stone mountain!

stone mountain is one of my favorite things in atlanta so far.  {at the time the memorial of "stonewall" jackson, robert e. lee, and jefferson davis was carved, it had been fifty years since the civil war ended and slavery was abolished.  and, although it seems a little strange that people in the south are still "celebrating" the confederacy represented in the memorial, i think it's more of a "southern pride" thing than a south-versus-north thing.  people of every race and ethnicity were at the fireworks and laser show, and the laser show had an overreaching message of equality, love, and american pride.}  basically i loved it because the laser show was freaking awesome.

^^^ this is us, enjoying each other's company before the show.  we met up with some friends and even met some byu alums in the crowd.  isn't it great how the church is everywhere, and you can have immediate friends wherever you move?  we love it.

also, hazelnut started sitting up.  on her own.  i think it was the slant of the hill... but still.  where did my baby go?!

our wonderful friends!  they are just great.

that one time we went to chinatown.

oh, how i love the weekend.  ours was wonderful.  it's so nice to get out of the house on weekends, because usually i am confined to our little apartment and anything within a square mile of it.  and you can only do so much walking around in 90 degree weather with humidity to match it, ya know?

on saturday john took hazel and i to chinatown!  at least, that's what we're calling it.  we found it quite by accident one day when we had nothing to do but i was desperate to go on a drive/walk in new territory.  so i typed "mall" into my phone map and it came up as one of the options.  all i can say is, hallelujah!  there are too few authentic and yummy chinese food places in the world.

this place is legit.  john and i had a meal just like what we would have had over a year ago in taiwan/china.  {ie. not panda express}  it was delicious.  and, there's a nice stinky chinese market and live music too!  it made for a fun outing.

when we became a two-nap family.

big news around here....

hazel has switched from an indeterminate number of naps each day.... to two naps per day!

for months i had been doing everything in my power to get her to take a nap longer than forty minutes.  white noise, darkening her room, cio, stroller naps, car seat naps, putting her down earlier, putting her down later, nursing her to sleep, not nursing her to sleep.... i seriously tried everything.  it was a wonderful day when she would even take three-ish naps a day, and one of them even lasted for an hour and a half!  sometimes.

and then, last monday, hazel made up her mind that she was going to take two naps a day, and that they were going to last longer than forty minutes.  and it was glorious.  she is a lot happier now that she gets the rest she needs.

also worth noting:

at church today a lady and i started talking.  she suggested that her daughter {age one and a half} would love to play with my daughter, whom i was holding.

her:  how old is she?

me:  5 months.

her:  wow she's big!

me:  yes.  maybe she wouldn't be the best playmate for your daughter.... (since your daughter can walk and talk and all mine does is hang out in the jenny jump-up and watch baby einsteins...)

world of coke.

newsflash!  i love anything brown and bubbly.  but i especially like coke zero lately.  and coke is just an american classic.  the world of coke is one of the must-see sites here in atlanta, so we made the plunge with some friends last saturday.  i am so glad we did.

some highlights of the trip:

1} learning the history of coke, from when it was first made and how it was first served, to how the secret recipe has been kept secret for 127 years, to the introduction of new coke and its recall, to the worldwide phenomenon coke is today

2}  watching coke commercials from as far back as the 60's  

3}  seeing how coke is packaged and learning about the process firsthand

after w.o.c., we went to anticos!  because hello! yum.

and also, yum.

life lately.

peruvian.

the other day, john and i were driving around atlanta and we spotted "contigo peru".  it advertised "fresh seafood!" in the window, and whenever we see "peru" and "seafood" in the same place we think just one thing:  ceviche.  so we made a date to go there over the weekend and i am so glad we did.  we dedicated the meal to sam, my amazing brother serving a mission in peru right now.

things i love:
snuggling with a sleepy baby
picnicking under a tall, tall tree
the tickle of sand in-between my toes
conversations with strangers
red velvet
southern thunderstorms
singing to hazel when she sings back
warm, clean sheets
nibbling on tiny toes.