Serendipitous

Yesterday was glorious. Adam had the day off since he worked extra hours during the week this week. It has been raining for ever and ever, then yesterday we finally got the perfect day. Of course, we had to take advantage of the day's glory since the rain was scheduled to return yet again today. So we packed a lunch with intentions of having a picnic at Murray park. Fate stepped in and led us back to Wheeler Farm instead. Last time was fun, but yesterday was way better. Firstly, Jack was feeling 100% better with no traces of any viral infections. Secondly, they were having a special extravaganza so we got to see lots of cooler things this time.

First, we got to see the Chick-fil-A cow. He gave us coupons for free food and posed for a picture with us.

Jack knows that something is up with this whole giant moving stuffed animal thing. He couldn't take his eyes off of him just like when he met the owl.

Then we got to see real live ponies up close! Jack loved them. One of them sniffed his toes with his big nose and Jack giggled at it a lot. 

Next we got to feed Nomi, the goat.

And we got to pet this big, furry goat. He was baa-ing at us a lot. 

And there was a little, tiny baby goat! I loved him. He was climbing all over his mom. See him standing on her? We told her that we could relate. Our baby likes to climb too.

Jack even got to drive a tractor. :)

Other fun things we did, but didn't get pictures of include: watching a sheep get sheared, moo-ing at a cow, watching a seagull swim around pretending to be a duck, and listening to a rooster cockle doodle doo a bunch of times. This was probably Jack's favorite part of the whole outing. His whole body would shake with excitement when the rooster crowed.

To round out the day's perfection, Adam and I got to go on a date yesterday evening. We left Jack with my mom and dad. Then we headed to the nickel-cade to play arcade games and act like teenagers. We won a bunch of tickets and, of course, spent them on toys for Jack and chocolate for me.

Evidences of Jack's Mobility

As you can clearly see, Jack is completely competent when it comes to crawling, standing, and then sitting back down afterward. This makes everything in our daily lives a bit more challenging, namely: sleep time, doing the dishes time, making the dinner time, blogging time, getting ready in the bathroom time, and going to the bathroom time. If he weren't so darn cute, maybe we'd be bugged. It's just such a confidence booster when you walk in the room and he automatically comes crawling toward you with a big smile on his face. He loves us. He really really loves us.

Pictures of the House... FINALLY

While Adam was at work and Jack slept yesterday, I decided to get every room in the house simultaneously clean so I could take pictures. It always seems that when the kitchen is clean, the living room is a disaster or vice versa. I finally got the office all organized and decorated. Then I got the kitchen all decorated and have finally been able to produce some pictures for you all.

First, we'll begin the grand tour outside.

Pretty cute, right? No front yard whatsoever, but it's ok, cause you wouldn't want to be out front with the noisy road anyway. And also the backyard makes up for the lack of front yard.

And also, our view is much better these days. This is what you'll see if you look past all the cars buzzing by.

Come right on through the front door and you'll find the spacious living room, at least by our standards.

We bought a new/used couch to fill up all the space we're not used to having.

Now, follow me and just past the living room, we'll come to the kitchen, which is also much more gigantic than we're used to. You may also notice new design features. I revamped it and used all of my Paris/Eiffel Tower stuff. I'm loving it.

On the right side, you'll see the side door, which is the one we usually use. And also there is a stair case that leads to the downstairs part of the duplex. Our neighbors have their own door around back, though.

Alright, now come along down the hallway. First on your left you'll see the office/guitar room. It's great that the guitars get to have their own room now, instead of sharing with Jack.

 If you look close at the computer screen, you might be able to sneak a peak at the theme for Jack's birthday party. I'm really excited about it.

I made this wall art out of all of Adam's concert tickets.

Ok, now directly across from the office, we'll find the bathroom. It's a bit on the smaller scale, but what can I say? You win some (a lot) and you lose some (just a few).

And finally, we'll end with Jack's room on the left. It's fun how much space he has to play. And I love my new rocking chair courtesy of my sister, Christie.

Sorry, no pictures of our room for now. It's in need of a redecorating. I just can't decide on a color scheme. Just use your imagination, cause it looks the same as it always has.

Making Friends at Target

 He and Buzz are making the same face

 Maybe he was remembering how awesome he looked for Halloween

Birds, Birds, Birds

Sorry for all the marathon blogging I've been doing lately. Normally, my personal guideline is to wait at least three days between posts to provide for optimal commenting. I find when I post blogs too close together, the comments are lacking. And everyone knows the whole point of blogging is to get comments. Nevertheless, it seems much easier lately to sit down and write multiple blogs in a row while Jack is sleeping. So, my apologies for all this blogging, but don't let it keep you from commenting freely. Anyhow, on with the post about birds.

In our ongoing quest to find awesome things that can be done here that we never could have dreamt of doing in Rexburg, we decided to go visit Tracy Aviary. It's this cool place where they have a bunch of rescued birds. We liked it a lot there and thought of Adam's brother, Matt, the whole time we were there. I guess you have to know him to understand why he would have liked it there so so much.

One of the highlights was this beautiful, majestic creature.

His wing got injured in the wild. So he gets to live here now and get hundreds of pictures taken of him daily. 

I, personally, LOVED the Mama goose and her goslings. 

Is this guy weird or WHAT?

Adam impersonated this little fella.

This peacock was hanging out on the roof of this building the whole time we were there.

We saw pink flamingos.

And we got to meet a real, live owl.

I get why Jack isn't looking at the camera, but isn't it the owl's JOB to be photogenic and look at the camera?

Who Needs Toys...

...when you have Post-It notes?

...or when you have decorative limes?

...or when you have guitar equipment?

...or when you have cubby holes to crawl in?

Needless to say, there might be some babyproofing in our near future.

8 Months

Jack is eight months old now. The one word that describes him best is MOBILE! He loves to be moving constantly. As always, he's super fun to have around. He learns something new everyday and seems to be a really quick learner. He does a new trick and then has it down. But what did you expect? I mean look at his parents. :)

At 8 months:

-He is 'for real' crawling. He just keeps getting faster and faster at it.
-He pulls himself up on everything. He's happiest when he is standing on something. He's learning to take falls like a tough boy. Most of his falls can be laughed off, but sometimes he take big ones that require some snuggling.
-Yesterday he started walking along furniture. He made his way down the length of the couch and couldn't have been more pleased with himself.
-He loves when you hold onto his hands and walk with him. Before when we would do that, he'd just drag his feet, but now he leads the way.
-He's become a bit of a mama's boy. Depending on the mood and time of day, he can be pretty clingy and get upset when I leave the room.
-He loves to read and understands the interactive books we have. He pulls the flaps down and likes to touch his books with different textures. Sometimes when he's fussy, reading is one of the only things that will settle him down.
-His favorite things to play with are first and foremost wires, cords, and ropes. He knows where all the cords are in the house and will crawl to them as fast as he can so that he can get to them before one of us. Secondly, he loves his Zhu Zhu pet. He'll chase after that thing all day.
-He's enjoying the fact that his parents don't ignore him for school work. I feel like I'm a much better mama these days because I have an abundance of time to play with him and read with him.
-He's growing up rather quickly, but it doesn't make me as sad as I might have thought it would. I get excited with every new trick he learns and really love watching him grow.

Wheeler Farm

It turns out that Adam working nights isn't half bad. He goes in for work anywhere between two and six in the afternoon, leaving the whole morning to do fun things together. Last week we went to Wheeler Farm. Jack wasn't in the best of moods. It turns out he most likely had a viral infection, but he was still a pretty good trooper about it all. He even managed to be super cute in this picture.

And this one.

However, he wasn't that into the goats.

He was equally enthused about this horse.

But I thought this horsey was kind of awesome. 

And, of course, I also really liked my cute boys in matchy matchy green. It's also important to note that Jack is holding the same graham cracker in all of the pictures. I gave it to him when we first got there and his little fists are still clenched around it in the last pictures we took.