We made it!

After two long days of driving we finally made it to Minnesota! Whew! On Friday morning we packed everything we could possibly fit (I had zero leg room and stuff on my lap) into our car and drove about half way. It took forever because of all of the stops for Joshua. YIKES! Then on Saturday we did the same thing and arrived in Detroit Lakes on Saturday evening. It is beyond FREEZING here! I don't think we'll thaw out until we return to Columbus in the spring... The people we met at church were all very welcoming and kind.

My favorite thing about MN so far... is that everyone believes 20 is warm...

More of Joshua...

I can't believe how much Joshua has changed in the last six days... it's incredible. He is a cute one! So far Ethan seems to like him. He always wants to help, which can be a bit overwhelming at times, but mostly it's sweet. We've been lucky to have James' mom here with us this week. I don't know how I could have survived without her.

Joshua Danial Holt

So, on Saturday Joshua Danial Holt came into the world. He is a big boy. 8lbs 13oz, 21 inches long. He is so sweet! We are so excited to have him in our family. We are both home and doing very well.

Still Waiting...

So... this is what 40 weeks feels like... good thing it's been a good pregnancy. In the meantime.....

We went to the pumpkin patch last Saturday. It was stinkin' cold!! James picked out some pretty cool pumpkins... we have yet to carve them... that will be FHE tomorrow.

This morning while getting ready for church Ethan decided to be just like Daddy. He took out James' shaver, turned it on and began to shave. He sure is growing up!

Summer lovin' ... or something like that...

So this summer has completely flown by! And we have loved every minute of it! (well, pretty much) It really has been great fun! Here are the highlights... (WARNING: this post is super long!)

In July Dad and Lori came out for a visit. It was a whirlwind weekend trip that was tons of fun. Dad went to the Air Force Museum in Dayton while Lori and I went shopping. We all went up to Kirtland, then on to Palmyra for the Hill Cumorah pageant. The pageant was really cool until... it began to rain.

The picture with the umbrellas is outside the Kirtland temple. The other one is before the pageant started.

We got a little bit wet and the pageant was cancelled... maybe we'll make it back there some other time. The next day we explored the Sacred Grove. It was beautiful! After we arrived back in Columbus we took a little drive out to Amish country. On the way back I hit and killed a cat. I still feel guilty. Because I'm not so fond of cats James calls me a cat killer. It was an accident, I promise! Whenever a cat sits on his haunches stares at me I feel like he is saying "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya; you killed my father; prepare to die." And then I run...

Our date night in July was to a Clippers game (triple a baseball team in Columbus)... James can fall asleep anywhere! Maybe that's why Ethan is a good sleeper...

At the beginning of August James' brother Blake got married in Idaho. So, Ethan and I went out early to Salt Lake to visit Seth and Mary. This is us on BYU campus, where Ethan lost his sippy cup and his sandals a few times... It was so nice to visit with Seth and Mary. Their new little one, Finch, is so sweet! And we always love seeing Tillie.

I don't have any pictures from Blake and Heather's wedding because I was sick most of the time.... ick.... We are so happy to welcome Heather into the family and wish them both the best! We loved seeing the Holts again, even though it was brief... it is so good to be with family!

So, maybe I went a little bit overboard with the tomatoes this year... we have them coming out our ears! Ethan loves to help pick them. As soon as I brought out the camera he wanted to show me the tomatoes... he is so cute! He loved helping Daddy pick them.. we're thankful that he loves to help eat them too... we've made so much salsa and given some away and still have some rotting! Why don't I can them you ask... well, basically because we won't be here this winter (yes that's right we'll be spending the winter months in Minnesota, yikes! but that's a story for another day...). Anyway... tomatoes anyone??

Another summer favorite has been to take long walks... this one wasn't so long, but it was beautiful! Ethan scraped his knee for the very first time ever. He hardly noticed it until we got home and I put neosporin on it... then he bawled! And ever since then everything is an "ouchie" and all of his stuffed animals have ouchies... it is so funny!

Last Thursday we went out to the Millersport Corn Festival. It was definitely small town and definitely fun! Of course we ate some yummy corn slathered with a ton of butter! It was good! We also enjoyed a nutritious cuisine filled with elephant ears and donuts... mmmm...

The corn festival in James' words, "We had corn, an elephant ear, watched an old time tractor pull and even took in an electrifying clogger routine! Good times!" They were good times...

Saturday was dedicated to college football. We had great weather for the OSU vs Navy game, but the score was a little too close... Later that night we went to some friends house for the BYU vs Oklahoma game. I don't know what was more entertaining, the game or James' reaction to it. He was whooping and hollering and jumping all over the place. He is a cougar to the core! Go BYU!

Yesterday afternoon we took Ethan to a living historical farm. They farm as they would have around the 1880's. It was fun... I think Ethan loves animals... from a distance. But the guys with beards not even from a distance....

The good news about summer coming to an end is that little Joshua will be coming along soon. For sure by Halloween we'll have a new little one. We are so excited! I am beginning to feel really pregnant. James is excited to have another little bruiser around and we're not sure how much Ethan understands about what is growing in Mommy's oversized belly or as James affectionately refers to it "the big belly".

Summer Adventures...

So far we have had an amazing summer! And today is just the first (official) day! Oh and by the way... Happy Father's Day!

Between finals (no more class work! yea!!!) and the beginning of 4th year rotations we decided to go on a few adventures... and a few misadventures to go right in the mix...

To begin with, our air conditioning, dvd player, and tv all stopped working on the same day! So we called the air guy and a silly spider crept in the transitor and died (a quite inconvenient location...) I guess I didn't feel as hot as he did. The audio in our tv had suddenly gone out after Ethan had been messing with the buttons and remotes... a few days later we pushed the mute button on the unused remote to the converter box... and viola! we had our tv again... the only sad ending is our dvd player ( that we bought for 15 cents at a garage sale.. you get what you pay for i guess) went all the way of the earth... it does not and will not ever work again... oh well.

This is Ethan making to most out of our lack of cool air...

That weekend we took a fun little trip to the Dayton Air Museum, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, Lincoln's birthplace, and the Louisville Slugger Museum...



James and Ethan in the cockpit of some fighter plane



Rotunda room of Mammoth Cave. We took the baby tour, but there are other tours that are more in depth... he he he...that you can really get down and dirty... It would be really cool to go on one of those tours... when I'm not pregnant and toting a two year old...



Our tent after the almost tornado... when we returned to our campsite after the cave the wind and rain picked up and we heard tornado sirens in the distance... so we took refuge in a nearby McDonald's. After waiting it out for nearly two hours this is what we found... so we stayed in a hotel that looked like it was taken right out of a scary movie... yikes! We survived to take a beautiful walk in the morning... near the mouth of Mammoth Cave.



On our way up to Louisville we took a little detour to Lincoln's birthplace...




Log cabin? I don't think so! So secretly, inside this shrine there's a log cabin that was built around the time of Lincoln's birth... I would show you the picture... but baby, I'm so chunky! (see Madagascar 2)



Now that's passion... I wish he would kiss me like that!



Ken Griffey who? Steeerike!



Monster Bat!



After returning home from all that fun Ethan helped James take apart his crib. He loves his big boy bed!!

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial day weekend was great! We had a Holt family reunion. We traveled to D.C., Philly, Hershey and Gettysburg. In D.C. we saw the monuments, the Air and Space Museum, and the National Art Gallery. We toured Independence Hall, saw the Liberty Bell, and the Ben Franklin Museum in Philadelphia. We took a pit stop in Valley Forge. It was gorgeous! In Hershey we went to Chocolate World and Hershey Park for a day of fun. Our last day of the trip was spent in Gettyburg. We toured the new visitor's center and Civil War Museum and ate lunch in the rain. It was amazing! The best part of our trip was seeing everyone. We enjoyed eating sandwiches, playing at the park, playing mafia, riding roller coasters, eating twizzlers, seeing the sights and just being with some of our favorite people...

It's true...

not only did I eat too many Easter treats, but my lovely new chubbiness is also due pregnancy. Wahoo! Baby numero dos will be joining us in October. Yea for babies and no more nausea!

also...

A funny little blog stalking story... so on Sunday I was baking cookies. I think cookies are the most boring thing to bake 'cause you can't just put them in and come back 30 min later...it's every 8-10 so you can't really do anything else... so I thought a little bit of blog stalking would pass the time.... well... over the course of an hour of amusement my peanut butter chocolate chip cookies turned into nice chocolate looking chocolate chip cookies... I guess that's what I get for blog stalking...

NYC trip

For spring break we decided to take a quick trip to NYC. It was a whirlwind trip (I think we only spent about 4.5 hours in the city), but still a blast!

The Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry.

Brooklyn Bridge

Manhattan from the ferry.



Corner of Wall St. and Broadway



Interesting fellow doin' a jig on the corner.



James and Ethan at Times Square



Ethan was afraid of a pigeon in Central Park. He was a little bit jumpy the whole time we were in the city.



We stayed at a KOA in PA.

Afterward, we went to visit the Bradford's in Hershey. We had a great time visiting with them. Ethan loved it there! This picture is at the park we went to for lunch. Ethan loves cantaloupe!

Facial hair and young chef..

James has his board exams on March 17th and 18th, so in order to save time every morning he has not been shaving. Actually he's never grown facial hair so it's just something to do. He's going to shave it off this coming Sunday, but I hope he grows it out again. It's growing on me. Really, I do like it. It looks good on him.




Ethan likes to help us with the dishes... well actually he likes to take the dishes out of the dishwasher and play with them on the floor. Last night he pretended to be cooking. It was fun to watch. Don't worry they went right back in the dishwasher.

We are so grateful that we have been able to go to the park twice this week! Hooray for springtime! And my daffodils are poking out. Hooray for springtime! It's just about time to begin our tomatoes. I'm so excited! I love the springtime!

Some cute pictures...

Ethan is such a ham sometimes and it is so cute!





Ethan loves smoothies... I think James does too...

This is what Ethan does while Mommy cleans...

So, for Christmas James gave me a new camera. This is him wishing he hadn't...