A Peek at the Poulsens

We just texted four people who live close to us asking if they had vanilla ice cream - it's Sunday so we don't go to the store, but we found leftover cookie dough in the freezer and decided it would be delicious with ice cream and once we had that thought we realized we couldn't get through our evening until we made this a reality. THANK YOU MJ for having ice cream that we could steal and making our ice cream/cookie dough/hot melty cookie treat dreams come true. I'm glad we have friends who understand our spontaneous dessert needs.  fancy lawn mowing / I spy Lizzie / our neighbor mowing with a FLASHLIGHT at 9:30 pm  love when she let's me do hair / he's getting SO BIG and won't be sleeping on me like this forever / MOTHRA: this moth haunted our bathroom all last week, and a couple days ago Austin told me that he was playing a game every time he went in the bathroom where he would wait for Mothra to pop out from her hiding place and then he would fe...

Preface: Max, my missionary brother who is almost done!!!, emailed me last week asking about how Austin and I got together and I thought I'd share it here for posterity: (Also, Austin and I laugh about how we must have been so obnoxious telling every detail of our story to everyone who asked about it when we were first married, so we've since truncated that version to a short and sweet paragraph, BUT this is our blog and what better place to write down every detail now?!) The Austin/Jessie story, you ask? I was so lost in my own thoughts/experiences during that crazy time that I forget to wonder how everyone else felt about it. I guess with all the craziness you probably didn't get most of the facts/feelings of the whole thing, and I guess now is as good a time as any! It's actually kind of hard to talk about because it was a very spiritual, reverent, unusual experience and it's hard to explain to most people and have them understand about how revelation/the ...

Looks innocent, right? Look a little closer, imagining the screams/knife attacking sounds from Psycho: Dun dun DUHHHHHHHHHHHH. I hate this can opener. HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT. It has a dull spot and always gives out before you finish opening the can, making you start over but leaving that un-cut spot, and then adding another one again before you finish, leaving you with TWO spots that are still attached and making it impossible to get anything out the can. Nothing works - I've tried all sorts of manipulations/sneak attacks/planning ahead/different techniques and I'm always left to try not to stab myself while painstakingly opening the can with a knife or prying it open with a utensil. I've cut myself way too many times and even if I manage to come out of a can-opening unscathed physically, I end up all huffy and frustrated because it is so inefficient and irritating. Gah! I'm not sure why I don't just go out and buy a new one - I guess I'm afraid th...

I don't think that's a word but it's what this weekend was for me, pure upliftment ! I think it was the most attentive, appreciative, and spiritual I've felt for General Conference, maybe ever. Every talk brought me comfort, joy, guidance, or all three. There were a few talks that could literally have been entitled "For Jessie." Motherhood, self-control, parenting, "ponderizing," and living with love. It was also a historic Conference weekend with the sustaining of THREE new apostles. I didn't expect to feel so sad about the passing of President Packer, Elder Perry, and Elder Scott, but when the camera showed their empty chairs I felt really emotional. These are men who spent their entire lives serving Jesus Christ, and it was strange to not hear them speak since I've grown up listening to their words of love and guidance. At the same time though, I felt an incredible personal confirmation through the spirit of the new apostles, Elders R...

look who's TWO! We celebrated Stockton's birthday this weekend and it was such a fun day. I LOVED my birthdays growing up, but it's even more fun celebrating my children's birthdays now! It was especially fun because I feel like relaxed, content Stockton doesn't get as much attention from everyone as rambunctious, loud Natalie usually does so it was perfect to have a day that was all about him. We explored our favorite Pioneers Park (or Peach Park, as Natalie says) early that morning and enjoyed a wilderness romp, although it was cut short because of these nasty, aggressive bees that wouldn't leave us alone! No one got stung but it was very annoying and we left to go to another park. love! For breakfast we had delicious French toast with whipped cream and bacon. YUM. I took a brief birthday hiatus to take Jack to the doctor to check for an ear infection (negative), and then picked up some Chipotle for birthday lunch. Stockton loves the rice and be...