a hairy experience

I for sure have been blogging more than usual but I have a lot of alone time so I have nothing to entertain myself but my thoughts, lucky for you.

I have a little story but first some background...

I have naturally blonde hair, blonde enough that there I certain things I don't worry much about, more specifically, plucking my eyebrows.  I mean its not like I haven't EVER but I could honestly count on one hand the number of times I have.  It hurts and I can't tell much of a difference so why take the time.  Am I the only one who feels this way? 

My fantastic friend Salli, who I love more than almost anyone in the world, has informed me a few times that I should take more care of my brows.  Back in february she took it upon herself to "shape" them up for me.  A few weeks ago she told me I needed her to fix them again. At least I have good friends looking out for me. 

That brings us to now.

There is a store in the mall here called "WOW Brows".  It is a place all about removing facial hair.  It is always really busy and each time I walked by I had thoughts of Salli whispering in my ear telling me I needed to get my eyebrows done again.  I usually am alone and a procedure that requires closed eyes really isn't possible with an 18 month old. Today I was at the mall, my mother in law was with me and the store wasn't busy so I decided it was fate and I should give it a shot. We are getting family pics in a few days and I want my brows lookin' good.

WOW Brows specializes in threading.  Its a fast way of plucking using string.  Its an interesting technique, I had never heard of it before, but I'm obviously not caught up on eyebrow removal. A lady came out showed us a little video and did a small demonstration on our hands.  I didn't feel a thing so I was ready to get it done.  I sat down and she got to work.  I can't lie, it hurt.  Not a ton but it wasn't painless.  The upside is that it was pretty quick.  When I was done I had watery eyes framed with red but perfectly shaped brows. Yes, even I can see a difference.  

After she finished she handed me a mirror and had me look at it to see what I thought.  I told her I liked it and then she said "Do you want me to hurry and do your upper lip too?" I responded with "I have hair on my lip" and she nodded yes. What the!!!! Now I have to worry about my brows and my apparently hairy upper lip, Salli never told me about that!  I passed on my upper lip for today.  I guess you could say this experience was eye opening.  You can learn so much about all your facial hair in one day.  

Can we get a pet Dolphin?

Dolphins are just about the cutest sea animal there is.  Really, can you think of an animal you'd rather be surrounded by in the ocean.  The Chesapeake bay is known as "Dolphin Disneyland" because there are so many in the area.  So far I'd say it is living up to that nick name, thus my new love of dolphins.  

Last week some of the wives and I headed over to Fort Story.  Fort Story is a military base with 2 light houses.  I fell in love with this area, in fact I loved it so much we are getting family pictures taken there!  You can see why... 

One of the light houses was built in 1792 and is now open to tourists so we headed over to check it out.  Once we got there we were told no one under 12 is allowed up because the light house does not follow building codes.  So since we had Brielle, who is obviously not 12, we passed over this and headed to the ocean front.  This is the Cape Henry coast which is famous because it is the place the Jamestown Settlers  actually first landed and critical battle of the Revolutionary war was fought in these waters.  You're welcome for the history lesson :)

We got down onto the beach and since it this is on the base it is not a frequented beach so there were crab holes everywhere in the sand.  There were ghost crabs running in and out of their holes to the ocean. Very cool to see but I may be a little afraid of crabs now, don't judge me. They have rocks piled up every 100 feet or so that the water rushes through.  So we sat down on the beach watching the waves and the crabs and next thing you know we are watching dolphins out in the water in front of us.  Jumping up, swimming around, splashing water, it was so exciting.  So there we sat with our eyes glued to the ocean waiting for any little glimpse of our new friends.  

I couldn't believe we were just watching these animals in their natural habitat.  I don't know why but to me it seems like dolphins should be in some exotic place like the bahama's but here they were. Once I saw these dolphins I couldn't wait to see more, so I booked us a boat trip that claims to take you to the dolphins.  

It did just that and we saw so many! It was incredible.  They would jump the wake of the boat over and over,  they swam along the edge of the boat.  They would flip up into the air.  It was incredible to see, oh wait I already said that, but seriously it was!

The boat took us over to Cape Henry and Fort Story so we got to see those beautiful light houses again.

  

Here are some pictures from the night.  

Now I am a dolphin lover, so move over Samson.

from the lens of his iphone

Derek just downloaded some of his recent pictures to the computer and it was interesting to see what he took pictures of.

First off, we have his pest control finds...

Virginias finest.

Everyone loves a horse cop.

These frogs look like they live in the rainforest, nope, just people's door steps.

Several people still have Christmas decor up.

 No need to take it down now, only 6 more months to go!

And of course a way to threaten salesman.

He enjoyed the scenery.  

Lovely.

Now for the good stuff. 

(to us everything with Brielle is the good stuff)

Here she is scared of this weasel ball.

And us as the great parents we are had to tease her with it

Here she is sporting Derek's shirt after a nap.

Roll around much?

What? Who doesn't play with ketchup in the dryer.

Of course I'm biased but she's just so cute!

A fresh cut watermelon.  

Playing with Mom's sunglasses during church.

This has become her favorite activity and can keep her entertained forever.

Trying to put the key into the screws of the door hinges. 

There you have it, the moments worthy of a picture according to Derek.

virginia is for lovers

This was us {4} years ago. 

FOUR years, crazy.

I guess it shouldn't feel weird because a lot has happened in those 4 years. 

Here's a little recap,

April 27th got engaged.

Derek moved to Tennessee and I planned a wedding in 7 weeks.

Wed for Eternity 6/20/07.

Moved to Tennessee.

Move to a little apartment in Logan.

Started our last semesters of school.

Bought a house in Providence.

Both graduated from USU.

Got Samson.

Worked and worked and worked, tried to figure out what we wanted to do with our lives.

Made lots of great friends.

I went back to school get my Masters.

Derek started up Guardian.

Derek's office moved to the Cook, Martin, Poulson building.

Had a Beautiful baby girl.

I graduated.

I stayed at home, enjoyed Brielle, and taught preschool.

Derek endured the ups and downs of health care.

Had lots of fun.

Moved to Virginia for a minute.

And that brings us here, celebrating 4 years of our lives, and boy did we celebrate. It was one of the best nights we've had in a while.  It was perfect.  Derek's Dad offered to babysit for us so we could enjoy a night out.  Thanks so much Doug.

We headed out with not much of a plan, both of us were starving so we read some reviews and decided on the Melting Pot. Best decision.  I have wanted to go there in Utah, its pricey so we've never tried it but since last year we spent 5 days in Cancun, we figured this year we could go all out for a nice dinner.  Honestly it was the BEST meal either of us have ever eaten.  I think this maybe become our annual anniversary spot.  

I'm jealous of myself in these pictures, for real.

After the most delectable meal ever, we headed to the beach.  

There is something so relaxing and entrancing about waves and the ocean. I can never get tired of it.

We pulled up a life guard chair and just enjoyed the rest of our night.  

Derek is the absolutely perfect man for me.  Our 4 years weren't always picture perfect but they were just what we needed.  

And to quote a little SNL and the state motto of Virginia, "virginia is for lovers", you bet it is.

Leading Men

I have to give a shout out to some of the leading men in my life.  I am grateful for their examples to me as a Fathers, Grandfathers, teachers and friends.  

As of late we've been spending lots of time with this Grandpa and have been loving it.  

I am missing this Grandpa today.  He is a great man and I am the lucky girl who gets to call him Father. 

And last but not least, 

This Man

He is a greater Father than I could have asked for.

Oh how we love our Daddy.  

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

Virginia Beach Bests...at least so far

#5.  Fireflies.  I saw my first firefly last night.  It may seem common to some but to me it was mesmerizing. You better believe I'll be watching for more tonight.   

#4.  Our BFF from the pool.  She's pretty entertaining.  The other day we were getting ready to leave because Brielle needed some lunch and our little friend was like "Lunch? They've got lunch in the club house.  You know the vending machine.  They got doritos, chips, and  honey buns. So if you get some lunch, will you get a honey bun to share with me?" I'm glad I know what qualifies as lunch to a 5 year old.

#3. Warm nights. I love walking outside and not needing a jacket.

#2. Tan lines on Brielle's little feet.  

#1. The Beach.  There is nothing more relaxing than a day at the beach.  The sand, the sun, the breeze, a lunch (by my qualifications, not the 5 year olds), a happy girl and good company.  All that makes for a pretty great day.  

3 more weeks here, yes please :)

1.5

The little darling has been around our house for 18 months. Both Derek and I will agree those 18 months have been better than anything we could have imagined.  

Her being 18 months is a nice gift to us actually because that means no more wrestling during church...hooray for nursery!!

Here are some of our favorite things she has been doing lately...

She is VERY into her baby doll.  She has to feed her when she eats, takes her to sit on the potty, makes her change her clothes (which consists of dressing and undressing), wrapping her up in a blanket and giving her a binki then cuddling her. 

I've been asking her what her name is and how old she is because those are the things she gets asked the most.  She has mastered saying that her name is Brielle when asked but every time I ask her how old she is she quickly holds up one finger and says "twooo".  I think she is doing that because every time I show her I say one, so then she does it and says two like we're counting.  So for now she's 2.   I've been working on trying to get a video of it but she doesn't perform too well for the camera.  

We have been saying prayers with her for a while now and she does pretty well.  I'll notice her playing then all the sudden she'll fold her arms and bow her head and start moving her lips. The best part is she furrows her eye brows (just like Derek). Apparently praying is very serious business.  It is cute and also a sweet reminder to me pray more often.  

She has 4 front teeth, 2 bottom and all 4 molars.  And one of her favorite things to do is brush them.

She is the sleepiest baby around.  I know she sleeps a lot but there are days she even surprises me.  Today she woke up at 11 45 (we go to bed late) and then she ate breakfast and went back into her room and was trying to climb back into bed.  So I put her in and she went right back to sleep by 12 15.  She's got the Jensen sleepy genes that is for sure.  

(I've been slacking in the picture department.  But once we're back in Utah, Salli is going to take some 18 month pics for us.)  

Happy half birthday baby girl!!!