My Baby is One

I can't believe my baby is one. My parents made us a DVD of Holden's birth video and pictures that we watched to celebrate his birthday. In some ways it feels like yesterday and in others it feels like ages ago. Holden was born 2 weeks and 2 days early on Jason's Birthday - July 25th. What a great birthday present! We had dropped off the kids at my parents so we could go to dinner for Jason's birthday. Dinner turned into an evening spent at the hospital giving birth to our little guy. At least my hair and make-up was done :) Holden was breach and as they were prepping for the c-section, his hear rate decelerated and they rushed me in for an emergency c-section. The surgeon found the cord wrapped around his neck twice. We are so grateful he made it to our family safely. I love this little guy so much. He has such a sweet spirit and I love to see his smile and kiss those baby cheeks. I can't wait to see his personality develop.

Here are 10 cute things about Holden at age one:

1. He has become quite the mama's boy and mostly just wants his mom. He can say ma, ma, ma and it is adorable. I am enjoying it while it lasts.
2. He still lets us cuddle him. Yummy...
3. He can pull himself up and balance for a second or two - but no walking yet.
4. He sleeps like a dream. In bed at 7PM, up at 8AM.
5. He still has those beautiful blue eyes. Watch out ladies.
6. He can clap, wave goodbye and sign "all done"
7. He grunts and stiffens his whole body when he gets excited.
8. He loves the water and has fun in the bathtub and pool.
9. He has transitioned from the bottle to 100% sippy cup. What a big boy.
10. He has 4 teeth and is in the process of cutting 4 more.

Holden is getting a personality. He makes the meanest scowl face and growls at you if he doesn't like what you are saying or you tell him no. It makes me laugh every time, which makes him smile. He is definitely getting an opinion.

Look at all that beautiful hair. Holden had his first hair cut at 9 months. All our other kids have been bald until at least 18 months!

We celebrated his birthday yesterday with my parents and Aunt Jesi and Uncle Will. He loved all his new presents. He has been quite bored with his baby toys lately and was ready for something new.

He especially loved the cool push car Great Grandma Bunny got him. He loves steering wheels and thought this was the coolest thing ever. Plus, the older kids loved pushing him - so it's really 2 gifts in one :) Here he is making his car sound - cute.

Here he is making his car sound - cute.

He was a bit too excited about the birthday cake and tried to grab the candle while lit. Oops.

Checking out the cake - hmmmm???

Yep, he's a Packer - LOVED the sugar rush. He devoured the cake smashing fist fulls into his mouth and then sucked and licked the cake off his hands. I laughed so hard I cried.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy. I sure do love you.

Happy Birthday Boys

One year ago today I gave birth to Holden on Jason's birthday. This year is our first year celebrating a double birthday.

My parents brought over birthday doughnuts for breakfast.

Holden loved his doughnut!

Jason spent his birthday working on the BBQ Island. We finally decided on granite tile for the counter top and it took all day to lay the tile.

We finished off with a fun evening at the Ward BBQ. The water slide was certainly the highlight of the event. After all the planning, I was really pleased with the results and happy it's over! With such a busy day, the boys will have to wait until tomorrow for cake and presents :)

Sleepover on the Trampoline

An annual tradition at the Packer house - a sleepover on the trampoline. This was Taya's first year to join in. Jason, Dawson and Taya had so much fun sleeping under the stars.



Time to wake up Dad - It's your birthday!

Jen's Rooster

OK - per popular demand, I guess people want to see my tail - my rooster tail that is :)

Cock-a-doodle-doo

Check out those Rooster tails!

I love watching Jason ski. He is such a great skier and it is really beautiful to watch. He cuts back and forth laying it down and spraying that huge rooster tail as he goes. We got to the lake early yesterday and we had some great calm water. We all got a couple of great ski runs in before lunch. I finally felt like I got my "ski groove" back on. After taking last season off to have a baby, it has been rough getting the feel of it again. But, I finally felt comfortable cutting yesterday. Jason even said he felt me pulling against the boat - a very good sign. Now, if I could just get my rooster tail this big - mine is a mini in comparison.

Enjoying the boat. Taya has always been scared of going fast in the boat - so someone needed to hold her on their lap when we were pulling a skier. She finally got over it yesterday and had a really great day, even when we went fast!

Grandma, Taya and Holden

Holden's favorite part was "driving" the boat. He squealed with delight!

Holden testing out the EZSki

Grandma and Grandpa taking Holden and Taya on a little jungle cruise.

Taya was so brave and let us pull her on the EZSki behind the boat for a little bit. The first time we tried it was all tears, but after some practice sitting on it playing in the water, she was willing to let us pull her behind the boat. It didn't last long. But, I was so proud of her. Baby steps...

Dawson worked on going back and forth with one hand and balancing. I think he sees Jason and I cutting back and forth across the wake with one hand and wants to do it as well. So cute. He actually got over the wake a couple times. We also let some air out of his ski to make it a little harder. He still did great.

What happens in Tahoe stays in Tahoe...

I thoroughly enjoyed our girls trip to Tahoe. I didn't realize how much I needed that girl time. It really rejuvenated me. We laughed a lot and cried just a little. We ate, played games and mostly talked a LOT, about anything and everything. No worries ladies, all secrets are safe with me :) We stayed up late and slept in. A perfect trip! Thanks Melanie...can't wait until the next trip.

Dinner at Jakes on the Lake

Lots of candy at our chick flick "The Proposal".

Lunch by the lake.

4th of July with the Mortensens

We were lucky to be able to spend the 4th of July with our best friends, the Mortensens, in Utah. The kids always play so well and we were able to catch up and visit. We enjoyed dinner at Training Table (which brought flash backs to my college days) and a night of Fireworks followed by some game playing for the adults.

Taya, Kylie, Tessa and Dawson

Jason and Aaron kickin' it

The kids loved the long sparklers

In true Jen organizational style, I prepped and lined up all the fireworks in order of "coolness".

Getting ready for "the show"

Bear Lake Packer Family Reunion

We had a wonderful time on the Packer Family Reunion in Bear Lake, UT. We survived 13 hours in the car and enjoyed 5 days with lots of family. We had most of the family present and loved re-connecting with everyone. My kids just love playing with their cousins. And even though my kids are some of the youngest, all their cousins are so good to play with them and include them. We appreciate it so much. And Holden could not be more loved. Everyone loved to play with him and hold him, even though he was a bit clingy to his mom and dad. We spent our days at the lake and our evenings playing games and singing karaoke. A great trip!

Taya, Cali and Sydney - they spent most of the days digging and building in the sand.

Our raft was a huge hit - all the kids loved it.

Grandma Packer and Holden

Dawson, Sydney and Taya

So cute - Adam feeding Holden his bottle. Sweet baby feet!

Dylan and Justin laying out

Jason bought this windsurfer at a garage sale for $25 years ago and we have never used. We had a fun time playing with it although Jason could not get it to "go" anywhere. He could stand up - but it just wouldn't move. We ended up leaving it in Utah with Brent since he is always seeking wind for sailing. We are the opposite and are always chasing the wind for water skiing :)

Dawson doing a little surfing on the windsurfer

Going out on a ride on Brent's sailing catamaran. It was fun and very relaxing. Dawson wanted to try the trapeze on the way back and he strapped himself in and hung off the edge. Pretty cool!

Holden spent most of his days like this...He liked it best when Cali joined him. Taya and Sydney made good "babysitters".

Best Buddies - Taya and Sydney. These two were stuck together like glue the whole trip. It was great. They are similar in age, appearance and personality and they just loved doing everything together.

Just hanging out at the lake - Grandma Packer, Stephanie, Christie, Dawn and Summer

Packer sand volleyball - they took this very seriously.

Dawson getting in on the action

Dawson and Sydney on Monte's fishing boat. We brought Dawson's EZSki and the kids had a great time playing on it. Even 4 year old Sydney did it!

The Packer kids love running. Most mornings there was a crew of runners leaving. Here is Cary, Sherri Lynn, Jason and Brent leaving.

Cute Cousins - Sydney, Katie, Taya and Cali

Dawson, Ammone, Taya and Sydney playing tag on the grass

YMCA on Karaoke - Boston, London, Brooklyn, Sunshine and Katie.

Brent, Cary and Jason cracking us up singing "I Wish They all Could be California Girls"