Halloween Box!

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

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!!

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

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

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:

A Wedding, Shamu, and a 20 Hour Drive

So for the last 2 months I feel like I've been doing nothing but traveling, but it's been SO SO fun!! The first of our travels was for my sister Emily's WEDDING!!! She was married to David Hogg, my now bro-in-law :), on July 18 in the Manti, UT temple! It was a gorgeous wedding, with lots and lots of family and friends and HOT HOT HOT weather, but that didn't stop us from having a blast.

**(WARNING: there are LOTS of pictures of these past two crazy months! Enjoy!)**

The lovely newlyweds--- David and Emily Hogg :)

Mi familia!

My cousin Ashley with studly Jake in his little tux
Us with my Dad's side of the family

My family again, ha

The beautiful bride and her bridesmaids

Sarah and Jake after we took off all his clothes, haha. It was way too hot for a tux!

Cousin hugs :)

Aunt Jane and cousins at the luncheon

More aunts, uncles and cousins

Steve, my sisters and brother, and Grandma

Hannah and Jakers... oh, and Peanut, the stuffed elephant :)

Tee-hee

Jake loves his Great-Grandma!!

**********************************************************************

OK, so after the wedding weekend, my family and I went from Manti straight down to San Diego for a week-long vacation. It was complete with beach visits, Sea World, lounging at the resort pool, lots of games, restaurants, long walks along the oceanside, and of course... shopping!!

Enjoying the trip down to San Diego, for the time being, haha

Waiting at Village Pizzeria (in Coronado)

More waiting.... it's good pizza!

Splish-Splashin'

Walking around La Jolla beach. GORGEOUS!

SEA WORLD!!!! The manatees were way cute.

Jake had fun watching everything through the glass.

YIKES!! How would you like to run into one of these bad boys in the ocean?

Aww, I LOVE polar bears!

In a polar bear cave. ROAR!!!! :)

Jake had fun with Grandpa while the rest of us went on a ride. Thanks Dad!!

HA! They had this thing full of penguin stuffed animals, big and small, and Jake had a BALL crawling and jumping all over them.

At the Shamu Show!!!

These animals are absolutely majestic. Sounds corny, but it's true!

Shamu doing a huge flip

And this is how much fun Jake had at Sea World:He hardly woke up when we were getting him situated in his carseat, just enough to grab his Shamu stuffed animal and stick his two fingers in his mouth!

********************************************************************

Moving right along... up next in our summer plans came the LOOOOONG drive from our home in Murietta, CA to Seattle.... a 20 hour drive. My dad, brother, and sister Sarah had flown home to Seattle already to get back to work and other things, but my family still had to get their car home after driving down for the wedding and San Diego vacation, so who had the priveledge of driving it back??? Me, my mom, sister Hannah, and..... the baby. Jake and I went with them so I could a) help my mom with the drive; b) spend more time with my family; and c) help with Emily and David's wedding reception. Even though it was a long trip, Jake only had one little meltdown! He was so so good in the car, thanks buddy!!

Toward the end of the trip.... his face didn't get any happier than this, haha.

Almost there! Hannah's face says it all.... "Ugh"... She spent a lot of the time in the back with Jake, she was a trooper!!Reception time!

The lovely couple again, after a few weeks of being married

While we were visiting, Jake had fun: ...............

Playing naked in the kiddy pool

Climbing in and out of his carseat

Climbing the stairsPlaying with Grandpa

and eating lots of messy food....

But he DIDN'T have fun: ....

When we put this thing on his head and he couldn't get it off!!! HAHA!

Unfortunately, this jam-packed, fun-filled summer had to come to an end at some point. After two weeks of being in Seattle, it was time to pack up the suitcase yet again, and say good-bye :( We had SUCH a fun summer, and it was so good to be able to spend so much time with my family, because with us living far apart, we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like. Thanks for the great memories, mi familia! We love you and miss you, but we'll see you soon at Christmas-time!!! (It'll be here faster than we know it.)

This is how Jake spent a lot of his time when we got home, which says a lot about what a fun summer he had as well :)