Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Birds

So my entire life, during fall, I have watched flocks of birds start flying south for the winter.
Now I am here in Texas - which is south I guess because ALL THE BIRDS ARE HERE!!!
Everyday when I go to pick up Dan from school - hundreds and hundreds of birds fill all the bare trees around the law school, and they just chirp away. 

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Christmas is coming!

Holidays are so much fun with a child! Even though Jaxon is still a little young to really know what is going on, it makes it better for me just taking him around and doing fun Christmas things! On Saturday December 4th the Science Center put on a Holiday Wonderland that we went to. They had gingerbread cookie decorating, fun holiday games, a little train ride, a cowboy Santa (yes you heard me right - we are in TEXAS) and much more! Jaxon had a good time - when we went to take a picture with cowboy Santa, the Santa tried to put him on top of the huge horse... Jaxon did not like that so I had to hold him for the picture - but other than that it was a huge success. Also, the stake here in Lubbock (there is only one stake here) put on a nativity Christmas program thing from December 2 - 4 so after Jaxon and I went to the Holiday wonderland we went over there. It was BEAUTIFUL! They were using this as a missionary opportunity so all the missionaries took shifts and would be there to answer any questions about the church. They had hundreds of nativities and live music with a choir while you were looking at them all. They also had the primary room set up with nativities kids could play with along with costumes for them to dress up in and get their pictures taken and then they put them in a cute Popsicle stick frame that was made to look like the stable. It was such a neat thing and it seemed like a huge success. When I went it was really busy so I hope it was like that the entire time! Here are just a few pictures of these events!
Jaxon decorating his cookie
The finished thing being eaten!
In front of the pretty decorations... he was distracted by something
Us with Cowboy Santa LOL - this still cracks me up!

Our Stake Center decorated for the "Oh Holy Night" event - it was BEAUTIFUL!



Jaxon's new thing

So Jaxon's new thing is to climb in things.
Lately, Jaxon has wanted to pick out what he eats... so I let him stand in front of the fridge and grab what he wants out. Well the other day he gave me the food he wanted and I went to put it on the table and turned around to him doing this....

Then just yesterday, I was doing laundry and taking clothes out of the dryer and into my room to put away, I was going to put more clothes in so I didn't shut the dryer door - when I got back, I found this...


So one of the gifts we were going to give Jaxon's for Christmas this year is a little play tent, but since he really likes having things to go inside of... we thought we would just give this one to him early. He has had a blast playing in it! He even wanted to be in it while we attempted to watch cars... he actually held still for 15 minutes this time! It was pretty funny!
AHHH I JUST LOVE THIS LITTLE BOY!!!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Family

I just have to say that I REALLY do have the best family in the world. I'm not just talking about my immediate family, I am talking about my extended family.... both sides. My dads side of the family, the Koch's, get together about once a month - sometimes more. My cousins are some of my best friends. I had sleepovers with my cousins, we went on trips together, we still (well when I am in Utah) get together to play games, talk, and just have a good time. We support each other. I am SOOO blessed to have them in my life and now that we are all growing up haha and moving away to pursue our dreams or go where school is, we don't get to see each other as much - but that doesn't mean I don't think about them and how much I love them all the time. My fondest and most cherished memories are with my cousins.

With that being said, it breaks my heart to think that Jaxon might not have that. Who knows when he is going to have cousins, and when he does - they probably won't be close in age like I was with my cousins. So family.... immediate and extended that are close in my age... START HAVING BABIES PLEASE. My son needs to experience the joy I did growing up. Thanks. :)

"Please give me cousins to play with!"
How can you say no to that face and hair haha

Monday, November 29, 2010

Thanksgiving

This year Thanksgiving was great. It was different not being with our families, but it was also so wonderful to spend it with other families who are just like us. We spent it with 4 other couples, all of who are in law school as well and have young kids. It made it less stressful on all of us women not to have to make the whole Thanksgiving dinner, and it was great having other kids around to entertain each other so us adults could have a somewhat peaceful dinner. The food was delicious and the company was great. After dinner the guys went into the other room and talked while us women stayed in the kitchen and talked. It was so nice to be able to talk to other mom's/wives who know exactly what I am going through and could give me some advice about the next couple of years. The other wives were wives of 2nd or 3rd year law students so they had great advice for the next couple of weeks while finals are approaching. We feel so blessed to have been able to make good friends here and to share Thanksgiving with them. Having people like them in our lives has made moving here a good experience and it has made being away from our families bearable.

Sunday we decided to have our own family Thanksgiving. Dan cooked the turkey.... yes, you did hear me right... DAN COOKED THE TURKEY! And I did the rest of the dinner. It actually was not nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be! We feel really good now that we have actually done an entire Thanksgiving by ourselves. It was really good and afterwards we decorated our Christmas tree. It was mostly me putting the ornaments on while Jaxon took the ones on the bottom off and ran around and Dan chased him haha... so basically our tree only has ornaments on the top half. :) But overall this year Thanksgiving was a huge success and we are so grateful for everyone in our lives. We truly feel soooo blessed and we know that we would not be where we are today if it were not for the Lord. We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and we hope everyone has a great holiday season getting ready for Christmas and the New Year!

The Finished Turkey
Jaxon wanting to eat the Turkey



Our entire meal. I had to push everything to one end of the table because Jaxon was already in his chair and wanted to grab everything! 

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Jaxon's sister?

I babysit this cute little girl every Wednesday and Jaxon love's when she comes over. This picture doesn't show it very well, but they actually look A LOT a like and she is the girl version of him haha - they seriously act exactly the same. It is super cute. She is older than him by about 6 months and so she says more words and he loves listening to her talk. They are really cute together!

Oh and I move our chairs away from the table because he always climbs up the chairs onto the table, but they ran around the couch, squeezed through the crack between the couch and wall and climbed up on the chairs LOL - got to love little kids!

Monday, November 22, 2010

BEST IDEA EVER

Ok, so I just came up with a really good idea. I'll tell you what it is first, and then I'll tell you why.

Thanksgiving needs to be moved up to the first or second week in November.

The reason for this is simple. People always complain when people put up Christmas decorations or listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. Well here's the deal - Christmas is the biggest Holiday of the year, there is so much anticipation building up to this one day. People want to get their decorations up and listen to the music to get into the Christmas spirit long enough to actually enjoy it. So, if we move Thanksgiving up a few weeks, then people would wait until after Thanksgiving and still feel like they are getting enough time with their Christmas stuff, and then the people who complain won't have a reason to complain anymore and the world will just be a better place. I know, I know - great idea right? 

Friday, November 19, 2010

I saw this on my friend Rachel's blog... if anyone is interested in getting 50 free Holiday cards, click on this link and follow the instructions. It's really easy! :)

http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/

2:15am

Here it is, 2:15am and I am sitting up worrying like crazy about Jaxon. I just got him back to sleep but now I can't sleep. He has had a fever on and off for several days now and he has a really bad cough that makes him throw up sometimes cause he coughs so hard. He woke up this time coughing really bad so I went to get him and comfort him only to find that he was burning up as well. I gave him some medicine but after a few min's he started coughing so hard again that he threw up a little bit. So did all the medicine come up? Should I give him more? If it didn't come up, giving him more could be really dangerous. I have called his "primary care physician" who has never met Jaxon because he has only been to one well visit here and apparently even though they made the appointment - the doctor was not taking new patients, so Jaxon was checked by the nurse. I hate not having a good personal relationship with a doctor. We LOVED Jaxon's doctor in Utah and were very sad we would be loosing him. So now here I am... waiting for the on call doctor to call me back while I sit and worry like crazy about my sweet boy in the next room who, for now, is sleeping and hopefully having good dreams.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Law School Widow

So sometimes I feel like a widow. I'm sure wives of other 1st year law students know what I am talking about. Luckily Dan has been really good and tries really hard to come home for dinner and spend some time with us before we go to bed. He spends 12 hours at the law school Monday - Friday, and Saturday he is there for at least 6 or 7 hours. Thats not too bad. Lately however, and for the next 5 weeks or so, it's not going to be so nice. He had a 10 page memo due a little while ago and during the process of writing that, he stayed really late - and he has finals in about 5 weeks so he will be staying longer so he can be prepared. For those of you who don't know - the final is basically the only thing that is graded, so how he does on the final determines his grade. And for some reason, first year grades are VERY important. So needless to say - he needs to study a lot and be very prepared which means I will not have a husband for the next 5ish weeks.

Good thing Christmas is after that and we are having a nice little vacation so I can enjoy my husband for a little bit before the next semester starts!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween! We went and picket out pumpkins and then the Sunday before Halloween, we went over to our friends Audrey and Brads house and carved them. Then on Thursday the 28th I took Jaxon to this "carnival" that the Science Spectrum was having for kids 5 and under. He had such a BLAST! My camera died at the very beginning which I was sooo sad about so I only go one picture, but it was so much fun. They had a maze, jump jump, games, candy, "scary" animals, a stage for kids to go on and show off their costume, and the kids just had a blast!!! The jump jump, stage, and maze were Jaxons favorite. Then that night our stake had a trunk or treat. Jaxon didn't care about the candy... he just wanted to run around! Friday I got super sick and was sick Friday, Saturday, and didn't start feeling better until Sunday night, so that ruined the other plans we had with friends and for the weekend. But Sunday night we watched Hocus Pocus and had trick or treaters come over... so that was fun/weird. Growing up in Utah - when Halloween falls on a Sunday, everyone goes trick-or-treating on Saturday instead... but that is only in Utah I guess. Overall we had fun. Holidays are much funner with a little kid. Jaxon made it such a blast! Here are a few pictures!













Saturday, October 30, 2010

Fun in October!

 Here are just a few shots of things we have been doing this month, I can't believe how big Jax is getting!
Coloring and playing with playdough

Climbing up on the chairs... which you will notice are not by the table or he would be on top of the table haha

Play time

Eating his apple at his "work station" haha

He stacks his blankets and toys together and then sits on them lol - not sure why but its funny

Look at that cute face!!!

Still cute even when he is crying

Coloring
Playing at the park
Making bubbles with common household stuff - way fun
Ready for church! 
Playing at the park in the sand!
Playing catch with daddy!
Dan and Jaxon both look scared haha!

He loves to carry around his giant teddy bear
He got tired and had to lay down for a sec haha