Boise in the Summer

It was so fun being in Boise for a few weeks in the summer. The kids had so much fun playing and I was a slacker when it came to pictures. We went to the water park with everyone and he had a blast playing with his cousins the entire time we were there. He loves to play with all of them but he has a special place for Michael and Michael is so good with him. They run around holding hands and Michael takes very good care of him. When we were at the water park, I took the boys up to the water slide. Jacoby wanted to ride down by himself. So I walked them up there and told Michael to stay right by Jacoby and show him how to do it. I told them I would catch them at the bottom. I left them up there and watched from the bottom as Michael kept his arm around Jacoby and wouldn't let him go. When it was their turn he still wouldn't let him go. It was a slide that you had to go down by yourself and he was not going to let go of Jacoby for anything.. The lifeguard helped them over to the other slide where they got to go down together. It was so cute!

One day we went to the park with most of the great grandkids. We wanted to get a picture of the kids with Grandma GG. I threw the boys up there first and from the look of it I think Michael was a little nervous. At first I thought he was watching out for Jacoby but I am pretty sure he was holding on to Jacoby for dear life.

The best group shot we got. Such cute kids!

When we weren't running around and playing in water, the boys had a great time watching shows with Paka.

We always have the best time in Boise and I love to see his relationship grow with his cousins every time we go.

Running Through the Sprinklers

These three boys have the best time together and running through the sprinklers was no exception. Boden was a little more hesitant and didn't like to be sprayed but the other two took turns soaking each other and laughing as they ran away. I thought Jacoby looked so cute in just his little underwear. He is such a skinny little thing. Pretty soon Uncle Derek and Paka got involved as well. It was a great way to spend a hot afternoon in Boise.

Sushi with the girls

We went for one more night at Ra for Sushi before Joy and Johnny moved away to Phoenix. I am so sad to see them go. They are both amazing people and they will be missed greatly. I will miss our girls nights out with the three of us. I tell you I have had so many wonderful, deep, spiritual, inspiring conversations with these two ladies. They are both amazing women and I look up and admire them both greatly. They have been a shoulder for me to lean on during some tough decisions and have always been so supportive of my family and me. We talk about everything under the sun and it is so nice to be able to open up and talk about everything and know that you are safe and not being judged.
Joy, I will miss you but I am looking forward to getting out of the cold to come and see you and your family. Thanks for all your support and for you and Johnny's doctor advice. I mean, who else can I pull out of church when I think my child may have a concussion :) I wish you all the best in Phoenix and I know you will both do great there. I am so excited for you and this next stage in your life!
Steph, we still have a few more to fit in before I leave!
Love you both!

Father's Day

For Father's Day this year Jim, Mary and Collin were in town and lucky all of them we got to show our house on Father's Day which meant mad cleaning the morning of. Luckily for me, I didn't have to do much because everyone else took over even little Jacoby. He was so helpful especially with the windows with Grandpa J.

Later that afternoon we celebrated Father's Day by going to Wrigley field. They were having a big street festival up there with one of Jarod's favorite local bands called sixteen candles. We went up and listened to the music and took in the sight. Then we came home and I made sweet pork salad for dinner- Jarod's pick and he made strawberry rhubarb crisp. It was an amazing meal!

Our little pretender is constantly pretending to be different animals and this day he was a dog first and then a cat. Daddy got animal loves.

We gave Jarod a framed picture of him and Jacoby in Mexico. Jacoby was so excited to give it to him and kept telling him that he had a surprise. It is one of my favorite pictures of the two of them. The next morning Jacoby wanted to make sure that Daddy remembered to take it to work to show everyone.

It was a great day and I was glad that Jim was here for Father's Day as well.

Jarod we love you so much and we are so glad that you are Jacoby's daddy. You are such an amazing father and I love to watch you with our sweet baby boy. I love to see how his face lights up when he sees you and how excited he is to tell you about our day. I love that every morning he asks where you are and when you are going to be back and if it is a weekend and you are home with us he is thrilled. I love how he calls you "My Daddy". We love you very much and we appreciate all the hard work that you do to provide for our family. We love you!

Gymnastics

Out of all the classes we have ever done gymnastics was Jacoby's absolute favorite! He loved going to class and learning new tricks.

Waiting patiently on his star for his turn

Doing the snake- his favorite move at gymnastics!

Wheelbarrow with Daddy. On our last day of class Jacoby was so excited that his Daddy came with him to see him do "nastics". He ran around even wilder because he was just so excited to have his Daddy there.

Crab with Daddy

Even a somersault. The day he mastered the somersault was pretty entertaining. He wanted everyone to clap for him and kept running up to his teacher for a high five. He was so proud of himself.

Jumping on the tramp. This is suppose to be a hop but Jacoby thinks it looks cooler one legged and likes to watch himself do it.

At the end of class the sing songs and pretend they are all types of different animals, both right up Jacoby's alley. This day though after doing this amazing bird flying he got stuck on being a cat and finished out the class being one, even saying goodbye to his teacher with meows.

Cathching Up

Well since half of my house is packed and the other half is not, I cannot find my camera cord to download one of my cameras. So for now I will just have to write a quick update and hopefully I can have some photos at some point in the not so distant future.
For Memorial Day we flew to Seattle to go and see Jeff. We had a great time touring his new campus and getting to know Seattle and Tacoma. Some of the highlights were the Mariner's game (Jacoby was so funny- I have pictures so I will wait and tell the story) and the Tacoma zoo. Which may have been my favorite zoo ever.
Jarod flew home on Tuesday and Jacoby and I drove to Emily's house and spent a few days with her and her kids. It was good to see them. Jacoby had a blast and loved going to the beach looking for crabs.
The following weekend we went to Cincinnati to go and look at houses. It was the most insane trip ever! First of all, Jacoby decided that he gets car sick now and proceeded to throw up in our rental car and then followed it up the next day by throwing up in our real estate agents car a few times. Luckily for me, I was prepared and got it all in a bag instead of all over his car. We stopped watching movies in the car after that and he did much better but I would not recommend house hunting with a 2 1/2 year old. We saw I think 13 houses in one day and then proceeded to see 6 or so more the following day. Jacoby got to the point that he would look and see if they had a swing set and if they didn't he didn't like that house and wanted to move on to the next one. Jarod and I started tag teaming the houses. I would go in and look around while he played with Jacoby outside and then we would switch, quickly giving each other an update as we ran past each other. It was kinda funny. Also, being two and potty trained he always seemed to pick the houses that didn't have toilet paper for him to need to go the bathroom- fun times! His timing is perfect! By the end of the day, you could tell he had been listening to us all day. We drove by two brixk building that look like our library here in Chicago. Jacoby says, "Look Mama, two libraries- that's impressive!".
After an exhausting few days we narrowed it down to two. We put on offer in on our first choice but soon found out that they had accepted an offer an hour before ours went threw. We then put an offer on our second favorite house. After a week of negotiating, we agreed on the price but after the inspection came back questionable on the foundation we had a structural engineer come in and look at it. He estimated $50,000 to fix the foundation!! We decided to walk. The sellers came back and offered to pay the $50,000 to fix it if we were still interested but we decided that at this time we are going to walk away.
UGH.... I just really want to find a house and move- this has been going on FOREVER!!!