Another post about Jack...surprised?

In Provo we would feed the ducks at the duck pond.

Now we feed the bunnies.

At a park right by our house there are tons of wild bunnies

Jack loves to take carrots to them and chase them all over the place.

And because it's still 70 degrees outside in mid-December, we go all the time.

Meet Bruce

We got a new car and named him Bruce (As in, Bruce Wayne)

Yes, we name our cars.

He's a 2008 Nissan Altima.
And we love him.

Thank you, "Gee" for lasting us throughout our BYU days.

Sorry you had to die on us.

We will miss you.

If you give a Jack a cookie

I watched Mr. Jack eat a cookie today, and I about died from his cuteness.

I'm so grateful for this little guy.

I'm glad I get to hang out with him all day, everyday.

I can't think of any job on the planet that would be better than this.

I can't wait to have many more that look just like him.

(and no, that was not any sort of announcement despite what you may think)

My best friend's wedding

 My parents only lived in Las Vegas for about 2 1/2 years, but apparently that was enough time for my sister and I both to meet our future husbands.  And last weekend we got to celebrate Lindsay and J.W.'s wedding

 

 It was so wonderful!

Two down, two to go!

James, Christine, Lindsay, and Emma

Pizza, anyone?

I heard someone describe themselves as a "Halloween Scrooge" and I've decided to adopt that title as my own.
I don't really like Halloween.
I hardly ever, ever dress up.  It's too much pressure for me.  I have always felt that costumes are intended for the extremely creative, or those who don't mind showing some a lot of skin.  I am neither.
Maybe when Jack is older and appreciates the holiday (if you can call it that) I'll enjoy it more.
But, who doesn't love the excuse to dress their kids up in adorable, ridiculous outfits?

A Day in the Park

Jack loves going to parks.
We went at least once a day in the summer, and thanks to awesome Vegas weather we still get to go all the time.

He's very serious about his climbing...

 

  Just thought I'd share.

Dear Provo

I miss you already.

 I miss this view outside my front door.

 

I miss the BYU 51st ward (and the fact that every ward has "BYU" in the name)

I miss the amazing friends we have there. You know who you are :)

I miss having 4 different BYU channels on basic cable.

But...I do love 

Being near these people

Having beautiful warm weather.

Having yummy places to go eat.

Having a real, non-student income.

And Harrison loves working here.

Things happen fast

...really, really fast.

A couple of weeks ago, Harrison applied to work with UNLV's ROTC program in Las Vegas.  He was eligible to work with any ROTC after he received his military orders (which we did the end of September).  So he can work as a Gold Bar recruiter for a university for four months before we leave for Georgia, which is now through February.  BYU's ROTC wasn't accepting any more Gold Bar recruiting positions, so we checked with UNLV since we have family there.  The request officially went to the Army on Monday, and Wednesday morning we found out he got the position, and we are to report to Las Vegas on October 18th.  That's MONDAY.  THIS MONDAY.  So we are packing up our apartment.  Our beautiful new apartment that we only enjoyed for about 6 weeks, and moving down to Vegas Sunday after church.   

 See?  So pretty :)

This is very bittersweet for us.  This new job is a wonderful blessing, and one we have been praying for.  It will give us all the benefits of being in the army; good salary, health insurance, and it will start Harrison's "clock" in the military as well.  We are so excited to be close to family before we move to the other side of the country, but of course so heartbroken to leave our friends and life here. We will live with Harrison's parents for about 3 months before we pack up again (this time on the Army's dime :) ) and head to Columbus, GA.  

Life is never dull around here.

Mr. & Mrs. Chadwick

If you haven't noticed, I've been to a lot of weddings the past few months. Three old roommates and close friends, and I have one more next month - my sister's!!

Last weekend we celebrated with Lindsey and Dan

They are such a beautiful couple!!

 

Congratulations to the new 

Mr. & Mrs. Chadwick!!

Grateful

I'm grateful for the Church.

I'm grateful I have a testimony of what I know is true.

I'm grateful that even though others discriminate against, protest against, and argue with the Church that it will never, ever change its standards, teachings and principles.  Even if that means going against what society may say is "right".

I'm grateful I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

And I love President Boyd K. Packer and believe his words are truly inspired by our Heavenly Father.

No matter what anyone else may say.

Army News (part 2)

Did I say we were leaving Provo in April?...I meant February.

There was a mistake in the information we first received so  
we report to 

Ft. Benning, GA February 13th.

And...Want to know where our first duty station is after that?

Ft. Campbell, Kentucky!

Home of the 101st Airborne Division

This was the fourth choice on our list, but besides Washington (our first choice) we didn't have any huge connections anywhere else so we're thrilled with the duty station we've been assigned to!  Harrison has lived at Ft. Campbell twice already and he and his family loved it, and we have heard terrific things about this base.  We're so excited for our adventures to come!

I'm glad I married Mr. Smith

-He is so good lookin 

-He opens all the sticky jars

-He motivates me to be better
-He lets me sleep in and gets up with Jack in the mornings
-He watches Gilmore Girls with me

-He can do more push-ups than I can count (true story.)

-He loves and wants to serve our country

-He is hard-working

-He loves his family and my family

-He says really ridiculous things when he's sleepy

-He is the best father and husband a girl could ask for

-He eats whatever I cook without complaint

-I really, really like him 

 The fall season was when Harrison and I met/fell in love/got engaged (yes, it was that quick) 3 years ago so I always feel very sentimental this time of year. And I'm not going to apologize for the mushy post, because this is my blog and I can say whatever I want :)

Mr. & Mrs. Redfearn

I've known Alyssa for ten years and this weekend she tied the knot with Kyle - so perfect for each other! The wedding was so fun with lots of colors, yummy food, and good friends!

And this little stud was so good during the festivities

Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Redfearn!!

Army News (part 1)

We just found out when our life in Provo ends.

April 17th.
We're reporting to Ft. Benning, Georgia for Harrison's Army Infantry Training.
Then August 21-October 21 he will go to Ranger School.
We're still waiting to hear where we'll be going after our 7 months of living in Georgia.
Here are our top three choices for our first duty station:
1. Ft. Lewis, Washington (close to my parents and Harrison's brother and sister-in-law)
2. Hawaii (who wouldn't want to live in Hawaii??)
3. Ft. Stewart, Georgia (Harrison went to high school there)

We're crossing our fingers for one of these three, but the Army will send us where the Army needs us.

It's good to at least know something about our soon-to-be life in the military :)
Stay tuned for part two of our Army News.

Another Video

Because he is just so stinking cute.

Dancing with Alvin & the Chipmunks:

Where A Kid Can Be A Kid

Harrison and I took Jack to Chuck E Cheese last week on H's day off. Jack definitely had mixed emotions about it...

Here he is playing Skee Ball (and cheating a little bit)

And here he is on a little ride @ CEC...doesn't he look like he's having so much fun?

(and that voice you hear when the ride stops is telling him to buckle his seat belt that he just unbuckled haha)

18 Month Stats

For the people that read this blog (the 3 of you out there..) I'm SO SORRY I've been slacking in keeping it updated lately. I feel like we have been busy busy, but not with super interesting post-worthy things. But Jack had his 18 month check-up appointment today (yes, he's actually 19 months now...obviously I have been slacking in other things besides blogging...)

Weight: 25.13 lbs - 30th percentile -I guess all that running around he does is burning off a few pounds...
Height: 33.5 in. - 75th percentile
Head circumference: 19.75 in - 95th percentile. As always, his head is growing faster than the rest of him :)Jack loves:

-Music and dancing. Especially anything with a hip hop beat haha but he's been known to break out his dance moves during the hymns at church too. He loves swinging those hips around.
-Hercules (we're on a 3 a day average of watching the first 30 mins of this one), Sid the Science Kid, and Alvin & the Chipmunks - notice a pattern in these? ALL have lots of music, and lots of dancing.
-Playing in the bathtub. Even when it's empty. He would play in there with his bath toys all day if I let him.
-Books, books, books.
-Playing at the park.

Jack can say:
(in sign language:)
-All done
-Milk
-Please
-More
-Eat
-Thank You

(Verbally - mostly understandable:)
-Dad
-Dog
-Airplane ("Air!")
-Duck
-Bath
-Mom (if bribed...)
-Church
-Dance
-Zeus (okay, Harrison doesn't believe me on this one, but I SWEAR he said it after watching all of this Hercules lately)
-Jesus ("e-sus")
-Hi
-Outside/Slide ("side")
-Juice

He is such a cheerful bab--toddler! He is growing up so fast! We love him so much!

Things I've learned this summer

1. Jack is a water baby. He has loved playing in the pool, the beach, and even the "pool" we made for him by filling up the ice chest with water for him to splash around in.

2. I like to hike. Who knew? We hiked the "Y" this summer, and it was so fun. I'm glad we got to do it before we leave Provo (whenever that is...)

3. A little (very little) about what it's like to be a military wife. My cute husband was commissioned as an officer in the US Army. He did so well at LDAC and I'm so proud of him!!

4. I love hanging out with my family. (ok I've always known this, but I got to do a lot of it this summer.)

Hope your summer has been as fantastic as ours!!

Mr. and Mrs. Clark

One of my closest friends and former roommates, Jan got married on June 26th in the Draper temple. Which is SO beautiful, by the way - and so was the couple! They are perfect for each other! I couldn't be happier for them! Thanks for letting me share this day with you, Jan and Jason!

And thank you Christa for the awesome pictures, and for watching Mr. Jack (my date for the wedding) during the sealing!

Apparently Jack only hates fake horses like this.

Because once we put him on a real one at the rodeo last week, he loved it. He smiled and waved to everyone the whole time!

P.S. I've talked to Harrison once in 2 weeks, and have received 1 letter (and I am told there are more coming...) He is doing so well, and showing up all the other Cadets, I'm sure of it. 10 more days until we get to see him again.