4th of July

This is after the annual water fight. Christian and Mark take on the rest of the cousins in a pretty intense battle.

Jack being festive in his red, white, and blue.

Moving Day!!!

Well, our townhouse is done and we are all packed up to move over there. It is pretty exciting to be done renting and moving into a place of our own! Jack has been pretty funny during the packing stage. We brought him into rooms where we were packing and he would put things into the boxes. The only problem is he also liked to take things out of the boxes and so we had some repacking to do. He was just happy to be walking around the apartment, climbing on and whacking empty containers. It will be fun to see how he does in the new house. He has already discovered the stairs and so we will have to get some baby gates later today after we move in. Anyway, we'll try to post some pictures soon as we get the internet all hooked up.

Snacks!

Jack loves eating everything that we do, here he is with me sharing a Nutri-grain bar. Also, notice the chairricade (haha get it, it's and chair and a barricade)* in the foreground, it's our way of containing him in the living room area, and he HATES it. His favorite thing to do is stand at the chair and yell at the top of his little but powerful baby lungs at Mom in the kitchen until she either pulls her hair out in frustration, or gives in and lets him roam free.

*The word "chairricade" was not thought up by us, Mary's friend Holly made it up, and we've been using it ever since. Mary insisted that I give credit, so there you go, I guess having a history major and writing all those papers really impresses on a person the importance of proper citation...

White Rim Bike Trip

So here's some pictures of the bike trip I went on with some friends from work. We rode the White Rim trail (its down near Moab), and it was an awesome 3-day ride. The trail is about 100 miles long, and is a jeep road with some awesome views, since it basically follows the rim of a mesa with 500 to 1000 foot drop offs all over the place.

This was the hill at the end of the trail, it was insanely steep (we had to go up it). As we were riding up, we saw some base jumpers jump off the cliff to the right, which is about 1000 feet high, it was cool.

We had 2 trucks follow us with gear and water, because there are no water sources along the trail for the first two days.

This formation is called washerwoman tower, because it looks like a lady with her hair in a bun and her arms outstretched.

This is a natural arch called Musselman arch that was a little freaky to walk out on, it's only about 10 feet wide. The picture doesn't do it justice, the dropoff on each side is about 300 feet. I didn't have the guts to ride across it, but that would've been a sweet picture...

You can see the trail above the cliffs

Jack's First Steps

Jack has started to get the hang of walking, after scooting along the furniture for a month. Here's a video compilation of Jack's first steps

We love you and hope that you have a very wonderful birthday.

1st Birthday Party

Here are some pictures from Jack and Kirsten's first birthday party. We had our own little section of a park and the weather was gorgeous. We had a really good time just visiting with family and friends, and playing out on the grass. The kids missed their grandmas and grandpas but hope to see them soon!

Getting ready to play wiffle ball

Jack's robot cake- it was hot enough that day that the frosting started to melt! Thank goodness for park pavillions.

Lots of cake for two little kids!

Jack looks a little guilty here, like we caught him being naughty.

Why I Love Vermont

I was inspired by Jen and Dave's amazing pictures of scenery and thought I would take some while we were in Vermont. These are things that bring back good memories and are some of the reasons I love going to Vermont to visit.

I love Vermont's rolling hills, open pastures, and the sweet smell of the grass in the summertime.

One of the things I remember most about visiting my Granny on Stancliff road was the cows that used to graze nearby. A lot has changed on the road since we were little but it was nice to know that the cows were still there.

I know that they probably have covered bridges in other places in America, but they will always remind me driving through the Vermont countryside in my grandpa's old van.

Vermont Visit

Jack and I just got back from Vermont this afternoon. I spent a lot of time worrying about how Jack would do on the plane ride, but even though he has the one year old-almost walking- wiggles, he was fantastic. Our trip was pretty short but really wonderful.

Four generations- Jack, me, Mom, and Grandma Joslyn

Playing with Great Grandma

Making the traditional stop at Ben and Jerry's

Snuggle time with Grandma Ramie

The weather wasn't really cooperating on Monday and Tuesday for Jack and I to take a walk. I finally got him ready to go and as you can tell, he was so excited about it! I don't think he likes that umbrella stoller. I haven't ever caught him with even a half smile while he is sitting in it!

The zoo! (The real one, not our house)

We decided to take a trip to the zoo today because neither one of us had been in a long while, and it was a really sunny nice day. The Hogle Zoo is much nicer than the Alaska Zoo we were both used to, and Jack had fun looking at the animals and playing in the kids playground.

Standing with the giraffes


Checking out the camels

Looking at the albino crocodile. (That's not Jack's head in the pic, just some random kid)

Playing in the Gopher holes



I thought it would be therapeutic for Mary to see Jack climbing on a giant harmless spider, seeing as she has an intense dislike/borderline phobia of them, but this picture turned out just creepy. Who wants to play on a huge spider with fangs anyway, what was the zoo thinking when they made this??

Baby Photo Shoots are Hard Work!

We took the babies outside to take some glamour shots but Jack was not too interested. He kept just kept crawling off as soon as we set him down. Kirsten, on the other hand, was the perfect model and even posed as we took the pictures.

Hey, get back here we're taking a picture!

Playtime with Kirsten

The Rasmussens stayed with us over the weekend which was a lot of fun. Jack and Kirsten were pretty funny to watch as they played and interacted. Here are some pictures of them playing in the mornings.