The Knowles Family

A Spontaneous Saturday

2011-07-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

So, I guess I should mention that we moved! We moved from Murrieta, CA to Thousand Oaks, CA (about 2 hours north) almost 2 months ago at the beginning of May for Steve's job relocation. We had been in Murrieta for 2 1/2 years and we were soooo sad to go, we LOVED it there. But we are LOVING Thousand Oaks, too!! We have had a really warm welcome from everyone here at church and with our neighbors, and it's helped a lot! Anyways, that's a different post ;) But that info. ties in with this post. We were actually feeling spontaneous one Saturday before we were going to move, and Steve didn't have to work, so we were trying to think of what we could do that we hadn't ever done. Steve had heard of this hike to a pretty waterfall called Tenaja Falls, and it was SUCH a pretty day, we couldn't waste it inside! So we packed Jake up in the hiking backpack and Evan in the wrap and off we went! At first we couldn't figure out how to get to the mail trail, it wasn't marked very well. We started off trying to climb over these big boulders going through a stream because that's how someone told us to get to trail, but I didn't feel comfortable with Steve carrying Jake on his back and me carrying Evan in the wrap. The rocks were slippery and one wrong move and a slip and someone could get pretty hurt. So we found a slab of concrete to sit down and eat our lunch. It was so peaceful there, just us and the sound of rushing water and the sunshine.... perfect :)

While we were eating lunch, there were some people who were also trying to find the main trail and didn't want to climb over the big boulders either, so they ended up just wading across the stream! Genious! Lots of people ended up doing it that way once we caught on to their brilliant idea. So Steve took his shoes off, rolled his pantlegs up and carried Jake across first and then carried me on his back. I started slipping and didn't want to get wet so I was hanging on for dear life and it made me laugh so hard I peed my pants!! Hey don't judge, Evan was only 4 weeks old!! lol, TMI, yeah I know ;)

Pretty view!!

And... the waterfall. It wasn't as big as I pictured it, but it was still pretty. It was a fun hike anyway!! I we hardly EVER get chances like this to just do something spontaneous and take off for the afternoon. Steve has been working crazy hours lately and our time together as a family is few and far between. Time is precious!!!

Brothers

2011-07-01T16:42:00.001-07:00

Jake has been such a great big brother to Evan, much to my surprise ;) J has NEVER taken out his anger on Evan, in the 4 months that he's been alive. It could change, and probably will change at some point, haha, but for now I'll take the Sweet Older Brother! He always wants to be around him, and hates when Evan has to go down for naps. He'll sneak in Evan's room sometimes and I'll find him climbing up the crib just looking at him. I've noticed that Jake has kind of reverted back to baby-land in some ways.... he loves his crib again and wants to hang out with Evan in there and look at the mobile with him, he's been more affectionate toward me at times, like putting his head on my shoulder and wanting to sit on my lap, which isn't normal for him at all!! It's kinda nice :) Anytime I pull out a baby toy, Jake seems to "remember" that it's his, haha. I'm so excited for Evan to get bigger so that Jake can play more rough with him. He still isn't very soft with him, so I have to always watch him when they're together. Evan usually doesn't get too bothered with Jake poking him, haha. I know that they have a special bond already, Evan smiles at him so big, and when Jake's in the room he'll just watch him (and flinch if he comes too close, lol) and it's like he's thinking, "I need to get big FAST so I can do what he's doing!!" I think they're gonna be pals :)

Here are some pictures galore!!!

Jake shared his precious "tiger blankie" with Evan, it took us all by surprise! He doesn't give it to anyone!

This overhead playmat was Jake's favorite toy when he was a baby, and whenever I put Evan under it Jake usually gets in there with him, haha.

Holding Evan for the first time :)

I love ALL my boys!!!

First bath together

These last 2 pics were taken about a week ago, look how big E's getting!!

Evan's Baby Blessing

2011-07-01T16:18:00.001-07:00

Evan was blessed on March 27, and Steve gave him such a special blessing. Evan will be an inspiration to people around him, and his mission will be very important to him. He was blessed with an ability to be accepting of different cultures, which Steve said later on he felt like that was meant for his mission. He has been blessed with a patient personality and a kind, sweet disposition which will benefit him in leadership positions someday. We just LOVE this little guy and can't wait to see him develop and his wonderful personality shine through!!!
Steve's parents and sister, Gina, were able to come down from Idaho and Utah for Evan's blessing, and my sis and bro-in-law, Emily and David, were able to come down from Provo to be there too!! We loved having family there, but it went by way too fast :( And unfortunately, my mom took all of the good pictures and I haven't gotten them from her yet! So here are some pics until I get the good ones ;)

Evan wore the same blessing outfit that Jake was blessed in. Their Grandma Knowles, the expert seamstress, made it for them!

A Birth Story

2011-04-25T15:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, so as promised, here are the happenings of Evan's arrival :)

First of all, he was born 5 days overdue, so every day became a waiting game. His due date was on March 2nd, but true labor pains didn't come until Sunday, March 6th. I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for about 2 weeks, and then the morning of March 6th, at like 3 am, I woke up with pretty bad cramps, and they started becoming really regular really fast, so we were thinking that we'd have to head to the hospital in the next few hours or so. Well they stayed regular for a few hours and then it started to die down a little. After that every time I'd have a contraction it would hurt, but was definitely still bearable, and they started spacing out farther and farther. Soooo, Evan was just giving us a little preview I guess ;)

At about 12:30 pm I was able to call a friend from our ward who just so happens to be a nurse that works at the hospital I was delivering at: SWEET!! If we didn't have her to help us with everything, our whole experience would've been MUCH different, and not in a good way! Anyways, she left church early to come over and check me. It's a good thing I don't really care about that stuff, haha. Well, after 9 hours I was still only at a 4, and I was planning on having an epidural, and that's when the hospital gives you one, so she called the hospital and asked how crowded it was, and the answer was: EXTREMELY full, there were no open beds at the moment... great. So my friend said that I should pretty much put myself on bedrest the rest of the day to slow things down (darn, haha) so that's what I did, and it worked! So around 7 pm, things started picking up again, but it was still bearable, especially after I sat in the tub for an hour. At 9 pm my friend called me again and asked if I wanted her to come check me again, and I said YES please :) Well, as soon as she checks me, she said, "Girl, you gotta go, you're at an 8!!" I totally was not expecting that one at all!! So off we went, and in the meantime, my friend called and made sure that I got a private room (the hospitals around here get really crowded in L&D, so the chance of getting a private room without her was slim to none!), and the best nurse, and told everyone working there that we were her friends, so to take care of us... yeah, we owe her BIG time. Anyways, so we get into the room, wait about 30 mins for the epidural, which unfortunately only works on HALF of my body... yeah not fun. I seriously think I'm not gonna bother with the epidural with the next child. I might as well not even have had one, and I got through it, and paid lots of $$ for it! But the epidural also slowed things waaay down, so I got the epidural around 10 pm, and didn't have Evan until 2:27 am the next morning! So all in all, in was almost a 24 hour labor. Yikes. I was in labor with Jake for 17 hours, I definitely didn't think this one would be longer than that! Oh well, Evan is worth it :) So yeah, at about 2:15 am I was starting to get tired of all the contractions and my body was shaking really bad, so they checked me, and sure enough I was at a 10. I only pushed for a few minutes and he was here! And I didn't tear, which seriously was the best thing ever. A few days later I was feeling GREAT. All in all, everything went really well, and little Evan is perfect!!! Welcome to the world, little one :)

Sweet Evan Mac

2011-04-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

I am FINALLY posting that Evan Mac is here!!! He is actually 6 weeks old today, but hey, it's been crazy around here so it's taken me a while ;) I'm planning on doing MUCH better with blogging after I play some catch-up. Anyways, so Evan joined our family on March 7th, at 2:27 am, weighing 8 lb. 11 oz., 20 inches long, and P.E.R.F.E.C.T. He is SUCH a sweet little guy, and such a good baby. He hardly ever cries, pretty much when he's hungry or tired, and every now and then when he just wants to be put down to kick his legs :) But he usually loves to be held when he's tired, which I'm trying to get used to because Jake was the opposite, believe it or not. He loves to suck on his binkie, but he isn't very good at keeping it in his mouth yet, and sometimes it's a problem... I have a love/hate relationship with binkies. But he's been a really good sleeper so far, he only wakes up a couple times to eat, and then usually falls right back asleep. If I could describe Evan in one word it would be: content. He is just a really chill kid! We need one of those around here ;) He loves to just lay on a blanket or on the bed and look around, but his favorite thing is to look at faces. He's been smiling since he was 3 weeks, and they keep getting better and better. He's just a doll!!! We love him soooo much, he's the absolute perfect addition to our family. Jake has been doing really well with Evan, too. The first couple weeks he was thrown WAY out of whack, naturally, and he had a hard time dealing with everything, but he never took out his frustrations on Evan. Not even once. It was mostly toward me, he was trying to do everything he could do get my attention, which meant he was n.a.u.g.h.t.y. Plus we had family in and out for the first 3 weeks of Evan's life, and poor Jake just couldn't handle everything. But he is MUCH better now and pretty much back to normal... but what is normal, really, with a 2 year old??? But seriously he has been such a great big brother. Let's hope it stays that way! So here are a TON of pictures, I'll do a separate post of Evan's Birth Story later, for right now just enjoy the pictures!

in labor... it ended up being 24 hours... loooong.

My sisters, Sarah and Hannah, and my mom were in the room until I had to push, so my sisters got to see that it's not quite what you see on TV ;) I loved having them there!

He's here!!! He was so content when he was born, he didn't cry pretty much the whole time we were in the hospital, even when he came out! Steve and I thought something was wrong with him but the nurses kept saying that he was great, he was just looking around!

Holy swelling!!

VERY proud parents :)

My 3 boys!!

About to go home, thank goodness. I HATE being in the hospital!

When Evan had his first bath at home, he fell asleep! So precious.

And this picture pretty much sums up what kind of mood Jake was in those first couple weeks. Yeeeah.

My favorite outfit, I love the little jeans!!

We love you, little man!!!! Thanks for being a sweet, lovable, handsome little guy, you are such a blessing!!

Just the 3 of Us One Last Time

2011-04-18T15:35:00.001-07:00

A few days before the baby came Steve ended up having the morning off of work because he had worked really late the night before. I had a doctor's appointment (my last one!!) early that morning, and instead of just me going, Steve and J came with me and at the last minute we decided we should go and do something fun instead of going back home. And even though what we did wasn't really extravagant, it was one of the best days we had had in a long time! It was just fun to do something spontaneous together as a family, and we knew that this would most likely be the last time it would only be the 3 of us, so it was extra special :) We ended up going to the mall and did some window shopping and walked around outside (part of it is an outside mall), and the weather was PERFECT, so it just put us in a good mood. Steve ended up finding some really good deals on nice work clothes at Macy's, so he was happy :) And I got some smelly good stuff at Bath and Body Works, which would make anyone happy, hehe. Then we went to Red Robin for lunch... YUMMM!! Jake is still obsessed with balloons, and his first one ended up popping and scaring all of us and the table next to us. He had such a sad cry, and people around us were cracking up at how sad he sounded. Of course they gave him a new one, and he kept saying, "Green one popped, scared!!" "Blue one's ok." Anyways, it was just a good time, I wish I would've gotten more pictures, but it's better than nothing!

Jake looks so old to me in this picture... *sigh*

Ice Cream Date with Mimi and Pa

2011-02-25T14:16:00.000-08:00

Jake and I spent a day at my parents' house last week, and that night after dinner we were all craving ice-cream SOOO bad... especially me, hehe. I think that's the thing I've craved the most lately with this pregnancy. Dangerous. Anyways, so we headed out to Baskin Robbins, and Jake was being so cute and funny with his ice cream that I just had to steal some pics of him. He couldn't figure out how to lick the ice cream off his cone, so it just kept melting down the sides and out the bottom. He was a mess!! Whoever invented bibs is definitely a hero in my book, that's for sure ;)

He kept wanting to share his cone, but luckily we can still get away with "pretending" to take a lick. I think that thing was half ice cream, half toddler drool.

Funny boy :)

Thanks Mimi and Pa for the fun memories!!! Thanks for turning something so simple into so much fun!! We love you!!

Look Who's Growing Up....

2011-02-25T14:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, Jake is finally in his big boy bed, I can't believe it!!!! He is loving it, too, which I'm so relieved about, because he has loved being in his crib for so long, I was kind of dreading "taking it away" from him. But he has warmed up to it REALLY well. The first night when we put him to bed he only tried getting out of it once, but then we put him right back in and told him it was time to sleep, and he did. Then he didn't get out AT ALL during the night, and he even slept until his normal time.... crazy, I know. Then came nap time, which was the thing I was most nervous about, but even then, he only attempted to get out once, and I put him right back in and he stayed. I kept thinking that this was too good to be true, that he would eventually figure out that he could get out and he would take total advantage of it, and that SORT OF happened a few days later, but we would just put him back in his bed and tell him it was time to sleep, and for the past month that he's been in his bed he's been GREAT. We tell him to stay in his bed until we come and get him, because I don't want him to think he can just wander around the house and do as he pleases if he were to wake up multiple times a night, or in the middle of his nap. He wakes up sometimes and mumbles to himself but then goes right back to sleep. It totally works with him, which I wasn't quite sure if it would at first. We'll just cross our fingers that he keeps this up!!! :)

Helping me put his bed together.

He loves his comforter with the "fishees" and the "birdees."
He looks SO SMALL in his bed!! We decided to get a twin instead of a toddler bed because he's going to quickly grow out of his toddler bed anyway, and a big part of our decision was that my sister was getting a new twin mattress for her bed anyway, so they gave us her old one! Can't beat that ;)

We read him a book and sing a couple songs when we put him to bed. It's one of the most precious, sweetest parts of my day because he actually sits still next to me and let's me give him face tickles when we're singing!

He has to have all of his favorite stuffed animals with him to keep away the monsters :)

Sweet dreams, sweet boy..... thanks for being SO GOOD!!!

New Family Member

2011-02-25T14:04:00.000-08:00

Nope, sorry, this is not to inform you of the baby yet (I wish it was!), but we actually got a new car!!! It wasn't by choice though, unfortunately Steve got in a car accident with the good ol' Mitsubishi Galant that he's had since he was in high school and it was totalled :( Luckily Steve wasn't hurt too bad, he got a bloody nose and lip when the airbag went off and the elbows of his jacket were burnt off from the airbags as well. I guess those airbags are pretty intense!
So it happened early in the morning when Steve was driving to work, at about 6 am, and it was raining pretty hard and still pitch black outside. He was going over a hill where there had just been a new median curb put in, and with the way the road curves, and with there being just one little tiny reflector beam on the curb part, AND with the rain coming down really hard, he unfortunately ran right into the median curb! :/ This curb is pretty tall though, and when the car ran on top of it, it just ripped out the whole underside of the car, made the airbags go off, which made the passenger console flip up really hard and crack the windshield.... yeah, not good. Especially because it was only worth it to us to have only liability on the car, it would've been WAY more expensive to fix it than it was worth. But fortunately we have been taught to save for a rainy day, and this was definitely a rainy day, literally! And we knew that the Mit wouldn't last us forever, so we were prepared to fork up money for this new little beauty:

A '97 Acura TL

We were able to find a really good deal on it through one of Steve's friends, and we are really happy with it!! Steve is loving it, and we're planning on having it for a while, so it's a good thing he likes it ;) Let's just hope there are no other medians that get in our way!!

I Can't Believe I Have a 2 Year Old!

2011-02-25T13:08:00.000-08:00

So even though Jake had his actual b-day while we were in Idaho for Christmas, we had to celebrate with my family and our friends too, of course! So the night that my parents picked us up from the airport when we got home from ID we had a little celebration. And Jake had told Mimi that he wanted an Elmo balloon, and there was one waiting for him when we got inside. That could've been the only thing he got for his b-day and he would've been happy! Hmm, yeah, why do we spend so much money on presents for toddlers when all they want is the box or something that's only $5?? Silly parents.

Jake and Aunt "Sawah" :)

He is the CUTEST thing when we say prayers. He folds his little hands as tight as they'll go and squeezes his eyes shut, but then he peeks during the prayer to make sure that everyone else has their eyes shut, too. Cutest.Thing.Ever.

Choo- Choo cake!!!

The Friend Party!! Luckily we live in SoCal and even in January we can be outside in short-sleeve shirts and have a bunch of toddlers run around wild at the park ;) Gotta love it! And you gotta love Costco cakes, too!!!

Even though I told people no presents (he has waaaay too many toys) he ended up getting a few anyway :) A tickle-me-Elmo and....

.....waiting patiently.....

Thomas bath toys!! He's totally obsessed with both right now, so he was pretty much in heaven.

Happy Birthday, little buddy, we sure do love you SOOOOO much!!!! Thanks for making our hearts smile :)

He got a pair of light-up shoes from Mimi. He has to wear them ALL the time. Thanks Mom ;)

And let's see.... some things about Jake right now are:

He's about 28 pounds according to our scale at home. I don't know exactly how tall he is, but comparing him to other kids his age, he's on the tall side. He has his 2 year check up in a few weeks so then we'll know for sure!
He loves anything that has wheels or goes. Planes, cars, trucks, trains, bikes, motorcycles. You name it. Every morning he has to see the bus, and when he hears the sound of the brakes he runs to the door to watch it. He also loves the garbage truck. He's fascinated that it takes away all the trash, haha.
He is saying new words every day, I can't keep track of how many words he can say! It's just crazy that he's saying all these new things, and he's saying some short sentences like, "Help me, please," and "Watch this" and "I got it." My favorite thing that he says right now is, "Wow-eeee!!!" when he's excited about something. And it's funny how he says Thank you: "Take ooo" and paper towel: "Pee pee towoh" and heffalumps from Winnie the Pooh: "Heppups" haha.
He's about to be sleeping in his big boy bed in the next few days.... scary!!!
He pretty much has the cutest little laugh ever!! Especially when you tickle him.
His favorite characters/movies are: Cars, Elmo, Mickey, Winnie the Pooh, and Thomas.
He's a REALLY fast runner. I can't wait until he's 3 so I can sign him up for soccer, I think he'll love it and be really good.
He repeats words over and over again until you repeat back what he's saying. It's hard when you don't know what he's saying because he just doesn't stop!
He knows his colors, can count to ten, and sings along to the ABC's but still has trouble with the "LMNOP" part, haha.
His favorite songs are Popcorn Popping, Twinkle Twinkle, ABC's, I Love to See the Temple, I am a Child of God, The Wise Man/Foolish Man, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Do as I'm Doing.
He's pretty much the coolest little 2 year old EVER and we LOVE HIM to pieces!!!

Christmas and a Birthday

2011-02-24T20:40:00.000-08:00

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

We started the holiday season off right by going to our ward Christmas party and scaring Jake with Santa Clause again, hehe. He didn't scream like he did last year though. Improvement!

No Christmas is complete without gingerbread houses.

Mine:

Steve's..... BAHAHA, hmm I wonder where Jake gets his OCD-ness from? ;)

I think this is the cheesiest smile from Jake that I've captured on camera, I love it!!

We did Christmas presents from my parents before we left for Idaho.

Before:

After :)

At the Knowles'!!! We hadn't been to their house for Christmas since 2006. That's 4 long years people! 2008 was the next on-year for rotation, but on Christmas day I was 5 days overdue with Jake, so needless to say, we didn't go anywhere that year. It was so nice to be there for the holidays this time, especially for Steve since he hadn't spent Christmas with his family in forever! We were there for 10 days but it FLEW by. I guess that means we were having fun ;)

Boompa's train board was pretty much Jake's favorite thing at their house.

Pin the tail on Rudolph!I am so pathetic... these next 2 pictures are the only ones I took on Christmas day :( BAD!!

Right now Jake is really liking Pooh, and one of his favorite characters is Roo. He also loves the movie Cars, so we had to get him a Roo and Lightning McQueen!

SNOW!!! We hadn't seen snow in sooo long, it was beautiful! Jake didn't quite know what to do with it at first, but it didn't take long to figure it out.

We went to a self-serve yogurt place, and they had these cool chairs that Jake liked to climb through.And as you can tell it's good yogurt!

Basketball with Boompa and Daddy

Happy 2nd B-day, Jakers!!!! His birthday is on the 30th, and we didn't leave until Jan. 3rd so J got to celebrate his b-day with lots of family! I made this Mickey cake all by myself, and with some help from my expert mother-in-law, of course. I'm so proud, haha :)

The Birthday Boy!! I'll give his stats in a later post.

He's showing everyone he's 2

Crazy cousins

One of the birthday games was rolling ping pong balls across the room with just their noses. It was so cute watching the younger kids try to do this!

We got him trick candles! J loves helping me blow out candles at home, so I thought he would have fun blowing out candle after candle. And yep! He loved it :)

He got an electric screw driver/drill from Grandma and Boompa so he can help Daddy at home.

Steve has a best friend from elementary school, Jesse Havens, that lives in Idaho Falls, and his son, Luke, was having his 1st b-day when we were there, so of COURSE we had to go to his little party :) He is the cutest thing, so smiley and happy! We're so glad we got to meet him!

Jesse's wife, Emily, is AWESOME!!! I just love her, she's such a sweet heart, and a GREAT mom.

And the boys, as rowdy as ever, haha. We love and miss you, Havens!!!

An afghan from Steve's sister, Gina. She's really talented at crocheting.

On the plane ride home. I TOTALLY understand now why kids need their own seat when they turn 2. On the way there, Jake wasn't 2 yet so he sat on our laps, and it was pretty insane. On the way home he needed his own seat and it was HEAVEN!!!

We hope everyone had a GREAT Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Fluffy

2011-02-24T20:29:00.000-08:00

My mom wanted to take Jake to Build A Bear to pick something out for his birthday on Dec. 30th. He bypassed all the bears and really wanted to get a dog. It's sooo soft and cuddly, I asked my mom if I could pick one out too ;) When they were filling it with the stuffing, the guy told Jake they they were fluffing it, so he called the dog Fluffy from that point on, haha.

Brushing all the lint off

I'm glad Jake has a new little buddy! Thanks Mimi!!!!

My OCD Child :)

2011-02-24T19:28:00.000-08:00

So Jake has always been a more particular child, even since he was born. He just knows what he likes, what he wants, and how he wants things done. And sometimes he gets frustrated when he can't figure out how to make something work. I have to say though, he has gotten TONS better the older he gets because he is more coordinated and more physically/mentally able to do things. He is so funny right now though because he has been putting everything in lines! He's really into choo choo's right now, so I don't know if he thinks he's making trains or what, but it makes me laugh. I think a lot of it comes from his personality though, because he's just naturally a more "orderly" and particular person. Along with the magnets, cars and books, he has made lines with his food on the table, balls, blocks, his toys all along the side of the tub when he takes a bath, and I'm sure there's more that I just can't think of :) I wish I had more pictures of things that he's lined up, but these will have to do! I love him!!!!

When You Wish Upon a Star.....

2011-02-24T14:10:00.001-08:00

As I mentioned before we were able to go to DISNEYLAND over Thanksgiving!!!!!! We actually went the day after Thanksgiving, which we thought was going to be not so crowded because Steve had heard from a few co-workers that it's not too bad on Black Friday... BUT... it was INSANE!!! There were people everywhere, and it was hard to even turn around in some areas, but it was still a ton of fun. I mean, HELLO, it's Disneyland! It's just too bad the lines were so long and the park was having problems with quite a few rides that eventually had to be shut down the rest of the day. But the weather was perfect (as always) and Jake was about to die of excitement when he saw his favorites: Mickey, Pooh, and Mickey Balloons, haha. Gotta love living vicariously through a 2 year old ;)

On the "Buggies Life" ride

Our little finger sucker

Pirates!! This is one of the rides that was having problems, and we ended up getting stuck in one spot for about 20 minutes, so we busted out the night vision on the camera. Kinda creepy....

Everyone but me and Jake went on this roller coaster like 4 times, and fortunately Jake never got tired of watching all the people go by with their hands in the air and screaming! After a few times of watching, he started to put his hands in the air when they would go by, haha.

Do you see them?!

Jake waiting VERY patiently to get on the choo choo ;)

PARADE!!

One of the 5 rides I could go on, Winnie the Pooh. Hey, it was cute.

Jake's heaven, Mickey "boons" everywhere!

He finally got one.

Festival of Colors show

Main Street

And a sad fireworks picture, totally does not do it justice. We love Disneyland!!!

Gobble Gobble!!

2011-02-23T16:14:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving of 2010 was spent at my family's house in Corona, CA. Emily and David were able to come down from BYU and Sarah came down from BYU-I. My Grandma was also able to come from Phoenix, and we all had a blast together, it had been a while since we had seen everyone! I think the highlight of the weekend, other than the DELICIOUS Thanksgiving food, was that we all got to go to Disneyland!!! Being 26 weeks preggo didn't allow me to do a whole lot there, but it was so much fun to go on kiddie rides with Jake and see how much fun he was having. The pictures of that will be in the next post ;) It's just so great being with my family, and we aren't JUST family, we are best friends too. Love you guys!!!

ACE!!!

We got these see-through ornaments that you can decorate by putting in little drops of paint and shaking them around, or fill them with whatever you want. They were super fun to make and turned out way cute.

We were all in charge of making one meal over the weekend, and Steve and I made Steve's famous beans and rice recipe that he learned when he served his mission in Brazil. SOOO GOOOOOD!!!

Jake in time-out, lol.

The super-duper talented Thanksgiving chefs :)

The taste-tester. Yep, he approved of pretty much everything!

Happy Thanksgiving 2010!!!!

And of course the big boys had their wicked rad lego's to build.

Comparison

2011-02-21T00:11:00.000-08:00

So this is a comparison of when I was preggo with the Jakester vs. with this little guy. I'm about 26 weeks in both pictures. And look!!! An actual "formal" picture!! I know, I'm so proud :) I think I look about the same in the pictures, even though I feel a lot bigger with the 2nd one. Hmm, we shall see!!

Fall Time = Apple Picking!!!

2011-02-20T23:43:00.000-08:00

About an hour northwest of us in Oak Glen is a beautiful place called Riley's Farm. It's nestled up in the mountain foothills, and at this time of year it is just breathtaking!! Warm fall colors everywhere you look, and it's still warm enough that there are tons of flowers on bushes. It was just so peaceful, I could totally live there. Anyways, they have big apple orchards there, and we filled two big bags of fresh green apples. I normally like red apples a lot more, but these green apples were pretty sweet, with the perfect amount of sourness :) Needless to say, when we got home we made some MMM-MMM good apple crisp!!

And yes, the belly again :) I'm not too good this time around at getting "formal" belly shots, so these will have to do! I'm about 24 weeks here.

These were the yummiest caramel apples I've ever had!! Jake just liked picking off the sprinkles, haha.

Until next year, Riley's Farm.......

The CUTEST 4-D Pictures EVER!!

2011-02-20T23:37:00.000-08:00

So we decided to get a 4-D ultrasound of this little guy, and I wish we would've done the same with Jake, but we didn't want to pay extra at the time :) These pictures turned out so cute, even though at first he was facing in toward me so the ultrasound tech couldn't get a good picture, so I had to walk around and bend over for like a 1/2 hour to try and get him to move. It worked! We could tell right away that he resembles Jake, but I think he'll have my round face shape and Steve's luscious lips, haha. Jake has Steve's longer face shape and my no-lips :) Anyways, enjoy the pictures of the cutie!!!

I love how his lips are all smushed in this picture!

Gotta love little baby feet :)

We just LOOOOVE our little guy so much already!!! We're so excited to see what he actually looks like!!!

Things with Wheels

2011-02-20T23:33:00.000-08:00

So anyone who knows Jake knows that he is ALL BOY. He loves anything that makes noise, anything you can build or put together, hammers and tools, and anything that has wheels or goes, his favorites probably being trains and his bike. He also watches the movie "Cars" ALL the time. I gotta say, I just love little boys, even though I was terrified when I first found out that Jake was going to be a boy, because I had 3 sisters and just 1 brother growing up, so I only knew stuff about girls. But now that I have a little boy and I'm going to soon have TWO little boys, I'm not going to know what to do if I eventually have a girl! So anyway, here is Jake with some of his favorite toys that have wheels :)

He loves going to his Mimi's house because they got him an electric Lightning McQueen car as an early b-day present. I don't know who was more excited, Jake getting the present or my mom giving it to him! When I tell him we're going to see Mimi he always says, "Yeeeah, CARRR!!!" Sorry Mom!

His "mocycoh"
Haha, we found this trike and Cars helmet at a rummage sale for $5 total! Probably the best purchase we've ever made :) He's so cute on this thing!!! He doesn't quite understand how to work the pedals yet, but he'll get there.

He loves helping my dad mow the lawn, haha. Especially with his helmet and safety glasses on!

Halloween with a Tigerrrrr

2011-02-20T23:29:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween 2010!!! I loooove Halloween, it must be all the chocolate and sugar I get to eat ;) We started off festivities with our ward Halloween party the week before, and the Zarlengo's came with us even though they're in a different ward. Jake and Kaleb just so happened to be the same thing, and we were seriously not planning it that way! They were the two cutest tigers I've ever seen!

Parading together at the costume contest :)
Pumpkin carving on Halloween night!!

Sugar high kicking in, haha.

What was Jake's favorite thing in his treat bucket?? Not candy, oh no, it was a toothbrush! Definitely did NOT get that from me ;) Hey, that leaves more candy for me and Steve, hehe.

Best Buds

2011-02-20T23:22:00.000-08:00

This is a tribute to two little boy BFF's. Jake and Kaleb are so stinkin cute together, they play so well together MOST of the time ;) They definitely have what we call their "brother days," where they annoy each other instead of play together, but for the most part they just... mesh. But unfortunately, with Steve and Nate (Kaleb's dad) both working for Layton, the hospital they are working on will someday be finished which means that we'll have to be re-located somewhere else, and we'll probably be on different projects. Yeah, I can't think about that day. It will not only be sad to say good bye to Autumn and Nate, but for some reason it seems more sad to break the little boys apart. They ask for each other every day! We'll just cross that bridge when it comes ;)

There's this place called Tumble Jungle, it's a gymnastics type place where they have the foam block pits, trampolines, and things they can climb on. It's pretty much the perfect place for toddlers to get their energy out :) I'll need to get more pictures of them here!

Costco buddies!

Park days are the best!! Luckily the Zarlengo's only live minutes away, so they happen often.

Petting Zoo, Ponies and Choo-choo's

2011-02-20T23:06:00.000-08:00

With Halloween coming up, we took a little trip with my family to a petting zoo/pumpkin patch called Zoomars in San Juan Capistrano. Wow, this place is the coolest place ever!!! I can't believe it's taken this long for us to know this place exists! There is this big pen filled with floppy eared bunnies and guinea pigs that you can feed lettuce and carrots to, a train, pumpkin patch, hay bale maze, a sand box filled with corn kernels instead of sand, horse rides, and pens with pot belly pigs, turkeys, goats, and chickens. Jake's favorite part was definitely the choo choo, but he also loved the pretty much everything else too :) I'm just excited for next Halloween already so we can come back!!!

Yes, I'm getting a belly :) I'm about 22 weeks here.

This "corn" box is the most genious idea. It has the same amount of fun as a sand box but without the sandy mess! I'm totally stealing this idea when we have a yard someday ;)

Don't Tell Dad...

2011-02-20T23:05:00.000-08:00

I was getting ready one day and Jake was "helping" me, and he was really into my makeup and trying out everything the way the I was doing it. So I decided to let him play with my mascara and see how beautiful he could make himself, haha ;) Well he turned out VERY beautiful, hehe.

And It's a.......

2011-02-20T23:01:00.000-08:00

BOY!!!!!!!!!!! We are so so so excited!!!!!! That's exactly what we hoped for, so Jake can have a little buddy to get into trouble with ;) Of course we would've been happy with a girl, too, but we could not be happier to welcome another handsome boy into our home. And one plus is that we won't have to buy any new clothes!! Some names we are thinking of so far are: Erik, Carter, and Nathan. And I've been feeling really good. The nausea went away at about 14 weeks, and everything else has been great. I've been loving this pregnancy!

We love you already, little boy!!!!

My mom and Hannah were able to be there with us, and they had gotten a couple pink and blue onesies, and I guess they'll be returning the pink ones! :)

He's going to be such a great big brother!!! I can't wait, hurry March 2nd!!!

A Couple of the Latest Favorites

2011-02-20T22:56:00.000-08:00

Luckily we have a pool at our apartment complex because it keeps Jake pretty busy! He is our little fish, he asks to go to the pool every day, and he is doing REALLY well with swimming by himself with his floaties and little life vest. Pretty good for a 20 month old, I think!! He loves to jump in the water from the side of the pool and play catch with his Nerf ball that he can squeeze all the water out of.

Almost every day for the past couple weeks, after Jake's nap he wants to make a fort with ALL of his blankets. He will seriously sit in there and hang out for an hour. It's really nice actually, haha. I just wish I could fit in there with him so I could have fun too!

New Pets

2011-02-20T22:51:00.000-08:00

My parents got some new family members: a fish and the cutest little golden retriever puppy EVER!!! The fish is a no-name for now, but the puppy's name is Ace. He is the coolest. Jake LOVES them both. He always wants the fish to eat at the table with us, and he likes to help Mimi feed it. And I think he likes the dog so much because he's small just like him :) He likes to go in his cage with him, haha. Whatever keeps him busy!! ;)

OH I just love him!!!!

Boats and Carousels

2011-02-20T22:47:00.000-08:00

We got together with my family for a fun Saturday trip to go to Newport Beach. Emily was in town from BYU and we just HAD to do something really awesome ;) We rented these 2 little boats and went around the bay area in Newport. SO MUCH FUN!!! These boats couldn't have been going more than 10 miles an hour, so it was really relaxing because we were going so slow, haha.

After we got back to the beach, we just HAD to see what all the fuss is about with Balboa Bars. They are chocolate dipped bananas with chopped nuts on top. And yes, they were A-mazing like we had heard, but they also had cheesecake and ice cream bars freshly dipped in chocolate, and I gotta say, I liked that idea a lot more ;) Just as yummy as it sounds. I'm just sooo sad that I didn't get pictures of the yumminess!!

Carousel rides!!

You Gotta Love Idaho

2011-02-20T22:43:00.000-08:00

So when it was time for Sarah to go back to BYU-I in September, Jake and I decided to tag along! It was a fun 14 hour road trip with us two and my mom and Sarah. It was also awesome because we stayed at Steve's parents' house for the four days that we were there!! It was so fun to see the in-laws again, and for Jake to play with some of his cousins. And it's just crazy how much the BYU-I campus has changed since I started school there in 2003. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures :( But there's a brand-new auditorium that will be finished in the next year, and it's going to seat 15,000 people.... that's HUGE!! It's being compared to the Conference Center on Temple Square. Anyways, I'm so excited that Sarah gets to go to college here, the "Spirit of Ricks" is a real thing. Have fun Sarah, we'll miss you!!!

Ice cream cones in perfect Idaho September weather. Love it!!

I love this family!!!!

He looked so small in their huge backyard!

Good luck Sarah, we love you!!! You're gonna do great!!

Randoms

2011-02-20T21:17:00.000-08:00

Here are just some random pictures of every day life!! The life that we LOVE!!!!

This has been on of Jake's favorite things to do. He puts all of his cars and trucks on the window sill and drives them around!

Matching Brasil shirts!
One of J's FAVES: "boons!!"

Mommy-son lunch date at McDonald's. He loves his nuggets ;)

Matching outfits again, hehe. Not intentional!

Haha, so Jake was having fun banging his hands on his highchair and accidently hit his cereal bowl, which flew in the air, which landed cheerios and milk all over him and the walls. It surprised him JUST a little!

There are sooo many of these days, where Autumn and I and the boys go for a walk to the park, and then go back to their house where the boys watch a movie together, just like this :)

So I FINALLY got a tomato plant, and it was giving us the best tomatoes, until one day I noticed that something weird was happening to the leaves, and then the plant just DIED, and I couldn't figure it out...... until I found THIS on one of the branches:

Yeeeeah, the plant did NOT survive :(

Steve's 26th B-day!

2011-02-20T20:55:00.000-08:00

Yay for birthdays!!! Steve turned 26 on July 28th, and we had fun with 2 celebrations! One with Jake and I and another one with my family, and since Sarah's b-day isn't too far after (Aug. 8th) we did a little combined b-day :) Happy birthday Schweetie, and many more to come!!!!!! We love you!!!!!! Thanks for being the absolute BEST husband and father anyone could ever have!!!

trying on his new hoodie!
How HANDSOME is he?!?!

One of my favorite pictures EVER.

Sprinkles on his feet :)

Happy Birthday Steve and Sarah!!!

home-made ice cream, yuuuummm

Fun with Friends

2011-02-20T20:37:00.000-08:00

So with Steve's job he works with a lot of LDS people (the main office is based out of the Salt Lake area), and we have formed some really great friendships with them. It's awesome because they are not only co-workers for Steve, but friends as well. And the wives all get along so well, it's just really nice to have this support system :) We love you guys!!!!!!

One of the familes had a baby 8 weeks early. He's healthy and doing great, and they were able to join us in 4th of July festivities :) Jake was fascinated with him, it was adorable.

Jake with his "brother," Kaleb. They look so much alike, when they're together we're always asked if they're twins. They love each other!
Candice wasn't quite sure what to think about Jake pushing her stroller, haha.

At the duck pond

This was so sad, we saw a duck that didn't have a bill! It's like it had been bitten off or something. He couldn't eat any bread, it was the saddest thing ever!

Jake's first girlfriend, Candice :)

Three amigos

These girls are amazing!! Autumn and Rachel, thanks for being so awesome, I love you guys!!

Something Exciting is Happening....

2011-02-20T20:36:00.000-08:00

Steve, Jake and I are SOOOOO excited to announce that there will be a new little Knowles arriving soon!!!! My due date is March 2nd, 2011. We are feeling so blessed that we will have another opportunity to be parents again. Jake has been so much fun to have in our family and has added so much happiness and we are looking forward to experiencing this happiness again. And I'm feeling ok... as ok as you can be in the first trimester! Luckily I don't get too sick when I'm pregnant. I get nauseous in the beginning, and certain foods and smells REALLY are not good, but I didn't throw up with Jake at all, and I haven't with this one either. Knock on wood!!

Our little bean at about 9 weeks :)

Knowles Family Reunion 2010!!

2011-02-20T20:13:00.000-08:00

The weekend after the 4th of July we were able to go up to Idaho Falls for a family reunion! We always love getting together with Steve's family, and we cherish the times we have together because they don't happen as often as we'd like with us living in California and Jon and Leila living in Alaska. We always have so much fun together, and it's always CRAZY with Steve's 6 siblings and their kids (17 grandkids) all under the same roof all day :) But it's soooo much fun. We had fun playing games, boating, staying up way too late, watching movies, and having a luau!

Jake had fun playing with his new trains and watching the planes come in while we waited to board.

Steve's parents have the most AMAZING back yard, and they did all of the work themselves. We actually had our wedding reception here because it is sooo beautiful.

the lake!!!!

Jake and Savannah are only 3 weeks apart, and they were little buddies this week.

What is life without friends??

2010-06-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

In our case, what is life without the Zarlengo's?!?! We absolutely LOVE this family. Steve and Nate work together, and also click really well, and Autumn and I have become super close, super fast. And I love that. They moved about 3 minutes away a few months ago, so we get together a lot, needless to say :) And Jake and Kaleb have become best buddies, and play together pretty perfectly, most of the time, which makes our get-togethers even better. This post is a little tribute to them, with a HUGE thank you for adding some "spice" to our lives :)

On Memorial Day we met at Coronado Beach, and got some bad sunburns! Well, at least Steve and I did, haha. The little boys had a blast playing in the ocean, and would giggle at each other every time a wave would come up. Cuteness. The big boys had fun too, of course ;)

HA, the sand was CAKED on Jake's little bum!

So, Autumn and I go on a lot of bide rides together, and put the boys in the trailer behind one of the bikes (which is a BEAST to pull up hills, let me tell ya!!!). This is what happens on most of the bike rides, tee hee:

AND Autumn and I usually end up looking like this: dripping sweat with beet red faces. Hey, it's HOT here!

Our famous pizza that we're trying to perfect. We stole the idea from the Village Pizzeria in Coronado, it's called the Billy Goat, and it is YUM. Picture this: an olive oil/garlic base, TONS of mozz., sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, goat cheese (it melts in your mouth, so good), fresh spinach a little wilted, purple onion, fresh basil and thickened balsamic vinegar drizzled on top. Oh my goodness, my mouth is watering as I type this.....

This is their dog, Boston. Jake wishes he was ours.

Yay for kiddie pools, backyards and hoses! And the fact that the Zarlengo's have all of them ;)

We Love "Pa!"

2010-06-27T11:12:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, it is SOOOO CLOSE to when my WHOLE family is moving to SoCal, about an hour away from us!!!!!!!! Can you tell I'm EXCITED?!?!?! They are getting here on Tuesday, July 6th, which is only a little more than a week away. BAH!!! Anyways ;) So, my dad (Jake calls him "Pa," it's so cute) has been here for a few weeks already for work, and he has come to see us a couple times, and we have had tons of fun. Hurry the rest of you and get here already!

So, some of you may know that I am a DIE HARD St. Louis Cardinals fan. Born and raised until I was 12 in St. Louis, the highlights of my summers as a kid were always when my dad took us to baseball games, which happened often. I love LOVE going to baseball games. The green grass, perfectly mowed, being amazed at how far the players can throw the ball, the smell of hotdogs and nachos, "baseball" music played from the organ, feeling the pride of being an American when they sing the Star-Spangled Banner, AHH I just love it. Well, my dad was awesome enough to take us to see an MLB game in San Diego when the Cardinals came to town, WOOT WOOT!!! And there was actually a lot of red in the stadium, but why wouldn't there be, the Cards are theBEST ;)

(and check out that view of the Coronado bridge!)

Jake was obsessed with the cardinals on our shirts, he kept pointing to them and saying "Teet teet, teet teet!"

Another amazing game for the Cardinals, they killed the Padres, 8-3! AND Albert Pujols hit an awesome home-run, surprise surprise... hehe.

The next activity on our agenda was going to Old Town San Diego to go see the newly renovated Mormom Battalion. It was SOO COOL, and whoever is reading this that lives in SoCal, or if you are planning a vacation here, and you haven't been there, you MUST go!!! They did such a great job with the way they present everything, with all of the updated technology. Like, at the end of the presentation, they take your picture and they are able to email it to you AND they print off a hard copy. And this is what it looks like:

You can't really tell, but we're sitting in the front of a covered wagon.

They have an area outside where you can get more hands-on with the goings-on of what they did back in the pioneer days in California. Here we are panning for gold, or uh, pyrite ;)

Jake LOVED this water pump. He would try as hard as he could to pump it faster and faster. I'm surprised he didn't break it!

And brick-making. This was also a fun little area to stack the bricks and put them in the molds. I just can't even explain how awesome this place is. Everyone should go!

And we can't go to Old Town without going to Casa de Reyes! Plus, we worked up an appetite after the Battalion!

Jake and Pa are best buds, for reals. I love when my dad comes to visit us because it's pretty much a guarantee that Jake will be happy non-stop. Come again SOON Dad, we love you!!!

Happy B-day to MEEE!! And Happy Mother's Day, too!

2010-05-10T16:03:00.000-07:00

On Mother's Day I turned 25... yep, the big 2-5. Being in the Quarter Century Club feels a little weird, actually, part of me feels like I should still stay I'm 21, but another part of me feels like I should be older than 25. Having a kid does that to a person! But anyways, I had a SPLENDID b-day, filled with everything I could ask for! Friends, San Diego, shopping, new MUCH needed capris and other awesome presents, the beach, yummy food, cake and ice-cream, a lazy Mother's Day for me (sorry Steve, you weren't allowed to be lazy) and Village Pizzeria in San Diego (my favorite pizza place EVER... if you're ever in San Diego, hop skip and jump over to Coronado and go there!!)..... what could be better?!

And, as far as the Mother's Day part of the day goes, Steve made it very special, with flowers, breakfast in bed, taking Jake through most of church (until Jake got cranky half way through Steve teaching the lesson in Teacher's Quorum), watching Pride and Prejudice with me and not complaining once!, and making me some yummy dinner. But I'm SOOO lucky, because I realize that even though he treated me so special this weekend, he treats me special EVERY day. I could NOT ask for a better husband to spend eternity with. And, I'm also so lucky to have such a fun, smart, spirited, hilarious son. Of course being a mom is challenging, and tiring, but I know it's the most important job I will ever have, and I just LOVE my little boy and he makes my heart smile. I love being his mom!!

When I got a b-day package, Jake was my mail carrier :)

We started the weekend off right when Steve met us at Chik-fil-A for lunch!
Some of Jake's best buds: Kaleb and Candice. This was at the little party we had Friday night.

Lunch break at the Horton Plaza in San Diego. Cheese-ball ;)

Our FAVE beach in Coronado!!! LOVE this place!!!

Waiting to eat some awesome Village Pizzeria pizza. YUMMO!!

Cupcakes and presents!! I got some MUCH NEEDED things, and I don't want to bore anyone with the list, so I'm just gonna say thanks everyone!!!!

Haha, this book was a present from my lovely mother, who knows Jake well ;) This made me laugh, and even from reading the back of the book and the first few pages, I KNOW that this is describing Jake, and it will help us BOTH!! Thanks Mom!!!!!

Tribute

2010-05-10T15:07:00.000-07:00

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

This is dedicated to my own mom, and my mother-in-law :)

The one word I could use to describe my mom is: BEAUTIFUL, inside and out. I love my mom so much, and she is not only my mother, but she is my best friend (after Steve, of course). My mom is seriously the most patient, understanding, loving, even-tempered, saintly person I know, and she would do (and does) anything for anyone. She is the kind of mom who LOVES being a mom, and her children know it. She is my ultimate example for the kind of person I could only hope to be. We have had our ups and downs (what mother/daughter relationship hasn't?) but definitely WAY more ups than downs. And if it was a down it was most likely my fault anyway ;) But I'm so SO grateful to have my mom in my life, and I'm grateful to have her as an example. I try to be like her every day, and there are a lot of times when I could very easily lose my patience with Jake when I stop and think about what my mom would do in the situation, and the answer is always, "She would be patient and stop what she is doing and just give him a hug and show him she cares." Which is then what I try to do, and then things really do get better. So each day my goal is to be more like my mom, and give Jake the same feeling that I got from my mom every day: that I am LOVED.

Steve's mom, Kris, is also an amazing example to me. She works so hard to be dedicated to her family, and that she is!! She knows how to do pretty much anything, which comes in handy to someone like me who needs to LEARN how to do a lot of things! She is an excellent mother and grandmother, and Jake is actually her 17th grandchild. She raised 7 children, Steve being the baby in the family, so there are many people who need her love and attention and guidance, and she does SUCH a great job of providing that to everyone! I'm so grateful that she raised Steve to be the person that he is, she did an amazing job because he is an amazing person! I love going to Idaho to visit them because she has provided such a fun environment for all of her children and grandchildren to come home to. Thanks, Kris, for ALL that you do, we love you!!

Lately

2010-05-10T14:46:00.000-07:00

Here are just some random pics of what we have been up to lately! Life is great, just super busy! Hmm, can anyone else relate?? ;)

We went on a pretty hike not too far from us with our good friends Nate and Autumn Zarlengo. They have a little boy, Kaleb, just a few months older than Jake, and they play SO WELL together, it's really really cute. Steve works with Nate, and they just moved to Murrieta from Palmdale (where we used to be, too), and we are SOOO glad!! We've been having TONS of fun together.

If that's not a guilty face, I don't know what is.... hehe

HA, so Jake still has his shoe obsession, and he decided to try on Steve's work boots one night and they were so heavy for him, he could barely lift his legs!

Playdate at the park with Jake's first girlfriend, Candice!

Twinners ;)

Two of his FAVORITE things: his blanket and kitty, aka "Mow" haha.

I just wanna pinch those cheeks!!!

Last Trip to Seattle....

2010-04-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

Whoa, this is a VERY late post, Jake and I took this trip more than a month ago! So, since my family is moving to California this summer, this was my very last trip there. It's sad because I LOVE Seattle, it's so pretty there, but I'm SUPER EXCITED that they are moving to Cali!!!! They won't be more than an hour 1/2 away, I can't even imagine how that's going to be!!! We haven't lived near family for about 2 years, and it's been hard at times, so needless to say, I can't wait for the summer! We had a fun trip, though, and we will miss Seattle. What I won't miss, however, is trying to keep Jake quiet and entertained on the plane! Whew ;)

We ate at this really fun Japanese (or Chinese??) restaurant, it's one that cooks the food right in front of you. Amazing!!

The zoo!!

Jake loved the chickens at the petting zoo part, tee hee.

Making messes is what he does best ;)

Aww how pretty.

We also ate at the Rainforest Cafe, and if you've never been there you HAVE to go! It's kinda expensive for the amount of food you get, but eating there is SO COOL with how it's decorated. Jake was very entertained, and he made a new friend......

Aww, hugs!

Jake and Aunt Sawah's favowite game! You just hit your head over and over again... sounds like fun, huh?? haha

Hoppy Easter :)

2010-04-15T06:52:00.000-07:00

Yay, I'm finally updating this blog!! I'm waaaay behind, so bear with me! We had a fun Easter weekend this year, complete with egg coloring, lots of candy, good food, and General Conference! It was good to spend Saturday and Sunday at home watching Conference together as a family. Jake was very well-behaved during all the sessions on Saturday, but Sunday was a different story :/ I think he was tired of having Mom and Dad sit on the couch watching the TV....

But it was so good to have the Spirit so strongly in our home that weekend. I LOVE Conference, I look forward to it every time, because I know that I will receive answers to prayers, and I get to hear a prophet and apostles of the Lord speak to ME, and to the world, and bear witness that Christ is the Redeemer and that He lives! I love my Savior, I'm grateful for the Atonement, that He suffered and died for me. He knows what I am going through, and even at times where I may feel like no one understands me, I know that He does. I receive my strength through Him. "Two people can do anything, as long as one of them is the Lord."

But anyway :) I hope everyone had a FANTABULOUS Easter weekend!!! Does anyone still have candy left?? I know ours was gone about 5 days after Easter.... kinda scary!! But soooo good.

Dying Easter eggs!

All Jake was interested in after a while was putting the crayons in the holes.

Our b-e-a-utiful eggs! (not really) My favorite is the one that Jake scribbled so hard on that it cracked a big hole in it, and we couldn't dye it, hehe.

Oooo, basket grass...

And PEEPS!! And yes, sadly these are the only pics I got of the Easter basket madness. We were too busy eating the candy, I guess!

15 Months Already???

2010-04-12T14:32:00.000-07:00

Our little Jake is 15 months old!! Well, as of a couple weeks ago. He just had his dr. appt. a couple days ago so I was able to get his stats! Steve and I LOVE being his parents, he is such a funny little boy. He keeps us laughing, that's for sure. He can be challenging at times, but we love him anyway ;) He is still a strong-willed, spirited child, and very independent. We're just crossing our fingers that these qualities will serve him well later on in life.... because right now they keep us on our toes! Jake's a great kid though, he's obedient most of the time, he loves to play and have fun, he's curious and a little chatterbox, he makes me laugh, and he's my little buddy all day long. We just love him, and we are having so much fun watching him grow up!!!

Don't you just love free entertainment??

HA! One night Jake kept walking around bent over with his hands on his knees, it looked so funny! I tried to get a video of him doing it, but of course he would stop as soon as I pushed record!

This is how much he l.o.v.e.s. yogurt..... Forget the spoon, man!

So I had opened the fridge to get Jake some more milk, and I left the fridge open while I was pouring it, and when I turned around to put the milk back in and this is what I found! Doesn't waste one second!

These are the shoes he picked out for us to wear one morning. And yes, that is a flip flop on my right foot, and yes, I am wearing socks. Jake just wanted to make sure I looked my best ;)

Height: 32 1/4 inches, 80th perc.
Weight: 23.11 oz, 40th perc.

He has 14 teeth, and only has his top 2 canines left! Well, until his 2 year old molars come in... yikes. At least we have some time until then :)

J Man's Favorite Things:

CARS and TRUCKS!! He is obsessed with anything that has wheels. He's been making car sounds for a while now, cracks me up!

Shoes. Big shoes, little shoes. He loves putting shoes on, taking them off, and then putting them back on again. And since he isn't very good at putting them on himself, it makes for a very "fun" game for Mom ;) But a few weeks ago, I was organizing Jake's clothes and came across some tiny, adorable newborn booties, and of course J had to put them on, and he got frustrated when his big toddler feet wouldn't fit. Made me a little teary eyed... he is just growing up too fast.

His Little People Garage.

Stuffed animals and real animals.

Phones.

Sunglasses.

Giving kisses :)

Throwing his diaper away. He knows that the diaper trash can is out on the deck, and he eagerly reaches for his wadded up diaper after we change it and holds it high above his head like it's a trophy or something and bee-lines it for the trash. Love it!

Being outside.

Slides.

Books. His #1 fave right now is called Millie Moo, about a cow who loses her barnyard friends. Don't worry, she finds them ;) When he brings me the book for me to read it to him he says, "Moo, moo." But it sounds more like, "Mo, mo." hehe

Words he knows:

Well, not a whole lot yet! But he DOES say, "Wha sat??" and "Wha sis??" to anything and everything, for reals. He's totally gonna be that annoying kid that says, "WHY??" all the time. BAH!! Well, at least he's curious, right? :/

He loves to say "No," yep that's a fun one.

Hey

Drink= din

Shoe= see-oo

Cheese= cheh

Sign language: more, thirsty, hungry, all done, thank you.

Animal noises: elephant, dog, mouse, cow, bird, monkey

Things he can do:

Go up and down the stairs with one hand holding on to the rail, standing up. This is one of my FAVORITE things he can do, since we live in a 2nd floor apartment!

Run

Kick a ball

Stack blocks

Feed himself with a spoon, but only if the food is kinda sticky, like applesauce, yogurt or oatmeal, things like that.

Blow kisses

Point to body parts

Fold his arms when we're saying a prayer

Throw fits. Yep. also a fun one ;)

WE LOVE YOU JAKE!!!!!

Life

2010-03-29T07:34:00.001-07:00

I figured I'd take advantage of Jake sleeping in this morning and update the blog! It's way overdue, but HEY, life happens :) There's really nothing overly exciting to post about, except for life is good!!

Even though for the past month Jake has been cutting molars, which has NOT been pleasant for him, or his parents. I wish they would all just come through at once, but instead they have to make their grand appearances one....at....a....time.... and speaking of which, he still has one to go. "Teething Jake" is hard on me because he is clingy and cranky and irritable, which is the opposite of "Normal Jake." I'm so excited for him to be talking and be able to tell me what is wrong with him instead of me trying to guess, or get impatient with him because he won't stop tugging on my leg and wanting to be held all day. When he does this I should just be more sensitive to him and recognize that he must not feel good. I've just been spoiled with a kid who usually is content to just do whatever, and who doesn't need my attention all the time. So my new goal is to be more patient with him the next time he gets clingy, and remember that for him to be like that, he probably is not feeling his best. But for the time being, I get to enjoy "Normal Jake," until those darn teeth start making their way through again!

But life is good, and I feel very blessed to have Steve and Jake with me. The weather is perfect here, and with it getting darker later, we've been able to enjoy more time outside together and it's been so much fun. I'm SOO excited for summer, to be able to take Jake swimming every day and have lots of BBQ's with friends and go camping and get a tan, and for a family reunion with Steve's side, and for my family to move only about an hour away from us!!!! That's the thing I'm looking forward to the most this summer, I'm SO EXCITED!!! It was a totally random thing, my dad is just relocating for his job, and it just so happens to be an hour away. :) It's just so funny because Steve and I NEVER saw ourselves living in California, but now that we're here we don't want to go anywhere else, we love it!! And my parents never saw themselves living in Cali either, but here we all are! And I know they are going to love it. I'm looking forward to free babysitting..... hehe ;)

Anyways, that's really all I have to say! OH, except that Jake is turning 15 months tomorrow, and he is just such a funny kid, I love him!!! I'll update on that after he has his Dr. appt. in a week or so, but he's growing like crazy, as all kids are. When did he turn into a little boy?? **Sigh...** Well, speaking of Jake, he's awake and ready to go, talking to himself in his crib ;)

Bring on the day!!!!

Valentine's Day!

2010-02-17T10:16:00.001-08:00

Ok, so this has nothing to do with Valentine's Day, but I'm just SOOO excited about the fact that our house has been free of bottles for about a month now, YAY!!! Jake is finally starting to like (or at least tolerate) milk from the sippy, so all is well now ;) Another milestone DOWN!!

Flashback: Steve and I on Valentine's Day 4 YEARS AGO in 2006, wow...

Ok, back to the present :) Steve got me the COOLEST bouquet of flowers I have ever seen. The picture does NOT do it justice! He found it at a Farmer's Market and they said the flowers are from South Africa.

Some of the flowers had feathers around the edge, SO COOL!

We went bowling, which was something we hadn't done for SOOO long, and it was really fun! While we were waiting, we played some arcade games and we got a little squeaky frog for Jake with the tickets we won, hehe. It kept him busy at church for about 2 minutes.... ;)

Ok, so this will probably never happen again, but...... I BEAT Steve the first game, YEAH!! Just don't laugh at our scores, haha.

And then..... I did even worse, and Steve almost doubled my score.... typical ;)

So, Steve got a video camera case and a movie, I got some new shirts, and Jake got a little basketball hoop set for the tub! I think Steve has more fun with it though.. Oh yeah, side note: we left Jake with a babysitter, and unfortunately he did not have a good report :( I guess he was pretty crabby and didn't go to sleep very easily. But I have to cut the little guy some slack because he did have 2 molars break through 2 days later! Anyways, we hope everyone had a FABULOUS Valentine's Day, or as Steve says, "Happy Love Day."

Our Home, the Hotel :)

2010-02-16T15:09:00.001-08:00

We have had quite the busy house lately, but we have had a BLAST!! In the middle of January, Steve's parents and sister, Gina, came to visit from Idaho (Gina got picked up in Utah). They stayed for a week and then 2 weeks later, my sister Emily and her hubby David came from Provo to visit us for a long weekend! We love living in a place where people can come and keep busy with all the AWESOME things to do around here! However, it helps when California weather cooperates, which it does most of the time, but when our visitors were here it ended up raining a few of the days :/ We still had fun, though!!

There are some really pretty trails just 15 minutes away, and the weather was beautiful (on this day anyway, haha) so we just HAD to check it out! Here are Steve's parents and Gina, and Jake in the backpack :)

The weather was still perfect the next day, so we ventured out to San Diego, and visited Coronado (currently our FAVORITE beach to come to).

Beach baby!!

Ha, yeah so by the end of the day, Jake was SOAKED from the water! Steve was walking next to him and a wave came that was stronger than he thought and it totally knocked Jake over into the water.... it was sad but really funny :) Good thing I had a change of clothes for him!

Last day of sun... So we went down to San Diego again and went on a 3 hour whale watching cruise! It was actually awful at first because it was really windy and the way the boat was rocking back and forth made us a little woozy. A little girl about Jake's age kept throwing up, actually, it was SO sad. And really gross!! Anyways, after the first hour the boat slowed down so we could see the whales, and it was fun again, thank goodness!

This was the best shot I got of the whales. See that little tiny white splash in the water?? That's it! Haha... kinda pathetic ;)

Later that day we went to Balboa park to go to a Train Museum, which is a big hobby for Steve's dad, and Steve is pretty into it, too.

This train set-up is made totally from Lego's! So cool!!

Balloon animals! Daffy Duck, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Belle, The Hulk, Little Mermaid and Mario!!

And then the rains came.... this picture is worth 1000 words, seriously!! We tried venturing out even though it was raining, and we ended up going out to lunch to a place we had never been to, and it was pretty much a shack with vinyl shades that were NOT good at keeping rain out! The shade next to Steve kept blowing from the wind and was pretty close to hitting him in the head a few times! It was cold, and windy, and we were getting wet, and the food was terrible and expensive! I don't really know why we stayed, but we now have a good story that we can laugh at, I guess, haha.

Ok, so that's the end of Steve's family being here :( ................ but then we were ready for Emily and David! It rained when they were here too, unfortunately! But we went to the mall around here and Carlisle from Twilight was there!! That was the first celebrity I've seen in person, it was kinda cool. And he looks WAY younger in real life than he does on the movies.

Jake's "Cheese" face again, hehe

I love you guys, thanks for coming!!!!! It'll have to be LONGER next time and hopefully it won't rain :)

Cheese!!

2010-02-03T19:19:00.001-08:00

Man, does this kid love CHEESE. It's a good thing he's not lactose-intolerant, because I'd have to come up with another half day's worth of food! String cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches are staples at this house now, and if any of you are wondering, he doesn't even get constipated! His body must be made for eating lots of CHEESE....

Jake has even mastered the cheesiest "cheese" smile I have ever seen! It's one of his favorite ways to make us laugh, and it gets us every time, it's just so darn cute. It usually happens randomly, which is part of why it is so funny, but he also does it when he's prompted ;) Hilarious!

Reality Check

2010-01-25T13:04:00.000-08:00

For those less-than-perfect moments.... ;)
So, lately it seems like I've been seeing a lot of Blogger World having their "true confessions" to let everyone know that they, just like all of us, are not perfect! I love knowing that the people who you think have a clean house ALL the time, never have ice-cream for breakfast (which I did just this morning!), must never have headaches with their perfect, unstained, smiley, hairsprayed kids, and the ones who don't ever have greasy-haired ponytail days--- they have their moments, too! And I want to apologize if I have been guilty of giving anyone the impression that we fall in that category, because it is so far from it!!

It makes me have a HUGE sigh of relief when I find out that I'm not the only one who sometimes stays in pj's right until Steve comes home from work, or that I HATE dishes with a passion, or that right now our toilet is growing something fuzzy on the inside (yeah, gotta do something about that...). Oh, and one of my worst housekeeping habits is that I hardly ever make the bed. And if I do, it's right before hubby gets home, and that's because I know he likes it made, but he doesn't get what he wants all the time ;)

And lets see... I hate flossing, and speaking of which, I haven't been to the dentist in like 3 years. Gross, I know. But I'm afraid to go because I have a receding gum line on a few of my teeth and the last time I went they dug RIGHT in there, and it still sends chills down my spine just thinking of having that done again. And lately I've been in a bad habit of not washing my face at night. I'm just too lazy by that time! I did hear from somewhere though, that if you leave your makeup on at night if will age your skin a lot faster...*scary*... so if I look like I'm 50 when I'm 30, you'll know why!!

Hmm, what else... I can't count how many projects I've started but still haven't finished. And today Jake was doing something that he wasn't supposed to (what else is new), and I went to pull him away and accidently smacked him in the head and knocked him over... oops! I definitely hurt his feelings on that one. And, sometimes we call Jake "Anger Management" because when he gets frustrated he clenches his fists and grunts and his face gets all red! Luckily he's starting to grow out of that one.... somewhat... And sometimes I get mad back :/ And at times I have been that mom in the store or at a restaurant-- the one whose kid is screaming and is getting "the look" from everyone around them.

Oh, and something I wish I liked because it would make my life a lot easier is COOKING. I'm really really trying to find some way to actually like to cook! It's such a chore to me. It's a pain to think of something to cook, first of all, and then drag everything out, make a mess, and then clean it up, and there's not even a guarantee that it will actually taste good!

Ok, and this is kind of a serious one, and I know some of you already know this, but this past year I've been dealing with bad post-partum depression, and if anyone else out there is struggling with it too, just know that you're NOT alone!! And it BLOWS!!! And get HELP, because it's out there, and it works, and it'll make things so much better. How do I know this? Because I was in denial about it for about 5 months after Jake was born. It finally took my mom telling me that I was not normal, and that I needed to get help, and that was my wake-up call. I got on medication and within 2 weeks I was feeling normal again. The only thing that I hated about it was that it made me gain weight like CRAZY. I was only on it for 5 months, and in that time I gained about 25 pounds. But there are lots of different meds out there that don't have that side effect. Anyways, yeah, there were times when I wished that I could just run away from everything, and that my life wasn't worth anything, and I was sure I was the worst mom in the world. I know now that thinking those things was so irrational, but at the time my brain didn't let me think anything differently.

Ok, so I didn't mean to get on a tangent with that, but all I'm saying from it is that everyone has things in their life that aren't perfect, or that they wish could be different! Thankfully, I'm pretty much back to normal... but what IS normal??! But on the days I feel something creeping up again, I realize that I'm probably just PMS-ing, haha! Poor Steve!!!

Anyways, I hope I didn't scare anyone off or send someone calling child-services, but just know that the Knowles family is definitely keepin it real! And for every smiling picture I put up of Jake, he was probably whining either 5 minutes before or after I took the picture, and I had probably just told him "no" for who knows what about 10 times in that 5 minutes. I love him, and he is for the most part a good kid, but he has his moments. And he makes me tired. :) But is there a mom out there that isn't tired??! Maybe I don't want to know.....

Bottom line is: Life is so good... but FAR from perfect!!!!

Seattle Vacay

2010-01-24T13:08:00.001-08:00

**I know, this post is SO late!** This year for Christmas we spent it in Seattle with my family. I was there for 3 weeks and Steve was able to take a nice, loooong, much needed break for 12 days. We were able to celebrate Christmas, New Years and Jake's 1st b-day while we were there. Good times!! Oh, but I just have to mention (mostly for my records) that starting from 2 weeks before Thanksgiving, up until right before Christmas, Jake was sick that WHOLE time.... not fun. He had a couple colds/bad cough, then a high fever/double ear infection, Roseola, then 5th Disease (Slapped Cheeks Syndrom), and then the stomach flu, YUCK! We were SO happy when he started to feel better!! But anyways, it was sad when this vacation came to an end, but Jake and I will be back before we know it! Sorry you have to work, Steve :/

Jake loves to share his food, especially when he has had a taste of it first, haha.

Trying to spear the dog bowl...
Shopping in Downtown Bellevue. It was a lot colder there than in SoCal!!

Nice plumber's shot, there...

Taking the stroller for a walk ;)

HA, this picture makes me laugh because I took it thinking that both of them were asleep (it was pitch black in the room, so I couldn't see anything) and thought it would be a cute "sleeping" picture, but when I looked at the screen on my camera to see how the pic turned out, Jake's eyes were wide open and it was kinda creepy! Was not expecting that!

Awww, Uncle David was one of Jake's bestest friends, they have fun together :)

Ravioli + Forgotten Bib + Red Shirt = OK!! Does anyone else not use bibs as often as they should?

Haha, these pj's say "What Santa doesn't bring me, Grandma will!" So true!!

Makes me wish we had a bigger sink...

Teehee

Steve in Root Beer heaven!

I had stopped him from throwing food over the edge of his highchair. I think I hurt his feelings ;)

New Year's Eve FONDUE!!!

Happy New Year!!! 2009 was good yet very challenging. Bring on 2010!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Little Buddy!

2010-01-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

Jake turned ONE on Dec. 30th!! I can't believe one year has gone by already! Sometimes it seems like he has been with us much longer than that, but for the most part it feels like it has FLOWN by. We were in Seattle with my family on his b-day, so they were able to celebrate with us. He has been such a great addition for me and Steve, as well as for Jake's grandparents and aunts and uncles. We just LOVE him!!! He is such a crack-up, and kinda wild and crazy :) He can be challenging for me as his mom, but to other people he is really funny. Maybe I should learn to laugh a little more at the things that frustrate me... ??? ;) Anyways, Jake is our pride and joy, and he has definitely taught us how to love deeper. Happy Birthday, little man!!!

At the Cheesecake Factory, YUMMMMMO

Ha, we didn't plan for this, but while we were there, we realized that Jake's b-day was the next day so our server brought out an ice-cream cup and we got to sing to him! He didn't quite know what to think of it, haha.
Ooooo, fire.

B-day time!! Helping us with a taste-test of the cake! He approved :)

Making our own pizzas is a family favorite, and since Jake is also a family favorite, we thought it was fitting!

I'm sad, I didn't get ANY pictures of him opening presents :( But he got this pull-along dog that "barks," but really it squeaks, and it was his friend for the moment.

Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Monkey!! His party was monkey themed, so we switched things up a little. And I was able to pull out my drawing abilities for the first time in a loooong time to create the monkey :)

Monkey cupcakes, aren't they cute?!

Being sung to again, same reaction, haha.

Before.......

During........AFTER!! It was a success!

Here are his stats:

Height: 30 1/2 inches, 70th perc.

Weight: 22 lbs, 33rd perc.

He's been about those same percentiles at every check-up!

About Jake:

He can walk very well. His first step was at 10 1/2 months and he took off from there. He's even starting to run, but he usually ends up tripping.
Knows how to get down from things feet-first. Our bed, the couch, stairs, etc.
Says Mamma, Dadda, Yeah, Yum Yum, Nanana=No
He still only has 8 teeth, but I can see white caps where his pointy teeth are going to make their way through at any time.
He's starting to mimick a lot more. We say, "Where's the baby?" and he puts his hands on top of his head as we say, "Up there!" then he claps. We say, "Cheese!" and give him an all-teeth, squinty eyed smile and he does it back to us, it's so funny! Just things like that, he loves to copy what we're doing.
He's drinking milk now, but it's in a bottle, he doesn't like it in his sippy cup yet, but we're working on it!
He knows that he needs to blow on food when it's hot.
Favorite foods are: grilled cheese, peanut butter toast, pears, bananas (used to hate them), cut-up prunes and grapes, string cheese, really any kind of cheese, English muffin pizzas, any kind of pasta with red sauce on it, mac n cheese, cooked carrots, green beans, olives, ravioli, turkey burgers, and Mexican food! And I haven't noticed tummy troubles with him when he eats it, good thing.
Foods he hates: plain bread, chicken, peas. Other than that he's usually a good eater.
Favorite toys are anything he can push/pull around, containers to put things in, things that sing/ make music so he can dance!

Baby's 1st (Should've been 2nd) Christmas 2009

2010-01-08T14:57:00.001-08:00

Jake should've already been a Christmas pro, given his due date was Dec. 20th, 2008. BUT he decided to come (or rather, was forced, thanks to Pitocin) on Dec. 30th. So, we were all very excited to make this Christmas extra special for our little rug rat :) We got to spend this year with my family up in the Seattle area, and since he is the first grandchild on my side (17th on Steve's), he was spoiled ROTTEN!! But we had fun doing it, of course.

So, Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday. I mean, who doesn't love Christmas music, yummy food, fun holiday traditions, or getting to see your family and friends that you haven't seen in forever?? Oh, and don't forget the presents! I must say, I was in desperate need of some new clothes, some smelly good lotion and perfume, a video camera, new dishes, kitchen appliances and home decor. And "Santa" was good to me in those respects (THANKS everyone!!). But what I really love about this time of year is being prodded to think of the Savior more often. And it seems that the Spirit really is stronger in people, too. There is more kindness, service and love. I am grateful for the birth and life of Jesus Christ, for His brave and strong earthly parents, Mary and Joseph, and for His and our Heavenly Parents who love each of us enough to send their Only Begotten Son to this earth to live and die and atone for our sins so that we can have the opportunity to be with Them and our families forever. I know that He lives.

On a lighter note, here are some pictures of our Christmas Eve and day! I'm sad that I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted to, but that's what always happens with me because I'm having fun and I forget to take pictures!

One day I will figure out why the pictures never rotate on Blogger! Anyways, my mom set up a little tree in our room for Jake. It was a sock-monkey tree! We are always joking that he reminds us of a monkey, so that's kind of his theme, haha.

Christmas Eve! Steve flew in that night because he had to work, but he was able to stay for another 12 days, so he got a good long break in! I ended up being there for about 3 weeks total :) And yes, I came back home a little out of touch with reality!

My sis Emily, her hubby David, my sis Hannah and my brother, Brent. No, he does not like pictures. And yes, he is the only boy and the only one with red hair and blue eyes. Did we call him Fed Ex growing up? Also yes :) He still loves us!

Grandma and the Jakesters

Haha, it might look like he is scowling, but he was really giggling with the biggest grin on his face. He is a little ham!

New TOYS!!

We got a new video camera!!!! Ours was stolen at my sister's wedding back in July. While on the Manti Temple grounds with all of our family around. Luckily, or maybe by divine intervention ;), Steve had taken out all of our wedding videos and everything up until Jake was born. Unfortunately, Jake's arrival and newborn tape was still in the stolen video camera, but we did take a lot of the same types of videos on our regular camera. But still!! Didn't see that one coming!

Christmas family pic 2009

Meeting Santa

2010-01-08T14:50:00.001-08:00

Yeah.... didn't like him. Jake met Santa for the first time at my parents' ward Christmas party, and he made this face the second we set him on Santa's lap. Oh well, maybe next year... :)

Jake with Grandpa
HA, after Santa and dinner were over, all these little boys were tossing a football around and Jake wanted to be right in the middle of everything, and the boys were nice enough to stop their game and let Jake play with the ball! It was cute.

Me and Hannah Banana :)

Work Christmas Party

2010-01-07T11:33:00.000-08:00

Yay for Christmas parties!!! It was SO FUN to get together with Steve's co-workers (old and new) and their spouses (aka: some of our best buds!). Steve is fortunate enough to work with a lot of LDS people, since the company he works for is based out of the Salt Lake area. So, when we first moved to California about a year and a half ago, Steve was really lucky to have a common ground with a lot of people he worked with because they were also in our ward. And fortunately, their wives are some of the best and coolest people I know! So needless to say, we have a lot of fun together. We first lived in Palmdale, and now live in Murietta, about 2 hours south. Unfortunately not everyone was able to come down to Murietta, but at least we have 1 awesome couple (Cameron and Rachel Martin) down here with us! Hopefully we'll all live in the same area again someday, but until then we'll just look forward to company parties, hehe. See ya in the summer Palmdale People!!

Me, Rachel and Cameron Martin, Nate and Autumn Zarlengo, Thad and Lindsay Hymas

Ha, bad picture, but here we are, anyway :)
Alyssa and Spencer James, Ryan and Talia Haughton, and Kelvin and Eric

The gals

The guys, minus Cameron

Fun at the Park

2010-01-07T11:21:00.000-08:00

There is a park about a mile away from our apartment and Jake and I make a visit there at least 4 times a week. He loves it there, and I'm grateful that it's so close! Now that he's walking, this park will be a lifesaver since we don't have a yard :( Maybe someday.... but for now, this will do :)

Weeee!!

I love this kid!!

Playing Peek-a-boo.

Trying to climb up the slide. He didn't make it very far!

Thanksgiving Getaway

2009-12-09T14:08:00.001-08:00

Ok, so this post is a little delayed, but better late than never, right?! This Thanksgiving we made the long drive up to Idaho Falls, ID to be with Steve's family. This was an extra-special Thanksgiving because ALL of Steve's seven siblings were there with their families, which hasn't happened in a long time! So we started off driving on Wed. at 5 am, and when we got to Lehi, UT we were able to meet up with some GREAT friends, it was so fun!!! We couldn't stay very long, but it was so great to have even just an hour with them! So, when we finally got to Idaho, it was awesome to see everyone and see how much the nieces and nephews have grown up. We had a blast playing basketball on Thanksgiving morning (and Lightning and Horse for those of us who are athletically challenged ;)), and then we all enjoyed the Thanksgiving feast, of course, and we had fun just talking, watching movies, playing games and then shopping on Black Friday. And for once I didn't need to get up super early because I have all my shopping done already, YAY! But my sister and I went later on just because, uh, well what else do you do on Black Friday?? Anyways, on Sat. morning all of the adults enjoyed a temple session together, and then spent the next couple days playing foosball, around-the-world ping pong, Wackee Six, Phase 10, putting puzzles together, eating SO MUCH GOOD FOOD, etc. etc. Overall it was a great Thanksgiving weekend, and I'm so glad everyone was able to be there!!!!

On a more serious note, I just want to make a short list of things I'm grateful for (this is more for my sake, so feel free to skip over this if you want :)) ::: Steve-- without you I would be missing half of me. It's impossible to put into words how much I love you and am grateful for you every day-- for your love, support, wisdom, humor, smiles, hugs and kisses, advice, and for my best friend. Jake-- for teaching me patience (still working on it), how to love unconditionally, how to put someone else's needs before my own, how to find humor in frustrating situations, and how much Heavenly Father must trust me to send down a new little person who is so small and helpless and precious and amazing. I love you forever. The Gospel-- for all the things I know to be true and how that knowledge changes my life and makes it better. For my Savior and His Atonement, that even though I am FAR from perfect, I know that He is on my side, and has made it possible for me to repent and change. My family-- Without my parents I wouldn't exist, and without their examples I wouldn't be where or who I am today. Now that I have a child I have just a glimpse of how much they sacrificed for me, and how much they still do everything with their children in mind. Thank you! For my siblings, who are my best friends and support systems, and who inspire me and others more than they know! I am grateful for Steve's good, stable job, especially in these hard times; for my friends!! There are definitely awesome people in this world!; for a roof over our head, food to eat and clothes to wear; for two running cars; sunshine; the internet; cameras to put memories on paper; tithing; medicine; prayer; air conditioning/heat; running water... and the list goes on and on. I'm grateful for my life-- hard times and all!!

The Utah crew: Andrea, Devin and Carter Phillips; Emily (pregnant with Luke) and Jesse Havens; Steve, me and Jakers, and Jeremy Stoker

Checkin' each other out first...
... then off to sharing crackers!

Aww, these guys are so awesome!!! Steve became friends with Devin and Jeremy in High School, but Steve and Jesse have been friends since Elementary days. I think they all will be forever friends :)

And it's a good thing Devin and Jesse married such AWESOME chicas, because now we can be forever friends, too!!! Seriously, these girls are too awesome for words!!

Ok, on to Idaho! Here is little Savannah, just 3 weeks older than Jake. I hope they are good friends growing up!

Our future basketball star.

YAY!! My sister, Sarah, was able to spend most of the weekend with us!! She's at school at BYU-Idaho, so she was only a half hour away. Jake was her buddy for 4 days, and it was awesome, let me tell ya. We love you, SAWAH!!!!!

The annual Thanksgiving b-ball game

All the girls went out to eat for lunch on Black Friday. The waiter didn't get me in the picture :(

The English Christmas Tree!! This is one of my favorite Knowles/English heritage traditions. You stuff a Christmas tree (or in their case, TWO Christmas trees!) full of odds and ends gifts. They can be goofy, practical, or whatever you want. Then each person (or family) takes turns picking things off the tree one at a time until everything is gone. Some of the things we got were hand towels, an egg separator, a mini strainer, a flashlight, books, lotion, a pan scraper, and a little clock. Jake got 2 books, puzzles, a soft little soccer ball, and a teddy bear. Good times!

Natalie and Josh working on a puzzle.

Steve's parents, his siblings and their spouses. I love this family!!!!

So, after we left Idaho, we stopped in Provo to visit my sister, Emily, and bro-in-law, David. They are newlyweds going to school at BYU, and they were kind enough to make us some lunch! Thanks guys!!! They were also kind enough to give Jake some maracas to play with, and a mustache!

Thanks for letting us come see you guys!!! We love you!!! :)

First STEPS!!!

2009-11-14T18:29:00.000-08:00

Jake actually WALKED tonight!! He took his first real non-wobbly step yesterday, then another one today, and then tonight he was standing in front of me and I motioned for him to "come here" and he WALKED to me instead of crawled!! We didn't get his best "round" on video, unfortunately, but before we started taping he had a round of 6 or 7 steps! We're so excited for Jake, he's going to just love walking, I know it! As for me and Steve, wish us luck ;)

The Pop-tart Bandit

2009-11-12T10:49:00.001-08:00

Jake has always been a curious little boy. We even call him Curious George, he's just always exploring and getting into things, and it can get pretty tiring. I love this about him though, because he will usually stay focused on something until he knows how it works, or what to do with it. Well, the other day, he was in our 3rd bedroom where I had piled our food storage in the middle of the room because I was going to organize it and put it away. There were boxes and boxes of things and I thought he would have a fun time pushing stuff around and climbing on the boxes (don't worry folks, the boxes weren't too high, and they were the durable-kind you get at Costco or Sam's with the heavy duty cardboard, so he couldn't hurt anything). Anyways, I knew that would keep him busy for a while, so I was in the kitchen doing dishes and stuff. Well I went to go check on him about 15 minutes later because it had all of a sudden gotten quiet (and we all know what that means). I laughed SO HARD when I saw what he had done. He had opened the heavy-duty cardboard part of a box of Pop-tarts, and then the smaller regular-size box of Pop-tarts, and THEN the individual BAG and was eating a Pop-tart!!! I still don't know how in the world he did it, especially in 15 minutes, but it was a result of the Curious George in Jake. Oh yeah, and no adult supervision, hehe. But he was so proud of that Pop-tart, though. When I found him, he had beaver-chewed it all around the edges and was getting to the good-stuff, and I was going to take it away from him so he wouldn't get a sugar rush but then I realized that he had EARNED that sucker!! To say the least, it was hilarious, and I'm laughing to myself as I write this. For the next 20 minutes until he had finished it he kept holding it up to me as if it were some kind of trophy he had won. Oh, that kid... I wouldn't trade him for anything.

Pure happiness right here!

Clapping his hands together with the Pop-tart and the bag.

Taking a big ol' bite of good-ness.

A Reception and Reunion

2009-11-12T10:30:00.000-08:00

When I lived in Arkansas (junior high and high school years), my family made good friends with another family in our ward, the Wright family. All the kids were about the same ages, so we always did a TON of stuff with them. My mom and Stephanie Wright are still best friends to this day, and we look for any excuse to see each other now that my family is up in Seattle and the Wright's are still in Arkansas. I just love all of them, and there are always LOTS of laughs when we get together :) So, their daughter, Brianna, got married not too long ago and her new husband is from SoCal so they had a reception there, and Steve, Jake and I were able to go and see them and it was SO FUN!!! Congrats, Brianna and Paul!!

They had bubbles and Jake of course was loving it.

Jim and Stephanie

The Happy Couple: Paul and Brianna Ovuoba :)

Jake LOVED Stephanie, he took right to her. I'm not surprised ;)

Thanks, guys, for inviting us to the reception, and thanks, Paul, for being from SoCal so we could make it to your reception!! It was great to see you guys, we miss you!!!

Halloween= FUN!!

2009-11-02T14:23:00.001-08:00

We had a GREAT Halloween!! It was so fun to dress up for our ward party, go to a pumpkin patch, and go trick-or-treating with friends. And, Steve was pretty excited to get Jake's candy bucket all to himself, since I'm cutting out sugar for a little while to finally get this baby weight off once and for all! Anyways, hope everyone had a fun Halloween as well. Let the holidays begin!!!! (ps. This is my FAVORITE FAVORITE time of year!!! Well, this and the next couple months, hehe.)

Straight from the zoo: Me- a tiger; Jake- a monkey; Steve- our zookeeper!! I'm sad, these first two pictures are the only ones we got at our ward party.

He didn't really like the hood at first, but he got used to it as time went on :) ______________________________________________________

Peltzer Farms Pumpkin Patch!! It was a lot of fun! They had pumpkin picking of course, pony rides, a corn maze, a petting zoo, and train rides, but we were lame and cheap this year and only got a pumpkin. But it was still fun to look at the animals from far away and let Jake watch other kids ride the ponies, haha.

These were the coolest pumpkins I've ever seen! They were half white, half orange. Cool!

(Ok, I don't know what it is about blogger, but it never lets me turn the pictures around!)

So handsome...

Jake and Mom turned into pumpkin eyeballs!

He's about 2 1/4 feet tall this fall!

Wait... I mean 5 feet! Slight miscalculation, haha.

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Time for Trick-or-Treating!!! What we've all been waiting for! We went with our good friends Cameron and Rachel Martin, and their little girl Candice, who is just 3 months older than Jake. She was a monkey, too, and they were ADORABLE!!

Gotta love the tail.

Jake and Candice, the two little crazy monkeys!

Candice's costume was a lot cooler than Jake's, it was stuffed all around the middle, and it had feet! Jake's didn't have either one, but it was still way cute ;) So their hands are kinda blurry because they were both dancing up and down together, ha!

Time to knock on doors....

.... so we can inhale all of our candy!

Halloween Box!

2009-10-26T14:29:00.001-07:00

I love getting packages and letters in the mail, and a few days ago I was surprised to find that we had received a box from Steve's mom! Well, usually boxes that we get from her are filled with all sorts of goodies, and I was super excited to find out that this one was no different! It was a Halloween box full of three little pumpkins, gourmet candy corn, a cute pumpkin door decoration, Halloween tissues, a stuffed pumpkin, and three Halloween "characters": two filled with candy and peanuts for the "grown-ups", and Jake's was filled with Coco Puffs, Honeycomb, honey pretzels, animal crackers and sweetened Cheerios! It was so fun!!! Thanks Mom K for thinking of us!!

Gourmet candy corn flavors: Pumpkin Spice, Apple cider, Chocolate, Creme Brulee, Blueberry Cobbler and Caramel ;)
Chowing down on his goodies, Yum-o!!

Phoenix

2009-10-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

So, Steve is taking Real Estate Investing classes, a lot of it he is doing online, but the actual classes are held in Phoenix, and he's gone 4 times in the past year and a half for about a week at a time. Usually, I go with him and we stay with my Grandma who lives in Sun City, which is only about 10 minutes from his school. Well, this time, my mom was supposed to fly down from Seattle a couple days after we got there, but she and my grandma surprised us with having her there right when we got there! It was a great surprise!! Jake just absolutely loves his Grammy :) Thanks, Grandma and Mom, for a FUN FUN FUN week!!!!!

My mom brought this table for Jake, it plays music and sings the ABC's and stuff, and he just has a ball with it (as you will see in the video below!).

His mouth wasn't big enough for all the fries he was trying to eat.

Lemon face :)

All of us (minus Steve) at a really yummy restaurant.

We found out he loves whipped cream... but who doesn't??

Kisses from Grammy

My grandma, mom and Jake... and a pretty waterfall!

As you can see from these videos, my mom is kinda crazy ;) But we love her!!!! Thanks, Grandma, for bringing her to your house for SUCH a fun visit!!!

3/4th's Old!!

2009-10-05T17:14:00.000-07:00

Here are recent pictures of the cutie patootie!!

HA! I think this is the cheesiest/goofiest picture I have of Jake!

I don't know how well you all can see the dirt smudged on his face, but the sliding door track was cleaned as a result of me finding him like this!
Peek-a-boo!

He made himself a clubhouse. A couple narrow spots in-between the couches and end table. He likes to hide toys in here, haha.

Jake gravitates toward music, and I had Hairspray on one day, and he sat and watched it for probably 20 minutes straight, which I don't think he's ever done before with the TV.Goofy kid ;)

Obsessed with shutting doors! It may look like a wall he's hiding behind, but it's really a door he's trying to close on me, haha.

Soooo concentrated... "I know there's something there, and I'm gonna get it!"

Hahaha, cheeseballPushing my excercise ball around is a favorite.

Our bathroom scale lights up, so it's a form of entertainment when I'm getting ready... for at least a minute or two ;)

HA, this was after I had given him a teething biscuit... yeah. A crusty, mushy cookie mess.

Hmm, there's a little room to grow.. :)

We put his pj shorts on his head, and it smushed up his face and ears, he looked so funny!

So, here I am giving another Jake update (which is about a week overdue!), I feel like I just did one, but I skipped last month, so it's already been 2 months! REALLY?!? Time is just flying by. My little baby is 9 months old!! Ok, so he's still very much a baby, but not my very LITTLE baby who, I swear, just yesterday I was dressing him in newborn caps and "hand booties" to keep him from scratching his face off. It was just yesterday!! **sigh** It's ok though, he has much more of a personality now than he did back then ;) So, I think Jake will be known as our "colorful" child. He just has so many aspects to him. He's mostly a funny goofball, always making us laugh (he gets that from his Dad), he is also studious and curious about the world around him and concentrates very well on things to try and figure out how they work. He can be stubborn, yet chill, yet anger management, yet sweet as pie, yet crazy hyper... you get the picture ;) And he's always showed signs of acting shy around people or situations he's not familiar with. It doesn't take him very long to warm up to new things, but he just has to sit back and observe for a little bit, then he gets crazy like the rest of 'em! Steve and I were both shy when we were kids, so we'll see what happens with ours! But yeah, Jake is overall such a sweet, good little boy, who is busy all day learning and growing and loving life. And we love him!!!!!

Here's what's going on with Jakers:

He now waves "hello" and "bye bye"
He's starting to clap more often
He is getting better at standing up on his own, the longest being about 10 seconds
He has really developed a love for stuffed animals, or any animal for that matter, and anything furry
His favorite toys are ones that he can "walk" with, or pull behind him
He says Mama and Dada, and knows who's who, and when he's frustrated or doesn't like something, he'll say "Nananananana" (translation: NO!)
He still takes a morning and afternoon nap, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, and sleeps from about 8:30 to 7:30-8. And no, he hasn't always been a good sleeper. It's taken some work to get it there ;)
He's in a "big boy" carseat now, and he looks so small in it compared to his infant carseat!
His favorite thing to do still is to go on walks.
He loves to eat solids when it's "big people" food. He's not a baby food fan, and never has been. The ONLY thing he prefers baby food style is peas!
He still hates bananas, and greenbeans, but I can't think of any other foods he simply refuses to eat.
His new ticklish spot is on his chubby inner thighs :)
He is still loved to pieces!!!!!!!!

Thanks, Jake, for being such a fun little guy, we are excited to see you continue to learn and grow!! We love you!!!!

Daddy Time

2009-09-30T14:40:00.001-07:00

Ok, so Steve is pretty awesome, and it didn't take Jake too long to figure that out :) He LOVES HIM!!!! As soon as Steve walks in the door from work, it doesn't matter if Jake has been fussy for hours, he will automatically smile and crawl as fast as he can to him, and he's happy as a clam. Which leaves me thinking... "Ok, what's wrong with this picture? Do I smell bad or something?" (Don't answer that, Devin :) !!!) When in reality, the truth is that Jake and his dad just have a very special bond that I can't really explain. I think they will end up being pretty good pals ;) So, here are a few recent pictures of some Father-Son time!

We love you Steve! Thanks for being such an AWESOME Dad!!!

Hello and Bye-Bye

2009-09-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

Jake knows how to wave now! A couple weeks ago he was doing something different with his hands and I wasn't sure what he was doing, but now I think he was practicing waving. He actually started doing it for real a few days ago! Check it out: