Livin' the American Dream

Listen!

2012-01-27T23:33:00.000-08:00

So, I realize that it's 12am and I should be in bed SLEEPING, but something just happened that I had to share. If Jake wasn't on a campout with the scouts I would have been able to share this with him and my need to gloat would have been satisfied.

Here goes...on Monday night as I was cooking dinner, Cashy decided to put his hand on the stove to see if it was hot. IT WAS. He got 2nd degree burns on all four fingers of his right hand from the the tip to the 2nd knuckle. :( The two hours after that were probably the most awful of my life because he was in such excruciating pain. He got through it, but his hand of course has been bothering him ever since. I knew that eventually the huge blisters would pop and I would have to cut the skin away, disinfect and wrap the fingers to prevent infection. I was dreading this because since it happened, it you even look at his fingers wrong he freaks out and I knew that he (the poor, traumatized, two year old, little boy that doesn't understand why mommy would try to hurt his burned hand) would not be cooperative!

Well, today he played hard and two of the blisters finally popped. With Jake gone I knew I wouldn't have anyone to hold him down, so all day I've been gearing up to do it after he fell asleep. I honed in on my delicate dental hygiene skills and ROCKED IT! He stirred a few time at which point I would hold real still and cover my headlamp with my hand until he started sleep breathing again, but I was able to cut away all the dead skin, disinfect and fully wrap and tape his hand with just me, my headlamp and my little scissors. He'll wake up in the morning with a sterile white glove and not know how it got there. Woot!! :)

Thankyou, thank you very much.

Sweet Baby Chloe

2011-12-26T07:38:00.000-08:00

So, I've been wanting a DSLR camera for a while now so that I can take quality photos of my sweet babies. All I've had for the last year is my iphone camera. :( Since this generation is obsessed with photographs and documenting every little thing, (me included) I figured it was time for an upgrade. Didn't get a DSLR just yet, but my parents got me a really nice little camera for Christmas that fits my needs just fine for now and I.love.it!!! I wouldn't know what to do with all those crazy settings anyway. Maybe someday I'll get ambitious and figure it out.

So, Chloe girl and I had a little photo shoot on Christmas Day. She is 6 months old after all. This is the freaking cute result. Disclaimer: If you are a real photographer, don't judge. :)

These next two photos were taken with my iphone camera...but I had to share.

Don't know why I love this so much, but she always sucks on the two middle fingers of her right hand and puts her left hand up like that. It just melt.my.heart for some reason. She seems to do that a lot actually. :)

This one is Jake's personal favorite. He sure does love his baby girl!

I cooked a turkey!!

2011-12-26T07:10:00.000-08:00

For those of you who know me well, you know that cooking my first turkey was a big deal for me. Let's just say I'm real picky when it comes to turkey so I wanted to do it right. A patient at work last week told me about the 'Good Eats turkey' on foodnetwork.com. #1 recipe on the website 6 years running that has over 3000 reviews and it's STILL a 5 star turkey...DONE!! (Thankyou Alton Brown) We had a FEAST on Christmas day, totally worth it. :)

Isn't she pretty?!? (I'm talking about the bird by the way)

Cashy loved his gifts. Backhoes, dump trucks, dinosaurs, snakes, motorcycles...he's all boy that one. I'm wishing I would have taken less video and more pictures. (I feel like all I do is post videos on my blog!) Here's one of the little man and his daddy watching backhoe videos

We really did have a lovely Christmas. Thank you Baby Jesus for coming into this world!!! That's all that really matters after all. Merry Christmas everyone!!

Waiting...

2011-11-22T23:28:00.001-08:00

It's late, everyone in my house is sleeping...I on the other hand am waiting for the last load of laundry to finish. Throws my whole week off when I work on Monday (laundry day). Totally worth it to have Thanksgiving off though. :) I am thankful for so many things, but today I am thankful for two things that I saw on facebook just now. They made me happy, especially now that I have a baby girl of my own to look after. Modest is hottest girls.

Emma Watson: I find the whole concept of being ‘sexy’ embarrassing and confusing. If I do an interview with photographs people desperately want to change me – dye my hair blonder, pluck my eyebrows, give me a fringe. Then there’s the choice of clothes. I know everyone wants a picture of me in a mini-skirt. But that’s not me. I feel uncomfortable. I’d never go out in a mini-skirt. It’s nothing to do with protecting the Hermione image. I wouldn’t do that. Personally, I don’t actually think it’s even that sexy. What’s sexy about saying, ‘I’m here with my boobs out and a short skirt, have a look at everything I’ve got?’ My idea of sexy is that less is more. The less you reveal the more people can wonder.

I also thought this video was really cool. Thanks for sharing Jones!! Interesting stuff. I really hesitated posting this because I'm not trying to be preachy here, but I really enjoyed it and wanted to share. Such a hard thing because there are soo many cute bikinis out there. I never had the option of wearing a one due to the extra stuff around the middle, but it probably would have been considered had my circumstances been different. I'll stop talking now...enjoy.

HaLLoWeEEeen!!

2011-10-31T23:10:00.001-07:00

Jake is down the street watching a scary movie with the guys, both kids are in bed, I'm going to take advantage of this rare moment and make a blog tribute to Halloween.

So I was feeling pretty bad this year about not getting into the holiday one little bit...We've been enjoying the beautiful Fall, crunching leaves and bundling up to go to the park and all, but I didn't even get my decorations out or make a scary dinner or anything. In fact I didn't even get an outfit for Cash to wear until Sunday afternoon. It was borrowed from my neighbor...I guess I justified it because Cashy doesn't really 'get it' yet. I have fully committed to making next year a little more exciting with scary decorations and pumpkin carving and all the other stuff, but this year actually turned out to be amazing. As my mother put it tonight, kids just make everything magic. Soo true.

We started out with a yummy dinner down the street with the bees and the beekeeper...and a few other super cool people too.

I made these.

Mine didn't look quite as pretty but you get the idea.

Then we headed out for some trick or treating. Cashy was all prepped and knew just what to do at the doors. First house was this one:

Just so happens to be our bishop who lives about 5 houses down from us. They've got it all spooked out with scary music playing and lots of cool decorations...even FOG! They handout fresh homemade donuts to everyone, parents and kids alike. Very delicious and very fun.

Then it was across the street to the Jacksons:

Yep, they've got hot chocolate and hotdogs and a fish pond for the kiddos and candy and a fire to sit around. They really go all out.

I was impressed with the little guy! He lasted almost two whole hours and had a great time. He got a good haul that I'm pretty sure I'll end up eating waaaay to much of. It was a great night taking our babies out trick or treating for the first time and made me love my neighborhood a lot. I'm already excited for next year.

Last stop was our next door neighbor Erica and when we got there she said she had something for us. She had made Chloe these two adorable hats!

She already made her 2 other hats and a sweater that I'm in love with. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to have her teach me how it's done. People are good and I'm so grateful to know the ones I do. :)

We had a great Halloween even with all my lack of preparation...and I'm so glad.

Happy Halloween!!

I love fall, but...

2011-10-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

I will seriously miss summer! It's been a good one. I just have to keep telling myself that summer will come back to me soon...it always does.

Apparently I was a little too busy to blog this summer. Having two really does change things a bit....the result: One blog post with TONS of pics created during naptime. :)

Some of our favorite memories:

KAREN!!! She lived with us all summer. She was up

before work everyday to train for her first marathon.

Here she is at the finish line. YAY KAR!!!

Chloe girl. She is truly an angel baby. She sleeps like a

champ, nurses like a champ, and she's usually content

to sit in her bouncer and watch the craziness

that goes on around here...I couldn't ask

for more. I love her just a bit. ;)

2 weeks old

SUCH a great big brother. He wants to hold her and kiss her

and love her all day, every day. He does make her cry

occasionally, but what are big brothers for right?!

Mommy was real busy with baby Chloe lots of the time...

...So Cashy and daddy had LOTS of quality time together

this summer. Mostly working on the house

and yard. Ya know, GUY stuff. :)

Mowing the lawn

Weedwacking...daddy even made him wear goggles.

HA! Cute right?

This is my favorite...notice the leash. Yes, it is true. Jake tied a rope

to my son and then tied him to the tree in the FRONT yard. I really wonder

what the neighbors thought. Apparently Cash wouldn't stop running into the

road. Not only was he tied to the tree, but he had a mohawk. When I walked out

to take this picture, Jake was leaning over fixing the sprinkler showing a little

bit of crack and Cash was throwing handfuls of dirt down his pants. I just had

to shake my head...mohawk, kid tied to tree, butt crack visible, add tank tops to

the equation and you have classic Jo Dirt. Yep, That's us!

I don't know how many hours Cash spent in his $3 kiddie pool

this summer. He was obsessed! His cousins liked it too.

Cute Fergy boy cousins. Our little

football team. I can't get enough of these 4!

Kale, Gaige, Gavin, and Cash.

Emmo and Cash hanging out in the backyard.

Cashy and Uncle John swimming at the Logan aquatic center.

John took Cash down the big slide over and over. He's a good

sport and Cash thinks he's the COOLEST.

Day trip to Mirror Lake...I had to get out of the house! It was lovely.

We found our own little private spot for campfires with a view of the

entire valley...you just need four wheel drive to get there. Not a problem

for us, that's kinda Jake's thing.

Hike to Donut Falls. Cash hiked almost the whole way. Tough little dude.

Day trip to Jordanelle. We brought a kite for Cash, but he

couldn't have cared less. He just wanted to throw rocks

in the water and squish bugs. Such a boy.

Now that summer is officially over, we're trying to enjoy all that comes

with Fall. This is Chloe girl all bundled up at one of Uncle John's football

games. His team is still undefeated! We're hoping for a state championship.

GO LOGAN!!

Aren't his golden locks lovely?

Flowers

2011-10-15T22:46:00.000-07:00

Oh my...I just think he is so great and he just seems so...happy. It's a good way to live. That's all there is to it. :) He mentions a "chamber in your heart" that opens up when you have kids and I just can't stop thinking about that. It made me smile and think of my sweet little ones.

my name is mindy. i'm a mother of two, i'm a wife to one, i'm a dental hygienist to many, i'm a friend to all, and i'm a MORMON!

Aahhh...

2011-09-11T22:03:00.001-07:00

I just spent the last hour (okay probably more like 2 hours) reading my blog roll and so many of your blogs are just completely uplifting. I usually end up crying while reading about the beautiful people in my life. After reading tonight I just feel especially grateful...especially with it being Sept. 11 and all. I'm sure that a lot of reflecting on life has gone on today.

My friend Jo posted this video on her blog...I knew Tessa in college at Utah State. I remember what beautiful hair she had.

So ya...totally cried. It really made me love and appreciate the gift of being a mommy. I just love my sweet babies so much and really couldn't ask for more. I'm embarrassed to say that I've been a little on the whiney, ungrateful side lately and right now I wish I could call Tessa up, thank her for the perspective, and wish her the best.

Blessings...

My angels

Sweet, SWEET baby girl...I.love.you.

Funny boy

2011-07-27T10:03:00.001-07:00

So about 15 minutes ago, I was in the office changing the Chloe bum and I keep hearing something that sounds a lot like someone chewing very loudly and wetly with their mouth open. I follow the sound and find my little Cashy sitting on the couch where he thought I wouldn't be able to see him with 7...going on 8, gum wrappers all around him and a wad of gum the size of a large marble in his mouth. Awesome. I laughed so hard and took the wad away....that he couldn't chew anyway. I gave him that 8th piece to chew on and now he's loving life, thinking he's such a big boy with a WHOLE piece of gum to chew on, let me rephrase that...to CHOMP on. I can hear him chewing now and he's 2 rooms over!

He's a little character that one. Love his buns!

Daddies make the world go round

2011-06-19T21:01:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share Jake's particularly good Father's day with you. He got to bring his healthy baby girl home. Chloe Lin Ferguson was born on Friday night at 9:10 pm.

Here are her stats:

Weight- 6lbs 6 oz

Height- 20 inches

Hair- Dark Blonde?

Eyes- probably gonna be blue

BEA-U-TI-FUL.

Jake is pretty taken with her. So is Cashy. He can't stop kissing her. He's hit her a couple times too, but no harm done. She's a tough little chicky.

Labor and delivery went well, I feel better than ever. And how could I not when this is what I get to see every day:

My man LOVES his baby girl. Happy Father's Day Sweetie!!! (I also got him a couple shirts and a tie clip...but I think Chloe was his "main" gift. Hope you agree.)

Also, I wanted to wish my amazing daddy and very happy Father's Day seeing as how it's almost over. He's the bestest. Love you dad!!

This is my daddy holding me the day after I was born.

Crazy resemblance right? Guess she's gonna be a looker. :)

First Family photo. Good day.

Ready or not...here she comes!!

2011-06-17T10:16:00.000-07:00

Well, we will be heading to the hospital shortly to have our little baby Chloe. My fluids are getting a little low so my Doctor recommended induction. Gotta admit, I'm real excited to meet my baby girl!!!

I've been getting "ready" for a while now. Took a fantastic trip to Vegas and Saint George with my girlies a couple weekends ago against doctors orders (shhh!), got a pedicure and haircut, planted my garden...tomatoes and all, hung up and organized all the pink flowery clothes, I'm ready right? HA!

I got to thinking as I was putting my little Cashy to bed last night and realized that our whole worlds are about to change. It made me remember the very first time that I saw my sweet boy after he was born. They held him up for me to see and I absolutely did not feel the way I expected to feel. I didn't have the immediate love for him that I'd heard so much about from other mommies. Cashy wasn't at all what I was expecting. He wasn't a chubby little blonde baby, instead he was a skinny, little 6lbs 9oz with HUMONGOUS eyes and a little old man wrinkly forehead. He looked absolutely terrified and to be honest, I was undecided on whether or not I thought he was cute. This is a horrible thing to say...don't judge me, but the first thought I had was that he looked like Gollum from Lord of the Rings because of his purplish tint and huge eyes. It was...weird.

My sister-in-law says this picture is "freaky." Sorry.

But then...they laid him on my chest and I felt him kick his little legs and move his tiny arms and I recognized the movement. It felt JUST like it did when he was inside me. He WAS my baby and at that moment, with that realization, I had the most overwhelming feeling of love come over me and I immediately thought he was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes on. I couldn't get enough of him from then on. It just goes to show that parents have no idea whether or not their kids are cute. I knew for a fact that he was a little ugly, but I really couldn't tell anymore. A parent's love is an amazing thing. Oh...and for the record, don't ever tell me if you don't think my kids are cute, because I'll never know otherwise! Ignorance is bliss.

He had gotten a lot cuter by day two. :) But again, I wouldn't really know!

Well, we can't wait to meet Baby Chloe and love on her. Jake couldn't be more excited and I think Cashy even gets it. When he sees babies out and about, he points and says, "baby" in his cute little voice and when we ask him where the baby is, he points to my belly. So cute! Can't wait to see how he reacts to his baby sister. Here's a little video of Cashy loving on my belly. (He also gives a little shout out to Aunt Karen at the beginning of the video. She worked hard getting him to say her name...so I just thought I would point it out. Love it!)

K...Guess I'll have a baby now. Byeeee!

Big Girls!!

2011-05-29T23:45:00.000-07:00

So, Jake and I took a 2 hour nap today while Cash was taking his 3 hour nap, and that is why I'm still awake. This is my third post of the night. Go me!! It's almost 1 am but that's okay...I'm still not tired. I was actually about heave my huge, third trimester body off the couch to go to bed and then I remembered that I just had to share my theme song by Mika. I LOVE Mika and especially this song. His music always makes me happy for some reason. Enjoy!

I figured if I was going to be big and beautiful...so should everyone else. I think we've had a little too much fun with the the fat face iphone app...best part about it? It was FREE! Everytime I look through my camera roll, I get a good laugh. Oh how I love laughing.

This one really is the best...he totally looks like the fat kid. Doesn't he kinda look like he'd be a bully? Or is that just me? Hahahhhhaaa...look at his bottom lip! :)

Oh Karen, you're beautiful. You look like you got stung by a bee three hundred times.
Atleast I'm still smiling.
Oh Cashy.

A little lopsided, but you get the idea. The weird thing is...he's still the sexiest man alive. MMmmm. K, g'night!!

Don Juan

2011-05-29T22:53:00.000-07:00

So, that is my little Don Juan walking naked through the backyard after swimming in his blow up pool...soo not afraid to strut his stuff. Good thing our backyard is very private. (What a cute little butt right?!)

The other day we were at the Olive Garden waiting to be seated and he went over to these two pretty little ladies and crawled up right in the middle of them and started flirting. Not shy at all. He really does just LOVE the ladies and from what I can tell, they seem to like him back. It's so funny.

Here's a few of his conquests...made them in black and white to add some dramatics.

Cashy trying hard to steal kisses from the beautiful Sophie. She was playing a little hard to get. (probably because she was afraid he was going to pull her hair)

Cashy and Paisley just before he landed one on her. She's cute Cash...but she's your cousin! Don't forget. She must have forgotten the time you pulled her hair cuz she most certainly was not playing hard to get! Cute little thing.

Another cousin crush. Cash couldn't leave Gracie alone at her first birthday party. She handled it pretty well...she better get used to boys trying to steal kisses from her! This won't be the last time.

New nanny, new roommate, same old car

2011-05-29T21:46:00.000-07:00

Just had to get on and tell you that we went Minivan shopping...yes, you heard me right. My husband, the former owner of the coolest 600 horsepower mustang you ever saw has consented to being the owner of a minivan. I love what parenthood does to us. We didn't end up getting one, only went looking because I was a little apprehensive about having 2 kiddos situated comfortably in that back of my little blue mazda. After spending lots of hours shopping for a minivan I decided to put both carseats in my car and clean it out real good and we've decided that it's gonna work. The minivan will come with the arrival of child #3, but not until then. :) I'm pretty happy that I get to keep my little car for at least another year or two! I love zipping around in it, I love that it gets such great gas mileage. It's been a great car and I'm not quite ready to part with it. We've been through a lot together. (Thanks Danae and Slade for parting with it...your loss!) :)

So although my vehicle won't be changing, our lives certainly will...in approximately 4 short weeks our baby girl will be in my arms. I can't believe how fast a pregnancy goes when there's another one that you're chasing around. One thing that I knew I needed to figure out was the childcare situation. I wasn't willing to give up my job. I think I'm a better mommy when I work two days a week. I'm one of those girls who really likes my job and the adult interaction. I also think there's something to be said for missing your kid...so what I decided is that I wanted to find a nanny to come over to the house and be with the kids in their own environment while I worked. It was just too hard to figure out babysitting every week and pack the little guy up and whatnot. Well, Mary Poppins is Cashy's new nanny. No kidding! Her name is actually Debbie and she is wonderful, truly an answer to my prayers. She's the Relief Society President in her ward so she's super busy and didn't want a full time job and her kids are in middle and high school. She just wanted a dose of little people a couple times a week. She just loves my little man and they play all day long. He cries when she leaves...how cool is that?!? (She says that this situation was an answer to her prayers as well. Yessss.)

How I found her you ask? Well, my parents have some new neighbors that just moved to Logan and it just so happens that Debbie was the nanny to their two kids while the mom worked two days a week as a dental hygienist. Small world. Well, Ashley (the dental hygienist mommy) and my mom were talking about my situation and what I was going to do and Ashley said I should call Debbie...that she is just the greatest. Couldn't say enough good about her. So I called her up, she came to meet us and started coming 2 days later. Cashy is happy, I am happy, Debbie is happy. It's a win win for everyone. I really need to remember to go thank Ashley next time I'm in Logan. Hope she won't think it's weird when I hug her!!!

Debbie hasn't come for a couple weeks because my sister moved in for the summer and has been watching him, but my sister starts work as a swim instructor next week and Debbie will be back. Oh yeah...my sister moved in!! I just love my little sister...we just get each other. She's so fun to have around and she does my hair real pretty. Something that I'm really not good at doing. She's definitely staying busy, but not too busy to hang out with my little man. She taught him a bunch of new words including apple and pop. Soo freaking cute. He loves his Aunt Karen ALOT. She's at Lake Powell this weekend with a cute boy and his family, but she's coming home tomorrow and I'm sure he'll be happy about it. :)

How could you not love having this girl around? I'm sure she had waaay more fun when she went to Lake Powell with me. Who needs a cute boy to entertain you when you have your cool big sister?!?! ps. I really miss Lake Powell. :(

What the?!

2011-03-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry if you're offended by what I'm about to show you. Not that I'm proud to admit it, but I'm a little calloused so I just thought it was hilarious. Okay, so here's the story. I was in the office renewing my Ensign subscription...yeah, as in the church magazine. (which was one of two productive things I have done all day.) I left my computer open while I went to switch out a load of laundry (the other productive thing I did) and this little troublemaker is what I came back to:

And this is what was on the screen!!! I tried to keep it little...even though it's just a drawing.

How did he manage to get THAT up on the screen you ask? Well, I had googled 'ensign subscription renewal' then gone to the LDS website and that's where I had left it. He somehow got back to the google search and clicked on a link that said, 'Sun: "State GOP Looks to Ensign for Renewal"' which was an article about the 'sorry career of Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons.' Never heard of him so it's really nothing personal...but from that page there was a link to a picture and THAT is what I saw on my computer screen when I got back.

A little bit of comedy to get me through the rest of my lazy day. Maybe I'll get out of my pjs before Jake gets home from work...we'll see if I can pull myself away from the Wiggles.

My favorite thing

2011-02-21T16:39:00.000-08:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again...my favorite thing in the world is babies laughing!! I don't care if it's your kid or my kid or some random kid on you tube. I.LOVE.IT. So, Our little Ferguson clan made a trek up to Helena this weekend to visit this girl. (Sorry that I'm posting a random photo of you on my blog Sarah!!)

She's only been in Montana 5 1/2 months but since she's been my best friend since middle school, I can only go so long without seeing her. Had a blast, stayed up late eating junk and talking girl talk with the boys in bed...it was much needed.

Anyway, back to the babies...Cashy was a trooper the whole time. He loved her cats and thought it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard when they hissed at him. (They didn't love him so much.) On the drive home, he got restless as any 18 month old would so mommy was entertaining him and this was the result. I.LOVE.IT. Did I already say that? Well, I love it. Hope it makes you smile. :) Sorry for the off center recording.

Men are from MaRs

2011-01-13T22:14:00.000-08:00

Laughed so hard after reading this [What the guys think of your fashion] article. K, not really, but I chuckled to myself. Jake whines and moans EVERY time I wear my Uggs or my big sunglasses out of the house. Usually I just laugh it off and do it anyway because I'm an independent woman and all...He's SUCH A typical guy. According to this article, most guys actually don't like big sunglasses or ugg boots on a woman. I am truly shocked and just relieved that leggings weren't including in the dislike category. Good thing it doesn't really matter what guys think. Every girl out there is with me, cute right? And our feet stay so warm! Funny that my husband wasn't enough convincing for me. It took and plethora of opinions from other men for me to believe it. What can I say? I'm a typical girl. ;)

I got my baby back

2010-12-22T08:14:00.000-08:00

Well, my little Cashy is back to normal today. Thank goodness! Since last week he's been running a fever and been soo sad all the time. His gums were all red and puffy. I just assumed he was teething, bad, as I stated in the last post. I suddenly understood all the horror stories about teething. Holy crap, it was worse than I ever thought it would be. Poor little guy. Well, I woke up yesterday and he had sores all over his lips, they were cracking and bleeding. I called into work for the first time in my entire life to say (through the tears...I was one freaked out mommy) that I wouldn't be coming in. About an hour after that, it dawned on me that maybe he's not teething at all. He has a mouthful of cold sores. I felt like and idiot dental hygienist mother that I didn't think of it sooner. I should have known after 4 YEARS of schooling on the matter. The doctor confirmed it. Gingivostomatitis. :( He said to just keep doing what I've been doing...tylenol and advil and wait it out.

Well, this morning he woke up happy as can be, he ate a full breakfast for the first time in a week and is running around crazy. That's my Cashy. He's been enjoying his early Christmas present that Jake and I broke down and gave him last night out of pity. An awesome indoor slide. He climbs up it, slides down it, climbs up it, slides down it. Since my camera died, this phone picture will have to do.

He wouldn't hold still long enough for me to get a not blurry pic with my phone...

BIG smile after the wild ride.

Just had to show off my little big foot. :)

Love, love Sundays

2010-12-19T21:03:00.000-08:00

Today was ummm, what's the word...rejuvenating . (If it wasn't for spell check that word would be spelled wrong btw.) I just love sundays, they are set apart. Been reflecting on it lots today because of a lovely lesson given in Relief Society today by my brand new neighbor, Ann, whom I adore. It'sjust nice to have a day that is set apart. The TV stays OFF, the house is quiet, all is well. Not to mention we had some fantastic dinner guests, the house smelled like apple cider and the Christmas tree lights were glowing. Good day. I'm ready for Monday, I think.

(I think I'm especially appreciative of this day of rest after such a traumatic few months with the remodel, which I will divulge at a later date. Not in the mood to think about it right now. I'm not kidding when I say traumatic.)

I may not look traumatized...but I most certainly was.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2010-12-19T20:24:00.000-08:00

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. I haven't disappeared, just been super busy renovating a house. I'll do a quick catch up post with the before and afters, once I have a new camera. Mine decided to die last week after being smothered by a 15 month old. Good thing Christmas is in less than a week! Anyway, I promise to be a faithful blogger now that we're settled. Man it feels good to say that...we're settled. :)

Here's a few photos of what we've been up to this holiday season from tree cutting to gingerbread house making. Can I just say how proud Jake was of his leaning "Chapel of Love" gingerbread house? Man, what a good night!! I married an artist. My gingerbread house was already half eaten by the time we pulled out the camera so it wasn't really worthy of a picture.

The Fergy clan at temple square...good looking crew wouldn't you say? :)
Tree cutting day...my favorite tradition! What a face. He tolerated the cold pretty well, I have to say.

The whole crew was there. All 5 of my siblings with 4 spouses, 2 babies, 3 dogs and 2 grandparents. Did I miss anyone? What a day...lots of trees in the bed of the truck. Thank goodness we all had snow shoes. The snow was up to my waist.Our perfect tree...it's a 13 footer! And it fits perfectly in the house. Excellent. All the ornaments are on the top half of the tree to keep them away from Mr. Mischief, but it still looks pretty good I have to say.
Jake's leaning chapel of love, it even has a stained glass window that you can't see. My contribution was licking the candy cane till all the red stripes were gone and it was pointy to make a steeple.
Cash LOVED getting pulled around in the sled. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

Sledding in my hometown. Bliss. Cashy and Uncle John lookin' good.

Our Little Copycat

2010-08-13T20:16:00.000-07:00

I love my little guy so much I can hardly stand it and he's got so much personality and spunk that it makes me love him even more if that's possible. He's my little entertainer. Here's some of his favorite tricks. Enjoy...and if you want a live show, stop on by.

2010-08-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

Anyone that knows me knows that I've been a baby lover all my life. I used to spend hours on You Tube watching the videos of babies laughing. It just always put me in a good mood. Well now, I have my own laughing baby! This video made my day, well my month actually. You can't help but laugh along with him huh. :)

I'm lovin' it!

2010-08-13T19:48:00.000-07:00

So I am on a complete coupon high right now. Thanks to my good friend Claire and Amy, the Savvy Shopper, I saved $159 on my shopping trip tonight. It was amazing and I had to tell someone immediately. My groceries rung up to $240 and then after all my coupons and discounts were scanned in, the grand total was $81 and that will get me through to the end of the month. I think I can handle that. :) Last time, I made Claire go with me and she helped me get the total down from $111 to $43. Pretty cool. It only takes me about an hour to cut all the coupons on sunday and then maybe 1/2 hour before each shopping trip to prepare. I used to hate grocery shopping, but now...it's a pleasure! I love handing the cashier my stack of coupons and see the money come off. Such a good time. I can't wait till I get better at it. I'm going to have to start planning my vacation now with all the money I'll be saving. Gotta love it.

All the stars have aligned

2010-07-21T15:30:00.000-07:00

So, it seems like things are working out just as they should. We found THE house. It has all but 4 of the things on my list. I won't bore you with the details of how things fell into place, but the game is finally over. It was torturous waiting on counteroffers, wondering if another, better offer was going to come in, etc, etc...But it's official and it will be ours at the end of August. Very exciting. More to come. :)

Poor little guy...

2010-06-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

My baby needs to forgive me. I'm pretty sure that he's not going to read this, but I just love him so so much!! Tonight Jake got home from work about 4:30 and when Jake gets home from work, it's daddy time. He fed Cashy, played a bit, and then put him down for a nap cuz he was being super cranky. Then about an hour later I went upstairs to check on him. He was wide awake and SOOOO sad. Right as soon as he looked at me, he started crying and was so upset for the next hour. I think he thought we had abandoned him. I don't know if he slept at all that whole hour. Our baby monitor broke last week and mommy forgot. Yeah...I still feel really bad. I don't know if I was more upset or if he was more upset. Jake is still trying to console me. Here's some memories of happier times. (On the list for tomorrow- go buy a new baby monitor! )

The Beehive State

2010-05-24T13:46:00.001-07:00

So, I said in a previous post that ever since Jake got done with school we have felt like we are on vacation...it's also been a reality check though. What do normal people do with all their time? When he was gone at school, I played with the girls alot and with girlfriends, there are plenty of options! We were perfectly content to talk, eat icecream, go shopping, talk, watch chick flicks, go on walks, talk, sit by the pool, do nothing at all, and talk some more.

Well, male company is a little different. (Sidenote: I have a magnet on my fridge that says, "The truth is, I would rather do nothing with you than something with anybody else." Referring to Jake ofcourse and I really mean it. I love him alot and I love that we don't always have to entertain ourselves.) Moving on, there are certainly a few things that you can do with boys that you can't do with your girlfriends, :) but there were a few nights when we put Cash to bed and watched TV for 3 hours straight, so since then, we have been on a mission to find fun things to do that were close by and that we would both enjoy. Come to find out (and to be honest it's something I've known all along) there's lots of stuff to do right here in our valley.

Our adventures last week included looking at all the beautiful flowers on temple square, hiking, going to the church history museum, and we went to Antelope Island. I've never been before and it's a pretty cool place. We saw antelope and bison. Very stinky though and there were biting gnats...YUCK! While we were at the visitor center though, I picked up a myriad of pamphlets with TONS of ideas. There's so much cool stuff to see right here. Needless to say, it made me very excited for this summer. Utah is an amazing place! We're headed to the Pioneer Museum and the Vietnam Memorial next to Capitol Hill tonight...oh and Costco. :)

Thomas and Megan

2010-05-24T12:23:00.000-07:00

I have a beautiful new sister-in-law and I couldn't be happier about it. Thomas certainly made a good choice and it's a good thing cuz now it's official. They were married in the Logan Temple on May 14 and it was one of the most beautiful ceremonies I have ever seen. Really, I was touched. :) We couldn't be happier with the new addition.

Another great thing about the day is that we had some time outside the Logan Temple while we were waiting for the happy couple to emerge...and I got camera happy! Cashy borrowed the cutest 3 piece suit from his cousin Gaige and wow, he looked GOOD! I just finished all the editing. Here he is along with a couple of the fam that I made my brother Mark take.

HE DID IT!!

2010-05-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

I just have to dedicate a post to Jake who has dedicated the last 2 years of his life to completing his MBA at the University of Utah. I'm just so so so proud of him for doing it. The best part about it is that it has already come to fruition with an amazing new job, which he loves.

It's funny how he and I are so different. I would have expected a party in my honor and to be showered with gifts for all my hard work, but not Jake. He just likes to lay low and achieve quiet greatness which I really do love about him. I would have at least liked to go to his graduation to get a picture of him in cap and gown, but he didn't want to...so we went out to dinner instead, just the three of us. For Jake, that's what it is all about anyway...his little family. He always says that we're the only reason that he was able to stay motivated through it all. Now that it's over and he comes home after work instead of going to school for 4 hours, we feel like we're on a perma vacation. We have been so blessed and really do feel like we are living the American Dream, which has become my new blog title. Didn't really love the old one. :)

Crazy Runner People!

2010-04-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

So my crazy boss is on this major health kick and he's dragging all of us along with him. It's been good and bad. Good because any move in the right direction is a good one as far as health goes, bad because I've kinda been dragging my feet. I just haven't found "it" since I had Cash. I have participated in 2 biggest loser competitions and done my best to stay motivated, but it still hasn't happened....I just try not to think about the number on the scale. It's kinda scary. One good thing about my body though is that I've always been able to run, run, run...with or without training. So, I was on board when my office decided to do a 5k just 5 weeks after I delivered. Probably not the best idea, but I did great and felt fine. :)

So, next thing he dragged us into was a half marathon. Now this I wasn't too sure about. It's been a long time since I ran more that a few miles, but Erin (the office manager) and I signed up thinking we would have plenty of time to train. Of course we didn't train, but we did survive the race. I finished in 2 hours 37 minutes, which is A LOT slower than my pre-baby half marathons, but better than I thought I would do, so I felt okay about it.

Funny story: So, anyone who has ever participated in a race of any kind knows that there are spectators galore who bring signs and balloons and whatever else they think will motivate their runner. Well, there was a sign I passed that said, "GO CUBBIE GIRL!" At first glance I thought the sign said, "GO CHUBBIE GIRL!" I was so excited to have a fan club and was proud of the other chubbie girl running a half marathon behind me. :) I just had to laugh.

I have another half marathon coming up in a few weeks that I'm running with my hard core mom and beautiful sister...a girl power race, if you will. I've heard the Ogden Marathon is BEAUTIFUL so it should be a good time. Race day always is. There's always something in the air, endorphins floating around or something, but it just feels good. Hopefully I'll shave a few minutes off my time and eventually work up to this again:

This photo was taken after my 2nd full marathon, the Top of Utah in Logan. Still smiling (and standing) after running 26.2 miles. I finished in 4 hours and 20 minutes and hope to do it again someday...or not. :)

Cash Daniel

2010-04-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

This is my first real video project...I have a lot to learn but I had a BLAST with this! Cashy's 4-6 months old in the video. Now I have to do one for his newborn days which sadly, are long gone. I can't believe how old he is getting and every stage is absolutely amazing. We think he's the greatest. :)

Time to relax

2010-04-09T08:51:00.001-07:00

WHEW!!! We're all moved. I can't believe what a whirlwind that last few weeks have been. So, we got an offer on the house...but it turns out it lost a lot of value since we bought it 2 years ago. (stupid stupid economy!) Anyway, we would have had to bring about $20,000 to the table just to meet the full appraisal amount and sell. NOT happening, so we decided to rent it out and immediately felt great about it once the decision was made. YAY! I listed it on KSL and within about 30 minutes had someone coming over to look at it. Applications were filled out, contract was signed and deposit and first month's rent were cashed within just a couple of days...apparently it's very easy to rent a cute, little house in Murray. :) Not only do we have a great renter, but we have 5 others in line that want me to let them know if it becomes available.

We found the perfect little townhouse to rent in Bountiful, right off of main street and can I just say... I LOVE IT!! I thought it would be really hard to rent again after owning a home, but it has been so great. I love that I can walk to the grocery store or the Yogurt Stop or the Post office. I love that we have Jake's awesome brother Jed and his cute little family (including Cash's BFF/cousin Gaige) right around the corner, I love that I can run to the cemetery or up on Bountiful Boulevard anytime I please, I love that we have Jake's family and my lovely Aunt Sue right here in Bountiful and my family just an hour and seven minutes away in Logan. It's also great living just minutes away from my Sarah and my favorite small, town sandwich place in the world, SPANKYS!! (I've been there atleast 3 times a week since we moved.)

I couldn't be happier to be a Bountiful resident. And to top it all off, Jake only has 3 1/2 more weeks till he's done with his MBA and he absolutely loves his new job. He thinks being the boss is pretty great. Oh, and he comes home for lunch! How cool is that?!

As of right now, we are pretty happy with our situation. It's amazing how the tables can turn. We were thrilled when Jake got the job, but then reality set in when we put the house on the market and realized what had happened to the value. I went through some very dark days thinking about how much money we were going to to lose and wondering how we were going to recover. It's so hard not to think of all the should-haves from the past. I've actually learned a lot from what we've been through and am very grateful for the companionship of the Lord through all this. It's nice to finally be settled. We've decided that we won't be buying another home for at least a year or two. We want to feel out our new surroundings for a while...we're perfectly content for now.

2010-03-07T18:28:00.000-08:00

So that awesome mommy that I swap babysitting days with...she also scrapbooks. Wow, right? Well, I hope she won't mind me posting this page. It was too funny not to share! She put Cashy in Girly clothes to go on a walk and he wasn't too happy about it, but...he got over it, as you can clearly see from the sheepish grin on his face.

2010-03-07T18:16:00.000-08:00

It's funny how when you're trying to sell your home...any call, any email suddenly becomes the one that's going to take this stress off your shoulders. I get my hopes up so high at ANY spark of interest that a random stranger shows. I check my KSL add about 5 times a day to see how many "hits" we've had. I think I just need to calm down and be patient. Everything is going to work out, right people?!

ps. I think the hardest part about all this is how much time I spend keeping my house clean...not my forte!

A few things that we are most sad to leave behind

2010-02-27T20:00:00.000-08:00

We're taking him with us...but I just had to squeeze this one in cuz it's so cute. Don't ya think?!

I have a perfect babysitting arrangement with an awesome mommy in my ward named Jenny. She watches Cash on Tuesdays while I work and I watch her cute little Gwyneth on Mondays while she works. We both happen to be part time dental hygienists. I have loved it so far and I think they have to, Gwyneth and Cash I mean. They are little buddies. Cash has almost figured out how to play with her just in time for us to leave. I really am sad about this because it is just so so perfect. :(

My lovely, new patio. And I only got to enjoy it for 1/2 of one summer. Waaahh! Boohoo. I really am upset about this though. For real.

I will also miss the Young Women and leaders that I have come to love so so much! They really are some of the greatest women I've ever met and I've decided that I'm going to keep them. Bountiful really isn't that far after all.

I love having the farmers market and fashion place mall right around the corner. We love going on walks to these places. Not only can I get all my errands done without a car, but it's a fun outing for me and baby. Everything is close by when you live in Murray and it's going to be hard to adjust to living in a community without so many businesses close by.

So many other thing are going to be missed, but one good thing that I have found is that wherever I am, I seem to adjust quickly and love it soon enough. Hopefully that will be the case with this move as well. We may be here for another 6 months though, it'll just depend on the house. Either way we'll enjoy it for the next few months.

A new start

2010-02-27T19:50:00.001-08:00

Well, it's official. A new job is taking our little family to Bountiful...most likely for the rest of our lives. We are thrilled with the opportunity and Jake couldn't be happier about the job, but that means that we have to leave so many of the things that we have come to love here in Murray. We love our home so much and the people that I have met here are amazing, but only new adventures to come! I just have to say how proud I am of Jake. He has worked so hard for this and so deserves it in my opinion. I just love him alot lot lot. Can you tell?

This was move in day...a very happy day. We think our home is perfect and we hope the future owners will love it as much as we did.

A few of our favorites

2010-02-19T20:46:00.001-08:00

We really needed a vacation last weekend, so we packed up our little family and headed down south. Las Vegas was in the 70s, so first thing that we did was hit the pool at the Palazzo. Cashy LOVED kicking around in the water...WAY better than the bathtub!

Our little getaway was just what we needed. Especially Jake since he is finishing up his MBA this semester at the U and working full time. He doesn't get much time to himself. I'm so grateful for all his hard work. Makes me love him even more...if that's even possible.

Cash at 5 months. We seriously can't get enough of him. Our hearts have grown so much since he came into our lives.

Our very first family photo. Our lives will never be the same!! I always had wanted to be a mom, but honestly never imagined how amazing it would be. Sounds cliche I know, but it's the truth. It hasn't been perfect...but almost.

Am I back? Am I?

2010-02-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

As you can see from the previous post, I started a blog called Fergy Life WAAAY back in June of 2008. I guess blogging wasn't my thing either. :) My good friend Erin helped me set it up and kept encouraging me to contribute to it, since it was mine...I guess that's what you're supposed to do. This time around, I'm hoping to be a little more consistent. I do have new motivation in the form of littleman...my baby Cash Daniel who is 5 months old already! I'm finding myself wanting to show him off. So, I started over with a new blog, title and all. Maybe eventually I'll get around to making it cute. Stay tuned.

(While writing this post, I gave Cashy exactly 6 kiss attacks, told him that I love him approximately 4 times, and said, "You are just the cutest thing" in more than one variation...see what a good mommy I'm TRYING to be? I think I will mostly try to write while he is fast asleep to avoid the guilt.) This video is what Cashy did while I blogged. He's definately discovered his vocal cords!

Fergy Life

2008-06-19T17:16:00.002-07:00

Fergy was Jake's nickname all through highschool. When I asked Jake if Fergy life sounded like a good title for our newly formed blog, he shrugged and said, "Sure, that sounds fine babe. But do you honestly think that I'll ever see it anyway?" Honesty...what a great quality. I guess that you could say that blogging isn't really his thing. So, you'd pretty much be safe in assuming that all of the posts on this here blog come from me, Mindy Ferguson. And I'm happy to do it!