The Many Faces of Emerson Dean

One of my absolute favorite things about my absolute favorite Nephew (who seems to lend himself to superlatives) is the adorable variety of expressive faces that he pulls. The following pics highlight some of my personal favorites caught on camera over his 3 day visit with us.

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!

Emerson Dean and His Daddy

You might be able to tell from the number of pictures I took, but I don't think I have ever seen anything as sweet as my baby brother holding his baby boy.

Emerson Dean and Uncle Luvin

Last but not least, Emerson Dean's Uncles all made sure they got their chance holding him. To be fair, they didn't exactly receive an EQUAL chance amongst all us girls, but we tried to make sure they all got to hold him at least once. lol. Poor Grandma barely got to see him at all this vacation, but we figured since she was the one who cashed in on holding him the most right after he was born that it was only fair we had dibs first.

Emerson Dean and Grandpa

Surprise, surprise, the other family member little EmerD, as Richard calls him, had wrapped around his adorable little finger was Grandpa.  I have never seen anything quite so adorable as my Dad with his first grandson.

 

Emerson Dean and His Aunties

One of the very best parts of Christmas this year was the presence of the first official Preston grandbaby, Emerson Dean. Algot, Alisha, Avery and Emerson arrived the day after Christmas and the fun times began! His Aunts went absolutely CRAZY for the adorable little guy, narrowly averting fisticuffs at times when whose turn it was to hold him was in question.

I Cry Uncle

So, I know that we are back from London and all, but I have decided that until I finish putting up all 70 days of our Europe Extravaganza I will maintain the 'London Facade' for our blog.  Unfortunately, my job and my life just got a LOT busier, and I'm not sure when I will be able to accomplish finishing the 'chronicle' of our stay in England. Ergo, since the blog is kind of my main forum for sharing pictures etc., I can't go on indefinitely not writing about current events (e.g., Christmas) So for those of you waiting to hear about Paris, Prague, Vienna, Sweden...those entries are coming! I promise! You will just have to backtrack a little in the blog posts to read them...

Day Twenty Seven: In Which Richard Exercises and I Consume Ben & Jerry's

Friday October 21st, 2011

Richard got up before dawn this morning and went for a run along the Thames with a camera. He started with pictures of Tower Bridge as he left our condominium complex (yes - it really does sit right next to tower bridge - St. Catherine's Docks) and ended with more Tower Bridge pictures. He got as far up the Thames as the London Bridge (at least taking pictures) and then came home. Yep-as in 'London Bridge is Falling Down.' That's the one!

 

Not very many weeks into our stay I have come to the conclusion that I am the kind of person who desperately needs routine to be productive with my time. I do really great at 'flying by the seat of my pants,' 'winging it' and living in 'crisis' mode. As long as I've got a good book to read and enough to keep me busy, I don't have to have routine-all is hunky dory-i don't fall to pieces. I manage frighteningly well. However, if I actually wish to achieve something, like-an up-to-date blog, productive working hours, or a healthy diet...routine appears to be essential. Routine, for me, is key. Establishing patterns that I don't break = success. When I can't establish patterns...I break down and buy fudge from the street vendor, don't log an hour of work in a month, and can't manage to even post pictures online. It's not even that I like routine. I kinda just gotta have it to function. I am always happiest and best (and productive!) when my days follow a predictable, repeatable pattern.

So, since 'routine' is probably not going to be a very common descriptor for my life, given my predilection for leaping into new and different experiences, I am going to have to get much better at learning how to establish it, and establish it quickly, in new places. But I still have a long ways to go!  Instead of always thinking...I will get to that tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a good day to go to bed early, get up on time, and work a few hours. Tomorrow I will stop eating all the pints of Ben and Jerry's we got on sale for 2 pound 50. Tomorrow...

I wonder if anyone has written a book on 'How to Establish a Routine in 5 Days or Less' or some such. 'Creating Routine in a Lifestyle that Doesn't Accommodate It.' Ideas anyone? There must be SOME expert advice somewhere! Please send ideas and book titles people! And DON'T message me a comment like 'just do it' or 'routine is important' or 'go to bed early.' I'll take any other ideas. Just not those. Those, I KNOW.

*6/14/2013 Editor's Note: Hmm, apparently this is advice I still need. Feel free to still comment on this journal entry from two years ago. Same problem, same questions.

Day Twenty Five: Toilet Talk

Wednesday October 19th, 2011

We awoke this morning to the sewer backed up into the shower and the kitchen sink. Yuck!! Never have I been so glad to be a renter in my life! Not even a renter - a visitor! We just called Will and let him know "Umm, the sewers backed up in your house" (he had a few choice words) and left for school without showering. (Or eating breakfast). It was absolutely delightful not to have to deal with any of it! Hurrah! Well, not delightful to be unshowered and hungry, but delightful that it didn't really impinge on our day any. But also a kind of warning about British plumbing - brace for disaster if you wish to embrace living here!

Anyway, this event gives me an ideal jumping off point for toilet talks. British toilets are absolutely fascinating in the endless array of flushing apparatus(es?) that they come equipped with. I have now made it a habit of spending a few minutes studying the 'waste elimination device' before I have a seat, just to make sure I am capable of flushing it when I am finished. No joke! Some of these can be hard to figure out! And one doesn't like to go around randomly pushing buttons and pulling levers in a bathroom, after all.

Here are just a couple of the models I have encountered. (I take pictures with my iPod - that way people don't know what a complete wierdo I am - no flash!)

 I think this might be the toilet at the school. If it is I never did figure out what both buttons were for.



 This is our toilet at home. Push one half down and you get a little flush, push both down and you get a bigger flush.

This is Richard breaking our toilet at home. Don't worry he fixed it. He also wants me to note that this occured at least a month AFTER the sewer problems, chronologically speaking.

 

Day Twenty Four: Jack the Ripper Tour

Tuesday October 18th, 2011

No class, but homework still exists for Richard today. I tried to blog some, as well as got us tickets to the late-night London Jack the Ripper tour, in honor of upcoming Halloween. I bought tickets with http://www.thejacktherippertour.com/ a company that advertised a new type of technology which was basically a portable projector which allowed them to display images on any surface (brick and concrete walls mostly) which I thought would definitely add to the spooky factor.

After meeting up with our tour guide at the Aldgate East Tube station (near Whitechapel), we started off, ready to be throughly scared.  Our guide was a petite dark-haired girl with a satisfyingly loud voice and the wealth of knowledge of a dedicated Ripperologist. (One who makes a study of Jack the Ripper).

Unfortunately, I wish I had known just a bit more beforehand about Jack the Ripper before embarking on a tour down dark alleys, moreover, a tour with visuals. All I had known beforehand was that he was a serial killer - I, previous to the tour, was unaware that he was a serial killer with unsual patterns of severe mutilations of his all-female victims. Ewwwww!!! and, umm, Eewwwwww!!

Guess I probably could have figured it out from the name of the guy - But. Had not.

As you can see below - the picture projection was kind of smallish and underwhelming - I was thinking like, movie screen size in my head - but still, I think visuals did make the tour a lot more interesting AND a lot more disturbing. Seeing photographs of the women who died - before AND after in some cases - well. Yeah.

I do wish that I had written down more about the tour closer to when we took it, because maybe then I could remember the place the two spooky buildings below had in the tale.

One of the rather more interesting things for Letty during the tour was the slight shortcut we took through a thoroughly picturesque tiny British street in the middle of the Ripper's old stomping grounds. My camera practically jumped in my hands when my guide informed us it was one of the filming locations for Diagon Alley of Harry Potter fame. The video below is not real great, but it should give ya'll a look around it anyway.

All said and I done I did throughly enjoy the tour. It was definitely uber-creepy to be standing on the same cobblestones as Jack the Ripper did when he stalked his next victim - I've never visited the scene of any murder before, and so this tour definitely hit all my creep factor nerve endings. Not sure I will be taking any more after-dark jaunts anywhere in London for the rest of our time here. Perhaps I should have saved this tour til the end of our stay...

After going on the tour with Ripper Vision, I think I would like to take it again, either with London Walks (their guides are ALWAYS amazing - they are the best at EVERYTHING else in London, so why not this. Or else with Discovery Tours http://www.jack-the-ripper-tour.com/ because everyone on tripadvisor seemed to love them too. I'm not saying ours was deficient in any way - I'm just saying I picked it for the multi-media aspect, which no one else has. For pure facts and/or storytelling capacity and subject expertise a different firm could be better - our gal was great, but was clearly too young to have spent decades studying the subject like the guides from other tour companies. (Yes, there are many, many, many Jack the Ripper Tour companies that operate year round- who'd have thought? Your first clue was the fact that Ripperologist is NOT a word I made up.)

Day Twenty Three: Mon Plaisir and Driving Miss Daisy

Monday October 17th, 2011

It was a Monday, so Richard didn't have class, but he did have homework. Letty spent the afternoon scouting out the theatre ticket scene in Leciester Square (pronounced 'Lester'), and came to the conclusion that we couldn't afford to see very many shows, even at the prices of the discount or 50% off booths which abounded in the West End. (Tip for would-be theatre-goers here - make sure you go to the AUTHENTIC ticket discount booth. It's called TKTS and is located in Leicester Square and offers 50% off tickets for London theatre shows. It's a stand-alone kiosk-ish thing, and will NOT have people in front of it trying to sell you tickets. It most likely WILL have a line of people for you to stand in. Just keep walking around Leicester Square until you locate it. Unless you're familiar with the area, TKTS is the best way to go for half-price West End theatre tickets, since you want to make sure you're not being scammed, and the others can be a bit dodgy. Be aware - it's not always exactly 50% off asking price, and a student rush or same-day ticket at the door (if the theatre your show is playing at offers them) could be much less expensive.  TKTS sells 50% off prime seats so if you are willing to sit in nosebleeds or student rush seats, showing up to the ticket box office could be a better way to go. Because even 50% off a full price West End ticket is a hefty chunk of change -remember, pounds do NOT equal dollars... Also, if a show is super-popular and/or sold-out, it is unlikely that the TKTS booth will offer tickets for it at all.

Regardless - here's their website http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/buy-tickets/tkts/
and a quick pic of the booth, just to be uber-helpful to anyone who's trip-planning.

Anyway, after concluding that we couldn't really afford any of the current West End offerings (plus, there was nothing I was DYING to see at those prices), I went the same-day rush tickets route, and got us nosebleeds to see Driving Miss Daisy. I admit, a draw to the play (I loved the film!) was also the opportunity to see James Earl Jones live on stage. Teensy Darth Vader obsession. Anyway, I headed back to campus and liberated Richard to go home and change for an evening on the town!

Hurray for fine dining and theatre in London's famous West End! We went to one of my targeted restaurants from the Map-O-Wonder, a French establishment by the name of Mon Plaisir - where the food was every bit as fabulous as advertised and the atmosphere was something American establishments can only dream about. (And actually, better than many of the restaurants we tried when actually IN Paris, which we didn't know at the time). Billing itself as the oldest French Restaurant in London, Mon Plaisir was an unforgettable experience!

You know what's coming next - more pictures of food! This time I only took pictures of our gorgeous dessert plates - mine was a crunchy meringue base with a delicious mousse top, and Richard ordered specialty cheeses and breads.

From Mon Plaisir it was a short walk to Wyndham's Theatre where Driving Miss Daisy was playing. It was a charming, very old theatre (as so many in London are) where we discovered the true meaning of 'nosebleed' seats! I have gone to many, many, many theatres in my life, but this was by far the steepest vertical climb I have ever experienced between myself and the stage!

However, the sheer fabulousness of the leading actors made what could have been an excruciating evening delightful - a bit like listening to a radio play while watching teensy figures move about. All in all, it was a lovely evening, the kind that makes you want to live in London for always.

Day Twenty Two: A Relaxing Sunday at Home

Sunday October 16th, 2011

It was great to have a relaxing Sunday where nothing really happened except church and then home to chill, re-group, plan the week etc. It was really, really nice to have a break in the crazy.

We attended church at Hyde Park Ward again, but it turns out we don't actually live in this ward's boundaries, which is apparently a BIG deal here-yikes! Everyone keeps asking us our postal code! As IF I even know it, lol.  We kinda thought we might not be 'in the boundaries,' for Hyde Park, but the other ward meets more than an hour away, and this on is 20 minutes. NOT exactly a tough decision for our touring weary bones as far as where we will be attending.  I was starting to feel a little guilty, but Richard pointed out that we were really little more than glorified tourists, as opposed to actual ward members, as we will be traveling so much we hardly qualify as 'living' anywhere. With General Conference in Week 1, Stake Conference in Week 3, and attending church in Paris, Prague and Sweden, during Weeks 6,7 and 8, we're not exactly going to be showing up to Hyde Park services enough for it to really matter. Ah well.  I'm planning on going to book club and enrichment anyway!

One very interesting thing about the ward is that it is mostly an ex-pat ward, kind of like Victoria 1 in Hong Kong.  Most of the people we talked to actually had American accents, lol. So we definitely feel right at home.

Windsor, Stonehenge, Oxford Special Feature

Day Twenty One: Part 4 China Town and Club M&M

Unfortunately when we got back to London our Les Mis plans fell through because the performance was sold out, so we had to rapidly formulate a back-up plan. China town! It was lots of fun to walk around in, and we eventually chose a restaurant based on the fact that the proprietor/manager stood on the street and captured us as we looked at the menu, beckoning us upstairs and insisting that he would give us a ‘Vely good deal…the best deal.’

Day Twenty One Part Three: Oxford

After leaving Stonehenge, which again felt a little rushed, but that was mostly because we goofed off taking so many pictures, we headed for our final stop of the day, Oxford.  It was a truly architecturally beautiful old town, with a lovely river running right through it.  I would love to have a chance to go back on a lazy summer day.

Day Twenty One Part Two: Ascot and Stonehenge

Immediately after pulling out of Windsor Castle we got stuck in traffic, because apparently it was race-day at Ascot! The famed Ascot racecourse is only a stone's throw from Windsor Castle, and the current Queen is an avid horse racing fan.

Day Twenty One Part One: Windsor Castle Day Trip

We left early this morning to try the first of our 'day trips,' to Windsor Castle, Oxford, and Stonehenge with Golden Tours. As a quick review for those considering this exact tour, it is a great idea if you have limited time and would like to see all three sites in one day.  For everyone else, Windsor Castle is a place you really need an entire day at least to see properly, and this trip alots about 1 hr 15 min. You have 1 hour at Stonehenge and 1 1/2 hours in Oxford. So, all in all, not the ideal way to go.

Day Twenty: A Beef Barley Adventure

Another full day of class for Richard.  I stayed home and made up the beef barley stew.  Unfortunately, I had not made beef barley stew before.

Day Nineteen: Our Future Travel Itinerary

Many of you have been asking if we are planning to travel the rest of Europe while we are here. Unfortunately, Richard is primarily here for school, which puts a major crimp in alot of my tourist plans. lol. However, these are the trips that we have managed to schedule around Richard's coursework. 

October 22-23rd: Bath, England
October 31-Nov 1: Brighton, England
Nov 5-Nov 8: Paris, France
Nov 12-Nov 15: Stockholm, Sweden*
Nov 22-25: Prague and Vienna

*Dependent on coursework load

Day Eighteen: More Grocery Store Drama

Poor Richard had to go to class today, but I could basically spend it recovering from the marathon trip to Edinburgh. Well, that and getting some food in the house!

Special Feature: Edinburgh Castle

Day Seventeen Part Two: Harry, Bobby and Dolly

After we left Edinburgh castle it was time for lunch (meals often being my favorite part of the day...half of the time I spend researching our destinations goes into finding the best restaurant to eat in, either for atmosphere, food, or historical significance. Today's lunch choice had atmosphere AND significance!)

Day Seventeen Part One: Edinburgh Castle

On this our final day in Scotland we spent most of the day in Edinburgh castle. It was absolutely fascinating, and within the castle walls there were an additional three museums to see, so we could have spent even more time there than we actually did.

Special Feature: Urqhart Castle

Special Feature: The Scottish Highlands

Day Sixteen Part Four: Ghosts and The Open Mic

Yes, we are STILL enjoying Monday! The spectacularly lovely day has still not concluded! We arrived back in Edinburgh about 8 pm, and started looking for dinner right away.

Day Sixteen Part Three: No Dogs, No Tinkers, No Campbells

One of my absolute favorite places that we stopped on our trip up into the Scottish Highlands was the Weeping Glen of Glen Coe, one of the most spectacularly beautiful places in all of Scotland.

Day Sixteen Part Two: Loch Ness and Castle Urquhart

Our first view of Loch Ness

As I said in Day Sixteen Part One, one of the bonuses that balanced our disappointment with the tour guide was that it turns out this was the ONLY tour that drove to the northern side of Loch Ness, and stopped at the ruins of Castle Urquhart, which were absolutely incredible!

Day Sixteen Part One: Into the Highlands

After sleeping the sleep of the dead, we managed to haul ourselves out bright and early the next morning to land ourselves a spot on a tour coach heading up into the highlands.

Day Fifteen:Bonnie Scotland

We got up bright and early to pack our bags and to allow enough time to locate the Hyde Park Ward to attend church while we're here in London.  The ward building is currently being renovated, so they are temporarily meeting in the Baden-Powell house (which also serves as a hostel...we blended right in with our carry-on wheely in the lobby, lol). After church we scurried off and caught the train to Scotland!

Day Fourteen: Bus Tour of London

Early this morning we joined the other International Exchange Program (IEP) students for a bus tour of London organized by the school.  Our tour guide was fantastic, and the tour was informative and fascinating.

Day Thirteen: As Seen on the Street

Another day at the school, but that's the really awesome thing about the boring days, they give me a free blog entry to catch up on all the little random things that happen but don't really fit in with another entry. Today is a conglomeration of things that I've seen thus far on the streets of London and thought to snap a picture of.

Day Twelve: Sunrise and Studies

Once again all day at the school, nothing super fascinating to report (for once)! Just these really cool pictures that Richard took when he got up early for a run at dawn.

Day Eleven: Hitting the Books

Well after our fun day on the streets it was time to hit the books. Well, for Richard to hit the books. I went along to LBS (this is me on the campus) to work in the comuter lab there.

Day Ten: Hitting the Streets-Bond and Picadilly!

Since today was one of the days Richard does not have class, we decided to check out some of the most well known tourist areas of London, Bond Street and Picadilly Circus.

Day Nine: Football and Ironing

Have I mentioned that we really enjoy living with Americans? One of the definite perks is their cable package that includes ESPN sports! Because it wasn't a super-popular game, BYU vs. University of Utah didn't get a time slot until this morning at 8:30, and I was there on the couch to be a super-fan! It really was a fabulous game, final score 27-24 BYU.

Day Eight: Punch and Persuasion!

Sunday morning was a little bit wierd without any church starting until 5 pm! (The broadcast time of the 1st Sunday General Conference session).  So we got dressed in Sunday clothes and headed off to see any monuments that didn't require someone to be working on the Sabbath to take our entrance fee! Trafalgar Square was first on our list! And apparently we can't resist stopping to take a picture in front of the Tower of London EVERY day.

After some initial confusions, we managed to board one of the double-decker buses and sat in the front row on the top for a scenic bus ride through London.

Special Feature: Thames Riverboat Cruise

Come Join us on a River Thames Cruise!

I spent a really, really, really long time working with new software to try and get these videos formatted and ready to upload. They still aren't perfect, but future projects should take much less time, now that I know what I'm doing! Our Saturday cruise down the Thames was so delightful (nad our guide so  very British!) that I was just dying to share it with everyone back home the best way I could.  So if you have an extra 10 minutes in your day, click on the following links and 'come wif us on a journey down the Thames and fru the 'eart of London.' Introduction to the Cruise

Day Seven: It's About Thames

The most important part of today actually didn't start until 5 pm, when General Conference was broadcast live. (A bi-annual conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints broadcast from Salt Lake city, with two sessions on Saturday and two on Sunday). We got home later than anticipated and will have to watch a recorded version of the 1st Saturday Session, but we valiantly stuck it thru the 2nd session from 9 pm to 11 pm! I love the Prophet, Thomas S. Monson! I gain so much comfort and wisdom from his advice and counsel. 

Day Six: A Minion's Day In

I have GOT to start going to bed before midnight, so the blog is taking a back seat to my sanity tonight. More for this entry later!

Ok , so I'm back to blogging after a crazy weekend, but I'll backdate so my 'flow' is uninterrupted (aka-posterity will never know :)

After our 'royal day out' it was time let slip the dream of royalty and get down to the business of being a modern-day minion. Both the laundry and the grocery situation needed some serious attention.

Day Five: A Royal Day Out

After my late night updating my blog, getting up this morning was extra hard. I think the only reason I made it out of bed by 9 AM was the fact that bright sunshine and a cool breeze were streaming in from the window, advertising another perfectly gorgeous day going to waste! However, after arising we were confronted with the unfortunate fact that the sewer had backed up during the night.

Day Four: Cycling, Sun, and Dodging the Bobby

On Wednesdays Richard has an early class, so we were out the door by 7:30 AM (late), and hauling it thru the tube stations.

Day Three: Hyde and Seek

As I have been struggling to get the blog for Day 3 posted I find myself torn! I mean, we did ALOT of awesome stuff in that one day! And chances are we will, at some point, have some sort of uneventful day in which I will really want to still have an awesome picture to insert! However, in the interests of chronological accuracy and posterity and all that, I have decided to post it all as it happened, on Day 3, and in one massive blog.  So brace yourselves!

Day Two: Back to School-In Baker Street!

Bright and early this morning (well, Richard was bright, and it was early) we headed off to take the tube to London Business School. Pushing and shoving were required to get on the train, and I was relieved to see that the Brits handled it with the same equanimity as the Chinese in Hong Kong. (The tube even has the exact same recording of a women stating "please mind the gap between the train and the platform." lol.)

On the way to the tube station we strolled casually by Tower of London and Tower bridge-just a part of our daily commute. Wowser.

Day One: Tight Timing for Tired Adventurers

Starting out on the 33 hour journey!

At the Heathrow Airport-just a couple hours away from being able to collapse at our new home!

Leaving St. Louis at Dawn

So we're here! We started very early Saturday morning (I did not go to sleep Friday night) when our good friend David Walker showed up at our house at 5:45 AM to take us to the train station in St. Louis. Unfortunately we left our poor house looking like a hurricane hit it, and my complete inability to leave dirty dishes in the sink for 10 weeks (inadvisable) made us VERY late. Poor Richard managed to hustle me out the door by 6:10 AM.  We got to the train station at 6:30 AM-got our tickets and sprinted for the platform.  Well, hobbled our luggage along at a respectable trot.

And while I sleep, per'chance to dream...

I'm struggling to go back to sleep and catch a last few desperately needed minutes in the grey twilight of what promises to be another glorious autumn morning.  Instead my to-do list of shopping, packing and work projects that must be completed before leaving for England are running through my head in the peculiar (and unwanted at 6 am) energy buzz unique to overwhelming stress. Is it unusual to be leaving on a 2 1/2 month trip in less than 72 hours and not be packed yet? Apparently so, from the reactions of people I talk to.  But then, the pants must be hemmed and the clothes must be CLEAN before being packed-outcomes yet to be achieved. And it is also highly recommended that one pack climate appropriate clothing specific to one's destination. I have a permanent puzzled frown outdoors these days, as I try to guess...how cold is 60? Do I like 60? What about 50? Sweater, jacket, coat, parka? (The average in England for Oct-Nov is 45-60 degrees). Not to mention the brutal triage that must be practiced on all of my lovely, newly-fitting clothes. Since I lost weight I am in love with the way I look in everything (59 pounds off your butt can make you a faulty judge of which pants looks best...as they ALL look MUCH better!). Ergo, I want to pack all-of-them, and have resorted to using my sister in Alabama as the triage enforcer via face-time. It's just that this unwieldy packing method takes yet more time. I'm starting to have nightmares about missing our transatlantic flight. Meanwhile, Richard has nightmares of his own. I finally surrender to the stress and rise, although my angst-filled tossing has already awoken him. Upon my return from the bathroom he turns to me and says "I was dreaming I was dying of exposure! Then I woke up and looked over, and all the blankets were wrapped around YOU."

Baby-Luv (It's the Nieces this time)

We had a fun chance to see our two latest nieces on Richards' side of the family in the last couple of days. Leah and baby Kate have been staying with us, and Moira and baby Emily came with her big brother Joseph and Grandma and Grandpa Goering for a quick lunch stop yesterday.   Emily and Kate were 3 days apart according to their due dates, but Emily came 2 1/2 weeks early, and Kate came 3 weeks late, making them exactly 6 weeks apart, to the 10 minutes! Emily is very unusually small for her age, and Kate is very unusually chubby for hers, making them an adorable, but unexpected pair.

Baby Kate (younger), Aunt Letty, Baby Emily (older)

Rich and Baby Kate

Check out the video of Richard and baby Kate playing 'plague victim' at the following link!
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150825121310173&saved'

Emerson Checks Out Grandma Preston

It only took a hot-minute for the first-time Grandma to make it to Texas! I think she probably got out and pushed the airplane. Just a few more quick pics, because I can't get enough of my 

AWESOME NEPHEW
Mr. Emerson Dean!

Seriously Algot, making Mom this happy probably earns you brownie points for the next million years.

Mr. Emerson Dean!

Emerson and Tired Daddy

Mr. Emerson Dean in his Sunday Best!

 

My 1st Nephew: Most Adorable Baby EVER!!

My brother Algot and his wife Alisha just had the most adorable baby boy in the WORLD!! I'm sure I will probably think my future kids are cuter when they finally arrive...but until that time-Emerson wins it for me hands down! Emerson Dean Preston entered the world September 9th, 2011. He weighed 9 lbs 6 oz and was 22 inches long. Just goes to show us Preston's are good eaters!! He's starting out life right as a southern boy! He lives with his Mommy and Daddy and big sister Avery in Dallas, Texas.

As the very first Grandbaby on our side of the family he is destined to be irreparably spoiled and cosseted. He might even become the very first infant dictator. His aunts (myself, Ann and Rose) are already nuts about him and can't get enough pictures! The measly five included in the post are all we have up to this point. After watching me turn the pictures into my Ipod and Desktop screen savers, and whip my phone out to show people at every available moment, my husband cautiously inquired "Um, sweetheart, you do understand that he is not YOURS, right?" Sigh. So speaks the man with 10 nieces and nephews of his own already.















I can't WAIT to hold him and kiss those chubby cheeks! But I will have to wait until I get back from England, as he was so inconsiderate NOT to make an early appearance (probably busy eating) and showed up a mere two weeks before we head out for Europe.