Waits Family Annals

I have always loved Texas.  Growing up we would drive there at least every other year to visit my Grandparents.  I have great memories of those trips (of course not the travel part.)  The last time I have seen them was during our trek out to Pittsburgh.  We stopped there for a few days.  That was six years ago!  It was time to go back.

I had an extra bonus, my cousin lives there now too.  I am very fond of my cousin Jaclyn.  I have great memories of her growing up, and we lived together while going to school in Provo.  We both met our husbands while living together, and got married within a month of each other.  We have two boys, and it was just time to get them together.  I was super excited about this trip.

In the past six years, my Grandparents moved into a smaller house and closer to my Uncle Mike.  We got to see him a lot during our visit, and another bonus was that my mom flew too!  The week went by way to fast.  What did we do most of the time???  Eat ice cream, and play the best game made, Rook!  I was always Jaclyn’s partner, and we were unstoppable. (this of course depends on who you ask.)

Whats a trip to Texas without a Cowboys shirt, and some cowboy boots, and a hat?  Also, a trip to Cabela’s with Great Granpda, and some train conducting with Great Granny.

Here is Connor and me with my cousin and her family.  It was great to spend the week with them!

Connor with his Great Grandparents, giving them a laugh!

These boys together were a hoot! Still making a good time!

Us with Uncle Mike and Nancy.  It was great to meet Nancy and see Uncle Mike again. I think we resurrected his love for Rook.  It was fun to go to Cabela’s with them, and a great Texas Roadhouse.And lastly, I couldn’t go to Texas without the four generations of Marquette’s. Great visit.

Liz: What is ur password to get on ur desktop so I can iChat with my mom!!!!!

Liz: I hate ur passwords

Liz: Nobody cares or is ever in our study

Liz: It’s only annoying!!!

Todd: It’s your gmail password

Liz: Grrrrr

Okay, surprise surprise, you guessed it right: Cowboy Boots! I love love love them. I made it through work, and a steampunk wedding. The awesome thing about charlie horse boots, is that they are wider than most boots, so really my feet didn’t hurt anymore than normal. They are slowly becoming easier to put on though, the left one gives me problems…. but I have a major bruise on that foot. Anyways, here they are:

These suckers are beautiful! Its is almost a shame they are on my feet.  They are lasered with black tulle, and of course nice and leathery!

Now, I have to add just two more top gifts of my 28th birthday.  I have to be honest, I have great family and friends.  All my gifts were awesome, but I just want to add two more goodies to this blog.

My mothers gift.  This thing is awesome and beautiful.  My moms best friends daughter makes these and sells them in a boutique in Arizona.  When my mom was visiting us this summer, she brought all of the fabric options and let me pick which one I liked. Even though Connor is almost sorta kinda 2, a lot of this gift will be saved for the next baby.  But I still need a big bag to fit all his food he requires when we are out and about, so here is the awesome handmade diaper bag set:

So that awesome flower thing, is not a clutch like I thought it was.  It is actually to hold your baby wipes! I am considering using it as a clutch though…..

Angry Baker and Marijuana Boy gave me the third gift I would like to share.

Here is some of what Angry Baker wrote to me in my birthday card:, “… you should know – the book is for real- she’s not joking around.” and my favorite line, ” I figure if you ever get around to reading, this would be a good one for you – maybe even work it into your sabbath scripture study!”

She knows me very well, I am a wannabe at many things, reading is one of them.  But I have already read the special bonus interview with Eliza Dushku, and I’m feeling a blog post coming on about that one! So more to come about this book. Angry Baker, yes you are right, she is a bigger fan than me.  I have read the intro, and I’m already wanting to put my dvd’s back on to re watch the clips she is talking about, I’m falling in love with this show all over again! I love this gift!

almost Michael Jackson’s too!

So, I picked out my birthday present a few months ago.  I had to, it was going on layaway.  This sucker took a few months to purchase.  So to spice things up, I am bringing the suspense to the less then 10 people who actually read this blog. (you people are awesome!) Here are some very obvious clues:

1. This present SMELLS AMAZING.

2. This present will be used the day of my birthday (I work, and am going to a wedding) and to church the next day, even though it is August… and some people might judge.

3. There is just something about this gift that speaks to me, and I’m chalking it up to my Western roots.

4. This is not my first purchase…

5. …

I am not super awesome in the kitchen….. to say I am a wannabe is a very nice statement. I actually don’t even like Jam, or Jelly or anything like that. But I LOVE making Jam.

First off, it is so pretty in the jars….. especially when you get all that foamy stuff out.

Second, I never Jam alone.  It is always with friends, and that makes it worth it!

Third, I get a high from working with a big boiling pot of water, and putting my creation inside.

Fourth, I smile every time I hear a jar POP!

Lastly, I love to see Todd and Connor eat it.

This obsession started when my Bestie invited me to make old school (cooked) jam with some other friends from church.  It was so much fun learning.  So I took myself straight to Walle World and bought what I thought was a big pot for hot water baths. (remember my above statement… I am a wannabe.) I come home, and realize I bought my self a pressure cooker/canner.  When I called my friend who taught me how to make jam, she said she has always been afraid of using a pressure canner.  I felt very stuck in my purchase.  But I figured that if I didn’t screw the lid on, and I just put it on top, I could still do a hot water bath on my jams.

Then my other great buddy took herself to Kmart (by the way, who goes to Kmart???) and got this awesome special edition canning magazine.  It has not steered us wrong.  We have done 5 recipes from that magazine, and nothing has tasted bad.  I still don’t like Jam, but I can taste a little bit of it, and enjoy the taste because I made it.

Here is the line up based on the Picture above:

Peach Honey Butter

Carrot Cake Jam

Awesome Strawberry

Peach Jam

Raspberry Peach Bellini Jam (yes thats right *wink wink)

I can’t help it, I have pride in my jars.  I have just as much pride as they have sugar inside!

After my birthday, it was hard to celebrate Mother’s Day. I didn’t know what I could do that would “top” Liz’s plans. I also don’t think that’s necessarily the right way to look at celebrations; they are not a quid pro quo, they are not equal, etc. But the pressure was still on.

A couple weeks before Mother’s Day, I uploaded a picture and ordered a frame from Hatchcraft. I was excited about it. Simple, but eloquent. I thought it said everything about Liz as a Mother. Unfortunately, I did not realize they had just started the service, and my frame would not be ready for a couple weeks. This meant I would not have anything ready for Liz on Mother’s Day. Eek!

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Here it is, ladies and gentlemen! Liz is starting to show a bit. We took this picture on Saturday and it is thrilling us to be able to see physical progress in this pregnancy. While nausea still rules the day, the actual act of vomiting has started to subside. I’m sure that is something everyone is thrilled to know . Little Bit and Wesley seem to realize that Liz is pregnant. Whenever they have a chance, they step on her stomach and jump on her. Watching this baby grow and Liz go through all the ups and downs is amazing, but I feel somewhat at a loss when there is so much I cannot do to ease the experience. I figure as long as I keep her giant cup of ice water full and keep the dogs from pouncing on the baby, we are on the right track.

Okay, well it took us long enough to get this blog going again… yeah, about a year. We made the switch from Blogger to WaitsFamilyAnimals.com in September of last year. Once we did that, we did what all aspiring blogger do. We stopped blogging. In that time much has happened:

• Semiotic Technologies work slowed to a stop.
• Liz changed salons to A Peace of Eden.
• Todd started working with Skill-Life making CentsCity.
• Liz and Todd got Pregnant!

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We went to Ohio Saturday after I got off of work.  Ben called me and told me him and Aubrey were headed there to pick up a schnoodle.  I said, well pick me one up as well….then after talking with Todd we decided to head down there ourselves.  It ended up that we arrived within three minutes of each other.  Wesley is a sweetie pie, but very different from Little Bit.  She was very needy, and quite.  Wesley is a go getter, and when Little Bit is in the mood, they have a lot of fun together.

We had a lot of fun at our first concert together since we have been married!! That is pretty lame, but we really enjoyed ourselves. The Hush Sound were really good, and even though Todd broke his toe that morning, nobody stepped on it!! Yay for that!