Baby Ball Book

Ball! on Vimeo

(Jenn) Catch this clip of Henry reading his favorite book right now: My First BYU Book (it was a gift from Grandma Iverson, who bleeds blue). The book gives him plenty of chances to practice his favorite word: Ball! We're pretty sure he can now be classified as super-genius, because he can identify ten different things as "ball." In fact, right now the following words are also pronounced "ball": baby, bye-bye, bottle, dog, balloon, book, apple, binkie, blanket, potato, and burp.

Sandy Hook

For MLK Day on Monday we took a day trip to the Sandy Hook area of New Jersey. We had two main purposes for our journey: 1, to visit the house Grandma and Grandpa Whitesides used to live in, and 2, eat at Carrabba's, our favorite Italian restaurant chain. It took about an hour to get to G&G's old house in Long Branch. They lived there for 5 months while Grandpa was in the Army, stationed at Fort Monmouth during WWII. It was nice to see their little white house (we were happy that it was still there) and then to spend the rest of the day getting familiar with the area where they lived.


Long Branch is only minutes away from Sandy Hook, which is a popular beach area in the shape of a hook. It was a pretty misty day for sunbathing, but it was perfect for lighthousing. We checked out the lighthouse on Sandy Hook (the oldest operating lighthouse in the U.S., pictured) and another in nearby Highlands (the Twin Lights). Henry especially enjoyed some time to run around in
the sand and watch the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, which were terrifying to him. We were amazed to see a few people actually surfing in the freezing cold water! We also stumbled across The History House, an old officer's house on defunct Fort Hancock, located on Sandy Hook. The house is furnished to look as it would have during WWII. It was fun to get a feel for the time period when Ben's grandparents were in New Jersey.
We ended the day with a fabulous meal at Carrabba's. We fell in love with this restaurant in Provo and were mortified when we found out the nearest one to us was 50 minutes away! It was a good excuse to go there, and the Chicken Bryan and Mezzaluna were superb, as always.

Henry's New Suit

Jenn has been having a hard time convincing Henry not to pull off his mittens while he rides in the jogging stroller during her morning run. While it has been an unsually warm winter, it hasn't been so warm that he doesn't need his gloves! So, we found a solution: we bought him one of those one-piece snowsuits with the mittens hooked on to the arms so he can't pull them off. The suit that Henry got is brown, and we can't decide if he looks more like an Ewok or a rabbit. Either way, we got a kick out of watching him run around the house in it. He doesn't seem to mind it too much, and he hasn't cried during the morning runs for two days straight! It must be working. :)



Henry's Snowsuit on Vimeo

Utah Skiing

(Ben) Jenn forgot to mention in her Christmas post that another highlight for me was getting in a good ski trip to Alta with Dan-o. Sitting in a Manhattan cubicle all day at 37 feet elevation hadn't really prepared me for a full day on the slopes at 10,000 feet, but we still had a great time, and no one got seriously hurt. :) You just can't beat a day in the Wasatch!
Here are a couple of clips from the trip. The first is me dropping the cliff not-so-gracefully, the second is Dan doing a nice 180.



The Cliff at Alta on Vimeo



Dan's 180 on Vimeo


I also wanted to say that we had a wonderful time seeing many of our family and friends! Thanks for a great trip!

Merry Christmas!

(Jenn) We've been home from our Christmas Utah trip for three days, and I've finally recovered well enough to put up a few posts.

We had a fabulous time in Utah! We were there from 22 December until 1 January (although we didn't get home until 2 January, thanks to United Airlines. Maybe I should just get that part over with. On the way to Utah, all of our bags were delayed, and our carseat was completely lost. On the way home, our flight was delayed, we missed our 6:00pm connection, and the next available flight was not until the next day at 10:00am. So we took a little vacation in Chicago for a night, thanks to brother-in-law Mike's free hotel points! Needless to say, we are not too happy with United Airlines, and we can also put in a good word for direct flights).

Between the 3 days of traveling, we had a great time with our families. Highlights include the Iverson nativity production, Grandma Griffin's party, playing in the new "Grandkid Room," playing Mike's and Tanner's Wiis (is that how you make "Wii" plural?), singing around the piano, talent shows, visiting grandparents, a double date with Dan-o, The Pursuit of Happyness, eating at El Matador and Zupas (yum!), homemade caramels, peppermint ice cream/cookie sandwiches, swimming at the Clearfield Aquatic Center, exchanging gifts, visiting "real" wards for church, playing games with family, the Post-Christmas Friend Party, and just spending time talking with the people we love. The whole time just felt like a dream (not just because Henry made sure we didn't sleep too much), and we weren't sure which place (Utah or New Jersey) is home to our "real lives."

It was hard to leave, but we're glad to be home and back to regular schedules for sleeping, eating, exercising, etc. We already started looking for (direct) flights for next Christmas, although we probably won't act on anything soon! We've still got a summer trip to plan too.