WALL e

Well we decided it was time for Henry's first movie and thought WALL e would be a good one. It was one that Dell and I wanted to see and had robots and space for Henry. But we know that Henry is afraid of IMAX theaters and pretty much every Disney movie we've tried (tender boy) so we did some prep first. We watched trailers and stuff until Henry was requesting them and then headed to the theater yesterday. Henry was scared to walk in (afraid of the dark) so I carried him and he picked our seat and we sat down to wait for Dad and the popcorn. Before the movie started I passed Henry a little blanket and we talked about what to do if we feel scared and we practiced hiding our eyes under the blanket together. Well the first half of the movie had Henry under the blanket a good bit of the time (it reminded me of ET for some reason)-- sometimes the whole head, sometimes one eye peeking out, it was pretty cute. Then when the ship blasted off, Henry came and sat on my lap with his blanket. My little wiggle boy was very snuggly and still. He made it through the whole movie though could not get out of the theater fast enough when the credits came on. And when we came home he lay down on the couch with a blanket and we talked about what was scary and what was fun. I love my sweet sweet little boy.

road trip

When we heard that my grandma had died we decided to drive not fly to Utah. (In part because of the price of airplane tickets and in part because we love road trips.) Henry was an amazing traveler. He'd entertain himself for two hours with looking out the window, reading books, coloring, toys, etc... then watch an ipod show, and then we'd stop and run around and eat. Then he'd sleep and start the routine again. It was great! Dell and I listened to audio books and chatted. It was like a long date.

We did the drive in two days each way and it was nice having a car in Utah. We split our time between parents and got to be in Utah for Dell's parents homecoming talks.

Here's some highlights

Having all my brothers and sisters around and having the what is becoming a tradition Hedengren Laser tag night. Nothing says fun like stalking your spouse and siblings around a dark black lite maze. Mark rules us all, but I usually manage a respectable 2nd or 3rd place finish. Man, I wish I could play again.

Henry falling asleep on the couch after watching train movies with my dad.

Sitting in my parents backyard watching Henry play fearlessly with Frodo (the dog as tall as he is and much shaggier) while Dell and Mary play badmitten and the rest of us relax at table or hammock and talk. Talking is one of the things Hedengrens do best.

Dinner at grandma's house with all the finch family.

Lunch at the church after the funeral with family and friends. Meeting Cousin Jim and my mom's other cousins. And the comforting, familiar funeral lunch put on by the Relief Society. I love this tradition in the church.

Hearing Dell's parents give their homecoming talks.

Staying at the cabin for a couple of days

Playing Settlers of Cattan with Jenny and Fu and parents

Getting to know Jenny better-- she's wonderful!!!

Henry throwing rocks in the river

Hiking the big springs trail

Looking for property up south fork-- one can dream right?

Henry searching for snow with Dell
Bowling with Cousins. Don't you love Henry's shoes!

playing in the water. That stream was soooo cold! Texas had made me forget how cold snow fed streams are. Brrrrr! Henry adjusted quickly though and got completely soaked sailing boats and throwing rocks.

Finding snow. This little patch providing "skiing" an a snowball fight. Not bad eh?

Red rock stop on the drive home. I love this country! And Henry was pretty proud of himself for climbing up by himself.

Grandma Finch

In June my grandma Leah Finch passed away at the age of 95. Grandma is a strong woman whose father died when she was 3, lived through the depression, moved all over the country, and who was taking classes and reading "good" books in her 90s. (No fiction and fluff for grandma, she read biographies and histories and kept a list of all she read.)

All of the Finch family gathered for the funeral and it was wonderful to be with cousins I hadn't seen for 10 years. And Henry loved playing with the other great and great-great grandchildren. That was wonderful. And I love how because of the gospel funerals aren't tragic. I love the words of comfort and hope and the knowledge that I'll see grandma and grandpa again. Wahoo!Running around the church with the great and great great grandchildren before the funeral. Henry's in blue.


At the cemetery Henry stopped at the tombstone and read "H-E-N-R-Y That's me!" And we got to tell him about Grandpa Henry and he thought that was cool. I think it was the first time he kind of understood who he was named after.

Me and my beautiful mother.

visits from Grandparents

May was a time of visitors and it was great. My parents came and stayed with us for a week and then Dell's parents came by. We had so much fun with grandmas and grandpas and we all are missing them.

Here's some highlights from my parents visit
This is Henry playing on the wii fit that Mom and Dad brought. Thank you!!!!!! We play with it all the time and love it. Especially the balance games. What's best is that Henry likes watching us do it as much as doing it himself.

Of course we went to the river walk. Henry lay down and put his hand in the water and then two other little kids came over and did it too. Guess Henry is a bad example, but oh well, you just can't keep a kid from water and this way is better than the total immersion way. At the riverwalk we discovered our new favorite restaurant-- Boudros. Yum yum yum. Mom and Dad had lobster tail with spinach and cheese empandas. I had a fabulous green salad with papaya and pine nuts and Dell had grilled pork with the tastiest garlic mashed potatoes and wilted spinach EVER! Yum. It was so good we took Dell's parents there too. Oh and the best part is the guacamole that they make right at the table for you. We ate two bowls full.
We also explored historic San Antonio starting with the mission trail. This is mom and Henry inside a room at Mission San Jose. We all enjoyed walking around, thought the visitor center movie was a little lame, and Henry and grandma and grandpa enjoyed the light up map with narration. After Mission San Jose we saw another mission and then Henry and I were out of steam.

Another day we went to the spanish govenor's mansion, though mansion may be a bit of a stretch, it was tiny. But the gardens were lovely and cool. Henry and grandpa and fun at the fountain while grandma and I rested in the shade. Then in the kitchen Henry got to grind corn-- it's a family tradition. There are many pictures of me as a child grinding corn in Mesa Verde Colorado.

All in all it was a great trip. I'm so grateful my parents had a conference in Austin and could come early to spend time with us.

Visits With more Grandparents-- Natural Bridge Caverns

Two days after my parents left Dell's parents arrived in San Antonio. They were doing a whirlwind tour of children on their way home from serving a mission in India. Way to go Mom and Dad!! Henry loved meeting them at the airport, though cried when he realized that he wasn't going to get to go on a plane. (That poor kid loves airplanes. He's saving his pennies to buy a ticket.) Because Alex and Dixie and fam live here too we decided to split the time with mom and dad with Alec and Dixie taking the first two days and us taking the next two. Of course we ended up doing things together most of Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday we all went north a bit to Natural Bridge Caverns. Henry was a little nervous about the caves, but soon learned to tolerate them. And once we found pancake rocks he thought they were great fun.

ya gotta go to the guadalupe river

"it was so much fun. we went to the guadalupe river. with grandma and grandpa. I was swimming. We put it (water gun) in water and then squish it and then we get all watery! And be messy." Henry Dunn age three.
I think Henry does the best job of summing up the fun and relaxing time we had with Grandma and Grandpa Dunn at the Guadalupe River.