First Dentist Visit!

Oscar had his first dentist visit this morning! I was worried going into it how this was going to go, I mean he is only three, and the dentist can give adults heart palpitations. Oscar did great, and was a champ! He selected bubble gum polish and after his check up received a big Spiderman sticker, bracelet, and squishy frog as well as a bag full of teeth cleaning goodies. Since he did so great, we took him for a blueberry scone to celebrate a successful first dentist visit. 

thirty

Thirty thoughts/facts/whatever about Jessica 

1. I was born on May 17, 1982. My due date was April 28. I was 20 days late.

2. I have a .500 average of being on time. See above.

3. Favorite ice cream- mint chocolate chip.

4. I love the color red. My favorite shade of red is one that has slight ultramarine blue undertones.

5. I only buy neutral color vehicles. Silver, Silver, Taupe.

6. I love vintage. Mid Century is the best for furniture and house wares. The 20’s are the best for jewelry.

7. My favorite number is 16, has been since I was six.

8. I have a serious fear of odd numbers.

9. I could never go on a silent meditation retreat.

10. I have read six biographies on Queen Elizabeth II.

11. Reading Jane Austen makes me so happy. Watching that horrible Kiera Knightley movie makes me sad.

12. Nicknames my family calls me are J-cat and Jetski. (I cannot make them stop)

13. When I was in high school, I never broke curfew. Looking back I wish I would have been a little more rebellious.

14. My dream job would be the curator of the Kimbell Museum, if it were located in France, not Texas.

15. My dream retirement would be to grow lavender in the south of France.

16. Favorite snowball flavor- wedding cake

17. If I can make Chris laugh, I think I am awesome.

18. I love all forms of coffee- drip, espresso,lattes, iced, hot, whatever.

19. My first car was a Buick LaSabre. I looked very cool in it.

20. I love handwriting and lettering.

21. My favorite Crayola color as a child was Cerulean.

22. I have never seen an episode of the Simpsons.

23. My first concert was New Kids on the Block.

24. Softshell crab is the best food in the entire world.

25. I love to play basketball; I love it even better when I show up Chris.

26. I am very competitive, so is Chris, there is hardly an activity that is just enjoyed, there usually has to be a winner.

27. I love my siblings. They are the best friends anyone could have.

28. My family is very loud, it can be overwhelming, you just have to jump in and talk loudly.

29. The I-55 bridge and the Causeway give me anxiety. You are just a tiny metal guardrail away from Lake Ponchatrain.

30. Favorite birthday cake- ice cream or vanilla salted caramel with buttercream icing. 

Jurassic Oscar

The Museum of Idaho  has an exhibit Teeth, Tails, & Trouble that has been running since January. The whole exhibit is dinosaurs, and the main piece is the largest, most complete T Rex in the world. Oscar was very excited about going and seeing dinosaurs. Sue, the T Rex, is from the Field Museum in Chicago and has traveled to Idaho Falls with several other dinosaur companions. 

When we got to the museum, Oscar was a little scared to go in at first, believing there were going to be real dinosaurs like at the zoo. Oh to be a child again! Soon we were in the museum and face to face with Sue. It was pretty incredible, and I was impressed by how many complete skeletons they had in the exhibit. It is wonderful that we get to see such great exhibits, there next one is King Tut! 

Oscar playing in the "old west cabin". 

Jr. Ranger Oscar

It was Jr Ranger Day at Grand Teton National Park on Saturday. Children were invited to take part of various activities that rangers do everyday and earn their Jr Ranger badge. Some of the activities included touring the fire trucks, ambulances, rock climbing, identifying animals, etc. Oscar learned how the rangers help put out wildfires at the fire truck and turned the sirens on in their SUVs. Inside he helped identify animals based on their pelts and climbed up the rock wall inside the visitor center.  Teton Raptor Center was also there with a Golden Bald Eagle and a Great Horned Owl for you to see up close. Seeing owls up close is crazy, they are so magnificent, and the work Teton Raptor Center does is wonderful. At the end of the program, Oscar earned his badge and is now an official Jr Ranger of Grand Teton National Park, which comes with many benefits, and I am sure, a government paycheck. 

Getting Ready for Rock Climbing

Great Horned Owl

Putting Out Wildfires

Calling for Backup

Organizing Our Recycling Center

We recycle at the jauberry house. If you live in Jackson/Wilson, you recycle. If you do not recycle the townspeople will chase you out with pitch forks and torches blazing. 

When I first moved here and had people over, they brought beer. As we were drinking someone finished their beer, in a glass bottle, and asked, "where is your recycling?". I said, "I do not recycle." You would have thought I said I did not believe in democracy or that I thought the earth was flat. Then Chris moved here, we had even more people over, and it became abundantly clear that we would have to start recycling or be chased out of town.  So we started recycling. Then I understood why people were so upset. There are so many items that can be recycled and not placed in our ever growing landfills. It was a real eye opener, and I am glad we moved to this granola town that forced us to follow their local custom of recycling. 

Our recycling system was pretty archaic. We had several grocery bags all over the floor in our garage and each item, (i.e. plastic #1, glass) went into each bag. This took up so much garage space and was not the most creative thing. We have been looking for a vertical system, but the containers are never big enough, then we found these Suncast 18 gallon containers:

They were perfect, so we bought six and installed them in our garage on Monday. We also have a three tired white tray system for the three different types of paper so we do not have to sort them at the recycling place. We are just a recycling center of greatness. If only my twenty-three year old self could see me now, she would not be impressed, she would wonder why I caved into the townspeople.

Here in My Car.......

Parker came over yesterday and they had a great time playing outside in the wonderful weather. We rode our bikes around the neighborhood, played baseball, and of course, rode around in Lighting McQueen. I have no idea how these two fit into the car comfortably, but they rode around together all afternoon. They were cracking up laughing and just having the best time. 

Robert + Betty

Today is my grandparents 55th wedding anniversary. 55 people! What is even crazier is that they have actually been together for 67 years. 67!! Which means that have been the cutest couple ever since they were ten.  What is the most amazing part is not how long they have been together, but how they still love each other. They are so sweet to one another and they have a great friendship. Their "fights" are even cute, and of course, my grandfather loves to get on her nerves just like he does with all of us.  They are amazing, and such a blessing to all of us. 

Spring/Summer Wreath

Our front door has been without a wreath since the end of February. Obviously this has been bugging Chris to death since he loves wreaths, and really, loves all types of decor. I think it is a waste of money, but I go along with him because I love him so much. I even agree to make the wreath for him and our house even though I do not think we need it. That is just the kind of self sacrificing wife I am.

I went to the local fabric store and selected three colors I thought would be great for spring and summer so I would not have to make another one in three months. I selected a leaf/chartreuse green, a pool/robin's egg blue, and a perfect shade of red to coordinate with our existing Adirondack chairs on our front deck. After  creating the front door wreath, I realized I had enough fabric left over for a second one, so I made another for our back deck to hang on the house, since we have a sliding glass door. Chris is just happy that we have a wreath on our front door again. You have no idea how upset he has been and the sleep he has been losing over our wreath-less front door. 

front door

backyard deck

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Obviously the Easter Bunny loves Oscar- a lot! The Easter Bunny gave him candy (thanks mom), lots of Cars socks (thanks mom), a badminton set, a water gun, a bubble wand, and other goodies. He was very excited about everything, especially his Cars socks. He would have to wait to dive into the candy until after mass. Church + sugar + toddler boy = chaos.
After mass we had several friends and their children over for Easter brunch/ Easter egg hunt. Our egg hunt is better than the one in town where parents are fighting parents for eggs that contain a five cent bracelet. Our Easter egg hunt is so cool two Buzz Lightyears stopped by to join in the festivities.
We  had brunch after the egg hunt which included some dishes as praline topped french toast, mini frittatas, lemon glazed poppy seed muffins, smoked salmon, and mimosas.  We were also blessed with the most fabulous Easter weather. We were able to eat brunch outside on the deck, and by 11:30 everyone was practically in short sleeves, which is a big deal for us mountain people. We could not have asked for a better Easter day.

How cute are Parker & Oscar!

Last Day of Skiing

As many of you know, we are training Oscar to be the next great skier, so we can retire at forty. Summer will soon be here and we will once again be training him to be a professional baseball player, so we can retire at forty. I feel for children whose parents place so much pressure on them, clearly we are not those parents. Lucky Oscar.

We took Oscar out on Saturday to get one more day of fun (training session) in before the village closes for the year. We met the Gotham's there, it is so much fun watching Parker and Oscar ski together. It will not be long before they are taking runs by themselves and pretending not to see us when we wave at them. 

It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Hannah Banana

Eating breakfast together on Thursday morning, at a cafe, made me wish I did not live so far away from Hannah. Having breakfast with your sister and talking about life and nothing at the same time is a wonderful thing. Our visits home are usually a little crazy because of home many people and moments you are trying to compact into several days. It was lovely to have so much time with Hannah to just be and not have to worry about anything. 

Six days went by way too quickly, and we had to say goodbye to Hannah. We were all so sad, and it took Oscar two-three days to not ask where Hannah was in the mornings when he woke up. I am sure Hannah misses us, but does not miss the 7:30am wake up calls.......

Easter Egg Dyeing

Hannah was a super star during her trip because she stayed home with Oscar for three days. Oscar is great, and I could not love a person more, but......he talks.... A LOT. Picture a person who wakes up at 7:30am and begins talking and does not stop until 8:00pm. It is my fault, this is payback for all the years I talked non-stop and drove my own parents crazy. Some people lied, broke curfew, I talked and talked and talked. 

Hannah was a trooper. She did so many projects with Oscar and I wish that she would move in with me and be my nanny. 

One project we did was dye Easter eggs. Hannah and I were excited about the possibility of deviled eggs, and of course sharing a first with Oscar. I think dyeing Easter eggs is for girls. I can remember dyeing eggs and coming up with all kinds of designs, and being patient while they dyed. Boys drop the eggs in the dye and immediately want them to be ready. Then when they are not, they pretty much get over it and say they want to play Buzz Lightyear. 

Oh well, Hannah and I got our deviled eggs, and they were delicious. 

Hannah in Jackson!

Hannah came to see us for her Spring Break, and we were blessed with great weather her whole trip! Her first day here there was a concert at the village, so we packed up dinner and headed to the village. We rode the START bus, and met up with friends. Oscar brought his bike so he could keep himself occupied while we hung out with friends. It was a great start to Hannah's trip and we were so excited to have her all to ourselves!