Our Date Night Begins...

...with giving little Jaxson a bath!

Landon was driving the missionaries home from dinner and I was putting Jax in the tub. I was wearing my pink shirt and my favorite jeans. Landon was wearing his yellow shorts and his blue BYU football shirt. Jax was wearing... ahem...nothing!

After dropping the missionaries off, Landon came upstairs to join the fun. Jax was splashing, I was laughing and landon entered. He kneeled down beside the tub. I harmlessly splashed some water on him. He looked at me, smiled, picked me up and set me in the bath tub. Dressed and all. I looked at him, smiled, laughed, and told him to hop in!

Jax had bath time with his parents tonight. And I do realize he will never actually want to know that. But I will want to remember that moment for the rest of my life.

7:01 p.m. Jax is put down in his crib
7:06 p.m. I write this post while Landon talks to his friend Justin about his first Med School test
7:13 p.m. We both end our conversations and officially start our friday night date!

Happy friday! Have a great weekend.

(Cheese inspired Date night)

TONIGHT...

JAX is doing this sleeping

I'm watching this watching the presidential debate

Landon is watching the BYU football game

And we are all happy about it!
Go Jax! Go Mitt! Go BYU!!!! 

Happy Thursday

Project #9

So I LOVE medical school :)! I send Landon on his way and I get to do projects all day. Haha! I really do love my husband and if I could spend every minute with him I would. But I can't. So I turn to the next best thing and that is a projects list. If anyone knows me they know I can be distracted by a list for hours, days, weeks, and months! So the first day of school I made this amazing list. I currently have 64 projects with room to add. I also have a book list with room to add. (Right now i'm reading The Book Thief for my very own book club! YAY!)

The cleaning schedule in the picture above was project #6. But today I want to talk about project #9. 

"Organize sock basket" 

Now let me be frank. I'm not very good at folding up the socks when I'm folding the laundry. I've always just taken the socks and thrown them in the basket. This is because I prefer speed over perfection. A blessing & a curse :)! But our basket basketS were getting a little out of hand and Landon was going to church with one brown sock and one black sock and sometimes even twp white socks! AH! So... Project #9 began. 

 

It started off like this...

 Jax was such a good little helper :)

But then... I found myself stuck. I want someone to tell me how all of the socks below don't have a match. I don't get it. Are we the only ones that lose half a pair of socks? Some had yellow toes, some didnt, some had wide stripes, some didn't have stripes, some were different shades of black, some were green, some were brown, some had fancy designs, some had soft materiel, but NONE of them were the same.  How does this HAPPEN????

Oh well. I matched the most similar socks and then the ones that absolutely had no relative I threw away. Don't judge. We still have plenty of socks.

(The homeless socks!)

And after all was said and done. Jax and I wrestled! 

Til my next project...  Happy Wednesday!!!!

You Threw Off My Groove!!!

My camera is being weird so i'll just write tonight. Last week my mom and Scotty came to visit. I know what you're thinking, "You've only been gone 4 weeks!!!" Its true, but, they didn't come to see me, or landon... they came to see Jaxson. Scotty often calls me and says, "Is the baby awake?" or "Put the baby on the phone." But when Jax doesn't talk because he is only 10 months old or he is asleep Scott will say, "Lame... ok... Good Bye!" I think its cute.

It was so fun to have them. We were able to do a few things with Johnny & Marie. We also drove up to Chicago to visit Gary & Jacqueline. It was a fun 6 days. This morning, however, I realized that I was off my groove!

Its always hard for me to get back into my groove. It doesn't take very long and once i'm back on track its super easy to keep going, but getting back on is a mental game. Landon headed to school this morning and I realized that I had an entire weeks worth of work to catch up on. Boo! I sat on the couch and said, "I could just chill today. I could start working tomorrow... it won't make that big of a difference anyway. Plus who would know?" I really thought about it. I honestly felt like I had an little angel and a little devil on my shoulder. Just like in Emperors New Groove. I wanted to listen to the "get up, got to work, you'll be happier" voice, but the "look at this comfy couch, lay down, take a breather" sounded appealing too. I decided to compromise.

I got out a paper and pencil and sat on the comfy couch(Thanks Nate & Sarah). I made a list of everything I needed to do to get things back in order: wash 3 laundry baskets full of dirty clothes, stuff cloth diapers, sweep, mop, clean bathroom, fix leak, straighten up, do dishes, clean fridge, go grocery shopping, etc, etc, etc!

I slowly started working on the list. I have to admit that the first couple of tasks took me a while. I generally get things done really quickly, but this morning I dragged my feet. Kind of like how I imagine the Little Engine that Could when he started out. I imagine that at first he just was barely turning those wheels!

Anyway, I slowly crossed each task off my list and i'm happy to report that I finished everything but sweeping and mopping (I hate doing those things). But i'm SO glad I got up and worked. Got back in my groove. Especially beacuse tonight I lay on this comfy couch with a sore throat, headache, stuffy nose and cough. Yep! I'm sick. And I would have been so mad at myself if I hadn't used today to get caught back up!

Tomorrow is our three year anniversary. I'm making this & this! I can't believe I've been married for three years to my best friend! Today I got back into my groove just in time for tomorrow ;)!Mmmmhmmmm!

Happy Monday

Julie & Landon Lisonbee

PS: If you don't have a lot of time, skip to the fourth paragraph starting with the bolded words! 

The greatest thing that has ever happened to me is becoming a mother. I love being a daughter, I love being a sister, I love being a member of the LDS church, I love being a wife! But, the moment I held Jaxson in my arms, I knew I was finally 100% me!

Many of you know that it took us a while to get pregnant. Not forever... and really in the end, not that long, but I would say it was the second hardest thing i've EVER had to go through. I wanted to hold my baby, I wanted to rock my baby, I wanted to kiss my baby, I wanted and needed to be 100% me. I don't think I could have waited much longer to get pregnant and I was so blessed that I didn't have to. 

However, there are some who have to wait. Some people who would be the best mothers in the world and yet they can't seem to get pregnant. I ache for them. I wish I could find a baby for every single mom who desires one and give them one. But of course I can't. If there is EVER a time that I feel tired or flustered or don't know what to do... I always think of my friends who would give anything to be a mother--100% them. 

So... this post I dedicate to my dear friend Julie Lisonbee. We worked together at BYU and I LOVE her. She is amazing!!! Her husband is amazing. They have been trying to get pregnant for almost 5 years now. Her and her husband have been trying to adopt for over a year now and they haven't found their baby. They were actually selected for adoption, but three weeks before the babies due date, she passed away and was delivered still born. They are doing a ADOPTION BLITZ this week and are asking all their friends, family, and friends of friends to help get the word out. 

Here is their blog: http://becoming-someone.blogspot.com/

Here is their adoption blog: http://landonandjulieadopt.blogspot.com/

Here is their email: landonandjulieadopt@gmail.com

If you know of anyone who may be interested or if you are interested contact them! Also, if you would even put their adoption blog up as your facebook status (landonandjulieadopt.blogspot.com) that would be amazing!!!!! Also you could like their adoption facebook page! I know you might not know them and maybe you know someone else that is trying to get pregnant, but maybe for just this week, during their ADOPTION BLITZ, you could just put their blog up as your status? They will be the greatest parents and I hope that they don't have to wait much longer! 

To Julie & Landon and to all those out there who are so desperately trying to find their baby I pray for you. I wish you the best and I so hope that you can find what you most deserve!

Cloth Diapers: Part 2

Yes thats right folks! Jaxson is not longer in disposables, he is in these: 

       Its been three weeks now. So.... How do I like it so far? What do I think about cloth diapering?  Hmmm... I have a lot of thoughts actually. First, I think its safe to say that if I wasn't going to save $2,000 per child by doing cloth diapers... I would not be doing them. I think I'm also fairly confident that if we were making a steady income... I would be using disposables. But...we don't have an income and we are saving at least $2,000 per child... so I will keep doing them. And hey... maybe i've just had a rough start and things will get easier/better.

The bad things: I think its grosser then I anticipated. Changing a diaper is one thing, but having to spend a minute or two spraying all the poop off the diaper is another.  I also have had a conflict between the diaper brands I have. I purchased two: Fuzzibunz and Bumgenius. I LOVE fuzzibunz, but sometimes they leak. I HATE bumgenius, but they never leak. Jax also got a terrible rash right when I started using the diapers. I don't know if it was the diapers, the detergent, something he ate or what. But it took three weeks to clear up and it is only because I finally used paper towels and water to wipe him. The only other thing I find annoying is that I can't figure out the right place to put the wipe. Before I would wipe and put it in the disposable and then dispose of it. Now I wipe and put it on the ground while I put on the clean diaper then throw it in the trash? I am still working on that.

The good things: They are adorable! It is much more 'green'... which wouldn't be a reason alone that I would do it, but it is still good! I actually really enjoy washing them and hanging them up. Plus the prep work is really easy! And... it saves us $2,000.
 

       I think I had an some unfortunate events that all happened at once to make the experience worse then I anticipated. However, i'm still open minded. I want to want to use cloth diapers. Because all around, I think its better for everyone. However... i'm still at the point where I'm doing it for the money. If you have any suggestions or thoughts... feel free to help :)


This was my part 1:

I'm the budget-er in our family. I love it. I love spreadsheets and calculations and figuring out how to do things cheaper. Landon... hates all of those things. But, he loves that I love it and he trusts me. So I tell him how we are going to spend our money and he says, "Okay!" Works great for us.

Anyway. I've been making our budget for medical school. So fun! I look at my google excel budget sheet probably... 3 times a day.  A little excessive? Yes. A bit of an exaggeration? Yes. But believe you me, its a lot.

I'm not a tree hugger by any stretch of the imagination. And I don't care if my little childs bum is wrapped up in a cute cloth. I don't care that much about blow outs (reviews say cloth eliminates blow outs). And i've always thought diaper rash was just apart of the equation with babies (reviews say cloth lessens diaper rash). But we need/want to do everything we can to save as much money as possible.

So... i'm researching cloth diapers? Any feedback?

Jax & Me

We've been having so much fun the last couple of days! From the walks to playing the piano to throwing balls to eating food to playing hide and seek. Jax is adorable and his cute smile and personality always makes my day!! I thought this was a funny sequence of pictures. 

 

JAX: "Wait Mom... I wasn't ready!!!"

JAX: "Ok now... let me just make sure... how do I do this again?"

"Oh yeah! Thats how!!!"

Seriously... I LOVE HIM!!! 

Landon is loving school. He's worked a lot with cadavers and yesterday he got to scrub in on one of my older brother Johnny's operations. Landon couldn't stop talking about it. He had a BLAST! Is neurosurgery in our future? Who knows... but i'm happy he is so happy! 

Happy Friday, have a GREAT weekend! 

Heaven is for Real

I got this book when we were in Arizona hanging out with Landon's family! It was a fun/interesting read. As a LDS member there were things that I could totally relate to and then there were things that I didn't totally believe. However, I do believe that this little boy met Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ while he was lying on the hospital bed near death. 

I really like inspirational stories like this one or the one by Stephanie Nielsen. I'm looking for more, but for right now i'm reading Little Women... I've never read it before! 

Happy Thursday! 

Its Here!!!

 Landon starts Medical School tomorrow. I think overall we are excited. Of course their are unknowns which cause some nervousness and a little anxiety, but mostly we're excited. We've been talking about this day since the day we got married almost 3 years ago (August 28th). We got married the day before school started and so we missed the first couple of days of school to go on our honeymoon. However, with the decision that we were headed to medical school, Landon didn't want to put his grades at risk... so... he studied on our honeymoon. I thought it was cute then. I think it is stupid now :). 

I feel really blessed for the situation we are in. I know that we are here greatly because of our Heavenly Father. He has blessed us with so much good. We feel grateful. We also made it because of our family. I don't know what we would have done without our families. Thank you all. And you know what you've done :). 

I think the thing that is the hardest for me is that I've been having an absolute blast the last 3 weeks. Frankly the last... well count how many days Jax is.... and thats how long. We found out we were in medical school and we had a baby within 72 hours of each other. Since Jax has been born, we've basically just partied. The last three weeks though have really been the kicker. Like I said before, we were married the day before school started and we've been super busy since. Even our engagement wasn't filled with roses. It was filled with gaze packs and blood from my broken jaw. Don't get me wrong its been a blast, but in a different kind of way. So the last three weeks have been completely stress free, zero responsibility (minus a tiny little baby ;)!), do whatever we want, whenever we want days. I'm sad that its ending. But I'm am more grateful that I had this time. I know its very rare and I feel blessed more then anything. 

So without further adieu, some pictures from the last three weeks! 

Thats not all we did, but those were some of the highlights/pictures. I thought I'd leave with a video. I've never posted a video. We're excited for the this adventure!!!! Wish us luck. Happy Sunday :)

My Own Little London

Phew! Almost settled. 

Packed. Moved. Unpacked. Decorated. Auto Insurance. Renters Insurance. Address Changes with bank, phone, and life insurance. Fixed gas leak. Fixed dishwasher. Internet. Voters Registration. Loan applications. Appeal forms. Budget. 

We still need to... 

Finalize Health Insurance for Jax & I. Clean car. Fix Washer leak. AND... organize the filing cabinet. (Which for the record, has been on my to-do list since pre-jax. I just don't like papers.)

But we are getting so close. I would say the hardest thing about moving is dealing with all the paperwork. At least for me. I could do the packing, unpacking, decorating over and over and over again. But the paperwork, oh my, ALL the paperwork just makes me a little overwhelmed.

Its slowly, and I mean slowly, starting to hit me that I don't actually live with my entire family. There are moments that I think, "Oh my goodness... I really can't just go and knock on nate & sarah's door or I really can't just run an errand with my mom or I really can't just hand jax off to scott or I really can't just say hi to my dad in his office car." Sad. I don't think it will really hit me til Lando starts school. AUGUST 13th. But until I'll just think about these moments like they were yesterday. 

French Manicure with my mom. For those that know me... and my mom for that matter... this really isn't our thing BUT we did it the day before I got married and so we decided we'd do it the day before I left to Indiana. My mom HATED every moment of it but loved her feet afterwards.

 We each got something fun.

 And our favorite place to eat together. Los Hermano's. It was our last mommy-daughter date for a long time. :(

 Mini Golfing. Because we can.

 We made pots at color-me-mine. If you look at my kitchen picture further down you'll notice my finished product. Sarah and I had SO much fun. My mom... well lets just say she is a little indecisive.

 Pazooki night with Jenelle. But not the last one. Just another one in the middle of past and future ones ;)

 Dessert with Log, Lace, and Cor. Lando's holding Lace & Cor's softball trophy--don't ask me why.

Well those were some of the things that we did the last week in UTAH. So here are some of the things that we've done during our first week in INDIANA

We had Johnny, Marie, and boys over for dinner. They live about 30 miles NW of us. It was a blast!

Oh and here is our apartment. After a week I'm realizing there are things I still want to do. Liven up the kitchen for starters. But this is what we have for right now. I have four years to update it right :). 

Oops... and apparently I took these pictures when the baby was napping, because I don't have his room. Its cute. I like it. :) 

Ms. Cami came to visit. It was a blast. Empanadas. Movies. Talking. Indy. Catching up. Lemonade. And so much more.

And finally update on Jax. He loves toothbrushes. LOVES them. Loves Ping pong balls. He is happy and healthy and as cute as ever.  He is moving all over and eating most everything besides cottage cheese and green beans.

We're getting excited for this next phase. I'm so happy with where we ended up and feel like the Lord directed us to this very place. For those of you that know me, you know that I absolutely LOVE London. The times that I was over there were very critical times in my life and it is my home away from home. Ironically our address has the word London in it. Its perfect for me. My little home away from home.