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.

New Links

(Ben) Just wanted to announce the new links on the left to more blogging friends. Check them out!

Far Far Away

(Ben) At church last Sunday I was asked to lead the music for Sacrament Meeting. I almost lost all composure while in the middle of "Far Far Away on Judea's Plain" when I looked down and saw Henry swinging his arm for all he was worth. He had his eyes glued to me and a huge grin on his face--so proud of himself for being able to lead the music too! He has carried his chorister talent beyond the chapel since Sunday. Jenn was at the grocery store on Monday, and he conducted every pop Christmas song that came over the loud speaker. After a few measures of each song he'd give up, but at the start of every new one he'd light up and "strike up the band," usually getting a fellow shopper's attention in the process.

We've just started experimenting with embedded video, so here are a couple of clips. As always, all of our videos are available through the link to the left.



Maestro Henry on Vimeo



Move your arms like Henry on Vimeo

Our Christmas Tree

(Jenn) So the plan this year was to use a fake Christmas tree that we borrowed from Kara and Dave. But when we actually set it up, we just couldn't do it. Something just didn't feel "right" or truly "Christmassy" about it. So we fiddled around with the budget and forked over $45 for our new favorite addition to our home. I'm positive it was the right choice. One of our big worries with a real tree this year was that Henry is on the loose, and his path is one of destruction. But he's been better than I thought he would be. Pictured here is his first moment discovering that if you pull hard enough, you get a free ornament to chew on. So after that, we moved all the ornaments out of his reach. He's been learning animal sounds (check out the new clip on our videos link, left, if you don't believe me), and so I've been trying to teach him, "What does the Christmas tree say? RRRRAAAAAARRRRRRR!" It's been working pretty well. We also added a new rule to our family list of rules: If you touch the Christmas tree, you have to sit down (the ultimate punishment for the kid who walks perfectly well but still can't stand up).

Santa's Lap

This is Henry on Santa's lap at our branch Christmas party. He was definitely a little scared of the whole experience. He doesn't really like bearded men in general. If only he knew . . .

Birthday Cake

Every kid has to have the chance to fingerpaint with frosting on their first birthday. Henry seemed to be a natural at this. These pictures show the progression (or regression?) of the Monster Cake (created after his favorite book That's Not My Monster).

Henry's Happy Birthday

Henry is officially one year old! His birthday was on November 28th. We had a little party with Grandma and Grandpa Iverson as well as Pat and Bernie, our next-door neighbors who have adopted Henry. This is his first experience with opening presents! He's definitely all warmed up for Christmas.

Christmas Tree Farm

This is Henry and Grandpa Iverson at the Christmas tree farm in Virginia. We went with the Ludlows to help them cut down their tree. It was a fun outing, although we were a little disappointed to come home to our fake and not-so-fresh smelling tree. What beautiful trees!

Washington D.C.

(Jenn) We live about 4 hours from the Ludlows' house in the D.C. area. We are so glad to have them so close (relatively)! We spent Thanksgiving with their family as well as Mom and Dad Iverson. This was my first trip to D.C., and I loved visiting the monuments and free Smithsonian museums. Pictured here are the Capitol building and the Washington Monument.

Central Park in the Fall

(Jenn) Here is fall having her final fling. Autumn is gorgeous on the East Coast, and I am in Heaven with so many trees. In New Jersey I think the leaves changed about two weeks later than they did in Utah, and then they also lingered a few weeks longer. I'm never anxious for the trees to become bare, so I enjoyed every last day of it. This picture is of Central Park on the weekend Kara and Dave came, which was November 11th. It was probably the last fully beautiful fall day.

Manhattan Temple at Night

When Kara and Dave Ludlow came to visit, we went to Brian Regan's comedy show (which was good, clean, hilarious fun) at Lincoln Center. Just across the street from Lincoln Center is the LDS Manhattan temple. It is very much in the center of the city, complete with cars honking and busses whizzing by right in front of it. What a beautiful sanctuary in the middle of a chaotic place.

Halloween

(Jenn) It's true. Halloween is one of my least favorite holidays. I'm just not really into all the spider webs and jack-o-lanterns, probably because I feel these morbid decorations seem to desecrate my favorite season of the year. Still, I learned a few things this year about how to enjoy Halloween. #1: Ignore the tacky decorations and don't judge! #2: Have kids! It really is a lot more fun with kids. As you can tell, Henry dressed up as Frankenstein. I know, it's not very "cute," and I'm probably not a good, cute Mormon mom, but the costume was $3.50 at a consignment store. AND, Henry came away with the "funniest costume" prize at our branch's Fall Festival, which was really fun. I probably should also say that Henry's costume was appropriate, since one of his favorite things right now is monsters. Rrraaaaaarrrr!

Halloween 2

Okay, so this part didn't work the first time, so here's the sequel: On the afternoon of Halloween, we went with some friends to the "Ragamuffins Parade" in Hoboken. I have never been to anything like it! The parade had floats, a band, and people in extravagant costumes. Then, all the kids who were dressed up got to join the parade. I guess the most impressive part was how much people got into "decorating" themselves and their kids! Many of the kids would not only have over-elaborate costumes, but their strollers or wagons were decked out as well. The trend was to make their "ride" match the theme of their costumes. We saw pirates in pirate ships; Nemo in an aquarium, a bat with "other bats" swarming around him, and a boxer in a ring. I wondered how much some of them paid their personal costume-designers. Hoboken is a pretty up-and-coming place, perhaps the most popular place in the NYC area for affluent young parents to live. We trick-or-treated in their Brownstone neighborhoods after the parade, and I couldn't help but envy the striking couples who sat on their elegant (and tastefully decorated) front steps asking if the kids wanted "chips, a candy bar, or Play Doh." And then Ben and I spent the evening, after Henry went to bed, having the conversation: "Since we're never going to be rich . . ."

Autumn Swinging

(Jenn) Henry and I try to go to the park 3 times a week in the mornings. It is just so beautiful right now, and Henry loves it so much that I had to take some pictures. I added a cute little movie of him swinging to our video page as well. I love the fall!

Tricks and Treats

(Jenn) So if you haven't heard, Henry is officially walking. Don't believe it? Check out the movie we just uploaded to our video site (see link, left). Anyway, so this morning Henry walked into our bedroom, stopped by our night stand (one of his favorite spots), and walked out drooling a little more than usual. I didn't think anything of it, but a few minutes later when I checked on him, he had the look of a child who is eating paper. Henry looks this way a lot, as eating paper is one of the sneakiest and most fun things to do around our house, so I was familiar with it. As I went to swipe my finger in his mouth to get the paper out before he choked on it, he started to fight me much more than usual. He kicked, punched, screamed, shook, and would not open his mouth. Finally, I caught a glimpse of it -- a piece of Trident gum, still in its wrapper, sloshing around in Henry's mouth. Apparently, Ben had left it on the nightstand within reach. I didn't really feel like having a battle, so I let him "chew" the gum until it finally fell out on the floor after 5-10 minutes. I wish you could have seen his happy, drooly face, letting that gum churn around in his mouth. So Henry is now a gum-chewer, although he has not yet reached age 8, which, I believe, is how old you are supposed to be to chew gum (correct me if I'm wrong).

Sorry, I didn't get a picture of the gum-chewing experience (hence the "Henry Potter on Nimbus 2000" picture). But we put a couple of movies up with other tricks, including throwing and pat-a-cake. Enjoy!

Hay Ride

(Jenn) Henry and I are part of a few playgroups in the area here. This week, we went with one of the groups on a hayride. It was a beautifully crisp fall day, especially with all the gorgeous trees here on the east coast. It was a festive and fun trip!