Formula savings and free stuff

As you all know, Jamie is now formula-fed, and I recently had to switch brands, from Similac to Enfamil. I've been concerned, because I've been getting $5-off coupons for Similac by mail, which helps a lot. I went on Enfamil's website and found that they seem to have the same deal. I just now signed up, but it did say that I'll get free gifts (each gives you a diaper bag), free samples, and formula "checks." So I'm happy, and I just wanted to let anyone who uses formula know about it. And hey, anyone who doesn't use the coupons, you could pass 'em my way! I'd appreciate it! :)

Enfamil sign-up
Similac sign-up

By the way, does anyone know if it's generally a bad idea to use different brands of formula here and there? We used to do it (using the free samples we got of other brands) and it didn't seem to bother Jamie, but I hesitate to go back and forth on a regular basis. Are my worries founded?

Pet peeve

Okay, here's something that I see EVERYWHERE, and it really bothers me:

The house, car, mailbox, or whatever that belongs to the entire Noall family is

THE NOALLS' house

NOT

THE NOALL'S.

I'm sorry to tell you, but that is wrong.

Apostrophe goes on the OUTSIDE when the possessive is plural or however you say that.

"The Noall's" would be ONE Noall's house. Like, "Hi, I'm The Noall, and this house is mine, so I call it The Noall's house."

Thank you for your attention.

Quick video

Well, my second video still wouldn't post, but this one is dang cute, too, so hey. :) (Sorry about my rather high, annoying voice. Gotta do the baby talk the way he likes it.)

Newest Project

So on Saturday, my mom helped me make and can orange marmalade! I've been wanting to learn how to can for awhile, but find it extremely intimidating (can we say "botulism"?), so it was great to learn from her firsthand. Jason helped a little bit, too, and everyone who has tasted the marmalade says it tastes really good. I was disappointed that it was more runny than the kind you buy from the store, but everyone else thought I was being too picky.

We're planning on buying some strawberries to make preserves with, and my mom said that if they get a lot of tomatoes from their garden, she'll let me can those, too. I was ridiculously proud of myself when I was done! :)

By the way, any of my aunts or cousins who are reading this, forget about it, because it's going to be one of my items at the Girl Party on Saturday. :)

Jon Plus 8 & Kate Plus 8, On Alternating Weekends...?

Jon and Kate Gosselin, parents of 8 young children and married for over ten years, are divorcing. Apparently they announced it on TLC earlier tonight.
Kate says her marriage is "irretrievably broken."
I nearly cried as I read about it on the internet.
I hope they have prayed endlessly about this. I hope they've tried absolutely everything they can think of to keep their precious marriage from going up in smoke. I hope this is what the Lord wants for them, and not just easier than to keep trying, and to do whatever it takes to humble themselves into working out their differences. I hope that their children saw them trying to work it out so they don't grow up and think that if your spouse seems to not be working so well, you just throw them out and get a new one.
Most of all, I hope they change their minds and decide that they love each other more than they care about whatever's coming between them.
I know I'm not them, and I don't pretend to know their sorrow. But I can't help feeling that this is a tragedy, and that the adversary is very happy that a once-loving family has been destroyed--with so many people watching, especially their children.
I just looked over at Jason and imagined him not being my husband anymore, imagined having to just be uncomfortable acquaintances, and I felt sick. I made him come over and hug me.
Married people, please please please, let's all work on our marriages. Treasure them. My spouse is the most precious person in the world to me, right? So I need to treat him that way! I need to humble myself when I'm wrong or even could be wrong. We need to follow the prophet's counsel to date, to spend time alone together. Care for each other. Do nice things for each other. When Jason is 81 and I'm 80, I plan to be shuffling along with my hand in his, joking about all my wrinkles and my arthritis medication while he says he thinks my wrinkles are sexy, and young people will think how cute we are.
Good luck, Jon and Kate. I don't see how this could be a good thing, but I honestly hope it's what's best for you and that you'll all be happy.

After I first posted this, I looked up an article that I've wanted to read for a long time: At Home With the Hinckleys, an interview with President and Sister H about how they kept their marriage going. It was so uplifting after all this sad Jon and Kate business. I highly recommend taking a look and brushing up on simple ways to keep marriages alive!

Word to your mother!!!

I'm afraid I'll wake up and find this was but a blissful dream!! (Getting a video to post, I mean.)

Well, I finally got this to post. I had fun with it on Windows Movie Maker, that's why there are the dorky transitions. :) The reason you only see my torso at first is because I was putting my hair up.

So I haven't been able to upload a video for months, which has been SO frustrating. I have some really cute ones. I finally realized that maybe it's the laptop that's the problem, somehow. Another problem is I recently deleted everything off my camera, so I can't just load them onto our desktop from it, and videos are too big to email. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. This was just a test to see if it would work on here (desktop). And it has worked. Well, Rob's coming over for dinner, I bet he would know how to somehow make all my videos on the laptop available to the desktop (I think he has a huge jump drive), so maybe I'll get to post a whole mess of videos soon.

What we did today

We visited Liz and Lexi! Lexi is stinkin' adorable, and though she's 7 weeks older than Jamie, she's a good deal smaller than him. Very petite little girl, so cute. It's funny to see a smaller baby rolling and nearly crawling while Jamie is, by choice, stuck wherever and however you put him :)

Lexi is such a sweet little smiler!

Chewing on his foot. Sigh. So adorable!

I was really lucky and excited to get this one. Cute little (2nd) cousins!

We're so happy to be near you guys again! Looking forward to the next time we can visit!

By the way, if anyone has (or knows someone who has) a gently used crib that they know is safe and don't need anymore, any chance you could hook it up? We're looking for a high chair, too. Truth is, we're looking for work but are almost broke as a joke til then, so if anyone could help us out with those needed things, we totally don't mind going second-hand. Thanks so much!

Too sweet for words.

Earlier today I hinted enough at Jason that he very kindly took over care of baby Jamie so I could take a nap. Uncle Rob came to visit for awhile, too, so I figured he would have extra help and happily crashed.

A little while later, Jason comes into the room carrying a fussing Jamie and says, "Honey, I'm sorry to bother you, but we've tried everything to console Jamie. We think he misses his mommy."

"You've fed him?" I ask sleepily, as he brings me the baby and sets him next to me on the bed. As Jason answers in the affirmative, Jamie looks at me, his face crumples, and he lets out another wail. I silently wonder if the sight of my face inspires such despair, but cuddle him to me nonetheless. That sad face is a heartbreaker.

"Aww, see, he just needed Mommy," a smiling Jason says, and leaves the room.

After a minute, when Jamie's more calmly cuddling with me, I come to realize that the oh-so-sad face might have been one of those situations where you've had a traumatic time, and then you see someone you love. You're so glad to see them that you throw yourself into their arms, start crying, and in essence say, "You won't believe what they did to me!!"

A few minutes later, I shuffle out into the kitchen, holding Jamie, who is now clutching my shoulder and my shirt and quietly looking around as we walk. One by one, each of my family members (parents and brother) sees him in my arms and makes an exclamation about how he's suddenly fine now that he's with me. They argue my suggestion that he just needed a new face with assertions that they had passed him around between them while I was asleep, trying to calm him, to no avail.

I'm touched to think my little guy missed me so much. I sit down on the couch with him sitting on my stomach, facing me. I hold him in the air, and make faces and noises at him for awhile, smiling big to get him to do the same. For a good half an hour, he looks around a little, but mostly stares happily at me, sometimes smiling, sometimes giggling, sometimes chewing on his fingers. Family members make a couple more comments on how content he suddenly is, and how he "just needed his mama."

I sometimes still experience a painful pang when I remember what it was like to breastfeed him, wishing I still could and wondering if my son won't be properly bonded with me. Maybe it would be stronger if I were able to breastfeed him, but my baby still loves me and we have a special bond nonetheless. He showed me that again tonight.

I LOVE to see the temple!

"Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are sacred structures
in which...eternal questions are answered. Each is dedicated as a
house of the Lord, a place of holiness and peace shut apart from the world.
There truths are taught and ordinances are performed that bring knowledge of
things eternal and motivate the participants to live with an understanding of
our divine inheritance as children of God and an awareness of our potential as
eternal beings."

-President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008)

We went to the temple here yesterday, and can I just say, this temple is SO beautiful! I was so delighted to be back at MY temple with the lovely fountain, flowers, granite, architecture, and grounds! A fountain would freeze in Rexburg. :P All temples are beautiful, most of all because of the spirit they contain and emit and the blessings they offer, but I just love my temple best of all.

Click here to go to a gallery for more pictures and wallpapers, here to read about the purpose of temples or find a list of FAQs about temples. Of course, pictures don't do justice--if you're in this area, take a trip there and walk around!

Number of times word "temple" mentioned in this post: 8. (I know, it seems like more. :D)

Danke!!

Yay! Jacquie and Ashley, you guys are so smart!!

Question.

Does anyone know how to get the header picture to SHRINK AND TO FREAKIN' GO IN THE CENTER?!?

Just wondering. :D

Home sweet home!...sort of.

Well, we made it! After leaving in fall of '03, I am finally living in Northern California again, which I've been wanting to do for years! We FINALLY got just about everything out of our townhouse in Rexburg a week ago (we left some cleaning supplies, bleach, handsoap, and stuff like that for the next tenants because we were sick of trying to find a place for every little thing), said good-bye to a friend, got some Taco Bell for the road, and finally got out of town at about 7 p.m. that night, a mere five hours after we meant to leave. :)

On Monday, my awesome cousins--like fifteen of them--brother, dad, and a couple of Rob's friends helped us move all our stuff to three different locations. The whole time, as silly as it sounds, I was trying not to get teary-eyed. After feeling so alone in Idaho, with no family and sort-of friends constantly coming and going (students), it meant more than I can say to see my family show up, welcome us, and cheerfully help us with a very un-fun task. I have such a great family, and am so very happy to be living close to them again!

Jason and I are just now getting used to the fact that there's no return trip to dread. It's so crazy to think that I don't have to hurry too much to spend time with everyone I know while I'm here for a week--because I'm here indefinitely!

It's good to be back, but I will be very happy when Jason finds a job (prayers appreciated!) and we can get our own place. Even with my grandma letting us keep boxes in her garage and Rob using our living room furniture, it's just too awkward trying to fit everything we need from our townhouse into 1 1/2 rooms. (We're staying in Rob's old room and Jamie is sleeping in my old room, but there was so much stuff in there already.) Plus, I'm just sick of not feeling like a grown-up, having to infringe on other people's homes, borrow money...I would love to actually be independent. At age 25. College grad. Ya know. :)

So yeah, we're settling in, and I've already gotten to see Sam, Billy, Gage, and Elle, which was awesome. I'm hoping to get to see Christy soon. I feel bad because we have unpacking and organizing to do, but I feel like I've been packing and organizing for weeks on end and I just want to relax!

So, Sacramento-area friends, I'm back, and I have lots of free time! Call me!! :)