New Beginnings

Before I get into the meat of my post, I'm happy to announce that I am officially hired on at Boise State as an adjunct professor of voice!!! I've been wanting to do this for a long time and am really excited that it is actually happening. I even went in today and saw my name plate on the wall. Yay! It is a temporary and very part-time position, but at least it's my foot in the door. Basically, they had an influx of voice students this semester, so they asked me to pick up the extras. If they have enough students, I'm in, if not, I'm out. As simple as that :). Now, on to my post...

So, I know that many people do not have faith in New Year's resolutions and think that they are pointless. I, on the other hand live for them. I LOVE having a fresh start each year... It's like a brand new notebook. I love writing in a brand new notebook. Does this mean that I will continue writing in it until it's full? No. However, I'll write in it for a while, set it down, pick it up later and write some more. Whether I keep my resolutions or not, I will be a better person and achieve more that I would, had I not made them. I'm a very goal-oriented person and believe in setting small goals all year, but I love setting over-all goals for the year to see how far I can get with them. If I "fail" at one, I try to make a smaller goal later in the year that will be more achievable.

I've decided to quit making goals about weight-loss, because the more I obsess about it, the more I gain. If I focus more on health, the weight-loss comes and I don't get into self-pity parties. With that being said, here are my over-arcing goals for the year:

• Scott and I are giving up pop! This is huge for him and semi-huge for me. In fact, he was drinking at least one huge pop every single day and told me he wouldn't succeed, so I agreed that he could have one a month and he felt that was reasonable. I, on the other hand was drinking 2-3 a week, which is not good! I gave it up at one point in life, but I have this issue where I feel left out if someone has something and I don't (messed up, I know). Therefore, as our marriage progresses, so does my desire for pop. Thus, why we are doing this together. I am not allowing myself one a month, but this isn't a huge sacrifice for me.
• No fast food besides Subway. Before, when I lost all my weight, I maybe ate fast food twice a year, and both times would end up living in the bathroom. I would vow to never eat it again. Sadly, it has made its way back into my life. This angers me not only because it's ridiculously unhealthy, but because it is a money sucker. Ironically enough, not having money makes me want it even more and having a husband that loves it and would eat it 3 times a day if allowed, doesn't make it any easier. I will succeed at this goal... It is top on my priority list! Don't get me wrong, we weren't fast-food-aholics, but we were eating out 1-2 times a week. Gag! (Already I'm feeling healthier and more financially stable!)
• I'm going to go on a date with Scott at least once a month. We were doing well at this for a while, but kind of quit when unemployment hit. I'm sure we'll succeed at this one, thanks to our awesome Christmas gift from my parents. Seriously, one of the coolest ideas ever! They put a little filing system in a box, labelled for each month. Behind each month is a date idea and some money for it... Isn't that awesome?!?! We are so excited! This month we are supposed to find a new restaurant to try. We've got a few we're looking at :).
• I'm going to devote more time to Jayna. Not that I was ignoring her before, but I'm now teaching a bit more and happen to teach during the hours she's not napping. So, I feel that I don't get to see her a ton. Before, when she'd wake up, I'd get up and get her a bottle and check email/facebook and spend quite a bit of time doing that. Then she'd go down for a nap and by the time she was up it was time for me to teach. So really, I was only spending a couple of quality hours a day with her. Now, I'm vowing to not be on my computer when she's awake. I should be doing things with her. She's starting to love watching me cook and loves mimicking, which has been so fun! She is seriously such a blessing in my life and I need to cherish my time with her.

Well, that's it folks. Doesn't sound so difficult, but it will be enough of a challenge that I will feel accomplished when I achieve these goals. Wish me luck!

P.S. I was going to make a goal to not use so many exclamation marks and smiley faces, but I just can't bring myself to do it!!! It's how I talk, and therefore how I write :)!

The Holidays

I can't believe it has been almost 2 months since my last post. Time flies when you're celebrating lots of holidays :)!

I truly enjoyed the whole month of December. So much so that I didn't sleep well on New Year's Eve because I didn't want that magical feeling to go away. However, as I laid there, I couldn't help but think of the reasons I love December so much and realized that I can and probably should carry those things throughout the year. These reasons are:

1. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE making goody plates and taking them to people. Though a bit spendy, I enjoy nothing more than turning on music and spending my time in the kitchen trying to make amazing goodies to take to family, friends, and neighbors.
2. I love spending extra time with family!
3. I love having people over!
4. I love doing special things with and for Scott and Jayna.
5. I love traditions! I should start making monthly traditions for our family, so we have something to look forward to every month.

This last December was truly amazing for me and here is why: We had no money. I may be exaggerating because we were still able to get each other nice gifts that we got through Scott's little job with UPS and money that we received from his parents, but overall we had to do things that didn't cost much. But that was where the magic was. We didn't need money. Most of the things we loved most didn't really cost us money. I am so grateful that I was brought up to appreciate what I have and to find value in relationships, family, and to find the joy in small things. 

The other reason December was so special to me was because I realized how loved we are. I don't want that to sound vain. In fact, I'm quite humbled by the love and compassion we were shown this holiday season... I don't know what we did to deserve such amazing people in our lives, but we are truly grateful! I never thought that I would have to be on the receiving end of charity, and though it is extremely humbling, I can't express enough how incredible it is to see the charity people perform. You don't realize how charitable your friends and family are until you are on the receiving end. It restores my faith in humanity and definitely makes me want to be more charitable once we are back on our feet.

I am so grateful that Heavenly Father opened my eyes this season to all the good I have in my life. Last year was really rough with unemployment and always wondering if we were going to make it from one month to the next and it was really starting to wear us down. So much so, that I was becoming bitter and upset with just about everything. Now, I truly feel that everything will be fine and will work out and I'm enjoying the time that I do have with Scott and cherishing the fact that we can spend so much time together. 

My "crazy" week

This week has been full of ups and downs. I feel like I've been on a crazy, emotional yo-yo type ride. That's right, not a rollercoaster... those have slopes that get you from your highs to lows. Not this week... Nope! I've either been crying tears of happiness or tears of frustration this week. Not much in between. However, I do have to say I'm grateful that I've had the "ups" to get me away from the "downs" :).

For starters, Scott got a seasonal part-time job helping UPS drivers. While it's not much, we're grateful for anything at this point. He was told they'd be crazy starting right after Thanksgiving up until Christmas Eve (which is when the job comes to a halt). He's not allowed to work any more than 30 hrs a week and doesn't know when he's working until the morning of... so there's no planning or anything (which, if you know me, is more stressful than not having a job, but oh well. Haha!)

So really, this week would have been fine if all stress factors had not come at the same time. By stress factors, I mean Scott getting a new job, me getting sick, and having my student recital all on the same week. Like I said, had I had any of these one things happen at a time, I would have been fine, but you know how life works. Now, let me tell you about it all... Ready for the long haul? Haha!

To begin, I have to say that one of my biggest pet peaves is complacent voice teachers. Unfortunately, since having Jayna, I had felt like I was starting to lack in my teaching a bit. So, I decided that I was going to step it up and went "over-time" to try to have all of my students adequately prepared for this recital that I had yesterday. We delved more into meaning and performance of their pieces than I usually do (I'm very technique minded, so this was a positive step for me), I chose pieces that were much more difficult and that would challenge my students (and me on the piano), and I held mini masterclasses on the four Saturdays before the actual recital so my students would have an opportunity to perform their songs and get feedback before they actually performed for the recital. So, you might say that I really wanted this recital to be successful because I truly felt like I put in as much as I had to give... and let's face it, we all like to see our hard work (and my student's hard work) pay off.

Now, to this week. Monday was a regular ol' day... nothing exciting. Tuesday, I woke up at 4 am with an incredible migraine, which had already advanced to the nausea stage. Once it hits this stage, there is nothing that can help them. However, I did everything in my power to try to get rid of the headache and not throw up. 3:00 hit and I had students to teach until 6:00 and I still was so sick that I couldn't even stand up. I sooooo didn't want to cancel because this was the week of the recital and that would be unfair to my students. So I contacted them and fit them into every last slot I had on Weds and Thurs. I did still meet with 2 students who couldn't switch (I doubt those lessons were very productive). Wednesday I woke up without a headache (yay), but with a full-blown head cold, sinus thingy! What?! Give me a break! Yes, I'm being dramatic... I'm a voice teacher. That's my job ;). I ended up not going into BSU to accompany because I had a fever, but met with all my other students. Don't worry, I Clorox-ed my whole house and used hand sanitizer every 2 seconds.

Now comes the first "up" moment. I got on good ol' Facebook to see what was going on and I had a message from a friend that I haven't even seen in over 10 years. At first I thought she was hacked because it said, "I have something for you, but I need your number so I can explain it." Now, I've had more than enough scammers calling me lately, so I messaged her back to see if it was spam, but it was real. We talked on the phone and she had bought tickets to The Piano Guys' concert in Dec for her sister, but her sister has a final during the concert time. Rather than selling the tickets or using them, she thought that Scott and I would enjoy a night out. I did everything in my power to not bawl right there on the phone, but as soon as I hung up I did just that... bawled like a baby. I couldn't believe that someone I hadn't seen in over 10 years would care enough about me to make my whole season brighter. Thanks Erin ;)! So yeah, I get to go to The Piano Guys next month!!!!! It even made my illness seem not as taxing!

So, back to Wednesday night. All I could think about was how I had let everything that I needed to get done pile up to Thursday, the day of the recital. Up to this point, Scott had not been called in to work and they made it sound like he wouldn't really until after Thanksgiving. Well, I jinxed myself and said, "Just watch! The one day I really need you here will be the day they call you in." So that whole night, in all my congestive glory, I couldn't sleep... at all. I got 1 hour of sleep... total. Great!

So, Thursday morning, I'm lying awake in bed and sure enough, Scott's phone rings at 7:00 am. They wanted him to work from 10:30-7:30. Are you freaking kidding me?! The exact hours I have to work?! So, immediately I start feeling overwhelmed and sorry for myself (bad combination) and everything is amplified because I am going on 1 hour of sleep. However, I pulled myself together and reminded myself that this was what I needed to get used to when/if Scott finds a full-time job. I also reminded myself that though I feel really weak and helpless right now, that I have always been a strong, independent woman and that I could indeed accomplish everything I needed to for the day.

Well, Jayna is used to having her daddy around and when he left, you would have thought her world had ended! She screamed from 10:00 until 12:00, when I was finally able to get her to take a nap. Sheesh! Well, that was productive! So, as soon as she was down, I started getting things done around the house and made a schedule of what needed to be done, and when, because I really had no breaks once I started teaching at 3:30 until after the recital. Mind you, I made zero time for eating or getting ready... Oops! Slight over-sight. Glad nobody was there just to see me.

Jayna woke up at 1:00 and I gave her a bottle and changed her and then headed out to run to 5 different places. When I got to destination #3, I did what I always do. I left my purse on the front seat of my car with my door left open (in the locked position) and got Jayna out of the back seat. As, I lifted her out and shut her door, I looked up just in time to see a very impatient woman shut my front door for me because she wanted to get into the passenger seat of her car. I didn't even know she was there, and had she said, "Excuse me" or anything, I would have made way for her. I was irrate! I said, "Oh my gosh! You just locked everything in my car! My keys, my phone, and my wallet!" I was seriously panicking. I'm so OCD about having my keys in my hand before I shut my door that I never worry about locking myself out. She said, very nonchalantly, "Oh. Sorry." Got in her car and took off. I was so angry and so upset that I couldn't even think straight! Here it was, 2:00, and I had 2 more places to go and I still hadn't eaten or gotten ready. On any other day, I could have just called Scott and had him come bail me out, but no, it was his first day on the job. We don't even have a spare car key at the house. The dumbest part, was that I was at this destination only to see if I could afford some cold medicine so I wasn't miserable during the recital. Little did I know this destination was about to cost me $40 and my sanity and I'd still have no cold medicine.

So, I went inside and had to mooch a phone off the Rite-Aid workers. Tried calling Scott, but no luck. Then I had to ask for a phone book and called about 4 different locksmith places to see who was closest and could get there the fastest. One guy was only about a mile away and said he'd be there shortly... That was at about 2:15 (Keep in mind I have to teach at 3:30). At this point, my child had soaked through her diaper, was acting tired again because her first nap was short, and was tired of being contained, yet still wanted to be held. Have you ever tried to hold a hyper little puppy that acts like all it wants to do is to be set down, but the moment you set it down, it wants to be picked right back up? Yeah... good times! Well, we ended up playing that game for over an hour... That's right. No locksmith until 3:25! By this time, it was all I could do to not burst into tears again. He apologized profusely that his previous project ended up being much longer than he thought, but in all fairness, he had no phone to call me on to let me know he was running late. So, I got a receipt for my wonderful Rite-Aid experience and headed home without getting my other errands done.

Now, I'm about 10 minutes late for my first student, whose phone number is a land line, so there was no way for me to contact her at this point. I'm upset that I have not gotten anything accomplished that I needed to, I'm upset that my student is waiting at an empty house, and I'm upset that I just had to spend $40 because of an impatient woman.

So, I go to turn left onto my street, when a parked car decides to pull out (oncoming) without using her blinker or anything. Not only does she pull out, but she rips out because she's in front of an elementary school with loads of kids around (and apparently she doesn't care about them) and she barely has enough time to get out because she doesn't want to wait for the long line of cars coming up at 20mph. Impatient lady #2 almost wrecks right into me because she's not paying attention. So what does she do? She lays on her horn, gets out of her car and starts screaming every profanity in the book at me. I couldn't take it any more! I drove off, leaving her there, figuring she'll probably follow me down my little cul-de-sac, but at this point I'm full-blown sobbing and don't give a crap.

I pull up to see my student standing in my yard waiting for me and I just sit in my car and sob. I couldn't even muster up the energy to look over at her. I finally got out of my car and begged for her forgiveness and ran in to change Jayna, get her a bottle, and put her back down for a nap. It doesn't end there... Since the flood-gates had opened, I seriously could not quit crying until my 4:30 student came. That's right solid crying for about 45 minutes.

So, there I was, a complete mess. Hadn't done my hair, any makeup that I had put on was now gone and my eyes were so swollen that I couldn't really fix my makeup. No sleep, no food, no shred of pride left. I called my last student of the day (my one student not singing on the recital) and begged her to change days, so I could have 30 minutes to gather myself and get Jayna ready to go to Clarissa's house... My saving grace!

I seriously contemplated moving the recital to Friday, but figured that would be incredibly selfish of me. Besides, this was the first recital that every single student was able to make that wanted to perform. I'm usually down 6-8 people because of scheduling conflicts.

I got to the recital venue just in time to set my things down, warm-up my students, and unwind a bit. As my students sang, my troubles truly washed away. I talk about having proud mommy moments all the time with my students, but this was like the championship game. I was amazed at what a significant improvement was made from the last recital! Everybody made my heart swell with the amount of work and energy they put into this performance. Though it was just a simple studio recital for friends and family, in my heart it was much more significant.

Since I work in the music industry, it seems like I don't feel that "moment" very often. You know, the moment when it's no longer a song being sung, but rather "music being made"... The moment when you seem to be taken to a whole other place where there are no worries, no people in the room, no impatient people around you, no hussle... Just peace. Well, at the very end of the recital, my heart swollen with pride and a love for what I get to do and the people I get to work with, I got to experience that "moment". The very last song for the night was a song called "Morgen" by Strauss. I linked it, so you can listen as you read... It is so beautiful! Anyway, the last performer took this song that I already loved and transformed it into art. It may have been that the peaceful feeling of the music was everything I needed at that moment in time, but tears were flowing down my cheeks halfway through the song. A huge thanks goes out to my students for putting in the hard work to create such a special experience. A perfect ending to make up for my horrible day!

I also got good news on this day that my niece, Cora, was born :). I'm so excited for Lance and Becky and can't wait to meet her!

Today, though I am still sick, I feel at peace :).

As I'm writing this all out, I can't help but be so grateful for all of the people in my life that are so understanding, generous, helpful, supportive, and loving. I am so blessed!

Weekend and Halloween

Jayna and I left to go down to Provo this last weekend to her little cousin, Addie's, baby blessing. We stayed with Grandma Pay and had a nice time. It was nice to get out of the house for a little while and see family.

A few things that were definitely confirmed to me this weekend about Jayna were:

1. That she is entertained by electronics... and only electronics. I was not allowed to get on any of my electronics because they immediately were stolen by my daughter and it didn't matter that we packed any toys for her, because she only wanted to play with Grandma's remotes. 
2. That she is a real trooper. She had to sleep in not one, but four unfamiliar places. Though she didn't sleep well, she was only grumpy part of the time. Another reason she probably didn't sleep well was because she cut FOUR molars while we were gone. Poor girl... AND she did it without anything to relieve the pain. Also, she had to sit in a car for a total of 15 hours. I was antsy and I don't even come close to having the amount of energy she does!
3. That she is a total extrovert! She LOVED being around people, especially her cousins! Unfortunately, all pictures and videos that I got of them playing were on my phone, which I can't upload to my computer (Yes, my daughter will far surpass my electronic abilities). My mom did send me a picture of Jayna, Isom, and Addie (in her beautiful blessing dress made out of her mom's wedding dress), but Jayna is grumpy in the picture because she had to have the camera. Haha!
   
   
   
   
   
   The sweetest thing happened on the ride back to Twin Falls, from Provo. I was talking to Scott on the phone and put the phone on speaker so he could say hi to Jayna. She got the biggest frown on her face and grabbed the phone and pulled it in as close as she could to her face (as if it would bring her daddy to her). She cried and cried. Therefore, I cried. It was so sad and sweet all at the same time. I'm glad she has such a great daddy :).
   
   
   I did capitalize on the fact that Jayna wasn't 100% to get in some great cuddle time :). I really enjoyed being able to spend some time with my family and especially little Jayna, even though I got very limited sleep.
   
   
   This trip really helped me to unwind a lot and I'm feeling better about life. In fact, as soon as I got home I found out that we are not getting any back-pay through unemployment and that the money I thought we were getting for back-pay is actually the total amount he can receive through unemployment. However, I didn't have a breakdown or anything. I've decided it is what it is. If we end up having to sell our home, we have to sell our home. I'm praying it doesn't get to that point, but I know we have plenty of people that love us and will never let us live on the streets.
   
   
   On a brighter note, the night we left for our trip was Halloween, so we did dress up and go to a trunk-or-treat. Here's Jayna's cute little costume from her Grandma Baker.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   I can't believe how fast she's growing up. She's starting to say new things and often says things that resemble "here" and "I'll get it" and she's says them when she's handing you something or when she throws something across the room and we say uh-oh. She still isn't walking or showing any signs that she has the desire to... I'm thinking she'll just be a late bloomer in this category. I'm not too upset about it though ;). A) Because I already have a hard time keeping up with her and B) because her doctor says that crawling is better for babies neurologically than walking, so if she crawls for a longer period of time, it will help her brain function even more. Regardless, I love my baby girl!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Tender Mercies

I apologize for not blogging in quite some time. To be honest, our household has not been in the best of spirits and I find it hard to blog because all I want to do is complain. I will do my best to update without being too negative. Don't get me wrong, we do have good days, but the monotony from day to day tends to get us down. I'm going to share some personal information because this blog serves as my journal, so if you don't want to know the personal details of our lives, don't read. Haha!

I've been very up and down the last few months. I was released from my calling as Primary pianist and was put in as Relief Society 1st counselor at church. I've been in RS callings in the singles wards multiple times and was excited for this change. I now realize the emotional tole this calling can have dealing with a family ward. We deal with so many things that I never had to deal with before, both positive and negative. I feel the blessings of serving others and definitely feel a much stronger tie to the women in my ward. I have such incredible support and feel the love that these women and the Savior have for me.

At the end of August and beginning of September I had some crazy things going on with my body and decided I needed to call my doctor. After talking for some time with the nurse, the conclusion that was made was that I had a miscarriage. I had no idea I was pregnant, but looking back on the 2 previous months, it made sense. You would think that the fact I didn't know I was pregnant would make this conclusion easier, but with messed up hormones and other stress factors in my life, I really didn't deal very well with it. I've been overly emotional over just about everything and of coarse, tend to eat my emotions, so my health has not been so great lately. My emotions seem to be evening out now, so I think my hormones are starting to balance again and I can get back to being normal.

Scott is still without a job. This stretch has been a bit brutal for us, but I'm reminded often of how blessed we are at the same time. I think the hardest part is that the unemployment thing really toys with a person's self-worth in a society where all that seems to matter is money and status. That being said, I have been beyond grateful that Scott has been able to have a lot of quality time with Jayna and we have been able to get by for 5 months now and can still last for a few more without needing to ask for help. If you ask how this has been possible, I would have to tell you that I honestly don't know. You could call it a blessing for setting aside our tithing, you could call it frugal living, or you could call it just plain ol' luck. I've been able to pick up a few extra students and decided to return to BSU to accompany very part time to try to help make ends meet.

So we come to this last week. For the last couple of weeks, Scott has been saying that he feels like change is around the corner (I sure hope so). I've become a complete sceptic and have truly lost a lot of faith. I've been trying really hard to not lose faith, because I realize that the fact we've made it this long is only because of Divine intervention. This last week truly showed me that my Heavenly Father is aware of us, and though we've not received help in the form of Scott getting a job, we've been truly blessed. Four things happened this last week that were a huge 2x4 to my head, showing me that Heavenly Father cares:

1. I had 3 students audition for solos for a combined Boise School District performance. All three of those students got the solos they auditioned for and there was only one other female solo slot left. Not only did this make me beam with gratitude that I have a great job and a talent to do what I love, but I have actually received 3 phone calls for people interested in lessons because they were impressed with my students. Tender mercy #1.
2. On Monday, I was asked to help judge Nebraska All-State Choir auditions. I was informed that the base pay would be $70 for 40 students and $2/student after that. The money didn't sound great, but I'm grateful for any opportunity to make money at this point. When I was assigned my region, I realized that the money I would make would cover about half of what we needed beyond my regular income for Novembers bills. However, I figured that was less money we'd have to pull out of our diminishing savings account. I got to work and finished my region a day before the deadline and decided to send out an email to the other judges offering to help if anybody was behind. When all was said and done, I had the exact amount of auditions needed to cover the rest of our bills. I then got a phone call from the person in charge telling me how grateful she was that she was inspired to call me because I was their "saving grace" in this project. Little did she know was that her inspiration was our saving grace. Tender mercy #2.
3. Like I said, I've been quite stressed about our diminishing savings account. A) because we still don't have a job and B) because we have a broken down car, some health and dental problems that need some desperate attention, and a number of other things we'd like to take care of that we were saving that money up for in the first place. Well, because Scott and I are both stubborn and dare I say "prideful" individuals that don't like to ask for help, we had not signed on for unemployment. Much of what was holding us back was the fact that the company that fired Scott tended to be a bit difficult to deal with, so we naturally assumed they'd be difficult with this process, as well. Anywho, Scott finally broke down and applied and as it turns out, the company had been paying into his unemployment all along. The amount of backpay that we are told we'll be paid? You guessed it. The exact amount that we've had to take out of our savings over this period of unemployment. I cried long and hard with gratitude. Tender mercy #3.
4. I shared my gratitude for "tender mercy #2" in RS today as a testimony that Heavenly Father is watching over us and made it clear that I was not asking for sympathy in any way. A woman who was just visiting our ward came up to me afterwards and gave me a big hug and told me that she felt for me and had been in a similar situation when she was younger. We shared some tears and then she slipped some money into my hand and I told her I couldn't take it because I really am financially fine right now, but she insisted. When I got out to my car, I discovered that it was a substantial donation. I've been fighting back tears of gratitude all day. My goal is to hold on to that money and to give it to somebody else who truly needs it when we get back on our feet. There are some truly amazing, giving, and lovely people out there! Tender mercy #4.

As you can see, this week has made me feel truly blessed and watched over. My stress level has decreased immensely, though I still hope and pray that Scott can find a job for his own sanity's sake. I feel as though I owe a great deal to the universe and to others in need to help pay back some of the tender mercy that we've been shown.

Jayna's 1 yrs Pics and Random Pics

We'll start off with random pics from the last little bit that make me happy :).

We often find Jayna in random corners reading books... Love it!

Her face and hair are priceless in this one

14 months

Finally enough hair for a "ponytail"... We've since bought ponytail holders.

Favorite pastime? Jumping on her bed... tsk, tsk, tsk.

She's daddy's girl... Loves her cheerios.

Always wanting to see herself on mommy's phone... 

My awesome friend, Rebecca Peterson, got some adorable 1 yr photos of Jayna. Here are some of my favorites!

She also took some pictures at our family reunion that turned out nicely.

Jayna's B-day Party Catch-up

So, I'm a terrible person and haven't blogged in a really long time! This entry is basically going to be a bunch of pics of Jayna's 1st b-day party. To preface what may look like child abuse in these pictures, I have to say that I bawled my eyes out that day because Jayna got the worst bruise ever and I felt horrible. I know that once children learn to move around, they want to explore as much as possible, but I didn't realize she was to the point that she could climb up on things. In fact, while I was writing my blog post about her turning one and how great it was to be her mom, she was climbing up on top of her toy box (I thought she was just standing next to it playing with her toys) and lost her grip and landed, head-first, on the hard floor. I felt terrible!!! Needless to say, she was not in the best mood for her b-day party. That, and I made the bad decision to wake her up for her own party... Never again! The guests can wait. Haha!

I did try to be a little crafty and made some cute little cupcake thingys... They were actually a lot of work!

 Here was her little birthday seat

Haha! This picture made my day!

Uncle Nick trying to convince her that chocolate really is tasty...

Grandpa Baker with cousin Clara

Yup... We had fun... See the nasty bruise?!

This picture sums up the party. Haha!

Pretty blue eyes! She did eat some ice cream, but wouldn't touch the cake.

With Aunt Allison and cousins Ethan, Hunter, and Haylee

We were so glad that our local family was able to make it, even if she was grumpy :).