Playin' & Readin'

Eating Sophie.

Turning pages before I'm done reading.

"I laughed so hard..."

These were in a gift shop in Jackson Hole and I wanted to buy them all.

Idaho

Like I said in the last post, Jackson and I went to Idaho for a few days and had a great time.

Here's our agenda:

Wed - fly from San Jose to SLC to Twin Falls. Drive 2.5 hours to Idaho Falls. Scream the entire drive.

Thurs - recoup from a traumatic drive and visit friends in Rigby.

Fri - drive back to Twin Falls for the wedding and luncheon. Leave while dessert is being served because Jackson fell asleep and I didn't want to traumatize him again. Drive back to Idaho Falls.

Sat - drive to Tetonia and Jackson Hole with THE Jessica Berry and her Mama Berry.

Sun - recoup and go to church. Hang out with Jess' cute nieces.

Mon - nap and pack. Eat lunch with Jess and drive 2 hours to Burley to visit my grandparent's grave. Then finish the drive to Twin Falls and fly to SLC and see the Lee's then fly HOME!!!

While it was a great trip it was a bit ambitious for a baby who still doesn't sleep through the night and hates his carseat... Let's just say that I needed to recoup after getting home.

For starters, don't you think this should be a chandelier?

The Twin Falls temple.

Jackson chillin' during pictures.

The beautiful bride and her lady friends.

Bride Whitney and her sister Rachel. 

Whitney and I were best buds one glorious summer and I lived with Rachel one semester.

They're both so fun and awesome. So glad I could be there for Whitney.

The antlers at Jackson Hole.

Jackson and Jess.

(Sorry your eyes are closed Jess!)

Can I please have this antler tree? It's awesome.

Jackson was so good while we went around Jackson Hole.

Why Jess is in Idaho: CEO of Berry Oil.

Their Tetonia plant.

He was such a cutie during the trip. I wanted to be mad about his crying and 

not sleeping but he's just too adorable!

Flying

Last week Jackson and I went to Idaho to see some friends and attend a wedding. 

Before going I had read to bring a note from the other parent so security knows I'm not kidnapping Jackson. Scott thought it was weird but complied with this note:

He certainly got more sleep than I did!

Jackson was a champ on the flights (but a pill in the car)!

He even held his own bottle.

Ready for takeoff.

We had a layover in SLC and even got to leave security to have a nice visit with

 Grandpa and Grandma Lee.

Go Cardinal!!

We went to the Stanford football game on Saturday and it was blistering hot. 

Luckily Stanford won but it was a long hot game with Jackson.

We promise he started out with clothes on!

Don't you love those rolls!

We just let him ride home naked since he needed to be fed and changed anyway.

Jackson

Based on this pose I think he already knows how handsome he is...

Karma Jeppsen Dixon

Grandma Dixon passed away on July 27. She had waited 21 years to be with her 

husband again and was thrilled when the time finally came. 

Scott gave a very nice talk at her funeral. They had a special bond. Here's what he said:

Some of my earliest memories include going to visit my Grandma Dixon. She lived on the 12th floor of a condominium complex in the hills above Salt Lake at the mouth of Emigration Canyon. I loved to visit and see the view of the valley from high up on her balcony. She always had delicious treats and was always very excited to see me.

Everyone in the family especially loved participating in Grandma's Christmas Eve party. All of the cousins would get together on Christmas Eve for dinner and to open our present from Grandma. I always loved having this early gift to open to wet my appetite for Christmas morning. As I grew older, I looked forward to helping to put together my cousin John's toys. It was always a great time to see family that I did not get to see very often.

Every year, Grandma would send me a birthday card with a large check. I was always amazed to get so much cash from my Grandma every year. As I got older and was able to drive, I began to help my Grandma out with her groceries and I would take her to her nail and hairdressing lunch. I enjoyed helping Grandma initially because I really respected my Grandpa that died when I was eight years old and this seemed like a great way to honor his memory. As time passed by, I just enjoyed being with her. Anyone who knows me well knows that foods play a large part in my favorite memories. After the hair appointment, we would always go and get lunch. One time, my car broke down on the drive from the hairdresser to lunch. My mom came to rescue us. Grandma and I were both shocked that my mom was too busy to take us to lunch after picking us up. On my sister Alison's wedding day, all my family was supposed to go help setup for the reception after the wedding at the temple. Grandma convinced Curtis and I that we could still take her out to lunch (again, that didn't take too much convincing for me).  It did take more time than I thought and I wasn't as helpful for setting up as I could have been.

When I left on my mission, Grandma contributed every month, which was greatly appreciated. She was supportive of me during all my endeavors. I could tell her stories about school all day long and she would patiently listen. In my early electrical engineering classes, we measured how the resistance of a temperature dependent resistor changed with temperature. I explained the experiment to Grandma and she was excited and asked if I was going to patent the idea! She always had so much confidence in me and was excited to see me succeed. She was similarly excited when I told her that I was engaged. When Cecilie was pregnant, I called Grandma from San Francisco airport to tell her the news. It was noisy and her hearing was not so great. I told her once and she said, "what?" I told her twice and she still didn't understand. Finally, I was yelling "She is pregnant!!!" loudly into the phone. When she (not to mention the rest of the airport) ultimately got the message, she was so excited. Had she lived a literally another week, she would have met Jackson. I really wished she could have held him once.

Through all my memories of Grandma, she always showed her incredible love for her husband John. She missed him so much. She also had great faith in the resurrection and in eternal families. I doubt I had a conversation with her in the last twenty years where she did not talk about him or her desire to see him again. I wish I could have seen her face when they were reunited. Knowing that they are back together and that I will see them again after this life has brought me much comfort during her passing.

Obituary.

I wanted to be in the room for Scott's talk but Jackson had other plans. When I heard noises down south I ran out to change him so it wouldn't make a mess. Too late!

As soon as we got back in the room he started to spit up. (Look closely and you can see spit up all over the sleeve.) 

Luckily the microphone was able to be heard in the foyer.

We miss you Grandma Dixon but are glad you're happily with Grandpa John.

Out & About

The other day we were out running errands. I didn't expect to be gone so long but Jackson took a long nap so I just kept going. He finally woke up in Target and was starved. After eating he decided to slobber for awhile. 

Grey does not hide slobber...

As usual, I bought more than what I needed at Target so I needed a basket. This is the first time I've put him in the baby seat and it's a bit too big but hopefully he'll fit in it soon enough!

Later we met a friend for lunch and Jackson was wiped out. 

He was happy to sleep on the bench while I ate and visited.

General Conference

We had a great time listening to General Conference this past weekend. 

Jackson was a good baby and let us watch as much as we could stay awake for. He even loved looking at the TV and watching the speakers.

Happy FOUR months!

This cute guy was 4 months old on October 5.

He's not as easy to get positioned anymore...

Next kid I'm going to think this through a little better so the pictures look better for each month.

We had his 4 month check up last week and he is doing great! 

26.25in long (90 percentile)

15lb 3oz (46 percentile)

head circumference: 44cm (99 percentile)

He also got 4 shots and was pretty mad about it. Luckily he is easily distracted so as soon as we went outside he could look around and forgot the pain.

We love our cute baby! He is silly though. He started mostly sleeping through the night about a month ago but this past week he has been waking up and talking to himself. It's really cute but at 5am we'd rather he just slept. So far our solution is to go put the pacifier in his mouth but we're starting to think that instead of having him cry it out he may need to talk it out!

Happy October!

In between General Conference sessions we went to a pumpkin patch. Jackson was asleep for most of it but finally woke up so we could show of his awesome skeleton shirt. (Even cooler is that it glows in the dark!) We went with some friends who have young kids so it was fun.

They had a corn maze and a pyramid for kids (and adults).

Jackson, Scott, Owen and James were able to navigate the corn maze.

The boys also made it to the top.

Jackson didn't want to wake up to be the tin man.

But he did wake up to look grouchy by the pumpkins.

Still refusing to smile for the camera.

Cute Hank though jumped in the picture to show us how it was done!

We're excited for Fall!

Exhausted from fun!

The other weekend I had a bad cold so Scott and Jackson got the whole weekend together. They went on a walk, played, went to church, stayed up late and got up early, and all sorts of other fun things. By Sunday night Scott was exhausted and I was starting to feel better.

Santa Rosa

The other week I went up to Santa Rosa to help Melissa during her last few days of being pregnant. I had talked to her the night before and she sounded desperate...

Hailey wanted to lay next to Jackson while he wiggled.

Jackson could not get enough of his delicious tasting hands!

A hug for Rushton!

I took Melissa's kids to the park in the afternoon.

Rushton dominated on the climbing wall and had me take a few videos and pictures of his awesome abilities. He was scared at first but then did a great job.

And this is how we ended things...

He said he knew where to pee so I think he's done this before. 

To his credit, who builds parks without a bathroom? Every time I go to the park there's always a kid who has to go home to potty. Seriously folks, every park needs a potty!