Let's go out to the ball game...

We went to an I.F. Chuckars game tonight. It's the semi-pro baseball team here in town. A "chuckar" is some kind of a bird I guess. We got "Chuckar Dogs" and Jessica got to stay up past her bedtime, so everyone had a good time. Jessica even got a picture with Charlie Chuckar. Too funny. I think she was ready for bed by that point though.

The Gatorade bottle was her favorite thing of the night.

Jessica and Laura

Michael, Jessica, and Charlie Chuckar

Our summer so far ... a catch-up

So I've always been kind of annoyed at the people who only seem to have lives through their kids. But looking at what I've written in this loverly little blog of ours, I realize I'm one of those people. But that's ok. Jessica is the cutest thing EVER and there's always something to write about when it comes to her. Me... not so much. But I'm working on that one. :)

A lot has happened this summer that I haven't really had a chance to write about, so here's an attempt. Hopefully it won't be too much of a reality check of how little we actually do. Our goal before we left San Diego was to make this the most fun summer ever. Well, we're still working on that one, but it's been fun.

On our way to Idaho we had to stop off in Provo to get BYU fudge and go to J-Dawgs (the BEST hot dog place ever! - yes, hot dogs are fabulous). Even Jessica had a good time.

Yum... J-Dawgs!

Jessica has turned into a little fish. We got her a kiddie pool and she loves to just sit there with her toys and splash. Surprisingly she doesn't even seem to care that her face is dripping wet by the time I make her get out.

In her pool - soooo happy!

She started converting the splash trick to bath-time too. Luckily she enjoys her baths, so no complaints about a little splashing.

Jessica is just waiting for the tub to fill up so the splashing can begin!

These past couple of weeks we've taken her to the city pool and she has had a blast! She made friends with a two year old boy who was learning to jump off the edge into his mom's arms. She caught on way too quick. Michael would hold her hands as she stood on the edge and she'd walk right off the edge. Wow. She's brave. I am sooo not a fish; I'm not sure I could even call myself a swimmer. That was another one of our goals for this summer - teach Laura how to swim. It's a work in progress, but I'm improving. 22 and can't swim - I know, pretty lame. But I'm improving. Michael says I need to be dive certified soon so we can vacation in Belize. Hmmm... we'll see.

Jessica and Michael at the Aquatic Center.

We went to Yellowstone National Park in June. Michael had never been and I was pretty little the last time. We saw a TON of buffalo and geysers and all those lovely things. Pretty cool.

A geyser at Yellowstone.

We've (well, Michael mostly) taken up golf this summer. His firm will randomly decide to have everyone take a half day off and do a mini-golf tournament. Too funny. Michael played in high school, but we decided it would be good to brush up. So we got him some clubs and we go out to the driving range every now and then. Michael's getting better and better; I can hit the ball sometimes. :)

I discovered a park near my parent's place has baby swings, so Jessica and I tried it out one day. Hmmm... I think we'll need to try in a couple months.

She was not a big fan of the swings. A little too scary. :)

Jessica may be scared of swings, but she's no softy. This summer she's earned the nickname "Destructo." She will destroy anything in her path. Silly little girl.

I got to see one of my best friends from high school and my freshman roommate this summer. She's living and working in D.C., so we haven't seen each other in forever. It's crazy how different our lives have ended up. She is one of the coolest people I know.

Laura and Stephanie (high school friend and freshman year roommate).

Wow, hopefully that's enough of an update. Maybe now it seems like something's happening with my life. :) But we still have lots left to make this "the best summer ever."

Our little flirt

I guess our niece is getting a crush on her swim teacher. It just made me nervous because Jessica is already a little flirt. Why couldn't she wait until she's 3? We went out to eat tonight and she spent the entire time staring and smiling at a boy at the table next to us. That whole family couldn't stop talking to her and playing with her. I'm worried if she's this cute already. :) Even when we were back in San Diego she had her boyfriends. Here's a picture of her holding hands with her friend Tanner. Too funny.


We officially committed today to work for this law firm here in Idaho Falls. It was kind of a hard decision, but we both felt so good about it the entire time. The partner Michael talked to said that we should feel free to still explore other options for next summer, and if we find something we'd rather do, that's just fine. So we'll look into a couple other possibilities, but for now we feel really good about this choice.

We went to Rexburg this last week to look around BYU-Idaho. Neither of us had been and we thought it would be kind of cool. No BYU fudge, so we were a little disappointed. :) My mom was teaching there since it was Education Week. We got some pictures and stuff for Michael's brother Adam, who'll be starting there this fall. Here's a picture of Michael and Jessica in a cool garden area.

Job offer

We got the job offer from the law firm here in town! The offer is at least for next summer, but they all talk as though that means it's an offer for long term. We're still looking into all of our options, but we've both been surprised at how much we've loved it here. Michael loves the job and everyone at the firm. We'll have a decision made sometime in the next few days I think. We feel so lucky and so blessed to already have something for next summer, if we want it. Wow.

Jessica is walking more and more lately. Today she took like five steps without really realizing it. Such a cutie. Our move is only 3 weeks away and we can hardly believe it. Back to San Diego... at least for now.

Our summer in Idaho

Well, my sister-in-law reminded me of having to keep up on this since she's just created a blog for her family. I can't believe how quickly our summer has gone by. We're in Idaho Falls, living with my parents, working for a law firm in town. Michael is just loving what he does and we're optimistic that it'll turn into something real and long-term. We'll see. I don't think either of us imaged in a million years that we'd be living in Idaho, but that's how life goes I guess. Truly, I don't care where we end up, just so long as Michael likes his job and we can afford a house.

Laura and Jessica on the 4th of July at the parade.

Jessica is getting sooo big, we can hardly believe it. She's learning to walk and crawl, yep, at the same time. Ever since she got good at crawling though she's about decided that walking isn't worth all of the falling down. She loves to talk and imitate. Her latest trick is covering her face with her hands whenever we say "peek-a-boo." Very cute. She loves to go find dogs ("gogs") when she hears them bark. She's also a little chow-hound. She eats and eats pretty much whatever is in front of her, unless it's green. I think we've tried to give her peas too many times so that now she's scared of anything the same color. Funny.

We're both surprised by how sad we are to be leaving Idaho soon, but we're also excited to get back to the beach and we're sure Jessica's other grandparents are excited to see her too.

Here is Jessica with her two Grandpas.