FINALLY PICTURES!!! YAY for me :)

THE SNOWCONE OBSESSION CONTINUES

So, this is the bad thing about going months before posting about my pictures, but either way, here we are getting snow cones.  An extremely common (like, more common that we'd like to admit) occurence for the Maynes family :).  It must have been a much needed break from something though, because these pictures bring back a nice sweet feeling.  One of my "I'm so thankful for my cute family" moments.  Ahhhh.

Looks like it's making it so I can't enlarge these again.  Annoying.  Oh well. 

KELLY'S STAR FOR A DAY

Here's Kelly on her Red Carpet, during her Star for a Day, birthday present from Grandpa Hatch.  She had the opportunity to make a movie and then be a celebrity that night before the premiere of her movie for her family!!  Fun stuff.  I think she had a good time.

MOVIE IN THE PARK

Movie in the park!!  That was a lot of fun!  We saw Brave.  It was a little late at night though... not sure we benefitted from the late night/early church situation.

NOAH'S ON WHEELS!!!  TWO TO BE EXACT!!!  THANKS BRADLEY!

Here's Noah when he learned to ride his bike!!  What a cool little guy!  His big brother Bradley, taught him how!! 

Buddy loves chasing Charity on her bike... he could use the exercise :)

HANDCART DAYS PARADE / DAUGHTERS OF UTAH PIONEERS FAVOR :)

This is us after the Pioneer Day Parade.  We looked awesome thanks to my friends' clothes.  I was grateful!  I have some shots with me in them, but those are stuck on my phone.  One of these days I'll pull all of those off... maybe...

SPLASH PARK!!!

Obviously I can't get enough of this kid and his adorable face :)

Splash Park!

JACK JACK WALKING!!!!

Walking!!!

MAYNES FAMILY PICTURE DAY

(the rest are stuck on my camera, for some reason they were corrupted... love that)

Almost all of the Maynes Grandkids!

MAYNES FAMILY REUNION 2013

these next few are from Nate's Dad's Family's reunion 

We had such a good time there.  I loved meeting some of Nate's cousins for the first time and talking with everyone.  So many family resemblances.

SHADOWBROOK GIRLS DANCE CAMP RECITAL

These are the few shots I got at the girls' Dance Camp Recital.  They did such a great job!  I still can't believe they pulled it off!  I love that they're mine. 

FAMILY CAMPOUT- SOUTH FORK, OGDEN CANYON

These are all the pics from our family campout this summer.  I was so glad we finally made it out!!  Only twice this summer, but it was a lot of fun.  We loved having this little river right next to our campground.  Buddy especially made good use of it :).

is this one going in the book--- ABSOLUTELY!!  LOVE it :)

We watched this crazy girl jump off this cliff into the reservoir that we ended up not being able to play at.

This was when we were at Pineview.  Buddy sure had a blast. 

It wasn't quite the same without the jetskis, but we still managed to have some fun :)

Once again, Bradley was our fire-man.  He is amazing at building, starting, tending to, and even cooking over the fire!!  I'm really proud of his maturity with it all!  He really does a great job and keeps everyone safe in the process.

Here's teh cool cave we hiked to :)  The kids loved it!  They got John and Heidi to go inside!

Brothers.

We had the most amazing bacon for breakfast that morning.  I LOVE cooking bacon over the fire... not sure why, but it always tastes so good!

These two crack me up.  They're adorable to each other.

Jack didn't love camping that week.  But he was able to get around a little on his own.  I think next year will be his year :)

We made cute "Bleach pen shirts" this year, instead of the tie dye.  I think the kids enjoyed it.  It's a little more hands on and they were able to personalize them a little more and get creative.  I liked it.  Less mess of course too.  They turned out pretty cute.

MAKEOVERS

I don't love this picture, and I"m sure we could have done less eyeliner :).  But this was me after the first one.

Charity looked great!

Kelly too.

We had a lot of fun letting Heidi do us up!  Good times!

MISCHIEF!!

THE FIRST GIRL COUSIN ON THE HATCH SIDE!!!  WELCOME, BABY SAVANNAH!!!

I don't think any of us could get enough of her!!  Such a sweet baby!

All the girl cousins!  (wish I'd had time to fix the coloring on this!)

We loved her dainty little hands!

LAVA HOT SPRINGS CAMPOUT WITH THE IDAHO MAYNES

We wore ourselves out just looking for firewood! :)

The catepiller

And that's all for now!  Gonna have to head on back up to my Dad's for the rest of them!!

Journaling Week of 9-1-13

Day of Rest?
Jack was not loving church on Sunday.  He was okay for Nate and even dozed off a little, but when I got him for the second hour.... it was not pretty.  He was totally not interested in ANYTHING I had to offer, even walking him around in my arms like he usually enjoys, he was thrashing and screaming, he was out of control!  It was so sad!  And I was totally losing my cool (literally, I was sweating like a crazy person).  I finally decided that a walk outside was in order.  Once I got out there and he still wasn't calming down at all, I just gave in to the thought Satan had started putting in my head earlier to just take him home.  I began walking in that direction.  This NEVER happens in my world!!  We don't EVER leave church.  For ANYTHING!!!  Luckily, we only got a house away from the church when the Spirit knocked some sense back into me.  It was actually sort of funny it was more like a "what are you going to do when you get home that you can't do here?"  And yeah, there wasn't anything at home that would help that I hadn't been able to try there.  So I turned around.  I'm so glad I did, too, because it wasn't all bad.  He did okay in Sacrament meeting, I think Nate ended up taking him out for part of it, but really, I was SO GRATEFUL I stayed.  Nothing is worse to me than missing church.  I hate it.  So I was glad that I had turned around.  I really loved the testimonies that were given, including my own little Charity, Kelly and Bradley!  It was a great meeting.  I'm just happy it all went the way it did :).  9-1-13

LABOR DAY
The Maynes family had a little gathering on Labor day, a BBQ at the park in Daybreak.  It was a lot of fun for everyone.  Poor little Bryn broke her hand though, in a crash on the scooters.  That was pretty exciting for the rest of us though :).  She's such a cute girl.  Jen did her little "You might be a Maynes if..." activity.  Which prompted a desire in myself to create a list of "You might be a Hatch if...."'s.  Which has really been quite entertaining with my sibs, maybe I'll do a post of them....
It was a nice holiday.  Glad to have the kids home with me :).  9-2-13

MANICOTTI
So I made seven pans of Manicotti this week!!  I hadn't planned it out that way, it just kind of happened because I accidentally bought too much Ricotta cheese, and then had extra of everything else (on purpose, which is strange now that I think about it, but whatever).  I was able to use the 3 for my dinner group, one for Savannah Marie Hatch's family, one for a new move in in our ward (a really funny couple who just got married and were leaving on their honeymoon the next day... they were older and this was second marriages for both, but they were hilarious!), one for Grandpa Hatch and Dawn to come and enjoy with us, and then one to leave sitting in the fridge because we were completely Manicottied out!  (Well, only for a few days before we are the last pan... we'd really had enough with the leftovers and such) I was pretty proud of myself :).  I think it was good, but Jack, he LOVED the stuff!!!  He couldn't get enough of it!  I will be finding spinach in his diaper for days I think.  9-3-13

AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR
We've all been very obsessed with American Ninja Warrior this year!  The boys all practice their own Parkour skills whenever they get a chance.  It's been a really fun season to get into!  When Grandpa and Dawn were here, we showed it to them, and they even got into it a little too!  It was a lot of fun.  We're anxious for stage 3 now :).  Nerds.  Hopefully we'll have our own little Ninja Warrior someday :)  Jk.  9-4-13

STATE FAIR
Kelly entered another drawing into the State Fair Fine Arts Exhibit, second year in a row.  So we couldn't miss the fair!  We were able to catch the opening day with the cheaper ticket prices, and went on Thursday.  It was a lot of fun!  I thought we did a good mix of everything!  I got lots of pictures too, I was proud of that.  Some on my phone, some on the camera.  I'll be happy to get those on here eventually...  We all went and took a look at Kelly's picture displayed, then scouted out Annie Cole's as well.  She does such a good job!!  She's a good idol for Kelly :).  Annie got 2nd place, Kelly's hoping to get a ribbon next year :).  She does such a great job, I'm so proud of her and her desire to show off her talents.  That's what they're all about.  We went through the creative arts building as well.  The kids LOVED looking at all the things people have created!  Kelly couldn't believe that you can MAKE a porcelin doll!  Looks like we need to research that!  She wants to try it sometime.  The kids all got to go on 2 rides each.  We had to put a limit on it this year.  We've spent way too much in the past.  The kids didn't love the limits, I could tell, but they were very grateful for what they did do.  There was very little complaining about anything the whole trip, it was nice.  Especially from Jack!  He sat there as quiet as a mouse in the stroller, just taking it all in!  I was amazed at how well he did.  He's definitely a people watcher like the rest of us.  Stick us in a room with a bunch of people, and we're good to go :).  We hurried and visited the animals, it was a lot of fun watching Erika and Jack experience them for the "first time"-- just felt like the first--- and then quickly (it was WAY past bedtime on a school night!) explored the Wizard exhibit.  That was a lot of fun.  All the math puzzles and sciencey things.  There was a cool arm hang thing that would time how long you could hang from it.  The kids got a kick out of that.  They just LOVE competition!  It's awesome.  We wore ourselves out that night!  It was a lot of fun though!  Can't wait til next year :).  9-5-13

CHEVRON
Nate and I have started a new thing.  Every Friday (I say "every" :) it's been twice now :)), Nate and I ride Noah to school and then we all go on a little bike ride.  It's only about 2 hours, so it's doable, and we're not dying, but it's been SO MUCH FUN!!  This week we drove NOrth on the bike trail.  We weren't familiar with the route at all, so it was a little bit of a surprise to find tree lined trail with lots of shade, few people.  It was so pleasant!  Completely flat :).  I was getting tired and thirsty, but we kind of just like to drive until our time is half up.  So we kept on.  We hadn't brought enough water with us, and I was really parched after not too long.  I suggested to Nate that we take one of the main roads and go find a store with water, and he htought about it, but turned the idea down and said that he wanted to keep going north a little and just turn around and go back the way we came.  At first I wanted to argue with him, fight for my idea, but something stopped me.  I kept my thoughts to myself.  I was still thirsty, but I had the thought that, "I want to let him lead us.  He is the patriarch of our family, and he is entitled to the inspiration to lead our family." Kind of overdoing it, but you really, these were my thoughts.  It wasn't a big deal, just required some thinking.  SO anyway, we kept on for only a few more minutes and then as we popped out onto one of the main roads, right there in front of us was a glorious sight!  A CHEVRON!!!  Not even yards from the trail :).  So very little, to no effort to detour and get a nice cold beverage!  or in my case water :).  Gotta have my water :).  It was so awesome!!!  And immediately the thought came to my mind, "Yep, there's your blessing for being supportive of your husband!"  I was so happy about it, I told Nate all that had transpired in my mind over the previous 15 minutes-ish.  He probably thinks I'm nuts, but hopefully he knows that I felt blessed and that I support him :).  I loved it. 
Jack and Erika seem to like our rides just as much as we do.  They just chill in the trailer behind me.  Hardly a peep the entire time.  They nap and play with each other and Erika does talk to us a lot, but it's just such a nice refreshing change of scene for our family.  I love the new bike thing.  9-6-13

FATHER DAUGHTER CAMPOUT/MOM AND SON BIKERIDE-MOVIE-MOVIE NIGHT-PARK :)
Friday was the Father-Daughter Campout.  Nate and the girls were very excited for that.  They packed up right after school and were on the road by 3:00!  They had a great time from what I have heard and were the stars of the show, with all their "gear" that nobody else had remembered :).  So that was cool.  The girls had a lot of fun exploring with their friends and staying up late... sounded like a good time was had by all.  I love that our ward does that.
So the boys and I had a bit of fun ourselves!  We had planned a bike ride to the Movie theater as our first item of business.  It was an interesting bike ride.  Filled with crying, tired legs, a flat tire, ditching a bike at the school, adding a rider to the trailer and a disappointed Mom, but we were able to muffle through the first part and once we were at 7-11 getting our free Slurpees, things started to look up!  We sat on the lawn and slurped, then parked our bikes at the Library.  We went to see Turbo.  They all seemed to love it!  Luke's giggle was my favorite part.  Then we tried to get a "World's Best Corndog", but they were done making them by the time we got there.  So that was a bit of a let down, but we survived.  Instead we drove home, threw an old carseat in the car (we thought we didn't have any other form of transportation until I remembered that old carseat!  Go me) and we were able to go to Little Caesar's for some CRAZY BREAD and pizza of course.  It was a fun evening!  We topped it off with a movie night during which all but 2 of us fell asleep.  In the morning, we went on down to the park to play baseball and found it occupied with Soccer teams, so we just played on the playground (after chatting with our old friend Stephanie Jones of course, love her!).  The boys had a lot of fun.  We don't always go over to the playground when we go down there, since the girls don't love it, but since they weren't there.... The boys had fun showing off their stunts on the rocks.  I got pictures and videos :).  We came home and played a little baseball and then cards.  It was a very fun filled weekend :).  I loved it!!  I love having special time together where we don't think about the laundry or the dishes, and we can just relax and enjoy each others' company.  Good times.  9-7-13

Journaling Week of 8-25-13

BACK TO SCHOOL BREAKFAST
I had my first little get-together with some of the Moms in the ward here.  I was invited to a little breakfast.  That was a lot of fun!  It was nice to feel welcomed and feel like I have a place here.  We were a little late, and had to leave kind of early to get home and make cakes and Kindergarten orientation and such, but it was a nice little time for me.  I am really loving this ward.  8-26-13

WELL CHECK AND MOLLUSCUM
Took Jack in for his well child visit and he was doing great!  Weight was up along with everything else :).  He is super healthy!  Dr. Tew kept commenting on what a good walker he was for only doing it for a month :).  I thought that was cool.  The doctor had Jack sit up on the bed all by himself (rather than in my lap like usual) for his checkup and by some crazy miracle the kid just sat there!  He had to be playing with a tongue depressor and a otoscope cap, but hey! I'll take it!!  He was really good!  I've never seen a one year old react quite like that at their check up.  This one goes down in the books for Dr. Tew as well!  We were both quite surprised.  How cool that he had chosen to do it that way.  I'm not sure Jack would have been as calm if he had been all comfy in his Mommy's lap. 
I really enjoyed talking with Dr. Tew this time.  He has a lot of the same views as we do on parenting and made me feel so much better about the things we do.  That's always good.  He has seven young-ish kids as well, so he can relate too.  Which is SO NICE!!  It's nice to not feel like I'm doing something wrong.  He was very reassuring when we were talking about Noah going to kindergarten (Noah was there, talking about it) and having not gone to Preschool.  He agrees with me that it's a waste of money and that kids go to school to learn that stuff, they don't need to know it before they go!!  Yes!  Yes!  That is how I feel.  He was talking about a mother of a patient who had just been in there talking about her child who was told by their preschool that her kid needed to repeat preschool because he had not learned everything very well.  WHAT???  Holding your kid back before they are even in school??  Weird.  To each his own, of course, but from my perspective, that's NUTS!  Dr. Tew kept talking about how before Kindergarten is the time to enjoy being a kid!  Not sitting still or being ordered around by a teacher.  I love that he said what he did.  I'm grateful that I've had the time with Noah that I have.  Well, with all of my kids for that matter.  Before they're sucked into the school world.  I'm grateful that they were just mine during that time.  And I am hopeful that Noah will pick up all the things he needs to in a timely manner.  Just like everyone else has.  Without preschool.  And now I'll step down from my soap box :). 
After Jack was looked at and the preschool rant, I asked him if he would look at Erika's little bumps by her eye and he confirmed my diagnosis that it was molluscum.  Darn it.  But he said that it lasts a lot longer than I had read online- or can anyway.  So since Erika's has been there so long, he offered to treat her.  He gave me a few options.  I chose the painless, more long term solution, over the painful quick or the nothing at all.  I'm hopeful that I made the right choice.  He put some stuff that smelled like compound W (can't remember what it's called at the moment) on each bump while Erika laid there as still as a log- that was miraculous!  And in the last few days they've turned into scabs.  So she looks a little scary and unfortunately everyone asks, "What's wrong with her eye??" Everytime they see her.  I think it goes forgotten by her until someone says that, so it's a little bit of a hinderance.  But she's tough.  She keeps reminding me that "it doesn't even hoht!"  Because I told her it wouldn't.  So that's good.  Hopefully they will be gone before two weeks and we won't have to treat them a second time.  Dr. Tew was awesome to even look at her for me since it was Jack's appointment, but I was totally nervous having not planned on doing anything to them.  Hopefully the Mom worries go away. 
After treating Erika, Jack got him shots.  He's always so amazingly cool about those!!  He gets pretty mad, but only for a minute.  Then he's fine!  It's awesome.
So as you can see, a very productive visit.  That's the way I like it.  8-28-13

HEIDI AND JOHN
After the doctor, Heidi and John came over to have a post celebration of Jack's birthday with us.  They weren't able to come Monday.  Heidi gave Jack a cute little toy truck, it was so cute to watch her give it to him, he was being all sweet with her.  I loved it.  We had saved some of Jack's cake for Heidi to watch him smash :).  He wasn't as into it as he was on Monday.  Kind of stale I guess :).  But we got some cute pictures of him eating it anyway. 
Nate smoked some tasty brisket for John all of us to enjoy for dinner.  It was SO GOOD!!  John had a lot :).  He also made some burnt ends.  Nate's really made good use of his birthday present.  Which makes me happy.  And fatter of course :).  He's really perfected some of his recipes!  It's such a cool hobby for him!  I'm glad he enjoys doing it.

TEMPLE
We got to go to the temple on Thursday, thanks to my Mom tending.  It was awesome!!  I can't believe how amazing it was with the new video. Hard to believe that the same words, just put differently, could evoke such different emotions.  I loved it!  Can't wait to see it again.  It was a very sweet time at the temple this time.  Can't describe it.  But I loved every minute and every feeling that I experienced.   8-29-13

11 MILES
After riding Noah to school (on our bikes), on Friday afternoon, Nate and I decided to take off on a bike ride.  We headed down to Station Park.  Not really sure how far we would be able to go to get back in time for the kids to be out of school.  But we made it there, stopped at Razzleberry (or whatever it's called) for a smoothie with our little Princess and her handsome little Prince :).  It was SUCH a hot day.  I cannot tell you how exhausted I was!  I can't believe how out of shape I am to not even be able to handle that short of a bike ride.  But it felt SO GOOD!!  And I loved the time with my honey.  He's so nice to ride slow with me when my legs were cramping up.  (he even pushed me from behind the day before when the trailer's tire was flat and I couldn't pull it worth a darn!)  It's reassuring to me that I at least have the excuse of pulling the trailer, but still.  I need to get out there more often.  Maybe every Friday :).  It was a lot of fun for all four of us.  It's nice that we have the bike trail.  It's relatively traffic-less.  So that's nice.  I'm just really looking forward to this each week.  I think we did about 11 miles, so go us!  8-30-13

CALL HOME
So far we haven't had a day where someone didn't call home from school :).  We'll see how next week goes :).

LATE NIGHT AND THE GODDARDS
Friday night, the girls had planned a little late night with a few of their friends.  By the time Lacie and Tony's family got here, and we had visited with them a little (I LOVED that they came by, by the way.  That was the highlight of my week!!  They are just amazing, and I know I've said this before, but Nate and I couldn't be more comfortable with another couple here.  It's amazing how much we have in common (even 24!) and how similar we are.  Too bad they don't live closer... yet!!), we had 20 children and 4 adults in our house at one time!!  It was crazy!!!  Very loud, and crowded.  But I have to say, I loved it!  A crowded house means all my kids are home and having fun with friends and family.  It felt good.  I have always wanted our home to be the place our kids wanted to be.  That was a nice thing.  It was a really fun-filled evening regardless of how messy my house was.  I need ot remember that.  8-30-13

DOWN
So even though we had this amazing week and lots of fun last night, I somehow managed to find myself in a hole today.  Frustrates me when this happens.  I have been down most of the day.  I keep trying to perk up and be cheerful, but it's hard!  I know I'm tired, I know certain hormones are coming (not talking about pregnancy ones, just for the record), and I think I am still recovering from the long bike ride yesterday, but seriously... it stinks.  I hope I can pull myself out if it tomorrow.  Blogging tonight has really helped.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!

We had an awesome first day of school!  (As awesome as it can be when I'm losing my big kids)  Everyone woke up very early!  They all got ready in their crisp, new clothes, brushed teeth, happy faces :) all on their own!  We had yummy pancakes for breakfast.  We kind of lost track of time towards the end of the morning, so we rushed a little to get to the school, but we were on time! 

Charity is in 6th grade this year.  She has Mrs. Johnson.  Se seems pretty excited to be one of the oldest in the school.  She looked so cool and confident walking to her door.

Kelly is in 5th grade.  She has two teachers, Mrs. Masterson in the mornings, and Mr. Paver in the afternoons.  She too is very excited and seems to really love her class. 

Bradley is in 3rd grade this year.  He has Ms. Wood.  He doesn't love his teacher.  In fact, he didn't really like her for the first week.  We will have to see how the second week goes.  She might grow on him... I don't know.  Lots of grumpiness and yelling I guess.  Not his favorite.  HOpefully he has a good year.

Luke is a 2nd grader!  He has Mrs. Featherstone.  The teacher that Charity had last year!  Kinda crazy.  But he seems to really like his class and teacher.  He's had a lot of fun so far.


And on Thursday, Noah experienced his first day of Kindergarten!!  WAHOO!!!  He is in Mrs. Piper's afternoon class.  We are so excited for him and I think he couldn't be any more excited himself.  It was killing him to wait til Thursday.  And then even worse to have to wait until the afternoon!  That was a tough one.  Hopefully he'll get the hang of it.  He had all good things to say about it!  He loved "recess and coloring" :).  I'm happy that he was comfortable there, and felt like a cool big kid. We have LOVED riding bikes with him to school though!  And I think he's enjoyed riding home with his big brothers and sisters.  Fun stuff. 

I do have to say it was adorable watching Erika with her big brother at Kindergarten orientation.  She was so proud of him and followed him around when she could and stood back and admired when she couldn't.  She was the one to tell everyone else about his day and how it went at school.  She was pretty into all of it!  I loved watching her marvel in his new thing.  She and I and Jack will have so much fun this year!  Lots to do and experience.  I hope she enjoys being "the big girl" for both years :).

We went to our first Back to School night at our new school and were surprised at how they did things, but we got to know the kids' teachers a little bit, and I did appreciate that.  It's interesting to start over and get to know a new schoool, but I think we'll all survive and might even enjoy it :)

Looks like we have a lot of fun ahead of us with new traditions and celebrations here at Columbia Elementary!!

pictures to come of course!

JACK JACK IS ONE!!!

Our sweet little bouncing baby boy is now a big one year old!!  I cannot believe we're already here.  Shouldn't I be used to this by now??  A phrase I've used a lot lately.  Jack has been a fun little guy to have around.  We all love him so much.  He is such a Momma's boy.  Which is good because his Mommy loves him to pieces and loves an excuse to sit and cuddle rather than doing housework :).  He has learned so many new things lately.  He picked up walking pretty quickly over the last month or so.  We decided he's probably a close third, when compared with the other kids and walking ages.  Not too bad :).  He's really fast according to the doctor at his last check up.  We found out he's large for his age.  All the way around :).  I like that about Jack :).  He's so squishy and cuddly.  He gives me hugs everytime I pick him up and will even give kisses sometimes!  Mostly to Nate :).  It's the sweetest thing when Nate is laying on the couch, Jack will go lean in for a little smackeroo.  It's adorable.  He really is a sweet little guy.  Very loving.  He is getting a little more sensitive.  He doesn't like any kind of violence.  Including people tackling people.  Even when there is laughter.  He is against it all.  He doesn't like loud noises.  He doesn't like crying from his big sister.  It all makes him put on his sad face and then burst out in tears.  Poor little guy.  He wasn't always like this... so it's interesting.  I like it.  I like feeling like he is sensitive to the Spirit.  He loves to get into the kitchen cupboards :).  He especially likes playing in the pantry with the sugar and flour.  I need to find new places for those.  He makes big messes :).  He doesn't love to be alone in a room.  Which is a good thing considering how big his family is :).  But any time I try to distract him with toys so that I can go off and accomplish something, he gets all offended.  He likes to be right under my feet most of the time :).  It's cute.  He likes to fall asleep to the Primary songs.  He is sort of in the process of being weaned although it's not really taking.  He is SO addicted to Mommy juice!  It's insane.  Not really sure what to do about that.  I keep giving in though.  He is not a big fan of most foods.  He will usually eat any kind of meat.  He likes chips, crackers, popcorn, all that not so healthy stuff just fine though.  He doesn't love fruit, but will eat most veggies.  Weird but good.  He doesn't like mushed up anything unless it's in ice cream form :).  Although he did eat some pudding the other day so maybe that's changed.  He doesn't love milk or juice.  He will almost inevitably reject everything we give him after a few bites.  It's ridiculous :).  Luckily we know he's gaining weight though, so no worries I guess.  HOpefully this is just a phase.  He says, "Mom" which I think is adorable.  Not sure he knows that my heart skips a beat everytime he says it, or what it means, but still cute :).  He says, "Da da da", and I think he does know what that means.  He says it a LOT.  And a little bit of "bu bu bu".  No real words yet. He wants to stay innocent as long as he can :).  Jack LOVES his big brothers and sisters!  It's fun to see him connect on different levels with each one of them.  He has a fondness for his sister Erika.  He will always hold her hand in the bike trailer, and in the car, just before falling asleep.  I think she makes him feel more secure.  It's so sweet!  She of course loves that.  He loves playing with Noah and Luke.  They're pretty fun and will take a few minutes to make him giggle every once in a while :).  They mostly giggle at him :).  Bradley is still attempting to become his favorite brother so that he can baptize him someday :).  I love that Bradley is so willing to help out with Jack.  They really are close friends at this point.  Bradley is the only one who will willingly change his diaper.  It's amazing.  He sure loves him.  Kelly is a sweetheart with him.  Jack can feel her sensitivity I think.  He will always cuddle up to Kelly.  She's a calming influence for him.  I think he likes that.  And of course his sister Charity is always a party :).  He can't get enough of the attention from everyone.  I love that he has so many good examples.  He has really been loving his little "bike".  He likes to play with cars, balls, well, and pretty much anything he finds on the floor :).  He's finally done with putting EVERYTHING in his mouth.  That was a long phase :).  He REALLY loves being outside.  If he could be outside all day everyday, I think he would be perfectly content.  He likes to explore.  And the dirt.  It's too bad I have to do stuff inside.  He's mastering the art of escaping while Mom is chatting with people out in the front yard though.  That's been scary.  Almost in the road a few times.  I haven't been able to teach him not to go out there yet.  And everytime it's happened, I've just yelled it out of surprise and then he gets all offended and cries.  So we have yet to make any progress there.  Keeps me on my toes.  He's an awesome sleeper though, he gets BIG points for that.  I really couldn't ask for more.  With naps and with bedtime.  Such a good boy.  We really are so blessed to have Jack in our family.  I am so grateful that Heavenly Father let us have him.

We had a lot of fun celebrating his birthday this week.  His actual birthday was Sunday.  We made him a sign (well, actually Kelly did :)).  She insisted that we get a poster when we were shopping the night before :).  Everyone had picked out a present for him, so he got to open those the morning of.  He got a cute new Sunday outfit to wear to church :).  From me of course :).  After church, and for the rest of the evening, we just sang to him randomly.  He loved it.  He would look around at eveyrone and see if they were all looking at him the whole time.  It was adorable.  We had planned on celebrating with the family the next day since Nate had had to work that night.  So we kept things pretty mellow most of the day.  No cake or ice cream yet. 

On Monday night, after everyone's first day of school (which I realize may be the case for his birthday every year... kinda a bummer in some ways, but might be fun for him later).  Family came over- quite a bit actually!  More than I had planned on :)- Grandma Hatch and Simon, Grandma Ruthie and Grandpa Russ, Aunt Jen, The Taylors, and Grandpa Hatch all showed up for his big day!  So fun!  He had taken the world's longest nap, just before, almost four hours!  So he was WELL rested and was a super happy boy!!  It was SO much fun.  I was so pleased with how well he handled all the new attention and how into it everyone was :).  Lots of fun for a proud Mommy.  I loved watching him get all the attention he deserves finally.  We had dinner and then quickly made way with the rest of the festivities... we had started late and everyone had to hurry home (school night :( )  He loved his little car cake I made him!  I was happy about that.  I had kinda overbooked myself that morning, with first day of school stuff, so his cake was pretty simple and then I made another one for everyone else to eat (even though his was probably big enough to feed everyone!  I need a smaller cake pan apparently!).  But I was glad that the simpleness of it didn't make it less appealing to my one year old :) HA!!  only kidding.  He smashed a lot of it into his face.  I was happy I put the cookie crumbs since he loves dirt so much, he dug right in to those :).  He held the little fondant car in his hand the whole time and resorted to using it like a spoon later.  Such a cutie.  He got into the presents as well.  Getting all excited with each one.  I really need to go up to my Dad's and upload pictures.  I was running out of room on my card the whole evening, so pictures aren't the greatest.  He sure was a happy little birthday boy.  It was so much fun for all of us.  I hope he had a great birthday.