By jove, he's got it!

After months and months of doing sign language to Jack I think he has FINALLY got it! I'm not sure what made it click today but I think we hit a break through! Today he signed milk, sleep, all done, more, cookie (well tried), and please. It is funny that having him "talk" to me this way made him grow up SO much in one day. I am such a big believer in signing for babies after seeing how much easier it made things with Haken. I wasn't too hopeful that Jack would pick it up because Haken got the concept much sooner than this. I'm so glad he's picked it up, especially when I will have another baby in tow in the next 6 months.

Christmas 2011

I know this post is late when all of my Christmas decorations are already down and everyone in the world has already posted their Christmas happenings. But better late than never I guess!

We started off our Christmas with our Christmas Eve tradition of a delish dinner made by Shad. I think he saves up his culinary skills all year long to prepare for this night. I definitely don't mind not having to cook at all. I look forward to it every year. He stuck with the tradition of cornish game hens seasoned with fresh herbs, small herbed potatoes, asparagus, gourmet yellow carrots, radishes, and a bit of bubbly to wash it all down. Oh, and of course all of this is lathered in his special herbed cream sauce. It was worth waiting for all year!

Another Christmas Eve tradition is Christmas jammies from Grandma Evans. Can you tell Haken is a bit excited about these? Jack liked them too, but was more into the lens cover of the camera.

Santa visited our house that night....

....and Haken tore into all of it within a minute of waking up. Haken didn't get up until after 8:00. We had to make lots of noise in the kitchen so we could open presents before church at 11:30. It is fun to watch him get more and more into it with each year. Even the smallest things are exciting to him, like the orange in the bottom of the stocking.

I think Jack would have just been happy with Haken's huge sucker and nothing else. Especially since he was terrified of the ball popper we got him. It has taken weeks for him to get used to.

But the other few toys he got, he liked.

With it being Christmas day on a Sunday we had to get a family picture just before church.

That afternoon we made our way down to Salt Lake to be with my family for a few days of Christmas festivities. We had a yummy dinner at my aunt Cheri's and talked to my cousin Spencer on a mission. We stayed that night at my parents and then had all my siblings come for presents the next day. At this point we were FINALLY able to tell my parents that I am pregnant (although Haken spilled the beans just a few hours before to my mom). We gave our parents each a set of coasters with family pictures in them. One of those coasters contained the ultrasound picture. I didn't take any pictures of the reactions, but we did get it on video if I can figure out how to transfer it all over. We told Shad's family over Skype on Christmas Eve. 

Jack really enjoyed tearing the tissue paper into tiny little pieces. Best present ever.

Uncle B and auntie M who came up from Arizona for Christmas. We sure miss them!

This picture pretty much sums up our vacation. Not sure why, but I always feel like I need a vacation from my vacation!

It was a great Christmas! We were even able to see the zoo lights at Hogle Zoo the next day before we headed back home. Haken loved seeing all the animals and Jack was such a happy little boy, even in the cold. All of that footage is on the video camera once again.

We truly are blessed this year and look forward to the new adventures that will come our way this next year!

Surprise!

Now that Christmas is over and we have made the big announcement to our family I can FINALLY post this on the blog. We found out at the beginning of November that we have another little one coming to us in July 2012. The official due date is July 11th and we couldn't be happier! Having kids 18 months apart was totally unexpected but it will be a fun, new adventure! Here's the proof!

These ultrasound pictures were taken at 8 1/2 weeks so there isn't much to see, but I did see the heartbeat. After that I could breathe a little easier.

Gingerbread Houses

At our house we are trying to start little family Christmas traditions. One of those has been to make gingerbread houses on the first Family Home Evening in December. Last year  Shad made a gingerbread replica of the Kirtland temple (because he was teaching the Doctrine & Covenants in seminary) while Haken and I made our traditional little cottage. This year Shad is teaching the Old Testament so as you can guess, he made a replica of the tabernacle. Haken and I stuck with the traditional cottage style. Sometimes I wish I could just buy a kit or make my own gingerbread from a pattern, but with the crazy things Shad likes to build, it is just better if we stick with graham crackers. I think we got a lot more into it last year, maybe it was because I had my burst of energy right before Jack came, or it could be because Jack was at my heels whining most of the time (he sure did eat his share of graham crackers while we were building).This year we went with simple elegance and that is just fine with me. Although, I bought a load of candy that is now sitting in my cupboard taunting me everyday!

Courtesy smile :) He gets it from his father!

Ready to attack the house right before bedtime.

ONE year old!

I can not believe that I saw my little Jack for the first time only a year ago today. 

It feels like he has been in my life forever! It is honestly hard to remember what our life was like before we had him in our family.  Jack is such a genuinely happy baby. You wouldn't believe all of the comments that I get about him being happy all the time. He really is happy pretty much ALL the time.

Jack always has something sticking out of his mouth in the last week. I am hoping that maybe it is because he is FINALLY teething. He still doesn't have any teeth, although I can feel them in there somewhere. Among his favorites are a toy nail from a tool set and a duplo lego guy. He freaks out if you try to take them away. They must feel good on his gums.

One of his favorite activities is helping me out with laundry. If there is a laundry basket full of clothes on the floor, you can bet that he has climbed in there and started pulling everything out, whether they are folded already or not. He thinks it is SO funny.

Now on to the birthday festivities....

We threw a little family party for Jack the weekend before his birthday. We had it at my parent's house in Bountiful so that we would be closer to all of our family that we invited. I decided to do a frog theme. I thought it turned out pretty cute. I really could have gone overboard, but decided to try and keep it simple. We had a yummy lasagna dinner and of course cupcakes and ice cream. I couldn't have done it without my mom's help. I am also glad that so many of our family was able to be there. I could tell that Jack is very loved.

He didn't have a hard time digging into the cake, but I had to help him out when it came to eating it. Once he got some in his mouth he kept shoveling it in. However, his most favorite thing to do was take a handful and squeeze it as hard as he could in his hands.

Tonight, being his real birthday, we decided to give him a "little debbie" snack cake to celebrate. He took a gigantic first bite and after that it pretty much fell apart all over his tray. He loved squishing it in his hands once again. 

So glad we have made it through the first year! It flew by, which makes me a little sad. He has developed such a little personality and I love him more and more each day. 

Happy Birthday Jack-Jack!

Jack's First Haircut

On Tuesday we decided it was time for Jack to get a haircut. His hair was really getting "nappy" in the back and and also looked a bit like an old man with a comb-over at times. I actually can't believe that we waited this long to do it. On the crown of his head the hair was like 3 inches long. I had trimmed the very front a few times just so I could style it, but it was getting a bit ridiculous looking. Unfortunately I didn't think to get a picture of his hair before we cut it, but here is the during and after. He was such a good boy! The funny thing was it ended up being haircut day for everyone, including myself since I got one earlier that day. Haircuts all around! BTW....I am so grateful that my husband can cut my boys hair as well as his own. Sure does cut down on costs.

This is what I had to do before I had the genius idea of giving him a sucker.

Whoever created "dum dum" suckers is a genius! They last exactly long enough to give this boy a haircut!

Front- After

Back-After

Haken's fall wish granted

 It is amazing how much difference a year can make in the eyes of a child. Suddenly at 4 years old Haken is fascinated with everything. One thing that has been really fun is to watch is for him to get excited with the change in seasons and holidays. I don't remember him ever being so passionate about small things like crunching leaves underneath his shoes, or running at full speed into the snow to make a snow angel . Maybe he was too little to really care last year, or maybe it is because he knows a little bit more about how the world works. This year he really, really wanted to jump into a big pile of leaves. He asked me a few times during the past month and every time I told him that we didn't really have enough leaves to rake up and jump into. Our trees are still quite small. However, over Thanksgiving Haken got his wish and was able to jump into a big pile of leaves at my parents house. Grandpa raked them up into a big pile and let Haken have-at-it for probably almost an hour. I don't think it was quite as he had imagined but he was still giddy about the whole thing. He ended up totally filthy and wet since the leaves were pretty damp and dirty. In the end he came inside because he had dirt in his eye, but I think he still had the time of his life. Every kid should have the memories of doing this to live off of into adulthood!

Still clean. Waiting for Grandpa to rake up the leaves