San Diego for the day

Last Saturday Jared, Finn and I got up at 5:30 am and flew down to San Diego for the day to see Jared's father (twice a widower) get married to a wonderful woman who he actually knew in high school and was recently reunited with and they each quickly fell in love

One of the highlights was seeing Jared with all of his siblings together!

Krista, Jared, David, Genean, Chase and Josh (in front.)

Here are the original 3. I loved seeing the boys tease beautiful Genean.

It took them a couple of shots to decide which order they would stand in.

I haven't seen the San Diego temple since it was being built when I was 8 years old.

Getting some more family shots in there. Poor Finn was such a trooper being toted around all day long. Two flights in one day was tough for the little guy.

Jared's Dad.

His new wife Wanda, definitely a super fun addition to the family.

The newlyweds.

Highlights of the trip included:
1. Seeing Jared interact with his siblings.
2. Josh helping me put socks on Finn's feet and him keep saying, "they're so cute and little," in his cute southern accent.
3. Eating at "Fin's Mexican Eatery" which actually was pretty good.
4. Meeting lots of random people while hanging out in the temple waiting room.
5. Having those precious 15 mins alone with my sis-in-law Genean face to face to do a quick catch up on life since she has 3 wild kids and it's rare to get a moment on the phone with her. This was a big treat! Can't wait for Christmas to hang out with both my sis-in-laws and this time...I have a baby too!

Still very much in love

Great Grandma and Finn

The Family Oriental

If you're related to me go ahead and cry...I already did.

This oriental rug was in my Grandparents house for as long as I can remember. Anyhow, after they both passed it was given to my parents and they've had it in their house for the past few years. Anyhow, now we have it in our new house for a while.

This is a photo of my father rolling around on it. What is that he's playing with? a silver bowl...oh Grandma, she only had the finest of things.

Here is Finn who has yet to roll around on it. But our cousin (Finn's 2nd cousin) James has tested it out with his crawling. (We're still working on the head. Mama's tired of getting headbutted by mr. bobblehead.

It seems like my Dad sent Finn down with a few of himself in him. Like this look with that droopy eyelid...totally my Dad.

What is love?

A couple of years ago my friend asked me to talk to some people about "what is love." At the time I really felt like I had no idea. I hadn't really been in love with anyone up until that point in my life. I had fallen into deep likeness and been hurt before...but those were easily forgotten within a couple of weeks or days and I moved on. I knew what fatherly, motherly and family love was...I knew the love that I had for all those children in Africa, I knew the strong love that I have for my nephews Johnny and Hudson...but not true love.

Since Finn was born, each night I've been deep in thought before I fall asleep on the concept of what love really is. Like the list of thoughts on love that I previously gathered some years ago I have been compiling a list of my own over the past few weeks. I first developed a true love with Jared...and now I am not the recipient of motherly love but the giver...I guess the recipient also, as Finn burrows his nose into my shoulder when he's tired and those times when he cries and only calms down on my shoulder...I love that feeling.

TWO GREAT LOVES OF MY LIFE - Jared and Phineas

Love is:

-Your husband noticing you are cold in the early morning and covering you up with an extra blanket.

-Not eating the entire banana but leaving 1/2 of it for your spouse.
-Even though you're so sleep deprived, still actually looking forward to those midnight feedings because you miss your son.
-Letting that delicious sandwich that you just made sit on the counter so you can feed your baby first.
-Not wanting to say goodnight to your spouse because you have to retreat into separate dream worlds.
-Even though you hate making cookies, you still do because you know someone loves them:)
-When you see someone else kissing, like in a movie...you instantly wish your spouse would come home from work and kiss you!
-Keeping the kitchen well stocked with oatmeal for the oatmeal lover.
-Moving three times in a year so that your wife and child will have a pleasant place to live in and spend her days.
-Running out late at night to get whatever your pregnant wife is craving at that very moment.
-Getting up with the baby and holding him in your arms so that he'll sleep longer...thus your wife may also.
-Telling your wife she looks beautiful, even though you don't like her outfit...and might be embarrassed by the combination of colors and articles of clothing.
-Always letting your love have a bite of whatever you're eating...even when you don't want to share.

This is just the tip of the iceberg...the list goes on.

Although, I still can't believe the amount of love I have for little Mr. Finn.

He surprises me everyday! Like growing out of an outfit in just 3 days.

Laid Back

We borrowed this swing from one of my friends and Finn loves it:) It's great because it saves my back from carrying him around everywhere in the carrier....(except for right now, he's in the pouch as I sit on the exercise ball bouncing up and down while he snoozes and I get some internet stuff done.) Anyhow, Finn swings away while I get things done around the house.

Window Sill

I love the late afternoon sun that comes through my window. I am so happy in our new place. It's really light and cheerful and the birds are always chirping. Finn and I are really enjoying our days here. My cousin Emily lives a few blocks away and comes and visit with her son James. Finn and I are enjoying our little walks around the neighborhood on the tree lined streets. Finn also looks forward to his evening walk with Jared when he comes home from work while I finish up preparing dinner. What a life eh?

Mr. Big Tipper

I am so much in love with this little guy.

Glow and Shine

I miss the good old days when my skin glowed and my hair shined!

Sunday in the Park

It was a beautiful day.

So we headed to the park.

To lay in the grass.

While Finn slept.

Then he woke up...



...and joined us on the lawn.

And had some tummy time with Dad.

Before I die...

In HS I made a list of things to do before I die. I keep in my bedside table drawer. I haven't looked at it or ages but it's really fun to mark things off. Some of them are irrelevant now. The other day I got to mark off two.

#32. Become a mother.
#38. Marry someone tall.

I particularly love #124. Be in the circus and #76. Break a bone....Um what was I thinking about #76?

...more Jared and Finn

I just can't get over how cute they look together.

Jared and his Oatmeal

Jared eats oatmeal (not the instant kind) for breakfast every morning. He has a special way of microwaving it so it's just right. He also adds lots of extras to it, like raisins, flax seeds, walnuts, sunflower seeds and the list goes on. Very hardy for someone with his speedy metabolism.

When we moved last week I hadn't unpacked the dishes and who knows where the silverware was, (it took us 4 days to find it.)
Jared needed his oatmeal the morning after the move...he improvised with a measuring cup and spoon:) You've gotta love it!

*When we were on our honeymoon at the Hilton in Kauai I ordered the all you can eat buffet our first morning. Breakfast is my favorite meal. Jared got oatmeal...I was baffled at first thinking, "you've got all these yummy pastries and fruit and you're having oatmeal...something you can have whenever?" I thought it was so weird at first. Now I just find it cute.

July 10

This is a post about cars. Today marks the 7th anniversary of my crazy crash just outside Elko, Nevada on my way home for school for the summer. But we'll get to that later.

So, in HS I shared a super boring '89 Honda Civic with my mom. I got to take it to school on the days when she didn't have errands to run...it was rare. But, most of my friends had cars so who cares. I always wanted a cool car.

Well, I got one. (Only because Sam totaled the Honda the night before I was supposed to drive it back to school)...thanks to him I got to take out my Dad's old '86 Mazda RX7. OH IT WAS FUN! It had a short clutch, which made it easy for speed shifting and you could rev it up to 7k rpms before it redlined. Since it was a fast two seater with a rotary engine and rear wheel drive it caused a few problems in the snow, where I was attending school. I kept a couple of bags of sand in the back to weigh it down...or my friend Travis who always volunteered to chill in the back.

Yes, I did have many spin outs...sometimes thanks to Phil who would spontaneously pull the parking break while I was driving. Yes, I became really good at driving.

After a while my parents thought it wasn't safe enough to be driving that car around and they bought me a '96 Subaru Legacy Outback. It was hard getting used to. Different clutch, not as fast. However, I didn't need to slow down while going over bumps and in and out of driveways. It had great clearance, and great sound with it's boxster engine. Just not as fast as a Porsche.
I did a lot of offroading in this thing. Another fun car.

Except, for what I did to it.

JULY 10, 2002.

I flipped it. 3 times. No, I didn't roll it...I FLIPPED IT! It was airborne. My rear right tire skimmed the headlight of the semi driving next to me. That's like 5 ft tall or 6. Y'know the big semis that drive your goods across the U.S. Then, the car landed on the roof and slid for 1/2 a football field. The first thought that entered my mind was as tons of gravel, glass and dirt was burying me was...Lois Lane. Y'know the part in Superman I when there's an earthquake and Lois is in that car that falls in the cracks and she's "helpless" and is buried by dirt. Well, unfortunately I didn't know Jared then to come save me.

The car ended up on its left side where I unbuckled and crawled out on the super hot ground. People were to me immediately and I cried after I looked at the wrecked car that I loved. So sad. I wiggled my toes. I wasn't paralyzed. Someone covered me with a towel to shade me from the sun because it was so HOT!

Then an ambulance came and rushed me to the hospital. I had no shoes. My flip flops are still somewhere in the dessert....along with art supplies, cds and other random stuff. I was moving a bunch of things home because I only had one more semester left at BYU. Somehow, I lost control, over corrected and flipped. I really think blew a tire.

*If you're driving on a long trip with a few cd cases, keep them zipped in case you get in a crash, you'll end up losing a bunch...like Prince's 3 cd case along with his B sides. I still haven't replaced it. So sad.

Anyhow, at the hospital I called my mom, couldn't get a hold of her. So I called my Dad at work. Well he tracked down my mom, who was at my Aunt's house because they just found out she had cancer (ARGH!) and my mom tracked down a nice couple from Elko who were members of the church who came to pick me up and take them to their house. I walked out of the hospital in bloody clothes (got a big gash in my head) and a pair a socks that the hospital staff gave me.

The tow truck guy scavenged my belongings from all over the highway and threw them in the car and towed it. After the nice couple fed me dinner they took me to the junkyard to pick up what I needed.

My sister was on the phone getting me a flight home from Elko, Nevada (super small airport). I remember he husband Lee just wanting to drive out (8hrs) to pick me up. Fortunately my cousin Keith was driving back from Utah with a big truck the next day and he stopped to pick up all of my stuff. That was nice of him.

The annoying part about flying home is that it was a quick ticket and one way and this was soon after 9/11 that I was flagged for security checks. I kept getting them. By the 4th one I was like, "look, I'm a mess, I just totaled my car in the middle of the desert and I just want to get home to rest." They let me on through.

The bike didn't land there, they just stuck it there when they towed it.

Since I survived the crash so well....except for the 6 months of jaw therapy (it was misaligned and I couldn't open up all the way) I bought a '99 Outback. Which was sold right before we went to Switzerland.

Jared was nice enough to let us buy another Subaru Outback when we moved back from Switzerland. An '06 and we got a sweet deal. I searched all over the Bay Area for one that was a manual transmission. No automatic for me. We've put less than 7,000 miles on it in 11 months. Not bad eh? And that's with one car. Jared bikes to work and I walk to friends houses and do all of my errands in one day...well that will change. I don't think Finn will allow me to go to 5 stores at once.

Some day this will be replaced by a mini van. But not after a few more kids. Oh, and Jared is getting an electric car also...someday. Just hasn't found the perfect one yet.