our lovely vacation

After a lovely 2-week vacation to the beautiful Pacific Northwest, we finally made it back to NYC. We visited Jon's family in Portland, OR for Jon's brother's wedding. It was a fabulous trip. There was lots of wedding excitement leading up to the big day and then we were able to relax a bit with gma and gpa H, aunt Chrissy, and some of the extended family that flew in from Utah.

Noah did AMAZINGLY well on the trip. The flight was only mildly painful (thanks to our recent "investment" -- portable DVD player and Diego DVDs!). Both flights were completely packed, so no hope for that extra seat (lucky Amy!)but even having a 30-pound-15-month-old on our laps for almost 6 hours wasn't as bad as we thought. A few trips to the the bathroom to splash water in the sink, lots of treats and juice, a few walks up and down the aisle, and a couple of friendly teenage girls kept him entertained during the fussy periods -- i.e. when he wasn't watching a DVD! And on both flights the people sitting in front of us commented on how well he did because they didn't even realize there was a baby behind them. (I probably took way too much satisfaction from that :) He even did great with the time change and managed to take great naps most days -- even after cutting his first molar (yikes!). He also perfected his walking skills, became obsessed with the word "okay", and decided to start sleeping an hour longer every morning (my personal favorite new trick!).

The wedding was fabulous. Amber looked amazing (so did you, Mike...) and they couldn't have seemed happier. Looking back through our pictures I did have to laugh, because it was ridiculous how many times we ended up in downtown Portland (just can't escape that city life!). We hit lots of fun playgrounds and wandered through a few toy stores. We were also able to escape a few evenings (thanks gma and gpa H!) for a movie and some good food (loved Bourne Ultimatum!). We had a lovely trip to the Oregon Zoo with the cousins and we topped the trip off with an awesome trip to the coast.

Here are a few pics from our vac-a:

making himself at home

(he was obsessed with gma's oversized stuffed bear!)

Salmon Street fountain

(gotta love those city fountains!)

tearing up Finnegan's Toy Store

downtown playground

(complete with a few psych patients-- it felt just like home!)

Oregon Zoo

the 2nd cousins meet

feeding the ducks on the Willamette River

the happy couple

the boys

(check out Noah's shiner that he got the day before -- just in time for the wedding pics!)

taking his post at the beach

lovin' it

he loved splashing in the water, even though it was freezing!

so cute!

hooray for vacation!

finally figuring it out...

It's been almost a month since Noah has taken his official "first steps". I was never able to catch it on video because he would never do it when I wanted him to (very stubborn!). So for the past month he has been doing a combination of walking and crawling. For the most part he has preferred crawling, because he can crawl super fast. And for awhile the only time he would walk would be when we were outside at the park because he wasn't in his comfort zone at home. I think he had figured out how to get around the house really well without walking so he just didn't care to do it.

But just yesterday I think he started finally figuring it out. He realized that it's much easier to walk around the house. So, I'm pretty sure he's going to start to prefer walking now. He's definitely still doing the "Frankenstein" walk, but it gets him to where he needs go...

Here's a clip we finally caught of all the action:

Tagged...

I've been tagged by my friend Julia...

so here it goes.

Jobs I have had:

1. secretary for my dad's fastener company
2. warehouse stock shipper-girl (for my dad's co.)
3. private flute teacher
4. bra sales-girl (Olga/Warner, specifically)
5. Eddie Bauer sales-girl
6. instrument repair technician
7. nanny
8. merchandiser for candy company
9. camp counselor
10. middle school band director

Movies I can watch over and over:

1. Anne of Green Gables
2. Ocean's 11 (Brad Pitt & Matt Damon :)
3. The Parent Trap (original with Hailey Mills)
4. Legally Blonde
5. Sweet Home Alabama
6. My Best Friend's Wedding
7. Napolean Dynamite

Books I can read over and over:

1. Anne of Green Gables
2. The Great Gatsby
3. The Secret Garden
4. The Hobbitt
5. Little Women
6. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Places I have lived:

1. Murray, UT (until I was 4)
2. New Windsor, NY
3. Provo, UT (4 different apts. there)
4. Lake Oswego, OR (just for a summer)
5. Wash. Heights, NYC (way too long!)

Places I want to visit:

1. Hawaii
2. Peru
3. Austrailia
4. Israel
5. Africa
6. England
7. any Carribean island!
8. Prince Edward Island

Places I have visited:

1. Most of the states on both coasts of the U.S and a few in between
2. Germany
3. Austria
4. Switzerland
5. Italy
6. Spain
7. Puerto Rico
8. Mexico

TV shows I watch:

1. Seinfeld
2. Friends
3. Scrubs
4. The Office
5. The Hills (season premiere Aug. 13th!)
6. any Bravo Reality TV show!
7. Oprah
8. Fox reality shows... (American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance!)
9. Dora the Explorer, Higglytown Heros, Go, Diego Go! (unfortunately)
10. The Food Network or E! when there's nothing else on...

Foods I like:

1. pepperoni and olive pizza
2. a good burger
3. coco helado -- from the corner
4. sesame bagel and cream cheese
5. enchiladas
6. california rolls
7. strawberry-banana smoothies
8. scrambled eggs
9. french toast
10. ceviche
11. chocolate chip cookie-dough ice cream

I'd rather be:

1. at the beach
2. in the park
3. shopping
4. traveling

Websites I visit daily:

1. my email
2. friend's blogs
3. ebay
4. google

People I am tagging:

1. Heather J.
2. Leolani
3. Jess K.
4. Tawni
5. Amy
6. Mara