Who's a big boy now?

Jackson is now 1! We wore him out at Seven Peaks water park on his birthday. His favorite was the lazy river. I thought it would be a nice relaxing time, but he spent most the time leaning over the tube, sticking his face in the water, and blowing bubbles. He’d die laughing anytime we went under the little waterfalls, and loved the little kids pool. James and I both commented it was the happiest day he’s ever had…meaning, we had never seen him so happy for such a long time. The “big boys” of course had to do the water slides, but I was content with the wave pool. We barely even made it out of the parking lot that night before Jackson was out. We finished off the day trying out our new camping stove at the park and having pudding cake.

What does being 1 mean?

> it means turning the car seat around but now, driving is even more miserable! His shrieking is right there by our ears, he can throw toys at us easier, and seems to drop things on purpose, just so we’ll pick them up!
> it means smarter but now, he’s managed to escape his high chair twice this week! Once he just started laughing when he hit the ground, and the second, a drawer was open and he cut his mouth up pretty bad. I was a little worried about all the blood and swelling, but one more otter pop later and he was a happy boy!
>It means he now LOVES to pull himself up on anything! But seeing as he can’t even take one step by himself, he takes of charging and has lots of bumps on his head. Not even counting the high chair incident, we’ve had 2 other big falls this past week.
>It means a LOT more talking! He says “dada” all the time, “hi”, and since Matt was here “Maaa”. He really is such a vocal, social little boy! The doctor said he’s a little behind on his motor skills (normal crawling, walking, etc) but he was way off the charts on his social and fine motor skills (picking things up, turning pages, eating, etc).
> It means diaper changing is ridiculous. Not only does it reek, but he screams anytime you try to pin him down. The bishops’s daughter just babysat, and when I asked her how it went she said “Wow, he’s very….energetic”. I asked if she had to change his diaper and she said, she tried, but couldn’t even get him down long enough so she gave up..guess it’s not just me!
> It means he gets cuter and cuter every day! We love our little boy!!

What do you call a stinky bird?

Puberty! :)

Matt is now 15! The big teenager enjoyed a BBQ at JaNae’s followed by some good playstation football. We sure loved spending so much time with Matt. Not only did he update our I-pod with the “cool songs”, show us all the new funny videos on You Tube, and help us learn the new phrases ( “Oh snap”…”poop toot”… “So” (which is short for sure)… “rockin’ fire” and “you’re a beast”) But he really was just a lot of fun and mot afraid to help out. We already miss him! He taught Jackson how to hit his head over and over by just hearing the word “ouch”, called him “Jacksy boi” (in his Arnold voice) which got him laughing every single time, and he even put him to sleep some nights to give me a break! We got to help teach him to drive in the parking lots, take him shopping for "cool" shirts, and basically, enjoyed every minute of him! Normally, we only get to talk to him on the phone, and let's just put it nicely...he's not a phone talker. He puts on this weird voice and just grunts. So, we actually got to get to know him and realize he is really growing up. As he should be since he starts westwood next year! What a great guy!

Utah Lake Festival

We first went to this the week before Jackson was born and loved the free hot dogs and sunshine. We went again this year, and somehow, those hot dogs did not seem the same as when I wasn’t pregnant! But I did love the free shirts, getting some sun, and seeing all the people so in love with Utah lake. I don’t think the boys liked it as much as I did because they were ready to go before we even got our free boat ride!

The RV'ers

Brad and Julie brought Matt up on “The Pheonix Cruiser” and luckily (for us) it broke down for a few days so we got Matt for extra time! Jackson LOVES matt. We got to spend a week and half just having fun. Of course, we HAD to go bowling before they took off. One of the first dates James and I went on, even before his mission, was bowling with Brad and Julie so it always brings back good memories. I don’t know if it’s the wedgie or the actual game, but we always have a good time. Brad has even helped us realize that James is good enough on the basketball game to get LOTS of tickets. He can then trade all the tickets in to get a free game of bowling. So basically, if we spend a dollar at the first, James gets enough tickets and we save on bowling!

Jackson’s first oreo.

Could a boy be any happier?