Colors

(Jenn) I think it's funny how parents seem to embrace their child's "wrong" way of saying certain words. It's almost tragic when they start saying the word right, because it was so cute when they said it wrong! That's why my parents still call me "Dutchie" (Tanner's name for me) and use phrases like "So backwards!" and words like "Moosh!" (Brady's word for "move out of my way"). While we were in Utah, Ben's mom noticed that Henry started saying "orange" instead of "orngee," and we all lamented the loss of one of his funniest words. Well, I caught him starting to say "orngee" again and just had to catch it on camera before we lost it again. And if you want to hear it, you have to watch him recite the names of the rest of the colors in the Crayola box (which he is getting right about 95% of the time, up from 30% a few months ago)!

Friendly Strangers?

(Ben) So, Jenn's been telling you about an Indian man that she and Henry met in the park who gave Henry Oreos and Ritz crackers. Well, she ran into him again last Friday, and her conversation went something like this:

Man: What does your husband do?
Jenn: He works in the city blah blah....
Man: Oh, I think I saw him with you in the park one day.
Jenn: Really?
Man: Yeah, isn't he the chubby one?
Jenn: Uhhhh...
Man: I mean, not really chubby, but a little bit. He was jogging with you.
Jenn: Yeah, I guess that's him...

I guess chubby isn't the worst thing I've ever been called, but I'm not convinced he's such a friendly stranger! :) What is it with foreigners deciding that Jenn and I are fat?

Friendly Strangers

(Jenn) I love people! I think the cool fall weather has made everyone in our greater neighborhood in a good mood recently. Henry and I jog at a nearby park 3-4 times a week (okay, I jog, and Henry rides in the jogging stroller) in the mornings. The weather really has been amazing -- cool and crisp, with hints of the beautiful autumn that's coming. I can't help but be in a good mood, and I guess everyone else is the same way. I keep getting comments from all sorts of people as we pass them -- mostly things about the jogging stroller, since very few people seem to use them here. This week I've received the following comments:

"Wow, that's a very nice carriage!"

"Where do you get all that energy?"

"Pretty soon, he's going to be pushing you!"

"Looks like he gets the comfy ride."

"Show off! (ha ha ha)"

Maybe these seem like regular comments, but it really is pretty unusual for our area, especially coming from complete strangers. One of my favorite things in the world is when people open up to each other for no other reason than to share humanity together. Probably one of the best reactions we've received is from an Indian man we pass frequently at the park. He happens to be there almost every day at about the same time we go, and so he always says hello to me and Henry, and we share a few words as we pass each other. On Monday, in his broken English, he asked if Henry likes Oreos. This morning, he showed up with a package of Oreos and two boxes of crackers for Henry (he works at Nabisco). Who does things like that for random people they pass on a morning walk? I'm telling you, people can be amazing. I tend to like them.

Conversation between me and Latina woman at church yesterday

(Jenn)
Her: (reaching to rub my belly) Seester, you pregnant?
Me: Nope, not pregnant.
Her: What? No, not pregnant? You sure?
Me: Yeah, I'm pretty sure.
Her: (continuting to rub my belly in amazement) But your belly, so Round!
Me: Just fat, I guess.

I guess the major differences between how she handled the conversation and how I would have are: 1) I would have NEVER asked that question in the first place, and 2) If I had asked the question, I probably would have stopped when she said "Nope, not pregnant."
Ah, the beauties of cultural differences!

Caramel Candy Corn

(Jenn) Ben and I went to Target the other night specifically looking for candy, and I was excited to see that the Halloween candy was out on the shelves in full bloom. I immediately thought of candy corn, and when we finally found it amid the flood of chocolate, we were excited to see a new variety: Brach's Caramel Candy Corn. Anyone who loves candy corn (I know many people don't) will know that Brach's is by far the only brand worth buying. Brach's also makes excellent Milk Maid caramels, and so naturally, their Caramel Candy Corn is a winning combination. They kind of have the taste of buttery caramel popcorn. If you don't like candy corn, caramel, or those buttered popcorn jelly bellies, you might not like these. But for those of you who agree with my taste in candy, I just had to recommend them! Happy Autumn (okay, not officially until this Sunday, but we can still enjoy it, right?)!

Sunbeam Song

(Jenn) Henry got to practice playing the piano and singing at the same time while we were at my Mom's house. He doesn't sing very many songs, but "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam" is one of his favorites. While we were all in another room, we suddenly heard Henry pounding on the keys and intermittently yelling out "beam!" and "him!" It was pretty funny. This clip shows him singing and playing both with and without help from Dad:



Sunbeam Song from Ben and Jenn on Vimeo.

Fancy Blue Car

(Jenn) Henry would highly recommend the book "Who is Driving?" by Leo Timmers. Each page shows a different kind of vehicle (wonderfully illustrated), and you get to guess which animal will be driving that particular car! It's pretty fun. One of the vehicles in the book is a "fancy blue car" -- basically a fancy blue Chevrolet from the 50's, similar to the car pictured on the left. Henry was thrilled when he discovered that my Grandpa Griffin actually OWNS a fancy-blue-car, and he is currently storing it in my dad's garage! You might have seen in the slide show below that Henry got to play in the fancy-blue-car while we were in Utah. He was in Heaven! The funniest thing about it is that he hasn't quite figured out that the "blue" in fancy-blue-car actually signifies the color of the car. I guess he thinks that any 1954 Chevy would be called a fancy-blue-car. Listen closely on this clip to find out what color the fancy-blue-car actually is:



Fancy Blue Car from Ben and Jenn on Vimeo.

September Utah Trip

(Jenn) We just got back from a fabulous 9-day trip to Utah! We got to do lots of fun things: The Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, hiking in Logan Canyon, Jon and Kristie's wedding, Hogle Zoo, storytime at the SLC library, eating at lots of places we have been missing lately, and visiting lots of friends and family!

Watch this slideshow to get a better idea of what we did on our trip. It has been hard to get back to normal life (especially after Ben had to return to work the morning after a red-eye flight). Still, we can't complain because we'll be back in Utah in November when Dan and Autumn get married!