Getting Out

Since Jocelynn and I got back from Idaho we have had quite a few cloudy and rainy days. I was getting all homesick for Idaho summers that get warmer and last through at least August. But...the sun came back! To celebrate we've been getting out as much as we can. We have discovered some pretty cool places and are excited to find even more!

Here's some of the things we've been up to:

Went to the beach:
       It was SUPER windy but it was great to be out. We watched the waves roll, a tug boat pull a huge                barge in, and Desoto run around and just be on cloud 9.

Watched some ducklings and goslings just outside our back yard:
          I counted three ducklings with their mom and nine goslings with both parents. It was a good thing                   Desoto wasn't running around because they all came out at the same time and were so fun to watch!!

 

 

 

 
Went hiking along the Turnagain Arm:
         It was more intense than we had planned or prepared for, but we still had a blast enjoying the                        outdoors, the exercise, our crazy friends :) and the views!

Workin' it!

 

Another One of These

Ever since we found out that we were expecting a little one we hoped and prayed for her to develop as she should. Now, as I watch our little girl reach and jump past milestones, I'm thrilled and saddened by it all. I'm still on that rollercoaster and am coming to realize that I'll always be on it. I'll probably always feel bittersweet about her growth and development, excited that she's doing what she needs to and is supposed to be doing, but sad that my little one is changing. It's kind of a twist on the view that the next stage is always better...when you just can't wait for to do this, or until you have the money for that, and so on. The old principle of enjoying the moment now is still the same though. Since it's going to be happening for the rest of my life with Jocelynn, and again and again with every other child we have, I better get over it. So, this is my last rant about it...for now haha :)

What milestone(s) has she mastered now, you ask? Well, check it out...

Crawling

Sitting herself up on her own

Pulling herself to a kneeling and standing position 

Doing this...when she doesn't want to take a nap

Making messes and getting into good and not so good places

 

Piano playing! (so she hasn't MASTERED it but she sure loved playing my Mom's and I am searching EVERYWHERE for a good one around here).

Sticking everything she can outside of her crib while she sleeps 

Did I mention crawling?! And she's now a happy crawler too! 

Climbing ALL over us (she's always tried but now she really can!) 

Playing with her pretty dress :) 

Having enough hair to put gel in and curl a little (I know this kind of makes her look even more like a boy, but her hair is growing!)   

Being patriotic! (she carried this all around the house and part of the farmer's market too)  

As sad as it can be that my little girl is getting so old at 8 months :) she sure is an incredible little girl. I really am so excited to see who she becomes and what she ends up doing in her life. She's going places!

The Beautiful People

At the beginning of March my Mom came to visit, bringing our GIANT puppy with her. We explored more of our winter/Alaskan surroundings, learned about the history of the beautiful place we live and even got to go to the temple! Jocelynn also had her first taste of real food with Grandma here and wasn't the biggest fan of it. It's crazy to think how much her taste and DEMAND for food has changed in just a few short months! Then Justin's parents came for a long weekend at the end of May. With them we got to see incredible glaciers, otters at play and some other really neat wildlife. 

We thoroughly enjoyed both visits and are so grateful we have family who WANT to see us, though I know they all just come for the baby :) But this is the first time in our married life that we've lived more than a half hour away from family, so months between visits can seem kind of long sometimes. 

My sister and her family, with a new little addition, were stopping in Rexburg for a few days on their move across the country, giving me another perfect excuse to go to Idaho. Our visit was perfect, except for the fact that Justin wasn't able to come. With almost everyone on both sides around we had a lot of fun. We went fishing, had frog races, a super soaker water fight, went to the zoo and a poetry slam, BBQ'd, played BANG, ate, chatted, hung out and laughed a lot. With grandparents comes new food to try for Joce, and she loved it! From ice cream to pork and seeds or pickles, she was up for anything they threw at her! 

Jocelynn was able to play with her cousins a lot, who were soooo great with her! It was so much fun for me to see how all our nieces had grown and how their personalities are coming out so much more! We couldn't ask for better cousins! We were also able to meet the first boy cousin, baby Sam, and be there for his blessing. He is such a sweet boy and adorable too! I think he'll be catching up to Jocelynn soon!

I love Alaska with its incredible mountain ranges that never end, the ocean, the trails all over the city and parks, the lakes and ocean as well as the wildlife and we definitely have incredible friends here. But Idaho is beautiful and you can't beat those sunsets (especially when the sun hasn't set for us in a while!) Being with family who are such great people was wonderful. We're so blessed to have family as friends who are simply just easy to be around and we definitely miss hanging out more often with them. Jocelynn is definitely a blessed little girl with the cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and even great grandparents that she has. There's no shortage of love there! And we LOVED seeing everyone and look forward to next time! Come to our neck of the woods and we'll have some more adventures!