Jadester's Journal: It's My Birthday!

May 5, 2009: Jade is officially 1 years old today! I can't believe it has been a whole year since Jade came into our family. In some ways it seems like Jade has been a part of our family forever and yet I look at her and marvel at how fast she is growing.

Jade in her birthday suit.

Today we had her birthday party at our house. It was actually quite different because this year I was the one to throw the Cinco de Mayo party. We invited all of Aaron's family and all of my family, including both sets of grandparents, to our house for dinner, cake and ice cream and a piñata. It ended up being a lot of work and I don't think I will ever do that again. However, it really was a lovely evening and everyone showed up that we invited.

Even the great-grandparents were invited.

I cooked chicken enchiladas and provided the margarita drinks while everyone else brought the fluff. I also baked little cupcakes that I was hoping would turn out to look like sombreros but instead they just looked like a glob of colorful icing. (I'm definitely not the cake decorator of the family :))

The sombrero cupcakes.

After dinner and dessert we went outside and all the kids got a shot at the piñata. My family was all for giving it a good whack but I think Aaron's family felt a little weird about. However, I think it was Hudson that gave it a good whack and broke it apart. All inhibitions left once the candy hit the pavement though. There was jostling and fighting over all the good pieces, just like in the past. It was really fun. Jade didn't know quite what to think but I think she enjoyed all of the commotion.
After the piñata we all went inside and opened Jade's presents. I must say, that little rascal came out with a load of presents. It actually was a little embarrassing because she is soooo young and received a ridiculous amount of gifts. I think next year we will just have the grandparents bring gifts if they want and ask the aunts and uncles not to bother. She doesn't need that many gifts every year.

Jade opening her presents.

Anyways, the evening was very nice and I think everyone had a good time. Jade was getting tired by the end of presents and we ended up putting her to bed before everyone left.

Austin can hold Jade in his teeth and rock her back and forth. She loves it!

Next year I will just plan on serving cake and ice cream and let my mother continue the tradition of the beloved Cinco de Mayo party at her house. It's a lot less stress that way!

Austin and Aaron's Cinco de Mayo mustaches.

May 7, 2009: Jade's one year check up results:
Weight: 19.8 lbs
Height: 28 inches tall
Head Circumference: 18.5 inches around
This puts her in the 50th percentile in all three categories. The pediatrican commented on how well advanced she seems for her age. And lucky for us she has been overall very healthy.

May 8, 2009: We took Great Grandma Bills out for dinner at Joe Vera's (one of her favorite restaurants) for her birthday. We felt bad because we celebrated Jade's birthday on the 5th but didn't really do anything for her. We took Jade along with us and she did really well at the restaurant and I think grandma had a really time.

May 9, 2009: Roanne invited all of us girls over to her house for a scrapbooking weekend. I took my computer and worked on Jade's blog (seen as how I'm 7 months behind). It was a nice day and then afterwards we invited Jeremy's family over to our house and we did pizzas and Guitar Hero all evening.
I really enjoy hanging out with Jen and Jeremy. We seem to have the same personality types and we get along very well. Also our children seem to play really well together, especially Boston and Jade. Jade enjoys watching everything that Boston does and she tries to copy his every move. Boston is about 6 months older than she is but he is very patient and loving with her and it doesn't seem to bother him that she's a girl and hangs around him.

May 10, 2009: Mother's Day! Ahh, what a relaxing day it was. I got breakfast (not in bed but made for me) and Jade made me the cutest card (with Aaron's help of course.) The primary sang in sacrament meeting but other than that I had the day off and was able to participate in Relief Society. Afterwards we stopped by my mom's house and gave her silky pj's and a Jade-made card and then ran up to Roanne's house to talk to Tyler over the phone.

Jade trying to go out the cat door at Grandma Gunn's house.

Jade laughing at Austin and Cierra while they play catch on the grass at Grandpa Gunn's house.

Ty comes home in 2 months, so most of the conversation was all business, like what classes he wanted to be signed up for at the UofU etc. He sounds good though and I'm excited to see if he's changed a whole lot. He's pretty much the serious one out of all the Sorensen boys. He is a little OCD when it comes to organization and he doesn't have a lot of patience sometimes. However, he really is a go-getter and a doer and I'm sure he was a fantastic missionary. It will be interesting to see how well he adjusts to life after the mission. I think he might be a little anal for a few months but will adjust quickly.

May 13, 2009: Aaron and I had our first real blow-up fight in a long time, I think since our fist Halloween together almost 2 years ago. It all started because a girl I work with at JVH had started up with an MLM company selling term life insurance policies. She wanted to get together so that she could "get some practice" before she actually really started, or at least that is what she told me over the phone. To be quite honest, she wouldn't tell me what her business was or what we would be doing. All she said was that she wanted both Aaron and I there so that she could practice. I finally agreed after several attempts at trying to get out of it, but I had run out of excuses and finally agreed to a time. Aaron had a meeting that evening and wouldn't be there until later but the plan was to start without him (or so I thought).
My friend showed up with another guy in tow and he introduced himself as her "supervisor" and that he would be there to help her get started. He was really nice but just a little pushy. We sat down at the dinner table and he asked where Aaron was. I told him he was at a meeting and probably wouldn't be here until the end of the meeting but go ahead and start without him. The guy didn't really like that and for the next hour he stalled waiting for Aaron to come home.
This entire time, the guy did most of the talking and my friend never said a single word. When Aaron got home, the guy launched right in to his spiel of patronizing and rhetorical questions that left both Aaron and I feeling very uncomfortable, Aaron more so than I. I was trying to be nice but I was already into this practice meeting two hours and I was getting sick of the rhetorical questions but was trying to be polite and non awkward with this friend of mine. Aaron on the other hand was getting more and more annoyed by the minute and when he gets annoyed he becomes sarcastic. He became so sarcastic that it was getting really embarrassing. Finally, towards the end of the meeting when we finally realized what the guy was trying to sell us, Aaron just burst out that we weren't interested and to have a good night. There was this awkward moment of silence where we just looked at one another across the table and the guy finally thanked us for our time and they left. My friend never said one word that entire time and it was obvious that this wasn't a practice session but an awkward attempt to coerce us into buying their policies. I felt taken advantage of and a little angry but mostly I was just super embarrassed at the way Aaron had acted in front of our guests. They left and I marched right upstairs to finish a load of laundry I had in the dryer. I didn't know what to say to Aaron and I was afraid that if I did say something I would explode in a rage. So I just started folding laundry. However, the more I thought about things the angrier I got until I was throwing Aaron's clothes across the room. Aaron came upstairs after about 5 minutes to see a large pile of his garments spewed across our bedroom and he asked me what the problem was. Bad question to ask. I exploded and told him how embarrassed and angry I was at the way Aaron had dealt with the situation. To my great surprise he actually agreed with me and said that I was right and that he was mortified with the way he had acted. Then to my even greater surprise, Aaron started to cry. (He's going to kill me if he reads this post.) He cried like I have never seen him cry before. It took me aback so much that I completely forgot that I was angry. We ended up reconciling the situation but not until after Aaron had a really good 15 minute cry.
I must say that it was kind of refreshing to see him cry like that. I have seen him get a little teary-eyed but never as emotional as he was that night. It made him seem more human to me. Yes, I know very well how human Aaron can be but it was nice to see the emotional side of him and to see firsthand that men really do have times of hormonal imbalance. It was great.
Aaron actually called and apologized to my friend for the way he had treated them and so I think things ended alright. Fortunately for us she hasn't called back for any more practice sessions. I did learn a valuable lesson and that is I try not to ever put Aaron in those situations because he doesn't handle MLM rhetorical question asking situations like that very well.

May 15-17th, 2009:

Jade at the water fountain outside a hotel near a restaurant we always stop off at to eat dinner in Green River. She's obsessed with water.

We took Jade to Moab with us for our first official vacation of the summer. We decided to try camping with Jade for the first time. I was a little nervous about taking Jade, especially camping, because I'm not a very experienced camper. My mother hates to camp so we never really did things like that growing up. We decided to not really "rough" it our first time out so we stayed at the Moab RV camp. It had an outdoor pool, playground, facilities and even cabins. We however, took the cheaper route and rented a single tent spot for two nights. The campsites ended up being right next to each other so you were practically sleeping on top of your neighbor. When I found this out I was a little worried that we would wake up our neighbors really early when Jade decided to get up but luckily most everyone got up at the same time. As soon as the sun rises, it's hard to stay asleep. Jade did really well the entire time. She even took naps when she was supposed to.

Our campsite early in the morning on Saturday.

Jade's cute little morning face on Saturday.

It was really hot in Moab for it being May but Jade did really well. We just made sure to keep her well hydrated, sun screened and shaded as much as possible. We went on several hikes over the three days we were there and Jade seemed to really enjoy it. We have a used hiking backpack that we strapped her into and Aaron and I took turns carrying her around while we hiked. We also bought her a had that we lovingly called her "ginger hat." She would keep it on pretty well and it kept her in the shade most of the time.

Aaron and Jade at the first part of the hike to Corona Arch.

We really enjoyed a hike to the Corona Arch. It is a beautiful arch, almost as big as the Delicate Arch but the hike to get there is really fun. You have to scale some cliffs (okay, not really scale but you do have to put some effort into the hiking) to get there but once you do it's pretty spectacular. We were able to get some really cute shots as a family with the arch in the background.

Aaron and Jade standing near a whole in the cliff near Corona Arch.

Corona Arch.

Aaron and Jade poising for the camera right in front of a cliff.

All three of us standing in front of Corona Arch on Friday.

Jade in her hiking pack near her own arch!

I also was able to use my hidden camping cooking skills and made some mean dutch oven meals. We had chicken and rice, cobbler with ice cream and Mountain man breakfast. It was delicious. I got the award for best cook on the trip!

Jade and Dad swimming in the RV camp's swimming pool after a long hot day of hiking on Saturday.

All in all it was a great trip and we really enjoyed ourselves. I think we will try doing it again next year and see how it goes. Jade will be a year older and I think she will really have a great time then.

Jade and I hiking down in a river bed on Saturday.

Aaron and Jade standing near a small stream during our evening hike on Saturday.

May 18, 2009: Just a quick note, Jade loves to watch softball. During our co-ed games, she will occasionally sit on Grandma Sorensen's lap (when she's not too busy playing on the slide) and cheer. You can always pick out her voice because she likes to clap her hands and say "yeah". Also whenever I go up to bat and she sees me she claps her hands and says "yeah". It's really cute.

May 22, 2009: My parents invited Jade and I to Delta with Grandma Bills to put flowers on the graves for Memorial Day. It's a tradition every year and this year I happened to not be busy so we said yes and went on the two hour drive out to Delta. It was overcast when we left and by the time we actually got there it started to rain, so it was difficult cleaning the tombstones and placing the flowers. It was okay though because Jade fell asleep right before we got there and she ended up sleeping most of the way back too

Mom and I standing at the graves in Delta. Great grandma Bills and Jade are in the car in the background. It was too windy and rainy for them to get out.

After visiting the graves, we stopped off at the gas station we always stop at to get their delicious ice cream cones. Jade was so cute, she would go around sticking out her tongue to everyone that had ice cream, hoping that someone would give her a lick.
Once we got back to civilization aka Payson, we stopped off at the Cracker Barrel there and had dinner...Grandma Bills' treat. Afterwards, Grandpa Gunn took Jade around their gift shop and bought her a shirt that says something about grandpa's being the favorite. He made her wear it out of the store. It was so big it looked like a dress but he sure was proud of his purchase. .

Grandpa Gunn and Jade at Cracker Barrel after putting flowers on the graves in Delta. Grandpa bought her the cute yellow shirt she is wearing.

May 23, 2009:

Aaron standing in front of the Oquirrh Mtn Temple. This temple is in our area and we were asked to help participate in the open house. Aaron helped with parking.

I was on the medical team and provided first aide all of one time the entire time I was there. It was pretty boring but it was fun to participate anyways.

May 25, 2009: Memorial Day! We spent most of the day outside working in our backyard. There is a lot to do to get it ready for the summer, lots of plants to plant. Also Aaron needs to finish up the waterfall. So I pulled weeds and planted plants while Aaron worked on the mechanical stuff. I didn't think it was very hot outside and so I was wearing jeans with a t-shirt but because I was bent over the entire afternoon, my t-shirt would ride up and my jeans would ride down. I found out later that evening that my backside, right above my crack, had burned. I don't know why Aaron didn't tell me my crack was basically showing all day but now I have this great sunburn on my backside that stretches the entire length of my back. Aaron thinks it's hilarious and calls it my headband.