August Catch Up - Part 2

We celebrated Derrick's 25th birthday. He requested strawberry shortcake made from scratch using the Jones family recipe. This has become a tradition since he's requested it all 3 birthdays we've been married. Melissa and Nate joined us for hanging out and eating dessert. It was a pretty mellow celebration this year.


Zach fell asleep while sitting in his high chair for first (and only) time. What's crazy about this was that the day before I had made a comment to Derrick about how I never thought Zach would do it. I guess fighting me with nap times and transitioning from 2 naps a day to 1 is enough to wear the kid out.


Derrick redesigned the website for CleanTelligent (the company he works for). It was a really fun project for him. To see it go to: http://www.cleantelligent.com/. It's more impressive with a before and after but it still looks good :).

Nate and Melissa moved a couple blocks northeast of us and we spent a lot of time helping them move and clean their apartment. Zach added to the fun by climbing on, getting into, and trying unpack everything.

August Catch Up - Part 1

Derrick finished up his internship with Dish Network and we moved back to UT. Derrick's parents picked us up from my parents' house and helped us get all of our stuff back here. Zach handled the car ride pretty well. It really helped that we took 3 days so we had a break to just play with Grandma and Grandpa Bowen.


While in Grand Junction we got to tour the big dirt hole in the backyard (Derrick's parents are extending their bedroom and adding a basement to their house), go mountain biking (Mom Bowen watched Zach), and go to a wedding reception which led to us leaving Zach's booster seat in the trunk of the car that didn't come with us to Utah :(. More to come on how that worked out okay.

For mountain biking we rode Mary's Loop and Horsethief Bench Loop. It's rated as "intermediate" and was pretty scary/exhilarating at times. It's a hike and bike trail so at the part between the loops we had to carry our bikes down a pretty steep trail. There were great views of the CO river...though most of the time I was focused on not dying :).



After getting back to Utah we realized that we were missing Zach's booster chair. While unpacking, I was walking upstairs and overheard a conversation about a high chair. One guy was asking another if he needed a high chair for his kid. The second guy didn't and the first guy explained that someone in the ward had found a high chair left by the dumpsters and moved it by the laundry building since it was in such good condition. We went to check it out and ended up bringing it home. It was exciting to not have to buy a replacement and the timing was amazing! We cleaned it up and it works great!

Na na na na na ...

BATMAN!!!

On the evening of 7/31 Zach had his first adventure wearing his Batman jammies. He ended up losing his pants for awhile so they could be hemmed several inches.

July Catch Up Part 2: Babysitting

From July 22 to Aug 1 Derrick and I stayed at my aunt and uncle's house to "babysit" their 3 youngest kids while the parents were in Japan picking up Andrew from his mission. It was really an easy job since the kids are amazingly well behaved and the youngest is 11. I was amazed on Saturday night when Matthew asked Derrick and me if it'd be alright with us if he prepared a FHE lesson for Monday. Talk about impressive for a teenage boy.

The week and a half consisted of:
- Two trips to Chick-fil-a to take advantage of the free smoothies and then sandwiches for dressing up in Hawaiian and then sports attire. Zach was dressed up too and got the free stuff but got to eat a stuffed animal cow while Derrick and I ate his smoothie due to his dairy food allergy. He didn't seem to mind sharing since he got some of the whipped cream. He did have his first experience playing in the play area of a fast food restaurant.


- Friends and family day at Dish Network (place of Derrick's summer internship). We were the only ones there with a baby. You know you're not in Provo anymore when...
- Derrick getting home earlier. During this time his daily commute was shortened by 45 minutes each way.
- Trips to the park.
- 3 BBQs for 3 consecutive meals (exluding 1 breakfast).
- Trip to the movie theater to see the 6th Harry Potter movie.
- My cousin's daughter Leah's 1st birthday. My parents came up from Boulder area for this as well. We found out that Zach loves swimming and is only content in the baby pool for about 5 minutes total. He kept charging back towards the big pool if we ever tried to get him out of the water. Zach loved waving his arms through the water when we dragged him through it (he starts doing it at the end of the video).

- Lots of effort to keep Zach from breaking things. He'd climb up on EVERYTHING. The middle picture below was taken after went to check on Zach after hearing some notes on the piano and seconds before he decided to climb up and stand on the keys to play with the breakable decorations on top of the piano. How does a 12 month old know how to climb up on top of a piano? Zach also decided to try to rearrange the kitchen by repeatedly emptying all the cupboards and drawers he could reach and emptying an entire box of plastic baggies.

- Long nights. Zach didn't sleep well the entire time and would often end up in bed with Derrick and me.
- Many movie nights.
- 2 Game nights with a bunch of teenagers from the ward.
- Two shopping trips to Plato's Closet - I love that store.
- Lots of sports. I stayed home with Zach twice while Derrick, Ashley, Matthew, and Nathan went to play basketball at the church.

- Lots of Zach following the bigger kids around. He especially seemed excited to see Ashley when she wasn't at work. I love how one time he carried his snacks and went to sit by her while she was doing some chores. Those of you who know Zach know it's not common that he chooses to just sit. Zach was in heaven with so many people to play with.

- Brian Regan - The Blaylock kids had never even heard of Brian Regan before. We corrected this so Ashley wouldn't end up at BYU this fall without knowing who Brian Regan is :).
- Intense cleaning and then making signs and desserts for when Andrew returned. The two big signs were a huge sign saying Welcome home in Japanese kanji that I made and a candy gram the kids made. Other decorations included balloons, streamers, and smaller signs stuck in the grass.

We had a great time hanging out with some of my cousins I haven't seen very often since I left CO for college. It was also very nice to be able to return to my parents' house and have Zach sleep in his bed again so I could sleep again.

July Catch Up Part 1: Casa Bonita

One classic place to visit while you're in Denver is the restaurant Casa Bonita. The food isn't great (it's been compared to a step above TV dinners) but it was a very exciting place to go when I was little. Derrick had never been so we all went about mid-July.

The lovely pink building:


There's a lot of line waiting at the beginning. Zach managed to entertain himself by playing on the dirty floor. Hurray for hand sanitizer!




For the meal we were seated in the room where we a magic show was going on. It wasn't very impressive but Zach loved it. He was focused on it and had fun waving his arms all crazy throughout the show.


Sorry, this is a terrible picture but if you look at the bright part of the picture you see the performers. During these shows at least one of the characters is always pushed off the ledge by the waterfall into the water below.


Black Bart's Cave is a must see at Casa Bonita. This place was so cool and scary when I was little. Now it's surprisingly short.


You never know what you'll find in caves...


Cheesy puppet show. Zach is the kid running around in front. He never stops moving :).

Mission Call

My little brother Garrett received his call today to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! Melissa and Nate came over to our apartment to join in on watching over webcam while Jason and Cassie listened over their phones.

Garrett will be teaching and serving the people in the Charlotte, North Carolina mission. He reports to the MTC (Missionary Training Center) on December 2nd.


It was wonderful to see how excited Garrett was to be officially called as a missionary. He will make an amazing missionary. I know that what he has to share with the people of NC will bring so much joy into their lives.

I want Garrett to know that I know that Joseph Smith truly talked with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and under their direction restored Their church. President Thomas S. Monson is the prophet the Lord has called to lead us today. Jesus Christ lived and died for us and lives again. As we live His commandments and exercise faith in Christ we will be truly happy and be able to return to live with Him and our families forever. The Gospel is such good news!

Thank you for being such an amazing little brother and example to me Garrett. I love you so much!

Battle Wound

This morning Zach got into a fight with this saucepan and sadly the saucepan won.


It all started with Zach going to play with the pans as usual. The next thing I know there's a loud clang and Zach started screaming. I went to comfort him and found that his big toe was bleeding heavily and his toenail was barely hanging on. I had no idea what to do and blood was getting on everything. It was scary. After slowing the stream and calming Zach down with fruit roll-up stickers, I carried Zach to urgent care because I wanted to make sure it got bandaged up right.

Ten minutes of trying to get a 13 month old to soak his foot in some solution stuff (that ended up everywhere), lots of gauze used in vain attempts to stop the bleeding, jelly foam stuff that did more to stop the bleeding, and lots more gauze later, Zach had a massive bandage on his toe disguised to look like a sock.


It turns out that the pan sliced through Zach's toenail a little down from the tip and at the base so he'll lose the nail. Good news is it should grow back alright. Thankfully Zach's toe didn't seem to bother him since we left the doctor. He's been busy running around, climbing on, and getting into everything.

Look Alikes

Apparently I look like a cartoon character.

When I was in middle school someone told me I reminded them of a Precious Moments character.
When the movie The Incredibles came out some family friends told me that the character Violet reminded them of me.

When the movie got the to dollar theater some friends and I dressed up as characters and I was Violet. That brought on many more comments of similarity.


I hadn't thought much of the cartoon character theme until a few weeks ago a person I met told me that I looked like Coraline from the movie Coraline. Luckily they assured me that I wasn't creepy like the movie. (If you haven't seen it it's kinda fun and very creepy).


I randomly had the same hairstyle in this picture.


Do you ever get compared to famous people...or characters?

Petition Against the New Health Care Plan

The health care plan that Obama is trying to push through Congress scares me. I like the accessibility to doctors and specialists that we have now and the country doesn't have money to support such a plan. It's true that our system isn't perfect but I strongly feel that this isn't the answer.

Here's a link to a petition that will be presented to Congress. It's one of the more legitimate petitions I've seen and is put on by the National Center for Policy Analysis. Please visit the site and add your name if you agree that the plan isn't in our country's best interest. It takes only a few seconds.

If the link doesn't work the web address is: http://www.freeourhealthcarenow.com/form.php.

Chasing Uncle Garrett

It's been so fun having Zach understand more of what we say and figuring out how to play games with us. About a week ago he thought it was so fun to chase people around the house and would laugh the whole time. Here's a video I caught of Zach chasing my brother Garrett. For the first part of the video you can't tell he's chasing Garrett because Garrett is so far ahead of him.

Beautiful Flagstaff Mountain

I love the Boulder area. I think it's so pretty and has such great access to fun outdoor places. My family's favorite picnic spot is on Flagstaff Mountain because it has a great view of the Boulder valley. For those of you who know the area it's just past Chautauqua Park.



Sometimes moms have to be mean and not let their boys walk wherever they want on cliff edges.

Independence Day!

We had a fun 4th of July this year. It's weird to think how much Zach has changed since the last one.

7/4/08 - Looking very sleep-deprived :)

7/4/09

While we're here in CO Derrick and I have callings on the activities' committee in our ward. We helped put on a ward picnic at a nearby park. Everything went pretty smoothly and Zach did really well until near the end when he got over-stimulated and sick of being out in the hot sun.

Once it got dark we went to the nearby golf course to watch fireworks. Garrett's girlfriend Megan joined us. I had no idea how Zach would react to the loud fireworks and was surprised to see that they completely mesmerized him. He laid back in his stroller and just silently stared at them the entire time. He only got grouchy once they ended.

Here we are waiting for the show to start.

Time for a Tuber Race

A little while ago we decided that the perfect afternoon activity would be to race tubers. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that there was a very logical process leading up to this epiphany. For some reason the idea kept being put off, but eventually we did put that old sweet potato in the fridge to good use. As pictured, you can see my piece of tuber in the lead, with Jen's close behind and Garrett's taking up the rear. (The initial race was to see who's Yamcht came out from under the bridge first) I had a big Z carved in mine so I could have Zach's luck on my team, and it paid off. Jen's ended up winning the long distance competition however, as my tuber got stuck in some branches or something.

Utah Trip

During the last week of June, Zach, my mom, and my brother Garrett all drove with me to Provo. We had a great trip but sadly didn't get too many pictures.

Friday (6/26)
Drove to Provo. Zach did surprisingly well. It helped that we had Derrick's netbook so he could watch 3 Baby Signing Times. Melissa and Nate had a yummy dinner for us.


Saturday (6/27)
We visited with my Grandma Eddington for awhile. We didn't time things very well and had a late dinner so Melissa, my mom, and I had to really rush to make it to the Mt. Timpanogos in order to make it to the session for my really good friend Tara who was going through the temple for the first time. I was so glad I could be there for her and also see my old roommates! Here's a picture from the first time Tara and I ever hung out. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship :).


Sunday (6/28)
Lots of meetings in the morning for my calling. I got to go to my ward and it was so good to see so many friends. After church we went up to Sandy and visited with my Jones grandparents.

Monday (6/29)
We met up with my Grandma Eddington and went through the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. It's a beautiful temple.

(http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/oquirrhmountain/gallery/images/oquirrh_mountain_lds_mormon_temple27.jpg)

After dinner we went golfing with Melissa, Nate, and Tara. Tara kept talking about how bad she was but she still beat us. It was a pretty close game for everyone though.

Melissa's prego belly. Golf balls make the belly a bit pokey.

Zach liked to help get the balls whether we were done with them or not.

With all Zach's playing he got pretty dirty.

Tara, my mom, Garrett, Zach, me, Melissa, and Nate

Tara and me

Tuesday (6/30)
Garrett watched Zach so I could go visit my friends Ken and Kelsey Ross in the hospital and meet their new son Jared. Later that night I helped put on the R.S. Quarterly Enrichment Meeting. After packing up we drove to Grand Junction and stayed the night at Derrick's parents' house.

Wednesday (7/1)
Zach got to play with Grandpa Bowen and then we headed back to the Boulder area where we had Zach's birthday celebrations.