merry christmas...sort of

i was so excited for christmas this year because jack is finally old enough to get it. i could not sleep at all the night before and had all these christmassy expectations, and then my kid was sick. he got the stomach flu and was miserable all day. we still did christmas with all of our families and had a good time but it was pretty stressful trying to help him feel better. needless, to say, i did not get one picture christmas day of him with his presents because he was not happy. so this is a shot of the day after, with his new chair and basketball hoop, which he LOVES!!! he goes around yelling all the time "hoot, hoot!" (shoot) and then yells "made it" when he makes it in the hoop. it's stinking cute. and he is good. shawn and i didn't really get anything because our present is a trip to cali to see our good friends alden and emily, WITHOUT jack. we'll miss him, but we're so excited. we leave tomorrow so it's like christmas eve all over again.

the biggest ham ever

our new family pics

these are our latest family pics. they were taken by our good friend, mckenzie. we shot them in october but haven't been able to post them till now because they were a surprise for the grandparents for christmas. a shout out to mckenzie, who is amazing. if anyone is looking for a photographer for anything, check out her website by clicking on "mckenzie's photos" under my family and friends. you'll love her stuff! the photo above made daddy really proud.







i know this is a cute grin, but it's actually devious cuz he was eating the dirt the whole time and thinking he was pretty cool cuz mom and dad weren't doing anything about it.

mmmm, he's all mine.

the official announcement

so it is time to announce that we are expecting our second child. i'm not very far along, about 8 weeks, and feeling pretty gross so it's a little hard to be excited right now, but it will come. kind of crazy, i know. at least, i think i'm crazy every day when i wake up. was it planned, you ask? well, shawn and i weren't really thinking about it at all, and then the powers above pointed His loving finger at us and said "time to have another one". and then it was planned. make sense?

i want to apologize to all those who are finding out through the blogging world. i would have loved to call everyone whom i love so much, but between work, school, jack, teaching, and feeling yucky, i knew i would probably have the baby before i was able to call everyone. please don't hate me.

we feel very blessed to be able to have our children so easily because we know many loved ones who struggle. we love you all so much and we pray for you often.

the final product

now that it's almost thanksgiving, i thought maybe i should post our halloween pics. jack was an adorable turtle and shawn was "brent". he found this disgusting home depot shirt (with sleeves already kindly removed) at work and the nametag says "brent". with the help of our good friend nate (also pictured at the infamous ward party), the rest was hideously created. nate went all out by growing his hair and shaving a real cul-de-sac. where's my costume, you ask? refer to previous post about my most hated holiday, halloween.

mother's group is the best

we love mother's group! i can say that i go for jack, but that is a blatant lie. i go for myself, to selfishly spend time with the other fabulous moms in my ward whom i love dearly. jack just happens to get to play with his friends too. today, we had our halloween party and everyone (go figure) showed up as animals, except cute mirayla who was a pirate. however, they could've cared less about the costumes they were wearing because lauren had a duck in her backyard. it was awesome!
lainey, the "laineybug" scooched into this pic.
from l to r: grace the giraffe, ethan the puppy, jack the turtle, afton and abby as more puppies, and mirayla the pirate.

the yearly carve

pretty much, i think you can guess who's is who's. you know how you have a plan, a genius creative plan, as to what your pumpkin is going to look like this year and then you stick the knife in and all the sudden you have a slash the size of kentucky (holla) in your pumpkin in the wrong direction? that's what happened to shawn (the one in the middle). when he showed me the final carve i laughed my head off.

halloween memories

i love all holidays except for halloween. yes, i'm a party-poop. i hate dressing up, i hate being scared, i never liked trick-or-treating. but as i read a bunch of halloween memories from roomies' blogs, i started thinking of mine, and the truth reveals itself.

when i was 7-8ish, the YM and YW put together halloween activities for the primary kids. they had treats and games and a dinky haunted room (the primary room). i remember my mom encouraging me to go into the haunted room, even though i was scared to death. she said it would be fun. so i go in and as i'm making my way through a hall of sheets in the pitch black, someone jumps out right in front of me and yells. well, no need to even try and act brave, i started bawling right then and there. he felt so bad he picked me and carried me like the baby i was out of the room. i couldn't stop crying and we had to go home.

then, flash forward 7 years to when i was 14. it was ben justice's b-day and he wanted all of us to go to the haunted house they used to have at the state mental hospital (yes, with the crazies as the crazies in the haunted house). i don't know how i let them talk me into it, but i went. ben's dad came with, and halfway through, i was so scared i started crying and we had to go home. really cool.

in high school, one of my best friends' b-day (the tichey) was in oct. and he always wanted to go to some sort haunted something. inevitably, i would either cry, pee, or pass out. i would beg them to take me home.

this, my friends, is why i do not like halloween and rather than having my husband have to bring me home in crumpled ball of tears, i think we'll just stay home this year.

the sink is the perfect place to sit, who knew?

this is how jack brushes his teeth.

animals, animals, animals

jack and i went with our mother's group to thanksgiving point's petting zoo. jack is loving animal sounds so he went crazy seeing live animals that actually make them. this is him withe the duckies.

a new trend

so i'm going through all these pics to blog and i realize that most of them consist of jack with no pants on and some kind of footwear so here's a gallery of sorts of fall's newest fashion.

gratitude

okay, so for the past hour i have been perusing everyone's blogs to catch up and i'm overwhelmed with gratitude for the amazing friends and family that we have. i could not begin to count the number of times i've thanked my Heavenly Father for the good people that surround us, for your inspiring examples of faith and strength. you've changed me and my family for which i can never express enough thanks. and if you're reading this, i'm talking about you.

i love you all. thank you.

PA school, here we come...

we are very pleased to announce that shawn was accepted into Tuoro University's PA program!!! we are so excited and so relieved, i know many of you know exactly how that feels. he starts school in the beginning of july so its a little sooner than we were thinking but that's okay. oh, tuoro is in henderson, NV right outside of vegas, for those who don't know. we're glad that it's so close to home, many of you can come and visit on your way to cali or come see some shows on the strip and stay with us. it will be fantastically hot but what can you do? and shout out to my cousins down there...it'll be awesome to be down there with them. also we'd like to send a shout out to danny millward and michael evans who tutored shawn through the PA process, you guys are wonderful, thank you so much. ALSO a shout out to family and friends for their prayers and support. couldn't have done it without you! life is good.

love you all!

welcome to the gibbs kitchen

couple of saturdays ago, i came home from my morning run and found this. my heart just melted.

jack is a great name

we went to the jack johnson concert at the USANA with some of our best buds the tenneys and the dushanes. good music, good company, good time had by all. how could you not with all that weed floating through the air?
i've decided i'm never take a picture in this position again because i always look freaky.

ah, yes, the perfect seat.

this is how jack watched the olympics.

some great lookin' legs

okay, so one sunday, shawn put his dress socks on jack and then we laughed our heads off. he's ready for the runway.

BEAR LAKE!!!

our one family vacation this summer was to bear lake for the gibbs family reunion. we were excited to get away for a bit and have fun with family. there was a lot of playing in the water and sand, volleyball, wakeboarding (yes, i was able to get up), good food, and wonderfully wonderful company. jack LOVED the boat rides (thanks, uncle eric!) and watching daddy crash on the wakeboard. we really had a great time with everyone. the only thing was that it made me sad that we missed my family reunion...here's a shout out to the riding's...love you.
hanging out on the beach! miss katie
danielle, ty, and cindy
grandma and grandpa...oh, we love them!
randy, karianne, baby, shaun, and jack
jack, mr. sippy cup, and momma
letting mr. sun work on that white chest that we have previously seen...

if any of you mothers are searching for something that will keep a busy boy busy, get one of these things, whatever it is. he sat there for a long time messing with these balls on strings, and a long time is a big deal for jack.
shawn and i rented a tandem with a caboose and it was way fun...but the seats were old school and hurt our little bums so we couldn't ride for very long. but it inspired us and someday we shall buy our very own bikes.