Words are overrated

this is my favorite

She's our little Wiggle-Bear

Anna and the "other baby" in the mirror

A lot of people have let us know that babies are the most fun between 6 months and 18 months.
Well, Anna just turned 8 months and within the past 3 weeks she has learned to crawl, clap, stand herself up and climb stairs.
She is quite a whirlwind of activity.

The most frustrating/frightening was her new found fondness for standing herself up in her crib, in fact, it's probably something she's doing right now. Before this morning it would have been conceivable that she could have fallen out, but I have since lowered the mattress.

We found out about the stair climbing when we went to my mom's house to do applesauce. We put Anna in the family room with Lincoln while we were working in the kitchen. At one point Robyn saw something in the corner of her eye, low and behold, there was Anna at the top of the stairs looking for us very nonchalantly. This after crawling for only a week. So today I let her climb up our long flight of stairs, hoping to wear her out and be able to put her down for a nap.

Sorry about the pictures, they were all taken on my iphone. I was trying to capture the enormity of her accomplishment on the stairs.

Nursery Notes

As some of you may know, Ben and I have been called to serve in the Nursery of our ward, these are children 18 months to 3 years old. And I would like to share some experiences a la the Sunbeam Chronicles.


Yesterday we were given the lesson "Heavenly Father and Jesus Love Me" and I was explaining that everything we have comes from them.
One little boy says (they are all pretty incoherent): "Yeah, from Heavenly Father and from Santa."

I don't think anyone else caught it but it tickled me.

Reason to Vote

If you know me, you know that although I'm a student of politics, I'm not one much for voting.
The reason for this is a very lengthy blogpost that never made it out of my head and probably still won't.
However, while on vacation, my MIL, imparted a reason for voting.

Whether your candidate is a sure winner or sure loser in your state, you should still vote. The media reports the popular vote, and the winner has more power as the popular vote acts as a mandate from the masses, much more telling than the electoral college.

So vote, it will add to their statistics and make them more powerful in executing their executive power.

I wrote all this while watching Anna stand herself up with a paint can, waiting for her to fall over and hit her head, that's why it's incoherent.

We're Back

We survived the trip back and the transition back to life.

Here is a video of Anna, eating a roll. She also likes bread. However, she thinks Bread is a little sappy.

Now I Have Been to Boston in the Fall

Here are some of the highlights from the rest of our trip.

After apple picking - that was monday, Ben, Anna and I went on Tuesday to Walden Pond for some foliage fotography and to meet Mr. Thoreau.

Ben took this one.

I took this one.

Wednesday we went to Newport, RI to see a)the oldest synagogue in the western hemisphere,

b) "The Breakers" - the Vanderbilt summer cottage -


and c)lots of stores.

Ben bought Anna a gilded spoon at the mansion gift shop.

Thursday was a "do all the little things we never got to do all week" including a visit to Aunt Rachel's school to meet all of her friends. (no pictures)

Friday we flew home, it took all day, but at least we didn't have to haul our luggage in when we got home.

I Had Never Been to Boston in the Fall

We are spending a week in Boston to experience New England in the fall.
Already this weekend we have gone to a Rugby game, walked around downtown, watched baseball playoffs, and eaten our weight in the local cuisine.

Anna at the Rugby game

Today we wanted to do a quintessential FallNewEngland activity, we went to pick apples. Obviously this was not a new experience for me, but I relished in the nostalgia of the labor.
I had never heard of recreational apple/pumpkin picking until recently, but apparently it has been around for ages here in the east.

Also, I wanted adorable pictures of Anna.
so here we go.

She got very upset if we took the apple from her.

We made an apple pie tonight as comfort food for our egos while watching the baseball game.

no baby pictures here

3 Names you go by:

• Tonadele
  
• 'atoni
  
• mamamammamamama

3 Restaurants I love

• Zupas (California Turkey Panini)
  
• Kneaders (or anywhere that serves all you can eat french toast)
  
• The Ikea restaurant (apple cake)
  

3 Trips to plan on this year

• Boston (next week)
  
• Ikea
  
• Bryce Canyon maybe
  

3 Things I want badly

• 12 hours of sleep/day without naps
  
• More time with aBen
  
• a rocking chair
  

3 pets I've had

• Audra the brick
  

• The paper fish
• Lappy the mac
  

3 Things I did yesterday

• Spent a lot of money - retail therapy for getting no sleep the night before.
  
• made and ate dinner for 2 for under $4
  
• ate a lot of double-chocolate-extra-oily cookies
  

3 Things I ate today

• WF frosted flakes
• Soy milk
  
• double-chocolate-extra-oily cookies

3 Fears

• Dogs
  
• Bees
  
• Dogs that shoot bees out of their mouths.
  

3 Things I plan on doing today

• Bread Tuesday?
  
• changing diapers
  
• I should wash the sheets but I already made the bed...
  

3 Things I plan on doing tomorrow

• Visiting Teaching
  
• hot dog roast up the canyon
  
• Late night Project Runway
  

3 Favorite Holidays

• Christmas (it takes a month to celebrate)
  
• Passover
  
• New Years Day, when it's ok to sleep in until noon.
  

3 Favorite beverages

• Milk Shakes
• Slurpees
• The good Doctor Pepper
  

3 People I tag

• Beetle
  
• Aunt Soup
  
• Mrs. Stradling

take that people who only read the beginning of my posts!

Loyalty Broyalty

I now realize how many of you just check my blog looking for pictures of that amazing baby, so here are a few from this weekend that I took with my phone.This is one of my favorites. Anna likes being upside down a lot. I also like that you can read Ben's shirt - I don't know why.


I call this one "Yoda or Dopey" she is especially cross-eyed in this one.

Anna either really likes Lincoln, or finds him very vulnerable. She beat up on him all weekend.


She fell asleep during the sunday morning session, if only she was this peaceful more often.

Insomania

I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. A lot of that is, of course, Anna screaming in her sleep. But the other reason I was up thinking was the fact that I read that Superdell from Totally Awesome Computers infamy, was running for Governor of Utah as a Libertarian.
Dell Schanze is a "controversial business entrepreneur" (as Wikipedia says) living in Salt Lake with some lofty ideas.

In the Utah Voter Information Pamphlet, he issued this statement in an attempt to gain voters:

"SUPERDELL is your only choice because YOU didn't file. Huntsman took away your freedoms and raised taxes more than any governor in the history of Utah. Springmeyer has admitted that he doesn't care about the constitution. The definition of the word insane is voting for the same people while expecting change.
There is no question that Dell Schanze is different. There are only 3 people on the ballot and SUPERDELL is the only one that is NOT a socialist. If you are unsure then fill your heart with love, completely open your mind and pray to God earnestly. You can't afford to get this wrong and will be held accountable for your choice."

This guy gives me the willies.

google him, and you'll get them too.

Unbridled Success

Bread Tuesday has come and gone again.
This time, in honor of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, we attempted Challah, the traditional braided bread. And since I was already at my mom's house working on a quilt, we held Bread Tuesday there and I credit that decision with much of the success.We didn't have enough eggs to do a glaze, but you get the idea. This was the most successful Bread Tuesday as yet. And it only took 4 hours.