Reaching

This is what Emerson's legs do when he really really wants something. He's reaching so hard that he stands on his tippy toes. (Even more than in the picture. It really defies all laws of physics.)

Oh, and he really does have two legs...the other one is just climbing up the couch cushion.

Wouldn't this make the cutest leg lamp ever?

New Vacuum Totally Sucks

...up dirt that is. Goodbye Dirt Devil, hello Hoover. My new vacuum isn't quite as deluxe as Lisa's Meile, but it's definitely a step up from what we had. :) Can I tell you how disgusted I was as I turned on the new vacuum and it started sucking up all kinds of crumbs and treatsies by the couch? I didn't even know they were there. I mean, I'd expect it under the table or something, but ew. *shudder* Let me also tell you that I didn't realize that our carpet was meant to be so fluffy. I guess it's just gotten more and more matted down and never re-fluffed because our other vacuum was dying a slow and painful death. It had lots of nubbies to mat it down because it was brand new when we moved in and it takes a lot of vacuuming to get rid of those. There were so many nubbies that I had to empty the large dirt cup (nod for Scott) after I vacuumed every room so as not to overheat the motor of my new vacuum. My belly feels so good. I could actually see the vacuum lines in the carpet. The air smelled clean. I could see what it was picking up. So satisfying. Emerson is even bonding with the new vacuum even though he's terrified of them. I love you, Hoover. But I think I still love Ben the best.

The Wiggles

This is what happens when we turn on The Wiggles. We sit back and let them do all the wiggling for us. Thank goodness for grown men who have no pride. Us moms would never get anything done without them. :)

Love This Boy

I can't help it. I just love this little body in pajamas. But I'm kind of sad that he's looking more like a little boy.

Where did those huge cheeks go? When did this neck appear?

Why do you love to push things around so much?

And how can I help but love you even when you wake me before 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning?

Banana Lovin' Fool

I have a love/hate relationship with watching Emerson eat. On the one hand, I'm so proud of him for being able to feed himself and I LOVE not having to sit there and spoon feed him. On the other hand, a lot of things about it make me cringe. Like watching the big glob of yogurt slowly make its way down his chin and not knowing whether it will seep under the bib or drop onto the bib and make its way into the nifty pocket. Or watching him shove an entire half of a banana in his mouth and pray that he chews before he tries to swallow.

Never Again

I survived day 3 cold shower. Nice repairman from Sears arrived promptly by 10 a.m. Saturday morning and restored hope. Never again will I take hot water for granted. Everything is cleaner--my dishes, my clothes, me, and one certain little boy who likes to get dirty very quickly. Ah...I love that Baby Magic scent. And I took a bath last night just for the sheer joy of immersing myself in warm water. Bliss.

Holding Out For Hot Water

It's amazing how the thought of a cold shower can ruin your day. You dread it, then you even exercise to put it off longer (kind of a plus). Then you decide to just brave the water because you're terrified someone will come to the door and see you in your sweaty-makeupless-crazy haired glory. Then you get in...and it's just as bad as you thought. You know when you're having a cold shower and you just can't bring yourself to put your whole body in at the same time? I couldn't do it. I bent over to wash my hair and just COULD NOT put my back in. And I didn't shave my legs. No big deal, right? Well maybe for a normal person. But if you know me, you know I have very hairy legs and I practically get a 5 o'clock shadow. So I shave daily. The lack of shave yesterday resulted in the wearing of long pants which kind of put me in a bad mood because it was so humid yesterday. (Are you seeing the pattern with my moods and extreme temperature changes?)

It's amazing how the thought of a cold shower two days in a row can ruin your day. Especially after kind husband has tried to relight the pilot light for half an hour but has then had to leave for school and you have spoken on the phone with customer service to some guy who is probably in India. Then he asks you if you're comfortable troubleshooting and this ultimately results in him telling you to pull out a wire from the ignition button. (Um...WHAT?! How is this going to solve the problem? I tried to do it but it wouldn't come out...so yeah.) The blow is eased a little by the fact that they're sending a technician free of charge even though the 1-year warranty on the water heater is expired. But then it evens out because he can't come until tomorrow...between 8 am and 5 pm. But hey, at least I don't have to wait until Monday right? Yeah, but I have one more cold shower to look forward to tomorrow morning. Don't worry though. I bit the bullet and shaved my legs today.

Big Fun In PA-Part 3

On day 5 we stopped in Amish Country. Certain individuals were really looking forward to Intercourse, PA (insert joke here). The boys left with a few "I heart Intercourse" mugs and pot holders and the girls just got some cute purses (with no Intercourse logo).

Uncle Brad got to share a room with us, and he was good about entertaining E. I had to get a picture of him sitting still because it doesn't happen very often. (E...not Brad)

Hee hee. We are all little berries.

Valley Forge stuff. It wasn't as good as Gettysburg as far as the trail being marked. It was really pretty small. Plus the park rangers were really crabby.

Little E trying to figure out how to work the cannon.

At the end of day 5 we arrived in Philadelphia! We made it to our hotel without incident, but poor Ashley had a heck of a time meeting up with us after work. We were so glad when she finally made it (even without a GPS!). Grandma J opted to stay with E since it was his bedtime while the rest of us ventured out to find the best Philly cheesesteak. My cousin Amy used to live in Philly so she recommended Jim's. We took our lives in our hands I tell you as we walked down the streets at night. There were some pretty scary characters there. Then when we got to Jim's there was a huge line. So we carefully studied how to order since they weren't very patient with anyone. In the end, we made friends with all the black people working there even though we were a little afraid because the cashier lady thought it was awesome that we were taking a sandwich home to our mom. :) Mmmm...I'm craving a cheesesteak right now just writing about this.

The next morning we woke up and got started with all the stuff we wanted to see in Philadelphia. We stopped by the U.S. Mint since it was just a block or two from our hotel. It was pretty neat. It would've been better if the machines had been running though. *Note: If you're ever going there, you can't take any cameras in. Not even if they're off or stowed in your bags. They made us designate someone from our group to stay behind to hold the cameras.

The Constitution Center. This was actually really cool. This was probably my favorite part of Philadelphia. Well, it's hard to pick a favorite, but this was so worth it.

Yay for duck tours!

E really liked his duck lips. He still hasn't figured out how to blow through them to make a quacking noise though.

Benny and me in front of Independence Hall

The Liberty Bell (All of this made me really want to watch National Treasure again. So we did...2 days ago)

The Betsy Ross House

Independence Hall

E playing his favorite game. He played this while we were on the go, in the car, at the hotel, you name it. The idea is that you have to guess where he may have gone. "Oh no! Where is Emerson? Did we leave him on the duck tour bus? Is he at the Liberty Bell? Is he playing in the grass? Did we leave him at the hotel?" At this point he would remove one or both hands and you could exclaim "Oh THERE he is!" We were unsure about the rules when he just removed one hand though. Can we see you or not?

Inside Independence Hall

And don't forget Rocky

I didn't.

Yes, we even ran up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (?) like in the movie. It wasn't even hard.

Philadelphia at night

I must insert here that in the quest for the perfect Philly cheesesteak we did try Pat's as well. After weighing both Jim's and Pat's, the general consensus was that Jim's won. And you all must try it with Cheese Whiz. It's soooo good.

After Philadelphia we drove back to Hershey and spent the last night there. In the morning we met up one last time at this delicious donut place called The Fractured Prune. Picture this: piping hot donuts with an assortment of toppings in such combinations to produce things like Reese's, samoas, french toast, cinnamon roll, mint patty, and so on. There are so many to choose from. After breakfast we said goodbye to Scott and started the long drive back to Columbus. We made it in pretty good time. When we got here we got some pizza and then went to Graeter's for a little closure. We were dreading the next morning because it meant saying goodbye. :(

The fam came over early and we cooked breakfast for them before their flight and then said our tearful goodbyes (tearful mostly on my part...I don't know why but I ALWAYS cry. And then I set off everyone else.) and we sent them on their way. When E was saying goodbye he stayed in Grandpa's arms and waved goodbye to Ben and me. He really wanted to go with them in the big van again and he cried when we wouldn't let him go. He loved having everyone here and he even learned to say "Pa" for Grandpa and "Ama" for Grandma. Thanks again for the wonderful trip Mom and Dad! It really was big fun. We would be happy to accompany you anytime. And yes, we'll bring E too.

Big Fun In PA-Part 2

On the third day, we did the Gettysburg tour. We didn't like the sound of the bus tours, especially with a toddler and no air conditioning, so we just got a cd and did the driving tour. It was MUCH better. There were tons of monuments along the way, and I feel bad because I can't even remember the ones that I took pictures of. But it was very interesting and the driving tour was well marked and easy to follow. I have a bigger appreciation for the Civil War. (I realized I made a mistake earlier by writing Revolutionary War. Allow me to explain. I accidentally wrote Valley Forge instead of Gettysburg because we also saw Valley Forge and I mixed the two up. Then when I fixed Gettysburg I forgot to fix which war. I promise I passed my AP US History test in high school...)




On day 4 we went to Penn's Cave. It is a huge underground cave and you ride in a boat through the cave on a little waterway. The stalactites and stalagmites were way cool...kind of reminiscent of our scary upstairs bathroom ceiling. There was also a wild animal tour, and it was ok, but none of the animals were even native to Pennsylvania--they were all from out west. Nothin' special for people from Utah. :)
As we drove to the entrance of the cave, we saw this huge field of sunflowers. Apparently they grow them to feed the animals. I just thought they were pretty.

E's nervous little face as we started the tour through the cave on the boat.
Some stalactites and the entrance of the cave.
The other side of the cave and the manmade lake. The early explorers made the lake by blasting through the cave. Pretty intense.
This was the coolest animal. It is a white wolf. The tour guide had to call to it a lot and it was slow because it was really old and decrepit. Oh, and our tour guide reminded us of Mary Steenbergen. (You know...Doc's girlfriend on Back to the Future...the one who has a very lined face and wavery voice?)

Big Fun In PA-Part 1

I'm finally able to blog about our trip! I had been looking forward to this trip for months and months and it was better than I even thought it would be. My whole family flew out to Columbus where we rented a very large unwieldy 12-passenger van so that we could all ride together. It would've been so lame to be split up among multiple cars. Plus, we never would've been able to fit all of Emerson's crap along with everyone else's. We had a great time yelling from the back of the van to the front and joking about echoes and the front of the van arriving 20 minutes before the back of the van. It was also very bumpy in the back of the van and there were a few bouts of car sickness and bonking of heads on the ceiling. But it was all good.

When my family got here, we ate a quick dinner together and then went to the Park of Roses and stopped by Jeni's Ice Cream. It was delicious as always. Then we celebrated Nattie's birthday (see post below) and got ready for the long drive ahead. On Sunday morning, we went to Sacrament Meeting then started our 6 hour drive to Hershey, PA to meet up with my brother Scott and sister-in-law Ashley. E did surprisingly well in the car. There were no major meltdowns, even when our 6 hour drive turned into an 8 hour drive because of bad traffic. We were so excited to see Scott and Ashley! We hadn't seen them since Christmas. But on the way, we stopped here...

Yes, you guessed it. The World's Largest Apple Basket. The size is a little skewed here since it IS Emerson standing in front of it. And he's like just over 2 feet tall.

It was pretty awesome. And there were baskets everywhere in this little Longaberger Village. Way cool.

E did really well in the hotel all the nights too. The first morning he woke up a little earlier than we wanted, but he conked right out next to Ben on our bed while I showered.

On our first day we went to Hershey Park and Chocolate World. I loved both of them! My mom was kind enough to stay with E while Ben and I went on big rides. She doesn't like rides and she was a really good sport to watch E most of the day. Thanks Mom! I think my favorite ride was the one at Chocolate World where they show you how chocolate is made. It was like a grown up Mr. Rogers. We actually went back another day just to go on the ride again. :) And E happened to love the kiddie rides! It was so weird watching my little toddler ride rides. He seemed so big...yet so small. It was hilarious. And I love that his arm is draped over the back of the bug in the picture. You have to know he's a little nervous though because he's sucking his thumb. That's the telltale sign.
Also a little uneasy about the train ride. But he loved it because he started crying when it was all over and he tried to climb back in.
And what could be better than riding a train with Grandpa? Nothing I say. He obviously felt secure enough with Grandpa there since he has no thumb in.
He really hated this fuzzy Reese's character. So of course Ben made him get a picture.

Well Hello Newman

This is my cute sister Natalie. And in our family, the nickname "Newman" evolved some years ago. It somehow stemmed from the character of Newman on Seinfeld. When my family was here visiting, it was Newmie's birthday. Since the whole fam has been gone for 2 of her birthdays, I decided to try to make it up to her by making these adorable cupcakes.

Look closely. Can you see the little matching shoes?

Estimated time for labor of love: 8 hours. It takes longer than you would think to roll out 120 gumdrops by hand, cut around the edge with decorative scissors, reroll the scraps to make sleeves, bake the 2 sizes of cupcakes, assemble the body, roll the crowns and cut them out, frost the cupcakes, arrange the gumdrop dresses, secure the little hands, pipe the decorative frosting, and then make faces and hair. I honestly had a great time doing it. And I was happy with the result.

No no, I cannot take credit for the idea. It's from this little beauty:

My friend McCall told me about this book and I heart it to pieces. It seriously made me giddy just looking through it. I love love love it. But I think it'll be awhile before I make those princesses again. At least until my carpal tunnel subsides.

Happy Birthday Nattie! Good luck in Disneyland on your semester abroad! Just remember that we're all jealous because you'll be living in the happiest place on earth...or close to it at least.

Daddy Time

So these pictures are old, but I had to make sure I posted them because they document that Ben had some free time, and I'm afraid that once school starts up again we're not going to see much of him. To be honest, when Ben has free time sometimes we don't know what to do with ourselves. It's nice to hang out at home and all, but neither one of us is in our regular routine so things can get a little frustrating, and I hate when I don't get things done. So we were sure to do some fun things.

Little E got to go on a pony ride at the zoo. He was a little nervous, so he had his comforting thumb in most of the time, but he really liked it.

Then he got a little wild and took the thumb out for this picture. :)

He also really liked the little boat ride at the zoo that takes you past the gorillas and stuff. We couldn't see the big moat the kept the gorillas away when we were on the ride, so we were kinda nervous that they'd be able to jump into our boat and eat our eyelids and lips. (Did you hear about that news story with the pet monkey?) Oh, and don't worry...there was a seatbelt, and E was tightly strapped in even though you can't clearly see it in the picture.

The next day of Ben's vacation was the 24th. We decided late the 23rd that it would be fun to take a trip to Cincinnati. We'd heard there were some fun things to do there, so we did a little research, booked a hotel room through hotwire.com, and we were on our way early Friday morning. The Aquarium was cool, but it was overpriced. It's one of those things you can do once in your life and be content. They also did not allow strollers, but did provide free child carriers. I guess it just gets too crowded and people can't see.

Here are Daddy and E looking up at the overhead fish tunnel. E was pretty mesmerized with the fish.

Here he is petting some sort of crab. He LOVED petting it. He'd start fussing and then point back at the crab and say "That!"

They had sharks too!

We even got to pet the sharks! I admit, I was terrified, and Ben had to get a little annoyed with me so I would finally do it, but it ended up being ok. We did not let E pet the sharks though. I was really nervous watching the other kids with their fingers in the water.

Me at some bridge. Now I can say I've been to Kentucky!

Ben and E at the Cincinnati Museum of Science and Natural History

The museum we went to was way cool. I would totally recommend it. On Fridays from 4-8 everything is free. They had a children's museum (which we did not make it to), a science museum, and a bunch of others that looked pretty cool. You can get into the science part for free if you have a COSI membership.

After the museum, we were pretty pooped, so we braved Cincinnati and tried to find our hotel AND food. We ended up getting to our hotel (which was sweet) and parking was a little inconvenient, so we just ended up ordering pizza to our room. Then we put Emerson down and hid by the bathroom until he fell asleep and played cards on a little table by the light of the bathroom. :) Not quite the romantic evening away, but it was still fun. In the morning, we made our way home through a horrific rainstorm, and I was picturing flying cows and such because I was pretty sure we were driving through a tornado. We were relieved to make it home.

*Updates to come soon on our trip to PA with the Johnsons!