(click for a few more)

Grandpa P was in Ohio to speak at a conference, so he drove down to stay with us for a night. We had a great time seeing him!

We’re gearing up for some busy weeks. In only three days… we’re going on vacation!!!

For the first time EVER, we’re going on vacation with my best buds from college. Amy, Courtney and Cindy (along with hubbies and children) will be meeting us in Hot Springs, Arkansas, for an entire week of relaxation at a house by the lake. We’ve been planning “VaCay ‘08″ since January and we are so very excited to finally be going!

After we get back from Arkansas, we’ll be heading to New York for a week. Dave gets to go for work and Jackson and I are tagging along. The bonus? Getting to see Dave’s parents and his sister, Val, and her kids. We can’t wait!

If you haven’t seen this show, you must tune in tomorrow night. (8:00p.m. East Coast, 7:00p.m. Central)

Dave and I watched it last night and were literally choking on our dinner and wiping away the tears. Maybe it was just us or the moment we were in, but it was hilarious. Not only is the concept of the show funny, but the commentators are a riot!

Give it a shot. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Jackson loves his Auntie Annie!

Our little family of three took a field trip last week…to the driving range. Dave was wanting to go and hit some balls, and we thought we’d go along for moral support. Back before Jackson, I had gone to the driving range with Dave one time and he taught me how to use the driver. It was fun trying something new - even though I was sore the next day! I had intentions of trying it out again last week. But, when we got there, there were a lot of people there and it was quite intimidating. So I just watched. I prefer not to have an audience of people laughing at me trying to hit a golf ball. Call me crazy.

(click for more pictures of “sporty Jackson”)

For the first 15 minutes or so, because they were so busy, I kept Jackson in the bjorn and was instructed by Dave to keep him as quiet as possible. I didn’t realize you had to be so quiet at a driving range. (All that concentration going on) So then I was nervous that I was going to be responsible for someone’s bad hit. We kept a safe distance from the others and walked around a bit. After a while, several of the people left, so we were able to go off to the end and plop Jackson down on the starting station. (I don’t know what you call it. Pretty sure I made that “starting station” thing up.) He had a blast playing with the golf balls and the basket that you put them in.

On the home front we’ve had some excitement. We discovered a small gas leak in our hot water heater this week. I had the Gas Co. come and check it out. They diagnosed the problem, tried to fix it by tightening something and it didn’t work. So, they recommended that I call our heating and air people to come and replace a valve that was leaking. I did and they came that afternoon. (Which was good because they turned off our gas which meant no stovetop, oven or hot water.) The heating and air guy came and looked it over and then proceeded to give me a quote for replacing the valve. While he was filling out the form, I asked him if he had the part with him. He said, “No. But Home Depot is right around the corner, I could just go and pick up the part there.”

Hmmm.

Then he gives me a quote for $450.

I gave Dave a call, explaining what was going on and we decided to thank the nice man for his quote (ha!) and tell him we’d discuss it. And by “discuss it” we mean - not a chance, sucka! We then talked to our neighbor, Tom, who is the handyman of all handymans. He, in turn, went to Home Depot to get the valve (which was $20, by the way) and came over last night to replace it.

Problem solved. How great is that?

One final thing: Please keep my sister-in-law, Val, in your prayers today and through the night. She leaves in a few hours to fly back to the U.S. from the Philippines with her two girls. Alone. Did I mention that she’s about seven months pregnant? She could really use your prayers. We cannot wait to see them!

I’ll leave you with a video I took of Jackson last week. He decided to have an impromptu concert for us. Here he is singing his little heart out:

Now that I have that song stuck in your mind, I’ll tell you about our fun weekend that we had in Chicago.

Jared and Rachel just moved to Chicago this month and are staying in temporary housing while they look for a place to live. That temporary housing happens to be in the coolest spot ever in Chicago. We were less than a mile from Michigan Avenue and just a hop, skip and a jump away from Millennium Park. Our weekend was full of walking, seeing the sights and catching up with our friends. We had such a good time.

(lots more pictures if you click on the one above)

This was also the first time that Jackson and Judah were properly introduced. (They’ve seen each other numerous times on the web cam) Jackson was a little excited to be around another baby and kept grabbing at Judah’s eyes, ears, head - whatever he could get his little hands on. Poor Judah thought he was being mauled and there were some tears within the first hour of our arrival. After he warmed up to Mr. Handsy (and after Dave and I had to hold Jackson’s hands), they seemed to love each other. You can see more pictures of them playing here.

Judah is the sweetest little guy! He has beautiful, green eyes and he just likes to take life in. He was very observant - watching everything and everyone. It was so fun to finally get to meet him! He is precious! It was also bizarre to sit together talking with friends and look over to see our two babies sitting on the floor playing together. I can’t believe that we’re parents.

We are looking forward to seeing these two little guys grow up together and become the best of friends…it appears that they won’t have a choice.

What were you doing 10 years ago?
1. I was a sophomore in college, living in Mayfield dorm. Down middle.
2. It was the first year that I was no longer a Music major. After being in college for a year already, people thought that I was a new student because I was actually out and about instead of practicing hours each week.
3. I was trying to decide what to do with my life. Ha!

What is on your to-do list today?
1. Eat lunch with Dave. (check)
2. Compose a goals/dreams list. (check)
3. Go for a walk. (check)
4. Blog. (check)

What are some snacks you enjoy?
Any baked good will always get my attention. I also like raw almonds and cheese and crackers. It’s the best snack out there!

What would you do if you were a billionaire?
I would give a LOT of it away. Haven’t you ever seen those shows about the millionares and how they lose all of their money in about six years? Not me. After giving a good chunk away to different organizations, I would love to buy several vacation homes that my family and I could all use and meet at for different functions. How fun would that be?

Your bad habits:
1. I have supersonic hearing and therefore, every creak and rattle that I hear in a moving car drives me batty. (It was waaaay worse when I was pregnant. Just ask Dave)
2. I occasionally watch Oprah, even though she drives me nuts.
3. I have an intense love for cookie dough.

5 Jobs you’ve had:
1. Clerk at a shoe store
2. Cashier at a pharmacy
3. Opener, closer, janitor, tour guide for fitness center
4. Graphic Designer
5. Special Education teacher

What is currently playing on your iPod?
The Weepies. I. Love. Them.

What are the last 5 books you’ve read or have been reading?
1. What to Expect in the First Year
2. First Time Mom
3. The Bible
4. Bringing Up Boys
5. The Salvage Sisters (a fun book that Annie got me for Christmas)

I’m tagging Mimsies, Joanna, Rachel, Sarah U, Emily and Kristy. Have fun!

(click for more pictures)

We had a great Father’s Day. Our chapel has a tradition where they recognize fathers on Father’s Day. They hand out flowers to the father with the youngest child and the father with the oldest child. Dave was the winner of the flower this year! Jackson is seven months old and the youngest child in our chapel. A sweet man named Max won for having the oldest child. His child is sixty four!

After church, Dave had requested that we eat Indian food for Father’s Day. (Dave loves Indian food. Before I was pregnant, I had just started liking Indian food. But, when I was pregnant if Dave just said the words “Indian food” I would throw up a little in my mouth. So, we didn’t eat any for a long time. Now I’m back in the game!) There was a specific restaurant that we were wanting to go to, so we headed in that direction. However, when we were within a couple of blocks of the restaurant, we noticed that the roads were blocked off. I could see people off in the distance carrying flags and banners. We soon realized that it was a parade. We turned around to go in a different direction to the restaurant. That way was blocked off too. So, we parked a couple of blocks away and hoofed it.

On our way, we came across a cute, little kitty that was playing with a snake that was about a foot long. It was pretty fascinating to watch. We were right in the middle of a residential area and this snake was just cruising on the sidewalk. It kept coiling up and striking at the cat. It was fun to watch. (There’s a picture of the cat and the snake if you click on the photo above.)

We left the cat and the snake and made our way to the restaurant - where the parade was in full swing. And then we discovered that it was a Gay Pride parade. Unfortunately, this was my son’s first parade. I have never seen so many drag queens in all of my life. There were things that we saw that were truly amazing. I will leave it at that. So, we ate a delicious meal while the parade went by the windows of the restaurant.

That afternoon, Dave watched the U.S. Open and took a nice, long nap. Isn’t that just what fathers should do on Father’s Day? Meanwhile, I took Jackson out on the back deck to play in a bowl of water. It’s been so hot lately and he really likes to splash in the water. He mainly likes to play with my measuring cups. I took a little video of him playing that you can see here. (I love how you can see Lucy running in the backyard at the end) Lucy kept wanting him to throw the ball for her. He just wanted to put the ball in his mouth. Ick.

So, today we met my friend, Kristi, and her boys at a nearby park. We took our lunches and enjoyed our time visiting and watching the boys play. They had swings for Jackson, so we had fun watching him go on his first swing ride. I took a little video (of course!) that you can see here. It was cracking me up how he kept kicking his legs so fast. I think he’s a natural, don’t you?

Unfortunately, he’s got his first cold right now, so he’s a little stuffy and has a cough. But, he’s acting just fine other than that. We’re hoping he can kick this cold soon because we have big plans to go and visit his buddy Judah this weekend. We are so excited to meet Judah and get to hang with Jared and Rachel in their new city!

(Click on the photo to see more pictures of our fun time at the Butterfly Show that we went to yesterday. It was great!)

To my wonderful husband -  Jackson is one lucky duck to have you as his daddy. Thanks for all that you do for us. We love you so much! (How cute is this video?)

And to my dad - We hope you enjoy your day as well. Not only are you a great father, but you’re a great grandpa too! We love you!

(click for more fun at the museum)

I love this city.

There are so many fun things to do and see. And it makes it especially nice when you have someone to do and see with. My friend, Sarah, and her little boy, Micah, met us at the Cincinnati Museum Center. We both have passes for the year - which includes the Children’s Museum. And it was quite the Children’s Museum, let me tell you!

Jackson’s favorite part was the Infant Garden where they have all kinds of things that he can play with. There were also lots of mirrors, which he loved. He also loved watching Micah and all of the other kids run around and play. You could spend days in this museum, there’s so much to do! We can’t wait to go back!

I was reading an article in Cooking Light yesterday about this restaurant called the SAME Cafe (So All May Eat), and I was blown away by the concept. Go check out their website for more information. And if you’re living in Denver, go visit for me! This makes me want to start my own restaurant here. What an amazing idea!