Conference Saturday

We had quite a full day of fun today. We started out by watching General Conference, which was awesome! Then my mom, sister and I went to get pedicures.

I had meant to take a picture of us while we were sitting in the chairs, but I forgot.... So all I got was this, my pretty design.

We got back just in time for the second Conference session. The boys went out to dinner and then Priesthood session and the girls out to dinner together. Right before we left for dinner we all realized our kids needed diaper changes. Unplanned, we ended up changing their diapers all at the same time. It was too funny not to snap a picture of.

I took my camera with us, but of course, once we got there, I forgot to take a picture again. Suffice it to say it was a mediocre night. The food was good, but it took forever to come. Carrie hadn't been feeling well that morning, just a little tummy ache. While waiting for our food, it got to the point where she was in tears at the restaurant because she was so hungry and her tummy hurt so much... And then came the best part. The waitress was complimenting my mom on all her cute grandkids when she turned to me and asked, "And are we expecting another one over here?"......... Ummm, no.... Thanks for asking....

Really?! I don't understand why people ask things like that! I know I have a little muffin top chub going on, but I certainly don't look pregnant! Anyways, we had a good time despite Carrie's tears and the waitress without a filter between her brain and her mouth. Just to make sure the night would end well, we stopped by the grocery store to pick up some triple chocolate fudge ice cream on the way home ;)

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!!