Moving into Christmas!

Fall quickly ends with Thanksgiving and Christmas quickly started the next day with our annual trip to the Christmas Tree Farm. It was opening day at the farm and so they didn't have the tractor hayride set up yet so we got a special treat and everyone loaded into the back of the grandpa's truck! I treated myself to sitting in the front seat with Grandpa and enjoyed back support and warmth! Jackson couldn't get enough of sitting in the back of the truck with Adam though. When we stopped to walk around to look at the trees all he could say was "more truck! more truck!" My mom sat in the truck with him for a while since that was making him happy and it was much easier for Adam and I to hunt down a tree without carrying him around.

The trip became slightly more eventful after the guys walked the trees down the hill and the rest of us with Grandpa went to get back in the truck to travel down the hill when we couldn't find Grandpa's truck keys... That's right we had a truck load of little kids in the freezing cold with keys lost somewhere in the forest of christmas trees! We all said silent prayers and the faithful prayers of kids pulled through and the keys were found on the ground down one of the rows of trees (strong work Jon!).

Since we were in the Christmas spirit we went to visit the Rowan County Christmas Trees the next day, but to our dismy it was closed. We were hoping to snap a few shots with a tree or with Santa but since that didn't pan out we decided to go to Eagle Lake and get some shots. Pretty cute eh?

I also had Jackson's pictures taken last week and picked them up this week! He was such a champ! We had to wait over an hour because I decided to try and do a walk in appointment. I thought I could fool myself by not making an appointment so I would have to stress and worry about it. So we got there and they had an appointment that was about 20 minutes away, so I thought yeah, I can waste 2o minutes and hopefully just push his nap back a bit and try to swing it. Well turns out they were running a good 40 minutes behind. But he held out really well with a few trips up and down the escalators and up and down the elevator. I was pleased and cancelled the appointment I had already made for the next day (I know, I'm ridiculous).

...What Fall?

Fall has come and gone. It was such a fun season! Back in October we went to a horse farm for one of our church playgroups. Jackson fell in love with "neigh neigh's" that day. He ran from stall to stall yelling Neigh Neigh! Neigh Neigh! I got a video of him doing it and he now often goes to the laptop and points to the screen and says neigh neigh because he wants to watch the video of himself looking at the horses.

It is safe to say that playgroup in our ward is a hit. Turns out I'm not currently the only stay at home mom looking for fun activities for my kid to do... We love the Tates Creek Ward! Thanks to Angela for planning such fun activities for us!

Trunk-or-treat was our trial run for trick-or-treating with our little Tigger. He wasn't too into it just kind of wandered around and wanted to be held a lot. we have decided that "chaos" isn't really his thing.



He has this thing with messy hands--he can't handle it! This is him with some melted M&M's and is bugged and wants us to wash it off. Often during the middle of a meal he will start whining and being frustrated and wont stop until we have washed his hands and then he will continue to eat.

We did trick-or-treating with all his Lexington cousins and a couple of their ward friends.

I thought little Nathan Dallin (born in September) was a pretty darn cute wizard...Jason is trying to look as good as Nathan but can't quite cut it.

The only candy Jackson really cared about or recognized from trick or treating we suckers. He got through about 1/2 a tootsie pop and then was done. Not sure we will be so lucky next year...

Pumpkin Patch

Last week we went to Evan's Orchard as a family to pick out some pumpkins! It was so much fun to be together on a beautiful day and watch Jackson enjoy running around, loading small pumpkins into our wagon, taking a hayride, and enjoying the playplace they have for kids.

So much has happened and changed in just 12 months! CRAZY!

18 month Tigger!

The wonderful thing about Tigger, is Tigger's a wonderful thing. His tops are made of bottoms his bottoms are made of springs.They're bouncy trouncy, flouncy, pouncy, fun fun fun fun. The wonderful thing about Tigger is I'm the only one!





We actually have several Tigger's at our house... "Stinky Tig' ", "Big Tigger", and "Jackson Tigger" and "all the other Tiggers we have tried to get him to attach himself to".


I love having an 18 month old "baby". What busy busy life he has getting into everything! He is great about throwing things away in the trash (both trash items and non trash items), he likes to help me sweep and mop, he constantly signs more when he sees buses, trucks, airplanes, and dogs. When he looks around and can't find anything he wants by default he points to the door and wants to go outside no matter how cold or dark it may be. If he doesn't see any keys on the table he will reach for Adam's pocket to see if there are any keys in there--he loves to try open everything with keys whether it needs a key or not. His sweet little walk still looks like a waddle as he runs when he moves he hands back and forth as he goes as fast as he can. There are lots of bonks and bruises to his head but he seems to recover quickly. His vocabulary is growing everyday. It is fun to see him put words to the signs he has been doing for months like boat and horse. Our favorite word he says right now is "battery". It's hilarious. He knows which toys need batteries and looks at the bottom of the toy and points. Today he did that with his Shake 'n Go car that Aunt Julie and Uncle David gave him for his birthday and said "ba-ery" while pointing to the screw on the bottom of the car. Then he proceeded to take the car while pointing to the utility room where Adam keeps his screwdriver to change batteries. It's incredible what they remember!
He discovered the mechanical horse at the grocery store--great. Lucky for us it only costs a penny so it makes for cheap entertainment and a good reward for the end of a grocery trip.
Jackson is started to get the hang of duck duck goose and really enjoys ring around the the rosey--sometimes he will even spin around and do it all by himself. A recent activity he enjoys is laying in the middle of a quilt and having Adam and I swing and toss him in the air. He starts signing and saying "mo' " before we can put him down.
He weighs about 22 lbs and all of his 18 month clothing is still to long for him... We are hoping baby boy 2 will be about the same size so he will fit perfectly into things being born 8-10 weeks earlier.

Tis the Season!

I love fall! It always feels like a breath of fresh air when the air is crisp and cool in the morning with the sun still shining! I love all the new things to do when it turns fall...it feels so festive!
It has been fun to have a little guy around the house getting ready for the holiday season to arrive... Jackson helped me make banana bread and he loved doing the dumping and mixing. He helped get the Halloween decorations out, and yesterday I found him in the family room with a new Halloween book I have with Halloween treats and crafts. He was looking at it and pointing and laughing and talking. I walked over and he carried the book over to me and sat in my lap and wanted me to read it with him. Life at home with a baby is good.

Sneak Peak!! Jackson is going to be Tig for Halloween!! The first time we put him in the costume he cried when we took it off.

We also had a really fun play group of couple of weeks ago! I had been excited for over 2 weeks to take Jackson to the Fire Station for our church playgroup. Of course he decided to sleep in late that morning...I was too excited to miss it, so I woke him up at 9:40, got him dressed, took breakfast in the car and got the the station at 9:55 just before it started at 10. He enjoyed it and really liked the noise and lights.
My favorite picture in the collage is of Brittany, Joshua, Lindsay, and Jackson holding hands. Is that cute or what? We LOVE cousins!! (sorry the pics are so small...guess I'm goint to have to quite doing collages...)

Papa Larry and Grandy come to visit!

I feel so blessed to be able to say that I love spending time with my in laws and I love the relationship that we have. They are sooo easy to be around and so laid back! The only hard part part for me is learning to be laid back! I have to say that I am still learning, but feel like I have come a long way and it feels so nice to be able to relax and let go of all the planning and the details. We really do have a great time when we are together.

They flew in Wednesday evening and flew home Monday evening. It would have been fun to have them longer, but we enjoyed all the time we could get! With minimal naps and always staying up late Jackson was exhausted by the time they left and he took a 3 hour nap yesterday! Some of the highlights of the trip for Jackson included: Going to Pet Smart, playing hide and seek with Larry (he learned to cover his eyes when someone goes to hide), feeding the ducks, playing with markers, picking out a new toy at Toys R Us, playing outside in the rain, going on walks, playing at the mall playplace, playing ring around the rosey, and getting more love than he could handle!!

Larry's birthday was on Sunday so we did a little family party. He got a BYU tie, some favorite candy, and got to talk about the fun soccer game the family bought him a ticket for when he was in Germany last month. We continued the Bylund tradition and went around and talked about why we all love and appreciate Larry--He's patient, he ALWAYS puts his family before work, supports his kids, and is a wonderful worthy Priesthood holder who has set a good example for his boys and his grandson.

The evenings were always really fun because Josh and Jenna would be home and we would all just kind of hang out and play with Jackson! He loves to wrestle with his dad, papa, and uncle, he likes to read books, and is really has fun with his puzzles that make noise. He knows there is a baby in my tummy when I ask him where the baby is...occasionally he points to his belly as well.

Sometimes Jackson will not be in the "praying" mood. If he is in the mood though sometimes he likes to say another prayer after we have alreayd prayed.

Seriously, try and tell me their is a 17 month old as cute as Jackson!