Coldplay

Coldplay at the Hollywood Bowl = clearly the best concert ever.

Matt's life is now complete.

The Best Week

If I could choose one week of my life to experience again, it would be this one. The 7 days that started with Matt's commissioning and graduation from the Air Force Academy and ended with our long-awaited wedding were so deliriously happy and exciting and proud and wonderful. And, happily, we're getting another taste of it right now!

We're in the middle of a packed itinerary that includes 2 weeks, 2 states, 2 weddings, 3 graduations, and house hunting to top it off. And just for good measure, Jake and I squeezed in the stomach flu this weekend because, you know, it sounded like good convenient fun at a time like this. (Oh, the irony.) We're finally feeling better and finally in Colorado (two days late).

Matt and I are so incredibly excited to relive the best week of our lives as we watch Nicole and Jordan do the same thing three years later. Congratulations, you two! We are so proud.

For those of you who missed it, check out Matt's USAFA graduation here. There is honestly nothing quite like it and I've never been so proud of my husband. That moment when he was finally mine was easily the best moment of my life, now superseded only by marrying Matt and meeting our Jake. Here's to the happiest of memories!

I look forward to catching up with all of you on the other side :)

Mother's Day

Jake started saying "Mama" on Sunday morning. I can't think of a better Mother's Day gift.

Of course, he's been saying "Dada" forever and only says "Mama" when he's sad, but that's entirely beside the point.

I am so grateful for my boys and feel like the luckiest Mama in the world! And I'm extra spoiled because I have the best Mom ever. Thanks for all that you taught me, Mom! I appreciate you more now than ever before.

I hope you all had a beautiful Mother's Day!

Matt's first Tri

This is the story of how Matt became a triathlete.

Once upon a time, our friends Shawn and Whitney Killpack moved to Edwards on April 2nd. We had them over on April 3rd. Matt and Shawn became workout buddies on April 4th. On April 11th, I got a phone call from my husband while I was in Utah, asking if he could race in a triathlon with Shawn in Las Vegas on April 21st. He hadn't swam more than 100 meters or ridden a bike in years, but hey, why not? So next thing I knew, I was in Vegas cheering on my husband who had trained for his first triathlon for a whopping ten days.

We stayed with our friends Talon and Carolyn, and the six of us (well, eight including babies) woke up in the middle of the night in order to be at Lake Mead at the crack of dawn. Matt's race started first since he did the sprint distance -- 800M open swim, 12.4 mile bike ride on the worst hills imaginable, and a 5K in the sand to top it off. For good measure, Mother Nature decided to grace that spring day with a 98-degree high temperature, which meant our boys were racing around 90-degrees.

But that hardly mattered, because Matt rocked it! He placed tenth in his division, which is not too shabby for a week-and-a-half of training. I spent the first few years of our relationship cheering him on as a college athlete, so it was fun to cheer for him again. Shawn raced the Olympic distance (he's been doing sprints for about a year and decided it was time to up his distance) and did really well, too. As soon as they were done, Matt and Shawn signed up for another triathlon in June. And thus Matt's new favorite hobby was born!

Swimming in Vegas

We went on a fairly last-minute trip to Las Vegas a few weekends ago, and while we were there, Jake got his first taste of swimming. He was a bit unsure about the whole thing and basically clung to us the entire time. To be fair, the water wasn't exactly warm, so the adults were a bit unsure about the pool thing, too! At the beginning, Jake held onto us for dear life but toward the end, he allowed for a few inches of separation and even played along with our "kick, kick, kick!" routine. As water lovers, we have high hopes for his future with pools and beaches and were therefore just happy he wasn't in tears.

Kick, kick, kicking!

Can you believe what they put me through?

Love those baby raisins.

8 months

Jake turned 8 months old this week! It was a rather eventful month for my little guy who so desperately wants to be big. Jake has perfected crawling and now pulls himself up, walks with a walker, and runs with our hands. He talks and laughs and squeals all day long -- including when he is supposed to be sleeping. We're still working on that one, you know.

 If Jake is upset, musical instruments seem to do the trick. Especially when he is the one making said music.

 He still loves doing everything with his Daddy, and has become quite the Mama's Boy.

Jake has always been liberal with his kisses, but he now gives them on demand and it's my favorite thing. Hopefully he doesn't get sick of the whole "Give Mama a kiss!" routine any time soon.

You wouldn't know it from his size, but our little guy has developed quite the appetite. He loves feeding himself grownup food (think soft finger foods like bananas) and is a bit picky when it comes to baby food -- only the homemade stuff will do. (More on that later.)

Some of my favorite additions to his crawling routine are the plank and downward dog. So zen of him.

One day, I went in to get Jake from his crib and found that he had pulled himself up for the first time. So, like a good mom, I whipped out my iPhone, took a short video clip, took a picture, and then rescued him. Then I informed my husband that it's time to lower the crib mattress. Now, Jake pulls himself up on anything and everything he can get his hands on -- the crib, our coffee table, our friends' pant legs...

Speaking of our friends, Jake's little friend Emery is in town. This time, she brought her little walker with her. We were just hanging out in the family room last week when Jake crawled over to the walker, stood up to it, and then took six steps all on his own! Those were followed by many, many more. Jake has always liked walking with our hands, but he now wants to spend every moment of the day walking. He'll pull himself up to our legs and wait for our hands, then literally run around the house until we (his parents, that is) get tired. Jakey is loving it.

He's a rather confident little guy. A couple days ago, he was standing up to the couch and decided he wanted to go somewhere else, so he just turned around and stepped his foot forward ... and then face planted, because he's still way too little for that business (whether he knows it or not). He just wants to be big so badly! After the face plant, Jake rolled over, looked up at me and Matt, and started laughing. That boy is my favorite.