After spending a few weekends trimming, pruning, cutting, and planting; and after spending a few very long days hauling rock, soil, and sand (I did all but the sand), our yard looks GREAT! Our yard finally looks like it could compete with our neighbors (who are always tending to their yard). Take a look!

 

Our roses finally decided to make an appearance, and all at once!

   

Yesterday I even got our garden planted. I cheated with the pepper plants once I learned you were suppose to start them indoors and then move them outside. So I just bought the plant. Hopefully, we’ll get some peppers soon.

Other than the tree, which I don’t think is coming back to life, and a few dry spots on our lawn, I think the yard looks good. All I know is, I’m done hauling rock. If we decide to do more, Kevin is hauling it.

We decided to go camping and boating for the weekend. For Christmas each year, we get camping gear and have not used it yet. We figured, what a better time. Kevin had some obligations Thursday and Friday night, so Jameson and I headed over Thursday. Friday morning we got up and went shopping for the food, then a few of us headed down early to set up camp. Let me tell you, it was hot! We got to the lake, and got the camp all set up. We explored the camp grounds, and then hung out till the rest of the family got there. Everyone showed up about the same time, just after I put Jameson to bed for the night. (I took his pac n play and put it in our tent with us.) The first night we just hung out around the camp fire, only after the sun went down and it cooled off. Saturday morning we got up and had pancakes and bacon. Food tastes so much better when you’re camping. Jameson had a rough night so everyone else kept an eye on him so I could get a little bit more sleep. Here he is hanging out while Matt and Don made breakfast.

   

  (Shelby got J-mo to smile for a pic)

We got everything cleaned up and headed out on the boat. We explored the lake for the morning while we waited for everyone else to show up. The water went back into the campsites, you just had to hike the mountain to get to them. So we figured everyone should be showing up and we took the boat into the campsite area. I had to hike the mountain, and coincidentally walked right up to Kevin and his sister as they were arriving. Perfect timing. We got everyone on the boat and headed back out.

I’m happy to say I got up 3 out of 4 times on the wakeboard, and never crashed hard. Not sure about my face, other than it was kinda cold to get in. The water felt nice once I was in. (It was about 78 degrees, not too bad.)

   

   

Jameson hated the boat. I think it was more he hadn’t slept. He would take his blanket and cover his head. If you tried to take the blanket off, he would pull it back over himself. It was kinda funny. He was in a better mood once he had taken a nap.

 

Bobbing for… bodies?

(Kevin, Josh, Madison, Matt, and AJ) (Shelby and Steph on jetski)

Snack time (Rachel and Tracy)

Taking some time to enjoy the view (Josh, AJ, Don)

Tube time!

               

First was Josh and Kevin, then it was Matt and AJ’s turn.

       

And we can’t forget our flag girl!

When we got back to camp, it was dinner time. Don made some good carne asada, and we did some corn on the cob on the grill. Mmmm. Here is our camp, and just hanging out.

   

(Jameson kept stealing ice cubes from the coolers.)

      

Jameson found some one to follow him and give him everything he wanted. 🙂

 

After dinner most everyone left to go home. Matt and Rachel and us stayed for one more night. It happened to be cooler that night, making it nice. Jameson went right to sleep, and slept the entire night. We also drapped a dark blanket over his pac n play to keep it darker longer for him. That night we played a little game of pictionary and dug into a chocolate cake. I’m proud to say the girls came from behind and beat the boys! Then we just hung around the campfire, and the wind was perfect that night. It blew the smoke right between us, but wasn’t too strong of a breeze. The next morning we had breakfast burritos and then packed up camp. We took the boat out that morning and explored the lake. It was nice to just chill on the lake. Jameson, again, didn’t like the boat, but fell asleep. We layed out and played in the water while J-mo took a nap.

 

 

After J-mo woke up we headed back in. He was actually content, and kept his head out of the blanket to see. It also helped that the buoys all looked like balls in the water.

 

We made it back to Sac and showered before heading home. We had to take the 50 home since I-80 was supposed to be closed from 6-6. Great planning on Caltrans part. You would think they would realize it’s a holiday weekend and lots of people travel. We made it home by 10:30 and put J-mo to bed. Luckily, he slept in till almost 10 the next morning so we got to sleep in too. It was a fun weekend, and I’m still doing laundry, but we’re ready to do it again.

Our little man is finally nursery age! That’s right, 18 months. These last 5 months have been rather difficult at church. I’m all for once a child can walk, they can be accepted into nursery. Well, Jameson has really been growing a lot the last few months. He is starting to talk, a lot. He is 27 pounds, and I’m not sure how tall. He has had his first haircut at Supercuts (yes, it’s uneven). He sat very well for her, thanks to a sucker. How has he changed?

  dark hair and tan skin to   blond hair and fair skin

His words so far are…

ready go (edy go)

no (no)

don’t (dow)

ma, da

shoes, rocks (shooz, rox)

bird, dog (bir, dawg)

milk, juice (mik, jew)

more (mo)

ball, balloon (ball, boon)

stuck, yuck, push (stuk, yuk, poosh)

bonk, bye (bok, buy)

nose, ear, lips, eye (noz, eeer, lisp, eee)

papa (Grandpa)

I’m sure there’s more words I can’t think of right now. He learns new words every day. He has also learned new ways to ride his horse. He becomes more fearless every day.

   

    NO HANDS!

Jameson has also become more fond of the t.v. It makes it easier to take a shower in the morning. One day he was kicked back watching something, and it was too funny not to take a picture.He was probably watching 101 Dalmations, since that’s his favorite show.

   

He still loves his blanket and his binki. I try and only let him have it for bed, but he goes and snatches them out of his crib.

 

Jameson is still not fond of his sandbox, but he will get in it now. I have been hauling tons of rock (literally about  2 tons) to make our yard a bit nicer and less room for weeds to grow. Jameson likes the wheel barrow, so I found some toys for his sand box that happen to be a wheelbarrow. He was so funny trying to push it around.

   

Every day this child makes us laugh. He has facial expressions to die for, and will pick up on anything. He loves being outside and animals. Jameson has no fear in most cases, and loves to copy his dad. It’s hard to believe it’s been a year and a half. Time has flown by, but it also seems like Jameson has been with us forever. We love him so much, and can’t wait to see what he learns next.

Today we had our special Stake Conference. First we heard from Uncle Claire (or President Claire), and then the Las Vegas West Missionary President and his wife. There were a few testimonies given, and then Elder Anderson spoke. Although, there was a nice spirit there, it’s kind of hard to hear and concentrate when you have an 18 month old on your lap, you’re sitting on a hard chair, and there’s no room to spread out or even have your child sit next to you. Elder Andersen started off his talk by placing his suit coat on a small boy about 3 or 4 years old. He explained this is how he feels right now under the mantle of the apostleship. It’s nice to know even apostles feel like the calling is too big for them, as we do sometimes in our callings. What I got from all the talks today is that our leaders genuinely love us. Elder Andersen gave many examples of times when President Monson took time to stop and let someone know he loves them and appreciates them. We were so greatful to be able to be in the presence of apostles and other great leaders this weekend.

Saturday was another busy day. It started with Kevin getting up and pressure washing the front of the house. Our house is now a shade brighter! While he was doing that, I got Jameson up and ready for Ramona’s birthday party. It started at 10, but we were a little late since J-mo slept till 9:30. The party was a painting party, which was a really cute idea. They put paper on the wall and plastic covered the floor, and the kids could go at it. I was a little concerned Jameson would come home wanting to paint the walls, but fortunately he was not that interested. He stole the sidewalk chalk, and carried that around the whole time. Here are a few pics…

   

   

Rams loved it!

   

Jameson stood ON the kitchen. (And fell off once.)

 

And Tom Tom hung out the entire time.

 

We left the party around 11:45, and got home in time to get cleaned up and changed. Then we headed back out the door. Our brother-in-law, Josh, graduated Saturday morning, which we missed, and was having a party. So once cleaned up, we headed to the party to celebrate. Here is the fam and Josh’s friends at the party.

 

Jameson and Meadow started to play together not long before we left. It took a while to warm up to each other, but then they were best friends. She even gave him a little hug before we left, and I’m pretty sure he was trying to push her away, not hug her back.

   

If one fell the other one copied. It was pretty funny.

We got home and changed, again. Since Jameson hadn’t had a nap all day, he fell asleep on the way home. While he slept, Kevin went and picked up sand, while I stapled weed repellent plastic in the bottom of the sandbox. Well, the  wheel barrow we borrowed had a flat tire, and we were told it had a SLOW leek. Wrong! We filled up the wheel barrow and by the time Kevin could wheel it to the back, it was flat. So, I stayed in the back moving the sand around while Kevin pumped up the tire each time, and the neighbors helped shovel sand into the wheel barrow. Then, when the wheel was full, Kevin would run the sand back. It was pretty funny, and very tiring. We were trying to finish by 6 in time to go pick up rock to finish the front yard. Well that didn’t happen, but the sandbox is complete.

   

Here’s my story about the rock for the front yard:

We found out our neighbors we leaving back to Romania. Apparently he was frustrated with his job, and she was on maternity leave, and instead of going back to work, she went back to Romania. He stayed and finished selling stuff in the house. So I asked if they were going to sell their house or what. Nope, they were just going to let it forclose. GREAT! Just what we need in the neighborhood. But since he didn’t care about his house, I asked if I could have the rock they put in their backyard. His answer, “Sure, I don’t care. Take it all.” Works for me.

So I borrowed a friends wheel barrow (this one had a nice wheel on it) last Thursday, and headed over to get my rock. Do you know how heavy a load of rocks is? Then, add your 27 pound kid on top of that?! Jameson luckily slept for most of my loads. After about 11 loads, and all day shoveling, and hauling rock, I was spent. Only half my front yard was done, though, and I don’t have that much dirt to cover. I’m sure the neighbors were wondering what the crap I was doing. Oh well, so needless to say, were just going to buy the rest of the rock, and have it on a trailer, rather than having to haul it down 2 housed and then down another 3.

So Saturday we didn’t finish the sand in time to get my rock, but I did get all the plastic laid and flowers planted in the front. Now all I need is the rest of the rock.

Jameson woke up just as we were finishing. We brought him outside to see his new sandbox and…

   

He hated it! See his face?

   

He was trying to touch the sand as little as possible. He would place his feet on the toys we gave him, and hold his legs above the sand. He kept saying “Yuck,” and wiping it off his feet. We finally gave him a shovel and showed him and he started to come to terms with the sand.

   

Kevin started to dig holes and showed him how to bury his feet. Then he was alright with the sand but still didn’t love it.

 

We moved to the front yard to finish up, and Kevin had the water on. (Some gas was leaked on the lawn, and Kevin was trying to dilute it at much as possible to save the grass. Well, Jameson found the hose.

   

   

He loved the hose, and was soaked. He thought it was hilarious when he stuck his finger in and it sprayed everywhere. Finally, he let dad have a drink.

We finally got inside for dinner about 8 pm. It was a long, busy, but productive day.

P.S. Pretty sure we have a dead patch of grass.

We were told this weekend we would be having a special Stake Conference. Part of it included a Tri- Stake Fireside Friday night for the young singles and young married. We were definitely going to take that offer up. All the girls in our ward were already busy, so I had to think outside the box. An idea occurred to me, and we ended up with a baby-sitter for the night. (I won’t give my source, though, so that I always have a baby-sitter when needed and don’t have to fight for one.) I had to go out to Kev’s parents to pick up a trailer (which turned out to be much more work than expected. Note: a 2″ ball will not fit a 1 7/8″ trailer.) Brittney ended up helping me out tons and then came back with me to go with us that night. Because it took me longer in Fernley, I didn’t get home till 6 pm. We made a mad dash to get changed and fed before we had to leave. We ended up getting to the chapel about 7:05 so we had to sit in another room where a tv was set up.

Elder Bednar was presiding over the meeting, which turned out to be a question/ answer meeting. He explained he wanted anyone who had a question to ask anything they wanted, and they would do their best to answer. He did give examples, such as:

He said if we were to ask where the sword of Laban was, their repsonse would be, “We don’t know and we don’t care.” Okay, check that one off then. Elder Bednar then said if we should ask Elder Anderson what his feelings are since becoming an apostle, that would be a really good question. So the line up was: Elder Bednar, Elder Andersen, Elder Zwick (of the seventy) and our area seventy, which I don’t know, because he was never really addressed. Even though we were in the other room, and didn’t always hear the questions, it was very interesting to hear the answers given. At the end, they each bore their testimonies. It was an incredible meeting to be part of.

Afterwards, we left to go see Angels and Demons. (Maybe I should not admit that, but oh well.) It doesn’t sound like the best thing to do after a spiritual activity, but it was really good. They left a lot from the book out, but it made sense. (I didn’t think some of the things in the Davinci Code made sense without reading the book.) I’m pretty sure we woke our baby-sitter up when we got home, but I don’t blame her. It was midnight. She made it through the night, and my house was just as clean as when I left it, so I was happy. She will get a call back. 🙂

Side note: Saturday morning when I went to change Jmo after he woke up, I was a little confused. His diaper didn’t have tabs. Oh wait, it did. His diaper was on backwards. I have 2 guesses… 1-our baby-sitter had never changed a diaper?, 2- he wouldn’t hold still for her and she gave up the battle, and put is diaper on backwards since he wouldn’t turn over. I’ll have to go back and watch the video to find out. (For those of you who don’t know, J-mo has a camera in his room so we can see after we close the door at night.)

Our weekend recap…

Friday, we went with Steph and Rams to help save the Earth. Ok, maybe just clean up San Rafael Park. Momslikeme.com arranged to BYOB (bring your own broom… we’re dealing with kids people) at the park. First we went around with the kids trying to teach what trash is and pick it up. Once we did our part of picking up trash, the kids got to plant some sunflower seeds and then play. Jameson didn’t care about the trash, but Ramona actually would help pick it up. Jameson just played with some dogs nearby and went straight to the playground. I finally got him away from the playground to plant some seeds. He loved that part! (They also got a balloon to take home.. will come into play later.)

Rams planted so carefully, Jameson not so much.

     

     

Friday night we headed over to Steph and Jay’s for some good food and fun. Jameson so nicely pushed Ramona around in her car, and even opened her door for her. He might have been opening the door so he could pull her out and get in himself, but we’ll hope for the first option. Then she gave him a push around the block.

   

 

Then we went in for a little Guitar Hero. J-mo tore it up on the mic. while Jake pounded on the drums. Then it was our turn.

   

 

Saturday we woke up and got supplies to build a sandbox and garden planter box. Kevin complimented my idea at getting our boards cut by the people at Home Depot. (I think I should get a little something for name dropping, don’t you?) I had done some prep work on Friday by pulling lots of weeds to clear our area. Kevin dug about a 6″ hole for our sandbox. While we were working, Jameson was running in and out of the house. Well, all of a sudden I hear J-mo yelling. I turn and he is pointing in the sky. He brought his balloon from the day before outside to play. Well he let go of it, and when I saw it, it was high above the next development over. Sorry kid! He tried to tell his dad what happened by whining and pointing in the sky. Kev tried to figure it out, but I had to explain through my laughter. After lots of hard work, here’s what we came up with.

   

(The dirt pile, and sorry I look like a man after a long day in the yard.)

 

Once we were showered, we headed to Carson to celebrate some birthdays and Mother’s Day. The whole car ride down we listened to Jameson “Mooing” in the back seat. I think he sees pastures and assumes there’s cows. There were some cows, but not the entire way. Here is a picture of Janae and Grandpa (I missed Jeremy) blowing out candles for birthdays.

Then Jameson helped take the candles out of the cake. Once he was finished taking out all the candles, he then tried to put them back in the cake. Funny kid.

   

Debbie and Ben… can you see the sibling resemblance?

We got home rather late that night to a new family of gnomes. (See past post for explantations and the Free’s blog for other gnomings.)

 

What do I do with the new family members? Jameson found them the next day and he took them on a car ride.

   

Sunday we got up and got ready for church. We should have been there early for choir, but we slept in. Oops. We had a nice meeting, and Jameson went to nursery by himself for a bit. Kevin and I were both tied up so they let me leave him. He only has 2 more weeks till it’s official! I got to go to Relief Society, which hasn’t happened since Jameson was about 3 months old. The primary arranged for the men to come sit in sharing time with the classes. We came home and took naps then had friends over for dinner. It was a nice Mother’s Day. Very low maintenance. Kevin was so sweet and changed almost all the diapers for the day.

Tonight (Monday), we had some yummy crab legs while Jameson ate his pizza. He decided to share what he was eating with us. Pretty sure he ate all the ranch and hardly any pizza.

     

Camden came over for a bit after dinner, and he and Jameson came up with new ideas. Where are the gnomes?

   

When I asked where the gnomes were, this was Camden’s response…

C: “They’re in there.”

Me: In the mud?

C: Yup

M: Why are they buried?

C: So the sun doesn’t get in their eyes.

Makes sense right? So Kevin uncovered the gnomes while Jameson helped. Then it was bath time.

  (No more dirt pile. Good job Kev!)

And that has been our weekend.

Monday night we went to dinner with Kevin’s family. His grandma was in town visiting with her new husband, Winslow. I have only met her at our wedding, and she had never met Josh. So we were all getting to know each other’s spouses. We had a good dinner at The Olive Garden, and then came back to our house to visit.

Half of the table (Missing in the picture is Debbie, Steph, Josh, and me.)

 

They fed Jameson some chocolate Gelato, which I’m told has like double the sugar content of normal ice cream.

We got home and Jameson was bouncing off the walls, literally. He put on a show for everyone. He ran around here for about an hour before everyone had to leave. He showed everyone all his tricks and toys. Displayed his vocal skills of yelling and saying the few words he knows. Then we got his pajamas on and he ran out in his superman pajamas. He had everyone laughing at his cape, which gave him super speed on his slide.

here is a 4 generation picture.

 

And here is the newlyweds.

Winslow seemed like a really nice guy, and we’re glad to have him in our family.

Kevin had to go to Redmond for work last week, so we went to my mom’s for a couple days. (Side note: The speed limit has been lowered to 55mp almost the whole way over the mountain for road construction. It takes a little bit longer now.) Mom was watering out in the garden and Jameson decided to help her out.

  The rake may be upside down and on cement, but he’s working hard.

Friday night, the girls decided to have a movie night. Weston set his projector up in the garage, and they set up chairs. Jameson thought he deserved front row seats, and then helped rearrange the chairs the way he thought they should be. (I’m not sure what he has in his mouth, probably a rock. I promise he has that tooth.)

     

Jameson found his Uncle Weston’s slippers. First he got mad because they would get caught going through the gate. He finally would lift his feet high enough to get the whole shoe through only to get mad on the step. He would try and step down, but trip over the shoes and they would fall off. He got so mad that the shoes would not stay on his feet. He also can say “shoes” now which he is very proud of.

   

Jameson found some sharpie markers when he should have been sleeping. This is what he looked like in the morning. Note to self, check all drawers he can reach before placing the playpen by them. He also colored his blankets, pajamas (sorry Christina) and sheets so any suggestions as to what gets out sharpie would be greatly appreciated. It has faded off his face finally.

  (Yes, that’s the dog’s bowl he’s playing with.)

While I was packing the car, J-mo played in Weston’s truck. Sorry Weston if anything happened while he was in there. He loves playing in cars, and anything in them.

 

We got home safely and were so glad to see Kevin.

After church on Sunday, Jameson sat on the couch for a while and watched “The Wiggles.” It was a rare moment we had to get a picture of.

     

We had a family day a couple Saturdays ago, and took Jameson to feed the ducks. There is a small pond over by Kevin’s work full of ducks and geese where people are always feeding them so they aren’t skiddish around people. It was lots of fun, but was actually really cold that day.

You can see all the cheerios from other people all over the grass.

   

A little family

Jameson chased the geese. I was kind of nervous he would follow them into the water.

   

He was so excited and one goose got close enough to take crackers from his hand.

 

It’s so fun watching Jameson discover new things. He loves animals of any kind, and tries to immitate their sounds. So far he will “Moo,” “Baa,” “Woof,” on command. If you remind him then he can “ribbit,” “cluck,” and tries to “oink”. He’s starting to say more words and copies us. It’s really starting to get entertaining.