A trip to the beach

We had the pleasure of spending a week in California for an Olsen Family Reunion the last week of July.

It was a blast and probably our most relaxing vacation to date.

I have a ton of things I'd love to blog about it but for tonight I'll just share some of the pictures from one of our trips to the beach.

Both Brandon and I absolutely love the beach and it made us so happy that Jackson did too. He could not have been happier playing in the sand and splashing in the water. On our last visit as we walked down to the sand and he could finally see the water he squealed and started waving his arms in excitement. It was pretty darn cute! Thanks Lauren for taking such fun and beautiful pictures for us.

A vacation with my hubby at the beach, it made my heart happy

Jackson and Grandma, they look so happy together

Jackson and Meghan are super buds :) 

I love seeing Jack's foot prints with Brandon's

I know I'm bias but do little boys come cuter than this?

Jackson and Aunt Meghan. He loves her SO much! They have a very special bond. 

It was SO nice to have someone there to take a family picture! 

This one just melts my heart! I love seeing Brandon be a dad.

I'm a sucker for kissing pictures :) 

This summer has been wonderful and such a blessing to be with family! We will miss them so much! 

Our summer so far

We are loving our time here in Henderson and all the time with the Trout family!

Brandon is really enjoying his internship. He's getting lots of awesome experience and they are keeping him very! Every Friday he gets taken to lunch, donuts in the mornings, and casual dress :) 

Jackson and I are trying to stay as busy as Brandon :) 

Here are some pictures of our summer doings....

Falling asleep in the carseat after swim lessons

Freshly painted neon colored toe nails

Free smoothies at Tropical Smoothie on National flip flop day :) Um... yes please! Jackson loved it too! He took sips from everyone's cups and then wanted his own. 

Happy 1st birthday Jackson! Lots more pictures to come from his party and his birthday. He really got into the whole cake thing :) 

Peek a boo! He's just too cute, I love this little dude!

So we've definitely been enjoying our summer. I have lots more pictures I need to post. Pictures of our garden, pictures of the splash pad, and pictures of his birthday and pictures of our trip to Boulder City. 

Coming soon

Guest Post!

I figured since my name is on the blog as well, I might as well indulge all of you and post from time to time. So, prepare for incredibly exciting, insightful, and generally all-around amazing posts (by Anna!) and mundane and lame posts be yours truly. So, since I haven't really thought much about what I'm going to say, y'all are just going to get some bullet points.

• Family. As most of you are aware, and as our niece Sarah commented today, Jackson is the "cutest little boy ever!" And HOW! He smiles incessantly, laughs constantly at all of our lame antics, and is a light and blessing to our family. This past week he learned to crawl, and he's been practicing by crawling everywhere every chance he gets. He's also learned to pull himself up, and figured out that he can turn the Xbox on all by himself (maybe we'll start teaching him how to work the controller next week!). This weekend we decided to take a trip to Beth and Mike Johnson's house (Beth is Anna's oldest sister) in Belleville, Ill. For those of you who haven't studied small-town Illinois geography, it's just east of St. Louis, MO. It's been great to get away from home for a few days, kick off my spring break (which will be spent studying and editing, see below), and have some quality family time. 
• School. As Anna posted about previously, I've been pretty busy with school. They say that in law school, the first year they scare you to death (check!), the second year they work you to death (check!), and the third year they bore you death (score!). In addition to classes (Conflict of Laws, Constitutional Law II, Securities Regulation, Secured Transactions, and Accounting for Lawyers) I've been working on a paper that is going to be published soon, and I'm taking on a role as Senior Technology Editor for Vanderbilt's Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law. It's been quite a bit of work this semester staying up with everything, but it's been very rewarding and I've learned a ton. 
• So, that's all I've got for now, but for those of you who have made it this far, here's some pics of the cutest little kid ever!

-- Brandon

February Update

So I haven't been great (alright I haven't even been good) about updating our family blog at all. 

But I'm working on it. 

I am thinking just a monthly update would be good. It would give me a little bit of a posting schedule but it isn't too often. Any more than that will just be a cherry on top :) 

So with that, enjoy some pics from our month.

Jackson finally got a high chair. I know it's super lame we haven't gotten him one before now but it never seemed urgent and then one day it was. I was chasing him down to feed him. And this led to neither a happy momma nor a happy baby. So we got a high chair and now we have both :) 

Speaking of chasing. He is full on mobile. He has been army crawling for months but he "for real" crawled last Saturday and it was awesome. The elders were over for dinner so they got to witness the splendor, excitement, and full on spaziness of him crawling and me witnessing it. (Jackson was the splendor and excitement portion, I was the spaz)

Crawling has led to pulling up on things, which as led to many things being pulled off shelves. I'm not sure which makes me more crazy, all the DVDs on the floor or cleaning them up um-teen times a day.

Valentine's Day! I love Valentine's Day and I love having a little person to celebrate it with! 

He may not get it yet but it was fun. We gave him a cute little letter book and he showed his love and appreciation by sufficiently chewing it. 

Brandon had class on Valentine's Day so we celebrated the weekend before with dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, a favorite of ours, and then watched a chick flick :)

Brandon did make me breakfast in bed, which was delicious, and programmed my laptop to pop up with a love note when I open it. He's a nerd and I love him for it :) 

Jackson is basically a musical prodigy. 

The piano may or may not be programmed to play a certain song no matter what keys you hit but either way, I think he's pretty darn talented ;) 

Yet another tooth! Ice cream cone to sooth teething woes? Works for me.

P.S. He also got his first ear infection. Nothing like a sick baby to rock your world :) 

This one totally shows Jackson's attitude about food :) 

And last but certainly not least, Daddy and Jackson's newest game... 

Riding in the laundry basket. 

They both love it and I think it's pretty stinking cute,

of both of them :) 

Brandon has had a little bit of a break with school. Not actually a break but things are definitely slower now than they have been for months so we are enjoying weekends and family time. We always have big goals for the weekend of things we'll get done but we usually just take it easy and play. I'm good with that.

Brandon's Law Journal Note is almost done. He sent it into editing a few weeks ago (hence the break). He has worked so hard on it for the last few months and I couldn't be prouder. It'll be published in the Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law in early Spring. 

He was selected to be the Senior Technology Editor for the Journal for next year and he's really excited about it! Being on the board is a big deal as far as impressing future employers so I am hoping it does the trick :) 

Brandon was recently called to be the Ward Mission Leader and he is loving it! We love having the Elders in   our home and love being able to work with investigators and new converts. Such a blessing to see the gospel bless lives.

I'm still serving as the Activity Days leader and I love that too! The girls are so wonderful! They are open hearted, talented, sweet and such wonderful examples of faith and love. They all adore Jackson and it's so fun to see them love on him.

 Hope this month has been as good for you as it has for us. 

We feel so blessed to be enjoying this wonderful time in our lives.

His first tooth

Jackson got his first tooth today! (I'm pretty sure he's been "teething" for months :) 

I am so excited for him because I know it's growth. I know that as he gets more and more of his little teeth he'll be able to enjoy more foods and try new things, and I love that for him. 

But it does make me a little sad. Why? Because I love his little gummy smile, and it's gone forever now and that leaves me with just a little twinge of sadness. But enough of why it's sad it's happy for more reasons than it's not! One reason is because "teething Jackson" is also "cuddly Jackson". Jackson is a momma's boy all that way, (and I not so secretly love that and hope it never changes, please like me when you're 16 Jack, pretty please!), so he cuddles with me all the time. However it doesn't happen for Brandon very much so he was loving it!

I snapped this quick picture of the two of them on the couch today. (why yes that is a remote that he's chewing on, whatever works :) 

The first time momma in me is also excited to brush his teeth :) That may change after a few tantrums and biting but for now I am looking forward to it.

A trip to Krispy Kreme

We took a little Saturday morning trip to Krispy Kremes this weekend. My parent's were in town and it's kind of my mom's thing to take her grandkids to get donuts.

Jackson loved it. And I would expect nothing less from my child and a future foodie :) The kid loves donuts.

And time with Daddy :)

And here is just being cute. He seriously melts my heart!