The Columbus Zoo

Tiger in his natural habitat

During orientation week, Ben got Friday off, so we decided to check out the zoo. It's pretty awesome. It's a lot bigger than Hogle Zoo, and there's a lot more to do. They have a little carnival-type thing with rides and a big waterpark. I'm thinking that next summer we'll be spending a lot of time there. Emerson was awake and alert the whole time we were there until we got to the climax of our zoo trip: the tigers. And of course, he was asleep. So we just took a picture of his best friend, Tiger, in his natural habitat.

Mmm....Rice Cereal

That about sums it up.

Our Little Monkey Boy

These pictures demonstrate how funny our little guy is. Ever since he discovered he can grab his toes, he's realized how useful his feet can be. He's decided that he prefers playing with his toys with his feet instead of his hands because they're longer and can reach farther, and they are good for making giant splashes in the tub. And his hands are usually occupied in his mouth. My little multi-tasker is quite the talented little boy.

White Coat Ceremony

We're almost caught up to present-day blogging material! These are pictures from Ben's white coat ceremony on August 11th. They read all the incoming students' names and put their (short) white coat on them after a few doctors spoke. Then they took the Hippocratic Oath and were dismissed to find their families and have ice cream sundaes. Mmmm...Graeter's Ice Cream...my new favorite. Ben's family was wondering why the white coat was short and my mom explained it best: "The short coat is kind of like the short bus." Good one, Mom. :) We'll look forward to the day when Ben gets to figuratively ride the long bus.

Cousins Are Cool

I forgot to post these cute pictures of Emerson and his cousin Kennedy. They were both tuckered out after a long Sunday.

Along the Journey

The Nauvoo Temple

Ben being sad because he had to take little man out during the Carthage Jail tour. (He'd already seen it so he took Emerson so I could enjoy.)

Such an innocent-looking fella

Here is weaselish Ben making E impersonate Joseph Smith at the well under the window at Carthage. (I totally didn't even get what he was doing at first, or else I might not have taken the picture. It is kinda funny though...)

*Shudder* The Indianapolis Motor Speedway which was close to the gas station where we were almost killed.

Our little cowboy at Fort Bridger

Melinda and Emerson bravely staring down the barrel of the cannon

Daddy and Emerson

Ugh...somewhere in Wyoming

Far West

Emerson pretending to be Joseph Smith at Liberty Jail

Looking out over the Mississippi. (After a long hot day in the humidity, we didn't look so good.)

Little E in his Snugli enjoying his freedom out of the carseat

Here are a few pictures of our journey across the country. It was a pretty long trip...a mere 1800 miles...but we stopped and did some fun things along the way.

David and Christine's Wedding

Our little man in his tuxedo

Yes...it even has a little pocket square!

Ben and Melinda at the temple

Our little family at the reception

The lovebirds coming out of the temple

2 days before we left for Ohio, Ben's sister Christine got married. We decided we'd delay our departure to Ohio so we could be there. (I know, that's big of us, huh?) It was fun to see them get married and we were glad to see them so happy together.
We had a great time dressing up for the occasion as well. Emerson got a brand new tuxedo so that he could match all the big boys. He didn't get a boutonnière though 'cause he'd just eat it. I think he looks rather dapper, just like his old man.

Breaking Dawn

I had to post this just to prove that my sisters and I did, in fact, go to Borders to get Breaking Dawn in the wee hours of the morn when it was released. Ben was off seeing The Dark Knight with his uncles and brothers for the second time, so I figured I should get to do something fun too! We didn't do any of the party stuff, it was just an efficient little errand. It was a nice last hurrah for the girls before I moved to Ohio. Aside from the dorky 40-year old trashy moms that were looking at risque books that cut in front of us in line (long story), it was a pretty good time. It was kind of spontaneous of us 'n' stuff.

Tuacahn

Aunt Nat

My Little Buttercup

The lil' Christensen fam

Nat with Marius and some other guy

For our last little hurrah with the whole family before we all move away, we went to Tuacahn to see The Sound of Music and Les Miserables. We had so much fun! Les Mis was amazing. Emerson was kind of fussy, and we thought he was teething or something, so my parents were great and helped take care of him so I could see the show. While we were in St. George, the boys went golfing and the girls went shopping, then we met up and went swimming while Emerson stayed with Grandma and Grandpa J. It was a great little trip and we were sad to see it end.

This Is the Right Place...Drive On! (Drive On?)

Here's a picture of us at the This is the Place monument. It was one of the field trips we got to do this summer with Grandma J. Emerson had a blast. I'm sad they're over! We had some good times. We got laughing really hard on the wagon ride because the tour guide said something about the trees being really old, and we were just being dumb about Brigham Young nourishing them with his touch and stuff. You just had to be there...sigh...But they know what I'm talking about.
As for the title of this post. Does anyone else see the humor in that quote? If it's the right place, er, shouldn't they stay right here?

In Honor of Batman

BatEmerson and Uncle Scott

The Dark Babyknight

"I'm not wearing hockey pants"

These just make me laugh. The night before we went to see The Dark Knight, we watched Batman Begins with my family. We got into a discussion afterward of how much my older brother, Scott, loved Batman ever since he was little. He loved Batman so much that my mom sewed him a Halloween costume before you could even buy one and she kept it all these years. She went and grabbed it out of the closet and we just HAD to try it on Emerson. He was wearing his jammies underneath--so they're not part of the costume. I love his big scary eyes, though. Uncle Scott flew him around the basement to fight crime while he was wearing his super cool costume. If I was a bad guy, I'd be scared of him.

Mommy and Uncle Brad Having Fun

This one's my favorite

Ok, these pictures are old, and I hesitated even posting them because it illustrates what a naughty mom I am. My brother Brad and I were laughing at how funny it would be to take a picture of Emerson standing by himself--purely joking--and then I was like "Let's do it!" Brad was the responsible one and showed appropriate hesitation at the idea, but crazy Mommy wanted to do it. So I was the one setting Emerson up and catching him and Brad snapped the pictures. If you look carefully at the right side of the pictures, you can see my nervous face. We never did get one where you can't see my hands though. Even I had my limits on how many times we could try.
*Note: No babies were harmed during the taking of these pictures

What the...The Olympics Are On?

I've chosen this for the title of this post because I've felt so out of touch with the world for the past 2 weeks. We left on August 4th to begin our long adventure cross-country. Was it long? Yes. Was it adventurous? Oh yes. Emerson contributed to both of those factors... He was actually a very good boy the whole way, but when we'd try to get in a few extra miles on the road when he was sound asleep, I swear he could sense it and he'd snap awake and start wailing like he hadn't eaten in weeks. Funny little guy. I don't know if he's noticed, but he's not really wasting away.
On the way, we stopped a few places--we figured we might as well since Emerson had to eat every 3 hours anyway. We stopped at Fort Bridger, Far West, Liberty Jail, Nauvoo, Carthage Jail, and the Abraham Lincoln Museum. It was pretty awesome so see so much church history (minus Honest Abe...but he's ok too. ;)) since I've never visited those places before. All in all, it was a good trip. I had a few panicky moments like when we were strongly encouraged to read the tornado safety guidelines (yes, guidelines and not rules) at our hotel in Nebraska, and most of all when we accidentally pulled into a gas station in Indianapolis and missed the sign that said "Stop here and die." Well...there wasn't really a sign, but I wish there would've been because we pulled in without really thinking. There wasn't a single white person in sight. I'm just kind of used to being the majority so I felt a little uncomfortable with the blaring rap music and secret handshakes and stuff. What scared Ben the most was when the pump didn't work and he had to go inside and talk to the attendant behind the bullet-proof glass. Nice. I was just praying they would let me live because I was sitting with my baby in the backseat. Let me just say that we gave a prayer of thanks that we lived. I don't think we'll be heading back that way anytime soon...or ever...except maybe for the Indianapolis 500...oh wait I forgot, I hate NASCAR. We were pretty thrilled when we pulled up to the new abode that night. Home Sweet Home.

Our new little house

WARNING: There will be a serious overload of posts in the next couple of days, so I do apologize, but I feel like I have to catch up a little.

Blog Slacker

Ok, I know I'm a total slacker...but I don't have internet in Ohio yet. Yes, we're officially living in Ohio now! Internet will be set up on Monday, so I promise to update with lots of pictures and fun stuff we did this summer in Utah.