first family vacation

for spring break {and to celebrate both of our birthdays} we took off to vegas for a little r&r. it was fabulous. danny's grandpa was so kind to let us stay in one of his time shares, which was absolutely beauuutiful. we brought my little bro along for the ride {and to babysit max while we went to the temple} but i think it's safe to say that he didn't feel used at all.

we left tuesday, right after my class, and drove all the way to cedar before stopping. we pulled into a little gas station, feed max, changed him into his jammies, read him a story, said prayers, and tucked him into his carseat/crib. he slept right up until we got to the time share. what a little champ. the rest of the night was a little chaotic...but we survived and woke up to a beautiful, blue sky.

we got settled in, went grocery shopping, played at the pool, and then in the afternoon headed down to the strip. we rediscovered how much we hate vegas, but we did have a good time at the bellagio. the gardens are amazing and the flowers smelled sooooo good.

he couldn't have been prouder of his nemo swim bottoms.

he kicked the ENTIRE time while in the water. that boy has got crazy strong legs.

apparently, all of the swimming wore him right out. he took a MEGA nap after we swam, and after patiently waiting...we decided to go in and wake him up.

{the gardens}

the most amazing nutella banana crepe that i have ever had in my life.

waiting for the water show to start. love that.

thursday we started out by going to the ethel m chocolate factory. supposedly, it's a great tourist attraction...but let's just say we were glad they at least gave us a free piece of chocolate. the cactus gardens outside were cool though. after that we went hiking in red rock canyon. it was the perfect temperature, and max was loving the pack. we lathered him up in sunscreen and had a great hike. that afternoon, we swam, then headed out to walk around the temple grounds and hit up the outlet mall. we also ate at this delicious restaurant, bj's. it was great.

such cute little stubby arms max has!

the vegas temple is beautiful!

friday morning we packed up our stuff, said good-bye to vegas, and headed to st. george. we checked into our hotel, then went to orange peel for smoothies, and snow canyon for some more hiking. we discovered this humongous cave that danny and bri thought was pretty awesome. that night, we put max to bed and left bri to listen for him while we did a session in the st. george temple. we had a wonderful time. that temple is absolutely breath taking. i love it.

and saturday {on danny's birthday} we headed home. before we left, we stopped to see my cousin curt, and his cute family. he is a seminary teacher down there and we would love to follow in their steps! on our way out, we stopped at kolob canyon and did one more great hike. we got to cross tons of little streams...we were feeling pretty adventurous. we even saw some wild turkeys.

though it was a great trip, we were so glad to pull into our driveway friday night!

claymation

my little brother is one talented guy. he has made hundreds of claymation videos...and they are GOOD! he has recently entered a video contest at his bank and needs your vote!

go here to give it five stars.

i have a feeling, one day he is going to help the guys who made wallice and gromit.

p.s. the video is called "the grass is always greener"

thank you!

news

so we have known about this so-called "day in april" for about two years now, wondering what that day would bring us. it was the day that my seminary trainers would call with either good news or bad news. they called. they didn't have news. they wanted to meet with us. isn't that a bad sign? they would probably show up with tissues for us! so we met them by the football stadium... odd, yeah we already know. you gotta know that my two trainers are the two greatest people EVER and whatever the news was we would still admire them and be grateful for their help. we were hoping for a yes but were confident that God is in charge and would take care of things, even if the answer was no.

long story short: they hugged us both, we cried, and then walked home.

clarification: they hugged us in celebration, we cried b/c we were SO happy, and we walked home in total gratitude floating on air. they said YES!

thank you all for the support and love and prayers. we don't know where we will be teaching in the fall, we will keep you posted.

we cannot express our gratitude and love for our Father in heaven and His wonderful plan. He is indeed in charge.

swings

when i was in high school my sister fini and i loved the song swing swing by the all-american rejects. but we never really knew all of the words so we would sing something like "swing swing swing from the tabletops, my heart..." we were sooo cool in high school!! ha ha.

anyways, speaking of swings, we went to the park the other day just hoping that there would be a baby seat on one of the swings... booyah! he seriously swung from the tabletops for more than 10 minutes! i did a few underdogs until jessie had a heart attack and made me stop, but he loves loves loves the underdog!

HE IS AWESOME!!!

month six

as mentioned below, max had his six month check up on my birthday. it went well {besides the fact that he had to get three shots...} but the doctor was a little disappointed with his weight. this is how he measured up:

weight: 2.71 percentile {yes, there is a period between the two and the seven}

length: 35.17 percentile

head circumference: 55.19 percentile

what i want to know is...who are the babies that they base this percentile scale around??? max seems like a decent sized baby but according to the charts, he is a little shrimp! i want to see a baby in the ninetieth percentile for weight!

the doc told me to up his feedings to twice a day instead of just once. last week we gave him mango's for the first time and let's just say he LOVED them. every single bite. after each spoonful he would follow it with "mmmmmmmm" in that cute little voice of his. i love him!

we had a little bit of a scare last week {the day after his shots} when he woke up with a fever of 103. conference weekend he just wasn't acting himself, but we just assumed it was the shots. on sunday night, when he woke up hotter than i have EVER felt {104} we decided it was time to go to the doctor. so early monday morning we took him in and found out that he had an ear infection. so sad. but luckily, they just got him on amoxicillin and he was back to his normal self within a matter of days. having a sick baby is no fun!

lately he has been fascinated with:

strings/ribbons/anything that dangles

textured surfaces

{he does the funniest little thing each time he feels something new. i'll get a video of it tomorrow and post it soon!}

cups

books

{basically he just tries to eat or attack them}

his two bottom teeth are getting bigger every day and i am almost positive that he has more coming in. he has been gnawing on just about everything in sight.

{sneek peek of our little vacay to vegas}

we love our little bubba. he is such a happy baby! every night when we lay him in his crib we say goodnight to the animals that are hanging in his mobile. he gets the bigggggest smile on his face and it is pretty much the cutest thing ever.

and is this picture not incredible?

{photo taken by dayna at our weekly mommy's lunch}

have you ever seen such cute little babes?? i love them all.

good day

today was a good day.

i finished up the last of my winter semester classes!! wooooohoooo. i seriously couldn't be happier. this semester was tough. now, only five classes left until graduation.

in my business class we made our goal of $1500...just barely! thanks to all of you who helped me out. {if you haven't received your first aid kit in the mail, it is coming!}

and glee started. i love that show.

p.s. we find out on FRIDAY what is happening with the rest of our lives. scary??? yes. but we are excited. please keep us in your prayers!

one year older

april is a favored month in the mckinley residence. two out of the three of us have birthday's in the month of april. on the second, it was my turn to have my special day. and thanks to my amazing husband, and loving family + friends, it was just that.

basically the entire week of my birthday was a party. on wednesday and thursday, max and i visited danny at work. oh my goodness!! those high school girls were ready to eat max up. even the boys loved him. we forgot to take clothes for him to change into, so he was in his footie pj's showing off to danny's classes. they loved it...and basically every girl in seminary wanted to hold him. it was so much fun to meet his students; they really are great kids. we sang a duet together in each of his classes and the spirit was always so strong. perfect activity to get us pumped for conference.

we've also been eating out {for FREE} the past few days thanks to e.birthday coupons. i love food...and it is ten times better when it is free! yoasis, red mango, noodles & co, fuddruckers, red robin, cold stone, baskin robbins, rubio's are some of the places that we've cashed in our coupons. i'm probably going to regret it when i step on the scale, but it was so nice to be able to go out and not have to worry about cooking when finals are coming up!

on my actual birthday, i woke up to find balloons and a little gift outside on the porch from my family. they are the sweetest. at ten, max and i walked to his six month doctor's appt. {stats to come soon...} he did great, until he got his shots. it seriously breaks my heart to see him scrrrrream like that, but it's for his own good {just like they talked about in conference!} danny picked us up and when i got home i found he had made the bed and placed birthday cards from his students all over. they were the sweetest cards, and so much fun to read. i love his students!

then...he sent me to the SPA. it was amazing. in one of my classes at byu, women from around the valley who have started successful businesses come speak to us. one lady started up a spa, primrose retreat. she gave us a fifty percent off coupon and i kept it up on the fridge hoping that one day i would find the time to use it. i haven't yet...and probably never would have had it not been for my husband! he scheduled the appt all by himself and told me not to worry about a thing. after a bath soak {greatest thing ever!}, massage, facial, and pedicure i was feeling like a queen.

when i got home, {more relaxed than i have been in a looooong time} we headed to my parents for a little birthday party. bekah {my sweet sister-in-law} was in town for her brother's wedding, so we got to catch up with her, which is always nice. we had yummy treats, and my mom made me the cutest abc scrapbook. i love it.

that night, we went to danny's mission reunion, where i got to meet his mission president who had traveled all the way from argentina! he is such a sweet, humble man so that was really neat.

it was a wonderful day, and to top it all off, the day after my birthday was conference...which of course was fantastic! thank you for all of the birthday wishes, and cards. i loved them all.

grandma debbie

max may be in the third percentile for weight...but he is in the ninety ninth percentile for finger painting skills! he thought long and hard about what to get his grandma debbie for her birthday, and finally settled on this:

i know, i know. you are probably amazed that he already knows how to spell. so were we! he is such a talented little boy. he wanted to make sure that his grandma knew just exactly how much he loves her.

he also wanted to make sure that it was a big surprise, so he asked us to wrap him up in his blanket {he is also eco-friendly} and he brought along this green bow to place on top of his head.

as he had predicted, it was a hit with grandma. she unwrapped him to find his personalized birthday message, right on his shirt. he is going to have a hard time doing better next year, but i have no doubt he'll come up with something great.

we love you {mom} grandma debbie!!

hope you had a wonderful day.

six

one, two, three, four, five, SIX.

can you believe it?? our little bubba is now six months old. that is half way to a year!! crazy. we haven't had his check up yet {i'm excited to see if that baby food is helping his weight gain at all!} but to me it seems like he is growing like crrrrrrazy.

last night i was going through a bunch of old pictures and i got caught up in looking at pictures from six months ago. it amazes me that in six short months our little man has gone from this:

to this:

he sure does have a LOT of personality. no matter where we are, people comment on:

1. his big, bright, beautiful eyes.

2. the energy he has. when he is awake and content...he doesn't stop moving.

3. his gigantic smile. it's contagious.

in the picture above i was trying to capture the latest milestone of his...he has TEETH. two of them right on the bottom. they are super cute {and crooked} but that explains why he has had such a weird sleeping schedule lately. they pretty much popped up out of no where.

to celebrate his {half} birthday we took a little trip down to st. george with danny's fam to watch aaron play soccer. we got there friday afternoon, went to olive graden with the team, cheered on weber state, and got max to bed really late. he was such a trooper though. we even let him bathe in the sink of our hotel room. he was loving it...and splashing ALL over the floor {oops!}

enjoying the beautiful sunshine with daddy

hanging with grandpa frank at dinner

cheering on uncle aaron with mommy

relaxing in the sink

on saturday we slept in, then aaron, missy, danny, and i went to the st. george temple. oh. my goodness. such a gorgeous temple!! i have never been to the temple grounds before and it is BEAUTIFUL. we got to do baptisms and had a great time. {unfortunately i forgot my camera} on our way out we stopped at the outlet's and grandma debbie couldn't resist getting this little easter shirt for max. he wore it today to church and looked like such a little man! where has our baby gone??

and this is his latest trick:

{he'll sit like this for minutes at a time...it is pretty entertaining.}

he seems to be learning sooo much and we love getting to know him more and more each day.

we love you maxie max!!!

king for a day

ps this is danny.

so this post is mostly for my mama who never thought this day would come! it took roughly three byu years, a regis transfer year, a couple of withdraws, a couple of d's, and some major flirting with professors... but i made it!!! i am a college graduate.

it feels good to be done. ive had the diploma for about 2 months, sorry mom, but wanted to put it in the frame and take a cheesy picture to show it off. thanks mom and dad for always encouraging me to finish, you're the best! if you can't read the small writing i have a double major of pre-med and pre-law, which some think isn't offered at byu (jenny) but believe me, IT IS. ok so i have a single major in sociology, but its pretty much the same thing.

my sister fini already did the doctor thing, and i totally would have but two docs in the fam would be too much so im going the seminary route. we find out in exactly 24 days what happens with our future. crazy eh??? if we stop answering phone calls after that day you can assume we have crawled into a deep dark hole. haha. just kidding. we can honestly say that God is in charge and He guides our lives. if He doesn't want me to be a seminary teacher, that just means he wants me to do something else and become rich!

as my brother matt puts it: faith. the answer is always faith.

just a couple more pics for fun.

we love you all

calling all mama's

lately i've had this desire to do be more crafty. i've been finding all these awesome craft blogs...and now have a list of {at least} ten projects that i want to get started on.

i LOVE this blankie idea

and this blog has tonnnnns of cute ideas. love them all.

the project though, that i've been most interested in starting is a quiet/activity book. there are some darling ones out there. {see here, here, and here.} but, goodness, they seem like a lot of work.

so. i thought i'd throw this idea out onto the ol' blog and see if any mommy's/mommy-to-be's are interested in joining a little "quiet book group."

i'm not quite sure how i want it to work yet, but i thought each mama that is interested could be in charge of one page {or a two page spread} and then we could send that page to each of the mom's in the group. {am i even making any sense??}

that way, each mom would just have to master one page...and it {seems} like it would be a lot less work.

i just wanted to see how many {if any} are interested, and then i can work out all the nitty-gritty details later. if you want to join the group, leave a comment or email me at jessie.lynn.george{at}gmail.com

p.s. happy st. patty's day!!

first's

{i am obsessed with those big brown eyes!!}

i don't know where this week has gone, but with school, seminary, a baby, and everything else in between i haven't been able to update the blog in a while.

we've been having a b.l.a.s.t. with our little guy. he is getting so much more interactive and is laughing multiple times a day. he's a tiny bit better at tummy time, is obsessssssed with my phone, still loves baby food, and has just recently begun letting danny put him to bed...some of the time {he is a serious mama's boy!}

here are some of maxwell's first's:

first {real} encounter with the sun. yay for spring time!! we can't wait.

first time clowning around. ok. i guess this was our doing...but it was awesome! the ring stayed on his forehead no matter how much he moved his head around.

first time letting danny put him to bed without screaming for one hour straight. it was awesome.

first day of "school". is it bad that we play around with him so much?? he probably thinks his parents are crazy. but with that little polo shirt on we couldn't help but think he looked like a little school boy.

first time being mr. potato head. again, max probably thinks he has the craziest parents. hah. this was not my doing though...danny told me to come into the room and this is what i found.

needless to say, we've been having fun over at our household. life is good. max is growing bigger every day. and we love it.

p.s. i've been a little blog crazy since max is taking a marathon nap. make sure to check out my last two posts as well!

first aid

a few of you may know about the entrepreneurship class i am taking at byu where i have to earn $1500 before the end of the semester or we fail the class. and if you know that, you also know that my group has earned $0. awesome huh??

not so much. BUT, the good news is that we re-vamped our idea and have come up with something pretty awesome:

first aid kits

{in a hot pad}

we are selling them for seven bucks a piece and they are awesome!

each kit comes with:

alcohol cleansing pads
germ-x antibacterial soft wipes
kleenex
flossers
cotton
gauze
safety pins
nail file
band aids
plastic gloves
and instructions on how to do cpr on adults, children, and babies

they fit nicely in purses, glove compartments, etc...and make excellent gifts as well.

{if you buy more than one, special deals are available!} colors of hot pad/buttons are customizable.

if you or anybody else you know is interested, let me know!

we can get them to you asap.

san fran

we are headed on a little vaycay next month {first family vacation with the three of us}...and we can't wait!! we'll be leaving ONE week before finding out if we get hired so we thought a little get-away would be much needed. {we'll be a tad bit stressed out}

we've always wanted to go to san francisco {danny went when he was a little boy, and i've never been} so if any of you have any recommendations as to what we HAVE to do, we'd gladly appreciate it!

spudalicious

two weekends ago, max and i ventured up to beautiful idaho for a little weekend getaway. {danny had a campout with the young men in our ward...he is such a trooper! camping in february??? no thanks!}

my cousin jordan got married to a cute girl, inna, originally from russia. so my family went up and we decided to tag along. it was a fabulous trip. besides the fact that i was husband-less for almost three days. that was definitely no bueno.

we arrived friday afternoon just in time for the sealing in the rexburg temple. it was wonderful. i'm glad i was able to be there. then, we went back to rigby and rescued a screaming max from uncle bri. the rest of the day, we relaxed, had a stamp group with my aunts, watched the olympics, had a yummy dinner, and taught my fam how to play monopoly deal.

saturday was spent playing more games {i love games with the georges!} and getting ready for the wedding reception that night. there was a big family dinner at five and in between the dinner and the reception, max and i went to see my bff meagan, and her husband ryan, and cute baby brinley.

i LOVE them. it is always soooo so good to see meagan...especially since we are living the same lives right now {more or less.} we are both crazy busy with school, being new mommies, and trying to be good wives, all at the same time.

remember this post? scroll to the bottom and you'll see a younger version of max and his girly-friend, brinley. they are basically the cutest babies...ever. and totally destined for each other. well, no matter what happens between them, we sure do have a lot of fun together now! {too bad we live four hours apart though.}

all-in-all, it was fantastic! thank goodness for spur of the moment getaways.