Something to Make You Smile

Helen learned to laugh this week. I taught her myself. All it took was a startling noise and a baby in a good mood and the result was a case of the giggles. - Ryan

Here are a few recent pictures as well.

This is how we got Helen to enjoy tummy-time. I think she's going to be a bookworm like her mom.

The Great South Dakota Tour

Ryan got a few days off work last weekend, and we used it to escape to scenic South Dakota. We were too late this year for the Sturgis Rally (and we don't own a motorcycle) but we managed to find a few exciting sights. Our first stop was Mount Rushmore, which was Ryan's favorite attraction. It was a cool rainy day, so it looked like our founding fathers were crying, as you can see for yourself.

We camped two nights at Custer State Park, a short drive south from Rushmore down a white-knuckle road. The temperature dropped down into the 30's at night, and Helen, in her pink marshmallow suit and multiple blanket layers, was the only one with toasty warm feet. The rain found its way into our tent overnight, as you can tell from our full clothesline in the picture below. It's definitely time to invest in a new tent. I'm thinking of one with no seams that hovers about 4 inches above ground.

We had the company in our camp of many wild turkeys, horses, deer, birds, and some mischievous squirrels. One even had the gall to run into our car while Ryan was making peanut butter sandwiches. Then, when Ryan went to shoo him out of the car, the squirrel made a dash for the peanut butter jar!

We strapped Helen into the carrier for a hike up to Little Devil's tower. The trail was rocky and steep, but not very long. Ryan and Helen had to stop before the summit because it was just too steep for their high center of balance. I went on to the top, as you can see if you click on the picture to get to our Picasa album. The view was spectacular.

Custer Sate Park has a large wildlife preserve that you can see from your car as you drive on the Wilderness Loop road. It's the closest thing to an African safari that we've been to in the USA. We sighted lots of pronghorn antelope, deer, bison, and burros on the beautiful grasslands.

We spent our last night camping in Badlands National Park. This is maybe my favorite park from my childhood. We saw lots of prairie dogs and one fast moving coyote. We're sure there are more coyotes out there because we heard them howling at the full moon all night.Our last stop on the way back to Nebraska was the world's only Corn Palace, in Mitchell, SD. They've been decorating this building with the fruits of the South Dakota harvest (corn, grain, grasses, wild oats, brome grass, blue grass, rye, straw and wheat) nearly every year since 1892! This is a must see, especially for individuals with a taste for fine culture.

Applesauce Anyone?

A few weeks ago I got a Victorio Strainer 200, which I think shows that I have really come of age. I love being a stay-at-home mom; you can get anything on ebay without the go-to-work dad knowing about it until there's an open package on the table and he says, "What's this, honey?" A couple of friends and I found an itty-bitty apple orchard where they let us pick all the apples we want for free. It was then up to us to convert the apples into applesauce. We made 50 quarts - that represents a lot of worms cut out.


Once I recovered from our last batches of applesauce I thought it would be fun for Ryan and I to go apple picking. That leads me to the next topic: I am not allowed to choose what we are doing for our date night for a couple of weeks . . . Earlier this summer I knocked on the door of a houses in the neighborhood where I walk to ask if I could have some apples from their apple tree. He told me that I could take the whole $%?& tree. I took this as a positive invitation to come back and get rid of the apples for him. So then last Friday, I got Ryan all excited* to pick apples and he asked me if they knew we were coming. I danced around the question by referring to the previously mentioned conversation and then I thought I would make Ryan feel better by telling him that I thought the people were gone on vacation or moved out or something. This did not improve Ryan's overall impression of my date idea. I think that he might have used words like illegal, trespassing, breaking and entry, and vandalism. I responded by telling him that we were actually doing our neighbor a favor and protecting his lawnmower from running over all the rotten apples, but he was not convinced. We drove by and I knocked on the door, but no one answered. This was the about the time that Ryan suggested that we just go out for ice cream and call it a night.

This is a portion of our garden, the part that is taking over our porch. We took this picture a couple of weeks ago. The tomato plant now reaches the top of our porch and has over 40 tomatoes growing on it. Our swiss chard that you can see in front of the tomatoes is doing really well, probably Ryan would say that it was doing too well. He has not acquired a taste for the deliciousness that is swiss chard. We planted snap peas and lettuce for our fall harvest and they are doing great. It is amazing how much you can get out of a little space with good planning and miracle grow.

Helen is doing great. As you can see, she loves chewing on my shoulder and taking baths. One of her newest tricks is to fuss when she's alone on her blanket until someone comes over to talk to her. Most likely she will end up being a social butterfly like her father (ha, ha). She also likes forcing her entire fist into her mouth to suck on. Good thing she is not a snake, she would probably put her whole arm in there. Ryan's favorite daddy-daughter-time activity these days is to put her in tummy time and then show her how to roll over again and again. If Helen could talk she'd probably call it daddy-daughter-torture-time; she's really not a fan of rolling yet.

*by excited I mean, willing to participate if forced to

Whirlwind Week

The last week of July was so jam-packed with fun that it's taken us a few weeks to regroup and sort through pictures for this post. It started out with a visit to Waterloo, Iowa, to see Michelle's brother Brice who had just came home from his mission to Chile. Emily and her family came up too for the fun, which included swimming, pizza, parks, little Quinn remote starting our car from inside the hotel, and melty ice cream.

Then we caravanned back to Omaha so that the party (minus Ryan) could catch their flight to Utah for brother Craig's wedding. Helen started the trip in style by going through her and her mother's first outfits of the day even before checking in at the ticket counter. Amber and Michelle deserve honorary certificates from the Amazing Race for planning the flights so well that the Omaha party met Amber, who was coming from Tennessee, before leaving the security check in Salt Lake. Impressive.

The party set up camp at Grandma & Grandpa Johnson's house. It was quite the invasion, and such close quarters allowed for much bonding/teasing. Craig was not immune to the teasing. In fact, he might have been the prime target as they told Heidi all of his deep dark secrets at Family Home Evening. But we can trust that he has forgotten the teasing, as no one's brain is firing on all cylinders the week of their marriage. Emily joined the party on Tuesday, just in time to play 20 questions with Heidi. Hannah cleverly found out the model and make of Heidi's car, which allowed them to pinpoint the right car when they had saran wrap, streamers and balloons in hand.


On Tuesday one of Michelle's long-time dreams came true - she ate at the Mayan restaurant. Which for those of you who don't know, in addition to fine food, features jungle-style warriors diving off of indoor cliffs into pools of water. My Dad, Linda, Natalie, Josh and their boys, all came to the event, but Helen stole the show. Here are some fun pictures they took so I wouldn't feel so sad for missing out.












Wednesday was the wedding. Michelle was assigned by Amber and Emily to capture the tender moments on film. She refused to take any kissing pictures, but here is a sample of her handiwork. As you can see, the bride and groom were lovely, and the reception was a lot of fun. Michelle's favorite parts were all the bright colors and the delicious sherbet in fruit (of which she confessed to pocketing 4 to eat on the way back to her grandma's that night).



On Thursday they all sat around and missed Craig & Heidi. Probably they would have called them up to chit-chat if Emily hadn't been the voice of reason and put the kibosh on it. Michelle got to
have lunch with her BYU friends Andrea Hales and Emily Peery. She claims that the three of them are all still as super-cool as they were in the 90's, back when they ran under the title of "The Random Chickens." I told her she'd better get an outsider's opinion before releasing their book of memoirs.

Michelle's back now and my Oreo consumption has once again come down to a healthy level. Oreos and sloppy joes can't really replace my girls when they're gone, but that doesn't stop me from trying.

(Make sure you click on anyone of the pictures to take you to our Picasa album with lots more!)

Every day's a party day

Mom & Hannah came to visit this week and we they've been a lot of fun. Fortunately for them (and unfortunately for me) I got sick and we had to do a lot of relaxing. Truth be told, I think that's the kind of vacation Mom dreams of. We still managed to get some shopping done. In fact I found a great changing table/dresser at the thrift store. It is much better for Helen's clothes and we now have a place to changer her when all of her stuff gets moved off of my dresser.

Hannah had her 16th birthday on Thursday and we decided to celebrate for three days in a row. It all started with Mom having the foresight to suggest making the Snickers Trifle early so that we could enjoy it all week. Good thing we had three days of random gifts ready for such an extended event. For her birthday dinner Hannah wanted to eat Mexican food so we ventured into the Latino neighborhood of Omaha and ate at the Taqueria Tijuana. It was pretty authentic, I don't think anyone there spoke English, and the food was really good. Then for a good time Ryan took us home by way of neighborhood's main drag. We were the only vehicle cruising without a spoiler or two. Mom and Hannah through we were in another country when they saw a sharp-looking caballero crossing the street wearing a white suit with matching cowboy hat & boots.

Mom and Hannah's tour 2008 has moved onto Iowa for now. Be sure to check out the video Hannah made of her trifle-making experience (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4CyGMS2IxU).

The Hackett Hostel

This week the Hancocks visited us on their way home from their 10 day American-Heritage Camping Extravaganza. Per Emily's request, the bathwater was ready for the boys upon arrival. I don't think we've ever seen them so wiped-out, with the exception of Zach who did muster enough energy to run around the house with Ryan's plastic cricket bat.

Housekeeping got the towels and linens replaced just in time for a visit the next day from Ryan's mom and brother Nate. They took lots of turns holding Helen and rocking her to sleep. Nate's favorite game was trying to make her smile, and he got pretty good at it. Between Helen's mealtimes we squeezed in some bowling, a trip to the Bass Pro Shop/Museum, and the Mormon Pioneer Center at Winter Quarters.

The 4th of July in Nebraska is as close as we've been to a war zone in our lives. Fireworks are legal here, and any number of giant inflatable gorillas and dinosaurs are willing to sell them to you. We went to a BBQ with our intern friends in a rougher part of town where families throw fireworks at each other for a good time (I have since found out that my Dad did the same thing on the streets of D.C. when he was a kid). Maybe next year Brice can teach us how to make our own explosives. We hear he had some experience with smoke bombs as a kid and more recently with natural gas tank valves (we're referring all questions to the Chilean Police).

Colombian Bags For Sale

Have we got an opportunity for you. For a limited time only (until I sell them all). My friend in Colombia made these bags and I am sending her all the proceeds. Don't worry, this is not some marketing pyramid scheme - I don't make any money. She needed to borrow some money when we visited them last spring and I had her make these indigenous style bags. The only way that you could find anything like them is to go deep into the Colombian jungle, which is not necessarily safe. I believe that our government has frowned on travel to Colombia for a number of years, something about holding Americans hostages...

Here is an explanation of the messenger bags:
- Shoulder strap
- Fold-over flap with “mola” (unique indigenous design)
- Two inner 6in x 6in pockets
- New, never been used

A “mola” is a piece of fabric created from layers of brilliantly colored cloth hand-sewn together in a unique pattern that captures the vision of the world, parts of oral literature, songs, poems and customs of the indigenous Kuna people in Uraba, Colombia. The bright and colorful geometric figures paint mythological scenes, the creation of the world and flora and fauna of the region where the Kuna people live. The art of the molas, practiced by women of this indigenous Colombian community, reflect not only a great natural and artistic flavor, but also represent the richness of their culture.

Click on the picture above to see the bags I have left. The messanger bags are 35$ and the duck bag is 25$. Contact me for additional information.

The Container Garden Special

This week we take you live to our back porch. In this picture you can see our yellow zucchini in the far left container, green peppers and celosia (cockscomb) in the middle, and cilantro and crockneck squash in the right container. They all love the nightly thunderstorms and daily highs above 80° that we have been having. We love this weather too because that means that we don't have to water them. Click on the garden to see other plants that we're experimenting with. We regret to inform you that our swiss chard is in the PICU (Plant Intensive Care Unit), thus not pictured. We haven't had to hook them up to CO2 or a fertilizer IV yet, but they are in critical condition. We are hoping for the best.

Helen is developing by leaps and bounds. This week she helped Ryan bring the laundry up, maybe next week she will help me fold it.

Look-alike

Helen is one week old as of yesterday, and we've decided to turn to our audience of friends and family for help determining who she looks like. To help, I put this little graphic you see below with some baby pictures of myself, Helen, and Michelle. They're not the best pictures for comparison, but we'd still like you to take look and then vote on the poll to the right. Feel free to add additional suggestions in your comments. Thanks.

Since Helen has taken center stage for us since her arrival, we are a little behind in getting some other fun pictures up for you to see. Last week Michelle graduated from her cake decorating class and I was commissioned a Captain. This week the Finch family came to help us with the new baby and we got to take lots of field trips during the day to give Michelle some peace and quiet. Click on any of these pictures below and you'll see our trips to the Mormon Trail Center, the Union Pacific engines, the Strategic Air & Space Museum and the Aksarben Aquarium.

New Arrival

Hooray! After a lot of hard work on Michelle's part, the newest little Hackett arrived Saturday afternoon. And wouldn't you know it, even though 99% of everyone guessing (including ourselves) had guessed they baby would be a boy, we were instead blessed with a girl! What a surprise!

Her name is Helen Hackett, and we are so happy to have her in our family. She was born weighing 7lbs 12oz, measuring 21in long, and with lots of dark brown hair as you can see in the pictures. Michelle is recovering well and gets one more night in the hospital. Helen is healthy and active. We have to swaddle her really tight because she'd really prefer to be kicking and swinging her arms around - all no surprise to Michelle who has been feeling those kicks since the 4th month of pregnancy and has all along been saying that this little baby is destined to be a salsa dancer.

What are you having?

This week we bring you some great ways our friends and acquaintances have used to tell if we are going to have a boy or girl. We are including these below in case anyone else out there wants to use these ancient and highly reliable methods as opposed to a boring ol' ultrasound to find out what they are having.

From the book, What to Expect When Your Wife Is Expanding (courtesy of Mark Wiggins)...

-Carrying high and long means a boy; low and wide means a girl.

-Easy pregnancies are boys; difficult ones, girls.

-Food cravings mean boys; chocolate cravings mean girls.

-Italian old wives believe that if you go for the heel of a loaf of bread, it's a boy.

-A clear complexion means a girl; a poor complexion means a boy. But girls will cause more headaches during adolescence, so it all evens out.

-Pump some stereophonic Motown into the womb. Girls "dance" to music; boys go to sleep. This holds true up to and including junior high.

-Smooth hands mean a girl; rough hands mean a boy; dry, scaly hands mean you should be doing the dishes for your wife more often.

-When the mother gains weight, you're having a baby, but when Dad gains weight? He's having too many helpings.

-A dream about trying to pick out a prettier postage stamp means it's a girl; a dream in which you really don't want to stop and ask directions means it's a boy.

From our travels...

-If the baby moves around a lot it's a boy (a Guatemalan mother).

-If the baby stops moving when a male child touches your belly, it's a boy (a Colombian mother).

-If you can't tell that you're pregnant from the back, it's a boy (a Mexican mother).

-If the baby is down low, it's a boy (our Asian post lady).

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Please add any more other ideas you might have in the comments below.

Cakes & Camping

Michelle decorated her first cake at her Wilton class this week. Here you'll see a picture of it next to one of the cake she made two years ago when she
first got her decorating tips. See if you can guess which cake is which. She has wanted to take a cake decorating class since she was an
undergraduate student, but had to wait until she completed her last degree before she could take a "fun" class (not that Advanced Lipid Metabolism wasn't fun . . .).

On Wenesday camped overnight at the Louisville State Recreation Area on the Platte River, a quick 30 min drive away on Nebraska country roads. One thing nice about going on a weekday is that it's just you and and a few perma-campers in their land yaughts. There was a nice hiking trail along the river and we were watched over by a pair of formidable Canada Geese. There were a few small fishing ponds scattered around the park, and Michelle, The Turtle Hunter guided us to some fine specimens. See some of the award winning footage below. Little did we know that the train tracks 50 yards away from our campsite would be in use every half hour around the clock - those train engineers make sure that everyone knows where they are regardless of the time. Now we know that this is a day visit only park.