Christmas Morning

This is our tree (note: these are collective gift from all of Steve's family.. not just me and Steve, we could never pull this off):


And this is what Joseph did as soon as he got downstairs. Just cracked me up.. he came up with it all by himself, too. :) I love this little guy!


Then, Joseph proceeded to dump his stocking out, unwrap all of the candy, and place it nicely in a bowl. Nice, healthy breakfast.. :)


Kathrynn totally got into it and loved opening presents!


Joseph's moment of glory - opening up his new train!


His new favorite toy...


...along with Drew's Baby Alive. He really took to it - it was really sweet. (I'm sure he won't be happy that this picture is on the web when he's 12..)


Tuckered out.

My First White Christmas!!

One of the pros of moving up to Utah was that I would FINALLY have a real white Christmas - no more shorts on Christmas! We headed up to Logan to be with Steve's family for the holidays on Christmas Eve and it JUST started snowing as we arrived and then just DUMPED! Christmas morning was beautiful and glorious!

The view looking across the street:


Our truck just about an hour after we arrived:


Some crazy icecicles:


Just beautiful..

The Gingerbread House

We've made a gingerbread house (or 7 last year..) every Christmas since Steve and I have been together - it's tons of fun and turned into a wonderful tradition. We have a great recipe and pattern for the house. If you'd like a copy, let me know, I'd be more than happy to share.
Steve's still - and always will be the - the creative force behind these projects. For some reason, I really stink at making things pretty. The end product never looks the way it looks in my head.. in fact, it usually looks like a 5 year old did it. Example, the awful snowman on this year's version.
Joseph helped this year and had a blast. Definitely something we're going to keep doing through the years. :)

Salt Lake's the Vainest City in the Country

..according to Forbes.
© Alamy

1. Salt Lake City

It's surprising but true: There are at least 45 plastic surgeons practicing in Salt Lake City, or six per 100,000 people. This high number could be attributed to the University of Utah's School of Medicine, which offers residencies in plastic and reconstructive surgery.

Spending habits: Locals also spend more on cosmetics purchases at the grocery store than their peers in cities of similar size, according to Information Resources, a research company that tracks cosmetics and toiletries sales. In the last year, residents spent $2,207,450 worth on hair coloring, $116,478 on hair growth products, $2,512,081 on facial cosmetics and $4,416,067 on skin care products. In Oklahoma City, which has a slightly larger population, shoppers spent $172,080 on hair coloring, $9,323 on hair growth products, $190,820 on facial cosmetics and $402,956 on skin care products.

Not a surprise to me.. I'll just stop at that.

Another non-surprise: San Antonio ranked #2 in most lustful cities in the US, according to Forbes.

My Before and After

I love www.myvirtualmodel.com - it's a great way to visualize my weight-loss goals and see where I am and where I want to be. I'm currently fighting to lose the baby weight that came as a result of having 2 kids in a little over 2 years - wow, that did a number on my body.
Here's where I am and where I'm working to get:


Holidays aren't helping, so I'm not being too hard on myself this week, but plan on getting back to work full force next week. I've created my own diet after some thorough research, which has actually worked successfully over the last month, and am doing the workout from the book 5-factor diet. It's a bum-kicker! I'm determined to get back down to my pre-Joseph size by the summer. I've done it once, I can do it again. :)

Punk Baby Clothing

This just cracked me up. It's an online baby clothing store, based in Salt Lake. It's all about punk clothes for babies and toddlers.. Here's the link:

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Punk Baby Clothes

ID 10 T

The guys as work like to call my computer errors ID 10 T errors.. yeah..
So, I've noticed I never get blog comments, and wondered why, until I realized that I didn't have it set up right. So, it's fixed, so if you have a comment, feel free. Fixed my idiot error.. :)

Ahhh.. It's Friday!

I am SO ready for this weekend - what a long week!!! I think it's the snow. Cold, dreary days just wear me down.
Just some tidbits...
Kathrynn's crawling now!! She also claps to patty-cake and squeals "Dada" whenever Steve enters the room. She now says that along with mama (which came first, by the way), bye, hello, peekaboo, and Ava (the name of her sitter's dog). She is total sweetness.
Joseph is still my little guy - he's been running his fingers through my hair when it's time for bed.
Steve is just wonderful and has been doing a great job of keeping a smile on my face.
I have a wonderful job and have been feeling really fulfilled in it - I feel like I've landed in a great place and like I'm being compensated for having to leave my kids during the days.. but I'm SO looking forward to my Christmas vacation after next week!

Things are going well.. still a little wound up here and there, but trying to take frustrations with a grain of salt. I couldn't do any of it without Steve, though.

Have a great weekend, all!

PS - I have lots of super cute pictures to post.. hoping to get them up this weekend in my abundant free time.. ((sarcasm))

Story Time

Steve started this tradition one night when I was so wiped out that I fell asleep before the kids' bedtime. This is how we do storytime now and they love it! (plus, it's super-cute!)

Cute Video

For some reason, this reminds me of me and Steve.. like how we'd be at 3 and 5. :)

Clementine, Oh Clementine

So, I don't typically blog about fruit, but I have been introduced to the yummiest treat ever this weekend - the clementine. I've never had one before - I guess they're pretty popular in Utah in the winter. We picked up a case at Costco on Saturday and are halfway through it - they are delicious!
So, if you haven't tried them yet, do. You won't regret it. :)

One Great Article

The Wall Street Journal posted an article this morning titled "The Book of Romney." It was one of the best articles I've read on him yet - unbiased and looking on all sides of his campaign. My favorite excerpt follows:

Mr. Romney mentioned the word "Mormon" only once, and he was right to steer clear of formal theology or specific practices. Some denominations are leery of -- or openly hostile to -- the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, considering it un-Christian, or even a cult. Surveys indicate that many voters oppose Mr. Romney for this reason, and his speech probably won't do much to convince them otherwise.

How unfortunate it would be if he were rejected on the basis of such irreducible doctrinal differences. The Mormons seem the very embodiment of "family values," and you couldn't invent a religious culture that lived more consistently with Biblical messages. Broadly speaking, most Mormons have, and come from, big families; they're regular churchgoers and give to charity; they don't drink, smoke, gamble or engage in premarital sex. On the scale of American problems, the Mormons don't even register.

You can find the entire article here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119699683106816754.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

I haven't decided quite yet whether I'm going to vote for Mitt Romney yet, but am very excited about what he's doing and how he's handling the press.

So, now we know who they look like...

The Coolest Online Music Site Ever

Upon recommendation of a coworker, I visited www.finetune.com, which allows you to create your own playlists, without commercials, for free. It's AWESOME! Here's my playlist. Enjoy!

The Revenge of the Nerf Guns

So, my office consists of me and 5 guys, and then the owner of the firm, who is a woman, but she's very often away with clients. The guys I work with are very good at their jobs and for the most part professional, but all of them seem to have a 13-year-old alter-ego, that comes out every couple of hours - and once one of them shifts over, our office turns into a breeding ground for adolescent joviality. Steve was right. Boys of all ages run in packs.
Anyway, one day one of them had a spark of 'genius' and decided to buy a nerf gun for the office.. followed by three other nerf guns. I've learned to expect a daily nerf gun battle and have actually come accustomed to the random nerf bullet landing in my lap or grazing my hair. Well, a game erupted this morning. One of my coworkers, decided to take a shot at me, planning to graze my head, once again. I, being the stubborn person I am, decided to show him that I have no fear of his little nerf gun and, for once, didn't flinch. Well, his aim was a little off and I got smacked right on the forehead. What could I do but laugh - and turn really red. Then came my moment of glory - one of the other guys handed me his gun. Now, they've been telling me for weeks that I need to go out and buy myself a nerf gun, but I've gracefully declined several times, finally stating that I felt my best protection would be to not be on the offensive front of the attacks. But, I have to say, having that gun in my hand, and hitting the guy who hit me smack in the head was VERY liberating. I was also surprised to see that I have a pretty decent aim. I think I've officially opened myself up to more shots taken in my direction, but it was worth it. :)
I think I know what I want for Christmas now - a nerf gun. After all, the best defense is a good offense. :)

Joseph's Birthday Party

OK.. there are like 200 pictures in my camera of Joseph's party, so I'll try to condense it down a bit...

He LOVES trains right now, so I decided to make a choo choo train cupcake cake for his birthday this year - he LOVED it (and actually got that it was a train!).


Blowing out the candles (by himself!)


...and picking his nose...


Being silly (notice, he put an olive on top of his cupcake.. yum!)


Patiently watching Daddy get his new Tigger out of the box (from Grandma Paulson).


His new super cool "crash car" (it vrooms, drives, then crashes)from Aunt Liisa.


Yeah! A new flashlight! Joseph LOVES flashlights..


He loves his new Tigger spinny brush from Drew.


New HotWheels from Mommy.


He loves the piano book Grandma Margie sent him.


Daddy gave him Army men and cowboys and Indians - these were definite winners!



Kathrynn looks bored..


Mommy got Joseph Cootie so we can start playing games together..


Grandma Paulson got him a cool new backpack!


Joseph telling me to stop taking pictures. :)

Happy Birthday, Joseph!

Our little guy turns 3 today! I can't believe he's getting so big - he's still just a baby sometimes in my head, but then he's sooo 3 other times. At least we're done with 2. :)

I thought it'd be fun to show him grow over the years, so here you go:

About a day old..

1st birthday..


2nd birthday..


Today..


Joseph is the sweetest little guy. He is so caring and compassionate and has tons of empathy. He gives the BEST hugs! He loves being around kids his age and is especially nice to little girls - treats them like gold (unless you're his sister.. hehe). And, they show their appreciation. So far, he's been kissed on the lips by 4 different girls. The last one was especially hiliarous - we were at a block party over the summer and a little girl his age pinned him down on the grass and gave him a huge kiss right on the lips.
Joseph's favorite things right now are dinosaurs, cowboys, and trains. Any time he hears a train, he stops what he's doing lets out a huge, excited gasps and says "Choo Choo Train!" and runs for the nearest window to see if he can see it. He also really likes Diego and the Backyardigans.
He loves music and is very musically talented - you can sing a song to him once and he'll hum the exact tune perfectly the rest of the day.. he's always humming or singing and I love that!
He's crazy smart and knows all of his letters, can count to his teens now, knows all of his colors and all of his shapes - even oval. :)
We love our little boy so much and are so grateful for him - we wouldn't trade him for the world.
Happy Birthday, Joseph!

Joseph the Dinosaur

As earlier mentioned, Joseph missed out on Halloween this year due to a nasty case of croup. Well, we scoped out the post-Halloween sales for something for the kids for next year and I found this adorable dinosaur costume that's 4T, but fits him perfectly this year, so it just might end up being a fun dress up outfit for him.
Anyway, he spent a lot of Thanksgiving break at Grandma and Grandpa Paulson's house running around in and having a blast. Here are the pics:







Here he is attacking his cousin Karlee:


Kathrynn thought he was pretty funny, too. :)

Our Little Princess

I just had to add some new pictures of Kathrynn because she's just precious! She's finally getting used to the camera and actually thinks it's funny now (insteading something that induces instant crying).

He's Growing Up

Oh my goodness. I was just messing around yesterday, taking pictures of the kids, when I took this one and could not believe my eyes. Joseph no longer looks like a toddler, he looks like a little boy now. This goes way too fast.