Noel

Yes, this post has been a long time coming. I'm sure I should have tons of descriptions, but I don't feel too wordy, so here's pictures and I think you'll get the idea.

Carli in her Christmas jammies. I bought them on sale when she was tiny and have saved them this long because I thought they were darling.

Carli reading and snuggling with Uncle Wilbur.

This is what Christmas day looked like (along with the two days before it). Carli had a fever and did not feel well. Sad for Christmas!

I don't know what these two were watching, but I thought this picture was funny. They were pretty intrigued by whatever it was. Cute girls!

I know it looks like Carli was posing nicely for this photo, but I guarantee you it was a fluke. She sure is a pretty girl though.

The beautiful girls in their Christmas dresses.

Group hug!

I had to post this picture of my cute little niece.

Funny that Carli was born in such a wintery place, but never really got to enjoy the snow before we moved. So, this was her first experience making a snowman!

Aunt Aubrey and Uncle Kelby helped out too.

Yeah, he's a little goofy looking, but there's one in every family, right?

Anyone notice something different about Carli? Yep, her eye is straight! Last week Carli had strabismus surgery. It went extremely smoothly and amazingly enough you can hardly tell 5 days later except for a tiny bit of pink and a straight eye. So, the doctor said it went at least as well as they hoped for and should shorten the amount of time we have to patch. So, out of the three issues she has, two have been solved (at least for now). The glasses fixed the vision problem, the surgery fixed the strabismus (crossing) and we still have to patch for the amblyopia, but they believe that straightening the eye will help it become stronger faster. Here's hoping for that and that we won't have to do the surgery again!

Right now we are enjoying wonderful weather so I think I will go back out and continue to enjoy it!

Happy Birthday and Thanksgiving!

We have had a busy week here. Last week Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Kera came into town and we had a lot of fun. First, we celebrated Carli's birthday. I would say that I can't believe she's two, but after a few of her tantrums this week, it's pretty obvious. I can deal with the tantrums though because she is so sweet otherwise, not to mention beautiful and smart! We were going to go to the zoo to celebrate her birthday, but it was dollar day and really crowded, so we went to her favorite park (which she refers to as the purple slide) instead.


After the park we came home and had Raclette (which I forgot to get pictures of) and ate Carli's bumblebee cake.
Then we got to open Carli's presents. She was pretty excited about the princess wrapping paper.
These were two of her favorite gifts (a grocery cart and a stroller), but she really loved all the presents she got - clothes, books, puzzles, play food, music, etc. She was pretty happy to share with her cousins who came to visit on Thanksgiving.

This is my cute little nephew. You just can't resist that face!

Aunt Kera and my two nephews playing at the park.

After Thanksgiving and the over-consumption of so much food and pies, a few of us went to New Moon. (Yes, we're those kind of people.) It was pretty entertaining, but mostly good to go with family.
We tried to get a good picture at the Arboretum the day after Thanksgiving, but it didn't work, so I posted the worst one, mostly because I feel like it captures the moment the best.

We finally got a pretty good family picture (thanks, Dad!) there though.

Now we're missing family and looking forward to seeing them soon, hopefully. It was so nice to spend the week with my family mostly relaxing and spending time with each other. I love this time of year because of that. Now it's time to decorate for Christmas and turn up the carols!

Havin' a Good Ol' Time!

Well, life has been treating us well here. We've kept ourselves pretty busy lately and we're enjoying it.

Carli's little buddy J. came over to play one night and this is how it ended - watching Lady and the Tramp with matching pillows, blankets, drinks and snacks. Life was pretty calm.

Because it has been so warm out lately, we figure that means it's warm enough to go swimming. Well, it's not. Logan a.k.a. "The Polar Bear" thought he'd like to go for a dip...

He quickly changed his mind and moved over to the hot tub with this little lady.

The day ended in some sun-bathing from our teen-wanna-be. I have a feeling I'll be getting that facial expression from her for years to come.

We had some friends over last weekend and found a few surprises throughout the night, including the girls in the box,

and the combined efforts of all of the kids in Carli's room. Quite a masterpiece, huh?

We went to the zoo with friends on Friday and Carli had a ball. She especially liked hugging the "aminals".

Maybe we should have named her Bindy.

I almost had the best shot with Carli and J.'s bums and feet sticking out the back of the big pot. Unfortunately, you can hardly tell that he is in there with her. (Look for the little feet poking out.)

Our little hatchling.

And in keeping with tradition, we had to strike a pose in the turtle shell.

Carli's been talking all weekend about how she got to "pet the soft rabbit and the soft guinea pig."

For Logan's birthday I bought tickets to a rodeo and the Lady Antebellum concert. It was so much fun. We saw some awesome competitors, a bullfighter get thrown 12 feet in the air, Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey, and of course an excellent performance. Now we are looking forward to the family coming into town for Thanksgiving next week. I love this time of year when we get to see family. And especially for this month when we think about gratitude more often. I really am grateful for so many things and have been struck by how much we have that we don't think about often enough. Also, how sometimes the things we really don't feel grateful for (trials, hardships) turn into our greatest blessings. Be grateful!

The Coo of Dove

October Add-On

Since I have problems remembering my camera, my friend was nice enough to take these pictures and send them to me. It's a few of the other things we did last month.

Though you can't tell in this picture, we both took part in carving our first jack-o-lantern. (I know, hard to believe, in over 4 years of marriage!)
The kids were all dazed and confused because we were practically standing on our heads to get them all looking in the same direction. And yes, Carli has no pants on. Somehow her pants got soaked - pretty sure she thought it would be a good idea to try sitting on the potty when no one was looking. So glad we will always have that memory.

This is Carli's good buddy. He lives in our complex and they play almost everyday.

This was a fun trip to the arboretum.

They had lots of fun little houses for the kids.

Carli knocking on the Hansel and Gretyl door.

It was a beautiful place.

I have been feeling really grateful for my blessings, and one of the greatest blessings I have is Carli, so I have to make a proud mama list, just 'cause it's been awhile. So, beware, this is a lot of bragging that you probably won't be interested in, but I will be later on.

- Carli has decided it's time to start the potty training process. We got a potty for her several months ago which she liked to sit on, but this week she started asking to sit on it when I change her diaper or get her dressed and she's gone on the potty about twice a day since! Yay Carli!
- She is the cutest little singer. She LOVES music and has it on in her room and in the car all the time. She also loves to sit on my lap while I play Primary songs on the piano. She has memorized which songs are on which pages and picks them out and sings them with me. (And yes, she knows every word to most of them.) Some of her favorites are I am a Child of God, Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam, Once There was a Snowman, When We're Helping We're Happy, Hello Hello, I Feel My Savior's Love, I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home, and lots, lots more. In the car she prefers music with a strong beat and has no patience for country. Who knew such a strong opinion about music could form at such a young age!
- She LOVES to read! You can almost always catch her reading her books and she has memorized several of them. Unfortunately, she also becomes extremely attached to the library books we get. She especially loves "She Bear", which she says to refer to any Berenstain Bear book.
- She knows her numbers and the alphabet and recognizes them all. In the car and in the store she'll pick them out on signs and say "5, Mom!", or whatever it is. Her favorite game is to bring all the number and letter magnets from the fridge to me one at a time, say, "What is it, Mom", so I ask her, "What is it, Carli?" she'll tell me then she'll make designs with the magnets on the table.
- She wakes up every morning and from every nap with a very cheery, "Hi Mom! Good morning! How was your nap?"
- She gave us absolutely no problems transitioning into a "big girl bed".
- She loves to eat mostly everything we give her and she's so obedient when we tell her she needs to take a few more bites before getting down.
- She LOVES all her new friends here and when I tell her we're going to see friends she asks, "Purple Slide?" because we usually play with them at the park with the purple slide.
- She has a memory like I've never seen! It is a blessing and a curse - but mostly a curse. For example, today we went to story time at the library, which we haven't been to for a few weeks. When we got there she remembered that I'd taken a banana in my purse the last time and was not happy that I didn't this time. And often something will remind her of her friends from our old home or her cousins and there's no distracting her. There's no such thing as "out of sight out of mind" for this girl.
- My favorite phrase of hers is "Come 'ere, Mom". She says it when she's sad or tired or when she just wants me to hold her. It makes me melt every time, and she knows it and uses it to her advantage.
- She has gotten really good at asking for the things she wants. Instead of crying or whining, she now says "Juice please, Mom", or "Read please, Dad". I can't believe how much she's growing up!
- She loves to help clean up, which is in stark contrast to her past preference of everything on the floor.
- She has been SO good about her glasses and patch. Tomorrow we see the Dr. about it and it will be interesting to see what this one says, as the past two had very different opinions.
- When we leave the house she has to have her purse, an animal and oftentimes her Easter hat, so she looks a little like an old woman and, much to my dismay, attracts the attention of everyone we see.
- She loves to pray. She makes sure we kneel before she goes to bed and she says the prayer. "We're grateful for the temple, grateful for Mom/Daddy/other family members, grateful for blankies/books/songs (and names them specifically)..." Then she proceeds to name everything around the room.

Can you tell I love this girl!

October

Well, I realize it's been a little while. Things have still been crazy, but seem to finally be settling down. ~sigh~ We really feel so blessed to be where we are right now. So, now I can do a little update on what we've been up to.

This is our little friend who welcomed us to our new home. He lives in our window and has a few friends join him now and again.
The first few days we were here, we didn't have any of our stuff, so Carli found other ways to amuse herself. Like trying to dress herself then trying to walk. It was a LONG couple of days before our stuff got here.
If you can't tell, Carli was a little excited when she found out we could go swimming here - and in October! She is a little fish.

This is the most beautiful pizza I've ever made, thanks to the great pizza screen my sister-in-law gave me. (It tasted pretty good too :) )
Carli enjoying G.C.'s gift "Madeliene".

And, of course, we can't forget Halloween. See if you can guess our theme, as apparently there are some in this world who need to brush up on their nursery rhymes. (Yep, that's sucker slime all over Carli's face, hands, arms. . .) I'll even start it for you...

Rub-a-dub-dub. . .

Isn't she the cutest little baker you've ever seen? It's funny to me how much peer pressure works on people and how early it starts. She was a little leery of the whole costume thing until she saw everyone else at the party was wearing one, then it didn't come off the rest of the night. Of course, having her "bread purse" helped. She loved carrying it around, just like she loves carrying around her purses. (One of the booths was face-painting. Those are cherries on her cheek, to match the cherries on her apron and the cherry on top - of her hat.)

Daddy and Carli waiting for dinner.

It was fun to watch Carli actually enjoy and get into the Halloween games this year. She has lots of little friends in our ward already and she loved following them around, playing the games and of course, getting candy afterward. She did NOT, however enjoy the wild hayride at the end (nor did her mother) and promptly decided she'd had enough with Halloween and asked to go home. Good thing it was over anyway. We can't leave out our jack-o-lantern. We carved pumpkins with several friends who decided to carve some pretty intricate designs. As you can see, we did not go that route, but I like my little "Popeye pumpkin" anyway!
Well, I hope you all had a fun holiday. We'll see if I get any better at posting more than once a month, but if not, I'm definitely excited for November. Two birthdays and Thanksgiving (which we are hosting) should make for a very fun month!