dear disneyland,

usually i jump at the chance to come visit you, especially if the visit is free. i would gladly drop work, school or whatever else, even on a few days notice - which i was planning on doing today.  so don't be mad when i tell you i'm not coming.

i promise i have really good reasons. i've been sick for the past week, and i'm sure it's hard to enjoy mickey and everything else when you're blowing your nose every few minutes. plus, i was planning on driving down there and back all by myself and i realized that it probably wasn't the best idea.

i am a little sad. jennifer, todd, and lizzie are down there already and i always hate being the one to bail out, but hopefully they'll understand. 

i definitely took advantage of the fact that i already asked for today and tomorrow off of work and slept in until 10 this morning. it was awesome. i haven't decided yet if i'll do the same tomorrow.

disneyland, you can count on a visit from me in 2009. cousin britney and i are already planning a double date trip this summer. i hear it's twice as fun when you're skipping around with a boy.

an older boy i should say. because last time i went to disneyland i had a pretty good time skipping around with this one.

[weird. i was totally a blonde this past summer]

proof that i'm horrible at surprises

today i gave my sister-in-law a coupon redeemable for a saturday afternoon babysitter. i was sure she would enjoy a few child-less hours, i needed her boys as models for an idea i've had in my head for a little while, and i figured they would make a sweet valentine's gift for a wonderful mom.

it was supposed to be a surprise.

but the temple was closed today, bringing melissa and ryan back earlier than expected, and the surprise was foiled. [i'm sure she knew i was taking pictures, but that's besides the point]

i told heidi about our little photo shoot and let her know that i could always use lizzie as a 4th model - i'm so glad i did.

the plan was to unveil these lovelies on valentine's day - but i couldn't wait that long. just more proof that i'm incapable of waiting to hand out surprises. [i can't ever wait to receive them either, in case you were wondering].

p.s. i love these babies.

utah by numbers

days in utah: 3.5

hours spent driving: 22+

times we turned around before getting there: 2

speeding tickets: 1

cousins visited: 12

bateman girls that i love and got to see: 4

old roommates visited: 1

trips to byu campus: 1

movies watched: 8

episodes of one tree hill watched on the drive home: 11

guitar hero songs played: 47

days i slept in: 2

dollars of mine spent: 36

outfits worn: 6

grandparents' birthdays celebrated: 2

coldest temperature: 13 degrees

times eaten out: 8

packages of fruit snacks eaten: 11

pictures taken: 97

times i blew my nose: 31

ibuprofens taken: 7

cousins we said farewell to for 2 years: 1

cousins we predict will get married while he's gone: 7

e-mails sent: 0

trips to the gym: 0

times i missed living in utah: plenty

please excuse the mess

i’m in the process of revamping the blog – hence, the jumble of picture sizes and what not. it’s coming along slowly but surely. for example, my new banner took me forever + 3 years to do, so it better look good… let me know what you think.

please don’t even mention my mess of a car and room. i swear they will both be unrecognizably clean before we leave tomorrow, no matter how late i have to stay up. [actually, the plan is to stay up all night so i can sleep in the car tomorrow, at least for a little bit]

speaking of an 11+hour car drive… if you're still waiting on me for pictures, i promise i haven't forgotten about you. i’ll be finishing them up on my way through nevada and i promise they will be in the mail by monday - thank you for being so wonderful and patient!

as for my mess of thoughts…

it’s not supposed to snow for the entire duration of my mini-vacay. what the? what’s the point of it being so dang cold if i can’t even play in the snow? well, if the snow isn’t planning on finding me, then i’m going to find it. that’s just one of the things on my to-do list while i’m there. yes, i made a list. and yes, besides the snow thing, it is mostly food-related.

curse the person at my work that put two boxes of see's candy in the break room.

i took these pictures a few days ago. pretty much, whenever i’m looking for a new location, i drag these girls along with me and force them to pose. when they become models they’ll have sweet portfolios! i really like the second one, but i wish it was more obvious that they were lying in the middle of the road. [i really like the last two also].

don’t install sitemeter onto your blog. it gives you a map of all your blog visitors and it is so intriguing/addicting to see all the places people are coming from. really, canada? and it tells you how long some people stay too… really, someone checked out my blog for 50 minutes? they must think i’m way cool! but don’t worry, it doesn’t really tell me who you are, so you are more than welcome to keep lurking. you are also more than welcome to say hello too because i would love to know who you are.

i’m hoping the obsession with that site will fade soon, like my obsession with the mailman did. i’m still just as excited to receive some mail from this guy, i’m just no longer stalking the mailman around the neighborhood, calling the house to see if mail came, or checking the mailbox every time i come home… sometimes at 10:00 at night – it was seriously just habit, i knew there wouldn’t be anything. but he did e-mail me this picture a few days ago which made me pretty happy. he's the white (well, red) one on the left with a sweet neck tanline.

i know everyone thinks their family is the coolest, but mine really is. the other night we stayed up past 1 in the morning playing cards. one brother doesn’t really like to play nertz, so he made brenner [breakfast at dinner] for everyone. it was some serious brenner too: eggs, bacon, homemade hash browns, and toast. i even convinced todd & heidi to just stay the night, considering liz was already asleep in one of the bedrooms. i hope i still have sleepovers when i’m married with an 18-month-old. like i said, my family is the coolest. [i wish i took pictures]

my grandpa’s birthday was yesterday – i miss him.


my biggest goal right now is to achieve some sort of balance – my list of resolutions gets bigger every day. i feel like there is just so much i want to do but not enough hours in the day. so i end up skipping out on things that are still pretty important – namely, sleep and exercise, 2 things i desperately need. between family, work, play, art, spirituality, and everything else, there just isn’t enough time. i think i just need to be more time efficient… and to be ok with not doing everything. new goals.

does anyone else have the crazy habit of changing their blog posts a million times… even once they’re already posted? because i do, and it drives me nuts. i’m really hoping it’s not just me.

when all my friends were here [this was seriously 2 weeks ago, i just forgot about it] we made a fire pit in my cousin britney’s backyard and partied. well, technically my dad and his blowtorch made the fire pit, but whatever. we made s’mores and my uncle barbecued up some hot dogs and hamburgers and i ate way too much. the hesses can throw a serious party.





if you are still reading, you are a serious champ. this is definitely the longest post ever. but i’ll be out of blogland for a week, so i’m allowed.

be back thursday-ish!

xoxo.
jana

chicken stuffed with mozzarella. tomatoes + spinach

lucky for me, my mom is one of my faithful blog readers, i think i have 2 :) ... so she was sure to see my list of resolutions for the new year, especially the goal to cook one meal a week – and she is holding me to it.

last night, i had a really good idea of what i wanted to make, but after browsing the foodnetwork.com for recipes and having no luck, i realized that i was going to have to do it without any help.

i am pleased to report that it turned out fabulous! here’s what i did [in case you can’t think of anything to make for dinner tomorrow].

first, i cut a few chicken breasts in half, so they were the same shape as the original piece of chicken, only half as thick. i laid all my pieces of chicken on a cookie sheet covered in tin foil.

then, on the center of each piece of chicken, place the mozzarella cheese, chopped spinach, and diced tomatoes and garlic (i sautéed mine separately just before because i like my tomatoes thoroughly cooked, but that step isn’t necessary for most normal people. i’m just not normal). stuff chicken as full as possible. then fold the chicken over, whichever way is easiest, and use toothpicks to hold chicken in place, if necessary. brush a mixture of olive oil, salt, and pepper on the outside of the chicken, both top and bottom. you could do this before you stuff the chicken too, now that i think about it.

bake at 425˚ for about 25 minutes.

a few minutes before my i pulled the chicken out of the oven, i spread the remaining tomato + garlic mixture over the top of each chicken breast. also, i wasn’t quite sure if the chicken was all the way done (especially on the bottom) so i cooked it on the stove for just a few more minutes in the pan i had used for the asparagus, just to be safe.

once the chicken is finished, remove toothpicks and enjoy!

hopefully i didn’t make it sound very difficult – it was actually really easy, and it only takes about an hour from start to finish unless you’re sadly slow at cooking like me. 

let me know if you try it and tell me how it turns out!

in case you were wondering, i served the chicken with red garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus sautéed in olive oil and one lemon’s worth of juice. [next time, i’ll use less lemon].

happy cooking!!

proof that i have too many hobbies.

[i might have woken lizzie up from her afternoon nap to take this picture. actually i let her wake up - big difference.]

yes, i definitely painted this. yesterday. in one sitting.

pretty good for my first acrylic painting ever, huh?

i saw something like this at ikea a little while ago of audrey hepburn in breakfast and tiffany's and fell in love. i didn't buy it, of course, because i had absolutely no where to put it in my little byu apartment and i have a really hard time purchasing things i know i could do myself.

so instead of doing an audrey, i decided to do a lizzie first - merry january todd and heidi!

dear painting, you are my new found love. can everyone now see why i still haven't declared a major?

thankfully, this new little art form of mine isn't too expensive. i did buy lots of paint though, so i have a few more paintings lined up, none of which [of course] are for me.

yes, i realize i need children of my own to photograph and paint - you can give me yours, if you'd like.

hollingshaus.

i seriously only took these pictures a few hours ago, but i couldn't help diving right in and sharing a few.

carrie, i can only hope my own kids are half as good in front of the camera as yours...

it doesn't get much cuter than these two!

dear new year,

here you are - my official list of resolutions. i'm planning on tacking this up somewhere that i will see it every day.



i have big things planned for you, 2009.

xoxo.
jana

is it bad that i wrote, scanned, and blogged this from work?

dear wesley,

i love those chubby cheeks.

tell your mom the rest of the pictures are almost finished - i hope she likes the sneak peak!
xoxo.
jana

p.s. i'm so sorry about the little spill you took... hope your lip is feeling better!

dear friday,

this is what you look like...

i do hope you'll notice jack being front and center ever moment possible, even when it meant pushing nate out of the way.



xoxo.
jana


p.s. you better like the video. it took me hours and hours of downloading to get it on here - no kidding.