Jax is Two!

Oh my sweet Jaxon! I don't know where to start! This boy makes me laugh every day! 

Some things I want to remember:

Jaxon loves the minions off of Despicable Me. He has a stuffed one and a talking one and he calls it his "Minah".

Jaxon weighs 29 pounds and is 3 feet tall. (which is only one inch shorter than what Parker was when he was two. I always thought he was so much shorter.)

He is a TOTAL mommas boy! (If you can't tell from the pictures) When I'm home, he wants my FULL attention. He follows me around when I am home and begs me to hold him. 

Jaxon absolutely adores babies. Especially baby Brecklyn. He loves to kiss and hug her all of the time. He gets really mad at me when I try to pry him away so he won't smother her!

For some strange reason, Jax calls Parker, "baby". No matter how many times I have tried to teach him how to correctly say Parker, he just sticks with calling him baby. 

Jaxon loves to irritate Parker. He thinks it is the funniest thing and he can really get Parker going sometimes. 

Jaxon is such a good sleeper! He sleeps a good 12 hours at night and then has around a 3 hour nap during the day. Thank goodness for this, because when he was just a baby he was a horrible sleeper!

Jaxon loves our dog Mallow. He actually thinks that all dogs are called, "allow". Hahaha. 

We feel so blessed to have this sweet boy in our lives!

My First Half Marathon

On Saturday I ran my very first marathon! I have been wanting to do one for a while now, too bad I finally decided to sign up for one during the winter. The race was in Mesquite and it was cold! When I signed up, I expected it to be a bit warmer. Ha! The hills were crazy and every time I thought I was done with them another huge one would come into view.

My family came to cheer me on and they were awesome! I loved seeing my boys yell for me! Having my parents there to support me made me think about all of the ball games they used to come to. I sure enjoyed reminiscing back to my high school days as I ran!

The last half mile of the race was brutal. It was up a huge hill and my legs were aching. Then I spotted my family cheering me on. Such a cool feeling. At the finish line Parker ran out and finished the race with me. I loved it! I finished 3rd in my division, which may mean nothing depending on how many people were even in my division. :) I'll find out in a week, but I'm already planning my next half marathon!

Life as of lately...

Holy cow! First of all, I am so glad that the month of September is OVER! Talk about crazy/hard month. Between both boys being sick the WHOLE month and Steve and I being so busy with work. Yuck. We have recently taken Parker off of gluten because of him being sick all of the time. He had a constant cold and with him, it is never just a cold. The poor kid will have serious breathing troubles on about day 2-3 of the cold. A nebulizer, inhaler, breathing medicine all barely make a difference. His body gets really really warm. Like 103 degrees warm and he just can't breathe. 

So I did a bit of research and found out that asthma (or breathing troubles) often go hand in hand with gluten. It basically compromises his system to where his body is having a hard time processing it. So being that it is working over time with that, there is little left over for his immune system. Gluten may also inflame the lungs...just as we have seen. Parker has been gluten free for about a month. I don't know if it is working yet, but he has not caught a cold since. So we will keep chugging along with this gluten free lifestyle. 

Now onto Jaxon. I swear this kid catches the WEIRDEST stuff. About a year ago he had a weird rash on his back. This time he got a rash that covered his whole body. It was even in between his toes. It just kept getting worse and worse, so finally I decided to just take him in to see the doctor. Basically he caught some viral thing like Roseola. The catch is that he was on antibiotics for a double ear infection when he caught this other thing. So symptoms were a bit different and the rash was weird. Oh my life! :)

 Braden is home... and Dakota is leaving! One last picture of us before we're separated again! 

The month of October has been a lot better to us. :)

Parker is 3

Parker - Age 3

Favorite color - green

Favorite book - Brown Bear Brown Bear

Favorite T.V. show - Phineas and Ferb

Favorite food - pizza, tacos, hot dogs

Favorite toy - Buzz

Favorite place to go - Grandmas house

Weight - 33 pounds - 64th percentile

Height - 39 1/2 inches - 89th percentile 

We absolutely love this little dude! Parker started preschool this year and he loves it. Parker had a minion cake for his birthday done by his Grandma Cluff. The present that I think he was the most excited for was his pair of boots. He had been asking for several months for us to get him a pair of boots. So $60 dollars later we found some and he loves them!
Parker loves to go to the store and buy a donut. Especially if it is with Grandpa.

I can't believe how big he is getting! I love spending time with him. I love the stories he tells me. I love the silly things he says. I love you Parker!

Jax is 18 Months

It is kind of crazy to me because when Parker was 18 months we had Jaxon. For my sanity, our next child will be spaced out more. Like a lot more. :) 

Weight 25 pounds - 36th percentile (I totally thought he was chunkier than that.)

Height 31 inches - 12th percentile (Really?! He's not that short! Too much Cluff in him...)

Jaxon is such a sweet boy! I just want to squeeze him all of the time. Lately he has been teething. He just recently added 4 molars and is working on his next bottom teeth so he wont look like a beaver anymore! Jaxon LOVES any kind of ball/balloon! He is seriously obsessed. He will go around the house looking for and playing with them all day. He absolutely adores Parker. He doesn't talk a whole lot but he does say:

-please

-thank you

-more

-Momma

-Dada 

-ball

-balloon

-banana

-cracker

-Grandpa 

-drink (um.. can you count him making the slurping noise?)

Jaxon is such a good sleeper! He'll sleep about 11-12 hours a night and will take a good 3 hour nap during the day. He loves to eat, play in dirt and go for walks. Pretty typical right? :) I love this boy! I just wish I could get time to freeze, like for forever. I love this stage in my life! 

Goofy picture....but this is how Jaxon usually is!

Seriously, where do I start?

I let three months slip by with out posting anything. This will probably be the longest post ever! I'll try to rewind a bit and start at the beginning of our summer break. 

We headed up to Rexburg and stayed with Jaycie and Josh for about a week. Jaycie and Josh went through the temple and received their endowments. I LOVE going back to the Rexburg temple. I was in Rexburg when they first started building it and I attended many sessions while we lived there. I feel like it is 'my' temple.

I also ran my very first official 10k. It was a tough one and half of it was up hill. I remember thinking during the race that I would never sign up to do another one. As soon as I crossed the finish line I was making plans for another one. I finished around 1hr and 4 minutes. 

I absolutely love visiting Rexburg (during the summer). I already want to go back!

After Rexburg we headed to Nampa to visit Steve's family. We were able to spend about a week with them and also go camping. The boys loved being with Grandma and Grandpa Dunn. If only they lived closer!

Right after we got home we all came down with a nasty stomach flu. I HATE the flu and I hate even more when my kids have it. Parker got it the worst. I was so thankful that I had my family to help out. I feel bad though because every single one of them came down with it too.

We went camping again, this time with my family. For some reason, this is the only picture we got. The boys did so well. Parker could seriously live out there. 

Parker and Jaxon are beginning to play better together. Jax adores Parker, but Parker doesn't really even care most of the time. I love the stage that Jaxon is in right now. The poor kid gets squeezed and kissed all day! He's beginning to talk a little more, but I hope to cover that better when I do his 18 month post.

I ran another race, just a local 10 k. It was small, perhaps that is the reason I was able to take 3rd place. I don't care though. I still think it's cool! :) My time was 58:37! I was so excited that I ran 6.2 miles in under an hour. I'm still running a lot. I want to do a half marathon but it has been tough to find one that works with my schedule. 

This past weekend Jaycie and Josh were sealed in the St. George Temple. What a cool experience it was! I am SOO happy for them. Jaycie is also pregnant with their second. It's a girl! I'm not sure we'll know what to do with a girl. Ha ha!

This cool dude opened his mission call last night... NO ONE guessed where he is going. I haven't even heard of anyone one that has gone to this mission either. He is going to INDIA, BANGALORE! How crazy! He is super excited and even more excited that it is English speaking!

Just because I love Jaxon's face. :)

Oh this kid. I could go on and on. What a crazy personality he has. He is almost three! Yikes. I'll hopefully write a post for him soon also. For now, I'll just say that he LOVES super heroes. 

Oh and last thing, we took over the pest control business from my Dad. We are so lucky to have something like this. For the most part, one of us will be able to be home with the kids. They will hardly have to go to day care! What a blessing. It is so nice to plan your own schedule and choose the days you want to work (for the most part). Yay! 

Well, heres to the last month of my summer break!!!

He is with Jesus

I have been thinking about my sister and baby Braxton a lot lately. My heart breaks every time I remember what my sister and her husband had to go through. The boys and I have driven by Braxton's grave a few times this week and each time we do I am hit with a huge wave of emotions. Parker recognizes the cemetery and we have had a few good talks when we go. The first time we went we talked about how Aunt Jaycie's baby died. How he lives with Jesus now. That it's just his body in the grave. Parker was very serious throughout our conversation, but was very relieved to know that at least Baby Braxton was with Jesus. I am so grateful for my boys and how close to the Savior they are. 

The second time we went this week Parker reminded me of Braxton and what happened to him. He made sure to tell me it was ok though, because he was with Jesus. 

I am so so grateful for my two little boys and I love them so much. I love how much they teach me. I love how big their hearts are.  I am grateful for my sister and her example and strength. I know she will get the chance to hold and love her sweet little boy someday.