Simple truth

I am not a popular person. I know this. Probably more than I should. But I felt this fact blaring me straight in the face recently while perusing Facebook. A woman I idolize made a random/unplanned comment about how mundane she feels her life is and receives 100+ likes alone, coupled with several comments. I post a major life changing event happening in a few short weeks; an announcement I've been stewing over for days and I get 4 acknowledgements. FOUR total. The truth sometimes hurts.

Thank you four friends. Really.

(Eight-Oh-What) !!??

You might want to sit down for this.

Because it is kind of a shock.

It was shocking for us; that is for sure.

We're moving.

To Utah.

In 4 weeks.

Our house is on the market starting today. Our boxes are being packed. We're training the new pool guy. It's pretty much a done deal. Crazy right? It's kind of a long and complicated story, but for journaling's sake, here is the jist of it. Mark has had his real estate license for some time now. We've also been looking into moving to another neighborhood somewhere in the Bay Area that would put us in a more desirable location and yet wasn't toally out of our price range. So, we've had an open eye for over a year now.

Fast forward to December. With all the thoughts in the air, we decided to look into Utah, being that Mark grew up there and knows so many people who could use him as an agent. A few miraculous phone calls and one spontaneous trip for an interview later, and we were offered a job with Equity Real Estate that we just couldn't refuse. Talk about a quick change of events!

Overall, we are beyond thrilled. I am a little nervous about moving to a totally new area. But the opportunities there for our family are so much more than what we could build for ourselves here in California. And so - we're off. Projected move date - the end of February.

 Making our Home into a House again

And as a side note: I wish I lived this clean more often. Seriously, these past 24 hours that we've been prepping the house for showing has made for a pretty beautiful and remarkably clean home. Which is super nice. With the exception of worrying about every little dust particle that lands on my freshly cleaned hardwood floors, its been nice.

(Shameless plug - now that it's all official, if you're looking for an agent and you live anywhere in the Salt Lake/Utah County areas, contact us!)

Photo Dump

Have I mentioned that I am loving the smartness of my phone. It's amazing, for many reasons. But one reason in particular is the photo power that I hold constantly. I just love that I can capture a little moment without having to hunt down the camera. So here is one of I am sure will be many, many future photo dumps.

And I would take pictures of something other than my son but, he's all I hang out with these days. So - when my life gets more interesting and involved, then the photos will too. :)

I'll Pin That.

By popular request, I bring you these delicious spinach mushroom cups that were just delightful for my family. I was surprised how well they turned out actually.  So three cheers to wherever I got this

recipe.

  

Spinach Mushroom Cups

 1 TBS olive Oil

1/2 onion

1 lb mushrooms

5 oz spinach

1 1/2 cups Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded

salt & pepper to taste

6 flour tortillas

1 avocado

Preheat oven to 450. Heat oil in skillet, add onion and cook 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and saute until golden, 5-8 minutes. Transfer to bowl and toss with spanich and 1 cup jack. Season with salt and pepper. Coat 6 jumbo muffin cups with cooking spray and press tortillas into cups.  Divide vegetable mixture among cups and top with remaining cheese. Bake until cheese is melted and tortillas are light golden and crisp, about 7 minutes. Serve topped with avocado.

Half way to One

Weight: 25.3 lbs

Height: 28.5 inches

** Just the most darling boy. Seriously. I'm not sure if all my kids are going to be able to meet the cuteness level of their older brother. He is DARLING.

** Teething. Nightmare. Always grumpy. Always slobbery. Always sad. Upside: always cuddly.

** Stationary. Will roll in one direction only. Does not like his tummy at all. We're beginning to force a little more tummy time to encourage muscle development and crawling. No progress yet. Sits on his own like a champ. Stands in his saucer thing and loves it. Amazed at his own reflection.

** Taking "big boy" baths. No more little baby tub. Although, he doesn't fully understand the joy of water yet. Instead of splashing around and playing with toys, he'll sit there still as a statue until the experience is over.

** Growing out of his car seat. Gosh I wish I purchased that 3 in 1 deal when it was at Costco.

** Eats Gerber Puffs. Yup - he chews. Although he doesn't get the hand to mouth coordination just yet, we're working on it. Other foods are too long to list, but I just purchased a food grinder to begin grinding what's on the table for dinner. No more special meals at dinner time. For that I am excited.

** Starting to teach him to hold his own bottle. And I think he's starting to get it. Sort of.

Facts and Thoughts

FACT: I don't do gyms. I pretend that I like to go, and I try to fool myself into thinking that "if I'm paying for it, then I'll go." But the terrible problem is that I end up paying a monthly fee for a one time visit. I so much prefer the great outdoors for a run, or a Pinterest workout over sitting on the treadmill. Dear Self: do not sign up for gym memberships. You will waste your money.

FACT: I am a half morning person. Not a real morning person. I like the idea of getting out of bed at 6 am and getting a bunch of stuff going for my day. But the truth is that I much prefer sleeping in until 7:30. To some that is still really morning, but I think that i've "slept in and wasted 2 hours of my day" if I get up at 8. Dear Self: settle on 7. It's a happy medium.

FACT: iPin. A lot. A ton actually. Some boards are Overly pinned. But I love it. Pinterest is the greatest thing since sliced bread. So great. Dear Self: Create a {Did It} board where you can move the pins you did and comment on what you thought of them. (no photos necessary.)

FACT: I don't drink enough water. Remembering to drink all that I'm suppose to is like a full time job. And I stink at it. I make goals, I make boxes for checking off glasses, I make charts, and sheets, and motivational speeches. I still can't get the liquid down. Dear Self: Drink 1 glass before you eat.

FACT: I have sugar teeth. Not one tooth, but many teeth. I think I may have one "healthy tooth" among the lot of them. And it is my demise. I go 3 days eating well, and I think I deserve a small reward. And what kind of reward would you be gifting yourself if it wasn't a sweet treat? Seriously. I can't reward myself in clothes becaue I'm in my "I won't be this size forever" phase so I can't buy new clothes that will be too big for me in a few months. Please don't pay attention to how long this phase has been lasting-this is why we call it a phase; no time frame specified. Anyway-I digress. Dear self: moderation. Have only 1 or 2. ONE klondike bar. or TWO cookies. not 2 Klondike bars and 12 cookies.

FACT: I need to get out more. Out for fun more, not out to grocery shop or Visit teach more. I need to stroll the shops for fun, or take a bike ride with my family, or get my nails done while reading US weekly. I need to enjoy this phase of life that I'm in and not waste it sitting at home because its comfortable here. Dear self: have a family "outing" once a month and a personal "outing" once a month.

FACT: I love my "housewife" job. My "clean the house, cook the meals, bathe the kids" job. I seriously LOVE it. But I am aweful at it. I blog instead of clean. We restaurant-ize instead of cook. And Mark bathes more than I do. {the kids mind you. That isn't to say that my personal hygine couldn't use a step up}. I don't know where I go wrong. I have the calendars, the lists, the menus, the frozen meals, the crockpot, and the gumption all up and running sunday night. Somehow the week hits me in the gut and I loose all my wind. Dear Self: schedule one "open kitchen" night a week. This will give you a break to look forward to.

Christmas Morning

 Christmas was great to us this year. We were more than blessed with such wonderful gifts. Although Cameron is still a little too young to be any real part of the Christmas festivities, it was delightful to have him around.

It was just our little family who celebrated together this year. No other family or people to visit that day. Which to some is a weird thing, but its pretty common place for us. We've shared Christmas alone almost every year since we've met. So its right up our ally. Funny thing, Cameron has been quite the early riser in our household, often ready for the day before the clock strikes 6am. However, on Christmas morning, he decided to sleep in! What? He has not done this before nor since, but on Christmas morning we had to tiptoe into his room and wake him up. It was so funny as Mark and I lay in bed waiting to hear the lad call out to us. Finally, we got tired of waiting and at 7:30 we crept out to see our lovely Christmas display.

I was overly excited to give Mark our camera remote. So awesome to document the entire Christmas day almost each minute. The mess growing, our faces smiling, and our whole family of 3. So fun. I especially like our new tradition I got from some blog somewhere - Santa brings sugar cereal. We are NOT a sugar cereal household so to have the option of lucky charms or Trix is a treat. (I still won't eat it for breakfast. But nothing beats a 10pm snack like sugary cereal goodness).

Mark and I love gifting each other. And unlike some couples who discuss their gifts with each other., we are very secretive in our planning and purchasing. So the entire day is a delightful Christmas surprise. Mark spoiled me rotten, as usual; with the grand finale being my coveted Silhouette machine. And I went against my natural self and purchased all available seasons of Psych to feed his psych passion. I'm a rock star.

It was a perfect Christmas morning. After all the gift opening, we enjoyed some Nutella French Toast, compliments to Pinterest. And ate chocolate and junk food all day long. It was lovely and merry and bright. Just as we had asked for.

Typical

I am super motivated in the morning. This morning especially, I was going to get some stuff done! As soon as I put the baby down for his morning nap - I had an agenda.

Agenda for my morning:
Wash dishes, clean kitchen from fiasco last night
Fold Laundry
Start another load
Jillian for 20 minutes
Shower
Work until nap is done

How it really went:
Skip dishes - to daunting
Move to bedroom to fold laundry.
Pick up jeans first.
Remember the hole in the crotch. Replacement Overdue
Move to computer to order new jeans online
Fill online cart with shirts and pants. Can't find the right jeans. Close window without an order.
Check emails. See all the facebook action.
Open Facebook. Waste time.
Open Pinterest. Waste more time.
Remember an email you were needing to send.
Send email.
Pinterest again.
  (keep in mind the jeans that started this whole mess are still sitting on my lap)
Facebook again.
Realize that the laundry still is on the bed.
Close windows and return to fold laundry.
Think. "this is so typical. I've wasted my whole morning. I do this every day! Now the baby is going to wake up. I should blog this."
Leave laundry again. 2 pairs of jeans folded. Blog.
Post blog.
Read my blog.
Read other people's blogs.
Baby is awake.
Sit a while longer while baby cries.

Morning is over.
So much for Jillian. and laundry. and dishes.

Love Him

I have the best love. The kind that books talk about. The kind that they sing songs about; and poets write about, and people dream about. I have that. He supports me in all my hobbies. He listens to my wants and needs and then provides them all. He goes out of his way to buy the XXL Nachos from the Bell. He knows what kind of soda I'm into; which is a big deal considering it changes randomly. He watches Pitch Perfect too many times, and laughs with me. He praises me when I quote a movie line at the perfect moment. I inherited some awesome friends through him. I am perfectly content spending all my free time with just him. Love that man of mine.

Lovely Lauren

It was such a pleasure to have my dear friend Lauren and her little one come to visit me last month. I get very few visitors these days, so I was overjoyed that she would take some time and come to visit me at my home.

Although our agenda wasn't much to boast about, I sure loved just catching up with her life and laughing about days gone by. We did go to the shopping center which was suppose to be bustling in Christmas decor and magic; it was not, and enjoyed some chocolate and clearance racks. A good combo if you ask me. We watched a movie every night; which seems to be a theme in our get-togethers, and ate delicious food from BJ's Brewery and Cinnamon rolls from yours truly.

I just love this woman. It was only fitting that while cleaning out my office drawers, I stumbled upon the "welcome to the ward" gift she had given me upon my arrival in Provo. Ten Years Ago. Thanks for the "girls weekend" visit Mrs. Kammeyer. Looking forward to our next one!

Emergency Preparedness

I have a love of office supplies. Like, seriously LOVE them. On my first day of teaching at Springville Jr High, I was showed the printing room and the glorious office supply closets. Free office supplies? Stop It! I have never seen anything like it before or since. I literally stood there for a minute straight. And I would walk away with a tub of stuff each time I was allowed into this holy closet. (California schools do not have any such closets; sadly). I find going to the local Depot for Offices an enjoyable past time activity. Calendars, Pens, Post It notes; they have an education corner, did you know this? Paper shredders, calculators, desks, file folders, desktop organizers, highlighters, notepads. I can't. Breathe...hold on. 

Some would say that I have a somewhat overstocked amount of office supplies in my house/garage. Hoarding might be a word that some would use. I would like to correct this mode of thinking - I actually just want to be sure to have some on hand; you know, in case of an emergency. Now, Mark would probably argue that a shortage of office supplies would not really be defined as an "emergency"; but its better to be safe than sorry right? You never know when the pen you have runs out of ink. And they all write a little differently. And it's good to have a choice in color when it comes to highlighters and pen ink. You know, to do lists are so much more fun in multiple colors.

So, for my New Year's gift to myself, new colored pens and coordinating post it notes; for my new calendar. I couldn't use the ones I already have because, well, these ones are the right colors. And I'm really into the RSVP brand for my pens of choice. And the Post Its have lines on them so I can write my goals better. I am so excited about it, I want it to be the First so I can just start using it already.

So if you are in need of some office supplies - I might have something. I'd be happy to let you BORROW a pen. Or give you ONE Post it Note. One. :) You're Welcome.

iUpgrade

I finally did it. I've accepted progression and updated my old clunker to the iPhone. Mark related me to the kind of people who upgrade only because they stop making the low budget technology they are use to. Like rotary phones - I'm sure I'd be just fine with one, except thy don't make them anymore. Sad - I know. But it is what it is. Now, I didn't go all out and get the iPhone 5; which I am sure was a small injustice to some, but I just couldn't get the best of the best when it wasn't necessary. Lets be honest - I've had mobile web (which I never use) and SMS text messaging from the stone age. Anything too fancy would have overwhelmed me.

I must admit though - I got the white phone and it is something sexy! I can't wait for my phone cover to be delivered. Nothing like putting a sexy phone in a Disney cover. Double Hott.

And I will say - I've become more of a Pinterest Addict (didn't know that was possible) since coming onboard. I'm excited about instagram - until they decided to sell my photos. And LOVE that I can budget on my phone. That is awesome. Now if only I could scrapbook a page on it, then Id be set.

Christmas Greetings

 An online version of our Christmas Cards. Although, I must say, I wasn't as proud of the card as I was the envelopes this year. I had one bunch that were awesome. Then a bunch of plain envelopes that were less awesome. Then I ran out of cards. So - here is the least awesome delivery method.

Merry Christmas! As is customary this time of year, I thought I’d summarize our life in this generic little blurb for your reading enjoyment. It’s been another banner year for the Morrell Bunch; with enough ups to keep us positive and enough downs to keep us working hard. Although our year looks a little like a mountain; flat and plain in the start and finish, with an all time high in the middle; we’re pretty pleased with how it’s all turning out.

  The start of our year was pretty monotone, with Mark still working pool routes, and Kaylinn still substitute teaching at the local High School. Day in and day out, there wasn’t really anything too noteworthy.  Just your usual chores, bills, health goals gone sour, and a few birthday celebrations to spice it up. Mark did complete his first flight hours for his birthday in May. No, he is not training to be a pilot, but he did get to fly a small plane over the San Francisco bay with a friend. That was pretty grand. And Kaylinn enjoyed a little trip to Portland to catch up with a good friend there. Good memories shared.

  Once the school year ended, Kaylinn took a little downtime waiting for the arrival of our first baby. We then hit an all time high in the middle of the year with the birth of Cameron David on July 6^th. A smooth pregnancy and delivery, Cameron was born at 9 lbs, 12 oz; just as calm as a summer’s day. Parenting took us by surprise as we adjusted our schedules and lives to fit another little person. We find that Cameron is a really mellow baby and just goes with the flow until his parents catch on. Thanks kid.

  August continued to bring new adventures with Mark getting his Real Estate License and selling off half the pool routes as we make a switch from “Pool Guy” to Realtor. This new career fits a little more with Mark’s people personality and go-get-‘em spirit. Something that backyards and pool chemistry lacked. Kaylinn also started working again. This time from home for the Environmental firm she has been associated with the last two years. She works part time hours so it has turned out to be a great blessing. This month also included a visit from some very dear Vegas friends, who happened to be our first house guests. So we felt double lucky to share the gems of Antioch with visitors. And they’ll tell you how fun it was, so you’ll all want to experience it.

  As the year has rounded out with these last few months, things on the home front died down a bit. We enjoyed an annual trip to Utah where we visit with friends and family, and Kaylinn walks memory lane, BYU style…again. We were able to take a whole week there, mostly so we could fit in all the eateries that Utah offers. Sadly, we’re still wearing that on our hips, but the trip was delightful. Thanksgiving was a little different this year, with the whole family getting a flu bug. The entire company of 7 (less Mark) were out for 48 hours over the holiday meal. Mark celebrated his thanks over chicken soup and 7up. Happy holidays to us. Don’t fret, we plan to make up the missed out calorie intake during the entire month of December.

  We welcome this season with traditions we hold dear. Music in the background and a fire in the fireplace, coupled with Mother Nature’s fabulous wintery storm these last several days, have made us feel a little more like Christmas. We are so grateful for all our many blessings; especially that of having Cameron join our family this year. We are humbly aware of our Savior Jesus Christ and his eternal example and sacrifice for all mankind. We testify of His divinity and love as we celebrate this Christmas season. May His Spirit be in your home as your year comes to an end is our Christmas wish to you.

Christmas Breakfast

 When we first moved into our ward, I thought it was so different that they had a Christmas Breakfast, rather than the traditional dinner party that I was use to. But now that we've done it for a few years now, I just LOVE it and wouldn't have it any other way. I am big fan of breakfast foods anyway, so it is an obviously wonderful change.

We were sure to deck the lad out in the traditional Target purchased Christmas garb. I just loved his Santa hat that we added to spice it up. He was seriously darling. The ward primary put on the nativity, which I was a part of with my "mad" piano skills. Lucky for me, the ward has grown accustomed to my less-than-amazing talent, and don't seem to notice that a quarter of the notes are wrong. I have accepted the fact that I play worse than most but better than some; and appreciate that the ward lets me play. AND I was amazed at the remarkable backdrop that was put up for both Santa Clause and the Nativity scene. Really great work ladies.

Mom came to support, and mostly because I make her come to everything with us to admire Cameron, and for free baby holding while I stuff my face. Paul joined our table so I was sure to get a picture of him with Mark (above). And we had to have the traditional Cameron with Santa picture! He went straight for the beard, which wasn't a surprise. Santa is an expert and quickly took the lad's hand in his to avoid any accidental...hair pulling.

Another Christmas activity down. Christmas Day is almost here!

Close Enough

 Sometimes Pinterest doesn't work out real great for me. Like the darling pictures floating around of babies playing in the lights. So cute!

 So I had to give it a go. And...lets just say it didn't go well. Not to mention the numerous times we had to stop the baby from chewing on the lights as a whole! (I'm going to say that isn't safe!) It just wasn't what I had envisioned for my little boys Christmas page in his scrapbook.

 So it may not be perfect, but I'm taking what I can get. Lets be honest, a 5 month old does not a perfect subject make. :)