Elliot, Emily, and Henry

Channing Tatum, Be Our Valentine

2012-02-14T15:11:00.000-07:00

If there was a common thread between the four valentines days that Elliot and I have spent together, it would be Channing Tatum. Yes you read that correctly. The first year was a group date (only the third or fourth time Elliot and I had hung out) to see Step Up 2: The Streets in the Provo mall. The next two years were spent re-watching the Step Up movies and reminiscing.

This year we planned to see Tatum's newest flick, The Vow to keep up the tradition. But Elliot came down with something and stayed home sick in bed. So tonight we'll probably stay home on the couch and find something else to watch....at the very least there's always Step up 3D right?

Happy Valentine's Day to my two loves

Elliot's two cents:
Emily asked me what I wanted to do for V-day. When I told her I thought we could go see The Vow, she got all teared up and told me she thought it was a good idea. When I asked her why she was crying, she told me she was just touched that I would make plans for Valentine's day.

That's right -- three years into this marriage and I've lowered the bar so far that just thinking about doing something romantic is enough to bring my wife to tears.

Superbowl XLVI

2012-02-06T16:16:00.001-07:00

For the second year, Elliot and I invited friends over to watch the Superbowl. We just can't turn down the chance to throw a party! We squeezed about 30 people (including kiddos) into our small apartment but we had a lot of fun and some good food. Elliot made pulled pork sandwiches and everyone chipped in to create a feast. Living in upstate New York, the game seemed to have a little more interest than last year, but we also had a few cheering for the Patriots. We're happy it was a good game with the Giants coming out on top 21-17

We also had to get a picture of Henry next to little Audrey who is almost 7 months. I think Henry has caught up to her, if not passed her, in weight, but Audrey has some length on him and kills him in body control and mobility. She's also pretty dang cute.

Elliot's Two Cents:

A special shout out to Grady and Lauren Brimley on the birth of their child Lincoln this morning. He was born within 24 hours of consuming my slow-simmered, perfectly carmelized shredded pork sandwiches. Was the miracle of induction and birth mere happenstance or are these events connected? I'll let you be the judge.

Cheers!

2012-02-02T16:27:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, we celebrated our third anniversary. It was very low key but it was nice to have a simple night and Elliot all to myself. This next year will be full of firsts since we've added baby boy to the picture, but we've had a pretty good time so far. Cheers to three years of of marriage. Still the best wedding I've ever been to ;)

Happy anniversary Elliot. I love you.

2 months

2012-01-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

The jammies from two posts ago (the ones from Christmas) already don't fit. I'm packing clothes away daily. What am I going to do with this kid?! He is 2 months old today, wearing 6 month old clothes and size 2 diapers. He is smiling, drooling, holding his head up great and finding his voice. I can't believe it's been two months already, I feel like we just came home from the hospital.

We are loving his smiles, coos, chunky rolls on his arms and legs, slobber from his big bottom lip, big ol' cheeks and crooked smile, his long eyelashes and grumpy eyebrows, double layered mullet, spastic kicks and flailing arms, and even his explosive toots. We love that he takes a bottle and sleeps well. Most of all we love how he has completely transformed our lives. We talk in weird voices, sing silly songs, dance, and scrunch up our faces all for one little smile or giggle.

Elliot's two cents:

I'm concerned I have become the kind of parent I am quick to criticize -- one who bandies about every one of my child's measuarable percentiles, goes gaga over the tiniest little change in expression, and only wants to post baby-related things on my social networks. I guess this is a lesson to me in patience and understanding--people often act the way they do for reasons they can't explain.

TGIF

2012-01-20T16:33:00.001-07:00

It's been a rough week for baby Henry.

On Monday he had his tongue clipped. At our first visit to the doctor, he was diagnosed with tongue-tie where the frenulum (that string underneath your tongue) was really tight and extended nearly to the tip of his tongue. It prevented him from moving his tongue completely and typically affects nursing and weight gain. Fortunately we haven't had that problem. At all. But he would gulp air a lot and had some trouble swallowing. We were unsure about whether to clip at first since it didn't seem to be bothering him and the doctor said we should just wait to see if it ever did. The problem with that was I didn't want to find out my kid had a speech impediment when he came home crying from the mean bullies at pre-school. Okay that's a little dramatic, but why wait when we can prevent now and the only disadvantage was mild discomfort for ten minutes? So we did and he was mad that he had to be held still and had something stuck in his mouth, but that's about it.

This is what it looked like before:

And now he can stick his tongue out at us and has much better movement of it. His tongue won't be so serpentine either. The whole thing seemed a lot scarier than it turned out to be, but in the end I'm really glad we clipped it.

If that wasn't bad enough, Henry had his 2-month appointment yesterday and had to get 4 shots. I realize he is barely 7 weeks but we missed his 1-month appointment, had this one scheduled and then decided to lump this and his 2 month together. Anyways he was not happy about his shots the poor guy was grumpy all day and gave us a lot of these:

Today he seems to be feeling back to normal for the most part so we're glad that's over. We did find out that Henry gained even more weight over the holidays than we thought. He weighs a whopping 14.2 pounds! (98th percentile) and is 24.1 inches long (94th percentile). I'm just now only beginning to understand how big he really is. But we love our baby boy, and we love seeing this smile more and more.

Elliot's two cents:

Henry dealt with circumcision 2.0 like a champ.

I blame Emily for Henry's condition in the first place. Next time you see her, sneak a peek at her hands. They are slender and beautiful in every way but one: she has a subtle but undeniable webbing between her fingers -- hence Henry's tied-tongue.

Photo Upload

2012-01-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

Just some random photos from the past few weeks. Grandma, Henry, and I have enjoyed many lazy days while Elliot went with Opa to work and wrote his paper. Stinks to be in law school.

Bird shirt

Opa couldn't pass up the infant Av's jersey:

We fly back to Ithaca and life with a routine tomorrow. Thanks for the sunny, warm winter days Colorado! We will miss you and the eager helping hands of Grandma, Opa, and Aunt Becca.

Date Night

2012-01-07T10:03:00.001-07:00

Elliot and I decided to take advantage of our more-than-willing babysitters and go on a date. It was nice to get out and not have to constantly be watching the clock, measuring how much time we had left before the next feeding. (We had to time our date just right, and leave a bottle in order to go out) or check under the table every 5 minutes and make sure it's not your kid that's crying.

Our only consequence was coming home and finding a hickey on grandma's arm. Our son's first hickey at 5 weeks old, I hope this isn't a sign of what's to come....

Elliot's Two Cents:

I didn't learn the dinner-->movie-->hickey sequence until I was 23. I'm astonished that Henry was able to pick it up so fast.

Teach me howta...

2012-01-05T11:22:00.001-07:00

Jimmer! The Sacramento Kings came to Denver and played the Nuggets last night and Elliot got to go with my dad. Turned out not to be that great of a game and Jimmer didn't do so hot, but they had a good time. Elliot happened to get a Jimmer shirt for Christmas so he had to bust it out. This was his reaction when I said "teach me how to Jimmer"

These are what Elliot took at the game from his phone so excuse the poor quality. He refused to cheer for the Nuggets but I'm proud to say Elliot went to a Denver game before a Utah Jazz game this season. This is only the beginning of his becoming a Nugget fan ;)

Elliot's two cents:
Fear me, Thursday-night church basketball league. Now that I have my Jimmer T-shirt and I've seen him in action I will be an unstoppable scoring machine. (That's what she said)

2011 - The year of Baby

2012-01-01T12:26:00.002-07:00

Happy New Year! Naturally we look back on the past year as we celebrate the new one. 2011 for us is most obviously the year of baby since it's consumed our lives since February. But it's been a great year for Elliot and I, one that brought many adventures and changes to our family. We gained two brothers-in-law, saw several new places, and most excitingly expanded our family to three:

January and February were spent enjoying Ithaca. We began to more fully understand the coldness of the northeast after a few big storms. Elliot began his second semester of law school more confidently after doing well on his first finals. I continued working and we looked forward to spring break in March. It was in March that we found out we were expecting and a few days later flew down to Florida to meet my family for a some time in Orlando and then a cruise to the Bahamas. Highlights of the trip were Hogwarts at Universal Studios and the beaches and scooter rides in Nassau. We shared the big news with our parents, who were all more than thrilled.

In April we had a visit from my Dad and went to the baseball hall of fame in Cooperstown. May brought the end of Elliot's first year of law school and another trip to Orlando with the Hales family to celebrate. I stuck to the kiddy rides and Elliot and our niece Brianna began the now famous game of declaring who is "stinky!"

In June we moved home to Layton for the summer while Elliot worked for Utah's second district court. I lounged all summer and finally became recognizably pregnant. I took a few trips to Colorado, saw a Michael Jackson cover band at Red Rocks and my cousins kick butt in lacrosse. I also started working on Henry's nursery bedding, which eventually became an all summer project. We also found out we were having a baby boy!

For the fourth of July we were in Victor, ID with the Crandalls and Hofmans. The rest of the month was spent with friends in Utah and movies at the Kaysville theater. The end of July we met up with the Crandalls again in Newport Beach, CA for a week's vacation. Brigham proposed to Rachel on the beach and we toured the San Diego Zoo and Elliot turned 26.

In August we did a quick trip to Twin Falls to do family history work for our Dutch ancestors. Sarah Blei threw me a beautiful baby shower before my mom and I drove back to New York. Elliot was busy traveling most of the month recruiting for his 2L summer internship. I started working again and Elliot began his second year of law school.

The beginning of September we met my parents in New York City to go to the US Open tennis tournament and see the Book of Mormon play. We sat front row at a Djokovic match and even got his autograph. I hit 30 weeks and began feeling the pains of pregnancy. I celebrated my 24th birthday and Elliot accepted a summer position at Kirkland and Ellis in San Francisco.

October was spent visiting Philadelphia and Boston. I had a couple more baby showers and we dressed up as Paulie Bleaker and Juno for Halloween. November finally came and we anxiously waited for baby boy to come. I finished work and my family came out for Thanksgiving. Henry debuted six days late on November 30, 2011.

December was spent trying to catch up on sleep. Elliot finished teaching his prison class and took his finals, while Mom and I ran circles around Henry. We flew out for Rachel and Brigham's wedding and spent the week in Utah with the Hales. We were in Colorado for Christmas, only to return to Utah for Makenna and Dakota's wedding. I also got to see President Eyring seal my cousin in one of the most beautiful ceremonies I've ever seen. We celebrate the new year with the Crandalls in Colorado and reflect on how blessed we were this year. We are most grateful to have a healthy, happy baby boy with us to start the new year.

We are looking forward to 2012 and learning how to become parents. We are excited to watch Henry grow, spend the summer in San Francisco, and start our last year of law school. We hope you all had a good 2011 and even better start to 2012.

Elliot's two cents:
Notable highlights that have been checked off my bucket list in 2011:
• Beat father-in-law in tennis
• Became top dawg at a maximum security prison (by virtue of my grading powers)
• Secured position with a "big-law" law firm
• Sired an heir to the Hales name
• Crossed the 200 lb. line

Mhawwidge....is what bwings us togeduh today

2011-12-30T10:59:00.001-07:00

The last big event of our break was Elliot's sister's wedding. We flew out just for the day and even though we were utterly exhausted afterward we wouldn't have missed it for the world. The day turned out really well, they had great weather and everything ran smoothly. Makenna looked stunning and both her and Dakota were glowing the whole day.

Congrats to the newlyweds!

Elliot's two cents: Congratulations to Keener and her tall(ish), dark, and handsome man! (who looks like the love child of David Hasselhof and Tim Tebow)

Knife Christmas

2011-12-29T16:16:00.003-07:00

This year we got to spend Christmas with both families thanks to all the wedding festivities and events that required us both in Utah and Colorado. Prior to leaving Ithaca, I had given Elliot his gift which was new kitchen knives (which he loved) and when Elliot was given a pocket knife later that week as another gift, he had no choice but to dub this year as "knife Christmas" and ran around offering his knife services to anyone who would let him. Needless to say, he's been enjoying his Christmas break.

We spent the week before Christmas with the Hales family and then flew to Colorado on Christmas Eve. With a brief return to Utah for Makenna's wedding (a separate post coming) we are now back in Colorado with my family for the next two weeks hoping to recover from all the travel and enjoy hanging around the house. We feel fortunate to be able to spend time with so much family this holiday season and introduce Henry to his extended family. He has been a trooper through all the craziness and everyone seems to adore him. It's been a lot of fun showing him off and watching him grow. He has become more alert and interactive in the past week and according to our scale is up to 12.5 pounds.

Henry played baby Jesus in the Webster family nativity

Henry took his first bath and loved it

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Elliot's two cents: Henry increased his body weight by 20% during Christmas break. I am doing all that I can to beat him.

Baby Blessing

2011-12-19T18:21:00.000-07:00

With so much family in town for Rachel's wedding, and being in Utah where Elliot's family is, we thought it would be a great time to bless Henry even though he is less than three weeks old. We decided to bless him at Elliot's uncle's house rather than a random church meeting which made it more intimate and personal and we are grateful to Uncle Dana and Aunt Mern for opening their home. We had a lot of family and friends come, both grandpa's said a few words about family and the gospel and the blessings that come with them and Elliot did a wonderful job. He even got choked up a bit (a rare occasion) which of course made me bawl like a baby which I totally blame on the raging hormones - or the fact that it was a really special day.

Henry wore the same outfit Elliot wore when he was blessed. And the blanket is from the quilting store at our cabin which my mom bought years ago in anticipation for her grandchildren's baby blessings.

Elliot's two cents:

I took part in making my son wear a bonnet in public. That makes me the worst kind of person there is.

Wedding Bells

2011-12-19T14:19:00.003-07:00

My little sister got married this weekend! Congrats to her and her new hubby Brigham on a beautiful wedding day. Several people were a little nervous that our Henry might one-up the bride on her day, but she looked absolutely beautiful and Henry didn't stand a chance. He did come in a close second followed by the risotto bar in third (seriously, it was so good).

It was strange to not have as big a role in the planning and prep for her wedding as I had always imagined. I guess living across the country and having a baby two weeks before limits you like that, but we were happy to be there and enjoy her special day with her and our family. Welcome to the family Brigham!

Elliot's two cents: My contribution to the wedding was in their favors. They passed out hot chocolate in a mug along with this poem that I wrote.

It was autumn at BYU

Freshman Rachel lasted

only a month or two

She claimed studies and books

were her only pursuit,

'Till she met a man with looks,

charm, and brains to boot!

One date turned to two
Rachel didn't know what to do
"Daddy always knew I'd bring
home a BYU degree
But he didn't know I'd bring an
actual Brigham with me!"

Like so many a tale of love
lost, almost
Brigham was called to where
he was needed most
Two years in Korea, though
tough to endure
Proved to these two that their
love was secure

Once home from performing
his duty, He focused on school
and his cutie
"Rachel, you are the center of
my life, it's time for a new title
how about wife?!

Now with rings exchanged
and vows said, Please enjoy
a little nightcap before bed

Warm this cocoa for your delight
It's the second best way to
heat up the night!

Crazy Stupid

2011-12-13T12:21:00.006-07:00

That's what I think we are. Tomorrow Henry is 2 weeks old. To celebrate we are flying him to Utah and Colorado for a month. Crazy? Yes. Stupid? Likely. Why? It's what you do when you have two weddings, his baby blessing, Christmas, New Years, and a month off of school.

We're hoping just to survive the two flights tomorrow. My poor mom has to carry everything since I still can't lift anything more than baby. (Elliot isn't joining us till Friday) If anyone has any tips on traveling and being out of the home for an extended period of time with a newborn, I'd love to hear it. If not, wish us luck, we'll need it.

In other news, Henry is doing great. Before his two week mark he has not only caught up to his birth weight but passed it. He measured 10 pounds 12 oz on Monday. He likes to sleep all day and be fussy anywhere from 2am - 6am but we're working on that. We still think he is pretty darn cute, and that's suppose to make up for everything right?

Fashion Show

2011-12-07T20:52:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it's already been a week? We can't. Does this kid look one week old to you? We have had plenty of time for fashion shows... lets be honest, we just can't help ourselves.

Mommy life is a whole new kind of pace and style (not to mention recovering from delivery). I'm still adjusting but each day gets a little bit better and easier. And even though this kid keeps me up all hours of the night, I wouldn't want life without him...or his cute clothes.

A Baby Story

2011-12-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

Before I got pregnant, I always thought it strange that people would post their birth stories and details from such an intimate (and unflattering) day. After becoming pregnant, I loved those posts because I was so curious about others experiences and then grateful that people were willing to share. Looking back, knowing other birth stories helped me get through mine, and as cheesy as that is that's mostly why I'm blogging now. All about paying it forward. Pictures are more interesting so those first and if you want the details you can read on.

Okay here it goes....feel free to skip down to the two cents:

At 36 weeks I measured 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. At 38 weeks I was at 3 cm, and 4 cm at 40 weeks, without ever feeling a contraction. Since Henry has always measured big I was sure I was going to have my baby by Thanksgiving. Well 5 days overdue I had been having consistent braxton hicks but was still unsure what a contraction felt like. I had already met with my doctor and had stress tests and ultrasounds performed on baby boy and had an induction scheduled if we made it to 41 weeks. On Tuesday my "contractions" had finally become more regular and in 5 hours gone from every 30+ minutes to 9 minutes apart. By 10:30 pm Elliot and my mom were getting a little anxious about how often they were so I agreed to at least go to the hospital. I took my time in getting ready, even showered and made sure I had everything before we drove to the hospital, which in the end I think made a huge difference in my stress level and ability to stay calm in the first hours of my labor.

We got to the hospital and was in a labor room a little after midnight. I was still at 4 cm but my contractions were 6-8 minutes apart so I was staying for monitoring. At 4am my water broke and I finally began to feel my contractions. I spent an hour or so in the whirlpool (which is a must do for anyone in labor) and by 7:00 had progressed to 7cm. At that point I asked for an epidural, knowing I could handle the pain for a little while but the nurses said I was definitely in for the long haul. An epidural was always an option in my plan, and had it worked I'm sure it would have been great. The epidural completely numbed my left side, to the point of no function and only slightly dulled any pain on my right side. It also slowed my labor down dramatically so that by 9:30 I was at 8cm and in a lot of pain. At that point my doctor decided to try a very small amount of pitocin. The pitocin eventually got me to 10cm but I was in a lot of pain. I started pushing at 12:45 with contractions every 90 seconds and pushed for three hours. The baby had made it into the birth canal but wasn't moving any further and so my doctor decided that the baby was just too big and I would need a cesarean.

The worst part of my delivery was the hour in between the time I stopped pushing and when I finally got into the operating room and was given a spinal block. It's hard to describe the pain and exhaustion in those moments. Once I was in the operating room and had been given the spinal block I was either dazed beyond consciousness or completely asleep. I remember Elliot coming in and waking me up saying he was there and saying I'd probably want to be awake for this. A few minutes later I hear the doctors laughing at how big this baby was and Elliot standing up saying he was here. I mostly remember watching Elliot's face over the next several moments as he saw our baby boy for the first time. The doctors reached over the barrier and showed me before quickly taking him away to clean him and take his measurements. Elliot went over and watched the whole thing. Once he was cleaned I got to see him briefly by my head for the first time before Elliot and the nurses took Henry to the nursery.

I didn't get to see my baby boy for another hour or two, but I was so excited to finally hold him and see his beautiful chunky cheeks. It's an amazing feeling, that still catches my breath, when you look down at your own child. All you can do is just stare at how handsome they are and be dumbstruck by the fact that that little person, and all his features, were just inside you. At that point, I didn't care how it happened I was so glad to be done with my delivery and to finally have Henry with us. I don't remember how long it was that I spent feeding and holding him before we both fell asleep, but they were precious, indescribable moments.

We stayed in the hospital till Saturday afternoon and were more than ready to get home. We had great nurses, to which I am extremely grateful. We went through 3-4 different shifts of ladies during the delivery and then some after, but they all played their parts in one of the most memorable days of Elliot's and my lives. I also have to give credit to both my mom and Elliot who were so sweet through the entire process. I know they were just as tired as I was and they did any and everything they could to help ease my pain. Without a doubt I wouldn't have made it through without them holding my hand, massaging my feet and back, breathing with me, feeding me ice chips and cold washcloths and listening to all my complaints. I love you both.

Elliot's two cents:

This is a collection of my rambling thoughts surrounding the birth:

1) I don't particularly like Bryan Hicks contractions

2) I was amazed at how calm Emily managed to be when her contractions were less than ten minutes apart: "Oh, I guess I'll go shower, dry my hair, style it, brush my teeth and then we'll go"

3) Is it much of a hassle for the hospital to install a maternity jacuzzi for two?

4) Why is it that a anesthesiologist can tolerate a 50% successful treatment during a pregnancy?

5) There is nothing so heart-wrenching as watching your wife stretched beyond her limits and have no way to lighten her burden

6) I'm glad Emily didn't have to give birth during caveman, pilgrim, or pioneer times -- that baby just was not gonna happen naturally

7) It was comical how much baby came out during the operation -- like one of those comedy gags where the magician pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket and it just doesn't stop

8) Both Emily and Henry have exceeded all of my expectations

9) I love and miss a full night of rest

10) I have about two dozen more chocolate cigars, feel free to stop by and claim yours

Introducing...

2011-12-01T16:39:00.003-07:00

Henry Elliot Hales

born November 30, 2011 5:03 pm

10 pounds 5 ounces 23 inches long

We are completely smitten with this ~~little~~ guy.

more details to come

Still Pregnant

2011-11-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

This was taken yesterday, my due date, with my friend Lindsey, who's due date was last Sunday. We are both still pregnant just anxiously waiting it out. I only post this in hopes that it might magically force one of our babies to come out.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. My attempt to eat a lot and trick my body into thinking there was no room left and therefore go into labor, didn't work. I am grateful for a seemingly healthy, patient, yet stubborn, baby boy....if only he'd get here so I could tell him myself.

Oh and that little green box to the right, is a LIAR!

Elliot's two cents: Hallelujah I don't have to watch any more of these ridiculous videos.

Final Countdown

2011-11-18T20:23:00.000-07:00

Today was my last day of work, maternity leave has officially started! My dad and sister arrive tomorrow evening and after that there are no plans for anything other than baby. Why isn't my mom coming tomorrow night too? Oh right that's because when she found out I was 3 centimeters dilated on Tuesday she panicked and changed her flight and arrived in Ithaca on Wednesday night. She's just been hanging out waiting for baby with us, which threw me in a complete frenzy but has been good to have her around.

We are in the final countdown: less than a week and as close to "active labor" as we can get without being in it. Now it's just the waiting game, and I really hope he comes sooner rather than later. But I know it may just be wishful thinking.

and just because of how ridiculous they've gotten...here is a a photo of my extremely swollen feet and ankles, which sadly have gotten worse than what the photo shows.

at least some of my weight gain is only water right?

Rockabye baby

2011-11-11T10:45:00.003-07:00

I've been wanting to do this post forever, especially since the bedding and decorations were made over the summer (and that's all we really care about right?), so here it finally is: baby boy's nursery! It's all ready to go until baby comes and messes it all up.

Over the summer when I had ample time, my mom and I started making a baby quilt. It really was suppose to be a stop at Joanne's to see if there were any fabrics we liked and that quickly turned into several trips to Joanne's, a big baby quilt, several receiving blankets, bumper pads, crib skirt, pillows, and wall decorations to match. I give all the credit to my mom. I simply designed and she made all the magic happen. Can we tell this is grandbaby #1?

Elliot was most excited about the sticker tree. He dragged his feet the whole time I made him help me put the nursery together, but when he saw the stickers he got all giddy and wouldn't do anything else until it was perfect.

And yes, the "Henry" on the pillow will most likely be the name of this little guy! While we are 99% there, we are hesitant to fully commit until he makes his grand arrival. If you couldn't tell already, my mom likes the name - after all there are several Hendrikus' or Henry's on the Dutch side of our family which we have been doing family history on over the past year, hence she felt inclined (and confident enough) to sew it on the pillow.

I am thrilled with how it all turned out and am so grateful to my mom for helping me make all the bits and pieces of this nursery happen. She, my dad, and sister, come in a week and I am so excited they get to be here for the arrival of this little guy, unless he wants to come early, which at this point, I would be totally okay with.

Elliot's two cents (although not my favorite this time): Do you think a kid appreciates anything in the nursery besides his crib? Really, up until about 4-6 months I don't think he has any ability to appreciate all of the fluffy/cuddly things generous people have bought him. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate everyone's generosity in purchasing it. I guess what I'm saying is why do we go to such great lengths to get the nursery ready 3-4 months before baby comes when he can't enjoy it for another 6 or so months after birth? Call me crazy, but I have never been ready for something 10 months before it was "due."

Also, my sympathies go out to the family of Andy Rooney -- the man who inspired and led the way for my Two Cents piece at the end of someone else's hard work.

Are we there yet?

2011-11-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling mega-pregnant lately, not that photos like these help...

I am officially full term aka officially ready to be done being pregnant and start the crazy life of mom I've been preparing for. Everything is ready to go, whenever baby boy says when. I would like to think any day now, but statistics say otherwise.

We did get to go to a childbirth class yesterday at the Ithaca hospital. Many parts were review for me, but I'm glad Elliot got to hear about the stages of labor and giving birth and hopefully get the disgusted looks and cringing out of the way, so that when it comes time for him to actually go through it he won't be so shocked.

Only 2 more weeks until my maternity leave starts and my family comes! After that my sense of time vanishes, and craziness begins.

Elliot's two cents: Those videos cannot be unseen.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-29T12:45:00.001-06:00

"We sure are cute for two ugly people"

Paulie Bleeker and Juno

Diapers Galore

2011-10-23T13:54:00.001-06:00

This weekend the girls from work threw me a really great baby shower. So much of my time in Ithaca has been spent with this group of gals that it was nice to get together one last time outside of the bank before baby comes. I may not miss work, but I will miss these girls.

note the sock banner above that says "baby hales"

We had food galore and we played a couple games that I've never heard of before but were a lot of fun. The first was "celebrity baby" where we had to match the celebrity mom with the date she gave birth. The second was being blindfolded and having to pick the safety pins out of a bowl of rice. Both games were shockingly hard but fun to watch and play.

Each of the girls also had to guess how big I've gotten by tearing a piece of crate paper to the right length. It was entertaining how long those girls made those streamers but sadly they weren't that far off. Michelle also made me both a diaper cake and a diaper wreath which I can't bear to take apart yet. The cake has different toys and things for the baby, but the wreath has things for me--like a tide to go pen, or body spray and Altoids for when I just don't have time to shower or brush my teeth. Also a comb and chapstick and a mini manicure set for when I do get a spare minute. It seriously is so cool.

Thank you girls for not only spoiling me at the shower, but for the past few months by letting me have the early lunch, not making me be in drive through a lot because I'd have to stand more, not commenting on how many bathroom breaks I take and snacks I keep in back, and for letting me get away with not lifting or picking things up. It may have been annoying, but I really appreciate it. A special thanks also to Michelle for hosting and putting everything together. I was so impressed with all she did to make this a special shower and really can't thank her enough!

And, thanks to these girls, I am all set on diapers! At least for the first week or two ;)

Baby Shower and Update

2011-10-16T19:55:00.003-06:00

I am nearly full-term. Whaaat?! I feel like I've been pregnant forever, but where did the time go? I still like to think I have plenty of time, but people who delivered early also like to seek me out and tell me how they had their babies 3 weeks early, which cuts my time in half, and increases my self-induced stressed that I'm not completely ready for this.

This weekend the girls in my branch threw me a baby shower which was absolutely lovely. We've been traveling so much that I haven't gotten to catch up with so many of my friends here so it was nice to enjoy an afternoon with them. Thanks to Kate and all the girls who worked on this and came to the shower, it was perfect! (we forgot to get a group shot)

We played two games, one where we wrote questions a new mom would have on note-cards and pass the card to write answers which turned out to be hilarious. The other was guessing whose baby photo was up on the board. It was a lot of fun and surprisingly hard, but both Elliot and mine were up there. Elliot was more than happy to hear that everyone thought he was a very cute baby.

In other baby updates, we had an ultrasound last week. Baby boy measured in the 71% overall at a whopping 5.5 pounds. His head and stomach measured in the 90+ percentile while his legs were in the 43rd. We're hoping they can catch up a little in the remaining weeks. The ultrasound tech also said she saw hair and pointed it out. I pretended to know what I was looking at but mostly I'm just relieved that my heartburn has not been in vain and he at least has a few hairs on his head.

My feet and ankles have swelled on a nightly basis for a while now but my hands have been fine. until now. Ever since Boston, my wedding ring has been uncomfortably snug and I think I finally have to put it away until post-baby. I've got a fake one from my BYU days in the meantime, but I secretly hoped I wouldn't have to use it.

Sleeping is getting more difficult, as is moving around in general. Elliot is increasingly more "terrified" with the little guy as he pushes my stomach around but I think I see him getting more excited and interested in what's going on as well. He is trying to get as much school done before the due date comes but we'll see how that goes. For now we're trying to just enjoy the remaining weeks as best we can.

Bahston

2011-10-11T19:41:00.002-06:00

Warning: a very long post. possible overload.

For fall break this year we decided to squeeze in one last trip before we nestle down until baby boy comes. We chose Boston as our destination so we could check out New England in the fall, and we are so glad we made the trip. The weather was perfect, the fall colors were bursting, and we enjoyed three and a half days of meandering around Massachusetts.

I was really surprised at how little stamina I had for walking around, especially since I didn't have any problems in Philly last week. I must be getting really pregnant. So we took it pretty easy and didn't try to do all the things I had planned, which turned out to make the whole weekend that much more relaxing. We checked out Haymarket and Quincy Market, which we really enjoyed, spent time looking at sites on the Freedom trail, fed ducks at the Public Gardens, went inside the Mapparium in the Church of Christ, Science (also very cool), visited Harvard and Cambridge, and went on the famous Ducktour. We ate delicious Italian in the North End (if you are ever in Boston, eat at Antico Forno...we did twice!) and of course had to stop at Mike's Pastry.

In front of Harvard law School...which we hoped would be super ugly. It wasn't.

We then spent a day driving through historic sites in Lexington, Concord, and Walden. I loved this part, being the English major I am, especially the town of Concord. We stopped at various sites in the Minute Man National Park that marks the trail the British marched and met the colonist, ultimately ending in the first shots and actual revolt from the colonist to kick off the fight for independence. We were surprised at how much we learned (or re-learned) and at how people with big names had really small parts in actuality.

We also checked out Authors Ridge at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (which is possibly the most gorgeous peaceful spot a person could be buried) where Hawthorne, Emerson, Alcott, and Thoreau are buried, along with the home where many American authors gathered. We also checked out Walden Pond. Many friends and family had warned us that this visit would be disappointing but I was pleasantly surprised. We went on a beautifully sunny day and the park was full of swimmers and sun-bathers. I dipped my toes, but we mostly walked along the end till we ended up at the the site of Thoreau's cabin. The cabin itself just has markers but next to the site is a pile of rocks, which began when Bronson Alcott, a friend of Thoreau's, visited in his old age and helped point out the original location. Ever since, it's been a tradition to add to the pile.

Hartwell Tavern

North Bridge: "shot heard 'round the world"

Our last night we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in Ashburnham. It was a completely random spot but it sat on top of a lake and was absolutely gorgeous. I loved staying here for it's remoteness which allowed us to sit on the porch at sunset and completely relax and enjoy nature. I totally recommend staying at a B&B once in your life, even for the yummy pumpkin waffles in the morning.

We drove back to Ithaca along the Mohawk Trail, one of the U.S.'s first scenic highways, and enjoyed the fall colors. We stopped at the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls and other picturesque spots. It was a longer drive, but for a sunny fall day it was a perfect end to an ideal weekend.

Elliot's two cents: On the way home I was making the most hilarious jokes. How hilarious? Almost gut-busting enough to make Emily wet her pants. Seriously, we were closer to having to keep that soggy secret for the rest of our lives than I am comfortable with.

The more I've thought about it though, I've realized that my jokes weren't that funny, nor are they ever that funny. Emily was laughing because she spent so much time, thought, and effort into planning the perfect last hurrah to the Hales family as it is presently constituted and the weekend was just that -- perfect.

I think she (and I) were basking in the afterglow of time well spent and couldn't help but to laugh ourselves silly over the most banal of observations and jokes. That perfect moment was the result of a wife's devotion to her husband and marriage.

I can't wait to see what kind of mom she'll make.

The City of Brotherly Love

2011-10-03T19:07:00.001-06:00

We made a fast trip this past weekend to Philadelphia. We've been meaning to go down and visit my second cousin and her family who have lived there the past couple of years, and we finally did. We spent Saturday checking out the sites of the town and Sunday we went to the Philadelphia Eagles vs. San Francisco 49ers football game. We had a really fun time and were pleasantly surprised with the city.

We had to check out all the history stuff: Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Constitution formed, the Liberty Bell and Congress Hall where Presidents George Washington and John Adams were inaugurated. It was neat to see where our nation was formed and so many important people stood especially since Elliot has been studying the law and working so closely with it lately.

We met up with Suzanne, Dallas, and Sharae for lunch at the original Philly cheese steak stand Geno's (across the street is Pat's cheese steak, also claiming to be the original). I got mine with Whiz which sounds totally gross but was surprisingly really good. Elliot wimped out and went without whiz and totally regretted it...so if you go, get the whiz!

We then checked out the Rocky steps at the Museum of Art and Reading Terminal which is a big food market with tons of amazing stuff. We wished we had gone with emptier stomachs, but definitely recommend this to anyone in town. From produce to meats, seafood to dessert it had everything and it all looked so good. The few things we sampled we loved, and even went back for seconds.

The steps had a great view of the city, which has a french-like feel to it's layout. It has old and modern buildings and felt more quaint than anything. I loved driving around and looking at all the buildings. Elliot was super lame and only begrudgingly posed while on the steps. He's supposed to be Rocky in gray sweatpants dripping in sweat running up and down, but he barely raised his arms. If I wasn't pregnant, I'd have a video of me running up and jumping up and down, probably after paying kids to do it with me. Oh well...

My cousin's husband plays on the practice team for the Eagles and was able to get us tickets to the game. We invited our good friend and Elliot's mentor from last year, Jonathan, to join us since we know he is a huge 49ers fan. It turned out to be cold and rainy and the Eagles lost but we still had a fantastic time. Thanks to Suzanne and Dallas for all their help and we hope we can make it down again sometime soon!

In the end, Jonathan gloated and Elliot was eventually comforted in the fact that next summer we will actually be in San Francisco and so in a sense "our team" won too. But for now we'll still cheer for the Eagles.

Overall I was impressed with Philly and hope to make it back. Next week we head to Boston and I'm curious to compare the two cities both on a historical level and just as big east coast cities. We sure are staying busy before baby boy comes. But I think these are the last excursions we'll get as just us two! Then it's time to get serious about this whole parenthood thing and make sure we are all set to go.

Growing Up

2011-10-03T18:02:00.000-06:00

My birthday came and went so fast this year. It's hard to believe it's already October and fall and almost Thanksgiving! I turned 24 this year, but I feel like I've been 24 for a while because I keep telling people I will be 24 when I have the baby (because when they see my belly and ask how old I am, that's what they are really asking). Still can't rent a car, but I feel like I am really growing up for 2 particular reasons.

First, because it was the first time that I "didn't care" as much that I was having a birthday. I am typically a birthday snob, and I love celebrating them (usually all week long), counting down to them, and going all out. It's the one day a year that is completely about you. But this year, other things seemed more important. I'm hoping my lack of enthusiasm stems from weird pregnancy hormones and next year I can get back on the birthday wagon. Which brings me to my second reason...

When asked what I wanted for my birthday, the main thing I wanted was a wagon. Not to pull my kid to and from the playground in, but to roll my laundry to and from the laundromat across the street. If I have more than one load, which is usually the case, it's really hard to carry everything not to mention add a baby in there! Elliot thought I was so lame so he refused to get me it, but my parents obliged :) I love it! (the picture doesn't do it justice)

Elliot did good and got me a new wallet, which he picked out all by himself and totally surprised me and I love it. We went out to eat at a fancy new place and made me breakfast in bed (which he put inside of the new wagon and rolled it in). Thanks to Elliot for upholding all the birthday traditions I grew up with, even if it seems a lot. It was a great birthday, and thanks to all the friends and family that sent me wishes!

Life Decisions

2011-09-22T18:13:00.001-06:00

It's official! Elliot has accepted a job offer for his second year summer internship at Kirkland and Ellis, one of the top firms in the nation, in their SAN FRANCISCO office.

All that flying around and crazy couple of weeks back in August paid off. I think we were both surprised by this decision but are excited that we know we have a great opportunity there and that we definitely know where we will be next summer. I am still a little terrified at the idea of moving to a big California city I know nothing about with a 5 month old, but I know deep down we'll probably love it. I know I'll be ready for the sunshine come May!

Elliot's two cents: That's right, depending on who you are, you know have friends/siblings(in-law)/children in San Francisco next summer. Our couch welcomes you.

the big 3-0

2011-09-15T18:25:00.004-06:00

Today is 30 weeks preggo. I don't know why this feels like a landmark, but it does. Five weeks from full term and ten from due date. yikes!

As far as baby boy goes, he is doing well. Elliot and I caught some sort of bug earlier this week and ended up (both) checking into the ER on Tuesday night. We weren't sure if we were going to go in, but we were running fevers and I wasn't keeping anything down so we wanted to get fluids and just make sure baby was doing okay--which he was, he sure loved that sugar water from the IV. So we've been recovering with lots of sleep and tasty soup from good friends.

Other pregnancy news:

the waddle has begun

absentmindedness is a major understatement

belly button is definitely making its way out, slowly (thank goodness)

fear is beginning to take over excitement (there seems like so much left to do)
I fear sneezing, because my stomach takes a funny shape that hurts

I broke down and bought "stylish" crocs to prevent my feet from swelling and hurting so much

As much as I enjoy baths, they are depressing because I don't fit in the tub anymore

Sitting on the couch is impossible unless Elliot is there to pull me out

Bending over to pick something off the floor has become a major task which involves planning

My wardrobe has become extremely limited, especially with the weather cooling off

Can't you see my overwhelming excitement!?

I feel like this pregnancy has both flown by and I still have so much left. September is still an entirely different part of the year than November is, but the days go by quickly. We are excited to meet this kid, don't get me wrong. This week has just been one of those "did we really think this through"kind of weeks rather than "babies are so cute and fun and that's all that matters" kind of week.

We are currently most excited for fall to be upon us (and to Elliot that means football) and to enjoy all Ithaca has to offer (mostly the apple cider donuts and pie) and the last of the good weather while we can.

Elliot's two cents: Lying in the hospital bed, separated from my wife and future child, IV pumping life back into my veins, completely miserable, I had the thought "well at least this will make for a good facebook status." I can't believe how vain I am that pain now has upside because of social media sympathy. Am I alone in this reaction?

Game-Set-Match

2011-09-06T20:32:00.001-06:00

Elliot and I spent Labor Day weekend in the big apple watching the US Open at Flushing Meadows. It was an incredible weekend of tennis and we had so much fun watching men and women's singles, doubles and mixed doubles. We had far away seats and front row seats and saw all sorts of tennis celebrities. We can't get over how cool it was to be part of that atmosphere and see world-class tennis up close.

We saw a night match at Arthur Ashe stadium and watched #16 Ana Ivanovic beat american Sloane Stephens and #1 Novak Djokovic beat Davydenko. It's an enormous stadium with a unique atmosphere and I'm glad I got to experience a match not only in Arthur Ashe, but at night.

We also saw Simon beat Del Potro and Isner beat Bogomolov in Louis Armstrong stadium and highlights of many others. On the smaller courts we watched several doubles matches which were almost more entertaining because that's the game we play most often. We also got to sit front row to those...that's close enough to see an Italian's little boy undies with a pattern on it ;)

John Isner

Italian doubles team, who were actually really good

On the last day we had courtside seats, which were amazing. I could've reached out and touched the players and to watch such high level tennis that close is unreal. You get a little dizzy because of how fast they hit the ball and you have to quickly move your head back and forth to keep up, but it's well worth it. You also to get to see the player's reactions to every point and even hear what they mutter to themselves or their glares/smirks to their coaches. It's an interesting addition to the game. With these seats we watched Ferrero lose to Tipsaveric in a four setter and then Djokovic beat Dolgopolov in a great match.

Tipsaveric

the coolest parents in the world

At the end of the match we crowded in and Djoko signed a tennis ball for us. I would've had him sign my belly if I got the chance, what better way could I ensure my child's awesome tennis abilities? Oh well, maybe next time.

We pretty much were at the tennis center the entire time with the exception of seeing the award winning play "The Book of Mormon." While it was lewd and vulgar beyond anything we've experienced in quite a while, it was really entertaining and we enjoyed the show a lot. As far as it's commentary on the church, we found it to be spot on on its representations of typical latter-day saints which was more hilarious to us than probably most people. It highlighted the eccentric parts of our religion and when put into song comes out more funny and light-hearted than offensive. We were surprised at how many of our beliefs they addressed and enjoyed the end-all message that no matter what it is you believe, if it makes you happy and a better person than it's certainly worthwhile. Elliot later found an interesting article of Richard Bushman's reaction to some parts of the play.

The theater was packed, and we just so happened to sit directly above Robert Downey Jr, whose hair is even better in person than it is on screen.

One other comment, New Yorkers are unbelievably nice to pregnant women. I can't tell you how many strangers in the streets and in stores would say congrats on your baby or step aside to let me by. It was a nice surprise compared to the otherwise stiff and cranky people.

Thank you to my parents for meeting us out in New York (and leaving my poor sister Becca by herself) and for an unforgettable weekend. We are so glad we got to experience this to the extent that we did and couldn't have asked for a better way to spend out weekend.

Elliot's two cents: At the end of the day, everyone has to take a little bit of ribbing and satire. As a devout of mormon and lover of comedy, this play was undeniably hilarious. One of the songs performed at the Tony awards.

Attacked

2011-08-25T15:27:00.005-06:00

by my shower curtain. And I lose every time. I know it's because I'm cheap and don't want to buy the fanciest curtain liner in the store, but really? The only thing stopping me from unleashing and attacking back is fear of a) falling out of the tub and not having anyone there to help me up and b) that this kid of mine will realize how crazy I am and not want to come out. ever. Other than our evil shower curtain, we like our new place.

EVIL!

Speaking of being attacked, I'm getting a little nervous that our kid has rage issues or (worse) wants to be a body builder. I feel him kick all the time now, but every now and then, usually when I'm sleeping, he decides my insides are his punching bag and he goes hog wild and it gets a little crazy. I keep telling myself he is just feisty and that I'm not Sigourney Weaver on Alien. We did hit 27 weeks today, which marks the end of the second trimester/beginning of the third! It's starting to dawn on me that I'm really going to have a baby, and the fall decorations and Halloween candy aren't helping.

Large and in charge at 27 weeks

In the mean time Elliot has been flying all over the country for callbacks. Since Aug. 7th Elliot has been in NYC, Ithaca, Denver, Salt Lake, back to NYC and Ithaca for day and tonight he flies to Seattle, then San Francisco, than back to Ithaca for a few hours before heading to Dallas on Tuesday. And as of right now, that's the end. But I'm sure there will be more and yes school has already started. Let's just hope things calm down before baby boy comes.

In the mean time, if anyone in Ithaca needs a buddy to hang out with or babysit or wants to indulge a lonely pregnant woman, you know who to call.

Elliot's Two Cents:

So Sacajewea, Lewis, and Clark went from the midwest to Oregon and back in one year. What a bunch of pantywastes. Get a load of this 29 day itinerary:

SLC --> NYC --> ITH --> DEN --> SLC --> SYR --> NYC --> ITH --> SEA --> SFO --> ITH --> NYC --> DAL --> ITH --> (drive to NYC and back) --> EWR --> ITH.

During 24 days of this travel schedule I will have spent fewer than 24 hours in the same room with my beautiful, quite pregnant wife. I have done every crossword and Sudoko in every airline magazine currently in print. I have eaten more Biscoff than I care to mention. Simply put: I want to go home

Back to New York

2011-08-22T16:29:00.000-06:00

It's been a crazy couple of weeks with Elliot focusing on interviews and my mom and I driving to New York and moving into our new apartment. I'm pretty convinced we won't be moving until Elliot finds an employer who will do it for us. It was hard! Elliot did all the big heavy stuff (during his brief trip to Ithaca) but it took my mom and I several days to whip this place into shape. It doesn't help that I don't have any stomach muscles and my mom wouldn't let me lift anything, but a big thanks to her for all the hard work and shopping she did with me to get us all ready to go before school and work started. But we are here! Well, I'm here, Elliot is still interviewing in Utah.

I've started work and technically Elliot starts school on Wednesday, but he'll miss the first day or so for interviews. (yes he has a lot of interviews. I've stopped getting excited about them cause it just means he'll be gone longer) The end of summer sure came quickly, but I'm ready for Elliot and I to both be back in Ithaca to enjoy the nice weather before winter and baby come!

Hard to believe I start my third trimester this week. Time is flying.

Showered!

2011-08-10T22:00:00.002-06:00

One of my very best friends and her mom threw me a baby shower while I was in Colorado for the week. They did such a great job with the decorations, the food, the setting, it was all gorgeous and I couldn't thank them enough. This kid of ours sure got spoiled. Thanks Miss Sarah and Mrs. Liz Blei for spoiling me too :)

Thanks to everyone who came, it was so nice to see some old friends. Elliot missed out on all the fun. He's been interviewing in NYC all week and as I drive out to Ithaca with my mom, he'll fly back to Denver and Salt Lake to do another week of interviews. poor guy.

Kaysville's finest

2011-08-03T20:20:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite things to do this summer was to head over to Davis Counties (their spelling) finest movie theater. For a whopping seven dollars Elliot and I could see a movie with popcorn and a diet coke. Best way to see a movie. period.

One of the many unique parts of this place is during the previews they would always show a clip of two people watching a movie who go through popcorn and snacks, one neatly and one that spills all over. When they stand up to leave, the messier of the two steps in his own gum and the crowd yells ewww! as the words "the choice is yours, please deposit your waste in the nearest trash receptacle" scroll across the screen. Even better is that the theater is probably cleaned on a bi-weekly basis.

Kaysville theater, I will miss you and your cheap movies that allow me to pig out on popcorn and diet coke all I want without feeling guilty.

We leave Layton on Friday for a short weekend in Twin Falls, Idaho before I spend a week in Colorado and Elliot flies to NYC for recruiting. And before ya know it we'll be back in Ithaca!

Elliot's two cents: Kaysville theater is one of life's rarest simple pleasures; it is good because it is bad. I'm so endeared with the theater because it is small, noisy, and always dirty.

You Stay Classy San Diego

2011-07-30T10:54:00.001-06:00

Okay so we were only in San Diego for a day at the zoo, but we spent the rest of the week in Newport with my family. It was nice to lay on a beach and soak up some sun. My parents rented a timeshare condo which was a great alternative to a hotel when you have ten people. It's getting more difficult to get the whole family together and I'm glad everyone could make it, even if my brother could only stay a few days.

We spent three days on the beach, one with some cousins, did a whole lot of lounging, even more eating, and went to the San Diego Zoo. Pretty much the pregnant girl's ideal vacation.

We had everyone in the water at one point, and most people tried boogie boarding. Elliot was the master at "shredding the gnar" and helped everyone catch the waves.

The zoo was the highlight of the trip and we had fun checking out all the animals. We even got to feed some rhino's and flamingos and get up close with various animals. We took a million pictures but here are just some of my favorites.

The cheetah and dog are best friends

Feeding and petting the rhino's was the best part. Their skin was tough and hot in some places, but soft and cool in others. Their mouths were super soft but dirty and they had this huge upper lip (nearly a separate limb) to reach out and grab their food. Other favorite animals to see were the polar bears, who were really active, pandas, koalas, guerrillas, and all the leopards.

To top the trip off, my sister and her boyfriend got engaged on the last night! It's the classic BYU story of meeting their freshman year, waiting two years for him to serve a mission, coming home and getting married. He totally fooled everyone because he doesn't have the actual ring yet, but he got a loaner and planned a special dinner and night on the beach. Congrats to the lovedbirds. Here they are making all the phone calls to family and friends.

Elliot's two cents: I'll tell you the problem with zoos: they don't breed any fear into children for the power and deadliness of nature's animals. I stuck my hand half way down a rhinoceros' mouth and laughed about it. What kind of impression does this give children? Rhino's are our friends? If zoo's were responsible they'd make every child get a minor scratch or bite from an animal before they leave.

Quarter of a Century +1

2011-07-29T13:28:00.000-06:00

Today is Elliot's birthday! He is turning...

The number 26 is:

The number of letters in the Latin and English alphabets
The number of bones in a human foot and ankle
The only single number between a square and a cube
According to Jewish tradition, God gave the Torah in the 26th generation after the Creation
The number of miles in a marathon
The age of which males can no longer be drafted in US
The number of Oscars held by Walt Disney
Usually the number of new episodes in a TV program

Happy Birthday Elliot!
We plan to eat at the Manderin, a favorite Chinese restaurant in Bountiful, and go see possibly the best or biggest-let-down movie of the summer: Cowboys and Aliens. Elliot is super excited.

The latest picture of the birthday boy from our vaca in California. More on that soon.

Willard Bay

2011-07-21T20:26:00.001-06:00

As Elliot was driving home from work yesterday he called and laid out his well-practiced speech of convincing me to go out with our friends Sam and Penny on their family boat. I don't know why he thought it would take some persuading (maybe cause I'm prego?) but it didn't and we spent a great evening with Sam, Penny, and some of their family out on Willard Bay in northern Utah.

Penny was the first to try water skiing, after Sam's 6-year-old niece totally showed everyone up, and she did great! She was a little nervous at first but got up in no time. Elliot and Sam both wakesurfed and had a lot of fun with it.

And I just hung out and took dips with two cute little girls who told me all about having babies. I've never been a big boater, but we had a blast and are so glad they let us crash the party. In other news, we hit 22 weeks today. I swear this belly has come out of nowhere and I'm definitely feeling more pregnant these days. (I know I know I haven't even gotten started yet. oh boy)

Elliot's two cents: I'm happy that I am having a boy because boys are rough and tough and don't take no crap from nobody. But last night I was amazed by how adventurous a little 6-year-old girl was -- she waterskied, wakesurfed and cannonballed into the lake without much encouragement from anyone. I think I could be okay with having a baby girl now, too.

Halfway there

2011-07-08T15:13:00.000-06:00

We hit 20 weeks yesterday! I have a feeling the second half might not fly by as fast as the first but its a good milestone to hit. We had our ultrasound this morning, which is usually the "big one" but was a little underwhelming for me....maybe because it was my fourth ultrasound and we already knew the gender. It's still fun to see our little guy squirm. He seems to always keep his hands up by his face but his legs kind of go wherever they want.

The ultrasound measured his head, stomach, and legs at 21 weeks 4 days ish. They say that doesn't mean he will come early or that he will be a big baby necessarily but we'll see. (Last ultrasound measured him 6 days ahead...now he's 10 days) I'm just going to keep believing what I want ha ha. They say he also weighs about 15 ounces (also big for 20 weeks), just shy of a pound, wahoo! Other than being big, everything looks perfectly normal and healthy.

I'm still not convinced I've felt him kick or move yet. I think I have but it could've been something else but I'm hoping I will be able to tell in the next week or so. I've certainly felt my ligaments stretching and my pooch has definitely taken shape over the past few weeks. Heartburn is always nearby so tums and zantac have become my constant companions (the mexican food doesn't help). I'm starting to think twice about deep couches, especially if Elliot isn't around to pull me out. Other than that, I really have no complaints. I feel great most of the time and don't have anything really taxing to do, so it's been a pretty good summer. Here's a picture from the 4th that shows off my belly---probably the first picture that really has that wasn't a deliberate belly shot, not that we've taken a lot of pictures though.

Elliot's two cents: In dog years our child is already two and a half years old. So I'm pretty excited about that.

Family, Fireworks, and Hot Dogs

2011-07-05T16:35:00.003-06:00

There is nothing like celebrating the 4th of July in rural Idaho. Elliot and I got to spend a long weekend with family at the cabin and enjoyed being outside soaking up some sun, eating off the bbq (I looove the hot dogs) playing outdoors, and being with old friends.

With all the extra moisture, the valley was particularly green and lush for this time of year. Along with the unusual weather, a large tree fell over in the driveway, blocking access to our cabin. Luckily we had Big John to help us cut it apart without too much trouble.

The vacation got off to a rough start, beside the big ol tree, on the way to get a cold diet coke off the front porch, my dad took an awkward step down and rolled his ankle. We immediatly hear screaming and a "oh it's broken, definitely broken" as we rush to see what happened. His low pain-threshold sent us to the hospital just in case. But not before we stopped to get a milkshake. Because I am the pregnant one, I was voted to stay and wait for the xrays while everyone went off the play. Final result: a decent sprain. But he at least got us good parking from there on out.

We watched fireworks on Saturday the 2nd this year with honestly one of the best shows I've ever seen. They had good music and clips in between showing moments from our nations past, including interviews with local WWII veterans. I've come to the conclusion that rural areas are more patriotic and really go all out for the 4th. The only bad part was that Glen Beck addressed the audience for over an hour for the second year in a row. We wouldn't have gone back this year if the fireworks weren't so darn cool :)

And of course, being in Idaho where my family (aka my dad) first learned the fun of blowing things up, we had to do our own firework show.

We also got to play a little tennis with the family and for the first time in 3 years my parents took the "Crandall Championship" trophy from us. It was a close match, 6-2, 2-6, 8-8 (tiebreaker they won 21-19) but it was the first time Elliot and I have played all year and I'm 5 months pregnant, so if they were ever going to win this was it. We are challenging them at the end of the month, so don't worry, we'll get our trophy back. Monday was the Victor parade and festival, which completes any 4th of July, and where the soon-to-be grandparents went a little crazy on the baby stuff.

After the parade we drove back down to Utah and made it in time for Elliot's family annual bbq and fireworks in Kaysville.

It was a perfect 4th of July with lots of family, fireworks, and hot dogs.

Elliot's two cents: Having one 4th of July tainted by Glen Beck's crazy ramblings, shame on him. Having a second 4th of July tainted by Glen Beck's crazy ramblings, shame on me.

Eindhoven, Holland

2011-06-28T15:39:00.003-06:00

Disclaimer: This is shameless plug for family history work.

I'm a family history person. I am not one of those old people who will bore you with story after story (or the same story over and over again) about how awesome my ancestors are, but I can tell you details about many of my ancestors. But I just have to give a shout out for the Church because over the past week I have found answers I have longed searched for and may have never found on my own with the help of a few people in Eindhoven, Holland.

I figured while I was in Utah this summer I would go to the Family History Library, the largest genealogical center in the world, to find my Dutch great grandfather. He is the biological father of my grandpa, but my grandfather was illegitimate so we only recently found out his name let alone any details. After some searching they told me they did not have the records (go figure) and that I would have to go to the original source in Holland. So I found an email address for the historical records for the town of Leiden, where my great grandfather was born and wrote away. They eventually wrote back saying they could not do searches for third parties but that I could hire someone to do the work for me. After talking with my mom about the major brick wall we had hit in our search for our blood Dutch relatives, she thought of contacting a family history center in Holland to see if anyone could help point us in the right direction. At least members of the Church would understand what type of information we were looking for and why it was so important.

So using FamilySearch.org we quickly found the number for a center in Eindhoven, the closest center to Leiden, 132 km away. We called and a sweet old man named Harry gave us the number for Leike, the head-honcho lady who would know how to help us. We told her our situation, she took our email addresses and promised to write soon. Four days later and about a million refreshes on our emails we finally heard from her. She had passed our questions on to a lady named Herma who was closer to Leiden. Within two days Herma had found the birth record of my great grandfather, his parents and siblings, and the name of his first wife. She added all the information to Familysearch for us to begin doing their work. She is continuing her search to find more information on my great grandfather and his family line.

I love the internet. I love the consistency of the Church that allows me to make a phone call across the world and find people willing to help me. I don't know how I would have been able to find my ancestors otherwise. I love how the Gospel is centered on family and encourages us to find their stories and learn from them. Doing family history work can be an awe-inspiring process and one that is truly gratifying.

This is my grandfather, who immigrated to the U.S. when he was twenty-two. He is a funny Dutch man who always gives us a good laugh. In August, my mom and I plan to go visit him and help him do the temple work for his dad. I am excited about the progress we are making and I had to tell this one story because who makes a phone call to Holland and gets results within a week? My mom and I do. And that is awesome.

Elliot's Two Cents: Here is my favorite Grandpa John story:

A bunch of Emily's extended family (at least 15 people) gets

together to go to the movies; during the previews a Sprint

ad comes on to remind us not to add our own

soundtrack to the film by talking or texting.

During the silence that preceded the start of the film,

Grandpa John uses his outdoor voice (his only voice) to ask:

"Tekshting!? Vhat ees dees teh-kshting?"

Nobody answered, many people laughed, I cried.

p.s. thank you Eindhoven Family History center!

chubby baby

2011-06-22T10:04:00.003-06:00

I had another ultrasound yesterday to check out some stuff the doctor didn't like from a blood test a couple weeks ago. That makes three so far and another one in a couple weeks...call me crazy but that's a lot! But I'm not complaining. Luckily, there is nothing to worry about and our baby boy looks perfectly healthy. He is measuring six days bigger than my actual due date, which is both terrifying and exciting. The best part is his tummy is measuring almost two weeks ahead of schedule which means he is a chubby little thing. How can you not love chubby babies?

I'm a little late in wishing my dad a happy father's day, but he knows that I love him. And Elliot milked fathers day for all its worth this year. Now that I know the rules, next year it's on!

He is going to make a really great dad. I can only imagine the things he'll do with this little boy.

Elliot's two cents: My boy passed his first test, that means he's a smarty pants like me.

the 303

2011-06-18T09:14:00.003-06:00

I've spent the last week at home with my family in Colorado while Elliot stayed in Utah to work, and take a trip down to Moab. I had a really great time catching up with old friends, hanging out with family, eating good food, baby shopping, watching my parents play tennis, playing lots of board games, and starting on a baby quilt. I'm surprised at how busy we were! Thanks everyone for a fantastic week.

With Sarah at Red Rocks. We saw a Michael Jackson cover band :)

Our lacrosse cousins spent most of the week with us and we got to see some of their games.

We took Lindsey and Graham to the Littleton Historical Museum to see all the farm animals.

Mom and I started on this quilt, which I am so excited about... I just get to do the hard part now

I am back in Utah with the Hales working on family history (my mom and I called a lady in Holland yesterday to see if she could help us do research. Crazy? yes!) continue quilting and slowly become a little more uncomfortable with my growing belly. Not a whole lot has changed other than getting a little bigger, therefore looking more pregnant and less chubby and no more lying on my stomach. And that heartburn really sucks. Like really sucks. But rumor has it that heartburn equals more hair on my baby's head. I guess I can handle that.

Elliot's two cents: I was the first boy Emily loved and made a quilt for.

Our Blue Period

2011-06-10T23:33:00.002-06:00

Our lives have quickly become everything blue. We are happy to say we are having a baby BOY!

When I first scheduled to have my doctor's appointment in Utah for the summer, I thought no way will we find out the baby's gender at 16 weeks, it was too early. That's why I scheduled it in the middle of the day when Elliot would be working. Oops! When the nurse asked if I wanted to find out the sex of the baby of course I said yes, but I had them put the answer in an envelope so I could later open it with Elliot. So I left the doctors appointment with an envelope in my purse declaring the gender of our first child. Waiting the two hours for Elliot to be done with work was like Edgar Allen Poe's Tell Tale Heart. Only in a good way, not in a murderous way.

When I finally picked up Elliot we went to a nice park and sat on a bench and opened the envelope. Elliot screamed and jumped up and down while I still tried to figure it out. Ha, it is a good thing it says "boy" on it, or we would have no clue what we were looking at! It took us a while but we're just trusting the doc to know what she's doing.

To say the least, we are super excited. I am now starting to show a little more and slowly this whole thing is getting more and more real. So bring on our blue period!

Elliot's two cents: I was really excited to find out it was a boy because that is what I had hoped for. I was pleased to see that Emily, who hoped or a girl, didn't display an ounce of disappointment. She has a lot of love to give and will make a wonderful mother.

Rocky Mountain High

2011-06-03T09:58:00.000-06:00

I forgot how much I've missed the mountains. It might be silly, but the rolling hills, however green, of the East have nothing on the Rocky Mountains.

View from Hales home

Vagabonds

2011-06-02T10:37:00.001-06:00

That is what we have become, or it least it feels that way. The past couple of weeks have been crazy. I finished work, Elliot finished school and his writing competition. We spent a week in Orlando with the Hales family, moved out of our apartment and then drove from Ithaca to Layton, Utah in two days. (worst idea ever. I'm not even that pregnant yet and I was still so uncomfortable) Yesterday was spent settling in Layton with Elliot's family and today was Elliot's first day at work, as well as my first official day of nothingness.

Now if the weather cooperates (it's colder in Utah that it is in Ithaca..whaat?) our summer can feel as if it's begun. What am I going to do all summer long you ask? Well friends, that is an excellent question. I have a few things planned but I am more than welcome to suggestions!

For now here are pictures from our trip to Orlando. Most of them are with our cute niece, Brianna, because that is who I spent most of my time with, at the kiddy lands. yay for having babies!

Happy Birthday Grandma June!

One of the biggest priorities at Disneyworld was the find the princesses. Belle is the Hales family favorite and Elliot claims she is the "archetype woman" Yes, the only thing I have in common with Belle is that we like to read books. awesome. She did however, ask me if Elliot was my beast and marveled at his height, claiming he was almost as tall as her beast. ha ha.

Elliot's two cents: I'll feel bad for comparing Emily's beauty to Belle's when Emily stops comparing my romantic gestures to d@mn Disney princes.

Level One Completed

2011-05-19T15:52:00.002-06:00

Elliot is officially done with his first year of law school. (Phew!) He took his last final on Monday, and the same day picked up a monstrous packet of materials for his writing competition, which is cruelly scheduled over the ten days immediately following exams. He's been busy with that so it doesn't feel like school is over, even though it is.

Congrats Elliot on finishing the first and hardest level of your graduate work. There are a lot of evil rumors out there about the first year, but you put all those to shame. I'm so proud of you for all your hard work and dedication over the past ten months. One down, two to go!

Now we get a vacation in Florida with the Hales family before our big move.

Elliot's two cents: Fifty grand in tuition and what do I have to show for it? A sweet unpaid internship. *WINNING*

10...11...12...

2011-05-11T18:07:00.000-06:00

I am 12 weeks tomorrow, which by my doctors standards is the end of the first trimester! Wahoo! I feel like there are so many dates and numbers that I've been keeping track of lately, my head is starting to spin! But this is a great milestone and one I've been looking forward to.

I do think I've had it pretty easy so far. I had a couple weeks of an annoying nausea which wasn't enough to prevent me from doing anything...even if all I wanted was to sit on the couch with cheese and crackers. I don't really crave anything, but I usually can tell you what I don't want, which is typically anything other than cheese, crackers, or cereal. The worse part of my first trimester was definitely the fatigue. I would get a solid 8+ hours of sleep and still want a nap by noon and only have enough energy to walk to the couch and nibble on crackers after work! Can you tell I'm lovin the crackers lately?

We have seen our little nugget and heard it's tiny heartbeat going 160 beats per minute. What a neat experience it is to finally see and hear the thing you've been imagining for so long. I'm just barely starting to show, something really only noticeable to Elliot and myself, and so the pictures that hang on our fridge are a constant reminder that this is really happening!

The second trimester brings more energy, less blah feelings, a better appetite, more weight gain and therefore some shopping trips, but not necessarily the good kind. For us it brings summer, family, and freedom (for me, not Elliot). Let's just say: We so excited. I'm going to try and keep my blog from being overwhelmed with pregnancy lingo and details, but if it does, sorry. It's what's consumed our lives. We do only have a week and a half left in Ithaca, before we take a vacation in Florida and then move out west for the summer. Big changes coming up for the {three} of us!

Elliot's two cents: To help boost Emily's self esteem, I have put on a few pregnancy pounds myself. I'm a nice guy.

Mommy-to-be

2011-05-07T21:53:00.001-06:00

I have a great mom. She is a lot of things: supportive, understanding, involved but not overbearing, undemanding, except when it comes to her garden. She is fun and active, often the life of the party, sassy and ta good tennis player. She is dedicated and loyal and can throw the ultimate birthday party. She was willing to take the blame when I didn't feel like going out with my friends and be the mom that took stats down at every meet. She went the extra mile for me, and she did all of those things for each of her four children. I love the relationship I have with her, and I love when I find bits and pieces of my mom show through in me in my life. I hope that continues as my own family expands...

There are many pictures I love with my mom, but this shows some personality :)

I also have a wonderful mother-in-law who is loving and tender, and happened to raise the man I love. Elliot and I are blessed to have two mothers in our lives who are supportive and caring. I hope they are as good of mothers to our children as they are to us. I guess we'll find out soon! Because both of these women become grandmothers this Thanksgiving and we couldn't be more thrilled :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Elliot's two cents: We're gonna have a baaaaby!

A Royal Tea Party

2011-05-01T11:52:00.001-06:00

With the Royal Wedding on Friday, and being covered over the past few weeks some girlfriends wanted to celebrate English-style. We all had to work during the actual wedding so we got together Saturday afternoon to "review" the festivities. Since three of us did a study abroad in London, we had to go all out!

It's safe to say, we loved the wedding! I have had ample time at work lately to read all about the new princess and the royal family and even if it all comes down to tradition, it's amazing how this couple's big day captured the world. I'm not sure if it's the Disney-like fairy tale wedding or what about the idea of kings and queens that is so fascinating to a nation and world that holds such little use for them anymore--cause really what power do they hold anymore?

I thought Kate's dress was beautiful, but I was underwhelmed by her bouquet. There were some ridiculous hats (all very British) and the royal family were all very proper, except the little bridesmaid who held her hands over her ears on the balcony during Kate and Williams first public kiss. Loved it!

An Easter Visitor

2011-04-25T13:49:00.002-06:00

This weekend my dad came to Ithaca! He had a meeting in NYC and decided to come out early and visit his old stomping grounds. We toured around campus and various spots around town which of course brought back memories, but also drove out to Cooperstown to see the baseball museum, something he never did while here twenty five years ago. Dad and I had to document the only mention of our hometown team in the entire museum (go Rockies!)

Unfortunately it was cold and rainy (nothing new to us, except Dad seemed to forget all about the infamous Ithaca weather) for most of the weekend. For the few hours it was clear and sunny, we went up by the lake for dinner and a short hike to Taughannock Falls, another thing Dad didn't seem to remember.

We were mostly excited to spend Easter Sunday with my dad. Being far from home, holidays can be lonesome and it was a great day to share it with Dad this year. He even set up a mini egg hunt for us with lots of jelly beans and chocolate. It was a great long weekend and we are so glad my dad came to visit and we could just hang out with him. Now onto finals and then summertime!

Elliot's two cents: The tease-ter bunny teased me by getting me a new mitt right before our fourth softball game was cancelled.

The Point is Moot

2011-04-08T09:32:00.002-06:00

So this week Elliot has been working like a mad man for his 1L Moot Competition. It's sort-of like mock trial without the jury. To be successful, you need to think on your feet and be a good speaker. Anyways, the competition started off with something like 150 people and Elliot made it all the way to the elite eight round! Someone even told him he came in 5th place. He did great. In fact he was so awesome, he now has strangers approaching him at the law school, wanting to talk to him because of his new-found fame. He was pretty bummed when he lost to a silly French guy who ditched all his classes to prepare for the competition. He did feel a little better after watching James Franco saw his arm off in 127 Hours. (Yes, that was what Elliot chose to cheer himself up)

Luckily, the day Elliot was eliminated he also found out that he got a teaching job. (does anyone else see the irony in this?) He applied to teach at Auburn Correctional Facility aka maximum security prison next semester and was accepted. I'm a little wary, but Elliot is excited to teach criminals the law and for a unique experience next semester.

Congrats babe for being so awesome and kicking butt!

Elliot's two cents: "Welcome to the first day of class students: You will address me as 'Professor Prisonshank Hales'" Oh and also, I do not recommend the arm sawing scene in 127 Hours. It cannot be unseen.

I Wanna Soak up the Sun

2011-03-27T19:47:00.002-06:00

It's truly incredible what a week in the sun does after a long, dark, cold winter! Elliot and I feel rejuvenated and ready to take on whatever is left of winter (although we'll take spring and summer any time now:) Needless to say we had a great spring break. We spent a couple days in Orlando checking out Universal Studios, and parts of Disney World before we got on a cruise boat and sailed to the Bahamas. I loved seeing my family and spending a week with them relaxing and enjoying a nice break from work and school.

We had to stop at Epcot's land of Norway for some treats and for Elliot to flirt with all the Norwegian girls working there and show off his language skills. And of course we had to get matching Viking hats. Next year's Halloween costumes?

The big event before getting on the boat was to check out the new Harry Potter world at Universal Studios, which we were really impressed with. The crowds were ridiculous but the attention to detail to the entire world of Harry Potter and Hogsmead was neat to see. And the butterbeer was so good!

We had two ports on our cruise to the Bahamas, one to a private island owned by the cruise line called CocoBay and another to the main island of the Bahamas, Nassau. The first day was a total beach day, lounging and enjoying the clear blue water. But of course Elliot had to go out and play on all the water toys with my sister Becca.

On Nassau, we rented scooters (which turns out was more dangerous than we thought. Luckily it all worked out for us, but a girl on the boat broke her knee and chin and had to fly out early!) But, they were so much fun. We got to see more of the island and ended up on a beautiful beach with some of the most aqua marine blue water I've ever seen.

We ended up back in Orlando for some shopping and got to meet up with some friends from Ithaca, who were also there vacationing. We realize how blessed we are to have a spring break like we did and are so grateful for my family for joining us. But being in the sun sure did make us excited for summer! Now back to reality...

Elliot's two cents: With great dismay, I feel like eating too much with third world people waiting on your needs is starting to lose its charm. But, my face is happily peeling from all of the sun.

Intramural Sports

2011-03-16T20:44:00.001-06:00

One of the most prized accomplishments you can leave BYU with, besides a diploma, is an intramural t-shirt. It is a statement to all of Provo saying that you are dang awesome at sports. Some people go four years in search of one. Luckily, I didn't catch on to the idea until my last year, but my co-ed kickball team had some of the most intense fun I can remember.

Elliot has joined the "Stormin Mormons" baskteball intramurals at Cornell. It's not quiet as extreme, but he's enjoyed the games every week. The team made it to the playoffs, but unfortunately met their match tonight and their dreams of that intramural championship shirt will have to wait another year.

Elliot's two cents: Picture a Golden Aardvark (our opponent tonight). You probably pictured a cute, fuzzy, harmless creature. You're wrong. We got pwned!

Spring is NOT here

2011-03-07T05:26:00.002-07:00

I knew any hope for spring coming early (like the groundhog said) were gone when we woke up to this:

14 inches of snow with it still coming down! That's enough to open the bank late, which apparently never happens. What to do with my extra hour?

Continue the countdown till spring break....11 days and 8 hours.

Tomorrow

2011-02-28T15:52:00.001-07:00

is the first day of March and March is the month of spring. But since that is only partially true in upstate New York (at least that's what I heard...spring won't be here till April or even May...yeesh) we'll just stick with March as the month of spring break!

I don't know if I've ever been so excited for spring break....and I'm not even in school. Let the count down begin. 18 days.

Puzzled

2011-02-19T08:26:00.000-07:00

Since working full time I've struggled to feel the sense of accomplishment and fulfillment you get as a student. At school, you have various projects, papers, and tests staggered throughout the semester that you work towards and doing all of these things sets goals for good grades and ultimately graduation and the job of your choice. Working as a teller, I do the same thing everyday with no "end goal" in mind, other than to have a baby or get a job teaching, which are nothing work-related. So as I expressed my frustration with Elliot and my mom they suggested finding a project to help me. Their initial suggestions were sewing, cooking, family history, painting etc. While these are all great ideas, they are more long-term and required skill I do not have. Someday (soon I hope) I will work on those, but I needed a quick fix before I moved on to the big show, something to get me started. I needed something mindless, something I could do without having to go through a learning process first. And so a puzzle was my perfect answer. And when Elliot and I put that final piece together last night, it was a great, great feeling.

This picture definitely does not do it justice. It's a sea of dots, literally.

I will say Elliot thought I was too ambitious with Georges Seurat's Sunday Afternoon pointilism painting, but I loved it. It was tough, but so worth it in the end. This particular painting resides in Chicago, but I did get to see several of Seurat's other works in London, and seeing them up close is an incredible thing. The texture of his work is awe-inspiring, a feeling that just doesn't come across on a printed copy (but it sure makes it tough trying to figure out which dots go next to each other). They say it took Seurat over two years to complete this particular work. His puzzle took me a week and roughly fifteen to twenty hours. It will continue to take up my kitchen table, until I have the heart to take it apart, but for now... it feels good!

Superbowl Party

2011-02-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

So either because the majority of our friends do no have cable, or because we host a great party, we had several people over to watch the Superbowl this past weekend. It was a lot less watching, and a lot more eating and chatting, but I think everyone had a great time.

We had lots of food (including cake for Ben's birthday)

And even some smooches. Norah got a sloppy kiss from both Lincoln and Graham (we only caught Grahams on camera, because Lincolns' took us all by surprise)

We were so glad to have everyone over and we are grateful for the wonderful friends we have made in Ithaca.

The girls, minus the mom's that had to put kiddos to bed

Oh, and the Packers won, 31-25 (yes I had to look up the final score) but no one was cheering for the Steelers anyways.

Two whole years!

2011-01-31T06:05:00.000-07:00

Today, Elliot and I celebrate our second anniversary!

We'll go out to eat and that's about it :) Keeping it simple this year and looking back on the many changes and adventures we've tackled but, as always, none of it would be worth it without each other. I have to say this year was more fun, more exciting, and even easier than the first which put the bar pretty high. I can only imagine what year three, four, and fifty will bring.

I love you Elliot, and even though it's 5 degrees in Ithaca, I wouldn't want to be anywhere but here with you.

Cooperstown

2011-01-18T18:56:00.001-07:00

For Martin Luther King Jr. Day (a bank holiday) Elliot and I decided to check out the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown just a few hours away. I've developed a love for baseball over the past 5 or 6 six years and so I think this trip was more for me than Elliot. It turns out that baseball was invented in Cooperstown (so they say) hence the location of the museum and the crown jewel of any player. And overall, I think this place was so cool! By the end, I'll be honest and say I've seen enough gloves and baseballs to last me till next season but there were so many neat artifacts from all aspects of the game that is so intertwined with America's history. There were almost more interesting facts about the impact of baseball and the players on Americans than there were amazing stats of outstanding players.

I totally recommend this for anyone who enjoys baseball even in the slightest, or appreciates what America's sport has done for its country. Here are just some highlights:

The development of baseball's mitt

The ball hit by Babe Ruth for his final home run in 1935 and the bat that hit the legendary "called shot" home run in the '32 World Series

I had to support my home team :)

Curt Shilling's bloody sock from '04

The ball Barry Bonds hit to pass Hank Aaron's record for career home runs at number 756. The fan who donated the ball to the museum first polled the nation asking him to a) leave the ball as is b) brand the ball with an asterisk or c) hit the ball into outer space. Over ten million people voted and the winner, as you can see, was to brand the ball. Elliot thought this alone was worth the trip.

I thought the museum as a whole did a great job covering all the stand-out players in baseball's history, while also highlighting periods of domination by various teams. (go yanks!) They had a section on women, blacks, and latinos and their contributions to the game as well as tributes to ballparks, coaches, radio broadcasters, movies, baseball cards, and baseball's beginnings.

Elliot's two cents: I wish Utah had a baseball team

Coyote Ugly

2011-01-08T19:18:00.003-07:00

When I was a sophmore in highschool, my parents left town and my sister and I were in charge of the house. One morning I got up, went downstairs to put the dogs out, and told my sister she was to let them back in while I showered. Something like 15 minutes later my sister is yelling at me that she can't find Mia. Without the heartbreaking details, we found her in the snow after being attacked by a coyote.

Now my family does not have a good record when it comes to our dogs. In the past seven or eight years we have had six Yorkies, five of which have died, four from unnatural causes. This past week, our little Zoe was let out in the morning before work and school, only to be snatched by a coyote. And so our vendetta lingers on.

Six months ago, when Gordo suddenly died, we were all devastated, most of all Zoe. Since then she doesn't twirl or cuddle like she used to, or even enjoy her morning eggs and she continually waits for him. And just like with every pet that has left our family, we grieve for Zoe, but its not the same. There is an anger that exists because, Zoe was stolen from us. She was small and timid and could not protect herself.

Losing a pet is hard. It's not fun. And Zoe was a great dog. She was the definition of a lap dog who loved nothing more than to cuddle and be on the receiving end of a good back and ear scratch. And she was the best twirler you've ever seen. But most of all, she was loyal. Of all our pets, Zoe seemed the most emotional. You could tell when she was excited to see you, or sad that you were leaving, or nervous that you wouldn't take her with you. She never went far from the home and if not tucked away in her bed, she was always next to someone.

Zoe, we love you and miss you.

There's No Place Like Home

2011-01-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

I've been a little slow in posting about our vacation home...I can't believe how fast this past week went! Our trips to Colorado, Utah and for Elliot, Idaho, were absolutely wonderful. We flew out the day after finals ended, to my family and enjoyed a few days there. We had our big Christmas dinner with close friends and it was a night of laughing, yelling, and good food as it always is with Lehmans and Castletons.

We also got to shop a little (oh how we love Nordstroms Rack) and eat our fill of mexican food (how we've missed it dearly). We also spent a day at Vail and had great skiing, thanks to the lovely Miss Blei :)

We then flew to Utah to be with the Hales side of the family for the big Christmas party, Christmas Eve and day. I'm so grateful we were able to see both sides of our family this year. We hit both cafe rio and costa vida (how could we not?!) and played all sorts of games. We got to see the entire Hales' family and the annual party, and Griffin was recruited for the nativity seen with all the little ones :)

I won't post the video because it's way too long, but Makenna and Elliot also filled out and sent in their applications to be on the "the Amazing Race" It was so funny to watch them plan their video audition and fill out their applications. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about the idea of Elliot leaving me for a reality show, but I'll take my chances.

Sadly, the day after Christmas I had to fly back to Ithaca for work, but Elliot got to stay a few extra days with his family and then went up to meet my family at the cabin. He stayed there for the week and went snowmobiling in Yellowstone, made fires, ate a lot of food and relaxed.

(there aren't a lot of pictures because Elliot forgot to take our awesome new camera)

We spent New Years apart, but Elliot and my family were nice enough to skype with me for the big countdown, even though for them it was two hours early. Overall, it was a pretty great Christmas and New Years and we are so lucky to have such great families to celebrate them with. Elliot still has another week off before school starts, one that he can breath easy since grades were released and turns out he did pretty great :) We are enjoying some down time, but already looking forward to spending more time with our families in the upcoming year!

Elliot's two cents: There is no such thing as home if Emily is not there

(awww :)

525,600 minutes

2010-12-31T16:50:00.001-07:00

Actually it is 525,948 minutes (yes I checked) but I'll stick with the song. Can you believe it's 2011 already?! Yikes this year has flown by. As the end of 2010 approaches, and I have had ample time by myself (thanks work for cutting my vaca short) I've thought about how much Elliot and I have done this year, how much our lives have changed, how much we've grown, and how blessed we really are. So in a nutshell, our 2010 looked like this:

January

Kicked off the Crandall "Hunger games" (we met our goals, only to gain it all back), I started my short career in teaching at Provo High School, and Elliot began his internship with Avantar, We also celebrated our 1 year anniversary in Park City, wahoo!

February

Working hard, with a short break at the cabin, anxiously waiting to hear from schools.

March

Played hostest for my sister in-law and cousin's bridal shower, and pondered our future as we were accepted to various law schools...ultimately deciding on Cornell

April

Graduated from BYU! Gave my roomate a bridal shower, and attended two weddings.

May

Watched my brother marry his sweetheart in Portland, drove the Oregon coast, partied in Colorado in my mother's sea of tullips, and spent some of our last days in Provo

June

Sold Elliot's car, went to California to see my roomate wed, got really sunburned, took a trip to Yellowstone with the Hales, said goodbye to Utah and moved to CO, sadly bid farewell to our dog Gordo, and watched both families adopt new puppies

July

Played a lot of tennis and too many rounds of golf, drove through Aspen, saw a concert and movie at Red Rocks, and another trip to the cabin over the 4th. Elliot turned 25.

August

A longer trip to the cabin, and a final trip to Utah for Elliot's birthday. Parted ways with the West and drove across the country to our new home in Ithaca NY. We adjusted by checking out the local sites and were deeply discouraged with the lack of teaching jobs.

September

Got a job at the bank, Elliot read more than he ever had in his life, and we went to NYC to celebrate my birthday, I turned 23.

October

I began working, saw Niagara Falls and then DC on a segway, only to return for a make-up and pierced Elliot on Halloween

November

We went to our first Cornell hockey game and celebrated Thanksgiving with new friends

December

Elliot survived finals and we went home for a lovely, snowless Christmas.

Even though we enter the new year apart, we are excited for what 2011 brings, and hope it's just as adventurous as this past year has been. Happy New Years!

Best time of year

2010-12-25T08:45:00.001-07:00

Our past four Christmases:

Christmas 2007 - Both studying at BYU and living at King Henry, unknown to each other, spending their last Christmas single and alone, destined to meet only a short month away.

Christmas 2008 - Engaged to be married in a month, spending Christmas apart with our families but missing each other dearly.

Christmas 2009 - Married a year finishing BYU and making decisions about where to attend law school. Oh and and vacationing in Hawaii with the Crandalls.

Christmas 2010 - Living in Ithaca, New York for Elliot's law school and spending a few days in Colorado, a few in Utah, all with family celebrating.

Christmas really is a great time of year, hope yours is filled with love and joy!

...and to all a good night!

2010-12-16T19:19:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas!

Elliot and I take off for our vacation home tomorrow and couldn't be more excited. We just have to make it through one more final, a day of work, and two flights before we spend a week in Colorado and Utah, and I can almost guarantee we will be too busy enjoying our family and the holiday cheer to worry about things like blogging. And thus we bid you adieu...Enjoy your holidays, wherever you'll be

Nutcrackers + Nativities - Finals = Christmas Cheer

2010-12-12T16:21:00.001-07:00

Christmas is quickly approaching and with no thanks to finals, the Christmas spirit still hasn't fully encompassed our home. Knowing finals, and being away from family, would probably do this, I bought tickets a while ago to see the local performance of "The Nutcracker" put on by the Ithaca ballet. Elliot had never seen it before and while it was an amateur performance we still enjoyed it, after we figured out what was going on :)

Here we are on the commons enjoying the ice sculptures after the show

We also had the branch Christmas party which definitely helped add more Christmas cheer. The kiddos in nursery played their parts in the nativity scene and we had a delicious dinner with good friends.

We fly home later this week to enjoy the holidays with our families and indulge in many Christmas traditions. This week also means the end of finals and Elliot's first semester of law school. Wahoo!

Elliot's two cents:

Elliot: that girl playing the Nutcraker sure has a pair of legs on her

Emily: um, that's a guy

Elliot: d'oh

Don't judge

2010-12-06T20:22:00.000-07:00

Can you tell it's finals week? Or maybe Tops has a 4 for $10 going on (for those who are wondering what the big deal is) It might be a little much, but don't judge. And if you do, wait a few days till some of that is gone please, cause yes they go fast....

Oh how we love diet coke

Elliot's two cents: Emergency preparedness. At least we've started.

It's that time of the year!

2010-12-02T18:58:00.003-07:00

It finally snowed in Ithaca! I've watched and heard all about the snow in Colorado and Utah and I was starting to get jealous. But on the first day of December, the snow came, and on the second day, so did Elliot's Christmas cheer. I wanted to get a Christmas tree this year, even if it was a 3 foot fake one, but he was practical and brought up issues such as what happens when we are gone for Christmas, or what do you do the rest of the year, or remember how we are poor grad school students....but tonight he came home with a pre-decorated, live tree that should last till the new year! I love it!

It's disposable, cheap, and full of holiday cheer :)

Other attempts to bring the Christmas spirit to our home (even though we are going to be out of town, we don't have storage for it, and we are poor...darn my husband for being practical!) have been a little tough, but you gotta start somewhere right?

(I wish I made this advent calendar and I wish I came up with the scrabble letters all by myself...)

I hope you all are finding ways to celebrate the holiday season, it's a wonderful time of year.

Thankful

2010-11-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

Today I am particularly grateful for: Elliot, for working as hard as he does now to be a good provider later. and for being my rock. I really am lucky to have such a great husband. ** Our families, for the huge support and love they continually shower us with ** the Cornell branch, for the wonderful friends we've made and a place that has quickly become a home away from home on the east coast ** Colorado and Utah, moving away sure has made us more grateful for the chance to move back (not that we don't love Ithaca) ** Our Heavenly Father who has given us the incredibly blessed lives we live ** our health, even though we stuff ourselves silly on occasion. It's been a great Thanksgiving even though we were away from our families. We got together with some good friends and made a pretty dang good feast if you ask me. There was even some leftovers :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Elliot's two cents: Real pumpkin guts make a better pie than the stuff from a can -- I honestly didn't think that would be the case. And I'm starting to think that I may never eat a Thanksgiving turkey ever again that hasn't been soaked in brine for 48 hours. Thank you Alex and Danya for a supreme bird.

Cornell Hockey

2010-11-21T14:53:00.003-07:00

Elliot and I were lucky enough to get some tickets to last night's Cornell hockey game. We actually went to a women's game not too long ago and were impressed, but the real show is all at the men's game. Hockey is the sport here, which I love. I grew up when the Colorado Avalanche ruled the NHL. They came to Denver in 1995 from Quebec, won the Stanley Cup their first season in '96 and again in 2001. They went to the playoffs their first ten seasons in Denver and is the home of many greats, including Patrick Roy and Joe Sakic. Unfortunately, when the NHL had a lockout in 2004, my family's love for hockey was put on hold and it's never been the same. I grew up watching more hockey than any other professional sport, and have many treasured memories involving hockey.

(my sister and me in our get-up: age 9 and 7. Together we've been named "fan of the game" on several occasions due to the help of big posters, painted faces, and toothless smiles to match the players)

Anyways, being back in a hockey arena was pretty neat. We loved the intensity and sass of the crowd and finally picked up on some of their smack by the end of the game. We were lucky and got to see a tough match up between Brown and Cornell, and unfortunately we lost 3-2, but not without a fight.

I hope we get to see a few more games while we are here.

And in the spirit of my youth, when I didn't have to worry about making my own Thanksgiving dinner, I am excited for Turkey Day this week :)

Elliot's two cents (he didn't have anything to say last time): Hockey is a sport that has to be watched live to be appreciated. I was impressed, however, with the coordinated cheers telling each player how much they suck.

HP @ Midnight

2010-11-19T16:42:00.001-07:00

Not a whole lot exciting happening lately. Elliot turned in his big memo today which means all that's left of the semester is to outline and study for finals. I'm so glad the semester is almost over and that it seemed to go pretty fast. (oh and Elliot is plenty excited as well)

My work informed me that at the start of the year, my position would be eliminated and that I could transfer to the branch down the road (actually closer to our apt) which just so happens to be a million times busier and more stressful. I'm a little bummed that I won't get my late mornings and msn wonderwall throughout the day but I'll survive.

Most exciting however, is the fact that I stayed up till 3am watching the first part of the final Harry Potter movie. I have to admit that while I loved the books, I was never that crazy about the movies, but liked the idea of going out with the girls to see the newest film. I was pleasently surprised by this one, and thought they did a great job. I even woke up four hours after getting home still thinking I was in the magical world of Harry Potter and casting spells in my mind to turn off the lights and let me go back to bed. Unfortunately, I realized that I do not have a wand, but a very cold (and slightly snowing) morning to face before work and eventually dragged myself out of bed.

Crock Pot Dinner

2010-11-04T17:46:00.001-06:00

I've been a big fan of the crock-pot lately, It's perfect for long days and super easy to prep. I tried a new recipe tonight and it instantly became a new favorite:

1 1/2 pound chicken breasts

8 oz cream cheese (fat free works too)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 packet of Italian salad dressing mix (about 7 oz worth)

Mix everything together and let the crock pot do it's work.

Serve with rice or pasta

Mmm Mmmm good

Elliot's two cents: Crock pots just make coming home such a pleasure

he gets home before me and gets to try everything first

Eat, Drink, and be Scary

2010-10-30T18:49:00.001-06:00

First off, I can not believe that it's already been a year since last Halloween. So much has happened in the last twelve months, including moving across the country, but I'm still amazed at how quickly time goes.

This Halloween was a little more simple. At work, there is a contest between the branches on the best costumes and pumpkins. I think our tiny branch at Community Corners did pretty good, but we won't get results till next week.

The three witches

Count Catula, Abominable Grinch, and Hagatha the witch

I decorated Hagatha, and after a week of the customers voting, my pumpkin won by two votes!! Fan favorite right there.

The spooky ghost treats I made. Black and white for special effect. (Pretzels dipped in white chocolate)

But the real party started at the Branch Social. We didn't get any pictures, but we were so impressed with everyone's costumes! People went all out and got pretty creative. And we got to pass out candy to all the cute kids, which was my favorite part since we probably won't get any trick-or-treaters at our place.

Elliot went as "an emo kid with a tortured soul"

I couldn't get a real pose out of him

Elliot and I also went to our first Cornell football game. We don't anticipate going to many games as it reminded me more of my high school games than college (especially after BYU's stadium and crowd) but we still enjoyed watched Cornell beat Princeton (ha ha does the Ivy league seems kinda funny to anyone else or is it just me?)

Princeton did make a comeback at the end, but Cornell was able to hang on and win 21-19!

While we celebrated Halloween a little early, it's been a good weekend so far and wish warm weather on the trick-or-treaters and everyone else a

Happy Halloween!

Elliot's two cents: 1. Putting on eye-liner requires reflex restraint that I do not have. 2. In regards to Cornell vs. Princeton, I've seen more athleticism at an AYSO soccer game.

that's maize with an i

2010-10-24T14:41:00.002-06:00

This weekend we wanted to embrace the Halloween season and with some friends decided to check out a corn maze in Trumansburg. It was a little cold, but the full moon lit our way as we half-tried to figure our way to the exit, half-tried to find our friends and scare them.

Throughout the maze was a trail of clues for a crossword puzzle. If you figured out the puzzle correctly you were put into a drawing to win an airplane ride over Ithaca for a couple hours. Sweet! When we finally met up at the end, we had all but two clues. While Lauren and Grady went to find them, Elliot and Ben went to great lengths to get this picture...

And then we made them get one of Paige and I

In the end, Grady and Lauren did not find the clues, but after an intense rock-paper-scissor battle (won by Grady) the owner gave us the clues and entered us in the drawing. We're still waiting to hear if we won.

On a completely different note, look at this tree in our backyard:

It's just one of many shades througout the area. Fall here sure is beautiful.

And continuing with Elliot's two cents:

The emptiness (as in no people) of a corn maze and the amusement a corn maze provides, are directly porportional. Nothing like an empty corn maze!

Segs in the City

2010-10-18T18:34:00.001-06:00

At the end of Elliot's fall break, my sister Becca had a few days off from school and so mom, dad, and Becca decided to take a long weekend in Washington DC and Elliot and I decided to join them for. Elliot had never been, and I went when I was in 5th grade so we were both really excited to go. We drove down late Friday night and arrived at the "W" hotel around midnight, but you wouldn't know it by the party going on in the lobby. It apparently is the place to be that time of night.

We spent most of Saturday touring around the National Archives, Space Museum, and Holocaust Museum. We also walked around and saw some of the monuments.

The fam (minus a few) in front of the National Monument and the reflection pool

With Abe Lincoln

In front of Obama's house

We also go to meet up with long time friend Chelsea who is living and working in DC. It was great to see her again and have her show us around a little. We had an early dinner close to the old post office

and spent the night on these:

Segways!!

Because most of the things in DC are free (which is so neat) and because it just looked awesome we took a night tour of all the monuments on segways. And yes, the company was called "segs in the city" It was SO. MUCH. FUN. We would totally recommend it. Forgive the pictures since we were distracted with giggles and trying to stay balanced (and it was dark). But what a great way to see the city all lit up and with a guide to give us all the history.

Not many of the pictures turned out but the Jefferson Memorial did!

We really enjoyed FDR's memorial, which we would have totally missed had it not been for the segway tour. I particularaly liked it because it seemed more of a tribute to him with the quotes linking his four terms as president. It pieced together what he fought for and what he felt was important. It told a story more than just a statue of him and the stone and waterfalls were gorgeous.

The segway tour was definitely the highlight of the trip. And we loved doing it at night when there were less people to manuever around and the monuments are all lit up.

Sunday we stopped to see the Capitol before heading into Georgetown to catch a glimpse of the National Cathedral.

backside (facing national monument)

front side facing Senate and House offices

National Cathedral, a stunning church similar to those in Europe

We then drove out to Arlington Cemetery and Mount Vernon which are both in Virginia, across the river. It was a beautiful drive and a rare opportunity to visit sacred places to our country.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

I love military cemeteries because they are so uniform and precise like the military, yet the white stones seem to go on forever, reminding you of how many men and women have died for us and how many have been lost...it's truly numberless.

Mount Vernon, the home where George Washington lived and died. It's got a great view of the Potomac.

Overall we really enjoyed DC. It has a lot to see and covers even more history. Simply walking around the city, you feel a sense of power and importance, that big things happen there, and they do. We definitely want to go back and check out some of the other things we missed, but am glad we got to spend a few sunny days there with my family. A weekend well spent.

By the way, Elliot wants to start contributing to the blog (or really I want him to) so he will add his "two cents" at the end of each post and we'll go from there...

Elliot's favorite seg puns:

"that is where we had segs yesterday"

"we'll give you a seg-ond chance" to Becca after she crashed her segway (not her fault)

Chile's Apollo 13

2010-10-13T18:50:00.002-06:00

Elliot's been following this story for the whole 69 days. It is so cool! It's amazing what these men have gone through and even more incredible to come out and fall on their knees praising God and their country. Elliot compared it to the United States' experience with Apollo 13. They were in contact with the men, knew exactly what they had and needed, but the men were still trapped. It was only a matter of time to decide their fate. Anyways, check out the link to a detailed story by the Los Angeles Times. or another from the New York Times. Bravo to Chile for getting them out safely.

Niagara Falls

2010-10-11T18:28:00.001-06:00

To kick off Elliot's fall break we enjoyed a nice weekend with friends (see here and here) and since I had Monday off work (thanks Columbus) we made a little day trip up to Buffalo and Niagara Falls. We first stopped in Buffalo for lunch to try, of course, some buffalo wings at the highly recommended Anchor Bar. Generally, I'm not a fan of wings, but Elliot and I split a large plate and both of us had to admit they were pretty good.

Just as it started sprinkling we made the rest of the trip to Niagara Falls. Luckily for us, the weather cleared up perfectly for the hour or so we were there! We checked out all the views from up top, before making our way down the gorge and boarding the Maid of the Mist.

Pretty fall colors all along the edge of the river and falls

We then boarded the Maid of the Mist to get a closer look at the American Falls and Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. And boy was it misty, we were soaked! Even though the park kindly provided us with ponchos. We had a lot of fun getting up close and personal with the falls and sitting right on the base. We particularly liked the Horsehoe falls because once you got close enough, your entire peripheral was massive waterfalls, and you not only get to see the water fall, but hear the roar of the water crashing on the rocks, and feel the mist on your face. A complete sensory experience that was well worth the wetness. Pictures were slightly difficult since, ya know, we were next to waterfalls and there was a lot of water, but we caught a few.

Elliot in front of the American Falls

Horseshoe Falls, before the misting

American Falls

wetness

Since pictures just don't cut it, here is an attempted video to capture Horseshoe Falls, but like I said, it was misty.

We had a lot of fun touring western New York, sites we probably won't get to see too much. Plus, Niagara Falls is one of those places that is on your checklist of things to see at some point in your life, and we're glad to mark it off the list! Is it weird that I checked Niagara Falls off before the Grand Canyon and I'm from Colorado? Maybe, a little. But Elliot and I are determined to take advantage of living in the East coast where is seems we have easy access to everything :)

The Search

2010-10-08T18:36:00.001-06:00

For a good hairdresser is over! I feel that I was constantly looking for a good salon in Provo the four years I lived there. I went to a couple of the beauty schools and then tried a few other salons and never was able to find both someone I liked and trusted and who didn't charge too much. Well, I have found my perfect match! (I am so excited about it I had to tell someone since Elliot isn't super interested) And for those of you who color their hair, you know what I am talking about.

His name is Ed. Thank you Lindsey Hicks for recommending him. He not only did a (half) color and cut in under an hour and a half, but only charged forty-five dollars!! That's the price of the cut alone at most salons and I have long hair. Plus speed does not always mean a talented hairdresser, but I love the coloring he did. It seems to be much more natural than most of the coloring I've gotten before.

If you are looking for someone to cut or color your hair in Ithaca, I totally recommend him (or his twin brother who happens to work at the same salon) I am so relieved to have found him on the first try and not have a few trial-and-errors with random places. Thanks again Lindsey! This may seem trivial, but when your root gets ridiculously long, it is a happy happy day when you not only get your hair done, but get it done by someone g.o.o.d.

The First Line of Defense

2010-10-06T18:22:00.000-06:00

I've always thought that if I were drafted into a war and was put in the ranks on a battlefield, I would try my hardest to be in the very back. I should be ashamed, but I know I am not cut out for the military and am more often than not, a total whimp so I've just accepted this fact. Anyways, I am in my second week of training for my bank telling job and I keep hearing that as a teller, I am the bank's first line of defense. While my life may not be at risk (unless a robber comes in...but we won't get into what happens then) a big part of my job is to detect any sort of fraud before a transaction. So when I was told I was the first line of defense I may or may not have gotten a little nervous.

Turns out it's really not that hard (but definitely more complicated than you think) and it doesn't take a special kind of courage like it would if you were standing front row in a battlefield. Still, it is a little nerve wracking. Especially when a customer is mad that you ask for identification. I don't care if you come in every week, if I don't know you I am supposed to ask for i.d. you know, to protect your account. right.

Despite telling you this seemingly heavy responsibility you have, I am enjoying my job so far. I am happy to get out of the "classroom" and into the banks. Next week I'm all on my own.

And the best part about working again, is payday. Which is this Friday :)

Birthday Extravaganza!

2010-09-27T13:18:00.000-06:00

I am aware my birthday is not until Wednesday, BUT as some of you may know, I LOVE birthdays! It's the one day that gets to be all about you and a great excuse to do things you wouldn't normally do and usually that equals a lot of fun...fun I intend to have. Anyways Elliot does not share this same birthday enthusiasm, but he has indulged me and went BIG for my birthday this year :) Elliot totally spoiled me and planned (with the help of several family members) a surprise weekend trip to New York City! Hence the early celebration and a really long post.

We drove down Friday after classes. We stayed in Times Square at the Westin hotel and spent the evening walking along bright lights.

We also ventured over to the Empire State Building and rode the elevator up the 86 floors to see the view.

Can you guess where Times Square is?

The Chrysler Bldg, my favorite

It was windy up there, as I knew it would be, but I managed to forget that wearing a skirt would be a bad idea....so pictures were hard as I clung to my legs, desperate not to flash the world.

Saturday we woke up early and roamed the island. We stopped by Rockefeller Plaza, gazed through at the Lego Store, strolled along 5th avenue and all through Central Park, and stopped for a very quick tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Bethesda Fountain

Favorites at the Met: Van Gogh, Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, Degas, Pollock,
I think I converted Elliot to modern art!

We then went to the new Yankee Stadium for a Yankee vs. Red Sox game! I've been to the old Yankee Stadium, which is where my love for baseball and the Yankees blossomed, but this was awesome! Even though the Yankees lost 3-6, and it was a relatively boring game.

Yankee Museum: Autographed ball of every Yankee player from Babe Ruth to Derek Jeter

The 2009 World Series trophy

To cap off the night, we ate at Il Mulino, a delicious Italian Restaurant by Washington Square. Our reservation wasn't until 10:30 and we didn't start eating our main course till midnight, but it was so good! We were amazed we could eat that late, but I guess that means we are becoming New Yorkers :) They had this creamy, melt in your mouth but not too rich chocolate cake with runny but not drippy whip cream that was to. die. for.

Then on Sunday, (yes there is still more!) we did a little shopping in Chinatown, saw Lady Liberty from the shore, we ran out of time and couldn't take the ferry to see her, and then went to see this play:

Promises, Promises with Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth. It was so cool to see those two actors on stage and listen to them sing! I had never even heard of the play before this, but we really liked it! Being in the theater, and all our touring around New York, really reminded me of London, which is just one big happy place--needless to say it was wonderful.

Phew, that's all we did. a ton huh?! We really crammed so many amazing things in, that had we just done one, it still would have been a great birthday. Thank you Elliot for such a fabulous weekend. You really went all out and I loved every minute of it. Thank you also to all of our family who helped arrange and provide various parts of this crazy weekend. It made it so much better.

On another note: I start training tomorrow! Finally. It's been a long, lazy month waiting to start work and I'm excited to get going and have something to do everyday. But I am so grateful for a day of rest after an eventful and incredible weekend!

Bambi's friends

2010-09-23T13:39:00.001-06:00

We love having these guys as neighbors.

They are friendly, but keep their distance and we can count on them to be here almost every night. What more could we ask for?!

(look closely at the squirrels tail...it's huge! It's a different species out here)

An Apple A Day Keeps the Doctor Away!

2010-09-19T16:01:00.003-06:00

It's apple season here in Ithaca, and Elliot and I decided to take advantage this weekend. Through various recommendations we checked out Hollenbeck's Cider Press and Grisamore Farms on a really beautiful Saturday morning.

Not really knowing what to expect, we first drove out to Cortland to see Hollenbeck's Cider Press. What a cool place! We watched them (or the machine) grind all the apples, get sucked up through a tube and then all the mush gets spread onto a stack of crates. Once the stack gets so tall, they press all the mush together and cider oozes out. It was neat to see, and so much better to taste.

They passed out samples of the cider, which was so crisp and sweet, we were amazed at how delicious it was, all by itself. We also had to buy cider doughnuts, which again were incredibly tasty and we, being part of the Crandall family, also had to buy an apple pie. Still warm from the oven we bought the most scrumptious Dutch Apple Pie we have ever tasted.

Our tummies full, we headed over to this place:

to pick out own apples to take home. We picked about 8 pounds of three different types of apples. It was really nice to roam the orchard and pick at our leisure. Not all the trees were full but we awed and drooled at moments when we'd stumble upon this:

We had a lot of fun just driving the countryside. The leaves are just barely starting to turn in some spots and so we didn't mind driving along small roads and stopping to check out fields or barns or anything we felt like (I love all the big red barns)

And now we have TONS of apples! We've made a waldorf salad, but are searching for other simple recipes we can use them for. If you have any ideas, I'm totally open!

The more we see of Ithaca, the more we are loving it!

His own Hogwarts

2010-09-09T14:11:00.000-06:00

Elliot goes to school here....

And studies here...

Law school may be tough but it sure is easy on the eyes.

Elliot has enjoyed his first few weeks as a law student. He's already been called on and drilled in class and has had no major hiccups! We have faith we can survive this.

Ithaca is Gorges

2010-09-06T17:17:00.002-06:00

That is the unofficial slogan of our lovely spot here in upstate NY, and the little play on words is labelled all over t-shirts for a reason. Ithaca is gorgeous! Elliot and I checked out the gorges at Buttermilk and Ithaca Falls on Labour Day with some new friends Lindsey, Conner, and their little guy Graham. It's a different landscape out here and the layers and layers of rock that have built up and smoothed themselves over, make it a new experience for someone used to the upright Rockies. It reminded us of some of the places we visited in Hawaii, with lots of greenery above and the trickling water that zig-zags up the hills.

Buttermilk has about 10 falls total. We would love to go back when there is more water flowing through and it would be a great place to go and swim in all the little pockets and pools they have all over. There are plenty of places to jump off a little cliff or just wade along the rocks.

Graham thought the water was too cold to swim much

Ithaca Falls links Cornell's campus and Collegetown and really is a gorges (eh eh?) spot that is just tucked off the side of the road. We were blown away by how big the falls were and were really glad we made the stop.

We were really happy to spend some time outside, enjoy the weather and get to know Ithaca a little better. Now back to school...for Elliot and finding random things to do, for me

Employed

2010-09-02T19:23:00.001-06:00

That's right, I am the newest bank teller at the local Ithaca bank:

It's not a teaching job, nor does it have anything to do with what I chose to study and do with my life, but alas this is the result of a depressing job market in this highly overqualified and overcrowded region of upstate New York.

I don't start training till the end of the month and after two weeks of that I will start working. Luckily I will split time at the two branches closest to my apartment, making my commut no more than 5 minutes. Not bad huh? And even better for when it's snowing.

I am excited, relieved, and a little heartbroken. I'm so grateful I was able to find something when I know so many are still searching. I also am grateful that it is something that I consider to still be semi-professional. I can still wear my teaching clothes and will work directly with people. I won't have to come home smelling like grease or dressed like a teenager and constantly fight off questions about my age or level of education. Yes I am older than 18, yes I have a bachelors degree, yes that is a wedding ring.

Unfortunately, I won't be anywhere near a classroom, and probably won't have a ton of opportunities to substitute. It's been hard to face that reality, and while I maintain hopes for last minute needs or even next year, it's hard to change directions. It's been emotionally draining to give up what I've so been looking forward to for several years and fight away disappointing thoughts that I am simply settling for something I'm not meant to do.

BUT with the love and support of Elliot and many friends and family, I am ready and excited to be a busy working woman....now just what to do with my free time before I start.

Any suggestions?

A Taste of Sorority Life

2010-08-31T09:10:00.001-06:00

So all of last week, Elliot and I got a little taste of the sorority life. Some friends who are the house parents of Alpha Phi, had an opportunity to go on vacation with some family last minute and asked us to stay at the house while they were gone. All we had to do was sleep there and be there in case of emergencies and to prevent any parties or inappropriate behavior from happening. So basically next to nothing.

Neither of us have ever really been inside a sorority or frat house, nor do we know much about the whole concept other than what you see on tv. So I thought it was cool to see the house and how the whole place works. A lot simpler than what it's all cracked up to be.

It turns out that several people in our branch apply to be house parents, and will live in a sorority house for a year or two. It's a great way to save money and is an unique experience. I was glad to have the chance to check it all out. Now it's not such a big mystery!

A few impressions are that those girls are well fed! We weren't around for any of the meals but we would see the menu or check out the left overs, but their full time cook sure spoils them. Also, you can pretty much expect that every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night, absolutely no one is home. The place is cleared out and the only sign of life will be the tapping of heels above you at 2:00 am. Lastly, there certainly is a camaraderie that develops from being part of a sorority. There were several girls who had once lived in the house that would come back and visit the girls (and get free food). It provides not only a gathering place, but a lifelong sisterhood. Do I sound like I'm promoting the sorority? Sorry, I don't mean too. I'm sure there are some downsides, but it was hard to tell when we were only there to sleep.

Fresh Fruit Sold Here

2010-08-28T19:46:00.001-06:00

Today, Elliot and I met up with some friends from the branch and went to Ithaca's Farmer's Market. I think it's quite the thing here because it was pretty crowded and there are permanent signs on the highway directing you to it. I guess I'm not surprised because Ithaca is very green in that sense. One of Elliot's teachers described Ithaca as a "snapshot of the 1960's," which turns out to be a pretty good description based on some of the people we met at the market today!

I forgot my camera but what a colorful place! There was every fruit or flower you could think of and then some. Lots of reds, greens, purples, yellows, oranges and browns. It was a lot of fun just to walk around and see everything and all the people. There were also some stations with weaved baskets, art, or jewelry, so there was a little something for everyone

Some of the things we tried:

Belgian waffles with fresh fruit and homemade maple syrup (yum-mey)

Apple cider and cider doughnuts

Peanut and lime noodles

Purple green beans, which basically taste the same

A veganically (it's a word, trust me) prepared, mixture of vegetables that was tasty

There were so many things we wanted to try and I'm sure we will be back again soon. It's a great place to walk around and be right against the lake and support the local farmers. The whole town seems to be really good about buying local produce and such, which is really neat. It was a great day to be outside and fall more in love with this quaint college town.

Palmyra

2010-08-24T12:36:00.000-06:00

This is a little late, but in our week of settling in, Elliot and I had some free time and decided to check out all the church sites and make a visit to the temple in Palmyra. It's only about an hour and a half from Ithaca and it was a perfectly sunny day.

We first stopped at the Smith farm which had the Sacred Grove and the Farm house and Frame house where Joseph Smith and his family lived and had their farm. What a beautiful area! It was really neat to not only see the places, but to be in the same places as such a significant person.

Farm house, where Joseph lived till he was a teenager

Brigham Young's father actually built this barn and it was reassembled at this site. It was one of the few original spots where people would have stood in the exact same place.

The Frame house that Alvin built

No pictures of the Sacred Grove, but what a beautiful place! As soon as you start up the path you can tell how special of a spot it is and it was so nice to quietly walk around and see the greenery and patches of light that shined through. It was calm and serene and one of the most peaceful spots I've ever been to.

We then went to the town of Palmyra and saw the book store, where the Book of Mormon was first published.

We then went to the Palmyra temple and did some work there. It's a beautiful temple and hardly anyone was there so we just got to spend some quality time there with each other and the temple workers. Earlier that week I had become so overwhelmed by the job search and living in a new place (and a nasty cold) that I had quite the break down/tear fest and so being able to go to the temple was a huge relief and comfort to help me regroup and keep going in the long endless black hole that is unemployment. (more on that later)

This was taken from the Smith farmhouse

Just down the street is the Hill Cumorah, where Moroni left the golden plates. It's a steep hill, but by no means a mountain. I think people out here aren't quite sure what a mountain is (they only have hills, especially compared to out west) but we appreciated the title nonetheless

The statue of Moroni on top of the hill

On our way home we stopped at the Whitmer home where the LDS church was founded in Fayette, NY. They have a beautiful visitors center there next to the house, and like all the sites, a cool little tour that gives you all the inside info.

The place where it all started...

We are so grateful for a chance to see all the church sites and revisit LDS history. We love the Church and the solidity and comfort it adds to our lives. We are fortunate enough to be close to a temple and the places where so many people fought to keep our church alive, and it certainly humbles us to be a part of a great thing.

It was a great experience to have, especially in this crazy transition period we are going through, but the more we explore our surroundings the more this place feels like home :)

The Last First

2010-08-23T07:41:00.002-06:00

I just dropped Elliot off for his first day of law school (it's only orientation, class doesn't start till Wednesday). He was nervous, and I was a little jealous. I'd rather still be going to school than out searching for jobs. (Am I crazy?)

But he was so cute, figuring out what to wear, making sure his pencils were all sharpened (not really), worrying if people will like him and if he'll make any friends and all the things you do on your first day.

I'm not worried, he's going to be awesome

J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets!

2010-08-21T17:25:00.000-06:00

On Tuesday Elliot and I drove to the next town over (about 40 minutes) to Cortland, where the New York Jets hold their spring training camp to prep for the upcoming football season. I have to admit that up until this point I probably would have picked the Giants over the Jets but we had a lot of fun watching the team play and throw the ball around a little. Hence, we've decided to cheer for the Jets this season since we need an east coast team to watch every week (only because we will only get to see a few Broncos game, but don't worry we will still cheer for them, no matter how bad they do)

Not to mention, it seems like everyone up here cheers for the Jets anyways, and we simply can't afford to stand out just yet :)

Mark Sanchez, the QB, and star player....something I learned seconds before taking the photo

And a little preview for the fall...compliments of Elliot

I am officially ready for football season!