{Cherry Blossoms}

We went downtown to see the Cherry Blossoms in bloom. Little did we know, it was the opening day of the Cherry Blossoms Festival. Let's just say it was about as busy as Disneyland during Spring Break. It was C-Razy...but fun. Too bad it wasn't as warm this weekend as last. We still enjoyed the beauty and smell of our first Cherry Blossoms Festival.

We had to park quite far from the Tidal Basin. We walked about 20 minutes before we got to the Jefferson Memorial. We met a nice couple along the way that snapped this picture for us.

Jonas had a great time running around. It was cold, so we kept him running to help him stay warm.

These were my favorite trees. They smell so good and the blossoms were the most plenty-ful.

Mr. Jonas with some of the trees is the background.

The Washington Monument + Blossoms

We worked on trying to get J's pictures for his Easter Cards. Devin and I wanted to put him in this tree. He was terrified!!!! How can he be my child if he is afraid of heights?! That will never do well with Disneyland. Silly Boy. He hung on to Devin for dear life.

This is what he has to say about our day out. :) It's always fun with him around!

My super creative friend Brittanie has been helping me learn to frost and decorate a bit. We made these owl cupcakes last week. It was fun, but just being with Britt was the best part. She's been a great friend to me since we moved here last year. In fact, she came to see me at the hospital when Jonas was born. We had only lived here about a month. Brittanie, her cute Mom, Wendy, and Britt's adorable little boy, Dylan, were our only visitors. I will never forget how much that meant to me. Thanks Britt! We're decorating again Tuesday. Can't wait!

Dylan has this super cool slide to play with at his house. Jonas got brave and would climb up the slide. He got a little confused about what to do once he got up though. And if he was in Dylan's way....Dylan went down anyway. We called it bowling for Jonas'. It was funny, and there were only minor injuries. We've put in a request for this slide to appear at our house via the Easter Bunny. Hope he delivers!

{Learning to Learn}

Its still pretty quiet on our home front. No complaints of course, but sometimes the days all run together. All in all, we so enjoy our relaxing, taking walks around the neighborhood, watching Handy Manny, and reading books until our hearts are content...or its snack time. Whichever comes first. Lately though, we've been having to do a few more things. See, Mr. Jonas isn't talking much. He doesn't listen very well. His diet...well its not much of a diet. All of these things made the pediatrician a little worried. So she referred us to the Montgomery County Infants and Toddlers Program. It totally Freaked. Me. Out. Any and every possibility went through my mind. Was he deaf? Was he Autistic? Would he ever say Mom? Does he know how much we love him? Does he know that I would do it all over again? Will he learn to eat real food? Seriously I laid awake at night and worried. and worried. and worried. It's been a struggle for me. I'm not sure Jonas even cares much. He's happy. Oh so happy. But I know if he could communicate what he wanted, it would be easier...for both of us. We learned today that he indeed qualifies for the Infants & Toddler's Program. In the Speech /Language & communication category. Kind of what we figured. Very Few words + Not Obeying simple commands = needs help in the Speech and communication department. We have awesome Occupational Therapists. I am so thankful for that. We had to make 6 month goals today. I made a goal to have Jonas speaking in 6 months. I'd be happy with a "MaMa". So begins our learning to learn adventure. Bring it on. Here are a few things we've been working on:

..Problem Solving..

"How do these things work, Mom?"

..Cleaning up..

Right...what kid does this at any age?

..Diet/Nutrition..

At least he has one healthy item

..Playing..

Just being a kid. We all deserve that!

..Remain Calm..

This one's for me. Its hard for me when Jonas doesn't want to do what I think is best for him. I keep saying..."I'm the boss" or "Its the rules, Jonas". He doesn't care much.

More problem solving :) He kind of likes eating the trains more that actually playing with them. We're working on that too. Its possible he has a sensory disorder. Hence the reason he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth. It would mean another Occupational Therapist coming in to help with this. I am A.O.K. with that. A little less drool on things would be nice.

..cRazy buSy..

We're alive, just been busy doing fun, and not so fun stuff.

Here's Dad and Jonas all dressed up for church. Can you tell by the look on J's face that we have 1:00 P.M. church? We all dread that time, right?

Jonas got a new table and chair for Valentine's Day. He loves to read books at it. We had to move it on to the carpet though because he kept getting bucked off the chair when it was in the kitchen :)

We made a quick trip to Utah this past week. It was an adventure to say the least! We spent about 8 hours at two airports before we ever got on a plane on Thursday.

We spent a lot of time trying to keep J entertained.

He spent a lot of time exploring all the fun stuff at the airport that he probably shouldn't have been touching.

We finally made it to Salt Lake City Thursday Night. We were busy, but Mr. Jonas found time to play bubbles with Grandma Misrasi.

We ventured to Smithfield to see Uncle Captain and Aunt Natti's new house. It is adorable and we can't wait for our first sleepover :)

At Grandpa and Grandma Stevenson's Jonas found every toy you could dream of and then some. Among his favorites were this Sit-n-Spin. The video is even better...he's pretty dizzy and almost takes out an old Milk Can.

When he wasn't dizzy he played with these tools. We carried them everywhere with us.

We got to see Grandma and Grandpa Ure for a few minutes too. We had breakfast, caught up on everyones lives and even visited Aunt Aimee at work. Jonas thought the stair rail was pretty fun.

He would carefully put his head through the hole at the end. He thought it was funny that it touched his hair.

We are looking forward to a return trip in April to see this little cutie get baptized! Hopefully its not as adventurous as our last trip!

Thanks for a fun trip everyone! We wish it would have been for a more enjoyable reason, but we are thankful for the time that we were able to spend as a family. Most of all we love you Grandma and although we miss you, we know we will see you again!

Thanks for the picture Kari :)

SNoW!

It's being called "The Blizzard of 2010" By this time next week someone will be manufacturing sweatshirts that say, "I survived The Blizzard of 2010". We will be among those who did. It was quite a fight! Growing up in Utah exposed me to snow. It also exposed me to things like tractors (with a scraper to remove snow), or 4-Wheelers (complete with a winch for attaching a blade to the front). What I didn't learn in my youth, was how to shovel snow...I mean REALLY shovel snow. (thanks for that Dad and Grandpa..I took you for granted all those years) Consider my lesson learned today as we woke up to a foot and a half of snow! It kept coming until around 5:00 P.M. Our grand total is being broadcast as 30 inches. It felt like 300 :)

This was the first time we dug ourselves out. Around 6:30 on Friday night.

Also Friday, before it all began.

Jonas enjoyed being out with us for approximately seven minutes. Then he was done. Can't say I blame him. Look at the back of his sweatshirt (his High Brass Sweatshirt from Grandma and Grandpa Ray) the wind was blowing and filled his hoodie!

He was glad to be inside where it was warm. And apparently he was tired too!

Friday night. Pre MAJOR snow.

...SATURDAY...

Yep. That's our car buried under there!

Our fence! And this was BEFORE noon. So it got higher!

We literally had to dig ourselves out! We couldn't even open the door. The wind blew in some great big drifts. I will be days digging out my recycling bin. Good thing that's not until Thursday.

It was a sight to see. And now that we've seen it, I hope we don't see it again for a very long time.

HaPPY BiRTHDaY!

It's Devin's Birthday today. Since I NEVER blog about him....here's a few reasons why we keep him around:

• He loves me and he loves Jonas. Let's be honest-sometimes that can be hard!
• He works hard. He's always been a hard worker and made sure I had what I thought I needed and wanted. He works hard at everything he is asked to do...except cleaning the bathrooms. He hates that :)
• He is EXTREMELY patient. Since I am not, this works out well for our family.
• He's a great Dad. No one can wrestle, chase, or tickle quite like him. (At least that's what Jonas tells me...I wouldn't know :))
• He is Jonas' very Best Friend. Jonas loves me, I know that....but he ADORES Devin. It's pretty cute.
• He is a strong conviction of the gospel, and is such a great example of the Savior. He reminds me (daily) that we all need to strive to be a little better and try a little harder.

There isn't a day goes by that I don't realize how lucky I am to have him and how thankful I am that he gave "us" a chance! He's a wonderful husband, father, brother, and friend. We love you so much Devin!!

Today is also Jonas' 18 month Birthday. I welcome it, yet I hate it. I hate that he is growing up so fast. I hate that his baby stages are over. I hate that before I know it he will be smarter than me and teaching me even more. I REALLY hate that he knows he is getting big. I do love that he is getting more and more fun. I love his jibber-jabber that has no meaning or reference, but is adorable. I love that he gets to go to Nursery this week :). I love that he is ours and that every night when I check on him I am reminded that he is mine. That I am a Mom and that dreams do come true!

HaPPY BiRTHDaY JoNaS!

{Jonas}

While we were in Utah we had Jonas' 18 month pictures taken (a bit early...)

A friend that my mom works with took them and she was so cute with J. She took over 200 pictures! He was a good boy and even smiled for a couple of them. Here are a few of our favs.

Why do my eyes disappear? My "little" brother was with us and we got stuck posing for a few together.


This picture of Jonas and his favorite "Uncle Captain" is one of my favorites. We were outside and it was cold so neither one of them were very cooperative.

{Christmas Continued}

We spent a wild and crazy week in Idaho with Devin's parents, and his brother and his family. It was lots of fun to see his kids. We lived by them when we were first married and enjoyed having them close. We have a lot of funny stories from the past and lots of fun memories with them and their cute kids.

Jace, Samantha, Jonas, and I played in the snow one afternoon. Jace and Sammie loved it...Jonas...hates the cold!!

We took the kids to the mall to run around and play in the kids area one afternoon. They loved it and Aimee and I got some browsing and girl time in. It worked well because all the kids slept like babies that night...well...maybe not Alexa-she's not much of a sleeper :)

We drove to Rexburg to see the new temple, visit Grandma's old house, and see all the building Uncle Val and his crew are up to. We stopped to have a piece of pie at Frontier Pies on the way home.

Then we returned to Utah, ate a whole lot more, laughed a little, and cried a little. Before we know it, it was time to start packing our bags. We took four suitcases (checked in), two carry-ons, and one backpack. THEY WERE FILLED TO THE BRIM!!!!

We wore our Jonas Boy out. He had more people to play with, more toys to test out, grandpa's glasses to break, grandma's Oreo's and graham crackers with chocolate frosting to eat, and lots, and lots of kisses to give. He had a ball and was such a good boy the whole trip.

We had a great time with our families and are counting the days until we see them again. We love you all!!