We May Be Mobsters?

This was our Elantra.
We sold it last week.
We bought it when Jake was in law school.
I promised I would drive it too, even though it was a stick.
And I did.... maybe 6 times.
It was a great car for us. We brought home two babies from the hospital in the back seat.
And it repaired nicely when the deer ran into us.
And it always looked great.
Jake didn't want a black car when we went car shopping because it always looks dirty.
But then on the lot, he couldn't help but pick this car.
As time went on, and Jake began working from home, it was driven less and less.
And mostly sat in the garage, because though it got better gas mileage then my car, I refuse to move the car seats over.
So we decided to sell it.
Thinking we could either be a one family car, or maybe get a beater truck for Jake to drive instead.



This is my Rodeo.
I got her in 2001- I've had her longer than Jake.
And I will admit that when she was new, I couldn't drive a few miles without getting hit on.
I didn't know I wanted a black car really when she was purchased, it just ended up being the car with the right features and the right price.
I thought it looked good.
I can remember driving this car to my own wedding. She went about 80 miles an hour up University Parkway, when the lady that did my hair took 1.5 hours longer than she said she would.
I can remember driving her to LA and back in 30 hours on one of our best road trips ever when Jake was interviewing for jobs.
I can remember trying every baby mirror for sale to try to see my newborn Kate in the back while I was driving only to find that no baby mirror worked with the car.

We still have her.
We call her "The Zoo" now. Because she is and Isuzu, which sounds like zoo, and because she is always full of loud kids and food they have dropped from their "cages".
We will drive her forever and ever.
Two years ago, the dealership replaced her engine under warranty. It was like she was made new again. It was like we had won a car on Wheel of Fortune. The engine they put in it alone was worth more than the entire car.
So she still has lot of miles on her.
She is just Jake's car now. He claims he will take good care of her, and use her like a truck.
After all we have fit everything from counter tops to couches in her.


We've added a new car to the Freeman Family history of cars.
We had plans to get a newer- extra reliable car for me to drive the kids around in, and for all those road trips we seem to be taking more and more of.
We sold the Elantra for a little extra cash and room in the garage.
The new addition is a Honda Pilot.
We just got her yesterday, though the search for the perfect car took about 1 month.
We got this because it was almost perfect. New enough, but not so new we couldn't pay for it.
It seats 8. More secure than I have ever felt in the snow.
And best of all, has a DVD player. I think we might call this car "The Cinema"
The kids are stoked about the movie car, and we even let them watch part of a movie in the car while it was parked in the garage last night just for fun.
I am very happy about it. So happy I keep making excused to go and drive it.
The only thing not perfect is the color.
Did you see what color it is.... well I just stole the picture from the dealership website and it is not perfect, but I wanted to see it without being cover in salt and snow like it is now.

It is black.
Our third black car in a row.

And now we own two black SUV's.
I feel like mobsters.
And I think it is funny stuff.


Here is how they look in the garage,
2 Black SUV's side by side.

It is funny to have two matching SUV's when you actually don't want black cars.
But I guess "that's how we roll" literally in this family.
Why would I think we would end up with anything else but Black.

'Tis the Season

Kate played Mary in her preschool production of the 1st Christmas. She was so good, and right on as the scripture was read, she brought forth her child out of her robe which surprised me, and laid it in the manger and folder her arms in prayer. She loved it.
Kate assembled this nativity scene this week. It is hilarious, and sweet. I am not sure sebatian from the little mremaid was at the 1st Christmas but the idea is nice.
We took the kids to see Santa tonight. I think they had a bit of trouble recognizing him because he wasn't wearing all red, or a hat. They were not afraid of him and ran straight to him. We don't have pictures because they would not let you take pictures- only purchase one for $16.00.

Eating at the Old Spaghetti Factory after seeing Santa.
Our kids eat noodles.
We ended the night letting the kids pick out gifts for each other and us. On our way our of the mall Kate saw a jewelry store. She exclaimed "Is that the Diamond Store" When her suspision was confirmed she said we should buy mom a diamond ring for Christmas. Good idea Kate, I think she ended up picking me out some chapstick though.
After picking a present for each person in the family and Cola, we returned home and she excitedly wrapped them.

Lots of Christmas fun and more to come.

One Year.

One year ago we committed to being self employed.
It is our one year anniversary of being on our own.
We are celebrating!

We had big plans to take ourselves on a trip to Cancun.
But you know how we are about never actually doing things like that.
Instead we have an afternoon date with the kids, to see Santa, go to dinner and let them pick out a gift for one another.
It will be fun, and funny and a perfect representation of what the entire year has been like.

I can remember the day well. The 1st day Jake didn't "go" to work.
I'll admit, although I had all the faith in the world that my husband could do it, it seemed insane to leave a paying job as an attorney with benefits for the unknown world in this economy.
We had lived a simple life on only a few hundred dollars a month our 1st year of marriage, but that seemed like a different life, one where we didn't have two small children relying on us and our mortgage was 10 times less. The only thing that kept me confident was that we had saved 6 months of expenses and I thought it we really scrimped we could likely make it to 9 months on it. It was without question the most stress we had been under in our entire marriage. And it was Christmas. We had already purchase over the last few months quite the plush Christmas for our little family. I remember I considered taking back all the presents before they were opened and replacing them with smaller, less expensive items from the Dollar Store. After all the children would not have known any different. I didn't but in retrospect maybe I should have.
We quickly learned what a volatile world being self employed was.

Jake started his internet advertising company about one year out of law school (2007). It didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary. He is the king of everything, in case you didn't know. He had been into stocks and day trading a bit though law school, and it just seemed like another one of these things that would be more fun and small profit.
Our 1st goal had been to make $30 a day with it. It was a means to paying off our law school loans faster.
Then.
It grew and grew.

In the fall of 2009 we realized that the internet business had grown enough it might be able to support us completely. We started talking almost every night as we would fall asleep, every dinner time, every drive in the car, about how we could make it happen.

It meant insecurity- but we decided that no job was really that secure in 2009.
It meant private health insurance- which no matter how much you pay is horrible.
It meant cutting back and saving more- but we can never spend our money anyway.
It also meant freedom.
Freedom to go on vacation when ever we wanted.
Freedom to arrange our days how we wanted.
It meant that we could be at home together, all together, while our children were still home.
It meant Jake would turn his hobby into work, and who doesn't want to get paid to do their hobby?
So we went for it.

One year later, we are confident we made the right choice.
Jake managed to earn 30% more than he did working at the law firm alone.
With about 21 more vacation days, shorter work days, and too many mid afternoon play dates with his family.
And the firm he might still have been working for has almost collapsed, with most of his old co- workers being forced to leave for more work elsewhere.

One surprise is that he has been able to work as an attorney still and works for somebody in town about 10 hours a week too. It does still interest him, keeps doors open for the future, and makes all that schooling not seem to irrelevant.

Not surprising is how many people have asked Jake to show them how to make a living from home. It is not as easy as he makes it seem. It was almost a year- working two to six hours a night before he was making anything worth taking to the bank, and we put up thousands of dollars month after month to grow our company.

Another surprise is how much the flexibility has made it easier to serve in our callings and ward. Without the flexibility I don't know how we would manage two time consuming callings and two small children.
What surprises me most it how well I have adjusted to the ups and downs. And how little it all stresses me out on a daily bases now. It has helped me have more faith... in many things.

Not surprising we compliment each other well when making decisions and analyzing how things are going with the business. Jake does 97% of the work of course. But I spend a few hours a week doing the accounting, billing, and taxes. Jake- although he thinks he is being realistic, is completely overly optimistic. It works well when combined with my critical realism. Turns out sometimes a spouse is the perfect business partner.

Before we married, we talked about some things we wanted that we felt would make our family stronger. One of those things included not having more than a 10 minute commute. We said it was important to work were we lived, for our family and our community. "Work were we live". We laugh at this now, we didn't know how literally we would meet this goal. We only hope we can meet all of our goals this literally.

Of course the internet is always changing. We hope to be able to change with it and live this life for ever. Things are going better than almost ever, and we even hired our 1st employee this month so we fully intent to.

But if in the future, we have to return to the normal life, of day jobs, bosses, and pay stubs, we will always remember what a blessing this golden year all together with our young children has been.
It has been without a doubt our favorite year ever.
We are so grateful to our Heavenly Father for blessing us in this incredible way.

I joke that He knows Jake is the better parent and has helped to make this work for us to our children can learn from their better parent more. I joke. But I am dead serious.

Here is to one year.
And many more exactly like it to follow.

Dressing Up

Oh how I wish my son was not wearing a little Mermaid swim suit in this picture of my children smiling playing together.


The kids play dress up all day everyday.
Recently my sister watched them, and when I returned she told me something was wrong with my children because instead of playing with all their toys, they preferred to play with mittens.
I know it is weird, and it destroys my house, and my children are partially naked a good portion of the day, and my son cross dresses. I also know that it kept them out of my hair for 3 hours yesterday as I scrubbed all the bathrooms and kitchen. So there.
Also.
Turns out I am a really great babysitter (read sarcasm)
......this is my kids and some friends kids watching Diego, while eating ice cream in the living room. I thought their parents should know.

"Famous" Freemans

When we were in Arizona this fall for Jake's brothers wedding a reporter stopped us and asked to take our photos. We allowed it and then this was sent to me today by a friend in Arizona.

http://www.gogilbert.com/issues/2010nov/#/14/

I am guessing the Go Gilbert Magazine has a readership a kin to a few hundred. But it still is awesome to see our faces and our children's faces published.
Go take a look.

Stiches for Sammy

Today as lunch finished Sam and Kate were playing roughly in the living room when Jake and I heard a thunk. Followed by a cry. I went to comfort Sam, for he had run into the corner of the wall. I hugged him, then pulled back to see the goose egg, and found a gushing head wound instead. In half a second I could see it was going to take stitches, and in about 1 minute we were in the car. Two more minutes and we were at the ER. I called my mom on the way to go over and watch Kate so Jake could come too and help me hold him down while they stitched him up, remembering when Kate got stitches and I could hardly hold her still enough. I quickly glanced in my car mirror before heading in to the ER thankfully to find my face literally covered in Sam's blood. I cleaned up a bit for the sake of not looking over dramatic. By the time Jake arrived the bleeding at stopped. The crying had stopped on the drive over and we were contently playing with a sticker and cuddling. Thankfully our family doctor was the doctor on call. He numbed the wound, then we held him while Doc put in 6 stitches. He was such a trooper and only cried during the numbing shot and then let us hold him and the medical personal inspect and sew away without even moving. From then on he didn't let out a whimper and was his sweet self waving to everyone and pointing out things. Bonus the Doctor even confirmed the ear infection I had been suspecting all vacation and got us a prescription for that as well. He should be all healed up by Friday, and we will go back to get the stitches out. My poor little Sammy!
Kate had her stitches in November of last year. I guess it is just a bad month for head wounds in our family.

Thanksgiving Week {Monterey, Los Banos, Fresno}

Really attempting to make the most of our Thanksgiving week, Jake took the week off and we spent a 6 days hoping around Central California. Our 1st stop was Monterey, CA. This is a quaint coastal town we had both visited as children. Two of Jake's brothers and their families came as well making a large Freeman crew exploring the town. Kate could have cared less where we were and what we saw, because when asked what her favorite part was she would always respond it was her cousins. It is hard to beat 4 little girl cousins to play with. The weather was cold but we dressed the kids in their snow gear and took them to the beach so they could see the ocean. Kate went straight to work collection shells and building things, until her cousins showed up and she could skip the shores with them.

Looking at Sea Otters.
We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which was a popular destination the day before Thanksgiving.

"CHAARRK!" is what Sam yelled through most the aquarium.
Kate show cases the fish tank for me.


Kate and Cami look at the Jelly Fish



Sam started screaming and crying out of exhaustion so he ended up outside with Jake chasing seagulls for the better half of the aquarium. I don't know that how much of the aquarium I really saw for trying to keep track of Kate running around and Sam's tantrums. I really love the atmosphere of the town and would love to return sans children some day.
For actual Thanksgiving we headed to Los Banos, CA, where my grandmother and aunts live. My parents and little sister were there too. In my hurry to re pack our stuff to spend the day in Los Banos, I forgot my camera. Imagine there is a picture of tons of food, cousins, and a spirited game of BINGO with very worthy prizes.
We ended our trip with a few days rest in Fresno with Jake's parents and siblings who live in Fresno and who were in town for Thanksgiving. We saw five of the seven siblings and their families.
The kids enjoyed playing with cousins, a grandma and grandpa who would read them book after book, and warm enough weather to play outside in the orchard.


We made a last minute decision to leave Saturday evening because we saw Winter Storm Warnings for Sunday and Monday. We packed our stuff and the car in about 25 minutes and were on our way. When it started snowing before we hit Las Vegas I thought we would be in a lot of trouble, but we had little snow until the last hour of our drive. Jake and I both pulled an all night-er to get home safely and finally went to bed this morning around 6:30 am. Of course the kids slept well in the car and we have been trading off sleeping most of today to make up for it.
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving with perhaps less traveling and packing.

Old Stuff

I found these picture going through some old stuff today.
These made me laugh and cry and fall in love all over again with Jake.
And see that maybe Sam doesn't get his good looks from me after all.
I didn't know Jake when he was 12 years old. But seeing this makes me pretty sure I would have totally had a crush on him.

Family Pictures

I've been doing a lot of family photos for people this fall.
The worst thing about this is that is makes me desperate for my own.
I hate that I look on my computer and have thousands of images from other peoples families and very few of my own.
So I made everyone dress in coordinating clothing last week, sit outside in the cold and forced them to smile while I tried to get a picture.
it went well .... or...
I set up the tripod. I would set the timer. Jake would have Kate sitting with him. I would run and get Sam from playing in the sticks, and try to pose us both before the timer went off. This often resulted in a picture of my behind as I ran towards the camera, or a picture without Sam and I in it at all. {which I still prefer to the ones of my backside) though 3/4 of the pictures are literally missing a family member, we did get one... count that one, with everyone in it, with their hands not covering their faces, or clapping, or sword fighting with sticks. and 2 almost 3 people of the 4 are even smiling.
But I guess at least we have a picture documenting our family today.
And though they are not worth printing and putting up in our home,
I think they will at least do for our Christmas cards this year.

Hilarious Kate

" Kids grow up to be Mommies and Dad's come from fairies...
...Jesus will make you a mom, you have to ask him please...
... {Name of child in preschool} went potty on the big potty not my potty because she has a big bum..."


In case you think these are an assortment of statements she made over the course of today, you are wrong, this is one streaming conversation from her to me and Jake just minutes ago.

There is nothing funnier than being the parent of a very talkative three year old.

Kate is really into "being married" right now.
She is always saying things like "when I am a mom..." or "when I get married"

Tonight as I was putting her to bed she had these things to say to me.

"When you got married did you throw that thing around your leg?"
" When I get married I am going to have blue flowers"
"I am going to have a married house with twenty flowers outside and diamonds in the middle of the flowers"
" In my married house I am going to have a pink couch and a sparkly blue kitchen"
"Can we put those pj's (that are too small for her now) in the box and save them for when I have a little girl named Kaylie"
"When you got married did you throw your flowers?"
"We are going to have stars when I get married"

That picture above is her dressed up to get married. Notice the tiara and blue "veil"

PLEASE STOP GROWING UP LITTLE ONE!
You are only 3.

Wondering where she learns all this wedding stuff?
From Disney Princess movies that is where.
That or Jake and I make marriage look just that awesome.

Bad Things from Nov 1.

1.Getting my car stuck in park at the post office drop off box for several minutes.

2. Dropping the bank drive- thru canister out the window and having to chase it half way across the parking lot.

3. Washing and drying a load of laundry this morning only to unload it out of the dryer and find all that washing and drying was accompanied by a trick-or-treaters chocolate heath bar and having to wash and dry the entire load again.

4.Washing and drying another load of laundry this evening only to unload it out of the dryer to find that all that washing and drying was accompanied by a pull-up and have to wash and dry the entire load again.

5.Washing and drying yet another load of laundry tonight only to unload it out of the dryer to find that all that washing and drying was accompanied by a trick- or-treaters chocolaty Almond Joy and having to wash and dry the entire load again.

6.Having to dig out all the trash bags from the outside trash and bring them inside on to my newly mopped floor, so that I can dig through them because I realized that hours ago I threw away a paycheck.

I keep having really frustrating days. I have a lot going on this month.
I guess my brain is taking the majority of the hit.

* It is when you post something like this that your 19 month old will puke in his bed, then dry heave every twenty minutes until 4:00 am.