memorial weekend and more ethan pics

We did a lot of family stuff over Memorial weekend. Brett and I drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon to walk around the boardwalk at Silver Lake. When we got there, however, the boardwalk was still covered in snow!
We visited Nanie and Grandpa, and Mark and Marty were in town, so we got to see them too.

The next day was the birthday party for Brett at his mom's house. Ethan was reading with his dad while we waited for dinner.

On Monday we went to the Red Butte Gardens with Christine.

Ethan's cute smooshed face in the sling with Dad.







We live in such a beautiful place.

Ethan is a little nervous about everything that's expected of him now that he's 2 months old (this is all the "propaganda" from our pediatricians office).








He's so cute, I might just barf! Oh, and check out on Jackie's blog how cute Blythe is getting as well!

brett's birthday race weekend

It was Brett's birthday this week, on May 27. This weekend just happened to be when the World Superbike races came to Miller Sports Park. So we got together (financially) with Brett's family and were able to buy him tickets for all weekend long.

This race is pretty cool, first of all because Brett and I have been following the motorcycle races for the past three or four years. We rent the DVDs of the racing season to watch, we own the racing XBox games, we just plain love racing! The second reason this race is so cool is that it's the only one that comes to North America. The there are 14 races in each season, and they happen all over the world, and they come to Utah for one of them.

The festivities started on Thursday evening, when a few of the racers had a press conference up at the Capitol. Then they got on their bikes and led a parade from the Capitol to the Delta Center. But this wasn't any boring old regular parade, this parade was for the motorcycle riding public! Meaning that Brett was totally there, and totally riding his Ducati in the parade behind the racers!!! You can imagine the excitement. But you don't have to imagine, because I took a video!!

But first, I took some pictures. While Ethan and I were waiting, we saw tons of motorcycles all heading up to the Capitol. The excitement of waiting to see his dad in a parade became too much for Ethan, so I had to give him his Floydster (that's his pacifier) to calm him down.
Then we saw the bikes coming! The video is about 2 minutes long. The first 8 bikes are the racers, and the rest are just regular people who came to be in the parade. Brett shows up about 30 seconds into it. You can tell it's him because the camera jiggles (because I waved at him) and then you can hear me laugh about how much fun he's having. He comes into the frame on the right at 32 seconds and then I follow him and he turns the corner at 41 seconds. So if you just want to look at him, go to those spots on the video.

As you can tell, Ethan was beside himself with delight to see the parade.
Then we went home to wait for Dad to come back. Good looking!
On Friday, Brett went out to the Sports Park. The actual races happen on Sunday, but Friday and Saturday is when the racers do their practice laps, getting to know the track and preparing for the race.
There is also a lot going on around the track for people to see. Like walking around and looking at all the hot bikes! This grey one in front is Brett's. He's parked in the special Ducati only parking lot. VIP!
These are some of the other hot bikes.



Brett's seat is in a cool place in the track, a place where the riders speed way up for a long straight and then have to brake for a few turns. He gets the best of all the race in one spot. Here are a few racers doing the practice laps.


The problem is getting a clear picture of the racers. Brett took a lot of empty shots because the bikes zoomed through too fast!

Brett is so happy to be able to see and do all this stuff this weekend. He's been talking non-stop when he gets home, but he's also so exhausted that it's not entirely coherent. hee hee. This morning when he left he said, "I'm off...to the races!" His eyes got wide. "For real!!"

2 months old

We haven't been taking pictures lately. The last few weeks have been hard for us. The baby's sleep schedule has gotten all random. But last night we moved him into his own room and he only woke up to eat once. This is a good sign. I don't know about Ethan, but I feel much better today.

Ethan has started doing more fun things. He watches his hands now, and likes to keep his index finger out, so it looks like he's pointing at things. He laughs now, but only for Daddy. (No surprise there; Daddy's the fun one in this family, Mama's all about business.) He's cooing and talking to us now, which is very cute. I'll see if I can get a video of that to share. Brett's started him exercising by having Ethan hold onto Brett's hands and sit up and stand up with a little help balancing. It's funny because now Ethan knows that it's possible to stand, he doesn't want to lay down anymore, he's always struggling to sit up.

We went to 2 doctor's appointments this week. The first was the baby ENT, to check out Ethan's ears. The doctor said that both his ears are infected, the eardrums aren't moving at all because of the fluid pressure behind them. He prescribed Ethan some antibiotics to see if we can clear up the infection that way. We're going back to see him in a month to check if Ethan has improved, and if not, he's going to have to get tubes in his ears.

Then we had Ethan's 2 month wellness/immunization appointment. Ethan weighs 11 lbs now, and he's 24 inches long. The shots were a sad time for us; he cried initially only for a minute or so, but later on in the day he was a very sad boy. Thank heaven for Tylenol!

Brett's been recording with Dulce Sky as well. He had to take Ethan with him one day, because I was taking my interpreting test, so the bebe got to hang out with all the gear. Ethan was a little embarassed in front of all the guys because I left him in his nightgown. hee hee.
We got him a new toy, a type that Jackie recommended to us. I think he'll get more into it as he gets a bit older. As you can see, he's not too enthused.
He's been doing this lounging pose, with his hands behind his neck. Very cute. This picture was taken after his shots, you can see the little bandaids on his little thighs. Poor baby.

happy mother's day!

A lot has been going on with us lately...well, not a lot by our previous standards, but quite a lot by our since-Ethan standards. We had our trees trimmed in the back yard, so now we have a super nice view of the valley.
The tree trimmers were all super fit and they inspired Brett and I to want to work out.
Our kitties appreciate the extra sun in our yard now that the trees have been thinned.
I graduated as well. Here is me going to shake hands with my favorite professor.
This is my good friend Janelle.
And Brett and I with my graduation Audi. You can see that both Brett and I are chubby and have a lot to go before we are fit like the tree trimmers. Fat faces!
Most importantly, Ethan has been growing and doing new things! He does fun baby tricks that we like to show off to friends, family, and strangers. Anyone who will listen, basically.



The best trick he's been doing for the past few weeks is SMILE!







Cutest baby ever!