Small Business: Robert Watson Wedding Officiant

this is Robert Watson getting ready to perform YOUR WEDDING. that's his beautiful, supportive wife standing next to him.

this is Robert Watson performing a wedding I went to. Look how happy the groom is. he is happy he hired Robert Watson. who happens to now be his brother-in-law.


this is Robert Watson's website: www.azpastor.com

call him. send him a message. hire him. he is good at what he does. i have another post here somewhere... i already talked about him. but i am on this new kick right now where i am plugging small businesses/entrepeneurs that i know and love and want you to know and love and hire. they're all good, family oriented folks who are just trying to do the things that God has blessed them with the ability to do, and which they in turn love to do, and in turn give praise to God for allowing them to do what they do.

Small Business: Erin Dezago Photography

this is my friend erin.
she's a stunner. and she takes stunning pictures.
when i look at her pictures this word pops to mind:

e⋅the⋅re⋅al  /ɪˈθɪəriəl/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [i-theer-ee-uhl]
–adjective 1. light, airy, or tenuous: an ethereal world created through the poetic imagination.
2. extremely delicate or refined: ethereal beauty.

erin's pictures are very delicate, and very refined. every photoshoot looks like it is taken on the perfect sunday afternoon. (although, i guess a lot of her pictures really are taken on sunday afternoons since she works part-time, and is a full-time mom.)

erin takes amazing pictures, and i would say her forte is (are, actually, she's got more than one!) family pics and senior pics. she is so great at capturing people's personalities- from little babies, to big kids, to parents. she also does weddings, and maternity, and newborn pics, which are all really creative and beautiful. and ethereal.

anyhoo, there is a link to erin's website on the side of my blog. (note: i CANNOT get a link within the body of my post. what is up with that?!?!? someone who is smarter than me- help me out!!!)

this should be what you see:


give her a call if you need some amazing pictures taken of yourself, or your loved ones. she also made my birth announcements for topher, and i have been to her house while she was putting together wedding invitations that she ordered/designed for a couple. i probably should check with her if she actually still does that stuff, but she is a creative genius, and God was real heavy-handed when He threw artistic abilities her way.

here are a few pics that i love that she has taken:


this is one of my favorite pics from erin's website. it's just a fun family having a fun time and erin having a quick trigger-finger to capture a pretty awesome moment.


yes i love this pic! yes, it's of my sister and her family. it's a double-whammy of love!


senior shots! so so so so so fun and awesome!

Sleeping Time

here are some ridiculous pictures of our kids sleeping.
the one of lily is her sleeping in our bed when my girlfriend was out here for a visit, and therefore everyone's sleeping arrangements were altered. lily tucks her babies in herself. her photo was not doctored in any way.

and then topher like to sleep width-wise in his crib. why? cause he's crazy. though i have heard that kids like being in tight little spaces. maybe cause it reminds them of the womb? i don't know. don't judge me cause of all the stuff that's in topher's crib while he sleeps. part of my job when i check on him before i go to bed is to take about 50 toys out of his crib, cover him with a blanket, and stick his feet back into his bed.

chris actually took pictures of me while i was sleeping a few nights ago cause he thought it was funny, and it was like 5am, and he's a jerk. i think he meant to get a video of me sleeping, cause just seeing me sleep is one thing, but HEARING me sleep is another. anyhoo, you will not find those pictures here in this post, nor will you find them anywhere, ever, cause i am deleting them from our camera as we speak...

The Dark Side of Potty Training

Much of the things I feared about potty training occured over the last few days.

It started with a trip to Chandler Mall on Saturday. I love Chandler Mall. It's not the best mall I have ever been to by any stretch of the imagination, but we often go to Supersition Springs Mall, which is about 2 minutes away from our house, and any mall is better than SS Mall. Except that SS MAll now has TWO play areas for kids, and that is awesome. And there are hardly any stores in SS Mall, so my debit card is pretty much always safe when I am there. Except they have a carousel in the food court. Anyhoo, I digress.

So the kids and I picked up our wonderful friend Grace on our way to the mall. As we were driving along Guadalupe, Topher announces he has to pee. Of course he does. And he is wearing undies, so of course I have to pull over. So I get to a Walgreens, and run to the bathroom. Thank the good LOrd that grace was with me so that she could stay in the car with Lily, who was taking her much belated nap at 5 in the evening. Topher peed and then we were good to go. We get to the mall and things are great. We go to Pottery Barn Kids, which is where Grace needs to purchase some items, and fortunately they have public restrooms that are pretty clean in the back of the store. Lily now has to pee. So we go pee. I ask Topher if he has to pee again, and he says no. He lied.

After shopping a bit, Grace needs some tea. And she gets me a drink while she gets her drink, because that's how Generous Grace rolls. And Generous Grace is also Thoughtful Grace Imo (aunt) cause she has asked for two sippy cups so I can share my special drink with my kids. My kids love Grace. I love Grace. It's a lovefest when we are together. So we are having a great time, walking around the mall, getting towards the play area, drinking our drinks, having a great time. We get to the play area and Lily gets to running into the play area. I pick Topher up from his seat in the stroller, and he is SOAKED. he has peed so much you would think he hasn't peed in weeks. The stroller is literally dripping. GROSS. i know. So I take Topher to the bathroom while Grace hangs out with Lily. MOTHERS: do not leave the house while you are potty training your kids for a month, OR go out in a group where there is an extra adult accompanying you, especially if you have more than 1 kid.

So Topher gets dried up and I put a Pull Up on him and quit worrying about him for the rest of our night out. This Pull Up was an extra life saver because Topher ended up dropping the dirtiest poop in it on our way home from dinner later on. This kid is not ready to be in undies 24/7. And that's ok.

Then yesterday Topher was acting like a giant baby and soiled 3 undies by 10 am. One of the soiling moments happened while he was trying to pee on the potty, only 1. he still had his undies on. and 2. it happened while he was trying to pee on lily's toy potty for her baby doll. as pictured above. you might have thought that picture was a remodel of the bathroom. it looks like it could be... but to get a full picture of how 'big' the toy bathroom is- here is a pic of lily sitting on said toy potty:



After the morning's many mishaps, I was ready for a fresh start in the afternoon. I asked Topher if he had to pee in the potty and he said "Yes!" So I picked up the potty that was hanging out near the dining table (what? that's a good, sanitary place for it...) and as I picked it up real quick to put it in front of Toph, I noticed there was already a lot of pee in it. I noticed because now there was pee on my arm, jeans, foot, and of course- the carpet. I kinda screamed in terror/shock. Lily looked at me and said: "I did pee pee in potty!" Yeah you did Lils. Yeah you did.

So I hobbled over to the bathroom (again, so thankful for our SMALL apartment right now!) with potty in hand, pee on arm and foot. i tried to get cleaned up as quickly as possible to avoid topher ruining his 4th pair of undies. fortunately, i got back to him in just the knick of time. Later on as I was making dinner, I opened some ricotta cheese, and a yellow-water poured on me once again, causing me to change my outfit again. That had nothing to do with potty training but it did contribute to my already massive pile of laundry. After I made dinner, I attacked the carpet with my Lil'Green Machine so that even if I am constantly wreaking of urine and littered with pee pee stains, my home doesn't need to be.

And in other potty news, Lily has dropped two of the largest and longest poops in the universe in the toilet this week. She has been happily receiving her cookies, and I have been happily handing them out to her. And that's all from potty central. Over and out!

Happy Birthday Gabriel

dear gabriel,
my sweet little nephew. do you know how special you are? sure, your family loves you. you're hilarious! you're tons of fun to be around! everything makes you laugh, and that makes everyone else laugh. you are ridiculously smart- you can remember EVERYONE'S name! a gift i haven't seen since the likes of a young jenna gagnon. you love thomas the train right now, hence the birthday cupcakes i got to decorate for you (thanks! i loved doing it!), which is a step up from dj the dinosaur.
but gabe, do you know how special you are- to Jesus? did you know that when your mama was pregnant with you, we thought we might have lost you? do you know how many people petitioned for your life that weekend? do you know that God answers prayers? i hope you know that because you are a HUGE answer to prayer!
gabe, today you are two, which i cannot even believe! you are a joy to everyone around you, but most importantly you are a joy to our Lord, and that is why you are here. cause He really wants you to be who you are, where you are.
gabe, you are a pastor's son. and that kinda sucks- cause people are watching you. but that just means you have an incredible opportunity to show everyone around you how special you are, and how special Jesus is.
gabers, my wonderful nephew, i wish you a very happy birthday and i pray for you and your future, cause it is bound to be a bright one.
i love you.
aunt jihae

28 great moments

i went out for dinner for my birthday a few weeks ago with chris, jeehon, james, and our wonderful friend grace. chris asked 'what was the best moment of your life?' and i answered him #10. which isn't really number 10. i guess it's number one since that's what i said to him. but then we all went around and answered the question, which i loved. answers varied from waking up to a pile of cash, to meeting my sister and i.
so i've decided to compile a list of 28 great moments to commemorate the 28 years that i have lived. they are absolutely in no particular order, so don't be thinking i am building up to something great for #28, cause it's actually kinda lame. but enjoy my list anyway.

1. super cheesey- but hanging out as our little family of four is pretty awesome. the kids are always doing and saying funny things now, and i just love love love our little family to pieces.
2. giving birth to lily. that was a doozey. but holding her and knowing that chris and i actually made this little (GIGANTIC) thing was beyond insane.
3. having topher fall out of the birth canal. that was also insane. and the recovery from that was the best. but again, meeting my son was pretty fantastic.
4. getting to drive my 'dream car'- jeep grand cherokee. even if it was short lived, and only to be followed by driving a mini van. my anti-dream car.
5. not having sex with my boyfriend in high school/university. i dated this one fella for 7 years on and off. more off than on. but i thought i was in love and that i might end up marrying him eventually. so we really almost had sex one day. like for real. condom was there and everything. but above all- the Holy Spirit was there and did NOT allow it to happen. thank you thank you Jesus!
6. finding out topher was a boy. chris loves Lily. LOVES her. but he really needed to have a boy. if topher had been a girl, i feel like i would be pregnant again already, just so chris could have his boy. thankfully he wasn't and i'm not.
7. going to japan to hang out with my sister for 3 weeks. it was my first time away from home without my parents. i gained about 5-10 pounds eating japanese ramen (which is THE BEST ramen out there!) and other wonderful goodies.
8. watching my dad walk my sister down the aisle when she got married. lots of prayers and fights and so on occured to make that happen. but they were so happy and everything was just as it was supposed to be.
9. almost four years ago, chris and i found a small group comprised of 7 couples, including chris and i. and having those couples still in our lives is a pretty wonderful thing.
10. getting engaged to chris. he went above and beyond the call of duty on that one. it think i wrote about it in my 'ode to chris' section a few months ago...
11. the day i went to a youth revival and DIDN'T feel like i needed to 'rededicate my life' to the Lord. i was dedicated and i knew it! i think that was better than the day i 'received Christ', cause maybe i didn't do it right back then anyway... i think i received Jesus and rededicated myself to Him at about 5 or 6 different camps and revivals.
12. the moment a bug fell out of my eye, after it had been trapped in there for HOURS. i thought i was going to be blind. i thought it was punishment for something i had done. i prayed and prayed for forgiveness and for that danged bug to come out. and it did! i'm not blind. but i knew that prayer- and excessive blinking, were going to play major roles in my life. i was 7 at the time.
13. watching the 'Mask of Zorro' with all of my siblings. this was maybe 10 years ago. my youngest brother had already seen it and said it wasn't funny. then it ended up being one of the funniest movies we had ever seen. but when the five of us are together, things are always more ridiculous and funny than at any other time.
14. being at Sun Valley and watching people get baptized. every time i see it, it's amazing. new life. so fresh and so beautiful. i love it.
15. one night my sister and i went for a drive. she parked across the street for this gigantic house and told me that it was ours. i was in shock. It was the first house that my parents had bought and that we had lived in. It was an extra half hour away from my already-one-hour-away high school. but since i was about to be a senior, and public transportation in toronto is phenomenal, i was pretty excited about the whole thing.
16. leaving above-mentioned house at 2am to go pick up my brothers from the clubbing district downtown (to dance. not hit people, or seals.) my brothers are 2 years younger than me, and they were calling me cause 1. they didn't have a drivers license (even though they were of driving age), and 2. they didn't want to get in the car with any of their drunk friends. i was really happy to do it.
17. every time i am back in toronto, eating or walking around with my friends and family. it's always nice to be back home. and it is always very nice to eat great food with great people. that's acutally probably my favorite thing in the world to do.
18. the day i picked up one of my writing assignments and my professor wrote as a comment that i should look for a publisher for my piece. i still haven't. that was almost 7 years ago. but it was a great moment.
19. meeting barb and jerry in oregon while chris and i were 'on a break.' so great to meet the woman who would soon become my mother-in-law and one of my closest friends. though the circumstances were as strange as could be. but i was also with jeehon and we were about to do some more west coast traveling and that was good clean fun.
20. chris and i had just had an 'issue' about this one girl he knows. then we went to the suns game with his dad and robert and it came up again, and it was hilarious. seeing chris with his dad and brother always cracks me up. these men are never afraid to say 'i love you', especially to each other. they are three of the funniest and most ridiculous human beings i know.
21. living in korea in a small apartment with my older brother, sister, and our crazy friend sooha. we were rarely all home at the same time, but when we were, it was all jokes and laughter.
22. when jeehon worked for us airways. my parents came down to see us all the time. i went to boston, san francisco, toronto, and los angeles for free, or almost free. that was a pretty great traveling year!
23. two weeks ago when i finally got to see Lily really pee on the toilet. i really felt like i would never see that day!
24. when i was in 2nd grade or so, one of my buddies went to India with his family. he was gone for almost a month. which is the equivalent of 2 years when you're a little kid. he came back to school, and everyone wanted to talk to him, and sit near him at lunch. i figured he had forgotten about me and our friendship from way back when, and then as we were getting packed up to go home, he came over to me and told me he bought something for me- a beautiful silk wallet with flowers on it. i still remember it. it was amazing. he bought one for me, and one for another friend, and that was it. i felt really special that day.
25. our rehearsal dinner. all of our friends and family were there. even the friends who weren't involved in the wedding, but had come from out of town. i really could feel the love. it was a joyous occassion. and an opportunity to hang out with my friends in a way that i couldn't at the wedding. cause your wedding is crazy, but the rehearsal dinner shouldn't be. and of course, it was the day before i got to marry chris. that made the occassion all the greater.
26. road trips with chris. el paso was a good one. all the times we've gone to vegas together have been pretty great. even the moving caravan from oregon to here in 24 hours was pretty great too. they are just extrended dates for chris and i to enjoy each other's company and conversation and not get distracted by dishes, tv, or anything else.
27. working at Global Christian School for 3 years. i really met some people who changed my life, my outlook on missions, and helped me have a better relationship with Jesus and His Word.
28. one birthday while i was in university (or maybe high school... and i was just studying at the university...) was really quiet and kinda depressing. january birthdays in canada aren't that fun cause there are exams to be studied for, and it is COLD! i remember being at the library, studying/sleeping. then my mom called me and said she wanted to go out for dinner. so she came to the library, picked me up, then we went to china town and had lobster. oh to have a wonderful mother and lobster in black bean sauce!

secrets to OUR potty training 'success'

we are definitely not 100% potty trained in the watson household yet. well, i am. we are working on chris and the kids ;) lily is 100% in undies all the livelong day, but wears a Pull-Up at night to sleep. she has not woken up even close to dry yet. according to lots of parents i know- this is ok to do. i have heard of other parents who had their kids in undies at night and just did a ton of laundry every day. i am not those 'other parents'. topher is getting so great at telling us when he has to go, even if he is wearing a Pull-Up, which he does when we are out and about. he has occasional accidents in his undies still, but that's ok! we are so proud of both of our kids we could throw up.

here are some of the things that we did that worked for us. now, please remember that we tried potty training about 3-4 months ago and that was a DISASTER. if you are potty training and it's not going well- just STOP. read my posts from before about potty training, give thanks you are not me, and take a breather. for everyone's sake. i have heard and read that potty training shouldn't be hard, and that when your kid is ready it will be easy and painless. i never ever thought i would be able to say this- especially with potty training lily, but it's so true! it was pretty easy!

step 1- fail and move on.
we tried. we failed. we stopped. we moved on.

step 2- prepare ye the way.
after some time had passed from our failure, chris and i started warning/telling/prophesying that one day there would be no diapers in the house and that she would HAVE to pee on the potty. we told her this starting in novemeber. we did our potty training camp in january. lily likes to know what's going on, and i think she really appreciated the warning. topher on the other hand, doesn't really care what's going on or when, he just wants to be a part of the fun. we did not prepare him at all i don't think. at least not verbally the way we HAD TO with lily. all kids are different. even if they have the same genetic make-up.

step 3- comfort, not chaos
they say to make sure things are not chaotic. 'they' being 'profesional potty trainers/pediatricians/moms, etc... i will give them some kuddos for this advice as well. we did not have anything going on in january. we had been in the apartment long enough. we were in our daily schedules. everything was good to go. the kids had been hanging out on their potties for quite a while. topher even peed a few times. lily- not so much. but she didn't mind sitting on it again which was great. we talked about pottying more and more as the day approached. we watched videos and read books about it. again- more for and with lily than with topher. and lily was pretty excited about undies this time cause she knew some of her friends were wearing them. we bought some that she and topher got to pick out themselves, and this made the process more fun, and more real for both of them too.

step 4- pray!
actually, for me, this was step 2. post-failure. i don't think i prayed all that hard about potty training the first time i did it. and failed. after that i prayed and prayed and prayed. i prayed for lily to be ready and for us to know when that might be. i prayed for myself to be ready for anything- failure part 2, or success. i was a mess. like seriously scared. i was scared that lily would legitamitely never want to be potty trained. i was scared that we would fight again like we did before. i was afraid that i would lose my mind again like i did before. i needed peace, to be calm and courageous to proceed with our plan. therefore i needed to pray. and i thank Jesus for having helped us out as much as He did!

step 5- stock up.
during our first attempt to potty train, we bought some 'big items' to 'entice/bribe' the children to pee in the potty. it did NOT work then. so we still had these toys, and brought them out this time around. the kids were happy to receive their prizes, but did not necessarily pee to receive them. or at least topher didn't. he peed 3 times and we gave him his toy. he was happy. this made lily want her toy a little more, so she peed 3 times that first day and received her toy. and was happy. but then the next day when the kids both had accidents on the floor, chris took the toys away. toys may or may not work for you. they were not really a deal maker or breaker for us.
but i did stock up on juice boxes, yogurt drinks, candy, and stickers. these were the real tools we needed for potty training. the kids drank A LOT the first two days of potty training. just to make them need to go. and they got a reward for even just sitting on the potty. this made the day fun, and very sugary. lots of teeth brushing occured those days.
i thought the stickers might be more fun for the kids to put on their charts, but they didn't care as much as i did. the chart was a good reminder for chris and i as to how many pees made it into the potty, and we could see their progress every day. progress is always good.
we also 'stocked up' on Pull-Ups, but hid them. we used to have a drawer with diapers in it in the living room. if the kids needed/wanted to be changed, they opened the drawer and brought us a diaper. both of our kids, at some point, checked to see if there were diapers in the drawer, and there wasn't a single one. they knew we were serious!

step 6- set the timer and go go go.
one of my girlfriend's who has successfully potty trained her two girls told me that she set her microwave timer for every 20 minutes, and whenever that timer rang, her kids sat on the toilet. and they did this all day, for a few days. except when they were napping. cause everyone needs a break. so we did this, and it worked out well for us.
one thing that tripped me up a bit with lily was that she would say she had to go and then either not go, or take 20 minutes to go. i had visions of us being at target for hours, in the dirty bathroom, waiting and waiting for lily to pee. the first day and a half was spent WAITING for the pee to flow. but when it started flowing- it's like the flood gates were opened and there was no more waiting. lily knew when she had to pee, and when she peed she did it as soon as she sat down. it was awesome.

step 7- keep on keepin on.
every time your kid says they have to pee- get up and put them on the pot. they won't always go, but if you don't listen to them, they will have an accident sooner than later, and you will probably both feel discouraged because of it. this happened with topher once or twice... (learn from my mistakes people! i make tons of them!)
and like lily, even though things may start slowly, they will pick up eventually.
the whole thing is pretty exhausting for everyone, cause there is so much getting up and down. setting the timer. turning it off. getting the carpet cleaner. going to the bathroom. getting more juice. going to the bathroom to empty the potty. etc, etc. but in the end it all pays off! just be prepared to work for your reward though.

this is what worked for US. if you are about to embark on the potty training journey-i bid thee good luck! if you should happen to stumble, or fall off of your horse completely- that's ok. give it a couple weeks or months and try try again. know your kids, what they like, what they need. for some kids this thing takes 3 days, and for others it takes a LOT MORE. and all of that is OK. your kid WILL pee pee in the potty!