Mothers

On Mothers day, in years past after sacrament meetings they would hand out chocolates or flowers to the mothers and future mothers. I always tried to avoid that. I wasn't a mom. And felt awkward standing up so the youth would come by and bring me something.

I finally 'earned' that chocolate.

This year was my first 'real' mothers day.

It was lovely.

The night prior too, my Nonny called to wish me my first Happy Mothers day. She said all of her granddaughters that were new moms were on her mind. How thoughtful. I love her.

The morning of Jason let me sleep in. He made me my favorite...waffles with fruit on top for breakfast {even though they were the toaster kind, they were delicious!}. We went to my parents ward for church. Sacrament meeting left me feeling hopeful and powerful with inspirational talks about the women before me. My mom was giving the lesson in Relief Society so I wanted to stay and listen in. Deacon was being a little stinker so Jason took him home so I could stay & enjoy the lesson.

With it being Mothers day, missionaries are allowed to call home so we got to talk to Kendilyn. It was so good to hear her voice & hear about her progress in the mission. She is doing wonderfully and Loves serving the people of Portland. I can't believe she has already been gone 4+ months.

On this beautiful day we got to spend the day with the women we love....in the morning we spent time with my mom. In the afternoon we were able to go visit my grandma. Her health has not been very good for months now (she fell and broke her hip back in December) But she was bright and sunny. And thrilled with the chocolate she received from dad and the women in her ward. And in the evening we got to spend some time with Valerie.

We are so grateful for each of the women in our lives. For their unconditional love to us. For their incredible example of faith, hope and charity. And for their inspiration to do and be better. We love you!

I am so grateful to be a mom to this sweet little guy.

SUNS

We're pretty excited about the playoff season the Phoenix Suns are having!

Our evenings were filled with watching each game intently. And when they start back up again, we'll be there once again too.

Now they just have to sweep the Lakers like they did the Spurs.

Thanks uncle Josh for the jersey!

Ducks.

Although Deacon might be a little too young, we took him a few weekends ago to the ASU research park to feed the ducks.

that one scared me. jason said "dont worry, but they bite."
quick! take a picture.
Ah! there he is again.

Warming up....

As the temperature begins to rise here in Arizona we have tried to take advantage of the last "nice" days outside before things get too hot.

While I was working Michelle was getting creative. She has made some onsies for Deacon like the one above. They have turned out really cool! She obtained the idea from a friend of ours blog (Thanks Cheryl).

We recently were able to enjoy the outdoors doing a hike in the Superstition Mountains just a half hour from the house. My mom watched Deacon while we hiked close to Weavers Needle.

"Weaver's Needle has played a significant role in the stories of the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine. The Needle's shadow reportedly indicates the location of a rich vein of gold, and many treasure hunters have searched for it. The hunt for gold around Weaver's Needle has been pursued by hundreds (possibly thousands) of people and the area is packed with prospect holes and abandoned camp sites, spent cartridge shells, and possibly missing persons." (most trusted source on-line......wikipedia.)

While we did not find any Gold or "missing persons " we had a great time getting out seeing nature at its best.

Date Night??

Jason and I try to 'go on a Date' once a week.

This we learned from our former Bishop. He and his wife are great examples, in all things, but in the many years they have been married they can count the number of times they have missed date night on 2 hands. How wonderful!

Since Deacon has been born we haven't been the best at this. Since D is getting older its allowing Jason and I to finally get back into the swing of things...even if we get to bring him along or do something at home.
We do anything from going out to eat to watching a movie at home or in the theater to walking around Target {yes, I am PERFECTLY fine with that being a date} to arts and crafts. I just love the time I get to spend with Jason and Deacon.



We have been able to go out to eat at AZ88--we love that place. It has great memories of when we were dating. Going to see Avatar in 3D with all the Ellsworth men --thank you for letting me tag along.
A few weeks ago, Grandma Valerie watched little D while Jason and I went to see Alice in Wonderland. Jason claimed to have rented out the theater...we were the only 2 in the whole thing. It was great. {I guess thats what happens when you go see a movie on a Wednesday night.}

Despite the critiques and the reviews we both really enjoyed it.


Last week we went to watch our nephew Tate play in his T-Ball game. {He was so cute & did great} Afterward we went out to eat at a favorite place of ours..even though this is the first time we'd been in years....
It was delicious, just like we remembered it. With the most amazing salsa verde and spinach cheese sauce. Yum! Not only was dinner so good, but the company was even better. It was great to spend some time with Jason as well as little D.

5 months.

Its been 5 months since we've had this little joy in our lives.

We just LOVE him to pieces and are so grateful he's a part of our family!
Happy 5 months little Dude!

At his {very late...(2wks ago)} 4 month check up Deacon was
weighing in at 17lbs 1 oz. {75 percentile}
and
27 inches long {93 percentile}.
He also got a few shots. I'm happy the nurse did them quickly. The poor little guy was not happy. And my heart just broke a little to see him in pain.



Deacon has recently discovered that he has toes. Although he'd love to suck on them, he cant quite get them in his mouth just yet. But he Loves to reach for them.


He started eating rice cereal. And like it. We're excited to move up from cereal and try something else {fruits & veggies} soon.


Not quite sure what his hair color is..in some light it looks auburn-like in others it's brown.


Around 4 1/2 months these two beauties crept their way into his mouth.
He was getting a little more fussy, his sleeping pattern had changed a little and he started loving sucking on his {or anyone he could get his hands onto} fingers, but I didn't think much of it. I'd been asked a few times if he was teething, but I thought he was too young. I was wrong. And one morning I really felt it..they just poked their way through over night. Thankfully they didn't bother him. He must have a strong tolerance for pain, thank goodness!


And he's finally tall enough to play in this amazing toy! He is fascinated by the all the fun things on this saucer. And he loves to use it to bounce.
{huge thank you to Bill and Tara for this great toy!}

--D loves to look at everything. Every time we enter a new room his head goes back & forth at lightening speed.
--He is quite the talker. Although we can't understand him he could talk for hours.
--Constantly learning & making new sounds. He tries hard to mimic the sounds of everyone around him.
--Loves to blow bubbles with his saliva.
--Loves to roll his tongue over his 2 new teeth often sticking it out at us.



The other day D and I went for a walk around the neighborhood and around the park. He started getting fussy and tired of being in the Baby Bjourn but by the time we got home his is how the walk ended.

The tricky part was getting him out without waking him...
I was unsuccessful.
It was a short nap.

Cereal Already?

With his little teeth coming in we thought that might be an indicator that its time to try some rice cereal. {That and we remembered the Wilburs had Channing try cereal around the same time and he had slept really good; we were hoping for the same. =] }

On Tuesday March 9th Jason went out and got cereal and new spoons. He was a little hesitant at first but after a few 'bite' {slurps} Jason couldn't feed him fast enough. Deacon was practically diving in for it.


He likes it!

Just one thing...unlike little Channing we're stilling waiting for him to sleep from sun down to past sun up. Guess the cereal isn't quite as filling as we had hoped!

Deacon Turns 3 months and then 4

So it has been a while since we have posted anything on the blog..... I hope that we don't wait so long for the next post. We have moved back from Hawaii and are now living with the parents for a couple of months.

It has been so long since a post; Deacon has turned 3 and now 4 months old.

In the last two months Deacon has been getting really good at the balancing trick (some people are not fans of this but its fun and he smiles ear to ear at 'his' accomplishment).
Matt and Gina gave Deacon this cool outfit. He looked really good.
The above is Deacon at his 4 Month photo shoot. He is getting so chunky.

He's been bitting his bottom lip and 'chewing' on his 2 little fingers more often, to which we have noticed....

This last week Deacon has two teeth on the bottom (Hard to see in this pic but, they are there) He is growing up so fast.

Why is it when we were kids the summers dragged on and on and now that we are older it feels as if we run by a different clock?

Success!

On December 18th 2009 Jason completed his Bachelors Degree at 

Brigham Young University-Hawaii in Pre-Professional Biology 

with a minor in BioChemistry. 

We are So proud. 

Is this almost over?... 

 

The Proof. 

 

The Graduate!

The Proud Wife. 

The Proud Parents.

"My Dad is Rad". The Proud Son. 

The Gang.

So sad. And so big.

This past Sunday Deacon turned 2 months old. And with that comes the dreaded  2 month check up and shots. 

{After taking Immunology last year in school Jason and I decided not to forgo getting his immunizations.} 

He handled the first shot pretty well, just let out a little cry then calmed down, it was the next 2 that were doosies. He cried. Not for very long due to rocking & bouncing him followed by putting him in his car seat and rocking him some more which put him right to sleep. 

Poor little guy.

 

As far as his stats goes:

he weighed in at 12 lbs, 14 oz. and he is 23 1/2 inches long.  

(They didn't give us the percentiles, but he is quite long)

These past few weeks he has grown so much. He's smiling more. Not just gassy smiles, real ones. He's more alert. More active, kicking his legs and moving his arms until you feel like they could fall off. And 'talking'--well, cooing.  And when he does, it just makes our hearts melt, its the best part of the day! 

 

 We love when he's awake and 'playing' with us, but we also just love it when he falls asleep on us. 

Our little guy

Well not only is Deacon warming up to the bath he warms it himself.  We both have had to sheild ourselves a number of times=).  

He even has started to like his vibrating chair! (Thanks Eric and Tish)

While I was studying for a test Michelle, Lauren, and Trevor had a little fun with Deacon and I really liked this one.  He has an excellent grip.  

Don't let the smiles fool you, he is a handful =) and we just love him so much!