been amazing from the get-go, he's always pushing me to be better in every aspect in my life. He's always encouraging me to pursue my dreams and lifts me up when I get discouraged.  He also doesn't slow me down, but keeps up with my pace. He let's me be me, he's just as adventurous as I am and likes to take chances, like moving here in Florida living with a low income and trying to make it as starving artists. Logically in my head that's nuts! But my adventurous side wanted to go for it! And it's been one of my greatest experience of my life. 

Since I have been with Dustin I have traveled more in my life, seen more new things, I have experienced more, and have learned so much. 

To give you an idea, since we've been together we have been to many midnight showings, been to New York twice, walked around Washington DC, had a baby, read scriptures together, prayed together, have spend late nights painting together, did our senior projects together, graduated together, been on 2 long road trips with a baby, traveled all over the country,  we have lived in PA, lived in Florida, have had art in a New York gallery, crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, seen amazing NC Wyeth paintings (amazing!), walked through Hogwarts, touched penguins and dolphins, been lost in a city together twice (one time it was NewYork city one of the scariest and funniest times in my life), moved to a new state with no money (the first 2 weeks we literally lived on tips that Dustin got for the day), seen Sara Evans on stage, read and discovered books together, almost saw the actors from Harry Potter twice, have meet incredible people, the list could go on. 

I know that if I had married someone else I would not have had these great experiences. 

Sometimes it has been hard trying to make it as artists and we have had long discussions about it and if this is really what we should do. One night Dustin and I had a heart to heart about my concerns and worries about the future, and him wanting to be an artist and wanting a family and such, and Dustin said something to me that has really made a difference in my point of view and really has made me a happier person, he said this after  a really long discussion and me making us write lists of pros and cons about being artists, and pros and cons of the chance of doing something else.

He said, "Jess, I really believe we can live the life we want to live." 

Maybe to you, that's not profound but to me it was. 

I can choose to be happy with whatever situation that I am. If we have a dream, even if it's crazy, we can reach for that dream, we can work for that dream, we can make that dream come true, even if we need to make sacrifices. 

 I saw a quote on pinterest that I think applies: 

"Dreams don't work, unless you do."

I also liked: 

"If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough"

I'm grateful that I married someone that has the same big dreams as me. I know that if we work hard, follow the Lord and his commandments than we will be happy and can full fill our dreams. We probably never have the nicest house, or the most expensive car, but we will be rich and blessed by having a family, living the gospel, and doing what we love. 

When I met you, I found me.

What is something you love about your spouse? Or what do you want in your future spouse?

Looking Forward to Summer

The Clark's have some big and fun plans this summer! 

This summer we are going to do a lot of traveling, which I love to do!

Starting May I will head over to Washington DC area to hang out with my sister and brother  for a weekend than I head to PA for a week to hang out with Dustin's family and we have fun plans like going to Hershey park and maybe head to New York City! Than Dustin will meet up with us that weekend (because he has to work) and we will be celebrating his little brother's farewell.

Than back home for a few days, than Thomas and I are heading to Dallas to see another brother of mine, and also meeting up with my parents there for about a week. 

Than July we will head to Tennessee for a family reunion on Dustin's side, we are excited to see everyone. 

Than, finally, we are planning on moving back West in September, but Thomas and I will be heading over there a month early because my friend, Aubrey is getting married and I'm going to do her wedding pictures!

And I might also get a chance to go to Arizona to see another brother, but that one is still up in the air! I'm trying to get all the traveling in before Thomas turns 2 because after that he doesn't fly for free. 

So it's going to be a fun and crazy summer!

A little update of Thomas: Thomas is always on the move, there is no stopping him. He loves planes, we live close to the airport so we see a lot of planes flying. His favorite toys at the moment are balls, he loves throwing them, and he walks around holding at least one all over our apartment. Also a couple weeks ago he stopped taking the binky, one day I gave it to him and he just threw it on the floor and that was the end of binkys. It's so nice because we don't depend on it anymore. He's also an expert on our Ipad, he knows how to unlock the screen and find his games, I don't know if that's a good thing. He loves going outside, every time we leave he waves his hands and say "bye bye" so cute!

He is a lot of fun, he keeps us busy and entertained.

Here are some pictures of our walk the other day:

A picture of him walking towards me with that adorable smile. 

Pointing at a plane that's flying by. 

I know this picture is blurry but I still like it.