Haircut!

will told the hairdresser at Great Clips, "My hair is too long. I need to cut it. He understands more of what I say than I thought. He's a whole different boy now. He's excited that it's spiky. Give him a compliment next time you see him.

Last Minute Trip to San Francisco

I always seem to forget about holiday weekends because Stanford doesn't like to celebrate. Luckily Britton doesn't have class on Mondays so we took the day off and celebrated President's Day with a trip to San Francisco. We only live about 45 minutes away from SF, but hardly make our way over there. Maybe it's the cold fog, or the hassle of finding and paying for parking that deters us. Either way, I had never been to the famous Pier 39 before.
We had a great and somewhat cold time. I really shouldn't complain about cold here, but I really hate being cold. We ate a picnic lunch on Pier 39 by the sea lions, but only glanced at the stores there. Most of our time was spent walking to and from Ghirardelli Square.
Mmmm, Ghirardelli Square. We all split one fatty hot fudge sundae.
Elliot spent most of the time sleeping in the giant, comfy, plastic rain covered double stroller. For the short time he was awake we put him in the over-sized bear suit. He is such a cute little thing.

Will was super excited to see the "charlie cars" move down the tracks. Someday we'll have to actually ride in a trolley car with Will. Today I was looking at a Google map, and Will requested to see our house. After showing him the street view of our house, Grandpa and Grandma's house, and almost Nana and Papa's house I got the idea to relive our trip to San Francisco. Sure enough, "driving" down Jefferson street on Google maps, you can see a "charlie car".

House Guest

If you happened to visit us some Monday evening, and randomly decided to open the downstairs closet door... Looking past the vacuum and jackets, hiding in the corner you would find... our own Uncle DD Potter!
Yep, Derek sleeps in our closet. Britton was so excited to finally be able to put someone in there. He wanted to put Elliot or Will in there, but I wasn't too fond of that idea. So we cleared out a few boxes and junk. Derek moved in our long couch cushion, a pillow, couple of blankets, and his laptop. At least he gets his own room, however small it may be.
During his break from school at BYU Idaho he is working at two different jobs. Monday through Wednesday he works for a start-up company in our area and stays at our house. Thursday through Sunday he stays with his parents in Brentwood and does security systems. It's really fun to have him here because there's another person to talk to, play with Will, and appreciate my cooking...more like tolerate my cooking. He has pledged to babysit for us once a week so we can have a date night! Yay, that's coming up tomorrow night but we still haven't planned anything yet. Any ideas?
While working two jobs, plus part-time babysitting, Derek is also knee deep in wedding planning! He proposed to his girlfriend, Victoria, on Valentine's Day, and they are getting married April 9th! Invitations are on their way. They will be married at the Oakland temple, and have a reception in Brentwood. We all met Victoria a few days prior to their engagement, and finally understand why Derek has been head over heels in love since he met her. We are so happy for Derek, and wish many blessings on him. One of the first being not having to sleep in our closet anymore.

Twinners!

Which is Will? Which is Elliot? How can you tell?

A Good Grief

Thanks to the blogging world, I am now able to keep in touch with cousins on my dad's side! From this I learned some tragic news this past summer. My cousin David's little boy Gabriel had suddenly stopped breathing at home and passed away. I got an email from my cousin's wife Amy a few weeks ago about a video that their family was featured in. They received help from a wonderful foundation that helps families recover emotionally and financially from the difficulties that come with losing a child.
The following video tells the story of the family who started the foundation and another family they were able to reach out to and assist, my cousin.
A huge benefit concert including performances from Broadway actors and LDS musician/folk singer Cherie Call is set for Thursday, March 17th at the Murray Theatre. 4969 S State Street, Murray, UT.

BYUtv - BYUtv Shorts: See the Good in The Jacksons

Valentine's Day Revisited

We walked by a lonely heart-shaped balloon on Valentine's Day. Someone left a message on it: Love is in the air! It was a wet, cold day and I wasn't really feeling the love on Stanford's campus. Is there something about Mormons and dressing up, decorating, and really getting into holidays? I seem to remember people making a big to-do about Valentine's Day at BYU. Maybe that's just because BYU is full of love-crazed singles and sickeningly sweet newlyweds. I digress.

Will and I donned our rain boots for a morning walk to school with Britton. It was very romantic. I felt really scrubby and hoped we wouldn't run into anyone I knew. Luckily Stanford has a large, sprawling campus and a small student population so running into someone you know isn't very likely. Elliot slept in the plastic-covered stroller for the whole trip.
Will was pretty disappointed that he couldn't really go to school with Daddy. I told him that it was just a bunch of boring computers and nerds inside, but he was still really mad. Splashing in some puddles on the way home helped him feel better. By the time lunch came around he was much happier.
He likes to ride this rusty, old scooter which he affectionately calls "my skateboard". There's no rubber grips on the handlebar so I'm afraid someday he'll accidentally fall on it and impale himself. But he loves it.
He got out the Valentine's pillowcase Nana just made for him, and had a quick picnic by the playground. PB&J with oranges is the default lunch around here.
I felt bad asking someone to babysit for us on the actual Valentine's Day so we waited until Wednesday night when Britton's little bro Derek volunteered to babysit for us. He took both boys and did a great job. He actually got engaged on V Day! A DD devoted post is soon to come.

I was craving seafood so we went to the local Fish Market restaurant and enjoyed some prawns, clam chowder, and spicy tuna rolls. Then we headed to Borders to browse and pick out some books for ourselves. You can see our personalities in our book choices. It was a low-key night, but a treat considering we haven't spent much time as a couple at least since Elliot came along. Hope you all had a fun V Day too.

Beginnings and Ends

In one weekend we mourned the loss of our dear Grandma-lita, and celebrated the new life of our baby Elliot. It was a pretty intensely emotional time, and you couldn't help but think about how short our time on earth is. Of course you can pack in a lot of experiences in one lifetime, like our Grandma-lita showed us.

You may have known her as Justina, Tinin, Abuelita, Grandma-lita, or by the most recent name used by her great-grandchildren, GG. She celebrated her 89th birthday last year, and even though she was slowing down because of illnesses she was still attending her great grandaughter's 7th birthday party at a bowling alley, and hiking with the family over the Thanksgiving weekend. She was very involved with her family right until the end of her life. We're grateful that she was able to visit us in the hospital when Elliot was born. She was overjoyed that we named him Elliot, the name she absolutely loved, and not the other name she really didn't like. I love that she always had such strong opinions about everything. You never had to guess how she felt about something!
She grew up in Panama, one of four sisters. Life was different back then she had told me. There wasn't so much crime, children respected their parents, and followed rules like a strict curfew. She told me about how her whole family had to tag along on the dates of her older sisters.

We had a lovely funeral for her. At the funeral her two children spoke and I learned things about her that I had never known. OK, so I only knew her four years and there's many, many things I'm sure that I don't know about her. But it was fun to hear more about her in the different stages of her life. Her father enrolled her in an English speaking high school, and although it was very difficult for her, she graduated and was able to use English throughout the rest of her life. She had a glamorous job working for Pan American Airlines and was able to fly to many places in South America, and meet some famous people like John Wayne.
She attended a party with some Americans and saw a tall, dark, and handsome man. She said to herself, I'm going to marry that man. And she did. She married Ralph Olson in Panama and soon after moved to California where Ralph had grown up. She worked for a short time in San Francisco, and loved how all the business men and women dressed up wearing hats and gloves. She was blessed with two cute children, Jeffrey Paul and Aileen Sylvia.
She told me to appreciate the time when your kids are young. It is the most joyous time of your life. Ralph graduated from UC Berkeley, and they raised their children nearby in the El Sobrante area. They loved camping in many places throughout California, and spending time at the beach in Santa Cruz.
Both of their children served missions and attended college at BYU. While their daughter Aileen was serving a mission in Venezuela, Ralph suffered a severe heart attack and suddenly passed away at a young age. They were married for about 30 years, but Tinin had about another 30 years ahead of her without her sweetheart.
She was very involved in her grandchildrens' lives. She picked them up from school, asked about their day, and made them fun snacks like toasted raisin bread with cheese. At the funeral Erin, Britton, Derek, Kelsey, and Alex all shared some of their favorite memories with their grandma. I wish I could share exactly what the grand-kids, Jeff and Aileen said about their grandma and mom. There are many things I missed in my short story of her life.

Elliot was blessed in church on February 6th. It's amazing to think about how much potential there is in this little guy. Who knows what kind of things he'll experience in his lifetime, and what the world will be like in the future. There are definitely some important milestones we hope he will have like choosing to be baptised, serving a mission, falling in love and getting married, raising kids and living a long, faithful life. Just like his GG. Britton included all these hopes we have for him in the blessing he gave.

I thought a lot about the purpose life since this weekend where we remembered GG's life and celebrated Elliot's potential. I learned from GG to appreciate where I am right now in my life. Kids grow up quickly. Britton's mom said to remember to tell people you love them while you still can. We are with our families for the most difficult and joyous times in our lives, and hopefully we can become better people through this life's experiences and be prepared to return to our Father in Heaven.

Funny Stuff

Will has been acting true to his age lately. But he's also been really funny lately. I'd rather remember the funny instead of the tantrums.
Britton and I take turns getting up early with Will in the mornings. One morning after Britton had left for school I asked Will what he ate for breakfast. He showed me the empty cereal box, and then decided that it was time for dessert. Will's idea of a breakfast dessert is ham, cheese, and peanut butter with some juice to wash it down. And you have to eat it on the floor. I convinced him to at least put his food on a paper towel instead of the floor, and to nix the peanut butter. He's saying, "Mmmmm" In the picture.
He also got creative with food at dinner the other night. We were eating fajitas, as Britton and I were carefully putting together our tortillas we heard a big "CRUNCH". We looked over trying to figure out why Will's tortilla was so noisy. He had put corn tortilla chips inside his corn tortilla with a little bit of canned corn sprinkled on top. We couldn't stop laughing at his corny little creation. Will loves to make people laugh.
Will is constantly chattering so you always know what he's thinking about. I love hearing how his little mind works. One day he said to me, "Sam and Olivia have a dog a cat. They have a dog and black cat. I don't have a dog and black cat. We have a black car..." I tried to ask him if he wanted a dog and cat, but he had already moved on to the next topic, race cars.
Thinking back on today, I said things to Will like, "Say hi to Gabriel, say thank you to Vivien's mom, go play with Lucas, say bye to Charlie." That might explain why Will became the social matchmaker on the playground this afternoon. Britton took Will out to the playground and apparently looked lonely or something because Will took him by the hand saying, "Britton, come here. You go talk to Joseph's mommy. Come on Dad. Talk to Joseph's daddy." I came outside later with Elliot and they were still talking. Good job Will. You have a bright future in PR or something.