Spreading More Than Christmas Cheer

I didn't have this on my Christmas wish list, but I definitely should have put it there. All I want for Christmas is a healthy, happy family. Until sickness strikes, I guess it's something I take for granted, but health is definitely one of the best things we can get and share.

A couple of weeks ago, Eli was sick with a viral sore throat. Poor guy! I know it was bad for him, but when Eli is miserable, EVERYONE is miserable around here. That was bad enough, but then this past week he came down with something that made us all miserable times ten. Whatever it was had us all down, even Josh, and he never gets sick. In fact, since we've been married, he's had one small cold and that's it. But this bug had us all heading for the toilet or scrunched up in pain. Poor Eli threw up every 20-30 minutes for eight hours (in the middle of the night, of course). When the bug hit me, I realized what a tough little boy he is, and I'm definitely grateful that Josh doesn't get sick often.

We discovered at our Ward Christmas party yesterday that we weren't alone in our suffering. At least two other families that we know of had the exact same thing, so we know for sure where we got it from. Both those families have children in Eli's nursery. Unfortunately, nursery is where Eli gets most every bug he gets, and that's only a couple of hours once a week. I guess we should be grateful he doesn't go to daycare.

Tomorrow we'll be on the road again. Okay, technically, we'll be in the air. I sure hope we don't catch a bug in transit. We've been scrambling the last two days to get everything we need to do finished before we leave since we were incapacitated most of the week. We're all a little sleep deprived, and I think we will all need some R & R when we get to Seattle tomorrow.

Here's hoping (fingers crossed) our Christmas and yours is a healthy and happy one. Happy Holidays, and please: Spread Love, Not Germs. :-)

Orlando Road Trip

Thanks to Josh's hard work, he was chosen to give a speech and present his research at the American Academy of Optometry in Orlando, FL. Since his hard work also earned him some traveling money, Eli and I decided to tag along. We drove out there instead of flying because we've been wanting to see the various states around us. Our nine day road trip yielded a lot of new experiences and a great family vacation.

Day 1 (Saturday, November 7th)
We drove from Houston to New Orleans, where we stayed the first night in a hotel downtown by the Superdome. We got there about 6 PM, so most of what we saw of downtown and the French Quarters was at night. We accidentally left our camera in the hotel when we toured the Riverwalk and the French Quarters, so there are no pictures. Sorry! It's basically what you see in the movies, so just imagine that. We could barely squeeze down Bourbon Street, and it wasn't even Mardi Gras! I definitely don't want to be there that time of year. We did get to hear some pretty nice jazz music, though. We even saw a bride and groom with their wedding party dancing down the street, which was pretty interesting.

Day 2 (Sunday, November 8th)
We went to church in a branch there in New Orleans, and then we took a little walk in a nature preserve just outside the city. There we saw more proof of Louisiana being America's Wetlands. It was definitely swampy, but it was peaceful and pretty as well. We then drove the rest of the day to Tallahassee, where we stayed our second night.

Day 3 (Monday, November 9th)
In the morning we toured the Florida state capitol building and got a great view of the city from the 22nd floor. It was a nice place. It had the same kind of feel as many state capitals have. Salt Lake is a little different, but I know Austin sort of has the same kind of atmosphere and Josh says Olympia, WA does also. It's hard to describe, but you can see a little from the pictures. After leaving Tallahassee, we drove to Ormond Beach, which is just a few miles from Daytona Beach, and stayed the night there.

Day 4 (Tuesday, November 10th)
Since our hotel was right on the beach, we woke up and played on the beach for a while. Eli enjoyed digging in the sand and collecting seashells, though he wasn't too thrilled about getting in the water. I don't really blame him since it was a little chilly this time of year (though still quite warm to what I was expecting). However, because it isn't as popular this time of year, we didn't have the crowds, which was really nice.

After the beach, we went to Blue Springs State park, which is about half an hour north of Orlando. We were told it is one of the best places to view manatees. Unfortunately, we were just a few weeks too early to view large numbers of them. Apparently, they like the waters of the St. Johns River, which is usually pretty warm. However, in December and January, the river cools down enough that they have to move to warmer water or else they'll die. Blue Springs is warm enough for them to survive. The day we went, the ranger said they hadn't been seeing any because the St. Johns River wasn't cool enough to force them out. We were a little disappointed and didn't expect to see any. However, we got lucky and spotted one. We also got to see how beautiful the place is. We saw an alligator and turtles and lots of birds. One was a majestic bald eagle that was perched on the top of a tree near the St. Johns River for most of the time that we were there. We even got to see a squirrel wrestle with a snake, which was definitely interesting as it fell from the tree near us. Eli especially enjoyed chasing the squirrels. Josh was so taken with the water that he decided to join the manatee and go a for swim (don't worry; it was legal :-) ), but Eli and I felt it was just a little bit too cold for us--that, and the fact that I'm not overly fond of swimming in water where there are creatures that can bite me (i.e. alligators).

That big thing in the middle is a manatee.

Though it landed near me, I'm glad it didn't land on me.

Eli got a kick out of Josh jumping in the water. You can see he wanted to try it himself.

That night we finally made it to our destination of Orlando, where we stayed the next three days.

Day 5 (Wednesday, November 11th)
Josh had to work on getting his presentation finalized, so Eli and I went for a swim--or at least we tried. I was willing to take a swim with Eli, but he was not willing (and secretly, I was grateful). Orlando had a little bit of a cold spell while we were there thanks to winds from Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Tropical Depression Ida. Eli made it down to the second step of the swimming pool and decided he would go no further. Though it was warmer than our pool here in Houston is right now, it was definitely not warm enough.

That night we went to Downtown Disney. Though we decided not to go to Disney World because Eli is still too young to enjoy it, we thought it would be fun to see some of the Disney shops. Josh and Eli especially enjoyed the Lego shop.

The big dragon behind us is made of legos.

Day 6 (Thursday, November 12th)
Josh gave his presentation that day and said it went well. That day was cold, and Eli was pretty tired, so we mostly rested. We went out for some Dominican/Puerto Rican food that night. Josh had the buffet, so he got a pretty good taste of what I ate on my mission. I was even able to still name most of the dishes (believe me, I have forgotten many things) and practice my Dominican Spanish with the waitress. I say Dominican Spanish because she actually understood jugo de china (instead of naranja) and arroz y habichuelas (instead of frijoles).

Day 7 (Friday, November 13th)
Josh had to go to his conference in the morning, so Eli and I went to Celebration, FL. It's a Disney incorporated town that's very small and quaint. We enjoyed our walk that morning, and that afternoon we went citrus picking (with Josh this time). There were so many different kinds of oranges, tangerines, and grapefruit to pick, and what we've eaten has been pretty juicy. That was a lot of fun for all of us. Even Eli seemed to enjoy helping us put the fruit in the bags.

This is in Celebration. Eli loved the fountains!

After we finished picking, we went to Lake Louisa State Park and took a small hike around a beautiful lake.

Day 8 (Saturday, November 14th)
We ended our time in Orlando by traveling the quicker route up to Tallahassee since we didn't have as many days to get home as we had going. We did take a slight detour down to the Northwest coast of Florida. We went through Panama City Beach and Destin, among others. The sun set there a little earlier than we expected, so we only got to see it in the dark. We took a brief walk on the beach and loved the sand. It was looser than the firmly packed sand of Daytona. I was a little hesitant to take the detour because I figured we would see the same gulf and beach that we see in Galveston. Quite the contrary. We wish we had seen it during the day. We picked up a couple of brochures, and supposedly it has beautiful blue and green water (part of it is called the emerald coast). We were amazed by how many beachfront hotels there were. I guess we must be out of it, but we had never heard about that part of Florida. Now we have something we are looking forward to going back to that's not too far away (a day's drive). After driving along the coast, we drove up to Pensacola and spent the night.

Day 9 (Sunday, November 15th)
We got up and drove to Daphne, Alabama, which is right outside Mobile, Alabama. We went to church there, and then we drove the rest of the way home to Houston.

All in all, it was a fun trip, and we will have lots of memories for years to come!

Happy Halloween!

We carved two pumpkins for Halloween. One was a jack-o-lantern face and the other had a ghost on the front and a bat on the back. Eli was a tiger and thoroughly enjoyed trunk or treating at the church. He was all too eager to reach into the candy bowls to grab some for himself. :-)

My Little Brother's Wedding

Okay, so he's not so little anymore, but he'll always be my little brother. :-) Our trip to St. George was brief (we left on Friday and came back on Monday), but Nephi and Aubrey had a beautiful wedding. Unfortunately, Eli played around with our camera too much and dropped it, so it didn't make it to the reception. Still, we came out with a few pictures and plenty we can get our hands on if we want. Let's just say the reception was sugar paradise--so many different sweet treats to choose from, but I'm not sure anyone chose. I think we all just took a little of each. ;-) And for some reason, Eli had a scowl for everyone last weekend. Congratulations, Nephi and Aubrey! Have fun on your honeymoon cruise this coming week!

The Picture He Wanted Me to Take

This picture is one that Eli specifically wanted taken, so I thought I'd post it. He picked up the camera and gave it to me the other day. I said, "Thank you," and put it down. He picked it up again and gave it to me. I asked, "Do you want me to take your picture?" He said, "Jes." So, we went outside, and he posed, and this is the result. Cute!

Entering a New Decade

It's a couple of days after the fact, but I've finally joined the thirty and over group. My birthday was on Thursday (sorry, no pictures were taken), and as I said good-bye to my twenties forever, I thought about what that decade of my life yielded. Here are just a few things that came to mind:

Places Lived During my Twenties
*Ripon, Wisconsin
*St. George, Utah (briefly--for the two summers before and after my mission)
*Dominican Republic
*Salt Lake City, Utah
*Houston, Texas

Schools Attended and Formal Education Received During my Twenties
*Ripon College
*University of Utah
*University of St. Thomas
*Two Bachelor's Degrees (English & Political Science)
*Teacher Certification

Jobs Held During my Twenties
*Student
*Sales Associate (twice)
*Accounts Receivable Clerk
*Medical Records Clerk
*Spanish/English Interpreter
*High School English Teacher
*Stay-at-home Mom

Church Callings Received During my Twenties
*Young Women teacher (Mia Maids)
*Relief Society teacher
*Full-time missionary
*Primary teacher (twice--4/5 year-olds and 7/8 year-olds, which is my current calling and longest one I've ever had)
*Ward missionary
*Relief Society visiting teaching supervisor
*Counselor in the Primary presidency (twice--very briefly both times)
*Nursery teacher/helper
*Activities committee

Favorite Highlights of my Twenties (in order of their occurrence)
*Serving a mission in the Dominican Republic
*Graduating with my undergraduate degrees
*Getting married to Josh for time and all eternity in the St. George temple
*Having and raising my first child--my sweet baby boy, Eli

The lists could go on, of course, but these are just a few of the things I think about when I review the last ten years of my life.

Gig Harbor

Josh had to fly home right after the wedding because he still had a couple more days of school, but Eli and I flew from Salt Lake to Gig Harbor to be with Josh's family for about 4 days before Josh could rejoin us. Unfortunately, we ended up being sick for the first part of our trip up there. Eli came down with a pretty nasty cold and gave it to his mama. I didn't suffer quite as bad, though I suspect I have a sinus infection now with the way I'm feeling. Eli actually threw up, which was a first for him. Even as a baby he didn't throw up or spit up much. I'm glad it was only once, and I'm not sure what it was. Most of his suffering came from a head cold up in Gig Harbor, but last night he had a high fever, so I'm not sure what exactly he's been going through. I know his Grandma Pratt had a fever and was throwing up too, as well as his cousins. Whatever it was/is, it put a little damper on the vacation.

Still, we did have some fun. We went to a bluegrass festival where Eli loved people watching. We went to Wild Waves theme park, which has both water and amusement park rides. Eli went on a few rides, but he couldn't ride many, so we took him in the morning and got a babysitter for him in the afternoon. Of the ones Eli went on--the carousel, ferris wheel, and dry slide--he liked the dry slide the most. Basically, it's a huge slide in which you sit on a sack that helps you go down. Eli loved it. He sat on Josh's lap and would get up and clap when it was over. He didn't like the carousel at all, and he sort of liked the ferris wheel, but it ended up being too long of a ride for him. Josh and I enjoyed the water slides and roller coasters that we could go on when Eli was with the babysitter. Okay, honestly, Josh enjoyed them. I enjoyed some of them, and endured others so that Josh could enjoy. I don't really like roller coasters because I hate the heart-dropping-to-your-feet feeling. I mostly enjoyed the water slides, but some of the other rides were not quite as scary as I thought they'd be.

We also went to Remlinger Farms, which has a lot of kid rides. Eli could ride most of those, and he got a taste of his first roller coaster. I was hesitant to let him ride, but he was clapping and really excited to go. I think it looked more fun than it was, mostly because he wasn't prepared for the jerking around that roller coasters have. He didn't want to get off the ferris wheel though, and he loved petting the animals. He even got to ride a pony. Though it was an incredibly hot day when we went, Remlinger Farms was definitely a highlight of our trip, which is why most of the pictures come from there.

Again, that was the short version of our trip, but we really did enjoy being with family, sick or not, and we had an eventless flight home, which was an added bonus! :-)