We're really letting things slip away with this blog here. I guess 17 days late for noting Topher's birthday isn't too bad. We did celebrate it on the right day. We swear.
Things got off to a festive start with some wonderful birthday cards.
I'd say thanks to everyone for the cards, but I think this face should be thanks enough.
And then it was on to the presents:
This shot is weird. I guess I wanted everyone to see our decorations, the presents, and Topher looking a little odd.
Fresh (I tried to spell that "phresh" on the first shot. Thanks English!) off taking some weird shots of Toph with his unopened presents it was time for some cute shots with his opened presents.
Now we can send him for groceries.
From there it was time for birthday pizza.
This looks like a screen shot from a sort of bizarre first person shooter video game.
And as though pizza wasn't enough, it was then time to strip him naked and let him go at his birthday cake.
We heard that Columbus actually made landfall in just a diaper.
Apparently Topher didn't get the memo as he had relatively little interest in actually touching the cake. After some coaxing he dipped his fingers in there, looked at them, wiped them on his chest, and looked around for the fork.
There was literally no cleaning between touching the cake and taking this picture. I was going to call him dainty, but then I noticed his finger hitched in his pants.
While I realize that not many people watch the videos I post (only 34 views for my magnum opus? I'm pretty sure 10 of those are mine), I'm going to go ahead with another post of videos (at least it's a post, right?). Don't worry though, I've cut them all down to about 15 seconds each.
Today we bring you some of Topher's daily adventures. We're hoping that when some studio execs see just how cute (and engaging) he is, they'll ask us to do a realty tv show (you may think that that was a dig at John and Kate, but if you look closely, it would have been a moronic one*). Without further ado, here is an average day in the Huff household.
Topher, info-junkie that he is, can't get going in the morning without checking his news sites and tech blogs. It is a good thing that he now has an iPod touch so that he is not tied to his computer to do so. Here is his review:
From there it is time to get into his work for the day. He has lately been saying something often that sounds suspiciously like "brimstone." About the time he took to this, we started finding him doing the following more and more often:
I suppose we need to get our act together. Topher is no hypocrite in his preaching, though. He takes great care to not just tell people how to live their life: he is also a shining example of an upstanding citizen. Watch for example, how he springs to action the moment he hears that someone's lost a contact lens:
But do not assume that Topher is some goody-two-shoes. No indeed. Despite the heavy rhetoric, when it comes time to get down, Topher is always at the front of the line. Watch for example this paparazzi [thanks spell check!] shot from a recent costume party in town (The sound seems to have gone weird on me. Just imagine some phat beats in the background):
But when it's all over, there is nothing that Topher likes more than to kick back and relax on his fancy massage chair:
And from there it's time for bed to wait for the next day to do it all again.
More updates should be coming soon. Things have been busy, but we're going to get pictures from Topher's birthday up as soon as we can.
*If you didn't think that, you obviously weren't watching the Entertainment Tonight between football games last weekend, whose tag line seemed to be: Now with a years serving of John and Kate in every episode.
With today being National Grandparents Day, Topher wanted to use this post to send a special thanks to his grandparents for all they have done for him in the past 11 months.
We sure appreciate everything you all have done for us. Take this as official permission to take some time off and relax. Since we know you are all pretty bad at doing so, Topher wanted to show you how:
Wastin' away in margaritaville
Thanks to all of the grandparents out there!
And just as a quick note, we wanted to note that BYU is doing so well that even the Wal-Marts in Connecticut have started carrying their gear:
We really don't know how this made it to the Willimantic Walmart, but you can bet we bought it.
School has started for Scott once again so Toph and I have had some free time on our hands. We've decided to develop some of our talents :). I discovered Topher's innate desire to cook the other day when I opened the fridge and yours truly came running. The next thing I knew, he was holding a spatula and gathering ingredients into a pile. Everything eventually ended up on the floor, but I thought it would be cool (and really nice for me) if Toph likes to cook someday like his Daddy does :)
I, on the other hand, being a less than notable cook have turned my attention to knitting. Scott's mom has been teaching me to knit and I've discovered that I really enjoy it! A couple of weeks ago I finished my first project, a baby blanket for a friend. I was so proud of myself, and since this is my blog and I can write whatever I want, I think the blanket turned out wonderfully!
Toph and I will be quite a team once we've mastered our new skills :).
Sorry everyone about missing last week. School has started back up and I've found that they tend to get graduate students right in the swing of things. Now I've been using school work as an excuse to keep from doing lots of things, and lots of things as an excuse for not doing school work. Needless to say, I'm simultaneously as stressed and as relaxed as I've been for some time.
Now that that is out of the way, join me on a journey into the not so distant past...
SMOKE FILLS THE ROOM
So, my folks came out to visit us. I thought that it was so that they could come to see Topher, but it turned out that it was so that my mom could further convert Megan into what I
begrudgingly call a "knit-nut."
This is Topher's "Somebody pay attention to me!" stance.
Despite being a little under the weather, Topher warmed up to folks to the point that he smiled at the camera while they held him -- a feat that neither Megan nor I have yet accomplished.
Don't be surprised if this face gets photoshopped into the next few months' family photos.
We decided to make our way up to Massachusetts to take in Lexington, Concord, and Boston.
The National Historic Site visitors center near Concord is actually quite amazing. I highly recommend it to anyone within a reasonable distance.
Topher really got into the spirit of things.
Apparently Topher is a patriot at heart, since he'd allow the tricorn hat to stay on for 1.5 seconds longer than the pirate hat we bought him.
We really didn't know what we were getting into in Concord. Apparently in addition to being the site of the "Shot heard 'round the world," it was home to a gaggle of famous authors and poets. For example Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, and Henry David Thoreau are all buried in Concord.
Here we are at Walden Pond. This was the only shot we could get without B.F. Skinner herding his infants around the property in the background.
In addition to taking in the historical sites, we took a moment to visit the grounds of the Boston LDS Temple.
Unfortunately, my dad and Topher had a bit of a falling out in the process.
Fortunately, we have a saying in our family: "Cemeteries cure all ills."
Well, that joke is actually a little deeper than I care to deal with at the moment.
Boston hadn't changed too much since the last time we visited, but this time around we made it to the Bunker Hill monument.
Elevators not included.
Against my better judgement, I agreed to take the 294 stairs to the top.
Here is some good proof that just because I'm smiling, you shouldn't assume I'm okay.
Topher sure showed me up, he didn't even break a sweat going up.
At least he hasn't learned to yell "Mush!" yet.
All and all we had a great time and sure enjoyed having my folks out. And if there is one lasting benefit, it is that Megan no longer needs to resort to sticking head bands on Topher to entertain herself.
At least we'll be able to show this to a fiance someday.
Now in unrelated news (per usual), I secretly think that this is why the Cougars won last night:
We're glad that Topher doesn't startle like he used to because there was a significant amount of shouting, high-fiving, yelling, and cheering going on last night. We're also glad that we don't have any neighbors.
And as a final note to my parents: Topher may be walking, but you're plan has yet to come to fruition:
Kind of reminds you of Bam-Bam from the Flinstones, doesn't it?
