For Valentine's Weekend, Brent made me a delicious breakfast in bed, I made him dinner, and during the day we took Caleb to the new aquarium by Draper. Caleb had a blast. It was the first time we had seen him so interactive with a place like that, and it was so fun to watch him try to grab the fish swimming by. When we left, we took a trip to the gift shop and got Caleb a present, which he has grown attached to quite quickly. Caleb loves anything soft and fluffy, so this was perfect.
Brent and I also exchanged gifts, and I must say, Brent has really outdone himself the last few months with gifts. For our anniversary he took me on a sleigh ride, and for Valentine's Day he took the book I had written that had been rejected by both publishers I had sent it to and made it into a book. So now I have one true copy of my book! You better believe it is never leaving the house. I may or may not have cried. I gave Brent a pizza stone to use for his smoker, which was what he wanted. He is very excited to use it...but I think I need to up my gift-giving game!
We also kept true to our Valentine's tradition of watching Lord of the Rings...but we were to tired to even finish the first movie haha. Parenthood has taken its toll on us.
The next weekend, Uncle Ryan had the ingenious idea of taking Caleb to a place called the Puppy Barn in American Fork. It's a place that sells adorable puppies, but anyone can go in and look at them, and adults can hold them. Caleb's favorite word is "goggie" and he loved seeing the puppies and trying to vigorously pet them and nuzzle them. He kept saying "goggie" over and over again. We will definitely get a dog once we are out of the renting stage of life (and then hopefully Caleb will be big enough to help take care of it!)
Ryan also offered to babysit for us that night so we could continue our Valentine's celebrations. We always go out to eat the week after Valentine's Day so we don't ever have to worry about reservations. We went to a Japanese hibachi place in Provo, which was delicious. We shared the table with a man and four of his cute kids and another couple. We had a great time talking to the man next to us, who apparently frequents the restaurant quite a bit, because he kept asking our waitress how her family was and he made a request for a specific chef. Brent says he hopes one day we can be regulars like that at some fun place too. We had to leave a little early to catch a movie, and to our surprise, the man paid for our meal. He said every time he goes he pays for the whole table, but he is usually able to leave before the guests find out. Luckily we were leaving before he did, because we were able to thank him over and over. I am still so amazed and grateful that there are kind strangers like that.
After dinner we caught Big Hero 6 at the dollar theater. We LOVED it and highly recommend it. I don't usually love superhero movies, but this one was so creative. I also loved the short that played before the movie and was happy that both films one awards at the Oscars. Definitely well-earned.
This month was also my dad's 60th birthday. My mom and us siblings got him 10 gifts so he would have sixty presents for his sixtieth birthday. He LOVED it. We all connected via skype and FaceTime and watched him open all his presents. Some were sentimental, some were silly, and many were edible, but he seemed to love them all. It will probably go down as one of my favorite family memories. Also, my nephew Sammie turned 1 on the same day, so happy birthday Sammy!
Last night we also had some of Brent's old friends over for dinner, which was a blast. We had delicious smoked ribs, beans, and cole slaw, and it was just a great night.
Caleb walks everywhere now, which I love. It slows him down a little for now, and he doesn't eat random stuff off the floor anymore. He could already climb everything so he's not into anything he wasn't into already haha. His vocabulary has increased to include "goggie" (doggie), "bobby" (baby), "ca" (car), chee (cheese, his favorite food), ba (used for both ball and bath), and pa (I'm still trying to figure out what he is referring to, but he says it a lot.) He loves to be chased and caught, tickled, and read to. We really adore that little boy.
Brent is busy working on his second paper of the semester that he hopes to get published. The goal is to write 6 papers this semester and have all of them published in science journals. They are all related to loud noises and soundwaves, but that's the most I could tell you. It's not secret. It's just way over my head! He also recently got accepted to speak at a conference in Texas over the summer, so we are excited about that. So if anyone wants to keep me company while he is gone, please come!
I have also become more committed to making art. I was really burnt out and discouraged for awhile, but I have some wonderful art friends who have been so encouraging, and we are going to try and get together each Friday to swap babysitting so we can each get some valuable art-making time. (It is not easy to be an artist and a mom!) Below is the results of our first session. It's not finished but it was so nice to draw again and not have any pressure, and to also draw a subject that I love!
Well, I think that covers everything!
