Cutest Jared Picture EVER!

Mamma's Boy

Here are some pictures of our cutie-pie Jared. Notice the fuzz that's coming in on top. His latest tricks are blowing bubbles with his mouth, chewing on things, and sticking his own pacifier back into his mouth. He is still very cuddly, and he likes to rest his head on my shoulder whenever I pick him up.

Curtis Orchard

Last Saturday we went to Curtis Orchard and picked apples! The orchard is just a few miles away from us and they grow every kind of apple you can think of. It's open to the public for apple-picking (they sell them per bag, and the cost ends up being about $1.30/lb... a pretty good price. And they're really tasty!) Jared enjoyed being outside in the nice fall weather, and I enjoyed carrying him in his new Ergo baby carrier. See our Phanfare website for more orchard pictures!

General Conference Weekend

We spent General Conference Weekend up in Bolingbrook! We got to watch Conference on a TV, and Adam's parents got to play with Jared, so it was a win-win situation! General Conference is always a spiritual feast, and it is even better when you're with family.

On Friday night after we arrived, we put Jared to bed and then Adam and I had a "night out" . . . A real date! We went to Bolingbrook's new outdoor mall (very ritzy and very un-Bolingbrook-like, according to Adam) where we had pasta and salad at Go Roma. It was so good, and I could have eaten another half an entree (Ever since nursing Jared, I've felt like Eric Carle's very hungry caterpillar). We also looked around at the big outdoors store there. It's a lot like Cabella's. The giant fish were pretty neat, and so was the display of hundred-dollar duck calls.

On Saturday Shauna and I made Jared's Halloween costume--he's a little frog! It turned out really cute. Jared loves to kick on the floor, and he loves his baths, so we thought it was a perfect fit (quite literally--although we had to scale down the pattern in half to get it the right size).

We're planning our next Bolingbrook visit for November 3, when we hope to attend a session at the Chicago Temple.

And the Green Grass Grows All Around...

Two Saturdays ago Adam and I planted grass in our back yard. After five days, of diligent watering (using a watering can since we don't have a hose), we saw some tiny sprouts! Now, two weeks later, the grass is an inch long and looking good. Here's a picture of the grass at one week and then at two weeks. Hopefully by next fall it will be lush and soft for Jared to play on!

The Big Move

We've been in Illinois for three weeks now, and we've almost got our house put together. Adam and I are loving the space (it's at least twice as big as our old apartment). I'm discovering cicadas, cardinals, corn fields, and humidity. I do miss the mountains and our friends and my family. But so far we're enjoying our cross-country adventure.

We've also met our neighbors: the people to the right are students from Korea, and the neighbor to the left is a very friendly black woman in her sixties. When we visited with her, she showed us some photos of her four-year-old granddaughter. I mentioned that I have a four-year-old sister. Oops! She looked at me like I had sprouted horns and exclaimed she couldn't believe it. Then Adam told her that I have seven siblings. She just laughed and laughed at that ("Are you kiddin', girl? That's just like back in the olden days!"). It was pretty funny. I had no idea I'd get a reaction like that.

. . . So we're definitely not in Utah anymore! Sometimes I forget that. =-)

The First Month

Time flies! Jared is now a month old and growing up fast! Adam and I spent the last month holding, feeding, changing, and loving our new little son.

Jared has also had a lot of visitors. He is lucky to have so many loving aunts, uncles, and grandparents. They all think he's pretty neat!