Long Lost Playmate

Tuesday the 24th was our one year anniversary of arriving in Norfolk, VA for our 10 week stay at the "Holbrook Hotel." Brad & Heather missed us so much and thought the 24th should be celebrated they decided to come to Salt Lake for a quick visit. Actually they were in town for Heather's brother's wedding, but we like to think they came for us. Even though their time here was packed with wedding stuff, we were able to see them for a few hours and get the girls together again. Emily was very excited to play with Ella and show off her kitchen and dress up clothes.



It's hard to believe it's already been a year since we made our way across the country. Our adventures back East began a year of challenges and experiences we had never faced before. I remember missing home so much I can’t imagine how I would have dealt with moving away for Jeff’s grad school. I am so grateful to live close to family. To be completely honest I struggled with the tight quarters we stayed in and the lack of having my own house to run too. I also remember struggling with the time change and calling home and waking people up in the morning. While there I also began a spiritual growth spurt in response to a personal trial. I am still learning and growing from it and am grateful for the spiritual increase that this trial has brought to my life. But I guess that's why we have trials, isn't it? To stretch us and mold us to the best person we can be.

Our time in Virginia was definitely surreal to us. Jeff related it to going on a mission – while you’re gone you expect time to hold still back home. We truly felt like we pressed pause on our life here and spent 10 weeks in a completely different one. We enjoyed seeing the sights in and around Virginia as well as up the coast and over to Pennsylvania. I enjoyed having a neighborhood to go out walking in and a backyard to play in as well. I loved how there was such a variety of places to go with Emily and it was nice to have the beach so close. I also enjoyed the opportunities we had to get to know Brad, Heather, & Ella better. I know there were plenty of times every one of us were in need of some time away from each other – like when we were together for two weeks straight and then spent a week together driving around in the van -knowing the whole time that once our trip was over we had to go back to living with each other after. But even with those rough moments we had a lot of laughs and created a lot of good memories. So I know I’ve said it before, but thanks again Brad & Heather for putting up with us for so long and being so generous and welcoming. We appreciate you opening up your home to us. We are hopeful for your return to Utah or at least to the West so we can see you more often. I guess when you’re here for Brad’s rotations you can camp out in our 3rd bedroom so we can pick up where we left off in April – if you're up for it.

The 19 different states we traveled to during 2008

(We were also able to visit DC & the Bahamas last year)

GNO

I have had three girl's nights within the past couple of weeks. Jeff has been a very good sport to watch Emily and didn't complain too much. Since mom was gone, Emily got to go on a date with daddy. She was SO excited for it. She talked about it all day and the following several days as well. She got to go to a restaurant with daddy (Wendy's) where she got to have her favorite - "hot cocoa" (chocolate milk). They then watched a movie and had popcorn.

The last time I was out enjoying fondue with some ward girls, Jeff set up a tent for them to watch a movie in. Emily absolutely loved it and had to have it re-created for me to see and enjoy a movie in the next day.
Thanks for being such a great husband and father, Jeff. And thanks to all you women I got to hang out with - it was nice to have adult girl time. I think I need to plan another one - Emily keeps asking to go on another date with daddy.

How Many 2 Year Old's Are In Your Family?

Sunday we had dinner at my parent's. I was informed that this was the first time since Christmas that all of my siblings were there together. Emily sure made up for the lost time with her cousins. Emily, Jackson & Sara ran around the house chasing each other with pillows and screaming. I was able to catch them all at the top of the stairs and snap some pictures.

Jackson, Emily, Sara - "The two-year-old's"

Jackson, Emily, Sara & Lucy

Can you tell why we have only attempted professional cousin pictures once?

This is a picture of a typical Sunday when we're all at my parents. Guys are pretty social, huh?

Day of Love

We celebrated Valentine's a little bit everyday leading up to the 14th. We decorated our window with hearts and made sugar cookies and decorated them. On Saturday we started the day off with heart shaped pancakes and then went out delivering Emily's valentines. When we got to my mom's and Emily was handing her her valentine Emily said, "Happy.... Happy Bir.... Merry Christmas!" She's such a hoot.

Out delivering valentines

Saturday night we had a candlelight dinner with Papa Murphy's heart shaped pizza and pink lemonade. Even though it was a casual food selection, I still pulled out my china. Yes, I know, gutsy move with a 2 year old. But she was really good and absolutely loved it. After dinner we read the notes we'd written to each other during the week. Emily was so excited about her pictures she colored and thoroughly enjoyed hearing the things we love about her.

For those of you we couldn't visit on Saturday...

The Week In Review

An update on the past week and the several miscellaneous things we've done:

My mom and sisters and I went to lunch for Lisa's birthday. We went to Cafe Trio - yumm!
I babysat a little boy in our ward last week. Emily and Jackson are best friends and will hold hands in primary and nursery. They are so funny together. She was of course thrilled to have him over all afternoon.

Emily is so funny. She loves dressing up and she loves making us laugh. She found Jeff's hat the other day and decided to try it on.

Emily and I have done a lot of dressing up and dancing this past week. She got some pom-pom's out of Gma Newman's treasure box last time we were there so we've been running around the house dancing to Simon & Garfunkel. I sure hope the neighbors aren't peaking in our windows - I'm sure I look rather silly. Emily gets a kick out of it though. She thought it was hilarous when I put the pom-pom on my head, so she had to follow suit.

Sunday night was Pie Night (the monthly get together with the Johnson's). Emily was so excited to see cousin Eliza and was very disappointed when we found out that she wasn't coming. She did have fun in the playroom riding the "piggybank" though.

Emily got to know some of the other cousins better - Boston & Lanie - when they all decided to take a turn on the pig.

Right after I took this picture Emily slid off the back and pulled Lanie off with her. That then began the game of the back person trying to slide off and pull the others with them.

Silly Faces

Happy Birthday!

Lucy turned one this week so on Saturday we went to her birthday party. Cinderella came to see all the girls... and Jackson. They each got to take pictures with her and then they got to dance and read princess stories. Emily of course loved it. Cinderella is her favorite princes (at least right now she is).
The kids also got to play and climb around the jump-oline and throw balls at each other. Of course that was a big hit. Then there was the usual cake and presents.

Happy Birthday Lucy! We can't believe you're already one.

Go Utes Bowling

Friday night we met Jeff's parents up at the Union to go bowling. Emily bowled almost a full game and then decided she was done. She did really well - of course part of the reason was that she pushed a lot of buttons on the computer and whenever she got a gutter ball she was given points anyway. Sometimes she only got one or two "pins down" but there were a few times it said she'd gotten seven. She did get a couple of spares on her own - without the computer cheating. I, on the other hand played horribly the first game. My game picked up in the 2nd and I ended up almost doubling my score. (Or course with how bad I played doubling my points wasn't all that hard).

Waiting for Gma &Gpa

After bowling Emily got to take a drive with Gma & Gpa....

... in Gma's new car!

(Yes, the car really is that small)