Yes, We're Alive.

I imagine Jordan and I are officially the only people who ever check this blog (and we do it so we can get to other blogs), but I feel to begin again in recording our goings on. We have had a number of exciting happenings over the past couple of months.

*Jordan graduated from law school.
*We relocated to Lindon, Utah.
*Jordan studied for and took the Utah Bar.
*We learned we are expecting another baby! :) (Baby due end of April.)
*Jordan passed the Utah Bar!!!!!!
*We relocated to West Jordan, UT. There's a playground out our front door. James couldn't be happier.

Here's a couple of pictures documenting the events of June:

We had a couple of trips to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. James enjoys burying the dinosaurs at the water table.

Kate apparently fell asleep while riding the Protoceratops. Really, she was enjoying herself.

We took Kate to the pool for the first time. She wasn't so sure about it. She preferred to play on the grass, but during subsequent trips she became quite expert at water play. She really likes jumping off the side of the pool into waiting arms. And James became a fish this summer. He loves the water, especially being underneath it. I was tempted to pull him up out of the water a number of times this summer for fear that he was drowning himself. He has pretty impressive lung capacity. I suppose he inherited that from Jordan, who won the *prestigious* Chief Challenge in college for holding his breath the longest under the water.

We went on a couple family hikes to various locations throughout the summer. In August, Jordan climbed Mt. Timpanogos for the first time. This picture is from a hike Jordan went on in June.

As you can see James was VERY excited to be up in the mountains. These pictures are from the first hike of the season when we got to Utah. It was a father-son hike.

Exploring.

Conquering.

Throwing.
This is a favorite activity when James sees any body of water.
He has to be pulled away from the rivers and streams whenever we hike.
He would never leave a rock-throwing party of his own accord--at least as far as I've seen.
We do let him enjoy himself for quite a while each time, but he could honestly do it for hours.

Cheesing.

More catch-up to come.

Spring Break

How time flies! It's been a month and a half since our spontaneous trip to Corpus Christi, Texas for Spring Break. We had a fabulous time.

The first day we went to an aquarium. It was kind of like a mini Sea World. We saw sea turtles, otters, sharks, sea horses, lots of fish (big and small), sting rays, an alligator, a bald eagle, dolphins, and some other neat things. We saw a fun dolphin show while we were there. James loved running back and forth chasing the otters around their exhibit. He also enjoyed touching the little sting rays, but he did NOT want to hold the hermit crabs. One of his favorite parts of the aquarium was the entrance which included statues of parts of whales (see below). He enjoyed climbing on them. When you got close enough the whale would spray water out of his blow hole. After such an occurrence, James decided to run up the whale, but slipped on the water and ended up with a nice mouth full of blood. Poor kid. It was thankfully only a minor wound, from which he quickly recovered. Even after that sad event, all he wanted to do was play on/around the statues.

After the aquarium, we headed over to the USS Lexington aircraft carrier that was docked next door. It was fun to explore. James' favorite part of the aircraft carrier was not the airplanes, but rather the construction equipment. He's really into construction things right now. He got to ride on a forklift and tractor-like thing, which he loved. Kate thoroughly enjoyed the day away in the carrier on daddy's back. She smiled there, laughed there, admired there, and slept there. A family that looked to be from India rather admired Kate's nifty backpack. In fact they admired it so much that they asked us if they could take a picture of it. So Jordan and Kate posed for a picture for some nice strangers we briefly met on board the ship. Next we went to walk briefly along the beach before dinner. I LOVE the beach. My family frequently went to California for family vacations, so the beach just feels like the place for a vacation. We got a little something for dinner and then headed back to our hotel to find that they had freshly baked chocolate chip cookies waiting. (I think I could live in a hotel...house keeping, complimentary breakfast, and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies each evening! Love it!) Anyway, James was rather excited...and I'm sure Jordan would want me to add that I was also rather excited. :)

Jordan and James enjoying a precious moment of father-son bonding via an airplane simulator (Isn't Jordan cute?):

On day 2 we drove about 30 minutes to get to the Padre Island National Sea Shore. It was wonderful. The weather was great (the day before had been rather chilly). The beach was nice and clean. We had to step through about a foot or two of kelp before getting to the water, which was interesting. James and Kate briefly enjoyed the water. We had to be holding them. The waves frightened them a bit. They preferred playing all day in the sand. They were both covered head to foot in sand. Kate found it rather enjoyable to purposely face plant in the sand. So even her sweet little eyelashes were caked in sand for parts of the day. She also enjoyed eating the sand. Yummy. Since we went on the trip on a whim, Kate didn't yet have her own swimming suit, so you see her below sporting James' old suit. It's a good thing she had a rather girly hat. When the time came to reapply sunscreen James was so covered in sand that he needed to be washed off first. Jordan took him to the nearby showers. However, they happened to be freezing. It took James a while to recover. He sat cuddled on my lap in a towel for about 30 minutes until he was ready to play again. At which point he joined a family in building (and occasionally destroying) a sand castle. It was a great day! When we returned to the hotel we again found delicious, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. So wonderful. Then we went to a local BBQ place for dinner. I got a jalapeno with my dinner. James normally steers clear of all spicy things. However, on this particular occasion, for some unknown reason, he decided to grab my partially eaten jalapeno, stick it in his mouth and suck! Poor, poor boy. We didn't really have anything at our disposal to help him. So he just ate some roll and waited it out. He handled it rather well. When we got back to our hotel to our delight we found a new batch of freshly baked delicious chocolate chip cookies. It was a perfect day. :)












The next day we drove home and enjoyed the last of the hills and greenery before Lubbock. We also enjoyed the windmill farms along the way.

This Will Be a LONG Night...

...at least I have a feeling this will be a long night. James has been able to get into his crib on his own for a while now. By nature he is a fairly cautious boy, so until tonight (age 3), he has never tried to get out of his crib on his own. For sometime now he has enjoyed using his crib rail as a motorcycle, so I knew it was only a matter of time. The time has come. He has climbed out of his crib 5...make that...6 times in the last 30 minutes. Jordan thinks he has nipped it in the bud, but I would surely appreciate some ideas just in case. We have a toddler bed all set up in his room. So any ideas about how to inspire the desire to stay in bed?

Kate Update

The following pictures span November through January.

While James is over our tribe's war drums, Kate specializes in war paint.

Pretty intimidating, huh?

Using her ingenuity, Kate designed a new form of tribal intimidation.
3-D is always more impressive than 2-D.

Kate is also our family cheerleader. She loves to cheer herself and others on with a hearty clap.

One of the talents she developed before heading out of town before Christmas: standing and moving from place to place using furniture.

They love each other.

Exhibit A: Evidence of James' love for his sister.

Exhibit B: Further evidence of James' love for his sister.

Exhibit C: Obvious mutual love and adoration.
James is very good about taking care of Kate. I happened to be in the other room for a brief moment when Kate ran out of "puffs." James quickly took care of the problem.

Kate is particular about books. There are only a few that she will stay put for. But, she really LOVES the ones that she'll sit for. This elite list includes: Brown Bear, Brown Bear; Petting Farm (pictured); Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? (also pictured); 10 Friendly Fish.

As you can see, Kate has gotten a number of teeth. She currently has 4 on the top (one is just barely coming in) and 2 on the bottom. She likes to use them...you'll see evidence of that later.

Our happy girl!

Yeah...so...like I said, she likes to use her teeth.
A couple of weeks ago, Kate woke up from her nap, but then went quiet. I thought maybe she had gone back to sleep. About 15 minutes later, I heard her chattering, so I went in to get her. I soon learned why she had gone quiet. The above file folder with a couple of sheets of paper within had been sitting a tad too close to her pack 'n play. She apparently spotted it and decided to practice her biting, tearing, chewing, and swallowing skills. This little girls LOVES eating paper. She is not allowed to touch it unless we have a constant eye on her. I honestly can't believe she ate that much paper: two layers of file folder, 3 sheets of paper in a two inch triangle. The little scraps of file folder on the table is the only bit that I was able to get out of her mouth when I got to her.

"It's tradition." (Most of the time)
Whenever one or the other wakes up from a nap, the one who first wakes up must get into the other's crib for a little jumping and playing before getting on with the day.

I can't remember if she was happy or upset here. This picture could really go either way. I think it really highlights how expressive Kate is. She lets you know when she's happy and when she's upset in a rather boisterous manner.

Kate's 9 Month Stats

Height: 27.5 inches
(30th percentile...or so)

Weight: 15.14 lbs
(3rd percentile...or so)

Kate is a little girl with a lot of drive and personality. In spite of her size, she can hold her own. She has been incredibly motivated to move. I witnessed her first steps by looking around a corner to check on her. No one was coaching her, she's just one motivated girl. She started walking at 10 1/2 months before it was even on our radar. That's how it was with sitting up, crawling, and standing too. We were simply too slow for her. She took matters into her own hands. Of course once she led out, we showered her with lots of encouragement. She loves to have us clap and to cheer herself and her brother on by clapping. She's an incredibly happy girl who needs far less sleep than her older brother. That has been an adjustment for me. Instead of 7:30 wake up time for the kids, it's more like 6:30 now. Her morning giggles often wake her brother. She's quite the social bug. She's often handed from woman to woman in Relief Society and Sunday School. She loves making new friends. She has been saying "mama" off and on since before Christmas. She has said "dada" a couple of times. And she went through a fun "uh-oh" stage for a bit. Currently, her favorite game is peek-a-boo. She is constantly putting objects over her face waiting for someone to say "Where is Kate?" She then waits for a moment of surprise and peeks out from behind the object with joy in her eyes as we say "Peek-a-boo." It never gets old. It's too cute. She also likes to play "chase" with James. And recently James has taken to tackling and wrestling Kate. Like I mentioned earlier, she can hold her own. She thinks its hilarious. I, however, usually stop the festivities; after all, she's just a baby. Kate loves to look at pictures of Jesus. It's adorable. She gets the biggest smile on her face when she sees a picture of Jesus. It can turn her cries into smiles and giggles. I love it. We absolutely love having this sweet little girl in our family! (I must not forget to add that she is totally a daddy's girl as of late. She LOVES her daddy!)