We don't want to talk about it

Family Pictures

We got our family pictures for the year taken over the weekend. They turned out AMAZING! We took them at the UofI arboretum. The fall colors were just gorgeous! And unlike last time we had pictures done, Jessica was actually being very cooperative. :) Enjoy!

Crafty, Crafty Me!

This past weekend our ward did Super Saturday (a Saturday devoted to making a variety of crafts, etc.). So fun! I made some "Autumn" blocks (ignore the colored-on mini pumpkin in the picture) and a mat for our "The Living Christ." I was in craft-mode after that. I used some similar wooden blocks to the ones I'd used before and made a winter decoration as well. I was pretty impressed with my own craftiness. :) A friend of ours had a super cute apron for her little girl. I've been wanting to copy it for a while, but we don't have our sewing machine here. I finally borrowed one and got that project done as well. It's been a fun weekend for me.

What a Week!!

We have had quite the past week. On Wednesday we made a last minute trip to the San Francisco area for a funeral. It was the first really sad funeral I've ever been to, but it was great to see family. Jessica loved playing with her cousins.

Jessica, Emma, and Tyler

On the way down, we stopped off in NV to stay the night with some relatives. It was SO fun! Thanks Jim, Shar, Emily, and Nick for not only giving us a place to sleep, but also a lot of excitement. We spent the night carving pumpkins and eating pumpkin pie.

Since we were in the area, we decided to spend the morning after the funeral in San Francisco. We didn't have much time, but we loved wandering around Fisherman's Warf/Pier 39. Jessica loved all the seals. It's hilarious to hear her imitate them. We had a lunch of clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl - YUM!


Halloween was so much better than I ever could have expected. Jessica was born to trick-or-treat. She was a kitty this year.

Every time she was given candy she would gasp and giggle her little head off. It never got old for her, even as her bucket got so heavy that we thought she'd start complaining (she didn't). I think she made the day for a lot of people.


On the ride back home we were telling her about Christmas coming up. She told us that she wanted to be a spider for Christmas. I think dressing up for every holiday sounds like a great idea. :)

18 hours in the car later and we were back home. Whew! It was quite the weekend, but we're so glad we were able to go!

Jessica Fun

If BYU football's got you down, take a look at this and hopefully it will make you smile. Jessica's new love is Dancing with the Stars, but if there's anything more appealing to her than watching Cloris Leachman do some hideous dance, it's the High School Musical's bread commercial that is invariably on some time during the show. She asks to watch this commercial more than Dora the Explorer and likes to mimic the moves she sees. I get a kick out of it every time.

Jessica getting down with her bad self.

21 1/2 weeks

I guess it's about time for the belly shot. I feel like I'm kind of big for only half-way through, but no worries. With Jessica I think I got a picture of me like this every month. I haven't been quite so diligent, so don't expect this too often. :)

All Grown Up!

Jessica is such a little kid now. Gone forever is pretty much every remnant of her babyhood. These past few days and weeks have been full of a lot of transitions for her. I'm so glad she's handling them so well.

First off is the whole potty-training thing. I tried her on it too early before and decided to hold off until we got here to get going again. I can definitely tell she's older. Progress is coming much faster and I finally feel confident that we won't have to have two kids in diapers.

Second, she has made the complete transition into a "big girl bed."

She had been sleeping on her little princess bed (see the post from her birthday), but it really wasn't big enough/comfortable enough for long term. Yesterday we got her the real deal. She fell asleep so fast last night, which is a miracle considering...

Jessica is off her pacifier!!!! This really is huge. She only used it for sleeping, but she was beyond attached to that thing. She had three. Over the past week or so we would have her throw away one of them at a time. A couple of days ago she went outside with us and we threw the last one in the dumpster.

I was so proud of her. The only problem? When I put her in bed that night we read a story, said prayers, etc and I was walking out of the room when she's like, "Mommy, we forgot my binky." I don't think she understood that she had thrown away the last one. Let's just say it was a very late night for her. She finally conked at 10:30 in our bed. She hasn't had a nap until today - she wasn't quite tired enough to relax w/o the binky. I guess only skipping two days isn't bad. But today she took a very normal nap and last night she fell asleep no problems. I am soooo happy about this and so proud of her!

Our little man!

I guess I just need to say... HOORAY!! We are both soo excited. Jessica is still a little confused and I think nervous, so she just ignores us when we talk about it. :) As far as they can tell, he looks healthy and perfect. The due date is February 21st - Jessica's half birthday! So we're hoping for a due date birth. Here's some picts of the cute little dude! Any name ideas?