Today is a big day

Today Luke went to his Nanny for the first time ever.

Joshua and I were sad about it, but we knew he would be safe & everything would be good. She seemed like a really lovely person.

I haven't explained why Luke had to go to one in the first place. Or did I? I can't remember.

In the middle of November, Mom told me that she would be unable to watch Luke after Christmas. I was very sad about it, but understood that I could only take advantage of free sitting for so long.

So then the search began. I made several calls and asked around if anyone knew of someone who was a sitter, one who was good, reliable and great with kids. I wasn't having much luck.

Until my visiting teacher came over. They asked if there was anything they could do. I asked them if they knew of anyone who did 'daycare'. One of them told me that they used to go to a lady that they absolutely loved, but with her staying home more, didn't use her anymore. She raved about her and how wonderful she was with kids. She warned me tho, to not be concerned with how she looked. She said he was from the South, with tons of makeup and a bouffant hairdo. I didn't think that would bother me at all, that is until I met her. What's funny is that was the only concern I had, was she had crazy fluffy hair and wild makeup. Isn't that silly?

So we called her & met with her and decided that she would be a great "Nanny" for Luke. We saw the kids she watched. They were all very cute & sweet kids. The oldest being in kindergarden and the youngest being Luke. They played happily with each other and I didn't see any fighting. The house was clean.

So, today was the first day that Luke went to her.

I realize it's probably called Daycare, or babysitting or whatever. But I choose to call it Nanny because it sounds better.

I think it will be a great opportunity for Luke to meet new friends, develop social skills, etc. It will only be 2 days a week from 9am-5pm. That's not too bad.

I feel very blessed to have found her and feel that prayers were answered. I hope it works out in the long run, because it seems almost too good to be true :)

I've called a few times today, and Luke went down and had a 2 hour nap, and had lunch and is having a great time with the kids. No crying or anything. Isn't that great?!? He is adjusting quite well!!

Christmastime at the Summers' home

December was so much fun at our home! Here are a few photos of our activites (more hopefully to come)
Luke met Santa Claus at his Nana's ward Christmas Party. He patiently (sorta) waited to meet him, then wasn't that thrilled when they met. He didn't cry tho, which I was happy about. :)

On Christmas Eve Nana put together a nativity scene, but had a hard time keeping everyone 'put'. So she never got to tell the story, but we got some great photos! Luke is the one in the blue head cover. Here's a better photo with him and his Daddy.

On Christmas Eve Nana gave Luke a present to open. They were overall's with his name on them. So cute!! As you can see by these photo's we also gave him a little boy haircut. It makes him look so big!! I can't believe he's going to be one in almost a week!!

Luke in his Christmas PJ's on Christmas Eve. Yes, he is the cutest little stinker you've ever seen!!

This photo is 'post' Christmas. Luke is riding his little toy from Santa Claus which he only knows how to go backwards. LOL. He's also wearing the overalls his Nana made for him. :)

Merry Christmas!!

Just a few days left until Christmas!! I'm so excited for Christmas this year!! Luke is loving the christmas tree, and ALMOST pulled it down yesterday. LOL. There are obviously no ornaments on the lowest part of the tree, because someone loves to pull them off. He also thoroughly enjoyed eating a hard gingerbread cookie that I had placed on the tree this year to make our home smell Christmasy. Yes, I was watching him do it, and yes I let him do it for 10 minutes of peace. LOL.

It's also been a very exciting couple of weeks with Luke. He had learned to army crawl (we call it the wounded soldier - he only uses one arm, with the other under him and his legs don't move - it's hilarious!) so now he thinks he has full access to get into, rip apart and open everything. All the bows have been torn off the presents, and anything in bags have been opened a few times. But I can't help it. It's so cute to watch him discover new things! Luke also has learned to sit up by himself by pushing himself backwards until his bottom sticks up in the air then plops down. He is so tricky! He's only done it maybe 6 or 7 times. I've only actually seen him do it once, I was so proud! He also has a tooth coming out from the top front! My little man has 2 1/2 teethies! Love it!

I've been working on the drawings for our home remodel (the basement & relocation of the stairs). I hope to start construction in February. Dad has offered to help instruct us. He loves to work on projects and I'm so glad he's volunteering! This is going to be a HUGE project for us! But it will be so nice to have an extra bedroom downstairs, another family room, AND wider stairs! :)

I got an early Christmas present - a soft water heater! I'm really excited and have wanted one for quite some time. Utah's dry climate is rough on this girls skin, and I'm hoping this will help. I probably single handedly keep lotion companies in business!

It's been a long time that I've really enjoyed the month of December and haven't been totally stressed out. Christmas shopping was fun, and I've felt more creative than I have for a long time. I've practically got glitter coming out my ears....jk :) Josh too has been working really hard on making a special movie for everyone for Christmas and finished last night at 3am. :) It's awesome and I can't wait to share it!!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!
Loves!
jen & family

Mr. Scrooge, you're my friend!

:::::WARNING: DON'T LET YOUR CHILDREN READ THIS:::::

I've come to the understanding Mr. Scrooge wasn't mean, he was a realist. I'm almost positive he got such a bad attitude about it was because he got tired of Christmas shopping, searching to find the perfect present for his kids & paying for it; and then on December 25th giving a fictional character, Mr. Santa Claus all the credit for it. I mean really, when did Santa actually give anyone anything? Does he know how much work christmas shopping is? Or how we the parents try to get what children are asking "Santa" for at the most affordable way possible? I mean, those lists can be long!

And when, if ever did parents give their children coal? Maybe a select few have, but no matter how I behaved, I got a pretty great Christmas each year from "Santa".

This Christmas, of course I'm not going to ruin the 'magic' by telling my son that there isn't a Santa Claus. I don't want to be 'that' parent who ruins it for their children.

It makes me sad that when he is older and finds out that there is no Santa, no North Pole, no reindeer or magic elves he will have only disappointment that his parents are the only ones involved in this 'scheme', embarrassment that he believed, and his parents lied to them.

Yet another reason that I think it's stupid to give credit to a lazy fat man in a red coat who really doesn't give the kids presents.

So, Mr. Santa Claus, if you really exist and want credit for those beautiful gifts under the Christmas tree, I think you should be sporting half the bill!!!

*wink*

Happy Holidays

We are in the thick of the Christmas Season! Only 10 more days until Christmas!! WOW! We have been busy shopping, sickness (colds!), parties, snow, christmas cards, cooking.....

We finally got some snow a few weeks ago, and now it REALLY feels like Christmas :)

It's so exciting to celebrate Luke's first Christmas! Shopping for him is so much fun! Especially when you can shop for him with him with you and he doesn't even know! LOL :) Luke & I spent almost the entire day yesterday shopping and although we had a few casualties (a binky, a socky and a blanket) we had such a great time together. Poor little guy was so tired that he didn't even get up today until after 9am!

Joshua has been so good & works out at the gym 4-5 days a week. I'm going to have to go on a diet come January! I love holiday goodness, a little to much lol!!

We hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

Funny People

Some people don't understand, it's not the water main in your road that gives you good or bad water pressure. It's the line to your house from your meter.

Also, if we were going to tear up the road, AND put in a new waterline, I would HOPE it was a bigger waterline.

LOL

Some people make me laugh.
I don't think this person intended to do that.
But everyone was entertained by it.

It's 10:30 am

And he's still sleeping.

Luke woke up about 8:00am and so I put him in bed with me. He went back to sleep and is still sawing logs. I don't think he's feeling very well.

I was a very bad mommy on Saturday. Josh was outside hanging up lights so I put Luke in his snowsuit and took him outside to see the lights. Well, I got distracted and started to rake the leaves up & I realized it was a few hours later. This wouldn't have been a big deal, but Lukey had a wet diaper on (which I thought to change, but thought I was coming right back inside) and he was mad.

Since then, he screams...I mean SCREAMS every time I go to change his diaper. He tries to roll away from me. It's horrible! I think he's got a rash. It didn't show up until the next day and I'm using desitin all over that little bottom. I feel so bad! Josh told me to just chalk it up to a learning experience, but until that little tush is better I'm going to feel horrible.

Poor little guy.
I'm so sorry!
Sleep as long as you need too....little man.

xoxo
the crappy mom

Thanksgiving 2009

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

I am so blessed and therefore I have so much to be grateful for!

What girl could be luckier than me?

I would like to list just a few of the things I am thankful for.

I have a supportive, hardworking husband. He loves me for me. He works at a job he doesn't exactly love so that I can work part time and spend more time at home with Luke. Thanks Josh, I love you mucho gusto!

I am thankful for my absolutely adorablely amazing little boy (is that enough adjectives? lol). Luke is so much fun & is growing so fast! I would do anything for that little man and love him more than life itself! I am blessed to be a mommy to such a sweet beautiful little guy :) I wouldn't change it for anything. However, I am also so thankful to not be pregnant! LOL

I am thankful for family. Those here & not here. The love & support & friendship that family brings is unmeasureable. Family is everything!!

I am thankful for an awesome job that is challenging and works great with my schedule. They are always appreciative and compliment me and my work. That makes me feel like a valuable employee and all good inside :)

I am thankful for good friends. Friends who are good examples to me. Friends who are fun to be with. Friends who care about me.

I am thankful to be a mormon. I know I don't talk about it much, but it's very much a big part of my life. I am thankful for my Savior & my Heavenly Father. I am thankful for my testimony. I am thankful for my calling. It's fun to be the relief society chorus director. I enjoy picking out the songs & leading music. I've missed music, and singing. And now it's right back in my life :)

That's just a few of the many things I am thankful for.

I love thanksgiving!

I love thanksgiving dinner!

I love having that day off from work!

And I love spending time with family!

Thanks Todd

Todd & I talked about it for probably 20 minutes and with his help we're going to set up the drawings differently. Yes, I still have the freezing xref layer problem, but I'm a fraction less frustrated.

I still don't like architectural drawings.

I'm sure that listening to U2 that helped too....wink!

Arch CAD issues....

In a need to vent....I've been stuck on this problem for the last 2 days.....oye!

First off....I am not a architectural designer....and I never will be...I am a CIVIL DESIGNER. So although my CAD problem has nothing to do with this being an architectural drawing (I think) I'm still blaming it on the arch drawing because I don't do architectural drawings!!

I've been searching at autodesk.com's discussions boards and have even posted my problem there:

TOPIC: xref - won't freeze individual layers Posted: Nov 24, 2009 3:54 PM

I have a drawing that I have 2 xref's in it. One xref I can freeze individual layers (which is what I want it to do) and the other xref it only freeze all or nothing (which is what I don't want). Each xref is on it's own layer. One xref is in decimal & the other is architectural, which I don't know why that would make a difference, but for some reason it is? My layfrz nesting is set to none.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Jen

Could someone please answer my question!!!!!

Dumb arch dwgs! It's your fault I'm having this problem!!

Okay, venting over....and I don't feel much better.....lol

Maybe listening to some U2 will ease my irritation....

Quilting...

I'm learning to quilt....it's awesome! I've been sewing my little fingers to the bone the last few weeks. My mom has been teaching me the 'ropes' :)

Wanna know what I'm making? Well I can't tell ya!
But I'll give you one hint: Christmas.... :)

No more poopies

Luke is at the office with me this morning. Nana, who is watching him today is here to finish up some billing. Everyone loves it when he comes in, and he's always getting attention. However today - within the last 45 minutes he's had 2 - TWO horribly smelly diapers. So Todd (my boss) came up to Luke and said, "If you want to come here and hang out, then no more poopies!" LOL.

I don't know, but for some reason.....that just made me laugh!

Birthday weekend of fun!

Well, I'm old.

How many times can you tell people you're 29 & they believe it?

This 30+ is so depressing. I used to get so excited I was getting another year older...and now.....I wish it would slow down!

Nonetheless, I did have a great birthday. Birthdays are always great for friends to send you wishes, eating cake, and of course the presents.

I mean, really...who doesn't want gifts? LOL

On Thursday, CEC bought me a cake & we had lunch. (See below)


Thursday afternoon I drove up to Park City to a scrapbook retreat with my friends for the weekend. It was so much fun. I got a lot of 'christmas-ing' done. The house we stayed in was over 9000 sf, it was beautiful! There were 30 ladies there, and because it was so big, you couldn't tell. I brought up a cake & enjoyed with my gal pallies :)

(l-r: Nicole Snow, Barbi Eakin, Kris Silvester, Me, Paula Anderson, Andrea's sister, Andrea's niece Chelsea, & Andrea Ninalga)

That night Joshua & Luke also came up and took me to dinner! We went to Red Rock (mmm!!! So good!!) Joshua gave me 3 CD's of U2 that I didn't have....believe it or not, I don't have all of them!! However I do have 15 albums and some singles of them. I think I only have 1 or 2 that I don't have yet. And I do mean YET :)

Joshua also made me the AWESOMEST gift! He made a photo album of Luke that he modified all the photos to look old. He narrated it and everything. It was amazing! Here's a page of the darling book he made me:

Isn't it great!?!?!? Gosh, I'm such a lucky girl to have this man!!!

I also have been wanting to post about a few nights before that. So I think I'll do that now.

Last week I came home to this sign on the front door:


As I walked in the front door I was greeted by Front Host Senor Luke and Head Chef / Impiegato Joshua. In our living room there was a table, with candles. A menu was handed to me:

I chose tacos for dinner. It was wonderful! Josh said he wanted to make me a special dinner for all the times that I make him dinner when he comes home from work. I thought it was one of the sweetest things ever! :) Plus I got a wonderful foot rub afterward! I was pampered by the Chef!!

So yes, I am old. But I am loved. *heart*

Mommy & Lukey

Guess who can finally say Momma?!?!??! My little boy!!! Of course it's usually when he's crying...but it's Mama all the same!!!!!

Notice anything different? I actually am wearing my contacts...it's been over 1 1/2 years since I've done that....it felt weird& only lasted 2 days...lol

Pulling up on the toy box...

I caught the little stinker pulling himself up on the toy box to reach his toys in the bottom. But when I pulled out my camera he wouldn't stand up all the way...so this is all I could get....lol

Reaching really far...

What? I want that toy!

Happy Halloween!!

This was Luke's first Halloween! We took him out to a couple of neighbors & relatives and he got some goodies! His favorite was junior mints (because that's the only thing Mommy would let him try - besides the sour smarties which were...sour..lol). We weren't out long, and spent most of the evening handing out candy to cute kids! I love how many trick-or-treaters we get! I guess that's the advantages for living near apartments. heeheehee :) We had a great night, and Lukey even put up with wearing his costume one last time....



Christopher, Amanda & Lyric stopped by! Christopher's shirt was really cool, it lights up with beats. Josh & I saw a few people wearing these type of shirts at the U2 concert :)

My little pumpkin!

Pumpkin Carving!

We carved our pumpkins as tradition, but this time with a new addition - LUKEY! He enjoyed playing with the pumpkin seeds & slime, and he even ate some pumpkin! Silly boy! Here are photos from that fun night:

That feels strange Mommy!

Big pumpkin - little boy

Scary Mommy

Cute Baby

Mean Daddy - heehee

Pumpkin tastes good!

The display on the front porch! Can you guess which one carved which? Hint: it's not what you think!

Answer: I did the jack-o-lantern & Josh did the cat-estropic pumpkin :)

(Photos taken 30th October 2009)

Tuacahn

Thriller was fantastic! It was performed by the Utah Dance Company (I think...lol). Here are some fun photos from that evening:

This couple (Frankenstein & his bride) were unbelievably talented. That gal played dead for half the time while Frankenstein dragged her around like a rag doll. It was incredible!

(Photos taken 24 October 2009)

Lyrics Birthday Party

We dressed up for Lyric's birthday party. Of course Luke was our little monkey so we were his Zoo Keepers! Meet Mama zoo keeper & Dada assistant zoo keeper :)
A photo with all the cousins, Lyric the birthday boy (wow wow wubzie), Kallianne (Vampire), Kamashay (a poodle - out of costume) and Luke (da Monkey!)

We played in the bouncy castle with Destiny & Kamashay

Kamashay & Luke are so cute together!

Sad when he had to go home....

(Photos taken October 18th)

I think he's sick...

Luke is crying and whining constantly. His nose has been boogy for days. He's pulled on his ears a few times. I gave him some baby tylenol, but it doesn't seem to be working. He just wants to be held. Poor baby...this isn't good...I don't know what else to do to help him. He won't take a nap. Looks like I'm not going to get much done today....but hold my baby and take care of him....

Coming to a computer near you...

A short film by Stedia Films:
The Toy Box

starring

Luke Summers & Bobo Bananas

Currently in post production.

Coming soon!

Rated: B for Baby

I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight

That is, if I'm not already crazy.

We just bought 6 tickets for the U2 concert in Anaheim, California for June 6th 2010. I still had a presale code and hopefully it will sell out & we can make some money.

Otherwise...we just spent over $800.

Ackkk!!

I'm sure we'll sell them, if even for regular price...

We LOVE U2 baby!!!!!!

Okay, so this was pretty much the BEST VACATION EVER!!!!!! The concert was soooooooo good! Infact the entire day was AMAZING, MAGNIFICENT, FANTASTIC! :) St. George was great, and thriller @ Tuacaun was awesome! Here's the details of one of the most memorable vacations I have ever ever had!!!

On Thursday morning we drove down to St. George. We stayed in my Aunt & Uncles house in Coral Canyon, it is soooooooooo nice!!! We got there about 3pm and Dad & Josh went out to golf 9 holes. Mom, Luke & I hit the outlet mall, which really aren't outlet's anymore, so I'm not sure why they call it that! lol That night after driving around for an hour looking for it, we ate at the Brick Oven - a definite recommend! It is sooooooooo good! You've gotta have their pizza and their homemade rootbeer. MMMmmmmmmmmmmmm!!

Friday was the BIG DAY!! First thing in the morning Josh wished me "HAPPY U2 DAY!!" We headed down to Las Vegas which is like a 2 +/- hour drive. We drove around the airport for about an hour hoping to see U2's private jet. I even went in an 'elite' airport area to ask if they knew anything about it. At first I walked in the pilot's lounge - opps! Then I asked some lady who was so rude! She told me that she heard the plane was broken and they weren't even flying in. Come to find out, they did fly in around 3:30 - how rude!

We ate at IN & OUT burgers then gambled $14 away at the Casino. Then we checked in our hotel and headed over to the stadium about 3pm.

There was a ridiculously long line for the GA - some of them had been there since 5am! Believe it or not, there are crazier U2 fans than us! LOL

We wandered around the stadium signing up for Bono's one.org organization, spending $100 on merchandise, and getting free blackberry backpacks. :) Then we walked over to the loading dock and hung around in 'hopes' to see someone. About 4:30pm a police escourt parade came thru with 3 fancy mercedes cars. We waved and they waved back.

"We saw U2!" We exclaimed! THEN 10 minutes later a toyota SUV pulled up and BONO got out of it RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!!!!!!!!!! He signed autographs and chatted with peoples across the street. We, behind a stupid fence couldn't get near him, so we kept yelling "Come over here Bono!" There was probably 30-50 people there, not that many. After he chatted with them, he actually watched across the street and came over to see us! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When He finally got to me he signed my NO LINE ON THE HORIZON album!!!!!!!!! I asked him "Can I touch your hand?" (Yes, I really did ask him that. I just wanted to feel him, flesh and bones, you know?) :)So anyway...he grabbed my hand and smiled at me and laughed! I was FREAKING OUT!! Joshua got it on video and I'm yelling "I love you Bono!" Yes, I said that....I'm an idiot! I've been planning for weeks in my mind, if I were to meet Bono how calm and collected I would be and what I would say...then I totally act like a teenager screaming and crying! Also, while watching the video for the umpteenth time, I just noticed that Josh even yelled "We love you Bono!" Yay Josh!!

Afterwards I WAS CRYING! What can I say? It was a very emotional experience for me. Besides, IT'S BONO!!!! How many people can say they actually MET BONO?!?!! WELL I CAN! I MET HIM! I MET BONO!!

So, what's he like? He small in stature, soft spoken and handsome! He was wearing his glasses (which by they way did you know he wears them because he has an extra sensitivity to light? True story.)

So here's the video to prove it:

Believe me now?!!?!?!?!?

I'm still in shock that I met Bono!! I met Bono!! I met Bono!! I MET BONO!!!!!!

Did I mention that I love him? In a professional famous music singer kind of way...lol

When we finally got in the stadium I got disappointed! Our seats, although far like I was worrying, was right directly behind this scaffolding! We were 6 seats from the floor, but the view was blocked. There was also a merch booth with bright lights. Joshua suggested we go to guest services and make a complaint. Which is what we did. These were our seats:

When we went to guest services they gave us these $250 seats - unbelievable! They were sweet seats!!! Can you believe that?!??! I was just expecting to file a complaint and leave it at that, but they took our tickets, gave us new ones and it just made the experience even more amazing!!!! Sam Boyd Stadium guest services, YOU ROCK!!




Black Eyed Peas were awesome! Fergie has an amazing voice! They play some really upbeat music.
Fergie:
Finally U2 was on! The stage aka the claw aka the spaceship was AWESOME!!!

U2 did a remix of "I'll Go Crazy if I don't Go Crazy Tonight" Larry walked around with
There's bono....isn't he awesome??

Bono is wearing his laser jacket singing in that wheel mic "Ultraviolet - Baby light my way" Love that song!


The boys saying their goodbyes:)

I need to give a HUGE THANK YOU to my wonderfully super, amazing, supportive husband that puts up with my love for U2 shenanigans! Thank you Josh for taking me to the U2 concert, meeting Bono and giving me yet another one of the best days of my life! You are wonderful and I love you so much! More than Bono, I promise :)

I'm so pumped up right now, after posting this blog entry while listening to U2, I'm going to have to post about St. George and Tuacahn later!! Ciao Baby!!!