*mesmerized*

Up until this moment, James was fussing and squirming in his high chair... You can almost see him nodding his head and jamming to the beat. Cool, dude.

Great-Grandma

Peek-a-boo!

stories

Every night, James and his Daddy have story time - and James will actually sit there for quite awhile while Jonathan reads tons of books to him. Pretty cute...

What are the odds??

Yesterday we went to DI for fun to look at books and movies. We love buying used books at DI! There was a great selection and unbeatable prices! While we were browsing through the shelves, Jonathan grabbed a Book of Mormon and a Bible and said, "let's buy these for James - they can be his first scriptures!"

He set them down on top of a shelf, and the cover of the Bible kind of fell open to the first page. As I looked at it, I couldn't believe my eyes - inside was written the name of the Bible's previous owner. It said, "Cheryl Longhurst" - as in, Cheryl Longhurst, my best friend from junior high and high school!! As in "Jen & Cher," as in my inseparable bestest bud. It was seriously the craziest thing ever, I couldn't believe it! I called Cheryl right away, and left a message on her phone. Seriously though, what are the odds of something like this happening? We thought it was pretty funny. :)

And in honor of this crazy experience, here is a little blast from the past - the first picture is Cheryl and I in 9th grade (taken in the infamous Mrs. Duncan's classroom - good times) and the second is in high school before the Sweethearts Dance - I can't remember if that was our junior or senior year. Anyway, it is so fun to look back at these old pictures. Cheryl and her husband live in Virginia now so we don't see each other much, but I'm so grateful for her friendship; even if we don't talk as much as we should, it is always fun to see her and to catch up. Love ya, Cher!

cute cuddly boy

Just some cute pictures of James in his pj's before bedtime. I bought him these a couple of weeks ago, they were on clearance and I almost didn't buy them, because it was a layette set (it came with the pj's, a hat, a bib and booties), and they totally look little baby-ish, and he is just getting so big. But I think that deep down, the reason I bought them was because I am a little sad that he is growing up so fast :( It is so fun to see him grow and learn things and come into his own, but it is always just a little bittersweet. So anyway, enjoy the pictures! Oh and I just HAD to try the hat on him - as you can see, it didn't last too long, but it was kind of fun.

James helps Daddy play a Wii game...

this boy loves electronics

cute face

another cute face

long enough for a quick picture...

...AND, it's off!

me and my baby boy

bath time and baby hair

James loves his bath time more and more...it's kind of nice that he can now pretty much sit up on his own in the bathtub. He loves splashing in the water and trying to drink the water...

His hair just recently has started growing more than ever. In fact, we discovered it is just long enough for a mohawk...

this boy loves his Daddy!

fun in the bath

you can barely see his mohawk here...

the full view

food, glorious food!

Our little guy is quite the eater. He is now eating three meals of solid food a day and he usually will eat at least two jars of baby food each time, and he also eats oatmeal or rice cereal twice a day. He is also getting better at eating finger foods and we have been trying to get him to try new things.

He loves the Gerber finger food puffs and the teething crackers. He doesn't quite like other types of finger foods yet, though - last night for dinner we tried to get him to eat some little chunks of pears, little pieces of cheese and some baked potato. He wasn't quite sure about any of those - which is funny, because he loves pears and he has had potatoes in pureed baby food form. He just gets a funny look on his face and spits it out, it's kind of funny to watch.

The other day he tried some yogurt and he absolutely loved it. He also has been eating some meats now, in pureed form. He would not eat them by themselves, though. We tried feeding him chicken and beef, and he pulled the funniest faces. So we have been mixing those with vegetables, and he loves it!

We are still struggling on the sippy cup - he just won't drink from it. I guess he just wants to be a big boy, though, because he loves drinking from a real cup.

It is so crazy that my baby is getting old enough to eat the same things that we eat! It is really fun, but kind of sad, at the same time, to think that he is no longer a little baby anymore - he is pretty much a big boy! :)

Oh, and by the way, the reason his face is SO messy is because of his teething cracker - they are so messy! He absolutely loves them, though, and they keep him busy while we eat our dinner, so it's fine by me!

full tummy, messy face, happy boy

aw, Mom - do you have to keep feeding me new weird things??

tum pluckered

Fun at Grandma's House

James and I like to take walks down to Grandma's and Grandpa's house during the day. James loves to visit with his grandparents and his aunts and uncle! Here we are waiting for Grandma to get home from some errands so James could play with her...

me and my little buddy

sweet boy

where's Grandma?

Edgar

While on our family trip to St. George last month, Aunt Liz bought James a cute stuffed elephant. We decided to name him Edgar. James usually sleeps with Edgar in his crib. This afternoon when he woke up from his nap, I went in the room to get him and he was sitting there holding on tight to Edgar's tail. I picked him up and he just hung on to that elephant for the longest time. It was too cute. I managed to get some pictures of it, as I was holding him, through the mirror. Notice in every picture he is hanging on so tight to that elephant's tail!

first tie

The boy wore his very first tie to church today. He looked handsome as ever.

Beautiful Wyoming

After driving through Wyoming, we discovered that not only is it pretty much out in the middle of nowhere (at least the part we drove through), but it is also actually really pretty! We got some really cool pictures as we drove, and I thought I'd share a bunch of them. I wish we had gotten a picture of one part of the drive, though - I think it's a little north of Evanston, you drive up a hill and all of a sudden there are windmills everywhere - maybe even a hundred or so. It was the coolest thing - I actually slept through most of it on the drive up, and it was dark on the way back. It was such a neat thing, some of them were really close to the road.

There was a satellite radio in the truck, and there was a Coldplay station that just played Coldplay all day long - we actually listened to it for a big portion of the trip and surprisingly didn't get tired of it at all - they are such a great band! We had a great time driving together as a little family, and I'm sure we'll go on lots more fun road trips like this one in the future.

Rockpile Museum

While planning our little trip to Wyoming, I did a little research online to find out if there was anything fun to do (or anything at all to do) in Gillette. Well, pretty much the only thing I came up with was the Rockpile Museum - which sounds fascinating, no? Well, it turns out it really isn't a museum dedicated to rocks, it actually has some cool pioneer/cowboy artifacts. We went for a little while and it was actually kind of fun.

my boys in front of a cool sheepherder's wagon

in front of a doctor's buggy

our little cowboy

Daddy showing James how to ride a horse

we couldn't pass up this opportunity...

my favorite

swimming!

We got to go swimming twice while we were in Wyoming, and James loved it! He is so much fun, we just love him :)

heading to the pool!

splashing with Daddy

kicking with Mommy - he was a great little kicker!

all warm and comfy