Slip Slidin' in the Rain

This recent summer day we visited Grandma and Grandpa's house up in Cedar Hills. They have a wonderful large backyard that, as I was growing up, was my playground and adventure land. Although through the years it has slowly been developed and built around, it is still a magical place that invites all who visit, out onto its green lawns and its bush hidden coves. Today, Jackson wanted to slip and slide. Unfortunately for him only Daddy was willing to join in the fun. The rest of us were content just watching.

Jocelyn with her Grandma

Jackson scoping out the terrain

Just as the slide got going, the clouds rolled in and the drops started coming down. If you look closely you can see the beginning of the rain in the picture above.

Here is what it looked like just seconds later. It was one of those awesome summer showers where the sun shines through the downpour, making the drops look like diamonds cascading to the ground.

The rain didn't discourage Jackson or Michael at all!

You can see that it is still just barely raining here but they are having a blast!

Jackson wouldn't run and plop on his tummy to slide, he would run halfway down, stop, carefully lay on his tummy, and scoot on down. We got to the point where we would just just give him a push after he got on his tummy, but that was as slidin' as he would get. Here is an exceptionally good slide (or push ;0) ).
In this one, Michael surprised Jack by sliding in behind him as he was running down. Got a good splash out of it too!

Toward the end of our play, a beautiful rainbow appeared and topped off a wonderful day.

I have to acknowledge Hillary (my sister), Bubbles (my childhood cat), and Stewart, (my family's dog) for contributing to our fun day. Thanks Hillary for taking some great pictures, Bubbles for putting up with Jackson, and Stewart for being such a good sport!

Love you!

Fourth of July

Every year we go to the Provo Freedom Festival Balloon Fest. We have to wake up very early and drive down to the field behind Provo Hospital where they blow up and launch 20+ hot air balloons and play cat and mouse over and around the field. This year we had the pleasure of having my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Vick visiting with us, and they got to come and experience it with us for the first time. We got there around 7 am just as they were filling the last balloons and we watched as they lifted off into the sky. Jackson and Jocelyn both loved the bright vibrant colors and the loud whooshing the heaters made as they inflated the balloons. We don't have a double stroller, but the kids didn't mind sharing. We just put the back all the way down and they sat in tandem. It was so cute because Jack would turn around and check on Jocelyn every now and then to make sure she was okay.

Jocelyn with Mommy

After the watching the balloons take off from the field, we ate under the trees nearby at a breakfast picnic that the Kiwanis Club hosts every year. It's for fundraising/charity, and I have to say it's pretty good. They serve hot ham and pancakes, bananas, yogurt, and milk or juice. Yum!

You can tell Jack was hungry.

Jocelyn was too!
Aunt Barbara (left) and my Mom (right) are sisters if you can't tell!

Jackson's favorite lookout spot, Grandpa!

After breakfast we just mill around until the balloons catch a breeze and come soaring back over the field.

Jocelyn hung out on the grass while we watched the balloons make their way back. She is in this curious stage where any small thing commands her attention, and the grass was the interesting thing here.

On the way back to the car, Jackson spotted a tractor... in the middle of the hospital parking lot of all places! Obviously, Jack wanted to see it. This John Deere was getting a lot of attention, not just from Jackson, but from a few other little boys and their families too!

After our early morning excursions, a siesta was in order and we all had a much needed nap. A casual BBQ at Grandmas followed by firecrackers in the cul de sac wrapped up the day. All in all, we had a great Fourth of July this year, probably the best. Thanks to my Mom and Dad for hosting the festivities and to Aunt Barbara and Uncle Vick for visiting and spending some quality time. Love you all!

Driving Cars

Jackson loves to drive his cars around recently. He will sit on the stairs for hours at a time and pretend that his cars are crashing into each other, getting stuck in the carpet, sliding down the ramp, all of those wonderfully imaginative things that little boys do. Today, while I was doing some dishes, Jack decided to add a new element to his play. Here is what it looked like.

He LOVES his tractors! (Grampa has a riding lawn mower and Jackson is enthralled with it)

This all took place close to nap time as you can tell so he was tired.

But he got excited that I was interested and he added some cars so that I could play.

Jackson is such a sweetie, and he has so much love to give! I'm glad I am around to be Mommy to my wonderful boy.

Jocelyn was snoozing on the floor (close to nap time) during all of this so she isn't in here, but she is such a good sport with all of Jackson's antics.

Gorgeous Sunny Day

GAMPA

It has been so wonderful to have such good weather recently! It takes the monotony out of the winter season to be able to get out of the house every once in a while. We had a surprise visitor this day when "Gampa" appeared on our doorstep with an invitation to go outside. I bundled the kids up and we ventured forth! Jackson borrowed the neighbors trike, and Jocelyn hung out with Gampa. We enjoyed the sunshine and the crisp air and just chatted while Jackson burned some energy. Jocelyn got a pink nose and that was my cue. She and I went in and Gampa let Jack "drive" in the car. It's of course parked so don't worry. Jackson is so enthralled with keys and buttons and anything that "works", so Gampa occasionally lets him sit in the drivers seat and supervises his play. Turning nobs and pushing buttons. Jackson knows exactly what key goes with the car and he has so much fun turning the wheel and honking the horn. I'm sure the neighbors are thrilled about the later. Anyway, the outing was a success and Jackson was ready for dinner. Thanks for coming by Gampa, we love spending time with you!

Sweet girl

Jackson on the neighbors bike

Gampa lovies

Jackson in the car

Family for the Holidays

It's so fun to be around family during the holidays. In fact it is the best part of the season. This year we were lucky to have Linda (Michael's mom) and my niece Sara visit us for a few days all the way from Maryland! We haven't seen them for quite a while and it was great to be able to spend some time together. One of the highlights of their trip was the outing to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.

As you can see the museum had lots of fun interactive things for the kids:

and even some for the adults too!

On Christmas Eve we drove up to the Ogden area to visit my Grandad (who still looks great and is as sharp as a tack at 88 years old).

After that we drove on over to Michael's sister Amy's house to spend the rest of the evening and have a traditional Schrader dinner.

Amy's kids Kaylee, (my niece Sarah) and Nick

Jocelyn was a champ the whole time too!

Christmas Morning:

Christmas was such a wonderful day for us. It was exciting to see Jackson get so involved in unwrapping presents and watching his reactions to the gifts. These last few months he was been very captivated by cars. Any kind of cars really, but mostly "McQueen" from the Disney movie Cars. We decided to do a Cars themed Christmas. (Now I never thought I would be one of those moms to indulge a Disney fixation, but his delight in "McQueen" is so fun to watch!) We had Cars wrapping paper, he got McQueen p.j.'s and McQueen slippers! Santa brought an adorable McQueen over-nighter set that included a "pillow" with elastic bands underneath to hold a rolled fleece blanket" I'm sure you get the idea.

The most exciting thing of all though was the bright red tricycle that appeared after all the gifts were unwrapped. Jackson was so thrilled about this "car" as he calls it, that he didn't get off the thing for over 30 minutes!

Jocelyn is so cute! She was so alert Christmas morning, and enjoyed hanging out with Daddy.

Jocelyn

Introducing . . .

Jocelyn Joy Schrader!

Friday, November 21, 2008

8:53 am

7lb 6oz

We are proud to announce the arrival of our darling little girl Jocelyn! She was born Friday morning 8:53 am; about 6 hours before she was scheduled to come. From start to finish, labor and delivery was only about 3 1/2 hours long! Whew! True to her personality she definitely likes things her way!

We are so lucky to have her wonderful spirit come into our family, she really is a blessing from our Father in Heaven.

Baby Update

So, as you can tell from my countdown, I don't have much time left until our little girl arrives! YAY! Last time I went to the doctor, he surprised me by saying that he wanted to induce me a week early. Well that was shocking. I think one of the reasons for inducing early is that my due date is so close to Thanksgiving that he wants to make sure he is around to deliver. He also told me that some new information came out saying it's actually safer for a baby to be born at 39 weeks than at 40 weeks. Huh. Another reason was that he would rather my water break in the hospital than at home because if the umbilical cord precedes the baby, it could be life threatening for the baby. Anyway that was nice, it automatically took a week off of my countdown.
Today, I went to my 32 week apt. Everything is going very well; not much water retention, and baby girl is bouncing off the walls as usual. My doctor told me that I was measuring 36 inches, which is 4 inches bigger than normal. He thinks that there might just be extra fluid in the uterus, and said that if I keep measuring big he wants to get me into an ultrasound to make sure she isn't all twisted up in the umbilical cord. Hopefully this isn't all too much information. I know it can get overwhelming for those that aren't as familiar with this subject, so forgive me for any over zealousness.
It's so exciting to think that she is going to be here sooner than later. Just six and a half weeks left! It is going to fly by so quickly I can't hardly think about it without thinking of all the things that I have to do to get ready. It's crazy how much better I was prepared with Jackson, and how little I am ready for this one. I think it has something to do with the fact that this is our second baby and we feel like we know what we are doing this time around.
Well, I'll try to keep updated on how things are going. Until then lets hope that they don't run out of Tums at WalMart.