Did you know....??

....that hamsters get DEPRESSED???

Um, yeah. We didnt either.

We went on vacation for 3 days.

I left enough food for her for at least that long if not longer.

We came home last night.

And she hadnt eaten ANY of it.

We let her in her ball and run around for 1.5 hours.

I woke up this morning.

Most of her food is now gone.

My hamster was depressed that we left her.

FAIL.

Twinkle-toes and Funky-ness

So last night, Jace and I watched part of a home movie that his sister Jen made for him. (Thanks Jen! We really DO appreciate you sending documentation of our lives! Jace was laughing the whole time, it was great!)

And there is this part where 2 year old Jace is "dancing"....dancing in Jace's world is swaying a bit and then belatedly moving his feet. Best part?? His dancing skillz are pretty much the same.
i love it.

On another note....i feel like i've been in a funk lately. "Slam dunk da funk, put it up, put it up..." ((If you know the beat that goes to--5 points for you. If you can tell me what Disney tv movie that was on i'll give you a gold star. Little known fact: gold stars are worth 50 points. No lie.))

I'm not quite sure how to get out of the funk I'm in though. I have a LOT going on in my life. And while I'm not as crazy busy as moms with kids...or even as someone working 2 jobs...i feel that i NEVER have enough time or energy to do what needs to be done!
My to-do list gets erased off of my white board one minute and the next its completely full again!
(Jace commented on it the other day, since he helped me clear it in the first place)

What are some ways that you guys get out of your funks?
I need an intervention!

Well, I'm going to be in the glorious White Mountains for the next few days...I'm hoping that i'll get out of my funk, enjoy the weather, and be silly a bit.
Cameras are going to be up there and I have Melanie (she is the queen of taking pictures) so there WILL be some photo-documentation (phototation??) SOON!

Babies and Homes

15. first place that you lived together: pics if you have them!

16. kids: do you have any yet? if not, when do you plan on it? how many do you want? any tips on good/bad birth control?

We were SO blessed with our first home!!! An older woman 2 streets down from my mom was needing to move to WA to be with her daughter for a year. (My aunt Sally and uncle Bruce hooked me up--and talked me up to this woman. They rocked!) She let us rent her home (4 bedroom, 2 bath--livingroom, familyroom, arizonaroom, laundry room WITH washer/dryer, big kitchen with all appliances, big backyard and huge front yard).

She had redone a few rooms and so it looked great. She let us hang all of our stuff and make it our own.

We were truly blessed and a bit spoiled to say the least.


No kids yet. Not for lack of trying though :)
I have a condition called PCOS and let me tell you...its great birth control. Your body already thinks its prego...so there is no getting pregnant.

We're hoping that in the next year we will have a little baby...but we'll see if thats when the Lord is ready to give us one.

When we first got married I told Jace I wanted 6 kids. Jace said he wanted 3 or 4. So i'm guessing we'll have 4-5 kids---someday! :)

Honey-moon!

13. honeymoon: where did you go? was it good? ;) haha...jk.

14. thoughts on marriage: what is the easiest/hardest part? if you could change anything, what would it be?

For our honeymoon we went up to my families ranch! The cabin was THE perfect honeymoon spot! After all the stress all we wanted was a quiet get away. The weather was amazing! It was truly gorgeous.

We went for walks, went into town a couple of times (for my favorite pizza and breadsticks) and watched movies. It really was awesome, and in our opinion too short!

As you can tell from my blog, i'm not great at remembering my camera. Or when i do remember it, i forget to take pictures. Its a vicious cycle. Well...i had my camera on our honeymoon. But we only managed to get one picture. Its as we are entering the little town of Pinedale on our way into our ranch. It cracks us up anytime we see it now, realizing that that is all of our honeymoon that we captured on film.


The hardest part of marriage is definitely realizing that you are two separate individuals coming together. You wont agree on everything. You wont like some of the same things. He may NEVER pick up his socks. You may get on his case for that fact. Which could start you on a little rant. (not saying that i EVER do that or anything)
But the best thing about marriage is also the easiest. LOVING EACH OTHER. You have your best friend with you. ALWAYS. No matter how "naggy" you may be, or how "messy" you are... your spouse still loves you.

FLAMES.

In the words of Mrs White "Flames, flames on the side of my face. Heaving...Heaving breaths..."

This is how i felt a few hours ago.

May i ask a rhetorical question?
(of course i can! 'tis my blog!)

Why do others feel that they have the RIGHT and PRIVILEGE to tell you what to do?
Why do they feel like its OKAY and PERFECTLY NORMAL to try and guilt you into doing what they want?

I honestly dont know.

I'm an adult. I make my own choices.
I'm now done venting.
The end.

Lyrics and Love

11. your song and/or the first song you danced to at your wedding: share a music video or lyrics if you can!

12. favorite part of the day and least favorite part of the day: can be anything.

• I'm going to be grouping the last few days of the blog challenge together.

Jace and i have a few songs that have special meaning to us. There was one song that he (while we were dating) told me reminded him of me. He sang it to me all the time, its less now, but every now and then he busts it out and it makes me smile. Its by the Beatles and we used it in the portion of our video that was us dating/engaged. Here are the lyrics:

I've just seen a face,
I can't forget the time or place
Where we just met.
She's just the girl for me
And want all the world to see
We've met, mmm-mmm-mmm-m'mmm-mmm.

Had it been another day
I might have looked the other way
And I'd have never been aware.
But as it is I'll dream of her
Tonight, di-di-di-di'n'di.

Falling, yes I am falling,
And she keeps calling
Me back again.

I have never known
The like of this, I've been alone
And I have missed things
And kept out of sight
But other girls were never quite
Like this, di-di-di-di'n'di.

Falling, yes I am falling,
And she keeps calling
Me back again.

Yeah!
Bup-a-lup-bup!

Falling, yes I am falling,
And she keeps calling
Me back again.

I've just seen a face,
I can't forget the time or place
Where we just met.
She's just the girl for me
And want all the world to see
We've met, mmm-mmm-mmm-di-di-di.

Falling, yes I am falling,
And she keeps calling
Me back again.

Falling, yes I am falling,
And she keeps calling
Me back again.

Oh, falling, yes I am falling,
And she keeps calling
Me back again.

The other song that is special to us is what everyone would consider "OUR" song. There wasnt anything special about it to begin with...the song wasnt playing when we first met, or kissed, or when i knew he was the 'one', but one night we decided we should have a song and perused the internets till we found one we both liked and decided was a good fit. Kinda lame, huh? But the song is awesome and we love it. Here are the lyrics (and if you listen to it online make sure you play the acoustic version. thats what gives it such a good sound). Its by Relient K.




"The Best Thing"

It's been a year
Filled with problems
But now you're here
Almost as if to solve them
And I can't live in a world without you now

All my life
I've been searching for you
How did I survive
In this world before you
Cause I don't wanna live another day without you now

This is the best thing
The best thing that could be happening
And I think you would agree
The best thing is that it's
Happening to you and me

All I'm gonna have
Is all that you can give me
And I'll give right back
Everything I have in me
Cause nothing ever felt as right
As this does right now

I'll go back to before we met
Try and erase the past
Try harder to forget cause
Nothing will ever be as good as here and now

Cause when I looked into your eyes
And you dared to stare right back
You should've said "Nice to meet you, I'm your other half"

And this is the best thing
The best thing that could be happening
And I think you would agree
The best thing is that it's happening
This is the best thing (the best thing)
The best thing that could be happening (the best thing)
And I think you would agree (whoooaaa whooaa)
The best thing is that it's
Happening to you and me

Always knew
I'd find someone
I never dreamt
It'd be like this
You've surpassed
All that I've hoped for (and ever wished)
And I'm tryin'
So hard
With all my heart and mind
To make your life
As good as you've made mine

This is the best thing (the best thing)
The best thing that could be happening (the best thing)
And I think you would agree (whooaaa)
The best thing is that it's happening to you and me

The best thing is that it's happening to you and me
The best thing is that it's happening to you and me

(The best thing) The best thing that could be happening
(The best thing) I think you would agree
The best thing is that it's happening to you and me

The song we danced to was by Frank Sinatra. I heart him mucho. Jace likes him as well. It was wonderful to just sway instead of really dancing...my feet were killing me by the time we got to the dancing portion of the evening. My shoes were TOTALLY worth it though. For reals.



"The Way you Look Tonight"

Some day, when I'm awfully low,
When the world is cold,
I will feel a glow just thinking of you...
And the way you look tonight.

Yes you're lovely, with your smile so warm
And your cheeks so soft,
There is nothing for me but to love you,
And the way you look tonight.

With each word your tenderness grows,
Tearing my fear apart...
And that laugh that wrinkles your nose,
It touches my foolish heart.

Lovely ... Never, ever change.
Keep that breathless charm.
Won't you please arrange it ?
'Cause I love you ... Just the way you look tonight.

Mm, Mm, Mm, Mm,
Just the way you look to-night.

My favorite part of the day was definitely our sealing. My mom and the other ladies helping me get ready were amazing. I wasnt nervous at all. My uncle Grant was the one to marry us. That was sooo special to me. There were many blessings and promises that were given. The best part was looking into Jace's eyes and knowing that we were going to be a team. A forever family.

I dont really have a least favorite part. There were things that went wrong of course, but i laughed it off. I loved everything about my wedding. My dress was great, the reception looked just like i pictured, and things went smoothly.

If i had to chose, i'm sad that i didnt get to have any of the really yummy veggies/fruit that we had.

I'm also really sad that our photographer didnt get any good pictures of us going through our going away line of sparklers. That bummed me out.

BEBE Barker

Why hello bebe bailey! Its nice to finally meet you! You are so small and cute and i wanted to eat you up. But seeing as your parents are just getting to know you, i restrained myself. You kept giving Jace a thumbs up. That was pretty cute. And when i got you the second time around you were all, "i am SO over this." and dramatically tossed your arm down. You have spunk. i like it.

Overwhelmed

Today as i was at work, I realized that i was having trouble concentrating. So i sat and thought about why i felt so on edge, and i realized that i was a bit overwhelmed.

Is it possible to be overwhelmed without realizing it? Because i'm pretty sure thats what happened to me. I really didnt realize that i was feeling the way i was feeling.

Life is tough right now. Not just for me. But for everyone. The world is a mess.

And we keep on trucking along. Babies are born (shout out to my cousin julie who had a baby a few weeks ago! and to my cousin becky and SIL mel who are prego) People are getting married (my cousin Garrett and Jace's cousin Matt--on the same day!) People go to work, work hard to find work, and work hard to keep the work they are doing.

My brother Randy has been having alot of trouble lately with seizures. He always has them, but they have been worse lately. And my poor mom and other family members have been dealing with it more than i have. He spent a few days in the hospital and they gave us nothing. We arent sure what to do.

Jace's dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer about a month ago.
And you know what i've decided?? After losing my grandpa gunnell, my aunt kathy, my uncle bruce, and almost losing my mom...i'm done with cancer.
i want it gone.

We teach the 10 year olds in primary. I've been fasting and praying for them. Because every now and then one of them opens up to us about what is going on in their life and it makes me cry. They are so young to be going through such hard things.

Money is tight (isnt it for everyone?) and i want to do hair! I'm frustrated with myself for not putting myself out there--doing what i want to do. And that just happens to be wanting to help others feel like their best selves.

We want a baby but cant have one right now. We want a house but its not the right time now. We want a dog to cuddle and play with but thats not happening till we have a house and a baby.

Jace and I decided that we need to grow closer to each other and the Lord. We cant get through this crazy messed up, OVERWHELMING world without each other and the Lord.

Heres to hoping that things start looking further up!