Trip to Columbus, OH

Saturday we took a spontaneous all-day trip to Columbus to visit COSI (Center of Science and Industry) and the Columbus Temple. Jason said he wanted to go to the Columbus Temple sometime and since it's a 2-hour drive to get there, we decided to make a day of it and go to COSI as well.

COSI in Columbus, Ohio

We arrived at COSI a little before 10:30 and stayed until almost 3:00. There was so much cool stuff to see and do that it would be fun to go back sometime!

Ethan, of course, liked anything and everything that had to do with balls. These pipes would suck up the balls and shoot them out the top again. Ethan loved it.

This fulcrum activity was also pretty cool. I'm lifting up a 2013 Honda Accord. You can see that there's another place to try and lift the car closer to the fulcrum point but it was impossible for Jason and I to lift it there.

More balls! This time in water. :)

Ethan thought these pipes that suspended the balls in air were pretty cool, too.

But Ethan's favorite activity was throwing balls into this "gadget." He never even came close to making it, but he sure had a lot of fun trying! :)

COSI had a special focus on early childhood that day so we went through some centers and they dressed him up as a zoologist after he was immediately drawn to the toy giraffe. Then they gave us this picture and frame along with an early childhood kit.

While we were there we also went to the IMAX theater to see the National Geographic documentary "Jerusalem." Jason did a study abroad in Jerusalem just before we were married so it was cool to see a few of the sites he visited. The movie was different than we expected, but the aerial views of the sites and surrounding areas were spectacular! We even got to see it in 3-D. Ethan came with us, but he mostly saw it in 2-D since he kept taking off his glasses. I didn't know if Ethan would make it through the movie since the two previews shown really scared him. Ethan is super sensitive to music and he didn't like the dramatic trailer music. Fortunately he was able to calm down once the actual movie started and he was mostly ok throughout so that we could both watch.

Watching "Jerusalem" in 3-D

From COSI we grabbed something to eat at Subway and headed to the Columbus temple. I went in first while Jason watched Ethan and then we traded. The Columbus Temple looks very similar to the Louisville Temple and has almost the exact same floor plan. The surrounding grounds are small but beautifully kept.

Columbus, OH Temple

Some of my favorite Spring flowers on the temple grounds

When it was my turn to watch Ethan, I took him to a nearby park so he could play. He did amazing well all day despite not having a nap and didn't even fall asleep until we were halfway home. I'm so glad he is easy-going so that we can do adventurous things like this without a total meltdown. Jason and I were completely exhausted by the time we got home around 9:00.

Young Women's Medallion - I love how it has the red ruby referring to Proverbs 31:10 "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies."

In Sacrament Meeting on Sunday I received my 2nd Young Women's Medallion Award. I completed the Personal Progress program as a youth and received the Medallion but since the Church has completely changed the program several years ago I decided to do it again so I would be more familiar with it and could better help the Young Women. I started it 3 years ago and just finished it the other week. The program includes doing 6 experiences for each of the eight Young Women values: Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice & Accountability, Good Works, Integrity, & Virtue. I also completed a 10-hour project for each of the eight values. I'm glad I finished it. It has definitely kept me closer to Jesus Christ and has motivated me to do some projects that I wanted to do, but just needed a reason to do them. Hopefully I can continue the pattern of setting goals/projects for myself and then completing them.

Happy Easter!

Hooray for Spring! And for flowers and blossoms and birds and sunny days!

We did our Easter Bunny activities on Saturday. We hid a small sand bucket with some toys in it for Ethan to find, and we hid a dozen eggs around our apartment for an egg hunt. He understands the concept of looking for eggs, but we have to point him in the right direction for him to actually find them. :) We also took him outside to do bubbles. This was only his second time, and the first time was 8 months ago. He thought the bubbles were pretty neat, and so did three neighbor kids that were playing outside. They came over to investigate and ended up having a blast trying to catch the bubbles. :)

You'll notice it didn't take us long to remember to put newspaper under the egg dye. :) You'll notice it didn't take us long to remember to put newspaper under the egg dye. :)

Ethan loved plopping the eggs in the dyes and then digging them out with the metal dipper. His eggs were all brown and gray and purple by the end and putting them in all the colors several times. :)

Ethan didn't help with these at all, but they were really fun to make. :)

Ethan holding one of his plastic eggs from the hunt we made in our house.

Saturday and Sunday we watched General Conference from our computer. I love General Conference! To me, it feels like a healing and rejuvenating spiritual balm to listen to so many inspiring talks from the Lord's messengers. I think Elder Holland and President Uchtdorf were my favorite speakers this time; although it's hard to judge since I like a lot of them. I even get a little sad after it's over because I look forward to it so much. Ethan did pretty well most of the time. It is tricky having conference from 12-2 and 4-6 since it runs into meal times and nap time, but it all works out. 

We had Easter dinner with the Bishop's daughter, Jenni. She's a young single adult that lives at home with two siblings right now. She loves to cook and made us a really nice meal. The Bishop and his wife were on a trip to the Cayman Islands, a very well-deserved break for the two of them! 

Ethan turned 20 months on Saturday. He just learned to climb up on the kitchen chairs by himself and so my "Ethan-safe" areas keep shrinking. He also just figured out that he can open the fridge by himself. This is nice that we don't have to get his milk for him every time, but hopefully we won't have problems with it as well. We have also been working with him on walking up and down the stairs. He can do it while holding onto the side rail, so it's nice not to have to carry him up and down the stairs. He could crawl up them, but the stairs outside our apartment can be pretty dirty, so I usually carried him. Ethan is starting to say more words, or at least I'm starting to recognize a few more. One word we're hearing more is 'no.' But his default answer is still 'yes' to pretty much any question we ask him. He loves nursery and goes willingly. He hates diaper changes and tries to avoid it as long as he can. :) He is pretty expressive at home and pretty non-expressive when we're out and about. He also likes to wave at strangers and loves it when they smile and wave back to him. Jason and I love to watch him dance to music! It is so cute! Ethan learned to turn on the stereo and turn on his favorite CD. Sometimes he turns it on three times a day. He loves music! He even dances to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. :) We just love our little boy!

Ethan -- 19 months

My two cuties

Walking down the stairs

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Homemade Apple Pie

I entitled this post, Happy St. Patrick's Day because today is St. Patrick's Day, but to be honest, we didn't do anything for St. Patrick's Day and I didn't even wear green! Fortunately I made it through the day without getting pinched. We did, however, celebrate Pi Day on the 14th. I made an apple pie and we ate it with vanilla ice cream after Ethan went to bed. It was super yummy!

We started the month off with a big snow storm, but a week later it had all melted and got up to the mid-60's. It was heaven! The park was packed and everyone was outside. Ethan and I enjoyed our first walk to the park of the year and we look forward to many more trips!

This is the life! :)

Ethan sitting with Daddy "at work" in our bedroom

Our exciting news is that Jason got his first raise and was promoted to a Senior Analyst. It was very deserved and we are grateful and excited. His manager sent out an email to his co-workers with some nice things to say. Part of it said: "Jason’s meticulous approach and eye for detail enable him to provide reports that fully answer the client’s questions and look very sharp, even when time is not on his side. Jason also asks thoughtful questions along the way to make sure the key business issues stay at the forefront."

Besides that our month has been filled with making dinners for the missionaries, helping out at baptisms, Young Women's activities and lessons, visiting other sisters in the ward, etc.

Sunday nap with Silly Monkey

A visit to Top Flight Gymnastics. Ethan wasn't that thrilled with the trampolines or foam pits; he was looking around for a ball and basketball hoop.

This is what Ethan spends time doing everyday. If there was one thing that I would say Ethan is "into," it's basketball. And we bought the basketball hoop AFTER we figured this out.

The milk jug igloo at the library. We contributed several jugs but Ethan wouldn't even go inside. :)

Ethan's new passion beside basketball is standing at the sink and "washing dishes."

Jason's Birthday, Valentine's Day, and Snow Days

February has felt like a pretty busy month with lots of things going on, most of which I don't mention here and don't take pictures of. Here are some worth mentioning. :)

First, it was Jason's birthday this month. He is kind of a low-key celebration guy, but I was still surprised when I went back to look at my pictures only to realize that I didn't take a single birthday picture of him. It was kind of a busy day for me because it was New Beginnings night for the Young Women and I was in charge of a lot of it. I did make him Puppy Chow as requested and we had a yummy chicken and rice dinner. He opened a few gifts, but I think the most fun thing he did that day was put together a basketball hoop for Ethan and teach him how to dunk a basketball. :)

Ethan prefers the "big" balls when we let him, but he can throw the smaller balls and make baskets after 2 weeks practice.

I made my first baked Raspberry Cheesecake and it was amazing! One girl told her family that it was from the Cheesecake Factory before I later told her that I had made it. :) So that tells you how delicious it was. :)

We celebrated Valentine's Day by going to the Temple in Louisville and then out to dinner at Red Robin. We had Ethan with us and so we had to switch off watching him at the church nearby, but it went fine. The church was kind of dirty from other events and so we were trying to do a little extra to help clean it up after we were done babysitting Ethan. Jason decided to take out one last overflowing bag of trash and just as we got to the door going outside, the bag just ripped open and the trash went all over the floor. From my view it looked like the bag just exploded! It was pretty gross to say the least, but fortunately we were able to laugh about it and got it picked up quickly. We found a vacuum to get the rest of it off the floor.

President's Day playing in the fluffy snow.

Last week was a full week of winter. We got a huge snow storm on President's Day and it was freezing or snowing pretty much every day all week. School was cancelled all week and many church events during the week were as well. Fortunately we have a good heater and just stayed inside as much as we could. It was a good thing we had the basketball hoop for Ethan, and I ended up doing a lot of cleaning and baking. By the end of Saturday we had about a foot of snow on the ground making it tricky to get in and out of the parking lot since the plows push the snow up behind the cars. Both Jason and I each almost got stuck trying to leave at least once, but were able to finally get out without huge delays.

Just Ethan and Mom hanging out

I learned how to crochet at a Relief Society Meeting this month. I had never done it before but I finished this square after a couple hours and a lot of help! I don't think that I'll take up crochet any time soon, but it was kind of fun to learn.

This is a picture of Ethan putting things from the dishwasher on our rug. He does it fairly often when I'm in the kitchen doing the dishes. Fortunately, he usually puts it back when he's done.

This is the happy boy that greets me after his nap. :)

18 months

Ethan wearing a jumper I wore when I was his age

Ethan is officially 18 months, so here are the stats:

Weight    29 lbs     85%tile
Height    33.75 in  86%tile
Head      19.29in    81%tile

He grew over 2 inches in the last 2 1/2 months and subsequently outgrew a lot of his clothes. Ethan continues to be easy going and fun. He does want his own way more and more, but his tantrums are pretty mild. He understands a lot of what we say but still doesn't say many words. He mostly tries to get by with pointing and signing "more" or "all done." He is good in his car seat and so we try to go out almost every day. One of his favorite places is the library. We just started going to a new storytime for 18 mo - 2 1/2 year-olds.

For some reason, Ethan loves playing with the measuring cups and spoons.

We even started going a few weeks early but Ethan is probably the most attentive and best behaved child there. He loves the books and songs and activities and just stands right at the front by the librarian hanging on her every word. It's pretty cute. :) Hopefully that is an indication that he loves learning as much as I do.

I am also surprised at how well he can navigate the iPad. He can open the iPad and set it in its slot, turn it on, navigate a few screens over to the PBS app, and then tap on the app to open it and start watching his shows. When he's bored with it, he exits out of it and finds another app he wants to open. He picked all these steps up over time just by watching me do it and then trying it himself.

Despite his face in this picture, Ethan is actually really good with a spoon now!

Ethan loved walking outside today since the temperature got up to 57!

Just loves that spray bottle! :)

Since I try to limit his time on the iPad, he also spends time dancing to music, reading books with me, and pulling things out/dumping things out of containers and then putting it back. He has especially liked playing with the Dominoes and Bananagrams. He also likes puzzles and shapes and can easily put all the shapes in the Fisher Price shape sorter. So even though he doesn't say much, I can tell his little brain is at work trying to figure everything out. In fact, today he figured out how to use a spray bottle with water in it and kept spraying himself in the face and laughing. It was so funny to watch him. :)

Another January

I like the month of January. I appreciate having a new year to think about things I want to improve on and things that I would like to accomplish in the coming year. It also helps that I have a birthday in January, and although birthdays are pretty different when you're an adult, I never give up the hope that somehow it's going to be a special day.

Birthday pic

This year for my birthday Jason and I went to the Five Seasons sporting club and played racquetball. It's probably been two years since I played it last and it's like my body had almost forgotten how to play. But I remembered again quickly and we had a fun time together. We also got a babysitter and went out to eat at a nicer restaurant. It was nice to have a real date and also be able to focus on eating without trying to help Ethan constantly with his food. One of the gifts Jason gave me was a set of pipe chimes that we can use to play at Christmas time. We gave a set to each of our parents for Christmas and they loved them, but I also really wanted a set for myself because I want to have that tradition in my own family. So Jason surprised me with another set. I can't wait to get them out and play them.

Another cool thing we did in January was take an elderly couple who were recently baptized to the Louisville Temple to do proxy baptisms for their own family member that have passed away. The couple was so gracious and kind and even took us out to eat at the Olive Garden afterwards to show their gratitude. Jason and I also had family names to do so I performed baptisms for the first time in the last several years. It was a really neat experience.

Jason had Martin Luther King day off of work. We mostly relaxed, but we did take a short trip to Field & Stream. It's a hunting, fishing, camping store that has some cool animal displays. Ethan loved them and that's why we went. It's fun to see him get excited about things.

Ethan dancing

One of our escapes to the mall

Christmas in Boulder City, NV

We had our family Christmas on Christmas Eve morning. Ethan enjoyed ripping the paper off, but didn't quite understand that there were gifts for him inside. :)  We had a nice breakfast, finished packing, and then headed to the airport to fly to Las Vegas. Fortunately, the flight was uneventful and Ethan did fairly well all things considered. The woman sitting next to us fell in love with him and kept wanting him to sit on her lap and look out the window. :)

Christmas Eve Morning in Kentucky

Christmas morning in Nevada. Because of the time change, Ethan woke up for the day at 4AM.

Ethan and Dad opening Ethan's new car track

Ethan's very cool new car track from Grandma and Grandpa B

Ethan and Mom

Melody and Brandon came to visit us the day after Christmas with their twin girls

Ethan loved feeding popcorn to the fish and ducks at the dock. He was so focused on the fish that he wouldn't even look at me so I could get his picture.

The beautiful view of Lake Mead from their deck.

Jason played Risk twice that week. Playing once was enough for me. :)

We played around-the-world ping pong and had a Ping Pong Tournament. Jason was the champion of the boys and I was the champion of the girls. :)

Aunt Chelsey and Ethan. We played kickball, bump, and dodge ball in the church gym. Ethan just loves basketballs!

We celebrated Charlotte's and Kate's 1st birthday with them.

Happy Birthday to these two cuties!

Kristilyn, James, and Grant were also there to celebrate with us. James and Grant loved playing with Ethan's car track!

Ethan learned how to crawl downstairs since he had some stairs to practice on.

The six of us made it to the Las Vegas Temple on New Year's Eve and we all really enjoyed our time there.

We rang in the new year playing these pipe chimes that we gave the Mom and Dad B for Christmas. We also sang karaoke, had a dance party, and played Bang before we watched the ball drop.

Here's the 2014 Christmas Boulder City Crew

We had a wonderful time! We ate well, slept well, and relaxed. So fun to spend the holidays with family. Thanks for the great time, Grandma and Grandpa B! Ethan was so exhausted from all our fun that he slept half the way home in my lap.