Exciting News

 Landon came home from school today, picked his daughter up and said "I have exciting news to tell you Capri, Daddy got a job offer with Exxon Mobil!"  Of coarse Capri smiled because she is always  happy to see her Daddy.  Landon got lots of hugs and kisses from me and I made him take a picture to remember that moment.  The moment when we felt so excited we smiled and jumped for joy.  The moment when we felt the investment of almost two years of graduate school and lots of students loans is going to pay off.

The official offer is on its way and we have three weeks to accept it.  Landon had a few interviews with other companies and potential job offers in the "pipeline" but won't hear back from them until around November because the recruitment season just started.  We will be making our decision on faith and prayers, but Exxon was at the top of Landon's list so that makes the decision less difficult.

We celebrated later that night with the Jackson's at Tia Rosa's.  Landon insisted on buying their dinner and for once they let us!  And because we had such a good reason to celebrate, Landon and I went to Chilis afterward to get Landon's favorite dessert- molten lava cake.

Congratulations Landon, you definitely put in the time and hard work.  Your girls are so proud of you!

(Capri was clearly exhausted by all of the excitement, she feel asleep moments after this picture.)

Happy Conference Sunday

This is what our Conference Sunday looked like:

Capri is teething and didn't sleep very good last night so today she slept through almost both entire sessions of conference, I'm not going to say how much of that her Daddy slept with her.  Landon used to listen to one conference talk every morning while he was getting ready.  He's going to have to start that routine again to catch up.  I love conference weekend.  Ours was filled with good company, good food, and good words.

We celebrated Brooke's 24th birthday today.  I've said it before, but I want to do birthday's like the Jackson's, they make birthdays so special!  We each wrote a few things we liked about Brooke and stuck the 24 post-its on her bedroom door.  Lynn also taped 24 dollar bills to the door along with some other decor.  You are never to old for birthdays!   Capri and I had a great time shopping with Lynn this last week for Brooke's birthday and we are so happy we were there to spend it with her. Brooke and Hannah headed back to school today.  Brooke is finishing up her Master's at Utah State so we'll get to see her again in November when we go stay with my parents. Hannah is at BYU so I'm sure we'll figure out a way to see her too!

Capri discovered the piano today.  It was fun watching her realize that she was the one making the music.  She had some good stuff going down on those keys so we "face timed" Grandma Linda to show her our little pianist.

Then we headed outside to get our fresh air for the day and continued to face time Grandma Linda...Capri was glued to the phone.  Oh, Capri stands while holding on to things now, she even took a few steps with the push toy by herself.  I feel so proud of my little six month old, but this is happening too fast!

Happy Conference Sunday!  Can't wait to listen to the words of our prophets again on my iphone.

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

Is this not the cutest thing?  Landon has been gone with a career fair and interview with Exxon Mobil this last week.  It was so fun to watch Capri light up when Landon walked out of the airport doors and into her line of sight.  I wasn't sure how she would react at such a young age but she made it pretty obvious how excited she was to see her Daddy!  Capri and Landon have something special that no one can touch.  They completely adore each other.

Capri is Six Months

Happy Six Month Birthday Capri!

Has it really been half of a year already?  This baby girl has become such a delight and makes us smile all day long.  We love watching her learn.

Here's what Capri is up to on her six month birthday:

-first tooth 3 days shy of 6 months, and looks like second is not far behind.

- sits up great, mastered that about 5 1/2 months.  We love that we can put her in the high chairs at restaurants now.  She's so strong and goes from laying position to sitting position by herself.

- started oatmeal at 5 1/2 months and she seems to really like it. 

- We just introduced sweet potatoes a few days before her 6 month birthday, her first solid food besides cereal. She doesn't love them like her Mom loves sweet potatoes.  I pureed them myself, but maybe she'll like the store bought.  She does love sucking on the teether toy that you can put food in.... so far we have tried apples and a fresh peach.  

- She is a great imitator and right now she makes the cutest winking face where she closes both of her eyes and tilts her head back after you do it.  I put her in the middle of stuffed animals to play and caught her making that winking face at each of the stuffed animals in the circle.  What a flirt.

- She loves swimming in Aunt Lynn's pool and kicks like a motor boat.   She doesn't even mind water in her face or being dunked by her dad.  We love the extended pool weather in Arizona.

- Capri "walks" when I hold her by her hands.  She moves her feet forward like she knows exactly what to do..... I hope she takes her time learning to walk because she's learning and growing way too fast and she seems too young to do that.
-Capri loves living at the Jackson residence.  She is spoiled and loved by JC, Lynn, and Cami.  It will be hard to leave in six weeks.

Words and phrases that describe Capri on her six month birthday:

Active

Social

Busy

Temperamental

Physically Strong

Intelligent 

Studies the world around her

Smiley

We Love You Baby Girl!

See Ya Cisco!

I say "See ya" because there is a chance we'll be back.   Though Landon's internship wasn't what he had in mind, he would still like to work for Cisco after graduation.  There is a strong possibility he will get a job offer so we are being optimistic and hope Cisco will be one of a few companies he'll get to choose from, fingers crossed.  We are so grateful for the Cisco internship opportunity and had a great time exploring California as a family of three.  The internship extended Landon's MBA program a little but has turned out to be a good thing, better resume for fall recruiting season, more time to find his dream job, and now he gets to go to Africa with a consulting team for Exon Mobile this fall.  We were glad it was a paid internship but didn't leave with the savings we had hoped for, monthly rent of $2100 for a tiny one bedroom apartment stinks.  It's just one of those things you do to live in Silicon Valley.  (If we become permanent residents of California we'll be able to find something more reasonable I'm sure.) 

Landon got to go indoor Skydiving for his closing social (he was the photographer) and I took Capri in to meet his co-workers on his last day (you can see Capri and I had a lot of fun with the self portraits while waiting for Landon to wrap things up.)  One of Landon's co-workers, Ramprasad, gave Capri the most beautiful Sari from India,  I can't wait until it fits her!  Capri is truly a global baby with clothes from all over - Europe, China, India, and I'm sure Landon will find something from Africa.  Cisco, it was a pleasure, thank you for the fun summer.

Capri is 5 Months

Here's what Capri is doing at 5 months:

-She rolls all over the place, from front to back and back to front.  She is figuring out how to roll to get what she wants and Landon and I have even seen her scoot a little.
-She is so close to sitting up, she will sit until she sees something that she wants and then tips over.  She looks so proud of herself sitting up!
-Capri babbles and says Ma ma ma ma and it totally sounds like she says Landon when she's mad.
-Capri LOVES to make noise.  She figured out how to put her hand in front of her mouth to filter the noise, I can't think of what to call it... you know ah ah ah ah :)  She is always talking and most of the times it's not with her quiet voice. I am trying to figure out how to bring her down a few volume levels, but I love that she's trying to communicate.
-We still haven't heard Capri laugh.... if she wasn't smiling so much for us I'd be worried.
-Capri loves to be on her feet . When she stomps them in front of the mirror it looks like she's dancing.  We usually let her do it before we put her in the bath and call it her naked dance, it's so cute.  We need to get her a jumper.
-She puts her own paci in, yay! She can almost hold her own bottle.  She does but then acts so surprised when she moves her hands and the bottle falls.
- She is a social girl and loves commotion and being around other people.  We have to go outside everyday because she gets cabin fever.  I know, your'e thinking how does a baby get cabin fever, they aren't that aware of their surroundings..... but she totally is, and we both need the fresh air.
-Capri gives her smiles freely to anyone that will give her a little attention.
-Sleeping during the day is getting so much better.  She is finally letting me just swaddle her, cuddle for a minute, and lay her down without putting up a fight.  This is huge for us.  She's also sleeping for longer periods of time instead of the 20 minute naps we were getting before.  I used to feel like I was spending my entire day trying to get Capri to nap and when she finally went to sleep she was awake 20 minutes later and we'd start the whole process over again.  Exhausting, but I'm so happy it's gotten better!  We know when she's had enough sleep because she wakes up so happy and smiley!  I'm going to be sleep training next week and hope we can get her to sleep through the night soon. Just when I though we were close, we had a few random nights where she has gotten up every 2-3 hours, ugh.  I'm happy when she's sleeping, but I do have to say I miss my pal and look forward to getting her up.
-We had Capri sleeping in a Fisher Price Rock N Play and finally had to move her to a crib. I'm actually surprised we made it work for as long as we did.  She figured out how to sit up in it and kick her feet to make it rock.  As soon as I would lay her down she would start to kick her feet and smile no matter how close to sleep she was.  That lasted one day and then on to the crib.
-Capri is starting to cuddle.  I wondered if I'd ever have a cuddly baby but it's looking like we might have a chance! She even wraps her arms around my neck or holds on tight to my shoulder when she puts her head down.  When she's drinking her bottle she wants to hold my hand or put her hand on my face.  Such a sweetie.  This is cuddly thing is still rare, more of the time she wants to be looking around or thinks I'm trying to put her to sleep and arches her back!
- Capri is a good listener.  She looks over to see who's talking and she is so good when I read her stories.  She at least looks like she's listening and liking it. I talk to her in the car while I'm driving and watch her little reaction in the mirror because she knows I'm telling her something she needs to listen to.
-Capri loves her baths and loves swimming in the pool. She likes to kick her feet like crazy and goes such a long time for how much energy she's exerting.  She usually doesn't mind getting her whole head under in the shower now.

I love my Capri and can't believe how fast this is going!  

Look at her double her size in five months

I haven't taken her 5 month Laundry basket photo yet....

Last Visit

We are leaving California this weekend so we had to get one more Chiropractor visit in before we left. Capri has seen the Chiropractor about ten times and I feel like the visits have helped so much with her colic, sleeping, and spitting up.  When Capri was about 7 weeks old I was reading up on Colic wondering if there was anything out there that helped.  I came across a couple articles and comments about chiropractic work, but knew that could get expensive and didn't know where to start searching for a chiropractor that works on babies.   The very next day Landon and I were on a walk and saw our friends Steve & Ashley throwing a ball outside our apartment with friends.  We went over to say hello and they introduced us to Marc & Cassey.  Marc told me he was a graduating chiropractic school in a few months and worked at the clinic next door.  When I asked if he worked on babies he said that he was specializing in pediatrics...... yes, it was an answer to my prayer.  I am so grateful for the progress Capri has made, she is a different baby!  Every visit Capri has a full diaper and an awesome nap shortly after leaving.  Dr. Waters in the Clinician and LOVES Capri, he gets the best smiles out of her and she is so entertained by him (the picture doesn't show it, but believe me she gets a kick out of him!)  Capri has gone several days without a melt down and is starting to actually take longer naps without waking up every 15-20 min.  This morning she slept for 2.5 hours YAY!  Capri just turned 5 months old so she could be growing out of her fussy stage, but I know I couldn't have gotten through these last few months with out the help of Marc.  I sure love my delightful baby.

I want to be a Jackson

If you know the Jacksons, you probably say the same thing.   The Jacksons are the most thoughtful, kind, and service oriented people I know, and as you can see, absolutely beautiful.  This last week Ryan and Kelsey stayed with us and we loved it, we need to live by them one day.  I want our children to play together and spend summers like Ryan and Landon did growing up.

Landon and Ryan are second cousins and first played together at age eight when the Jackson's stopped in Utah on a RV trip.  They asked if Landon wanted to join them and the rest is history.  Ryan and Landon have spent every summer from age eight until their missions together.  Basketball camps, scout camps, swimming in the Arizona heat, and playing video games all summer long.  JC and Lynn treated Landon like he was one of their own and welcomed me just the same loving way.  When Landon and I first moved to Arizona to begin school at Thunderbird I was searching for a job.  Lynn told me I could come help her organize and clean out her already spotless house and few times a week.  I was overpaid to come shadow one of the women I want to be like,  I called it my "internship with Lynn."   We talked while we worked and I got to watch Lynn interact with her children, neighbors, and even the repairman.  I think she talked with each one of her children on the phone at least once everyday I was with her and the man that came to fix the blinds left with lunch and a generous tip.  I could go on and on about the thoughtful kindness I've watched JC and Lynn render and their children that follow their lead.  Landon and I tell each other that we want to be like the Jackson's on a regular basis.    

Ryan and Kelsey are taking advantage of the break Ryan has from medical school and we were lucky enough to fit into one of their many vacations.  Since Landon had to work during the day, Ryan and Kelsey went off exploring in San Francisco and then hung out at our place at night.  We ate yummy dinners, too many desserts, and loved staying up late talking.  Ryan and Kelsey were the hardest working guests I've ever had, ha ha!  I would turn around and there they were doing the dishes or taking care of Capri.  Landon and I went on an evening run and came back to hot dinner that Ryan and Kelsey made while we were running.....I know right?!   The Jacksons are sneaky- filling up your car with gas or buying you ice cream when you're not looking.  Ryan and Kelsey left us with the sweetest thank you gift and the movie Tangled for Capri, as if they hadn't already done enough.  Yes, we love them so much.  In fact, before Ryan got married, Landon told me that if he died, he would want me to marry Ryan Jackson.  I didn't even know Ryan when he first told me that, but now I can see why.  Ryan and Kelsey are some of the most selfless people I know!  Sure love you guys, thanks for the fun week!

Sunday Concert in the Park

Last Sunday we got together with the Hoopers one last time before they went on vacation and we moved.  Andrea made us delicious crepes.  I thought we would never finish the giant stack she put on the table, but they disappeared with only one or two remaining!   We went to San Jose University for a concert in the park, what a great Sunday activity.  This week was a patriotic theme and I loved it, I also loved the free ice cream!  We will miss the Hoopers but we'll try to meet up with them over the holidays when we both visiting our families in Utah. Who knows, we might end up back here in January if Landon gets a job with Cisco.  Thanks for showing us around Hoopers, you have been fabulous friends!

Monday I got to watch Capri Hooper for a few hours while Andrea took Hayden to Great America to ride the "big kid" rides.  I got a few last pictures of the Capri's playing together.  They seem so far apart in age now but will actually be in the same school year!  Can't wait to watch them grow up.