Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
weekend in bakersfield
We started out our weekend by babysitting for a couple of cute kids, Shay and Clare, while our friends Jenna and Chris went out for their anniversary. It was a little crazy to have three kids in the house, but we had fun. I lined all three of them up to take a picture, but they all wanted to look at Peter Pan on the TV instead of the camera.
Then on Saturday we went to Bakersfield to visit Tom's parents. It has been a few months since we have been there, so we were glad that we could coordinate a weekend for a visit. Tom made a homemade pizza for everyone:
while I relaxed and enjoyed some ice cream:
and Harper got some quality time with her wonderful grandparents:
Then on Saturday we went to Bakersfield to visit Tom's parents. It has been a few months since we have been there, so we were glad that we could coordinate a weekend for a visit. Tom made a homemade pizza for everyone:
while I relaxed and enjoyed some ice cream:
and Harper got some quality time with her wonderful grandparents:
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Other recent events
I have been kind of slacking with the blog lately. Here are a few of the things that we have been up to.
-I quit my job. Well, kind of. They gave me the option of coming back part-time, but even part-time is a lot of hours while Tom is working too so I turned it down. They then offered me a "per diem" position where I just come in occassionally if they need me. It turns out they do need me right now so they gave me the option to work as many hours as I want. I'm working for a few hours on Saturday morning so we'll see how that goes. The downside is that I no longer qualify for benefits :( This is a big downside since the spouse/dependent benefits for Tom's student insurance plan aren't very good. My job allowed Harper and I have pretty great insurance for about $26/month. This also included vision and dental insurance for both me and Tom. We are currently exploring other options if anyone has any suggestions. We need to have something in place by September 1st.
-We made a trip to Redlands for Tom to set up some electronics for Tom's aunt and uncle. It was a fun trip since Bob and Judy are wonderful and we also got to go to dinner with Tom's cousin Rachael and her husband Nate who just move to Southern California after living in Tokyo. Plus Tom got to play with new electronics all day which is pretty much his favorite thing.
-We went to a Bastille Day celebration at the home of Hogan's managing partner. I still don't know what Bastille Day is, but it was fun to chat with everyone since I haven't been able to go to many firm events this year.
-Harper and I have been going on lots of walks. Some of you may know that I love going on long walks. After having a c-section, I have been less enthusiastic about this, but I am starting to enjoy them again. Today Harper and I walked from our apartment to Tom's office.
-Harper has started drooling. A lot.
I guess that's about it . . . pretty boring, but pretty great at the same time.
-I quit my job. Well, kind of. They gave me the option of coming back part-time, but even part-time is a lot of hours while Tom is working too so I turned it down. They then offered me a "per diem" position where I just come in occassionally if they need me. It turns out they do need me right now so they gave me the option to work as many hours as I want. I'm working for a few hours on Saturday morning so we'll see how that goes. The downside is that I no longer qualify for benefits :( This is a big downside since the spouse/dependent benefits for Tom's student insurance plan aren't very good. My job allowed Harper and I have pretty great insurance for about $26/month. This also included vision and dental insurance for both me and Tom. We are currently exploring other options if anyone has any suggestions. We need to have something in place by September 1st.
-We made a trip to Redlands for Tom to set up some electronics for Tom's aunt and uncle. It was a fun trip since Bob and Judy are wonderful and we also got to go to dinner with Tom's cousin Rachael and her husband Nate who just move to Southern California after living in Tokyo. Plus Tom got to play with new electronics all day which is pretty much his favorite thing.
-We went to a Bastille Day celebration at the home of Hogan's managing partner. I still don't know what Bastille Day is, but it was fun to chat with everyone since I haven't been able to go to many firm events this year.
-Harper and I have been going on lots of walks. Some of you may know that I love going on long walks. After having a c-section, I have been less enthusiastic about this, but I am starting to enjoy them again. Today Harper and I walked from our apartment to Tom's office.
-Harper has started drooling. A lot.
I guess that's about it . . . pretty boring, but pretty great at the same time.
a few photos
While we were in Utah, we went with my mom and my sister to get Harper's pictures taken. My sister just scanned a few of them in for me so I thought I'd share. A couple of the scans didn't turn out so great, so I'll have to try to rescan once they send me the pictures. Here they are!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
bath time
Harper has been really funny lately. The other day she was next to me while I was sitting up in our bed and she started to get a little fussy so I propped her up on some pillows next to me. I have never seen her get so excited about anything, it was so funny. She started kicking her legs and looking around and making these really funny squealing noises. She has also started to like standing up when we hold her. She isn't really standing up, she is just kind of locking her knees and swaying around while we hold her up but she loves it.
She is also enjoying her baths. We took a picture of Harper with Tom tonight after her bath and it reminded me of one we took of Harper with my Mom.
She is getting bigger and has outgrown about half of her 0-3 month clothes and fits into a few of her 3-6 month clothes. I can't believe how visible her changes are from day to day.
She is also enjoying her baths. We took a picture of Harper with Tom tonight after her bath and it reminded me of one we took of Harper with my Mom.
She is getting bigger and has outgrown about half of her 0-3 month clothes and fits into a few of her 3-6 month clothes. I can't believe how visible her changes are from day to day.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Guess who slept for 10 hours last night . . .
That's right. I was really surprised to wake up to Tom's alarm clock this morning instead of a crying baby. Harper has gradually been sleeping longer and had been sleeping 6-7 hours and a couple of days ago had slept for 8. Hopefully this was not a fluke. Plus she was so happy when she woke up. She's such a wonderful baby :)
Isn't she so cute in that little sleeper? She has lots of clothes, but pretty much doesn't have any pajamas so I was thrilled to find this at Costco. Plus it has the cutest little feet.
Isn't she so cute in that little sleeper? She has lots of clothes, but pretty much doesn't have any pajamas so I was thrilled to find this at Costco. Plus it has the cutest little feet.
Friday, July 04, 2008
One more post . . .
Harper rolled over for the first time today. She absolutely HATES being on her stomach, but I try to give her a little tummy time every day and today she rolled from her stomach to her back. I don't think she enjoyed the experience very much, but she did it. We actually saw her roll over three times (sans the tears) before we were able to catch one with the camera, but here it is. She is such a great baby!
Harper's First Day of Flipping from Thomas Jackman on Vimeo.
Harper's First Day of Flipping from Thomas Jackman on Vimeo.
night out with the firm
Last night we left Harper with our wonderful friends Jean and Peter and went to dinner with Hogan. This was the first time that we had left her with someone other than a family member (we left her with my family on Saturday night when we went to see Wall-E, which we loved). It was a progressive dinner so they had scheduled a place for us to go for appetizers, dinner, and dessert. We skipped the dessert because I wanted to get back to Harper, but we had a great time.
Hogan rented a Hummer limo for us to get from place to place. This was the first time I had been in a limo so I was pretty excited, but they fit 19 of us inside so the novelty wore off pretty quickly.
Unfortunately, on our way to One Sunset for appetizers, the limo drive got pulled over for running a red light. He then took us to the wrong restaurant, so the evening got off to a rough start. After the appetizers we went to The Lobster, which is right by the Santa Monica pier. I got to try lobster for the first time and, although it was an interesting experience, I don't think I will be trying it again. It was a little too rich for me.
Overall, we had a great evening :) It was great to spend some time getting to know some of the people that Tom has been working with this summer.
Hogan rented a Hummer limo for us to get from place to place. This was the first time I had been in a limo so I was pretty excited, but they fit 19 of us inside so the novelty wore off pretty quickly.
Unfortunately, on our way to One Sunset for appetizers, the limo drive got pulled over for running a red light. He then took us to the wrong restaurant, so the evening got off to a rough start. After the appetizers we went to The Lobster, which is right by the Santa Monica pier. I got to try lobster for the first time and, although it was an interesting experience, I don't think I will be trying it again. It was a little too rich for me.
Overall, we had a great evening :) It was great to spend some time getting to know some of the people that Tom has been working with this summer.
The rest of the Utah trip
Tom left Monday morning and took our big camera with him, and I wasn't very good about taking more pictures but I did get a few.
Monday we were able to go to lunch with some of my mom's family. I love spending time with my grandma and my aunts so this was a real treat. One of the things that I have missed most since we moved to California is going to dinner with my grandma, mom, and aunts during the priesthood session of conference. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures.
On Tuesday we spent some time with my dad and his parents. My grandparents drove all the way from eastern Texas to be there for the blessing. We spent some time together, did a little shopping, and had a wonderful dinner.
We had a great trip. I'm getting tired of posting pictures and I have more things to blog about so I will try to get the rest of our photos uploaded to Flickr sometime this weekend.
Monday we were able to go to lunch with some of my mom's family. I love spending time with my grandma and my aunts so this was a real treat. One of the things that I have missed most since we moved to California is going to dinner with my grandma, mom, and aunts during the priesthood session of conference. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures.
On Tuesday we spent some time with my dad and his parents. My grandparents drove all the way from eastern Texas to be there for the blessing. We spent some time together, did a little shopping, and had a wonderful dinner.
We had a great trip. I'm getting tired of posting pictures and I have more things to blog about so I will try to get the rest of our photos uploaded to Flickr sometime this weekend.
Utah Part 2 (Harper's blessing)
Sunday we had the opportunity to bless Harper in my mom and stepdad's ward. We had decided to do her blessing in Utah since we both have family in Utah that hadn't been able to meet her. Plus our ward building right now is under construction (there's no air conditioning in the chapel) and many of our friends have moved or are gone for the summer.
Tom gave Harper a wonderful blessing. Afterward we got together with everyone at my mom's house and had a chance to visit. This post will be mostly pictures, but I don't want to leave anyone out. We were so grateful to have so many family members there.
This is from before the blessing. Harper loves her Uncle Chase.
This is me, Harper, my mom, and her mom. Harper was asleep.
Here we are after the blessing. Harper was so beautiful and she didn't even cry.
Here are my maternal grandparents with Harper:
And my paternal grandparents:
And here we are with Tom's dad and grandpa. Somehow we didn't get one with his grandma Pat or one with my step-grandparents. We'll have to do that on the next trip.
Here are a couple of my sisters and a few of my cousins:
And here Harper and I are with my sister and her daughter Hailey:
And my sister Kara with Harper:
We got a picture with my mom, my grandparents, and some of her siblings:
Coincidentally, my mom and her two sisters were all wearing black and white:
And here's my mom with Harper. I love this picture.
Tom gave Harper a wonderful blessing. Afterward we got together with everyone at my mom's house and had a chance to visit. This post will be mostly pictures, but I don't want to leave anyone out. We were so grateful to have so many family members there.
This is from before the blessing. Harper loves her Uncle Chase.
This is me, Harper, my mom, and her mom. Harper was asleep.
Here we are after the blessing. Harper was so beautiful and she didn't even cry.
Here are my maternal grandparents with Harper:
And my paternal grandparents:
And here we are with Tom's dad and grandpa. Somehow we didn't get one with his grandma Pat or one with my step-grandparents. We'll have to do that on the next trip.
Here are a couple of my sisters and a few of my cousins:
And here Harper and I are with my sister and her daughter Hailey:
And my sister Kara with Harper:
We got a picture with my mom, my grandparents, and some of her siblings:
Coincidentally, my mom and her two sisters were all wearing black and white:
And here's my mom with Harper. I love this picture.
Utah Part 1 (Saturday)
We are back from Utah. Harper and I got back on Wednesday night minus our checked luggage. My flight from Salt Lake to Burbank was overbooked, so I volunteered to be put on another flight (from Salt Lake to LAX which actually got in 5 minutes earlier than my original flight). Unfortunately, my suitcase still went to Burbank and I have been waiting all day for it to be delivered. Oh well. It seemed like a good idea at the time. We had a wonderful trip which included lots of visiting with family and Harper's blessing.
We flew in on Saturday morning with Tom's dad. Harper slept most of the flight (thank goodness). Here we are at the airport:
And here's Harper on her first plane ride:
My mom picked us up from the airport and she was SO excited to see Harper (who wouldn't be excited to see Harper . . .?).
We then stopped by to see my Dad at work. He was also excited to see Harper.
And then we stopped by Tom's grandpa's house to visit for a few minutes and drop off Tom's dad (we didn't really get a good picture of that). And then went by my mom's house to see my brother and sisters.
Chase was getting his hair cut by Kara:
And Harper got to meet her Grandpa Andrus. She is lucky enough to have lots of grandparents and great-grandparents.
We then went to Orem to visit some more of Tom's family. His grandma was grateful to be able to meet Harper. We really wanted to get a chance to visit with her since she had a stroke a couple of years ago.
Here is Tom's grandma and Uncle Dave with Harper:
And here is Tom, his grandmother (who was kissing Harper's feet), and Harper.
We flew in on Saturday morning with Tom's dad. Harper slept most of the flight (thank goodness). Here we are at the airport:
And here's Harper on her first plane ride:
My mom picked us up from the airport and she was SO excited to see Harper (who wouldn't be excited to see Harper . . .?).
We then stopped by to see my Dad at work. He was also excited to see Harper.
And then we stopped by Tom's grandpa's house to visit for a few minutes and drop off Tom's dad (we didn't really get a good picture of that). And then went by my mom's house to see my brother and sisters.
Chase was getting his hair cut by Kara:
And Harper got to meet her Grandpa Andrus. She is lucky enough to have lots of grandparents and great-grandparents.
We then went to Orem to visit some more of Tom's family. His grandma was grateful to be able to meet Harper. We really wanted to get a chance to visit with her since she had a stroke a couple of years ago.
Here is Tom's grandma and Uncle Dave with Harper:
And here is Tom, his grandmother (who was kissing Harper's feet), and Harper.
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