Snow Day?!?!?!

So this past sunday, as we were waking up to start getting ready for church, we got a phone call from someone in the ward saying not to worry about having to do the sunday school lesson because all meetings were cancelled. Confused and not sure I heard him right I looked outside and was surprised to see a ton of snow! (a lot for Eugene at least). It was pretty exciting and fun, although weird not to go to church. John and I have both lived in Rexburg, ID and John went on his mission to Wisconsin and never had chuch cancelled. We figured it was because no one is used to snow here and the roads get pretty icy, especially in the hills where a lot of people from our ward live. So, we put Jack's snow boots, hat, coat and gloves on him and let him loose in our little courtyard at our complex. He had so much fun. At one point, he thought it was fun to find a fresh patch of snow and sit right in it, and then find another fresh patch and do the same thing over and over. And once we taught him how to make and throw a snowball he was unstoppable! It was like Buddy from the movie Elf. When we finally got cold and decided to go inside, Jackson cried because he wanted to stay our there all day! Here's some more pictures of the action:

I can do it all by myself!

Over the Christmas vacation, Jackson decided that he is a big boy and does not need to be fed by anyone because he can do it all by himself. If you try to feed him, he will either not open his mouth or spit the food out, but if you give him the spoon/fork and put the bowl or plate in front of him he gets really excited. The problem is, he is not very accurate yet! It takes him forever to get the food on the fork or spoon and then into his mouth without dropping it on the floor. When he gets frustrated with that, he just picks up the bowl or plate and eats right out of it! So pretty much most of his food ends up on the outside of his body instead of in his body. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

yummy yogurt and peaches!

Good thing he loves to take lots of baths!

A White Christmas

Christmas week was very relaxing and a ton of fun! The Saturday before, we drove up to Redmond, Oregon which is about 30 mins. from Bend and stayed at this really nice Resort called Eagle Crest. It is an absolutely gorgeous area. After driving up in scary, slick roads and even putting on chains in the dark, we made it, but were sad to see no snow at all there at the resort! But, we woke up Monday morning, Christmas Eve, to a blanket of snow! It was so pretty and so exciting! We got Jack all dressed up in his snow clothes and let him go out on the deck and play with it.... which he loved! I swear that boy never gets cold. At home, he would play outside in the rain, stomping around getting wet all day if I let him.

Christmas day there was still snow everywhere, and so, having grown up in California and having spent my first two Christmases in CA with my family, I had my first white Christmas ever! Jackson was super spoiled and got a ton of fun toys and clothes including a big tonka dump truck, superman pj's (cape included) legos, stickers, and the cutest ABC book with family pictures that my super awesome sister-in-law, Christi, made. The rest of the week we went swimming, sat in the hot tub on our deck, did lots of shopping in Bend, played some serious monopoly, relaxed and watched some movies, watched Nick play Guitar Hero for about 3 hours straight, played some hard core tennis, and all the girls got to get pedicures! It was very fun and relaxing. On the way home on Friday, we stopped at Willamette Pass and went snowboarding, which was a ton of fun (Thanks to my super sweet mother-in-law and Mrs. Preggo, Christi, watching Jackson for us)! It was a great week and a ton of fun to be all together..... we were way excited that Nick, Christi and Reagan got to come from Vegas and we already miss them a ton!!

Jack and his best buddy, his Aunt Heather

Family picture by the river after church

Jack, with Reagan in the back on her sweet new Radio Flyer

Superman helping me open present and load the

wrapping paper in his new dump truck

My little superhero

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree....

Thanksgiving weekend we went with the Grahams out in Glide to get a Christmas tree! It was my first time ever actually going to a tree farm and cutting down our very own tree. Back in California growing up we either got our tree from the Home Depot parking lot, or from the Boy Scouts- who have their trees shipped down from none other than Oregon of course. It was a ton of fun and a really neat experience, even though we just got a little baby tree for our little apartment. Jackson sure had a ton of fun too! I can't wait to do it again next year!

Mommy's Little Helper

Lately Jack is way into mimicing everything I do, especially household chores. Here's some picture to illustrate just how much he loves to mimic. He got a little broom and vacume as two of his birthday presents and they are by far his favorite things ever.

Baking

Brushing his teeth with mommy & daddy's toothbrushes

Doing the dishes

Sweeping the floor

Vacuming

Birthday Cake Fun

Here's some pictures of the little guy digging in to his b-ball cake we made him since he loves balls. He had a very fun birthday! We celebrated with the Grahams a little while ago by singing and eating cake, then saturday we took him to the pet store since he loves animals, and toToys R Us to get some birthday presents- a kid sized broom, The Jungle Book dvd, and some blocks. Yesterday, on his b-day he got to go to lunch with mommy, and we sang happy birthday again with cupcakes and then daddy (John) set up the tent and sleeping bags for him, which he absolutely loved! He kept running from one end to the other in it, giggling like crazy. It was a fun birthday for Jack and he is lucky to have so many people who love him! Thanks for all the toys and phone calls from everyone!

Happy 1st Birthday Jackson!!

I can't believe we have a one year old!! It seems like just yesterday John and I were in good ole' Rexburg freezing our tails off, dating and talking about marriage. Now we really are married and have a little 1 yr. old boy! Crazy! But at the same time, I can't image and really remember much about life before Jack. One year ago today, we went to the hospital here in Eugene after three miserable and sleepless days of labor and 4 hours later we had a healthy 7 lb. 8 oz. baby boy! This past year has been busy, stressful and tons of fun all at once! Here's what Jack is up to now at 1 yr. old:

• He's walking like a big boy and barely ever crawls anymore
  


• He loves balls (his first word besides mamma and dadda was ball) and has at least 10 of them in various sizes and colors. He also loves to dunk his ball on his little tikes hoop that Grandma Sue got for him, and claps for himself after every basket
  


• He loves to mimic mommy like brushing his hair, trying to put blush on the top of his head with mommy's blush brush, and his favorite- sweeping the floor with his own kid sized broom



• He LOVES dogs and pretty much all animals- he has a ton of fun at the pet store
  


• His favorite foods are black beans, corn, fishies, and ice cream



• He loves to give mommy & daddy hugs and kisses and high fives



• His favorite songs are "If your happy and you know it...", "Patty Cake", and "The wheels on the bus"



• He has 8 full teeth



• He loves to open doors and run outside, even if it's pooring rain



• He loves to play with his buddy Kellen
  

We sure love our little guy! Happy Birthday Jack Jack!!