Happy Birthday Grammy!

I've been wanting to do something special for my mother-in-law's birthday, but the fact that she's far away in Africa has thrown a big wrench into most of my fabulous birthday gift ideas. Scott finally came up with this and we knew it would be just perfect.

I want to preface this by saying that if you know anything about me right now, you can attest that I'm completely SWAMPED. As in up to my eyeballs in editing, photoshoots, card design etc. etc. I'm definitely loving all the new business, but with working another full time job, being Eva's mom, and trying to get ready for Christmas all at once, there's just not enough time in the day! I guess that's why I feel this gift is meaningful--because though it may not seem like much, it's a big sacrifice for me to make the time to take professional photos of Eva at this busy time of year, let alone edit them and send them off to my dear mother-in-law. Good thing she's worth it!

So all of that being said, we want to wish you a happy birthday Grammy! Please enjoy these precious photos of Eva taken with love especially for you.

I love this one. Second favorite.




This one's my favorite. That face is just so her.









I wish these pictures had audio so that you could hear how she sang the whole time!




We love you Grammy! Hope your day was wonderful!!



(P.S. I'm going to try to zip these pictures and send them to you through email tonight so that you can print them for your wall!)

One Word

YUM.

Who knew I was such a Jacob fan?

Then again, how can you not be after THAT.

Team Jacob here I come!

The Waiting Game

(If all goes as planned) Scott will be sporting one of these bad boys exactly one month from today. Can't wait!

Photoblog Fabulousness

Check out what's new and exciting over on the PHOTOBLOG!

You may have seen another photo of this beauty over there a while back. Watch for more really ridiculouly cute kids to pop up on the photoblog all week long!

Poodle to Poodle

Eva the poodle made her debut on Halloween, and she's never looked more puppylicious! Our other poodle, Penny, was just delighted to have a new doggy friend (though I think she was a little jealous of Eva's killer fashion sense).



Eva couldn't have been more adorable if I do say so myself.

The poodles. Together at last!



We did jazz up the costume a little. Who can resist a good peony and tutu?







We're poodle people, what can I say!

Politics Shmolitics

Well said. Put me down for one in pink.

White Babies CAN Jump

Is there anything more adorable than a baby's giggle?

I think not.

bonjour

Once upon a time, we were here...



...with 10 of our favorite people in the world.

Paris is like a dear friend--beautiful, lively, interesting, inviting, the list goes on and on. Gosh I still can't believe we were really there! I got lost in the photos today and decided this one was too beautiful not to share.

Until we meet again old friend.

Math to Live By

Me+Scott-Eva+babysitter+free tix+good friends=one super fun night of awesome tuneage.

Awesome might be a strong word actually. To tell you the truth, The Killers were pretty terrible live. The music was less than amazing, and the stage presence was equally lame--possibly the only band I've heard up close whose performance made me want to stick to the cd. At one point we even found ourselves asking if the song was supposed to sound like that. Yeah, not good.

As disappointing as it was, the box seats and this guy almost made the whole experience worth it. I can appreciate a man with not just longer but also bigger hair than me. That do had more volume than a sub woofer on full blast! Plus you can't have hair like that and not shake what ya got. Watching him head bang was the highlight of my night. And that's sayin something.

Moral of the story: Skip The Killers and save your pennies for a show worth seeing!

a la concert

Off to see these guys tonight...

Elder, Wait Make That PRESIDENT and Sister Jameson

Can't believe these two are already in Africa! We talked with them on Skype last night and it was like they were just around the corner instead of halfway around the globe. I wish I could've stowaway'd in one of their EIGHT suitcases. That's right I said eight. Apparently the food in the Kinshasa Mission is questionable, pots and pans are pretty much nonexistent, and missionaries are not allowed out of the house after 6pm. Thus the plethora of luggage for freeze dried deliciousness--that might be an oxymoron, cooking gear, and multiple laptops for entertainment/connecting to the outside world. (I'm also pretty sure my fancy-tie-loving-father-in-law stashed a bunch of ties in there too. Why else would you need (once again) EIGHT suitcases when they tell you to only bring three ties??)

Anyway, we're super happy/sad/excited to see them off serving in this place:

Can't wait to hear all about it!!

(See more pictures from our very quick shoot HERE.)

Free Museum Day!

I heard about this at work today and thought I would share. I'm all about fun new things to do and nothing beats free! Here's the scoop:

Enjoy free general admission for you and a guest to hundreds of museums and cultural venues nationwide.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Download your pass for free admission here: http://microsite.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/index.html

These are the Arizona Museums participating:

Arizona Historical Society Arizona History Museum
Tucson
Arizona Historical Society Museum at Papago Park
Tempe
Arizona State Museum
Tucson
Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum
Bisbee
Casa Grande Valley Historical Society and Museum
Casa Grande
Cave Creek Museum
Cave Creek
Challenger Space Center
Peoria
Deer Valley Rock Art Center
Phoenix
Desert Botanical Garden
Phoenix
Desert Caballeros Western Museum
Wickenburg
Heard Museum
Phoenix
International Wildlife Museum
Tucson
Jewish History Museum
Tucson
Mesa Historical Museum
Mesa
Phippen Museum
Prescott
Pioneer Museum
Flagstaff
Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park
Phoenix
River of Time Museum
Fountain Hills
Sharlot Hall Museum
Prescott
Show Low Historical Society Museum
Show Low
The Bead Museum
Glendale
The Mini-Time Machine Museum of Miniatures
Tucson

The Birthday Week Saga Continues

So yeah, my blogging skills have been seriously lacking lately. First I just have to give an update on the rest of my week long birthday-o-awesomeness. I can't believe I let this much time pass before getting on here to finish explaining more very important rules for having your own fab birthday week.

Did I mention presents? Whoever said it's better to give than to receive obviously had no idea what they were talking about. (I'm MOSTLY kidding.) I'm pretty much the best present getter there is. First gift was a handy dandy giftcard meant for the purchase of this baby:

Score! I just got my hands on a copy and will incidentally be in hibernation for the next 24-48 hours. If you haven't heard about this series yet, I suggest you get to reading. You'll be glad you did!

Also had to get me some glass! This pretty thing showed up at my door on the very best day of the year, and I was stoked to say the least.

To go with that beauty, my ridiculously good looking husb purchased a domain name for my currently-in-the-works photography website!! One of these days we'll git er' done and show off the finished product, woot!

Oh and another bare necessity to any birthday week bash would have to be super fun/exciting things to do. We hit up this movie, that's right, in the theater. I guess the movies aren't exciting to everyone, but we RARELY go and when we do go, it's usually to see some manly man action movie, aka not my first choice when in movie genres. Not only did I get to choose the movie, but the movie I picked was positively smashing! I leaned over to Scott maybe 30 minutes into it and whispered that I was already completely in love with the whole thing. The soundtrack is equally amazing, a must have most def!

Scott and I also visited the place where it all began. Cheesy I know, but the first night Scott and I "hung out" just me and him, we went for a stroll around my parents' neighborhood and ended up at the elephant park for a long while. It's become one of our sappy spots, and lets face it, I like sappy. Nothing beats a romantic computer nerd!

Finally, the single most important factor to a crazy rad birthday week event of total beawesomeness would have to be one of these:

The week of partying would have been nothing without this guy, and I'm so glad that he's stuck with me for eternity. Just think of all the birthday weeks! ;)

Day 1

Day one of my BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA, that is! Aka the best week of the year. That's right I said week. We celebrate my birthday all week because we can. I highly recommend it actually.

Rule #1 to having the perfect week-long-birthday-celebration-of-awesomeness: presents are ALWAYS required welcomed. Especially ones like this ultrafab diaper bag that I've had a serious eye on. I knew there was a reason Scott and I waited to make the plunge into the world of cute diaperbag-ness. This one was on sale! So we pretty much went from having the single most ghettofied diaper bag ever (seriously it was that bad) to having the very cutest one ever! Many thanks to my great family for this sweet gift!

And now the second rule to this very important week of fun: deliciousness is a MUST. These hi hat cupcakes happen to be in the running for my all time favorite dessert, and believe me (or my waistline), I know desserts. If you haven't tried them, get out of here and get to baking! I have six of these beauties in my freezer this very moment, just waiting for me to pop in and say hello. The best part? They're dairy free! My saintly mother went to great lengths (ok so maybe just Sprouts) for some much needed dairy free ingredients, and in the end we enjoyed a very tasty treat! This has been my first taste of chocolate in three weeks and no wonder I was so grumpy. At last, the mystery is solved!

Don't they look positively delish?!

So there you have it. Highlights of day one, and some extremely important guidelines to having your very own week long palooza of birthday funness. More to come for shizzle.



By the way, the end of this rockin GIVEAWAY is mere hours away, so get busy and enter!

Why not?!

Check here for details on a super rad

photoshoot giveaway!

And a new photo just for kicks:

Until the Cows Come Home?

First a few recent photos to remind everyone (me included) of just how precious miss Eva is. Cutest sleeper ever.

It's a good thing she's adorable, since it's because of her that I've had to say goodbye to all of this:

These past few months have been filled with blood, sweat, and tears--literally. Several blood tests and a sweat chloride test for Eva, and a fair amount of tears on both mine and her part. (What can I say, I'm a worrier.) Not to mention various doctor's appointments, stool samples, medicines, weight checks, etc. Somehow we're going to get this girl to gain weight! I wish I had her problem ;) Basically, she just isn't growing at (or even close to) the rate our doctors would like to see. We just had her six month appointment and she was in the tenth percentile for height (mind boggling to her short parents) at 24.5 inches, but still not even on the charts for weight at just 11 pounds.

A recent visit to the GI pede's office has led us to think Eva quite possibly has a milk allergy--hence my recent change in diet. Though breastmilk is fine, the protein in cow's milk is what (we think) Eva is having trouble digesting properly. Apparently this is pretty common in babies, but it was news to me! I'm just so glad to finally have an answer that makes sense and, most importantly, a way to fix the problem. The only downside? Milk is in EVERYTHING. Not only am I cutting out several of my daily staples (yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese), but I'm also constantly checking labels for ingredients. Anybody out there who knows of any good milk-free food choices, share the love! And until further notice there will be no cow's (milk) coming (to our) home ;)

Lover

So I'm really digging this picture. (He IS the sexiest man alive after all.) I just can't decide which edit I like better....any thoughts?

RIP crazy awesome Michael Westen aviator shades :(

Must Love Dogs

Another house sitting job done and done! Today was our last day, and though it was good to get away for a bit, I must say it feels SO nice to be home. We'll just miss our doggy friends, Smokey and Bootsy! See a few more cool pix HERE.

Deliciousness

Our FAVORITE Salsa Recipe

1 #10 can (or I like to use 3 28oz cans) diced tomatoes

1 lg white onion chopped

1 bunch green onions chopped

1 bunch cilantro (leaves only)

1 can El Pato sauce (found in the Mexican food aisle)

2 fresh green chiles chopped without seeds (or 1 sm can diced green chiles)

1-2 fresh jalapenos chopped without seeds (or 1 sm can diced jalapenos)

1 T. each of salt, onion powder, and garlic powder

1/2 T. cumin

Mix it all together and viola! Just remember, this will make a large batch, so be prepared to share! Oh and feel free to skip the jalapenos for a milder taste. I like it HOT so I've been known to throw an extra jalapeno or two in for kicks. Also, I like to lightly blend about half of the tomatoes (I get the petite diced) with all of the chopped onion in the blender. Scott and I like our salsa chunky, but not too chunky, so this helps us get the texture we love best.

Enjoy!

My Latest Guilty Pleasure

So Scott and I are housesitting right now for the third summer running. To preface, our first year, I'd just finished up at BYU where we didn't have a tv in our apartment, and Scott and I had been married for about five minutes, so we didn't own anything yet, much less a tv. Anyway, this couple that we're housesitting for has this big, fancy, flat screen, high def tv. I guess they're not as amazing now, but a few years ago and with our lack of tv experience, we were pretty impressed. The crazy part? No cable! We were totally stoked about this way nice tv and then so disappointed to find NOTHING to watch. So this year we were pleasantly surprised to find brand spankin new DIRECTV and DVR! Score! As you can imagine, we've just been living the life of luxury, and my latest tv guilty pleasure? Yep, the Real Housewives of New Jersey. I literally watched the whole season in like one weekend. Completely ridiculous, but soo addicting and entertaining at the same time. Even Scott was hooked. If you haven't seen it, you probably shouldn't. It WILL suck you in.

Check it Out

New post on the photoblog! See more of this super cute couple here.

Feeling Wicked?

So last night Scott and I went with my fam to see this play at Gammage. (I'm not even going to make excuses for why I've been sucking so hard at blogging!) Neither of us had seen it before or even knew much about it, but right away I was totally in love. We had AMAZING seats. Like 5th row amazing. (Though the creepy guy next to us still felt the urge to use binoculars??) Anyway, I was wide eyed the whole time and completely dazzled by the music/costumes/story. Anyone out there just dying to buy me another ticket, please by all means feel free!

By the way, our blog needed some serious TLC. How do you like the result??!

Jameson Photos

Man alive, I have a million and one things to post about. I can't believe the whole month of April went by without a single update from me! Time is flying as usual. It used to be that I had tons of time and just nothing exciting to put on here, but now I've got all kinds of interesting things to talk about and no time for talkin.

Anyway, first of all, thank you all SO MUCH for the ridiculously kind words and much needed encouragement regarding my recent return to work. It's still oh so lame to have to work right now, but I'm feeling much more adjusted/stable/ok about it. Turns out, I can understand why some moms actually like to work. Working all day is a whole lot easier (at least for me) than being home with Eva! As demanding as it is though, I'd rather be home with her any day.

All of that being said, before I get into the latest haps around our house, it's high time I put a plug in for myself. Without further ado, please head on over to my lovely, new, exciting, and FINISHED (at least for now) photoblog/photography website!

I've been dabbling in photography for quite a while, but recently I've finally gotten ready to really jump in with both feet and go pro. I cannot wait to take your pictures! Please please please contact me to schedule a shoot. Oh and don't forget to add this photography blog to your subscriptions/google reader lists/etc. These are just the beginning of some beautiful photos that you won't want to miss :)

Thursday aka Doomsday

So I guess I knew it would be somewhat difficult going back to work after having a baby, but I never anticipated it would be this awful! I've been dreading this coming Thursday for quite some time. Not only is it the day I get fully forced back into a job I less than love, but it's also the first time I leave our tiny babe for longer than, I dunno, 3 hours? Ugh. I don't know what it is about leaving her that just kills me, I mean, I completely trust the individuals who will be taking care of her. We are very lucky to have so many friends and family members nearby to help us out with her, but when I think about leaving her, my chest just tightens up and the waterworks begin! How can I possibly leave her at this so important time in her life?! I feel like I'm going to miss out on so many firsts! Her first smile, laugh, words, crawl, steps, etc. Oy, I just don't know how I'm going to survive this! I think this picture pretty much sums up how I feel about going back to work:




(Seriously, how can you resist that face?!) So here I sit, savoring every second of time spent with my sweet baby, and dreaming of the day when Scott is coding/database managing at a fabulous company while I stay at home with our cuties :)

Today

THINGS NOT ACCOMPLISHED:
Laundry
Dishes
Ironing
Decorating
Changing out of pajamas
Self Beautification
Communication with the outside world

THINGS ACCOMPLISHED:
Kissing
Nurturing
Cherishing
Laughing
Playing
Dancing
Caring for

THIS GIRL

First Things First!

Eva Dixie Jameson

Born January 27, 2009
5 lbs. 1 oz., 18 inches

Getting this sweet baby girl here was definitely eventful, but totally worth it. Since our ectopic pregnancy ordeal last year, Scott and I (mostly I) decided that the next time we got pregnant, we'd be waiting a while before spreading the news. So when the test said positive last May, we agreed to keep it our little secret. After 12 long weeks of nausea, cravings, and exhaustion, we couldn't keep it under wraps any longer!

Fast forward to about 20 weeks along, at which point we're soo excited/anxious to find out whether this alien would be a boy or girl. After being rescheduled twice (psh), we finally get our ultrasound and are told with a surety that this baby is a GIRL! I was elated. I don't think Scott had a preference, but I SO wanted it to be a girl. I spent the week dreaming about ridiculously cute and very PINK baby clothes, etc. until my next doctor's appointment where the first thing they say to me is "So you're having a boy?!" I was like "HUH?" Apparently the ultrasound tech told us it was a girl, but the radiologist who reviewed the ultrasound pics wrote boy on his report, which is what was sent to my doctor. So I bust out the ultrasound pics for my OB/GYN to see for himself, and he tells me it looks like a boy to him. Oy! I'm sure it was mostly hormones (though I hate admitting it) but I was completely heartbroken. I was so set on a girl and I just felt deceived and devoid of the excitement I had before. I just couldn't believe it, I mean it's not like there were tons of choices, and let me tell ya, they got a very clear shot of the baby's "area". Anyway, we decided that we couldn't trust anybody's opinion and would just have to wait for another ultrasound. Little did I know that my next ultrasound would be in the hospital where I'd been admitted!

Fast forward again to 32 weeks, right during the holidays. First Grandpa Bird went into the hospital just before New Year's. While he was there, our BIL, Klint was admitted to the hospital. A few days later, my MIL went into the hospital. Basically we thought we'd endured quite enough hospital time by proxy. Later that week, I went in for my regular appointment very swollen, but thinking everything was fine and dandy until my doctor sent me straight to the hospital because of high blood pressure (an early sign of preeclampsia). Of course I had high blood pressure, our whole family was doing hospital time! Needless to say, on January 9th, I was admitted. My only consolation was that I had an ultrasound that day and was assured that I was indeed going to have a baby girl!!

From Jan. 9th up until the 27th when miss Eva was born, I was in and out of the hospital on pretty strict bed rest. I missed Grandpa Bird's funeral, my cousin Mallory's wedding, (less importantly) the Suns game we had tickets to, etc. On the bright side though, I had visitors, well wishes, and prayers to boot! Finally I was admitted to the hospital for the THIRD time (the nurses and I got to know each other well) on Jan. 26th with my highest blood pressures yet. On the 27th (at 35 1/2 weeks along) my doctor decided it was high time we get this baby here.

I was totally excited, finally I'd get to experience contractions, labor, etc. It might sound crazy, but I really wanted to know what all that stuff is like. Of course, that never happened! (As if anything could go my way in this pregnancy!) My doctor went to check the baby's head and found that it was no longer down, which meant c-section for me :( I was terrified through it all, but glad that it was quick. We found out at about 6:00 pm that we'd be having our baby soon, and by 8:30, she was here!

Thank goodness being a whole month early, our little one was and is just as healthy as can be. She spent a few hours in the NICU that first night, but that's it. She's been such a trooper with, no signs of jaundice and no trouble eating or keeping a normal temperature. Good thing too, because we've definitely had enough of the hospital to last a LONG time. So there you have it, in a very large nutshell, little Eva's exciting journey here! Welcome to the world sweet baby girl!

It's Official...

...we're terrible bloggers! It has really been way too long, but we are SO about to make a comeback. Stay tuned :)