OLD LADY HABITS

I've been called an "old soul" before and I used to think "Wow! I'm mature."  Wrong.  I realized it's because I have old lady tendencies.  I am an eighty year old trapped in a twenty six year old's body.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized I have more elderly habits than I realized.

1. I go to bed early.  Clarification: I don't go to bed at 8 PM. I know people like to exaggerate it a little bit, but usually around 9 or 10 PM.  Occasionally I can stay up to 11 and every once in a blue moon I can stay up until midnight, but then I start getting delirious.

2. I have the worst memory.  This is no exaggeration.  True story:  one time I was watching tv with my roommates & this movie preview came on.  I said, "I want to see that!"  They all looked at me with puzzled looks and replied, "You know we saw that in the movie theater recently, right?"  Gosh, I'm an idiot.  I can remember numbers like no bodies business, but cannot remember names, places, movies, music artists, events that occurred, etc.

3. Bad hearing.  I blame my mom for this one.  I think it's genetic.  That lady can't hear for her life.

4. I have an 80 year old bladder.  Long road trips often requires frequent stops for this Wood family.

5.  Aches & pains.  I wish I could blame that on pregnancy & carrying around a huge baby all the time, but I am pretty sure my back and stomach hurt before James ever existed.

6. I drive slow.  I am not sure what it is.  When I lived in Los Angeles I was a speed demon, but since I moved to Georgia, I started driving slow.  I guess that's my way of coping with the slow pace of life here.

7.  I walk slow.  I am not sure where I got this, my whole family walks fast.  Jordan said that when we were dating, I walked so slow and when I would talk while walking, it slowed me down even more.  Yikes!

I wish I could say I talked slow and ate slow, but I talk 100 mph & same with eating.

I just need to face it, by 35 I'll probably be wearing a hearing aid along with a diaper and diagnosed with dementia.  Poor Jordan.

The day I will never forget...

I CANNOT believe our 2 year anniversary is today!  I had put so much thought into our wedding day.  I wanted it to be a blessing to others, and ultimately I wanted it to reflect Christ since that's the end goal in marriage.  I truly enjoyed every second of it.  I could probably go on & on about our wedding day, but I am going to post a ton of pictures instead and let them tell the story! :)

Gosh, I love James Jordan Wood.  Best decision of my life.

James the Gentle Giant 6.24.14

I'm a few days late, but James is 4 months old.  It seems like I just had him yesterday, but then again it seems like he has been a part of our family for a while now.    

We just got back from his 4 month appointment and he's still in the 80th percentile for height (26 inches), and he went from 60th to 80th percentile in weight (16 pounds 14 ounces), and his head got way bigger!  It went from the 30th percentile to the 75th.  

I am somewhat convinced he will be tall like Jordan, yet he seems pretty sensitive.  His little lip quivers a lot when he's scared or doesn't like something.  Not that I remember being a baby, but my mom and dad told me I was such a cry baby!  There's home videos of me crying because I wanted my mom & I vividly remember crying when my brother & sister would wrestle playfully with my dad.  I thought they were hurting each other.  I also remember my dad making me play softball when I was 5ish, and I cried like a baby for a loooong time because I was scared.  My dad could not handle cry babies/whimps, but I'm thankful he pushed me out of my comfort zone and made me a little more tough.  Hopefully James will grow out of it too--having 5 Wood uncles will toughen him up a little, I'm sure!  

Dear sweet James,

I know I have said this a million time, but we love you so much and our love keeps growing for you each day.  It's hard to fathom because we love you a ton already!  You started laughing, finally!! I have been waiting for it to come.  You are still sleeping a lot & eating a ton! 

Love, 
Mommy & Daddy

Here are some pics & a video from this past month:

Help! I'm tacoed out!!

What do I do while James takes his morning nap?  I food prep!  And what am I making?  Jordan's favorite, either enchiladas or burritos and I freeze them for dinner and lunches.  If we aren't having enchiladas, we are usually eating some sort of Mexican dish.  Occasionally I will ask Jordan what he wants for dinner, and his response is alway "tacos".  To say I'm getting tired of tacos is an understatement or any Mexican dish in general!   I have definitely perfected my tacos.  If anyone has any yummy, YET simple dinner recipes they would like to share, I'm all for it!!  I try Pinterest recipes every once in a while, but sometimes they get a little time consuming, and running around the grocery store for 1,000 ingredients isn't ideal with a baby in your cart!

I am also perfecting my salsa recipe.  Here it is if you are interested:

3 cans of Hunt's Diced Tomatoes (16 ounces)-I usually get "no salt added"
1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro
1/2 white onion
2 limes (or I get lime juice, cheaper & laster longer)
10 slices of jalapeno peppers (I use the jar kind-cheaper & last longer)  
2 cloves of garlic
Salsa packet (but I sometimes I don't include this because it has too much sodium, and just do a dash of garlic salt)

Sometimes I do without garlic if I don't have it.  This recipe is pretty good!  The first time I made salsa, one of Jordan's brother's said it tasted like "Oniony ketchup", so I have came a long way :)


I made up another recipe that several people have asked me about.  It's really simple.  Here it is:

1 can of corn (low sodium)
1/2 white onion
1/4 bunch of cilantro

It's kind of like a salsa but with no tomatoes!

Please post any recipes you would like to share, so I don't go crazy with Jordan's taco obsession.

{Life in the South} 6.11.14

Even after living here for 2 years, I am still asked, "How do you like living in Milledgeville, Georgia?" or "I bet this is a lot different than Los Angeles."  Life in Milledgeville is totally different than life in LA.  However, I was not born and raised in LA.  I was raised in a smaller town than Milledgeville, if you can believe it.  Yep, the town I grew up in was only 6,000 people, Hughson, California.  When I would tell people I was from Hughson, they would say "Houston, Texas?"  And then I would have to give this long explanation of where Hughson was located.  Despite the fact that I was born and raised in a small town, there are still several differences between where I grew up and the South (or maybe it's just Milledgeville).  Some of them are pretty humorous too.  

Here are a few:

1.  The most obvious one is that we don't say "ya'll" in California, we say "you guys".  I still haven't found it natural to say "ya'll" yet.  I sound pretty awkward when I do.

2. Another thing that is quite funny, is in California I would say, "Let's have a BBQ" which meant let's have people over to grill.  In the South, BBQ is a type of meat.  If you say, "We are having a BBQ," people think you are inviting them over for a type of meat.  I still catch myself asking Jordan, "Want to have a bar-b-que?"

3. In the South, you have thunderstorms a lot through out the summer.  In California, (at least where I grew up) it hardly rains and when it does, it's a cold rain!!  So, everytime it is overcast here, I want to put on warm clothes.  One time someone asked me, "Why are you wearing pants and a long sleeve shirt?" during the summer, and I thought in my head, "uhhhh because it's raining, DUH!!"  But after she said that I thought to myself, "This isn't California--thunderstorms and rains are hot which means you don't have to wear warm clothes."  But my mind has been trained for 24 years to put on warm clothes when it rains, so I still find myself putting pants & a jacket on when it's overcast & dreary.  It's hard to break a habit!

4.  In Los Angeles, I'm not even kidding when I say there was a physic on every corner.  I even remember seeing them in neighborhoods.  In the South, there are churches on every corner.  I think I prefer churches :)

5. Where I grew up we would say, "I'm going to mow the lawn".  In the South (or maybe it's just in Milledgeville) they say "I'm going to cut the grass."  Honestly, the first time I heard that I imagined someone cutting the grass with scissors.  Funny how the mind works.

6. Has anyone heard of "sleeting?" I remember the first time I heard that word, and I thought to myself, "what the heck is sleeting?"  Then someone said, "It's icey rain".  I have never heard of that word nor have I seen it until I moved here.  In California it either rains or hails, there's no sleet.  

7.  Oh and get this!  Jordan's aunt kept saying how she was wanting a new "commode" the other day, and finally I asked her "What is a commode?"  I guess people around here refer to a toilet as a "commode".   Toilets aren't something I talk about a lot, maybe that's why I have never heard of it.    

8.  Have you heard of "Black Eyed Peas"?  I thought that was just a band until I moved here. Yeah, it's actually a type of food that is pretty common around here.  

9.  I knew sweet tea was pretty common in the South, but I didn't realize that it tasted like sugary water.  I want to say sometimes, "Can I have some tea with this sugar water please?"  But I understand how people get hooked on it, who doesn't like sugar?

10.  A few things I observed, in California, there's a McDonald's in almost every town (no matter the size).  Here it seems like there is a Waffle House in every town.  In California, it's called Carl's Jr.  Here it's called Hardees.  In LA, it was kind of trendy to not wear make up and leave your hair messy, that's not the case here.  

These are a only a few that were on the top of my head, I know there are a lot more.  Living here has been quite the adventure and I feel like I'm learning something new all the time.  

This chatterbox is 3 months today! {5.21.13}

Dear James,

This month I took more videos of you than I did pictures because you are talking so much!  You even started cooing while in your crib, it cracks us up!  We will watch you on the video monitor.  You look right into the camera and smile and coo.  You also do it while you are in your carseat in the car.  Daddy and I will be chatting away and all the sudden we stop to listen to you talk to your bumble bee that is hanging from your carseat.   You are still sleeping a lot & eating every 3 hours!  You are a little fuss bucket when you're tired.  You are going 100 mph kicking your legs or talking, or you're fussing because you wore yourself out and want to go to bed!  We love you SO SO SO much James!  We have a better understanding of the gospel because of you.  We realize more & more how much the Lord loves us because we are crazy in love with you! We pray for you daily.  Our prayer is that you will grow up to know, love, & serve the Lord fervently. 

Love, 
Mommy & Daddy

Your great grandmother holding you for the first time.  

 Getting lots of attention from Aunt Darlene, Grandma & Granny.

 You fell asleep in grandma's lap during church.  You lasted the whole service without making too much noise.  And you survived Sunday school, but you yawned & sighed really loud several times while daddy was teaching the youth.  It was pretty funny. 

I love it when you smile & talk to other people.

Throwback Thursday--Engagement Day {1.21.12}

Wow! Thinking back on this day seems so long ago!  It was Saturday morning and my friends and I were planning on going to the Camarillo outlets.  I went to pilates with a coworker that morning and was planning on wearing my workout clothes to the outlets, especially since it was rainy!  My friends insisted that we dress up a little so we can take pictures.  "Ughhhh I thought, if you really want me to change, I will". So I changed into jeans, boots, and a ruffled coat.  My hair was still a mess though I didn't want to fix especially if it was such yucky weather.  My friends were taking foreveeeeeer to get ready, so I decided to start cleaning the house.  I was emptying the trash when I heard the door bell ring.  One of my roommates yelled, "It's the UPS. Steffi can you get it?"  Only to find Jordan nervously standing at the door.  Here is the video clip of him at the door.  It's really funny.

I sound ridiculous, but I was in complete shock.  As we were driving to lunch, I still had no idea he was going to propose.  We walked on the pier in Santa Monica and I noticed Jordan was acting a little weird.  That's when it hit me.  I thought, "Is he about to propose?"  Minutes later he got down on one knee and popped the question!  We then went to lunch at Shutters in Santa Monica, it's beautiful!!

After lunch he surprised me with a manicure!  Then to top it off, my family and friends surprised me with an engagement party!  I will have to find the pictures from the party, it was SO fun!

One month later, I flew to Georgia and sweet Ashah took our engagement photos.  Here are a few of my faves!

I love you James Jordan Wood.  Saying "yes" was one of the best decisions of my life!