Home Sweet Home

Well, after just over 2 weeks in Virginia, I am back in Utah with a new truckload of memories, stories, and of course, pictures.  My summer trip to VA is always kind of bittersweet.  While it's wonderful to see my family, Wes almost never comes along for the summer visits.  (Only so much vacation time to spare!) But, luckily, I have a loving husband who knows how hard it is for me to be so far from my family, and so I did this visit just me and Jake.  As nervous as I was about flying with a toddler on my lap, we both survived and it was totally worth the stress of traveling.  Once again, I have a blog post full of photos because you know what they say: a picture is worth a thousand words!  I hope you enjoy! :)

The best thing about this particular trip was that I was FINALLY able to meet my little nephew Sawyer!!!! He is SO CUTE, and I had so much fun cuddling with him!  Jake was super jealous at first, but quickly got used to the little guy.  I just had to make sure he always felt included.  In fact, Jake is so active and never sits on my lap for more than 10 seconds at a time, but with his cousin around, Jake sensed some competition, and snuggled right up with us all the time.  It was so much fun!

Shopping at the Short Pump Mall with Syd.  Jake loved the fountains, and being outside! I love outdoor malls! :)

One night Syd stuck stickers all over Jake's face.  He could tell we all thought he was really funny looking, and now he is constantly bringing me stickers to put on him!  This (by the way) was how I survived the plane ride back home.. He was covered head to toe by the time we landed in Utah :) 

To keep Jake away from all the danger zones in the house (David, doggy, and stairs) we turned the living room into a giant playpen.  Thanks to the whole fam for dealing with that obstacle course for 2 weeks! Jake got a new garage while we were there, and just loved it.  In this pic he is pretending it's a car (you'll notice how he is riding the spiral slide thing on the side)

Possibly my second favorite thing about staying at Grandma's house: THE FOOD. so yummy, and i loved grilling and eating outside everyday! My mom has the best deck and yard, Jake and I spent a lot of time out there.  I felt like I was in the Secret Garden! SO awesome. 

To give me a little break my mom took Jake to "Picnic in the Park" downtown.  they have music and activities and stuff.  She said Jake had a great time, and loved his green balloon!!

Grandpa with his two grandsons

When Jake first met Sawyer, I explained to him about how we are very gentle with babies.  I showed him how we don't grab we just "pet" them.  Sawyer was crying, and Jake starting petting him, trying to help him feel better.  So cute!  

Some family pictures :)

Jake giving Sawyer "knuckles".  Wes taught him "high five" and "knuckles" and apparently he is too cool for "high five".  If you try to give him that, he'll take your hand and ball it into a fist first.  

Lake Anna! Jake was checkin out his cool new pool float.

He wasn't very interested in being in his own float. he preferred sharing my float most of the day :)

This is a good depiction of how the Lake Anna outing went: Mom took pictures, Jess tried to keep her newborn out of the sun, sand and lake water as much as she could, I plopped my lazy bum onto a float with Jake, and Syd held down the fort watching David and keeping my raft from floating away!

And another fabulous thing about Fredericksburg: Carl's Ice cream!!!! (Sorry you missed that one Wesley!)

...Although really, Jake missed it too.. He slept through the whole thing!

My last day in VA was the Fourth of July. We went to one of those sprinkler playgrounds and Jake had a blast!  Actually, we all had a blast :) 

All in all, the trip was a success!  It's always sad saying bye to my family, but we were happy to get back home and see daddy.  We had already missed Father's Day with him, and were back just in time for his birthday!  Now I'm just working on settling into our old routine, and enjoying the hot utah weather that has finally arrived.  Although this post is supposed to be all about my trip, I can't end it without just a few things about Jake's progress.  As of a few days ago, he cut his 11th tooth, and i can already see the 12th one starting to break through.  He is finally starting to get a little taller, and his shorts are starting to look more like shorts than high-water pants. (hooray!)  he is spitting out more new words each day than i can keep track of.  His most consistent one would have to be doggy, or "goggy" as he says it.  Although, to be fair, he thinks anything with four legs is a "goggy".  He also says, hi, hello, bye bye, night night, mum-mum (for more food), uh oh! (when he drops things), no, and don't pretty often.  Life is so exciting and I am thoroughly enjoying seeing my cute little guy learn all these new things.  With all the highs, there are plenty of lows too--As he is a full blown toddler, the toddler size tantrums have begun as well.  In fact, he is starting to throw one right now so i should probably wrap this up!  Gotta go give him a little TLC. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!