The Happiest Place on Earth

A friend of mine once had to conduct an experiment for a class, so she decided to test a hypothesis about where people were happiest/friendliest. She tested the hypothesis by tracking what proportion of people smiled or said hello to her at a grocery store, a college campus, and a recreation trail. The friendliest place was the recreation trail, and the grocery store was the least friendly place. I remembered that experiment yesterday as I was running on a trail near our house, when I couldn't help smiling despite the tortuous run. The sky was incredibly blue after a few days of rain, and the smell of fresh cut grass was in the air. Sometimes it doesn't get better than that.


I may have to go all Mythbusters on Disney's claim using that same experiment to see if it holds true. My guess is the recreation trail would still win out. However, Disney does provide some great backdrops for a photo. Here's the fam from our trip last week.

Batman and Pebbles

Kieran's in a Batman kind of mood these days. He wants to wear his Batman pajamas everywhere--pre-school, church, the playground, and, of course, bed. He's quite distraught when they actually have to be washed. I already bought him a green dragon costume for Halloween, but I'm thinking Batman might slay the dragon Halloween night. Some cute things he's been saying lately is "that's what happens," which is his very philosophic response to any unfortunate thing that happens, "polk-a-nuts" instead of "polk-a-dots" and "gee-cano" instead of volcano.

Haven is our blonde Pebbles Flintstone. She has a favorite stuffed toy, "Lambey," which she uses as a security blanket. She also loves to sing, especially to herself in her bed.

Teetering on the Edge of Irrelevance

I do realize that I'm breaking a cardinal rule of blogging by letting months lapse between posts. I have no excuse, just photos from our summer:

The summer began with Ryan running the L.A. Marathon on Memorial Day. It was his 5th marathon, and he was happy to place in the top 8%. The highlight of Kieran's day, as evidenced in the photo above, was the toxic blue Batman popsicle.

In June, we celebrated my Dad's 60th birthday...

...and welcomed the newest cousin into the Shoemaker family.
We've been to the beach...

...and said goodbye to L.A. and hello to Burbank. I don't actually have a photo of Burbank, so this one of Hollywood is close enough. :)

Until the next post...

Earthbump

My years of practicing for "The Big One" in the Utah school system failed me. Yesterday, I experienced my first earthquake, and I froze. The earthquake registered in at 4.7, so it wasn't huge (thank goodness!), but we felt the brunt of it, since we were quite close to the epicenter. I was sitting at the dining room table with my laptop, and Ryan was in the living room. Next thing I know the house was moving and there was this eerie rumbling noise. I don't know who reacted worse--me sitting frozen right next to our solid dining room table or Ryan rushing across the living room toward our glass bookcases to keep them from tipping over. Apparently, fire drills are in order for the Shoemaker household. Kieran's been talking about the "earthbump" all day, and it's his newest excuse for why he can't go to bed.

Still Emerging from the Post-Holiday Fog...

As the lack of posts would suggest, our life has been busy the past couple of months. Nothing too terribly interesting, mostly just the day-to-day grind and some birthdays. Kieran and I celebrated our birthdays in January--his 3rd and my 33rd--and Haven's 1st birthday is fast approaching. So with that, I'll cut straight to grandma's updates:

While we're hesitant to don the flight jacket and declare mission accomplished in the war on wetting, we will say that significant progress has been made in the battle of Kieran's heart and mind. The advice is solid: Wait until 3 years old to potty train a boy (and don't get involved in a land war in Asia). He amazes us every day with all the new things he's learned to say. His newest favorite thing is tatter telling on Haven. And for some reason, he has to call me by name when doing this. For example, "Jen, Haven's throwing her food on the floor." He also calls Ryan "Ry." If you check out his photo closely, you'll notice that his forearms and shins are all bruised up. That's our Kieran!

Haven now has eight teeth, an eardrum-breaking screech, and the ability--though not the desire--to walk. She officially began walking about a month ago, but we think she must have taken a few nasty falls and decided that crawling is more civilized. While our firstborn's first words were "mama" and "dada," Haven's first words were "mine" and "no." She seems to become a little fiestier everyday as she learns to hold her own against Kieran.

Died and Gone to Santa Barbara

Happy New Year to everyone! We celebrated the 1st day of 2009 with a road trip, and we fell in love with a new city—Santa Barbara. I haven’t instantaneously loved a city like this since Santa Fe. Hmmm…I just noticed the Spanish holy name connection between the two cities, but then again that’s not really much of a coincidence in the Southwestern U.S., is it? Anyway, Santa Barbara is one of those charming cities where I start rearranging our life plans to figure out how to end up there. I don’t have a solution yet, since apparently you have to be independently wealthy or willing to endure a hellish commute. Since neither scenario is likely, I may just have to settle for a few day trips here and there.




Kieran turns three this week, and we’re still pushing the potty training hard. I know we should probably just hold off a little longer, but he seems so close at times. That is, until he wets his pants, and then he doesn’t seem so close any longer. He has started replying to our questions with “What!?” or “Yep” and “Uh-huh.” He pointed out to me today that he was breathing. He often proudly announces his, shall we say, less subtle bodily functions, but I was impressed that he knew what it meant to breath.


Haven is now nine months old and is crowned our “good eater.” She’ll eat just about anything she can get her hands on—cat food, paper in the recycling bin, you name it. She has 7 teeth and will soon be competing with Kieran for the official “hair farmer” title.

Last month, Ryan’s story, “Such Great Heights,” was published in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. Not only was it the longest work of fiction they’ve published, but it was also awarded the Best Fiction of the Year prize. If you don't have a subscription to Dialogue (which I'm guessing is everyone-except Aunt Becky and Uncle Brent) and would like to read the story, I'd be happy to send you the PDF.

L.A. Travelogue

My parents, Dave & Kathy, were just in town, and I love it when they visit. My house becomes cleaner, the kids are better groomed, and Ryan and I usually get a rare night out without kids. Some highlights of their trip were:

• Attending the filming of the Tonight Show - My parents weren't that enthused about Jay, but they were giddy as schoolgirls over David Archuleta


• The Getty - Amazing museum, gardens, and a spectacular view of L.A.

• Dining with the dolphins (or were they sharks?) at Duke's in Malibu

• Disneyland & California Adventure - I don't know who was the most excited about this, Kieran or my dad? Probably my dad.

Ryan and I had another quintessential L.A. experience. We attended a movie wrap party for Disney's Bolt at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood where the Oscars is filmed. We give the film two thumbs up, though we are biased.





In other news, I made my debut on national television...as an audience member on the Ellen's 900th show. It was kind of like going clubbing, except that it was in the afternoon, Steve Carell was there, the average age was closer to 50, and we all walked away with a new Blu-ray Disc player.

Kieran’s enjoying pre-school. I think he has his first crush on a little girl named Jaylene. He mentions her frequently and says she’s pretty. Should I be concerned that he’s not even three? His true love, however, is still monsters and dinosaurs. Here he is below practicing his smoldering look.






Haven is now eight months old and has three teeth and counting. She’s growing up way too fast.