Round and Round the Merry Go Round....

After our fun weekend in JH, Jack and I went to stay at my parents house in Spanish Fork for a week. To exercise the horses my parents have a hot walker:

Its a machine that goes in circles and leads the horse to give them some exercise each day if you dont have time to ride. My parents also have 2 of these on their swing set:

We call these horses "hammerdragons" .... long story. Anyways Gram and Papa thought it would be a great plan to but the hammerdragons on the hot walker as well as one regular baby swing and an orange car baby swing for jack, the very first makeshift Merry Go Round for all the grandkids! Caron and John LOVED it, I loved listening to Carol giggle with delight, Kambree isn't really sure what to think of it. Jack had a ball, I think if i let him he would stay in that thing for hours. He looked like such a little funny duck going around and around with his little cubby legs sticking out the bottom. He would get pretty excited and start kicking his legs and rocking back and forth, and he thought it was pretty fun to hold onto the ropes. Great idea Gram and Papa to keep the kiddos entertained! Patty aren't you excited for what little Oaklee gets to do next summer??

"Camping" and Jackson Hole

Over Fathers day weekend my dad, dan and my brother Mitch went fishing up to Lewis Lake (its a tradition on fathers day). So my mom, Jack, and I decided to tag along and camp in the cabins up at yellowstone while the boys camped. Then while they fished for two days we headed up to Jackson to do some tourists stuff and some shopping. You can neever have to much moose stuff right? Jack thought the hotels were pretty sweet living... chillin in jammies on a bed of pillows, playing with toys while Gram hand feeds me some fudge... yes this camping stuff isnt bad at all. It was fun to go around Jackson and see the sights. I got to stop in my favorite gallery Wild By Nature Gallery and I even got the meet the photographer Henry Holdsworth. Im a big fan, my moose picture that I know EVERYONE loves (haha) is from that gallery. We also stopped by another gallery Under the Willow, featuring the talent of Abby. Well Abby basically brought photography to JH and has been around forever, and knows my grandpa. When we stopped by he was also there so he asked about grandpa and this is how the conversation went:

Abby : Oh yes I know Mike (grandpa) well, he has lived here for years, and did a lot of work on the buildings downtown. You know he lived in star valley before here and has a place there?

My mom: Star Valley? No actually he never lived there, he was in Evanston then Bountiful then Jackson, and has a place here and in evanston and arizona now.

Abby: No he lived in Star Valley before.

My mom: Um no I dont think so he...

Abby: Yes he's from there, he lived in star valley.

My mom: No, I think i would know....

And this is where I couldnt handle this conversation anymore, neither was making much progress in their argument. It was truely hilarious though they honestly just kept going and going, so I felt it was time to end the madness....

Tiana: Mom (with a shake of a head and eyes that are trying to convey a message to stop, similar to those a mother gives her child)

Tiana: Wow I really love that picture.....

and so it ended.
Oh course we had to get pictures by the Elk Antler Arches. True tourists ya know. Saturday afternoon we met the boy in Jackson and got to see how they did on the lake...


They had a ton of fun and caught a bunch of fish. Dan caught the biggest one this year and he was pretty proud! 25 pounds! Which is now frozen and taking up too much space in our freezer while it waits to get stuffed at be Dan's trophy fish on our wall..... they caught a bunch and so we have been eating delicious trout every week. Poor Jack.. I think there is a silly rule about how if your not bigger than the fish you catch you cant go.... or something like that.

Yes, true story, this beast is taking up residence in MY freezer, but I guess its MY freezer or MY wall. It sure was a fun trip.

D.J. Diaper

Yo Yo man whats be more wicked than jamin' with your hawt Bose headphones and killin' the ladies in your jammies? Yo Yo man just call me DJ Diaper.
Headphones with Strunz and Farrah groovin' it..check, puzzle... check, boat... check, Dr. Pepper to keep me going while I study diligently for my Car Parking Attendant (CPA) exam.... double check.

9 Month Checkup

Wednesday was Jack's 9 month checkup. It went well, no shots, so Jack was pretty happy about that. He now weighs in at 17 pounds 4 ounces. Apparently he completely fell of the weight curve he was following, and is now in the 6th percentile. But if you ask me, or anyone who has seen him for that matter, he is still rolly polly, I don't think he would be considered starved, although he might beg to differ at times. Regardless I have to take him in every month for a weight check. This makes me laugh a little Jack has 2 cousins that are a year older than him and he is pretty close to their size, and Im pretty sure they are absolutly healthy. He is now 26.5 inches tall, he grew 1.5 inches since last time! They said he is still "short", I say ya right. All in all he is healthy and doing great. I am now feeding him more "real" food. Its not going very well. He likes sweet potato puffs and gram crackers. So far he gags on mashed potatos, eggs, toast.. the list goes on, he is SO PICKY! Although he had a taste of bbq sauce, and Aunt Karas sloppy joes and it seemed alright, also jello. Oh and he wont eat anything green, peas.... gag... green beans... gag. So if you wouldnt mind giving me some comments of ideas of what I could feed this child that would be AMAZING!

Dan in Real Life

This is Dan. Dan is my husband. I love him. He aspires to be a pilot. He even has the shades to prove it. I love him. I love his dimple. I made him pose for these pictures. He hates it. I love it. I love him. He loves me. So he lets me make him pose for pictures.

Not quite the airplane size he wants to fly. It does the job for now. He's a pretty good pilot. He says he is going outside to do some work. Work means flying apparently. I love him. Jack loves him. He is starting to say dadadadadadada. Jack is not Dan. Dan flew a plane into a power line. We got a good laugh out of that. I don't know how the power company man was thinking. I love dan. He's a good man. He makes me happy. He makes me smile. Forever.

Rain Rain dont go away stay around a few more days

I know you are thinking "has she gone completely mental??" The answer is no, no I don't believe so. I know we have been living through a monsoon but we just finished prepping our yard and had it hydroseeded yesterday!! HURRAY! Its been a long month getting it all ready, and so if it decides to keep raining, thats quite alright by me, less watering I have to worry about, and then I dont fret about the sprinkler system, since it is set to water 3 times a day.
And here is me and Jack doing some managerial work, you know being the supervisors, making sure daddy is doing everything right. Dont be decieved by how the snugglie makes me look, I'm NOT pregnant.

Happy to go to Church!

My Little Maracan Shakin' Monkey

Cinco de Mayo among other things...

Is it really June already? My my where did May go? It came as a shock that my last blog was April 30. But here we are again....


I love this picture of my 7 month old love. It reminds me of the lame pictures people always take of themselves and put on myspace or facebook or whatever. You know the serious face, they are trying to be cool and "artistic" or some rubbish, trying to show how beautiful they are...... nice job Jack, im sure you would find many potentials on eharmony....

And this is the cockeyed smile that has a vice like grip on my heart.


For cinco de mayo we had some people from our ward over for a little fiesta. It was a good time with enchiladas and tacos... mmm...mmmmm... anyways they brought us (or rather Jack) a gift, so he can nurture his maraca playing mariachi skills, do you think maybe they will add maracas to rock band someday?? If so he's your man, or baby, or something.


This was more than a month ago, don't worry he has vastly improved his shakin' skills, now that he can sit up and shake at the same time without much effort. But he sure loves those maracas, must have a little Latino in him.

{Hey this is fun...}

{Hey whats down there?}

{HaHaHaHa that will teach them....}

{It wasn't me I swear... REALLY!}

{HAHAHAHAHAHA... suckers.....}

Bad to the Bone

Call me crazy but this looks like trouble to me. What can I say he must get it from his dad :) ......

(Yes his hat does say Mischief Maker, Just to clear that all up)They are always up to something... troublemakers.

Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy

Yes, I'm fairly certain this would make me motion sick.

Sleep tight.... or something

Last night before I went to bed I went in to check on Jack and tuck him in one last time, and this is how I found him....
Freedom... So close yet, not close enough. What on earth did I do to find amusement before this little bundle of shenanigans?He's not very good at the whole escaping thing is he?

Owie

My dream of being a warrior have finally gone to rest.... I stub my toe and I feel like I broke the whole foot. I've been trying to be so good about the treadmill, perhaps my subconscious consciously hurt myself as an excuse out of exercise. What do you think? I just don't know... its all very traumatic.

7 months and going on retirement

On my latest trip to Utah my mom and I found this cute outfit at The Children's Place (Kara I apologize, I can now see why you love that store and can browse for hours (or so it seems) I guess I just didn't see the possiblities before). Dan is not so fond of this outfit though... he claims it makes Jack look like he should be living in a retirement community in Florida, I rebuke him by saying EXACTLY.... but isn't he so darn cute? I also argue that he wears a diaper, has no teeth, and eats pureed food.... fits the part pretty well I think. The top picture Dan thinks Jack has the perfect old man face. What can I say, this is one of the novelties of having babies right? ...... men just don't get it. WHO ME?

Oh How I Have Missed You:

Today was an epic day in my life. Ever since we moved to Idaho some 6 months ago I've felt a pit of loneliness, a black hole, if you will, in my heart and my stomach. Something was missing. I could hear a faint echo of something calling my name. Oh Cafe Rio, HOW I HAVE MISSED YOU! Today was the grand opening in Idaho Falls, an event we simply couldn't miss. Thank Heavens we got there and the line was short, it still took forever to get through the line because they are training people and the newbies were a bit shaky and nervous. By the time I paid the line was out the door. Some might find that ridiculous, can it really be worth it? Yes, yes absolutely it is.

Quote of the Day

"What an assurance, when I go with my wife through a magnificent, two-hour experience in the temple, that we may have brought two converts into the kingdom of God. In two hours!"

~Truman G. Madsen
The Temple Where Heaven Meets Earth

Passover

On conference Sunday (Palm Sunday) Dan and I invited a couple from our ward over to celebrate Passover. My sil Torrie introduced me to a wonderful book Celebrating Passover: A Guide to Understanding the Jewish Passover for Latter-day Saints. We read an LDS version of the Haggadah which helps you understand and remember the time of Moses and the original Passover when the destroying angel passed over the Jews who put the blood of the unblemished lamb on their door frames. We recounted the entire story of their deliverance out of Egypt. We ate symbolic food that is eaten during Passover, it was interesting and this book helps to further point the symbols to Christ and shows you how Passover and Easter are the same holy day. At the end after dinner (we ate traditional Jewish foods like potato latke and charoset and matzah) we recounted the last Passover dinner, the Last Supper. It was very interesting to see how the tradtional symbols used in the Passover like the wine (in our case grape juice) and matzah, Christ used to institute the Sacrament, and how he showed the true meaning and symbols of the original Passover and how they were a similitude of his ulitmate sacrifice, the sacrifice of the umblemished Lamb of God to save us all. It was a wonderful way to prepare and center our thoughts on Christ during this Easter season, and not so much on the easter bunny. We had a great time, we got to know the Ashtons better, we were spiritually enlightened and uplifted, and we now have a better understanding of the connections between Passover, the Last Supper, Easter and the Atonement. Thanks again Torrie, what a great way to remember Christ and what he did for me.

Happy Easter

I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter and was able to remember the special significance this day holds. Ours hasn't been so fantastic, Jack woke up last night congested and coughing. So we hooked up the humidifier and the vicks vaporizer and Jack and I stayed home from church, too bad because I was really looking forward to Easter Sunday. Oh well, next year. With the sniffles Jack gets to take in a lot of cuddle time...Although Jack wasn't feeling 100% he was still able to attack his easter baskets from the Easter Bunny and Gram and Papa Martin.

6 Month Checkup

Yesterday was Jack's 6 month doctor visit. All looks good no problems at all. He weighed in at 16 pounds 11 ounces, he only gained about a pound and 7 ounces since last time, but he grew an inch and is now at 25 inches long. Apparently when they get to this age and start moving a bunch they tend to grow toward their height curve, and since he is considered short (which I really have a hard time believing still) he probably wont gain to much weight. I have a really hard time believing the height percentile though, for heavens sake he is 6 month old and wearing 12 month pjs because he is so long, I think the percentile thing is a little flawed or just bogus, besides Dan and I arent exactly short, and I know he could have got the short gene somewhere else but its not very likely. Don't get me wrong I don't have a problem with it if he is short, I just don't believe it. Jack still has dry skin even though I drench him in eucerin everyday. Hopefully when winter decides to let up (which obviously isn't today) his skin will feel a little better. Ive been so blessed that Jack hasn't been sick at all this winter! I really hope to keep it that way, some might call me anal about this stuff but hey it seems to be working right?