Thanksgiving Break in Utah

This year Thanksgiving was spent in Utah with the WALKER family.

We of course had a great time, like we always do when we go down there.

It is fun to watch Jackson interact MORE with Nana and PopPop.

He is becoming MUCH more active and LOVES to smile.

JEN, on of my really good friends from when I lived in Provo came for a VISIT!

It was so much fun to see her and talk to her and see how her life has been treating her.

Jackson loved being with Jen as well.

Thanks Jen for coming to visit with us!

 Jackson had some great fun taking over the Living Room.

He did GREAT playing and keeping himself entertained.

Somehow, in the picture above he ended up UNDER the playmat!

What a silly boy!

 Carson came by for few visits. 

 It was great to see her and Jackson loved seeing his Aunt Carson.

 We use to be able to put Jackson in his car seat and he would fall asleep.

NOw that he likes to sleep on his tummy, falling asleep in the carset has become not so easy.

I guess we will have to start carrying him upstairs for naptime.

Jackson loved all the time he got to spend with his Nana and PopPop.

We as well loved our visit in Utah for Thanksgiving.  

Don't worry the next post will be all about THANKSGIVING DAY!

Turkey and ALL!

Quilt for Carson

Over Thanksgiving Week I also did some craft projects.

The first one was a QUILT for Carson.

At her wedding, she had people sign on the yellow quilt squares.

Then we put it in a quilt.

 It was my very first time to do SASHING!

I think I did pretty good job.

It was also my very first time to put borders on a quilt.

My goodness, I just feel good bout the progress I am making on quilts.

I quiltted it on my machine.

I just stitched in the ditch.

I still need to practice on the whole BINDING part of things.

This one gave me so many problems.

BUT, it all worked out in the end.

I hope Carson likes the quilt.

It was fun to make it.

Look Who Is 5 MONTHS!

 Jackson is now FIVE WHOLE MONTHS!!!

Where in the world did that month go?

It FLEW by?!?!

Man, it has been so fun to watch Jackson grow this month.

He is now
MOVING all over the place.

He started out the month with the DESIRE to MOVE.

NOW HE DOES!

Who knows what he will be doing by the end of this month?

Here are some more pics of this month's shoot.

Let me tell ya...

These pictures are getting harder and harder to take as you can see from the above picture.

Jackson has no time to lay back and let me take pictures of him...

HE HAS A WORLD TO EXPLORE!

I will now turn the time over to Jackson for the run down of this month!

Ok, so I have been told that I spit up  A LOT!

I really try not to, but I just do!

Here is Mom's solution to me spitting up all the time.

No I am not getting my hair cut, This is suppose to be protecting my clothes.

I think I ended up just playing with this cloth and it didn't really do its job!

 Look!  This is me on October 26th!

Trying my HARDEST to MOVE somewhere.

I think this day I moved a whole inch in like ten minutes.

But, this is where it all began.

 I was so lucky this month to be able to dress up like Clark Kent.

Maybe one of these days I WILL KNOW WHO CLARK KENT is?

 I still love my Octopus friend.

He is my companion on all of these car rides we go on.

It is like Mom and Dad don't like to be home.

We are always out and about doing something.

I dont mind.

I like to be out and about too!

Mom started practicing the whole SITTING up thing with me.

Not too bad for my first try, huh?  

Dad says I look like a gorilla here.

If the picture got more of my hands in you can see they are in fist and they are keeping me from falling!

Gosh!  This month I have become WAY more active.

I EXPLORE every place I possibly can!

Dad put this really long chain of things on my play area so I can reach it and put them in my mouth.  I just love putting things into my mouth!

When I wake up in the morning, I go straight to playing.

I usually wake up around 8:30 or 9.

Then I play for an hour...ALL BY MYSELF!

I am such a big boy.

I can keep myself entertained.

It is fun to play with all of my toys that I have.

But, when I am tired....I AM TIRED!

Mom thought I was way cute here with my tongue sticking out while I was sleeping.

If you remember from last month, I really liked to stick out my tongue...

Towards the end of this month Mom realized I was not sticking my tongue out anymore...now I suck my lower lip in and I look pretty funny when I do that.

 Here are some more pics of my PLAYING!

I sure do love my Happy Apple.

Thanks Gramma and Dja-Dja for getting that for me.

I get SOO frustrated when I can't get to it.

 I am pretty sure my Happy Apple has really helped me want to crawl!

 I just want to get to it ALL the time.

 I have also become quite tickilish!

Daddy loves to tickle me.

I just LAUGH and LAUGH and LAUGH!

 I have also started to REALLY notice all the YUMMY looking things everyone around me is eating.  They look so much better than the bottle I eat from.

Whenever Mom and Dad (or whoever is holding me) is eating something, I try everything I can to get it in MY MOUTH! 

Unfortunately, they always move it out of my reach.

Goodness. Mom says that some day soon I will be able to start eating solid foods.

I can't wait!  Even though I hear it will be QUITE sometime before I can eat a CUPCAKE!

Other than Mr. Octopus, I have some other FAVORITE things to play with!

CELL PHONES

Not really sure what they are..I just love to hold them and I always try to get it from Mom and Dd when I see it.

I also love to try to get the remote control.

It just has so many fun looking buttons on it!

 Ah man, I LOVE computers.

I just always try to play with Mom's when she is on it.

 Whenever I get my diaper changed...the first thing I grab are the wipes.

I just love holding that package in my hands and hearing the crinkling of the paper.

 And, last but not least...I am very attracted to ELECTRICAL cords.

Don't worry, Mom took this one out of my hands right when she took this picture.

Mom is real worried I am going to hurt myself one of these days.

I am not sure why they are so cool to me, I just always find a way to find one (no matter how well they are hidden!)...and play with it!

 I don't really take a binky anymore.

But, every once in a while THIS PATRIOTS binky gives me the comfort I need!

One day Mom came in the room after being out for just a minute and found me like this...you see tht blue bag...well the wipes, diapers, lotion, nose cleaner, desitin, and other things you can't see in the picture were ALL in the blue bag when Mom walked out of the room.

By the time she had come back in...

I had emptied THE WHOLE THING!

I am AWESOME!

Rememebr how I told you I spit up all the time..

Well, this picture shows a time that I spit up on my quilt and then I put my face in it!

I had a spit up goatie!

Dad found me some really cool winter hats.

Here is one that keeps my ears warm!

 This one I just look way cool in!

At the begginning of the month, I ROLLED everywhere.

Do you see where I am in the picture above.

That is where I ended up!

I started back on my play thing my head closest to the TV stand.I rolled off the mat onto the Dalmation mat, then onto the polka dot blanket and finally where to where I am in the picture.  Mom was amazed at how much I moved around!

 One more roll over nd how could anyone resist this face?

 Sometimes when I roll over my body is stratling one of the bars on my play mat.

So when I try to roll over...I bring the whole mat with me!

 Ah...Mom and Dad tried to give me some rice cereal!

It did not got over very well.

 I think I am not quite ready for it.

I am not sure about this COLD IDAHO weather.

Luckily, I have cool hats and jackets...

and a VERY warm CAR SEAT cover!

 Whenever I am in it, I fall asleep...

 no matter how many toys I have to tempt me to stay awake.

 As long as I am holding onto it, I know it will not be going ANYWHERE and when I wake up I can PLAY AWAY!

This one time, Dad put me by his side to hang out...I ended up falling asleep!

Like Pop Pop like Father Like Son! (Check out Andrew's Dad on the right)

I have found a NEW sleeping position...

MY SIDE!

This is how I usually end up every night.

I flip myself onto my slide and sleep the night away!

That was such a fun month.

I can't wait for the next month!

THANKSGIVING here I COME!

Here are a list of things my Mom and Dad love about me...

When I put my lower lip in my mouth and suck on it. 

When I play with the wipes container when they are changing my diaper.

How right after they take my dirty diaper off and are about to put on a clean one, I roll over as fast as I can and start to take off to the first toy I can find...BARE BUM and ALL!

The way I ROLL from one side of the room to the next.

The way I look at my dad and follow him around the room when Mom is holding me.

When I smile so big after they kiss me on my face!

Love how soft my skin feels!

How I have no voice when I first wake up!

How I play with the tags on the blankets and on my play mat more than my toys

How I SMILE REALLY big right after I spit up!

How I reach out for the bottle when I know it is time to eat.

How I SMILE REALLY REALLY BIG when either Mom or Dad walk in the room!

Dedicated to Anne

This is my niece Anne. 

She was born on June 4, 1998.

My sister's first born.

The first grandbaby.

My first niece.

She always made you smile.

ALWAYS!

November 13, 2001 she was diagnosed with Luekemia.

I remember driving to the hospital with my mom not even knowing what Leukemia was and wondering how in the world did Anne get it.

It was on April 14, 2002 that she lost her fight and returned to our Heavenly Father.

I have two precious memories during her time in the hospital.

The first happened on Valentine's Day, February 14th.

She had just gotten a bone marrow transplant and I was unable to go visit her because I had a cold. (It was my first year teaching and I seemed to always have  cold.)  But, I got a phone call from Anne that night.  She told me she missed me and she asked how I was feeling?

Are you kidding me?

Anne, you just got a bone marrow transplant and you are asking ME how I am feeling?

That was Anne for you!

The other memory I have was one time when I was visiting her at the hospital we were watching The Grinch and the song "Where are you Christmas," came on and when Cindy Lou Who was singing it, Anne took my hand and softly sang it to me in the most precious voice.

I sure do love Anne!

So much.

Anne loves ladybugs. 

If I am ever having  bad day or am really trying to decide something, or just need to know that someone is there with me...a lady bug always shows up.

They always come at the perfect time.

And I know Anne is there with me telling me everything will be OK!

For that reason, I have been on the search for the PERFECT lady bug.

A couple years ago I started a flower garden.

I wanted one to put in my garden.

It has taken me FOREVER to find one.

Last summer, while I was in Arkansas...

I finally found the PERFECT lady bug.

Now when I look at it, I know Anne is there.

While Anne was going through Chemo she lost her hair.

A couple years after she passed away I learned about Locks of Love.

A place where you can send your hair, so they can make wigs for those who are going through chemo.  I have wanted to donate my hair since then.

Finally, on November 15, 2011 ten years after she started chemo I did JUST that.

I cut off 14 inches of my hair. 

 And donated it to Locks of Love!

It took me ten years to get it done...not ten years to grow out my hair, but ten years before I was able to donate it.

I loved it!

It was awesome!

I knew it was going to such a good cause.

NOW..I am growing it out again to donate it again!

Hopefully it doesn't take another ten years!

This is the certificate they sent me.

Here are a few more pics of my precious niece Anne!!!!

I am so happy that I have the knowledge that I have that Anne is working hard in Heaven for our Heavenly Father.  The she lives in heaven and that I will SEE her again someday.

I love you Anne!

Thanks for being such a wonderful example to me of how I am suppose to live.

Always thinking of others!