Henry Says . . .

(In response to "Who's your best friend?")
"Evan!" (He thinks about it for a second . . . )
"Aden!" (He thinks about it for a second . . . )
"Jesus!" (Mom rejoices in utter surprise -- I don't think he's had the "Jesus is My Best Friend" lesson in nursery yet)

Staten Island

(Jenn) We had about half of the day free on Saturday and were DYING to get out of the house, so we hopped in the car in the afternoon and headed to Staten Island. It was about a 45 minute drive from our house to the east side of the island -- a pretty reasonable distance for a short trip. Staten Island is one of New York City's five boroughs (along with Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx), so I guess I was kind of expecting it to look a little like the other parts of New York City. At least I was expecting it to look like an East Coast town where lots of NYC commuters would live. Ben and I were both shocked with what we found when we drove onto the island: we felt like we had been magically transported to California, minus the palm trees. Seriously, it was a little bit eerie how "West Coast" it felt -- probably mostly due to the wide roads, strip malls, large parking lots for lots of chain stores, and the fact that nothing was older than 50 years old. Most of the houses and apartments looked like they were built in 1980 or later. Also, when we looked at the people around us, we didn't feel like they wanted to hurt us! I guess this is not too unusual, but it just wasn't what we were expecting when we entered the 5th borough of NYC.

We were happy we went though, and it was a pleasant place to spend a Saturday afternoon. We spent most of our time on the boardwalk and the beach. Henry got to play in the water and sand (in his diaper because we weren't actually planning on swimming, so we weren't prepared). He loved getting splashed by the "wabes" and throwing rocks into the water. We left in time to stop at Carrabba's, our favorite Italian restaurant, before heading back to New Jersey. Carrabba's is actually the reason we chose to try Staten Island for the day -- S.I. is our closest Carrabba's location, and we're willing to travel great distances for that food! It was well worth the journey, by the way (side note: I over-ate by a few bites and felt no gall-bladder pain, yet another reason to rejoice!). Henry was also really happy at the restaurant because our waiter brought him a ball of pizza dough to play with while we waited for our food (a genius idea).

One Year in Jersey

This week we celebrated our one year anniversary of moving to New Jersey! And believe it or not, our blog is almost one year old. We decided to celebrate by changing the appearance of our blog around a bit. Hope you enjoy the new look!

Coincidentally, during our year in Jersey, we fear that Henry's speech has been forever altered by the accent here. Watch him say "hot dog" and "water" in this clip! He knows how to say these words the "Utah" way, but this week he picked up on how our neighbors say them.



New Jersey Accent from Ben and Jenn and Vimeo.

Henryese - to - English Dictionary

nobby -- (1) library; (2) library books
woobie -- (1) liberty; (2) Statue of Liberty
focky-ways -- Frosted Flakes
target -- guitar
garjee -- garbage
orjee -- orange
ringy-ringy -- ring around the rosies
nnap -- (1) laugh; (2) nap (yes, there are two n's when Henry says it)
soup-soup -- backhoe (he's trying to say "scoop scoop")
zeen -- magazine
cheedos -- Cheerios
crenzins -- crayons
ah-see -- ice cream
keebee -- keyboard
dangerous -- (1) curling iron; (2) fan; (3) knife; (4) bathtub faucet
careful -- (1) "I just choked on some food"; (2) "I'm standing on the edge of the table"
thank you -- "Here, I have something in my hand that I want to give to you."
self -- "I want the spoon and bowl."
chain-joo -- "I need a diaper change."

Counting to 15

(Jenn) I know, I know, everybody's kid learns how to count. But I still think it's cute to hear those little numbers coming out of Henry's mouth. The past few weeks, he's actually been getting most of the numbers in order, which is a big improvement! Unfortunately, you don't get to hear him say his favorite number at the moment: zero.



Henry counts to 15 from Ben and Jenn and Vimeo.

Bread-Winning at the Grocery Store

(Jenn) One thing that excites me more than anything else in my current role as homemaker is SAVING MONEY! Ben's ear is probably numb by now from listening to me ramble on and on about what incredible deals I found at the grocery store. That's why I'm telling you! Maybe someone out there will care. Personally, I think what I'm about to tell you is pretty much the coolest thing ever.

In the last two weeks, I bought the following items (all of which were on sale at ShopRite, my current favorite grocery store):

4 boxes of Lucky Charms @ $2 each

3 boxes of Kix cereal @ $2 each

3 boxes of Oat Clusters Cheerios Crunch (yummy, by the way) @ $2 each

2 boxes of Frosted Flakes @ $2 each

1 box of Apple Jacks @ $2 each

1 box of Fruit Loops @ $2 each

4 boxes of Kellogg's/Disney fruit snacks @ $1.67 each

2 boxes of Wheatables crackers (much better than Wheat Thins, by the way) @ $2.50 each

I used the following coupons:

$2.00 off 5 GM cereals

$1.00 off 2 GM cereals

$.75 off Oat Clusters Cheerios Crunch x 3 for Triple Coupon Day

$.75 off Oat Clusters Cheerios Crunch x 3 for Triple Coupon Day

$.75 off Oat Clusters Cheerios Crunch x 3 for Triple Coupon Day

$1.00 off 2 Kellogg's cereals

$1.00 off 2 Kellogg's cereals

$1.00 off 2 Kellogg's fruit snacks

$1.00 off 2 Kellogg's fruit snacks

I also received the following promotions:

$10.00 coupon for buying 10 GM items (ShopRite promotion)

$10.00 coupon for buying 10 Kellogg's items (ShopRite promotion)

$10.00 mail-in rebate for buying 10 Kellogg's items (from the coupon section)

Total cost of items (on sale): $39.68

Total minus coupons: $27.62

Total minus promotions: -$2.38

Postage stamp for mail-in rebate: .41

Total cost for my "purchases:" -$1.97

In short, I received 20 boxes of cereal, crackers, and fruit snacks, and I ended up MAKING $1.97! Now, just try to tell me that a stay-at-home mom is not also the "Bread Winner" of the family. I think I definitely deserve some credit here! Shouldn't that $39.68 I could have spent go toward a new pair of shoes or something? If you think so, send your comments to Ben by clicking below (thanks!).

Henry Eats His Toes

(Jenn) It seems like it's been a while since we've posted a video clip of Henry. In case you forgot what he looks/sounds/acts like, here he is in all his glory, trying to eat his toes!



Henry eats his toes from Jenn and Ben and Vimeo.

Inmates perform "Thriller"

(Ben) Okay, I just read about this in Time and had to check it out. This was the most watched movie last month on YouTube, so some of you may have seen it. Apparently there is a prison in Cebu, Philippines where to keep the inmates, uh, under control they have them learn different dances, etc. Anyway, here is a movie of them practicing Michael Jackson's "Thriller" dance. I actually learned this dance in Laytones, and I think they do a pretty good job of it! Check out the balding inmate who is posing as MJ's girlfriend--I wonder how he got that job? Poor soul. Enjoy.

GrandCentral

(Ben) Jenn and I recently learned about the coolest website from a friend of ours in the branch out here, and we thought we'd share it with all of you. Google recently purchased a site called GrandCentral which is a free phone service company. Here's how it works: You pick anywhere in the US to have a local phone number. We got a Layton, Utah one so that our parents can call us locally. Then, you set up on GrandCentral what phones you want them to forward the call to, and they will do it for free. You can have all calls forwarded to multiple phones (e.g. when my mom calls our Utah number, it rings on both our home phone as well as the cell phone at the same time), or select where you want to take calls from certain people (e.g. always send calls from a certain person to your work number, or your cell, or whatever). The service has CallerId, voicemail, and a whole bunch of other stuff (funny ringtones, etc.). Best of all, it's free! Cool, eh? Anyway, the site is still in its Beta testing phase, so if you want to sign up you have to be invited, but we have invitations, so email us if you want one. Also, if any of you want our Utah number, let us know and we'll give it to you.

Every day I become a bigger and bigger fan of Google...

Secondhand Serenade

(Jenn) Was anyone else a little disappointed with Dashboard Confessional's latest album, Dusk and Summer? There were a few good songs, but the album seemed to me like a complete departure from a lot of the things I loved about Dashboard. So we've had a year to lament the fact that Chris Carrabba stopped doing what he does best -- make extraordinary, accessible, soul-wrenching albums.

And along comes Secondhand Serenade -- answering the call to make Dashboard-like music for those of us who have been seeking it so desperately. Hey, if Chris Carrabba isn't going to do it, someone else can . . . right? I have had the album for less than 24 hours so far, so it's hard to really judge it fairly, but so far I like it. But it's almost haunting how much he sounds like DC, and in that way it almost makes me a little bit resentful (Hey, that was the exact interval from Saints and Sailors!). I've decided I need to either pretend like Secondhand Serenade IS Dashboard (which is the slightest bit disappointing because he's just not QUITE as good, particularly the voice and the lyrics), or I can try to forget that it's even similar to Dashboard and just enjoy it for what it is (good, raw music with some amazing, although not quite extraordinary lyrics).

Anyway, I thought I'd pass on the news for any of you who might be seeking out some good music or who felt a loss with Dusk and Summer (I must give Jacob Priest credit for the recommendation). It doesn't quite measure up to DC's quality, but hey, does anything? I have to at least give this guy credit for doing what Chris Carrabba is no longer doing. And I believe this (Awake) is his debut album, so perhaps it can at least give us something to hope for with the next album. Listen to it on iTunes or Amazon and see what you think!

Amy's Wedding

(Ben) We just returned from a wonderful trip to Utah to see our great friend Amy Squires get married! Although the trip was on the short side, we had a marvelous time seeing so many of our friends and spending some time with family as well. It was great to catch up with so many people, and we're looking forward to coming back out for a longer trip for Jon Gardiner's wedding in about a month.

Our trip began as many of ours seem to: with transportation issues. This time we had the best situation possible with a direct flight from Newark to SLC, but alas, we were still held for almost 4 hours on the runway before they finally let us take off. Although it was nice weather in Newark, apparently there was some bad weather to the west of us that air traffic control would not let us fly through (or over). The pilot told us that the thunderstorms stretched from Massachusetts to North Carolina, so there wasn't a good way to get around them. Not only did they make us wait, but the in-flight movie system was out of order so there weren't any movies or TV that we could watch either. Anyway, after waiting forever, they finally re-routed us up over Toronto and then down across the Dakotas and to Salt Lake. You can imagine that sitting on a plane for a total of 9 hours with a 20-month old wasn't the best scenario, but Henry actually did surprisingly well. He just played and ate dinner while we were waiting, and he fell asleep for the whole flight just after we took off. We both agree that Henry was MUCH easier on the plane than last time we flew at Christmas. We were glad about that.

After arriving in Utah, however, it was well worth the trouble getting there. We spent the weekend with the Griffin family and Henry had a great time playing with his cousins, and with their Matchbox Cars. Meanwhile, we had a good time doing the Pepsi-Coke challenge with Mom G. The idea was to test whether she could tell the different between Pepsi and Coke in a double-blind taste test. In fact, we all took the challenge (the caffeine-free version!), and overall we guessed correctly about 60% of the time. Mom, however, was 100%, so I guess there really is a difference for the hardcore drinkers.


We also had a shower for both Amy and her then-fiancé Dave, and Jon and his fiancée Kristie at Griffin's house. It was great to at least get a few minutes to catch up with so many people that we haven't seen in a long time.

On Monday we went down to the Iverson household and had a nice barbeque at their house that night. Henry had a great time running around, jumping on the trampoline, and looking at Grandpa's birdies (pigeons). He was in heaven at both grandparent's houses, really, with so much yard to run around in. We hope he doesn't get too bored back at our house.

Tuesday was the wedding, and it was great day! Jenn and I left Henry with the grandmothers and just pretended we were college students again, hanging out with the gang. We were able to go to the sealing at the Bountiful Temple, and it was beautiful to be in the temple with so many of our friends. The ceremony was very nice, and following that we went to the luncheon, also in Bountiful, and then the reception that evening in Layton. Amy and Dave are a perfect couple, and we're so excited that they are going to be just a few hours north of us in Connecticut while Dave attends Yale and teaches elementary school, and Amy finishes her nursing degree.

We flew home on Wednesday, back to the humidity and real life. The flight was uneventful (luckily!), and now we're really looking forward to a relatively calm August and then another trip out west in a few weeks!