To infinity and beyond

This is just a small sample of the evidence. Tyler has officially discovered his first obsession. It all started with The Planet Heroes. He discovered them last fall, and over the course of a year we have collected them all. Next, I suggested we check out a book from the library about space. 6 months later, we may have checked out everything about space at his comprehension level. We have collected toys from museums, as has grandma, not to mention grandpa's telescope and the link he provided to images from the Hubble Space Telescope. Tyler has clipped newspaper articles (he was quite interested when I showed him the Mars Rover in the paper) and even watched hour long programs on different planets on the National Geographic channel. Like I said, the boy is obsessed.

I think it's adorable. He is learning so much, and it is hilarious to hear him spout facts about planets and correct his mom when she calls Pluto a planet. I think it shows dedication, desire for learning, and is teaching him how to find out information. Not to mention how much I am learning too. Dan think it makes him a nerd. Phooey on you dad, we like learning about space.

At least smile. . .

like you're excited for your first day of school.

Not the way I'd like to lose 5 pounds

UGH! I caught one of those 24 hour flu bugs, and spent all day yesterday in my bed or in the bathroom. So not fun. Dan was awesome and stayed home to take care of Tyler, and to keep Tyler away from me. Last time I got a bug like this, within 3 days it had spread to the rest of the family, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that no one else will get it. Because no one else needs to lose five pounds either.

Visiting Utah

Top three things about visiting Utah this summer:
1. Family.
2. The mountains.
3. The weather (it actually cools down at night!!)
4. The grass. (Okay, so this is more than three, but after walking on our crap grass here, I could sleep on the grass in Utah.)

And all the fun things we did:
The farm at Thanksgiving Point

Cabela's

The Children's Garden at Thanksgiving Point

Up the Canyon

Not to mention the zoo, the dinosaur museum, the movies, birthday shopping, and lots of good food. I don't know why family loves food the way we do, but we sure do.

Tyler spent almost a week there without me, and loved his grandma and grandpa not to mention his cousins. I knew someone who said they had a "fruit loop grandma" and an "oatmeal grandma". My mom is totally a fruit loop grandma. She is so hands on and full of fun; all her grandkids love her. And my dad too. Tyler is actually close to him, considering we live so far away and that my dad is not always the buddy-buddy type of guy. But ever since Tyler was little he has referred to my dad as the pancake grandpa, for reasons I'm sure you can guess. My mom said if they don't eat pancakes until Tyler comes back to visit it will be okay. And then they found another little connection--astronomy. Tyler has developed an obsession with space and planets, so when I told him that grandpa had a telescope that we could look in when we went to visit him, Tyler was thrilled. We were lucky that on our last night there it was finally a good night, and we got to look in grandpa's telescope. How fun for him.

We love and miss you guys!

Vacation Recap

Now, I guess I should apologize to all my blog readers for this little blip in regular postings, so to both of you, sorry.

I don't know why, but coming off this vacation has been quite a struggle. I'm always ready to get home from vacation and get back to my own routine, but for some reason it took a long time to get back on track. I think every time I come home from visiting my family there is a bit of sadness in leaving them, and compound that with other bits of sadness in my life...

Anyway, things are good now, and I have got myself organized and back on schedule. Including organizing some photos, so here are some highlights from my trip:

1. Seeing Wicked.
This was by far the greatest part of my trip. I am listening to it right now. (I hope you get it, and don't live to regret it.) Dan's family all thought I was crazy for paying so much money to see it; I think they are crazy to not. Completely awesome, and wish I could do it again tomorrow.

2. Our lodging.
We stayed in a cabin in the Hudson Valley. It took us about 2 1/2 hours via car and train to get into the city. So in that sense it was a little far away, but it was so nice. Here are some photos:


3. 8 states in 10 days.
That's pretty cool, huh?

4. Spending time with family.
Did we got on each other's nerves a few times? yes. Was there a blowup? Oh, a couple. But do we all love each other? of course. Dan always loves hanging out with his siblings, and I especially enjoyed seeing the people we don't see often. One day, we went with Dan's brother and his wife on a little hike, and lo and behold, we ended up in Mass.



5. The Manhattan Temple.
But it is really a sad story. I had forgotten my recommend, so I called the temple on Friday and told them we were coming Tuesday. They said they would take care of it. BUT, when we got there on Tuesday, they had not been able to get a hold of my bishop or Stake President. So I sat at the entrance while everyone else went inside. It was devastating, but I kept thinking, I do not want this to happen to me when it really matters. I had better live my life right. So if you are in my ward, you just might hear this story one day in a talk.

6. The Letterman Show.
This was fun. I'm glad we did it, but I don't think I ever need to do it again. It took all afternoon. You could see us on tv, we were on the fourth row, but only if you didn't blink. Dan's sister almost got to do a bit in the Hello Deli. They had her miked and everything, and then at the last minute they had to do a different segment because some one was getting arrested on the sidewalk in front of the deli.

7. Attending church.
We got to go to a branch where there were about 40 people in sacrament meeting. So our 12 were really noticeable. But I love seeing how the church is different, and yet the same, in different places.

Ok, so I will post again soon to tell you about the Utah half of our vacation. Phew, a girl needs a break from typing.

On Vacation

This long break from blogging was mainly due to our vacation. Tyler and I have been gone since July 15. I will tell you all about that when we get home. Yes, we are still in Utah, but not by choice. You see, I thought we were flying home July 31. When we arrived at the airport this afternoon, and no one could find our reservation, they finally looked up my name.

"Ma'am, your flight was yesterday."

How did we miss that? I thought it was the 31st, would have bet some money on it, but apparently I was wrong. The soonest they could get us home was tomorrow morning. And we had to pay to change our tickets!! So we are spending one more night at grandma's.

The moral of the story: double check the time AND date of all air trips.

Home Alone

We had a great fourth of July weekend. Dan's sister Jenny and family came to town, our BBQ was delicious, and as always, Tyler loves his cousins. Well, it came time for them to leave and Jenny announced that to her kids. Poor Tyler started to cry. (Well a pretty good fake cry anyway.)

"Oh Tyler, do you want to come home with us," she asked?

He stopped crying and big smile came over his face.

She came in to tell me all about the fake tears and we had a little laugh over him. Well, not five minutes later, he came downstairs with his suitcase, packed with pj's, clothes for the next day, and even a toothbrush.

"I'm ready to go," he said.

I pulled him aside and told him that Aunt Jenny was just kidding. And besides, I would miss him too much.

"That's okay mom, you can come visit me."

And by now the cousins were in on it. Allie, who is 10, took him into the next room and helped him write us a note.
I mean, how could we resist that? So Tyler went to Austin last night. He's coming back today with grandma and grandpa who are heading our way to help Dan's brother move in. And I have had the morning to myself. I exercised, finished my book, ate breakfast, and now I really need to get a move on my housecleaning. That brother that is moving to town? They are staying here and will be here this afternoon.