Graduation!!!

Last weekend we went to Alan's graduation. It was a little weird, since he actually finished in December and has been working these past few months. However, it was nice to get some closure to our college life, and it was special since he got to walk with his sister (and my dear friend) Amanda. We will always have fond feelings for our alma mater, but we are both glad that this chapter in our lives is finally over.


Congratulations, Master Alan!

I'd rather be a...

Here's some random fun: on our cruise Alan made up a game that kept us entertained for longer than I'm willing to admit. Most of you probably know the Simon and Garfunkel song that includes lines such as "I'd rather be a hammer than a nail. Yes, I would..." Anyway, we spent an evening or two coming up with alternative lines that would rhyme with that one. We pretty much exhausted every letter of the alphabet, but here are a few of my favorites.

I'd rather be a minnow than a whale
I'd rather be a woman than a male
I'd rather be a shovel than a pail
I'd rather be from Harvard than from Yale (no offense to my Peacock friends!)
I'd rather be the whiskers than the tail
I'd rather be a Nancy than a Gayle
I'd rather go to heaven than to "hale"
I'd rather be a sandstone than a shale
I'd rather be expensive than on sale
I'd rather get a passing than a fail
I'd rather eat fresh-baked instead of stale
I'd rather be quite tan instead of pale
I'd rather be in prison than in jail (???)
I'd rather be a pigeon than a quail
I'd rather find the lost ark than the Grail

Ha, ha! I'm laughing as I type them. Can you top any of these?

Some Weekend Goings-on

1st event--Happy Birthday to my sweetie!

Dessert with our parents

He is 4 years old!

I think I appreciate and love my husband more this year than ever before. Last year he didn't get a very good birthday celebration because we were in the middle of a health crisis. (In fact, said health crisis didn't get sorted out for another 5 months.) Have you ever had a moment in your life where you thought you were going to lose the person you loved most? (I know my mom and my sister-in-law have.) I had a while to think about what life would be like without Alan. I am so grateful that I still have him in my life and to keep forever. I love you so much, Sweetie!


2nd event--The Buddy's new haircut!

Before (you can't ever be smiling in "before" pictures--just check all the magazines)

After

Yay, Mommy! No more long bangs!

So, I finally did it. I cut Jared's hair (with Alan's help). Maybe the last straw was when someone at church yesterday assumed he was a girl. Doesn't he look more boyish now? Just as an update on The Buddy: both of his top teeth are coming in, and yesterday he waved "bye-bye" for the first time! (He waved bye-bye to Daddy again this morning.) He is ADORABLE!

Cruise, cont.

Taking a boat ride in front of arch

My favorite part about our trip was a little ride we went on in a glass-bottomed boat around Cabo San Lucas. The weather was perfect, and the water was such a beautiful turquoise! We saw some beautiful beaches, fish, sea lions, and birds. We also saw the famous arch there.

Isn't the water beautiful?

Cool birds and our cruise ship in the back

There are many more pictures I could post, but I think I've shown the prettiest ones. Overall, our trip was wonderful. I could go on and on about the delicious food and the fun entertainment on the ship as well, but I think that would make all of you too jealous (let me just say "sinful chocolate velvet cake" and "chocolate creme brulee"). If anyone would like any advice about cruising with a baby, I would be happy to share (e.g., never introduce a new food--such as BROWN rice cereal--to your baby on vacation because then he might break out in a sudden rash on his face and scare the heck out of you).

Mexican Riviera Cruise

View of the Cabo San Lucas arch from our cruise ship

Yesterday we just got back from a wonderful eight-day cruise with my parents to Mexico. It was sort of our big splurge of a vacation, since our family will only be getting bigger in the future and we probably won't be able to afford another "big" trip for many years. Here I will give a few highlights of our trip.

I just have to say how wonderful it was to have my parents on the trip with us. First of all, they are cruising experts and just plain fun to be with. Second of all, they were a great help with Jared. Their room was adjacent to ours, and we brought the baby monitor so that someone could be in the other room while Jared was napping or asleep. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

My cute parents in Acapulco

Our cruise went out of Long Beach, CA down to Acapulco, Mexico with additional stops in Zihuatanejo, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas. We had tons of fun and spent lots of time at the beach and shopping. Alan was excited to speak with the natives in Spanish and buy yummy Mexican bread and fruit popsicles.

At the beach in Acapulco

Shopping in Zihuatanejo

Every time we went on shore, we put Jared in a backpack that we borrowed, and Alan carted him around. Aren't they cute?

Jared and Alan in Acapulco

Jared, by the way, was an angel on the trip. Except for crying for a few hours the first night (the ship was rocking A LOT!), he was so patient with missed/delayed naps, lots of chaos, and airplane and boat rides. He never cried once in public! Everyone on the cruise ship loved him! People were always telling us how cute he was, and there was even one waiter who would come and find us at every meal to say hi to Jared. He definitely stole some hearts! Here are some cute pictures of Jared.

Asleep in Zihuatanejo

Being a good sport on the little boat around Cabo San Lucas

Asleep on the airplane on the way home

I will post more pictures tomorrow. I'm having trouble uploading them right now. Some of my best ones have yet to be posted!

New Niece!

Sorry I haven't written lately--we just got back from an 8-day cruise! I will write more on that later. The day before we left, my newest niece was born. Luckily, I was able to see her for a few minutes when she was less than a day old! Isn't she beautiful? (Also, my sister-in-law looks great, too, doesn't she?)

Alan and Hugh

I tried several different pictures of Alan, and each time the results said that Alan looks most like Larry King! But I thought I would show Alan morphing into someone much younger and cuter.

Hopefully this post makes up for the last one about Michelle Pfeiffer.

Jenny's Celebrity Morph

I looked most like some model I had never heard of. So here I am, morphing into Kirsten Dunst, whom I have heard of. Enjoy. (I don't actually think this is a very attractive picture of me--I was almost nine months pregnant, and I feel that my face looks pregnant, too!)

Alan's Celebrity Morph

Ok, so I went to this website as suggested by Amy in the comments of my last post. Alan actually looks most like Aki Hakala, but since I had never heard of him, I decided to share his next best lookalike, Michelle Pfeiffer. (Forgive me, Sweetie! I decided to compare this lovely picture of you instead of doing a straight-faced photo, like the website suggests.)