I LOVE SARAH GOODSELL PHOTOGRAPHY!!! She will be doing my children's weddings and my children's children's. However, Woodside...we may have wanted to reconsider tying your sweater around your shoulders :)

The Weekend...Reported Mid Week

I really only have pictures of Friday's activities...but they were some sweet activities.

This, apparently, is just about the nerdiest thing I've ever done. Pictured above is one of the two presents we brought to Brandon's work party for a gift exchange. I was SO excited about this gift. It is a reusable bag from whole foods stuffed with organic goodies and produce. I wanted to take this bag back home...and in fact, I had a long discussion/strategy session about getting this bag back with my husband...we had a plan. The second gift we brought was a yoga mat (love yoga!) and a two week gym pass to Gold's gym that I got for running my last 10K. Pretty sweet, right? I mean, you can get a 1 week pass any day of the week, but two is something special! Well, needless to say, I ended up taking my yoga mat home because NOBODY wanted it...and, when my organic produce bag was the last gift remaining on the table, everybody started fighting over a leopard print Snuggie (a snuggie! it's a blanket with sleeves people!) instead of even taking a look at my lovely bag of health and eco-friendliness! It ended up going home with a woman who is a chronic smoker and had three different deserts that night. Somehow, I don't feel like it was appreciated. Maybe because when she looked through it she sighed and said "what is all this junk?" And as for my spouse and I having a strategy to get the bag back home? He went AWOL when the variety hot chocolates and brownie mix came out. You should have seen the animalistic look in his eye. A truly deprived man.

On to happier things...pictures of my daughter in her "Princess Dance" class she takes at the rec center. She likes this much better than the formal ballet class I had her in, because in this class she can accessorize! (That's her with the PERFECT first position on the far left)

Yes, we bought the crown with us. It pretty much gets brought with us every where we go.

A happy princess. I told her how proud I was after class and she asked me to address her by her full name "Princess Cinderella Belle Hannah Montana Abigail." And may I say my child has never even seen any of the movies/shows associated with these questionable characters (I'm talking to you, Miley!), but somehow she knows more about them than I do? She also knows the entire chorus of Poker Face by Lady Gaga. It's a scary world.

Ah, Sweet Repentance

I was at a baby shower last weekend and was called to blog repentance from my loving Aunt Janet. It basically went like this:

Enter Jamie.

Janet: "Will you update your blog already?! Every time I click on your blog, it's the same picture of you and the rabbit! I thought come Halloween, 'oh, I'll check Jamie's blog, I'm sure she's updated...but no. And then I thought surely for Thanksgiving...but no.'"

Jamie sits down and provides limp excuses.

And here is the least limp of my excuses: My life has run away with me and I haven't had time to sufficiently document it. Following my last post (2 months ago), we had our bar exam results (depressing), an 8-year anniversary (and they said it couldn't be done), my birthday (still in my 20's), Brandon's birthday (no longer in his 20's), I took a Spanish class at my local community college (y si, mi espanol es perfecto. Saco buenas notas en la clase de espanol), Thanksgiving (which I went home to Washington for- haven't been there in a year, oh! and wendi, ran into your mom, she is just a lovely and classy woman), and countless festivities and adorable anecdotes I could have included about my offspring.

I will be better...I promise...?

Family Fun This Week

A fun time at a pumpkin patch and a BYU/UNLV game. BYU took the rebels out back behind the shed and paddled them. It felt strangely symbolic to me :)

The Family 5K

I ran this 5K last year and thought it was a great one and that it would be fun to invite some friends and family along. Boy was I right! We had a great time!

Here's Abigail all ready for her big race debut. Behind her is her 3,000 horsepower V-24 engine commonly called Dad (sorry hon, I don't know anything about horsepower and engines, so I hope I picked appropriately large numbers). She was a super-star! She only complained twice: "Running is boring mom, there are absoutely no toys" and my personal favorite "Dad, how come everyone is running past us and we're walking?" I'm sure the day is coming where she is my marathon buddy...because right now I am oh so lonely! An extra thank-you to the Chatwins for use of the jogging stroller...I will be getting my own. F-U-N!

Of course Abby had to have a bib number as well. 3 was appropriate as it is her age and also the number of people in my little family.

Here comes Grandma Susan (black shorts, knee brace) down to the finish line where waits a loving high-five from her man (that'd be Grandpa Ron).

Team Leavitt/Monroe! From left to right is Ron, Susan, Jeff, me (peaking), Abigail, Brandon, Ryan and Jason (watch out, he's a cop...and almost had to bust me for speeding. Yep, I'm that fast).


Now here's my little home team! Love 'em! Can't wait to do it again...(but they probably can).

The Circus

Boys and Girls! Ladies and Gentlemen! Children of all ages...The Leavitts went to the circus! Normally, a trip to the circus may not be considered worth writing about, but considering what an ordeal this particular trip was, I think it is of note. It started Friday evening when I found a coupon online for a free ticket to the circus. Free things get me very excited. We packed up the family and headed to the southpoint casino...and so did every other family in Las Vegas with children under the age of 15. We were in a line so shameful...so unbelievably long...that it tested my love of free things. We stood in that line for an hour and a half. By the time we got to the ticket counter, the circus was half way over. And it was the good half. The half with the tigers. Which means, we might as well turn around and go home...but no, my love of free combined with my husband's disdain of line waiting combined to create the perfect storm. We got ourselves front row seats for the Saturday afternoon show AND a sweet discount. Triumph! It was a great show. They had a man who looked like an older version of Michael Flately (by which I mean he danced about in tight leather pants sans shirt) taming tigers. His name was Brunon (Brew-Nahn). In fact, Brunon had them so tame that several spent the act yawning and napping. There were of course elephants, magic acts, and a man shot out of a cannon. Good family fun!

This is a picture of the elephant who was giving rides to the kiddies. After seeing the circus, I may be looking to officially join PETA.

These are my legs. But you'll note that my legs are perched up on the very front of the arena seating. Below me...the circus! Front row, baby!

Fluffy Diabetes. Also known as cotton candy. I didn't think I would be a good mom unless I kept this circus tradition alive. Sadly, none of us ate it and our $4.00 bag of sucrose stayed in my purse until I found it, hard as a rock, the next day.

A young lady in deep concern that there will be a $7.00, 1 minute pony ride for her....and yes, there was. She was quite the cowgirl. She wanted the biggest pony and didn't want her dad to walk beside her it all. Yee Haw!!

Operation: Home Means Nevada, Camping Edition

Welcome to Camp Leavitt. Our little family spent the weekend camping at Mt. Charleston. It was our first camping experience as a family...and though we forgot pillows, chap stick, and bacon (a camping essential) we had a great time.

Here is my Eagle Scout husband flashing a little bit of leg next to the fire he built (Lookin' Sexy, Babe!) and of course my sweet little camper Abigail.

We heard the sound of wild horses and saw the tale tell sign of their presence (poop) all over our hiking trail. On our way off the mountain (as early and as fast as we could Sunday morning...there was no bacon, therefore an IHOP was in order) we saw a wild horse. Brandon, being a natural cross between Steve Urwin and the Horse Whisperer, had to get out to investigate.

Look at the proximity. Granted, it is the horses rear end, but I'm still impressed. My husband is such a cowboy.

This is the horse before we harassed it.


We are some tidy campers, eh? We like leaving our Candy Land and Baked Lays immediately available on the table for emergency access.

This is a picture Abby took on our hiking trip. She was pointing the camera a little low, so in order to not have strictly a picture of my knees (though they are very nice knees), I leaned into it.

My hiking buddies!

My Eagle Scout hard at work!


A little girl with a love affair with tents.

We watched Anna Karenina on our lap top, ate loads of hot dogs, and had a great time.