Give Thanks

This Thanksgiving, I was particularly grateful for the cutest, fatest nephew I have ever seen...

...who is also very well behaved, and is still learning to crawl, having to build up enough muscle to lift the sheer amount of mass that is his body.

 

Danton also makes funny whale-call sounds when upset, according to Kenny. 

He is also the third generation of D.O.Ys in the Young family...



...and will look entirely different from our children, who have no hope of ever inheriting dark hair, dark eyes, or olive skin.



The competition for cutest grandchild is fierce, indeed.

PS: Speaking of competition, I am also grateful that Kenny BEAT his older brother Owen in a Presidents of the United States duel, held the night of Thanksgiving. The next time they meet, they will be facing off to see who has mastered the Vice Presidents of the United States.

PPS: I'm also grateful I married someone who enjoys doing this kind of thing--somehow I feel like I get the glory without any of the work. Win-win.

Baby Fever

I was privileged to be able to throw my first baby shower last month to the first law school baby that will be born during these harrowing three years. Baby Tanner is a boy, loves to move and kick Susanne's (his mother) kidneys, and will be arriving around Christmas day. And the last we heard, was yet unnamed.

He enjoyed a lovely meal of Cafe Rio salads, lemonade, chocolate fondue, and a fantastically baked block cake courtesy of Jenny Benson.

(Grandma, you will be so proud: the blanket under the blocks was crocheted by none other than yours truly! It's about as crafty as I get so you all better be impressed.)

And baby will certainly be styling when it emerges, thanks to the showering of gifts.

Kenny would like me to add that this was all made possible through Susanne's husband Nathan's and his patience and strength, both of whom had to carry burning hot slow cookers full of pulled pork and other awkward and heavy things up to the top floor of our building, and then stand outside the entrance and direct people to the correct location throughout most of the party.

Halloween Laziness



Who doesn't have Fezzes lying around in their closet somewhere?

Paparazzi Galore! Colton's Claim to Fame

Probably my favorite day spent in China was when we traveled to Hangzhou by train. It's not a very common tourist destination for foreigners, which we realized after seeing a grand total of nine foreigners there besides ourselves, but the day we went it was packed with Chinese. The city itself was smaller and quainter than Shanghai (though in reality it's larger than New York City), but the real sights to see were in and around the West Lake, which is surrounded by pretty hills and little pagodas.

We also stumbled across a fun little artsy and craftsy street with stalls and vendors. And that's when we really got a taste of Chinese tourism.



It took a while for me to notice, but it always seemed really crowded wherever we were, although there was plenty of space elsewhere. Afterwards, dad told us that he really enjoyed standing back and watching as people would swarm to whatever booth we were visiting. This particular guy was melting glass into cool little figurines. And, at this particular stand, Colton was having his picture taken (discreetly) by little Chinese school girls in matching green jumpers. One of them would stand slightly behind and next to Colton and then another would go to the other side of the crowd and take a picture! Later on, three teenagers (literally--they had to be sixteen or seventeen) came up and flat out asked if they could take their picture with him. He's a heartbreaker, all right.

Later on, I made the mistake of trying to get my mom to take a picture of me through this little bird fence thing. She was having some issues focusing properly, and within the span of two minutes or so, five to ten Chinese people stopped to take a picture. Of me. Notice the clenched hands.

Others were a bit more discreet throughout the day. Someone would be taking a picture of something behind us and then would slowly follow us with their lens or phone as we walked past.

But by far the best at drawing a crowd was mom; she was a little up the road from us one minute, and the next she was being swallowed by a large crowd of people.

My dad managed to avoid such treatment, whether it was due to the lack of light hair or just his stoic expression.

Apart from our momentary fame, the lake really was pretty, despite the unfortunate overcast sky.

We took a fun boat ride...

ate some black corn...



and fed some crazy carps. (which was also photographed by the mobs around us)

So if you find an odd picture of us somewhere, don't be surprised.

PS: This will be my last blog about China. Kenny has been very concerned that all of these long China posts several months past the actual occurrence will bore my readers--all four of them.

The Bizarre

So now for an account of "the bizarre." Over the next few days, we explored around Shanghai, ate some great food, and had taco salad three or four times for dinner (at dad's request).

Oddity number one: Chinglish. I'm sure if we had Chinese signs hanging around the translations would be just as bad, right?

I had no idea burning cultural relies was such a problem in China.

Anyone know what Fits are?

Name of a bakery.

Oddity number two: Laundry on the street. Due to lack of dryers and living space (I'm guessing), most housewives hang their laundry outside. If they are above the ground floor of an apartment building, they have the luxury of hanging their unmentionables above eye level. However, there are those unfortunate several who find it a necessity to hang them closer to the ground. As seen here.

Yes, that is an apron hanging from a street sign and the handlebar of a motorcycle. Luckily they have their pet bunny to stand guard.

Number three: Crazy Carts. In order to maximize efficiency, the Chinese have mastered piling three to four carts' worth of stuff onto one! More often than not they remain safely fastened to the carts, but sometimes, as we saw on the freeway when someone had lost three or four mattresses from out of the back of their open vehicle, it all comes tumbling off.

Yes, that is a teeny, tiny little cart under all of those chairs.

Ingenuity at its finest. 



Escape number three?

So yes, that was a rather underwhelming blogfest.

A month ago, I got back from another trip to visit my family (yes, once again without Kenny--I am a horrible wife) that took me to China! (although in my defense, when I told Kenny about the option to visit my parents, he snobbishly replied, "yeah, sure, go ahead. I've already been to China.") Although we remained mostly in Shanghai, we walked around enough to have Colton asking "do you even really like sightseeing?!" by the end of the week.

After arriving on Saturday night and an appropriately uneventful Sunday (although the visit to the Shanghai branch was intriguing), we set out to explore one of the most modern places in China.

Our first stop was the Shanghai Bowuguan (museum) filled with plenty of cultural relics and surprisingly free! Since most of the other visitors in the museum were taking copious amounts of pictures, we decided to follow suit. Here is a small sampling.

The pictures are refusing to go where I want them to, so just enjoy the spontaneity.

  

The jade(example above) was probably my favorite. Although there was a surprising lack of green jade.

 

I thought this exhibit was also interesting, although for different reasons. For China's take on the "Tibet situation", see here.

 

 

 

By the end of the museum, as so often happens with priceless cultural artifacts, we were so artifacted out that we were setting time limits for each floor. Our record was the last floor, which we completed in a swift fifteen minutes. We were not the only ones in need of a break, however, as we saw plenty of people enjoying naptime.

 

 

 

Our break came a little later out on the street, when my dad managed to find a booth demonstrating head massagers.

 

 

 

 

 

Our final activity for the day was a long hunt for a giant jade buddha at a temple in the middle of the city. The buddha was okay--after a while, all of the temples in Asia start to look the same--but we did enjoy trying to win ourselves some luck by throwing coins in the top of an incense tower. I know this is a horrible picture of myself, but mom caught me in the air!

 

Yes, my left hand looks like it's been crushed and my face isn't much better, but check out my levitation! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My coins had pretty good aim, but I couldn't quite master the force. At one point my coin went straight through the opening at the top and flew into the shrine on the other side. Never to be recovered.

 

  

Colton was a bit better at it than I was.

 

Stay tuned for more from China: The Bizzare, and Paparazzi galore: Colton's Claim to Fame.

Windy-cue!

I'm still getting the hang of this blogging business, and seem to have a habit of accruing a long list of events to blog about before feeling the need to actually sit down and hash them all out. So be prepared for a blog-bombardment over the next few days. (also, Kenny has yet to make his blog-debut, but has a very fun story to tell when he finally does)

Our Windy-cue, as Kenny named it, was our attempt at a Labor day celebration (yes, that was almost two months ago), and was not for the faint of heart. We had planned on gathering down by the lake with our neighbors and friends a few days beforehand and I am not sure if anyone ever bothered to check the weather. So on the day of, come hail or high water, we were going to have our labor day barbecue!

This particular spot by the lake is known as "The Point", and is very picturesque, has a little area for swimming, and is normally extremely crowded on warm summer days and any day specifically set apart as a day of barbecuing. Suffice it to say, we were the only ones out there besides some hard-core runners bundled up for a Chicago winter.

Regardless, we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

(Ryder was trying to smile, but it was blown into a grimace--check out all that snot!)

We all huddled together for warmth, tried to keep the coals from blowing out of the grills when we took the lids off, and fought over spots behind this tree, which provided the only shelter from the wind blowing off of the lake.

Oddly enough, the only one who didn't seem bothered by the wind was baby Elliott.

Then again, I don't think anything ever bothers Elliott.

And yes, Kenny has short sleeves on (after gallantly giving up his coat to me).

"Windy city" indeed.

The Triumphant Return

Once again, in the middle of some very busy times for Kenny, I fled and spent a few days in Idaho with almost all of my relatives. Literally. Including, after two+ years, Dallin dearest.

Dallin was unaware of my coming, despite the efforts of one of my youngest cousins to curry favor with his long-lost eldest boy cousin by spoiling the surprise. ("Mom, what's that girl's name again who's coming tomorrow and Dallin doesn't know?") When I got in at around midnight, we woke him up to say hello, but weren't sure he had really recognised who I was, having received only some vague confusion and giggling from the jetlagged Dallin. So the next morning I was able to enjoy another reunion, filled with the appropriate astonishment and jaw-dropping I had expected.

As most of my mom's family was there, and as it was my birthday, we decided to fill the day with activities and excitement. And in true Whitt fashion, we were able to do nearly everything we had planned at least two hours after we had planned it, including a birthday dinner at Tucanos at 9:00pm.

The next day being Sunday, we all piled into my mom's church, occupying almost all of the middle row pews, and listened to a fabulous talk from former Elder Shaner. Afterwards we enjoyed an enormous gathering of people and food as a sort of mini-reunion/farewell Shaners/good to see you again Elder extravaganza (since official homecoming parties are no longer legal).

Those in attendance:

the Erick Shaner family...

the Kelsey's (and Dallin, of course)...

various cousins (including cutie pie Sariah in the orange)...

Grandma and Grandpa Whitt...

a small sampling of the Langford clan...

including Jeanette, Jeremy, and their daughter Aleka...

Wendy (not pictured) and Brady...

and the Nyes (who remained suspiciously out of any pictures but are represented here by Ashlee and Bubba).

All who were unable to attend, you were sorely missed.