Our Big Boy

I'm still in shock that my little man is almost 7 months old! We did his 6 month photoshoot a little late (it was a long time coming because I was a little lazy the last few months) but I had been planning on doing it for ages! I can't believe how much he has changed in just the last month! He is seriously the happiest baby around and loves to eat and play. This is what Jace has been up to lately:

• Eating like a monster! We can't keep up with the kid!
• At Jace's last Dr. appointment he weighed 18lbs and measured 27inches long.
  
• He loves going for walks and being outside in general
• He has been doing a lot of swimming and loves the water!
• Loves his thumb and is a big thumb sucker (don't know how we're going to break that one yet)
• Has the best laugh and will laugh to himself all the time! We can't get enough of it.
• He's working on saying mamma. We're pretty sure that's what he says when he cries but who really knows..
• Learned how to do a few new tricks with his lips and make some new noises.
  
• Rolls everywhere! He'll be crawling any day if he doesn't start walking first. He is one mobile baby.
  
• He has the most smoochable cheeks I have ever beheld! He gets so mad at his daddy for overwhelming him with kisses. I don't know how we got so lucky!
  

Family Photos

As you can tell I spend a lot of time taking pictures of Jace. But we don't get a lot of photos of the three of us. So two weeks ago my fabulous brother Drew and his better half Cami were so kind as to take some family photos for us. Drew has always been pretty handy with the camera and we couldn't have been more pleased with the way these turned out. I have long been debating going to a professional photographer to get some quality shots of our little family because while I feel that it is difficult to justify paying for photos when I am a photographer myself I also dread hassling with my tripod for the few shots that I can get my boys to cooperate for. It is difficult to get myself in photos these days and I don't want to miss out on all the action while Jace is still young. But as I said before I think we managed to come away with just what we wanted this time.

Lake Powell

Ok, so for Memorial Day my family all got together at Lake Powell in AZ. It wasn't easy but we made it happen. It was our last chance to all be together before my brother Devin leaves on his mission to the Philippines next month. The Needs side of my family did this for a family reunion about 10 years ago and it was bomb! So we decided to do it again with my dad's brother Rusty and his family. Sadly the water wasn't very warm yet, but that didn't stop us from having a blast. There was a lot of relaxing, some jet skiing, a little cliff jumping (needless to say I was the first to jump), wake surfing, tubing, BANANAGRAMS, and tons of laughing!

Jace really wasn't asleep the whole time, but he was just right at home on the lake.

Our Elders

It is so strange to think that our younger brothers are now serving their missions. Elder Steven Packard is currently serving his mission in Satelite, Bolivia which is in the Santa Cruz mission. Unfortunately I couldn't really find any great pictures of Steven. We're still working on that. But Steven has been such an incredible example of a true disciple of Christ. He is an outstanding baseball player and played for the University of Oregon and sacrificed two years of playing time and training to serve the Lord.


Elder Devin Needs is preparing to leave on his mission in one month to serve in the Cayuanne, Phillipines Mission. Devin is an outstanding lacrosse player who played this last year for BYU. Both of these young men are sacrificing their time and their talents to serve the Lord and his people in these foreign areas for two years. It is so amazing to think of all they are giving up.




In studying the scriptures the Lord tells us that a disciple of Christ

· must forsake all that he has

· endure to the end

· give the Lord all that you have and are

· give all that you have for the gospel

Even though we have both served missions we constantly need reminding that our job is not done. Our brothers are such a good reminder that we need to continually stand as a witness of Christ.

Children

Children are so incredible. As I've been studying the scriptures I have had some great experiences. Jace has been such a blessing to have in our home. We couldn't have asked for a better child. And now when I read the scripture Matthew 18:3, "And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven," I understand more fully why. Just as it says in Mosiah 3:19 children are meek, humble, patient and full of love. I am so thankful that Jace is so patient with us every day. We are learning every day how to be parents and it is definitely no easy task. But what amazes me most is the pure love I see in his eyes every time he looks at us. It is so unconditional and so untainted. I truly want to emulate that.

3 Months

Well another month has flown by. Jace is still growing like a weed and I can barely keep up with these posts. He just keeps getting cuter by the minute and I wish time would slow down so I could enjoy more of him. This month has been such a fun one. His little personality is becoming ever more apparent, and he is learning new things daily. Here are some of the highlights:

• He rolled over for the first time! We definitely can’t trust him on the bed anymore.
• He loves to smile, smile, smile.
• Our little angel is sleeping through the night! At least 7 hours!
• At 2 month Dr’s visit he weighed 13.9lbs – he was in the 95% for weight and 50% for height. Thankfully we’ve noticed some growth since then.
• Jace had his first plane ride to San Diego and then back
• He had his first move – from Washington to Rexburg
• He started sleeping in his own room (it was much harder on us than on him)

It was another month of firsts and we look forward to a few more!

He just has the cutest little pouty face. It's so hard to take him seriously sometimes.

San Diego

Well this is going to be a long post, I got a little carried away. Thankfully we have found a way to make it down to San Diego for a visit every spring since we have been married and I can only hope the tradition carries on. This year we were able to take a trip down the first week in April to visit Rick's grandparents. Their health hasn't been so good and we wanted to get down and introduce them to Jace and spend some time with them while we still could. They are so awesome! I just love Grandma and Grandpa Hartley. It is such a blessing to be part of two amazing families. While we were there we stayed with Rick's sister Janae and her cute family again. Jace had such a good time with his cousins. They are going to have such a good time growing up together. The older kids really loved having a little baby around. And Hayley who is turning one next month was so intrigued by this little thing that was smaller than her. It was so fun to watch them interact.

While we were there we found a little extra time to go down to Old Town San Diego and visit the new Mormon Battalion Center and walk around the shops. It is so awesome down there. The kids got some candy and looked at the donkey's. Little Forrest loved the donkeys! He even tried to escape and run in their pen! Needless to say it was a great visit.