What to do with all my energy?

I've decided Jackson has way too much energy. Besides learning how to walk, he spends most his time finding something to throw, something to jump off of, or lately, to throw his head back on. These videos make me laugh. The first shows how he is no longer satisfied with crawling. This happens all the time when I won't help him up so he can walk. The second is what he does on the bed all the time.

Visit from Taylor

We were lucky to have Taylor LeSueur come visit us for a week. He sure is an active little boy who is SO smart and wonders about EVERYTHING. I found I only knew about 1/3 of the questions he asked. We enjoyed some good mini-golf, playing in the duck pond, watching some movies, and of course, the cannon center. I think Taylor's favorite part was that he didn't have to eat anything healthy. James was helping a guy in our ward coach a football camp for little boys, so Taylor and cousin Matt went along too. Between that and getting hives form the duck pond, I think we wore Taylor out! He drove back to AZ with us and I was so impressed he could sleep through Jackson's screaming. What a trooper. I think my favorite part about the whole visit was when he commented on our apartment while talking to his dad. "Dad, there must have been a MASTER architect because it's amazing how they fit so many things in such a tiny place!"

Trip to Arizona

For 2 weeks in July we got to just leave everything and enjoy family. We spent the first half with my family. Jackson LOVED being around all the kids, and of course, everyone spoiled him. I still think his favorite is my brother Matt. We had a big shower for my Aunt Kris (who is having baby number 9), did lots of Mesa Thrift shopping, lots of swimming, and of course, my mother saved my hair! I loved being in Mesa again, James and I commented over and over how nice it would be if he got accepted to a PA school in Gilbert. Once again, I think we wore Jackson out!

Luckily, July means that Wilford, Kathleen, Sam, and Spencer get to spend some time away from the Dominican Republic. We sure enjoyed having the whole family (minus Clayt's family) at the cabin. I always forget just how pretty it is. There is a nice pond right outside the back of the cabins and Jackson spent most his time staring at it, crawling around in the dirt, and doig everything he could to avoid family devotionals! We drove up to Green's Peak one day, rode horses another day, and spent some time at the ranch's playground. Jackson was spoiled once again with all the attention. One morning, Wilford took Jackson out early in the morning for a little "grandpa time". How nice!

I sure wish this picture wasn't blurry!

Or that James' eyes weren't closed,

or that Jackson was smiling!

Pretty view though...

Thanks to Em, the MASTER of fishy lips,

Jackson can now do them. I keep trying to

get it on camera to show her though.

Someone asked me why I never put pics of ME on the blog. Well, I realized since I really do take most of the pictures, the only ones taken of me are usually by some niece or nephew. I had a good laugh at these two... :) Looks like I need Shaela's "glamour shot" camera!

After the 2 weeks, we decided to leave Jackson with my parents for a week and a half. James needed to prepare for finals and finish his 2 correspondence classes. I really needed to get everything ready for check outs of all the summer students. Rather than just pay for a babysitter here, we left him for the first time! I think it was a little hard on me to go from only being gone for like 4 hours to something that long, but we sure appreciate all my families' help! We were able to get everything done, and James even still made it for 4 days to scout camp. The drive home to Arizona felt extra quiet and lonely, but it was one of the prettiest drives I've ever made. There were scattered thunderstorms followed by full rainbows and double rainbows. The pictures don't do it justice, but I did try! Thanks to grandma and grandpa Andersen, he flew home the following week with them. They said he was perfect on the flight! (Our prayers were answered!) Jackson seemed to have a hard transition to being with boring us, in our tiny apartment, but once we learned he had double ear infections, I felt a little better about my parenting! A week and half later, after 5 days of fever's over 104, and a whole bottle of Amoxicillin, he's a new man!