I want...

My creative space, originally uploaded by *jenny b allsorts.

Today I was looking on different website trying to get ideas for different things. As I looked through more and more pictures I decided there are a lot of things I want from myself. So I think I should write them down...
I want....
to be creative and have a place to be creative in (example above)

to cut my hair

to be able to take great pictures like my hubby

to have the dedication to wake up every morning and take a walk with Walter

to be proactive about helping others when I think about it

to be a better friend

to have more room in my house

to have less "things" in my house

to read the entire BOM start to finish

to be an amazing mother just like mine

to Spend more time with just my hubby

people to stop getting divorced out of selfishness

to create more adventures for Cora

to learn how to grocery shop

to complete a half-marathon

to see Eryn

to just be a better person over-all

to buy school supplies

to go to school

to raise my girls to be strong, self-confident, lovely, and kind little girls

Maybe some day I will turn this into a checklist. Maybe some day I will be able to accept who I am and acknowledge the little accomplishments each day. Until then I will continue wanting.

Thoughts for 8/13/09

Today I was thinking that I wish my little girls had PAUSE II buttons. Not to pause Cora mid tantrum but pause to fully enjoy each baby girl individually. I would pause Cora to stare into her eyes while she's looking out the window at a bird. I would pause Penny so she'll stop changing and I can just snuggle her while she's still "little". I don't have the time with Penny that I had with Cora. I loved to just hold Cora while she slept and stare at every little inch of her face. Now with Penny I must do that in between helping Cora "cook" with her pots and KIX and helping her "build Jack". I grab a quick glance at Penny's every changing eyes before I put Cora on the potty, only to have her want to get right back off.
LIttle girls are something amazing and I am so lucky to have two.

Penny Teaser

Yes, she does exist.

Cora's 2nd Birthday!

I know it's August and Cora's birthday was in March. But at least there is pictures. I will be putting in text later.

Cora and Nolan 2028

These two have been subject to an arranged marriage. Nolan Thomas lives in Pleasanton, CA with his ma and pa and baby sister. They met us for the day in Gilroy for some garlic and pizza. Cora and Nolan shared a sweet moment while sharing an icy water. Won't they be cute together in 19 years?

A Penny

I know this is late and a new post is WAY overdue. But she is Penny Ann Stott was born May 15 at 2:40 am, weighing in at 7 lbs 12 oz and 20 inches. She has loads of hair and is pretty cool. In her first 3 weeks of life she has gone to a wedding, a funeral, visited Clovis, and marched in a Prop 8 rally. Needless to say she is tired along with her mother.
Daddy is setting up the studio today to snap of few shots of her so there will be more to post and much more to write. Here's to hoping this post will satisfy you all for the moment.

Cora's Story (2 Years Late.)

Cora turned 2 yesterday and it was such a fun day. Pictures will be coming soon but for this post I want to journal her original birthday.
Pete and I always knew we wanted to be surprised with the sex of our babies. So Cora's birth was so exciting. I had always felt it was going to be a boy, no reason just felt I would have a lot of boys. That was most people's guess as well. However there was one night I had a very vivid dream of holding a baby girl in the hospital. So when we had Cora that dream all made perfect sense.
My original due date was March 30, 2007. When I had my ultra-sound the doctor moved the date up to the 25th. However he never changed it in my records so they based everything off the original date of the 30th. This made me very anxious and as it got closer to the 25th I would keep reminding the Doc that he moved up the date. But he was still set on the 30th.
On Saturday March 25th I woke up at around 9:30 am and started doing some yard work. I set out to spray weeds and just as I got started my water broke. I wasn't really sure what was going on so I just went inside and took a shower. When Pete came in to see what I was doing I asked him what he thought. He was pretty sure it was my water so he had my call the hospital. The Hospital told me to come in and get checked and see where I was at. I finished getting ready and packed up a few things and we headed to the hospital.
When we got there they took us into a room where I waited for nurse to check me. She asked if I really thought my water broke because I wasn't even dilated. I told her it better have broke or I am embarrassed. Right then it completely broke and they admitted me. That was around 12:30 pm. For the next few hours Pete and I just hung out at the hospital. And lucky for me I wasn't feeling any pain. Pete left at around 4:30 to grab some lunch and I took that opportunity to get my epidural. He hates needles and I figured it would be best to get it while he was gone. I wasn't in any pain at the moment but I knew it was going to be a long day cause I wasn't moving along very fast.
The next few hours were very un-eventful and the day moved very slow. They started me on pitocin to speed things up a little bit but all that did was freak the baby out. The heartbeat dropped dramatically and then there was flurry of activity. I had no idea what was going on but I later learned they had to clip a monitor on the baby's head. They slowed the pitocin and let my body figure things out on it's own. Eventually things started to happen.
At around 11:00 pm I started to push and at 12:37 Cora was born. I had never been so exhausted in my life. At one point I asked the nurse and Pete to leave my alone and let me sleep for awhile. I was tired and hadn't eaten in almost 30 hours. I thought for sure I wouldn't be able to do it. But I did and Cora came weighing in at 8 lb. 4 oz. and was perfectly healthy.

Cora's Vocabulary

Me "Cora you are some kind of stinky. Did you go poo poo?'
Cora "No not yet. I not poopy yet."

From the back room I hear, "Eww poo poo." Me, "Cora did you poop?" Cora, "Not yet. Later"

Me "Cora what do you want for breakfast?"
Cora "Uh, hmmm peaches, and cheese. Hmmm Kix kix kix. Hmmm Applesauce."
I will give her all of that and she will eat all of it.

If Cora doesn't want something and says NO! we ask her Cora, "what do you say?" And this is what she says, "No tank you thank you tank you."

Cora comes running from the other room, "I wanna dance." And busts out her awesome moves.

Cora says paper as if she was French, "papiere."

Her favorite songs to sing are;

"Water" = Give Said the Little Stream
"Pop" = Tiny Tim The Turtle (bubble, bubble, pop.)
"God" = I am a Child of God
"Fox" = Old McDonald Had a Fox (our own little rendition)
"Beam" = Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam
"This one" = Do As I'm Doing (She asks for this as she's patting her knees.)

Every time I put a dress on her she asks, "Church, nursery?" And the proceeds to ask about, "John, Vicki, Tirtin, Tarly, and Papa John." All her friends she sees at church.

She spends her days, "cooking", "making tooties", and "doing colors."

Her automatic response when ever we are in the car and Pete honks the horn, "Gosh, Go!" very loud.

Hawaii

This post is LONG over-due but still needed to be done. I have a great boss who rewards his employees greatly. His family owns a house in Hawaii and let's me use it. This was our second time using the house and it was great. We figured with Cora coming up on the age of 2 that we wouldn't be able to afford a trip like this for awhile. So we packed up for a 12 day trip to Oahu and were off for sun, beach, and relaxation.
The first few days we were at the house with just us three. It was so nice to relax and not have any "plans." Pete didn't have too much computer work to do so most of the time was spent lounging and watching TV together. Oahu was experiencing a ton of rain so there wasn't much beach going, but rain is Hawaii was better then the Blizzard going on at home.
A few days later our friends from Ohio; Cortney, Amy, and Will James, joined us. From then on it was a fun filled vacation. We visited lots of places, spent ample time on the beach, and ate great food. We were so lucky to be able to do it. We even took time to scout out some of the LOST filming locations. Too bad we didn't get to see Kate, Jack, Sawyer, or Hurley....

Last Meal

I am copying Cat since I love food probably more then her.
If I was on death row and had to pick one last meal I wouldn't have to think twice about it. I would have 2 entrees;
Bajio Chicken Green Chile Quesadilla with extra meat. By far my favorite meal. The extra meat is key as it adds more of the delicious onions and sweet sauce. Black beans with sweet rice, and mango salsa.
Second entree would be the Filet Steak that Pete had last week at Carraba's. It was divine. Along with a baked sweet potato.
For dessert I would ask for the Macaroni Grill Lemon cake. That thing is absolutely amazing. And the sauce it's covered in couldn't be any better.

Oldie But A Goodie

This picture was taken quite awhile ago but it's pretty funny and I totally forgot about it. Pete was asked to take pictures at the Primary Activity of the little kids as missionaries. A lady in the ward brought cardboard cut-outs of her kids on missions and the kids stuck their heads in them. They were hilarious pictures.

Stop Feeling Sorry For Me

You can all stop feeling sorry for me because I look fat in all these recent posts. Yes I do have a baby bump. Now all the rumors can stop.
(Pete just informed me that no one feels sorry for me and there are probably no rumors. For a second I thought I would be featured on the cover of US.)

Family Pictures

With Pete being a photographer family pictures are near impossible. Not only cause we are busy taking other people's pictures but Pete hates being in pictures. I convinced him that this was the year we would do family pictures and send out Christmas cards. We asked one of our favorite friends if he wouldn't mind taking a few quick shots before we went out of town. By the time Pete got home from work and we made it back to Orem it was too dark to do anything outside. So we headed to a festive holiday display at Target, yes Target.


We tried to be all sneaky and act like we were admiring the decorated trees as we arranged them to our liking. We even took a ladder from another section to boost Cora up. We got a few weird looks and security walked by extra slow but we were able to get a few shots in.


This is Pete trying to be out-of focus and therefore out of the shot. He thought it was a good idea until he realized he looked like a creepy stalker in the background. And not part of the family.

Suite Jazz Game

Pete won Jazz tickets at work by making an awesomely high tower from Post-It Notes and straws, we are very proud of his skills. When I was working at Nu Skin we had the chance to go to games quite a bit. Since we hadn't been in 2 years we were super excited to get the chance.

Cora absolutely loves basketball games. She actually loves the mascots, from far away, as soon as they get within reach she freaks out. We sat in the Nu Skin Suite and were able to snack and keep hydrated as we watched the Jazz lose. It was a fun night and we hope Pete can build an even higher tower next time so we can go again.

N ew Addition

Our house was previously owned by my brother Blake and he always hoped to someday replace the driveway. Well last month we made that wish come true. My awesome family and great neighbors helped us demo the driveway one Saturday. We started at 9:00 in the morning and finished just in time for the last load to make it to the dump before closing time. We were able to us Blake's dump trailer and our neighbor "borrowed" a Bobcat from the city with a jackhammer on it. It was so nice to have everyone there to help.

We have yet to drive on it but we are sure it will be wonderful. And our neighbor John will love the difference when he shovels it after every snowstorm.







Here is Cora's contribution to the new driveway.

Just A Taste

Just a little taste of more posts to come. I have the blogging spirit and will be posting all night. We love you and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Stealing from Whit-Ing

A good family friend challenged her readers and I thought it would be fun.

Things I don't care about;
Cora being in her pajamas or grubby clothes all day. If I go out I dress her the best I can. But when we are in, what's the point?

Making presents or treats for every person in the neighborhood. I apologize but I am sure they will all get enough sugar creations to last them through the holidays. It doesn't mean I care about them any less.

Dressing like I "should." Whether this means dressing like an adult or like every other "Utah" mom I don't care. I do spot the occasional outfit that I would love to have, but we all know I couldn't put it together if I tried. So I wear what I want when I want and don't care. Although Pete's opinion does matter sometimes, he has a great eye.

Trying to be different. We are all different in our own way. And everyone is spending way too much time and effort to try to be different. Little do they know they are all being the same.

A certain person. She chose to see things the way she wanted to. And in doing so has ruined a great friendship for her husband and mine. But I don't care anymore. I have no regrets and did nothing wrong.

Eating too many Oreos. Until I am getting Oreo stained teeth I will eat Oreos to my little hearts content.

Staying up too late. Pete is a late owl and I hate going to bed without him. So I stay up way too late everynight.

Halloween

4O9O1931, originally uploaded by | PETE |.

Yes we are mean parents and dressed Cora up as a crass man for Halloween. But can you blame us? She looks just like him and it was the last Halloween she probably wouldn't have an opinion. Check out more photos on Pete's flickr account.

Thankful November

11.6.08
I am thankful for...
1. The LV Stott's. They give Cora great hand-me-downs.
2. Etsy, that place is a lookers paradise.
3. 4H, I learned how to sew with the help of my mom of course.

11.7.08
I am thankful for...
1. Rain.
2. Creme of Wheat, good eats.
3. My Lovesac

11.8.08
I am thankful for...
1. Gift Cards.
2. Good families to take pictures of.
3. Rubios, best fresh Mex around.

11.9.08
1. Strong missionaries going in the field.
2. Seeing old ward friends.
3. Sunday dinner at the Balmforth's.

Thankful November

11.4.08
I am thankful for...
1. My mom.
2. Gloriana's laugh.
3. Cora's early bedtime

11.5.08
I am thankful for...
1. The snow, so beautiful.
2. People who beg to watch Cora.
3. The ability to make money while still at home.