Picture a Christmas ....

Well, since I haven't posted pictures in quite some time, I figured I would spent an hour or so loading pictures on here so you could have your fix. Here is our Christmas break in photos.

Jay received a large teddy bear as an early Christmas present and has been hugging all things plush ever since.

On the 21st, Dustin's mom came in town. We took her to see the Mesa Temple lights.
Christmas Eve we carried on the Owens tradition of having Mexican food for dinner. Jay was quite the ham that night, and took a very smiley picture with Grandpa Karl.
He even let mommy get a picture taken.
After Mexican food, we went back to Grandma and Grandpa Owens house for a Luke 2 reading and to play with Katie and Chris' new puppy. Dustin's sister Brooke (who came in town on the 23rd) made fast friends with puppy Toby.
Christmas morning, Jay made off like a bandit. Since all things go up to his ear like a cell phone, we decided to get him an actual toy phone. So did Grandma and Grandpa.
We also found a cool Handy Manny truck and doll and Jay now loves to fix spark plugs and radiators with his little screwdrivers.
Whitney was forbidden to go in the garage for the week before Christmas and finally found out why - her new jogging stroller was hiding out in there.
For a second time, Dustin and Whitney both got each other the exact same gift without knowing it.

One of the musical instruments Jay got was a "wiggles" guitar.
Thanks to Katie and Chris, Dustin can exercise like the superhero he is.
Here's Jay with his haul. With the exception of the nice dump truck ride-on toy he got from Neina, and the toy phone from grandma nad grandpa, all his other toys are from garage sales and Goodwill.
The day after Christmas, still stuffed with Apple Fritters and Ham dinner, we saw Neina and Brooke off, then headed out to CA to visit with friends. Marco, Jamie and baby Eliana Vergara (she's the adorable one below) were kind enough to let us crash at their apartment all week.
The next day, we enjoyed going to our old English ward and seeing friends, then afterwards having a "Ugly Christmas Sweater and Sock" Party at some friends' house. We loved getting to meet little Noah Nielsen finally, and Jay loved figuring out his high tech swing.
Here we are in our outfits. I sewed all the things on my sweater by hand. Dustin borrowed his from some friends in AZ. Dustin won the contest and we got a yarn-knit Christmas Kleenex box cover as a prize.
Jay enjoyed playing with Eliana in the down moments back at the Vergaras.
We went to the mall one day and had fun just goofing around.
We also went to visit the Liu's and Sophie sure was excited to see Jason again.
Hooray for old friends.
New Year's Eve we got to see the Sepulvedas and Jay and Jonathon (13 days older than Jay) got to finally play together again.
New Year's Eve at the Cox's - Little Emily was all smiles.
Erica, Beka and I had a good time chatting up in the girls room that night.
Brian, Larry and the boys had a good time on the wii down stairs.
The next morning, I got to meet up with my friend and old co-worker Becky Human on campus.
As soon as I set Jay down, he walked straight into the fountain, so we had to take his wet clothes off and let him roam around in just a diaper. He didn't seem to mind at all. The weather was pretty nice New Year's day.
Later that day we went to a park to read scriptures and feed the ducks. Jay actually said, "ack, ack ack" to the ducks (his form of quacking).
He LOVED going on the swings and slides with Daddy.

That night we were invited to the Flores' home for Tamales. Que Rico! Jay loved the balloons they had left over from their festivities.


The next morning, we spent a few hours packing up, loading a BBQ onto our luggage rack, and driving to South County where we stayed at the Clarke's home and got ready for Owen and Theresa's reception in Oceanside. The Gooches and the Haddocks were there as well, so it was so fun to see family.
Jason and cousin Gavin (6 months apart) got to see more of each other.
Jay also got to play with cousins Lauren, Jocelyn (and Courtney - not pictured, all 2nd cousins) as well as Spencer (and not-pictured Isabelle, first cousins). Jason enjoyed playing and dancing at the reception, and was a pretty good sleeper for most of the car ride home the next day.

Let's Get Down To Business

I know. Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone, and I have a month of Jason's antics to make up for. But that's not what this post is about. I promise I will catch you up with some quality photos and videos, including one of him dancing I took tonight. But that's all for later.

For right now, I just wanted to update you on my current hunt for employment. Needing to make about $600/month after taxes to meet our budget, I was eager to get piano students signed up. Turns out I am one of 3 or 4 piano teachers in our ward, so church hasn't proven the best avenue of publicity. I had Dustin send out an email to all the teachers at school, and that got some hits, though many have never followed through to committ. I tried putting fliers up around the neighborhood, and that got me no where as well. So I decided to pay $75 and put up a vendor booth at a local community fair. It happened to be on a weekend that Dustin was gone a scout camp out (he's the new boy scout leader for the 16-18 year old boys), and so I had to get a lot of help from neighbors and friends for babysitting Jay and getting all the tables and tents shippped over and set up. But I had about 12 potential leads come out of it, four of which are starting lessons next week (Along with 2 others from Dustin's school). However, with all of the discounts I had to give to be competitive with other AZ teachers, I still have a long way to go to make up that deficit.

Which brings me to my huge exciting news. I got a message on facebook at the beginning of December from a lady I knew in California. She asked me for a favor, saying something most people didn't know about her is that she is a development executive for a production company, there are two scripts her partner had written and she promised she'd get a second opinion on them and wanted to know if I'd be willing to read them and give my thoughts. I said of course I would, and she sent the scripts (along with a small thank you check) and I was so excited to have actually been paid, even something at all, to do what I love. Well, turns out they really loved my notes and rewrites on the scripts, and her partner wanted to meet with me when I came to California this week.

Dustin and I met with them today, and instead of turning in the scripts back to them, I am keeping the scripts because he is getting me the electronic file, and wants me to add in all of my corrections and rewrites myself on both scripts, as well as read over two new scripts, and eventually write the script for a story he has outlined, which if it sold and was produced, I'd get to share the screen credit and base writer fee with this guy.

So there you have it. Four years of not touching my screenwriting or doing anything with my degree and all of a sudden, this opportunity falls into my lap. I feel so lucky. Just to hear that someone in the business likes what I contribute made my day, my week, my year! And even if it never goes beyond these couple of projects for this one company, at least I can say I was paid to do script doctoring, to do what I love. Just wanted to share with my excitement with you all.

Our Birthday Boy

We can hardly believe that Jason is already one. It has been a long year, in the sense that we can't really remember what life was like before he came into our lives. But at the same time, it is going by so fast and its hard to believe we had a toddler instead of a baby.

To celebrate Jason's birthday, we are having a party with some neighbors and family at the park by our house the day after Thanksgiving. So Monday wasn't very eventful, but we did want him to open a couple presents on his actual birthday.

He got a musical, light-up, Old McDonald singing tractor from his Neina, which he loved until he found the button that made the tractor move forward on its own. It terrified him. Songs and lights he was fine with. Things with wheels that he can move are great too. But things that move on their own? Apparently that's where he draws the line. It was sad because he was running away from it towards us, but the tractor was pointed towards us, so it was chasing him. I'm trying to get him used to it, but meanwhile, we just push the song buttons on it.



From mom and dad he got a mirror for his crib that plays songs and lights up. He also got a new outfit.

The curly ribbon bows were the best part of the gift opening process for him. He still doesn't quite understand the concept of tearing paper off to reveal something underneath. Maybe after his party and Christmas he'll be a pro.



The day after his birthday, he had a doctor's visit for his 12 month well baby check up. He weighed in at 22.8 pounds, 31.5 " tall, which puts him at 50% for weight and 90% for height. Due to no insurance, he never had a 9 month well baby check up, so he was past due for a few shots. He wound up getting 6 total, including the swine flu shot. He didn't cry at all until after the third one, and then when all was said and done, he cried for 1-2 minutes tops. While I was helping hold him down and watching him cry, I noticed he had another molar coming in. And last night while brushing his teeth, I noticed a molar on top that was half way in already. So that makes 7 teeth and 3 molars by the age of 1. Is that a lot?

Between the shots and teething, I felt sorry for him and wanted to treat him somehow. So I let him feed himself with absolutely zero interference from mom. I let him make however much of a mess as he wanted to. I normally step in before it goes from messy to disastrous, but this time he was in control. Here is what Jay does with a jar of Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal if left to his own devices.

All Quiet on the Southern Front

I'm glad the last week is over. Veteran's Day I was out running errands while Jason slept. The day before he had seemed a little out of sorts, so it was nice to know he was taking a long nap to let his body sort out all its problems. While I was out, Dustin called to let me know Jay had woken from his nap, and when he went to go get him, found him playing in a pile of his own problems. The next day it was more of the same, and there was some vomiting in the evening as well. Jason was still a happy cheerful kid, but every diaper change resulted in a load of laundry and a bath. Needless to say, I was not a happy cheerful mom.

Friday was the worst. More diarrhea and vomiting, and Saturday morning wasn't any better. Fearing dehydration, I took him in Saturday to the doctor, who said we needed to do a day of only clear fluids in order to beat whatever bug or infection he had (the doctor didn't seemed to concerned to find out what it was, only to treat it via bowel rest).

He was not happy about only getting a few sips of pedialyte every half hour. It was so hard to see him starving and hear him crying for food and knowing all I could give him was a tablespoon or two of fluids, per the doctors orders. During a much needed bath, he grabbed the cup I was using to rinse him with in a desperate attempt to drink some bath water. That broke my heart. Since he couldn't eat, he resorted to sleeping. His 3-4 hours of naps stretched into 6.



He stayed home from church on Sunday, and seemed to be doing much better. He was more energetic and playful, and hadn't had a bad episode, so we tried bland solids that evening. Monday morning, it was back again, so we went back to the doctor and did another day of clear fluids. Only problem, Jay was now refusing pedialyte in any form. He also wouldn't take any fluid in a sippy cup or bottle. He wanted to eat real food and refused to be on a liquid diet. The doctor suggested Jello, since it dissolves into a clear fluid and gives him the illusion of being able to eat. While it took Jay a while to get used to the texture, he eventually took to the new dessert.
Wednesday and Thursday have proven better days for our little Jay, and he has more energy now and is back to eating solids 3 times and having only 1 bath per day. He is still waking up at least once at night, and won't sleep in past 6am (usually closer to 5 am), so we'll have to work on getting him back to sleeping all the way through now that he isn't starving at 3am. He still gets kind of whiny during the day and wants to be held a lot, but I think that might be separation anxiety starting to kick in rather than still being sick. Who knows. But when he's happy, boy is he happy. Hope this picture and video make you happy, too.

A Walk in the Park

This is the little playground/park area next to our house. Jason and I went there today to play.


Jason wore his sandals, and even walked in them. I usually don't put shoes on him, so when I do, he takes them off because he's not used to it. The fact that he actually walked around in some was picture worthy in my opinion.

He loves playing in the sand and watching his hand (and mommy's toes) disappear in it.

Riding on the little rocking horse they had.

What a big boy!

Just being cute, as always.

Sometimes when he's walking around or standing, he'll just throw his hands up in the air, like he's exasperated with life or something. It's hilarious. It's probably for balance, but it doesn't look like he's wobbling at all, so I think it's just going to have to be chalked up on the quirk board.

The park doesn't have baby swings, but I let Jason try the big boy swing out by himself and he loved it. We don't love how big he looks sitting in it though, what happened to our little baby?!



This is a video I took of him walking; he's quite adept at it now, especially considering he was wearing clunky sandals and walked on sand. He has also gotten the waving hello and good-bye thing down really well, and he is even trying to verbally say "bye" now as well. We think it's adorable. Hope you enjoy it.

A Super Halloween

In honor of this year's costumes, I designed and carved this little baby.
Dustin spent quite a while picking out this design, and even longer carving all the intricate details of the pattern entitled "Rhythm and Boos".
Jason dressed as Superman, thanks to some PJs he got as a baby gift from the class Dustin student taught back in CA.
Jason was quite intrigued by this giant orange ball we had in the house.
He we are, quite the super family at our church's Trunk or Treat party on the 30th. In case you can't tell, Dustin is Clark Kent, transforming into Superman. I was supposed to be Lois Lane, though I got more than one person guessing I was Super Nanny, which fits the theme anyway, so it was all good.
Jason didn't want to hold his blue pumpkin, even though mommy picked it out just to match his outfit. Oh well.
Now that's a super kiss!
The Trunk or Treat had a chili cook off, and even Jason got to sample a few bites.

Jason enjoyed sitting in our decorated trunk, waiting for the trunk or treating to begin.
Afterward, Jason was in sugar high heaven as he got to eat candy for the first time. Watermelon flavored lollipop drool was all over the place, and he cried for quite awhile after we took that sucker away.
On the 31st, my parents and sister Katie with her husband Chris came over for dinner. Baby Jay enjoyed trying on Grandpa's three cornered hat.
After dinner, Jay got back in his costume for more trick or treating, and Grandma and Grandpa dressed up for it, too. Grandpa is a historically accurate Mountain Man, and Grandma is "under a rest".
Not wanting to walk in the Lois Lane shoes I had found, I stole Dustin's superman shirt for trick or treating while he stayed home to pass out Candy with Chris.
Jason wanted to be under a rest too. We figure it's a crime to be that cute.
He was allowed to enjoy in another lollipop that night, surrounded by the loot that the adults gladly helped him eat.

Hope you all had a safe and Happy Halloween just like us.