McIntyre's on the Move

Meet the Squishies!

2011-11-16T23:12:00.001-08:00

Meet 3.45 year old Boston! Boston is all of these faces plus so much more personality! Currently he is loving sounding out every word to find a "B" word, or a "D" word. He is getting so smart! Boston is getting into make beleive which is so fun. He lays on the ground and sees a shooting star on the cieling, he pretends it is snowing and he is building a snowman, or my favorite, he turns the magnets and says the water is running and we have to go to the treehouse (the kitchen bench seat). He is so tender to Story when he is not protecting his toys and he loves to have bath party's! He has started using the green magic to make stop lights turn green so we can go...and he tells me very loudly when i can go! I love love love this little bear!

This is Story Bug! The other day i was wiping up the floor and she came behind me, cleaning with a sock. She sings the clean up part to the nursery clean up song, says "three, three, three" when she wants to be thrown and she has a smile that changes your whole mood around. She is goofy and voistrous and lets you know when she wants food which is basically always. I love love love her and her beautiful eyes!

Apple Hill! Fall Tradition!

2011-11-16T22:46:00.001-08:00

Apple Hill is this cool area 45 min. from our house. After passing beautiful vinyards and pine trees you end up on this stretch of Apple Orchards. This is my favorite one, High Hill. It has a fishing pond, play ground, tons of apple stuff to buy, huge pumpkins as you can see and my favorite, the fudge shop!

Boston was loving these huge pumpkins. P.S. My sweet husband worked until 8 that night so he could go with us that morning!

Story and Boton loved the big wooden train, and this face is totally typicall of Story, she is so curious and expressive!

Boston gets so crazy when he pretends to be in jail! Look at that face!

Boston got to decorate a chocolate covered rice krispie treat!

Story just ate the Candy while Jason and I tried not to do it ourselves.

She's a totall daddy's girl

And, Viola!

Halloween 2011 Folsom CA

2011-11-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

Halloween with a 3 year old...pure bliss! Bostie said twick or tweat and everytime i beamed with pride. It was such a blast taking them this year. Its our first time living in a house, so we gave out candy which was fun as we played pandora's halloween channel inside our house. It was so funny because some of those songs are more theatrical with no words so Boston kept asking me to pretend i was looking for him and then he would run around the corner and act like a monster. We all tried to act like what the song sounded like so it was really intense while i was feeding Story. Haha

So as you can see Story went as a UC cal cheerleader, with the big bow and all! we were excited as now we are Californians and all. Look at her little bum! So cute!

Boston is always lovin on Story!

She is so big, almost walking.

And here is my little Space Pirate...oh you have never heard of a Space Pirate,.. well its a little boy who can't decide what he wants to be for Halloween so his mommy gets him a pirate costume until he changes his mind and wants to be an astronaut so his awsome mommy makes him a jetpack and vetos any more additions to the costume! haha but i secretly loved the uniqueness of his look! you are so awsome bud!

Here they are getting loaded in the car. We are still kids at heart so of course we had to go to the best neighborhood with the best candy to trick or treat.

Could you just die, look at those new top teeth! so cute!

Jason, did you go as a super good looking guy who is an awsome dad! wow you really fit the part! I love you!

He absolutley loved all the decorations and especially the scary houses with scary music.

And..some last minute Halloween decorations. A painted pumkin and leaves from my awsome backyard! And...how thrifty has that red chair been to me. I move it around the house, use it for photo shoots and it has even come in handy for halloween, way to go red chair!

Happy Halloween!

Boston's First Day of Preschool!

2011-09-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

First Day of Preschool at Sunbeams preschool with Mrs. Stacy! So proud of you buddy!

Smash the Cake Shoot! Sept. 2011

2011-09-18T23:25:00.000-07:00

Story's 1st b day!

2011-09-18T23:04:00.000-07:00

Story turned 1! We had so much fun. We went to AZ to see my parents and were surprised to find our favorite people the Walkers. It was actually a surprise trip planned by my amazing husband but i will post about the details of the awsome trip in another post. It was so fun to plan Story's party. I went with a vintage Dick and Jane theme, with letters representing each food item and vintage flash cards spread throughout. Story's name was plastered everywhere and i loved it. Also i have to say that everyone helped out a ton and i couldn't have done it alone.

Ohhh those eyes!

A is for apples

P is for Pencil Pops!

Everyone brought such sweet books that they signed so story could always remember this special day!

My good bud Lex came! I loved having so much family and friends to celebrate with us!

The cake was so beautiful, and i was able to turn the flower into a headband for story's smash the cake shoot!

Of course i love seeing my mom with my kids, really there are very few things that make me happier than grandma and grandpa playing with these little people that I love so much!

Happy Birthday my voisterous, silly, thoughtful, and sunshine of my day baby!

Boston is Potty Trained!

2011-09-18T22:23:00.000-07:00

So had i posted this on time i wouldn't have been able to say potty trained, it would have been more like potty training, but life is busy, so.... Boston is Potty Trained! He is so awsome and such a smart and good boy. We tried 2 other times, but his tummy hurt the first time so he became deathly aftraid of the big potty. After we firgured out it was just the big toilet that he didn't like we diecided to get a little training potty and it worked like a charm. I don't think i can take any of the credit. Jason did all of it. We decided to go with a cars "kachow" theme. Jason went to the store and got a Kachow potty and 20, dollar toys and even a kachow cup. The next morning We started out with a kachow party. There were red balloons everywhere and we started by giving Rascal (Boston's bear) some red kachow juice and we kept taking rascal potty. Eventually boston wanted to sit on the potty every 5 min! He ate lots of Mand M's got lots of new toys, and totally deserved it!He is doing so well now and we r so proud of him. I am also so greatful for a husband that is so involved with the kids and takes such a large role in their lives. I love you babe!

Boston's 3 Year old Photo Shoot!

2011-07-19T22:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, so how cute is my leetle sweet heart Boston Bear! He is the sweetest guy in the whole world just like his daddy. So funny and sweet and getting so smart! i know there are alot of pics but i can't leave any out, they might feel bad, and everyone has to see all the cute sides of boston! We did a photo shoot in old Town Sacramento and it was really fun! I love you bud!

Introducing Whimsy Place Blog!

2011-07-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

Some creative friends and i have created a sort of catch all blog with the effort of beautify our lives, whether its design, photography or even furniture refinishing. It also will include fun giveaways from Faded Fringe Photography, Whimsyplace.com and our other sponsors. I hope you love it and it inspires you to beautify your life along with us! So check us out at Whimsy Place the blog!

Boston's 3rd birthday!

2011-07-13T22:35:00.000-07:00

Boston's birthday was so fun and so often! haha! We started off with an awsome party with my family and my dad's extended family in Tahoe. We held this one at a bowling alley. I thought Boston would love to bowl for the first time. Well he liked bowling, but he loved the video games, that werent even on i might add. It was so neat to see all these people we hardly know come together and be so excited for this special day. They were all so loving and it really strengthened my testimony that family is eternal, even the very extended. We attempted to do a dinasour party here, so we have plastic dinasours on the cake. My parents were so generous and took boston on a birthday shopping spree at k mart , and basically bought out the car section of the store.

Boston's uncle Taylor just came home from his mission and we were so happy to have him there!

Its funny, I feel like all the pictures of her, she is sitting in the stroller, but she is pretty happy there!

Me with my grandma Janet, aka G-mama J!

For 3rd birthday part 2, on his actuall birthday we went to the water park and got frozen yogurt!

And, for part 3 we threw the most fun dinasour party at promontory park, and so many wonderful friends came out to celebrate. It was so awsome to have all the families together playing and there was this big hill there were families were chasing eachother and rolling around in the grass. It was so fun! Jason helped out so much. He worked on the party bags and the banner, while i focused on the cake. Ok so i sort of decided that cake decorating is not my forte, and i am ok with that. At first i was stressed about it not turning out the way i wanted, but it tasted great and was massive, and i am not perfect. Oh, you didn't know! haha.

So yeah we had a blast, and for Boston's birthday this year he gave us a gift...the gift of the urge to go.. haha potty trained Boston is so awsome! We are so proud of him and he has just matured so much in the past month. He is so sweet to story, and his vocabulary is getting so much larger. He also repeats me all the time which isn't always the best, especially when something surprised me and i say, "What the!" (don't worry i really don't finish it). BUt, now he says it all the time, and i only encourage it cause i can't stop laughing. Well, Happy Birthday Boston Bear!

Family, Fourth, Fun

2011-07-11T22:58:00.000-07:00

The Fourth has always been so special to me i guess because i always had some special memmory with Boston and Jason. Boston's first fourth he was 2 weeks old and we were in Durango CO with my family and Boston slept through all the fireworks. The second year boston had just turned 1 and we spent it walking around the provo fair in matching shirts and finished off the night at stadium of fire. I just remember how amazing it was watching boston sit quitly in the baby bjorn, mezmorized by the fireworks. He just looked to big and i could feel Heavenly Fathers love for me getting to be with this perfect spirit. And, last year boston had just turned two. We were at Jason's parents house with Jenny's family, Kim and Liz and of course grandma and grandpa and we sat on the grass and set off fireworks. This time he loved watching them but felt they were too loud so he sat in my lap the whole time. I loved the snuggle time. This years Fourth was so fun, and different from other years...no family, but alot of friends near by and another special time with my little family!

We started it off at Sac State aquatic center on Saturday with some good friends from our ward. Boston and Addy had a blast as you'll see in the pictures. even though it was a rock and pebble rather than sandy beach they built mud castles and played in the water all day. Story was so content in the stroller for most the time and then hung out on the blanket for the rest of the time. This is typical Story, she is so happy and relaxed except for at this moment when i am trying to document these sweet memmories...come on Story! Jason and i have such wonderful friends so we were able to kayak while they kept an eye on the kiddos for us! I wish i had a picture of Jason doing a back flip off the rope swing but its probably good that i didn't have my camera out there because I capsized in my kayak. Yes that's right, in my competitive nature i was trying to beat jason in a kayak race and lost my balance. I actually think that exact thing happened last time we were kayaking together, haha!

That evening we went to the rodeo! yehaaa! it was awsome, except for the heat and the sun in our eyes and that we got seperated for 1 hour of it! but really i let my hair down and cheered for those bull restlers! so Boston was not happy and we ended up leaving before the fireworks, which is sort of normal unexpected, expected chaous when you have kids. So we took boston to the outlets to do a quarter ride and headed home to pick up story.

Monday we went back for some more kayaking with Amanda Tom and Liam Gibson. It was a blast. We then headed over to the clements for a fourth of july Bar B-Q with the Havicans, and finished off the night watching fireworks in the Coventry neighborhood with the Havicans.

I so appreciated all the wonderful friends that invited us out this year. It really helped to make it fun, although i must say i did really miss family. During fireworks i thought about how my family would always sing the Star Spangled Banner and my Dad would belt it off key! i totally missed that, but it was neat to spend it with my growing Family and make my first special occasion bow for Story. I made her fourth of july bow and man... i just love that little girl she is just so adorable and angelic looking and so funny and sweet! She even snuggled Boston during fireworks.

I can't wait for all the fourth of July's to come!

All about Boston

2011-07-04T00:29:00.000-07:00

Boston is such a tender hearted sweet boy! lately i have found that harsh tones really affect him and we have really taken a different approach to teaching good behavior. He is so wonderfully smart. when he pronounces a word incorrectly i will correct him and he will keep saying it until he gets it right.

He loves to sit on the kitchen counter when we are cooking. here is a picture of him with the dirt we used to plant our sunflowers. he poured all of our spices into the bowl and mixed it up. (don't worry they were the ones that come with the spice rack, the ones you never use, haha).

he love, love, loves his sister story. i coud've said that 3 months ago, but it wouldn't have meant what it does now. He plays with her, helps her up when she face plants, wants her to take baths with him, and asks where she is when she is sleeping. He even goes in when she wakes up from a nap and will climb up on boxes to see her and entertain her until i can come in and get her. She equally loves her brother!

Boston loves to color. Every morning, the first thing he does when he gets up is say, "mommy come , its time to color". he is so imaginative, making up songs about whatever he sees in the room he is currently in. The other day it was nemo and cartweels. he makes me laugh every day and i love how we are starting to chat. I love how i always say, "are you sure", so now when he doesn't want to do something he says, "im not sure" its so cute. Oh man, this is a good one...the other night boston had been in his bed for about an hour, sleeping, or so we thought. Until, i coughed and from his room he said, "are you okay mommy". He is so sweet and caring that way. Its always been boston to be very good at salutations. since he was little he would mimmick us and say, "see ya, have a good day, have fun at workey", and he is equally polite. Lots of "oh thank you mom" and his pleases are pretty good but we are still working on that one.

When it comes to church boston is the closest thing to heaven in our house, well, him, and story and jason, and don't forget fanny, haha, but really he is always wanting to sing, child of god or i love to see the temple. His prayers are very long filled with all the things he sees, no really everything, the light, the table, and when the animal screensaver comes on the tv its all the inhabitants of the jungle one at a time. But, he also always thanks Heavenly father for rascal, for mommy and daddy, for story, for his cousin jacky and for kachow ( lightning mcqueen from the movie cars). Oh and he always remember grandma and grandpa and jesus christ ( he always say the full name its so sweet).

We love you Boston and are so grateful to have you in our family!

Faded Fringe Photography

2011-04-22T01:11:00.000-07:00

Introducing Faded Fringe Photography! Check out my latest photoshoot on Facebook. Website coming soon!

Thanks,

EmyLee

Emy, We Love You, and Happy Birthday

2011-03-25T00:17:00.001-07:00

I wanted to take an opportunity to let Emy know, and anyone else that reads our blog how amazing Emy is! We celebrated her birthday last weekend and I was reminded how lucky I am to have her in my life, to be her husband, and for our kids to have her as a mom! She gives so much and is truly a wonderful example to me and all those around her!! A few weeks ago I had to travel to Washington DC for work, and when I came home, Emy and the kids had this made and hung for me. Its huge! (3'x5')

Thanks guys, you did a great job!

So I planned a fun birthday surprise for her, and the kids! We went to San Francisco last weekend and stayed with our wonderful friends, Tim and Margo Friday night. We had a big fun slumber party and then a fun day planned in the city the next day. In the morning, we went to the exploratorium and had so much fun with all the different science exhibits. They were so hands on and exciting that Boston loved it too! It was funny, after 30 + min of being there, we looked back towards the entrance and we had only gone in like 50 feet! We stayed and played there until we got hungry and Boston go restless...(that's the alarm letting us know we pushed it to the max :)

This exhibit was an unused toilet, with a water fountain, and it was funny how reluctant you are to using it, simply because of its shape!

So then, we went to a restaurant that had been recommended to us by some friends, The Stinking Rose, where everything in the menu has Garlic as a main ingredient (hence the name...). Then our friends had offered to watch the kids for the afternoon so Emy and I got to hit the town.

Emy is such a designer at heart, and she has such great design ideas, so I thought since we were in S.F. and it being the design focused city that it is, I planned out the afternoon to go to the San Francisco Design District. It was so much fun to go to various furniture places, custom upholstery shops, antique stores, etc! For the most part, these stores are geared towards designers shopping at them, picking items for clients, as opposed to window shoppers like us, but we had so much fun. We'd love to go back during a weekday when even more places are open. The highlights included:

This Chair- totally inappropriate, right?!

The other night, we saw a movie preview on TV for "How Do You Know" and they have this exact chair in one of the scenes! We thought it was hilarious!

A super European modern store (glorified ikea) where I was sitting in a $10,000 chair, and Emy looked at the price tag of the ottoman, and said, "$3,000... you better not put your feet on that!"

The custom upholstery shop where I showed the owner a picture on my phone of our upholstered headboard that we made, and he jokingly offered me a job.

Here's the headboard we made right before Valentines! We still need to post about this and show pictures, but it looks great, right? Do you like our new Tuxedo ruffle bedding?!

And a fun Restoration Hardware showroom that was tons of fun to look through.

Outdoor display, look at the chandelier hanging on the rope!

To end the night, Emy and I went to Nopalito and had a really fun dinner together. It was so nice to have some good conversations not interrupted by kids crying, misbehaving, getting restless, etc. I love you Emy and Happy Birthday! Thanks again Tim and Margo for having us and watching the kids!

Faith to Move Mountains

2011-03-20T21:06:00.000-07:00

This life is a test and although it can be very difficult at times, faith in a real and tangible God and Savior can and will carry us through

keepin it fresh

2011-03-13T23:39:00.000-07:00

Man do i love my man! A couple weeks ago a friend relayed some suggestions given to her in a ward activity geared toward keeping our marriages strong. One of them was to hide an object somewhere in the house and take turns finding it. i told Jason about this and how our good friends have been leaving notes. We both agreed it was a good idea and then went on with our day. Of course jason is amazing and is listening even when i am not so sure because later that day i found a note in the formula. Then the next day a note telling me what a good mommy i am in the oatmeal. It has been so cute he has even been using it to play little jokes on me. For example, the other night i went to finally put the laundry away that jason had folded that morning, and i found a note. I kind of felt bad because i thought, "oh no he probably thought i was going to put the laundry away since he folded it and left me a note and it took me till 10 at night...but later he told me he snuck it in there to mess with me and make me think he expected me to put away the laundry! haha. He also put one in the blender and i almost blended it up!

I had to play catch up because he was leaving so many cute notes for me so i put one in the instant oatmeal box and the next morning i said, "you should make Boston oatmeal this morning". That evening i asked him what he fed Boston for breakfast and he said, "oatmeal" i was confused because he hadn't mentioned the note. he grabbed down the box and said look in there, i was like" no way you look, "and this went back and forth for a while till a note fell out that said, "gotcha! i found your note, and u thought i didn't. I love you babe, have a good day!" man he is making it hard for me to be as sweet as him! he is so awsome. i am always impressed with how loving and thoughtful he is. Actually as i write this he is doing the dishes! Sweet huh?! What a real man!

Sunny Days

2011-02-27T17:48:00.001-08:00

Lately It has been so cold here. Like really cold for California, but about two weeks ago we had this crazy warm front, and i have to say there is nothing better than a sunny day! Sun makes me happy, it motivates me to get things done, and when its sunny my clothes get cuter! haha.

When its sunny we do a lot of park days and playing outside, and when you have a two year old, playing outside is a must in order to survive.

Sunny days in my family room look like this

We did an amateaur photoshoot on this sunny Sunday

And this sunny weekend we spent at our favorite park with the big tires!

So greatful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!

2011-02-27T16:48:00.000-08:00

Today in church the two talks given were very powerful and much needed. There was a lot that stood out and i wanted to remember, but with two kids it is rare that i have a hand free to take notes...so i just wanted to share the few things that i could remember.

As a mom, i am always trying to find the balance between serving my family and taking care of myself, so that i can better serve my family. I go back and forth between feeling like i need to take time out for myself, and maybe forgetting myself all together and getting lost in the joy of parenting, being a wife, and my beautiful children.

Last week Ashley Tanner gave a lesson and referenced Marjorie Hinckley and her desire to get all out of life she could. She talks of wanting to meet God, not in her Sunday best but covered in dirt from gardening, peanut butter on her shirt from making sandwiches for her grand children and every other sign that she had squeezed every moment out of life. Ashley went on to say that some days she is so tired. I know those days. The ones where i have been depleted of all physical energy from being "consistent" with time out. But, Ashley said, she realized she wants to be tired, exhausted even , that way she knows she is giving it everything she has.

I related very strongly to this. I didn't want to spend one more second bummed about the hardships of parenting. Instead i wanted to be there for every bedtime story, every silly laugh and all the teaching moments, even if i had to be wiped out to do it.

This wasn't this weeks talks, but there was a wonderful quote from last week that tied into this weeks topic which was "avoiding pride, being humble".

Well i just realized it has disappeared from my fridge door, but to some it up, it says that if we become a person with more substance, through reading our scriptures and increasing our relationship with the savior, it will be easier to find ourselves because there will be more of us to find.

I felt this pertained particularly to mothers because i have heard countless women say that they had to find themselves after having children, as did i. I also heard in a talk that when we are feeling that way, we need to strengthen our relationship with our heavenly Father and the savior. So this quote really said it in a way that made sense.

This brings me to what i learned today. The speaker was quoting an apostle (like i said i was wiping boogers), and she said, Humility is not about thinking less of ourselves, but thinking less about ourselves. I love that. So i can be a fantastic and wonderful person with great worth, but the trick is to know that and spend little time thinking about it. We should serve and love and our "Substance" will increase and we will find ourselves as mothers and every other role that sometimes muddles our true worth. But as you can see, being a mother is what makes me truly Fantastic! So i hope this fills you with strength and joy it did me. I would have just written this in my journal but it was in Bostons room and he was sleeping! I just want all of you to know that i have a testimony that Jesus Christ is my Savior and he loves me. He is my Elder brother and through him i can return to live with my Father in Heaven again.

All about Story!

2011-02-19T17:30:00.000-08:00

If you havn't met Story yet, than you are missing out on a peice of sunshine! She is so smiley and sweet. I feel like she came to me straight from heaven just to remind me that i am loved cause when i am with her... I feel loved. Story was 5 months on the first of Febuary and is doing some awsome stuff. She loves loves, loves her brother Boston and can't even focus enough to finish her bottle when he is around.

Story just started sitting up, assisted, but its exciting.

She loves to jump in her jumper, literally for hours! I always think of Peter pan when i see her little feet going. And these chunker thighs, could you just die. I know they may not be the chunkiest of chunkers, but boston was so petite, so to me they are chunky and i love to squeeze em'!

Story loves bath time and has the cutest princess towel to dry off in.

She spent most of month 3-5 blowing bubles through her lips, but now she talks alot and just today started growling. I imagine she learned that from her brother.

Story has also started sitting in the high chair which is emotional for me because the last time we used it Boston was a baby, i just can't beleive how quickly life passes. It is so cute, Boston loves to color and play all around her, and she is thourouly entertained.

Story has also started baby food. well, tried it would be a better way of putting it. She still has that really strong tongue reflex so she doesn't actually eat much. But the faces she makes are the best!

She is such a wonderful and sweet little person, and i love being with her. I am so excited for all the girl stuff we will get to do together, and if she wants to be rough and tough, i'll do that stuff with her too! hey, I can be tough! haha. Story you love your daddy and our crazy life! I love you little mama!

Valentines Day 2011

2011-02-14T14:48:00.001-08:00

Woah! Something is in the water this morning! i started cleaning this morning and then i just couldn't stop. I just kept seeing my mom in my head, and remembering how she really deep cleans everything, and since i woke up, deep cleaning it was! So now i am blogging, during nap time, something must really be in the water!haha.

But, today is Valentines day! There is just something i love about Holidays, even the smaller ones like valentines or St.Patricks day. It gives the reason a day to be special and not like the others. I always wonder why i cant make other days feel this way, but even if other days are special or significant, they just aren't holidays! I get so stinkin excited to celebrate valentines day, or any holiday for that matter. I am super nostalgic, so its really important for me to make and carry on traditions.

This morning has been such a blast and its not even over yet. It all started last night when Jason and i finished our upholstered headboard (our gift to each other). It turned out great, and now we get to sell our old one.

Next, we Heart attacked Boston's room with a line of hearts leading to a lion valentine and lots of chocolate.

I woke up to story this morning which is unusual, first because usually i don't wake up, Jason does; and second, Boston is usually up first. i was not surprised though when i turned the corner to find a little face full of chocolate smiling at me. Bubba did not take long to find, open and eat all 6 chocolates! oi vey (and every other equivalent!) . But We loved doing this for him because that's what i did for Jason when we were first married!

Then Boston and i went to the kitchen to make pink, heart shaped pancakes! We even made them with cottage cheese and took care of our actual hearts too! Yay us!

Jason slept in and we sprinkled candy all over the bed and made him hot chocolate in his new chalkboard mug!

Even though Jason went to work, the fun still went on. Boston's friends Addy and Landon came over, and even story had a little V-Day date with her buddy Liam!

I have to say though my favorite part so far today has to be the dance party Boston and i had in the kitchen to the song "Hey Soul Sister". He knows all the words, it was so cute and he kept trying to shake his bum, which apparently is really hard, and i remember it being a real feat when i could shake my bum and shimmy!

We finished off the day when i arrived home from the gym to a big beautiful bouquet of flowers, a tub of Ben and Jerry's creme brulee ice cream, and a hand made card from my sweetie! It was such a heartfelt wonderful gesture.

But, like some of my friends and i discussed, we try to take it easy on our husbands on Valentines day, because of course they are so amazing the rest of the year. I am so grateful to have so many people around me and even very far away that i love so much. Truly grateful and truly blessed!

Rocky Road never looked so good!

2011-02-11T11:07:00.000-08:00

Yay! this week i lost 3 lbs! i am so excited. I have now lost a total of 4.9% of my body weight! Now, i am going to keep blogging about my transformation, not for support, or to show off, haha, but for accountability. So if you see me reaching for that cupake, or eyeballing that chocolate chip cookie, or drooling over that truffle...basically if you see me any where near chocolate, just give me the eye, the look. You know, the one that says, "EmyLee, you deserve to feel healthy, happy and in control. Don't even think about it". You know that look right? Good, i am glad we got that out of the way.

So for todays healthy recipe... I am going to call this one Rocky Road for a Rockin bod!

Ingredients

1/3 cup low fat cottage cheese

1/3 cup purple grapes

1/3 sliced bananas

2Tbs sliced almonds

1/2 packet Truvia

Mix it all together and youve got a delicious meal (for a 6 meal a day plan). Now i don't know if i have mentioned but these portions are made specifically with women in mind so if you are a guy i would maybe double the recipe or just add a little more protein.

Nutrition tip

As you saw above we used truvia in this meal. It comes from the stevia plant and so it is a totally natural sweetner just like sugar but with virtually no calories. It also tastes awsome. Other products taht i love that come from this plant are flavored stevias you can find at health food stores. My mom likes to put chocolate rasberry stevia in hot water at night in stead of having hot chocolate! Good idea huh.

Work out Tip

When we work out is important to always acheive overload. This means that we are confusing our muscles to acheive optimum results. In order to do this we can follow this acronym

FIDM, yeah just like the design school.

Frequency- how often we work out

Intensity- How hard (our heart rate)

Duration- The amount of time we work out

Mode - the type of cardio or lifting we are doing

By making sure that one of these is changed every 2-3 weeks we will continue to achieve overload and therefore continue to change. One thing that is important to remember is that we should change mode or intensity before duration or frequency just because it is easier to comply with a workout routine if we are not continually increasing how often we are doing the workout. thats about it for this week . go forth and be awsome my fellow workouters! and to anyone who is doing anything to beter themselves, ...your awsome too!

want to laugh?! read me!

2011-01-30T23:03:00.000-08:00

So Jason wasn't sure is this would be good for our blog or more for facebook but i like to think i am really funny and so i want to bring a little joy to the masses for all 7 of you who read this blog!

Jason and i have some good friends who are so talented and creative and they make us laugh like no other. Here is a song that John wrote, and i have a feeling he had a little help from his awesome wifey. I hope you love it! Look for more stuff by John hendricks i am sure he is going places! they also have a song on itunes coming out tommorrow called good at being bad, i havnt heard it yet but i have a feeling it will be good!

A sweet treat you can feel good about!

2011-01-29T22:24:00.000-08:00

Some of my extended family and i are doing a biggest loser competition and i want to share some of the knowledge that i have learned with my degree in Fitness and Wellness! i think i am going to start posting a recipe, a healthy eating tip and maybe even an excercise tip each week. So look for it and lets get healthy together!

So my Favorite recipe this week is a delicious and healthy Strawberry Orange sherbert with a side of Beef Jerky! Here are the ingredients!

2Tb skim milk

1/2 orange

4 frozen strawberrys

4 ice cubes

1tsp crystal light

1/2 cap of coconut extract

1/2 cap full vanilla extract

Blend it all together and youve got a delicious sherbert! Heres a tip, it may be easier to blend if you slice up fresh strawberries and then freeze them or just use frozen strawberries if you've got a good blender. Sometimes i also have to add a Tbs more of skim milk to help it blend

Now with this shake you need to pair it with 1 and 1/2 ounces ( 2large peices) of beef jerky! this brings me to the eating tip of the week

Eating tip #1: In every meal you should pair your carbohydrate with a lean protein in order to maximize your metabolism. This treat would be considered an entire meal if you are eating 6 small meals a day

Eating tip #2: extracts are a great way to get flavor in your food without the calories!

I hope you like this recipe the way my family and i do! thanks for reading!

P.S. This recipe is from Live The Life, a fabulous program that teaches you how to eat and live for a happier better you! I am such a fan and i am in my 4th week. hopefully me telling you will help me to become even more accountable. so far i have lost 3.4% of my body weight!

A sunny Christmas, Staycation and Fondue

2011-01-28T13:46:00.000-08:00

Christmas this year was so different than any other christmas for me. The anticipation of seeing Boston's face when he saw the presents on christmas morning or when we fed the raindeer or when we did any other christmas tradition was what made it so different. On top of that it was kind of the first christmas that we lived away from any family and where i hadn't been able to see alot of my family in a while. My only sister and of course my best bud Lyndzee lived in England and would be there with her family. It was so fun to see Boston and Jackson play together.

They were there along with my brother bret and his wife Haylie from Utah, and Brock Jaime and their new little one...Crew! Taylor was greatly missed but i am so proud of him for serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Chicago! Way to go T-Bone!

It felt like the memmories i always had of cousins pulling in to share thanksgiving with us, and i kind of felt like an official adult, two kids, real job, and driving 16 hours to see the fam! If you can beleive it i was actually looking forward to the drive becuase although they are not always good ones.... i have so many memmories of roadtrips to utah with my family to see my extended family. Sometimes i just stop and think, " man, have i actually arrived at this place in my life!?" But it was so fun to have every body greet us at the front door when we arrived, on Christmas Eve none the less! I loved it. Oh and it was awsome cause we ended up driving through San Diego and got to see David ( jason's Brother) his wife Mandy ( my sista girl) and their adorable little one Kate!

Christmas was so fun with so many wonderful gifts given and recieved! Jason and i tried to go the homemade route this year, which is what i usually do, but this time we went all out.

For my dad we made him these cute little signs to label his vegetables in his garden. It was so fun making these with Boston( but very messy!)

For Brock and Jaime we made them a bench we found the plans for. Here is the link for the plans to build it. The bench turned out awsome. We stained it with a dark walnut stain, and that was all it needed!

Well the plans for after christmas were to go to Disney Land, but a few days before we were planned to leave we heard that the park was so full they were turning people away at 9 am so we opted to plann a "Staycation" thats right I said staycation! i ended up being fun. Some trips to the railroad park,

dinner for Haylies birthday, a night at the Mesa temple to look at Temple lights, and my favorite... Fondue In on New years Eve followed by "Mintute to Win It".

Summer it was so fun to play with You, Huddy and Abbigail!

(Here is the spread for dessert in chocolate fondue...and Brock haha)

It was so fun and flippin hilarious to watch everyone play the crazy minute games . If you can't tell from the pics, we had so much fun goofin off together.

One of my favorite minute to win it games was when Haylie had to tie panty hose around her waist and thier was a banana hanging in it.Then she had to get the banana swinging until she knocked 2 oranges into a hoolahoop. Haha, don't think about it too hard! And i loved how everyone stayed after to try and become master stackers.. of the red cups that is!

After we did fireworks and i just had to go and wake up Boston to share this moment with us, some call us fun parents..other call us irresponsible, i just call it Jason and EmyLee Parenting.

We try and be good, but we love to goof off with our kids. This sometimes leads to late bedtimes, but we do ok!

To my Family, i love you all so much and we had so much fun with you. I choose you and fondue over mickey any day! i love you, emy

Bret is such a good photographer so he took some awsome pics of us! We are just being goofy here, so serious!

If i havn't already mentioned i am so in love with Story! She is like a little ball of sugar! So sweet and smiley!

I loved how much Lyndzee and Dustin loved Story! I found Dustin reading to hear in a chair in Anthropology while we were shopping! So cute!

And i just couldn't resist this cute pic of my favorite people in the whole world!

Halloween

2010-12-13T21:14:00.001-08:00

This year for Halloween we all went as charachters from Toy Story. Boston was Rex the dinasour

Mommy and Daddy were Ken and Barbie!

And Story was Ham!

Heres the wreath we made at girls night

Beware... in high humidity it melts no matter what kind of protectant you put on it!

And of course the traditional, 4th annual dinner in a pumpkin... same recipe, new friends! it was a blast ...here is the spread!

Bostons all grown up!

2010-12-13T20:46:00.000-08:00

Lately Boston has wanted to be just like daddy and has said, "by mom i am going to worky" he then gives me a hug and a kiss, puts on his back pack, rain boots and his hoodie, and he's off to the back porch to wash all his cars in the tupperwares full of rain water. I laughed the other day as i thought of the contents in his suitcase (backpack). Contents as follows:

crayons and markers

binoculars made out of toilet paper rolls (made by daddy)

mommys old bedazzled cell phone

and flame sunglasses

and let me tell you. He uses every item in that backpack! It is essential that he does not leave the house without it!

And this is just his cute little sister! what a doll! p.s she is soo so so smiley it makes my day so much brighter!

Thanksgiving in San Francisco and Projects

2010-12-13T18:09:00.000-08:00

Is this guy cute or what?! He could make us some major mula with these good looks! ooooowww!

So i hope you are reading in hopes of getting an "everything" update. Just a quick disclaimer, this blog is being turned into a book and so it is really my idea of a journal so i don't stress about spelling or how iphrase things or if its interesting or not! hehe ok.

Thanksgiving with the Abbots!

We were unable to go home for thanksgiving so our good friends Margo and Tim Abbot were nice enough to have us in there home for thanksgiving. We met them at BYU and they live in Oakland now. Time works for the Oakland Temple and so he was able to get us a place to stay. The house we stayed at is usually for temple workers who have traveled to get there. It was crazy inexpensive and you would not beleive the views. It has about the same view that the temple had and you know that's always high on a hill! We had the most amazing veiw of the temple and city lights at night, and watched from a huge balcony! It was really cool cause the house is owned by the church and you could feel the spirit... when do you feel the spirit in a hotel room! so i had to watch what i said...just kidding i am pretty good! haha

Margo did a beautiful dinner party feel and the food was as pretty as it was good! we spent the next two days exploring San Francisco or as the locals call it, "The City".

View of Oakland from The Temple!

We spent our first day at Fishermans Wharf or Pier 39! It was so fun. This is us in front of Alcatraz

There was an awsome carosel on the Pier and Boston loved it!

The next day was spent at the San Francisco Zeum for children. It was a placed geared towards technology and play! here is Jason and Boston playing with the big blocks. you don't even have to be in the museum to play with these, but you know kids, they don't care how much or little something costs, or if its a toy or not... when its fun.. its fun !

This was so cool! they created a play ground that was completely green so that it was a green screen that had a monitor that the kids could see as they slid down the slide so it looked like they were in the clouds or the ocean!

Projects

This is just a branch that boston and Jason found for me in the forest behind our house. we then tied ribbon onto snowflake wood ornaments and put vinyl on the ornaments! i love rustic design that brings the outside in!

Heres boston all bundled up before going out in the rain to search for pine cones and a stick!

And here's what we did with the pine cones! Jasons idea! he is so wonderful and crafty! Oh and i am sure many of you are thinking "where did you get that beautiful frame?" cause i get that alot... well the answer is my friend chrissy @ chrissymariedesign.com. she is not making them any more, but she has some already made that she will sell! Thanks Chrissy! we love it!

This is an oh so easy Christmas craft. you just string ornaments onto a hanger in the shape of a circle ( p.s hot glue the silver thingy's on first!) I love the unconventional Christmas colors.

Story's room! We still have boxes in there so this is the most your gonna get for now! haha!

This is a bow and ribbon holder my sister in law showed me how to make.My first baby girl craft! It is so fun having a little girl!

And of course, the main event, Boston's big boy(twin) bed! we were so excited to put Boston in a big bed (not to mention that he was so squished in his pack and play). We looked and looked for a bed but didn't find anything we liked for a price we likes. I guess that's the motivating reason for most DIYers, expensive taste and not enough money! haha. So, just to clarify Jason built the whole thing from scratch and i helped to distress paint and stain it! It turned out so good! we love it! way to go babe!

By the way, boston did great the first 5 or so days followed by 3 days of torture ( he got out of bed 10-15 times each nap) but now he is back to staying in bed, although he does read for about an hour before he goes to bed. he clutches that Thomas book so tight. I tried to take it from him when he was sleeping, but he cried and held it even tighter! I sure love my bubba!

To the man i couldv'e never dremt up

2010-11-18T15:08:00.000-08:00

to my sweet jason on this special day, our four year anniversary! i want you to know how incredibly thankful i am to have you in my life every minute of every day! you are such a special person and so incredibly perfect...for me! One of my favorite qualities about you is your ability to feel and express sincere emotion. instead of being angry you are sad, you tell me how much you love me all the time (3 things you love about my insides and of course 3 about my outsides haha), and you are the most tender and sweet father i could have chosen for our little ones. I titled this post the man i could've never dremt up because the longer i have known jason the more things i realize he has that i never knew i needed. Jason lets me tell him all of my drama and he never tries to fix me, he just listens. He is so adventurous just like my dad and i definatley didn't know i wanted that, haha. this summer in DC we had so much fun mostly due to the fun excursions jason would plan that ended with us getting on the metro close to midnight, me pregnant and boston on the back of our bikes. So awsome, wouldn't change a thing.

Jator, i love the simple moments with you, when boston brings out his book and you rush to lay beside him and we gigle on the carpet together. I love laughing in bed till it hurts and we know we will pay for the late night, the next morning. I love that you share in my hobbies with me eventhough i rarely stick with just one and you always support my creative whims. you are so special and important to me. I don't know what i would do without you in my life. I cant wait to fill our house with even more noise of children and laughter and crying and wonderful family drama! everyday to come no matter what comes will be great if i can do it with you. i love you emy

Remember When

We went to homecoming when we were engaged! we were and will always be huge goof balls!

our beautiful wedding day, the first dance, and the way we felt! i love you!

The honeymoon we missed the first time. It was definately worth it though! heres us at a cliff diving show in acapulco Mexico

Our first camping trip together as marrieds! Zion national park with your sissy Kim!

When baby Boston came along! he changed our lives and we couln't be happier!

This is Jason being the amazing dad that he is, teaching boston how to grunt and push out the little stinkers!

our beautiful baby Story arrived! She is gonna be so close with her daddy!

you can already see how jason has rubbed off on Boston. He is so incredibly soft and sweet with Story!

You went as Ken to the ward halloween party! i stinkin love you! thanks for being my ken...love barbie! by the way, nice ascott!

heres jason and boston at Apple Hill here in CA

Jator baby! it has been an amazing ride and i can't wait to continue on it with you. Dont ever forget how amazing you are and how much you meen to me. I love you with all my heart! i love you, emy

Playing with the Chillins! lovin it!

2010-10-25T15:52:00.000-07:00

i am really excited to say that i think i am starting to get a handle on the whole what to do with your kids during the day thing. Partly because Boston is older and plays with me more, and partly because i am no longer a student and i can dive into mommyhood. So this week Boston and i made peanut butter cookie dough, dyed it green and then played with it like playdoe. This was all inspired by a star cookie cutter that i bought for boston. I wanted to make edible play doe but we were missing an ingredient for every recipe i found so i improvised and made the cookie doe. I think it works just as well, but i have a feeling that those recipes were alot healthier than the cookie dough. And, i must warn you, it is delicious and your kids (and you) will eat alot of it. Yummy! so here is boston playing with the dough and any other gadgets i could find.

We have also had fun filling large tupper wares up with water getting the foaming soap out, and washing all of his cars ...and stuffed animals...and electronics (yikes, not on purpose! hehe)

We go to parks alot here too. There are tons and tons of parks in Folsom i love it! And alot of people with families it is so fun.

Here is Story in her swing lookin so cute and i have to say thank you to Chrissy Walker for giving me such good tips to help me take better pics on my camera. I think they are starting to look better!

Boston is so fun to have around. I turned around the other day and he had these glasses on. The best part is, he know its funny now too and starts to laugh also! he is so silly. I love him.

moms...you are enough

2010-10-25T15:30:00.000-07:00

So I know there is alot to catch up on, but this post is simply to say, moms, you are enough. I have had several conversations lately with dear friends, mommy friends, and i have come to the conclusion that although we feel the need to be constantly busy, look for validation in other aspects of our lives, and become the best at everything we do...we are already enough.

Have you ever been driving down the road and the perfect song comes on. It's not really the words that communicate as much as the music. And in that exact moment the realization of all your blessings comes rushing over you and warms you like the sun on a cold day. I have. It was the other night and i was out getting groceries after a long day of time outs, laughter, tears, diaper changes, quiet sweet moments, and of course the frusterating ones. It seemed to me that in the same moment i was able to reckognize all my blessings, Heavenly Father was again blessing me by allowing me to feel his love. I have felt that alot lately.

Which brings me to my other point. Being a mother is definatley the hardest thing i have ever done...but i am absolutly positive that without its incredible hardships, the ups would not be so heavenly. Sometimes i have those moments where it seems the world is standing still and i look at my perfect little boy singing while he plays with his cars and then my sweet baby girl in the swing. Then I see my husband run over and roll around with boston and i feel this sense of "i am right where i am supposed to be, and i am enough". I think your kids tell this to you every day, not through their words, but every time they forgive you for forgetting to change their diaper, or when they hug you when you come to get them from time out, or how they still want to play with you when you have been too busy for them all morning. It is my little ones that have allowed me to see everything for the second time, innocent, and full of wonderment and excitement. It is my children that have encouraged me to view cleaner programs and to work on my relationship with the savior. I am so greatful to be simply a mom, and i know being a mom is enough. I hope this helped remind some of you how special you are and wonderful. Of course it is many of you that have reminded me of this through your frienship and examples.

Story's Newborn Photo Shoot

2010-09-26T00:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry for a short post, but check out Story's newborn photo shoot. Just click on this link, or copy and paste it.

http://video214.com/play/Iab1lPy1Vfxq0Xzxiu7beA/s/dark

More posts about our California move will be coming soon!

End of Summer

2010-09-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

This summer has been a blast and full of adventure. I finished up my internship a few weeks ago at American University up in Washington D.C. and we've since moved down to my parents' in Bridgewater, VA for a few weeks. One adventure (or task, cause of stress, pressing item, and even a bit of fun...) has been finding a job. We were blessed to have several options, which in this economy is somewhat unheard of. These options could have landed us in Boston, Washington DC, Southern CA, or Northern CA. I accepted a job offer from a wonderful company called Envision Realty Services in the east Sacramento area, Folsom to be exact.

It was quite a cool story actually (I'll tell the condensed version). About 8 months ago I read an article in a magazine about a CEO who recently started a new company doing green building consulting. Upon reading the article and doing some online research and exploring their website, I realized that this is what I wanted to do some day. Then about 4 months ago, I remember the article, and email the CEO, requesting to find a time to speak with him to learn more about his company, his career path, and even job opportunities. Then about a month ago he got back to me, and I had pretty much forgot about the email, but we chatted, he flew me out for a job interview and made me a job offer. I LOVE the company, the culture, the work I will be doing, and even the other co-workers, not to mention the pay is attractive. I know Heavenly Father has blessed us with this opportunity, and I'm so excited to start in a few weeks. To anyone out there looking for work, take this model and USE it. Networking is the key and put yourself out there!

Ok, so our next adventure (sweet blessing, bundle of joy, little darling...) is that our little baby Story Soleil on September 1st at 9:49. She weighed 7 lbs, 10.2 oz and was 18.5 inches long. I will add more/better pictures in the future when I have time to upload them... but she is so cute! She is already even more adorable, she is doing so good at sleeping, eating, and her cry is so cute. Its like a little bird, hehe :)

Before:

After:

Earlier this week, before Story was born, we also bought a car. This is our first really major purchase together (my Scooter we bought together doesn't really count :) We bought a used 2004 Honda Pilot with about 86,000 miles on it for a really good deal. This will hold our new family perfectly, and provide us some relible tranportation which we've really needed. I will be driving it cross country next week in our move, as Emy will fly with the kids (so weird saying that now...) and her parents to AZ, while I'm driving/moving.

This is a funny picture we took at the dealership. We helped them achieve and exceed their sales goal for the month (we bought it on the 30th of August).

Other Photos from the last few weeks

Boston's Birthday, Brought to you by the letter "B" and the number "2"

2010-06-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

We had Boston's 2nd birthday party about a week ago (yay, a current post, this is a record for us!) down at my parents house. As you well quickly realize from the pictures, it was Elmo themed. Emy did such a great job putting together cute invitations (I have to take a picture of one and add it) and sent them to each of the kids and a few family members and friends. While the party's guest only consisted of my sister's family (Jenny), Jon and Laura, and my immediate family (mom, dad, Kim, and Liz), we had a great time. Thanks for coming!

The kids each had gift buckets (good idea huh, perfect for the summer and the beach or sand buckets. Thanks Emy) that had fun things in them, including theElmo visors they got to make.

We were so happy that the cake turned out well. Last year's train cake wasn't so great, but this year we totally redeemed ourselves! I will take the credit on this one, I did all the decorating and tiny icing stars (Well, Emy did the eyes, only because I had to go help with something else). I guess I should give some credit to the cake mold we bought, that made a huge difference from trying to do it from scratch.

Boston got some great gifts, no thanks to us! We blew our budget on the party and whatnot, but we did buy him an Elmo app for Emy's Iphone. He loves that, and its well worth the money on the drive to/from D.C. Grandma and Grandpa Nowell and McIntyre got him some fun things, including a tent with a tunnel and balls, and some leap frog reading books. Yay!

We finished up the party going over to Jenny's house for some pool time. They just moved to Bridgewater about a mile from my parents, and are buying a house (from my parents, long story), and they have a pool. We're jealous that we don't live that close, have a pool, a house... hehe, j/k... But we had a blast! Feel free to send Boston late B'day gifts if you want!

Red Sox Game

2010-06-21T11:59:00.000-07:00

So, sometime ago I thought it would be a cool tradition to take Boston to a Red Sox game each summer, close to his birthday. Well, I planned ahead and I saw the Baltimore Orioles were playing the Red Sox in Baltimore, so we bought tickets to go!

Camden Yards is great, and we had so much fun. My Dad, Kim, and Liz all came up to go to the game with us.

Yay, the Red Sox won, and even though we were in Baltimore, I would say that the fans were 50/50 representing baltimore and the red sox. We had a great time, and Boston loved the bounce house they had there for free, and all the excitement of the fans and players.

A new start in DC

2010-06-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

Boston waiting for his grilled cheese at the fancy Olive and IVy restaurant with gma
(Jator sending love back home to Boston from hollywood studios)
So after our trip to Florida i went to AZ to pick up bubba and jator went to UT to finish cleaning the apartment and put all of our stuff in storage. Jason is such an amazing man by the way! i just have to put a quick plug in here and tell him how much i love him. SInce i have been pregnant he has gotten up with boston every weekend, made midnight ice cream and tums runs and everything else for me in between. I love you baby!

Ok so when i got to AZ i was so elated to see Boston. I missed him like crazy on our trip. He was so good for Nana and papa nowell. here are some cute videos and pics of him in AZ.

Well the flight was long and thank goodness for supportive parents who bought boston a ticket for half way to DC because i don't think i couldve done it any other way. The second leg was only an hour and with a pregnant belly there was no lap space and i was in between two teenage boys which made it even worse when i threw up in the barf bag 5 minutes before landing. But we made it. We spent the first two weeks in Bridgewater with jasons family. It was so fun to go and visit Jason's sister Jenny about 45 min away in staunton. Here is him with his cousins at the duck pond.

Boston has loved playing with his cousins . Here is all of them on a sunday playing in grandma and grandpa McItnyre's yard

It was hard though becuase Jason was in DC four days a week. We missed him so we sent him some love. here is boston saying goodnight to Daddy.

While Jason was in DC boston gained a new afinity for hanging on everything! here he is in all his buffness and a couple more just too stare at his cuteness! we miss all our family and friends in utah and AZ other parts of the US we are thinking of you!

This last one is of our favorite park in D.C. Its only 3 blocks away and we go everyday! They opened up a splash zone and boston loves the water.

creepy kids!

2010-06-04T19:26:00.000-07:00

So there is this awsome park near by which i am so greatful for. Boston and i spend every morning there either in the park or at the splash zone. The other day these kids were worried that boston would take their trucks. I assurred them he wouldn't. Then they started to giggle and ask him if he still wore diapers. So juvenile i know hahaha. But finally i saw they had turned a corner and asked if they could give him a present. I was so happy he had found some friends. They then looked at me and one of them put his fingers together like Dr. Evil and said, "we will tie him up, that will be our present"! So creepy right! haha me and boston split like bananas on ice creame! yes i love banana splits! just another random moment of our lives in DC. Here is boston so sweet with no idea who hes dealing with!

Graduation, Disney World and Carribean Cruise

2010-06-02T19:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, we're long due for some updates on here, so we'll see if we can knock out a few events from the last few months. Well, as the post title reads, we have graduated! We can't believe it, after years of being in Provo, we're all "grown up," supposedly, and are BYU alumni now! Emy does have an independent study course to finish up this summer, but I'm free and clear! In fact, I got my diploma in the mail the other day...

Emy's parents came out to Provo for graduation, celebrating with us, as well as Brock and Jamie, and my parents made it out too! We planned a trip to go to Orlando Florida to go to Disney World WITHOUT Boston. Haha, thats right, Will and Kathy took B-man home with them to AZ for 9 days, and Emy and I flew out to FL with my parents where we met up with Dan and Jenny's family, as well as Kim and Liz. We had a blast fulfilling our childhood dreams for three days at Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Disney Hollywood Studios.

In fact, Emy tried out for the "American Idol Experience" at Hollywood Studios and she made it in! So what that means is that she got to perform live on stage infront of probablly 150+ Disney guests at the park for the day. The audience votes, and if you win, you make it to a finale later in the day. Well, she did amazing, singing the song, "I hope you dance" by Martina McBride; however didn't get voted to the finale. She was actually glad, because it took up a 3+ hours for hair and make-up and we wanted to get back to the rides!

We had fun with all the hat you can find in the gift shops!

Can you guess what movie this prop is from?

Yup, you guessed it, from "Hannah Montana, the Movie". We love that movie!!

After 3 days at Disney we took a shuttle down to Miami and caught our 4 night cruise with ports in Key West and Cozumel, Mexico. This was our first cruising experience and we had a blast. The food was tasty and plentiful, and there was lots of entertainment, and ample amount of nap time! Next time we go on a cruise, we want to go with friends or family, so we have our own posse' to hang with. Not that we didn't dig the alone time, but we can see cruising as a group being even more fun! Our last day in Florida after we got off the boat, we stayed in Ft. Lauderdale where we would catch our flight the next afternoon. It was quite the adventure getting up there from Miami. It took a combination of taxi, metro, train, and a 2 shuttles to get there, but it was well worth it. We were in a Hyatt hotel that we pricelined for $50 and it was amazing! We ate dinner at an authentic Argentine restaurant and enjoyed an afternoon at the beach (which was ironically the first time we really got in the ocean after sailing on it for the last 4 days!).

Thanks Mom and Dad McIntyre and Nowell for supporting us through college, but not just financial aid, but your love, prayers, comfort after those tear filled phone calls and the occasional flight home to escape and relax! We love you and we owe you guys everything! Hopefully with a college education we'll be able to support you when you're old and gray! :)

Our Christmas in Bridgewater!

2010-01-03T00:17:00.000-08:00

We began our trip with a lot of weather. There was a huge storm so our flight was pushed back 1 day. However, there were still alot of delays so we ended up being stuck in memphis on our layover for 4 or 5 hours. We had a couple of melt downs, but we ended up setting up shop in a corner of the airport with highschool musical playing and my huge sherpa coat as a blanket. I stopped at one point and told Jason that we got through this, so we could get through anything! Plus ups and especially downs come whether we like them or not, but the downs are so much better with my family!
There was over two feet of snow in VA so we were very anxious to go play in the snow with Boston and all our neices and nephews! We didn't have snow pants or snow shoes so we wrapped each of Bostons legs in plastic grocery bags and wrapped in duck tape! he looked so funny and so flippin adorable. Although, i don't think it worked cause he cried as soon as he touched the snow. In the one on the sled he looks like a little amputee, not that thats funny or anything! hehe.

Below is a picture of one of my favorite traditions, The nativity. Ever

y year the whole Teerlink family gets together and does a big potluck lunch. After we eat, the nativity roles are assigned.

Because boston was in my tummy last time we did this, we were so excited to see what role he would play, and we were hoping he would play the role of the cute cudley sheep. He did

, except he wanted to sit in this chair and him and nathan were fighting over it.

Eventually, Alexa came over and put an end to the fighting by sitting in the chair herself. It was hilarious .
Heres somemore cute pics of Boston and his cousing Nathan in the tub, and giving kisses! Its nice to see him being affectionate, because ever since i taught him to say "hiyah" he karate chops everything, especially Nathans head. But, don't worry, Nathan gets him back with his overzealous hugs and usually knocks Boston to the ground! more posts like this one to come! Oh and here is a picture of Boston in his new snow shoes! yay for things that actually keep your legs warm!

Daddy Baby Trip to Phoenix & GreenBuild

2009-11-17T23:05:00.001-08:00

This last week Boston and I (Jason) spent 5 days in Phoenix. My primary reason for going was to attend GreenBuild, which is hosted by the U.S. Green Building Council. As many of you know, in June I took the LEED A.P. test and I am now LEED accreditted. This is a designation that denotes that I have at least basic understanding of green or sustainable building construction, practices, design and operations. Certainly I am anxious to gain more hands on experience, but at least I have accomplished the initial "book smarts" of sustainable design. Feel free to ask me about it, and I can tell you as much as you want to know. Anyways... this conference was a perfect place for me to network and connect with potential employers and learn about sustainable products available in the market place. I attended a job fair on Tuesday, then a full day of conference on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday I took the day off to play with my favorite little baby! Boston came with me to Phoenix because Kathy (my mother-in-law) wanted to take care of Boston and play with him. This gave Emy the opportunity to get ahead on some school work and relax some! We sure did miss her, and she claims to have missed us more!

On Friday Boston and I started off the morning playing at home, getting in the hot tub, taking a nap, and then going out for lunch! We had so much fun. Look at us at our "lunch date" at Pita Jungle which is really tasty if you ever get the chance!

At the conference I got to go to the Keynote opening plenary where Al Gore spoke, among others, and Sheryl Crow put on a really good concert! ( A full hour of her singing!) I wasn't to sure about what Al was going to say, but turns out he was very funny and a great presenter.

I was in the FRONT ROW, so I was like 10-15 feet from Sheryl!

Boston and I rode bikes around some on our free time. The weather was GREAT. One evening we rode a few miles to Ice Tango which has great frozen yogurt! We ended up going there 2x other times with Will and Kathy, they love it even more than us!

The first morning we were there, we went on a nice ride as well! Boston loves riding in this seat, we need to get one so we can go on rides at home (when its not snowing...)

The last morning we were there, I was determined to run a 5k with Boston. I was planning on running the 5 k that was hosted by the GreenBuild Conference, but it got cancelled last minute, so I found another race on google that was out in Mesa! We showed up 15 minutes before the race started, signed up and took off! I don't know what motivated me to run the race, because EmyLee will tell you, and I agree, that I'm not too anxious to go running here at home. I just wanted to do it, and thought it would be a cool memory with Boston. We did alright, finishing around 29 minutes. I thought that was descent given I never run, and I ran with Boston in the jogging stroller! All in all we had a great time in Phoenix! Thanks Will and Kathy for letting us stay with you!

Family Pictures on the Beach

2009-09-24T17:08:00.000-07:00

On our vacation to San Diego over labor day, our close friend, Chrissy Walker, took family pictures for us! We're so grateful because we haven't been the best at documenting memories or family pictures. Thanks Chrissy!

San Diego Trip, Labor Day 2009

2009-09-20T23:59:00.000-07:00

Well I don't have much time to write much, but I wanted to post a few pictures! We went to San Diego over Labor Day weekend, and it was an amazing trip! It was such a great get away and we made it by spending very little! (By Rapid Rewards flights, cooking at home, and not renting a car! Oh, and our condo, ON THE BEACH, was free too, thanks to Will and his business contacts!)

The best part of the trip was that we got to go with our great friends Lance and Chrissy Walker, Lexy, and Emy's parents!! Chrissy and Lexi are both great photographers and did an excellent job documenting the trip, plus they took some family photos for us too! (those are to come, except for the one at the top right of our blog).

Here are some of the fun pictures, aren't they great! (P.S. a little plug for them both... they both do photography for any event or occassion - Lexy in AZ and Chrissy in UT)

There are some great shots during this sunset, our silhouettes are awesome!

Lance and Chrissy are amazing at country dancing and they know a ton of different lifts and moves!

Surfs up man! This was BEFORE I got stung by a sting ray! That part wasn't fun, but it was the last few hours we were there!

HOTT MOMMA!
Boston's first longboarding lesson
Isn't he just the cutest!

Summer Pictures

2009-08-12T15:36:00.001-07:00

So we're not the best at posting consitently, but I wanted to put a few pictures up from this summer. We still need to get the pictures together from Boston's birthday, but that will be soon! (We only took a video, so I need to save a couple frames from the video as pictures and I just haven't gotten around to it!)

Boston on the boat with Grandpa Nowell. Boston loved the wind in his hair, and just relaxed with Grandpa!

This is Boston sipping a RedBull at a Diamond Backs game in Arizona! Haha, no don't worry, he didn't drink any!! But he tried!

Here's Boston looking so cute when we went out to eat one night. He is so adorable!

Boston's first haircut! We cut the side short, and left a Mohawk/Fauxhawk, and thats how we usually style it too!

Mommy and Bman at the Duck Pond south of BYU on a walk!

Me and Boston at the Duck Pond

So this picture is older, but I thought it was so cute. This is Boston with his "cuz" Jackson. Boston was like 10 months here

I will make a better effort to take more pictures and post sooner, cuz Boston already looks older than these pictures! He's almost walking, and stands on his own!

Bret's Wedding

2009-06-08T15:15:00.000-07:00

Bret and Haylie got married on May 8th, and it was a great time. If any of you were there, or saw pictures of our Wedding back in 2006, Emy and I had a pretty cool idea of wearing black and white Converse, Chuck Taylors at our wedding. Well, not to say Breat and Haylie stole this idea... but they borrowed it, adding their own touch of course, Red! So Boston got his a week or two before, and we had to try them out! He's so cute!

We also found a baby tux for B-man. We had to buy it instead of rent, but it was actually cheaper! So if anyone plans on getting married, and wants Boston (or any future kid...) in a tux, make sure they will fit in the 12-18 month size!

A couple more wedding pictures!

And Finally, Cute Pictures of Emy (yes, this is Jason blogging, I often post more than Emy does!)

Congratulations Bret and Haylie!

End Of Semester

2009-04-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

Well, even though I titled this end of semester, I really don't plan on saying much about school! Haha, we're behind on posting, as always, so I wanted to add some pictures about Boston, and tell everyone how grateful I am for my wife!! She is absolutely amazing and does so much! Recently I have taken some longer shifts of taking care of Boston, and not that he's difficult (because he really isn't, he's such a good boy!) but it has really helped me appreciate all that EmyLee does, and how much love she has!! She is going out of town at the end of the month to her friend's wedding, Minta, up in Washington, and I'm going to be on 24/7 Boston duty here in Provo! Even though she'll only be gone 2 or 3 days, I'm a little nervious, but I'm sure we'll do fine, and of course have so much fun! So thanks to all you moms out there, and all you do! (haha, it sounds like a mothers day post, but I'll be sure to say something then too!)

So, heres some fun photos and pics!

So this is probably my favorite video we've captured yet! Emy was scrapbooking, and she was using a hammer and Boston thought it was sooo funny! He would crack up if she just lifted the hammer up in the air. And this is after he had been doing it for a few minutes, so we hurried up and got the camara out!

B-Man looking all cute, and dazed out!

Boston loves taking baths, and he plays the whole time. Its like he's relaxin' in a hot tub, because he'll put his feet up and lounge back!

He loves looking in the mirror, and making faces at himself! Isn't he so cute!

He's so precious! I love being his daddy, who wouldn't!

Trip to AZ

2009-01-27T14:24:00.001-08:00

This last week we went to Arizona, partly for work, and partly for play! Emy's sister, Lyndzee, and her husband, Dustin, adopted their baby about 3 weeks ago, and we had to go meet the new family member. His name is Jackson, and is sooo cute. This picture is of Lyndzee and Jackson, Danielle and Tyler (Lyndzee's sister in law and 7 month old) and of course Emy and Bman
Here's Boston and baby Jacks sleeping side by side, they're so cute! Boston looks like a giant next to Jackson, (Thats what everyone kept calling him, the "giant").
Three babies, side by side!

On the way home, we stopped by and visited a great friend in Flagstaff, Lexy! She's a very talented photographer, and she took a few fun pictures for us! Look at Boston's fun PJ's that Lexy gave him. They have "Dance Botts" all over them.

Boston getting some major air time!

Well, thats all for now, we have a bunch of pictures from our camera that we need to upload on here, so be patient with us! We're doing great and having so much fun with Boston and watching him learn and grow! We're so lucky to have him!

Bostons firsts at 6 months

2008-12-18T23:43:00.000-08:00

Look its Boston with his first pair of big boy hanes socks! Just like Daddy!

Even with one month of practice, Boston is still making such a mess of his cereal. But he's a baby, it's cool! hehe!

This is Boston's first time as a viking! and i look like a man eventhough i am in the womens outfit!

This is Boston's first time on a bike! Jason is super ambitious! Jason wants him to be a swimmer too so we just make him hold his breathe for 30 seconds during bath time! haha, just kidding!

And i don't know but i don't think this is bostons first time hitt'n on the ladies! look at that face. He is about to say "how you doin" in the joey voice!

Below is a video of me making Boston laugh! It gets good at the end! But it's kind of funny cause i have to go crazy like i am gonna eat him in order to make him laugh. I look like a wild animal! oh well!hehe

Many firsts with Boston at 6Months!

2008-12-18T14:33:00.000-08:00

B man got to meet his cousin Nathan, who is just about two months older. You could probably tell because of the difference in hair, but i think nathan had hair right from the start! they are so cute together huh! No one beleives us but we are proud to anounce that boston is getting longer hair! we put some crew in it the other night and he looked stylin!

Well, no this is not Boston's first time on a plane, but it is his first time in the cockpit! This is us in the mineapolis airport on our way home from Virginia for thanksgiving!

Boston got to meet his cousins for the first time! This is kyle and Boston . Kyle loves boston so much and it was so great to have someone else around to entertain him. Kyle can make Boston laugh so hard!

This is Daddy and B man just hangin out tryin to get by in the world!

This is a picture of Bostons first time eating solids. He always makes this awful face at first. Its priceless. But, then he comes around and you can't shovel in the food fast enough! feeding time bathtime and of course bed time is my favorite time of the day. We get real messy, then we play in the bath, then we snuggle right before bed!

just some fun stuff

2008-10-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

so i just had to take a picture of this for my mom, jason folded these towels perfectly just the wy my momma taught him! hehe, i still can't do it right! ha

This is fanny going crazy licking herself after we gave her a bath. she looks like a crazed alley cat!

B man looked so cute in his tiger pjs! and his daddy is pretty cute too. oh i have to say we are very greatful to have such a wonderful dad and husband today. Jason was in a scooter accident, but walked away with scrapes and bruises! i am so greatful to have the sweetest man on the block! i sure do cherish him! eeeee! thats our smile sound!

Chicken chilli Mole! so good

2008-10-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

ok so here is the recipe i got off of food network for our ward chilli cook off. i tweeked it alittle and put the changes that i made in the recipe. It turned out so good! i can't believe we didn't win. Oh and boston looked so cute in his bear costume, but you'll all have to wait and see until oct. 31st!

Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
5 teaspoons Pre-Chopped Garlic, recipe follows
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 red bell peppers, seeded and diced
3 jalapeno peppers, diced
½ packet of chilli powder (on latin foods isle)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 can mild rotel
1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, drained
2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
1 ½ bottle of coke
½ cup milk chocolate chips
2 scallions, chopped, for garnish
Cheddar, for garnish
Directions
In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add red bell peppers and jalapenos and saute for 5 more minutes, until soft. Stir in chili packet and cinnamon and cook until spices are fragrant. Add tomatoes, pinto beans, shredded chicken,rotel and coke. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in chocolate just before serving. Garnish with grated Cheddar and chopped scallions, if desired.

Pumpkin patch play date!

2008-10-23T15:31:00.000-07:00

This was a relief society play date at a barn and pumpkin patch down past payson. We didn't pick out a pumpkin, i had my hands full, but it was a blast! And, its all about the experience isn't it! Happy Halloween!

bostons first hike up the "Y"

2008-10-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

It was so fun, Jason called me and said " lets work out together tonight!" which i was so excited about untill i realized that we couldn't with the baby, then he told me that we could hike the Y. Every year during homecoming week there is a "hike the Y" event. so us, along with hundreds of other students hiked the y for the lighting ceremony. However, regret to inform you that we did not make it to the top. it got a little too cold and the person holding the baby couldn't see his feet in the dark! We sure loved the doughnuts and hot chocolate at the bottom though! doesnt' Boston look so cute all bundled up with his doggy beenie!

Bostons 4 month update

2008-10-23T14:50:00.000-07:00

well, Boston is 4 months and so much has changed. He laughs at my jokes, drools all the time and tries to eat everything! on conference weekend we had the opportunity to go up and stay in park city! We hit the Carter outlets and we hit em hard! this is boston in his first pair of big boy clothes and we thought he looked like a cute construction worker without his shirt on so...he is shirtless! check out those muscles!

How adorable right! Boston is posing so well! this is his nighty proclaiming hes on dads team, but judging from how many times he has peed on dad and not me...id say hes on my team! hehe

Jason's turn to Post

2008-09-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

Hi, this is "Mac Daddy" 's turn to post, and it was great to see that people had left comments for us today, yay! Thanks Jenny and Minta, I guess I should leave comments too, cuz its exciting, like getting mail! Today we had a fun "FHE" where we both played with Boston and he had tummy time and was talking up a storm! Here's some pictures of that:

Also, I wanted to add some pictures that I felt were important to have in here, like Fanny, our Kitty! She is so beautiful and we love her to death!

This last one is so funny, Fanny would sit at the counter with her elbows up on the counter, and sometimes she would get sleepy! Whats even funnier is that we randomly had some medicine bottles on the counter, so it looks like she just Over-Dosed or something!

Some cute videos!

2008-09-14T00:05:00.000-07:00

Don't tell Jason i put this on here! It may be up for a limited time only! hehe

Jason is doing bostons signature dance move "round da house!" and then he says hi to everyone, except grandpa! hehe

2008-09-13T23:38:00.000-07:00

This is Bostons nursery! it is so fun to decorate knowing its for him!

2008-09-13T22:39:00.000-07:00

above: boston being so cute, i just take pictures cause i am a fan
Right: boston with Uncle T Bone, Jason, and Collin hangin out with the boys in lake powell!

Bostons first big boy bath! It was so fun!

Being a mom is becoming more and more fun every day. Boston and me are best buds. I know how to calm his tears and he knows how to make mommy smile! I seriously didn't know I could feel so much joy and also so many emotions at the same time. its so much work and at the same time, we play all day! I am getting emotional just talking about him.

Our First Parents Only Getaway!

2008-09-12T14:29:00.000-07:00

Jason and I gave Lyndzee and Dustin the opportunity to practice their real pareting skill, you know, the ones that don't end at a stinky diaper and midnight feedings! he, just kidding, they let us have the weekend off to go on this fun camping trip to sedona, where we honey mooned! So fun! However, we were surprised by the very cold weather and the never ending rain. All the food we brought had to be cooked over the fire and since we couldn't get one going in the rain until the last night, we had to go into town and eat out! oops! it was awful! not! any way here is Jason on our hike that turned into dodging hail and me eating, whats new! yesss!

Some Long Due Pictures!

2008-09-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

This is the Hospital that Boston was born at. It was in midlothian VA and when we walked in we worried we were going to be charged extra for everything! It was like a hyatt. Wood floors in the delivery room and marble everywhere .We joked that we never saw another patient while we were there. Was this a hospital or a hotel? hehe

Lyndzee and Dustin want to adopt

2008-08-05T01:10:00.000-07:00

Having a baby is so much fun! I love him in so many ways! but, I especially love all the people around that love him too! BOston is blessed with two sets of grandparents who adore him and aunts and uncles that love him like he was there own. Lyndzee and Dustin in particular have been trying to have a baby for a while now and I know that Boston will always have such a special bond with them. If anyone knows of anyone who is giving a child up for adoption please look into Lyndzee and Dustins Blog its http://www.durhamfam.blogspot.com/. Here are some pics of Boston Daniel on the day of his baby blessing we took with the help of Lyndz and Dustin and of course my mom and dad. He is 7 weeks old here!

1:02:00 AM
by Emy Jason and Boston
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