Design Mom

This week I was able to do Design Mom (Gabrielle's) hair. It was SO much fun talking to her... she is way rad. Definitely just as cool in person as she is in her amazing blog. So, if you don't know her or haven't ever read her blog... check it out!

Seaside Oregon!

I went home last week to visit my parents, and luckily all my siblings and their families made it too! (Well, except for my little sis, but oh well... LOL JK... Valerie I wish you would have been there!)
Well, I haven't gotten around to blogging about it because I've been a little obsessed with my website...

Here is Jane's first trip to the beach, at 3 months old. Unfortunately I didn't realize until later in the day that she can now face outwards in the front pack. :(

Here we are hanging out on the sand. We were all prepared for poor weather because well, that's usually how it is in Oregon, but thankfully it was nice and warm with a slight breeze. Perfect!
Grandma Tina holding her favorite granddaughter...
My neice Passion, oh man she was cracking me up. She would go get soaked in the water then come lay in the sand. Right before I took this picture she had her shirt up and was like making sand angels and then putting sand on her belly. It was really funny! Afterwards though, you should have seen her scalp... or I guess her scalp wasn't really visible, it was all sand!
And here's another one of my precious neices Jaedyn. (After naming Jane Jane, we realized that when talking it sounds A LOT like Jaedyn... oops.)

Anyways, the beach was a lot of fun. I wish I had a picture of my neice Kindly, she was so excited when we were there, and my brother Chad was in the water, but she thought it was her dad, and ran after him. But she tripped and fell and got SOAKED! It was funny because she didn't even mind! Anyhoo... It was a lot of fun to see my family! I miss them already. Luckily my mom is coming out next week. So I'm pretty pumped about that!

We are headed to South Dakota to go to Mt. Rushmore for the 4th of July... so I will post about that upon my return... hehe

Sensibly Styled!!!

Hey everyone!!! My friend Ashley and I have been working on a project for about a month now... and would LOVE it if you checked it out! We have a website that my WONDERFUL husband Zach made for me. We continue to make changes daily, but I think it's ready for your viewing. PLEASE check it out. www.sensiblystyled.com My friend Hilary made the header. Doesn't it look AMAZING!?

My website is updated on a daily basis with modest clothing from all different locations. Please help us get the word out. We would love it if our website could be of use to as many people as possible.

And below, I have this button for you to add to your site if you dig Sensibly Styled (which I hope you do).




Add this to your site! Copy and paste:

<a href="http://www.sensiblystyled.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="" src="http://www.sensiblystyled.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/ssbutton.jpg" /></a>

Please, give us your feedback. What do you think of our site? Oh yes, and I must tell you... my sister in law Emily is in on this too... so look forward to her fun posts!

Jane... 3 months

Jane turned three months on the 13th. And this week has had a couple "firsts"
This last Sunday June 14th, she had her FIRST pony tail! How cute is she? Oh man, if I may say so myself. SUPA DUPA CUTE!
Another photo of her with her first pony tail... thanks again for the super cute dress Jana! Well, I guess while I'm at it (shout outs that is..) Ashley, thanks for the bib, Jan thanks for the blanket and the boppy she is laying on, and Shannon thanks for the pacifier and pacifier holder. Man... I have great friends!
And today, I took her to the pool at our house for the first time EVER! It was pretty hot today and I didn't want to go by myself... but I couldn't resist. Unfortunately I put off going by myself for too long and when we got there it was pretty close to Jane's nap time. So she was not liking the pool at all. However like I said, I think it's because of nap time, not the pool itself. So I'll have to try again.
And here she is in her super cute swimming suit before we went to the pool.

Jane turned three months on the 13th. And this week has had a couple "firsts"

American Idol... or no?

Alright, so this year American Idol is holding tryouts in Denver. When Zach saw this he emailed me and was like, wanna go try out? I thought it was funny and so we started talking about how fun it would be to go downtown and see all the crazy people who are dressed up and trying to get on TV. So Zach's whole point is, if we are going to go down there anyways, we mine as well try out just for the heck of it.

Well, apparently American Idol wants to eliminate as many people as possible to begin with. In order to try out you first have to register (on Sunday) where they give you a wrist band. Well, you have to keep this wrist band on until Tuesday, which is the day of the auditions or you will be disqualified. Silly... considering you are expected to keep it on for 2 days!

And what's with them holding it on a weekday? Hello, we don't want to use one of Zach's personal days to try out for a show that we really aren't trying to get on. And, you can't bring any kids with you under the age of 5. So do they think a 7 year old has more patience than a 3 month old? I don't get the rule.

So anyways, it's looking like we won't be trying out just for the heck of it because American Idol just makes it too tough to do that. And on top of everything, if Zach or I made it to the next round, it's not like we would go. Zach has work which is a MILLION times MORE IMPORTANT than some silly show. And I have an adorable baby who I need to stay home with.

Anyhoo... boo to how hard American Idol makes it, because this would have been fun. But, we will probably stop by and see all the crazies that night anyways.

(Just for the record, we actually think if we did go we would end up making it all the way to the finals... and then tying for first place... so you would think we would put forth the effort but, hey... we just figured we would give everyone else a chance.)

Bumbo love... and skulls

Look at this! I got all this, for only this: $15! Ok.... the cute girl on the right wasn't included in the price, but it just helps you see how much fruit that is... and she is just so dang cute! I was so excited King Soopers was having a HUGE sale. 
Last week I was changing Jane and it hit me: "Can Jane use her Bumbo???" YAY! She can! I LOVE THIS SEAT! So this is documentation of Jane's first use of the Bumbo.
And oh my goodness... such a model! 
The ONLY thing so far that I don't like about the Bumbo... is that when Jane spits up and misses her bib... it ends up that she is sitting on it... so it soaks her pants. I used to only have to worry about her tops! Dang... but totally worth it!

And last but not least... I told Zach to pick out Jane's pajamas on Saturday night and he was like "well, does it have to be one of these?" (while holding up a sleeper) And I was like, well I guess not it can be a onsie... So he got excited and picked out the onsie that he bought for her when we first found out I was pregnant adn we were having a girl. Yes, it does have skulls and cross bones with fruit. So this is their "TOUGH" picture...

ZACH HAS A NEW JOB! (Sorry for the extremely long title... and post!

Alright... so many of you know... but many of you didn't know that Zach got laid off back in December. And up until now has been unemployed (he had a small part time job... but still we considered him unemployed) his first day of work was June 1st... he lost his last job December 9th 2008 which means we were one week shy of being jobless for 6 MONTHS! Crazy, I know.  

Can you believe that? He got laid off right before Christmas... when I was 6 months pregnant! I didn't ever blog about it then just because it was a sensitive issue, but now that it's over I think the story should be told for those who care anyways,

Okay once upon a time... (hahaha) In April of 2008 Zach and Natalie graduated BYU-Idaho and moved to Denver for Zach's job. He had gotten a job at the Denver Newspaper Agency as a sales rep with the intention of moving in the direction of marketing, which is what his degree is in. After about a month Zach told me that the job sucked... but was definitely going to stick it out because after all, we moved here for it. But after just a short time there, his boss, his bosses boss, and the Senior VP of Marketing (which is who hired him) all got laid off! So very quickly we realized that there was absolutely NO future with this job. All sales reps were in a union which meant that Zach's job was safe. However... even if they wanted to promote him he wouldn't want to be promoted because then he would just get laid off (which is exactly what happened to his boss). Anyways,

After his boss found a new job he called up Zach and convinced him to meet up with him because he thought Zach would be a good fit and they were hiring. After a lot of talking/praying and thinking about it (especially because I was 5 months pregnant at this point) Zach decided to change jobs. What's really funny is that the Rocky Mountain News had just been posted for sale. Which was half of the Denver Newspaper Agency... and we laughed and said stuff like: "good thing you left that job! hahah" And what happens next you ask? Well, the company closed their doors just one month after Zach started.  They called everyone in a room at about 3pm one day and pretty much said: WELP YOUR SH*T OUT OF A JOB (mom try not to be offended... by the S bomb). Dang. When Zach picked me up from work that day I just had a feeling, I looked at him and said: "do you still have a job?" and the answer was "No". Dang again. At first I was okay and then about half way home I totally broke down. 

So... here we are it's December 9th and Zach doesn't have a job and I'm 6 months pregnant. HMM...  Of course no one is hiring at the end of the year. So Zach starts applying every where with no luck because to do what he wanted, you have to have experience and how do you get experience if you can't get hired? SO SILLY. So instead of settling for another sales job which he didn't want... we decided to stick it out and hope for the best. Zach found an internship downtown for a Search Engine Optimization Agency (this is what kind of work he was wanting to do all along) and worked there 2 days a week for free.  Then three days a week he had a part time job. We decided that once we have a bunch of kids, we wouldn't be able to reinvest time very easily. So, it was now or never for Zach to get experience in what he really wanted. And lo and behold... IT PAID OFF!

A few weeks ago Zach started getting all sorts of calls for phone interviews and then those turned into human interviews (haha). He was applying to anything that sounded good and he applied to a job on Craigslist that didn't say what the company was. Well, they called him and did a phone interview and it was CROCS! Yep, that's right, the shoe company. Then he went in for an interview, and then a second interview and then they offered him a job! (And... the next day Zach had another interview with an agency downtown and they offered him a job too! Two job offers in two days... awesome.) We are so excited I can't even tell you how grateful we are. The pay is great, the benefits are great... and best of all Zach loves what he is doing. Today was only Zach's second day and he loves it. 

Zach is a GLOBAL SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING ANALYST. Awesome huh? It's him and about two other people who do all the internet marketing for the company. It is a very entrepreneurial atmosphere, and they will consider any ideas Zach has... which is RAD. Not only that but Zach gets a pair of free shoes! haha and I get a great discount WOO WOO! 

Anyways, I think this is the longest I've ever blogged. Which is precisely why I didn't write about it until I had several minutes to do so.

We are SO grateful that Zach found a job and that he really enjoys it (yes, only two days in but he loves the work and it's an awesome atmosphere). I feel like we moved here for a very good reason, when he got laid off we felt confused and maybe a little upset, but I feel like we needed to have that experience. I don't think Zach will ever take a job for granted. And I don't think I will ever complain that Zach has to go into work. We have been truly blessed, 10 fold. 

And for those of you who think Crocs only makes ugly shoes... I totally want these ones:

And they have a lot of other cute shoes. A lot of ugly ones too, but a lot of cute ones. They even have high heels!?  So you should check out their website so you stop thinking they don't have cute stuff! (EMILY!) 

Seriously, can you believe these heels are Crocs?
And these are the pair Zach picked out to get for free.

Anyways, check out there site! You'll see...  just click here and look at all the variety! Okay, and finally I'm out!