Mothers Day

My first "real" mothers day has come and gone and it was great. If nothing else I am just happy that this year Henry was sitting on my lap rather than my tummy. Hallelujah for that!

Happy Mothers Day!

Provo Farmers Market and Cabelas

A few weekends ago the weather took a beautiful turn and we set out for the farmers market here in Provo. Johann wasn't too excited about going at first, but the lure of the possibility of good food for lunch helped get him there. We walked through the narrow path in between the separate booths, saw lots of little crafts and baked goods etc. Towards the end of the path we came across the booths cooking food and we got a burrito and Navajo taco to share. They were both really delicious and I dare say they will serve as strong incentives to get Johann to go back again some weekend.
Henry spent most of his time running around on the wide open grass and pushing the stroller along. I hope he still thinks pushing the stroller is awesome when another sibling comes along!
Afterwards we thought about going to Thanksgiving point but Henry was getting a little tired (okay-so we were too) so we decided to go see this giant animal mountain and aquarium everyone talks about at Cabelas. I'm not a big fan of hunting and sticking animal heads on walls (one, it freaks me out, two it makes me feel bad) but the little exhibits they had were pretty intense. Henry had big eyes the whole time and was pointing and babbling. When we got to the part with the bears he was squirming and trying his hardest to get to those bears...maybe he wanted to pet them? Crazy kid. Then we saw the aquarium which in my opinion was better than the "aquarium" we saw earlier and it was FREE. =)

Annnd we're all caught up

High-five to whoever can name the movie this is referencing...I know, easy, but Henry looked so cute!

Aquarium? (more catch up)

The weekend after graduation we wanted to go on a family outing while Grammy was still around. First we planned to go to Hogle Zoo but the weather had other plans. We finally decided on the Aquarium in Sandy and drove out there Saturday morning. We pulled up and all agreed they had turned an old Albertsons into this now "Aquarium." Johann and I peeked inside to see if we thought it'd be worth it but we couldn't see much anyway and thought, what the hey, we're already here anyway.
Once we got inside we realized how packed it was. I think my frequent moan that there is "nothing to do in Utah" is given some merit by the fact that people are going to this "Aquarium" in droves. Maybe I'm making it out to be worse than it is, but it definitely isn't that great and really only good for 5-10 year olds, if even that. Anyhow, we enjoyed it as best we could, Henry liked looking as some of the fish (the bigger ones scared him until he realized there was glass between him and the fish) and we saw some neat water creatures. But if it hasn't already been made apparent to you, I would not recommend going to the grocery store aquarium. = )

The touch pool

Seeing the sharks with Grammy

Some pretty fish

The concerned look Henry wore on his face until he realized the fish couldn't get him.

Catching up (yup...a frequent title for posts on this blog)

Mid-April was pretty hectic time for me in school (final papers, projects, and, well, finals!) so it was nice when I learned Johann would have a week off of work during the madness. Having him home gave me more time for studying than ever before and also provided some nice family time. Of course the weather was beautiful for most of the week because I needed to be inside studying but at one point it was just too nice so we took Henry to the park and I brought my book (yeah, brought, but thats about all I did with that book while we were there).


Henry doesn't do too terribly much at the park yet. Mostly he just likes being outside , walking around and poking things with his index finger. The funniest part is that he has a very serious look on his face the whole time we're outside. Park time is not fun time. It's serious study time. Apparently.


At the end of Johann's week off and the end of my reading days we went with our friends Lev and Elena to Sundance. Johann and I had never gone and it was one of the places we wanted to see prior to leaving Utah. It was still a little chilly and the lifts were still closed so we meandered around and as always, Henry loved being outside.
Not too far into the area there was a "nature center" so we decided to see what was inside. We found all kinds of weird stuff made out of some kind of playdoh-ey substance and random animal bones (ick...bones creep me out). Well, the seven year old in all of us kicked in and everyone had to take a picture with one of the nature center paraphernalia:

Johann's raccoon print

Lena's creepy little unidentified animal skull

Lev's moose print

They peer pressured me into holding the moose (or elk?) skull. I wouldn't touch it with my hands though.

*Speaking of moose, one of the fellows who worked there came in as we were looking at everything and rattled off some facts to us, among them a fact that has made me fear the woods. Apparently moose can run up to 30mph in TOTAL SILENCE. You will never know what has hit you. Eeek!*

Back to the nature center:

Here the boys regressed from 7 to 4 as Johann offers Lev some clay "poop" on some random bone "platter"

And of course, Johann had to have Henry hold the fake poo.


Stopping for a family picture.
A good day.

Graduation

Yup, the big day has finally come and gone.
Henry looks like he doesn't buy it. haha.

One thing we'll miss

We're really grateful to have Natalie (Johann's sister) and her husband Bryan around and for their willingness to watch Henry for us, especially for those longer nights when we want to attend a session at the Temple. Tonight was another one of those times and it is a little sad to think we won't be just a few blocks away from the Temple anymore. We realize that so many people have to sacrifice for years and years to be able to attend the Temple even once and knowing of their dedication and sacrifice is a strong reminder for us to not get lazy with the advantage we have of being so close and hence we have tried to start taking more advantage of that.
After attending the session we returned home where Natalie took us into Henry's room to show us this:


An all tuckered out little Henry. I guess he was not wanting to go to sleep in his crib but pulled down the nursing pillow, cuddled it and went to sleep...and of course his Pavaratti dvd is near (in the first picture). He really is a funny little guy. Coming home to this was just another reminder to us of the blessings the Temple holds for our family. How grateful we are to know this little boy can be with us forever.

Oranges

It may be right up to the deadline, but at least we have finally made the decision: Johann will attend Chapman and therefore come June we're moving to California.











Johann signing his "Intent to enroll" letter for Chapman!