Jolley All the Time

CHOO CHOO MONSON'S TWO!!

2012-02-06T07:42:00.000-08:00

Our Monson Boy turned 2 on February 1st! I can't believe how fast my little baby is growing up! Wasn't it just 5 posts ago that I was announcing his birth?? Well we had his party last Saturday on the 4th and against all odds - it was a success! As a wannabe party planner it wasn't as detailed and the adorably creative choo choo train party as I was planning it to be. Morning/ All Day Sickness has really been holding me back! When Saturday rolled around I was just happy to be able to get out of bed and get to the store to buy a few balloons, hot dogs and a pinata! I don't know what I would have done without Wills and my dad and brothers to help me set up! We still started the party about an hour later than I told everyone to be there, but luckily we were at the park and the kids were able to play while we set up. All in all it was a good time! Monson had a blast and thats what really matters! Thanks to everyone who came! And we missed those of you that couldn't make it! Hopefully these pictures will make you feel like you were right there with us! (Thank you to my dear friend Jessica Judd for taking all these pictures! I still can't believe I forgot my camera!)

We survived 2011

2012-02-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

The year 2011 was one crazy year for us - but we survived! Here is proof:

Wills' cousin Jessica Jolley Greene took these pictures for us when we were in Vernal in December.

We made the mistake of scheduling pictures during Monson's nap time. He wasn't very happy!

Oh What Do You Do in the Summer Time??

2011-09-08T20:57:00.000-07:00

This Jolley clan has had a super fun summer this year! Especially Monson and I! We've been at home quite a bit during the long hot summer days and most of the time its too hot to go outside so we've had to get creative. I've learned a lot about what ARE and ARE NOT age appropriate activities for 1 1/2 year olds! For instance - watching Sesame Street IS a great hot day activity as well as playing in the sprinklers outside, bubble baths in the middle of the day, coloring, playing hide and go seek and eating ice cream. Things that are NOT age appropriate are: finger painting, coloring, liquid sidewalk chalk, crafts in general, going to the mall, indoor broom hockey and shooting dart guns. I know I put coloring on both lists, but that's because sometimes he does good and makes beautiful masterpieces and sometimes he sneaks crayons into his room and redecorates his walls without me knowing. Here are some pictures of our endeavors --

Here we are playing hide and seek! He LOVES this game and gets very creative with his hiding!

He loves playing with balls! We are getting really good at catch.

This is his first attempt at finger-painting. He mostly wanted to eat it....

and paint anything else, but paper.

Iron Baby!

He didn't want to get out of the pool at grandma Koozer's house. He loves the water!

Play-doh!

Swimming with Daddy!

Liquid Sidewalk Chalk: 1 cup of corn starch, 1 cup of water, and finger paint!

It was a total mess, but totally fun! And a nice bonus - it washes off with water!

Monson got bored painting just the sidewalk, so he started on the widows and mommy.

Here's one of those mid-day baths just for fun. I found these fun bath tablets that dissolve and make the bath water different colors. Monson loves them!

Even though the summer is almost over it is STILL too hot to play too much outside in this AZ heat and I'm running out of ideas for appropriate indoor activities. If you have any ideas please share!

New Chapter of our New Life

2011-06-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

I feel like I've had enough time to get adjusted to my new schedule and now it's time to blog about it! I can't believe it has been over a month since Wills graduated from ASU and I quit my job at ASU Police Department. All of our dreams have come true! Wills has a wonderful job in Scottsdale working for Elliot D. Pollack & Co. as a data analyst and I get to be a stay-at-home mom and be with Monson all day, every day! It's incredible to accomplish such a huge goal - one that we've been working towards for years. But since I've been home and we've started our new life, the only thing going through my head is...

NOW WHAT?????

I don't know how many of you have seen the movie "Mega Mind" but it perfectly describes our situation right now. Mega Mind is a super villain whose ultimate goal is to defeat Metro Man, the super hero and protector of Metro City. One day Mega Mind finally destroys Metro Man in an epic fight and takes over Metro City. But after only a few days he is bored and doesn't know what to do with himself. He finally accomplished his life's goal and no longer has purpose or drive to do anything else. THAT my friends and family is our dilemma right now. For three years straight we've been working our hardest to get to the point we are today and it feels amazing to have accomplished that, but now we REALLY need a new goal! Of course our ultimate goal is to raise righteous posterity and return to live with our Heavenly Father again, but that's going to take awhile. We need some shorter term goals that will help us feel accomplished and productive. Over the weekend we decided to do a 100 day Book of Mormon challenge. We will be reading the Book of Mormon from cover to cover in only 100 days. We started last night and I'm already liking this new goal, but I still need something else.

I have a lot of time on my hands these days - at least in theory I do. Once I chase Monson around for hours, do some cooking and clean the house, my day is about spent. Being a stay at home mom is not what I expected or planned. I don't know why I thought I would get so much time to myself! I thought I would be re-organizing every cupboard in my house, planting a garden, writing a book and learning to play the guitar this summer, but time is a slippery thing. I don't know if every mother has this problem or if I just have poor time management skills. Either way I am learning a lot about my new job and nothing makes me happier than being with my son all day and spending the evenings with my husband without homework getting in the way. We may feel a little lost right now, but we are slowing getting the hang of this new phase and I know we'll be okay. One of my goals is to be more diligent with my blogging and journal writing, so hopefully you'll see more posts from the rookie stay-at-home mom soon!

Musical Monson

2010-11-01T16:04:00.000-07:00

Monson meeting his Uncle Buddy!

2010-11-01T15:48:00.000-07:00

9 months! (Okay I guess this will just be a quarterly blog)

2010-11-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

LIFE! Life is busy! And today is my day off so instead of catching up on laundry I've decided to catch up on my blog. It's funny to look back on old posts, especially my last post when Monson was 6 months old. I had a vague idea of the amount of work that would be going into this semester, but I had no clue it would be this intense. Wills and I start everyday at 4 AM and end it close to 11 PM every evening. Monday through Friday we are booked solid with work, school, internships, callings, respite providing and commuting back and forth from Maricopa. My last post worked out nicely with me breaking down what is going on with each person in our Jolley clan so lets begin with my wonderful husband, Wills:

WILLS:
This man is a machine! I've never seen anyone so dedicated to anything in all my life! He is getting wonderful grades in all of his classes in is full time schedule at ASU. He devotes a lot of time that he could spend sleeping or doing anything else to his homework and studying. He also puts a lot of time into his two clubs on campus. The club he founded and is president of, LDS Future Business Professionals has picked up a lot of steam and now has a presidency and a few more members. He has the support of some great professors on campus and is loving planning meetings and events. He is also VP of the Student Economic Association on campus and does very well with his responsibilities for the club. He is also a board member of the Arizona Management Society. He participates in conference calls and luncheons and he recently attended a conference they held in Utah at Aspen Grove. He learned a lot and got to do a ton of networking with other business professionals from around the country.
He is doing incredible at his internship with Goldwater Institute. They love him over there because he is their go to guy for everything! He is given a lot of responsibility because he is such a hardworking and trustworthy person. He often calls me from work to tell me what he's doing at the moment. I never know what to expect, sometimes he's delivering important papers to the court, picking up a signed football from Cardinal Stadium, scheduling celebrity appearances for big events, taking care of someones dry-cleaning or walking his boss's pet Pomeranian. He told me that any supervisor that goes into the intern room goes directly to him with their to-do lists and that he is swamped every hour of the day, but he loves it. We know all of his hard work will pay off big time and this internship looks outstanding on his resume.
Wills is also doing great in his calling as Executive Secretary in our ward. He has meetings every Thursday night and Sunday morning and is constantly scheduling appointments for the bishop. He takes his calling very seriously and it always takes priority over anything else on the calendar.
AND NOW FOR THE BIG NEWS!! Wills has been starting to apply for jobs so we can have something lined up after graduation in May. He has his eye on a few different companies he would like to work for, one in particular is Goldman Sachs. I was worried when he first told me about it because I thought we'd have to move to New York for that position, but then we found out that a branch in Salt Lake City is opening up for an operations analyst! We were so excited when we heard about it and Wills jumped right in to calling and emailing all of his connections and doing everything that he could to land an interview for the job. We were so excited when they called us and told Wills that they wanted to interview him here in Tempe with several other applicants. And then last week we found out that he passed that interview and now they have offered to fly him up to SLC on Friday, November 5th for the final round of interviews. We are so excited we can hardly stand it! Wills is such a people person that there is no way he won't impress anyone he meets there. We are hoping and praying he'll get the job! It would mean so much for our little family. It would ensure that I'd be able to be a stay-at-home mom and that we could afford to start paying off student loans. We'd also be living close to family and Wills would get to do what we loves. SO PLEASE PRAY FOR US!! I'll keep everyone posted when we find out anymore information.

BAILEY:
Now my list isn't as exciting as Wills' is. Sometimes I get discouraged that I'm not doing as much work as Wills does. I feel like I'm on the sidelines while he is in the game and working his tail off. But Wills keeps reminding me that I'm just as big of a player as he is when it comes to working towards our goals. We are a team! If I wasn't working full time to support our family none of this would be possible. I'm so grateful for my job at ASU Police Department and for the fact that it helps pay the bills and gets us both through school. And I'm so grateful to my mother who is so willing to watch Monson for us everyday. And I'm so grateful to my beautiful mother-in-law who was able to come down and stay with us a few weeks ago. She was a lifesaver and so much fun to have around. I've been blessed to switch my schedule at work to 10 hours a day, 4 days a week, leaving me with a day off during the week to be the mom and catch up with all of the chores around the house and work on my homework for the one class I'm taking. I love those days because they give me a brief glimpse into my future as a stay-at-home mom and Monson and I have so much fun together!
I've also been given some new callings in our ward that have been keeping me busy. A few months ago I was called to the Young Womens as a Beehive adviser and I was also called to be a part of the Relief Society Planning committee. I love both of these callings! I especially love my Beehives! They are such sweet, talented, loving girls and I love the opportunity I have to teach them and be with them. I had such amazing leaders in YW when I was growing up and now I get to turn around and share what I learned from their examples to my girls. I am so blessed!

MONSON (the monster):
My little Monson-mash is all over the place! He can crawl like its nobody's business! He really keeps me moving and likes to show me spots of my house that still need to be baby-proofed. I really need to install those hooks that you put inside cupboards so that he can't open them and pull out the entire contents over and over and over. He also has a fascination with electrical sockets and cords that I just don't understand. And he would do anything to get a hold of the laptop whenever it's in his view. Just this morning I was sitting on the couch in the living room, working on the laptop and he kept trying to grab it from off my lap. When he realized that I wasn't going to let him touch the computer, he devised a plan. Yes, my 9 month old devised a plan! Without me noticing he crawled around the corner into the kitchen and opened a cupboard. As soon as I heard my glass jars clinking around I knew he was into some mischief so I set the laptop on the couch and ran for the kitchen to get him. The moment he saw me step foot into the kitchen he stopped what he was doing and bolted for the living room. By the time I had put the cupboard back together he was already at the couch and pulling the laptop down to play with! That kid set me up! He created a diversion so that he could get the laptop! Once I realized what he had done, I laughed so hard that he got to play with the laptop a little bit until I gained composure enough to snatch it away from him. He is such a booger! He's also been somewhat of a crabby patty lately too. The poor kid has 5 or 6 teeth coming in on the top AND he just got diagnosed with another double ear infection. This is his second one in 2 months. But we are almost at the end of his round of antibiotics and he seems to be feeling better. Wills and I are having so much fun being parents and Monson is so full of personality and spunk! He is constantly entertaining us. This past Saturday he discovered how much fun a roll of toilet paper could be. We didn't even stop him when we saw what he had discovered, we just sat and watched him make a huge mess because we thought it was so cute. I feel bad for our 3rd or 4th child, because they probably won't have the luxury of getting into mischief just because we think its adorable.

So that is my 3 month update for everyone! We are busy, but happy and learning a lot about ourselves and about how the Lord works. You can get through a lot just by running on faith and a little prayer. When I feel like things are getting too tough I just remind myself that Heavenly Father never gives us any challenge that we can't handle and if something doesn't work out the way I hope it will, it just means that something better is right around the corner. Life is a beautiful, miraculous thing and everyday is a gift. I'm really looking forward to the future, but at the same time I have to remind myself to be happy with today, because no matter how crazy it is, its a blessing to have my family, my job, the church, our home and food on the table. I'm grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that teaches us to love life and embrace our challenges. Through Him all things are possible and through Him comes true happiness. We love you all and hope everyone is doing great! We are so excited for the upcoming Mann Family Reunion and for Katie and Cole's wedding at the end of November!

Love,

The Jolley's

6 Months! (Man I stink at keeping my blog up to date!!!)

2010-08-20T14:01:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and family! Hopefully some of you will still read this blog even though I haven't posted anything for three whole months! But, what can I say? I'm a busy Momma! Sometimes I feel like that primary lesson that they always teach in Sharing Time around Mother's Day about how our Mom's wear all sorts of "hats", meaning they have MANY jobs and responsibilities and that's why we should be grateful for them. Well, I'm now the mom with all the "hats" but I couldn't be happier about it! As busy as life is right now, I wouldn't trade a second of it, because its about to get a whole heck of a lot more crazy! Let me brief you on our upcoming semester:

WILLS -

Wills will be taking a full schedule of classes this year at ASU as he gets ready to graduate Spring 2011 with a major in Economics and minor in Psychology. On top of that he has an internship at the Goldwater Institute, he is the VP/Pres. of the Student Economics Association for ASU, the president/ founder of the LDS Future Business Professionals at ASU, a board member of the Arizona Management Society AND he was recently called to be the executive secretary in our ward.

BAILEY -

I will be taking one online class this semester as I work (very slowly) towards my degree in Creative Writing. I will continue working full time at ASU Police Department in the Records section and I teach the 6 year old class in Primary(which I LOVE). - I know my list is weak sauce compared to Wills', but when you add mommy duty and commuting back and forth from work, it adds up quick!

MONSON -

Monson will be a very busy little guy this semester. He will be spending a lot of time with Grandma Koozer while Mommy and Daddy are at work and school. He will also be continuing to eat solids and overcoming his aversion to pears and bananas, he will be figuring out how to crawl instead of just scooting and rolling. He will be playing with his toys everyday, teething soon and learning to take better naps. He will also be growing like a weed and forcing Mommy to find more clothes for him to fit into every 2 weeks. Like I said - he is VERY busy!

We've all had an awesome summer, so we aren't too sad about giving it up already. We saw fireworks, ate watermelon, went swimming, golfing, hiking and BBQing. We got to go camping, celebrate our anniversary, travel to NY for our Jolley family reunion/church history tour, introduce Monson to his aunts and uncles and cute cousin Eliza and see Niagara Falls. The summer was a success and now we are ready for this next chapter in our lives.

With all that's about to take place, the phrase that keeps running through my mind is "Come what may and LOVE it!" That will be our motto this school year. I know that with our Heavenly Father's help, no challenge is too hard. So wish us luck and hopefully you will hear from me again before the next three months are over!

3 MONTHS ALREADY!

2010-05-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

Monson is three months old already and he is as cute as ever! We are having a blast being parents and we are always excited for whats to come. Monson is getting so big! He is around 16 lbs and I'm not exactly sure how tall he is, but I know he is alot longer than all of the other babies his age in our ward! When I feed him in the mothers lounge at church the other moms laugh because Monson's feet hang over the arm rest of the chair! He will be a tall one like his daddy! Monson is constantly smiling and giggling! He loves it when we sing to him and he loves being tickled! I thought he might like peek-a-boo by now, but he just stares at me like I'm a crazy person when I try to play it with him. His favorite time is bath time! He kicks his legs like he's Michael Phelps and splashes everywhere! When he is done with the bath he cries when we take him out of the water, but he calms down when I rub him down with lotion and give him a nice baby massage (so spoiled!) . I also have been styling his hair into a mohawk when his hair is still wet, it looks pretty awesome and the chicks dig it! Monson recently passed a new milestone in his life - He ROLLED OVER!! He only did it one time and I was the ONLY one who actually saw it, but it did happen! I try to put him on his tummy as often as I can so he can get more practice, but when he starts to cry and get frustrated I can't help but pick him up and squeez him and kiss his face till he's smiling again! I may be stunting his progress, but I work full time! I miss that kid like crazy during the day so why would I make him cry during the few hours I have to be with him!? I will leave his rolling training to his daddy.

Wills and I are doing great too! Wills has been doing great on his finals and he only has one left that he'll take tomorrow. After that he'll start summer school soon and be looking for a summer intern or temp job to do on the side. I am so proud of all of his hard work he's been doing. He is so dedicated to school and his future career and to our family. Right now he is the founder and president of LDS Future Business Professionals at ASU, vice president of the Student Economic Association at ASU and a member of Arizona Management Society and studying to get his major in Economics and minor in Psychology. He is also co-owner of Maricopa Drivers Education along with my dad. He manages all of the finances and marketing. He has big dreams for the future and he is working so hard to make sure they happen! I love him so much! And I am so proud of his determination to be the best he can be. He is amazing and such an inspiration to me.

I just finished taking my online computer class and I got on A on my final and passed the class with flying colors thanks to Wills! Since I knew Monson would be coming this sememster I only took one class so I wouldn't have too much on my plate. Next semester I'm going to try for two or three classes. It will just depend on what I can take online. Its too hard to take classes on campus anymore, especially with our hour long comute to Maricopa.

Wills and I love our callings as Primary teachers for the six year olds. We come home every Sunday laughing about the things they say. A week or two ago we were in sharing time and the Primary president was telling the children that she had a special visitor outside that had come to see them and she asked if they could guess who it was. One little boy in Sunbeams shot right out of his chair and said "JESUS!!! IT'S JESUS! I KNEW HE WOULD COME AGAIN!!" I was laughing so hard that I had to bite my lip to calm down. The primary president was trying to control herself too. The little boy looked so sad when she told him "No, Jesus isn't here yet, our visitor is our Bishop!" Primary is the best! All of the kids in our class love having Monson there, but they always forget his name and call him Mormon instead. I just let it slide because I think its so cute!

Well this post is alot longer than I intended, but I hope it has caught everyone up to where we are in our lives right now. We love you all and hope you have a great summer!

I think we know who Monson looks like...

2010-04-09T12:17:00.000-07:00

I recently came across this picture and thought the face looked really familiar. I can picture Monson looking just like that in a few months down the road! Can anyone guess who this is??

HAPPY EASTER!

2010-04-04T21:55:00.000-07:00

This Easter was nice and relaxing and we really enjoyed General Conference. We watched most of the sessions at our house and then went to Grandpa and Grandma Koozer's house for the Saturday afternoon session.

Our little Monson has been getting bigger and bigger and we've been having so much fun with him. He recently had to go to the doctor for shots and they said he is doing great and is very healthy! He is 13 lbs and 23 inches.

It has been fun to play and interact with him lately! He is smiling all the time now and just today he started to babble a little and make noises like he's trying to talk to us! I'm posting a video of a little of his talking and one of him sustaining the prophet and apostles during the saturday afternoon session of conference. He is such a good boy! Enjoy!

Lookin' cool in Uncle Emmett's hat.

Monson had an accident while at grandma Koozer's house.

This is him getting washed up in the sink.

We filmed this close to feeding time and bed time, so he's a little grumpy.

We'll have to try again this week when he is happy and smiling.

APRIL FOOLS!!!

2010-04-02T08:45:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, Wills had the bright idea to tell everyone on Facebook that I was pregnant again as an April Fools joke. April Fools is a special day in my family because not only are we a bunch of goofballs that are related to Hal Koozer, but my parents were also married on April 1st. The day is full of symbolism and meaning in the Koozer household, so I decided to go for it. I posted on my Facebook status: "It is a total MYTH that you can't get pregnant while nursing!" and then on my wall I posted a picture of the positive pregnancy test that we used last time to announce that we were pregnant and I added the caption: "ready for round TWO! Pregnant again!" After the trap was set, we waited the rest of the evening while many people fell for it and many people didn't know what to believe cause it was April Fools. We even had a few people call us to make sure we weren't just pulling a prank!
As many of you know, my decorator and friend, Cindy Ross likes to shop at garage sales and finds me all sorts of great things! Well yesterday she happened to be at a sale that had alot of cute baby girl clothes and she said that she just had a feeling that she should buy some, so she did! Then later that evening she got a few calls from friends telling her that I had announced that I was pregnant again. She said that she then realized why she felt prompted to buy those baby clothes - cause they were meant for me and the little girl I was going to have! So she called me this morning to tell me the good news and to check up on me and I felt really bad, but I had to tell her that it was just an April Fools joke and I wasn't really pregnant! I thought she'd be bugged about it but instead she busted up laughing and said "Bailey! I thought I was being so spiritual yesterday by following that prompting! Now what am I going to do with a bag full of baby clothes!?" So she told me that she's not getting rid of them, she's just going to store them away until I REALLY need them!
Wills and I sure got a kick out of that! As much as we want more kiddos in our lives, we don't think that we are ready just yet. We love just being with our little Monson for now!
So, APRIL FOOLS everyone!
LOVE YA!!

We aren't mean parents, we just have FUN!

2010-03-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

We have been having a blast with our little Monson!

He is getting bigger everyday! I'm back at work now and everytime I come home he is BIGGER! He is starting to really focus in on things and interact with us a little bit. We love tickling him and trying to make him smile and we love to take funny pictures of him. He pretty much just eats and sleeps and lays around all day so there is not much more we can do with him right now. I'm constantly told to appreciate this phase of his life, cause once he starts moving there is no more rest!

I tried to do a cute "naked baby cowboy photo shoot"

But he peed after the 2nd picture! (you can see the wet spot behind him.)

So after that his diaper remained ON!

I have a very photogenic son!

This is a "football" jersey he got from his

favorite uncle, Elder Koozer from Italy!

Wills thought this would be funny.

I just love his face in this one!

I love being a mommy!

2010-02-10T22:00:00.001-08:00

Its been a week and a half since this little angel came into my life and aside from being a little tired and sore, I am so happy and amazed that I get to be a mommy! I am so in love with my son! He is the cutest thing I have ever seen and he is such a good baby! I am so blessed! Monson will get to meet his Grandma and Grandpa Jolley for the first time this weekend. We are very excited to have them come and we will definitely post some more pictures after their visit.

Monson William Jolley has Arrived!

2010-02-09T12:06:00.000-08:00

Finally after a long 9 months of waiting and waiting, Monson Jolley has arrived and we couldn't be more thrilled! For the past few weeks I had been very impatient to go into labor. I started to try different things that I'd heard would help induce labor such as walking, eating spicy food, rubbing peppermint oil on my feet....lots of random things. After all that, who knows what did the trick!? It could have been the jumping jacks I did the Sunday morning before he came or it could have been him just deciding to come whenever he felt like it. Either way, my water actually broke on Sunday January 31st at 4:20 pm right in the middle of a church meeting! All of the sudden I felt a huge gush of water so I jumped up and tried to run to the bathroom as quick as I could. By the time I got there I had made a pretty big mess all the way down the hall. The crazy part of it all was that Wills didn't follow me out the door! He watched me hurry out the door and he saw a big puddle left on my seat and he thought I had peed my pants! So he just smoothly covered my chair with my bag so nobody would see the wet spot. After I had tried to clean up the best I could in the bathroom I had to walk back down the hall while I was still soaking wet and try to get Wills' attention from the door. I whispered, "My water just broke!" and it definitely caught his attention as well as everyone else's in the room. So Wills got up and walked me out while everyone whispered congratulations and good luck to us as we left. When we got inside our car we both started freaking out! Wills started driving as fast as he could, but we still didn't know if we were driving right to the hospital or if we should go home first and change or what! So I called my mom to ask her what we should do. My contractions hadn't started yet so she told me it would be okay to go home and change first and grab anything else we needed and then head to the hospital. So thats what we did! Its a little nerve wracking to realize that the next time you'll be home, you'll have a new baby with you! Wills and I were so nervous, but also giddy with excitement all the way to the hospital! After the 45 min drive to the hospital, my contractions still hadn't started and I still had a huge smile on my face. They confirmed that my water did indeed break and they put me in a hospital gown, brought me into the labor and delivery room and hooked me up to some pitocin to get my contractions started. Twenty minutes into that I really started feeling those contractions! It was the most painful experience of my life! Luckily I had a room full of support! Wills was my hero that night, he was right by my side the entire time to hold my hand and feed me ice. My mom and dad were there along with my three brothers, Cade, Dane and Emmett. My aunt Amy was there and she helped me alot with all of her essential oils and breathing techniques. My friends/ sisters Tia and Mishawn were also there and later that evening my aunts Phoebe and Hillary and cousin McKenna stopped by. While I was going through some terrible contractions, my dad pulled out his laptop and found some clips of Bill Cosby and his comedy routine about natural child birth. I would laugh so hard that it would cause my contractions to come quicker and I would get stuck laughing in the middle of a huge contraction which made it hurt even worse! Leave it to my father to make me laugh at the worst possible moment! I'm so glad he was there to lighten things up though! Finally after a few hours of contractions I decided I couldn't take anymore and needed an epidural. Those things are the BEST!!! Aside from my legs having the feeling of pins and needles in them, I felt great! I loved it when the monitor would show that I was having a huge contraction, but I didn't feel a thing! What a blessing modern medicine is! So in the early hours of February 1st, it was time to start pushing! All it took was thirty minutes and by 3:02am he was out! It wasn't bad at all, especially with the epidural! The rest of that night was all a blur, I was so exhausted, but so incredibly happy! I will never forget that first moment when he came out and they laid him right on my chest and he just stared right into my eyes like he already knew who I was. It was love at first sight and I was so sad when they took him away from me again to get him cleaned up. He weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces and he was 21 inches long. Tall and skinny just like his daddy. He is healthy and perfect and there were zero complications the entire time! Giving birth was a piece of cake! I could definitely do that a few more times.

And now our perfect little angel is home with us and we are loving having him around. It feels like we are just a little family playing house! Monson is so wonderful! He only cries when he is hungry, which is every 3 to 4 hours and when I change his diaper. He loves to cuddle and he LOVES his swing that we put him in. He is such a good baby! It is amazing how strong the spirit has been in our home ever since he's come. He is so tiny and precious and it is just a miracle to see him grow and change every day. The love that we feel for him is unlike anything we've ever felt before. We feel so blessed that God has given us the privilege of raising such a sweet spirit. Everyday I look at him and I still can't believe that he is mine. We couldn't be happier with our sweet little boy and we look forward to all the adventures to come!

Merry Christmas!

2010-01-01T15:04:00.001-08:00

Ever since we've moved into our new house we've been working so hard to get everything painted and put together for the holidays. We were lucky enough to have Wills' parents and sister Kristine along with Robin, Charlie and Eliza stay with us for Christmas this year and we LOVED it! We were all a little packed into our small 3 bedroom house, but we made it all work out. Eliza was able to break in our new nursery and make sure it was baby-proof and ready for Monson. It worked out nicely having that baby room all ready for her because the poor thing ended up getting sick on Christmas eve with a terrible cold and needed a good place to rest while she was here. Other than Eliza getting sick, everything went smoothly. We all went ice skating and to the movies and we had a fun Christmas Eve party at my mom's house which included a magic show, and a wonderful Christmas presentation by my grandma and a white elephant gift exchange. Christmas day was also alot of fun with the family. Wills set a trap the night before so he could finally trap his family from getting to the Christmas tree. It included wrapping paper, motion detectors, chairs and pots and pans. But nothing could stop Kristine! She made it through to the Christmas tree that morning before Wills could catch her. We also got to talk to Elder Koozer on the phone for 3 hours! He is loving Italy and he sounds wonderful! I sure miss him though! We were very blessed this year and we are so grateful for all of the family we were able to spend time with this Christmas! We look forward to many years to come!

Happy Birthday Wills!

2010-01-01T14:33:00.001-08:00

I have been terrible at keeping up with the blog lately, and I know this is very past due, but I wanted to make a post for Wills' birthday. He turned the big 25 on December 8th, which was right in the middle of our finals at school so we didn't do too much, but we did have some fun. That morning I woke him up with a pancake and sausage breakfast and he got to open the electric shaver that I got him. After that we had to run off to work and school, but we did get to spend a lunch break together. When I got off work we had planned to go to the mall to buy Wills some new jeans. I was very excited for this because Wills never lets me buy him new clothes even though he needs them! But it turns out that Wills is impossible to shop for anyways. Nobody carries a size 36/36 jean ANYWHERE! The boy is just too tall! So after searching through the entire mall we ended up just getting him a couple new shirts and eating dinner at the Rain forest Cafe. Oh-well. I guess I'll just need to search online for his pants or learn how to sew!

That weekend was also Tia's birthday so we decided to throw her a surprise party. We decorated the house and got everything ready and then met some of our friends and family at a restaurant in Chandler. We told Tia that the party was for Wills (which it partly was) and then when we got back to our house after dinner we all said surprise and had cake for Tia! It was a blast!

IT'S A BOY!!!!!

2009-09-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

We are having a boy and he is NOT shy! The first image we saw at the ultra sound today was of his little legs spread wide open and his manhood proudly displayed! I was going to post that picture, but Wills doesn't think it would be appropriate. ( I posted it anyways! Don't tell Wills!) We are so excited though! The doctor says that everything looks perfectly healthy and normal! We can't wait to welcome our son into the world in February! We still haven't picked out any names for the little guy yet, so suggestions are welcome :) Love you all!

We Got a NEW House!

2009-09-08T09:12:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, Wills and I have been searching for houses to buy in Maricopa ever since we found out we are having a baby. The prices out there are unbelievable and since I still have to work after the baby comes, it will be so nice to be out by my mom so she can babysit for us during the weekdays. So we started our search looking only at bank-owned, foreclosed homes because those were the cheapest. We would go down to Maricopa on Saturdays and spend entire days looking through houses that were used and dirty on the inside. Every once in awhile we would find a house that we really loved so we would make an offer and wait for a week only to find out that it fell through and we didn't get the house. We played this game for months and we were tired of it! So my mom finally convinced us to look through some new model homes in the communities that were still building. I was reluctant at first because I didn't want to get depressed looking at all of the nice, new houses that we couldn't afford, but we went anyways. We were actually surprised that some of the new houses actually fit into our budget nicely and the best part was they were NEW! No one else had lived in them! No one had painted the walls weird colors or smoked in them or raised cats in them or left the house looking like a tornado hit it! So after looking through several models this weekend, we finally found one that will be perfect for us! It is a cute, one story home with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Its about 1,500 square feet and it will be finished being built by the middle of November! It was so exciting and a little scary signing all of that paperwork yesterday, but I know we got a great deal for a beautiful home. We can't wait to move in in a few months! Thank you to all of the people who helped us in our hunt! Especially our great realator Uncle Ken and Loni and Mom & Dad Koozer! We couldn't have done it without you guys! We will keep you posted as the building stages of our house progress!

First Ultrasound!!!

2009-06-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

Today Wills and I went in to get our first ultrasound done. I was really nervous because I was supposed to go in with a full bladder, but I hadn't been able to keep anything down. Luckily everything still worked out fine. We could see the baby great! It was such an unbelievable experience. We got to see its tiny heart beating and to see it wiggling around. The doctor said that the baby is perfect and healthy. Our baby is about a centimeter and a half big, about the size of a small peanut! And our official due date is Feb. 4th, 2010! We are both very thrilled and excited for every new development. We will keep you all posted!

Oh BABY!!!

2009-06-12T20:46:00.000-07:00

You've probably already heard, but I'd feel lame if I didn't post this....

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!! We found out on the 1st of this month. I had been feeling a little funny and I was a few days late, so I decided to take a pregnancy test that morning before work cause I couldn't stand the suspense of waiting it out. Wills was there with me while we waited for the results to show up. Once the two lines showed up I was freaking out! I didn't know what two lines meant! So Wills and I franticly grabbed the pregnancy test box and directions and started to search for what two lines meant! We were too excited to notice that it says what two lines mean right on the stick! After we found out we were too stunned to speak! We stood there and just stared at each other for a minute until I broke down into tears of joy and he held me for a long time. We decided not to tell anyone or get our hopes up until we got it confirmed with my doctor. Luckily I was able to schedule an appointment that day and they confirmed I was pregnant! I was totally thrilled! I just couldn't believe it! I am now 5 weeks along and sick all the time! I don't know why they call it morning sickness the correct term is All Day Sickness. But I wanted this, right? I know it will be so worth all of the pain and sickness. I can't wait to hold my sweet little boy or girl in my arms! We go in on the 23rd for our first ultrasound! It won't tell us the sex of the baby yet, but we'll get to see the baby and hear the heartbeat! I can't wait! Wills has been so amazing through all of my whining and crying and running to the bathroom every 10 minutes. He is so thoughtful and kind and so willing to get me anything I need (or food I crave late at night) I'm so grateful to have him and I can't wait to have kids that are just like him. We are so happy to have this wonderful gift and blessing in our lives. We've been trying for almost a year with no luck and our prayers have finally been answered. Our testimonies have definitely grown through it all and we know that the Lord's timeline is always better than ours. I'm so grateful for my Savior and for this great plan of Happiness! What an incredible blessing that Wills and I are sealed in the Temple and that our beautiful family can be together forever!

Jolley Family Reunion!

2009-06-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

At the end of May, Wills and I traveled up to Vernal, Utah for Kristine's graduation. The whole family was there! Mom and Dad Jolley, Robin and Charlie AND Eliza, Heather and Ryan and of course cute little Kristine! We all stayed at Mom and Dad's house for the whole week and had an absolute blast! We got to do alot of things! We went on a small hike to see petroglyphs, we went to a cool new dinosaur museum, we went rock wall climbing and swimming, we also went camping in Flaming Gorge. We packed so much into one short week, but it was still so nice and relaxing at the same time. It was so nice to spend time with everyone. We hadn't seen many of them for nearly a year! Eliza was so cute and fun to play with! I took ALOT of pictures of her! We were also so proud of Kristine at her graduation. She is now moving on to BYU for the summer. We were so sad to leave. We miss everyone already! Thank you so much Mom and Dad for an excellent family reunion! It was definitely a success!! Love you all!

My Husband Likes to "Swift" Me Off My Feet!

2009-06-12T19:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, the pictures are pretty fuzzy but, a few weeks ago I was kind of having a rough day. I was just busy and stressed and tired (probably because I was pregnant and didn't know it) But when I was about to leave work that day I got a text from Wills asking me if I liked the country singer, Taylor Swift. And I said YES! I love her! It turns out that Wills had gotten his hands on some free tickets to her concert in Glendale that were up for grabs at his work. I was so stoked. We both had never been to a huge concert like this before and we were so excited to go! When we got there we started looking for our seats. We figured they would be up in the nose bleed section cause the tickets were free, but as we continued to search for the seats we couldn't find them anywhere. After convincing Wills to go ask someone where our seats were, we were told that we would have to take the elevator to get to our seats. So we were thinking, oh great, they are REALLY in the way high nose bleed section! So we get on the elevator and a man inside checks our tickets and he takes us to the floor we needed to go to. When we got off on that floor there was nobody around! There was a set of closed double doors right in front of us and then a door that led to the stairs. So we went through the double doors and we were a little confused because we weren't really inside the stadium seating area. It turns out that those tickets were for BOX SEATS and it included a free $20 to order dinner! We had an absolute blast! We had an excellent view of the stage and we sat in nice seats, everything was awesome! The concert was great! Even Wills enjoyed it (even though it was a very girly concert.) It was such cool night and I had an amazing time AND it was all free! THANKS WILLS!!!

Jumping the Gun for our One YEAR Anniversary

2009-05-18T16:41:00.000-07:00

With our one year mark fast approaching and a crazy summer ahead of us, Wills and I decided to celebrate our anniversary a little early this year while I still had furlough days to use up at work. So last Friday we woke up at the crack of dawn--our ipod fully loaded with Beach Boys songs--and headed for San Diego. We are done with school (for now) and all we wanted to do was relax on the beach for the weekend. So that's exactly what we did! We got there late Friday morning (we only got lost once--not my fault!) and we drove directly to Ocean Beach. To my dismay the weather was cold and overcast, but I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that a little cloud coverage wouldn't get my eternal sunshine of a husband down! He practically ran into the public restroom at the beach to change into his swim suit. Then he helped me set up our blanket on the beach and next thing I knew, he was off! Out of my sight and into the freezing ocean before I could even pull my sweater over my head! I couldn't believe it! (well I guess I could believe it...)But it didn't even phase him! He was out there for a long time just swimming and looking like a little kid who has never seen the ocean before. It as pretty cute. So after I made him come back to the blanket and dry off, we left to our hotel. Wills had booked it for us and he was keeping it a surprise for me. I couldn't believe we were actually staying at this place when we pulled up! It was big and beautiful and it was right next to the ocean!! That man KNOWS what I like! After relaxing in our room and sitting in the hot tub for awhile we left for dinner which was at a big hotel on Coronado Island (just off the coast of San Diego). It was absolutely gorgeous! I couldn't believe we were able to get a table there. It was pretty fancy! Wills and I were feeling adventurous that night so we ordered sea food, neither of us are sea food fans so it was a big step! Wills got Lobster Bisque and Sword fish while I stuck with the crab (which was really yummy!)After a beautiful meal, we walked out of the restaurant and onto the beach. We took off our shoes and held hands as we walked down the shore. It was the perfect evening and VERY romantic! The next morning, we decided that the beaches on Coronado were much more clean and pretty than the ones in San Diego, so we went to our little island again to eat some breakfast and then lay on the beach for the rest of the day. The sun was shining and it was a perfect day to swim in the ocean , build sand castles and lay out (which we did!) By the end of it we were pretty fried. We were both a dark shade of red, which didn't make the trip home very fun. But driving home wasn't all that bad if you ask my husband. He is still raving about the fact that we got pulled over by border patrol. When we were almost through Yuma, we had to drive through a border patrol check point (one of many that we had to stop at along our way) At this particular stop the officers had police dogs there to sniff for any illegal substances in each car. As we stopped next to the check point, the dog smelled our car and started going wild! It was barking like crazy and trying to pull away from the leash to get at our car. So they had us pull over to a tented area so they could search the car. Four officers had to escort us away from our vehicle and Wills was patted down and asked if he was carrying any weapons or drugs. He said "No" obviously and they continued to guard us while the dog and 6 other officers searched through everything in our car. While we were waiting I started talking to one of the officers that was making sure we stayed put. I told him that I knew there was nothing illegal in our car and asked him what the dog could be smelling to make him bark like that. Wills had thought it was the bag of french onion Sunchips that we had just opened (silly man), but the officer told us that these dogs are trained to smell for 5 different types of narcotics and can also tell when there are people hiding in the car. He said one of the drugs they can smell is marijuana, which is oil based. He said marijuana is very popular in California and if anyone was near us after using it or had touched our car or touched anything that we had in our car, the dog would be able to catch that sent and alert the officers. It was pretty wild, but exciting too. Wills was pretty much in heaven. He loves that kind of stuff. During the whole thing, I couldn't help but being grateful that we are members of the church and keep the commandments and laws of the land. That experience would have been terrible if we were stressed the whole time that they might find something. Instead we were able to be confident and honest towards the officers and we were able to proceed home. The whole trip was only two days long, but it was probably one of the best vacations I had ever been on. I love my husband so much! Wills is my everything and I can't believe that we've already been married a whole year! (almost) I'm so grateful for all that I have. We have been so blessed.

GOOGLE SEARCH: funny pictures of babies

2009-04-17T08:57:00.001-07:00

So yesterday was kind of a long, boring day, so while we were both at work, we started to email each other funny pictures that we found online. It was kind of a competition to see who could find the best one. Wills hit the jackpot when he typed in "funny pictures of babies" in the google image search. I was laughing so hard at work that people kept coming back to my cubicle to see if I was okay. Some of these pictures may seem a little cruel and harsh if you take them seriously, but we both have a pretty sarcastic sense of humor so we thought these were hysterical! I thought I would post them mostly for myself, so I could go back and look at these when I'm having a bad day. I still laugh when I see some of these! So here they are! The best of the best that we found yesterday! Enjoy! Life is too short not to laugh at the little things!

Utah Trip for Cameron's Wedding

2009-04-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

Last month Wills and I made the long trip up to Utah! We were very excited because we hadn't seen any of the Jolley's since we got married in June! We drove all the way up to Provo in 9 hours thanks to Wills' driving skills! I was always under the impression that it takes 12 hours! We stayed with Grandpa Robinson in his lovely house and drove with him to the wedding in Salt Lake! Cameron is Wills' first cousin on his mom's side. They are best friends and they look like brothers! (except Wills is taller) The wedding was beautiful! It was my first time being inside the Salt Lake temple and it was breathtaking! We had such a nice time with everyone! It was so good to see Wills' grandpa, his parents and our sister and brother-in-law, Heather and Ryan. I wanted to kick myself later for not taking any pictures while we were there! These pictures are courtesy of my lovely mother-in-law, Marilyn. (Thanks Mom!) We had such a wonderful time and we can't wait for the family reunion in May!

"It's OK Tia!" Party

2009-04-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

One of the duties I was given before Buddy left was to take care of and look out for Buddy's true love, Tia Brown. And since she has been pretty sad since Buddy left, I thought it would be a good idea to have a girls night with chocolate and chick flicks and all of that kind of stuff. But knowng me, when I plan something I usually make it alot bigger than it really needs to be. Instead of just having a simple girl night at my apartment, I turned it into an "It's OK Tia!" Party and invited all of my aunts and girl cousins and a few friends to all come and cheer Tia up! I told everyone that it was a chocolate potluck, so everyone brought a huge variety of chocolate good stuff! Our tiny apartment was packed, but we all had alot of fun and Tia was pretty surprised! We all crammed into the tiny living room to watch Pillow Talk that night and we talked about Buddy and took alot of pictures. All in all, I would say that the night was a success! I love you Tia! And always remember that It's OK! He'll be back before you know it!

Bowling with Buddy

2009-04-08T19:11:00.000-07:00

For Buddy's last weekend before he left we all decided to go bowling. It was Buddy, Tia, Nick, Wills and me. We were all pretty terrible at bowling, except for Wills who just happens to be good at everything, but we had alot of fun goofing around and making the bowlers next to us feel uncomfortable. (refer to the pictures above) Buddy is one of my best friends and I will miss him terribly while he's on his mission in Rome, Italy. I know he'll be an amazing missionary. The night he got set apart I cried alot. He received an amazing blessing and I know he will be protected by guardian angels as he goes and serves. As I helped him pack the night before he left it still didn't feel real that he was actually leaving. Now he has been gone for a whole week and I still can't believe he is gone!

If any of you don't already have the link to my parent's blog it is www.koozerklan.blogspot.com to see all of the updates and emails from Elder Koozer.

ZOO

2009-04-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago, we borrowed my aunt Phoebe's year round zoo pass and spent the day at the Phoenix Zoo. Wills had never been there so it was fun to show him around. We had alot of fun, but while we were walking around we started noticing alot of little kids being chased around by parents and alot of crying babies in strollers. We are really excited to have children, but it is nice to have this time with just the two of us to do things that are fun and relaxing, cause we know in the future that...well...it probably won't be too relaxing.

Can We Build It? Yes We Can!!

2009-04-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

Wills and I have a new thing for building forts in our living room. We have both gotten really good and creative with it too! It is an art and something we like to do when we have our movie nights. We scoot our couch back and bring in all sorts of sheets and odds and ends. We spend lots of time putting every piece in place and redesigning if it doesn't turn out cool enough. Lets just say using the word "fort" is now an understatement! When we build, we build 'em big! It might sound really immature, but we are totally okay with that. We like to feel like little kids sometimes and there is nothing more fun than watching movies and eating popcorn in a fort that you built yourself!

Buddy's Birthday!

2009-04-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

Lots of birthday stuff, but this was Buddy's last birthday before he left on his mission so I had to throw him a party! I invited Buddy and Tia and Nick and Jordann to our apartment for the event. Wills and I got buddy a few gag gifts and we basically just hung out, ate cake and laughed non stop the entire evening. Most of the presents we got him had to do with his mission. We got him a night light with a picture of Nick on the top so he won't be scared at night in Italy. We also got him a big plastic bow tie so he could look sharp, some big ears so he could listen to the spirit and big lips so he could proclaim the gospel to everyone and a big nose, because it looked funny... We had alot of fun and Buddy was a good sport as usual. The pictures really say it all! Happy 19th Buddy!

My Birthday!

2009-04-08T17:54:00.000-07:00

Wow! Lots to catch up on! I have not been very diligent with this blog at all! I wanted to post some pics from my birthday in February. I had such a fun day it would be a shame not to share about it! The parties actually started before my actual birthday this year. I got a surprise birthday from the adorable Abplanalp family a few days before and party on valentines day at my aunt Phoebe's house with a huge CHOCOLATE cake! I was very spoiled this year! I got to have the day off on my actual birthday, but Wills had to work from 2 to 11. So to make up for being gone he planned a scavenger hunt that led to each of my birthday presents from him. He got my family involved too. They would randomly call me all day and give me clues that led to the presents around our apartment. He was very creative and I had so much fun! Later that night after I had gotten a pedicure and gone to the mall to pick out a new outfit, my aunts and all of my girl cousins took me out to see Shopaholic. It was way cute! Total chick flick! The funniest thing about it was that it was about a girl in a green scarf, and I just happened to be wearing a green scarf to the movies that night! We all had a blast! Thanks to everyone who came! Love you!

Valentine's Day with my Sweetie!

2009-02-20T21:34:00.000-08:00

This year, my darling Wills, had to work on Valentine's Day so we decided to celebrate on his day off --Thursday. We had alot of fun together and we couldn't believe that it had already been a year since he proposed to me! For the special day, Wills got me a dozen beautiful, red roses, a cute teddy bear and CHOCOLATE!! And I got him these cool cuff links that unscrew to reveal a secret note that I can write on and leave in there for him! They are so cool and he loved them! He told me he felt like James Bond with a cool new gadget to use! I was so glad he liked them! That evening I had to go to class, but when I got back, Wills had set up a beautiful candle lit dinner for us. It was gorgeous and I couldn't believe he had done all that without my help! During dinner we read 10 reasons why we loved each other and talked about how amazing this past year had been for us. After dinner Wills took me to the Mesa temple. He told me how much he loved me and actually proposed to me again on the temple grounds! It was definitely cheesy, but I LOVED it! He always knows exactly how to make me smile! After that we had fondue and dipped strawberries, cream puffs and bananas in chocolate as we watched While You Were Sleeping. It was all very romantic! Definitely the best Valentine's day that I've ever had! I love my Wills so much and I'm so blessed to have him forever!

They are gonna KILL ME for posting these pictures!

2009-02-10T22:32:00.000-08:00

These are some pictures from our very exciting trip to New Mexico. Some of them are very scary, but I laugh my head off every time I see them. I decided that I couldn't be selfish anymore, I had to share these with the rest of the world!

I went along with my aunts and my cousin Josh to go see my uncle/ brother-in-law (its complicated) Charlie who was going to be in New Mexico for a few days. While we were there we celebrated my mom's and aunt Sarah's birthdays. My mom was born on January 25th and Sarah was born January 24th. To celebrate we had a Mexican Fiesta! We had a pinata there that looked like Nacho Libre and we also had scary looking teeth that we all wore to sing happy birthday in. I had so much fun! I have never laughed so hard in my life. The drive there and back was a blast too! We went in Phoebe's car and watched Heroes all the way there and back! I love all of my aunts, they are all like mothers to me! I'm so glad I got to go with them!

P.S.

Please don't be mad! It had to be done!

eww..Snow.

2009-02-09T11:00:00.001-08:00

I thank goodness everyday that I live in the Valley of the Sun. Arizona is dry and hot, just the way I like it! But I found these pictures and I thought I would post them and dedicate them to those certain family members who live in what might as well be the North Pole! I don't know how you do it, but I am proud to know people who would brave the cold like that every winter! These pictures are from last year when I went up to Idaho to go get proposed to. Wills and I went down this big mountain of snow on an inner tube. Unfortunately for me, this outing turned into a snow fight. I don't like referring to myself as a loser, so lets just say I didn't win. I had snow in my hair and boots and everywhere in between and I was so cold, it hurt! It HURT! I don't know why anyone would choose to live in an icy death trap, called snow! I miss you all! Come stay warm with us in AZ!!

The FairyTale Begins!

2009-01-27T09:50:00.000-08:00

Wills and I were married on June 5th, 2008. It was the happiest day of our lives and we loved sharing it with all of our family and friends!It has almost been a year now since he proposed to me in icy Rexburg, Idaho and life has been a whirl wind ever since. With work and school and church callings we hardly ever have time for ourselves. We live in a cozy (tiny) one-bedroom apartment/guest house and we love it there. It is absolutely perfect for us for now. We don't know what the future holds for us, but we are excited about the fact that ANYTHING is possible and ANYTHING could happen! We trust in the Lord and know that he will plant us where he wants us. (hopefully we'll be planted in Arizona!)
We love you all and hope you enjoy our blog!