{1} ahead of the storm.

The storm that flooded Nashville hit Knoxville the evening before we were set the leave. It was then headed east toward South Carolina, which happened to be our destination. I wasn't exactly thrilled that our beach vacation had a rainy forecast, and Chris and I prayed we would get a little sunshine. Luckily, prayer works.

~

We drove through the crazy storm on the way to Charleston/Isle of Palms. It was intense, so much so that we had to pull over at one point and wait for the rain to let up. But we ended up beating the storm to the coast. Upon our arrival, it was seriously overcast and had a mugginess only the South can give you, but it wasn't raining. So we headed straight to the beach.

~

Carly was tired after our journey, and had no idea what this crazy place was that her parents had taken her to. So her initial meeting of the Atlantic had mixed reviews.

Carly and daddy checking out the seagulls.

She is turning into a serious daddy's girl.

She was good until we 1) got too close to the waves, and 2) put her in the sand.

Love this. Look how she is eyeing those waves suspiciously.

Getting a little better.

After her traumatic encounter with the ocean, we decided to get some dinner. We went to a seafood place (of course!). I love seafood, but haven't eaten a lot of it since meeting Chris because it literally makes him gag. On his mission he told people he was allergic to it. But he was nice enough to let me order a seafood platter. And let me tell you, it look like the bottom of the ocean. The shrimp and crab legs were de-lish, but the oysters, I'm pretty sure, still had sand on them. They were a little much, even for a seafood lover.

~

It was a really fancy place. Even came with a balloon animal maker.

Carly just stared at him while he made the giraffe.

He said, "Wow, by the time I'm done you are going to know exactly how to make it yourself!"

She is quite the observer.

The day was a bit exhausting for her. Took her about 3 seconds to fall asleep in the car after dinner. Unfortunately for us, and fortunately for her, the rain came the next day, and she didn't have to face the Atlantic again until the day after.

{to be continued . . . }

back in business.

We successfully survived our first vacation as a family of 3.

It was a little bit fabulous.

Actually, it was a lot bit fabulous.

A baby sure throws a lot of kinks into a vacation though.

{but honestly a baby throws kinks into every aspect of life. very sweet, fun, cute kinks}

I will do several posts over the coming days telling many tales of our getaway.

Mostly because when you do one big post, the pictures get all out of order and then I go insane trying to straighten them out.

Blogger is seriously user unfriendly in that way.

Anyway . . .

~

A quick matter of business:

While I was gone, someone left a comment on my most recent post in Chinese. I've gotten comments in foreign languages before and didn't think much about it. My brother got curious and used Google translate and found the comment was full of profanity. My sister-in-law then followed the link of the comment-leaver and ended up on a less-than-wholesome site. Ugghhhh. Dear Person who left that comment on my blog, you are all that is wrong with the world and I despise you. Do not love, Erin. Since I don't want my blog to be a source of accidental smut for anyone (so sorry Kasee), I will be putting the comments on "moderated" so I can approve any comments. Please keep the comments coming, as I love them quite a bit. I will keep the moderation as up-to-date as possible. It may be a temporary change, we'll see.

~

Chris reached the big 2-7 while we were gone.

Since we were going to be away from home, we celebrated the night before we left.

When shopping for myself, I like to find bargains . . . because then you can get more {obviously}. I've tried that tactic for Chris for nearly 4 years now, and it never quite worked out. So this birthday I went quality over quantity and got him just a few nicer gifts. He was quite pleased. It only took me 4 years to figure that one out. Go me.

We got the Pens on TV!

Carly was so excited {obviously}.

Blowing out the candles.

(excuse Carly's lack of clothes. sometimes they come off and never quite get back on)

ready for the future.

Chris said he wanted a birthday treat we could both enjoy.

So I used this recipe.

But replaced the yellow cake with Betty Crocker gluten-free brownies.

And replaced the Butterfingers with Heath bar.

Let me tell you, it was amazing.

Didn't even taste gluten free.

But it will put you in a coma.

I'm not kidding.

that is all. be excited for our beach pictures. because they are seriously cute.

the wind, the rocks, the waves, and you and me.

and the baby, of course.

~

We are off to introduce Carly to the Atlantic Ocean.

Forecast calls for rain.

But it will be grand, regardless.

auf Wiedersehen.

xoxoxo.

kissy face.

"What do kisses mean when handed out like pretzels and robbed of sacredness?" (President Spencer W. Kimball).

That was one of my favorite quotes as a teenager.

Luckily it doesn't apply to an 8-month-old.

Because Miss Carly loves to hand out big, slobbery, open-mouthed kisses to her mommy, daddy, and Cubbie teddy bear. And we all love receiving them.

Just might be the cutest thing she has ever done. And thats saying something because she has done a lot of very cute things.

Chris made a good point a few days ago when she first started her kisses. He said at least we are doing one thing right: we are giving her plenty of kisses.

enjoy.

home sweet home.

carly's first nap at home on the couch.

this morning the maintenance man came by. the handle on our oven had come off and the door to our laundry "nook" had come off track. it is so nice to have tiny problems that we can't fix ourselves and to just have a nice guy come knock on the door and fix it for free. and he came within an hour. chris dropped the request off this morning and my 9:30 when carly and i were still sleeping i heard the tell-tale soft knock at the door. we have loved this place. its not perfect, but we have loved it. it reminded me of the perks of renting. it reminded me that anywhere can be home.
~
the other day i was chatting with a friend from our ward. her husband is a dental resident and they have three children. we were talking about our move to michigan and how i was bummed we wouldn't be buying a house. she said in another state where they went to dental school, they bought a house. and here they are just renting a house (beautiful house, by the way). and she said renting, for such a short period of time, is SO nice. when there is a problem . . . its not her problem. "because sometimes you just don't have the 100's or 1000's of dollars you need to suddenly make some repair." amen, sista. it reminded me of the perks of renting. it reminded me that anywhere can be home.
~
i'm growing suprisingly tenderhearted as our time here in knoxville continues to count down ever so quickly. i swear we move every time we really get integrated into a place and start to make real friends. i'm hoping our 4 years in michigan allows us to feel like we get to stay in one place a bit longer.
~
when the maintenance man was doing his thing, carly crawled around the corner and watched him. she is curious and brilliant, and when she saw he was having all sorts of fun, banging on things and making noise, she wanted to join him. i dragged her back into her room and the tenderheartedness took over. i thought about what this apartment has meant to us. I remembered the first time we saw it. we were living in another apartment in the same complex. the other apartment was much bigger, and therefore much more expensive. and with a baby on the way (i was about 15 weeks at the time) and the hopes that i would quit my job, we figured we should downsize and save some money. we visited this apartment and i walked into the small second bedroom. The spirit rushed over me and I said "we are moving here. this is the perfect baby room". i could see it in my head the second I walked in. and today? its the perfect baby room for our perfect baby.
~
i am tenderhearted because this is carly's first home. it is where i felt her move in my tummy the first time. where we brought home the pictures of the ultrasound, celebrating our little girl. where i started having contractions and experienced most of my labor. where we brought her home for the first time, two days old. fresh from heaven. where i spent long nights up with a newborn. where she got sick, where she learned to eat, roll over, stand, crawl, tell stories, and give kisses. and its where chris and i faced some of our hardest days, some of our greatest days, and some of our hardest-greatest days.

~

thats all. i'm just a little tenderhearted today. i'm sure the next time the laundry room door comes off track i will change my mind and be ready to get out of here.

~

carly tearing our home apart.

made my day.

well considering we are approaching all-out summer (we've been wearing shorts and short sleeves here) i figured i should get a swim suit. you see, like most other people i'm not a huge swimsuit shopping fan.

my last swimsuit purchase was made 4 years ago. i got a tankini from Victoria's Secret for our honeymoon. I never really loved it. not a huge fan of the quality and it fit weird (online purchase . . . boooo). but i went with it and last year I was probably overdue for a new one but considering I was 6-9 months pregnant during swimsuit season I didn't worry about it much.

but now it was time.

~

i want three things out of a swimsuit:

1) modest. i want to be able to wear it if I run into an apostle. I don't know why an apostle would be anywhere that I'm wearing a swimsuit, but you know what I'm saying.

2) comfortable and supportive. one of the things I hate most about swimsuits is that everything feels so footloose-and-fancy-free and I'm constantly tugging here and there to avoid overexposure.

3) cute. of course.

you can find any one requirement in one swimsuit or another. but to find all three requirements in one? near impossible.

~

one time I made up a dream swimsuit in my mind.

It was a sporty tankini. Probably made by Nike. Had lots of built-in support. Had boy-cut shorts for the bottom (I don't to undies-bottoms). and was cute. I think I saw one online when I googled it. went for $80 dollars. I don't spend $80 dollars on a swimsuit.

~

So the hunt began.

I found a few candidates, each slightly lacking in one requirement or another.

We looked all around.

on our way home from Dicks (no luck there, stupid saggy Reebok tankini), we approached TJMaxx. Hmmmmm. I started to feel like we should stop. No, no. TJMaxx had failed us much too much lately. There was no point. But the feeling persisted. So we went.

~

Do you think God cares enough about my swimsuit to tell me to go to TJMaxx?

Probably not.

but He cares about modesty. And He cares about my happiness.

And you know what?

In TJMaxx there was ONE cute navy/white/green Nike tankini with boy-cut shorts.

ONE.

Exactly my size.

Original price: $76 dollars.

Erin-takes-it-home price: $19.99.

made my day.

I would put I picture of myself in it. but that would be really weird.

so instead I'll put a picture of Carly in hers.

if i can rock a swimsuit the way this girl can, i will be a happy woman this summer.

ps. the Penguins just came back from being down 0-3 to win in overtime 4-3. amazingness. that made my day, too. totally worth scrunching over the computer to watch the little screen with headphones in so I don't wake the kraken.

bring on round 2.

pss. i L-O-V-E this picture of carly. she is such a wild thing, amongst her fellow lions.

xoxoxo.

tgif.

once upon a time before we went on a trip to indiana my baby took regular naps.

it was a wonderful time. a time of happy babies and happy mommies and some sort of order in general. in indiana, the babe did not nap well. too much partying . . . you wouldn't want to miss anything! and since we've been home she continues to refuse to nap.

once upon a time when carly was a baby and she just laid there all cute and nursed all day and hung out, she didn't nap. but she was happy all day, so i couldn't complain too much. then she started regular scheduled napping and i saw just how blissful life could be with a child who naps. now? not napping. now? not happy all day. now? fussing/screaming/whining all day. the girl is exhausted but won't sleep.

we have serious chaos right now in the c house.

carly's current favorite hobby is to crawl around crying and whining and tearing the house apart.

and chewing on shoes.

and everytime i put her down in her crib she screams like its a torture chamber.

its your BED, child.

i wish someone would force me into bed to sleep twice a day.

you think you would be able to stay one step ahead of such a tiny thing.

wrong.

so wrong.

i'm considering never going anywhere ever again.

though i don't get it because she did great after Idaho.

maybe she is teething.

i don't know but i finally left her in her crib and got in the shower

i think she is asleep now.

anyway.

TGIF.

i could use the back-up.