Spring project

We've been saying we were going to finish our garage since we moved in two years ago. Thank goodness we have some good neighbors and friends who decided they wanted to finish theirs at the same time and offered to help us with ours! I honestly don't know if we would have gotten it done without the help of Sam. He taught Sean how to texture the walls, helped paint and provided almost all of the materials so it cost us next to nothing. Muchas gracias to Sam and also to Kristol for being cool about your husband kickin' it at our house so much last week :)

Before:

After:

Our first photoshoot

We got Jackson's pictures taken a few weeks ago while we were up in Idaho for spring break. I think they turned out awesome!! I was so worried about figuring out which outfits to take, whether or not Jackson would cooperate, etc. It was kind of stressful and I was just glad when it was over! Anyway, I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. We even got a few family shots which was cool since I realized we have very few pictures of all three of us together. After the session I was a bit nervous since Jackson had been a little fussy, but now I realize there was no need to worry. Our photographer was Chantri from Studio CK Photography and she was amazing (I have a link on the right if you want to check her out). Sean and I put together this little slideshow of our favorite pictures-- it gave us a good excuse to try out the video editing software on his computer. Now I just need to figure out which of these photos to blow up and frame-- any suggestions? :)

Blessed

Jackson was blessed yesterday! The blessing was beautiful-- Sean did a great job. I have it recorded and it is a good thing because when I listened to it today I had already forgotten a lot of it! The guys in the circle were laughing afterwards because I guess when Sean said his name, Jackson basically just sat straight up on his own. Apparently he was quite the wiggle worm during the blessing :) Having a baby to bless was surreal to me and I must admit I cried like a baby. We are just so happy to have Jackson in our lives.

We had lots of friends and family come celebrate with us and we are so grateful for their love and support. We are especially grateful for the family members who traveled to be with us. Yesterday was a blustery, stormy day and we are glad everyone got home safely. It was so fun having everyone together. We had lots of good food and even though there was some drama with someone using the clubhouse even though we had it reserved, we didn't let it ruin our day.

We are so happy to be your parents Jackson! We love you!

One Dollar Fun

Jenny and I were in Wal-Mart today, and while we were walking by the toy section I saw what may have been the greatest find of the year.  A spiderman kite.  FOR A BUCK!  So I threw the kite in the cart and when we got home we busted it out.  Luckily for us, it was windy this afternoon.  We were glad it was windy, because it was some of the most fun we have had in a long time.  Who says 1 dollar can't buy you hours of fun?

  

Good news!

With the economy being in the toilet and all, we were a bit worried about Sean finding an internship this summer. Paid legal internships are basically impossible to get this year since the competition is insane and many firms aren't hiring. All I can say is I am very glad Sean isn't graduating-- hopefully the economy is back on track in a few years when he is.

Anyway, Sean just found out he is going to be doing an internship for APX's in-house attorney this summer! It's going to be a great opportunity for him and we feel really lucky. He should gain some awesome experience and since his goal is to work as an in-house attorney for a large company some day, this is a great fit. Same employer, different job! Where would we be without APX?!

In other good news, my sister Emily had her baby boy yesterday! We went to the hospital to see him and he is such a handsome little guy. I've been so excited for her to have him. I love that he and Jackson are less than three months apart. I have high hopes that they will be good buddies!

Spring break

Now that Sean is a student at a school with an actual spring break (we heard they exist) we decided to take full advantage with a trip to Idaho. We headed up to my parents' cabin for a few days where it looked nothing like spring with the four feet of snow on the ground. We had a great time chillaxin' (one of Sean's favorite words). It was a whole lot of candy, the hot tub and laying in the Love Sac. Case in point:

We did manage to get out and see a few things, such as this moose:

I kept bugging Sean to get closer for a better picture and nearly peed my pants laughing when I saw him franticly running back to the car because he was afraid the moose was going to charge him. Funny thing is as we were driving away the moose did run over to the spot where Sean was. Glad we escaped the moose mauling. We also saw some wolves in West Yellowstone at their little reserve which was pretty cool.

With it still being winter up there I thought it was the perfect opportunity for Jackson to wear his bear suit. It was so cute I almost couldn't stand it.

We also spent a few days in Idaho Falls with family which is always fun. We got to visit Sean's cousin Cory and his wife Kinley and meet their cute new baby Kate and Jackson got to spend some time with his cousins. Overall, a great trip! I could get used to this whole spring break thing.

Draper temple

We had the opportunity to go to the Draper temple open house a few weeks ago. It is such an awesome temple! In fact, I think Draper is my favorite now (well, besides Salt Lake). What I really like about it is that it seems sort of modern-- from the furniture to the fabrics and patterns, etc. Everything just looks so fresh and clean and nice.

While we were waiting for the bus to shuttle us up to the temple we sat next to a family that seemed to be having a rough morning. The father and son were arguing and the wife seemed to be at her wits end. We ended up seeing that same family standing in the celestial room near the end of the tour. They were all standing together quietly in a corner and the dad had tears in his eyes. It was kind of neat to see what an impression it made on this family and the reverence they showed. Standing together with Sean and Jackson in the celestial room was also a neat experience for me.

Anyway, if you get an opportunity, go check out the temple. It is being dedicated March 20-22.

On a different note, I was disappointed to read this. HBO really does show a lot of trash and I can't believe people actually pay money to subscribe to the channel. I wish they would have the decency to be respectful of the LDS community by not trying to replicate temple ceremonies and practices. It's not that we are trying to hide anything-- one reason we have open houses. We hold these ceremonies sacred. They shouldn't be used by HBO to stir up controversy for "good" television. I guess respect is lacking a lot of places these days. Anything to push the envelope and anything for money, right? Sad.