Jack's one year pictures

We finally got the pictures of our sweet baby boy, we got taken for his first B-day. Let me know if any of you want any of them and I will send them too you!

Look at that face. How could you say no to that face. I am already in trouble.






My baby boy can do no wrong. Oh no I am one of those moms.

I am so behind on my blogging that I am not even going to try and catch up, but I will give you an update of what has been going on recently. Ryan went tot eh field for 2 weeks last month with no break. It was crazy to say the least. I had a big night planned for us the night that he got home. We have been doing a babysitting co op type thing with a few other families from our ward and it was finally a time we could take advantage, but no Ryan didn't get back from the field till about 9pm that night. Anyway we survived and Ryan and I got to go out the next weekend, thanks to one of my wonderful YW!! It was Valentines days and so Saturday night Ryan and I went to Chipotle (mmmmm) and then to see the movie Valentines Day. It was cute and funny, but it was mostly just nice to be out alone. Ryan also got me some beautiful tulips.

Caroline was so excited for Valentines day. It is so cute how she gets so excited for every holiday now. She always asks me when the next holiday is gonna be now. We went to a little valentines day activity put on by a program here on post that we are involved in. The little kids were making Valentines and Caroline wanted to give hers to her friend Max, whom she loves and says she is gonna marry when she grows up. She says, "mmm I guess I can marry Max when I grow up." They love to play together. Caroline makes him play prince and princess with him. This usually involves Caroline being in some dangerous situation and Max having to save her. It is so funny, though Max tires of this game, but Caroline wants to play it all the time. He is actually over as I am writing this and I hear Caroline saying "ok we need to get married now." hehe. I don't know if this is good or not? They are so cute together. They also really like to play doctor and Max is always the doctor. It is too funny what they pick up form just going to the doctor. Caroline is getting too smart for me. She surprises me everyday saying things I thought would be way beyond her understanding. Just the other night she was asking for me to get some puzzels down that were on the top shelf of her closet. We have to keep some of the puzzels up there cause if they are all down it gets crazy and there are pieces everywhere, so she is only aloud to have a few down at a time. Anyhow I tell her I couldn't even get the puzzels if I wanted to, because I couldn't reach, it was too high. Then she asks me, "Is the top of the refrigerator high?" And I answered yes. Then she says, "Well you can reach the top of the refrigerator." I was just like oh man. I had a friend over and she said, "ooo she just called you out." I couldn't believe that a 3 year old could make that kind of comparison. I am happy she is so smart and learning so much...but it is too much sometimes. She is growing up too fast. I can't keep up. She knows most of her letters sounds now and can tell you what a word starts with just by sounding it out. She can also tell you if a word sounds like another word. Next fall she will go to all day Pre-K. I am so nervous to send my baby girl to school all day, but I know she will do great and besides it might be nice to get some time with just Jack and I. Mr. Jack is doing good. Getting too big as well. He isn't a fat little baby anymore. He is so sweet and happy though. Still sooo cute. Everyone thinks he is a girl half the time, cause he is so pretty. I love that little boy soooooo much, it's crazy. Every time Jack looks towards me Ryan says look who is in love. He loves his Mommy too! He is starting to do all kinds of stuff. he is imitating us all the time. he doesn't say many words, but when he sees food is when he tries to talk the most. He isn't sure what he is suppose to say but he knows he really wants what I have and is trying to tell me. I guess that is better than him screaming, which he used to do every time I would put something in the grocery cart he recognized as food. He is starting to cruise around a lot more and stand on his own. I won't be surprised if it is still a little while before he walks. He can take his time though, I don't mind. It is nice to have an easy going baby, that doesn't have to do everything now and by themselves.

I have been keeping busy with my calling and other activities going on here at the Hood. I got to chaperon Youth Conference last weekend. It was fun...hehe...not it really was. The youth are too funny. I suppose I was that way too as a teenager. I am always trying to convince them that they don't want to date till they are older/after missions ect....but they don't believe me. The guys call me the "player maker" because I told them to take out lots of different girls. They are silly. At the dance we had a few wall flowers, and they were BOYS....the girls were out having fun, but a few boys were just standing around. So after a little bit of encouragement we got them all out there having fun by the end. I would hate for them to waste these times. When I think about some of the funnest times I had during my teenage years they were usually church activities or with friends from church. Our YW are great too and I love them so much. I don't know how I have gotten so attached. Of course they will all move I'm sure or I will get released. Their parents are so lucky to have them and we are so lucky to get to lead them and learn from them.

The other exciting thing that happened this past week is IT SNOWED!! We got a few inches of snow and Ryan got out of work! It wasn't even sticking to the roads. He also got to go to work late the next day. And the next day it got up to like 60 degrees and all the snow melted. You would have never thought it had snowed the day before if you hadn't seen it. We took full advantage of the free time though and played in the snow. Of course we don't have any clothing that is appropriate for playing in the snow...so they are kinda wearing random stuff. I am ready for winter to be over...but also dreading summer. I think that summer here is worse than winter.

The last bit of news is that we are moving next month!! Not far just on post. We are moving to Comanche III for those of you that are familiar with the post. It will be smaller and two stories and tile floors, and it has one and two half baths...weird...anyway it should be nice living on post though, convenient, cheaper ect...I will post pics of our new place...though I said I would do that of this place but that never really happened...maybe I will find some and include them in this post.

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Ryan and Caroline with our Texan snowman. He is chewing on a piece of grass if you can't tell.

Jack wasn't sure if he liked the snow or not.

Ryan spoiled the kids the other night while I was at YC and got them a few things at walmart and this is what he got for Jack.

Jack loves it! he loves to hide in there and hide little treasures he finds in it. I think it is suppose to be like a ball bit or something. But every time Jack gets up he run (well crawls quickly) for it.

Ryan got Caroline this little table, which I think will actually pretty convenient to have around. Here is her and Jack having a little tea party.

Happy Jack, playing with his food.

Random day at the park.


My pretty tulips.

He got me so many I couldn't fit them in one vase so I had to split them up. More pretty flowers to decorate with!

This is our bedroom. The set came with this cute little boy so we decided to keep him. Hehe j/k.

This is our bathroom. These are the only rooms that are ever clean that I could take a decent picture of. But I will try to get some of our new place before it is always a mess.

This is our living room at Christmas! I always feel like my house looks better with Christmas decorations!

Caroline's first time bowling. She loved it. We will have to take her again.

Jack and his friend Gabriel...who is actually younger than him.

Caroline was so excited about the special shoes she was gonna get to wear.


Princess Caroline.

This big ol' bird was randomly in our front yard one day. So I thought I would take a picture. I have no idea what it is, but I thought it was interesting looking.

I finally finished my blanket...well Zoe's blanket. She is only 4 months old now, but she is a small girl still so she'll be able to use it still. I am started on a new one already and have another one in the works. Everyone I know is pregnant! I also got stuff to make Jack a baby book. We'll see how this goes. Wish me luck!

Jack turned 1!!!!

My baby boy turned one! I can't believe it has been a year. His birth seems like just yesterday. When I found out he was a boy I wondered if I could love a little boy as much as I loved Caroline and Ryan always said just wait till you get him and he looks just like me and loves you more than anyone. He was sooooo right. There is something about the relationship between mother and son. Right from the very beginning I felt a very strong connection with my little man and have been in love ever since. His birth was one of the my favorite memories of my whole life and I consider to be one of my greatest accomplishments. My Doula, Melissa Chapple wrote a great post about it on her blog and I love to share it. http://doulamelissa.blogspot.com/2009/02/charlottes-birth.html I am sure some of you have read it before or heard me talk about it...but I am so proud of myself!! Hehe...anyway Jack had a super fun B-day! We had a party for him Friday evening with his friend Chloe who just turned one as well. But, the Daddies had to work late and the party didn't really get started till after 7pm and the babies were pretty much done. Two of them were passed out before the party was over. But as you can tell from the pictures they had a great time and Jack loved his cake. Chloe not so much. She cried when she got the frosting on her hands it was too funny. That night Jack woke up in the middle of the night and was wide awake...probably from all the sugar. I had never given him sweets before and he wasn't used to this. Poor guy. Caroline pretty much opened all of Jack's presents for him and Jack was more interested in Chloe's presents anyway. They were so cute though. Here are some recent pics of Jack and some of his party. He is the sweetest little cuddly thing ever and I wouldn't trade him for the world...I just wish he would stop growing up and stay a baby forever!!



Jack in his big boy car seat! he loves facing forwards. He used to hate the car seat and cry every time we put him in it but now he loves being in the car!

Opening presents!


mmm yummy...

Caroline loving her brother....or just a ploy to steal some cake??

"ooo give me some cake"

The cake made Jack happy. He loves food!

Birthday boy and girl!







Little man all dressed up for his birthday.


My favorite picture of little Jack. We took it at the zoo!

Getting my craft on.

So one night I was feeling especially crafty and made all kinds of stuff. There also is some other stuff that I have just been working on over time. So I figured I would do a quick post to show off my craftiness. I have a ton of other stuff to blog about, it is overwhelming, but this seemed easy enough to post.

These are two blankets I have been working on. The one on the left i started forever ago and then ran out of the yarn and can't find it again. So that one may never get finished but I worked so hard on the small portion I can't bare to undo it. The one on the right is one I am still not done with, though the baby it was meant for is about 2 months old now. This one is a very easy pattern. Much easier than the one on the left.

This is probably the closest thing to a baby book that Caroline is ever gonna get. It was a total scrapbook kit type things, otherwise it would not look so pretty. I am not one with the paper crafts. But here are a few exerts from it. I was originally gonna give it away but Ryan liked it so much he wouldn't let me.




These are some cards I made for YW. I am so proud of myself for my paper craftiness. Usually things I make out of paper don't end up looking very good. ( I can't cut in a straight line ect..)

Grandma Wilma

So, I am writing this mostly for my sake so bare with me. So, my Grandma on my fathers side, my last living grandparent, died this past week. She was 92 years old. I have really been struggling with the fact that I won't be able to make it to her funeral. I have tried many scenarios but it doesn't seem like it will work out. This has been leading me to think about what she would do and want me to do, which has lead me to do a lot of thinking about her and what kind of women she was. She of course would say not to worry myself and not come. She was a very practical women being raised during the depression. I complain about being poor....we are sooooo blessed compared to the lifestyle she lived as a child. We really take what we have for granted and think we need things that we can actually do without. Many a times I would find myself thinking about what people did in the past and I would ask my grandmother about it. I have to say they struggled much more than I ever have. So anyway I had grown very close to my grandmother over my whole life but especially this past few years living in Utah. I grew up so far away from all my grandparents that I felt like I hardly knew them, though my grandmother was a great letter writer and I would receive and write her letters often. I loved learning about her life through them. When I moved to Utah and my parents moved into her home in Wyoming I got to know her much more. When I stayed in Wyoming for a semester I felt it helped my understand her more by experiencing where she grew up. I discovered that we had the same favorite book. Aside from the scriptures of course, our favorite book was Gone With the Wind. My grandmother served a mission in Ga., and other southern states, and was there at the time of the movie release of Gone With the Wind. I will never forget about the way she talked about how handsome Clark Gable was. I found her original copy of the book in her home and she let me have it! Grandma had a great memory and kept very good record. Once Ryan and I went through her old photo albums she had made from her mission and other various times with her and she told us all about stories behind the pictures and things she did on her mission. I wish I would have written them down sooner because I have forgotten most. My favorite story about her mission experience was when she met my grandfather. Things were so different then. She met him in the training center. They wrote while they were on their missions and when grandpa came home she met him and they drove with only their parents (if I remember correctly) to the Mesa, AZ temple. No big reception or dress or a million pictures just got married. In the next few days my grandfather left for WWII. She told me the story of when my Uncle Robert was born when I was pregnant and Ryan was away and I wasn't sure if he would be there for his sons birth or not. She said that grandpa had leave when he was due but Robert decided not to come until the day after my grandfather had left. Of course Ryan didn't make it Jack's birth either. Such is the life of being a soldiers wife. Grandma's biggest joy in her life was he family. She was a proud wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great great grandmother. She always said if I knew having great grandchildren was this fun I would have done that first. She would always inquire about my children when we came to visit. She would always ask if I was breastfeeding. I always told her yes of course and she would say "good, good I think that is best for babies." Of course I agree with her. She loved to watch Caroline play and sing as she got older. On one occasion when I was visiting with her with Caroline just recently Caroline was singing and doing some nursery rhymes and Grandma commented, "That just tickles me to see her sing those nursery rhymes." You could see the joy in her face as she watched her. I know the joy I feel when my children accomplish and do things, but I can't imagine when it is my grandchildren and great grandchildren. She had 5 sons, 17 grandchildren, about 30 great grandchildren and counting, and 1 great great grandchild. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to live and see your posterity grow that much. All of those people came from her and she lived to see it. Grandma lived the last several years of her life in a few assisted living homes. I called them dorms for old people, except much nicer living conditions. I had just come to college and could see all the similarities. It was a place structured so that it was a little community for everyone living there and gave them the chance to interact with each other much like the dorms do for college students. And grandma was the socialite of the Seville. She knew almost everyone's name and would introduce us to everyone every time we came to visit. She was so proud to show off her family. She had a group friends she always sat with for meals one of which included my sister-in-laws grandmother who only passed a year ago. I so admired her ability to socialize and know everyone and I strive to be better at that. She had a very good quality of life and I could tell she really enjoyed herself. She always did her visiting teaching!!! All the other things I will remember about my grandmother are that she loved the color green, she loved big flower prints as she spent several years in the south pacific with my grandfather on a mission, she rarely wore pants, refused to use a vegetable peeler, she was thrifty and practical, but loved a good joke and to laugh and was a great cook. She was raised on a dairy farm and says its the reason she had such good bones. She loved Ryan...probably more than me...and they would talk about everything and she always heard everything he said though he talks softer than anyone I know. She loved the gospel and served endlessly. Because of her faithfulness we have the chance to be an eternal family. She is a wonderful example to me and I know she has left an impression in not only our family but many peoples lives. I am so grateful for the legacy she leaves me and my children. I will miss her so much and am so grateful for the time I had to visit her though it was short. I didn't know that the last time I saw her would be the last and that she was so close to the end, so I am grateful that we took the time to see her every week. I know it was her time to go and she had been waiting. I hardly have anything to be sad about. She lived a great and full life right until the end, and now she is with the person she has been missing for the past 15 years and loves the most! I know she is happy and that one day I too will see her again.