A new endeavor

I love being a stay at home mom/ trophy wife. I feel fulfilled in parenting and I love the freedom of my days. I'm learning to love housekeeping and cooking more (it's a journey for me). I feel blessed to have the option to stay home with my young children. That being said, I have been searching for something to call my own outside of my work as mom and wife. I've dabbled in taking some of my hobbies to the next level (photography, blogging, etc.) but nothing really seemed to click for me until a few months ago.

I attended a health and wellness class put on by my sister-in-law, Kate, focusing on using medicinal grade essential oils to treat illnesses and promote better overall health. I was so amazed by what I learned! I had never even heard about essential oils, let alone that they could supplement or replace traditional medicine in my home. I've slowly been embracing alternative medicine and healthier lifestyle choices (and sometimes not so slowly, ahem, George's unplanned homebirth) and this has become a big piece of the puzzle for me. I've had so many positive experiences using these oils in the few short months I've been using them.

As I learned more about these oils and the company that offers them, I felt it clicking for me that this could be the opportunity I've been looking for. So I have now become an independent product consultant for doTERRA essential oils. It has been a really great outlet for me- time away from home at conferences, classes and events; opportunities to learn, teach and share my knowledge; and fun people to associate with. It's definitely been an adjustment to take on a part-time job like this, but it's so fun. John has been really helpful and supportive. I've even started a new blog (one of my current hobbies) with Kate and my mother-in-law, Sue, to share some of what we're learning. I would love it if you wanted to visit it and leave me a comment, 3MamasWellness.com 

December fun

We're still it the stage with our little family where we are creating traditions, trying things out and seeing what works for us. We still celebrate with both of our families quite a bit, but we are beginning to do more things on our own and finding our groove. A lot of the most fun moments this year were with just my three guys. Here's some of the things we did this year to celebrate, mostly documented with my cell phone camera.

Putting up the Christmas tree

Seeing the lights at Temple Square with Grandma and Grandpa T

one of the luminaries that Grandma T helped design and hand-punched over a decade ago when she was working at the Temple Square gardens. They're made out of Tyvek (not paper) so they've lasted this whole time!

Talking with Santa at our ward party

Christmas jammies

making gingerbread houses with my family- Steve and Charlie were on a team

Johnny's former band, Marmalade Hill, played his company party and he got up and played a few songs with them. He had so much fun playing again and it was so funny to see everyone in the company look at him in a whole new way!

Johnny and Charlie playing with Charlie's Little People nativity set. Reading the Christmas story out of the scriptures, singing hymns and recreating the nativity is one of John's family's traditions and it was fun for Charlie to have his own nativity set to play with and be occupied with. 

We went to the Lower Lights Christmas concert at the Masonic temple. It was THE highlight of the season. The music was beautiful and the feeling of camaraderie was palpable. 

The cool constellation ceiling at the Masonic temple

Charlie and Grandpa T reading the Polar Express

Johnny experimenting with new rice krispie treat recipes to take for our neighbor gifts

Christmas 2011

We spent Christmas Eve with part of John's family having a lovely buffet dinner and a mellow evening. They were gracious enough to invite my mom and Aunt Barb to join as well. We sang Christmas songs, read a Christmas picture book, and made it home early. It was low-key and fun. A week after Christmas, we had "Christmas 2" (as Sam and Lily were calling it) when my dad was in town at my parents' house. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of either of these fun evenings. 

Christmas morning, we had my mom and Aunt Barb over for a gigantic breakfast (way too much food, but it was oh, so good!) I thought we'd have to distract Charlie from the presents long enough to eat breakfast, but the concept of Christmas morning/Santa hasn't really sunk in yet. After breakfast, we had to tear Charlie away from playing in the toy room to come open presents! Why did we even buy anything? He was pretty into his stocking that Santa brought him and once he saw the presents, he was really good at getting the wrapping paper off. 

George didn't get any presents from us this year. He was happy with the ribbons and watching Charlie's antics.

Aunt Barb and Mom brought gifts that were the hit of the day. The first was a talking Lightning McQueen that asks, "Where's Mater?" Sure enough, the next present to open was Mater!

I found a set of real mini-sized tools for a great deal months ago and saved it for my tools-obsessed little man. Charlie loves real tools and turns every kitchen utensil into a tool. He needs lots of supervision with them and some of the tools (the hammer especially) have been on "time out" in the cupboard quite a few times.

I love this picture- look how happy he is! 

Figuring out the pliers

Showing off his sweet suspenders

George thought Charlie was pretty entertaining

After opening presents, we hurried to get ready for church. I had arranged for my friend, Sarah Maxwell, to come sing a special musical number for our sacrament meeting so I wanted to be sure that I was early to the meeting to meet her. I ended up leaving John, my mom, and Aunt Barb home with the kids so I could be sure to be there. Being in sacrament meeting by myself was the best present I could have gotten! I loved being able to focus on the talk and not be entertaining kids the whole time. :) Bishop Miller gave a great talk and Sarah sang The Wexford Carol beautifully!

Unfortunately, the kids didn't nap so the rest of the afternoon and evening were a little challenging. We went over to John's parents' house and opened presents and ate a delicious meal. I One of our favorite traditions is the dollar gifts. We each come up with a creative gift to give to everyone but it can only cost a dollar. It's always so fun to see what everyone thinks up! This year some of the highlights were little toy guns that shoot foam discs (Mark and Chelsea) and dollar bills folded into origami frogs (Sam). We gave everyone little kitchen egg timers in the shape of tomatoes and taught everyone the Pomodoro Technique that John uses at work to increase his productivity. 

Currently...

-Listening to Adele

-Watching Friday Night Lights (just finished the last episode on Netflix, sob!)

-Instagram for the iPhone. (No iPhone? Try Ink361). I love taking mediocre photos and turning them into mini works of art. It makes capturing the everyday moment so much more fun. I'm getupandplay if you want to follow along. 

-Reading Rachel Thurston's beautiful photography- this post about her  daughter is pure joy. 

What's up with you?

Thanksgiving 2011

For Thanksgiving, Mark and Chelsea were gracious enough to host us (and most of John's family) at their home in Boise. They worked so hard to have us there and we appreciated it! It was George's first road trip, and that part was rough, but Charlie was extra dreamy in the car to make up for it.

Traveling with two little kids takes so much stuff- it really overwhelms me! This time, the only thing I forgot was the camera battery. Ruh roh. So most of my pictures are from my phone and from other people's cameras.

We went to a fun park and had the place to ourselves, probably because it was pretty cold- Charlie liked climbing on this dinosaur.

It was fun to see how much Emma has grown. She is such a fun, happy, pink little baby and has the cutest little personality! The trip wasn't complete (literally, John was packing up the car as I took this picture) until we had the obligatory side-by-side cousin picture. Emma is 5 months and George is 3 months.

Chelsea snapped this one of Charlie playing with James' toys- he was in heaven.

Almost the whole crew (missing Jeff who took the picture, and the babies). The food was incredible- everyone contributed something delicious and everything was made from scratch and gluten-free.

John was a patient "road" for James to drive his cars on.

We are so thankful for our wonderful families!