Otto & Friends

Anyone who knows Otto, knows that he's a social bug. He LOVES being around other people. He loves learning from others, watching them (so close he's in their faces sometimes!), being the center of attention, etc, etc. So, here's a little feature of a few of the wonderful buddies he has the pleasure to be around often enough for me to snap an occasional photo (which I need to be better at!).

Playing with towels from our bottom kitchen drawer...

"Oushide!"

I love how all three of these guys are looking in different directions, discovering their own little worlds!
Not a glamor photo of Otto... just getting up after joining his friend on the floor.
"Social time" at the gymnasium of our church building on a cold day...

So, here's to all of the little kids who make it possible for Otto to be thankful for his friends (and possible for him to list them one by one in prayers or wake up saying their names or walk around the house begging to play with one, or all, of them...). Thanks to those not pictured, too! Thanks for being so fun!

Spring Fever

"I've got the madness... I've got cabin fever!!! I've got it toooooooooo!" Name that movie and you get a prize... :)

This warm weather has been a nice break from the bitter cold we had a bit ago. Unfortunately, I don't think it'll last much longer - the news reported snow beginning this evening. I guess we'll have to start bundling up to go "shouside" when Otto requests it. *sigh*

Fun with talking

Otto is beginning to get better at talking and is getting a larger vocabulary quickly. So, before it gets better and I begin to forget, I just wanted to share some of the fun things he says/used to say;
- "ga!" which means, "grandpa" or "grandma" (which is now "ga ka!"or "ball"... not sure how the two are connected
- "die!!!" (with a wave) which means, "Bye!"... I keep worrying our friends with English as a second language will think, "why does he keep yelling that to us as we leave?!"
- Eric taught him that when a truck goes in reverse it goes "beep, beep, beep" and then when it stops it goes, "cshhhhh" (the air brakes stopping). So now he does it when he's walking in reverse as well as when he's playing with his trucks. SOOO cute!
- "gurt" for yogurt
- names (Aub-ah for Aubrey, Syce for Bryce, Ash for Charlotte, Ad-uh for Aida, Gee-yun for Jillian... and more)

Dance & animation collaboration Story

Dance and animation collaboration produces stirring viral video. Here's the BYU story on the animation and dance collaboration, if you're interested.

Thought of You - by Ryan Woodward

Check out this video from You Tube...

Love it! So beautiful... but then again, I love to dance. They did a great job combining animation and the emotion of the dance.

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.