Hey Friends & Family,

Wanted to drop a line and say that I've switched over my blog. I won't be updating this anymore... so if you want to follow Garrett and I, you can check out the new and improved site: www.gees.me.

Jessica

We went out with some friend boating last week on Utah Lake. I LOVE boating. I don't do it enough. I grew up boating all the time as a little girl, but haven't done it much since. Maybe once a year. Garrett and I both did some wakeboarding, then he did some wake surfing. It's been so nice not working and being able to do stuff like this during the day.



Mom came in town to celebrate Parker's 23rd birthday. We celebrated at Pizza Factory with Amanda and Trent and the customary Dairy Queen ice cream cake. :)




They are doing a girls flag football league this summer. Our old cowgirls all got together for it. We aren't practicing as much as we usually do in the fall, but we are still pretty good.

Lyndsey Cosgrave and I started a side business called Party with Princesses. We had our first party for my nieces when they were all in town. It was so much fun. I dressed up as Snow White hoping they wouldn’t recognize me. At first, Seren asked if I was Jessica, but by the end of the party she was so overwhelmed she didn’t know I was even there. The best part was when my friend Cari, playing Repunzle sang the song that makes her hair glow and Seren’s face was SO excited.

We had another party for Cari’s neice on her 4th birthday. They didn’t know we were coming so when we knocked on the door, the girls were speechless. It was a Repunzle party and they were obsessed with Brittany, the girl who played Repunzle. We played some games, sang a few songs and then took them on a parade around the neighborhood as we dropped them off.

We are slowly getting things started but are looking for other customers. So, if you know of anyone interested with little girls, we’d love to come to their party! You can find out more about parties and pricing at www.PartyWithPrincesses.com.

Garrett has really enjoyed the last few months on the BYU Men’s Soccer team. He’s been lucky enough to be on the travel roster and go with the team to California for some of the games out there. He didn’t get as much playing time as he had hoped for out there, but he happy he had the opportunity to go. They only take 18 players to travel.

Last week Garrett achieved one of his goals. He started the game against Ogden. He told me when he made the team that by the end of the season he’d be on the starting line up. I’ve never seen Garrett not reach a goal. He works his tail off until he gets it. He told coach at the end of the game thanks for the opportunity. Coach told him he had earned it. He played great and really sped up the game.

Their last game is this week on Thursday. We’re still up in the air whether or not Garrett will return to school in the fall. The only reason he would, is to play soccer. But everything depends on his business.

BYU Broadcasting airs their games. The announcers are always really nice and say great things about his play and his businesses. You can watch a clip of his play here: http://vimeo.com/25699327

Garrett’s step-mom Laurie took Chris, Eric and I to opening night to see the final Harry Potter. It was amazing! I decided to go big and even dress up. I did my best to pull Luna Lovegood. Almost everyone in the theatre was dressed up. A group of a dozen or so girls dressed up in boxes as the Hogwarts express. Pretty much everyone else was there… Harry, Snape, Hagred, Ron and even Voldemort.

Earlier that day I was online and there was a Facebook contest having users answer trivia questions. I answered a question correct and won 4 free tickets to a showing on Saturday morning. Question: What flavor of jelly bean did Dumbledore eat at the end of Chamber of Secretes? Answer: Earwax.

Anyway, movie was awesome. Loved it. Both times. Garrett doesn’t like them because they are too dark, he just falls asleep.

Last Sunday we had a great time down in Spring City. We left early in the morning and attended the ward down there. Christina, Shelby and the twins drove from Arizona for the week. We had a delicious BBQ. Joe brought out the mules and gave some of the grandkids rides. Laurie made some sugar cookies. We all just enjoyed the beautiful weather and each other's company.

I've been cooking some new things lately. One of the coolest things I did was a Mother's Day present from Garrett. He and Cory bought Lyndsey and I a cooking class by La Jolla Groves down at the Riverwoods. They brought in an amazing chef who owns both La Jolla Groves and Chef's Table. He also was the chef for President Monson when he held large events. Here are some of the delicious things we made.

We started off learning how to make some fresh pesto. I LOVE pesto. We used it in just about everything we made after. Like, this amazing tuscan tomato soup. I don't even like tomato soup, but this we delicious. He then taught us how to make rice pilaf and the the base of any soup. I learned I had been making soup wrong all this time. He then made panzanella - a breaded salad with fresh sun dried tomatoes, onions, pesto and a balsamic vinaigrette. He then taught us how to make a white sauce that we then used for shrimp scampi. Lastly, he taught us how to make chicken correctly which we then ate with the rice we had made earlier. Everything was delicious. I was full for at least a day. It was a great present. He teaches these classes once a month which I hope to continue to attend. There is one in November and December that is a cooking class for the holidays.

I've also done some cooking nights with some friends from work. We made the lettuce wraps from P.F. Changs and perfect Mango Sticky rice. Turns out you need a special pot and basket that you put your rice in that then steams. It was amazing. This past weekend we went up there and did a vegan night which was also fabulous.

Now, I just need to take some of these recipes home and make them myself.

A few things I've been able to do since not being at work...



That hill by the Marriott Center is a beast. I rode my bike to the temple, then went on a long walk with Brittany Thiess St. Claire and Benson.




Lunch at Sleepy Ridge with Cosgraves, Garrett and our new son, Ethan. Exploring Garrett's new panoramic iPhone App.





Kate Lowe Turner was in town this weekend with her husband for a wedding. We stayed up at Monica's grandparent's house and played some fun games and watched a movie. We of course made the most delicious chocolate chip cookies and had a great barbeque. I'm so blessed to have such great friends from college. It was also nice to stay with them since Garrett was in California with soccer.



Since we moved, we've been slowly getting furniture. We got rid of our last bed friend and were in need of a box spring. Cory and Ethan kindly walked the one I purchased at RC Willy 3 blocks to our apartment.



Lunches with my sweetie, Garrett.

I quit my job at 1 on 1 Marketing about 3 weeks ago. It was a really hard decision, but I felt it was the right thing to do. I really loved what I did and LOVED who I worked with, but felt that I should help Garrett with his stuff and it was a good time to pursue some of the sites I've been wanting to do.

I've spent the majority of my time partnering up with my mom on her site, www.decoratingideakidrooms.com. I'm working with an ad agency to get the site put on a CMS and give it much bigger, newer and more professional look. I'm REALLY excited for it. She has some amazing traffic, but such low conversion rate. She's basically done the WHOLE site herself for the last 6 years and does pretty well. I'm confident that with the revamp and some good marketing, it could turn into something really great. Stay tuned for an update in about a month.

I'm also taking over Capital G Design for Garrett. He's had a hard time lately giving clients the attention they need now that he is so busy with SCAN and BYU Soccer. So, I'm taking over the clients, project management, finances, etc., but Garrett still of course will be designing everything. It's been working well, so far.

It's been a really big adjustment not working full time. It is a huge lifestyle change. I've realized a few things since the switch.

1. Working 40 hours a week is useless. We work 40 hours a week because we are told to. I often found myself super busy at work, but the majority of the time it was doing useless emails, meetings and projects. We work 40 hours because we are told that's what we should do. We can often finish what we need to in a few hours... leaving us more time to do thing that we want. Thanks @CariStewart for introducing me to 4 Hour Work Week.

Last Wednesday I had what I thought was a good 4-5 hours of work, but I was in a crunch because I wanted to go play soccer at lunch time. I sat down at a computer, gave myself 1 hour and I busted out what I thought would've taken me the majority of my day. You can be very efficient if you want to.

So... I have much more free time. Which has gotten me doing some major self-reflecting. In 4 Hour Work Week, Tim Ferris talks about how we should work not to make money and sit on it, but to make money and spend it doing what we love. He spends the majority of his time traveling or developing a new hobby. He wins awards in ballroom dancing, kung-fu or something and other crazy activities. For me, I don't really have hobbies like that. I'm not super good at anything. The thing that makes me happiest in my life is spending time with friends and family. Its been interesting the past few weeks spending time during the day with friends and family and not feeling like I'm wasting time because I'm with them during work hours. I've been trained to think that if I'm not physically working on something from 8-5, I'm wasting time.

Since quitting my job, I've been able to play soccer twice a week at noon for 2 hours. Have a quality scripture study daily. Go on long runs with friends. Meet up with friends at 7 Peaks. Spend time with family and friends that are in town. Go to the temple. Go work to class after class at 24 Hour Fitness. Meet up with friends for lunch. I'm still productive and get the few things crucial things that I need to get done during the day. But I can now take the time that I need to do what makes me happiest in life. It is still a huge adjustment and I feel like I need to be somewhere or am still going back to work.

Hopefully things will start going well and the things I am working on will be fruitful.

Last week Lyndsey and I went to participate in the audience at Good Things Utah. They gave us free tickets for us and our husbands to attend the Strawberry Days Rodeo. I was really excited. But I quickly realized that rodeos aren't that great for a few reasons. 1.) Allergies. Pretty much all of us were dying of allergies from the animals. 2.) They totally torture the animals. I didn't know they tie up the horses testicles to make them buck. Of course they freak out. And then, one of the other games is the cowboys jumping on a baby cow and tackling them to the ground.

The best part of the night was a milking contest when they let 4 grown cows loose and teams of cowboys had to then catch them and milk them. The tables turn on the cowboys when they are being drug 40 yards in the dirt by a cow or being pummeled by one. It was awesome.

Anyway, rodeos are fine if you enjoy that kind of stuff. I'm not really into it. But it was still a good night, especially because after the rodeo we met up with some friends to have a private party at 7 Peaks from 10-12 pm at night. We had the whole park to ourselves.