Two Years :-)

Two years ago today, I married my best friend. And now we are living in Salt Lake and have a beautiful 7 month old little boy. Life sure changes fast. What a wonderful life I have. I feel so lucky to have such a great family. For our anniversary, we went hiking this morning. We hiked Donut Falls. It wasn't a long hike, but we got to try out our fun new backpacking pack for Jackson. He really enjoyed it, even if the pictures don't show it. Later on, he got tired. Even though there was so much to look at, he fell asleep. He is so cute. Tonight, thanks to some great family members, Dallin and I get to go on a date for our anniversary. We are going out to dinner and to see the movie Karate Kid. It's been a while since we went to a movie. Last year we were in Hawaii at this time and didn't have a little guy. Now we are a happy little family of three and consider hiking, dinner and a movie a perfect two year celebration. Here's to many more fun adventures. I love my family!

I sure love my boys!

Worn out!

Summer Fun

Here's a quick update about what we (mostly Jackson) have been doing so far this summer (aside from moving and unpacking).

We went to my sister's graduation from high school. Way to go Britt!

We hung out with Grandparents....

And great-grandparents :)
We spent some time out in the swings,

Going on wagon rides,

And trying to be more like Daddy. Those are some big shoes to fill ;)

We've also been watching the World Cup. I love soccer and have been pretty into it. I've got to get him liking soccer at an early age. It's working so far. I guess we'll find out when he's old enough to kick a soccer ball.

Jackson also likes hanging out with Dad. (And trying to sneak into our bed in the morning.)

We also went on Jackson's first fishing trip. We went to Bountiful Lake and didn't catch anything. We had a lot of fun though. Jackson went from grumpy, to asleep, to happy and curious all in the course of our quick fishing trip. At least he ended on a good note.

What a fun summer we are having!

Body Building

Jackson has been busy working out lately. He makes me smile. :-)

I could use your help...

My sister took some family pictures for us this weekend and I am having a hard time picking out my favorites. I just think they are all good. She did such a great job. I could really use your help. If you happen to be one of the few people who actually look at this blog, could you tell me which of these pictures are your top three favorites. That would be greatly appreciated. :-)

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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.