Jeff. He is a cute thing. For my birthday on Tuesday, he sent these flowers to my practicum. I love them. He was worried they were "too weird." I love them. They are perfect. And still alive which is a record for me.
He took me to lunch at P.F. Chang's. It was delicious. When I got home, he had made brownies. We ate brownies and vanilla ice cream while watching The Biggest Loser. I love my life.
These 2 are also cute things.
This is a very common occurrence each Wednesday. There's nothing better than splashing the water in the sink. We had a birthday party. I shared my birthday with Mother. Mother (Maddie's teddy bear) has lots of birthdays. We had homemade pizza (yummy!) and cake. Maddie thought the cake needed more sprinkles. It didn't. Thanks for the great birthday celebrations!
Does anyone have any awesome connections to people who have lots of money they want to donate to a much needed program that is way under-funded for the services they provide? Grandfamiliesneeds funding SO badly! I'm doing my practicum there this year and I absolutely love it. We provide support and counseling services for grandparents/aunts & uncles raising their relative's children (usually due to drug use, incarceration, mental illness, etc.). It is funded completely on grants and private donations...so all of the services are FREE to the clients (including therapy for the families/children, etc...) A lot of these kids have been really traumatized...as in abused, neglected, witnessed domestic violence, witnessed their parents doing drugs, or found their parents after they overdosed. Needless to say, they need some support! This is such a great program and has been so beneficial to so many families. I love being there and seeing the work they do. So, if anyone has any great resources or ideas or is really fabulous at raising money, let me know!
I love lazy Sunday afternoons...and the way we do our homework around this place as you can see from the picture above. In primary today, Jeff was teaching the lesson and said, "Should I tell you another story?" Our cutie girl said, "No. I'm just ready to draw a picture." And with that, the coloring began.
I went to the gym this morning. I chose an elliptical machine in the middle of about 10 empty machines. I like to have space and not be crammed with people on both sides. Emily was on her way. There is a woman who walked up to the ellipticals. She was all dolled up. Makeup, hair done, all that jazz which is funny to me because it's the gym. You go there to work out, sweat, and come out smelling all funky. Anyway, this woman picks the machine RIGHT NEXT TO ME. WHY?! There were 4 empty machines on one side of me and probably 5 on the other side. She couldn't choose any of the other machines? Emily got there right after this happened. I gave her the WHY?! look and she laughed. We both have a pet peeve with that.
Then when I was doing weights, there was another lady on the machine next to me. Humming very loudly and almost singing with her Ipod.
-When I don't have to scrape my car windows in the morning. -That it was still light at 5:30 last night when I got out of class. -Anything with peanut butter and chocolate. Those 2 foods are soul mates. -My Crocs with fleece inside them. I really really really am addicted to Crocs. I know they're ugly. But I love them. -Having a clean house. -My play therapy class. -Working with little kids and seeing that what I do can actually make a difference, however small. -Teaching primary. Our class is so cute and I love the pure innocence that kiddos bring to my life. -Spending time with Jeff. With our school and work/practicum schedules, it has become a rare occasion. I love and cherish every minute we have together. -My life. There are hard things and easy things, but they are all good things. I love learning from experiences and realizing that the Lord's hand really is in everything.
This is one powerful and stubborn little girl: These were the cupcakes we made for Mother's (her teddy bear) birthday a few weeks ago. We had a party and everything. It was fabulous.
This little buddy: is constantly at the mercy of his older sister. I love hanging out with these 2 kiddos every Wednesday. They're so fabulous.
Today, Sam and I picked Maddie up at school. When we got back to their house, Mads asked if I would stand behind her while she wheeled up the ramp. I said, "Sure. But only if I hear that nice word." (please. She absolutely refuses to say it to me). Mads: "Maybe I'll just go up backwards and hopefully not fall."
Sam and Maddie played outside for a while and Maddie kept yelling to me, "Watch, Jenny. Sam will do ANYTHING I tell him to do." He will indeed. And he followed the little boss mama's every direction for a good half hour.
Once inside, Maddie wanted some M&M's. She loves anything chocolate. So, I say, "Feel free to have some M&M's when you're ready to use nice words." She wheels off and later I say, "I guess you don't want any M&M's." "Yes I do." "You know what needs to happen in order to get them." So, naturally, she turned around and ignored me.
I told her that some day she will actually have to say please to me. Her response? "How 'bout when I turn 6. I'll start then."
She is SO strong-willed and SO stubborn. That combined with being the first born AND a girl...it's a brutal combination.
No, it's not a boy. No, it's not a girl. It's our very own Wii.
So we got a Wii and the new Super Mario Brothers game. Wicked fun. Jenny and I enjoy playing it cooperatively. Jenny is actually pretty good (not that I'm saying I'm awesome or anything...).
My favorite part is when we're playing and Jenny comments on how "cute" "the little buddies" are. Those are her exact words. She'll say: "I shrunk my little buddy" or "I killed my little buddy" or "wait for me little buddy." It's quite humorous.
On the drive to St. George, she looks at the mountains and says,
"The mountains look so three-dimensional! I love it." Just in case we wondered if the mountains are 3D. They are. So don't worry about a thing.
While I'm driving the huge van in the dark and see a sign for deer crossing, I tell everyone to watch for deer since I seem to attract them to me. So, my mom gets into her purse, takes out a very small, but extremely bright LED flashlight and shines it out the window. Into the face of the man driving next to us. Possibly causing temporary blindness. Naturally, we all busted up laughing, my mom couldn't breathe because she was laughing so hard, and when asked what she was doing, she said,
"I was just trying to watch for deer."
Thanks, Mom. You're the best. I love you and appreciate all the humor you bring to our lives!
My mom's fabulous friend Janet (who's like our aunt and we've known forever and ever) does the time share condo thing. So, she reserved the penthouse suite at the Worldmark condos in St. George for a girl's weekend. Here is the tub in the master bathroom. I want one. And the kitchen: Look at all these cupboards! I could actually put our pans and mixing bowls in the kitchen cupboards in this place instead of a tool cabinet kept in our extra bedroom. A real kitchen. Who would have thought I'd ever get this excited about something like that? It's a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom condo and super nice. There is a hot tub on the balcony and I love it. We spent a lot of time out there. It had a little waterfall thing and the lights would change color. It was pretty cold at night, so it created a lot of steam. This is Emily, me and Janet. Mandy got really sick this night so she was in bed. In my efforts to help my mom use our camera, I stood up, put it on the right setting, then slipped back into the hot tub. And hit my leg. Very badly. And got a really nice sized bruise that has a huge hard spot in the main part of the bruise, then has a nice line going up to my knee. Good news though: I saved the camera from the water! Got a little injured, but the camera is good. Up above is my bruise. It hurts. Here is the view from the balcony. I love the blue sky, snow-covered mountains, and red rock. And there is the pool which we never went to, but it's pretty! And right under the condo. It was a nice view. Me, Emily, Mandy, Janet, and my mom. Thanks for the great girls weekend! Yes, another picture with the wicked cool sunglasses.
This is right before we left. It was SO nice to have such a clear blue sky, the sun shining, and palm trees. I'm SO ready for spring!
Had a girls trip to St. George last weekend. Great times. Wicked cool blue sunglasses for only $2.99 (what a steal!) and worth every penny. We're kind of a big deal.
Once upon a time, I was eating these: After eating a very large amount, I took a bite of one and saw a black spot. I pulled on the black spot and out came this: Needless to say, I was done with the sugar snap peas. And will be for a while. To help me out a little, I ended the evening with this: from Outback Steakhouse. The Chocolate Thunder from Down Under.
"An extra generous pecan brownie is crowned with rich vanilla ice cream, drizzled with our classic warm chocolate sauce and finished with chocolate shavings and whipped cream. A chocolate lover’s dream."
When the glutards ask for a gluten free menu, this is an added explanation: "This is a flourless brownie; we even dust the pan with sugar! It is a fantastic GF dessert!"
Fantastic is right. I was in heaven. It was delightful. I temporarily forgot all about my little caterpillar/worm experience from eating healthy food earlier in the day.
I think I actually have made a decision for my life. It's something I've thought about a million times and actually was planning on when I applied for grad school. Then I kept changing my mind, but I've decided once again that I want to do play therapy. I'm taking a class for it right now and after only 2 weeks, I absolutely love it. I love that I would be working with kids and that we'd just get to play all day. Sounds pretty ideal to me. Now if I could find a job when I graduate...
This is my new stylish blue chair. Ridiculously ugly dirty turquoise blue. Yes, I purchased the chair for a grand total of $5. At my practicum, there is all this furniture they're trying to get rid of. I sat in this chair as we were moving furniture between a couple of floors and asked the director if they're still selling it. I asked how much. She said $5. I said, "Sold." Done deal. I take my $5 to the accountant, Mike, who is the only male that works there and say, "This is for my stylish blue chair." "Let me get you a receipt." "I don't really need one." "I have to write one anyway to show where the money came from, so I will just leave it on your desk" Mike says. "Ok." I get to my desk later that day and there is the receipt. He's a funny guy. On the line that says what the money was for, he wrote, "Stylish blue chair." Awesome. It is currently crammed in a corner between the TV and our window. It will be moved once we have time to do some serious rearranging and put this stuff away. Our little apartment is not awesome with the storage space. But, we make it work. We just got some new storage shelves at Costco (LOVE IT) and will be moving lots of things around to make the most of our space and food storage and everything else we've stocked up on. We just haven't had time thus far...the whole school starting again and doing homework and life...it may be a while until we can make our apartment live-able again. Oh well.
The chair is SO comfortable. It's a perfect little sitting chair. Which, I guess, all chairs are sitting chairs, but this one is enjoyable to sit in. I'm going to learn how to re-cover furniture. That will also take a while, so for now the chair will be covered in a lovely lavender colored sheet. I often have these great ideas, begin implementing them, and then realize they have to go on the back burner for a while so I can attend to the things that I actually NEED to do. So, ugly blue chair, you will just have to be crammed and covered with a sheet for a while.
I'm sorry, I really hate to do this, I've never wanted to bring politics into my blog, and I certainly don't want to usurp Jenny's previous post:
I just have one thing to say: If the health care bill were really about making sure everyone had health coverage, why would they put a 40% tax on some health plans? And why should unions be exempt from that tax? I guess that was two thing. But, serious, hmmm....
Yes, we have started school again. This picture has nothing to do with it, but I thought I'd just throw one in there. Maddie took this of us and after she pushed the button, she looked at the screen and said, "Perfect." She's a good lit'l photographer. I'm SO glad that this is my last semester. I really truly don't know if I could do another one after this. I'm just so sick of school and want to go back to life where I just work and play and not write papers or read textbooks...not that I actually read the textbooks, but I should. They're more like expensive paperweights.
Jeff is a trooper and has a longer road ahead, but we're in it together so it's all worth it. We don't see each other much during the week which is pretty much the lamest thing ever, but it makes us appreciate the time we DO have together and especially the weekends.
Wish us luck in actually doing homework and that I won't have too many emotional meltdowns.
1- I don't like Idaho. It's lame. Especially Inkam. I will never live there.
2- We have a new primary class with the cutest little girl named Savannah. She's a doll. She was playing with her tights and pulled a string from them. She rolled it into a ball and played with it during class. At the end of class, we let each kid choose a treat. Savannah handed me a small white wad. As she was handing it to me, I thought it was a piece of paper. Jeff thought it was the little ball of string from her tights. We were both wrong. What was it, you may ask? Savannah's gum she had been chewing all during primary. From any other kid in our class I would have been super grossed out. But since she's so cute, Jeff and I just laughed.
I am often amazed at the things little kids come up with. Some people know...some people don't...but my brother has spent the last year of his life making really bad choices. He's currently paying the consequences for some of the choices. While many 5-year-olds are all about themselves...and Maddie is no exception...this morning I was doing her hair after having a sleep over and all she could do was talk about Uncle Zac. Is he going to be ok? If I draw him a picture will that help him? Is he ever coming back? I felt confident in answering yes to all of the above questions, but felt like I was cheating her out of those reassurances she so desperately wanted to hear. How am I going to handle things with my own kids? Zac is safe. He will be ok. He'll love to have a picture from you. He'll be back some day. I was humbled and amazed that a little girl could feel so much empathy and worry over an uncle she hardly ever sees. I wish we could all go back to that age where we truly believed that drawing someone a picture would make everything right with the world. Thanks for the reminder to cherish the simple things in life, Mads. I love you.
Disclaimer: This is a long post. There are lots of pictures, though, Joey. I did that just for you!
2 days before Christmas, all the Utah Williams' headed to the airport dark and early to catch a flight to the good ol' Northwest.
Good morning, Kaitlyn!
It was really cold outside. And really snowy. And it was really early. And we were really tired.
We arrived in Portland, ran some errands, ate at Shari's (everyone hates this place so it's funny to me that we went there...it was a little early for Red Robin or anywhere else though...), then trekked over to Corvallis. Family fun began and we probably went to bed a little bit early because of the traveling, but I'm really not sure. I'm always ready to sleep anyway, though, so whatever.
We're lucky to have our very own photographer. Thanks, Dave! We heart family pictures.
Spencer and Kyle were thrilled to have pictures together since Carly was with her family and Kyle is a recent RM so he doesn't have a wife or almost wife yet.
Dave is a patient man. Jeff is very much like his dad and for that I am truly grateful. Here he is waiting for Susan.
And, the Gunnells. They're fabulous and always entertaining.
We played a lot of Wii and had a ping pong tournament the last night we were there. Seriously awesome. Spencer dressed up for the Christmas festivities. Lookin' good...lookin' good. Avery must love sharing her headbands with her uncles. What more could a girl want?
Christmas was a blast. We began by having pop tarts, chocolate milk, and egg nog. A Williams family tradition. The stocking/present opening was quite the process. We ate breakfast burritos at 4 p.m. I will make sure to eat real food in the morning next time. We were all a little hungry by the time breakfast rolled around just before dinner time. It was SO fun though. I loved the whole day.
Kyle, me and Jeff. In front of the sheet hiding the Christmas room.
Me, Avery, and Jeff. Just hanging out in front of the sheet. To entertain Avery while things were being finished up, Jeff took her into Dave's office where she made a present for Spencer.
The boys like to give used presents (like a single shoe) so Jeff helped Avery get in on the fun and wrapped Harry Potter CD's for Spencer.
All the boys in their matching OSU pj pants.
CHEESE.
And this pretty much describes Kyle the entire time. It was so funny watching him.
My cute in-laws. They're super fabulous.
Best. Present. EVER! It's an iCarly remote that Avery got. Jeff took it upon himself to cheer or boo for all the presents. It didn't get annoying at all. (Right? We loved the constant extra noise of clapping and booing!)
These 3-D glasses from a random lego magazine that Joey gave to Jeff were a popular item. I'm pretty sure all the boys tried them out.
We took Avery to lunch at Red Robin for her birthday. She got the special birthday treatment with the singing, ice cream, etc.
Andrea and Kevin got a new TV which led to lots of rearranging, but it was really fun doing it. Yay for the bright colors and no glare on the screen! This was right after we finished getting it all set up. I say we, but really I mean Jeff and Kevin. They hooked everything up where it needed to be. Andrea and I slid the couches around and watched the men work.
Finally, all the girls got pedicures. First time for some and it was FABULOUS. It was the perfect ending to our trip. Happy feet=happy Jenny=happy Jeff. There was a lot of happiness all around.
These were the tortilla press of this trip. It all started with this: and us: and our love of yummy food. See our shiny lips? This is post-shopping at Bath and Body Works where we each purchased delicious lip gloss and balm. (I think this picture was actually taken after putting on the yucky triple hot chocolate flavor that smells like feet and we were laughing hysterically because Jeff and Kyle were freaking out about the nasty smell and rolling down the windows even though it was frigid outside. Seriously gross) But the lemon and other flavors we got: MMMM, boy! Seriously. The lemon lip balm pictured above tastes just like lemon bars. So, naturally, we decide we need to make them.
It took Andrea and I several days of talking about them all day, every day before finally making them. Here is Ange creating the masterpiece. I was a good observer. My big contribution was putting them in the oven. It's a pretty crucial step so I like to think I was super helpful. The finished product: Andrea adding the finishing touch of powdered sugar sprinkled all over the top. They were DELICIOUS and well worth the wait. Thanks, Andrea! Can't wait to see what our obsession is with the next trip.
We're Jenny and Jeff Williams. We got married in December of 2008 and our baby Molly joined us in Febrary 2011. We are each other's best friends and are very much in love.
We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Check out what we believe, click above.
This is a very common occurrence each Wednesday.
