Weekly review by Liz

So I was having fun looking at blogs this afternoon while Scott was hometeaching and Nathan was napping (this a such a special treat to not need to sleep w/ Nathan in the afternoon!), and decided that I wanted to put some sort of posting up about my wonderful family and life. I haven't really taken a chance to do more w/ our blog, so here I go!

I must admit it has been hard couple of months w/ the pregnancy blahs, but hearing the heartbeat last week makes it so worth it! I am thinking that it will be a girl this time, just because I feel so much more sick this time around. But who knows, we thought Nathan was going to be a girl!

Nathan, w/ prompting, will say, "Hi baby!" to my tummy and then say, "I am your big brother!" It is amazing that he really believes there is a baby in there, 'cause it's not too obvious yet. Scott has done a great job accomodating my frequent snacking and my not being able to decide what to eat at any time of the day. Between working thru the night and being up during the day, I feel like I am constantly eating something, I am amazed I have gained more weight yet, but we'll see. I think I might have to have Scott take a picture of the expanding abdomen every month so we can see the progress! My co-workers have been great to help me thru the nights by keeping me away from the smelly patients and there are always snacks available!

Scott is one week into his last semester (yeah!) and seems to have things all figured out. He has his classes all picked out and is working hard on his professional project. He is also planning on playing intramural basketball w/ the branch, so news of the team's successes will be forthcoming. He did well thru the football season and only came home w/ a sore knee. I guess it wll be a reminder of his good-ole Cornell football days. :) I am proud of his hard work and how he manages to still have time to help so much around the house and play with Nathan. Nathan loves to hide and scare his daddy, and then they run around the "loop" in our front room and dining room. As the weeks go by, I realize how blessed our family is because I know we couldn't have made it without help along the way.

Beehive State Trip Review

We are back from our trip to Utah over the holidays and the first part of the month. We had a great time visiting both of our families, seeing friends and eating way too much delicious food! Our trip included getting to see a brand new niece and meeting Elizabeth's sister's boyfriend-turned-fiancee, as well as lots of parties and movies, the lights at temple square, playing games, trips to the temple, a ski trip for the boys, shopping, a wagon ride to see hundreds of elk, a BYU basketball game, and even had time for some rest and relaxation.

The day after we arrived in Utah we went with Scott's family to see the lights at Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City. Nathan was especially excited because we got to ride 'the choo-choo' or the 'polar express' to get there (we took the Trax trail from Sandy to get to SLC). There is a picture with Nathan and grandpa riding the train to get there. We enjoyed seeing the temple and all the lights. Nathan liked sticking his tongue out and tasting the falling snow ... he also loved sipping hot chocolate with his cousins after walking around - what a fun evening!

On new year's eve in the afternoon we went to a party with the Jackson extended family in Riverton and then went back to Scott's parents' house in the evening to celebrate the new year. Nathan made it all the way to midnight! The video below shows Nathan and his cousins banging their pots and pans at the turn of the new year.

After getting a few hours of sleep New Year's morning, we went to another party, this time with the Jeffery extended family. Elizabeth's cousin brought a Nintendo Wii game system and everyone had a great time bowling and guess who the family champ ... Elizabeth - we never knew she was such a gamer! Here is the picture of the champ just moments after her thrilling victory.

Also, on December 31, 2007, Elizabeth's sister Katie and her husband Casey welcomed their first child into the world - Elsa Jean Kennington. She is a beautiful baby girl and we all enjoyed getting to see her and hold her. Nathan always calls her "baby Elsa" and he did a good job, for the most part, being soft and even getting to hold his cousin. He tried to sing to her - his choice was 'Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.' Fortunately for Elsa, he was not jumping on the coach while singing his rendition of Rudolph this time.

On the first Saturday of the new year my brother Spencer and bros-in-law Erik and Casey and myself journed up Provo Canyon to Sundance Ski Resort for a little skiing on the greatest snow on earth. We had to fight fast falling snow on the way up and we were very thankful to have Casey's chains to put on the tires, but we made it and enjoyed what turned out to be a beautiful day on the slopes. As a native Utahn I am sorry to admit it was only my third time skiing, but it was lots of fun even though I fell a fair number of times. Erik and Casey got bold and tried a black diamond run which they both survived, but Erik came out minus a pair of sunglasses. I stuck to the blue and green runs and they were challenging enough for me. Overall, we had a great time and came out with only a few bumps and bruises ... and a pair of bent ski poles (Erik's poles got bent between the lift and the ground).

We took lots of family photos with the Jacksons while we were in Utah. On the right is one of all the Jackson siblings (Elizabeth on the bottom right, Katie on bottom left, Stephanie on top right, Erik on top left, and Anne in the middle). It was an eventful trip for the Jacksons: besides Katie's baby, Stephanie got engaged and we also told them that Elizabeth is expecting! That's right, baby #2 is on it's way! The due date is August 1st. We heard a heart beat shortly after returning from Utah, so it is starting to seem more and more real. The countdown is on the top right of our blog ... more about the baby in future posts to be sure.

A couple of days before leaving Utah, Scott's parents took us up to Hardware Ranch (near Logan, UT) to see the elk that come there in the winter. We got to take a wagon ride and see lots of beautiful elk from a close distance. Nathan enjoyed seeing them, as we all did. The ranchers said there were about 700 head of elk there the day we visited. Another interesting note: the rancher said the bucks can grow their antlers as much as 2 inches per day when they are growing new ones back!

I had to put a little video and picture from our trip to the Marriot Center to see our beloved Cougars of BYU play. It was a boy's trip - I took Nathan and my brother Spencer took his 3-year-old son Carter. It was a fun time for all.

Merry Christmas!!

"Merry Christmas to all ... and to all a goodnight" (it has become one of Nathan's favorite lines). We hope everyone has a very merry Christmas season. We are really excited about Christmas this year and seeing Nathan's excitement and anticipation in the weeks and now days leading up to Christmas.

On Friday we took Nathan to the mall to visit Santa Claus. He was excited and was very patient while we waited for a few minutes and then went right up to Santa and had the chance to site down on his lap and talk with the big man himself! We asked what he wanted, he said, "toys." ... it's like come on Santa don't you know, I want toys, what else would a kid want. When we ask him what kind of toys, he usually responds, "Christmas toys." Again, kind of like, come on mom and dad, what other kind of toys are there at this time of year.

During this same visit to the mall we took Nathan to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. He made it through and enjoyed watching the chipmunks and dancing to the music and laughing at their silliness. It was a drastic improvement from the last movie we tried to take him to ... last Christmas season we went to see The Santa Claus 3 and he just wanted to run around the theater and be chased by either his mom or his dad or both!

When putting Nathan to bed tonight I was telling him the story of Jesus' birth (which we have done before so I was asking him to help me tell the story), and the first two times Mary and Joseph knocked on the door Nathan said, "There's no room." However, the third time they knocked Nathan said, "There's room." How fitting I thought!

Nathan has really enjoyed singing Christmas songs, mainly "Rudolph" and "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town." Below is his rendition of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." It is not his best rendition, but it is pretty fun to watch him bounce on the couch and sing the words. Enjoy!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

We are especially excited about the holiday season this year. Nathan knows well who Santa is and the fact that he is coming to town on Christmas. He has enjoys singing Christmas songs and can even sing most of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by himself and he knows parts of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. He has also learned that is it Jesus' birthday on Christmas. We had a family night lesson about the symbolism of the candy cane and he now calls the nativity shepards' staffs candy canes.


A week ago we went and bought a fresh Christmas tree. We lucked out and got a terrific tree that had a great shape and even had some little pine cones on it. We had a great time putting our ornaments on the tree and remembering the fun places we've been and things we've done. Nathan has fun looking at the different ornaments and commenting on his favorites.


We have also had a good amount of snow so far this year and Nathan has really enjoyed walking in the snow, sledding, and making a "Frosty" snowman. He loves to wear his boots and his snow pants. Nathan has also discovered he likes the taste of snow!

Below are pictures of Nathan outside in the snow, helping make a jello salad, and making a silly face with chocolate around his mouth.

November Fun

We loved having Elizabeth's family here with us for a week. Nathan especially enjoyed spending time with his aunt Anne and uncle Erik as well as Oma and Opa. One treat we all enjoyed was Dad playing the piano and Nathan loved to join in (check out the video at the bottom of this post).

We had a wonderful early-Thanksgiving dinner with the Jacksons complete with turkey and all the fixings. Nathan enjoyed the mashed potatoes the most ... or the pie - who could disagree?

It was great for Nathan to have family here visiting. He has been talking about them all week since they have left and gone home. We are excited about the Christmas holidays and the chance to be with family again then. Nathan again enjoyed preparing food - the picture shows him and his Aunt Anne licking the beaters after mixing up some chocolate brownies.

One day Liz and Nathan took everyone up to Palmyra to see the Church historic sites and they had an enjoyable time there. It has been really neat for Nathan and for us too to live so close to Palmyra and get to see the sites there relatively often.

INTRAMURAL CHAMPIONS!

LDSSA TAKES HOME INTRAMURAL CHAMPIONSHIP

The Latter-day Saint Student Association (LDSSA) flag football took home the Cornell Intramural Championship last Thursday night. Our team dominated all season long and eventually took the championship 25-0 in front of an estimated 30 people under the lights at Cornell's Schoelkopf Stadium.

Our team's stingy defense only allowed 18 points all season long (just over 2 points allowed per game) leading to way to a 5-0 regular season and an undefeated march through the championship tournament with 3 straight victories. Ryan and Gary, while physically they may be the antithesis of the stereotypical defensive lineman, provided numerous sacks and hurries that took other team out of rhythm and gave opportunities for everyone else to get interceptions and defensive stops.

While the defense was tough, Josh Price, QB (check out the video at the end of the post), led the team offensively to multiple touchdown victories in nearly every game. He had plenty of weapons and was able to spread the wealth around and give everyone a chance to contribute. I think everyone was able to score points on offense during the year.
All in all it was a lot of fun and the LDSSA took home their 3rd Intramural Championship of the year (Basketball, Softball, and now Flag Football '07).

Video:

QB Josh Price avoids the rush and hits Adam Treadwell, who then heads upfield.

Halloween 2007

We had a very fun Halloween here in Groton. Nathan was a teletubbie this year and loved being in his costume. We commented that he seemed to have the right body shape at this stage to be a perfect teletubbie!

When Scott got home from school we got ready and went down to Main Street in Groton where the businesses where passing out candy to trick-or-treaters (see video at the end of this post). Also, the fire station opened up their doors and of course Nathan loved going there and getting to see the fire engine that was parked just outside. On our way back home Scott took Nathan and trick-or-treated to the houses on our street. Nathan did pretty well saying "trick-or-treat" but at times when Scott prompted him he said "please" or "thank you" (before he got the treat). He had a great time carrying his classic plastic pumpkin bucket around and he definitely knew he was getting candy! The candy had really come in handy the past couple of days as we are starting potty training (note: he is doing well and we've had some early successes!).

On Monday night our activity was pumpkin carving. When asked what he wanted on his pumpkin Nathan picked off a jack-o-latern sticker from the window and said he wanted one like that. That was Nathan's pumpkin, Liz carved a kitty and Scott did a grizzly bear this year. It has become a fun tradition to carve our pumpkins and be creative. Liz's pumpkin designs are more spontaneous and Scott is more meticulous and usually uses a pattern to get things just right. All in all it was a great time and we are already getting excited about the upcoming holiday season!