We went to the doctor today and got "The" Ultra- sound. I had a healthy dose of mother's intuition the whole pregnancy that this little one is a girl. So I was pleased to see a certain body part missing. She looks healthy and growing well. Dave will soon come to grips that his football team of strapping boys will be delayed.
I need to start preparing myself for the color pink and girly moodiness which (most of the time) is foreign to our household.
We just got back from a great spontaneous trip to Illinois. Jensen did pretty good on the 22 hour drive. And It was very worth it to see a lot of Dave's family and Celeste, and of course "Wicked".
Jensen covered in cheese crackers

Jensen's cousins Garret and Griffin making him laugh
With Celeste and her beautiful new baby
With Dave's parents

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENSEN!

Jensen turned one yesterday and we had a little party for him. A bunch of people from the block came over and gave Jensen some cool toys and a swimming suit! I have been very guarded in giving Jensen sugar but the gloves came off on his birthday.

He was confused about what everyone was singing about and the fire on his highchair tray.
But he soon found the spirit of the occasion and found he liked his cupcake so much two handing it wasn't enough he had to go in with his face too.

He loved the cupcake and we loved the sugar buzz he was on for the rest of the day.Oh, and I let him have some cupcake batter too. I think he likes chocolate.

Jensen and I have been having fun. Im staying busy babysitting our next door neighbor's boy Ivan. Then boys play well together and Ivan is really easy to entertain. Here are some cute pictures of them.

Happy Easter!
Jensen and I just got back home to Idaho. We had a fun trip and got to see lots of family. We feel really blessed to live within driving distance (even though Jensen probably has a different definition of what "driving distance" is).

We went to a egg hunt with Dave's sister Marybeth and her kids. It was crazy!
Jensen seemed confused most of the time. He was way more interested in the plastic eggs than the candy inside.
But cutie Wyatt and Hailey knew what was in those eggs, and they had fun.

We met up with my fam at Cabellas and watched the fish in the aquarium. Sam and Jensen seemed more facinated with each other than the fish.

Jensen on Grandma looking at the fish.
We had Easter dinner at Bryce and Marcia's. Gandma and Grandpa Hogan came down for lots of ham and too much turkey.It's so much fun to go to Bryce and Marcia's house now. They have lots of room, and all the walls are painted nice, and they have a sandbox. How can you beat that!
One of the highlights of the trip was hanging out with big bad Marine Don. He looks good from his boot camp slim down and he was really positive and fun to have around.

Jensen and I are back in Idaho, and Dave is off on his internship. We wont see him for five weeks! He is driving to his first drill site tommorow after a week of training in Colorado. He will be 20 miles outside of tiny Wamsutter Wyoming. I will miss him horribly, but he will get good experience, and learn lots. Keep him in your prayer- us too!

We are letting Jensen eat more by himself. Its entertaining all the funny faces he makes as he reacts to the new tastes. It is also pretty cute how messy he gets.

Eating Asparagus
All cleaned up ready for church.

Playing games with dad.

New Baby McDonald!

We have news. If you couldn't tell from the gigantic Ultra Sound-I am pregnant. We are very excited. I went to the doctor yesterday knowing I was pregnant but having no idea how far along I was. Surprise- I'm in the 2nd trimester. It is always nice to hear your pregnancy will be shorter than you thought. This time it was by a whole month! So I am 14 weeks along and am due September 20th. I am excited for my 1st trimester sickness to end soon.

We like our new doctor. He has a "Dwight" bobble head and a "WORLD"S BEST BOSS" mug. Oh, and he seemed very competent in the whole doctoring business. He also provided us with a 4 and a half minute DVD of the whole Ultra Sound process, but we figured a picture would probably suffice.

Messes!

We are learning how quickly a roaming baby can turn into a messy room. Notice the dresser emptied, then unceremoniously tipped over, and the other drawers ripped out and emptied. Jensen got a hold of his diced carrots and took a carrot bath. He must have heard Vitamin A was good for his skin.


Jensen the Acrobat



As Jensen gets closer every day to walking he is getting braver and braver. He has discovered there is a whole new world above his eye level that he can't see or play with. He saw the baby monitor up on the counter and decided he wanted it. So he sized it up-


And made a grab for the counter. He ended up pulling himself completely off the ground and swinging for a couple of seconds.
He also dives head first in to anything he can. Good thing this basket hadn't been folded yet.

Reconnect to the World

Two weeks ago Dave's hard drive went haywire. But we are a two computer home so we fell back on my laptop. Jensen being the smart kid that he is, saw our vulnerability and hit us where it hurt. He made a grab for our our only life line, the power cord for my laptop. With the few remaining minutes of power in the cell I hastily ordered a new cord. And we have been waiting in darkness.

I think I forgot how important the computer and the Internet is to me. I suddenly am lost without my connection to the information super highway. I didn't realize how I need to double check online if the actor we are watching in a movie is the same one I'm thinking of. I need to be able to look up the words to Baby Beluga, or Down by the Banks. I need to do all the silly things like pay bills and transfer money. I need to see if the temperature will be warm on Wednesday. I need to watch the next "Office" episode. I need to find a new recipe for a dessert for enrichment. I need to find talks and look up refrences for my lesson on Sunday.

I got the power cord in the mail yesterday. Now I am sitting in front of the computer knowing I really needed it while it wasn't working, but now I can't really think of anything to do on it. Oh well I think I'll shut it down and let the battery recharge.

Better pictures of Jensen with his teeth.

Jensen finally had two little bottom teeth poke through. They make him even cuter- if that is possible.
Jensen is a very determined little man. He will see a toy he wants in his bin and he will dig and dig until he gets it.
And he is very proud of himself once he does.

Jensen encountered stairs for the first time and without blinking twice he started climbing. He did amazingly well. He made it about halfway up before he lost his balance and I caught him. We are so proud of our little wall crawler.

HERE COMES TROUBLE!


I was sewing today to find two little eyes peeking up at me. Jensen is so curious he has to be in the middle of everything, watching everything , touching everything, and sticking as much in his mouth as possible.

See I can help mom!

Austin went into the MTC! Yeah! It was fun to see Austin off to go to the Toronto West Mission. I'm proud of him. He will do a good job.
The classic MTC pic with mom and dad.
Little Sammy with his super smile.
It is a little blurry but Jensen has started his own super smile. Evidently it involves a huge gummy grin and closed eyes. He is so adorable.

Bryce has a Wii. It was pretty fun. Some games required a little more coordination than I am capable of but I think I held my own. This is mom and dad boxing. Mom approaches Wii playing the same way she jumps on the tramp lots of giggles and screams. It was fun to play.