25 years . . . of HOTNESS!

(post by Brandon)

This past Friday was Felicia's birthday. Sadly, it was not the best birthday I've yet put on for the amazing woman that lets me call her my wife. The combination of me studying for finals, caring for a 5-week old baby, and trying to pack up the house turned out to be a fun-birthday-fatal combination. In sum, her birthday was less than glamorous. The video below pretty much sums it up. All I can say is, good thing we're headed to Utah in a week or so for some well deserved relaxay-shon

In any event, I love you Felicia! You are wonderful and I'm EXTREMELY lucky to have you around. You make this whole law school and no-sleep-because-Kiddo-thinks-4 am-is-play-time thing worth it.

Rollover!

As some of you probably remember, Kiddo used to be a champion roller. However, it has been weeks since we've seen any rolling action, so we thought that he had simply gained too much weight for his little baby muscles to manage. Much to our surprise, he rolled over today - three times! He did it twice to the right (the second one is the one in the video), and then when I got up to write this post he did it again, but this time to the left! The kid is amazing! Pretty soon we're gonna have to start selling tickets or something. Go Kiddo!

The many moods and faces

Happy 1 Month, Kiddo!

When we don't update, people call and complain . . .

This is a pretty common thing around the house - Kiddo crying. But not in a bad way. He only really cries when he's hungry or tired. Since he's nearly always eating, his crying just usually means that he's tired.

This baby thing is a cinch.


F had this great idea of taking some artsy-style pictures of Kiddo on our red ghetto-futon. Too bad Kiddo thought it was tummy-time because otherwise they would've looked really good. As is, I think this one at least turned out ok. We'll try again soon, because I don't think the futon will survive the move to our new place. :(


Someone at church today pointed out that Kiddo and I were sorta matchy-matchy. We thought we'd document the moment.


Pooh's house here at Harvard. 'Nuf said.


Someday Junior, someday . . .

All dressed up

Today we dressed Kiddo up for his first trip to Church. Today happened to be Stake Conference (for those unfamiliar with the term, a decent explanation can be found here). We don't really have any "church clothes" for him yet, so we made due with what we had.


Here's Kiddo before we got him all gussied up.


Kiddo and Daddy


Kiddo and Mommy!

Choose [Brandon's] Adventure!

(This is Brandon)

Do you remember those Choose Your Own Adventure books that are invariably found in elementary school libraries around the country? I sure do. I wasn't very good at them though - I would always flip through to see which path had the best pictures - and that would be the one that I would take.

Of the many things required to graduate from law school, I have to write a research paper on some topic of my own choosing. I'm pretty ambivalent when it comes to particular subjects of study (which could explain how I ended up studying law, of all things), not because I don't have any particular interests but just because I tend to find nearly everything fascinating. This is probably also why I really enjoy reading the newspaper, for example. I guess I just generally find the world interesting.

Here's where you come in. I want to write my paper on Central Asia. The exact topic will depend on where I go: religious oppression in Uzbekistan, the recent introduction of jury trials in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, judicial reform in Turkmenistan following the death of the Turkmenbashi, pipeline politics -- these are just a few examples of the plethora of topics I could possibly take on. Luckily for me (though perhaps not for Felish and Hank) the Law School has a "January Term" that is a three week period when you can either take one class or write something or go somewhere and either do legal work or research. This past January I took Tax. It was riveting. For four hours a day, five days a week, I sat and learned tax, and that was just the class portion! But, as amazing as a J-Term class was, I decided that next time around I needed to go to Central Asia. (Literally - that was my first thought after the final - "I need to go to Central Asia." Believe at your own leisure)



As a missionary in Russia, I was always fascinated by the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. I met dozens of immigrants from the "stans" as they are occasionally called, and was fascinated by them. The more I learned, the more fascinated I got, the more fascinated I got the more I wanted to go there.

I actually had several public-interest type internship offers in the region last summer, but monetary concerns (coupled with the fact that this would be F's first time out of the country) prompted me to take more lucrative employment elsewhere. J Term provides a bit different opportunity for me though. It's only three weeks, so I can either go alone (Felicia could either stay in C-bridge or go to the vacation destination of her choice), or - if I can talk her into it - Felicia and Kiddo can come with. I mean, who doesn't want to go to a semi-arid steppe/desert in the middle of January? And with a 10 month old? Sounds like my idea of a good time!

So, with that introduction, where should I go? The list of possibilities is below, in alphabetical order:

--Kazakhstan
--Kyrgyzstan
--Tajikistan
--Turkmenistan
--Uzbekistan

Also, going to one doesn't exclude going to several if not all of the others. If none of those sounds particularly engaging, feel free to suggest one of your own!

We'll Take What We Can Get

In a turn of events that will likely surprise no one, sleep has suddenly become the most precious commodity around here. . .

In other news, Kiddo gained a whopping 12 ozs last week, bringing him to 9lbs, 4 ozs of cute little junior to cuddle with.

additional pictures (you know you wanted more)

A proud daddy and his boy.


Like father like son?


I don't know why I like this picture so much - it's like he's asleep in class or on the job or something.


"Alright - enough already!"

Because his Grandmas miss him

I know we've been a little slack lately with the pictures. We apologize about that. We were living the high-life with Felicia's mom in town, but now that she's gone we're back to real life, and I think Felicia and I are a little tired. Nevertheless, by popular demand, here are some more pictures:


This is a familiar sight around our house - Kiddo hanging out on F's lap.


Aaaah, look at the little family!


Kiddo's just a thoughtful kid, what can we say :)


A beautiful mother with a pretty good-lookin' kid. Couldn't ask for more . . .

Mature beyond his...days

Kiddo, already bored with his dad's lectures on the corporate tax consequences of a stock-for-stock merger, is contemplating his next big move.


Only ten days old and Kiddo can roll over--not just once, but three times. And in both directions. We caught roll #2 on video. Next week we'll work on crawling.