The Lion King meets Hunger Games

For the first time since our move to Lubbock, Michael and I had the privilege of going to the movie theater! Our awesome friends the Plotts watched baby Jackson, and Michael and I were off to see Hunger Games. We'd built up a lot of excitement to see the movie because we both read the first book, and then we read the 2nd and 3rd together. I thought they did a great job choosing the cast, as well as capturing the essence of the book without being overly gory. The best part, however, came from the audience and not the movie! In the quiet moment when Peeta is putting the special healing goop on Katniss' forehead, someone did an excellent imitation of Rafiki's voice and said, "CIMBA!" Really loud. At first there were a few giggles, and then the whole theater just roared with laughter when they realized how much it really resembled the part in the Lion King when Rafiki paints Cimba. Hilarious. You'd have to be there to really get the sense of how funny that was in the middle of such a tense movie. Loads of fun!

Ooops...bad mommy!

After returning from a joyful afternoon at the park, I discovered I had broken the cardinal rule of mommyhood....I neglected to put sunscreen on my precious son! His little chubby cheeks got a little more than rosy! Michael was kind enough to inform me that I had damaged the DNA that will continue to replicate throughout Jackson's entire life. Way to go, mom! But, hey, he still loves me and he's still happy! What a blessing that babies are so forgiving! :)

Beautiful Weather and Family Walks

We have enjoyed such gorgeous weather the past few months! Springs here are typically quite windy, or so we've heard, but we've enjoyed so many calm and sunny days. As a result, we've also enjoyed lovely family walks! Jackson is a great walking buddy--whether he's in the pack or the stroller, he's a great sport. And he's adorable. Simply adorable.

Eating Solids

Jackson is loving the world of real food! So far, we've cooked up or mashed some green beans, yellow squash, bananas, sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, pears, apples, bananas, rice cereal, and have I mentioned frozen bananas? Jackson has continued to be my monkey! He loves using this stupendous baby contraption to gobble up bananas. The slurping sounds are amazing. It's such a blessing when food can double as entertainment--for him, and for us!

Our "Grand" Piano

My wonderful parents gave us a piano as a wedding gift, and we just now called to collect it. We kept waiting to be "settled in" somewhere before we got it....but then we realized that could take many more years, and we felt ready for the blessing of piano music RIGHT NOW. :) After much deliberation, we decided to go digital. It's just more practical for our situation, and better suited for teaching children to play. So, one day the delivery man showed up on my doorstep and graciously pushed the piano far enough into our entry way that I could barely close the door and even more narrowly get through the space with Jackson in my arms. Fortunately, when Michael arrived home, he came to the rescue! He first put his muscles to work moving it out of the doorway, and then employed his handy-man skills to work assembling our new beauty. Michael and I both love to practice and play, and Jackson LOVES to listen! I've loved how excited Michael gets to make beautiful music. He especially likes the feature that has the piano play the left hand part of the song while he plays the right hand part. Apparently Jackson's not the only one who likes new toys! Thanks mom and dad for always encouraging us to develop and share our talents!

The New Pizza Stone

Michael is full of ideas and inventions. His enduring passion since we ate at Settebellos in SLC has been to build a wood burning brick oven. He's even obtained the fire bricks necessary to do so! Unfortunately, our landlord wont allow us to build a brick oven inside our apartment, or on the community lawn in behind it. Crazy, I know. So insensitive to creativity! But, you know Michael--nothing will stop him from getting what he wants! So, we were blessed to get a sweet grill from some friends in our ward who were getting rid of theirs. Michael cleaned it up, and now we use the bricks on the grill on our back balcony to cook our Friday night pizzas. We're getting them close to perfection. My guess is that all the neighbors will smell our Friday night delights and petition the office for us to build the real brick oven. Until then, we'll just enjoy our grill bricks. Way to go, Michael!

My Adorable Boys

I feel like the luckiest woman in the world to spend all my time with my two favorite men!!