Oliverson Family

FW:

2010-11-09T10:03:00.001-07:00

Poor boy. Always brush your teeth!

2010-10-25T13:38:00.001-06:00

This is what happens when you have a allergic reaction to anastetics at the dentist. My day has been FANTASTIC.

2010-10-18T20:56:00.001-06:00

This is what happens when you let your baby feed themselves a bottle

2010-10-18T16:16:00.001-06:00

Who could not love this little face??

FW:

2010-10-15T17:15:00.000-06:00

Quick update on Madden: he now eats cereal and veggies, he can crawl, he is teething, and he adores his big brother.

2010-10-15T02:24:00.001-06:00

I am going to start blogging from my phone! I think it will be much easier than having to always be at the computer. Then i can post more pics too! :)

Capturing Memories to fight Cancer

2010-08-07T16:31:00.006-06:00

Lightning Storms

2010-08-05T01:18:00.002-06:00

I have been standing outside all night trying to catch the lightning on camera but it is too fast for me. Here is the best shot I got. I wish I could have gotten one of the huge ones, but I guess this will do.

Take me out to the ball game..

2010-07-30T19:38:00.001-06:00

Marriage

2010-07-19T00:03:00.002-06:00

Someone posted this on facebook and I thought it was a good one to share.

MARRIAGE:
When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I've got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.

Suddenly I didn't know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly.

She didn't seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why?

I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn't talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn't love her anymore. I just pitied her!

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company.

She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn't have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane.

When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.

In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn't want anything from me, but needed a month's notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month's time and she didn't want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.

This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day.

She requested that every day for the month's duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told Jane about my wife's divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully.

My wife and I hadn't had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don't tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn't looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me.

On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn't tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily.

Suddenly it hit me... she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.

Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it's time to carry mom out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn't noticed that our life lacked intimacy.

I drove to office.... jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind...I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore.

She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won't divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn't value the details of our lives, not because we didn't love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart.

Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away.

At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I'll carry you out every morning until death do us apart.

That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed - dead.

My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push through with the divorce.-- At least, in the eyes of our son--- I'm a loving husband....

The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves. So find time to be your spouse's friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!

Madden's first laugh!

2010-07-15T12:22:00.001-06:00

I was tickling Madden and we had the camera sitting near by. We were able to catch his first laugh on camera! It is a bit of a forced laugh but still sooo cute!

8 Weeks

2010-07-10T23:00:00.009-06:00

We are alive! I promise. I can't believe Madden is already 8 weeks. Time has flown by. It has taken a bit to get used to having 2 kids for us, and I'm still struggling with the lack of sleep thing, but we are coming along. Madden is such a happy baby, he has been smiling since birth. He has now started smiling, on purpose, when he sees me or Jake. He also loves to just sit with his daddy while he's doing homework. This is a common scene.

Jarren has adjusted great to having a brother. He loves him!! He loves to hug him, kiss him and hold him. He has even tried to carry him to me when I was in the other room. That was a nice little heart attack for me when I walked into the room they were in. In Jake's words "at least he was carrying him right side up!" I would have to agree.

Hospital Pictures

2010-05-21T22:43:00.013-06:00

Madden's Pictures

2010-05-13T06:05:00.016-06:00

38 Weeks and 5 days. Right after I got to the hospital and changed into my gown.

They broke my water and then 4 hours later, with a half hour of pushing:

When he came out, the cord was wrapped around his neck twice. They thought they were going to have to put an IV in him and pump him full of fluids to get him to perk up a little more, but after his bath he was doing great.

Check out that thigh muscle!

My awesome OB and family friend, Kari. She delivered my mom's youngest, Dallin. It was really cool to have her deliver my baby as well.

My midwife and OB right after the delivery. They are such awesome ladies, I was so happy to switch to them from my other OB, I will be with them forever now.

Jake, His mom (grandma :)) and Madden

Jake, Jarren, Madden and Uncle Rob. We have decided that Madden looks a lot like Uncle Rob. Especially his profile.

The next morning after delivery, I woke up to this. My mom told me I had my eyes open when I was pushing, I was "pushing with my eyes" as she put it. I was shocked because I thought my eyes were closed, all I saw was black. Apparently I was blacking out as I pushed and popped some blood vessels. They said the blood look should go away after a week or two.

The night Madden was born, Jarren was really sleepy and didn't want anything to do with him. He just wanted to cuddle with mom and dad. Then the next afternoon Grandma brought him by to visit again and he LOVED holding his brother and giving him kisses and looking at him. It was so cute.

He is a very awake baby. I was surprised with him not even being 24 hours after birth.

Jarren being silly and making faces. I love that he loves his brother so much already.

Madden Drake's Birth Story

2010-05-12T00:34:00.002-06:00

My baby was born at 5:52pm on May 11, 2010! I went in for my VBAC (Vaginal birth after c-section) and it was AWESOME!
I arrived at the hospital at 1pm, after my midwife had checked me and sent me to the hospital. We still had to register so Jake ran downstairs while they got me into a gown, IV started and into my bed.

At 1:50 my midwife came in and broke my water. I started having some contractions, but wasn't really feeling them and they weren't very consistent, even after having me try the birthing ball. So at 3pm they started me on the lowest dose possible of Pitocin. (I believe a 2?) They wanted the lowest dose because of the VBAC and we didn't want to chance rupturing the uterus, so they said they would up me every 30 minutes.

So at 3:30 they came in and up-ed it to a 4 (which is what women are usually started at on pit.) I hope I'm getting this number system right, it's just the numbers I saw. Anyway, that's when my contractions started coming more consistently and I could definitely feel them by this point. After about a half an hour, I asked for some drugs to take the edge off. I didn't want an epidural. They said they used Fentanyl.

So they gave me a half a dose and then a half hour later gave me the rest of the dose since I was starting to be in a lot of pain again. I could still feel the contractions with the drug, but it helped me relax more in between contractions.

Around 5 I text my mom and asked her if I were to get an epidural, would I be a wuss. She's been my major support with not having an epidural(along with one of my friends). She said no, but then rushed her butt to the hospital because she wanted to help me push through the pain and not get one.

Once she arrived at the hospital, 5:15, I went from a 7 to a 10 in about 5 minutes flat. I started feeling LOTS of pain. All of a sudden I knew he was coming, I could feel him in the birth canal. They checked me and said it was time to push. At this point I started screaming I wanted an epidural because I couldn't take how fast it went. The guy was in a c-section though and couldn't come. So I started to push.

After a half hour of pushing, my little guy made it into the world at 5:52pm. No epidural, and a VBAC. It was truly amazing and in the end I'm so happy I didn't get the epidural and I was able to push and feel him come out. There is no other feeling like the release of pressure when he comes out. There is no other feeling like the ring of fire either lol, but it's so worth it when they put your baby on your chest. I started to get all choked up because I did not get to have that with Jarren.

We couldn't believe how small he was since his brother was a week and a half earlier than him, an ounce heavier than him and 2 inches longer than him. He's my little peanut.

I will post pictures tomorrow when I have my adapter for my memory card.

Journaling Purposes: Close to birth

2010-04-28T20:56:00.002-06:00

So I wanted to make sure I get this written down since I probably won't remember it in a year or so.

Yesterday I had my first "weekly" appointment with my midwives. They decided to check me at the appointment since I delivered Jarren at 37 weeks and 2 days. Sure enough, I was dilated! Much further than I was with Jarren at this time. When my water broke with Jarren I was only at a 2. When she checked me yesterday I was already at a 4 and 60% effaced! Sweet! She said his head was resting at a station -2, so he was still high and bouncy. That's how Jarren was when I went into labor with him too. After she checked me, she looked at me and smiled and said "Now you know all that pain and pressure wasn't for nothing!" It was so good to hear that, I was worried I had been in all this pain for nothing. Now I just have to watch for contractions!

Also, today I had my chiropractor appointment and when he adjusted my back it made a different noise when popping. It kinda startled me. After adjusting me he asked if I could tell the difference in the sounds of it popping, I said "Yeah! Is it a bad thing?". He told me it wasn't! He said it was a very good thing, that my body is preparing for delivery. He said that your body releases what is called relaxin, and the reason my backed popping sounded different is because it was easier to put it back into place since it was so relaxed. I wasn't sure what relaxin was so he explained it to me. He said your body releases it so that your bones and ligaments can separate for birth. So that the baby is able to make it out of the birth canal. He also told me it isn't long after you body releases this that you go into labor. I just kinda laughed, I still think it is never going to end. He told me to make another appointment for next week but that he doesn't think he will be seeing me again til after the baby is here. Anyway tonight I decided to look it up and see what I could find. I did find this link here.

Pregnancy

2010-04-26T19:03:00.002-06:00

It's. Never. Going. To. END!

Thanks for letting me vent.

Eviction Notice

2010-04-19T21:38:00.001-06:00

For Madden:

I am issuing a 30 day notice for EVICTION. Tenant will have 30 days in which he can either gather his belongings and promptly vacate the premises, or wait until the final day. After which, he will be physically removed from the property.

He's being evicted due to breech of contract and destruction of property. Expansions only to the FRONT of the house, within reasonable limits, were discussed. Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back of the house were also made!

Remodeling and gutting of the home was never approved, nor was changing the initial layout and base structure. And due to property damage, there are now leaks in both the upper AND lower levels of the home. On top of which, the landlord has received numerous complaints about nightly disturbances.

After 30 days from this day that he doesn’t comply with the notice will result in immediate and forceful removal at my discretion.

Love,
Mommy

Growing up!

2010-04-13T22:02:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I had my 6 month check up at the dentist. They told me to go ahead and bring Jarren in to see how his teeth were doing, since he will be 3 in 3 months anyway. They said at this age, they usually don't let them do much since they are kind of scared of all the equipment. After I had my check up, Jarren got right up in that chair to "take a ride". He let them take pictures of his teeth and count them. He also got his teeth scraped and cleaned, then he let them floss. After the Dentist came to check my teeth for cavities, Jarren climbed back up in the chair to let the dentist blow air on his teeth and check for cavities.

I was so surprised by how well he did. He is such a big boy and growing up so fast. The closer I get to the due date of this baby, the more I realize Jarren won't/isn't my baby anymore. He is getting so big!

Also, neither of us have cavities :)

Big Baby!

2010-04-06T16:52:00.003-06:00

Well, I finally did it! I switched from an OBGYN to Midwives. So far I love it! They have been so much more positive about me being able to do a VBAC than my doctor was. They gave me a lot of information and taught me some things I didn't know.

Also, I'm supposed to be 34 weeks according to my ultrasound I had when I was 20 weeks (33 weeks by estimated due date) and I'm measuring at 37 weeks! So it's a big baby! My midwife wanted me to get another ultrasound done to double check his size, but hopefully this means he will come early like his brother did. I'm so excited!

P.S. Thanks for all the votes and help, but I ended up in like 4th place. It was fun to be a part of the top 10 though!

I'm a finalist! Please vote!

2010-03-22T13:20:00.003-06:00

It would be such a blessing to be able to win this. We are in need of a stroller especially since this baby is a spring baby, we will need it all summer!

My picture was chosen as part of the final 10 in a "belly bump contest" I almost didn't send in the picture, but did last minute kind of as a "what the heck, might as well" thing. Well to my surprise I had an email this morning telling me all the details. I need all my friends and family to go to http://www.babygizmo.com/vote/ and vote for me. It's the picture of Jarren resting his head on my stomach. Only one vote from each computer, they track the IP addresses. But hey, if you have more than one computer in the house, feel free to vote on each of them ;)

I'm so excited and nervous. I'm happy to just be in the final 10! The voting ends on April 2nd, so please send this info onto your friends and family, or even if you would like to post this on your blog to all your readers, I would be ok with that :)

Love you all!

EDIT: APPARENTLY WE CAN VOTE EVERY 24 HOURS. So please vote for me whenever you can until April 2nd when it closes. :)

Freezer Meals (Once a month cooking)

2010-03-11T19:26:00.003-07:00

Hey, anyone out there know some good freezer meals? I'm looking to prepare and freeze some meals before the baby is born so that Jake can cook for them if I'm too tired or busy with the baby, etc.

I'm going to make breakfast burritos and bean & cheese burritos, because Jake and Jarren love those. So I can buy in bulk and make a bunch and freeze them. This way the two of them aren't living off of chips and cookies. I mean honestly, those of you that know Jake, know that it would be sugar all day everyday if he could have it.

So any ideas? Cheap and Easy preferably :)

P.S. Check out my photo blog, I just did a newborn's pictures and it made me WAY baby hungry. I'm ready for this little guy to be here!

Maternity Pictures

2010-03-06T18:26:00.006-07:00

I decided this afternoon to set up the tripod and use the self-timer. We wanted to get some maternity pictures. Here are a couple from the shoot that I love.

I couldn't decide which I liked better between these two, so I know they are the same picture, but I love them both.

And last, my two handsome boys.

Potty Training...Yikes

2010-03-03T20:17:00.005-07:00

We have been trying to potty train Jarren before the baby gets here. He isn't working with us really well and I'm starting to get frustrated. I really don't want to have 2 children in diapers and it would save us a lot of money if he would just do it.

In the last couple days he has pooped his pants 3 times and peed in them twice. UGH! I'm lucky Jake has been here for the poopy ones because I just don't think my prego stomach could handle it. Just the smell sends me running. He will tell us, "big boys potty on the toilet" and "I'm a big boy" but still won't TELL us if he has to go, we have to time him with the timer.

I found a potty chart online that I'm going to try to use with him starting tomorrow. We will see how that goes. Any suggestions on how to potty train a stubborn boy??

Baby Stories

2010-02-28T22:52:00.003-07:00

I was laying on my back trying to show Jake what the baby does at 2am. That of course is his play time, waking me up and everything. Anyway, he goes CRAZY. It feels like he is doing flips while punching and kicking me at the same time. So I was laying on my back and Jake lays down, lays his head on my stomach and tries to freak the baby out by talking in a really deep but loud voice. Well it worked! The baby fired back by kicking him right in the face. It was pretty funny. I could not stop laughing. When I finally calmed down enough to let Jake try again, the baby kicked him right in the nose. That was it, I was done, I could not stop laughing long enough for Jake to continue. It was hilarious.

Our friends had their baby this last Thursday so we went to go visit them in the hospital, we took Jarren to see how he would respond to the baby. He did really well! He wanted to help hold him and give him kisses and everything. It was really cute. He even started calling him "Ma-hen" (Madden), even though we haven't decided on a name completely, apparently that's the one Jarren is sticking with. I tried to explain to him that it wasn't the baby from mommy's tummy and that this baby was Asher. He looked at me with a puzzled face and said "Asher? No Ma-hen." It was pretty funny trying to explain it to him.

We need to post some pictures to update. I'm hoping to do some maternity pictures with Jake and Jarren sometime soon so maybe we can post those.

I married a...

2010-02-26T12:02:00.002-07:00

So the other day after class I asked Jake what he learned about that day. (In psychology) He told me that he learned about persistence. So joking around I said "Oh, so you learned about me" and looked up at him smiling. Without missing a beat he said, "no, we learned about nagging yesterday." and started laughing.

I married a comedian everyone.

The Count Down

2010-02-13T23:54:00.004-07:00

13 more weeks and I'll have another one of these...

We are finally in the last trimester!

It hurts to tell you "I told you so"

2010-02-09T00:50:00.005-07:00

During the Superbowl last night Jarren was standing in front of the TV spinning in circles. I asked him to stop because I could just picture him falling and hitting his head (he's really good at falling down). He told me "no mom!" so I let him continue for a minute and was about to ask him to stop again when he fell and hit his head on our coffee table. He smacked right next to his eye on the very edge of the table. It was one of the worst noises ever! It instantly started bruising, I've never seen a bruise come on that fast. I felt so bad for him, I scooped him up right away and just started hugging him. I wanted to cry cause I could imagine the pain he was in. Jake jumped up and grabbed a bag of frozen veggies out of the freezer and stuck it on.

He wouldn't let us keep it on long but I told him if he wanted to hold it on he could. He did that for another minute, but couldn't take the cold so he stopped. Then we gave him some tylenol for the pain. I felt bad for my little man, I wish he would just learn to listen to me!
The first picture is right after it happened:
This was the next morning right after he woke up:
And this one is a little bit more into the day:
He's officially had his first black eye! So sad :(

Quarter of a Century

2010-01-31T21:09:00.003-07:00

Jake's birthday was on Friday. He's now 25 years old. We were able to have a nice relaxing day. Jarren and I went shopping that day, since I have been really sick up until this week I wasn't able to get out. Let me tell you how grateful we are for gift cards! I was able to get him 3 shirts and 2 CD's as well as take him to dinner at the Olive Garden for a total of $13. Whoo! Money has been tight since I was laid off, so I was really happy to have those and be able to give him a good birthday.

The next day we went to the BYU/UTAH game. Jake bought the tickets back at the beginning of the month as a birthday present to himself. That was a fun game besides my constantly running nose and headache. But Jake loved it and we were able to go with some of our good friends so it was a good night.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Jake! We love you!!

Photography Special

2010-01-18T23:35:00.002-07:00

If you know anyone with an infant --

From January 22nd - February 12th, I will be doing "mini-sittings" for infants 0-4 months. 45 minute sittings for $45 (this includes the CD with the copyright release). Email me at jao.photography08@gmail.com to schedule a sitting.

Holidays 2009

2010-01-17T18:53:00.013-07:00

I know I'm a slacker, but I figured I might as well put all the holiday pictures together in one post. Halloween starting at the bottom and Christmas at the top. I already had a post with Halloween day, this is just carving the pumpkins. Jarren didn't really enjoy the slime. We had Birthdays and Holiday parties in the mix so here are some pics to look at.

Kiddie Kandids is closed!!!

2010-01-11T00:51:00.003-07:00

I'm so upset I can't sleep right now, I just found out at 11:30pm that I no longer have a job. Kiddie Kandids has closed it's doors forever. On top of that, I've been told, they aren't paying us for the last two weeks that we have worked. And if they are paying us, they don't have to pay us immediately. They can get away with this because they claimed bankruptcy.

I think this is the most classless thing I've ever heard off. Thousands of employees are getting laid off tonight across the US and the way we found out was through the grape vine and facebook.

If anyone knows of any place hiring, that will hire a pregnant woman with 3 months left to go, please let me know.

In the mean time, if you know anyone who needs pictures taken, please send them my way.

It's a boy!

2009-12-28T22:24:00.006-07:00

I'm such a horrible blogger. After the new year, I'm posting all our holiday pictures starting from Halloween. I've decided just to do one big holiday post. As for this one, I'm at least announcing the gender! We are having another little boy! Jarren will have a brother to play with. The first one is him giving us a thumbs up and showing off his muscles. The second is his feet. Then the next is the front view of his face, he wouldn't give us a profile. Then the last is him showing us he's a boy! The name we are currently liking is Madden Jacob. But we are coming up with a couple others for options.

Oh Edward! .....or Jacob

2009-11-20T10:18:00.003-07:00

Yes, I was one of the crazy people that went to the midnight (12:20) showing. Here is my review with very small, if any spoilers. I give it 3 out of 5 stars. I was expecting more of it. I will admit, it didn't look as low budget at the first one, and the special effects weren't as awful.

In fact, I really liked the wolves. Some of the camera angles of them were a bit ridiculous, but over all, they were pretty good wolves. I really liked Jacob in this one, I was routing for him secretly, even though I've read the books and know what happens. I think he looked a lot better than Edward!

I hated hearing the screaming girls everytime Bella and Edward would kiss, or when the wolf pack would walk in to scene with their shirts off. Probably my favorite part of the teen girls though, was when Edward took his shirt off and had hair all down his chest and stomach, they all screamed "EWWW", that was awesome.

Overall, here is my rating. I LOVED the books. I read them right after Jarren was born and I couldn't do a whole lot because it was in the 6 weeks of recovery from my c-section. I couldn't put the books down. There is a lot of hype over these movies, a lot of people going crazy and a lot of promises that the next will be better than the first. I think because of those two things combined, I didn't like it as much as I could have. Everyone that I know, that hasn't read the books, really likes the movies. But I also have friends who have read the books and DO like the movies, saying it was exactly what they pictured in their head. Well it wasn't what I pictured, and I think that's why I didn't absolutely LOVE the movie(s). But it was a good movie overall, ignoring those facts.

Christmas Pictures

2009-11-08T22:52:00.006-07:00

Right now I'm offering a free 11x14 with any sitting between now and Christmas. I can also create Christmas cards for you custom to your liking.

If you or your friends are interested please have them contact me to schedule their appointment!

You can find my prices and my contact information on my photography page.

The link to my page is on the right hand side of this page, at the top.

"Tea-ckle"

2009-11-03T15:51:00.002-07:00

(For Journal Purposes)
My new favorite things Jarren does:

He can count to 8 by himself, keeping the numbers in order, he does this almost all day long.
I LOVE to hear him say tickle. It comes out "tea-ckle", it's the cutest!
He says his nightly prayers, and my favorite part is when he says Jesus. He says it so well and I love it!
He loves to draw and he's pretty good at it! He concentrates very hard when he's doing it.
His new favorite game to play is "war" with Uno cards with his dad. He does it all by himself when Jake is at work, but gets soooo excited when Jake will play it with him.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T22:26:00.008-06:00

Happy Halloween! Hope everyone had a fun, safe Halloween!

My Biggest Craving

2009-10-27T14:28:00.002-06:00

I will not lie, I LOVE this stuff right now. I go through 2-3 gallons a week.
This last week I went through a gallon in one day.
It can start to get expensive.

"BOU Football"

2009-10-27T00:11:00.003-06:00

Yes, you read that correct. Jarren is obsessed with "BOU Football". Jake has season tickets to BYU football with our friend Jason, who takes his three kids. So, Jake takes Jarren. All week long I hear about going to BOU Football. Anytime we get ready to leave the house he says he's going to football.

He loves to do anything his daddy does. Baseball and BYU football being the top two. If I'm not tricky when getting him dressed he would end up wearing his BYU shirt and BYU hat EVERYDAY! So I come up with reasons why he can't. Especially after he's worn it two days in a row because I don't want to fight with him about it. He wears his BYU hat 5 days out of the week and his spiderman hat the rest of the time. He is a hat lover, just like his dad.

*Side note: Jarren just woke up while I was writing this, so it reminds me. I don't know what to do anymore, I can't have two kids waking up at night when the baby comes. Jarren used to be such a good sleeper until about 1 year old. Then it went down hill. He wakes up 2+ times a night. Usually it's just 2, but some nights it's worse. It's usually like clock work too. First time he wakes up is around 12am. Then he wakes up sometime between me going to sleep around 12 or 1 and Jake getting home at 8am. He just comes and crawls in bed with me, without waking me up half the time. I don't know he's there til morning. I don't know how to break him of this. ESPECIALLY since I'm not awake half the time. Any ideas?

On a more serious note. Jake and I have a friend we grew up with that has gotten pneumonia and then got H1N1. She has been in a medically induced coma since I believe Sunday Morning sometime. The doctors say she is currently stable but aren't sure if she is going to pull through or not. She is such a happy fun person. She can make anyone laugh and I just can't believe that she is going through this. Please keep her in your prayers. The blog where her family is keeping everyone updated is this http://carolynjerusha.blogspot.com/ If you want to read up on her condition or are interested in what is going on they update it pretty often.

We Moved?

2009-10-15T22:47:00.001-06:00

Apparently I live in Denver, CO. Whenever I visit anyone's blog that has a tracker, it says my location is in Denver. Anyone know why that might be?

I can assure you we are in Lehi, UT.

The secret is out...

2009-10-08T17:03:00.004-06:00

I guess we should confirm any rumors that are out there.

Yes, that horrible cell phone picture is a positive.
I am pregnant.
Our estimated due date is May 20, 2010.
We are excited.
Yes, it was planned.

Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad cold.

2009-10-08T16:09:00.001-06:00

That's what I have.
Stuffy/runny nose, very sore throat, sinus headache.

YUCK!

Newest Things

2009-09-28T10:42:00.004-06:00

I really am such a horrible, horrible blogger. I remember I used to blog all the time when I was pregnant with Jarren and when I had him. It seemed like that's when new things happened, and seems like nothing new is happening to us lately. But there have been a few things that are new since the last blog post.

We moved out of my parent house and moved into an apartment. It's in a 4-plex. As far as apartments go I think I've liked this one the best out of the ones we have had. (We have moved far too many times since we got married!) We plan on staying here a bit. It's a 2 bedroom one bathroom, but the rooms are really big. Jarren's room is the size of our room. It's right off the freeway in Lehi, so it's easy access for both Jake and I for work.

A few weeks ago I bought some new desitin for Jarren, when I have to use it he insists on helping put it on. Well, I guess he figured he needed it everywhere, without my help. He was playing in his room and was really quiet so we went to check on him and this is what we found.

Uhhhh yeah. It was one of those moments where I was laughing and wanting to get upset at the same time. So instead I grabbed my camera. Notice it is from head to toe. Literally.

3 years and 3 days ago

2009-08-14T01:33:00.017-06:00

We were married in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple

August 11, 2006

Three years in review.... Time has flown by so fast. I can't believe it's been three years. Jake and I went to Vegas over the weekend until Wednesday to celebrate our three year anniversary. Jake had never been and it's only 5.5 hours away, so it was a great little vacation. Thanks to our families who took Jarren during that time. Anyway, the review. About three months after we were married we got pregnant. He was originally due August 16, 2007, but if you know Jarren at all, you know he has a mind of his own and thought he wanted to come before that. So on July 27th my water broke and he put me into labor for 21 hours before finally entering our world and changing our lives forever. So not quite a year after we were married, July 28th, 2007 he was born.

He's always been a really good baby.

We just had his 2nd birthday party in July, I haven't been able to stay up on my blogging obviously...maybe one day I'll get back to that. So here is his happy birthday post as well. We love you Jarren!

He has grown up so much, we can't believe it. He has to be a big boy and do everything we do. He even uses deodurant every day because we put it on, so he has to put it on. He's very good about brushing his teeth also....usually 3-4 times a day. haha.
Anyway, we have had our ups and downs, just like everyone else. We have moved 3 times in three years, currently living with my parents. It adds stress, but we have learned over the last few months just how much we really do love each other, through thick and thin.

We've gone through different jobs, starting up businesses, paying off debt (half way done! WOOT WOOT!), getting a home, getting out of a home, starting school, starting school again, vacations, HUGE family holidays, struggles with communication, an infant/baby/toddler/2 year going on 20 year old, Ulcers, Concussions, many, many...MANY doctors visits, bad decisions, good decisions and much much more. We've learned that God has a plan for us, whether it has a lot of ups and downs or not, we need to hold onto each other. We are the complete opposite of each other and the perfect match for each other. Many times we find ourselves saying things like "Don't you think it's odd that I'm _____ and you are ______, and even though it's the complete opposite, it works so well together?" He is everything that I am not, and I'm everything that he is not...I know, cheesy, but true! No wonder I've chased him for almost 10 years. I knew what I needed.

We struggle with taking pictures together...
obviously we can't get it right no matter how many times we try :)

This was at the M&M factory in Vegas.

Love you baby!
Happy 3 year anniversary.
Here's to eternity!

Cute mom moment.

2009-07-27T00:50:00.000-06:00

Today at church during sacrament meetings closing hymn, Jarren is sitting on the bench with his hymn book open and while everyone is singing I hear "da daaa da da daaaaa dadaa dadaaaaa" (with high notes and low notes might I add). It was too cute.

Potty Training

2009-07-17T12:42:00.002-06:00

Jarren has been going "peepee on the potty"! I'm so happy. He's shown an interest in the toilet for like the last 3-4 months but hasn't ever gone. When we were in AZ, he went 3 times in one day and then went a couple times a day all of the other days! YAY! I've heard that potty training a boy is usually harder but he isn't even 2 yet and he's going. He does NOT like the "training potty's" He has to use the big people ones. Everytime we take his diaper off "pee pee. pee pee!" and he runs to the toilet. Last night I was moving him to his bed after he was asleep and I changed his diaper cause he was still in a swim diaper and I hear this half asleep "pee pee" so I took him in to the toilet and he went for a long time!! haha even in his sleep he does it.

...now to convience a over worked tired husband to keep this up while I'm at work. This morning when he got home I heard Jarren say pee pee and heard Jake say "you went earlier bud." I was like NO Get him on that toilet!

2009-07-08T13:08:00.001-06:00

Kinda late, but better than never. Happy 4th of July everyone. It's the first year I've taken pictures of the fireworks, it was fun!

A Serious Scare

2009-07-06T15:16:00.002-06:00

Jarren+Keys+car+garage in Arizona=Jarren being locked in the car with the keys in extremely hot weather and scaring me to death.

Pictures from the zoo

2009-06-24T01:02:00.016-06:00

Horrible horrible blogger!

2009-06-22T14:46:00.003-06:00

That would be me. I have a lot to catch you up on, but I hate doing long posts with no pictures, so I will number the updates and make them short.

1. We moved out of our house and in with my parents. Jumping into a house too soon = too much debt.

2. We are not pregnant and don't know when we will try to be. Maybe after all our debt is paid off.

3. Photography is doing...ok. Not fantastic, need more clients. The more the marrier :)

4. Lawncare is doing good. We have exactly the same amount of clients as we did last year. Again..the more the marrier so send them our way :)

5. Jarren is using more words, more often. Still not really forming sentences, but we are getting there. He whines if he knows someone will give him stuff without making him use words, WE make him use them so sometimes he gets frustrated.

6. Jake is ALWAYS tired.

7. My allergies have gone HAYWIRE. They have put fluid in my ears, created cold like symptoms and are completely draining me. I have no energy at all.

8. My baby is going to be turning 2 in one month. ONE MONTH! I remember being pregnant and thinking it would never end...and now he's going to be 2. Oh...my...gosh!

9. Addictions are BAD. My new addictions: LOST

10. Jarren calls everyone on my phone list. Brittney being the number one request since she moved to texas in May and Kacy being the number two request because he likes dancing to her ring tone.

The end for now. Any questions? I'll post pictures tonight.

New Photos

2009-05-29T19:49:00.000-06:00

New Photos on Photo blog!

Update on Kiddie Kandids

2009-05-05T22:10:00.004-06:00

So my friend came with us to Jake's baseball game tonight and reminded me that I hadn't mentioned what happened with kiddie kandids. Well, they finally tracked down one of my knowledge reviews and I am officially certified! They back dated it to April 13th since that is when I originally took the test. Yay, I did it.

Other news...we moved out of our house. Too expensive for us apparently. So we are living with my parents, saving money. Hopefully that will help us be able to save enough money for a down payment on a real house of our own one day. Until then, my parents are nice enough to let us and our crazy {almost} 2 year old move in with them. :)

Jake got a new position at the factory. He now gets to work in the actual warehouse, where he has a set schedule and a pay raise :) that is always nice. The only hard part will be his schedule is 9:25pm til 8am, thursday, friday, sunday and monday nights. At least I'll get him for church and a few days during the week, we will eventually figure out a sleeping schedule. That all takes place May 11th. I'm so excited for him, it's a change he is looking forward to.

Other than that I'm just doing my own photography and being a mom!

70 and Sunny...

2009-04-16T08:38:00.006-06:00

...at least you would think that's what it should be in the middle of April, and it was about 3 days ago.

Instead I woke up to this beautiful scene.
It would have been more beautiful if it were Christmas morning though. I wish summer were here.

Mooo-la

2009-04-15T22:47:00.002-06:00

So at Kiddie Kandids you get a raise one of two ways. 1st, getting completely certified in 7 different categories. This can be difficult depending on the manager because you have to get most of the poses EXACTLY right. Feet crossed, eye direction, hands, head tilt, everything. You also have to have 6 different poses.
The 2nd way is for your annual review. I've been there for 6 months now soooo I'm not quite to that one.

I have, however, officially passed all 7 categories for certification...somehow I'm still not certified though. You do have to also take this knowledge review and pass that. Well...I've taken it twice now and they can't find EITHER of them in their system...ANYWHERE!! I know I passed both of them because I used notes and co-workers. Plus it was multiple choice and very easy. Yet...They can't find them. So yes, I am officially certified and no I do not have a raise. Lame.

Sleep Talking

2009-03-25T23:49:00.002-06:00

I have to write this down before I forget haha!

Jake went to bed earlier than me tonight since he has to wake up early. I walked into our room and he sat straight up and was about to get out of bed and I asked:
"Where are you going?"

To which he responds

"Just seeing which part of the red one it was"

"What is the red one?"

"It's part of the final destination exam."

hahahahaha He layed back down and so I went and layed beside him and kept trying to ask him about it but he told me to stop picking on him...so I never found out what exactly the destination exam was for. I wonder what that dream was about. I'll have to ask him tomorrow.

My Cousin's baby

2009-03-23T15:44:00.004-06:00

I did some pictures of my cousin's baby on Saturday. She was adorable, I loved it. There seems to be controversy over naked baby pictures. Check out my photo blog and let me know what you think. I also did my friends 8 month old baby the same day and will be posting pictures of that soon. Here's a preview of my cousin's little girl.

Pictures as promised

2009-03-23T15:28:00.004-06:00

I love these pajama's, they look like he's a little candy cane. He will stick out his stomach sometimes and it makes it look even bigger. It's so funny.

He loves to stand at our window in the front room and point at grandma's house. Then he will look at me and say "gama, papa?" Like he wants to go visit them. Sometimes I have to say no and he throws the BIGGEST fit! He loves going to visit Grama and Papa.

It's been long enough..

2009-03-16T23:43:00.004-06:00

Wow, I used to be good at this thing. Then life catches up with you. I don't really have any pictures for you right now. Sorry, I know, what is a blog post without any pictures?! ...well it's just me rambling.

Jarren is getting so big, I can't believe it at all. The other night he woke up around..5ish I believe? And Jake went to go climb in bed with him so that I could sleep longer since I had to get up for work around 8. Well...I was awake before my alarm went off, just laying in bed and next thing I know, my door is opening up and Jarren is standing there. He just says "Hi" and has this huge grin on his face. I asked where daddy was and he pointed to his room. So I said go lay down with daddy and he shook his head no and said "nu-uh" and I told him to lay down with him again and he gave me the same respone. Finally he just closed my door and I hear him go and close his door...then he goes and knocks on Brittney's door...He's 1 1/2 and has morning rounds!! haha.

He's learning new things everyday, but I think for the most part what amazes me is how tall he's getting. He's so big. I'll have to take a picture soon and post it.

Anyway, summer time is coming...slowly. Hopefully this means, lots of lawn care clients and lots of photography clients. Both good things for us. If you know anyone that wants or needs our services send them our way!

Yo Gaba Gaba

2009-02-22T13:07:00.003-07:00

I hate this show.
Unfortunately, Jarren loves it.
He points at the TV and says "guuuba" when he wants to watch it.
Fortunately, that helps me get stuff done around the house.

Baby Love

2009-02-14T11:41:00.003-07:00

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!

Word of mouth

2009-01-28T11:09:00.002-07:00

If anyone knows people who are getting married or need family pics done, please pass my info along. This is an extremely slow season at kiddie kandids so I'm not getting the hours I need. Plus I've found new editing programs and I'm excited to try them out, they make pictures look beautiful!

So if you know anyone please have them email jao.photography08@gmail.com

Thanks :)

2009-01-27T01:30:00.001-07:00

My big little man

2009-01-26T22:10:00.003-07:00

Jarren is getting so big. There are so many things he loves doing now, I can't believe how big he is getting.

Things he loves to do:

Put his dishes in the sink when he is done with them.
tell us when he has pee'd or pooped so that we can change him.
Open and close the garage door when we leave or come home (If he doesn't get to do this he freaks out).
Nod his head yes when he really wants something.
Say hi to EVERYONE
point to Grandma's house and nod his head when he wants to go to Grandma's.
Play the drums and guitar for the wii.
Pucker his lips like a fish when giving kisses. He also loves making the smacking noise when giving a kiss.
Give a high five and then "stones"
And many many more. He's getting big so fast I can't believe it.

December recap

2009-01-26T22:02:00.003-07:00

So, since I'm so far behind on blog posts I'll do some recaps. Brittney's bridal shower was held at my house in the middle of December. There was a huge storm outside so we weren't expecting many people, but we still had about 25 people show up. It was a lot of fun, we played a game where I asked Jason questions before the party and Brittney had to answer them with the same answers he did, if she got it wrong she had to stick another piece of bubble gum in her mouth. She had a lot of gum.

Then LJ's birthday was on the 21st. So we had a family party for him, I believe he had a friend party also.

Then came Christmas. Jarren was spoiled :) Santa visited him at 2 houses this year, Grandma and Grandpa Hunt's home and our home. He got a lot of fun toys, here is him on the tricycle from Santa at our home.

Crazy time of year

2008-12-15T23:20:00.002-07:00

So it's been crazy busy the last month or so. I can't believe how close to Christmas we are, it's right around the corner. Last year was a completely different feeling. I was at home with my baby planning things for Christmas, this year I haven't had a second to think about it.

I started with Kiddie Kandids the week of Halloween and have basically lived there ever since. I love it there though. I won't lie, I can't wait for it to slow down after Christmas, but I'll enjoy the major overtime while it lasts. I probably won't get this much again for a while. Also, I lucked out and the company that is doing Brittney's decorations for her reception and wedding have put me on their page as a partner, that was pretty exciting for me. Go here to check it out.

Along with Kiddie Kandids, I've been doing my family's pictures, Brittney's engagements and bridals. I also have been trying to get Brittney's bridal shower together and have no idea how it is going to work out since I work every day this week and until 6 on Friday. The Bridal shower is at 7 so....hopefully I make it on time, considering it's at my house. If not, my mom will be there to set up and get everything ready for me. Now I just need to figure out what we will DO at the bridal shower.

Also, as stated in the previous post, I'm starting a wedding company. It was going to be me and my friend Amanda, but we figured out we want different things. She wants it as a hobby and I actually want a full on business. So we parted ways and decided to just stick as friends and not business partners. Instead I have my friend Niccole, who does cakes. Her cousin might be helping us with floral or we will be referring them to Amanda still. That is set to launch January 1st. We are very excited and the first wedding we do will be EXTREMELY cheap. So if you know of anyone looking for wedding planners (that need photography, cakes, floral and decorations) send them my way. :) I will post soon what the discount will be. We have been discussing doing the first wedding for just the cost of materials, and the photography fee. I'll let you know...

Jarren has slowly started adding new words and forming small sentences. He completely says "uh-oh" while forming his lips into a perfect "o" shape while saying oh. It's very cute. He also is big on saying "Bayyyybeee" or dropping his jaw and saying "ha" for hot. He's done very well with us having a fireplace and has only gone near touching it twice then says "HA!" knowing it's hot. My mom claims he has said "gramma" which I still haven't heard but I'll believe her. (love you mom) and Jake said Jarren walked over to him while he was watching tv today and put his hand on his shoulder and said "hi dadda" then plopped down on his lap.

Anyway, I will be done with updates for now. I just wanted to let you know I'm not dead, I'm still here. We are doing well and can't wait for Christmas. I'm counting down the days til summer when there is no more snow.

If I don't update before Christmas, we love you all and hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

Wedding Business

2008-12-08T10:30:00.002-07:00

My friend Amanda and I are starting up a wedding business. I will do photography, she will do flowers and possibly cakes...if we learn how to do them. We need to find someone who can do catering. If anyone out there knows who to cook really good and fairly fast, let me know. We may just want to hire you :)

And if anyone out there knows how to do wedding cakes let me know also. That may take some stress off our hands during weddings, to not have Amanda doing both.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T21:53:00.002-07:00

This is the first year I've not had Thanksgiving with my family. It was ok though, we had it with Jake's. It was a lot of fun and I got to learn all of their traditions, which were a lot different from ours. They make klassuls (sp?) and blaukraut (sp?) which are both dishes from Germany since Jake's Grandma came from Germany it's just been passed down the family. It was fun.

I made:
A Turkey
pumpkin pie
peacan pie
pumpkin bars
yams
and garlic parmesan rolls

The rolls were the best thing I've ever tasted...EVER! My friend Kacy from work gave me the recipe just on Monday and I decided to make them for Dinner tonight. They were a big hit and sooooo yummy. The recipe is here.

Anyway it was a great day with Family, food and games.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Brittney's Wedding Date

2008-11-17T23:19:00.003-07:00

It's officially official. Brittney is getting married January 9th! I did their engagement pictures today, I think they turned out pretty good, and they liked them so I'm happy!

Sharilee Anne Warner

2008-11-14T20:19:00.002-07:00

My friends mom passed away this last tuesday. I'm going to her funeral tomorrow. I'm nervous to go because I'm not ready to say goodbye. I loved her so much. We all knew it was coming because she's had cancer but I still wasn't expecting it. I've known her family for so long, they've always been family to us.

Shari, I'm going to miss you so much. I love you.

Here is her obituary. It couldn't have been said better, she was a wonderful person.

I've been told I need to update

2008-11-12T10:33:00.004-07:00

Wow. I've been very busy, I haven't had time to do much lately. Besides taking care of Jarren and working, I've been sleeping. I somehow picked up a cold that doesn't feel like a typical cold. My throat is killing me and my voice is gone but that's pretty much it.

Jarren has started saying some new words. He says "hot" "hey" and "baby", baby is his favorite. He says it like this bayyyyybeeee. It's really funny.

Work has been fun, I love my job. If I have to be away from Jarren it better be for something I love right? I'm happy I didn't go back to a corporate office. This is so much better, my day goes by so much faster. They are hiring right now, so if anyone wants to come work there it's awesome!

What a work out!

2008-10-30T22:00:00.002-06:00

My legs are burning...my arms are burning...

I didn't realize you basically did lunges all day long for work at kiddie kandids. Then moving yours arms up and down, lifting things up and down. I love it! It's like going to the gym at work.

Proposition 8

2008-10-26T14:32:00.004-06:00

Today in RS we had a great lesson. We weren't going to go to church cause we over slept, into sacrament meeting but I got us up and we made it in time for Sunday School.

This whole Proposition 8 thing has had me going back and forth for a while. I didn't like HOW involved the church was getting in it. It seemed like they were getting very pushy with it in California with church members. I believed the as a church we aren't supposed to get very political. We can be as individuals but I just didn't think the first presidency should be telling the members what we should do. (free agency and blah blah blah)....ANYWAY

In RS this topic got brought up, and I'm so happy it did. It's changed my entire perspective on it. Just from one sentence. When we were talking about it a lady raised her hand and said "God speaks through the prophet, if Jesus were the one going from door to door, or even just asking you to vote for it, would you say no?" That hit me really hard. I never thought about it like that and I don't know why I haven't. I've been very stupid about it all. Also another woman stated "We can love the people who struggle with same sex attraction, we just don't need to love what they do." I love all the smart ladies in my ward.

So now, I'm for proposition 8 100%. Though, I'm not going to voice my opinion all day everyday, I just don't find it necessary, I will support it.

**Edit for Kirk**
I know I do not live in California, this does not mean I cannot SUPPORT proposition 8. And, it's more like I'm supporting the church's stand on it. You can support the church no matter where you live. I'm sorry you like to keep state's separate, especially since Utah is soooo terrible. But I still stand the same. I hope everyone, everywhere in the United States takes a stand on it, one way or the other.

Kiddie Kandids...

2008-10-21T16:02:00.003-06:00

Here I come! I got the job. I go and fill out some paper work on Friday and then I start training next week Tuesday through Thursday. I just forgot to ask how much I get paid. (At least it's something I LOVE doing, so pay doesn't matter right? haha)

I also need to find a babysitter, any takers? We will pay...

Interview..

2008-10-20T22:21:00.001-06:00

So I have an interview tomorrow...at Kiddie Kandids! I'm so excited. I would love to work for a photography studio and do my photography on the side. It would be awesome...wish me luck!

The biggest looser

2008-10-09T13:39:00.001-06:00

So I'm joining a competition. go here http://healthy--girls.blogspot.com/

if you are wanting to loose weight and are competitive in the least you should do it also. There is a cash prize!

Jao Photography Giveaway!

2008-10-09T10:08:00.002-06:00

I found an awesome blog I have been following, tipjunkie, she has decided to help me out with my business. I'm going to be doing a giveaway and I'm featured on her website.

This giveaway is for Utah and Salt Lake County Residents only. If you would like to travel to one of those counties to have your pictures done, I'm more than willing to let you qualify! :)

This is the info:
TipJunkie is helping me with this giveaway. I'm so excited to be able to share my work with others. You can enter to win on her website, all you have to do is leave a comment on her blog saying which of my layouts is your favorite.

This is the giveaway:
The winner will receive: 1 free family ($55+ value), baby ($30 value), children ($45 Value) or couple ($45 Value) photo shoot.Plus 3 free Christmas Card Layouts or if you would prefer baby announcements instead you can have 3 free Baby Announcements of your choice. You could also mix and match Christmas Cards and Baby Announcements.

How to enter to win:
pick out your favorite Christmas card layout and leave a comment on TipJunkie with your favorite layout. Contest winners will be drawn October 16th by a random number generator!Please only enter once and you must have a blog to enter. (If your blog is private, please include your e-mail address with your comment.) Tip Junkie is for female bloggers, sorry men.

The original announcement of the giveaway is on my photography blog. You can find the first three announcements here and the rest of them here.

Leg warmers!

2008-10-07T16:58:00.003-06:00

The happy moments

2008-09-26T09:47:00.003-06:00

I'm so proud of Jake. He started this lawn care business with a little help from my family and made it something that could give us income. From the end of May until now he has had 13 clients! With hardly any advertising that is a good job!!

Now that lawn care season is approaching us quickly he decided to jump into WFG with my dad. This was completely his decision! I told him if he didn't want to he didn't need to. But he also knew we needed the money, so I'm sure that helped push him quite a bit! Well, in WFG you have to get several licenses. First there is your life license, then your mortgage license and then your securities licenses. YESTERDAY, Jake passed his life license test!! I am SOOOO Proud of him! It isn't the easiest test, the testing center makes it tricky. I took it twice and failed both times, someone on my dad's team took it 11 times and then passed it! You have to have some real determination to pass this test. There are some people that pass it on their first try, more power to them! Anyway, Jake passed! I'm so proud of him. He's so determined to help our family financially and I'm so happy with him.

Anyway, that's my public spill on how good Jake is doing and how much I LOVE him!

4 more days

2008-09-24T12:48:00.001-06:00

And then I can eat normal food...basically.

By sunday hopefully I will have my before photos from the doctor and you can see what HCG Shots do.

Journaling updates

2008-09-20T23:02:00.014-06:00

Over the last few weeks we have been working on many projects, so if you don't like long posts or you don't like a lot of pictures, don't keep reading - this will be both.

Remember my post with this LOVELY wallpaper? Well soon (hopefully) it will no longer be there. I've gotten about a full wall of it off, that took me about 4 hours. I started last Saturday and haven't had time to continue since then...so my goal is to have it completely off and painted before Christmas. I will keep you up to date and take several during and after pictures.

Next on the list of my projects --- the pantry! I found this post on tipjunkie's blog. I was inspired...or really tired of having a non-organized pantry.

Before:

I went to the dollar store and walmart in search of the cheapest containers I could find. Now it is organized :) Labels and all.

After:

Today while Jarren was running around upstairs instead of in his "cage" in the living room, he discovered what he could do when you pull down the dishwasher door. I went to hurry and get my camera to take a picture and when I came back he had this face....he wasn't sure if he was being cute or if he was in trouble.

Yesterday, I found out from Jake that because of how stressed out I have felt this last week, he and rob were going to take Jarren all day and he bought me a massage at a salon in American Fork, it's called seven salon & spa. I had a swedish massage for an hour, it was heaven.

Anyway, while I was sleeping in this morning and Rob had Jarren, they stole my camera and had some fun. The next two pictures are from that.

Isn't he getting SO big!?

The last couple of weeks we have been trying to work on our front yard, with some help from Rob and my parents we are coming along...slowly. I know we are going to have to get it done before it gets cold, but since it's our only day to really get anything done together it's hard to focus on one project...especially since it is now BYU football season, Jake has to see some part of the game, if not the whole thing.

Anyway, there were TONS of weeds in the front island area and the side of our yard next to the highway was like 10 bush/trees combined into one big one. So we went to work on it.

Here is my man piling branches into the trailer that Rob and my dad cut down.

Here is Rob...don't mess with him and his saw.

This is the side tree/bush thing.

And another angle:

This is the island that my mom and I worked on, you should have seen my mom jump backward 5 ft in one jump when she found wilbur, the snake. I won't even mention how many pregnant wolf spiders we found in there that creeped me out. Ok maybe I will...where my mom is standing there was like a whole village of them.

This picture is the some-what after picture of the side. It looks even better now, these pictures are from about 3 weeks ago.

This is the island some-what. It is now missing half that dirt, we moved it over to the tree/bush area.

And last but not least on my journaling updates: There was a big case lot sale and Maceys, Kohlers, Albertsons and Smiths this weekend. So we went through all the ads to find the cheapest things at each place and went to hit all the sales. We bought stuff from each place since each place had better deals than the others. It took us like 3 hours but we had a lot of good savings. Now my dungeon closet actually looks like a cold storage! Some what... and what cold storage could go without a million boxes of XanGo? Not ours ha.

That is the end of our updates..for now.

Except...again, I will advertise for myself. If you know anyone who needs photography done please send them here or here. Thanks!

Happy Harvest

2008-09-20T16:42:00.004-06:00

So I randomly bought a "Good Housekeeping" Magazine off the rack the other day since I've been feeling really crafty lately. I found this article in there. I thought it would be fun to try the pumpkins in a bowl.

I headed to walmart, my one stop cheap place. I bought a decorative bowl, some pumpkins, purple, green and black ribbon, and some "maple leaf" garland to put around the bowl.

Next I hot glued the ribbon around the pumpkins and put them in the bowl. The article actually says to use double sided tape but I like my hot glue gun. It's a really cute center piece on the table, I think I might go buy some more pumpkins to add to it though, so it's more of a "heap" like the article says.

I think I just might buy a good housekeeping magazine more often!

Sneak Peek

2008-09-18T23:30:00.004-06:00

My Cousin who got married in May let me practice taking bridals with her. I am pleased with how they turned out. We did some in-studio and some on-location. Jake was a good sport and tagged along to help with the reflector when needed. I love him :)

Anyway if you are interested in seeing how some of them turned out. Click here.

I'm in love..

2008-09-17T18:04:00.003-06:00

..with the Dollar store in American Fork. I believe it's called Dollar Tree? It's amazing. I've found many dollar stores that aren't even worth going into, but this one has everything you would want from a dollar store.

I just though I would announce my new love to the world.

My sugar playing in the sugar

2008-09-16T23:23:00.003-06:00

We have created a studio in the front room of our house. This way I will have somewhere to do photography during the winter, I will still do "on location" but with the cloudy utah sky during winter time it will be more difficult. I set up one of my backdrops, bought some gumdrops and a candy jar and let Jarren go at it while I took pictures. He can be such a ham for the camera. Click HERE for more pics.

Studio

2008-09-16T19:25:00.001-06:00

It's official...I have an in-home studio. WOOT!

A few new things..

2008-09-12T21:29:00.004-06:00

Besides my camera, I should probably post a few more updates.

First off, a Photography note, if you have any family, couple, baby or children photography done by me starting now until December 1st, you will receive 3 free Christmas Card layouts of your choice. So Schedule an appointment now. Either, leave comments, email me (jao.photography08@gmail.com) or call me, for those of you that know my number.

A Jarren note. I think that I'm never going to get my child out of my bed. EVER...well maybe when he turns 19 we will have to ween him from our bed so he can go on a mission. He goes to bed in his own bed around 9:30 and by 2am he is awake again, unless we give him a bottle and lay him in bed with us, he is up for hours! So I give in, get his bottle and put him inbetween us. The problem with this is...well one, we don't get our own bed but mostly...I don't get a bed. Either he turns sideways inbetween me and Jake and kicks me out of the bed with his feet (He doesn't do that to Jake), or he just keeps rolling into me until I move, and takes over my side. See below, these are two of his favorite positions in my bed. Both on my side. If he isn't on exactly my side he is laying sideways taking up both of our sides so I end up laying sideways on the bed with my head half hanging off and my feet dangling off Jake's side. Jake leaves for work around 2 or 3 each morning, so he doesn't get included in this morning ritual. I swear it will never end. It started when we moved into the house, which is when he got his own room. I've tried everything, including trying to let him cry it out...he will just cry and cry and cry and cry..you get the point. I gave up. Any ideas are appreciated.

On a ME note, I got my hair done. I wanted to keep the length cause I'm trying to grow it out, but I needed a change. So I went darker, once again. I also added bangs and more layers that I can make messy and cute. It's fun, I'm just trying to get used to looking in the mirror and seeing hair in my face...I haven't had bangs for almost 3 years now. Even then, they weren't this thick.

On a Me and Jake note...Lawn care is slowly coming to an end. We loved the extra income while it lasted, but now we are going to jump back into WFG. Jake's determined to get a few promotions by December. I'm proud of him. (It helps that I bribed him with a 4 day trip to NY to see his buffalo bills play live and stay in buffalo for 2 days and then go to New York City for 2 days...ok ok some of it is for my enjoyment also, I want to take pictures there so bad!)

My new baby

2008-09-09T17:51:00.004-06:00

I haven't had enough time to fully play around with her yet, but I got my new baby last night.

Yes...my new digital camera. It's beautiful. All of the reviews on this camera are nothing but wonderful. I'm so excited to not have to use my film camera anymore.

google it!

2008-09-05T18:44:00.014-06:00

Google it!

Go to google images and type in your own answers for the topics below. Pick your favorite image on the first 3 pages of results and post.

1. First Name: Jessica 2. Middle Name: Ann

3. Last Name: Oliverson (My baby was on there!)
4. Bad Habit: chewing gum?

5. What am I doing right now: Cooking Dinner

6. Grandma's Name: Zena

7. A pet I have had: Sugar

45. My first job: Kountry Korner Grill

34. My age: 22

379. Where I grew up: Highland, UT

23. A past love: snowboarding

1. One of my best friends nicknames: Nickikit

It gave me pictures from my blog

2983472. One of my favorite places: Hawaii

tag others:

Kirk

Jenn

Jessica

And anyone else who wants to do it that reads my blog.

Spoons!

2008-08-29T09:39:00.002-06:00

Today Jarren ate his breakfast with a spoon. I know this isn't that exciting, but it's taken a lot of work to get this stubborn boy to do it. I did have to help him scoop up the food because he couldn't get the angle right, but then he would stick it straight into his mouth. He did this for like 5 minutes and then got bored and went back to his hands ha.

About me

2008-08-28T10:24:00.002-06:00

I figured I should blog something actually about me. Lately it's been Jarren and Photography. (Thanks to everyone who sent people my way for pictures, I've been booked! I'm going to have to start charging now though.) Anyway, this morning I was super excited. I put on my pair of pants that is a size smaller than what I usually wear, and they FIT! FINALLY! After a year and a half of not being able to wear them. I'm not going to lie, I've been trying them on periodically to see if I can squeeze into them and I would get them buckled up but if I bent over my butt would fall out. This time I didn't have to squeeze and I actually had to use a belt!

It feels good to loose weight. I've officially made it below my pre-pregnancy weight, but I still have what...like 40 more lbs to go. I'm determined. It. Will. Happen.

Best Ever

2008-08-22T23:51:00.006-06:00

I did some pictures tonight of my friends baby. She was adorable. This is by far the cutest picture I've ever taken.

It looks like a back drop behind her, but really those were the clouds in the sky, it turned out pretty cool. The rest of her pictures are on my photo blog, there some really cool pictures from the photo shoot.

Happy birthday to me.

2008-08-21T12:17:00.003-06:00

Yes...it's true, today is my birthday. 22 years! I know that's not old, but it seems like it was just yesterday I met Jake (14 years old) or even got my license.

I'm hoping today goes well. The last 7 years something bad has always happened on my birthday.
16 years old- my friends mom died on my birthday, very emotional, hard day

17 years old- Had a big fight with my then boyfriend, ended up slapping him cause he called me names that were uncalled for and then got a very irritating call from his dad that night saying no matter what his son did I shouldn't have slapped him and he should call the cops on me...it's alright I don't like that whole family anymore.

18 years old - I moved out the day before my 18th birthday so there was no party or happy birthday's or anything. College started like the next day or something...it was just a night of me sitting at my apt with people I didn't know ... not so fun.

19 years old - Had knee surgery 3 days before and was on heavy pain killers in bed all day

20 years old- Just got back from my honeymoon, had ulcers and had to have a colonoscopy...which meant I had to drink a gallon of laxitive that night. AND a close family friend in our ward died...(people like to die on my birthday)

21 years old - It wasn't necessarily BAD, but I had just had a baby and couldn't really do much since I had a c-section I was still healing.

So all my friends, family and loved ones out there...please do not die today ... or call the cops on me, and maybe I'll have a good one this year and break the cycle.

First Kiss

2008-08-20T23:06:00.009-06:00

A Baby Story: First Kiss

Here's my Jarren

Jarren meet Jackie

They became fast friends

Jackie wanted to kiss

Jarren just wanted to hold hands.....

Jackie went for it anyway!!

He's not too sure if he is fond of that.

The end.

a few of my favs

2008-08-18T22:54:00.004-06:00

I took a few pictures of Jarren and Jake after church on sunday, here are a couple of my favorites, the rest (and soon to be more) are on my photography blog. If anyone wants to see them.

subjects needed

2008-08-15T11:47:00.002-06:00

Here is an email I sent out to friends and family...if I didn't include you on the email it is because I didn't have your email on that account. But the same applies to you.

Hi Everyone,
I figure if I'm going to start my business by word of mouth, family and friends are the best way to do that! After several years of photography I've decided to start my own little business,on the side, doing what I love!
I need to get some more experience in certain fields though, and in order to do that I'm offering to do some stuff for free. If any of you know anyone in Utah who need the following types of photographs taken or would just be willing to be my guinea pigs I would love for you to give them my contact information!
Here is what I need some practice in and I will do the sessions for free! Next to the type of photography is the number of different families I need.
3 Family Photo sessions (including couples only)
2 Weddings
2 Bridals
2 Engagements (I already have one lined up, but 2 others would still be nice)
2 Children (baby photos included)
2 Custom (Could be sports, senior pictures, bands etc.)

I also do baby announcements, and since I'm trying to get experience in the "baby category" I will do a 2 layouts for them for $10.

I don't do the printing...yet :) so what I do is put everything on a CD and then they can get the specific pictures they want developed wherever they want. If any of you want any of these photos done for you let me know as soon as possible because I would love to do them for free for you!

My website is www.jaophotography.blogspot.com I will constantly update with new photos on there. That way you can see my type of photography.

Anyway, my contact information for Jao Photography is:

(I had my phone number here but I'm not listing it on a website so email me if you want to talk on the phone and I will email it back to you)
jao.photography08@gmail.com

Let me know as soon as possible!
Love,
Jessica

I will be doing photography anyday in the evenings and on Saturdays. Thanks everyone!!

REALLY EXCITED!!

2008-08-13T11:42:00.010-06:00

So I sent the pictures to my friend that I took of her baby and she showed them to her mom who owns a scrapbooking store. Her mom said that she LOVED my pictures and wants to promote my photography in her store. I need to pick two pictures that I like best for her to put out on display, please vote and tell me which numbers you like best!

# 1:

#2:

#3:

#4:

#5:

#6:

#7:

#8:

New pictures

2008-08-12T23:30:00.001-06:00

I posted a few of the pictures I took while playing around with my camera. They are on my photo website if you want to take a look. Let me know what you think!

The baby is my friends little girl, she has SO much hair!!

bedrooms

2008-07-31T21:35:00.004-06:00

Now that I have real internet and I'm not having to sit against the wall in our front room to steal internet from my parents wireless, I can post my pictures.

New bedroom #1

New Bedroom #2

And finally the beautiful (Sarcastic) bedroom we reside in.

And just in case you can't see the wall paper well enough:

Project one, done.

2008-07-21T23:11:00.006-06:00

It has taken me a while to do some real updates, so here is a posting for all you readers out there.

Last Tuesday I threw my back out of place somehow. I went to the chiropractor and he popped it and I had to come back again on wednesday. This time when I went back and he popped it into place it hurt EXTREMELY bad. I would almost say I was in more pain then when I was giving birth. Anyway so I had to go to this Spinal Aide centers for America thing and they strapped me up to electro shock stuff and long story short I'm slowly getting better. But...I would probably be getting better faster if I wasn't working on our house! I'm ok with working on the house though.

We had two bedrooms I wanted to get painted before we moved in. Bedroom #1 will be Rob's room and bedroom #2 will be Jarren's room. I want to do our room more than I want to do theirs, but we won't be able to finish that in time for us to move in. I'm guessing we will do it around the end of the year. It has wall paper from the ceiling to the floor. Really really ugly flower wallpaper. I will take pictures of it tomorrow and post them. Anyway here are the before pictures of bedroom #1 and 2. You probably can't see them all that well considering I took the pictures with my phone since I didn't have my camera. Tomorrow I will take pictures with my camera of the finished projects. I think that they turned out really well.

Bedroom #1

You can't really tell from this picture but they had a very badly done paint job of light blue painted on top of a bright purple and bright pink so it was see-through in a lot of areas.

Bedroom #2

They didn't just have this...they had wallpaper ontop of the seam of paint. It was different types of trucks, it was in really bad condition and torn up in several different areas.

We have also cleaned the house...Twice. Once when we were painting I had my sisters clean it, so there wouldn't be so much dust. Then we bug bombed so we could kill off all the little spiders and then I cleaned again tonight. So now I have a mostly clean house (still have all the wood floors and bathroom floors), and a somewhat freshly painted house. Like I said I will get more pictures tomorrow and upload them if I have a chance tomorrow night.
So here is the rest of my 2 weeks. We move in all our stuff by Wednesday. I have to then unpack everything by Monday July 28th since we are doing Jarren's birthday party at our house. I will be cooking and preparing and decorating all day on his birthday. Then after his birthday I have until the 31st of July to get our Apartment completely clean so we can get a return on our deposit. Then I have a baby shower to throw with my sister-in-laws on Friday August 1st, a baby shower to attend on the 2nd and my anniversary will be on the 11th, but we will be celebrating before then...hopefully. If I can ever figure out something fun to do for cheap.

Oh one more thing...if you know anyone interested in digital invitations or digital announcements that they can print off send them my way. The link to my store at the top of my blog in the right hand corner! Thanks. (they aren't that great yet, but I'm working on them.)

Keys please

2008-07-16T12:27:00.001-06:00

It's very official now! We have the keys and the garage door opener. We start painting this week and move in hopefully sometime next week while Jake has work off. WOOT!