5 Years of LOVE

Kyle and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. I am so grateful Kyle asked me to marry him because he has been the perfect husband for me. I was lucky enough to spend 10 minutes with Kyle on our actual anniversary. He arrived home from a business trip at 11:50 pm. We celebrated the next night by going out to dinner and seeing the play "My Fair Lady" (which is one of our favorite musicals).

I love you Handsome!

Cousin Brynn

Jason's cousin Brynn had surgery at Primary Children's. We went to visit her while she was recovering. Jason thinks Primary Children's is a party place. He got to ride around in Brynn's wagon, play in the awesome playroom, play with new stickers we brought for Brynn, and ride up and down the elevator for fun. I got a teary-eyed being there thinking how lucky I was that Jason was having such an awesome time there, unlike other little children who have to go there.

Jason loves Brynn so much. It is amazing to me how well they get along. Jason still prays for her in his prayers.

 

 

 

 

Matt and Grandam Diane

Brave Sir Jason

My brave knight is changing so fast. I want to record a few of the things he is saying and doing so I can remember them when I am old, or even next month.


Cute sayings:

• Jason often says "I want to tell you something," and then when I say "What?" he always asks me a question.
• When he climbs up the neighbor's playhouse ladder, he likes to talk to Kyle about his day while standing on the upper rungs. He'll climb up the ladder and say, "I want to talk to you." He'll then tell Kyle about his day by telling Kyle where he went and things he did.
• Jason saw 2 jet streams crossing each other in the sky, making a type of "X". Jason saw it and said, "Mom, the alphabet is in the sky!"
• Jason says he has a baby in his tummy, too. 
• Jason makes a lot of his requests and wishes known by asking questions that begin with "should". Should we eat dinner? Should we sing ABC's? Should we go for a walk?
• Driving home after dark, Kyle once remarked to Jason that it was dark outside. Jason agreed and then asked, "Daddy, are you dark?" I can feel this innocent question coming up in some Sunday School analogy in the future. 
• Jason loves to look at pictures and tells me to "read" them. That is to say, he wants me to name every person in the pictures, every time we look at them. He has his relative's names down. Unfotunatley, he also wants to know the names of the people who don't really have names, like unimportant people in his stories, or the girl on our tide box. He won't take "I don't know" as an answer, so I have to make up names for everybody.

Cute doings:

• Jason loves the movie Rio. This movie has made him very interested in flying. He loves to make his toys fly. He also loves it when Kyle flies Jason in the air. One time Jason was jumping around on the couch and he jumped on top of me (I was also on the couch). I scolded Jason and told him he should not jump on mommy. Jason corrected me and said he was not jumping, he was flying. We now have to add "No flying on mommy" as a rule on the couch. 
• Along with his interest in flying has come a renewed interest in Buzz. Buzz sat unloved for a few months after Jason's original fascination, but Buzz is now happily flying around our house, in the car, and in the yard. We are lucky Kyle is so good with screws and super glue because Buzz has had many crash landings. Jason always says "Daddy can fix it" whenever something breaks. Luckily Kyle hasn't had to disappoint him yet. 
• Tracing hands in colored pencils is a favorite activity. I mostly trace Jason's hands, but he will sometimes do mine. He also likes to tell me to draw things, like a gray giraffe, or a pink scare-crow, or a peach elephant. He's got his colors down pretty well.
• His imaginative play is really starting to grow. He likes to growl like a dinosaur. He loves to cook food for me. He can make me endless batches of soup, which I find hilarious since he himself will not eat any soup. He has also started feeding his toys food and assisting them with other tasks such as going to the bathroom. I quickly investigated one day after hearing the toilet lid open. I found him holding a stuffed dog on the seat. He told me the dog was "going potty." As cute as it was, I don't want to fish dropped toys out of the bowl, so I told him dogs go potty on the grass. 
• I taught Jason how to speed-dial Kyle's number from my phone. Now Kyle gets a phone call from Jason whenever Jason can get his hands on my phone, even if Kyle is in the same room. Watch out! I might teach Jason your number next!
• Today I enjoyed watching Jason and Kyle chase each other around the front yard. At one point Jason laid on the ground and Kyle jumped over him, which he enjoyed having Kyle repeat over and over. Jason then got the brilliant idea that he should jump over Kyle. Kyle bravely laid down on the ground. I braced myself as an onlooker, knowing full well what would happen. As I predicted, Jason jumped and landed right on Kyle's legs. Jason was thrilled and proudly declared that he had jumped over daddy.
• Today I also heard Jason singing up in my bedroom. I went up to investigate, and found that he had been going through Kyle's bedside table. Jason found a small hymnbook and started singing the two church songs he knows over and over: I am a Child of God, and I Know My Father Lives. Grandma Diane was at our house and she was impressed with how well he knew all the words. I was impressed too because Jason usually wants me to do the singing. His little brain is absorbing so much!

I passed!

Today I got my score for the CPA exam section I took in August and I passed! I have now passed all 4 sections of the CPA exam. Now in order to get my license I have to take two smaller scale tests. One is an ethics exam that I can take online and the other is the Utah state exam which I have to take in a testing center. Both of these exams are open book and I don't anticipate having any problems with them. I'm hoping to get them out of the way within a month.

Summer Snapshots

Visiting with old friends.Our friend Richard got married in May. It was a great opportunity to recconnect with all the old high school buddies. I love this picture of the boys with their boys.

We also got a nice visit from the Halls, who came from California.

"Driving" the tractor at Uncle Calvin's. Jason preferred to sit on this big, quiet thing over riding on 4-wheelers. I suppose he prefers the quiet life.

 

First time bowling. Jason loved it. Too bad we won't go again for a while. We don't set aside much money for bowling in our budget.

Kyle's summer work party was at a Bee's baseball game. Jason was kept well entertained by all the food Kyle's work provided. Jason also enjoyed clapping and shouting along with the crowd and searching for the Bee mascot. 

Playing around with daddy.

Family fun at Thanksgiving Point's Animal Farm. I wasn't sure if Jason would be brave enough to get on the horse, but peer-pressure already works on him. All the cousins were doing it, and Jason didn't want to be left behind. He ended up loving it.

Thanksgiving Point's Dinosaur Museum.

 

Highland Day's carnival. We enjoyed family dollar night.

Fun at the park. We spend a lot of time at the park. We also love to go to the splash parks, but I don't have any pictures of those this year. And why don't we see very many tire swings? We found this one in Logan at the Karren Reunion. Jason and Brynn loved it.

I chopped my hair! How many inches? I'm not sure. Maybe 5? I went from about an inch longer than this length...

To this length. I do miss my longer hair, but I have loved feeling cooler during the summer.

 

Jason's first time roasting marshmallow's. We did it in my parent's backyard. I was so excited to introduce this great American pastime to him, but as soon as we began I was scared to death he was going to poke my eye out, burn himself, or fling a flaming marshmallow into someone's face. He thinks he's way too independent. Luckily none of those things happened. 

Boating! Jason loves going on the tubes.

We're Expecting a Kitty!

We're expecting a kitty, or so Jason tells us whenever we ask him what the black-and-white ultrasound is a picture of. We've tried to correct him and tell him it is a baby, but he says, "No, it's a kitty." Well if you say so Jason. Our kitty is due on Leap Day-- February 29.

To Jason On Your Second Birthday

Dear Jason,

I am amazed that we've had you in our family for only two years. I mean that in a good way. You are such a part of our family that it is getting harder and harder to remember what it was like without you. We are so grateful to have you as our son. I want to share some things that I observe about you at this stage of your life.

The great outdoors are where you love to be. You especially love to swing, climb, jump on the tramp, throw rocks in water, shovel sand, take your lawnmower on walks, and hike with mom and dad. It is fun to see you try so hard to jump with both feet on the tramp. The swing is not just a "swing," but it is the "so high swing" because that is how high you want to go. I am glad you love exploring so much, and I am equally glad that you so willingly allow me to put your sunscreen and hat on.

When we are indoors, your favorite toys are cars and trains. You love to send cars down your racetrack and drive both cars and trains on your train table. Additionally, you love books. I love it when you go in your room and pull out a book, flip through a few pages while you talk out loud, set it aside in a pile, then grab the next book until you've read every book on the shelf. Bubbles and candles are other fun toys you enjoy, but I don't get them out very often.

Mommy is still your favorite person. In fact, you're going through yet another "mommy" phase where you cry whenever I leave you with someone else, even if it is daddy. When I get frustrated over this I try to remind myself that you are growing up so quickly that I need to cherish how much you want to be with me.

Getting you dressed in the morning is quite the challenge. You'd prefer to wear your "Cars" pajamas all day long, but I don't let you. What a mean mom I am.

Paci, bear, and blanki are still your lovies. We try to limit their use to nap and bed times. After we lay you down for bed each night, you want us to say "Goodnight paci, goodnight bear, and goodnight blanki." It is very sweet to see how much they help you settle down to sleep. You are still an awesome sleeper at night, but I fear you may try to drop your nap sooner rather than later. Let's hope I'm wrong!

Developmentally you are right on track. When it comes to talking, you are way above average. You can say any word we ask you to say, and you are figuring out how to express yourself in several-word sentences. Pronouns are still hard to figure out (you say "hold you" instead of "hold me," for example), but I know they'll come along soon enough.

You are a bit of a mixture in social skills. In some ways you are quite social, but in others, not so much. You love to play with friends, especially cousins. We try to find friends to play with every day. You also love to visit your grandmas and you often ask to visit them. It doesn't hurt that they have the trampolines and frozen treats. On the other hand, you don't like it when strangers talk to you or touch you. You give them a loud cry of protest or turn your head when they bother you in such a way. The good news is that I don't worry as much about you running off with a stranger.

One of your great social strengths is your sensitivity to other people's feelings. Whenever any other child cries, you join right in with them, even if you don't know what they are crying about. When mom or dad get mad at you, rather than brush our rebuke aside, you take it to heart (sometimes with tears) and try to do better. We end time-out sessions with hugs because we both need the reassurance that everything will be OK as long as we are there for each other.

I want you to know that dad and I love you very much. We thank God every night that we have you in our lives. We are proud of how you are growing into a strong, yet sensitive boy. We are so grateful that we are sealed as an eternal family.

love always,

mom