Chris Look Alike

Due to popular demand from the masses... I am putting this picture up of Chris and his "look alike". It has been mentioned that he looks like the character Doug on Scrubs. What do you think?

Back in Provo, Four Year Anniversary

Our trip back to Provo was... crowded! But Jared was a trooper.

We moved in Tuesday and spent the better part of the week unpacking and organizing. On Wednesday we celebrated our FOUR year anniversary! Goes by fast. We did dinner and a movie while Jared stayed with his Aunt Ashley.

On Friday we moved Jared into a toddler bed. I was really nervous to ruin his sleep routine but he's done surprisingly well (knock on wood). I think he feels like it's still his crib and that he can't get out. It's been great. I'm just waiting for when he learns he can escape and open the door. One night I got up in the middle of the night and decided to check on him. He was in the middle of the floor. Not quite sure how he got there but he was sound asleep. I woke Chris up to see it and he moved him back to bed for me.

Playing with the Bingham Cousins

Jared had a few times to get to play with his cousins that are in Jerome (12 of them!) He loved the interaction and frankly I enjoyed watching him with them.

Lagoon with Meservy Clan

After Chicago we had a week to spend in Jerome with family till our apartment opened up. (We miss you Ereksons!!!) For the Saturday we spent it at lagoon with everyone of the Meservy Family except for Tyler, shucks! Jared and I couldn't do very many rides but we thoroughly enjoyed lagoona beach, the train ride, and carousel. He actually cried harder and longer when we took him off the merry go round more than he did when he got stung twice by a wasp. Below are pictures of our adventure!

Last Week of Chicago with the Binghams

Our last week of Chicago my parents and sister came out for a few days. We tried to have as much fun as we could but my sister Camille got sick for the first day and my mom felt ill the first afternoon as well. But besides the sickness we were still able to go to the Shedd Aquarium (Jared loved the fishes especially the dolphins), do an architectural tour,

shop on Michigan Ave (Magnificent Mile (Camie had fun trying on a materinty pillow, the pictures bad but I know she'll love me for it),
and go to the musical production Wicked!
Since it was our last week there my mom and dad took Jared home with them allowing us to drive our 29 hour drive much quicker with less stops. We took a detour to go and visit Nauvoo and Carthage. My little sister was able to go with us to these two stops and then after that we dropped her off at a friends house in Iowa.

We were really glad we took the detour to Nauvoo and Carthage. We didn't get to spend near the time we wanted to there, especially Nauvoo (I kind of wanted to get back to Jared). From there we drove straight until Wyoming where we took another detour to my brothers house in Pinedale. Beautiful country! We loved the mountains, the lake, and the tranquility that you could find. Unfortunately my camera batteries were dying so I didn't get to take many pictures. We appreciated Trent and Mardy's hospitality and it was fun to finally get up to their place and visit with them.

When we got back to Jerome Jared didn't respond the way I thought he would when he saw us. We ended up being away from him for 5 days so I thought he'd run to us with open arms. He was excited but a little reserved. I think he was unsure if we'd leave again and didn't know what to do. It didn't take too long though till he wouldn't let us out of his sight.

While in Jerome we learned of Jared's new love... Cars!!! I've always had cars around for him to play with but I guess not enough. At Grandma Bingham's and Meservy's he'd always ask for cars and entertain himself for long periods of time. NICE!

We really enjoyed Chicago and time will tell if we end up out there. Chris received an offer to come back. Currently, we are in the process of deciding our future plans.

A Meservy Tour to the Windy City

White Sox vs. Blue Jays 4-3

Buckingham Fountain

The Meservy clan came to Chicago to visit the 26-31st of July. We really enjoyed having them just hope they enjoyed it as well. We spent lots of time eating out, going to ball games, seeing sites, visiting the beach, and enjoying each others company. By the end of the trip Jared had given grandma the name of Grammy and was able to say Ballie and Jordan's names. He didn't quite get grandpa but every once in a while would call him Grampy.

At the Beach!

Cubs vs. Phillies 1-4

Architectual Tour

Jared and Jackson

While in Chicago Jared and I met up with Jackson and his nanny one to two times a week. The two boys really get along, and I enjoy talking with Flor. These sequence of photos are of Jared and Jackson at the beach. It was a windy day so I wasn't prepared with his proper attire so he just wore a swimmer and tee shirt. One of the photos is of Jackson with sand all over his face. Jared had thrown some sand and the wind brought it back into his face. Jackson saw this and threw sand in his face to be like Jared. Needless to say he ended up with a lot more sand on his face than Jared did. But that's what those boys are about, doing what the other does and having a blast doing it!

Movie at the Park

Above is a firm event where we went to one of Chicago's parks (Grant Park) to watch a movie. The envrionment is really fun and casual. Lots of people come and sit and have dinner or whatever while waiting for the movie to begin. We had to leave a little early though since the movie didn't start till 9:00. The person with Chris is his office mate Grant who he's really enjoyed this summer and the other people are Derrick and his wife Beth another BYU law student.

That night was the only night we've really been out late in Chicago (at least for me) since Jared goes to bed early. It was really fun to see the city at night. It's really beautiful!

Fun Stories of Jared

I’m going to start this blog off with stories of Jared so I can make sure they are remembered:

Jared, when walking, likes to stand on objects (a crack, a leaf, dark spots, anything out of place) and say, “I stuck”. He won’t move until someone comes up behind him and pats him on the back and says, “beep beep!” It’s actually pretty cute but can be annoying when he does it every five feet when both your arms are weighed down with groceries! Jared has also tried this tactic on me by saying, “beep beep” when I’m standing still.

Jared quite expressional and has learned to copy words and expressions. Some of the latest:
The new baby has been sitting on a nerve every once and a while and this last week one time in particular was really painful and lasted for about 10 minutes. During that time I would use the walls to lean on and put my hand on my back to alleviate some pain. Apparently I must have been grunting/moaning too cause I heard Jared making weird noises and I looked behind me and he was taking baby steps with one hand on his back and the other on the wall.
One Sunday I after I was done bathing Jared I asked him to take out the plug. I was at the mirror doing my makeup and I hear Jared, “oh no!” I went to the tub and could not see his washcloth. I looked at Jared in despair put both hands to my temple and said a few times, “Oh my gosh Jared, oh my gosh” while shaking my head. Jared then took his hands in the like manner and repeated my sentence with a look of equal despair!
I learn a lot of things I do from Jared. We live on the third flight of steps and even without being pregnant and carrying a toddler it’s a workout going up the stairs. One day when we got inside the apartment Jared shut the door then immediately started breathing deep. I didn’t think I was that bad but apparently I breathed hard enough for him to notice. So that is now our ritual. Every time we close the door we both heave our sigh. I also must make a little grunt when bending over to pick stuff off the floor. Jared often when picking something up will make a little grunt as he stands back up. I know I’m missing things Jared has done but you get an idea of how much little kids watch and take in. Kind of scary sometimes!

Jared is also fascinated with bugs. He will touch anything when we’re out and about. Lately we’ve had some new house guests a mouse and ants. One time when we saw the mouse when entering Chris ran after it with the broom and Jared was right behind him trying to help him find it. Luckily the only killing Chris has had to do has been when Jared is asleep so he’s not able to see or touch it. But he has touched the ants numerously! He will go in the kitchen, lie down on the floor and stick his hands out and let the ants crawl all over him while he just watches. And he likes to follow flys around the house. One time one fly was not moving very much so I’d swing at it to make it fly. One time I was to accurate and killed the fly. Jared went and picked it up and tried to make it fly again and put it in the windowsill where it liked to hide. I think that’s the saddest I’ve ever been to kill a fly!

Jared also doesn’t mind eating off the floor. I was on the phone one afternoon and Jared was carrying a bag of gold fishes around. Well it was too tempting and he dumped it on the floor. I was out of reach since the phone was charging so I decided I’d finish the call and clean it up later. Well Jared wasn’t going to wait and he got down on his stomach and began eating the fishes off the floor without using his hands. The phone conversation ended soon after.

Last story for now. One time Jared hit me so Chris was trying to have him say “I love you mommy.” Every time he said I Jared would say “don’t” (when he hits we have him say I don’t hit). One time he finally said I and then Chris said Love and Jared immediately exclaimed, “Jared”. We got a good laugh and Jared thought he was funny too although he had no idea why.

Only 4 weeks left!!!

Time has gone by quick and Chris, Jared and I have filled it with lots of fun (after all Chicago is really big and has lots to do!) I'll try to do a quick recap on things we've done and show lots of pictures!!!

A lot of the new Batman movie is being filmed in Chicago and a couple of days it was being filled right by Chris' office building so Jared and I went in to observe and have lunch with dad. Not too much action was going on but it was fun to see a little bit of the filming. Chris kept looking out his window during work in hopes of seeing batman in the air or the batmobile but he had no luck. I guess batman comes out mainly at night.

One of Chicago's biggest events is their taste of Chicago. They have tons of restaraunt booths lining several streets and you buy tickets and go test out different places to eat around the city. It was really fun and the atmosphere was like a fair. Several bands were playing throughout and most of them were country so it really felt like a fair.

On the 4th of July we went to our ward picnic. Chris had fun playing football, volleyball, and softball while we were there and he paid for it for the next three to four days. Jared had fun with another little boy in his nursery class. When I first watched them play I thought it was really cute how Nathan, the other boy, liked to hug Jared. Chris quickly informed me how the parents said he liked to wrestle so we needed to look out for Jared. Sure enough a couple hugs ended up with Nathan on top of Jared and Jared laying as still as can be not daring to move! One time Nathan had Jared's face in the ground and another boy was yelling at him to get off him. I ran over once I noticed and was surprised to Jared's reaction. Again he was just still and when Nathan got off he just got up and kept running! Thank goodness boys are tuff!

One of our favorite things to do is go to the beach. Chicago has beautiful beaches and they are perfect for kids. Jared can walk out 50 yards or more and the water still isn't up to his chest! The waves are also just right. Almost strong enough to plow Jared over but not too strong to make him afraid. The three of us often sit in the water and wait for the waves to push us backwards. The beach is really one of my favorite things of Chicago!

Chicago also has lots of free concerts. Last week we went to one that had two African bands playing. The style was kind of regae and really fun. Millenial Park was full of people and perfect for our little family allowing us to let Jared run on the grass and play.

This last Saturday we went to Chicago's Children Museum. So cool! There were tons of things for kids to do inside and quite educational. Too bad Jared wasn't old enough to remember any of it. Our two favorite sections were the water world and the dinosaur section. The water section kids could race boats and see how to transport water or how to move the water. With the dinosaurs kids could dig for fossils. In both these areas there were props/jackets for the kids to wear and Jared did not want to take off either of them when it was time to move on. The whole museum was very hands on and very entertaining for all ages, even parents!

Chris is enjoying the experience he is getting and the pampering as well. One evening we went to a partner's house for dinner and was escorted to and from in a limo! Very fun! And Chris has enjoyed his baseball game in the box seats, lunch outings, and softball game where he got to leave work two hours early last Friday. As for me I enjoy my morning walk/jog as it meanders by the beach and lake and then I take Jared to a park where we've both met lots of Friends. The people here are really nice (not the drivers so much) and we are definitely open to maybe starting our career out here but time will tell!!!