Beach!

I have a confession to make. I have been horrible at keeping up with my blog stalking duties for the past couple of weeks because I have been too busy reading this book. (So if something epic has been posted on your blog recently, will you please post the link in the comment section so I don't miss out? ;) To me, polygamy is disturbing yet fascinating to learn about so obviously, I have not been able to put this book down. If you are interested in learning about crazy polygamist cults (please don't tell me I'm the only one!?) I would also recommend this book.

In other news, my in-laws came to visit us this last week and we had a blast! We were at the beach for most of the time and we had a great time. We love the gulf beaches because of the perfectly white sand and clear blue water. Picture time!!!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

  Blue Bell Ice Cream tour!
 
Spencer's dad also took him deep sea fishing one day and I think Spencer's facebook post sums up his experience: "This is what i missed while i was throwing up in the kitchen sink of the boat." Poor guy.
 

We are SO GRATEFUL Spencer's parents came out to see us and wish we saw them more often!!!

One of those anniversary posts*

*Originally posted June 19, 2011

"All because two practically underage people dated for two months and got engaged...."  

Quote from mormonchildbride.blogspot.com

On November 13 2009, my best friend, Katie, got married. I had just gotten out of a serious relationship but was surprisingly excited to be visiting Arizona for Katie's wedding, single. I was excited and happy for Katie and for my other friends who were married, but I did not envy them. I was happy where I was in life. I felt free and excited for the future. I had a mission in mind, or possibly teaching English abroad again after I graduated. I also was proud of Katie for not falling into the "Mormon stereotype" by dating her husband for a frighteningly short period of time. I mean how do you know they're the one if you have known them for less than a year, or have dated them for only a few months?! I even remember talking to her mom at her reception and saying something to the effect of, "Aren't you so glad that Katie dated Aaron for over a year? She's not one of those crazy girls!"

Little did I know that very very shortly I was going to become one of those girls.

The ones who get married at 20.
The ones who marry boys fresh off their missions, boys with no money and no clue what they want to be when they grow up.
The ones who date those boys for a very very brief period of time.
The ones who decide to get pregnant shortly after marriage and who are still as clueless as ever about their future.

The weekend after Katie got married I started dating Spencer. We were engaged by March, married by June, and pregnant the next February. I will not even disclose when we had the official talk about getting married because that is just plain humiliating. 21 days with Thanksgiving Break apart from each other included in those 21 days. Gag.

Growing up, I vowed that I would never become one of those girls. Too bad, so sad. I'll just eat my words because I'm happy.

Happy three years to us!!!

What Jack's been doing without us

I was partly relieved and partly sad that Jack didn't miss us one bit these past few days while my mom babysat him. He did all of the epic things that there are to do in Birmingham with them, like go to the zoo and the library and the park and the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory and the two story Target. I am sooo grateful that my family trekked across the country to play with him because Jack had sooooo much fun! Arizona needs to be closer!

Here comes a bazillion pictures:

The best last minute babysitters ever

Spencer and I are in charge of our Stake's youth conference this Thursday to Saturday. I was worried about finding friends to watch Jack for that long and about leaving Jack for that long, but then out of nowhere, my mom and Elizabeth and Isaac hopped in the car and drove three days straight to Alabama! (They are only staying for four days and then hopping in the car and driving for a million more days again to get back home). They are amazing and we are so happy and grateful they are here!!!! (I don't think Jack is going to miss us one bit.)

Summer time routine

Our summer routine last year went something like this: we woke up at 4:30 am because Jack liked to torture us, Spencer left for work around 8 am, Jack and I hung out in our depressing, empty apartment with millions of garbage bags full of our stuff laying around (the garbage bags because of the bed bugs and the apartment hang out because I did not have a car), I watched the clock a lot, I tried to get Jack to eat food a lot, and we went swimming at our apartment complex every day between Jack's morning and afternoon nap. (Once I got into the pool with Jack, I would have a competition with myself to see how long I could go without looking down at my watch. My record was 33 minutes!) Then we'd go back to our apartment, have a bath, hang out again, watch the clock again, and Spencer would get home at 9 pm because he was taking night classes Monday through Thursday. It was the longest summer of my life and things got a millions times better in the fall when we got a second car and when the bed bugs went away and when I made more friends and when the weather cooled down and when Spencer only had one night class a week. (If you guys are sick of me complaining about last summer and talking about bed bugs, you better stop reading this blog because I am beginning to think that one of my subconscious goals for this blog is to mention it as many times as I possibly can.)

Part of the reason I got a job this spring was because I was nervous about the upcoming summer. Most of my friends take month long exodus' to zion (Utah) during these miserable months or go on other vacations, which stinks because I am definitely a people person and there is just not that much to do by myself with a baby in the heat. 

Our summer routine this year is a lot different than last summer and I am very happy about that: Jack wakes us up at 6 am, we all leave for work at 7:30 am, Jack and I work/play at the Child Center until 1 pm, we come home and Jack takes a nap in the afternoon, Spencer comes home from work around 5 pm and depending on the day, we either all go running together (won't last much longer in this heat) or I leave Spencer and Jack at home while I go back to work to teach swimming lessons. Jack goes to bed around 7:30 pm and once he's asleep, Spencer and I work on planning our church's summer youth conference and/or have a LOST party. 

Here is a list of what Jack does at the child center with some flip phone pictures to go with it:

• He runs on the turf outside.

• He blows bubbles on the turf outside

• He plays with balls on the turf outside. (sometimes he takes a break to stretch his legs)

• He pretends to play computer games in the Mac lab.

• He climbs up the jungle gym then cries when he can't get down.

• He plays on the padded furniture. 

• He reads books in the story corner.

• He hits kids in this house because he knows I can't see what he's doing in there.

• He watches "wooey" aka Woody aka Toy Story 3 while he plays on the train table or shoots hoops. (I find it ironic that the child center shows Toy Story 3 on almost every day. If you don't remember Toy Story 3, it is the one where the toys get sent to the awful daycare and all of the crazy children almost destroy all of the toys)

• I may have made the child center sound too good to be true (which it kind of is) but Jack also cries and clings to my leg about 20-40 percent of the time we are there, depending on how many screaming children are at the child center that day. I would like to believe that 18 month-olds cry 20-40 percent of their days no matter where they are??? No flip phone picture for this one.