Our Little Helper

Jackson LOVES to help us with Saturday morning chores.  He will dust, vacuum, sweep, and push wet clothes into the dryer.  This past Saturday I was reaching into the washer for some more clothes and when I stood up I no longer could see Jackson, but I could hear him...and he was echoing! ;)



Moving On

About 7 and half years ago I got a job working for a local hot tub manufacturer by the Name of Bullfrog Spas. They needed a French speaker to help take care of dealerships in Montreal and Quebec, as well as their English speaking dealers in the US and in Europe. It was a good job to help put me through school and a good opportunity to be involved with a small company that was growing really quickly. They were willing to work with my school schedule and even help pay some of my tuition. It was a fantastic opportunity!

After doing dealer support for a few years, I moved upstairs to work with Bullfrog's marketing department as a marketing assistant. At the time, I still hadn't decided what I wanted to pursue in school but thought that marketing / advertising was worth looking into. After working in this department for 6 months or so, our graphic designer quit and my boss decided to give me a shot at a few design projects as we looked for a replacement. This was a great opportunity for me to do some actual design work! We never did end up bringing in somebody else and I soon found myself spending most of my day working on design projects.

My good friend Clay, our web designer at the time, took over as our senior designer and helped me along as I figured things out. I'd been studying design at school for a few semesters and as my skills improved, I started taking on larger projects. Before long, Clay moved on to another department and I was left to handle all of the design work. Everything from billboards, newspaper ads and websites, to brochures and promotional material and even trade show booths. Somewhere along the way, we also dumped our contract photographer and I was able to take over all of Bullfrog's photography work as well.

I thought my time at Bullfrog would come to an end when Sarah and I decided to move up to Logan, but Bullfrog wanted to keep me and allowed me to work from home. I set up an office in our spare bedroom and, with the exception of driving to Salt Lake for photo shoots or meetings, I've spent the last 2 and a half years working in my underwear (Ha, no not really). But seriously, It's been a great run and I'm very appreciative to those that gave me opportunities to pursue what started out as a job and has since become a passion!

After Thanksgiving, I'll be starting a new job as a graphic designer for a company up here in Logan called Icon Health & Fitness. My commute time will increase significantly from 30 seconds to about 3 minutes, but I think I'll survive. I'm looking forward to this new opportunity and for the chance to have some coworkers again.

Happy Halloweeen

Travis has always loved Halloween, but I could take it or leave it (I'd take the candy part and leave all the scary part)...this year though was SO much fun with Jackson.  Travis and I were both anxious to get off of work and get the party started.  We made our rounds trick or treating first at my work place and then around our neighborhood.

 

Jackson started to get the hang of the trick or treating game towards the end of the evening.  Each new house went something like this:  mom or dad rings the doorbell... pause and wait..Jackson says "hello?" and proceeds to knock on the door...the door eventually opens,  Jackson says "hello!?" and walks right into the house!  So funny! 

His little dinosaur costume was a hit, and kept him nice and toasty warm (I'm not sure we could have asked for better Halloween weather..fair and not really even a need for a jacket).  The little paws got in the way a couple of times, but as long as they didn't hinder his holding onto a piece of candy 100% of the time we were out and about, he was a happy camper.

The evening was made complete when the "sugar high" hit right before bedtime and we got to experience an EXTRA silly little boy!   We had a blast and are already looking forward to next year!

18 months

Sorry I haven't posted lately...I guess we have just been too busy having SO much fun with our little BOY...I'm afraid that he has moved beyond the "baby" title...we have been around a couple of newborn babies lately, and just can't figure out when Jackson quadrupled his newborn size?! Jackson turned 18 months on the 9th of this month.  It really is incredible to think about how much he has changed since the day he was born... He is such a fun, adventurous, silly, and dynamic little boy!

At his 18 month check-up we were surprised at how much he has grown since his 12 month check!  He weighed 23 lb 3 oz (20% percentile and up 3 lbs), was 32.5 inches tall (60% percentile and up 3.5 inches), and his head was 18.75 inches in diameter (70% percentile)  The doctor gave him a clean bill of health and told us to keep doing what we are doing...he also asked me how we managed to keep up with Jackson's activity level, and my response was that we just don't stop chasing until he is in bed!

Some of Jackson's favorite things right now include: being outside (anything involving dirt, sticks, and rocks), going to the park, feeding the ducks that live in the pond near our house, chasing with his daddy, building with blocks, talking on Skype with Grandma and Grandpa, riding his "bike" (3-wheeler), reading books, hide and seek, playing with his friends, and last but CERTAINLY not least watching "Elmo" (Sesame Street). We recently broke him of requiring his binky to sleep, so now he insists that he has his little bunny to cuddle with at bedtime and nap time. 

Jackson continues to develop his cute personality!  He is very affectionate and will give us, the dogs, or practically anyone/anything "love" (hugs) whenever we ask him too.  He is also fairly strong willed/independent, and isn't afraid to let you know if he is unhappy...his "fits" are pretty far and few between and seem to be over just as fast as they start (thankfully!)  He has gotten to be really talkative (I have no idea where he gets that from?!) and is saying/copying more words than what we can keep track of.  He can identify several animals (cow, chicken, duck, horse, pig, turtle, bird, snake, monkey) and the noises that they make.  He also is starting to pick out colors (his favorite for now is yellow)  He loves to point out airplanes in the sky, every bus that drives by our house, and when he can hear the "choo choo" outside.

I don't know why we got so lucky to have such a great little boy in our lives, but I sure am glad that we did!  Words can't adequately describe how much we love him and how we look forward to every single minute we get to spend making memories :)