Peter and Kira Jay

Vent About the Job Market

2012-01-18T09:21:00.001-08:00

Well, I'm still looking for a new job. I have a title company and I have done some legal work on the side, but I would rather get a job somewhere and do the title work on the on the side, since it takes so little time.

The frustrating thing about finding a new job is that I have two graduate degrees and I've seen so many people who are bad at their jobs and have little education making a lot of money. As an MBA student I did some consulting for a manufacturing company. I reviewed and organized all of the HR files and created spreadsheets and charts to manage all of the HR, because the HR director was "so overwhelmed" and "behind" on everything. The HR director told me it was so much work that it would take about 2 weeks. It took me 2 days, and I got to see what everyone's salaries at the company were. The HR director was making $70k and would take two weeks to do what it took me two days to do, because the HR director was unorganized and wasted a lot of time. The managers of the manufacturing plant were making $100k+ and were going back to school to get their associates in business at a junior college and were telling me how hard their algebra classes were. They were making six figures, and I can't find a job. The HR Director sure made it look like she was working very hard, that she was really busy all the time, and that her job was very complicated. I soon realized it was only complicated for her.

I've worked at other jobs as well where I oversaw some aspects of HR, since I have a law background, and saw the salaries some employees were making. Some, who were paid more than I was would often come and ask me how to do their jobs, after they had been working at the job for 5+ years! That makes me believe that a good education is better than 5 to 10 years experience at a job, which is what a lot of jobs are asking for. It's better to find someone with a good education. There were also people with high salaries who were doing very simple jobs. They could have pulled anyone out of a college business class to do it, and paid about $30k, but the company was paying the employees $60 to $80k.

I've also worked for some high paid managers who get in the way instead of lead the way at their companies. They micromanage and slow down everything and then blame everyone else for it. They work super long hours and their offices are a mess. It takes them hours just to find information some time, and they duplicate a lot of work. They over-complicate everything and it gives the impression that their jobs are very complicated, but really they are just completely unorganized, waste a lot of time, are very poor time managers, and are poor managers of their employees. But they always give the employees the impression that "the boss works so hard, he really cares about this business." Some employees actually fall for those kind of politics.

Since becoming an attorney, I've talked some attorneys who didn't know what they were doing as well. I talked to one prosecutor about a DUI case I was working on. He told me that in the court he works in, he always does pleas in abeyance for DUIs. I had to point out to him that the Utah state code specifically prohibits a plea in abeyance for a DUI. If he has really been doing pleas in abeyance for DUIs, he has been violating the statute, along with the judge in the court he works in, if the judge has been allowing it. But, I'm just a new attorney with only a year experience as in-house counsel, so no one will hire me.

When I was a law student, I worked as a research assistant for a professor. The professor asked me to find a case. When I found it after just a few minutes of searching, she came and asked me to show her how I did it. I pulled it up again on the computer using a search database, while she was standing there watching. She would have spent several hours doing legal research, looking through books to find the case, or would have at least taken a lot longer searching online. I also edited a bill for the legislature and I did a find and replace change, which had to be structured a certain way to make it work. The other older employees were surprised I was able to fix it so fast and said they would have gone through and made each change individually even though it was 500 pages long. It would have taken them hours.

I also had a position where I had to create financial statements for a company. It took me about half an hour and I didn't think much of it, using my spreadsheets that I had already put together to make financial statements. Later that day a person who had been in international banking for 30 years called my boss on the phone and said she couldn't believe I put them together so quickly. It would have taken her 8 hours she said. She also said I should get paid for 8 hours for it instead of half an hour. If she and I were applying for a financial job, she would have a much better chance at getting it than I would.

I guess I just have to work on giving the appearance of working hard and "appearing" to have a complicated job, instead of making it look easy and just getting my job done. If you make it look easy, people don't think you're doing much and don't think you should get paid so much. You may even work yourself out of a job.

Baby Mason

2012-01-05T20:33:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos of Baby Mason

Baby Mason in his baby blessing outfit and hat

Baby Mason in his baby blessing outfit laying on a little red couch

Laid Off and Looking for New Job

2011-11-14T14:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I (Peter) got laid off from my job, completely, as of the last day of September, so I have time to make blog posts now. I worked for the past year and a half as General Counsel at a company doing In-Flight Entertainment. After being laid off, I still have worked for the company as an independent contractor on an hourly basis. The company provided portable media players to airlines, which the airlines in turn provided to their passengers. I did all of the legal work for the company and created financial business models to analyze the company's finances, review sales opportunities, and new business development opportunities. I negotiated, drafted, and reviewed commercial contracts. I also set up the company's Simple IRA retirement plan and administered it. I managed all of the litigation for the company, including patent infringement defense and collections. I also managed intellectual property development, filing trademarks and working with outside counsel to file patents.

Now I'm looking for a new job. I've applied for many positions and have had four interviews. None of them have panned out yet though, even though I have done everything on the job descriptions for some of them. I have 1.5 years experience as in-house counsel, but if someone else has more than 1.5, they are the ones that get the job. I heard there were DOZENS of attorneys applying for the last job that I interviewed at, but at least I was able to get into an interview our of the dozens.

I've been looking for jobs at Indeed.com, Monster.com, BYU Intercollegiate Job Bank, UVU Faculty Jobs, BYU Faculty Jobs, LDS Employment Services, LDS Jobs, Utah.Jobs.Gov, Utah Government and Federal Government jobs. I've also applied for jobs I've heard about from others.

The timing has been nice actually, since we just had a baby last month, and I was able to spend a lot more time helping out Kira, Adlee, and the new baby, Mason. I'm actually not worried at all that something will work out, when it is supposed to. It always does if you just do what's right and pay your tithing. It would be nice if something worked out pretty soon though.

I started a title company called West Lake Title Insurance Agency, with two other attorneys. We have closed on a few houses in the last month, but we need to close on some more. We do the title insurance, document preparation, escrow, and closing on residential and commercial property transactions.

I've also done some legal work on the side since getting laid off, including criminal defense, and landlord tenant cases. It's pretty fun doing litigation work for clients. But finding clients is the problem. I don't know the best way to market a law firm.

I've applied for MBA jobs as well, but haven't even had an interview for any of them, even though I have about three and a half years experience in international trade, in marketing and strategy, regulatory, finance and taxes, and contract law.

I could probably find a job quicker if I applied outside of Utah, but we don't really want to move somewhere else, plus I own a title company here and I've passed the bar in Utah. I would have to pass the bar in another state to practice law there.

If anyone knows of any law or MBA jobs in Utah let me know. Thanks!

July

2011-09-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

Adlee's 2nd haircut

Trying to get a picture with my girl but she never looks at the camera

Sparklers!

Sparklers with cousins

Eagle Mountain opened a splash pad in July.

This is what Adlee did every time we tried to take her to the splash pad.

4th of July

Whenever Adlee got a sparkler she thought Paige should have one too!

My passed out princess

We started potty training in July.

Green Jello with carrots at Noah's baby blessing in Vernal

Adlee LOVES dogs! This is my friend Lindsey's dog.

FHE Temple Night

2011-09-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

I found a few more pictures from June. We took Adlee to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple for FHE at the end of June. We ate pizza and rootbeer on the lawn and then took a walk around the temple. We also talked to her about the temple. It was a fun night.

May & June

2011-09-21T16:26:00.000-07:00

Adlee's favorite place to sit in the backyard

Pete made me a delicious fruit pizza for Mother's Day!

Poor Adlee got really sick the night before her 2nd birthday and on her 2nd birthday

This is right after she threw up in the car

Adlee with her princess cake

She woke up to a pool full of balloons on her birthday. This is the best picture. She looks miserable in the rest from being sick

We celebrated with family the day after her birthday

Adlee loves Dora!

Dora glasses and microphone.

Swimming in the pool

First pedicure

April

2011-09-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

Took Adlee to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point.

She loved her first ever pony ride! I really need to take her back again.

Cute cousins

Playing in the April snow

First Easter egg hunt!

We went to St. George for Pete's brother Tim's wedding. We all stayed in a big house together. We did an Easter egg hunt for all the grandkis

Adlee did not want to sit in this picture. Every picture I took she was trying to escape

Dancing with the Groom

Dying Easter Eggs

Love this face

She loved putting stickers on the eggs

We took Adlee to the Springville Easter Egg hunt

We gave Pete some Hoho's for his birthday. Adlee found them and tried to eat them all!

pics from phone

2011-09-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

Had some problems with blogger last time I posted so I haven't posted in a while. Thought I'd giving blogging another try.

Here are some random pictures from my phone from January to about May

She inherited this from the Jays

Easter morning

Pretty tulips and a beautiful girl!

Tulip festival with Nana

Checking out the fish pond

Adlee loves the park!

Going for a walk is exhausting

Found Mommy's makeup

March

2011-04-05T14:27:00.000-07:00

Adlee & Pete fell asleep on the floor in Adlee's room. Adlee pretty much never falls asleep outside her bed.

Playing with barbies at Nana's house.

She found these butterfly wings and thought they were the greatest thing.

We took Adlee to the duck pond by Pete's work again. She loves it!

We bought Adlee a big thing of Easter Eggs. She's had a blast playing with them and putting them inside all her toys.

The Jay family will appreciate this one.

February

2011-04-05T14:07:00.000-07:00

I didn't take very many pictures in February.

Adlee helping me bake. Her favorite part was licking the brown sugar out of the measuring cup when we finished.

Josh and his girlfriend came over for homemade Indian food one night. For some reason this is the only picture I have of that night. We bought Adlee some big girl underwear for when we officially potty train her. I like how she decided to wear it.

Poking her eye out. She asks for a spoon no matter what she's eating, whether the meal requires one or not.

Poor baby got really sick in February. She finally passed out after throwing up 14 times.

Family Pictures

2011-04-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

My friend Lindsey took our family pictures back in December. She always does a fantastic job! Here are a few from our photo shoot

We had a hard time getting Adlee to cooperate in general. She definitely didn't want to cooperate on her own. She still looks cute even though she wouldn't smile.

The Rest of January

2011-04-05T13:38:00.000-07:00

Here are few more pictures from January.

Adlee kept asking for the dog to get into bed with her. We told Mila to jump in and she did, gladly for a treat.

Mila getting into bed with Adlee before she went to sleep became a regular occurrence for a while.

We go to my parents house for dinner every other Sunday. Adlee always looks forward to playing with Josh when we go. She loves him!

A video of Adlee right after church one Sunday. Notice her Yoga moves. We were doing P90X back then and she saw us doing the Yoga video a few times and decided to copy us.

2011-01-28T14:11:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures from January :)

Pete reading to Adlee. Reading is one of Adlee's favorite past times.

We were teaching Mila to go to her bed and lay down and Adlee wanted to play the game too.

Adlee loves to take Mila on walks.

We've gone on walks and to the park a few times times during the day even with snow on the ground because we just had to get out of the house.

I was trying to capture cousins hugging but I think Luke pushed Adlee by the time my camera took the picture.

December

2011-01-27T14:13:00.000-08:00

The Booths kindly invited us to see the reindeer and lights at Thanksgiving Point for FHE in December. We also went to a live nativity. We had a good time (minus the long nativity line). Here are some of the kids petting the reindeer.

Part of the Booth fam.

I don't think Adlee cooperated for many pictures this night.

On our way to the live nativity

I don't think I got a picture of the entire Booth family together. Cute nonetheless

Adlee and I made a pineapple upside down cake together. This was Adlee's first time baking. She was proud of her creation!

Pete wrapped his present the fastest at a contest at my aunt's house.

Adlee got into the hershey kisses that everyone had in cups for a game. This chocolate mess was all over my pants too.

Cousins playing on the stage at the Jay family Christmas party at the church.

Adlee with the Moore girls.

Santa brought Adlee her own "Dumbo" and mommy for Christmas! She loves Dumbo and was excited to have her own!

She got some play dough in her stocking.

Excited about her Elmo book!

Her own ride!

Uncle Josh reading her one of the Dr. Seuss books he gave her for Christmas.

I love these two!

Love :)

I left a permanent marker on the kitchen table and Adlee got a hold of it for less than 30 seconds. The kitchen table also had some nice black marks but luckily came out.

November

2011-01-27T13:48:00.000-08:00

I finally decided to update our blog again with monthly updates from the last 3 months.

Adlee got up early with us on election day. She liked the I voted stickers we received for voting.

This was one of the first times I put all her hair up in a pony tail and it all stayed (until she took a nap). She looks like a big girl with her hair all up.

Pete works right next to a duck pond. We've taken Adlee there a few times. We remembered the camera this time when we stopped by after picking Pete up from work.

She really enjoyed feeding the ducks. In this picture she is contemplating whether to eat the bread herself or feed it to the ducks.

A video of Adlee feeding the ducks.

We bought Adlee a snow suit on black Friday. This was the first time she wore it. She could hardly move in it. I intentionally bought it a little big so it would last her all winter.

This was our first snow at our house.

Mila likes laying in the snow. Apparently the cold doesn't bother you when you have a nice fur coat.

A cute picture of my sweetheart!

Couponing

2010-11-03T20:32:00.000-07:00

I don't know if anyone really reads my blog any more since i'm so inconsistent at posting.

I've been considering trying couponing but feel a little overwhelmed by it. Does anyone do this and have any advice?

Mila & Adlee

2010-11-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

Adlee loves to grab Mila's leash and tease her with it. We came in from a walk and Adlee decided Mila needed to take one around the house too.

Here's a video of Adlee climbing into her highchair at the beginning of October before we got her booster seat.

Can't Wait

2010-11-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

We have been waiting a very long time to move into our first house! We should finally be in by the end of the week!

Here are a two pictures I had on the camera from the last time we went through it!

Kitchen

Part of our bedroom

In other good news:

Pete & I celebrated our 4 year anniversary last weekend in Park City! It was so nice to get away together! We took this picture on a hike. It was so beautiful up there with all the fall colors!

Lawyer

2010-11-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

Pete was sworn into the Utah State Bar in the middle of October. We are so proud of him!!! All of his hard work finally paid off. He is now a lawyer!

The pictures from the actual ceremony all turned out blurry or were too far away. So these are from the reception afterward.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-31T21:50:00.000-07:00

We took Adlee to the pumpkin patch this week. It was a lot of fun! We went through a small corn maze, looked at some farm animals and picked out our pumpkins.

Leading the way through the corn maze!

They had some fun things for kids to play in. This was a big Jack o lantern.

Yay for big pumpkins!

Daddy met up with us to pick out pumpkins.

Halloween

2010-10-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

We took Adlee trick or treating last night! She had a blast! It was pretty cold and it rained a little, so we didn't go for too long. She figured out pretty quick that people were going to put candy in her bucket at each door. She clutched onto the cauldron and wouldn't let go!

The only picture we got of us with Adlee's eyes open. I made Adlee's costume earlier this week. Pete and I threw our costumes together right before at the last minute. I planned on us being the Flintstones for a long time but never got around to buying or making costumes for me and Pete.

An attempt with Dino. (I should have sprayed Mila purple or put a dinosaur costume on her) Almost every picture looks like this. Adlee has started closing her eyes for pictures.

Cheese! (Surprise! her eyes are closed)

Out trick or treating. We were freezing!

Pete & Mila trick or treating

Adlee got a serious sugar high when we came back to the house. It was hilarious! She ran around forever pushing her grocery cart, giggling and chasing Mila around.

I carved the bottom pumpkin and Pete carved the middle one.

August

2010-09-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

A few pictures of Adlee playing, just cause I think she's cute!

On our way to Farm Country at Thanksgiving point during 2 buck Tuesdays

Checking out the animals at Farm Country

Watching the Llama

Riding the tractor

Going for a ride behind a real tractor

Trapped in jail!

Best buddies

I did my first full length sprint triathlon mid August. I'd done a mini sprint before but this was a whole different beast with the swim in a reservoir instead of a pool and 4x the distance.

Running in for the finish! I was glad to be done! It was a lot of fun and I definitely want to do another one! Especially so I can do it without having bike problems!

We took a trip out to Vernal to go water rafting with Joni and Aaron and some of the Jays! Adlee and Mila were exhausted after the long weekend!

We went to $2 Tuesdays at Thanksgiving point again but this time checked out the gardens!

These pictures are out of order. This is when we were in Vernal at Joni & Aaron's house. Adlee tried on Luke's chicken costume.

We took a different route back from Vernal so I could see some of my relatives graves and the towns they lived in. Adlee is standing by my great-grandparents grave in Duchesne. We also went to Tabiona and Hanna where my grandfather was born and raised and some of my other ancestors are buried. It's a really beautiful area in the summer time!

July

2010-09-09T15:57:00.000-07:00

We went to Stadium of Fire at the BYU Football stadium on July 3rd to celebrate the 4th. Carrie Underwood performed and there were tons of amazing fireworks after!

On our way to the stadium

Clapping for the show

Eating Nana's watch. She steals my mom's watch any chance she gets.

Adlee discovered her love for bags. She started wearing a bunch of my mom's bags like jewelry one day.

Then she decided the big bath tub was a fun place to play.

Where's your nose? Right here!

Adlee's first time in her pink chair we got her for her birthday (a month late, I had to find a good deal)

We went to This is the Place in Salt Lake with my friend's Kelly and Erin and their kids. They had $2 Wednesdays! Adlee is waiting to ride the train.

On the train ride, pointing to the ducks in the pond.

Adlee loves playing in the dog crate! I think she goes in there way more than Mila does!

Locking herself inside

Locking Mila in

I wonder who likes the crate more?

This face makes me laugh!

We went kayaking at Mona Reservoir with the Jays! Pete and Adlee were out kayaking and Mila swam out to see them.

Our whole family kayaking! This was my first time to kayak! It was a ton of fun!

Isn't the scenery beautiful!

Adlee running by

Laughing on the floor!

Adlee and Daddy walking to the park. She knows her way there by herself.

Adlee and Mila running around in the park.

She loves climbing up the stairs on the playground!

She loves to climb on everything (Including the kitchen table and into her highchair, which is scary)!

Reading books in her chair!

Headed to the park again

Going down the slide by herself.

That was fun!

Running away!

I love this picture! She has the cutest smile!

Enjoying her new trike! We got her trike for free when we got my bike. She can't reach the pedals yet but she loves to climb on it and have us push her around!

Helping Pete study for the bar! We are so glad that is over! Hopefully we will hear the results by the end of September!

Loving her baby

Reading about puppies in her toy basket

Checking out the animals at Cabella's

June

2010-09-09T15:42:00.000-07:00

Adlee turned ONE June 1st! We had a big party the day before at the park. We did a BBQ, cake, ice cream and a pinata for the kids.

Smash cake I made.

This is her purple and pink Princess Adlee cake that I made. I forgot to get supports for it so it collapsed while transporting it to the park. I thought it turned out good before then.

Adlee with her uncle Josh

Digging into her cake

Adlee with her cousin Julia

I love her birthday bib and onsie!

Adlee played with the pinata first before the older kids took a shot at it.

Enjoying the suckers that fell out of the pinata.

She got a baby doll for her birthday from grandma. She was excited!

She thought the baby's bottle was for her.

We met Pete for lunch on Adlee's birthday at the pond across the street from his work. Joni, Emmett and Luke came with us. We had a picnic and fed the ducks.

Chasing the ducks

Joni and Luke

Josh gave Adlee this stroller to go with her baby doll. She thought it was for her instead of the baby. In fact she still tries to get into it on a daily basis.

Adlee got her first haircut.

Cutie with pig tails

Adlee frequently sits with Mila like this. Mila is such a good sport.

Whitney's dog is constantly waiting to be fed while Adlee eats her snacks.

Jill & Stewart had a Luau reception in June.

Mila turned two at the end of June. She is patiently waiting for her birthday treat.

May

2010-09-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

We have over 430 pictures from May. It was a busy month! Here are some of them:

Adlee learned to walk at the beginning of May. Here she is using Mila to support herself.

I turned another year older. We went to a Hibachi grill for dinner. The fire on the grill scared Adlee.

Trip to California

We took a spontaneous trip to Southern California before Pete started his new job. Rodney and Melissa were nice enough to host us on short notice. We stopped and let Adlee play at the McDonalds play place on the drive to LA.

Luckily Adlee did some of this on the long drive.

The Beach

This was Adlee's second trip to the beach. (She was only 4 months the first time)

Handsome brothers and their adorable daughters

Adlee loved playing in the sand! She thought it was fun to knock over the castles.

Playing with her cousins

Anikka got buried in the sand

Then Nathan. He was excited about it.

Pete didn't want Adlee to feel left out so he buried her in the sand too.

Adlee liked climbing in this little chair.

I think these two pictures of Pete and Adlee are adorable. I think it's so cute when daddy's play with their kids.

Disneyland

This was Pete and Adlee's first trip to Disneyland! This is Pete right after he got soaked on the Grizzly River Run.

Adlee liked the bears.

And the ducks!

Family Picture in front of the castle

Waiting in line for Peter Pan. This was the longest line we waited in all day. We got on most rides pretty quickly. It was a good day to go, the weather was nice too.

I was excited to take Adlee on It's a Small World, thinking it would be her favorite since she likes dolls and loves music. She wouldn't sleep the entire day and then she fell asleep for the few minutes we waited in line and wouldn't wake up for anything the entire ride. She woke up a minute after we got off the ride. Oh well, better luck next time.

About to go on the finding Nemo submarine ride.

Adlee loved this chair Anikka had. We wound up getting her one for her birthday in pink.

Nathan hugging Adlee.

We visited our friends Seth and Jane and baby Ryan in Hollywood one evening. I didn't get a picture of Seth Jane while we were together :(

You can barely see the Hollywood sign in the background.

Cute cousins after church, right before the long drive back to Utah

We let Adlee play at the playplace again on the way home. She loved being able to run around.

Wedding

Jill & Stewart got married at the end of May!

Pete, his parents and Adlee waiting to take more pictures

Uncle Tom and Adlee

Uncle Tom with Anikka and Adlee (they just love uncle Tom)

At the dinner after the wedding

Tom gave his missionary farewell talk at church the day after the wedding. We sure miss him!

Adlee with her cousins Caleb and Nathan.

Update! April

2010-09-09T14:45:00.000-07:00

It's been pointed out to me that I have not updated my blog in 5 months! I'm going to do an update for each month in pictures. Here are some pictures from April that I hadn't posted:

Adlee and Mila playing outside in the warm weather

Adlee had fun playing with this flower, she even tasted it! I love the beautiful mountain scenery in the background. (I can't believe how different she looks in these pictures than she does now).

I took Adlee to the Zoo for the first time. She absolutely loved it!

She even liked the water in front of the zoo.

Susannah was kind enough to share her baby doll with Adlee.

We saw the elephants.

And the Giraffes

Adlee enjoying her snacks at the end of our zoo trip.

We went wedding dress shopping with Jill. Adlee had a blast crawling around the dress stores and looking at the pretty dresses. Her favorite thing to do was climb on the pedestal.

We visited grandma Lola in Ogden.

We went to church with grandma too.

Adlee discovered her love for rocks in April.

Pete and I went to a dance at BYU for alumni at the Hinckley Alumni Center. It was a fun date night.

A cute picture of Adlee after her bath before bed.

Fish needs to swim

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

Adlee likes climbing!

Adlee's first basketball game

2010-04-04T20:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

We went to Temple Square and the Conference Center this morning. Too bad we didn't read that children under 8 are not permitted before we went. It was still fun to get Adlee dressed up for Easter and take some cute pictures with the beautiful scenery.
HAPPY EASTER!!

Goose Egg :(

2010-03-31T19:38:00.000-07:00

My poor baby is having a hard week. On Monday, she pulled some pans out of the cupboard in the kitchen and then slipped and hit her head on the corner of one metal pan with the most pressure on the corner of her eye. Her poor little eye was red and swollen. She cried for about 20 minutes and wanted to be comforted. It was so sad! :(
Today while we were making dinner she was standing up by the oven and slipped and hit her head on the corner right smack dab in the middle of her forehead. It looks awful, but luckily she only cried for a minute and then was laughing and playing again. I am afraid we may be in for many more accidents as she continues to try daring things without any fear and learns to walk.

Still smiling even though she's hurt

Videos

2010-03-14T20:42:00.000-07:00

Adlee talks constantly while eating. The end of the video is usually how she sounds the whole time she eats. When she is hungry she says "nummy num" She also says that while eating if she likes what she's having.

Adlee laughing at Mila. She just loves the dog!!!

My Valentine & Feb part 2

2010-03-14T18:50:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of my sweet baby in her Valentine's outfit.

I forgot to rotate these before I uploaded them so they will have to be viewed with your head turned sideways.

I love this, she is always sticking her tongue out!

This one is my favorite!

Adlee loves to play with her daddy's guitar!

A video of Adlee.

Another one I forgot to rotate. Adlee enjoying her food!

Sleeping beauty

Eating a pear - Feb part 1

2010-03-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

Adlee likes to get into EVERYTHING!!! Here she is pulling everything out of the diaper bag. She also found some deodorant.

Adlee chilling in the middle of the floor.

Happy baby wants the camera

I was eating a pear and Adlee crawled to me and decided she wanted to try it too. She sucked it to death!

Adlee and Mila frequently play tug of war with Mila's leash.

Cousins

2010-03-14T18:46:00.000-07:00

The last weekend in January we went to church in Springville for Ariel's farewell and Tom to be ordained an Elder. Everyone in Pete's family was there except for his older brother Rodney, his wife Melissa and their 2 kids, Nathan and Annika. (We missed them!) It was fun to spend a day with all the Jays and for Adlee to play with cousins!

Adlee and her cute little cousin all decked out in their Sunday best.

A sad attempt at a family picture.

Adlee with her cousin Maegan

Adlee and all her cousins with their great grandma Lola

Adlee's first time sledding

2010-03-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

We met Pete's family at Rock Canyon Park in January to go sledding. Mila pulled Adlee and her cousin Gloria around in the baby sled.

Adlee going for a ride in the sled.

She just woke up from a nap. I think she would have been more excited if she was more awake.

Adlee loves strings and buttons

Family pic

Jennie & Gloria

Sleepy baby after sledding.

We woke up in the middle of the night to Adlee standing up in her crib for the first time in the beginning of January.

I love that she sticks her cute little bum up in the air when she sleeps!

Adlee's First Time Swinging

2010-02-17T19:01:00.000-08:00

Adlee is my new swinging buddy. I took her swinging at the park yesterday while Kira got her hair cut. I took some video, but it was with my phone, so it didn't come out very well.

Peter's Sister and Brother Mission Calls

2010-02-15T20:50:00.000-08:00

Peter's sister Ariel received her mission call to the Bucharest, Romania mission. She entered the Missionary Training Center last Wednesday in Provo, UT, to learn Romanian. His brother Tom received a mission call to the Joao Pessoa, Brazil mission. He will enter the Missionary Training Center in Sao Paulo, Brazil in May to learn Portuguese. One of his other younger brothers, Jared will also be sending his papers in soon.

Ariel wanted a blog to post her emails to, so I set one up for her. It is called Jay Family Missionaries. The URL is http://jayfamilymissionaries.blogspot.com/.

We all went hiking before Ariel left. It was Adlee's first time hiking. We hiked up to the 'Y' on the mountain in Provo, above BYU.

Kira and Adlee at the base of the hike

Emily, Jeremy, Tom, Ariel, Peter and Adlee

Adlee, Peter and Kira

Adlee, Peter, Tom, Emily, Jeremy, Ariel

Peter and Adlee. Adlee loves her carrying pack that she got for Christmas

Adlee and her uncle Josh

2010-01-28T21:18:00.000-08:00

My brother Josh comes over to visit on Sunday evenings. He always plays with Adlee when he comes.

Mila and Adlee both wanted to eat his food

Adlee thinks Josh is funny.

Sharing some food

Cuteness

2010-01-21T19:23:00.000-08:00

We dressed up in our Alabama gear to watch Alabama beat Texas in the National Championship game on Jan 7th!

Roll Tide Roll!!

Adlee loves to play with the dog's stuff. She found her leash and thought it was the greatest toy ever!

I love when she has pig tails :)

My pretty princess

2010-01-21T19:20:00.000-08:00

My mom got Adlee this adorable outfit for Christmas. I think she looks so cute in it. Here are some pictures I took of her after church.

Cheese

Such a beautiful face

She likes her pink boots with fur.

The Rest of December

2010-01-21T16:28:00.000-08:00

Adlee did great on her first plane ride. I was so thankful to have my wonderful friend Kelly on the same flight with me. It would have been a lot more stressful without her there and it was much easier to carry the baby and all her stuff with someone there to help. Not to mention it was awesome to have a great friend to talk to the whole way.

This is what she did on the longest leg of the trip from Birmingham to Las Vegas. She was awake from Vegas to Salt Lake but she was really good and hardly fussed at all. I was so glad!

This is Adlee watching her first snow with Grandma. Never mind that she looks like a bum with her PJs half on and wild hair.

I just love this baby!

She really enjoys her bath time!

Grandma bought Adlee a cute outfit for Christmas. These pictures were taken at a Christmas party at my Aunt's house.

Adlee with Grandma and Aunt Paige.

Adlee lover her Grandpa! He always sings her silly songs and makes her laugh.

This is one of my favorite faces that Adlee makes. She does this face when she is excited or sees something she really wants. Usually the arms go out to the side in excitement as well. She was waiting in line to see Santa when this picture was taken.

Mommy and baby in line to see Santa

She loved Santa. She kept looking at him and smiling.

Daddy and baby. Pete was doing a Christmas beard challenge with his brothers.

This is Adlee opening presents Christmas morning.

The wrapping paper was a bigger hit than the presents.

I think my dad took this of Mila but it shows Adlee opening presents too.

This one is blurry, but I still like it because it shows her having fun with the paper.

The End of our Alabama Journey

2010-01-21T16:20:00.000-08:00

It was bittersweet to say goodbye to Alabama. We were excited to move close to our families but very sad to leave the friends we made in Alabama! We made so many wonderful friends there, many of them are much like family to us now.

This is Ruthelle with Adlee. We love Ruthelle so much! She is like a grandma to us! I feel a little better that our good friends Mike and Candace are taking care of her now but I am still sad I don't get to see this amazing lady every day! Ruthelle is 90 years old and dances 3x a week for an hour and still plays the piano! She is the sweetest lady!

We took some pictures in front of the stadium in our AL gear before leaving.

I love this face Adlee makes!

Our dog, Mila is even a Tide fan

We went out to dinner at the yacht club with our Adoptive parents the Jacksons and our good friend Steve before leaving.

In front of the Christmas tree with Steve.

Adlee in her adorable bunny jacket Jackie bought her.

Adlee enjoyed her dinner too :)

She LOVES the baby in the mirror

This is at the yummiest restaurant, The Cypress Inn, with the Jacksons the night before Adlee and I flew to Utah! We miss them dearly!

Graduation Day! Hooray!

2010-01-21T15:59:00.000-08:00

Pete graduated from the University of Alabama on December 12 with a Law and MBA degree! We are so proud of him! He put in a lot of hard work for 3 1/2 years to obtain these degrees!

This is after he was hooded for his law degree. The guy behind him is Associate Dean Bryan Fair, he is a good friend of ours. We got to know Bryan really well when we worked at the dance studio. It was really special to have him be the one to do the honors.

These are Pete's brothers Tom, Rodney and Tim watching the graduation ceremony. Rodney came all the way from California and Tim and Tom came from Utah to be there for Pete. It was really great having them there to share that special day with us.

This is my fabulous mother and father in law! It was great to have them come all the way from Utah for Pete's graduation too! Mom Jay cooked us meals while she was there which was really nice for me to not have to worry about meal planning!

Adlee loves cell phones. She played with Tim's during graduation so she wouldn't get bored.

The graduate and his proud daughter.

The only family picture I took that day.

Pete & his parents

Brothers

Adlee & Grandma

Pete in his graduation get up

In front of the Law School sign

Pete in front of the Business school

Had to take one in front of the stadium too

My mom bought him a big basket of chocolates. These were a few of them that represented Alabama and the law school.

We went to a Christmas light boat show on the river before dinner.

All of us at dinner at Dreamland BBQ

We thought this sign was funny, Never noticed it before that night.

Graduation cake

Beginning of December Update

2010-01-21T15:54:00.000-08:00

These are some random pictures from the first part of December. I'll blog about the rest of December in separate posts.

Cute pictures of Adlee in her tutu.

Adlee on our messy table.

She enjoyed walks and runs in the jogging stroller. (We haven't been able to use it since we moved to Utah...way too cold!)

Funny face

It was pretty cold this day but our neighbors invited us to go on a walk so we bundled up Adlee and went. Our neighbors that moved in across the hall from us at our apartment were from Belarus. We became pretty good friends with them the short time they lived there before we moved since Pete spoke Russian too. It's too bad they didn't live there earlier.

They had twin boys who were two. They were cute! This is everyone but me on the walk. You can only see a tiny bit of Anya behind her husband (i'm not going to try and spell his name, no one that reads this will be able to guess how to say it any way)

Adlee and Hadassah meet again.

November Update

2010-01-21T15:42:00.000-08:00

We found a chocolate fondue fountain on clearance at K-Mart when I was pregnant with Adlee. We finally decided to put it to use at the beginning of November. I couldn't have chocolate the first little while after I had Adlee because it didn't agree with her so that's why we didn't bust it out sooner.

This is Pete with our friend's Kelly and Rachael.

Kelly, Rachael, Joane, Conner and Pete's arm. Apparently he couldn't resist the fountain long enough for me to take a picture of everyone.

Yumminess

Next time I need to make the chocolate thinner so it cascades more easily.

Adlee loves the dog. The dog loves her back most of the time, I think she'd like her way more if she didn't try to pull her hair out.

Adlee loves to play with cords! It would be her favorite toy if we would let her play with them.

Me and my great friends Joane and Kelly at the midnight showing of New Moon. Miss you guys!

This is Hazina and Hadassah. Hazina and Pete went to law school together. They were in the same study group their first year I believe. Hazina and I were due a day apart. I had Adlee about a week before Hazina had Hadassah. This was their first meeting.

Adlee LOVE, LOVES her bouncer! She goes crazy in it. I will have to post a video of her bouncing later.

Loving on her dog again.

October Update

2010-01-21T15:39:00.000-08:00

Again, I am a bad blogger so I am posting updates from the last 3 months. This is mostly for Katie so she can see how Adlee has grown since she is in California and has not seen Adlee since the beginning of August. Adlee is 4 months in all of these pictures.

I love her face in this after trying a new veggie. (I think it was carrots)

Playing on the floor.

She has mashed potatoes on her face here but she looks cute any way.

I love this picture of her sleeping with her bum in the air!

We went to Destin Florida for Pete's fall break in the middle of October. It was so nice to get away for 5 days! We had so much fun with our friend's the Batteens! We miss them a ton!

Eating some seafood. This was Pete's first time to try crab.

This is what Adlee did at the beach in the shade. She was too little to be out in the sun.

It is so beautiful in Destin! The beaches are super white and soft and the water is an amazing clear blue!

Family

Friends

This is a picture on the way home. We had 4 adults a baby and a dog crammed into our Nissan Sentra. It was a good time any way.

We had some pictures taken while Adlee was 4 months.

Kira Versus the Mouse Part II Gus Gus

2009-12-04T15:21:00.000-08:00

Turns out there was a second mouse in the house. After Jaq was caught in the mouse trap for a couple hours and was taken away with a pair of pliers by the maintenance guy, his friend Gus Gus showed up and got stuck on the sticky trap.

Here is a picture of Gus Gus stuck on the trap.

This was written by Pete. Kira was logged in when I wrote it.

6 months

2009-12-04T11:46:00.000-08:00

I am a HORRIBLE blogger! I started this blog at the beginning of December when Adlee was 6 months and never finished it. She is 7 1/2 months now. oops! Here are some pictures from the day Adlee had her 6 month check up at the Pediatrician.

She started to army crawl a few days before she turned 6 months. She was up on all fours rocking here.

Poor baby with her band-aids from her shots. I seriously hate shot day!

The dog was in for it the day Adlee started crawling (well really rolling but its gotten worse the more mobile she's become) Mila is really good with her though. She either let her pull on her or just gets up and moves if she is not in the mood.

Kira Versus the Mouse

2009-12-04T08:57:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday we discovered that we have a mouse that lives under our sink, where it eats our dog's treats sometimes. Our maintenance guy came by on Thursday with some traps for the mouse. The mouse was captured this morning around 5am. I heard a sound and our dog started growling and barking. I got up and opened the cupboard under the sink, and there it was squealing and squirming with a trap stuck to it. Later in the morning it had managed to get to its hole but couldn't get in because the trap was to big to fit in that small space. That's about when I left to work and then Kira got up and had to face the mouse alone.

Here's our chat conversation with Kira stuck at home with the mouse. There are only a few chats, but it lasted for about an hour and a half. Ken is the maintenance guy. I would have taken a picture before I left this morning but I couldn't find the camera.

Kira: r we supposed to call Ken to come get the mouse

me: I don't know

Kira: i'm not picking it up
i don't even want to look at it

me: I think you can handle it

Kira: i can hear it trying to run when I go in the kitchen
no way
i can hear it right now

me: I know, I told you it had been caught
I could hear it too all morning
after I got up

Kira: ken just got him out
i couldnt find the camera
he said he'd never seen it alive still

Kira: do you think its funny ?

Here's one for you Alabamians

2009-11-12T06:56:00.000-08:00

Worst Commercial for a Hair Cut

2009-11-10T21:26:00.000-08:00

Baby's Best Friend

2009-10-25T20:51:00.000-07:00

After a long day of play, my baby and puppy fell asleep in similar positions on a blanket on the floor (the same blanket they were playing on earlier).
Life is sweet!

Mila pays a lot more attention to Adlee now that she is moving around. She lets Adlee pull her hair and kick her. Adlee thinks Mila is hilarious! She always laughs at the dog when she is playing with us.
I take Adlee and Mila on walks sometimes. Adlee loves it! She watches Mila run around and sniff everything while kicking her legs, wiggling her arms and squealing and laughing with delight

Three

2009-10-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

Three years ago today I married my sweetheart and best friend!

2009-10-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

We went to dinner and then to the Tuscaloosa Ballroom Dance Friday night with our friends Steven & Jackie Jackson. We had a blast! There were a lot of people more interested in holding our baby than dancing. We let a few of our friends hold her and we were able to do some dancing...which was really fun!

Jackie took this ADORABLE picture of Adlee!

Family picture at dinner.

Pete made this

Already 4 months and half way to 5

2009-10-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby is already 4 1/2 months! Time is going by WAY too fast!

At her 4 month check up 2 weeks ago she weighed 15 lbs and was 23 1/2 in. She is in the 75th percentile for her weight and head and 25 for her height. Pete said to the doctor "So she's short and fat?" haha The doctor said she is just right, which I agree!

Adlee has wanted to be a big girl from the start. She tried to hold her head up on her own from the get go. She started rolling over both ways just before she turned 4 months. She is almost sitting up now. She does sit up on her own with her hands in front of her. I'm nervous that she is going to crawl early because she is already almost all the way pushing up on her hands and knees. I'm hoping that does not happen. I'm not ready for her to be moving around and getting into everything. She's doing a pretty good job of rolling to get places now though.

I just love this little girl and can not imagine life without her! She brings so much joy to my life! She is a happy baby and is always smiling! She loves to hear the sound of her voice and is therefore always making some kind of cute baby noise. One of my favorite things is her sweet laugh!

Here are a few random pictures close to the time she turned 4 months.

These two are becoming fast friends! If only I could get them to stop trying to taste each other.

Adlee's First Solid Feeding

2009-10-14T16:38:00.000-07:00

Adlee has been interested in our food for several months now. She always stares at me when I eat. Actually any time I eat I have four eyes on me... Adlee and our dog Mila. So when Adlee turned 4 months a couple weeks ago I started her on some rice cereal. The pictures and video below capture the experience.

Pictures of my little sweetheart

2009-09-27T21:23:00.000-07:00

Pictures are from most recent to oldest.

My sweet, crazy haired, chubby, drooling, happy, adorable baby!

Sweet little sleeping princess. This is what she did while we went out to eat with some friends friday night.

Eating her bunny that she just loves to cuddle with! Thank you Alex, Mia and Jason!

All cuddly wrapped in her towel after bath time!

She loves this toy we got for her!

She also really enjoys putting everything in her mouth including her dress.

Adlee Laughing

2009-09-15T22:34:00.000-07:00

This is some video that Kira took of Adlee laughing at a baby shower today. She was actually laughing more before the camera was turned on (which she alwasy does), and then got the hiccups.

Lyrics to Adlees Song

2009-09-08T21:05:00.000-07:00

Here are the lyrics to the song that I wrote for my baby Adlee, since some people wanted to see them. I could probably sing it better, but I didn't feel like trying to record it again.

Sadly Adlee, lying on the floor
Sadly Adlee what ya crying for?
Everything is gonna be okay
We’re gonna wipe those tears away

Baby just take a look around
The butterflies and the bumble bees look down
Fish are swimming in the sea below
All around the flowers grow

Gladly Adlee lying on the floor
Gladly Adlee what ya smiling for?
A little princess living in her dreams
That’s the way that life should be

Can’t you hear the birds singing in the trees
A lullaby blowin’ in the breeze
Puffy clouds float in the sky
Baby you make heaven smile

Gladly Adlee lyin on the floor
Gladly Adlee what ya laughing for?
Sometimes things don’t go your way
Baby just laugh anyway

Don’t you know when you feel the moons warm glow
Or, see the diamonds sparkle in the snow
Throw a coin into a wishing well
You’re in a real life fairy tale

Madly Adlee, lying on the floor
Madly Adlee, what you yelling for?
All the hurt and pain will pass
But our love will always last

Don’t be scared baby it’s alright
Mom and Dad are always by your side
Just look at the stars way up high
The smallest light shines through the darkest night

Baby just take a look around
The butterflies and the bumble bees look down
The ladybugs go crawling by
Fireflies light up the sky

Can’t you hear the birds singing in the trees
A lullaby blowin’ in the breeze
Puffy clouds float in the sky
Baby you make heaven smile

Don’t you know when you feel the moons warm glow
Or, see the diamonds sparkle in the snow
Throw a coin into a wishing well
You’re in a real life fairy tale

Don’t be scared baby it’s alright
Mom and Dad are always by your side
Just look at the stars way up high
The smallest light shines through the darkest night

Sadly Adlee, Lyin’ on the floor
Sadly Adlee don’t you cry no more
You’ll feel better in the morning
Now close your little eyes and go to sleep

PIctures from the last month

2009-09-07T09:53:00.000-07:00

Adlee pretty in pink in the beautiful dress my grandma sent.

This one shows Adlee's chubbiness well

Doing some tummy time before bed.

I like this cute little outfit

I think she is trying to tell me what she thinks about me taking so many pictures :)

Accidentally matching in navy

I look gross but Adlee is cute before swimming

Chillin on the towel after a swim

After church 2 weeks ago

Enjoying some Daddy time

She loves her hands now. She's also obsessed with her feet.

I think this outfit and headband are so cute! Thanks mom!

Adlee's First Swim

2009-09-06T17:11:00.001-07:00

We took Adlee swimming for the first time about a month ago when my Aunt Katie came to visit us for a few days. I am a slacker and have neglected my blog once again so here the pictures from a month ago.

Family picture at the end of swimming

Making a silly face.

Cuddling with Katie in the pool

Ready to head to the pool for the first time.

Katie's Visit

2009-09-06T14:33:00.000-07:00

My aunt Katie came to visit us for a few days in August. We loved having her here! I just wish she could have stayed longer!

Katie holding Adlee

We went to Dreamland BBQ whjile she was here! It was delicious! I can't believe we had never been the whole time we lived here! We also took her to the Cypress Inn. They have the best fried green tomatoes.

We went to the Civil Rights Institute one afternoon. That was also another first for us. It was actually really interesting. The pictures above and below are in front of the 16th Street Baptist Church.

In front of the Civil Rights Institute

Adlee was pretty tired at this point. It was right before we left.

Katie posing inside the museum.

We miss you Katie!

Lying on the Floor - Song for Baby Adlee

2009-08-28T23:19:00.000-07:00

This is a song that I wrote last weekend for our baby Adlee. It's called "Lying on the Floor."

Baby Adlee Video

2009-08-18T18:42:00.001-07:00

We recorded Adlee trying to make her laugh and smile and some of the othe sounds she makes. We got some on video.

2009-08-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

These pictures of Adlee were taken when she was 7 weeks old. My mom bought her the matching onsie, shoes and hat. It was fun to dress her up in it and take some pictures!

The picture below was taken at our trip to the ER. Not a fun night for us. Luckily she has been perfectly healthy every day since then!

I love this cute picture of Adlee at 9 weeks. You can see she put on some weight in the 2 weeks between the first picture in this post to this one.

My friend Kim's mom Paula McEuen made this adorable smocked dress and bonnet for Adlee. She wore it to church a couple of weeks ago and looked so cute!

Falling over!

Happy to go to church!

Adlee PIctures

2009-07-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the last month. The most recent pictures are at the bottom.

Adlee & the Loden's baby Conner born 17 days apart

Adlee in her cute PJs that Lindsey sent.

Adlee with Grandpa Jay

Grandma & Grandpa Wilcken with Adlee and Mila

This is my favorite outfit that my mom got for Adlee

Adlee riding Mila. This picture was taken next to Mila's toy box so it looks messy.

4th of July

2009-07-12T12:06:00.000-07:00

My parents and Pete's parents spent the 4th of July with us this year. It was a lot of fun having family here for the 4th! I thought only my dad was coming for the weekend but my mom surprised me and showed up to! She brought some really cute outfits for Adlee with her. She also made some really cute letters that spell Adlee to put up in her room. Pete's parents came for a week and it was so great having them here! His mom got me addicted to her yummy cookies while she was here.
On the 4th we had some delicious BBQ and home made ice cream! It was all very good and even better since I didn't have to make most of it! We watched the firework show at night to end the day!

Enjoying the firework show.We have to put a bug net over Adlee because there are so many bugs here in the south!

Adlee in her 4th of July outfit that Grandma brought.

My dad...he's lost 50 lbs recently! He looks great!

Pete's mom. She was such a huge help while she was here!!!

Pete and my mom

Grandpa Jay holding Adlee. He was great at getting her to burp.

Blessing

2009-07-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

Adlee was blessed at church last Sunday by her dad. My parents came for the weekend and Pete's Parents were here for a week. It was really fun having our parents here. Our friends that we made through the dance studio, the Jacksons, Ruthelle, Phillip and Steve all attended Adlee's blessing and came over for lunch afterward. It was a really nice day filled with family, friends and good food! We felt very loved! Adlee sitting in her car seat after her blessing. We had to take the dress off to buckle her in because of all the material. I love her dress! My mom bought it for her several months before she was born.

Our little family. It was really hot and humid outside so I look gross. Note to self not to do hair straight when taking pictures in humid weather.

Adlee with Grandma and Grandpa Jay

Adlee with Grandma and Grandpa Wilcken

I love this picture of my mom with Adlee

These are our friends/Alabama parents Steve & Jackie Jackson

Friends and Family who were visitors for Adlee's blessing

First Father's Day

2009-06-28T18:08:00.000-07:00

This is what Pete and Adlee did while I made a coconut cream pie for Pete for Father's day. I thought it was sweet so I had to take a picture of it!
Pete is an awesome daddy! He plays with Adlee, sings to her, changes her, burps her, talks to her and loves to hold her and look at her! I couldn't have picked a better man to be the father of my children! Adlee is lucky to have such a great dad!

Daddy with his yummy pie!

Labor Details

2009-06-14T17:59:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to make a post about how my labor went but life has been a bit busy with the baby! So here it is about 4 weeks later!
I wound up getting induced on Adlee's due date June 1st. My mom came into town on the 27th and we wanted her to be able to spend time with the baby. My doctor thought it was a good day for me to have the baby as well. One big bonus about being induced is that I was able to have my doctor, Dr. Madden, deliver me! He is a fabulous doctor!!!

I had to be at the hospital between 4am and 5am. We arrived closer to 5am with hardly any sleep as we were excited about having the baby that morning. (You can tell I did not sleep by my eyes in the picture). This is the last picture of me pregnant at 40 weeks. It was taken right before they started my labor at the hospital. They started me on pitocin at about 5:40 am and my water broke on its own about 6:20 am. I was planning on doing natural labor. I lasted a good seven hours and then decided to get an epidural when I was still at a 4. This picture of Pete and me was taken after I got the epidural. It was heavenly as you can tell by the smile on both of our faces. Pete was happy when I got the epidural too...he definitely did not enjoy seeing me in pain.
We spent the next about 9 hours just waiting for Adlee to make her arrival. When it came time to push she arrived in less than 20 minutes. She came out with her eyes wide open and I swear she had a smile on her face too! I spent about 16 hours in labor and it was worth every minute to meet this sweet little girl who has brought us so much joy!!!

The proud daddy holding his baby girl.

A Special Dress

2009-06-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

A few weeks before I had Adlee my mom sent me a package in the mail. She sent me a few things for my birthday, a super cute lamp for Adlee's room and a yellow dress and blanket with a note attached. The note said that she and I had both worn the dress home from the hospital and she thought my daughter might like to wear it home too. I had no idea my mom and I had worn the same dress home from the hospital or that my mom still had the dress. My mom, Adlee and I are all the oldest in our families and we all wore the same dress home. The dress is really cute especially on Adlee!

This is a picture I found of me in the yellow dress.

Mom and Baby Moment

2009-06-03T18:34:00.001-07:00

I should have sent this picture out earlier. It's everyone's favorite. The mom and baby moment right after Adlee was born.

Here is a picture of Adlee with her hat off so you can see her head of dark hair. Everyone has been asking to see her hair too.

New Baby Girl!!!!

2009-06-01T20:34:00.000-07:00

Our new baby girl, Adlee Madison Jay, was born today at 9:31pm. She is 7 pounds 2 ounces, and 18 and 1/4 inches long. She has lots of dark hair and we already love her!!!

Birthdays and other stuff

2009-05-14T12:51:00.001-07:00

Pete and I have birthdays that are 8 days apart. Pete turned the big 30 this year! I had two of his friends take him golfing for the afternoon while me and a friend decorated our apartment. After golfing they met us for dinner. Then we went back to our apartment where a bunch of friends were there to surprise him. I was pleased that he was actually surprised and that I didn't spill the surprise ahead of time. It was really hard to keep a secret!

This is my ice cream cake. I wanted a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins but they don't have Baskin Robbins here! I was bummed so I settled for one from Cold Stone...still good but not the same. We didn't have a 7 candle so Pete got creative with the candles we did have. We went out to eat at my favorite restaurant PF Changs up in Birmingham on my birthday! It was super yummy!!!

Pete with his German Chocolate cake at his surprise party.

Some of the people that were at his party.

Pete enjoying golf.

The pictures below are all random pictures taken over the last few months since I have neglected our blog. I need to be a better blogger and update more often. Maybe I will post more when the baby comes and we have something interesting to post about.

This was at the tea party we went to on tax day. They had really delicious pork sausage dogs for free. I'm not telling how many I ate!

We went to the park to have lunch and play bocce ball with our friend's the Batteen's about 6 weeks ago. While there Pete broke his finger catching a football. He has been wearing a splint on it ever since. The picture above is before the finger incident. Pete took our dog through the water fountain.

This is Pete and Mila after they went through the fountain. Pete liked it but Mila hated it!

Over Spring Break we went on a hike out by Holt lake. These pictures are from the hike. We stopped and had a picnic by a creek and let Mila run free. She had fun running through the water and chasing sticks.

Pete kept throwing her progressively bigger sticks. This is the biggest one she chased and dragged around. It was really funny to watch her carry a stick 4x her size.

2 1/2 Weeks Left!

2009-05-14T12:36:00.000-07:00

We are excitedly awaiting the arrival of our baby girl! We can't wait for her to get here! We finally decided on a name but are waiting to announce it when she arrives.
Her nursery is almost all the way put together. We would like to get a rocking chair/glider of some sort before she comes. I'll put up some pictures of her room when it is finished.
This is a current picture of me at 37 weeks pregnant. My mom is coming on May 28th and she wants the baby to hold out till then so we will see if baby cooperates with grandma! I have had a good pregnancy so far and I am still not too uncomfortable. I feel really lucky!

Training Your Puppy in Five Minutes

2009-04-16T21:16:00.000-07:00

So, we thought this was funny. This is our "Training Your Puppy in Five Minutes" book.

I guess our dog Mila isn't trained well enough to not eat the book.

Baby Update

2009-03-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

I had a doctor's appointment this last Wednesday. I had to have another sonogram because I had a marginal placenta previa at my twenty week appointment and they wanted to see if my placenta had moved. Luckily it has and I no longer have placenta previa which means I can have a natural birth! I also had to take my glucose test. Everyone said the orange drink they give you is disgusting...while I would never choose to drink it, it was not as bad as I expected. I passed the glucose test and do not have diabetes! Yay! Everything is going really well and the baby was almost 2 lbs 14 oz. from the measurements done on the sonogram. I'm sure she is at least 3 lbs now! I can't believe I am already in my third trimester! I am 29 weeks now, it has gone by fast! We are excited for our little girl to arrive! I feel unprepared because we have practically no baby stuff yet! We just have a few little outfits for her! I think I will feel better when she has a bed to sleep in and a car seat. I'm reading a book on hypnobirthing and plan on using that method for birth with no drugs if possible.

Profile of the baby showing her spine
This one shows the baby's face and arm (It looks a little weird because they can't get images of the soft tissue so it's mostly her bones)

So my little girl already has her first pair of ballet shoes! They had these adorable shoes that look like ballet slippers for a 6 week- 3 mos old. My friend Jackie bought them for her! Aren't they cute?

This is me at 28 weeks! I'm getting bigger!

Baseball & CiCi's

2009-03-10T19:50:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago we went with the our friend's Kelly and Andrew to an Alabama Baseball game. It was actually kind of chilly that night then it started to rain, Alabama was doing bad and we were hungry so we left about the 4th inning. We went to Cici's Pizza and literally stuffed our faces. I love the cinnamon rolls there! Yummy!

Remains of all the food we ate.

I think this cinnamon roll made it a dozen for me. :)

Emmett and his Mahmah

2009-03-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

Our nephew Emmett really liked playing with our dog Mila while he was visiting. He started imitating Mila by panting every time he saw her. Soon I realized that he was calling the dog Mahmah. I don't think his own mama was to fond of that. haha Emmett walked around saying mahmah and then breathing like a dog. It was quite precious. I guess he missed Mila when he went home because Joni said he was walking around their house doing the same thing.
Emmett always wanted to play with Mila's toys and Mila wanted to play with Emmett's toys. Neither of them liked sharing. I think Mila usually won when it was her toy. She thought he was playing tug of war any time he grabbed her toy and immediately took it from him. Emmett also kept taking Mila's food away from her as you can see in one of the pictures below. She was trying to lick a plate and he was trying to take it from her. They were entertaining to watch together.

March Snow in the South

2009-03-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

We had snow the first day of March. We're pretty sure that Joni and Pete's mom brought it with them from Utah. They came here to escape the snow but instead it snowed here. I heard that this was the most it has snowed here since 1990. What are the odds?

I took this one on our way to church.

Mila's first snow

New Orleans

2009-03-09T16:34:00.000-07:00

We took a two day trip down to New Orleans while Joni, Emmett, Luke and Mom Jay were here. We stayed at a hotel in the French Quarter. It smelled super bad in New Orleans but we had fun. We rode the trolley, walked around the river walk, rode the ferry, ate beignets at Cafe du Monde looked around the french quarter and went to a cemetery. It was a busy two days.

Emmett is such a good boy. He slept the whole way there. He slept most of the way back too. He never cried even when he woke up in the dark and it was me and Pete and not his mom.

Pete, his mom and our nephew Luke on the trolley in New Orleans.

Me, Joni and Emmett on the trolley

At Jackson Square in New Orleans right after we devoured beignets at Cafe du Monde (I think they add to my fatness in this picture)

In front of a paddle boat at the River Walk

Riding the ferry across the Mississippi

Enjoying beignets at Cafe du Monde

Jackson Square again

Joni enjoying the live jazz music

Pete in front of St. Peter street

At one of the cemeteries

Alrington Antebellum Home & Gardens

2009-03-09T15:27:00.000-07:00

Pete's mom and sister Joni as well as our nephews Emmett and Luke came to visit us for a week. We had a lot of fun while they were here. It was so nice spending time with family and going and visiting fun places. We were really sad when they had to leave!

Emmett, Peter, Joni, and Luke in front of Arlington

Joni, Emmett and Luke

Emmett Running up the walkway to Arlington

Kira, Pete and Mom Jay on the Arlington Steps

Pete and Kira

Luke in an Old Fashioned High Chair

On the Back Porch

Kira in the Baby's Room of the Antebellum house

Peter and Luke. Peter played that 150 year old piano in the background.

Emmett, Peter, Mom Jay, Joni, and Luke

Diet Time

2009-02-19T14:07:00.001-08:00

Time for me to go on a diet. The holidays are over, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and Valentines Day. I put on my winter coat for the fall as well (the extra weight gained each winter), time to start taking it off, shedding the pounds and getting back in shape again and get ready for some more 5k's and Triathlons. I've been riding my bike to school occasionally, that's about 5 to 6 miles a day to school and back. I went to the gym for the first time in a couple weeks last night with Kira. I need to do some heavy lifting so I can beat my dad in arm wrestling. I need to start playing basketball on Wednesday nights again, and I need to run every night when I don't do something active. I think these last couple weeks nearly killed me eating all of the junk food and not doing anything. No more sugar or fat and more fiber and vegetables. I need to get back down to 180 lbs.

Right now I'm around 195 to 200. Which isn't too bad for me. I got all the way up to almost 215 my first year of law school, when Kira and I first got married. We made big dinners and desserts almost every night and made a whole bunch of pumpkin cookies and ate them all ourselves every couple weeks. We also ate out a lot more. When we started exercising again, it took a couple months before I felt like I was getting in shape.

I think I need to keep my dog in shape too. I haven't ran with her for about a month until I ran with her last night. Last time I ran with her we went about three miles and she wasn't even tired at the end. It was a walk in the park. This time, she was getting tired, I could tell. She's getting out of shape from sitting around the house all day. I've been too busy the last two weeks though to do anything, and Kira is pregnant so she can't do much active either, other than go on walks.

Who looks more pregnant?

2009-02-09T21:05:00.000-08:00

Who's more pregnant? Kira or Pete? Vote on the right

We got a new digital camera in preparation for the arrival of our baby girl. It arrived in the mail today and these are the first pictures we took with it. Pete wants to see if he can grow a bigger belly than me. My belly finally started showing the last 2 weeks.