A growing addiction and a new hobby

If he's not sleeping with his soccer ball (or any ball for that matter) he might just be drumming away.

What did Jace learn?

When we went to Texas Jace learned that Texas in November is much like June in Utah. And mommy learned never to underestimate how warm it might be in November in Texas and to pack shorts.

Jace learned that his mommy is sometimes kind of lazy.

And that he cannot push the car with his mommy in it. But he can push it when it is empty.

And that sometimes there are random statues of hippos. Mostly just in Hutto, a town devoted to Hippos. Since they are the Hutto Hippos.

And that in Texas he has super cool fluffy hair.

And that Uncle Seve's shoes are much too big for him.

And that if you run away from Grandpa, he will chase you. But he cannot chase you very fast, especially since he recently had knee surgery. But Grandpa will try to chase you fast. And then Mommy and Grandma will say to eachother, "He is going to hurt that knee." But that won't stop Grandpa.

And that Uncle Randall has an easy name to say.

And that all he has to do is flash one of his super cute smiles and Grandma will give him cheetos and whoppers and whatever else he wants. Mommy will also learn the same trick. Only she will use her powers over Grandma when it's time to change Jace's diaper.

And finally he learned that in the warm state of Texas, he has a grandma and grandpa and uncles that love him. And he cannot wait to visit them again! And that's not just because of the cheetos.

One October Night

One October night, there was a little alligator who got a lot of candy for his mom and dad to eat. Sometimes the little alligator would stick his own little claw into the candy bowl and he would reach for the brightly colored candy; the Smarties, or Starbursts, or little suckers. But then his mommy or daddy, whoever happened to be up with him at the door, would carefully guide that little claw to the Snickers, or Kit Kats, or Reese's. And all was well.

Happy Fall!

Jace loves fall and is, in fact, ready for winter. Granny and Poppy came to visit and with them they brought Jace these pretty awesome snow boots. Which he loved. And which I forced him to wear so I could take pictures.

In the above picture you will see Jace and Bowman swinging. Jace loves his cousin and they play really well together usually. Bowman is a little wild man and sometimes Jace just likes to sit back, watch, and then copy his every move. But he's a little more cautious than Bowman. Like when Bowman runs screaming down the hall and jumps over the two stairs we have leading into the living room, Jace will stop when he reaches the stairs, turn around with plenty of distance and slide down on his belly. But he still screams like Bowman so that counts, right?

Granny Tippy is secretly crouched down behind forcing Jace's head into the hole. He is not happy about it.

Here at this little fun pumpkin fall thingy they had some animals to look at. All animals to Jace are "puppies". Here Jace is reaching to pet a goat "puppy". Awww, what a nice little goat puppy, he is thinking.

The goat then decided to ram his head forward into the cage right at Jace's innocent little outstretched fingers.

What is Jace thinking now?

This Summer

In no particular order, here are some things we did this summer!


Jace turned 1 year old! And he did finally learn to walk at around 14 months. Now at 15 months he is cruisin all over the place.

We went to the King family reunion and spent time with Great Grandma and Grandpa King. Grandpa even took Jace for a ride on his four wheeler!

We went to Texas for a couple of weeks to visit Grandma and Grandpa King and it was so hot that Jace pretty much spent the entire time in just his diaper. Too bad only babies can get away with that. . .

We went swimming ALOT.

We went to the Anderson cabin and Jace rode the swing with Daddy. Andy also rode the swing with Daddy.

We went to Tabiona and Jace got to ride a really big "puppy".

And Andy learned to fly!

Growing toddler. . . or kanine?

In a few weeks Jace will be one year old. Lately, though, I've been wondering if I should be counting in dog years. That's right, folks. Jace may, in fact, be growing into the world's cutest kanine. Oh, the signs were subtle at first. He wasn't different than any other infant. You know-- he slowly learned how to control his movements, hold his head up, that sort of thing. He learned to crawl pretty early, at around six months. From the time he could crawl he would set out after Andy. He followed that pup every where. Watching, learning, slowly deciding he would rather be dog than human. Bowman, Jace's cousin, started walking at an early age so we assumed that Jace would follow in his footsteps. But, it seems, he has decided to take another route. He has decided to follow in the footsteps of his four legged friend.

He now prefers to sleep in the dog cage. No matter how I try to deter him, he insists on trying to get in. It's gotten to the point that I have to shut the dog cage and lock it when Andy isn't in it. If he's not trying to get in the cage, he might be rushing to Andy's food bowl. If there is food in the bowl, he will grab it and attempt to put it in his own mouth. If there's not food in it, he scrapes it around on the floor, just as Andy does when he wants some food.

He also has an alarming obsession with balls. And, just like Andy, if you throw a ball for him, Jace will scamper off after it, crawling as fast as his little knees can pump. Sometimes they pump so hard that his arms can't keep up and he flops onto his face. This does not bother him. He simply sets his eyes on the target and carries on. He will search through a huge bin of toys, find a ball, and be done. He will move off with his ball, never looking back. And just as dogs have a problem with chewing furniture, so does our little Jace. We recently discovered teeth marks and spots of scraped off paint on the bars of his crib.

The most alarming new sign has started taking place just recently.

Well, I've laid the facts out for you. You can make your own decision. However, if he starts scratching his ear with his foot. . .

We went to Kentucky and some other stuff

We went to Kentucky and had a really good time. Here are some of my favorite highlights of the visit:

1. My first time flying with Jace not by myself. Flying is much more enjoyable when you can say, "Here, hold the baby, I have to go to the bathroom."

2. My first time using an airplane barf bag. Actually, four airplane barf bags. And in my defense, the flight had horrible turbulence for thirty minutes straight, I was reading alot, and I hadn't eaten well.

3. The first time we have all been together with Brice's family in two years.

4. The first time Jace got to meet his Uncle Troy.

5. The first time I have been scared to death of brown recluse spiders and taken extra caution to shake all my clothes out before wearing them. I did not see one brown recluse spider while I was there. I am happy about that.

6. The first time Jace got to take a bath with his cousin. (Brice thinks this sounds gay but I think it was cute and fun to see them splash around together. It does not sound gay.)

7. The first, and probably not the last, time Jace got wrestled to the ground by his cousin.

8. The first time I discovered (through home videos) that Brice has been really bossy from the time he was a small child. (Brice denies this and wants me to take it out. I told him I would think about it.)

The only two down sides to the trip were 1) I didn't taken very many pictures which I am very mad about now and 2) the time flew by too fast and I wish we could have stayed longer. But we did have a great time and I suppose it is good to be home.



Jace, along with his cousin and his Granny, got sick during our stay. This is one of his not so happy moments. But he's never been a little guy who stays down for long. . .

And we came home to rescue this mutt from his stay at Lucy's, or as I like to think of it now, Andy Paradise. Here are some of the highlights of Andy's trip:

1) a nice big back yard to run around in all day.

2) a comfy cage in the house to sleep in at night.

3) a person (my cousin Jacob) to take him running every day.

4) a nice new rawhide bone to chew on during the down time.

5) no one yelling at him to stop licking the baby.

6) no one yelling at him to stay out of the living room.

7) no one there to tug on his leash when he's trying to do his business.

He has pretty much been moping around the house since we brought him home, carrying that stupid bone around and thinking of the good old days, I'm sure.

The Greatest Picture Ever!. . . and some other ones

There it is. How I managed to take the picture at the exact moment Jace decided to stick his tongue out, I'll never know. But in this picture I've captured the character that is Jace: cute, big-eyed, and a little bit crazy.

Can you see the family resemblence in these two beautiful boys? (And did I spell resemblence wrong?)

He is in a "sticking his tongue out" phase. He is also in a "When you put me down for a nap I'm going to crawl around and stand up in my crib for an hour before I even think about falling asleep unless you rock me" phase. I like the tongue one better.

This is the picture I sent in for the Regis and Kelly Beautiful Baby contest. But I cropped out everything pretty much except his face. The grand prize winner gets 125,000 dollars towards a college scholarship. 10 finalists get some money too (though I don't know how much) and free Gerber baby food for life. When you look on the Regis and Kelly website they have a baby gallery with thousands and thousands of baby pictures. How do you think they decide who wins? I bet they just pick the finalists randomly (cause what kind of person feels good about saying, "Cute baby, ugly baby"). But maybe Jace will win! You can tune in on March 9th to find out the 10 finalists.