Jenni & Troye

(Jenn) Last week, we had a great visit with Jenni (Wahlen) and Troye Davis. They were here from Tuesday to Saturday. It was so fun to catch up on them and get to know Troye better. Right now Jenni and Troye live in West Point, Utah. Their twin boys, Declan and Keegan (sp?), are almost three years old. They are expecting another boy in September!

On their visit, Jenni and Troye covered a lot of NYC essentials (Times Square, Rockefeller Center's "Top of the Rock" view, a Yankees game, shopping on Canal street, Central Park, the Museum of Natural History, etc.). We also took a day to go visit the New Jersey shore, which was a nice break from all the chaos of the city. It was a beautiful day, and we got to see the view of the Sandy Hook shore from the top of a lighthouse tower. We got to go up the towers of two different lighthouses, which I hadn't done before. We also got to see the ocean just as a storm was coming in!

Unfortunately, the only pictures I have of the Davis' trip was on this day at the shore, and I didn't get any pictures of Jenni. I remember feeling like I was taking a lot of pictures of the two of them, but it turns out they were all on their camera, not ours! So maybe when Jenni sends me a few of her pictures, I'll have to update.

Update: Here's a picture of Jenni and Troye at the "Top of the Rock" at Rockefeller Center. We decided it's by far the best way to get a view of the city.

Grandma and Grandpa Griffin

(Jenn) We have been lucky this week to have a little taste of what it would be like to have grandparents living 15 minutes away. My grandma and grandpa are on a gardening tour, mostly looking at gardens and other sites in New York and New Jersey. Their hotel for the first four days was in Secaucus, just 10-15 minutes away from our house. We were able to have them over for dinner on Monday night, and we went out to eat together on Thursday night. Tonight we will go to their hotel in Fort Lee for a regular Sunday night visit! It's been quite a treat! Henry absolutely LOVES seeing them, and it didn't even take a minute for him to warm up to them. He was quickly comfortable letting Grandpa hold him, read to him, and play with him. All week, he's been saying "Bye Bye! Gomps!" which I interpreted to mean that he wanted to go see Grandpa again. I can't resist a demand like that.

Engagements

(Jenn) We can finally announce that Amy Squires and Jon Gardiner, two of our very best friends, are engaged! Don't be misled -- they're not engaged to each other (we gave up on that dream a long time ago), but to two wonderful other people that we have never met. We have spoken to both Jon and Amy in depth about the fiancé/es, and they both feel like the perfect matches. Amy is marrying Dave Choules on July 31st, and Jon is marrying Kristie Anderson on September 6th. We couldn't miss either of these weddings, so we're planning two trips to Utah this summer, which we're very excited about (check the link to our Google calendar, bottom left, for more details)! We are ecstatic that two of our best friends are so happy and finally get to see what we've been raving about for 3 1/2 years (GO MARRIAGE!!!). Congratulations!

Cheap April Update

(Jenn) Tyler & Alison Squire put me to shame! They have gone almost the entire month now withouth spending a dime on anything except bills and medical necessities. They haven't even filled up their car with gas! But you have to remember that they are them, and I am me. And if any of you know me very well, you know that I like to spend money. It's been really eye-opening to me to see how much it affects me to have only $30 to spend in two weeks. And this is grocery money!

Here's the tally:

30.00 Our budget

-15.53 Milk, eggs, cheese, apples, dishwasher soap, lettuce

-2.34 I can't remember what this was for

-6.99 Cough medicine for Henry

-4.78 Milk

.36 Our total, assuming we don't break down before May 1st

I've learned a couple of things:

1) Grocery spending is my outlet. Since we really don't have much money for me to buy the things I dream of buying (clothes, toys, furniture, decorations, gifts, a house), I can at least set free my need to spend using $300 a month at the grocery store. And it's amazing how much it thrills me to get some incredible deal on cereal (6 for $10, using 3 $1 coupons) or to buy something fun like a new eyeshadow (using grocery money? of course -- it's at the grocery store!).

2) It really pains me to miss a good deal. I know it's good to buy things when they're on sale and stock up, instead of waiting until you desperately need them and paying the higher price. This makes sense. But sometimes I think I may carry it a bit too far. I've been in serious pain over the bottle of laundry detergent -- the kind I use -- that's on sale this week for $1.99, and I have a 65-cent coupon, and ShopRite doubles all coupons under a dollar. So I guess I should have bought it, but we kind of needed milk more than laundry soap. Ouch, that hurt. I just need to be careful and make sure I'm not buying something just because it's a good deal, especially if it's something we wouldn't normally use.

3) We could eat our regular meals more cheaply than we do. It seems like I have been flooded recently with new recipes I want to try. I get recipes from an email exchange, from people at church, and from Martha Stewart's Food Magazine. And when you plan your meals from all new recipes, there are often new and unique ingredients to buy. For the past two weeks, we really haven't felt deprived at all! We have eaten waffles, omelets, soup and sandwiches, pasta, rice, and leftovers. We like eating these foods, and they really are cheaper than a lot of fancier recipes. So I've decided from now on, I need to plan at least a few cheap recipes into each week.

4) I spend a lot of time shopping and cooking. I guess that's not all that bad, because I enjoy doing both of those things. But last week I felt like I had absolutely nothing to do! I spent most of my time reading, and I really enjoyed all the extra free time.

5) Henry likes canned green beans! He ate like 35 of them in one night! And Ben doesn't like creamed corn, which he had never had previously.

6) (And this is terrible) Spending the Church Budget is a last-resort outlet for me. I'm sure I would have had to buy this stuff anyway, but somehow I felt satisfied spending $14.99 on refreshments for the employment workshop this Saturday, and $18 on copies and supplies for the young women. I'll just have to be careful not to get carried away with this!

So it looks like overall, this has been a good experience for me! And I definitely couldn't do it much more than two weeks (we're probably really lacking in our fresh fruit and vegetable consumption), I'm surprised that I actually still have about 5 spend-free dinner ideas left! Wish me luck with the next four days!

Surprise Visit from Robbie

(Jenn) Yesterday I got a phone call from Robbie Mower saying he was at the Newark airport on a long layover on his way home from his internship in Belgium. This was in the afternoon, and his flight wasn't supposed to leave until 7:45pm. I called Ben, who was able to get off work an hour earlier than normal, and Henry and I rushed off to the airport to pick up Robbie. We were able to spend about 3 hours together and feed him dinner before he had to be back at the airport. What a great surprise! It was incredible how the forces worked in our favor on this one so that we could get together with a good friend. By the end of the visit, Henry finally warmed up to Robbie enough to let him hold him.

You'll notice in this picture that Robbie didn't get a haircut the whole time he was in Belgium, and he also hadn't shaved for about a week. A big surprise for his mom, I'm sure! He said working at the MTC prior to his internship made him feel like he absolutely had to "rebel." Robbie is planning to spend the summer in Layton, UT with his family before heading off to George Washington University to get a Master's in International Development. What a great guy!

Musical Discovery

Musical Discovery on Vimeo
(Jenn) Henry discovered a way he can play his own instrument and dance at the same time. I guess there are some advantages to having an organ instead of a piano!

Best Friends

(Jenn) This is Henry playing with his best friend, Evan. Evan is 2 1/2 months younger than Henry, although they are practically the same size. Evan lives about 3 minutes away from us, and we get together with him and his mom Jessica (and sometimes dad!) a few times a week. We met them through the local MOMS Club. These boys really love playing together, and the moms probably love getting together even more! They are great friends.

Body Parts

(Jenn) Henry pretty much talks nonstop now. He is big on identifying things over and over and over and over. Here are some of his favorite body parts. "Elbow" is big for him, as it is one of his first two syllable words, and he says it pretty clearly. If you have a minute, he'd probably love to talk to you on the phone!






Body Parts on Vimeo

Funny Faces

(Jenn) Thought you might be interested in seeing how attractiveness seems to run in our family! Sometimes people shouldn't be allowed to use cameras . . .

April on the Cheap

(Jenn) Since we moved here 8 months ago, I kind of "forgot" to find out how to get to the nearest Wal-Mart, deciding that it was probably too far away anyway. I was happy to do all of that kind of shopping at Target (in my opinion, a much happier place). Well, when my parents were here in March, my mom lost her contact, and I was forced to find the Wal-Mart in Secaucus so she could get it replaced. As I walked around the store with my dad, I started noticing that EVERYTHING is cheaper there. Needless to say, I felt guilty about shopping at Target, just knowing how much money I could be saving. Well, last week I finally took the fateful trip to Wal-Mart to get the oil changed and "pick up a few things." I kept thinking, "I won't be back here for a while, and everything is cheaper here, so I might as well get . . . " I really only had about half of a shopping cart full of stuff (those deceiving extra-wide carts . . . ), and still it rang up to $115! Maybe that doesn't seem like a lot of money to you, but when it's coming out of the $300 grocery budget for the month (and I didn't even get any groceries, because it wasn't a Super Center), it's a lot!

So here were are halfway through April with $30. Ben and I decided that rather than go over our budget by a long shot this month, we're going to try living VERY cheaply for the rest of April. We were inspired by Tyler and Alison's attempt at "Spend-free April" (good job, you guys -- I'm amazed!), and while I'm not sure we could go a whole month without spending money, we're going to try two weeks with only $30! It will be a real challenge for me because I seem to have a money-spending addiction, and I also like to cook and eat. We really have plenty of food storage and left-overs, plus two meals in the freezer. We'll use the $30 for milk and a few other essentials. Wish us luck, and no donations please!

If you have had any similarly frustrating experiences with Wal-Mart, I'm usually up for having that conversation with just about anyone. Or you can read my Wal-Mart poem here.

Chic-onomics

(Ben) For those of you who may still think of economics as "the dismal science," I would refer you to this article in Time magazine. Unfortunately, the web version is missing the snazzy layout it got in the print version, as well as the pictures, but the text is there. It turns out that, according to Time at least, economics is becoming chic and sexy. What do you know? For a long time economists just stuck to their prescribed fields (finance, labor, macro, micro, etc.), but in recent years some of them have begun to branch out to different areas (crime, behavioral science, and, uh, sumo wrestling) and it turns out that economic methods may have a few things to add to those areas. What's more, even the more mainstream economics stuff is getting a bit more notice in the media these days thanks to growing concerns about globalization and terrorism, making it a pretty interesting field to be in these days. I've actually been meaning to add a couple of the books the article mentions to our booklist (Freakonomics and Blink)--I'll try to get to those in the next few days. Anyway, thought I'd let you all know that I'm becoming more chic and sexy by the minute! Just wait till I get my PhD . . . I'll be irresistably attractive. :)

Conference Weekend

(Jenn) Just putting up some pics from last weekend in Virginia visiting Kara and Dave. It was great to watch General Conference in a home (especially without the backing up that happens when we watch via the Internet here) with family. Henry LOVED being with Nate, Jessica, and Caleb, and loved climbing their stairs for most of the time we were there. We enjoyed working in their beautiful yard (especially with the great weather) and seeing the cherry blossoms in D.C.

"Signs"

(Jenn) In Henry's thirst for new words every day, he has learned the word "sign." It comes in handy when we ride anywhere in the car -- he can now yell out "Sign!" every time he sees one in addition to "Car!" and "Truck!" every time he sees another vehicle. And I'm serious when I say EVERY time (you would have to ride with him in the car to believe it). This week, however, I realized that what he thinks is a sign is actually type-written words of any sort. Now, when we read books, he is eager to point out every "sign" he sees. He is no longer interested in any of the pictures on the pages or saying the animal sounds that go with the pictures. I ask, "What does the dog say?" and he ignores me and yells "Sign! Sign! Sign! Sign! Sign!" Story time is funny now but also frustrating. I hope he grows out of this one soon (I think he will, as he recently stopped identifying every wall he sees)!

A Jolly Holiday

(Jenn) The day Shug left, my parents arrived for a visit. My dad had a training for work in midtown for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so he took the train into the city with Ben on those days, while my mom stayed home with Henry and me. For my parents, I think it was mostly just a fun chance to visit Henry, and they were pretty happy to do just that. Henry loved having them, and he has been terrible since they left from the lack of extra attention. In fact, the day after they left, he kept looking around for them saying "pa!" which is his word for grandma and grandpa right now.

We had a great week working on projects, eating out, playing games, shopping, and visiting the zoo. The highlight for me, though, was Mary Poppins on Broadway. I have officially declared it my favorite NYC Broadway play, and I'm recommending it to everyone. I ordered the soundtrack, and I'm looking for a way to talk Ben into going again and getting orchestra seats! It was similar to the classic movie (same story, same great songs) but with just enough of a twist to make it new and exciting. They took out all of the parts that I remember wanting to fast-forward as a kid because they got a little long and boring, and replaced them with new songs and amazing special effects. Tap dancing on the ceiling? Why not? And while all of the classic songs were there, they were just a little different and sometimes placed in a different place in the plot. It really was miraculous. Everyone should see it!

Shug's Visit

(Jenn) A few people have asked me what we "did" while Shug was here (from March 15th-20th). I have to shrug and reply that we did what we do best -- sit around and talk! And if you know me very well, you probably know that I have the best time when I do absolutely nothing, as long as I'm with people I love. So for five days, I was basically transported back to life as Shug's roommate, with the subtle additions of a 1 year old son and a husband who came home at night. It was actually the perfect combination -- I got to have someone to talk to and be with all day (and someone to adore Henry with me), and then still had the wonderful feeling of having Ben return at the end of the day! And I love that Shug and I always have endless stores of meaningful conversations, even when we haven't seen each other for almost a year. What a fabulous friendship!

We got a major snow storm while Shug was here, and we really were house-bound for almost two of the days (and we had one crazy adventure trying to get to a Broadway play in spite of the snow). Luckily, we didn't have a full schedule planned, so the snow was fine (although coming from Alaska, Shug was looking forward to sun). After the storm, we did venture out to the Guggenheim and the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in the city and both fell in love with the MoMA. It reminded us both of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris -- rich, beautiful, moving art (and not quite modern enough to be the offensive type). We also enjoyed NYC hot dogs and got to see the St. Patrick's Day parade on 5th Avenue.

Happy Birthday Dad!

(Jenn) Today is my dad's birthday, and this post is a present for him (and also for my mom, whose birthday is on Sunday). It's the movie you've all been waiting for . . . "The Henry Show 2!" We made the original "Henry Show" about 6 months ago to entertain Henry so he would eat his breakfast. After 6 months, though, its effects have worn off, and he has desperately needed an updated version. So here it is! It's almost 7 minutes long, so I won't feel bad if you all don't want to watch it, but it really is pretty entertaining. I am happy to say that the Gerber mixed cereal is going down very easily now with no objections!






The Henry Show 2 on Vimeo

Vital Questions

(Jenn) There are a few vital questions every kid should be able to answer. Here Henry tackles two of them (you really have to use your imagination to understand them, although Ben and I are pretty impressed). Last night he also conquered "What's your favorite color?" (blue), but we didn't catch that on our camera. Enjoy!






Vital Questions on Vimeo

Pre-Breakfast Snack

(Jenn) I have heard many moms complain that they can't even leave their child to go to the bathroom without an ensuing disaster. This morning I came out of the bathroom to find that Henry had helped himself to a morning snack -- which he found in the garbage can! Why not?

The Beast Drops In

Last weekend we had the pleasure of hosting Jacob as our latest visitor. He was out this way visiting potential graduate schools for Marriage and Family Therapy, and he had the weekend off so he drove up to Jersey to say hello. We looked forward to this fun, short visit, but beforehand we had NO IDEA how good it would be to be with Jacob again! He is such a good friend to us, and we always have a good time, no matter what we do. In this case, we went for a run to the park (it was a beautiful 56 degree Saturday afternoon). Then Jacob went to a priesthood meeting with Ben, and to finish off the day we went out to the Cheesecake Factory to gorge ourselves on extremely good food. Classic Ben/Jenn/Jacob good times, even though it was short.

Here is a picture of Jacob. Remember, this could be YOU in this picture if you come out this way!

The Best Plastic Wrap Ever!!!

(Jenn) For the first 2 1/2 years of our marriage, I had this terrible box of Western Family plastic wrap with the worst cutter edge I've ever seen (it was peeling off the box), and it was really a mess! Unfortunately it was like a thousand feet long, so it never ended, and I couldn't justify buying a new one. So a few months ago, we finally reached the end of the roll, and it was a day of celebration. I replaced the roll with a box of Reynold's Plastic Wrap with EZ Slide Cutter. It's amazing! And I just wanted to share my happiness with everyone and whole-heartedly recommend the best plastic wrap ever! So far, every time I have used it, it has made perfect cuts, with no stretching, bunching, or overlapping to worry about. I know I'm geeky, but I'm urging you to buy the EZ cutter! You will not be disappointed. :)