Day 47: A Visit From Home

My parents and younger brother Matthew came out to Virginia for a visit last week. We got back from PA and immediately met up with them and started touring Virginia. We went to Busch Gardens, Williamsburg and Jamestown, and spent a day here in Norfolk touring a navy battleship, going to the beach and out on the ocean. While we enjoyed a couple of 80 degree days my parents received reports from back home that it was snowing. It was so fun to see my family again and Emily LOVED having them around. She still asks where "Papa" "Gapa" and "Ma-sew" are. I loved having the visit and it's made me even more anxious to get back home and see everyone else. Thanks for everything mom and dad! We miss you already!

Day 45: Pennsylvania

We took a trip up to Pennsylvania last weekend with Jeff's brothers and their families. We made a quick stop in DC on the way and toured the White House. Then we headed up to Gettysburg to see the battle sights and then to Amish country in Lancaster. On our way to Philadelphia we made a quick detour to Valley Forge. We got a couple of great shots of the sunset there and were able to see the chapel that Washington went to during that winter. We then spent a few days in Philadelphia touring all the historical sights before heading home and meeting up with my family (for another fun filled weekend).

Day 40: A Series of Unfortunate Events

Monday we decided to put all of our pictures on the computer and then erase the card. A few hours later the laptop unfortunately took a turn for the worse (meaning it took a dive off the bed) and then refused to turn on. We are currently trying to fix the problem and recover all our pictures and data. Due to our traveling and the lack of a laptop, our blog has been put on hold. So coming soon - our trip to Pennsylvania, my parents visit out here, Easter, and anything in between. Hopefully.

Day 31: Easter Egg Hunt

Over the weekend we went to Brad & Heather’s ward party. The Elder’s Quorum served a pancake breakfast and the primary put together an easter egg hunt for all the kids. Emily’s been enamored with Brad lately and has become his little shadow. She is constantly asking where he is and always wanting to play with him or have him pick her up.

Emily loved the basket Heather let her use and had a blast finding all the “balls” in the lawn. Half the time she had her eye on the next egg and would stick her hand all the way through the basket and dropped the egg out the other side. She picked up more than a dozen eggs but only took home eight. Emily was even more excited when she realized the eggs opened and there was candy inside.

Day 28: "Pick a Little, Talk a Little"

Day 24: Three Down, Three Across

We've officially been here three weeks now. Jeff and I decided that that was enough time to recover from our week long drive and we could handle three more hours crossing the country, so we headed up to D.C. for the weekend. I'd never been there and it'd been since high school for Jeff, so we decided to hit as many memorials/monuments as we could. It wasn't much of a relaxing weekend - I think we came back more tired than we left - but we enjoyed seeing our nation's capitol and I'm sure Brad and Heather were glad to have their house to themselves for a couple of days. It was rainy and overcast on Saturday but there wasn't a cloud in the sky on Sunday. Emily is such a good traveller and from all appearances had a great time. Hopefully we can make another trip there in the future and fit in the things we weren't able to see.

Day 21: There’s a first for everything

*I drove in Norfolk for the first time this week. It wasn’t that I’ve tried to avoid driving there’s just never been a need to. Since that day I’ve driven all over. I guess it’s time I start figuring my way around since I’m still going to be here for a couple of months.

* Emily’s had a lot of firsts this week. She is putting two words together now. Before this week she would occasionally string some together, but it was a rarity. All of her questions (“Wha daddy?”) were always said as one word. This week she’s been saying, “Daddy shoes” or “Daddy a’ Ella” (because Jeff was holding Ella) or “Hi baby."

*Emily had "Big Girl" pigtails for the first time the other day. Her hair is just long neough to pull all the way up. Of course by the end of the day most of it falls out, but it's pretty cute in the morning. She's such a big girl!

*As I was picking up breakfast the other day I suddenly realized that Emily was pretty quiet. I went looking and found her in our room. She had found her jeans on my bed and decided to put them on – all by herself. She’s been able to take her clothes off for a while but she hadn’t figured out how to put them back on yet. When I came in she started saying, "snap! snap!" and wanting me to help snap her pants up.

Day 20: TGIF

Have any of you ever felt like putting your 2 year old up for adoption? Today was one of those days. In fact, the last couple have been like that. All I can say is thank heavens for good weather. The last two days I’ve gone on a walk with Emily (without jackets!) and then spent an hour swinging in the backyard. Emily enjoys looking at all the birds and saying “chirp” along with them. When I point out the airplanes flying overhead and she says “ha-book” and “bye-bye,” because Jeff told her the other day that Grandma and Grandpa Holbrook went on an airplane to go home. It amazes me how much she is talking (and understanding). She gets better and better everyday. The incessant talking is cute at times and annoying at others. Emily’s questions are repeated until answered sufficiently and then a few minutes later we cycle through them again. All day I here, “Wha Daddy?” “Wha Brad?” “Wha Ha-er?” “Wha Ella?” “Wha Sam?” “Wha Ally?” “Wha Sa-sa?” …. and the list goes on. The other favorite question? “Wha dis?” I don’t know if I’ll live through this stage, and if I do, will I still be able to survive when she moves on to all the ‘why’ questions?

Tuesday Heather and I went to the beach. Emily was very hesitant to touch the sand (with her feet anyway) and took a little bit to adjust. She sat in the same place the whole time and tried to not get her feet sandy. As we were leaving however she was able to walk barefoot without freaking out and crying. Hopefully we can have continued trips to the beach so Emily can get more used to the feel of the sand and so her mom can get a bit of a break. I’m just glad that tomorrow’s Friday and that Jeff will be home by 1:00pm!

Day 17

Jeff’s parents took us out to eat at Smokey Bones before they left. The BBQ was delicious and Emily enjoyed being a big girl with her cup of water (apparently they had just run out of lids). And surprisingly she didn't dump it down the front of herself.

Monday we went to the park so the girls could play. The swings were of course a BIG hit and it took a lot of coaxing to get Emily out to go play on anything else. Once she was down though she never looked back. She would climb up the “steps” by herself and pick a slide and go down. She would then run back to the stairs and go again. She’s never been big enough to play on a playground without my help before (being that it’s still snowy back in Salt Lake). It was fun to see, but also a little sad. I can’t believe how fast she’s growing up.

"Look, no hands!"

Ella's first time down a slide

We had a great time with all the family and it was fun to be together again. Thank you Dave & Arline for all the wonderful meals and for taking us to the aquarium. We had fun visiting with you and are grateful to be a part of your family. Emily loved having you here and all the attention.

Day 16: Virginia Aquarium

On Saturday we went to the Virginia Aquarium. We saw a 3D IMAX movie on dolphins and whales. It was the first “movie theater” Emily had ever been in and she was great for it. She kept pointing to the “fishies” and laughing and talking about them.

We then went and saw a bunch of fish, crabs, and sting rays and Emily liked them all, but wasn’t thrilled with anything till we came to the tank with sea turtles. She then ran from one end to the other saying “ta-tl, ta-tl.”

Petting a baby alligator (well, actually he was 2 years old, but anything little is a baby to Emily).