Happy Holidays!

Folks, 

I'm off tomorrow.  Before I leave, I wanted to wish you happy holidays and share a pic with a holiday vibe.

Santa will be visiting me in St. George.  I'm then off to northern Utah to play in the snow and see my cousins.  (I think I'll be able to hold my own with them.)

See you in the new year,

Jack

Big Boy

Jack has recently realized that he is the only person in the family who needs help to eat. Well, he's had enough of that. He insists on feeding himself now. 

In fact, it is almost to the point that he refuses to eat yogurt unless he feeds it to himself. (As an aside, the kid is demonstrating a disturbingly high level of stubbornness. I'd like to say that he gets that from his mother, but...)

This is one of the first times that Jack fed himself. 

The moment of triumph! 

Messy to be sure, but I've seen him in worse shape after a meal (like when I feed him, for instance). 

Little Slugger

You can take the kid out of the City, but you can't take the City out of the kid. It looks as if we have another Yankees fan on our hands (gosh, it just makes a father proud). 

To be honest with you, it may not have been the time that Jack spent in the City that made him a Yankees fan, it might actually be in his genes. Jack is actually a 4th generation (maybe even 5th, we're not sure) Yankees fan. 

Jack's great grandpa was born in New York City and grew a big fan of the Yanks. He, in turn, took Jack's grandpa (my dad) to a bunch of games when Jack's grandpa was a boy, and the next generation's loyalties to the pinstripes were solidified. 

The cycle continued when I watched just about as many Yankees games on TV as a kid growing up in Utah could watch in the pre-satellite era. I have many fond memories of doing yard work on Saturday mornings in the summer, then coming inside to eat tuna sandwiches and potato chips for lunch while watching the Yankees on TV--all of it with my dad. Those were great times, and I became a fan myself. One of the things I enjoyed most about living in New York was going to Yankees games, especially when my dad or brother were in town. 

Jack hasn't actually been to a Yankees game (yet), but he was awfully excited to put his Yankees hat back on after it arrived with our other belongings from New York. I take that as a positive indicator of where his allegiances will lie. 

He also picked up the bat along with his hat, which I was absolutely thrilled about. Maybe we have a slugger on our hands! 

A fan is born. 

Here he is, gazing towards left field (probably to call his shot).

We Meet Again

Happy day....

(Remember this post.)

Winter Wonderland

Yes, it actually does snow in Las Vegas. Today it snowed for the first time in five years (at least according to some accounts). We think it snowed a couple of inches at our place. Karen said the look of surprise on Jack's face when they walked out the front door and saw snow was absolutely priceless. 

This is our car at about noon.  

Broad is the Way

There really isn't another way to put this other than to say that I fear I am leading my little boy to hell. 

Example #1

Saturday morning, when he and I drove into the church parking lot to go to the Christmas breakfast, Jack started screaming "Buh Bye; Buh Bye; BUH BYE" when he realized that we were at church. Usually when he uses said phrase in such a way it means something to the effect of "get me out of here." 

Sunday morning (lest we think what happened Saturday was an isolated incident), as we arrived at church, the same scene was repeated. As soon as Jack realized we were pulling into the church parking lot, he started screaming "Buh Bye" at the top of his lungs. 

I haven't done anything to encourage this sort of behavior, but I can't truthfully say that I feel much differently than the kid does when I pull into the church parking lot myself. I suppose that it is also true that I don't always put up a fight when Jack needs to be taken out of church, especially when I am the one who has to take him out (which I embrace as my personal responsibility). I guess that the apple doesn't fall from the tree. 

Example #2

This weekend has been quite a bruiser for us because our furniture and belongings arrived from New York. Consequently, we have had the pleasure of packing up and moving out our borrowed/temporary furnishings, and moving-in, unpacking, and organizing our own furnishings. 

As an aside, I can't believe what a brutal move it has been. How is it--I am still wondering--that we can have gained 500 square feet of living space and be having such a bear of a time getting our stuff to fit comfortably? I guess it just goes to show what a great place we had in New York, and what genius went into its organization (I wish I could take credit, but I can't). 

Anyway, our place was such a mess, and our energy levels ebbed at such a low yesterday evening, that we decided to go out for dinner instead of unpacking boxes of dishes/utensils and then cleaning off the table for a place to eat, even though it happened to be the day of rest. We ended up going out for Chinese food. 

Sabbath observance issues aside, the real rub came when Jack looked at a statuette of the Buddah, pointed at it, and said "Jesus." I thought it was hysterical, but I don't think that my lovely wife did. I think the good Lord will forgive me, but I'm not sure she will. 

New Awlins

Karen and I spent the better part of this week in New Orleans. I went for a conference held by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (the conference materials were scintillating, I assure you) on the construction industry. Karen came to enjoy a few days of the good life while her parents, graciously, watched Jack.  

Karen has spent a fair amount of time in New Orleans, but I was visiting for the first time. Karen, who was returning to the city for the first time since Katrina, was continually struck by how different the city was this time around. We found several shops and restaurants that she had known from previous visits that were now closed. All this, mind you, was in the French Quarter, which has probably received more attention than most areas of the city given the city's reliance on tourist dollars. 

One of our favorite gluttonous indulgences of the trip turned out to be eating beignets at Cafe du Monde. I won't tell you how many times we went there. 

Yours truly on the banks of the Mississippi River. 

Here is my cute navigator wife looking at the map as we rode the street car along St. Charles through the Garden District. 

We spent December 6th at the National World War II Museum, which we really enjoyed. Even though December 6th isn't quite December 7th, it was still close enough for the museum to host several activities in conjunction with the remembrance of the attack on Pearl Harbor. We loved our time at the museum. Pictured below is a C-47. 

We had a terrific time together. Karen, in particular, was rejuvenated by the trip. We learned early in our marriage that we very much enjoy traveling and exploring together. 

By far the best part of the trip, however, took place in Las Vegas when we returned home. When I saw Jack again for the first time in several days he smiled (which, to be honest, isn't actually that special because he smiles about 95% of the time), put his arms around me, laid his head on my shoulder, and cuddled with me for a few minutes. I really missed my little buddy, and I think he missed his daddy. 

Bye Bye NYC

This past weekend we bid a final farewell to our life in New York City (at least as far as we know). We went back there for a whirlwind trip to pack up our belongings--which we had left in order to help show our apartment--in order to prepare for a close in the next week or so. 

While we did get a lot done in a short period of time--namely moving--we didn't get to spend nearly as much time with friends as we would have liked. In fact, we missed seeing many of our dear friends altogether because of our tight schedule, vacation travels, or a variety of other reasons. Nor did we get to eat as much of the food that we so love and miss. Oh well. No one ever goes to New York and gets to do everything that they'd like to do. We certainly didn't and we spent a very active 7+ years there. 

Some highlights of the trip: 

* The Cross-country Flight. Simply put, my wife is brilliant. Jack loves taking lids off of bottles and tubes, and opening any kind of container. Well, my super-sharp wife bought an empty set of mini travel bottles and tubes--the kind that those of you who have the necessity to use shampoo, conditioner, and hairspray would use to fill with said items in travel quantities. However, she filled them instead with items that she thought Jack would enjoy emptying and filling, such as Q-Tips and little craft sticks. It was sheer genius. He was in hog heaven. She also got him some headphones, which he loved. I think the headphones made him feel like a big boy, which he seems to relish. The final coup in her perfect preparation was a new 'lift-the-flap' (which Jack is quite fond of) book. He just ate all of this stuff up. The flight ended up being fantastic because of her thoughtful preparation. Suffice it to say the flight far, far, far exceeded my expectations. 

* Our Apartment. We love our home--the first home we ever owned. It was just the way we left it. Despite 6 months absence, it was like we never left. What a great place. I am sad it will no longer be ours.  

* Thanksgiving. Some good friends had a group of people over for the big day and let us join them. The food was excellent and the company was even better. 

* Pilates. A friend of Karen's from St. George, who just moved to New York, stayed with us in our apartment for a few days before the apartment she rented freed up. It turns out, she moved to NYC to teach at a high-power Pilates studio. Well, at nights she had us doing Pilates in our front room and we just loved it. My abs have never, ever worked that hard before. Karen and I enjoyed it so much that we are thinking we're going to check out  a studio here in Vegas. 
* Pizza. We can't find anything close to what we came to love from Dean's in New York. Truth be told though, it was tough to manage the combination of the pizza and the Pilates. 

* Sleep Over in Connecticut. Some dear friends fed us, took us out for gelatto, stayed up late talking with us, and let us crash at their place for the night. 

* Jowanza's Homecoming. A dear friend returned from his mission to Detroit and gave his homecoming address on Sunday, which we were able to attend. It was one of the great highlights of all of my experiences in church. 

* Sunday Dinner. Some friends had a second going away potluck dinner for us (the first happened when we originally left the City in June). What a special group of people that is. We hope our paths cross often.