Grandpa Carver's Birthday!

Happy 80th birthday to Grandpa Carver. Last Saturday we drove up to Logan to have a surprise party for him. We all were supposed to meet at a park where we were going to have a family picture taken... but the photographer ditched us so we all moved to the Iron Gate Grill where we had a very nice lunch, entertainment provided by, great now I can't remember their name... it was the Rootbeer something or others. Then people were assigned to make a cake that represented Grandpa Carver in some way and as you saw, my cake was clearly the best. None of the other cakes were served fresh in the baking pan and looked like a four year old had helped out! In reality, all the other cakes were very impressive and I would just like to defend myself by saying that this was the FIRST TIME that I have EVER attempted at decorating a cake, outside of just slapping some frosting on it. And in addition to that little fact, the baking process itself didn't go without a few glitches. Here's a little lesson learned from the experience; If you forget to add water prior to mixing all the other ingredients and then add the water afterwards, it just doesn't work! Trust me! And since I don't have a professional photograph to post, here's some of my snapshots.



So here are some pictures at the park. Eric & Grandpa... Or, Eric and Eric when he is 80!

Grandpa Carver loves new babies and its a good thing because he's got four babies now under 1. (At least I think that's right.)



I like to think that Payton is just thinking very carefully about his next move on the playground here.



And Eric had great vision when he suggested that I take this picture of Grandpa's footwear. Hey, when you get to 80, comfort is #1. And he's got the "Gold Toe". Nothin' to be ashamed of here!

flower arranging, emeline & boys

So last weekend I fulfilled a dream of mine that I've had for about 2 years or so. See, one Christmas Eric made me these cute shadow boxes that I wanted. I was so excited about them but then, my parents remodeled, and mom wouldn't let me hang them up on the wall in my room. So finally, a couple of years later Eric and I got married but then we lived with his parents and I couldn't hang them up there either. Now, for the past 7 months we've been living in our own place and I hung up the shadow boxes but one of them has been empty waiting to be filled. See, ever since I got the boxes my plan was to hang up a cute arrangement of Gerbera daisies in it but I never had one... until now! Tada! I made this arrangement over the weekend and I am very surprised that they actually turned out. The fake water thing was kind of tricky but here it is.Oh, and I got to hold Emeline on Sunday. She is so cute!
And then, Eric was sitting on the couch with the dogs and said, hey I guess you should come take a picture of this. But the lights were out so I couldn't see what was going on. So I took my camera over a took a picture. Really, nothing was going on, Eric just thought it was cute that he & the dogs were snuggling. Then he says to me, "I guess you'll have to blog about this." You'll note that my flash woke Frankie up in the photo. Poor little tired eyes.
That's all for now!

New Babies & Corinne's Birthday

So I feel bad because I have been forgetting my camera at many special occasions recently like our trip down to St. George for my grandpa's 85th birthday and for our visit to see James & Emeline at the hospital after they were born. However I did get some cute pictures of Corinne at her birthday party. She had a "Cat" party and Teresa made a kitty litter cake. I know, it really looks disgusting but all it is a normal cake that has been mixed up into little crumbles. It was totally edible, tootsie rolls and all.

And I did remember my camera at the last nephew's birth. Here is cute little Cooper Jones. I really like that name and I am glad they didn't go with Preston. I had a neighbor named Preston that I don't associate good memories with so I wasn't a big fan of that name. He was having difficulties breathing at first so they didn't let him out of the nursery for the first day but he is doing just fine now and is home.

Terror Attack Signs

I was just reminded of, quite possibly, my all-time favorite email forward when my good friend Meg re-forwarded this to me the other day and I realized that this may bring the same joy to others as they perouse my blog. Have a great day!


The US government has a new website, http://www.ready.gov/.The thing is that the pictures from the site are so ambiguous they could mean anything! Here are a few interpretations.


If your right arm is on fire, do not run

If you spot terrorism, blow your anti-terrorism whistle. If you are Vin Diesel, yell really loud.

If you spot a terrorist arrow, pin it against the wall with your shoulder

Michael Jackson is a terrorist. If you spot this smooth criminal with dead, dead eyes, run like hell.

Use your flashlight to lift any fallen walls right off of you!

If you are sprayed with an unknown substance, stand and think about it instead of seeing a doctor.

Austin is radioactive, move to Houston

If you hear the Backstreet Boys, Michael Bolton or Yanni on the radio, cower in the corner or run away fast.

If you are trapped under falling debris, conserve oxygen by not breaking wind.

If you lose a contact lens after a terrorist attack, be sure to look for it. If you cannot find it, it is probably best to roll on the floor and have a good cry.

Do not drive a station wagon if a power pole is protruding from the hood.

A one-inch thick piece of plywood should be sufficient protection against radiation.

Be on the lookout for terrorists with pinkeye and leprosy. Also, they tend to rub their hands together manically.

If a door is closed, karate chop the hinges.

Try to absorb as much of the radiation as possible with your groin region. After 5 minutes and 12 seconds, however, change the focus point to your head.

After exposure to radiation it is important to consider that you may have mutated to gigantic dimensions: watch your head.

If you've become a radiation mutant with a deformed hand, remember to close the window. No one wants to see that crap.

I thought I was going to be an artist

I was visiting my parents' when they pulled out all of the many creations of mine that they have been saving all these years. When I saw this picture that I drew of my family when I was 3 and in the recent wake of my nephews discovering their artistic abilities, I thought I'd take this opportunity to brag about my own abilities. Tell Evan and Taylor to keep reaching for the stars. One day, they'll be as good as I was!

Dogs 'n bed

Eric always likes to take pictures of me sleeping but I loved this one because Roscoe was snuggling with me. I always fall asleep at night with Roscoe or Frankie in my arms but usually in the morning they have moved. However, this morning when I woke up Roscoe was laying on me in my arms! I love my dogs! Roscoe is funny because when he is really tired he is completely lifeless. You'd think he was dead because you can move him around like a sack of potatoes. This is when we were having a good time with him one morning because he was trying to sleep and we were trying to get him to sit up but he just ended up all hunched over and squished up like an old man. The picture really doesn't do it justice.
This was Frankie's first injury. He somehow cut himself in our car on the way to Grandpa and Grandma's house on Super Bowl Sunday. He wore the bandage for 2 days and then when we tried to take it off, he totally flipped out. I think he was mad because he looked so tough with it on!
And finally something not about our dogs... we got a new bedspread set! Our bedroom looks a little less like a college dorm room now!

Dedicated to Eric (and Brittany)

Just last week we celebrated Eric's birthday with a crab boil! I took a lot of good pictures of Payton and Parker though so that is why this post is also for Brittany. A crab boil, for those of you who've never been fortunate enough to participate in one, is a very festive way to eat and entertain. First of all, you have to have the proper cajun spices, which have been named "CAJIN INVASION" by Danny Sorensen, who introduced us to the crab boil originally. Once you have the spices, the rest is easy. You need a huge pot, like the one pictured. You just throw all of the food into the boiling pot (in a certain order) and let it cook in the cajun spices. When everything is cooked, you drain the pot and throw all the food out onto the table (lined with newspaper or a disposable plastic table cloth). You will also need melted butter to dip everything in and a drink but otherwise, omit all other table settings. Then, you just dig in! I think everyone, with the exception of Payton, really enjoyed it. Payton was completely disgusted. As soon as Eric dumped the food out onto the table, Payton covered his eyes and asked Brittany if he could leave the table. It was pretty funny, but he still came back for dessert. I was very surprised at how much Parker enjoyed himself. He loved the crab, I think he ate a whole leg himself! Thanks to Eric for turning 25 and deciding on such a fun way to celebrate his birthday!

A Few of My Favorite Things

My cousin Morgan sent me this email so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and reply to her email while updating my blog!

1. Color: Purple
2. Food: Watermelon & popcorn
3. Drink: Cherry Coke/Pepsi
4. Song: "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"
5. Band: To name a few: The Format, Ben Lee, Bright Eyes, Belle & Sebastian, Elliott Smith, Ryan Adams
6. Movie: Dirty Dancing, Only You
7. T.V. Show: The Office, 30 Rock, Scrubs & House
8. Theme Park: Universal Studios Islands of Adventure in Orlando, FL
9. Dessert: Homemade oreos
10. Restaurant: Tepanyaki
11. Ice cream: Haagen Daz Coffee
12. Person: My husband
13. Actor/Actresse: John Cusack, Audrey Hepburn
14. Scent: Fabric softener & Eric when he smells nice
15. Animal: my dogs
16. Place: home in bed snuggling with Eric & Frankie & Roscoe
17. Website: jenbugsworld.blogspot.com
18. Store: Target/Anthropologie
19. Sport: Basketball/Dance
20. Candybar: Butterfinger

"Thank you"

Reflecting on my past week, I have been very humbled by several tender moments that I have experienced. I am so thankful for all that I have. I experienced one tender moment when viewing an email clip of Glen Beck giving a tribute to Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley. His tribute really touched me as I thought about what an honor it will be to one day meet Pres. Hinckley in the hereafter (this is something I have never had the opportunity of doing in this life) and just to simply say, "Thank you." He is a very real example of enduring to the end. He never stopped serving us. He never stopped working. He never even seemed to slow down. I just can't imagine my life being anything close to what his was but I can do my best in following his example and I am truly thankful for it.

Another moment for me was last night, Eric and I were invited to go hear a church historian, Brother Turley, speak on the making of the "Teaching of Joseph Smith" manual for church. One thing I learned is that I will be reading it and studying it on my own because I now have a greater appreciation for it. The reason it wasn't the first book in the series is due to the fact that it was the most difficult to develop. It was painstakingly researched and poured over until every single thing that was printed could most aunthentically be traced back to an actual teaching from Joseph Smith. The real problem is that there was a real lack of record keeping in his time. By Brigham Young's time he has scribes that would write everything he taught in shorthand and historians have very accurate records of Brigham Young and every other prophet moving forward. Even Joseph Smith's own personal journal was often kept through a scribe. One of which was a doctor (who stereotypically had very poor script). And the scribes would interchangeably use the word "I" for themselves and Joseph! This is just the beginning of endless confusing, incomplete or difficult to decipher texts that these scholars poured over to produce "the most accurate compilation of teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith written today." (This was a direct quote from Brother Turley.)

In addition to my appreciation for the manual itself, Brother Turley bore testimony of the miraculous work of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. There is absolutely no other explanation that makes sense other than the one that Joseph Smith and the witnesses said. That he translated the gold plates through the gift and power of God. He did this in a matter of less than 90 days! He did this with a grammar-school education. He did extremely little revision or correction and a lot of that was a matter of grammatics and spelling. He did this without any modern technology that writers today would use. He did this using many different scribes and he would pick up right where he left off without having anything read back to him. My own dad, bless his heart, is an apologist (of many things, one of them being the church) and has studied the translation and history of Joseph Smith in extreme detail and has shared with me many of the "little" things that happened during the translation. He has also studied the original printers' manuscripts which can show every single correction that occurred between that and the current book we have today and I have to say, it is remarkable how little they have changed. It is a book that due to its modern translation and development, we know the detailed history of, which cannot be said for any other book of scripture. I know that it could not have and truly did not come to pass by any other means than through Joseph Smith by the power of God. I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon. I am thankful for the blood, sweat, tears and sacrifice that so many people put into it and I know that I take it for granted the majority of the time but I am always thankful to be reminded of this amazing miracle that lays by my bed each night.

Deep Thoughts

One of Eric and my favorite things to do is read "Deep Thoughts" by Jack Handy. They are full of words of wisdom such as, "Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself. Basically, it's made up of two separate words — "mank" and "ind." What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind." There are several others that are equally as thought provoking and hilarious but Eric brought up a good point the other day when he said, "What would it be like to be Jack Handy's kid and say, "Dad, I need some advice..." and he would reply with something totally ridiculous like the above comment. I am sure glad that I am not Jack Handy's child. But he sure is funny!

New Blog

Thanks to Andi I spent about 3 hours today updating the look of my blog. I created one entire template then found new cute winter themed stuff so I went and created a 2nd look. It does take some time I can tell you that! Thanks Andi I love it!

Happy New Year 2008!

Our front yard on Christmas morning!

Well, sorry my blog got so boring for the last month. I guess the blog was boring because my life was busy and I didn't have time to update it much. Time or energy. For about 2 weeks before Christmas I had a cold/cough that would not go away. I am still a little coughy but its not anywhere near as bad as it was. I blame the ozone. Speaking of ozone, our Questar bill was ridiculous this month. We only paid about $12 less that Eric's parents and their home is 3 x the size of ours. If anyone can help us figure this out, we'd appreciate it. But back to the holidays... Christmas was so exciting with visits from Rob, Mandy, Evan and my newest niece Lily and a surprise visit from Jdub, Andy, Ashton and Brice. We battled the snowstorm on Christmas Eve coming home from Logan but we still made it to grandma Barb's for dinner and fun. Although, I do have to say that at times during that 3.5 hour drive from Logan going an average of 30 mph, I didn't think Eric and I would make it to our one-year anniversary. We were both so tired and ornery that we couldn't speak or remain silent without getting on each other's nerves.
I am proud to report that we did make it and are still happily married... so long as we never get caught in a horrible snow storm again! :) Our anniversary was a really great day! We just got to lay around all day, which we probably haven't done since our honeymoon, and then we went to dinner at the Mandarin in Bountiful and went to the temple. We did have a miniature miracle while driving up to the Bountiful temple. We were going up that really steep hill and suddenly, our car just stopped going forward. The tires were spinning on the snow and I was really scared. Eric managed to get enough traction to turn around and he said, "I am not going back up there, we are just going to have to go to Salt Lake." Then as we were driving down the hill, two snow plows crossed our path and we were able to turn around and follow the plows, which worked out perfectly!
New Years was also fun! We played Rock Band at Kent and Ann's with the family and ate and talked. Rock band is really fun! I enjoy singing because my deepest inner self really would love to be a great singer. I would even settle for a good singer... but Rock band doesn't require that much skill and so I can sing my little heart out.
All in all, life was pretty good the last month so here's to 2008! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the holidays.

Roscoe with his Christmas rope! He's smiling!

Grandma Ann trying to figure out how to assemble the game for Parker. Brenda burnt the bacon, again! The oven was literally an inferno. Hilarious!

This was my favorite picture of Lily with her hand on her forhead. She is so precious.
Eric is so excited about his scientific calculator on Christmas morning!

I look happy about the Kite Runner but all I have done since then is cry. Oh that book is so unbelievably sad! I also cry when watching Gremlins and Teen Witch.

This was our Chick rock band.
Andy might not like this picture but c'mon, Ashton with his shirt off on the drums is priceless!