2013

2013 has come and gone. Sometimes the years just go fast. I will admit, though, parts of this year have gone fast and parts have gone slow. Some monumental things that happened this year for me are as follows:

1. I turned 22.
2. I had a baby.
3. I had a baby boy.
4. I had a baby boy 2 months early.
5. I graduated from BYU-Idaho.
6. I graduated with my Bachelors Degree from BYU-Idaho.
7. I no longer work at Mobley Physical Therapy (sad face :(  I liked that job :)  )
8. I became a stay-at-home mom (one of the hardest but best things I have done (working would be easier for me, but I know this is where I need to be at this time.))
9. My husband and I got a new Bronco.
10. I have fallen even more in love with my prince charming! We have been through a lot this year.

Two things that I am proud of. My husband and son.

Two other things that I'm proud of. First, I paid cash for my college degree. No loans. No debt for that piece of paper. I had the money saved up and I didn't have to use any of my husbands money to pay for it. How did I have that much money you may ask? Well my parents paid about $1,000, but the rest came from me working two jobs (sometimes three) while I was going to school full time, and getting a quarter of my tuition paid for from my good grades. I did not receive any grants for my schooling.  I also was a nanny for about six months to help pay for it. But I am proud to say I graduated college with my undergrad with no debt!!

The next thing that I am proud of is that when we had our baby two months early we were totally not expecting it... We had no idea that I had eclampsia. We had no idea that the baby was going to come in June when he was supposed to come in August. We had no idea that I would be in the hospital for a week and he would have to be in the hospital for 35 days and transferred hospitals twice. We had no idea how much it was going to cost.

But we had budgeted. We had a budget on our computer that we would update every month. We budgeted for a baby with a normal pregnancy but not for a baby who came two months early and had to be in the hospital for 35 days. The people at the hospital and others around us told us that we would need to be on Medicaid in order to pay for all the expenses. We didn't want to be on Medicaid. We had goals for ourselves that government aid would be the last, last, last, last, last, last resort. Well even with our good health insurance there was a hefty bill for both mine and my son's care (Extra hefty for our son).

We stressed about how to make it work without having to go on Medicaid. If you ask my husband he'll probably say I extra stressed about it. By God's we were blessed and we did not have to be on Medicaid to pay for our baby! We were so blessed! I still think about it and I am amazed! A great testimony builder for paying tithing!

Sorry I may have got a little wordy but I really am proud of those four things ;)

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Our New Bronco

Tater. 

(Sorry my car is in the pic... I couldn't find one of just the Bronco...)

Reason he is called Tater: It kinda looks like a half peeled potato. 

Izac and I are partial to Ford Bronco's for many reasons. ( I will write of those reasons when I write our love story... (which is pretty AWESOME) (which I have thinking about doing for a while... :) )

For various reason's we had to sell Tater. 

                   -Terrible gas mileage, we needed something more fuel efficient for all the driving we do. (Which we do have something more fuel efficient now.) 

                   -It had the wrong motor in it. (My man wanted something with more POWER :) 

                   -It was the wrong year. The years 1980-1986 are our favorite style of Bronco. 

Ever since we sold Tater my husband has been looking on Craigslist and KSL at all of the western states from Colorado to Washington, from Arizona to Oregon for a Bronco that had everything we wanted. 

We sold Tater last year in June 2012 (I think). He has been looking well over a year for us a Bronco. 

Last week we finally found a Bronco up to specifications for a good deal and we went for it. 

It was in Oregon- like a 14 hour drive from our house. One way. 

Traveling that long with a baby would have likely turned out to be miserable so I stayed home with the baby and Izac's brother went with to pick up our new toy. They drove all night to get there. 

I had one pretty excited husband :) 

Anyways, here is what he came home with! We are really excited to have a Bronco back!!

(Sorry about the frost melting off the windows)

 (See the front of this one (headlights and grill thing) they are different from our old one, this is the style we like :) )

(It looks good in these pictures but even better in person :) )

We are having troubles choosing a name for this Bronco though... Candy cane, McQueen and a few others have been mentioned. I kind of like Big Red. What do you think is a good name for our new Bronco?

Turkey Pumpkin

This Halloween my husband and I didn't have time to carve our pumpkin. 

So... 

I made a turkey pumpkin :)

Paper, tooth picks, tape, marker, scissors and a pumpkin was all I used :) 

  Thanksgiving is coming fast!!

Mesa Falls 2013

Mesa Falls

Memories
Excitement
Sensational
Awesome

Have you been to Mesa Falls in Idaho? If not you should go!

It is gorgeous.

One reason I particularly like it so much is that is is where Izac and I shared our first kiss and where he asked me to marry him (on different occasions of course :) ).  

(Those are both great stories for another time :) ) 

We have decided to make it a tradition to go there every year. We missed the colorful leaves by like 2 weeks but it was still beautiful!

It was relieving to me because that Wednesday, Thursday, Friday prior to our going on Saturday; the baby cried practically all day those three days... He didn't want his binky, he screamed when he was put in the car seat, he screamed when you put him down, you get the idea... 

I was real worried our trip to Mesa Falls was going to turn out to be miserable with a screaming baby the whole way there (it is like an hour drive from my house).   

Knock on Wood .  .  .   when we started our journey he fell asleep! 

And... He slept the whole way there. I was one grateful mommy that he was sleeping and not screaming. He was due to eat about the time we got to Mesa Falls. 

We got there and the crisp mountain air was intoxicating. Just what I needed. The baby hadn't woke up yet so we just carried him down to the falls with us. 

So many happy memories came rushing back I couldn't help but be happy there on cloud 9 with my handsome husband. 

It was a clear fall day and the fresh mountain air reminded me of how much I love the Great Outdoors. 

We went to the train tunnel after, which is only about a mile away from the falls but a little bit more of a walk to get to. 

Back In The Day, a train used to run from about Mesa up to Yellowstone. The tunnel is really old now and is caving in so it is closed off to go through but it is still a pretty neat sight!

The baby kept sleeping!

We walked to the train tunnel, shared some of our thoughts and memories, reminiscing together of how fast time had gone since that first kiss at Mesa Falls some two years ago. 

It was great!

And the baby still slept. I was one happy mommy relieved for a break from the non-stop crying. 

He finally woke up when we got back from the train tunnel but he ate and went back to sleep with my husband single-handedly rocking him.

We ended the day at Big Judds, and the baby slept the whole way home! 

It was a great day! 

My Little Elf

Here are pictures of the elf costume that I made.

                         
                                                                      The Hat

The Vest

The Shorts

(that I don't like)

The Shoes

The Outfit

The Baby Elf

Making costumes is time consuming!

But it is fun to back at what you have made :) 

Our little family on Halloween

"Grandpa's Big Guy"

Here is my dad:

He is bald. 

Before Ryker was born my grandma got him a little dinosaur out fit that says "Grandpa's Big Guy" on it. 

He is finally big enough to wear it. 

The other weekend we were with Izac's family and Izac's dad suggested that we draw a beard on Ryker sometime, to match my dad's because Ryker's baldness matches my dad's baldness. 

So I decided that I was going to do that when he could fit into the "Grandpa's Big Guy" outfit.

We met my dad at my grandparents for Sunday dinner.

I felt all giddy and excited coloring eyeliner pencil on my son's face before bringing him our for everyone to see. I was looking forward to my dad's reaction. 

We had a lot of fun laughing about it and my dad got a kick out of it :) 

P.S. I have been making Ryker a cute little Elf outfit. Stay tuned.

P.S.S. I am still trying to figure out everything and how to make this blog thing cute... 

Sticky Pear Juice

The other day I got ambitious. I decided I was going to try canning pears all by myself. This would be my first time canning all by myself. I usually co-can (I made that up :)) with my mom.

It's simple. She tells me what to do and I do it. I had this inner pride that I had to prove to myself I could do canning alone. I started with my pears in the sink and I washed them. I was feeling pretty confident in my abilities to solo-can (I made that up too :)).

I was trying my best to follow "The Ball Blue Book" with some tips from my mom that I remembered using.

I started peeling them. This task, that I thought would take a few minutes, made a GIANT mess in my kitchen. I had a sink full of pears with Sticky Pear Juice, cutting boards with Sticky Pear Juice, counter space with Sticky Pear Juice, knifes with Sticky Pear Juice, hands with Sticky Pear Juice, and a floor with Sticky Pear Juice (I managed to let one or two (or more) slippery suckers slip out of my hands..).

I was beginning to see the benefit of canning with two people. My sink full of pears was taking a real long time to peel and half. I was beginning to get discouraged in my solo-canning abilities.

After an extended amount of time I finally had them all cut and put them into boil for a few minutes. This continued my floor with Sticky Pear Juice mess  because I had to bring the pears from one counter to another.

Across the floor...

They left their stick and I was reminded of it every time I lifted my foot off the ground.

These pears were supposed to boil for 3 minutes but that turned into 10 because I figured if I tripled the amount of pears I put in the pot they would get done faster. So I tripled the amount of pears I put in and I tripled the amount of time they were to boil.

Time was a-tickin.

After my 10 minutes was up I started spooning them into jars, remembering too late that I wasn't supposed to get the top of the dirty... but guess what?

They ended up with Sticky Pear Juice all over them.

I was beginning to decide after my experiences that canning was a lot easier when you can co-can.

I water-bathed the jars on my moms out-door burner because my stove unit wasn't big enough for the pot. When they were finished. I brought the jars to my house on a cookie sheet. My mom gave me a few jars of spaghetti sauce that we had done a few days to take back with the pears that I had done all by myself (other than water-bathing them on her burner).

As I was bringing the jars to my house, I had my hands full with the heavy cookie sheet full of my freshly finished pears (that had taken all day and drenched my kitchen with sticky pear juice). I decided in order to open my screen and unlock the door I was going to have to free one of my hands.

Well.. I balanced the cookie sheet with my jars on my leg and raised a hand. As soon as my hand came up the cookie sheet tilted sending the jars crashing down at my feet right in front of my door. I heard glass breaking as I jumped away. I didn't even want to look down to see the damage..

It was turning out to be One of Those Days.

When I finally did look down I was happy to see that some jars had survived the crash to the cement but still discouraged some had broke. I worked really hard for those canned pears.

I put the glass in our outside garbage and hosed the remains of my beautiful pears and spaghetti sauce off the porch.

It turned out to be One of Those Days, but it could have been worse...

At least they ALL didn't break. :)

And I headed in to clean my Sticky Pear Juice kitchen.

The Blonde Spot

   My name is Joslyn, with inspiration from The Pioneer Woman and my love of writing (and a little spare time), I have decided to start a blog. Hopefully a couple people will read about my successes (which may or may not be a few...) and my failures (which may or may not be a lot.. :) ) both of which I plan on sharing. 

   Why in the world would I call my blog The Blonde Spot?

    My inspiration?

    Hair. Specifically my hair. 
               (... and may or may not be the many 'blond' spots that I have daily in my life)

Many people have birth marks, different pigments of skin color here and there, raspberries on their sides or freckles (also known as angle kisses :) ).

     Can you guess where my birth mark is? 

     In my hair.

Some of the skin on my head (where my hair grows, right up front) doesn't have pigment (or so I have been told) so the hair in that spot grows in a blonde-white color there, the rest of my hair grows in brunette. I have never colored my hair before (except maybe that Wash Out That Night Color for a Halloween Costume Color). 

I never thought there was a different thing about me until I went to college. Eventually I realized that my hair was different. At first I resented the spot in my hair that grew in a different color. I am a fairly timid person who (generally...) tries not to appear to extreme. My resentment during that time grew to the point that I started parting my hair to the other side. Doing so can almost completely hide The Blonde Spot. 

It was one of these special days, where resentment had parted my hair to hide my birth mark, that I went to visit my grandparents. My grandpa noticed the brunette-ness of my hair and commented something to the effect of "I like your blonde spot, it is you..." 

Such a simple sentence got me thinking that it is me and I don't need to be ashamed of it. I still have my 'brown days' where my hair is parted to hide my Blonde Spot but it's not out of resentment but rather the desire to change things up a little. 

So along with my frequent 'blond' moments, I thought this was a fitting title. :)

P.S. Sorry about the extensive use of parenthesis. :) 

P.S.S. When I figure out how this Blogging Website Thing works I hope to personalize it more.

P.S.S.S. What does P.S. stand for?