the things we learn.

1. Busy toddlers and busy sports stadiums don't mix for more than half a game. We went to our first MSU football game last weekend. It seemed like an idyllic thing, all dressed in green with our sweet beauty. She was rather enamoured for the first . . . 15 minutes. Then we kept her busy with snacks and hot chocolate and grandma's Sprite (oh, yes, we even had Chris's parents with us as backup). Chris and I kept finding ourselves saying "Oh man I missed it!" after particularly exciting plays. It was just a bit hard to relax and enjoy. At half time we decided to head out. Carly really was a great sport, way better than I expected her to be, and we did have a lot of fun, but I think I will be limiting the amount of sporting events we take her to that we have to pay to get in.

2. When you are one year old, the best part of a MSU game is the puppy that does tricks in the endzone after each touchdown. Seriously, the guys running around hitting each other? Unnecessary. Just have that doggie catch that Frisbee over and over. Now that's entertainment.

3. General Conference is filled with talks just for me. Every time. A few things that stuck out this time around:

• 
  
  Slow down and enjoy. You don't have to be going 100 mph to be worthwhile. This was especially good to hear as a stay at home mom, who spends many days doing nothing more that playing with blocks, picking up socks, tossing rocks, and going on walks.
• 
  
  Teach your children by example. This one has been on the forefront of my mind, as I watch Carly mimic everything I do. Its scary to see how she does exactly what we do, from shrugging to dancing to wiping the floor with a rag. She will learn best by watching what I do, so I better be doing good things.
• 
  
  Stand by the Church, listen to the Prophet, hold to the doctrine, cling to the values. No matter what the world says.

{she kept waving at the brethren, like she waves at her grandparents on the webcam}

4. When you are one year old, the best part of General Conference is the hymns. Because the Tab can't do it without you.

5. A long walk in a crisp fall evening, warm gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, and a Penguins game are the best ways to end a Conference weekend. In case you were wondering.

the boys are back in town.

Just in case you aren't following quite as closely as I am,

you should probably know the Penguins reported to training camp today.

It was much too long of a summer.

Regular season games start October 7.

The day after my birthday.

Can you think of a better birthday present?

{other than some bedside tables, that is}

I'm quite excited.

[picture from the Penguins website]

~

We celebrated by wearing our Penguins colors, which was actually not the best idea when Carly promptly got strawberries all over her white shirt.

~

Then we headed to Aldi to go grocery shopping, unaware that Aldi doesn't supply grocery bags, so we had little groceries rolling all over the car.

I think I found them all.

~

Happy Opening Day!

one year and one month.

Well I'm officially retired from Carly's month posts.

It was fun while it lasted,

but those last few months of pictures after she became mobile were nearly impossible.

I am, however, grateful for the record I kept every month.

So I want to continue to do it periodically.

Just a little less official.

~

So, Carly at 13 months?

She just moved up to a big girl carseat. At her 12 month appointment, she was still under 20 lbs so we decided to keep her rear facing until she got there. Yesterday she got to sit front facing for the first time, and she was a big fan.

Common sights in our house?

1. Carly digging in, or sitting in, our new ottoman. We got it to be cute storage for all her toys. Pretty much the best purchase ever. She loves to sit in it with her friends and just dig around (or read books).

2. Carly and the Uno cards. I don't know if its the colors or the fact that she can spread them everywhere (probably the combination of the two) but the girl loves the Uno cards. She knows right where they are in the desk drawer and will go open it and stand on her tip toes to find them. And I don't mind, because they are easy to pick up and she entertains her self for quite a while.

3. Mommy sitting on the porch while Carly brings her all sorts of prizes: rocks, leaves, sticks, bark. She likes to show me all the cool things she finds.

4. Carly chasing squirrels at the park. She looks at them like, "Why are you running away so fast? I just want to say hi!"

5. Carly turning anything and everything into a jungle gym, including mommy and daddy. She is so strong and just maneuvers herself with incredible ability. Of course, we always say she is going to be an athlete.

~

Favorite foods?

Grapes

Mexican

Strawberries

Pasta

Tomatoes

Cheese

Meat sticks (yum!)

Yogurt

Yogurt

Yogurt

~

She is likes to hit my belly like a drum and give me raspberries.

Every morning she peeks down the stairs and says "Da!" looking her daddy.

And when he gets home she is so excited.

They just play and play and he chases her and swings her and she laughs.

It melts my heart.

Such a daddy's girl.

She has taken to screaming when she is hungry.

And in between each bite because she wants more.

Its intense.

She loves bath time, and creates a splash zone that would impress Shamu.

She loves animals.

Especially doggies.

But she loves them from a distance.

She says "hi", "da" [dad], "yeah", "num num" [food], and "daheeee" [doggie].

She is all the way off formula (yay for the bank account!) but is a bottle addict.

She loves Elmo, despite her dad's protest.

When something happens good in a sports game, she can tell and will screech and clap. The other day the Tigers hit a homerun against the Twins and she clapped because she could tell something exciting happened. No, Carly, wrong team! I'm totally brainwashing her to be a sports fan. Just wait until hockey starts.

She loves banging things together to make noise. Like banging rocks together, or toys against the metal chairs at church (which is really loud, by the way). She especially loves the Chinese stress relief balls we have, which clang together and make a ringing noise.

She is social, and loves to walk up to strangers and wave and say "hi!"

She is sweet and loves to give kisses. Mostly to her stuffed animals, but we get some once in a while.

She loves rice krispy treats.

She is still obsessed with bibs.

She pulls bows and clips out of her hair.

She likes snuggles when she is tired (but only when she is tired).

Her favorite books are "I Love You Through and Through" and "Are You My Mother?".

She makes me laugh.

All the time.

Love her.

laborless weekend.

We had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend which, of course, included no labor whatsoever.

Its nice to have that little day off right as school gets started.

~

Friday night we drove around looking for something to do. Thanks to rain and no parking due to a football game the next day, we mostly just drove. We went downtown and saw the Capital (which I would like to visit again) and drove around campus a bit. Then we headed home and called it a night (exciting, right?).

~

Saturday morning we got up and headed to a little local Farmer's Market.

We do enjoy a nice Farmer's Market.

This one even included Southern-style BBQ (ironically), so we couldn't help but enjoy some pulled pork.

It was like butta.

Mmmmm.

We headed home with fresh corn-on-the-cob and homemade pumpkin butter.

The remainder of the day consisted of watching the Spartans, Twins, and Cougars win.

We were invited to watch the BYU game at a fellow Alumnus's house, which was fun, and the fact that they have a TV larger than our 20 incher was a bonus too.

~

Sunday was quite the little shock as Chris received a phone call from the Stake shortly before Church.

On our 3rd Sunday in this ward, he was called as the Executive Secretary.

I always knew that shiny spirit of his would get us into trouble.

We spent the remainder of the day in a slight stupor,

but he will do so great and we know we will be blessed for his willingness to serve.

And I still get Saturdays with him (knock on wood).

We did enjoy a game night at our Bishop's house that night, so life keeps going.

~

Monday we had a lazy morning.

We headed to Target to find Carly a jacket since she doesn't actually own any Fall/Winter clothes and it has been a bit chilly lately. We settled on a cute green one for the Spartans (though, Mom, it totally reminds me of Bomber green).

We had a lunch BBQ with ward friends, followed by dinner with school friends.

{beautiful Michigan}

It was a good weekend.

Chris went back to school today. All his classes look great. It will be a good, albeit insane, semester.

Carly and I attended our first ever Playgroup.

Carly just stood and stared at the children in awe.

She will catch on to the playing eventually.

I think.

~

That's it.

xoxo.

~

P.S. We are reaching bib records daily.

I think we got to 6.

Enjoy some evidence:

sideways stories.

We went to the nearby park the other day and, I kid you not, our Wild Thing climbed up the entire slide all on her own. She is wild. And strong. She didn't like going down, but she sure loved going up.

I just love this. Proof of the aforementioned old bib she likes to wear.

We call it her Superbib.

~

We went to a little get-together last night for Chris's program. We met a great deal of wonderful people, as well as some llamas, sheep, and bunnies. A nice thing about this program is it is a bit like an extended family. We are excited to be a part of it. And Carly was a huge hit. She always is. Even at Lowe's today the child walked up and down the isles knocking things off the shelves and smiling and waving at her adoring fans as they told her how pretty she was. Anyway, we're at this party last night and out of the blue this girl asks "So what ward are you guys in?". Ummmm, where am I again? At the Michigan State party, right? I'm a bit thrown off, but I awkwardly answer her question. Later the story comes together. She saw my CTR ring, had heard someone joking about Chris going to a bar, heard we went to BYU, I was from Idaho, and we are younger and married and have a kid. This girl is not dumb.

Anyway, turns out she is LDS as well, just returned from a mission, and is in two classes with Chris.

Its nice to have that connection, even if she is a Redwings fan.

~

Oh, and how about a girl from my graduating class is in our new Ward here?

I saw her in sacrament meeting and couldn't believe it.

Small world.

~

Our home is slowly but surely coming together.

There will be pictures when its all done in about a month.

~

Its 2 am.

What in the world.

~

Have I mentioned yet I'm pretty sure I'm a Minnesota Twins fan?

As an Idahoan I pretty much feel like I can pick any team I very well please to be a fan of, though I do avoid bandwagon teams at all cost (Yankees, Laker, you know.)

As for the Twins?

You see, we started getting to know each other a while before the All-Star break, and everything is going so well. Our relationship has been getting pretty serious and all the sudden I'm DVRing their games when on TV and watching the dots on ESPN.com when they're not. They are so fun. They have great stories. I like a team with great stories and nice boys. Thats how I fell for the Penguins.

A few final signs that showed our relationship was fate?

Their brand new field is Target Field, and Target happens to be my favorite store on earth.

Their All-Star catcher, Joe Mauer Power Hour, well I could write a whole blog on him, but most important, other than he only struck out once his entire high school career, is that his middle name is Patrick.

Joseph Patrick Mauer.

And my boy Sid?

Sidney Patrick Crosby.

And my eternal comp?

Christopher Patrick C.

Its fate, you see.

And it doesn't hurt that Mauer Power looks like this:

I'm just saying.

~

Did you know my husband is a super hero?

I always knew.

But he keeps reminding me.

Like how its now 2:15 am and I'm still blogging and he is doing the dishes.

I won quite the prize when I caught him in my snare.

I sure love him

~

I'm freezing.

It gets cold here in Michigan at night.

Quite the phenomenon.

~

Goodnight.

Or morning.

xoxox.