Happy Father's Day!

Today is Jared's first Fathers Day as a father!! I think I am more excited than he is. => I wanted to do something special for him, so i decided to make him a nice cake (Jared doesn't like presents, mainly to spend money on presents, so I have to think of other ways to celebrate. & he can't get upset for me cooking haha. So a cooking treat it is!)

On one of my craft blogs I am addicted to they have a lady come and teach something about cake decorating each week. I have been reading and learning, so I figured I was up for the task of making a four layer fondant cake. The first step was to make the layers. Check. Second was to freeze them for at least 24hrs (make them not as crumply and easier to manage/frost). Check. Then I was supposed to stack them and frost them. I didnt even out the cake layers before I froze them, figuring it would be cleaner to cut a frozen cake than a warm one. BIG MISTAKE! Frozen cakes are HARD (who would have thought?) So I had to put even more force to cut the cake, and ended up slicing my finger pretty bad. Luckily Paige was asleep. So I cleaned the cut as best I could and got a paper towel to put pressure on it. After 10 mins I had soaked 1 1/2 paper towels in blood. I was getting nervous, so I called Jared and told him to come home. 20 mins after I cut my finger it was still bleeding. Jared got home and examined and cleaned it. Needless to say I was a little handicapped in the cake decorating department. While I was waiting for Jared to get home I finished dirty icing the cake (luckily I cut my non-dominant hand), but there was no way on earth I was going to make and mold fondant now. And Jared really wanted to eat the cake, so I let him. No more cutting frozen cake for me =>

As for Jared being a father...
His little girl just LOVES him! I can not believe how much of a Daddy's girl she already is! Whenever she hears him talk she will look around and turn her little body until she can see him and then she just stares. (She only does that for me when she is hungry, figures haha) And he can always make her smile!
And he is such a good Dad too! He loves taking care of her! He even changes diapers willingly, watches her when I need more sleep or to get out of the house, and anythign and everythign else needed to take care of a baby! And he never complains!
When I cut my finger yesterday Paige desprately needed a bath (her spit up got EVERYWHERE!) and Jared jumped right in and did it! He is such a dream! => Side note, Paige LOVES the bath! She will just lay there so calm and peaceful, and she is even starting to smile in it now! What she does not like is putting clothes back on. haha

This is Jared and Paige on their first Father's Day! You can often find them just chilling like this! They love eachother so much!!

And what kind of blogger mom would I be if I didn't post more pictures of Paige for her Grandmas (and anyone else who likes to see) => We took some pictures of Paige today to send to her Grandpas for Fathers Day, so that is what they are from.

Paige's little legs are getting so strong! She can hold herself up in a standing position for a couple seconds (i think 45 is her max) All we have to do is help her with balance! What an impressive trick at 5 1/2 weeks old!
She really does like to stand. She gets so frustrated sometimes and the ways to calm her down is to either stand her up or switch her around so she can see everything (social and curious baby)

I really need to hone my camera speed to be able to catch her smiling. This is the tail end of her smile, and its the onyl shot I got of her smiling spree. She went on smiling for about 10 mins and I either would not have the camera in my hands or had just taken a picture and it was loading. One of these days I will get a picture of her great, oh so adorable smile!
HAPPY FIRST FATHER"S DAY JARED!!!!

My Weakness

I have many weaknesses, and I will be the first to admit it, but I am pretty sure I can tell you my biggest fault......stress. I stress about anything and everything, but the thing I am most anal about it cleanliness. I HATE dirty! I am a complete stress-freak when it comes to cleaning my house, and this can drive Jared crazy. Although I am not perfectly cleanly (what can I say Im pregnant, work at a physically demanding full time job, and am lazy) I dont deep clean my home on a daily basis (which I probably should) but whenever anyone comes over my house HAS to be spotless!!! And whenever we go anywhere for a vacation, no matter how long, my house HAS to be spotless!!! And if its not..... well you don't even want to go there.

Due to this "condition" of mine, Jared deals with a lot of my anal crap at times. For example, I don't mind having people over for dinner or a game night, in fact I LOVE it, but when Jared pops the fact that some people are coming over in an hour its like a switch goes off in me. I start cleaning like a mad woman and get super stressed, and if Jared tries to talk to me, I am afraid I am not very nice. But as soon as the guests get here (and the house is clean) I am back to normal.

I do not know why this is. And I do not know how I can "fix" myself to not freak out if one little thing is out of place, or if I have not vaccumed or dusted before friends come over. I suppose I could steadily clean every day (I already do it every Saturday) but lets face it, I am too lazy for that. As for now, I am working on evening out my stress-cleaning monster. But I am so grateful for a husband that does not take it personally, who does all he can to help me, and who shows me how much he appreciates that I value a clean house. Hopefully I will be better soon and I can take the stress monster down to a lesser weakness =>

Feeding the Homeless

On Monday (the 28th of December) Jared and I had the opportunity to chaperon the youth of the Las Flores ward and feed the homeless down in Los Angeles. The youth do this every year, and have done it since before I was in young womens. My Dad has a calling in Young Men's, so he was going, and allowed Jared and I to come too. It is such a neat experience.

Jared drove the food car. I like to think we were the most important car because without us, they would have had nothing to give the the homeless. haha Kalyn and Kimmy came with us too!

I am constantly amazed at the workings of our church, but that day I was amazed at the youth. They needed little instruction and just organized themselves in an assembly line and packed and made the lunches.

They were all so great, and they all helped so willingly and excitedly. The homeless were guided to make a line and when the youth finished packing a lunch they would personally deliver it to the people in the line. I am so grateful to be part of a church that encourages service and selflessness, it really is a thing of beauty.

Trey, Kalyn, and Kimberly after selflessly serving the homeless. Great job guys!

Me and my love in Skid Row in downtown LA.

Even though I have gone to downtown LA and fed the homeless many times it never ceases to amaze me. I am one, amazed at the quantity of people down there, and two amazed at the immense love my family and Father in Heaven has for me. I am eternally grateful for the gospel and for the love and support of family, and for all the blessings I receive.