Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great weekend doing lots of fun things together! Saturday afternoon we headed out to Letchworth Park, also known as the Grand Canyon of the East. It was so beautiful and green. We will have to go back in the fall to see all the pretty leaves! Saturday night they were launching hot air balloons at the park. Several families from our ward were there, and we all enjoyed all of the balloons launch right in front of us! It was amazing. We enjoyed a wonderful night! On our way home we stopped at this huge barn sale, and stayed and chatted with the very nice people for an hour. We walked away with real maple syrup, made straight from their maple trees, home grown rhubarb, and Jude had his first real experience with cows!

Jude lovin' it!

Jude Loves to ride on Daddy's shoulders.

The large gorge is behind us! So pretty!
(Check out Jude's dimple, and yes I know the yucky burn on my neck!)

Monday morning John and some friends went paintballing! That afternoon we went out and bought a little inflatable pool for Jude. He loved it! He loves the water. Jude will probably be out in this little pool everyday this summer!

We went to a BBQ last night with lots of friends from the ward and enjoyed tons of great food and great company! We hope everyone had a great day!

Busy

We sure are BUSY out here in Buffalo!
Here is a group of all the kids born since we came out to Buffalo for Dental school among our group of friends! (only 7 of us)

As you can see several kids were not big fans of being stuck on the couch for the picture. It was funny to watch, and so glad we were able to get together.
Kids in order: Ella, Garret, Chase, Crew, Ruby, Spencer, Jacob, Marcus, Trey, Jude, and Quinn.

2nd Degree Burns

Poor Little Jude.
I will let the pictures explain.

I was carrying a bowl of HOT cream of wheat to the table for breakfast Tuesday morning in one hand and Jude in the other, and Jude grabbed for the bowl and dipped his hand in the HOT cereal. So sad. It was so hard to see him hurt, and boy did I feel bad. Luckily, after calming him down, within a few hours he was back to his normal self. He is such a good boy, he is not really using his right hand, he knows that it is injured. Hopefully it will heal soon! There are blisters on every single finger, and on his palm.

By the way, I don't know if it is his injured hand, teething or what, but his sleeping patterns are back to newborn, waking every 3 hours, what is the deal!!!!

PS- I need help on this blog, I tried to be creative and put up a new background, but all of my sidebar links are on the very bottom of the page, I don't know how to get them back to the side?? Any guidance would be appreciated!

More fun with Grandma and Grandpa Jones

We were so lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa Jones out to visit. We loved all the time together. Jude sure loved to hang out with them, and misses them now that they are back in AZ. We loved going shopping, taking walks outside, going to wegmans, going out to Palmyra, and just hanging out!

Thanks so much for coming out and for being the best grandparents!

Here is Grandpa and Jude. Jude is watching baby Einstein on the TV, he LOVES it!

One of our many walks to Wegmans. Jude loves to be outside. We are always taking walks!
Here is the family. While in Palmyra, we were able to make it out to the Peter Whitmer farm.

Oh, and I celebrated my 25th Birthday! Wow, I can't believe it! I had a wonderful day and was spoiled by my family!

Happy Mother's Day

I am so lucky to have spent Mother's Day with
none other than my wonderful Mother!

Thanks to my mother for setting the best example. Thanks to my husband for the delicious breakfast, and pedicure, and cutco knifes! And thanks to my son Jude for his sweet card (hand painted with daddy's help) and for allowing me to realize the greatest calling in the world!
Being a mother!

Hungry?!

Jude is a champion eater!
He LOVES rice cereal.
On Saturday we attempted to start him on rice cereal, because he loves to lick anything edible(and non edible), and will start chewing and licking whenever we are eating. Well, he was so ready! He loved it. He did not spit anything out, he ate it all up! We had so much fun feeding him.

WE DID IT

So Saturday was the BIG day.
The Grand Island Half Marathon.
It was a success.
We finished!

John's mother MaryAnne came out from Gilbert Arizona and joined us on race day. Although we each finished at different times we all had a blast and are very glad we did it! John and I finished much faster than we thought, John running 8:40 min miles and me 9 min miles! It was a beautiful day, perfect for a nice run. And Jude had his first experience with a babysitter, and did so wonderful! (at least that's what she said.)

Here we are before the race! Trying to get pumped up!

Here is John about to cross the finish line! The first one out of the group!

Here we are after the race reunited with little Jude!

Here is the group.
Garth (another fellow dental student from AZ), John, myself and Maryanne!

Showing off our medals after crossing the finish line!Today I am feeling every single muscle in my body, but it is a great feeling! We are anxious to find more runs to do in the future, and a marathon someday too!

Gordito

Yes, I must admit that we commonly call Jude our little Gordito. Thanks to John for starting it, I hope it does not give him a complex. Although I must say he is the cutest little fat boy ever! Yes, at his four month appointment he was 95% for weight and 90% for height! So the name definitely makes sense.
Anyway, our little Gordito is five months today! Wow, does time fly! I remember as if it was yesterday just being pregnant with him, and now he is turning into a little boy!
Here are a few of our favorite pictures we took the other day!


Jude loves to be the statue of liberty with daddy. He has been doing this for a long time and is getting so strong!

I love this picture because of the drool. This is a common look for Jude.

I don't know what this face is, but it cracks me up!


He loves to play in his exersaucer, he loves to ride on daddy's shoulders. He loves the phone and the remote control, he will grab it if you are using it. He loves to sit up, even though he tends to fall over eventually. He is constantly rolling over, and tries to crawl and move, he gets frustrated because he wants to move but just can't quite figure it out. He puts everything into his mouth. He loves the shower, and loves to let the water hit his head. I can't wait for the summer, he will LOVE the pool. He is always happy, and gets really hyper and excited sometimes! ( is this a sign for his future life, will he be a crazy boy!)

We are so lucky to have him in our lives! We are also very excited because Grandma Taylor comes tomorrow to play for a few days, and then next week Grandma and Grandpa Jones come to play! We can't wait!

A night of Firsts

Last night we had a lovely Family night at the ball game. We headed down to a Buffalo Bison's game with some friends and had a great time. This was Jude's first baseball game. He loved it.

Notice his little hat, which is a little snug on his large round head!

Last night also marked his first taste of chocolate ice cream thanks to daddy! His new favorite thing is to lick everything we are eating, needless to say he LOVED the ice cream!

More Babies!

My great friend Briste is expecting, (along with Rachel, Sarah and Erica), and we decided to surprise her with a shower. I swear one of us is always pregnant out here!
We all gathered up and carpooled out to her parent's house near Buffalo and spent the night enjoying yummy food, presents and great conversation! It is always so fun to be together, and I can't wait to meet her little girl in June!
Here are a few great pics Kristen took.

Briste looks so cute, I swear when I was seven months I did not look like this!
Opening presents!!
Little (naked) Jude enjoying the shower!



Jude and his friend Trey playing together, they were having so much fun, holding hands and trying to steal each others toy.

Also, Jude is getting more fun every single day. I love it! Here are a few pics that I love.

Every time after his naps, he loves to stay swaddled for a little while and just hang out. Once he is ready to play he starts to move around and I unswaddle him. This is him just relaxing on the love sac.

This might be the only time this is cute! But I could not resist.

Easter Sunday

Here is our little family enjoying Easter. We had a wonderful day spending the day together, and thinking about our beautiful Savior.






Saturday we took Jude to see the Easter bunny. I am trying to figure out how to scan the picture in to post it. And yes, I had to talk John into letting me put our son on some strange "bunny's" lap, but it is his first Easter!

General Conference Weekend

We love to watch conference, especially on mommy or daddy's shoulders!

Our 4 month old!

Now that Jude is 4 months, he is totally not a little baby anymore, he is just a little big person. He is so smart. He loves to play, and be outside. Here are a few pics of stuff he loves:

His new ExerSaucer. He is in heaven with so many toys. Thanks grandma and grandpa Jones.

He loves being outside. A few days last week were very nice, so we took walks, and played on a blanket outside!

His new bedtime routine includes a bath, a story and a song. He does so well, at sitting still, looking at the pictures, and listening to the story.


We go to the doctor on Monday, I am excited to see how BIG he really is!