2016: The Recap

Guys. 2016 was a game changer. A total and utter game changer. 2015 was full of world travel, educational advancement and baby prep, but in 2016 it actually happened. We had a baby.

A cute baby.

A very cute baby.

And now our life revolves around her awesomeness.

The photos below were posted to Instagram in 2016. They are the most liked of all the images posted and in an effort to have some kind of family record (because 2011 through now is a tumbleweed blowing across your computer screen) let's recap the year:

1. After 42-hours of raw, medication free labor, our Remy girl came into the world. My birth story deserves its own post (fingers crossed I'll follow-through) but it was dramatic, traumatic, and Paul and I agreed we wouldn't talk about future kids or future labors for quite some time. The short story is my body didn't absorb the epidural narcotics, a piece of the cervix was blocking the birth canal so I was dilated to an 8 for 7+ hours (middle of the night), hyperventilated every contraction, pushed for 3 hours, had a baby who wasn't breathing and it was just real dramatic like. The photo above was several hours after birth when we were reunited. So much hair on that little head!
2. For Halloween I wanted to do a costume fairly low-key that had high impact but didn't require us to invest a fortune (because babies are fickle and only want to wear a costume for minutes at a time). Hot glue gun cotton balls to a beanie and add a dollar store pair of reading glasses (lenses removed) to a sweater, brooch, and dress combo and wah-la! We sure love our little old lady.
3. I decided it was cheaper (and more fun!) to fly Alaina out to shoot our family photos than to pay someone in town, so for two short days in November she came for a visit. We spent one afternoon taking family photos in front of the Portland skyline and at Cathedral Park by the St. John's bridge. I'll absolutely always treasure this photo of me and Remy -- it's about the only one where I have nice hair! 
4. This photo is the very first full-face photo of Remy we posted to social media. In it we also announced her full name, weight (8 lbs 8 ounces), height (20.75 in), and a good look at that very full, very dark head of hair. 
5. After visiting Santa at the mall (wherein we paid an obscene amount of money for a reservation so we didn't have to wait in line) I saw this festive setup in Pottery Barn. We quickly set Remy on the couch and snapped this gorgeous keeper of a photo. I'm still waiting for Pottery Barn to return my phone call about including this image in next year's catalog. 
6. This family-of-three shot is one of my ultimate favorites from Alaina's shoot--it made it onto the backside of our 2016 Christmas card as well. I posted it on a Friday wherein I got some really bad news at work that rocked me back a step (nothing super personal, account and client news) but I posted this photo with a caption of how excited I was to go home and spend time with these best friends of mine. Being a full-time working mom also deserves its own post I think. (Add it to the list.)
7. A baby in a pumpkin! I mean come. on. I fully anticipated Remy would cry when we put her into a cold, wet pumpkin wearing only a diaper. She didn't, because our baby is the most even-keeled happy baby there ever was. (Oh, we also put a dish towel in there.) We put a few decorations up on our porch once Sunday after church and snapped this picture. There are about a dozen in the set and they're all ridiculously cute. 
8. Remy loooooooooooooves the bath. Like holy smokes that girl would be happy to bathe every night. Somewhere mid-Fall we started putting her in the bathtub with one of us and she's never happier than when she's splashing in the tub. This photo was the second night she got to bathe in our main bathroom--the first night she learned that splashing has cause and effect.
9. Christmas Eve we took a redye flight to Bermuda. I wanted to vacation somewhere warm for the holiday but options were limited as true Caribbean/Mexican destinations were off-limits due to the Zika Virus (I'd like Remy to have a sibling with a normal-shaped head you see.). My parents joined us (they committed less than 90 minutes after asking!) and we had a ball hanging out at a posh resort, riding mopeds, and relaxing together. This photo is at the resort's private beach on the day after Christmas (late enough to have slept in after Remy couldn't figure out what time it was in her crib in the hotel room closet). 

2016 is a year many called a dumpster fire, rife with political and social drama. My year, however--our year, was fantastic. Adding Remy to our family has added depth and meaning to an otherwise full and satisfying life. Paul and I have, much to our surprise, naturally snapped into parenting this sweet girl entrusted to us. What a year.

2015: The Recap (as voted on by the public)

Life continues to move, the days feeling long but the weeks speeding by. 2015 was a roller coaster of a year for me and Paul; there were many days in the first part of the year that required a near-daily reminder that we could do hard things and tomorrow was a new day. The specifics of 2015 are included in the yearly write-up he and I put together (offline for all the good, juicy, private stuff) but the passing of the year bears some sort of acknowledgement and recap.

The picture below is a collage of my nine most 'liked' photos on Instagram. They share themes which doesn't explain the variety of excitement and turmoil achieved in 2015, but it's a start.

From top left to right, down a row, from left to right: rinse and repeat:

1. We're expecting a baby! A few fun facts: I really felt like I was pregnant and took a test one hour before leaving for Hood to Coast. Of course it came back positive and Paul and I had about 45 minutes to celebrate together before I was off for two days in a 200-mile nonstop running relay where I couldn't tell anyone; especially my two sisters who were in my van. Paul and I kept texting each other, marveling in excitement, and the thought of the upcoming baby gave my brain something to work through on my few runs. We waited until 16 weeks to tell the general public, and as I'm still hardly showing at six months it could have been kept even bigger of a secret! Also, probably TMI but no one reads blogs anymore, so here goes! Baby Judd was conceived on the first cycle of trying, in Switzerland of all places. (Not a bad start to life.)
2. Paul passed the Federal Patent Bar test. Ohhhhhhhhhhh was this a big one. He didn't pass on his first go-round, so the pressure was on, and with a 46% pass rate, the test is no walk in the park. In addition to studying for the test he was also finishing law school and being our home operations manager. We both cried when he passed; sadly, I was stuck at work (on a Friday night) until 8pm working on agency rebrand stuff (see difficult turmoil description above) but I can't describe the relief we both felt his passing. Nearly a year later his test score is still taped to the cabinet in our kitchen.
3. This photo of my four nephews was our public announcement that we're having a GIRL baby. After a four-boy streak in the Wms sisters (Alaina and Kendall's little guys) we're shocking the world by introducing a baby girl into it. Our ward (which we've grown exceptionally close to this year as well) hasn't had a girl in nearly 2+ years as well, so needless to say everyone is very excited. Also, I can't stop buying clothes.
4. Paul graduated from Law School! Both our sets of parents came into town on Memorial Day Weekend for the Saturday celebration. We hosted a BBQ at our home with friends and family and took visiting parental sets to hike Wachlela Falls. Neither of Paul's parents are college graduates and he's the first of his siblings to get a graduate degree, so basically he's an all-star. (And now all of the Wms daughters are married to men with graduate degrees. Crazy.)
5. WE WENT TO NEW YORK CITY AT CHRISTMASTIME, it was divine, and I was pregnant. I needed to travel to Boston for some emergency work meetings and it seemed like a good time to take Paul with me and for us to do a quick weekend in NYC (my favorite city on earth). While there we walked 15 and 9 miles each day and the maternity pants I was wearing were saggy enough that they required me to pull them up basically always. Frustrating, but everything else was DIVINE. One of my long-term bucket list items is to be in the City at Christmastime in love, and boy oh boy this trip satisfied that requirement. Maybe this trip will get a post of its own (unlikely but hope springs eternal!) but it was glorious and one of my favorite things Paul and I have done together.  (Also, Paul beat ridiculous odds to win lottery tickets to see Hamilton, one of the main reasons for the trip, and my every wish came true, we sat dead center front row, and I basically died.
6. Athens in front of the Parthenon, in 105+ degree heat. To celebrate our survival of the first half of the year (my work, the Patent Bar, Paul taking the Oregon State Bar), we went on a European Extravaganza Adventure. The first week was an Eastern Mediterranean cruise (Venice, Split and Dubrovnik Croatia, Athens, Ephesus Turkey) with my parents and the second week was Paul and I driving through Bavaria--Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland. The fact that more of our incredible trip isn't represented on this grid shows you the kind of BIG news we had this year, huh? 
7. In November we celebrated two years of marriage. I love this side by side photo of Paul and I. We were happy then, but we're even happier now! 2015 was also the year I finally got my wedding book printed, so that's clearly an accomplishment of its own.
8. I continue to decorate our house like a crazy person for Christmas. I love it so much and I'm grateful Paul will help me put it up AND take it down. This year some visiting children counted 18 baby Jesus(es?) so my nativity game continues to be strong. We bought new ones in Germany and Austria this year.
9. Venice! The first stop on our Euro Adventure (from where our cruise ship embarked) and we hadn't really told that many people we were traveling so I think it was a surprise to most. I've been to several Italian cities, but Venice has been my favorite. We rented an AirBnb apartment 100 feet off the Grand Canal and spoke Spanish with our Cuban renter (in Italy of all places). The world is a funny place.

So there you go! The high points of 2015! So much more bears documentation and we've made a concerted effort to write some of it down. In case you're interested in doing it yourself (which I strongly recommend!), here's the format we complete at the end of each year:

• 10 Highlights
• 5 Disappointments
• Game Changers
• Things You Focused On
• Places You Visited

As blogs are going the way of the wind, writing something down, even as simple as the above (which usually ends up being about two type-written pages) is helping us document our life together. It's not a shabby one!

Phew! Did you make it through our year? We did. (Just barely.)

preparation for socialization

Through a series of invitations, I find myself queued to spend a long weekend at a lakeside cabin in New Hampshire with 48 folks from New York.

Through a series of offers to help, I find myself with a list a mile long of perishable goods to purchase at Costco and transport to the Lake. Solo. Because that's what I'll be. Alone. Sole Boston participant. I'm sure there will be stories to follow.

Are you bored enough to wonder what my list of Costco perishables to purchase contains? Hold on to your hats folks. And remember these are all polygamous-family-sized.

TO BUY... NAT
# item
2 Yoplait 18 count/ 6 oz each yogurt
1 Kraft singles cheese
2 potato salad
1 Hebrew National Hot dogs (32 pack)
32 hot dog buns
30 lbs Ground beef
3 3lbs sandwich meat
1 container of cookie dough
1 container of spread butter (country crock)
2 bags of ore ida fries
1 cream cheese
3 Hummus dip
8 tortilla chips
2 boxes of tomatoes (30)
2 sour cream
8 salad in a bag
4 lettuce
50 Hamburger buns
4 cupcake mix
1 canola oil
cupcake liners, pwdrd sugar, cinnamon, cream cheese
1 240 plastic cups
300 paper plates
500 napkins
eating utensils
more snack food
1 pancake mix

Because of my stocked kitchen, I'm also in charge of bringing cupcake tins, my hand mixer, griddle, waffle iron, knives, beach chairs, games, and anything else that may or may not fit into my baby sedan.

So the big discussion was on how much ground beef to buy for fifty people. We're grilling hamburgers one night and then doing taco salad/nachos the next. Complicated math equations were created in response to the elaborate word problem. Weigh in! Will 30lbs be enough? How many pounds will we be short/left over?

Did I mention I'm going on this trip with strangers? Ahhhhhhh. Let the nerves begin.

Today's blog is brought to you by the number 8

Hola amigos, buenos dias! ¿Cómo sea? Hoy yo tengo escribiendo con solamente el número ocho. ¿Listo? Lea y goce.


8 Things I'm Passionate About
1. Being in the know
2. Hot Tamales, Skittles, Diet Coke
3. Technology
4. Creating experiences
5. The mood altering effect of the right song at the right moment
6. Finding the perfect partner for conversation. Present count: 3
7. The time spent on or with members of my immediate family: sisters, parents, cousins, grandparents
8. Living a spiritually-guided life


8 Things I want to do before I die
1. Increase the perfect conversational partner count
2. Watch 8-10 seasons of Friday Night Lights, each getting season improving on the previous
3. Write something worth reading
4. Have my kids love and admire my parenting skills as much as I do my own parents'
5. Master the challenge of looking just as good at the end of the day as I do at the beginning
6. Have nice wedding photos. I'm not the most photogenic of people--so it's not just a want, but also a need.
7. Own a home.
8. Be in the temple with my parents and four sisters. Grandparents would be a bonus.


8 Things I say often
1. "Done and done."
2. "Don't think, just ______."
3. "Guess what?"
4. "Yeah, I saw that! Crazy huh?"
5. " _______ is the new ________. "
6. "Those who know me well..."
7. "Do you watch ______?"
8. "Waah-waah." (2nd waah pitched lower than the first)

8 Books I've recently read
1. Terrible teenage romance novel thinly veiled as vampire fantasy fiction #1
2. Terrible teenage romance novel thinly veiled as vampire fantasy fiction #2
3. Terrible teenage romance novel thinly veiled as vampire fantasy fiction #3
4. Tuesdays with Morrie
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
6. In Touch Magazine
7. Pandora's Book
8. Marley & Me


8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over
1. "Motorcycle Driveby" - Third Eye Blind
2. "I Need You" - Faith Hill/Tim McGraw
3. "Without Love" - Original Broadway Hairspray soundtrack
4. "Goodnight and Go" - Imogen Heap
5. August and Everything After - Counting Crows
6. "Have a Little Faith" - Mandy Moore
7. "You'll Think of Me" - Keith Urban
8. "Stealing Kisses" - Faith Hill

8 Things that Attract Me to My Best Friends
1. Conversational bounce-back
2. Humor
3. Quickness
4. How they treat/value me
5. Mental creativity
6. Shared interest in the little things
7. Comfortable silence
8. A sweet ride

8 things I've learned in the last year
1. Picking up and packing out isn't as hard as you'd think.
2. Maybe an iPod isn't such a bad thing.
3. The resiliency of the heart is an amazing thing.
4. The fine balance between holding on and letting go.
5. Self diagnosed social anxiety disorder is just that; self-diagnosed.
6. I really can do anything on the Internet.
7. If you live by the motto, "Don't think, just _____" you have to be prepared to live with the consequences.
8. Look to God and live.


8 People that I think should do "8"
1. Kendall, Alaina, Mallory
2. Stephanie
3. Melissa
4. Mary
5. Erica
6. Rachel Eve
7. Alicia
8. Michele
* Anyone else who wants to. I chose people I can count on to respond or who haven't already been tagged or won't soon be tagged. But if you're willing, I'd love to hear from you too!

So, anything I missed in the 8's above?

List Me This - NatA! Edition

As seen before, I've decided to make a list. And what better to comment on then what I know the most about--me. Snore bore, I know.

(If you left me this rude anonymous comment, please skip reading this post as I will only aggravate you further.)

Things anyone who knows me well knows:
1. Skittles and Diet Cherry Coke
2. I can outdrink an entire table in one restaurant sitting.
3. When I have to go, I have to go. (This should be no surprise given #2)

Stories I tell the same every time
1. When I was three and the ducks tried to peck my eyes out
2. When I almost died in a white squall the summer I was a camp counselor in Maine
3. When I saw a rat above my head at the entrance to Nutty Putty Caves and Nate the baby wouldn’t come down

Hidden talents
1. Knee driving
2. Tetris playing
3. Piano plunking

Did You Know?
1. I played in a swing band for three years in High School with my best friends—we were quite a hit at the retirement center dances and surprisingly made quite a bit of money.
2. I volunteered for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake and drove around a brand new 15-passenger van. Less than 10 minutes after picking up the van I scraped the luggage racks and entire top of the van trying to enter my G-parents downtown condo’s garage. Took a few chunks from the garage door as well; they’re still missing.
3. I cracked both my skull and chin open by falling down and jumping off a diving board into cool-decking respectively.

Guilty Pleasures I’ll NEVER grow tired of
1. Real World/Road Rules Challenges
2. High School Musical
3. Pop Music

Greatest rational fears because they’re recurring problems
1. Overflowing toilets (especially at the D-Mark)
2. Foot in mouth syndrome
3. Breaking iPods

Very strange things I do that have absolutley no purpose or reason
1. After filling up my cup with ice, I always dump out the top few pieces. Without fail.
2. Tap my fingers on the 1990's model home-ish painting hanging in the hall on the way to the bathroom at work.
3. Choose to watch (of all things) Regis and Kelly while I'm getting ready for work.

Things I taught myself to do
1. Wiggle my ears
2. French braid
3. Homemade mint brownies

Secrets I uncovered but gladly share
1. Veronica Mars
2. The Junk Store (NPS in SLC)
3. Candice, the Supercuts Celebrity

I’m the worst
1. Self photographer
2. Quiet singer
3. Flirter

What I like to do most for other people
1. Shop
2. Cook
3. Hair

I can:
1. Do anything on the internet
2. Talk about any current movie or TV show
3. Only bake six things
4. Keep listing boring stuff about myself forever and ever….

Today

....is my 4-month anniversary of living in Boston.
....is my sister Mallory's 16th birthday.
....is the DISCO dance I'm oh so looking forward to.
....is another rainy day. Big shock.
....is me, rolled out of bed and at work looking oh so delightful.
....is the day Jamar is finally coming to Boston.
....is the 7th anniversary of graduation from High School.

....is going to be a great day.

List Me This - Pop Culture Edition

American Idol Lookalikes
1. Blake Lewis = Nick Carter
2. Sanjaya Crappy = Halle Berry
3. Gwen Stefani = Heidi from the Hills

Shows I care nothing about
1. The Sopranos
2. King of Queens
3. Desperate Housewives
4. The Simple Life

Turning into heads on toothpicks
1. Angelina Jolie - 109 pounds. REally?! Come on.
2. Carrie Underwood

I’ve had it up to HERE with
1. Lindsay Lohan – has the girl even done anything besides rehab in the last two years?
2. John Mayer/J. Simp - blagh, cough, throw-up. Too gummy + too lurpy = death by skeev
3. Skinny jeans – maybe only for said toothpicks on sticks. And then only if it were the last pair of bottoms on earth. And the earth hadn't returned to its Garden of Eden, clothing-optional state. If and only then.

Hollywood’s worst dye jobs - The Kate Edition
1. Kate Winslet in “The Holiday”
2. Kate Beckinsale in “White Trash Holiday”
3. Kate Moss. Period.

"The Hills" most worthless characters
1. Spencer - The UltaTool
2. Brody - beef stick with a capital Beef
3. Heidi's co-workers; does anyone at Bolthouse actually do anything?

Best TV shows you're not watching
1. Friday Night Lights - Hottest cast on television. All episodes available at NBC.com. If you loved me at all, you'd watch at least one.
2. Veronica Mars
3. America's Next Top Model - can't stop the train wreck

Favorite Doctors on TV
1. Mossimo! aka Dr. Alex Karev
2. Dr. Addison Montgomery (Shep)
3. Dr. Elliot Reed
4. Dr. Gregory House
5. Dr. Ross Geller

Speaking of Doctors...

Shows I can't believe are still on
1. ER
2. King of Queens
3. Girlfriends
4. Next
5. Room Raiders

Reasons to stop the listing
1. Post is running terribly long
2. Could go on forever
3. More to come!

Rinse and Repeat

Do you ever feel like you end up doing the same three or four things over and over again? Lately, I've come to realize there's a list of "to-do's" I feel like I do all the time. Without further ado...

• paying tithing
• plucking my eyebrows
• going to the bathroom

This is my top three. I'm sure there are more. I know there are more, but this is what I've got. WHat are you seemingly always doing?

Luck is running out ... but hope is not lost

Remember when our subway in NYC broke down while we were on it? Today, on my way home from an interview in downtown Boston, my bus broke down twice. I'm not having the greatest luck on this trip 'o mine. Despite the bus breakage and erroroneously getting off one stop too early (happened on the T earlier too... can I not READ signs? This was after I bought the wrong tickets and had to throw them away and purchase new ones) and walking home in my still too small interview shoes, I survived the day.

After I got completely lost driving to the EXACT SAME PLACE I interviewed at yesterday. Hello late to an interview. Tack to the max. Luckily (am I still allowed to host that word in my vocabulary?) I called in 15 minutes before I was late in advance warning, found the right road, controlled my inner rage at being stuck behind a grandma driving 35 mph on a two-lane, double-yellow lined road, and arrived 90 seconds late.

Enough of this negative energy, that's all the poor that happened to me today. HEre's the GOOD!:
+ 2 Diet PEpsis for breakfast, 2 for lunch
+ A good update on the phone with the Jamster.
+ I found a beautiful bookcase at Target on clearance for $20
+ I found the most beautiful pair of brown pinstriped pants at the Gap for $6.97
+ I found the most beautiful pair of brown cuffed dress pants at the Gap for $6.97
+ I took Lindsay's advice and listened to my iPod at Target and the Mall. Holy change your shopping experience wonderful idea! I'll recommend it as well.
+ I had a really great chat with Kylee about moving to Boston and what to expect. It's awesome getting to talk to someone who's done it and never looked back. Faith over fear, right?
+ Alicia is picking me up at the airport tomorrow night. Excitement! I was bummed I might not get to see her before I leave the SLC for good.
+ I am SUPER psyched for my interview tomorrow--it's the one I've been looking forward to the most. Having described to 16 (no joke) different people in the last two days what it is I do, I feel like I'm sufficiently practiced for this oh-so-important interview.
+ And HOW could I almost forget that the Goo-Gone worked wonders on my almost-impounded car!?! I am sticker free and evading the law yet again.

So dreary as this trip might sound on paper (or screen), I'm having a fun time and a lot of good is coming out of it. Hopefully one of the six pities my unemployment and hooks an Interactive Project Manager up! Either way, all hope is not lost, I'm coming whether they want me or not!

By the Numbers... Part Deux

Hola hola hola. I've been in B-town 24 hours and it has been the longest longest longest 24 hours in the history of the galaxal universe. Not neccesarily bad, but eventful beyond belief. Let me fill you in:

55 mile drive from Providence, Rhode Island to Boston
3 breadsticks eaten in the car left over from the Phoenix airport Pizza Hut
6 pieces of luggage loaded into the crap Hyundai Accent Rental
$15 ticket for first parking ticket for parking overnight on the street
10:30 p.m. got ready and into bed
3 piece suit worn to interviews
4 interviews at interview A
2 pages of MapQuest directions to get to interview B
3.5 hours to burn out and about the Metro West Boston area before interview C
100% despair at being told that this specific Chilis restaurant does NOT carry Chicken Enchilada Soup. Nazis!
85% enjoyment eating the New England Clam Chowder from a Chilis. (15% withheld because it was Chili's for Pete's sake.)
40 minute commute (15 miles from home) if interview C (or tomorrow's D) works out.
$719.10 for the queen bed I had to finance. A bed. And I financed it. I've never felt so old in my entire life.
"Table for one!" the waitress at Applebee's screamed out to anyone listening--which was everyone, because who doesn't turn their head when someone screams, "Table for one! Loser coming through!" I loved it.
3 Diet Cherry Cokes downed before the true downer of the night.
1 GIANT ORANGE VIOLATION sticker plastered across the back left window of the crap Hyundai Accent Rental.
2 more minutes in the reserved parking section next to Applebee's and my car would have been towed and impounded. Said sticker still remains.
98% of said sticker still stuck on said window. Any suggestions on how to remove it?
To dull the sting of said near impounding/towing/sticker-sticking, $13.47 spent on:
1/2 pint mint chocolate chip ice cream
2 giant bags of Skittles
10 mini Mounds bars
75% off Christmas-colored-foil Kisses
24 Diet Pepsis

Well I guess that's it. Like I said, an eventful, totally self-involved blogging day. Thanks for tuning in. Another adventure tomorrow.