Foot Bath

In the early days of my pregnancy with Jackson, Tyler was convinced we were having a girl. One time, he even talked to my belly and said "How is my little princess today?" And I said "Be careful what you say." Which is why I blame Tyler when Jackson does something girly (like crying about the dirt in the carpet). A few days ago, Jackson told me he had an owie on his foot. After carefully inspecting for slivers, spider bites, and cuts, I determined nothing was really wrong, but he wouldn't stop crying about it. So I made him a warm foot bath and soaked his feet. This solved the problem, although I'm worried it will become a nightly routine. Maybe I should bust out my old Sun Valley foot spa products and give him a pedicure :)

I will admit that Jackson helps me get ready in the morning, and he even has his own make-up brush that he pats on his eyelids while I get ready. And then there's that one time he tried to put one of my bras on... but I promise he likes to throw a football too :)

Night at the Space Needle

Friday night was a fundraising event for dental students and alumni. We decided it was a great chance to finally go to the top of the space needle, so we went. It was a blast. We went with 2 other couples and enjoyed Shirley Temples all night, and the view was amazing.

The view This was our group. We had a lot of fun together and for dinner we found the most fantastic teriyaki in Seattle. It's our new favorite.

Idaho, Valentine's Day, Family Photos

We spent a great week in Idaho and are still waiting for things to settle again. This week was filled with unpacking, cleaning, getting ready for tonight's event (more info after), and watching a lot of Lost. Somehow, Tyler and I got hooked on this show way after it was a hit. We're currently in the middle of season 3, so don't spoil it for us, but we've spent a little too much time on it this week. Next week I'm vowing to get back to normal life.

Even though we went to Idaho to see our brothers come home from their missions, somehow I didn't get any photos of either of them. In fact, I hardly got photos of anything, which probably means we were having too much fun to take them. Here's what we did get.

Jackson playing Rockband with my sister, although he just spotted the camera and put down the guitar to chase me for it.

The drums were his favorite. There's a video at the bottom of this post.

Checking the candy bowl. It was empty, thank goodness. He ate enough goodies last week to last him a lifetime.

Happy Valentine's Day. After receiving his presents, he learned a new word... "Pez!" We also got family photos taken with all of Tyler's family. I'm not sure about how the rights work yet, so I'll just post a link to the pictures for now.

Uncle Khecki

And by the way, tomorrow is the day. Jackson and Kevin will finally meet, and I will finally have my little brother back where I can call him anytime I want :) I'm sure he's thrilled for that.

Funny, Mostly Appropriate Quotes

Last night, my sisters, my mom, and I made sugar cookies so that my sister, Lindsay, could use them to tell a boy "yes" to the dance he asked her to. We waited until pretty late to get started, so we were up late and a little loopy, but we had a blast and laughed the whole night. Here's some of the best quotes of the night. We're not as mean as we sound. It's all in good fun. And it's not 100% G-rated. Just a warning. Whitney (my youngest sister): Lindsay, are you going to put a note with the cookies so that he knows they're cookies and that he can eat them? Lindsay (my other sister, the one going to the dance): I don't know what kind of idiot would look at these and not realize they were cookies. Me (to Whitney): Probably the same kind of idiot that would ask Lindsay to the dance. We better include a note. (I'm not mean. We were just joking and she paid me back later. See below.) Whitney (my youngest sister) dropped her special heart cookie on the floor and it broke. Mom: Come on Whitney. Just pick your broken heart up off the floor. (Corny, but for some reason we laughed really hard. The timing was too perfect.) Lindsay tried to make a multi-colored cookie with a smiley face that didn't turn out too well. Me: It was a nice idea, but the execution was a little shoddy. Lindsay: Funny... that's what mom and dad say about you. And finally, the night before we had watched The Bachelor and our brother-in-law-in-law (sort of) made a comment about how one of the girls was a "ho". My youngest sister, Whitney, is so sweet and innocent and must have been thinking about that comment because out of the blue she says "So, a ho is basically a prosecutor, right?"

Picnic with Doggie

Tuesday was Jackson's 18 month check-up which included 2 shots and an iron test that involved drawing blood from his toe. It was a rough 2 hours at the doctor, and he yelled the entire time. I think he has figured out what happens each time we go there. Anyway, he was still a little upset with me yesterday, so I was hoping for some sunshine so we could go to the zoo. Instead, it rained all day. So we decided to have an indoor picnic and Jackson absolutely loved it. He even laid down in protest when I tried to clean up the "picnic blanket", so we ended up leaving it out all day. I'm not sure why having a blanket spread out in the living room is so fun, although I suppose I do remember sitting on one when I was younger and pretending to be Jasmine on a flying carpet. Of course, Doggie joined us for the picnic. Jackson got this dog for Christmas from my mom and he has really become attached. We named him Doggie to avoid any confusion, since Jackson is just starting to learn animal names. Jackson packs Doggie around the house and feeds him and shares his milk with him.

He makes sure Doggie gets lots of affection too. Sometimes I get jealous and have to remind Jackson that mommies need hugs and kisses too, which usually results in him letting me give Doggie a hug.

Oh Toyota

This is more details than you need, but seriously, last week was crazy. Feel free to skim-read. What a week! My computer broke, my car broke, and I had to give a talk in church. The talk was my fault. Last Monday I received a phone call from a Seattle number that I didn't recognize and my mind was screaming "don't answer, don't answer!"... but for some reason my finger pushed the talk button. And so I had to give a talk. Rookie mistake. Never answer on a Sunday (or Monday, apparently) if you don't know the number. It will always be a talk or a nursery calling. My computer stopped working last week. It was in barely-functional mode for days. Last night we almost ordered a new one, but decided to watch for a really good deal. Today, it miraculously works fine again. I'm nervous. And finally, we have been cautious about our Camry because of all the fuss in the news lately, but last week the Pocatello dealer called and said that the media was "making mountains out of molehills" and not to worry because our car was most likely not affected and we didn't need to take further action, so we didn't. Saturday, the accelarator stuck and Tyler hit a car. No damage was done (another miracle), but we called Toyota pretty upset. Today they took the Camry and gave us a loaner Yaris for the week while they wait for parts. The Yaris doesn't even fit Jackson's carseat correctly it's so tiny, and also, all manual locks, so I have to climb over the front seat to unlock the back door everytime I load Jackson. That doesn't work so well with a toddler. I don't know if we will continue to be Toyota loyalists after this. My faith has been shaken. But I guess it could have been worse. The computer could have completely shut down and lost all my files. Instead, it somehow fixed itself. The car accident could have been a lot more serious. And the talk actually went pretty well. Not to mention that my little brother comes home from Canada in a little over a week, and Tyler's brother is already home. We get to see him this Saturday! I suppose life is still good.

And I think Jackson can tell I'm a little strung out, because he's been extra snuggly lately. I look dumb in this picture, but I like how Jackson is just chilling in my lap. What a stud.