ERB FAMILY

Paris Trip

2011-11-07T20:16:00.000-08:00

In September we went to Paris for a week with Jared's parents Julie and Ken Thompson.
We had an amazing time! Here are pictures of the highlights:

Outdoor Flower Market

Notre Dame

Arc de Triomphe

Hotel de Ville

Eiffel Tower

Moulin Rouge

Sacre Coeur Church

The Louvre

Paris Catacombs
(Old mines under the city where 6 million people's bones were relocated.
It goes without saying that is the creepiest place I have ever been.)

Chenonceau Castle

Chambord Castle

The Castle where Leonardo Da Vinci died
(this is how France came to have The Mona Lisa)

on the grounds they had built replicas of some of his inventions:

Palace of Versailles

Hall of Mirrors

Ethan at 2 Years

2011-04-22T16:12:00.000-07:00

These adorable pictures were taken by my very talented sister Natalie

(middlegrayphotography.blogspot.com)

March Birthdays

2011-04-22T16:06:00.000-07:00

March is always a busy month for our family. Jared had his birthday on March 1st. He ended up having his big party the weekend before his b-day, so we spend his actual birthday hanging out with his twin brothers.

Instead of a cake, I surprised Jared with Creme Brulee.

Jared's present from his brothers was this massive bucket of Peanut Butter M&Ms.

Seriously- that thing is full to the top.

It will probably take us 5 years to finish it.

Ethan also had his birthday in March.

I can't believe he is 2 years old!!!

It's gone by so fast.

More Pics from Christmas

2011-04-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures from the Long Beach Aquarium which we went to in January.

Its a really neat aquarium. It sure beats our little Beta fish at home.

Ethan was really brave about touching the starfish, anemones, etc. in the touching ponds...

until he became too brave and we had to rein him in.

How is it already 2011????

2011-01-22T16:08:00.000-08:00

Ok.

It's official.

I'm a terrible blogger!!

But I'll try and be better in the future so don't give up on me :)

We spent a wonderful 2 1/2 weeks in California for Christmas.
Jared and I got to do a lot of fun stuff, like go to West Side Story and The Nutcracker.
And Ethan got to be with a lot of fun babysitters!
Actually he did great during the trip. He loved playing with cousins and opening all his new Christmas presents.

Sadly, this is the only picture I took during our whole trip-
Here is Ethan playing the drums with Jared at my brother Chet's house:

And here are some pictures of a trip to
Hogle Zoo we took in November:

More Random Pictures of Ethan...

2011-01-22T15:57:00.000-08:00

Playing Peek-A-Boo in the bath

Playing in the blinds with his feet
(this boy is so funny about his feet!!)

Getting into trouble...

Stealing my water bottle

Looking out his window

I think maybe next year for Halloween I'll let Ethan
be Tom Cruise from Risky Business

Ethan loves going to the dinosaur museum here in Lehi:

Halloween 2010

2011-01-22T15:48:00.000-08:00

Ethan "coloring" his pumpkin

In his costume with cousins Cohen and Elliot

Bowling for the first time
(Of coarse he loved it- its a giant ball!)

New Pics

2010-09-23T13:34:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it! My baby is already 1 1/2!!
It went by so fast. And he looks so much older than the pictures from my last blog entry- especially now that he has more teeth.

Here are his adorable new pictures my sister Natalie took:

And also a preview of his Halloween costume:

Updates

2010-06-07T14:09:00.001-07:00

Yes, I know- a lot of time has passed since my last post. Here are some pictures to catch you up on what we've been up to. (and more pictures will follow if I ever find my camera....)

In April we went to Disneyland while visiting Julie and Ken in California. I have to say- it was really fun. I was pleasantly surprised with how many rides we were able to take Ethan on.

Here we are on the Buzz Lightyear Ride.

This was the first time Ethan rode on a carousel and he loved it!

It's a Small World- which was his favorite.

Here we are on the Winnie the Pooh ride. This was his expression on most of the rides. He wasn't smiling and laughing like you'd expect. He just had an expression of complete awe.

Sleeping on the car ride home- a sure sign of a fun day.

Here we are at the Living Planet Aquarium where we went with Jared's family during Memorial Day weekend.

Ethan's favorite thing was the penguins.

How can you say no to such a sweet cuddly boy???

Ethan sleeping on his newly acquired penguin.

This year I bought a season pass to Thanksgiving Point. I've loved having somewhere to take Ethan just to get him out of the house when he is fussy.

Here Ethan is at the Koi Pond.

Other random photos:

Ethan watching Glee.... (don't tell Jared)

Going on a bike ride with Lily.

Although this photo is of terrible quality, I love this picture. It was taken on a Sunday. I came upstairs to find Jared and Ethan both sleeping on my bed while they hug their blue pillows. (I made the pillow for Ethan while I was pregnant to match Jared's favorite pillow)

Halloween in February ???

2010-02-11T11:17:00.000-08:00

Recently my sister was taking photos of Ethan and I decided to have her take some of him in his Halloween costume. I'd always regretted not getting any cute pictures of him in his costume,
and hey, better late than never.

He didn't totally enjoy the experience, but that meant we also got this great picture of his pouty face. :)

The House

2010-01-18T20:05:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's right. I am finally posting pictures of our house!!
It's located in Lehi north of Utah Lake. We have been living here since September of last year.

Here is the view of the house from the street.

This is the view from the front door looking into the living room.

The opposite side of the living room- it has built in shelving and a fireplace. By the way- I made this fireplace swag and the wreath on the front door from cuttings off a shrub in the front yard. If anyone wants to learn how to do them let me know :) .

The kitchen! I'd never believed the saying "its the kitchen that sells the house" until I saw this kitchen.... This house was a model for the housing development so it has some fun upgrades like hardwood floors.
The small dining area off the kitchen.
This is the view from the window by the kitchen table. There is a sliding glass door with a little patio. Further back is a fire pit next to a raised flower bed. On the opposite side of the yard is another raised bed for a garden.
This is the family room with a half bath on the right.
The master bedroom.
Ahh... To finally have a closet that is bigger than a hole in the wall..
The master bath. It has two sinks with a jetted tub and standing shower which you can kind of see on the right.
The second bathroom upstairs.
The guest room/craft room.
Its much easier than I would have thought to fill three tables with craft supplies...
Jared's office (which he hasn't allowed me to decorate so it subsequently still has no pictures hanging up).
Another view. When we moved in there was an ugly wallpaper border which we took down, then painted the strip and added vinyl stickers.
And finally:
My favorite room of the house. As well it should be, because this room also got the most work of the entire house. We took down a wallpaper border, repainted the entire room, and added the vinyl border. Incase its hard to tell from the pictures, his room has a vintage '50s theme with lots of fun tin toys.

The sweet boy's bed.
An awesome retro dresser Natalie and I found at a local antique store.
The large window which is wonderfully accented with a cute old leather pram from Germany. Also, incase you can't read the saying, it says: "Such a big miracle for such a small boy".

Well, I hope you have enjoyed the tour!

Baby Mop

2009-12-30T22:44:00.001-08:00

Well, Ethan isn't crawling yet, but he has figured out how to scoot around on his tummy, so I think I can buy this product now. What do you think? I like how the ad says "make your children work for their keep".

Christmas Time

2009-12-27T20:16:00.000-08:00

Recently when Jared and I went out of town we had a little visitor move in. Little did we know, we were in the presence of one of the world's smartest mice. Here is some evidence so you can see what I mean.

We discovered the mouse on Wednesday. The next day we set out multiple traps. A few days later we bought 2 additional types of traps and set those out as well. And here is what happened:

The mouse found this sticky trap on our kitchen counter. (And yes- that is Almond Roca. He had expensive tastes). He put a paw on it and discovered it was sticky, so he pushed the trap from the corner here....

to here, where he could stand on the easel and eat the Almond Roca without having to actually step on the trap.

Yes- he seriously did that. I am happy to say that the next day we finally caught him and our house is now mouse free. It was a Christmas miracle...

Since people keep complaining that we don't post enough pictures of Ethan, here we are at Temple Square on Christmas Eve:

It was FREEZING! But luckily, Ethan is a very good natured baby and he still enjoyed seeing all the lights.

Bonnie Tyler Forever...

2009-12-27T20:05:00.000-08:00

Here is a funny video Ken showed us. Its called a "literal video" because they make up lyrics for what is literally in the video.

Let's just say we were laughing so hard it scared Ethan and made him cry...

Mr. Potato Head

2009-11-23T15:24:00.000-08:00

I would like to say thanks to my sister Natalie
who recently gave Ethan a Mr. Potato Head toy.

I hope you are not offended that he enjoys playing
with the package more than the toy...

I think he is going to LOVE Christmas- not for the new
toys but for the unlimited amount of wrapping paper.

Where have the Erbs been?

2009-11-11T14:35:00.001-08:00

Hello! Yes, I know it has been awhile. I can't believe I haven't posted since July.

Well, a lot has changed for our little family. We are now proud residents of Lehi- the home of this cult classic movie. Every time that movie is on TV I can't help watching it for a bit because of how much the area has changed since they made the movie. We love our new house and will post pictures soon.

In the mean time here are some pictures of
what we have been up to:

Julie and Ken visiting from California.
At the playground near our house.

Ethan LOVES swimming.

Trip to California

2009-07-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

Last week Ethan made his first trip to California! We had a great time, even though we were both sad Jared couldn't go. Here are pictures from the trip:

Ethan was a great traveler in the car. He slept most of the time.

Ethan's first trip to In-N-Out!

Smiling for Grandma.

Ethan with his cousins Ty, Luke, Taylor, and Audrey.
On this trip we discovered that Ethan loved Audrey's silky blanket.

When we got home, Ethan let us know he never wanted to go on a trip without his dad again!
(So sad, yet so cute...)

2009-06-29T19:34:00.000-07:00

More Ethan Vids!!

The boy is doing incredibly well. He is happy and healthy and growing so big. We can hardly believe it! He is almost 3 1/2 months old now! He's started sleeping through the night, which is heavenly. He eats around 11:30pm, goes to sleep about an hour later, and sleeps until around 6:30am when he wakes up for breakfast. He'll then go back to sleep for 3 more hours before feeding again, and will usually sleep after that until noon. And when daddy gets home in the afternoon, he's always excited! He loves his daddy! And he's always a very good boy for mama.

Trying to catch his laugh on tape, we caught these fantastic smiles:

Here he is grabbing toys for the first time:

Finally caught that laugh!!

More laughs & smiles:

Poopy boy:

Our ticklish boy:

New Videos that I've Finally Gotten Around to Posting

2009-05-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

The boy is 2 months old today! So we celebrated by making a little treat that we ate for him (since he can't have any yet!)

As you can tell from the photos, he wasn't really into it. He must be holding out for his first birthday where he gets a cake all to himself.

Shortly after he had his oxygen tank permanently removed, we filmed him playing in bed.

Here is a closeup of his scars. They are pretty remarkable.

It's so cute when he stretches! He shows off his touchdown stance and his Hallelujah! and his Superman pose all in one video.

I hope he forgives me for the junk shot, but this video he shows off how much fun he has in the bath.

Pretty Boy

2009-05-15T12:51:00.001-07:00

Introducing Ethany!

(This is all my sister Natalie's fault for
giving me her baby's old clothes)

Truth be told, Ethan didn't really
like playing dress-up with mom.

Smiley Baby

2009-05-02T16:57:00.000-07:00

I finally got some cute pictures of Ethan when he was in one of his smiley moods. He really is such a sweet boy- even if he drives his mom nuts at night because he wants to be held rather than sleep in his bed :)

Here' s the boy hanging out with his mama:
Enjoy the cuteness!!

Our Loving Boy

2009-04-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

We've been a bit busy lately, but we've finally put some photos and videos up.

Weighing Ethan minutes after his birth.
I forgot to put up his stats: 7 lbs 11 oz, 20", born 8:00am 3/17/09

Brittney holding her son for the first time (before we knew about his heart defect which is explained below the photos).

Momma and son, the night before his surgery.

Closeup of Ethan before surgery.

During recovery in the hospital.

Daddy loves his boy.

Babies smell so good, you just want to kiss them all the time.

The money shot.

Loving sister Shelley.

Ethan's namesake (middle name that is): Philip Robinson.

Touchdown!

Sleepy baby with no more cords or wires!

We love our curious boy.

Home at last (with oxygen for now).

Transposition of the Great Arteries
Ethan was born with a congenital heart defect where the pulmonary artery and the aorta (which grow out of the heart) have grown in the wrong places. They're switched, and the solution is to switch them back. This involves open-heart surgery, usually done within the first weeks of life. Without surgery, the child will die, most likely before his first birthday.

When the heart develops in the womb, all sorts of things can go wrong. Some of these things can't be attributed to genetics, like TGA, which appears to happen at random regardless of family history. And Brittney kept the alcohol and tobacco to a minimum during the pregnancy, so it wasn't that. (By minimum, I mean none of course. :)

This image may be on the small side, but the idea is that the Aorta (big red artery coming out the top) should grow out of the Left Ventricle, while the Pulmonary Artery (big blue one coming out the top and branching out to the lungs) should come out of the Right Ventricle, like the image above. So blood from the body enters through the blue tubes into the heart, goes through the Pulmonary Artery out to the lungs, back to the heart, and then out through the Aorta to the body making a full circuit. Ethan's heart developed like the picture below:

Here was his heart, where the Aorta came out of the Right Ventricle and the Pulmonary Artery came out of the Left Ventricle. This represents a big problem: blood coming from the body enters the heart on the left side of this image (through the blue tubes), goes through the Right Atrium, down into the Right Ventricle, and out the Aorta which goes back to the body. That blood never gets oxygen from the lungs. This is because the blood from the lungs is entering the Left Atrium (through the red tubes on the sides), goes into the Left Ventricle, and then out the Pulmonary Artery back to the lungs. So the two pathways of blood are separate, and the body never gets oxygen.

Now Ethan's heart developed a temporary solution for this situation: It created a hole between the Left and Right Ventricles (not shown in this image). The hole allowed the oxygen-rich blood to mix with the oxygen-poor blood, so that his body could get some oxygen. Furthermore, we're born with a smaller hole up between the Left and Right Atria (which IS shown is this image). This hole has a flap and it usually closes shortly after birth. Also, the image above points out a vessel connecting the Aorta and Pulmonary Artery, and this too closes shortly after birth. In order to help with the oxygen mixing in his heart, doctors widened the hole between the atria (with a balloon tipped catheter that they ran through an artery in his leg to his heart) and kept the vessel open between the arteries with a drug.

Surgery was done by Dr. Burch three days after Ethan's birth. The surgery took 6.5 grueling hours. This involved putting him on a bypass machine (taking his blood out of his body, oxygenating it, and putting it back in his body and bypassing the heart), stopping his heart with medication, switching the two arteries by cutting them and re-stitching them, closing the holes between his ventricles and atria, and closing the flap over the vessel between the arteries. He didn't need the holes anymore since his heart was now connected the right way.

His recovery went well, although he got an infection in his stitches a few days after surgery. The infection was not in the deep tissue, just in the top layers beneath his skin. It required antibiotics, and a longer stay in the hospital. He's home now, with an oral antibiotic, a diuretic, a heart medication, and aspirin. They also sent us home with an oxygen tank just to make sure his levels are normal. We go back in 2 weeks when they'll decide what drugs to take him off of, and if he still needs the oxygen.

This has been an emotional experience, but we've learned so much, been through so much as a family, and love our son incredibly. We want to thank (and will continue to thank) all of our family and friends who have been so supportive, have prayed for us and visited us, and have given their love to our boy. We couldn't have made it through this without you.

Not Long Now....

2009-03-02T19:25:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! As of today I only have 2 weeks until my due date. Crazy!!

Jared and I thought we'd have a little contest before he is born. We want everyone to leave a comment on this post with your guess as to how much the baby will weigh. There will be a prize for whoever has the closest guess (although we haven't quite figured out yet what that prize will be...).

Jared thought it would be helpful for your guesses if I posted some pictures of my tummy's progression. So here are some photos:

I think I am about half way into my pregnancy in this photo. Yea- I totally thought I was huge. If I'd only known what was yet to come.....

I have 10 weeks to go in this photo.

Jared took this last week when I had 3 weeks to go. If you look at my maternity photos in the last posting (taken the week before this) you can tell I friggin' exploded in one week's time.

This picture was taken today now that I have 2 weeks to go. You can almost see the spot where he is kicking me in the ribs...(J/K).

Thanks everyone and good luck with your guesses!!

Preggy Photos

2009-02-18T15:53:00.000-08:00

A special thanks to my sister Natalie for taking some cute pregnant photos of me. Here are a few of my favorites:

Only 4 weeks to go!!

Funny Videos

2009-02-04T19:35:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Not much is new with Jared and me so I am posting links to some of our recent favorite videos. Enjoy!

(In this video the host's commentary isn't all that funny. We just like the clip from the show)

(I love the name they gave this video. Why is violence so funny?)

(Jared wanted to put this video up in my honor. When you watch it you'll see why- LoL)

Nesting

2009-01-12T20:46:00.000-08:00

I'm now 31 weeks pregnant and it seems strange that the big event is now so close. With my spare time (which is now much more plentiful since I am newly unemployed) I have been trying to get ready to give birth- and also avoid the subject. Just tonight I was flipping through a pregnancy magazine and suddenly there were pictures of a woman giving birth. All I can say is- wow. Thankfully I have a little bit more time to avoid that subject.

I am definitely in the nesting stage of my pregnancy. This morning I had something explode in the microwave and I was really angry, but I just couldn't leave it there. I had to immediately clean it up.

Besides cleaning, I've been doing lots of other fun stuff to get ready for the baby. Like I have rediscovered my love for sewing. My very generous sister Natalie has given me a lot of baby hand-me-downs including this adorable cradle (which I kinda hoped would come to me since the moment I saw it after she had her baby) so I sewed new sheets, etc. for it. Now all its lacking is a baby....

Gaby's Baptism

2008-12-31T10:36:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Gabriela who got baptized on December 28th! I'm so glad that she decided to do it in California where Jared and I were able to attend. I can't believe how beautiful and mature she is. It seems like yesterday she was the sweet little gabbing 2 year old. Just for fun, I'm including a picture of Gabriela from when Christmas when she was little. (sorry- I'm too lazy to get the picture properly scanned so it's not very good quality)

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-31T09:29:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Even if Christmas is now over.....
Yea, life has been crazy lately so I haven't had time to keep up with the blog. But I am happy to announce that I am now unemployed (or you could say my occupation is now "full-time baby grower") so I will have more time to update the blog.

Even though it is now after Christmas, I still wanted to post these pictures:

Jared was sweet enough to help me again this year with buying a fresh Christmas tree. I love having a real tree. I'll be the first to admit it's a pain but its worth it for the wonderful smell all month.

Here is a close up of some of the tree ornaments, including my favorites- a cute "J" "B" and "E" that Jared's mom bought us last year. Thanks again Julie!

Since we bought the tree at Rite Aid for only $20, it has a cheaper type of pine and it had these weird branches coming out at the top, but I thought I cleverly disguised them with these stars.

These are the Christmas stockings I bought this year and put our names on. And thanks to my mom for giving us some Christmas presents early so that I actually had something to put in the stockings!

It's too fun to decorate for Christmas, so I did it even though I knew we were going to be in California this year. And boy was that nice- I didn't miss the snow for a second! It was so fun at Jared's parents house in Corona. We love vacationing there. We get the perfect mix of fun activities and just relaxing. And Jared's parents are so sweet to still pay when we go out to eat, etc. We definitely get spoiled when we spend time with them.

The best part of the trip was that we also got to visit Jared's grandparents and Aunt Lisa, and also my brother Chet and sister Shelley, as well as my parents who were all in Temecula where Chet just relocated. It was so fun to see Chet and Shelley's cute kids. And I got to show off my now very prominent baby belly.

The only down side to vacationing is when you have to come back home again! Especially since we turned off the heat in our apartment while we were gone. Check out what temperature it was when we got back on Monday night.

BABY!!!!

2008-10-20T19:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I had my ultrasound on Friday to determine the baby's sex. For those who haven't heard yet- Its a Boy!!!

Here are pictures from the ultrasound so you can see for yourself:

Here is a picture of the baby's right arm. It's cute because you can see the little fingers.

This is a picture of the baby's left arm. This is Jared's favorite picture because it looks like he is flexing.

Here is the baby's face. This picture just shows the skeleton so it kinda creeps me out.

It's definitely a boy! He was giving the nurse a hard time finding his crotch and she kept having to push on my stomach to get him to move around, but she persisted until she finally got this shot. I know its weird, but I really think the little penis is cute.

I'm so excited that its a boy. I can't wait to hold him when he's finally here :)

To celebrate the announcement of his man-child Jared (and I) made this cake and he took it to work. He also took some celebratory "slim-jim" cigars in a cigar box we found at Savers.

Jared Likes to Stalk Children

2008-10-20T19:26:00.000-07:00

A while ago Jared grew a beard for about 5 weeks. He says he did it just for fun (but there might be a little element of laziness in there too).

When he finally shaved it, he left a mustache for one day. What we are left with is a picture of what Jared would look like if he were a pedophile.
Ah, memories...

Jared displaying the "pedo-smile" with his "molest-ache"

Jared's mustache makes me laugh because it makes him look so much like his dad, who famously carried one. The only difference is that Jared gets red facial hair. By the way- make sure to notice cute baby Jared. I will definitely have to get that outfit for our boys.

First Time Poster

2008-09-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

So I've decided to finally post an entry on here. (This is Jared btw). And to distinguish my posts from Britt's I'll write in bold and Trebuchet (mostly because it's a cool word). Whenever I post, I'll mostly contribute pictures:

videos:

pictures that link to videos:

and perhaps even audio links (but what are we, cavemen?):

I've noticed that most of the pictures of me on this page are of an unkempt, half-bearded goon. Here's one I think we can all agree on:

Eh voilà!

My life's not interesting enough to have a blog....

2008-08-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Well, I haven't posted anything recently but I thought I'd add what few pictures I have taken lately.

Here is a picture (albeit a bad picture- I took this while actually holding her) of Matt and Tamara's darling new baby Ruth born in early June. She is so cute and good natured. Hopefully those genes run in the family. :)

This picture was taken the night before Shelley left on her long road trip to Washington DC. I sure am going to miss her! It was so fun hanging out with the Hawkes family all summer.

A picture with Shelley and Alex's kids Gabriela and Andrew.

Another baby was also born into the family this summer. This is a picture of me at the hospital with Natalie and Dallan's baby Lily. Thats right- two babies born with dark hair!! Maybe there is hope for me after all....

Demolition Derby

2008-06-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night, Jared surprised me by taking me to one of my favorite things to do- a Demolition Derby!! It was so rad!!! If you've never been to one, it's definitely something you have to do before you die. Don't forget the cut off jeans (which Jared wore) and the bright blue eyeshadow (which I wore) and go spend a night having fun with some rednecks.

Here are my favorite pictures of the night:

This car was completely driven onto the cement barrier (which you can see is now tipped over). The funniest part is that after this round was over, they had to make an announcement saying "Drivers- please remember that once a car is pushed onto the barrier, do not continue to ram into that car."

Look at the back end of this car! Its amazing to see just how much damage can be inflicted on a car and it is still able to drive. I think the driver of this car was awarded "most aggressive driver" this round. (Isn't that rad that they actually give out awards for that!)

Here is how the undriveable cars were taken out of the arena- with a huge bulldozer.

This was my favorite crash of the night. This car was actually pushed through the cement barrier and into the cement wall surrounding the stadium. It's good to know that the kids are nice and safe... If thats not enough, all through the night the announcer kept going into the arena in between the rounds and finding mangled metal car pieces and shattered bumpers to give to the kids--what he called "derby treasures".

Alaska Trip

2008-06-22T10:04:00.000-07:00

From June 6th to June 14th Jared and I went on an awesome cruise to Alaska. Here are some cool pictures from our trip:

This is our cruise ship- The Amsterdam. On the Holland America cruise line, all their ships end in the letters "dam" so they call them "dam ships". That joke is very appropriate for my family :)

Here I am "sunbathing" before they let us out into Juneau.

Here is a picture of Juneau from the ship. It's really not that big of a city and I can see why because the entire town is hugging the mountain. They have nowhere to expand.

In Juneau Jared and I went on a zipline (thanks Julie!). It was really fun although that first jump was so scary!

Jared on the zipline. He is so light that at one point he stopped on the line before reaching the platform and the guide had to hurry and throw him a rope and pull him in. It was pretty funny.

Here I am on the zipline. I kept turning in circles without meaning to.

This is the Tracy Arm Glacier we sailed by. It was so pretty and there were waterfalls everywhere along the way.

Our second stop was in Sitka. Here is Jared by a cool canoe.

There were tons of really old Totem Poles in Sitka.

This was my favorite thing in Sitka. It's this really cool Orthodox church from when Russians settled in this town and the missionaries tried to convert all the natives.

Jared and I were wandering around the town and we went on a walk through this cool forest. It was so green and beautiful there. And Jared kept gawking at these 6 inch nasty slugs.

Jared with his walking stick.

As much as I loved Alaska, my favorite stop was Victoria, Canada. It was so beautiful there! They really take pride in their landscaping and they have parks everywhere. It must not be that hard though- its so humid that plants just grow like crazy. Here is a picture of a famous hotel there called "The Empress".

The capital building in Victoria. It was really cute at night- there are over 3,000 Christmas lights all over it.

Of coarse we couldn't go to Victoria without going to Butchart Gardens. And they were amazing!! Its such a beautiful garden. This is a picture of us at my favorite part called the "Sunken Garden". The Butchart's got all their money from a concrete factory and they mined limestone in this area. Thus this gigantic pit was created and Mrs. Butchart was committed to not leaving the land depleted so they hauled in tons of topsoil and she built this unbelievable garden there.

Near the Sunken Garden was this huge fountain. It looks really small in the picture but the water shoots up to 40+ feet. It was so cool- like the Bellaggio fountain except instead of being in the middle of Vegas you are in this quite area with huge cliffs and waterfalls coming down near it.

This is in an area of the gardens that is made to look like Japanese gardens. That was one of the cool things about this place. Because Butchart Gardens is 100 years old, the plants are a lot more mature (which is necesary with Bonsai).

In the Japanese garden there were tons of cool little walkways that wound around streams and ponds like this.

This is the Italian garden area. In the middle there is a reflecting pool. There were also cool statues everywhere in this area.

This is my favorite picture I took at Butchart Gardens. I was upset that our ship docked at Victoria in the evening (we were at the gardens from 8 to 10 pm!) but at least that made for this pretty picture at sunset.

After our cruise docked, Jared and I spent a couple days in Seattle. It was really fun- we went to all sorts of museums. We really got to see a lot of fun stuff (even if I did waste Friday night obsessively reading Stephanie Meyers latest book). Here is a picture of the downtown area from the Space Needle.

Jared, Julie and me at the top of the Space Needle. It was so fun to be with Jared's parents the second day we were in Seattle.

Joining the Bandwagon

2008-06-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

So I'm awful at keeping in touch, so I thought I'd start a blog to keep everyone updated on what the Erbs are up to. Enjoy!