Welcome to the Evergreen State!

As most of you know, Chris got a summer internship working for a law firm in Seattle. So we packed up our suitcases and headed west. I am really glad we didn't drive, beause the 6 hours flying with a wiggly 10 month old was the longest flight I have ever been on. I was really happy when we landed in Seattle and more excited that I don't have to fly with him for a couple of months.

This has been a great opportunity for our family. We have been really blessed because Chris' parents live just outside of Seattle and offered to let us stay with them for the summer, which has been so much easier than renting an apartment. And, it provides a really great opportunity for Grant to get to know his grandparents.

Since we had a few days before Chris started work, we thought it would be fun to get out and do a couple of fun things.

We went to a cute little country town in Bothell where Grant met his first racing Grey Hound.

(Grant is probably thinking- "Yeah, I could take him.")

We also went to Lake Sammamish, which was a lot of fun.

Grant took his first steps in non-bath water. A bit colder and dirtier, but he still loved the waves hitting his little fat feet.

This is one of my favorite Grant poses. He loves to crouch when he is observing things.

Just had to include this one because you can see his teeth. Now he has 7 teeth!

And what fun would a baby be if he didn't terrorize someone else's house. So far, we have had to move everything breakable up a couple of levels, tie doorknobs together, and keep a close eye on him. BTW, this was Chris' rocking chair when he was a little boy. One day I saw Grant climb up on the chair, stand up and hold on to the back while rocking it back and forth- evidently just sitting in a chair is too boring.

Grant thought he would "help" Grandma in the kitchen.

"Grandma, can I stir the meatballs, too?"

We miss Champaign, but are excited to be here! We'll keep everyone posted on our adventures in the Evergreen State.

"Welcome to Old Nauvoo! Where are you from?"

If you ever visit Nauvoo, IL, you will likely hear this combination of phrases around 8,945 times, give or take. Everybody is very friendly and very interested in talking to you.

We made our inaugural trip to Nauvoo this weekend, and had an absolute blast. We'd been wanting to go ever since we arrived in Illinois, but things just kept coming up (school, baby being born, etc. - probably no good excuses). So after finals were over, we made our determination and got out there. Also, we figured it wouldn't be right to go that far without rounding out the trip with a visit to Carthage. A fantastic couple of days full of Mormon history. And to top it all off, Grant was as good as gold, in spite of tooth #7 trying really hard to make an appearance. :)

Just a little background: when some of the original Mormon Saints were struggling with political pressures and attacks from mobs, they were driven from Missouri and were desperate to find a place to call home. Joseph Smith led the Saints to a little swamp-town on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, opposite of Iowa. The Saints called this area home for a few years in the 1840's, before making the trek to settle in Utah (which has come to be the center of the Mormon church ever since). So visiting Nauvoo and Carthage was an opportunity to place scenes with all of the stories we have heard throughout our lives. Truly an awesome experience.

So here are a bunch of pics from our trip. If you're going to be in Central Illinois in the next 12 months or so, let us know and I think we'd be willing to make time for another trip out. Enjoy!

A beautiful picture of the Nauvoo temple. The Church rebuilt this temple and dedicated it in 2002. The exterior is a match to how it looked when originally constructed in the 1840's.

While KaraLee was in the temple on Friday afternoon, Grant and I decided to explore. We came to the brickyard, and it was really cool. Grant decided to try to make his own bricks. Of course, he did this by chewing on the bricks already there - not a very effective way, it turns out, of making new bricks.

One of the many cool things I learned on this trip was that Jonathan Browning (as well as his son and grandson) were clever gun inventors. They helped develop many guns (rifles specifically) that became the basis of thought for modern gun-making. In fact, Browning's son, Jonathan Browning held 129 patents on guns which he later sold. As a would-be attorney, potentially working with patents, I found this very interesting. But in any case, it's cool that so much modern thought about guns was developed by Mormons based out of Nauvoo (and later Ogden, UT).

We can't really have a good blog posting without at least a picture or two of Grant. This picture was taken just outside the Cultural Hall before a musical performance by some of the Senior Missionaries called "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo." It was awesome. If you're in Nauvoo, it's a must-see.

So this picture is immediately post-swim at our hotel. We just think it's funny how Grant's feet get wrinkly like prunes after just a few minutes in a swimming pool. Funny little fish!

While I was in the temple KaraLee and Grant visited the Scovil bakery and had some gingerbread cookies. It's amazing how much baking they could back then with such seeming primitive resources. Lucius Scovil and his wife did all of the normal baking (breads, cookies, doughnuts, etc.), but also did stuff like wedding cakes to order! I think that's amazing.

Just another great pic of baby Grant!

This is a statue of Hyrum & Joseph Smith that sits in front of the temple. They're sitting horseback just above Nauvoo. The temple sits on a hill along with the rest of the modern town. So it's interesting to me because I guess I figured that "Old Nauvoo" was actually mixed in with the modern Nauvoo. This isn't the case - "Old Nauvoo" is below the hill on the banks of the Mississippi River. That explains why it was a swamp when the Saints originally arrived!

We had dinner at the Hotel Nauvoo. Yep.

It was fun that all of the Senior Missionaries wore the old pioneer get-up. That would be a fun way to spend a mission.

Another good pic of the babe. We call him Grant.

This is also pretty amazing. When the Saints left Nauvoo to head West, they had to ferry across the Mississippi River (visible in the background). Of course, they used covered wagons and those don't float well (at least not keeping your stuff dry at the same time). So they used these barges. That's just crazy to me.

This is called the "Mansion House." It's where Joseph Smith lived with his family. The house at one point had 22 rooms! The interesting thing about this "mansion" is that it doesn't look all that much bigger than an good sized starting home by today's standards.

A pic of both my sweeties. :) This is taken in the Monument to Women, just behind the Visitor's Center. It's a really cool tulip garden. KaraLee was really cute.

Grant must have been jealous of the little girl in this statue, because he climbed up there and tried to get a hug from the dad. I hope this doesn't mean he's not getting enough love at home!

I had to include this one because it's a good shot of what we see all day long - Grant on the move. His walking seems to be getting better every day and he barely ever crawls any more. Where did our little newborn babe go?!

Now we've reached Carthage. This is a statue of Joseph and Hyrum in front of the Carthage jail. Joseph and Hyrum were killed when a mob attacked the jail in 1844. Also with them were John Taylor and Dr. Willard Richards, both of whom survived.

This is the jail cell upstairs in the jail building. They used this cell to hold alleged criminals to be tried for more serious offenses. Joseph and his companions spent about 2 hours in this cell because he was accused of treason. However, the jailor, who had been friendly to Joseph, felt that it was unnecessary and inhumane to keep him in this cell, because the room had no windows and would get to over 120 degrees in the hot Illinois summer (we can attest to the humid summers here!). So he was moved downstairs into the cell shown below.

This "cell" was quite a bit more comfortable than the upstairs cell. It was used to hold alleged criminals guilty of far less serious crimes (perhaps misdemeanors, by today's standards). Joseph spent much time here.

This is the room. This room is actually the master bedroom of the jail building where the jailor normally slept. He had moved Joseph here because it was upstairs (safer) and more comfortable. When the mob attacked, Hyrum was killed by a bullet shot through the door (shown below). Joseph backed up into the room and was shot through the window shown in this picture. He fell through the window and the mob started to go for him to see if he was dead, but someone called out "The Mormons are coming," so the mob left in fear. It was very powerful to spend a little time in this important room.

This is actually the original door on the room where Joseph and Hyrum were killed. It's amazing that the bullet hole was preserved, especially considering the jail building was used as a family home for many years after Joseph and Hyrum were killed.

Our little family. We had a great trip and look forward to going out again!

On Two Feet

This past week Grant started taking steps, which has been really entertaining for us to watch. Our little Frankenstein is starting to bend his knees a little better so his walking looks more natural. And it's ironic because he actually has less bumps and bruises from walking than he had when he started crawling.

This is our first video of Grant walking

This is Grant walking the next day.

Grant loves to play ball with anyone who will return it, especially his "dadadada"

Grant has decided that he hates eating pureed baby foods. Fortunately he enjoys feeding himself cooked, finger foods that I make for him. We just gave him this whole apple to keep him happy so that we could finish dinner- and he was thoroughly entertained.

Random Sampler

I'm sure a lot of mom's can agree that there is one thing that most babies love...hair. This is definitely true for Grant- he can't get enough of my hair. As soon as I pick him up, he wraps his arms around my neck and grabs for my hair and then shoves as much of it as he can into his mouth. It was cute at first (when he was learning how to use his hands) but now it gives me a headache- literally. So as much as I love Grant putting his cute little slimy hands in my hair, I felt it was time to get a new hair-do0.

Voila! Notice how happy Grant is about the shorter hair.

When I first saw him after my haircut, he was really confused and kept reaching behind my head for the rest of my hair.

This is kind of a gross fact about Grant, but he even loves hair on the carpet. If he finds hair on the carpet, he will pick it up and try to put it in his mouth. I hope this obsession for hair doesn't lead him into growing a mullet or something.

In other Grant news, he has been pacifier free for about 3 months. But every once in a while he will find his old pacifiers and chew on them. I found out that he can fit the entire pacifier into his mouth. Doesn't seem like the safest activity.

And I just like this picture of Grant in his crib.