a week of fun with grandma howell

We had such a great time last week when Steve's mom, Julie, came out to visit.
It was great to have company and someone to hang out with during the day.
Plus she spent lots of time with Jaden, giving me a much needed break and an opportunity to recover from the post traumatic stress I had after his little breathing incident.
I was so grateful she would be willing to come out on short notice and leave everything to help me out for a week.
Thank you SO much, Julie!
And thank you Stan, Emily and Spencer for picking up the slack at home so she could come!
I REALLY needed it and having her here helped immensely.

We did quite a few fun things while she was here.

First: Steve got tickets from work to a game for the minor league baseball team.
It was pretty much the equivalent experience to the Salt Lake Bees games.
We invited our friend Gloria from our ward to come with us and had a great time.
Jaden looked so cute in his little "Cougar in Training" hat!
It's still a little big on him, but I thought it was darling :).


Second: Julie and I spent the week quilting!
Or trying to get around to it, at least.
It's a lot harder with a baby who seems to want to be the center of attention. :)
We struggled to find some quilt shops out here, but finally discovered a couple darling ones!
I started my first quilt ever
(unless you count a really sad rag quilt I tried a few years ago--I don't count it)
and I'm so excited to see how it turns out!
We did a really easy pattern, so I'm hoping to finish it this week.
Because it was such a quick project, Julie gave me an early birthday present to give me another project to work on--one of Moda's new jelly rolls!
The fabrics are darling and I can't wait to use it,
but the hardest thing is deciding what to do with it!
Pillows? Quilt? I don't know.
Quilting is something I never expected to get into, but I'm really enjoying it so far!
Now I just have to wait till July when I can take my projects to Utah to actually quilt them...

I haven't taken a good picture of my quilt yet--this was just a hasty attempt to remember what pieces go where before I forgot, but you get the idea :).
Lime green, yellow and a little pink with stripes, polka dots and paisley...
yep, definitely an Audrey quilt.

Where was Jaden while Julie was teaching me to quilt?
Testing out the jumparoo for the first time!
We had this incredibly large toy donated to us from a generous ward member cleaning out her house, and I'm starting to be so grateful for it.
Jaden likes to be up right now.
Not reclined, not laying down, UP.
So it's a perfect toy to keep him occupied so Mom doesn't have to hold him 24/7.
Man, our sunroom is turning into what Julie calls a "baby gym."
Jumparoo, swing, bouncer, playstation, pack n' play...
We're quickly becoming Jadenized. :)

Third: Julie helped us out and took some family photos of us one night.
We don't have ANY pictures of the three of us, so we caught the last bit of daylight one evening and got a few outside our house.

But first, Jaden got to charm the camera while Mom and Dad were getting ready...

Our little family.
Jaden is FOUR months old already!

We also had fun during the week playing Bananagrams, making freezer jam, going to the mall, eating at Olive Garden, cooking dinner, going to Easter dinner at a ward member's home, and just chatting.
The week went much too quickly.
Thank you so much for coming, Julie!
We loved having you out here!
Love you!