Fires, Paparazzi, and Pins

So it was a sad day last week. The Provo Tabernacle burned down. Only the outer walls are standing. To be honest, I have avoided the area six blocks away because I know traffic is still full of onlookers. I was shocked to hear the news, we heard about it while eating breakfast. I had just played in a concert the weekend before. I was telling Kyle all about the history I had learned while there. They had old photographs with information printed below in the back area of the tabernacle and I would read them when leaving rehearsal. I was so beautiful and I'm sad it's gone. The community is doing a lot to try and restore it so that gives me hope. It reminds me of my grandparents. Their house burned down eight days before Christmas when I was eight years old (I think I was that old). They came and stayed at our house for Christmas that year and it was a nice Christmas, I still remember some of the gifts I received and how fun it was to have everyone there that Christmas morning.

A while back Jackson's Grandma Brown came out from Tennessee to visit. I noticed while trying to take a picture after she left that Jack would prep for the flash. It is quite an hilarious sight. He will also make a huge cheesy smile but it's is SOO hard to catch it in time. I don't know if it was caused by a lot of pics from his Grandma or he just caught on to what was happening-either way it's very very entertaining. I'm sorry it's so dark.

He continues to learn so many new things. He will imitate sounds that Kyle and I make. The other day while we were sitting at the table, Kyle made a noise of frustration while playing on his iPod and then Jack repeated the noise. It was awesome. He can identify buttons, he likes buttons very much. He knows what his binkie is and will go get it if you ask him to. He likes to take my keys and touch the doorknob with them. That was a fun one to discover. He must really pay attention when we go into the house. Jack is a walker. He will walk everywhere and chatters as he goes. He enjoys playing hide and seek and peek a boo. He loves Loves LOVES playing with his dad. Kyle can really get him giggling. When Kyle gets home Jack walks over to him anxious to be thrown in the air. I cannot believe how much I love this child. It has grown so much over the past year. I'm anxious to see him in the mornings and miss him when I put him to bed at night. He is truly a blessing.

Speaking of blessing-Jack is SO awesome. Kyle was sick on Sunday. I was torn on whether or not to leave Jack at home with Kyle or take Jack to church so Kyle could rest. I decided I should take him to church because Jack wasn't sick so he has no excuse to stay home. Anywhoooo, I direct the music in sacrament meeting so I had to ask some friends to watch him while I was up at the front. He was so well behaved for them. He didn't cry or scream or throw any fits. During the last song I noticed he tried to escape but they got him and he sat on their laps afterwards. It was a huge relief. I brought a sling with me because Jack's a pretty hefty kid, I'm pregnant and Kyle isn't here to switch off holding Jack. Jackson did so well sitting in the sling. I got to hear most of the Sunday School lesson (then I started talking with someone out in the hall so really it was my fault I didn't hear the whole thing). Then in Relief Society Jack was a doll. He got a little fussy at the end. I took him out and walked down the hall with him then went into the meeting and sat down. Jack just sat with me. He quietly played with his little matchbox car and didn't disturb anyone. It could not have been a better Sunday and I know I was blessed that day.

I've mentioned a few times that I have been doing a ton of sewing for Christmas. This is a new passion for me. I'm not a professional-yet. I don't mean that I plan on becoming a seamstress but I know as I keep this up I'll get better at sewing. So I've been snowed into my house these past two days and of course, I had to get my sewing machine out. I recovered our high chair...again. I don't plan on doing it another time because this time I used vinyl so it wipes clean now. Vinyl is one tricky material to sew. I'm glad I had a lot of wax paper in the house because I needed it. The cover turned out pretty nice and I was pleased with it.

I also made Jack a bed skirt. His crib is from Ikea and is super low to the ground. I have a regular crib bed skirt but there is only five inches of clearance under the bed so the regular skirt would just cover the floor. Also, Jack keeps pulling out stuff from under his crib. We stored his old bouncy seat and floor gym along with a clothes drying rack under it. I'm hoping this bed skirt will deter him from pulling all the stuff out now.

I also wanted to fix his crib bumper. He has a crib bumper not to prevent his arms and legs from getting out of the crib but so he doesn't throw his binkie behind the crib. He still manages to stash it under there. Well, I wanted the crib to look a little nicer so I redid it, made it a bit more manageable. I like how it turned out except we ran out of ribbon except the pink ribbon I bought for my niece. I thought about it and decided Jack wouldn't care and it would be going to his sister at some point anyways. So here's the finished project. I think it works well. Jack has gotten his foot stuck in between the crib bars and I felt horrible about it but at this point the crib bumper will not prevent that.

Oh and one last thing: