Eastern Excursion 13: National Zoo

THE NATIONAL ZOO

It was supposed to be pretty cold today (56* high) but since it was was also supposed to be sunny, we figured we would bundle up and head to The National Zoo in DC. The zoo was nearly empty, the animals were all out and entertaining, and we thought we were brilliant ... until it started to rain. So our trip got cut a tad bit short. Luckily we did all the big animals first! And extra luckily The National Zoo is a part of the Smithsonian Museums - which means it is free! (Click on any picture in this post to enlarge it.)

The last time Samuel and I went to the zoo was in San Diego on our honeymoon. Four years, three kids, and 2689 miles later, here we are:

Thanks, random stranger, for taking our picture!

Sam poses with Elijah ...

... and I pose with a strange looking bird!?

Obviously she was more interested in looking at the animals than looking at the camera.

Seara wore her hat just fine until she realized I wanted to take a picture. What a goof!

This is what Enoch did almost the entire trip. What an angel!

I love the colors of fall back east! Even the parking lot is beautiful!

Can you please explain me to ... ME?

A preface for those who aren't familiar with the Mormon culture: We put a huge emphasis on the family in our church. We believe that God's command to Adam and Eve to multiply and replenish is still in force. So, as a church we tend to marry a bit younger and have kids a bit sooner than the rest of the world. Hopefully that will help you understand why, at the ripe old age of 19.5, I was so concerned about not being married yet. Although, if I remember right from my class, the average marrying age for LDS (Latter-day Saint - it's an acronym we call ourselves from the full name of the church: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) women is 23 and for LDS men is 25. So even within the church I was being pretty dramatic and ridiculous!

Caroline (my BF from my single college days), me, and Claire (roommate) celebrating Caroline's birthday.
I think I need to tone down the white eyeshadow ... just a TAD.

A roommate ... I don't remember her name ... but we have the same birthday.
I loved those flipflops. In fact, I finally trashed em when we moved out here to Baltimore!
On a road trip Caroline and I took to Ricks College.
Little did I know that one day that would be my name!

A couple days ago Sam pulled the book Teaching by the Spirit off our bookshelf. The book was mine long before Sam and I met - a dear friend, Sissy Hooper, sent it to me while I was in the MTC (the Missionary Training Center where we go to learn the language and practice teaching the gospel before our missions). He opened the book, and inside he found a shrunken copy of a paper I wrote for my Marriage Prep class at BYU in January 2002. It was the first assignment of the class, and we were supposed to answer the question, "Am I ready for marriage?"

Janae Smith
MFHD 301

Reflection Paper #1

Am I ready for marriage?

NO. There is no way that I am ready for marriage! But let me explain. I’m not one of those “I hate boys” or “I’m serving a mission, period, end of story” girls. To be honest with you, I’m actually in absolute shock that I’m not married yet. [Right now I'm in absolute shock that I would say something so dumb.]

As a 15-year-old girl I told my patriarch that he shouldn’t bother mentioning a mission, there was no way I’d make it! I’d for sure be married by then. [That's not quite true. I never mentioned my getting married too soon to him. I only told him not to mention a mission ... I didn't say this then, but it was because I didn't WANT to serve a mission. The marriage thing is just an excuse I threw in the paper because I felt guilty admitting that I thought badly of sister missionaries and didn't want to be one.] Four days after my 18th birthday I was proposed to by an incredible guy – smart, handsome, RM [an acronym for 'return missionary' - meaning that he served a 2-year Mormon mission], good family, everything I could have asked for. I just wasn’t in love, or even in like, with him. [Not true, I had a huge old crush on the guy.] But at that point marriage became a real possibility. Marriage was prevalent in my mind – all the time. And so I got this mindset: I will probably be married or engaged by Fall semester of my sophomore year.

The time came . . . and the time went . . . and there I was, baffled. Where in the world is Mr. Right?! Soon I started getting scared. “Oh no! I’m already a junior!" [I was a Junior credit-wise halfway through my sophomore year. I wrote this at the very beginning of Winter semester of my sophomore year - it had only been a month since my Fall semester "deadline" had passed. I am so ridiculous.] What if I graduate BYU single?! Where will I go? What will I do?” Okay, okay, so we tease people who think that, but I was honestly getting worried. But then everything changed . . .

Over this last Christmas break I flew to Santiago, Chile, where my parents are serving a mission. [Ironically, this is when I met Sam for the first time, but I had a supercute boyfriend at the time and didn't care one whit about him, and he was a missionary and cared even less less about me.] While there our family got together with the other Mission President families a number of times and it was then that I met Chalonn Christensen. She is beautiful, smart, funny, an absolutely endearing person. She served a mission and is attending BYU. She is incredible. And she is single. And she is 25. Now THAT was a lot to think about. And so I thought, and I thought, and I thought.

For two weeks strait I thought about Chalonn and about marriage. Then, one night, I attended the wedding reception of a good friend. I was alone for the 45-minute drive and spent the majority of it in quiet and deep contemplation. As I neared home I realized that there is no way that I am ready to get married.

[Here is where mush ensues. I have a hard time reading it without activating my own gag reflex. Feel free to skip to the end.] I am a firm believer that you marry someone a lot like you. Because of that, I feel that I cannot expect to marry a very spiritual person if I’m not spiritual, or expect to marry a very patient person if I’m not patient, and so on. [Baloney. I haven't an ounce of patience in my body, and Sam is the most patient person alive.] I’ve believed that, and worked on it, for years. But on that drive home I realized that I want much more out of my husband than I can give right now.

First things first . . . I want a man who is gentle and kind. Someone who is cautious with what they say and careful about hurting people. I want someone who doesn’t speak unkindly of others, but is a champion of the underdog. He should always be willing to help those in need and never think of himself. I want him to compliment others, to build them up and help them see who they really are. And I want him to be patient, oh so patient. Willing to love in spite of mistakes, willing to step back or slow down, willing to do whatever is necessary. [Sam is measuring up perfectly so far!]

He should be a return missionary, but not just any return missionary. He should have served faithfully and valiantly. He should have given more than just himself, he should have given his all. I want him to be a better person each and every day, and I want him to strive to be like our Savior Jesus Christ. I want him to love the scriptures, so much that he longs to teach the stories to our children. I want him to be stalwart and strong, an example of goodness in all that he does. [Check!]

And I want him to be happy, to look at the good things, to be an optimist. I want him to be clean, pure, and chaste. And, I want him to keep his life and mind that way always. Last of all, I want him to love God more than me, and love me more than anything else. [Dang, I married GOOD!]

If I am to become all the qualities that I want in a husband, I have got a lot of work to do. But I’m doing it, day by day, line upon line, and precept upon precept. Someday I’ll get there, and I’ll be ready. [I'm not even CLOSE to being that person I described, so according to my naive theory I should have never gotten married.] And when I am, my wonderful husband and I can continue to work, but this time we’ll do it together.

The question is, WHY ON EARTH DID I HAVE A MINIATURE COPY OF THIS?? And as a side thought, how did it end up in a book I got on my mission? Ironically, writing this paper was one of the main things that helped me decide to serve a mission. Not one month later I had my mission call. But that is a story for another day.

Family Pictures

My sweet friend Sue took our family pictures this last week! We tried to take them last Monday but had some technical difficulties, and had to re-do them. But we did get this gem from Monday:


So we did pictures again on Friday. I pretty much loved them all, but that is because my own kids fascinate me and I think they are precious no matter what. So I just picked a few. (Ha, ha! There are 11 pictures on this post. Obviously I can't pick just one.) But here are some that I love ...




Sue just got back from a photography retreat and has been learning photoshop, so she spiced up these darling pics:






And then some family pics. I'm not putting the best one up because we're using it for our Christmas cards, and I want it to be new to you. So here are some other ones:



Nickname Update: Okay, you guys are hilarious! I got some dang funny comments on the nickname question! So I'm thinking I'll stick with Sisi. Not in love, but maybe it will wear on me. Maybe if I write it more often I'll get used to it. Right now we are calling Enoch "Enoch Enoch bo benoch banana fana fo fenoch" which Sam says might stick if we don't choose something soon. I like Nic, but Sam still says no. Maybe if I say it alot, Sam will get used to it. :) I like E, but if we name our next girl Eden (both Elijah and Enoch were going to be Eden if they were girls) then we will have three kids whose names start with "E". I like Een, best, I think. What about Eeny. Is that getting a bit too strange? Maybe Eensy ... like the Eensy weensy spider? Oh, and his middle name is Ole (after my dad), if that gives anyone any brilliant ideas. But unless you are familiar with that name, you probably don't pronounce it correctly. It's Scandinavian - you know, the names Olsen and Olson are son of Ole. You pronounce it like "old" but stop before you say the "d" and say the letter "e" instead. For real, if you have any ideas or opinions, I really do want to know!!!

Pics and Nics

Don't let that innocent face fool you. He's still as busy as can be destroying any semblance of cleanliness and organization in my home ...

If you don't know what this 'hat' is, I won't tell you. If you do, know that I was absolutely disgusted as I ran for the camera so I could solidify this moment in history. I just know this picture is going to come in handy some day. :)

So, Seara's latest thing is taking all her clothes off. (Don't worry, she keeps her diaper on.) Unfortunately, she's dragging the boys into it with her, too. Elijah does it because his big sister is obviously a perfect example of all that is good and wise (see picture above) and Enoch does it because Seara takes his clothes off any time I'm not watching. Like when I blink.

I need to photoshop this picture so it is lighter, but the mac broke (cry!)

Okay, I have a question. Nicknames. Elijah is either Lija or Lije. That one is my easy one. Seara is Sease or Cici. Except I never write "Cici" on the blog because it bothers me that I can't seem to spell it like her name. I want it to start with an S. So maybe Sisi? Seasea? Honestly, what do guys think? Any brilliant ideas?

And then there's Enoch. What on earth should we call him?? Remember, we pronounce Enoch: E (the way you say it when you say the alphabet - a, b, c, d, E ...) - NICK. That is the way I grew up hearing it. And personally, I just don't love E-KNOCK. Anyway. Sam doesn't want to call him Nicky. I don't mind because, once again, I'm bothered that it's not spelled like his name. I just can't convince myself to spell it Nochy. I do think Nicky is cute, though. So do we call him "E"? My sisters call me J. Janae is a hard nickname, too. So I'm either J, or else I'm Naenae. Which makes me sound like a horse. And don't you dare start calling me that. Alright, alright, back to Enoch. Een? Noch? Nic? C'mon, I'm serious. I need help!

Eastern Excursion 12: Annapolis

ANNAPOLIS

I admit, I expected Annapolis to be a lot like Baltimore: dozens of skyscrapers, thousands of apartments, millions of people. I was pleasantly surprised to find a darling, pedestrian friendly TOWN. At least that's what the cute old man who stopped us to ask if Sease & Lije were twins called it. Annapolis has more 18th-century buildings than anywhere else in the country - perhaps that's why it reminded me so much of Portugal (where I served my mission). I mean, dozens and dozens of small, skinny buildings, all pasted against each other down one-lane, cobble-stone streets. It was PRECIOUS. I felt like contacting every person that walked by us. :) We saw some fancy houses, but mostly we enjoyed meandering down the streets, wandering through the US Naval Academy, and watching the boats glide up and down the Chesapeake Bay.

View of Annapolis and the Bay from the Naval Academy

Sam loved this colorful street leading up to the State House

So here's what we saw:

Maryland State House: (built 1772-1779) Served as the nation's Capitol from 1783-1784.
It was here that the Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris that officially ended the Revolutionary War.

Chase-Lloyd House: (built 1769) Home of Samuel Chase, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Hammond-Harwood House: (built 1774) America's "most beautiful Anglo-Palladian house."
Whatever that means. It was old and cool looking.

William Paca House: (built 1763-1765) Home of William Paca,
signer of the Declaration of Independence and governor of Maryland.

Charles Carroll House: (built 1725) Childhood home of Charles Carroll,
the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Hmmm ... does that sound familiar to anyone else? Seen National Treasure one too many times, eh?

And now for your random tidbit of the trip. Apparently people from Annapolis are called "Annapolitans." You know like metropolitan or neopolitan. Strange, huh? Normally you put either -n or -an on the end: Californian, Utahn, Idahoan. (Well, except here. I'm actually a "Marylander".) Anyway, it got me thinking. You know how in Book of Mormon times the people put -ite at the end? Wouldn't it be bizzarre if we did that now-a-days? So people from Utah would be Utites. And people from Idaho would be Idahites ... or maybe Idahoites. Ha, ha, ha! I make myself laugh. :)

We are best friends

What to Post (Sam Post)

I have been lax in my duties, so I think I should tell you what's going on.

Seara is learning all kinds of new stuff and can now communicate pretty well with us. Sometimes when she gets upset, she tells us "No, I'm stuck!" over and over and over and over x infinity again. Why she does that is unfathomable.

Elijah's just a really happy little kid. He's also quite physical, which means he likes to wrestle, bounce, jump, roll, and generally move his body. Constantly. He also likes to "clean up", which sometimes entails turning on the sink, filling a bottle or cup with water and then splashing it on to the counter and all over himself. He also enjoys smearing food in his hair and eating an entire bowl of oatmeal in 1 minute (that 1 minute part may be an exaggeration but not much; the kid seriously sucks the food up like a shop vac).

Enoch spends his entire day smiling (no joke; he smiles constantly. must be a third child thing, eh Joe?). He loves to be with people and has taken up conversing with us in his unknown tongue. So, that's where we're at. More to come. I'm going to go play with the kids!

Random Ramblings

Hmmm ... It's early and my eyes feel puffy. Why is that? After eight hours of sleep, you'd think that they'd be recovered from a day of seeing things. And is seeing really that hard on them? I don't put forth any effort at all, so you wouldn't think they'd hurt like this. I can't wait til I resurrect.

In four days it will be exactly one year since I tried to potty train Seara. I have made ZERO attempts since then and I still hold to my claim to quit. It doesn't help that she had that bout of urinary tract infections, or that when we moved here she reacted by only defecating (pooping? I'm not sure how to say that nicely) once every week or two for the first three months. (Which cause an insane amount of physical anguish on her part, and mental anguish on mine. We only managed to solve that problem about a month ago. It was seriously awful, but you really wouldn't understand unless you lived with us.) How much longer before she'll just potty train herself, do you think?

It has been three months and six days since I delivered Enoch. In the last few weeks I have actually had a couple thoughts about labor not being "that bad" and that "maybe I could do it again naturally". PLEASE REMIND ME THAT I AM INSANE FOR THINKING THAT. Consciously, I know that's true. But I'm scared that if I'm getting those thoughts now, what happens when two years have passed and nearly wiped away my memory of how miserable natural childbirth really is??!

I google my name every once in a while, just to make sure no crazy info has gotten on online for everyone to see. (Other than all the intimate intricacies of my life that I publish so willingly on this blog.) Every time I google my full name, I see this, and it makes me happy. Yes, that is EXACTLY what I meant! :)


Confession: I am a bugophobe. I am terrified of all little, disgusting creatures. Even seeing pictures of them on other people's blogs makes me nauseated. (That yellow spider still randomly pops in my mind and makes me want to vomit, Denise. Ewwww.) And when they touch me? I FREAK. A couple weeks ago on our way to church I pulled down the little mirror to see how I looked, and THERE WAS A SPIDER ON MY HEAD. Arm flailing and high pitched screaming ensued. In the midst of it all Sam says to me, "I've never seen you act like this before." Um, that's because normally if a bug touches me I can get it off, and then run far, far away. We were in the car, on the freeway, and I was stuck with it. I was ready to jump out the window. (That Raffi song comes to mind - "There's a spider on my head, on my head. There's a spider on my head, on my head. Oh, I wish that I were dead, there's a spider on my head. There's a spider on my head, on my head.)

Lastly, I'm jumping on the bandwagon. Wordle takes words from your most recent blog posts and makes a collage of them. The more often you say something, the larger it is. I thought this Wordle I made was so appropriate - the kid's names are proportional to how much trouble they cause me. (Click on it to see it big. It will only work if you have Java.) Interesting how I say "want" "get" and "like" more than "Enoch." He is such an angel. And I'm hoping it's "like" as in "I enjoy" or "this is similar to that," and not like the way like teenagers like say like the word like between like every like other like word. Like.

Hair Cut :(

Did you just love my hair in the Charm City Cake pictures and at the Orioles game? Me too. But we're hoping to get family pictures taken soon, and the hair on my neck was getting long, so I decided to go in for a trim last night.

I came out butchered.

Seriously, when I woke up this morning and looked in the mirror, I looked just like my brothers. I look like a boy. And I hate it. I never cried about my ring (I may have chucked it across two rooms, announced that I quit my family, and locked myself in my room, but I didn't cry). But THIS is cry worthy.

General Conference Highlights

My favorite two holidays are Christmas and General Conference - and General Conference comes TWICE A YEAR! Yes!!!

Here are some of the Saturday highlights:

Mom & Sease - notice the bunk bed fort to the left. And the boy cut made feminine with a clip. :(

Dad & Lije in the fort

I was chowing down on this when they started talking about the Word of Wisdom.* Blast.

No caption necessary.

*The Word of Wisdom is God's law of health - we are supposed to get enough sleep, exercise, avoid harmful substances (smoking, alcohol, etc.), and eat healthily. I don't think candy is bad, but in this quantity it cannot be good!

Eastern Excursion 11: Charm City

By popular demand ...

CHARM CITY CAKES

Ace of Cakes is a "reality" show on the Food Network that follows this Baltimore cake company and their adventures in crazy cake making. These cakes are amazing you guys!!! (You can see them here.) They also cost a fortune (they start at $1000) and are really hard to schedule (don't worry, the weeks of Christmas, Valentines, Thanksgiving are open in 2011!) I could meet Duff (the owner) ... if i could afford the $100 plus dollar tickets to the events he attends. Like the Girl Scout Cookie Convention. $115 a ticket. Ouch.


Alright, so I went to the store. Not that I expected much, since the website said this:

Can I come to your shop to watch you work?
We are a very small, very busy shop. Every cake we make is handcrafted to order, and while that makes for some really spectacular cakes, it doesn't leave us with a lot of time for visitors and jibba jabba. So we can't have people stopping in to watch. We do realize that you are special, but we simply do not have the time or resources for visitors.

Also, our evil lawyers have told us it's a no-no to have folks traipsing through here. Would you want a parade of visitors walking through a place you were ordering food from? Didn't think so.

If you ask to visit, we will be forced to say "no" (see above re: evil lawyers) and then we will feel like meanie heads. If you show up anyway, we will not be able to let you come inside and then we'll feel like mega jerk meanie heads. We don't want to let you down and we don't want to feel like mega jerk meanie heads. We are very sorry to be so stern and such, but there are no exceptions to this policy.

They aren't kidding. Not that we asked. But all the windows were covered with black plastic. When the mailman went to the door, he had to ring the doorbell, they opened the door a crack, and he slipped inside. Talk about stealth! Luckily, they had to deliver a cake right when we were taking pictures. So they pulled up their van while we were there, and started bringing boxes of stuff out. (I didn't have the guts to take pictures of it, though.) One had box had part of the cake in it, but they hid it from us. (Literally.) We still felt cool seeing all the people (except Duff and Mary Alice, of course.) We left before we became annoying. But then we drove around the block "innocently" so we could try to catch a glimpse of the cake. We didn't get much of a glimpse, but we did get in the background of their video taping! Look for a silver Corolla with a trying-to-look-innocent spying couple inside. :)


ps. They only deliver within 6 driving hours of Baltimore ... so if we want a cake, we have to get it soon. We're accepting donations.

ANOTHER FIASCO, starring: Elijah

I know what you're thinking. "Janae, give me a break. This keeps happening. What on earth do you do all day? Sit around on the internet while your kids run wild??" Let me tell you what I do. I wrote it down.

8:00 Get the kids up and ready, feed them breakfast (oatmeal and orange juice).
9:00 Start the weekly laundry. Kids play with toys while I feed Enoch.
9:15 Shoes on, baby in the carrier, we all (the kids & I) go out on a walk to the park. I sing every single kids song I know during the 45 minutes I push them on the swings. My arms feel like they are going to fall off.
10:45 Get home, snack time (bananas, graham crackers, and apple juice). I feed Enoch.
11:00 Elijah and Enoch go down for naps. I do dishes, move the laundry on, then work on my calling while Seara reads books from the library.
12:30 Boys get up. I hold Enoch. Lunch time for the older kids - homemade chile, homemade cornbread, and milk from the cow I milked this morning. (Ha, ha! Just kidding about the milk.)
1:30 Seara and Elijah put stickers on paper and color with crayons
2:00 I turn their creations into crowns that they wear around. And I feed Enoch.




2:15 We get out colorful sponges for the kids and they "clean" (ha, ha), while I move the laundry on.
2:45 The kids are distracted and happy. I finally sit down to check my email.
2:47 I find Elijah with the liquid dish soap. Again. The other half is now spread from my dining room, through the front room, living room, down the hall, and into their bedroom.
2:49 I put the kids in front of movie after movie (blast! I really try to avoid those), give them snacks on demand, and spend the next three hours cleaning. Ugh. I feed and tend Enoch in the midst of it all.
6:30 Dinner time: black bean & brown rice soup, tortilla chips.
7:00 The kids play around, I do dinner dishes.
7:30 Pjs, brush teeth, etc. I feed Enoch.
8:00 Bed time at last!!

Lest you fear that Elijah only destroys, let me tell you what I currently love most about him. He loves to talk to me! Seara just isn't a talker. (This is gonna kill me when she turns 16.) But Elijah loves to tell me everything he does. It is so funny!! He can't speak in full sentences (other than things like, "Seara bite you!" which means "Seara bit me!"), but he definitely gets his point across. Here are some of our latest:

Elijah runs to me as Samuel brings the kids in from a trip to the park
Elijah: Swings!
Me: You went on the swings?
Elijah: Yeah. Daddy!
Me: Daddy pushed you in the swing?
Elijah: Yeah. Slide!
Me: And you went on the slide?
Elijah: Yeah. Rocks!
Me: And you found rocks?
Elijah: Yeah.

After church on Sunday
Me: How was nursery?
Elijah: Good!
Seara: [ignores me]
Me: What did you do?
Elijah: Goldfish. And water.
Me: Oh, you ate goldfish and water?
Elijah: Yeah.
Me: What else did you do?
Elijah: Toys. And puzzles.

On the drive home from the babysitters
Me: Did you have a good time?
Elijah: Yes!
Me: What did you do?
Elijah: Toys.
Me: You played with toys? And what else?
Elijah: Movie.
Me: And you watched a movie? Did you have a snack?
Elijah: Yeah. Raisins.
Seara: Icecreampizzabananascandypuddingchocolateapplesaucejuiceyogurtcheesehotdogs.

[They actually did play with toys, watch a movie, and eat raisins. I have no clue what Seara was talking about.]