A sneak peek...

We finally had some family pictures taken. My sister is amazing! She took these today, did some editing and has already sent them to me. I think they turned out really good. I can't wait to get them printed and hang them up in my house. She is so talented! Maybe she'll become a professional...I just hope I can afford her then ;-)

Six months old....or a teenger already?

Would you believe it if I told you Jackson is already six months old? Believe it or not, it's true. I cannot believe that he is already half a year old. Sometimes Jackson acts like a six month old little boy, and other times he acts and looks a lot older. He has so much personality. He is always so curious and wants whatever mom and dad have. In these next pictures, I feel like Jackson resembles a teenager more than a baby. He already has an attitude. :-)

His current favorite thing is drinking (and spilling) water from cups. He gets so excited when he sees a glass of water. He is also sitting up on his own now. His hair is also getting really curly. Depending on whether or not I give in and use hair products on my little boy (I know, it's a little girly and he's a little young) you can really see the curls. I wonder where he got that from. We sure love our little Jackson!

The cup is almost as big as his head.

You've got to love the tongue sticking out ;-)

My little curly-Q

Jackson and Mommy

Jackson loves mirrors and had never seen one this close. This was when we were packing things up to move. He really enjoyed it. He made a new friend who suspiciously looked a lot like him ;-)

Changes

It's easy to get comfortable with what you have. Everything seems to be going well, and it's hard to imagine that things could be much better. The thought of trying something new is scary and uncomfortable. The unknown has always been a big stressor for me. I like to have a plan and know what is coming next. While we were living in Logan, I felt comfortable. We had a great apartment, fun friends, a wonderful ward, and jobs that provided for our family. When Dallin and I started talking about him going to graduate school, I got nervous. Since we got married almost two years ago, we lived in the same apartment. We were both comfortable and happy. However...life happens and things change. We felt good about graduate school for Dallin, even though the thought of moving and living in Salt Lake and starting over completely made me a little nervous. Dallin is planning to get a master's degree in public administration. Hopefully this will help open up more doors for him professionally. After a long application process and waiting period, he got into the University of Utah's graduate school. As many of you know, we recently uprooted our family and made the big move to Salt Lake. After making the move, I have decided that moving, both packing and unpacking, are on my list of the top ten things I dislike the most. However...despite the number of boxes we had to pack and unpack, I'm glad we made the change. It has been fun to be closer to our families and to be involved. After putting our new apartment together and meeting some fun new people, we are starting to feel "at home" again. Sometimes it takes some uncomfortable change to get to something better. It has been so good to spend more time talking and exploring Salt Lake with Dallin and hanging out on the playground and swings with Jackson and having fun with the Salt Lake cousins and friends. Even though we still miss our Logan friends and Logan itself, we're excited about this new adventure we are starting. Bring it on Salt Lake! I'll post pictures of our apartment later.

Our Little Boy

Our little guy is getting so big! I can't believe it. Here are some adorable pictures that I couldn't resist sharing. Sorry if you feel like it is a Jackson overload. I justify the excessiveness by the fact that the grandparents love it.

Who would have thought that I could get a picture where Jackson is smiling and looking at the camera and Dallin isn't. He's had 25 years to practice. ;-) This picture makes Jackson's hair look really red. Most of the time, it just looks light brown but every once in a while it has a red tint. It may be because of the blanket in the background. I also think it's starting to go curly.
Jackson loves to chew on his finger. I have to work hard to convince him not to gag himself.

Just hanging out in the laundry basket while mom folds clothes.

Jackson, mom and his "Aunt" Carolyn. He loves all of his "Aunts" and "Uncles". (They're really first or second cousins once removed or something like that.)

Crying with Dad. :(

Cooking with mom. I put his little feet in my apron pockets and he thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Jackson and his cousin Charlotte. She is about 1 month older than Jackson. We will be living by them when we move to Salt Lake (which is next week!) so they're going to become great friends (if we have anything to say about it).

My cute little naked baby boy.

An attempt at being artistic...

Jackson loves his Daddy! Dallin and I can't get over how cute our little Jackson is.

I was putting him in his clothes and buttoned up the overalls before I put his shirt on and just had to take a picture. He then proceeded to spit up all over the overalls, which is why he is a naked baby in the preceding pictures. I love this picture though. My little redneck.

Five months old already!

Story time with mom.

Like father, like son. He's got a long ways to go before he's as tall as dad though. Also, just fyi, he isn't standing up on his own yet. He's leaning on Dallin's legs. I still think it takes talent though.

These are the footprints they take at our doctors office. It makes me so sad. I can't believe how big he's getting. They are from when he was two weeks old, two months old, and four months old. He grows so gradually that when you see him every day, the only difference you see is that his clothes are getting too small. I can't believe his feet used to be that small.

Yesterday, Jackson was in such a great mood. He was giggling harder than I have ever seen him. I would have to call it a giggle attack. I didn't have my camera, but caught it on my phone. I tried to post it, but couldn't figure out how to post a wav sound bite. If anyone knows and could help me out, I'll share the giggle attack with you. It was the best! I can't help smiling when I listen to it. A sure way to get in a good mood :-)

Favorite Foods

I decided to update you all on Jackson's eating progress. Not only has he figured out that some food tastes good, he has decided to be our little scientist. He experiments by putting everything in his mouth. Put a fascination with your mouth with eye hand coordination that is getting better and better and we have a little rascal on our hands. He tries to get into everything within arms reach. I don't know what I'll do when he's crawling and walking. Oh boy.
Meanwhile, while I'm enjoying a non-mobile little boy, here are some pictures of some of his favorite foods. ;-) (And foods that he wishes he could be eating right now. Don't worry, I'm not feeding my 5 month old ice cream. He basically just wants everything mom and dad eat.)

Little drumsticks and ice cream...

...cups, with or without water...

...duck (the rubber assortment)...

...Mom's phone (he even hung up on my mom once while chewing on it. Sorry Grandma.)...

...racquetball rackets....

...Mom's face....

....Dad's finger (he also really likes Dallin's nose).....

...escargot (a.k.a. his snail teething toy)...

...and his favorite food (and the way we got him to start eating solids) is oatmeal! He was getting impatient with mom and dad's feeding speed so he took matters into his own hands, literally. :-)