Halloween

Thanks to Grandma M., I now have some cute pictures of my kids on Halloween. These were taken during the Halloween Parade at their school. What cuties I have!! Thanks to Grandma for being a picture Queen!
Casie is half boy half girl...and ALL adorbable. :-)

Jack wasn't in his costume at the parade, but isn't he CUTE!!??

Ellie and Annie were SCAARRYYY witches!

We had another fun Halloween party in Richfield this year. Lot's of Craziness, food..(Mike out did himself on the Chili this year), candy, and costumes!
Stephen and Mckenzie always have awesome costumes. Heston made such a cute chubby elephant!

I think we can all agree that the highlight of the holiday were the three baby boys! Heston and Gabriel out weigh little Jack by 8 pounds, but if Jack is a true Bearden, he will be towering in no time! Gabriel and Heston are SUCH cute babies! They are both so sweet and good natured. I can see many fun get togethers throughout the years where we will have to keep a special eye on these three! Cousins are so fun. :-)

My sweet little puppy dog...minus the ears. I just LOVE this little guy! I have to be careful not to kiss him too hard! I seriously could just eat him up.

Casie, Keri and Kinley. They are such good friends and have so much fun together. Casie is a half boy half girl. :-) (fyi..I had the same costume when I was her age)

" Lucy! You got some splaining to do!"....those were words I never heard Kyle say, but that's what they dressed up as. Jessica and Matthew are Fred and Ethel. At first I thought Matthew was John McCain..lol

A little Quirky

This is a tag I got from Layne a while ago. I am suppose to list 5 quirky things about myself. :-)

1. Every time I am stopped at a stop light , and a pedestrian is on the corner or crossing the street I always lock my car door...(even though it locks automatically when I put the car into drive) My mind can always imagine that the pedestrian is going to try to high jack my car with me and my family in it. Mike makes fun of me for this...."ya Jill, that Man in his Jazzy is going to jump up, pull out a gun and demand we surrender our mini-van to him." You just never know.

2. Now I say this next one mostly in jest, but I am pretty sure I have some weird, but totally useless psychic abilities. I will share one of my many experiences. Once on the Eve before going to Disneyland, a very random thought crossed my mind. I thought, " I wonder if there is such thing as an African American Albino." Crazy thought huh? Well the next day at Disneyland, while waiting to board the Jungle Cruise, I saw one! Ok..so if this doesn't qualify as useless ability, I don't know what does.

3. For some reason, I ALWAYS look at the clock when it's 11:11. Seriously, it happens ALL the time. Hours can pass with me not looking once at the clock and the one time I happen to glance up, the clock will say 11:11 And though it sounds weird, my eyes have popped open while sleeping to look at the clock, only to find that it is indeed 11:11....( I hope I still have friends after this post...I'm starting to sound like a freak. ) lol

4. I am not an extremely emotional person, but music can always make me cry. I can instantly be in tears after a few bars. This is inconvenient if I am the one performing the song. I also cry at movies. My last tear was shed when Mike and I watched Star Trek Nemesis, and Data died. It actually affected me for quite some time...I love Data....(for those of you who aren't geeks..Data is a robot)

5. I try harmonize to EVERY song I hear. I am not really even that good at it, but give me a commercial jingle, a kindergarten song, or a door bell, and I'm trying to harmonize with it. Don't tell me that I'm the only one who has ever added a beautiful third to..." Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there!" or "Trust the Midas touch."
It's actually funny because my girls sing so much, and Mike "beat boxes" to everything. Add my harmony and we are quite the little band. My musical Annie is starting to do the same thing. I heard her trying to harmonize to her Primary songs the other day :-)
Oh, and this isn't that quirky because I think everyone does this, but I always change the words to songs to fit the activity that I am doing. Because Voice Male came out with their new album, all the songs on the CD have been in my head lately. If my versions were on the Cd, it would have a much different track list....If you don't have the CD yet, you might not get it, but if you do..sing along to my words.......(as you will see, all of these words are sung while taking care of Mr. Jack)
1. bouncy boy...bouncy boooyoooy.
2. I'm a little baby boy and I got poopies on my bum...poopies on my bum, poopies on my bum...
3. I am a boy who knows no words....But I go like thisss...pee pee pee and poo poo poo poo and spit spit, and googily goo....cry cry cry cry, and sleep sleep sleep..eat eat eat eat..la da de da da do! (sorry for all the potty talk, we have a new born and that equals LOTS of diaper changes,..thus, LOTS of diaper changing songs.)

Now I will tag: Jenae, Shelley and Mindy

Hail the Utah Aggies!

Mike's "Man Band" Voice Male was honored last weekend as Utah States Young Alumni of the year. We headed up to Logan where we were sufficiently spoiled by the Alumni association. It started off with a yummy banquet (if the chicken is Moroccan..don't come a knocking...). Voice Male sang a few songs and were honored for being "just regular guys". They put us all up at the University Inn where cute little goodie baskets awaited us. The next morning we had breakfast at the Coppermill then Voice Male got to ride in a truck for the Home coming Parade. (I screamed and clapped for them...but they didn't throw me any candy.) Later that day we got to sit in the Presidents Suite to watch the football game. They were quite the seats...what with all the free food, Drinks and Aggie Icecream..(BTW..John H. can put down an impressive amount of Ice cream) It was also fun to be so close to the game. We heard helmets crunching and large "robot like" football players grunting below us. Voice Male was again honored at Half time.
I so love Logan! What a beautiful place. I have so many good memories of our time there. I want to thank Voice Male for the many years of fun and laughter...(more off stage than on!) We have been blessed so much because of our association with them. They truly deserved this award and I look forward to many more years of entertainment. :-)

Mike and "Brudder" at their first sporting event. I love the tiny little Aggie shirt Jack is wearing




































Julie and Jason were our honored guests at the banquet.

anyone?....anyone?

so do any of my bloggy friends have any good ideas for a halloween costume for me? we have our huge family party this saturday and I totally spaced the fact that I needed a costume. silly me. I'm up for some simple ideas. Thanks!!

Crazy Hair day!

Sorry for all the Photo's, but this special day deserves lots of capturing! We had so much fun spraying and ratting and spraying the girls hair for Crazy hair day. Ellie was shocked when she saw Casie and Annie. She kept reminding them that, " everyone on the bus will see them." Ellie is very image conscious. She made sure that her hair was very tame. Even Jack got in on the action. :-)

Backwards day

The bus came at the end of this clip. What a cutie.

A few photos

These are some random pictures, but they show a few fun things that I never blogged about. :-)




Snuggling with Dad in the morning.





We did some cute Halloween pictures on the girls nails.

Jack sorta loved/hated his first bath. I love clean babies! He was only a couple of days old here.

What we are doing

Mike and Jack....asleep in the Lazy boy...(so cute)

Me...attempting to make those delicious looking rolls off Heidi K. blog. I know they won't look like hers, but I am trying. It will take a few tries before I am known in different states for my roll making ability. I will take a picture when I am done for every one's amusement.

Casie, Annie, and Ellie...Doing a radio show using the baby monitor. It was inspired by a childhood memory from Mike. He remembers doing shows for his family using a wakie talkie. So as of now, C A S I E . 5 doing commercials ,playing Voice Male, and taking requests. (we call on the cell phone and get to be on the radio!) Oh, and if you didn't already know... you can " go to Sears right now because powdered doughnuts are on sale." :-) I made the last and final kill joy request. It went something like this..." Hi, this is Jill. I am requesting that the DJ and her faithful listeners all go get in the shower and start getting ready for church" :-)

The rolls turned out better than I thought they would...a little dense, but still good. I think I need to roll them thinner next time. Thanks Heidi!

Best CD ever!

We have been LOVING this new Voice Male CD! You would think that I would be sick of it by now, but NO! Another Voice Male wife is doing a CD give away with multiple winners. Her link is posted on my "friends who blog" list. It's Phil and Heidi. Just go to her blog and click on the Kids Stuff album. Tell her why you want the new Voice Male CD and you will be entered to win! If comment twice you will be entered twice...I am so going to comment twice. lol Good luck. You all deserve this awesome CD. You will love it!!!

Best CD ever!

We changed our minds....

We decided not to cut little Jack. Why do something so painful if it isn't necessary? It's really just for cosmetic purposes. What are the opinions on this? Is there anyone out there who didn't circumcise their son? We can still change our minds, but for now he is still intact. :-)

Alive

I wanted to thank everyone for their comments on my last post. Each one really helped a lot. I am so grateful for loving and supportive friends.

I am happy to say that I am feeling SO much better! It's been two days since Mike went back to work and both days have been great. I'm still a bit mushy in the brain, but my emotions have been so much better. I'm not going to get too excited and declare I am totally myself, but I feel like things are heading in that direction. Thanks again to everyone for all your support.

Now...If I can get through Jack's Doctors appointment today. He is getting circumcised and Mike and I both have anxiety about it. Wish us luck. Poor baby.....

Jack

Here's a cute little man. I forgot how much time it takes to take care of these little guys! My head is always in a thousand different places, but my body can only be in one place....usually feeding Jack. It's funny how this new born phase is so rewarding and sweet but hard at the same time. I hope I'm not the only one out there that has a hard time adjusting to life with a new baby. With emotions out of whack and a healing body, I sometimes get overwhelmed. I think I need some support from other Mom's who have gone through this. I just want to hear that I'm normal and that I'll feel better eventually. I am still loving this baby though! He is adorable and a sweetheart.

family comes to visit

One thing I love about having a baby is all the family that comes to visit. My Mom and Kent came yesterday, and Julie and Jason came today. Grandpa took the kids to a neighbor hood pumpkin patch (in the rain...thanks Grandpa!) We've had a great day just lounging around, gooing over Jack, eating rice pudding, and watching the cousins play together.



I have to say that Jason wins the prize as most dedicated uncle. Last night he accidentally drove his bike into a ditch. As you can see from the video, his face got the brunt of the hit. I am glad he still made the trip down with his family to see Jack. I will post this on my blog since we know Julie isn't quite on top of her blogging techniques. lol

I also wanted to post some cute footage of little Jack. Mostly so my family who won't see him for another month will get to see him as a sweet little new born. Enjoy!

The sweet little cousins had so much fun being creative and finding things to do on this rainy Saturday. Here they are making airplanes that they later dangled off my bedroom deck.

Stats...

Sorry all...I was so into Jack's sweetness I didn't ever give the details of his birth...

Jack is my second to smallest baby. He was 7 pounds and 15 oz. and 21 inches long. He was my shortest labor at six hours. Everything went wonderfully. He is sleeping and eating well, and seems to be a very happy and content little guy. :-) Thanks to everyone for the sweet comments and all your support.

PS...I know he has an adorble nursery, but he has only been in there once. I can't imagine having him all the way down the hall! :-)

Grateful

Naturally, after having a baby, I have been thinking about how very blessed I am. I don't know how I deserve all the blessings that Heavenly Father has given me. I am overcome with the love I have for my children and husband. Casie, Annie and Ellie are wonderful children. They play so sweetly together. They serve. They are thoughtful and kind. They are obedient. I truly feel I am raising some of Heavenly Fathers most choice spirits. I am so grateful to have them. I wish I could express in words the sweetness I have witnessed in watching the girls with Jack. They are so tender and loving with him. All three of them would be happy to just hold him all day. Having Jack has really created a sweet spirit in our home.

Mike is the "wonder husband" of the world. He gets two weeks paid paternity leave. I LOVE having him here. His presence really calms me. He is also so willing to help me and provide for his family. I love him more than I can express. I'm forever grateful for him. I love watching him with Jack. He gets such a loving look in his eye when he holds him. He is a wonderful loving Dad.

Jack is so precious! I seriously well up with gratitude every time I look at him. He has such a special demeanor and presence. I love having him in our home and cherish every second I have with him. This new born phase of life is such a sacred and fleeting moment. I'm trying to soak up every moment. I love to rock him and feed him. I love when he roots on my face. :-) I love his smell and his tiny little body. Like I said, overwhelmed with gratitude.

jack is home!!

words can't express our love for this little guy! I'll write more later, but for now, here's some pictures of our little man.

At least we TRIED.....

Today we decided to have a "Final Family Fun Fest" before the baby comes on Monday. We did all our Saturday jobs and headed down to Hee Haw farm. We chose this destination because Ellie's pre-school class had gone a field trip last year and there's a huge slide that the kids wanted to go on. There are also a few other little things (fun for a preschooler), but the slide was the main reason we went. When we got there, they told us the slide wasn't up and running yet! (mind you we had driven 35 min. to get there, and their website made no indication that the slide was out of commission) We would have still had to pay full price to go through a mini corn maze..(single bales of hay lined up in a maze) and see a few animals. We decided to leave and try somewhere else....

We drove another 10 min and found a little amusement park that looked promising. The girls were full of glee as they saw all the little rides (and I mean little) that they could go on. They were so excited to get going, but then we looked at the price. It was 16.50 per person. I guess when compared to somewhere like...oh, DISNEY LAND that's a good price, but seriously, there were like 5 things to do there....plus the little roller coaster was shut down...(surprise surprise). I guess mostly we just didn't feel like spending $50 on a whim. It was hard to disappoint the kids again, but we promised them they could pick out some candy at Walmart and we would rent a movie. They were totally sweet about the situation and not one cross word or tear was shed. I love my girls! Our day wasn't as creative and fun as I had hoped, but it ended up ok. I would have had some great photo's had we done either of the first two options. I didn't think pictures of the girls with chocolate on their chins and eyes glued on the TV would have made a very cute picture. :-)

Baby Belly!

Ok,so this is a dorky picture. Casie was taking it and I was just in the middle of telling her that her finger was on the flash. :-) Thus the weirdo face I'm making. My camera batteries died right after this picture was taken! I decided just to post it as I might not get another chance before this beautiful body changes! lol Here I am in all my 9 months pregnant glory. :-)

Hidden Talent

Mike took this amazing picture this morning....with his phone. I wish he had something other than a 1.5 mega pix device....but still, I think it turned out really cool!