There and Back Again...

After a whirlwind two weeks in Utah, we are back in Syracuse. We had a wonderful time visiting family and friends, enjoying the wonders of springtime in Utah, and packing more into a single two-week period than we had done in the previous two months. We took lots of pictures, but won't sport with your patience by posting them all here. Perhaps I'll put together a slideshow...

A few highlights from the trip:

• Clara's blessing


• Seeing all of Jeremy's sisters and their families, as well as Jeremy's parents and his Utah grandparents


• Seeing Rachel's parents, both sets of grandparents, and the ever-enjoyable Megan and Chris--not to mention most of Rachel's aunts and uncles and their families. We only wish Naomi and her family could've been there!


• Visiting with wonderful friends


• Visiting Sam's grave


• Going to the Thanksgiving Point gardens for the first time!


• Relaxing and watching movies without feeling guilty about what else we should've been doing!


• For Jeremy, going to Idaho to scout out the sites for his dissertation research


• Roasting hot dogs in Rachel's parents' fire pit


• Seeing Jeremy's parents nearly-finished condo


• Visiting good ol' BYU with Sarah, Chan, and Marlo--then miniature golfing with them later that day


• Swimming with Jeremy's family


• Going to the Hogle Zoo with Jeremy's family(Clara was enthralled...with her pacifier...)


• Lunch at Setabello's (delicious flatbread pizza) and Cafe Rio with Jeremy's family


• Lunch at the Red Iguana with Rachel's parents (oooh, yum!)


• Having an ever-full fridge and pantry of pure deliciousness to eat out of at Rachel's parents' house (we feel seriously deprived now that we're left to our own devices)


• Enjoying our beautiful nieces and nephews


• Attending the Jordan River Temple with Rachel's family


• Countless other events both great and small that comprised a wonderful trip!

Now we're back home trying to work around Syracuse's schizophrenic spring weather. Is it hot or cold, dry or humid, cloudy or sunny? Who knows? But we're happy to be home, and other than a sickness for Rachel (including Pink Eye, good grief!) and an unfortunate incident involving an exploding pyrex dish (with thankfully only a minor injury for Rachel), we are truly enjoying our summer. Thanks to everyone who took such prodigious care of us while we were in Utah! We hope to return the favor if you're ever in Syracuse.

One more week...

Mercifully, Jeremy will be done with the first year of his PhD just one week from tomorrow. It's been quite a semester, filled with Hurculean effort on Jeremy's part, but once again it looks like he'll pull through with flying colors. The man is a machine, truly.

Despite a hectic and stressful April, we've worked hard to find time to spend together, even if it just meant meeting at the park for lunch on a rare pleasant afternoon. And thank goodness for Sundays! Even though we often reach Sunday night with mild feelings of dread at the coming week, we also reach the evening feeling content with so many hours spent as a family. Here's to another April gone!

A mid-April snowstorm, as seen from Clara's bedroom:


Clara's latest: twiddling her fingers. What a great time!


Daddy and Clara after one of our picnics at Thorndon Park (you can tell it's a beautiful place when the leaves are out!).


Taking it easy after a long day at church.

"Helping" Daddy write his paper

A brief taste of spring

We can't help but brag about our beautiful weather this weekend: mid-70s, not a cloud in the sky. We'll be back to more "seasonable" weather by Tuesday (in the 50s), but we're loving this while it's here! I just wish the landscape were a bit prettier; we still have very little evidence of seasonal change in Syracuse other than the temperature!

Why we're all a bit SAD in Central New York

We are suffering from a severe dearth of sunshine in Central New York, so I went to our local weather website to see if we'll have any reprieve in the next week or so. Short answer: no. Slightly longer answer: see for yourself in the following excerpt from the forecast...

In reference to an upcoming storm: "Unlike most winter nor’easters, there actually isn’t much cold air in place preceding the storm. Instead, this storm is going to become so strong it will ‘create’ its own cold air. Lots of rising air and heavy precipitation will help in the cooling process. The period of greatest strengthening will come later Sunday into Sunday night and this is when we expect mainly snow. Here in Central New York (including the Syracuse area) we stand to get a foot or more of snow from the storm by mid day Monday. Stay tuned, we will have more on this approaching storm throughout the weekend." (Yes, the emphasis is my own.)

Someone, please make it stop!

Happy Easter!

Crunchy Crunch Clara and Her Organic Adventures!

Clara's grocery cart debut happened last week in the glistening aisles of the West Hartford, Connecticut Whole Foods Market. She was quite taken with the selection of impossibly colorful organic produce. Clara and I were in Hartford to visit with my Dad, who's currently on assignment there with IBM. We may go back if he's still there when the weather turns warm!

New perch

Clara enjoys her elevated view of family mealtimes from the lofty security of her new high chair. She thinks the chair is pretty awesome for about 10 minutes before she realizes that the chair neither bounces, swings, nor vibrates, and she soon wonders why the back of her legs are sticking to the pleather. Just wait til she starts eating solids and realizes that the chair is a gateway to countless culinary adventures.

A sojourner in a strange land

Meet our pet squirrel, Scooter (not to be confused with Scooter Libby, who is, after all, a scapegoat, not a squirrel). Scooter is not a very loyal pet, as he spends very little time with us on our third floor balcony, but when he does come 'round, he makes his presence felt. He seems to particularly enjoy clinging to our porch screen and carrying enormous chunks of pink insulation from out of the attic (we don't have a picture of that, but trust us: it's alarming).

One day we hope to get a better pet for Clara, like a guppie, but in the meantime, she seems to enjoy her fleeting glances of Scooter (if "fleeting glances" and "enjoy" are the same thing as "not knowing there is a squirrel on our balcony").

Oh, Mexico...

When I woke up last Monday morning, the first day of SU's ironically titled "spring" break, Jeremy surprised me by saying we were going to Mexico--with a stop in Phoenix on the way! I soon found out, of course, that he meant Phoenix and Mexico, New York--two Upstate villages within about 30 miles of Syracuse. Nevertheless, the sun was shining, and with spirits soaring we loaded up the car for a memorable trip to the northern versions of two classic spring break destinations. It was, if nothing else, Clara's first road trip--a type of travel we hope she learns to love as much as her parents.

The always scenic port of Phoenix.


Jeremy's first word when we drove into Phoenix was, "Dam!" Before I could get offended, he gestured to the low-slung dam on the river. Clever boy...


The sun was warm, and we didn't have a window shade for Clara. She managed to get a bit of sleep on the way to Mexico, although her patience did not hold all day...


Welcome to Mexico. (What happened to the water all those other years?)


Clara's first trip to a restaurant was memorable, to say the least. We feasted on the culinary stylings of the famed Mexican eatery, Daddy Ed's (in Mexico, not featuring Mexican food). Nothing could be finer than sitting in a diner eating bland chili cheese fries (ugh).


Our first attempt at a back seat diaper change must've been a bust, as shortly after this Clara really started to unravel. She wouldn't eat, and she cried until we took off her sweatshirt. Maybe she was just too hot, as she didn't seem quite so sad after that...


Clara shows the relief we all felt by the time we got back home. All said, a nice trip to Mexico and Phoenix, and it certainly fits in well with our untold other fake spring break vacations (tent camping in the living room, anyone?). I wonder where next year will take us...

Jeremy Obama?

Not long ago, Jeremy's research design seminar was assigned to take ethnographic fieldnotes at a geography department symposium. The basic idea was for the students to record the behavior, appearance, etc. of the symposium participants. One of Jeremy's classmates reported the following:

"Jeremy B----- and Barack Obama have similar speaking and gesticular patterns. Note to self: pay close attention to Jeremy B----- in the future."

Only the manly need apply

Early last week when our car wouldn't start, Jeremy and I decided the best course of action would be to play ostrich. After all, the day the car didn't start was a bone-chilling 5 below (with a wind chill of 25 below). Perhaps it was just the cold, right? We figured that if we just bided our time, the car would eventually fix itself. No harm, no foul.

When la voiture still wouldn't start five days later, we began to realize that perhaps more sinister forces than a cold snap were at work. As it turns out, our battery had died. Rather than try to jump it (Prevent Blindness America discourages this heavily) we decided to go ahead and replace it. Jeremy, concerned not with the process of battery changing but with the sheer guts needed to do it successfully, enlisted the help of our friend Ryan. A mere three hours later, the car started with no problems! Since then, we've had not one problem starting the car. And luckily, Jeremy is not blind, saving us the challenge of conceiving for him a new career suited to a blind man with a weak back and delicate hands (although we both got pretty excited at the thought of starting our own tuna microcannery).

Since the day of the battery change was a pleasant 40 degrees, Clara and I ventured out to check the progress of our favorite mechanics. Lucky Clara was able to have her first snow experience, lounging in the powder. She was most enthused.