Dolly Turned 2

We celebrated Dolly's second birthday on Saturday, December 14.  Karen and Carl Wilson (Nanny and Papa) came, along with Trish and Jeremy and their kids.  Ever's super into the Wilsons and was excited about their coming.  We had pizza and dessert - carrot cake cupcakes, "thrusters" (chocolate chip cookies baked in mini-muffin tins with mini peanut butter cups pushed into their centers), and M&M/chocolate chip cookies - and opened presents. 

We enjoyed a wonderful sunset during dinner:

 

Ever seemed a little scared of our rendition of "Happy Birthday," possibly because we never managed to find the tune.  (Later she talked about it fondly, though.)  She snuggled with me while eating her birthday desserts, which was amazing for me.  As always, the camera meant she should clap her (dirty) hands to her face:

 

 

Again, after she opened her first present:

 

Lukey and Dolly played for a moment before moving on:

Dolly got a lawn mower from Nanny and Papa.  She was pretty excited about that one.  She loves lawn mowers.

 

On her real birthday, Chavalyn opened presents from family.  She got all sorts of neat things from aunties and uncles and grandparents.  We were grateful for the additions to her collection of toys and activities.

 

It's crazy how fast she's growing.  Her speech and her memory amaze me every day.  A guy who checked us out in Target recently asked her age and then said he has "hair envy;" he's got a three-old-year who has not nearly as much hair as Dolly.  Then Dolly said something, and he said, "Wow, she's advanced!" 

 

I tell her I love her about 100,000 times a day.  Sometimes I quiz her, "Who loves you?"  In response, sometimes she says, "Mommy loves you."  But often it's "Anders," or "Clara," or even "John Denver loves you."  (She's gotten a lot better, but she doesn't quite have the me/you distinction down yet.)  She really has a lot of faith in her relationship with the late Johnny D. 

Thanksgiving Weekend / Cornyee and Dun Dun's UT Reception

We were invited to Mark and Pam McEwan's house for Thanksgiving this year, along with Jeremy and Trisha Wilson and their kids (Pam is Trish's mom) and some other family.  I asked for a food assignment and was told I could bring my favorite traditional dish or nothing, since all the food was covered.  I couldn't go empty-handed, so I made a sweet potato (or yam? - we did some research but still can't tell the difference) dish that Tatum made for one of our Thanksgivings a couple years ago.  Of course someone else brought a giant sweet potato dish (since all the food was covered), so Jim and I were the only ones who ate mine.  It was delightful, in any event.  Dinner was really nice.  I can't complain about getting a lovely Thanksgiving meal and not having to make any of it.  After dinner, Jeremy played Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" on the ukulele, and we sang together, which I'm sure everyone else thoroughly enjoyed. 

The Friday after Thanksgiving, Ever and I left for Utah.  (Jim had to work.)  It wasn't easy hauling Ever, her car seat, our big suitcase (because we don't own a medium-sized one), my backpack, and the stroller around, but I did it.  The flight was a snap compared to the one we'd just taken to DC.  Mamo and Papo picked us up at the SLC airport.  We stopped very briefly at Grandma's place in Orem to pick up leftovers for lunch because Pod was highly concerned that they otherwise wouldn't get eaten, and then we went to the Springville condo so I could put Dolly down for a nap.  Rob, Clarice, Cornyee, and Dun Dun came over to hang out.  We played pool, and I was mostly really awful.  Rob, Pod, and I played a game that Rob won when Pod and I still had all our balls on the table.  We had gotten some in but had to take them out because we kept scratching.  Pretty amazing.  Clarice was mostly bored because she had come over to see Ever, but Ever was napping the whole time. 

We met Anna and the kids at Café Rio for dinner, which was delicious.  Then Mamo and Papo went to pick up some things for Grandma and take them to her while the rest of us hung out at the Taylors'. 

Lizzie (Anna's niece) entertained Ever downstairs while the other kids went with Dustin to play night games at Kiwanis Park.  Apparently they had an amazing time.  Dustin's really vying for the "Favorite Uncle" title.  After Grandma's, Mamo and Pod picked up Ever and me, and we headed back to Springville so Dolly could go to bed.  Bags and Dun Dun came later. 

Saturday morning we tried a new breakfast place in Orem - Joe's Café.  The owner's adorable little daughters took orders, served food, and won our hearts.  Then Pod had a brief visit with Normie while Mamo, Cornyee, Dun Dun, Ever, and I went to Bridal Veil Falls. 

Ever had the time of her life feeding the fish in the pond below the Falls, with Dun Dun's assistance. 

Bags and Dun Dun posed with Deanie:

 

That afternoon/evening was Court and Dun Dun's reception at Thanksgiving Point.  Dustin's family had everything set up by the time we got there, and it was lovely.  Some old friends of Mamo and Papo came, along with Liz and Alan, Normie, Elsie (Mayo was sick), Julie and Rob, Emily and Jeremy Curfew, some Taylors, a few people I had met once or twice before, and lots and lots of people I didn't know. 

 

The food (pulled pork sandwiches and desserts) was really good.  Unfortunately we ran out of pulled pork sandwiches at the tail end of the party - before the newlyweds got to have any.

 

 

Jill and Jayna tried to set up the candy table as much like the DC party as possible:

 

 

I tried to curl my hair with a flat iron after a very brief tutorial by Bags, so I was feeling pretty fancy.  It doesn't look too amazing in these pictures, although it looks a lot better than it did when I tried to do again after I got home.

Sisterhood (sans traveling pants):

 

Court with Lu, Ever, and Clara:

 

 

Bags gave me her camera and asked me to take some pictures.  I figured she wouldn't mind that I spent the beginning little while trying to get a good one of Dolly girl:

Then I mostly took a zillion faraway pictures of the line.  I knew that was a bad idea, but I didn't want to go up to random tables and get closer-ups of strangers.

 

Rob, Anna, Rob (Lee), Andrew, Julie, Elsie, and Grandma:

 

Grandma, Lucy, and I:

 

Another Hastings shot, this time with Liz and Alan:

 

Toward the end, the parents (minus Mamo, who claimed she would've gotten too emotional) said nice things, and then Dustin and Courtney said nice things:

 

It was fun to see family.  I especially enjoyed chatting with Emily and Jeremy Curfew since I never get to see them.  I wish they lived in Oceanside so we could be friends.  At the end, somebody took Ever outside to feed reindeer that were right there at Thanksgiving Point next to our building.  I never saw them, but Dolly talked about feeding fish (at Bridal Veil Falls) and reindeer for a while after the trip.  Apparently it was a highlight. 

Sunday morning we went for a walk up Hobble Creek Canyon.  Bridal Veil Falls had been freezing, so we put on as many clothes as possible this time and were glad about it. 

Cornyee (looking stylish in Dustin's big flannel), Dustin, Pod, and Mamo:

Dolly and I substituted in for Cornyee:

 

I put my beanie on Chavalyn, and it fit amazingly well.  She did more of her crazy posing:

 

 

Dun Dun and Pod had some serious bonding time.  I hope there wasn't too much politics talk:

We crossed a bridge and saw a bunch of pumpkins in the stream.  It was like a pumpkin graveyard.  The camera couldn't really capture them all, but there are small whitish ones and a big orange one in the foreground and then about five more orange ones downriver:

Little Miss can only be contained in her stroller so long.  Then she must run free:

 

It was nice to have others around to shepherd her and help her push the stroller:

 

She loved the leaves along the side of the road.  It was hard to tear her away from them.

We saw a dead deer on the way back, so that was exciting.  Chava was really tuckered out and started losing her mind toward the end.  Finally she fell asleep while I was holding her.  She's too heavy for me to carry very long, so I passed her off to Dun Dun.  He carried her the rest of the way and said he didn't mind.  Bags pushed the empty stroller.  I felt spoiled.

 

Back at the ranch, Chava gave me good snuggles.  I felt like we really loved each other on this trip.  She seemed to ramp up the cuddliness.


We went to sacrament meeting at Liz and Alan's ward.  Mamo and Papo stayed for all three meetings and enjoyed a Sunday School lesson by Alan.  I took Ever back to nap.  She slept until the time we were supposed to be at Liz and Alan's for dinner.  We had a lovely dinner and visit with Liz and Alan, Andrew, and Amy and her family.  Ever enjoyed the new toys and gravitated toward the bags, of course:

Bag Lady and Dustin had to rush off to the airport right after dinner.  The rest of us had some really interesting post-dinner conversation.  We had to tear ourselves away so we could fit in a visit with Grandma that night.  I was sad to cut our Hoffman time short.  We went back to the condo so I could put Ever to bed, and then Mamo stayed with her while Pod and I had a nice visit with Normie.  Again, just wish we had a little more time. 

 

We flew out Monday morning.  When we arrived in San Diego, we watched from our seats as the luggage was unloaded.  This is how the conversation went: 

 

Dolly:  "That's our suitcase!"  [She said this about every black suitcase.]

Me:  "Really?"

Dolly:  "Nope." 

Dolly:  "That's our suitcase!" 

Me:  "Is it?"

Dolly:  "Nope." 

 

And so on.  Pretty funny. 

 

I was so glad we were able to take the trip.  It was nice to see family and join in the celebration of Coco and Dun Dun one more time.  Mamo and Papo were probably a little relieved when it was all over because they could stop listening to my John Denver Biggest Hits CD.  They were sports and played it in the rental car the whole time we were there, much to Dolly's delight. 

 

John Denver

When we were in DC, I was putting Dolly to sleep one night and asked her if she wanted to hear a song about an airplane since we had just been on one.  I sang her John Denver's "Leaving on a Jet Plane" - or as much of it as I could remember, which was the first half of the first verse and the second half of the chorus.  Every time I put her down after that, she requested "the airplane song." 

After we got home, I thought I should learn the words a little better, so I googled "John Denver Leaving on a Jet Plane" and pulled up a YouTube video of John singing it.  And so began the biggest John Denver obsession the world has ever seen.  I showed the video to Dolly, and she wanted to watch it over and over.  "Again!"  I told her it was John Denver.  I pulled out my John Denver Biggest Hits CD, and she began to demand the airplane song all day, every day.  She didn't want to listen to any of the other songs.  "No 'Annie's Song'!" Eventually I got her to allow the CD to play through, although she still asks for the airplane song.  Every time I sing to her before I put her to bed, she only wants the airplane song.  If I try to sing something else, she interrupts me:  "Airplane song." 

We had the TV on once while we were playing the CD, so a picture of the album cover appeared on the TV: 

After that, Dolly started asking for John Denver's picture.  When the TV hibernates and the picture goes away, she asks for it again:  "John Denver picture." 

When I ask her what she wants to read before bed, she sometimes says, "John Denver book."  We don't have one of those (yet), but a girl can dream. 

She knows the words of the first verse and the chorus pretty well.  I tried to capture her "dancing" and singing along.  This was the best I could do.  I edited out a second that I ruined with horrible singing:

 

Dolly's favorite pastime is the "run away" game.  She tells Daddy to "run away - couch," and she chases him around the room a few times, and then when he gets a big enough lead he hides on the couch, where she finds him.  (Once in a while she doesn't tell him where to hide, and that makes the game a little more exciting.)  Sometimes now she tells me she wants to play the run away game with John Denver - "John Denver run away."  It's too bad a) he's gone and b) he never would have played the run away game with her anyway. 

DC Days 2 and 3 - Roosevelt Island, the Zoo, and the International Spy Museum

Monday morning we went to Roosevelt Island.  The leaves were a little past their prime, but it was lovely.  We followed the Rob and Annas there.  Mamo and Papo joined us later. 

 

 

Ever was overdue for a shenaniquin shot:

 

She refused to keep up and has no fear of being left behind (you have to blow up this picture to see that she's the tiny black dot):

 

 

In the center of the island are giant stone monuments with quotes by Teddy Roosevelt on manhood, nature, youth, and the state:

 

 

 

 

I liked the one on nature - "There is delight in the hardy life of the open . . ."

Clarice is in a studious phase.  She carried around a notebook and pencil everywhere and took notes on her observations:

There's also a bronze statute of Roosevelt:

 

The kids enjoyed the leaves:

 

 

Dolly and I on the bridge:

We hooked up with Mamo and Papo and took a shortcut back to the center of the island so they could see the statue and monuments.  Dolly took Jim on a stroll around a little rock wall:

They're in this picture; they're just little because they're very far away:

After Roosevelt Island, we followed Rob all over Georgetown trying to find the National Zoo.  (Sometimes a GPS isn't all it's cracked up to be.)  We made it eventually.  The Rob and Annas met up with Anna's friend, Jeannette Fennimore, and her family and did the zoo with them.  We wandered with Mamo and Papo at a leisurely pace to accommodate little Chava.  First up was the merry-go-round, which kind of scared her:

(Love the tree in the background.)

The only other picture I took was of this lion with amazing two-tone locks:

After the zoo, we went back to Ray's to the Third for burgers and shakes with the Ann Maries and the Fennimores.  The toffee explosion shake did not disappoint. 

 

Tuesday we didn't get the earliest start.  We rode the metro to the International Spy Museum, where we had an hour and a half or two before we had to head back to the hotel and on to the airport. 

 

On the metro:

 

 

I thought the International Spy Museum was really fun.  I was a bit distracted trying to keep Dolly out of trouble, and I'm just way too slow in museums because I want to read everything and am the slowest reader on Earth.  So I felt as if I really only saw a fraction of the museum, and I wouldn't mind going back one day.  We had to say our goodbyes to the family there and head out early. 

Dolly fell asleep sitting at my feet on the metro.  It was crazy.  I can't imagine how tired she must have been to be able to sleep like that.

 

We made it to the airport in perfect time.  The flight back was so much better than the flight there.  Dolly started off hyper, and I wondered how we'd survive.  But I kind of rocked her and sang to her like I did when she was a little baby, and I managed to get her to sleep.  She was out for about an hour, and that little nap made all the difference.  She woke up calm and good.