Life inside the mind of Jody

So what is roaming around inside my brain today? Your probably scared to know. I would be too. But I shall tell you all.

Lucy vs. Friends: This has been on my mind today quite a bit. So i mentioned in a previous post that there are about 1 million little boys running around here, and no little girls, except mine. Which is fine. All of these little boys are older than her as well. Today there was about 6 or so of them outside our house trying to catch our neighbors poor little cat (well its actually quite a fatty but thats besides the point) and they were running around with no shoes on in the street and getting all dirty like little kids do. But the problem is Lucy was doing or trying to do EVERYTHING these little boys were doing. I tried to make her stay on the sidewalk, stay where I could see here, and to not crawl under cars. Of course Lucy being Lucy, listening isnt a strong point and defiance is. So I had a hard time reigning her in. Well some of the older boys (who were brothers) were talking to each other and said in a very mean way to each other "You are so stupid, your such a butt head" and "your so dumb get away from me". And some of the other boys werent very nice either, in a bad example sort of way. Soooo moral of the story is, people scare me. Lucy scares me. I cant control everything and I am scared for the example and impression people will leave on my children. How do you control who your children hang out with, without being rude or judgmental? Especially trying to explain to my children why I dont want them to play with little Suzy or Johnny especially when they cant understand the problem. I guess really the only thing I can do is pray really really really hard, and second teach my kids appropriate behavior and the rules we have for them and hope they make good choice and influence others for good. But thats the part that scares me, especially if my children are anything like me, which Lucy is 110% like me. Sigh...

Polygamy: So we discovered this show on discovery channel called Polygamy USA. Totally fascinating. Having grown up near and now living so near Polygamist groups I have always been so fascinated by their culture. Mainly because I dont know anything about them really and their religion is a lot of ways so close to mine, yet so different. I see folks from Colorado City and Centenial Park all the time around town and I want to so badly just go and ask so many questions I have, or be a fly on the wall in one of their homes or churches. Kind of a cool show to watch and just learn (hopefully its accurate).

Cakes: Last night I made some fondant to practice with today. I used about a gallon of food coloring and it took FOREVER to get the shade of Navy that I wanted. My hands were dead from kneading it. Today I went to cover my fake cake and the stupid stuff wont work. I realized I forgot to put water in with the recipe and now its too late and completely ruined. I was/am so mad about this. I hate wasting, its sort of a pet peeve of mine, and I wasted all that fondant, food coloring, time, and energy all for nothing... Boo. But I guess I did learn some things so i cant complain too much.

Neighbors: Ty and I are beyond house hungry. We have been dying to get into a home for probably the last year or so. I doesnt help when my favorite channel on tv is HGTV and ALL of our friends are home owners. It also doesnt help when we move in to a cute little neighborhood of townhomes and the unit next door in empty and then all of a sudden a bunch of teenage boys move in and blast their electric guitars and video games! I feel like such an old lady saying that. Cant you just picture me walking outside my door in a robe and curlers shaking my fist saying "you young whipper-snappers, turn down that ruckus before I come over there and turn it down for you"!

Last but not least, BUGS: I hate cockroaches. Hate them. There was a GIANT one this morning on its back by the door. Luckily I clobbered the bugger but still, the thing was like 2 inches long!! Of course hot places are usually infested with them, and St George is no exception. UGH! I can handle spiders, I can handle ants, but I cannot handle roaches!!!

Catch up and stuff

I really need to keep up on the blog. I have so much to blog about. Nothing super cool, but stuff I want to document none the less. But where do I even start?

Mothers day: This day was of course special and I was spoiled. We have church at 9 so i didnt get to sleep in BUT I was woken with breakfast in bed! Yummy french toast muffins, eggs, and a piece of bacon and a few magazines. It was so good. Lucy kept telling me Happy Birthday. Then Ty cooked dinner, he made kebabs with rice and rolls. Then for dessert I made texas sheet cake (one of my FAVS!) It was great. Also a great day to reflect on all the mom's in my life and how they have impacted me and made me a better person.

Lucy: Lots going on with this little girl. We got her all signed up for preschool (that was awhile ago) but all her testing was done. She is "moderately delayed" in her speech and she was tested for behavior and she is "slightly delayed" in that as well. Even though they dont do any diagnostics they said per the test results she has tendencies for ADD and something else I cant remember at the moment. It doesnt mean she HAS these things, just means she has a few characteristics that coincide with this. The funny thing is we KNOW she has a speech problem, thats obvious but when she was tested at the end of her speech therapy in Provo they said she was now normal. NO WAY!! The guy that did the testing here sat with her for 5 min and new she needed help. Just goes to show that parents inclination sometimes overrule "professional" opinion. So she has the summer off, no therapy, but when school starts up she will start. She will be in a class with kids just like her as well kids that have no delays at all with a teacher that is specific for this kind of structure, plus there are aids and people that will help. I am so happy with this and we hope this will catch her up to speed quickly.
 As far as behavioral, I thought I was just being super paranoid and sensitive to her behavior and she didnt have any problems, I was the one with the problem. I always felt like the worst parent when I would explain Lucy's "spirited" behavior to people I would always get the feeling like people were thinking "well, she is 2. 2 year olds dont sit still, and they are hard..." kind of like I was over exaggerating and being a baby. I always just felt like nobody understood my feelings of how "difficult at times" she can be, my feelings were never validated and for SO long I felt like I was the WORST parent ever because everyone has kids that seem so calm and mindful and they listen somewhat. I felt like maybe its all my fault because Im not patient, I yell, and I get mad, and maybe im too hard on her, and she watches too much tv, and Im not one of those creative moms who make these activites that keep their child occupied for hours, and its hard for me to be patient and play with her all day, and maybe im not made for parenthood, and on-lookers and people who dont live with her 24-7 make quick judgements and it of course reflects on my parenting.... And so on and so forth.  These thoughts go through my mind a lot. Anyway as much as I hate the fact that she is "below normal" I feel like FINALLY somebody understands and I really am not crazy and a horrible person to think that I ave had a hard time with raising her. But most of all I am glad that now we can DO something about it rather than just get frustrated and mad at her. I still think that somehow these issues with her are my fault, I dont think I will ever not think that. But I am just so grateful for the technology and BRILLIANT people that help families like us.  Reading back over this paragraph it doesnt expain what I really feel, and mean, but I think you get the picture...

Royal Icing- we are just sitting a waiting. I have done everything that I need to do and now I just wait for the home inspection and then turn in my business application to the city and then do more waiting. I had my first client. Ty's boss's little girl had a party and they had me do a couple sheet cakes for the guests. I also have another order (if you can even count it, its from my MIL) for a missionary farewell in a few weeks. Other than that, I wonder sometimes what I have gotten myself into. Honestly I have no idea what I have gotten myself into. But I guess I will see!

Ty: Ty is just working, working, working! He works SO hard, and for that I am grateful. He does a great job and I am proud of him. He is also prepping for a bike race in a few weeks in Cedar. The other night he went out and about 10 min later in he walks covered in dirt, blood, and lots of scrapes and ripped up gear. He wrecked big time. Every time he goes out I get really paranoid, for this exact reason. He is honestly lucky he didnt break anything or chip his teeth! But he is doing much better and is still biking.

Me: I am doing great. This sunshine has worked miracles for me. Im not joking. Being cooped up inside all winter was not doing great things for me and it was really hard. But I feel great and I am just happy for new opportunities. Big and EXPENSIVE decisions have to be made really fast about what route we are going to take for our infertility journey. Ahhh, back to the grind of the infertility battle. It was SO nice to take off the last 5 months and not even think about it, but with the hormone treatment completely worn off, we can now get back to the stress of it all. We are now working with Red Rock Fertility in Vegas (that is the closest fertility center to us). Wish us luck, and a lot of prayers. We need a miracle...

This post is forever long So i will cut it short and add some pics.

Lucy's new bike for being potty trained!!!! I honestly and truly never thought this day would come.

The girls playing with the water table and Grandma and Grandpas house

Lucy's princess dress that she got for pooping in the potty. This was the BIGGEST hurdle of potty training

Kite festival. SO FUN!

The girls and uncle Andrew. He is SO good to play with them.

Almost here!

So for quite some time I have been wanting to open up my own cake design company from home. I looked into it in Provo but there was too much to do (even more than I realized at the time) without knowing where we would be moving. So when we came to St George and I looked at our kitchen space I thought, maybe I should wait until we get into a house to start it up. We have about 3 sq ft of counter space and I knew I would go crazy trying to bake and decorate with such small space. Well it wasnt long after that that I just KNEW i had to start on the business process. I honestly felt/feel like im being shoved into this, its really weird! There are so many hesitations that I have and the process is daunting, long, in-depth, and overwhelming. But for some reason everytime I have a hesitation it either works out all on its own somehow or I get this surge (shove) of "YOU HAVE TO DO THIS!" and the process all of a sudden feels easier. I cant explain it other than maybe its the Lords way of telling me (this is how He usually does it) that this is where I need to go. I dont feel ready, prepared, or talented enough. But oh well, i guess its going to happen whether I like it or not!

SO... We are almost there! The other day I was reading over the requirements to pass the health inspection and there were things I was NOT ready for and I thought for sure that this process has come to a screeching halt and who knows when I will ever open a business up. I found that I have to have a separate fridge and shelving/storage for my cake stuff. I cant use our fridge or storage that has our personal food/stuff in it... Uh, I have to get another fridge? Ya right. Well of course after conversing one night with the Man Upstairs about this slight problem I thought "I think I really will have to just put this on hold".

Rewind a little over a month. Our renter had told us before we moved that we are going to have to bring our own fridge. Luckily my in-laws are the bomb and let us take whatever we wanted out of our old place to take with us, and that included our fridge. We got down here and annoyingly (or so we thought) there was already a fridge here! How inconsiderate! What are we going to do with an extra fridge. Bryce (Ty's bro) took it and thought they could use it at his office. But i had the feeling last night that we needed to call him and just ask to see if they really are using it or what not. Well turns out he is giving it back to us! Talk about MAJOR hurdle just cleared!!! Again, weird, and miraculous.

Without further ado. Here is my darling logo (thank you 48hourslogo.com!) and business name! Even if I feel all of these hesitations I could not be more blessed. Everything is falling PERFECTLY in to place by miracle. I cant wait!

I better watch my mouth!

So recently, more than ever, I have noticed Lucy is copying a lot of phrases that I say. Most I am not proud of. She is too little to have this vocabulary! Here is just a few

-UGH!!! (this is when I am slightly frustrated or bugged and I will do this grunting UGH sound. Lucy does this ALL the time now)

-Oh my gosh (even though we can still hardly understand a lot of what she says, this one came out clear as day. We tell her not to say it. But when I say it all the time and I dont realize, it makes it a tough case to sell)

-Crap! (this one came out last night after Tyler said it. She thought it was funny and kept saying it over. But at least this time it wasnt from me, whew!)

-Just a minute (she says this over everything. Again I say this to her all the time)

-I am spank you bum "im going to spank your bum" (When it is the last straw, we do in fact give her a little spanking, so sue us! Its not all the time but when she deliberately does something naughty when we REPEATEDLY tell her not to and looks us right in the eye and shoves it in our face, like biting people for example, she will get a spanking for it)

-she still calls me "Jod" all the time. Even though I tell her my name is mommy, I cant help but think this is so funny! Its the way she says it that cracks me up. And unlike a lot of things, is completely innocent!

My lucy bear is a crack up! But saying "crap" and "oh my gosh" makes me realize that I really need to watch myself in life and make sure I am doing/saying things that if she repeats, I am happy about. Even though they arent bad words or anything, I still dont like her saying it.

Birthday- Im getting old

So this week I turned the big 2-8. I cant believe that I am almost 30. This is too weird. I think I may have a pre-midlife crisis at 30. But since I am not quite there I will take a few deep breaths, harness my chi, and enjoy what is remaining of my 20's. The King family is infamous for having a "birthday week" instead of just one day. I like this tradition. So since on my official birthday we were at my grandpas funeral, I really did get to have a birthday week. Last night Ty and I dropped Lucy off at the Hurricane Kings for the night and we were foot loose and fancy free! Ty suprised me and took me to Springdale for dinner. It was AWESOME! First off, where the heck is springdale? Well it is basically Zion. The national park not Missouri. GORGEOUS drive. The weirdest thing too is once you hit Rockville (again, never even heard of it) the road turns red. Weird huh. The actual pavement is a red color. We went to an awesome restaurant called Whiptale Grill and it looks like a hole-in-the-wall but it was REALLY really good. The whole town (especially this restaurant) is kind of "granola-y" (which I strangely really enjoy) and it was just cool. We ate outside with the view of Zion all around us.  Ok the chips and salsa, HOLY COW, I honestly dont know if I have had better salsa, ever. It was that good. Then we walked around. There are strangely a lot of rock/gem shops around. Too. There is like 4 and the town is TINY. But this also made me happy because when I was little I used to go outside and look for hours and hours to find "cool" rocks and I would collect them. I think my little fascination still in there buried deep down. Then we came back to St George and went SHOPPING! I need summer clothes BAD and i spent all of my birthday money at target. Ty hates shopping so this was awesome that he willingly (instead of by force by me) indulged my indecisiveness and going back and forth from the changing room and modeling my choices one by one. P.s. there is no where to find modest shorts! Seriously it is annoying, what do people wear here! Then this morning we went and stood in line for 45 min at Kneaders for the french toast.

What an awesome birthday week. I am so grateful for the people who made me feel special, especially my Ty. Thanks my love!

(Ill have to add pictures later. They are having problems loading)

St George findings

We have officially been residents of St George for exactly one month. CRAZY! I feel like we just moved in yesterday. We really love it here. The second week we were here Lucy turned into this crazy alien-monster-creature person and I was losing my mind. Hands down this was probably the worst week I have had in my mothering career. I had a nervous breakdown one night and swore I was never having another child and cried hysterically for like an hour to Ty about it. But this week I think she has turned a corner. It could be because last Sunday I made it a goal to not yell at Lucy and be more patient and to make a conscience effort in focusing on the good things she does. Either that made a huge difference in her behavior or she has adjusted to the fact that we have a new house because she has been SO good this week. Not only that, but she has had 1 accident for a solid week! WHAT!! I was starting to be worried that her stubbornness for being potty trained was going to keep her from ever going to school and I would have to home school her forever (kids have to be potty trained to go to preschool). Not to mention how embarrassing would it be for her date to the junior prom to find diapers in her purse or have to remind her to "go potty".  I hope this isnt just a fluke.

Things we have discovered about our new place of residence:
1. People drive like maniacs here. Worse than in provo.
2. Its very WINDY! Every. Single. Day. It just blows and blows
3. Even though there are quite a few people here and it is a relatively large city in Utah but it still has such a small town feel. For example, nothing is online. People do not use internet marketing here at all. You have to basically use the phone book to find places.
4. Even though people drive like maniacs there is no traffic! This is great. The only street that gets really bad is the blvd but that is it.
5. Everyone has a golf cart they drive around.
6. The LDS population is a lot smaller than I thought. Well for Utah that is. I appreciate this. I like diversity. I like going to the store and seeing people of all walks of life. Its interesting to me.

Grandpa Pickett

A few months ago my sister-in-law went to her very first funeral. Ever. I was shocked when she mentioned this fact. I on the other hand have been to roughly 20 or more. I feel like that is a lot. My husband has been to 6. 5 of them since we have been married. Am I bad luck? Some times I feel like I am. Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because last Saturday my lovely Grandpa Pickett passed away and Wed was his funeral.  He was 84 and it is a huge blessing that he passed away because he had a disease in his liver that has been horribly painful and has made him very sick for a long time. It was sad, but such a blessing. Its mostly sad because he left behind his sweetheart, my grandma. He wasnt a man of many words but he was/is such an incredible example. He was such a hard-working, honest, and loving person.

this funeral has got me thinking. I don't know hardly anything about my grandparents. My other grandparents (my mom's parents) died when I was 9 and 12 so I was too young to really care about know much about their past or just about them personally in general. But now that I am older it kinda makes me sad. I wish i knew about their childhoods and cool stories and things they went through. Stories about things they accomplished. Gosh I dont even think I really know the simple things like their likes and dislikes, or favorite things. You know, the stories and things in life that have made them who they are. Kinda sad. Does this make me a horrible grandchild? I feel bad I was never close to my grandparents. I guess the good thing is we have eternity for me to get to know them.

One last thing. My grandpa served on the front lines of the Korean war (which I actually did know) and so during the burial we had a 21 gun salute and the folding and presentation of the flag with someone playing the bugle. It was such a special thing. It makes me so grateful for people who are or have served for our country. I am so proud of both of my grandpa's (and other many members of our family) who left their young families to fight for our freedom.