John's Favorites

Here are some of John's latest favorites:

*Water

*Trucks

*Sticks, rocks, any type of ball, animals (especially dogs)

*Books

*Anything that can be pushed around or climbed on

*Slides

*Eating while sitting on a chair like a big kid

*Telling himself "no" while running on the couch

*Saying "mmm" after eating chocolate

*Finding his belly button

*Feeding other people

*Playing hide 'n' seek, pat-a-cake, and itsy-bitsy spider

*Waving intensely at anyone and anything

He certainly is easy to entertain! Just in need of vigilant supervision :)

Pumpkinman Triathlon

On October 15 I completed the Pumpkinman Sprint Triathlon.

750m swim (less than 1/2 mi.), 12.4 mi. bike, 3 mi. run

At Lake Mead, so gorgeous and fun!

Matt took amazing pictures, anticipating where I would be and driving to key photo spots.

The swim was awesome. 70 degree water.

Running to the swim to bike transition zone.

John entertaining himself during the swim

Waving to John at one of the surprise photo stops. It was so fun to see Matt and John cheering me on at so many spots!

Almost done with 8 miles uphill (with no breaks- Lake Mead to top of Boulder City!)

Transition between bike and run.

Running it in at the end! To be completely honest, I didn't run the whole thing. I have had some worse-than-usual back issues the past year, and running was aggravating the pain. So, I didn't train for the run. Caught up in the moment, I ended up running about half (1 1/2 mi.) and sped walked the other half. Needless to say, I didn't win any awards, but it was exciting to compete well and finish!

"Yayyy Mom!"

My favorite cheer team and paparazzi!

The Pumpkinman t-shirt and John presenting my finisher's medal (somehow already dissembled). Many athletes competed in costume, as is the tradition. I threw my witches hat on at the end. I didn't think it would hold up well in the wind :)

To do justice to Matt's dedicated photography, I put together a web album of more pictures.

Overall, a great day!! Matt's already eyeing a triathlon in April. He takes his Boards pt II TODAY, so he wasn't able to train for this event. I'm just happy I was able to get in shape, get healthy, and have fun!

Stay-cation at the Mandalay Bay

We flew in from DC and headed straight to the Mandalay Bay. Matt received an award for his dental pulp stem cell research, and was invited to participate in the international SCADA/Dentsply research competition. We received an all-expenses-paid-for trip to... Las Vegas! So we decided to make a stay-cation out of it.

During the busy annual ADA meeting, Matt presented his research to judges, fellow researchers, and interested dentists/meeting attendees.

John and I stopped by to check out Matt and his research poster.

John was very impressed. I'm not sure what exactly caught his eye, but he loved the poster.

Awards were presented Monday night. My amazing friends helped watched John (Susie on Sunday night and Angela on Monday night) so I could attend the two big ceremonies.

Matt's name, school, and research project title was projected while his name was called.

I am so proud of Matt being invited to present. The student researchers were very impressive and were repeatedly acknowledged as the "future of dentistry". Matt sometimes downplays his research as his main passion is clinical work, but he sure has done well with his project!

During our "stay-cation", in addition to enjoying the great restaurants, we went to the killer pools (wave pool, sand, and several regular pools and hot tub) and the Shark Reef Aquarium.

Admiring the jellyfish.

The aquarium is small and pricey (we fortunately ran into one of Matt's patients who works at the Mandalay Bay and gave us her discount!), but the displays are beautiful, constructed with impressive detail.

John LOVED watching the sharks.

A fun chance to experience life on the Strip! With less than 8 months left here in Vegas, we want to enjoy as much as we can!

DC- Genevieve's Wedding

My best friend from High School, Genevieve, got married October 8th in D.C.! The wedding was beautiful and fun, and it was such an honor to be part of her big weekend.

Friday was filled with a Bridal Party luncheon, rehearsal, and rehearsal dinner. Great start to celebrating Genevieve and Ryan, great food (favorite= Georgetown cupcakes groom's "cake"), and a great chance to get to know all the bridesmaids better. Matt flew in late Friday night, so I picked him up after all the festivities.

On Saturday, all the bridesmaids gathered at Gen's house to beautify. It was fun to get makeup professionally done (including luscious fake eyelashes!), style hair, snack, and hang out together. We all dolled up nicely, but Gen especially looked stunning!

With her family in her backyard.

The ceremony was held in the Dahlgren's chapel on the Georgetown campus. The building and surrounding area were charming and beautiful. The officiant was Geneveive's great-uncle, who conducted a beautifully traditional Catholic wedding. After helping attend to various bridesmaid details (smoothing the dress, staying stress-free, etc.), it was truly overwhelming when the chapel doors opened, revealing the music, smiling faces, and decorations. It hit me that this was all real and Genevieve was getting married! So, my face and emotions were battling the whole walk down the aisle. Ryan choked up during vows, and I think everyone in there choked up as well!

The wedding party outside of the chapel.

Following the ceremony, the wedding party stopped at the Lincoln Monument for some very picturesque shots!

This picture was taken by the videographer, but you get the idea!

The reception was at the Mellon Auditorium, right off the National Mall. The building is stunning, the food and band were great, the toasts were sweet (Gen's sisters were so eloquent and funny!), and the dancing was awesome. My parents were there, so it was fun to dance with them as well as enjoy being reunited with my closest friends from High School.

Following the reception, we caught up briefly with my brother, John's stellar babysitter Aunt Carolyn, my cousin Meredith (it was her birthday! She's in DC for a semester in the Stanford-in-Washington program) and her boyfriend Trent. Fun as always to connect with family!

Great weekend, great couple, congratulations Genevieve and Ryan!!

The World is My Playground

15 months= non-stop adventures.

Walking

[on his own; hand holding is to be avoided at all costs]

Hiding

Climbing inside

Climbing on top

Climbing through

Triumph! Over didn't work, but under did the trick.

And of course, making messes as often as possible!

Every day is an adventure! It is amazing to watch him discover his world and develop new skills constantly.

UT- Ben's Wedding and Conference

This past weekend we drove up to UT for a wedding and to spend time with Matt's parents. Matt's closest friend from his mission, Ben Jensen, got married. Ben is a really dedicated friend who has driven many, many miles for us- our wedding, birthday parties, introducing us to Audrey when they were dating- so we were excited to be able to show our love and support by being there for him. Elder Watson performed the sealing at the Salt Lake Temple. It was a beautiful and busy day for weddings.

The reception was at "The Bungalow," a charming and romantic retreat in the middle of industrial Pleasant Grove.

In addition to the traditional guestbook, they compiled a photo book of their guests. All guests were welcome to help themselves to various props and situate themselves behind empty antique frames (a blue and an orange frame- the wedding colors) for a photo op. They plan to send each guest their photo along with the thank you note. What a cute idea!

Saturday morning, we had a few free hours, so we headed up to Park City to enjoy my grandparents (in town for conference) and the gorgeous fall foliage.

We went on a beautiful walk along the shorter Spiro trail.

And enjoyed Grandma and Grandpa in the memory-filled condo.

We spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday morning enjoying Matt's parents in their condo in Murray. We watched conference, went swimming (their condo pool was still open!), and Marie stocked up John's winter wardrobe! John loved his new toys and of course spending time with his Grandma and Grandpa!

Enjoying a favorite book

And loving some fun apps on Grandpa's iPad :)

On the way home, we stopped in Provo to spend some time with my sister Jane and with Matt's grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousin in Springville. I only wish we had had more time to see all of our family that had gathered for conference. A fun and quick trip!