Santa

The holiday season is so enchanting with a toddler! I love seeing Christmas for the first time (really second, but I don't think he remembers much last year) through James' eyes. He learned quickly not to touch the ornaments on the tree and has been such a good boy and has left them alone (for the most part). The wrapped presents, on the other hand, have been a little too tempting for him.

James has always been a happy kid with a pleasant demeanor. Meeting Santa Claus was terrifying to him though. I was a bit surprised because he usually does well with strangers. His first encounter with Santa Claus went better than the second. No tears were involved. (Maybe he could tell that "Santa" was a guy from our ward.) James was quite squirmy though and was eager to leave Santa's lap. 

Round two was pure torture in James' opinion. I'm not sure why? Maybe because Daddy wasn't with us?

James got a lawn mower for Christmas. He couldn't take his eyes off of it in the beginning--quite literally speaking. Taking a nap and having to part with the mower was pure torture. Fast forward 4 days, and James hasn't touched the mower since. His interest in toys seems to fade quickly. 

Shepherds and a baby wise-man for the win

Cousins in matching jammies

Why is Christmas already over? I love this time of year. The anticipation always takes forever, and then it's over in a blink of an eye. Now we get to clean up all of our Christmas decor. Does anyone like that? Here's to hoping that James warms up to Santa Claus next year.

Thanksgiving in Spokane

We didn't intend on traveling to Spokane for Thanksgiving-- mostly because we had just returned home from our cruise. We enjoyed seeing family! I will admit that I was extra glad to be back home after back-to-back trips though. I think James was worried that we were going to leave him again, so we continually reminded him that he was traveling with us (this time) to Spokane.

James loved spending time with Granny and so many cousins. In fact, Granny got James and Rhett matching outfits for Christmas. They looked darling. James was able to interact with a dog, Maggie, and watching him do that was priceless. It actually made me consider getting a dog-- for a brief moment.

So many cousins!

We flew into Spokane on Thanksgiving Day which was a bit chaotic. The flights were way cheaper that day. Also, Andrew had lots of work to catch up on after missing a full week. We landed just after 1:00, made two batches of 7 layer-dip in record time, and rushed to a family picture.

The whole gang

All of the Ditto clan was together for one final hurrah before Granny leaves on her mission to Barbados in January. Our schedule was filled to the brim.

The cousins went swimming at the YMCA on Friday afternoon and James forgot he likes the water. He used to have a blast swimming, so I'm not sure what happened. We had a game night that evening and watched Washington State vs. University of Washington football game. Actually, when I say, "we," I really mean the men in the family. I don't think I watched one second of the game and I'm not sad about it.

Saturday morning the adults went to a session at the temple which was neat. We had a family lunch and did an afternoon scavenger hunt. The adult men went shooting, and then we all met up for a Pizza Potluck to watch the annual ABH premiere-- "All Brother's Hike." 

BYU played The University of Utah that evening in Football, so Andrew was out late once again watching some ball. What a disappointing game. I didn't watch it, but how embarrassing that BYU was up 20-zip at halftime and still ended up losing.

Sunday was spent relaxing and going to church. James thrived in nursery as per usual. We had a scrumptious dinner at Blayre's house and ended the evening playing some games. Our flight left early Monday morning. 

I made (and ate) quite a variety of cookies this trip! I brought Gingersnaps and M&M Chocolate Chip cookies on the plane for Thanksgiving dinner, made Honey Bunches of Oats cookies for the lunch Saturday, and Banana Cookies Sunday evening. I don't think I've made cookies since.

A highlight for me was definitely the "favorite things" gift exchange. Granny sure knows how to spoil us and we all left with full stomachs. 

Bucket List

I have experienced the Bahamas. This has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember. I guess this means that I can die now? 

Andrew and I recently returned from a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas! We visited 2 ports: Nassau and CocoCay.

The cruise line we chose was Royal Caribbean and we were extremely pleased with our experience. There was so much to do on the ship and we tried to do as much as we could. We went with some friends from our ward-- Ryan and Chelsea McKenna. 

Andrew and Ryan did the flo-rider, all of us raced on the water slides (which scraped my back), we did the virtual reality sky-pad trampoline, the escape room, laser tag, karaoke, a magic show, a comedy show, played shuffleboard, utilized the workout room, hot tub, went rock-climbing, and more.

Escape Room

Look at my form! (I'm on the left)

On Wednesday and Thursday night, we made our way to the top of the ship for karaoke. The first night was kind of lame. The DJ wasn't fantastic and one old guy, Nester, sang love ballets every other song. His vibrato was ferocious. Thursday night was a blast though with a different DJ. The crowd was much bigger and more into it. Andrew sang both nights. On Thursday night, the DJ loved Andrew and kept calling him "brother." Andrew and Ryan befriended Nester night two and even convinced him to do some rock songs and stray from his usual love songs. A couple of people got nervous and requested that Andrew join them on stage. Andrew sang the song 500 Miles and did songs by the following bands: Fall-Out Boy, Bon Jovi, and Journey. Andrew getting so into his performances was hysterical and was probably the most MEMORABLE part of the cruise for me. Several strangers recorded his performances and the DJ, Chris, kept saying that Andrew had lots of "liquid courage." 

There wasn't ever a moment of boredom. I had no trouble sleeping at night either because I was so worn out. One night, we all felt a bit sea sick, but food helped get rid of the sick feeling. The WEIRDEST thing for me was probably the fact that even after we got off the ship, I felt like I was "rocking" for a couple of days. Apparently this is common and I was thrilled when the rocking/unstable feeling went away after a couple days. I actually almost fell out of our shower at home because my body was swaying.

I can't talk about the cruise and not mention the food. Wow! I've always heard that cruises have great food, and now I know that's true. When we first arrived, we were rookies and ate at the buffet which was disappointing. The Dining Room is where it's at. We made dinner reservations every night there and dined there for breakfast in the mornings. 

It was hard for me not to have any limits. Usually, I hold myself back when ordering at restaurants because I'm paying. In this case, I had already paid for my meals, so I had to get my moneys worth. At least that's how I made myself feel better about ordering so much. The meals were multiple courses and they told us to plan on a solid 2 hours each night for dinner. I will admit that I did order more than one entree on more than one occasion. 

As if we were being deprived, we often frequented a pizza place on the boat that had tasty, unlimited pizza. Yummmm. Cookies were also available there at all times. Win-win. 

I did go running one morning and we usually took the stairs everywhere instead of waiting for the super crowded, slow elevators. Note to self: next cruise, pack COMFORTABLE shoes instead of cute ones.

Nassau--Not what any of us were expecting.

It was a very poor city and people were constantly following you around to try to get you to spend money doing an excursion with them.

We went to a beach which was kind of rocky, but it was still gorgeous and the color of the water was unreal. I think the nicer beach was a bit further away.

Andrew really wanted to try authentic Bahamian food, so we went to a local restaurant. Guy from "Diners and Drive-Ins" had been there. I thought the food was ok, but I didn't get any seafood. (I'm boring.)

We booked an excursion through the cruise line and went snorkeling in the afternoon. It helped that food was thrown in the water to get the fish to swarm around us, but it wasn't the most amazing snorkeling I've ever done. We still enjoyed the experience though and were able to see some bright colored fish.

We did some shopping before we got back on the ship. I was hoping to find cheap vanilla like you can find in Mexico, but I didn't have much success.

CocoCay-- Exceeded our expectations.

I believe this is considered part of the Bahamas, but is owned by Royal Caribbean. We had to take a boat to get there and it's exactly what I was expecting. The water was clear and beautiful and the sand was white. It was breathtaking. 

The unlimited snow cones and funnel cakes were icing on the cake. We did some relaxing and reading on the beach. We also took advantage of the water. There was an MC who had beach games going on all afternoon which kept us entertained. We enjoyed playing volleyball, participating in a water balloon throwing contest, a hula hoop contest, and watching other events. 

The day went by far too quickly and we were bummed to leave. We definitely could have spent another day there.

The most AWKWARD part of our trip by far was an encounter with our cleaning lady--Colleen. Not long after arriving on the ship, we took a nap since we were up all night on a red-eye flight. She barged in and may have seen more of Andrew than she should have. Why did she need to clean our room after we'd been on the ship for 2 hours? Mystery to me. She was constantly cleaning our room and went a little overboard. We started using our "sleeping off our adventure" magnet on our door religiously, so she would leave us alone. It was cool that she made different creatures out our towels though.

We got off the cruise ship early Friday morning. Our plane didn't leave Fort Lauderdale until after 6:00pm. This meant that we had some time to kill. We ended up spending our time in The Fort Lauderdale temple which was quaint and beautiful. We were able to do a session and sealings. I'm bummed I didn't snap a picture. 

The SADDEST part of the trip for me by far was the fact that my passport did NOT get stamped. I got a passport a few years ago and ended up not using it. I've never had my passport stamped. I guess we'll have to travel outside of the US again.

Knowing that James was well taken care of made leaving him easy. I owe my parents (especially my mom who was with James most of the time) big for making this trip possible. Jeff and Lindsey helped out a lot too! Unfortunately, James got an ear infection while we were gone and had to go to the doctor. We came home to a clingy, sick boy.

Andrew and I are all talk. We finally took the initiative and actually planned and went on a vacation we've been wanting to go on for years. What an amazing experience we had. I will never forget our trip to the Bahamas. 

Haunted Half

Looking back, I can say with confidence that my favorite thing about the Haunted Half is the fact that it's over!

I have run 2 half marathons this year and I'm done. After finishing the race, my family met at Cafe Rio and I told my brother in all seriousness that I "never want to run another half marathon." His response was, "that's what you said after the last one."

Where to begin...

Runners had to be shuttled by bus up to the top of the mountain. I woke up at 12:50am thinking it was time to be up and ready to go. After that, I didn't get much sleep. My dad picked me up at 6:15am so we could be to the shuttle on time. The race didn't start until 8:30am. We arrived at the start with more than an hour to kill. The darkness and startling temperature didn't help.

I was nervous. I'm a worrier. I was mostly concerned about shin pain. I had plenty of ibuprofen on hand (just in case) and iced my shins the night before the race using dixie cups.

Less than a mile into the race, I complained about shin pain. Luckily, this pain didn't last very long which was a huge relief. If only that brief shin pain was the worst of my problems...

Not long after my shin pain disappeared, I noticed a side cramp. It didn't go away quickly. In fact I dealt with this cramp for a couple of miles. Eventually the cramp went away, but then I got a cramp on the other side. My dad was helpful in telling me how to breathe to help alleviate the cramp.

My dad and I had run 10 miles of the course a couple of weeks prior, so I was familiar with the scenery. Something that caught me off guard was the fact that we had to circle back and go up the canyon for a little bit (a minor hill). This change didn't help my mood, but luckily it was a quick detour from the course I was used to.

At about mile 8 I started to notice that my feet were burning because blisters were forming. This was not a fun feeling, especially knowing that I had to continue on for another 5 miles. At each mile marker on the course, there was a sign with a quote on it that was supposed to be humorous. There were several statements about blisters and toenails. "Your toenails do not matter anyway." I did not find the blisters quotes to be funny which is probably why I can't remember any of them. (I blocked them from my memory.) 

Little did I know I would be using the ibuprofen for blisters, not my shins... The last 5 miles were rough to say the least. I felt like I was going to cry multiple times. I'm so grateful that my dad was running the race with me to keep me going. (Note: He is a speedy runner and could have finished the race 30 minutes faster.) Also, a positive thing to note is that my headphones and music lasted the whole race without dying which has been a problem in the past.

Anyway, near the end, there was a rather large hill. The hill just about pushed me over the edge. My dad suggested that we walk and I happily agreed. At this point, I thought I was well beyond my goal time and all I wanted was to be done.

Near the finish line, my dad told me to push it and keep going because I would be thrilled with my time. I was shocked. I thought I had long since passed my opportunity to meet my goal. (I had misheard a time my dad said earlier.) I was feeling terrible throughout the run.

I was able to finish the race in 1 hour 56 minutes and 57 seconds... 1:56:57. My goal was to break 2 hours and I did it! To top it all off, my chip didn't work, so my time wasn't recorded. Luckily my dad was with me the entire time, so I was able to look up his info. 

My true feelings... I wanted to sit down immediately

These are the mile splits: 8:45, 8:15, 8:20, 8:39, 8:50, 8:46, 8:47, 8:48, 8:56, 8:44, 9:19, 9:43

Andrew, James, my mom, and Jill (who happened to be in town) were cheering for me at the finish line which I appreciated. Lindsey, Simon, and Esther got caught in traffic on their way to the finish line, but we got to run right by them.

I'm proud of myself for finishing! I think that race was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Andrew is planning on running a half in January in St. George. (The one I ran earlier this year.) Before the Haunted Half, I was considering running it again. Now,I have zero desire to do it.

Jill got stopped by a stranger who thought she was dressed in a costume

Things I want to remember...

• The beautiful location. Wow, the snow-capped mountains surrounding us and the gorgeous leaf colors boosted the experience.
• Talking to random strangers while waiting for the race to begin. One of the strangers happened to be a lady named Candy from Spokane who is in Andrew's mom's ward. Small world.
• There was pizza at the finish line and it was from Costco! (I wasn't necessarily hungry and couldn't enjoy it as much as I wished. Eating goo doesn't necessarily make you want to eat again.)
• The costume contest before the race began. Some people dressed up (and no, I was not one of them.) I thought my superwoman shirt was creative enough. The guy who won the male costume contest was dressed up as what a foot looks like after a half marathon. It was gross with blisters and such, and he even pulled off a toenail. I thought it was so clever!
• The weather could not have been better.

Things I want to forget...

• Pulling my shoes off and expecting to see monstrous blisters all over and not finding that. I did find 1 blister, but it disappeared quickly. I was expecting nasty, blood blistered feet. I'm frustrated about the thin socks I wore. I blame them for the excruciating pain and friction they caused. I didn't have any blisters on our 10 mile run.
• How sore I was afterwards. I woke up Saturday night (after the race) when I rolled over because my body was so tense/tight.
• Stopping for a drink at a water station and thinking I was taking a big gulp of water, but instead inhaling orange juice.

We'll see if there is another Half Marathon in my future. For now, I'm content just continuing my regular gym routine. 

AGW- "All Girls Weekend"

All the women in Andrew's family get together annually for a weekend to relax and eat lots of yummy food. I wasn't sure I would end up going, but it worked out! This year, not everyone was able to attend, but I enjoyed spending time with Debbie, Blayre, Sara, and Julia.

I flew to Washington on Thursday, October 18 and that afternoon, we drove to our airbnb in Rock Island, WA. The place was very secluded which was perfect. We were surrounded by apple orchards. We were even given permission to do some apple picking which we took advantage of. The hot tub was a big plus and the big, starry, sky was so clear. The owners were friendly and welcoming. They took us for a ride in their vintage car.

I think the destination for AGW was chosen so we could explore Leavenworth-- a quaint town an hour away from where we stayed. It's absolutely beautiful and I wish I had done a better job at documenting my surroundings. Leavenworth is full of cute, expensive shops. We ate at a restaurant for lunch that none of us loved, but Cold Stone made up for it later on.

The fall colors were gorgeous! 

I was able to catch up on some chick flicks I've been wanting to see. I enjoyed "I Feel Pretty" as well as "Mama Mia! Here We Go Again" even though I may have fallen asleep for a minute or two. It's exhausting to sit around all day eating amazing food, reading, and not chasing around a wild James. We also played "Code Names" as well as "Scrabble" and I let everyone else win.

Getting enough to eat was never a concern of mine on the trip. In fact, making room for another meal was often a struggle. We went to Olive Garden for one of our meals which hit the spot. Blayre also made us some tasty dinners that I want to try to recreate. 

As usual, I was spoiled and left with my bag bulging full of chocolate, a candle, a new recipe book, etc. I had one goal for the weekend-- finish my book ("The Devil in the White City") which I accomplished with only 30 minutes to spare... on my flight back to Utah Monday morning. The book wasn't my favorite.

I feel so blessed to have friends, parents, and a husband that I trust completely who made it easy to leave James behind, worry-free.

Maybe next year we will have AGW in Barbados, where Debbie will be on her mission.

Overbooked

Sometimes it feels like everything is scheduled for the same weekend. Last weekend is the perfect example.

I'm training for a Half Marathon and had to get a 10 mile run in this past weekend. Fortunately, my friend was able to watch James on Friday while I went on the run with my dad. I'm proud to say I survived even with my phone dying at mile 2, meaning I didn't have music. I was exhausted and sore afterward for a few days.

Friday night, Andrew and I had tickets to the Colbie Caillat and David Archuleta concert at the BYU Homecoming Spectacular event. 

I LOVED the concert. One of the first CDs I ever owned was Colbie Caillat's. She is so down to earth. I've been a David Archuleta fan since he was on American Idol. I haven't listened to his music in recent years and learned at the concert that many of his new songs are inspirational and religious. I think I liked listening to him singing pop songs more.  His new songs are good (just different) and I might play them on Sundays.

Andrew has been teasing me mercilessly because I admitted that Colbie made me a little emotional. (And no, I didn't cry.) 

As you can tell, the lighting wasn't great and the pictures didn't turn out super well. Andrew leaned over to me and told me he found the best picture. He then showed me this goofy pic.

Jessica and Chris watched James while we were at the concert which we appreciated! After the concert, we went back to their place and played a game until late. I think we got home around 11:30pm.

Saturday morning was a blur as I was busy prepping for the baby shower I was hosting for my friend, Sadey. I made snickers cupcakes which were tasty, but very time consuming. I was grateful to have so many friends help with the shower. The decorations were beautiful with lots of letter-boards and flowers from Trader Joes. (I'm not tooting my own horn... My friend was in charge of decor.)

Andrew gets the credit for putting on the frosting. I was frantically throwing the toppings on before the frosting dried.

Lots of people had left by this point. I think 62 people were invited and we had a good turnout.

Originally, we didn't have plans to go to the BYU Football game, but our friends landed some great seats and we couldn't pass up the opportunity. I literally had 10 minutes from when the last person left the shower to bundle up and get ready for the game. 

We tried Bam Bam's for dinner which we have been wanting to do for a long time. I enjoyed it, even though I was still stuffed from all the food at the shower. We had some time before the game, so we played at an arcade, and went to a book store. The book store had old and original copies of famous books such as The Book of Mormon and Harry Potter. We made our way to the game with several layers and blankets. Although Hawaii didn't bring much competition, we enjoyed being with our friends. We left in the third quarter.

We told our friends that they treated us like royalty. They provided the great seats. They also had a parking pass to park closer than I've ever parked at the stadium. Not to mention the fact that they drove us. I told Andrew we need to step up our perks, so people will want to be friends with us.

What a weekend! I think I'm finally rested, but I have to get up at the crack of dawn for an early flight tomorrow morning. I'm ready to read the weekend away and lounge in the hot tub for hours on end.

House Updates

It was my turn to host Book Club at my house in September. I took it as the perfect opportunity to make a few minor house updates. Poor Andrew. He didn't complain and finished all 3 of the projects with an hour to spare.

Project #1: New Light Fixture

The light fixtures in our house are all extremely dim and we are slowly replacing them. I teach piano in our front room, and our 2 bulb fixture didn't do much for me or my students. In fact, sometimes it was hard to tell that the light was even turned on. Oh what a difference a light can make!

Side note: We discovered that James can climb an adult sized ladder-- no problem-- during this project. What a climber. While Andrew is at work, James often walks into the piano room, points at the light and says, "Daddy." 

Project #2: Picture Collage

I was talking to Andrew about how to make our living room feel more homey. I wanted to add more pictures, but we didn't have much wall space left. Andrew suggested a picture collage going up the stairs. I was surprised by his suggestion mostly because hanging pictures together isn't our favorite task and usually ends in frustration. I'd say it was worth the headache and the "nest" is no longer the focal point of the wall.

Project #3: Porch Swing

For Christmas last year, I opened an envelope that had a picture of our beat up porch swing. There was a note along with it informing me that Andrew was going to refinish the swing for me. I was thrilled!

I did debate about what color I wanted Andrew to paint the swing. I was leaning towards black, but decided to go with a splash of color. The houses in our neighborhood look so similar, why not make ours pop? I would describe the color as fire engine red. I love how it turned out and a few of my friends mentioned it at Book Club.

I'm not hosting Book Club again at my house anytime soon, but I am hosting a baby shower in a few weeks. I'm sure I'll think of more projects for Andrew to complete in the meantime. :)

Labor Day Weekend

You can tell I've been reading a good book (or 2) since my blogging has taken the back burner...

Over Labor Day weekend, we went with some friends to St. George. We had a blast. There were 7 couples total (all from our ward) and I think 8 little kids. We stayed in the nicest place. We all had our own bedrooms and bathrooms. There was a massive hot tub, a mini pool in the backyard, a pool table, a movie theater room, and a community pool within walking distance.

After making the drive to WA, I didn't blink an eye about the 3 and 1/2 hour drive to St. George. James was easy and the trip went by quickly. Unfortunately, a rock hit our windshield on the drive and the chip quickly spread. We got our windshield replaced when we got home.

Things I want to remember about the trip:

• Karaoke night.
• The dance and slideshow the boys put together while we were gone.
• Cynthia's chex mix. (It had coconut!)
• Hannah's cookies.
• James riding on a train.
• Andrew rock climbing with the boys.
• James splashing in the water. He loved playing in the water, was giddy over the slide, and started jumping in on his own.
• Going out with the girls Saturday night. The men stayed home and put the kids to bed while we went shopping at the outlets. Win, win!

James, Lyla, and Maeve

The train ride

The conductor let James sit here. As you can see, he should have picked another child.

Things I want to forget about the trip:

• Cards Against Humanity. Not my favorite game. The person who goes first is the person who pooped most recently. 
• My workout with Kristee and Chelsea. I thought I was in shape, but doing squats for 30 minutes strait made it very difficult to walk the rest of the weekend.
• Playing pickle ball. (It was actually really fun, but I could hardly move because of my soreness. My friends later told me I looked like an old grandma while playing.)

We are considering going on a cruise with some of these same friends. I hope Andrew and I finally make it happen. A cruise is something we have talked about for nearly 6 years. 

We feel so fortunate to have found such dear friends. Finding couples we both like hasn't always been easy and it has definitely taken some time.

Jess and Chris Tied the Knot!

I have been on "Team Chris" since the beginning. Jessica had a couple of guys pursuing her and she made the right choice. Andrew and I have spent lots of time with Jess and Chris over the past year. In fact, I remember telling Jessica soon after they started dating that she had my approval to marry Chris. I think she was a little alarmed. Jessica is such a catch and obviously deserves the best. She got it marrying Chris. They are so good for each other.

Jessica and Christopher got married on Thursday, August 9 in the Salt Lake Temple. I'm so happy for them! It has been pretty smoky here, but the smoke seemed to clear out just for their wedding. The smoke was much worse the next day and following week. 

The sealing was powerful. My grandpa passed away in March which was sudden and hard. The sealer talked about people being present in the sealing who have passed away which hit me. The spirit was palpable. I'm grateful that James was in good hands while we were in the sealing. (Thank you Kaylee Beck!)

The luncheon was in the Joseph Smith Memorial building at the Garden Restaurant. It was at 2:00 and my stomach was rumbling LOUDLY during the sealing. Luckily mine wasn't the only one. I was worried that everyone in the room could hear my hunger.

The reception was later that night outdoors. It was hot, but what else can you expect in August? Jessica has a knack for decorating and everything was beautiful. The reception was a blast! I wish I had been hungry enough to eat more from the food truck. The waffles and fries were fabulous. There were also Italian Sodas and lots of outdoor games to play: bocce, ladders, spikeball, etc. Rob joined Andrew in a game of spikeball. It was his first time playing and he's a natural. They were both drenched in sweat afterwords. 

As soon as Jess and Chris got engaged, I told Jessica about my friend, Mandi, who is a photographer. Jessica ended up using Mandi for the wedding and loved how the pictures turned out. All (but 1) of the pictures in the post she took. Check out her website: http://www.mandiraephoto.com/ 

I can't believe my baby sister is married! Here's to spending another year hanging out with the happy, now married couple. Welcome to the family, Chris!