Jen's Blog

Remodeling

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 23:26:00 +0000

We got our living room remodel finished late last night and it looks great! The ugly wood paneling and “log” paneling were removed and the walls were textured using a trowel and plaster/mud, then the whole room and ceiling were painted. We put in crown molding and a new chandelier. It looks like a brand new house! A friend from church did more than half of the work, and Chris helped with painting and did other odds and ends. It took about 7 hours a day for 7 days. That’s because when we took off the paneling big pieces of the wall and plaster had water damage and had to be replaced. Tonight we’ll put the furniture back and then we can get a Christmas tree :).

Chris and I are gonna go dancing in Salt Lake tomorrow night for my birthday (I'll be 27). We're going to a dance club that has LDS standards. Yay! Also we’re going out to dinner at a surprise place. Our friends will watch Abe. Chris is also taking the day off of work tomorrow so we can hang out for my b-day because he’s worn out from working on the living room after work until midnight or later each night and I’ve been going crazy watching Abraham 24-7 without a living room while Chris did that. Abe can’t go play outside much because it’s too cold and there’s 6 inches of snow so he has been really bored and acting up. I take him to the mall to play in the kids’ play area when I’ve had enough.

We just got a dishwasher and I used it for the first time last night and it works great! You don’t even have to rinse the dishes.

Isn't it Telling...

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:53:00 +0000

Isn't it telling that my last post announcing the birth of my son was almost a year and a half ago? Nothing since! If I was a really bad blogger before (only posting a couple of times a year,) I'm much busier now that I'm a mother... My husband is actually the one who always keeps our family and close friends up-to-date by sending emails with pictures of us and Abraham. I've always been bad at keeping in touch.

So here are some recent pictures and videos in order from the most recent to the oldest:

Here is the most recent pic of my persistent little guy at my feet... he's mad because he wants to play with the camera but I won't let him.

Here is a long video of him playing at the piano:

At an Indian restaurant

Talking on the phone

In the grass

Here's a video of him reading a book in the car

Here he is on the couch

After his first real haircut

Abraham's 1st birthday party:

Me hanging streamers

There's Abe at the bottom

Birthday boy

With Dad

Friends

Presents

Cake time - I made a whole wheat carrot cake from a baby food cookbook - sweetened with only apple juice and raisins

Easter '07

My New Baby

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 17:59:00 +0000

I had a healthy baby boy on April 23rd, 2006! He was 8 1/2 lbs.

Here's a very tired Mommy holding him in front of his "birth day" cake. He's one day old.

We named him Abraham Christopher Loch. It's kind of a tradition in our families to name the first male with his dad's name being his middle name. My husband's name is Christopher so we followed this tradition.

The next two pictures are after Daddy gave him his first bath at home. He's two days old.

Here's a picture where I caught his eyes open wide. He's three or four days old.

I've been taking lots of needed time to relax and I'm starting to get back to a normal schedule now, although "normal" is of course different now that I'm a Mom!

Surprise! I'm pregnant.

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 00:07:00 +0000

I've been keeping really busy lately renovating our house, working on my businesses, and being pregnant! I'm 7 months pregnant, due April 23rd. This is our first baby. There are a lot of things I want to get done before the baby comes, so I'm working a lot but it's fun and I'm happy. Once the baby is born I don't plan to work much.

We don't know if it's a boy or a girl; we want to be surprised! We're old fashioned like that.

I Saw the Prophet! and Bye-Bye Brother

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Sun, 25 Sep 2005 05:05:00 +0000

This week I got to do two cool things. On Tuesday I attended the dedication of the new Joseph F. Smith Building at BYU. I went with my brother who is a student at BYU. You can read about the dedication here: http://byunews.byu.edu/archive05-Sep-dedication.aspx. President Gordon B. Hinckley spoke about Joseph F. Smith and said a prayer to dedicate the building. The rest of the first presidency of the church was also there along with many other notable people. Cool! This was the first time for me to actually see the Prophet in person, although he looked very small from where I was seated.

I also got to take my other brother to the MTC and see him off on his mission to California. That was such a cool experience.

I Moved to Utah

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Sun, 25 Sep 2005 04:09:00 +0000

Wow, I haven't blogged in forever! I can't believe it's been so long, I was doing O.K. for a while there. I've always been bad at keeping in touch with people and keeping a journal. I think the two are kind of related, they have to do with talking about what's happening in your life and I like to live my life but I think I don't like to re-live it, especially if that means writing it down. I'd rather be doing something more fun. And then I'm also critical, when I go back and read my journal entries I don't like what I wrote and I don't feel like it represents my life well. I usually give up or start over. Now I'm finally going to push through and keep a journal, even if I can't write that often. I'm keeping this online blog of what's going on in my life for my friends to read but I've realized that I don't feel comfortable writing very personal things here including a lot of my spiritual experiences, because anyone can read it and make fun of the things I consider to be special. So I've decided to keep a separate journal of personal things, mostly spiritual experiences that I've had so that I can remember them and so I can share the experiences with my close friends and family and someday my kids can read it. A lot of the scripture that we have is like a spiritual journal that someone kept. So using scripture as somewhat of a guide I can see what would be important for people to know about my life and it's not the everyday mundane things, it's the important spiritual things that I learned from and that other people might be able to learn from as well.

My husband and I are living in Provo Utah now and we really like it! I like living in the city. I can walk everywhere, like to downtown Provo and to the store. I always wanted to live where I could walk places and get exercise that way. Some of the places where we lived in Tennessee were way out in the country. There are definitely pros to that (lots of land, it's pretty, it's quiet) but I didn’t like having to drive for 20 minutes just to pick something up at the store.

Our new ward (church congregation) is a good mix of all ages of people. There are a lot of young couples which we like but there are also all ages, kids, teens, middle aged people, old people, and I like it that way. I always felt like singles/student wards were not as spiritual or something. I just didn’t like them. I think it’s because they lack kids and parents and I think kids are a really fun thing about church. So I’m glad we’re far enough away from BYU to not be in a student ward.

Our house needs a lot of fixing up and so far we haven’t had much time to do it. We haven't even finished unpacking and we've lived here for over a month. I'm doing stuff little by little.

I Have A New Family

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 22:34:00 +0000

Sorry I haven't written in so long! Life's been really crazy and I've been working especially hard to reach my goals since the beginning of the year.

Ready for a confusing story?

My Mom's parents split up when she and her twin sister were a few years old. She and her twin sister were raised by their mother and a step-dad and never saw or heard from their biological father.

So my Mom has been looking for her biological father since she became an adult. She's paid various services who say they can find anyone, but with no luck; they would find a person with the same name and birth date but it wouldn't be him. Last month she tried again with an online people finding service and found someone who seemed to be a match. All they gave her was his address so she wrote to him a letter asking if he was her dad. He received the letter and called her about a week later confirming that he is, in fact, her dad.

They started talking on the phone regularly and couldn't wait to meet each other. My Mom lives in Mt. Juliet, TN. She found her Dad living in Detroit Michigan, where she was born. This past weekend the long-lost dad came down to meet my Mom and her family for the first time (that is, the first time since she was very small). My Mom's twin sister who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico also came down to meet her Dad. The long-lost Dad brought his wife with him. He married his current wife soon after he split up with my Mom's Mom so long ago. When he met his current wife she had two kids of her own, a girl and a boy. The couple never had children together but he raised those kids as if they were his own. The crazy thing is that those two step kids raised by my biological Grandpa happened to also move to Mt. Juliet, Tennessee several years ago. So my Mom has a step brother and sister who were living right around the corner all this time.

The reunion of the families was awesome and emotional. It was like a scene from the Montel Williams show. Everyone loved getting to know each other. I got to meet my new Grandparents and Aunt and Uncle and cousins. They're all really sweet people, I love them. When my new Grandparents came to visit, they and my new Aunt and cousin came to church with my Mom and Dad and my family and my Mom's twin sister. My Mom and her twin sister sang a duet of the song "Families Can Be Together Forever" in the church sacrament meeting. My new Aunt and cousin are even coming to church with us regularly now and coming over for family night often. My new Grandparents are planning on moving to Mt. Juliet, Tennessee to be closer to their children, and also want to come to church with my parents again.

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 02:50:00 +0000

At Gisselle's Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Sun, 19 Dec 2004 05:59:00 +0000

I recorded this audio post while dancing at my best friend's wedding in California.

By the way...

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 21:29:00 +0000

Today I turned 24. That sounds so old to me. Not old for someone else but old for me. I guess sometimes I feel like I think a 24 year old should feel... when I think about all the experiences I've had, the things I've learned, the things I've done. But other times I feel like I'm 6, 12, 16, 18. I guess all those ages are still in me and sometimes they come out. When I turned 21 and I had just gotten married a few months earlier, I started to feel old. I thought 21 sounded so old. That's when I started wishing to be younger, not older. I went right from wishing I was 21 so I could go to "21 and over" dance clubs to wishing I was younger again. Never was just happy to be where I was. I guess that's human nature. So maybe I'll decide to be happy being 24 this year since I can't change my age anyway.

I remember being like 3 years old and my voice in my mind when I talked to myself in my head or read in my head was the voice of an adult. And I always thought of myself as sort of an adult in a child's body who was pretending to be a child because that was my job at this point in my life. I knew how to speak correctly but I spoke more babytalk-ish because it seemed like what I was supposed to do. I believe our spirits are young adults when we enter this world and young adults when we leave this world. Our bodies just change. So now that I've reached an age that I once thought of as pretty old and I still feel the same, I think of older people in a different light. I realize that you learn and grow as you age but sometimes you still feel like that 6 year old or that 16 or 24 year old. They're all inside you. Think about that next time you look at your parents! It's kinda interesting.

Awesome Plus Size Clothing

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 21:05:00 +0000

So I was looking for new fashion finds (yes, I'm finally going to update them) and I find these really cute shirts and stuff from a brand called b&lu. They have like over a dozen really cute things that are modest. So I'm really excited but then I look at the sizes and I realize they only sell plus sizes. And I'm really disappointed that I'm not a plus size, because they have good prices too. Well for all of you who are plus sizes, check them out here: Awesome Plus Size Clothing

I Still Live Out Of A Suitcase

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 19:31:00 +0000

I haven't talked about October's 10-day trip to Utah, and it's already Dec. 1st. I didn't want to take any trips in November so I could get caught up on all of my work, but I did end up taking one trip... more on that later. I'm leaving again in 2 weeks to visit L.A. for 10 days, returning home on Christmas Day. So instead of blogging about stuff I'm busy out doing stuff. Isn't that how it's supposed to be? It does has it's pros and cons though.

I used to see celebrities traveling around all the time and think it looked so fun and cool. I've always loved to travel. It'd be the sweetest life! But being out of town almost half of every month the last couple of years has kept me really busy. I constantly feel behind on things. It's not like I'm out vacationing all the time; almost all of these trips have been some kind of business trip, just like it is for celebrities. The trips are usually just as stressful as they are fun. So yeah, I've gotten kinda bored with travel. I still want to see lots more of the world (all of it) but I could use some time off right now to get organized 'cause I'm INSANE!

I realize now that no one has a perfect life, not celebrities, not people who "have everything", not people who can do whatever they want, not the best most righteous person in the world, and not even me, though mine does come close. ;)

To Everyone Who's E-Mailed Me And Hasn't Heard Back

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 19:04:00 +0000

Thanks for your comments! This is just a note to let everyone know that I have recieved your e-mail and I do respond to all of them (except for very rude or nasty ones), it just takes me a long time because I get so many of them.

I'm gonna set it up so whenever people e-mail me they get an automatic e-mail that says that. I haven't done it yet because... I haven't had time. ;)

My Favorite Movies

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Mon, 29 Nov 2004 16:28:00 +0000

I've made a list of my all-time favorite movies. See them HERE!

I Think I Got Them!

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Sat, 13 Nov 2004 05:09:00 +0000

The last three days I've felt so unproductive. I don't know how... This never happens to me, but I somehow got my computer hijacked by a bunch of adware on Tuesday. One of them even hijacked my browser so that when I searched for something on google.com I got their ads instead of the actual results. Well anyway, these were no ordinary infections. Even my best ad/spy programs couldn't get rid of them. I couldn't get any work done. All of the pop-ups were causing my computer to lock up. When I tried to add something to my website one of the crazy programs actually inserted it's ads into the code I was writing. But with my even crazier brain power I finally finished eliminating them all today. I had to edit my registry and system volume information; things I didn't even know were there. That's right, I'm really not a computer geek at heart. I just do this cause it's a good way to cheaply communicate with massive amounts of people. At least I came out with a little more computer knowledge.

Halloween Was Fun

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Mon, 01 Nov 2004 23:45:00 +0000

See, there's my $9.99 batwing backpack. I had on a black skirt and black chunky boots with black and grey striped legwarmers. They kind of look like fat Big Bird legs. Only black and grey. That's my boyfriend Chris who's also my Husband.

Trunk-Or-Treat

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 15:11:00 +0000

Tonight is Trunk-Or-Treat. I don't think the kids need any more candy so I'm giving out Mighty Beans, Halloween straws, Halloween erasers, bouncy balls, and fruit leather. For the older kids I have Gotee sampler CDs and stickers of Gotee artists like Grits, Paul Wright, John Reuben and Mars Ill. www.Gotee.com

I'm a cute bat. Chris is a Cyber-Punk. We didn't have time to get real costurmes so we're just wearing the clothes we usually go clubbing in. What makes me a bat is this cool backpack I found on clearance at Hot Topic last year: big silky black bat wings that unzip at the top to reveal a place to put lots of stuff.

Speaking of clothes I like, check out this link: www.chocosho.com I don't endorse everything they sell, but they have a lot of stuff I'd like to buy if I had an endless supply of money... which I don't.

Florida!

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Tue, 14 Sep 2004 16:14:00 +0000

My trip to Florida was great. I got a lot of good recording done and narrowly escaped Hurricane Frances. Got to hang out at the beach a lot and ride big hurricane's a comin' waves. Our hotel was just a block away from the beach. Tried surfing for the first time but didn't get up.

I Live Out Of A Suitcase

noreply@blogger.com (*Jen*) — Mon, 16 Aug 2004 06:34:00 +0000

I just got back from Los Angeles California, which is where I grew up. I went to the Lemmon family reunion. We had a really spiritual family devotional. Everyone got to answer a list of questions so we could get to know each other better. The questions were like: What's the most significant thing that happened to you in the past year? What have you been successful with recently? and What are your plans for the future? We sang songs and then people told pioneer stories and other stories of our ancestors.

Next week I leave to go to Florida. I'll be working with a producer to record some new dance music. My boyfriend (who is also my husband) and I will also be celebrating our 3 year marriage anniversary in Florida. This is bad timing to go to Florida due to the disastrous recent hurricanes but we had already planned the trip and purchased the tickets. I hope the weather doesn't spoil the trip, but most importantly I feel for the people whose lives and property have been destroyed and hope I can help in some way.