Favorite Things, part Otto

In light of Thanksgiving just passing and the upcoming Christmas holiday, here are a few of Otto's favorite things;

1) Playing hide and seek with daddy - I close the door and daddy hides in the kitchen or living room. I'm super excited to search him out and giggle for joy when I find him!
2) Grandpas and Grandmas - Thanksgiving was the best! I also enjoy Aunts & Uncles and all other family, of course. I love following my grandpas around, pointing and saying "Ga!" or "Ga ka!"
3) All things Sesame Street, especially Cookie Monster and Elmo.
4) All things transportation - Trucks, cars, trains, airplanes, helicopters, bicycles/tricycles
5) Playing with other kids! Sometimes I get a little overbearing because I just love them so much!
6) Giving hi-fives and "rock me"s or "pounds" (or "bone me"s as some call them) to everyone.
7) Being tossed. Onto a bed, love sac, couch, etc, etc.
8) Music! Anything with a beat and I'm swingin' my hips, movin' my shoulders, waving my arms, bobbin' my head, stompin' my feet. Mom's favorite movement is Otto's hip movements - he bends in half and twists at the same time!
9) Dr. Suess - "Sox in Fox" and "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" are current favorites.
10) Giving kisses, especially to mom.
11) Helping - with anything!
12) Playing outside, even in the snow.
13) Animals, especially pretending to be a frog.
14) My blanket
15) Watching people and exploring new spaces.
16) Yogurt ("gurt!"), cottage cheese, cheese, milk. Mommy trained me well to love these!

The list could go on and on... that's one of the greatest things about me! I love so much about life!

Temple to Temple 1/2-marathon

So, I'm finally posting about the temple-to-temple half marathon! Sorry to those looking forward to it! Alicia, my former coworker at the LDS Church office building, had run the temple-to-temple 1/2 marathon that her good friend, Brooke, had organized the year before. We had talked about running and I ran my first 10k earlier this year on Earth Day. I did really well at the 10k and Alicia kept encouraging me to run the half marathon.

Considering the time commitment, I kept being non-committal about whether or not I would run the half until just about 3 months prior to the race. I had already quit working at the Church Office Building (COB), but Alicia had promised to send me updates and such about the race. So, I started training. I was ready to run it - Sept. 18th was the day. The plan was to run from the Draper temple to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple across South Salt Lake Valley. Due to my hurriedness, I didn't double check the plans and ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Oops. So, I started about 30-40 minutes after everyone else (it was a small group of runners). Everything seemed to be going smoothly, though, as I began running. Brooke had left me a map of the race and the water stations were all going to wait for me (bless them for this!). I felt good, too. I never would have thought I would say that.

At about mile 8, though, just before a water station, I was trying to meticulously study my map so that I wouldn't miss any turnoffs or anything and I landed on the edge of the pavement, rolling my ankle and landing my opposite knee on the gravel in stride. I continued in stride a couple of shaky steps and decided to take a breather. Unfortunately, my ankle felt pretty sore and my knee was bleeding down my leg. I instantly thought, "What?!?!? I am NOT quitting this thing! Too many hours of training have gone into this! And I've come too far!"Ironically, I had the map and was able to wipe my knee off a little as it dried over the next couple of minutes. My ankle stopped throbbing and I began walking for a little bit before beginning my run again. I was able to finish the race in about 2 hours and 15 minutes including the fall along the way and the stoplights. I don't know for sure if that is a decent time or not, but I was really glad I was able to finish the race. Thanks to the cheerleaders at each of the water stations, to Alicia for encouraging me to run in the first place, and to my cheerleaders at the end of the race, especially Eric & Otto, Alicia, and my dad & Jill!

Here is a pic of Alicia and I at the finish line. Yes, I look nasty after running, especially after running 13.1 miles.

Quick update... more to come

So, I've decided to give a quick update of the things we've been up to since my last post;

• We've had plenty of large zucchini from our garden plot. We've also enjoyed tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, and bell peppers. Otto especially enjoys the tomatoes. mmmmmmmmmmmm
• Elder Bednar came to our LDS stake and gave us a special fireside - absolutely awesome - ask me about it sometime. :)
• Eric started his new semester and is doing research for a couple of professors. He's loving school, but it's super fast-paced this semester since most of his classes are 1/2 semester classes (a lot of info & projects packed into a little time).
  
• We moved back to our old apt since the contractor finished fixing our old balcony! Yay for not being in major transition anymore! As a result of our old building and another building opening back up, we're now busy as ever with our Resident Assistant stuff - orienting new residents and such. It's nice to see life in our buildings again.
  
• Jacquie ran the temple-to-temple 1/2-marathon that Alicia introduced her to!
• Eric and Jacquie saw Lion King on Broadway at the Capital Theatre - so awesome!
  
• Jacquie survived putting together and hosting the dinner for the RS Broadcast for our LDS stake ladies. No big catastrophes.
• Otto, then Jacquie got the flu... it's so sad to see an innocent baby/toddler throwing up and then look at you like, "What in the world was that?!!! And why did my body do that?!!! That hurt, mommy!" So sad, but we're surviving. Eric's sick now, so hopefully he recovers quickly and then we'll be done with it.
  

Soon I will post pictures of some of these events... I can't promise when, but hopefully it will be soon. Other things we have to look forward to this month;

• Eric finishing his 1/2 semester classes this week
• Fall break next week
• Halloween & get togethers with family/friends

CA Vacation

Mid-August we went to California to visit my Aunt Layne and Uncle Peter as well as to take some time away from everyday life before Eric had to head back to school. It was so nice to be there!

Here we are visiting the Getty Center in LA...

The Getty is known for the architecture (done by Richard Meier) and it was very interesting to go on an architectural tour and see how the architecture affected the exhibits. Eric enjoyed it, too (of course).

Here's the view out from the museum.

We also made it to the beach... most of these pictures explain themselves...

Otto jumped and rolled and played in the sand... just after loading him up with sunscreen. This is a small demonstration of this.

Hanging out with Layne and Peter:

Just to clarify:

I have not had to put up with anything, it's Jacquie that has had to deal with me these past three years... Yes, I know that this goes without saying, but I need to say it anyway.

As probably all of you know, Jacquie is about the most loving person in world. I couldn't ask for a more gentle, kind, and caring wife... or a more wonderfully nurturing and loving mother to Otto. I am amazed at her willingness to support our family in so many ways, despite how taxing it can be... and has been at times. I am grateful to her forever... and look forward to forever with her, too.

Love now, and always,

-Eric

Anniversary

At the luncheon on our wedding day

Today is our 3rd anniversary! I love my husband and this post is dedicated to him. He's put up with me for 3 whole years and I hope he'll put up with me for many more - even an eternity!!!

Things I love about Eric:

-his dedication to the Gospel

-his love and care for our little family

-his genuine care of others (most often it's more for others than for himself)

-his hard work in his schooling - he inspires me!

-his willingness to be a better person

-his continuous love of me!

-his fun-loving attitude

-his knowledge of classic rock and love of most types of music

-his willingness to go galumphing with his crazy wife :)

-his patience

-how he listens to me ramble about my day and he loves it

-his excitement in trying new things

and the list could go on and on! He is extremely talented and I'm so blessed to have him with me each and every day! Here are a few pics of us pre-marriage and newly married.

While we were dating...

Here's one in San Francisco at the Cable car Museum on our Honeymoon.

Eating gelato in San Fran on our Honeymoon

Communication

So, I feel like Otto has been learning a lot, especially related to communication. He can sign lots of words; yes, baby, tree, all done/finished, more, ball, mommy, daddy, eat (sometimes), drink (sometimes), etc. He understands quite a bit and he is forming words, too (hi, dog, ball, etc). The other day Otto did a couple of adorable things that I really wasn't expecting to have happen in a long time.

Cute thing #1
After waking up, he pointed at the picture of Jesus we have near the light switch in his bedroom and said, "Jesu" (Jesus without the end "s")... Eric said Otto said that with him the other day, too, so I know it wasn't just my imagination. I wasn't expecting that for a long time!

Cute thing #2
At breakfast, Otto was eating his cereal and we had just set the table for Eric and me to join him, when he put his hands together like he has done recently when we've said, "prayer, Otto"... except we didn't say that to him - he just took the initiative. A few minutes later, after we had all been eating he did it again and looked up at us, waiting for another prayer. So, we said another prayer. It was adorable!

So, this is living proof that religious teachings don't just fly by our little ones - they REALLY notice! And it seems like he appreciates it and has a desire for it, which I'm sure most children have as well. It's a testimony to me that our little ones are the wisest amongst us all, having a closer relationship with our Heavenly Father than we realize.

First Birthday!

Otto celebrated his birthday in two parts...

the first included us moving on his actual birthday to a temporary apartment. (wahoo, right?) Our old apartment building needed some repairs so we had to move to another in the meantime (for 1-3 months, we're not really sure exactly). It just so happened we had to move on his birthday. Thank you to all who helped make the move smooth!

In our new apartment... Otto enjoyed bouncing on his mattress and yelling while crawling through the halls and in the bedrooms. The sound was so different. Other than having only one 45 minute nap the whole day, he was unphased by the move. Just another adventure to him!

We enjoyed his favorite pizza from the Pie Pizzeria; chicken bacon ranch. mmmmmmmmm... delish! Yes, we've given him pizza... he devours it!

By the end of the day, he was SO exhausted. This was the picture of him we took while we were shopping for his birthday party (around 9:30 at night).

Part two, included a celebration by going to Hogle Zoo (for his first time) with family. Such a blast!

Donating grandpa's dollar after the bird show. They have awesome bird shows, by the way!

I don't have enough pictures to represent the complete fun of the zoo - Otto loved pointing and grunting at everything. He was passed around from person to person quite a bit.

Opening presents at the lunch we had after the zoo... thanks for the fun gifts, everyone! He loves them!

We purchased two cakes.... one of watermelon (which he LOVES), and basketball cupcakes (which he loves playing with basketballs, soccer balls, baseballs, bouncy balls...)

Yummy!

The after party, party. :) Enjoying time with grandpa.

Thanks for coming everyone, we had a blast and really appreciated you coming! Otto was able to celebrate with great family!

(Sorry I didn't get a picture of everyone all together!)

Tracy Aviary

About a month ago, we made a trip to the Tracy Aviary. Probably a good thing we went then, considering the oil spill... so sad. Anyway, it was a LOT of fun. Here are some pics to recap.

Peeking at the ducks.

Otto and daddy

A peacock was wandering around and Otto nearly pet it; he was SO excited!

Another bird wandering around got on the peacock's nerves... it was beautiful, though!

Here's the pesky bird. Doesn't it look devious?

Otto eagerly looking at the birds who were running around. So eager, he's eating the fence. Of course.

Eric and Otto are enjoying watching a vulture being trained in preparation for summer bird shows. It was a pretty amazing process to watch.

I'm gonna get you!

We love to play "I'm gonna get you!" Otto loves it, too! He especially loves playing with daddy!

Fear of Fans & Orangutans

So, the other day, Otto went with Eric to his bishopric meeting at a fellow under-1-year-old child's house. The neighbors had created a video that includes pictures of baby animals associated with their sounds. One of which included a picture of a baby orangutan and its sound. I'd imagine it looked something like this...

Well, Otto began to "imitate" the noises really loudly... it wasn't until a few seconds later that Eric and the others realized he had a look of terror across his face and was absolutely petrified. Just to be sure, they moved on to another animal and came back to the baby orangutan. Sure enough, another freak out from Otto. I felt so bad after hearing about it, but couldn't help laugh... when you think about it there are a lot of reasons to be afraid of an orangutan;
1) their buggy eyes!
2) their strangly bald heads with random hairs that stand straight up!
3) their large nostrils
4) their nearly-human-but strangely-something-else features

I could go on, but you get the point. Hopefully when we go to Hogle Zoo Otto isn't absolutely petrified when we approach these creatures... maybe my psychology studies will prove to be right about how to treat fears by the use of "flooding". But probably not. We'll see.

On to fans; the following Wednesday when Eric again had a bishopric meeting, Otto yelled and went wide-eyed at our fan! He is overcoming this fear, however, as he slowly approaches them while they're off and as we turn them on and he sees that he is, in fact, ok. He has also been talking to them more... communication always helps. Here's how he looked this morning as he pointed and talked to our fan;

Yeah, he still looks scared. Maybe it's something he'll grow out of.

Another year finished!

So, Eric has had another successful year in his architecture program at the U, his first year in the Master's. He has had quite an adventure, I'd say! He went to Japan last October with a class in which he focused on Japanese architecture and architects, did research on sustainability, completed models and created designs while having to pull many all-nighters. He had one of his all time best reviews at the end of this semester for his design that would theoretically be built on top of the existing architecture and art buildings on campus at the U. Great job, hubby!!! Only one more year... we can almost see the light.

Perhaps since he has completed another year, we'll be able to post some recent pictures and such!

Check back again soon...

Otto's Dance Grooves

Here are the little man's awesome dance moves.

He's watching a Baby Einstein's Baby's First Signs movie to potentially learn sign language to transition his language skills. And, he loves TV, so I figured we may as well brainwash him while we can. :)

Lotsa Laughs!

Love this video... and this laugh. :)

Once again, Otto's entertainment was provided by my silly dance moves. Should I be offended by that? :)

Crawling has begun

So, the last few days Otto has really began to move... and he seems to be progressing quickly! AGH! In all actuality, it is a little nerve-racking, but it has also been so enjoyable watching our little boy explore and build up his strength to this point.

It seems apparent at this point that he has very particular personality characteristics; determination, impatience (with himself especially), strength, perseverance, and general happiness, to name a few. It's so fun! I don't think I could say that enough. Eric and I thoroughly enjoy being parents even with the work it requires!