Grant Shields Memorial Run

This Friday I am running a 10K race with about 50 of my relatives. It is a pretty amazing tradition in honor of my cousin Grant who died 10 years ago on July 24th. We got a write up in the Deseret News that brought tears to my eyes about the boy we are running to remember. Check it out HERE

My Uncle (Grant's Dad) also wrote an aritcle for the Ensign which is incredible, inspiring and beautiful about a dad's love for his son. Read that HERE

Birthday Boy

Here's the cutest boy ever! He turned 1 today! One year of life and he already has what we are all looking for love and happiness!

Jackson got a lawn mower from his aunt and uncle who were visiting. They can't wait until he can mow their lawn for them (technically Dave traded our firstborn son to them for a fruit roll up)

Making music on his new keyboard. He is so delighted when all the buttons make music. There is nothing like a kids face lighting up to make a parent want to buy them more and more gifts.

Chocolate cake. Mostly this picture is staged because he didn't make a very big mess and he definitely did NOT eat the cake, he made sure to throw every crumb he could on the ground. He loved the milkshake though!

Grandma Harper: He loves the touch and feel book and now will feel each animal.

Grandma Ahlstrom: He loves the tab in the shape book that make it easy to turn pages. THANK YOU!

From the lump of a baby that I saw last year at this time (9:19 to be exact) to the wild and crazy little boy he has become, Jackson has learn MANY things. I have found so much joy in watching and helping him learn and discover about this world. Here is a list of a few things he learned this year. I can't believe it has already been a year. Some advice that I got was to enjoy every moment. I really tried to, and I felt like I did, and yet I still feel like it passed by too quickly. I can't imagine my life before Jackson. He helps me to be a better and happier person. I love him more than I thought possible when we set out on this parenting trip. May there be many, many more happy birthdays to come!

Beach and Tropical Paradise . . . in IDAHO?

So you may not think of tropical paradise when you think of Boise ID, BUT it is!

The fountain in our lake, behind our apartment is gorgeous.

We got a tropical fruit basket at Dave's work party and made an amazing fruit salad after a lot of hard work learning how to cut a pineapple, coconut,papaya and mango.

Sandy point beach might be manmade, but we love it. Despite the cold water, my mom helped up to wade out to touch the water fountain. Beach volleyball with strangers was fun (mosly because we won).

Family Fun

My little sister Marcie came to visit me last week! We are 13 years apart, but I feel like she is one of my best friends. Here enthusiasm, love and excitement for life are contagious. She keeps our family young.

She was the little girl who would come running out the front door to give me hugs when I got home from high school. I remember one night of particular boy trauma in college, she just cuddled with me while I cried. When my mom called her to go to bed, she went upstairs and said she couldn't go to bed yet, because I was crying and she needed to be with me. This is one special sister and we had a blast together!

We started out with several bike trips up the river to parks, the zoo, the rose garden and the human rights memorial. The rose garden has a million varieties of roses. It is beautiful.We played alot of games, mostly Settler's online. We visited the zoo, swam and shopped a bit. We enjoyed running and taking naps!

Mostly, Marcie was the best little mommy to Jackson. I never had to buckle him it (what a nice break) and she sat in the back to entertain him. Thank you for helping me!

Then my parents and other little sister, Melinda, came up for the weekend. It was very 'interesting' to host 6 people AND a baby in a 1 bedroom apartment. We only had 6 cups, plates and bowls. The guests had to bring their own air mattresses, sheets, towels and even chairs! Here is my mom drinking out of tupperware. They were very good about being put out.

Hey look! Our new couch! We got it only minutes before my family left. We made sure to have NO furniture while they were here so that we could fit them all on the floor to sleep. :) Thanks Mel, for the great couch find!

Amongst many fun activities, we were able to go to the Boise temple as a family.

We also had a barbeque and swim party. Then we biked to all the Boise sites we could. We attended the Farmers Market (sort of-it wasn't opened yet). The Boise beach was awesome (post to come) and we even had time for another going out to eat, another hot tub run, going to church and seeing the "Nature Center" We packed alot in a short weekend, but thouroghly enjoyed being together and having fun. I think they mostly came to see Jackson :). Kind of makes you wanna come visit; right, Shel?

Tater Tuesdays

Lest you think my good intentions to make different potato dishes were only intentions . . .here is an update of how Tater Tuesday is going

Top left: Roasted red potatos (before they were roasted) SO good and SO easy we forgot to take another pic.

Bottom Right: Roasted Potato salad- Very yummy, we both loved the bacon in it.

Bottom left: Potato Pancakes- didn't taste bad, but I am not much of a pancake fan. I think I liked it better than fluffy cake-like pancakes. (the syrup made it delicious!)

Middle and Top right: Peruvian Stuffed Potatoes- different that what I invisioned when I set out to make it. You take mashed potatos, fill it will meat/egg concoction and then fry them. I liked them, but there wasn't enough flavor. I want to try again now that I know a little bit what is going on.

Bottom middle: Twice baked potatoes: Yes, I know this is a Harper favorite (ran out of time, money and ideas), but I did try a few new things. As always, we loved it.

You also get a glimpse at my scrapbooking adventures. I am still not very good, but I am trying to do a page a day. I usually get paper and layout and pictures on, but don't finish the journaling and the titles. Oh, well at least I am trying. Maybe someday I will make a book.

Strawberry picking

Besides the fact that I ruined our camera, strawberry picking was super fun. I met a girl who volunteered to be my friend on craigslist (Did you know you could do that?) She is super nice a mom of 2 boys and she is always doing something around Boise. Her husband happens to be doing an internship in Salt Lake and she is staying in Boise with the boys. Tonight I met her at a Christian concert outdoors. She is fun! I hope to be nice enough to volunteer to be someone's friend!

We started out looking at the pigs, cows, chickens and sheep. Jackson was fascinated. This pig licked his hand. . . oh no! Swine flu!

Then came the tragic tractor ride out to the strawberry fields . . . (pictures are courtesy of my internet friend)

Jackson went crazy eating strawberries, dropping them in the mud, picking them up (with the mud) and basically making a mess. I put him in a backpack and he would pull my hair everytime he wanted another strawberry. My hair was disgusting!

And the spoil was great! I made jam for the first time ever. We have enough to last the whole year!

Obligitory ZOO post

I think every mother-blogger has to have a post about taking their child to the zoo. I must be an outstanding mother . . . because I have taken Jackson TWICE to the zoo! I know zoo pictures and posts aren't that exciting (Especially with a 1 year old only!) so I won't be offended if you click "Mark as Read" to get on with your life. Here is a compilation of the Hogle Zoo and Zoo Boise. Jackson really didn't show much emotion either happy or unhappy. Uncharacteristically he was very solemn.

He did really get into the drums and the playground. Especially the woodchips.

I'll be honest. He hated the carosel. It is sad when we try to do things JUST to make our kids happy, and they end up hating it- and I got sick on it. I just don't want him to miss out on any fun that he could have.

Zoo Boise was much smaller than hogle zoo. but I liked that there were so many animal playground equipment and statues. I think Jackson enjoyed it more because there were things he could do

Climbing up to this slide you see the monkeys and then slide down.
There were all sorts of displays where the kids got to be part of the animal. Very fun!Jackson loved this minature tiger. He would walk around it, bounce up and down and laugh and then climb on it and just enjoy himself. I might just pay to go back to the zoo purely to let him love this tiger again. The tigers were definitely my favorite part.