morse code.

Yesterday, we put a little Halloween package together for Carly's Uncle Brady.

Halloween treats and pictures of his favorite niece and cups with spiders on them and a sparkly pen with a pumpkin on top.

And the cutest Halloween dish towels.

{I heart Target's dollar section}

"You got him dish towels?" Chris asked.

"Well its not like he can walk around in Halloween socks" I reply.

~

Then I sat Carly down and told her to draw a picture for Uncle Brady.

Her picture was a series of dashes and dots.

I hope Elder T can read Morse code.

twenty four.

I turned 24 yesterday.

It was a nice day.

~

We had a picnic at the park with lots of friends.

It was warm and sunny.

And there were lots of bees.

But it was fun to spend the afternoon with friends.

~

{picnic time . . . decked out in our baseball gear for the playoffs . . .

her bow has baseballs on it. thanks Dore!}

 One friend brought me flowers.

I was sitting at the picnic table and she said "I brought you something. Let me go get it."

Her 3 year old daughter came and sat next to me and said, "My mommy got you flowers."

It was funny.

And sweet.

I'm grateful for the wonderful friends we have made here so quickly.

My birthday afternoon was a lazy one.

When Carly went down, I watched my guilty pleasure (Teen Mom, anyone?), and laid around and read Mockingjay when the UPS delivery man brought it to my doorstep (thanks again, Jenny!).

Of course, this left the house in ruins, but it was my birthday, after all.

~

Chris came home and brought me my fav, Jimmy Johns.

Then we scooted the couches back and played with lots of toys.

And built a fort.

And cheered wildly for the Twins.

Who almost won.

But lost.

Thanks for spoiling my perfect birthday, stupid Yankees.

~

{wild child}

 {just another day in paradise}

 {birthday fort}

I got cards in the mail, texts, emails, and, of course, the Facebook well wishes.

I felt well-loved all day. 

It was a relaxed {perfect} birthday.

~

~

P.S. Today I finally got Carly to sit long enough to let me put piggies in her hair.

Only took a cell phone, 3 pencils, mascara tube, and a blow dryer.

But, it makes her look all grown up, does it not?

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.

mornings with Carly.

most of the action around here takes place in the mornings.

Carly naps most of the afternoon, so we make sure to get our partying in early.

{sorry, all pictures from my phone. my camera had a stroke.}

~

Sometimes there is morning mirror time (closely supervised) while mommy tries to pull herself together and not look like death.

Often there is morning playing in the car time. Carly gets cabin fever easily, so we walk outside. She knows exactly which car is ours and loves nothing more than playing in the front seat. She will walk over to the car and pull on the door handle and scream until I let her in. Obviously a very good habit.

But she is all smiles once we're up there.

 If she is good in a store, I reward her with some front seat time in the parking lot, though that often leads to lots of screaming when its time for her to get strapped in her carseat.

One morning there was even a park adventure. It was supposed to be a workout for yours truly, but Carly prefers to push rather than to be pushed. And I didn't get much of a workout at her pace. Though she did, pushing her stroller up a grassy hill.

 Windy morning. REALLY windy morning. Carly wasn't sure what to make of it.

 Play group mornings! Our favorite. Though this week we were the only ones to show up. A little rain didn't scare us away. (See how desperate we are to get out?)

 Play group is held in the backyard of some older ward members, who built a wonderland for their grandkids. Its fabulous.

 Morning time on the front step with Little Red Riding Hood. I always sit on the step, and lately she has been mimicking me. Only so much better. She will walk toward the step, then about 3 feet away she stops, turns around and slowly walks backward until she reaches it. Then she takes a seat right next to me.

Cutest thing on earth.

 This morning we had two firsts: Carly's first bleeding wound. A scrape on her elbow.

And her first temper tantrum in public.

Being the mean mom that I am, I wouldn't let her pull all the greeting cards out of the holders at Target. She was really not happy about it, so she threw herself on the floor face down and kicked her legs and screamed. So what is a good mom to do but whip out her phone and take a picture?

It was hilarious.

I know it won't always be, but today it was.

I said, "Ok, Shmarly, get up now."

And walked away.

And she went quiet and got up and followed me.

What are the chances that will work every time?

I sure love my mornings with my girl.

some stuff.

Its only Tuesday.

We have already had quite the week.

~

As I pulled into Church on Sunday, a fellow ward member informed me that I was sporting a very flat tire.

Indeed, it was tres flat.

Thanks to a large and not-so-lovely nail.

Did I mention this tire was a whole 9 days old?

Annoying.

So Monday morning Carly and I head to Sams Club nice and early to give us plenty of time before our Visiting Teaching appointment. I packed her breakfast and everything. Good thing, because we were there for a whopping 2 hours. And were 30 minutes late for our appointment.

At least the new new tire was free under the warranty.

Then we visited our elderly visiting teachee . . . where Carly promptly threw dominoes all over the place.

Good times.

{hanging in Sams . . . forever.}

Monday evening for our FHE activity we went shopping for Spartans shirts in preparation for the football game we will be attending this coming Saturday.

We all look much better in green than we did in orange.

This morning Carly and I went to playgroup.

I do enjoy playgroup.

Its nice to socialize.

And its really nice how much it wears Carly out.

I can count on a good Tuesday afternoon nap.

Knock on wood.

I spent today's nearly 3 hour napping folding a million loads of laundry and watching my new TLC fav, Quints by Surprise. I think they are cute. Fingers crossed they don't end up like Jon and Kate.

{barely surviving after another exhausting playgroup.}

This one is just cute.

I would take a picture, then show it to her on the camera.

She found it highly amusing.

Ok, that's it.

But want to see how crafty I am?

Chris keeps teasing me about how keep painting things.

But on Saturday our ward had "Super Saturday".

One of the projects were these photo blocks where you paint them black/brown/white and put pictures on them. Well, we aren't in need of anymore pictures of ourselves around here, so I decided to bring the purple paint I've been using for things in Carly's new room and make family blocks.

Now she has blocks for all of my family and Chris's family.

Its a little way for her to know her grandparents, aunts, and uncles even though they are so far away.

She already loves playing with them and pointing at each face.

That's all.

Bring on Wednesday.

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:

the search is on.

Now that most of the boxes are unpacked (or put in the basement to be unpacked . . . someday), I've begun the search for the perfect park. I wish I could have brought our Knoxville park with us, because it was my fav. The huge paved walking trail made all the difference. But I might have to settle here. So I looked up "parks" in google maps . . . and Carly, 2 bibs, the superbib, and I all headed over there this morning. It was brisk and windy, and it turned out the "park" was really a bunch of soccer fields. Whoops. But luckily, I brought Carly's little soccer ball and we decided to enjoy our time there anyway.

Beautiful day in Michigan.

Goooooal!

I guess I'll have to be more specific.

Next time I'll type in "public parks" maybe?

did i mention she is wild?

When the Wild Thing wanted to play outside today, I took her out on our front step to show her it was raining so it wouldn't be fun to play outside.

She disagreed.

She belongs in the jungle, I think.

~

{Oh, and don't mind the multiple bibs. The more bibs the better for this girl. She finds them and brings them to me to put them on her. She had 4 on the other day . . . I had to draw the line because she looked like she was wearing a neck brace.}

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.