Toddlerhood begins!

Okay, so The Captain has been 2 for awhile, but it's never too late to share pictures. (And some things we love about him.) The poor kid got sick right after we got back from our trip to Utah, hence the pjs in the pictures. This was definitely the happiest he was all week. And this was about the best smile I could get.

The great thing about toddlers is that I could rewrap all the awesome presents that he got in Utah and he totally didn't notice! He rather enjoyed the wrapping paper.

He did get some new toys . . . car books

puzzles

train set

which then was combined with the car books

We had a yummy dinner, which G wasn't really interested in, so we let him eat with special birthday utensils.

And the yummy birthday cake.

The 2's have been really fun so far. G is really good about playing by himself. It only took 2 years for him to not need me around every minute. I know he's only going to need me less and less in up coming years, which is why I still love his spontaneous and frequent hugs. He's learned so many new words recently. Johnny and I are constantly surprised by things he knows. We say a word once, he says it for days afterwards. Some of our favorites are:

-counting, his version is too, fee, eight, nine

-all affirmatives: yes (which has just the slightest of lisps. Very hard to imitate), hooray, otay, and huh huh

-and just recently he has started confusing the 'n' sound at the end of words with a 't', creating such gems as: runt (run), and mite (mine)

-which brings us to one of his favorite things--running. This boy could and has run for hours. Too bad he's also very sweaty. We pretty much take a bath every day in the summertime.

He hates getting water dumped on his head, but he does like baths.

He's a very good helper, he picks up many things for me when I drop them, he helps me hang up and take down and sort laundry, he throws things in the garbage, and he listens very well to instructions.

He's very observant and will notice things before I do.

He loves his specific jobs like putting his diapers in the diaper pail, putting his clothes in the laundry, getting down and putting up the scriptures, and turning on the lamp for Family Home Evening. He gets very mad when I try to do them.

And now he's giving himself more jobs like putting away the clean silverware and putting silverware on the table for meals.

He loves helping to cook, especially dumping.

And he's a great napper and sleeper (most nights).

He's been so good I'm a little scared to have another. But at least he'll be a good big brother.

More Utah Trip

So, the whole reason for our trip was to go here

to see a wedding

So G dressed up like Dapper Dan

and despite the cold, just wanted everyone to walk with him every where.

I wish I could say I was more help for this event, but sadly I think I missed many opportunities. I didn't get to cook anything for the reception, due to a mix-up I ended up at the temple when I should have been babysitting, I didn't even have my recommend so I couldn't go to the ceremony anyway, and then I tried to make it all up by running the kitchen. Which I'm happy to say, may have been sufficient repentance. I had a lot of fun coming up with jobs for all my nieces and nephews who were very eager to help.

We were all very tired the next day, which was bad since we were having a party for G's birthday. Mostly what was bad was the weather, very cold and rainy. So thank you! to everyone who not only braved the cold but brought presents!! G loved (and still does) everything he got. I wanted to have the party at Wheeler Farm because G loves animals, and the cold did not stop him or his cousins from running around having fun.

The race began

Then the ducks got involved

Tractor!

I think the best part of the whole thing for G was running down this ramp.

Utah Trip

So in my attempt to catch up on a bit of blogging (or three months worth) here's a look at our trip to Utah this March. I will post a part two when my laptop again reconnects to the central hard drive and all my pictures. While you wait for what may be sporadic posting, take heart, grandparents, that G's 2 year books are being shipped to me right now, and from me to you. Hopefully that will take the edge off.

G had a great time bonding with his grandparents. This is because unlike real parents, grandparents get to make everything other than their grandkids unimportant. They can put off housekeeping and making elaborate dinners for a day, or a few hours, and just focus on playing. This means I get to see a side of my parents that didn't exist during my childhood. Not that I'm complaining. As a parent, I totally see the necessity of letting the children entertain themselves. Anyway, here's the G Man playing with Cousin P and Grandpa.

It must have been a rare and warm afternoon. I think there were only two or three in the two weeks we were around.

Grandpa graciously volunteered to watch the kiddos while he sent the women to the spa. I'm not sure he realized what he was getting into.

Now that I remember from my childhood.

This picture is not nearly as frightening as it looks. Sweet G was just finishing giving his cousin a hug. He is not trying to push him over. I promise.

My sister and I decided to pack up the kids and hit the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum on St. Patrick's Day because she had discount passes. Turns out she didn't need them since it was get-in-free day for all parks and zoos in Utah! Which, while awesome, was problematic, since it was St. Patrick's Day. So we spent the day trying to keep track of two green boys amid a sea of green children and parents. I'm not sure any of the pictures truly capture the overwhelmingness of the green, but I was sure grateful P was wearing red pants and G was only minimally green.

He's a very responsible driver.

As much fun as sending the balls down the Planko-like board was, I think G liked lining them up more.

More to come.

Brazil Part Two

After 3 days in Belo Horizonte, we took a night bus to Montes Claros. Our hotel was right across the street from Johnny's apartment, which was above this burger joint.

Here's Johnny enjoying a burger.

They were huge. And full of steak, pineapple, ham, cheese, egg, lettuce, and corn.

Unlike some food, this lived up to Johnny's expectations.

We visited with a family Johnny had baptized. They were great. And everyone had a good time.

There was a local market where we saw some capoeira. It was large and full on interesting smells. We bought some bottles of peppers that we gifted to Johnny's sister for watching The Captain.

We had dinner by the lake.

At a pizza rodizio. Great idea.

From Montes Claros we took the train to the coast. Despite Johnny's face the train ride was actually really awesome.

Some of the beautiful country side we got to see.

We made it to the beach and hiked up to this monastery.

It was really high up. And windy. Good thing we were used to walking a lot by then.

This is one of Johnny's companions, Renan, who served not only as our tour guide, but our body guard.

Ah, the beach.

Ah, chocolate. We love you.

We went to a train museum. And took a picture for The Captain to enjoy.

One of the awesome bridges in Victoria.

Here is the state dish of Espirito Santo. It was delicious. Fish and shrimp in a tomato-based sauce. One of the most delicious things I ate.

We spent the afternoon in the old part of town, visiting dance schools and cathedrals and governor's mansions. It was fabulous. I had sugar cane juice. It was so much better than the time by brother emptied sugar packets into my water at that restaurant.

We ended the day eating hotdogs on the street. They were filled with carrots, corn, peas, raisins, fried hashbrowns, tempura mayo, and a hotdog. All in a regularly sized bun. Amazing. Except the hotdog, that was boiled and gross, but the rest of it was wonderful.

This is the sunrise on the beach and the view from our hotel window.

Before we left, we spent a little time on the beach.

And I couldn't leave without at least dipping my feet in the Atlantic Ocean below the equator. It was nice and warm. Next time we'll go swimming.

Brazil Part One

Some of you have already heard of the horrible time we had trying to make it back to Kentucky to see The Captain again. I don't want to get into it, except to say that in the two weeks I was in Brazil, I understood more than I did during the 48 hours of hell we had in airports in the U.S. coming home. Communication is not the travel industry's strong suit. Which it should be.

But enough about that, the trip itself was great.

When we got to Belo Horizonte we didn't have a hotel, so this is me waiting at a mall for a late enough hour to call a hotel.

One of the many beautiful parks in the city. Johnny wanted to bring his wife here one day. Check.

We ate at the most expensive restaurant in Johnny's area. We both agreed it was the biggest waste of money on the trip. But dessert was very pretty.

Johnny's old apartment.

Belo Horizonte at night.

Johnny eating goiabada and quejo minero. One of the things he's missed the most.

We spent the day in Ouro Preto, a town where missionaries are not allowed. It was very old, and very beautiful.

It is built in the mountains on very steep hills.

It has lots of churches because it was the gold mines of Brazil, and one of the only ways to escape the high tax on gold imposed by Portugal was to give it to the church.

So they built lots of churches.