I just spent a couple hours today and yesterday reading some of my family members’ blogs and I am realizing that a blog could be a treasure for my family. Mostly it will be a word vomit diary of my life, but hopefully I will be able to capture some memories of my family and our goings on.

So - here is my new resolution. I am going to start a blog. I am going to post pictures so my kids can remember what happened in their early lives.

JUNE 24th, 2010

Status - at work. Met up with Trent earlier for lunch. Boys at Jessica’s.

Work is going very well. We are about 16 customers short of our monthly sales revenue goal. Not bad, still up from last year, just not as up as I wanted to be.

The boys are at Jessica’s. She’s our babysitter, and she is great. The boys are well taken care of, but they miss Bryce and Jessie right now (they are with their dad in Vegas for the summer). Roman still cries every day when I drop him off, which breaks my heart, and then doesn’t want to leave when I get there to pick him up. Talon rarely cries anymore, but he is kind of a home-body. He would rather stay home and just hang out than go anywhere. So the only way I can get him to go anywhere is to tell him not to worry because we will come home afterwards.

Trent got all the baseboards painted last night. The house is very close. We are going to do some patching tonight and then finish the painting downstairs so we can move our stuff out of our neighbors garage.

Then, Trent said he would install the dishwasher. Yeah!

<a href=”http://whatscookingorem.com/” title=”what’s cooking orem?” rel=”tag”><img src=”http://whatscookingorem.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/button.gif” alt=”" title=”Chef Danielle’s Dinner Idea Blog” width=”150″ height=”150″ /></a>

Oh come on.  You know you have made one of these lists.  We all have before.  My list began a couple years ago.  KT, do you remember?  I was sitting in an investment meeting learning about how to properly trade stocks and I lost interest and started day dreaming about other things.

yeah… I know… I do that a lot…

So my BFF KT and I wrote lists for ourselves.  101 things I want to do before I die.  It has been two years, and I haven’t really accomplished much.  It’s a good thing I haven’t died yet…

I remember writing the list.  It was funny.  I only got to like 60 or something before I couldn’t think of anything else to do.  I went home that night and googled other peoples lists to get ideas.  There were some pretty fun ones.  Kind of random, but still fun.

Here’s my list:

1. start my family
2. own my own business
3. be organized for an entire week (!!)
4. start a blog
5. travel to the following places: Mexico
6. Italy
7. France
8. China
9. India
10. Chile
11. Brazil
12. Australia
13. Alaska
14. Hawaii
15. Germany
16. Egypt
17. Tanzania or Kenya
18. Russia - in honor of Ashley
19. Go on a cruise
20. Go Skydiving
21. Take a parasailing lesson
22. Climb a mountain
23. See a Volcano
24. Learn to waterski
25. Learn to jump the wake on a wakeboard
26. Make a quilt
27. Design my Dream House
28. Help build a house for someone else
29. Places I have already been, but want to go again: St. Louis Arch
30. New York
31. Mt. Rushmore
32. See a alligator in the wild
33. Learn Yoga
34. Have a 6 pack
35. Run a 10k (well … jog it anyway)
36. walk a marathon 
37. have a 6 pack
38. Find work and life balance
39. Serve a mission
40. Write a book
41. Plant a garden
42. Learn a second language
43. Don’t kill above mentioned garden for an entire season
44. be completely debt free
45. own a rental property
46. volunteer at a cannery
47. have and understand my food storage
48. stay in a bed and breakfast
49. bake my own bread for a month
50. floss twice a day for a whole week
51. record every penny I spend for a week
52. learn how to budget
53. learn how to cut coupons
54. learn how to golf
55. cook chicken tikka masala
56. cook saag paneer
57. make potstickers from scratch
58. make a marinara sauce from all raw ingredients (not even canned tomatoes)
59. make my own pasta
60. Learn how to make Grandma C’s meatballs
61. Learn how to play one song on the piano decent
62. Kareoke in front of strangers
63. learn how to play a song on my guitar
64. fly a kite with my kids
65. back up all my pictures
66. update and organize my photo album
67. sell something on ebay
68. paint a family portrait
69. Go to the opera
70. Host a rockin’ holiday party
71. meditate for an entire 3 hours straight
72. create an online alter ego
73. go to disneyland with Trent - or a similar theme park
74. get my fortune told by a professional fortune teller
75. watch the sunrise
76. watch the sunset
77. fast for 48 hours
78. finish a crossword puzzle
79. write a letter to an author I really like
80. go to the temple every day it’s open for 2 weeks
81. read the new testament again
82. study the life of Jesus Christ
83. write a letter to trent’s parents
84. write a letter to my parents
85. make family home evening a habit
86. do a really big puzzle with lots of pieces
87. go to a sporting event with Trent without complaining
88. be on the news for something positive
89. get a one hour massage
90. go to a day spa and get waxed
91. go to a high school reunion
92. shoot a gun
93. go hunting
94. make a movie
95. be in a movie
96. get a polygraph test done and see if you can trick it
97. meet someone with your own name
98. go to a black tie event
99. play a really outrageous joke
100. Do everything my mom tells me to do for a month
101. relearn all the states and their capitals

It’s true. I love my life. I am just living the dream! I met the most amazing woman the other day. Her name is Ali Johnson of Start Something Beautiful. We went to lunch at Chilis and she told me her story and why she started this amazing program that empowers and inspires women. I got goosebumps 4 times. I even choked up and almost cried once. I left and not only wanted to start something beautiful myself, but I also was like “Danielle, I want a story like that!” What is my story? I think I went on and on for about 10 minutes, then Danielle turned to me … to be honest, I didn’t even think she was listening, and said “Jean, you have a story, don’t worry about it. You are just in the middle of it.” How right that is! I am in the middle of my story. 20 years from now I am going to have this goose-bump making story about how I always wanted to have it all. So I bought a business, started a family, served my community … all at the same time. I have a pretty amazing life. You can totally be jealous of me if you want. Or you can join me! Join me in my journey as I create my own beautiful story just by living my life and making the most of every moment … and I guess writing every one of these moments as we go!

Meet the Trent, Jean, Talon and Roman Colarusso family.

Trent is a builder in the home-remodeling world. He also loves photography, vespas, The Extreme Makeover Show, his brothers and parents, etc. He goes by Mr. T, Trent the Builder, and “Honey?”. We’re totally in love.

Talon is a two year old that is totally uncontrollable. Well by me anyway, Jessica says he always listens to her, but I am not sure if I believe it. Don’t let his two-year old temper, which he prolly got from me, fool you though. He is the smartest kid around. He knows just as much spanish as english. He can do floor puzzles by himself. He’s been completely potty trained for months. He knows all his letters and all their sounds. Pretty amazing little kid.

Roman really needs no more introduction than his name. He is the hottest little one-year-old boy in the huge city of PROVO. He is already engaged to 3 girls, and can’t even say 10 words yet!! HIs first word was cookie, and he prolly eats at least 50 animal crackers a day. Ha! Ha!

Jean, you own a business? Yeah, I know right. How could I, possibly the ditsiest girl (I’ll post my ditsiest moments later, don’t worry!) around, own a business that’s actually thriving??

Well, I have many theories, but I think owning a business all just comes down to passion. And I have passion. I have passion for food. for the importance of eating together as a family. for trying new things. for setting goals and making them work. for doing what it takes. and a passion for Diet Coke … of course!

I have always wanted to own my own business, and here I am! At Dream Dinners, families come in and assemble dinner kits to keep in their freezer so they always have dinner on hand. no more last minute grocery trips, no more peeling and chopping carrots. It’s the best.

Check out this video courtesy of Jack Hadley of Cowork Utah .