My Trip back East

A couple of weeks ago I got to go on my very first "girls' trip." I guess if I think about it I did have a Dastrup girls trip to NYC a while back ... BUT this was my first time getting away after MAX came along and reuniting with old best friends, so I was pretty dang excited about it.

(Side note: I was pretty sad to leave my little Max and starting crying before I even left. I loved talking to him on the phone while I was gone and would recite parts of his favorite books and he would fill in the missing words back to me. So cute. Also he told me "I love you" for the first time! I was so excited to get home and see him ... and then after half a day of being home was thinking maybe I should have stayed away a bit longer?! :) )

The occasion was my friend Erin's wedding in Leesburg, VA. Erin, Robin, Victoria, and I were BFFs our last two years of high school and beyond (Erin was my freshman roommate). So of course I was going to be there! At first Joe was going to come and we were going to combine it with a trip back to MD, but plane tickets are pricey and missing work is pricier. In the end, it worked out perfectly for Robin and I to be each other's dates! She came from Vancouver, WA and we met up in Denver on our layovers so we could fly the rest of the way together. It was SO much fun getting to spend time with Robin! I love her so much. It was great just to catch up and talk about life. She has three kiddos and is a great example of an amazing mom! Plus she is gorgeous.

We got into DC Friday night, got our rental car (a minivan), and then with Robin's great driving and my expert navigating found our hotel (a Hilton) in Fairfax, VA. We got to share a nice king bed. Other than the wedding and seeing my friends, the thing I was looking forward to MOST was getting to sleep monitor-free. (Max still wakes us up every night, and of course morning, on the monitor, and it is completely painful.) It did not disappoint.
So Saturday morning we slept in, then got up to see DC (Robin's first time). We had lunch reservation's at Erins' favorite place Founding Farmer's and we LOVED it. In fact, I am still thinking about the food we had. Two weeks later. That is really saying something.

The rest of the day was a blur of museum-ing (the American History museum) and walking and monument and sight-seeing. And walking. And more walking. It was a totally crazy day in DC what with the IMF conference going on, the 'Worldwide Day of Play' taking place near the Mall, and this huge Library of Congress Book Conference taking place on the Mall. It was swarmed. We were lucky to finding a parking garage for $8 a day close to the White House and make our lunch reservation. Then we walked for hours and hours and hours until our muscles (or in my case, ligaments) couldn't take it anymore!

One of the reasons for so much walking was that I lost my camera and we had to jog back a long ways to look for it, only to not find it and then walk back the way we had come. We only had one day to be in DC and we didn't want Robin to miss the amazing monuments. Especially seeing the Lincoln Memorial, at night! It was beautiful.

By this time it was after 8 and we were starving for some dinner, but we knew we wouldn't find anything until we walked back closer to our car. This proved extremely challenging for some unknown reason. Every way we went guards with huge guns would tell us "This area is closed." For blocks around the White House we got the same message ... and it wasn't a usual thing, "Just tonight, Ma'am" was the explanation. After walking and walking some more and feeling like we wanted to die, we finally found a restaurant that was open and enjoyed some delicious Italian food. Seriously, so good, almost as good as lunch!
By then we didn't have much farther to go to find our parking garage. Problem was, when we got there at about 9:45 we found this:
Yeah, they closed the garage on us. Apparently "all day" means until 6 pm. Who knew?! I was in near hysteria thinking about how much this blunder was going to cost us (taxis, another car rental if we couldn't get into the garage until Monday, fines, etc.) (oh and right after I had lost an expensive camera, ouch) but LUCKILY we called the emergency number and they came and let us in. PHEW!!!!! Major luck!! That about made my night. Also, made me wonder whether Robin and I should be trusted on our own in a big city?!? Perhaps not.
On Sunday morning we went to a bridal brunch for the girls, finally getting to meet up with Erin and V. It was so good to see them! Erin was already glowing and we couldn't wait for the ceremony later that day.

The wedding was outside at an old historic home in downtown Leesburg. Erin's fiance's father is a Reverand and performed the ceremony. She was the most GORGEOUS bride. So stunning. And they are the cutest couple as well. Also, her new husband is pretty awesome and works for General Petraeus, so he was there as well. Not too shabby.

After the ceremony there was a cocktail hour before dinner. We got to hang out with V and meet her boyfriend.

Then there was a lovely sit down dinner, toasts, dancing, etc. It was all beautiful and happy and so much fun.

Oh, and don't forget about the cupcakes ... those were amazing.

At the end of the night Robin and I were just SO happy we had made the trip and were able to be a part of Erin's wonderful day. Having a little break from kids, etc. and a chance to catch up on plenty of girl talk was a nice bonus.

On Monday we headed back to the airport and flew to Denver where we parted ways. (Another side note, I was kind of sad that Denver is not home anymore. But I had to fly on.)
At least I had my wonderful husband waiting for me when I got there. All the wedding festivities made me so happy I married the love of my life over 6 years ago. :)

Hello & See You Later

We've had some big changes around here that we maybe haven't quite come to terms with yet. But, there's no more pretending it didn't happen or that we are just away on vacation. That's right - in the short span of just a few weeks we made a decision, packed up our house, and moved to UTAH ... saying "see you later" to our lovely home of Colorado.

I can't believe how much Colorado felt like home after just 11 months. Of course, we loved our 5 years in Maryland, but we were swept up in school most of the time and never planned to stay. In Colorado, we were in a new phase of life that left a little more time for friends, enjoying ourselves, and just being a family in our little home. For me at least, it was a good life! I even passed the bar and had started doing a little work from home for a small, well-respected Trusts & Estates firm. We loved our ward, our neighborhood, the rec centers and pools, and taking family bike rides on all the awesome trails nearby.

Anyway, Joe needed something different in his job. So surprisingly enough, we found a situation in Orem, Utah that we thought would work. Plus, it would give us the chance to live close to lots of family (a.k.a. free babysitters, hehe!) and fun activities. So, Joe and I are now eating our words that we would "never live in Utah" but we are really okay with that. :) Of course we don't plan to stay here permanently, but will definitely enjoy ourselves for as long as it lasts!

It all just happened so fast. It was hard to even get in a proper good-bye. I certainly didn't take pictures of all my friends or the things I would miss because I just don't get my camera out much, but here are just a couple of things are making me sad to be away.

1. Max & Alec ... or maybe, me and my friend Heidi :)

We became fast friends with the Smith's because we were both in the one-kid club and our boys were born only a couple of weeks apart. We even had been married around the same amount of time. Although we had our differences (BYU vs. Utah, etc.) we had a lot of fun with them. Max and Alec spent a good amount of time together and it was always nice that although Max may have non-maliciously bumped and trampled on Alec from time to time, Alec never got upset about it. :) He was also a champ at sharing his puffs with our little scavenger. I know that kids at this age aren't known for playing "together" much, but these two actually would! They would totally crack each other up and it was pretty much the cutest thing. I'm hopeful that in a few years they'll be starting soccer together back in CO and the cuteness can continue, and Heidi and I can be fellow soccer moms.

We made some other good friends in the ward as well through visiting teaching, book group, young men's calling, etc. but sadly I don't have any pictures! On top of that there were many friendly faces that I am really going to miss. It was a great ward and everyone was so awesome to offer repeatedly to help out with Max during the move (which I definitely took advantage of - thankfully). Thank goodness for facebook and blogs so it will be easy to keep in touch.

2. Rach, Ryan, & Baby Boy

Something else I am just crushed about is that my wonderful friend Rachel, who will soon be adopting a baby boy, moved to Colorado just a few weeks before we left. Talk about terrible timing! We love Rach & Ry and I am just so sad I won't be around to hang out with her & her little one like I thought I would be. Like really sad, cuz they are the coolest. We will definitely have to visit!!

Okay, so on to the big move. It was NOT. FUN. AT. ALL. I don't know why it has to be so darn difficult, but it just is. Thank goodness for friends helping with Max or we would never have gotten everything done! As it was, I had 3 nights in a row of 3 hours of sleep (partly due to my own anxiety and insomnia, but still). The final day we planned to leave at 11 am but didn't get out until after 3 in the afternoon. Here's Joe about to drive all our stuff and his car to our new state. He is awesome.
Once we were finally on the road we had more than an 8 hr drive (not counting stops) ahead of us. I had a 30 minute delay dropping our internet stuff off at Comcast on the way out so Joe went on ahead. Then not long after we got into the mountains, I heard Max start crying and the car suddenly smelled like sour milk. I didn't know what had happened, but when I pulled into a gas station at the next exit this is what I found.
Poor Max had thrown up ALL OVER THE PLACE. At first I didn't even know what to do. After I stripped the boy down and cleaned him up, he got to play in the drivers seat for about 30 minutes while I used a million wipes and papers towels to clean up his seat. Luckily he loved that and people leaving the gas station thought this little boy "steering" the car in his diaper was the cutest thing. Then we hit the road and spent the next 3 hours making up the 45 minute lead Joe had on us. We were booking it. Our only other stop of the trip was in Grand Junction, where I discovered that Max had thrown up again, cleaned him up again, and grabbed some dinner. Then we continued driving, which felt like torture because I was so exhausted. Fortunately Max was an angel and slept most of the way, which meant I listened to his sleepytime CD about 800 times. We finally pulled into my parents' house at 1:45 am.

The next morning we put all our stuff in a storage unit and Max said good-bye to the big "guck," which he was obsessed with.

So that was all over a week ago. The past week Joe worked 5 days and we spent a lot of time looking at houses and thinking about where we would like to live. We also had enough family fun to remind us just how lucky we are to be spending the next little portion of our lives here. And I know of one person who is definitely happy to have Max around:

Utah & family & friends - HELLO!!! Colorado & friends - SEE YOU LATER!!!

Max's First Fireworks

yeah, you gotta tilt it if you want to see cuz I don't know how to rotate the video!

We had a fabulous Fourth of July spent busy with good friends and, of course, fireworks!!! To be honest I was not at all sure about keeping Max up 3 hours past his bedtime to see fireworks. I mean, he has a lot of years left in life to enjoy them. But Joe was quite adamant that we were taking Max to see the fireworks, and since it gave us an excuse to enjoy the only cool hours of the day and spend more time with friends I agreed. Max was running around like a nutcase before they started and wouldn't sit still even for a second. This short video clip shows him right when the fireworks started - he was completely mesmerized. He would clap occasionally, say "Boom Boom!" (which Joe taught him while we were waiting ... this kid is learning new words every day!), and also an occasional "Wooooo!!!" I think he had a good time. He fell asleep on the ride home and then slept in my arms while I fed him his bedtime bottle ... not a bad way to end the day.

Garden of the Gods

Yesterday we drove an hour to visit Garden of the Gods. It was a perfect little less-than-half day trip. We drove through lightning and pouring rain but when we got there it was absolutely gorgeous.

There was a nice mile and a half walk to go on where we could take the stroller. We got Max to sit in it for a good part of our walk by feeding him pretzels every couple of minutes. Then it was time to get out and play!

Future rock climber.

"Arms up!"

About to slide ...

Then I got a few cute pictures of Max playing by the fence. He decided to take some rocks and line them up. This is what Max looks like when he's talking to you - he likes to talk with his hands.
For some reason he decided to fold his arms. Maybe he was saying a prayer.
He had to taste each rock before he put it in the line.
This was our view leaving the park. Apparently there are lots more cool things to see (like waterfalls!), but we made it a quick trip. Not sure how we would have gotten to the waterfalls with Max, anyway. Earlier this spring, we bought a sweet hiking backpack to carry Max as well as a 12 month pass to be able to hike in all the parks. Well, a couple months ago we tried that out and he screamed almost the whole time he was in it. He just couldn't stand not being able to run around and do what HE wanted to do. Luckily we got our money for the pass back. :) Hopefully we'll give it another try ... but until then we have lots of fun things to do here to keep us busy! Maybe next will be the zoo.

15 months

Yep, we are a quarter of the way into year #2 already. Nuts. Anyway, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do another update on this kid. He is changing so much but is still about the cutest kid ever. So here ya go.

At the doctor last week, we learned that Max is now:

22.1 lbs (20th)

31 inches tall (50th) - though it was practically impossible to get him to hold still enough to measure so I'm pretty sure this is an overestimate.

19 inches head circum. (76th)

So, not so much the stocky kid people sometimes think! Although he definitely has a little tummy on him, there is not a whole lot of fat anywhere else. The doctor wanted to make sure he was getting enough whole milk (which is definitely is ... he is also just burning calories all day long!).

So let's talk about Max. Well, he is talking. Not sure what language he is speaking, but he definitely has a lot to say. It is really darling actually. I just get down to his eye level and then he will talk, talk, talk for who knows how long. I can't understand a word of it but he uses his hands a lot and is pretty adamant about whatever it is. As for "real" words, he says cheese, dada, ball ... and attempts many others but they aren't too recognizable. He of course can say mama but still refuses to call me it. "Say mama, Max." "DADA!" he replies. Okay fine then. He also has his signs: more (which also means 'I'm hungry'), please, all done, drink (water), and milk.

Although Max has been "into everything" for a loooong time now, it has reached a whole new level now that he is taller, even stronger, and more clever than he was before. He pulls out the drawer below the oven and stands on it to reach the stove, which means no more cooking on the front burners for me. He also opens the dishwasher (he loves to help empty it, then proceeds to stand on the door and 'bounce') so we have solved that by using multiple layers of masking tape that make it inaccessible to us as well. He still loves books and will read about as many as I have the patience for (which is a LOT, cuz I love it, but not never-ending).

This picture was taking right before church this morning. Joe was working on his lesson and I was drying my hair, so Max was able to get into the cetaphyl without anyone picking up on it right away. All over his hair, mouth, hands, and clothes :)

Max LOVES the remote. He gets a gleam in his eye every time he successfully turns on the TV. I'm not sure why, since just about the only TV he watches is my workout videos and Joe's sports games. He still loves it though.

This is Max on his "motorcycle." It is a cute little trike that can also be turned into a rocker. Or, a stepping stool.

Max and his best little friend Alec. Basically when they play they spend most of the time stealing each other's toys, but every so often they "share."
Our "skinny" boy!

Learning to use a spoon. I'm all about letting him use a fork but the spoon?? Ahh it's just too messy (since he mostly just plays instead of eats). But, he won't let you get anywhere near his mouth with a spoon ... has to do it himself.

If it's that much fun I guess I can handle it every so often.
Max and momma at Washington Park downtown (it's huge!). Last weekend was gorgeous and we enjoyed being out and about with the hip Cherry Creek crowd.
Again, the motorcycle - this time as a rocker. He "rides" it by rocking furiously, and then gets up and stands on the seat. Crazy kid.

Blackberries. Never again. We will go back to your beloved blueberries, even though they are more expensive.
Max, thanks for cracking us up every single day with your nutty little personality. Your dad and I get really happy and fuzzy all over every time we think of you. Love you little buddy.