RJ is turning 2 this Thursday!

photos taken by my cousin's wife, Jacquel.
Her blog is here.

Vegas

I almost made the title of this post Viva Las Vegas, but all I can think about is the "Viva Viagra!" comercial, so now you are thinking about it anyway, sorry.  No more "VIVA!"

Each spring my friends from Kirksville/ med-school wives get together.  Last year we all met up in Chicago, this year it was Vegas, which was great so I could drive.  Katherine had a baby 4 days prior, so she wasn't coming from the get go, and Ashley couldn't come either, so it was just us three, Natalie, myself, & Jayne.

We had a lot of fun, tons of girl talk and laughing.  Too much shopping and THE GAP for me.  But I hate shopping, so I have fun hanging out and I prepare myself for shopping prior to going.  One day we went to 3 different malls.  The past 2 years I've stepped foot in a mall twice.  (other than the last girl trip in Chicago).  So my one mall trip per year then jumping into mall mayhem all in one day is shopping overload.  Anyway, blah blah blah. It was fun to hang out and go fetch the different sizes/ colors/ styles they needed from the dressing room.  I will admit I am the worst shopping buddy on earth, and Natalie & Jayne will testify to that.  I probably ruined their shopping experience and reminded them of their kids they were vacationing away from.

But now the things I LOVED.

The Bellagio water fountains.

Water fountains choreographed to music. 

I love this and it's every 15 minutes and I could stand their all night just waiting for the next one.  Jayne said she thinks I over-love it because it's like ballet with water instead of dancers.  Maybe she's right.

The other things we did.

Now for the food.

My first:

Serendipity's Frozen Hot Chocolate.

(we shared, thus the 3 straws and I'm not a total pig. I can pack food away, I am a pig, not a total hog maybe)

My first ever:

In-N-Out Burger.

Pretty good.  I'm glad I didn't sit in a 1-2 hour line in Provo to wait for one this past year, but definitely a good cheeseburger.

And our big splurge, the show.

We had a hard time deciding what to see from the acrobatic Circue du Solei shows, Garth Brooks, etc.

We decided on The Phantom of the Opera.

It was awesome.  I really enjoyed it and the set and cast were great.  I loved it.

With all girl trips, we do a lot of fun things and have a lot of fun memories, but I find I always leave thinking how lucky it is to have great friends, that you can be yourself completely.

Sometimes I forget how important it is to have other women who know your experiences and understand your struggles and frustrations, which is why I think I'm so close with these other med-student wives and the ballet girls.  You go through difficult crap and it really bonds you--for life.  Sometimes I go over a year without talking to them and we get together and you just pick up where you left off.  For being a crappy friend myself, I sure luck out with so many great people in my life.

I also am grateful Rhett supports these little trips, watching the kid and being happy for me to go.  Maybe it's not like this for everyone, but I know getting away is good for me and I come back a better mom and hopefully a better wife.  Although we talked way too late and all left sleep deprived, emotionally and mentally it's a refresher to go back to life and be appreciative for my roles since I had a chance to step out and realize mom & wife are really fulfilling...when I have a good attitude.

So yay for all our close gal pals who won't hate us when we complain about another Gap to go in, or don't snear when we bawl, or gross out at the suggestion to share desserts, or mock the blue showercap.

FINISHED!

Rhett had his last day of medical school today.  We went out to eat to celebrate.  We were getting up to leave and he said: "Now that I'm finally done and have a few weeks off, I really need to get a new signature."
I asked why.  He said he's realized all the crap he'll have to sign and it's takes him too long. 

Also he said it's not as exciting to be done as he'd always expected.  Anti-climactic.  Just finishing something to move on to hell = residency. 

OK Debbie Downer. 
I'm excited it's OVER!  No more tuition!  No more student loans (I haven't forgotten interest accrual)!  The real world!

this was his first day I guess back in 2006- white coat ceremony.

Next month he graduates to the mid-thigh length coat, then in 3 years the full knee length when he's a "real" doctor.

wierd.  It would be fun if all medical staff designated status by top length. 

CNAs have crop-top scrubs, LPNs get mid-drift, RNs get the full waist length, Nurse Practitioners get tunic length tops.

I'm sure the real world will be as anticlimactic as his last day, but for today I'm excited.  Upward and onward!

Blackberry Lemon Streusel Muffin

I made just the plain lemon and the blackberry lemon

I found the recipe on Katherine's blog here.

She found it on The Sister's Cafe here.

Lemon.

Streusel.

Glaze.

BooYah!

Remember how I love blackberry and lemon?

These are the changes I made, basically just adding blackberries into the muffins before you bake them:

Rinse and drain a large handful of blackberries.  Cut them in half.  Sprinkle with sugar.

When you are making the muffins, put a big spoonful in each muffin.  Spoon 4-5 blackberry chunks on top of the batter.  Got back through and finish off the batter with another spoonful on top of the berries.  That way they are in the muffin, but the whole batter isn't pink if you just dumped them in and stirred it up, which you could do too.

I used the bowl that had the blackberries in it to make the lemon glaze, so that was pink.

This is a really good muffin recipe.  LOTS of flavor and great dense, moist texture.

Chick Days at IFA

I don't know if your local IFA (Intermountain Farmers of America) stores all do this, but when we were in Delta and they had Chick Days, where you could bring your kid in to see the baby chicks. 

They had different kind of chickens, all for $3.00 a bird.  The older kids really wanted someone to buy one, they were so cute and fluffy.  I was allergic to them and my eyes started watering and I was sneezing, so I didn't get too into the chicks.

But all the kids got to take a yellow IFA helium balloon and package of yellow peeps home, just for coming to see the chicks. 

Pretty awesome afternoon outing.

As we were loading the kids (nieces and nephews came too) Rhett mentioned feeling white trash about going there just to get the free balloon and treat and look at baby chickens.  Maybe we were a little white trash.  But last fall I bought rodent poison from IFA for the field mice trying to get in the house, so Even-Steven IFA.

Anyway, check out your local IFA to see if you can see some cute baby chickens and get your kids some sweet white trash SWAG.

Toddler Bed & Woody

We took the bar off the crib to make it a toddler bed.  RJ kept climbing out.  He'd get up on his belly on a corner, flip his legs around, so he was standing on the mattress from the outside, his fat feet squishing through the bars, then just fall off.

So to prevent further injury, we updated the bed.

But now he can get out any time he wants.  So today when he wasn't in the mood for a nap, and I plopped him in his bed and shut the door, he took off all his clothes and took a nap on the carpet. 

But other days he looks really cute and grown up in his big boy bed.

Woody is his favorite toy.  They had a Woody at church and his cousins have a Woody.  He'd play with Woody as much as he could.  So I found a smoking deal on craigslist for a new Woody doll.  I had planned to give it to him for his birthday next month, but Rhett thought he should get it early.  We were discussing it and I asked: "Do you really think he's earned it?"  Rhett gave me a look and asked how would a 2-year-old earn anything.  "Good behavior."  In the end, Rhett pointed out we've never bought him a toy, (we just leach off of Grandma's stock and gifts from grandparents) so RJ got it early.  Spoiled rotten.

RJ tries to feed Woody, gives him rides around the house on his bike, and props him up to watch TV with him. 

One night we put RJ to bed and he had me tuck in Woody on his pillow next to him.  I got to the lamp, and turned around as I was walking out, and saw RJ just staring at Woody, pat the top of his head, then kiss him on the cheek.  This kid loves this toy.  Pretty cute. 

Hair Update

Here's my hair.

Still playing with it to figure out how to style it.

I don't know if I look good with short hair, but it sure is a lot easier. 

One of my favorite things with short hair--

NO BIG HAIR BALL TO THROW AWAY EACH TIME I WASH MY HAIR.

Maybe you long-haired girls don't have hair balls to throw away.  The worst is post baby and you loose all your hair.  My dad's worst chore ever was coming into the our bathroom as girls to "fix" the clogged drain in the tub.  He'd make us pull out the nasty, shampoo/ conditioner coated hair glob of a "dead rat" that was clogging the drain. Despite my best efforts to not let my hair go down the drain, with 3 girls, I guess we grew hair rats in the drain all the time.  Super gross.

But now my hair is so short, there's not much to even wash, and nothing to collect.

I think I prefer it in the middle, with a softer flow, but not rounded on my head.  Closer to this last photo. 

But really, it kind of just falls where it dries and I don't care. 

Sometimes I'll see my reflection and I think how weird I look.  Rhett's used to it now, but prefers longer hair "for sure."

We'll have to see where this mane goes from here.

The Move

Some people have wondered when we move.  Rhett starts mid-June so we'll at least be there by the begining of June.  Depending on how fast we find and buy a home, we could move even in May.  It will be interesting and I'm having a headache already thinking of moving.  At least it's not that far.

Residency Match Results

We are excited to have future income as Rhett being an employee of Idaho State University, so we'll be living in Pocatello, Idaho for the next 3 years!
He'll be a Family Medicine resdient.

It's only 3 hours from my family and Rhett is excited about the program.

Everyone, especially the Idahoans I know say it is the "buttcrack" or "armpit" of Idaho {their words not mine} but maybe we'll figure it out once we get there, because it seemed fine to us when we went to interview.  They have a Costco and fabric store so I am set. 

My only complaint is probably the temple being in Idaho Falls, so a 30-40 min drive, but that's nothing compared to when we lived in the Nauvoo Temple district and it was a day trip to another state to attend the temple. 

I'm excited because housing is really affordable, so we'll most likely purchase a house!  That will be so great.  I am thrilled about not having to rent or mooch, for the first time in our 6 years of marriage.  So lots of things to look forward to.

Some things to dread, like moving again.  Our crap is pretty much spread throughout my parent's house.  We tried to pack things we'd not need these two years separate from the things we would need, but somehow over these 2 years, we opened almost every box and almost need to unpack everything and repack it before we move.

Also it will be sad to move out.  My dad said Rhett and I could go, but we'll have to leave RJ.  I know RJ will also be sad to all the sudden not see Grandma and Grandpa everyday and be stuck with his wretched boring mother who is conservative on treat distribution.

But it is exciting and now I must go search craigslist to find a house to hopefully live in.

Hair Shouldn't Be A Spontaneous Decision

I needed a haircut.  I'm really bad about having regular haircuts.  I usually go 6 months...or more.  Gross? Maybe.  I am low maintenance especially with hair.  The part of my every-day routine that comes to doing something with my rat brown hair gags me.  I dread doing my hair every day.  After I'm finished, I always think how that was such a waste of my time.  And my hair rarely takes over 10 minutes total.  I can't imagine those women who have long hair that gets round brush dried for an over half an hour every day.  I couldn't stand that.  I'm sure for a lot of people, it's fun to style your hair and you feel nice and pretty.  Usually the rare occasions I fix my hair, which for me means something other than a ponytail, I regret "fixing" it because it's down and in my face and bothering me.  Thus Sundays, the hair goes right back up in a ponytail after church.

So this is my hair history.  Lived in slicked buns for a few years, then transferred to daily pony tails.  Twice in my adult life I cut it to just below my chin, still long enough for a half ponytail or at least pig tails.

So last night.  My mom and I were together getting our hair cut.  As I was waiting my turn, I was flipping through the magazine and saw this photo. 

I thought it was so cute.  The next magazine I looked through had it again.  Between getting blond highlights and maybe the chemicals intoxicating my better judgement, I told her to hack off all the rat to make it look like the photo. 

I left and knew it was a mistake.  First of all, it didn't look like the photo.  I don't know if it's the cut or my hair, or what.  We got in the car and my mom could tell I hated it.  She said: "Jess, are you going to cry?" That made me laugh.  Cry? Over hair?  "I think I cried over a haircut when I was 12 mom, but this is just hair.  It will grow back and I looked pretty crappy all the time before.  So now I'll look pretty crappy with short hair.  Not that big of a difference probably."

We got home.  Here are the reactions.

my dad, Scott:

I turned the corner: "I do NOT like that.  Do you know who you look like?  That lesbian in the movie John Q that is girlfriends with Ellen Degeneres."  We all laughed and my mom said: "Scott. She does not."  I turned around to walk out of the room.  Scott added: "And the back looks like a dog butt."  More laughing from everyone, including me.

my husband, Rhett.

He was upstairs studying.  I knocked on the door and said: "You want to see my new haircut?  It's pretty dramatic."

Rhett: "Dramatic?  Why didn't you ask me what I thought before you did something serious."

Me: "I didn't think you'd care, you never have cared before when I cut my hair."
Rhett: "Well I do when it's dramatic."

I opened the door.

Rhett: turns head to one side deciding how to say....."I....am. . . not a fan."

I'd always been so lame with my hair my whole life, I'd never really had anything risky done.  I was 21 before I ever put any color on it, and then it was highlights that were barely noticable. 

So this was out of control for my hair history.  I just hope I can figure it out to make it cute or at least a step up from:

"DOG-BUTT LESBIAN HAIR MASSACRE"

As we were chatting later in the night, I was telling Rhett all the positive things about the haircut.

-only 2 minutes to wash and condition

- only a few minutes to blow dry

-so nice to not have hair in my face ever

-nice not to have hair long enough to get yanked and pulled anymore

-nice to have no hair on my neck for summer, cool

-nice to be able to get it ready really quick,

Rhett interupted: "so you can just wake up and it will look the same as when you fix it fresh"

ME: exactly.  Bed head all the time and loving it.

-won't have to mess with elastics or bobby pins or any of that crap

Rhett:  So do you think all these pros that have to do with low maintentance make up for all the cons dealing with how bad it looks?

Me:  Hmmm.  For other people probably not worth it.  But for me, I think I'll end up liking the dog butt.

So I'm glad I was raised to not care about appearance.  There's definitely a balance, you should try to look nice and present yourself well, and I could use more of this motivation and talent.  But on the other side, you can care too much about how you look and how other people think you look.  A bad haircut ruining your life?  Not that big of a deal.  This was actually really funny, all night everyone kept coming up with great hair jokes, but too many to keep writing them.  But it's just hair, and anyone who would really look down on a poor fashionless girl like me for having dog butt hair...well I wouldn't want you for a friend anyway vain pants, so maybe it's better I busted out some bo-daggit hair to see who really likes me for me.

Just kidding.  It's not that dramatic.  I feel like my friends are solid whatever my hair looks like....I hope.  Rhett actually said today he may like it too once he gets used to it.

Dog Butt UPDATE:

Went back to fix some things that I really did hate and I'm liking it a lot better now.  My dad said the dog butt is gone.  I think it's a little short from the photo, so in about 3 weeks it will be longer and  hopefully I'll have figured out to make it a little closer to what I originally planned.  So we'll do the best with what we've got here.

So anyone who is into hair and knows their stuff.  Please study the magazine photo and tell me how to mimic the look as best I can.

Small words and many steps would be best.

jessica.crapo@gmail.com

Great Stone Face

We went down to Delta to visit Rhett's fam.  RJ had been a wolf that day, and it made the ride down cozy.

The night we got there, Rhett read a tourism magazine on the wonders of Millard County Utah. 

The next day he was really eager to show me the Great Stone Face.

It's only 15 min from his parent's house, and it is supposed to be a rock that has a carved face in the side. 

I didn't want to go, but once we got there it was actually pretty cool and the closer you hiked, it actually did look like a big nosed profile.

You'll see the profile along the top right side of the rock.  I think it's easiest to see the outline of the huge nose pointing to your right, then you'll see the eye and underneath, the horizontal crack in the rock that is the mouth.

On top.

If you're ever in Millard county, don't miss this gem.

As it is unlikely there would be any reason you'd ever be in the desert rural wasteland, just enjoy our photos.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

One of my favorite hymns, sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  I love this song because it appeals to most Christians I think, needing Christ to intervene or rescue our souls through His mercy and love.  I also really identify the feelings of being prone to wander and leave the Lord I love and being disapointed in yourself, and just having the deepest desire of your heart to wise up and give your heart to the Master, looking to Him as the Supreme example, struggling to do that fully the throughout your whole life. 
I'm not muscially inclined, and don't have a great understanding of poetry, and there are actually few hymns that I love, but this is one that I get.  Hope if you take the time to listen you like it to, if you don't already know it.

Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
mount of thy redeeming love.


Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I'm come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.


O to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.
Seal it for thy courts above.

In case you were like me and were thinking "Ebenezer? Scrooge?"  I looked it up and found it is a reference to 1 Samuel 7:12. where Samuel set a stone as a testament that God had helped them, thus in the song "Hither by thy help I'm come"

Also what is a fetter?  1. A chain or shackle for the ankles or feet.
2. Something that serves to restrict; a restraint.
I thought that was interesting imagery, but I'm no English major to elaborate on anything, I just like the song and its message, it's really inspiring to me.