superior customer service

i am just waiting until the princess wakes up so i can go over and squeeze my new little nephew and cuddle him but i thought i would write about an experience i had yesterday. i was on my way home from my sister's house when i stopped to get some windex and paper towels. i am going off sugar in january so i thought i would pick up some diet soda for those times i wanted a treat so i don't stray.

first, let me just say that i LOVE cranberry splash sierra mist free. it is so yummy. you can't even tell that it is diet. my husband has been looking for it to get for me for a couple of weeks to no avail. it is only seasonal and we thought it was gone. it didn't stop me from looking though. nothin. so i picked up some diet cola and headed for the checkout. i suddenly decided that i should be drinking water, not cola, even if it is diet, so i put the cola back on an endcap of soda nearby...and there they were, kind of backlit, like a miracle, two cases of the cranberry splash. i picked them up and checked out and went to the car. i was so excited i called my sister on the way home and told her i had a pack for me and a pack for her and she was excited too (we love this stuff, it is like christmas crack, haha). i unload my baby and albertsons bag only to find no cranberry splash.

i had left it in the bottom of the basket. i was so mad. i called the store and the manager offered to go out to the parking lot and look for it (since i couldn't just go buy it somewhere) and he put me on hold...about ten minutes later he came back and told me that he combed the parking lot and asked the bag boys and found nothing. he said if i didn't mind waiting he would check the back stockroom to see if they had anything. i said i didn't mind and he found two cases. this grocery manager was so kind. i told him (and he heard) that i had a fussy baby on my hands and i asked if my husband could pick them up on the way home from work. i told him my husband would be happy to pay for them because it wouldn't be very convenient for him to come home first. this store is not our regular store, but closer to my sister's house. the manager told me (i didn't know he was the manager at this point) he was happy to just give them to my husband, he didn't need to pay for them again or go home to get the receipt. how nice is that? it isn't very often that you get that kind of customer service.

i just called his manager and told him how impressed i was with my shopping experience and with this particular employee because it seems like people often times only relay negative experiences.

here i am, sipping my sugar free cranberry splash...mmm, kindness tastes good.

while i am waiting...

for rachel to call to say that her baby was born, i thought i would write a little post about christmas...even though i really want to post about a new little someone that should be arriving soon. i got a call at one saying she got a call from the hospital to come in to be induced. i am so eager to hold this bundle of joy!!

anyway, christmas was a huge success. i have always loved christmas and having audrey here with us has been the only thing we have wanted for the past two christmases so it made our christmas to share it with her.

we had dinner on christmas eve dinner with my aunt rosemary and uncle kent at their house and then santa came, we read "twas the night before christmas" and opened some presents and everything was delightful. i have a darling picture to post of audrey in a hat that my cousin jennifer knitted for her once it is emailed to me. she looked so cute in it.

we came home and opened up a couple of presents (including new christmas pajamas) and watched "it's a wonderful life" and settled in for a long winter's nap.

dad and audrey let me sleep in until they couldn't take the anticipation anymore and came into wake me up. we went down and turned on some christmas music and helped audrey go through her stocking. it was so cute to watch her as we helped her open all her presents and see which ones she got excited about and the ones where she was unimpressed, haha.

dave spoiled me with a wii fit and a heartrate monitor as well as some fun ipod accessories, some new shoes and slippers and a few other fun things. rachel, jeremy and jj came over for our traditional christmas brunch (deviled egg and ham casserole and sweet rolls, orange rolls are so yummy) and some guitar hero world tour (that is what santa brought for dave).

i wish i had taken more pictures, but i am glad i took a couple at least!

audrey with her loot!


it took a few tries to get the above picture, she was very tired and she does the trick when she is tired of her bumbo. she leans all the way back and pops her stomach up. it makes me very nervous and she is only in that seat when mom or dad is by her side...


she LOVES to watch guitar hero, she makes me laugh so hard. you can see my new slippers in the background :)


she is our little thumb sucker!



she loves her activity gym! thanks ana and grandpa!



all dressed up in her christmas outfit


this one is actually from a few weeks ago when audrey and i were both sick, laying on the couch. i love this picture even though i am in desperate need of chapstick because audrey looks so funny in it. "how much formula did i drink last night?" haha.


this one is from last night when we were tending jj. when his parents came to pick him up he wanted to hold audrey so bad. it is so cute to see how much he loves her.


well those are a few highlights of our celebration. we missed our family members that don't live here and hope they had a wonderful holiday.

**RACHEL UPDATE** just got a text that said that baby will be here about midnight at this rate!! i am SO excited!

the best christmas book ever

today has been a good day. audrey is now five months, hard to believe it. she is such a sweet girl. i met some high school friends for lunch today and she was such a good girl through the whole thing. no one else brought their kids but since daddy had a dental appointment, the babe came with me. she is at an entertaining age right now. she has such a fun sense of humor. she doesn't take her binky much but instead prefers her fingers, doesn't have a particular one she sucks on, just whatever she can get in her mouth...sometimes it is her whole fist, haha. she has a little woodpecker laugh that is so unique and fun. she LOVES television and if it is on she will watch it, she will even strain to turn and watch if her back is facing it. she likes to giggle at her dad. she laughs with me sometimes, but no one can get her laughing the way her dad can. since she was a newborn she has studied everything around her. it is fun to watch her because you can see her taking it all in, observing her surroundings and trying to assimilate. she will not lean her head on anyone's shoulder. she wouldn't even as a newborn, she has to have her head up and be able to see what is going on...you know, be part of the action. she is a sweetheart and i wish i could freeze this moment but since i can't, i try to write down as much as i can about her and take lots of pictures and videotape so i never forget these sweet moments.

it was fun to see my friends today and catch up. it was especially fun to see that a friend of mine who has struggled for years with infertility is pregnant with twins and found out yesterday she is having a boy and a girl. could there be anything more happy? i was choking back tears while talking to her about struggling to conceive because wow, that is familiar to me. after lunch, audrey and i went to the library to pick up a book on hold for me, "the best christmas pageant ever" and can i just say that i love that book. it was one of my favorites as a child and i hadn't read it in years and had all but forgotten about it when it popped into my head on sunday night. it was fun to read it when i put audrey down for a little nap.

it was interesting to think about the christmas story and reflect on mary and how she must have felt.

"But as far as I'm concerned, Mary is always going to look a lot like Imogene Herdman-sort of nervous and bewildered, but ready to clobber anyone who laid a hand on her baby."

i don't know if it is because this is the first time i read this story as an adult or because i am a mother now or the general sappiness i feel during this time of year but i cried all the way through this book. i couldn't help but remember how uncomfortable i was that last month of pregnancy and how anxious i was for the safe arrival of my baby. i remember wanting to be the best mom i could be and give her every advantage. i think of mary feeling tired, hot, uncomfortable, swollen and so in need of a place to rest her head after her travels only to be brought to a barn. i think about my experience when my baby was born, family and friends around us, bringing us food and flowers and two nurses assigned to me at all times to help me when i needed or wanted something...i can't help but think of mary and the humble birth of her Baby. what a woman she must have been to endure all that she did and give birth to the Savior of the world.

i also loved that these children who were the terror of the town would be touched by this story and offer up their own christmas ham (when they don't have two nickels to rub together) as a present for the baby Jesus.

it was fun to read it today. i love christmas movies and books but most are about being a better person, more giving, more loving, etc. or about santa claus. it was a nice change of pace to read a christmas book that made me reflect on the birth of Christ which is what Christmas is really about.

first timer over here

we took audrey to see santa last night for the first time. it was so much fun. we dressed her in her christmas outfit and when we got there santa was out feeding his reindeer so we had forty minutes to kill. we got some chinese food and waited. i was so excited. she gave a big smile when she first sat down but by the time we got a picture she was wondering what was going on. i think the picture is so funny. audrey looks like a little doll, so stiff and proper, haha. the girl taking the pictures asked if they could use the picture they snapped as the display picture. audrey is already a little model. we got home and she just sat and talked and talked. i mentioned to dave that she sure had a lot to say and he said, "of course she does, she just saw santa and is excited to tell us all about it." haha. what a cutie.

weekend update

our weekend was pretty chill, but we had fun.

saturday morning we were going to make some breakfast but we were out of eggs so we decided to do a quick mcdonalds run. haha, it turned out to be not so quick though. what should have been a twenty minute trip both ways was over an hour. it was snowing and i have never seen a line that long at mcdonalds. it was fun though and good to get out together.

after that dave went to help his sister move some tables and chairs and then we wrapped some presents, cleaned the house and in the evening we got a pizza and watched "the dark knight" on dvd. it was fun to see it again.

sunday morning we got up and i got ready and got audrey ready and then i prepared a game of "name that christmas tune" for the family christmas party. it was brunch at maria's house and it was so fun. thanks for the idea rachel and laura. rachel suggested it to me but got the idea from laura. it was a hit. we also played christmas memory and christmas bingo.

today audrey ate pears mixed with a tablespoon of rice and she loved it. she has cried in the past when we have tried to feed her food but she just gets so hungry so we tried again today. she loved them. she really seemed to "get it" by the end and was opening her mouth when she saw the spoon. i think eating with a spoon is so unfamiliar to her but the taste was not. she has had pear juice in her bottle from time to time in the past so i think that might have helped her a bit.

dave bought a gingerbread house kit at the store for us to decorate for family night since we didn't get to take our house from thanksgiving home from virginia and i am getting more excited for christmas by the day.

o christmas tree, o christmas tree

i had such a great day on monday and i am just blogging about it now. life is especially busy in december, isn't it? i was hanging out with audrey and i got a call from dave asking if i would like to go and see the lights at thanksgiving point when he got home from work. i was so excited because it was snowing for the first time this month and i was ready for all things christmas. he also said that i couldn't meet him at the door when he got home but i had to wait until he came upstairs. again, it is december, so i didn't think much of it. he came home and walked upstairs and asked where audrey was. she was napping and had been asleep for two hours so he went to wake her up. he said audrey had something special to give me and they went downstairs and brought up a box. before dave pulled out the present, he told me that this gift was from audrey. he had (with some prompting from audrey i am told) this woman make this ceramic tree for me from the same mold that the tree that my mom, nana and aunt rosemary had when i was growing up. i have always loved this tree. it reminds me of christmas as a child and i am excited that audrey will have the same decoration as she grows up. it was so sweet. it made me cry (in a good way). we went and got hot chocolate at sev and went to look at the lights. it was such a great day and i have been so excited for christmas since.

two years later...

two years ago today we lost our little angel. i will never forget that day. i look over at our christmas tree and i see the little "angel of the heart" ornament and it is a figurine of a little girl holding a heart. we didn't know last year that the little baby in my tummy was a little girl yet but we both felt like it was a little girl we lost. dave and i talked about it a bit today and he really feels like it was audrey and it wasn't her time yet. i am so grateful to be audrey's mother. i love her so much. when i think back to two years ago when i had an ultrasound and we saw no heartbeat tears stream down my face. that was such a painful time for dave and i, such a hard christmas for us...but the tears now are tears of gratitude and tears of love. i am so grateful to my husband. he will never know how much i love him because it is impossible for me to express. i have no words that could ever express my feelings accurately. he was and is such a support to me in my time of sorrow as well as in my time of joy...so many nights he would just hold me as i cried myself to sleep. this year i am not as excited for christmas as i usually am. i think partly because i was so excited for thanksgiving to see my family and show dave washington dc and partly because what we have wanted most for christmas the last two years we received in july of this year. i get to be with audrey every day. i get to see her smile and hold her close. she makes every day special for me. today when i feel a little sad remembering the sadness and pain that began on this day, i will hold my baby girl a little tighter and be grateful that i have a husband that loves me and stand by my side to anchor me through the tough times.

thanksgiving 2008

thanksgiving will always be a holiday that is near and dear to my heart. i love thanksgiving. i love spending time with my family and i love reflecting on what i am most thankful for. last year we found out i was finally pregnant the day before thanksgiving and announced it to both of our families on thanksgiving day. it was such a wonderful day of celebration for me. this year dave, audrey and i traveled back east to virginia to spend thanksgiving day with my family. it was such a great trip. we got to spend a lot of time with family and a lot of time seeing the sights.

here are some highlights:

thanksgiving dinner, i stole this picture from laura's blog, i realized when looking through our camera that we took more pictures of the sights than the family. audrey slept through it. poor little girl...she slept through the halloween festivities and thanksgiving dinner, hopefully she won't miss christmas!


we always decorate gingerbread houses after dinner on thanksgiving. this was my first year participating in the baking of them. laura showed me how to cut them out and bake them. i wish i was there for the making of the dough but my mom did that before we arrived in VA. i have a sneaking suspicion that now that dave has seen me baking them he is going to want me to make them the years we are not with my family (because he told me so, haha). here are laura's kids with the houses and the candy. grandpa put them together and Ana and Grandpa bought all the candy.


kate insisted i help her decorate her house and it was fun to feel so loved and spend time with sweet little kate.


audrey in the airport before her first airplane ride. she was an angel on the plane. the woman sitting behind us even commented on how well she did when we were getting off the plane.



the day before thanksgiving we went to see the civil war battle field in Manasses. We watched a movie about it and then toured the grounds. there was such a serene, peaceful feeling of reverence




it was freezing though so we stopped at 7/11 afterwards and got some white candycane hot cocoa. yum!

on friday we did an abbreviated tour of DC while audrey drove around inside the car with grandpa. thanks dad for watching her and driving us around!

the white house


david standing in front of the united states capitol. do you see the christmas tree :)



library of congress


after going to a few of the sights downtown, we went to union station to grab a bite to eat and got some world famous bourbon chicken, yum!

old town alexandria, original cobble stone street



after showing david king street in alexandria, we headed over to mt. vernon to meet the rest of the family for mt. vernon by candlelight. it was so fun. they served spiced cider and ginger cookies and gave a guided tour of the home. it was neat to see the room and the actual bed that george washington died in. they didn't allow pictures in the main part of the house but we did get to snap a picture of the kitchen.


it was cool to see and we got some fun things in the gift shop. after mt. vernon we went to this new little diner in downtown fairfax for soup and sandwiches. the soup was so yummy!

little audrey got sick on our trip. friday night she was just coughing and wheezing and snoring louder than her dad. poor little thing slept in our bed with us. the next morning when we brought her upstairs and told everyone she was sick, they laughed because she was so pleasant and giving big smiles to everyone. she is a girl who likes to put on a show. on thanksgiving she was screaming and as soon as we turned the corner into the room where everyone was sitting she just started smiling. she LOVED being around everyone. she was really in her element. she also sat up for the first time. she was on her back in david's arms (so not completely flat) and she started doing this little baby sit-ups. it was so cute. she is getting so big.



on saturday morning we went to arlington cemetary and saw the changing of the guard


then we went to boston market for some lunch and headed into alexandria to knock around for a bit. i love alexandria, it was fun to be there in the evening because it was all lit up for Christmas.

Gadsbys tavern, george washington ate here.


after that we went home to decorate the christmas tree with all the traditional food while we watched "white christmas" and sang along.

on sunday dave and i went into the district and went to the holocaust museum and to see the lincoln memorial and the vietnam memorial. it was raining cats and dogs but i really wanted dave to see them. thanks mom and dad for watching audrey so we could go.






havabite eatery



monday we packed our bags, loaded up the cars and went to lunch at havabite eatery before saying our goodbyes at the airport. thanks mom and dad for all the fun memories. we had such a good time.

christmas is coming

yesterday was such a busy day...mostly fun. i went to breakfast with three of my five sisters, audrey and jj at paradise bakery (never disappoints) and it was especially fun to see laura who had flown in for the twilight premiere. i then ran to the grocery store with mariah to pick up candy for my advent calendar. i got home and got a call from dave that he was on his way home. i gave audrey her tylenol in preparation for her four month shots, put her down for a quick nap and put the candy in the favor tins. watching audrey get her shots was so sad, she was just screaming and tears were rolling down her cheeks. we came home and put her to bed. i then left the house to meet my sister mariah at the theater to watch twilight. we picked up some dinner and went home to eat it with dave (who was so kind to sit home with audrey alone so mom could go out) and watch a video.

when i got home from the movie i was just going to grab something i had forgotten at the house and drop off my car before mariah and i picked up dinner and dave and audrey met me at the door. he told me i had to come upstairs because audrey had something to show me and i knew he had something up his sleeve. i went upstairs and as i turned the corner i saw that he had set up a christmas tree in our living room. a brand new chrismtas tree that was full and tall. no disrespect to our charlie brown tree we have used in previous years, it has served it's purpose, but i have wanted a new one for a couple of years. our tree we've used in the past is just so skinny and short, i have always propped it up on a box and then covered the box with a tree skirt so that it would be a little taller and this new tree touches the ceiling! i was so excited and audrey was pretty fascinated by it too. i will post a picture when it is all decorated though we may need some new ornaments since this tree is so much bigger. here is a picture of our old tree set up last year. it is the only one i could find, guess i better start taking more pictures!

"where there's love, there's room"

growing up with a plethora of siblings, i often heard my mom say, "where there's love, there's room." i specifically remember her saying this when we were on car trips. there were always lots of elbows and legs and complaining was commonplace. i remember driving to my nana's house and trying to fall asleep so that we would get there faster. this is one of those phrases that you have heard so many times that you catch yourself saying when you don't realize it...or if you are me, you say it very much on purpose for comic relief in places with strangers like elevators and restaurants.

when i worked at fidelity investments, i worked in a secure building. basically if you went into a stairwell when your security badge was not activated (which happened from time to time when working beyond your scheduled hours and since overtime was required, it happened fairly often) or you happened to not have your badge with you, you were stuck. did i mention that most cell phones did not get service in this building? suffice it to say, most employees took the elevator...which made for a very crowded elevator and with so many different people working in one building (the chamber of commerce building) you never rode with the same group twice. whenever someone looked annoyed at the last person to run and just make it before the doors closed, i would always say, "where there's love, there's room" sometimes i would even say, "my mom always says, where there's love, there's room" and everyone laughed. i love to make people laugh and i am not a big fan of tension so it worked out very well for me on numerous elevator trips. i have used it in crowded waiting rooms at the doctor's office and at restaurants on busy weekend nights. i sort of fell out of the habit of saying or even thinking about it until tonight. i don't know what the catalyst was that brought it to the forefront of my mind today, but as i was struggling to find sleep i found this all too familiar phrase repeating itself over and over in my mind.

i stopped trying to sleep. it was a vain effort anyway. i started to think about this phrase. i mean, really think about it. where there is love, there is room. where there is love, there is patience. where there is love, there is kindness. i thought about the world that we live in today. how often in life do we find the exact opposite to be the case? where there is room, there is love. or sometimes, where there is room, there is tolerance. if i am bored out of my gourd and you happen to be around then you can use some of my time. if i don't have anything better to do and you have something that interests me, i will put up with you.

it reminds me of something that i experienced today. you learn a lot about yourself when you are a parent. sometimes more than you ever wanted to know. ignorance is bliss, right? you know what else? you learn a lot about other people too. today i met a friend for lunch and i have never had a lunch like that before. audrey was SCREAMING, completely inconsolable. she was fed, her diaper was changed, and out of the blue she went from picture perfect baby to demon spawn...not really, but it was honestly a jekyll/hyde transformation in two seconds flat. i think she is teething. i got up with her and walked around the restaurant and bounced her and took her outside. i whispered in her ear and kissed her cheek and did all the things she loves that usually calm her right down...to no avail. finally, she calmed down (no rhyme or reason to it) and all the people around me that had had their meal interrupted just smiled politely (you know how there are so many types of smiles and some are not polite or kind in the least? these were kind, polite smiles) and everyone who walked by showered compliments and praise on audrey and her mama. i couldn't get over it. how easy would it have been to be agitated that they could not hear themselves think, let alone hear each other with an infant crying and carrying on? instead, they smiled and offered up pleasantries to us. it might sound cheesy, but these complete strangers were so loving. i wondered how i would react in a similar situation. if it were my sister or my best friend, it would be easy to have empathy because i love them. what if it was a stranger? it was a lesson in kindness for me.

i think in the hustle and bustle of life, it is easy to have a "where there is room or time or when you fit into my schedule, there is love" point of view, but what a better world we would live in if we each tried everyday to have more love and open up our hearts to give a little room to those who may need it.

my turn on earth

this was my favorite book growing up. it has been out of print for many years. i found a copy of it online and purchased it for audrey for christmas and i was so happy when it came in the mail today. the cover has normal wear and tear but the pages are in beautiful condition. unmarked and clean, ready to be read and adored by a little girl (and her mother) but some of the pages are a little loose. i would like to rebind this book if possible so that it can be used for many years and many (hopefully at least two) children. anyone know of a book binding place that is reasonably priced? kinkos does a spiral binding for a good price but i would like to use the original hardcover since it is in good condition and will preserve the book better. any suggestions?

husband of the year

have you ever had a day when you are supposed to meet your husband for lunch but you just put your baby girl down for a nap and don't want to wake her up, have tried on a few different things to wear but you still look six months pregnant, break down into tears and cancel lunch because you just don't feel like it only to hear your front door opening forty minutes later to see your husband that took his entire lunch to drive home and drive back to work just to give you a hug cause he knew you needed one? that was my day on wednesday. what a sweetheart.

presenting - the diaper monologues...

posted by dad: princess is beginning to discover her voice and this is a sample of how chatty she's been today. in all honesty, she just wasn't loving what sean hannity was rambling on and on and on about...that's my girl!!

visions of sugar plums

so my little craft project (advent calendar) from last week turned out to be a lot more work than i thought it would be...basically because of all the materials that i had to gather. doing crafts is new to me so my craft cart up to this point has basically just stored photographs.

i was so excited about this project that i couldn't sleep on monday night. i just kept thinking about this advent calendar. i felt like a little kid on christmas eve. i am so excited to put strips of paper with fun christmas activities on them (reading a christmas story and having hot chocolate before bed or baking cookies for the neighbors) in the little tins with a little treat. you know, all the fun things you want to do at christmas that sometimes you just don't get around to unless you schedule them. i thought that i could even put a bracelet or earrings and stickers in a few of them once audrey is a little older. i am excited to establish holiday traditions with our little family and this one seems like such a fun one. i stole this idea from nicole. i saw the one she made on her blog and i fell in love with the idea. it didn't turn out exactly how i wanted but it was fun to make and it will be fun to use.




these are little favor tins fastened to the calendar with velcro that will be filled with candy, stickers, activities or anything fun and festive...

do as i say, not as i do

oh boy, this past week has been hard one. little one has been pretty fussy and has refused to take naps i have been very tired. when i am tired i become agitated much more easily...not so much with audrey but with myself. i find i have a wealth of patience for audrey and her little pains and bouts of crying but it is hard to find that patience with myself. i find i am disappointed because i want to do things perfectly and if i fall short of my expectations (no matter how unrealistic) i feel like a failure. i have thought about this a lot this week. i look at my baby girl and i want to give her everything...i don't mean everything in the material sense but every advantage as far as the intangibles. i want to give her confidence. i want to give her love. i want to give her wisdom. i want to teach her to love other people. i want to give her the gift of knowing how wonderful she is. i want to teach her forgiveness, not just forgiveness for others but forgiveness for herself. i want to give her knowledge. i want her to know that life is a journey, that each one of us is a work in progress and that mistakes are made and life goes on.

when i was growing up, my mom often said, "those things happen" when we would spill milk or break a glass and yet i find in my life when i burn dinner or break something, i beat myself up. i am sure that when audrey disappoints herself on a test in school or drops something i will say, "those things happen" and mop it up and give her a hug and move on but i have noticed this week two little eyes on me constantly. since audrey has been a little more fussy than usual, we have spent more time at home. no matter what i am doing, audrey is watching. she watches me make her bottle, do the dishes, type on the computer, talk on the phone...all the time she is learning about life from what her mom does. it is a big responsibility. i feel the weight of it as she watches me. what am i saying that one day audrey will say? what am i doing that one day audrey will do? i am so hard on myself and that is a problem. no matter how much patience i have with audrey, unless i can learn to be more patient with myself, audrey will learn that in order to be acceptable, she has to be perfect (to me she already is) and do things perfectly the first time, every time. she is teaching me every day about myself and who i want to be. it is becoming that person that is the trick.

two little blue eyes watching me as i snap her in her car seat...

lifesaver

little audrey would not nap today. she took two mini naps of five minutes each (one in her crib and one in her swing) but she would not stay asleep. poor little girl was just exhausted. as long as i was holding her she was calm and happy. out of desperation, i pulled out the baby bjorn and put her in it. she liked it. i unloaded the dishwasher, cleaned the kitchen, made dinner all while wearing my little princess...carrying her around on my belly, it was a little reminiscent of being pregnant. i move more slowly and am very protective of my this baby on my belly, haha. i think she liked being able to be part of the "action" and being near me. it is flattering to have someone want to be with you all the time. i know i should take full advantage of it. the time will soon come where i have to share her...she'll have friends, school, activities...but for now she is all mine during the day and this bjorn is a lifesaver.

when dave got home he gave me a break. i needed to get out for a bit. i went to two craft stores (i know, i am a wild woman) to gather materials for a project i am starting. i love craft stores. i love walking the aisles and looking at all the stuff. although i am not as crafty as i wish i was, i get inspired when i am there. so many possibilities...

i remember years ago someone told my mom that they would give anything to know the scriptures the way she she knew them. isn't that interesting? they would give anything...anything but the time to study them to get to know them that way. i have thought about that a lot throughout my life. you see a concert pianist and it is easy to think, "wow, i would give anything to be able to play like that." a concert pianist doesn't wake up one day playing piano concertos. they dedicate years and years to practicing and developing their talent. i have often wished i was more crafty but shy away from "crafting" so now i am going to take the time to try my hand at some projects. wish me luck!

what a rough life

audrey fell asleep like this in her swing. i had to take a picture.

more halloween pictures

on halloween night we had my brother and sister and their roommates over for some beef stew and pumpkin bars. it was fun to eat dinner and give out candy to the trick or treaters. our little audrey went to bed at five and slept through the entire party...she was actually out for the night! that is what happens when she doesn't get an afternoon nap. it was a little sad. she had a daytime costume and an evening costume and we didn't get to dress her up in her evening costume. i put it on a few days ago and she looked so cute in it. i will have to dress her up in it and take a few pictures. her first halloween was spent in dreamland but we had fun watching halloween cartoons (ichabod and it's the great pumpkin, charlie brown). i can't wait to take audrey trick or treating next year (assuming she will stay up that late).

andy and his roommate brett (dressed up as hook and peter pan)

mariah and her roommate melanie (dressed up as a mime and a boxing champion)

group picture (minus our sleeping ladybug and julie, the photographer)

happy halloween

...from our little ladybug.

audrey's first date

my friend candice and i (and our babies) met for lunch at cafe rio. it was so much fun to catch up on each other's lives and talk about motherhood and memories of college. it was really fun to see her baby too. he is such a happy baby and so cute! it was funny though because when i held him audrey looked up at me with this "hey, you are MY mom, why are you holding another baby" expression. it was pretty funny. they looked so cute next to each other in their carriers. they have the same carrier (just different colors), the same pacifier (again just different colors), the same binky clip (this one is because candice made both of them, she is so talented) and when i pulled out her favorite toy, candice said that her son had the same one AND they are both AJ (audrey jane and adam junior). looks like audrey has a boyfriend, haha.

lunch with ana and a brand new toy

audrey and i have had a lot of fun the past two days meeting my mom downtown for lunch. she is in town for a conference and we have enjoyed having her here! today dave met us too and we had a little party at the olive garden. everyone wanted to hold audrey so we each took a turn.

here are some pictures:

audrey loves being with her ana



mama's pride and joy



definitely a daddy's girl


what a perfect little poser


all tuckered out


after lunch audrey and i ran some errands. we had to pick up a few things at walmart (namely candy for trick-or-treaters and some tights for her since it will be getting cold soon) and when we got home daddy was already here. we decided it was time to pull out audrey's jumperoo. even though it is not new (it was given to us for audrey at our office shower) it is the first time she has been in it. i just had to snap a few shots.

at first she seemed a little apprehensive



she loved and was absolutely mesmerized by the lights


she started smiling and squealing when dave started bouncing it (her feet don't quite reach the floor yet)