Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Phoenix



Isn't that a great shot? I didn't take any video over the weekend, so I'll just go ahead and update on this trip. We cruised down last Thursday and came back on Sunday, so we really only had 2 days to be in Phoenix. And on top of that, somehow the 70-80 degree sunny skies departed for those two days and gave us clouds, rain, thunder, and even some hail. Can you believe that?

Our original intent in going down was to go for spring training. I've always wanted to go, but just never made it happen, and this year felt as good as any to get down there. Amy's brother is living down there, had an extra bedroom, we only have one child, and I can mostly take Fridays off and take off early on Thursdays, so everything just felt right to make it happen.

Highlights:
  • Tacos at American Taco Shop
  • The burger I had at Joe's Farm Grill, featured on Dinerss, Drive-ins, and Dives.
  • Skittles bowling
  • Seeing the Angels and Albert Pujols hit a home run
  • Pal-ing around Phoenix with Mike
Really, just hanging out with Mike, Amy's brother. He's so fun and I relate to him so well, so I have a really easy time being around him (which is true of all of Amy's family, but especially so with Mike). He was an awesome host and his roommate let us crash in his bed for our whole stay. I'm always amazed at how gracious people can be, even to complete strangers. And really, doing these kinds of trips and going to see someone in their digs and have them (or him) show us around is always so great. I can't say enough about how important I think that is for investing in relationships. It's such a fun way to do it, too. I'm so glad I'm married to someone who thinks it should be a priority too.

Jane at 6 months



I just think she has the sweetest little face in the whole world. I don't think there are many differences between this month and last. I'm pretty sure she's growing, but I know she's still a runt. The biggest thing, probably, is that she can roll from front to back and back to front. She doesn't do it very much, but she does it with ease, and always seems to wait until we're not there watching her.

My favorite thing about Jane lately is when she is in the baby bjorn riding forward. She just loves it. It's funny to hear her giggle and just wiggles so much when she's in it. This last weekend when we were coming back from Phoenix we stopped at the Hoover Dam for a quick break and so I strapped her in the bjorn. One person commented to us about how happy she was in that thing.

She's such a good traveler. It was funny over the weekend because someone asked us if this was her first road trip. No, actually, she's been on three big ones already (California twice and now Arizona, with St. George and Vegas next weekend) and two plane trips (Vancouver and Mississippi). What can I say? The girl gets around. Sometimes when we're out and about she's kind of out of sorts with her sleep schedule, but always seems to adjust pretty easily wherever she is.

She's not great at naps, but great at sleeping. Although when she did figure out how to roll over from front to back, she would wake herself up in the night and not know how to go back to sleep. That was kind of rough for about a week, but she's good now. And in spite of our preference for her to go to sleep later so we can stay out and party more, she's been getting down to bed around 8ish, but she still sleeps in until about 8, so we can't complain at all.

Her awareness of people is also a little more obvious, especially strangers. We ended up going out to see a movie last week and we left her with a friend, but she cried the whole time we were away. I felt bad for that friend, but what can you do? Mom and dad have to get out on their own at some point, right?

We just love Jane. I just love Jane. I wasn't a person who just felt flush with newfound love when she was born, but it has been something that has built up since then. Just thinking about her lights me up. I can't believe it. It's such a unique kind of love to be a parent, different than anything I've ever known. And silly sometimes too. You wouldn't believe how proud I felt when she finally started rolling over and made it look so easy, like, "come on, dad, you really didn't think I was up to it?"

I love her more than I can say. We just feel so lucky to have her.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Social Media and Going Viral

I kind of love the latest internet videos that go viral and it escalates and the whole world starts uploading their own versions of the latest craze.

Just two weeks ago it was the Harlem Shake:

And lately it's been this:


Social media is such an interesting thing to me. There are all these ways in which people can connect with each other. A year ago it was just taking pictures on your phone and the ease with which different fads spread like planking. And now with how easy it is to do videos, you have these kinds of things that pop up.

I really kind of love it. At least for the five minutes that it's popular.