Wes & Jen Garland

Full House

2010-04-04T15:10:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago my sister, her husband Penn and our one and only niece Karlee came to stay for the week. My brother Brett, Kendra and the Carter-man drove in from Dallas for 1/2 the week to join in the fun! We had a lot of fun going to the zoo, eating Wes's southern food finds, playing high stakes poker, and going on 'kitty' hunts.

Again, had my camera 75% of the time and increased its usage to 50%, so I'm getting better...but no shots at the zoo :(

Cousin Bath Time --

Karlee is such a happy baby, and never happier then when she gets to take a bath!!

Carterman HATES water on his head so he is being very brave in this picture

We played some high stakes poker with random snacks I had leftover from last years camp. Pretzels, cheezits and if you were really flush..oreos! Did you know fruit snacks mold? Risks you take when you gamble with snack food that has been sitting boxed up in a closet for a year!!

Practicing our poker faces:

Goin on a 'kitty' hunt... Karlee would let out her 'I just saw an animal' squeel whenever she saw the cats and Carter would go in for the kill. He would be sneaky and shy at first, then he would 'Boom' the kitties.

Traumatized cats learned to sleep in shifts in case of infant/toddler attack!

Vegas!

2010-04-04T14:58:00.000-07:00

The first weekend in March we flew to Vegas to meet up with Wes's mom and step-dad. We had such a great time! We even went Indoor SkyDiving, which was so much fun!! If I were more techy I would try to download our video of us all in our batsuits, but....

I'm getting marginally better at taking a camera with us on trips, but still forget to use it 75% of the time. Here are a few snapshots taken of us on a gondola ride at the Venetian and goofing around at the wax museum:

The Plague Comes to Visit

2010-04-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

In January my brother, his wife Jessica and our nephew Bubber's came to visit. In that three day period we were visited by a host of plagues...

Ear Infection = Bubbers, he had never had one of these before and the poor guy got to fly with one. His poor parents were thoroughly traumatized by baby's first plane trip!

Flu = me, Wade, Bubbers

Strep Throat = Jessica and then me

Pink Eye = Jessica, this one was random and luckily no one else succumbed

You may notice Wes is not listed...this is because Wes never gets sick!!

These are a couple of random pictures taken during their trip. Rare moments when we all had enough energy to stand upright and hold a camera.

We hope they will be brave enough to visit us again one day!!!

INTRODUCING.....

2009-10-09T17:23:00.000-07:00

We have a new addition to our little family we'd like to introduce you to!

Meet.... IT, the creepy zombie baby, Garland.....

Wes is over the moon in love with him!

Here they are bonding, awwww

Man Cub

2009-07-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

Our sister in law, the lovely Kendra, and our nephew Carter came to Kentucky/Nashville while she did 5 weeks of clinical work for her Master's in Speech Pathology.
It worked out great as I was able to take off a week to take care of the little guy.
We also had lots of visitors with my brother and parents coming for weekends as well!

Needless to say I ended up with a whole camera full of the little Man Cub, Carter, pictures...

We had a great time:

Playing in the sun and swimming in the neighborhood pool

Driving fast cars

Trying new hairdos

Waiting in lines....

Well maybe not so much fun waiting in lines

Getting into mischief

Eating exotic cuisine

Attacking the Papparazzi

Cage Dancing (Wes would turn on Chuck Berry and Carter would bounce and shake without interruption for several songs)

Taking long NAPS!

For Amber Waves of ..... Grass

2009-04-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

So our Saturday was spent installing sod. Two hours into the project we were thinking, 'This isn't so tough.' By the eighth hour we were questioning our sanity in thinking the two of us could install a whole yard.... But we did it, sort of. We were short. Thank heavens the lawn guy said he'd bring more grass and that HE would install it, for FREE! We did a happy dance when we heard that!

Two hours into it.

This is Bermuda grass, which is what they use in the south. You should have seen Wes's face though when they delivered pallet after pallet of this dead looking hay! Its supposed to turn green in the heat, but wouldn't it be sad if we spent our Saturday installing dead grass!

Wes's new best friend, Wilbur the Wheelbarrow. By the end the wheelbarrow was actually squeaking with every move.

Sooooo Close!

See this is what grass is supposed to look like! At least the sides of the house will live.

Victory is mine! BTW after this picture Wes ate an entire Costco chicken! He really toughed this out and worked hard. Poor guy always gets to be the manual labor behind my projects ideas!

Per Mom's Request

2009-04-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

My mom wanted to see our new bedroom and requested pictures be posted. So here they are!

It was tough to find something that met the rules set out for me.

1) I had to be okay with Wes laying on the bedspread... check
2) I had to be okay with Wes putting his head on the pillows... check, except for the accent pillows, they are still classified as 'no heads allowed'
3) It couldn't have flowers, or be in any sort of pastelish hue.... check although I might have gone a little 70's-tastic!

These are a few of my FAVORITE things

2009-03-06T13:13:00.000-08:00

So I see cute blogs with favorites lists and I always discover new favorite items through them so I decided to make my own 'FAVORITES' list:

Food:
Junky ---
mmmm, there is nothing that can't benefit from the addition of kraft singles!

Interactive --
Wes & I have learned to make pasta. mmmm, so much chewier and satisfying than the dried stuff

Professional Courtesy --
Let's here it for the veggies

Activity:
UnLazy --
Love to dust, by far my favorite chore. I like chasing down the dust balls and zapping them with my magic feather wand.

Every pretty weekend we try to ride, this year we're hoping to do a couple of 40-50 mile rides

Lazy --
See my last post

Ultra Lazy --
Anything better than a bath with bubbles? Especially this bubble stuff, nirvana

Beauty Items:
My Arsenal

Store:
I'm a very predictable shopper, so I only occasionally vary from this store, but from their discounted Joe's Jeans (great for those of us who don't like showing bum cleavage)to their quirky bags... you always look unique in their clothes and they fit me better than any other store. I don't like spending a lot of time shopping (15 minutes and I'd better be done) so I go with what I know and this store is it!

Person:

The happiest, funniest, greatest guy who makes me the luckiest girl! Very convenient that I get to spend all my days with my favorite, FAVORITE!

Designing a Man Cave

2009-03-02T17:01:00.000-08:00

Good grief will it ever be warm and sunny again? Not the point of this post but I'm just saying....

On to the Point:

I like to read in bed, lots, until 3-4am if I can do it without becoming grouchy Jen the next day.

So I have one of these

Which works until you fall asleep... and then you wake up with dents in your head from the straps, and really who needs the added forehead wrinkles.

So I thought, lamps. Genius!! I will buy some today!

I picked these:

I was quite surprised when I was met with a decided lack of enthusiasm from Wes. Quote: "Your going to make our room all girly aren't you?" Apparently these lamps are too reminiscent of a perfume bottle and don't make the man cave cut.

Wes picked these:

Which I have to admit, manly or not, are pretty cool.

Just wait till he sees what I ordered for our bedspread:

What do you think? Will it make the Man Cave cut?

Reader's Poll

2009-01-31T07:45:00.000-08:00

So my big Christmas present this year from Wes was a painting for the mantle. I found a Pink Flloyd record cover that I thought was really cool and had Wes base a painting off of it. I think it turned out really good, and after a while I think it grew on Wes as well....at first he was not a fan????!

Anyway, I'm taking a reader's poll as to where to put the painting, I think it looks great against the red wall in the dining room, any thoughts out there in blog land?

Plus, if I put it in the dining room then Wes will need to paint me another painting for the mantle, win, win :)!

Look Mom I Can Write...or Edit as the Case May Be

2009-01-16T14:01:00.000-08:00

I bet my mom is rolling that I edited anything! All those hours she spent proofreading my papers and correcting my there/their/they're and were/where's. She would sigh and say 'Don't they teach grammar at your school?'

So last year I spent a nice chunk of time on this project and was SOOOO happy when it was sent to the printers. Its cool to see it all complete and glossy and to see people buying it!

ADA Pocket Guide to Bariatric Surgery

Weight Management DPG
Editors: Christina K. Biesemeier, MS, RD, LDN, FADA, and Jennifer Garland, MPH, CDE, RD, CD This user-friendly pocket guide provides evidence-based data on the pre and post-operative nutrition care issues surrounding this increasingly popular weight management tool. Topics include:
Weight loss surgery overview
The Nutrition Care Process
Co-morbidity issues
Long-term care post surgery

BORED....no, Avoiding Charting, YES!!

2009-01-16T12:32:00.000-08:00

I got this email from my sister-in-law and decided since I didn't have anything exciting to share that I would do one of these for your reading enjoyment!

1. What time did you get up this morning?

1am, then 2am, then 3am...Wes has the flu or something so was upchucking all night, poor guy!

2. Diamonds or pearls?

Neither! Pearls are kind of stuffy, and I read a book in high school about the inhumane diamond mining practices, and the total rip off that is DeBeers, and promised I would never wear one, and I haven't. Wes wasn't too sad when I said NO, NO, NO to the idea of a diamond engagement ring.
3. What was the first film you saw at the cinema?

First one I remember is Cinderella at the Sandcastle theatre in Bountiful, UT

4. What is your favorite TV show?

It was 'Pushing Daisies' now it's a History Channel show about underground worlds.

5.. What do you usually have for breakfast?

Kashi GoLean Crunch bar and a lite activia yogurt

6. What is your middle name?

Don't have one....seriously, Jennifer Thornock was enough of a mouthful

7. What food do you dislike?

I find peppers, cantaloupe, honeydew, celery, pickles and mustard very disturbing.

9. What kind of car do you drive?

2004 Honda Civic

10. Favorite sandwich?

Mozzarella, tomato from Panera

12. Favorite item of clothing?

Fat pants

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?

Thailand

14. Favorite brand of clothing?

Anthropologie stores

15. Where would you retire to?

The beach

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday?

My 15th. I got a bronchial infection and couldn't breathe and spent 5 days in the hospital.

17. Favorite sport to watch?

basketball

20. When is your birthday?

March 3rd

21. Are you a morning person or a night person?

Night!! 6:00am comes so early....and now I can't sleep much later, even on weekends :(

22. What is your shoe size?

6 or 6.5

23. Pets?

Our monkey Chester and his banana friend, Chiquita

24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us?

If I did I would be posting something else and not filling out this questionairre!

25. What did you want to be when you were little?

A historian...but then I figured out that I like money....

26. How are you today?

Wiped out

27. What is your favorite candy?

Don't really like candy.....Kraft singles are where it is at for me

28. What is your favorite flower?

Dahlia's

29. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to?

February 11th

30. What is your favorite pastime?

Filling out random questionairres :)

31. What are you listening to right now?

White noise, they pipe it in so we can't hear what the patient in the room next door is saying

32. What was the last thing you ate?

chicken noodle soup

33. Do you wish on stars?

When visible

34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be

Pink

35. How is the weather right now?

20 degrees and SUNNY

36. The first person you spoke to on the phone today?

Wes, to check on the status of his illness

37. Favorite soft drink?

Diet Coke

38. Favorite restaurant?

Red Iguana in SLC

39. Real hair color?

Yellow

40. What was your favorite toy as a child?

My little sister Kiersy. I could dress her up, cut her hair, put my mom's makeup on her....hours of fun!

41. Summer or winter?

Summer for sure

42. Hugs or kisses?

Kisses

43. Chocolate or Vanilla?

Chocolate

44. Coffee or tea?

Saturday morning tea w/ Wesley

47. What is under your bed?

Monsters

48. What did you do last night?

Went to gym w/ Wes, cooked dinner w/ Wes and sat w/ Wes while he was so, so sick.

50.. Salty or sweet?

Salty!

51. How many keys on your key ring?

5

52. How many years at your current job?

3

53. Favorite day of the week?

Monday, Tuesday, Wednsday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday

54. How many towns have you lived in?

15

Now you know a little more about me. Feel free to copy and paste your own answers and share them!

Pics N Stuff

2008-12-18T18:14:00.001-08:00

Night View to the tree and banister.

Night view of my fabulous lighting job.

I had these cool poinsettias framing my front door at one point....did you know they die when frozen? Who knew, so I replaced with something that will never ever disintegrate :)

Wes's Masterpiece! It started out a joint venture, but I wasn't seeing the vision. I got to be the ornament hander/chronicler instead :)

I'm not sure what happened here..? I tried to photo shop and ended up making my handsome hubby look quite devilish!

We got SNOW!! This must be a record accumulation for Nashville. This was 7am, it was melted by 10am.

My masterpiece, 1/2 completed. It was so much fun to decorate our own house. This is the first year we've stayed in Nashville for Christmas so we really got into it. See that space above the door? Next year I'm gonna figure out how to get up there to put some kind of obnoxious Santa/Snowman/Homer Simpson with a Santa Hat, etc!

So I have a BIGG wood featurey thing above the fireplace begging for art...and I just happened to have married an artist. So for Christmas I get a green canvas! J/k this is the starter coat the painting comes next...it is a fascinating process for me to get to see how a painting comes to life.

Said space above mantel w/ canvas prior to its greening.

Naked tree getting scoped out by our minions. They love sleeping under it and trying to drink the Sprite out of its feeder. I'm taking a poll: Do Christmas trees really drink Sprite, or was the Christmas tree guy full of it?

Cuz Everyone Else Is...Merry Christmas Luv the Garlands

2008-12-12T18:42:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

WoooHoooo

2008-11-15T18:07:00.001-08:00

Wes and I are happy to announce that we are now the proud owners of 1 house...not 2!!!! We closed late Friday night, it was quite an adventure.
After work we headed to the site we were supposed to close at thinking it would take an hour tops.... 3 hours later we were still sitting in a parking lot, waiting for the closing papers to finally get to where the buyer was working (he couldn't get off work, so we all went to him). Seems the lender and broker were quibbling over $200, after 3 hours of listening to Rush Limbaugh in Wes's truck, in a dark parking lot, I'd have gladly written the check to them myself!
The building we were meeting at was in a really sketchy neighborhood and 2 kids were smoking pot outside our truck window. People kept calling me and so every time I picked up my phone these 2 guys would circle our truck, I think they were afraid I was calling the cops. I told Wes to turn up Rush Limbaugh really loud and open the truck window, the sound of Rush's voice always gets me to leave any area I can still here him at!!! :)
Anyway around 8pm the papers came through and we all met in the Red Cross's break room, buyers and sellers, to sign the papers....talk about awkward!!! In the end it is done and we can't believe we sold our house in 12 days in a market like this one-!!

So good bye guest house, we will always have the memories...

It's the Wesley James Show

2008-10-29T06:46:00.001-07:00

This is one ultra tricky quiz....Best of Luck
http://www.quizyourfriends.com/take-quiz.php?id=0810290835142471&a=1&

Ultimate Jen Quiz

2008-10-28T10:54:00.001-07:00

http://www02.quizyourfriends.com/take-quiz.php?id=0810281337573038&a=2&

Wish us Luck

2008-10-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

I probably shouldn't post this as it might be bad luck, but we put our 'guest' house under contract last night! If all goes well it will close in mid November.... now I need to find a big hunk of wood to knock on.

It's so cute :) and so many happy memories live there!

Eight is Greater...Beat Ya Kiers

2008-10-23T12:10:00.000-07:00

I stole this off my sister's blog....

8 Favorite TV Shows:

1. Pushing Daisies

2. Gossip Girl...I know how immature, but at least I didn't say High School Musical!

3. SATC

4. The Office

5. South Park

6. reruns of Law & Order (original version)

7. Sopranos

8. Anything on the Food Network or HGTV

8 Things I did yesterday:

1. Found old friends via the internet, HI HOLLY :)

2. Drove incident free to work....in 20 minutes!!! Yeah for my new ride to work!!

3. Work, work, work.

4. Forgot my lunch, found an old packet of oatmeal for lunch in my file cabinet :(

5. Gym time, Boot Camp kicks my tail

6. Made dinner with my sous chef Wes

7. Listened to an at home concert, courtesy of maestro Wesley

8. Finished the day with the Colbert Report, shoulda listed it above....

8 Things I look forward to:

1. Selling our "guest" house

2. Thanksgiving – everyone will be home including the babies :)

3. Getting a new bedroom set

4. Taming the wild jungle that is our backyard

5. Our European adventure (Prague, Vienna and Budapest)

6. Training with Wes for the 100 mile Tour de Cure in May

7. Having an excuse to go shopping, although I usually don't need an excuse per se

8. Its a secret, I'll let ya know when it happens

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. Red Iguana in SLC, I seriously miss mole

2. Daily Catch in Boston, poor lobsters

3. Roy's in Oahu, the Butterfish is the best!

4. Sage's Cafe, yummy vegan food, which is against the law in the South :)

5. Monell's in Nashville whenever I feel the need to clog a major blood vessel

6. Bar Americain in NYC

7. Ceviche in Colombia, no particular restaurant, just the dish itself

8. La Usulteca in Brentwood, yummy $2 papusas

8 Things on my wish list:

1. A new dinette set, we're back to using the card table

2. I LOVE my job, I wish to stay at Vandy for a LONG time

3. No Nashville winter, although the 5 snow days they have per season without it actually snowing is quite amusing.

4. to be someplace warm

5. Go on a health mission soon, I'd love to go back to Haiti

6. Geesh, I don't know.... I have more than I need and everything I want...it'd be nice to have our families closer, group move to Nashville :)

Pumpkin Power

2008-10-19T10:35:00.000-07:00

Fun with Pumpkins.....

Our Minions

2008-10-18T07:38:00.000-07:00

Here are the fuzzy family members...who we refer to as our minions due to the fact they follow us any and everywhere

There is Chester (aka Monkey) whose favorite pastimes include lounging in the sun, wrastling with Wes or hunting his favorite banana (more on that later). We are trying to train him to pull the plow around the house, but so far we just get contemptuous glares before he goes back to his lounging.

Action shot, its a Chester in the Box

Then we have our little Chiquita (aka the Banana) who loves chin scratches, kitty kibble, hiding from the hungry Monkey and avoiding Wes torture (he loves to put butter on her back and watch her do spinnerettes.) She is our special needs kitten as she can't jump, land on her feet, or run without flipping over. She suffers from identity crisis, she thinks she's a puppy, rolls over on command, begs for food and will eat ANYTHING and EVERYTHING.

Action Shot...Chiquita the Puppy

New House, Old House....Does Anyone need a House?

2008-10-17T09:16:00.000-07:00

Wes and I were lucky to buy a beautiful new home in Nolensville, TN...about 20 minutes outside of Nashville. I absolutely adore my new ride to work! Friends and family also adore my new ride to work as I'm not calling them every afternoon complaining about sitting in the horendous Nashville gridlock...

So here is an outside look of the new digs....pretty :)

Leaving us with our previous home to sell....also pretty :)

It's only been on the market 3 days....patience is a virtue right?

A,B,C's of Nephewdom

2008-10-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

Wes and I have 3 new nephews that somehow ended up being named alphabetically....

There's Asher, look at that smile :)

There's Brendan, or as we know him, Mr. Bubbers:

And the newest addition, Carter: