A sure-fire way to tell you're an adult...

In our household, if not for Ryan, there's a good chance Jaylinne and I would starve. Literally. Ryan cooks 90% of the meals in our house. I'm not exactly what you would call a "chef." Although I have mastered the art of macaroni and cheese, that's about as far into the world of cooking as I have delved.

I haven't figured out what it is about the Sanders family that makes them good cooks, but from my experience I've learned one thing: if your a Sanders, you can make a mean dinner.

For Thanksgiving, I was asked to bring a salad. Easy enough, right? I thought so too...but then the panic set in. A salad?! I can't just bring a bag of pre-mixed salad over for Thanksgiving dinner!?! Let me rephrase that: I can't just bring a bag of pre-mixed salad over for Thanksgiving dinner...and keep my dignity. So I threw some lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes and avocado together in a bowl and there you have it. A salad. Since then, I thought I could do more. Ryan does so much for us, and he deserved a break. I'm clearly looking to expand my cooking skills beyond that of pop tarts and quesadillas. So tonight, I thought I would take a stab at making Ryan and Jaylinne dinner. I decided to make seasoned, grilled chicken with diced, garlic-ranch red potatoes and corn. Not bad for a newbie, eh?

So. What's a sure-fire way to tell you're an adult, you ask? Well that's a very good question. As far as I can tell, there are several different factors in determining exactly how far up on the adult scale you land. But in my mind, the level of your adulthood is in direct correlation to the type of plates you use at dinner time. Would you look at that! Real plates. Not even paper! My mother will be so proud ;)

Oh! We even made an extra plate for my dad to eat after we pick him up from the airport tonight. A pretty good day all around :) So to all you aspiring chefs out there, if you have any recipes you swear by, send them my way!

A picture really IS worth a thousand words...

Our Thankgiving break!

Jaylinne had a dentist appointment on Wednesday. I don't want to brag or anything (of course I do!) but the phrase, "Perfect teeth" was actually used. And not just by Ryan and I, the dentist too! 

On Thanksgiving day, we went over to Mike and Juliet's house to eat. We. Got. STUFFED! Mike is an amazing cook, and we had a great time with family! Later on, the Packs and Shaun and Deej came over and we watched some movies. A perfect way to spend Thanksgiving.

 Family movie nights are the best! Jaylinne gets so excited when we have popcorn, AND she gets to pick the movie!

I held out for as long as I could, but the day after Thanksgiving we put up our Christmas tree! And just so we're clear, when I say, "I held out," what I really mean is Ryan wouldn't let me ;)

With all that was going on, we somehow managed to squeeze in a trip to the aquarium!

Not for the squeamish...

Well family and friends, I'm afraid this post will be one of despair. As Ryan and I were laying on the couch watching tv, Jaylinne was in our room laying down watching Gnomeo and Juliet. (For the 5th time...TODAY!) From the couch we can hear laughter, and on occasion, even some snorting betwixt the giggles. Then we hear something very unfamiliar- silence. Followed very closely by sobbing. Hearing this, Ryan jumped up off the couch in one very swift, very cat- like motion before I could even muster up enough energy to sit up. Once in there I expected to hear from him a scream of sorts. Not so much. Instead, what did I hear you ask? A chuckle. A chuckle?! The nerve! Once in the room I quickly began scanning the scene for bumps, bruises, and dare I even think it- blood. I saw nothing! Except, that is, for real tears. REAL tears?! This had to be serious. And serious it was. Ladies and gentleman, you might want to take a seat for this one...





Jaylinne has broken her funny bone. Do you see her gaping wound?! Yeah, us either ;) When questioned about how it happened, we were able to determine she bumped it on our bed, and it was NOT funny. The horror! Once the tears passed, we discovered that she will, in fact, pull through. For those of you who think the life of a toddler is a breeze, I have one four year old who will strongly disagree ;)

On a lighter note, Jaylinne got to bring home her class picture today! Who's that ravishing little girl on the bottom row, second in from the left? Oh that's just the prettiest girl in the world! Eat your heart out, Gerber baby :) Todd, that suave fellow you read about in the last post, is on the bottom row, second one in from the right. Shiloh, and her blond, pig-tailed hair, is on the top row next to Mrs. Buhler. What a fun bunch!

Girls just wanna have FUN!

When I went to pick up Jaylinne from school today, her BFF Shiloh got to come over to our house and play! Her mom had left her carseat at school with her so I could just bring them both home with me when I picked J up. While walking out to the car, in the midst of all the hair twirling and girlish squealing, Jaylinne said she had some important news to tell me. "Todd gave me a ring today!? It's my wedding ring!" And with that gem, she had my full attention. As a mother, I fully expected to face obstacles such as this throughout her lifetime. I was just hoping she would be out of preschool and thinking seriously about kindergarten before she made any life changing decisions ;) Anyhow, this Todd character has somehow captured the attention of my Sweet Pea, and apparently those feelings have been reciprocated. Looks like I might need Ryan on full alert for this one! Looks like he's pullin' out all the stops! Well played, Todd. You sly-boots, you :) These are the jewels Todd so lovingly bestowed upon Jaylinne.



Once all the excitement from the impending nuptials died down, it was time to do some serious playing. I thought the ladies could use some fuel in their little tanks, so as they ran to her bedroom, I went to the kitchen to whip up some apple slices. (Why yes, yes I HAVE thought about being a chef! Ha!) Somehow, in the 45 seconds I had my back turned, there was a mild tornado that touched down on Jaylinne's dress up closet in her room! I was up to my waist in sequence, lace and tool! Was I mad? No! I was impressed! How did they do that?! And how could I not be moderately amused with these crazies smiling back at me?!



Needless to say, we had a day that was packed full of activities, wrapped in fun! Now it's time to sit back, relax, and watch RSL silence those Sounders! Right now we have our sights set on the western conference, but that's just a stepping stone to the MLS cup! SLTID!

HaPpY HaLLoWeEn!

Ever since I was old enough to know what Halloween was, it has been my favorite holiday of the year! Scratch that- even BEFORE I knew exactly what it was, I knew that I loved every aspect of it. Dressing up in all sorts of costumes, getting to put up crazy decorations, and most of all seeing how excited my entire family got about Halloween. Most kids got excited and couldn't sleep the night before Christmas, but not this girl! It was all about Halloween for me :)

As I get older, I am so thankful that my family instilled in me such an appreciation for this holiday. To this day I love to see people in costume! Whether it's a drag queen at the club, or the toddler wearing a tutu and her momma's red high heels, I LOVE it. So thank you, Mom, for being such a nut! Not once were you "too cool" or "too old" to dress up for Halloween, and not once did you do it without a big grin on your face.



Thank you, Dad, for constructing the life-sized coffins we buried in our front yard that had skeletons falling out of them, and for being a good sport being the only male in a house full of ladies who just wanted to dress up!

Last but not least, thank you, Laura. Through the years I've had a lot of different costumes. Be it Raggedy Ann or Marilyn Manson, I was lucky enough to have my own personal stylist/makeup artist/big sister always in tow :)



I can only hope our little one grows up loving it as much as we did! I think we are headed in the right direction, seeing as how ALL she ever wants to do is play dress up. This year, she wanted to dress up like...wait for it...RAPUNZEL! So Rapunzel she was :) She has never been old enough to be in school on Halloween, so this year was her first! There are 12 kids in her class including her. So we made cute little treat bags for her to take to school and give to her friends. While they were at school, they practiced a little trick-or-treating of their own and went around to different classrooms.









As for our own trick-or-treating, we started out at Rio Tinto Stadium. Yes, even on Halloween, we demonstrate our loyalty to our boys in claret and cobalt ;) They handed out some candy, a poster, and even took our pictures! After the stadium it was a blur of doorbells and candybars with Rob, Sydney and The Prez. Needless to say she had a super fun night, and is sound asleep in her bed!







Happy Halloween!

A few of the reasons I love D.I....

Thanks to my beautiful Jaylinne, we decided to take a trip to D.I. today. I hadn't been there for a while therefore, I was more than a just a little excited to go! Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "But Jessie! Didn't you go to D.I. on Tuesday?!" And to that I say...yes. BUT...that was the one in Provo, not the one in American Fork. Toootally different, trust me ;)

Anyhow, this story begins in the car on the way there. Jaylinne, feeling particularly inquisitive today, asked about two dozen questions in under a minute. Call Guiness, because I am pretty sure that sets a record. Well, the last thing she wanted to know was if she could get a toy while we were at the store. Normally, this is a pretty black and white topic. Either she can or cannot, not a whole lot of gray area involved. But with D.I. it's a little more complicated than that. It has to be in good enough shape not to be classified as junk, made out of material that can withstand me spraying it down with Lysol and even in some instances, a washing machine. Factor in her behavior while at said store, and I've got a complicated response for a 4 yr old. So I thought it best to simply answer, "We'll see." To which she responded, "If I was the mom and you were the little kid, I'd let you get a toy." Blam! Mom-0, witty child-1 .

When we walked in, we headed straight for the toys. On our way there, I saw what would be the perfect addition to my refinishing endeavors! It had to be mine. I saw it and I almost couldn't breathe! What exactly was it? Your guess is as good as mine. What was it used for? Who knows. All I knew, is that I needed it in my life. I began to look around for an employee to put a big, fat, SOLD TO JESSIE sticker on it...but there was no one around! No one, that is, except a lady and an old man with their eyes on MY item!? Panic set in. What happens if I go to get someone and they somehow snatch it away from me?! I weighed all my options, and decided that being the fool who sits on the item and waits for an employee to come to her sounded a lot more enticing to me than risking this beauty being pulled out from under me. Yep, I am THAT girl :) So, long story short- I got it! And thanks to my "mother hen" instincts, I decided I would use it as a bench!






Oh, and Jaylinne found herself a new princess jewelry box. After all, if she were the mom she'd get me one right? :)