*note to self:

trying to dress like a girl for work WILL get you the following comments from co-workers and bosses:

* "so cute! you look like a little 8 year old girl!"

(in her defense, i had a long piece of licorish that i was savoring while this comment was being made, and i have a blue plastic duck barrette in my hair that you cant see)

*"aww jenn, youre in a dress! you look like a mormon!" (this coming from my jewish boss)

*don-"oh man- can i take your picture?"

me- "what? why?"

don- "me and shawn were talking about little house on the prairie yesterday and you look just like that girl on it...whats her name?...ummmm..."

my boss ty- "laura. laura wilder."

don- "thats it! you look just like her in that dress. i gotta show everyone this"

*click from a camera phone*

this picture was taken in my kitchen after i got home as a re-enactment of the shameful event

the rest of the day everyone called me laura.

lesson learned for the day-

jeans and t-shirts may not be fancy, but they keep my huge ego safe.

dinner.

does this make me a bad wife?

raindrops keep fallin' on my head

wonderful mornings like this:

make me want to give my left little pinky toe for these:
unfortunately for me, my husband deems them unnecessary.
a word i have come to learn and detest in the year+ of our happy union.

lucky for me, i have this rad green rain jacket to tie me over for now.
and just for extra happiness, there are little green whales printed on the inside of it.

unfortunately for you, this was the best self picture i could get as i was rushing out the door this morning, so you cant really experience my jacket in all of its awesomeness.
just take my word for it.

its awesome and makes me smile.

"this monstro, he's a whale of a whale"...or a bed.

meet monstro.

like the whale from pinocchio.

equally as big.

equally as annoying.

ignore the unmade messy bed.

i'm about to climb back into it in a few hours, what was the point of making it all up just for a picture?

laziness at its finest. i digress...

you cant tell from the picture, but this bed is huge.

its a california king, and then on top of it, there is that huge horrible 'i just came straight out of a cabin' looking bed frame.

i married into this.

cosmo loves it. i loathe it.

my problem is, our room is such an odd weird shape. it doesnt fit anywhere where its going to look good.

i need someone with high level decorating skills to come save me.

i will mention this is the only source of contention in our marriage,

and i've come to the conclusion that this is a battle i am never going to win, so monstro stays.

now i just have to figure out a way to work with it...
i'm thinking i still might have a chance in the "if you wont let me get rid of it, let me paint it" argument...

so please come help me. i'll make you cookies.

AND

i'll let you sign my bathroom wall:

and even if you dont have any good ideas for my bedroom, come visit me and sign my bathroom wall anyway.
i'll be the first to admit that my decorating skills are lacking,
but this is the one room in my house that i am proud of,
and honestly, was quite surprised cosmo let me get away with it!

please please please help me. i'm sending out an S.O.S.
amateurs need not apply.

+

= a happy sane me.

"when panic grips your body and your heart's a hummingbird

raven thoughts blacken your mind until you're breathing in reverse

all your friends and sedatives mean well but make it worse

every reassurance just magnifies the doubt

better find yourself a place to level out...

got a cricket for a conscience

he always looks the other way...

i tried to pass for nothing

but my dreams gave me away..."

-conor oberst

oh say can you see

every year for the 4th of july, we have a big family campout up in utah on our family's property in nephi canyon.

they have been doing it since my dad was a baby.

i look forward to it every year!

home sweet home
for the weekend at least

we have a lot of veterans in our family, so on the 4th we retired old flags.
uncle mark put on a ceremony and it was quite emotional.
above is uncle richard cutting apart the stripes on the flag so it could then be burned/retired.

i realize this looks kind of bad...
we are not just burning a flag in some kind of weird protest.
they had several old flags that needed to be retired, and after the ceremony, we were able to take one and retire it if we wanted. it was a cool experience and i'm glad i got to do it.

while we were up in utah, we got to take an afternoon and meet up with cosmo's family for lunch.
it was good to see everyone and we had a good time with great food!


keep reading the next couple posts for all of our campout adventures!
happy 4th of july!

put another log on the fire

campfires are my favorite part of the 4th of july campout.
everyone sits around and roasts marshmallows and makes fun of each other.
nothing says family bonding like pointing out your imperfections for others to laugh at!

me and cosmo and dr pepper

dad, mom, and michael

alisha and brodie

trent, julia, and lacee

angela and erika

its hard to see, but greg played the guitar and we all sat around and sang.

these are a few of my favorite things..

i cant get enough of these two

garrett and brodie my nephews
i love you garrett!
i miss you already!

delicious

who doesnt want an economy size bucket of cheese balls?!

oh the joys of camping.

lets play!

a few of the fun activities that went on:

brodie and cosmo swinging
i think cosmo may have outgrown that particular swing

B-I-N-G-O and bingo was his name-o!

i win!

please ignore the snotty red nose.
i was crying after i was viciously attacked and punched in the face by my lovely husband in front of my whole family!

he was sitting next to me while playing with a toy that you pull the side strings out to make the disc spin in the middle of it. anyway, he pulled out really hard and the string broke and my face was in a clear shot of his fist.
it hurt.
my dad said at least now i know to never make him mad!

uncle kerry as the....number..puller..guy..
what do you call them?

the famous volleyball game

look closely-can you find me?
trick question.
i dont play volleyball.

homeward bound

Q: what do you do when you have a boring 10 hour car ride home in front of you?

A: take embarrassing pictures of your little sisters and post them for the world to see

angela and erika in all their glory