Is It Naptime Yet

Today was busy.

I got up extra early for my Stake Relief Society’s woman’s conference. (6:45 am, and I don’t wake up till 8:30 am at the earliest, unless I have to.) They let us choose different classes or attending the temple. I chose to do temple sealings. I wasn’t able to proxy as a wife, but I did proxy as a daughter to a couple that may have been younger than me, or was right about my age. Then we had a wonderful speaker, Elder James B. Gibson of the area 70. I then raced out to get the lunch they were serving with my friend Sam, so I could leave early and met Jon and the girls.

Because, while I was having my fun, Jon took the girls to Science Saturday at the Natural History museum. They packed a lunch and we all met at the Springs Preserve so we could catch the 1 o’clock show of the Wings over the Springs, where they have a raptor bird show going on till the end of January on the weekends. This was the second time we’ve seen it and the girls love it.

Right before the show we spotted Jon’s sister Annie, she was there with her son’s boy scout troop, so Lilah ran up and said hi to her. I loved seeing Annie’s face as she realized who Lilah was, since seeing her was out of place and it took a second for her to recognize her. We enjoyed the show and then got to talk to Annie afterwords.

Then we tried to watch a lizard feeding, but there were hoards of people. Thankfully we have an annual pass and can come another day and hopefully see them feed ’em, since it’s only scheduled on the weekends. If not, it’s OK since we see it happen quite often at the museum.

For fun we paid to see a behind the scenes clinic of the animals. It was so much fun. We got to see the various animals they have there, since they have multiples of them and rotate the ones on display. It was our little family, plus one other family in our group. They had a little boy, only 2 or so, who wanted to hold all the tarantula’s, vinegaroons, and scorpions. Of course he wasn’t able to since the animals are wild, but she did let us hold something at the very end.

(I’m not sure if they regularly let you hold the cockroach, or if it was just our guide and the cute little boy enticing her to let him hold something. It was a giant hissing cockroach. They breed it and feed the babies to the animals.)

The tour was really fun, and I think it was very worth the $3 per person. ($5 if you’re not a annual pass member.) We did it because we thought Lilah would love it, and she did.

After the tour we did some more exploring and saw them feed the cottontail rabbits and the fox. The fox didn’t come out, but hopefully we’ll get to see him another time out and about. He’s usually sleeping in his den, which has glass, but it’s always more fun to see the animals moving and not just sleeping.

After the Springs Preserve Eden and I went grocery shopping. We all ate dinner and then enjoyed Planet 51 on Netflix. The girls were really into it when they watched it earlier this week and wanted us to watch it with them.

Now it’s bed time.

Yeah, it was a pretty busy day.

It’s funny to try to sum up my life for the past ten years. In all honesty 10 years is more than a third of my life, and it just happens that the last ten years have, and will probably be, some of the most eventful ten years of my life, at least I kinda hope my life is a little calmer for the next decade.

To start out with ten years ago I was still in high school, still writing my missionary and envisioning some happily ever after. I was enjoying my final 6 months of my final year in high school, dating, singing, and hanging out with friends. I began working at the law office my mother had been working at, and took over her position when she left. There I met one of my longest lasting friends, but wouldn’t know it till 10 years later.

I had met Jon Blake, but he was just some old guy that I saw at the LDS Institute, in fact he was Little Jon, due to being only 5’6″ and then there was Big Jon, who was much taller.

I graduated from high school and thus began my first summer of freedom, and ironically, my last also. I enjoyed institute classes and meeting boys, flirting, and then registering for my first college classes. I applied to only one school and attended UNLV.

I began school already dating Jonathan Blake and became engaged to him very shortly after. We had a longer than normal engagement, at least by LDS standards, of 5 months. He was no longer “Little Jon” and my missionary was Dear Jon-ed just six months before he was to return home. I thought I was so mature, but I now know I wasn’t.

Marriage happened, and so did the first apartment.

I’ve lived in four different places. We’ve bought our first house and bought a second car together. I’ve been laid off of work once and held two jobs. Jon’s had four different jobs, eight different positions, been unemployed, underemployed and is now the soul provider in such a way that it would take me another decade to match his worth. We both graduated with our bachelors degrees, and Jon nearly obtained his Master’s in this same decade. ( May, in May he’ll be done!)

I became a mother.

I went through my first pregnancy and gave birth to a healthy baby girl. I picked the name Lilah, and Jon could only say yes to his just-given-birth-to-her-first-baby, baby’s mama when I said, “She looks like a Lilah,” though now we both believe it. (He’s still partial at Aliyah.)

I had two teeth removed, wisdom, and then Jon accepted his first position at UNLV, and has been there ever since.

We were then blessed with a second daughter, who’s name Jon chose and I approved, Eden. We’ve had several nieces and nephews born to our siblings, not to mention the additions of brother and sisters-in-laws.

We’ve traveled to Utah countless times. I learned where Ely, Nevada was, and have even visited it 5-6 times. I saw the ocean for the first time in the past decade, and was also able to show the ocean to my girls for their first time. We’ve been camping numerous times, mostly with family, and have taken the girls to Disneyland.

I’ve lost touch with friends, only to find them later due to social networking, something I hated at first. I’ve gained new friendships because of marriage and moving, strengthened my relationships with my sisters, and have come closer to one friend in a way I never would have imagined when we met just ten years ago.

I started a blog, and have neglected it.

I sang my first solo in the past decade, performed in my first play, learned to sew, and started marketing my talents.

In my marriage I’ve had wonderful highs, like getting married and having our first daughter, despairing lows, like learning my husband no longer believed in God, and wonderful mediums which allow me to stay constant in my love for Jonathan and the girls.

Yep, I think that kinda sums up the last ten years.

What has happened in the past decade to you?

So just a mere week or more before Christmas we finally got around to getting our tree up. Life was pretty hectic and I had to get some cleaning done before we would have room for it. (It’s already down because we had guests over for New Years Eve and I wanted the room. Two weeks was time enough for me this year.)

The girls had fun decorating and being silly.

It was Eden’s turn to put the angel up this year.

On the 21st we celebrated the Winter Solstice. Jon chose the wonderful centerpiece we had on our table and even made dinner for us, since the girls and I were at Carolyn’s Christmas work party that afternoon. We enjoyed some yummy food by candle light, then Jon read us some Winter Solstice traditions. I wasn’t feeling my best so I was mostly on the couch. Earlier in the day the girls went shopping for one another, so they exchanged gifts and Jon got to open his Winter Solstice present. I had already received one of my presents, voice lessons, and will continue to receive them, so I didn’t open anything that night.

The centerpiece of evergreen, red, white and some gold pine cones that Jon painted. I think they’re rather cool.

I had a headache and was found on the couch for most of the night.

Lilah got Eden a Barbie and Eden chose a Zhu Zhu pet for Lilah. Now she has a toy hamster and a real one.

Jon decided he wanted a Nook, and that’s what he got.

Christmas Eve we spent with my parents and Carolyn and Derek. We had fun talking and then opening presents. Usually we only open one gift on Christmas Eve, but it seemed fitting to just open all the presents they had there. So we had our parents open the gifts we gave them and we opened what my parents gave us, and the girls, then the girls got to open the present the Svilars gave them, and the gift of pajamas from us. I also opened some pajamas from the girls.

Derek and Carolyn.

Grandpa and Grandma Harvey.

The Blakes.

An owl bag for my mom. (She collects all things owls.)

A nativity plaque for my dad. (He collects all things beavers, but I can never find any, and nativities.)

The girls in their pajamas.

So I kinda forgot I already posted about Thanksgiving, but I only had one picture, so I’m posting more. This post is really for my niece Shauntae, since she’s one of the few people who even comment, and because I know she’ll enjoy seeing the various pictures of her family!

Here’s some photos for your enjoyment Shauntae! 😉

OK, maybe this one is for my enjoyment. (Lilah took this picture.)

But this one is definitely for Shauntae. (Lilah took this picture.)

Annie, the host and one of the cooks. (Lilah took this picture.)

Me with one of my pies and a very silly Lilah. (Eden took this picture.)

Justin and his mini me, Daniel. (His son looks just like him.)

Tasia, her husband Danny and their son. (I can’t remember the toddler’s name, and their daughter Emily was hiding rather then wanting her picture taken. Emily is on Tommy’s lap for the large family photo though.)

Me and Jason.

Me and Dara.

The siblings. (Click to enlarge.)

The family who was there. (Click to enlarge.)

A very silly Lilah. Eden was the photographer for this one.

December we had the privileged of seeing the Parks early in the month. We only got to see them once or twice while they were down, but it was fun to let the girls play and visit when we could. I think they picked my busiest weekend ever, because I had madrigal dinners to perform at for my choir class and that took up each evening they were in town except Sunday.

We went over on Saturday afternoon to decorate the grandparents tree and let the girls play. Later we also saw Tangled with them, the Kemple kids, Carolyn, and Grandma and Grandpa Harvey. It was a fun, though short visit, and I had fun seeing Andrea and her growing belly. They’re expecting their second Park girl in early April and I can’t wait to see what she’ll look like. I wonder if she’ll fit in with the three amigo’s and look like them also.

Zarina, Lilah and Eden in front of grandparent’s tree.

Lilah age 2 years and Eden aged 2 months. I found this while looking through some old pictures and it amazes me how much I can see Zarina in this picture of Lilah. It also amazes me that they were once this small.

Later in December we were able to met Jon’s newest nephew-in-law, Tim, and visit with his niece, Adriana. Adriana is Kumen’s daughter, or Jon’s second brother.

We all met at Rawlin’s house and we brought the meal for the group to enjoy. It was just a short meal and some games afterwords, but it was fun to visit and spend time with family we rarely see. Adriana, Tim, Lilah, Eden, and I played the longest Uno game ever. We had to shuffle the draw deck five times until we finally decided a person only had to draw one card when they didn’t have one to lay down, rather then draw until you could lay something down. It was crazy.

After the game we took some photos. As I looked through the ones with Tim I realized he’s just a pretty fun and goofy guy.

The semi-newlyweds. They were married in June.

Rawlin and Adriana.

Grandma Blake and Adriana.

Us and Adriana.

The girls with Tim and Adriana.