Uncle Jacob

This is our Uncle Jacob. He has been called many things in our house, including "Gaycup" and "Jakebub" and he is one of the people we love most in the world. He has been around so much, he is like a third (more fun and less grumpy) parent. On Sunday, we had to go to the airport to send him off to Iraq. It makes us very sad and proud of him at the same time. There's lots I could say about Jacob, but I will just say that we all love him. May Heavenly Father watch over him and keep him safe until he comes home again.

These are pictures from his send off. It was especially hard on Joe and Holly (who always seemed to be taking pictures when I was and so didn't end up in any of our pictures)

The day before he left, he had the afternoon off from training and so he and Holly came us to the aquarium and then to see Toy Story 3.

Jake and Holly were nice enough to play duck, duck, goose with Porter and Dallin the last time he came over.

This is just an odd assortment of pictures that I have with Jacob and the kids. He wasn't here when Porter was born, he was on his first deployment to Iraq, but since he came home, the boys have pretty much never been without him in their lives for more than a couple of weeks. Dallin, especially, has loved Jacob with his whole heart basically since he was born.

Since Dallin was born, we have never spent a Christmas without Jacob

As soon as Porter met him, he loved Jacob too

Father's Day

(these are paper dads that Porter and Dallin colored. Dallin gave Joe a long purple scar. Porter put him in red because it is Joe's favorite color)

Sometimes it is easy for me to dwell on Joe's shortcomings (at least in my perception) but I know my boys know they have a good daddy. He works hard us but always has time to say hello if we drop in to visit him. He picks them up at daycare and gives them dinner (sort of) three nights a week. He plays soccer with them and rides bikes with them. He tries to teach them to take care of their things and put things away. He tries to help them learn to be independent, able to build Legos, color pictures, etc. on their own. He helps them get the things they need. For example, he took Porter to buy new soccer shoes on Saturday, since he going to start playing this week. He stopped working on Saturdays so that he could do things with us, like going to the dinosaur museum or the zoo or even just taking care of the yard. He protects them. He makes sure they don't ride their bikes in the street. He also been known to stare down some naughty little boy or two at the playground who are playing too rough to otherwise threatening Porter and Dallin. Sometimes, he even protects them from me. Once I took Porter's drink away at a restaurant because he wasn't eating. While Dallin and I were in the bathroom, Porter called Joe on my phone and told him that I had taken his rootbeer and was being very mean. Joe told Porter to eat his lunch and instructed me to return the rootbeer. He is a good dad who loves Porter and Dallin very much. One of my favorite things is when Joe and I can talk about all the funny little things Porter and Dallin do and say.

what happens

This is what happens when two boys are left alone with markers

Daycare picture time is here

It is time for daycare pictures again. They mostly turned out pretty well, though a little funny. The worst is the one of the two of them together though.

gymnastics

here are a couple of pictures of Porter doing his floor routine. I forgot to put them in before and I can't figure out how to insert them where I want them in the post

Saturday was Porter and Dallin's gymnastics tournament. They are in different classes now so they did their routines at different times. I was so proud of them both. Dallin was nervous about doing it without Porter but he bravely went on, waving to us from each event. On the beam in Porter's group, they gave them to the choice to dismount with a cartwheel or just by jumping off. I was sure Porter would decide to just jump but he didn't, he did his cartwheel so nicely. I wish I had better pictures. It seems that everything was blurry or a spilt second off from the good part.

Here they are warming up

the bar routines

floor

beam

floor again

vault

trophies, pins, and certificates

afterward, they relaxed in the bath. Porter decorated the walls with the bathtub colors and made himself a hat