Bird's Eye View

The Walker's Haute Route Trip Report: Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 22:17:00 +0000

I'm not sure what we were thinking scheduling our longest day for our first day! Looking at the Kev Reynolds book at home, we decided that the phase from Chamonix to Argentiere just seemed too easy for a whole day's worth of hiking, so we decided to combine it with the phase from Argentiere to Trient. It turned out to be 16.8 miles. Between that and the jet lag, it probably would have been a good idea to either take the bus from Chamonix to Argentiere, and just hike from there, or stick with the easy first day...

Day 2: Chamonix-Argentiere-Trient-Col de la Forclaz

Given the long travel day yesterday, we didn't rush right out the door in the morning. We probably didn't get up until about 8, and then we had a leisurely (and super yummy) breakfast. We also went to the grocery store and bakery to get cheese, salami, chocolate, and bread for lunch. This was our lunch of choice throughout the trip. We never bought lunches from the hotels or huts (and others who did, didn't have great things to say about them). We probably set off on our hike around 10 am.

Really sad that I blinked in this shot! The restaurant we ate at the night before is right along the river near the next bridge down. It was such a lovely town! Another reason to do the easy hike on Day 1, is that it would give you time to explore Chamonix a little bit.

These two pictures were pretty much the extent of our time in Chamonix.

We weren't sure how easy it would be to follow the directions in the Kev Reynolds book, but it was really clear what he was talking about once we were actually there in person. The "hike" from Chamonix to Argentiere was pretty much what we expected--a path just off the side of the road. You couldn't see the road, but it was just on the other side of the trees. It was all pretty flat walking through the valley.

We found some pretty nice views though!

At one point, we got over-anxious about taking a right turn up a hill, and we ended up going up the side of the mountain only to have to come back down again...By the time we got to Argentiere, I could already feel blisters forming (I guess that's what happens when you can't decide on a pair of shoes until 2 weeks before the trip.) We stopped to apply moleskin and eat our lunch. I'm kind of sad we didn't look around Argentiere at all. We just passed right through. This was actually the one other place we got a little "lost." We just weren't paying attention, and we missed a turn. We ended up doing a loop and coming back to where we missed the turn. It probably added half a mile or so. We laughed at ourselves when we realized how obvious the instructions in the book were if we had read them more closely.

The hike from Argentiere to the Col de Balme was our first major ascent. It wasn't crazy steep, but as with most of the hikes, it was a very long uphill, followed by a seemingly endless downhill.

About halfway to the Col, there were actually chair lifts running. I was seriously tempted to ride it up as the exhaustion was kind of starting to hit, but I knew Justin is a purist and would never want to ride up a chair lift when we could just walk, so I decided to tough it out.

We made it to the Col de Balme!! Behind me you see France.

Behind Justin you see Switzerland!

We now have something in common with the Von Trapps...we have crossed the Alps into Switzerland!!

We then started the long slog down the mountain. About the time we got to the treeline, it started raining. When we were under the canopy, it wasn't too bad. We did eventually have to put our rain jackets on once we came out of the trees (which kept us dry on the outside, but I'm not going to lie, it was like a sweat locker inside that thing... I was completely soaked from the inside by the time we got to the hotel!). I can't emphasize enough how long the downhill through the forest seemed. I was ready for it to be done about an hour before it actually was. We then walked along the bottom of a valley into Trient. I was incredibly disappointed to realize that the hotel we had booked was the structure that we could see halfway up the next mountain. Anyone planning on combining the first two days should really not plan on staying at the Hotel de La Forclaz. I was totally spent, but we had to trudge up, up, up. There was a point (probably 200 yards from the hotel) where the trail was basically a really big staircase. I totally hit the wall. I sat down on a step and told Justin I couldn't go any further and that I'd just stay there for the night. It was one of those times where I could feel that I literally had no energy left at all, and hence couldn't control my emotions either. Fortunately, Justin had some delicious chocolate handy, and two squares gave me enough energy to make it the rest of the way to the hotel. We arrived around 6 pm, which gave us just enough time to shower before dinner. Justin might have been a little tired, but I could barely walk up and down the stairs! Also, I realized that I really wished I had my flip flops with me instead of my sketchers. My feet were so sore that the last thing I wanted to do was put them into my stretchy elastic Sketchers. (I'd chosen them because I thought it would be too cold for flip flops. I was wrong.) Anyway, we had dinner that night with a couple from Israel who were just finishing up the Tour of Mont Blanc. One of our favorite things about the trip was getting to know people from all over the world. After dinner, I went upstairs, and I'm pretty sure I was asleep by 8 pm. I was totally exhausted!

The Walker's Haute Route Trip Report: Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 21:18:00 +0000

Goodness it's been a long time since I posted anything on this lovely blog...six whole years!! Much like video killing the radio star, I think instagram killed the personal blog. So what am I doing here all these years later? I decided that the best way to record and share our recent trip-of-a-lifetime to Switzerland would be here on my blog. As we were preparing for the trip, we found the information that other people shared on their blogs and websites an invaluable resource, so in order to document our fun and share what we learned with others, I'm posting our trip report here.

Day 1: Albuquerque-Minneapolis-Amsterdam-Geneva-Chamonix

Oh what an incredibly long day! We left for Albuquerque around 10 am. We had to stop at REI before going to the airport because after looking at the weather reports, we decided there was a very good chance we'd be hiking through rain the entire trip, and Justin's only rain jacket wasn't exactly waterproof. It's amazing how relaxing and not stressful flying is when you are only traveling with adults. It's also pretty nice when you are only traveling with small-ish backpacks. We flew together to St. Paul, and then we were booked for two different flights from there to Amsterdam. Fortunately, the nice lady at the Delta counter was able to switch my flight to go on the earlier flight with Justin (this was apparently such a big no-no, that she didn't even charge us the flight change fee because she didn't want to leave any record of the transaction). It was nice to be together for the long flight over the ocean--especially since I got super motion sick at the end. I made it all the way until we landed before I threw up...We had a few hours of a layover in Amsterdam, but I was feeling so exhausted and nauseous, that we opted for sleeping on the floor rather than trying to go into the city at all. Justin was kind enough to take the picture of me conked out on the floor.

We were excited to finally get on our last flight to Geneva! When we arrived, we were very disappointed to find out that our shuttle was delayed due to some sort of car fire at the tunnel, so we had to wait a couple of hours...

The drive to Chamonix took about an hour, but it provided us with our first views of the Franco-Swiss Alps and Mont Blanc! We used Chamonix Valley Transfers, and it cost 35 Euros each (which seemed to be the going rate for most of the shuttle services). It was easy to book and they were very friendly.

Oh how happy we were to get to our hotel in Chamonix!! We stayed at Hotel Le Faucigny, which was right in the center of town and had one of the best breakfasts of the trip! The person at the hotel offered to keep the hot tub open for us, but we'd basically been awake for about 24 hours at that point, so we really just wanted to eat some dinner and go to bed. We were very grateful for the restaurant recommendation. We ate at Cap Horn, which was one of our top two favorite meals of the entire trip. It was also one of the cheapest (due to the fact that food in Switzerland turns out to be insanely expensive)! Justin had to try escargot since we were in France. They were actually really yummy! I guess if you soak anything in enough butter and herbs, it will be delicious. We both chose the fish (which was amazing), and a cheesecake and sorbet dessert that was fantastic. The whole meal probably took two hours, and I may have started dozing off between courses, but it was totally worth it for the delicious food. When we finished dinner, we wandered around the center of town a little bit (and Justin took a video of me). But then we went back to the hotel and crashed! We had to get some sleep for the long day ahead of us on Day 2! Here's me (obviously tired) talking about our dinner:

Merry Christmas 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 19:52:00 +0000

Harpers Ferry

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:42:00 +0000

We recently went on one last family rock climbing adventure with our friends/neighbors before they leave city life for Montana. Colton keeps telling us that he is going to go to Montana with Harper. He's pretty sad to lose his "best friend." We're pretty sad too. Here are some highlights from our adventure:

How YOU doin'?

Hi, Mommy. I'm irresistibly cute!

Foreshadowing? If I'd gotten the shot two seconds earlier, he actually had his arm around her waist. He loves her.

Colton and Harper even got in on the action. I think Justin put a little more muscle into getting Colton to the top than Colton did...

"I've been crawling around eating dirt and trying to choke to death on acorns for the last two hours. Rock climbing is awesome, Dad!!"

"Thanks for bringing me Mom!"

I think Harper might have been ready for Colton to let go...

Weightlifting

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:33:00 +0000

Justin's been working out. He got two very cute (though not-quite-evenly-weighted) volunteers to help him out. These two are available for anyone looking for a good shoulder workout. Just to warn you, they are a little bit squirmy.

Brian's first haircut

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:33:00 +0000

After posting twice about Colton's haircuts, it would seem amiss not to document Brian's first haircut as well, even if it wasn't quite the traumatic ordeal that Colton went through.

I'm so happy. I have no idea what is about to happen.

What's that thing? Why is it coming toward my head?

Hmmmm... I'm not sure about this. It kind of tickles.

Oh, I see. I'm supposed to suck on this cord. Now I get it.

Dad's pushing my head down. This is great!

Okay, maybe it's not so great. Dad, could you please let my head up?

I'm serious! Stop pushing my head down! I don't like this one bit!

Are you done yet?

You let my head up, but this doesn't seem to be any better...

I guess I'll forgive you guys for the torture. I look super cute and you let me go to town on some delicious peaches with rice cereal. Hooray for my first haircut!

I said it wouldn't happen...

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 18:29:00 +0000

I assumed I would never get around to blogging about the months that I missed, but the boys are both still napping, and I still don't want to clean up...so here's to a photo recap of the un-blogged months, in no particular order.

Colton looked cute in a helmet and harness while rock climbing with all his Durham cousins in Rock Canyon.

Rather than roasting a marshmallow on our family campout in Bryce Canyon, Margaret decided on a different treat... (don't hate my for that caption, Marg!)

Colton enjoyed his marshmallow, but was less appreciative of the sticky hands it left behind.

Marg and Josh posed during our hike. (And despite the lack of horses and photo evidence, Chad hiked as well!)

Colton is probably the best 3-year-old hiker ever. EVER.

Michael and Spencer hiked too.

We love national parks, and we wish the picture of our whole family had been in focus!

Colton loved hiding in a cave with Parker and Jane.

Fourteen years later, and Em and Dan still know how to pose for an engagment shot!

I'm so cute without my helmet!

But I was cute with my helmet, too!

Arrrrrgh! Fair thee be warned...

Hey look! I participate in family activities as well.

It doesn't matter if the library parking lot is filled with all your favorite trucks in the whole world. A loud horn is horrible no matter what. (Yes, we had to leave truck day because the honking was a little too much for him.)

Same, same!

I had to throw in some pictures of me because my original version made it appear that Justin is a single dad. I swear I'm an active part of this family.

Looking cute (and similar) at the park.

Please don't hate me Brian, but you honestly have the cutest bottom in the entire world.

Intense heat and humidity will make even the most scary pirate loose a little enthusiasm.

So that is what we've been up to by way of photo-worthy activities. The end.

Some things never change

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 17:44:00 +0000

I can't believe that I haven't posted anything in five months. And I don't mean that rhetorically. I was literally surprised to see how long it's been since my last entry because I have written so many fantastic posts in my head over the last several months. I guess I just forgot to actually write them down. I apologize to my adoring fans who were dying to see Colton and Brian at the park or in Utah or on a Pirate Adventure in the Chesapeake. I'm sure those posts would have been witty and amusing, and hopefully you will forgive the fact that they are now probably not going to ever happen.

Well, this was one post I couldn't let slip away into the recesses of my mind. It had to be recorded. I know that it is not uncommon to document a child's first haircut. We did with Colton. It was awesome. He was screaming and covered in hair and yogurt. We recently gave Brian his first haircut as well, but that is not the point of this post. The point of this post is Colton's 27th haircut. Okay, I don't really know what number, but the kid is three and has had plenty of haircuts in that time. You'd think he'd have calmed down about it by now, but I just had to share with the world have far we have not come. Behold:

Colton was a little bit chubbier at 7 months, but I'm pretty sure the sentiment was the same: "Why are you doing this to me?"

"I thought I could trust you. Why would you submit me to this?"

"Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop RIGHT NOW!"

At least this time the hair wasn't sticking to the yogurt on his face. Poor child. He did get a sucker at the end to compensate for all the suffering...

Guest Post from the Boys

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:15:00 +0000

Mommy's little helper

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:33:00 +0000

So technically, he mostly just spread crumbs around everywhere, but there's really not much cuter than a two-year-old who wants to help clean up. Today he said, "We need to clean this place up. It's a mess!" Who are you? Oh yeah. Justin's son.

All you need is love...

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 17:45:00 +0000

So, I never got around to my Christmas cards this year. I guess I should say last year since it is already April. Clearly, I'm a little behind. Having a baby in November, I kind of assumed that Christmas cards wouldn't happen, so I had planned on doing Valentine cards instead (again, if you notice that it is already April, I clearly didn't get around it that either...). I had this wonderful idea that I would make a card that said "All you need is love" with an adorable, loving picture of my two boys on it.

Well, I pulled out the camera one afternoon to take aforementioned adorable picture, and here is what I got:

Maybe the caption is still appropriate. Clearly these two both need something. Getting their picture taken wasn't it. Oh well, I tried. I even had our Scott Family Top Ten list all ready to go, and since I'm no longer fooling myself that I will ever send out a card with it, I'll just include it below. You can pretend that you received it in the mail...back when it was still 2011:

It is never too late recap last year—especially if you are busy with a new baby when the more traditional holiday cards should be sent.

We ventured South—to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. We discovered (to our surprise) that the South was pretty much just like the North with a few more ya’lls, yes ma’ams, bbq joints, and Crimson Tide fans . Thanks Roz & Thad!
We ventured West (twice)—to beautiful Provo, Utah. Highlights of our trips inluded skiing (Bethany is still better than Justin), marathoning (guess which one of us did this—finishing in 3:21:21), and bonding with family.
We ventured across the Pacific—to Laie, Hawaii. We had an amazing two weeks in Paradise. We camped on the beach, swam with sharks, snorkeled, had fun with family, and proved that Colton was a super traveler (after 14 hours on our laps, fellow passengers still thought he was cute).
We ventured Mid-West. It turns out that if you are interested in fireworks, Omaha is the place to be for the fourth of July. It also turns out they have an awesome zoo. Guess which Colton liked more…
We ventured into the “mountains”—to Shenandoah National Park. While it doesn’t compare to the Wasatch mountains, we had a great time with the Piersons playing games, going on hikes, and touring Luray Caverns.
Colton learned to talk. Some of his favorite phrases, “I wanna play dat game,” “What dat mean?” “I wanna run in circles!” “Bast mean!” (fast like McQueen) and our favorite “I got two wedgies” (said at the end of every diaper change).
Colton learned to run. We’re predicting a future marathoner considering that he regularly runs the 1.6 miles from our house to the park. (He liked to point out regularly on these runs that mommy is not fast like McQueen.)
We ate a lot of sugar. You know it’s a bad sign when Colton’s favorite things to draw are cookies, cakes, and ice cream cones. (New Year’s resolution 2012—eat a little less sugar.)
Justin built a wall. Our house has officially changed from a four bedroom to a five bedroom, and our guest room is no longer separated from the storage room by shelves full of stuff. Nice work Justin!
Bethany built a baby. We welcomed Brian Justin Scott to our family at 4:21 am on November 2, 2011. He weighed 8 lbs 4 oz (a mere 3 lbs more than Colton), 21 inches long. He has proven to be the world’s most agreeable baby, and we love our sweet little guy!

Merry Christmas & Happy Valentines Day!

Love,

The Scotts

Same Same?

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:49:00 +0000

I think that Brian's individual features are completely different than Colton's. However, in comparing the two, I would say in Colton's words, "Hey, look! Same same!"

And while we're on the subject of family resemblances...maybe it isn't just Grandpa Cole that Colton looks like!

Best of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:07:00 +0000

Here is my photo essay, which I will entitle, "We did cool stuff this year." The pictures should prove it.

Look! Sometimes we take pictures of someone other than Colton! This was outside a barn-type building in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Photo taken by the one and only Roz.

In February we found ourselves in Utah (thanks to a recruiting trip for Justin's work), and Grandma Louise was kind enough to watch Colton so we could spend a day skiing. I am still better than Justin. Just so that you know...

Sometimes we just have fun around the house. It turns out that putting pajamas on your head and around your neck is fun.

In April we made our way to Hawaii. This picture was taken outside the Laie, Hawaii temple. I kind of adore Colton's long, wavy hair.

In April we also participated in the Runamuck 5K. Justin came in first. I was just happy to come in at all (considering that I'm not a runner in general, and I was 16 weeks pregnant).

In June we made our way back to Utah so that Justin could run the Utah Valley Marathon.

It was a lot of fun...for those of us cheering from the sidelines.

On the way back to the car, Colton decided he would help Justin push the tree. I can just imagine Colton saying, "Dad, I don't think this tree is going anywhere." (This might be my favorite picture of the year.)

In July we went to Nebraska to visit Justin's parents. Colton (and Justin) showed off their sour face during our visit to the Omaha Zoo.

At the end of July, we made a spontaneous trip to NC to meet up with Justin's siblings. We forced our children to be photographed in their diapers. They'll probably hate us for this someday.

Justin told me that there weren't enough pictures of me in our "best of" album, so here I am resting on a couch in NC.

In September, we spent a weekend in Luray, VA. I love this picture because it shows was a good hiker Colton is, and really emphasizes my 7-month bowling ball.

Colton got all wet playing in the waterfall, so after the hike, we took his pants off him and let him eat cookies. And then we took a blackmail picture of him to use sometime in the future. Why are diaper pictures so darn cute?

In November, we welcomed Brian into our family. This was definitely the highlight of the year.

I love my boys!

Who needs a real photographer? Just take 200 pictures and you're bound to get at least one that turns out okay. This is that one!

We like to start our kids out early on the road to complete sugar addiction. Brian seemed pretty excited by my birthday cake.

In December, Justin's family came to our house for Christmas. Colton had a great time playing with his cousin Sadie on our slide in the back yard.

We also enjoyed a trip to temple square in DC to see the lights.

Is there anything cuter than a baby with Santa on his bum? (Okay, Justin's pretty cute too!)

So that was our year. Thanks, 2011, you were great!

I think we'll keep him...

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 01:50:00 +0000

Well, after two and half weeks, we have decided that we still like Brian, and I think we'll keep him. It turns out that he is quite the angelic baby, which is good because Colton gets really concerned whenever the baby cries. He's very sensitive to others' suffering...

Here are some recent pics:

We remembered to take a picture of the whole family before leaving the hospital.

I love my boys!

Colton likes to make sure that Brian has his binky.

So peaceful...

Brian rarely cries, so we were surprised to hear him shreaking. We found that he had managed to get one arm out of his sleeve and through the neck hole. Though stylish, he didn't seem too fond of the off-one-shoulder look.

I was attempting a very artful photo shoot of Brian in a basket, but as you can see, he was not a fan. He just about did a head dive off the front in order to get out of it.

I think he's awfully cute!

Blue Num Num

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 02:44:00 +0000

I had this brilliant plan to be a basketball for Halloween (assuming that I was still pregnant), and I would make Justin and Colton matching basket ball jerseys. It was going to be awesome. But then I became convinced that I probably wouldn't make it to Halloween...so I didn't make the costumes. And then it became apparent that I probably would make it to Halloween, but I really wasn't in the mood to make costumes, so then I had to improvise. And by improvise, I mean go to the party store and find a costume for Colton.

So what did I come up with? Well, I found a sweet blue M&M costume on sale for $9 bucks. We had a winner! It also seems appropriate because Colton and Justin actually have a little game that they play where Colton says that he's a blue M&M (pronounced "num num"), and Justin pretends like he's going to try to eat him--so Colton runs away.

The best part--by far--of Colton's costume is his cute little skinny legs sticking out the bottom. I know he's going to hate me someday for dressing him like this, but it was just too darn cute to pass up. (And we did put a covering on his legs before sending him out in the cold...) Ironically, when Halloween actually came, I thought I was in labor, so he actually went trick-or-treating with Michael and Julie. Good thing I didn't make the basketball outfits!

Brian Justin Scott

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:52:00 +0000

Well that tricky trickster thought a full day of false labor would be a good way to prepare me for less than two hours of real labor. Here's how it went down:

I woke up around 2:30 with my first contraction. After about three, I could tell that these were definitely of a more painful variety than I had been feeling on Monday. I woke Justin up so we could start timing them. They were already coming 4 minutes apart. We decided to get up and start getting stuff ready, and my water broke. We called our neighbor Noelle who graciously came to sleep on our couch and look after Colton. By the time she got to our house around 3:15 ish, the contractions were already coming about 2-3 minutes apart, and were much more painful than anything I actually felt when Colton was born. (I should point out that I got my epidural nice and early with Colton...) We got to the hospital around 3:30 am. Justin helped me into the lobby and then went to move the car. This is what they told us to do on the tour of the hospital. But when the next contraction hit, and I let out a little squeal of pain, I think it made the security guard uncomfortable enough that he helped me into a wheelchair and pushed me up to Labor and Delivery.

So it had only been about an hour since I'd felt the first contraction, but they were coming about every two minutes and lasting a very unpleasant minute. When I got to L&D, the anesthesiologist was standing there waiting. I could not have been more happy to see anyone. Unfortunately, they made me sign a whole bunch of paperwork before they let him come in. Justin got back from parking the car about this time, and I'll be honest, I may have been screaming just a little bit with every contraction. It kind of hurt. A lot. I was already at a 7 cm when I arrived at the hospital. They finally let the anesthesiologist in a little after 4 am. The epidural had just enough time to take a little of the edge off, because when the doctor came back in, it was go time. I think I pushed about three times, and he was born at 4:21 am. Justin then passed out at 4:21:30. Fortunately, he knew it was coming and was able to sit down and secure himself in a chair before losing consciousness.

Even though this delivery was a lot more intense than Colton's, it was over so quickly that it almost seemed like it didn't happen. I think by 7 am I was already untethered from all machines and IVs and feeling pretty good. Brian is perfect and healthy. He weighed 8 lbs 4 oz and is 21 inches long. (A mere three lbs heavier than his older brother!) We're so happy he's here!!

I think his torso is twice as wide as Colton's was. He kind of looks like a sumo wrestler in comparison.

Lots of dark brown hair!

They gave me lots of bling.

Brian got some too.

We forgot to take any pictures of all three of us when Colton was born, so we made sure to do it this time. Too bad you can't really see the baby...We'll take some tomorrow before we go home.

He's an awfully cute little burrito.

Welcome to the world little Brian!

11.1.11

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:52:00 +0000

Wouldn't it be awesome if your birthday were 11.1.11? After fourteen hours of contractions yesterday, we thought our little guy would definitely get that awesome birthday. But then, in a horribly cruel trick of nature, everything stopped and it turned out that it was all just a false alarm. At least we didn't go to the hospital. It's bad enough that I made Justin come home from work and Julie come pick up Colton to spend the night. Seriously, there's really nothing worse than being mentally prepared for the arrival of the baby, only to have nothing happen. Sheesh!

Nesting

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 02:33:00 +0000

Justin calls it nesting. I call it wanting to have somewhere to sit in the basement. Either way, about a month and a half ago, I decided it was time for us make our downstairs the main family room. There were several cascading effects of this decision: We would need a new couch to put upstairs so that we can move the comfy, red, movie-watching couch downstairs, and we would need to paint the basement--including the ceiling. It turns out that painting the ceiling is a very un-gratifying task. I know because I did it entirely by myself. (I should point out that while I was painting the ceiling--and the rest of the basement--Justin was stuck behind the furnace in the laundry room installing a new outlet so we can mount the TV to the wall downstairs--yet another of those cascading effects. Anyway, I realized very quickly that safety goggles and some type of covering for my hair would be essential. When Colton saw how cool I looked, he wanted to get in on the action as well.

Yes, I was painting at 7.5 months pregnant.

Colton really liked working with the roller. (Sorry, I guess I should have rotated the picture before uploading it...)

Nothing like painting with a two-year-old. It was serious mother-son bonding. (And someday I'll get around to rotating this picture.)

At some point in the future, I will post pictures of the finished product. Right now we're still waiting for the new couch to arrive. They gave us a 4-12 week window. So it should arrive sometime between now and Christmas...

A doozy

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:55:00 +0000

They say that you have weird dreams when you are pregnant. I have weird dreams even when I'm not pregnant, but last night's was a real doozy. I dreamt that we were watching my belly move (which is a common occurence these days) and marveling at how weird it is that there is a living thing inside me. As we are watching, we see a little hand stick out. And then I thought, "Hey wait! I shouldn't be able to see an actual hand sticking out." Then I looked down and realized that the baby had ripped a hole through my belly so as to be able to stick his hand out. It was kind of gross looking--blood and guts and everything. So I showed Justin (in the dream), who almost passed out at the sight of it. We decided that we should probably go to the doctor considering the baby was starting to emerge of his own accord, but I realized I didn't have my phone with me, and I didn't know the doctor's phone number. So we decided to drive to my parents' house to get my phone (we were living in a strange alternate universe where Provo and Arlington were somehow combined). When we finally got my phone, we called the doctor, but she wasn't listening as I tried to explain there was a big hole in my belly with the baby's hand sticking out. She kept asking about contractions--but I wasn't having any. I think it was about at this point that Colton came bounding in saying "Me awake!" so I didn't get to see the exciting conclusion. Pity.

Anyone out there good at interpreting dreams? My personal take: I'm soooooooooo ready to have this baby!!

Ultimate Super Birthday Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 01:13:00 +0000

I know Justin's birthday was a long time ago...September 2 to be precise (there seems to have been some confusion about that among certain members of my family who were using the anniversary of the restoration of the priesthood (May 15) as a way of remembering his birthday, so I thought I'd clarify).

Since we were going to be on vacation with the Piersons on his magical day, Jen and I decided that we should join forces to create a fourteen-layer cake-of-a-lifetime. Here's what we came up with:

Jen and I both made a cake and baked it into seven pancake-thick layers.

Then we made a delicious chocolate glaze to smother over each layer.

It took both of us to do all the layering and smothering.

It was getting pretty tall...

...and tasting pretty darn delicious.

However, it wasn't much to look at, so we decided to add an outside layer of chocolate-cream cheese buttercream frosting.

That looks better.

We forgot to bring any candles with us, so we had to use a flashlight. It's amazing how he was able to blow it out.

And then we cut into it. Yum. No, double yum....to the max.

Happy Birthday Justin!

Big Walk (Part II)

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:04:00 +0000

I know I already posted about this, but Jen shared her pictures of the day with me, and I couldn't resist passing them along to my adoring public.

In case you forgot I was pregnant, refer to bowling ball above. (That was a month ago...I've grown and inch a week since then...)

Much better action shot than I got of Justin and Colton running "fast like McQueen."

I'm pretty sure that Matt was trying to imitate Colton's run. Either that or he was returning to his primate roots. Kind of hard to tell which...

We made it to the "ba-ba ba" (That is Colton's version of waterfall. Now--a month later--it has at least developed to "wa-wa ba." Progress.)

Pure happiness.

After playing in the water, his shorts were a little wet...so he got to enjoy Oreos in his undies at the end of the hike.

Big Walk

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:55:00 +0000

Over Labor Day, we decided it was time to introduce Colton to hiking. We were in the Shenandoahs with the fabulous Piersons, so it seemed like a good Sunday activity to get outside and enjoy the beauties of nature. For some reason, rather than telling him that we were going on "a hike," we told him that we were going on a "big walk." I'm not sure why we didn't just call it a hike. But that is not the point here. The point is that Colton was a super hiker, or big walker--whatever you want to call it. He spent the first mile forcing Justin to jog with him "fast like McQueen" (or "bast mean" as this phrase would sound to the average human ear). This picture doesn't really do justice to the fact that they were moving at quite a clip (especially compared to 7-months-pregnant me).

Despite how much Colton loves running, the highlight of this particular big walk was the little pool full of gravel at the bottom of the waterfall.

Grab two handfuls of gravel.

Pull back...

Release!

Sheer delight to watch all those little rocks go plop, plop, plop in the water.

Then he realized it was fun to get in the water himself...

Smile! (He's figured out that he should make a face when we say to smile. At least this time it wasn't his sour face.)

Sadly, getting his feet all wet led to some pretty nasty blisters--and that was the end of him going fast like McQueen. On the other hand, it was the beginning of a great bicep workout for Justin who got to carry him the rest of the way...

Awesome new phrases

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 17:33:00 +0000

Colton is once again proving that (despite my worst fears) he actually will hit his developmental milestones. I was convinced he'd never learn to crawl...or get teeth...or most recently, learn to talk. Well, he may be unintelligible, but the boy's vocabulary is starting to take off. (Today at the grocery store, he revealed that he knows how to say "want that." It turns out that there are a lot of things that he wants at the grocery store. None of them were on the vegetable aisle.)

Yesterday he decided to put two fantastic phrases on repeat: "Mommy pretty!" "Mommy fun!" I'll give Justin the credit for teaching him these phrases, but I'll tell you that nothing makes you feel better than hearing someone tell you over and over that you are pretty and fun. Keep up the good work, Colton!

Blue Cup! Blue Cup!

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:33:00 +0000

Last night, as Justin and I were turning out the lights and heading to bed, we suddenly heard a wimper, then a seriously distressed cry. I went into Colton's room to see what was going on, and I found him walking toward the door saying "Blue cup! Blue cup!" At this point he'd been asleep for about three hours, so I tried to just send him back to bed, but he continued to insist that he needed a blue cup. So Justin went to the cupboard and brought Colton a blue plastic Dixie cup. Colton grabbed it, snuggled it, and settled right in to bed happily holding his blue cup.

We were on vacation last weekend, so we were using plastic cups rather than regular ones, but I had no idea that he'd developed such an attachment. It made us laugh pretty hard.

Tool belts

noreply@blogger.com (Bethany) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 00:37:00 +0000

Justin was in Colton's room (so that he could take apart the crib and spray paint it brown) with his tool belt. Colton didn't want to be out-done by Dad, so he grabbed his tool belt as well. Colton quickly discovered that a felt hammer is not as good of a tool as a real screw driver....

(And I will soon post the grand results of the spray painting and Colton (and baby's) new room...Get excited!)