Grand Adventure Part 5: Back in Utah

Sunday, April 12, 2009

After dropping off my sister and Jenni, I headed to Jon's parents house. It was about 10:00 p.m. when we got there. I was really tired and James had fallen asleep on the drive from West Jordan.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Grandma Felt spent some time with James while I ran a few errands. I needed some dry ice for the beef I brought across the country, and Jon wanted some jerky for a Smokehouse in Erda, UT. He says it is the best beef jerky he has ever had.

James and I just hung out with Grandma Felt, Anna, and Carson (James's Cousins) for most of the day. Here is a picture of James saying good bye to Grandma. These are pictures of the mountains that can be seen from Jon's parents' house.

At about 4:00, we headed to the Deru's for dinner. Jon graduated with Marc Deru from the Chemical Engineer Program at BYU. I was fun to see Marc and Miriam again and to meet their little girl, Anna. Anna and James were about the same size, but Anna is a few months older.

James was really tired, and had a little bit a a break down. I finally got him to Jenni's parents' house and to bed. He was then happier. Jenni's parents had just flown in from Switzerland. It was good to meet them and I am grateful we could stay at their home after their long travels.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

We left Utah and started our drive across the country.

5 Years!

Jon and I have been married five years today! It is great to be married to my best friend forever! I love you more today than yesterday!

Most of the first pictures are not good quality. I could not get the scanner to work so they are pictures of pictures.

Previous post took me a long time to do, so that is why I have not posted in a while. Hopefully now I will be able to get back to posting more regularly now. :)

5 Months

James turned five month yesterday. He weighs 17 pounds 14 ounces (we had a trip to the pediatrician yesterday). I have not started him on solids yet, but I probably will sometime in the next week or so. I think he is ready. He does love chocolate, as you can see here. He is enjoying mommy's pudding pop (it was a swirl one, so I ate the vanilla part). James also loves to sit in his high chair and eat big people food. Here he is eating those puff things that melt in your mouth. He eats a few every day with some juice, and he loves it. He can keep them in his mouth and opens his mouth when he is ready for another. Now, I just need to get him to feed himself them. He has rolled over on his own once, but I cannot get him to do it again. He does love it when I roll him back and forth from his back to his tummy and back again. When on his tummy, he can get on his knees, but then since his arms are straight out to the side, he kind of pushes his head into the ground when he kicks his legs out.

It is fun to watch him grow and learn. Here is one more picture for your viewing pleasure. James has learned to turn in his crib. Often he will be sideways or turned 180 degrees. I have also found him on his side and once almost on his tummy.

I am also still working on finishing the posts from our "Grand Adventure". I have two more parts. Watch for those to be coming soon.

Fremont, Ohio

Yesterday, I went with the Stake Young Women's Presidency to the Fremont Branch. We were just checking on the Young Women's Program there and to offer them some help. We also wanted to talk to them about camp since none of their leaders have been to the camp meetings or the last two Leadership Training Meetings. There is a little concern there for camp, since camp is going to be really different this year. One fun thing: one of the Elders that had served in our ward was serving in the Fremont Branch. It was fun to see Elder Heyland (probably spelled wrong) again in a different location.

Saturday, I went to a Stake Relief Society Activity. It was really good, and I was glad I went. I was kind of sad to see the lack of attendance, especially from my own ward, but it was a really nice day. I know most would have rather been out enjoying the weather. I really thought it was worth the sacrifice however. They had a bunch of "classes" to chose from. I went to a cooking one and a budgeting one. Lunch was amazing! They had some men from the stake there to serve us. I was just sad they ran out of cheese cake before I was able to have any. All they had left was chocolate stuff, which I do not like. Luckily, I had a Rice Crispy Treat in my purse, so I ate one of those.

Jon survived about 7 hours with James. Maybe he will be able to make it the whole week of Girls' Camp with him. :) We will see.

Slide Show for Part 4

Here are the pictures from Easter.

Grand Adventure Part 4: Easter

Saturday, April 11, 2009

We did an Easter Egg Hunt followed by a barbecue at my parents house. This is a picture of James with some of his cousins. Tyson, Kaitie holding James, Raven and Scarlet standing behind. My nieces, Kaitie, Raven, and Scarlet, hid the eggs in the back yard. They had a few eggs they wanted to find and not let the little kids find, so they buried them in the garden. While we were waiting for everyone else to come, my little sisters, Amy and Kristy, dug up the eggs they had buried and hid them some where else.

We let the younger kids hunt for eggs first. Kaitie and Raven were a little worried that they could not find the eggs they had buried. At the end, they were told where to look and found the ones they wanted. After counting and a thorough search, there were 4 eggs not found. Oops!

We had great weather! Thanks Brady for taking pictures while I was getting some of the food ready for the barbecue! There is a slide show of the days events, but I am having problems posting it, so I will post it when it is working. Lots of people came. Here is a list of all in attendance. (If I got any ages wrong, please, let me know.)

Family
Grandpa Brower, my dad
Grandma Brower, my mom
My brother's daughters
Raven (9)
Scarlet (7)
Kelli, my older sister and her kids
Joseph (14)
Kaitie (10)
Bryce (5)
Kenna (5)
Ben (3)
Lori, my older sister
Me
James (4 months)
Amy, my little sister
Kristy, my little sister and her husband
Isaac, and their sons,
Tyson (2)
Aaron (2 months)
Liana, Jon's little sister, and her husband,
Jordon, and his mom,
Jean, and Jordon and Liana's son,
Ethan (8 months)

Close Friends
Brady Lindsay, and his wife,
Kieza, and their sons,
Ammon (4)
Zenoch (2)
Amy Barnard, and her friend,
Tyson

Sunday, April 12, 2009

While getting ready for church, James decided to (kind of) hold his bottle. Here is a picture. We went to 11:00 a.m. church. James had a rough time at church, but he was really tired. Once I got him to sleep he did okay.

After church my brother, Doug, and his wife, Deana, were back from their business trip to Washington State. It was good to be able to see them too. They were able to hold James for a little while, and I made lunch for the adults and the kids who were there had steak, or whatever they would eat.

We headed back to Utah at 5:00 p.m. Here is James saying good-bye to Grandma Brower. Bye, Grandpa Brower.

Residency Fair and Hair Cut

Last night, Jon and I went to a residency fair on campus. Thanks Jenni for babysitting James for us! It was interesting. Dinner was really good! We got lots of free pens and other stuff from the different residency that were there.

I also got my hair cut. Here is a picture of the evidence, but I do not have one of what my hair looks like now. Thanks For cutting my hair, Sherri!

Also, here a picture of James from a little while ago. He still loves his swing. We have to buckle him in all the time now, because he has started wiggling his way out.

Grand Adventure Part 3: Idaho

Thursday, April 9, 2009

James and I headed to Idaho Falls to visit my family. We picked up my sister, Amy, in West Jordan and Jenni Toller in Latyon. Then, we stopped in Pocatello for lunch with my last living grandparent. My Grandpa Summers got to meet James. He took us to lunch at Golden Corral. I love all you can eat buffets, just not all the time. My parents and two of my nieces came too.

We dropped Jenni off in Shelly at her grandparents and drove on to Idaho Falls. Here is James playing with his cousins, Raven (9) and Scarlet (7). After I put James to bed, my mom, Raven, and I went for a walk around the block. It was nice to walk after driving.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Here are a few pictures of James playing. James met more of his cousins. In this picture (from left to right) is Grandpa Brower (my dad), Raven (9), Kaitie (10), James (4 months), and Joseph (14). This is Kenna (5) watching a movie with horses (she loves horses). Bryce (5) talking to his mom, who is holding James. This is my older sister, Kelli. She held James the whole time she was around. She loves babies. Her children are Joseph, Kaitie, Bryce, Kenna (a step-daughter), and Ben (3).

We colored eggs in the afternoon. Here are the "older" kids dying their eggs with Kenna watching. We had to do this in shifts, so the younger ones could dye some, and then the older ones could use all the fun messy stuff. Here are the two eggs I colored. I also did two for James when the younger kids were dying eggs, but did not get a picture of them. I just wrote his name on them with a clear crayon and dyed one blue and the other green.

For dinner, we went to my favorite Mexican restaurant of all time, Plum Loco. I wish Mexican was a little bit bigger out here in Toledo, so there would be more places to try out. Oh well. Here is a picture of all of us waiting for our food to come. While at the restaurant, James finally got a hold of these rings and got them to his mouth all on his own.

Grand Adventure Part 2: Utah

Monday, April 6, 2009

We landed in Salt Lake City at noon Mountain Time (we were supposed to land at 10:30 a.m.). It had been two years since I had been out West! Jon's mom was at baggage claim to meet us. She immediately took James from the "snuggli" in which I was carrying him, so I could find our bags and the car seat.

After watching for our bags for a while, we realized that after we had found the correct carousel, they had switched them. Rude! So we moved down one and found our bags and car seat. We made sure Jenni did have a ride and would be okay waiting. Then headed off to the car.

I was starving! The breakfast bar we got on the flight was hardly a meal, and I had breakfast ten hours earlier. We stopped for lunch at McDonald's, and then headed to Stansbury Park (north of Tooele). It was a little crazy at Jon's parents' house. You see all of Jon's brothers and their families were there. One of Jon's brothers lives only a mile from their parents, one was visiting from Logan, and the third from Washington.

Monday night, we had a big Family Home Evening. James had gone to bed at 6:00. He was exhausted, but there were eight adults and ten children from ages 10 years - 10 months. Grandma gave a lesson about Christ's Resurrection from the Nursery Manual. Then we colored pictures of the tomb. It was fun to have so much family together.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

It was my dad's 64th birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad!

James, Grandma Felt, and I went to Provo to visit a bunch of people. We started at the temple, visiting some friends that I worked with. James has now been in the temple. It was the back door, next to the cafeteria, but we were inside the temple. It was good to see one of my bosses, and some others that I had worked with for so long. I wish Gloria (my main boss) had been able to be there, but I guess we will have to catch her next time.

Then we walked down the street to the MTC (Mission Training Center). That is right James was in the temple and the MTC all in the same day. Here we were able to visit Alison who works in the travel office. Here is a picture of her feeding James in the lobby at the MTC.

As we were walking back up the hill to the temple where our car was parked, Jon's mom and I wondered what we were thinking by not driving to the MTC. Oh well. It was a nice day in the 70s and James enjoyed the stroller.

Next, it was off to BYU campus to visit a few professors in the Religion Department whom Jon and I worked with. First, we decided to stop at the Cougar Eat for lunch and the bookstore for a hat and sun block. Here are pictures of James wanting my lunch. Grandma Felt bought James a BYU shirt and baseball hat. He looks really cute in them. Thanks Grandma!

We visited Brother Freeman first. Jon worked with him for the Saints At War Project. James had a little of a melt down, but once I changed his diaper and gave him a bottle, he was good as new. Sadly, Brother Brooks was not there. Jon and I both worked for him. Jon took over when I graduated. It was a great job!

We decided to start heading for Stansbury Park then. We stopped in South (or West not sure which) Jordan to see my sister, Amy. She had fun holding James for the first time. James had another melt down. I think it was a little too much for him in one day. We stayed at my sister's place until he was ready to get back in the car.

Then, we drove to the Draper Temple so I could see the finished building. It is in a beautiful location. You can see the Jordan River and Oquirrh Mountain Temples really easily. You can also look over the Salt Lake Valley. It was a fun little detour.

For dinner, we picked up Jon's dad and went to Carl's Jr. When I was pregnant, the one thing I craved was a Jalapeno Burger from Carl's Jr., but there is nothing like it anywhere close to Toledo. It was just as good as I remember. Grandpa Felt enjoyed some quiet time with James.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

It was a fairly uneventful day. Most of the adults went to the temple to do some of the work for Jon's Grandpa Hines. It is really exciting to be able to do temple work for family who have died.

For dinner, we did kind of an Easter dinner. Ham and stuff. James of course was in bed by this time. We had Strawberry shortcake for dessert and the grand kids actually cleaned up after dinner.

I am sad I never took my camera out during this time with Jon's family.

Stake Youth Dance

On Saturday in our stake, we had the annual "Mock Prom" as it has come to be called. It is only Sunday Dress, but most of the youth wore formals. Too bad my formal does not fit any more. Oh, well.

The theme for the dance was "A Knight to Remember." Kind of a Medieval thing. The decorations were awesome!!! Everyone seemed to have fun.

Here are some pictures from that night. Some of the decorations close up. Line Dancing. Kaitlyn trying to embarrass her dad (the bishop). Jon and I. Sarah Jane Pratt and I.