LOVIN' LIFE

Hooray for February Weather

2012-02-10T14:17:00.008-05:00

January

Also know as Snowmageddeon in Seattle.

February

With the weather being warm we've been able to take advantage of some quality park time. So no more cabin fever for us. Baby #2's hair totally cracks me up here!

Look at this girl's top two teeth coming in. And I know it goes without saying but those cheeks are so dang irresistable.

This is another one that cracks me up. J poo was sad because I took her rock away. Sometimes it's hard being a baby! (especially when your mom takes a picture in the middle of your crisis) And yep Jane is wearing her pjs under her coat... at least we got the shoes on ha.

A Sweet Find

2012-01-26T21:01:00.011-05:00

Someone got into the Nutella this afternoon. I'm not gonna point the finger, or mention any names, but I do have a hunch what went down.

Here's my working timeline:

-As per routine, baby #2 empties cupboard of peanut butter, Nutella, and various canned goods while I have my back turned in the kitchen.

-Baby #2 takes pb jar and (as if it is a sitting stool) sits on jar. Catch her in the act out of the corner of my eye.

-Enter baby #1.

-Baby #1 sees Nutella jar and allegedly tries to do the same thing.

-Lid comes off Nutella jar.

-Baby #1's hands go in the jar simultaneously and into her mouth.

-I turn around and witness baby #1 in a Nutella-induced state of yummy goodness. Have to admit I did laugh out loud!

-Baby #2 sees it too, tries to take the jar away and shakes her finger at baby #1.

-I get the camera.

These pictures may be all the evidence we need...

ABC's of Jane at 11 months

2012-01-24T16:58:00.004-05:00

Animal sounds. Adorable.

Bottomless pit.

Crawling fast.

Da da da. Da da da. Da da da..

Energizer bunny.

Following people around.

Grinning from ear to ear.

Head- butting. Heavy breathing when excited.

Interested in everything.

Johnny Jumperoo.

Kinship with Maeva.

Long eyelashes.

Moves, as in dancing moves.

Nothing like good music.

O's. Cherrios and making the sound "O".

Pulling up.

Quiet time with Mamma before bed.

Rides in the carrier, stroller and car.

Shrieking with joy.

Thunder thighs.

Upper teeth coming in!

Vying for people's attention.

Wet nose.

X-tra soft texture of blankie.

Yellow duckies. Yummy smells.

Zebra striped outfits and blankets.

Today my girl is 11 months old! It's been the best 11 months of my life, and I still can't believe how lucky I am to be her Mamma.

Thanksgiving 2011 Pictures

2012-01-20T18:36:00.021-05:00

We had some pictures taken of our little family when we were in UT in November. We asked Jason's pro photographer of a cousin to take some shots of us. We are pleased with the results! It took us awhile to get them up here on the bloggy but better late than never!

Jason was tickling us in this one. I love Jane's cheesy face.

We used this for our Christmas card.

That's our girl!

Poor thing was cold (hence the hat) and exhausted.

I'm glad we got this smile out of her!

Me and my girl.

Handsome hubs and daughter.

Jackpot

2012-01-19T03:00:00.005-05:00

Jane at 10 months in her jumperoo

I feel like I've hit the jackpot in life. Not bad for an almost-twenty five year old lady! Seriously though, having my family -- my hubby, my baby girl, and my other loved ones means the world to me. I don't need money, materials, etc. to "make it" in life. I already have!

I was thinking about this as I went into my daughter's room tonight. I love going in there when she's sound asleep so I can look at her. I creep in and stalk her like it's nobody's business. I can't resist giving her one last goodnight smooch on the forehead. Although I have to practically dive into her crib head-first to reach the little munchy-kin snuggled up to her blanket, since Jas lowered it all the way down. So worth it to kill my gut bending over for that though.

My baby is almost 11 months old!! She's getting so much more active than any of you have seen. It sometimes feels like a wrestling match to try and get her dressed, change her diaper or even wipe her face. She's gotta pull herself up on anything she can -- climb on it too if her chubby legs will allow her some reach. This girl is really strong and that's why we call her our tank.

Normally she is one happy chicky, but a couple of weeks ago she really amped up the giddiness. She was sitting in her highchair at the dinner table eating some cornbread crumbs and she couldn't stop giggling, laughing, and sometimes just shrieking with pure joy. On and on it went, and it was all unprovoked. The funniest thing was she kept saying "da da da" and looking at Jason and giggling hysterically. We blame the cornbread. Trader Joe musta put something crazy in that bread.

Christmas and New Years 2011

2012-01-17T22:06:00.001-05:00

We flew home from Hawaii on Christmas Eve. My dad tried but could not find any condos available for us to stay in over Christmas. We were sad to leave Hawaii after just a week but it worked out good to get to see some of our extended family for Christmas. We went from Hawaii to Seattle to Portland in two days! So, after flying into Seattle my family drove to my grandparent's home to spend the night while we went to our apartment in Seattle.

That night we picked up some Cheesecake Factory grub, I put the over tired babes to bed, and Jas got some much needed groceries for Christmas breakfast. We got up the next morning and Jason Skyped with his family for awhile. We were trying to get in on the call to Jessica in Brazil but it wasn't working out very well. I guess right as we were leaving she came on Skype but it was too late for us. We opened our stockings, threw a few things in our suitcase again and left again! We barely made it to church that afternoon in FW with the rest of the family, but good thing we did! From there we went to the grandparents, loaded up the cars and drove to Portland together. We spent what was left of Christmas with my Aunt Gwyn's family at her cozy home. We had a delicious Christmas dinner and we opened our family gifts for one another.

I feel like it was a lot of traveling, especially during a time where it's often best to be home relaxing. But to be honest if I were here staying put I would probably be going a little stir crazy. And for me it's most important to be with family so we were really glad for that.

That night we stayed in a hotel in Portland and well, that was an eventful night. Let's just say there were clogged toilets (and for the record there were plenty of those on this trip, you would think someone learned their lesson!) multiple calls to the front desk, us switching rooms, and some very noisy people directly above my grandparents room (which we later confessed to them was the room my 3 bros were in - yikes!!). Who says girls are all drama? My bros prove otherwise.

We drove back to Seattle the next day because Jason had to work the following day. We brought Curt and Olin with us. They stayed with us one night and then met the rest of the family back at my grandparents. My dad went back to Anchorage to do some work for a few days, while we all just hung out here in Seattle. Then Curt left, dad came back, we had a big party for New Years and my grandma's birthday. Mom and Mason went back to Anchorage and dad and Olin went to Rexburg so Olin could start school. Got all that? Ha. Good thing we don't mind traveling in this family, and we have an airport somewhat close by!

Jas and Jane putting together our new vacuum! This was Jason and I's big present to each other. I am really excited about it. I loving vacuuming!

Our awesome Christmas tree on Christmas morning. The hubs put my present in that red pot because it wouldn't fit in my stocking. Technically that pot was one of my Christmas presents too (from myself btw) I like how we do things.

Our adorable little Christmas elf, enjoying being home Christmas morning. She was as interested in opening her stocking as you'd expect a baby to be. She liked the present much better unwrapped!

Jane and I with all our stocking loot! We didn't give Jane any presents other than stocking presents because we didn't see the point. She's got all she needs, (plus lots of good stuff from the fam, thanks guys!) and she was happy nonetheless.

Mom, Dad, Jane and Grandma sitting on the couch at my Aunt Gwyn's in Portland.

We love our sweet girl so much! Merry (1st) Christmas baby! Many more great ones to come.

New hat and new spoon! Plus awesome reindeer Christmas pjs.

Jane's Santa picture! I kept saying in Hawaii that I had to get a picture of Jane on Santa's lap and it never happened. Just thought it should happen because it's her first Christmas. So anyway Mason had this awesome Santa shirt on and we decided he'd do as our Santa. His beard is actually a piece of faux fur off one of my sweaters. Jane didn't seem to mind meeting Santa at all :)

And back to Seattle! Olin got to sleep on our air mattress and well, Jane decided she wanted to sleep there too! I thought it was so cute how she snuggled up to his chest. She's got a soft spot for her uncles.

Playing Dominion together.

Taking a break from post Christmas shopping at Southcenter Mall. Apparently Jane likes eating rice from a chopstick.

All of us at our New Year/ Grandma's birthday party crab feed that we hosted in our apartment complex! We had lots and lots of delicious kind crab legs, Ivar's clam chowder, salad for crab louie, garlic bread and sparkling cider. I also made chocolate bottom creme brulee. Good eating if I do say so myself.

Jane had fun entertaining us at the party. We also were entertained by the boys playing games on the xbox.

Look how cute granny is! Happy Birthday and Happy New Year everyone!

Glad I could finally finish posting about last year and move on to the new year now.

Hawaii: Final Post!

2012-01-14T21:43:00.003-05:00

Eating at Duke's, last day at the beach, the lighthouse, tennis, family Christmas party, and going home!

We went to a really great restaurant called Duke's. You can't tell from the pic because it got dark but there was an amazing view of the beach and ocean from our table. And yes this pic is of Jane chewing on a rib bone... I'll just say it wasn't my idea, and all the meat was pretty much scraped off that thing so she was just eating sauce!

All of us eating dessert! My fav was the fish entree. It was super good. Why does all fish taste the best in AK or Hawaii? At least I know where to go to get the good stuff.

This is the view from our porch. Beautiful!

Oh no Jane got sand on her hand again!!

Getting some water with her grandpa's help.

The three girls. We were way outnumbered. We need more girls in this family...

Windy, windy, windy!!

Tennis! We even matched with our shoes by accident :)

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Jane even got a book.

My mom made these little stockings for everyone and so each day we'd get something different in them. Made it feel more like Christmas!

The last night there we had a little family Christmas party where we opened a few gifts, played some games, and did our tradition family book exchange. My mom got that cute santa hat for Jane ha!

This is Jane lying on Mason's chest. It was the funniest thing, but for some reason she loved to snuggle on Mason's chest like that. I was sitting next to him on the couch this time and holding her and she just climbed right over to him and did this! And she has never done that to anyone else!

farther back on the plane. Not a bad flight! Merry Christmas everyone!

On the plane again! I love Jane's pretty Hawaiian dress. She got to hang out with her grandma, me and Mason and Curt. Jason was up in first class and my dad and Olin wer
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I am now finally done with all the Hawaii pics. There are still a few more of our Christmas though. Someday, someday!

Hawaii: Part Three

2012-01-14T21:00:00.003-05:00

Mom's Hawaii 5-0, paddle boarding, date night, grand canyon, and more beach!

In case you haven't been reading my other posts or you just needed to hear it again, my mom had a big birthday in December! (sorry mom I know you are tired of hearing about it, but I'm not quite tired of writing about it yet) so we threw a little family surprise birthday party for her one night. I sneakily emailed my mom's siblings and close friends that live far away and asked them to send me a pic of them and a bday greeting. I got so many great pics so I made some collages and put them up around the dining room. Thanks everyone for the participation! All pictures were funny/creative and we loved them!!

We had my dad kidnap my mom for a little while so we could all decorate. We also made dinner which included some delicious Alaskan salmon! Jane's not really loving wearing the birthday hat.

It was a tight squeeze but we all managed to fit around the table.

Dad's warming his hands on the banana creme pie. All us kids got together to give my mom a homemade spa day as a gift. We were all going to do something different but then my mom wouldn't let us. (so mom, we still owe you one and we want to do it sometime)

This beach had a great cove where we could enjoy some paddle surfing! Paddle surfing is just like surfing except you have a paddle (which makes it easier to move around in my opinion) and you can stand up easier. Smaller waves were really fun, and it was still a workout!

Dad and Jason trying it out for the first time.

Olin (with dad's head bobbing in the water near by ha)

Jas helping Mas...

And mom!

Love this pic of the babes sleeping at the beach.

Date night! We kept our tradition alive of taking a night for ourselves. It wasn't much of a date, but we did find a little place to grab some cheap eats nearby our condo. Gotta take advantage of the free babysitting if we can!!

My guy's pretty cute!

On Kauaii they have a huge canyon that is like the Grand Canyon, but much more green! I actually think it looks a lot cooler than the Grand Canyon. We drove a couple of hours to the other side of the island to see it. There were some neat (and scary at times) look out spots.

What a serious baby!

Neat view huh? Proud of myself for going all the way to the fence.

Snorkel time!

Nothing says Christmas in Hawaii like candy cane toes in the sand!

This pretty much sums up how much Jane wanted to do with the beach.

Kauaii is also famous for having wild chickens that roam everywhere on the island.

See what I mean!

Another attempt at a family picture. We kept getting rained on!

Jason somehow coaxed Jane (over time) to sit by herself in the sand. For her that was a big deal! Funny how a thing like sand is such a strange, alien thing to a baby. She hated the grass btw too.

Proud of this brave little chicky poo. Look how big she is!

Hawaii: Part Two

2012-01-12T15:05:00.002-05:00

Cliff jumping, beach going, hiking, hanging out at the condo, and having fun!

Don't look back!! Ha.

The whole crew at the cliff.

Mason checking things out before he takes the plunge.

Jason got caught up in the rocks by the shore and got a little banged up coming in. Had a bunch of scrapes and bruises to prove it, sorry hun.

Look what the tide brought in!

I'm liking the antique look on this one of the babes and I.

We went to a blow-hole that was interesting. Jane did not want to look at the camera at all.

They may be a little crusty but they're are a little cute :)

Mason + Turtleman + Eggnog in a champagne glass = Priceless.

Just another day at the beach...

This baby did NOT like the sand! Poor thing.

Cute gma and babes at the super windy beach!

Although Jane didn't want anything to do with the sand or the ocean at the beach, she loved getting into our jacuzzi at the condo.

Love her pink tutu suit.

So funny! Jane had her face planted against the side of the crib. Something must have smelled good over there.

We went to the Na Pali coast and hiked up a couple of miles. There were some beautiful views there. It a super muddy hike though!

It was quite windy up there as you can tell. Jane was so funny with the wind. She'd open her mouth real wide as if she was trying to eat it.

Jane is just in heaven!

The whole crew.

My dad wore the carrier on the way down, and our little hike-adoring baby had just as good of a time as she did on the way up!

Hawaii: Part One

2012-01-09T13:42:00.004-05:00

This year it was our turn to spend Christmas with my family. Thanks to my dad, we all met up in Hawaii for a week! We went to the island of Kauaii and it was Jason and I's first time there. My parents had a lot of good things to say about it and they were right! We really like Kauaii now. It's called The Garden Island because part of it is full of lots of vegetation. Some parts are so beautiful and exotic that they look like scenes from a Jurassic Park movie - go figure since they really did film it there. It's also considered one of the less touristy islands which I loved. It was such a nice break for us big city people 'cause I was about to rip my hair out because of all the people/traffic during the holidays. And the island still had a Costco and Walmart for those certain items we couldn't live without and for last minute Christmas gifts. We'll be back soon!

While there we loved going beaching, paddle boarding, hiking and hanging out in the condo at night with my family. All the guys(including my dad, 3 bros and Jason) went cliff jumping and zip lining and snorkeling. It was sure fun to watch them do some of those things ;)

Here's the hubs and babes at the Lihue airport after our 6 hour flight!

The babes looks worn out for sure. That's what happens after six plus hours on a plane and only sleeping a little bit. She had too much fun playing with different people and

Taking it all in! Ahhhhh sunshine and palm trees...

Seeing Uncle O again! Him and my dad flew up a day early and got everything ready for us, including making shopping trips to stock the condo up with food.

These were taken our first night there. We went to go check out a beach close by before the sun set. In Kauaii it gets dark about 6:30.

I love this picture of my dad. The colors are so awesome!

Jane wouldn't let us put her feet in the water. She preferred the view from up top much better.

I was trying to take a picture of my parents and Mason haphazardly snuck in the photo ha!

Love this one too.

The next day we went back into town to pick up Curt from the airport and then went to the "mall", which was a strip mall with a Macy's. J poo found a cool table to dance on - barefoot and all - while we waited for our food.

Do ya think this girl likes being the center of attention? I don't think she minds it.

To the beach again!

Thanks for sharing the glasses Mas!

Mom's 50th Birthday

2012-01-08T20:42:00.007-05:00

Time to play catch up!

My mom turned the big 5-0 December 3rd so my dad flew Jane and I up to Anchorage to surprise her! Jason had no more days off of work or he woulda come too. It was great though because Mom had no idea we were coming until about an hour before we arrived. She may have had a clue from my brothers no so suave move early, but she didn't know exactly when we were coming!

My mom's good friend Meredith Kiddle threw her a surprise party that same day we came up but unfortunately we had responsibilities in Seattle and didn't make it up there in time for that. For the party everyone was suppose to do a tribute to my mom and present her with 50 things or do 50 things for her. So in honor of my mom, I swam 50 laps in the pool here! I don't have a picture to prove it (thank goodness for that) so you'll have to take my word for it. Jason says I came home red-eyed and smelling like chlorine so if that isn't proof enough I don't know what is. I also wrote a poem for my mom that Meredith read to her at her party. (posted below)

Jane and I flew in Thurs. night after a five hour flight! It was the longest flight to Anchorage I had ever been on! Normally it takes 3. 5 hrs but we a wind storm that made for a lot of head wind. It was a completely packed flight and we had a window seat and since there was so much turbulence I never got up out of the seat. So Jane sat on my lap for the whole time! She was so good too. She was mellow and happy just eating snacks and reading books and occasionally trying to look at/grab the people sitting around us. She even slept for about 20 mins. I was just so shocked at how good she was given the small space and amount of time we were in the seat.

So we landed and my dad picked us up from the airport on his way home from work. We snuck into the guest bedroom and my dad pretended as if Sophie had made a mess in there and called my mom to come down and clean it up. My mom took the bait and as soon as she came in the room we got her! I might've said "boo" a little too loud cause the babes seemed to get a little scared, but it was a happy reunion.

Here's the birthday girl with her grandbaby that she hadn't seen in months! What a big baby.

While there we visited my mom's school. She had to go to one class Friday.

Jane had just started to crawl a lot prior to this trip so it was so fun watching her crawl around everywhere.

Bathtime with grandma!

Checking out the zipper.

Doing the lawnmower move.

Riding the bear... shh don't tell grandpa!

Jane was very interested in the bear's features. She thought it was funny to stick her finger in the bear's mouth kinda like what she tries to do to me when she's nursing ha.

Mom's birthday dinner at Southside Bistro.

Birthday girl! That was a really yummy pear dessert. Thanks for sharing Mom!

Jane has her favorite thing to grab at restaurants - a spoon!

Jane and her grandma opening presents at home later that night. Love the matching red pjs!

The birthday crew! Instead of a cake, we got Mom a bunch of yummy desserts and different kinds of cake slices from one of her favorite bakeries.

Jane and a spoon again! We discovered that she had just enough hair on the very top of her head to put a bow in. Love it!

Our final day together. This is us by the Christmas tree after church.

Jane and Olin! It was so fun to see these two together for the first time. So glad to have O home!

One last pic with grandma. It was a short couple of days but so worth it!

On the plane back to Seattle. We had a whole row to ourselves and the flight was about 4 hrs. I could bring her carseat on the plane this time and she got to take a nice hour long nap in it. Piece of cake for me!!

Birthday Girl

2012-01-07T04:27:00.009-05:00

Just had to include a couple of old pictures from when Mom lived in Sitka. What a cute girl! Love the box of canned salmon in the second one.

A Poem About Joy

On December 3rd, 1961 a very special girl was born!

Though given Johanna, her family found other monikers to adorn…

"Sorkra", Jo, (and now Joy she is called)

The blonde little sourdough; Peggy and David were enthralled!

Sitka, Alaska is where she made her debut,

Blessed in Betty's Blake's dress a soft shade of blue.

Around the island she was carried, a little pumpkin in tote

With her Norwegian good looks -- the natives sure dote!

Playing outdoors and getting to church on a boat,

praying Joy's siblings would keep it afloat.

The Cox family thrived on fish and King Salmon,

with their children running amuck with reckless abandon.

And then in 64' there was a great quake,

Though none of them Coxs got swept up in it's wake.

Prayer and a change in direction saved their bacon

Thank heavens or else this family would be forsaken!

Joy was popular in Medical Lake High School.

Student government, band trips, what could be more cool?

Only that of cheerleading, as she shouted: Root! Root!

She could do the splitz, and was super cute.

To the big city she ventured to attend U-DUB

Where in the dorms she met Huff Man to give her back a rub.

Though he was no ordinary guy, she soon found out

His math skills and friendly smile were really paramount.

On July 23, 1983 they wed in Spokane

Jenny as maid of honor and Gale as best man,

Afterward up North to Canada they headed for fun,

Paddling around Lake Louise under the midnight sun.

In 1985 came kiddo #1 - she was sure it was a girl

But baby Curt proved differently as he entered the world.

Then Jamie girl soon followed, with Ollie next in line.

Joy begged for a fourth -- and now Moose truly makes our family sublime!

Joy and the family put down roots by the Pauls.

Keeping busy with swim meets, therapy and church basketball.

Marine Hills was a great place to live, they knew

So when the Last Frontier called her back she said “boo hoo”.

Greg took a job in Alaska, for just 5 years they agreed

Now it's been plus 15 and they don't want to leave.

We all love to go visit, Joy gives us the royal treatment

Even at the cabin where we feel a great deal of contentment.

Among other things Joy finds time to quilt and sew,

A good many times she’s had with her quilting sisters in tow.

From round robins, hot springs, and singing Kumbaya as well

Just ask Joy’s friends, I’m sure they’ve a story to tell!

Always a soft spot in her heart for children and babies too

"I'm sooooooo happy!!" she CRIED when she learned of the news,

That when Feb 2011 came she would officially be grandmother

She got busy making a baby quilt - just like Jamie and Jason's other.

Mom, we love you, we admire you. To you we all cheer!

We’re so glad to celebrate with you your 50^th year.

You’ve truly brought joy with all the good that you do

Your testimony, your example, and the service you render anew.

We look forward to 50 more great years - although you’re getting old,

To us you’ll always be worth way more than gold.

So relax, have the boys do the chores so you can just chill!

You deserve it, you’ve earned it, you’re over the hill.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Sophie Dog

2011-12-28T00:40:00.014-05:00

June 2011 - Two sweeties, Jane and Sophie at the cabin

This week we received some sad news about our wonderful dog Sophie. She passed away Tuesday. None of us were with her in Alaska when it happened because we were all down here enjoying our Christmas vacation. Sophie was in a great kennel in Anchorage being looked after by some nice people and playing with well behaved dogs. One moment she just had a hard time breathing, I guess it was like she had an asthma attack, and so the kennel owner rushed her to the ER but it was too late and her heart stopped. We were all so shocked that it happened and still very sad. I think we thought she was some kind of super breed of dog that could last forever. She was nearly 15 years old. I'm so thankful she got to spend all those great years with us. I must've been 10 years old when we got her - Mason was only 2. For us kids, life in Alaska was not complete without our Sophie dog. She was part of the family.

We'll take her ashes to the cabin in the summer when the ground is thawed and bury her where she belongs. Sophie's most favorite place to be was our family's cabin. She's had many fun times there scouring the woods and bank for bones, moose remnants, and anything new. She spent lots of time in the water too, chasing us and trying to pull us back to shore like a good rescue dog. She was a great companion for us when we had paper routes, went camping or hiking or snow machining or sledding in the Alaskan wilderness, and was always there to try and protect us from various things by scaring them away with her bark. Yet she was the sweetest and cutest dog I have ever known and made for the best family dog anyone could ever hope for. We have many stories that are now wonderful memories of her. I truly can't even put into words what this dog has meant to us. She was a one-of-a-kind dog and set the bar so high(credit goes to my dad for training her very well too) that I really don't like many other pets at other people's houses because they don't compare. She will be sorely missed in our family.

Thanksgiving Week: Part Three

2011-12-16T03:16:00.002-05:00

One of the nights we had the Tylers over for some brisket dinner and games! Curt came too. Caleb taught us how to play the board game Dominion and it was a big hit. We kinda got hooked on that game and went out and bought it ourselves and then played it the rest of the week.
Meanwhile Jane had some good bonding time with her Grandpa Stuart!

And she had to observe the game of course...

Amy got Jane this awesome food feeder toy while there! You put food into a little mesh pouch and the baby can chew it up and suck on it and get the juices out without choking on the food. We found that bananas are the best thing to put in there!

One of the nights Jason's cousin Deondra, her husband Kevin, and their baby Adrienne came over for dinner. It was so great to see them and we're glad they took time to come over. Adrienne has gotten so big and is a fun one to watch! She's a couple months older than Jane but is just about walking.

I just love this picture of Jane in the highchair there! She's such a happy baby.

Of course she loves this technique of picking up food - she points to it with her pointer finger and tries to get it to stick so she can put it in her mouth. And look at all her hair!!

Trying to get out of her play pin. Noooooooo mom she says... I want to go play!

Playing Legos with daddy. The Legos were a big hit. Jason would build a huge tower and try to get her to knock it over. They did this over and over again.

Going in for the kill...

Crash!

Victory dance! Aka baby yoga. I think this is her most favorite position ever. The higher the bum goes, the better!

Shopping at Fashion Place on Black Friday!

Just window shopping!

Kristina and McKenna made a build-a-bear Abercrombie model wearing just undies and a hat! Too funny.

Dinner at Cheesecake!

Jane opening up some adorable outfit from her grandparents.

Jane loves Travis and wasn't shy around him one bit.

Opening a cool musical toy! Thanks grandma and grandpa! I like playing with this in Seattle :)

Visiting Mellissa!

Love this!! We were just two college freshies the other day. Now we're all grown up! :)

Thanksgiving Week: Part Two

2011-12-16T00:44:00.006-05:00

Sorry this is a little late posting, but better late than never.

We had a nice Thanksgiving at the Gregorys with Jason's family and some of the relatives!

I had a good time trying to figure out how to get this girl to nurse without hurting me real bad! She's couldn't figure out why it hurt me to suck on my raw skin. Eventually things did get better and I was able to pump and giver her the bottle so my skin could heal. I was such a softie though and had a hard time saying no so I couldn't quit nursing cold turkey.

Could you punish this baby? That's what I'm talking about...

This girl is serious about her milk! You don't want to thwart her milk supply. Good thing she learned her lesson not to bite anymore.

Looks like a lot of people are watching Jane closely at Thanksgiving dinner. Jeremy gave her an ice cube and we also put some green beans and potatoes in her feeder. She totally went for the ice.

Auntie Kristina and Jane at dinner. Kristina made most of the food and it was really tasty! Should've got a picture of it darn!

Jane and her grandma Amy. Great grandpa and grandma Tyler gave Jane this cute bunny that has a book it goes with and can talk to.

So cute!

Jane enjoyed being at the Gregorys' home a lot that week and getting to spend time with her aunties and uncle too. A special big thanks goes out to Kenna for watching Jane so much! She was so patient with her and made sure Jane didn't get into anything she wasn't suppose to. It was so nice.

Looks like Jeremy is teaching J poo how to fly...

Jane Update!

2011-12-08T03:23:00.003-05:00

I have to do a Jane post before she learns one more trick! This girl is super busy and really is learning big new things by the day. It seems like all of the sudden something clicked with her coordination and she learned how to do a lot of things all at once and now she's like a grown up baby! And she just wants to do it all and explore and discover as much as she can.

First things first; Jane is crawling!! She's finally crawling forward and she's good at it, which means she can get around very well. She loves to be wherever there are people, so she'll always try and crawl into the same room I'm in. Love that she does that except when I'm in the kitchen cooking and she's in there eating crumbs off the floor. I nicknamed her my baby halibut because she'll go around and scour the floors like a little bottom feeder. And she doesn't care if it's a stale Cheerio or pond scum, as long as she can get it into that mouth of hers!

Also...
-She can get up on her knees and hold onto things! At my parent's house, she could grab onto the bench by the fireplace and be on her knees playing with toys on it. She also will try and pull herself onto our rocking chair's footrest and her train. She's got a lot of upper strength.

-She can take steps!! Although someone has to be holding her arms when she does. But for some reason I am so amazed that this girl can move her legs and feet in a coordinated way so that she can step and basically walk. She'll truly be walking in no time when she gets a little better balance. Yikes!!!

-She reaches for things! She sticks her little arm up in the air if I have something of hers I'm brining her. Adorable.

-She can hold a bottle/sippy cup with both hands and sort of sip on it. If it's a bottle, she loves to chew on it and tip it upside down.

-She loves to open and close her hands. She'll just amuse herself by doing it too. So cute!

-She says Ma-ma and da-da! Also says mum and na-na-na a lot. She is very vocal, especially when she thinks no one is paying attention like in the car and in her crib. It's music to my ears! I never try to turn her volume down :)

-She's got more hair! You can see in the pictures that it looks thicker. I didn't really notice it until we started seeing family and they commented on it. The best thing about it now is that we can scrap together the bits of hair on top and clip a bow on.

It's no wonder I am feeling a bit more tired these days, but I love it all nonetheless! It just gets better and better...

Update

2011-12-06T17:42:00.004-05:00

Wow, I feel like I have a lot to put up here on the blog and it keeps piling up! Pretty soon I'll finish the posts about Thanksgiving, the Gregorys weekend up here, Jane's 8 & 9 month posts, and our little trip up to Alaska. For now there are two key sentences that kind of sum up how I feel about our lives..

1. My husband is awesome.

2. Jane is real busy.

It's the truth.

Sorry about the lame post. At least it's a post!

He's Home.

2011-11-24T12:03:00.005-05:00

Olin made his way back to Alaska from Milwaukee safe and sound yesterday!!! So that means the three Huffman bros and parents are reunited again!! I am so proud of this picture. Look at how my 3 bros have all grown up.

Love this pic of mom + son. Mom looks amazing as usual! Don't think these two left each other's side much yesterday.

Happy Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Week: Part One

2011-11-23T11:50:00.016-05:00

Hey y'all! (in the words of Jason) We're in Utah for Thanksgiving this week with the Gregorys. We get a WHOLE WEEK here which is crazy because normally we're just flying in for the weekend. It's been great! Currently Jas is playing Wii with his sister. Jane is playing with some big Legos and I'm chillin here in my sweatpants. Love the chill vacay!

Babes on the plane. She did well as long as she could be moving around or watching the tv screen. She did not want to have to sit in our laps and be still. Sleeping was out of the question this time...

Here she's going to try and lick the screen.

So more about the babes -- she's the exciting one to follow no question. J poo has been happy as a clam and having a great time staying up til midnight, or 1:30am in one instance, taking long luxurious naps in her auntie's rooms, watching everyone and the animals, saying "ma ma ma ma" and "da da da da", playing with the Legos, chewing with her new awesome chew toy, oh and not to mention biting mommy a lot during nursing. Yep that last one is pretty unfortunate for me. I now have a vampire baby that has literally left her mark on me and well let's just say a certain area is swollen and raw. My own remedy? Ice pack down the bra all day long (feels soooo good), plus cutting back on the nursing and taking her off immediately after she starts to bite.

Last night Jas and I went on a little date while the fam watched the little Squirt. It was so nice -- why don't our parents live closer to us so they can babysit every weekend? We ended up doing a few errands and went to Iggys in Provo and then saw Harry Potter! I must confess this was our first time seeing a movie since before we had Jane. And that's like almost a year people. There weren't any movies we wanted to see except I really wanted to see HP in the theater so fortunately it was at Movies 8 in Provo. Turned out to be a pretty cheap date for us but fun nonetheless.

Us later that night after we got home.

Now just in case you don't know the exciting news in the Huffman fam today...

The cool kid on the right comes home today!!!!! I am beyond excited for my family. They are all going to the airport in Anchorage today to pick him up. Wow. I'm imagining the emotion my parents and two brothers are gonna feel giving O-man a big squeeze for the first time in two years. Priceless. Can't wait to see him soon ourselves! Ahhhhh. I'm counting on my mom sending lots of pictures over so I'll have to post whatever she sends.

We've got waaaaay too much to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgivin' Eve!

Squash!

2011-11-16T15:19:00.004-05:00

First of all, thank goodness this week is a new week and we've been feeling better. Just from the pictures you can tell that J poo is healthier. Yay!

And you better believe that this girl loves her butternut squash. And she basically wants in on her tray so she can feed herself and get real messy. If I try and give it to her in the spoon she'll have to grab it before it gets to her mouth. She's a quick one with that squash!

P.S. We got a new car! Pictures to come.

Sick House

2011-11-15T00:22:00.004-05:00

Well we were sick last week. J poo had pink eye earlier in the week. I woke up once in the middle of the night to feed her and her eyes were crusted all the way shut and she couldn't open them. In the morning one eye looked a lot better though. We got some eye drops and those worked wonders. No more crusties! The other little girl that I watch was sick before Jane was (go figure) and has had a runny nose for a number of weeks now. To top it off, I was feeling pretty bad myself.

The good thing though is that right as I was getting a fever myself, Jane was getting better and she didn't need me much. So thankfully the days I was really sick Jane was a perfect, and I do mean a perfect, angel baby so that I could rest. It may sound silly, but I know that even at this age she sensed that I was not feeling my best and was extra patient with me. She played by herself in her crib for hours or on the floor and has patiently waited to be fed. I am loving this independence/so-called baby intuition because it has really given me a break. Babies really do pick up on things more than we know. And it's not that she doesn't want me either, because when I hold her she is very mellow and just gives me sweet looks and talks to me in her baby talk. She just understands when I can't give her attention. I have felt like crying I feel so blessed to have such a sweet girl!

Two snot-nose cuties

Jane and her crusty eye

Me and my sweetheart baby!

Snot Bubbles

2011-11-09T23:45:00.006-05:00

Remember the snot bubble kid from the movie Little Giants? Ironically I couldn't find an actual picture of him with a snot bubble...

But this little girl sure has one!

That darn bubble just wouldn't go away!

Sounders FC

2011-11-08T00:12:00.003-05:00

We went to a Sounders game last week! Even though we live like 10 mins from the stadium, we had never actually gotten tickets! We had been trying to get tickets with friends but someone was too busy with work (as a side note I feel like everyone living in the city is a workaholic, seriously!) anyway we ended up going on the coldest, rainiest night but it was the last home game of the season. It was so much fun! We had great seats and there was lots of action on goal. Sounders ended up beating Real Salt Lake 2-0. If we are here still, we'll definitely be getting tickets next summer.

J poo was such a trooper! She had a Sounders scarf but wouldn't really wear it. Although she did seem to stay warm in her fleece bodysuit and fleece blankets.

Not the best of us, but you can sorta see the field in this one.

When we got home this is what these two did!

Poor Little Squirt

2011-11-06T21:52:00.015-05:00

J poo has had the following this week/ weekend:

Teething - not one but two bottom teeth now!! So basically a very sore mouth and lots of drool...

Sore throat - we're guessing because she seems to have a hard time swallowing.

Coughing

Runny Nose

Itchy eyes

Fever

Diaper rash

Inability to sleep well

Scratched cheek

Infected eye - newest development today... kinda looks like pink eye but only in one eye.

And she never gets those things! She is always such a healthy baby. I think one thing just compounded another. The worst part of it by far is the teething part. She's making strange gestures with her mouth and lips and whining a lot so it's clear she's uncomfortable there. I'm so glad I get to stay home with her everyday (and night for that matter) to comfort her. We had to give her some fever medicine for the first time Friday night and that seemed to help her fever and help her sleep better.

One minute she is happy getting her diaper changed
And the next minute she just has to let her frustrations out. Saddest picture ever.

So that's basically our weekend.

P.S. It's gotten a lot colder here so I'm sure the weather is a factor. Don't you love Jane's new hat and boots though?

All Fours

2011-11-05T01:35:00.001-04:00

Just in case you were wondering what Jane has been up to these days, here's a picture of her up on all fours! She'll get into this position after I put her in a sitting position, and then she'll rock back and forth or turn side to side. She eventually ends up on her tummy and from there she can sort of scoot around and try to get random objects on the ground if she can reach them. Not really crawling yet but getting super close!

Halloweeeeeekend

2011-11-05T00:53:00.001-04:00

Here are most of the events that transpired during our Halloween weekend. Having a little one made it all the more fun for us this year! Jane had some fun with baby friends at a party in our apartment building.... Julian the cow, and Hana the elephant below! We went out with some friends Monday night. Here's Yumi & Mari, Lacie & Maeva, Talia & Livia, and Me & Jane. Such cute girls! Btw all the babes are girls and only childs! Go Capitol Hill playgroup! They all wanted to stand on the tables ha! Notice my bumble bee trying to do the splits!

Dads and babies! BFFs Maeva and Jane (aka the bumble bee and the duck) Jane is much more interested in looking at Lacie here than the camera by all means. Poor Maeva had been sick and she looks like a sad little duckie in this one. I just love this picture for some reason. Jane is totally interested in what Maeva wants at the moment. Out trick-or-treating in Capitol Hill. This was a great area to go to because some of the streets were blocked off to traffic and there were lots of families there and most of the houses got really decked out too! We pretended Jane was interested in getting candy, though it was apparent that she wasn't. She mostly just wanted to say hi to people! We ended up giving the candy away to friends because none of us eats it. I think our bumble bee got a little cold so we wrapped her up. But she was still happy as a clam the entire time and thank goodness it didn't rain! Bumble bee in her little cocoon! She wouldn't keep her black boots on. These two babies all cozy. They did so well and loved watching everyone. While we were on one of the streets, lots of people broke out into a flash mob to Thriller.We couldn't even get down the street because everyone was dancing. On the first street we went down, someone randomly blasted Ghostbusters from their sound system and everyone started dancing in the street there too. LOVED it.

Other things to note: we kept our tradition of having dinner in a pumpkin alive, so we ate that one night (the pumpkin didn't get carved this year but all the better because we enjoyed eating it) We didn't have anyone come to our door in our apartment. We weren't really there all night, but that's what we heard, sad! And we didn't do any decorating or watching of scary movies. We enjoy Halloween but just aren't into it. I told Jason that one of these years I am just going to go all out and do something over the top though bahahaha, so stay tuned. HaPpY hAllOwEen!!

Da Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-02T01:14:00.011-04:00

We finally got a chance to go pumpkin picking on Saturday! We drove to a farm in Redmond and it was just gorgeous. Jane got to experience the magic of a pumpkin patch, including getting a small pumpkin to cook! Little J was dressed in her Halloween costume for Trunk or Treat that night. She was our sweet little bumble bee!

Jane's trying to figure out where she is in this one. I think she just woke up and we took her out of her carseat.
Wishing on a pumpkin!

I guess even bumble bees like pumpkins :)

Me and my little bumble bee! I'm supposed to be a flower.
Sittin on a pumpkin.

Our fam by the corn maze! I had to hide our pumpkin in this picture because Jane kept getting distracted by it.

Dear Grandparents

2011-10-24T02:21:00.000-04:00

Did you know that National Grandparent's Day was Sept. 11 this year? I think it got a little overshadowed this time. Sorry I missed it, but I love all my grandparents just as well! They do so much for me. I am such a lucky grandbaby.

It would be so fun to see my grandmas and grandpas everyday. I miss them lots.
I can't wait to show them my new tooth coming in! It is kind of a pain sometimes.

Hey don't worry about it though! Mom and dad are taking real good care of me.
I'm going to fly on an airplane to come see them all again soon, like this!

I can't wait to see them and everyone for the holidays! I love you grandpas and grandmas! - Jane

Oregon State Trip

2011-10-21T12:42:00.013-04:00

Last weekend we went down to Portland to meet up with the Gregorys! Oregon State played BYU on Saturday in Corvalis and we got to tag along with the BYU crew for the game. It was a blast! We also got to stop and see my Aunt Gwyn and her family on the way back for a little bit which was a bonus!

Off the bus! This is when we got to Oregon State's campus. Jane is trying to figure out what those things called mittens are doing on her hands!

We had a couple of hours to burn before the game and there were lots of little activities for the families to do. This is one that we did with the Marines. Basically I hung on that bar for 54 seconds and got a pencil for doing it! I could've made it to a minute but I blame the Gregorys for making me laugh : )

Jason impressed us all with his 15 pull ups! He got a cool lanyard for that.

In the stadium! Grandpa Stuart got Jane a burp cloth ha!

I love Jane's "got milk?" sticker on her carrier. And don't you think she means it!?

Go Cougs!
I think she is looking at her second cousin Bentley in this one!

Jane plus her favorite Big Pack toy that kept her entertained. She did very well the entire trip I might add (surprise surprise!) even though she didn't get to nap much.

This is my favorite picture! At half-time we went and ate our food on the bus and Jane fell asleep in this position with her arms sticking straight up! We decided her little dress is way too small for her now, which makes me frown because it is in my opinion one of the cutest things ever on her. Love the exposed diaper through the tights though!

Us with Jason's parents. Too bad we didn't get a picture of his Aunt and Uncle and Brandon and Amanda's family because they were there too. It was good to see them again!

After the game. BYU won!

Listening to Grandpa Stuart's earphones on the bus ride back to our hotel!

Catching up with cousing Gracie at her house! Gracie let Jane have some of her toys which was so sweet.

We stopped at the famous Voodoo doughnuts in Portland on our way back. We tried to go for breakfast but there was a huge line then. We're not really big into doughnuts, but it was an experience to have and I'm glad we stopped. We got a bacon maple, mango filled and dusted with Tang, and a peanut butter Oreo doughnut! We basically took one bite of each of them and got a huge sugar rush and couldn't take anymore of it.

Here's the Bacon Maple doughnut. Had to have it because I'm a sucker for maple, and well bacon. Not so bad, though very rich and I could only eat few more bites the next morning!

Randoms from the Camera of Convenience

2011-10-21T12:13:00.005-04:00

Who can resist this?

Baby lips... Mmmmmm.

Trying on a life jacket! She didn't like it one bit.

Lookin so cool in her pink sunglasses!

Swinging at a new park in Kirkland! This was back when it was nice weather.

Thank goodness for the iphone! Sure makes taking pictures easy sometimes.

Time at Work

2011-10-11T18:23:00.002-04:00

This past Saturday night Jason was working really late (or more like early in the am) and he was just doing some filing so he invited us up there to be with him! It was only the second time we were allowed up in his office and we wanted to see him so we didn't decline. Jane was in heaven, even though it was way past her bedtime, and very quickly found fun things to occupy herself with.

Who's the boss around here? Ha ha and don't you like my editing skills? We really don't need is a lawsuit on our hands.

Jane vs. the coffee creamer...

She gets it and she chews.

And chews.

And chews.

Enough of the creamer now onto the empty hot chocolate cup!

This is good stuff!

Yummy recycled paper.

Mama's girl. How could I ever be bored with this baby?

I had to take a picture of this. One of Jason's coworkers was working late with him a few night before and rather than take the ferry home to his house in the middle of the night, he decided to sleep at work. Since we live so close we brought him some bedding and a toothbrush, and Jason forgot to bring it home the next day so it was still there on the bench.

Uncle Look A Like

2011-10-10T18:04:00.004-04:00

Is it just me or do these two strike a resemblance? Granted, one is an adorable baby and the other one is a little more rough around the edges no offense bro! But they both have blue eyes, round faces, and a little hair sticking up in the back. I think they both have Huffman smiles too : ]

Sorry Curt, not the best picture of you but it was one of the better ones I had!

Blessings

2011-10-10T02:02:00.020-04:00

I've been struggling with motivation to write on the blog lately. It's not like I have a lack of pictures to put up or things to talk about (honestly I could talk about the babes everyday and post hundreds of pictures - wouldn't you love it mom?). I guess part of me just wants to talk about more grown up stuff and vent on here about life - perhaps in order to receive some sort of validation for myself (because posting such things on the internet warrants automatic validation right?) Anyway this blog represents me and I have to be honest here. Although if I didn't filter a little it could easily turn into a complaining session and I really hate those. Nobody loves a Debbie Downer do they.

Truthfully, there are things in our lives that definitely challenge us and stretch us in ways we have never before been stretched but when I look at things on the whole, my life is richly blessed. And I know I'm being completely vague up to this point, so I came up with a format in which I can both mention some of our challenges without forgetting some of our many blessings.

Blessing: We are doing well financially.

Challenge: Jason's job keeps him very busy and our schedules are crazy as we try to accommodate it.

Blessing: Interest rates are low for buying homes.

Challenge: We can't commit to buying a home just yet because of some uncertainties.

Blessing: We have new friends living close by.

Challenge: Our ward is challenging.

Blessing: Our car is still here and it runs!

Challenge: Living in the city. (don't get me started)

Blessing: Living in the city. (Mostly because of the good food and being close to work)

Challenge: Missing family.

Blessing: Holidays are fast approaching when we will get to see both our families. And also living 45 mins away from my grandparents!

Challenge: Feeling like an eternal babysitter sometimes.

Blessing: #1 little chicky. Absolutely being a mom, everyday and all day long. (And these days I've been lovin on not one but two babies :)

Blessing: The gospel of Jesus Christ. Without it, I might as well be lost at sea with no bearings! But because I have it, I have a strong marriage, an understanding of the importance of my role as a woman and now a mother, a hope for the future and good things to come, a wonderful family that loves me, and how can I forget a knowledge of the purpose of life and why we really are all here doing what we're doing!

I realize that in the grand scheme of things our challenges and blessing are one and the same. Meaning that the things we struggle with in life (assuming we don't give up and just keep on pressing forward) will refine us and make us better people. I love this scripture.:
D&C 90: 24. “Search diligently, pray always and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good if you walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith you have covenanted one with another.
Don't think I can add anything to that. I know it's true!! Love this life despite the challenges, and love all of you who are still reading this! Bless you in your life's challenges as well :)

Twinners

2011-10-07T11:48:00.003-04:00

My Oma gave me two of the same outfits in different colors and I thought it would be fun to dress Jane and Maeva up in them! They are the same size outfits even thought they are 5 months apart. I had a lot of people making comments about them being twins when we were out and about. I thought they both were so cute! It was of course hard to get one good picture of them in the park. Notice the matching H&M shoes too? Us mommies think alike.

Smile babies!

Ya that's right get closer to each other.

No don't look at the birds, look at me!

And this is obviously getting boring for one baby...

Maeva says Cioa to this photoshoot!

And she's back for another attempt.

She's thinking she can grab my lense! I've got to watch it.

They just can't keep their hands off each other.

Love these two cutie-patooties that keep me on my toes!

It's Superbaby!

2011-10-02T00:22:00.002-04:00

I'm guessing Jane had some pretty good dreams this afternoon. Perhaps she wants to go flying again?

Just Another Day at the Park

2011-09-30T14:52:00.004-04:00

J poo is a friend magnet - she loves people and people seem to love her as well - so we never seem to be short on friends at the park! Here's a glimpse at one day in particular.

Cute baby J minding her own biznuss

Oh look someone's come to say hello!

Ok maybe more than one person.. babies attrack crowds!

Why hello, hello, hello and hello! (imagine little girls voices exclaiming "can we hold her please please pleeeeeeaase!! she is so cute")

Sure thing mom gives in of course "her hair is soooo soft!"

"...and this is how she can stand up on her own with her arms like this" ha

Whoops J poo left a little present in the form of baby spit up on the girl's shirt!

"that's nasty"

"Hey look at your mom she is trying to take a picture of us"

No thanks, I'd rather look at you sweet girls! You're more exciting than my mom's camera!

Two Babies

2011-09-30T14:09:00.006-04:00

I've been spending lots and lots of time with these two babes!! (Sorry mom it has taken me over a month to post pictures of these two eek!) This is my friend Lacie's baby Maeva (pronounced my-eva). She's not that much older than Jane but can walk and really get around. Those two are such buddies that it's fun to see them interact because they feed off of each other's energy and are easily amused by one another.

Jane loves Maeva's cool shoes!

Sharing Cheerios

Such good sharers! Well most of the time at least.

Mellow girls!

Maeva loves to hug Jane. She's always got a big smile when she does it, but for some reason she only likes to do it when I'm not looking so I have to sneak up on her with the camera. Don't worry she's pretty gentle.

After naptime! Maeva has her own crib to sleep in but whenever she sees Jane in hers, she wants to get in there and play with her!

Happy babies

Love the bed head!

7 Months

2011-09-26T19:11:00.000-04:00

My little Seven Monther is a sweet bundle of fun! Her most exciting new development is that she can sit up on her own! And she is so proud of herself and loves to smile big when she does it. Everyday this past month we've been practicing sitting up and doing tummy time. As a result, she can also get up into a crawling position and scootch backward a bit. She is so strong! She goes from sitting up to a forward crawling position all by herself instead of just a face plant like she use to do. Here are some other new things!

-Now wearing size 3 diapers!

-Eating solids 1-2 times/day usually mixed with some fruit or veggie puree.

-Has a nightly routine of taking a bath at 8pm, then usually going down at 9 and waking up at 7am.

-Has sort of learned how to do a wave! She doesn't do it on cue however. She just waves her hand at random times when you are least expecting it.

-Jane knows her name! She seems to react to the sound of her own name which is amazing!

I feel so LUCKY to get to be this little girl's mom. She's made me love babies, not just like them (uh oh hahahaha:)

September Utah Trip

2011-09-21T11:42:00.012-04:00

We went to Utah again for the weekend! It was fun as always to be with the Gregorys! Jason and I were planning all along to come into town this particular weekend for the BYU-Utah game and to do the Dirty Dash but we waited a little too long and the airfare price doubled. So we thought we couldn't go anymore, but thanks to Amy and Stuart we were able to get some good deals!! We are so blessed to get to see family usually once a month. It really means a lot to us and it's always hard getting back into reality when we come home, even after just a short visit.

On Saturday morning we did the Dirty Dash that is a run through mud. You get dirty, real dirty. There is no way of avoiding it! Every quarter mile or so there is another obstacle that has you jumping, climbing, crawling, swimming, ducking, sliding and running through mud and water. It was so much fun! I was priviledged to do it 1 and a half times because (to make a long story short) I lost Jason and ended up finishing the first time by myself, and then going again with him, my brother and Blair, and meeting up with Jeremy in the mud pit at the very end. I thought they got some awesome pictures of us at the end.
****Check out these pictures from the race!!

Saturday afternoon, after we had showered and cleaned ourselves real good, we did a little golfing. Let me tell you, McKenna is one good little golfer! She can hit the ball much better (straighter and father) than anyone of us. She is a little pro!

After that, we grabbed Cafe Rio and headed to Provo for the game. The game was, well ... kind of a heartbreak as far as the actual football goes, but still fun nonetheless to be there with the family and cheer on our Cougs in the first half! :)

Sunday was wonderfully relaxing. We got to hear Bradley and Lindsey sing in their ward and that was great. We had a nice dinner with Grandpa and Grandma Tyler and Curt. Early Monday we were off again!

The Dirty Dash

Golfing

BYU Game

Oh no another turnover!! :)

Cory came to say hi! I love his beard!

She can't stand to see my cougs play so poorly!!

Oh hi Mom!!

Sitting Duck

2011-09-15T11:55:00.007-04:00

Someone is sitting on her own now! (Although she has to be positioned that way and mom stays within reach just in case she starts to get wobbly and fall over:)

We love the duckie outfit! It gives a little more cushion. My Mom gave us this and it's actually for a 12 month old but I thought i'd try it on J poo. I thought it looked so adorable and it wasn't that big on her! We were at a park and I was able to get lots of pictures. I couldn't narrow it down to which ones I liked best, so I have to include most of them.

10 Years Ago

2011-09-11T12:20:00.011-04:00

Sept. 11, 2001.
I was 14 in my freshman year of high school at Service. It was a cold almost-winter morning and very dark. Living in Alaska at the time, we were 4 hours behind New York time. It was about 4am when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. We had early morning seminary that started at 6am. On that very day, it was my brother Curt's 16th birthday! He had some friends over at about 5:30am for breakfast at our house but I remember him not feeling well at all and it was a kind of sad breakfast party. Poor guy. I think it was a foreshadowing of the days events. We went to seminary and in class, someone told the teacher, Sister Barbachano, that a plane hit some building in New York that day. I don't think anyone realized it was a very serious thing at all. We were like, ok, maybe a few people died (as harsh and cold as that sounds we were just trying to keep ourselves awake and trying to prepare ourselves for our day of high school that lay ahead). But when we got out of seminary, I remember Scott Price talking to his dad on the phone and he said that a plane hit the world trade center. Scott's dad was in the FBI so I knew then that it had to be serious. I wish I just went home after that instead of going to school. I remember the day dragging on and nobody really saying much of anything, especially the teachers. I think they were in shock. I wanted answers and to know what was really going on but instead I felt numb and withdrawn like most the other kids. The next days and weeks following I remember being glued to the tv in our sunroom and feeling that same numbness. I probably didn't study or do homework or anything much productive. Even though I felt so far removed from the situation, watching the images on the tv over and over again made it feel more real. To my knowledge, this was the first real terrorist attack I had ever payed attention to. I barely understood what it was to be a terrorist, or a jihadist. Who was Osama Bin Laden and why did he care so much about America anyway? It wasn't until years later in my Politics of the Middle East class in college that I finally was able to grasp some of these concepts.

Sept. 11. 2011
Today, I revisited the events of 9/11 by watching clips on CNN and indeed wept again for those Americans who lost their lives. It wasn't fair for them to go out so early in life let alone in such a devastating, terrible way. It wasn't fair to the families who had to carry on without moms, dad, kids, and loved ones and friends. For thousands of Americans huge craters sunk deep into their souls after those events took place.

To me it is so important to remember though, that in spite of this huge tragedy I can strengthen my resolve to be a better American by trying to not take advantage of the gift of freedom and opportunity and knowledge I have in my life. I truly feel blessed when I think of these God-given gifts I have and how rich and beautiful and enjoyable my life is. My hope is that I will never forget and that I can teach my children what it means to be an American and to teach them to be humble as well and not take such blessings for granted by seeking to bless the lives of others.

God bless America once and for all.

Some Visitors and A Camping Trip

2011-09-09T13:40:00.005-04:00

Jason's aunt and uncle, David and Heidi Tyler came to Seattle! They were nice enough to stop by and see us for an evening at our place. We made them eat some of our Alaskan salmon ha ha. It was fun to see them! We do love our visitors.

On the roof! It was late at night.

Over the Labor Day we went camping in Cle Elum, although we had to wait until the BYU game was over to leave :). There are multiple lakes over there and we found a big camping ground but decided we wanted to see what was out there further so we kept driving and driving a long ways on a dirt road and found some remote campsites that were even official campsites, just big spots to camp. It was pretty nice to camp there because there was no one around and it was so quiet. The next day we did a long hike to a lake. The only people we saw on that hike were backpackers that hiked in and camped.

At the lake...

The Park

2011-09-07T14:15:00.002-04:00

There's a fun park close to where we live that we take Jane to a lot. It's got an awesome water area and playground. She loves watching friends swing and play on the playground. Sometimes we'll even let her get her feet wet or put her in the baby swing. She loves sitting on my lap on the Merry-go-round too. Beats being inside where it is hot hot hot!!

Newest Developments

2011-09-02T01:53:00.006-04:00

1. Teething (we think) And as a result of this; scratching, nursing more, whinning more, grabbing, and chewing more... and clawing herself in the face!

Can you see the scratch marks? Those are self-inflicted. I swear it looks a lot worse in person. I find a new scratch everday on her face and I hate it. I know I clip her fingernails!

Grabbing and chewing: case in point.

2. Jane is getting big enough to ride in her stroller the big-kid way without her carseat! She still can't sit up well on her own but she's getting stronger and as a result does well in the stroller like this since she's strapped in. She loves riding in it this way so she can see out instead of just looking at the sky and to the side. Jason says shes looks too small in it.

3. I mentioned in the previous post that we got a highchair. Here's little J in it in the kitchen! All she needs is some food to eat.

Jane: Mom I need something to entertain myself with cuz this is kinda boring.

...

She gets a new toy! I can't have enough of these types of things around :)

The Weekend

2011-08-28T13:30:00.019-04:00

This weekend was more low key than the previous three. My friend had tickets she was selling to a Brian Regan show on Friday night in Tacoma so we went and that was pretty fun. Jason wanted to take Jane along but we found out that same day that everyone, including babies that sit on your lap, have to have their own ticket (so dumb!!). We didn't want to pay for another $45 ticket just for a baby so we were going to have some friends watch her here in Seattle but after talking with my grandma, I was swayed to let my grandparents watch her -- grandma insisted! Plus they lived close to where the show was so they wouldn't have to watch her all the time it took us to drive from Seattle and back. They were too kind to watch her. They didn't even have questions or concerns when we dropped Jane off so I wasn't worried when we left. We were gone for 2 hours and apparently Jane did cry for a bit, fell asleep on their bed and then woke up and cried some more so my grandma held her the last hour as Jane slept. She wouldn't take bottles or eat her rice cereal. I think she was just really over tired because I didn't let her have a nap that afternoon.

My grandparents were having a garage sale so beforehand I helped them clean out some stuff! And by clean out I mean go through some things and get to take what I wanted. Consequently I got some neat stuff for the kitchen. We now have a fondue pot, a pressure cooker, and some decorative things for baking and some old ice cream glass cups. Thanks grandma!

We also went to Mercer Island for the annual Mercer (Jason's company) family picnic on Saturday. It was fun and hot. We had a BBQ, chatted with people, and some of the guys played ultimate frisbee and croquet. We got a few pics. Jane loved being at the park of course!

After that we went to Renton to pick up a part for our car that needs replacing (ca-ching ca-ching!). And since we were in Renton, we stopped by IKEA to look at some things. We ended up getting a highchair for J poo and some little baby items. We put J in it when we got home and she loved it!

Brian Regan show! (Date night no babes:)

We kinda like each other :)

Mercer BBQ:

Frisbee! It is so hot here btw. Like ridiculously humidly hot! We were loving on that snow cone machine.

For the life of me I could not get J poo to look at the camera! She was too infatuated with looking down at the soccer ball.

Jane's 1/2 Birthday

2011-08-25T21:43:00.005-04:00

Can you even belive J poo is already half of a whole year old! It sounds better when I say that she's just six months rather than half a year old. I'll probably say this a lot but believe me, it's not an understatement when I do: Time flies!!

To celebrate the half-year mark I made half of a birthday cake for her! It was really just an excuse to make a cake so we could eat it. I also put a bunch of "presents" around her on the table and put some bows on top. You might be thinking, presents for her half birthday? These were things we were probably going to get for her anyway because she's been needing them (i.e. baby food, books, bubble bath, sunscreen) Jason says she can have presents as long as she doesn't know she's getting them. I had fun with it and she was entertained for a bit. Although I felt a little bad for taunting her with cake and then eating in front of her because that smart chicky seemed to know exactly what it was and she wanted some.

As soon as I set her in her chair she had to try and grab everything around her.

Notice the half candle? We didn't light it, it's just all for show :)

Jane: I am so done with pictures and you taunting me with this cake!!

And happy to get a little treat of her own; rice cereal mixed with pearsauce. Yum yum.

Jane went to the doctor today to get her 6 month shots. It went just as well as expected. She was so happy at the doctors and then her mood did a complete 180 of course when she got poked. She's been a little more whinny today than normal but I really shouldn't complain.

The Stats:
16 lbs. 12 oz. (67%)
26.5 in. long (78%)
43 cm head circ. (73%)
Healthy as can be and still climbing the charts!!

6 Months

2011-08-24T15:05:00.004-04:00

Today Jane is 6 months old and I just can't believe it! She is growing up too fast. And just as proof that she's growing up, today she rolled over from her back to her tummy and then back again all by herself! FOR THE FIRST TIME ALL BY HERSELF! I put her down on her mat and went to go change the laundry around and about a minute later I looked over at her and she had just gone from her back to her tummy! I was so surprised because she never goes to her tummy, and I think she was a little surprised as well. When she rolled to her back again she had a big smile when she looked at me like she was one proud little chicky!

Jane will go down in her crib without being swaddled! She is really starting to be good with just laying there with her toys and music and can entertain herself for good amounts of time before falling asleep on her own! Granted, it doesn't happen all the time but sometimes is better than none!

Jane is sleeping about 8-9 hours every night. She'll wake up and want to be fed and sometimes even go back to bed for another hour or so after that.

Jane is eating solids well! She's only gotten to eat rice cereal and oatmeal and a little bit of squash and fruit mixtures. She really is good with the rice cereal and oatmeal! Just this week I've started giving it to her twice a day instead of just before bed. She actually seems to prefer it to milk sometimes. She does get it all over the place though and gets a little crusty :)

Jane's personality has not changed at all. It's been a little hard this past week just being at home with her because last week we had it so good with all the relatives around. I think Jane definitely misses being held by them and played with all the time and I can only do so much. But overall she still happy as a clam most of the time, social, and in love with everything outdoors and being outside. And we are so in love with her still!!

Justin's Wedding

2011-08-23T02:52:00.038-04:00

This is another long post with lots of pictures! We've been on the go a lot recently. I said goodbye to Jason's family on Wednesday, unpacked, did laundry, and then repacked and headed out again Thursday morning. Jason put in an 18 hour work day Wednesday just to get things done so we could take off for the wedding!

My cousin Justin got married in the Spokane LDS Temple on Friday. Justin is the oldest child of the Lytle clan and he's always been one of my favorite cousins :) We use to spend a lot of time with them before we moved to Alaska and Justin and I are like a year apart so we were buddies. I have lots of fun memories of us goofing off and Grandpa and Oma's and on the dry farm. We loved to go exploring, swimming, boating, riding the 4 wheelers, etc. together. I remember one time when he came to visit us (I think it was for my baptism ironically) and we climbed the fence to go explore my neighbor's yard. For some reason we got into the neighbor's garden and took all their plant markers out. Afterwards I told my dad and blamed the whole thing on Justin because I didn't want to look stupid. I remember Justin took the blame for it even though it was my idea! In the end I did confess and apologize to the neighbor but that just goes to show what a loyal buddy Justin was. Oh I wish I had a picture of us two when we were little to share here.

My mom has all of her siblings in Eastern Washington now except for one, plus Oma lives there part time so most of my family was over to celebrate. My brother Curt drove over and he, my parents, and us all stayed at Oma's house which is pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, close to Canada. It's next to a golf course that my uncle runs so the guys all went golfing one day. It's also on a river so we went boating. It's one of my most favorite places to go not only because of the scenery but because it's filled with many happy memories and takes me back to when my grandpa was alive. Here are some of the highlights of this trip:

-Me driving to Moses Lake so Jason could finish work on his laptop

-Relaxing on Oma's dock. We almost went on the jet ski but ran out of time.

-Having dinner with the family at Oma's Thursday night. Dave and Deanna made good homemade brownies and ice cream :)

-Driving the golf cart around with my mom and Jane

-Going to Justin's wedding in Spokane with Jason, my mom, and Curt. We were the only family there in the temple besides his parents so I'm so glad we could be there for that!

-My mom getting conned out of $20 by Jared and Ryan

-Going to the reception with everyone in Colville

-BBQ pork and Aunt Jenny's rolls. What more can I say?

-Jason golfing with the guys

-Spending the afternoon with the family again at Matt and Robin's with everyone

-Riding on the boat with Oma, Randy and their friends the Stones

-Eating dinner at the Stones' and seeing their AMAZING garden! I was dying to get pictures of this and wishing I had my camera.

-Going to church with the Lytles on Sunday and getting to hear Ryan speak

-Stopping three times on the way back to get Jane to eat but she wouldn't cooperate! I finally just sat back there with her and fed her rice cereal until she fell asleep.

It was fun! Hope we can make it to Eastern WA again soon!

Sorry the picture quality is lacking again, I didn't have time to edit them and the lighting was really dark at the reception. I don't have pictures of anything after Friday (other than the boat ride pictures from Jason's phone) because I left my camera in my parent's rental car and didn't get it back until Sunday.

At the temple:

Abby, Emily, Jason and Jane at the temple waiting for pictures

The cute couple! Hillary looked so beautiful!

Proud parents with the cute couple

The Lytle clan at the Spokane Temple

Some of the other family members

Justin showing off his matching socks! So Justin.

Curt holding J poo

At the reception:

Oh the Lytles!

Oma and Justin

Hanging with the family

The proud grandparents!

Cousin Ian, Uncle Matt, Curt, Jason and Randy in front.

My cousins Jillian, Sydney, and Emily with Jane!

Our little family that night at the church

Jason and I with Summer and Crystal Bear! The two gals were in our ward at BYU about 4 years ago and Jason was their home teacher. They said they would always try and break things so they had an excuse to ask him to come over ha. We had no idea they were in my cousin's ward in Colville and were surprised to see them at the reception. Small world.

This is my cousin Ryan acting! Jared, Ryan, Emily, and Sydney acted out a skit at the reception for Justin. It made me laugh! It was also a distraction so that Justin and Hillary could make a quick getaway off to New York for their honeymoon!

Ha I love this picture! The guy in the gray shirt is my Uncle Matt and that's my Oma on the far right. The aunts, uncles, grandparents and parents (and some of the kids) learned a dance to do as a surprise for Justin and Hillary. So this is right when the song came on and they all were getting to the dance floor. It was really good I must say! Too bad I wasn't there when everyone learned it. My mom did it but my dad was holding Jane at the time and used that as an excuse. I got it on video but don't know how to upload that yet.

At Oma's:

Driving down Conrad Lane, or whatever that road is that's named after my grandpa that goes to the house...

Jane loves the steering wheel!

My dad on the golf course

Randy golfing

Happy to be on the boat

Jane and I watching all the wildlife

Not so happy about having to wear the life vest and not be able to put her fingers in her mouth!

Jason with Jane, and Oma on the boat

A picturesque bull moose feeding in the river

We saw a bald eagle up close, land on a rock and then fly back overhead. It was hard to get a picture up close but you can see it in the distance here!

Jane taking a nap on the floor of Oma's basement with her papa!

August Adventures with the Gregorys

2011-08-23T02:26:00.009-04:00

The Gregorys drove to Washington to see us this month! Jason, Jane and I drove over to Leavenworth to meet them on Saturday, and then we all camped in Wenatchee that night. From there we went to church in Everett and drove to Anacortes to catch the ferry to Friday Harbor. We got into Friday Harbor late Sunday night and dove to a house that the Gregorys rented for Sunday and Monday. The house was near Roche Harbor. Then we drove back to Seattle on Tuesday and everyone crashed at our place. Jason had to work Wednesday but we met him for lunch and Jane and I got to go shopping downtown with the family before they took off. We seem to always manage to squeeze a lot into these mini vacations ha! It was fun!
Here are some of the highlights of the trip:

-Eating German food in Leavenworth together (the Reuben sandwich was the best)

-Super windy camping spot where the wind shook our tents relentlessly

-Roasting hotdogs over the fire for dinner and making french toast for breakfast on our campstove

-Paying $30 at a ghetto motel to take showers before church on Sunday

-All 8 of us in the Acadia most of the time...

-Driving up and down the same road three times in Everett because no one could decide where to eat lunch. Jason and I finally went our separate ways!

-Driving up and down the same road on the island because we couldn't find the house Sunday night.
Thankfully the guys stopped and asked for directions and someone showed us where to go!

-Me, Jeremy, Kristina and McKenna stuffing our faces with pizza and burgers in the car at 10pm because we were so hungry and couldn't wait to get to the house

-Watching Gladiator in surround sound at the house and Jeremy fast forwarding all the really violent parts

-Jason and I sleeping on a twin bed together on the bottom bunk

-Picking apples in the orchard and Jason climbing a tree to get the good ones

-Clam digging, watching everyone kayak and getting stuck in the mud at the beach

-Taking family pictures in the orchard

-Playing Ticket to Ride at the house and on the ferry ride home at high speed

-Kristina making biscuits and gravy for breakfast

-Delicious dinner in Roche Harbor (although not Downriggers this time)

-Dinner at the Crabpot in Seattle. Jason did it one handed while holding Jane., such talent!

-Watching Kid History on Youtube in out apartment with everyone.

-7 people sharing one bathroom

-Eating lunch in Seattle at Specialties with Jason and shopping at H&M
and of course...

-Jane getting to be held lots and receiving lots of love from her doting relatives.

Phew. Now time for pictures pictures pictures (thanks Kristina for sending me yours!)

The only picture I took in Leavenworth:

Uncle Jeremy & Jane

Camping in Wenatchee:

Our little family by the lake. Our campsite was very close by.

Kristina and I! I'm so glad she came!

The whole crew except for Stuart who was taking the picture.

Jeremy realized that Jane's got a little bigger since the last time he carried her around like that. She almost didn't fit!

At the house on San Juan:

This is a view of the orchard and beach from the house.

Kristina and Jane in the orchard!

By the beach...

Stuart and Amy on the porch with Jane!

The family in front of the cute little house we stayed at.

Kenna & Jane!

Just hanging out

We all climbed one of the trees in hopes of getting a cute family pictures. Too bad it's hard to see us though.

This is a better family one.

Kristina frolicking in the grass ha!!

Our little family again.

A bunch of clams that we set free after Mckenna, Jason and I dug them up! I wanted to cook them and eat them but we ran out of time :(

Yummy restaurant in Roche Harbor.

Shrimp heads anyone? We got em fresh from the sea!

Roche Harbor

The Crab Pot in Seattle

Blueberry Picking

2011-08-17T15:02:00.006-04:00

We went blueberry picking over in Bellevue last week just like we did last August! We were going to make another blueberry pie for our anniversary but we haven't been home enough to do so.

We gave J poo a little taste of a blueberry and she made a really sour face. She did however attempt to eat the leaves off the bushes and got pretty tangled up in some as her dad was picking berries.

Jane's picking her nose!

Crazy to think this little munchkin was in my belly one year ago. I much prefer it this way!!

5 Months

2011-08-10T15:58:00.019-04:00

This monthly post is a little late, but better late than never!

Everyday it seems like Jane is wanting to be entertained with more and more exciting things! Setting her on her mat or in front of the mirror just doesn't do it for her anymore.

Jane is obsessed with the following:

1. Water. She loves to stare at it, touch it, and listen to it. There have been times in the evening where she's been fussy and I just turn on the faucet or take her outside by the fountain and she immediately calms down.

2. Food. She mostly likes to observe us eating. For dinner, we put her in her Bumbo chair on the table in front of us and she goes crazy watching us. She of course tries to grab everything on the table so we have to watch out for her little sneaky paws!

3. The keyboard. She loves to watch us type and if she can get near it, she lunges forward to try and pound on it or put it in her mouth!

4. The bathroom (still). She wants to touch everything in there and is more excited by objects than looking in the mirror now!

5. Other kiddos. We got to play groups with other mommies at least once a week now and it's the best break because Jane likes to just look at what they're doing for hours on end!

6. Us! She likes being around her mom and dad and looking at our faces and trying to figure out what we're doing all the time!

Do you see a any patterns here? Ha well basically Jane is in the "touch" phase where she is really making connections by touching and grabbing lots of different things. She is also more and more observant and loves watching people!

This week we just started her on rice cereal and she's taking to it very well! I'll post more pictures of that later.

Here's Jane personality in pictures, which encompasses about 5 mins worth of me taking pictures of her in her swing on jason's phone. As you can tell, she is so animated. She's just too much fun!

Dozey

Crazy happy

Chill

Dozey again...

Content

Oh no a crisis!

Trying to figure out if she prefers her fingers to the binky...

Binky wins out! (thanks for that again mommie!)

I should also mention that Jane loves this pink silky/fuzzy blanket. Her favorite thing to do is snuggle it with her face because she likes the feel of the different textures. However I don't let her sleep with it because she'll cover her face with it and conk out!

Crescent Lake Trip

2011-08-10T00:53:00.007-04:00

We like camping, and we need camping. At least we need to just get out of the city and relax a bit without the distractions we have and camping allows us to do that. Camping = therapy!

We planned out this trip as sort of our anniversary getaway even though with had the babes along for the ride! And Jason bought us some more camping gear :) Every time we go camping we get more camping gear and I think we've gotten to the point where we're pretty comfortable now.

We left Seattle on Friday and made the four hour drive to Lake Crescent, which is on the Olympic peninsula. There was a great campground there called Fariholme and we were lucky to find one of the last campsites and set up camp there. We used our camp stove to cook some soup and hotdogs. The babes fell asleep at 11pm after Jason walked around with her in the Bjorn. She woke us up at 7:30am and we had this breakfast (which was ok) and packed up and headed out. All these pictures are from Saturday. We went hiking, swimming, picnicking, dining and driving through a rainforest. It was a fun day!

We went back to the same campsite that night but it was full so we went to another one close by. There are hundreds of campsites all around and supposedly it was just a very busy weekend so it was surprising that so many were full. Sunday morning we woke up again at 7:30 and packed up and headed out. We got home that afternoon just a little too late to go to church (bummer!). That's what we get for having to stop and feed little J. We were pretty worn out from all the driving anyway.

We really liked this area and plan to go back again soon, especially to the rainforest because we want to explore that more!

Our campsite on Friday night!

Me and my little J in the tent! I was making animal sounds, which she loves :)

On the hike that morning up to Pyramid Peak. Jane is a little obsessed with water, so she loved the creek!

Interesting looking flowers along the way.

The view from the top! There was a clearing in the trees from what was probably an avalanche in the past.

Here's the view of the path going forward! We decided to turn around at this point since it was a little too steep to climb with a baby and we were getting tired!

The best picture we could take of all of us at the top :)

Little snake we saw along the path. Pretty sure it was just a gardner snake!

We hiked back all the way down to the lake and found a nice spot along this beach for a picnic. PB & J sandwiches never tasted better!

Next we went swimming at the east beach! It was actually a pretty warm day so swimming really appealed to us. When we got there the sun was behind the clouds a bit though. The water took some getting use to but it was still refreshing.

This is my favorite picture! Jason and I took turns wading with Jane poo while the other person went swimming a little. While I was wading in the water up to about my belly button, I let Jane stick her legs in the water! It was pretty cold though so it was more like I just let her dip her feet in for a few seconds at a time, and then she would take in some really deep breaths. We decided it was about time to go when she somehow fell asleep in my arms in the water!

We drove over to a nice lodge place that had a bunch of cabins and boats to rent and a restaurant. We ate dinner there and it was pretty chill. The best thing about eating dinner was clearly the view. We were right on the lake and it was beautiful!

This is the view from our table!

Jane even enjoyed herself! Doesn't she look like a baby that's been camping? Ha we were just happy that she was so happy.

Guess where we went next!? We stopped over in a town called Forks... We heard it was famous for some movie about vampires or something? Anyway I decided I had to get some Twilight wood to keep the evil vampires away just in case.

Jason told me this is the Indian guy's truck! I think it made him starstruck a little!

Bella's truck?

Jason likes this picture of me being silly. Whatev...

We were really just driving through Forks Saturday night to get to the Hoh Rainforest. It is part of an amazing huge rainforest that's about an hour south of where we were camping. Supposedly it's the only rainforest in the whole world that's not tropical! We didn't get pictures, but basically it's just a huge forest of dense vegetation everywhere you look. As we were driving through one area, I saw what looked like a group of wild horses all gathering in a meadow. I told Jason to turn the car around and go back so we pulled around and got a closer look, and they were actually the most beautiful brown and black elk! There was seriously at least a dozen of them in the meadow but as soon as I got my camera out to take a picture they all darted back into the forest. Such a cool sight though!!

Our campsite on Saturday night. We were kinda close to our neighbors but ended up making friends anyway so it was fine.

Someone was so happy to wake up Sunday morning!

Visit from Aunt Jen and Emily!

2011-08-08T13:57:00.007-04:00

This past week we got to see my Aunt Jen and her oldest daughter Emily! They came down to take two of the boys and their friends to EFY in Tacoma and stopped by at our place and spent the night before heading back home. It was so nice to see them! And this was the first time they met Jane so I was excited to show her off. We can't wait to go over to Eastern Washington later this month to visit their whole family for Justin's wedding!

Hanging out in our apartment. Jane is the main entertainment source of course!

Gotta love these pics with the orange wall in the background!

Jane: "...Mom I kinda like these people!"

Bathtime with Aunt Jen. She wasn't as happy as usual for that ha ha unfortunately.

On the roof with Emily! Emily is going to be a great babysitter! :)

All the girls on the roof.

Emily by the Wonder Bread sign.

One more picture down in the courtyard. Apparently Emily likes to eat people!

Happy Anniversary To Us!

2011-08-04T12:34:00.004-04:00

Four years and now this? What more could we ask for!

(Our baby's a genius by the way. And she so eating the chocolate grams)

Grandpa Huff Visit

2011-07-29T21:25:00.013-04:00

We're so fortunate to have my dad be able to come see us every once and awhile. He has business down here sometimes and makes time for us too! This week he came over during the day to hang out and also babysat Jane while I went and had lunch with Jason. He was staying with my grandparents so we went down there to have dinner with them that night. Short and sweet but such a treat. :)

Sitting on Grandpa's lap while he talks to my mom :)

At the restaurant! Jane felt so special because she got to sit up in her carseat, which consisted of Jason and my dad holding her up with one hand.

My grandma loved Jane's flower so much! She cracks up over those. I love the G baby bib for Gregory Girl!!

Ca-Ca-Ca Camping

2011-07-28T01:10:00.018-04:00

Last weekend we headed up to Cascade Park for our annual Ward Campout! Jason was sort of in charge of it this year and I was in charge of the food (the result of a disbandment of ward activities committees) so we kept busy. There were about 60 people that showed up and I think we all had a good time. We had a BBQ of various burgers and hot dogs on Friday night and then breakfast on Saturday morning of egg and croissant sandwiches with sasuage and fruit (breakfast was my fav).

We didn't get too many pictures unfortunately. At least got pictures of J sleeping in the tent for the first time, and then with us. Wish you could see our campsite though and how I packed everything into our Grand Am. Little J was squished in the back seat with all the camping gear and food. Picture me packing all the stuff in there with her and then driving downtown during rush hour to get Jason and head north to set up camp. I'm just glad we didn't have car troubles!

We really had a good time and things went well. I loved camping in our tent together! Wasn't initially excited about it with the babes, but she surprised us all. We are now planning our next camping trip (sans our ward this time however). Viva la camping!

I cracked over 100 eggs! Since we were having eggs for breakfast, I didn't want to transport all the egg cartons up there so I cracked them all the day before, beat them in the mixer, and put them in plastic bowls. That way we could just cook them on our camp stove with less hassle. My friend Holly, who helped me do some of the shopping, deemed me the 'egg lady' ha ha. I had Jane in the carrier the whole time I was crackin eggs which she LOVED and consequently kept trying to touch the eggs with her fingers, but never quite succeeded with the distance I kept her from them. Pretty funny!! The only problem with my egg scheme is that one of the bowls leaked a little in our trunk and now it stinks with it being hot outside. Next time I'll have containers with better lids.

When we set up our tent we were so thankful it didn't rain because we didn't have a tarp to put inside the tent. Thankfully there were no bears either because I'm pretty sure we had lots of things (like diapers, trash, and all our food!!) that would've attracted them. I could love Washington for that reason alone. Here's Jane about to get her diaper changed in the tent!

This is late in the evening as you can tell. We had a big bonfire and some entertainment from the Primary that was good. I was holding her for a little while before Jason put her in the carrier and she didn't last long! We were socializing until pretty late and she didn't make one peep or even need to be fed. When we finally decided to head to bed we wrapped her up in fleece and laid her on some more blankets on her carseat in the tent and she still didn't wake up. And, she slept the WHOLE NIGHT without waking up! I was prepared for a sleepless night so it was a pleasant surprise when she woke us up at 6:30AM. Apparently some of the other families' kiddos who are older than Jane didn't have as great of nights as her. What a blessing for us.

This is her sleeping that night! It was a little cold for me so I was hoping she wasn't cold and she didn't seem to be. Good thing she had all of her layers and lots of fleece to keep her warm.

This was the next morning after breakfast. This river was really close to our campsite which was really nice - good job to Jason for reserving the best one! We kept Jane in her sweater suit because it was still a bit chilly that morning.

These next pictures are from Jason's phone. We took off from the campout that afternoon and decided to do some exploring in the Cascades. We found a park with a couple of lakes so we hiked up to two lakes in the Cascades and it was another good adventure. Little J did great with me this time!

Us glamorous girls! Ha I love how the babes is still in her pjs from the night before.

That was some warm weather we ran into up there! J got a little sun on her head.

Big dam of logs that we had to cross to get to the otherside of the lake.

Irresistible

2011-07-27T14:27:00.001-04:00

I just can't get enough of her. Period.

Silly Jane

2011-07-22T00:46:00.009-04:00

I know I said that I wouldn't let my babies watch t.v. I mean I've tried to put her in positions so she can't see the screen if the t.v.'s on. But sometimes, I'll be holding her or set her on the couch and she just does this!

She's pretty entertained by watching Scott Connant on Food Network, as she rightly should be! At least it's not The Bachelorette ha ha.

It actually sort of subdues her. Might as well clean the goop out of her neck folds while I can now, right?

Summatime

2011-07-19T17:18:00.016-04:00

Not the previous weekend but the weekend before we had some gorgeous sunny weather again. It really felt like summer! We got to spend time at my grandparents with the Booths because they came to stay for the weekend! Glad we got to see them this time!

Gracie holding Jane Grace!

If you click the picture to enlarge it, you can see Garrett in the tree about half way up. What a climber! I didn't know it was possible to climb those kind of trees that high but he's got the skill. Gabby and Gracie also showed off some good tree climbing skills in the grandparents yard. It was fun to watch them!

Uncle Glen holding Jane out on the patio after dinner. He held her throughout the whole dinner and she was pretty content.

So we want to take Jane swimming soon and I am trying to get her ready for it! For her baths lately I've been putting my swimsuit on and getting in the bathtub with her and we have a great time splashing around! I got a new swimsuit for her and the size says 6 months but after I got home it looked a little small to me so I put it on her to see how it fit. Sure enough it was really hard to get on her! I don't think the picture does it justice but she had major fat rolls bulging out. Her poor chest it looked like she had a push up bra on ha ha. It looked pretty uncomfortable (but kinda cute at the same time, hence the picture). I'll have to get a bigger size for her. What a cutie though!

Wallace Falls

2011-07-18T01:53:00.024-04:00

Saturday we hiked to a gorgeous falls with some couples from the ward. The hike was a steady climb -- steep but not too steep -- that was about 3 miles each way. There was a lower, middle, and upper viewing of the waterfall that we got pictures of with Jason's phone. It was rainy and wet but we weren't cold so it didn't bother us at all.

I love that we are able to spend a lot of our free time on the weekends enjoying this beautiful state! We would probably just take day trips or camp most weekends if Jason's work schedule allowed. The WA nature scene has so much to offer and the summers are so great it's hard to stay home . Plus, of course Jane loves being outdoors and keeps pretty happy.

The lower falls

The middle falls. This was my favorite view! Love all the really green fir trees.

Some views of the upper falls...

On the way back down...

Freudian Slip (if there ever was one)

2011-07-17T22:46:00.015-04:00

And at church nonetheless! Today our Sunday School was split up into 4 different classes and I was feeding Jane during the beginning so Jason and I got separated. And apparently he was trying to text ME to see which class I had gone to but instead texted the first counselor in the Elder's Quorum (Tyler). Jason said he was trying to type the word "text" in his message but it accidently got sent as something else...

Jason to Tyler: Where are you at?
Jason to Tyler: Sorry Tyler I meant to sex that to someone else.
Jason to Tyler: Wow.. I am really having texting issues... Sorry.
Tyler to Jason: No prob.
Tyler to Jason: Haha!

Jason revealed his mishap to me at the latter end of Sunday School when we finally caught up with each other. Perfect timing, because it was also right before I had to make a comment about the lesson in an intimate group setting! And of course I cracked up when he showed it to me! My husband is darn hilarious.

Baby Shoe Wish

2011-07-16T22:54:00.005-04:00

I am so in love with baby shoes!! These are from New Designer Boutique (found on Zulily). You can't tell me these are not the cutest little cleats EVER!!! Sadly the only size left now is 0-6 months. If they had a bigger size I would have got them.

She's Moving!

2011-07-15T01:31:00.012-04:00

Like on her own now without any help! I'm starting to get a teenie-weenie bit nervous about this. For one thing it means I have to start thinking about actually strapping her into things and making sure off limit items are way beyond her reach. The good thing is that she doesn't seem to want to be held and in motion as much as she use to, so we aren't constantly holding her and walking around everywhere to keep her entertained.

I can't believe she is so close to rolling over. I know she probably would be doing it by now if she would ever go on her stomach. She doesn't know what to do with herself on her stomach though, it's pretty pittyful how much she dislikes it and fusses after only two seconds of it. She does the cutest thing on her back though, she'll pull up her legs and tuck them into herself and then lean to her left side and sort of just fall on her side. One day I got some shots of her doing it. Each time she did it, she'd move an inch or so and slowly but surely she had changed positions. I think after about an hour she had done a full 180 by herself. She was happy as a clam all the while!

This is how she started out.

And then this!

And this! You can see her bringing her legs up in this one. She can really grab her toes now too!

Another day she just completely conked out in her swing without being swaddled in her blanket. Normally she has to have her arms restricted by a blanket or she'll bring them up and distract herself from falling asleep. So it was surprising and funny to see her frozen in this position with the swing swinging!

Jane poo was originally upright on this thing, but I think she enjoyed the scenery this way better!

Ok back to the swing. Well this was a brain fart moment for me I guess you could say. Last Saturday I was so tired that after I fed her that morning so I put her in her swing and decided to go back to bed with Jason. Jane was pretty awake but I guess I thought I'd wake after a little while when she cried and wanted attention (i.e. me to put her back to bed). But 2 hrs went by, we were fast asleep and didn't hear a thing from her! Not even a fuss! And I would have heard it, believe me I would have. All I heard was her talking to herself and I got up and saw her in her room like this! She was smiling when she saw me as if nothing unordinary had happened too! The little weasel. She got out of her swing by maneuvering somehow. We never strap her in because we've never seen her move at all in it. I felt pretty bad but also grateful that bottom of the swing is like a foot off the ground and that she had a soft landing on carpet. No bumps, bruises, or red marks to show either. Phew!

Down & Out

2011-07-11T19:53:00.007-04:00

Life has been less productive than I'd like today and this whole weekend really. All three of us have colds now, even the babes, she keeps rubbing her nose and sneezing. I had a sinus infection that wouldn't go away so my doctor gave me some Amoxicillin for it. As soon as I finished it off, I got another sinus thing. Boo! Jane has been fairly good. Other than wanting to sleep and eat all the time she wants to be held (i'm currently typing one handed thanks to her). It could just be allergies -- can babies get allergies? Anyway I hope to be better tomorrow and get back to posting pictures. Thanks for thinking of us still!

She's Everything

2011-07-08T19:29:00.001-04:00

You know that song by Brad Paisley that goes "She's a yellow pair of running shoes..."? Well when we were at Stadium of Fire that's the song I took Jane out on(for the second time). We stood back by the concessions and I was holding her and just rocking her to the music and she was SO HAPPY. I couldn't help but smile when I was listening to the lyrics and thinking about her. I know it's a song Brad wrote for his wife but it just made me think wow, I am so lucky to have my little "she" baby girl who's my special "she" too! It was a tender moment for me that I feel somewhat entitled to as a mom. Here are the lyrics to the song if you've never heard it. I especially like the chorus!

She's a yellow pair of running shoes
A holey pair of jeans
She looks great in cheap sunglasses
She looks great in anything
She's I want a piece of chocolate
Take me to a movie
She's I can't find a thing to wear
Now and then she's moody

She's a Saturn with a sunroof
With her brown hair a-blowing
She's a soft place to land
And a good feeling knowing
She's a warm conversation
That I wouldn't miss for nothing
She's a fighter when she's mad
And she's a lover when she's loving

[Chorus]
And she's everything I ever wanted
And everything I need
I talk about her, I go on and on and on
'Cause she's everything to me

She's a Saturday out on the town
And a church girl on Sunday
She's a cross around her neck
And a cuss word 'cause its Monday
She's a bubble bath and candles
Baby come and kiss me
She's a one glass of wine
And she's feeling kinda tipsy

She's the giver I wish I could be
And the stealer of the covers
She's a picture in my wallet
Of my unborn children's mother
She's the hand that I'm holding
When I'm on my knees and praying
She's the answer to my prayer
And she's the song that I'm playing

[Repeat chorus]

She's the voice I love to hear
Someday when I'm ninety
She's that wooden rocking chair
I want rocking right beside me
Everyday that passes
I only love her more
Yeah, she's the one
That I'd lay down my own life for

And she's everything I ever wanted
And everything I need
She's everything to me
Yeah she's everything to me

Everything I ever wanted
And everything I need
She's everything to me

LOVE YOU BUNCHIES JANE POO.

Fourth of July Trip

2011-07-06T21:47:00.014-04:00

Well guess where we went over the weekend and for the holiday? ..................Utah again! Jane had her 5th and 6th flights without a hitch (she's a pro at being lulled to sleep by the sound of the plane engine) and really seemed to enjoy having lots of people around and being held by lots of different people.

This post is another one of those went there/did that sort of thing with picture overload. It's hard to write about everything but I get most of it at least. I gotta do it for the memories and for Jane to look back one day and see how spoiled she was as a little munchie-kin! She gets to do many fun things and I love having her have all these new experiences and getting to travel! But I should say sorry in adavnce to the other kiddos because they probably won't get to travel as much as her at such a young age (suck it up kiddos).

Anyway on Friday night we flew in and ate some yummy Cafe Rio! On Saturday we went for a bike ride in Alpine. There are some good trails by the rodeo grounds there. I almost wiped out a few times because my biking skills are apparently rusty, but the back break saved me and I'm glad we didn't go a third time because it was like one hundred degrees. I guess I'll let you see what else we did by the following pictures!

On the mower with Grandpa! I guess it was too loud for her so that ride was short lived.

We met some friends at a park in Alpine on Saturday! Jason + Jane, Tom + Joelle, Joe + Kelsey. We were missing some people but we'll get them next time.

Liz, me and Laura with the babes!

Saturday night we went to Stadium of Fire! It was Jane's first time in LaVelle Edwards stadium! Hopefully she'll have many more of those times.

Poor little Jane was content at first, despite it being upwards of 90 degrees. But then I think the noise and all the stimulation got to her. We put earplugs in her ears and they wouldn't really stay in so we put cotton balls on top of them and then her headband on to hold them in. It was super noisy though so I'm sure she could still hear all the sound blasting her way.

We ended up taking her out shortly after this and she did better.

David Archuelettea! Brilliant. Love his voice. I really enjoyed Brad Paisley too. We could still hear things pretty well by the concessions.

We saw Amanda and Bentley taking a break as well! It was fun to see them and see how Bentley loved to stare at Jane and make cute noises towards her. When we were taking this picture they even grabbed hands!

This is after we came back into the stadium, then I took Jane out again because she was crying, and then Jason came out to be with us during the fireworks and we put her back in the carrier. To make sure Jane was comfortable, he even put a blanket over her ears when we were watching the fireworks. She seemed to enjoy watching them and was pretty focused on the sky.

Curt came over Sunday! Jane enjoyed seeing him again and staring at his familiar blue eyes. Glad to have seen the big bro.

Love the spray on tan Curt! ...just kidding

Going for a walk in Alpine.

We played raquetball on Monday morning and Mellissa came to say hi!

I look like I was just playing some raquetball, ha ha yep!

Stuart took this picture in church! Grandpa Tyler was holding Jane during sacrament meeting and she didn't mind him one bit.

By the end of the meeting, Jane had fallen comfortably asleep in Stuart's arms. I guess he had the "Jason touch" that put he to sleep!

On Monday night Keith and Kelley were having a BBQ and fireworks so we headed over there for a little while before we had to dash to the airport. Here's the fam!

Seeing Bentley again! I guess you could say these two are second cousins. They're too funny together. I love how they are just focused on each other!

On the plane again! Well this was actually on the way to Utah. The pictures are a little out of order. But after the return flight I decided that the best place possible to watch fireworks is in the sky! As we were flying home Monday night we saw hundreds, maybe thousand of them going off simultaneously as we flew over Seattle. They looked like tiny bursts of light and color from our perspective and it was so amazing! It made me think of Francis Scott Key witnessing the "bombs bursting in air" from his ship before we declared independence from the crown. What a great feeling that must have been for him! I'm so glad we celebrate it with flare (pun intended) now over a century later. No other country in the world comes close to celebrating their independence like we do! I love this holiday and feel proud to be an American. Happy happy Fourth 2011!

Huffman Heirloom

2011-06-30T01:19:00.006-04:00

Isn't Jane the cutest in her little vintage shirt that her Grandpa Huffman wore ages ago! Her Great Uncle Gale may or may not have worn the shirt as well. It's gender neutral right? Love the swan detail.