Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Shane and Brittany's Wedding Day: August 20th, 2011 (and another Jordan performance)

First, a few pics taken outside Logan Temple...
Mom and Dad with the newest "Mr. and Mrs. Huish"!
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     Shaners and his sistas: Marie, me, and Allie.
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     Jude and Jane (the smiles were gone by the time the camera came out...)
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Later, at the reception...
Shaners and Juders (who wanted to be running around instead of posing).
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Jude and Jaxon (my best childhood pal Ashley's son). It was so fun to see these two together! They have no idea what good buds they are destined to be!
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Shane and the lovely Brittany, cutting the cake.
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Jude - hating that top collar button.
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Shane and Brittany definitely had the coolest reception exit I'd ever seen... They flew away on a zipline! Awesome. They both looked crazy happy all day! It was truly a wonderful day for the whole family.
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Welcome to the family, Brittany! We love you so much already! (I'm glad I have this video to add, since I don't have my big bro Dave in any of the pics...) 
This performance was hilarious! I love my crazy, songwriting hubby.



Wednesday, September 7, 2011

"Hey, Jude! How old are you?"... "TWO!"

We had a cozy little party on Jude's birthday consisting of simply: pizza in the park with his parents and grandparents and his aunt Allie (actually, Grandpa Tom had a meeting to attend, but Grandma Lynne was there). And of course there were cupcakes, candles, and presents. It was totally low-key and enjoyable and my little brown-eyed birthday boy was so darling. Turning two has to be one of the cutest birthdays... He's old enough to "get it" and to enjoy the festivities, but he's still so sweet easy to please.

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                                 Chowing down on some pizza with aunt Allie...

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                                    Here's our little hero blowing out the candles...

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                                               Opening gifts with Daddy...

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                                             Trying out the new train set...

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                             Jude and Mama (and the dinosaur cupcake).
                               Jude's got his eyes on the prize...

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                               My absolute favorite picture of them all!
                                 Look at those chocolatey brown eyes...

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We love you, Juder-boy! 

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Easter 2011

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Here's Jude and some of the other neighbor kiddos - anxiously waiting for the green light to start egg-hunting!

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He's looking at me saying, "An egg!" 


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He loved adding eggs to his stash.
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Enjoying his Easter loot...

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Notice the blue sugarlips...
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Me and Juders

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It was a Happy Easter!
Lastly, here's a little clip of Jude opening his little Easter package from Grandma Huish...

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Visiting the fam - April 2011

Due to the rigors of med school, poor Jordan had to stay behind while Jude and I spent a week in Utah. I felt so guilty leaving him all alone. I don't know what I'd do without my little family for a whole week.

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I love this picture -Daddy's missing his boy already. Jordan was trying to soak up all the cuddle time he could before we left (this was the night before)...
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Hanging out in the airport,watching the "choo-choos" pull the luggage to the planes...

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Here he is, watching a plane take off! I thought Jude would LOVE flying since he loves reading about, playing with, watching, (etc.) airplanes! It all seemed to be going smoothly until about 30 seconds after take-off when Jude panicked! He was crying and trembling, frantic for a way out!  It broke my heart, but I guess it's somewhat of an intelligent thing to do, right? I figure it takes a certain level of intelligence to be afraid of flying. It took me a minute to calm the little guy down (it helped to shut the windows) and he got better with each flight - thank goodness!

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Reading stories in the morning with Aunt Marie, Kellen and Janers!
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Cuddling with Grandpa Tom! Jude loves his Grandpa... makes me wonder if it's in part due to the similarities that Tom and Jordan share? 
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He loved playing with Grandma Huish!
"This is the way the gentlemen ride..."
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Jude was obsessed with this set of cars at Grandma Lynne's! Here he is playing with cousins Kessa and Taya.
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Visiting with some of my gal pals... Rachy, Sammy, and Ash (with her adorable new baby Jaxon!)
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Playing with the cousins... A typical shot of crazy Kellen in motion!
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Jude loves messing with his Uncle Petey the Pug (especially pulling on his curly tail). Fortunately, Pete is a patient, kid-loving pooch.
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We took Jude to an Easter egg hunt (sort of... he got one egg!) up on USU campus. I thought I'd turn him into a "True Aggie" while we were there (despite all his squirming)!
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My little Aggie!  
You've gotta love this little grin with the tongue out. (I'm pretty sure I used to draw smiley faces that looked a lot like this on all my notes and stuff back in sixth grade...)  I realize now that I wasn't all that great about taking photos, but we had a wonderful trip! It just flew by too quickly.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Shy Boy...

Jude has been singing his ABC's to himself while pointing his little finger to our alphabet fridge magnets. It's so adorable. I try and try to catch it on camera, but my shy boy is just not much for performing. But it's okay, because the footage I got is classic Jude and is therefore, probably more precious to me anyway...

Monday, February 28, 2011

5 minutes of Jude

Okay - these 3 movie clips are mainly for the folks back home that don't get to see Jude "live" in action.

In the first movie, we find our hero going down a big slide at "Monkey Joe's" - an inflatable playground for kids. It was a little intense for a lad as young as Jude, but he had a good time anyway - mixed in with moments of terror as illustrated in the following movie... (Notice how he spreads his legs and arms out as wide as he can in an effort to slow himself down. I laughed my head off when I first saw this footage - he looks like a little starfish coming down!) ps. He's the 3rd slider to come down - some pushy little gals cut in front of us. ( :


Next is a short clip of young Jude lifting weights along with Daddy. (Be sure to have the volume up enough to hear Jude's classic weight room grunting.) Love it!


Lastly is a clip of me and Juders just horsing around. We pretty much go through this routine every time I try to make our big bed... I guess because a big bed is even more fun to play on when it's being made.  This clip is pretty uneventful besides Jude's adorable facial expressions. Watch for the part where he goes from staring kind of expressionless at the camera to grinning at Mama - so cute!


We miss you all - grandmas & grandpas, aunts & uncles, cousins, and friends who are far away! This is the best I can do in giving you a "visit" from Jude for now. Stay tuned for more Jude dude movies to come!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Tough Guys Wear Headbands... Apparently

 If these pics crack you up (like me), it's because experience has taught you that a headband is a gender-specific accessory. But little Juders here doesn't know that. As far as he's concerned, a headband is no different from say, a pair of sunglasses. So when he saw me putting one on, he wanted one too- which I found most amusing.

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I remember Jordan calling me once while Jude was sporting the aforementioned headband and I said, "Hey, would it bother you if I told you that your son has been wearing a headband all day?" Without skipping a beat, he replied, "Nah. Medieval warriors wear them too." Hmmm... I'm not sure they ever wore this particular style, but never mind that.

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I suppose when you're so obviously masculine as the Jude Dude, you can wear whatever you want, however you want, and still look cool. (As we see here...)

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                                           Pretty sweet, huh?

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Sunday, January 16, 2011

Christmas with the Jude Dude (movies!)

Jude was such a fun age to have around this year (15 months). Old enough to "get it" and really get caught up in the wonder of Christmas, but still young enough to revel in the simple pleasures of the season (ie: wrapping paper!!!). Love this boy! Kids make Christmas so joyful! What a blessing he is.

Alright, so here are 4 short clips of our little hero in action -Christmas style! The first two are of Christmas Eve, and the last two are Christmas morning. I thought the grandparents and folks back home might get a kick out of these since it's sort of the closest we can get to feeling like we were together that day....




Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Christmas 2010

Here's a summary of Christmas 2010 from the life of the 3 J's...

First off, in mid-December, we attended the annual Christmas concert hosted by my dear friend Robyn. It's always so fun to celebrate the season with our friends we love, and to see some of their musical talents displayed. There's always a mix of silly and fun performances, along with more worshipful music that brings the Spirit of Christ into our party. We "Jingleton's" were in the silly category... Jordan played a jazzy sweet Jingle Bells on the piano, and talked me into grooving along (and of course, Jude did too).
"Fa-ra-ra-ra-ra, ra-ra-ra-ra!" On Christmas Eve, we went to Cedarburg and enjoyed dinner at pretty much the only place open, "New Fortune" - a little Chinese restaurant. While it may not have been my first choice for Christmas Eve, I actually ended up loving it! Good atmosphere, service, and excellent food! Jude was cheerful as ever, happy to be eating out with Mommy and Daddy. So adorable. And because it always amuses me, I've included our mystic fortune cookie messages...

Jordan: Your respect for others will be your ticket to success.
Jenny: Focus on the color purple this week to bring you luck.
Jude: Don't worry about the stock market. Invest in family. ( :
ImageThen we took Jude to see the great big Cedarburg Christmas tree up close. This picture is too far away to tell... so let me just tell you that Jude was staring up at the tree, eyes shining with wonder, and whispering again and again, "Oh, wow!"

Then we came home and opened a present or two before putting Jude to bed. Then Jordan and I read some classic nativity accounts from the scriptures and watched a few short movies about Christ.

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And now, a few Christmas morning shots... Here's our hero, opening presents with a little help from Daddy.

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This face says it all - he loves his new puppy backpack from Grandma Lynne!

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"Oh wow!" Jude's new Thomas the Train play tent!

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Jude loved the little squirrel that Kellen and Jane sent us! It's blurry, but he's squirming with joy after the squirrel gave him a little kiss! (Thanks, Marie! I'm not sure who loved this more, me or Jude.)

ImageJude's Grandma Huish sent some new books! Yaaaaaaaaaaaay! Nothing better for my Juders.

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Another shot of the Jude dude in his new tent amidst the post-Christmas messiness.
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Later that day, we met with some of our close buddies who were still in town for the holidays. Our charming hosts: Ben & Sarah (and little Elizabeth) Eckstrom, Isaac & Marcy Lloyd, and Brad & Kjirstin Roberts. We had a wonderful time! The combined efforts of everyone made a seriously delectable Christmas feast. We had fun visiting and laughing and playing "Quirkle" afterward.

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Jude enjoyed the delicious Christmas dinner, but got extremely sleepy while eating it...

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Thanks again to the Eckstrom's for inviting us (in case you are reading this)!

Anyway, this was the first year that Jordan and I decided to stay here in Milwaukee for the holidays instead of flying home. We missed family, but it was a cozy, sweet little Christmas for us. I found that the quiet moments gave me more opportunity to reflect on my life, my big tall husband I love so much, and my darling little son. And for the gospel that brings me joy and peace. The simplicity of this Christmas gave me more time to think of our Savior. Do you remember when Thomas S. Monson said - during the Christmas devotional- that he reads 3 things every Christmas season?

1. The Scriptures (specifically, Luke 2)
2. Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" and
3. "The Mansion" by Henry Van Dyke
Image Well, I decided I wanted to do that too. I had seen the play of "A Christmas Carol" loads of times, but never read the book till now. And as for "The Mansion", I had never even heard of this one until the prophet mentioned it, but it became an immediate favorite. Simple, but beautiful. Makes you look a little deeper into your own heart, which is always a good thing. Anyway, I think I might just copycat President Monson on this tradition from now on. Very inspiring.
Some of you know that this Christmas brought our little family some heartaches - and while I often don't understand why things happen the way they do, "I know that God loveth His children." I can always see good things that come from enduring trials. Our home was filled with love this Christmas and for that, I am truly grateful. In the (practically cliche, but still beloved) words of Tiny Tim, "God bless us, everyone!"

ps. I have some adorable footage of Jude opening gifts, playing in the wrapping paper etc. but I'll post that later when I have Jordan (computer genius) with me to sort out my technical difficulties.