"Love and Hate" by: Jackson

Jackson has gotten very sweet in giving kisses (mostly after watching us kiss and mimicing. I think he finally has the closed lips kiss down, which is encouraging!

On the other hand, he is still our wild and active little boy. Lately he loves giving raspberries on our bellies and then using our belly as a trampoline and jumping. Here you can see his fun and hear my pain.

Life got very busy the moment we moved to Utah. Here's an updated list of things done

Brown Family reunion - About 200 people gathered for this event. I missed Dave for 2 days and then we enjoyed a rainy Saturday with the family. My mom did a great job planning and preparing for this one. I love family!

Teaching school started: I miss being with Jackson all day, but I am glad Dave is around to be with him. I like that I already know my students and they know me. That makes the teaching of rules and procedures SO much easier. I really love my job. I get to play games and help kids be active. I love it! This year I am trying to implement new things, so I feel really busy trying to plan and prepare for that.

Moving out of Boise and back in Orem: Even getting to leave our stuff in Orem, it still took (is taking) forever to re organize house. Thank goodness for Dave and his organizational and cleaning skills. I could never accomplish the task without him!

Trip to Zion Park: Details to come . . . very fun!

MBASA (the MBA spouse Association) has begun and that means alot of planning and preparing for social gatherings. Any ideas for large group Girl night out activities? I have about 10 nights to plan . . .Plus 2-3 date nights.

Signing off (and heading to school) for now.

Our little boy-all grown up.

Rolling his arms

Feeding himself and mommy

Playing Chase with mom

Running around in circles

Triathlon Triumph

You might be wondering why you didn't know I was training for a triathlon . . .that is because I wasn't. I heard about a tri for beginners that was right near our apartment in Boise (Y-not-tri). I signed up about 48 hours before the race started and just went for it. It was shorter than even a sprint tri, so I figured I could make it.

Here are pros and cons of the race:

Pro: The only people I was competing against were beginner triathletes.

Con: No training in the swim or the bike. I was still trying to figure out how to get my goggles on 15 seconds before the gun went off!

(I'm in the yellow)

Pro: The water in the pond seemed warm

Con: It was 60 degrees outside, I didn't get in the pool to swim at all- never even worn a cap and ended up doing breaststroke most of the race.

Find me!

Pro: My friend in the ward lent me her helmet and clothes for the race (and talked me through all my fears and worries)

Con: Riding a rented mountain bike, I forgot to adjust the seat before the race and had to stop and adjust; it was raining, and I didn't think about keeping my goggles on for the bike section :)

Look how fast I am going! haha:)

Pro: The run was only 2 miles!

Con: The run was only 2 miles . . . this is the only event I trained for and I wanted to use it to my advantage to get ahead more!

The big finish-

Dave was a good sport to bring Jackson out in the rain and take pictures to support me.

So it turns out, I got FIRST in my age group and 9th overall. I seriously thought I was at the end of the pack after the swim, but apparently I was disoriented and I came out about 15th! It was awesome to race against all beginners, because now I have more confidence and really want to try another one.

Birthday Babies

The girls in my neighborhood all have babies that are around one. So we threw a party for all of the babies!

Of course there was cake . . .which most of the kids didn't like, but at least it was fun.
The girl has the pink cupcake, Jackson has the blue. I don't think he even took one bite, but he did try smearing the girl, who was chomping down on the cake.

The race for the present was fun, which ever one the kid touched first, they got to keep. Jackson was the fastest and picked the gift easiest to open (it was a box with a lid.)

The game we played was trying to match newborn pictures to one year old pictures. It was amazingly hard. They grow up SO much in a year.

Jackson took the opportunity to beg food off every person who was eating. He didn't stop for anything, not even a picture.

Our getaway to Utah

The drive to Utah was a lot longer than expected. Despite Shshone falls being "right off the freeway" It tooks us 45 minutes to find . . . but it was well worth it!

On the way we also got to see the Twin Falls temple.After our detour through Pocatello(not the right way to go), we made it to Utah. 4 hours later, I ran in the 24th race

Then we had a huge BBQ with all of my mom's family. I love time to see cousins, aunts, uncle and of course, Grandma.

Next we hung out with some friends from Boise (who I seem to have missed getting a picture of) We went to a local party and then watched fireworks from Dave's parents balcony. Jackson was fascinated with the fireworks and sparklers.

We threw a shower for my Sister in Law, Kacey Ahlstrom who is due with a boy any day now. Some how I completely missed any pictures with the people at the shower, but did manage to get pictures of the 3 boys who weren't really invited to the shower.

Despite being an excellent stair climber and slider, Jackson took an unfortunate fall this weekend. I was probably more shaken up than he was!

The rest of my time was wrapped up in work meetings, running errands and enjoying time with family. We also celebrated Tyler's Birthday- Happy 25th!

Jacksons 12 month stats:

Weight: 21 lbs 4 ounces

Height: 29 inches

He is in the 25th percentile for everything (his height dropped and his weight rose). The doctor said that his movement and vocabulary was 'advanced'. Do you think they say that to every mom so she can be proud? (Because I am very proud!)

I was sad that he had to get SIX shots! Yes, SIX. But he is a tough kid and showed very few signs of being hurt by it.

Harper Happenings

Ok, so this is just a picture at our favorite Nature Center just up the street. I like to take Jackson to look at the fish, stuffed animals, birds and plants.

Jackson upgraded to a forward facing car seat. We are all happy about the move. He especially loves his arm rests!

Biking to Lucky Peak. I've been wanting to make the trek ever since I arrived in Boise. Dave and I started going once, but turned around when the wind picked up and Jackson was screaming. I convinced a ward friend, Jessica to take me. She is a triathlete and offered to pull both our kids to make it easier on me, who hasn't ridden much more than a cruiser bike since I got here. The 20 miles didn't seem as far as I thought it would be. It was a great morning for a ride.

Biking is hard work for the kids . . . cute isn't it?

Salsa dancing at a Fiesta for our Relief Society. This is my friend Alayna. We would go to the park and discuss the similarities between her dog and my kid. It was great to have a friend who was willing to hang out. We played many a late night game with her and her husband, as well as floated the Boise River (She took a nasty spill!)
FHE feeding the local ducks on our pond. They kept coming and coming. We had no idea we had so many neighbors.
I've been tending a neighbor boy a few times who is just a few weeks younger than Jackson. Noah is a big kid . . . you see the arm rolls? He is very different from my wild and ranbuncous Jackson. It is interesting to see the differences.
We went to a rodeo (indoors, thank goodness it was 104 that day!). It was interesting to watch, mostly because it was something different.
Going to the park with friends (this is Stone)
My days are filled with relaxing and fun activities with my boy and my husband. It has been a great summer. Of course the end is coming much too soon!

Is anyone interested in watching Jackson one day a week from 10-2:30? I am so sad I won't get to be with him all day!

The results of the race

Don't I look fabulous after driving 8 hours to get to Utah by 1 am and getting up for the race at 5 am? Good thing the great shirts designed by my cousin Dani made up for that :)We had 15 family participants in the 10K
The 5K had almost 40 participants from our family. This is my cousin Chelsea, Grant is her brother.
He whole group (minus Kim and Shane who were attending to a broken foot)
I got 88th overall and first in my family. Too bad we weren't doing family awards. It the only time I've gotten first in anything :)

This was a positive way to remember our sweet cousin Granty. We are so grateful for family support that gets us through the tough times.

Hair Cut

Before: Surfer dude, blonde beach bum, curly haired look After: Clean-cut (no curls :( )Jackson did pretty well during the cut, we used Dave's electric razor as the distractor.

We stared at Jackson all night amazed at how different he looks. We feel like we can see more of his facial expressions now. It is funny that a hair style really does change the way you see that person. I feel like my little baby is growing up!