Our Family

Here are a few of my favorites from our photo session with Whitney's Photography
(at www.whitneysphotography.com). We had them done in October and we had so much fun. :)

The whole family

Jackson and Jameson. They're cousins, can you tell?

He was so good for our pictures - it kind of took us by surprise. All he wanted to do was ham it up!

LOVE this one - my baby's sweet face!

Our little family walking in Old Town Pocatello

Father and son

I haven't done an update on Jackson in a while so here goes: Jackson is 10 months old, 28" tall and weighs 21 pounds. He took his first steps on September 11 and he has just been getting better at walking every day. We encourage him to try crawling but he doesn't like it much. Now, he'll crawl until he gets to something he can stand up with and then he's off walking around furniture, toys and even his parents. It's gotten to the point that if I leave the room for a minute, he is on the opposite side of the room and getting into things by the time I get back in there. He loves our DVD shelves and every time I put the DVDs back up, he walks over there and starts screaming happy screams because he gets to pull them all off again. He loves to help me sweep the floor and his favorite TV shows are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Special Agent Oso, Blue's Clues and Go Diego Go. He is so curious about our candle warmer with a huge Yankee candle on it. He has pulled it down twice . Both times it has almost fallen on his head. So needless to say, the candle warmer has been moved far out of his reach ... for now. Jackson was a turtle for Halloween - his costume was super cute and not too expensive.
He gives big wet kisses and is a good cuddler. Lately, he's become a major mama's boy and freaks out whenever I have to leave him alone. It has been so bad, sometimes, that I can't even take a shower without him crying until I let him in the shower with me. I love that he loves me so much and needs his mommy. But sometimes mommy needs some "me" time, even if it is only a ten minute shower.

I am still plugging along with online college, working, church stuff and taking care of my family. Davy has talked about wanting to move, but we can't do that for 2 more years because of our house. I have mixed feelings about moving away from the only town I've ever known. I don't know if I could take Jackson away from all of the family that he has here. On the other hand, there are so many other opportunities out there, maybe we should give them a try.

I am seriously considering changing my major ... AGAIN. I have wanted to go to culinary school for such a long time, but things have really gotten in the way of that. So, my major now is elementary/special education. I know that I could be an amazing teacher and it is something I would enjoy doing, but my heart just isn't fully in it. I think I'd be better suited in a culinary pastry program where I can use my creativity to make new and delicious desserts. I would even consider regular culinary school to become not only a pastry chef, but an executive or sous chef.
So many decisions to make and yet so much adventure and fun to come.

This is the month of "Thanks". I just want to take a minute to count my blessings and realize how much I really do have:

My sweet, patient, hard-working husband
My handsome baby boy
My parents
My siblings
My in-laws
My funny nephew Jameson
My grandparents
Davy's grandparents
Chocolate
Baking recipes
My talent at cooking and baking
Babies
A few of my co-workers
The other YW leaders at church
The young women that I have the opportunity to teach and learn from
My house
Running water, hot water heater
Heat and A.C.
Food in our cupboards, freezer and fridge
Mine and Davy's jobs
The gospel
Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost
Prayer
Scriptures
Scrapbooking
Pictures
Books
School

Some of those things I listed are basic necessities that some people don't have in their lives. Food, water, a roof over their heads. That is why I listed those things. Sometimes it's easy to get so caught up in all that we don't have, that we forget all that we do have. We take for granted the fact that dinner is on our table every night when some families (maybe in our own neighborhood) have only one meal every few days. I love to count my blessings and I love that doing so can always brighten my day. "Count your blessings - name them one by one - count your many blessings - see what God has done ..."