Grandpa W comes to Boston

We were so lucky to be able to have Mr. H's dad, Grandpa W come stay with us for a weekend.  It had been FOREVER since we had seen him, and it was a fantastic weekend.  

The Garden's are so beautiful. 

you can't see, but Thomas is right behind us.  Cutie boys. 

We had such a random thing occur: as we were hanging out in the Common's, we noticed a guy from our home ward in Centerville walking around.  We were all talking, when then we noticed our neighbors that lived on our street in Centerville walking around too.  What are the odds???

Dinner at Durgin Park (a delightful Bostonian restaurant)

Snapshots before church

we found a spider man at the temple...I think Mr. H thought it was cooler than T did.  

We headed out to the nearest city beach in Revere.  It was cool to see a new place!

They had just finished up the sand sculpting competition...some really cool stuff!

Thanks for the visit Grandpa W!

Springtime has hit Boston!

Can I just say that out here in Boston, we REALLY needed springtime.  Lucky for us, it finally came!

It has been gorgeous weather around here.  I have loved going out with the two boys---it really helps so much.  Flowers are starting to bloom, and we even had one 70 degree day.  It was monumental.  

We've slowly started to adjust having two kids.  It's pretty manageable when we're together, but it's a little harder when it's just one of us.  We've started grocery shopping all together, which I think is more fun.  :)  We've also started going to the park a lot more, which is also a blast.  

Mr. H's dad went in for a very big heart surgery.  We've been really worried about him, and it has been hard to not be there with the H family.  The surgery itself went pretty well, but the recovery has been filled with set backs.  We are all praying very hard for him, and love him so much.  

Mr. H is almost done with the semester!  So excited!!!!

I've had so many sweet people helping me out here in Boston.  It truly is such a blessing and miracle to be surrounded by so many good people.  Everyone has helped me in more ways than I can count.  

We got to celebrate Patriot's Day out here, (which we didn't even know was a holiday) and that was great.  The Saturday before, we drove up to Lexington (one of my favorite towns in New England) and watched a REENACTMENT!!!  I have been wanting to see one of these for AGES.  It was really cool.  C hated it, and it was really loud, but it was a really fun experience.

C doesn't really know about guns yet, but he does have some cheap water guns at home.  We told him that there would be guns there (to prepare him) and he started shouting as they started shooting, "Their water guns are TOO LOUD!!!"

On Monday, we were able to go to the Boston Marathon, which was AWESOME!  We went with some other people in our ward, and set up around mile 20, which is right at the beginning of what is known as heartbreak hill.  We got there pretty early, and saw the paraplegic athletes, as well as the elite athletes.  It was amazing.  You know their going fast when it's been 1 hour and 30 minutes, and they're already at mile 20.  Crazy.  It was a fun time.  

People were there handing out yogurt...and it was really really good yogurt! :)

C and his buddy M cheering the runners on.  

It was a little chilly. :)

February Fun!

This month has flown by.  

So C got sick with pneumonia.  It was quite the bummer of this year. Then we all got sick.

But we got BETTER. :)  

So now we get to enjoy the sunshine.  60 degree weather in February?  AMAZING.

We got to celebrate Valentine's day.  We made homemade heart shaped pizzas and played with C.  Then we tried to watch "A Philadelphia Story".  It had a lot of potential, but ended up being a little weird.

Overall, it was a nice night and really great to be with Mr. H.  

So I wanted C to hold the flowers all cute and this was the best we got. :)

He loves helping me cook.  So we made special V-day cookies to celebrate. 

I took Mr. H and C out to the bird refuge on Saturday for a homework break.  Grandpa W also came.  It was fun.  I wanted to see bald eagles, and we saw one.  So that was cool. 

C and I had to go shoe shopping.  He grew TWO sizes since the last time I was with him.

That little boy is growing!

I took C to his Dr.'s appointment for his 18 month check-up.  

10 % weight

70 % height

96 % head!!!!  As Mr. H always says, big heads hold big brains.

Since Mr. H is going to important interviews and open houses, we decided to pay for a professional haircut for him.  (I have cut his hair our whole marriage).  Well, I guess I will continue cutting his hair.  He came back with it looking extremely short. This is a running battle between us, as he always wants it really short, and I like it a little longer.  He smiled, and said "I told her to go short".  I laughed, and laughed....which wasn't that nice of me.  Next time, we'll save the money and I'll just cut it how we always do. :)

We enjoyed President's day.  I discovered Savers, and also that they had a 50 % off sale.  It was awesome.  We went pant shopping with Mr. H.

It was hilarious.  He told me was a 32" by 38".  So I gathered up all the pants I could find in that measurement.  We got into the dressing room, and the pants could literally almost wrap around him twice.  He started panicking that he had lost so much weight.  I started thinking we were going to need to try the little boy section upstairs.  But then we realized I had brought all the 38" by 32".  ha.  Mr. H was relieved to not have to go to the boy's section.  And just as a side note, we could not find his size anywhere.  :(

We finished this season of Downton Abbey.  For some reason, that show has become 'our' show.  I loved this season.  And I loved being able to snuggle with Mr. H as we would watch the episodes.

Mr. H flew to Philadelphia this past Wednesday.  He was so excited.  I got to give him mock interviews, and ask him all sorts of fun questions.  He looked handsome  and confident.  We dropped him off at the airport, and then C and I headed to City Creek and played on the big sky bridge.  He loved seeing the trax trains, cars and people walking underneath us.  We were able to meet up with my brother's mission companion's family and chat about our cute missionaries.

I spent the rest of the week in Centerville.  It was awesome.  I got to be a buddy for O and go to a karate class, my brothers played with C, I got to hang with my awesome parents, my dad made me delicious crepes, and we tackled the task of organizing and sorting all the pictures in the house.  I am so lucky to have such a great family.  We both loved staying at their house.

Sunday we picked Mr. H up from the airport.  He had a great time, and enjoyed being in a new place.  

I encouraged him to take 'selfies' on his trip. 

This week started off really hard.  But I think I'm learning that hard things that happen may seem really bad or unfair at first.  They may break your heart. You may think that things like that shouldn't have to happen.  But I think I learned that hard things and trials NEED to happen.  We are able to draw near to our Savior, and He will heal our hearts.  We must experience trials to learn from the master Healer.  He shows His love for us by making up for our weakness, and giving us peace that we can't find from any other source.  

Here's to a sun filled week with HOPE, BRIGHTNESS, and LOVE.

Spring is right around the corner! 

Mr. H's trip + a trip of our own

As I shared previously, Mr. H went out of town this past week for a conference at Harvard.  

I dropped him off Wednesday morning, and he was so excited!

Wednesday was rather uneventful, but C and I did go snag a free meal at IHOP for dinner.  

During dinner I realized how C can't really carry a conversation, but man can he throw crayons.  We came home and skyped with Mr. H for the first time. C was so funny---he tried to touch him, but realized that didn't work, and ended up scowling a lot at the screen because it was so weird.  Ha.  

That night some girls from the ward came over and watched "Father of the Bride".  It was fun.

Thursday, C and I headed into Centerville.  I did not want to spend the whole week alone- I get lonely too easily. We had a great time hanging out with my mom and family when they got home that night.

Friday we did a bunch of crafting! First, we took C on a walk and tried to see some animals at the Lagoon Trails.  There was so much ice everywhere, and C LOVED sliding around on it.  

We bought flowers, felt and then went home to make some Valentine decorations.  It was really fun.

That night, Grandma T and Grandpa W took us out for dinner to Rumbi.  It was really good, and it was so nice of them to do that.  We filled them in on Mr. H's excursions and enjoyed the dinner. *Sorry I didn't get a picture! *

Saturday, we got to hang out a bunch and then my family went to Frozen. (Thanks H family for watching C!!!!)  It was super cute again.  

That night, we made cream puffs and played some games.  

It was so nice to spend some good time with my family.  C loved all the attention.  He also learned to say 'grandma', 'grandpa', 'love you' and started climbing up all the furniture.  

THANKS mom and dad for letting us stay with you and taking care of us!!!!

Sunday we got to go pick up Mr. H.  We were so excited to see him!!!  

We had a great rest of our day just hanging out with him.

It was really hard on me having Mr. H gone.  The 2nd night we skyped, I just started bawling.  (ha...it was an emotional week).  But I am grateful that I have a great husband and friend that I miss!  

Mr. H had a great time at the conference.  He fell in love with Boston, did a great job with his presentation and made some friends.  He enjoyed being on his own, but he did say he really missed us.  

C and I are getting adjusted to being back home.  

He's getting into getting his picture taken, and then he wants to see what it looks like.

Also--goodbye high chair and hello booster seat.  He loves it! :)

^^^His Camera smile.                                              

Well, onto another week.  And the end of JANUARY! :)