This just came...

and Mark is beside himself. It plays "Take me out to the ball game"! Shortstop loves music anytime of day, especially soothing music as he goes to bed so no surprise he loves the mobile. (But I think Mark loves it more.) I was so excited when this was on a really good sale and now we all go to sleep hearing a great song!

Seattle

This last weekend Mark and I took the boy up to Seattle to spend time with Mark's parents. It has been a few months since they had seen their only grandchild and plane tickets were cheap so we thought "Why not?" And we are so glad we did. It was such a fun weekend!

I was a little, ok A LOT, nervous about the flight. Shortstop had never been on a plane and I heard so many horror stories. Even though it is only an hour and 45 minute flight I had snacks, a bottle, toys, movies, books and who knows what else. I was prepared for anything that would happen. So of course, he was perfect. Loved take off, fell asleep for 45 minutes, giggled every time there was turbulence and flirted with every female on the plane. Such a good boy!

The weekend was spent relaxing, visiting and eating at some awesome restaurants. One of them was called Blue Island Sushi- such a fun place. It has a conveyor belt going around the tables in the restaurant so you just pick the plates that look good to you. It lets you try lots of different sushi rolls without having 8 of the same roll and not liking it. So good.

Grandma loved cuddling with her little man and he sure loved her.

I wish I would have gotten a picture of Mark's dad with Shortstop because those two were quick buddies as well, especially after Grandpa fed him a cream puff at lunch. Grandpa also loved giving Shortstop lemons at restaurants. He would make the funniest face and then want more!

Aunt Allis spent time reading and snuggling her little nephew. He loves stories and he loves Allis so it was the perfect combination.

She also took us to the city one day to take family pictures; she is editing them but if I like the way I look (still self conscious with the whole after baby body) then I will post them! She is really good at seeing the world through a camera lens. But here is one of her loving our man.

We were able to see some of Mark's friends and their families. At church everyone just loved seeing Mark's little boy, since they knew him as a little guy. This little girl is Maggie and she is 10 months older than Shortstop. She is the daughter of Mark's high school buddy Brandon.

What a doll! They are learning how much she can actually see, (she is mostly blind), but she is one smart girl. She obviously knows sounds better than most kids and by the end of the night, she knew my voice and would say "Gack" for Jacque. I loved snuggling her!

On our last night there, Allis came in from the city where she lives to spend time with us. Shortstop was already in bed and I could see she was disappointed. So...we picked him up from the crib and let her hold him while he slept for 45 minutes. I think she enjoyed that.

One night Mark's grandparents came up from Oregon to see us and we all went out to dinner at Tulio's- such good Italian food! I ordered the crab Tortelli and Mark had smoked salmon ravioli and lamb. The best was someone else's dinner, sweet potato gnocchi. Oh man it was rich! Before we went out for the night I had to get a 4 generation of Elkington men picture. I love that we have this. These are some great men!

We were sad to go but so glad for the time we spent up there. Shortstop loves the rain and would smile when we were outside and reach his hand out to grab it. Mark loves where he is from, more than most people I know. He wanted to take some pictures of his street and house and trees to show Utah people was a "real tree" looks like. :)

8 months

I have an 8 month old! Yay! Shortstop is at such a fun age and we can't get enough of him! Here are some highlights:

• He laughs all the time and knows when he is being funny.
• He loves to get a reaction from us and then smiles a huge cheesy grin when he does.
• He is always eating and loves anything we give him...pretty sure he is going through a growth spurt.
• He likes to mimic sounds we make
• He flirts with all the nurses, his nanny and anyone girl who gives him more than 2 seconds of her time.
• This past month he has had a pretty nasty cold but is still our happy boy. Nights are harder since he coughs a lot but we think he is getting better. On top of that he has pretty severe ezcema all over his back, face, knees and fingers. Doctor gave us some remedies we will try (including a bleach bath...still on the fence about that one.)
• He reaches out his arms any time anyone walks by and loves being held.
• Reading is one of our favorite family times and he will just sit and listen to any book as long as he can see the pictures.
• He is getting pretty good at problem solving. For example, his favorite toy was on a blanket and he couldn't reach it so he started swatting and pulling at the blanket until the toy was in his grasp. Of course he looked pretty proud of himself as he chewed on it!
• He is starting to give big slobbery kisses- my FAVORITE thing in the world right now.
• He says "da-da" and "ma-ma" almost exclusively for Mark and I. We like to think he knows what he is saying. :)
• Walks are so much fun and he is so relaxed whenever we are outside.
• You almost can't get his attention when there is a football game on.
• Sitting up is now much more preferred than any other position.
• He still loves playing with my hair in the morning and giggles whenever he gets a good handful of it.
• Mark can get him so relaxed and talking so much and I can get him giggling to the point he falls over or has to catch his breath.
• He has my heart and can have anything he wants when he smiles and bats his eyes at me.
• Mark is putty in Shortstop's hands and even if I am frustrated with his fussing or whatever, Mark smiles and says "What a good boy we have. Was there ever a better boy in all the world!" (On a side note, Mark is the most positive, encouraging, uplifting dad and is so proud of EVERY thing his boy does. And he tells him any chance he gets. Shortstop is going to have such a healthy self esteem. So glad Mark is so wonderful at this dad thing!)

Court of Honor

This is my adorable little nephew, Evan. (Can you tell he and Shortstop are related?)

He is my oldest nephew and I was 12 when he was born. This is how I remember him. But last night Mark and I went to his Court of Honor. That's right, my little nephew was awarded his Eagle. Funny thing is, Mark first met Evan it was at his Arrow of Light ceremony almost 5 years ago.

It was such a neat night. He and three other boys in his ward were getting their Eagle. Evan is on the far right.

There were a lot of people in attendance; so much love and support. It was really nice to see the boy scout program in action since I was recently called to be a Wolf Den Leader. I have NO idea how to do cub scout stuff but I will learn!

Anyway, back to the evening. There was a great slide show which showed baby pictures and the boys through the years (yes I got teary eyed thinking of being a 12 year old aunt to such a cute baby!), wonderful comments by the young men, awesome patriotic moments,

delicious refreshments (My mom made this cake and it was HUGE! I think it was at least 3 by 2 cakes wide and 2 cakes high),

an invitation for all Eagle scouts to sit in the Eagle's nest (yay Mark!),

parents giving the actual award,

and even a live bald eagle!

Her name is Liberty and she has a wing span of 6 feet. It was gorgeous and amazing to see one so close!

I am so proud of my nephew. He worked so hard on his project making toys for the children's hospital called distraction toys. He isn't even 16 yet and is all done! It is so nice living so close to some of my nieces and nephews. I miss the ones far away but am glad for the ones nearby. Throughout the years I have been able to attend boy scout stuff, his baptism, plays, musicals and even sporting events for Evan. Love that kid!

Shortstop sat on Grandma's lap the whole time and even fell asleep for a little while. Such a sweet boy!

Tray painting

My goal is each day to do some new activity with Shortstop to help him learn and work on motor skills, etc. Today was all about textures. I got him down to his diaper, put pureed squash on his tray and let him paint, play and eat. Every once in a while I would add a Gerber puff, or a peach or piece of turkey. It would kind of confuse him, he would pick it up, look at me and put it in his mouth and go back to making a mess. He had a blast with the mushy stuff!

This is what he had to say about it all. PS: Have you noticed we are doing his hair different? Now he looks more like a little boy than a new baby. I am still getting used to it.

Closer to 30!

Mark's 26th birthday was yesterday and that means he is closer to 30 than 20...just like me! Although I am a couple of years even closer!

Tuesdays are a very busy day for me at work and since I knew this, we decided to celebrate his birthday for a few different days. While we were at my parent's house, we had a little party. (Of course I forgot to take pictures!) My sister Alicia made a two layer chocolate chip yellow cake with homemade chocolate frosting for dessert and for dinner made sticky pork and fried rice per Mark's request. So good! We then sang and I gave Mark one of his gifts. I sent his high school baseball glove to a professional to get "the works" done on it: re-oiled, re-strung, new hardware clasps, everything. He was speechless. I was pretty excited about this gift! He kept smelling it and saying "It looks brand new!" I think I got a few awesome wife points with that one! I didn't take a picture that night but I took one last night.

So then yesterday he slept in an hour and got to show up late to work, I made him breakfast, then made sure to wish him Happy Birthday a million times throughout the day on google chat, texts and facebook. He got a lot of calls and messages wishing him happy birthday which he really enjoyed. He got movie tickets from work and then won a Chili's gift certificate and a very nice gift certificate to a local bookstore from a drawing his work does at the beginning of each month. Lucky day!
I had my crazy day of work so in between resident issues and meetings Shortstop and I picked up some balloons from the Creamery. I love random balloons so that is what he got. He knew it was his birthday, no need to have a balloon say it!

When he got home from work we had his favorite dinner, Chicken Taco Rice, and he opened Shortstop's present.

BYU football is a big part of our lives so when I saw this framed picture of Lavell Edwards stadium at sunset in the bookstore I had to get it; of course it was really Shortstop's idea. You might not be able to tell but it is a real photo made to look like a canvas painting. Really neat.

Because my sister made him a cake Saturday he said he just wanted cupcakes from our favorite cupcake place, The Cocoa Bean. I ran out and got him a Snickerdoodle one and me a Grasshopper. He blew out the candles and opened his other gifts.

Arrested Development Series from me and Pinky and the Brain/ Animaniacs from his parents. I also got him post notes that say "Don't forget to" and then you can write in stuff. On the bottom it says "Likelihood of actually remembering" and there is a 1-5 scale. Mark is a bit forgetful so I had to get this as a joke...but maybe it will help. :)

We called his mom to thank her for the gift and had her tell the story about the day he was born. We put her on speakerphone so Shortstop could hear. :) It is a great story and very spiritual. My in-laws are awesome!

I had to go to another meeting for an hour after Shortstop was in bed but when I came home I told Mark we could watch a movie or read out loud or whatever he wanted. He chose Halo Reach and I had to play with him. Birthday wishes come but once a year so I complied. I was awful but we had fun. Then I read Mockingjay out loud to him while scratching his back (his favorite thing ever!) and his birthday was over. But it sure was fun!

Happy birthday sweetheart! I love my 26 year old!

Campus without students

Upon our return to BYU on Sunday, we saw these occupants who rule the campus while the students are away for vacation. Mark loved it and said he had never been so close to live deer before.

6 month pictures

Finally I can post these on my blog! I have been waiting for so long but couldn't make them public since they were Christmas gifts to the grandparents. This was such a fun day. Shortstop was so happy and laughed every time the photographer's camera clicked or flashed. She said she loved taking his pictures and he was one of her favorite sessions. Mark and I were busting up he was being so cute. He even fell over one time from laughing too hard. Enjoy!