Brody hits Fort Wayne

I totally need to put up pics, too, I know. But for some reason posting videos takes it out of me--cause they take SOOOO long to load. There's actually one more video from the Chicago/Fort Wayne trip, in Chicago, but it REALLY takes forever to load. So I'll just include it in the next Brody post, which should be soon, cause he's been doing so much fun stuff lately!

What a boy.

This next one was at the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo, which was the BEST zoo I have ever been to. Too bad there aren't ducks here in Moscow, cause Brode LOVES them. He also was way into the fish--we were in the aquarium for like half an hour. My fav part of this video is Brody's sound effects, haha.

Hello Seattle

Dad E. took Ellis, Brody, Matt, and me on an awesome trip to see U2 in Seattle!! To get to see one of the biggest bands EVER in a HUGE Qwest Field concert was INCREDIBLE!

On the way over we had a few extra minutes, so we detoured to see the Fremont Troll, which none of us had ever seen before.

It was Brody's second time in Seattle, and he loved walking around with Dad!


The big U2 fans of the group. Neither of them was up for much talking during the show, as they considered themselves to be going through "spiritual experiences."

There they are!

Thanks, Dad, for an awesome opportunity! We love you!

Happy Fourth!!

So much to catch up on!! I pretty much never have the computer these days since Ellis is using it to study for the bar, but hey, who needs computers in the summer? :)

Ellis and I had an AWESOME Fourth of July. We went camping--without the Brode this time--with a big group of friends. SO MUCH FUN!!


We went to a GORGEOUS little reservoir called Spring Valley, just 25 minutes away from home and totally FREE!! We canoed and paddleboarded and talked LATE into the night around the campfire with a newfound friend, Mark, who showed us how to gut and cook fish.

Had a BLAST with Rachel and Lenora on the paddleboard!

Simon taking it easy

Ellis, Parker, Ethan, and Nathan

Parker, Mark, Rosalie, and Caleb gutting the fish

Fishing was pretty much the big event of the trip for a lot of the guys--they fished for dinner, fished in the dark, and Caleb was up at 6 AM Monday morning to fish!

Dinner was super exciting for me, because 1) I've never had fish caught fresh from the water, and 2) I've never even had fresh-water fish PERIOD. So I got to try something new, and felt pretty hardcore peeling fresh fish flesh from their creepy poky spines.

Here are some of us cooking dinner.

Such a blast! Can't wait to do a trip like this again!!

Annapolis

To celebrate Ellis finishing up law school--and give my aunt the excuse to babysit Brody overnight--Ellis and I decided to go on a little one-night getaway to one of our FAVORITE cities EVER, Annapolis. Annapolis is on our list of top 5 places in which we would love to live, along with Haverford, PA and Black Mountain, NC.

Here is the gorgeous downtown taken from near the waterfront.

We wanted to find a B&B type place to stay, and were super excited to find the Historic Inns of Annapolis, a group of 3 different historic buildings in downtown Annapolis. We chose the Maryland Inn, and loved it!

It also had an awesome porch for sitting and reading. This is a dream come true for Ellis--I think his idea of a perfect day is one in which he could sit outside and read undisturbed all day long. For me, it took a while to get back into reading after NSA, but I've totally caught the bug again lately and have been on a book rampage. This particular trip I was reading The Kite Runner, which was fabulous, and I'm really excited to read his other book, A Thousand Splendid Suns.

We ate lunch at our fav place, Buddy's Crabs and Ribs.


Stopped in at several of the cool shops like Capital Teas. (this is the one pic I got before the lady told me I wasn't allowed)
And of COURSE the smokeshop!


We also ran into a few of Ellis' law school friends, who were up for a girls' trip to Annapolis!

The only pic I got of the waterfront was at night. It's gorgeous, and so fun. There is an AWESOME crepe shop where we got breakfast called Sofi's Crepes. I'd never had a crepe other than a Nutella crepe before, but I branched out and got a bacon, egg, and cheese crepe. I know it sounds like McDonald's, but NO. Seriously, I want to go on a trip and get Sofi's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

It was so fun to get away with Ellis just the two of us, and no Brody. ALTHOUGH we actually called my aunt a couple times just cause we missed him. Thanks so much, Tammi, for watching him for us!

The White Part of Christmas

The coolest thing happened in the South this Christmas:


It was so nice that even though we weren't able to go out to the Northwest this year, we still got a taste of the pretty part of winter weather! Although honestly we're getting plenty in Virginia this year too!

The day after Christmas church was cancelled, so we headed down to our friends the Pruetts' for food and singing and pretty snow.

Brody's First Christmas

We thought Brody's first Christmas was going to be quiet, just Ellis, me, and 2 sets of Brody's great grandparents, but God had other plans and Brody ended up getting to see the whole Littlejohn side of the family plus Anderson greatgrandparents!

He even got to see Uncle Brad!! Sadly Rachel and Soren weren't able to make it, but we were excited to get to see Brad! Brad, Matt, Ellis, Brody, and I stayed with Grandmama at her house, and I had a BLAST getting to hang out with my brothers!! Matt made us watch Shutter Island, which I was terrified to see, but he assured me that it wasn't scary. I spent the whole movie doubting him and waiting to be scared, but he was right! I don't know why the previews make it look like a horror movie, but I LOVED it! No boy will ever agree with me about this, but I liked it better than Inception!


Abbou, Ami, and Tammi came down and Tammi gave Brody an awesome Monster-themed gift, which he loved, but not as much as the wrapping paper, of course. :)


And Emily introduced him to one of our favorite childhood toys, the back-flipping doggy! This dog (and it's previous editions) has been a part of my Christmas since before I can remember!

Ellis, Brody, and I headed up to Asheville to see Ellis' Anderson grandparents in Black Mountain. We LOVE the cute town of Black Mountain, and every time we go there, I always tell Ellis I want to move there!Here Brody and I are at a fantastic Black Mountain restaurant called My Father's Pizza! YUM!

While Ellis and Brody were hanging out with his grandparents, I slipped away to join Mom and Julie at Chelsea's Tea Room, where we've been going at Christmastime for at least 10 years--we always get the same waittress, and I think we must've spilled something big a few years ago, because she didn't seem to like us. She warmed up to us a lot, though, when I told her their almond scones were the most amazing scones I've ever had and that I look forward to them every year and have the cookbook, but have never been able to duplicate them. (No joke--they are the best things EVER.

Christmas Eve we were able to move up to the mountain house my parents rent out. It had been occupied for most of the visit, but it was great to get the whole family together in one spot for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

Julie found various fake tree limbs (not from the same tree set) in the basement, stuffed the limbs in a basket, and voila, adorable Christmas tree. Here's Emily decorating it.


Meanwhile, Ellis and Brody did some dancing.


And Matthew smiled in a pic!! I can make one prediction for sure about 2011--this picture will be in the 2011 edition of Mom's Shutterfly photobook. :)

Christmas morning.

Brody dressed up at Grandmama's house. Again, no shoes--toes are cuter anyway. :)

Partway through the afternoon Brody's Christmas turned white, so here he is in his snowsuit! Snow pics to come soon!

More Scotland Adventures

This is such an incredible trip, I thought I'd savor it as long as possible by being super slow in posting about it! That's the same excuse I use for sending late birthday cards and late wedding gifts, and may I say late thank-you notes. Cause it's so exciting to get an unexpected gift in June when your birthday is in March and you are no longer getting birthday attention!

Pretty much the absolute highlight of the trip was our trek up through the Highlands to the Isle of Skye. Also pretty much the highlight of our LIVES. It was just one amazing view after another, not to mention that nothing makes the heart grow fonder like 3 days being shut in the car with 2 babies. Just kidding--the babies were great the whole time in the car. We discovered the magic trick to keeping Brody happy was keeping the window open. So it may have been freezing, but the white noise put him right to sleep. And the trick to Soren was digestive biscuits. Lots and lots of yummy digestive biscuits.

Day one of our trip within a trip, we hit Sterling, where we were warmly welcomed by William Wallace. (and omg, I seriously was not even trying to alliterate there)

Here is the gorgeous castle!

There were beautiful flowers all over the place

And fun cannons for Soren to clamber on

And AMAZING views!