JMac

Whenever I see this little face grinning up at me, my heart melts and I cannot imagine Griff and I feeling complete without him.  It is crazy how such a little person can already have such a BIG personality!  He barrels around the house all day like he is on a mission, well multiple missions, even if the current one is just to check out the front windows to see if any dogs are walking past (when he sees ones, he starts panting like a dog and triumphantly announces, "Doggy!")  He loves to give kisses and often won't stop with just one... or five... or ten.  Yesterday he started saying "Cockadeedee" on cue for the rooster without any coaching or practice.  I guess he just liked the way it sounded when we would read his animal books.  Oh, and he loves his "bookas."  He pulls them off the bookshelves and wrecks, oh I mean reads, them all throughout the day.  And he gets positively excited when I ask him if he wants to read a book.  He isn't afraid of the vacuum at all, and he often tries to squat in front of it while I'm vacuuming to see what's going on.  He doesn't mind going to bed at night, and always waves to Griff or me when one of us is taking him up to his crib.  For the first time tonight he accompanied his waving with a very clear and matter-of-fact, "Bye, Bye."  Oh, and he started to say "Mama" two days ago!  Talk about melting your heart!  He's been saying "Dada and Daddy" for probably 4 months. :)  He runs away from you and cries hard against the wall or couch if you don't very promptly take him after you tell him he gets to do something fun (like feeding the horses), but comes back after about 30 seconds to make up again... as long as you truly are on the ball now.  And he snuggles when he is tired, shy, or just in the mood.  It only lasts a few minutes, if that... but I savor every second.  And he loves to throw bouncy balls on the hard wood floor and then chase after them.  I know when he's got it stuck under the couch, because I hear his little voice saying, "Ooohhhh."  Then I come around the corner to see him down on all fours, kind of squatting so he can really peer under that couch.  I never want to forget these things.  They make up some of the happiest moments of my days.  And I truly  thank God with all my heart all day, every day for this sweet, happy, healthy, sticky, smiley, crazy, little boy!

Snowmobilin' with Daddy

We started the year off right in our family!  Griff and I joined his family for a fun couple of days of snowmobiling, sledding, and relaxation.  We'd go play in the snow for a while, then come in and warm up with a cup of hot cocoa and a game.  Then we'd head out again for a little more fun.  This is Jack's second snowmobiling trip.  We took him for a couple of days when he was just 6 weeks old.  He loved it...  the vibration from the snowmobile lulled him to sleep within minutes of starting out every time.  :)  This year he loved it, too.  Although he was no longer content just to be held.  He was very interested in the snow and looked a lot like Ralphie from the Christmas story when I had him all bundled up.

 Here is he with Daddy last year...

And here he is with Daddy this year... (he's waving at the camera)

Griff's parents spent every spare moment of three summers building their cabin when Griff was tiny.  Then they spent every spare moment enjoying it while Griff was growing up.  The very walls of this cabin are saturated with happy memories.

 I think it is fun for Griff to start making memories here with his own little boy.

Griff took Jack down a sledding run... poor little guy got plastered with snow.

Seriously... his little face was covered and looked frozen.  But he didn't cry...

Maybe he's in shock?

I know, I know.  I should be a sledding model.  :)

Our Little Taz

Jack has entered the Tasmanian Devil stage.  He whirls around the house creating one mess after another.  Literally!  This child cannot be left alone for a moment without returning to find some drawer completely emptied, the toilet paper roll totally unrolled on the bathroom floor, a kitchen chair pushed down the steps into the family room... I'm sure you can imagine.  The pictured incident occurred one morning while Griff was out of town.  I left him playing with toys in the family room to take a quick shower.  I returned to find every ziploc bag and then some pulled out and scattered all over the kitchen floor.  I would have been mad if Jack wasn't so darn cute. :)

Surveying the damage.... what was I looking for again?

Oh, what's this? 

Found it!

Pools and Horsies

Over the Christmas break, we went up to Midway to hang out at Matt's townhouse in Zermatt. We had so much fun playing games, watching movies, swimming, and just hanging out together. Jack was a little unsure about swimming at first....

Of course, it didn't take long until he was having the time of his life!

Later in the week, we went out with my dad to let the horses out into the corral for a little exercise. It was seriously invigorating to watch them run and jump and kick all the kinks out. They are such nice horses. Periodically, they would come walking over to nose at our pockets hoping for a treat. Jack and Gabe loved them! Just look at the big grins plastered on their faces in every picture. :) Jack thanked Grandpa in that last picture with a big, wet kiss. We love you, Dad!

Christmas Catch Up

I finally uploaded the rest of my pictures from Christmas... only a month late! :) What a wonderful Christmas we had! Full of family, good food, and of course, lots of fun!

This first picture was taken at Capital theater. My mom took us all to see the Nutcracker! My grandma had never seen it, so it was extra special. My mom takes all the girls who live here (or can make it) to a ballet every year. We are so lucky! (We missed you Melanie and Erin)

It was the Christensen's year for Christmas. They have some fun traditions, too. Every year they have a party with Griff's mom's family on Christmas Eve. The family is so big now that they have to reserve the church! They have a big yummy dinner and lots of games for the kids.

After the party we headed back to the house and played games until it was time for Santa to come. Griff's mom has a tradition to buy new jammies for Christmas Eve. Griff's were pretty snazzy!
Christmas day was perfect, as it always is! We opened presents first thing in the morning. I totally enjoy this part of Christmas. I don't think it is because I am materialistic, but it is so fun to look at what everyone got and hear the thinking behind each present. My favorite gift this year was a silver locket from Griff. I have wanted one so much! He even put pictures of Jack and him inside and engraved my initials on the outside. I love it.

Then Randy made us all omelets to order while we waited for Devin and Travis to come with their family. I've got to get some pictures of the omelets next time... it is such a fun and yummy tradition.

This is one of the only gifts we got Jack interested in enough to help open.

Once the cab was out of the box, he wouldn't get out of it all morning. He seriously complained when Griff had to remove him in order to put the whole car together. :)

Here are Jack and Anika with their finished cars! Jack still loves his. We just have it inside on the carpet now, and Jack gets in and out of it all day long.

Before we headed to Highland, we were able to go see Griff's grandparents. It is neat that Jack has so many living great grandparents who love him. Mine were long passed when I arrived on the scene. I envy Jack!

Griff's parents live at the base of the Oquirrh Mountains. So we were even able to take a spin on the snow mobiles Christmas morning. This was icing on the cake for Griff. He loves snowmobiling and can't wait until he can buy another nice mountain sled.

Cassidee got this throw back game for Randy. I guess he used to play it a lot with his brothers when he was little. Kara showed up in her Christmas dress with a pretty bow in her hair Christmas morning. But I guess she felt overdressed, because she quickly changed into the pretty nightgown she got for Christmas (after trying on every one of the princess dress-up clothes she received from Grandma and Grandpa first! :) )

Christmas evening we spent with my family in Highland. I wasn't the best photographer that night, but it was wonderful. We opened gifts, ate a delicious turkey dinner with all the trimmings, and enjoyed playing games, doing a big puzzle, and watching a movie. I honestly feel so lucky to live near so much of our families. We mostly grew up on our own away from our extended family, and I didn't miss it growing up. But now that I know how fun it is to have big, crazy family Christmases, I never want to be away!

I had to include this last picture of Jack taking his Christmas nap. What a funny little guy!

I Can't Believe Christmas is Over!!!

The night before Christmas Eve, my family did their traditional Christmas Eve home night. It was our in-laws year for Christmas. So really we all got to have double the fun... celebrating Christmas Eve twice! :) We had our traditional meal of Chicken a la King. The bread baskets look like crowns, and you smother them in a delcious chicken gravy. This dinner is the best because it reminds us that we are celebrating the birth of our King, the Prince of Peace! We all have a candle on each of our plates, which is beautiful. My grandma and grandpa were visiting from Canada, and my grandpa kept trying to turn on the lights in the kitchen instead of enjoying all that soft candlelight. I guess he wanted a better view of his food... forget ambience. :)

After dinner, we sang Christmas songs, read Christmas stories, and listened while my dad read us the story of the birth of Christ from a pretty little bible my mom's grandma bought her while visiting Bethlehem years ago. At the end of the night, we watched George C Scott in the Christmas Carol. We do the same thing every Christmas Eve, and we all look forward to it so much!

Mom, Baby Logan in his cute little reindeer outfit, and Grandma

Jack playing with daddy

Mom played for us while we sang songs... she had a helper this year. There were plenty of extra notes played, but Grandma didn't seem to care. :)

Birthday Boy

I can't believe our little man is already one year old! I swear it was just yesterday that we brought this sweet little boy home from the hospital... both of us a little sore, but perfectly happy! We didn't celebrate his birthday on his real birthday, Dec 16, but we did buy him a little balloon that day... which he LOVED! Everyone who walked past him in the grocery store paused to watch and smile. At the end of the video, you can hear one of them say, "What is it with babies and balloons? They just love them!"

We had a birthday party for him that weekend at my mom and dad's house. I even made him a birthday cake to match his Jazz jersey. Since he is our oldest, we made him a sign (which I neglected to take a picture of) which read "Happy Birthday Jack!!! Our first round draft pick!" My grandparents were in town from Canada, so lots of extended family came to see them... and it ended up being a BIG, fun party.