Goals for the new year...

I am not a big fan of setting a New Year's resolution. I know that if I call it that then I won't follow through. So I have decided to set some short and attainable goals for myself. Thirty day goals that hopefully will turn into habits, then I can move on to the next set of goals. Things are about to get crazy on our house so I don't want to get to ambitious with these goals for now. But here are the things that I am planning on working on for the next thirty days:

1. Bode's bedtime routine.

We have always had a set time for when he goes to bed. But I need to be better about following through on doing our routine every night. I know that when the new baby comes our bedtime routine will be something that hopefully we can do together and be special time for the two of us. So to remind myself of his daily routine, here is it:

7:30- Change in to PJ's (real ones not just strip down to a t-shirt and call it good)

7:40- Potty, Wash hands and face, brush teeth

7:50- Read a book or two, call Dad, prayers

8:00- Lights out!!

2. Scripture Reading

I am horrible at consistent scripture study. I know that when I am consistent and reading everyday, my days are so much smoother. So my goals is to get up every morning and read one chapter. I can do this right after Bode wakes up and is eating breakfast. I have to read before I turn on the computer in the morning, so I am not distracted.

3.Keep socks and underwear stocked up in Jeremiah's drawer

We have a sock and G bandit in our house. For some reason there are never clean socks and underwear in Jeremiah's drawer. So my goal is to always have these two items ready for Jeremiah so he doesn't have to search for them before he leaves the house. I guess I could have set a goal to be better at laundry as a whole, but we are working on small and attainable things here, laundry is a huge hurtle for me.

Ok so the goal here is so master these three goals in the next thirty days and then move on to three more. I have heard that it takes thirty days to make a habit so hopefully this will work for me. Although I will admit that with the impending craziness it might take me more than thirty days to complete my January goals. I guess we shall see.

News from the baby front...

I had a doctors appointment this morning. I am 36 weeks whoo hoo! I am dilated 1 cm. Like that really means anything. I think doctors just say things like that to make pregnant ladies feel just a tiny bit better. But I'll take it. He said that if I were to go into labor anytime soon they wouldn't stop it. If I make it to the 19th of January then he will induce me. So let the count down begin. 20 more days for sure. I highly doubt that I will go by myself. Bode was quite content to stay as long as possible, I bet she will be the same. Or not, you never know. Either way I am excited to have a date to look forward to. Now I can really get all the odds and ends together before she makes her grand entrance.

Oh by the way, anybody have any good girl names they want to share? We are still stumped for a girl name.

Christmas Festivities...

Christmas Eve Eve

We had a family get together at our house a few days before Christmas. We had a White Elephant Party with all the members of my family. Well all except Pete and Britt and their little girls. They were missed. Everyone trekked across the valley half way to California to party at out house. We ate some Mexican food, played a couple of games, ate a lot of yummy sweets and even squeezed in a game of settlers. Thanks to everyone who came, maybe we can make it a new holiday tradition.

This is one of the funny things of the night. I mentioned awhile ago that when we were younger we had a party every year. Every year there was a puzzle. Once you get stuck with the puzzle you are stuck with it the whole time. So this year when it was my Mom's turn she was looking over the presents, shaking a few, and she shook one and thought is was a puzzle. She said "oh no I am not getting stuck with a puzzle this time!" So she grabbed another present and opened it. Ha guess what was inside... a puzzle. I know that this doesn't sounds incredible funny to all of you, but it was to us. Good White Elephant gift Aaron.

This was my favorite White Elephant gift of the evening. Tim and Connie had this brilliant idea. From the outside it looked like a box of tampons, felt like tampon and was even sealed. Lee opened it and was like are you serious!! She was a bit perturbed and ripped open the box to see if it really was tampons, stuffed inside was and i-tunes gift card. I did however love the wrapping idea. Jer and his yummy popcorn, no one traded with him that night.

I hope everyone had a good evening. I was trying to see how I could meet up with all my family this holiday season and the party was my solution. I am bummed that I can't make it up to Pinetop this year with everyone. No traveling for me right now. I love my family and am so grateful that I was able to see everyone.

Christmas Eve

We had a nice Christmas eve. I got up early to finish up my last minuet Christmas shopping. Then when I got home Jeremiah took off to finish his Christmas shopping. So he and Bode left the house and I got the house to myself, I love that.

Bode got extra spoiled this holiday season when Grandpa Alex and Louis stopped by to spread some holiday cheer.

After many unsuccessful tries to get a decent family picture with Stat, we stick him outside and finally got one.

Christmas Evening we went over to celebrate with Grandpa Glismann and the rest of Jeremiah's mom's family. I forgot to bring in my camera, oops. I love the holidays and is was neat to spend it with family.

Christmas Day

Bode got up around 7:30. Then is was off to open stockings and presents. It is really fun to have a child old enough to enjoy opening presents. It made this Christmas so much fun.

Bode and Daddy.
Bode loves to color and draw. This easel was the perfect gift for him.

At first he wasn't to sure about opening everything. He took his time and opened them slowly. But by the end he was tearing into them.

After presents we had french toast, bacon and OJ, yummy. Then we got all ready and when to the Brooks' house, then to Grandma Davis's house to eat lunch.

This was the first year the I have not had Christmas in Pinetop. I have missed the snow and my family. But I am so grateful to have such a great group of people down here to call family. This Christmas was wonderful!

Now that it is all over, I can get all the odds and end ready to have this baby. That seems crazy. Jer kept telling me to wait until after Christmas to get all the last odds and ends. Now that time is here, am I ready to do all that stuff? No! It has gone by really fast. But I am defiantly ready to not be pregnant and take of a baby instead.

I also don't want to take down all my Christmas decorations. They have made me so happy everyday and I am not ready to give them up. Normally I am chucking the tree out the front door the day after Christmas. But taking everything down is part of my to do's before the baby comes.

It keeps growing and growing and growing...

Happy Christmas Eve! I am very excited for tomorrow. Not really for me or Jer, but for Bode. He is old enough now to kind of understand what is going on. He walks around the house singing "jingle bell, jingle bell" or "snowman, snowman". He loves all the Christmas lights up everywhere. We have driven around a few times to look at lights, he is so into it. Hope you all have a great Christmas tomorrow!

I can not believe how huge my belly is. It is popping out like 2 feet in front of me. This is me at 35 weeks. Technically I have about 5 weeks left. But hopefully at my doctors appointment on Monday he will let me know when he wants to induce me. Last time we figured that the date would be closer to like mid January. Oh that would be nice.

Preparing for Christmas...

It may be a bit late, but I still have a bunch of Christmas stuff to do before Thursday! My list of to do's gets longer every time I think about what needs to be done.

Stat's Christmas preparation consisted of one thing. Getting the big fix. He is a bit older than we would have liked to get is done, but yea it is done. Hopefully a few of his manly dog habits that were starting to show will go away. You think he likes the pain meds we gave him?

(freaky eyes, and I couldn't edit them out)

I have a bunch of cleaning to do. We hare having a family party here tomorrow night. And my house is dirty. I really like the motivation to get it really clean. These days I am getting to big to do all the regular deep cleaning I usually do, it has just been bare minimum clean. So I am looking forward to having everything "squeaky" clean before Christmas day. I am quite lucky though. I have two, kinda three, reluctant helpers. Lee, Jer and Bode whoo hoo!

Bode has been a big helper these days. Lets see he helped clean up the bathroom, after he pooped in his pull-up and smeared number 2 everywhere. He loves to get himself dressed...in at least 10 different things a day. He helped Lee with her scripture studying by ripping out a few pages. My personal favorite was the helping me fold laundry. Folding laundry is one of my least favorite chores. I usually put it off until the clothes are piling up everywhere are we are living our lives around piles of laundry. Last Saturday night I stayed up late folding all the laundry and was to tired to put everything away so I left it. Sunday night Bode, being such a big helper, decided to refold all the clothes. I wasn't watching him and when I came to check on the quiet kid, all my laundry was in a pile under the Christmas tree. I decided that I couldn't yell or get too mad at him. I know he was trying to help me. But it did make me cry. Seriously, I must be 35 weeks pregnant, because I had to call Jer and tell him what happened, with tears running down my face the whole time. Jer was very sweet and listened to my whole ramblings and then called me every so often that evening to make sure I was ok. Poor people who have to deal with me right now. No wait! Poor me for having to be so crazy hormonal. I need to learn to be better at laundry and put it away.

I still have a bunch of Christmas shopping to do. Opps. Better get on that. Hopefully I can clean today, shop tomorrow morning, cook for the party in the afternoon tomorrow and then be able to relax after that. Oh did I mention that I haven't wrapped present either? This I did on purpose becasue Bode has been very curious about the few that are under there. So I just didn't want him to open any before Christmas, but it is just about Christmas so maybe I should wrap them right?

Hopefully I can get everything done today. Wish me luck. And good luck to you with all your last minuet Christmas preparations.

Jeremiah James

I am so blessed to have married Jeremiah. He really is an incredible person. I am not just saying this becasue I love him. Even if we weren't married, I would feel that he is a great person. He was able to over come great trials in his life and use them for the better. His past could have made him bitter and resentful towards a lot of things. But he chose to use them another way. I won't go into all the details. They are not mine to tell. This was an article written about him when he was a junior in high school. It gives you a brief idea of his past. (if you are interested, I hope it gets bigger when you double click it)

I am very grateful for his family. The Joncas family was blessed with an open heart and I am grateful they opened their doors to so many kids in need.

We don't have a ton of baby pictures of Jeremiah. This was a shot from the hospital. Please notice the incredibly long finger nails. Bode nails looked just the same. They both can clip their nails weekly, and still have better looking nails than mind.

Maybe about 1 year old.

Around 3 years old

2nd Grade 1990

3rd Grade 1991

8 years old

This was the day he was adopted by the Joncas Family.

I think this was about 10 years old

8th Grade

The awesome glasses and "butt crack" hair in all its glory. He lived in Eager/Round Valley in Jr.High. It is funny to me that he only lived a town away from me for a while. I am glad he moved from there though. I don't think I would have married a R.V. boy. That is worse that marring a Snowflake boy. (haha j/k that is for John) Another funny thing is that when he was in high school. He would come up to Pinetop with the Brooks family for vacations. If they had ever attended sacrament meeting they would have been in my ward. I probably would have though he was cute. But he probably would not have noticed me. To quote my little sister "You look better when you got older" thanks Lee.

Freshman year.

I have heard many times form different people that Jer was really particular about his hair. This year I guess he would wet his hair, put gel in it, and then shake his head around until it looked good.

Sophomore Year.

Please note the same shirt and Freshman year. I guess it was his favorite one. It does look good though. Maybe he liked it so much he bought two of them.

Junior Year Basketball
What a stud :)

I know one other reason for Jer's success is good friends. I am thankful for these boys and their families. I guess Jer was not a shy boy. Rena has told me it was not uncommon to find Jer at her house when they came home. No one else there, just him asleep on a bed or the couch.

Jeremiah swears all the crazy things they did when they were young where all Jason's ideas. Now that I know Jason better, I think this might be true.

I think Jer feels that he is just the freakishly tall one in Brooks family. They always treat him so good, and they still do. I am so grateful to be an adopted member of their family. Thank you Rena, Steve, Brandon, Nathan, Aaron and Heather for putting up with him.

Oh yes and it is nice to know that I am not Jer's "best" friend. But that glory spot is reserved for Nathan. Jer said I was his best friend in most things, but not when it comes to outdoor things. I told him to go talk to the bishop becasue your wife is supposed to be your best friend. (Hehe) I am glad he has a friend to go do things with. I know how fun it must be to lug around your pregnant wife places. I just hope that someday I won't have to discipline my teen age son and middle aged husband at the same time.

Not picture here, but Jer's friend Brian. Jer has told me crazy stories of racing down the freeway in their "sweet" cars flying to get to work at dashmat. I am surprised all these boys are still alive. Now I am glad the relationship is a more low-key golfing on the weekend kind of things.

I love Aarron Waldon's pose in this picture. It cracks me up becasue I met him at EAC and every picture I have ever seen of him is this pose. It must be his good side. I am glad that Aaron got Jer to got to EAC. If it weren't for him I would be an old maid with cats.

I never had the opportunity to met Joel. But I know that he was a good friend to Jeremiah and is missed.

Senior Year

I won't get to mushy on everyone here. But I am so thankful for my husband. He is a great example to me. He is the eternal optimist. He is so good to me. He follows the spirit in all his choices. I am grateful that he is a good provider for us. He is such a wonderful father. I would have 10 kids just so Jer could be their dad. They would all be so lucky to have him at their dad. I love him more today than ever and I am thankful that I get to spend my life with him.

7 days to Christmas??

I am loving the "winter" weather the last few days. It isn't snow, but I will take the rain in its place. Can you believe there are only 7 days until Christmas!?! I can't I am not ready. I love all my decorations and don't want to take them down. I love my tree and will miss the glow of the lights. I guess I will enjoy them now.

Jeremiah is loving his job these days. I am glad. It makes him happy to do something that he feels he is good at. We are also a fan of the three days off. Granted they come in the middle of the week, but we like them just the same. Like I have posted before, Jer has been so sweet these days. Last night we went to Cheesecake Factory and then walked around the mall for a while. Not his favorite activity, but he was a good sport. He actually suggested we go. I love him! Not becasue he takes me to the mall, but becasue he thinks about things that make me happy and does them.

I am getting bigger and bigger. Not to much longer though. I have started the every two week appointments now. Isn't that crazy! I still feel like there is so much to do. This little girl is getting so big. Those little sweet streches are gone, to be replaced with strong swift kicks to, well, everywhere. She gets the hiccups about 5 times a day, those are funny. Every time I look at my reflection I laugh. My belly sticks out so much it is comical. After my next appointment on the 29th, we will see were I am. If I were to go on my own at 36 weeks they wouldn't stop it. If I get to 38 weeks then they will induce me. That seems close. Jer has told me to not worry about any baby stuff until after Christmas, then I can go crazy getting all the odds and ends together.

Um where did my baby go!?! Bode is getting so big. He is talking to us so much. Not just little fragment of words but full on sentences. It makes the days so much easier. He can tell me things and what he wants, wich really eases a lot of communication stress. They other day he got up from his nap we asked him what he wanted to do and he said "I want Wal-Mart, go look at toys". I never look at the toy section when we go to the store. I avoid it like the chicken pox. How does he know that that is where the toys are? I didn't think it was the best idea to go, if he does see toys he normally throws a fit when he can't have one. So that is why I avoid the toy section, like so many other moms I am sure. He did so good though. We just browsed the aisles, he would tell us "that way" when he wanted us to turn. He didn't even cry when we didn't put anything in the basket. He can be so much fun sometimes!!

I was thinking yesterday that I have neglected something in my journaling of our lives. Um our roommate. Lee. We actually really like her living here. I don't know what Bode will do when she moves out. I set the table for us the other night, Lee wasn't home, so I set enough for the three of us. Bode was very concerned. He pointed at the plates, naming who they should belong to. Mom, Dad and Bode. Then he looks around and say "Lee, wheres Lee go". He didn't want us to forget her. They are good friends.

Bode's buddy.