Paul, Jen, Jacob, and Lydia

Hanging out and helping put the lights up in his new Christmas jammies.

It's snowed a bunch in the last couple of weeks here and Jacob has had fun trying out his new snow suit. So far, he's helped shovel (by playing nearby) and played on the snow-covered sidewalk.

Jacob was a dragon/dinosaur for Halloween. We took him trick-or-treating to a few of our neighbors' houses. He didn't even get mad when we ate all his candy.

This is a typical mealtime pose.

He has discovered that there are lots of interesting things in the cupboards. His favorites are the pots and pans.

Also a new thing: pointing at everything. It's great that he can finally tell us he wants more milk, or whatever else.

We had a little birthday party for Jacob and here are some of the pictures.

Opening a present early in the day. He liked pulling the wrapping paper off the first few then got bored with it. He likes all of his presents, though.

He wasn't too sure about the whole cake thing, but quickly decided that it was pretty fun to squish in his fingers.

Is that the same amount of cake as in the last picture? He had only eaten one small bite at that point.

Showing off his Halloween costume.

He escaped from the bathroom while I was trying to find a diaper for him. He made it all the way to the kitchen, with his towel still on, before we caught the little monkey.

He also just had his 1-year check-up. He weighs 21 lbs. 1 oz. (23rd percentile) and is 30.5 in. (74th percentile). The doctor said he was very social for his age. :)

So, we found the missing part of our chair the other day. haha. We must have found it in the late stages of packing in Seattle and thrown it into our jar of pens and other miscellaneous items. I guess we have another spare part in case the wood one ever breaks. :) Also, Jacob's birthday is coming up this weekend. I can't believe he's already almost 1! In the last week he has learned to drink through a straw and cruise along the couch. I think the walking won't be too far behind. We'll be sure to post pictures of the upcoming party. Just thought you'd get a kick out of the fact that we found the chair part after all of that. :)

Story number one: When Jacob was born we bought a Dutailier glider. We decided to splurge a little and get a pretty nice one so we could use the same one for "all" the kids. We absolutely LOVE the glider and are so glad we got it. Then comes the move. Somehow, we managed to lose a part that looks like the one below. Basically, the chair can't be put back together without both of them. (side note: the only reason we even took it apart was because it wouldn't fit through the door) So, we tried to get in contact with a dealer (Dutailier doesn't want contact with customers at all) and they say that Dutailier won't respond to their e-mails (the only way for the dealer to get in contact with them). What a customer service nightmare! I want to report them to the BBB or something. argh! Anyway, we took matters into our own hands and had the part made at the Salt Lake Mill (down the road from our house). The people were very friendly and when I asked the guy how much it was going to cost, he replied, "uhhh...how does five dollars sound?" haha. The happy ending...our chair works again!

Story number two: Last week I was feeding Jacob some cottage cheese and realized I need to do something to start getting dinner ready. So, I put down the bowl on the table and went about my business. After a minute I heard the spoon fall to the floor and turned around. I wasn't sure whether it had just fallen or Jacob knocked it over. Either way I assumed the bowl would still be safe. Wrong assumption. A few minutes later I turned around to the happiest baby on the block shoving his mouth full of as much cottage cheese as he could get his hands on. Silly boy :)

So, we've packed up our stuff, moved out, moved in, changed our license plates and driver's licenses, mostly unpacked, and are getting settled. We've had TONS of help on all fronts and are so grateful for all of those people! Jacob also discovered how to crawl and is starting to get into everything. :)

In our almost empty townhouse

Stuffed full

What a difference a LOT of weeding can make! Thanks Mom, Dad, and Jonathan!

His crawling skills have significantly improved in the last few days...I'll have to post another video soon.

So, this news has been a little while in the making, but we're moving to Utah. To North Salt Lake to be more specific. We've been trying to move closer to family and it finally worked that Paul got a job that he liked and they liked him. The 'they' in this case is Goldman Sachs. He starts work there in a little over a week. He'll still be doing software development. We also had the opportunity to go to Utah to look for houses a few weeks ago and found one we liked. We will hopefully be closing the last week in July. woohoo! Here a few pictures of the way the sellers have the house now. We'll be sure to post more later. We're very excited and can't wait to not share walls with anyone. :)

If you're wondering why the countertops look shiny, it's because they're stainless steel. Pretty funky, but definitely matches all the rest of the appliances.

Great-grandma and Great-grandpa Porter

Asleep after an exhaustive trip to the wading pool with some friends. The car seat buckle was hot, hence the shirt between him and the buckle.

Adeline learned how to play Wii.

Here is Jacob ready to go get some crabs. With the crabbing package you get a boat, some traps, and fish for bait. You drive around in the boat, drop the traps, and check them after a few minutes. It was a little early in the season, but we still came away with about 5 crabs.

Adeline wasn't sure she liked being in the boat.

Devan scouting out the crabs.

Pulling in the catch. We caught tons of them but for the Dungeness crabs, they only let you keep the males that are over a certain size. Most of the crabs were smaller than that.

Jacob is teething again. His first top tooth just came through, and we're hoping the second is not far behind.

Here's Jacob and his new hobby.

We just got back from Utah on Monday for my sister Sarah's wedding. Jacob and his two cousins had a lot of fun together and we all got to enjoy some sunny Utah weather.

Jacob slept the whole way to Salt Lake City.

Here he is with his cousins outside the Bountiful temple after the wedding.

Cousin Jack giving Jacob a kiss

Adeline continued her tradition of surrounding the baby with toys.