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Absent

I am here. I am alive. Life has once again gotten busy. Remember my last post with all those good things to do this summer:
lose weight
quilt
scrap booking
save money

Ya well, WHERE THE HECK DID SUMMER GO?!?!?!?

It is now July. Really?! Who in the world said that summer was allowed to go by so quickly and didn't ask me about it first?? Well who ever it was, I am angry with them.

Lose weight: well I have actually lost about 8 pounds total. It should be so much more. Starting tomorrow I am going to make it so much more. I only have a few weeks before I go on my vacation that will include a lot of time in a bathing suit and being on camera. I will lose that weight! (Stupid ice cream :P)

Quilt: Well I have about half the t-shirts cut out. This project will have to wait another year probably before I get to start on it again. I think my time is up for this summer on that project. It's ok though. It has been fun and I have actually learned a lot.

Scrap booking: I did about 4 pages. I will continue that throughout the year.

Save money: Unfortunately this has not been the best thing. We have had a lot of expenses come up that we weren't really factoring into our original equation. By the end of this month though, we should have a pretty good amount saved though. And school we starting again, which means time to hit the books and I will no longer know what the inside of a store looks like which will in turn make it so we don't spend as much.

In regards to saving money, I have a few things I want to try this summer that I think will cut down on our

spending by a lot! First, I think our biggest problem is not planning out our meals for the month.

I am in no way, shape or form, a very good cook and because of that I don't like to cook and even further

than that, I don't plan the meals out. So on average we go to the store one a week. This is not good for our pocket book, especially since we don't buy things with physical cash, we use a debit card and we don't 

really budget for the things that we need to buy. 

Plan: I am going to plan bi-weekly meals. (according to the reading I have done, you should start small...) So plan meals for two weeks, go shopping for those meals that you plan for (include breakfast and lunch too) and then I am going to come home and make all the meals. I am going to make freezer meals and that way, I can get all of my unwanted, disliking cooking done in one day and be done for next two weeks. Surprisingly I am actually pretty exciting about this. It will be nice to have some good organization and structure to our crazy lives. This will also cut down on our caloric intake, our fast food intake, and our desire to snack. I am also going to try to make our own bread. James and I really like sandwiches on good bread and because the store bought bread costs a lot, this usually tends to be more of a luxury food than something that could be eaten daily. So I am going to start making my own bread and freezing it. 

Guys...I think I am going domestic?! This is kind of a scary thought! :) 

Ok. That's my thought processing of tonight. I am excited about trying to be a better wife and make our lives better :) 

Until next time! 

Expressions of love!

One thing that I think grandma and grandpa have shown me the importance of love. Love has had such a great impact on my life and not just to stay close to the ones you love but to show as much love as possible.
This is what gave me the idea for this hug: http://lds.org/pages/expressions?lang=eng
So grandma and grandpa- I LOVE you and I am so grateful for the love that you have shown me.
Love always – Jenessa and James

Hello Glendale

We are officially all moved into our new apartment in Glendale. We have been to our new ward, driven around a little bit, felt the heat of Phoenix (got a nasty sunburn), and I think we have concluded that we like it here! I don't think we really doubted that we would enjoy ourselves but our current feelings are that we wouldn't mind if we lived here. --especially living in a nice, big apartment that are currently living in.

James really likes his internship. I really like being at home with no job. I am still in school- I currently have 3 classes and I will start a fourth one here in a couple weeks. But I am also getting caught up on the things that have been on my to do list for the past 3 years:

**T-shirt quilt
**Wedding Scrap book
**Blogging
**Working out like hard core!

Quilt

So far so good. I have like a million shirts! And this is probably going to take me a little while to actually finish but I am really excited for the end result. I have a good start going, I haven't started actually sewing yet and I am pretty sure that's going to the be the hardest part for me....so we'll see how that goes. 

ScrapBook

I haven't actually been a huge scrapbooker in the past, all I have really ever done is James' Love Day book (a book that I update every year for Valentine's day with pictures and letters saying how much and why I have fallen more in love with him each year....I think it's pretty cute :) ) 

So since this is new for me, I am going to do my best to actually finish it. I have a good start- I have our engagements page done and a I have a page all about my dress cuz, I really liked my dress. I will probably have to do that with my cake too cuz I liked my cake almost more than my dress! 

Blogging

I really enjoy keeping a journal and I want this blog to be something that my kids can go back and read through and really get a good picture about how our life is and the things that we enjoy/don't enjoy and the stuff we do. Anyway, the goal is to take more pictures and keep a better update on things. 

Work Out Hard Core

I started P90X! Holy Hard!!!! It was intense but I finished and then I threw up. Literally. It was gross. But it also felt good to work so hard. And now my legs are mad a me but I am still happy! And it's a feeling that I want to keep up-- legs not throw up.

So that's my summer to do list and I fully intend to keep going and keep you updated :)

Until next time <3

Summer 2012~ Another diet journal

Day 1
May 16

Well long time no see! Since school decides to take over my life completely I have completely neglected the blogging world. This is a very sad thing because 1) I miss the "journal" aspect of this game 2) it is going to take a TON of time to catch up. But that's ok. I think I will actually have time this summer to catch up.

First things first. We are alive and well and living in Tucson still. BUT not for long! We are moving to Phoenix in T-minus 8 days. How many boxes to I have left? That would be a BIG FAT ZERO haha. I think I may have won the crown for procrastination.
James got an internship with Performance Software for Systems Engineering and we gladly accepted the offer. But we had a choice this summer! He got a call from NASA, Performance Software, a traffic company in San Diego, and a second interview with Microsoft (he obviously didn't get that one). We took PS because it just felt like the right thing for us to do. The others would have been great opportunities but this one just seemed to fit just right. I could go on about this for quite some time but I will save that for another day.
So we are excited and it is going to be a very fun change for the summer!

Secondly- also for another more detailed post another day, but to make it short, I am the camp director for our ward's Girls Camp. SO excited but totally and completely a new world for me. I will post pictures and all that fun stuff another time.

Lastly- I am going to get back into shape this summer! Hence the post title. You will have the honor of hearing all about my food woes and the things that I eat on a daily basis haha. Not that you care much, but I am doing this because I feel like I may just be a little more accountable about what I am doing if I have all of cyber space to face.
So here is day 1.
Today I currently weigh 170 lbs. (did I really just post that?!) ((like I said, accountable for my actions right?)
Here  is what I can eat today:
1200 calories
165 carbs
40 fats
45 protein

I am using http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ as a tool to track what I eat and how many calories and such I have left. Again another accountability tool.

The goals of this diet:
Obviously lose weight.
Be in shape
---->I want to be able to run in these: http://thecolorrun.com/arizona/ ; http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/mightymudmania; http://5kfoamfest.com/index.php ( I won't make this one this year, maybe next, but doesn't it sound fun?!)
Fit into my clothes again
Have a healthy life style to......have a baby :)
------->no not preggo yet, but I want to be and doc says I can't until I get skinny again to get my hormones back in balance and make this body perfect for caring a future Mertzling.

So that's my story. Here's to a new summer and for a school year over. One left to go and one hot skinny bod to go with it :)

Enter_School

 

I can’t believe that summer is over! Friday was the last day of my fun job that I have loved for so long and where I have made some awesome friends. I have started at a new job now and it’s been quite the change in atmosphere- I gotta say there is a difference in professionalism when you’re in a place where there aren’t the highest of values leading the crew.

We are finally pretty settled into our new place. I like it a little bit better now that I have things on the way that say {my home} and it smells a little better now too- hopefully the smokey smell doesn’t come back any time soon.

It’s still hot and I’ll get out- sometimes I wonder if it’s really healthy to live in this heat…but then I think of the alternative and the cold that comes with it and I quickly become thankful for the sun that shines 99.7% of the time.

I have some thoughts and goals for this school year though that I think will help me have a better experience:

-Read my scriptures everyday, or at least listen to them in the car

-Eat a healthy dinner that I have made time to prepare

-Work out at least three times a week, running has to be one of those days if not two

-Do my visiting teaching EVERY  MONTH!

-Have FHE every week, even it has to be on Sundays.

I have to make Christ my top priority and I have to do it every single day. I really need his help to make it through this tough semester and I know that I can do these things and that it will make a difference in the outcome of my daily activities.

Good luck this upcoming week! God bless and keep smiling no matter how hard things get. If you can’t find anything to smile about think of this:

my baby sister was falling asleep in the car tonight on the way home from dinner, she couldn’t keep her eyes open but apparently her hands and mouth still worked because she was still eating her pretzels while she slept.—oh to be young again! 

Family Sunday

Once a month my mom’s family gets together to celebrate birthdays for the month and to have a family dinner.

This month was pretty strange because it’s the first time we have really been altogether since my grandparents have gone on their mission. We met at my aunt’s school because it was pretty in the middle of everyone and we have a yummy dinner and then we did an activity.

My aunt Becky was the one in charge so she came up with a Halloween idea to send to my grandparents in South Africa. She printed pictures of all of the grandkids and we cut out their faces and then put them on a poster. Then each of the kids drew their Halloween costume around the picture of their face. It was pretty fun to see what everyone came up with.

**we are pretty hard core BYU fans in this family**

It’s so great to get together with family. We miss so much the family that we don’t get to see very often and grab any chance we can to all be together.

Enjoy the pics!

{Hugs for Grandma and Grandpa Kimball

So I have a brilliant aunt- ok that's a lie, I have a lot of brilliant aunts. But this one that I am talking about came up with the idea to send my grandma and grandpa hugs while they are on their mission in Africa. 

Well I have kind of slacked on sending some to them-- but I will fix that! (tonight actually)--and I wanted to share them with you all cuz I think they are cute and uplifting and inspiring. If anything, this will be good for posterity sake. 

So here you go- hope you can enjoy these. (ps, these are totally not in the right order so forgive me)

Here are a few of the hugs that have been sent. Others have been as attachments:

A HUG FOR EVERY DAY YOU'RE AWAY!

Mom & Dad,

Just a few words about the hugs. Though I will be sending them here to this address they are directed to the both of you. Each family will be assigned a certain number of days, depending on the size of the family. You'll get hugs in the form of quotes we've heard, funny stories or jokes, musings or memories from one of us. Pictures the kids will draw for you, photos of parties you've missed, etc. Most times, as is such in this email, the hugs will come in one email but will be meant to read progressively over time. So don't read ahead! Just read that day's hug that day and the next the next, and so on. To minimize the temptation to read ahead I've put big spaces between each one. Refer to the subject line to see how many days are included in the one email. Originally I was going to put these all on a file in your computer and label them "TOP SECRET", but life turned so completely upside down in the months before you left that I never could get it coordinated with all the family in time to make it what I wanted it to be. So... through email is really the only way I could do it so that it wasn't a huge project for each of the families all at once. Don't worry about printing our hugs. I will be printing them as we go along so that they can be saved in a binder. Hugs are not meant to be replied to, unless you wish. They are merely for your enjoyment and a means of being connected to your kids and grandkids while you are away, just as if we could give you actual hugs.

love, Cari and all of us

Here is your first hug!

HUG-July 5, 2011

Some Quotes about hugs:

A hug delights and warms and charms,
that must be why God gave us arms.
~Author Unknown

I will not play tug o' war. I'd rather play hug o' war. Where everyone hugs instead of tugs, Where everyone giggles and rolls on the rug, Where everyone kisses, and everyone grins, and everyone cuddles, and everyone wins.
Shel Silverstein

" A hug is a great gift - one size fits all, and it's easy to exchange."
Unknown
Love you Mom and Dad, miss you already! -Cari

HUG-July 6, 2011

“The greatest good we can do in helping others become what they can become will be to lead them to the Savior.”
D. Todd Christofferson
Law Allows Us to Reach Our Potential

HUG- July 7, 2011

Picture of Cari and Jared (Sorry... couldn't get it to copy and paste right...)
"LOVE YA KID!"

HUG - July 8, 2011



This reminded me of Becky and Aaron's, "grown another head" skit. "then I could be my own companion...."
HUG - July 9, 2011

I'm especially grateful for my parents for going on a mission--I got their house" Drr!
It's still clean by the way!! Love you both!
HUG - July 10, 2011

Corinthians 16
20And when they went from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people;

21He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he ^areproved kings for their sakes,
22Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.
23^aSing unto the Lord, all the earth; shew forth from day to day his salvation.
24^aDeclare his glory among the people; his marvellous ^bworks among all nations.
HUG - July 11, 2011

"Group Hug"
Happy Sunday Mom and Dad!!
I wish we would've taken a goup hug picture when we were all together. Don't these leemers seem so happy, snugled and content?Maybe you'll get to see some leemers!!

HUG - July 15, 2011
Last night I met with the pianist to discuss our plans for ward choir.
We've adapted this song (We thank thee oh God for a prophet) to add a choir. I've been preparing it all week. She loved it! And that made me feel good. Wish I could share the details with you, and sing for you what it'll sound like but I can't do that. Here is a link to hear what the piano music sounds like. If you like his music you can download it to your computer and listen to it when you get ready in the mornings or any other time. Love ya. -Cari
http://hymnarrangements.blogspot.com/2007/09/we-thank-thee-o-god-for-prophet.html

HUG - July 16, 2011

BOTSWANA COAT OF ARMS

Safe journey to you as you travel to Botswana! - Cari

HUG July 17, 2011

This really is a sunday this time. Happy Sunday!!

I came across this video this week on the church website. LOVED IT! Hope you enjoy!

http://lds.org/pages/international-video-contest-winners?lang=eng#life

If you want to see more of these fun “hugs” see my “Family Newsletter” page.

We relocated…again!

Because of a lot of drama and gross mistakes we had to relocate to a new apartment.

I was joking with my friend one night that I had made it a goal to move every year that I am married. I told James this story and he VERY strongly disagreed. He hates moving! And after this time, we both really hate moving. It seemed like one wrong thing after another happened.

Yes our place is cute but not exactly in place that I would have liked. We had to sell one of our beds, one of our couches and give back the jetta to my parents. On moving day I sprained my ankle within 10 minutes of loading up the truck. Oh and the night we moved in, my parents were helping and just happened to be parked in the wrong lane outside our apartment and when we walked out- well what do you know, the cards were gone! Both of my parents cars were towed and 500 shiny green ones later, we finally got them back. And top the whole thing off! Our apartment smells like SMOKE!

**if anyone who reads this smokes or does anything like it, please stop. among lots of other things, it really makes my clothes stink and my husband’s head hurt**

Ok that’s the story with relocating. Don’t worry- I am completely {in}sane and totally coming to grips with everything that has taken place. Regardless of the hardships that seemed to be lined up at my door I feel so blessed to have clothes in my closet, food in my fridge, a car to drive me to work where I can earn and save, and I have cute pictures on my wall so I don’t have to stare at ugly white going to bed and waking up. Oh and I have a good sweet husband who lends me his shoulder every once in a teary moon.

I am happy and I am excited to start this upcoming school year and to be in a new place. I think it’s a great adventure and as long as I have my dear James, I will be totally fine

 

ps—I used the font “elephant” for this post because I felt like I had a huge hunk of stuff to get off my chest. (ya I know, pretty corny- but you liked it )

Monday Again

Hey all- Love this talk. Hope you enjoy it too :) Have a great Monday!
http://speeches-files.byu.edu/download.php/Wilcox_Brad_2011_07_12.mp3?type=2&fname=Wilcox_Brad_2011_07_12.mp3

Electronics overload!

So James is a techy sort of guy. That was one of the things that I love about him. But I have a confession to make- one of the major reasons we have a two bedroom apartment is to make room for ALL OF HIS COMPUTER STUFF!!!! One day I was organizing and I thought to myself- you know what I need to document how much “stuff” around this house is really James’ and how it really does make what I keep a little less daunting! We have two closets full! I thought I would share  

free SD’s from some company...

Thousands of cords!

8- seriously- EIGHT! computer towers!

Other computer parts

The current tower that he built

The T-shirt he obsesses over- for the company he works for.

These pictures do not include his dual screen desk set up, his two laptops, his TV, or his HTPC (home theater PC)…. And he says I spend too much money on clothes- ya whatever ;-P

And just a little plug of where my funny cat likes to sleep. Hehe

Massive Update Time…

It's the summer time and I am desperate need to catch up! So...here we go:

Meet Bu! 

She is our new car. 

She is a 2007 Chevy Malibu and we really like her. We still have Crayola- she and James have actually become well acquainted recently since he took her out on a dirt road and busted the oil pan. He and the young men took it apart and fixed her all up. Then the battery had to be replaced haha. Crazy adventures with Crayola- I guess it would be us to have a car that requires so much up keep. And every time we decide we are going to get rid of her, we keep her for some reason?! Oh well. Everything has a purpose right?

My crafty side of life that I don’t have a lot of time for

Yay for weddings!

Brett and Tia

Olivia and Taylor

It was a lot of fun to be at these two weddings of such good friends and to see friends and family we hadn’t seen for a while. And it is so awesome for the eternal families that they each have made- it makes me happy when I see how getting married in the temple brings so much joy into my friends’ lives.

Along with the trip to see Tay and Olivia married, we also go to go to California!

James and Coug at the beach

We got to meet up with our friend Johnny and Kisa and their baby Coug at the beach.

Kisa was turned into an Octopus!

(gross picture of me :{ ) Johnny was made into a MerMan  hehe

It’s always fun to play at the beach especially when you get to see good friends.

We also saw my Uncle Mitch, and my Gma and Gpa Whitaker while we were in California. It was a quick trip but a much needed trip! And we love to see Mitch and my grandparents at any chance that we get.

 

In June James’ Grandma Christiansen had a stroke so we sent James on a plane to get there in time to say goodbye because the doctors said it was probably the end for her. He got there a little too late but he was able to be there as a support for his family during the tough time. I got in the car and drove to Colorado after work and I took Mason with me. He was there for moral support as I drove the long journey all by myself.

It was a sad time but also a happy time for the family because everyone was able to be together. She had some great services and James was able to dedicate her grave- which was pretty cool. We had the graveside service in Castlerock near the place that James’ mom grew up so we got to go around and see all of the places that she lived. That was a really neat experience!

Old house

Old school

Creek behind the school

Apparently making sand used to be a fun thing to do ;-P

Having fun on the playground!

Random tub on the playground haha

Make a wish

 

It was a really fun trip to Colorado and I learned a lot about James’ mom’s family- I love educational trips! (I know, I’m weird) I got a pretty good record of some of his mom’s memories that I want to type up for her and put in a cool book…shhh! don’t tell!

 

We celebrated my grandparents wedding anniversary by throwing them a huge party and kind of recreating their wedding! It was a lot of fun and the family all dressed up in animal print since they are serving their mission in Africa haha.

Baby Hinzlee

Cute cousins

Funny Brother

Mom got to see a few old friends from college

James was Indiana Jones haha

We re-wrote a “I just can’t wait to be King” from The Lion King and changed the words to “I just can’t wait to serve my king”

Crazy family pictures! haha

The cake cutting!

Love you grandpa!