Justin is now Jason McRoberts!

For Halloween, Justin decided to dye his hair brown and go as his coworker for his work Halloween party! His coworker is named Jason McRoberts, has a similar build and style of clothing and he has brown hair with a little spike in the front as well as glasses. Since they are so similar with similar names, many people at work get them confused. So last night we dyed Justin's hair brown and this morning put some gel in it and he looks great! Here are some before and after pictures! Happy Halloween!

Justin Before:



Justin After (it actually looks more brown in real life):



Justin After with Spiky Hair:



This picture is just for fun. He got his hair cut on October 2nd and the lady spiked it for our date night. I love it but he doesn't want to spike his hair.

My heart goes out.....

These past few days I have been thinking of a friend of mine that I am not very close to and barely know, but my heart goes out to her and her husband in a way that probably wouldn't if I weren't a parent. My friend Arae recently gave birth to a little boy who had severe heart defects and only lived for 11 hours. She asked on Sunday, October 11th that those who were of the faith to join in fasting for her that she may be able to hold her baby boy who was to be born on October 12th by C-Section. They knew their baby boy Tristan would not live a long life but the hope was that they would be able to spend a little time with him as a family before he joined our father in heaven.

In an answer to many prayers and the combined fasting of several friends and family, Arae and her family were able to spend 11 precious hours with their sweet baby boy and even give him a name and blessing before he passed on. While I have thought of this family several times this week, I recently read about the memorial service they are holding this Saturday and saw the sweet picture of the parents holding their darling baby boy and I just become overwhelmed with emotion and grief. The picture of course reminded me of when I held my newborn babies and how hard it would be to let them go after such a short amount of time. I know the Lord has a plan for us all and that we can have eternal families by living his teachings. What a blessing it is to have the gospel in our lives and I know that I am going to cherish my children each and every day I get to spend with them. In fact, I think I am going to go and kiss both of them goodnight one more time.

Halloween Decorations

I finally put up my Halloween decorations today just to find that I don't really like most of the stuff I have. Most of it is really cheap or was given for free and I think it is time for a trip to Tai Pan Trading! They always have cute and fairly inexpensive decorations so that I can hopefully DI some of the stuff I have, which isn't much! I love extra paycheck month :)

Conversation with Timmy

Janelle: Tim, let's change your diaper because you can't wear the same diaper all night and all day.
Tim: Okay. If I wear the same diaper all day and night it will start to spill the pee pee's onto my pants.
Janelle (laughing): Yes, yes it will.

Family Update

I thought I would do an update on my family. Here goes:

Justin is still in school and so far his classes this semester do not seem that tough. He is not very stressed with homework and I am enjoying this! At the end of the school year (next end of April and beginning of May) he gets to go to ASIA for 2 weeks! They will be visiting many businesses as well as many touristy things. I could go with him, but it costs $7,000 so I have decided to pass and perhaps take a fun family trip next summer instead. After he finishes school next June we are hoping to move closer to SLC (Bountiful ideally) and he is going to apply to different companies in Utah and out of state and just see what else is out there. Although last night he just said he may not apply out of state and just stay living here in Utah which is fine by me! He is still working for Northrop Grumman (7 years now) and is working on a proposal which could send him to LA for 3 months at the beginning of the year. If he leaves, I may board up my house and go with him for a while and we'll stay in an extended stay place. If we get sick of it, we'll come home but I love adventures!

I just finished my diet and as is expected, the weight did not stay off completely. I gained about 1-2 pounds per day for the first few days and have leveled off around 142-143. I am completely fine with this for now since I am enjoying food. Perhaps in a little bit I will work on getting under 140 again. I am really enjoying my kids and they are fun to hang out with. I am working to put together our choir's Christmas program and enjoy teaching the Sunbeams at church. I also enjoy shopping way too much and need to find more hobbies to keep me busy so I shop less! I am also really excited for the Christmas season and can't wait for stores and the mall to start decorating! I know that it is months away but I am just in the mood for it to all begin. In some ways I am glad it is still so far away because I am going to enjoy it for a long time! On the other hand, I am excited for Halloween and that is just right around the corner!

Tim is almost 3 1/2 and just started preschool with our neighbor Sarah Parke. I was a little nervous because we sent him for a summer camp this June and he did not want to go and did not want to learn. As such, I did not send him again to camp in August and went straight to Preschool in September. The orientation was rough but then it was like he did a complete change and really enjoys going and learning! He loves riding his bike over there with his backpack on and shows me everything he did when he gets home. He constantly amazes me with the things he knows and his language makes me laugh a lot! He loves sending things down slides and racetracks and still loves Lightning McQueen. The potty training is slow going and pretty non-existent right now. His diapers are starting to really bother him so hopefully soon he'll be ready. He is getting so big!

Allison is just a doll. She is learning new words every day and acting more like a little girl than a baby and I just love it! We just barely pulled her binkies away yesterday and she is going through withdrawals but she will live. We just hope there won't be an hour of screaming again tonight! She loves dolls and sticker books and brings me the remote and asks me to turn on her show (Baby Einstein) every day. She can climb out of her bed and we are in the process of getting her a mattress and new twin bedding for her big girl bed. For now, I just leave the side down on her crib so she can climb out easily and it works.

Well, there you have it! I am constantly amazed at the blessings in our lives and grateful that we are part of the gospel. We are working on kneeling down for family prayer and holding a regular FHE each Monday night. I enjoy being a mom more and more each day and love seeing my kids and husband happy!

Ready for fall.....

Who else out there is ready for their AIR CONDITIONER to stop going every day! Even though it is September 17, it still feels like August with the warm air. I am ready for some cold, bring it on!!!

How to not let things bug you.......

I am wondering if I am being silly and alone in my thinking, but it seems that Facebook is bothering me more and more lately. I keep seeing different things that many girls in my ward are doing and I am never invited. Should I just ignore them so that I don't get bugged, quit Facebook or what? Do you any of ever feel this way? Justin thinks I am just silly and shouldn't let anything like this bother me, but it still does. I guess my whole life I have always wanted to be part of the popular group and never quite been there. Not that it is really that important but they always seem to be doing fun girl's night outs and getting together for lunch and projects during the day and it just seems like fun! I guess I should just have my own get-togethers and invite my own friends over and just get over it!

I do have a lot of great friends besides those friends/acquaintances so how do I stop it from bugging me! I'd love any suggestions!

Jackson Hole Vacation

Every year we go with the McMurray's to Jackson Hole, Grand Teton National Park and usually Yellowstone. This year was no exception and was a fun time! We went earlier than normal (Labor Day weekend instead of in October) so we were able to do things that aren't normally open like swim, go on the tram and boat ride over Jenny Lake.

We drove there on Wednesday afternoon and hung out with the family. Thursday we woke up early and got going by 8:30 to Yellowstone and had fun visiting the main sights like Old Faithful. I was not feeling 100% so everyone else stayed and we headed back to our Condo that afternoon. We relaxed with our little family and had a nice evening.

On Friday we went into Teton park and took the boat ride over Jenny Lake and went on a hike to the Hidden Falls. Then we were going to go further but my heartburn was acting up so we went back with the majority of the group for lunch. Then we went up the tram and had a fun time with the whole family on top of the world. We decided not to head down as quickly as the others and we are glad because our tram was quite empty and we really enjoyed the ride down as a result. Allison kept saying "Weeeeee!" It was so cute! Then on the way home to the Condo (about a 3 minute drive) Allison fell asleep so I stayed home with her and let her rest while Justin took Tim swimming.

On Saturday we hiked along String Lake to Leigh Lake and as always, I enjoyed the simple one mile each way hike. After the hike and lunch, our family headed into Jackson Hole where I did some shopping and Justin stayed with the napping kids in the car. Then we all walked around and headed back to the Condo. We decided to ride the ski lift and that ended up being our favorite part! We were able to ride it 3 times and our kids loved it, even if Allie sneezed and we said goodbye to her binkie! Then I headed back into town with Megan and Lorna after dinner and enjoyed shopping for another hour.

On Sunday we got ready early and headed to Idaho Falls for Sacrament meeting before heading home. All in all, the trip was fun but with my diet, it was hard. I had to prepare all of my meals beforehand and with dessert at every lunch and dinner, it was a bit of a struggle. Here are some pictures from the trip!

(Our lense was dirty the first day so the pictures are a little fuzzy.)

Tim at Old Faithful

Nellie in Yellowstone

Our family at Hidden Falls

On the Tram

At the top of the Tram

Family picture at the top

Justin and I at Leigh Lake

Justin with some of his family

The diet is over!!

Well, I talked with another lady today and she once again had never heard of my problem and suggested a myriad of things it could be such as a vitamin K deficiency and hormonal imbalance and after talking to her and realizing how far I could take this, I just felt too worn out to continue!

I called Justin and he was supportive of my decision to quit (hey, I made it 5.5 weeks!) and we both agreed I needed to take a break and potentially just live with this. It is not a big deal, it does not affect my life very much and I am okay with this decision.

I am eating a bowl of cereal, yum!

Oh, and my last weigh-in this morning was 136.4, a total of 16.2 pounds lost and only 1.4 pounds from my goal weight. Hopefully I can keep most of it off but I sure want to eat a lot of treats, especially mousse layered cake! I will try to take it slow.....

Monday Morning Weigh-in

This morning I weighed in at 137.4, down a pound from last week. I don't know how I only lost 1 pound after all the hiking and little eating I did, but that's okay.

This week I was at Jackson Hole with my husband's family and it was hard to stay on the diet! I had a fun time but was depressed some because each lunch and dinner came with dessert and dessert is my weak point! I am happy to report that I stayed on the diet and now I only have one week to go! There hasn't been a change so one more week it is at this point!

You see, food and I have a special relationship. I love to eat and I love eating anything I want to including all of the bad stuff! I love dessert, hot dogs, corn dogs, pasta smothered in cream sauces or cheese, full yummy breakfasts, fast food etc! Usually when I am going to an event I am really excited about eating a good meal. I love weddings but I love the fact that you get to go to the wedding luncheon and eat yummy food. I love going to baby and bridal showers because the food is always plentiful and yummy. So you can see, this diet has really REALLY tried me in a difficult way! I'd almost say this past weekend was as hard as the first week on the diet but I succeeded! I didn't really want to, but I didn't want to disappoint Justin and all of those rooting for me!

Well, there it is! I have already made my shopping list for this last week so I think if I can just get out of this little rut I'm in right now and back to 'normal' then I can do it!