March 12, 2010

Dear Jackson,

How does a year go by so fast? It has been our pleasure to watch you grow and develop this past year. You are the light of our lives. We could never try to put into words the love we have for you, or the joy you have brought in to our lives. You are our little miracle, and we are so grateful to be a part of your life. Jackson, in the past year you have gone from a tiny newborn to a walking, full of personality toddler! I will always remember your fresh newborn cry, the many blow outs of bright yellow poop (yes, even in the middle of the night), sleeping in a laundry basket, your signature "stretch" when getting you out of your carseat, moving your lips in a sucking motion as you slept, laying perfectly on our tummy to sleep (oh how I miss that!), always kicking or jumping for hours in your jumping thing....the list could go on for miles. But most of all we want to tell you just how much we love you. Happy Birthday little man.

Love, mom and dad

Minutes

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

one year

Alive and Well

We are happy to say that we are almost settled in our new home in Lake Havasu City!! We took a job in Arizona at an Urgent Care Center and moved our family to our new city! We are loving it here so far! We will have more updates and photos of our new home when we get a bit more settled but I thought we would at least let the world know we are alive and well! Enjoy a few of our moving pictures...please don't mind the mess while we were moving!

Jackson loved playing in the big truck and trying to drive with Daddy!





Lake Havasu has beautiful sunsets almost nightly. We tried to capture one from our front yard.

Whoops! Didn't warn you about the naked baby! He escaped from me one morning after his bath and took off pushing his cart. I thought it was a cute picture moment and who can resist that sweet little bum??

He's getting closer to walking every day. He's had a few steps in a row but not officially walking yet. We expect him to any day now!

Jackson "helping" unpack!

Mmmm, spaghetti!

We had spaghetti the other night and Jackson LOVED it! It was so cute to watch him slurp up the noodles! So we tried to capture some of the experience with the camera!


SLURP!!


Jackson and Daddy!!

2009 in review

I saw this on my friends blog so I decided to do it as well.

January 2009
Stressful month! I spent so many hours studying for Boards and was sure I had failed. But, I didn't! :) Finally decided to take the job in Colby, Kansas. Packed all our things, said goodbye to good friends and beautiful Miami and moved halfway across the country. Josh celebrated his birthday driving a Uhaul.

February 2009
Lived in a hotel for a week while we searched for possible housing options in Colby. Started a new job at 35 weeks pregnant. Spent the majority of the month unpacking and moving into our new home and lives.

March 2009
Welcomed our sweet son Jackson into the world on March 12. What a miracle he is! 2 weeks later we headed to California to show off Jackson and get out of Kansas. We drove back to Kansas stopping in SLC for a few days. I also celebrated my 26th birthday.

April 2009
We had lots of visitors to Kansas to see our new little man. First came my mom and grandma, then came Josh's parents and then Arianne and her family to celebrate Easter. I was still on maternity leave until the end of the month. Lots of sleepless nights and adjusting to parenthood.

May 2009
My parents took us to St. Thomas for a week and we were also able to spend a few days in Miami seeing friends and staying in our townhouse (we don't have it anymore though). It was a bit crazy taking such a luxurious vacation with an 8 week old but we had a fantastic time and are so grateful we were able to go. Thanks mom and dad! Maternity leave ended and I went back to work full time.

June 2009
Lots of family came out for Jackson's blessing the first of the month which was very special for us. We were also able to go to Utah for a wedding. Kansas warmed up and became more beautiful than I had anticipated.

July 2009
We spent the 4th of July in Lake Tahoe with Josh's parents. It was a whirlwind trip but we had so much fun seeing our family and meeting our new niece Ella! We spent the remainder of the month in Kansas trying to get back into "normal" life! It was hot with beautiful thunderstorms almost every night. And, luckily no tornado.

August 2009
Josh and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary by going to a nasty dinner in Garden City. Although the food was gross we always enjoy each others company and are grateful for the wonderful 3 years we've been married. The rest of the month was pretty uneventful, just work and playing with our son.

September 2009
We had visitors this month, the Stokers, for Labor Day weekend and had so much fun taking them out shooting prairie dogs. Spent many Friday nights at the local high school football games. An old football buddy of Josh's was driving through town and his car broke down on I-70. We invited him to stay with us until his car got fixed. Jackson officially becomes mobile!

October 2009
Went to Colorado to the Mitchell's cabin! It was so fun to see the beautiful fall leaves and enjoy nature to it's fullest! Sam continues to stay with us as he applies for a job in Colby. Jackson celebrates his first Halloween as a bat!!

November 2009
We finally get health insurance and Jackson gets super sick and scares us to death! Temperature to 105 F and labored breathing. He gets better as quickly as he gets sick and the next week gets his first tooth! Sam moves into his own place. My mom comes to visit for a weekend. Josh's parents come for a week for Thanksgiving.

December 2009
I unexpectedly get laid off from my job and we try to get a plan in order to get our family back on our feet. We head to Utah for the holidays. Jackson gets 5 more teeth. We continue to search and apply for jobs and look forward to stability in our life once more!!

Christmas 2009

We had a spectacular Christmas and received more than we deserve! It was so much fun having Jackson this year. He had no clue what was going on but he enjoyed the wrapping paper, bows, and pushing around the boxes...oh and of course playing with the dog! We are so very blessed and we thank our Heavenly Father each day for all of our blessings, and especially our family. Enjoy some pictures of our wonderful Christmas and family.

Grandpa VW and Jackson on Christmas morning




Christmas Eve at the Days

Dylan and Jackson in their matching PJ's.

My handsome boys on Christmas Eve

Our little family



Brooklyn, Sarah, mom, Lori on Christmas Eve by the fire!

November and December 2009

November was a great month that flew by! Pheasant season opened in Kansas, Josh got his first pheasant with the first shot he took from his first shot gun! He and Scott had fun trampling through the mud and cold while hunting! We had Grandma VW come visit for a weekend and Grandpa and Grandma Neuman come for a week for Thanksgiving! Colby also saw some of it's first snow of the season and in result the air turned extremely cold! I didn't get any pictures of that though.


All ready for Thanksgiving dinner!

Josh and his pheasant. We grilled it up and I actually liked it!

Jackson enjoying a highchair at IHOP in Denver.

After Thanksgiving was over, it was time to get ready for Christmas! I was so excited to have our own little Christmas at home this year. Jackson was super excited too and he loved crawling all over the boxes! He has plenty of boxes to crawl on now that we've pretty well boxed up our whole house in Colby!

We finally got Jackson a highchair which has been amazing. What was I thinking in waiting so long? He loves being able to sit and eat with us!

Our little man turned 9 months in Dec. He's been cutting teeth like crazy, and is turning in to a wild man! He's ALWAYS happy, gets into everything (see pics below) and we love him so much! He still doesn't take good naps so I haven't figured that one out.


Jackson absolutely adores my parent's dog Roxie! They are pretty hilarious together too. Jackson likes to share his bottle with the dog, and loves feeding herhis food. Every morning at my parent's house Jackson wants to go see Roxie. They chase each other and beg for food together (that's what they are doing above).

Happy New Year 2010!!

Happy New Year! We are looking forward to a spectacular 2010! For those of you that don't know, the last month or so have been a bit crazy for our family. Lindsey was unexpectedly laid off from her job in Kansas due to financial problems in the practice she was working in. She has been searching and applying for jobs in several states and at this point we'll most likely end up in either Utah or Arizona. Due to the lay off, we were able to go to Utah much earlier than anticipated for the holidays and we are still at Lindseys parent's house until we know for sure where our next adventure will be. I am going to try to give several updates since I am so far behind! Again, happy New Year to all and we truly hope that this is a great year for all of our friends and family!

Grandpa and Grandma VW with Jackson

Josh and Lindsey New Year's Eve 2009

Jackson and Simon playing together.

Us, Matt and Angie and their boy Simon

Diana and Rod Hardy, Janell and Chris Sorenson