We rarely see the sun rise at our apartment, because our apartment is on the far east side of the apartment complex were we live. I was outside this morning to take some laundry to the laundry room and saw the sun blazing over the mountains. This picture doesn’t really do it justice, pictures never do, but I thought I’d share it with you. I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas!
Uncategorized | Anisha | 
December 24, 2008 9:24 am | 
Comments (3)
I just got home from this Christmas Home Show with my mother. It’s kind of like the Parade of Homes, but christmas style. There were 7 homes in Orem that we went to. It was kind of fun to look at everyone’s christmas decorating ideas. It made me start to think about christmas as a young child. Here are some of my memories:
Memory #1:
I remember always going up in the mountains and cutting down our own Christmas tree. There is nothing like the smell of a real Christmas tree in your living room. We’d make a whole day of it going snowmobiling and eating hot soup from our thermos’s. I looked forward to it every year. Our trees always had character. They were pretty much awesome.
Memory #2:
We always got to open one present on Christmas Eve. And of course, it was always pajamas. After we opened our pajamas we’d all get change into them and then we’d kneel in a circle and hold hands and pray. As I got older, this time became more special to me because my family never really ever prayed together except for the blessing on the food.
Memory #3:
This pearly white throne we call John was one of my best friends in the super early hours of the morning on Christmas day. Up until I was about 12, I would get so excited to open my presents it would make me sick and I would puke.
Memory #4:
My sister would always wake me up super early and we would take everything out of our stockings and lay it out in the order that we took it out so when it was time to put it all back in, we could do it in a way that it would look like we hadn’t touched them at all. We would also unwrap some of the presents Santa brought us just enough that we could see what it was then wrap it back up so it didn’t look like it was unwrapped. We were naughty. Actually when I think about it, my sister was the naughty one. She is the one that taught me all the naughty tricks.
Memory #5:
We would always put together a Christmas program to share with my moms side of the family on Christmas Eve. As we got older, we got more creative. We did a lot of crazy things. There was one year that I remember the most. We moved all of the furniture to one side of the living room in our basement and put red and green butcher paper up like a wall, ceiling to floor, to cover the couch and all the crap that was downstairs. We recorded us doing a bunch of different weird things that had to do with Christmas. It was fun!
Memory #6:
My dad has always been grumpy. But around Christmas time was the absolute worst. He would get so annoyed when we were putting up Christmas decorations. He’s be yelling and swearing and us kids would be all happy and bouncing off the walls. We even got in on video tape a couple of times. Priceless!!!
Memory #7:
As far back as I can remember I was the lucky one that always got to put the star on the tree. My favorite part about it was when I was little and my dad would lift me up so I could reach.
Memory #8:
My mom would always have cinnamon potpourri simmering on the stove. I love that smell.
Memory #9:
My mom and I would always make a ton of treats to take to all our neighbors. The greatest year was when we invented what we call the “Snow Covered Mud Balls.” I’m sure it’s been done before, but it’s basically rice crispy treats made with a ton of chocolate shaped in round balls dipped in white chocolate. I think they are delish!
Memory #10:
I have always loved Christmas music. When we would be putting up Christmas decorations, we’d be blasting the old Christmas records my mom had. When me and my mom would get bored, we’d go sit on the couch in the living room and sing Christmas songs till we were hoarse.
I know if I thought about it more I could think of a billion other things that I remember. However, my brain has died, my eyes keep wanting to roll in the back of my head and my butt is asleep from sitting here for so long already. So, that’s what you get. I hope you all have a splendid Christmas!!
thoughts | Anisha | December 11, 2008 11:36 pm | Comments (3)
We’ve been working on potty training Cailyn for I don’t know how long now. The last time I bought a box of pull-ups I vowed it was the last box. (I have actually made that vow the past three times I have bought pull-ups.) 
I can now proudly say that we have half a box left and she hasn’t used a pull-up for almost 2 weeks now! It is the greatest thing in the world.
When I got home today from picking the kids up from Grandma Bonnie’s
house, Cailyn was asleep, but I wasn’t sure how long it had been since she went to the bathroom, so I took her and sat her on the toilet. She woke up and went potty. When she got off the toilet to pull her panties up one of her legs was through the waist hole. Brad said that had happened once before, but it was so funny to actually see it in action. Cailyn and I both sat there and laughed about it. Hey, I’m just happy she’s going by herself now. I’m sure learning how to put on her panties the right way will come later. 
Tags: Cailyn
Fam-Damly, Hill-Haps, Uncategorized | Anisha | December 8, 2008 9:00 pm | Comments (1)
I’ve been trying to figure out how to post music on my fine blog for awhile. I’ve found it to be harder than it should be because I’m not on blogspot and wordpress doesn’t seem to like to cooperate with me very much. I finally figured it out tonight with the help of my dear Bradley. I’m still not very pleased with the way that it is posted. I someday hope to be able to have somo type of playlist, but for now, this will have to do.
I actually wasn’t planning on posting these songs in particular, but seeing that it’s that time of year, I figured they were appropriate. I was reading a post from a fellow blogger whom I’ve never actually met but have loved reading her posts and look forward to what inspiring thing she will write next. She wrote some of the lyrics to the song “In the Bleak Midwinter” in her post and it reminded me of a fun experience I had with my mother about 2 years ago.
Growing up, my mother and I have always liked singing together. We always talked about how fun it would be to make a CD together. So, about this time 2 years ago we went and did it. These are some of our favorite Christmas songs. The thing that I think is kind of cool about our CD is that my Grandmother played the piano for us. She has severe arthritis in her hands, so it’s kind of special that she was able to play for us since in years to come she will probably lose her ability to play the piano.
To record in a decent studio is not cheap, so we were only able to record for 2 hours. I sang soprano and my mom sang alto. There are a lot of things that I wish I could go back and fix(both me and my mom were kind of sick that day too), but we just ran out of time, so that’s what you get. Anyway, it was really fun to go do this. I had always wanted to go in a real studio and record because I love singing, so I guess you could say one of my dreams was fulfilled that day. (to listen just click on the hyperlinks below)
Christmas Carols Take Me To Bethlehem
(my Grandmother actually wrote the music and words to this song)
Tags: christmas, Memories, thoughts
Uncategorized | Anisha | 1:16 am | Comments (4)
I bought this book online a month or so ago because it looked cute. I’ve been reading a chapter of it each night to Cailyn before she goes to be. Tonight we read three chapters and finished it. The little girl in this book reminds me a lot of Cailyn. I can’t really tell you about the book because this post would be a mile long and I am not that great a summarizing things, so I suggest you either go online and buy it, check it our from your local library, or borrow it from me. There is actually a whole series of Clementine books that I can’t wait to read the rest of.
While I was reading the end part of the last chapter I started crying. Clementine is crying and apologizing for a all the bad things that have happened and for not being the “easy” child and it just made me think about Cailyn. I’ve found myself getting really frustrated with her lately with a billion different things. And I just pictured Cailyn being the one saying she was sorry for being so difficult and crying about it and I just started to feel really bad because she is only 2 1/2 and 99% of the time she isn’t doing things just to frustrate me even though that is how it seems at the time, so I should just chill out and not get so frustrated.
I finished reading the last chapter and I was still crying. It made Cailyn sad so she rested her head on my shoulder and was pouting. A little bit after that she gave me a hug and a kiss and then said “Mommy, can you read the witch book now?” So I went and got the witch book and read it to her.
Unfortunately, patience is not one of my strong qualities. It is one of the things that I continue to work on and continue to have a major struggle with.
George MacDonald said, “The principle part of faith is patience.”
I guess I need to have more faith. More faith in myself. More faith in my ability to be a good mother. And most of all, more faith in my Savior.
Tags: thoughts
Uncategorized | Anisha | December 3, 2008 10:06 pm | Comments (2)
I was just sitting here thinking about how nice it is to only have 3 more papers to write until the semester ends and how I’m not going to work on any of them tonight because I just really need a break from it all. So I was looking at some part in our blog and somehow got linked to garageband.com when I found myself reading about Instant Winner. For those of you who don’t know who Instant Winner is, it is the band Brad and all our friends from high school were in. Anyway, there here is a music video of one of their songs that was made and when I figure out how to add MP3’s I’ll add some more. I also thought I’d share some pictures from back in the day.
Tags: Instant Winner, Memories
Uncategorized | Anisha | December 2, 2008 10:17 pm | Comments (7)
I was tagged by Jamie Ehat!!
When were you two married?
May 14, 2005
How did Brad ask you?
My story is kind of really cheesy, but I like it. Let me give you a little background. I had been going to a mission prep class at the Orem Institute since before he came home from his mission. Even though I kind of knew I wasn’t going on a mission anymore, I was still going because I loved the class and the spirit I felt there.
Anyway to get on with the story, I had institute that night and I went and picked Brad up so he could come with me. I kind f knew something was going on because his brother Kimball was acting all weird when I got there. So we went to institute. After institute Brad asked if he could drive my car home. I said sure. We got on I-15 and he “accidently” missed our exit. And then the other one and then he was like, oh we should go walk around the temple. So we drive to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple and get out and walk around for awhile. Then we went and sat on the bench in front of the temple for a little bit then you know that long patch of grass in front of the temple and at the entrance of the temple there is a flag pole, well we turned around so we were facing the temple then walked backwards all the way to the flagpole, because it makes the temple look like it’s growing.
When we got to the flag pole we sat down and started singing some song and then we started singing I love to see the temple. We sang the 1st verse and then the 3rd and then the second. Well we kind of switched up the words on the second verse instead of saying , the temple is a holy place where we are sealed together, we sang the temple is a holy place where we’ll be sealed together. Anyway after we were done singing the song, we told me to close my eyes. And then he got the ring out and asked me….that’s it.
Where did you honeymoon?
Anniversary Inn on the 14th and then the next day we drove to Mesquite. It was fun because I had never been there before…even though there really wasn’t anything for us to do there except swim in the pool, but it was cool because it was centrally located between St. George and Vegas. So we went and did sessions at both those temples. It was just fun to be together. I have stories about our visit to the Vegas temple, but we’ll save that for another day.
Can you still fit in your wedding dress?
Now that would be awesome!! I actually have a story about that…after my parents got divorced my wedding dress was lost for awhile from moving all the crap in my dads house around. We finally found it and I had it at our apartment for a week or two just hanging on the outside of my closet in its huge white bag. Cailyn kept asking what it was and I told her it was my wedding dress.
One night when we were reading stories in my bed I asked her if she wanted me to put it on. So for kicks and giggles I put it on. Yeah…it didn’t fit. After having two kids, your body kind of changes. Anyway, I told Cailyn that I was too fat for it. A couple days later Cailyn asked me if that was my wedding dress and she then proceeded to ask me if it was too fat for me. It was cute anyway, someday in my dreams it might fit again.
What was the worst gift that you got?
We didn’t really get any “bad” gifts. Just some really interesting ones but honestly I can’t remember.
What flavor was your wedding cake?
It was chocolate! Oh man it was seriously the best wedding cake I have ever tasted. It was amazing!
Were you a bridezilla?
Nope.
What’s one thing that you would change about your wedding?
Our decorator…oh man…she went and decorated the church the night before our wedding and after she was done I walked in and started bawling. It was horrible. We basically decorated it by ourselves. It was a nightmare.
Do you still look at your wedding pictures?
Every once in awhile.
What were your colors?
Light blue and black
Where did you tie the knot?
The Salt Lake Temple…at like 7am. It was either that time or like 4 in the afternoon.
What’s one funny thing that happened that day?
I honestly can’t remember…having kids has done nothing for my memory!
How many showers did you have?
One
Did you cry?
At the sealing…that;s about it.
Did you give any wedding favors away?
I know we did, but I can’t remember because it wasn’t as cool at Jamie and Kendall’s Jones Sodas.
Who caught the flowers and the garter?
One of my little primary girls caught the flowers. And I think the whole garter thing is stupid….so I refused to do it.
Who was your officiant?
A really cute old man…I have no idea.
How much was your dress?
I think it was like $400 or something. I’m sure i have the receipt somewhere.
Was there dancing?
Uh…no! Dancing at weddings is just awkward…unless you’re Polynesian!
Where was the reception?
At a church down the street from my dads house…if it’s free, it’s for me!
Would you go back and do it all over again?
If the planning wasn’t involved. That was not pretty at all!
How long did you have to plan your wedding?
February to May
What kind of car were you in when you drove away?
Our dear old civic!
How many in your wedding party?
It was just family I think.
Did you do anything different in your wedding or reception?
We had our luncheon at the Braza Grill. That was fun.
Did you save the top layer of your cake for your first anniversary?
Yes, but is smelled like freezer, so we just thew it away.
What was the grand total of your wedding?
I only paid for his ring and my dress…for the rest you’ll have to ask my mother.
Who traveled from out of state to attend your wedding?
Grandma and Grandpa Ashcraft, Randy and Karen Ashcraft, The Muhlesteins, I’m sure other people did, I just can’t remember.
What was served at your wedding?
I think BYU brownies, sparkle and mixed nuts…and our cake.
Are you still in love?
I think that is a stupid question. But, yes. It’s hard work sometimes, but defiantly worth it!
I tag anyone that wants to do it.
Tags: Wedding
Hill-Haps, Uncategorized | Anisha | November 26, 2008 12:28 pm | Comments (3)
A couple weeks ago our stake relief society presidency was in relief society giving the lesson. Lori Ehat, the relief society president, who happens to be Kendall’s mom (Kendall and Brad go way back…and we all went to High School together), was talking about visiting teaching and she asked everyone in the room who liked visiting teaching. Almost all the hands in the room were raised, mine of course was not. Then she asked if there was anyone in the room that didn’t like it. I raised my hand…and of coarse I was the only one. I don’t know if it was because it was the relief society president that was asking so people didn’t want her to think badly of them…I don’t know. Lori just laughed.
I have a great ward full of great people, but it’s really hard for me to connect with people there. I think it is mostly to do with the fact that all my life I haven’t had many girlfriends, so it’s kind of hard for me to connect with other women. And I know I’m not the only one that feels this way, there are plenty more out there that are just not as vocal about it.
The reason I brought up the whole visiting teaching thing is because I went visiting teaching this last Sunday. My companion Valerie and I went to visit one of our girls who is super busy and has a crazy work schedule because she is a zoo keeper at the Hogle Zoo. I know…what an awesome job!! We haven’t been able to visit her yet because it’s almost next to impossible to get our schedules to match up. The visit was short and sweet. After we left her house, Valerie said something to the affect of how she was glad that was over because she hates visiting teaching and that she never knows what to say especially to sisters that she doesn’t have really close contact with very often.
Anyway, it just made me smile. I think visiting teaching is an awesome calling, even though I hate it. There is a really important purpose for it and I have a testimony of it’s importance. I guess I just need to remember to think positive thoughts.
Hill-Haps | Anisha | 9:45 am | Comments (3)
Yesterday me and the kids went with my mom to the University Mall to do some shopping. While we were walking through the mall we started talking about how it would be fun to have the kids get their picture taken with Santa. We didn’t think he would be there until December seeing how Thanksgiving hasn’t even happened yet. We continued to walk through the mall and we ran into Santa. The most incredible part about it was there was NO LINE. That never happens. I think it had been the 2nd day since he had been there and the lady at the front said she didn’t think very many people knew about it yet. Anyway so we got their picture taken.
It was really funny because when we first walked past the gate to get into where Santa was, Cailyn said with a voice that sounded like she could start to cry, “Santa’s not scary.” That is was she says to anything that is really scaring her. It’s kind of her way of trying to get over her fears even though most of the time it doesn’t really work. I told her that Santa is nice and that she should go sit on his lap and that I was going to get Gavin out of the stroller so he could be in the picture too. She came and “helped” me get Gavin out of the stroller. (She was clinging to my leg the whole time.) I put Gavin on his lap and then picked Cailyn up and all she kept saying is “I want you, I want you, I want you.” I reassured her that everything would be okay. So she sat there and told Santa that she wanted “Barbie and the Diamond Castle” with a look on her face like she had seen the ghost of Christmas past.
Anyway…it all turned out fine. I was actually surprised that Gavin did as well as he did. Usually he starts bawling when people he doesn’t know or thinks looks scary look at him. We didn’t get any smiles from them, but I guess it’s all about the experience.
Brad came home from work the other day and said that he was carrying a battery and it leaked acid all over his pants. The next day the same thing happens. The day after that I was doing laundry and this is what I found.
Since he started working for W. W. Clyde we’ve had issues with him wearing his pants out super fast. I guess we are going to start having to get him those ugly dickies work pants that never wear out. (I have issues with those pants…that is why up until now he has been wearing “normal” pants. I just have to remind myself that I don’t have to look at him in those pants while he’s at work. I know that is stupid, but whatever.)
Tags: Brad's Work, Pants
Brad's Work, Hill-Haps | Anisha | November 16, 2008 10:24 am | Comments (3)
I am sitting here at school trying to work on one of the million papers I have due and my brain has finally died. I need a break and it’s only Tuesday…I’m in trouble. As I have been sitting here, I have just kind of been thinking about my family and how much I love them. I need to document something that Cailyn said the other day, so someday when she hates me I can look back at this post and remind myself that she really did like me at one time of her life.
Gavin had gotten a bag of cereal out and spilled it all over the kitchen floor. Brad went into the kitchen and started picking up the marshmallows and putting them in a bowl for Cailyn because they are her favorite. I walked in and saw what he was doing and told Cailyn that she was lucky because if it was me cleaning up the cereal it would all just go in the garbage, marshmallows and all, because I’m a mean mommy. Cailyn’s reply to my remark was, “You’re not a mean mommy, you’re a nice mommy.” That just melted my heart. It’s things like that that make parenting worth it. Of course there are other things but when you have a 2 year old that has a mind of her own and can’t sit still or listen for one second, and a one year old that ou can’t really communicate with at all, it’s things like that that makes all the frustration worth it. The thing that kills me is how fast my kids are growing up. I feel like time is slipping away at too fast of a rate. I can’t wait till I’m done with school so I can spend more time watching and helping them grow.
There is one more thing that I want to say in this fine blog today. I love my husband! I don’t think I say that enough. We are both so busy with school and work that it’s hard to make time for each other anymore these days. I get frustrated to easily with life a lot of the time but no matter what, he is always there to listen to me and comfort me. He puts up with a lot. Words can’t really describe how I’m feeling right now. I just really love him. Okay, I’m done….I’m not down with the gooshy stuff. It’s not really my thing to publicize it…whatever!
Here are some pictures that I just like a lot!
(For some reason I can’t bring myself to post an entry unless it has pictures in it.)
This is a picture of Cailyn on her 2nd birthday. I think it brings a new meaning to “shovel it in!”
This is one of my most favorite pictures of Brad. I love the look on his face!
Tags: Brad, Cailyn, Gavin, School
Fam-Damly, Uncategorized | Anisha | November 11, 2008 10:14 pm | Comments (4)
Cameron Irvin Jackson was born on Tuesday October 4, 2008. He is 7lbs 9oz and 21 inches long. Both the mommy and the baby are doing really good. We went up to LDS hospital where he was born to visit them that night. Even after having Gavin a year ago, you forget how small little babies are. He is so cute. Here are the picture we took while we were there.
Fam-Damly, Hill-Haps, Meu Mundo | Anisha | November 6, 2008 10:53 am | Comments (3)
My friend Amber (Bodily) Baxter and I were talking online several weeks ago and I discovered that she would be in town a couple weeks later (she lives in San Diego). We decided that we wanted to go to dinner together because it had been awhile. Then we came up with this brilliant idea of having all our friends from High School and their significant others come along. So I sent out a mass email and she sent something on Facebook and there you have it. So the day came. We went to Chiles in Orem. It was really fun to see everyone that came. Anyway, here are the pictures from that night.
Meu Mundo, Uncategorized | Anisha | 10:46 am | Comments (3)
So, getting professional pictures taken is NEVER one of those days where you think to yourself, “I wish I could relive this day over and over again.” A couple weeks ago I went and got Gavin’s “one year” pictures done at JCPenny’s. There is nothing worse than getting a person that doesn’t do a very good job taking pictures of little children. I’ve had some really good people before and I just wasn’t a fan of this girl. Maybe she was just having an off day. On top of that, Gavin did not want to be there. He kept crawling out of the room. The thing that makes getting professional pictures even worse is that you go there for a purpose and 99.9% of the time you are disappointed and then you spend a ton of money on pictures that you don’t really like that much, but were the best ones out of the ones that were taken. Okay, I guess I’ll stop being so negative. The pictures really didn’t turn out that bad. I just wish we could have gotten at least one smile out of him. Here are the pictures that were taken. We only ended up getting the first four pictures that are posted.
Uncategorized | Anisha | November 2, 2008 12:40 am | Comments (3)
Today we went over to Bonnie and Terrell’s house. While we were there, they decided that they wanted to blow all the leaves off their roof. So Brad and Kimball got on the roof with the leaf blower and got the job done. After they were done we raked the leaves up and took pictures in them. It was fun, because last year Cailyn wanted nothing to do with the leaves. After they got the leaves off the roof, Brad went with the blower and blew all the crap out of the rain gutters. The decaying leaves were spraying everywhere. It was pretty gross.
Gavin woke up from his nap and decided to join us!
Here is a video from last year of Cailyn getting really mad because there were leaves on her chair!! This is so funny!
Fam-Damly, Hill-Haps | Anisha | November 1, 2008 10:44 pm | Comments (4)
Halloween was really fun this year. Cailyn was Raggedy Ann and Gavin was a pea pod. Cailyn got her costume from my Raggedy Ann doll from when I was little. When I was little I dressed up as Raggedy Ann too with the same costume. I’ll have to find a picture and post it. Anyway, Cailyn was super excited to dress up and go trick or treating. Gavin on the other hand wasn’t a fan. Besides the fact that he hated the face paint, he had (still has) major diaper rash. Brad was still at work so I got the kids ready so we could leave as soon as he got home. We went to Grandma Julie’s house first then I went and dropped Brad and the kids off at his parents house and I went home and made dinner for a girl in our ward that just had a baby. While I was gone, everyone went over to Bonnie and Terrell’s church for a trunk or treat. Cailyn came home with the mother load. She was in heaven. Anyway, here are the pictures from our fine Halloween.
Fam-Damly, Hill-Haps | Anisha | 10:19 pm | Comments (3)
Every once in awhile we like to get doughnuts for breakfast. I know…it’s not the most nutritious breakfast in the world, it’s actually not nutritious at all, but Cailyn happens to think it is the greatest thing in the world. Can you tell?
Fam-Damly, Hill-Haps | Anisha | October 25, 2008 2:24 pm | Comments (3)
On Thursday night when Cailyn and I were laying in my bed waiting for Brad to get home from school. I asked her if she would like to go to the park the next day. Of course she did. I told her that she needed to go lay in her bed and go to sleep so we could wake up in the morning and go to the park. She was all for it. I went and put her in her bed and she was fine. I had fallen asleep and about an hour later Brad got home from school (it was about 10:30pm) and I woke up when he shut the door. I was still laying in bed and Brad went and looked in the kids room to see if they were asleep. He saw Cailyn peeking over the rail on her bed and she popped up and said all exited, “I’m going to the park tomorrow!!” It was really cute. Anyway, these are the pictures from our day at the park.
Hill-Haps | Anisha | 1:45 pm | Comments (2)
I can’t believe my little guy is already a year old. It’s insane how fast time fly’s.
October 20, 2007
3:24 am
6 pounds 14 ounces
One Month
Two Months
Three Months
Four Months
Five Months
Six Months
Seven Months
Eight Months
Nine Months
Ten Months
Eleven Months
One Year
We had a party for him on Sunday at Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Terrell’s house.
Here are the pictures from it:
Fam-Damly, Hill-Haps | Anisha | October 20, 2008 12:26 pm | Comments (4)
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