Self Reflection

Hello to all of my diligent readers. Tonight is a night of serious self reflection. I don’t know what happened to me. As James & I were climbing into bed tonight, I was drowning in my own thoughts of inadequacy. Poor guy, he had no idea what was about to hit him. He tried to goof around and tickle me and I immediately began to cry. All of a sudden I had been blind-sighted by all of these thoughts that have now kept me up for hours. Why don’t I take better care of myself? Why don’t I love myself as much as I love James & David? I’m sorry to bore all of you and I will not at all be offended if you stop reading now. Writing is therapeutic for me, so I thought I would send these thoughts of mine into the blog world. I have been noticing things for a few days now and I think the gravity of them finally hit me like a ton of bricks tonight. I’m a people watcher. It is a wonderful habit that I am able to enjoy wherever I go. Lately I have been paying very close attention to those of my same gender. I see so many wonderful and amazing women every day. Mothers and wives who work hard at taking care of themselves and their families. They all have responsibilities and handle them with grace and beauty. Why can’t I? I’m not saying that I don’t take care of my family, because I do. I will admit that I am a pretty good wife and a very loving mother. But how great can I be if I don’t take time to care about myself? I always plan on getting out of bed early to go swim laps before James leaves for work, but I never do it. I always notice when I need to reshape my eyebrows, but I never get to it before it’s too late. I see the new gray hairs on my head every morning, but I still haven’t had my hair colored since last October. I have a full tube of mascara in my purse and another in my bathroom, but I can’t even remember the last time I wore it. I wear my hair the exact same way every day, a style that takes me a whole 5 minutes to do. But why? Is it laziness? Or do I really just not care about myself that much? I only have about 5 outfits that I wear, which I rotate every week. I use money as an excuse, and even though it is quite a good one, it is not the only valid excuse. I could try harder. I could maximize what I have. I just don’t know how. I am stuck in a rut. I don’t know exactly what kind of comments I am hoping to get from this blog. I just feel like I need some help. Maybe some tips on how to find some more “me” time and actually use it for myself. I’m not saying that I want to be unrealistically gorgeous, but maybe enough to sometimes make my husband take a second look at me or make myself smile in the mirror. Thanks for listening to me whine. Any comments would be appreciated.

Memories

It's time to take a walk down Memory Lane! Leave a comment on our blog of a memory you have had with James, Keri, David, or all of us together. It doesn't matter if you've known us for a short time or you've known us forever... just let us know what you remember!! We can't wait to hear what kind of memories you will leave for us. Ready.... get set.... leave a memory!!!

P.S. For those of you that have never left a comment before... it's easy. Just click on 'comments' below this post. If you have a blog of your own, you can sign it with your username and password. If not, feel free to click on the 'Name/URL' tab and just enter your name along with your comment... no passwords needed. Thanks!

Marriage Tag

How long have you been married? Almost 2 years... in October
How old is your spouse? 27
Who eats more? Definitely James
Who said I love you first? James did! On the phone... accidentally on purpose. :)
Who is taller? James, by like 10 inches!
Who sings better? James thinks he does, I think I do.
Who is smarter? Probably me. I only say that because I always have to proof read James' emails and school papers.
Who controls the T.V. remote? Always James. I don't even know what they look like. haha
Whose temper is worse? Definitely me. James is a softy.
Who does the laundry? Me
Who does the dishes? Both of us
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? James
Who cooks dinner? James! I cook about once a month... if that.
Who is more stubborn? I am.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? James, 'cuz I'm never wrong. :)
Whose parents do you see the most? Mine, despite Steve's valiant effort to visit us a lot. We are so loved!
Who has more friends? Same. We share friends now.
Who has more siblings? Me. I have 4 and he only has 2.
Who wears the pants in the family? I wear the right leg, he wears the left. :)

4 Months!!!

Hello all! Our little man had his 4 month check up yesterday. We are pleased to relay the message that he is doing great! He weighs 13 lb, 4 oz and is 25 1/2" long. The doctor said he is in the 62% for his height and only 11% for his weight. Which is hilarious to me! I never thought I would have a kid that is considered tall and skinny. :) But he confirmed that David is in very good health and he is very active for a 4 month old. He is rolling all the way over now and is even trying to crawl. He lays on his belly and sticks his little bum in the air and tries to push his feet against the floor to move. It's so cute. Our internet isn't fast enough to download video, so sorry. So feel free to check out some pictures I just took of him tonight. As you can see, he has discovered his feet and loves to use his big toe as a new chew toy. :) Love you all!

A day at the lake

I know this is a late entry, but I just had to post it. James' dad came and visited us in Kanab the first weekend in June. None of us had ever been to Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam, so Steve was nice enough to take us for the day. We went on a 3 hour tour (insert Gilligan's Island theme song here) of 2 canyons at Lake Powell. It was beautiful! It was a warm day, but David did really well. Here are a few pictures. Enjoy!
Oh, David just loves his Grandpa West!

New Pics

Our New Lives!

Hello everyone! Well, we have officially begun our new small town lives here in Kanab. I know I am a little tardy in writing this post, but hey, better late than never. :) This is the official update of the West Family.

James is doing great! He is really enjoying his 40+ hour weeks as the Assistant Manager of the brand new Holiday Inn Express here. The hotel is doing very well. They are in the middle of their busy season, so they sell out almost every night. James is in charge of all group sales and he is doing great. They have at least 2 tour buses every week. I'm so proud. James has also recently been called as the Second Counselor in the Elder's Quorum Presidency in our new ward. They just called the entire presidency, so they are starting from scratch.

I am doing good also! Actually, I'm doing a lot better here than I ever thought I would. I just started my new job at Zions Bank. They have a Customer Service call center here and I started my training there last week. I wasn't too thrilled about being chained to a desk and phone again, but I have learned to enjoy the atmosphere again. I am in a training class with 3 other women, who happen to be quite a bit older than me. Two of which have no idea how to even turn on a computer. Well, we started our computer and phone call training this week and I picked it up pretty quick... unlike the other women. The trainer pulled me aside and asked me to help train one of them one on one. What a compliment! So she sat with me for 2 days while I took my first calls and tried teaching her how to navigate the computer. Tough job. I sure hope she gets it. Other than my job, my life is going great. I am loving the small town atmosphere and our new ward.

David is such a sweetheart! He is growing bigger everyday and is becoming quite chatty these days. He rolled over for the first time a few weeks ago and still does it at least once a day. He has his 4 month check up on Thursday, so we'll see just how good we've been feeding him. The best part of my day is the morning with David. I get to wake up every morning to his babbling in my ear through the amazing invention of baby monitors. I walk into his room and peek over the side of his crib and watch him play for a minute. But the best part is when he catches me. He starts laughing and shows me that big gummy smile that melts my heart. Oh, he truly is a gift from heaven. :)

So that is a (not so) brief summary of our new lives. I'm sorry that we haven't been able to update our blog very regularly. But I am happy to say we now have Internet at home. So, for all you dedicated readers... stay tuned. :)