Reflections on my week:

Monday was kind of a blah day! I stayed up till 2:30 on sunday writing my previous post silly me so a morning to sleep in and then watch "a baby story" was in the cards for me! Monday night we watched the bachelorette a show Justin despises but I find guilty pleasure in watching! I love the romance! After the show I promised the girls I would make Jello with them, 7 layer red, white, and blue Jello! It took nearly 3 hours to make....crazy. I cleaned house between the down time waiting for the layers to set. By 12:30 am, The house was spotless, fresh vacuum lines throughout, dishwasher running, washing machine going my kinda spotless, my fav.
Tuesday Justin woke me up before work @ 4:30 saying the house looked amazing and thanks for all my hard work then a big hug and a luscious kiss followed by "I Love You" which he does every morning which I absolutely love. Today was a big day, my meeting with HR for my new job that I am so excited about! I woke up early showered while listening to Pandora, pure awesomeness! Autumn came at 10am to babysit the girls for my meeting. Off I went to my meeting it wasn't quite as fun as I had dreamed of. They were completely disorganized so my hour meeting seemed to take forever. I came home to the girls playing monopoly and it melted my heart the way Autumn had so much fun with my girls! Justin texted me he was on his way home at 2pm he got out early, lucky me!!
Wednesday was swim day with Autumn and Alex. On our way we stopped at the store and bought Autumns puppy a stuffed animal duck and rawhide to chew on. We swam for a couple hours then Autumn made us yummy sandwiches and hotdogs. I felt spoiled having her make lunch for us. It was so nice of her. Then we returned our books to the library, Allie crashed on the way home! I love it when she falls asleep in the car then I can stare at her in my rear view mirror. There is nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby. My mom and Kenzie came to our house an hour later! They came for my Birthday!! I felt so special. Justin got home around 5 and we were out on a hot date by 6! We went to sushi, it was yummy! Then we went to the mall, Justin saw his friend there and ran up and scared him. He always sees people he knows I love that about him! We ate yummy coconut yogurt with butterfingers, reeses peanut butter cups, cookie dough, and oreos sprinkled on top it was delicious we ate it under the stars which was magical. Then our last stop was Target. not very romantic but shopping with no kids is very practical!
Thursday was my birthday! Justin woke up and made me pancakes for breakfast I had them with peanut butter syrup and peaches, my favorite. They were delicious and I loved having him home for the morning. I love having him home anytime but this was a change from his normal schedule! Then the girls got ready and we hit the town shopping!! It was a blast we shopped from 1-9pm. We had so much fun! So many great finds at the thrift stores! I loved every minute of it and the girls were pretty good considering the long shopping trip! To top off the great day it rained, it rained hard! We came home and tried on all our clothes and I laid everything out and took a picture, I was in awe of all the awesome clothes. My mom spoiled me like crazy! I felt loved, really loved.
Friday we slept in! I left around 10:30 am for my meeting at work. I got my schedule for orientation and I got my badge and parking permit, It was official and I couldn't be more excited. That badge represented a lot of hard work. I met up with my mom and the girls at olive garden, yummy. When I walked in a family from my ward was there holding Allie! It melted my heart, I love how they dote on Allie and it was fun to see familiar faces! We got sung too Lindsay and I, it was so fun I looked at Lindsay and sang to her and she looked at me and sang to me! It was a tender moment. Then we got yummy donut things for dessert. My mom headed home which was sad I think Tatum asked her at least three times "do you really have to go home?"! I felt the same way. I miss seeing them all the time. Kenzie stayed to help babysit over the weekend but she started feeling yucky. She threw up so I drove her to casa grande to meet my mom. Poor baby cried the whole way there! I was so sad for her. I rubbed her back and told her I was sorry she was so sick. Justin texted me at 10:46 and said "call me to let me know you're okay" I thought he was sleeping from his long day of work. I love that he worries about me and loves me so much! Again I felt loved! I snuggled up next to him in bed so he knew I was home safe.
Saturday I was excited to hang up my new curtains I bought at target with my birthday money. White ruffles= heavenly. And guess who ironed them for me, all 5 layers on both panels, yes Mr. Jarvis. He is a keeper. Then we hung them together trying multiple ways! We decided on a plan I held them up while he clipped them on. As he was clipping them on I looked at him thinking I love playing house with you;) We make a great team and I love everything about him. The Cronin's were supposed to come visit us but with the sickness going around they didn't I was pretty bummed. I was looking forward to spending the day with my dear friends and the thought that they would drive up here just for my birthday made me feel very special and loved. The girls fought alot of the day which made me very sad. I feel like this fighting has been going on alot this summer and is kinda driving me nuts. So we decided to order out BBQ for Justin and I  then we snuggled on the couch for a romantic night alone. Justin delivered his promised homemade birthday card that made me smile! It was a classic for sure! He even drew a picture of us on the beach which is where I wish we could have been for my birthday. I LOVE him. Did I already say that. Well I do, lots.
Sunday what a lovely day. We got to church about 10 minutes late so we took the sacrament in the foyer. I was happy that we got to take the sacrament I miss it when we dont. Someone in our ward makes homemade bread for sacrament and it is to die for! I love it. We nearly made it through sacrament without taking any kids out, a miracle. Justin and I sit on opposite ends guarding the kiddos, I always thought I would sit by my husband at church! But we did hold hands across the back of the pew, which I thought was equally romantic! I missed going to church as a family so bad when Justin was gone. It was so fun to be there together. Justin took Tatum out at the end and tried to teach her another one of life's valuable lessons Respect. Its hard to teach I think. But he is a good teacher and we talked about what went down after our sunday school class. Our class was big today I taught most of the lesson by myself. I think I was pretty boring, I got alot of blank stares! The lesson was on Tithing! When Justin came in he made it more fun!! Hes is personable and the kids like him! I really enjoy listening to him I felt the spirit when he was talking. I have gained such a strong testimony of tithing. It has blessed my life so much! I am thankful for the opportunity I have to pay back a little to my Heavenly Father. He has blessed me with so much. Later it rained again, I love the rain. Jill came with her kids and Justin's parents came! It was fun to show them the house and be with them. Then we ate dinner with the "other" Jarvis' in our ward. Turns out we are second cousins! Its a Small world. It was great too meet new people in the ward and family two streets away, awesome!

Reflection of this week:
Monday morning we woke up at 4 am Allie's face was covered in hives, she was swollen, her hands were 3x the normal size she was having a reaction to penicillin. The rash started saturday and had progressively gotten worse despite our efforts of giving her bendryl every 6 hours and taking her to urgent care. My heart broke in a million pieces to see her suffering the way she was. We decided to take her to the emergency room, I was afraid her airway might swell up next. Justin called into work and went with me which was a huge blessing. We woke up Lindsay and Tatum and we all took her to UMC pediatric ER in Tucson about 20 minutes away. They ended up treating her with a steroid that worked within the hour. What a blessing. Lessons learned from this experience, Justin was so amazing and unselfish to call in and stay home, he is in a 1 year probation period at work so they could fire him at any time for any reason but he proved to me we are first, his family is most important to him and for that I am eternally grateful. The pain of seeing my child suffer was too much for me to bare alone and he was there with me to make it better. And I am also eternally thankful for healthy children. It was a problem that could be fixed! As a mom you want to fix and make things better for your kids, thankfully she got better. Not all kids get better and that is very sad and it breaks my heart to see my kids suffer. I thought of my Heavenly Father and imagining Him watching his Son suffer. How did He do it? On the way home from the hospital I received a message from the HR department at UMC. I called them back and they offered me a job! I was ecstatic, I feel this job offer was a tender mercy with a divine signature from my Father in Heaven. I am supposed to be starting a job tomorrow, a job I was not excited about, at a hospital I was not excited about working at. A job I have prayed about, cried about, and pleaded for answers about. I originally got a job offer from UMC in May but had to turn it down because I couldnt commit to a part time position, I was very sad to turn it down. So after talking to the HR lady she said the managers were really impressed by my phone interview and wanted me to join their team and would be willing to offer me the "per diem" or as needed position. I have only worked full time once and vowed I would never do it again with babies at home. I have a full time job and they are my three girls! I am their mommy Heavenly Father sent them to me to lead them and guide them. I am the best mom for them and they are the best kids for me. This is my divine calling,motherhood, and it comes first in my life. Because of this decision to put motherhood first in my life I have been blessed with work that allows me to do that. So now I get to do two things that I love be a mama and a nurse! (at the best hospital in Tucson)
Tuesday it rained, we are in monsoon season and I love it! I love the rain, the thunder, the dark clouds! It reminds me of my childhood and the Texas thunderstorms. So the girls put on their swim suits and played in the rain. I loved watching them as complete joy swept their faces. I loved watching them play in the ditch area where the rain gushed between their toes. I loved hearing Lindsay say this is the best day EVER! I love that Justin got home early. I love that we got to go out to eat at a mexican restaurant with our friends and that they came over after and played games till 11 clock! Tuesday was a great day.
Wednesday was the 4th of July and Justin had the day off the last holiday he will have off for a long time. A day to reflect of the freedoms we enjoy! I am thankful to live in America and enjoys the freedoms that we enjoy. We celebrated the day by going shopping at the mall! It rained again. While we ate lunch the rain fell on the glass roof! There were some good sales! Justin watched the girls for me while I went to a couple of my favorite stores and scored some great stuff! That night Justin watched Allie for me while I took the older girls to see the fireworks in Tucson! After driving all around we ended up getting frosty's and watching the fireworks from a bridge! It was magical. I love the
fireworks.
Thursday we went swimming for most of the day with Autumn one of my new friends! It was lovely to swim. We havent been swimming very much since Allie has a cast so it was fun to swim! I got in the water too which the girls always love. I love watching Allie in her first experiences with swimming! Her favorite thing to do is count 1,2,3 and jump in from the side, she will do it for what seems hours! I love her facial expressions and the excitement she has, I love that she trusts me to catch her. Later Me and the girls went to costco and bought a battery and groceries. so Justin could sleep. We got pizza and churros, the girls love churros. And my mom texted me at about 11 that Matt and Kenzie were coming tomorrow YEAH we love visitors.
Friday I love Love Love fridays! Especially when I get to meet my brother and sister for lunch! I didn't tell the girls who were coming I wanted it to be a surprise! They ended up guessing which I was impressed. So we met at 5 guys and stuffed our faces with yummy burgers and fries! Then we went to Savers my favorite!! found Salt Water sandals for Lindsay SCORE. Then we went to sonic for happy hour which I have been going thru withdrawals from. Then we went to the Water Park it was lots of fun, I love living in this fun neighborhood with all these fun things to do. We stayed till about 730! Justin had texted me and said he would be late. He was late 11 oclock late he usually gets home at 430. He had a very exciting day at work. I loved talking with him and seeing how much he loves it. He is happy. This job is perfect for my Justin. This job is also an answer to our prayers.
Saturday Kenzie made us her yummy pancakes! She makes pancakes almost as good as my Dad's (my favorite) then we had another surprise visitor come down! I had texted Jason all week to coordinate this surprise it was fun! We went to Texas Roadhouse for lunch and Jason walks in sits at the table next to us and says "can you pass the rolls"! It was great! Then we went hiking at Madera Canyon it is beautiful there! I loved it, I have been wanting to go there for a while. I love being close to nature I feel  closer to God. That night we had friends over to watch the fight, Justin loves that stuff so I watch it with him and I made yummy cookies for them with my Tatum, love her.
Sunday The Sabbath day, I started the day off by playing the Mormon Tab on Pandora. I love to hear music it inspires me. We went to church as a family, I love going to church. We were on time too! Justin and I got called to teach the 12-13 year old sunday school class. Awesome calling, I love teaching with Justin. He did most of the talking, he did a great job. We talked about the Sabbath and keeping it holy, I felt the spirit. I also felt the spirit in relief society, we talked about missionary work and it was a powerful lesson. The teacher talked about her conversion story and I loved it. Today was Allie's first day in nursery a bitter sweet day. She did great but her bff Kenzie was with her the whole time! Then we had lunch, played risk and then our visitors left. It was sad. very sad. I took the girls to walk around the lake. It was heavenly. Lindsay caught a frog two actually I let her bring one home. She hugged me really tight and said I was the best. I love hearing that. Then we watched Princess and the Frog. After the movie I was looking at my blog with Lindsay we were looking at all the pictures and laughing and I realized how much time has gone by without documenting our memories. I have felt that I should use sundays as a day to capture our memories. so I am going to use sundays to reflect. To reflect on my joys as a mom, to reflect on the small everyday experiences that build my character, to reflect on the everyday moments where I know Heavenly Father is aware of me and my life and my family. I am thankful for this prompting and look forward to reflecting each week on the things that matter most in my life.

Shooting with the boys

Lindsay and Tatum and I went shooting with the boyz! It was fun. I loved being in the desert with my family. I loved shooting a Pink gun. I loved hiking the rocks with lindsay and making funny faces with tatum. I loved watching justin teach his girls to shoot a bb gun. But my favorite part was when justin was close to me teaching me how to shoot. I love him.

Field Trip to the Farm

Tatum loved the farm! She had no fears feeding the animals, but was bummed she didn't get to RIDE the horses.

Jeep Adventures

I had last weekend off from work so we took the jeep out and did some 4 wheeling in the mud,
Tatum hearts the jeep, and Lindsay not so much so as we are driving up the "primitive road" Tatum says to Lindsay as she is crying "you can put your hands in the air!" (she cracks me up)

we hiked around on the superstitions, it was a lovely day.

Doesn't Mr. Jarvis look hot driving his jeep. He also hearts the jeep. I sometimes heart the jeep.

Then later that night he took me to see Leap Year for the second time! I heart that movie and Mr. Jarvis.

Winning the Lottery at Bass Pro

( Yes thats $20 in QUARTERS)
So this sneaky little girl stole $20 out of my purse to play the shooting game at Bass pro and she and everyone else in the store thought she won the lottery, Im just glad they weren't tokens.

He planted me flowers

I think even better than buying me flowers is planting me flowers! Thanks love for a great saturday! You are the best.

the happiest place on earth

Disneyland is one of my favorites! We went with 20 family members it just doesn't get much better than that and we were all on the same flight! Lindsay and Tatum had a blast, 3 &5 are great ages for disneyland! We all 4 went on space mountain, and yes bad mom of the year goes to me, Tatum hated it. But it was the fact that all 4 of us could go on almost all the rides. I love disneyland.

Kindergarten Rocks

The other night Lindsay starts singing this song to me that she learned at school! It was so cute. She is getting soooo big!! She loves kindergarten, she loves her teacher, she loves riding the bus, she loves buying her lunch, especially the chocolate milk. At the beginning of school she would come home and her lunch box would be full and I asked her why she didn't eat and come to find out her teacher says Lindsay owes the school money for buying her lunch. Little stinker! Apparently the school's PB&J tastes better:)

Perfect weather=fun bike rides

Arizona's winters are amazing! Im loving the weather. It is so fun riding bikes with the girls!! They scare me though, especially Tatum and her bike with no brakes! Her handle bars shake and she puts her legs in the air so she can go faster! And screams all the way down. Just watch the video!!

Christmas 2009

Christmas Highlights:
*we had Christmas as a family at our house! My sisters spent the night and my parents came over in the morning! I love having my family over.I love being with them. But it was Different, because Matt left on his mission hes in the MTC, Amanda and Adam were in Georgia, and Brandon and Breezy and the boys were in Idaho.
*we started opening gifts around 10! Lovely! my mother in law used to have the tradition as a little girl of waking up at 3am and opening gifts! crazy....
*the excitement of Lindsay and Tatum on Christmas morning
*a tall tree with matching ornaments
*Dad's pancakes-my fav
*brunch at the Jarvis' and just hanging out playing games, flying airplanes, just enjoying the day, and eating lots of food!

December Highlights:
*Going to the temple lights and visitors center with my friends from school, and denny's after :)
*Cowboy Breakfast, such a fun tradition, its like the best of both worlds you sleep in your own bed then enjoy breakfast in the desert!
*all the cards and treats from family and friends
*Night away in a hotel with Justin and the loud snoring man next door! Yes we moved rooms at 12:30 in the morning because the guy next to us snored THAT loud.
* a month off from school! yeah!
*celebrating the birth of the Savior, My favorite time of year!
*QT hot choclate

Holiday Catch Up

Too great to not REMEMBER!!

It has been so fun having Lindsay in Kindergarten and Tatum in Preschool! They have lots of parties so it means double the fun. Here are some pics from Halloween & Thanksgiving 2009!

Halloween funny story:Lindsay's goldfish costume is a size 3 and she is 5 1/2, you cant see in this pic but it had some problem areas! but she wouldn't have it any other way! When she was taking a bath she filled her mouth with water and squirted it out at me just practicing what a goldfish might do.... Tatum was FiFi the pink poodle.

Thanksgiving: Justin stayed home from work on the day of Lindsay's Thanksgiving feast so he came with me and surprised her! When he walked in, she lite up, she must of hugged him 5 times and introduced him to all of her friends! It was adorable! Tatum went to Lindsay's feast too and Lindsay's teacher brought a chair for Tatum to sit next to Lindsay and they were so cute. Tatum loved the Chicken noodle soup, she ate at least 6 bowls!

Lindsay Street

The name of the new background that I Picked.... Totally appropriate because today we are on Lindsay and Baseline and Lindsay yells from the back seat, That big green sign says my name mom, I see my name. L-I-N-D-S-A-Y! She was so adorable and excited to see her name on the street sign. {And someday when it we are in Scottsdale we will show Tatum her name!} But its more fun when they notice it all by themselves.

XOXO,
Jen Jen

Remebering

Welcome 2010!! A new year is like a breath of fresh air, a new beginning, and lots of resolutions. As I look at my blog I notice that the last post is from May which is absolutely pathetic, but par for me! So in making and announcing one of my many goals for this year it would be... REMEMBERING and finding the JOY each day!!

I have been inspired by many things: (not in any particular order!)
* a book, The Secret Diary of Bret Colten,awesome book!
*by an apostle Elder Eyring, Justin's Favorite
*author Anna Quindlen from Elder Ballard talk to mothers with young children
*by the spirit
*by Nie (Stephanie Nielson) someone I look up to and am inspired by each day

that Life passes by way too fast and you only get to live it once and it could change in a moment of time. And that my little girls are growing up very fast, and I want to remember each magical moment that I share with them.

Elder Eyring's inspiring words,

I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?”

Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: “The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. … I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less” (Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11).