Dear Liz,

I just wanted to write you back publicly, and say you got me back ten fold. Kudos to you. Here is my ultimatum....If you want this friendship to continue you will take the pic of me on your blog off and replace it with one that looks more like me. (See the pic below for example.) You have exactly 24 hrs or I will announce to everyone how old you really are, and I will also tell them how you spend your time knitting, crocheting, and putting together jigsaw puzzles secretly while your kids are at school. Thank you for your immediate attention to this problem.

Your friend (for now)

Whittney

The Arrival of Chico

Our little guy "Cheeks" is here. We did give him a real name which is
Campbell Garn Chilcote
Born October 29 at 7:55am he was 7lbs 9oz and 20.5 inches long.

I know...I know...I know....

You all are dying to see a picture of me, and I have decided it is time to unveil what I look like in my 9th month of pregnancy. Keep in mind that my job is such that I sit a lot, I had surgery so I missed quite a bit of my workouts, and lets face it...pregnancy makes ya hungry and makes me wanna eat more. Try not to judge, and please try not to be jealous. Oh yeah, btw, for those of you whom I have sucked at keeping in touch with (which would be any of you who I don't happen to run into around town)....the baby is a boy. Without further ado...I present, a portrait of myself....

by Abigail Chilcote

By Livy Chilcote

Cooler Than Me....

So I have been doing some catching up on blogs lately, and I realized the majority of people are cooler than me....You know who you are. So instead of writing a blog about what I have been doing I thought I would let you all in on a few things We/I didn't do:

For instance:
I did finally make it to Long Beach, but I didn't put any sunscreen on anyone, (it wasn't hot)! I did receive an award for Mother of The Year, though it wasn't an official award, but I could see it in people's eyes that they wanted to nominate me.

Easter did come and go but we didn't make, buy, or even attempt to have any Easter attire this year...We didn't meet Obama, hear his speech and shake his hand, but we did pass this guy on the street and take his picture...
I didn't take Abi to Preschool one time this year, but thanks to a wonderful Grandma and cousin she still graduated with honors. Thank you, thank you....
I didn't miss the first school performance Olivia has ever actually engaged in....

We did make it to the Chilcote Family vacation, but we didn't all fit in our tent....

We didn't go to stadium of fire, or the Rodeo, or even a block party....but we did see these:
For all of you who are feeling better about your lives after reading this post, just know this....I have truly in under a year mastered the art of "simplifying". Goal accomplished. If you don't do anything, nothing is complicated and everything becomes simple. Peace out.

Riddle Me This....

Wish I was there....

Jason said my last post was too depressing so I need to spice it up...Well its not that life is depressing, but I just don't have time for many thoughts right now.

So I thought I would give you a peek into my thoughts...:

*When I get to go on my next vacation

*When my next day off from work is

*What and How to decorate Parker's wedding

*Livy is turning 8 on Tuesday, and all my big plans for it are suddenly vanishing

*How to get to Long Beach, walk the beach, feel the sun, and get back in time to work my amazing job.

I know I am not very deep...Crap now I am depressed...Sorry I'll think of something better...

To Be Continued....

Simplify...Follow up

sim⋅pli⋅fy

  [sim-pluh-fahy] Show IPA

–verb (used with object), -fied, -fy⋅ing.

to make less complex or complicated; make plainer or easier: to simplify a problem. So I guess you wouldn't really say that is something that I have done..at all. So I say simplifying is for the birds.... My steps to simplifying were simple. Fail proof, I thought. My life was about to become so crazily simple everyone would ask me how I did it, and I would give lessons. I would become an idol. :) Well my life is anything but simple right now. A few people asked why we were doing it, and quite a few people looked at me like I had gone crazy. Moving away from friends I love, a school my daughter loved, moving from a job I loved, and a house we loved. But I wanted to do it because I felt my life spinning out of control, I felt so crazy busy, I wasn't enjoying life. I was living, but not living. I spent my days waiting for the next to come and go so I could say I made it through one more week, month or year. I wanted to take my life to a level where I could feel a semblance of control. We moved closer to Jason's work so his long hours wouldn't be quite as long, we cut our bills significantly (or so we thought we were), we moved to a smaller home where I don't feel I have to clean every *!@#$day!, I got rid of anything I hadn't used or think I would use in the immediate future, I weeded through toys, books, decorations, cooking stuff, and memories. I definitely feel a little calmer, but the change hasn't gone exactly as planned. I actually have more to worry about and less time to worry about it. But here is the crazy thing about this whole experience. I have learned, and grown more than I ever have. Since we made this change there have been days I have been on the floor weeping, not knowing how I could possibly make it one more day, wondering why I made a choice that seemed so easy and brilliant at the time, but had turned out to be so brutally hard and painful. But I will tell you what...I realized how much I took for granted, I realized I made myself busy, and I made myself not enjoy life. The pieces were there, but I didn't use them. I didn't take time to enjoy the "simple" parts of life. So the moral of the story is: In making my life more complicated by simplifying, I am finally grateful for the simple pleasures of life. The End...Lesson learned.

O' Christmas Tree....

So all growing up we would go to tree lot, after tree lot, after tree lot. So as I have grown up I totally thought it just always had to be like that. However, every year we go we go to less and less lots before finding the perfect tree. In fact this year we went to one...And not only that but we only went down one aisle before finding it. We walked down the others just to make us not feel ripped off of that fun Christmas tree scouting experience. My conclusion is not that I am less picky than my mother, or that the tree lots only get good trees...My conclusion is this: No one buys real tree's anymore. And to that I say you are missing out...For sure.

For instance here are the top 10 things you have missed that we have not:

#1. The last two years I have had a spider egg in the tree and lots of little baby spiders bless our house within a couple of weeks. And they bring lots of decoration (spider webs) so pretty, so shiny, and my favorite part is they are thrown in free!

#2. Getting sap all over your hands from putting the lights on the tree, and don't forget you get to take them off at the end of the holiday celebration. FUN!!!

#3. Maneuvering under the branches to pour water into the little hole available in the stand only to realize you spilled most of it on the floor, and all just to make sure it dies slower than it already is.

#4. Already mentioned in the above paragraph, but...the family hunt for the perfect Christmas Tree. The freezing night, the fires in the garbage cans, the reindeer at the christmas lot, the nice guys who cut the bottom off, and charge you $ for a tree they cut down for free. (jk)

#5. The Christmas tree smell in your house that 1st day when you bring it home.

#6. Strapping it to the top of your car to bring it home, and praying that the ropes don't break and it goes crashing into the car behind you. (So it makes you have to be spiritual at this time of year since there aren't many other reasons)

#7. Finding a way to make it straight, and position the uneven spots so they are not visible to everyone right away.

#8. Having people ask you if it's real, touch it when you answer yes, and look at you like you are a tree murderer.

#9. Vacuuming up pine needles all month long.

#10. And the most important thing you miss out on is....Being able to say its real..When was anything better fake? Fake diamonds, no thanks...Fake snow, not a chance....Fake people, no way...Fake fireplaces, no need...Fake wood flooring, everyone knows its not wood...Fake boobs...Ok so you got me there, but a fake christmas tree? No one wants a perfect, pre-lit, easy to put together tree you don't have to water. It's just not right!!!

So next year when you pull your fake tree out of storage, and you have it up before Thanksgiving because you can. Think of my family and all we get to experience that you don't, and then pat yourself on the back because for heaven sakes..It's a lot easier, and you just saved another tree's life.

Ten Years Later...

These pictures taken by Livy are in the Empire room where our reception was ten years ago!!!!

The Photographer so happy to be there :)

Wow!!! Thats all I can say about that. Ten years have flown by. For our ten year I had big plans, but with moving and getting everything situated I had no energy and a lack of funds for these big plans. Jason's brother's family wasn't having that, so they took our kids, sent us packing up to Park City for a quiet weekend with each other (and a yummy gift basket with treats). It was very thoughtful, and very much appreciated. It was a fun weekend to reminisce about the last ten years, and figure out what we want to accomplish in the next ten together. One thing we both realized was that we both have kind of let the last ten years happen, took what came our way, the bad, the unexpected, the unwanted, the joys, and of course all the good. So we made some goals, and are excited for what the next ten bring us if we are so lucky :).

*And yes this was the first song we danced to as a married couple, cheesy yes, but it was the song in 1999.

My little brother, Parker, got engaged over the Thanksgiving weekend, and I am so anxious to see what life brings to them. Congratulations!!! We are all so happy for the two of you.

My New Job...Professional Photography!!!!

For those of you who can't read sarcasm in that sentence...You should. I have quite a few friends who take pictures, and are amazing at it. I like to tell myself it is something that just comes naturally for these people, and if I so chose, I too could do it as well with a little practice. Well here is what I get when I try to be artistic, and get the "natural candid shots of life". I kind of blame my kids because they aren't very cute so it is probably just hard to get a good picture of them :).In my photographer eye she was just sitting on the pumpkin pondering, but now it looks as though she really needed to go to the bathroom. That is candid, right?
In my amazing photographer eye, she was staring at the beautiful pumpkin patch...But this is what I actually captured...
So my thought is this....How do you all take pictures that look like you aren't there, but you are really there? Photos that look staged, but aren't really staged. Or...deep thought...Maybe this is how I am suppose to remember my kids....Goofy, and able to hold themselves for long periods of time. These pictures say...we are thankful for fall, pumpkin patches, and Grandma's and Grandpa's who take us because our dead beat parents were too busy "simplifying" to do something that simple.

Just for the Record....

We are moving. We are excited. We think this is the best thing for our family. We love our neighbors, friends, and ward. We are not getting kicked out of our home. We are not destitute. We are not crazy. We do not have round worm. We are simply on a mission to simplify. I will keep you posted from time to time on how well I do at simplifying. Right now it seems like cake, but right now I haven't done much to simplify so...ask me in a month.

I can't even say the word simplify without laughing because I went to that blog: Seriously, So Blessed that really mocks our culture, and it dawned on me that I am this "culture". I was reading several sections, and was dying laughing, and then I would read a section, and be like that wasn't that funny. (because it pertained to something I do.)

Anyway there was an entry about simplifying....About how she was going to simplify:

~~~SiMpLiFy!~~~

This is my darling new slogan and I am putting it EVERYWHERE: ginormous glittery wood letters in dinning room, vinyl in kitchen, stickers on clocks, scrapbooked pitcher frames in living room, handpainted on the damask upstairs, seriously, EVERYWHERE. Made JJWT, Alivyiah & Tridger binders with color-coded simplicity instructions for every day of the week {with a complicated reward system} and then called all the people in my home biz donwline & invited them to buy wood letters that say SIMPLIFY for a 30% discount if they color code there closets and binders the same way! Also I brain-storm'd some rules to help me.
My goals for being more SIMPLIFY:

1. be way less materialistic
2. own a buttload of shoes
3. grow my hair way past my boobs
4. put everything in this font

That isn't my exact list, but she was pretty close. :)

A New Addition...

I have been waiting for this new little bundle for like 9 months now. I am tired of waiting, and really I guess I will have to wait some more for the excitement to wear off because as you can see I am not in the pictures holding little Preston. My sister's kids are a little too excited. This is so not about them. The sooner they get that the better. So I am waiting for him to throw up on them, poop, and cry a little too much. Then they will be begging for me to take him. Hallelujah! I will be waiting...

Life is Beautiful-

The Chilcote Weekend was great...Life really never ceases to surprise me. I really thought it would be an awful, boring weekend, but it turned out to be quite fun, and relaxing. (Just joking good grief laugh a little)
Well that was what this weekend was a bunch of laughs. (mostly at my expense)

Top 10 things I enjoyed were...

#10. I know it's not nice to pick favorites, but I really enjoyed Sam. I think it is because he hates me, and hardly is ever nice to me. So I love that he had no choice but to be around me. :)#9. Finding out there is no such things as 300lb raccoons that have razor sharp teeth that can bite into your cooler. Enjoying the fact that Jason's family loves me enough to lie to me about what really got my food. And it wasn't these little fella's:
#8. Watching the girls spend time with their older girl cousins, and knowing what great examples they have to follow.#7. Giving my daughter Benadryl before a hike and wondering why she can't stay awake to walk..
#6. The Scenery...Yup I am a sucker. I love the mountains, I love streams, and I love big tall trees.#5. Playing games...I know I get to play games constantly at home because Jason loves playing games*, but I am still a sucker for a good game of cards with the whole family.
*not true just in case you don't know how much he doesn't like games, and you aren't sensing the sarcasm...
#4. Watching Abi get so excited to fish, and feed the chipmunks...(I can't believe I don't have any pictures of her with the chipmunks seeing as that is how she spent the majority of her time) So Lane you better send me some.
#3. The Talent Show...America may have talent, but I don't think we will ever be on that show with these acts :)#2. The family...The hosts...The cousins...The friends....Good Company...

*We Missed you AJ, and Rylee....

#1. But the number one thing that I enjoyed the most was making fun of this old, old man....and him not taking any of it, and hitting back hard....