For Thanksgiving, Jacob and I decided to make another road trip back to see family. He does amazingly well in his car seat. I'm able to make the trip in 9 hours. It's normally an 8 hour trip anyway, so I figure with a one-year-old this is pretty good. We went for Thanksgiving and for the blessing of my cousin's baby. The only picture I got of the blessing was blurry (I wasn't the photographer) so I'm not posting it. We got to spend some time with both my family and Brad's. Here's a picture of Jacob with his Uncle Dan and cousin David. (Can you tell that Dan is Brad's brother?)

On October 23rd we had a small rainstorm here (8 inches in two days!). We hadn't cleaned out our gutters yet this year. Big mistake. Here was the result:

Pretty, isn't it? We had blown in insulation in January or February of this year and it was all over my bed and the floor. I called Brad home from work and he set to work cleaning things up.

Jacob was very helpful. He loved to be in the room while Brad was working to clean the room up. He would "sweep" while Brad vacuumed. While Brad was hanging the drywall, taping, muding, and painting, Jacob wanted to be right at his side. He would often bring Brad the hammer or some other tool Jacob was just sure his Dad needed. He would then grunt and look at Brad as if to say, "Here, Dad, here's your hammer. I carried it all the way across the room for you. Please take it, it's very heavy." It was cute to see them working together.

We're lucky enough to have friends here who can help us fix the problems that we find ourselves in. Brad's co-resident came over to help hang the drywall. Just look at the dust in the air (that's what all those little spots are in the air). We got the drywall in place and then set to work getting the room cleaned back up.

In the end, we got our room back in working order. It only took about two weeks. I'm sure it would've taken less time if Brad didn't have to work, but since he does, we were working on a slower time schedule. The room looks great and I think Brad did a great job with the ceiling. I'm thankful that he knows how to fix things like this so we don't have to pay someone else to fix our ceiling or whatever other problems creep up as a result of home ownership!

I was tagged by Kariann to answer these fun questions, so here they are:

4 or more places I have lived:
1) Raymond, Alberta, Canada
2) Springfield, Missouri
3) Kalispell, Montana
4) Republic, Missouri
5) Provo, Utah
6) Cleveland, Ohio

4 or more places I have went on vacation:
1) Washington D.C.
2) San Jose, California
3) Palmyra, New York
4) Nauvoo, Illinois
5) Provo, Utah
6) Calgary, Alberta

4 or more jobs I have had:
1) Concession stand at our local swimming pool
2) Babysitting
3) Taco Bell - thank goodness this job didn't last long! I was terrible at the food prep line so I always had to work either the counter (lobby) or drive thru
4) Transcriptionist for American National Property & Casualty Co. (ANPAC)
5) Medical Secretary for the Cleveland Clinic

4 or more foods I like:
1) Pasta, pretty much of any kind!
2) Brownies
3) Ice cream
4) Cookies
As you can see, my favorite foods aren't that healthy for me :(

4 or more hobbies I have:
1) Reading, I love books!
2) Blogging
3) Taking walks
4) Talking...and making myself laugh...both of which I could do for hours

4 or more things people don't know about me:
1) I used to sing to the cows on my grandparents farm because my sisters wouldn't play with me because they thought I talked too much.
2) I played basketball in junior high and my freshman year. I played softball my freshman year. I ran track in junior high and my freshman year. Then all athletics came to an abrupt halt because I decided I'm really only average at any one of these sports, so I didn't get much playing time!
3) I went to State with the High School choir when I was in 8th grade.
4) I can type 80 wpm.

4 or more things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1) Save my money! I love to make sure there is a "cushion" of cash for me somewhere.
2) Buy Brad either a Toyota Tacoma or a Ford Ranger (when he can decide what type of truck he wants).
3) Give some of it to all members of my family.
4) Buy a new house. Not a new to me house, but a new (as in new construction) house.

I am tagging Sarajane Bingham, Laurie Jones, Kim Gomez, and Jordana Fitzner. Have fun, ladies!

It's amazing how something this small...

...can become someone this big in just a year!

On October 28th, we celebrated Jacob's first birthday. I can still remember so well how we felt when Jacob was born. It is very hard to believe that he's now running all over my house, eating real food, babbling, and laughing when just a year ago he was so helpless and couldn't even hold up his own head.

One of Jacob's favorite toys that he got for his birthday was this rocking horse from his Grandma & Grandpa Jones. He got on it and immediately knew how to use it. It was the first gift he opened and didn't want anything to do with the other gifts. In fact, he pretty much opened his other gifts while sitting on the horse.

The Tonka truck on the right was Brad's gift to Jacob. He does love this truck too...enough to get off the horse and have his "girlfriend" Madelyn push him around!

Jacob did a pretty good job eating his cake himself. He tried using the fork, but ended up using his hands instead. He was relatively clean considering the cake and frosting!

For awhile now, Brad has been telling me that Jacob's hair is too long and that we need to cut it. I've been holding out and telling Brad that after he's one, we can cut it. Well, as of October 28th, he's one. So, for Family Home Evening last night(Nov. 5), Brad decided that the activity would be to cut Jacob's hair.

Before...

...After!

Isn't he a handsome boy? I can't believe how much more grown up he looks. I know he's still a little guy, but with that haircut he looks so much bigger! Now I have to figure out how to store the hair that we cut so he can have a lock of it when he's older. Does anyone have any good suggestions?

(Please ignore the comments in the background as you enjoy this video. Wish I could figure out how to turn this video right side up, but I'm not that talented and didn't know who to ask, so...tilt your head to enjoy!)