Happy Birthday to Jared!!!

Today is Jared's 28th birthday! As such, it is my privilege to share some extremely embarrassing quirks about him, all in the spirit of celebration. Just kidding Jared, hee hee-I bet anything I had you going! Nah, my real purpose is to tell the blogging world how wonderful my husband is. When we got married, I was literally in shock for the longest time (and still am to some degree) that Jared chose me. He could have married any girl in the world, and he chose me-that is pretty amazing, especially considering the person that Jared is. Here's some of my favorite things about Jared, and definitely worthy of recognition on his birthday; I'll warn everyone now, it gets kind of musy....I figure that's my perogative as a wife :)

1. Jared knows more about the gospel than anyone I have ever met. The experiences he has had and the time he has invested in learning have resulted in such a strong testimony and it makes me want to be a better person every day. I completely admire this about Jared.
2. Jared is so capable and good at everything he does. He is managing the most ridiculously busy schedule right now-I have no idea how he is doing it. Despite that, he remains a dedicated husband and father; he does so because he knows these roles superceede anything else he is doing, regardless of how awful the economy gets. I am not sure he will ever know how grateful I am for his dedication to us.
3. Jared loves me. A ton. :) Not trying to toot my own horn by any means, but I love that about Jared. He knows everything about me and that fact still remains. That's pretty amazing.
4. Jared is so good with people. He connects with people easily and has an ability to "see" people on a different level than most others. He does everything he can to be a peacemaker and I think that is awesome.
5. Jared is so dedicated to our religion. Besides our family, this is his main focus in life, and everything we are trying to accomplish. His faith is incredibly strong. Despite whatever trials we are dealing with, I am truly comforted in the knowledge that my husband will lead us in the right direction because of where his faith lies. that is amazing.
6. Jared is hot. :)
7. Jared is a great singer, and even though he doesn't sing solos as much in church anymore, I secretly listen to him sing during sacrament meeting and to this day get week in the knees.
8. As much as it embarrasses me, Jared really does do a great impression of Michael Jackson.
9. Jared always treats everyone with the utmost respect; he does not judge others at all. He is a great friend, and I am grateful to say he is my best friend.
10. Jared loves his kids to pieces and would do anything for them. In turn, the kids completely admire Jared. It is obvious to me that they view him as their hero. I do too :)

I coud go on forever :) I love my husband so much and cannot imagine life without him. Happy Birthday my dear! And even though I didn't share the embarrassing quirks I previously mentioned, I do get to share some pictures of Jared :) Don't worry sweetie, nothing bad! Just a visual tour of your 28 years (beware, its picture overload.)! Happy Birthday!

Baby Jared!

Jared at 2 years old!

Jared loves playing sports.

Another great love, even as a kid-camping!

8 Years old and getting baptized by dad, Greg Lautenschlager (who still looks pretty much the same 20 years later!)

The pinnacle of Jared's elementary career-in student council and meeting Charles Barkley (who was there to shave our principal's head after the school can food drive).

Aging gracefully-uh, I mean looking manly in Junior High.

The pinnacle of Jared's high school career-running for student council in a very memorable campaign where he stripped...you'll have to ask him for details :)

One of the most memorable experiences of Jared's life-having a personal priesthood interview with Elder Russel M. Nelson.


Senior Year for Jared-which was actually his junior year since he graduated early.

Prepping for his mission to Independence, Missouri. Anyone who knew Jared also knew that "Jared" was synonymous with "missionary".

What I hope is another memorable experience in Jared's life :) Getting married in the Mesa, AZ temple.

Becoming a Dad for the first time in 2004!

Graduating from ASU West with a BS in Psychology! I was seriously so proud of him!

Today at 28 with an ever growing family, a masters degree in the works, and learning as we go. Happy Birthday Jared!

The Apple Brick Road

How do you play Apples to Apples? Here's how Karianna plays:

Dinner Options

While heating up leftovers for dinner....

Jared: Karianna, do you want hot corn or cold corn?

Karianna: Dad, I want POP corn.

Good answer.

I'm a Wimp.

For the first time in six and a half-ish years of marriage, I have to sleep in my own bed without my husband. That makes me sad and nervous and scared. If that makes me a wimp, so be it-I'm still sad. However, I am happy that Jared got to hang out with my brothers-its pretty cool that he feels comfortable enough with my siblings to camp in the middle of nowhere and then play 18 holes of frisbee golf. Talk about the ultimate bonding experience, eh? So in order to quell my sadness, I will be hosting my own movie marathon tonite, and probably hauling Karianna in bed with me when I get tired enough to fall asleep. That's for tonite.

For now, I'll just share a quick Karianna story that is funny enough to make me laugh rather than think about not seeing Jared tonite. I was giving Karianna a bath yesterday and I needed her to scoot over to one side of the tub to make room for JD. The side I wanted to sit in had a tiny black spot; Karianna, being the OCD child that she is every now and then, didn't want to sit over there because of the spot. I pointed out a sponge that was floating in the area I wanted her to sit and told Karianna she needed to sit by the sponge. Instead of scooting over to the other side of the tub where I wanted her, Karianna leaned across the tub, grabbed the sponge, and put it right next to her belly without moving an inch. Then she looked at me and smiled very sweetly, obviously daring me to challenge the fact that she was now sitting by the sponge. How could I argue?

There we go, made me laugh again! Hopefully that little story will keep the home-bound-blues away for a while...

It's the Tongue of The Tiger

Holy crow, I can not stop laughing! Tonite during prayers, JD was having a hard time being reverent to say his prayer. So when we asked him to try it again the second time around he decided the appropriate response would be to stare at us with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. And I literally mean hanging! At first it was quite frustrating-we kept telling him to close his mouth over and over again, but for some reason that just made him open his mouth even wider! I even tried to manually put his tongue back in his mouth. In case you are wondering, it was only successful if the initial goal had been to cover my hand in saliva. I was pretty annoyed at that point and was ready to just send JD to bed when it hit me like a ton of bricks: JD has the biggest tongue I have ever seen. That statement and the realization that came with it was all of the sudden so hilarious that I could not stop laughing. So rather than working on molding my son's actions into that of a respectful child, I covered my face with my non-wet hand and silently cracked up while Jared worked with JD to close his mouth, say a prayer, and end the whole fiasco. I, on the other hand just worked on keeping my laughing under wraps and sh-ing Karianna, who was asking me, "What's so funny Mom?" Seriously funny business, though next time I promise to parent rather than chuckle. JD's favorite animal picture in the whole world looks something like this, and I can't help but think he was trying to conjure the tiger within! I'd say he was successful!

One more post for the day...

Couldn't resist posting this as it was such a fun activity and a great way to keep your pumpkins looking great through Halloween. I found these pumpkin pegs at Walmart for 3.50 a pack-I got two packs just to get a
wider variety of pieces. We had so much fun picking the pieces we wanted for each pumpkin and "plugging" them in; the great thing is you can switch pieces out to make different faces. Tonite I am
planning on having the kids name their pumpkins and it makes a great set up for story telling and journal time. So yeah for cheap Walmart stuff! We are still planning to carve the big one a few days before Halloween, but any sooner and the pumpkin will mold over before the big day; this is a super way to make pumpkins cool long before Halloween hits!

Playing Catch Up

Guess this is what I get for not posting as frequently as normal-I think I just posted 4 different times. I figured it would be easier to post by topic rather than in one long entry. So keep on scrolling and enjoy!

Primary Program!

Sunday was our ward's pimary program and Karianna's first! I was so proud of her, she had a rather long scripture verse to read and she had most of it memorized by the morning of the program. When she got up to the mic, she ended up just repeating it with help from the primary president, but I was still so proud of her! She sat so reverently, sang so (loudly) well, and just seemed so grown up. I curled her hair and let her pick one of my nicer necklaces to wear-she looked adorable. After church was over, she must have been pooped out because she collapsed on the couch as would any baby. I love you Nana-now would you please stop growing up so quickly?

How do you spend your Quiet Time?

Me? I tend to blog. Karianna and cousin Makayla chose differently. They found every pretend food item that my mom owns and set up a very elaborate restaurant. They covered every available surface with food. It was pretty funny! I couldn't get everything in one shot obviously, but every couch, table, and part of the floor looked like this when they were done.

You know you live in Arizona when...

...you start a fire in your fireplace when temps fall under 80 degrees-and thoroughly enjoy it!

JD and Karianna sat here for a long time, completely mesmerized by the flames.

JD is putting his hand out to us in order to hold us back from getting too close the fire. He kept saying, "No, don't move! Stay back!" He would then proceed to blow on the fire as he would a birthday candle. Silly guy!

We Love the Zoo!

On Friday night, I had a bad dream. I dreamed that JD fell into the lion cage at the Phoenix Zoo-down into the trench surrounding the actual lion habitat. In my dream, I jumped in after him and managed to get to him before the lion. Problem solved, right? Although I didn't actually dream it, I woke up knowing the lion had eaten him. Totally unrealistic, I realize. Yet, it scared me enough to issue very strict rules about watching JD with an eagle eye when we went to the zoo on Saturday. All the "Tucson Friends" had arranged to meet there from our various homes, and it was great to see everyone! We unfortuneately got split up early on so our time to catch up was hindered, however I was glad to see everyone and let all of our kids hang out together! If you weren't able to make it, we missed you! Here's some pictures from the excursion, and in case anyone is wondering, JD did not fall into the lion cage and my heart rate managed to stay somewhat normal when we were in the vicinity. I call that a victory.

Hanging out with the cousins-Makayla, Karianna, Jarom, and JD. This was the best way to see the animals, I suppose.

The optimal way to travel.

Trying to get a better view. Us parents decided it would be better to not explain what the two turtles were doing in the corner...

Look Mom, I can be a flamingo too!

Watching the otters could seriously be an all day event.

One of my personal favorites-the baboons, who always insist on sitting right next to the viewing areas! I love it!

Me and JD hanging with the rhinos.

The dreaded lion/tiger area-notice that JD is still on the right side of the fence, although letting him stand on it was pushing my heartstrings a little bit....

Playing at the clubhouse with cousin Makalya, until Makayla fell down and had to sit down for a while....

...as a result, Karianna sat at this window with a sad look on her face, watching Makayla get her bandaids and very obviously missing her cousin!

Hey Mom, can I take this home as a souvenir?

We love the zoo! Good times!

What have you done?

Well, I had some time while chatting on the phone so here you go-take a look at all I have NOT done, I have lived a sheltered life! If you want to do it, just copy, paste and bold the ones you have done! I've only done 37! Pretty sad. But to make myself better, I could write a new list with 99 things that I have done...anyone else able to do a double under 360 with a jump rope? Because I can at the ripe old age of 26 :)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Miscellaneous Mania

Be forewarned-there is no rhyme or reason to this post, pure miscellania (if that's a word).

Here's Karianna being successful with fuse beads as opposed to putting them up her nose. She spent about 40 minutes getting them all on the pegboard with no help-I was seriously impressed as her attention span usually wanes after 15 minutes or so.

Picture quality is awful, but I love Jordan's pose, its like he's seeing King Kong climbing up the Empire State Building as opposed to seeing his mom. Granted, my hair is kind of bushy, but still, a little far-fetched, don't you think?

Ha ha, I love this picture, okay. I went to wake Jordan up and it was immediately obvious to me that he had been crying for a while, as evidenced by the pool of tears. What I did not immediately realize was the cause of his crying fest. Take a look at his right arm. He managed to get it all the way out of his long sleeved PJ and stuck in the front of the jammie-can you tell?

After General Conference on Saturday, we drove into Mesa for the traditional Erickson Priesthood Session Excursion (ie, conference and dinner). On the way, we stopped off at the Temple and took the kids in to see the Christus, and Book of Mormon Art Exhibit, and just walk the grounds. It was a wonderfully cloudy day, the air was saturated with rain, and the grounds looked beautiful-different foliage than I have ever seen at the Temple, it made me feel like a Nephite hiking around in the wilderness. Very unique!



This is the first thing Karianna does in the morning-she comes to find Jordan. He is normally awake and playing. Today he was enjoying some time in what we call his "Playmat" and Karianna decided to cuddle up with him. Very cute, what a great big sister!

Now that was a Learning Experience.

Have you ever seen One Fine Day with George Cloony and Michelle Pfeifer? Good flick. There's a scene in it where the little boy takes the liberty of shoving a marble up his nose. George's character takes him to the doctor who uses a tool called "the alligator" to yank it out; thankfully they declined to show that footage as part of the film. I remember seeing that scene and thinking, that honestly can't be that big of a deal-just pop it out, right? Wrong. Wonder how I know? Because Karianna decided to shove this up her nose today:

The bead, not the tweezers. That would have been painful. Unlike the marble in the movie, this sucker was small-its a fuse bead that you can put on a peg board and iron together. Great project, poor example of a nose plug. Karianna managed to get it stuck so far up that I could barely see it; I only saw a dim bluish glow with the aid of a flashlight. I'm pretty proud of Karianna for not going balistic honestly-I told her not to touch her nose while I figured out what to do, and she did. Her pediatrician told me to go to Urgent Care, but when I called, they said it would be approximately 4 hours of a wait....and I can't imagine having an "alligator" shoved up your nose as being a very pleasant experience. So after having Karianna experiment with blowing air out of her nostril, I thought the bead moved around enough for me to go at it with a pair of tweezers. So with the moral support of Karianna's friend Semanee, and the flashlight-holding skills of Semanee's dad, I managed to extract the little sucker. Thankfully it worked and we were saved yet again from dealing with urgent care and the unpleasantries that go along with it. Thank heavens.

So next time you wonder if the magic of the cinema ever trickles into real life, you now have proof that it does-and it was a ton cheaper too. Albeit I am not as good looking as George Cloony. Sorry.

The Worst of Mommy Judgement

Talk about taking a punch in the gut! Karianna actually took a nap today and when I woke her up, she was excessively grumpy. She kept trying to tell me something, but it was all gibberish in her sleepy state. From past experience, I know trying to calm her only riles her up more, and the best thing to do is to let her calm down on her own. So I tell her to calm down and then come see me in my bedroom. Sure enough she comes in my room after about five minutes perfectly calm. I asked her why she was so sad, and she told me, "I thought you died." Oh no! She must have had a deam or something to that effect and I left her in her room when she was still moving out of a REM cycle. That's the punch in the gut I was talking about and the thing she was trying to tell me in between gabakala and shoometofan. Needless to say I let her know I was just fine and she doesn't seem worse for the wear by any means. Next time I'm going to pay a little more attention to deciphering her words rather than banking on the quick calm down. Poor kiddo!

They're BACK!

What's back you ask? Park Days! We spent about 2 hours at the Anthem Park today and it was a blast! Not only did the kids have so much fun dodging streams of water, climbing the ENORMOUS jungle gym castle, and playing with stranger friends, we didn't break a sweat once! I was actually feeling just slightly chilled! I think my skin was exaggerating the sensation just because we are so used to being sticky within 3 seconds of entering the sun, so the light breeze and cooler temps were bliss. Going to this park with three kids all by myself is a little scary becuase there are 3 different climbers, one of which is huge and unless your child is fairly adept at climbing, it could be slightly dangerous. I shouldn't have a problem right? I mean we are talking about Karianna and JD, with the latter being a climbing phenom! I guess I should have rephrased my statement then: "unless your child is fairly adept at CAREFUL climbing, it could be slightly dangerous". JD doesn't have any inkling that something might hurt him. However, with all that being said, I finally got up the guts to position myself in the middle of the castle-climber with Jordan and I let Karianna and JD explore it. They had a blast and impressed me with their ability to be careful. So I aplogize JD-I underestimated your greatness, sorry about that.

I didn't have my camara, but here's a few pictures of the park. The first is the huge castle climber, which is seriously the most awesome park accessory I have ever seen, especially since I now know my kids can handle it. The second is the train that will take you around the park, through a mountain tunnel, and back to the train station-it takes about 7 minutes to do the whole circuit. We rode it for the first time and it was awesome, especially for kids who adore trains. Even Jordan looked like he was in wonderland-pretty cool! Needless to say we are going to be spending a lot of time at the park; I love to see how happy it makes the kids to run around, explore, and test themselves. Yahoo for Park Days!