*Reflecting...on Jake's First Birthday*

Yes, we're back!
For me, the biggest reason to blog is for the pictures. Stories are great, but it's the pictures that really count! Ya know? So yeah....prepare for picture overload! As you can imagine, I have several hundred that are literally begging to be shared.
Jake is going to be 2 at the end of the month. Don't ask how that has happened, because I don't know. But I figured I should probably blog about his 1st birthday before his 2nd comes and goes! I know, I'm brilliant.

 Jake's music walker. This is what we gave him for this first of many milestone! When he pushes it it plays music. The funny thing is that this kid loves to dance so much, that once the music started the walking would stop, because he would stop to dance! haha, love him!

 Annie came with her new baby, Oakley. She was only a few months old, and sweet as can be!

 As with all small children, Jake didn't quite understand what the heck he was supposed to do with the flaming candle. "You guys put this in front of me like I'm supposed to touch it, and then freak out when I try to! What the heck?" I can easily imagine what he was thinking.

The first and only time I have made a cake from scratch. He loved it. Everyone loved it! Which was such a relief, because it had the potential to be weird. He loves fruit, and bananas in particular, so I wanted to make a cake that had fruit in it. This was a banana split cake. And it was delicious! He dove right in, and even tried to lick the plate....makes a mom proud.

 Ashley, Jed, and Kai gave Jake this awesome Buzz Lightyear car. He still loves that thing! It was sad because MaKai wanted to keep it for himself so badly. He was trying so hard to be a good sport and try to feel excited about giving such a cool thing to his little cousin, but dangit, he wanted it! Ha! Kids are awesome. We all knew how he felt.

If anyone could be considered Jake's best friend, it would be Alex. He adores that brother of mine! They've always loved being around each other. Alex's nickname for Jake is actually "friend." Now that we've moved away, he's the person that Jake talks about the most. I'm not surprised. He's an awesome person! We're all going to miss him dearly when he leaves at the end of the month for his mission in Jalapa, Mexico. But, we know he will be an incredible missionary. Plus, it will be a good reason to have one heck of a party for Jake's 4th birthday and his homecoming!!! YAY!! I keep crossing my fingers that I'll be able to head down south to see him once his mission is almost done. Matt will be done with school by then (can I get a big freakin WAHOOO???!!!!) and I think that would be a great celebratory vacation. :)
Stay tuned....more to come....

Superman

Jake gets on these kicks with shows and watches them over and over again. In order to break up his last craze with Curious George and Willow, I (Matt) introduced him to Superman. I chose Superman 4 because it seemed the most engaging with the villain guy created from the sun. To my surprise, he sat down with me and watched the whole thing. Jake is a great story teller, and when he tells the story about that movie, he sticks out his hand makes a noise that resembles the bad guy shooting shots of energy out of his hand. This is also how he requests to watch that particular movie. He then proceeds to tell about how Superman got his neck scratched by the bad guy by mimicking a scratch on his own neck. This story is told multiple times per day and he requests to see the Superman movie multiple times a day by saying "show" and then makes the energy shooting noise.

My boy requesting Superman rocks! You never know if something you like will pass on to your kids. I got lucky. But, it may also be a bit of a curse. Don't get me wrong, I love Superman, but seeing/hearing those movies over and over again changes things. I notice the music to Superman and the bad guy running through my head all day. As much as I like the movies, they are still cheesy, and that includes the music. Good movies to watch every once in a while, but not every day.....multiple times a day. I think Jen's favorite cheesy quote from the movie is "tell me where she is.....or I will hurt people....roar." I am not going to complain though. My boy will sit down and cheer for Superman with me. Hope he's up for a midnight showing of Superman: Man of Steel that comes out next summer ;)

Matt Joins the Party

For family back in Utah, and other interested parties. I am joining the world of blogging to track life with graduate school now in the mix. I am not good at journal writing because I feel that once it is written, it will likely not be read again until after I die by my posterity........if I am lucky. So, I figure this can be a useful outlet to document my thoughts, and happenings of life for family and others to read in the present. If you ever turn red in the face reading any of my posts.....I apologize in advance.

For those of you that do not know. I am in North Carolina, about to begin graduate studies in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. The program was not in Utah, and East Carolina University turned out to be my best option. So, we are now living in Greenville, NC about five blocks away from the University. We sold our car back in Utah and drove our truck out here. My primary mode of transportation will be my bike for these next two years. I am already loving being drenched with sweat in this humidity while biking. It will be good for me to help me get back in shape.

The thing that I am loving right now is being back on our own. We were very fortunate to have family helping us prepare for this. Now, it is nice having my world being just my beautiful wife Jenni and my cute little boy Jake. There is a lot of reliance on one another out here, without any family or built in friends. I am a fortunate man to have what I have and I am glad for their support because the next two years are gong to be a whirlwind.

Tomorrow begins the first day of classes. I am excited and nervous. Excited to finally be out of limbo, and nervous as to what is going to be asked of me. Things always work out though....they always do. Even if I get a mental butt kicking in the process ;)