Pictures

Jaxon will ham it up for the camera at home, but take him to an actual portrait studio, and tears will follow. I learned this truth the hard way.

I wanted to take Sydney and Jaxon to Sears for pictures, so I made an appointment at the one Allison takes Quin to and we decided to make a family trip. When we arrived everything seemed okay, but as soon as we walked to the spot where the camera and lights were set up, chaos ensued.

Sydney wanted to touch/hold/climb on every prop available ( she especially liked the random fake flowers). Jaxon... well I can't really describe the way Jaxon reacted other than this: you know that scene in "The Grudge" where Sarah Michelle Gellar is washing her hair and then suddenly realizes that someone else's hand is masaging the shampoo in? You know, and then she starts screaming like her worst fear ever is coming true? Yeah, that was Jaxon.

My anxiety about the whole situation was not appeased by the fact that Allison could just set Quin on the platform and he would smile, and giggle, and look super cute. Why couldn't it be that easy for my children?

We ended up with only three of Sydney and one photo of Jaxon. Sydney did well for her first three shots and then she just wanted to play with the props and so she was completely uncooperative for anything more. In Jaxy's one shot you can only see one hand - the other hand is tightly gripping my chest, and appropriately cropped out.

Next time Donnie is in charge of picture day!

Go Cougars!

We are so excited for college football! We love, love, LOVE football. We also really LOVE BYU! Now with satellite, we can watch every game this season!

We went to dinner with three other couples last night, and then headed back to one of their homes to watch No. 20 BYU take on No. 3 Oklahoma. We were not disappointed - BYU won 14-13.

Most of the headlines today focused on the injury Sam Bradford (OU's quarterback, and reigning Heisman trophy winner) sustained, but for us, it was all about BYU's victory.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705328123/cougars-stun-sooners-14-13.html

Haircut

I knew the time would come eventually, but even with all of the mental preparation, and the realization of the obvious need, it was still hard.


Jaxon had his first haircut. Donnie was so kind as to do the honors. I know that Jaxy needed a haircut so that he could see, but it was still hard to see him with a “big boy haircut,” and not my cute little crazy-haired baby.

Hanging Out

I finally have a little extra time, so I thought I would post pictures of Jaxy and Sydney during their free time – aka every day of their lives.

Jonas Brothers concert

For Emily's birthday, Jana bought 4 tickets to the Jonas Brothers concert. Jana didn't want to be the only adult, so they invited me to tag along (thanks so much!). Of course I went as an "adult," but secretly (or not so secretly really) I was excited.

We listen to a lot of Radio Disney with Sydney around, so I actually knew some of the songs. They had three opening acts - Honor Society, The Wonder Girls, and Jordin Sparks.

I really like Honor Society (well, now). They are kind of a poppy punk group. The Wonder Girls only sang one song, and it was a little too much for me. Jordin Sparks was enjoyable too.

Then, the Jonas Brothers took the stage. They played a concert in round. The stage was in the center of the arena, and the main platform rotated 360 degrees. They had two side stages as well. They played a lot of songs - close to 20 I think.


They were entertaining - spraying foam at the audience, jumping on trampolines, dancing, jumping over microphone stands, playing guitars, pianos, drums (the brothers themselves, their band also played a little bit of everything), not allowing any dead moments on stage...

They opened the show with Paranoid, but with all of the pre-teen girls screaming, it was hard to tell!

A Date with Daddy

Donnie decided that he and Sydney need a little more quality time together, so one Saturday each month they have a special date. They spend the whole day together doing things just for Sydney.


Their most recent date was a trip to the Fox Theatre in Atlanta to see Dora the Explorer live. Dora lost her teddy bear and she had to travel to The City of Lost Toys to find him. She had help along the way from Boots, Bennie the Bull, Azul the blue train, Map, and Backpack. She also had to watch out for that sneaky old fox Swiper.





Sydney ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! She tells me about her little trip everyday. She walks around the house singing songs, and pretending to be Dora.











































































































After the show, they went to Krispy Kreme for smoothies and doughnuts - lucky!