9x9 June

1. My boys hangin' out in bed this morning.

2. I'm currently reading this book. I'm not too far into it, but so far so good. I've struck out a few times lately in the book department, so it's nice to be enjoying a book for a change. Does that make me sound like a nerd? Probably.

3. Studying for my Relief Society lesson. Always a good time.

4. Jack has been gnawing on whatever he can get his hands on; in this case, an empty tupperware container.

5. This may be why he's been such a beaver as of late: two teeth have been working there way through for about a month now.

6. I received this Jury Summons from Pocatello on Friday. Can they do that?! I don't even live there anymore...yet they sent it to my correct Idaho Falls address. What's crazy is that this is my third summons since Brandt and I have been married, and he has yet to be summoned. And then it gets even crazier. I think I may have made history here, because the very next day...

7. I received another Jury Summons from Idaho Falls. Scheduled for the same time as the one in Poky. Are you kidding me?! That's got to be some kind of first. I was already going to call and complain about the first summons, seeing as how I no longer live in Poky, and even if I did, three times in five years seems a bit overkill; but now I for sure have to call because, obviously, I can't do both. Nutso.

8. Yes, I cheated on this one and got a picture off the internet. I got ready to do this and realized I only had eight pics and had to get creative. We spent a few hours today looking at homes with our realtor. We are still uncertain as to whether we are ready to buy a home, but it's been fun seeing what's out there and dreaming about becoming homeowners.

9. Jack refused to go to bed tonight. After fighting him on it for awhile, we decided to let him play until he wore himself out. He rolled around on the floor while we watched a movie and finally zonked out around 10. Crazy boy.

Party Animals

Yesterday was our anniversary. Six years - can you believe it?! To celebrate, I wanted to do something unique, you know - make the day different from the rest. We decided to venture out to the drive-in movies. Brandt had never been to a drive-in and I had only been once as a kid, but it stands out as a great memory for me. I went with my aunt, uncle, and cousin Katie to see "The Flintstones." I was probably around eight years old. Anyway, I thought it was the coolest thing ever! So I was excited to take Brandt along for his first show.

From what I hear, the drive-in is a great place for action, perfect for an anniversary date...and I totally mean action-packed movies...what kind of action did you think I meant? :)  We looked up the info online and found that the movies (they make it a double-feature) start around 10:00 pm. That was almost a deal-breaker for me. I knew there was no way I could stay up that late (yes, I know that makes me sound incredibly lame). But Brandt was a sweetheart and watched Jack while I took a good nap prior to the show.

At 9:30 we loaded up the car with blankets, pillows, snacks, and of course Baby. As we pulled in we eagerly scanned for a good spot. We settled on a spot near the back, but Brandt got antsy and decided he needed to be a bit closer. So he decided to pull up and park right in front of the car we had previously been parked next to. Apparently, that blocked their view because they immediately drove off in search of another spot. I felt bad because, technically, they were there first...oh well, hopefully they weren't too irritated with us newbies and our lack of drive-in etiquette.

Jack zonked out during the previews and slept pretty much through the whole experience. It was raining lightly so occasionally we had to turn the wipers on, but for the most part we could see the movie just fine. We got to see "Snow White and the Huntsman" first - it was just all right, although Charlize Theron was an awesome evil queen. We had originally planned on going home after the first movie, but we were feeling adventurous and decided to stay and watch "Battleship." I made it about an hour into the show before I zonked out with Jackers. The first part of the movie was actually kind of funny - a lot better than I had anticipated, but I lost interest when they started fighting the aliens, or whatever it was they were doing (it was past my bedtime so the details are a bit fuzzy). Brandt made it about another half hour before he said the show was getting lame and decided to call it a night. We got home around two in the morning. A couple of party animals we are. I think it made up for last Friday night when we went to bed at eight.

In addition to a very late night, Jack decided he wanted to get up at 5:30 this morning. I was able to semi-talk him out of it - we compromised - I fed him and he agreed to go back to sleep for an hour. We are still recovering from the lack of sleep, but we had a great time, definitely something we'll do again. Have any of you done anything fun or unique lately? I'd love to hear about it - we're always up for trying something new!

Proud of My Boys

This post is dedicated to bragging about the two men in my life. I am so lucky to call them mine and wanted to share some of their recent accomplishments.

Brandt. Spring is graduation season and lately I've seen several congratulatory messages going out around Blog Land and the Facebook Empire regarding high school/college graduation. It has reminded me that I never mentioned anything about Brandt's graduation back in December. So here we go: Brandt graduated in December!!! All of 2010 and 2011 were filled with Brandt busily working towards his Master's Degree in Natural Resources from the University of Idaho, emphasizing in Rangeland Ecology and receiving a certificate in Restoration Ecology (kind of a mouthful, right?). He has, thankfully, been able to complete his degree online and was even able to give his final presentation via video conference at the U of I campus here in Idaho Falls, so he never had to make the long trek to Moscow. I'm so proud of him for reaching this goal. Deciding what he wanted to be when he grew up was one of the hardest decisions for him, one that he has struggled with for a very long time. Once he came across this program, he knew this was what he needed to do, and he stuck with it, going to school year-round to complete his degree as fast as possible. 

Now it's on with the job hunt! Hopefully, with his degree, more doors will be opened in the direction he wants to head with his career. His seasonal job started up in April and he has been enjoying working with his friends at the BLM. Because of his degree, he got a promotion that we weren't planning on. He was also made a team lead for a special project to remove noxious weeds from the occupied habitat of Ute Ladies Tresses (an endangered orchid) around the South Fork of the Snake River (basically, that means they have to come up with a way to get rid of the weeds without harming the threatened/endangered species that live/grow along the banks of the river; and apparently, this is a huge deal in the BLM World, because it rarely gets approved to do this sort of thing). We would love for this to become a full-time gig, but sadly full-time openings with the BLM are hard to come by. And competition is pretty fierce. However, Brandt was offered a full-time job with a different agency, but that is still in the works. More info on that to come later.

Jack. Jackers is continuing to grow and learn so quickly we can barely keep up. He started daycare about a month ago. The first couple of weeks were not so great. It was a combination of being in a new place with new people, on top of being sick and teething (you can read more about that fun here). His first day there he refused to eat, which really worried this momma. One reason we chose this daycare is that it is close to my office, so if I have an opening in my schedule, I can go over and hang out with Jack, which has been nice. Since those first couple of weeks, he has adjusted really well. The other day when I picked him up, the girls were impressed with how well he is sitting up and said Jack and another little boy sat on the floor facing each other and played really well together for a long time with a bunch of toys between them. I think he enjoys playing with kids his size - anytime I've seen him around the other kids he seems so interested in them. He is such a good boy and so much fun!

It seems that over night Jack has mastered sitting up. Seriously, a week ago he could barely sit up for ten seconds before toppling over; now he's got it down pat (except for at church; for some reason he always topples over and bonks his head really good during Relief Society - makes me look like Mother of the Year). He doesn't seem to have any interest in crawling yet (if he wants to get anywhere, he'll still lay down and roll to wherever it is he wants to be). Yesterday, we went to Winco and figured he was ready to try sitting up like a big boy in the seat of the cart.

He loved it! His face just lit up as he stared from one thing to the next. He couldn't get enough, he was so excited (I don't blame him - Winco is a pretty happenin' place). Mom had issues with him sucking on the cart handle, but other than that it was a good time.

I sure love these boys, and I'm so proud of them. They are my world and I'm so grateful that I get to be with them every day. They bring me so much joy. How did I get so lucky?!

Mother's Day Weekend

We decided to go to Burley for Mother's Day. It had been three months since our last visit, so it was good to see everyone. There was much ooohhh-ing and ahhhh-ing over Jack and he ate up all the attention. On Friday night, Jack wasn't sure if he liked Grandma's playpen, so I crawled in and laid next to him and he instantly calmed down (it didn't last and he ended up sleeping with us all weekend - no judging...you do what you gotta' do!). Brandt thought it was funny I could fit in the playpen so easily so he snapped my picture.

 On Saturday we went to lunch with Sammy at Taco Bandido (LOOOOVE Taco B!). Afterwards, Brandt and I got some treats (DQ blizzard for me, Snoasis for Brandt) and walked along the river while Jack took a nap in the stroller. The city just recently built this walkway along the river and it's beautiful; river on one side and golf course on the other (though Brandt felt the view was spoiled by all the noxious weeds he couldn't help point out along the river.) Afterwards we went and saw my dad for a bit before heading back to my mom's for a barbeque.

I'm terrible and didn't get any pictures on Sunday. My plan was to have some family pictures taken but it didn't happen. It was still a good day though. We went to church with Brandt's parents and then had dinner with them and his aunt and uncle. We had a busy weekend and it was great to spend time with everyone.

My boys spoiled me with a new purse! It was a fun surprise; I felt very loved on my first Mother's Day. Being a mom is a tough job, but I love it and am so grateful for Jack in my life. I often feel inadequate, but I am learning so much as we work our way through each stage. Jack is such a joy and I am lucky to be his momma.

9x9 May

1. Jack has had some terrible mood swings lately. One minute he's giving me smiles like this...

2. ...And the next minute I get faces like this. He gets really emotional when we leave the room for a minute. I don't get it - he used to be so content to just play on the floor by himself. But now, the instant we leave the room he freaks out. Can anyone else relate? Please tell me this is just a phase.

3. Reading a story before Jack's morning nap. This is a cute book - the illustrations are beautiful.

4. Inside the freezer at work. The girls like to tease me about how Jack's milk is taking over the top shelf. I can't take it home though - there's absolutely no room for it. I have this same amount in our freezer at home (plus a bag at daycare). Moo.

5. Kickin' back with a cold one after work. It was one of those days.

6. So much in fact that we ended up going out for dinner. Neither one of us could muster the energy to throw a meal together. 

7. I love this picture - I can't help but think of The Joker ("Why So Serious?!"). Jack was being cheesy at dinner. Every time I held the camera up he gave me this goofy grin. Don't you love the double chin? He gets that from his father.

8. Speaking of his father, here he is, enjoying a BLT and bottomless steak fries. Yum! I had the cod sandwich - also Yum! Although my hands smelled like tartar sauce for the rest of the night, regardless of my attempts at getting rid of it. The sandwich was HUGE, and I ate the whole thing plus a second helping of fries. As I was finishing up, Brandt pipes up and says, "You know, a lesser woman wouldn't have been able to eat all that." And he meant that as a compliment. I then proceeded to give Brandt a lesson in how to properly compliment his wife (i.e. "Your hair looks nice today." or "That shirt looks great on you." and NOT "Wowzers girl! You can really chow down!").

9. Watching one of our favorite shows. Does anyone else love Modern Family as much as we do? Hilarious! (sidenote: I think we are the only ones left on the planet that still have an old, "square/tube" TV. And no satellite or cable. Am I wrong? It may be time to upgrade to a widescreen though, seeing as how most shows/sporting events are now shot in widescreen and it's becoming increasingly evident (when we watch sports,  we can usually only read half the score since they put it up in the corner).

A Case of the Ickies...

...makes for a crummy vacation.

We have been working our way through some illness over at our house which has been less than fun as I'm sure you can relate.  It started with Brandt about two weeks ago, so we blame him for the fiasco. He came home from work on Tuesday and went straight to bed as soon as he got home at five. And that was his routine for the next three days straight: work, bed, repeat. I started to feel like a single parent, and it wasn't very glamorous. That weekend was our mini-vacay to Utah, which we had really been looking forward to, so I was hoping the ickies would stop with Brandt and we could enjoy our trip.

No such luck. On Friday, I woke up with whatever crap Brandt had been harboring, but it wasn't too bad. I kept myself drugged-up and got through the work-day. Then when I got home from work, we finished packing and got on the road. We stayed in a hotel in downtown Salt Lake for Friday night, and as soon as we got there I just layed on the bed and didn't move for the rest of the night, other than to take a bath to try and warm up. We had planned on taking Jack swimming in the hotel pool, but there was no energy for that. Jack was still feeling and looking good at this point, so he got his picture taken in his cute pj's:

Poor guy...he has no idea what's coming...

On Saturday we had Walk MS. I asked Brandt to give me a blessing that morning so I could make it through the day and I know it helped. We participated in Walk MS last year and had a great time; it's a great opportunity not only to raise funds for a great cause, but also to reconnect with our friends from high school that we don't get to see very often. Sadly, no pictures, but check out Tiff's blog post for some cute pics from the event. Jack wasn't feeling great either and was running a fever, but he was a trooper.

Saturday afternoon we drove up to Park City to spend the rest of the weekend with Brandt's family. Again, no pictures. But it was great to see them. Again we missed out on taking Jack swimming, but we figured it was probably not the greatest idea. 

Sunday was the worst day for me. I just layed on the  bed all morning until it was time to check out of the hotel. Luckily, it was going-home day and I was thrilled. We had planned on stopping to see a friend of mine and her sweet new baby in Logan, but we figured she wouldn't appreciate us bringing her all our germs, so we had to bypass that which was disappointing.

So that was our exciting trip to Utah! It definitely wasn't what we had expected. We were so looking forward to our little getaway, but being sick really but a damper on the fun. Oh well, not much you can do about that. Since then, we've been on the mend. Jack has had the worst of it this past week. I tried taking Monday off from work, but couldn't work it out, but I had Tuesday off which was nice. My mom was able to come spend a few days with us and it was great to have an extra set of hands to take care of the little guy. We've been blessed in that Jack is normally pretty healthy; this was his first real bout with the ickies, and I must say it's not fun. But he took it like a champ and the last couple of days he has been getting back to his happy-go-lucky self. By the end of the week, I was pretty worn out, so I took Friday off to recuperate. It was fabulous.

So that's that. Sorry for a downer post. It definitely isn't what I had hoped to write. I had plans of showing off cute pics from the weekend and write about all the fun things we did on our trip. Oh well, can't win 'em all, right? Here's to a better week next week!

6 Months

My baby is six months old! It seems like just yesterday that this little guy joined our family, and yet at the same time it's hard to remember what life was like without him. I have noticed the greatest change in Jack the last couple of months. He is so much more aware of his surroundings. He is interested in everything! It's so fun to watch his eyes dart from one thing to the next as he discovers the world. I often wonder what thoughts are going through his mind. He has completely mastered rolling over and uses that as his mode of transportation these days. He can sit up by himself for short bursts at a time before he topples over. He started eating baby food a couple of weeks ago and it has been fun trying out new foods; for the most part he gobbles everything up. He is usually in a great mood - happy and smiley all the time, yet he really makes us work for those giggles (either that, or maybe mom and dad are just not as funny as they think they are).

5 Months

6 Months

 6 Months Stats:

Height: 27.5 inches

Weight: 17 lbs. 2.5 oz

About four weeks ago we finally moved Jack into his own room. Yes, I know it's about time. Don't judge us - there are several reasons why we waited, but I'm not going to take the time to explain. We got a video monitor so we could keep an eye on him and one of my favorite pastimes is watching him on that thing. I could sit and watch him sleep all day. The other morning, Brandt and I both woke up around 7:15 and turned the monitor on to check on the boy. He was wide awake just laying in his crib, content as could be just playing with his feet. I have no idea how long he'd been awake, but he stayed that way for another 45 minutes before he finally decided he wanted to get up. It was fun spying on him and watching him play.

This picture was from his first night in his crib. At the time we had him sleeping in his car seat because he was going through a phase where he was waking up ALL.THE.TIME. (one awful night, no exaggeration, he woke up every 20-30 minutes). The car seat seemed to help get him through that rough patch, but now he's back to just lying on his back. And he's doing MUCH better (knock on wood!!). He usually goes to bed around nine and sleeps until about 7:30-8. Some nights he'll go the whole night without waking up, or if he does wake up he'll put himself back to sleep. And other nights we may have to get up and give him his bink 2-3 times during the night.

We sure do love our little Jackers. It's crazy to think we've had him here with us for six months already. And yet at the same time it seems like he's always been here. Each new phase is so much fun. It passes too quickly. The other day I was setting up a patient for their next appointment in six months, and it happened to fall on October 22nd. I said, "oh, that will be my son's first birthday!" and, out of nowhere, tears sprang to my eyes. Those of you who know me well know that I am not typically a crier. But for some reason, the thought of my baby being a year old...I was overcome with emotion. My patient was this older lady (the grandma type) and she just smiled and said, "oh now, don't worry, that's still six months away! That's a long ways off still." And she's right. But I know it will be here sooner than I would like. I try to savor each day with him, because, as cliche as it sounds, it's true: they grow up too fast.