Surprise!

Brendon does not like surprises. At least when I rub it in with, "I got you something but you don't know what it is." He'll search everything to find the gift: credit card statements, the house, our bank account...and he'll spend a fair amount of time looking until he finds out what it is. Christmas presents under the tree? He's a peeker. Double wrapped? Doesn't matter. He'll get to the gift.

So when Brendon left Henry and I for a three week rotation in California, I started to plan a surprise birthday gift without hinting to him I had a surprise. You see, three weeks is too long for us to be a part, Brendon's birthday was during this rotation, and with the help of a cheap plane ticket, my in-laws who were already planning on driving to Utah after Brendon's rotation, and some encouragement from my family (especially my dad), I decided to surprise Brendon.

Our surprise didn't go anything as planned, but it worked out perfectly. Our two-hour flight ended up being five hours. Brendon and his brother, Grant's, surf trip ended up being longer than planned. But Henry & I got to Grant's house about fifteen minutes before the boys got home. Perfect.

Brendon walked in, saw me and Henry and exclaimed, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?!?!" We had a joyous reunion.

Best surprise ever. Best birthday ever. I was a little nervous as to how the surprise would be received, but just look at his excitement. His face speaks for itself. No regrets with this surprise.

Brendon asked how I'm going to top off this birthday gift. I'm not even going to try. Brendon paid me the ultimate compliment when we were at a pumpkin patch with shopping stores when he said, "We need to get an ornament to remember today." (We collect Christmas ornaments with vacations and memories we want to keep.) So we bought our birthday ornament to commemorate the birthday we'll never forget.

No Dad, No Binkie, & a Sore Bum

Dad left almost a week ago. Henry and I have stayed busy playing with friends as much as possible and have been doing as well as possible without a husband and dad around. Poor Henry is going through the wringer this week: Dad (aka: his best buddy) is gone, we are working on no binkie at nap and bedtime, and he has a sore bum. I swear this happens every time dad is gone: terrible sore bottoms. Sunday Henry was not himself, but he has become more happy since. He truly is a champ and I find myself saying to Brendon, "Henry is such a good buddy" every day. He seems to be playing on his own more often and is such a good sport whenever I go shopping or make dinner. We have definitely been sustained with some extra help while dad is away.

Who wouldn't miss this?

We love and miss you, Dad! 

Dad's Week Off

Brendon had a week off and we took full advantage of it, doing something every day as a family. We tried to enjoy our time together as much as possible in anticipation of his (last) out rotation.

Monday we went to a pumpkin patch up in Riverton with my sister's family. There was a free corn maze, a free hayride, and old tractors sitting out for the kids to sit on (at least that's what we used them for). We found some perfect pumpkins for a great price, too. Henry couldn't get enough of the tractors and we took him on the hayride twice, he enjoyed it so much. After the pumpkin patch we went to my sister's for soup and chili and had a great time visiting. Henry and Brooklyn are becoming better friends as Henry is learning how to interact more with other kids.

 

On Tuesday we set out to find some ducks. Thanks to the internet, we discovered a new park in Provo with a duck pond. As I gave bread to Henry to feed the ducks, he quickly put it in his own mouth. He's a good little eater. He chased a few ducks around and wanted to swim with them in their pond so badly. Dad walked around the pond with Henry but he was still adamant about getting in the pond. As I was feeding the ducks, I couldn't believe how close they got--a little too close for comfort for me. They even nipped at my fingers a few times. A bonus feature of the park was a play place. We went swinging and Henry played on the slides before heading home.

Wednesday was my favorite day of our week. My mom watched Henry for the day while Brendon and I had a day-long date. We went on a tandem bike ride up Provo canyon, a must do. I loved it so much someday I want to purchase a tandem bike. And having Brendon as my partner was great--he said he did more than half the work. It was a beautiful bike ride. After our ride we went to the temple together, always a treat. Then we went out to eat, to a movie, then bowling. On our way home Brendon said, "I hope the buddy is still awake." Sure enough, he was so we played with him a little before our day ended.

On Thursday we went to the pet store (instead of the zoo). This ended up being perfect and more of a hands-on experience for Henry. We walked into the store with a dog running around and Henry quickly found a cage with kittens. He played with them most of all because his hand could reach into the cage to pet them. We saw everything from fishes, frogs and turtles to lizards, mice, and birds. When Henry got a little too comfortable and started to stick his hands into everything, we decided it was time to leave. We will definitely be doing that again.

On Friday we drove the Alpine Loop. Since it had snowed in the mountains during the week, we were able to see not only the changing leaves but also the snow on the trees. It was a beautiful drive. Henry didn't care for it too much. He quickly fell to sleep until we finished our canyon drive. Lucky for him dad opted to stop at the park we drove past and played with Henry (while mom stood still trying to keep warm in the 30 degree weather).

It was the perfect week spent together relaxing and enjoying each other's company.