Vacation Part I.

Although we have been back from our Utah vacation for about a week, I am just now getting to posting these photos because: 1- I have been suffering from a serious bout of jetlag (that two our time difference just kills me!) and 2- the thought of sorting through the 526 photos that I took during our trip (and that is after deleting MANY from my card in an effort to minimize the dreaded sorting!) is extremely daunting. Not to mention that perfectionist me can't seem to put up photos on the blog without editing them at least a little bit.

Anyways, we had such a great trip! We left the Richmond, VA airport at 5ish on Wednesday, June 11th. Here is a shot taken of Mr. E at the airport drop-off area while we waited for Tim and Jace to drop off our car. Forgive the motion blur of Mr. Bear...

The flight from Richmond to Minneapolis went really well, but when we got to Minneapolis we found out our plane was delayed because of weather issues. And the kids were very tired at this point, which does not bode well for a good second flight. And that is how it went- our second flight was a NIGHTMARE!!! We were stuck on the runway waiting for the go to take off for about 45 minutes and Ethan was very, very unhappy. He was beyond tired and I knew that the only thing that would make him stop crying was to fall asleep, but I also knew that he would not fall asleep until the plane started to move. So he and I spent those 45 minutes crying (No, I am not kidding: I was actually crying- though not quite as loudly as Ethan). Here is what Jace thought of that plane ride- I couldn't agree more, buddy!

But somehow, we survived. And the next morning we packed up and headed to my family's cabin in Central Utah. I was totally expecting it to be green and beautifully spring-like up there, but it looked like winter still. But we didn't mind- we don't get much snow out here so it was kind of fun to see a few patches of snow (by the way, I am surprised Jace is still alive after all the dirty, gritty snow he ate!). Here is Tim, Jace, my dad, Angie(my sis) and Mason getting ready for some fun on the four wheelers. Take a note of Tim: eating pistachio's- a Whitehouse family favorite. It is absolutely disgusting how many pistachios we ate during this trip! You know those huge bags you can get at Sam's? We downed that whole thing in less than 3 days... Can you say gull stones?

Despite the lack of greenery in the trees, the view up top was gorgeous! One of the things I love most about Utah- the wide open, blue skies. This shot makes me want to sing: "The hills are alive... With the sound of music...(Ahhh..ahahahhhhhhhh!)"

A fam shot (minus Ethan). Nice job, Ang! Good thing you can't zoom in because I look really gross in this photo!

Jace and his cousin Mason (who the entire time called Jace "Batman", much to Jace's delight I am sure!)

Jace looking an awful lot like Audrey Hepburn in Angie's sunglasses. Beautiful, Jace, beautiful!

One of the 70 shots I took of Tim rippin' it up on the four wheeler...

Tim and AudreyJace.

Later we headed down to the resevoir to do some fly-fishing. Tim is a bit mad at me for posting this picture and not posting the shot of me in my equally attractive get-up. But I think he is crazy- I am totally thinking he should become a model for Cabella's! While brousing my Cabella's catalog recently, I read that they were looking for tall, strong men who like to flex thier muscles and look great in neoprene. A love of outdoors and wearing Gap shirts are a plus. Don't you think Tim fits that description well?

Gearing up...

Zach(my bro) and Tim trying the inlet.




The inlet did not prove to be a great spot for the fish, but Tim managed to catch this water snake with his BARE HANDS!!! Pretty amazing, huh?! Just another thing to add on the resume for Cabella's.

Though Tim and Zach didn't catch any fish, guess who did? ME!! Well, with the help of my dad and Jace. My dad did the cast on this one (I have a problem getting tangled up in all the fishing line) then I stripped it in and hooked the fish. Jace then rilled it in so I could take a picture. Isn't she a beauty? Don't you worry, no animals were harmed in the making of these photos: we set her free. Though I do wonder if the two other fish we caught next were just her coming back for more...

And that's all for now. Vacation Part II. will be coming up soon- to see a sneak peek of our trip down to beautiful Blanding, check out the business blog!

The best dance ever...

For any So You Think You Can Dance fans out there, if you missed last nights show, you have got to watch this dance! It is amazing- I have already watched it like five times today. Even Tim liked it, and he is not a big fan of watching dance. And if you have not seen So You Think You Can Dance, Wednesday nights on Fox, my friends- 2 hours of wasted time very well spent!

Enjoy!

Ball

I am sure that most fathers dream of their sons excelling in sports, but for Tim I think this dream goes to a whole new level. He often jokes about our kids playing in the NBA, but I know that he is only partly joking- deep down a part of him just longs to see his son/sons playing for the Utah Jazz, becoming the next Jeff Hornacek or John Stockton. I remember how excited he was when Jace's first word was basketball- much better than, say, dad. As with most of Jace's obsessions/phases, the basketball phase didn't last long- he is now much more into playing superhero's and drawing pictures of batman than sports. But fortunately, little Ethan loves balls and is quite the little athlete, so the dream is still alive! Seriously, Ethan has some major skills with the ball! You should see his chest pass- it is incredible! When aiming his little basketball at my head, he hits the target every. single. time. And he has a near perfect swing with his plastic baseball bat, so baseball can be his fallback sport. Yes indeed, we have high hopes of this little guy- if he can just get as tall as his dad or taller he will be a shoe-in for the NBA. We will be sure to give you all some box seats when he signs with the Jazz.

These were taken yesterday, when I found Ethan playing with the basketball in this bookshelf. I thought it was so cute! And if you look at that last shot, he is actually pointing at Tim who is watching basketball trick clips on YouTube and saying 'COOL' (referring to Ethan, not Tim, though Tim was probably thinking that exact word).

And, seeing all the attention Ethan was getting with his cool tricks, Jace was not one to be shown up by a 1 year old! Here he is showing off his improving wall climbing skills- check out that height! With hours of practicing this, every day, I am convinced that it is only a matter of time before he actually starts crawling on the ceiling. I will be sure to get a shot of it when it happens and post it here on the blog. I am quite nervous about our upcoming plane trip because Jace cannot seem to keep from climbing on things. I have been reminding him everyday that he CANNOT climb on the back of the chairs, or on the windows in the airplane this week or the police will GET HIM and put him in jail. Hopefully my scare tactics will work- and we will not have to bail him out of jail on our vacation.

By the way, it is currently 8:30 in the morning and it is already 90 degrees outside!!! We are in for another record hot, humid day! Sheesh, I can't wait to get to Utah on Wednesday. We picked a good week to leave Virginia!

The Heat Is On

Sorry about the long absence, everyone. As you can see from the exotic photos above, we were on vacation in Hawaii. It was soooo beautiful- just look at those crystal clear waters. The kids just loved Honolulu...

BWAHAHAHAH! I WISH!! I am totally kidding. No, my friends, these photos were taken at the only-slightly-less-exotic-than-Hawaii Lake Monticello Main Beach (just a few minutes from our home) on Memorial Day. The water is much browner than it appears in that last photo- definitely not a REAL beach and certainly no Hawaii. But the kids sure didn't care! How I wish I was as easy to please! We originally had plans to go down to Virginia Beach for the weekend, but I ended up shooting a wedding reception on Saturday night (which is a story in and of itself that I will not go into right now!). I think Tim was pretty frustrated with me because I booked all of my weekends up in May/June and he is dieing to go to the beach.

This spring has been amazingly moderate out here, even for Virginia. We have had months of perfect weather with very little humidity- just how I like it! But these last few days have reminded me just how miserable the summers can be out here. Last night I went outside to go for a run and I about suffocated from the humidity- it literally felt like a sauna! I have never sweat so much in my whole life. And this week I have been refinishing some furniture and Minwax and humidity are a bad combination! After spending a day and a half outside, my dressers still were not dry. So I had to put them back in our bedroom even though they are still sticky on the surface. I hope no flies get in our house and land on them because I am sure it would be the death of the poor insects.

The reason we were refinishing the dressers is because I am kind of on a decorating kick right now. These last few weeks we have redone our bedroom and my office. I will post some before and after pictures when I get completely done, but that may not be for a while because I am still having issues with the curtains in my office and we still haven't decided what artwork we want to put above our bed. One of the architects in Tim's building is retiring, and he had a few solid wood bookshelves he was trying to get rid of. They were nothing fancy, but not particle board so I thought I could paint one black to go in my office. So I brought it home and painted it yesterday. But after putting it in my office, the whole room now smells like my grandma's basement- old and musty... Lovely- Minwax fumes in the bedroom and musty fumes in the office. Anyone want to come over to my house for dinner? So I don't know what to do- I washed it off with a damp, soapy cloth before painting it (which is when I first noticed the smell), but I thought that painting over it would take care of it. I didn't paint the back or the bottom, maybe that would help? What about spraying tons of Lysol on it? Or maybe the only solution is to buy new and avoid things that have been sitting in a tight office space for 40 years.

We officially have LESS that a week until we leave for Utah! WAHOO!! We are so ready for a vacation- and I looked at the weather for Utah next week and it is going to be 77degrees and dry- hard to imagine! We especially can't wait to see our families- Jace has not seen his grandparents for a full year! He is so excited- he asks me every morning "Are we going to Utah today?" Sorry bud, hang in there a few more days!

I will try to post at least once more before we leave- last months post count was pathetic!
Until then!