Poconos is in upstate New York right?!

So I will not be winning a geography contest anytime soon and in case I told you otherwise, the Poconos are in Pennsylvania and they are gorgeous! We went with some 25 of our closest Harlem friends to a "chalet" in Blakeslee, PA this past weekend and had the greatest time! Cody took Friday off so we were the first to arrive. We got settled in, did some exploring...yes the first item of business was finding the nearest Wal-Mart, roamed around the big house and went for a walk. We saw tons of deer and wild turkey in the neighborhood and Morgan enjoyed the stairs and all the open space. It rained on and off the whole weekend but that didn't dampen our spirits in the least!

Nothing like a fish hook to the eye!

Yep, that's right we stuck Morgan as far into the closet as possible and we all slept pretty well.

Some dinner and quiet time before the rest of our roomies arrived on Friday night.

Morgan's new Halloween pj's say Hair-Wolf. We felt this was appropriate since our little man's hair is getting very curly and out of control. I love it and his big belly! He refused to let us take a picture without his sippy cup. I think he's catching on to the fact that he has an opinion.

Just hanging around on a lazy Poconos Saturday with friends. This cute little lady was the only girl with four other little boys...all under 2!
After Cody and Morgan's naps on Saturday, we decided to go for a drive and see what we could see. We found a pretty dead end road with a nice trail at the end of it. Turned out to be the Thomas Darling Nature Preserve and it was beautiful and we had it all to ourselves. Morgan however just wanted to play in the car; his absolute favorite thing in the world!
He got over it and he had a great time jumping in puddles.

Our good friend Ashley had everyone jumping in pictures during our trip so we decided to try it out as a family on our little walk. Morgan thought this was the funniest thing ever and started trying to jump with us. Even though he's too little to jump, he tried his hardest. He would squat down real low then pop up and do this little skip hop dance with the biggest grin. Man I love this little guy!

After our little walk we went back to the housing area where we were staying. They had a lake with a beach area and a small playground. It had finally stopped raining and it was a beautiful evening. We called some friends from the house to come join us and we had a great time playing around.

Beautiful Margy with Morgan who insisted on sitting next to her.Eliot was not happy and gave the cutest pouty face while laying in the sand. I just love these little guys!Minde supervising a little lake exploration.On Sunday morning we lazed about slowly getting ready to leave. The kids did a great job entertaining themselves with the help of various adults and many books. We hated to leave and can't wait to make this an annual event next year.

Here is a slide show of all the pictures we took this weekend. Many of our friends have fantastic cameras and took many other pictures for us. As soon as I get some I will add them to the mix. A great big hearty THANK YOU to the Gardners for concocting this weekend idea and for everyone else for making it a beautiful weekend!

Just Cause It's My Blog!

After I took the initial pictures of Morgan eating his Mango Flower I put the camera away for a little bit while Morgan ate his lunch. After his nap we brought the flower back out and Morgan insisted on holding it and then went to town! Good thing I got my bites in early!
He was so determined to eat that thing down to nothing and he did a pretty good job!
I love his pudgy little hands holding the stick so tight against his face. What a funny kid I have!

This Sunday Morgan wore his new dapper Sunday suit to church. I found both pieces at different times on sale at Baby GAP and couldn't resist giving him a whole plaid suit. I loved it and Morgan didn't seem to mind his new digs.

Sorry for the blurry picture but Sunday mornings I'm alone and Morgan is not known for holding still.
Good shot of his famous summer church sandals and his great elbow pads. A must have look for the future academic!

Cody and I are off to a Weezer concert tonight at Madison Square Garden. They are Cody's favorite band and a sort of anniversary present to himself. I'll try to get the pictures up tomorrow since we leave early Friday for a weekend in the Poconos. So excited for both events!

I Heart Today!

Today, I am happy to announce, is the 4th Anniversary of our wonderful wedding! My darling husband surprised me this morning with lots of goodies and roses that he brought home last night. I surprised him with a book wrapped in its Barnes & Noble bag...tsk tsk. Cody got me another Harry Potter book, Stardust dvd and some Haribo gummi candy. Truly the only edible gummi food in the world according to me! Oh and a new water bottle. What a thoughtful husband I have to cover all the basics. I am so very blessed to have the pleasure of being married to Cody and I can't believe how quickly 4 years have passed. Good thing we have all eternity or I'd feel like we were running out of time! He is my favorite person and best friend and a wonderful father.

I Heart Cody!!!!

Another reason today is lovely is we were invited to join Sunny, Harper and our little friend Sebastian at the playground this morning. It's always fun to get a chance to go play with people you don't see everyday...even those you do see everyday. We just like other people, especially them:)

On the way home through East Harlem, I stopped and bought a Mango Flower from a local grocer. For some reason a lot of people in East Harlem like to cut up fruit and put it on a stick, mainly mango, pineapple and oranges. I'm not sure why they do it but we sure do appreciate it.

Morgan digging in to a mango petal!

For lunch I had a treat that really only I enjoy, thanks to Mesha for sending it to me. Then I had a lovely nap, read more Harry Potter and am enjoying my Happy-Cola gummi candy while I write this post. I have book club tonight, which I love and that about wraps up why I'm feeling pretty good today!

BYU Football and Serendipity

Saturday afternoon Cody gave me a pleasant surprise, an afternoon off! Cody and Morgan went over to Tyler and Minde's to watch the BYU/UCLA game. This way Morgan and Chase could play while Tyler and Cody completely ignored them. Fun for all!This is how Morgan felt about UCLA!

Since my boys were busy doing manly things, I thought I would take advantage of some girl time. I called my good friend Morgen and decided to meet her at Serendipity on the Upper East Side. I had never been there before but had heard many great things...let me just say, they are all TRUE!

Morgen overwhelmed with glee at our Peanut Butter Frozen Hot Chocolates!
Thank you Ashley for recommending we go with the Peanut Butter one, absolutely delicious!
I also enjoyed the yummy carrot cake and Morgen devoured the stuffed French Toast. Afterwards, we did a little window shopping while catching up on life. It was a heavenly afternoon and I am so grateful for Cody and his beautiful surprise!

Yesterday I was very thankful for sports!

Family Home Evening Group

Two Sundays ago we had a combined lesson about emergency preparedness. Part of the lesson was to break the ward into neighborhood groups. The groups are supposed to help each other with cleaning the chapel, emergency preparedness and with Family Home Evenings. Ideally we would get together once a month or so with some or all of the group.

We decided to kick off having FHE in our home by inviting Ashley, Eliot and Bryan over for some FHE fun! Eliot just learned to smile by being asked to "show his teeth" and I just think it's the cutest thing in the whole world!
Morgan's cute pouty look.
In keeping with the cuteness theme is how much Eliot enjoyed sitting with Cody!
What FHE with two little rowdy boys looks like. We had a 2 minute lesson on prayer, colored a little...mostly the table thanks to Morgan, sang a few songs and ate some popsicles. Then it was playtime for the activity...and bathtime.
Only the little ones participated in bathtime but they seemed to enjoy themselves just the same.

We are so grateful for our wonderful ward here in Harlem and especially for our great friends who make life here so special.

Thanks for joining us Melgars!

Blueberry Kitties

So we have been thoroughly boring for the past little while and I haven't had anything to blog about. However, the other night Morgan did something quite amusing so I thought I'd share it with the world. As most of you know, Morgan LOVES fruit of all kinds, especially berries. The other night I gave him a bowl full of frozen blueberries and left him to amuse himself. While he was eating I thought we'd take a break from yet another Wiggles dvd and put on Milo & Otis. I'm sure most of you remember this wonderful little movie about a kitten and a pug dog who are best friends narrated by Dudley Moore. It's a childhood favorite of mine and since it is about animals I thought Morgan might share my enthusiasm.

Well, I was very right...messily so!

Since Morgan still only has a handful of words and does quite well communicating through sign language, he kept trying to tell me about the animals he was seeing. Unfortunately his hands were covered in purple juice and this was the result:Instead of pinching his cheek for kitty, Morgan likes to attack the entire side of his head and hair. By the time he was done the whole side of his face was covered and so was his leg from tapping it furiously every time he saw the doggy.
What a crazy cute kid we've managed to help along?!

He is still throwing his little tantrums now and then but we've instituted time-outs and he seems to be getting the point. Here's hoping!

No Excuses!

So you might be thinking to yourself, wow, Beth and Morgan haven't done anything blog worthy in almost 2 whole weeks?! Well, you'd be wrong. We've had tons of fun, blog-worthy outings but I've just been too lazy to post them and I've used the excuse of waiting for pictures from others. Well, I'm still waiting on pictures but decided to update everyone anyway. I complain constantly about people not updating their blogs...ie Chamaine!...but haven't been much better myself. I guess we all need a little break now and then.

One of the most exciting things that happened last week was our day trip outside of the City. Last Wednesday, Kiasa, Bella, Morgan and I rented a zip car and headed out to Long Island and Jones Beach. On the way we stopped at Target, which is a big treat for us city folk, then made our way to the beach. It was a beautiful day, not too hot and plenty of sun.

The only downside was how far away the parking lot was from the water and the vast ocean of sand between the two. Morgan did not do well on either leg of our journey across but he LOVED the beach and water once we got settled!Taking it all in!
The bathing beauties complete with shades!
Morgan loved running around in the surf despite the freezing temperatures.
Wiggling some cute toes free of their sandy fortress.
Morgan also inspecting his cute little sandy toes.
Honestly, how much stuff do two little ones and their mommas need at the beach?! You never know is the problem so of course I over packed big time and paid the consequences having to carry it all, plus Morgan back and forth. Thank you Kiasa for all of your help and for a wonderful day out of the city!

Every night that Cody makes it home before bed time is a real treat for Morgan. He loves to sit at the window and look for "DaDa" and squeal with delight when he spots him. Then we run to the door and welcome him off the elevator. Morgan then runs around while Cody chases him and then helps Daddy get relaxed.
Step One: Daddy takes of his shoes

Step Two: Morgan puts them on. (You can see him thinking..."Just a few more years.")

Step Three: Get Morgan all worked up with giggles before trying to put him to bed!

We love bedtimes with Daddy!

On Labor Day, since we had no plans for our whole weekend, we decided to take advantage of the Adventure Playground's water feature before the water gets turned off soon for the end of the summer weather.We invited Minde, Tyler and Chase to join us and they happily came with.
This is Morgan's "If I'm really cute they won't notice I'm up to something face!"

Both boys love the water and pushing their toy strollers about. We are so lucky to have such great friends, who help us explore this great city. After the park, we walked around the Upper West Sides and got ourselves some goodies...scones at Alice's Tea Cup and cookies at Levains.

A very yummy Labor Day!

*yucky side note: Morgan was not eating well after the park, which worried me since it was dinnertime and would be bedtime by the time we got home. However, I discovered the reason for this when Morgan completely threw up right outside our front door. I think it had something to do with the 3 sticks of string cheese he had before he started playing. Smooth move mom!

So some of the other fun stuff, sans pictures, that's we've been up to is as follows:

Last Thursday: Morgan, Chase and Eliot had their final swim lesson. Despite the freezing temps they all did great and had some fun.

Thursday night: Kiasa and I, sans little ones, met up with some friends of hers in the Brooklyn Bridge Park and watched The Shining on a big outdoor screen under the Brooklyn Bridge. One of the coolest things I've done in the city!

Friday: I dropped off Morgan with Minde and headed down to meet Cody as he was getting off work early. We had lunch at Max Brenner's Chocolate by the Bald Man and saw a movie. It was a wonderful date and we really enjoyed the time together.

Well, that's it for now. It has been a slow week so far, this week. I will post any other cool pics once I have them.