John's Annual Birthday Slideshow

Here's my traditional present to John for his birthday: a slideshow of our last year.

Previous years can be found here, here, here, and here.

From our Yard

Happy for a yard that gives us pretty/yummy things in the summertime.

The Fourth: Our own little show

~july 2011~

And of course sparklers in the backyard.

The Fourth: Watching The Show

~july 2011~

We went to a local mall to watch the fireworks show on top of the parking structure.

And dance to live music.

Just one beautiful summer Connecticut night I don't want to forget.

The Fourth: Dough Boys

~july 2011~

Summer holidays aren't complete without dough boys.

Emergency [un]Preparedness

~june 2011~

A while back, John and I had this great idea for a Family Home Evening: we would pretend we had to leave our house in an emergency, go to the park, take our 72 hour kits, and see how we would fare eating the food we had packed.

We loved this idea because 1) NO preparation was required. NO preparation was even allowed! 2) We could try out our new tent that John got for Father's day.

We thought it would be GREAT! !! But as you will note in the expressions on our children's faces, they were not too impressed. And it's true. It had been 3+ years since we had rotated the food in our 72 hour kits, and most of it was borderline edible. For "dinner" we took turns choosing something in the pile of food to try to see how it tasted.

Think Fear Factor.

There were tears.

Plus, we forgot water. Fail. We would've died on the trail.

The corned beef was okay. Raisons: nasty. Applesauce: bad aftertaste. Clam chowder: bad. Jerky: hard as a rock. Vienna sausages: gross, but just like they were when they were fresh. Cliff bars: just fine.

This was the crowning moment of the girls' least favorite FHE. Trying on their extra change of clothes. Just a touch small. After the tears (because did I mention there was crying involved) we took an unscheduled visit to Dairy Queen and wrote down what didn't work if that had been an actual emergency. Five pages of notes. So I have some work to do, but am mostly just praying we never ever get out our 72 hour kits again.

He's Good. He's Two.

 [Me attempting to teach Charlie how old he is.]

"How old are you, Charlie?"

"Good."

"Not good. You are two. Two years old."

"TWO!"

"Now, how old are you?"

"Gooood."

"Two?"

"Yeah! Two."

[Holds up index finger on each hand.]

"Wonderful! Now, how OLD are you?"

"Good."

"Good?"

"Rweally good."


Charlie now:

Loves trains. loooooves trains, especially Thomas.
Is the designated door-closer and the button-pusher in our house.
Eats tomatoes like apples.
Will not get out of his crib in the morning. He just loves to sit or lie down in there for about 30 minutes while I read in his room.
Has a passion for chocolate milk. Just like his momma.
Still cuddles.
Has a HUGE callous on his left thumb from sucking it.
Loves his "gwinky:" his piece of blue fuzzy fabric that passes off as a blanket.
Will not sit in sacrament meeting. at all. He screams when we start nearing the chapel, wriggles away, and runs for the nursery room.
Loves watching me play zuma on the computer.
It very consistent at saying "Please," "Thank you," and "I wub you, mommy."

. . . and say hi to Boston

After some time in Connecticut, we made up our way to Boston for a few days. We had a loooonger than normal drive that included some gnarly traffic on the MassPike and a wild goose chase to find a Boston Market. It's Boston. It shouldn't have been that hard to find.  Thankfully for the kids, Boston is a much slower moving city than New York, and we had some fun activities planned that included less waiting in lines and more play.

Hailey just finished driving a "Duck" on the Charles River. Spencer got to drive too, and publicly declare his love of Wii on the duck microphone.

A visit to the Boston Children's Museum, a favorite.

The site of the Boston Massacre. . .

And Quincy Market.

After our fun in Boston, we had to put the McEntires back on a plane to Utah. The girls were sad. Oh, who are we kidding, we all were sad. That's just one of the hard things about living far away from family. 

. . . and celebrate Easter

After New York, when spent a few days decompressing at home. Lots of play time and movies and eating.

And we also got to celebrate Easter with family this year! Hurray! Easter egg hunts are so much more fun with cousins.