1st Annual Jack & Kerri Play Day

This last weekend was the 1st Annual Jack & Kerri play day.  I've been looking forward to doing these days with my nephews and niece for a long time now.  I just had to wait until they were old enough to understand what was going on.  I think 3-years-old might be the magical number.  We had such a grand time!  I heard back in January that Toy Story 3 on Ice was coming to Salt Lake, and I thought Jack would really love it.  So I bought the tickets and started planning our day.  About 3 weeks before the big day, I made a countdown chain that he could tear a loop off every day until Mar. 10 arrived.  It was so fun!  Anytime I would see him, he would tell me how many rings were left.
Mar. 10 finally arrived!  I picked him up around 12:45pm, and we were on our way.

I love this face!!

I thought it would be kind fun to take TRAX downtown instead of driving so that Jack could ride the train.  It turned out to be a big hit, and I didn't have to worry about where to park.  Here we are at the train stop.

Around this point of the day, Jack decided it would be fun to cover his face in every picture, so sorry about that everyone.  Little stinker!

At Energy Solutions Arena

I had to get really creative to get pictures of his face.

We loaded up on all sorts of snacks...popcorn, sparkly (soda), Sour Patch Kids, and cotton candy.

I think the highlight might have been when these friends came out to welcome us to the show.  Jack's face was priceless.

Here are some of our Toy Story Friends.  Jack said that Rex was his favorite, and he loved the furnace at the end.

He ate the popcorn two hands at a time.

I bribed him with the cotton candy to get this picture with Woody. 

Cotton candy face and hands.  Good things Amy supplied with me with some wipes.  We would have been a mess without those.

The cotton candy came with this stellar alien hat.  Here we are on the train ride home.  Jack was pretty pooped at this point.  He missed his nap to play with me.

When I dropped Jack off, Amy and Dan wanted to take us all to dinner, so off to Sonny Bryan's we went.  So I got to spend some time with this little lady too.  I love her little chipmunk teeth!  See video below...her little personality is starting to really shine.  I love her!

So that was the 1st annual Jack & Kerri play day!  I had such a great time!  Jack is the smartest, cutest, and funniest 3-year-old I know, and I love him more than anything!  I think he had a pretty good time.  You can't put a price on spending time with these kiddos before they become too cool to hang out with us old people.  I'll put my thinking cap on for what we can do next year!

Jacob's Day

Four years ago today my first and perfect little nephew, Jacob, was born.  It is always a little bit of a emotional day for me filled with hard and sad memories but also very powerful and strengthening memories.  I always try to visit his grave around his birthday and just pay him a little visit.  On Sunday, T, O, and I were down in American Fork for Sunday dinner with T's fam and we dropped by the cemetery to leave some flowers (and say Hi to Poppie too, of course!).  T had some flowers left over from a bridal bouquet she had done, so she put a little bouquet together for me to leave.  Even though I never got talk to or play with this little guy, I love him and he inspires me to be better person.

 

On Sunday night, I rifled through one of my boxes and found my journal where I wrote about March 6, 2008.  I thought I would share some of my thoughts for that journal entry:
"I got a call from my mom at 6:30am.  She told me that Kara was in labor.  I said, "Who?!" Because no one that I knew should have been in labor that day.  When she told me again that it was Kara, and that there was no way the baby was going to make it, I was devastated.  This was the first little baby in our family.  We were all looking forward to it so much.  Then my heart was broken for Kara and Ryan.  Why did this have to happen to them?  I remember thinking that if there was any way I could suffer this for them, I would.  At times I felt relief.  If this had to happen, it was better to have it happen now than in a few weeks or even worse, at full term or after he was born and we already knew his little personality.
I felt my testimony of the plan of salvation tested and pushed.  I felt an overwhelming love for my Savior and the Atonement.  I knew that if anything could make sense of this and make us all whole again, it was Him.  It very quickly became clear to me that Jacob was very special, a precious son of God.  His spirit was so righteous, he came to this earth long enough to just get a body.  That's all he needed here.  I think it was that one realization that really helped me get through this experience.  The other thing I really remember feeling was great love and respect for Kara and Ryan.  God knew they were strong enough to handle this.  God knew He could give them a perfect little child, and they would raise their other children righteously so that they all could be with Jacob again.
I headed down to Provo with Amy and met up with Deeds.  I remember Kara's room being very peaceful.  We cried together, and she told us everything that had happened.  It had been a long, scary, devastating night.  We all got to hold Jacob's little body.  Besides being small, he was perfect.  So adorable.  I remember you could see his little blonde eyebrows and eyelashes.  Ryan was so calm, and I remember him actually comforting me.  I was never prouder to call him my brother than I was through this whole experience.  While it was extremely difficult to go to that hospital room, I would not have wanted to be anywhere else.  It was a privilege to hold that precious boy.
I never got to meet Jacob Ryan Cosby, but I know I will someday.  I love him, and I hope I can live my life in a way that I can be an aunt to him in the life to come."

So those were a few excerpts from my journal.  It was a major learning experience for me four years ago so I just wanted to share a little bit of that here. 
Happy Birthday, little pal!  I'm sure he's the most awesome missionary on the other side of the veil.  I love you, Jacob!

Coach's Show

Last week, O and I went down to Provo to the Coach's Show with Dave Rose.  It is recorded at the Legends Grill on campus and is basically Greg Wrubell (voice of the Cougars and a legend) interviewing Coach Dave Rose and a player about the games the week before and the games coming up in the next week.  I was expecting there to be quite the crowd there to listen to this radio broadcast.  Boy, was I wrong!  We showed up, and it was literally O and I.  That's it.  Greg Wrubell was there getting set up.  There were a couple of guys helping him get set up.  And then there was O and I.  So so soooo funny!  We felt like such groupies. Eventually a couple of students came and sat in the area, and Coach Rose's wife was there.  We decided just to own the experience and have fun.  The guest player was Brandon Davies.  Love that guy!  Couldn't pass up a pic with him.  Yes, I am standing on a full blown chair and still shorter than him.  So funny!

 O and Brandon

Olivia chatted it up with Sis. Coach Rose during a commercial break, so we felt like we were pretty tight after that.  We got a pic with Coach Rose afterward.  Bottom line is that we are very funny.  Here they are just doing their little radio broadcast with O and I sitting there watching them.  And we couldn't even hear them very well because they were talking into headsets and to each other, not to us.  We were as happy as clams getting to be in the presence of these people we love though.  And that is probably the funniest part.  It was the highlight of the week!  Are we groupies?

I am on my tiptoes...Dave didn't like that.