Viva Las Vegas!

Katie and I started up a new tradition last year. The weekend after her birthday, we like to go on a vacation together. Since school is out by then and we’re usually burned out, and it’s not smack in the middle of the summer yet, it is a great time to go. Since my birthday is in March, it’s kind of like a birthday present to both of us. So, this year we decided on a quick getaway to Las Vegas. Julia is an angel and volunteered to watch Chase so we could have some alone time for a couple of days. Now, many people asked us why we picked Las Vegas, seeing as we don't gamble, or drink. First of all, we didn’t want to go too far, because we didn’t want to be away from Chase for too long. Second of all, (and in reply) we'd like to thank everyone who throws away their money at casinos in Las Vegas- it is because of you that we are able to stay at nice hotels for cheap, and that we are able to eat at amazing buffets for cheap, so thanks once again, and keep up the good work!

Upon arrival in Las Vegas, there were a few things that caught my attention, the first was the fact that Katie and I were the youngest couple in all of Las Vegas; in fact we later learned that Las Vegas is the #1 location in the world for rest homes to take field trips to. Along with this, all of the steak houses in Las Vegas offer denture adhesive along with their meals. Second of all, between the number of casinos based on classic European architecture and the number of ACTUAL Europeans in Las Vegas, I feel as though I visited Venice, Rome, Paris, Monte Carlo and so on. The same could be said for Asia via Las Imperial Palace :) Katie enjoyed picking Europeans out of a crowd before they opened their mouths, and then confirming she was correct when they started speaking Dutch or German or something. It is one of her favorite games. We actually played the same game with Mormons and looked for the eternal smile…

Now for the trip details, we arrived on Sunday afternoon/evening, so we didn't really get started until the next morning. Our hotel room was really nice and we crashed for about 12 hours. On Monday we got up early, took a long walk down the strip, and checked out several of the hotels including The Monte Carlo (where we stayed), Bellagio, Cesears Palace, Excalibur, Luxor, New York New York and finally Mandalay Bay. While at Mandalay Bay we took a few minutes to check out their Shark Reef (my pick obviously) which was really cool. They actually have a million-gallon tank there! We then returned to our hotel, and spent the remainder of the afternoon at the pool. Katie read most of the time, while I played in the water :) I love the lazy river!

In the afternoon as things started to cool down, we went for a walk again, this time going to the Venetian and Mirage. During our course of 2.5 days in Las Vegas we had the chance to eat at three different buffets; Monte Carlos' lunch/dinner buffet, which was pretty good other than our waiter spoke at about 25 db (which is really really quiet for those of you who don't know) making him nearly impossible to hear, along with this he didn't ever quite figure out how to refill our drinks. We had breakfast at the Bellagio buffet, which was really good! I would recommend this one to all Vegas visitors, and finally the Mirage buffet which was my favorite, awesome prime rib, king crab legs, and sushi... and on top of that, the waiter actually refilled our drinks! On our way back to our hotel on Monday night we got to the Bellagio right as the fountain/light show started, and that was really cool to watch. It was all choreographed to Frank Sinatra's ‘Lady Luck’ and we loved it.

Other highlights of our trip would include the Coke factory (I liked that more than Katie I'm sure), M&M World, In-N-Out, Gelato (Katie is addicted) and Dunkin' Doughnuts. The story with Dunkin’ Donuts is this… When Katie was pregnant with Chase she got this crazy craving for Pink Frosted donuts from Dunkin’ Donuts. I offered to get her some Krispy Kreme pink frosted donuts but she HATES Krispy Kreme. She actually got on the internet and searched for the closest Dunkin Donuts, which was in either Las Vegas, or Denver. She considered getting in the car and driving to one of those two places but it was the middle of the winter and snowing and I wouldn’t let her go. So THEN, she wrote an email to the president of Dunkin Donuts chewing him out for not having any franchises within 100 miles of our house. It was so hilarious. So while in Las Vegas, we had to go to Dunkin Donuts. Unfortunately, Katie was no longer craving them…

By the time we got home Katie was missing Chase pretty bad, and we hoped he would be missing us too and consequently give us big hugs when we got home. But we walked in the door and he didn’t seem to even realize we were ever gone! He was having way too much fun with his Grammy to even notice us. We brought him a stuffed Stingray from the Shark Reef and he loved it- put it right in his mouth.

Ps: if it sounds like all we did in Las Vegas was eat, it’s true! But we figured out we also walked about 10 miles a day, so it balances out! Also we got home and I am still well on my way to beating Mark. Overall we had a great trip and can’t wait till next year! (Julia- are you available on the 24th? Haha)



*Edited by Katie
Dear Tim, I notice you conveniently left out the fact that you let some nice old Asian man walk into the women’s restroom…

Graduation & Birthday

Wow, we had quite the weekend last week. I finished up another semester, Katie’s family came to visit, and Katie graduated and turned 22! On Thursday night we headed up to SLC where we met up with Lynn, Julia, Lauren and Dan, and had a great dinner at The Roof in honor of our graduate! We got there right as the sun was setting, and had a great evening together. Dan ate a plate of olives and a huge slice of chocolate mint cake.

On Friday we all got up really early, since the School of Education holds their graduation at 8:00 AM. Elder Perry presided over Katie’s graduation, and told the graduates that they had picked the most important major there is, which was pretty cool. As a quick side note, I just need to say how proud I am of Katie for graduating. I'm not sure how many of you know this, but Katie was in school all the way up until 1 week before her due date. In addition to this, from about 7 months to 8 1/2 months she was working full time in a 5th grade classroom. When Chase was born, Katie still had 9 credits to go, so she signed up for four online classes, and finished her work from home while taking care of Chase. I'm not really sure how she did it since I can't get anything done with Chase around, but miraculously Katie was able to do it! She also got straight A’s and actually studied for all her finals. Yup, she's pretty amazing, what else can I say.

CONGRATULATIONS KATIE!!!

Friday also happened to be Katie's birthday, so after graduation, the party began! After taking naps, to catch up from the early morning, we headed up to SLC for dinner at Zinn Bistro. If you are not aware of the reputation Zinn Bistro has, you might want to check this out: http://utah.citysearch.com/review/35829139 . We stumbled upon this a few weeks ago and had been dying to try this place, not only because the food was supposed to be amazing, but because of all the funny/rude things that we heard about happening there. We were intrigued.

Here is an excerpt from our favorite review: “We tried to order soups ala carte, offering to pay full entree price it. We were told by the owner that our name had been put on a list and we could never return to the restaurant again”.

We were pretty excited to see what this place was like. The food was good, not great, but good, and we didn't have anything too exciting happen with the owners/servers, only two small incidents. First, Katie and Julia tried to share a dish to which the server coldly replied, "I have to have one order per person," so they ordered separately. After ordering, they brought out a basket of bread, which was by far the best part of the meal. As the server was leaving, Lynn asked if there was anything we should know about the bread (since there were like 7 different types), to which she responded, "They're delicious" and walked away.

After dinner we went to Build-A-Bear because Katie has been begging me to take her there forever. She built a BYU bear and I built a scuba monkey. It was a lot of fun, I wouldn't be surprised if that becomes a new family birthday tradition :) Although I have to say, Dan, Lauren, and I had most fun trying the bear accessories on Chase. I think Katie was torn over whether to laugh or come to her child’s defense, but we got some great pictures, and Chase didn’t seem to mind at all.

After dinner we returned home for an awesome ice cream cake from Cold Stone and presents. We were all exhausted and Katie and I still had to pack for Las Vegas! It was a great couple days and we all had a lot of fun together.



-Tim

A Day at the Park

This weekend we took Chase to the park for the first time because it is finally starting to warm up! We laid out a blanket and just enjoyed the beautiful weather. We also took Chase on the swings for the first time. Here are some pictures.

(See Tim's blog for further details on a man we met there by the name of Peter File...)

He's walking :)
Chase's first swing ride
Superbaby!
Me & Chase
The reason I'm getting a mom haircut
The two of us
Me & baby!

Photographic Evidence

If that's not a tooth coming in, I would like to know what it is.

Jim & Pam

For those of you who watch The Office...

Last night was our engagement anniversary, so if you watched the new episode last night- you can understand that we felt the Jim & Pam engagement announcement was just for us :) I almost cried when Jim pulled out the ring box. Never have Tim and I loved fictional characters so much...

Forever Families

We got some sad news the other night. In what can only be attributed to divine inspiration and intervention, Tim felt he needed to call up some neighbors of ours from our old ward. We hadn't talked to them in months, it was 11 o'clock at night, I was already in bed, and Tim had just put Chase down for the night and was on his way. Calling anyone was the last thing on his mind, but he did it, and it was immediately obvious that they needed the call.

We were shocked to find out that they were due with a little girl two weeks ago. Last weekend, the night before they were scheduled to be induced, and very suddenly, the little girl passed away and was stillborn. The parents expressed an obvious sentiment of heartbreak and sadness, but also expressed an attitude of hope, understanding, and gratitude. They related how this experience has only strengthened their faith and desire to be with their little one someday. What an amazing couple. They named their little girl "Talitha Cumi", which means "little girl arise". It is from the New Testament story where Jesus raises Jarius' daughter from the dead. It was also the name of their ancestor who was baptized by Joseph Smith. I thought the name was so appropriate, and so beautiful. We expressed our sympathy and support to them and the husband thanked Tim for an inspired call when he just needed someone to talk to.

Both a little heartsick from the news, we went to bed. Filled with grief and sadness for our friends, we felt incomplete just the two of us, and Tim went and got Chase and brought him to our room so we could all be together as a family. We both just sat in the dark and watched him as he slept. Neither of us said anything but I felt an overwhelming sense of love and gratitude for our baby and the blessing it is to raise him and have him in our home. I finally understand the overwhelming, inexpressible, encompassing, unselfish love that a mother has for her child. I finally understand the completeness of a family unit consisting not just of two people who love eachother, but including children TO love, especially when they cannot love you back. We found comfort in our little family and strengthened through this experience.

Although I am still upset and saddened for our friends, I feel grateful and hopeful in knowing that life does not end at death, and especially in knowing that families are eternal, and that these friends will meet their daughter someday. I am also amazed at how intimately God knows of and provides for our emotional, mental, and spiritual needs and am increasingly aware of how he places specific people in your life for specific and purposeful reasons, events, and seasons. Overall, I feel so grateful today for everything that is good, true, and right in my life, and particularly for knowledge of God's plan and his hand in our lives. Sometimes I forget to appreciate the things that go right, and only focus on the things that go wrong. How blessed our family is for all that we have and are.

Funny story

I forgot! Something really funny happened during Sacrament on Sunday. A little boy named Hyrum was sitting in front of us. Hyrum is about one. Hyrum was a little restless and kept walking around and playing on the ground by us. About halfway through the meeting, he squeezed through the chairs and came and stood right next to Chase's carrier which was on the floor. He was pointing at him and saying something. I thought he was saying "baby". So I was like "Yeah, its a baby! Do you see the baby?" He kept saying the word and all of a sudden he grabbed Chases binky out of his mouth and tried to put it in his mouth. His mom about died! I was laughing so hard, and I grabbed it before he got it in his mouth. His mom passed a binky back and then he was happy. But apparently he thought that Chase had his binky. And now I know that he was not interested in the baby at all, but rather his binky. Chase was a little bewildered.

Katie got a calling

This picture has nothing to do with anything. I just love that hat! It is too big thus far, but it has cute little sailboats on it and I am excited for Chase to wear it this summer. Well, I got a calling in our ward on Sunday. Tim and I were hoping to get called to teach primary again, partly because we love teaching the little kids, and partly because we love spending all 3 hours together! It wasn't to be, and they called me to be Nursery Coordinator. My co-coordinator, Britney, is really fun and I am learning a lot from her. We have 5 nurseries so it is a ton of kids, but so far I really enjoy it. We pretty much make supplements for the teachers, make sure no sick kids come to nursery, take roll, get instructions from parents, deal with crying kids, take messy kids to their parents, bring snacks, find substitutes, clorox the toys, and make sure the teachers aren't beating any of the kids up. We also do singing time with each class, which is way fun. The kids all have little pieces of carpet they get to sit on, and they pick a "beam" off of a poster of the sun that has 10 songs on it that they learn. The bishop assigned Tim to baby duty on Sundays, and I have found that I really miss Chase when he's away for a couple hours. Otherwise, so far I am really enjoying this new calling, and am grateful to feel purposeful at church. Since practically everyone in our ward has a child in nursery (literally), I also get to meet all the parents and siblings, so that has been nice. I am working on learning all these kids names, which is pretty difficult when there are so many kids.

Other updates on our lives, we took Chase back to the pediatrician and he is gaining weight well so they are leaving him on his GERD medicine. We got a virus in our fishtank and lost some of our best friends :( Tim sold off this huge amp that has been taking up half our office (thanks baby), and bought a new electric guitar which he loves. Chase adores listening to him play it. Tim is also finishing up the semester at BYU and has finals next week. I have one online class left to finish by August, and my graduation is next week. My family is coming in town from Colorado Springs and we are especially excited to play with Dan. We saw this house in Orem and the front lawn is COVERED in lawn gnomes (no joke, there are trinkets everywhere). So we are pretty excited to take Dan there. We enjoyed the beautiful weather here yesterday and were ecstatic to wear our flip flops. We also barbecued out on the deck for dinner and that was a lot of fun. That is about all for today.

-Katie

A Weekend with the Hemingways

So now that it is almost Friday again, I am finally getting around to posting about last weekend. Weekends at our house are awesome. Tim and I are both just big kids and we love to play. Last weekend we took Chase to the Aquarium (video below). We also made a trip to north Salt Lake to try a little place called Paradise Cafe and Bakery. We saw it over a year ago as we were driving back from playing in Park City, and being Panera-deprived here in Utah, I told Tim we had to stop. We got all excited only to realize that it wasn't actually open yet. So last weekend, finally, we had lunch there. It was really good. I really liked the atmosphere, and the place has lots of yummy baked goods. Although we only split a chocolate chip cookie, it was the best cookie I've ever eaten- warm, and gooey, and chocolatey... Lunch was good too, but not amazing. I have since found out, that there is one even closer to us, by SouthTowne Mall in Sandy if anyone wants to try it. I would recommend it. Here is a picture of Tim and Chase in front of the Cafe:

Also on Saturday we bought Chase a rashguard! We are going on a cruise with my family this summer, and when I saw the tiny little rashguards I just had to get one for him. Plus it will keep Chase from getting sunburned :) I also got him some little sunglasses from Children's Place. Here is a picture of our kiddo, all ready for summer!

As a sidenote, I figured out something today as I was putting the rashguard on him. Chase has had a little problem with his clothes fitting. His clothes will be really baggy and wide, yet his pants will barely touch his ankles. Some of his overalls seriously look like shortalls. I looked at the Koala Baby size chart today and realized that at 13 pounds Chase is just at the top of the 0-3 size for weight (where he should be), but at 26 inches he is at the bottom of the 6-9 size for length (not where he should be...)! No wonder all of his clothes fit funny... He is one lonnnnng kid.
-katie

Poor Baby, Takes After His Daddy

We took Chase to the pediatrician today, and as Katie had predicted, Mr. C suffers from GERD (or Acid Reflux Disease if you prefer). The kid doesn't have my looks, but he has my stomach. So the doctor put him on some medication, which should hopefully clear it up over the next few months.

As for a few other quick updates on Chase, he weighed in at 13 lbs, he's 26 inches, and the doctor confirmed that Chase's TOP teeth aren't far away. Chase wouldn't let him get a good look at his bottom gumline, but Katie still swears she can see them right below the surface. Also yesterday, Chase pushed his binky back in his mouth for the first time. He used the back of his fist not his fingers, but it was exciting for us. If you saw him when he was born, you probably wondered if he was really our child since his hair was so DARK, but it has been lightening up a lot and is turning blonde. He still has those big blue eyes!

When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Food Critic

Katie and I love to try out new restaurants together, in fact we keep an on going list of new places we need to try. Since the list is always growing, we decided to make a small dent in it this evening by paying a visit to American Forks', Cobblestone Cafe.

Now it should be noted that Katie and I are lovers of great sandwiches; we love Kneaders, Gandolfo's, Zupas, and more recently Paradise Cafe and Bakery... but mark my words, none of them, and I repeat none of them, even compare to the chicken avocado cashew sandwich at Cobblestone. Words cannot describe how amazing this sandwich is... in my 27 years of life, never have I enjoyed such a dining pleasure. The sandwich was so good, that we both altogether forgot about the personal pizza we had also ordered (which was likewise very good... not as good as the sandwich, but good), and took turns taking bites out of this amazing croissant based delicacy. Cobblestone cafe receives my highest recommendation, I will be frequenting them often, and consequently buying Mark dinner at Tucano's, but it is all worth it to be able to revisit this Mecca of sandwichdom.
-Tim

Edit from Katie: He's not exaggerating. It really is that good. I kept sneaking bites of his sandwich when he went to fill up our drinks... I also hear they have an amazing artichoke dip sandwich. We'll have to try that one tomorrow. I mean, next week. :) Also, I begged Tim to eat here forever just because it looks so cute from the outside, and I have to tell you, it is just as cute on the inside! They have really done a great job decorating it, and I loved reading all the little sayings on the wall. It is very quaint, they even have little flowerboxes inside. Women will love this place if you are looking for somewhere to take a date!

I wish Tuesday was the day before Saturday...

This has been a hard week for me. I know, it's only Tuesday right? Well, it has still been a hard week. All two days of it. Usually the week flies by and I can't believe how fast the weekends come, which I love because it means Chase and I get to play with Tim for two full days. This week... not the case. It feels like it should at least be Friday by now.

I have been pretty cranky the last few days. Sometimes I wish I was still pregnant so I would at least have an excuse for irrational behavior. But then I remember actually being pregnant and change my mind. I am still determined that Chase will be an only child.

Besides for some dead fish, a bad nightmare (yes I am five years old and still get those), serious sleep deprivation, and 4 inches of snow to add to my crankiness, Chase has mysteriously turned into Mr. Crankypants as Tim terms it. Maybe we are just spoiled because Chase has been a little angel since he was born. But suddenly he is so fussy and needy. He hates being put down, even for a minute, and suddenly never seems to sleep. Chase has also learned to scream. Sometimes in delight (very cute), sometimes to get attention (he is such a faker, its ridiculous). Either way it leads to killer migraines.

Despite all of this, Chase is still incredibly good-tempered, which leads me to believe not that he has Multiple Personality Disorder, but that he's not feeling so hot this week. He doesn't have a temperature, but like I said, he has been really fussy (especially when eating), sucking on his fists, and drooling incessantly. We're not talking a little baby drool here, we're talking CUPS of drool. He even choked on his own drool in the store the other day. Which, leads me to believe that my poor child either has acid reflux (GERD), or is teething...

I know, too early for teething, right? I don't know, I swear I can see two little white bumps on his lower gums (for real). We're waiting for the pediatrician to get back with us, so that we can get this little guy checked out, and hopefully make him feel better. So yeah, I would say I'm starting to get a real taste of motherhood, and as much as I hate seeing Chase sad, and I hate being sleep deprived and snappy, when he smiles I kind of forget everything and just feel my heart jump for a second. I am amazed at how much I love this sweet child, and how seeing him laugh or smile can brighten my day.

Oh yeah, and today I ate 6 cookies to make myself feel better. So yeah, so much for being underweight. By the way, I didn't feel better after I ate them, I just felt guilty. Guess it's time to go run on the treadmill... And find a local meeting of Emotional Eaters Anonymous.

Hopefully next time I will be less cranky, as will Chase.

Until next time,

Katie

Sleepy Baby Video

Here is a video of sleepy little Chase! Enjoy!



Edit from Katie: Tim thinks the end of this video is funny, but I would like to add a disclaimer- "Coping with Death" was the 22nd Chapter in my Consumer Health textbook, thus explaining why I was reading this, and why I had to read about how to choose a coffin. I am not just weird.