Surreal!

It's just too surreal how grown up Dylan has become in what seems to me as such a short time. Here are a couple pictures worth doting over. (As are all pictures of this little cutie!)

This adorable blanket was made by Steve's Aunt Jean. She started it before Dylan was even born and it turned out AMAZING! I even snuggle with it sometimes...shhh...don't tell. :)

The other day there was a person moving in close by so Dylan attentively watched the movers take things off the truck. He was literally glued to the window. I was saying his name when I took this picture, but nothing could deter him from the excitement.

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Guess who's walking...

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Appreciated only by those parents who are music lovers...i.e. Steve & Jessi

Jay & Carlos gifted Dylan with the above CD and I'm IN LOVE WITH IT! Seriously. For typical parents of infants on the brink of toddler-hood, the tracks on this album will come across as nothing less than creepy. To parents much like Steve and myself, the tracks come off as pure genius. I am dying to obtain the full collection of these which include lullaby-style versions of songs by artists like Metallica, Tool (maybe not so much on this one), The Beatles (must have this yesterday!), AC/DC, The Beach Boys, Bob Marley, The Cure, The Eagles, Pink Floyd, The Pixies, Radiohead, The Rolling Stones, and Nirvana. I'm giddy with M.O.T.Y joy!!

xo,
Jess

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Valentine's Day/Weekend 2009

Here's a pictoral of our Valentine's weekend happenings. It was music filled, friend filled, food filled, and fun filled. Alliteration overload. Take a peek into our lives, it's pretty grand to be us.

Steve, Craven, & Radin getting everything set up for some music and chit chat.
Radin doing what he does, swooning the mic.
The boys chit chatting between recording tracks.
A little more chit chatting.
Check, check, one, two. How's it sounding?
Tune it up, love.
Steve asked some pretty funny questions which, in turn, spurred the infamous smile. Apparently it makes girls go nuts. Agreed.
On a more serious note...
Sweet ankle socks and some more interviewing.
The buddies posing for a little bit of self-promotion from both parties. :)
La Grande Orange for a post interview brunch.
Skip forward a few hours after a 30-minute power nap, shower, and sprucing. On our way to Zen 32 for dinner.
The group at the show. It may appear as though I'm the one holding the giant pitcher of beer and am alcoholically excited about it. In reality, I didn't drink a sip that night.
Joshua performing at The Clubhouse in Tempe. Unfortunately he expressed to Steve and I that he'll never play there again. The sound was HORRIBLE. Joseph Arthur had the same issues 2 years ago. Needless to say, he's still yet to ever return to Phoenix for a concert. :(

Post-Tempe show. It was said after the taking of this photo that we looked like we were either going to a wedding or a funeral. Steve was my driver. Haha!
Be careful. It seems as though I'm hungry and WILL eat you...in one singular bite. Yum.

There is an amazing diner in Tucson on Congress St called Grill. It's sort of half diner (I'm talking 50's style with the booths, bar, tile, mirrors, stainless steel, the whole sha-bang) and half bar. The bar side had this amazing painting of Bob Dylan on the wall so since he's our munchkin's name sake, I had Steve take a picture of me with it. Classy.
We stayed at the historical Hotel Congress. It was built in 1919, John Dillinger was finally captured from there, and it's most definitely haunted. So much fun to stay here. The concert was literally right below our room too. Our room was, by the way, one of 40 something in the entire hotel. Sweet!
This is the lobby. Notice the mailbox type thing behind the counter. That's where all of the room keys are (and stay). When you leave the building, you turn your key into the desk tenant and they give it back to you when you return. So old school I love it.
This was a lamp on a table outside of our hotel room. Full on bronze statue.
Our room: 203.
Here's the layout of the entire hotel which is only one floor. I didn't lie, only 44 rooms in the entire hotel.
The sweet carpet in our room.
The bathroom. The original shower hardware was still exposed above the newer stuff they'd put in. Also, a majority of the rooms at the hotel only have a toilet and sink, not shower or tub. How cool is that?!
Our two twin beds. Aw how sweet huh? The desk had a rotary dial telephone that you didn't call directly from. You were to pick up the receiver and the desk tenant downstairs used the switchboard to place your call. Amazing! Also on the desk is a classic radio with the dials and nobs and everything. I loved staying here!
The beds were so tiny. My face was so large. Teehee.

Jesse Harris performing on the Club Congress stage. He plays every one of his songs on a banjo. You just don't see that these days. His voice is solid and his lyrics are delightful. A little trivia for Mr. Harris is that he's actually Josh's guitarist. Cool huh?
Another hot new(er) performer is Meiko. She sings the song "Boys with Girlfriends". She used to be a cocktail waitress at The Hotel Cafe in LA and was sort of discovered when she picked up a guitar and played a song or two in front of her friends she would serve whiskey. The rest, is history in the making.
Josh pulled her on stage to sing with him...harmonious.
Me & Meiko. I look a little...well...disgusting. I started out looking cute this night I promise. Somehow I felt it was necessary to pull my hair back far too tightly and look a bit man-esque. We talked books and she encouraged a few good reads. I'm excited to check them out.
Me and Joshy-poo. Only half way to manhood, but I find it eery how related we look. Long lost big bro? Haha!

This whole weekend was so much fun. Rarely do I get confident that everything is going to work out exactly as planned/anticipated but this adventure ceased to be a failure. Can't wait to start bringing Dylan along with us to shows like this. A few musician friends of ours have been around since I got pregnant last year and have been dying to meet the little dude, he's just barely too little still. There was this adorable little boy who had to be about 3 or 4 who passed out halfway through the concert. He was so stoked to be there at the beginning but just couldn't make it all the way through.

Woo! That's all for me. How'd you spend your Valentine's Day/President's Day Weekend?

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Valentine's Treats

I aimed to accomplish two things when making these tasty treats: 1) Make "valentines" for Steve to bring to work (since I'm not working, I can't spoil my own co-workers) and 2) emulate pink frosting cookies (you know, the ones in the grocery store that barely last on the counter for more than 30 minutes). My own personal opinion, I think I did pretty well. I just used my perfect sugar cookie recipe and cut out cute heart shapes. Then tinted Pillsbury Creamy Vanilla flavored frosting on top and voila! The trick to making the frosting a little "crusted" or "stiff" is to let them air dry for about 30 minutes to 1 hour. The moisture from the Creamy style frosting will keep the cookie and frosting beneath the surface still super soft.

xo,
Jess

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Our Silly One-Year-Old (Say What?!)

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A Day at the Park w/Popi

Last weekend I went out to Mesa to get all of the supplies I needed to decorate for Dylan's birthday party. I decided to bring my mom and sister Shannon along because they're always so much fun to find stuff with and they're thrifty like me. :) The ladies picked me up from the train station and we dropped Dylan off with Popi while the three of us went on the hunt. Popi got Dylan a wagon for Christmas that they keep at their house (partly because we have no where to store the thing here) so they took a little trip down the park in Grammy and Popi's neighborhood. Dylan played in the grass, on the swing, and the rocking animal. Thanks for the pictures Popi!!

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The Birthday Party!!

Today was Dylan's 1st birthday. I'm so happy we survived year one. ;) He's such a good baby, there's little to complain about. More and more lately, he's developed the ability to "take advantage of us". He knows when we'll respond to him, pick him up, feed him. Dylan is adorable. I'll dote on him today...like I do everyday.

Of course I threw him a party. I want to thank everyone who came. Family & friends, Dylan, Steve, and I really appreciate having had you all in our home today to celebrate this special day.

Below is a picture re-cap of today's events:


A view of the decorations from the living room. Made the hanging decor, banner, and month-to-month picture line.The spread on the table.

The drink station.

The pizza station.
One half the picture line.
The other half of the picture line. Each clothespin had a cute month sticker (Thanks for the scrapbook kit for Christmas Melissa!) with a coordinating photo from that month. Yes, I'm a nerd.

Eating his Tonka car. Naturally.
Hanging out with Popi & Grammy.
Hi Steve!
Playing it up with Liam.
Hmm...I think I like pizza. Well duh, your Daddy practically lives off the stuff.
Family grubbing on some Oregano's pizza.
Sandi grubbing on my makeshift bench. Thank goodness for sturdy coffee tables, a softy throw blanket, and some throw pillows.
Creepy candid guest photo.
Someone was totally confused as to why everyone was singing this silly song out of key.
Dad brings on the deliciousness.
The progression of the discovery of his birthday cake is as follows: Unsure at first.
Discovering that the cookies are very tasty.
Digging in to the goodness...AKA demolishing the sugar cookie cars.
There we go. A nice big mess. Much thanks goes out to the 54" round table cloth I used as a "drop cloth" underneath his high chair. I surely wasn't about to forfeit our security deposit by ruining the new carpet with gooey cake icing. :)
Everyone pooped out after all of the pizza, present opening, and cupcakes.

All of this was a ton of work for me since I took it upon myself to make the decorations, make the cake, host the party at our house we just moved into 2 weekends ago (i.e. paint, move, organize, decorate, maintain sanity and a regular household eating, sleeping, bathing schedule), but I wouldn't have traded the experience and sheer joy that came from it all. I can't wait to embark on the journey to year two with this little guy. Keep a close eye to the blog (like I'm sure you already do) to see the latest and greatest.

xo,
Jess

P.S. Thank you for all of the lovely gifts and cards from all the family so far away that couldn't be with us today. There was plenty of video footage that I'm more than happy to slap onto a DVD and pop in the mail for you if you'd like one. Just let Steve or me know. :) Dylan misses you all and greatly anticipates the next time we can all be together. All of our love goes out all over the country.

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