The Goings-On of the Gates

I love having a walker!

I've missed writing Hadley's monthly updates (I stopped doing them when she turned twelve months) so I decided a little fourteen and a half month update was due:

• Hadley has a sweet tooth like I've never seen. Of course with Levi and I as her parents she never stood a chance. We have a white cabinet in our kitchen that has all the yummy stuff in it (chips, cookies, etc.) and whenever I'm holding Hadley and walk near it she starts going, "Mmmmm Mmmmmm" and starts smacking her lips. Literally smacking. It's the cutest thing ever, but I have a feeling we're all going to have to be careful about what we have in the house when she starts getting bigger. For now, it's adorable.
• Hadley's first words have been "bye bye" or "buh bye" and "ball." She learned how to say "bye" when I would listen to me talking to people on the phone and saying, "Okay, I love you. Buh bye." One day I got as far as, "Okay, love you..." and I hear Hadley in the living room say, "Buh bye." Cutest thing!! Now if the phone rings she starts saying it and she'll say it when she waves goodbye to anyone. "Ball" came from playing with her favorite pink ball. She tries kicking it and loves chasing it around.
• She loves her shoes and has started trying to say the word "shoe." She makes a spitting sound, but I know what she means :)
• She has a front mouth full of teeth, with a few molars threatening to break through. She seems to handle teething a lot better and had a couple of teeth come up without any fever or grumpiness. Success!
• She walks everywhere. She's still doing the "drunk baby" walk, which is adorable, but if I put her walker up on the hardwood floor she can sprint up and down and nearly run me over with it.
• She has suffered her first big owwie. She was wearing her jammies and slipped on the hardwood and faceplanted it into the entry way tile. Poor girl looked like she went a few rounds in the octagon. I think it bothered my mom and me more than her, since she only cried for a few minutes and then went on to play with her kitchen.
•Speaking of kitchens, Hadley loves both the real kind and her pretend kind. Laurie brought up the twins' wooden play kitchen that they recently outgrew and Hadley has a blast with it. She opens up all the doors and puts things in every cupboard. The real kitchen (where Grandma Katie makes all the num nums) is also very fun for her. She pulls open all the drawers and cabinets and likes to get into my Diet Mtn. Dew stash and roll the cans all around the kitchen. Now every time I go to get a soda, my can has a bunch of dents on it. Silly baby!
• She is very busy. Too busy to sit in a high chair and a restaurant and too busy to sit in a shopping cart. This has made my shopping very efficient and I never do it alone. What do people do who don't have their mom's living with them?

Poor Haddercakes! Still smiling, even with her bruises.

The rest of us have been busy with work and the house. My mom has beautified our yard to an amazing degree. We are so lucky to have her and her green thumb because our house looks better than ever has before!

I recently got a promotion at work, making me the new assistant manager of the Boise store. It's been great and I'm feeling so blessed that we can use the extra money from my raise to help pay off our car loan. I've been selling lots of crafts on etsy too, which doesn't end up making me much money, but it's something fun to do. I absolutely love going to Craft Warehouse in Meridian and I'm not sure my wallet can handle many more trips out there!

Behold, the power of Mod Podge!

Loving this Weather!

I can't believe how much more of a pleasant house ours becomes when the temperature warms up. Smiles are plentiful and the smell of sun tan lotion fills the air. (Incidentally, my new favorite smell is the smell of Coppertone Water Babies SPF 100(!) on Hadley's skin. I could just die and go to heaven when I smell that.)
In Boise the days are long because we're on the border of Oregon, but we still get to be in the Mountain Time Zone, so in the summer the sun doesn't set until nearly 10:00 pm. With that extra sunlight I have been able to come home from work on days that I open and spend extra time with Hadley. When it's dark and cold it seems like we're just waiting around until bedtime, but with sunshine and warmth comes so many possibilities. We can go for walks, play in the yard, visit a park, play in the swimming pool, etc.

We have made great use of our Kelty backpack and our $10.99 Toys-R-Us cheapie-plastic swimming pool. Also, the garden hose is Hadley's new favorite toy. Turn that sucker on just a little bit and you have to drag her back into the house.
If only I could bottle up Summer in Boise. I would make millions. I have to remember that the long, boring, cold days of winter are worth it when the payoff is walks to the Greenbelt and smelling all the trees and listening to the birds while watching the beauty of the Boise River, especially with my sweet Hadley and Levi.

Due to an extremely warm spring, the Boise River is higher and faster than it has ever been this time of year. The dirt trail is nearly completely flooded and nobody can use several of the tunnels on the paved portion of the trail.

Utah Trip April 2012

We FINALLY got to visit our Utah family! We hadn't been down since November, and it was a short trip then, so I was really looking forward to spending a few days with some of my favorite people. The main reason for the trip was my cousin Katie's wedding, which was such a beautiful event. Seriously, there was never a prettier bride or more handsome groom. Good luck you two! Thanks for letting us be a part of something so special!
We arrived the day before the wedding and spent the time the way we love most: lounging around Laurie's house, having a BBQ with the entire family, talking about movies with my big brother and his girls, multiple trips to the mall and/or the Sweet Tooth Fairy for red velvet cake bites, and eating LOTS of Chick-Fil-A. (Total trip weight gain: 3 pounds. And it was WORTH IT!)
Hadley was fabulous on both legs of the journey and had such a blast with her cousins. She worships the twins, who worship her, and she loved watching all the big kids. She missed Scott's family a lot and I could tell she was so excited to see them again. My aunt Bonnie bought her a gorgeous dress to wear to Katie's reception and she was so cute I thought I'd eat her up!
It was such a fun trip...the kind that makes it really hard to leave, which means sniffling and wiping tears from the eyes until we were well past the Point of the Mountain.
We miss and love you all!!

My beautiful mother and sweet Rachel.

Muy guapo!!

Hadley was so excited to see cousin Addie. Crazy how second cousins can look more alike than first cousins!

PS Possibly one of my favorite parts of the trip was watching The Colbys get in touch with their gun-loving side. Wilson bought a sweet BB Gun and then Justin brought out all of his other BB guns and everyone had a lot of fun shooting. Nothing like seeing my awesome big sister with big iron!

You know you're at the Jacobson's house when their countertop contains an iPad, mustard, diet coke, and a gun of some sort.

Visit from Scott

We were so lucky to have a visit from my big brother Scott and his three wonderful girls. They stayed for a couple of nights and we were so sad to see them go. Hadley had such a blast with them and I think she really bonded with her cousins. We got to go on a nice walk by the river, visit Powells candy store, and a fun trip to Zoo Boise. The day after they left, she kept looking for them and I could tell she was disappointed when they weren't there. Thank you for the great visit, guys! We miss you!