The Boyd Family

My Boys Are Awesome

2012-01-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

We have the cutest boys. Here are some pictures from the first few weeks of 2012.

Love

Tyler was in Texas for 2 weeks after Christmas. My amazing sister Lindsay came to stay with me and help with the kids and spend a week relaxing. It was fabulous to have her here. Jackson cried when she left... I might have too.

I love that babies can sleep anywhere in any position

Seattle Christmas 2011

2012-01-15T16:48:00.000-08:00

As usual, Santa visited us early this year due to lack of suitcase space for our flight home from Idaho. It's fun to celebrate the holiday more than once though. Jackson loved the 3 weeks of Christmas he got to enjoy this year. Every time we would do something Christmasy, that night he would say, "I'm just sad that Christmas is over" and I would say, "That's the great thing, Jackson. Christmas isn't over yet." Once it was actually over, we were sad. I didn't take my camera to Idaho so I'm working on getting pictures from sisters. Until then, here's a peak at our Seattle Christmas.

Christmas morning... so excited!

Tyler got me a pancake pen. It's exactly what it sounds like, which is why my pancake is shaped like my name... awesome.

Enjoying Christmas breakfast with the display of Jackson's first Lite Brite picture. It's a transformer.

Making gingerbread houses

Sometimes you're so excited to see grandma that you forget to put your pants on

2011-12-16T08:43:00.000-08:00

We're sitting at the airport ready to head to Idaho for Christmas. It took us a total of 10 minutes to check 4 bags, get boarding passes, and get through security with a toddler, a sleeping baby, a car seat, and 3 carry-on bags... AMAZING. So now we've got some time to kill and I have a great story to brighten your morning.

This morning, Jackson wakes up at 6am. The first thing he says is "I am so excited to see Grandma Hawkins and Grandma Trish!" So I tell him to get dressed, which is usually a 30 minute process with a lot of arguing. About 30 seconds later, I hear him call out, "Mom, I'm ready!" So I go in his room to find him wearing nothing but his Buzz Lightyear underwear and his socks and shoes on the wrong feet. I laugh and say, "Jackson, you're shoes are on the wrong feet, and I think you forgot your pants and your shirt." He looks down, looks a little embarrassed, and says "Oops. I better put them on."

So far things are going very smooth. I'm going to go back to enjoying my Qdoba Breakfast Burrito, which is really the only reason we do morning flights :) Merry Christmas everyone. Wish us luck with our 3 month old on our flight. See you soon!

Stockings... Just In Time

2011-12-09T17:16:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago, as I was decorating for Christmas, I realized we didn't have a stocking for Fisher. Then I looked at our sad little stockings (Tyler and I had matching $1 Walmart stockings with glittery swirls that I had stitched our names into. Jackson had a $3 blue velvet stocking which was purchased years later.) They were cheapy and ugly.

So my grandma makes the most amazing stockings. She made them for all of us grandkids, and I have always wanted to try to replicate them for my family. But with no sewing machine, I had to do a simplified version. We bought pre-made stockings, but we got the good kind this time. They were thick and soft, and we might have purchased six of them... just in case.

So it took a few weeks and a lot of stress, but I finally finished them yesterday, just in time too, since Santa arrived early this year and brought us presents last night. Today is Seattle Christmas, by the way (the holiday we celebrate BEFORE we travel to Idaho for Christmas, because we don't want to have to haul everything there and then haul it all back again). Merry Seattle Christmas!

I wasn't planning to have these done in time for Seattle Christmas, so yesterday when I realized I could finish them, I had exactly 60 minutes (during Jackson's preschool) to jog to Safeway with the stroller, purchase stocking stuffers, jog back home, wrap the stocking stuffers, and hide them. This Santa deal is a lot of work. And Santa is obviously not getting enough sleep these days, because he accidentally put all of Jackson's presents in Fisher's stocking. Whooops.

Here they are. I basically love them. Thanks to my Grandma Romney for inspiring these awesome stockings, although mine will never look as great as hers do.

I wanted me and Tyler's to match, since my Grandma made my Mom & Dad matching stockings and I always thought that was so cute.

And I love the little animals I found for the boys' stockings. Look at the awesome little hats. I ordered these animals special from Amazon, then found the exact same animals right across the street at Safeway a few days later. Go figure. Sometimes Safeway has the most random, awesome things. Example? Fisher's banana costume also came from the Safeway across the street. I love our Safeway. I'm in there at least twice a week, usually more. The cashiers all know me by name. One of them even laughed at me when I tried to show him my driver's liscense to go with a check. "Oh Ms. Boyd. You don't need ID here. We see you daily." Random tanget...

Now for a few other projects we made this season that I never got around to blogging about.

Oreo turkeys from Our Best Bites.

Halloween bouquet made for our Relief Society Service Auction, inspired by the chocolate-dipped oreo bats from Our Best Bites.

They sounded like they would be a bit too rich for me, but they aren't
Chocolate-dipped oreos = delicious

Halloween 2011

2011-11-23T20:41:00.001-08:00

I'm finally getting around to posting Halloween pictures, just in time for Thanksgiving.

Jackson getting ready for costume day at preschool

Playing with leftover dry ice after my work Halloween party

Our pumpkins. Tyler did Darth Vader. I did the lazy fake version of Spider Man. Jackson was Iron Man. And Fisher's was a simple fish, because at that point we were sick of carving pumpkins.

Gorilla and banana... loved it

Super heroes. I got criticized by several different people for saying that our costumes "go together" because Superman is DC Comics and Iron Man is Marvel. I also had an 8-year-old kid at my work Halloween party say to me, "Is that your costume? That's it? Seriously?"

Not a single one of us managed a normal facial expression for this picture... whoops.

Halloween in the Hospital

2011-11-20T20:42:00.000-08:00

We spent Halloween night (and the two days that followed) in the hospital. It was a long couple of days, but we survived and Fisher is doing great. Because Jackson was under 10 years old and Fisher was considered in "isolation", Jackson wasn't allowed to visit at all. Which meant that while Tyler was at school all day and I was in the hospital with Fisher, Jackson had to bounce around from neighbor to neighbor for two days. We really appreciated all the support and help we received with babysitting, dinners, and prayers. We have amazing friends.

(All of the pictures in this post are after we got home from the hospital. We took a few pictures in the hospital, but they are sad and they're all on my phone and I can't figure out how to get them onto the computer.)

The night we brought Fisher home. Everyone was so excited to be together as a family again.

Around 3pm on Halloween we were working on dinner and preparing for an evening of intramural football and trick-or-treating. Fisher woke up from his afternoon nap crying, which is weird because he usually wakes up pretty happy. I tried to feed him and he wouldn't eat. He just kept crying. He felt a little warm but had been fine earlier in the day. I decided to take his temperature. It was 100.5. Our doctor told us 100.4 was the cut off for a newborn needing to see the doctor. He calmed down and ate a little so I was really hesitant to call the doctor's office because I didn't want to have to go in for nothing. After an hour we checked his temp again and it was 100.7. I decided to call since the office would be closing for the day soon and I wanted to know what to do if his temp continued going up. The nurse instructed us to take him to the hospital ER immediately and that she would let them know we were coming. I might be a terrible mom, but I kind of questioned this a bit and told the nurse he seemed like he was fine. She double-checked with the attending doctor and said that because he was only 6 weeks, he needed to go right to the hospital.

Fisher was so excited to be back home. I think he was mostly happy to be back in comfy clothing. He wasn't a fan of wearing nothing but a diaper and a big sock on his arm to cover up the IV.

Tyler offered to take him. He knows more about medical stuff, so I thought that sounded like a good idea. I sent Fisher and Daddy off with a bottle and started getting Jackson ready for trick-or-treating. Tyler called an hour later saying they were doing a spinal tap and Fisher would likely need to stay overnight. Jackson went to a neighbor's house and I headed to the hospital. The spinal tap was sad to watch, but Fisher did amazing. He actually fell asleep during it. The initial results came back a few hours later and the protein levels were abnormally high, so they said he would need to stay for 2 days on an IV with antibiotics and anti-viral medications.

Jackson was pretty excited to have his brother home.

His fever eventually got as high as 102.3. So the next two days were filled with lots of tests, medication, even a cranial ultrasound, and lots of waiting for the cultures from the spinal tap. It was a long couple of days but the staff was amazing and Fisher was very well cared for. I stayed with him the whole time except for a few hours here and there when Tyler relieved me and I went home for a break with Jackson.

This is the beautiful blanket that Fisher was given when we were admitted. They have volunteers that make these blankets for all the babies who come to the hospital.

Finally, on Wednesday night around 9pm as we were settling in for another long night, our nurse announced with a big grin, "Do you want to go home tonight?" He told me that all the tests were negative and since Fisher was eating well and his fever was gone, we could go home and just watch him closely there. I was thrilled. I called Tyler, who picked us up about 5 minutes later since we live right down the street from the Children's Hospital.

More of the beautiful blanket

So we survived and Fisher is fine. It was just a random fever and he's been doing great ever since. We are grateful to the staff at Children's Hospital who took such good care of us and to all of our friends that helped us out so much.

Loving Target

2011-11-16T17:00:00.000-08:00

Target had thermal pajamas on sale from $5, sizes ranging from 6 months to 5T. Their first matching pajamas. I was way too excited!

This was my favorite. Jackson said "Let me see if they fit" and then he laid down like this. Hilarious.

Blessings & Engagements

2011-11-14T12:17:00.001-08:00

We had a great weekend. Tyler's parents, brother Alex, and soon-to-be sister-in-law CassieAnn came to Seattle to meet Fisher. We had a great weekend including Pike's Place Market, the Pier 57 Arcade, an awesome indoor swimming park, game nights, and lots of great food. This weekend was also Fisher's baby blessing. It was great to have some of our family here for that.

It was pretty cold outside, so our attempt at a quick family picture didn't go that well.

Stretching

A classic Fisher facial expression. He's started to be a little nervous when Jackson is nearby.

shooting Spiderman webs

I loved his handsome little white onesie for the blessing.

Silly blogger keeps uploading this picture wrong. Anyone know how to fix this? Lots of these pictures were originally sideways. I turned them all, saved them like that, and for some reason, only this one keeps uploading sideways.

To make the weekend even more exciting, Tyler's brother, Alex, proposed to his girlfriend. We were in charge of secretly capturing the whole thing in pictures. It was night time and we were really far away, so the pictures didn't really turn out, but we got a some good ones afterwards.

A picture of the actual proposal. The 3 of us were crouched down behind a chain link fence watching. We weren't very good at being secretive. We set off the car alarm 3 times while we were all lying on the floor in the car trying to hide when they arrived at the park. CassieAnn swears she didn't know it was us, but I'd say we kind of failed.

The happy couple. Aren't they adorable? I have to admit that I teared up a little watching the proposal.

Re-enacting the proposal for the sake of a decent photograph

Thanks to the Boyds (and future Boyd) for driving all the way to Seattle to see us. We were really glad to have family here for our special weekend. And CassieAnn even put up with sharing a bunkbed with Jackson all weekend, so she's definately a keeper :)

4 weeks

2011-10-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

My little baby is 4 weeks today, and what a fabulous 4 weeks it's been. He's growing too fast, but I guess everyone says that. Seriously though, I can't believe how big he is getting and how fast it's happening. I think I'd be willing to continue waking up in the middle of the night if he would stay a tiny newborn a little longer. I'm already feeling like I'm going to miss this phase when it ends.

My mom stayed with us for a week cooking, cleaning, and entertaining Jackson. It was great to have her help. We miss her a lot.

Jackson is an amazing big brother. I can't believe how sweet he is with Fisher.

Sleeping...

sleeping...

and more sleeping.

Raising an eyebrow... so cute

Rainy Days

2011-10-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

These rainy days are killing us. I love Seattle rain, but 3 year-old Jackson is even more energetic than he was as a 2 year-old last fall/winter, and I'm having a hard time keeping him entertained. Not to mention the 8 lb little bundle of joy that has to eat every 3 hours. I'm not a public breastfeeder. I don't think I ever will be. I'm not discrete enough and I'm not bold enough. So we've been a little homebound, enjoying only brief outings to parks/playgrounds/grocery stores when the rain lets up for a few minutes.

So on a particularly rainy day, we decided we needed a fresh batch of play dough, which Jackson enjoyed helping me make and then played with for hours. Look at that concentration.

We made our last batch about 6 months ago and Jackson's favorite shape to make at that time was a snowball. This time around, he is much more advanced. He informed me that he was making a snowman but he was having a hard time with the nose. I was pleasantly surprised when I examined his work.

School

2011-10-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

Jackson started a preschool program yesterday. He looked so stinkin' cute with his backpack that I made him take a few pictures before we left. Fisher seems fairly unimpressed.

I asked Jackson what he learned. He said "Nothing, not letters or anything." Hmm... that's a normal response, right? I asked him who he played with and he said, "Nobody. Well, this one kid. His name was James or something." I love the casual tone he uses when he responds to questions like this. He's just hilarious.

Next Wednesday I am the classroom helper for his class. I'm excited to go see a little more what it's like.

Test Results & Smiles

2011-10-03T20:56:00.000-07:00

Fisher had a follow-up hearing screening today. He had already failed the screening twice, and honestly, I was nervous. The first week he was pretty obviously not responding to any noises. Tyler made a few comments about how he'd be happy to learn sign language, which I'm sure were meant to comfort me, but I had a hard time worrying that my baby couldn't hear my voice. The past few days we thought he was responding to noises more, but I didn't want to get my hopes up in case it was just coincindence. But today he had another test at the audiology clinic and finally passed. I was relieved. I enjoyed talking to my sweet baby all day today and was very comforted to know that he could hear me.

We also got Tyler's test results back for the dental boards. He passed. He didn't just pass. He aced them. I'm allowed to say that since it wasn't me who took them, right? We're very proud of him and very relieved to have that all behind us.

And here is a cute little picture, because every post needs one. Look at that chubby smile and his relaxed little pose. What a stud.

Banana

2011-09-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

This is a picture from Halloween last year. Tyler was a gorilla...

This year he has a new little accessory to go with his costume.

More pictures

2011-09-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

Not much to report. We spend our days feeding, sleeping, feeding, and sleeping. So for now, here are a few more pictures of my cute boys.

Jackson playing with Fisher. He loves to sit and talk to Fisher and read him stories. I'm sure Fisher would appreciate it if he was ever awake to enjoy it.

"Take a picture of ME, mom!" He thinks he's really funny when he purposely closes his eyes for pictures.

Baby Boyd

2011-09-19T14:51:00.000-07:00

Fisher Robert Boyd arrived Sunday, Sept 18 at 5:48 a.m. 7 lbs 11 oz 21 inches long It's been a crazy weekend, but we are healthy and happy to be home.

Studying & Waiting, Waiting & Studying

2011-09-11T15:34:00.000-07:00

The last few months could be easily summarized as "studying & waiting". Tyler takes the dental boards tomorrow. My due date is this coming Saturday. It seems like our whole summer has been consumed by these two thing. Although I would say "studying" is an understatement for what Tyler has been doing. He wakes up at 7am, eats breakfast, and heads to the library to study. Comes home for a quick lunch and goes right back. Comes home for a quick dinner and goes back. Comes home for bed time, collapses from exhaustion (but usually not without cramming in a few more notecards), and then wakes up the next day to start all over again. I've never seen someone so focused. There is no way I could study that many hours every day. He takes occassional breaks to have fun with us, we've still enjoyed our summer, but I have to admit I can't wait for the boards to be over tomorrow. We already have a never-ending pasta bowl Olive Garden celebration planned. Then we'll try to cram in as much fun as we can in the next 1-2 (maybe 3... yikes!) weeks before baby arrives.

Tyler at his White Coat ceremony in August. He starts working in the clinic in a few weeks. It will be a nice change from all the studying and class work he's been doing the past two years.

I would say that if "studying" is an understatment for what Tyler has been doing the past few months, "waiting" is an overstatement. Jackson and I have been pretty busy with my job and baby preparations, but we've been having a lot of fun too.

This is the Spiderman costume he picked for Halloween. Ever since he realized he can get it on himself, we've been seeing a lot of Spiderman around the house. Sometimes he honestly catches me off guard and scares me in that little mask. It's kind of creepy when you're doing dishes in a quiet house and notice out of the corner of your eye a mini-Spiderman perched on the edge of the couch just silently staring at you...

Spiderman and the golf club Tyler got as a present for his White Coat Ceremony. You have to love the muscles in this suit. Doing a Spiderman move in the water fountains. I don't know how this Spiderman obsession started...

Playing in the fountains with Jackson's friends

This picture makes me cringe. I look in the mirror and think "I look okay for how far along I am", but when I see it on camera, I always feel a little shocked and disgusted. I think the mirrors in my house are overly-forgiving. Anyway, this was 37 weeks I think, and Jackson wanted to be in the picture... which I gladly agreed to. His cute little smile keeps some of the focus off my chubby cheeks, right?

Have I mentioned that Jackson has absolutely no instincts when it comes to swimming? He needs to start swimming lessons soon, but they are so expensive here! I took him swimming with his friend Saydee, and was shocked at the difference. She can doggy paddle around the whole pool all by herself, but if Jackson falls in, he instantly freezes and just floats facedown, looking lifeless, until someone scoops him out. It makes me pretty nervous. Shouldn't he at least kick or struggle or make some effort to keep his head above water? I guess we need to work on it.

We found a little tortoise on our back patio. Crazy. We couldn't figure out how it had gotten there. We aren't allowed to have pets in our apartment complex, so our friends who were moving the next day decided to adopt him. Unfortunately, two days after they moved, there were "missing pet tortoise" posters all over the neighborhood. He has been returned to his original home now, although I'm guessing he would have had a lot more fun living with our friends, who moved into a big house out of the city. They even had a turtle pond for him.

The day before our friends moved, we had one final game night with them and a few other friends. Everytime I have people over, I think about how I wish I had a bigger place for party hosting. But then when I see us all crammed into this little apartment having fun, it makes me smile. We're never going to forget these fun years we're having "crammed" in this little apartment "suffering" with the student life... it's actually pretty great!

Above is all the kids distracted by a movie so us adults can play Settlers of Catan, which we did a lot this summer. It's been fabulous.

And a couple final pictures, just because they're cute. Here is Jackson enjoying some delicious jam that our neighbor made for us.

Tyler thought he looked like the Joker on Batman, and made him say "Why so serious!?" It would have been creepy if he wasn't so stinkin' cute about the way he said it.

I guess that about wraps up the last few months for us. Sorry for the marathon post and the lack of blogging, but sitting at our little computer desk has been the last thing I wanted to do lately. Wish Tyler good luck for his boards tomorrow, and wish us luck with the arrival of Baby Boyd #2, whose name has changed so many times that I won't even bother telling you what we're planning on now because it will probably change again... and again. We'll just have to wait until we meet him, which I'm guessing is still a couple weeks away :) We'll keep you posted.

The month-long birthday

2011-08-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

Jackson turned 3 on July 30th, but we ended up celebrating all month long.

We had his big family party while we were in Idaho for the 4th of July. We were going to be back in Idaho for his actual birthday, but it was the same day as my brother's wedding reception and Tyler would be staying behind for school, so we decided to celebrate early so everyone could be there.

Jackson wanted a Buzz Light Year cake, but then when he saw my mom's truck-shaped cake pan, he wanted that too, so we just did both. It was an interesting cake... definately one-of-a-kind.

Jackson and Madden enjoying the cake

We had all of Jackson's favorite "Buzz Lightyear Green" snacks

Opening presents

This umbrella is one of his favorites. He insists on using it even when it isn't raining.

The week before Jackson's actual birthday, we did a mini-celebration with Tyler, me, and Jackson here in Seattle so we could give him the presents we got him before we left for Idaho for the 2nd time. He got glow-in-the-dark chalk, so we let him stay up late and we had a glow-in-the-dark party outside.

We had another little lunch party on his actual birthday, which included a store-made Spiderman cake, because at that point I was a little exhausted with birthday celebrations. I'm still waiting to get pictures from my sister's camera, so I'll post those some other time.

Happy birthday, Jackson. We love you. It's been an unbelievably wonderful 3 years.

Cute Funnies (Part 3)

2011-08-10T08:38:00.000-07:00

January 14, 2012
Jackson: "Say Diego."
Mom: "Okay. Hi, Diego, how are you?"
Jackson: "No, I'm not Diego. Just SAY DIEGO."
Mom: "Hmm... I'm confused."
Jackson: "Say Diego."
Mom: "Okay... Diego."
*a few minutes later Jackson started singing and it all made sense*
Jackson (singing): "I throw my hands up in the air sometimes. Say Diego. Say Diego."

January 9, 2012
Jackson: "Whoah, this food is too hot."
Tyler: "You know what else is hot? Your mom!'
So Jackson reaches over and touches my arm (checking my temperature I think) and gets a very confused look on his face "No she isn't... she's just normal."

December 23, 2011Jackson was coloring a Christmas picture and decided to add a star to the top of the tree in the picture. He grabbed a yellow crayon and colored two horizontal yellow lines. Then he said, "Oops. That's a cheeseburger."
.
December 15, 2011While eating a cheeseburger with mom and dad, Jackson announced in a very profound and thoughtful tone, "Hey, I think I'm starting to like pickles."
.
December 14, 2011
This morning, Jackson and I were doing a P90X workout video together. He had several good quotes.
Jackson: "Mom, why don't your muscles have lines like the people on the video?"
And later on, talking about the guy who leads the workout video, he said, "Wow, that guy knows everything... just like me and Santa."

December 13, 2011
Jackson: "Mom, I'm going to watch Sonic (the hedgehog), and that's a boy show so you need to take a nap because you are a girl and you can't watch boy shows."
Mom: "But then you'll have to watch the show alone."
Jackson: "No I won't. The Hulk will watch it with me."
Mom: "Oh, because The Hulk is a boy and I am a girl?"
Jackson: "No mom. The Hulk is NOT a boy. The Hulk is a super hero. But super heros can watch boy shows."

November 30, 2011

Jackson: "Mom, do I fill your heart with joy?"

Mom: "Um... yes."

Jackson: "A lot of it?"

Mom: "... Yes."

Novebmer 27, 2011

I was tucking Jackson in for bed.

Jackson: "Mommy, will you snuggle with me?"

Mom: "For just a minute. I need to take a shower because I'm stinky."

Jackson (sniffing my arm): "No you're not. You smell fantastic!"

November 27, 2011

Tyler and Jackson were playing catch. Tyler threw the ball and Jackson missed it.

Tyler: "Oops. That was my fault. That was a bad throw."

Jackson: "That's okay. You don't have to go to your room."

November 26, 2011

Tyler was noticing how dark my hair is getting due to lack of sunlight in Seattle.

Tyler: Look how dark this hair is.
Jackson: Whoah. It's like darth vader hair.
November 23, 2011 I was sneaking a handful of Pirate's Booty while cooking dinner. I hid the bag away before Jackson could see what I was eating.
Jackson: "Mommy, what are you eating?"
Mom: "Nothing. I'm not eating anything. We're having dinner soon."
Jackson (with a disapproving look and his hand on his hips): "Mommy... I heard the wrapper crinkling."
October 28, 2011 After getting ready for the day, Jackson spotted himself in the full-length mirror and stopped to admire.
Jackson: "Whoah, I'm looking pretty good."
October 10, 2011 Jackson: "Does Fisher have feet that can walk yet?" .
September 15, 2011 While running errands today we spotted somebody with a very extreme mohawk and Tyler made a joke about it. Tyler: Maybe that's what I need... I need a mohawk. Jackson: Okay, Daddy. You can get a mohawk and I can get a mohawk. Jamie: Jackson, do you even know what a mohawk is? Jackson: Is it something you eat for breakfast? .
September 15, 2011 Jackson: What is daddy doing? Jamie: He's going in the bank to make a deposit. Jackson: He's going to "pause it"??? .
August 29, 2011 Tyler: Jackson, you love Daddy a little more than you love Mommy, huh? Jackson: Yeah, but I love Mommy a BIG more. .
August 13, 2011 Jackson: I just want to watch "neck-fix". (Netflix on the Xbox) .
August 10, 2011 Mom: Do you want some potato chips? Jackson: Um... no. I would just get crumbs everywhere.
August 8, 2011 We were coming out of the grocery store and I was getting ready to load the groceries in the car. I still needed to pop the trunk. Jackson loudly yelled "Pop it like it's hot pwease!" That's the phrase Tyler says when he needs me to pop the trunk. I'm pretty sure it comes from a dirty rap song or something like that, but when Jackson yells it at his mom, it's pretty dang funny. Part 2 Part 1

Practicing

2011-08-08T19:42:00.000-07:00

Jackson developed a new game all on his own. It started about a month ago. He pretends to take care of "his baby", which is a stuffed dog that his grandma gave him. The baby gets swaddled and cuddled and rocked and put down for naps and sometimes needs a diaper change. Jackson also sits in the rocking chair and feeds the baby a bottle. Watching this makes me so excited. 6 weeks to go and we can hardly wait :)

Birthday Weekend in Oregon

2011-06-27T13:10:00.001-07:00

It's been a stressful couple of months and I've been itching for a break, so we decided to do a very last minute trip down to the Oregon coast, since we still have never been. We stayed in an adorable little town called Gearhart in a beautiful condo for my birthday weekend. It was fabulous. I can't believe how much Jackson can enjoy a vacation :)

Running around like crazy, giggling and shouting "don't take a picture of me", while rather obviously posing for pictures. Would you believe he was crying and begging to go home just 5 minutes earlier?

I will never get enough of those eyes...

Showing off the belly button at Haystack Rock

Pretending to be asleep because he doesn't want his picture taken (this was the 5 minutes earlier when he was insisting he just wanted to go home)

Driving the golf cart

I love the way Jackson tries to copy everything Tyler does when we go golfing. He really does want to be just like his dad.

Playing Trivial Pursuit by himself at the condo. He didn't really get it, but he insisted on playing it anyway. He basically just sorted the cards and moved the pieces around for a while.

The beach in Gearhart right in front of our condo was one of the prettiest places I have ever been. Tyler and I decided it was like putting Island Park right next to the beach. Thick gorgeous forests and amazing ocean. We loved it.

Trying to smile into the sunshine

I usually think it's kind of silly when people take pictures of their food unless it's for a recipe blog, but the birthday breakfast that Tyler made me was so pretty and so delicious I couldn't resist. Blueberry waffles topped with fresh strawberries and homemade caramel syrup, my breakfast of choice every Mother's Day and Birthday :)

Oh... and blah, blah, blah, something profound about how I'm 25 now.

Zoo and Pregnancy Brain

2011-06-22T09:46:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure I can track Jackson's growth while here in Seattle entirely in zoo pictures. I love that we go a lot though. It's just the perfect place to spend a morning.We went yesterday, and I had a panic-moment. I said to my friend, "Did Jackson just run around that corner? He was going so fast I didn't even see which way he went." She looked at me, glanced at my stroller, and tried not to laugh while she pointed out that he was riding in the stroller I was pushing...

Pregnancy Brain is legitimate, right? I'm not going crazy, right? The picture below is out of focus, but the smiles are so cute I'm posting it anyway. And these pictures are actually from a previous trip to the zoo, not from yesterday. Yesterday was gorgeous and sunny and warm and required sunscreen instead of jackets. I'm already loving summer.

Family Photos... sort of

2011-05-30T16:00:00.000-07:00

Today was nice and not overly sunny, so we decided to head up to campus and take some self-portraits. It didn't go very well. I wasn't expecting anything professional looking, but it ended up being so frustrating. It turns out that taking pictures with a tripod, a self-timer, and a toddler is basically impossible. Especially if that toddler trips and gets a fat lip after the 2nd picture. My 2 favorite pictures didn't turn out because of Jackson eyes being closed and the picture being out of focus, which are both impossible to control without being behind the camera. And none of them are properly exposed, which is my fault, although it's still hard to control when you aren't behind the camera. Oh well, live and learn. Anyway, here's the ones that turned out okay.

Whale Watching

2011-05-15T18:18:00.000-07:00

After how excited Jackson got about Shamu at Sea World, we decided to take him on a whale-watching tour. The whales were a lot more difficult to spot, and they didn't do any fancy tricks, but it was still fun to spend an afternoon out on the water. Jackson got bored with trying to spot whales, but he enjoyed exploring the boat anyway.

Some silly pose that Tyler came up with. Jackson loves being his little side-kick.

Enjoying the view from the docks It was really cold. This hat was my present from Tyler's Peru trip.

Finding hiding spots on the boat was way more exciting than waiting for whales to pop up.

I love his giggling smile

The only picture from the day of all 3 of us. Taking a self-photo with a DSLR doesn't work very well, but Tyler always insists.

Blankets, Jam, Play Dough, Easter

2011-05-01T21:53:00.001-07:00

Easter was a lot of fun this year. We invited 3 families to join us for a big Easter dinner. It was the biggest group I've ever prepared a holiday meal for, but it was great. Everyone brought delicious food. Our apartment was a little cramped, but the kids had so much fun together. It's nice to have good friends when you have to spend holidays away from family.

Jackson at the Easter Egg Hunt for UW Family Housing. He was in heaven. Enjoying the Easter package from Grandma Trish. No, I couldn't get him to put the Peep down and smile for a picture. Great-Grandma Boyd also sent an awesome Easter package. Jackson is so spoiled :) Baby Stuff:

I'm starting to feel like myself again. It's nice to have a little energy and be able to feel excited about this little baby boy, instead of spending every day worrying, which is what I did the first 4 months. We were thrilled with our ultrasound results. I healthy little boy is exactly what we were hoping for :) We've been clearing out Jackson's room. He has been sleeping in a queen bed, which he loves, but it just didn't allow a lot of space for a baby crib in the same room, so we sold his bed and we've been shopping for a bunkbed. We've also been going through tiny little Jackson clothes to get them ready for baby #2. It's been an exciting couple of weeks and I'm starting to feel a little more prepared.

To add to the excitement, my friend Robin made an adorable baby blanket. It was so sweet of her and I absolutely love it! It's baby #2's first possession, since most of his stuff will be inherited from Jackson.

The other day, Jackson said, "Mom, I have something really cool to show you. It's beautiful!" He ran into my room, found this blanket, and brought it to me. Sometimes he spreads the blanket over my tummy and says that his little brother is cold. The other day, I found him watching TV with his arm around the blanket, but it wasn't like he was using the blanket. It was like he was protecting it for his brother or something. He's so cute and SO EXCITED! It's fun to have him understand and be so involved.

The last few months, I have been feeling a little discouraged about myself as a mother. I'm sure part of it came from being too sick to do very much. And part of it came from the fact that I'm just not a natural stay-at-home-mom and sometimes I worry that I'm failing. So a few weeks ago, when I was finally feeling energetic again, I decided to do some of the "typical mom stuff" that I don't always make time for.

Jackson helped me make strawberry jam. He was really good at sneaking strawberry bites and dipping his fingers in the sugar everytime I turned around. (Also, notice the 3 little tupperwares on the counter? That's the homemade play dough I made. Jackson has become obsessed with playdough. He will sit and play for at least an hour. His favorite shape to make is a snow ball. He's pretty good at making them)

We also dyed easter eggs (the Tuesday AFTER Easter). It was a little late, but we still had fun.

Baby Brother

2011-04-22T21:27:00.000-07:00

This post should be a lot more creative, but I spent my day washing & sorting boxes {and boxes} of Jackson's old baby clothing, and cleaning/selling Jackson's queen size bed to make room for a smaller bed and a crib, so I'm pretty exhausted, but I figured I should at least blog about our big news from yesterday.

It's a boy!

More details, stories, excitement to come, when I can keep my eyes open.

Big Brother

2011-04-04T16:10:00.000-07:00

Jackson is going to be a big brother! We're so excited to be adding a new addition to our family. I am 16 weeks along and the baby is due September 17th (although I'm already planning on the the baby arriving about a week late based on my last pregnancy). This pregnancy has been just as rough as the first, although I have a 2 year-old this time around, which means it's been a lot rougher. Being sick with a little kid is hard, and makes you feel guilty and useless. But we have survived so far and I am feeling mostly better. I still get a little sick in the evenings but nothing compared to what has been happening the last few months. And the last few days I've started to feel little kicks, which makes it all worth it. I'm excited to start enjoying the fun part of pregnancy.

My fabulous mom decided to fly out and help when I was about 10 weeks along, which was when I was at my worst. It was fabulous to have her come. She is the greatest house guest in the world and definately welcome back when the baby arrives. She did all the cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, Jackson entertaining/diapers/bedtime, and even left our freezer stocked for the weeks to come. I seriously would not have survived this time around without her.

Of course she brought gifts, including a giant Lightening McQueen coloring book.

Jackson helped her make cookies. He was very good at unwrapping the Rolos without eating any, until his mom broke the rules and ate one. It was downhill from there.

Drumming like Daddy

Thanks for all your help, Mom. We love you!

We'll find out in a few weeks if it's a boy or girl, so stay tuned.

Shamu & Sunshine

2011-03-30T09:01:00.000-07:00

We had a fantastic week in San Diego with my mom and sisters. Jackson was in heaven. Sunshine, Shamu, sandy beaches, Whitney to play with him, and Grandma to spoil him. What more could he want? Although he did once make the comment, "I just want to play with daddy right now." (Tyler was in Peru)

Meeting Elmo was one of his favorites. After the problems we had with Halloween costumes, I thought he would be scared by the giant, fuzzy costume, but he ran right up and gave him a hug. I guess Elmo is the exception.

After we were done taking pictures, he kept saying,

"I want to meet Elmo again!"

Jackson is all wet in the picture because we just finished with the fountains (see the video at the bottom of this post)

Me and my mom

Jackson loved the deer in the petting zoo

He really loved them, and they were amazingly tolerant

Does anyone watch Scrubs re-runs like we do? He looks like he's doing JD's hide-the-nipple dance. It cracks me up.

This is how you know the day was a success

What a gorgeous beach. Jackson was an expert sand castle maker.

So here is Jackson enjoying the fountains. It started off as innocently putting his hands in the water. But once I realized I had spare shorts and a dry jacket in my purse, we decided to just let him go crazy.

Why We Love Target Dollar Bins

2011-03-29T19:36:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter, a little early.

(at least I talked him out of the pink bunny ears that he really wanted)

Humidifiers & Things I Like

2011-03-27T07:49:00.001-07:00

This is just a random cute picture of Jackson today. I had the humidifier on the kitchen table and Jackson climbed up there and stuck his face in the mist. Tiny water droplets all over his face... Cute.

It's been a really long time since I did a writing post, and since I'm still waiting on my mom to email our San Diego pictures, I figured it was time. Jackson and I spent the last week in San Diego with my mom and sisters. We decided to get out of town because Tyler is in Peru for 12 days, but now we are back from our vacation and Tyler still has 2 more days to go, so I've been feeling a little bummed.

My friend Lara from Pocket Full of Prose did a "Things I Like About Myself" post and challenged me to do the same. I decided I should give it a try, although I should warn you that I've had a rough couple of days, so I'm not quite sure how this will come out. So despite my recent self-loathing, here are a few things that I love about myself:

I'm good at keeping a clean house most of the time, and I'm good at knowing when it's time to drop everything and let the dishes pile up so I can do floor puzzles with Jackson.
I'm good at running. I'm slow, but I'm still good at it. I almost never forget which foot needs to move forward next.
I write good emails. During college, I wrote my father emails constantly and I think they were fairly entertaining to read. Part of this probably has to do with the fact that I'm not afraid of a little bit of exaggeration. So I'm not always perfectly honest, but people are entertained, and isn't that more important?
I'm good at grocery shopping. That sounds like something stupid, but I just have this amazing system down, and I always finish grocery shopping trips feeling very proud of my efficiency. I even had a cashier tell me once that I was the most organized grocery shopper she's ever seen.
My hair has pretty natural blonde highlights. And if I spend too much time in cloudy Seattle and my hair gets too dark, I spray a little Sun-In, whip out the blow dryer, and call it natural anyway.
I'm really good with Excel. My dad taught me Excel when I was like 5 or something. I thought he was such a dork, but now I'm fairly addicted to it. I make up stupid excuses to use it all the time.
I'm a terrible mother, but at least I can admit that. Some women are built to be super-stay-at-home-moms. I'm not, but I still try. And I have a very happy little boy that I love very much. And he knows how much I love him, and he loves me too, and that counts for something.
I'm good at proof-reading, and maybe even a little obsessive. Everytime you send me an email or write a blog post, I proofread as I read it. I can't help it. But don't worry, I usually won't mention your typos unless they are really bad :) And my own typos devestate me.
I make efforts to take care of the environment. I use reusable grocery totes and I am very good at following Seattle's ridiculous recycling rules. Although I guess the fact that I call them "ridiculous" probably means I don't care about the environment quite enough.
Despite how rough the last few days have been, when Tyler gets home in a few days, Jackson and I will both still be alive. That is impressive.

So there you have it. I have a few good qualities. You have them too. Write them down :)

Good Surprises

2011-03-08T16:40:00.000-08:00

We had a good weekend, despite the fact that Tyler was gone for 5 days to an ASDA conference. It was hard to have him gone, but Jackson and I enjoyed some quality time together, and we had a few fun surprises too.

One of my sweet friends brought me a homemade fruit bouquet. It was so thoughtful of her that it almost made me cry. Jackson and I snapped a few quick pictures and then devoured it. It was delicious! She's so talented.

Saturday morning we awoke to another fun surprise. We did some indoor plant starts for our garden. It felt so early, but Seattle's planting season starts really early so we figured it was time. I was amazed to see these cute little plants pop up just 6 days after planting them. And of course, Tyler came home with gifts (even though they were just the free gifts that he got from vendors at the conference). Jackson enjoyed his little airplane, which he played make believe with all morning after Tyler got home. He would fly it around the room, land it on the couch, and then pretend to open a tiny little door in the side of the plane and say, "It's Daddy's plane. Daddy is home! He came home!" I thought it was really sweet.

A New Hobby

2011-03-02T08:47:00.000-08:00

Jackson is currently obsessed with puzzles. And I have learned the vast difference between cheap puzzles and expensive puzzles. Nice puzzles are definately worth the money. Cheap puzzles fall apart and the pieces are distorted and won't stick together and are very frustrating to a 2-year-old. So over the past few weeks, we've been investing in some high-quality floor puzzles from Ross's, and Jackson has been in puzzle heaven.

My favorite part of the puzzles? When Jackson finishes one on his own and then stands up, holds his arms out, and yells "Tah-duh!" It makes me giggle every time.

PBJ

2011-02-25T20:50:00.000-08:00

Today I left Jackson alone with his PB & J sandwich while I got ready for work. I came out and found him kneeling on the floor in front of our new mirror admiring himself. Apparently, he was quite proud of the mess he made on his face.

When I tried to take a picture of the mess, he kept squinting from the flash. He likes to check his pictures after I take them. "Let me see. Let me see." And every time he would say, "My eyes closed." Finally, he said "Take another. I keep my eyes open."

And this was the result of him trying to keep his eyes open. I decided it's the same type of thing where you can't put mascara on without opening your mouth.

Just the usual... pictures

2011-02-19T10:05:00.000-08:00

My friend Rendy is an amazing photographer. We took our kids to the Children's Museum and she got some great pictures of Jackson. I thought I'd share a couple of them.

Mail Time

2011-02-11T15:29:00.000-08:00

The Valentine package from Grandma & Grandpa Hawkins arrived. I'm pretty sure Jackson needs a holiday that involves presents every month.

Happy Valentine's Day

Chilly Sunshine

2011-02-01T15:31:00.000-08:00

All winter long, Jackson and I have been having indoor picnics at Jackson's request. I don't know why it's so fun to spread out a blanket in your living room and eat a sandwich, but he loves it. Today the sun came out, but it was still pretty cold. Around lunch time Jackson got really excited and said, "Mom, how 'bout picnic OUTSIDE?" And he covered his mouth giggling when he said the word "outside", like it was the silliest, greatest idea he's ever had. So we put on our coats, spread out a nice thick blanket over our wet grass, and had a picnic.

I'm not sure why the drumstick came to our picnic?

Jackson's favorite new game is playing with his shadow. He makes it do silly dances and say silly things and just thinks it's hilarious. And he likes to make our shadows look like they are holding hands without us actually holding hands. I'm glad he's so good at entertaining himself.

Just Jackson

2011-01-24T11:42:00.001-08:00

Not much has been happening, so there isn't much to post. Here are some cute pictures. That's all I've got for now, but there are some new Cute Funnies in the sidebar -->

Hawkins Family Pictures 2010

2011-01-07T10:29:00.000-08:00

I finally got a tripod, so we attempted some family photos in my parent's backyard. The blur. Sometimes the messed up/non-posed pictures are the best ones.

Uncle Kevin

Christmas 2010 in Pictures

2011-01-07T10:17:00.000-08:00

This year Jackson LOVED opening presents. Christmas with a 2 year-old is my new favorite thing. "I am Buzz Lightyear." That's the phrase I've heard over and over again the past few weeks.

Uncle Kevin Santa

Tyler Santa

Loving cheesecake

Madden and Jackson

The Christmas morning mess

Puzzles with Grandma. Jackson was really proud of his accomplisment.

Enjoying LOTS of snow at the Boyd cabin in Island Park

Lounging

Cutest Santa Ever

2010-12-25T21:41:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

Do you recognize Santa? Jackson did.

Intramural Football

2010-12-07T08:24:00.000-08:00

Tyler's dental school puts together a team for almost every intramural sport. They are all very athletic and have a lot of fun. Last Friday their football team, The Gold Crowns, was in the championship and won! They got to play the final game in the Husky Stadium on the actual football field, pretty cool.

Celebrating after one of Tyler's many interceptions throughout the season. I never appreciated the defensive aspect of football until I watched Tyler play. I don't want to brag, but he's pretty amazing.

Congrats, Gold Crowns!

Fearless

2010-12-07T08:03:00.000-08:00

Last year when Jackson met Santa, it didn't go so well. But everyone has to have a picture of their toddler screaming on Santa's lap, right? Last night was my work Christmas party. I was the Santa photographer. I have never seen so many screaming children. Luckily, this year Jackson was not one of them. In fact, he sat on Santa's lap twice. And when Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas, he gave his classic answer of "presents." But then remembered Buzz Lightyear and quickly changed his answer.

Making gingerbread houses. After the party I told Tyler it was time to go and asked him where their gingerbread house was, thinking we could use it as a cute decoration. His answer... "We ate it."

Fall Pictures... sort of

2010-11-25T10:36:00.000-08:00

After a failed attempt at professional pictures with the daycare here at our apartments, I decided to take Jackson outside and try to get some pictures with the fall leaves. Let's just say... photographing a 2 year-old is hard.

The serious look. Isn't he dashing?

Without snow plows...

2010-11-25T10:21:00.000-08:00

Monday was Seattle's first snow storm in years. Apparently, this city is not equipped to handle snow. So after we got 2 inches, if that, on Monday, the entire university was shut down on Tuesday and Wednesday even though they were both sunny, calm days. We won't complain because we are getting a nice long holiday weekend. And since I work for the university, my office was also closed on Tues/Wed, even though my office is about 20 steps from my back door. I went in for a couple hours both days anyway because I had stuff that needed to be done, but for the most part, we've been relaxing and enjoying the time off.

It turns out, Jackson kind of loves snow. Too bad we live in Seattle.

He had a hard time with the snowball concept. Everytime he tried to throw one at us, he ended up hitting himself in the face, which is what all the snow on his hat is from. It was so funny to watch, and I still can't figure out how he was doing it.

Like every other kid, Jackson is REALLY excited for Christmas. It's fun to have him understand that it's coming and be able to look forward to it. This is him reading the Target Toy Catalog. He took it to bed with him the first night it arrived, and carted it around the whole next day.

Gratitude Giveaway

2010-11-17T07:41:00.000-08:00

So my all-time favorite blog, Pocket Full of Prose, is doing a Thanksgiving Giveaway for some adorable bread pans. Go here to enter. And check out the rest of her blog if you haven't already. She writes about adoption, infertility, parenting, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, basically anything and everything. Like I said, it's my favorite blog. She's great!

Pier 57

2010-11-09T07:46:00.000-08:00

Last Friday night, we went with our friends to Miner's Landing at Pier 57. I thought it would be kind of cheesy (although I do enjoy cheesy), but it was actually really fun.

This was the best picture I could get of Jackson once the carousel actually started moving... holding on for dear life. If only he had used this same caution later in the evening (see pictures at the bottom of the post)

The great thing about taking 2 year-olds to an arcade is that you don't even have to put quarters in the machines. He "played" this game for a long time and didn't really care that no one was with him.

Of course, no arcade visit would be complete without a little healthy competition between the big boys (Tyler didn't win. In fact, Mike ended up beating the high score)

This picture isn't even posed. They really were that excited. Kirsten and I tried the stupid dance game...

...and failed. Literally. Two big, fat "F's"

And more competing... I think Tyler lost again :)

And then to finish off our evening, Jackson decided to try to scare one of the twins. He ended up wiping out on the slippery sidewalk. It was pretty bad. Recovering at home with a movie and some M&M's

Meticulous

2010-11-06T14:11:00.000-07:00

Jackson has become a meticulous colorer. It's still just scribbles, but it's carefully calculated scribbling with attention to tiny little details. It's adorable.

See that concentration face? His dad has makes the exact same face when he's drilling teeth.

So proud of his work See what I mean? I know it's still just scribbles, but look at those perfect little scribbled circular shapes! I know that everyone says this, and everyone else rolls their eyes when someone says this, but I think he is incredibly talented :)

A blog of a book of a blog

2010-11-06T13:55:00.000-07:00

Have you seen these? We decided to have our blog printed into a book periodically. Our first one just arrived. I'm not perfectly consistant about journaling... or scrapbooking... or printing photos for an album, so this seems like a good way to have something tangible. You know... in case the internet ever explodes.

We used www.blog2print.com and were pretty happy with the results. Not too expensive and it arrived quickly. Plus we didn't really have to do much. You just type in your blog web address, tell them the date range to include, and they do the rest. Then you can preview the book and delete posts, add comments from blog, etc. I do wish there was a way to do page-by-page editting for fixing a few little things, but I couldn't find a company that uploads for you and allows you to make design changes to individual pages.

"I So Cited!"

2010-11-01T14:39:00.000-07:00

This was Jackson's favorite phrase of the weekend. "Mommy... I so cited!" He was very excited about everything, and he told me so over and over again. Tyler had to go to Chicago for the weekend for an ASDA conference, so we enjoyed most of the Halloween festivities just the two of us.

Setting up for my work Halloween party on Thursday night. These are the two ladies that I work with.

Friday night was a party with friends, but Jackson didn't last very long, so we went home and had a "date night" and rented How to Train Your Dragon. What a great movie! We're adding it to our Christmas wish list. Jackson has been asking for it constantly. Jackson enjoying a donut after Trunk-or-Treating on Saturday. We also went to the pumpkin bash at the zoo on Saturday, but Jackson was a little stinker the whole time, so I never bothered with the camera.

And finally, on Sunday, Daddy came home and got all decked-out for some last minute trick-or-treating.

As a funny side story, Tyler forgot his wallet for his Chicago trip. He managed to get on the airplane anyway, but had no money or ID all weekend. Jackson and I ordered online and sent Domino's to his hotel room on Saturday night so he wouldn't starve to death. But really, when traveling across the country, you should take your wallet.

I also learned that Jackson's snoring sounds exactly the same as Tyler's. It was almost comforting to have him sleep in my room all weekend.

Just a Weekend

2010-10-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

Some weekends are particularly fabulous. This was one of those weekends, and I'd like to document it for my own memory.

Friday Night:

Tyler had an intramural football game. I have been really impressed with how good he is. His team is all dental school guys and they are pretty funny to watch. Plus, I'm pretty sure we're the only intramural team that has 5-10 kids running around on the sidelines at any given time. Anyway, Tyler scored the final touchdown of the game for the 2nd week in a row. They were up by several touchdowns in both games, so he didn't technically win it for them, but it still makes me proud. After the game, we picked up a $6 Dominos Pizza and a $1 Redbox... my kind of date night. Tyler read Jackson his favorite book "Tanka, Tanka, Skunk." (If you haven't read it, you should. Jackson giggles everytime we read it. It's a simple, silly book, but still fun.) Tyler has been really busy with his 2nd year, which we knew was coming, but it's still hard to only see him for a few hours before bed each night. Jackson has been particualry missing him, so I think he enjoyed having a little extra time with his dad this weekend. After Jackson went to bed, Tyler and I watched the new Robin Hood. I REALLY love that movie.

Enjoying story time

Love the smile. He's way too happy to have all of his dad's attention.

Saturday:

Saturday we decorated pumpkins. It's one of my favorite traditions, but we skipped it last year since Jackson was too young to really get it. This year we let him do paint and stickers and he definately enjoyed himself. He did NOT want his picture taken. He hates having his shirt off, but it's just easier for messy projects.

Tyler carved the joker from Batman.

And the results... They turned out quite nicely.

Jamie's pumpkin. Jackson requested Shrek.

Tyler's pumpkin. (which also happens to be the back side of my pumpkin... I love being poor college students) Jackson was a little nervous about the scary face.

Cute Funnies (Part 2)

2010-10-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

We are planning to have our blog printed into several books, so I like to keep an archive of the cute funnies that I put on the side bar of our blog. I haven't figured out how to get the program we use to print the side bar, so I just keep all of them listed in a blog post so they get copied into the book. The last post was quite a while ago so I decided to start a new one. Just ignore the redundancy.

Cute Funnies:

August 8, 2011 We were coming out of the grocery store and I was getting ready to load the groceries in the car. I still needed to pop the trunk. Jackson loudly yelled "Pop like it's hot pwease!" That's the phrase Tyler says when he needs me to pop the trunk. I'm pretty sure it comes from a dirty rap song or something like that, but when Jackson yells it at his mom, it's pretty dang funny. . June 28, 2011 Dad: Uh-oh. You put your underwear on backwards. Jackson: Oops. *giggles* I thought it was forwards. . June 23, 2011 Jackson has a story book called "I love you through and through". It has cute illustrations of a little boy with blonde spikey hair. He kind of reminds me of Jackson. So yesterday, I tried to put Jackson's name into the story, because he usually loves when I do that. He responded, "Mom! That's not me. That's 'Through & Through.' " I guess he thinks that's the boy's name. . June 10, 2011 **Jackson was going to his friend Alaina's house to be babysat while Tyler and I did a temple trip** Dad: Jackson, can I come to Alaina's house with you today to play? Jackson: No, Daddy. You have to go to the temple and marry mommy. . June 14, 2011 *This conversation happened after Jackson hit a pretty good golf shot with his little driver while we were golfing today* Mom: Nice hit, Jackson! Jackson: Yeah, you knew I could do it. Mom: I did know you could do it because you have your Daddy's good golfing genes. Jackson: Yeah, I know. We have the same basketball shorts. (he must have thought I meant jeans and related that to their matching shorts, which are directly related to good golf shots) . June 12, 2011 Jackson grammer when he's trying to be polite: "Please may I can have watch Kung Fu Panda?" . June 5, 2011 Mom: Jackson, put your pajamas on right now. My patience is running out. Jackson (after quickly putting on his pajamas): Now your patience is going back in. . June 5, 2011 Mom: We have a lot of cleaning to do. Who let this kitchen get so messy? Jackson: Um... Daddy did. . June 5, 2011 During church I pointed to a picture of a child being baptised and tried to quiz Jackson about it to keep him preoccupied. Mom: Do you know what is happening in this picture? Jackson: A "Bath-tism"... Uh-oh, they forgot to take their clothes off. . May 18, 2011 Jackson loves his little nerf dart guns, but he isn't strong enough to cock them himself. So all day long he brings them to me and says, "Mom, will you 'cwock' this so I can shoot you?" And for some reason I always do. . May 15, 2011 Jackson loves getting himself dressed, usually in basketball shorts (despite the pouring rain and cold temperatures) and a mis-matched shirt/sweater/pajama top. The other morning he came out in a particularly ridiculous outfit and proudly declared, "I'm looking pretty cute, huh?" . May 12, 2011 "Mommy, I went poo-poo in the potty. You wanna take a picture?" . April 7th, 2011 Jackson found a small package of conversation hearts leftover from Valentine's Day. He asks me to read each heart to him before he eats it. Jackson: "What 'dis' one say?" Mom: "It says 'WILD CHILD'. That one is perfect for you because you are a wild child." Jackson: (very upset) "I'm NOT wild child! I'm Jackson Kent Boyd" . April 7th, 2011 Every morning Jackson asks for his new favorite cereal, "Apple Jacksons". I'm not sure if it's the name or the sugary apple flavor that he likes. . April 4th, 2011 My little brother is getting married to Stephanie in July. When I was booking airfare I asked Jackson if he wanted to fly to Idaho for Kevin's wedding. He replied, "Oh! I love to get married with Kevin and Stephanie!" . March 9th, 2011 I know Cute Funnies are traditionally things Jackson says, but I had a good Tyler one yesterday, so I'm posting it. Tyler: Our garden starts look really good. I can't believe how fast they're growing. It's just a shame that there is so much zucchini. Jamie: I didn't know you cared. What would you prefer we grew? Tyler: Can we grow Reese's Puffs Cereal? . February 4th, 2011 I gave Jackson a big slice of pizza. He looked at it suspiciously and said "That's not gonna fit in my mouth." . February 2nd, 2011 Jackson: Mom, I want McDonalds. But not any "vegables". Just McDonalds. . January 30th, 2011 Jackson: My "smoovie" has no strawberries. Mom: It has strawberries. They're just chopped up so you can't see them. Jackson: Strawberries chopped up? Oh no! That's so sad. . January 24th, 2011 This morning we were enjoying our daily "Smoot Smoovie" and a little of it spilled on the table. Jackson: Uh-oh. I spilled. Mom: That's okay. I'll get a cloth and clean it up. Jackson: Oh. I help! He must have thought I said "cough" instead of "cloth" because he then coughed on the spill and tried to wipe it up. . January 23rd, 2011 Every morning Jackson requests a fruit smoothie by saying, "Smoot Smoovie pwease." And he gets one every morning because how can you say no to that? . January 19th, 2011 Tyler says really weird things, and when Jackson tries to copy those things, they come out even weirder. Sometimes when something tastes really good, Tyler calls it "Delooshy-tooshy" (from the root word delicious). So the other day Jackson called his lunch "Tasty toosty toosty". . January 12th, 2011 Mom: Jackson, do you want to go play at Alaina's house today? (Alaina lives on the 3rd floor at our apartment complex). Jackson: Um... no. It's just too hard with all of those stairs. Mom: I could carry you up the stairs. Jackson: Oh... okay. . January 7th, 2011 "Oopsie daisy, daisy. I poop something." . November 26th, 2010 Tyler has trained Jackson to tell people he wants to be a dentist when he grows up. So last week I was telling someone about it and we asked him "Jackson, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Instead of his trained response, he answered, "Buzz Lightyear!" . November 25th, 2010 One of Jackson's favorite phrases is "How 'bout..." He uses it A LOT, anytime he wants anything. Here is one of my favorite examples: Jackson: Mommy, I want juice. Mom: Okay, you can have a little juice. Jackson: Oh... how 'bout BIG juice?! My other favorite example happened the other night when I was tucking him into bed. I said good night and was closing the door when he said, "Oh wait. How 'bout kiss?" So I gave him a big kiss and tried to leave again. Then he said, "Oh wait. How 'bout hug?" . November 23rd, 2010 Daddy: Jackson, do you know where Santa Claus lives? Jackson: Idaho! . November 12th, 2010 Yesterday Jackson went to the bathroom in his potty chair for the first time. When he was done, I offered him a chocolate chip as his reward and said it was for him going potty. He looked confused. He held the chocolate chip in one hand, then pointed to his potty chair and said in a concerned tone, "I put it in there?" Haha, no Jackson. You eat it. . November 1st, 2010 Jackson and I were riding in the car when a Taylor Swift song came on the radio. His eyes got really big and he said, "Mommy, I LOVE this song!" Sometimes I think he spends too much time with me. . November 1st, 2010 Jackson: "Mommy, more mac & cheese." Mom: "Here you go." Jackson: "Thank you." Mom: "You're welcome." Jackson: "No... YOU'RE welcome." . October 31st, 2010 Tyler was out of town so I was on my own with Jackson during church. He was doing pretty good, until the really quiet part of the meeting. For no reason at all he yelled out as loud as he could, "Nipple!" Where did that come from? I'm blaming Tyler for a being a little too thorough when he taught Jackson basic anatomy. . October 28th, 2010 We attended a Halloween party for my work tonight. I dressed up as a cave woman. The costume included ratting my hair up huge, wearing a cheetah print toga, and covering my face in brown smudges. When Jackson first saw me all dressed up like this, he said, "Oh mommy... you're beautiful!" . October 9th, 2010 Grandma Hawkins: Jackson, what would you like me to get you for Christmas? Jackson: Um... presents.

Lotta Nada

2010-10-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

We've finally had some time to do a lot of nothing. It's been great.

Silly slide pictures

Jackson: "I am... monkey!"

Fixing the cars from grandma with the tool set from grandma

He has started running away when he realizes I have the camera

Why is this the face I get when I ask for a smile and he decides to cooperate? I've learned not to ask. You just have to wait for it patiently, and be very fast with the trigger.

Girls, girls, girls

2010-10-15T14:27:00.000-07:00

We had a girly weekend with my mom and sisters visiting. Jackson didn't mind. He enjoys the girly stuff. We went to the Seattle Art Museum, enjoyed a cute little Italian place, and even spent a cloudy evening at the beach, where some kind of sea creature must have eaten my sister's phone, because it disappeared that evening and was never seen again.

Swinging with Aunt Whitney Watching the trains at Carkeek Beach

This is the fish slide. It's a little bizarre, but Jackson loves it because of how fast you can go. You go in the fishes mouth and out his...

Everyone relaxing in our messy apartment. Notice all of the purple shirts for game day? We all looked very festive.

Bad lighting, but I needed a cute grandma and Jackson picture (other than the one where she is flying out the "bottom" of the fish slide with Jackson and has a truely terrified look on her face. I decided to save that one for a special occasion.)

Washington Corn Maze

2010-09-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went to a corn maze. I didn't even know they had corn mazes in Washington. I guess I thought they were one of those Idaho treasures that everyone else thinks are lame. So we went to one that was about 30 miles north of Seattle. It was awesome. They have a whole farm set up with a petting zoo, play area, corn maze, bakery, pumpkin patch, putting course, etc. We had a blast. And the corn maze was shaped like the state of Washington, complete with real landmarks and roads. Most of the pictures were a little rough. There was a combination of bright sunshine, shadows from the corn, Jackson sprinting, and Tyler not realizing that I had left some weird camera settings on.

The hayride to the entrance of the maze

You entered along the "Idaho border"

About half way through, Jackson decided to be brave and started running off the path into the thick corn and hiding from us. It made me a little nervous because a couple of times he completely disappeared from view and would crouch down and wait silently while we called his name and crawled in after him.

Zoo Therapy

2010-09-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

Today we needed a zoo escape, just Jackson and me.

Favorite Jackson quote of the day:

(sternly pointing his finger) "Monkeys, No no! Too loud!"

Favorite moment of the day:

We were all by ourselves watching the snow leopards. They were, of course, all the way at the back of the exhibit, lounging on the rocks and doing nothing interesting. Then one of them stood up. He's ears perked up and he looked right at Jackson standing behind the glass all the way at the front end of the exhibit. He crouched down and glared. All of the sudden, he jumped off the rock and sprinted down the hill. He was to us in about 2 seconds and he ran right into the glass that Jackson was standing on the other side of. He got up, came back over and just stared at Jackson. Their noses were about 6 inches apart with a thin wall of glass between them. Jackson loved it. I was thinking of all those news stories where zoo animals get out and attack guests.

My favorite animal of the day:

The brown bear, but only because he came over and lounged on the rocks right in front of us. It was the best view we've ever gotten of him.

a very poorly taken photograph, but Jackson wanted to be in one with the bear

It Shouldn't Be This Fun

2010-09-20T12:29:00.000-07:00

Tyler has informed that it's time for a blog update. I replied with, "Maybe you should do a post." And his response, "I guess we don't really need one right now." Haha, well, here it is anyway. My lack of posts has been due to a lack of exciting things going on around here. In fact, last week was filled with a bunch of silly, little things that shouldn't be that fun, but they were.

On Thursday a fabulous package arrived, my new toy (pictured below). Cleaning carpets shouldn't be a fun thing, but for some reason I was thrilled when this arrived and spent my entire afternoon shampooing the ridiculously white carpets in our house. Once again, white carpets in a student-family apartment complex? Give me a break! Anyway, they are sparkling clean again. See how beatiful they look? I'm guessing next time they need to be cleaned, I won't be so excited to do it.

On Friday, an even better package arrived. My best friend still lives in Idaho, so we have to find ways to cheer each other up from a distance. Last week I had a particularly bad day and told her I needed her to skip work and spend the afternoon with me, which she obviously couldn't do from so far away. So instead she mailed me a "girly afternoon package" including bright pink nail polish, a cucumber face mask, and a Glamour magazine, which she had already read and written little comments all over for me to read. So I spolied myself for a day and pretended she was there. Again, way more fun than it should be :) Thanks, Lara!

Another big part of my week was reading. Althought I hate reading, I've managed to plow through almost 4 books in the past few weeks, and my house is cleaner than ever. I guess it motivates me when I actually have something good to do with my free time. Maybe I should decide I like reading... maybe I already do.

I started with this book, which was interesting and way different than what I usually read. I actually really liked it. I can't decide if I would recommend it to friends. It would probably depend on the friend. But I'm glad I read it.

The last five days have been devoted to these. I'm still in the middle of Mockingjay, so don't spoil it for me :) And finally, because I know the grandparents are reading this, and I know what they care about seeing. Jackson is still just as cute as ever. He's looking particularly handsome and grown up in his new fall clothing.

15k

2010-09-13T15:40:00.000-07:00

After Tyler did his triathalon, I decided I should do something like that too. I talked my friend into training for a 15k (9.3 miles). For any of you who run, that probably doesn't sound like much, but for someone like me, it was a big deal. We only had 5 weeks to train (which ended up being about 3 weeks if you don't count the time that I was either sick or injured). Well, Saturday was the race and somehow I made it. I finished the race in 1 hour 33 minutes. My goal was to do it in under 2 hours, so I was proud of the accomplishment. Unfortunately, the camera was on the wrong settings and all of the race pictures turned out blurry (or maybe I was just running that fast), but there were a couple of cute post-race pictures.

Jackson enjoying my post-race cookies. Apparently he thought he had earned them.

My friend and her cute family. Our husbands are in school together, we work together, we live across the parking lot from each other, and now we run races together :)

Randi, Brevic, Madden, and Alex

2010-09-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

For Labor Day weekend, we had visitors from Idaho. Tyler's sister, Randi, and her husband Brevic and son Madden, and Tyler's brother, Alex. It was so fun to have family around. We had a blast. I love Seattle, I just wish it was closer to Pocatello so we could see everyone more often.

Jackson really enjoyed spending time with his only cousin. Jackson definately knows he is the older one, and he picked on Madden a lot, but in a few years they will be great friends.

The boys were lucky enough to meet a guy while golfing that gave us free Mariner's tickets in the fancy terrace seats.

Jackson with his uncle Alex

A beautiful sunset at Carkeek Beach

Big boys having fun on the little kid toys. The best part is clicking on the pictures and zooming in to look at their facial expressions. It was way more intense than it looks in these pictures.

In case you were doubting their speed, I slowed down the shutter speed in this picture so you can see their movement... kind of a cool effect. It also makes it look light outside, even though it wasn't.

"Saw-knee"

2010-08-27T16:46:00.000-07:00

Jackson's cutest word right now is "sorry", which he pronounces "saw-knee". The letter R is hard to say, so he adapted the word for himself. It really does melt my heart everytime he says it. He always says it in a really sweet, little sad voice.

A few weeks ago, he got very good at saying it when I walked into the family room and found my carpet colored blue. (notice the blue hands in the picture below) As soon as I walked into the room, Jackson put his head down and started to cry. He knew he was in trouble. He avoided eye contact with me for about 30 minutes while I scrubbed the carpet and calmly, but sternly explained that we never color anything but paper. He kept crying and refusing to look at me and finally told me he wanted a nap. So I took him into his room and kissed him goodnight. As I was closing the door, I heard his timid little voice say, "Mommy. Saw-knee. Wuv you." You can't be mad after that.

And thank you Sol-U-Mel, because the carpet is fine now. What will I do when my supply runs out?

I have a "job"

2010-08-27T15:05:00.000-07:00

I started my new job in June and spent the summer working. It was... well... a lot of work, but it was also a lot of play. My job includes office work, on-call shifts, and even a few Excel spreadsheets (yay!). But it also includes the aspect that can best be described as "party-planning". I get to host events for the apartment community and it's a lot of fun. Here's a couple of pictures from the events this summer.

We had a water play day with giant, inflatable water slides and a picnic.

Jackson enjoyed the watermelon the most. I saw him eat at least 6 slices, which doesn't include all the pieces he must have snuck while I was distracted.

Getting ready to go down the big slide together. I'm not sure how I ended up doing this while Tyler stayed dry the entire time. This picture makes me love my camera. Look at the water droplets frozen in the air. Love it.

And this is Jackson modeling for me while I photograph the "bug treats" that we made for a toddler activity. I did this event myself and learned one important thing... it was way too much sugar for toddlers. Next year I want to include more bug-shaped fruit and vegetable items.

Bug treats

Summarizing Summer

2010-08-27T14:35:00.000-07:00

I have received several complaints lately about my lack of blogging. We've just been enjoying our summer too much. But today, Jackson and I had to put our jackets on to play outside, and I realized that fall is approaching, so I better wrap up the summer stuff, which of course leads to a giant post with a bunch of random pictures from our summer. Enjoy.

The hat is too big, but did you notice the Space Needle in the background? This was taken at Alki Beach, a beautiful place that we didn't discover until the end of the summer. It will be at the top of our list next year.

Jackson actually really enjoys sight-seeing.

Taken at Gas Works Park. This is a view of the other side of the Space Needle. Sorry for all the boring tourist information. I've decided to have our blog printed into a book (or several books), so I'm trying to include more of the informative details, but its kind of boring for our readers who are just here to see cute pictures of Jackson. I don't know why he likes being thrown in the air like that, but he does.

Jackson spotted a plane. Look at that smile :)

Watching Daddy rock climb. It was a beautiful place up in the mountains in Snoqualmie Pass. I've really learned to appreciate escaping from the city once in a while. It makes me miss Idaho.

Jackson's facial expression: "Oh, come on, Mom. Why am I wearing an apron?"

Mom: "That's what happens when you go to an all girl birthday party."

Sticks are some of Jackson's favorite toys, and they are free every where you go. Now I understand why my dad used to complain when he built us a big swing-set and we played in the pile of dirt instead.

Rock climbing with Daddy, which we did a lot this summer. Don't worry, they aren't very high.

See.

I suppose it was inevitable, but Jackson has taken a liking to golf.

And of course, the big change this summer: Jackson became a 2-year-old, which includes a big boy bed. (And by "big boy bed", I mean a queen size bed) He sprawls out, loves it, and if you ask, he'll describe it as "Soff an comfy", which is what he says every morning when I ask how he slept.

Seattle Seahawks

2010-08-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

We figured it was time for the Boyd family to attend their first pro football game. We got a sweet deal on some pre-season tickets against the Green Bay Packers, which has been Tyler's favorite team for a really long time. Of course, the parking cost as much as one of the tickets and was over a mile from the stadium, but we had a blast and it was all worth it.

This is a cell phone picture. We'd tried to take a group shot of all 3 of us with the DSLR. It didn't really work.

Jackson got really tired but refused to sleep even though the game went until 10:30pm. He also commented several times that it was "too loud". I agreed.

And here are the boys after church the following day. I think it wore us all out.

Triathlon

2010-08-07T18:22:00.000-07:00

Today, Tyler completed his first triathlon. It was on Whidbey Island (beautiful!). We had a great day and couldn't be more proud of him!

Getting ready to leave for the race... 5am

Taking the ferry to Whidbey Island. It was a cloudy day, but still quite pleasant.

Getting ready to start. He doesn't even look nervous.

Tyler's wave taking off in the water. He's somewhere in there. Coming out of the water. He completed the swim way faster than we expected. We were so excited for him.

This was the cheering squad. The twins' dad, Mike, did the triathlon with Tyler. It was awesome to have Kirsten with me all morning during the race too.

Tyler looks so happy because he is just about to finish the biking leg of the race. He said that was definately the hardest part. It turns out Whidbey Island is a very hilly place.

Running to the finish line.

After the race. Doesn't he look great? :)

This triathlon was a 1/2 mile swim, 19.5 mile bike ride, and 3.8 mile run. Tyler did it in 2 hours and 4 minutes. He's amazing!

25 Things You Never Knew You Never Knew

2010-08-05T08:26:00.001-07:00

My friend Lara challenged me to do this post. I don't usually do these, but I was in a mood today. So here it is: 25 Things You Didn't Know About Me... 1. When I was way too young, my Dad let me watch Nightmares On Elm Street. For several years I would get sick to my stomach as soon as it started to get dark each night. At one point, my family moved to a street called Elmore. I was convinced it would be even worse than the movies because it's "more" than "Elm" street. 2. I lie about how many boys I've kissed in my life, even to myself. I think it ended up somewhere between 15 and 20, but I like to tell myself it was closer to 10. 3. I secretly hoped Jackson would be a girl until the exact moment when I saw the ultrasound and found out he was a boy. Then I remember thinking, "Why did I want a girl? Boys are so much cooler!" 4. I don't like running, but I pretend like I do and I go running all the time. 5. I'm a math geek. My favorite computer game is called Microsoft Office Excel. My dad taught me the game when I was 10, and I've loved it ever since. 6. Even though I've never made it past chapter 2 on a book I've tried to write, I still like to think that someday I'll finish one and get it published. 7. I had a pet iguana named Calvin (after Calvin and Hobbes). 8. I think the proudest moment of my Dad's life was the end of my 9th grade year, when I was awarded "Captain of the Cheerleading Squad" and "Math Student of the Year" on the same day. 9. I'm 100% Team Jacob. If I wasn't happily married to the love of my life, I'd have Taylor Lautner posters all over my house. Edward's a pansy. 10. My first dirtbike was a TTR 125. I started riding because I thought it would impress boys (and it did, I'm pretty sure that's why my husband married me) but I found out that I actually really enjoy riding, especially if I sing sappy love songs as loud as I can while I ride a gorgeous Idaho mountain trail. 11. I love proofreading things. Love it! Sometimes I proofread the labels on my shampoo bottles just for fun. 12. As an adult, I'm terrified of making new friends. When I moved to Seattle, I invited my neighbor over to decorate cookies because I didn't know how adults were supposed to make friends. I've gotten a little better at it since then, although the cookie-decorating neighbor and I are still very close :) 13. I consider cooking to be my current favorite hobby. My dream is to have a beautiful kitchen, a ridiculously large grocery budget, and host big dinner parties at least once a week. 14. I rarely go more than 2 hours without eating something, unless I'm asleep. 15. The thing I miss most about my childhood and teen years is dancing. Sometimes during Jackson's nap I dance in my living room and pretend like there's an audience. 16. I'm guilty of spider cruelty. They can die slow painful deaths and I hardly even care. 17. I'm career-obsessed. Although I love it, being a stay-at-home mom is really hard on me. I dream about a fancy office in downtown Seattle, and I get sad when we drive through downtown in the evening and I see some of the office lights still on. 18. I never like my hair. It doesn't matter what I do with it or how it's cut, I don't like it. 19. I'm fascinated by adoption. I love reading stories and blogs. I think adoptive parents are amazing and inspiring. 20. I don't like fish. I try, but I just don't. 21. I had a secret crush on my husband in highschool. I didn't have the guts to make a move. I also accidentally saw him buck naked at Lake Powell when I was 16 :) 22. When I grow up, I want to be like my sister. She's only 16 right now, but she's more mature than me in a lot of ways. (*This one needs to be amended. Apparently my sister is 17. This is what happens when you live 700 miles away from your family!) 23. I screen phone calls... a lot. 24. My favorite movie is The Italian Job. Although I've looked it up on Amazon at least twenty times and it only costs about $5 these days, I still don't own a copy. Which leads to my final one... 25. I'm a cheapskate. I'm completely, over-the-top, obnoxiously frugal in a bad way.

Turning Two

2010-08-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

On Friday, July 3oth Jackson turned two years old. However, it was three weeks ago on a Tuesday that he really became a 2-year-old. I can remember the day because I woke up to screaming and nothing has been the same ever since. Temper tantrums, demanding independance, and continuous disobedience. But he's still cute and talking better than ever, so I guess we'll take it. We enjoyed the birthday celebrations, which lasted several weeks due to the timing and arrival of the multiple birthday packages from grandparents and great-grandparents.

The cars from Grandma Hawkins... Notice how they are perfectly lined up. That's his favorite thing to do with them.

He started to get excited every time another big box was delivered. He's going to be disappointed in the future when we start getting normal non-birthday packages again. One of the towels from Great-Grandma Boyd

The cake... Nemo of course

How many toddlers can you fit in a swimming pool?

Singing and blowing out the candles. As soon as the candles were out, Jackson stuck his finger right in the middle of the cake.

Cleaning up after cake and swimming

Farmers Market Tour

2010-07-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I had a really great opportunity. Through the blog Gourmet Mom-on-the-Go I won a tour of Pike Place Market and an afternoon cooking with some amazing women, all sponsered by I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. You can read all about our day here. I had such a blast, although I have to admit that I felt a little intimidated by the other women on the tour. I was definately the only amateur. They are all amazing bloggers, chefs, and business women, and they were a ton of fun! Mandy is the author of Gourmet Mom-on-the-Go and one of the greatest cooks I've ever met. I also spent a good portion of the tour wandering around with Lindsey, who has 2 adorable children, owns her own business, and definately knows her way around the kitchen. She was so fun and friendly and pretty dang good at catching fish (see the video). I also enjoyed delicious food from Deanna, owner of The Old Hen Bed & Breakfast, and Emme, who you can watch for on the upcoming Fox TV show, Master Chef. After my fabulous day with all of them, I feel inspired to be a little more bold in my cooking adventures.

SLC (Idaho Part 2)

2010-07-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

While we were in Idaho, we also made a day trip to Salt Lake for my grandparents 50th anniversary. I already posted a few pictures of them, but I wanted to post a few more of my family.

Jackson LOVES uncle Kevin... I think it's the red hair

Look how hard he is concentrating. Maybe he shouldn't try to eat grapes with a fork. Kim (my sister-in-law), Kevin (my brother, but not the one that's married to Kim), my dad, and me

Jackson is sitting on my lap as I post these. He just said "Daddy silly!", so I'll use that as the caption.

4th of July

2010-07-12T13:14:00.000-07:00

We started off our celebrations with an early firework show while we were still in Idaho.

Playing with sparklers

Then we had a celebration at our apartment complex...

...which included a parade with all the kids

Then we decided to join some of our friends and brave the crowds at Gas Works Park. It was worth it. The firework show was amazing! We ended up having a fantastic time despite the exhauted toddlers that probably shouldn't have been up that late.

Here is Tyler being exhausted the morning after (Jackson is faking... obviously. At least he closed his eyes. Usually when he fakes sleep, he snores loudly and keeps his eyes cracked open so he can see if anyone is believing him.)

Grandparents, Cabins, Boating, and Camping

2010-07-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Idaho was amazing. We did all of the happy Idaho things that we love, and I have to admit that it got us a little excited about returning there in 3 years. I also celebrated my birthday while we there. Tyler (and everyone else) got me a new camera that I love. I can't believe what a difference a nice camera makes, especially since I've never had anything better than an $80 Sam's Club camera. So you will never again hear the complaint, "I forgot to take pictures." Instead it will always be "there are too many to post" or "I don't know which ones to use" or you will just see mile-long posts like this one, which is only a portion of our Idaho trip. Enjoy the many, many pictures. Feel free to scroll quickly :)

Enjoying a bike ride with Grandpa (and testing the zoom range on my camera... they were pretty far away)

Jackson and his only cousin, Madden. We can already tell they are going to be quite mischevious together. We also enjoyed a few days at the Boyd's cabin in Island Park. Jackson liked the hot tub.

Goofy face

Jackson has a problem with picking on Madden, who is a year younger than him. I had to get a picture because this was one of the few times that Madden had the upper hand. I promise I helped him up as soon as I finished taking the picture. Watering Grandma Hawkins' flowers

Playing with Uncle Kevin

Jackson did really good in the boat. When he was younger he hated the life jacket, but I think this trip he just accepted that he had to wear it.

And I expected him to be scared of tubing. He wasn't. He giggled and waved the whole time.

Jackson did really good with our camping trip too. The boys are playing volleyball in the background.

Jackson loves Aunt Whitney. She's a lot more fun than all the boring adults he's used to being around.

This is my cool dad

I'm pretty sure Kevin was letting Jackson sneak some s'more bites.

Tyler tubing

All 3 of the Boyd brothers cliff jumping

50 Years

2010-06-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

We're home! We made it back from our big Idaho trip in one piece... barely. I have way too many pictures to share, but I wanted to first post about my grandparents 50th anniversary party. Congratulations to them. We enjoyed celebrating with everyone in the family. Here are a few pictures from the event.

I love my grandma's face here

Jackson enjoyed himself

We convinced Jackson to say goodbye to the balloons. There just wasn't room in the car.

News & Pictures

2010-06-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

First the news...

I am no longer unemployed! I got a job working for the Univeristy of Washington housing. I work in the office here at our apartment and I host events and programs in the housing community. Plus, I get to bring Jackson to work with me. It's going to be really, really fun! I've wanted the job since we moved in last summer, but this was the first opening they've had. I'm excited about being a little busier and being able to help out with all of the crazy dental school costs. I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

Now on to the cute pictures...

His thinking face

This is the "oh, hi" face. I don't know why he's sticking his belly out like that.

Beaches and Swimming Pools

2010-06-07T09:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend we discovered a new park here in Seattle. Carkeek Park is probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Gorgeous thick forest surrounding a big grass field and awesome playground, plus a great beach on the Puget Sound. We had a blast.

That evening we got Jackson's new swimming pool out and invited some of the neighbors to join us. It was a great weekend.

Today Tyler is back to work. He has 6 finals in the next 3 days (he's already had 3, so that's a total of 9 finals this quarter... wow!) and then his first year of dental school is over. I can hardly believe it. Then we are going to have a nice quiet weekend in Seattle celebrating the completion of our first year, and next week we are off to Idaho for some camping, boating, dirtbiking, and playing with grandparents. We are also going to celebrate my grandparent's 50th anniversary with a big party in Salt Lake. Yay!

Memorial Day in Seattle

2010-05-31T14:15:00.000-07:00

We had a very rainy holiday weekend, which means we did a lot of indoor relaxing. It was a great weekend anyway.

Jackson being lazy after sleeping in way later than he should. I'm still trying to figure out how to get him to smile without pointing to it when I ask him to smile for a picture.

Getting all bundled up for running in the rain at Green Lake Park. This weekend we learned that all 3 of us actually really like jogging in the rain. Jackson especially likes riding on the slippery wet slides after our workout. He goes super fast and has this terrified, yet joyful look on his face.

Stretching for the workout. I love when Jackson tries to do stretching or workouts with us. He's so cute doing his little imitations of our moves.

Fabulous Oven Fries

2010-05-31T12:56:00.000-07:00

I don't post recipes very often, but this one is too good not to share. It's pretty basic, but I've been looking for a good french fry recipe for a while, and this one is REALLY good. We've been having burgers and fries way too often because of these. I've made a few minor changes to the original recipe. I hope you enjoy. Robin's Fabulous Oven Fries 3 T. Vegetable Oil (or canola, but don't use olive oil) Salt & Pepper (or steak seasoning) Cajun seasoning 4-8 Whole Potatoes (we use red potatoes because they are our favorite and they cook up really well with this recipe) 1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. 2. Slice potatoes into french fries. Soak them in a bowl of water for 10 minutes. 3. Prepare a baking sheet by covering it with a piece of aluminum foil and then pouring 2 T. vegetable oil and spreading it over the entire pan. (this first piece of a aluminum foil is optional. It just makes clean up easier, but I always fold the sides of the foil up to prevent the oil from draining down onto the pan below the foil and away from the potatoes) 4. After potatoe slices are done soaking drain them and pat them dry. Stir in remaining 1 T. oil and salt/pepper/steak seasoning/cajun seasoning. 5. Spread potatoes on pan in a single layer and add additional seasonings if needed. 6. Cover fries with another sheet of aluminum foil and bake at 475 for 10 minutes. 7. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes. 8. Flip fries and rotate pan. Bake for an additional 10-20 minutes until fries are golden crispy. 9. Serve with ketchup, ranch, or your favorite dipping sauce. My personal favorite is a mixture of ketchup/mayo/cajun seasoning.

Confession

2010-05-26T08:21:00.000-07:00

Confession: Sometimes I let Jackson watch TV just so I can get good snuggles. He snuggles with me when we read books, which is a much more wholesome activity, but I have to keep my arms somewhat free so I can turn the pages. But when we watch a movie together, I can get my arms completely tangled around him and bury my face in his yummy-smelling hair. It's one of the best feelings on earth. I miss the days when I didn't have to trick Jackson into snuggling with me.

Funny Faces and Finger Pokes

2010-05-24T14:38:00.001-07:00

In the past few weeks we have enjoyed a sunny day at the zoo and a rainy day at the aquarium. We're lucky to have friends to play with while Tyler's head is buried in the books for finals.

I love Jackson's face in this one. He's smiling like he honestly believes he can pull the pole out of the ground.

I love his face in this one even more. I don't even know how to assign a caption to this one. It's just too good.

We also had to visit the doctor again this week to have Jackson's iron level tested. The guy who did the blood drawing struggled a little, despite how well-behaved Jackson was (which never happens at the doctor's office. It was a miracle). I won't call the guy any mean names because Jackson is a word-sponge right now. And I'll spare you the gory details, but let's just say that we left with 2 poked fingers, and Jackson's arm was covered in blood.

Anyway, at the end of the ordeal they let Jackson choose a prize from the toy box. I tried to encourage him to pick one of the bouncy balls or rubber frogs, but this was all he wanted. He insisted, and Daddy wasn't there so I smiled and allowed it. He was so pround of his little yellow bracelet.

Golf

2010-05-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned there is a golf driving range across the street from our apartment? $3 bucket of balls, you have to love that. It's been great for the sunny evenings we've been having. I wish golf wasn't such an expensive sport (aside from the cheap driving ranges). Tyler really loves golf, and he's good at it too.

Jackson running to the driving range. He runs everywhere these days. I think he is officially faster than me.

Jackson had a lot of fun once he figured out that he is not allowed to grab the golf balls that people we don't know are in the process of putting with, which happened twice. He made the putt (with a little help)

Minivans can be cool

2010-05-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

I will start off by admitting that back in high school, I was one of those people that vowed to never own a minivan because they were so lame. But then Jackson was born and I started thinking about how convenient it would be, and all the cool features, and not having to bend over to put him in a car seat. I decided I wanted one. I probably need a few more kids (an some form of income), but someday I'm going to get a minivan.

And I have to say that I love the new Toyota Sienna marketing campaign. It's so clever. I think it speaks perfectly to all those people who won't get a minivan because they aren't cool. It's clearly mocking that image, but for some reason it works. Anyway, this music video is really funny. There are a lot of subtle little jokes in it. Thanks, Lara, for sending it to me!

Why I Love Thursdays

2010-05-01T16:20:00.000-07:00

Thursdays are Tyler's easy day in school, and some lucky weeks he doesn't have class at all. So Thursdays we either spend the day relaxing at home while he studies, or if we have the energy, we have a Seattle adventure. This week it was the latter. We had a big brunch at home and then headed into downtown Seattle.

First, we visited the Columbia Center, which is the tallest building in the state of Washington. It is way taller than the Space Needle and costs only $3-$5 to go to the top, as opposed to $17 for the Space Needle.

We put Jackson up by the window and he looked down and actually got scared. That's why he's crying here.

The Columbia Center replica on display in the viewing area

The garden area in front of the Columbia Center. I love springtime. So pretty.

The view up to the top of Columbia Center (79 stories tall)

The downtown library is the coolest library I have ever seen. (I didn't take this picture. I just found it online to show you how amazing the building is.)

Jackson put on a puppet show for us at the library.

It's a good thing Thursdays are so fun for us, because Fridays always seem to go wrong.

Finally

2010-04-26T18:44:00.000-07:00

The day has finally arrived. I have been waiting 21 months for this, which may or may not be pathetic... I'm not sure. But today, for the first time ever, Jackson said "Mommy, I love you."

Oh yeah...

2010-04-21T11:14:00.000-07:00

Easter was fun this year. Dying Easter eggs is one of my favorite traditions, but it just didn't seem like a good idea with Jackson, so instead we decorated egg shaped cookies. Yummy.

Jackson got all kinds of fun stuff from us and from grandparents. And he was just hilarious hunting for eggs. He would do this cute little celebration dance everytime he found one.

Our Weekend

2010-04-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

This was our weekend... Yep... that about sums it up. A pathetic waste of time? Maybe. Incredibly fun? Absolutely!

Playing "Srums"

2010-04-08T18:27:00.000-07:00

Tyler's birthday present arrived today (a month early... I know).

Guitar Hero World Tour

(Walmart.com $71 for the whole band kit + game... awesome deal!)

All day long Jackson keeps asking me if he can play the "srums". The really amazing thing is that Jackson can actually play the game, because on the beginner level it doesn't tell you specific notes. You can hit any note you want as long as its on beat. So if he's drumming fast enough, he actually hits a lot of the beats. This video is great because of all the dancing around at the beginning, but also because before he really starts playing he does a little countdown for himself, "Two... Go!"

Disappointment

2010-04-01T11:51:00.000-07:00

Do you want to see what true disappointment looks like? This is Jackson after I told him that it was raining (again!) and we probably wouldn't be able to play outside today.

The devastation when he looked out the window and saw it for himself.

Spring Break

2010-03-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

My family came to Seattle for their Spring Break vacation. We had so much fun. Here are the pictures... lots of 'em!

Under the Freemont Bridge Enjoying the harbor boat tour

At the zoo Jackson and Whitney were rocking out in the back of the car. Jackson really enjoyed having company back there all week.

Disc golfing... we had a remarkable amount of fantastic weather, even though the weather report kept predicting clouds and rain.

Whit and Jackson riding an orca at the aquarium

Isn't my family cute? I miss them already.

Pike's Place Market

The girls had fun, but my brother Kevin made the comment, "So what are we doing here? Grocery shopping?"

The view from the Space Needle

Out in front of the Space Needle

At the Experience Music Project museum. We made a music video too. It was awesome. I wish I knew how to upload it from the DVD.

Tyler and my sisters got a bit crazy

The picture we took from the harbor tour. I know everyone gets sick of hearing about it, but I think Seattle is such a pretty city.

I just liked this one because my sisters are laughing so hard, and because Jackson's sitting up top all by himself. Tyler is actually right behind him, but you just can't see that.

Friday Harbor

2010-03-21T15:15:00.000-07:00

*I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the blogging world that doesn't like the photo slideshows. I like to be able to quickly scroll through, skip the boring pictures, and spend more time on the pictures I like :) So here is a very lengthy photo list of our trip.

Friday Harbor was awesome. We loved it and will definately be going back any chance we get. The place we stayed at was great too, the Earthbox Motel for anyone who lives in this area and wants a great weekend getaway. Apparently it is still the off-season up there, so we got an awesome deal on the motel and had the beaches, swimming pool, and restaurants mostly to ourselves all weekend. The weather was gorgeous though.

Waiting for the ferry

Jackson enjoyed playing driver while we waited. I'm pretty sure he pushed every button in our car. The windshield wipers were his favorite.

We really enjoyed the ferry ride. That San Juan Islands are absolutely gorgeous. It was thick forested similar to Island Park, but surrounded by water. Beautiful.

A lady recommended Jackson Beach to us when she heard us saying Jackson's name at lunch.

Like all kids, Jackson really loved throwing rocks/stick/sand/handfuls of clay mud in the water. As we were leaving, he tossed a couple more pebbles into the puddle in the parking lot... hehe.

He enjoyed the swimming pool & hot tub too. He was a little too brave, and would dive into the water at you, whether you were ready to catch him or not. We only had one accident. He was sitting right next to both of us and just dove in, so we had to fish him out. He was a little shaken but got over it quickly.

Funny faces

Even though it was supposed to be relaxing, we still came home exhausted. That always happens.

What's better than St. Patrick's Day?

2010-03-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was "Happy Finals-Are-Over Day". (and we all wore green to celebrate) We have officially survived the first 2 quarters of dental school, and now we have a week and a half off. Yesteday, Tyler kicked off the celebration by playing Xbox for 6+ hours with one of his dental school buddies, Geoff. Finals were killer this semester, so I figured they earned it.

Don't they look cute all huddled up 2 feet from the TV?

Then we went to half-price burger night with Geoff and his wife Sarah, and they took us to see the famous Fremont Troll... way creepier than I expected it to be.

Jackson didn't really like the troll either. I don't blame him.

The VW Beetle being smashed by the troll Here's us with Geoff and Sarah.

We've had a great start to dental school, but we decided we were ready for a little break from the city. So tomorrow morning we are driving up north to Anacortes and hopping on a ferry to the San Juan Islands. We will be spending our weekend in Friday Harbor enjoying good food, breathing in the island air, and relaxing in the hot tub. It'll be our first official family vacation with just the 3 of us. I think I'll even turn off my cell phone :)

Great Minds Think Alike

2010-03-12T14:33:00.001-08:00

Ever since we started dental school and living on loans and savings, we try not to buy anything... ever. But we have been debating getting an iPod Touch for the past few weeks, since we seem to be the only people in the world who don't own any iPods. So this week, I decided I would surprise Tyler and go buy one and we could share it. The day that I decided to do it, I pulled up our credit card online and noticed a charge for the exact amount I was planning to spend. I asked Tyler and he got upset and said it was supposed to be a surprise for me. I laughed and told him it was a good thing I caught it, because I was going to surprise him with the same thing. So I guess the iPod is technically mine since he beat me to it, right?

A Few of Our Favorite Things

2010-03-10T12:57:00.000-08:00

These are a few of our favorite things. (Okay, so I admit this list is loosely based on which cute pictures I found on the camera and phone) 1. Seattle Public Library - Maybe it's because I grew up in Pocatello, but the library system here is amazing to me. They have 30+ branches and you just go online and pick the books, music cd's, and dvd's that you want, and then you select the library location closest to your house, and then they ship them to that library and have them all ready for you when you get there. Plus, Jackson really loves the mini beanbag chairs... and the stacks and stacks of story books. I'm just grateful that Jackson is finally interested in story books, because the one word baby picture books were getting a little boring for me. 2. Top Pot Donuts - conveniently located right next door to our branch of the library. I'm afraid we may be stopping there each time we go to the library. It's just too good and too convenient right there. And some how, in my mind, the "healthy" activity of reading books counter-balances the "unhealthy" donuts. I don't know why reading counts as healthy, but it just does.

3. Yummy Teriyaki - That's the actual name of the restaurant. It's officially the greatest teriyaki in Seattle (technically in Redmond, but worth the 15 minute drive). We went there with some friends last night and it was amazing, as usual. Plus, the owners are Korean so Tyler gets to chat with them in his mission language. Always fun. And Jackson actually likes their Korean cabbage salad.

4. Skullcandy Headphones - A Christmas gift from uncle Jason, originally intended for Tyler, but taken over by Jackson (although Tyler still uses them too). Jackson doesn't even care if they are plugged into anything. He just runs around the house wearing them. And when Tyler acutally puts music in the headphones, Jackson goes crazy. One of these days I will catch video of him dancing... I'm determined!

I really should quit telling him to "show" me his smile. Apparently "show" means to point to your smile and then push so hard that your face gets smashed beyond recognition.

Look... I'm famous

2010-03-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

My friend, Lara, is an incredible writer. Her blog, Pocket Full of Prose, is one of my all-time favorite blogs and I would definately recommend it if you are ever blog browsing. Her blog is also quite popular, so she gets to do fun things like "guest bloggers". I've told her before that even though I stay home, I have a rule to never spend more than an hour a day on cleaning, and usually I keep it to about 30 minutes. She was asking how I keep my house clean in a short amount of time so I sent her a silly little email about some tricks that I use, and she asked if she could post it on her blog. So if any of you are interested, here it is. But really, you she read her other posts. She's great. Love ya, Lara!

The Zoo and The Friend

2010-03-05T13:32:00.001-08:00

Due to a random train of thought this morning, I decided to take Jackson to the zoo today. We bought an annual pass a few months ago, but this was the first time we went just the two of us and it was quite pleasant. We would look at each animal for a few seconds and then Jackson would do the sign for "more" and point to the trail, encouraging me to get him to the next animal quickly (which is why I counted it as my workout for the day). His favorite animal today was the otters. He watched them swim for quite a while, and would giggle when the came close to the glass. I should have taken a picture, but I was enjoying the moment for myself too much.

And here is my favorite part of zoo day... the deep sleep that follows. (I was unloading him, that's why the seat belt is undone)

Sometimes I really under estimate Jackson's abilities and interests. For Christmas, Grandma Trish got him a subscription to The Friend. He absolutely loves it. It's his new favorite thing to "read". He looks at all the pictures and likes us to sit with him and explain things. And he can spot every picture of Jesus (He says "See-suss"). I hope that's not blasphemus of me to say, but it's just really cute how he says it.

Thanks, Rob & Trish. What a great gift.

Oh Baby!

2010-03-04T19:50:00.001-08:00

Dear Jim & Pam,

I have watched you from the beginning. I don't know what makes you such a perfect couple, but you are.

Perhaps it was the years of waiting?

You have always been and will always be my favorite fake couple.

The first time you kissed, I became an Office fan for life.

I held my breath as you proposed

(and everytime you did a fake proposal, and then I always yelled at the TV when I realized it was fake)

I cried during your wedding... not just one little tear. I sobbed.

And tonight I get to witness the next step in the wonderfulness of Jim + Pam = JAM.

(but don't really name your baby Jam... that would be weird)

Can't wait!

You Might Be Playing Too Much Xbox If...

2010-03-01T17:23:00.000-08:00

Today we saw a sign at Wendy's promoting their COD Sandwiches. Tyler said, "They have a Call of Duty Sandwich?"

Foot Bath

2010-02-26T14:24:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-23T12:06:00.000-08:00

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.