As you can see, fathers and sons was the funnest event EVER in Jaden's life! Alright, it was pretty fun, but I bet fifteen minutes with a Thomas train beats the event for him. On Friday night I had the opportunity to take my boy camping for the very first time! It was a lot of fun, but I won't say it was the most comfortable night of sleep in my life. We went to a campground that is up the canyon, only about twenty minutes to get there, it is very beautiful up there. Our camping area was by a small stream, and after a quick bite to eat and an adventure putting our tent up, we went exploring. Actually, we only made it as far as the stream where Jaden had a lot of fun crossing the stream. After he accidentally stepped in it and got six inches of his pants wet he didn't seem to be enjoying it quite as much, so we found some rocks for him to throw into the deeper areas of the stream. The campfire scene was fun, but a little dry so Jaden soon volunteered to go to bed. I went to check on him after he had been in bed for fifteen minutes and he convinced me to stay for a while. He has such a sweet persuasive manner of doing things. Instead of whining, he just gave me a hug and wouldn't let go, then proceeded to offer me a pillow to lay by him.
In the middle of the night, Jaden woke up and was freezing, so I let him slide into my sleeping bag...BIG mistake in terms of sleep. The rest of the night I had his cute head cutting off circulation in my arm, and his sharp heels digging in to my thighs. Needless to say, we were the first ones up in the camp.
This week we probably did some other exciting things, but I can't really remember at this point. We are excited to see all of you for the sealing this Saturday, that is going to be the greatest thing ever!
Has anyone noticed it has been two full weeks since I last posted on the blog? Does anyone read this thing anyway? I don't know, and I guess it doesn't matter too much anyway. This past week, well two weeks has been more of the usual mixed with a little of some other things.
The most exciting thing that has happened would be the blessing of Jaden in church last Sunday, the 7th. Jaden's Nana Grow in Arizona sent up the outfit she had slaved over for our temple sealing. She did a great job on it, he was dressed all in white including white trousers, a bowtie and a vest. He looked so cute. Unlike a traditional blessing in which the baby is held by those participating in the blessing, Jaden set on a chair for the blessing. The blessing talked about him developing a deep and abiding faith in the Savior, also about him choosing to be obedient to the truths he understood. He was blessed that he would have an opportunity to serve a mission, and to bring joy to others lives.
At the end of the blessing, for a kick I lifted Jaden up for the congregation to see him. This is a common practice among people blessing their infants, but it got a pretty good reaction and a lot of people laughed. Afterward we had a little gathering of friends and family at our house. It was a lot of fun, and we had a lot of cheesecake left over! YES!
Nellie started her internship at the museum and has been adjusting to working outside of the home a lot more than in recent months. I think she really likes a lot of what she is doing and learning about, but a few of the first days involved data processing which she didn't seem to enjoy too much.
Jaden has been spending a lot of time at our friends, the Nielsens house. He ends up there right before nine most days of the week and I pick him up at noonish. It has been good for him to interact with their three girls. Almost every day Jaden informs me that "Play nice with Jackie," which means he didn't fight with the girl just younger than him. Liz and John have actually helped out on the potty training front, and just this past week a major breakthrough was made. After refusing to go "cu-cah in the potty" (translation....well you'll figure it out) for a long time, Jaden finally decided he could do it, and since first figuring it out on Thursday has lived free of accidents until today! This is more exciting than it should be, but I never knew how frustrating potty training could be!
I had a great week at work this week, and am feeling better about where things are headed. My business is going forward at a steady creep (although that might be too fast a word for it) perhaps it will pick up if I ever find more time for it. With full time work, school, and trying to keep our family doing fun stuff, it gets pretty hectic. Hats off to all of you who do more than I (and that's pretty much everyone!)
Today being Mother's Day, Jaden and I decided to cook mommy breakfast in bed. This turned out to be more fun than I could have anticipated. We made omelets, bacon, sausage, and hash browns with orange juice. Jaden was there for the whole episode, he helped lay the bacon in the pan, slice the sausage, and even tried including a healthy dose of egg shell in the omelets. Jaden also made a card with a picture of he and Nellie on it. Inside the card I recorded what he wanted to tell mommy which included: I love you, I like you, Skarloie (a train he likes) needs station, beep beep, and some weird MMMMnnnn grunt noises.
Tonight we went down to my Mom and Dad's house to have a family barbeque and to talk to my brother Davin who is on a mission in Bolivia right now. It was a lot of fun, but I must admit I feel bad for my mother. Her birthday was today, and quite often she has to deal with Mother's day and her birthday on the same day, which is never much fun. I don't think I do enough for her after all she has done for me.
We did some other fun stuff along the way these past two weeks, like go to a Cinco de Mayo birthday party, as well as a professional soccer game. Life is fun and good, and we are excited to be a part of it.
