Trip to rural New York

In early September 2011, we took a trip to rural New York for the wedding of Michael's brother, Nile, and his bride Rebekah.  They got married in the Palmyra, New York temple.

I will do a brief mention here that we missed our flight going out.  The ensuing day was stressful but things like that tend to put the rest of our lives in perspective.  Due to a hurricane on the east coast, there weren't any flights to 8 or so of the nearest airports to our destination, except, by some miracle, Cleveland, Ohio, where my friend Amy Jo lives.  She picked us up and drove us three hours to Buffalo, NY, (not to mention the three hours for her to get back home).  She wins the friend of the year award for 2011.

Jane was an amazing trooper the whole day, despite not ever getting a nap and having our overall travel time extended by 6 or 7 hours.  She is always a peach.

Okay.  Now let us never speak of that day again.

The next day was Nile's wedding day.  They had asked me to be their photographer, and the Palmyra area is so lush and green, it was all lovely.  Here are a few of my favorite photos from the day:

It's always fun to hang out with Michael's family, especially since we have so few chances to all get together.

At the end of the day there was a really nice dinner at an Italian restaurant.

Like any wedding day, we were pooped at the end of it. =)  Even Jane, despite what she may look like here:

Over the next couple of days, we visited some sites around Palmyra.  We started with the Sacred Grove, visited the first place the Book of Mormon was printed, and Hill Cumorah.  It was all very interesting and, of course, gorgeously green and lush.  I took some Sacred Grove pictures with my nice camera, but Jane had her finger up her nose the whole time, so we will settle for my iPod pictures:

Mike and Jane on Cumorah

Jane and her cousin Abby

We also visited Niagara Falls, which was really fun and something I've wanted to do for awhile.  We didn't go to the "Canada" side which is supposed to be better, but it was still pretty cool.

After all that, Mike, Jane, and I went to nearby Toronto, Canada for a couple of days.  Michael has always wanted to go there and so we decided to take advantage of being so close to it.

Jane emptying my wallet in our hotel room

The first night we were there, we decided to go to the CN Tower.  It's the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere.

By the time we got up the elevator, the sun had long gone down, so we had some pretty spectacular views:

 They have this glass floor that you can walk onto and freak yourself out when you look down and just see a drop for so many stories.  It gave me vertigo.  It took some coaxing to get Michael out onto the floor, but he did it.  Not sure if he looked down, though. =)

This makes my stomach queasy.

 Just before we left we went to the outdoor observation area with Jane.  It was a bit too windy!

 The next morning we went to the Royal Ontario Museum, which was just a block or two from our hotel.  They had an interesting water exhibit, but we didn't get to see much else because we got a bit lost and then it was time for Jane's nap.

The museum is the building across the street

 After Jane's nap we took the ferry to an island right off of Toronto where they have huge parks and an amusement park and all sorts of crazy fun.  I even got funnel cake.

The next day we flew home.  This flight was harder on Jane (if you can believe it), but due to amazing luck, there was an empty seat in our row so Jane got her own seat!

Of course, sometimes Mommy is the best seat anyway.

Late summer 2011 catch-up

There's a few cute photos I took of Jane late last summer on my iPod that I thought I'd post quickly.

Just cuteness

The girl has curly hair!

Really curly hair

Spending time at Jacque's house watching a movie

So what kind of routine do you have with your toddler?

I guess this question is for parents who don't have older kids whose routines supersede the younger kids'.  So for you parents with one or two kids who are pretty young, I often wonder, "What is your schedule like?"

Some days I feel like I'm just making it all up as I go along and I wonder if we had more of a set routine if Jane would like that.  Do you have activities that your kids do at certain times of the day?  Like a "crafts" time or an "outside play" time?  Do you have certain things you do on certain days of the week, like classes or visiting family members?

I buy the parenting books for my library, and if the number of toddler-activity books out there are any indication, I'm not the only parent scratching her head and wondering what to do with this silly kid.  What are some of your toddler's favorite activities?  For Jane, it's coloring and reading.  We have an aqua-doodle, a magna-doodle, and lots of crayons, and she will use them all in one day, probably more than once.  She also loves reading and being read to.  So what about your kids?

Muffin #2

These are pretty hard to interpret, but basically there's a baby between the two plus signs in the middle.
=)
Due sometime during the 2nd week of September.
Yay!

Cuteness log: February 2012

Jane and I have so many cute conversations these days, and I keep wanting to write them down.  It's amazing to me that I even have conversations with her, she has grown into such a smart, cute two year old girl.  Here are some interactions that I remember lately:

Jane saw a bandaid on my finger and said, "Whassat, Mama?"
Me: "It's a bandaid, Mommy got an owie."
Jane, very sympathetically: "Sorry, Mama."

Bedtime is pretty adorable all around.  We sing her songs, and she whispers, "More," so quietly when we finish a song.  Finally we say, "One more song and then it's time for bed, okay?"  Jane says, "Okay," just as quietly.

So when we lay her down in her crib she might say, "Shaka?" which means that she wants scratches on her arms or her back.  So we might give her some "scratches."  Or she might say, "Song?" and if we're feeling particularly generous we might sing her one more song for bedtime.  The kitty song goes:
Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur
Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr, purr, purr

Lately I have been interchanging the names of our cats into the song, so I'll sing "Soft Rocky, Warm Rocky" or "Soft Abba, Warm Abba."  Jane loves it.  When we sing the kitty song she might say, "Rocky?" and then I have to do the Rocky version, invariably followed by the Abba version (not the Swedish pop kind).  If you get that joke you get a gold star for the day.

If I am near her at all while she's coloring, she will likely hand me a crayon and say, "Mama turn."  And then I have to draw for the next ten minutes.  If I draw a star she says, "More stars."  If I draw a flower she says, "Flower!  Peeetty flower."

Most of the time if I ask her if she wants to go somewhere or do something, she says, "Okay, Mama!"

If she's alone in her room for a minute she runs down the hallway and says, "Scared!"

If I ask if she wants to go to Jacque's house she giggles and shouts, "Okay!  Jackeeee house!!"

If she comes in from outside and I ask her if she had fun she says, "YUP!"  She still says, "It's COLD ousside" pretty frequently.

Today in a store she couldn't find Michael and walked around the store calling loudly, "Daaadaaaa, [where] ARE YOUUUU?"  The where is implied, but not said. =)

She's got a lot of personality.  I know we have longer conversations than I've listed here, I can't quite remember one at the moment.  I think I might do little posts whenever I can remember one of the cute things she says.  Mostly it's the way she says them.  She has such energy and excitement for life.  It seems like people are drawn to her wherever we go.  Today in a restaurant Jane wanted some of my soda, and when I said, "no" a little too quickly, she got her pout on and did a little cry.  Just when we got her calmed down, I turned around to see one of the employees asking, "Does she want a cookie!?"  It broke my heart to tell that poor lady that we had already bought one for Jane.

Anyway, Jane is basically our dream child.  Who could ask for more?

Get your "awww"s ready

I got this email last night from Michael after he put Jane to bed. The last few days I've been singing her a "kitty" song at night, and now she asks for us to sing it to her nightly.


(Jane is in her crib and snuggling her bunny and blankets ready for sleep)
Jane - Kitty?
Me - No more Kitty. Time for bed. Kiss goodnight?
(Jane rolls over giggling. Kiss request is denied.)
Me - Goodnight. Love you, Jane.
(Start to walk out. When I reach the doorway.)
Jane - Daddy?
Me - Yes, sweetie?
(I walk back over to the crib)
(Jane has lips puckered, we give each other goodnight kisses.)
Me- Goodnight, Jane.
Jane - Goodnight, Daddy.

AHHHHHHHH. Cutest thing ever!

Unexpected addition

I posted the following on Facebook yesterday, but I realized that there are some people who aren't on Facebook that might find this interesting:

Um, this cat adopted us. Without our permission. I think she took one look at our home and was like, "Yep, this is where I'm going to live now." Last Friday she introduced herself to us and since then she has been applying for citizenship in the house. This morning I took her to the vet to see if she's microchipped, and the vet didn't find one, but we both agreed that this is definitely an indoor cat that has grown up with people and has been well looked after. I've had her listed on KSL for a few days as a "found" cat, but no one has called yet. So today we gave her a bath and gave her a temporary visa to the house.
Since when do we take in strays? I feel ridiculous, like we're going to become one of those houses on "Hoarders" with like 58 cats.
But seriously, this is the most affectionate cat EVER. I have never been snuggled so much by a cat in my life. She's not fully grown, I think she might be 6 months or so old, and she makes our cat look like she has all the personality of Ben Stein. And this cat loves Jane and totally lets Jane abuse her, pull her tail, and give her tight "hugs."
So, our first, cream colored cat is named Abba Zabba, after the white candy. This new cat is a much darker color with white feet and white on the very tip of her tail, so I think we're going to name her with a dark candy/dessert name.



So that's my news.  I do think I'm insane.  There's a clinic that will spay cats for $10 that I'll take her to, and then we'll have to see about vaccinations and de-worming.  I wasn't really sure about keeping this cat, but she's growing on me.  Aka I wuv her already.