It's My Birthday!

May 5, 2009: Jade is officially 1 years old today! I can't believe it has been a whole year since Jade came into our family. In some ways it seems like Jade has been a part of our family forever and yet I look at her and marvel at how fast she is growing.

Jade in her birthday suit.

Today we had her birthday party at our house. It was actually quite different because this year I was the one to throw the Cinco de Mayo party. We invited all of Aaron's family and all of my family, including both sets of grandparents, to our house for dinner, cake and ice cream and a piñata. It ended up being a lot of work and I don't think I will ever do that again. However, it really was a lovely evening and everyone showed up that we invited.


Even the great-grandparents were invited.

I cooked chicken enchiladas and provided the margarita drinks while everyone else brought the fluff. I also baked little cupcakes that I was hoping would turn out to look like sombreros but instead they just looked like a glob of colorful icing. (I'm definitely not the cake decorator of the family :))

The sombrero cupcakes.

After dinner and dessert we went outside and all the kids got a shot at the piñata. My family was all for giving it a good whack but I think Aaron's family felt a little weird about. However, I think it was Hudson that gave it a good whack and broke it apart. All inhibitions left once the candy hit the pavement though. There was jostling and fighting over all the good pieces, just like in the past. It was really fun. Jade didn't know quite what to think but I think she enjoyed all of the commotion.
After the piñata we all went inside and opened Jade's presents. I must say, that little rascal came out with a load of presents. It actually was a little embarrassing because she is soooo young and received a ridiculous amount of gifts. I think next year we will just have the grandparents bring gifts if they want and ask the aunts and uncles not to bother. She doesn't need that many gifts every year.

Jade opening her presents.

Anyways, the evening was very nice and I think everyone had a good time. Jade was getting tired by the end of presents and we ended up putting her to bed before everyone left.

Austin can hold Jade in his teeth and rock her back and forth. She loves it!

Next year I will just plan on serving cake and ice cream and let my mother continue the tradition of the beloved Cinco de Mayo party at her house. It's a lot less stress that way!

Austin and Aaron's Cinco de Mayo mustaches.

May 7, 2009: Jade's one year check up results:
Weight: 19.8 lbs
Height: 28 inches tall
Head Circumference: 18.5 inches around
This puts her in the 50th percentile in all three categories. The pediatrican commented on how well advanced she seems for her age. And lucky for us she has been overall very healthy.

May 8, 2009: We took Great Grandma Bills out for dinner at Joe Vera's (one of her favorite restaurants) for her birthday. We felt bad because we celebrated Jade's birthday on the 5th but didn't really do anything for her. We took Jade along with us and she did really well at the restaurant and I think grandma had a really time.

May 9, 2009: Roanne invited all of us girls over to her house for a scrapbooking weekend. I took my computer and worked on Jade's blog (seen as how I'm 7 months behind). It was a nice day and then afterwards we invited Jeremy's family over to our house and we did pizzas and Guitar Hero all evening.
I really enjoy hanging out with Jen and Jeremy. We seem to have the same personality types and we get along very well. Also our children seem to play really well together, especially Boston and Jade. Jade enjoys watching everything that Boston does and she tries to copy his every move. Boston is about 6 months older than she is but he is very patient and loving with her and it doesn't seem to bother him that she's a girl and hangs around him.

May 10, 2009: Mother's Day! Ahh, what a relaxing day it was. I got breakfast (not in bed but made for me) and Jade made me the cutest card (with Aaron's help of course.) The primary sang in sacrament meeting but other than that I had the day off and was able to participate in Relief Society. Afterwards we stopped by my mom's house and gave her silky pj's and a Jade-made card and then ran up to Roanne's house to talk to Tyler over the phone.

Jade trying to go out the cat door at Grandma Gunn's house.


Jade laughing at Austin and Cierra while they play catch on the grass at Grandpa Gunn's house.

Ty comes home in 2 months, so most of the conversation was all business, like what classes he wanted to be signed up for at the UofU etc. He sounds good though and I'm excited to see if he's changed a whole lot. He's pretty much the serious one out of all the Sorensen boys. He is a little OCD when it comes to organization and he doesn't have a lot of patience sometimes. However, he really is a go-getter and a doer and I'm sure he was a fantastic missionary. It will be interesting to see how well he adjusts to life after the mission. I think he might be a little anal for a few months but will adjust quickly.

May 13, 2009: Aaron and I had our first real blow-up fight in a long time, I think since our fist Halloween together almost 2 years ago. It all started because a girl I work with at JVH had started up with an MLM company selling term life insurance policies. She wanted to get together so that she could "get some practice" before she actually really started, or at least that is what she told me over the phone. To be quite honest, she wouldn't tell me what her business was or what we would be doing. All she said was that she wanted both Aaron and I there so that she could practice. I finally agreed after several attempts at trying to get out of it, but I had run out of excuses and finally agreed to a time. Aaron had a meeting that evening and wouldn't be there until later but the plan was to start without him (or so I thought).
My friend showed up with another guy in tow and he introduced himself as her "supervisor" and that he would be there to help her get started. He was really nice but just a little pushy. We sat down at the dinner table and he asked where Aaron was. I told him he was at a meeting and probably wouldn't be here until the end of the meeting but go ahead and start without him. The guy didn't really like that and for the next hour he stalled waiting for Aaron to come home.
This entire time, the guy did most of the talking and my friend never said a single word. When Aaron got home, the guy launched right in to his spiel of patronizing and rhetorical questions that left both Aaron and I feeling very uncomfortable, Aaron more so than I. I was trying to be nice but I was already into this practice meeting two hours and I was getting sick of the rhetorical questions but was trying to be polite and non awkward with this friend of mine. Aaron on the other hand was getting more and more annoyed by the minute and when he gets annoyed he becomes sarcastic. He became so sarcastic that it was getting really embarrassing. Finally, towards the end of the meeting when we finally realized what the guy was trying to sell us, Aaron just burst out that we weren't interested and to have a good night. There was this awkward moment of silence where we just looked at one another across the table and the guy finally thanked us for our time and they left. My friend never said one word that entire time and it was obvious that this wasn't a practice session but an awkward attempt to coerce us into buying their policies. I felt taken advantage of and a little angry but mostly I was just super embarrassed at the way Aaron had acted in front of our guests. They left and I marched right upstairs to finish a load of laundry I had in the dryer. I didn't know what to say to Aaron and I was afraid that if I did say something I would explode in a rage. So I just started folding laundry. However, the more I thought about things the angrier I got until I was throwing Aaron's clothes across the room. Aaron came upstairs after about 5 minutes to see a large pile of his garments spewed across our bedroom and he asked me what the problem was. Bad question to ask. I exploded and told him how embarrassed and angry I was at the way Aaron had dealt with the situation. To my great surprise he actually agreed with me and said that I was right and that he was mortified with the way he had acted. Then to my even greater surprise, Aaron started to cry. (He's going to kill me if he reads this post.) He cried like I have never seen him cry before. It took me aback so much that I completely forgot that I was angry. We ended up reconciling the situation but not until after Aaron had a really good 15 minute cry.
I must say that it was kind of refreshing to see him cry like that. I have seen him get a little teary-eyed but never as emotional as he was that night. It made him seem more human to me. Yes, I know very well how human Aaron can be but it was nice to see the emotional side of him and to see firsthand that men really do have times of hormonal imbalance. It was great.
Aaron actually called and apologized to my friend for the way he had treated them and so I think things ended alright. Fortunately for us she hasn't called back for any more practice sessions. I did learn a valuable lesson and that is I try not to ever put Aaron in those situations because he doesn't handle MLM rhetorical question asking situations like that very well.

May 15-17th, 2009:

Jade at the water fountain outside a hotel near a restaurant we always stop off at to eat dinner in Green River. She's obsessed with water.

We took Jade to Moab with us for our first official vacation of the summer. We decided to try camping with Jade for the first time. I was a little nervous about taking Jade, especially camping, because I'm not a very experienced camper. My mother hates to camp so we never really did things like that growing up. We decided to not really "rough" it our first time out so we stayed at the Moab RV camp. It had an outdoor pool, playground, facilities and even cabins. We however, took the cheaper route and rented a single tent spot for two nights. The campsites ended up being right next to each other so you were practically sleeping on top of your neighbor. When I found this out I was a little worried that we would wake up our neighbors really early when Jade decided to get up but luckily most everyone got up at the same time. As soon as the sun rises, it's hard to stay asleep. Jade did really well the entire time. She even took naps when she was supposed to.

Our campsite early in the morning on Saturday.


Jade's cute little morning face on Saturday.

It was really hot in Moab for it being May but Jade did really well. We just made sure to keep her well hydrated, sun screened and shaded as much as possible. We went on several hikes over the three days we were there and Jade seemed to really enjoy it. We have a used hiking backpack that we strapped her into and Aaron and I took turns carrying her around while we hiked. We also bought her a had that we lovingly called her "ginger hat." She would keep it on pretty well and it kept her in the shade most of the time.

Aaron and Jade at the first part of the hike to Corona Arch.

We really enjoyed a hike to the Corona Arch. It is a beautiful arch, almost as big as the Delicate Arch but the hike to get there is really fun. You have to scale some cliffs (okay, not really scale but you do have to put some effort into the hiking) to get there but once you do it's pretty spectacular. We were able to get some really cute shots as a family with the arch in the background.

Aaron and Jade standing near a whole in the cliff near Corona Arch.


Corona Arch.


Aaron and Jade poising for the camera right in front of a cliff.


All three of us standing in front of Corona Arch on Friday.


Jade in her hiking pack near her own arch!

I also was able to use my hidden camping cooking skills and made some mean dutch oven meals. We had chicken and rice, cobbler with ice cream and Mountain man breakfast. It was delicious. I got the award for best cook on the trip!

Jade and Dad swimming in the RV camp's swimming pool after a long hot day of hiking on Saturday.

All in all it was a great trip and we really enjoyed ourselves. I think we will try doing it again next year and see how it goes. Jade will be a year older and I think she will really have a great time then.

Jade and I hiking down in a river bed on Saturday.


Aaron and Jade standing near a small stream during our evening hike on Saturday.

May 18, 2009: Just a quick note, Jade loves to watch softball. During our co-ed games, she will occasionally sit on Grandma Sorensen's lap (when she's not too busy playing on the slide) and cheer. You can always pick out her voice because she likes to clap her hands and say "yeah". Also whenever I go up to bat and she sees me she claps her hands and says "yeah". It's really cute.

May 22, 2009: My parents invited Jade and I to Delta with Grandma Bills to put flowers on the graves for Memorial Day. It's a tradition every year and this year I happened to not be busy so we said yes and went on the two hour drive out to Delta. It was overcast when we left and by the time we actually got there it started to rain, so it was difficult cleaning the tombstones and placing the flowers. It was okay though because Jade fell asleep right before we got there and she ended up sleeping most of the way back too

Mom and I standing at the graves in Delta. Great grandma Bills and Jade are in the car in the background. It was too windy and rainy for them to get out.

After visiting the graves, we stopped off at the gas station we always stop at to get their delicious ice cream cones. Jade was so cute, she would go around sticking out her tongue to everyone that had ice cream, hoping that someone would give her a lick.
Once we got back to civilization aka Payson, we stopped off at the Cracker Barrel there and had dinner...Grandma Bills' treat. Afterwards, Grandpa Gunn took Jade around their gift shop and bought her a shirt that says something about grandpa's being the favorite. He made her wear it out of the store. It was so big it looked like a dress but he sure was proud of his purchase. .

Grandpa Gunn and Jade at Cracker Barrel after putting flowers on the graves in Delta. Grandpa bought her the cute yellow shirt she is wearing.

May 23, 2009:

Aaron standing in front of the Oquirrh Mtn Temple. This temple is in our area and we were asked to help participate in the open house. Aaron helped with parking.


I was on the medical team and provided first aide all of one time the entire time I was there. It was pretty boring but it was fun to participate anyways.

May 25, 2009: Memorial Day! We spent most of the day outside working in our backyard. There is a lot to do to get it ready for the summer, lots of plants to plant. Also Aaron needs to finish up the waterfall. So I pulled weeds and planted plants while Aaron worked on the mechanical stuff. I didn't think it was very hot outside and so I was wearing jeans with a t-shirt but because I was bent over the entire afternoon, my t-shirt would ride up and my jeans would ride down. I found out later that evening that my backside, right above my crack, had burned. I don't know why Aaron didn't tell me my crack was basically showing all day but now I have this great sunburn on my backside that stretches the entire length of my back. Aaron thinks it's hilarious and calls it my headband.

Close up of Jade's cute mug while in the wheelbarrow helping dad.


Aaron towing Jade around in the wheelbarrow while doing some yard work.

April Showers Brings May Flowers

April 2, 2009: Today was my friend Dana Haymore’s baby shower. She is having her first girl and so several ladies in her ward threw her a shower. I convinced Aaron to go all the way down to Payson with me so that we could hang out together. On the way down, Jade exploded in her diaper and there was poo all over her clothes. I didn’t bring any spares so we had to stop off at Wal-Mart and pick her up an outfit. The only thing that didn’t cost a gazillion dollars was this bright Kelly green jump suit. Luckily Jade is cute enough that she made the outfit cute. Any other person would have looked like a giant cucumber. We got to the party but only stayed for a little while because I was due back at in West Jordan for a play practice. (I was asked by the Relief Society to be a part of the Ten Virgins play on the 16th of April. I have a speaking and singing part.) The drive to Payson from West Jordan takes almost 2 hours. So we didn’t have much time to stay at the party.
On our way back home we decided to stop off at a little drive through fast food joint, Dairy King in Payson, that sold fish and chips. We pulled up to the window and the girl took our order. It became apparent very early on that she was new because she kept asking us stupid questions. One in particular was if we wanted French fries or English chips with our fish. Aaron asked her what the difference was and she replied, “duh, French fries are this long and come from France and English chips are this big and come from England.” Aaron looked over at me and I just burst out laughing. We got English chips and when the girl returned with our credit card payment she told us she had to charge an additional 50 cents to the bill because the chips were extra. Aaron leans over to the girl and asked, “Is that because there’s an import tax with the English chips” The girl looked at him confused and just shrugged her shoulders and said, “I guess.” I was laughing so hard I could hardly breathe. Seriously, with this economic depression, how does a girl that stupid get a job?

April 4-5th,2009: This weekend is General Conference weekend. After the Saturday sessions, all the girls on the Gunn side were invited to Beth Mason’s baby shower. She is having twins in June. We went over and had a great time. On Sunday, we celebrated Paige and Cierra’s 17th birthday. We had dinner and gave them their presents. Jade is also 11 months old today. She isn’t quite walking yet but sure is close. Aaron also left for New Jersey this afternoon. Jade and I ended up spending the night over Grandpa and Grandma Gunn’s house.

April 6th, 2009: Cierra and Paige’s 17th birthday! We took the girls out shopping for their birthdays and then went to Italian Village for dinner. We stopped off at Leatherbee’s and had ice cream and then after went back to my place. Dad helped us by installing our new sound system we got for our entertainment center. Afterwards everyone stayed and we watched a movie. It was a nice time and I think the girls enjoyed their birthday.

April 7th, 2009: Today is a red letter day! Jade took her first real steps today! Jade and I went over to Grandma Gunn’s house to hang out while Aaron is still in New Jersey. While mom was getting ready for the day, Jade and I were sitting in her room playing with a hairbrush when suddenly mom came over and grabbed the hairbrush and Jade walked after it. She took several steps and then fell down but she kept doing it over and over. I was able to get her taking some steps on video and I sent them to Aaron. He felt awful that he missed it.


This is video of Jade walking to Austin and Hudson on Easter. Unfortunately I can't find the original footage of her walking with Grandma Gunn and I.

April 9th, 2009: I have the cutest picture of Jade sitting in front of our new entertainment center watching her Little Einstein’s video. She is fascinated by the tv. I don’t want to get her in the habit of being a couch potato but it sure is nice to put her in front of the tv for a few minutes and get some stuff done.


April 11th, 2009: We had an Easter egg hunt over at the Sorensen’s house. Grandma Sorensen went above and beyond and created a wonderful egg hunt with character eggs and toys hidden all around the house. Jade didn’t get the concept at first but it only took her a couple of times until she understood that if she found an egg there was candy inside. Afterwards we went outside because the weather was so nice and Jade discovered that Grandma Sorensen has a swing set in the backyard. We put her in the infant swing and she loved it. She didn’t even mind being pushed really high. The higher the better for that girl! We let her swing for a good 20 minutes before we were tired of pushing her and still she cried when we tried to take her out. That night we got together with Jen and Jeremy and their family at our house and we played Guitar Hero and had pizza. Jade and Boston play together really well. Boston seems to adore Jade and so he just follows her around where ever she goes. It’s really cute.





April 12th, 2009: This Easter I ended up being in charge due to mom and dad being out of town. They took the girls to California for Easter break. So Aaron, Jade and I headed down to Orem and I cooked Easter dinner for the boys and Grandma Bills. We even had our own little Easter egg hunt. I have the cutest picture of Jade stuffing an entire Reeses Peanut Butter cup into her mouth, wrapper and all. That night jade started running a fever. I hope she’s not getting sick. I sent her to bed with some Tylenol and am praying for the best.






April 13th, 2009: Jade woke up with horrible diarrhea. She’s still running a slight fever but now the diarrhea is so bad she is getting a horrible diaper rash. Poor girl! However, she still is a happy girl. She has started doing this thing with her head where she cocks it to one side and gives the cheesiest smile. It is so cute. I sure do love that kid and all of her corkiness.

April 16th, 2009: Today was my Relief Society presentation of the Ten Virgins. It went well. I was really nervous because I haven’t sung a solo in front of a crowd in a very long time. I was afraid I would forget the words or be so nervous that my voice would shake uncontrollably. But it didn’t and I remembered all my words. Afterwards people asked me if I had been in drama or other plays before. It went well and Aaron captured it all on video. Yeah!

April 24th, 2009: I called Aaron at work today due to extreme boredom and convinced him to meet Jade and I for lunch. We went out for JCW Burgers and ice cream and then I was able to convince Aaron to take a couple of hours off for lunch and we went up the canyon to play. It was a beautiful day and so we walked around Tibble Fork Canyon. Jade played at the edge of the water throwing rocks while Aaron and I just enjoyed the warm weather. It was a fun day.









April 26th, 2009: It was Great Grandpa Bill's birthday so we went to his grave and decorated it with flowers.




April 27th, 2009: Today was our first Co-ed softball game for the season. We are once again the Ro’s Rangers. Aaron is in NYC so he missed the first game. I did alright out in right field. Luckily I didn’t have any pop flies out my way. My batting skills need some significant improvement though. Roanne watches Jade for me while I play ball. There is a small playground at the ball field and Jade loves to play on it. With some help, she can climb up and go down the slide. She loves it. I swear that girl has no fear. It’s amazing to watch her climb and explore new things. She is very adventurous and very courageous for her age. I love that about her.

April 30th, 2009: Aaron and I took Jade to the post office to turn in her pass port information and get her photo taken. She looked like a complete rag-a-muffin but it’s funny to see my little girl with a passport. We need the passport because we are going on an Eastern Carribean cruise with the Sorensen family in October.

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.