Favorite Spots

Recently, much of Henry's awake time is spent walking around the apartment holding on to my fingers. He kicks his little soccer ball around, and discovers new things. He finds himself in two main places: next to his stereo and under the kitchen table.
I like to think Henry's a music Wunderkind. He loves his stereo and banging his toys to "make music". Yep, he even bangs on piano keys. I can thank Disney for their stimulating Baby Einstein CDs. No, actually I don't want a child prodigy, maybe just for Henry to be a fan of music. Yes--maybe something along the lines of 80s, Indian, and High School Musical music.
Here he is just listening to his CD. He finds his toy by his head and eventually starts banging it on the leg of the chair. Isn't he amazing!? ;)

Under the kitchen table is his little hut. He's near mommy, but away from me, too. I like it because I can cook or clean dishes while he entertains himself.

Here he is sucking on his lips,

playing with his book,and talking to his socks.

"Doe da da (blows raspberries) ma bla (blows more raspberries)."

He goes from "making music" to chewing on and talking to socks. What should I think of this kid?

Another favorite spot of his is his high chair (he grew out of his Bumbo). He loves to make messes with his food and jabber a lot in it. My favorite part about feeding him is seeing the new old man face that he makes. When he eats something sweet like peaches or applesauce he sucks in his lips and he looks like an old man with no teeth. It's so funny. He doesn't really do it in this clip, but you can see his two new teeth!

Rockin' with Dad

Henry loves to rock with Dad. I love it when he cracks up like this.

The Band-aid

I get such a kick out of Henry. He's really turning into such a character.
The other day he had his 9 month check-up and everything went well there. He got one shot and a prick on his toe. When I got home I tried to feed him and noticed that he was dodging me as I tried to put food in his mouth. I noticed he was chewing on something and was worried it was something small that he could choke on. I finally got his mouth open by pinching his chubby cheeks and noticed a little white patch and a peachy-colored thing. I was worried he had thrush, or a weird growth or something and wondered how the doctor missed it. To his dismay I stuck my fingers in his mouth and pulled it out. It was a band-aid! He had sucked it off his toe on the drive home. Yuck!! Luckily he didn't swallow it.

Indexing is my hobby

I wish that I new how to make cute clothes, aprons, hats, toys, books, etc. but I don't . . . YET. My hope is to one day learn the skills to make those things and be creative. Til I'm motivated enough to do it, I spend some of my free time indexing. If someone told me their hobby was indexing I might think they were kind of weird; who wants to look at old records and decipher the names and dates on them for fun? Well, come to find out, I do. Todd got me interested through his church calling, and so I did the tutorial online at www.familysearchindexing.org, and now I am a certified indexer. It's actually pretty easy and fun! I dare you to try it. You might be surprised. It's nice because I feel like I can be productive and also help people with their family history work while I'm at home chilling while Henry takes his naps.

Las Vegas!

This past week we made a quick trip down to Vegas, and I don't regret it. I say that only because one is likely to regret spending 12 hours in a car to visit one town for just 15 hours, but it turned out to be a blast. And, we figured out that we could do all we want to do in Vegas in that time. We:
ate out
went swimming
shopped at H & M
hung out with family
watched TV
played Yatzee
and ate out at In N Out (in Washington, UT)
It was nice. Because we were having so much fun I didn't have time to take any pictures, but Todd and I do have two items from H & M to show for it! I recommend impromptu short trips. It's a breath of fresh air sometimes.

Bollywood baby

We are big fans of Bollywood flicks. For those of you who don't know what Bollywood is, it's a motion picture industry of India--like Hollywood, but in India. Last night we watched a Bollywood film, Dhoom 1, and it was awesome. Bollywood movies are especially known for music and dancing--like musicals--but they also demonstrate every known genre in one film: romance, comedy, action, adventure, crime, drama. So if you settle down with an Indian film be prepared to see every genre wrapped up in one movie. Sometimes they're too long for me, but they're awesome still. Anyway, we had another Indian movie night yesterday and we dressed Henry up for the occasion.

Handsome Henry in his traditional Indian sherwani and pants:

Showing us his Bollywood dance moves:

When Henry was born we received this Indian garb from one of Todd's friends from India. I was so excited for him to finally grow into it. It's beautiful.

Teeth!

So I've been wondering when Henry would get some teeth. Every fussy bout of his I told myself, this is it, I think he's going to get some teeth pretty soon. And every time he remained toothless. But a few days ago I finally felt two teeth on his bottom jaw. Hearty solid food here we come!
It's pretty impossible to get a picture of his new teeth, but here's a picture of me trying. His pearly whites will make their debut some time when he least expects me to take a picture.

Oh, Henry.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder . . .

. . . even when you're married.

Todd has been away for a few days, and when he returns we'll have spent the longest time away from each other since we've been married, and probably since we started dating actually.

I've tried to keep myself busy, but at the end of the day when he does not return home to me I get lonely.

It's hard to sleep at night.

Eating is boring.

And I just feel like half of me is gone.

Todd, if you read this, I can't wait for you to come home. You are irreplaceable!

This is the man I miss so much:

Yeah, you would miss him, too.

Kimbap and Tuna

Last week my dear friend, Cindy, taught me how to make sushi. We spent the afternoon chopping, cooking, and rolling. It was really fun and really not that hard, but it did a long time. I learned what gives the rice in the sushi that yummy nutty flavor: sesame seeds and sesame oil. Delicious.
This is how it goes:
Cook the rice. Korean rice is made with 1:1 parts (one part rice to one part water). While it's cooking chop all of the vegetables into thin strips, and cook and slice the meat and eggs. You can use whatever you want such as, pickled radishes, tuna, beef, cucumbers, avocados, imitation crab, eggs, carrots, lettuce, etc. Cindy said that it's best to not use watery vegetables. We cut out the seeds/watery part of the cucumber and used the hearty stuff.
Add sesame seed oil and seeds to the rice, and add salt to the cut vegetables (spread it on with your hands). Then when everything's prepared, you line up the seaweed on top of the bamboo sushi roller, spread about 3/4 cup of cooked rice on the seaweed, and then lay the veg./meat fillings on the rice, covering about half the seaweed square. Then, you roll it up tightly and roll it back and forth about 3 times until it's not going to fall apart.
We ended up making two rolls, Kimbap (Korean sushi) and tuna. They were delicious. I became a fan of sushi a few years ago and I am so glad that I can now make it at home. Yum!

Diet

Quote of the night:

"See, Aunt Rachel, I'm drinking diet (pointing to the can). Diet means that . . . that i-i-it's got fruit in it or something."

-My 8 year old nephew

"Goin' to the chapel and they're . . .

. . . gonna get married!" She was a BEAUTIFUL bride, and I consider her new husband a very lucky man. Rachel is a jewel. She's a friend that would do anything for you even if it was very inconvenient for her, although she wouldn't make you feel that way. I'm proud to be her friend and so happy that she found the love of her life. Congratulations!

The Temple:

We tried to get a good one:

The Reception:

Henry was a trouper

Bachelorette Karaoke Party

Last week one of my very best friends got married. We've been friends since elementary school, through Jr. high, high school, and we were even roommates through college. We have the same name, the same birth month, and the same color of hair and eyes. We've been through the good times and the bad together, and I couldn't be happier for her now.
So, we celebrated her exodus from single life and entrance into the very huge and unknown life of the marrieds. We did this the best way we know how: a Karaoke party! We sang the best of Celine Deon, Cyndi Lauper, Bette Midler, and the Beach Boys; and we ate cookies, chips and dip, pitas and cheese, tootsie rolls, apple beer, and pina coladas.
Although many of us had not hung out for a couple years due to missions, getting married, and jobs, it was like no time had past. I relished in the same wise cracks, silliness, lame stories (told by me), and frankness that I enjoyed when we were roommates. These girls nights out (GNOs) are good for my soul--at least every once in a while. I know they would hate me for posting videos, so I'll just post pictures instead. :)

Mary and Brooke:

Rachel squared:

Alpha and Ashton:

Brooke, Meg, Katie, and Rachel:

Eating:

Cheers to Rachel and Blake!