Life with The Worthens

Snow Day

2011-02-01T08:12:00.000-08:00

The only way to make Carly look chubby

Jay's attempt at a snow angel (yes, he is sporting his favorite Harry Potter glasses)

A good view of the backyard

There is snow outside. Chad drove 25mph all the way to work. I am not leaving the house. The kids were pretty excited to see the snow and enjoyed a morning in the backyard. Maybe today is a good excuse to sit around and start updating the blog? We'll see...no promises.

Family Update

2010-10-07T21:59:00.001-07:00

It's true. We've been busy. It appears we actually have real lives here in Albuquerque.

We visited Ohio.

We went to the Balloon Fiesta.

Carly turned 2!

Darbie made dresses.

Chad started coaching soccer.

Jay started playing soccer

We've played.

And played.

We've had hot dates.

Jay started Preschool.

Hopefully we'll fill you in on more details later. Life is good.

Swim Lessons

2010-08-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

Jay and Carly took swim lessons for the first time this summer and overall is was a success. Jay LOVED them but Carly was not a huge fan. Jay has always been terrified of water, so it was great to see him warm up to it and start the process of learning to swim. He is no longer afraid to go underwater or be by himself in the water (previously, he would only go in the water while an adult was hold him and gripping his arms around the adult's neck). Carly (who last summer had started going underwater and swimming by herself) was terrified of the water. She didn't perform all the skills to "pass" the swim class, but by the last day (bottom picture) she would at least sit in the shallow water with me and play.

Jay and his teacher (Funny story: His teacher has braces, so when we show up to lessons, I pointed to his teacher and said "Jay, go over there by your teacher" and he said "How do I know its my teacher if I can't see his teeth?"

Wow. I just allowed a picture with a portion of me in a bathing suit onto the blog.

Galloping Grace

2010-08-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

Some people in our ward invited us to go to a great kids ranch in Rio Rancho called Galloping Grace Youth Ranch. The kids get to ride the horses for free, but they are required to do chores around the ranch before they get to ride. I don't know that the kids really understood that they were doing work though, because they thought scooping horse poop was a blast!

Jay rode the horse for a long time and even got to ride for awhile without the trainer guiding the horse. I was shocked that Jay wasn't scared one bit and didn't even flinch when the trainer said he was going to let go of the reins. I guess this boy is growing up!

They offered to let Carly ride (even though they prefer that the kids are 3), and she was so excited...until we tried to put her on and she freaked out. Maybe next year!

4th of July

2010-08-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed our 1st 4th of July here in Albuquerque with just the 4 of us. We had a fabulous time celebrating with a 4th of July package from Grandma Melinda and the kids' first fireworks show. We went to see fireworks in Rio Rancho and sat in the football stadium to watch. The kids LOVED the fireworks and Carly was even caught saying "Oooo, that's awesome!". The show and the music were incredible. We will definitely be heading back to Rio Rancho for next years fireworks!

Chad bought fireworks and set them off in the driveway for Jay and I. Carly went to bed early and missed the show. This was my first time ever doing fireworks at home. Chad thinks it is crazy that I never did fireworks as a kid. We always had sparklers, but I never remember fireworks. Chad thought I was unnecessarily nervous.

Random Summer-ness

2010-06-21T20:25:00.000-07:00

Summer is here and busier than ever.

Enjoying our new yard and kiddie pool.

Went to an Albuquerque Isotopes game.

Kids started swimming lessons at a city pool and they love it.

Loving picnics on our "patio". (I promise, they don't just eat chips)

Attempting to grow things in our garden and failing miserably.

Trying to keep grass green in Albuquerque is a struggle.

Eating otter-pops daily.

Determined to try our ice cream maker we got for our wedding (we've moved it 4 times and never used it).

Trying to convince Jay it is alright to play with kids who don't like Star Wars.

Planning tons of vacations, who knows if we'll actually take any.

Update

2010-04-20T20:40:00.000-07:00

Maybe someday we’ll blog often enough that we won’t have to do these random catchup updates, but for now, we’ll update you in the usual list form.

-Chad passed the New Mexico bar exam!

-Chad got called as the Elder’s Quorum President in our ward. We tried to lay low, but apparently that didn’t work out. We know he’ll be awesome, but will miss him while he goes to a million meetings on Sundays.

-We’ve hired someone to clear the rocks out of our backyard and put in sprinklers, sod, and concrete. (thank you tax refund) We’re excited to have a safe place for the kids to play all summer. (The yard was overgrown with goat head plant when we moved in and there are “stickers” everywhere and the kids (and adults) get them stuck everywhere and they hurt pretty bad.) Hopefully the yard will be done in the next couple weeks!

-I ran a half marathon last Saturday. I trained really hard for 3 months hoping to beat the time of the half marathon I ran 2 1/2 years ago. I hurt my ankle during the race and ended up finishing way worse than my goal time. I'm still pretty upset about it, but now I just have to run another one and try again.

-I've been on a domestic kick and have experimented with some sewing and cooking. I am quite proud of the homemade yogurt I made and Carly loved it. I've also made a dress and a couple shirts for Carly to wear. I'm still working on decorating the house, and I promise I’ll put pictures up when I'm done.

-Jay has made great strides in the eating department. I'll save the long background story and progress for another post (I'm even drafting it now), but let's just say this kid is eating fruits daily and vegetables on occasion, which is a HUGE improvement.

-Jay is addicted to Star Wars. It’s hard to make this a firm diagnosis, but here are some of his symptoms:

Sleeps with a light saber

Every toy he owns can be turned into a light saber

He’s convinced Star Wars goes on forever “Well mom, in Star Wars 52, Anakin decides to make good choices and not join the dark side, so then Anakin and Darth Vader are 2 different people."

Throws a small fit every time all his Star Wars shirts and underwear are dirty

Drools over and memorizes every toy in the Star Wars aisle at every store “Mom, I don’t want to go to Target, let’s go to Walgreens because they have a green Yoda light saber and Target doesn’t”

Willing to lightsaber fight with everyone, everywhere, all the time!

The Easter Bunny brought him a clone trooper costume for Easter and he eagerly ran into our room to wake us up and tell us that the Easter Bunny brought him “exactly what he wanted”.

-Fun Jay quote:

Jay: “Mom, I hate strawberry jelly” (note, he has never tried strawberry jelly)

Mom: “Well, strawberry jelly hates you” (yes, I understand I shouldn’t be encouraging him to use the word “hate”)

Jay: “Strawberry jelly doesn’t hate anyone. Strawberry jelly doesn’t have feelings!”

-We’re currently going through an extreme pessimistic phase with this kid (please tell me it’s a phase) and we can’t get him to be happy about anything. He whines about EVERYTHING and gets off on the wrong side of the bed every morning. (Ironically, he actually pointed out to me that he actually does get off of the wrong side of the bed because he gets off on the right side just like the boy in the “What are you so grumpy about!” book. Perhaps we should switch the room around) We’ve tried playing Polyanna games where we talk about happy things, but it just isn’t working on this kid. Perhaps his parents’ pessimism is rubbing off on him and we need to start at the source.

-Jay is still a smarty pants and loves doing his "homework". He'll sit at the kitchen table for over an hour working on his workbooks and practicing his letters. We're working on spelling out words and the beginning reading. We've got him signed up for preschool in the fall and he is really excited.

-Carly is seriously adorable. Even “I’m so cute I could get away with murder” adorable. She’s got a contagious smile and she’s happy 95% of the time.

-She’s gotten to be a little bit picky with food than she used to be, but her top 5 favorite food list includes broccoli, mac and cheese, oatmeal, yogurt, and bananas. Yep, the girl LOVES broccoli. One night she would only eat broccoli for dinner, but how can you be upset with that?

-She’s learned how to open the fridge, which has resulted in tomatoes (which she proudly called apples) being strewn all over the house, and most recently a Tupperware container of homemade syrup dumped on the couch. Thank goodness for the Bissell Little Green (and no, they didn’t pay me to say that, I just love it so much) we had to purchase when she vomited all over the couch a few months ago. See, I told you this girl can get away with murder. She’s also discovered how to open the oven, which means she is never unattended when the oven is on, and we check the oven for my little ponies before we cook anything. We’ve got to get a lock for the oven for sure.

-Her vocabulary is growing quite a bit and she will at least attempt to say everything you ask her to say. She’s discovered the word “please” and the power of her cuteness. She will look you in the eye and say “PEEEEEEZ” and it is difficult to say no. Recently, she was sick with a bad sinus infection and not sleeping. I was awake with her and we went downstairs to watch TV. Even in her lethargic state, she looked me in the eyes on the couch and said “Door, Boos, PEEEEEZ!”, which is roughly translated as “Dora, Boots, Please” was a plea for me to turn on Dora. (I never imagined I would have a kid obsessed with Dora, but here we are) Her favorite thing to ask for lately is “Wash, please” which means she wants to play in the water in the sink.

-This girl is going to be a bossy one for sure. Jay and Carly were outside playing the other day, and we told them it was time to come inside. Carly came in right away, but when she noticed we were still having to call for Jay, she march right back outside and right up to Jay and we heard a bunch of sing songy gibberish and made out the words “Jay” and “Dada”. Then she marched back inside and stood at the door as if to say “I’m waiting! I told you it was time to come inside!”

-She is a really good sleeper and even requests naptime during the day. She currently has a favorite blanket (“bay-pet”) and a couple favorite bears that she must be holding when getting into or out of her crib. She loves picking out books to read before bed and has an obsession with teeny tiny board books.

-A girl in the ward was taking pictures for a hairbow company and I volunteered Carly to model some bows for her. Carly had woken up at 4 am that day and was pretty grumpy during the shoot, and I'm not sure if she really got any good ones she could use for the company, but she did get some cute serious face pictures.

Blogger is not letting me upload pictures currently, so you'll have to wait until later for some cute pictures.

Happy Heart Day!

2010-02-13T20:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day!

Love, Jay and Carly

Yes, Jay has had a haircut since these pictures.

Sneak Peek

2010-01-21T19:57:00.000-08:00

We found the camera cord. While I'm sifting through pictures of cute kids, here is a sneak peek of what we've done so far in the family room. It's not much, but we've committed to the curtains (lovingly made by my mom) and everything else is in the works.

And I know you're thinking, "how in the world did that Southwestern kiva fireplace sneak its way into the house without Darbie noticing and vetoing said house?" The world may never know. We're experimenting with ways to downplay the "southwestern-ness", any suggestions?

Still Alive

2010-01-20T12:47:00.000-08:00

Yes, we're still alive. Yes, we're still in New Mexico. Yes the kids are still adorable.

You'll have to take our word for it on that last one as we seem to have lost the camera cord in the move (which I would use as an excuse for not keeping you up to date, but I only discovered it was missing today when I tried to post pictures on the blog). You can view some never before seen pictures of Carly's 1st birthday (circa August 2009) on Mahina's photography blog here. Remember how misplacing my camera for a few days around Carly's party was the best mistake I ever made? Mahina had to bring her camera and capture some shots, and then the photographer in her couldn't just give them to me raw, she edited them all pretty and stuff and gave them to me on a cd. We'll show you more of those pictures later, for now just enjoy the sneak peak on Mahina's blog. She's just awesome.

As for my quest to have 100 reasons to love New Mexico by the end of 2009? Well, I'm struggling a bit with that one, so my quest for 2010 is to complete that list. I am slowly adding to the list and hopefully will have another edition of "Loving New Mexico" soon.

We're still loving the new house and still figuring out how to decorate. My parents were here over Christmas and my mom made us awesome curtains I will show you once we can transfer some pictures. We have a lack of furniture and decorations to fill the house, but we are gradually working on the finished product. I'm pretty slow and indecisive, so decorating becomes a long process.

We had a great time with my parents and brother here for Christmas and then we all piled in our van and headed to Arizona for a week. It was great to see family and hang out with awesome cousins. We squeezed loads of lemons and now our freezer is filled with lemon cubes ready to be made into lemonade on the spot. We visited with Baby Bunny and the fam and remembered why we love her so much. We went to IKEA which was fabulous now that we can check Jay into the babysitting place (he thought it was the coolest place ever). We hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Baker, which is just awesome. We even got out without Grandma convincing us to make another quilt this time (she has lots of fabric to use up, and every time Chad and I go visit, she helps us make a quilt). We caught up on our westerns and game shows with Grandpa, and dreamed about having a grocery store in our basement like Grandma. Hopefully we'll be able to visit Arizona more often, and maybe even convince some of them to visit us :)

We have pretty simple goals for 2010. Stay in one place and adjust to our lives in New Mexico. Since we've been married, we have not remained living in one place for an entire calendar year. We've left for summer internships, and moved for jobs. This year is the year of stability (cross your fingers). We should even be staying in the same house the entire year (hopefully, after all, we own it...alright, I know, the bank owns most of it). In 2009, we lived in 4 different homes.

Chad is still studying for the New Mexico bar exam he will take in February. He plays on a basketball team and loves getting a workout doing what he loves once a week. He stills enjoys his job and loves his fabulous family.

I've been spending a lot of time with my new Albuquerque BFF, my new treadmill. It couldn't be more fabulous. I can run during Carly's nap time (while Jay is close at hand playing PBS kids games online), or in the morning, or at night. I'm finally able to get the amount of running I like to do squeezed into my life. I also have some crazy knee issues (read knee caps scraping against bone) that are much less painful when I run on a treadmill. I'm running my 2nd half marathon in April, and hopefully my knees survive. I'm using Hal Higdon's half marathon training guide found here as my guide. Chad and I used the Novice level for our last half marathon, so I'm moving up to the Intermediate level for this race. Even though I'm probably still a Novice (I ran that half marathon 2 1/2 years ago and have only run 1 race since), the intermediate level has more structure and speed training that I'm a fan of. My only goal is to beat my time on my last half marathon, which shouldn't be too hard. I'm super slow, but I'm hoping to be less slow this time around. I'll be doing most runs during the week on the treadmill, but long runs on the weekends will definitely be outside (have you ever tried running more than 5 miles on a treadmill? Quite boring.)

The kids get cuter and crazier everyday, but I'll save exciting kid stories for when we have cute pictures to go along with them.

Loving New Mexico - 2nd Edition

2009-11-03T21:17:00.000-08:00

4- Balloon Fiesta - Albuquerque is home to the International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta, and it is quite an amazing sight. Hundreds of balloons lift off early in the morning every day for a week. We went one morning and sat and watched the balloons as they lifted off, it was awesome! We also went to the "Special Shape Glow-deo" where all the special shape balloons inflate and sit in a big field where you can walk around and see them light up. Its definitely a unique event that all of you should come see next October!

(These pictures don't do it justice at all, see cooler pictures here and here)

5- Friendly Attorneys - We've been invited to several get togethers with attorneys that Chad works with and we have several more planned. Its been great to get to know them and its been great to start having friends here.

6-Chad's Job - We're very grateful that he's employed and he loves his job. What more could we ask for?

7- In laws nearby - Chad's parents live here, and it's been nice for us to have family here while we adjust to our new lives. The kids love still living by one set of grandparents and constantly being spoiled.

8-Panda Express - They don't have Panda in Ohio (at least near where we were living) and its delicious.

9- Dion's - Yummy pizza they only have here in Albuquerque.

10- Our first house! Ugly as sin on the outside, but fabulous on the inside. We decided early on in our house hunting that I just had to not care what the outside of the house looked like. If we decided that we were not going to buy a house with stucco we would have severely limited our options. Now, not only did we purchase a house built of stucco, but it even has a flat roof and looks like a prehistoric dwelling. Don't get me wrong folks, I LOVE this house, but I will never pretend that the outside isn't ugly. Here she is!!

We're moving in this weekend!

Alright, I can't just make a blog post without adding a couple pictures of some cute kids.

Random

2009-09-28T18:56:00.000-07:00

We have lots of random things to say, so if you'd like to be in the know, read on.

-Carly doesn't have a stuffed animal, she sleeps with books. She insists on being laid in her crib with a small board book and she's usually still clutching the book when she wakes up.

-Jay thinks everything that comes out of Carly's mouth is "gaGA" (emphasis on the 2nd GA), so he uses the word constantly. For example "Mom, watch me gaGA", or "Carly wants gaGA for lunch". He even sings entire songs replacing all words with "gaGA".

-Most of you know that shortly after Carly was born, she developed a hemangioma under her left eye. (She also developed one on the back of her head, and one on her back, but the one under her eye was the most noticeable.) There was a possibility that the one under her eye would need to be removed for fear of it interfering with her vision, but thankfully it was not a problem. We were told the hemangioma would fade over time and go away by the time she was 2, but currently the hemangioma is almost completely gone. Here are 2 pictures for comparison:

6 Months Old

1 Year Old

-Carly is almost walking. Actually, she is walking, but won't do it if she thinks you're watching. If you turn around and pretend you're not looking, she'll gladly walk across the room.

-Jay now officially has chores to do. His chores include unloading most of the dishwasher, making his bed, and picking up toys all over the house. He does a pretty good job and is still pretty excited about doing them, but I'm sure that won't last. Sometimes he gets a quarter for doing them, but he really doesn't care about the money.

-Yes, I am likely allowing my 3 year old to be the same thing for Halloween as every other 3 year old boy. Spiderman.

-We're buying a house and just have a few more hoops to jump through before we can close. We really love the house and are really excited to have a permanent place of residence. We'll show you pictures as soon as we close! (yes, its stucco and has a flat roof)

-We really want to purchase Beatles Rock Band for the Wii. However, since we don't want to use money from the monthly budget, we're trying to find creative ways to find money to buy it without using "real" money accounted for in the budget. So far, we're cashing in the spare change, and using Amazon giftcards earned through Swagbucks to raise money for our cause. We're about half way there, so we're hoping to be able to get it by Christmas!

-Chad and I are getting back into shape and even trading off days running at 6 am. (Chad's parents have a treadmill and it has been very convenient) I am not a morning workout person, but we've been consistent for a few weeks and it feels good. We're searching for a race to run, but all races around here seem to be on Sundays.

-Chad's parents have a fabulous apple tree in their yard and so we picked tons of huge delicious apples. I tried my hand at making applesauce and it turned out quite yummy. I was going to try canning the applesauce, but I got a little overwhelmed and decided to just freeze the applesauce instead.

-Speaking of how domestic I am, did you hear that I won a pie contest? Some attorneys at Chad's law firm invited us to a pie party and I made a lemon meringue pie fro scratch to enter into the contest. To my surprise, I won! (It was delicious if I do say so myself)

I've got another edition of "Loving New Mexico" almost ready for publishing, so stay tuned!

Loving New Mexico - 1st Edition

2009-09-18T13:36:00.000-07:00

My goal is to find 100 reasons I love New Mexico by the end of the year in order to encourage a more positive outlook on our current situation. I better get cracking.

1. Sidewalks everywhere - Ohio is seriously lacking in the sidewalk department. Who's dumb idea was it to build 95% of Copley, OH without sidewalks? Albuquerque has sidewalks everywhere and me and my stroller love them.

2. Tortilla availability - It's true, you can find a huge selection of tortillas and green chilies everywhere. One time in Ohio we couldn't find the tortillas at the grocery store, so we found an employee and asked:

"Where could we find the flour tortillas?"

to which he replied,

"Is that hard taco or soft taco?"

3. Explora! The kids science museum here is fabulous! Jay and Carly love it (there seriously is even stuff for Carly to do), and we go almost weekly. We split a year membership with Chad's parents and it has already paid for itself several times. They even have Adult Night every other month and Chad and I are really excited to go this month and explore the place by ourselves.

Albuquerque Living

2009-09-06T16:10:00.000-07:00

Well, we've been here in Albuquerque for almost 2 months now. We're still staying with Chad's parents while we try to find a house, so it really still feels like vacation. Every couple days (alright, just about everyday) I say something to Chad like "Do I really live in Albuquerque, New Mexico?" or "I never thought in my wildest nightmares I would be living in Albuquerque". Truth be told, it's not all that bad. I just try not to think too much about my brown surroundings and the Ohio green I miss so much.

We're searching for a house to purchase before we miss out on the tax credit, so the clock is ticking. We're waiting on an offer, and still searching. Hopefully we will soon have a house and be able to get all our stuff back and maybe this place will start feeling a little more like home.

Chad is loving his job. He is busy learning to do complicated estate planning and studying for the New Mexico bar exam he will take in February.

It's been suggested that I start posting "Reasons I Love Albuquerque" posts on a regular basis to convince myself that I like it here. I'm working on it and progressing day by day. I no longer have to hold back tears every time someone says "How do you like Albuquerque so far?" so I consider that a huge improvement. I think I've got quite awhile to adjust to this situation, so I'm going to take it.

The kids are having fun and growing so much. We've posted updates and pictures of each of them below (I know, 3 posts in one day, CRAZY!)

All About Jay

2009-09-06T14:08:00.000-07:00

Most of you know Jay has numerous eating/gagging/swallowing/breathing issues due to some ENORMOUS tonsils that took up the majority of his mouth. Every doctor who looked in his mouth says "Whoa, those things are huge!". Well, we finally got him to an ENT here who said the same thing and even went as far as to diagnose him with sleep apnea due to the monsters in his throat. So, for Jay's sake (and the sake of anyone who has had to sleep near the snoring beast) we opted to get his tonsil's removed.

They set up surgery for 4 days later, and Jay did great! Immediately after the surgery, he had a much easier time breathing and sleeping. He had a few really hard days, but quickly began to become his old self again, despite the fact that he didn't eat anything (with the exception of a couple chocolate milkshakes) for over 7 days. All soft items (yogurt, pudding, applesauce, popsicles, etc.) are not foods that Jay touches with a ten foot pole, and therefore he was left with nothing to eat. We had hoped the surgery and subsequent starvation would motivate him to try new foods, but apparently hunger is not a motivator for this kid. He's back to eating waffles and nuggets and surviving just fine.

Jay has also FINALLY entered the big boy world and has started potty training. We've been trying to get this kid on a toilet since he was 2 1/2 with no success. Up until a few weeks ago, he would not even sit on the toilet (even with the promise of entire bags of m&m's for merely sitting on the toilet). I guess it is true that the kid just has to be ready, and Jay was too busy doing other things to take a break to sit in the toilet. He still needs to be constantly reminded to go, but he's pretty much arrived. For the first few days when he would have accidents it was pretty hilarious. We would hear an "Oh Crap!" from the other room (thank you cousins for teaching him such eloquent words) followed by a "Mom! I told you I should wear plastic pants!"

Jay is adjusting quite well to Albuquerque. We went hiking the other day and he was very confused about what we were actually doing because he thinks we can only hike in the "forest". He's gotten comfortable in Primary at Church. Perhaps too comfortable as he fell asleep in his chair during singing time today. He begs to have friends his age to play with, but his mother lacks friends in this new place and therefore Jay must suffer. Hopefully, when we figure out where we're going to live, we can get him some friends and perhaps even preschool.

He's loving transformers, superheros, and the wii. He's all boy and we love this kid.

And don't worry, we got this shaggy kid a haircut last weekend.

All About Carly

2009-09-06T13:54:00.000-07:00

Carly has changed so much since we left Ohio. Since we've been here in Albuquerque, she's added 3+ teeth to her tiny mouth, numerous foods to her diet, and about 0 pounds. That's right folks, we've got a little peanut on our hands (ironic considering her newly discovered peanut allergy). At her 1 year appointment she weighed a whopping 17 pounds and some change. According to the doctor, she's off the charts (on the bottom end) for a 1 year old. I'm constantly wondering how Carly and Eliza (her cousin) could be related, Eliza outweighed Carly coming in at 17 lbs 12 oz at only 4 months old.

Carly turned 1 on August 16th and we had a fun alphabet party with family and a few friends here in Albuquerque. Pictures to come as our camera was missing for her party and we had to have one of the guests (who happens to be a fabulous photographer) capture the event.

She's still cruising around while holding onto things with little desire to walk on her own, which is perfectly fine with us. She doesn't say any words besides "mama", but there's not much room to get a word in when you hang out with Jay all day.

She's still quite mellow and loves to giggle at her brother, to which he will reply "Mommy! She's laughing at me", which only makes her laugh harder. She's fearless when it comes to Jay and has no problem stealing toys, pushing him over, or just screaming in his face.

She's constantly fearless. We've started to teach her to swim, and she willingly goes underwater and tries to swim towards us. At the playground, she dives head first down all of the slides (giving her mother a heart attack) and once and the bottom climbs to the top of the playground and dives down again.

Our Next Adventure

2009-06-30T05:07:00.000-07:00

Chad has been offered a good job in Albuquerque, New Mexico! We've decided to take the job and begin our next big adventure in Albuquerque. We're leaving quickly and frantically trying to pack and tie up loose ends. Ten days from now, we will be heading to Albuquerque to start our new adventure.

We're both very excited about his new job! The job is perfect for him and will focus on an area of law that he loves. We're excited to live near his parents and continue the grandparent spoilage we've enjoyed here in Ohio. We will also be much closer to Darbie's extended family in Arizona, making for some fun weekend road trips!

At the same time, we are VERY sad to leave Ohio. We've made fabulous friends here and we're sad to move to a place where we have no friends. We've also loved living near some of Darbie's family, and we're very sad that we won't get to see them as often.

We are so grateful that we have found a good job so quickly, especially in the currently crappy economy. We have received so many blessing in the time we have been unemployed and have learned so many lessons that will hopefully improve our life in the future.

I'm sure we'll be taking a blogging hiatus until we get to Albuquerque (not that we need moving as an excuse, but if it's there, I'm going to use it).

Just can't get enough!

2009-06-26T19:19:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned...we just may have some big news to share.

Family Update: Cleveland Rocks

2009-05-24T17:40:00.000-07:00

My brother Derrick is home from Uruguay! We're so excited to have him back, but maybe not as excited as Jay, he won't stop talking about how much soccer he's going to play with Uncle Derrick. A lot has happened in 2 years. Here is the funniest picture from the airport, when Carly met her Uncle Derrick:

Alright, it's update time.

As far as our family goes, we're still unemployed, and still pretty bummed about it. Our lease for our apartment ends at the end of the week, so we were forced to make a decision about where to go. We've decided to stay here in Ohio for at least 3 months (we're not ashamed to admit that this tourism video for Cleveland was the basis for our decision). We're signing a 3 month lease on a house our friends have abandoned in favor of a fabulous house they just purchased (for the price of a VCR). They had 3 months left on their lease, so we're going to finish up their lease on a 3 bedroom house and then re-evaluate our situation when it comes time to move again. We're excited to have a yard for the summer, and an extra bedroom for Carly.

We're striving to be optimistic, but some days we struggle quite a bit. We have no idea what the future holds, and it causes a lot of anxiety. We know that our situation could be much worse, and we are so grateful for our relatively stable financial situation and the opportunity to have a fun summer break with the freedom to do fun things together as a family.

Since our lives are boring, here's onto the kids:

Jay:

It's true, he read the flight instructions for half of the flights to and from Albuquerque. He asks what every picture means, over and over again.
Thrives solely on frosted mini wheats, chicken nuggets, and waffles
Asks Why? to every question, and everything that's not a question
Still not potty trained
Pretends to be "Firefighter Jay" most of the day
He jumped up in the middle of Primary to tell everyone that he was the "best singer". Another child jumped up after him and Jay thought he also screamed that he was the "best singer". He completely freaked out and had to leave Primary. (We tried to tell him that everyone could be the best singer, but he's smarter than that. He said "No Daddy! If Noah says he is the best singer, then I CAN'T be the best singer!) We also found out later that the whole ordeal was a misunderstanding. The boy didn't say "I'm the best singer," but rather stood up to tell everyone "I'm going to Sea World!"

Carly

This girl sure can eat! She already eats a million things Jay has NEVER, and yes, I seriously mean NEVER, tried in his life, including: beans, cheese, corn, and avocado. (I'm now convinced it isn't my fault that Jay ate baby food until he was 2 and still won't eat. Seriously, I didn't know babies just ate what you put in front of them and didn't gag and throw up.)
She's decided she doesn't like 1 food: peaches. Yep, she even loves all the veggies.
She army crawls everywhere. I'm convinced she'll never crawl normally. It's pretty darn cute, and she's super fast!
She is fearless! She just dives into the bathtub on her belly and scoots around with the water splashing all over her face. (Jay's kind of a wimp when it comes to water)
She's seriously adorable

Overall, we're all doing just fine. At least we're not Detroit.

There Are Pretenders Among Us

2009-04-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

Any of you that knew Darbie during her college years probably knows that she is a huge fan of the show The Pretender. Well as Jay has gotten older, I have discovered that, just as the show explained during the opening credits, "there are Pretenders among us". For the past couple of months, Jay wants to pretend like he is someone or something all of the time. It started off with him pretending to be a fire fighter, putting out fires all over the house. As he began to understand the movies and TV shows he was watching, he began to pretend he was one of the characters of the movie/show of the week. He first started by acting like Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story II. I, of course, was the Evil Zerg and Jay always wanted to re-enact the scene where Buzz and Zerg fight as the beginning of the Movie. After receiving the movie Bolt for Easter, Jay always wants to play "Bolt Friends" which consists of him pretending to be Bolt, Darbie pretending to be his owner Penny, me pretending to be the evil Dr. Calico (note the evil theme) and Carly pretending to be Rhino (the suped up Hamster).

Lately, however, his pretending has become much more real life. For the past week, Jay has spent about 1/3 of the day pretending that he is me and making me pretend to be him. In his role as the "Dad", Jay leads me through the routine events of the day, mimicking my actions in each of the different situations. For example, Jay will have me act like I am asleep and then wake me up. At this point he will tell me "Now say 'I want a snack Daddy.'" After I follow that command he says like it was scripture and verse "No Jay, not until after breakfast". It is a fascinating way to examine our interactions from a different perspective.

Aside from using his ability to pretend for entertainment, Jay also tries to use it to avoid the rules or undesirable situations. Several times we have walked to the car and Jay has said "Let's pretend I'm the Daddy and you're Jay. I am the driver." Needless to say I only let that one work once before I caught on ;).

When it comes to meal times, Jay conveniently decides that I will play his role, meaning that I have to eat his lunch. One day, as I was pretending to be Jay, I said in Jay-like fashion "I don't want to eat my waffle, I want a snack!" Jay, playing a fabulous father figure replied: "Jay, if you're hungry enough to eat a snack, then you're hungry enough to eat a waffle".

To end most mealtime pretending dilemmas, I simply mention that if he is the Daddy, he has to eat Daddy foods. This takes him right out of pretend mode and right into eating chicken nuggets.

Jay's desire to pretend can get obnoxious at times. He gets mad when you don't respect his pretending wishes, making some of the daily fights twice as difficult. But sometimes his pretending can be pretty cute. For example, he likes to mimic our bed time routine. He will make me lay on the floor next to his bed, then he puts a blanket on me, sings me a song, and says "I love you Jay" with a hug and a kiss. Another memorable pretending episode occurred this morning. We were eating breakfast and out of no where, Jay says, "Let's pretend I'm Jesus and (pointing to Darbie) your a children and (pointing to me) your a children." I was a little uncomfortable when my child declared that he was going to pretend to be the Savior, but he pulled it off quite nicely. He came to me gave me a big hug and softly stroked my cheek (in the same manner Jesus does in many of the paintings with Him and children) and then he did the same to Darbie. It was pretty cute. I'm just glad to know that Bolt and Buzz Lightyear are not the only figures that Jay has learned about in our home.

I'm sure this pretending thing will taper off eventually, but who knows, maybe Darbie and I are parents of a real Pretender. (In which case we would of course "exploit his genius for our research")

Too Late to Find a Job?

2009-04-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

We've been informed that our blog is depressing to look at with no new posts. Not much has changed with our current situation, but the kids keep getting cuter, so I suppose an update is in order.

Jay is hilarious. He's is quite aware that his dad doesn't have a job and it has made for many funny moments (at least he gets us to laugh about it).

In the van on the way to go walking at the mall, we heard that Timbaland song "Apoligize" (You know, the one that says "It's too late to apoligize" over and over) on the radio. Shortly after we start walking, I hear Jay singing his own version of the song from the stroller. It goes like this: "It's too late to find a job"

Shortly after we told Jay that Chad lost his job, Jay says "I give you a job, I have lots of moneys!" and runs to his room to retrieve his piggy bank and prove it.

The kids and I ran into my mom at Walmart and while we stopped to chat, Jay was getting impatient and wanting the box of Band-Aids we were purchasing opened immediately. I told him that we couldn't open them until we bought them, to which he replied "I'm going to buy them by myself". My mom then said to him "Oh, do you have your own money to pay for them?". Jay stomps his foot and firmly (and loudly) replies "No! I don't have any moneys! My daddy doesn't got a job!"

Jay is officially in the "Why?" stage and I can't count how many times he says it in a 5 minute period. This kid wants answers. He doesn't settle for "I don't know". He always says "You DO know!" and asks the question again. Most of the time I just don't have answers. My favorites questions today are "Why is Carly a baby?" and "Why is that a garbage truck?". It's cute, but exhausting. He still survives on a diet of chicken nuggets and waffles with an occasional microscopic bite of a banana.

Carly is an adorable and pleasant 8 month old (seriously, time flies). She's got 2 teeth and she's scooting around the house. She's almost got the crawling thing down. She eats way better than Jay did/does. Jay can always get her to smile just by looking at her.

Here are a few pictures from last few months. Enjoy!

I LOVE this picture! She's wearing a hand knitted outfit and booties knitted by a lady in our ward, and she's laying on a quilt my Grandma made.

Brother sister bonding over TV. Jay's eye is bruised and healing from the Walgreens shopping cart incident. Jay flipped the shopping cart on top of himself with Carly still in it...but that's a whole other blog post.

More Carly cuteness.

Jay in his fireman costume: my boots and a lacrosse stick for a hose.

Another One Bites the Dust

2009-02-22T11:51:00.000-08:00

"Another one bites the dust. Another one bites the dust. And another one gone, and another one gone Another one bites the dust. Hey, I'm gonna get you too. Another one bites the dust. " - Queen

The chorus from Queen's immortal song "Another One Bites the Dust" seems to be the anthem for our current economy. First it was Bear Stearns. Then it was Lehmann Brothers and Wachovia. Other companies like Bank of America and Citigroup are on the brink of total collapse or nationalization. Stockholders have seen their hopes of vast wealth or even a comfortable retirement vanish quicker than A-Rods credibility. Worst of all, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people have lost their jobs.

While some have been left unscathed by this dramatic economic downturn, I have become one of its most recent victims. On Wednesday, Feb. 18th, I found out that I was one of the 13 attorneys from my firm to be laid off effective Friday, Feb. 20th. I can't say that it was a total shock. I had been working their for about 6 months and I never had a steady stream of work. Just a few weeks ago larger laws firms began laying off attorneys. Needless to say, thoughts of being laid off were never far from my mind. Being told was a surreal experience. I had never imagined that I would be in that situation. Sure, I could see my self getting fired for poor performance or something like that, I never imagined that I would be laid off. Everyone at the firm felt so bad for me and offered as much advice and help as they possibly could. Unfortunately, we all knew that I had to go. All I could think was "another one bites the dust".

Although our world has been turned upside-down, and an potential for a huge adventure has been placed in front of us, the last few days have revealed many blessings. The kindness of my co-workers was clearly one of the silver linings of this whole experience. My co-workers (or should I say "former co-workers") were very helpful in offering numerous contacts and letters of recommendation. Darbie and I have enough money to allow me to look for jobs for a couple of months. Our lease ends in May, allowing us to move anywhere I find a job without being strapped by any unnecessary financial burdens. Darbie is not pregnant and all of us are in good health (knock on wood!). Finally, we have a lot of friends and family that are pulling for us and are willing to go above and beyond that call of duty to help me find a job.

While the silver linings are great and I love spending time with my family, eventually I'm going to need a job. That's where you come in Blogger Nation! Please talk with all of your friends, family, associates, contacts, or employers and tell them that you have a very capable friend who is looking for a job. I am willing to venture into and practice any type of law and would even be willing to clerk for a judge. I am also open to other jobs where I can use my knowledge of law and business but not actually be a practicing attorney. If you know of any job openings or have any contacts I can pursue, please comment on this post, e-mail or call me.

Thanks for enduring my marathon post. Don't worry, we'll try to make more happy, pictures-of-kids-filled posts in the coming days. Having time to do that is probably the best silver lining of all!

Some Cuteness

2009-01-30T11:39:00.000-08:00

I'm slowly getting this blog updated. Here is some random cuteness to hold you off til the next post.

Thanksgiving

2009-01-30T11:16:00.000-08:00

My whole family (minus my brother Derrick who is on a mission) was in Ohio for Thanksgiving. We spent the day buying things at CVS (Stephanie taught us all the art of getting free stuff), planning our next day shopping plans, playing Scrabble, and just being lazy while Grandpa Monte cooked most of the food. Grandma Melinda whipped up some cute place cards just before dinner to spice up the table.

My family let Jay play scrabble with them and make up his own words, there are some crazy words on there.

Believe It or Not...

2009-01-26T11:01:00.000-08:00

...I'm actually posting on the blog. Seriously folks, I know you all think I'm a liar based on the last post saying there will be "tons of updates in the next few days", but I have good excuses, I promise.

I'm starting where I left off, with much more to come (no promises when it will come, but I'm trying hard, I promise), I know I seriously need more cute kid pictures up here, so here it goes:

Carly's Blessing:

We blessed Carly the Sunday after Halloween. Lots of Chad's family and my family were able to be there. It was great. Grandma Melinda strikes again and makes another adorable sewing creation. Take a look:

Super Jay and the Littlest Mermaid

2008-11-25T13:13:00.000-08:00

Alright, we're back to the blogging world, look for tons of updates in the next few days!

Here's our favorite boy in the coolest Halloween costume ever, thanks to Grandma Melinda. She really is the coolest. Who else could whip out a costume this great in just a couple hours?

Here's Carly in her mermaid costume. Grandpa Monte was holding her at the ward party and people said he looked like King Triton with his beard and holding a wee mermaid. For some reason I don't have a picture of it, but I wish we would have thought of it earlier and Grandma Melinda could have whipped him up a fabulous costume!

Thanks mom!

No Costume Necessary

2008-10-31T07:28:00.001-07:00

This handsome man was going to dress up as an attorney for Halloween, but, today he was informed by the Ohio Bar Association that he passed the Bar Exam, and he really IS an attorney! Thankfully, no costume is necessary.

We're so proud of him and all his hard work! Way to go Chad!

Family Pictures

2008-10-22T11:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a peek at the family pictures we just had taken. These are just a few of my favorites, she took tons and I love them all! If you're in the area and need a great photographer at a great price, contact Jessica. She did a great job, even though Jay was being quite difficult (we may have to find a new location that doesn't have a huge playground in sight).

Fall Fabulousness

2008-10-01T10:03:00.000-07:00

We get pretty excited about fall here in the Worthen house. We love pumpkin bread (the most fabulous recipe ever here), the weather, apples, leaves, and everything else that makes fall fabulous. Last Monday (the first day of fall), Jay and I were inspired by a bag of silk leaves in the one spot at Target (as well as this fabulous mother) and we decided to plan a fall party. It was supposed to be a surprise for Chad when he came home from work, but Jay chanted "fall party!" all the way home from picking Chad up from work, so I'm pretty sure Chad knew what was coming. We tried to go all out, but not only would Carly not do her share of the preparations, she insisted on being held and fed. The nerve! Although Martha could have done better, we had quite a lovely celebration. Here are the highlights:

The Decor: Jay and I taped the silk leaves onto some string

The Treats: Pumpkin Bread Muffins with cream cheese frosting. (also notice my favorite fall tablecloth)

We were going to do some fall activities, but the evening got away from us. We made a good attempt, and the party plans kept Jay and I busy and excited all day, which is really all I can ask for.

In the past week we've been enjoying everyday of fall. Here are some activities we've done so far:

Jay washing the pumpkin centerpiece

(I told him it just had dirt on it, but he insisted it was "poopy")

A lovely fall tree we saw on our walk around the neighborhood

The leaves Jay picked up from the tree to take home and make a project

(Jay gets really excited when you use the word project. He said "These will be perfect to make for daddy! It will be wonderful for him!")

We'd like to fully take advantage of the fall before it's gone, so let us know if you have any fabulous activity ideas for us, or fabulous recipe ideas for us to make!

Adjusting to Life as a Family of Four

2008-09-16T11:39:00.000-07:00

Alright, here's the run down of the past month of our lives. We're adjusting quite well, with the exception of our lack of sleep, which should resolve itself eventually. Here's "baby sister":

(As a side note, we really shouldn't have stressed so much about a name and just named her "baby sister" as that is all she gets called anyway.)

This is how Carly spends most of her days

This is how she spends the rest of her time when she's not eating

On rare occasions, she does this (oh we are so blessed, she is quite a pleasant girl)

This is a really weird picture that makes it look like she's smiling with a ginormous flower on her head. She's not really smiling, and the flower isn't that huge.

Jay is taking his lack of attention better than expected. On occasion he insists that we "drop baby sister" while we're holding her, and often tells us "you not want hold baby sister". On the flip side, whenever she's awake and looking at him, he says "I think she like me...I like her too...I think she like you too mommy!".

He is watching too much TV these days, but the doctor says it doesn't make me a bad mom. He has also learned how to operate the computer mouse and loves playing games on pbskids.org all by himself. When Carly is sleeping and Jay and I get hang out time, we usually bake something, and then the whole family spends the next day eating way too many cookies. We seriously have got to make some friends that like cookies that could potentially contain slobber, or I am never going to lose this baby weight!

Jay and I try to keep busy inside the house most days as we're stuck here without a car. We invested in a fabulous "sit 'n stand" double stroller that we love so we can make the occasional trip to the playground and stroll around the neighborhood. He also enjoys painting and coloring these days and is working on being proficient with a glue stick. He borrows a small circle paper punch I have and LOVES to "clip" hundreds of circles out of paper. We are not combining skills and creating fabulous greeting cards with lots of circles glued on them...watch your mailbox and you might just get lucky and receive one of these cards!

This is a picture of Jay making cupcakes with Grandma Melinda (she's much more patient than I am. When Jay and I make muffins, putting the batter in the cups is a "mommy job".)

One last Jayism to end this post:
The other day I had to chase him down in the parking lot after he tried to run off. I informed him that he would be going to time-out as soon as we returned home. This conversation followed:
Jay: I not want to go time out!
Darbie: Well, then you should listen to what mommy says.
Jay: It's hard mommy, it's hard!

Ike

2008-09-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

Apparently Hurricane Ike decided to bring some of the destruction to Ohio. Here's what occurred at my parent's house yesterday:

The last picture was taken after many people (and 3 chainsaws) helped remove the tree from the car.

Sadly, this was our white birch tree. Every year on the first day of school, my parents would take our picture in front of this beautiful tree. Apparently this tree had served its purpose having survived years of first day of school pictures for 4 children, and now its time has come. We'll be burning this tree in our fireplace this winter.

For those of you who know my dad and were wondering:
Yes, his golf clubs were in the trunk.
Yes, he pried the trunk open to retrieve them.
Yes, the clubs survived without a scratch.

(I know I should be posting baby pictures, I'm getting to it, I promise!)

Baby Blessing

2008-09-07T17:27:00.000-07:00

This is my first time contributing to the blog so you might have to bare with me. I decided to write this post because I was the only eye witness to the events that inspired it. So without further adieu here's the story of the week!

One morning this week Jay decided to wake up at 5:50 a.m. Trying to keep him occupied while his mother slept in the front room (next to Carly's bed), I brought Jay into our bedroom. After entertaining him for ten minutes or so, my own tiredness caught up to me and I found myself laying face first on the bed. Believing that his father was in some sort of distress, Jay got onto the bed, placed his hands on my head, and said the following: "Bless daddy that he will feel better, name of Jesus Christ, Amen." I really didn't know how to respond. We're not really sure where he learned about blessings. The only time he has been present for one was when Monte and I gave Darbie a blessing about 3 weeks ago. He must of have remembered it (like he does everything else) but I am surpised that he caught what the blessing was for. After all, he was probably running around screaming at the time.

Anyway, that wasn't the final "miracle" performed by our little faith healer. During that day, Jay proceed to give a blessing to Darbie, Carly, and yes, even himself. We are happy that he has picked up the concept, but we should probably have some sort of FHE leason about blessings before Jay begins to offer them to the other kids on the playground.

Carly

2008-08-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

Just a few more pictures of the babe.

She's Here!

2008-08-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

Carly Worthen

7 lbs 4 oz

20 inches

stay tuned for cuter pictures (they ended up on Grandma's camera)

The Belly

2008-08-10T13:43:00.000-07:00

Here is the long awaited picture of my belly. Somehow my head got cut out of the picture. Must be the guest blog photographer...or the 12 chins that were visible that made me feel extra fat. Here is "baby sister" in my belly at 38 1/2 weeks.

Jay was jealous that I was getting a photo shoot, so Chad took some pictures of Jay and I afterwards. Jay wanted us to say all kinds of silly things for the camera like "fishy".

Barbmom, Papa, and Erin Come to Visit

2008-08-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

This past week (after Chad survived the Bar exam), Barbmom and Papa Clyde (Chad's parents) and his sister Erin paid us a visit here in Ohio. Some highlights include going Amish Country, Kirtland, and Build-a-Bear. For some reason we have no pictures of Amish Country or Kirtland, but by golly we got some pictures of Build-a-Bear. Jay and I have perused the store several times when we walked through the mall and I told him he could come make one with Barbmom when she came to visit. (On one occasion, Barb even tried to give Chad $40 to put into a savings account for Jay in case she died without having the opportunity to take him to Build-a-Bear). Jay was especially fascinated by the large bathtub to "wash" your creation once you were finished. He's been talking for months about "giving bear a bath". Well, he finally got his opportunity, except he opted to make a puppy instead of a bear.

Jay's puppy was the cleanest puppy in town as Jay "bathed" him about 5 times before we left.

Jay's puppy is sporting a fabulous USA basketball uniform just in time for the Olympics

Jay ran through the mall with his new creation...

...he found a store he wanted to check out. (True story, he dropped the puppy outside Hot Topic so he could run in and check out some sweet clothes. Whatever happened to baby Gap?)

Swinging with Barb and Papa at the playground in our apartment complex

Quick Family Update

2008-07-29T12:35:00.000-07:00

Chad
As I write this blog, Chad is in Columbus, OH suffering through the dreaded Ohio Bar Exam. It's a three day exam and today is only Day 1. He has studied mighty hard and I think he's ready, but please pray hard for him anyway! We're excited for Thursday when he will have a whole 11 days of "vacation" before he starts his new job. Everyone says I'll never see him again once he's sold his soul to the law firm, but it really couldn't be worse than the 24/7 bar studying, right?

Chad did take a break from studying one evening to take me to the John Mayer concert for my birthday!

Darbie

I'm just the Jay entertainment queen 24/7 these days. We've become pretty good buddies and I even got an "Hi mom, I love you" the other day. (Chad hasn't even gotten one of those yet, and he's widely known as Jay's favorite. In fact, Chad heard Jay say it to me while he was in the bedroom studying and he came out and said "Did he just say what I thought he said?". Yup, I got the first I love you, but once this bar thing is over, Chad will get his fair share.)

I take care of our little patio garden as well, but seeing as I have Jay spray the plants 5 times a day, it pretty much falls into the Jay entertainment category. We're all loving our little patio garden and I probably worry about it way too much seeing as I've never grown anything and don't know what to expect. We have transplanted some of the plants into my parent's garden, but we're seeing if we can grow some stuff to full maturity here. Here are some pictures of our precious plants:

Jay
Jay is quite the little character these days. His behavior has improved greatly since we tried the 1-2-3 Magic discipline system. (I know, it sounds cheesy cheesy cheesy). There were a couple weeks when we first got here that Chad and I avoided taking this kid in public at all costs. He was out of control and my pregnant self couldn't handle him in the grocery store. All is well now, and he has become quite the pleasant and hilarious child.

Jay showing us his "noculars" made from play-doh tubs

I'm pretty sure I should receive some sort of parenting award for this next story:

Jay and I were browsing around Target just killing time while Chad was studying, and we headed into the toy aisles. Here is Jay's reaction/conversation with himself as we enter the aisle:

"Buy toys! No, not buy toys, just look at toys."

He said it matter of factly with no disappointment in his voice whatsoever. I started cracking up and secretly hoped someone heard my angel child tell me we were "just looking" at toys. I was in luck, and another lady in the aisle walked up to me

Lady: "Did he just say he wanted to just look at toys?"
Me: "Yeah, apparently I've got him pretty brainwashed!"
Lady: "I have a 10 year old I can't get to say that!"

I then secretly slipped a small train toy in the cart for later, I couldn't actually let Jay see I really was buying a toy. The train will be used as a reward/bribe/keep my sanity trick while I'm left alone with Jay with no car for 3 days.

Baby Sister
She's still inside my belly, due to arrive around August 21st. Nobody believes I'm due in 3 weeks as apparently I'm quite small. I'm bigger than I was with Jay, so I feel enormous. I had a couple ultrasounds to make sure the baby was growing properly due to the fact that I was measuring small, but they're convinced she's average sized. I have no idea where she hides, but I assured them that Jay weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and I was smaller last time, so my insides must just get pushed around into crazy corners of my body.

She still doesn't have a name. I don't think Chad had room in his brain to analyze anything else but Bar material up until now, so it's on the to-do list for when he returns. Any suggestions? I've checked the family tree and eliminated numerous possibilities.

I know you were all hoping for a belly shot, but no such luck as I always forget to take one when I'm actually wearing real clothing and do my hair.

Party Plates?

2008-07-20T18:10:00.000-07:00

During our married life, we've lived in Ohio for 2 summers before this one. Each time we lived here, we got the same reactions to the license plate on our car. Apparently, in Ohio, certain drunk drivers are punished with yellow Ohio license plates so other drivers are aware of their deeds (a scarlet letter, I suppose). We've been told that these drunk driver license plates (often referred to as "party plates") look quite similar to the New Mexico license plate on our car. Having never seen a "party plate", I finally looked one up on the internet to see what it looks like. See for yourself:

I can definitely see where our plate could be seen as a "party plate" when viewed quickly in an area where there are not many New Mexico plates to be seen. I'm embarrassed that people probably see our car and don't bother to get close enough to realize it's a New Mexico license plate and just assume we're convicted drunk drivers. I can just see them roll their eyes in disgust when they see a 2 year old in the back seat. Thankfully we're working on getting our car registered in Ohio since we've officially moved here.

Aeros Game

2008-07-19T03:45:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to an Akron Aeros baseball game with my family. Jay had a blast and now he's eager to go to a "green base ball game" where the players are wearing green uniforms.

Jay and Grandpa Monte

Borrowing another kid's cooler glove

He spent most of the game like this trying to catch a ball with his toy baseball mitt, sadly he didn't get one.

The next morning he was obsessed and came out of his room with his hat and glove ready to play.

4th of July

2008-07-15T18:36:00.000-07:00

For the 4th of July, we went to the Rib Festival in Akron with my family and ate some fabulous food. That evening, we headed over to the parade in Fairlawn. We've we quite grateful that parades in Ohio aren't quite as popular as the ones in Utah where you have to campout to get a seat. We showed up 10 minutes before it started and had great seats right on the road. Jay caught on to the candy throwing and had a blast gathering tootsie rolls. He was terrified of the fire trucks (they were unnessesarily loud) and sat on Chad's lap covering his ears while they passed. If you ask him about the parade he'll tell you all about really loud fire trucks and his yellow bag of candy. We skipped the fireworks, but no worries, there will be fireworks at the beginning of August for Heritage Days and we'll catch them then. Jay has still never seen fireworks, so we're excited to see them in a couple weeks!

Jay made friends with a dog sitting near us. These people thought Jay was cute and they hoarded tons of Tootsie Rolls for him to put in his bag.

Jay the realist

2008-07-14T03:27:00.000-07:00

No joke, Jay came home from nursery last week and had learned a new song. Here's how he says it goes:

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the street
Merrily merrily merrily merrily merrily
Life is hard.

Ohio

2008-07-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

We've been here in Ohio for over a month now, so it's about time for an update on our new lives. We like it here so far, but our lives have yet to normalize into what our lives will be here, so we'll keep you updated. Here are some things going on so far:

-We love our apartment! I love the space and not having to store things in every spare space we can find in the living room. We even have a some empty closet shelves we don't know what to do with, but I'm sure we'll figure out something. I'm trying to get the place decorated, but I'm just so darn indecisive it's taking forever. Pictures to come of my crazy cheap decorating ideas.

-We were going to be adventurous and start a hardcore garden on our patio, but my dad had a better idea. My parents live on an acre of land and my dad thought we could join forces and start a garden in the back yard. Chad and my dad rented a tiller and tilled up some land and we planted away! It's been fun to watch it grow and we can't wait to eat some yummy food! (The radishes are already ready to eat, but who in their right mind would eat a radish? yuck!) We're also growing some tomatoes on our patio so Jay has something to water everyday. We really know nothing about gardening, so it has been fun to learn something new. Here's a few pictures of our adventure:

-The bishopric here in our ward knew we were coming, so on our first Sunday here we already had callings waiting for us (so much for laying low for awhile). Chad got called as the 11 year old scout leader, but after two weeks they released him and called him as the Scoutmaster instead. He's already purchased a new Boy Scout shirt and went to a day of scout camp last week. I stayed up late the night before sewing the patches on his shirt, something I thought I wouldn't have to do for another 10 years or so when Jay was ready for scouts.

-I was called as the 2nd counselor in the Young Women, which means I'm in charge of the Beehives (12-13 year olds). It's been a challenge figuring out how to prove to these girls that I'm awesome. I thought I could just walk in there as a 24 year old girl and they would automatically assume I was hip...apparently not. I think it could be a fun calling once I get the hang of things and get to know the girls a little better.

-Basically, our daily lives consist of Chad studying for the bar exam while I try to occupy Jay. Chad will take the bar exam at the end of July, so only a few more weeks of studying! Jay has been a little difficult to deal with since we made it to Ohio, so keeping him occupied all day without going insane has been a challenge. We're trying a new discipline system that seems to be working, so hopefully it just gets better and better.

-We're thinking about working on making friends, but so far we've gotten nowhere. We're hoping to turn our Olympic Opening Ceremonies party into a "get to know young families in the ward by forcing them to come to our house and eat free food" party. Hopefully we can successfully trick people into being our friends and hanging out with us on ocassion.

Alright, enough about Chad and I. I know 95% of you who read this really just want to hear about what cute (and not so cute) things Jay is doing. Here's the update on his development:

-We transitioned him to a toddler bed quite easily as he mastered leaping out of cribs and playpens in New Mexico. Now we just have to live with the consequences of him waking up before 6 most days and jumping into our bed to let us know he's awake. Sometimes we're a little slow at getting out of bed to play with him and he's even stooped to lying to us to get us out of bed. One morning he told us he was poopy just so we would get out of bed to change him. He wasn't poopy at all, but it got us out of bed. Smart kid.

-He quite the talker. He tells us about everything and anything and is always making up random stories. The other day he was telling us that he wanted to back to his white house (in Utah) because "Jay's new house tipping over. Jay fall down." It took us quite awhile to figure out what in the world he was talking about, but later he finally explained:
"Jay spin. Jay's new house tip over. Jay fall down."
I replied with an "Oh, you were dizzy and the house felt like it was tipping?"
Then he said "Yeah, Jay dizzy."

-Jay has gotten very good at correcting us lately. He has quite the vocabulary, but sometimes things we say don't fit into his names for things. For example here are some sample corrections:

"That's not jam, that's jelly!"
"That's not a shoe, that's a sandal!"
"That's not Mom's, that's Chad's!"

We go through this all day long. Usually it's a "that's not yours that's mine", but he's very quick to correct our terminology.

-Jay is under the impression that anyone that needs to be "taken care of" must not be able to walk. He talks about Grandma Baker taking care of Grandpa Baker because "he not can walk". He also cites Chad's mom taking care of his dad (who broke his hip) because "Papa not can walk. He died." (He didn't die, by the way, we have no idea where that came from) Anyway, when I told him one day that Grandpa Monte was going to come "take care of" him for the evening, Jay immediately said "Grandpa take care of Jay. Jay not can walk."

Alright, I can't think of any more random Jay things at the moment, but hopefully I can remember the good ones if I keep this blog current. Here's one last picture since we've been here in Ohio. My dad (Grandpa Monte) is on the left, and my dad's dad is on the right (Grandpa Carl).

New Mexico, Hannibal, Nauvoo

2008-07-06T17:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick pictorial review of our adventures in Albuquerque, Hannibal, and Nauvoo. Now we can get on with our lives and tell you what we've been up to in Ohio for the past month.

Albuquerque Zoo

Mark Twain Riverboat in Hannibal Missouri

Jay dancing with random elderly people on the riverboat. They were the only people dancing so Jay approached them and wanted to join in.

Jay and Aunt Erin

Jay in Nauvoo

Arizona Adventures

2008-06-22T03:59:00.000-07:00

Shortly after graduation, we loaded up our ABF U-Pack Relocubes and sent them on their way to Ohio. (On a side note, we thoroughly enjoyed this way of moving and would highly recommend it to anyone, with gas prices it was cheaper than a U-Haul and much more convenient). Once our stuff was in route to Ohio, we headed down to Arizona to visit my extended family.

Arizona was just what we needed. We didn't really have many "adventures", but we had plenty of time to relax and refuel. We stayed at my grandparents house, and I think for 3 days or so we didn't move off the couch unless we had to eat or chase Jay. Between finals, graduation, and moving, we were worn out!

After a few days, we regained our energy and started doing things. We cooked dinners for my grandparents (my grandma works way too hard and needs a break every now and then), fed the horse, and hung out with family and friends for the rest of the week.

Chad and Jay watching Coco eat

I got adventurous and started a quilt for "baby sister" with my Grandma's help. Every time we visit my grandma talks us into using some of her mounds of fabric to make a quilt, and this time was no different. Usually we all tie the quilt together, but this time Grandma started teaching me how to quilt by hand. I have a whole new appreciation for all the hand quilted quilts she's made for me throughout my life. Quilting takes forever! I'm still working on the quilt I started in Arizona, but hopefully it's finished by August! I'll be sure to post pictures of it when it gets done.

We were glad to get to visit the Lewis family again and Jay loved hanging out with their kids. We even got to see all kinds of Arizona wildlife. Rachael's parents found (and squished) and scorpion for us to check out, and little Hunter picked up a lizard/gecko type thing to show us. I'm so glad the Lewis family lives so close to my family so we can continue to visit them regularly over the years!

Jay, Hunter, and the Gecko creature

We had a fabulous Baker family gathering and ate way too much (a frequent occurrence when we have these family parties) and got to catch up with everyone. Uncle Randy was kind enough to check out our car and make sure it was safe enough to make it to Ohio. He's the smartest cookie when it comes to cars. Last time he told us we had about 10,000 miles left on our front tires, and sure enough, after a little over 10,000 miles a front tire blew out in rural Oklahoma. Ever since we take what he tells us very seriously.

We took Grandpa's advice and stopped by the Mesa Temple visitors center on our way out of town with my cousin and her husband. They had a display of photographs taken with characters from the pageant put in poses to show different parts of Christ's life. I was skeptical at first, it sounded kind of weird to me, but these photographs were amazing! I wish I could remember the photographer's name so I could search for prints in the future. Does anyone know his name? If you get a chance to see the exhibit at the Mesa Temple visitor's center, don't miss it!

Jay and Evan

Jay and Paula

Jay and Grandma Baker

Next Adventure: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Graduation

2008-06-04T13:58:00.000-07:00

Alright, it's been an interesting month, to say the least, and I know you've all been checking the blog daily in hopes we will update you on these past few weeks. We've now safely arrived, with all our stuff, in Copley, OH and have moved into our new apartment we will call home for the next year. Getting to our destination was a month long journey, so we'll start at the very beginning (it's a very good place to start).

After 3 long years, Chad has finally graduated from law school! In some ways the past 3 years have flown by, but after looking at the coat rack in our apartment, I'm pretty sure we've been in Provo way too long! I had to wonder how long our coat rack has looked like this without me noticing...we look slightly obsessed...but let's face it, we probably are. After all, Jay does practice singing the BYU fight song when he's alone in his crib.

The commencement ceremony went long (don't they always), but we all stayed awake long enough for them to call Chad's name all the way at the end of the alphabet. We're so proud of him! Here are a million pictures:

And that was graduation. Next up: A month of moving and traveling adventures.

Four Fabulous Years

2008-04-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

Four years ago today, our family began. Basically, we were made for each other. In case you're not convinced, I'll give you one example:

Chad typically peels the pasta layers off his lasagna preferring to enjoy the pasta without all of the sauce and cheese.

I, an avid pasta hater, typically wait for everyone else to get their serving of lasagna before helping myself to all the goop and cheese left in the bottom of the pan.

Therefore, between the two of us, perfect lasagna consumption occurs. What's more perfect than that? It's probably a good thing we didn't eat lasagna on our first date. We may have discovered we were soul mates right away and rushed into things.

Sorry girls, but I'm incredibly grateful to have the world's greatest husband. Don't argue with me on this one, did your husband do all the dishes, laundry, and child rearing during your 1st trimester while he was going to school full-time...without complaining?

Happy Anniversary Chad, maybe we should go out for lasagna tonight!

Week at a Glance

2008-04-20T11:40:00.000-07:00

Chad's massive paper has been cleared for graduation. Yay! The end is in sight! Only one more final and graduation on Friday! (We've heard from a reliable source that his name is already on the program, so no worries)
I am now officially too big for 90% of my clothes. This is freaking me out as this stage did not happen with my last pregnancy until I was 7-8 months along.
The packing has begun! I'm trying to be so good at getting rid of things, which is sometimes difficult since I have some pack-rat tendencies. The DI pile is already overflowing and I'm quite sure it's going to be several car loads by the time we're done.
Some of my extended family from Arizona made a surprise visit on Monday and we chatted and ate dinner with them. My sister and I went up to Salt Lake on Wednesday to watch their little boy so they could go to the temple. He was the most well behaved child I have ever babysat! Even when Jay was stealing his toys left and right, the kid just smiled.
Jay broke his crib this week. He jumped too hard too long and popped one of the screws out. He continued to jump and bent the whole metal frame underneath. We thought about attempting to fix it, but since we were planning on getting him a toddler bed when we got to Ohio, we just trashed it. This was a hard decision. It's hard to see something you spent so much money on that was perfectly good the day before go into the dumpster. However, I wouldn't put my newborn in a jerry-rigged crib, and wouldn't want anyone else to either. I did make Chad keep it in the room for a day to see if I could think up any fabulous new home decor ideas with a broken crib, but I couldn't. (Please don't tell me if you think of any good ideas, the trash has already been picked up).
Jay's phrase of the week "That's kinda funny, yeah"
We've secured an apartment in Ohio! It's twice the square footage of our current apartment and includes a washer a dryer and dishwasher, my prayers have been answered!
Ohio apartment bummer: only potty trained children can swim in the pool. I'd already gotten Jay super excited about having a pool at our house in Ohio. Maybe I can get him super excited about using a big boy potty with the pool as incentive. Yup, that wouldn't stress me out at all.

Jay playing with Baby Ryken. Don't you just love that chubby face?

Jay almost smiling (we're working on it), too bad his eczema is out of control.

Jay feeding the duck that hangs around in front of the store. The lady at the store gave Jay a pile of chips to feed the ducks (I think she was just trying to get Jay out of the store as he had begun to explore what's underneath the dressing room doors). Jay and Chad kept occupied with the ducks while I struggled to find clothes that fit (I did find a new outfit for graduation). Thankfully Jay didn't get bitten by this duck.

Jay flying a kite at our friend's BBQ. He just jumped in with the big kids and flew the kite.

Jay is totally ready for a little sister. He looks so great decked out in pink and purple. The helmet was totally his idea. He took a tumble on the bike down some stairs and all he was concerned about was his pink helmet falling off. (If you look closely you'll also notice he is only wearing one shoe)

Sunday Best

2008-04-16T06:42:00.000-07:00

On Sunday morning, Jay decided that his "Sunday Best" included these fuzzy blue slippers in mommy's size. I found him on the front steps heading off to church on his own. Thankfully he didn't put up much of a fight when I informed him he had to wear shoes to church.

On another note, we had a fabulous Sunday that hopefully wasn't a once in a lifetime occurrence. Jay was an absolute angel in sacrament meeting. No wiggles, no screams, and no bribes of M&Ms. We had to remind him to whisper a couple of times, but other than that he was fabulous!

Maybe this crazy little boy is starting to grow up. Maybe we'll start training him to change diapers and care for baby sister when she comes. On second thought, maybe we'll hold off on that one.

The Scoop

2008-04-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

Many of you may have made observations given my current physical state. You may wonder if I've given up running, or perhaps just made a habit of eating junk and sitting around. All of the above is actually true, but in addition, I've been tired and barfy and working on creating a small being in my belly.

It's true. Somehow this news has been absent from the blog, but we will indeed be having another child come August. Chad and I are thrilled to announce (Jay not so much) that this baby is a girl! Jay has had his heart set on a "baby brudder" for a few days now and is thoroughly disappointed.

Alas, Chad and I have no girl names as of yet, but we're (I'm) still eager to buy pink clothes.

Some funny Jay happenings related to the upcoming sibling:

For awhile, whenever you asked Jay if he wanted a baby boy or a baby girl, he would just repeat whichever one you said last. However, a few times he got creative and declared that he wanted a "Baby Shrek". (Unfortunately, the ultrasound showed no sort of horns on the baby's head)

When proposing potential boy names to Jay, he would simply declare "No". I then asked him what boy names he liked, and he replied "Like Baby Thomas", "Like Baby James". (These names happen to be the same as his favorite trains)

Sorry there are no fun ultrasound pictures, we don't have a scanner. Just trust me that's she's freaking adorable. She even gave us a thumbs up, it was great.

Jamaican Jay

2008-04-03T10:02:00.000-07:00

A blog without pictures is boring. Here are a couple to hold you off until our lives get more exciting. Jay received a surprise package a couple weeks ago from Grandpa Carl and Lois. Jay was thrilled and insisted on wearing the outfit all day (ok, well until his belly of baby pudge popped the buttons off the shirt). I think they bought the outfit on a cruise in Jamaica or something. They also sent an old hot wheels car, so Grandpa Carl is now refered to as "Grandpa Car".

A Worthen Life Update

2008-03-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Life at the Worthen house is beginning to get back to normal. Although lately being sick and lazy has become the norm and the lazy needy habits we all developed while being sick are hard to break.

Jay's health has improved considerably. The screaming fits have come back down to the normal Jay frequency and he is much more pleasant to be around. Due to our paranoia, however, we've opted to keep Jay out of nursery at church for the next few weeks. His immune system isn't so great right now and I can't bear to see him get sick again. This makes for a long 3 hours at church, but on Sunday we were well equiped with our Mary Poppins bag of tricks and managed to survive all 3 hours with Jay by our side. (This is an amazing feat seeing as we rarely made it through all 3 hours during the 1st 18 months of his life)

On Friday, I had a fabulous girls night and sleepover with some of my bestest friends. It was a much needed break and I came home refreshed enough to have a little bit more patience with Jay. I love hanging out with these girls and I'm sad to leave them in just 4 short weeks. I have still managed to avoid catching the flu. A miracle of miracles.

Chad is dilligently working on his massive paper due before graduation. We're all hoping and praying he finishes as the graduation announcements have already been ordered.

All of us are overly anxious and nervous for our big move on May 1st. We've been eager to move on with our lives after BYU ever since I can remember. Reality is hitting, and we're starting to realize that we may miss this place as we enter into the unknown. Well, maybe we'll miss the people in this place more than the place itself. We've nervous about finding new friends and new lives that we enjoy as much as we currently enjoy. Time will tell, but we're starting to get sentimental and sappy and that makes me feel a little more unstable than I like.

Picture Perfect Easter

2008-03-24T12:03:00.000-07:00

I've always loved Easter. I have such fond memories of Easter growing up. Our new Easter dresses laid out on the couch with other surprises (usually the newest Disney movie). Easter egg hunts in the front yard while wearing our pj's (unless it was snowing and the event was moved inside and inevitably a boiled egg would get lost in the house to be found weeks later when it began to stink). I always remember holidays being quite perfect, but maybe it's my memory playing tricks on me, or maybe we don't notice all the imperfection as kids.

If there is one thing I've learned as a mother it's things aren't always (or ever) perfect. My picture perfect idea of Easter would have included:

-Jay waking up to his candy filled Easter basket and small new toys and be so filled with excitement that he played for hours without throwing a single tantrum.

Reality: Jay has had the flu for about a week now and woke up in a rage. Within about 3 minutes, all the Easter baskets and their contents were kicked around the living room. Jelly beans, M&M's, puzzle pieces and letter blocks were scattered everywhere.

-Me taking pictures of Jay enjoying his Easter spoils and eating a few Peeps myself.

Reality: I was lying on the couch vomiting into a plastic bag watching the whole ordeal. It did cross my mind once to grab my camera and snap a picture of the destruction, but Chad cleaned it up too fast.

-Jay wearing his new Easter tie with an adorable blue shirt and his khaki newsboy cap to church.

Reality: Jay took a nap for 4 hours and none of us went to Church. I tried to salvage this dream by dressing him for Easter dinner in said outfit, but the boy was to grumpy and sick and immediately declared "Tie off!".

-Me in the kitchen making apple pies for Easter dinner that evening.

Reality: While I was still lying on the couch, Chad made a brownie mix at the last minute to take to dinner.

Perhaps all this imperfection is just helping solidify Easter memories. I don't think we'll ever forget the Easter that Jay was so sick he destroyed everything while I lay on the couch and watch. In fact, last years Easter was just as imperfect. Jay was sick (hand foot and mouth disease) and we had to talk in Church. We had to get a babysitter for Jay so he wouldn't infect other children while we spoke in Church. Maybe he's doomed to be sick every Easter.

Update: We took Jay to the doctor today and on top of having the flu, he has an ear infection and the beginnings of pneumonia. The ear infection and pneumonia are treatable, so all should be well in a couple days. If I had the flu, pneumonia, and an ear infection, I'd probably kick my Easter basket and throw my new toys too. I'm feeling well also and must have just picked up some random 24hr stomach flu thing.

Hopefully next Sunday we'll have a picture of an active and healthy 2 year old wearing his new tie and looking adorable.

Las Vegas

2008-03-20T20:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we went to Las Vegas for the Mountain West Conference Basketball Tournament with some of Chad's family. BYU lost the championship game, but we had a blast watching basketball, swimming, and visiting Jay's new favorite place M&M World. (It's candy with letters on it, you can't beat it in Jay's eyes). We also got to visit our friends Mike and Emily and Jay got to play with their son who is about the same age as Jay.

No trip would be complete, however, without one event that increases every one's stress level by 300%. On this short trip it happened to be a poison control scare. Our hotel room(s) had two separate bedrooms connected by a common area. Jay walked into one of the bedrooms and shut the door in order to "take care of business" if you know what I mean, so we opted to let him be alone for a few minutes. When we went into the room a few minutes later, Chad discovered a blue pill on the floor that was obviously covered in Jay slobber. When Chad asked Jay about it, he just referred to the pill as "blue candy" (which by the way is amazing seeing as he really does not have a grasp of his colors...blue is typically his default color pick, so maybe it wasn't that amazing). We quickly studied the capsule and tried to identify what kind of pill he had half ingested, but found no identifying numbers or letters on the pill. Although Jay seemed to be doing fine, we opted to call poison control not knowing what this pill could do to him.

Then the stress level rises. The poison control man on the phone could not identify the pill either, so he told us we needed to go straight to the ER. When he found out we were from out of town, he advised us to just call 911 and have Jay taken in the ambulance because he was afraid we would not be able to find the hospital. I then lied to the poison control man and told him my husband knew his way around and that a 911 call would not be necessary (does he think we're made of money? Use an ambulance as a taxi, no way! We can read map!).

I would be lying if I said that we didn't look at going to the ER and as huge inconvenience. We both have had ridiculous ER experiences where they keep you for hours just for "observation" and really don't do anything to help you. Don't get me wrong, I care about my child's health first and foremost which is why we got in the car to head to the ER anyway.

Low and behold, as we pull out of our hotel, we see a CVS pharmacy right across the street. Since Jay was still doing just fine, we decided we would take a detour and stop by the pharmacy to see if they could identify the strange blue pill with a little person stamped on it in white. Sure enough, the pharmacist identified the pill as DetrolLA, a bladder control medicine for old people. More importantly, the pharmacist said that though he had chewed on and smashed the capsule, Jay didn't actually break the capsule to get the medicine out. Therefore, in her professional opinion, we had nothing to worry about.

When we got back in the car I immediately called poison control back to update them on our status. (If you've ever called poison control, you know that when you call they open a case on you and they keep track of you and call to check up on you etc.) First, the poison control person yelled at me for going to a pharmacy before the ER. When she finally let me explain what we discovered she cleared Jay and said we didn't have to take him to the hospital. Yay!

Wow, I probably sound like an awful mother for trying to get out of going to the hospital. I feel like we're just level headed adults with common sense and used our brains to solve a problem, is that bad? I did do the right thing and call poison control in the first place. Hopefully the old person who is missing his or her bladder control medicine is doing alright too.

Here are some pictures of the trip:

Jay focusing on the game

Yes, that tub of popcorn is bigger than Jay's head.

M&M World

Taking a ride in his new boat in the hotel pool.

Shortly after devouring his new found love, chocolate chip pancakes.

Brought to you by the Letter B

2008-03-12T11:39:00.000-07:00

Jay's latest obsession is letters. I wish I could attribute this to my diligent parenting and teaching, but that would be a lie. It began a few months ago when he discovered the colorful letter magnets adorning our fridge. He would bring us these magnets and talk about letters and eventually named every letter either "D" or "Y". One day it all just clicked and he started remembering every letter name we told him. Before long, he was naming every letter and loved flipping through flashcards. I'm convinced he dreams about letters.

Signs Jay is obsessed:

*He loves playing with my alphabet rubber stamps and is fascinated by letter stickers (this makes trips to the scrapbook store easy for me, I grab an ugly sheet of letter stickers off the clearance rack for 50 cents and he's entertained for a good 10 minutes).

*He loves the beginning of movies because he gets to see big letters and screams "F B I !!".

*He's beginning to master the letters upside down as well and declared the other day while in his car seat "Letters, Jay's buckle! G R A C O!"

*When he sees letters on cereal boxes etc. he insists I run and get the scissors to cut them out so he can glue them on paper. (We've finally created a letter book for him so he can glue all his letters on different pages.)

*Last night while watching Brooke White sing on American Idol, Jay began to sing with her, but instead of "Let it Be", he sang "Letter B".

I really don't know what planet this child came from. Just don't ask him to count for you or identify colors. I don't think we have an little engineer on our hands, that's for sure. Letters are his forte.

His favorite letter? He's no dummy, ask him and he'll respond with excitement, "Jay start letter J!"

This picture was taken last summer before the letter obsession. We were making a birthday card for my brother on a mission featuring Jay spelling out "Happy Birthday". Maybe this is really where the obsession began.

Baby Cousin

2008-03-09T20:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm finally admitting to myself that if I keep waiting for the motivation to catch up on this blog, it will never come, and I'm just digging myself a deeper hole. Here's to starting anew and posting the here and now, hoping to do better.

My sister had a baby this past week and Jay is so excited to talk about "baby cousin". Even before she was born he would say "baby cousin come out Stephie's shirt" and point to Stephanie's belly. Well, she finally came out Stephie's shirt and Jay got to hold the baby for the first time today. He is still having trouble saying her name, so he just prefers "baby cousin" for now.

Holiday in a Nutshell

2008-01-24T12:59:00.000-08:00

Alright, you've officially been neglected, but today is the day you will finally be able to see the long awaited pictures of the Worthen family over the holidays. I realize that it as already February, but I'm sure you are missing Christmas, so we'll take you back there!

Before we left on vacation for Arizona and New Mexico, we spent some quality time teaching Jay how to make sugar cookies. It was an adventure, and we came out of the whole ordeal with some cute pictures and some delicious cookies. In fact, they were so delicious I'm going to give you all the link to the recipe.

Arizona was filled with adventures. Jay got sick and just kept getting sicker until he sounded like Darth Vader when he breathed. We opted to take him to the emergency room (I wanted to wait another day) and it's a good thing we took him in. He had croup pretty badly and they took him straight back to the ER because he wasn't getting enough oxygen. I was under the impression that we would have to sit and wait for 4 hours only for the doctor to tell us to take him home and use a humidifier. Apparently I was wrong and I felt like such a bad mother because I was going to wait til the next day to bring him in. After a long night in the hospital with numerous breathing treatments for Jay and a lack of attention from doctors they admitted him to the hospital because he wasn't improving. However, the hospital was out of beds in the pediatric unit and we were left in the emergency room for many more hours. Long story short, Jay improved enough and we finally got to take him back to my grandparents house without having child protective services called on us for trying to get our kid out of the hospital.

We were happy to see lots of family in Arizona, but it was sad that they didn't get to see the usual Jay that is full of energy. We also stopped by my friend Rachael's house in Phoenix and hung out with their family for a little while. Rachael's son is a year older than Jay and loves to play with Jay. Their son was kind enough to show Jay around the back yard in his Mustang convertible. I can't believe how good he could drive it! Jay had a blast!

After Arizona, we headed to New Mexico to spend Christmas with Chad's family. They were overjoyed to have a small child at their house for Christmas and thus he got spoiled rotten. Here are a few pictures Christmas and our visit to Albuquerque.

Jay at the aquarium in Albuquerque

The treats Jay left for Santa, Santa loves Diet Coke.

The next morning, Jay was so excited for his ridiculous amount of toys thanks to both grandparents. He really loved opening presents (even helping Barb by opening some presents for the neighbors). We spent the day playing with all Jay's goodies, hanging out with the family, and watching Polar Express (hoping it would be the last time Jay would make us watch it this season, but we were wrong).

Coming soon: Jay's 2nd birthday and other fabulous things!

Jay's Sledding Adventure

2008-01-03T08:20:00.000-08:00

We were so excited to take Jay sledding in Tooele because he had never been sledding before or even played in the snow. (He always seems to have a cold when there is snow and we're reluctant to take him outside.) We thought Jay would love it, but we were very wrong. He hated the snow. The snow was hard to walk in and in all his winter get-up he had a hard time picking up the foam football he insisted on carrying. Chad took him own the hill in the sled and he screamed the entire way down. I think Jay lasted a total of about 7 minutes in the snow before we got tired of his whining and took him inside. Maybe we'll work on him and take him to play in the snow more often. What kid doesn't like playing in the snow?

Christmas Card Pictures

2007-12-05T00:12:00.000-08:00

My friend Beckie was kind enough to take pictures of our little family so we could get a good one to send with our Christmas card. It was snowing like crazy and we almost decided to cancel, but I'm glad we didn't because they turned out great! It was cold, but bearable. It's kind of sad, but Jay points to the pictures and says "Cold". Here are a few of the shots, maybe one of them will come in the Christmas card!

Hopefully I didn't ruin the surprise. I know how excited all of you get when you get our card in the mail and can't wait to see the picture. Maybe this will relieve your anxiety a bit. Thanks again Beckie, you're fabulous!

Fabulous Weekend!

2007-11-28T12:39:00.000-08:00

Chad and I attended our last BYU football game as students this past weekend. The anxiety was out of control as Chad had spent the week constantly reading and worrying about the game. My worry wasn't as much "Will BYU win?", but more "How am I going to survive the next week/month/year if BYU losses and Chad is devastated".

All is well in the Worthen house! Chad behaved himself at the game and the Cougars were victorious! These are some highlights of our last BYU football game:

Just us. Jay was with Chad's sister. It was cold.

I think I could just frame this and give it to Chad for Christmas.

The rushing of the field, gotta love the blue!

More Halloween

2007-11-25T07:56:00.000-08:00

Here are the pictures of our Halloween costumes. Yes, they are fabulous, but I can't take any credit for them. These costumes were created by my sister Stephanie and her husband Mike. We weren't going to dress up at all until we got invited to a last minute Halloween party. Stephanie and Mike were kind enough to lend us their Alice and Mad Hatter costumes from last year.

Jay's Halloween

2007-11-05T06:22:00.000-08:00

Well, here are the long awaited Halloween pictures. Although Jay's firetruck costume is adorable, I'm kind of embarassed that I bought it at the store. Growing up I can't think of a single time when I wore a costume bought straight from the store. My mom always put something fabulous together so our costumes were always completely unique. Sadly, I took the easy way out and bought him this firetruck costume and hoped that no one at the law school Haloween party had the same costume. The cutest part was when you asked Jay what his costume was he would say "weeee ooooo weee ooooo", his favorite siren sound for all fire and police vehicles (and blinking pedestrian lights on the road). We had lots of trouble getting a good side view of the truck, but here's what we got:

Stay tuned for a post with me and Chad's costumes and other fun Halloween pictures!

Hee Haws

2007-10-27T15:22:00.000-07:00

We celebrated fall today by going to Hee Haws, a pumpkin patch - corn maze - all around fall extravaganza. We slid down a huge hay stack slide, went on a hay ride, rode the animal train and chatted with Leroy the 1,200 lb pig. The weather was perfect and it was great to actually get out of the house and do something. Here's the part where we show you a ton of pictures of our adventures:

Ok, so Jay actually rode the animal train sitting on Chad's lap, but I couldn't resist this picture that makes it look like Chad squeezed himself in so he could go for a ride

The huge haystack slide

Ready to go home

And Leroy...all 1,200 lbs of him

Jay's Duck Encounter

2007-10-18T11:56:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Jay and I went with 3 of Chad's sisters and some of their kids to the petting zoo at Thanksgiving Point. Jay loved pointed at and imitating the animals, but wasn't a big fan of getting anywhere near them. He refused to join the other kids on the pony rides and wouldn't pet or feed any of the animals. He's been to petting zoos before and had no problem, but this time he was terrified! Later, as we were looking at the ducks, he apparently wanted to show off for his Aunt "Nik Nik" (Nikki) and go up close to the ducks. I saw a golden opportunity to get a picture of him close to an animal, but as I was taking the picture, I heard the snap and saw Jay pull his finger away from the duck. Yep, the duck bit his finger. It wasn't bad, but it scared him to death. I don't think he'll be getting over his fear of the animals at the petting zoo anytime soon!

Moments before the duck took a snap at Jay's finger

Me, Jay, and Erin watching the other kids enjoy the pony rides

Grandpa Carl Comes to Town!

2007-10-17T07:01:00.000-07:00

On Monday, my Grandpa Carl and his lady friend Lois came to visit. It was great to see him since we hadn't seen him in about 2 years and he had never met Jay and we had never met Lois. Jay took to Grandpa right away, and loved the fabulous new toy train he brought him. Jay keeps pointing to the train and saying "Granka" (Grandpa) and nodding his head. Jay loves trains but he didn't have one, so Grandpa picked the perfect gift! It was great to meet Lois and we're glad to have her in the family.

Grandpa Carl and Jay

We ate dinner at Mike and Stephanie's apartment. We cooked all day making cookies, homemade rolls, honey butter, mashed potatoes, and chocolate cake (made with beets, courtesy of Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious). Mike and Stephanie made roast and veggies from their garden and the meal was delicious! Definitely worth all the time and dirty dishes put into it!

It was great to talk to Grandpa and get some good family history stories out of him. Once we got him talking he remembered a lot more than he thought he did! There is still lots of family history research to do for his family, but he remembered several first names that will help out the search.

Grandpa, Stephanie, Darbie

Stephanie, Lois, Grandpa, Darbie

The Worthens Enter the Blogosphere

2007-10-11T18:10:00.000-07:00

Well, the Worthen family is giving in to pressure from friends and family and actually starting a blog. Hopefully we'll be able to keep all of you updated on our lives and show you the crazy happenings of the Worthen house. We'll try to keep you reading and not bore you with what Jay ate (or didn't eat) for breakfast or how often Chad showers. We'll try not to be ridiculous and only report worthwhile things that give you insight into our lives. Actually, we probably can't even promise these things as our lives revolve around a 2 year old that does cute and silly things that we just want to tell everyone about. Hopefully you enjoy our attempt at a digital family history and we can all keep in touch more easily!