Looking Forward

I found out I was pregnant September 17th and time is flying by. The last 10 weeks seem more like a month. Yesterday was the first day that it hurt to button my pants, and I’m currently sitting here with my pants unzipped enjoying the much needed breathing room. It’s official….I’m getting bigger. I’ll spare my 2 blog readers of all my pregnancy “ailments” and focus on how exciting it is to be in my “condition.” Most days I forget that there is really a baby in me, but every once in a while I have these intense realizations that make my heart skip a beat and the blood rush to my head. I’m so thankful to be blessed with this experience in my life right now. I love having so much to look forward to.

Girls Night In

Kahiki hosted a girls' night at her super cute house last month, and here are a few pictures of her, Ana, Wendy and me embarrassing ourselves. Kahiki made an awesome "clean" dinner, gave us cute candles and we played Dance Dance Revolution and Rock Band.

Carolina Campfire

One of my favorite nights in SC, we decided to have a gathering on my parent farm. We had a bonfire, Pop grilled up some delicious burgers, we roasted marshmallows over an awesome flyer, and the kids had a blast riding around on their Gators and the golf cart.

Soccer Games

While in SC I had the chance to go and watch 4 of my nieces and nephews play soccer. AC and Blake played on one team and Hailey and Ben played on the other. Here is a picture of AC and Blake after their game:

Action shot of AC and Blake

AC makes a break away

Hailey and me waiting for her turn to go back into the game.

Ben was so cute playing goalie. He would look at us after every one of his plays, to make sure we saw him. In this picture he was waving to all of his fans.

A Carolina Halloween

I recently flew to SC to surprise my family. It was fun to see all of their reactions when they first saw me. Here are some pictures from Halloween night.

Stevie, Steven, Melanie, Reid

Jeremy and Lexi

AC

Cameron and Ben

Julie, Dad, David, Steve

Me and Emily Jo

Hailey, Steven, Landon

Blake

Lexi

Natalie and Nicholas

Camille

Karson and Lainee

First known picture of Michael Phelps

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

With our garden in full swing, I've had tomatoes, squash, zucchini and jalapeño peppers coming out my ears. When we planted the garden, I insisted on lots of tomato plants so that I could can them and use them throughout the winter for chili and soups.

Here is what I've learned about gardening/canning:
-14 tomato plants is insane. 4 would have been plenty.
-8 jalapeño plants is insane. 1 would have been plenty.
- 14 squash and zucchini plants is insane. 2 of each would have been plenty.
- When canning, the jars don't come out of the water bath sealed already. You have to let them sit for hours. (This was the most devastating mistake of them all)
- You do need to boil the tomatoes after you blanch and peel them.
- At first I put all of the snails in a bucket and let them go free across the street....now I throw them against our house or smash them with rocks.
- Squash bugs all deserve to die miserable deaths
- One pumpkin plant needs A LOT of room!!!
- It's fun to throw the rotten tomatoes
- Weeding is overrated. My garden is full of weeds and still produces more food than I know what to do with.

Bentley, oh how I love thee

Kevin and I bought a new horse recently and I call him Bentley. I'm totally loving this horse. He has such an awesome personally and he has been so patient with me as I play trainer with him. I've been working him at least twice a week in an arena, and his mind is like a sponge. So far he's learned to spin to his right (still working on the left), he knows his leads, he'll do simple lead changes, roll backs, and he's developing an awesome slide stop. I'm really focusing on training him to be a pleasure horse and I'm trying to figure out how to get him to slow his jog down and drop his head at the trot.
He was in his first competition last weekend, when we competed with the Hobble Creek riding club. He did his 1st drill routine, poles, barrels, and a few other random events. I miss Dollar, but I haven't had this much fun on a horse since I was riding my childhood horse, Crystal.

Taking sexy back

Well, I've really neglected this blog since getting married. My life is now so intertwined with Kevin's that everything post worthy has gone on our blog. As much as I love sharing a blog with my best friend, I'm just not ready to let the Adventures of Jess die. So be prepared to read about all the facets of my life that are unique to me. Happy reading.

Fishin' with Papa

I stole this picture off of Martha's blog, but I had to post it. My dad and brother (Cory) took 5 of my 6 nephews fishing in my parents' pond. They caught a ton of fish and from what I hear the boys had a blast. I can't wait to go home and spend some time with these cute fellows!


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

For my momma

Of all the mothers in the world, He knew I needed you.
Through storms and troubled waters your faith has seen me through.

Your loving acts and testimony have helped me to believe.
Your many talents radiate, for everyone to see.

You are a great example of compassion and love.
You taught me how to put my faith, in the Lord above.

You taught me the commandments and about Jesus Christ,
You helped me develop talents and find my inner light.

You showed me how to serve my family, teach others, and to lead.
You somehow always know exactly what I need.

You serve your family endlessly no matter just how tough.
You live the gospel full heartedly and are a diamond in the rough.

I hope you know how very special you are to me, because
You’ve given me an amazing example of what I want to be.

Nothing like techno in the morning

I've always enjoyed spin classes at the gym, and I've recently started going to them regularly again. At 6am I was in a dark room with black lights, psychedelic fans, lots of spandex and 16 other early birds ready to get their workouts on. It's such a motivating feeling - riding a bike as hard as you can with techno music pounding, and everyone's white shoe laces making hypnotic swirly patterns. Whenever the music kicks up in tempo and intensity you'll see everyone's speed pick up. Of course the instructor can make or a break a class with their motivating dialogue throughout the class. Spin class kicks my butt and is so relaxing at the same time!

Walking the dog

I've been waking up really early each morning and going to Gold's, but this morning the temperature was actually bearable and I decided to go for a walk with Belle. Belle is Kevin's cougar/bear hunting dog and isn't really accustomed to going for "walks." She keeps a brisk pace with her nose to the ground, until she smells something of interest. Then I end up trying to drag her down the side walk, while keeping my arm in its socket. The worst is when she sees or smells a cat; it takes all of my strength to hold on to her.

I have to throw a predicament out there though. I know that it is proper etiquette to pick up your dog's poop, but Belle is huge and as you may expect....so is her poop. It's so embarrassing to be standing on the side of the road watching your dog make a mess in someone's yard. And then you're left wondering..."do I get a stick and try to push it into the bushes? do I walk away? do I come back with a shovel?" The little poop bags people use would never work for Belle. I'd be lugging 10 lbs of the worst smelling stuff in the world around. I'm just not willing to do it. Belle may not get invited on anymore of my walks around the neighborhood.

(Belle is the one on the right)

The aftermath

I didn’t mention in my previous post about the aftermath of that beautiful sunny day up at Snowbird. I often feel as though my skin craves the sun (which is why I occasionally find myself in a tanning bed- bad I know.). When the sun was shining last Saturday, I couldn’t resist. I spent the day skiing in a t-shirt, gloves and beanie. I was in heaven. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized my mistake…..................................




I had been smart enough to put sunscreen on my face and part of my neck, but not smart enough to realize I needed it on the rest of me. I was fried! Poor Whitney and Tyese didn’t have sunscreen on their faces and they got fried as well. I think Tyese even had blisters on her face the next day. Lesson learned.

To ski or not to ski? That's still the question.

I did it…finally. I tried to ski for the first time. My cousin Whitney and her friend Tyese, wanted to learn how to snowboard, so it was the perfect opportunity for me to try on Whitney’s skis and give it a go. The weather up at Snowbird was gorgeous and the snow was still great. I jumped on the lift and headed up the mountain. Getting off the lift was surprisingly scarier than I thought. Skiing “looked so easy” but I was quickly learning my lesson. My first 15 minutes on those da-gum things were horrible. I looked like Goofy and ended up stuck in some powder and then in a tree right off the bat. “Why? I thought…why am I doing this to myself?”
I picked up my left turn right off of the bat, but the right turn was so awkward for me. I hated the snow plow/pizza move everyone told me to try. It doesn’t work at all. My first run consisted of me skiing sideways to my right, making a turn to my left, skiing sideways to my left and then laying down, flipping my skis around and skiing back to my right. I was scared of my right turn and did the whole lay down and flip my skis around routine to avoid it.
My second and third runs were much better and I was able to make it the whole way down, turning both ways. It was fun to “figure it out” but I’m not sure when I’ll reach for the skis over my board again.

Harlie Ann

My little brother and his wife just had their (2nd) baby. Harlie Ann was born on March 10th ~ 8lb and some change. I hear she's really cute. Maybe SOMEONE will send me some pictures of her. That would be cool.
******update*******
Martha and my dad were kind enough to email me some pictures, so here she is!

True Horsemanship

I love this video! This impressive performance is so motivating to me.

Walk, Trot.......Canter!

I woke up at 5:30 this morning and went to my friend’s work to ride Dollar in the heated indoor arena. I absolutely love the facility! It has multiple barns with heated wash racks, tack rooms, and probably 40 stalls. I went and got Dollar out of his paddock and headed over to the arena. He did really well. For my horse wise friends, I’m trying to teach Dollar to canter/lope. The first 2 years I had Dollar I was teaching him to walk and not runaway. Now I’m trying to get him to break out of his speedy trot into a controlled canter. He is slightly gaited and cantering is so unnatural to him. He’s doing really well on his left lead, but he kept picking up a cross canter on his right lead. He’s so funny and I love to see him learn new things. He’s such a cuddly horse and always wants to be right with you. I felt so energized when I got to work after such a fun morning riding. Here are a few pictures of my buddy Dollar.

The "Stare" Machine

My favorite machine at the gym is the rotating stair machine (aka stare machine). Not only does it give me an awesome workout, it puts me high above everyone else at the gym and provides the perfect people watching/staring location. While on the “stare” machine I don’t even need headphones or a magazine because the entertainment is already provided. I love watching people and try to imagine what they are like. Now I know I could really write a fun story about the guy with the mullet or the girl wearing the see through spandex pants and the sweat bands, but this post is actually inspired by a teenage girl running on a treadmill. She was about average size, but she was making this horrible loud pounding sound and her machine was rocking wildly about. She would just slam her feet down with each stride. It just looked so awkward and painful. My knees always hurt after about a mile and it got me thinking….do I run like that? I was really curious at this point….how do I run? Like the girl stomping on the treadmill? Like Phoebe Buffay? I would really like someone to tell me, but please do it kindly.

El Diablo Update

I got to meet and spend a little bit of time with my dad’s new pony El Diablo while I was in SC. It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with little Diablo. He is a gorgeous pony and a beautiful mover. He was stubborn, like every other pony I’ve ever met, but was willing to learn. What it comes down to is that Diablo is not trained whatsoever and there is no one around with the time to train him, so if you’re looking for a pretty prancing pony – I know of one for sale.