Our Second Home

Last week Kristin, Patten and I ventured to the City of Brotherly Love to visit my brother Ty and his wife Becca. The trip was so much fun we cannot possibly fit it into one single post. Therefore (doesn't that word sound official?) we will explain our travels in multiple posts. I (Dave) will handle this first installment - and Kristin will contribute down the line.

We began our adventures on Tuesday May 6. After arriving in Philly at 4:30 we went to Ty and Becca's house and shared a Hawaiian pizza from the local Pasqualli's (sp?) pizzeria. It was great. The picture below shows how happy that pizza made us after a full day of flying (especially since we are too cheap to buy airplane / airport food and thus were STARVING!) (in the interest of full disclosure, this particular picture was not taken on that particular night - but it still gets the point across).

On Wednesday the 7th Kristin and I tromped around Philadelphia while Ty spent the day in his cardiology rotation and Becca watched the General. First, we visited Penn's campus. We were happy to see our good friend Ben there to greet us. He and Kristin bonded instantly.

Next we ventured to Drexel University's campus. Becca will attend Drexel this fall for nursing school. While no dignitaries on par with Ben Franklin showed up for us in Drexel, I did convince the local dragon to pose for a shot with me.

After Drexel we marched on to my old mission stomping grounds. I served in the Singles Ward, twice, on my mission and we covered Penn, Drexel, and many other campuses. The picture below shows Kristin outside of my apartment on 36th and Powelton. The complex serves mostly students but somehow we missionaries infiltrated the premises back in the day. Kristin even got to see the local elementary school (which sits across the street from shown apartments) on recess - quite a sight.

While we tromped around Philly, Becca played with Patten. They had a great time. I'm not clever enough to include a link to Ty and Becca's post - but if you look over to the left, yea right there, you'll see a link - "Ty and Becca," and if you click on it you will see (about 4 posts down) some darling pictures of Patten. Thanks to Becca for watching him so Kristin and I could see the city.

Tune in next time for more Philadelphia adventures.

Alive

Say goodbye to yet another semester. Monday, April 28, I took my last final. After finishing that last test I realized I need to develop a "finals are over" tradition. I know Ty and his friends watched a movie following each semester, other friends go out to lunch, or golfing, or some other such fun event. I need to get on the ball and figure that out.

But, in the meantime, I'm just glad to be done. I spent Tuesday, all of Tuesday mind you, with Kristin and Patten. We visited my family's Millcreek cabin (only looked at it though due to snow), ate 3 (count 'em) meals together, and Patten and I changed the headlight on Maxi (our Nissan Maxima). He played more of a minor role in the actual light change but I greatly appreciated his moral support.

I hope other folks get to experience this feeling of freedom. I've decided semesters exist simply so they can be finished.

We are excited to visit Ty and Becca in Philly next week, followed by the start of my new job and a summer full of no school (other than counter-terrorism research for my professor). Should be a good few months.

Patten's Many Faces

What a month. As you will see, our family had lots of fun in March.

First - Rolling Patten. Patten decided he was sick of laying on his back / stomach. So, he set out to roll over. Here he is following rolling from his back to his stomach. You can see him thinking, "hmm... that darned arm... what am I going to do about that."
And so Patten decides "aha! I'll shift my weight to the pelvic region and remove my arm." Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for his parents, it took him a good 20 minutes to pull out his arm. But eventually...
He did it! Victory! Rolling over is now common-place. In fact, if we put him on the floor and mind our business for 2 or 3 minutes he undoubtedly changes orientation and position by the time we return.
In addition to Patten's rolling antics, we celebrated Kristin's birthday in March. We got together with a few good friends (from left to right - Scott, Henry (or Henrizzle), Jake, Jacy, Lex, Kristin, Patten, and Mikea - I know our friends have cool names) - we played games, ate food, and had an altogether great time.
Next - Moose Stroller Patten. That moose outfit is his most expensive and prized outfit - it comes from some fancy store (naartje?) and supposedly is fine clothing for youngins.
Ahhh, Mischievous Patten. I don't quite know what to make of this picture - other than the fact that it wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for the 800 blankets Kristin stuffed in the contraption to make him fit in it. Way to go Kris!
And here we see Easter Patten. A charming young man dressed in sky blue and donning a killer smile. Disregard his dad, please.
More Easter Patten. But, luckily for him, his mother matches his beauty in this picture (unlike his dad in the last). Didn't I get lucky?
Hang with me - we're almost done. Here we see Reading Patten. I came home from meetings last night to find my adorable wife having a Read-a-thon with our beautiful son. I doubt he got much out of the reading aspect, but man he sat right up and hit that book with his fist over and over again. Perhaps he gained some knowledge of Persuasion via osmosis... either way it was about the cutest thing I have ever seen.
And finally - Smiling Patten. Patten sure loves his mom - this picture proves it.

A Utah Man Is He

Can you believe it took me this long to get him in a Utah shirt? And the best part is, I did not even put him in the shirt. I walked out of our bedroom one day and Kristin had slipped him into her MUSS shirt. I definitely married the right girl.
Here is a picture with Uncle Ty. I mostly post this so Becca can have a copy (your welcome, Becca). But also to say it was fun to have Ty around this weekend. He got Patten ready for bed, wrapped him in the magic blanket, and even checked on him after he feel asleep.


This just might be my favorite picture of all time. I believe those are my hands helping him stand - I don't know what I did to get him to smile like this, but it sure is cute. He loves to stand, just loves it. In fact, he often refuses to sit because he'd rather stand.
And finally, Patten's first walk. Kristin and I love going for walks. Unfortunately the General joined us during cold weather and we haven't been able to take him for a walk. So, the first halfway bearable day (all of you RSV-fearing mothers would have vetoed this) Kris and I took him out for a stroll. You can see from his outfit that it really was too cold for a 4 month old to be on a walk.

At 4 MONTHS?!?!?

We always knew baby Patten seemed a bit old for his age.

But when Kristin came home on Tuesday and informed me that the pediatrician said it was time to begin the "jella (I mean rice) puddin (I mean cereal)," I was astounded.

Luckily, I didn't write this post that day - because in the subsequent days I've overcome my initial shock. Now I just to get enjoy feeding out little boy.

Before I get to the eating pictures, how about a good Valentine's Day smile from Kris and her boy! (The truth is I don't know how to get the darn pictures to post underneath each other rather than on top of each other, and by the time I figure out they are posting on top of each other I've already posted pictures that I wish were on the top...)

Now for the eating - doesn't that look good!

Time for another bite.

At some point, I trust, he'll enjoy his food. For now, it is simply a test of endurance for his parents to force feed him the entire bowl (and I believe more ends up down his chin than in his mouth).

We Thank Thee...

President Hinckley's passing generated many emotions for our little family. On the one hand, we were sad to see "our" Prophet leave us. On the other, we were happy to see him finally pass on to be with his wife. We enjoyed spending last Monday's FHE reminiscing on President Hinckley: from waving the cane to rebuking the brethren. What a great man.

My dad sent me a link, included below, to Glenn Beck's tribute of Gordon B. Hinckley. I actually had seen this clip the very night it aired, but am grateful my dad sent the link because it is worth watching again and again. Glenn, a long time radio and tv voice, lived in PA during my mission years. I participated in the Messiah sing in with him and found him to be a no nonsense kind of guy who cherished his conversion to the Gospel. I've always appreciated his willingness to embrace and explain our faith on national television.

I hope you enjoy the clip.

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/200/5127/

The Johnsons have had a great break. We spent a lot of the time with family. Patten is getting bigger and chubbier by the day. Sadly, he is starting to loose some hair on his head...

Missy and Patten have a fun bond between them. Patten loves to talk to her.
Kristin decided to chop her hair off. She still hasn't decided whether she likes it or not.
Well that is all for now, I know it is rather short but there will be more later.

-The Johnson Clan