Many Visitors

Our good old pals from North Carolina came to stay with us for a few days this month. We had so much fun with them. Chase and Will enjoyed playing together as well. They took us to The Crooked Tree to eat. It was delicious. Monica also took our pictures while she was here. She is a great photographer if any of my Winston Salem friends read this. Steve, Kayla's boyfriend, also came to visit us. He was flown out here because of a spreadsheet he had made for an iPhone App.

We have met people from all over the world. We've had people here from Sierra Lion, Saint Kitt, and Hungary. Tomorrow we have someone from India coming. This is one of the great things about living here.

Role of Mothers

The knowledge we have about the role of mothers in the home is an indispensable gift from our Heavenly Father.

After my mom and dad read this talk, my mom decided she needed to quit her job and stay home to raise us. How grateful I am to her for that! If you haven't read this talk, you can click on the title to read it. I recommend it!

I loved this poem from the talk:

"You may have tangible wealth untold; Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. Richer than I you can never be-- I had a mother who read to me."

-Strickland Gillilan, "The Reading Mother"

Bronx Zoo

We had a great time with Steve's family visiting the Bronx Zoo, the 9/11 memorial site, the Manhattan Temple, and FAO Schwarz. Steve was let down when he wasn't able to name a hissing cockroach after our friend Jenny Foote who served a mission there. I hope Jenny is reading this. Yes, he really would have done it. We love when family comes to visit!

Chase Happenings

Chase's Great Great Grandmother Sears made these overalls and matching jacket for Steve's grandpa. Look how nicely they fit. She must have been quite the seamstress. It's fun to think that Chase is wearing the same outfit that his Great Grandpa Sears wore. Chase is the oldest boy, of an oldest boy, of an oldest boy, of an oldest boy. I hope his oldest is a boy... I think he looks like a stud in this picture. Chase's first bubble bath. Chase's Valentine Cards he made for his little friends. On the way home from delivering the Valentine Cards, we saw the Statue of Liberty. You walk 10 minutes from our apartment and who do you see, Lady Liberty! Truth be told, mom made the cards. Chase ate the Jello. Chase playing in blue goop. Chase went from shambling down the hall a few months ago to cruising at high speeds. Pushing his stroller is still is favorite activity. We call this the "ExeChaseer."

The Toddler's Busy Book

The Toddler's Busy Book by Trish Kuffner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There are such clever, low-cost, activities in this book. What a great book. I highly recommend it!

View all my reviews

New Job Location, New Apartment, New York, Wait...New Jersey

Steve now works on Water Street in NYC. Working in NYC is a dream come true for Steve.

We moved to New Jersey on the 18th of December. We were here a few days before we left to go and visit Steve's family for Christmas.

We have had many new adventures. We have had many guests, mostly uninvited, you know the roach rodent type. We are very grateful that they have an exterminator come every Wednesday. Have you ever opened a cupboard door above your head to have a roach fall right in front of your face?! Eww! I'm not talking about a monster roach--a live monster roach. I'm even more grateful that men were meant to handle these situations. The hallway is heated, so Chase and I spent some quality time reading books in the hallway for the next...45 minutes.

We also had an uninvited human guest, but you don't want to hear about that.

We did have a hometeacher come. He asked if he could stop by to do his hometeaching and bring ribs. Of course! He came over for a couple of hours and we learned about his family living in Saint Kitt. He came from a land of paradise. New Haircut New Apartment. Queen Latifah used to live at Dixon Mills. Rumor has it that she lived in a unit almost identical to ours. If we took all of out furniture out we could play basketball in the room. New Adventures. We went to FAO Schwarz in Manhattan. They had the huge piano from Big. They said that right after the movie came out the piano was selling for $15,000 and now it is selling for $250,000. Steve wishes he could buy this Star Wars Lego Set. New...for someone else, Barbie Foosball Table. Can you see the price? It's only $24,999, because $24,999 is so much better than $25,000. It's still a cool idea.

Christmas 2010

Chase loved hammering the balls into the holes. He is pretty good with the hammer. He's been caught hammering other things around the house. (You've got to keep two eyes on that kid, I tell you what.) Steve and I at the spectacular Boston Pops concert. Danielle, Devin, and I. Don't you love Danielle's outfit. I'm lucky to have access to two wonderful wardrobe consultants, Kayla and Danielle. I should use their services more often. :) They sang the song "I'll Be Home for Christmas." It was very heart-wrenching to see a video showing some of our troops celebrating Christmas without family. We ate at an Italian restaurant in Boston's North End called Pomodoro. It was probably the best food I have ever eaten in my life--ever! Apparently I'm not the only one who liked it, Boston Magazine called it "the best Italian restaurant." I loved the intimate ambiance. There were only eight tables. They wined and dined us, giving us little extras such as mussels, and tiramisu. I loved the tiramisu. Just writing the word makes me want to eat some. We made gingerbread houses. This picture is out of order and sideways. Just flip your laptop on it's side. This is me looking at, and later tasting, a cannoli for the first time. I don't know why most of these pictures are of me. I feel like the blog hog. Making gingerbread houses was a lot of fun. Spending time with family was even more fun! Beautiful Nicole. We appreciate Nicole for graciously watching Chase while we attended the Boston Pops concert.