Sleeping Schedules

Well it happened. About 3 weeks ago, Jackson learned how to roll over inside his swaddler while he was asleep. Troy went in to check on him one morning and he was on his stomach with his face smashed into the crib bedding. Bad. So the swaddler is no longer. One good thing about that is that he can wear jammies again, so cute! He is such a restless sleeper that he now sleeps in his bouncy chair which, for the time being, has kept him from rolling over and waking himself up. Luckily he is still sleeping like a champ during the night. We're still working on nap time, but I've started reading a book everyone raves about Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. I'll let you know if I discover any tricks. Here are some great pictures of Jackson falling asleep in various positions.

This happened while I was teaching Troy how to take blood pressures. Jackson apparently thought that was boring.


He falls asleep in his swing pretty often. His poor neck! Don't worry I transfer him as soon as possible and when I'm lucky he doesn't wake up in the process.

Pool Time

Jackson and I have been enjoying our pool time at our new apartment. It's a nice way to break up the day. Unfortunately when it is 110+ degrees the pool isn't very refreshing. It's sort of like entering a big bath tub. Which turns out to be good for Jackson because he rarely gets cold. It's been interesting to see Jackson's reaction to the water. Sometimes he gets a little excited but mostly he has this look on his face like, "Alright, if you people want me to do the water thing I can." He isn't mad and he isn't happy, just contently indifferent. Nevertheless he looks adorable in his swimming suit, hat and sunglasses so we (or maybe mostly me) have a good time!

Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers

We had a pretty exciting weekend at our house and I've failed to post on our doings thus far. Here we are at our first official Diamondback game. Yes, they played the Dodger's and yes, Jackson was dressed in opponent memorabilia. Doesn't he wear it well though? He got this outfit for Christmas before he was even born from my mom and we've been waiting anxiously until he was big enough to wear it. Perfect timing, right?


We went with our Arizona best buddies Matt and Stacy Serafine. Troy and Matt said all that got them through their first week of medical school was this game. Good thing we had something wonderful planned!Troy's favorite team has been the Dodger's for a while now. He was excited to see Manny play in person. He did pretty well even though the Dodger's ended up losing-- lame because the Diamondbacks aren't even good this year (so I'm told).


Sometime during the game little Jackson got bored and fell asleep. We put him in his car seat and I was thinking how wonderful it was to be able to kick back and enjoy the game whilst not worrying about entertainment for junior. Right about when that satisfaction was settling in was when Jackson woke up and began screaming. The stadium was too loud for his taste. There was a certain Dodger's fan sitting behind us that was particularly rambunctious. Jackson kept looking up at him with a scared face, then he his lip would curl into a frown and he would let out a long cry. I had to take Jackson out twice before the game ended. Then the stadium opened up and there were fireworks. Jackson really liked those. He was mesmerized by the lights... we just had to cover his ears so the blaring 80s music didn't get to him. Every outing with Jackson is an adventure. Go Diamondbacks! (and thanks to the Serafines for not getting sick of our little guy's wailing :)

Mesa Temple

On Sunday we went for round two of trying to visit the Mesa Temple. Last weekend we set off to visit and realized A. that we had less than a quarter tank of gas (which goes incredibly fast in the corolla's 10 gallon tank) and B. that Jackson was crying hard enough that the chances of him falling asleep were minimal and he was unlikely to make the 45 minute journey. We decided to reschedule. This past Sunday we made it to the temple without any problems and were able to walk around the temple grounds. We had no idea that the temple grounds were sort of in a sketchy part of town. We were surprised. We were also surprised to discover the temple grounds were huge! Much bigger than your average temple lot and they even had orange trees and perhaps papaya, we weren't sure. The temple and the surrounding landscape were beautiful.

When it's bright outside Jackson lets us put on his sunglasses for a few minutes. Sooo cute!

See? Big!

Student Doctor Bushman

Troy just finished his first week of medical school. Word on the street is that some professors really do address the students as "Student Doctor So-and-So." I know, pretty ridiculous. Troy and I laugh about that often. I like to address him as such at home. I think I should start asking him to call me "Nurse Brooke." Jk that's definitely over the top.

Anyway, I thought it would be sad if I passed up a post about Troy's official beginning to medical school. (Plus it's a good way to sneak in this picture of Troy which I love :) We have been waiting for this for so long. Now he's finally begun! The first week was a busy one. Troy put in 12 hour days most of the week with 7-8 hours on Saturday as well. He's a trooper! He's definitely dedicated to the cause.


Another good pic to sneak in. Doesn't Troy look super cool on his new bike? He rode it to school today for the first time. So far no injuries, the bike is in business.

2 Year Anniversary

Troy and I have been married for two years today. Two years ago we were gathered in front of the Bountiful temple with family and friends taking what seemed like an endless array of photos. Good times. I guess time really does move fast like they say it does. A lot has happened to us since we've wed and I can't imagine any of it without Troy. Life would certainly be dull without his laughter. Here's to many more anniversaries to come TJ. Love, me.

Our New Place

Even though we don't have everything in our house completely in order, I thought it was time to do a post about our new place. I absolutely love our apartment. This is good for two reasons 1. because I hadn't seen it before we moved in and 2. I spend A LOT of time here. Troy had seen a model of the place but he saw about 13 other apartments the same day and couldn't remember any specifics. Thank heavens it is safe and clean and spacious. It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms! Apartments down here don't come with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, it's interesting. We'll take it though because there is plenty of space for visitors! hint, hint. Allow me to take you on a virtual tour of Strayhorse #220. (Yes, "Strayhorse" as my mom said, we sure know how to pick complexes with excellent names.)

This is basically what you see when you walk in the front door. We have a big window that lets in lots of light and, unfortunately, heat. There is a nice balcony that will be featured later in the tour.

The entry way. On the left you find the master bedroom.
View from the family room into the kitchen.

Dining area. (I know, high class right? We actually have a special place for our table now.)

The kitchen. It has an electric stove that actually cooks things the same as recipes call for, it's amazing.
This is our pantry. We have a pantry! The other day Troy was saying we had nothing to eat. I was confused as we moved quite a bit of food I collected through couponing efforts. I asked him if he'd looked in the pantry. He said, "Oh, I forgot we had that." haha, no wonder he was hungry.


Bathroom. It is quite spacious. We store a lot of stuff in there, it's great.
Aren't they beautiful?! This is one of my favorite places in our apartment. Sigh.

Jackson's room. Notice the extra bed. It pulls out into a trundle. So that's where you will sleep when you come visit us :)



Master bath. Our bathroom is smaller, but it is off our bedroom! What a novel idea. We love it.

Master bedroom.Like the wall hanging my mom and sister created? I was beyond making decisions by the time we got to decorating the bedroom so they took over for me. I still have plans to add to this picture wall if the funds ever become available ;)


I know, walk-in-closets! You probably didn't want to see our clutter, but I'm so happy about these that I couldn't leave it out of the tour. Both bedrooms have one. I feel like we're in heaven. There is a spot for everything in our house and we don't have to use the shady villa rose storage closets! Jackson's closet houses my craft and scrapbooking supplies. For the first time since our marriage, there is nothing under our bed. It's a miracle.
Our balcony. I plan to use it a lot once it cools down. When you come to visit we will sip lemonade from this very spot. :)

And this is the view from our porch. We have this really cool tree right by the stairs up to our apartment. I think it's so pretty. Totally proof that not all landscaping in the desert has to be rocks with a cactus.

I stole the rest of these pictures from the Strayhorse website. Here is our weight room. I'm seriously considering using this room... but I'll still talk myself into it for a few weeks. I'll let you know if I convince myself.
And here is the famous pool. This picture make it look much bigger than it is. I'm not complaining I just think trick photography is funny. We've gone to the pool several times in the week and a half we've lived here. It is quite nice. The only problem is even at night the water is so warm it's like you are in a bath tub. It's crazy how hot it is here!


See those lounge chairs on the left? That is where we will lay out when you come to visit.

And that completes our tour. It's nice, don't you think? The best thing about this place is that the rent is very affordable for the area. I feel pretty good about the deal we're getting since we hear the missionaries live in our complex. I'll tell you if I still think we're getting a good deal after we get the first month's utility bills, yikes!

Rollin', rollin', rollin'

Jackson's first rolling episode occurred on our last night in the Villa Rose (July 30). He finally decided he hated his stomach enough to force himself onto his back. He was pretty surprised when he flipped. He looked up at us like, "What in the world just happened to me?" I suppose it didn't help that Troy and I, plus Aunt Ashley and Uncle Bryan who were there at the time, started cheering and clapping. Jackson was confused by the extra attention, but loved it all the same. Now he's got the skill from stomach to back mastered so well that he won't stay on his stomach for any length of time. Instead he flips to his back and then to his side and gets very frustrated when his arm prevents him from getting back to his stomach again. Here he is in action:

And here's Troy trying to entertain the little guy. He's demanding so much of our attention these days that we're having to be more and more creative with play time.

Late Birthday

Troy turned 29 on July 27th. 29, can you believe it? We were in the midst of moving so we didn't throw any exciting parties. He did give the okay to sleep over at my parents house the night before (which was way fun!) so we spent his Birthday morning in Bountiful. Anyway, to make up for lame excuses for celebrating we had a birthday surprise last night. I made Troy's current favorite for dinner (BBQ pizza) and I decorated our apartment. We had a good time although it wasn't quite the same since it was so late.

Troy is such a good husband and dad. He is an incredibly hard worker and his diligence and willingness to stick with things is inspiring. I'm sure glad you were born babe :) Happy late birthday!

4 months old

I can't believe Jackson is 4 months already. The time really does move faster with a baby in the house. Troy and I were talking the other day about how we can't imagine life without Jackson. He's such a permanent part of our family, it's hard to remember what it was like before he was born. His personality is becoming stronger every day. He wants to be moving all the time. I have to constantly switch from position to position to keep him entertained. I can tell he wishes he could just run around. He rarely holds still. Part of me wishes he could crawl, I think he would be a happier kid... however I know when he does make that jump I'm going to have a whole new set of problems on my hands. On second thought, we'll keep things how they are right now. Stationary on a blanket is good. As always I'll keep the blog updated with the ever changing accomplishments of Jackson Troy.

The Villa Rose #52

Villa Rose #52, our first apartment after we were married and the place where we became a family. It was sad leaving our old house behind as it had become such a part of us. We couldn't have ended up in a better place. I took some pictures of our first apartment so we could remember.

View out into the parking lot. This is what our building looked like too. There were three buildings positioned in a "U" shape with this funny house in the middle which served as the complex office. Rent for a one-bedroom "remodeled" unit (which meant we had a dishwasher and new countertops) was $540 per month the first year we lived there. This included gas, internet and cable t.v. The second year it went up to $580. It was such a good deal.

The Living Room

This is Troy working oh so hard getting things ready to move. Lots of paperwork and time on the computer.

The Kitchen

The Bedroom

We were so crammed in. It was wall to wall furniture. We were lucky the crib fit though.

The Bathroom

Hot water heaters were shared at this complex. There was many a Sunday morning we we had cold showers. 

We have so many good memories of this place! We had a great ward and great friends. I'm so glad we ended up there. Oh the Villa Rose, a little run down, but the perfect place to start out.