Dec 30, 2011

The A to Z of Me (Jessica)

I've stolen this idea from Crunchy Chicken, a blog I recently discovered and have enjoyed perusing. Feel free to steal it from me!


Age: 29, forever! Kidding, I turn 30 this year :)

Bed size: King

Chore I hate: Um, all of them? If I never had to do one ever again, I'd choose vacuuming - it hurts my shoulders.

Dogs: Someday (soon?) we'll get a poodle/retriever mix

Essential start to my day: Chocolate milk and vitamins

Favorite color: Lime green

Gold or silver: Silver

Height: 5'6"

Instruments I play: Piano, organ, violin, viola, cello, string bass, any percussion instrument except a drum set (but many of these I haven't played in a few years)

Job title: CFO of Team Morgan

Kids: 3 year old Lily, 19 month old James, and a little baby in my belly

Live: near Durango, Colorado

Mother's name: Jodi (not her real name, but she might pinch me if I announced her real name here)

Nicknames: Jess, Jessi, Mama

Overnight hospital stays: Just after labor and delivery.

Pet Peeve: When people make a commitment they don't keep (like agreeing to unload the dishwasher and then not doing it)

Quote from a movie: My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.

Right or left handed: Right

Siblings: One sister, but 4 brothers-in-law and a sister-in-law

Time I wake up: Whenever my kids do - usually right around 7

Underwear: A clean pair every day :)

Vegetable I hate: Canned beets. But I like fresh beets.

What makes me run late: Small children who don't listen.

X-rays I've had: Dental x-rays. I know I had a scan done of my chest after having Lily to look for a blood clot, but that's not an x-ray, is it?

Yummy food I make: Pad Thai. And Indian meatballs. And any Thai curry (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). And Korean Bulgogi. And Patatas Bravas. So pretty much I can't cook American food.

Zoo animal: Any furry baby zoo animal is my favorite.

Dec 6, 2011

National Pomegranate Month

Did you know that November is National Pomegranate Month (among several other things)? In the beginning of the month, we had our family pictures taken by an incredible photography team, Brumley & Wells.  They did such a great job on our photos that I know we'll use them often in the future. I updated our blog header and side bar with a few of the photos, and here are two more of my favorites:


I got a bee in my bonnet and decided the ugly colors in the house HAD TO GO. The house has 4 rooms, and I painted 3 of them, plus a wall in the kitchen. The kids' room (they're sharing) was a dusty-pinky-tan, and the play room (slash sewing room slash piano room) was "Shrek" green on three walls and bright blue on the fourth. The picture of the play room doesn't do it justice - it was hideously BRIGHT green.

 I painted those rooms a light buttery yellow. It took 3 coats to cover - which translates into 4 days of the kids not being allowed to play with their toys or get out of their beds on their own. Notice, I pushed Lily's crib against James's in the center of the room so neither of them could get out in the night. Lily loved it so much, the first night their bed's were separated, she cried because she wanted her bed to be right next to James. Mike also hung some insulated, light-blocking roman shades that I made - cute, right?



Lily turned three on the 23rd of November! She was so excited. My family came up for a quick couple of days to celebrate with us. She was a good little decorator. She helped me blow up a dozen pink balloons, another dozen orange balloons, and tape streamers all around the house. Her favorite was the "star" on the living room fan. She was VERY particular about her birthday cupcakes: strawberry cupcakes with a bunny on top. They were delicious!




Lily's big gift was a tricycle. She was so excited to ride it, but her legs are a little short. She can really only ride it down the street because there's a decline. She's too funny. Yesterday she hopped on it (in the garage) and said "Mama, I'm driving to my house in Texas".


We drove up in the mountains to chop our Christmas tree down. The kids loved playing in the snow... until it was so cold that they didn't love it any more. James was just *done* by the time we loaded the truck up. Nothing a little hot cocoa can't cure.


Maybe my camera has been dropped too many times; it seems to have gotten worse at taking pictures. They're all grainy and blurry and washed out :( Sad. So blame the camera for making my gorgeous mama look anything less than stellar.


Octoberfest :)

Halfway into October we closed on our new house and got to move in! It's a sweet little one-story on 1/3rd of an acre with a fantastic garden and established fruit trees. We are so blessed to have found this gem here in Bayfield.


Not only are there two apple trees and a cherry tree, there are red raspberry and golden raspberry bushes. Delish! Lily loved going out every day to look for berries, and after the berries stopped coming, she begs to go pick apples. This spring is going to be so fun for the kids to learn to grow vegetables and fruits.


Mike had to go back to Houston for two weeks of training, so the kids and I drove to Utah. My grandparents stopped by to visit and the kids got to spend some time roasting marshmallows and hotdogs with them. I love my beautiful Grandma Barrus and my sweet Grandpa Barrus!




A week before Halloween, we bought the kids little pumpkins to paint. Lily painted hers pink (shocker!) and James... well, James just loved painting anything the paintbrush would reach: pumpkin, table, Daddy, his own face, you get the idea.



For Halloween James was a duck/chicken and Lily was a princess. They loved seeing everyone's costumes and have really enjoyed their nightly piece of candy. And I have enjoyed sneaking my nightly piece of candy as well. Oh, James also started walking this month. He's on a roll.


Dec 5, 2011

Catching up!


Whew, with all of the crazy we've gone through in the last 6 months (buying a house, selling a house, buying another house, moving 3 states away) I've gotten lax at posting the fun things we've been doing! In September, we went house-hunting in Colorado. It was pretty hilarious, Mike and I forgot our checkbook and in order to pay our Earnest Money, we had to withdraw cash from multiple ATM's in multiple cities (60+ miles from each other) and put that money in Money Orders. What a hassle!


Stupid Chase bank doesn't have any branches within 400 miles of Durango! We had a really long night, driving back and forth, withdrawing large amounts of cash from Walgreen's Chase ATM's. It was all worth it when we saw deer in the middle of town the next morning!


Lily and James loved playing with Gramma and Grampa's kitties and horsies.


They helped Grampa put a swing up in the tree.




Visiting Nana and Papa was lots of fun. James loved climbing the wrong way up the slide, and both kids liked sliding down it. They also enjoyed getting up close and personal with the chickens!



We went to the Hogle Zoo. Lily hadn't stopped talking about the "scary elephant" since the last time we went, and this was our shot to get her un-scared.


James was still only crawling in September (lazy baby LOL) but loved leaning on the stroller and pushing Lily around. I've seen a theme with them: James hauling Lily around on his walker, pushing her around in the stroller, etc. It's sweet.


And that was our September!