ONE YEAR OLD!!!!

Well, we made it through the first year.  Some people say the first year of marriage is the hardest...others, including my husband believes that the first year of having a new baby is absolutely the hardest.  I on the other hand find my biggest challenges between the year of one to two.  People complain about the terrible two's, but for me, it was always the terrible ones.  Usually because that's when the tantrums seem to start.  Not this time though.  Jake has been having tantrums for a long time now, hahahaha!  So I'm used to it.

"Do NOT mess with me."

Getting to know our second born little man this year has been a lot of fun.  The first six months were not the easiest because he had a sensitive stomach and cried a lot, but sometime after the six month mark he opened up and exploded with personality.  He is so unique.
First of all, he already has a temper.  I say he got it from Scott's side of the family, and Scott says he got it from my side of the family.  It's hard to tell.  We both come from a long line of hot heads.  The good news is that for right now, his tantrums are cute.  He yalps, sticks out his lip, and flops on the floor.  Sometimes there is some rolling after the flop too.  Sometimes when he flops he plays dead, which always makes me laugh.  He will also shake his finger at you and yell, "NO NO NO!!!" when you do something that particularly annoys him.
This week, a few days after his first birthday, he finally took some of his first steps without help.  Scott and I have been practicing with him every night, when the other two minions are in bed, and the one on one time with him is finally paying off.  He's still not very confident about walking, and he still prefers to crawl, but I'm pretty sure that by the end of the month I am going to chasing him all over the house even more than I already am.
Something unique about Jake is that he absolutely loves bears.  This started when we visited a sporting goods store up north from where we live.  There were a lot of taxidermy animals, including bears.  He was extremely fascinated with the bears and still is.  He even says the word "Bear," which sounds a lot more like, "Buur."  He crawls into my lap when I'm on the computer and asks to look at pictures of bears all the time.  His dad has an app on his ipad that shows pictures of animals and the sounds they make, and every time he pulls out the ipad Jake crawls over as fast as he can yelling "Buuur!" because he wants Scott to show him the bear on his ipad.  He loves all animals, but especially bears.
Something else is that he is extremely competitive, especially with Seth.  Whenever he see's Seth with any toy or any food item, or any object whatsoever  he either has to have it, or at least won't be satisfied until he gets one of his own.  He can't stand it when Seth is on my lap.  He will crawl over and start hitting Seth and yelling "No No No!" and tries to pull him off me. When he's on my lap first and Seth comes in for a hug, he pushes Seth away and bellows at him.  Don't get me wrong, he adores Seth, he follows him everywhere, he tries to wrestle with him, and he laughs at the things Seth does to entertain him.  He just can't stop competing with him either.  Luckily Seth is an extremely patient and loving older brother.  When Jake gets aggressive with him he just laughs at him for "being crazy" and still goes out of his way to be kind to him.

When they're friends

When he gets an aggressive streak and decides to pull his big brothers hair, which is more often than you think.

Jake is also a snuggler.  Every morning he wakes up around 8am and I wrap him in a blanket and give him a bottle and hold him while I lay (sleep) in bed until he's finished and ready to get up.  Sometimes he falls back asleep and then we sleep in for another hour, which is the best.  The sound of his breathing actually really relaxes me, and napping with him in my arms is one of my favorite things ever.
He has also become very social.  He is the baby that is always flirting with some stranger he see's in the bench behind us at church, or basically anywhere we go.  He also loves other babies.  Just the other day at a restaurant we were at, Jake was signaling a little baby girl about the same age sitting at a table across the way.  The two of them kept waving and giggling and making noises and yelling baby talk at each other, it was hilarious.
He loves taking baths.  The fastest way to make him the most hyper is to put him in a bathtub full of water.  He not only loves to splash, he does twirls and belly flops and sticks his face in the water all by himself.  He will let out huge screams of joy every single time he's in there and when he gets a good splash he laughs really hard.
He likes to play rough.  Whenever he sees his siblings wrestling on the ground he wants a piece of the action.  He will crawl over and dog pile on top of them every time, it's hilarious.  He loves to wrestle with Scott. They start off with a face off on the ground on all fours and then they crawl across the floor and meet halfway and start wrestling.  It's Jake's favorite thing in the world, and he makes Scott wrestle with him every day when he's home from work.
He likes Elmo and Barney.  Though he doesn't watch much TV being a busy one year old and all, when he does, it's always Elmo or Barney.  Both make him giggle and dance.  YES he dances, and he has good rhythm too.
When I took him to his one year appointment  the doctor said that like my older two kids, he's skinny for a kid his age.  The good news is that according to his pediatrician he's developmentally ahead with the way he interacts, plays, and communicates.  People don't believe me, but since day one when he was a teeny tiny newborn, he looked me straight in the eye and made  perfect eye contact, which they say newborns don't do, but my Jakey did, I don't care if you believe me or not. He's always been extremely alert to his surroundings.
He is a ninja baby.  When I look away, within seconds he has destroyed something in my house.   I don't even want to talk about Christmas tree ornaments right now except to tell that having a perfect looking Christmas tree at this time is absolutely pointless.  Whether it's pulling off tablecloths and spilling food everywhere, or pulling out the HDMI cord to the T.V. and breaking the connector, dumping out all the baby powder, ripping apart his siblings storybooks, trying to eat things he finds in the couch cushions,  you name it.  He figures out a way to destroy everything or put himself in danger every chance he gets, and he's fast.  I'm actually really glad he's not walking quite yet for this reason.  He's a ninja of mischief  and has so far defied all odds of supervision.
The truth is though, I love the craziness.  I love the fact that he makes my life exciting because he is always finding a new way to break past the barriers of chairs and furniture I put up so he can sneak up the stairs.  I love that is so great at telling me what he wants even though he can't speak.  I love that he loves to tease and be teased by his siblings and parents, and I love that he has such a strong personality.
We were going to go out for his birthday, but Seth had a fever and was coughing so we stayed inside and had a private celebration at home.  My parents still stopped by and at least gave him some gifts, and Jake was the happiest kid alive with a day of new toys, chocolate cake, and bath time.  He loved his birthday even though it was low key.

Cake

Singing 'Happy Birthday.'

New toys!

Eating cake

Savoring the deliciousness.  

Best day ever.

Really.  Best day ever.

Not even sure how I was going to pick him up and get him out of there.

The only thing he likes more than cake is bath time

I am so in love with this little boy who has blessed my life this year.  This little rascal has brought so much life into our little family.  It's amazing how much he fits in with his siblings and how much he has lightened up our lives in just 12 months.

Love One Another

I will soon post an update of how my family and everyone is doing, but really quick, I wanted to recommend this new site released by my church.  It's been in the news recently, and it's regarding my churches belief system and standpoint on feelings of same sex attraction.
I love this site because over and over again, it talks about hope that things will improve in spite of dealing with things or feelings that pull you away from our Heavenly Father spiritually.  EVERY body deals with some kind of spiritual struggle, a struggle that can make you feel farther from the spirit if or when you act on it, it may not be this same issue, but every body, every body has feelings that can cause tendencies toward some kind of action that can pull them away from feeling Heavenly Father's presence in our lives.
NOW I have to put in a shameless plug here for my dear dear friend who is actually featured on this website, and I couldn't be more proud of her and her husband for being able to tell their story so openly.  If  you go to this site, scroll about a third of the way down to the second section labeled, "Our common Humanity,"  click on the video labeled "A Personal Experience, Ty's story," and you will hear about Ty who is the husband of one of my favorite favorite friends ever, her name is Danielle, she is a former coworker of mine, and has been an amazing, supportive, and easy to trust friend of mine for the past nine years.  I actually attended the wedding celebration of her and Ty and I couldn't be more proud to call her my friend.  Ty, her husband, shares his story of how he was able to stay close to the Lord and trust in him in spite of what his genetic tendenciess were, and how because he chose to stay close to the Lord he was blessed and able to overcome many of the temptations he was dealing with and fall in love with someone (my friend) who he was able to marry in the Temple and have a family with.  It is a beautiful, authentic and wonderful story.  I love this couple so much and I'm proud to know them, and stand by them as my friends. I will say, that what worked for them specifically doesn't work for everybody, and I'm aware of that, I'm not trying to preach to anyone, but I will say that I believe with all my heart that whatever our internal and emotional struggles are on this earth, that there is a way to be happy, and there is hope.

October!!!! (You busy liitle month you)

Wow.  So much to blog about and so little time, not to mention I don't want to insult the attention span of whoever still reads this thing.  So I'll dive right in with what's been going on.


Itty Bitty Football

Seth started football this month.  There aren't very many classes and it's not exactly actual football games, but it helps them develop a little bit of skill.  They start up with jumping jacks, sit ups, push ups, and stretches, then they run around the gym twice.  Then they go to little stations where they work on throwing, catching, kicking, weaving through cones and then finally at one of the stations they wear flags and chase each other around with the ball. 
Seth loves it.  Every few minutes he would run up to me and say "I'm having a great time!" Then go back to his group and play. 

Running around the gym

Getting ready to kick the ball

I haven't scanned in his photo yet, so this blurry thing will have to do for now

Here is his team, (The Chargers).  Yes his coach is a woman, at this age all the coaches are women until they start playing real games, but she does a great job.  There are six different teams.  When he got assigned I was relieved that he didn't get put on the cowboys or Scott would have freaked out.  Unfortunately, there was no Eagles team.  Not a lot of East Coast love here in Utah.

His favorite part is stealing other kids flags when they have the ball, and he's actually pretty good at it, though he is still learning to play fair.  When it is his turn to run with the ball and some kid gets a hold of his flag, he lets go of the ball and holds on to his flag with both hands and engages in a tug of war with whomever is challenging him and the teachers have to break it up.  It's a work in progress.

I've only been able to get a little bit of how it's going on video, but for those who want to see the little dude in action, here you go:







Disneyland

We also went to Disneyland/Universal studios this month.  We kept it a surprise for the kids all the way up until it was time to get in the car and go.  As a way of surprising them, we made a scavenger hunt around the house, leading them around to find clues all over the house to find the "treasure."  The treasure at the end happened to be Mickey ears they could wear at the park. From there, we helped them guess why they got Mickey ears.  It was awesome.  I'll spare you the whole scavenger hunt, since it was kind of long, but here is a clip of them figuring it out and getting surprised, which I will let you view on the premise that you'll forgive my messy house, that got destroyed in the process of the scavenger hunt, that and my crawler destroys everything in his path either way.



Here you go:









The other surprise, which we informed them of in the car, is that Dan and Kelsey were coming with us.  So they were twice as happy in spite of the drive.
It was indeed a long drive.  Especially because THIS happened.

We spent the night at my Brother Mike and his wife Jenna's house who live in Vegas, and then it was off to Califorinia, and directly to Huntington Beach!!  If there's one thing my little family is, it's beach bums.

Jake has no fear of water

At night we went out to eat at Claim Jumpers, a delicious restaurant that doesn't exist in our home state. 

The deal we made with Dan and Kelsey was that we would help pay for some of their trip if they would babysit the kids in the hotel room for one night while Scott and I checked out Universal Studio's Halloween Horror nights on our first night in California.  The park itself become PG-13 after 7pm during the Halloween season because the entire park is basically a huge haunted house, full of smaller haunted houses inside of it.  It is extremely awesome, but not for my kids. We HAD to go this year because it was themed after the T.V. show, 'The Walking Dead'...so there were going to be zombies EVERYWHERE.  It did not disappoint.  Scott said it was his absolute highlight of the trip.
When you walk into the park the entire night there are people sneaking up on you and scaring you with axes, chainsaws, etc.  Also there are seven themed haunted houses/mazes inside.  My favorite, meaning the one that made me jump the most, was the one themed after "La llorona," which is an urban legend in Latin American culture.  
Since I am a product of Latin American culture, and grew up hearing their scary stories and urban legends, this one was terrifying. My throat hurt from screaming:

Scott really liked the Alice Cooper themed one, in which you wear 3D glasses going into the haunted house.   This is the least disturbing image I have of  it because the blood and guts were so graphic:

 
Of course since the park was Walking Dead themed this year, we got our fill of Zombies.  The tram ride was themed after the show, and two minutes through the ride the tram "breaks down" making you get out and walk through the woods, where you are chased by zombies the entire time.  Aside from that there was also a separate Walking Dead haunted house as well.

Other mazes featured were, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Silent Hill, and the Universal Monsters Remix.  We were able to go on all of them even though the lines were almost two hours long for some of them, thanks to this little baby:

The front of the line passes cost extra money and were somewhat expensive, but were TOTALLY worth it.  We went DIRECTLY in front of everyone waiting in line like celebrities.  It was because of this thing that it was possible to see every attraction the ride had to offer before the park would close.  There is no way we would ever go back without buying one. The best part?  They were also valid for all the rides.  Yes, there were rides to go on too.  Rides like The Simpsons Ride, Jurrassic Park, Revenge of the Mummy (my former favorite) and the AWESOME brand new, Transformers 3D ride, which is my NEW favorite in the park.  Seriously, the BEST virtual ride I've ever experienced in my life.  It really got the adrenaline pumping, and I laughed so hard it hurt. 

Here is a picture of Scott and I that my brother Mike took of us in ponchos to avoid getting soaking wet on Jurrassic Park

Other things we did in the park was visiting the actual house/set from all the Psycho movies, and took advantage of a photo op with an actor posing as Norman Bates:

Where the Simpsons ride is, the park has a Simpson's theme around it.  Here is Scott going into the Kwik-E-Mart:

Inside the Kwik-E-Mart, we bought the Homer Simpson Doughnut, which is always featured on the show.  Scott said it was one of the best doughnuts he's ever had.  I don't care much for doughnuts, but I enjoyed it too. 

Basically like eating a cake that looks like a doughnut. 

Anyway, Universal Studios was fantastic, especially if you like haunted houses.  Any haunted house in my home state will now look like a bunch of kids and tinker toys now compared to the special effects of Univesal Studios.  We were glad to have Mike and Jenna there to show us where to go, since they go every year, and especially glad for Dan and Kelsey who put our kids to bed and took care of them in the hotel room for us so that we could go on this amazing date. Thanks guys.


We spent the next two days in Disneyland, which of course, was a blast, especially for the kids.  It was amazing to see how well Jake adapted to everything.  He loved the rides and parades, and was actually very well behaved, especially because being in a baby carrier most of the time, he was being held, which was all he really cared about anyway.

Waiting in line

In line for the Pirates of the Caribbean

On the carusel

TRYING to get kids to hold still for a picture and failing miserably

Sleeping kids when the park closed

In line for Toy Story ride

I love taking pictures of the kids happy/amazed faces during the parades.  I usally hate parades, but I LOVE Disney parades, because they are not boring like regular ones. 

Crystal can't believe she's seeing her favorite princesses

Crystal and Seth waving to favorite characters in the Parade

He is looking at Buzz Lightyear

Jake was also having a blast

Mike Koslowski from Monsters Inc.

Characters from Toy Story

Mater from Cars movie

Mickey Jamming on the drums during the night parade.  Music is playing through both parades the whole time through speakers on the light posts.

Crystal dressed up as Snow white in the park, which was great because all the employees would address her as Your Highness, or Princess, or just Snow White, which she absolutely loved.  I love how meticulous the employees and the makers of the themes at the park are when it comes to making sure everything revolves around your kids.  From top quality comfortable nursing/changing rooms, to firework shows, to people ready to help you all over the park if you need help, including cameras and people with ear pieces who will do everything to locate a missing child, which we saw one year when some poor mom couldn't find her boy.  Luckily they found him within a few minutes because of how organized they are.  I was impressed.

Here are some more pics for your enjoyment:

Watching Michael Jackson's Captain EO

Crystal with Eyore and Tigger

We tried having all three kids in the stroller, Jake got sad after a while because he wanted me to put him back in the sling where he could feel like he was being cuddled.

Getting dizzy on the Teacups

Little Mermaid ride

My darling Snow White

Getting high off Tony Roma's ribs

My favorite man in the world being a dad

Haunted Mansion

I was extremely proud of Seth for being willing to face his fears of the Haunted mansion, which he still had memories of as a two year old.  Turns out, it became his favorite ride and he went on it twice.  Good Job Seth on facing your fears!

We took more video than pictures this year, so I don't have many more pics to show off, but all in all, the trip was a success.  As always, there were a few tantrums, and a LONG car ride, but thanks to Scott pimping out the car with headrest TV monitors so that everyone could take turns watching a movie of their choice, it made the ride easier to tolerate. 

Other stuff for October....


Annual Halloween Party
Some people love Halloween, some people don't.   Halloween is one of my favorite holidays of all time. I love scary things, I love scary movies, I love dressing up in ridiculous costumes, I love candy, I love all of it.  I grew up in a home where one of the highlights of the year was to dress up in a scary costume and scare the crap out of trick-or-treaters who came to our door.  My dad would go all out with strobe lights, fog machines and scary music and it was the best thing in the world to see kids drop their candy and run, and parents push their kids down and run away leaving their kids behind.  As a general rule, we rewarded the smaller children brave enough to make it to the door with huge king sized candy bars.  The smaller the child, the better the loot.  In my neighborhood growing up, all the kids couldn't wait for my dad to put up the creepy Halloween decorations and to trick or treat at our house.  So Halloween for me was a big deal growing up.  Celebrating it is important to me, and making sure my kids enjoy it is also important to me. 
     This is the fourth year in a row we have hosted a Halloween Gathering with direct family members in our home.  After the first two years, we made costumes mandatory if you wanted to attend, to make it more fun.The crazy part is that we got home from Disneyland on a Monday, and the party was scheduled for Friday, so we had to prepare like maniacs when we got back.

However, the party was a lot of fun.  Here are costumes followed by a group shot:

Hip hopper

 Green Lantern

 Snow White

Family Pic.  Scott was a homeless pirate man, and I was a Magical Unicorn. (I make a point every year to make sure NO skin is showing in my costumes as my own personal protest towards slutty costumes.)

My brother Jared and his wife Alisa, dressing as Juno and Bleeker, and Issac is a shark

My brother Matt and his Girlfriend Ale, dressed as gross face people

Scott's cousin Johnny and his family, also Johnny's sister in law. 

Scotts cousins.  Paul Ryan, Greek Goddess, and Maverick

Dan and Kelsey, being a kitty and Zoolander

My sister and her boyfriend, being zombie Marilyn and Elvis

Todd and Megan, being Cowgirls and a Venician mask man

My cousin Roger and his girlfriend, being Tron and a pink skeleton

Group picture!!  Some people aren't pictured because they came late.  Including my cousin Roger, and Scott's brother Kyle who was at work and had to come late.

We played Minute to Win it for the game, basically giving each team (couple) one minute to accomplish a task for a point, and if you were first in your group, the winner gets two points.  The games were hilarious and fun.

Shake all the ping pong balls out of the tissue box attached to your rear in under one minute.  HILARIOUS. 

Using your face muscles, move the cookie from your forehead to your mouth without dropping it in under a minute

Knock down all the water bottles with your "elephant nose"

Using suction through a straw, transfer all the M&M's from one side of the room to the other

Load 6 penne noodles onto an angel hair pasta noodle with your mouth 

 There were a few more games, but again, more video than pictures were taken.  At the very least you can see probably the favorites pictured above. At some point there may be video added, much to the dismay of the dignity of our guests. (Haha)

There was also food and mingling involved.  Good times were had by all.

It was a fun night.

Anyway, that in a nutshell was the month of October for us.  I'm sure I forgot stuff, but at least it's all finally blogged and you get the idea. 

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!!