Bummed you didn't win???

To all of you wonderful tie contest contestants (is that redundant???) that unfortunately didn't win (You're all winners in my book by the way!), my sister is hosting the same contest on her blog, and it's not over yet! Pop on over to http://palmerparty.blogspot.com/ and re-enter to win...no hurt in trying right??? You can say you heard from me, and then I can have a chance to win too...oh wait...nevermind! :o)

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

And it's lucky #12- ZB!
She wrote,
"Oh I would love this. My husband is headed for the Army in March and so I'd love to get some for the 2 best boys in my life. They are gorgeous! by the way, I was sent here by Onehm. She deserves to win more than anyone I know!"

Can't think of a better couple of guys to win than a dad headed for the Army! Also....OneHM-you're also a winner for being her contact!!!

HURRAY!! I will get ahold of both of you to get sizes and pattern, and get them in the mail ASAP!

Thanks everyone for playing, and watch for another contest soon!

WANT TO WIN??? ENTER HERE!!!


HURRAY!!! IT'S OFFICIAL!!!
is up and running!
What do we sell you ask?
We sell neckties in EVERY SIZE! Every pattern is available in all sizes from Newborn to adult, and with hair ribbons to match as well!!
We are so excited! So, we are going to generate some interest and excitement by running a contest!

First off, What do you win?

You win your choice of matching ties, with hair ribbons to match- for every member of your immediate family!!! (Parents included)

Yes, even if you are the Duggars with 18 children, We'll send them all free! (PS- if you win and actually say you have 18 children, I may need to see a picture for proof!!) :o)

Here are the rules- and they are simple!

Just make a blog post about the Matching Tie guy and include the following-

~A link to our Website http://www.thematchingtieguy.com/
~The flier Above
~The name/description of the ties you want for your family
(you'll have to go to the website to decide!)
~A link to my blog (http://www.jaxonsfam.blogspot.com/) so other's can enter as well

Then come leave me a comment that you put it on your blog. When I check it out on your blog, You are automatically entered!
BUT WAIT!!! There's one more way to win! If you link here from someone else's blog, leave their name and blog address as the place you found out about us. IF YOU WIN, THEY WIN TOO!!! Free ties for both families!

So put it on your blog, leave me a comment, then get all your friends and family to enter and make sure they leave your name as the person they heard from!

Contest Ends Next Thursday night at Midnight...so you have one week to get crackin'!!!
(And I'm very excited to use one of those online number generators to pick the winner!)

PS-It doesn't matter where you live, we will ship them!!!

PSS- There is NO wait time! We do not handmake these, so the turnaround time is 24 hours. They are made in a professional tie factory and we have 40,000 waiting in our warehouse to ship to you AS SOON AS YOU MAKE YOUR ORDER!



The Scouts Say...

Yesterday we were working on the "Family Member" badge. The question was what are the different roles/jobs of everyone in your family?

I asked one boy what his mom's job is and he said, "My Mom? She doesn't work! She doesn't do ANYTHING!"
I said: "Who cooks? Who cleans? Who does the laundry?"
He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Uh, that's not work!"

The next boy I asked- "What is your dad's job in your family?"
boy- "My dad doesn't have a job! He just goes to work all day!... lucky..."

Then just to give you the mentality of the age group I'm working with...we were planning a week of healthy meals...and these were some of the suggestions I Got-

A tuba
Flies on trash
And my favorite "Elephant droppings" Which another boy then said under his breath, "you mean crap..."
I said, "Let's be serious. You don't eat elephant droppings for dinner!"
he said under his breath "Tastes like it..."

2009 IN REVIEW

(Thanks for the great idea Sarah!)

What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
We lost a job and got a new one, Traveled to Asia twice, Camped (I know!!! First time camping in a real tent) for A WEEK at Yellowstone, WITHOUT DAVE, (It was slightly disasterous- but a first none-the-less),


Did you keep your New Years' resolutions?
Mostly- my only real resolution going into 2009 was not to lose faith that Heavenly Father had a plan for us. Not to get bitter about life's disappointments and focus on all the good, great, and wonderful in our lives. Not gonna lie, I got down more than few times, but I never lost my faith, I still have great faith that there is a wonderful plan for me and my family.

Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes- My SILs and other good friends.

Did anyone close to you die?
I wouldn't say I was particularly close to them, but two wonderful men in our ward died, and it made me grateful for the Eternal Nature of our lives and relationships.

What countries did you visit?
China twice. And I had stop overs in Korea and Canada, does that count as a visit???

What states did you visit?
California, Nevada, Idaho, and Wyoming, Florida

What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
In a word- BABY.

What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
May 1st. Dave started his new job, and it has been a blessing in every way!

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Gosh, I can't think of any. I kept holding on...does that count? Wait- I helped start a new business which I think is going to be booming by the end of 2010- The Matching Tie Guy.


What was your biggest failure?
I wasted too much time worrying about things outside my control, and things that don't actually matter in my life and the lives of my guys.

Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing serious that I can think of.

What was the best thing you bought?
I love our bookshelf/toy holder from Ikea. I also love my iTouch.

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
A couple times I let my own insecurities get me depressed as I interpreted others behavior and actions towards me, but mostly I'm appalled at myself that I'm 31 and still care...so working I'm on that one this year!
Also I am both appalled and depressed at the emotional eating I did this year that brought about a 23 pound weight gain. yuck.

Whose behavior impressed you?
So many people supported Dave and I in a hundred different ways as we were out of work. First and foremost my parents. I'm also grateful for the women who have had infertility issues and have been willing to openly talk about their story with me.

Where did most of your money go?
Staying afloat the first half of the year.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Starting the fertility journey...it was actually the first week of 2010...but I made the phone call in 2009, so it counts!

What song will always remind you of 2009?
There are two, and both will remind me of this year because of Jaxon. The first is "SheWolf" by Shakira, for some reason Jaxon LOVES that song, and has me play it repeatedly on the computer. The second is a terrible song (but so darn catchy) "I Kissed A Girl" --because I had to learn a workout to it for my gym class, and Jaxon ended up being slightly confused and told Dave that I KISS girls at the gym. Of course, "I gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas too.

Compared to this time last year, are you: much happier, richer, nicer?
Happier- yes, we have a secure job. Richer- that is certainly a relative term because we are in no ways "rich" but we are definately better off than last year. Nicer, that's a good question. I was a lot more sympathetic last year, because my struggles made me more aware of others struggles. That is one of my big goals this year, to be aware of others and their needs.


What do you wish you'd done more of?
Played with Jaxon, "shrugged it off", and forgave. Oh yeah, and more making out would have been nice! :o)

What do you wish you'd done less of?
Worried. Worked.

How did you spend Christmas?
So content with my life and family. It was a wonderful December.

What was your favorite TV program?
American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, and Lost. And those are the only shows I ever watch on TV-ever.

What was the best book you read in 2009?
Impossible to answer. I read anything and everything I can get my hands on, and I love it all. If I don't like it, I will stop reading it ASAP, I only finish books I love, and I love a lot of books!

What did you want and get?
A job, peace of mind, love, support.

What were your favorite films of this year?
I didn't really see many movies... I mean, hardly any. So I will go with New Moon, although I wouldn't give it a ten by any means.


What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Although I have already celebrated my 2010 birthday (which was a bit of a bust since I worked at a bridal fair all day) my 2009 birthday (when I turned 30) was the BEST EVER! My sister threw me a surprise birthday party and totally pulled it off. Many dear friends were there, and since the timing was right on the heels of the job loss, it meant so much to be surrounded by love. I will never forget that day Amber and Dave- never.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Don't love this question- my year was hard but such a good growth year. I would have loved to have had a baby, but I guess I wouldn't change it, because it all happened for a reason.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
I don't have much personal fashion...so my "concept" was to see what I liked on others and mostly copy it. I decided I wouldn't worry about what others thought though, and thus have had a lot of fun accessorizing with stuff I thought before that "I could never pull off." guess what I learned? If you wear it with a smile, you can pull it off!

What kept you sane?
A close relationship with my family. Especially my sister, SIL's, and mom. Of course Dave is also a rock, and never waivers in his strength, love and patience. The gospel, and smiling faces at church.

What drove you insane?
Being to busy to do the really important things, like play with Jaxon and just relax. Also, not having really close friends.

What political issue stirred you the most?
Health-care reform has me pretty concerned.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009
If you have your family, and people around you who truly care, that is where the blessings are.

What are you most excited for in 2010?
I hate to jinx myself...but being pregnant is what I most look forward to in 2010...since a 2010 delivery is not looking very pheasible. Anyone who actually knew me when I was pregnant with Jaxon surprised to hear me say I look forward to being pregnant? Time changes your perspective on a lot of things...
Also I am looking forward to going a real vacation with Just Dave. Nothing fancy, but something!

What are you least excited for in 2010?
Being pregnant. ha. Isn't that funny?

Bad Blogger...better mother!

So... there's a up-side to everything right? Week one of the job chart and the dinner menus went great. With a little pre-planning it's not nearly as hard as it is to try to decide to cook something an hour before Dave gets home with only ingredients we have on hand and didn't shop for ahead of time!
Our Menu was as follows-

Saturday-Whole wheat pasta with Grilled chicken and veggies
Sunday- London Broil and oven red potatoes
Monday- Meatball soup (Deceptively Delicious recipe, in which I successfully hid 1/2 c. of pureed carrots and 1/2 cup pureed sweet potatoes!)
Tuesday- Crock Pot Chili
Wednesday- Chicken Nuggets (Deceptively Delicious again- hid 1/2 c. sweet potato puree in the batter and 1/2 c. ground flax seed in the breading)
Thursday- Dinner at my parents
Friday- Dinner at my parents
Saturday- Dinner out

(We don't usually eat that much at my parents house, but we were spending long hours working at the tie warehouse and were just always invited over afterwards for dinner...and we DON'T SAY NO to dinner at mom's house!!!)

Our job chart also went well, and the house is looking pretty spiffy! Dave is a huge, wonderful, amazing, terrific Help, and supports me in everything I do....this all would not be going so smoothly without his help, encouragement, and praise. I LOVE YOU DAVEY!!!

Now for your viewing pleasure, a few pictures from our Utah trip-








Jaxon REALLY loves to have his picture taken...can you tell???

Operation: "Be a Better ______" (insert noun here)

It has begun. Operation Be a Better Mom, Wife, Housekeeper, Cook, Health-person, etc.
In keeping with my "prioritize" goal, I made myself a weekly job chart and a weekly dinner chart. I am half way through with today's chores, and our "Deceptively Delicious" meal has been mostly prepared in advance, because I had to steam carrots and sweet potatoes to mash in the processor to hide in meatballs...here's hoping!
Turns out- this house wife stuff takes a LONG TIME! Except for the gym this morning I've been working all day and I'm not even half done with my list....plus all the steaming and mashing I did in the kitchen just made ANOTHER mess to clean up! I guess I can kiss my free-flying life goodbye...on the other hand...I can see why my life and everything in it was so disorganized! Jax and I spending so much time away from home didn't leave a lot of time for these things!
I am hoping that after a week or two of slaving away around here at my different chores, will make them easier as I go along. I will deep clean everything in the next couple weeks, and then it will just be maintance.. right? (Don't tell me if I'm wrong, I can't handle it this early in my attempts!!). I'm also hoping it will help me be more organized along the way thinking- I can do it now and take 30 seconds...or add that much more time to my cleaning when the day comes that I'm doing that zone!
Off to change some laundry, clean a bathroom, clean the kitchen-again, and a shower might be nice...especially since I went to the gym...but since it's not specifically mentioned on my job chart, I'm thinking it's not gonna happen!

I put my foot down!

Jaxon has never been a big eater...and that's an understatement. His Dr. said kids eat when they are hungry so don't push it,...so we never did. But lately he has been complaining of being hungry, I mean- SOBBING, right as we are putting him to bed. I'm about 98% sure it's a stall tactic, which he is excellent at, but the other 2% of me knows how little he eats during the day, and it tugs at my heart.
Also, Jaxon rarely eats any dinner. He has to sit at the table with us, but he usually says he doesn't like what we are eating. I say it's that, or nothing, and he happily choses nothing and just waits until we are done.
WELL- NO MORE! I told Dave last night that from now on, he WILL eat some of what we eat for dinner, no matter how much he says he hates it, and if he doesn't eat anything, he will not be allowed ANYTHING else, until what I plated for him is finished. (Man I sound like a mean mom!) Also, once we head upstairs for bed, we ARE NOT going back down. PERIOD!
So tonight we had a very delicious, and simple, and not too fancy for him to complain over meal, grilled chicken with whole wheat penne pasta and stir fried veggies. He had to eat 4 pieces of chicken, 10 penne noodles, 3 tiny zucchini pieces, 3 tiny yellow squash pieces, 1 sugar snap pea pod, and one red pepper strip. Bless his little heart, after realizing that we meant business, he got to work.
I have never seen such awful grimaces (and they were not just for our sake) and more gagging in my life. It almost made me start gagging...but he never once spit it out. He still mostly loves to eat with his fingers, but made me pick up the zucchini and squash for him becuase he said it was too "slimey!"
We told him that if he plugged his nose (he couldn't figure out how to do that, breathe, and eat at the same time) or took a big drink of water and just swallowed everything (couldn't get the water to wash down the food) it would be easier. He probably drank 10 ounces of water trying unsuccessfully to wash down the zucchini!
He was a real trooper, and from here on out, that's the rules!

One last cute thing...but let me prefice it with this- Jaxon gets his way around here...A LOT! I really don't think he's too spoiled...it's just that there is no one else to contend with. So when he wants to do things a certain way, and we don't have a reason not to...we do it. Okay, so back to the cute thing- he loves to race us to the top of the stairs for bedtime, and really loves it when we pretend to fall. He ONLY loves it if he wins, and gets quite mad if we forget and beat him. Tonight Dave headed up ahead of us to fill Jaxon's humidifier, and boy was J ticked. He sat at the bottom of the stairs and yelled,
"THAT MAKES ME SO MAD DADDY! DATS YOUR UH-SPONSIBILITY!!!"
Pretty sure he didn't know what it meant, only that it was something big and important.

2010 WORD OF THE YEAR...

Choosing a word to work on for the year is something that my friend Ashley has been doing for a couple years, and I tried last year. I think it really helped. Last year' word was "believe." I chose it right after Dave had lost his job and we had no idea what the next year would bring. The most important thing to us was to not lose our faith in God and that there was a plan for us that included this job loss, and to still believe in the good all around us. And although we were out of a job for 5 months, and are now on 16 unsuccessful months of trying to get pregnant, we still believe. I am eternally grateful we made that a priority....which leads me right into my 2010 word of the year-
PRIORITIZE
Especially at the end of 2009, I found myself doing all sorts of things that had no importance or bearing in my life or the lives of my loved ones. Some of them were things I agreed to do and then was sorry afterwards, and some were just stupid, time wasters. I often had a really heavy heart as I spent time away from Jaxon and Dave, farming Jaxon out several afternoons a week, to do something that I wasn't even enjoying because of the hollow way I felt. So this year is about getting my priorities in line, and remembering them.
1. Faith/Religion
The single most important thing in my life is my standing with God and His Son Jesus Christ. I feel that I am so blessed to have a clear path lined up straight ahead of me to follow that will make my life so much easier and fullfilled, and also prepare me to live with them again. So this year, I'm going to act like it. No putting off scripture study, prayer, temple attendance, and completely fullfilling my callings and responsibilities.
2. My Family
I took on a lot of work last year, and I think a lot of it was because we had been out of work, and that's scary. But the truth is, I only work because I enjoy it, and it should never take precidence over my family, especially Jaxon. So this year, I will be shooting, and teaching a lot less. This will also help in our goal this year of finally getting pregnant, as I declutter my life to prepare for whatever is necessaryto make that happen.
3. Friends
I know some people don't find it necessary to prioritize their friends, but for some reason, I have a really hard time reaching out and building deep relationships. I say it's because I don't have time, but the truth is, I find it pretty scary to put myself out there. I see people around me with dear kindred friends, and I want that. So this year I am going to focus more on being the type of friend I should, to develop deeper friendships.
I would like to remind myself that no where on this list is work. My work should be fun, and not take up a majority of my time. If I feel that it is a detriment to my family and our time together, then something needs to change. I know that very occasionally "work responsibilities" have to take a front seat, but it should be "very occasionally."