20 things

{1} food. My favorite types of foods are Thai food, Mexican food and Italian food... they are all soo delish! 

{2} color. pink!

{3} animal. dogs

{4} sports team. The Seattle Supersonics! ...oh wait... (thanks a lot Clay Bennett) 

{5} dessert. I think the question should be what dessert do I not like... 

{6} artist/singer/band. I loooove me some Stevie Wonder, that man always knows how to brighten my day.  He's for sure my all time fav!  (...and from there it goes all over the place, from James Taylor to dirty south rap and everywhere in between ) 

{7} pair of shoes. my two current favorites are my pink glitter TOMS and my graphite Hunter boots

{8} outfit. Hmm... these days probably yoga pants and a lulu hoodie (sad but true) 

{9} store. Nordstrom/Lululemon/Urban Outfitters/Sephora/Champs

{10} brand. Lululemon/Nike/Apple

{11} perfume. Vera Wang Princess or Vera Wang Glam Princess

{12} accessory. my honey *aww* No, but seriously, my iPhone! ;)

{13} city. Trout Creek, Montana

{14} hobby. getting crafty and blogging

{15} beauty product. lip sauce + mascara

{16} snack. I'm all about the fruits and veggies these days.  My favs lately are kiwis, bananas and carrots 

{17} holiday. There is something you should know about me: I am a FREAK for holidays.  Seriously... ask my family, ask my friends and they will tell you that I go.ALL.out.  I guess it's because I like celebrating and making things special, I figure life's too short to not enjoy it as much as possible.

{18} movie. Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

{19} song. Whoomp There it Is.  Whenever I hear Whoomp There it is I dance and not just a little bit... 

{20} guilty pleasure. Tanning.  If I knew that I only had a year to live, I would be the tannest biatch on the block BUT since I know better and since my family has a history of skin cancer, I refrain. 

And there you have it! 20 things you probably didn't know about moi... 

I know, I know your life is forever changed!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

the abc's of me

{a} age: 24

{b} bed size: California King (aka perfection)

{c} chore you hate: mopping the floors. Jay's new trick is throwing his food on the floor when he's done eating.
{d} dogs: No dog, not yet at least! 
{e} essential start to your day: washing my face with my yummy Vital-C face wash--it has the yummiest citrus/orange scent that helps pirk me up in the morning!
{f} favorite color: pink (shocker, I know...)
{g} gold or silver: Silver, I can only pull of gold in the summer (aka when I'm tan)
{h} height: 6'3  
{i} instruments you play: I took piano for years, I played flute for 2 years in junior high and have an awesome green bass guitar that I really miss playing... 
{j} job title: current barista, baby mama, @$$ wiper, suzie homemaker, future EMT, Jimbo's wifey, blogger, potential shopaholic...
{k} kids: one actual "baby" (Jay 15months) and two fur-baby kitties (Bella & Mogli)
{l} live: on an island in the sun the rain across the water and a ferry ride away from Seattle
{m} mom's name: Janice
{n} nicknames: Britter, B, Queen B, shorty, tainer, Burt, peep, "hey you"
{o} overnight hospital stays: when I got airlifted off the mountain after a snowboarding accident in high school and the usual "after-having-a-baby" stay
{p} pet peeves: fake friends, when people don't use their blinkers (turn signals), laziness, inconsiderate people, The Oklahoma City Thunder (aka should-be SEATTLE SUPERSONICS)
{q} quote from a movie: 

"Look, I can guarantee there'll be tough times.  I guarantee that at some point, one or both of us is gonna want to get out of this thing. But I also guarantee that if I don't ask you to be mine, I'll regret it for the rest of my life, because I know, in my heart, you're the only one for me..." 
Runaway Bride

"You know why!" 
What Happens In Vegas

{r} right- or left-handed: Right!
{s} siblings: a younger sister (Claire, 21) and a younger brother (Brenton, 18)

{t} time you wake up: 6:45 on weekdays and whenever Jay wakes up on the weekend {u} underwear: I heart VS and Gilly Hicks undies!

{v} vegetables you dislike: brussel sprouts 
{w} what makes you run late: Jayden
{x} x-rays you've had: too many! teeth/jaw, right arm(broken 4x), left arm(broken 2x), thumb(broken), spine/skull (snowboarding accident)
{y} yummy food you make: Josh and I looove to cook together, I think it's so fun being in the kitchen together and I'd like to think that all our food is yummy! {z} zoo - favorite animal: flamingos, penguins and giraffes

♪♫...now you know my abc's, fill yours out and share with me! ♪♫

If you decide to play along let me know, I'd love to learn your abc's!

Happy Humpday dolls!  

March Madness

March Madness is in full effect in our house.
Heck! I think it's invaded the island too!

I'm am not lying when I say that half of the tables at the cafe today were taken up by guys filling out there brackets.  
I had so much fun talking basketball!  

I don't know if any of you watched Sports Center last night, but if you did then you heard the announcers singing the University of Washington's praises!  *insert angel chorus*

"Bow Down to Washington"

(Jayden reppin UW when he was a teenie)

(Me in my PINK UW hoodie *love*) 

I don't know if you've seen any of the March Madness commercials but (obviously) this is my favorite:

I had so much fun filling out my bracket (probably too much fun, maybe momma needs to get out more?) and Kelly, you'll be happy to know that I have Kansas going preettty far (pretty far=all the way!)


When I went to my first doctors appointment and found out that I was really pregnant (because even after 39438 positive home pregnancy tests, I just couldn't believe it until a doctor said it) the doctor was calculating how far along I was and said, "of course he was conceived by two basketball players during March Madness!" ha! *blushing*
Have a fabulous Tuesday night!

It's a girl!

...no we aren't pregnant, but I would like to introduce you to someone very special!

If you read my post yesterday  you know how my heart broke hearing about helpless babies and children living in poverty.  Children that have no hope.   The extreme poverty that these children live in breaks.my.heart.  I can't even fathom what they have to go through.  When you see something tragic you can do one of two things... 

1.  You can pretend you didn't see it and go on 

with your day to day life 

or 

2.  You can try to make things better. 

Josh and I want to help, so we've made the decision to become sponsor parents.

Meet Ekua:

How precious is she?!

I just want to give her a hug.

Ekua is 4 years old and lives in a highly Aids-Affected area in the Northeast Cape Coast of Ghana.  When I saw her picture my heart broke for her.

I want to help her.

I want to make her life easier.

...and someday I would love to meet her.

When asked what she would say to people considering child sponsorship Susan said, "I would say that they could save a dying soul, and that soul could save a whole nation."

What if you gave up your lunch once a week? With that money you can change a child's life.   

A child like Ekua.

Last week...

Last week my heart was broken.

Last week I felt a burden and an ache that I've never experienced before.

Last week I met Susan.

 

Susan grew up in Sierra Leone.  Until she was nine, she lived on the streets.  Susan's mother was mentally ill and unable to care for her or her older sister.  Susan talked about how the streets were full of danger and how violence lurked everywhere.  They had no security or shelter and no guarantee of food.

Susan was a sponsored child and last week she surprised her sponsor family and met them for the first time. I feel blessed to have been able to witness it.  

See last week was State of the Church.  State of the Church is an annual event where all of our church’s different campuses come together.  And at State of the Church we were talking about Child Sponsorship.  One of the pastors was talking to the Gallegos family who shared about the child they had been sponsoring for 8 years named Susan.  They spoke of the joy they had watching her grow and how blessed they felt to be able to help.  Then the most crazy thing happened… they showed a video of Susan in Sierra Leone.

You should have seen the shock on the Gallegos's faces.  They got to see the child that they had prayed for and watch grow up...  they saw where she lived, they heard her talk!  Wes asked Ruthie (Mrs. Gallegos) what she wished she could say to Susan if she had the chance.  She replied, "I don't know.  I know I'd want to give her a big hug!" 

And then the unthinkable happened... Susan walked on stage and took Ruthie up on her offer and they hugged.  After all of those years of sponsorship, letter writing and pictures they finally met. 

It was beautiful and I (of course) bawled my eyes out.

Last week my heart was broken because my eyes were opened.

Last week I felt a burden and an ache that I've never experienced before.

Last week I thought what if that was me?

  What if I couldn't feed or take care of Jay?  

What if we lived in poverty?  

What if on the other side of the world while people were freaking out about the new iPad, my baby starved? 

In the Bible there is a story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people with one child's lunch.

Imagine if you gave up your lunch just one day a week.  With that money you could change a child's life.  What could Jesus do with your lunch?

http://www.feedthe5000.org/

Hey stranger!

Suprised to see me?!

I took an unexpected blog vacation.  I needed it for my sanity.  Please forgive me, but this mama has been busy!  There have been some major changes around here, so let's catch up...

My sweet "baby" is now walking.  How did this happen?!

(not the best picture but I took this shot quick and then got back to running after him) 

(and I'd just like to say for the record that the hat is my brothers, he thought that he would put it on the smallest size and let Jay try it on... and then Jay didn't want to take it off!  Quite fashionable, I know...)

I feel like this happened way too quickly!  Everyone told me before Jay was born that it goes by so quickly, but you really don't understand until it's happening.  He is learning and growing so fast, I feel like he learns something new and changes a little more each day.  Tonight when I was putting him down to bed I just stared in amazement at my precious boy and then the tears came. I am so thankful for my sweet little man, he is always so happy and so full of life and energy.  Jay makes me want to be the best I can be, he helps me notice the little things in life and I couldn't be more in love with him.  I could seriously stare at him forever.... bah! No more tears tonight!

I put in my notice at the cafe and will be done there at the end of the month.  I don't want to go into too many details but basically, life is too short to be miserable and it's not healthy to let people treat you badly! (...and I've gotta say, there's something so powerful about taking control of your life and standing up for yourself.)  All of that said, I'm really excited to be moving on to the next adventure... which starts in April. ha!  I'm going to be working for the Fire Department's sister company, driving the ambulance and they are putting me through EMT class in the fall.  I'm really excited!  (Driving fast with lights and sirens, who wouldn't be excited, right?! Just kidding, but seriously... ;)  When Josh was going through his EMT class in 2009 I loved quizzing him and going over what he was learning and am really thankful for this opportunity.  I'm also so thankful that they are willing to be flexible with me and my schedule.  I will be on call when Josh is home so that when I go on a transport he will be home with Jayden.

I also just got my hurr did.  I didn't realize how long my hair had gotten until a few weeks ago, so yesterday I thought I'd switch it up and chop 7" off.  Ok, so not ME exactly, I went to the salon and let the professionals (aka Lisa my hair doctor) do the dirty work.

Tada! What do you think?  It's a lot shorter and a lot blonder than before.  If you don't remember what before looked life then let me refresh your memory:

See! I told you it had gotten crazy long!  I'm not totally in love with the new 'do yet, but it's always nice to switch it up and my hair feels so much healthier now.

...and that's what's new with me!  I do have to admit I am a bit fearful that you may have forgotten me in my blogging absence.  Hope all is well with you lovlies!