J is for Jax

Nachos and Boots

 

Nothin' Better! 

Fall Y'all

 

Daddy had a work training out of town the week of Halloween so the Sheriff and I went trick-or-treating on our own this year.  I must say that I love Texas-style trick-or-treating!  It's beautiful weather and everyone sits in their camp chairs in their driveway to hand out candy.  It's like a big ol' block party, which is lots of fun!  Some people had music playing but most were just out there hanging out. Jax kind of caught on to the trick-or-treat idea this year which made it great!  He said "tweeet peese"  for "treat please" and was in HEAVEN at all of the "chocate" and "canny" he received.  We still have loads of candy because we did the double-whammy by hitting the ward trunk-or-treat a few days before Halloween as well as real trick-or-treating on Halloween. 

 

Other Fun-Filled-Fall Activities:

-We went to a "Pumpkin Farm" at a local church nearby with the MOMS Club.  Yes, The Mom's Club is a real thing and I didn't make it up.  I thought it was pretty funny at first but it's a national organization and everything...Legit, but it ain't got NOTHIN' on Relief Society. ;)  Anyway, Jax's favorite part was the "hay ride" on the "tractor"  (I'm putting all of this in quotations because it wasn't a real pumpkin farm, or a real tractor, or a real hay ride, or a real anything, but Jax liked it and was happy.  That's what matters.  It's just my way of being just a bit sarcastic about the whole enchilada).  They had some fun learning stations set up where the kiddies could weigh different fall items on a balance, see which fall items would float or sink, plant a pumpkin seed, make a jack-o-lantern with stickers, and paint a pumpkin with glitter and glue.  It was a great fall-time activity!  Jax seemed to love exploring so I'll most likely go again next year.  

-We hollowed out our pumpkin the night before Halloween.  I decided to go with the power-drill approach to carving since Mark wasn't home and I'm not necessarily the safest with a knife plus Jax at the same time.  It turned out hideous.  I saw some cute design ideas on pinterest but ours just wasn't it.  Yet again, Jax liked it.  That's what matters. :)  I was hoping he'd really dig in to the pumpkin-guts and have a cool first time texture experience but he wasn't really that into the pumpkin goo.  He did like holding the spoon and trying to scoop it out with that.  I think he loved the moment when we went outside, lit the candle, and put it in the pumpkin for the big reveal.  He kept saying "woooah!" 

    

 

-I went shopping at the outlets after Halloween while Mark was still gone.  We found some good deals on costumes for next year as well as a couple of other items for the house. This is our mommy-son date picture at the hamburger joint.  

 

-We've hit two high-school football games this season.  I have four young women who are involved in the band, the colorguard, and one is a PT trainer who helps out the football players mainly with their hydration needs ;)  High School football is a whole different story in Texas.  The band and colorguard half-time shows are a new experience here.  Everything REALLY IS bigger in Texas, y'all.  I had a great time watching the young women (and football players) do their thang.  High School football is fun.  There's just an excitement in the air at the games.  I think we'll make it a yearly tradition to go to at least one football game to support our local Buffaloes.  Yikes!  Never thought I'd say it...GO BUFFS.

ISN'T FALL SUCH A WONDERFUL TIME OF YEAR!!!???

Peek-A-Boo and Rainy Day Play

 

This kid loves to play hide-and-seek!  He gets so excited when he's about to be found that he just can't help himself to peek out of his spot giggling.  He's pretty good about taking turns counting and searching for mommy.  It's hilarious to me that I will be in such an obvious spot but it takes him a while to find me.  Sometimes I give little hints by doing bird noises "coo coo, coo coo" so that he can find me a little quicker.  Now, when he's looking for me or hiding from me he does the coo coo (exactly how I do!) and waits for me to do it back.  Also, he randomly counts by two's better than ones all of a sudden.   What a fun kid!

  

I found this picture on my phone and had to post it on the blog!  What a fun day!  We get some intense rain here occasionally and I'm not a big "rainy day" fan myself because we love to spend time outside going to the park and such.  Plus, the dreary cloud coverage just isn't that cool after a day or two!  Where are you sun?  After a few dreary days, I got up the guts to just embrace the rain.  We both had a great time running and playing in the summer rain!  

The 8 Greats of our Family Visit

 

THANK YOU CHRIS, GRAMMY, and GRANDPA for coming to visit!  We had the best time with you!

The 8 Greats (Not in any particular order):

1.  Visiting Natural Bridge Caverns (see cute pic of uncle Chris and Jax above).  So, I thought this could be a tourist-trap (overpriced and under-awesomeness) but it definitely exceeded my expectations!  It was really cool to see Texas' largest underground cave chain.  

2.  Wildlife Animal Park.  This really was wild! Jax loved throwing the food out the window for the animals.  You drive through the park and the animals are all roaming free without any fences or anything separating them from you.  At first we were kind of all thinking that it was just okay but after seeing the zebras and ostriches (AND feeding the goats--thanks to Gpa Ed, the Goat Man Himself), we were satisfied with the place!  (note to self: add video of ostrich)

 

 

3.  The Lesser-Known Missions of San Antonio.  A sort-of replica of Kimi gave us the tour.  Tiny. Red-headed.  Always wears a Park Ranger hat. (jk Gibbs.  Love ya! But I think you should be her for Halloween!)  Anyway, this lady LOVED her job and was very animated throughout the tour. ;)  We learned some interesting little facts about San Antonio's history and I stepped in to the church for a minute while the Mariachi Mass was going on!  Don't worry about me....Just one step closer to being even more hard-core of a Texan than I already was.  sniff.  ;)

 

 

4.  Eating at some fantastic restaurants.  My personal favorites-- The Gristmill in Gruene, La Hacienda (dad's Chile Rellenos were the bomb-diggity), and Papolis Greek food place at the Forum. 

 

5.  Nature walk at Salado Creek Trails and roaming around the little shops at Las Patios.  We enjoyed the natural beauties on a nice paved sidewalk, great for the stroller.  I think mom could have stayed on the trail for a few more hours but we had to get going.  Next time, mom!

6.  Supporting our retired neighbor, Tom, in his antique car show before playing some Volleyball at the stake center.  Even though we see his car every day right next door, it was kind of fun to see Tom in his element with all of this car buddies.  We have to laugh that both of our neighbors are really into their cars, cleaning, "fixing" aka adding more fancy things to their cars daily.  I'm sure they laugh at us when I put on the wipers and push the water button yet again so that I can see to drive instead of washing the car since it hasn't been done in weeks.  To each his own. 

Stake volleyball has been a fun Friday night activity for the past few weeks.  It's something both Mark and I enjoy and it makes for an easy date night.  Since Mark was working crazy hours, Chris joined me on this particular week.  Good addition to the team! :) The grandparents switched off running crazy with Jax so that we could play.  Gracias mama y papa.

Here's one of Chris...nice save, man!  

 Here's one of me. Not my highest jump of the night, but you get the picture.

ha ha! This is how we feel like we look when we're playing.  It may be exaggerated just a bit.  I should have gotten some real pics of us playing, though. 

7.  USU party.  Complete with Rootbeer and a 7-layer bean tray.  Go Aggies.  There is a back-story to this one.  Mom had a missionary-moment at Wally World when we were shopping for ingredients.  Way to go, mom!  The lady was planning to go to Utah and Mom invited her to see all of the cool church sites downtown and told her a little bit about the church doctrine.  
Every. member. a missionary!  We are proud of mom for being such a friendly, approachable gal.
 

8. TIME.  I always love the little things like when we're just hanging out chatting, when Jax sees them and says "gapa!  gammy! and ckiss!"  I also like going to church with my family.  I don't know exactly why but I just like it.    

Thanks again, fam!!!  Come back soon, there's much more to do, eat, and see!

Captian Jax

A few things about Jax....

He loves to dip his chips in salsa.  He calls ketchup, hummus, ranch, pretty much anything he dips anything into "sawsa."  This was one of his first big person words that he said really clearly.  It caught us off-guard the first time he said "pips" (chips) "sawsa!!!"  (18 months-ish).  Just last night he pounded I don't know how many chips all dipped into salsa at the Mexican restaurant.  :)  A true Texan.   

He likes to "sniff" flowers.  He usually blows in and out quickly--it sort of sounds like he's blowing his nose or something but it's quite funny.

Jax loves babies.  Anytime we see one, he loves to point it out and say "beebee!"  He loves to see pictures of our baby nephews.   

He has recently started to sing.  Row, Row, Row your Boat is one of his specialties.  He enjoys cheering for himself after singing "Woe, woe, woe (row)...Steeem (stream)....YAY! Yay!"  

He has me wrapped around his finger.  He loves to say "HOLD YOU!" and smile with his arms outstretched and his head tipped to one side.  This totally melts me and I have to hold him because I know it won't be long before he won't be asking to "hold you" any more.  sigh. 

He likes to pretend to take pictures of himself with his play cell-phone or whatever else is quadrilateral-shaped.  "Cheese!!  Cheeeeeese!.....Cuuuute!" (hmm. wonder where he's heard the cute part).  I love it when I get dressed and come out of the closet or try things on when we're out shopping and he says "cute!"  ha ha ha!  

He also pretends that almost anything (food, boxes, garbage) is a train, truck, race-car, tractor, airplane, or helicopter.  His vehicle noises are pretty good too!

He frequently finds his ties in the top drawer, proceeds to clip them on whatever outfit he's wearing and say "Bye-bye!  Church!"  The other day he even put ties on both he and I and said "chuuuch, bye-bye." 

He's still his friendly little self.  He loves to wave and say "hiiii" (with a lot of voice influx) to anyone and everyone.  What a fun-loving kid!  We hope his outgoing and friendly personality traits stick.  He'll be a great missionary ;)  

Since dressing up for Halloween as a cowboy and a horse, we have had loads of fun with the horse head hats.  His horse noise I'd say is one of his best. I can't really explain.  You just have to hear it for yourself.  I need to add some videos.  Anyway, we both gallop around the house and do horse noises and he LOVES it.  I have to admit I love it too but Jax could probably beat me in a long-distance race.  He seems to never want to quit this game.

Jax loves to play hide-and-seek.  His top hiding places are behind the curtains and under the table.  It's so great to hear his joyous squeals when we "find" him!  He also is willing to take a turn counting. "one..two..two...two...see....eight..."

"Tubber Time"

       At the Zoo...

Aloha, Aloha, and Aloha

This was such an ALOHA, ALOHA, ALOHA trip to Hawaii for Jax and I.  I know aloha can mean many things but we had many aloha (hello) moments this trip.  We did a lot of cool first-time things that will be fond memories.  We also experienced aloha (love) as we participated in the baptism of Lucy, blessing of Erik, and had family fun time together.  Last but not least, shed a tear here with me if you can, the time came when we had to say aloha (goodbye). Since the fam is moving back to Utah soon, I have a feeling that this could be our last trip to that gorgeous place for a very long time and maybe even forever.  I know it's weird of me but I think I'm already having sad separation anxiety and I'm not even the one moving from paradise!  :)  It has just been so much fun to visit our family there a few times and we feel so blessed and thankful to be able to go this last time.  A HUGE thanks to Kimi and Liz for helping me with sky-miles!!!!  I just can't thank you enough!

On to the ALOHA times.....

The 9.5 mile Hike.  I don't even know what this hike is called but it was the most gorgeous hike I've ever been on.  EVER.  We were proud of ourselves for doing this venture and the company made it a great adventure!  There is never a dull moment when Chris is around.  He picked up a poisonous frog before we even started the trail.  Yup, that's my bro.  Anyone who knows him wouldn't be surprised by this at all.  We had to get a girl-power pic at the end as we were happy to have finished our personal "marathon" hike.  The views on the trail were absolutely breath-taking!  Pictures never do real life justice.

Shimazu's Shave Ice--This was a first for us.  My mouth is honestly watering as I'm thinking about it right now writing this.  You add the ice cream on bottom and cream on top....Man oh man.  So good!

Dole Pineapple Plantation.  The TRAIN RIDE was a hit!  The boys were so excited about it  We learned a few things about the plantation and listened to Paradise Pineapple music on the ride too.

 Wait for it....wait for it....

 And we're on!  Choooo choooo!

 Feeding the ducks at the botanical gardens...

 Avocados as big as your face.

Baptism of LUCY.  We are so proud of Lu for her decision to be baptized.  It turned out wonderfully!  One of my favorite parts about it was that she sang and did an ukelele solo "I Like to Look for Rainbows"  It was a sweet moment to watch and listen to her.  I loved her purity,  innocence and the special spirit that came into the room immediately.  I was happy to help by doing the invitations and program.  
 

 These Hawaiians, they know how to partay!  Big fat piggeroo...

The food spread was amazing and delicious! 

Blessing of Eric What a sweet boy!  This was such a nice day.  We had yummy leftovers from the night before and just chilled at home after church.  (More on baby Erik below)  We were so happy to experience both the baptism and baby blessing.  It's just wonderful to enjoy these type of special occasions together with family.  

Surfing Lessons.  One of my personal top Hawaii moments.  Kimi and I seem to do our best when we are together at being sort of annoying to other people but funny to ourselves.  This was us at our best, I think. ;)  Our hard core surf coach was flying through directions at a rate of a hundred words-per-second it seemed.  At one point I asked, are you going to repeat this because I feel like I'm still trying to digest the first thing you said?  "Nope" and he carries on with the lesson.  Yikes!  So we were both a little nervous but trying to act like we weren't by joking about everything. ha!  My biggest fear was my inability to swim well. (Sorry mom, for never passing level 4 in swimming lessons six years in a row!)  Kimi's biggest fear was being eaten by a shark.  Na na na na na na.  Poor Kimi, being forced to watch Jaws one too many times.  Anyway, back to the story, we paddled out to "the spot" for a long time.  This surfing is a serious upper body workout.  My arms, shoulders, and back were sore before we even got started!  When we actually got going, our instructor proved to be pretty good.  He gave us a push and then coached us through getting up.  It was easier than I had thought it would be!  First time...and I got up...whooo hooo!!!  I was surprised at myself.  Then I started doing all sorts of flips and tricks since I was pretty much pro.  Kidding!  But we really had a good time riding some waves.  We even purchased the professional photographer's pictures, since this was such a momentous occasion.  Cowabunga!  (Is that even a surf word or just a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles word?)

 Way to go, Gibbs!

 

 

 

This is my excited face after my first try.... Whoooo!

Waiamea Falls with four cute little boys.  This place had a nice paved trail to the falls, which was perfect with the littles.  The falls were beautiful and we took turns swimming out there.  The boys loved throwing rocks in the pool.
The three things that stick out most to me are:
-Austin's tour guide skills--updating us as to where we were on the map every few minutes and giving us a tour of how the natives lived, ("And this is where they kept their wild pigs"  Then I would read the plaque and that's exactly what it said, "and this is where they dry their meat before they eat it"  etc. etc..)
-The sharp rocks jabbing into my feet as we tried to walk out to an area deep enough to swim
-Cole's shoes falling off every five seconds on the hike and his big fall smacking his head on the road right at the end of the hike.  Poor, poor, boy!  The older ladies were trying to be very nice to me by giving me advice on how to care for the poor kid and his true mother just snickered every time another lady gave me advice.  :) 
It really was a beautiful place.  Much more "touristy" than the "marathon hike" but very beautiful.  

 Austin, the tour guide.

Beaches--Lounging, Jumping waves, playing in the sand, Snorkeling (not for me though),  Boogie-boarding, Long boarding, Picture taking, etc. etc.  Jax LOVES the beach.  We missed daddy at moments like this because this is usually his favorite part of vacationing here.  Bellows Beach....we will miss you!
 
North Shore--Shark's Cove's Next Door Neighbor Beach, Turtle Beach, Kahuku Grill
 
 

 

Diamond or Crystal's (depended on the day) Nail and Hair Salon.  Who names themself Diamond as their play name???  This girl is such a funny chick. She has some serious skill when it comes to painting nails!  Grandma tried to give her some advice on the color choices of something more subdued but "Diamond" knew better.  Bright yellow and purple for you, Grandma!

Teaching Pre-School. C is for COWBOY.  We had a fun Letter C-roundup, Panning for Gold, Cactus craft, Trail Mix snack, and some stories out on the campfire.  I was surprised at how much Jax and Cole liked all of this!  They were loving it.   

Uke Class and Zumba at the church.  It sounds weird but these little activities were one of my favorite things about the trip!  I was able to go to Zumba class 3 times.  Happiness.   



Babysitting.  I was able to babysit for Geo and Kimi while they did a little getaway to Molekai.  It was such a delight to get to know her kids on a more personal basis.  My favorite moment was when Cole copied exactly what he had seen me do a few times and stood right in front of the fan and said "oh....dat feel dood!" ("that feels good").  I laughed so hard when I saw him do that!  The humidity was kind of killer.  Both for my body and my hair.  :p    I took the boys to the mall for a train ride, which they absolutely loved.  We also enjoyed some swimming time together and I remember Lu was VERY concerned that I would be able to find Ruth's house.  So funny.  I sure love my nieces and nephews!

Jax and Cole had to have a special lesson by Geo about coveting.  Thou shalt not, children.  These cute boys sort of went the rounds.  I wish I could say that my son is giving, kind, and sweet 100 percent of the time but it's just not true.  Thou shalt not bear false witness, even if it's about your own son, even if he's adorable.  He can be a turkey!  SHARING is one of the things we are working on.  I would say Cole and Jax have a love/hate relationship because they had some nice and fun moments too.....I can't think of any right now....but I'm pretty sure they did.  :)  Jax's favorite toy at the Tripp's house was.......wait for it......the baby doll stroller.  I can't tell you how many pictures I have of him pushing this thing around.  He would haul around all sorts of things; his truck, books, dress-ups, just anything he wanted to go on a ride.  Maybe I should seriously think about buying him something manly that he can push around because this has been a trend for quite a while.  Anytime we go to a house with girls' toys, he goes for the stroller every time.  I keep thinking he'll grow out of it but he hasn't for quite a while.  Time for a lawn mower toy, Jax! ;) 

I love this picture... Look at Cole's face! 


Jax and Baby Erik on the other hand, were good friends except for when he tried to steal the binkie, which happened on a regular basis.  Jax loves babies.  He had such a great time sticking the binkie in baby Erik's mouth!  :)  We are still working on "gentle hands" with tiny babies.  It was so much fun to meet sweet baby Erik!  We just think he is such a cutie pie!  He seems like such a good-natured little guy.  He was so good to go with the flow on all of our adventures. Cute baby!!!!  

Punchbowl.  I'm really, really glad I got to experience this place.  It has such a neat feeling about it.  I was amazed at the number of graves and how many names are on the walls leading up to the memorial.  We live in an amazing country!  It was a good experience to take a moment to reverence all of those who have lost their lives in the cause of freedom.

 

 The kids loved the fountain the most.  No surprises there, right?

 

 Field trip to the Children's Theater.  Cinderella-Korean Style.  The only thing I can come up with off the top of my head is the chant they sang at the end, which wasn't even part of the play, to encourage emergency preparedness. "We're not scared. We're Prepared! We're not scared. We're Prepared!"

 Of course we did some serious shopping and eating out!  Thank you Geo for watching Jax so many times so that I could go out and do some fun touristy things.  I'm sure I'm missing some details but we are SO GLAD we went this last time to Hawaii!  I can't help but smile even thinking about it!

 

All I can say is......................  

ALOOOOOOHA!