Stuff Your Face!

Well tomorrow Jack will turn one! I can't believe how fast time flies! We love that crazy kid so so much! In just a year he has grown so much! Here are just a few things he does:

Plays catch

Gives kisses
Walks around the house with a walker
Does not use a bottle and loves whole milk
Eats whatever we eat, especially if it is ravioli
Says, mom, dad, bye-bye, uh-oh, and wow
Opens all cupboard doors
Pets his stuffed animals
Stacks his toy blocks
And brightens our day!

Tonight we had his birthday cake at Jocelyn's house in SLC, so she could see him eat it. It was so funny. We stripped him to his diaper and then put trash bags on the floor to protect it. He was hesitant at first, but was soon covered from head to toe! He also shared his cake with us. Here are some pictures and videos from the night:

Here are a couple of Videos from the night. We were laughing so hard

Feeding Dad! YUM!!!

Stuffing his face really funny!!!

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The Screamer is Back!

A couple of months after Jack was born it seemed like all he did was cry, and so our Bishop named him screaming Jack. I thought he had outgrown his love to cry and scream months ago, but it has come back with a vengeance. Whenever we go play with Taryn he protects the toys he is playing with like there is no tomorrow. Whenever Taryn so much as comes close to him he lets out a blood curdling scream and hovers over the toy he is playing with, it also sounds like he says mine. He also screams like a mad man whenever I take some thing away from him he should not have. It generally only happens at night, and he is teething so maybe that has something to do with it.

Yesterday Taryn took a toy away from him and I thought he was a goner. He let out a horrible ear deafing scream that seemed to last forever. He then flung his body forward plopping his head on the floor and banging his hands on the ground. When I picked him up he arched his back and screamed again. While this was happening Taryn looked on in horror. When the toy was returned to him he picked it up and sighed AHHH. I have to say he is generally a very very happy and content baby. All I can do is laugh to myself and hope and pray that this ends soon.

Trip to Idaho

This weekend we traveled to Rigby Idaho to visit Aaron's grandparents. Jack's middle name comes from Aaron's grandfather Orville. This was the first time they had seen Jack. In February they tired to come down for Jack's baby blessing, but got into a car accident on the way down. It was so nice to see them. Jack loved playing with Grandpa's walker, and a couple of times he got to ride it. Grandma also gave him a stuffed lion, which he loves. We have about 5 different stuffed animals at home, and besides the cat, he could care less about any of them. When he got his hands on the lion he started to hug it and drag it around with him. While we were there he also stared opening cupboard doors. At home he loves to open drawers, but has never opened cupboard doors, we are in trouble.

We were only able to stay for a couple of days, but we had so much fun! Jack loved being able to crawl around a big house. He also loved playing ball with Aaron's cousin Ashley. He would throw the ball on the ground, look at Ashley and giggle. When Ashley would give it back to him, he would immediately throw it again. He never got tired of this game, and stared to use it on his plug and other toys! We are so grateful that we were able to visit them!! Here are some pictures of the weekend:

Playing with his Lion

Getting ready for a ride

Jack watching TV with Grandpa

Opening the Cupboard

Chilling with Grandma

Haloween and More

Halloween night we went trick or treating with Brandon and Amanda Hess. Jack dressed up as a dinosaur and Taryn dressed up as a puppy dog. We went out for about an hour and had a blast. Most doors we knocked on let the kids pick out the candy they wanted. Jack is no fool, every time he picked a handful of candy. Everyone told him if he could fit it in his hand he could have it. Needless to say we have a lot of candy at home. Here are some pictures of the night:



Aaron's mom got jack a stuffed animal, a black cat. He loves it. He has started sticking it in his mouth when he crawls, it is pretty entertaining.

Fat Kid Story!

Last night Aaron pulled out some oreos and Jack just had to have some. He only ate one, but it looks like he had about five.

Here are also some pictures of carving pumpkins:

Lord of the Dance

Jack is ten months old already, and he loves to dance! Any time we turn on the radio or put on any music he starts to dance. Sometimes he rocks back and forth so hard that I think he will fall over. He also loves to get into kitchen drawers and pull out sandwich bags. He is also a big helper when it comes to loading and unloading the dishwasher. He is our big helper! Man I love that little dude! Here is a video of Jack dancing!


Here are some pictures of Jack being Jack!

This is how he always sleeps with his bum in the air:

Smiling for the camera:



Talking on the phone (remote):

Uh-Oh

Jack is growing by leaps and bounds! When we last took him to the doctor he weighed 21 pounds and was in the 90th percentile for his height and head (haha). He is moving like crazy and getting into everything. He loves pulling down the DVD's, and knows he is not supposed to. When he gets near them we say "no no" he then shakes his head no, smiles, and pulls them down. He has also stared to say uh-oh. He will throw his food or his plug on the ground and look at me and say uh-oh, of course I pick it up and he does it again. Jack is also a babbler he loves talking our ears off, I think he talks more than a girl. Besides being busy loving Jack, Aaron and I are both in school. Aaron is also working and doing an internship. Don't ask when he sleeps. When he comes home Jack gets a huge smile on his face and crawls as fast as his little legs will allow to have daddy hold him. It is so fun to watch them together. Man I love my boys!

Giggling Jack

Jack figured out that if he screamed it would scare Jocelyn and he thought it was the funniest thing in the world!

Looking back on the Summer

We made it back to Provo about two weeks ago, we are glad to be done with our summer job. Even though the summer was long, we were able to go do and see some things in Atlanta. Jacks favorite place that we visited was the Aquarium. We saw whales, sharks, jelly fish and more.

It was a nice break from working all day! The best part about it was seeing how happy jack was! We were also able to go to a couple of Braves games. One game we attended was at night. That game we dressed Jack in a braves outfit, but it was so hot and humid that we finally took it off of him. Once the outfit was off of him we noticed that his poor body was covered in lint, the worst was under his arm pits. He was blue all over, fortunately it did not bother him at all. We left the game early not because our team was losing, but because Jack's face was bright red.

After being in Georgia for four months we were ready to come back to Provo, I never thought I would say that. We traveled through Amarillo to see my family, it was a lot of fun. My family just got a puppy named Chomper, and boy did Jack love him. Whenever Chomper ran anywhere Jack giggled so hard. Chomper also loved licking Jack's feet and ears, at first Jack did not know how to react, but that soon ended. Jack smiled and tried his hardest not to laugh. It was so fun to watch him so excited. When we left Amarillo Jack was sick. He had 22 poopy diapers in two days! About every hour we had to stop to change him. Over the next five days I changed literally 45 poopy diapers!! We bought a new package of diapers before we left Amarillo, and by the time we were in Provo, which is about a twelve hour drive, we only had one diaper left. I think that I should go in some record book! I never want to have an experience like that again!

Our live in babysitter

My brother and his family live just around the corner from us. They have a 15 month old daughter named Taryn. Taryn loves taking care of Jack. She tries to feed him his bottle and also give him snacks. Jack could care less who feeds him as long as it gets in his tummy. Generally when Taryn tries to feed him the milk ends up all over his clothes as well as hers. Whenever I take the bottle away from Taryn she tries to make sure I am not watching and swiftly grabs it and runs to stick it in Jack's mouth. Many times we will let Taryn give Jack a little treat, and the next thing we know Jack has five of them in his mouth.

Even if the bottle has nothing in it, Taryn will still stick it in Jacks mouth. They both love each other. It is so fun to see them interact.

Whenever Jack sees Taryn he gets a huge smile on his face and starts panting like a dog. Taryn will generally run to Jack and give him pat pats! There is never a dull moment when they are together. Taryn many times will get into things she is not supposed and run and give them to jack. When we catch her she acts as if it was not her that gave it to Jack. Of course Jack will stick it in his mouth.

Taryn will generally share with Jack, but sometimes she is a tease, and Jack will let her know.

Jack Attack

Time has gone by quickly! Aaron and I are in Atlanta for a summer job. It is nice to be away from Provo for a while, but we are working like crazy. Aaron works from about ten in the morning till midnight or later, and I work about five to six hours a day. My job is nice cause I can take jack to work with me, which is a blessing and also a curse. It is not very easy trying to entertain a baby while answering phone calls. Jack is almost seven months old and growing by leaps and bounds.

Jack loves watching and helping daddy play video games. And dad loves the help! Most of the time jack pulls the controller out of Aaron's hands, in his attempts to help. As you can see in the picture when the TV is on Jack is gone! He loves just staring at the TV!


Even though he is almost seven months old he refuses to be on his tummy. Any time his cute little belly so much as touches the floor he explodes! Our doctor said that I need to put him on his stomach for ten minutes at a time to which Jack has this to say:

He is slowly getting better, but he is very stubborn! Along with being stubborn Jack loves to scream! We often have screaming contests, to which he generally wins! I have to admit when he screams he sometimes sounds like a little girl. Jack is such a happy baby! I wake up to him talking to himself, and when he sees me he has a huge smile on his face! I would not trade begin a mom for the world.



Aaron and I are looking forward to relaxing after this summer job. We have been able to go to one braves game which was fun but extremely hot. We are both trying to work on our tan, but with little success. Jack comes by it honestly!

Eating Real Food

A couple of weeks ago we got the ok for Jack to start eating food. I usually feed him rice cereal, but we decided it was time for him to have some veggies. I told Aaron he should feed Jack and he was excited. Well as you can tell not much made it into Jacks mouth! At one point Jack leaned to one side of his chair, scaring dad who immediately flung the bottle of carrots all over the carpet. It will take a little while for us to get the hang of spoon feeding. Hopefully next time the carrots won't end up in is nose and on his forehead.

Our Yoda

Ever since Jack was born Aaron's family said that he looked like Yoda. Over my families spring break I went home and visited. My little brother, Jordan, loves building things out of legos. He created a lego Yoda, so we decided to compare. As you can tell Jack was not so sure about this so called look a like.

Hanging with dad!

Jack has a ways to go!

We have decided that dressing up Jack is a lot of fun, but sometimes we get a little carried away.

The Many faces of Jack

Screaming Jack

So the nickname. A couple of weeks after Jack was born our Bishop asked how he was doing, one of our friends said that he was kinda screamy and it stuck. After that comment our bishop referred to Jack as screaming Jack the rest of church that day. That Monday a member of the ward came by and asked how our baby was doing and asked what his name was. I replied Jack and he said oh screaming Jack. I had just had Jack so I was not at church and did not hear the comment. I was confused and a little annoyed. No one had even seen him and he had a nickname. I asked a couple of our friends if they knew anything about it, and then the story unfolded. It was pretty funny after I knew how it came about.



Well I think his nickname jinxed us. Jack had colic. For about 8 weeks he screamed and screamed. One night Lorel wanted to use our bouncer to see if Ella liked it. She brought her to our apartment and tried to make her cry, while we were trying to make Jack stop crying. My mom kept reassuring us that not all babies cry that much, but it was hard to believe. After seeing Jack cry so much one of my friends said that she did not want to have a second baby, because she was scared her baby would cry that much!

Boy were we happy when he decided that he had enough of this screaming business. Jack is now a very happy boy!
He is almost three months and is very independent. He is very content with not being held, which makes me sad sometimes. Sometimes he will be fussy and I will put him down and he smiles at me like haha, that is what I wanted! We love him so much! We can't imagine life without him and we are so very blessed!