Beach Ad Lib

Heather and I have been on two cruises. The first was a 5 day trip out of LA to San Diego, Catalina Island, and Ensenada Mexico. The second one Heather got to choose, and we went to Alaska, Inside passage, out from and back to Seattle. I'm picking the next cruise, and all I can say is, there WILL be beaches.
We had some good beach time in PR. The condo that we rented was in the Condado area, and our place was about 1 block from the beach. So we went to the beach.............a lot.
A little beautiful native scenery.
This was my screen saver on my laptop for a long time. I'll bet those PR kids you see pictured on the right ended up in a lot of people's screen savers, and not just mine.
Sandy toes.
Pretty non-native scenery.
Oh, beautiful beach, how I love you and miss you so.

More Boricua, Gettin' our Foodie on...

So, when the Beneezee's and the Aises get together, we do food right. Like, RIGHT. So pretty much every night that we spent in PR, we ate dinner somewheres fabulous. The first night was awesome. (yeah, I've been on the street were the pina colada was invented.)
We went to this place called The Parrot Club. I remember traffic was horrific, and we had to park quite a ways away (more on that later), bu the food was terrific. And there was much fruity drink enjoyment had by most.
Cool Vacshuners.
Delicious Beverage.
Jason's meal. Best mofongo I had the entire time I was there, plus, some pretty amazing BBQ chicken.
Heather's dish. (much more on this later)
Amy's dish. For some reason, I have no photographic record of Anthony's dish. So he must not have had anything. Oh well.
But they sure looked cute!
We didn't look so bad either.
The food was excellent. I loved my chicken, and Amy and Anthony loved their meal, and Heather RAVED about her pumpkin gnocchi. So, by this point, we had already informed our friends that we were expecting. Heather was in the early stages of the pregnancy, you know, the kind were any little smell can set you off. Also, I mentioned that we had parked kinda far away. Up hill. So the restaurant was at the bottom of a hill, and that means we had to walk back to the car, like, half a mile. Up hill. Not fun. The street that we were on was kinda grody in some places, with garbage and a couple drunks and shady characters, and some of the smells were not so kind to the Heatheraise. The only person that had any leftovers in a doggie bag was Heather. So, we're walking back and Heather starts to get queasy, what with the walking up hill, post-meal, the drunks, the exhaust, etcetera. By the time we made it to our car, Heather was NOT feeling well, and insisted that we toss her leftovers. In the garbage. Sadness. Well, whaddya do-pregnant lady rules all that the eye can see. Delicious Parrot Club pumpkin Gnocchi-gone, into the garbage. We get into the car, rolling homewards, and Heather starts to feel better AND really really really regret tossing her gnocchi. Ha, she still regrets it to this day. So, if you're ever in the vicinity of The Parrot Club, try the gnocchi, and BRING SOME BACK FOR HEATHER!!

Boricua Time

Rental Car numero 1. Since we got to the island first. we were in charge of picking up the rental. the island is a lot smaller than we thought, I'm usually pretty good at reading a map, but we did a loop thru Old San Juan like, 10 times because I kept insisting that we just had to go a little bit farther, when in reality, I just kept overshooting our destination because the island was a lot smaller to navigate than I was used to. Also, this was rental car numero uno because it had been in a wreck, so whenever I made a left turn, there was a horrible scraping noise. Too bad, that was a spunky little car.
Beach!
The Benezra's!
And the Aises! On a tropical Caribbean beach vacay-shun! Sans Jack child or any other responsibilities. More on that later.
One of the first days there we hooked up with an old high school friend of mine and her husband for Lunch at this place.
Solimar and her husband were great, and gave us a lot of great tips on what to do and see on the island, plus the food was really good. I think this was my first ceviche.
Oh, look out! Vacay toes!

Speaking of Long Cold Utah Winters.........

Around abouts Febrooary, we went on a little trip to a place I like to call......Puerto Rico. it was awesome, to say the least. On our way down, we stopped in Los Alamos, and stayed with an old college roomie, Evan G and his family. Funny story, the day I found out Heather was pregnant, I called Evan to let him know, and turns out, his Emily was pregnant too! In fact, we had the same due date. He and Ems got married the same year as us, and we went down for the wedding. we kicked it in Albuquerque at the temple, hung out in Santa Fe, and attended a reception for them in Los Alamos, then enjoyed a carefree drive home thru Colorado on our way back to Utah. Good times. The above picture is our first born batch. Ty ended up being born almost a month ahead of Jack, what with being born a little early, and Jack being born almost a week late, but not only did these kids have the same due date, they were probably conceived on the same day. Ha!
Since that time, Em and Ev have had another (we did let them know that our own #2 was in the oven), and he looks just as cute as the first.
We arrived in El Paso where we dropped Jack off with his Cousin Kia, and they took up right were they left off. It's nice having cousins.
Finally.............Puerto RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIICO!!! Note the pre-vacay paleness.
So pretty. And much smaller than we expected. We arrived a little bit before our friends, the Beneezee's, and could't resist stopping at the first beach we saw and walking around.

Ketchup

You might say it's been a while since I've posted on a re-goo-lar type basis. You might say. So.....in an effort to mend broken (blogosphere) relations...........let's play 'catch-up!'
In 2009, we bought our first membership to Thanksgiving Point. Since, you know, it's like, hardcore winter here for 9 months outta the year, we desperately craved some sort of indoor activities that we could take the munch kinder to for blowing off steam purposes.
We've spent a lot of time there since, not only at the Dino museum, but also at the gardens and Farm Country.
Also in 2009 I got my first job as a male nurse. YAY! Finally a career and not just a job.
So there you go, blogosphere. You are a demanding mistress, and I hope my initial return offering is acceptable. Here's to never abandoning you again. Cheers!

bubba update

Ad to think, his eyes used to be blue.
Still a cutie pie.

So, there are some things Jack has been saying lately that deserve an update. Mostly because I need to remember them, partly cuz they're so dang cute.

We finally showed Jack the Toy Story franchise, and subsequently got him hooked. The last picture you see there is him 'shocking,' (translation-shooting) Buzz Wightyear style. Jack still can't pronounce the 'L' sound yet. But, Buzz Wightyear is a vast improvement over 'Buzz Weiser.' Um, no, I don't drink beer, why do you ask? Oh, my kid, right-no, he's trying to say Buzz Lightyear, you know from that movie, oh, okay, fine. Nevermind.

I went to Wally World and bought Jack a coupla Nerf and cap guns, so now Jack likes to 'shock,' me. We have lots of fun shooting stuff around the house, haven't broken anything yet. I should have gotten more of the sucker thing rounds........

Jack still has only 'she' and 'hers' as far as pronouns go, but we're working on it.

His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. Thanks in part probably to Toy Story, stories about outer space and planets are becoming favorites of his.

Jack loves to swim, and has really gotten into it this summer. Still with the floaties, but maybe swim lessons next year.

We went to Vegas for a quick three day trip. Stayed at a posh hotel, ate fancy food, relaxed, watched a show. Day three we get a call from the bubba, who sounds sad and informs Heather that "I wost my momma and my dadda....."

I drove 100 miles per hour the whole way back.

Day Out with Thomas!

May 28th we went to Heber, UT for Day Out With Thomas. For all of you with toddler/preschool age boys, you know how HUGE this is for your little guys. For those who don't, it is HUGE. We took Jack because he loves Thomas the Tank Engine and has some dearly beloved Thomas trains; James, Henry, Toby, Salty, Emily, Percy, etc.
Jack was so excited to meet "Sir Topper-Hat." "You have caused confusion and delay."
The conductor of the train ride we took sat with Jack and let him try on his hat and see his conductor watch. Of course Jack was thrilled and we were excited to see our little boy so enthralled with the Thomas experience. I was amazed that I could be so excited for something that I didn't care about just because someone I loved was. This must be parenthood.

Jack with Thomas
First train ride

There were several train sets set up in a tent. Jack would have never left if we hadn't enticed him with the real train ride. All in all, a fun day for the whole family.

where my parents at?

today we had this exchange:

me: jack, we have to go run some errands.

jack: we have to find my parents?

me: no, we have to run-some-errands.

jack: find my parents? for meeeeee?

me: yes. we have to go find your parents. *sigh* now get your sandals on.

Product Placement

28 June, 2010

Dear Manufacturer,

I am writing in reference to the instruction manual to accompany your product, model number 4-27-07. The manual was not included in the packaging and I would like to request one at this time. More specifically, I would like to request sections 37.1 "Three Year Old Diplomacy" and 42.5 "Viral Invasion." I dearly love model 4-27-07 and am on the waiting list for one of the 10-10 models due this fall. However, to better care for and make the unit last as long as possible, I feel that the instruction booklet is fairly necessary. Please send one to my postal address as soon as possible. Thank you for your time.

Your loyal customer,

Heather

Whee for Three!

The man with his creation. This was a first attempt at anything made from fondant and Jack couldn't have been happier with his Thomas cake. I think Jason was happy, too.

The Birthday Boy. Born April 27, 2007 3:03 am

A few friends catching some air in the jumpy castle we rented...someday we might buy one of these things because we had one last year, too, and it was so much fun.

Impromptu dance party that ensued in the theater room. Hannah Montana really has a way with kids...I wonder if she babysits. Probably not for my pay scale, anyway.

Pinata time! Notice the wary looks of our party friends as Jack wields the bat... The thing was so sturdy our friend Adam had to beat it down with his man muscles.

"Happy Birthday to You!" It's been a great 3 years with you, Jack. You're fun, sweet, and too cute for words. We love you and love being your parents.

It's a BROTHER!

We had our 20 week ultrasound and this image is what made Jason excited-- as in "Whoohoo!" was heard throughout the office. I bet they get that a lot. Our next little man-child whose name is still up for some discussion/debate. Jack understands there is a baby in my belly but doesn't truly understand the implications. Babies and siblings are things other kids have to deal with. Oh, he will see in October...he will see...

Update

We have our ultrasound to discover the sex of our next child on Thurday.

I am so nervous/excited/anxious. Seriously, I can't wait. Everyone thinks that we are having a girl because I want a boy so bad, and this pregnancy has been soooooo different than Jack.......plus we have, like, no good boy names that we can agree on...........sigh. Well, if it is a girl or three, we have plenty o'names.

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In other news, Jack has nightmares/bad dreams. He's been having them for a while. He probably has a great imagination like his old man, I used to have a lot of bad dreams, too. Usually Heather or I will just go into his room and hug him and pat him and calm him down, although recently he changed it up a bit.

I walked in there to calm him down and he said something about monsters. So I told him that I would check for monsters, and made a show about looking under the bed and in his toy bin and declaring, ' No monsters.' Then I told him that there were no monsters in the room, and that I had punched them in the stomach (Jack has recently started doing this to me. He'll give me a hug, tell me he loves me, then get a mischievious look on his face and punch me. Then he'll say, "I punch you!").

So Jack gets back in bed, thinks about this for a while, then says, "Sorry monsters."

I don't know if he was apologizing to them or what, but it sure was funny.

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Come'on XY!!!!