A-MA-ZING

In our efforts to visit all the temples in Utah before the end of the year, Jeff and I decided to have a little weekend getaway in Logan. We stayed at the Providence Inn and absolutely loved it. If you're ever just needing a break and want to go somewhere totally relaxing, go here!
This is the jetted tub. I was absolutely thrilled with it! It was ginormous.

Here is our breakfast. They have 5 different options to choose from and bring it right to your room at a time you choose! It was glorious. I absolutely love chocolate milk. I don't think there is a better tasting beverage anywhere on the planet.

Us in front of the Logan Temple.

And, finally, Jeff after examining the stone on the temple.

We had a great trip and can't wait to go back!

B.U.E.

Jeff and I babysat little Kaitlyn and out of the 100 or so pictures we took, this one was my absolute favorite. It's just classic! Here's to the Best Uncle Ever (B.U.E.).

All About Jeff

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFF!
Thanks for being the best husband I could ask for. I can't imagine my life with anyone else.
I love hanging out with you all the time and am excited for whatever our future together holds.
I love that you make me laugh and that you don't have an indoor voice at all.
I love the competitive side that comes out when we play games.
I love that you are so enthralled with Alton Brown on Good Eats.
I love that you like to experiment with random seasonings when we cook and that it usually turns out pretty tasty.
I love that we don't have to fight about the toilet seat or toothpaste or little things like that.
I love that you open the car door for me every time we go somewhere.
I love that you will pause whatever you are watching so that you can listen to me.
I love that you wish there were adult-sized swaddle-me's.
I love that you are a handy man.
I love you and hope you have a fabulous birthday!
Here are just some random pictures.
This one is when we took Avery to the Living Planet Aquarium.

Oh...the engagement photo shoot. We HATED being engaged. We just wanted to get married.

While we were dating, we did a lot of random fun stuff like going up the canyon with our friends...now we're boring and just hang out at home most of the time. I absolutely love that we get to hang out every evening. It's so great!

This was the best day ever...and super long! Happy birthday, Jeff! I'm so glad we're married and I couldn't ask for a better husband!

Here we are on the plane to Oregon for our second reception. When you're 2 un-petite people, the plane seats are a wee bit cramped. It's a great excuse to cuddle, though...even when it's forced...

FUNemployed

That would be Jeff's term for my current work situation and I love it. He's so great to let me be unemployed even though it's summer.
Thanks to everyone for the comments on my moments of glory. I'm all better now. More than anything with that last post, I just wanted to say how great of a husband I have and how classic my experiences are when I'm sick. Good times.
I'm in school from 8-5 this entire week and it's not bad at all. However, there is a woman with pink and black and gray hair who is a head nodder probably in her 50's. It kills me. EVERYTHING the professor or guest speaker says is followed with an enthusiastic nod of agreement like she would have said the exact same thing. I love watching crazy social work people. It's pretty much the highlight of my day.

Moments of glory

I've been sick.
Diagnosis: "Parainfluenza. It looks like the flu and it looks like Pneumonia, but it's a virus that just has to run it's course."
Awesome.
I've been a miserable mess. Jeff has been amazingly awesome with this whole thing. He's cooked dinner, done all the dishes, cleaned the house, taken care of the bills, gone to work, made sure I was comfortable, and gotten anything and everything I could possibly need. He's a rockstar and I couldn't ask for a better husband.

He even stuck with me during my moments of glory at Instacare on Saturday:
1- The nurse gave me Tylenol to get my fever down. Shortly after, I was taken to the x-ray room to get chest x-rays where I proceeded to puke up everything left in my system all over the floor and my pants. Jeff helped me over to a bed in the next room. The x-ray tech came to get me after I was a little more steady on my feet and said, "I got it all cleaned up. I didn't want you to slip." Yeah. That would really top off my day to slip in a puddle of my own vomit.

2- Because of moment of glory number one, the Tylenol was no longer in my system. In walks the nurse with a suppository. No dice. I made her check my temperature again and it was ok enough that I came away suppository free. Although, it would have added to the day...

3- Because I kept getting light headed and puking, I had the wonderful opportunity to have my first ever IV. Now, I'm a woos when it comes to needles and blood in general. Throw the fact that I'm totally done with the day and not feeling so spectacular and you get an emotional Jenny. The nurse couldn't find a vein and I got poked a couple of times. It hurt and more than anything, I was just exhausted so I started crying. Again. Seriously? I'm 26 years old and I cried because of an IV and having to get fluids.
I am officially a woos.

We came away from our 3 1/2 hour day hungry and exhausted. Jeff continued to do all the stuff around the house and make dinner. I continued to lay on the couch which has been my home for the last 5 days.

Jeff is the most patient guy ever. I am the worst sick person ever. It's a good combination.

Scandinavian fun

The Scandinavian festival consisted of the following adventures.

1- Lion's Club breakfast with Maddie bossing everyone and pouting, Sam looking confused,

and Jeff summing up his feelings with this classic look:

2- Awesome parade with vikings, lots of candy, missionaries (what other parade would have missionaries riding their bikes in it? seriously), small town royalty, cloggers, dancers, and local law enforcement and ambulance. There is quite a large turn out for such a small town thing. Emily and I LOVE the parade. Greatest thing ever! It was a little cold and rainy, but fun.

3-Free Snow College clothing for me and the kids. Pretty sweet. None of us had jackets and the local WalMart only had summer clothes out, so I was thrilled about the Snow alumni booth...even though I went to SUU. Yay for free jackets! Oh, yeah. And the traditional and very much awaited Sanpete turkey and picadilly chips for lunch.

We were all really glad to finally get home. I love this tradition and I also love the time on Saturday when we get to go back home! Thanks for the great trip, Newbold fam!

What could be better?

FYI: This is a long post with lots of pictures. Great fun, though. Well, we think it is. Don't say we didn't warn you!

Every year, my family goes to Ephraim over Memorial Day weekend for the Scandinavian Festival. We also go to the Ephraim cemetery where my grandparents and great grandparents are buried, the Manti cemetery where some great great grandparents are buried, and the Pioneer cemetery where it feels like we dig up our ancestors every year. Jeff is a little unsure of this tradition, but it's too late now! He's officially in the family.

The festival is truly a small town experience complete with a parade, vikings, and yummy food. Emily, Ben, Maddie, Sam, Jeff, and I were the only ones to go down this year. We drove in the big polyg van (thanks, mom!) and were one big happy family. Here are a few pics of the ride down...

Sam just chillin' before we left.

Maddie was an awesome driver...and made sure we were all safe.

Happy little Newbold fam ready to go.

Jeff was our chauffeur and I was just thrilled to be getting out of town.

We made a couple of stops on the way down. The first was American Fork to meet my dad (who was coming back from a business trip) in a random parking lot. Kinda felt like a drug deal goin' down, but whatever. He got ear muff things for Maddie because she HATES loud noises. There are lots of loud noises at the festival, so it was a great investment.

Next stop: La Casita in Springville. Most amazing Mexican food EVER. Jeff disagrees, but I think he'll come around after a few more trips...

This cracks me up. It's like Jeff and I have our own kid (but that won't be happening anytime soon. Don't be alarmed!)

Sam may or may not be stabbing Jeff.

The ride down was filled with 4-year-old jokes such as :
Knock, knock
Who's there?
Mountain
Mountain who?
The mountain is big!
Hahahahahaha

Yes, we spent at least 20 minutes at a time telling jokes like this. Maddie was thrilled and Sam figured that since everyone else was laughing, something must be funny. He joined in with a few excited squeals here and there.

We finally made it to Ephraim and all went to bed for the night. On Friday, we did the flowers at the cemeteries, Jeff and I went to the Manti Temple, and then babysat the kids while Emily and Ben went on a real live date to the Ephraim bowling alley for the best food in town. The Manti Temple is my new favorite. It's amazing inside and out. We loved it!

I know it's kinda weird that we look so happy at a cemetery, but we like to smile for the camera.

This is our night o' fun with the kiddos. The first one is when we were ALL hiding under a blanket together and the second is of the kids playing in a closet under the stairs. Kinda like Harry Potter's cupboard...

And, here is the temple. It was a great day!

My crafty husband

Jeff is a crafty, stampin' fool. He was stamping cards like mad for all the mothers in our lives. I think he created about 5 cards and I finished a total of one. Yep. He loves it.

Happy mother's day a few weeks ago!

Mmmm...boy

This is our perfect watermelon from Costco. Best ever. We finally discovered a great way to cut it. It's way easier than cutting the slices and sawing them off the rind, etc.

I'm a person!!!

Maddie got surgery on Wednesday and was a little cranky last night when Jeff and I went to see her.
Jeff played with the plastic dishes and food with her. There was a donut and Maddie said,
"Here's a donut for you to eat."
Jeff: "You're a donut for me to eat..."
Maddie (in a very unpleasant scratchy possessed voice): "I'M NOT A DONUT! I'M A PERSON!"

Baby Daddy

I was babysitting Maddie and Sam the other day and Maddie decided we would all play house. Here's how it went down:
Maddie assigned us all our roles: Maddie was the fairy grandma, I was the mommy, and Sam was the daddy. Every time I would say Sam's name, Maddie would correct me and say, "Uh, he's daddy."
After a few minutes, Maddie decided that she and Sam were now sick kids and I was the doctor. We went through the whole, "Look in my throat. Now check my ears. Does everything look ok, doctor?" I told her she was great and her throat looked just fine. I gave her some water and she decided she better take a rest. Meanwhile, it was Sam's turn to be the sick baby.

I asked Maddie what was wrong with Sam and she said, "You mean baby daddy?"
I was dying and said, "Why is he baby daddy?"
Maddie: 'Cause first he was a daddy and now he's a baby. Baby Daddy.

Of course!! What was I thinking?

Me: Ok. Sam, come over here and we'll look at your throat and ears.
Maddie: You mean baby daddy.
Me: Sure. Baby daddy.
Maddie: That's better.

That's what happens when she is surrounded by social workers who work with women who are trying to figure out who their baby's daddy is.

Nursery Love

Nursery on Sunday was rough for no particular reason because there wasn't even any bullying. There were a lot of rancid smells that I could have done without and some tears here and there, but nothing major.
It was really cute toward the end of nursery, however. A little girl named Cambrie and a little boy named Darion (not sure how to spell those correctly...) held hands and danced around. Cambrie freaked out when someone was sitting next to Darion because she wanted to. She was wearing a poofy white dress with a cute pink sash and Darion was wearing a little suit. Um, pretty much the cutest little couple ever. I don't think that people should be against betrothing their children. This would be a perfect match.

Side note: I'M FINISHED WITH MY FIRST YEAR OF GRAD SCHOOL! We thought it would never come.

Crafts, fish, and stir fry

Jeff's fam was in town a few weeks ago for Kaitlyn's blessing. It was so good to see everyone even if it was for a short time.
Avery slept over at our house and we went to a little craft night at my parent's house. Here is a cute picture of Avery and Maddie and Maddie concentrating hard on gluing after cutting everything with her "zizzors." She LOVES to cut things and would do it all day if she could.

This is was what Avery and I created. It took a really really really long time...
Mads and Avery hard at work:
And, here is Sam just being Sam:
The next morning, Jeff, Avery, and I went to the Living Planet Aquarium. Pretty cool, but definitely only need to go once. Avery volunteered her and Jeff to be a part of a presentation in which Avery put on all the layers that would make her a beaver.



Jeff and Avery were brave and touched these sting rays and I took pictures. Did I want to put my arm down in the water with random creatures? No dice.

Kaitlyn's blessing was beautiful. We didn't take our camera, but the dress was perfect and Kaitlyn was great and family pictures after were a blast. I wish we could have taken ten more. :) All the boys were just that thrilled about it...
Conference weekend Jeff and I decided to make stir fry. It was yummy and we felt the need to document the whole process because, well, we had never made it before. So, here is the washing of some of the veggies. The black thing is our Pampered Chef rice cooker. BEST ever. Seriously. You cook it in the microwave, and there is NO mess. Other rice cookers always spit the nasty water all over, but this one keeps everything in the pot. A-MA-ZING. Love it.

And here is the final product. Good job to Jeff for placing everything just right.

Not sleeping

It's 12:30 a.m. I have class in 8 hours. I'm completely and utterly exhausted, but can't sleep. This NEVER happens. I can always sleep and generally only function completely on 10 or more hours. With my insomnia tonight, do I work on my paper that's due tomorrow? Certainly not. Do I post pictures from our week with Jeff's family? Not yet...
Right now, I just have to say that I have the best husband in the world.
He cooks, he cleans, he irons his own pants (because I accidentally put an extra crease in them. oops...), and he always drives so I can sleep in the car.
He warms up my rice bag for me at night and always opens every door.
He'll clean the bathroom even if he doesn't think it needs to be done and doesn't get bugged that I never stay awake during movies.
He takes the garbage out every time because he knows how much I hate that job.
He makes me laugh all the time and is very passionate...even though we have some different views going on...
Most of all, he's so patient with me and is always wanting to be a better husband. Whenever I'm emotional, he wants to talk and does all he can to make it better. Jeff is pretty much just amazing and I'm glad that I get to hang out with him forever and ever. I love you, babe!