Seeking bigger bathtub...

Here is my little bather 3 months ago.

But things are not as they once were. We have a wheel-chair accessible shower but no tub, so Samuel's still bathing in his little infant tub that is supposed to facilitate a toddler. But I fear he won't last much longer.

IDEAS?

Break's over... and How!

Okay, back in business. I think the reason I get behind is that there's so much to share! If I can't share all of it, why share any? Right? And then when I'm not keeping up my own blog, I'm generally not keeping up with anyone else's either, so here's to a fresh start.

Let's start with current news and go from there. Not only is today Tax Day (and we get a refund for the first time in a long time), but it's the Third Anniversary of the day Keenan proposed to me! Time sure flies. And I'm still loving every minute.

To our great joy, we've had oodles of visitors so far this year. Since I last blogged, we've had Meredith, Keenan's Dad, and Julia! Here are some highlights:

Keenan's spectacular first Masters Recital!!
(Bach Toccata in G, Beethoven 81a,
Ravel Gaspard de la Nuit, Schumann Carnaval)
He played his heart out!

Handsome father and son

Playing with Grandpa
(Look closely...)

Exhilarating LA Phil Concert at Disney Hall, including:
Ravel La Valse, Ravel Piano Concerto in G (with Martha Argerich)
Shostakovich Symphony No. 5


LA Arboretum with Meredith
(she blends right in)

My favorite fig tree

These flowers remind me of Meredith.

(Incidentally, I could devote a whole separate BLOG to the L.A. Arboretum. But it could never do justice... On we go.)

WHALE WATCHING! Boy we had great luck.

We saw a juvenile humpback, a mother/calf gray whale combo,
and these two humpbacks swam right under our boat!!

Check out my dolphin movie!

Samuel woke up for the end of the 3 1/2 hour trip.

What are the chances?


Waving goodbye.

For more great footage of our whale watching trip, click here.

We spent a few hours at the beautiful J. Paul Getty Museum, which was enjoyable. Keenan and Meredith both really know their art history, so I learn a lot from them. Speaking of Meredith, three people different people at three different times have told her she looks like a character from a Pre-Raphaelite painting, such as the one pictured below. What do you think?

View of smoggy LA from the Getty Center.
Look at my cute boy.

Julia and I got a yummy pizza from D'Amore's and
ate it on the beach in Malibu while we watched the surfers.

Watching a horse race at the Santa Anita Racetrack


My horse lost. Good thing I didn't place a bet.

Every horse race needs a decent frank.

Julia and I went and did a portion of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where we saw lots of famous people's stars on the sidewalk. We also saw the filming of a TV show (forgot which), Kodak Theater (Julia had to tell me why it's famous), and all sorts of strange characters.

We went back to Hollywood Blvd. the next day with Keenan to visit Ripley's Believe it or Not! Odditorium. We viewed such rarities as:

a two-headed lamb


a five-legged calf


Marilyn Monroe, made of 250,000 thrown-out $1 bills


This picture of Jesus, created using miniscule words from
The Gospel According to St. Luke


My boy loves his Aunt Julia!

Are you really still reading this? If you are, it must be that you're dying to see the Grand Finale:

I think this is my longest post to date, and hopefully, it will not be beat.

Sam the Champ

Samuel cut his FIRST TOOTH this week! I'm serious, guys, this has been a LONG time coming. Maybe this is normal, but I started noticing teething symptoms after he was three months old, and finally, at the door to his seven month mark, he's got a little beauty poking through and another close at hand.

During the last two weeks, my love and respect for my little Samuel have been greatly enhanced. Directly following his six-month growth spurt and during the toughest time of teething, he somehow caught a nasty virus (likely brought to my home by a violin student). For three nights in a row, his temperature rose to 102, and though we were able to bring it down each time, it was scary! The post-fever aftermath of sniffing/coughing/sneezing/hurting was definitely no fun either. And we were making it worse by constantly sticking things in his ears/nose/mouth in hopes of relieving some of the anguish. It was very difficult for me to see him struggle against something I couldn't really help him overcome. We prayed for him and tried our best to nurse him back to health, and felt great gratitude every time he took a step towards health, to which he is finally nearly fully restored.

Taken after cooling the first high temperature. What a champ!

This is the first time I have experienced the worry of a parent for a child, and it brought to mind two things. One: the way Keenan must have felt (in part) watching me give birth to Samuel. Incapable of removing the pain of someone so beloved, he patiently endured it with me. And two: the way our Heavenly Father must feel (in part) watching us endure hard things. The difference between His experience and mine is that when Samuel was suffering, I was helpless. When we suffer, our Father in Heaven wisely withholds his help until the time is right. I don't think I would have been so wise, had I that same power.

What an incredible task parenting is!

Finally a date night! And lots of family. :)

Our Little Pawn

Exciting News: Keenan and I finally went out to dinner without Samuel! We asked Danielle, a young woman from the ward, to watch over him while we went out for Valentines Day! I didn't know how nervous I would be as we were driving away! Would he cry the whole time? Would he miss me? How would she handle him should he get tired or hungry (which he shouldn't)? So I was nervous.

What's more, we were going to Olive Garden, which turned out to have a two-hour wait, so we put our name on the list and walked around to the other restaurants in the area to see if anyone else was more reasonable. We ended up at Tony Roma's and got in after a somewhat long "30 minutes." But what a find! This was the best eatin' out we've done in a long time. Unfortunately, our waitress told us they're likely to go out of business soon, so if you've never been, GO before it's too late. Be sure to get some babyback ribs and steak. And corn fritter casserole. Mmmmm.

Samuel was just fine when we got back. He was happy the whole time! What!? Didn't he miss me just a little?? The female mind is so funny.

By the way, I think I paid the babysitter too much. How do I know what I should pay??

-----------
In other news, we've seen lots of family lately, who've come to L.A. for other reasons, but managed to see us too! These include my Mom and brother, Richard, who stayed with us for a few days:

My Dad (right after Mom left, funnily enough), who stayed with us one night, and spent a few more days at Newport Beach with his family:

My Grandma and most of my Dad's siblings (left to right: Mary, Dad, Sarah and Samuel, Nathan, G-ma Marshall, Sarah's husband Allen, Martha, and David)

How do I make the quality of this photo better, darn it?!?

Lucky Sammy and I got to spend the day at Newport at David's timeshare. Such a lovely sunset! Thanks, Uncle David!

And on Valentine's morning, we saw Keenan's Grandparents, the Allreds! They went on a cruise that left from Los Angeles... so we had breakfast together. Our good fortune!

So fun to be with family!!

Lovely Los Angeles... who'da thought!?

Back from my Blogging Break (I posted this the evening of 2 February... don't know why the date is wrong)! We just enjoyed a fantastic week with Andrew, Ariel, and Abraham! They helped us have fun at home and get out and enjoy the lovely Los Angeles area. Here are some highlights:

Live Oak Park (Temple City, CA)

Hammie

Arcadia Park (Arcadia, CA)

Don't look too closely...

He could go down forwards AND backwards!

Picnic at USC (Los Angeles, CA)

Griffith Observatory (Los Angeles, CA)



Waiting for the pendulum to hit down another peg...

L.A. from the Observatory

Aquarium of the Pacific (Long Beach, CA)

Sunset Beach (Sunset Beach, CA)

The Arboretum of Los Angeles (Arcadia, CA)

Arcadia Library (Arcadia...)

Favorite COUSIN snapshots:

Come back soon, you three! We miss you already!