My Wish For 2022...

 

The best part of getting older is knowing your worth and identity. Especially at the age of 50. Embracing it and loving every thing about it. Grey hairs and all! Picking back up the pieces of ourselves that we left behind that helped us find our way through our journey in this life. It’s never ending....

Welcoming October With A Birthday Recap.

I'd be remiss if I didn't document a "birthday recap" of the day I had with my husband on my birthday so here it goes...

Because it fell on a Wednesday, and the fact that my 'sitter' (Lexie) stayed after school until 8pm we couldn't actually have a date night. Soooooo we ended up having a simple lunch date at Smashburger with our everloving four year old son, and luckily we did because hey...he captured a pretty good picture of us, and even though it took him four takes on my iPhone to get it right the last one was a charm. 

Date nights whether done in the morning, noon, or night are all good. I personally don't care what time of day I have them as long as we have them. Because we had a couple of dates alone during September to make up for my birthday I was okay with our little man tagging along on my special day. If it wasn't for him he wouldn't have taken this cute photo, and he wouldn't have had a smashburger because this was his first time having it. 

The burgers here are pretty tasty, and because it was my birthday I got a milkshake for free! As you can see from  this post Oreo cookie milkshakes are my fave!!

Going apple picking afterwards, and having my dear friend Maggie surprise me with baked ziti that evening was a perfect end to my 43rd birthday. Flowers sent to me from my daughter out west and my sister in Texas along with cards from dear friends I've known half of my life made my entire year!! I always feel so blessed to have so many think of me on my birthday via snail mail, and social networking. I am lucky to have a husband who is thoughtful, knows how to keep surprises, and is simple when it comes to days like this. It's not about the material things of the world that make a birthday special (although it is nice to receive nice things), but what matters to me is the simplicity that I receive from a loved one. Celebrating a special day with simplicity, love, and family is what's most important in a special gathering. Not everyone gets to have a cake, or even receives a birthday, card and I am extremely grateful for those efforts done from friends and family for every thought, gift, and card I receive on special occasions. This birthday flew by so quickly, and here we are in October waiting to explode with all things pumpkin. 

One thing for sure...we are ready for all things fall, and we are excited! 

How about you? Any fun plans for this weekend besides watching General conference? This truly is the beginning of a fun and "party" season! 

Happy weekend! 

I'm sick yo.

January for others may have been a jerk, because of so many getting sick with the flu, but it looks like February is the one being fickle. At least for the Jorgensens.

Lexie, and Chelsea were sick. Now I'm sick. No fun! At all!

February is one of my favorite months because of Valentines day and the fact that it prepares me for spring. I haven't been sick in two years so I guess it was time for my immune system to build up. 

I'm sorry that there are no major updates, or anything interesting to blog right now. I did however go to church yesterday, and only lasted an hour. I had to go home to get some rest, but I am grateful that I was able to at least attend sacrament meeting. Partaking of the sacrament is the most important part of church...at least for me.

Hopefully I'll be better soon because this weekend is going to be busy with the girls camp fundraiser being held at our church. 

Sierra also has an audition at the University of the Arts in Philly this Saturday so- uh, yeah...I better be better by the weekend! 

Having an active boy in the house motivates me to make myself well too. Luckily he knows when mommy isn't feeling well, and he'll go about doing his own thing. For the most part he is snuggling with me on the couch watching cartoons. I snapped this photo real quick (nice huh), while Noah is glued to the TV. I just hope that he doesn't get sick next! 

We do look forward to the five day weekend, and hope that we can do something fun as a family. Snow, sleet, rain or shine we will make it a happy weekend. I just hope I'm completely recovered from this wicked, wicked flu. I'll be glad when this coughing, aching, sneezing, stuffy head crap will subside. (So much for drinking lots of orange juice, and popping those VC chewables!) 

Oh well...have a great week y'all! 

I am 40

I was six months old in this photo. I wish I can say I had more baby pictures of me, but I don't. I wish I had more tangible photos of my youth, but unfortunately my mother wasn't a scrapbooker, and she only managed to save a few. I only have two pictures of me when I was in elementary school. 

Oh that hair! What happened to the cute wavy hair I was born with? It sure turned into a bushy do!

 I don't have any pictures of me in high school except a group photo of me when I was in Drill Team.

  To be honest, my mother never wanted to spend the money on school pictures. She said they were too expensive so these will have to suffice...

I'm definitely saving these for my posterity!

These pictures were taken when I was 22 years old. I moved to Salt Lake City after I joined the LDS church and as I walked inside American Express for my interview, the lady who was about to interview me told me that I should be modeling and not working for any company. She gave me the address to McCarty Agency and I immediately drove over there. I must have been confident because as soon as she handed me their business card I drove straight over, and boy were they pretty excited when I walked in there! They immediately chose a photographer for me, and put me to work. It was so much fun and I truly had the time of my life. I was so humbled that I had the opportunity to do some modeling in my lifetime. I didn't pursue modeling because I got married and had kids...plus I felt I was too short. Face it, there was no America's Top Model 20 years ago, and even if there was I probably wouldn't have gone for it. I was humbled and grateful that I was able to have fun with it even if it was for a couple of years. I loved all the clothes I was able to keep, and it was surreal to see myself in a magazine for Bridgewater Commons which is a mall in North Jersey. It's so ironic that I live here now! It was an enjoyable part of my life and I'll never forget it.

Me today...

On my 40th birthday (my husband's the photographer)

I give thanks to my Heavenly Father who has given me 40 years to live, and for my family who makes life worth living.

Grateful for curls

"You can call my hair kinky coily, whatever! It's mine, it's me, and I love it!"

How many of you have curly hair? I mean the real deal from root all the way to the end. In other words...you were born with it. Well I do. Sometimes it agrees with me, sometimes it doesn't. This past week has been rainy and muggy. On days like today my hair gets really frizzy which means I have to put a lot of product on.  

I remember being teased and made fun of a lot as a little girl, because my hair looked like an afro (at least that's what the mean kids described it as.) Back then I didn't own a flat iron and I certainly didn't know what kind of product to put on my type of hair. My mother wasn't the worldly type, and she didn't really teach me on personal grooming. Flex shampoo and conditioner are the only hair products I remember using until I moved out of the house at 19! Do they even make that anymore? She kept my hair short and bushy, and the teasing lasted all the way up until the ninth grade. It was a sad period of my life, but I obviously survived the bullying and got over it!

My oldest daughter is a mirror image of me (so I've been told.) From the looks to the personality!

 

She's fortunate because her hair never looked like mine when I was younger, and I'm glad that it doesn't! I'm also grateful that I learned how to fix my hair, and that I taught my girls how to groom their hair. I am also grateful for products such as Biosilk! This product in my opinion makes our curls softer and shinier. Sierra actually gets a lot of compliments, and all of her friends LOVE it, (especially the ones with straight hair!) 

At 39 years of age I think my hair looks pretty healthy...even with a little bit of gray.

I love my hair...and I think it shows!

Spiritual Healing

"Always do your best. Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgement, self-abuse and regret."

~ Miguel Angel Ruiz

Trying to endure to the end is a little hard to do when you are sick. Especially when you are trying to serve others and do your church calling the best way that you can. It was in the middle of the day this past Friday when I literally felt a tingle in my throat which turned into a bad cough, hence losing my voice. I may have to blame it on being in and out of air condition in this high humidity (at least that is how I've become sick over the years), trying to do so many things for my family & friends all at once, and adding on a little bit of stress. I have not been this sick in over four years, and today I missed church. I know that I need to rest, and make myself well so that I can be able to serve others. This past weekend I noticed a few people serving us, and I became aware of the little things that I sometimes take for granted which has made me feel especially grateful for them today.

*Small things such as leftovers. One will usually whine about eating leftovers, but when you're sick and don't have the energy to cook, having two self sufficient daughters that can feed themselves, and a husband who can cook is a blessing. Leftovers are a blessing. I am grateful to have kids who are not picky eaters.

 *My husband's work. We only have one car at the moment, and I consider myself lucky that Jon's work is a 15 minute bike ride or a 40 minute walk. I was so weak on Saturday that I couldn't pick him up from work, and so he walked home. He didn't mind... he said it gave him quite a workout walking in this humidity.

*My neighbors. Some of my neighbors call me the "revolving door", and pretty much know when I am home. If they see that the car is parked and see no sign of me or my kids...they'll come to my door to see if I need rescuing.

*Technology...I never thought that I would say this but I am actually grateful for recording devices so that in case I miss a very good talk at church my better half can record it for me on his iPhone.

*My sisters at church...I love them all. When my family came home from church they mentioned a few sisters who asked for me. That made my day. I also received a few texts from my sisters asking how I'm feeling. That also made my day. I received a sweet phone call from my daughter's new Young Women President to ask me if I needed anything, and I just read the most genuine Facebook message from one of my favorite sisters...that completed my day.

My middle daughter took this photo of me and Noah. As soon as they all came home, guess who was the first person to jump onto my bed and fall asleep in my arms...

 After listening to my family telling me about their day and the talks that were given, I felt as if I was there in spirit. There is just something about attending all your meetings (which in our church is three hours), that uplifts your soul, and rejuvenates your spirit. It's not about the association with your brothers and sisters (although that is nice too), but for me, it's about what you get the most out of the talks, and hope that I can apply that to my own life, and pass it on.