November #3 - everything else

The day after we got home from Toronto, mom was scheduled to substitute teach for the lady she student taught with. For me, mom had arranged for Brooke and Stephanie Hill to babysit me during the day. I was such a good boy for those girls and things went very smoothly while mom worked for about a week. Mom really enjoyed going back to work and seeing many children she taught 2 years ago but both mom and I were sure happy when she was done so that we could go back to our everyday life.
For Thanksgiving, mom, dad and I were invited to go to Dad’s boss’s place to celebrate with his family. The food was amazing and the company was even better. My favorite person was dad’s boss’s son who was 9. He was quite a character and kept us all laughing with his creative imagination. Since the next day was Black Friday and dad had the day off, we all had a nice day of shopping. Daddy was brave enough to face the cold at 5:30am and got some sweet deals on Christmas gifts for me and my cousins. Later we went out and got really good deals on an artificial Christmas tree, lights and some other decorations. We had tons of fun making our condo look Christmas-ee.


Later that weekend was the big BYU v Utah game. Everyone was pretty pumped up for it and we decided to go to Smith’s to watch so we had people to cheer with. BYU played pretty good and in the end should have won the game. However we did end up loosing by 1 point. At least we proved that Utah is definitely over rated. Because of this, there is a very very small chance we may go to the Vegas bowl but will most likely go to the New Mexico bowl on Dec 18. The good thing about this bowl game is that we get to have a nice long vacation.

Well I am becoming such a big boy! I say about three words now: dada, momma and bear. I also can show you where my head, nose, and ears are. My parents are so impressed with me. I am also getting closer to walking. I cruise along the furniture with ease and push chairs, boxes and toys around a lot so I’m sure it won’t be long. One new obsession I have is with shoes and socks. I often try to put them on my feet but when I have no success I put them on my hands and crawl around. Check out the video.


Here is a little update on mom:
1. She got released from her two piano callings at church and got a new one. She is now the 2nd councilor in the primary presidency. She is very excited for this calling but also a little nervous.
2. She completed the 3 book Hunger Games series. She highly recommends it to anyone looking for a page turner and can’t wait for the movies to come out.
3. Her neighbor invited her to go to a Zumba class with her put on by another girl in the ward. Mom went and loved every minute and is hoping to start going up to 4 times a week.

Here is an even smaller update on dad:
1. He loves his new truck (1982 Ford F-150). It is his new pride and joy (next to me of course). Check it out: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=0&nid=443&tab=list/view&ad=3575491. BTW we did not pay the asking price which is a bonus!
2. Next semester he will be taking lots of classes again, but won’t be as busy with football which has mom and I thrilled.

I’m not sure why mom and dad find this so funny but here it is:

November #2 - Toronto

Two days after mom arrived home from California, we flew to Toronto, Ontario to visit Uncle Matthew, Auntie Crystal and Cousin Wyatt. This trip has been planned for months, even before the wedding date was set so we didn’t plan on the craziness we experienced. Mom was pretty stressed the day before we left trying to transition from her road trip to flying out of the country and preplanning for a week-long subbing job. Dad says that she stressed her self to sickness because the morning of our long trip, she was up at 5am throwing up and extremely nauseous. Not the best timing! After dad gave her a blessing and some drugs, she was able to finish getting ready and make it to the airport. We had a 3 hour layover in Chicago and the nausea hit her hard again. I hadn’t slept yet at all either so between both of us, mom had to have a little break down (the fact that mom forgot her cell phone didn’t help things either). But once mom got a hold of daddy and talked to him for a while, she got a burst of courage and energy and we finally made it to Toronto. Even though the trip was hard, as soon as we saw uncle Matthew at the airport, we knew it was all worth it.
We did many fun things in Toronto, but the best part was just visiting and playing with each other. Wyatt and I become friends quickly and I knew he liked me because he copied what I did like crawl and scream. We played good together especially when he introduced me to the Tupperware drawer (I’m sure Auntie Crystal just loved us at her fight when she was working in the kitchen). I love Auntie Crystal too. She is soooo good to me and introduced me to a lot of yummy foods. I can definitely see why mom loves and admires her so much! Uncle Matthew is pretty awesome too. Mom always has so many questions for him because he is so smart. Everything he says is very interesting and you can tell he cares a lot about mommy. Unfortunately, Wyatt and Uncle Matthew got sick two separate nights but it didn’t last long. Poor Wyatt was up until 4am throwing up one night. Other fun things that we did include walking around beautiful U of T campus, walking in Dundas Square (the Time Square of Toronto), walking along the coast of Lake Ontario, and going on walks to various places around their apartment. They live right in down town Toronto and so many things are within walking distance. Wyatt and Crystal often go play at parks, bookstores and community centers and mom is a little jealous that we don’t have things like that so close.
We want to thank Matthew, Crystal and Wyatt again for all the fun we had! We love our family very much and appreciate their efforts to stay close.
Mom did not take any pictures, but not to worry because Matthew and Crystal took quite a bit with their super nice camera. Once we get those from them, I will post them.

November #1 - San Diego

Alright time to catch up for all November.
As you may remember, Grandma Schlenker flew back down here to babysit me because mom attended a friend’s wedding in San Diego. After mom subbed for a friend, she left with her other friends, Ashley and Camrie to head out on the road. Here is what mom had to say about her whole trip:

We first drove to Las Vegas and met Jessica (my friend getting married) and some other girls to celebrate a bachorlette party. We stayed at the Golden Nugget off Freemont Street which was a really nice hotel. The best part was the swimming and water slide. After we all got dressed up to go out to dinner and walk down the strip a bit. When we got back to the hotel, we played some “minute to win-it” games and went back out to walk down Freemont Street. Needless to say most of us did not get a ton of sleep that night.

The next morning we couldn’t doddle because there was a lot to do before the rehearsal dinner which was that night and the wedding which was the next day. So unshowered and very sleepy we left Vegas for San Diego. Ashley and I (who were not in the wedding party) figured once we got to San Diego, we could have a relaxing evening and even do some sight seeing, but we were so wrong. As soon as we got there, we had to console a very stressed bride, help her get organized and welcome all the family that seem to arrive right at the same time. This made everyone late to the rehearsal, but once we arrived everything went well. The wedding was on a yaght so it was important that everyone knew where to be and what was going to happen. The rehearsal dinner was at a pizza place in San Diego’s Little Italy and I think that was the BEST pizza I have ever had. During the dinner I was able to mingle with much of Jessica’s family which was so fun because they are always a hoot.
Side note: I lived with Jessica for a year and a half when I was in college. She is one of my best friends.
After the dinner, we finally got to go to our super nice hotel and relax a bit. Well relax until we went to Jessica’s mom’s room and things got stressful again. We were able to get a lot of last minute things done and went to bed. The morning of the wedding went much smoother than I was expecting. Everyone got ready and even though Jessica’s stylists were running a little late, she took a chill pill (literally) so that helped. The ceremony was simple but very sweet.



One of my favorite memories from the ceremony was when they were putting the rings on, Jessica could not get Wess’s on over his big knuckle so she had to lick his finger to help it slide.

After the reception, dance and pictures us girls went to Ocean Side and ate at Hodad’s and walked along the beach.


The rest of the night was filled with the relaxation Ashley and I had been hoping for in the hot tub and a good night sleep. The ride home went smooth with a nice stop in Vegas to have lunch with my friend Eryn and her Husband. I was even able to make it home in time to put my little angel to bed whom I had missed terribly. I am so grateful that Grandma took time out of her schedule to come watch Houston. I am also very grateful to Papa Schlenker for letting Grandma leave him all alone for a week.