March-Green and Almost Spring

At ten months old, Jade is certainly becoming her own person. If she drops something, for instance, Grandpa Gunn’s keys, she will grab his fingers and slide of his lap, pick up the keys and then raise her hands to be picked back up again.
Jade is eating really well. She loves to eat big kid foods. Her favorite meal is a piece of chicken, bread and baby food of some kind. However, we are having problems with her eating green veggies. She will have nothing to do with them. Every time I give it to her she gags and spits it out. Something that she absolutely loves and can’t get enough of is ice cream. She would eat ice cream until she exploded if I let her.
She also has her favorite people that she likes. Austin is definitely her number one favorite. Whenever he walks into a room her face just lights up and she throws herself into his arms.

Austin and Jade sharing a Lifesaver mint.

Cierra is a close second. Cierra will chase her around Grandma’s house until she is exhausted. She will also get down on the floor and play toys with her for hours. She’s really good with her. Hudson comes in third. He doesn’t have to do anything she is just naturally attracted to him. It drives Grandpa Gunn crazy, especially because he comes in dead last on her favorite list. He would buy her anything under the sun if she would just give him the time of day, but alas she doesn’t. She’ll learn quickly though, if she’s smart. 
Jade is really good at waving hello and goodbye. She loves to pat her hands together in an attempt to clap. She is also really good at mimicking any facial movements someone makes, like sticking out her tongue when someone else does. Her favorite is to mimic Grandma Gunn when she coughs. She’ll stick out her tongue and make a fake coughing sound as she covers her mouth. It is so funny to watch. She doesn’t say words yet, but she is trying. She likes to say “Uh-Oh” and tries to say “Kitty” whenever she sees Huey.

Jade at the movie premier of Monsters vs. Aliens.

She is walking really well now, with some help though. Grandpa and Grandma Gunn gave Jade a yellow train for Christmas that she can push and walk behind. She uses it to help her with her balance. I think it is really helping her with her walking skills. She walks so much that she wears holes in the toes of her shoes. She walks on her toes a lot with her feet outwards like a penguin.

Jade is becoming a great little traveler especially this month with all of the traveling we have done. Our biggest excursion was to Dallas, Texas from the 10th-15th of March. Aaron had work there to do and we decided to drive down and stay a few days while he worked. We left on the 10th around 8am and stopped off at Grandpa and Grandma Gunn’s house to pick up some last minute stuff. We stayed for quite a while because Jade was so obsessed playing with Sammy (the cat). She kept giving him squeezes.

Jade being squeezie with Sammy
After leaving we decided to make our next stop Arches National Park and have lunch there. It was super cold but that didn’t stop us from having a picnic outside. We took Jade’s yellow train so she could walk around while holding onto it. Although she is a pretty good walker, the train just helped her be able to walk long distances.


After lunch we got back in the car and pretty much stayed there for the next 16 hours as we drove to Amarillo, Texas. I thought that driving that long would be too hard for Jade to endure but she did really well. We would time it so that our stops coincided with her schedule. We would get out every four hours and let her walk around with her train. We would walk for about thirty minutes while she wore herself out. We would get back in the car and she would play with her toys or watch one of her Little Einstein videos. She would eat a snack and drink her bottle and then be ready for a nap. She would take an hour long nap, wake up and be ready to get out for another walk. It actually worked out perfectly. We never really had any problems with her the entire way down.

We would have made it to Dallas had we not have been so tired. It got to be 4am and both Aaron and I couldn’t keep our eyes open anymore. I don’t drive very well in the dark so Aaron did most of the driving after 7pm. Instead my job was keeping him a wake but that is so difficult especially when Aaron doesn’t like to talk when he gets really tired. So instead we both sit there in silence and I end up falling asleep.
The next day, Wednesday the 11th, we spent all day driving from Amarillo to Dallas. We made a stop for lunch in some podunk town in Texas and Jade was the star of the town. We stopped off at some little diner for ice cream and all the old patrons there just ogled over Jade. She would flash them a smile back and give them a little wave. We had several people stop us and tell us how adorable Jade was and so lunch took us longer than normal. We didn’t get to Dallas until around dinner time though, with all of our stops and the rain that just poured the entire way. However, we made it right on time because as we were checking in, Aaron’s coworker Brad came down to the lobby. He had just arrived and said the owner of this plant they were auditing was coming to pick us all up and take us to dinner. Unlucky for us we looked like rag-a-muffins. So I took Jade and our luggage and ran upstairs to get ready. The only thing we had were jeans to wear. I was just praying that they wouldn’t be taking us to some fancy restaurant. But of course they did a five star restaurant in fact. We had four different courses with exotic cheeses, seafood and great steak. It was amazing.

On the way home we let Jade ride the luggage cart up to our room. She thought it was really fun. She would sit on the front and point to different things and squeal. It was fun to watch her.
On Thursday, Aaron went to work while Jade and I hung out together. We swam in the pool in the morning, napped, ate some lunch and then drove downtown to the 6th floor Museum were we saw JFK memorabilia. It was cold and rainy all day but Jade did really well.




We met up with Aaron for dinner at a great steak house and then went home to bed early.


On Friday, we packed up and drove to Albuquerque, New Mexico. In the morning we stopped off at Fort Worth to see a cattle drive. It rained the entire time so we spent most of the drive in the car but Jade really enjoyed seeing the cow and horses.



We didn’t arrive in Albuquerque until late that night. We did stop off at the temple there. Aaron was able to help with the building of the temple while he was on his mission. He did it as part of his service hours.

We had the hardest time finding our hotel that night. The GPS system that we were using kept giving us the wrong directions. We drove all over downtown Albuquerque during the middle of the night trying to find the place. When we finally found it we didn’t care that it was in the heart of ghettosville. All we cared about was that there was a bed.
The next morning, Saturday, we woke up and visited Peggy, one of Aaron’s converts. She is one of the only ones that has stayed close to the church. She has held several church callings and been to the temple to receive her endowments. She was really nice and loved to see Jade. Jade didn’t seem afraid of her at all. She just sat next to her and played with her toys.


We then got back in the car and drove to Window Rock, Aaron’s first area and visited with all the people he taught there. It was fun to meet all the people he has talked about for years. It was also very interesting to talk to many of them, especially those who were very traditional in their Navaho beliefs. They had great stories to tell about their traditions and lifestyles.






On Sunday, we got up and went to church at Window Rock. Aaron was asked to come up and bear his testimony. He told me later that he wished he would have spruced up on his Navaho because he would have loved to have given his testimony in their language. After visiting several other families we headed off towards home. We had a long drive ahead of us and we needed to get home before Monday so Aaron could get back to work. We ended up in Green River around dinner time.

We let Jade walk around for about an hour. She was tired of sitting in the car and traveling. I don’t blame her. We drove for 5 days and traveled almost 2600 miles. I think all in all she did a really great job. We ended up at my parent’s house and stayed the night.
We took another trip just 3 days later down to St. George with the whole Gunn Clan. We went down to watch Cierra and Paige play softball in the Dixie Tournament. We didn’t get there until really late but that was okay because that meant Jade slept the whole way down. However when we got to our condo she didn’t want to go to sleep anymore so we spent several hours up with her until she finally would go to sleep.
The next morning, Friday the 20th, we woke up to sun and 80 degree weather. It was so nice to see the sun because we have been in rain and snow for the last two weeks. We put Jade in cute little capries and sandals for the first time. She wasn’t quite sure she liked the sandals and all she’s ever known is socks and shoes so it was hard for her to get used to the feel of bare feet. In fact, she wouldn’t step on the cold tile with bare feet. She would get up on her tiptoes and cry. We also found out she doesn’t like grass either. We tried putting her on it and she totally freaked out.
Paige and Cierra played a little during the tournament. It’s usually just for the Varsity players but they had several opportunities to play near the end of the games. Timpanogos didn’t do very well but they still had a good time. While we were at the ball field Jade skinned her knee for the first time. She was wearing shorts and fell while holding Aaron’s finger. She was so mad at Aaron for letting her trip and fall that she wouldn’t even look at him when he picked her up. She kept turning her head and getting angry. What a little attitude!
On Sunday, we all went to church together but Jade sure was cranky. I think she was so tired from being outside playing on Saturday that she just couldn’t cope. Grandpa Gunn and all of his patience took Jade out and rocked her until she finally fell asleep. She actually napped for 4 hours straight. Poor thing was just exhausted. The Draper Temple Dedication was also that day after church and so we all went. Grandpa Gunn stayed back at the condo with Jade and cleaned up while we were at the dedication. Dad said she took a couple of steps by herself while he was cleaning. He said she was pushing her train around the room and just let go, balancing on her feet and then took a couple of steps towards the train again. She’s getting so good that she can actually push the train with just one hand. I think she will be walking here in just a couple of weeks. It won’t be long, whenever it is.