Ben & Jenny Forrest

january happenings

2012-02-08T09:11:00.000-05:00

this winter has been so different from our first in the city. it's hardly snowed and we've had multiple warm days - it has been wonderful! william did get to experience one snow day. he didn't seem to care.

we've enjoyed getting out in the city, especially with friends. the cannons visited and we ventured to times square to ride the toys 'r us indoor ferris wheel. we also all visited the 9/11 memorial.

the yins also visited and we ate lots and played in soho.

every friday night we attend young womens/young mens. some activities include ice skating in bryant park and learning to crochet. william loved the 'balls'.

ben and i also had a date to go to a taping of the letterman show. we highly recommend going.

and william has been exploring all around. he loves the bathroom the most.

new york is making it hard to leave.

christmas 2011

2012-01-27T11:36:00.000-05:00

we spent christmas and new years in a snowless utah with family. besides lots of sickness going around we managed to have a lovely time.

the highlight of the 2 weeks was aunt katie's beautiful wedding!

we also enjoyed lots of time with forrest cousins and grandma.

our second week in town we stayed with sister cory and cousin calvin.

william loved mitch the dog, swimming almost everyday, and visiting the farm at thanksgiving point.

we also loved their fancy house and big tub. william had his first bubble bath.

new york holidays

2011-12-20T10:50:00.001-05:00

new york puts on a good show during the holidays. lots to do and lots of pretty lights.

some highlights include seeing the displays in the fancy store windows on 5th avenue,

the rockefeller tree,

two times on santa's lap,

train show at grand central station,

and a date night to carnegie hall to see the messiah.

1st birthday celebration

2011-12-16T15:45:00.002-05:00

for his 1st birthday william got to eat chocolate cake naked. lucky boy. i thought for sure he'd love it. to start he stepped in the cake, which upset him quite a bit.

so mom and dad had to start eating the cake to show william how delicious it was. he tentatively took some bites. then mom decided to put his birthday hat on which again upset him.

finally we just left him alone and he got in the spirit of his birthday and cake.

in the end i think he really really liked it.

after getting cleaned up and being on a sugar high he opened a few presents. he loves hangers, thank you grandma forrest!

because it was a late night we opened more presents the next day. his other favorite toy are boxes - grandma shafer sent the perfect gift! he has the best grandmas.

happy birthday to baby william! we hope we didn't traumatize you!

12 months

2011-12-13T15:53:00.002-05:00

happy birthday to william!! my baby made it to 1 year.

my favorite accomplishment of this past month is william calling me mama when i ask him who i am. melts my heart every time.

in addition to mama, bye-bye, and hello he also knows the animal sounds to a cow, snake, duck, and his favorite lion. he learned to clap and 'reach for the sky'.

he's mastered the army crawl and loves chasing his balls and cars around the apartment. he can also pull up on things and loves to walk whenever possible. he's holding steady at five teeth.

he enjoys reading and his favorite are lift-the-flap books. he likes putting things in and out of buckets and boxes. he's also fascinated with putting caps on and off and can stack a good block tower.

and his most favorite thing is his zebra.

william we love you more and more every day. we can't wait to see what the next year brings!

a california thanksgiving

2011-12-08T09:17:00.001-05:00

we had a great thanksgiving at grandma and grandpa shafers home. all the cousins were there which meant lots of learning to play together.

william loved the thanksgiving meal (as did uncle christian, now elder shafer). he didn't love sitting still for pictures.

we honored our christmas traditions and went bowling and walked around the lafayette reservoir.

william experienced his first bike ride

and first haircut.

ben and i got away and went to the stanford v. notre dame football game. ben's first stanford game.

other highlights included daily swings in the backyard

and seeing the ducks!

thanks family for a great vacation. elder christian we will miss you while you are in brazil.

11 months

2011-11-16T09:30:00.001-05:00

11 months! 1 month from a year and no more monthly updates! i may say this every time, but this has been my favorite month in the life of william.

he's so much fun to play with. his favorite activities are reading flap books, stacking blocks, pushing anything that has wheels, balls, tickles from dad, if he's lucky an elmo clip, and food.

this month he also had 3 top teeth come in. and the biggest accomplishment - crawling! he's slowly mastering the army crawl and can get himself around quite well, i'm sure hands and knees aren't too far behind.

and my favorite are his 'bye-bye's'. he also says 'hello' by sticking out this tongue. he's also a champion sleeper. 12 hours at night and 2 solid naps of 1-2 hours each. of course zebra must be present at all 'night-nights', but when it's not sleeping time he gets thrown to the floor.

we love you william!

happy halloween

2011-11-02T10:56:00.000-04:00

william has absolutely no concept of what halloween is - but that doesn't stop me from dressing him up!

he is either a dragon or a dinosaur depending on who you ask.

we spent the evening answering the door for tricker treaters. william liked picking up the candy and dropping it on the floor, of course.

for me it was a new experience seeing how halloween works in new york. if you wanted tricker treaters you put a sign on your door and all the buildings in our neighborhood sent out a list of the apartments participating.

we ran out of candy so i'd say it was a successful night! happy halloween!

an instagram weekend

2011-10-26T10:14:00.000-04:00

we had a pleasure of having the newly engaged aunt katie and kurt (congrats, congrats!) visiting so we ran around the city this weekend. friday night we headed to the suburbs, my first trip out of grand central, to the blaze festival. thousands of craved pumpkins were displayed on the grounds of a manor.

saturday we went to chelsea market for brunch followed by a walk on the high line.

then we tried fancy and delicious donuts at the doughnut plant.

that evening was vietnamese in chinatown followed by dessert at ferrara's.

sunday we went all the way to 116th to check out columbia university.

it turned out that some students were practicing their chinese dragon moves. william was enthralled.

and since we were in the neighborhood i had to see the seinfeld restaurant.

a perfect fall weekend.

10 months

2011-10-14T11:09:00.000-04:00

this week we celebrated william's 10 month birthday! yeah for growing up!

he's still not mobile (which is fine by me). but he's preferred method of playing is done standing. he's also taken some steps by holding onto our hands. i think we may skip the crawling stage all together.

the most entertaining accomplishment of the month is learning how to say bye-bye and hello. he waves to himself and says buh-buh. i find it endlessly entertaining.

he also cut his second tooth. this month has been filled with lots of drooling. notice how all the pictures he has drool on his chin? we soak through a couple shirts a day.

william continues to be a champion eater. he now insists on taking his own bites from the banana and he's ventured into meat and loves it. finger foods are now preferred and he loves to stuff his mouth.

and his favorite game continues to be dropping any object and watching any sucker pick it up and hand it back so he can drop it again. (although balloons he finds perplexing, they don't drop when he lets go...) william we love you!

lady liberty

2011-10-12T11:03:00.000-04:00

this past saturday we decided to be the ultimate tourists in our own city and visit the statue of liberty and ellis island. she deserves extra-large pictures.

since she is in our backyard we decided to get up close. it was both william's and ben's first trip.

the views of lower manhattan (and our building) were great.

and lady liberty was impressive as well.

we did make it to ellis island as well, but only the grass outside the building and gift shop. william was done being a tourist.

the best part was it only took us a 5 minute walk to get to the ferry from our apartment. yippee for living as downtown as you can get!

museums

2011-09-29T09:30:00.001-04:00

there are literally hundreds of museums in new york. we are saving visits to most of them for the winter, but saturday was free museum day so we decided to check out the intrepid. william was excited.

it's an old naval ship with lots of planes and guns and exhibits.

william got to sit in his first helicopter. and we even found a plane with his initials.

earlier in the week william and i headed up to central park so we decided to also check out the museum of natural history.

the realistic looking animals made william a little nervous.

so we spent most of the time looking at the many great dinosaur bones.

we are looking forward to lots more museum trips - they may be our salvation this winter.

summer wrap up

2011-09-23T09:40:00.000-04:00

today is the first day of fall. to celebrate i'm doing a summer wrap-up of other adventures we had in the warm weather. it was a good summer. we did lots of swinging. william is now king of the swings.

william was introduced to walter the muppet.

we took the ferry to governors island and saw the vw traffic jam.

teddy yin visited again, yay!

and labor day mini golf.

please don't get too cold too fast new york. we loved you in the summer.

9/11 video

2011-09-19T10:22:00.000-04:00

ben and i teach the 9 turning 10 year olds in primary, for a few more weeks at least. at the start of each class we always ask the kids about their weeks. yesterday one of our students, sammy, told us he did this...

we couldn't believe it! i loved it. almost got me teary-eyed in class. sammy's the boy with the mop-top, he's such a great kid. i love our primary class and new york.

9 months

2011-09-14T14:47:00.000-04:00

william made it to 9 months. he's growing well, especially in height. he's 30.4 inches which is in the 97% and 19.8 pounds being 39%.

he continues to love any and all food. this month he mastered being able to pick up food and get it into his mouth. as a result blueberries became a fast favorite.

he loves to turn the pages when reading. his current favorite books are peek-a-hoo?, the very hungry caterpillar, and i'm the biggest thing in the ocean. other favorites are the subway trains, his zebra, and going outside. we've even had some long happy stroller rides lately.

this month he learned how to give high fives, scoot backward, and do lots of rolling.

we love our little blue eyes!

9/11/11

2011-09-12T15:58:00.000-04:00

it was very interesting to be in new york for the 10th anniversary of 9/11, especially in our downtown neighborhood. from our apartment we could hear the names being read at the memorial. multiple roads were shut down and there was a huge increase in the number of police on the streets. in battery park a flag was placed for each victim.

each night for the week the twin tower lights were on.

and the new world trade center tower was lit in red, white, and blue.

we are now looking forward to visiting the memorial. the first available tickets are in october, so it is looking to be a late fall venture for us.

birthday weekend

2011-09-07T10:17:00.000-04:00

we celebrated ben's 34th birthday this weekend! it started out with william and i arriving at his office with balloons.

then that evening we headed to the us open tennis event. we loved walking around the grounds and being able to watch the matches on the smaller courts from up close. in arthur ashe our seats were near the top, but it was still great fun watching roddick beat sock. we may need to make this a tradition.

our friend josh also came in for the weekend and to celebrate ben's birthday. one day we took william on his first carousel ride. it happened to be a solar powered carousel that was fast!

on the way home we took a little tour of downtown to washington's inaugural site and the new york stock exchange.

happy birthday b. i think the cougars won just for you. we love you!

staten island ferry

2011-09-04T20:48:00.001-04:00

on ben's nyc wish list was to ride the staten island ferry with william. so last week we took him on his first and most likely not last ride.

the ferry is a great and free way to see the statue of liberty.

william really didn't care about lady liberty, but he does care about standing.

the view of downtown manhattan and our building.

hurricane irene

2011-08-29T09:52:00.007-04:00

a little storm named irene ruled our weekend. a hurricane means good surf so on friday we enjoyed a beautiful day out on long beach.

we stayed the night before returning early the next morning to the city to pack up a few necessities as we were under a mandatory evacuation order (1st ever in nyc history!) since the hudson river is our backyard.

we headed to higher ground to the apartment of very generous friends in brooklyn. william was a trooper in the many new environments.

luckily our neighborhood didn't have any major damage so we were able to return home sunday afternoon. we took a walk and while it was still quite windy it was good to be home and to see the sun.

goodbye irene.

shafer visit to nyc

2011-08-23T17:58:00.013-04:00

grandma and grandpa shafer came to visit us following our stay in california. we did lots of eating and walking. all around downtown, central park, soho, the high line,

and the brooklyn bridge.

and while we had family in town we advantage of the free babysitting! on saturday morning ben and i biked up to central park and then park avenue which was closed to cars for summer saturdays.

and we had a date night to be tourists in our own city and went to the top of the rock at sunset.

thanks for coming grandma & grandpa! thanks for carrying william so much, spoiling him & us, and making him a fantastic cradle.

8 months

2011-08-18T10:50:00.005-04:00

8 months might be my favorite stage yet. william sits very well without support, he also loves to stand with support. we see no signs of a desire to crawl. over the past month he's learned how to bang things together and when he does so successfully wants you to acknowledge said accomplishment.

he cut his first tooth. he loves to laugh. his new favorite food might be oranges thanks to the introduction by grandma shafer. he basically likes all food (except avocado). if you eat in front of him be prepared to share. he saw president obama, again. he still loves his bjorn and does lots of kicking and jazz hands when he gets to go for a ride. he likes to splash in the water.

and sadly we had to move him from his favorite cradle to a bigger crib, it took a few days to transition. must mean he's growing up.

we love our goose.

shafer cousins

2011-08-16T10:54:00.009-04:00

on either side of the forrest family reunion we stayed at grandma and grandpa shafers. cory and new baby calvin were visiting as well. and we convinced john and kristen to bring jacob up so all the boy cousins could meet for the first time.

we had a great time playing in the backyard, feeding the fishes and trying new shoes near the fire pit.

one day all the girls and the babies headed to the beautiful filoli gardens on the peninsula. we found a bench just for babies.

and enjoyed the many gardens and flowers.

we even survived lunch (barely).

as usual, california was perfect.

avila beach

2011-08-11T15:11:00.011-04:00

the forrest side of the family recently got together for a great family reunion in avila beach. we never mind going to california, it's especially nice getting away from the humidity in new york in july. it was fun seeing lots of family including grandma forrest,

aunt katie,

great grandpa hutchings,

and cousin madeline.

we also had lots of fun at the beach playing in the sand,

surfing,

and paddle boarding in the cold cold water.

we even managed to get in a family picture at sunset.

i think william would be happy being a california beach bum.

visit from josh

2011-08-09T20:26:00.006-04:00

one of our favorite people, josh, came down from boston for a visit a few weeks ago. we were all very excited, especially william as we headed out for the beach.

william loved having a new friend who would play with him.

it was a great weekend - come back soon josh!

camping in the berkshires

2011-07-25T13:21:00.006-04:00

a couple weekends ago we borrowed our old car and drove out to the berkshires in western massachusetts to meet up with some friends from boston to do some camping.

william never rides in a car seat so he wasn't too thrilled about the ride out. but once we got there he was a tremendous camper. he slept through the night in the tent and even managed a short morning nap. he and a friend played in their 'cage'.

he also enjoyed the lake, watching the fire, and watching badminton. and he was introduced to frogs.

4th of july

2011-07-21T11:30:00.007-04:00

everyone at our house is still battling colds. and of course we are in the middle of a heat wave. the 4th of july weekend was a hot one as well, but we were all healthy and we had fun visitors - the yins!

of course i only got pictures of the babies, but it was hard to turn the camera anywhere else. (why is william always on the left?)

there was lots of playtime together but we also managed to get out a bit and walk part of the brooklyn bridge, walk the high line, visit chelsea market, hunt down a delicious korean bbq food truck,

and picnic with shake shack on the 4th. we watched the fireworks on tv as they started after the babies bedtimes.

thanks for visiting yins! we are looking forward to more play dates with teddy.

long beach

2011-07-18T13:36:00.004-04:00

william came down with his first major cold this past weekend. it's so sad. he's been pretty much miserable for the past 4 days. so instead i'll focus on the fun we had on our first beach excursion a few weekends ago when we were healthy.

we took the early train to long beach and enjoyed the nice sand, sun and water and left before the crowds arrived.

william wasn't too fond of getting too close to the waves, but he warmed up to it after awhile.

mr. forrest just bought a surfboard as well, so i guess that means more beach trips for us!

7 months

2011-07-13T13:34:00.007-04:00

seven months old and continuing to grow.

the biggest accomplishment of the last month was learning to sit! william's now mastered the skill and as result toys are a whole new world. he also loves solid foods. strawberries and mangos right now are favorites, but he'll eat anything except avocado.

williams favorite toy is still his zebra which he cuddles with during nap time. other favorites continue to be going out in the bjorn, swinging, sucking on his fingers, reading in the morning, and bathtime. new favorites are jazz hands, playing dropsies, laughing when tickled by dad, balls, the remote control, and anything he can get into his mouth.

we love our goose.

rainbow city

2011-06-29T15:19:00.007-04:00

last weekend we checked out rainbow city! very odd, yet interesting and fun.

rainbow city happens to be located right next to the newly opened section of the high line. so we decided, along with what seemed like half of new york, to walk the new section.

william was happy until it got too hot and crowded.

we will be back high line.

sitting

2011-06-23T09:39:00.005-04:00

william's favorite new activity is sitting. he's still a little tipsy, but is improving everyday.

his most stable position is 'the gorilla'.

weekend update

2011-06-20T11:09:00.007-04:00

this may have been our best weekend yet in new york. friday night we ventured up to chelsea market, quite possibly my new favorite place in the city, for a tasty quick dinner. when we arrived home i was surprised with our apartment filled with friends! ben had put together a half birthday surprise party for me. he's the best. delicious chocolate cake was involved and william snuck a raspberry.

on saturday we headed up to central park to go rowing. it was fun seeing the skyline from the water. and on our way home william decided to mess his pants, then dad's pants, and finally the subway floor. our first major public blowout!

we also walked onto our first movie set. men in black 3 is being shot near our building and we accidently walked through a scene being filmed. some extras told us to move along. as a result of the filming about 15 old cars were parked in front of our building over the weekend. it was fun to look out the window and feel like we'd gone back in time.

and of course it was father's day! william showed his appreciation for his dad by almost making it through sacrament meeting. records of happiness at church were broken today. we had a lazy afternoon of steak, presents, napping, and golf. then we ventured to the bang on a can marathon at the world financial center to listen to some music followed by a skype visit with the shafer family. happy daddy's day to b. with just six months of experience as a dad i don't think you could be any more perfect.

6 months

2011-06-15T15:11:00.007-04:00

happy half birthday! william is now weighing in at 15 lbs 2 oz and is 26.25 inches long. he's average on the height scale, but in the 11% for weight. good thing we are starting solids and that he loves it.

williams favorite activities are swinging, sitting up with help, reading in the mornings, bath time, and going for rides in the bjorn (so i'm glad he isn't too heavy). he loves to put anything within reach into his mouth.

he continues to love his fingers. and this month has discovered his toes. i love that he still curls them.

he loves it when people interact with him and will reward you with a smile. dad makes him laugh the best. he likes to talk, mainly by making zerbert noises. i wouldn't change a thing about him (except i wish he liked riding in his stroller). we love william!

cannon visit

2011-06-08T09:38:00.007-04:00

our dear boston friends melissa, henry, and madeline cannon came to visit! the weather was great so we enjoyed lots of park time.

one day we ventured to the shake shack in madison square park and ended up picnicking in the shadow of this work of art. i love the random art found around new york.

we also made our way to brooklyn to the transit museum where henry got to run around through all the old subway cars.

we hope you come back again soon!

swinging

2011-06-02T20:22:00.005-04:00

williams new favorite activity...swinging! here is his first time in the swing.

he can go all by himself in the bucket swings and would probably swing all day long if i let him.

good thing there are lots of swings to choose from in our neighborhood. we love you battery park city parks.

meeting teddy

2011-06-01T13:36:00.001-04:00

while in arizona we finally got to meet teddy yin!! even though he is 4 days younger he was much more advanced in toe grabbing. here william is getting a tutorial.

teddy is also much more solid than william. he tried to impose his size by attempting to eat william's hand.

but william would have none of it and showed him that he is older with a smack in the face.

in the end they made up by holding hands. i think this is the start of a great friendship.

daniel & kiley wedding

2011-05-29T22:53:00.007-04:00

we recently took a trip to mesa to attend the lovely wedding of daniel and kiley. it was beautiful in every way. william got passed around quite a bit. with the groom.

with the bride.

and with mom and dad.

with grandma and cousins. sometimes smiling.

and sometimes crying.

happy wedding day dan & kiley and happy 3rd anniversary to b.

first foods

2011-05-20T15:03:00.007-04:00

william has had a few tastes of solid foods and so far he's loved them. this week we tried butternut squash. he started out clean, content and upright.

the first few bites were successful and he even began attempting to feed himself. he refused to sit up, leaning to right was he preferred position for eating.

as we proceeded we leaned even more to the right, got a lot messier, and had a breakdown if mom didn't keep the food coming.

thank goodness for our fingers. they solve all problems.

primary

2011-05-20T14:51:00.002-04:00

ben and i team teach the 9 years olds in primary. we love it.

ruby, brayden and sammy are all super smart and fun. they also love william.

5 months

2011-05-12T15:43:00.000-04:00

william joshua turned 5 months old today. this is the first month where we don't have a doctor's appointment. must mean he's growing up.

williams current favorites are eating lots, sleeping (but only in his cradle), the bjorn, walks around battery park, sucking on any part of his hands or anyone else's hands, curling his toes, baths, toys he can put in his mouth, reading books in bed, laughing when being called a silly goose, and fake coughing.

the other exciting news of the day is that williams cousin calvin davis was born! congrats to cory and eric, we can't wait to meet the little guy.

central park

2011-05-10T13:52:00.008-04:00

we've lived in new york close to 5 months now and had yet to make the trip up to central park. so we headed up this past weekend.

i mainly wanted to see the central park conservatory. it did not disappoint. the lilacs were in bloom and so were an amazing variety of tulips.

we learned william does not like cold water, just warm water in his bath. this was taken right before we dipped his feet in the water and he quickly expressed his dislike.

one reason this was our first outing to central park is that william has limited happy time between naps. and he loves napping in his cradle. and central park isn't necessarily a short outing from lower manhattan. so as he began to make it clear it was nap time we found a spot under a tree and successfully had a little nap, enough to hold him over for the subway ride home. it was kind of a production, but helped everyone be happy.

central park i love you and hope to return often for more exploration.

cherry blossoms

2011-05-09T08:59:00.008-04:00

we officially love the spring in new york. we headed out to the brooklyn botanical gardens one day during the peak of the cherry blossoms.

it was beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

the lovely kimber even did an impromptu photo shoot of william.

he couldn't decide if he was happy or sad.

spring!

2011-04-29T16:15:00.007-04:00

spring has thankfully arrived! yippee! it turns out new york does spring splendidly, especially our neighborhood of battery park city.

we've enjoyed lots of walks in the warm weather and also visited the park.

really likes watching the tree limbs blow in the wind.

4 months

2011-04-20T08:54:00.004-04:00

william had his 4 month check up today. he continues to grow well, now at 13 lb 5 oz and 25 inches.

he also loves his zebra.

tummy time

2011-04-08T15:53:00.004-04:00

we practice tummy time everyday. william is slowly beginning to enjoy positions other than his back. he's even consistently rolling over now.

he also recently has discovered that his lower lip is tasty.

here's footage of the first time he rolled over at 2 1/2 months. grandma shafer taught him this trick.

water

2011-04-04T15:19:00.007-04:00

we recently had to return to boston to wrap up work. (i'm officially a full time mom now.) as a result we stayed in a fancy hotel with pool and hot tub. william loves his bath so we were excited to introduce him to lots more water.

his swimsuit is too big, but hopefully should fit by summertime.

he also got to shower with dad to get the pool chlorine off. he sure loves water.

our backyard

2011-04-01T11:48:00.002-04:00

living in new york we of course are in an apartment building. however, we are fortunate the statue of liberty is in our backyard. here's a family picture from a chilly sunday stroll around our neighborhood.

california, part 2

2011-03-27T18:39:00.006-04:00

on our final few days in california lots and lots of family came to town to visit and celebrate william and cousin jacob's blessing. here's their first meeting. i don't think they really care.

great grandma hayden got them both at the same time.

and william's not sure about those booties grandma forrest has on him.

we also went to the park with dad.

i love that face.

3 months

2011-03-16T19:58:00.005-04:00

william has past the 3 month mark. at his doctor visit today he weighed in at a healthy 12 lb 10 oz and is 24 3/4 inches long. and he also got two shots which was sad. here he is with his zebra.

to mark his 3 month birthday we took a water taxi from manhattan to the brooklyn ikea and got him a gym as he is now more interactive with his toys.

he was happy.

california, part 1

2011-03-14T16:42:00.009-04:00

we stayed in california for 10 delightful days. there were many new experiences every day. on our first day grandma showered us with fun toys.

we had lots of tummy time,

finally captured a smile on camera,

first laughs, sleeping on grandpa's shoulder,

kissing back, first trip to the park,

and just being cute.

and that all happened before meeting lots of family!

grandma shafer visit

2011-03-14T16:26:00.005-04:00

we love our grandmas. grandma shafer came to cold new york to help out again and help us get to california. some highlights of her stay include many, many happy baths,

rolling over for the first time, a walk along the highline on an abnormally warm day,

first shots, and williams first plane ride on which he was a champ, sleeping most of the way.

thank you thank you grandma!

family photo

2011-03-09T13:19:00.002-05:00

the snow doesn't seem to be stopping here in new york. at least it makes a pretty background for some forrest family photos.

this was taken in the back of our building - we are right on the hudson river.

mardi gras

2011-03-09T13:15:00.004-05:00

happy mardi gras!

grandma shafer gave william these beads and they have become his new favorite toy.

nyc subway

2011-02-19T20:29:00.004-05:00

family photo in the new york subway. its cold out so william gets bundled up under dad's coat and all you can see is his hat. i think it's adorable.

sometimes william likes to see what's going on in the subway.

aunt cory visit

2011-02-19T20:21:00.005-05:00

twin sister aunt cory came to visit us in cold february - we loved having her help and company. william especially loved sitting on her pregnant belly. while she was here we went on lots of walks.

and baths.

she even helped him find his fingers.

we loved having her here! come back when it's warm so we can meet baby calvin.

newborn photos

2011-02-05T14:17:00.006-05:00

i really wanted professional newborn photos taken of william. so at 8 days old the lovely terese plant come over and properly capture our little guy. i love all the photos, here are just some of the highlights.

one month

2011-01-15T10:53:00.004-05:00

william turned one month this week. to celebrate he met his new pediatrician here in new york and is growing nicely. now weighing 9 lb 7 oz and 22 inches long.

he also got a bath. he's not a fan yet of being clean.

boston temple

2011-01-14T17:33:00.004-05:00

before we left boston (and got rid of our car) we took william for a drive around boston to show him where he was born. one stop was the boston temple.

william's first weeks

2011-01-07T13:36:00.009-05:00

william has had an eventful first few weeks. he arrived on 12/12 and was delivered by the amazing dr. beth hardiman at mount auburn hospital.

we stayed at the hospital 3 nights and then walked home in very cold weather, so he got nicely bundled up.

on his first night home grandma shafer arrived and was a great help for the next week as we went to various doctors appointments, struggled with feedings, had his first bath, and packed our apartment. we also celebrated my 30th birthday and christmas in cambridge.

finally we arrived in our new home in new york city. grandma forrest then arrived to help us unpack.

thank you to grandma's for all the help - we could not have done it without you! now we are onto figuring out this new home of ours.

happy holidays

2010-12-26T16:41:00.002-05:00

we were otherwise occupied this holiday season so we didn't get out official holiday cards. but we wish everyone a very happy holidays!

william joshua forrest

2010-12-23T21:07:00.004-05:00

our little b was born december 12 at 11:25pm. weighing in at 7 lb 9 oz and 21 inches long.

we are smitten with him.

cradle 2

2010-11-29T12:26:00.004-05:00

the much anticipated cradle made by grandpa shafer arrived safely! it has met and exceeded all expectations. it was fun to unwrap.

and it has the perfect place in the corner of the room.

now we just need a baby.

head of the charles

2010-11-15T21:28:00.005-05:00

one of the benefits of living near harvard square is that the charles river is just across the street. so it made it really easy to go to the head of the charles this year. i happened to arrive during the men's 8 races.

it was a beautiful day and crowds were everywhere.

cambridge you've been good to us.

cradle

2010-11-02T18:41:00.004-04:00

baby forrest is due in under 6 weeks. and the best news of the past week (even better than the giants winning the world series) was this picture.

thanks dad for building such a beautiful cradle! we are so lucky and thrilled that you have a woodworking hobby! we can't wait for it to arrive and look forward to giving it lots of use (hopefully that consists of many hours of a sleeping baby).

byu homecoming

2010-10-29T19:58:00.010-04:00

ben's mom was honored by byu and given the alumni 'service to family' award and so we all went out to utah for homecoming to celebrate. the weekend was filled with lots of activities such as a luncheon where all the honoree's were highlighted and given their awards.

jon, aaron, katie & kurt all ran in the 5k fun run.

debbie and grandpa hutchings rode in the homecoming parade.

of course family photos were involved. lots of effort was made to get the babies focused.

and the homecoming football game where byu came through with a great win.

congrats debbie - we are so proud of you and loved being there for all the fun!!

fall trips

2010-10-17T20:48:00.007-04:00

with summer over, fall approaching and baby only a couple months away we decided to take some last few road trips. one to montreal and one to new york city. montreal was up first. we spent the majority of our time walking around and just taking in the city.

we even rented the public bikes - it was a great way to cover a lot of the city.

one evening we went to the botanical gardens and saw the chinese light show.

next up new york city. we ate at yummy restaurants, saw good friends, and checked out the high line, a park built on the above ground on old railroad tracks on the lower east side.

washington dc wedding

2010-09-30T11:08:00.006-04:00

cousin ryan from virginia got married over the summer so mom and grandma hayden made the trip east for the celebration. since it's a rare occasion that our west coast family makes it east i decided to go to washington dc to see them.

the wedding took place at the washington dc temple - my first time visiting and only mom's second time back since she got married there.it was a quick trip but i had a great time with family. here's the first 4 generation photo, baby forrest is growing in my tummy, but he's present.

twins wedding

2010-09-19T14:36:00.008-04:00

twin sister cory got married to lucky eric at the end of august in salt lake city. the ceremony took place at the county clerks office so we got to take pictures of the ceremony,

the new mr. & mrs. davis.

the whole shafer family was in town for the event

the day following we all headed up to beautiful park city for zip-lining and the alpine slide. no pregnant ladies allowed so kristen and i took photos.

congratulations to cory and eric!

summer 2010

2010-09-06T21:08:00.005-04:00

we've had a lovely summer. some highlights were a day trip up the maine coast,

a red sox game at fenway,

sailing in boston harbor,

and comparing baby bumps with christina on her visit to boston.

we moved

2010-09-06T13:59:00.006-04:00

we recently relocated within cambridge to the harvard square area.

we love our new place, it's residential while still being an easy commute, it's next to the charles river, and we have a back patio so we finally got a grill! ben's made many a delicious burger for us this summer.

graduations

2010-07-23T08:10:00.007-04:00

early this summer we traveled to both arizona and california to attend brothers high school graduations. first up was class president aaron.

in addition to graduation we went to the lake and shared our baby news with the forrest family.

then christian, who they let walk, but didn't give him a diploma due to a fee. yes we mocked him for it.

congrats to aaron and christian - good luck both of you at byu!

ragnar relay

2010-06-27T19:59:00.006-04:00

in may ben gathered 11 friends, 2 vans and ran 198 miles relay style from connecticut to boston as part of the ragnar race. it took them 27 hours in total, no stopping at night, and they came in 50th place out of 200 teams. they all got to cross the finish line together.

i got to volunteer and bring teams into and out of a checkpoint.

go cambridge crawlers.

spring

2010-05-31T10:26:00.006-04:00

it's been a lovely spring in boston. highlights include the blossoms in the public gardens,

an easter egg hunt with josh and ny'eshma,

a big temple visit with the leroy family,

and a visit to the john adam's home.

europe: last barcelona highlights

2010-05-16T10:09:00.006-04:00

the trip finally and sadly had to come to an end. a few other barcelona highlights included the market off las ramblas where we tasted many delicious fresh fruit drink. i loved all the colors and so much food.

on our way to church we found lots of great graffiti.
good-bye europe. we hope to visit again soon.

europe: gaudi in barcelona

2010-04-15T18:05:00.015-04:00

ben loves everything gaudi and after visiting barcelona i'm now a fan as well. highlights were park guell,

the apartment building with it's wavy exterior and roof,

and of course the outrageous sagrada familia which has been under construction for over a 100 years and should be finished around 2030.

gaudi & ben.

europe: paris churches

2010-04-08T19:38:00.008-04:00

our final full day in paris together we visited some famous churches. first stop was notre dame.

we climbed to the top for the view of paris and made friends with the gargoyles.

jon also made some friends with the birds.

next was sainte-chapelle and its beautiful stained glass.

paris was a delight in every way. i can't get enough of that eiffel tower.

now on to barcelona!

europe: versailles & more museums

2010-04-03T18:16:00.016-04:00

day two in paris we headed out to versailles to check out the luxury of king louis the xiv - xvi and marie-antoinette. the palace and gardens did not disappoint. was all very over the top.

the gardens were so huge with some encouragement from jon we decided to see them via golf cart.

there were also lots of fun statues to imitate.

that afternoon we visited some additional sights in paris including some lovely flower shops,

napoleon's tomb (big tomb for little man),

rodin scuplture garden where we saw the thinker,

and the musee du lourve to see the mona lisa.

and of course, more eiffel tower.

europe: paris bike ride

2010-04-01T18:24:00.013-04:00

onto paris via the chunnel. i pretty much loved everything about paris. we stayed by the eiffel tower and it ended up being a great starting point for many of our activities, including on the first day a bike tour.

we got the history of and saw such sights as the army museum & napoleons tomb, les invalides, the seine,

concorde, tuileres gardens, the lourve,

and course the eiffel tower.

that afternoon we went to see the arc de triomphe and strolled down the champs-elysees.

maybe my favorite stop of the entire trip was to la duree on the champs-elysees where we ate the most delicious macaroons. they were so tasty that we stood outside and ate them all.

that evening ben and i headed up to the highest point in paris to see sacre-coeur basilica and the view. ben really like the gargoyles.

we strolled around montmartre, ate some crepes, and ended at the moulin rouge.

europe: london

2010-03-25T18:50:00.013-04:00

we were lucky to be able to recently travel to europe for vacation. i was excited. we started in london, moved onto paris, and ended in barcelona.

we met up with this great group of forrests (mom, katie, aaron, & jon) in london where katie is currently living and working (lucky).

katie was a great tour guide and we had many adventures such as the changing of the guard at buckingham palace, an open top bus tour,

fish & chips at the tower of london,

a river cruise down the thames, the london eye,

the churchill museum & cabinet war rooms, hyde park, classic british phone booths,

delicious indian food, and of course big ben.

thanks to katie for letting us completely take over her fabulous flat with heated floors!

new orleans

2010-03-11T09:01:00.017-05:00

for our get-out-of-boston-winter get away this year we traveled to new orleans. nola holds a special place in my heart so it was good to go back and be joined by our good friends the cannons.

highlights included a crusier bike tour around the city with a stop at st. roch's cemetery.

three sparadic parades & bead catching

two great jazz sets at preservation hall

an airboat swamp tour in the bayou where we saw quite a few gators

city park and the oaks

and of course the french quarter & way too much eating - especially beignets which we had 3 nights in a row from cafe du monde.

ice skating

2010-02-21T09:59:00.005-05:00

we pretty much hibernate in the winter around here, but one weekend we took our friend nyshma ice skating. it was her first time and she really picked it up quickly.

it was cold and windy, but going in circles helped us stay warm.

that afternoon we decorated valentine themed sugar cookies. yummy.

christmas part 3: the wedding

2010-01-09T09:41:00.005-05:00

the big event of the week was john's wedding on dec 26. he married his high school sweetheart at the oakland temple. yippee for john & kristen!

of course we took lots of photos after the ceremony.
and that evening we ate lots and danced a little at the fancy reception.
welcome to the family kristen - get ready for some good times.

christmas part 2: christmas eve & day

2010-01-06T19:28:00.010-05:00

the traditions of christmas start on the 24th. mom cooked an amazingly fancy meal, we wore our crowns from the poppers, had a christmas program and some played with their napkin rings...

christmas morning of course was filled with lots of present opening. we brought grandma some boston items - including a lobster hat.
dad was the lucky one this year to get a quilt made via mom.
and keeping with tradition we talked around the lafayette reservoir. this time we even had an ornament to put on the tree. i was glad to have john back this year to jump with me.and my favorite tradition - bowling! grandma even got in the action and as long as she had a steady hand she bowled quite well.
that evening we headed to palo alto to see some forrest family, eat another great meal via katie and wished niece madelyn a happy birthday.
a very full, yet perfect christmas day.

christmas part 1: asilomar & the temple

2010-01-05T20:57:00.006-05:00

this year for christmas we headed out to san francisco to visit the shafer family and grandma hayden. it was a wonderful week. the trip began with 2 days in monterey/carmel at asilomar. of course on the way down we stopped for fish tacos and fried artichokes.

we enjoyed a wonderful christmas concert at the carmel mission by chanticleer. we won't get into our car getting towed...

the following afternoon dad, john and i decided to bike the 17-mile drive. the ride by the water was windy and then it got really really hilly. once we hit the peak (after lots of walking) dad got a flat so we called for a ride. i think we were in a little over our heads - but at least it was pretty!
back in oakland we all visited the temple and took some family pictures. it was one of those perfect clear days when you can see downtown san francisco.

christmas prep

2009-12-20T12:52:00.005-05:00

shortly after thanksgiving we picked up our christmas tree from a local lot and carried it home.

in addition to lots of work and friend holiday parties we wrote out christmas cards and made gingerbread houses with friends!

we are now looking forward to going to california to see family and a wedding.

the forrests

2009-11-05T18:55:00.005-05:00

we got invited to a halloween party so for the first time in many years we dressed up. and what did we dress up as? ourselves, the forrests.

i think we pulled it off nicely. we even won an award - the most fitting costume!

bike ride in concord

2009-11-05T18:42:00.006-05:00

we are running out of warm days here in boston, but luckily last weekend we got a 70 degree day on halloween! so ben and i decided to get in a bike ride in concord to see the last of the colors. as always when we ride in concord, it did not disappoint. we even survived an attack duck.

fall in boston

2009-11-01T13:19:00.009-05:00

fall in new england is the best. last sunday was the perfect fall day so we rode our bikes to mt. auburn cemetery to take in the colors. it was glorious.

visit from the twin

2009-11-01T13:11:00.004-05:00

cory came to visit! she flew into nyc and we walked and walked and walked all over manhattan. we walked through times square, central park, the met, and chinatown.

we did lots of window shopping and made lots of street purchases including food, art and accessories.

we then headed back to boston and stayed inside while we got our first snow of the season, although a little early. thanks for visiting twin!

providence

2009-10-25T22:17:00.007-04:00

recently ben surprised me with a little weekend get away to providence, rhode island. it was perfect. we ate tasty mexican, watched a movie at a tiny theater, played some tabletop shuffleboard, slept in, wandered the streets of downtown providence, ate delicious brunch, visited the RISD art sale, stumbled upon a surf shop sample sale, walked the cliff walk in newport, ate at a clam shack, and went to a giant pumpkin festival!

ben picked out a pumpkin for halloween.

garden

2009-10-25T22:04:00.005-04:00

we were fortunate this year to have a neighbor let us use some of their backyard for a garden. we started with tomato and pepper seeds in our window sill and broccoli and cabbage starters in the garden.

our broccoli grew great and we enjoyed it in many salads. we also got a few good cabbage heads.

we planted the tomatoes and peppers a little late, but we did get this little guy that we enjoyed!

not the best harvest, but still a successful first effort. thank donna marie for the land!

byu football

2009-09-21T19:36:00.005-04:00

being alumni, we at the forrest house are big byu football fans. ben especially. for his birthday this year his mom surprised him with a ticket to the first game of the season vs the highly ranked oklahoma in the new dallas cowboys stadium!

it was an impressive stadium.

and amazingly byu won the game. a great way to start the season. the video is of the last play of the game, a missed oklahoma field goal attempt.

go cougars & happy birthday ben!

buggy tour

2009-09-20T10:57:00.011-04:00

on our last day at casa de genipabu we rented two dune buggies for the day. since the beaches in northern brazil go on forever you can just drive on the sand for miles and miles.

our first stop via the buggy tour was snorkeling. we took a speed boat about 4 miles off the coast to a reef and watched the fishes.

then onto a zip line ride.

lastly to a sand dune park. mom came along for this part and it was by far the most intense. very fast and very steep. we had a lot of fun playing in the dunes as well.

overall the buggy tour was one of the best parts of the trip.

brazil was amazing. we were sad to leave.

cashews & mosquitos

2009-09-20T10:38:00.005-04:00

in addition to spending lots of time at the house & beach in genipabu we did go see a few sites. one day john took us to the worlds largest cashew tree. it was large. we ate too many cashews.

that's just one tree.

then on sunday we visited one of john's wards where of course he was well loved. everyone wanted to talk to him and those who attempted to talk to the rest of us had to just watch us smile and nod. again, brazilians are super friendly. ben's favorite member was the old man below.

the night before i got about 30 mosquito bites on my legs so i got to attend church with bright pink legs that ben sprayed with calamine lotion. at least they stopped itching.

casa de genipabu

2009-09-11T10:33:00.012-04:00

after a very looooong van ride late at night we finally arrived at 2am to the casa de genipabu - the fantastic beach house that was worth every minute of the travel time to get there. in true shafer fashion a lot of our stay revolved around food. josie made us a wonderful breakfast each morning. i especially loved the daily selection of fresh juices. one night we all made pizzas in the brick oven out back. and the evening when the mission president, the mission doctor and their wives visited haroldo went all out with a full churrasco including freshly caught lobster from the reef right in front of the house!

at the house we did a lot of relaxing, laying in hammocks, and reading. we also enjoyed lots of paddleball
and many walks on the beach collecting sand dollars.

our stay at the house would not have been the same without haroldo and josie. they spoiled us and then practically had to kick us out - we really did not want to leave.we miss you casa de genipabu.

joao pessoa

2009-09-09T15:48:00.007-04:00

we sadly departed rio to make the journey north to john's mission field. we flew into recife and made our way to joao pessoa first stopping at the eastern most point in all of the americas.

john then introduced us to acai, a local berry that they serve very cold with nuts and granola on top. some loved, others didn't. that evening we had a delicious authentic dinner with john's mission president and family. we now know the cure to all is coconut milk, but for kidney stones try watermelon juice.

we left late at night after lots of laughs and meeting lots of missionaries and members as we still had hours to go until we reached the beach house.

rio de janeiro

2009-09-07T15:54:00.017-04:00

we are back from brazil. it was amazing. and made even better due to our portuguese translator. thank you john! the first part of our trip was to rio de janeiro. below is a view of sugar loaf and copacabana beach from corcovado.

ben and i had the first 2 days in the city by ourselves. we did a lot of exploring, mainly on foot. one of our first stops was to the thankfully shady botanical gardens.
then we went on a true adventure and took the bus to maracana the huge football (soccer) stadium to watch a match. we got there after half time after the ticket office had closed and ben used his skills to scalp us tickets for which we are sure we paid more than they asked.
the day the family arrived we immediately headed up to the top of corcovado via the very steep old train to see the Christ the Redeemer statue. the statue and views of rio did not disappoint.
we of course also enjoyed some beach time mainly on ipanema where we stayed.
we also managed to do a lot of surfing (or for me, falling off of surfboards)we also decided all brazilians are super nice. see - look at the friends i made on the beach while watching ben surf!
our favorite sign in rio. it appears to have been in many accidents.
on our last day in rio we took a favela tour to see and learn how the majority of brazilians really live. lots and lots of windy alleyways and stairs in very tight spaces.

triathlon

2009-08-31T18:27:00.006-04:00

friends of ours have the great tradition of celebrating their anniversary by throwing their own triathlon. ben and i decided to give it a try. below is the whole group at the starting line.

it began with a 1/2 mile swim in walden pond, followed by a 16 mile bike around the streets of concord, and finishing with a 5k run around the pond.

ben was kind enough to wait for me so we could finish together (no, we did not win, but it sure was fun breaking the tape).

finishing in 2 hours and 9 mins i think it was a successful first triathlon.

red sox

2009-07-26T20:56:00.005-04:00

we made it to our first red sox game of the season last night. it was mormon night and we saw lots of friends at the game.

it doesn't get much better than fenway and a red sox win on a summer night. especially when 'sweet caroline' comes on.

berkshires

2009-07-26T20:44:00.006-04:00

friends from the ward invited us to go camping in the berkshires last weekend. after riding out an intense storm in our tent we were treated to a great saturday full of badminton, swimming and music.

the team of forrest/hammond were tough to beat.

the yins had some natural chinese talent and made for good competitors.

that evening we went to 'film night' at tanglewood. we brought a picnic and listened to john williams conduct some of his classics such as e.t. and indiana jones.

tuna melts

2009-07-16T15:07:00.003-04:00

unfortunately the long weekend had to come to end. sunday before the drive to the airport jon taught me how to make tuna melts. it was quite exciting. come back soon forrest family!