{Nursery & Snow}

Today we woke up to about 5-6 inches of snow! I was really hoping that it would finally warm up but I guess we have to wait some more. It snowed all day long and is supposed to continue tomorrow. I'm looking forward to our trip to Alabama where it is warm. Jace went to nursery today for the first time. He was so excited to go and went right in and played with the toys. But after he realized that I left he had a meltdown. So we had him for the last hour but Sunday School was great without him crawling all over us and trying to draw in our scriptures. I figure an hour is pretty good for his first Sunday.

{Real Salt Lake}

Saturday we went to the Real Salt Lake home opener with our friends, the Smith's. It was a little chilly but we had a great time. Here are a couple of pictures from the games.

{18 months}

{click to enlarge}

My little baby boy turned 18 months today. He is growing up faster than I would like. I think that this is my favorite age so far. He is so interactive and learning things at lightening speed. Everyday is a new adventure with him.

Jace at 18 months:
Tries to repeat anything that we say
Loves to swim and float on his back
Loves trucks, cars, motos, airplanes, etc.
Hates to sit on motos or four-wheelers (too big and loud)
Could "drive" a car for hours
Knows what a cow, cat, dog, duck, rooster and pig say
Knows what the car, truck, motos, planes and trains say (yes, they all say something different)
Runs everywhere
Has a great throwing arm especially when there is food involved
Can put on the oven glove and open the oven door when the timer goes off
Is addicted to his pacifier
Can do a somersault all on his own
Loves to tackle
Is learning that hitting is not fun and that sharing is
Remembers where the toys are in every house he's ever been too
Loves all of his grandparents
Says "hi" to everyone
Knows where all his body parts are
Is going to nursery!

Mission Call

My little brother got his mission call!

Easter Weekend

{Jace's First Egg Hunt}

We went to Malad for Easter weekend and had a great time. Josh and Ginger were up from Boise and Shelly's family was there also. Friday night my little brother got his mission call (see above). Saturday Jace did his very first Easter Egg Hunt. By the time he really got the concept all the eggs were gone (which was okay with me because he got plenty of candy). He also had a great time coloring easter eggs in the afternoon and playing with cousins. He loved the baby and loved holding him. See here for a cute picture and story of Jace and Junior. Easter morning he got an Easter basket from the Easter bunny with a kite, bubble blower and cookies. Of course, his favorite part were the cookies. It was a fun weekend with the family.

Look Who's Talking

A couple of videos of Jace talking. They were taken a few weeks apart. I'm sure that the words are much clearer to me than anyone else because I hear them everyday. He says a lot more than I recorded but he was impatient. He is now saying two words at a time like "shoes on" or "come on." It is fun to watch him learn new words almost everyday.

Photoshop

Just playing around in PSE and learning some new things. Let me know what you think. Also, I just booked my trip to Mexico (family reunion) and Alabama (wedding) for this summer and am super excited. I told Jace that I just bought us some plane tickets and he proceeded to fly his imaginary plane and then crashed it! I told him that I hoped our plane doesn't crash. He is really into planes but his always crash. I think it must be a boy thing.

Not a baby anymore

I am realizing that Jace is not a baby anymore. This week he just seems older. We went to the Dinosaur Museum last night at Thanksgiving Point for Webelos. Jace loved it and did all the activities for kids. He could have played for a few hours. I am thinking about getting a pass to Thanksgiving Point for the summer so that we have more to do. Here are some pics:

Chess

Today we were sitting in Uncle Dan and Aunt Carrie's living room visiting. They have a chess set on the coffee table that Hunter always plays. Anyway, Jace walked over to the chess set and put his hands on his cheeks and set his elbows on the table. He looked very intently at the chess set for a little while. Then he stood up, made a move and captured the other guy! He was pretty proud of himself. Too bad I didn't have the camera handy because he was so stinkin' cute when he was studying the chess board.

Birthday Party

Jace went to his friend Carter's birthday party this afternoon. It was a sports themed party with lots of balls and activities. Jace did enjoy the basketball but his favorite part was the food, of course! He would play for a little bit and then return to the food. By the end of the party he was at the table finishing everyone else's food. Crazy, kid!

Jace is getting a lot better at communicating. He can now tell me "hungry" and "fooda" when he wants to eat. He is also at the age where he laughs at everything and anything. There is this song on "Signing Times" that says "In a house, in a home, there are mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers and there's me, me, me!" Now Jace will be playing with his toys and break out in song, while pointing to his chest, and sing "me, me, me!"

Yesterday we put Jared's hat on him and he couldn't see. So he would walk until he ran into the wall and then laugh and laugh. Then he would turn around and do it again. When we tried to get a video of it he wouldn't do it anymore. But we did record him talking a little bit. See if you can understand him.

Just Be. Play.

We went to the park today. It has a great view of the valley. It is so nice to be able to have consistently warm days and to get out of the house to play.

Just some pictures of Jace that I took today. We took him swimming today for FHE. He will finally let us lay him on his back in the water and float (we have been working on it for about a month). Also, Lexi and I went to a Zumba class. It was interesting.

Yoga and a whole lot of randomness

This morning I went to my very first Yoga class and loved every minute of it (even though it kicked my trash). I'm definitely hooked and going back. I even considered getting up at six in the morning to do it (which I am rarely awake at that hour). But, even better than yoga, was that when I came home my kitchen was clean from breakfast, Jace was taking a nap, the laundry had been folded and put away and my bed was made! Who could ask for more. I think I will go to yoga everyday if this is what happens when I come home. Jared is definitely awesome and I love him so much. In exchange for me going to yoga, he got to go golfing and got his best score so far. We also took Jace to the park for an hour. So it was a pretty good day. Now Jared is playing Halo with Matt and I get to blog and read my book.

I love spring and am so excited that it is getting warmer. As for spring fever I definitely have it and it manifests itself in the from of shopping. For some reason every spring all I want to do is spend money. I am trying to suppress the urges and use self control (which is especially hard this time since Jared is making about 3 times more than we have had before and will be making even more in a couple of months when he graduates and starts his new job). I also love BYU and being on campus. I am so grateful that I got to go there. I love bookstores and could spend hours in them and spend a lot of money in them. I love the Utah Jazz (the Utah v. Denver games is on right now while they take a Halo break). I think it is because it is something that I can remember and hold on to from my Dad because he loved the Jazz. I hate spending money on gas and going grocery shopping. I love having people over and parties.

One more thing, whenever I am in the store people always comment on Jace's "beautiful" red hair. Which I totally agree with but then they ask "Where did he get it from?" And I want to say where do you think he got it from, either his mom or his dad and I definitely don't have red hair. Maybe I should say the mailman and see what they do. I am sure they are just making small talk and it's not like it offends me I just find it kind of funny. Now I am done and am glad that I have church at 1:00 tomorrow instead of 9:00 because of Daylight Savings, which reminds me, I should go change all of my clocks.

Thesis Defense

Jared defended his thesis today and did a great job. He had to give a 30-45 minute presentation on his research and then answer questions from his committee. I went for the presentation and found it very interesting to see how excited they got about parrallel computing and flux limiters. I guess everyone has their passions, right? Anyway, after the questions then he left the room while his committee voted wether or not his thesis passed. It was a unanimous vote that he passed! Now he just has to make some edits that they requested and then turn his final copy in to the library by the 21st of March.

It has been beautiful weather this week. I'm really excited for spring and warm weather clothes. Jace is really loving playing outside. His tooth that has been coming in for about a month finally broke through. It is amazing the difference in our little boy after his teeth come through. Poor guy.

Play

Jace playing at Backyard Adventures. You can click on the image to enlarge it.

Drumroll, please....

It's official! After many pros and cons lists and a lot of prayers, Jared has accepted a job at Franson Civil Engineers in American Fork, Utah. He will be starting the first of May and is very excited about it. He will be doing water resource engineering and working on projects such as dam rehabilitation, drinking water system improvements, pressurized irrigations systems, etc. As much fun as it would have been to move, we are excited to be staying here.

Digi Scrappin'

Tonight Jared is playing Halo with some friends (they all get online and play from their XBox 360's) so I decided to venture into the world of digital scrapbooking. As much as I love traditional, digital is pretty cool. And I have to say that I love the internet. You can find anything you want and almost anything you need for free. Here is my first digital layout.

Mmmm!

This week has been beautiful weather (until today). Jace and I were able to enjoy some time outside and at the park. He loves to swing and laughs pretty much the whole time. He is now very good at pointing out airplanes in the sky and trucks on the road. A couple of funny stories:

Jared was eating some very hot salsa the other day. My mom and I made it and it is HOT (too hot for me). Jace decided he wanted some. He got his chip and scooped up some salsa (not just juice but the chiles, tomatoes, etc.) and took a bite. His eyes immediately started to water and then he started coughing. After he regained his composure he let out a nice big "mmmm!" and went back for more!

Later this week Jace and I were cleaning the kitchen. I was in the process of sweeping the floor when I hear "mmmm!" I turn around to see what he could possibly be eating and it was the dish soap. What can I say, my little boy loves to eat anything and everything.

Welcome!!

Welcome to our blog's new home. I hope that it was not too hard for you to find. I was having trouble with the formating on our old one and after a day and a half of trying to get it to work I decided to switch. Besides I like this address better since someday their will be more than 3 McLaughlins (jjjmclaughlins). Anyway, enjoy reading, check back often and leave a comment.