Week by week 10

(August 30-September 5). James started out with a bunch of bubble blowing. I should have stolen this bubble blowing device from my sister as it is perfect for James to be able to blow bubbles without eating the bubble wand.This week was also full of lots of James and his cousin Lexi being silly together. Bubba thinks she is the coolest thing since Swiss chocolate. She has taught James many things including how to jump on a trampoline. He got quite good while he was there and now uses my couch and my bed and the baby's crib and his own bed and the floor and anything else as his own personal jumping ground. Look at that air.And that. And he only had 1 close call. He almost fell once but caught himself about halfway off the trampoline. I just about died watching him.
Falling down was just as fun as jumping was.
This next picture is a great example of why I "need" a new and better camera. I get a lot of blurry kids all the time. They seem to move too fast for my camera. There are many times where I have a beautiful background and a blurry kid. Still they are cute blurry kids.
Lexi catching some air. Her shirt says, "I love to talk 21-7" and it is totally true. And she has the cutest (unless she is whining) little high voice ever. She also taught James a few choice words. In particular, mine!!! (yes, with the exclaimation points), don't!!!, let go!!! and go away!!!
James playing on the swing. Uncle Nick (Lexi's daddy) would wind them up and let them spin. James LOVED it!
Lexi spinning.
More jumping on the trampoline.
Just an idea of what Bimmy usually looks like after a smoothie. He loves those super healthy smoothies that Edpa and aunt Nettie and uncle Nick make.
My two boys together.
And a quick kiss from James to J-L. Don't you love that face?
More J-L. He is giving me the "seriously? more tummy time?" look.
John-Luke and his cousin Ryan at the end of our stay. Ryan is just 5 weeks older than him but J-L has totally outgrown him. Ryan is just a super wiggly baby and J-L wasn't so much.
Bimmy got himself into trouble 3 times in my parent's fireplace. I finally moved a huge leather chair in front of it to keep him out. He pretty much rubbed as much ashes as he could find all over himself. Again, it isn't a good day till we are totally covered in dirt. He was so proud of himself for that one and was super mad that he couldn't get back there anymore.
I'm almost done with catching up Utah and then I should be able to quickly catch up on my weekly J-L posts. He is just getting cuter every day.

Week by Week 9

(August 23-29).This week we mostly did a few fun things with the cousins. We went to the Hogle Zoo and rode on the carousel. James and his aunt Nettie.We also rode the train at the zoo. Here is James with "Edpa" (my dad), Lexi and Nickolas, whom I call "snicker-doodle-dude." James was so excited to ride the train. It took us some convincing to get him and Nickolas to leave the train behind.
And James also enjoyed playing in the water at the zoo as well. He generally enjoys playing in the water wherever he can find it.
John-Luke turned 2 months old this week. Here he is with his nifty little monkey. Isn't he filling out nicely? You should see his thighs now! Not to mention his double chin.
Lexi really wanted to hold the baby and so I indulged her. John-Luke was more trusting of her than of James.
James also enjoyed playing with the hose at my parents house. This day he commandeered the hose from me while I was watering my sister's lovely garden. He quickly got himself soaked (and me) and so I pulled his clothes off and let him run naked for a little while. My parent's yard is very private and it is always good to get some Vitamin D as well. Can you even resist those cute dimples above his luscious bum cheeks? I can't!
James also enjoyed jumping on the trampoline and throwing water ballons with his cousins. John-Luke was busy sleeping and growing and smiling and cooing. Overall, it was a mellow week with lots of shopping and making sure I was getting everything ready to take back to Geneva with me.

Week by Week 8

On our way back to Utah from our second family reunion we took a detour to my Grandparents house. My grandma Green is the most AMAZING cook ever! Brian salivates just thinking about going to her house. She did not disappoint this time. We had an amazing lunch and hung out with them for a few hours. And most importantly, John-Luke got to meet his great-grandparents for the very first time (it was James' second time). Unfortunately we don't make it out to Burley, Idaho nearly often enough. Here we all are together.On Monday, August 17 Brian blessed John-Luke at my parents home. He looks so handsome in his suit. He was very good and Brian gave him an awesome blessing (and name).
Here is J-L with his daddy. (This week I did a lot better in the picture taking).
All the men at the blessing.
Me and Brian with "littlest" as I sometimes call him.
And our whole little family. James was so not interested in taking a pic and Cap'n was only interested in getting his hand into his mouth.
Brian's family members that were able to attend the blessing. His mom and the twins (Trevor and MaryJean). We were so happy that they were able to be there for J-L's big day.
After the blessing we stayed at Brian's mom's house for the rest of the week. We did a lot of relaxing. We played "Reach." Reach is a game where James stands back and attempts to give us something while we reach forward saying "reach" in funny voices.
He really loves it.
Especially when it is daddy playing.
John-Luke being an angel.
We continued our quest to see some more of Utah. We took a little trip to the Hill Air Museum in Ogden. They were doing a lot of flights from the base close by and both Brian and James were fascinated by the planes. (The flying ones).
And the non-flying ones.
An attempt at a good self pic of me and Brian.
More overhead flights.
James was very interested in the rocks. He loves rocks.
Me and my boys. Yes, Littlest is sleeping.
But he woke up right when we were leaving. He wasn't happy to be put into a carseat instead of being fed. People often comment on how "chill" John-Luke is. He generally is but here is proof that occasionally even he gets irritated. It is only when he is hungry or tired. I try not to let those things happen too often.
We also played outside in Grandma Shelley's backyard. James liked playing with the hose. We don't have one here in Geneva and James loves the water. Here he is all wet after playing for a bit in the water with daddy.
Grandma and the baby.
John-Luke. Have I mentioned that the weather was great? It was.
Another thing that James loved was stealing Grandma's i-touch to watch "Elmo's Song." He has never seen Sesame Street and he already loves Elmo. Go figure. He still asks for Elmo all the time.
Just a cute picture of a cute boy. He is eating a carrot.
I love this picture of the boys. James is so excited to hold his baby and John-Luke is looking at him with an unsure look. James was very soft with the baby. He really loves his baby a lot.
He also loves yogurt. He now refuses to be fed and only wants to feed himself. One of his favorite phrases is "Bubba do it."
Brian decided we should try out the new family fun center by his mom's house. It was fun. We bowled. Here is James getting some help from daddy. Roll.
Watch.
Celebrate!
They also had some little electronic cars that James just had to ride. We are suckers for the kid. He got to ride a few times.
Oh, and J-L slept through the whole outing.
Brian had to fly out again that Saturday. We were so sad for him to go and we missed him so much till we got home. James was constantly asking about, "Daddy, daddy, daddy!"
Stay tuned for more updates to come soon.

Week by Week 7

John-Luke's seventh week was also a busy one. Daddy flew into town from Geneva/Texas finally and we played for a few days before our second family reunion. This time it was the Gillespie bi-annual family reunion. John-Luke got to meet almost all of his Gillespie relatives.
When Brian first arrived we went to a few places in SLC to check them out. We started at Thanksgiving Point with my family. It was hot. It was also $2 Tuesday and so it was way crowded. Just for future reference. Don't go when there is a sale. Just pay more and enjoy less crowds. James did enjoy the animals and the Dinosaur museum. Here he is with Brian and his two cousins Alex and Max (feeding the goat).He also found a place to practice his dancing skills. James really can NOT hear music and not start dancing. It is pretty much impossible. He loves music.John-Luke slept in his Sleepy Wrap. Story of his life.
Bubba and his daddy in the dinosaur museum. This is the easiest way to keep the kid from running all over the place. He has a lot of energy. It is usually a good thing but this place was way too crowded.
For the Gillespie reunion we headed up to Driggs, ID (about an hour away from our other family reunion). We mostly chilled at the place we rented and played lots of games. Brian did a bit of fishing and we ventured out to Jackson to the alpine slide which James loved. Him and Brian went down 3 times.
I went once.
James also got to ride a horse all by himself. It was a freezing morning but at Targhee so he was only interested for about 10 minutes but he still liked it.
Daddy held his hand the whole time.
John-Luke slept a lot but he was also awake on occasion. He loved his aunts and they seemed to all have the magic touch to get him to sleep. It was so awesome to see the Gillespie side all together since that only happens every other year. This was James' and John-Luke's first reunion with them all.
I know there seems to be a lack of pictures from this week. I have a ton of blurry pictures (I need a new camera desperately) and I just can't post them. It is so sad that I had so few to really choose from. We had so much fun with everyone and we can't wait to see where we go next time. Unlike my family who ALWAYS goes to Alpine, Brian's family chooses a new place every 2 years (the host family gets to choose). We don't get to host for another 6 years as Brian is the youngest of the 6 kids. All in all, it was a good week. And we had fun. Brian even got to go fishing a couple of times.