4th of July

So we celebrated the 4th here at the house and Jay missed out on his first fireworks, he just went to bed minutes before they started. You can see Jay here giving kisses, his newest development.

 The food was amazing.

Hired!!!

So after what seemed like millions of applications, Josh finally got hired. He'll be teaching 7th and 8th grade science at Providence Jr High in Herriman Utah. Providence is a charter school and as you can see in the picture is a somewhat new school. We'd just like to thank everyone who prayed and fasted for this summer. It's so nice to have family and friends looking out for you and luckily we found a wonderful place for the next few years.

A Day in the Water

 So a couple weeks ago we took Jay swimming for the first time.He liked it for the most part, he couldn't even keep the drool in his mouth. Each time we've gone since he has liked it more and more. This first time he wasn't too sure of what was going on all the time.

 Jay was quick to remind us that this swimming stuff is serious business.

Besides his wrinkled feet, you can see Jay's latest fascination. Sticking anything he can in his mouth. We tried  putting him in this floating device but he just kept bending over to eat it and thus went face down into the water each time so we abandoned that idea.

Here is the video of Jay entering the water for the first time. As you'll see, he's kind of indifferent about the idea at first.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

So today we celebrated Nicole's first Mother's Day thanks to this guy.

Jay also turned 3 months old today so we took some pictures to show how big he is getting.

All Fun and Games

Here are pictures of some of Jay's favorite things. Jay loves to be naked. The cool on his skin makes him giggle so baths and getting his diaper changed often bring out smiles.

He also loves his swing. It cheers him up whenever he is a bit cranky. He'll even fall asleep in it.

Jay told me that these next two pictures were not all fun and games and that he is too mature for silly dress up pictures but we thought we'd post them anyway because Jay makes anything look good.

He also wanted to let all the ladies out there to know that "every kiss begins with Jay"

First Family Vacation

Over spring break we took our very first family vacation to Afton Wyoming. It is more popularly known as Star Valley and this picture is very near the location of the recently announce temple. The actual location is just to the left of the picture below.

Star Valley is home to Olympic Gold Medal hero Rulon Gardner. We stayed at a motel that had hos named attached to it and enjoyed burgers from his restaurant.

The motel was nothing special but it was very cozy.

Jay loved it so much he couldn't keep his hands down.

Jay even helped out with th e drive. It was only 3 hours from Provo which made the drive nice.

it was nice to get away and relax for awhile. Afton was a very relaxing place and made for a great vacation spot for a cheap and easy quick vacation.

Jay's Baby Blessing

On Easter Sunday we were able to bless Jay and had family and friends over for lunch afterwards. Jay was so happy to be there he just couldn't keep his tongue in.

Jay was able to spend a fair amount of time with Pa before they all headed back to Vegas, including receiving his first of hundreds of adjustments (video below)

Multiple Personality Disorder

So some of you may remember that I created a post last summer claiming that we received some old furniture and that it would be my new project to repaint it. After months of working on it, a long periods of not working on it, I've finally completed the finishing touches on the dresser.

So here are the before pictures

Stripping the paint took forever. Whoever painted the blue on the dresser had some spots that were very thick.

My plan was to do the dresser first and then do the accessory pieces later.

And here is the after for the dresser.

Since The Ohio State University and BYU are going to be a big part of Jay's life, I figured I'd paint the dresser to address those interests.

A lot of mistakes were made along the way so it didn't turn out perfect, but what can you expect from a non-artist. It fulfilled its purpose and I promise you will never find one like it.

Everything was hand painted, including the knobs on the drawers.

Now I have a few night stands and some cornhole sets to create and paint. Any suggestions on themes for any of it? All I've ever painted before has been OSU and BYU related items and I'm looking to expand my skill set.

Family

Jay has been lucky to live around family at this point of his life. His cousins Kylie and Ellie love to see baby Jay. They also love handing out kisses.

Jay also been able to meet his Ohio cousins via Skype and iChat. Thank goodness for technology. 

Here grandma is able to do 2 of he favorite things, read and spend time with grandchildren. Not sure what Jay is going to do without. I'm sure he thinks she actually lives here permanently. All three of us have enjoyed her company.

Rub a Dub Dub Jay in a Tub

At first, there were a few things that Jay. He almost never cried but when he did it was normally because of a bath, we were changing his diaper, or he was going through a growth spurt and was very uncomfortable. He now loves to have his diaper changed and is tolerant of baths. Growth spurts are still uncomfortable but who wouldn't be when you grow an inch and a half within 2 weeks.

Faces

 So we've discovered that one of the greatest things about newborns is their facial expressions. Because of the lack of muscle development, sometimes one part of his face displays one emotion while the other displays another emotion.








This top picture is a mixture of happy and puzzled. The one on the left is a common face for Jay, sleep. From day one he has been a great sleeper, especially at night.

He also struggled with getting one eye to do the same thing as the other eye which made it look like it was winking.












Yawning is also a common facial expression. It's funny to see how contorted his face gets when he yawns. The picture on the left was also common for the first couple weeks. He liked to put his hands into fists and put them to his cheeks like he is training to be a boxer. I hear Vegas has a few boxing events in the area. Someplace called the Strip.

A Stud is Born

So this post has been a few weeks in the making but we've been a little busy with Life. So on Feb 12, 2013 our first child was born. Jay Murry was born at 4:15pm, weighed 7lbs 14oz and was 20 inches tall. The entire delivery process went great thanks to some wonderful doctors and nurses. Both Jay and Nicole have done great and thankfully were completely healthy.

The whole process went wonderfully. I was able to stay with Jay the entire time, even when he was getting his checkup. We were relieved to find out that he had 10 toes, 10 fingers, 2 ears, and only 3 arms.

Need proof that God exists? Check out the above picture.

Honestly, the most wonderful part of the day was to see Jay with his family. We were lucky that Pa, Grandma, and uncle Ben were in town and were able to see Jay before they headed home.

We'd just like to thank everyone for their love and support. For Becky and staying with us to teach us how to be parents. For Pa and his willingness to allow Becky to stay with us.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

So this past week while the two of us are at work, we experienced a bit of a surprise. For those of you who are wondering, this is not a repost of the post in September showing us move, this is how are apartment looks at this moment.

There was a pipe that busted in the back hallway and got the floor pretty wet. Maintenance needed to move everything out of the two bedrooms in order to put in new carpet. So currently all of our things are packed into the family room and the kitchen. 

Here are our bedrooms that have been stripped of carpet.

For those of you who are thinking about how unlucky we are, don't. We are in a hotel til New Year's which our apartment complex is paying for. We are also paying $160 less on our Jan rent. So basically we are getting paid to go on a paid vacation which will help us survive the months where our only income is maternity leave, my 8 hours in the locker room, and plasma money. So basically, it has been a rather unexpected blessing.

Christmas Day

On Christmas Day we gathered in the family room again and opened the rest of our presents. This years gifts consisted of a considerable amount of baby gifts for some reason.

Kylie and Ellie we so excited about their gifts that the concept that there could actually be more gifts than they had already opened was lost to them. They did make it through all their gifts and loved them all.

As Casey would say, "Adorbs"

We'd just like to thank everyone for their gifts. The gifts were amazing and very thoughtful. We appreciate your generosity and love you all.