Wish We had a Pool

This morning, Carrie woke up complaining that "her tummy was sick". She snacked on a waffle and sipped water for a couple hours, just vegging on the couch. But that was it. Once she finally started acting like herself around 11, I went to do something in the other room. She found her swimming floaties in the closet and started shrieking excitedly about going swimming.

Since we don't have a pool, I told her that maybe we could go swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's this weekend. She seemed ok with that answer and went off to play again. A few minutes later she walked in the room and said, "I'm ready to go swimming!!" She'd taken off her own pajamas and put on her swimming suit, floaties, and hat.

So now she's running around the house in her swimming suit.... :) Whatever..... As I was reading over my post from a couple days ago about how she loves her shadow, I happened to turn around and see her doing this.
Jumping on the couch in the spot of sunshine still barely coming in through those second story windows and enjoying watching her shadow jump with her. Oh yeah, and she's also holding two pairs of panties.... When she went looking for her swimming suit in her dresser, she also found her panties. These two are her favorites because they have polka dots on them, and they match each other. (I wish I could report that meant she was potty trained, but nope. Still not yet. She's just not quite into it yet and I'm not going to make all our lives a living heck again. It'll happen soon enough.)

Too Much Playing Can Tire You Out!

Carrie has discovered her shadow, and it's adorable. She thinks it's so funny to watch it wiggle around when she does. Her favorite is first thing in the morning as we come down the stairs for breakfast. Our big second story windows in the living room cast perfect light for playing with our shadows.

In other random news, today was my first day back teaching piano lessons! I taught all through high school and loved it, but then nursing school, moving, and babies have kept me pretty busy the last few years. I'm back in action though and I'm excited! Shortly before my first student was to arrive, I was making sure the house was decently cleaned up and I went to give the piano a quick once-over with a rag. This is what I found.

In case you can't tell, there are little marbles set on all the keys. Carrie got out our Mancala game a few days ago and is in love with all the shiny colorful marbles. Apparently she found a great way to have them all on display!

In her fun-filled day of playing, she didn't take a nap (Well, I didn't force her to have quiet time in her room in hopes that she'd fall asleep....) Anyways, she was watching a movie upstairs while I did lessons. And the need for a nap finally caught up with her. At 5:30pm.....

We decided we didn't care that her nap was so late. She naps so infrequently now that we'll take whatever we can get! I finally woke her up about 6:30 so she would still go to bed at a decent hour though!

Brunch and Broadcast

Justin and my dad share a birthday. My parents took us out to dinner on Thursday (their actual birthday). Then to celebrate my dad's 50th (?!?!) we had brunch today at Denny's with all my siblings, and their spouses and kids.

Carrie LOVES stuffed animal crane machines (what kid doesn't?) My brother Jake happens to be strangely talented at winning. So we tried a couple times. No luck. The cooperative ones had already been picked. Of course Carrie talked Auntie Rissa into trying again while we were waiting for our food. No luck again.... :(

I don't know if that's what caused her bad mood, but she was a little grumpy the rest of the morning. (Grandma, Isac, Carrie [look at her grumpy face], Auntie Marissa, Grandpa, and Rose.)

Grandpa, Jake, Kandis, Rose and Kevin (obviously these pictures were not taken immediately one right after the other because Rose is being held by a different person in each of them) And I didn't realize until just now that somehow I didn't get a picture of our Bro-in-law Brandon.... He was there too...

I think by this point in the weekend Justin was a little "done" with me taking his picture....

Later in the afternoon Justin got to go to another Dbacks game with a coworker who had an extra ticket (I was very jealous). That meant I got to go to the General Relief Society Broadcast with my mom and sister. I was kind of ho-hum about going at first because I was disappointed I wasn't at the Dbacks game, but I'm glad I went! It was amazing!

I think I'm going to try to coin "Uchtdorf" as synonymous with words like "amazing", "wonderful", "remarkable", "incredible" etc..... Anybody second my motion?! To watch President Uchtdorf's entire talk, click here.

The Only Good Thing About the Giants

Brian Wilson....
Do you see that beard?! It's ridiculous! In a good way. I love it. And because I love it so much I've looked up a few "Brian Wilson's Beard" jokes to share. These few are from the beginning of Seth Meyer's opening monologue at this year's ESPY's.

"Welcome to all those in attendance, the millions watching at home, and the millions more watching from Brian Wilson's beard"...."Some pitchers have goatee's. Brian Wilson has an entire goat"...."It looks like your beard is wearing a fake beard"

Anyways, the point of bringing up the Giants is that we went to the Diamondbacks game tonight where they beat the Giants and clinched the NL West Division! It was a blast! Here's the view from our FREE seats!


It was a close game until the Dbacks got a 2 run triple late in the game. We ended up winning 3-1. And man was everyone excited!!

The team swarming together on the field.

Yeah! The Dbacks won!

Division Champs!

And then it was time to head home. On the Metro.... HOLY CROWDED.... I'm pretty sure it was filled far past capacity, but people kept packing in. And I'd say probably 90% of them were totally drunk.....

We were SOOO squished!

The overly excited, overly wasted Dbacks fans were cheering and chanting WAY too loud, the whole way home. Mostly it was just annoying, they'd be chanting, "Let's go Dbacks!" or "Go home Giants!", or "ASU! ASU!" Some chants were just plain dumb, like "Let's get wasted!".... I remember thinking "you can already check that one off your list....."

Then it got really bad. I almost got myself beat up. In the moment, I didn't care though. Amongst the crowded train were 4 kids jammed together right next to us. One of them was autistic and all the crowding and chanting was making him super nervous and panicky. The crowd started chanting "F#*@%$* the Giants!" At headache-inducing volume.

I'd had enough. I jumped up on the chair toward the guy who had started that one and pounded his chest as hard as I could with my fist. I was MAD! I yelled right in his face, "HEY! That is UNNECESSARY! QUIT it!! There are KIDS on this train!!" Somehow they were completely oblivious to the four traumatized kids that were crammed only 18 inches away from them. Luckily they stopped chanting and I didn't get pummeled by drunk baseball fans.

Anyways, Mill Avenue (the station in the heart of ASU's campus) couldn't come fast enough. It was the longest train ride of my life. Lesson to my kids, my friends, my friends' kids, my siblings, everyone!.... Alcohol can very quickly turn perfectly nice decent people into inconsiderate jerks. Just saying.... Soapbox speech over....It was a good thing the Dbacks won so we still had something to be happy about!!

Birthday Boy (Man)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUSTIN!! 28 years young! We love you so much!!

I love you more than chocolate
I love you more than money
I love you more than anything
You're my eternal honey

I hope your birthday's wonderful
Filled with hugs and kisses
But not from everyone, of course
Just from me, your Mrs.

I Love You 18!

The other night as I was putting Carrie to bed she said, "I love you mommy", and started softly patting my cheek (it was adorable). I said, "I love you too sweetie". The little smartie pants that she is, responded, "I love you three!"

I thought, what a fun game! How cute is this?! So I said, "I love you... FOUR!" Her reply this time?, "I love you..... THREE!!!" She thought saying three still made her win.... :) Anyways, last night she did it again, so I started throwing out random higher numbers to see if she could catch the point of the game. When I told her, "I love you 17", she thought for a second and finally said, "I love you..... 18!! I WIN!!!"

It was fabulous. I love her! I usually lay by her every night for a few minutes before saying goodnight. One of her other favorite things to do is roll toward me and "snuggle my face". She'll touch her forehead to mine and reach to hold my hand. (It's one of my favorite things too) ON rare occasion, if I'm lucky, she'll fall asleep this way. In that little moment, she's a teeny baby again. Sometimes it seems like she is just growing up too fast!!

Having Fun with Friends (Even though BYU lost)

First off, Happy Belated Birthday to my mom! Her birthday was yesterday and while we were at their house on Thursday, we threw an impromptu birthday party for her. I made cupcakes of course. Devil's food cake & peanut butter frosting using vanilla yogurt as the base, yummy!

Yesterday, we spent most of the day outside working on various parts of the yard. While Justin worked on fixing leaks in the drip system and I trimmed the bushes, Carrie chilled in the shade and played with chalk (and made an adorable smiley face when she caught me taking a picture of her)

Then we headed over to some friends for a BYU/Utah Football BBQ party!

Our friend Cori decided to be funny and make this half-offensive shirt. Pretty crafty huh?

The kids all munched on hot dogs outside (made clean-up awesome!)

And then played and played and played, until we all dragged them home to go to bed.

I got the kids to pose together for me

Sadly, by the time we were rounding up the kids to go home at halftime, the score was looking pretty dismal already. We DVR'd it while we were getting Carrie into bed and grumblingly watched the second half in fast forward. Definitely a disappointment. My extended family has a group on Cougarfan.com; Last week my score pick earned me 48/50 points. This week-- 0/50..... Better Luck next week boys!

Successful Coloring Job

Today was the most successful coloring project we've ever had. Check it out.

In case you can't tell what everything is, here's a list....
Carrie, Ariel, Rapunzel's tower, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Flynn, Pascal, Prince Charming, Cinderella, Cinderella's Carriage, and Alien from Toy Story, Mike Wazowski, Sully, a horrible sketch of our house and yard, and a random pine tree with a baby red bird in it.... Overall, I was impressed with Carrie's seemingly endless memory and request of characters, and my drawing abilities, that based on the order I drew the pictures, seemed to improve as I went :)

It all started with a little Toy Story Alien toy she has lovingly named "Zabo". After we were done using him as a model for our coloring project, she proceeded to put him in her toy microwave to take a nap.... Oh the imagination!

Fun Project Idea

I recently decided to play the role of "crafty mom" and help Carrie make a maraca to play with.
The supplies I used were:
2 pieces of blank paper
1 empty paper towel roll
1/2 cup dry rice
crayons/markers
random buttons and stickers
glue gun
tape
felt circles
rubber bands
ribbon

Decorate the paper, color, stick on stickers, glue-gun some buttons and/or bows on etc.

Wrap the picture around the roll and tape it in place

Put a felt circle over one edge and use a rubber band to hold it on

Then crumple the other piece of paper a little and stuff it inside the paper towel roll and carefully pour the dry rice inside

Lastly, put the other felt circle on and put the rubber band on to keep it secure

Tah-dah! A fun new "shaker" toy!

This has absolutely no relation to the project, I just thought it was funny. A couple days ago, while at my parents' house, Carrie had gotten her clothes all dirty. While they were getting washed, she sat in her diaper and watched a movie on a portable DVD player, complete with her own headphones. She thought it was so special to have her own little personal movie set-up.

Her Own Personal Playground

Carrie is loving having a swingset in our backyard. She'll ask if she can go play in her park.... There is still only dirt back there and the sprinkler pipes are still uncovered, but her own "park" serves its purpose. Fun.

Swinging (and looking far too much like a dirty, unkempt orphan child)

And the slide. Ready.....

Set......

GO!!!!!

Cousins!

For Labor Day, we spent the day with my family in Mesa. We got a few really cute pictures of Carrie with her baby cousins (on my side of the family).

First, here she is with her brand new cousin Isac. He's just over a week old. I forget how tiny babies are when they're newborn! And he weighed 8lbs- how is it possible that Carrie was almost two pounds littler than that?!

"Alright, I'm ready to hold the babies. Bring it on"

Isac, Carrie and Rose.

And since we're already talking about cousins, here's a little project I did for my sister and her new baby Isac. Can you tell what it is?..... No?.....

It's what a diaper bag looks like when it's rolled completely inside itself to be sewn! Duh! The right-side-out version is a little cuter though, so here you go :)

And while I was sewing that for a couple of hours, Carrie played with a little jar of buttons. The whole time..... I wish I was so easily entertained

That Time With the Steak Knife

I'm sure you're wondering what the title of this post could mean.... The following is sure to be a quick, funny, "remember when" story that we tell at family reunions for years. About me, a steak knife, electrical wiring, and a sprinkler system. Sounds dangerous, I know....

Yesterday we worked on the sprinkler system again. Attached the sprinkler heads, adjusted their direction and water-shooting length (getting absolutely soaked in the process), and connecting the wiring to add it to our automatic system. We have wire cutters, but they're pretty dull and not very useful. We don't own any wire strippers, which were more important for this project anyways. So we improvised. With a steak knife and pliers....

It was working pretty well and I was on my last of 6 wires to be stripped and connected. All I needed was another eighth of an inch worth of space to work with. I went to make one last slice, slipped and proceeded to stab my finger with the steak knife. I swear the only reason it didn't go straight through is because it hit my knuckle bone.

I automatically shoved my finger in my mouth and soon started to feel a little vampirish with regards to the amount of blood that continued to pour out. Since we were almost done with the wiring work, I didn't want to go inside to take care of it, only to have to come back out into the grueling heat to finish. I had Justin grab me a paper towel and we made the most ghetto-rigged bandaid ever. Paper towel and electrical tape. But it worked!


So far today, a bandaid is managing the wound just fine. I might have over dramatized it in the moment, but for a split second, I thought I'd sliced my finger off. Lucky me, I only got the point of the steak knife. And I've learned my lesson. No more bare-handed electrical work on a water system using a steak knife.... (You'd think that would be a lesson I wouldn't need to learn by experience....)

Funny, Funny Girl

I don't know how she comes up with so many funny things, but seriously.... This girl is a hoot!

For my first example, you get a picture... I took this while we were on our way to the hospital when my sister was about to have her baby. This is not staged.... If you don't get why it's funny, just look at the picture again and think about the situation....
Next, a long, long list of hilarious things she's said and done lately.

-"I want to eat Minnie Mouse for brekiss!" Translation: she wants to eat Mini-Wheats for breakfast

-During "quiet time" (what used to be nap time, about 2-3:30ish), sometimes I'll tell her, "You can come out when Daddy comes home" (about 3:30). One day about ten minutes after I left her room for the unpteenth time trying to get her to lay down and be quiet, she started knocking on the door from the inside and yelling, "Daddy! I'm stuck in my rooooom! Heee-eelp me Daddy!" Lucky for her he came home just a few minutes later ;)

-While I was getting ready for the day, she climbed onto our bed, starting jumping and shouting/singing "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. The best part though? She doesn't know some of the words, she just knows their general sound, so she mumbled over them. One part that was crystal clear though was "Bright young women, sick of swimming, ready to SWIIIIIIIIMMMM!!!!" (Yes, that's supposed to be "ready to stand")

-She was playing with a star-shaped toy and suddenly shouted, "Come on Twinkle Little Star, the Street Rat's gonna get you! Hurry! Hide!!" (The obvious reference to the famous nursery rhyme and the less obvious reference to Aladdin)

-She also has a new infatuation with imaginary monsters. But not in a scared way, in a playful way. She'll shout, "Oh no, the monster's gonna get us!", squeal with delight and run into another room where she can "hide where nobody can find her". This could be anywhere, behind a couch, in a closet, a bathroom..... Somehow though, the "monster" usually finds her and she has to run somewhere else, giddily screaming as she flies through the house. One of us often gets pulled along for the ride.

-She found my cold rice pack in the freezer that I put on my head if I have a headache. She plopped it on her own head and said, very seriously, "I have a hiccup up here. The ice pack will make it feel better"

-She came up behind me started licking her fingers, mussing my hair everywhere and kept saying, "It will help your hair look wonderful OK?!" When she was done styling my hair, she carefully placed a baby toy on top of my head and announced, "You look like a Princess!" When I asked which princess, she responded, "Sleeping Beauty". I probably did look like I had a serious case of bed-head ;)

-We've recently started reading the scriptures as a family before bed. Justin and I each read a verse and then Carrie will copy me as I read a few words at a time of her verse. Only a couple of days after starting, I was trying to get her to copy me in saying a verse. As soon as I started, she harrumphed, and said, "Mommy, you forgot to say, 'and it came to pass!'..." It. Was. Awesome.

-"Tangled" was recently on TV and we DVR'd it. We've been watching it a ton. Luckily I don't mind watching that one over and over. Yet. This morning, Carrie said the blessing at breakfast. She did the normal "thank you for and blessing the food" part and was about to close when she stopped short and added, "and please bless us to watch Rapunzel again today, inthenameofjesuschrist,amen!"

-So we watched Tangled. I swear, 10 minutes after it was over, she said, "Mommy, can we watch Tangled please?" I said, "Sweetie, we just did!" She quickly replied, "No, we watched Rapunzel!"

She is so dang quick-witted for a 2 year old! I love it! She must get it from her uncle Jake (whose lightning fast quick-witted dry humor is likely to make you spurt milk out your nose) Because you all know Justin and I aren't this funny! We're so lucky to have her to keep us entertained!