Leah and Jonny

Lotta belly

2012-02-01T23:50:00.001-07:00

I thought I was getting so big in the picture below. Now I just laugh and think how comfortable that would be to be that small.

22 weeks

29 weeks

31 weeks

34 Weeks (just a few days ago) I sent this pic to Sara in response to her random "I can't believe you are pregnant" text)

My how the comfort level has changed. I have so much catching up to do on the blog but it has been 10 weeks (I will be 35 weeks in 2 days!) since I posted a belly shot. So I posted four. I am overwhelmed with how much I have to catch up on but my mile-long to-do list doesn't prioritize blogging up very high on the list. It will come though I promise.

I'm Moving...

2011-12-01T00:04:00.000-07:00

I purchased a domain for publishing all of my plant/hobby information. It is a work in progress, but I have the blog portion of it up and running. I have copied the blog posts on this blog that have to do with plants over to http://moderngreenthumb.com/blog/. I will be updating future posts having to do with plants and hydroponics to this new site.

25 Weeks Mexico Style

2011-11-28T22:29:00.001-07:00

Pregnancy brings a whole new appreciation for a lot of simple little things. Last Saturday marked 25 weeks and we were living it up at the beach in Mexico (or MET-SI-TOE as half of us started to call it by the end of the week, thanks to cute little Andersen).

A few things (pregnancy related and not) that I was grateful for last week:

1. Digging a hole in the sand for my belly and lying on my stomach on the beach. Heaven. So simple, so perfect.

2. Floating in the ocean and not feeling an ounce of the extra weight I've gained.

3. Being with the entire Jesperson Family in Puerto Vallarta for an entire week of play and relaxation.

4. Finishing a book and knowing that I DO have the ability to finish one I start. (I am cursed with this inability to finish a book I start, no matter how into it I am. Not anymore:)

5. Letting my niece and nephew feel our sweet little girl kick and get so excited.

6. Being with my hubby 24/7 for an entire week. I never get sick of him and it always takes a few days to transition back to real life after that.

7. Getting to take pictures like this to remember it...

25 Weeks

More Mexico and catching up to come!

EXTREME HEAT! Use caution when entering.

2011-11-07T23:29:00.001-07:00

I started growing two new types of peppers this last month. I am growing two Caribbean red habaneros and 2 bhut jolokias. Both of these pepper are supposed to be off-the-charts HOT. In fact, the bhut jolokia is supposed to be the hottest pepper in the world. Here is a copy of the Scoville scale (how the heat of peppers is measured) from wikipedia. I have highlighted the peppers that I will be growing. As you can see I will be enjoying a lot of heat this winter.

Scoville heat units	Examples
15,000,000–16,000,000	Pure capsaicin
8,600,000–9,100,000	Various capsaicinoids (e.g., homocapsaicin, homodihydrocapsaicin, nordihydrocapsaicin)
5,000,000–5,300,000	Law enforcement grade pepper spray, FN 303 irritant ammunition
855,000–1,463,700	Naga Viper pepper, Infinity Chilli, Bhut Jolokia chili pepper, Trinidad Scorpion Butch T pepper
350,000–580,000	Red Savina habanero
100,000–350,000	Habanero chili, Scotch bonnet pepper, Datil pepper, Rocoto, Madame Jeanette, Peruvian White Habanero, Jamaican hot pepper
50,000–100,000	Byadgi chilli, Bird's eye chili, Malagueta pepper, Chiltepin pepper, Piri piri (African bird's eye), Pequin pepper
30,000–50,000	Guntur chilli, Cayenne pepper, Ají pepper, Tabasco pepper, Cumari pepper (Capsicum Chinese)
10,000–23,000	Serrano pepper, Peter pepper, Aleppo pepper
3,500–8,000	Espelette pepper, Jalapeño pepper, Chipotle, Guajillo pepper, New Mexican varieties of Anaheim pepper, Hungarian wax pepper, Tabasco sauce
1,000–2,500	Anaheim pepper, Poblano pepper, Rocotillo pepper, Peppadew
100–900	Pimento, Peperoncini, Banana pepper
0	No significant heat, Bell pepper, Cubanelle, Aji dulce

What am I going to do with these peppers? I am always looking to try things that are hot. I also have a fascination with the ability to give these plants light, food, and water and they produce something that can cause me pain (in the form of heat). To me that is awesome! I am looking forward to trying them to see if I can use them for eating or if I am too much of a wuss. My backup plan is to use them in a garlic and pepper mixture that you can make to spray on your bark in the spring to keep deer away from your plants. Last spring we had a terrible deer problem especially with our magnolias. I am going to see if this actually works or if it is just an "internet tale."

Here are 2 pictures of the plants. You will notice some browning on the edges of the leaves. When they were smaller I had thrips that were in my cumin that crossed over to my peppers and began feeding on them as the were new and tender. Since then I have solved the thrips problem and learned quite a bit about plant pest management (I'll have to write about that later).

Bhut Jolokia

Red Habanero

Cumin Update

2011-11-07T22:55:00.000-07:00

I started growing cumin in my indoor vegetable garden near the end of September. It is now about 6 or 7 weeks later and we are starting to get some mature fruit.

The flowers on the top of these seeds have fallen off and the fruit is growing larger. As the fruit matures this branch will start to dry out.

This picture shows the progression of the cumin flower.

In the picture above the top cluster has new purple flowers that have opened. The bottom cluster has flowers that have darkened and started to shrivel. The flower will fall off of the top of the fruit and leave the fruit to ripen like in the first picture.

Grow Room

This is the grow room as it is now. 28 cumin plants all growing together in the foreground. In the back left is the lisbon lemon tree (more about this in another post) and in the top right are 2 habanero and 2 bhut jolokia pepper plants (again more in another post).

We have tried some of the seeds even though they are still maturing and sure enough we get a rich cumin flavor.

22 Weeks and Organizing Challenge Days 2 and 3

2011-11-03T22:18:00.000-06:00

I'm starting to notice more and more the patterns of when I feel our baby girl every day and they are pretty consistent. And I felt her from the outside for the first time this week! Every day I try to get Jonny to feel her right after I feel her. In fact, his hand is on my tummy right now trying to feel her for the first time:) It's coming soon, I know it.

22 Weeks

For Day 2 of organizing Jonny and I did some financial organizing here. We love how easy it is and how we are able to keep track of everything, set budgets, see trends, and categorize everything to see where our money is going. It's great. Highly recommend it.

Day 3 brought me to the desk (well actually the table we are using for a desk. Living in Jonny's parents' basement leads us to use what is around, instead of buying anything. We literally do not own any furniture besides our bed and a few pieces my dad made me that we are going to use for our little girl's room, so like 4 pieces of furniture total). Nothing special about this area but it does all we need it to.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The majority of the organizing had to do with paper. Oh so fun. Lots of shredding things that we don't need anymore and redoing our filing system since it was not exactly up to date. at all. Whatever needs immediate action goes on the desk in the little shelving unit and the rest goes in the filing box. Organizing paper can get overwhelming and I don't really like it at all. So my philosophy is to save as little as necessary and scan everything you can to eliminate as much as possible. With the technology we have these days, there is no reason we need a ton of paper cluttering our lives. I'm excited to get a more permanent system but for now, that keeps everything manageable.

It's true I've got the nesting bug. There is no where for me to set up a nursery in our apartment so I will just have to make sure everything else is done and there is a little room in our bedroom for a rocking chair, pack n play, and call it good until we move.

Oh yeah, and as far as my green smoothie report, we are 3 for 3 so far:)

How to pollinate an indoor lemon tree & Time Lapse

2011-11-02T21:29:00.003-06:00

In searching for how to pollinate plants indoors I have not found many examples that show the flower up close. So... I made my own.

I also experimented by putting my camera out one night as a flower was about to open. This is the time lapse I captured.

Finally, here are some shots of some new born lemons. By the looks of how many flowers we have on this tree we are going to have lots of lemons this spring. Mmmmmmmmm!

4 baby lemons surrounding a flower

Organizing Challenge-Day 1: Bedroom Closets

2011-11-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

I had about an hour yesterday to work on organizing so I chose something I had previously taken a little time on. Jonny took about 10 minutes on his closet and called it good. But I was ok with that because he doesn't have a ton of clothes to organize:) We each have our own closet in our bedroom, which is nice.

Jonny's Closet BEFORE:

AFTER:

The green container above is for his hats (which is pretty much the only item that really needs to be contained), to the right of it is his shoe shining kit, and you can't see his surf stuff on the far left. In our future home, depending on what goes in our master closet I will figure out what works best, but for now, he really doesn't have that much stuff so it's no big deal that he doesn't have many containers/systems in place. The two things that I think are a must-have in a guy's closet are a tie rack/hanger and a belt hanger. Before we were married he had his tie rack and we picked up the belt hanger last year at Bed, Bath and Beyond for cheap. He didn't have to get rid of too many clothes because we just went through it all a few months ago and got rid of a TON (like the stuff he still had that he wore in high school ten years ago, haha).

My closet BEFORE:

AFTER:

The biggest project for me was taking out all of the stuff that doesn't fit my new body and putting it in storage for post-baby times, and then making room for the maternity clothes that Mary so kindly let me borrow. The bin just sat in my closet for a week because I didn't have any space for it. On the top left, I have my purses/bags, and to the right of that I keep all my hats and gloves. My jeans are to the right of that, then my sweatshirts. The two hanging dividers, as well as the set of drawers have tagged along with me since college and have proven to be super useful. I don't keep a ton of shoes in my closet since we don't wear shoes in the basement and we have a cupboard for them upstairs. I keep my "out of season" shoes in the bottom drawer, and long sleeve tees and t-shirts in the other two drawers.

I have kept my scarves on a hanger for awhile, but just today tried tying them on instead of just hanging them over, which is so nice because they used to fall off a lot.

This is our upstairs cupboard for shoes. These are what we wear most often and are in season. I went through today and took out all my summer shoes and put them downstairs.

A few things I have learned about purging and organizing closets:

- No matter how much space you have to work with, live within that space. Keep the amount of clothes that fits comfortably without driving you crazy or causing you to stress when you look at it.

-Keep what you wear and get rid of what you don't. I would be willing to bet that most people wear only about 50% of what is taking up space in their closet. I have a rule that if I never wore something the whole last season, it's got to go. If it is too small and you love it so much you want to wait to lose weight to wear it again, box it up with other things that don't fit and save it for when it does. I also like storing clothes that are out of season somewhere else.

-Don't be afraid to donate or sell old clothes that you just don't love anymore. The sooner you get rid of it, the sooner someone else can enjoy it while it is still somewhat in style. Sometimes clothes are still super cute, you're just sick of them. Try taking them in to Plato's closet or another place that will give you money for them. (My latest purging process for clothes and shoes has steps: 1. Plato's. 2. Garage Sale 3. DI. It's amazing how much you can make here and there from a few pieces of clothes. Then you can buy something you actually love.) You'll be amazed at the things Plato's takes or people buy at garage sales, especially if they are in good condition, which, if you are purging regularly is usually many things.

-Take inventory of what you have before you go shopping. Of course there are times when you just love something and have to have it. But sometimes we think we need more of one thing or another when really we just have too many clothes and forget what you have at home.

-Be realistic. If you hesitate to wear something or try it on and then change every time, it's probably not worth keeping around. Put it in a bin or pile of "possibly get rid of" stuff and revisit it in a month. If you haven't missed it, get rid of it. This can also apply to getting rid of perfectionism. Never tell yourself, "I can't make it look exactly like I want it to with the budget/space/whatever that I have right now, so I won't organize at all". It's a process and the way you can figure out what works best for you is trying different things.

-Find an organizing system that works for you. And NEVER buy containers/dressers/etc. without purging first. Otherwise, you may spend money on stuff you wouldn't need if you would just get rid of things you never use.

I'm a nerd. I know. This stuff is fun to me. What kinds of tips/ideas do you have for organizing clothes/closets? Also, what have you found works best in closets vs. dressers?

Ready to Organize

2011-11-01T13:34:00.001-06:00

Time to hold myself accountable for a few things that I want to make sure I do in November. First, I've seen a lot of "21 days to get organized" type ideas on blogs through pinterest and I am ready to start my own! I figured that the only way to be totally accountable is to blog about it:) I have a LOVE for organizing and getting rid of clutter. So this is actually really exciting for me because well...I will be the first one to admit I think I get a little high from organizing. A little...ok maybe a lot. But I want to make sure I am done with everything before we go to Mexico in 3 weeks. I'm not sure exactly how many days it will be, but that's the beauty of it right? I will do some area every day and if it takes me 15 days instead of 21, cool. If it takes me longer, fine. According to the areas/projects I have, it should take around 17 days, excluding Sundays. We'll see.

I took the idea from here and will adapt it to our personal space, since there isn't a ton of it and her list didn't incorporate every space I want to get. Some of my before and after pics might not be as dramatic because like I said, I love to organize. So, a lot of the structure is already there, it just needs a little revamp because I haven't gone through everything for about 6 months. Oh man, I'm pathetic. I really like to organize. However, it takes time to figure out exactly how you want to organize certain things and certain places don't really have a method yet, so some will be bigger projects than others. And, I will be hoping for some help with certain areas because I'm not sure. All of this is quite temporary because we are still in a basement apartment, and I am determined to do this while spending next to nothing. I don't want to get frustrated if I develop a system for something and spend a bunch of money if it won't work in our house that we buy next year.

Tonight I am going to tackle my closet when I get home from work. It's not too bad, but I need to get rid of the summer clothes, and box up the clothes that don't fit my new prego self, and stuff like that. So, anyone want to do a little organizing challenge with me?

(Oh, the other thing I need to be accountable for is making a green smoothie everyday for us. My mom is starting the 12 steps to whole foods program by Green Smoothie Girl and so I am going to restart with her, we've been so bad a green smoothies lately. Like once every 3 weeks bad. So far we are 1 for 1 since I made one for lunch for us today).

Just sneetching around...

2011-10-31T13:19:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween from ~~two~~ three star-belly sneetches!

When life gives you lemons...

2011-10-30T21:18:00.000-06:00

You've all heard the phrase, "When life gives you lemons make lemonade." Well, what happens when life gives you a lemon tree? Okay, well life didn't give me a lemon tree, I bought one. I've been researching growing citrus trees ever since our recent visit to Sacramento and I've found that it isn't too hard as long as the tree gets enough light. Well, it just so happens that I have grow lights for my hydroponic vegetables so that problem is taken care of.

Leah asked me to go with her on Saturday to some garage sales (she bribed me with getting donuts) and I agreed. On the way back, I asked her if we could stop by a nursery to see what the local citrus plants look like. I wanted to see if I should have to order one online or if I could get one locally. We looked at the citrus trees and they looked pretty sad. The selection wasn't the best in Utah at the end of October. But then there was one tree that looked healthy and strong. We checked it and it was a lisbon lemon (I guess it is the typical one you find at the grocery store) and best it was $15.00. I was sold. I bought it.

On our way home from the nursery. Leah reluctantly agreed to be in the picture.

There are many new buds forming. I found about 15 of these now and each should have a cluster of flowers.

They grow a little bigger (these were much smaller yesterday when we bought it)

Then they flower (like those at the top of this picture). These are amazingly fragrant flowers! The petals have fallen off of the flower on the right leaving a small lemon fruit with a stigma attached to that top of it. I'll find out if it was pollinated in the next few days if it starts to grow. The flower bud at the bottom is growing bigger each day.

Finally, you get a lemon

These thorns are sharp!

Clipped thorns

The plant is happy under the grow lights with my cumin, habaneros, and bhut jolokia peppers. I'll be repotting this plant into a 5 gallon pot soon. Now you know what happens when life gives you a lemon tree!

Hydroponic Cumin

2011-10-19T22:34:00.001-06:00

I am starting my next experiment in hydroponics, Hydroponic Cumin. Here are some pictures of the plants so far. Cumin is a plant with wispy thin leaves that look initially like dill. The plants only grow about a foot tall and then start producing small flower clusters that pop out everywhere.

These flowers are tiny ends of a larger fruit that looks like the final cumin seed. Once the flower is pollinated and matures all I have to do next is dry is out and I have my vary own grown indoor cumin seed I can use as an herb.

Up next...

Caribbean Red Habanero and Bhut Jolokia (Hottest pepper!)

Daddy's Baby Girl!

2011-10-19T17:17:00.000-06:00

Well, yesterday was a great day! We woke up and it felt like Christmas. We were so excited to find out the gender of our precious little one. Time seemed to go by so slowly until 10:45am when we hopped in the car and headed to our appointment. My OB is in AF and we wanted to make sure the construction by the hospital didn't make us late. Well, it didn't and we were almost a full 20 minutes early. Haha. Just a little excited. When it was our turn to go in, the sweet doctor asked us if it was our first and when we said yes she got really excited and told us those are her favorite.

As we started to look at the baby and told her we did want to know the gender, she started getting some leg shots and all of a sudden it was totally clear. As we started freaking out she wrote "Daddy's baby girl!" on the monitor and by this time I was already crying/screaming and I figured out why first-time parents were her favorite. Everything is the biggest deal.

Rewind to the night before. Jonny and I were laying in bed talking about our "final" guesses about what we thought it would be. We both said girl. Though in my mind I was kind of expecting a boy and would be pleasantly surprised with a girl. We have 3 nephews and 1 niece. Jonny has 5 brothers and 1 sister. So the girls are pretty outnumbered. Even though you have a 50/50 chance I had kind of decided odds were more in our favor for a boy, which made me want a girl even more. Truthfully, we want a few of both so it didn't really matter. But I did hope for a girl.

Back to the ultrasound. We had plenty of opportunities to double, triple, and quadruple check and there is nothin there, it's totally a girl. After that I wanted to make sure everything looked good and the doctor said everything looked great. She measured at 19 weeks 6 days, so 3 days ahead, basically right on. She was moving all around and the doctor said we are gonna need a leash for her when she gets out. I asked her on a scale of 1-10 of how much she sees babies move, where was our little girl? She said 8. Oh goody. We shouldn't expect anything different though because according to both of our moms we were the crazy little kids of our families. I wonder how much movement in the womb really reflects personality and activity after birth.

Basically it was the best 25 minutes ever and made everything SO much more real. Now, if only Jonny and I could agree on names. I have probably come to him with 50 names and not one does he love. How many has he given me? None. Nada. Zero. We may have a nameless baby. I'm going on strike until he brings me at least one suggestion:)

So if anyone wants to help us out with suggestions, we are most certainly welcoming them.

Really bad shadow but this was at 19 weeks.

2011-10-11T19:27:00.000-06:00

I wish I weren't the worst blogger EVER but alas, I am. I was so good at keeping a journal when I was nine and ten. Hmm I wonder what happened.

This is what I look like today. (Well technically last Friday-18 weeks, so give or take a little more bump and love handles. Ugh! Why do they have to accompany the belly??)

It's already getting annoying to bend over but I haven't asked Jonny to start putting on my shoes for me quite yet:)

No, seriously I feel fabulous. The only complaints I have about the second trimester are my eternal hunger and the occasional headache. Seriously. I am always hungry. I'm trying to eat healthy and every few hours but with as much as I eat, I am surprised I'm still on track for weight gain. Last Sunday I felt so bad eating a granola bar in Sacrament meeting while everyone else was fasting. But if I wait until 2nd or 3rd hour I would have to share with some 6-year-olds and I'm very selfish with my snacks:)

The most exciting thing is that one week from today we will know the gender!!

My first trimester was actually super bearable as well. Harder than the second has been so far, for sure. At five weeks the fatigue set in and I couldn't go a day without napping, and if I didn't get a nap I would be done for the day and ready for bed at 8pm. When I was at girl's camp I felt like such an old lady because I had to take a nap every day. Then at 7 1/2 weeks I had my first real nausea and losing my lunch/dinner experiences. It got worse throughout the day. My mornings were best once I got some food in my stomach. I wanted a baked potato and chili for every meal, breakfast included. It was weird. For about 3 days for every meal I had to decide the one thing that I could get and keep down at that time. It made for lots of running to the store or getting take out.

But then a week later, at 8 1/2 weeks I woke up one day and felt great. And it lasted all day. I even began to wonder if I had miscarried because it vanished so quickly. For the rest of the first trimester I had only mild to moderate nausea and only threw up once the whole last month. I did have to hold my breath when I did the laundry because the smell of the basil growing in our bathtub was just too much for me. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one ever who has had that predicament:) How many people on earth do you think have grow lights and basil in their spare bathroom/laundry room?

Anyway, I am getting a real urge to nest and unfortunately can't really do a whole lot of it until we buy a house. We've started our home searching and love it at this stage, but we aren't planning on buying until next spring. So who knows how it will all work out. Either way, it's fun figuring out what kind of things are available here and what is most important to us. I've also found myself spontaneously dragging Jonny to Trolley Square to look at Pottery Barn Kids for the cutest baby stuff. (I also get a 40% discount at PB and PBK through Williams-Sonoma since they are sister companies. It's gonna come in quite handy:) And the other day while Jonny was out of town, Sara and I went to IKEA to see the fun stuff they had for nurseries. But more than anything there are so so many cute things and ideas online and I'm loving dreaming up the perfect nursery.

Oh, how long I have waited to feel and experience all of this excitement, and the baby is still months away.

our journey to pregnancy

2011-09-01T11:49:00.002-06:00

So, I want to write this post for a few reasons. 1) To document and remember when I think back and can't remember what a trial this was for us. 2) I have found that there are many couples just like us who want a baby much earlier than they can for a ton of different reasons, and maybe something from our experience will be helpful to them.

**And if you could care less, don't feel bad not reading it:)

Jonny and I were married in August 2009 and were planning to wait a year before starting to try for a baby. I had the mirena IUD put in and all was great. In December 2009, I found a few small lumps in my right breast and just for precautionary measures went in to have them checked and get an ultrasound on them. The doctor said they were fibroadenomas (non-cancerous tumors fairly common in women in their 20s and 30s. He said they should be fine but a repeat ultrasound was necessary in 6 months just to make sure they weren't growing too fast or changing.

In January 2010 (4 months after we'd been married) we both decided we were ready to have a baby. Haha so much for a year right. I was in my last semester of school and knew we would have to change insurance soon so we decided to wait until we had our new insurance in April. Close to the end of school, we applied for insurance with IHC, as well as two supplemental insurance policies. Everything went through quickly with the supplemental insurance, including Aflac (we are among the last to be grandfathered in), which is no longer available in Utah. So we were really excited.

We received a letter from IHC telling me that I had been denied because I hadn't had my follow up ultrasound for the fibroadenomas, but it hadn't been 6 months yet. Dumb. Apparently they just didn't want to deal with it. So we decided to pay out of pocket for the ultrasound, everything was fine, once again, and apply to Regence. Well, they aren't necessarily the fastest in responding and we waited MONTHS to hear back. Finally, our policy went into effect on November 1st (so we were basically in the process of getting insurance for 7 months.)

The first day I learned when our policy would be effective, I called the doctor to schedule a time to get my IUD out. (I didn't even have my real insurance card when I went in, I had to just give them the info we were given since our card was still on its way. Talk about being a little antsy.) We started trying right away and I became the expert of experts on conception. I think I read about it every night for MONTHS.

The first few months I wasn't too worried about not being pregnant since I knew my body needed to adjust after the IUD, but naturally it is disappointing when you have to find out you aren't pregnant by starting your period and having all of those crazy emotions already. Sheesh! I got ovulation predictor kits and it was quite easy to track my cycle since I have been SUPER regular my whole life and NEVER ONCE have missed a period since I started. Never.

After we had been trying for about 3 months, every month just got more devastating and I was basically constantly on the verge of tears for days after starting my period. Again, terrible timing to find out you aren't prego. Poor Jonny, he was a trooper. I received all the comfort I needed and more every time from him.

The fifth month, I began to be in a sort of state of numbness, where I was trying to be super low key and not stress about it, as well as just expect I wasn't going to be pregnant. At this point it was getting harder for Jonny. After 6 months I wanted to go into the doctor, but I knew most doctors would just send me on my way and say "come back in another 6 months" and no way was I waiting that long. I set up my yearly exam so I could see the doctor and talk to him, as well as get some tests done.

When I went in, he said everything looked great, I was very fertile (I had just ovulated, plus I just started using the Clary Sage essential oil, which regulates your cycles). Then he told me the only thing he could think of, as far as difficulty getting pregnant would be that I have a tilted uterus. He said it like I already knew since surely any of the other doctors I had seen would have told me. But no, none of them did! He was my hero, just for that. He said about 20-30% of women have it. It moves into correct position during pregnancy and for many women never goes back to being tilted. He then told me one simple thing to try, because apparently when this is the case your cervix is positioned higher than normal and makes it difficult for sperm to get through the cervix. Wow, sorry this is totally going to be TMI for anyone who isn't married or could care less.

After trying his suggested change the first month after my appointment (basically getting in child's pose afterwards as opposed to on your back) we got pregnant. Walah! Just like that. Easy peasy. Nothing to it. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!! I was like, really? We tried 7 months because no one had told me one little thing? This doctor will forever be my favorite. ALWAYS. (Though sadly he is not my OB because he only does Gynecology these days.)

I took 3 pregnancy tests on the 4th of July, which is another reason why it is one of the greatest holidays ever. All positive. We screamed, we laughed, we cried, and we prayed to Heavenly Father in immense gratitude for this huge little blessing that was already growing inside of me. I know it isn't true, but to me, I am convinced that no one has ever been happier to be growing a sweet little baby inside of them.

To those of you who are in a similar situation and who probably have been struggling even longer than we were: I pray for you always, even if I don't know you by name, and of course some of you, I do. I have been there, I have felt it, and I know that you are loved and will be blessed immensely for your patience.

*P.S. next I will write about getting through the first trimester :)

busy busy and quite exciting

2011-08-29T14:47:00.001-06:00

Oh my goodness has it been that long since I've posted? So bad. Well, we've been busy around here so maybe I have an excuse? You be the judge. Summer has flown by, but we've loved it.

We've been busy...

Going to family reunions and Zumba-ing the morning away:)

Enjoying having Brad and my parents visit for a couple of weeks

Celebrating our TWO YEAR anniversary!!

CANNING and we've just barely started

Enjoying our huge garden and figuring out what to do with everything (who has a delicious canning recipe for green enchilada sauce made with tomatillos? Help please!)

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY....I've been busy growing A BABY!!!

We are beyond excited and went to the doctor for my 12 week appointment on Friday. Our little baby is a mover! The doctor had to try for a while to get a shot to measure the heartbeat. It was moving around and waving at Mommy and Daddy:) So I'm due March 10th and we couldn't be more excited. We've waited too long for this little one but I know all of the waiting will be so worth it! Wish me luck, my clothes are getting tight.

back from camp

2011-07-21T11:36:00.000-06:00

Let's just say that doing camp isn't the least stressful part of my summer, but it certainly is the most rewarding. This year was absolutely 100% AMAZING. It's hard to make it through the last few days before camp starts, getting all of the last minute things together, organizing the coolers at 5am the morning we leave, and making sure you don't forget anything. But as soon as we left and headed up there, it literally felt like this huge burden lifted off my shoulders, and we were ready to play. Every last detail and minute spent preparing was beyond worth it.

This year at camp we had some new first year girls, as well as a few new girls that recently moved in, and naturally you hope everyone gets along. But these girls blew me away. They are so caring, friendly, thoughtful, and CRAZY hilarious. I don't think I've laughed or cried so hard in a long time. It was perfect and I miss it. I don't know how else to describe it. They were so unified and loved spending time together, and when it was time to do stake activities, they would try as best they could to be together as a ward. The theme was "Camp Testimony" and we focused all week on taking our testimonies with us wherever we go. Again, I was blown away at how strong and amazing their testimonies are.

Here are a few pictures for now until I get ones from everybody else (good thing I don't rely on only my ability to take pictures because, well, I took like five the whole week):

Making Banana Boats

Their HILARIOUS skit

Flag Ceremony

I don't really know what to do with myself now that it is over. Wait, that long list I've been making entitled "To do after camp" that I've been making for the past month of everything I never had time for, one of which is to actually go real grocery shopping and start meal planning again. Oh yeah, I'll do that. Jonny will appreciate it, poor guy. He might have lost some weight I think in the past few weeks.

4th of July Weekend

2011-07-05T23:55:00.000-06:00

We had so much fun playing this weekend. It just kept getting better and better!

After a BBQ with friends on Saturday in Centerville, we enjoyed an AMAZING Stadium of Fire with Ryan, Becky, Matt and Mary.

Before the show

Dancing during David Archuleta

Brad Paisley. LOVED IT. Even Jonny (who doesn't like country) was blown away

On Monday I had to work until 12 so I missed the parade. Next year I am determined to go. I've missed it 2 years in a row. But afterward we went to a BBQ at my grandparent's house with all of my mom's side of the family.

Love my girls

Then we headed up to Paradise Bakery with the Jespersons for dinner and on to Rio Tinto for the REAL game.

Bliss

The whole crew (Sara is an adopted Jesperson, we decided)

Celebrating after a goal

And of course no 4th of July is complete without a few sparklers. We didn't buy any fireworks because they had some after the REAL Salt Lake game but let's just say they weren't quite the same as Stadium of Fire, or even close:) Sara saved the day with her sparklers that we did when we got home.

Photo credit: Jonny Jesperson

All in all it was probably one of the most fun and memorable 4th of July weekends. It was hard to get back to real life today, but alas, camp is only a week away and forced me right back into real life real quick.

My house is cleaner in the winter

2011-06-27T15:22:00.000-06:00

I hope I am not the only one who will more willingly let the dishes go and let clothes to be ironed pile up while playing outside in the summer. When I have the time there is no way I want to be cooped up outside. So I'm not. We've been swimming A LOT lately and love it! Lately it is a mix between swimming and laying out while I plan plan plan away for girl's camp (starts 2 weeks from tomorrow!)

Oh, and I love so much about being camp director, however, my least favorite thing about it started late last night. The first of probably 2 more weeks of not being able to go to sleep even though I am so exhausted because my mind is racing with ideas, things to add to my to-do lists, things to delegate, etc. and it's like my brain has to turn on when I go to bed! Why?! This happens all the time with any event but I remember last year with girl's camp was the worst. It is stressful of course so I understand why it happens but I would just like to get some sleep!

Any suggestions for how to turn your brain off at night?

I promise to catch up on what we've been up to, but right now I am dying to get outside. Some therapeutic weeding is on the agenda. Apparently, this weather is also contributing to my lack of blogging, along with housekeeping.

Preparing a plant bought at a nursery for a hydroponic system

2011-06-26T21:46:00.001-06:00

This is a video with directions on how to take a plant bought at a nursery and prepare it to go in your hydroponic system. I have search all over the internet for directions on how to do this and I found a few youtube videos and websites, but none of them really showed the whole process. I filmed myself preparing a tomato plant for my hydroponic setup and then sped it up from 3 minutes to 1 minute so that you don't have to be too bored watching it.

I bought some tomatoes at the nursery that I thought would be perfect for and indoor system. It is called Husky Gold Tomato. It is a yellow tomato that grows on a dwarf indeterminate (vine) plant. I figured that the dwarf quality would make it easier to control indoors and the indeterminate quality would allow me to harvest tomatoes as long as I want to keep the plant.

This is a picture of what the tomatoes are supposed to look like in the end

Spring Garden #1 = Success!

2011-06-22T23:34:00.000-06:00

Well, our first spring garden is in the books and I would say it was a success. We are not finished harvesting plants from the spring garden, but by now I can call it a success. Here is a list of what we grew in a 4'x16' square foot garden:

12 broccoli
6 kale
8 swiss chard
32 lettuce
72 onions
10 beets (started later than the rest so still small)
12 bush peas

Planted peas in big pots we had because we didn't have room in the raised beds

You can see the smaller broccoli plants that will start producing after the big ones are done

Swiss Chard

Broccoli

Lettuce after being cut for dinner

I bough three packs of onions sets at Wal-mart for $0.50 each. Now look at them

This spring has been just about the wettest spring ever! It was great for the spring garden. It was great I never had to water at all! I will definitely do spring gardens for now on. It was the easiest thing ever. Last year at this time we had planed our garden about a month earlier and were just watering it and trying to imagine how log it would take to get something out of it. We started getting fruit and vegetables in late July-early August. This year we have had many harvests of broccoli, kale, swiss chard, and lettuce and it is only the end of June. We are looking forward to continued harvests of our spring garden until our summer garden catches up and starts producing in late July. Hopefully because of the cold wet weather for all of March, April, and May we won't be too far behind last year's schedule.

Easiest Garden Ever! (Hydroponics)

2011-06-19T22:42:00.001-06:00

I wanted to share an update on the easiest garden ever. I planted some seedlings in a hydroponic reservoir about 16 days ago (posted here) and I haven't done anything to the garden yet (except harvest some early basil to encourage spitting). I have lights and a fan that are on a timer and that is it.

The tomatoes are getting large enough that I am going to move them to a separate reservoir that will sit next the one shown here. I hope I get to it before the roots spread and get tied to the basil roots. I am only going to keep 2 of the three tomato plants shown here because they will get much bigger than their small size now. Hopefully in about 2 weeks we will have a lot of basil and in about a month and a half we will have a lot of chocolate cherry tomatoes!

A glimpse into our future

2011-06-08T12:31:00.002-06:00

This past weekend we got to play house. Remember when that was so fun as a young child? Pretending to take care of a baby doll and cook in the play kitchen? Well, we got to do the grown up version. Matt and Mary went to Dallas to visit her family, so we inherited three kids for three days. I think that Sunday gave me the best idea of how different our lives will be down the road when we have three kids, callings, and are trying get everything taken care of. Now, these days our normal Sundays are so chill and relaxing. We have church at 1:00. So we usually sleep in, make a delicious breakfast, read, get ready, prepare anything for church, go to church, make our contribution to family dinner, eat, and relax and talk to family for the rest of the night. So chill. So nice.

This past Sunday went a little differently. The kids wake up at 7:30 and color, Andersen chats away in his crib until 8. Jonny and I decide to tag-team. I make banana oat pancakes while he showers and gets ready. Jonny reminds me it's fast Sunday so I don't get to eat them and I was STARVING! (I'm usually better at remembering the day before:) He feeds the kids and gets them ready while I shower and get ready. Jonny takes off to help with fast offerings while I finish helping Kate do her hair and we all head next door to our house. I have two little helpers that help me measure out herbs and play with water on the counter while I prepare the ingredients for stuffed peppers for dinner later after church. Andersen gets all wet (I now understand why getting kids ready for church too early can be a problem). Kate wants to help me dice veggies. Hmm lets find another activity for you two while I finish. They go play with Tanner in the gym. I get as much done as I can and clean up their mess.

It's time to put Andersen down for a nap. We all go next door and he goes down well, but not for a bit because it's a little earlier than his normal nap time. We are at church during his nap time but I was worried he would be cranky if he didn't get a nap at all. Jonny still isn't home but I need to make a handout for camp (YW) and some stuff for our primary lesson so we go outside with my laptop and Tanner and Kate play while I work on the handout. Kate wants me to kneel on the cement in my dress so she can play with my hair. Sorry honey, I have to get this stuff finished. Jonny comes home! I tell him what I didn't get finished for dinner prep and he goes next door to finish while I stay listening for Andersen and print out the handout. (I didn't even finish the prep for our primary lesson).

It's time to feed the kids lunch. We wake up Andersen and feed the kids, get ready for church, grab some snacks and out the door we go. At church we are about 10 minutes early. The kids want to sit on the very front row. Sweet. We'll see how this goes. I need to take care of my lady business and Kate needs to go potty. In the bathroom Kate yells (as if I'm in a stall 50 feet away instead of right next door), "Hey! What are you eating in there!??" I DIE laughing as I try to explain to her not to worry about it and reassure her I wasn't eating a candy bar in the bathroom stall:) We get back to the front row and I pass a note to Jonny about our excursion.

The kids are pretty good all through Sacrament meeting. I keep having to remind Kate not to stand on the bench to play with my hair, and no, she cannot go see Ryan and Becky seven benches behind us during the middle of the sacrament. She is so cute. Halfway through the meeting I realize I forgot my camp binder with a list I need the girls to fill out. After the meeting I get trapped in the hallway talking to a YW mom, run into primary to grab the keys from Jonny and run home for two seconds to grab my binder. We sit in Primary with our new class and silently chuckle at how hilariously cute and intelligent the kids are. Church flies by when you are in Primary, it's crazy to me. At the start of third hour I run in to Young Women to make some camp announcements and run back to our primary class to teach with Jonny. As we are teaching I am making a few things for the activities. (It was no big deal to the kids but I felt bad as a teacher not being 100% prepared). Jonny would be explaining something and I was writing words on paper for the next activity.

Church gets out, I get stuck again talking and when I walk out Jonny and the kids are waiting at the van. I have the keys. Oops sorry! We run home and prepare dinner. Kate and Tanner really want to help. They are really excited and keep saying that it will be delicious! Awesome. I keep thinking maybe they will eat it well because they helped make it. (Even though I hated peppers as a kid). I was wrong. At dinner they don't like the peppers, and tolerate the filling. They ask literally EVERY minute if they can be done. Kate is collecting a pile of food on the ground underneath her because when I'm not looking she would drop something and then ask if she could be done. Ha! I caught her. Tanner wants lots of dessert because he claims he is still hungry so we barter. Salad for dessert. He likes lettuce with ranch. We were out of salad so I take him out to the garden and show him how to pick lettuce. He continues to do this twice and ends up eating about a plate of greens. Meanwhile Kate is still dropping food and trying to be finished. Jonny is feeding Andersen lots of banana cake. We'll have to work on our consistency:) All the while I am in and out of the family conversation and really have no idea what is going on. I run my hand through my hair and a section is wet. Kate tells me she was chewing on my hair while playing beauty shop. Great.

Lauren plays with the kids outside while Jonny and I talk to my parents. We realize it is time to get the kids to bed so we go outside and Kate is teaching everyone how to be a "hula girl" while wearing a honeysuckle in her hair and dancing around demanding the attention of every single person. Andersen is trying to be funny and copy Nathan because we are laughing at his latest tendency. Shoot I have a meeting in 10 minutes. We get the kids inside and ready for bed and Jonny is on story duty. The kids always go to bed super well, luckily and besides trying to negotiate more and more stories, it is cake. Even Andersen crawls into the bathroom, grabs his toothbrush and will brush his teeth until you won't let him brush anymore. It is so cute. After my meeting, I take Sara home and come back to Jonny watching Locked Up Abroad. I join him and we cuddle and smooch and catch up on much needed "us" time. Then I fall asleep before the end of the show.

Yes, I can see it now. This is our future. I'll take it.

How to Hydroponics - Preparing Seedings for Reservoir

2011-06-03T14:15:00.000-06:00

Well, I have decided to start another batch of hydroponic plants. I am going to grow large leaf italian basil and chocolate cherry tomatoes. I will have 6 basil plants in one reservoir and 2 tomatoes in another. Since I am going through the process of getting everything growing I would describe it in a blog for those who are interested.

First, I created my own hydroponic reservoirs from 22 gallon plastic bins I bought at Wal-mart. I decided not to make step-by-step instructions for the reservoirs because I followed (loosely) these directions given on this youtube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah3zrGRmx80&feature=related). I used this video particularly for instructions for how to measure and cut the holes in the lid of the bin. This method works extremely well. I did not build the structure in the video because I am going to be growing in my bathtub grow room. I am not using the Peter's plant food shown in the video. I bought some hydroponic nutrients from General Hydroponics. I am using the flora series. I had great success with the peppers that I grew before. It seems in the video that he had problems with the bins bowing out once they are full of water. I didn't experience that, so I don't use ties or anything to hold the lid down.

Second, I prepared seedings by sowing them in rockwool. Again, I will defer instructions for this to a youtube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tPsvqoth1c). Despite the experiment format, this video shows how to sow seeds in rockwool really well. I followed a similar approach with 6 cubes for my basil and 4 cubes for my tomatoes (I have had trouble germinating tomatoes so I wanted to be sure at least 2 cubes worked). I placed the rockwool cubes in a small flat with a lid and checked back each day until they germinated.

Rockwool cubes with basil seedlings

Once the seeds have germinated and you can see roots coming out the bottom of the rockwool, it is time to place them in the hydroponic system.

Finally, this is where my instructions begin!

I want to describe the process of placing the new seedlings into the reservoir.

Preparing Net Pots with Seedings
1. I take a net pot (a pot with holes/slits for roots to grow out of into the reservoir).

Net Pot

2. Fill the net pot with a one ball thick layer of clay pellets (hydroton).

Net Pot with Clay Pellet Base

3. Remove the plastic wrapping on the rockwool cube and place the cube in the center of the net pot.

Rockwool Cube in Net Pot

4. Fill the spaces around the cube with extra clay pellets until the pellets are up to the top of the cube.

Rockwool cube surrounded by clay pellets

5. Place net pot cover (instructions on building net pot covers below) on net pot to keep clay pellets in
place and light out of the reservoir. Don't worry about the plants being below the cover, they will grow up through the center.

Net Pot with cover

6. Place net pot in prepared reservoir.

Net Pot in Reservoir

Construct Net Pot Covers

There are many options you can use to keep light from getting into the reservoir through your pots. After using cardstock paper with my previous try (Although effective, it ended up warping and looking pretty bad), I decided to try using styrofoam. I purchased the type of foam that you use in the bottom of floral arrangements at a craft store. I got the green kind rather than the white because I figured it would stop light better. I used the same method described in the first video of this post of measuring circles with a compass to cut circles to cut the styrofoam so that it would fit perfectly in the top of the net pot. For those pots that will have a plant in them I cut a smaller hole for the plant to grow through the center. For those pots that will be empty I did not cut the center hole.

Styrofoam net pot cover

I hope this helps anyone who is interested. Please comment with any questions. When I tried hydroponics in the beginning I struggled with knowing how to construct the reservoir and then how to place seedling in the system. In this post I did not explain the water level or nutrients so I will save that for a new post.

little of this and that

2011-06-01T23:25:00.004-06:00

Crazy that one day I am complaining about the rain, the next we're enjoying beautiful weather getting sun-kissed and loving it. By the way, yes I am aware that I am failing at blogging every single day but I'm trying to look past it and celebrate that I AM blogging so much more:)

Last night we had an amazing benefit concert for my uncle Devin who is fighting esophageal cancer and it was overwhelming how wonderful and generous people are in times of need. Jason Hewlett and Jon Schmidt were beyond entertaining, and little Kristi Anna's song just melted my heart and the tears wouldn't stop. Please pray for Devin and Julie and their five amazing kids.

Yesterday we also had three new additions to our little family of hens. We are currently taking any name suggestions (so far we have only named two of our seven so any names besides "Pollo" and "Loco" are fair game:). We are going to start selling the eggs for $1.00 per 1/2 dozen, just to recover food costs, plus we can't eat all the eggs we get. Let me know if you are interested.

These hens will start laying within a month. Two will lay blue and green eggs, the other will lay brown.

In other news, it might be time to go public on the fact that we are LOVERS of really delicious homemade french onion soup. No but seriously. We LOVE it. Tonight was one of those wonderful nights where we had time for a meal that takes more than 30 min to prepare and this recipe is definitely at the top of my "I'm in the mood for a culinary masterpiece" list. Mmmm. We found this recipe thanks to Kelsey Nixon and her new TV show. If you are like us and can't get enough of a delicious french onion soup, try her recipe and you won't be disappointed. We've made it a few times and the dopamine rush from deliciousness is always awesome:) The best part about making this meal was using our fresh thyme for the first time! (that sounds weird...thyme and time. Ha) We also never have white wine on hand (go figure), so we use whatever juice we have or just extra broth. Which reminds me, we never have gruyere or swiss on hand either, or ciabatta bread. Basically we just have to plan ahead to make this meal and then look forward to it with our mouths watering until the day we make it:)

I hope I'm not the only one who takes pictures of our food ALL THE TIME!?

Oh yeah, and tonight I heard those wonderful words from my sister Sara about my essential oils: "Wow, I am thoroughly convinced that these do make a difference." Post for another day, but she is right, they do!

Hating the rain...a lot

2011-05-30T23:48:00.003-06:00

Jonny and I had a wonderful day getting together to celebrate Memorial Day with family. Our crazy cousins even went swimming in the rain:) We enjoyed visiting Chase's grave and I liked continuing to learn about his fun personality while other's shared memories of him. We came home from the cemetery and I hope everyone else had a more enjoyable evening than we did. As I ran to the door to let Kurt and Sarah in for a relaxing evening with mocktails, I found the carpet completely SOAKED over in the hallway. And yes, discovered we had MORE flooding. We have already had to deal with it (never this bad though) and we hardly knew where to start. Jonny got on the phone with disaster control to figure out if they could come tonight and we slipped in a few mocktails and waited. Then we started ripping up the carpet, pulling up the sopping wet carpet pad, had to clean out a ton of stuff from the storage room next door since it had flooded in there too, and used the shop vac to suction the extra water in the hallway. No fun. But we were SO grateful that Kurt, Sarah, and Sara were over to help. Needless to say that for a million reasons I am hating the rain!

Getting the wet carpet pad out. I'll be honest I didn't help carry that heavy stuff. It was a Kurt and Jonny job:)

The storage room after removing the pad and getting the fans going

So much for getting to bed early tonight. Oh, on a happier note we are getting a few more chickens tomorrow:) Ones that lay blue and green eggs!

East Coast Vacation Part Three: A Little Jersey Family History

2011-05-29T22:32:00.000-06:00

Jonny, Mom, and I got to do some fun little things while Brad was at school and Dad was traveling across the country introducing the re-branding of Hertz. One day, we went to a bunch of family history sites. So, how crazy is it that my parents are living in New Jersey when that was where my first relatives to come to the states lived (for 6 generations!)? All within 30-40 minutes of where my family lives now.

One place we went to visit was the Van Wagenen Apple Tree House. My "who knows how many greats" grandpa Gerrit Gerritsen settled there (present day Jersey City) in 1688 with a bunch of land he received. His last name was changed to Van Wagenen after his hometown in Holland. The house was built by his son Johannes (we think) and passed on in the family for over 250 years and is now a historic landmark called the Van Wagenen Apple Tree House. Legend has it that George Washington and Lafayette met under the apple tree in the yard to strategize during the Revolutionary War. Regardless of if it was that exact location, how cool that it was somewhere near there. We went to visit the home and it was all fenced off because they are restoring it to what it looked like in the early 1800s.

Van Wagenen Apple Tree House with Van Wagenen ladies

That's right Jersey City. Thanks for paying to restore our ancestor's family home:)

A view placing the camera over the fence

Van Wagenen Avenue, not far from the home. At one point the family owned land all around the house

Dutch Reformed Church of Fairfield where my ancestors Halmagh and Mary Van Houten were married. They later joined the church, dying in Winter Quarters.

The church where Halmagh and Mary's son John (my great great great great grandpa:) was christened

John was the one who started reading the Book of Mormon and meeting with the missionaries that came to New Jersey. His sister then found it in his sock drawer, told her mom, then Mary confronted him about it. He encouraged her to read it and soon the entire family (besides the dad Halmagh) were getting up the courage to tell Halmagh they had gained a testimony and wanted to be baptized. To their surprise, when they told him, he told the family he had been sneaking around too and reading John's Book of Mormon. They all got baptized together on the same day! Love that story.

It just amazes me that all of these things took place less than an hour from where my parents live. Jonny and I have been pretty into family history lately and were so excited to see places they were/lived and learn more about their lives and feel a wonderful connection and gratitude to those who came before me.

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE!!!

2011-05-26T16:48:00.000-06:00

I've only been waiting for this night since...oh...last summer when last season ended. FINALLY!

I can't wait! (For the record, I won't make a habit of blogging about TV shows, SYTYCD is my ABSOLUTE favorite and Biggest Loser comes in second.) Plus, for Mary's birthday party, Raw Melissa is coming to demo some deliciousness, and then we are going to Zumba in the driveway! Ahh! So much goodness in one night!

East Coast Vacation Part Two: Mother's Day

2011-05-24T11:43:00.002-06:00

One of the reasons we chose to go to New Jersey when we did was to celebrate Brad's 16th birthday, as well as Mother's day with them and I am so glad we did. Still waiting on pics from Brad's bday, but here are some fun ones from Mother's Day. In the morning we made breakfast for mom and headed off to church. Afterward, we forced (yes, literally had to kick her out of the kitchen:) her to relax while the rest of us made her favorite dinner. Then we all enjoyed a fabulous Sunday nap. Oh those are glorious, especially since we got home late the night before from Gettysburg. Later, we enjoyed giving her fun gifts and laughing the night away. I gave mom a pedicure and paraffin wax while we watched a movie. So grateful to feel like I am the luckiest girl in the world to have such a wonderful, selfless, and caring mom.

My parents' laughter is contagious. I LOVE it.

Some Williams-Sonoma goodies my mom had been wanting. I think we look a lot alike in this pic.

Pedi and pamper time for Mom. I had NO idea the foot scrub would make it overflow with bubbles:)

East Coast Vacation Part One: Hershey and Gettysburg

2011-05-23T23:06:00.001-06:00

We took a little road trip while in New Jersey and drove down to Pennsylvania one evening, stopping at a delicious Korean restaurant (it's kind of a tradition when we get together with my dad). The next morning we hit Hershey, PA and then spent the rest of the day in Gettysburg. It was a fabulous day, and we got to meet up with Danielle and Brian in Gettysburg. It was SO good to see them and spend time with them.

Seriously?

2011-05-20T23:58:00.001-06:00

About once every two weeks, Jonny gets on YouTube looking for crazy and funny videos. Tonight he was just looking up stuff about vegetables and found a band that makes all their instuments out of veggies and then it just turned into one of those crazy funny video nights and we are laughing hysterically as I write this. All from the recommendations on the side we went from veggies to crazy funny laughs. I never knew I could laugh so hard at people laughing. I'll try to post some links tomorrow.

P.S. yes this is a late-night fulfill my goal post.

Operation Microwave

2011-05-19T22:32:00.001-06:00

Tonight we learned that dismounting a microwave is harder than you would think. Or at least it was for us. But we finally conquered. (Don't worry mom, we didn't ruin anything:) So long temperamental start button! No more deciding not to work at the most inconvenient times. You are being replaced.

Catching up

2011-05-18T23:12:00.001-06:00

For the past 6 weeks I feel like we have either been out of town or had family visiting. It has been such a blast. I think it started with our weekend in Park City.

Brit and Michael invited us, along with Katharine, John and Jane, to come up to Park City with them the weekend of Michael's birthday to celebrate. Michael, John, and Jonny were roommates for years in college and it's so fun that Brit, Katharine and I get along so well (in fact, we plan the get-togethers most of the time, haha). Sadly, Jane was running a high fever so Katharine and John couldn't be there the whole time, but the afternoon they came up was so fun. I always love getting a glimpse at the way the boys act when they are all together and then imagine that times ten as rambunctious roommates. This particular weekend they were in charge of making lemonade, but somehow the sugar got forgotten so they ran to every coffee making station in the condo complex and took every tiny pack of sugar to have enough for the lemonade. It was fun watching them squeeze the lemons, get creative with adding grapefruit, and somehow it turned out delicious:) We had fun making dinner together, along with time at the outlets, dinner out on Friday night, and relaxing with some serious rook playing. Special thanks to Brit and Michael for the fabulous weekend.

The beginnings of the wonderful lemonade concoction

Enjoying yummy black bean enchiladas

When we got back, my mom came into town for conference and stayed for a few days. It was so fun to see her since we definitely don't get to see my parents as often now that they are in New Jersey. We had fun making earrings, getting together with family, enjoying and going to conference, and laughing together as usual. It's so fun to spend time with the people you love. Mom, I need to get the pics of your trip from you btw because somehow I don't have any:(

Right after my mom left Jonny and I took off for another quick Arizona trip. Our mission, chosen and accepted, was to pick up a car (that they had down there to travel up to Prescott) at the Phoenix Airport, drive down to Tucson and get some family history info from a relative, and drive home to Utah (with some fun in between:). It was a fun trip and we just kept saying like it felt like a 2 day road trip date.

You can't just see a giant cactus while driving down the road and not stop for a picture:)

The city of Binghampton was where Jonny's grandparents met in high school. Many Jespersons are buried in this cemetery.

This is the church where his grandparents went, and one of the oldest in operation (been remodeled of course).

In a park with some remnants from the Mexican-American War where the Mormon Batallion came through.

Verina, a cousin of Jonny's Grandma. She so kindly gave us some great family history information.

It was a quick, but fun trip. I learned so much more about Jonny's grandparents, who have since passed, and felt a little more connected to them. It was lots of driving but we loved spending time together talking about everything, making plans, choosing music for each other to listen to, and I had fun torturing Jonny through who knows how many hours of Green Smoothie Girl talking about whole foods:)

The DAY AFTER we drove from Arizona to Utah, we hopped in the car, yet again, and drove to Idaho. Jonny joked about how we should drive up to Coeur d'Alene just so we would have practically driven the entire height of the U.S. But luckily we didn't. Leah and Beck came with us on the drive, and I have never seen such a well-behaved baby! He was a perfect little angel the whole drive, both ways! We had so much fun with Kim's wedding festivities and loved seeing so many people from my old ward. Staying with Russ and Alyssa was such a treat. Lyss spoiled us with hair cuts and scalp massages, and we got to see all of the hard work Russ is putting into his homes. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect Idaho weekend.

The happy couple enjoying their first dance

Seeing Kim so happy makes me SO happy!

Roomies together at last! We missed you Danielle!

We drove by our old house on Sunday while I had an "I miss Idaho!" moment

When we got home from Idaho on Sunday evening, Jonny's Mom, Nick, and Cole had just arrived. They visited from Mexico for two weeks during their spring break. Mom had to have some doctor's appointments for her shoulder, and though I'm sure it was hard for her to be gone from the mission for two weeks, we really LOVED having her here. We celebrated birthdays of Cole, Lauren, and Nick while they were here, as well as Easter! (Thank you mom for helping us get our first two chickens for free!) It was an all around most wonderful two weeks. We were sad to see them go.

Easter FHE

Dyeing eggs

Whew, this post pretty much covered the month of April! It was super busy but equally as fun.

These are coming in the mail...

2011-05-18T12:03:00.001-06:00

I might be a little excited:)

Also, are you in a salad rut or need some good salad ideas? Go here.

Tuesday Nights

2011-05-17T23:59:00.000-06:00

Tuesday nights are my favorite because: 1) it's a Zumba night! Tonight was fabulous as always. 2) Biggest Loser is on. I think it is safe to say I am officially ADDICTED to both of those things. It's always a late night because I get home from Zumba just before 10 and Jonny waits to watch Biggest Loser with me. So we get to bed pretty late, but it's so worth it. It's like double inspiration all packed into one. Plus I don't even feel bad about watching TV after I've just sweat my heart out for an hour. Tonight the sisters Olivia and Hannah made it as the FINAL TWO and I've been rooting for them! The transformations are amazing and I love how they change just as much on the inside as they do on the outside. I am going to go to bed now, fully inspired and ready to embrace my challenges with the determination to come out on top.

P.S. I promise to blog about our vacation adventures tomorrow!

Spring Garden Update

2011-05-17T19:38:00.000-06:00

This Spring has been long, wet, and cold. We planted the lettuce, kale, swiss chard, and broccoli about a month ago and they are doing well. Here are some pictures of what they looked like on today's rainy, cold day.

Swiss Chard, Lettuce, & Kale

This broccoli I grew indoor for a long time. I put it outside when I put out the smaller broccoli starts. It has taken off and is doing so well. You can see a small floret that is forming. I am excited to have broccoli this early in the season.

Broccoli

I have put my basil, dill, & cilantro that I started from seed outside so that they can start hardening. I have cut back 5 of these plants multiple times. I have taken those cuttings and planted them those that I have even more basil that is not shown here (I am excited to have lots of basil).

Purple basil, lemon basil, cinnamon basil, red rubin basil, thai basil, sweet basil, dill, & cilantro

These are broccoli and pepper starts. There are 18 broccoli plants here and 11 unknown hot peppers. I am excited to plant these.

Hot peppers and broccoli

This picture is blurry but it shows 2 flats of flowers that Leah and I planted. The will be planted in the yard and in the garden to attract bees to pollinate our garden.

it starts today!

2011-05-16T14:39:00.000-06:00

Ok, so like everything in my life, if I want to get into a regular blogging habit, I have to make a goal for myself. And I am all or nothing or it doesn't work. For example, I can't just say I'm going to eat "less" sugar and expect to turn something down when offered (at least we don't keep treats in the house or make them often, but they appear EVERYWHERE outside the home anyway. grrr. Ok so that's not the point of this post, I am just comparing blogging to my fight with sugar. (At least my lack of blogging doesn't contribute to my waistline though:) I can't self regulate very well. I have to be completely off sugar or not. And I feel like blogging is the same. I can't just say, "I'm going to blog more." I have to have a concrete commitment. So here it is...for the next 21 days (takes that long to form a habit right??) I will blog every day, no exceptions. Now, no promises about how elaborate the post will be. Some days might just be a picture (kind of like those sad scripture reading days where a verse before bedtime is all:) but I will post every day.

This leads me to my next thought about our blogging that I think will be helped by blogging every day. I am not a thoughtful blogger, I'm an "events" blogger. So much about what I want to remember are thoughts and feelings, but my mind doesn't work like that (it's a Van Wagenen thing) when I journal, or even talk to my family for that matter. I have to make a conscious effort when I talk to my parents (and it sometimes doesn't happen) to not just talk about what we've been up to that week, or what they have been busy doing. I figure if I am blogging every day I will be forced to blog more about thoughts and feelings I am having (to the extent that I would want to share), as well as interests, because clearly not every day is going to be full of an "event-worthy" post. Although I am so behind on blogging that the first week just might be a lot of that same old same old. But we just got back from a most fabulous 10 day trip to New Jersey which will be quite fun to write about. Here's to my new challenge!!

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge last week on the most GORGEOUS day

Cloning Basil

2011-04-30T11:32:00.000-06:00

Quick Plant Update
It has been a while since I have posted an update on my indoor plants. I have cleared out the 6 hydroponic pepper plants after I got some Giant Thai Hot Peppers. I grew impatient with how much room it was taking. I also moved the broccoli out to the spring garden and placed the cucumber in the window seal (I have about 7 cucumbers on it now). I now have room for starts for the summer garden (tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, cucumbers, etc.).

I have taken the basil plants and cloned them so that I have tons of basil. My goal is to keep splitting them so that I can have a big basil garden this summer. We have sweet basil, red ruben basil, purple basil, cinnamon basil, thai basil, and my favorite lemon basil.

Cloning Process (for basil)

Cut a basil stem 3-4 inches from the top at a 45 degree angle.
Carefully cut the leaves off of the stem except for the last 4-6 (I usually need 2 medium sized and 2 small sized). This allows for the plant to concentrate its resources on root development instead of leaf maintenance.
Place the basil in water for 2-4 weeks or until you see rood development.
Plant basil for an exact clone of the parent plant.

I have tried just planting a cutting directly without placing it in water for 2-4 weeks and it worked also. however, I tried this with Stevia (using some rooting hormone) and it didn't work.

Hoop House Gardening Update

2011-04-30T11:23:00.000-06:00

Today we woke up to snow. Sad. However, it was a good test to see how well the hoop house is working for the spring garden. Below is a picture of the garden this morning.

It is winter outside and 65 degree spring inside the tent.

This big broccoli is the one that I grew in the indoor garden. I wanted more space inside so I moved it outside. It is starting the broccoli head in the center. It will be nice to have a broccoli harvest in May! The purple flowers we received free at a nursery and I forgot about them in the garage. They almost died so I placed them out here to see what would happen.

Of course, it gets down to freezing at night, but the plants can handle it. I have hardened them for about 1-2 weeks before putting them in the ground. Even though it was overcast this morning, the plastic can provide enough greenhouse effect to warm the tent even early in the morning (at 9 AM it was around 38 degrees outside and 65 degrees inside). We haven't had too many warm days yet (5th wettest April on record in Utah), but the hoop house has kept this area warmer than it would have been otherwise. During the few sunny days we've had I roll up one long side and open the ends. This allows a breeze to flow through, yet keeping the area warm.

I will definitely be a spring gardener for now on. It was easy and fun to see how the plants handled the rough weather this spring.

Which was first, the chicken or the egg? The chicken(s).

2011-04-27T14:59:00.001-06:00

Leah has been mentioning for a while that it would be fun to get a goat for milk and a chicken for eggs. I got excited about the chicken part (not the goat) and went to work. First, I researched what it would take to have chickens and where to get them. I found many designs on the internet for chicken coops that you can make at home. Unfortunately, there were not many that had step-by-step directions. So, I found some videos on youtube and then made my own plans.

I put the word out that I was looking for chickens and it is amazing how many people are willing to give away their chickens. There are plenty on KSL Classified, but in the end we got 2 chickens from Thanksgiving Point and 2 from Nick's friend.

For the coop, I drew it out on a paper of what I wanted it to look like, took my brother Nick to the hardware store with me, and we got started.

We spent much of the day on Friday working on the coop and then finished a little bit more on Saturday. This is what it ended up looking like. The only part that we changed from the plan to the real thing was we moved the plank to come out the front instead of the bottom.

As for the eggs, we were told that we wouldn't have eggs for 3 weeks because the chickens need to acclimate to their new environment. However, on Sunday (Easter) we had our first egg. One of the small white chickens (Longhorn) gave us a large white egg. We haven't had another one since.

This morning I again checked for eggs and brought others out with me. We didn't have any eggs, but we had fun playing with the chickens.

Freedom

2011-04-20T15:10:00.003-06:00

I had this huge burden that was constantly weighing on me since last April when I "graduated" and walked and "finished" school. I thought I would be the most diligent independent study class taker ever so I signed up to do College Algebra to finish my business minor. Oh why do I always think I will be so much more self-disciplined than I am?

Summer came and went, and there were always about ten things that I needed/wanted to do more than work on my class, when we were actually in town, that is. It just sat there in the back of my mind collecting dust, and I kept putting it off. I was scheduled for August 2010 graduation, didn't finish the class and had to apply for December 2010 graduation. I thought for sure I would finish by then. Well, November comes around and I see that in order to graduate in December I have to do the whole class in 3 weeks before the deadline. Um, not going to happen. So what do I do? I tuck it away again and decide I will tackle it after the holidays. I thought I had applied for April 2011 graduation. I think I might have the record for how many times someone applies for graduation, but doesn't actually finish.

We get back from Mexico in January, and I get to it, realizing that in 8 months of being enrolled in the class I have done only 5 hours of study for it. The deadline of March 26th was fast approaching. I still had all 33 lessons to complete and hadn't even finished the review assignment, which in my defense was 150 questions long. It was pure torture! I hated my free time because it wasn't free anymore, it was math time, Eewww.

Well, two to three lessons a day and 4 exams later, I finished!! I walked out of the independent study building at BYU with a paper in my hand that held my final grade in it. I knew that I needed at least a 50% to pass the final and not have to take it again. Easy right? Yep. I got a 55%! A whole five percent to spare! Ha. I ended up getting a C+ in the class. My worst grade in college. Didn't care one bit. I was finished!

Now that I'm done I realize how much more free time I have and LOVE it! If I were to sum up all of my thoughts and feelings of being finished into one word it would be: FREEDOM!!

We've been playing...

2011-04-18T11:58:00.000-06:00

Well since the last time either of us posted we have had lots of fun. Can't wait to blog about:

Finishing my class
Our weekend in Park City
A visitor from New Jersey
Our trip to Arizona
Our trip to Idaho
Our visitors from Mexico
A new blog challenge for myself

Vegetable Garden Soil Test

2011-03-29T10:48:00.003-06:00

I recommend getting your soil tested if you haven't ever had it tested before. I attended a class where the speaker taught us about soil testing and he recommended that you have your soil tested every 3 years. We have never had ours tested so we really don't have a base to start with when trying to figure out how much fertilizer/compost to add to the garden.

The speaker was from Utah State University (which is the agricultural university here in Utah). I reference you to this PDF file from USU that explains soil testing for home vegetable gardens. The document will reference you to USU's soil lab for the tests. Most universities have a plant science department so if you live near one you can take it there. I took mine to BYU (go cougars!) and had it tested.

Here are the steps that I followed:

We have five 4'X16' grow boxes for our garden. I dug two 1 foot deep holes with a shovel from each box (that is 10 holes in all). I took a quart plastic bag and pulled dirt from different levels from each hole (usual top, middle, bottom). I figured this would be a good soil representation of our garden. I sealed the bag and wrote my name on it. I filled out this form and delivered it to room 244 WIDB at BYU.

This is a picture of what the soil analysis report looked like. You can see from the results that our garden soils is a little out of whack. This is why this report was so helpful. Their recommendation said we were extremely high on P and K, but extremely low on N (most soil will be low on N). They recommended only adding N to the garden and if we used compost to use compost without organic matter. We added nitrogen and about 1/2" to 1" of compost made from green waste, without manure.

This is how I calculated how much nitrogen to put on the garden. The process isn't to hard, but it took me a few times of getting it explained to me to understand it correctly. Please let me know if you need help.

They recommended 5.5 lbs./1000 sq. ft. Our garden contains five 64 sq. ft. beds. so I'll have to adjust the calculations accordingly.

I will need 32% of what they recommend because my garden is 32% of 1000 sq. ft. (320/1000)

I will need 32% of 5.5 lbs. is 1.76 lbs. (.32X5.5=1.76)

The fertilizer I have is 21-0-0. This means that 21% of the bag is nitrogen, 0% phosphorus, and 0% Potassium. If every 1 lbs. of this fertilizer has on 21% nitrogen then I need to find out how much fertilizer would give me 1.76 lbs. of nitrogen.

I will need 8.38 lbs. of this fertilizer for my garden (1.76/.21=8.38).

I have only fertilized one bed because it is going to be the spring garden so I took a fertilizer spreader and put it on a scale. I zeroed the scale and then added fertilizer until the scale read 1.68 lbs. (8.38/5=1.68).

After I added a thin layer of compost to the bed, I added 2/3 of this fertilizer. I tilled the bed with a small tiller. I then added the last 1/3 of the fertilizer to the top of the freshly tilled bed. I then took a rake and ran it over the bed to mix up the last layer of fertilizer. I then watered the bed down and now I am waiting for appropriate weather to plant.

Plant Update 8

2011-03-21T18:06:00.001-06:00

This week the starts that we have begun for the spring garden outside have really taken off. I am hoping that we get better weather soon so that I can actually plant. These updates are coming a day early because I will be headed to Las Vegas for work tomorrow. While I am gone the forecast calls for rain/snow. In fact, the 10 day forecast has 1 day without precipitation.

Here are some updates from the bathroom garden.

I am excited to be able to soon have our own salads with out own lettuce and cucumbers!

Square Foot Garden Experiment

2011-03-19T21:44:00.000-06:00

I took advantage of this Saturday, even though it wasn't great weather, to go get some compost to add to the garden. I put some compost in our spring garden bed with some nitrogen and tilled it in. I then strung the drip lines and the string to set up the square foot garden. I watered the dirt down well and then set the PVC hoops back up. Finally, I put the plastic back over the hoops and got everything ready for planting transplants sometime next week. I am now hoping for a sunny day soon. As I look at the 10 day forecast I see 1 partly cloudy day (Wednesday) among the rest of the rainy days.

Plant Update 7

2011-03-15T21:25:00.000-06:00

This week male and female flowers have formed on the cucumber plant. The male flowers have bloomed and now I am waiting for the female flowers to catch up so that we can have cucumbers! Also, the hydroponic peppers have started forming flowers. The plants are still a little small and I don't want them to focus on fruit production, so I plan to pinch the flowers off for about a month more.

We had a lot of our dwarf romaine lettuce for Sunday dinner along with the dill. It is fun now that we can start eating things.

Tennis Deer?

2011-03-15T11:47:00.001-06:00

We are having problems with deer in our yard. All winter long we have been chasing deer out. We literally have deer dropping everywhere. Yesterday, I bought and applied anti-deer spray. An hour after I applied the deer were back (but at least not eating the trees I also sprayed). Next, I got some 5' tall fencing and unrolled it to block the only way the deer can get into the backyard.

Today, I was working and guess what I saw––a deer! So, I chased them to see where they would go to get out. They ran to their path behind the tennis court and couldn't get out because of the fence I put in. So now I am wondering how they got into our yard. That is my next challenge. The gates were shut, the fence was up. Hmmmmm.

I continued chasing them to see how they would get out. One (the poor baby) got caught in the tennis court. I tried to chase him out and got it on video. I honestly didn't want to hurt the deer, but it simply started to freak out.

Eventually, both deer ran down the hill behind the cabana and I didn't see if they went through the river, or if they went to the neighbors yard. They are too fast for me!

Below is the video:

Follow this link to see the video in much better resolution:

http://gallery.me.com/jmjesperson#100131

don't forget...

2011-03-09T16:23:00.000-07:00

The more I use my essential oils (multiple times a day), the more I'm super excited for the class. Here is your official invite that Kami made. Highlights will include, but are not limited to: learning about the fabulous healing properties of essential oils and how to use them, over $75 worth of essential oils giveaways from Kami, giveaways from me to say thank you for supporting me and Kami (hint hint I work at Williams-Sonoma:), sampling of green smoothies and info on how to get started, plus delicious food and friends to enjoy.

See you Saturday! If you can't come because a)you don't live in Utah or b)you are at the MWC Basketball Tournament in Vegas cheering the cougars on (these really are the only two legitimate excuses;), email me at leahvjesperson@me[dot]com and I will hook you up with some fabulous info.

Low tunnel hoop house

2011-03-08T22:50:00.000-07:00

I have a new project. It is creating a cheap, successful temporary greenhouse (aka. low tunnel hoop house) so that we can start planting our spring garden soon. The purpose of a hoop house is to insulate a growing area from precipitation, bugs, frost, etc. I am trying to get a 4' x 16' raised bed in our garden ready fro transplanting. The hoop house has been effective at keeping the temperatures in the tunnel about 3 to 4 degrees F above that outside at night. With nights like last night when it was 30 degrees F outside, it is extremely helpful. I bought a cheap min/max thermometer that I kept in it last night and inside the tunnel the low was 34.1 degrees F. Just warm enough for a spring garden.

I found multiple sources online where there are instructions for creating these (below is a picture of my finished product).

The project was extremely cheap. My shopping list included:

1 - 10'x25' 4 mil plastic sheet
11 - 1/2" schedule 40 PVC pipe
14 - 1' rebar stake

First, I pounded the rebar into the ground spaced (nearly) evenly apart (7 poles on each side).

Next, I cut 2' off the 10' PVC pipe (because my tarp is only 10' wide I need some extra on each side for the weights to hold the tarp down). I placed one end of the PVC pipe over a rebar stake and then bent the pipe to the other side of the raised box and then placed that end on the corresponding stake on the opposite side. I did this for 7 pipes.

Next, I took 2 uncut pipes and placed them on the apex of the arches. I tied them down with a black garbage bag I cut into strips (I didn't have string, but I would recommend twine).

Next, I placed the tarp over the skeleton. I used the remaining 2 uncut PVC pipes and placed them on the side of the structure so that I could use them to roll up the sides of the tunnel on hot days to allow the tunnel to ventilate.

Finally, I placed bricks (that we had behind our wood pile) at each place the stakes were located to hold down the tarp incase of wind.

Today on a 48 degree F day, the temperature in the enclosed tunnel was 91 degrees F. Perfect for drying and heating the soil! I tested rolling up the sides a bit to ventilate area and I was able to stabilize the temperature at 75 degrees F.

This is what the tunnel looks like on the inside.

Now we need compost and fertilizer tilled in and we are set to start growing. Since this whole thing is temporary I can roll up the tarp, pop out the pipes, add compost, add fertilizer, till the soil, pop the pipes back in, unroll the tarp, and watch my plants grow!

Plant Update 6

2011-03-08T22:18:00.001-07:00

We are making room in our little grow room for starts that we will be planting outside in about 3 weeks. I have made a cheap low tunnel over one of our garden beds and should have the bed ready for transplants in about 2 weeks. I am giving the ground time to dry out (should only be a couple of days more with the extra heat generated by the low tunnel) following which we will need to add 2 inches of compost and fertilizer to be tilled in.

Unfortunately, the oldest plants (buttercrunch lettuce, kale, swiss chard) had to go to make room for the new. The lettuce had started to grow flowers at the top, so Leah and I had a great BIG salad at their expense. The lettuce starting growing vertically from about week 4, so I knew they wouldn't last far past their maturity date. I believe it is due to the small container they were planted in (4 inch round pots). When I pulled the plant out of the pot when I was done, the roots were completed root bound (shocker!). The dwarf romaine is doing much better being planted in the gallon containers that I got on clearance at Lowe's. I have started a series of red leaf lettuce (not the ones picture below). Also, I am trying red leaf lettuce in 4 1/2 inch square pots to see if that makes much of a difference (pictured below).

The cucumber has grown about 12 inches in this last week. Looking at the last weeks pictures I can see that there are 4 more new leaves and many new tendrils grabbing the trellis. You can see that the plan leans to the right once it reaches the second hoop. I am going to train it horizontally along that hoop 270 degrees and then go up to the next hoop and do the same on up. This way I hope to be able to grow a large cucumber plant in a little space. The 400w metal halide bulb is doing great at getting light down to the base of the plant.

The broccoli is growing steadily along and is looking very healthy. According to the packet I should be within 20 days of harvest. I don't know if I believe that though. I haven't even begun to see a floret starting to form. Maybe it will from the heart of the new leaves forming on top.

The hydroponic system is doing well. I am loving how it is so low maintenance. I don't have to continually water them like I do the other plants. I haven't changed the water in about 2 weeks and I do not see any sign of malnutrition, so I will probably go another 1 to 2 weeks if I can. Image not having to water your plants for 4 weeks! The peppers are looking great and are getting big. They are about the size now of good transplants. This means I still have about 2 months more until they reach maturity. It will be nice to have peppers in the beginning of June when I am only setting transplants outdoors in the garden!

The root systems seem very well developed. They are white and growing almost faster than the plants up top. This week the dill, basils, and the last pepper roots broke below the net pot.

This week we had our first harvest of basil. I have pruned them back so that I can encourage them to grow new nodes and be bushier. The sweet basil grows tall fast. The thai basil is more compact vertically, but both have the same amount of foliage. You can see in the pictures below that the sweet basil looks more spars as compared to the thai basil. I removed 3 sets of leaves on the sweet basil and only 1 on the thai basil. I removed 3 sets from the sweet basil because it was getting too tall. I want it to grow a good bushy layer first.

Joshua Radin

2011-03-03T14:18:00.001-07:00

So I should be studying for a math test, but instead I am taking a break to blog. Much more fun. Last night Jonny and I had SO much fun going to see Joshua Radin in Salt Lake at Club Sound. We left super early to run a bunch of errands on the way (including buying some raw honey at a killer price, so happy:). We stopped at Zupas for dinner and anthropologie to make a return (no time for looking, so sad). Then we were off to the concert. It was AMAZING! Definitely SO good live. It was our first time going to see him and we would go again in a heartbeat. He was so real and talked about the meaning behind his songs. I think the first word I would use to describe him is "genuine".

Never heard of Joshua Radin? You should listen to these songs. I introduced Jonny to him back when we were dating and he kind of became "our" first favorite artist together. At the time our favorite song was "Lovely Tonight" which sadly was the only song last night that we wanted him to play that he didn't. It's fun because Jonny plays his songs on the guitar and I love it.

Of course, Jonny kept tabs on the BYU game while we were there and we decided it was good we didn't go to the game cause we lost BIG TIME. Bad week for BYU basketball. Good week for good music. Here are two music videos. The first song is one of my favorites lately (the music video is kind of wierd) and the second is his most popular song. But they aren't my absolute favorites, they were just on youtube:)

save the date

2011-03-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

If you are living in Utah, mark your calendar for Saturday, March 12th, 7:00 p.m. at my house. Ok, so it's not really "save the date" worthy since it's next Saturday, but Kami made a cute little invite that I will post up here soon, it just has my address on it. And since my blog is public I don't really want my address on here. So consider this your "pre-invite". Most of you already know where I live anyway.

So what is this wonderful event you are marking on your calendar? A class about healing in your home using essential oils. My friend Kami is going to be teaching the class and she has been using the oils for over a year with amazing results and has so many good tips and ideas. I just got some last week and am already in love. I use them every day and they have already helped in relieving headaches (I hate taking tylenol), muscle soreness, indigestion, and more. If you don't know anything about essential oils, come learn with me. Or if you know a little about essential oils but don't really care to learn more, come anyway so I can see you! I promise you won't regret coming. Plus, yours truly is going to be providing some yummy snacks. So come get some food and chat.

There will be giveaways and early-bird prizes, so don't be late! (Especially if you can't buy oils right now but you want some for free:) Invite your friends too because the more people come, the more Kami can give away.

For questions or directions email me at leahvjesperson@me[dot]com

Plant Update 5

2011-03-01T20:56:00.003-07:00

New Month...New Plant Update.

Here are the next updates for the plants. We got to eat salad this week with greens from our indoor garden! The hydroponic system is coming along and the roots are taking off down into the reservoir.

Williams-Sonoma and free food

2011-03-01T16:04:00.000-07:00

I do love my job working at Williams-Sonoma. a lot. Yesterday was especially great, even though it was really slow. I got to work on displays and other fun (and some boring) stuff. Like any day at work we got to answer questions about which cookware is best and what cook's tools to use, etc. But it's not every day that you get rewarded for your efforts. Yesterday we helped one of the chefs at La Jolla Groves (If you haven't been there and you live around here, go. So delicious.) with some questions and ideas. He was really grateful for our help apparently, because about an hour later he brought both of us (myself and one of my managers) each a tuna salad from the restaurant. Yeah!! I love free food, but I really love free food from La Jolla Groves. I brought it home and shared with Jonny as part of our dinner. Jonny loves my job too:)

La Jolla Groves in the Riverwoods (I found out they are opening 2 more restaurants soon!)

BYU beat SDSU/iTunes song to Tablature

2011-02-26T16:43:00.003-07:00

First, BYU beat San Diego State this morning! YEAH! It was a good game. I get way to emotionally involved in BYU sports.

The Jimmer

The Real Post

So, I was playing guitar and was wondering if there is a program on the mac that can take your iTunes song and find the guitar tablature for it. I found a program called "guitar tab search v1.0" on http://dougscripts.com/itunes/. I didn't work so for many songs because they couldn't be found on Ultimate-Guitar.com.

I prefer tabs911.com, so I used the script provided from the site and customized it to use tabs911.com and their format for URLs. Now I am finding tabs sooooooo easily. Hopefully, Leah enjoys my noise!

This script is available at files.me.com/jmjesperson/a5v8nk.

Place this script in [username]/Library/iTunes/Scripts/ folder.

If there is no Scrips folder in the iTunes folder, create one and place this file in it.

You can access this throught the scripts menu in the top bar while using iTunes.

way back when...

2011-02-25T15:20:00.001-07:00

Before the craziness of Jerry Sloan resigning and Deron Williams being traded, Jonny and I got to enjoy a fabulous Jazz game while the team was still in tact. We now feel even more lucky since things will most likely never be quite the same. They even pulled off a win which was quite surprising in late January since they were on a huge losing streak. These were the tickets from Jonny's Birthday that he was so excited for. We enjoyed Dinner beforehand, snacks at halftime, amazing seats (section 1, row 1) and great company. Thank you to the Ashtons for being so kind. No matter what happens we will be faithful Jazz fans.

Plant Update 4

2011-02-22T21:05:00.001-07:00

This week the plants have grown sooooo much more! I have filled up all of the pods in the hydroponic grow system, moved the broccoli and cucumber into 10 inch buckets, and have witnessed the first roots coming out of the hydroponic net pots.

The spinach has started to bolt and grow flowers. I pinched one off, but I am not sure if it will keep growing like basil when you pinch it back. I think that it is flowering, because the pots that I am keeping them in are too small (3.5" pots). I will be starting the plants that will go out in the garden in mid March, so I am okay if the spinach doesn't make it.

our favorite dates lately

2011-02-20T22:17:00.000-07:00

-Thai food, shopping and a free Moguls competition in Park City

-Crepes with friends and going to see "Tangled"

-Dinner at La Jolla Groves and strolling through Riverwoods

-Cougarettes in Concert (made me miss SYTYCD) and ice cream afterward

Up at the moguls competition in Park City

into and up to...

2011-02-20T22:02:00.001-07:00

Well it's about time I update our blog since Jonny has pretty much taken it over with his plant journal. Life has been quite simple lately and we are just dying for spring to spring:) There is little explanation needed about Jonny's favorite thing these days, but here we go:

Jonny:
- Growing veggies and herbs in our bathroom. (Our spare bathroom/laundry room would now be classified as a greenhouse with a washer and dryer.) He is taking it over with yummy plants that we will soon be able to enjoy. Lately he has been really into his hydroponics and likes learning more and more.
-BYU basketball! Sadly, the rest of the season home games are sold out so we will just have to watch them on TV. But we definitely have Jimmer fever over here.
-BYU football...you know, any article about the upcoming season, new coaches, etc.
-Stake Basketball:)

Looking forward to: warm weather and playing outside.

Leah:
-Going crazy with college algebra. I'm trying to finish my independent study class by the deadline in March, which means at LEAST 4 hours a day of pure torture and a test almost every week. NOTHING enjoyable about it.
-New exercise classes at BYU. They have a wristband you can buy that gets you in to a variety of classes every week for the whole semester, and you don't have to be a student. My favorites are Zumba and Pilates.
-Whole foods. Slowly but surely. Baby steps. (Latest favorites have been homemade peanut butter and hummus. Not together, eww.)
-Gearing up for another year as Girl's Camp Director. Meetings start in January for camp in July. Crazy.

Looking forward to: Life after my College Algebra final. AND trying essential oils that I am going to buy tomorrow!

Together:
-P90x: Ab Ripper X especially
-Date nights every week plus a few more spontaneously when we want to:) Gotta take advantage of being able to be spontaneous before kids come along. I find I need this a lot more after a long math day.
-Celebrating Valentine's Day AND our 18 month anniversary. Yay!
-Playing basketball together. Yes, Jimmer has inspired us this much.
-Cooking together and trying new recipes.

Together we are looking forward to: Using our frequent flyer miles for fun trips!

Plant Update 3

2011-02-16T20:08:00.001-07:00

This is the next update in the installment for the plants. This week plants are growing larger and I have started moving some of the plants to a homemade DWC hydroponic system.

I moved a three week old cucumber into the hydroponic system. Since it is new in the system and the other plants in the hydroponic system are only seedlings, you can see in the bucket there are no roots showing through. From what I read it should take about a week of being in the system to start seeing roots. I have nutrient water that I made from a water soluble plant fertilizer (Peter's All Purpose 20-20-20) with epsom salt. Eventually I will move to fertilizers made especially for hydroponic growing, but while the plants are small and won't be requiring a lot of nutrients I am sticking with the cheap stuff. I try to keep the mixure's pH around 6 and the ppm about 270.

I have some new plants that I have waiting to germinate. You will soon see red leaf lettuce, more bell peppers, more sweet and thai basil, peppermint.

Plant Update 2

2011-02-08T20:31:00.001-07:00

Here is another weekly update of how the plants are growing. This time I have combined the pictures to reduce the amount of scrolling necessary. I am also building a DWC hydroponic system out of some plastic tubs I bought at Wal-mart. I will show pictures of the progress as I get started with that. I am still waiting for some supplies to arrive by mail so that I can begin putting it all together. Soon I'll have soiless plants.

Some of the above picture show many plants that are growing right next to each other. When I sow the seeds I sow more than I need to make sure that I have seed come up (for the lettuce, dill, and thyme I used the paper towel method and then transplanted germinated seed to the soil) and then as they grow I thin them out to the appropriate level (you will notice the week 2 plants have been thinned).

Plant Update 1

2011-02-01T19:48:00.001-07:00

I have started sweet basil, thai basil, buttercrunch lettuce, and baby romaine lettuce.

All of the week 1 plants have now had their true leaves emerge, not just their cotyledons.

The bean plant was an experiment where I planted a sprout from a batch of sprouts we grew for salad. So far it is growing extremely well. I don't know how long I will be able to keep it because it will get to bug to be grown under the grow light and it is way too early in the year for it to have a shot of lasting outside. I think I will just let it grow and see what happens.

A Grow Room for Vegetables

2011-01-27T20:22:00.002-07:00

I have begun a new hobby this "summer" (early, early spring) season. I say summer because I have created a grow room in an extra bathroom we have. So now we have the summer sun in this bathroom. I have planted a bunch of different seeds (broccoli, spearmint, kale, swiss chard, spinach, green leaf lettuce) and a few have come up and are growing strong. Here are a few pictures of the beginning of my new hobby–a grow room for vegetables.

Baby Adzuki (left) and Lentil (right) Beans

Baby Broccoli

Baby Swiss Chard

Here is a SketchUp model of the grow room. I have gently installed a wood frame over a bathtub and then draped the sides in mylar emergency blankets to reflect the light back into the room.

Model of the grow room

I'll keep updates coming, but remember it takes plants a while to grow.

Some of the materials:

Grow Light
Emergency Blankets
4"x1 1/2"planks
etc.

Family Vacation Paradise

2011-01-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

We got the best Christmas presents from Mom and Dad Jesperson this year. We had planned our family vacation to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and as a family decided no gifts from Mom and Dad for Christmas. Instead they would treat us to a canopy tour and swimming with the dolphins while we were there. Any words to describe it would be extreme understatements, so I'll just let each of these pictures say their 1,000 words.

Right before starting the canopy tour they got us all outfitted in our gear

Living my own Tarzan experience. I feel like my wish of always wanting to know what it feels like to fly finally came true

Flying over the river, except you can't see it because it's 700 feet below us!

Who's crazy husband is that?

We got to get in the cage with the monkeys and feed them. I debated sneaking one out to take home with me.

They were having us feed them powdered baby formula...??

Campfire on the beach? Yes please! I could have done this every night we were there.

One day we rented paddle boards. This is Jonny riding a wave in.

Scrumptious fishy kiss. I took this while I was talking to them about why I couldn't take this picture:) ha suckers. I got it.

Is it too late to decide I want to become a dolphin trainer?

10 times better than any roller coaster. SO FUN!

Jonny has a thing for sea animal kisses:)

We were buds. I want a pet dolphin now too.

Life-long dream come true!

After the initial shock of how big they were, Kate and Tanner had the time of their lives! I LOVE the pure joy in Kate's face.

No Jesperson family vacation is complete without LOTS of surfing!

Visiting the Saint Regis hotel

Dinner at the Rosa Mexicana

Mom likes to take candid shots and I like that she likes that

We played games at night like Lagretto and RISK. Jonny and I won at RISK after being down to one country!

I was surprised with a little early birthday celebration. These are the biggest sparklers I've ever seen! Only in Mexico!

Soaking in some last minute beach time before leaving for the airport.

It almost seems like a dream now that it has been a few weeks, but I still remember every little detail like it was yesterday. Stay tuned for the only teeny tiny part of it that was just straight up frustrating. I'm too tired to tell the story tonight. Even with that little incident it was still one amazing week of PURE fun and relaxation.

alive and 25

2011-01-20T22:19:00.001-07:00

I had so much fun celebrating my 25th birthday, both in Mexico and here at home in Utah. Jonny made me a gigantic delicious cake and I was so impressed! He spoiled me with gifts that were perfect, including a heart rate monitor for working out. One of my other favorite things was that Dad flew in for a day between business trips to see us. We went out to eat at the Sky room at BYU and it was so fun to see him since it had been since August. I also loved going out to lunch with friends that week and felt so loved all week long.

vacation-sick for Vallarta

2011-01-12T22:02:00.001-07:00

We just got back from 80 degree weather, swimming with the dolphins, zip-lining across rivers, and lounging at the beach all day. I'm not too excited about being back in 20 degree snowy Utah. Do you blame me? More pics to come.

P.S. you need to go here for a delicious banana oat pancake recipe I just posted (the one I made for Jonny's birthday) that we absolutely love.

so long 2010

2010-12-30T22:55:00.004-07:00

You have been oh so good to us. Even the trials helped us grow stronger. Here is our year at a glance:

January: Spent my birthday in Mexico with the family. First time in my life I was in a place hot enough to swim on my birthday. 24 years started off right. We also made the change from a married student ward to a family ward. Love it. New callings included Elders Quorum Teacher for Jonny and Ward Camp Director for me (Baptism by fire for sure). Jonny also began work full time at Courtyard at Jamestown in the Marketing Department.

February: Celebrated our 6 month anniversary of wedded bliss. So wonderful. I still get teary eyed when I think about how blessed I am to have found Jonny.

March: Finding time for a little fun at the Colors Festival. I spent time doing too much research during my last semester of school, while Jonny spent time convincing me to play with him instead of do homework. (He finished classes in December).

April: Graduation! Jonny and I walked together in the Marriott School of Business. Longest graduation ever. So good to see everyone that came to support us. Feels so good to be done.

May/June: So packed with fun as we went up to Idaho for Sara's Graduation and Shayla's wedding. Then off to Mexico as a graduation present from Mom and Dad Jesperson. Loved spending time in the mission and speaking lots of Spanish. We also got to enjoy time at our Van Wagenen Family Reunion in Heber and loved getting together with everyone, especially our cute cousins. Somehow during all of this Jonny found time to start a new job as Technology Director for JMS Technologies. Thank goodness he can work anywhere he has his computer, internet, and a phone:)

July: Welcomed my amazing mission president and his wonderful wife home from the mission. Jonny got the official approval from President (good thing since we were already married:). Then off to Girl's Camp for a week with some of the most amazing young women I've ever met. We had so much fun and it was quite relaxing compared to the weeks prior full of stressfully getting everything together. I can't find my girl's camp pics, but this tutu was what we made and the girls wore EVERYWHERE all. week. long. We had so much fun. Also, right before girl's camp I said my goodbye to the most fabulous two years of working at the MTC. This picture is of my last group who were absolutely amazing and ready to share the gospel with the world.

July 30th: Kurt marries his sweetheart Sarah in the Washington, D.C. Temple. We couldn't be happier for them. They are perfect for each other. We then spent 3 weeks back east on vacation.

August: Enjoyed vacationing in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston. It was our first time visiting Mom and Dad's new home in New Jersey and we just fell in love with the east. Sad that they live so far away, happy that that far away is so awesome. We also celebrated our one year anniversary on the trip! This picture was taken on our anniversary (how appropriate) on our way to our beautiful hotel in Manhattan.

August: Our whole family together? Ahh! We need a family picture! So we decided to throw something together. This was taken the day after Kurt and Sarah's wedding reception in Orem. So good to spend time with everyone all at one time.

September/October: Running, running and more running. I decided I love races, but training takes so much time. I ran a 10k and half marathon, both in October. Jonny and I enjoyed being home and enjoying our newly found "simple life" (ie. all work and play) as well as enjoying our favorite fall season.

November/December: Celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas here in Utah with family. Jonny turned 27 and we had our first Christmas morning with just us two.

Wow, it has been a good year! We are so blessed. Now, on to 2011 which hopefully has even more excitement in store (in the form of a big belly that isn't the result of too many sweets at Christmas).

Lovely Christmas

2010-12-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

Playing the bells at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Kate and Tanner caught on so fast!

Christmas Eve PJ's (mine have cute little owls on them!)

Crazy Van Wagenen Christmas morning tradition of running through a wall of newspapers (or butcher paper in our case) to get to the presents.

Some of Jonny's favorite gifts

Some of my favorites. Jonny spoiled me bad.

We had so much fun with family on Christmas Eve, complete with dinner and the nativity in Springville with the Peterson clan and a fun talent show in Orem with the Rasmussens, then enjoyed a wonderful Christmas morning with just the two of us, breakfast (Ebelskivers) with the Jespersons, and a whole day of food and laziness:)

Christmas Concert

2010-12-19T20:47:00.001-07:00

We didn't have luck getting into the Mo Tab Christmas Concert this year, but Ryan and Becky were able to get tickets to get in the Tabernacle. So we went and watched it in there. When I try to think of one word that describes David Archuleta's voice it would be PURITY. I love it. He puts his whole soul into every song and becomes a different person full of eloquence and grace when he sings. I kind of like that he has a hard time with his words and speaking his feelings, because he makes up for it with the way he expresses himself through song.

Temple Square at Christmas time is so much fun. I am oozing with holiday cheer after such a beautiful performance and wonderful evening. It was so fun to spend time with family too. We ate dinner with Ryan and Becky beforehand and had dessert with Matt and Mary afterward. I just love the Jespersons.

In the Tabernacle after the concert. Being there made the loss of our dear Provo Tabernacle so much more real:(

We were at Blue Lemon afterward for dessert and saw David Archuleta signing books and CD's at Deseret Book right next door. So we popped in to see him. I think he should marry Sara.

Arizona welcomes the Jespersons

2010-12-16T23:17:00.002-07:00

So, we had a fun little business trip this week. FUN and LITTLE are the keywords in that sentence. We left Monday morning and got home Tuesday evening. It's always weird explaining what Jonny does for work in summary, but here goes. Jonny's dad owns a few assisted living communities, so Jonny got the opportunity while growing up to work at all of them through various internships and such. While working there, he was able to help develop software for them to make things more efficient in the various departments of the communities. With time, that grew and grew, and now Jonny is developing a complete software program to be marketed in the future for assisted living communities throughout the U.S. Two of the communities are playing the role of "guinea pigs" while he is the Technology Director for them. One of those communities is Granite Gate, in Prescott, Arizona (which is where we went this week). Jonny's two older brothers also work for the communities in many different areas. Whew! Ok not a bad little summary.

So the point of the trip was essentially for the wives (Me, Becky, and Mary) to meet and get to know all of the department heads of the community. The guys also had some meetings and businessy stuff to do. Unfortunately, Kate got really sick so Mary couldn't come:( But the rest of us headed down on Monday morning. Highlights of the trip included a fun dinner at Oliver Garden on Monday evening with all the department heads and their spouses, complete with Christmas gifts, so fun. We ate way too much. On Tuesday we also toured the community and got to meet some of the residents while the guys had meetings, then ate lunch together there. It was also fun to go sight-seeing and find out how GORGEOUS Prescott is.

But above everything else, this was perhaps my favorite thing:

Yes, an explanation is necessary, don't worry you aren't missing something in the picture. This is Jonny sitting on the couch that was a big part of our dating history. Wait, let me explain, ha that sounded funny. When we were dating, Jonny took a semester off of school and was actually living in Arizona half of the week (working), and in Provo the other half of the week (dating me:). He traveled every Monday morning to Prescott and came back every Thursday afternoon. So of course it was hard being apart since he was gone every single week.

When we very first met and started liking each other, Jonny told me there was really bad at&t service so he would just call me when he got back to Provo and we didn't talk during the days he was in Arizona. That lasted for about 2 weeks and then all of a sudden he was doing whatever he could to "find" service so that we could talk, haha. My roommates always teased me about that. Anyway, this couch is where Jonny could actually get service. It is up in the game room of the community so he would go up there at night and call me. We would talk for hours and learned so much about each other during those long conversations.

So...that is the significance of this couch. Jonny casually mentioned it to me while we were there like it was no big deal, but it was a big deal to me (the sentimental girly part of me). Through all of those conversations I never really knew where he actually was, so it was hard to picture in my mind. But after this trip it was so fun because now I finally know!

Outside on the balcony.

Watson Lake in Prescott. I loved this place.

Though it was a short trip it was really fun and I told Jonny I would go with him on any business trip he wants, even if it means a few crazy days trying to get caught up on courthouse work when I get back. It was so fun.

(Oh and I didn't even mention the gorgeous weather was such a good break from Utah. 70's in Phoenix and 60's in Prescott. It was AMAZING.)

Mr. Jesperson turns 27

2010-12-12T23:58:00.002-07:00

I have one amazing husband. There is not a mean bone in his body. He really is what everyone described to me before I met him as "such a quality guy". Crazy enough it was almost exactly two years ago that I helped a friend out in the MTC who needed me to substitute teach his class of missionaries. It was then that I was first introduced to a member of the Jesperson family, through Sister Lauren Jesperson, called to serve in the San Francisco Oakland mission Spanish speaking. I noticed this weird familiarity with her and kept trying to figure out in my mind if I knew her from somewhere. A few days after I taught her class, my friend said that she had asked if I was dating anyone, and mentioned she wanted her brother to take me out. So weird. A missionary wanting to set me up. Crazy. That's what I called it at the time. But do you know what I call it now? Inspiration. Yep. Because that little Starbucks blind date was the last blind date I ever went on. Now I am happily married to her (that sister missionary that I taught ONE time) brother and that sister missionary is now my sister-in-law. And you know what? I couldn't be happier! Jonny is the most perfect person for me in every way possible.

This past week we celebrated his birthday and a celebration it was. I just couldn't only celebrate one day, so it was more like his birthday week. Here are some highlights:

We celebrated with family on Sunday evening.

Per Jonny's request I made the richest (non-healthy) peanut buttercup cake imaginable.

Grandpa Cox, Grandma Cox, Becky, Nathan, oh and Ryan's foot:)

Sarah, Mere, Kurt and Sara

Tuesday night we went to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate with friends. (Kristie, Tom, and cute little Lilah)

Brit and Michael

Birthday Boy and the Mrs.

Katharine, John and Jane the cute little dancer

Ride 'em Cowboy!

This is a good beard shot:) He has been growing it out since Thanksgiving.

Jonny's favorite present (Hence the reason he has been displaying them on our dresser:) I surprised Jonny with Jazz tickets. Our amazing friends Heath and Bekah seriously hooked us up with front row court side tickets for January.

I went a little crazy on gifts this year. Jonny hardly ever buys things for himself so I just had to take the opportunity to spoil him. We started the festivities Saturday night (so sad I forgot my camera) with the BYU game and Temple Square (and I snuck in a trip to anthropologie). I gave Jonny a new BYU jacket that he could wear to the game. Sunday we had cake and ice cream with family. Monday we went to Barnes and Noble (one of our favorite things to do) and Jonny got a new book (The BYU football history book). Tuesday we went to Texas Roadhouse with friends and I gave him some guitar tabs he's been wanting for awhile. Wednesday was the actual BIG DAY and we had banana oat pancakes for breakfast, love notes from family, and nearly a whole day to spend together. I gave him the Jazz tickets and a new Jazz tee, as well as a gift certificate to get a one hour professional massage. He had never had one before and always talked about it. When he suggested that it would be awesome if we did a couples massage, I was not about to say no:) So Wednesday evening we got a couples massage at Solase. It was seriously heavenly. We left feeling like we could float. SO relaxing. I think he liked everything I planned because he kept calling it the "best birthday ever". Good sign right? Now, what to do for Christmas since I already exhausted his very exhaustible Birthday/Christmas list of 3 things... Hmm.

Tomorrow we leave for Arizona on the first business trip we both get to take. Yay!

the last few weeks in pictures

2010-12-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

We were babysitting Nathan one night and he found that he fits perfectly in the bottom shelf

Making yummy apple pie with my new WS goodies (ie red deep ruffle pie dish and pie crust cutters:) Ahh so happy!!

I forgot to take a picture of it cooked, so pre-cooked will have to do.

Thanksgiving dinner with Jonny's cousins. So fun and beautiful!

We are SO spoiled by Jamie's amazing cooking.

So full and super content!

After Thanksgiving dinner, we had pie with my cousins at Wendy and Steve's, followed by Wii dancing to burn off those calories.

We even got all the "grown ups" to do it

Thanksgiving night, Kurt and Jonny just couldn't wait until we could get in to shop at Modbod.

Sarah and I were just content watching Modern Family, almost forgetting why we were there:)

All joking aside, Kurt and Jonny were such good sports. Last year Sara and I pulled an all-nighter just for fun, we didn't even have anything specific we wanted. So this year, Jonny wanted to know what was so exciting about it:) So the boys came along because they just wanted in on all the Black Friday action. Just for fun, we went to Modbod (for swimsuits and tees) and Walmart (for DVD's). It was craziness and just made for a good time. None of that 4am stuff for us, but we had a fun Thanksgiving night adventure.

This week we've been celebrating Jonny's birthday. It's not until the 8th but I am just so grateful he was born, a one day celebration isn't enough. Pictures to come.

ZUMBALICIOUS

2010-11-20T14:41:00.001-07:00

It seems like every year I have the same problem. I will do great exercising when the weather is nice, but then as soon as it is too cold outside, I just can't bring myself to use the treadmill. It is SO boring!

Finally, I have found something I can do when it's cold that feels like a dance party every time! I am pretty much the least coordinated person ever, so if I can pick up the moves, you can too! If you live close by, come with us! If you don't, go to Desree's blog and workout at home! She just started a blog to post some of the songs we do in class. So fun! I even do them on days I don't go to Zumba.

Sara and I after the Zumba Halloween Party. We had to show Jonny our new moves:)

have to share

2010-11-19T14:44:00.000-07:00

Can't get THIS off my mind and had to share it. Melody is an amazing woman I used to nanny for in high school with 5 amazing kids and an amazing story. Everything she says and does is inspiring to me.

my OCD confession

2010-11-17T23:37:00.000-07:00

So...two weeks ago when the weather was still surprisingly good, Mary decided to do a yard sale since they had a bunch of stuff to get rid of. Becky and I contributed a little to make it a 3 family extravaganza. It was then that I realized I have an issue. Unless everyone else makes monthly trips (at least) to drop off stuff at DI, I don't think I'm normal. I have a serious case of OCD when it comes to getting rid of stuff. I cannot have excess. I go through our stuff regularly, like every two or three weeks (no joke) looking to get rid of things we don't use. I also do this with food in our house. I get this weird happy feeling when the fridge starts getting empty because I know we are eating all of our food and not wasting it.

I don't know what to attribute all this to except for the fact that mom and grandma are pretty serious pack rats. Do I have a subconscious fear of having the same problem? I guess so. I may finally be aware of it. Even when it comes to re-purposing and re-using cool little knick knacks for projects, I have to limit the amount I am willing to take on. There is no "one day I will get to this" label for all the things I may possibly use for a project. I am very picky.

Anyway, back to the yard sale. I was in heaven. I just kept looking for more things to sell. All of those things that I couldn't quite just give away because they were too valuable, but I would sell them for a couple bucks each. The first morning of the garage sale I just couldn't believe how many people were there 30 minutes early to get the best stuff. And the truth is, they got it. I learned that our junk was definitely their treasure, and that is how I feel when I go to yard sales. So crazy. It went so well we decided to make it a yearly tradition. No doubt I will always find plenty to get rid of. I may ease up on the regular DI drop offs and save some goodies for a little extra cash.

Wish I would have thought of this sign instead of the boring old Yard Sale signs we made.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

2010-11-01T23:23:00.000-06:00

The Newsies

On Friday, Leah and I went to a couples Halloween party up at the Ashton's cabin in Sundance (thank you Adam and Annie!) We discovered on the days leading up to Halloween that deciding what to be for Halloween is one of the hardest things for us each year. We wanted to have the best and most original Halloween costumes ever so we thought and thought and planned and planned and didn't come up with anything. On the day of the party we both gave each other assignments to think of costumes we could wear. After work we still hadn't decided. So, we looked in my family's dress-up box and found an old-school hat, vest and pants, a large red fleece onesy, and a catholic father suite. Those are some fun choices! We got really excited about the hat, the vest, and the pants and put them together with some of our old wrinkled and worn clothes in the DI pile and had perfect costumes from the 1992 movie Newsies. The picture above doesn't do justice to the wrinkles and frayed edges of the clothes and was taken before we rubbed some dirt on our faces.

We were really excited about what we found in the dress-up box, so be looking for a large red fleece onsey or a catholic father roaming the streets in about 364 days. Maybe next year deciding what to be for Halloween won't be so hard--but it was worth it this year!

playing on the weekend

2010-10-24T21:56:00.001-06:00

Some highlights from this weekend:

Friday night we went to the Courtyard at Jamestown Halloween Carnival and then over to Kristie and Tom's for another little Halloween get-together. Wish I would have taken more pics :(

Hanging out with Anders while Kate and Tanner did the cakewalk.

On Saturday morning Mary and I got SOAKED on our Canyon run. Jumping in a swimming pool wouldn't have gotten us any more wet. But it was only the last few miles so it kind of felt like a little adventure.

After our run in the rain

Saturday night we went to a benefit show to raise money for Haiti and got to see Jason Hewlett (hilarious and crazy) and Alex Boye (also hilarious and CRAZY with lots of energy and an AMAZING voice). Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa it was a fun night with friends and family.

After the show with Jason Hewlett and one of his crazy impressions.

into and up to

2010-10-24T20:16:00.005-06:00

We go through phases of what we are into and up to, and since this will be our main journal, I decided that I am going to try to post every so often about what our latest interests, obsessions, and hobbies are.

Jonny:

-Playing the guitar a lot more (I LOVE this) He's amazing but you would never find that out from him.

-Anything jalapeno (he made jalapeno jelly and pickled jalapenos, both while I wasn't even home)

-His herb babies (he has been and is obsessed with growing fresh herbs and I'm obsessed with cooking with them. Perfect.)

-Football Saturdays

-learning all about jquery for work, as well as all the other software stuff that I have no idea about

-Apple TV and Netflix

Took this the other day as I was admiring him learning a new song.

Leah:

-tweaking our bread recipe to use whole grains instead of just whole wheat

-making jam with evaporated cane juice and stevia

-cooking with coconut oil and flax oil

-feeding my sourdough start

-babies and having one (nope, not prego yet)

-running, running, and biking this week to strengthen my knee

-blogging (finally!)

-Hobby Lobby (just opened in Orem 2 weeks ago and I've already been too many times)

-Making my wish list of Williams-Sonoma stuff that I want to get with my new 40% employee discount.

The other day Rose and I made 8 loaves of bread

Together:

-watched the entire Season 1 of 24 this week. Neither of us had seen it. (Very, very bad idea. We were like young college kids again staying up too late. Netflix is so bad but so great.)

-reading the Book of Mormon before the end of the year (LOVE this challenge at Stake Conference a few weeks ago).

-hot apple cider with mulling spices
-drinking green smoothies like it's our job

REAL Salt Lake date

2010-10-17T22:10:00.000-06:00

Jonny was in charge of the date this week, and Matt was able to get cheap tickets to the RSL game for a bunch of people so we were able to see their last home game. So Saturday evening we went to Chipotle for dinner with a bunch of people and then on to the game.

There are 3 things I will remember most from this date:

1) I finished my whole burrito with room to spare and Jonny couldn't even finish his. He said "Oh, so this is what it feels like to be the girl." He loved how I actually ate more than him all day yesterday. I could not get full after the race, my body wanted LOTS of calories.

2) Taking FOREVER to hobble from the car to the stadium and I really feel like I know exactly what it would feel like in my later years to be old.

3) RSL games are a party! We won 2-0 and I LOVED the atmosphere of the stadium. We were on the big screen and I had no idea. This happened while Jonny and I were dancing...shimmying to be exact. Ha!

"eating, shopping, oh...and running"

2010-10-17T21:54:00.000-06:00

I can do hard things. That's what I learned this weekend. Mary and I ran 13.1 miles on Saturday. It was my first Half-marathon in almost 5 years. I was so proud of us! The first nine miles I felt amazing and was right on track to meet my time goal. Then I hurt my knee and had to slow down a ton, but I still finished! I think it just got super inflamed, because today there is no shooting pain, just soreness. I had four miles to tell myself it was ok, that there would be other races, and that the important thing is accomplishing my goal. I will do it again, because as hard as it was there is something so therapeutic about it. I burned over 1400 calories, and then ate whatever and whenever I wanted for the rest of the day with NO guilt:)

Sprint to the finish

Crossing the finish line

Deja vu from last week. Only this week we got Magleby's Chocolate Cake after the race:)

Luckily Mary and I did our shopping the night before because you better believe I struggled to walk the rest of the day. The race was called The PINK Half-Marathon, another all women race. It definitely had the coolest goody bag and sponsors and I loved how it supported breast cancer awareness. This is definitely a race I would do in the future. Jonny was so sweet and came up to support me and was there for a big sweaty hug and kiss at the finish line, as well as gave me all day leg massages on demand. I owe him big time.

great news phone call

2010-10-12T23:30:00.000-06:00

I got the greatest phone call today and found out that next week I get to start working here:

Happy day? Yes. Yes indeed:)

BYU-tiful

2010-10-11T23:41:00.000-06:00

On Saturday Grandpa Peterson had 2 extra tickets to the BYU game and called to see if we wanted them. We were so grateful and even got to see the Cougs pull off a win! Now we know we are good luck charms:)

wasatch women lovin our bodies

2010-10-11T22:56:00.003-06:00

Saturday morning Mary and I ran the Wasatch Woman Love Your Body 10k at Thanksgiving Point. It was fun, more hilly than I thought it was going to be, and felt amazing afterward. I think 6 miles is the perfect distance for a race.

Some things I learned:

1) I'm a lot slower than I used to be...sigh.
2) I love the gardens at Thanksgiving Point (despite the hills)
3) I don't like having to stop right away at the finish line (there were so many women, it was backed up to get our time chips off)
4) I like having mile markers at races (this one did not)

Still, there is something empowering about 1800 women getting together to run on a Saturday morning. Yay!

Trying to stay warm before the race

Ready to run!

After the race

IKEA date night

2010-10-09T23:54:00.001-06:00

Friday night was date night and we kind of improvised this week. I had to go pick up my packet for the run on Saturday morning, as well as go to IKEA to get some storage containers. So we decided to make a date out of it and it was fun! Jonny has this thing about when he does and doesn't like shopping. He likes it if I know exactly what I need, or if we are browsing just for fun (what else is there right? I know). Oh, and of course if there is food involved (thanks IKEA). This trip encompassed all three so he was fine with it:)

We had just watched 500 Days of Summer again so it was funny to laugh about their trips to IKEA in the movie. I love looking at everything they have and each time I am fixated on something different. This time it was the fabric. I want to sew. Really bad. I just need to start with little projects and build up, but it's intimidating. I'll start with pillows, I think.

we love conference

2010-10-04T23:22:00.000-06:00

Sunday Morning we had the chance to go to the morning session of conference and thanks to Elder and Sister Jones we got to sit right up front and center! The talks were amazing and conference is like the New Year for me because it brings so many new goals and resolutions. Hopefully they can be more permanent though. I am SO grateful for living prophets today.

Waiting for Conference to start

The last time Jonny and I went to conference together, we were dating. It brought back all kinds of memories:)

After conference we went to Grandma and Grandpa Peterson's for lunch and the second session. It was so great to see everyone and spend time with them. We also got to go see Grandma and Grandpa Van later that evening. We love when they come up from California. So much fun to spend time with family!

My Latest Purchase, Pt. II

2010-10-04T22:51:00.000-06:00

iPad showing our software

Leah's latest renewal back into blogging has me motivated to also share what is going on in our lives. I recently had a new purchase (well my work did)–an iPad. Besides being really cool and fun to play with, we are finding many great possible uses for our management software that we are creating. Imagine an Executive Director of a community having instant access to realtime information going on in his/her community. Much of that is already happening with our new software, but now imagine having that information available on an iPad for use with a family in a meeting or department heads while planning budgets. So cool!

Well, I have never been so excited for work before and it doesn't all have to do with an iPad, but certainly that helps.