2013

How do I sum up an entire year?
                       ... In a list of highlights that I can remember!!!

• Spencer and I spent our 5 year anniversary in Vegas. We ate, we walked, we conquered! I talked Spencer into seeing "O" and it was the best part of the trip for each of us.

• We decided we needed another member of our family and, same as with Jett, were pregnant without a chance to second guess ourselves. We let our families know on Valentine's Day (also Spencer's birthday).

• Spencer spent 6 months training for a Spartan Beast race in Midway UT. It was quite the challenge, even without the 100+ degree weather! I was so proud of him for his accomplishment that we have both signed up for it in 2014 too. Here's to another 6 months of training for the both of us!

• A good deal of early summer was spent in Bear Lake. Nucleane, Spencer's cleaning business, was busy keeping the Worldmark by Windham resort staffed with extra cleaners for the busy season. He cleaned a few cabins down there too. Since about August, he has pulled most of his business from BL and decided to just focus on Pocatello commercial cleaning.We didn't ski or get out on the water as much as we wanted to this summer, but there will be more time for that.

• My Grandma Ann passed away in August. She had a short, but painful fight with kidney cancer. She is dearly missed. We treasure the times we had, and I'm so glad that I grew up close to her that I can remember all of those memories together. I often think it's not fair that she had to go the way she did, or that she had to go at all. She was one of the most hardworking women I've ever known and the sweetest, most loving grandma anyone could ask for.

• I've gotten a couple illustration jobs this year and a few that could be fruitful on the horizon. I wish I could do more, but I know that there is nothing more important than these two little boys.

• Briggs Karl Ward was born September 30, 2013. He is already getting so big! He's a particular little fellow, who likes his mom and has a cry that could wake a sleeping giant!  But he is happy and loves to play and smile. He loves being talked to and held.

• Jett loves being a big brother and loves Briggs. He likes to tickle his own chin with Briggs' hair (which he had alot of when he was born). He talks so well and has grown up so much this year. He loves to play and run. We had an awesome Elmo Birthday party for his 2nd birthday! He was spoiled rotten by friends and family! I was happy to throw him a fun party that he can look back on one day. Cute cute cute! He is talking so well, knows his colors, shapes, letters, and numbers. He has moved into his big boy bed and we see potty training on the horizon.

• The holidays were a blast with our kids. Busy and full of family, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

• We are expecting big things in 2014, some of which are:  the Spartan race for which both spencer and I will be training, potty training, losing baby weight, working on and hopefully publishing my first children's book, more business for Nucleane, and a whole lot of fun with our little Ward family!

Birthdays, Holidays, Catching up

Busy days!  I'm so bad at blogging.  Some people keep such a good record of their family on their blogs and I wish I could emulate them, but I consider it good if I can post a few times during the year I guess. I have kept a good record of Jett so far, he has 5 shutterfly photo books chronicling his first year of life. If I keep that up for every kid,  I'd say I would have earned my "Best Mom" sticker :)

Our holidays were excellent, and included in them was the birthday of our sweet little Jett!  He had a "Very Hungry Caterpillar"birthday party!  So fun! I was busy being host, so I'm hoping my family took some better pictures than the ones I have, but I haven't been proactive enough to go get them yet.

 

 He loved his chocolate lovers cupcake with nutella frosting. Thanks for all the friends and family who came for the party. It was cramped quarters in our little townhouse.

 

Our big boy!  Out of all the toys he got for his birthday and Christmas, he still seeks out his favorite: a ball!

 Impatient for his new toys! Put it together faster Dad!

 Huge highlight rolled into our festivities was the birth of Felicity Kay Wolfe! She was so fun to have around for the holidays!

 Jett, Beckham, and I in our matching jammies!  I made each of the boys some superhero pants with matching applica shirts.

Cheesers!!!

 Enjoying time with Grandma and Grandpa Hancock and Ward cousins!  

 Spencer and I just celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! We went to Vegas and enjoyed walking the strip, the fabulous "O" at the Bellagio, great food, and even went snowboarding! It was a fun trip, but we were excited to get back to our little buddy. He continues to be the highlight of our lives!

Seven months! Where does the time go?

Sorry for anyone who may actually be interested in my life... it's been busy. Hopefully I can post more later, but here's a naked gent for your viewing pleasure.

From Fort Collins to Denver!

The adventures have continued here in Colorado with Jett and Spencer. We established a routine while staying at the hotel which included: sleeping in an extra hour or two after Spenc headed off to Verizon, eating breakfast while watching the View, going on a nice walk outside or down on the treadmill if the weather was too cold. We'll play in the afternoon and I've done alot of drawing while Jett has napped.

This trip has been a nice little vacation, but we are all excited to get back home. Our time here was alot of fun though, especially the time I was able to spend with Sarah in Fort Collins. Spencer had to go back to Idaho and work in the Pocatello store Friday and Monday, so Jett and I were able to spend February 23rd through the 29th with the Tanners. We started our week together off right by going to IKEA! It was my first experience and I'll tell you, I loved every bit of it! I love little things to decorate and accent rooms, I wish I had a whole room to put together and a large budget to do it! But... I did buy a rolling pin, much needed chip clips, and a cute lil' shelf for Jett's room.


The weather was lovely while in Fort Collins, and we took the boys to the playground nearby while. A good walk always puts Jett right to sleep, especially with a few bumps to rock him.


Sarah took me to see the organic farm that she and her boys work on. She will soon be milking this cow (she's pregnant right now) and drinking its milk... ugh... I think she's especially excited about making her own butter. She's really into organic stuff and this is a great way for her to get some good produce and teach her boys how to work hard.


The boys had a good time playing in the dirt, doing what boys do best - getting dirty. I snapped this picture, snickering the view of Bennett's little plumber :)


The boys were great with Jett and loved bringing him toys and shaking them above his head. Jett has become much more vocal over the past few weeks, cooing and talking when he's talked to, smiling at you and moving all around excitedly.


We were excited when Spencer came back to us. He and Abe were able to go to a Nugget's game. They had great seats! This is them standing in front of their seats. It was a great game! Sarah and I hung out at the hotel, the boys had a blast in the pool and we played a game of Rhumecube.


We have now created a tradition with the Tanners that we go out to the places that Man vs. Food had visited when we are with them. When Spencer visited on his own, he tackled the West End Tavern's wing challenge in Boulder. Last time we indulged on Buejo's Pizza in Fort Collins. And this time we visited Jack-n-Grill, where they have a 7 lb burrito! It's bigger than Jett when he was born! He didn't finish of course... he's a little more health conscious these days, but it made for great pictures and a good story.


I discovered the Park Meadows mall this week and did some perusing of my own. Thankfully Nordstroms had a great women's lounge, so we were able to prolong our stay there :) I found cute new things for Jett and spoiled myself a little bit too.

We are excited to come back home and get back to real life. We are especially excited to meet up with family and friends with Jett and show everyone how big he has gotten and share his sweet little personality.

Adventures in Denver

Spencer, Jett and I have made our new home in a Denver Marriott hotel room for 4 weeks. We've nearly been here a full week, and so far so good. Jett and I get to hang out all day, sleep in, and go on walks - luckily Denver is one of the sunniest places in the US. It's been beautiful! Perfect light jacket/stroller weather.

We were a bit worried about traveling because Jett seemed to be coming down with a cold on top of still being fussy from his 2 month shots he got 2/10/11. We lost a little more sleep those few days, but he started feeling better just in time.

The trip here couldn't have gone much better! Security was a little hectic, cuz he was ready to nurse, but the Idaho Falls airport wasn't busy, and there were nice people who helped us. Jett slept through the whole flight in my arms and snoozed in the shuttle from the airport to hotel too. :)

The Tanner family (Spencer's sister)lives in Fort Collins, so they are so excited that we are so close for a whole month. Sarah and Abe even brought us a vehicle for the week (and most importantly, to come to visit them on the weekends). Tuesday we went to the Denver Mint! It was very educational. Coins are cool! I think I liked seeing the architectural restoration in the last few minutes of the tour best. Cool chandeliers, stone floors & pillars, and beautiful murals near the exit.

It was also Valentine's Day, and Spencer's birthday this week. So after the Mint, we waited for Spencer to get out of his training, then we made our way to Pizza Republica with the Tanners. My sweetheart gave me an awesome display of chocolate when we were in Idaho. Plus we spoiled ourselves with a brand new hp printer - so nice!

Here's our cute family at our Valentine's dinner.

I've got my happy baby back, that's for sure! He is so sweet. He still has a little bit of a runny nose, but if he's not hungry (the only time that he's ever upset) he'll smile at me even when I'm sucking his nose out with one of those suction bulbs.

This picture was taken right before we went out on a nice long walk to McDonald's (gotta have my Diet Coke). He's such a happy napper!

Here's more proof of my sweet little napper. He's been sleeping against my chest as I've been blogging. Love him!

I've also gotten on the Instagram bandwagon. I guess it's kinda like pintrest or somthing, in that you can follow people and put all kinds of pictures on there. But I like it because it offers a few quick photoshop-like tools. (Seen in the last three photos). So I just use it for that. Fun!

Getting Bigger Continued...

Highlights over the past few weeks...

• Jett was blessed 2/5/12 by his Dad, Spencer B. Ward, and was surrounded by many honorable men in the circle. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported us. We have great friends and family. He was a perfect little boy all day, though he got tired in the afternoon - BIG DAY!

• We celebrated Spencer & Tae's birthdays this past week. It was fun seeing Tae and Chase, Beck is getting so big! See the cute cousins here!

• Spencer started his new job 2/6/12 at Verizon Wireless in Pocatello. Next week he flies out for a 4 week training session in Denver, CO. Jett and I are going with him! Wowza, living out of a hotel for a month is not going to be easy, but it will be better than being away from Daddy!

• Jett and I started walking and formed the Walking Moms Club. It's been nice to get out of the house more lately. Being in the mall has given me new motivation to get in a smaller sized pair of jeans too... I love window shopping!

• Jett has started sharing his smiles more willingly every day! If you are lucky, he'll give you a coo or two :)

• Jett had his first up-the-back blow-out 2/7/11. He also had his first BELCH (not to be confused with his always-loud burps) the day before.

Can you tell his cheeks are getting chubbier and chubbier??? He's in 3 month clothes now! How did that happen?!? I love it though! I dress him better than I do myself.

Getting Bigger!!!

Our little Jett is filling out and getting bigger! Can you tell? Probably not, he's still pretty tiny. He'd made it to 7 pounds 1 ounce at his 2 week appointment, which was good growth. They expect him to gain a half to a full ounce a day for the first couple of months, so he's probably very close to 8 pounds now.

He's my sweet boy! Put food in his belly and he is a happy camper! He really only cries or fusses when he's hungry (which sometimes to Mom seems like alot... especially when he's sticking to a 20 minutes on each side, every 3 hour schedule).

He hates his diaper changed... especially if it's done while he's trying to wake up. Change him while he's being happy and alert, and he's fine... but unfortunately for him, his dirty diapers come at all times of the day.

We had our 3rd bath today (it took nearly 3 weeks for his umbilical cord to fall off), he's liking them more and more! No crying at all today until I took him out of the water. :)

For family and friends: We are going to be blessing Jett on February 5th, at 10:00 am at our church building on the corner of 4th Street and Fredregill, Pocatello, ID.

I know that some might be disappointed with my picture posting... we've taken tons of pictures, but Jett has a very protective Mom and Dad (majority Dad when it comes to the internet stuff). I have no intention of making my blogs private, so the pictures will be minimal (sorry).

So, if you need to see more of this cute little blondy, please come visit us!