Olympic Fever

We've been watching a lot of the 2010 Winter Olympics in our house. So we decided to go to the Olympic Oval and try our hand at speed skating, or uh skating.

First, we all got our hands stamped. Jackson was excited about that.

Then we headed out to the rink. Once out there I saw lots of families pushing their pre-skating age children in strollers. Luckily mine was out in my car so I ran and got it. I had no idea they would let us do that. It was such a treat, Jackson loved it and was happy the entire 2 hours we were there.

Jasper is actually a really good skater. He loved it.

I promise you, the only reason I didn't fall was because of Jackson's stroller.

Eventually Jackson did want to join his big brother outside the stroller. So Jasper took him on a little walk.

I was very impressed with the Olympic Oval. It is huge and they were very accommodating. They even provide helmets and little walkers for children just learning. We had a very fun time! ( I don't know why the font is now blue).

Funny boy

My little Jackson is such a funny sleeper. He is a good sleeper now (sleeps through the night, yeah! Takes 3 hour naps, yeah!) thank goodness, but when I go in to check on him he is always in the cutest positions.

This was taken a few weeks ago. We keep his crib in our bedroom for naps, and here he is with his feet out the side.

And he is often found in this position. Here he is in his pre-church nap, all dressed and ready to go - and caboose sticking up in the air.

Today I remembered that he's been doing this bum in the air sleep position for a while now,

this is him at 4 months old.

What a sweety.

OBSESSED

Last night I tossed and turned. My mind was racing and I kept waking up in a panic. My dreams have been filled with thoughts of . . . decorating.

The closer our basement gets to finished, the more obsessed I become with thoughts of furnishing it painting it, buying things for it, putting up shelves, etc.

Last night I dreamed of fabric and reupholstering every piece of furniture we own and making pillows and buying a desk from the D.I. that I could paint white, no yellow, maybe green.

We have started painting the basement - we've one coat on the ceiling. Next will be primer then paint, then carpet, molding, then done. Everyday I daydream about how it will look.

I need to RELAX!

So to help me relax, I will post some visions of how I hope to furnish the basement. My goal is to be down there enjoying it by March.

In my dream world, my basement would have built in bookshelves and they would look as awesome as this:

In the real world, I might be able to pull something like this off, they have relatively inexpensive shelves like this at IKEA.

image above found on a DIY blog here.

I will need a home office space downstairs.

In my dream world I would have a space like this:

or this:

In the real world I might be able to pull off something like this:

Or maybe this. If you look hard, the D.I. or goodwill have some great finds that just need a little paint:

Most of these images are off of the Pottery Barn website. I will most likely never be able to buy anything at that store, but I love stealing their ideas.

Thanks for helping me relax.

Junior Jazz

Jasper had his last basketball game with the Jr. Jazz on Saturday. I haven't posted any pictures before this because my camera stinks. I used my mom's camera this time.

This year they were undefeated! What a season.

One thing I love about the Jr. Jazz is that it is really short. One practice a week, one game a week, and I think there were only 8 games. Plus they get two Jazz tickets!

 

I snapped this right before he made 2 points. Go Jasper!

Posing with Jackson during halftime.

There he is in the front. Go 47!

Jackson loves the games too.

You know, I never would have thought I would be going to games and practices year round. Some people only have their kids in one sport, but this works for us. He loves it. Being involved in sports really boosts Jasper's confidence and it is a fun family activity every game. It teaches him time management, good sportsmanship - and that sometimes you lose, even when you play hard. So far I think football is his true love, so in the future we may just cut it back to that, we'll see.

Now, on to baseball. . .

Cannibals and reptiles

Jasper is clever and always seems to have something clever to say.

The other day he was talking about some mean kids at school. I don't remember much more about the context of our conversation, but I said something like "Every person has the potential to be good." And Jasper came back with,

Jasper: What about cannibals?

Another day he was asking about the birds and the bees and how it all works. He seems to always be asking about this stuff lately. He asked what sperm was quite a few months ago, and David said it was a type of whale.

We've been avoiding this subject!

So I finally started to explain it all for real, and I was explaining that women have eggs in their bodies that are fertilized by the husband.

Jasper: Does that mean we are reptilian?

Me: Huh?

Jasper: Because you have eggs - like a reptile.

Me: No, we are not reptilian.

Picture time

My mom gave me her camera so that I could steal all her photos and upload them to my computer. I thought I would share a few of my favorites.

 

Heather and her horse, picture snapped 7/09

Staci's new home! Snapped 11/09

Jasper working hard, helping us clean up Staci's new home 11/09

Jackson enjoying his Christmas present from Aunts Staci and Ree 12/09

 

My dad finally getting Jacks to nap on Christmas day

 

Sledding torture, snapped New Year's Day 1/10

We made some cool pictures and frames for a steal ($48!) 1/23/10

Then we came back to my house to find this scary man working all day texturing the ceiling, 1/23/10

Jasper and Heather help protect the rest of the room from texturing splatters.

In this picture they were arguing "hold it higher!" "no!"

Look at me throwing a soccer in the basketball hoop. I'm smart!

 

Enough of that,

The End.

Upholstery Class!

I've been wanting to take an upholstery class for a while now, and when I received our school district's Continuing Education course catalog I found what I was looking for.  A 10 week class every Wednesday for $75. I called my sisters and we're now done with our second class.

My first project is this sad rocking chair with tons of potential that I got at the D.I. when I was still pregnant with Jackson.

Here it is pictured above in Jackson's "bedroom". Jackson has been living in our back room/dining room/baby room for a while now. The good news is the basement is thisclose to being finished (this close means we just went to Home Depot and bought all the doors. DOORS!) and then we'll have enough bedrooms for him to have an actual bedroom. Also, being in an open area like this has made him a great sleeper.

Here is the chair, which I will from now on refer to as Gertie, in our classroom/dungeon.

 

And here is Gertie dismantled.

 

Staci and Heather are in the class too!

 

Can't wait to show you the finished product!

Kwanzaa

A few weeks before Christmas Jasper came home from school and said "We need to celebrate Kwanzaa. Can we do Kwanzaa this year?"

I had to admit that I knew very little about Kwanzaa. He said "I learned about it at school. Its for African Americans.  So we need to celebrate it." David and I said we would do some research about it first and then we'd talk about it.

We learned that Kwanzaa is a weeklong celebration held in the United States honoring African heritage and culture. There is quite a bit to it really. I was initially worried that it was a celebration to replace Christmas, but actually (according to the Kwanzaa official website) "Kwanzaa was not created to give people an alternative to their own religion or religious holiday. And it is not an alternative to people's religion or faith but a common ground of African culture...Kwanzaa is not a reaction or substitute for anything."

Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of seven principles.  This year as our first year of celebration (and kind of a last minute decision) we decided to focus on just one of the principles, Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.

We also decided to learn more about Jasper's father's country, Central African Republic . David taught us all about its history, and I showed us where it

was on the Map. 

 

 

Jasper was in charge of a family night.

 

Next year will do more and learn more. It is an exciting new tradition!

2010 Goals

• Get organized
• Have a finished basement (by March, by March by March - power of positive thinking).
• Get more food storage
• Follow a budget better
• Get in shape. This is a must since I will be doing the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay in June. Basically me and 11 other teammates will run from Logan to Park city in 24 hours (188 miles).Yep, I'm that crazy.
• Do more with friends
• Get this guy to like the snow:

 

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve was quite the party - we stayed up and watched 2 movies, all the way until midnight. Jasper took some pictures,

Midnight!

David!

Me in my Snuggie!

and we yelled out the door, "Happy New Year!"

It was the party of parties, I bet none of you could top!