Followed By Another

All our logophobic readers (ah, what a lovely contradiction) will be pleased to see that our hope of posting more prompt pictures with the acquisition of a digital camera is truly being fulfilled. We are well aware that our various adventures aren't enough on their own to keep people coming back to our blog. No, the people want pictures - photos - visual depictions of our resident bundle of joy. Well, we shall certainly oblige. And for any pictophobic readers we may have . . . we shall endeavor to favor you, also, with a suitable narration.

We kicked off the month by taking our annual fall foliage drive in search of a backdrop for our family pictures. We wound up in an area just outside of Woodland (which is south of Kamas, which is east of Heber) in an area full of bright yellow aspens. We'd been looking for our preferred red tones, but being pressed for time, decided to settle for what we could find. Isaac was rather somber that day so upon getting our film developed, we were unastonished that he looked stone faced in all the family shots. We managed to get only two smiles on the entire roll, both in pictures of him alone. As icing on that particular cake, it turns out the film that was in my camera was the entirely wrong speed for the lighting we were dealing with. All the shots turned out so grainy that we wouldn't be able to get an 8x10 out of them even if Isaac were looking more chipper. Such was the outcome of family pictures: take one.

Cue family pictures: take two. Upon recovery from Isaac's mysterious illness (he ran a fever between 101 and 104 for several consecutive nights and would wake up completely inconsolable at odd hours, then wander during the day in an extremely uncharacteristically listless manner and yet there was nothing "obviously" wrong with him, medically speaking) that left him glassy-eyed in our first attempt at family pictures, we decided to try again. Having the annual Angel Family Tribute being held there later that evening, we decided that Memory Grove was as good a place as any to try again. Very soon after exiting the car, it began to rain. We walked around a bit looking for a nice spot to take a few shots if the rain let up, but didn't find much. We were about to call it quits when I noticed a nice looking pipe across the street from where we were parked. So, we got ourselves situated and began the self-portrait process of setting the camera timer and then trying to get Isaac to look the right way (which can actually be rather entertaining . . . the first time around . . . when it isn't raining). Just as we were setting up our second or third shot a kindly photographer came and offered to take a few for us while he waited for his paying clients to arrive. We haven't had those pictures developed yet, but some of them felt rather promising. My only fear is that my camera was still turned to the portrait setting from taking those last couple pictures of Isaac on our first outing. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
The rain left us with a bit of time to kill before the tribute began, so we decided to go window shopping at Trolley Square. Naturally, our first stop was Pottery Barn Kids (PBK) because we like tormenting ourselves by looking at all of the cute things we would never bring ourselves to pay PBK prices for, regardless of whether or not we financially could. While Isaac was playing with the cute magnetic train set, Jordan and I noticed a puppy ears headband and tail combo and remarked on what a cute dog Isaac would make for Halloween, but that the ears wouldn't stay on his head for more than 2 seconds together. The hovering employee then felt it his duty to remark that the solution would be to get one of the full body costumes that come with velcro closure hoods which happened to be on sale. On sale at PBK, meaning that the once $90 costume (that your toddler will inevitably outgrow before wearing it a second time) is now what . . . $60? Right, that makes for an affordable wear-once item. Being the curious type, however, I decided to just see what they were on sale for. The very first tag I flipped over was marked $5.99 which I knew couldn't possibly be right. So, I called Jordan over to look and we decided that we might as well ask if they would honor the price on the tag. So, expecting a laugh and an "I guess we should fix that" type comment we approached the hoverer at the register where he informed us that he would sell the costume for what it was marked. That's right, for an insignificant 6 bucks we are the proud new owners of an adorable dragon costume . . . the added bonus being that it happened to be Isaac's size.

Wanting to make sure our bases were sufficiently covered, we enlisted the help of Jordan's parents and embarked on family pictures: take three. With the weather in full cooperation this time, we headed up to Mueller Park in Bountiful and hit the trails together. Isaac was more interested in following the lady with the leaf blower and the lady with the dog, playing in the stream, and running about uninhibited than he ever was in sitting to have his picture taken. However, with the help of some silly songs from Nana we did end up with a few keepers (our favorite of which is displayed here for all of you). When Isaac insisted that he truly would have no more, we broke for lunch before sending Jordan off to work. We really pushed Isaac to his limit as far as lunch and a nap go, but we at least have one family picture worth putting on our wall. Now, we just need to do it . . .

Based on the thoughtful sharing of information of Isaac's Aunt Brooke, our family took time one Saturday morning for a free hayride to the pumpkin patch at J&J Nursery. Isaac really loved the tractors and enjoyed blazing a trail through pumpkin vines. He didn't quite grasp that he was supposed to pick one out to take with us, but did decide to sit down on one which we took as an indication that he had made up his mind. We had intended to carve it for FHE at the end of the month, but decided when we extended the activity invitation to some of our neighbors that our apartment would be safer with kids decorating sugar cookies rather than wielding carving knives.

Referring to the morning of October 18th, I wrote this account on my personal blog. "When Jordan and I woke up, we decided to take a trip to Hogle Zoo. I've wanted to go all summer and just hadn't got around to making it happen. We managed to get out of the house by 10am (only half an hour after we'd been shooting for) and only had one delay on the way down when we realized we were almost out of gas. Knowing that Jen had a membership, we called to see if she and Lauren wanted to join us." Jen was nice enough to inform us of the snow on the ground so we were all prepared with coats, but really it wasn't at all too cold. "On top of Isaac getting to spend time with his cousin, I had the added bonus of getting in free as Jen's guest so we only had to pay the price of one admission. Having not been to the zoo since I was barely a teenager, I was quite impressed by the changes that have been made to increase the atmosphere. Jordan really enjoyed all the informative signs and hands on displays that weren't around when we were kids. Isaac really liked walking whichever way we weren't. It was fun to watch he and Lauren just toddle around after one another." We spent a bit longer than we had intended wandering about, so Isaac and Lauren were both long overdue by the time they got a nap, but were remarkably uncranky and didn't seem to mind the extra time with the animals.

Mid-month Nana and Poppy hosted a Johnsen family Halloween costume party which turned out to be so much fun that they are thinking of making it a yearly event. We started the afternoon with a flurry of pictures so as to catch the little ones before the novelty of wearing a costume became less than enchanting. After the photo shoot, we were forced to choose dinner from a truly appalling menu consisting of fingers, guts, blood, and the likes. We rounded off the evening with a candy toss (which Jordan and I shared victory in), a round of Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin (which I rocked at, but probably because they chose not to spin my unequally-weighted-prone-to-balance-issues body as much as everyone else), and a race at eating donuts off of a string (Britnie definitely took the championship in that category, even with Isaac helping to polish off my donut). Jordan had intended to take me on our "surprise" date ("surprise" because Jordan tends to give away the surprise before I'm able to actually be surprised, but it's a cute quirk so I don't mind . . . besides it's the thought that counts) that night and so Isaac was set to have his first-ever sleepover with Nana and Poppy. An uninviting snowstorm postponed our date, but not wanting to deprive them of the joy of taking our son to church, we left Isaac with his grandparents anyway. Jordan and I weren't fond of the associations we encountered sleeping in our apartment with an empty nursery, but Isaac had a wonderful time. Perhaps when his baby brother graces the scene, we'll be able to handle sending Isaac to another slumber party . . .

The weather took a couple days to clear up, but did manage to straighten itself out by the Tuesday which Jordan had set as our backup date date. We again left Isaac to be babysat and drove to The Haunted Village in Salt Lake. Jordan had read about this walk-through in the newspaper and assured me and my less-than-fond-of-being-creeped-out sensibilities that it was not a typical haunted house. While this was true to an extent (there were no chainsaws and nothing gory), it was definitely still a "haunted" establishment and plenty creepy. The creepiness was magnified by the fact that most of the walk-through was outside in the wide open areas of This is the Place Heritage Park. I did my share of jumping and muttering and my left hand was sore from clutching Jordan's arm, but I wasn't the one to release any actually screams. Really, as far as Halloween attractions go, it was the perfect balance of creepy yet controlled and made for a fun, out of the ordinary date. Plus, I got a real caramel apple at the end, which was so tart that it made my tongue hurt. I haven't had one of those in years.

Also this month, we had the pleasure of spending an evening with my "campfire" friends from High School whom, due to my own neglect, I see too little of. Amelia and I, for example, have lived 10 minutes from each other for the past 2 years and I could probably count the number of times we've actually done something together without taking my shoes off. Needless to say, being in the same room with more than one of my old buddies is an event of monumental proportions. All in all, the evening was a great one. Isaac loved following Nathan around (though I'm not sure Nathan was quite as enamoured with his half-pint shadow) and flirting with the adorable Ruthie. I loved having a chance to talk to so many friends and realize just how grown-up we're all turning out to be. We were also excited to learn that Baby Boy Johnsen III will be joined by a campfire playmate next May! (I will refrain from stating to whom the playmate will belong since I'm not sure the parents have yet made this public knowledge . . .)

Since Jordan was scheduled to work and I hardly wanted to attend an activity I was unenthused to support just so I could spend my evening in a futile attempt to keep my darling dragon contained in the "trunk" of our van, Isaac and I opted for trick or treating in my parents' neighborhood. I'd originally intended just to go to my parents' house, but decided to show off the adorable dragon to some of the neighbors. Isaac took to trick or treating with no trouble at all. When prompted to thank each bearer of treats, he would instead sign "more, more, more" and reach for the bowl. Apparently, when it comes to Halloween, he is truly his father's child. I, on the other hand, was known for throwing away Halloween candy from the previous year when it came time to hide my new stash. After dinner and trick or treating with Grandma Jean, we drove out to Auntie Em's for another round of showing off the adorableness. Here he helped to pass out fruit snacks to other trick or treaters (read: tried to claim all the fruit snacks for his own sugar bucket) between episodes of "flying" about the house. I can see why people find Halloween to be a fun holiday. It certainly polished off our month nicely.