12 of 12 January

1. Playing in the snow from the night before.
2. Snuggled up under our quilt from Grandma. It's been getting a lot of use.
3. I love the light in our house when it is sunny after a snowstorm. So bright!
4. Spending part of nap time menu planning. Why is it so hard? And yet it makes the week so much better if I do it once instead of 7x/week when everyone is already hungry.
5. A sweet email from Truman's former occupational therapy. I sort of wish he still qualified for OT, just for the Katie visits.
6. Waiting for Dad to get home.
7. Millie always requests a smiley face on the back of our Sam's Club receipt. Much happiness that today's marker was magenta, and Darlene drew her smiley face to look just like her!
8. Replacing the sweep on the front door so we don't have to cover it with blankets to retain warmth in our house.
9. Kept the kids busy coloring on the white board while dinner was cooking/the sweep was being replaced. Millie scheduled in a little happiness. :) Also, she's been rocking Article of Faith memorization.
10. Despite the chaos of the evening, dinner was really, really enjoyable. (Hat tip to Millie taking a nap.) We had chicken tacos, but letting the kids make and roll their own somehow made it really fun and less stress. I'm not sure how it worked out that way, but it did. I love this family of mine.
11. Chris helping Millie with her FHE lesson.
12. Each week both choir directors insist on their own podium for conducting. And they fight over who gets the tallest one. Then Truman jumps off during Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam and gives me a heart attack.

12 of 12 April :: Spring has Sprung!

1. Oh, Mildred! I had to Facebook our breakfast conversation. 
2. The most beautiful spring day for SpringFest. We love this awesome activity Purdue hosts. It's so fun and almost everything is free!
3. Hammock, trampoline, and face paint. She's set.
4. "Leave your brother alone!" 
5. Went on a walk and had to haul these planters home from Rural King on the stroller (Beast of Burden, indeed). Re-planted the blueberry bushes.
6. This kid systematically takes down towers, block-by-block. He isn't so much into crashing them over, though rest assured he will not let a tower stand.
7. Girl in need of a manicure.
8. Months ago we drove past Meijer and Millie started singing, "Meijer, we're dancing through the fire!" We thought her song was random, and she has sung it ever since. When this came on she exclaimed, "It's the 'Meijer, dancing through the fire' song!" A-ha! She's as good with lyrics as her Aunt Karisa! (The lyrics really say "I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, I'm dancing through the fire.")
9. We've been loving the Little House on the Prairie picture books, despite the looks of Miss Sassafras. I love to hear her say "Ma, and Pa and their good old bulldog, Jack."
10. A rousing game of Go Fish before bed. 
11. My favorite part of Saturday— going to bed with a clean kitchen floor. I know it will stay that way until morning. Truman is in the stage where he throws everything off his tray, and it seems like wasted effort to stay completely on top of it. This too, shall pass. 
12. The worst part of gel manicures is the soaking with acetone to take it off. Double-duty, scripture reading and getting the polish off my nails. 

12of12 March: Yet Another Snow Day

1. After the winter we've had I could not believe that schools were canceled. It snowed just a skiff outside. Ridiculous.
2. A little Tom the Tamer before breakfast.
3. She can't be old enough to read the back of the cereal box yet. She might not be "reading" it, but she requested it turned around to face her and she told me all about having watched The Magic School Bus at preschool (love me some Frizz) since it, and other Scholastic characters, were on the box.
4. I think it's required to post a "Gosh, he's cute!" picture every month. Playing peek-a-boo with the toy bucket.
5. Kicking around Truman's therapy ball.
6. Left-over flowers from our RS birthday brunch. Sunshine at the bathroom sink.
7. Therapy has left me saying things like tall kneeling, short sitting and reciprocal patterns of crawling. (Tall kneeling pictured)
8. My reading, and a creepy reflective self-portrait. It's the story of the Pride and Prejudice household help. There were a few very brief scenes that made me wonder if I should put it down, but it mostly redeemed itself.
   
   *Sidenote: how do you handle scenes like that? One of the children's librarians has started giving me recommendations, though this wasn't one. She says she just skips bad parts, but I'm not sure how one skips the questionable, knowing when things get good again. Plus, the junk is already seared into your brain. For the most part. I've stopped taking her recommendations. I think it's better to just go for virtuous, lovely, good report, praiseworthy kind of stuff. But how is one sure they've found it?! And why do authors throw in gratuitous crap?*
9. It snowed a little bit more late morning-early afternoon and I loved the sparkle in our hedges.
10. This little piggie went to market... (then lots of giggling from both parties)
11. Couldn't choose who I loved in bed most, so I chose both. Kids in bed are about the best thing ever. Plus all activities at the church were canceled, so we had a relaxed evening with Chris!
12. Went to Target with Kanien to get some stuff for Ashley's shower. Came home with a coupon organizer and organized my coupons. My purse is grateful for that $1 purchase.

12 of 12 December

1. Truman thought the light was a little too bright. (And why didn't I remember we had this fleece sleep sack sooner? Babies sleep so much better when they're warm—go figure!)
2. Millie loves opening the bag to our advent calendar each day.
3. Left over cinnamon sauce, so I swirled it into our pancakes and spiced up breakfast.
4. Our advent activity was having a Christmas dance party (to this Pandora station), and we could barely buy off Millie until after breakfast.
5. Millie asked me if I wanted to come make candy canes with her. I came into the living room to see her pulling her Rainbow Loom bracelet on the knob to the desk. She had really good form. My heart almost burst. She's seen it done and learning well.
6. After preschool she got to play on the snowy trampoline while I brought in groceries. She thought it was a blast until she got cold. Then suddenly it was NOT fun.
7. You know you have a problem, when you start buying corn syrup by the gallon. It's not sold in that quantities many places...
8. I think this is the first time I've tried reading a book to Millie and Truman together. Truman tried eating the book, Millie tried bossing Truman and I was grateful it was a short board book.
9. The usual song and dance routine Chris puts on to get Millie to brush her teeth was particularly hilarious. Chris had Millie giggling so hard, which then had the rest of us laughing.
10. Millie and Truman's room Christmas decorations.
11. Tupa, our elf, by the glow of their bedroom lights. Millie says she's a girl, but calls her "he" a lot. (She usually doesn't confuse pronouns so it messes with me.)
12. We had most of our presents wrapped, but we watched The Sing Off and embellished them with ribbons and tags. Good times.

12of12 July

July? Already?

1. I love my early morning snuggles with these eyes.
2. First day wearing undies. (The smallest undies are huge undies on that little bum.)
3. Third time's a charm. I wondered why we were planting a garden ("The prophet said to plant a garden, so that's what we'll do..."), and we've been handsomely rewarded for our faith this year.
4. Spying out her bedroom window on her reading books on the hammock. In her undies.
5. What we've been eating this week. Each season it takes me a little while to remember favorites from year-to-year.
6. Found move-in day pictures of our house that I didn't realize we had, so I had to take one to show the progress. There has been a lot of it.
7. I talked to Nikkala for almost two hours (I'd like to say that's uncommon and we were just making up for the time she was at Girls Camp, but it's not all that unusual), and it ended up Millie had a poopy diaper. She completely unmade her bed in the meantime (sheet, blanket, mattress pad, sheet, mattress pad, and the blanket, pillow and quilts on top of it all). Better than her diaper...
8. Rollie-pollie, doing his thing and happy about it.
9. Because of Millie's delayed nap, we had time to kill before we could get on with our night. We do not believe in waking sleeping babies around here.
10. Truman was also napping. He prefers this set-up.
11. Free Chick-Fil-A for cow appreciation day. We love CFA; Millie calls it Chick-A-Fay.
12. Checking out fancy fridges at Best Buy while Chris checked out. (And still rocking those undies.)

18 Months

Millie had her first day in Nursery on Sunday. We can all shout hooray and I feel like I could leave her 18 month update at that! *Hooray!* When I had to go change her diaper 3/4 of the way through it she was running around the mother's lounge like a whacko-woman. I could tell she was having a blast (I hadn't worried about her), but she wasn't so keen on the idea of going back.

Yesterday I was talking to Chris as we were walking to his building on campus to have lunch. He told me, "Wow— you're a real Debbie Downer" and I retorted "It's been a really long week." Then I realized it was only Tuesday.

Millie is either super needy and wanting attention and to be in my face (and on my lap) all the time, or completely chill, happy and fun. Yesterday was the former, today was the latter. Tonight she and I were lying on the floor and she patted the floor next to her for Chris to join us. As she was being incredibly adorable I told Chris, "Okay, so this is why we're having another one."

She is starting to talk up a storm. Words she used to just sign, she'll say. She speaks and signs pretty well. Her signing flower and puppy are two of my favorite. She has groups of words that all sound the same. Baba can mean pacifier, iPod, or towel. Cocleh can be washcloth or chocolate. There were more, but I feel like she's already outgrowing them and I've seemed to have forgotten them in the past few weeks. How does that happen so quickly?

She currently loves Itsy-Bitsy Spider, especially when Mom will walk the spider up her bare tummy. She'll pull up her shirt and offer it. She has been caught singing Popcorn Popping all by herself on the sofa.

I can't believe it's taken me this long to mention that the girl is obsessed with "ahts," aka "hats." It doesn't matter if Chris is wearing one, one is hanging on the doorknob, a person is walking down the street wearing one, she sees on in a picture, or she sees the fringe on one of her stocking caps peeking over her dresser. She loves hats. Aht, aht, aht, aht, aht, aht, aht, aht!

Some other favorites are books and looking for the neighbor's dog out her bedroom window, while perching on a  little step-stool. She eats just about everything, but really digs avocado as of late, and does the most adorable fake shiver for "brrr." Sometimes she thinks she has a baby in her tummy.

She distinguishes "mama" from "dada." So while putting clothes in the washer she stops constantly to point out if a sock is "dada" or a shirt is "mama." And then the process is repeated as I try to hurry and shove everything in the dryer before she gets to it. She'll point to my chair and say "mama." She knows whose shoes are whose, who generally sits in what patio chair, and who didn't hang up his towel this morning (finally I'm not the only one noticing it!), that my scriptures are mine. Sometimes it really blows my mind at how much she's taking in and what obscure details she's noticing.

Last night I had an early volleyball game so Chris and Millie came along. Watching her point out "Mama" and then wave to me completely melted my heart. After our game I blew her a two-handed kisses and she returned it the same way. It's so amazing to watch her grow and put it all together.

She has her doctor's appointment next week, but when she had Hand, Foot and Mouth a while back she was still under 20 lbs, so we'll see if she's put on enough ounces to break the barrier. It's been getting cold at night and she only had one pair of fleece jammies. So I figured it wouldn't hurt to see if some fit from last year. Yeah, girl totally rocks the 6 month jammies. A little short in the arms, but they work. Her 6-12 month clothes are generally getting too short, but 12-18 month clothes drown her. It's an awkward clothing stage we're in.

We love her and are so glad she's ours. She's spunky and funny, but chilling out a bit so that we can cuddle with her for a little bit, too. She's a little comedian and loves to watch videos of herself and thinks she's just so funny.

Seventh "Copper" Anniversary

Chris and I celebrated seven years of marriage on Saturday. Well, we celebrated on Friday, too.

Years ago I decided I wanted a Glacier National Park Pendleton blanket for our seventh anniversary, since the gifts for seven are copper/wool. Back when I decided this they sold crib sized blankets. But not anymore. And spending that much money for a blanket seemed ridiculous, so I told Chris he could scrap the idea, despite it being a sentimental reminder of our honeymoon to Glacier.

Chris changed his route and decided to go for the copper. A week before he told me we needed to gather up all the pennies in the house. And I started wondering what he had up his sleeve.

Kanien had been willing to babysit and I knew we'd get to enjoy our Friday evening together. But then I was told that we'd be leaving about 2:00 in the afternoon. I was intrigued.

Earlier last week we drove past the Copper Dog Cafe downtown and I was so proud of myself for figuring out that element of our date.

Friday afternoon we packed Millie's bag, dropper her off and the Wallins and we were on our way. Chris pulled out the GPS and selected destination #1. It directed us toward Indy. I was really intrigued.

As we got into Indy I told Chris that I needed to use the bathroom and asked if this destination had a bathroom. He replied it did, I had used it before and he was pretty sure it was a nice bathroom. What?! I racked my brain. Finally I realized we were headed toward the Shane Co, our jeweler, to drop off our rings for their annual cleaning. He couldn't fool me.

After dropping off our rings Chris trusted me enough to man the GPS and pull up destination #2. As we were driving through Indy, near the airport exit, I told Chris, "It would be awesome if you had our bags packed, our passports at the ready and we were going somewhere awesome for the weekend.  Sigh ...One day, right?"

I remarked how Indy was bigger than I thought, because we just kept driving. Then I looked at the arrival time on the GPS and it said 5:58. Almost two hours later? That couldn't be right!

Chris confirmed that it was, indeed, right.

What?!

He decided since I was captive and we were well on our way, it would be alright to share the plans. Millie was staying with the Wallins overnight. Our bags were packed in the trunk. We were headed toward the Copper Kettle in Charlestown for dinner. Then we'd head to New Albany to the Mansion Row Inn to stay the night. The next morning we'd go to the Louisville temple, do a session. After that we'd hit Copper Cupcakes on our way home, and he might have programmed a Hardy's into the GPS as our last stop, for my anniversary present to him. (East of the Mississippi we have Hardy's instead of Carl's Jr, and Chris misses Carl's Jr. We don't have a Hardy's in town.)

After the craziest, twistiest, make you sick to your stomach road I've ever ridden on, we made it to Charlestown. Southern Indiana is really pretty, but it was weird to still see blue tarps on roofs from the tornadoes this spring.

Dinner at the Copper Kettle, meh. It was decent, but it was just a little mom & pop and nothing special. Decent, for sure. And there were lots of locals eating there. It was just the beginning to a weekend where we were called, "honey, darling, sweetie, etc" more than the past seven years combined. Welcome to the south!

A nice patron saw us trying to take our self portrait and came out to help us.

From the Copper Kettle to Mansion Row Inn. After dinner, I was a little bit worried about what we might find in small town southern Indiana. But there was no need to fear. We were impressed with beautiful Mansion Row in New Albany and with the bed & breakfast. We read on the patio, walked around the neighborhood and enjoyed the gorgeous, cool evening weather.

Chris did really well packing. Except he forgot my makeup bag. I'm not the most high maintenance girl, so whatever. Except with no makeup in pictures. Eeep. Oh well, this was the only picture we took of us at the inn.

The 12' ceilings, 8' doors, and all the original trim work made my heart go pitter-patter. It was really a pretty place. Breakfast was a bit of a disappointment in the morning, sadly.

No, the Mansion Row Inn has nothing to do with copper. And the Abraham Lincoln room (Abe -> pennies -> copper) was booked. It just happened to be in the right vicinity.

I really like the Louisville temple. The layout isn't as confusing to me as Chicago. BUT! It's always freezing. This was our second time going there and the second time an older woman near me told me, "I always wear my long underwear and a sweater when I come here." I was debating whether or not to grab my cardigan or not, but that answered that. So, for future reference, dress warm when you're in the Louisville temple!

The last official stop was at Copper Cupcakes. It is in Norton Commons, this adorable little neighborhood. I was in love. I love mixed use neighborhoods. And it seemed like it really was a tight-knit community. We had lunch at the market just up the street from Copper Cupcakes and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. 

Chris said that it was a very climatic weekend. Copper Kettle was alright. The bed and breakfast was good, but lunch and cupcakes were awesome and such a good way to end it.

Despite Kanien's offers to keep Millie Saturday night and return her at church yesterday, after a stop at Trader Joe's we came home and resumed responsibilities as parents. Millie seemed so much bigger and chatty. I think spending lots of time with older kids will do that.

Yesterday at church a friend asked Chris if I did alright without Millie. Chris responded, "I think I had a harder time than Deidra did!" What can I say, I was too busy enjoying the surprise weekend to spend much time worrying. And I knew she was in good hands.

(As for the pennies and the Copper Dog Cafe? Pennies were a red heron. And the Copper Dog Cafe hadn't crossed Chris's radar. If it had, the weekend would have probably stayed closer to home. But it worked out that we headed south near the temple.)

This weekend reminded me so much why I love being married to Chris. He's great at planning surprises (and I'm really good at being unsuspecting). He makes things happen and he always has our marriage at the top of his priority list.

Seven years, no itch. I love my husband!

Blessings Apparent

Sometimes it takes a few hiccups in life to put things in perspective. And when things are in focus I realize this life I have is pretty good.

Late one night a few weeks ago Chris told me the light bulb in the fridge wasn't on. "Light bulbs burn out. We'll get a new one" I replied and we went to bed. The next morning the light was still off, and things were feeling a bit warmer than they should be in the fridge. Hmm. Dang.

An aside: I usually can and process my jam in jars because a) we don't have a ton of room in our freezer and b) I would be so sick if my berries and jam went to waste in a power outage. So of course we went berry picking a month ago and the strawberries were so good I couldn't stand to process them. So I made freezer jam. Yeah.

I was starting to get sick about losing everything in our fridge and freezer, so right after breakfast I start formulating plans to save our food and decide I better google if there are any ideas for quick fixes we might try to save ourselves from having to buy a new fridge.

1: Make sure the fridge is plugged in.  Since the plug is behind the fridge, there is no way it could have come unplugged.
2: Check the breaker. We'd already tried that one and it wasn't the problem.
3: If there is a GFCI, check it. Click. Light on. Fridge on. Compressor working.

And just like that, the fridge was saved. Saving us a chunk of change and food in the process.


Later that week we drove to Lake Michigan and had a great time. On the drive home we stopped for gas and the car was making a weird noise after that. I start assuming the worst. Chris and Nick got out and there was a wad of electrical tape in the wheel well. Pulled it out and things were smooth.

After we got home, shook the sand out and scrubbed the baby, I decided to make a quick run to Target. I wandered for too long and it was too late, but I got what I needed. I pulled into the driveway in third gear, not first or second. Nelly did some little hiccup, the battery & brake light came on, I coasted to park and turned her off. Yeah, so I still occasionally kill our car.

We head to church the next morning and the battery and brake lights are still on, even when the car is running and the brake is off. And we have no power steering. I remind Chris we only have to turn five times to make it to the church and to crank it hard. Then I notice the A/C isn't working. So we roll down the windows and start to worry a bit more. Chris says Nelly is driving funny. The check engine light comes on and I glance over and realize the thermometer is sky high hot. Uh oh. Say more prayers.

We see a friend's car in their garage and debate stopping. But decide to go the next mile to the church. And then Nelly starts losing power. We're both sick with worry and I'm dying with the thought that we just cooked our car. We make it into a Baptist church parking lot and I decide I'm walking back to the Jessica's house. I see her coming down the road and run as fast as I can in my heels to flag her down. Thankfully she sees me and stops to pick us up. We transfer a car seat and buckle up, making it to church just on time.

We hypothesize with Jessica's husband, Jonathan, about what could be wrong. I suspect maybe a belt and he thinks radiator. He knows way more than I do, so we go with his thought. After church Jessica brings sleeping Millie and me home while Chris and Jonathan go to assess the damage, both riding on his motorcycle. Cute.

As soon as they open the hood Jonathan spots a belt that has come off. They drive the car back to their house to see what they can do. After a quick look in the owners manual, getting the belt back on looks complicated. Then Jonathan tells Chris to wait a bit while he runs next door to his neighbor Chuck's house.

Chuck is home and tells them to bring the car over. They take it to his garage where he has a mechanic's lift. He hoists up the car, uses his pneumatic tools to take apart the car and his stocky strength to man-handle the belt back on. Good as new, minus the check engine light that needs re-set.

Really? That's it? Yeah, really.

Twice in one week we were incredibly blessed to come away so easily from potentially expensive situations. (I must admit I got excited at the thought of a new car. Until I realized what we could afford would probably be worse than our already paid off auto. Suddenly, not so exciting.) Often I focus on what I don't have or what's wrong instead of everything I do have and all the things that work so well. The balance will always tip heavily in favor of everything I don't have. But that's the wrong thing to measure. In the showdown between what I need and what I have, the abundant blessings win. Every time.

The experiences were a huge reminder to me from where our blessings come. What a generous Heavenly Father. We are so blessed.

Winning Streak

A few weeks ago I won $100 from the Crafting Chicks blog, sponsored by Serve. Winning $100 is awesome. I finally could feel guilt-free about buying the rain jacket I've been eying for the past year. With money left-over. I'm a big fan of bonus money.

I went to a birthday party last week, even after I knew there would be a Just Dance tournament. Somehow, the girl who can't really dance—that would be me—won the whole thing! I even brought home the bracket to show Chris because I didn't think he would believe me. It's never fun to feel a fool; doing well made the game a lot more fun.

Last weekend at a baby shower I won a nursery rhyme game with a perfect score. That's right, 100%. (Thanks to reading nursery rhymes to Millie I had recently learned the only one I hadn't known from my childhood.)

This morning Chris worked from home and while Millie was napping I ran some errands. I was talking to Chris when a local number popped up on my phone. I decided to answer it. When we had gone out for barbecue on Monday we had filled out comment cards with the chance to win a $50 gift certificate to the restaurant. In my comments I was sure to tell them we appreciated the 2 for 1 coupon in the college coupon book. That call was Jethro's calling to let me know I won! Bring on the barbecue.

 Please excuse me while I go find some more contests to enter.

Christmas Vacation, Part One

We were home in Idaho and Utah for nearly three weeks. For those of you trying to figure it out, that's just short of a really long time. A really long time to worry about your empty house, to not sleep in your own bed, to crib-hop, to wear the same clothes over and over, and to be with family. Luckily, it was a good visit, so time with family didn't seem like quite enough. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't worried about that beforehand, but all was well.

I absolutely love my mom's Christmas tree. It's huge and covered in lights. The thing glows. Sitting in front of the fireplace, playing Bejweled Blitz with the tree glowing. Or sitting on the couch waiting to steal the iPad from Mom or Chris to play Bejweled. Happy memories from this Christmas.

We went with the Hartwells to a live nativity in Albion. Oh, Albion. What they lacked in choral skills they sure made up in real, live camels (two).

Millie loved perching on Papa and crashing his naps (always ample opportunity).

We broke up our time in Idaho for a quick trip to Logan. Initially Chris was supposed to present some trainings there, but those fell through, so we used it as time to do some last minute Christmas shopping (including replacing Chris's snow boots he had melted on a camp-out the previous weekend) and to have dinner at the Bluebird with the Fullers!

Evan and Millie have a moment... of holding still.

Back to Declo for the main event!

Christmas Eve we made "gingerbread" houses. Well, everyone else did, but Chris and I combined forces to make a Temple Octagon. We thought we were immensely clever and creative (please note the Angel Moroni).

 

We feasted Christmas Eve.

And then went to bed, because we all know that the sooner you go to bed, the sooner Santa can come! (A famous saying from my childhood.)

Millie in her new pajamas that magically appeared on her during the night!

Helping Dad tear into his present.

After church and naps it was time for the Wilkins' family party. I don't have any pictures of this, but I can't express how much I love the Wilkins. I'm so glad we get to be a part of that family! I think one of my favorite memories from the whole three weeks happened at the party. My teen/tween cousins (+Kate) were all sitting around in a circle, one of them holding Millie. They were all goo-goo for her and had so much fun playing with her and entertaining her. Someone put some yarn on her head and they all had a good laugh at her cat impersonation. They played with her for a quite a while. Good kids, they are. And my aunts and uncles are just a fun bunch of people. It was the off-year for my family and Whit, so it wasn't quite the same. But getting to be there is just a small consolation prize for missing out on the awesome family reunions over Labor Day.

Then my sisters and their families (minus Ty) descended upon my parents house. There were gifts to be exchanged and lots of fun to be had.

Things basically turned into a three ring (six blanket?) circus of cousin love.

Complete with acrobats...

 

And monkeys.

Lots of crazy monkeys! My mom crocheted each grandkid a sock monkey hat (plus two more quickly made for sizing issues). Millie thinks the ears are perfect for grabbing on and yanking it right off her head!

And with hats to keep their heads warm, they were off on a cousins adventure in Island Park!

I Like Being Married to Chris

I like when Chris has breaks from school. It's nice to hang out with him. And hanging out with him is a good refresher course on why I love him.

◙ We went to Monster Golf on Saturday. With our baby. (Dear AmEx Small Business Saturday promo, I love you. But that's for another post.) Nothing spells family time like black lights, glowing skeletons on the wall and life-sized aliens and monsters. Chris gave me every gimme and chance to do well, and he still won. While wearing Millie in a front pack.

At one point he said, "I think Millie is going to have a seizure from the lights." She didn't. In fact, she loved it.

◙ Jon and Marcella like to use Invisible Kool-Aid and trick people who think they're drinking water. But yesterday, they came here for dinner and Chris started thinking. He decided to trick them and make flavor-less Kool-Aid (water + food coloring). Jon started to say, "Wait, this doesn't...   Oh." Then Marcella took a drink and said, "This Kool-Aid doesn't taste!" Chris thought he was so clever. He makes me laugh.

◙ Today we were unloading the dishwasher. There was a hair in the silverware Chris was putting away, so he handed me the hair. I asked, "How did my dingle hopper get in the dishwasher?!" Chris just stared at me. "Dingle hopper. You know, Little Mermaid? Dingle hopper— a fork?"

Chris's reply, "I'm the second of four boys. We didn't watch the Little Mermaid much. Plus, it came out when I was in college {sarcasm}. I thought you meant dingle berry. And that's gross."

Yes it is.

◙ Only three weeks until Christmas vacation. And yes, we're counting.

Crazy Roadtrip, Continued

After the luncheon we walked across the street to take in the view of the White House. My whole goal in seeing several of these sites is so that one day, when Millie wants to go there, I can show her the pictures and tell her she's already been. And that it took me until I was nineteen to go to these incredible places. Think she'll buy it?

We made it a quick stop because we had plans to meet up with Chris's cousin (on the other side of the family) to have dinner at Tortilla Coast. Tortilla Coast holds so many happy memories. Sadly, their all-you-can-eat-fajitas are no longer available (not that we were interested after the amazing spread we'd just eaten). That Saturday special, particularly its invitation to "Bring Mom!" fostered a lot of really good times during my intern days. As we were getting into the car to drive away I realized that I hadn't gotten a picture with Scott and Heather. Darn!

Back to Chelsey's house to snuggle with baby Archie, who is a month younger than Millie and about 1.5 times her size. More visiting and watching some of the BYU game.

The next morning we went to church at the Capitol Hill ward, Chris's old ward. It's changed a lot in the 3 years since we were last there, but there were still plenty of familiar faces.

After church we made a quick stroll through Eastern Market. Because we still had money on our SmartTrip cards I convinced Chris to let me ride the Metro. He wasn't thrilled with the idea since we had our car, but he's good to indulge me. Oh, how I wish blogs were big back in my intern days. The stories from the Metro alone could have filled one.

It ended up that he ditched us a few stops later to go back to get the car, and then we met up near the Capitol. We snapped a family photo (nothing nearly as good as our anniversary pictures taken at the same spot), but again, photographic proof Millie has been there.

The weather was warmer than we'd expected, so we were both pretty warm on our walk from Union Station.

We had plans to stop along the Mall and see the new MLK memorial (and whatever else I could sweet talk Chris to letting me visit), but a diaper blow out ended that plan.

Chelsey and Bryan fixed Chris a yummy birthday dinner, complete with red velvet cupcakes and ice cream. Back in the day, Chelsey was one of Chris's "office wives" (he had several of them), and dinner proved she's still a pretty good wife! Sadly, no pictures of them either.



We'd decided to go visit our friends Casey and Lindsay in Philadelphia, so we took off Sunday night after the cupcakes and ice cream. Millie hit her tenth state that night (Delaware holds the honor). We got in late, but it was so fun visiting with old friends (both themes of this trip) I could hardly make myself hush up and go to sleep. Casey and Lindsay were our upstairs neighbors in the house we lived in as newlyweds. Once we weren't neighbors and weren't battling over the washer and dryer, we became dear friends! :) I am so grateful for all the friends we've made since moving, but there is just something wonderful about that easy comfort of old friendships. Inside jokes, silly memories, shared acquaintances, spiritual growth-- those things make for rich histories. It's hard to believe that it has almost been six years since we met Casey and Lindsay. Funny to think that they were once our "new friends," too.

Casey is in dental school at Temple University. If only Temple had known what they were missing out on and accepted Chris, we could have been there at the same time with our friends! As much as I like Philly, visiting there made me realize that we're in a good spot here in Indiana and I don't think I'd trade it. It's nice to get that confirmation and lay to rest "what ifs."

Lindsay and Jack played tour guide for us. In his eight years of living in DC, Chris had never been to Philadelphia, so we had to take him and Millie to see the sites.

Family portrait at the Liberty Bell

Jack is just too cool.

Liberty Bell- Check!

Benjamin Franklin's grave. We threw on our pennies for good luck.

Lindsay & Jack

Independence Hall

I love Independence Hall. I remember going there six and a half years ago, right after I'd finished a class where we discussed it at length and watched a film about it. It was so incredible to see it, just like it looks in the movie! I love thinking of those hot days, with the windows boarded up while the founding fathers worked in secret to bring about the amazing documents we have today.

We went to Reading Terminal market to browse and take it in. You can bet that if I lived in Philly I'd spend a good amount of time there. I get kicks out of visiting grocery stores while out of town, so a busy market with so much to see was heaven!

Casey came home from school and we celebrated Chris's birthday with some cheese steaks, one with American, one provolone and one "whiz." Yum!

We took off after dinner to head back to Pittsburgh. Longest and most expensive toll road of my life! It was over $20 in tolls. Nelly also rolled over to 100k that night. Chris had kept me posted on the odometer status all trip. I was glad to roll it over so the updates could stop!

Kristin was up and expecting us in Pittsburgh. The next morning, after breakfast and our fill of peanut M&Ms, we were homeward bound.

Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio were such pretty states to drive through. The leaves were just starting to turn and we enjoyed the rolling hills.

From Indianapolis home I rode in the backseat with Millie. She was a champ the whole trip, but after so much time in the carseat, she had just about met her max. Luckily, her toes kept her entertained for a while. We hit horrible traffic about halfway home from Indy, and we all about lost it by then!

 

We unpacked, started some laundry and it was nearly bedtime. Chris went back to school the next day and had to hit the ground running. It was a great trip together. Seeing so many friends made it especially sweet.

Crazy Roadtrip

Chris's cousin got married in DC the second Saturday in October.

We decided to take a weekend, make a week out of it and go to see as many friends as we could possibly fit in. (This semester Chris's last class for the week ends at 8:00 Wednesday night, and Monday and Tuesday were fall break. We left as soon as class was over and didn't come back until we had to!)

We stayed the first night with Tameka's old roommate and her family in Pittsburgh. We left after Chris got done with class at 8:00 Wednesday night, and planned to just sneak in around 3:00 and hit the sack. Due to a little confusion on which day we were arriving, we made a scene calling the house phone and ringing the doorbell at 3:00 am. Pam ever so graciously set us up and took great care of us. Then I had a nice little chat with Kristin at 4:30 when she woke up and realized the confusion. No worries, we were tucked in safely in the basement.

We drove to DC Thursday, getting a warm welcome while sitting in traffic on the Beltway. We made it to Maren (my DC roommate), Joseph and Addie's house. It was good fun catching up, playing with Addie and being out of the car!

That night we met up with Chris's GW Troubadour friends. Troubs was such a huge part of his college experience. I felt like I knew most of them from all the stories I've heard. It was great to actually meet them! We met at TGIFridays, one of their big hang-outs back in the day. We were the first to arrive, so Chris left Millie and I in the foyer. Adam walked in. I said hi, he told me I had a cute baby, and then I told him Chris was in the bathroom. It was this funny little we knew who each other was, but we've never met and Chris wasn't there to make introduction. It didn't matter.

This reunion brought to you by rapid Facebook updates from several members while watching The Sing-Off. That got the ball rolling. Coincidentally, some other out-of-towners were also in town that night.

The next day was so fun for me. Maren and I went off thrifting while Chris stayed home with napping babes. It was fun to act like we were still young little interns, even if we're grown-up moms now. Back to their apartment, we made a visit to a park up the street. Millie got her first swing experience.

 

I'll forever be grateful for friends who suggested Maren and I be roommates when we left USU for DC. I learned so much from her friendship and example-- and still do!

That night we got to join the bride and groom and their families on a Potomac River dinner cruise. There were some tense 20 minutes in our car while it was in doubt whether we would make the ship. Chris does not handle being late very well, and when the stakes of being late mean you miss the whole thing, well, no efforts from his wife to lighten the mood do anything. Except for further frustrate him! :) Despite the weird construction near Rock Creek park, and thanks to Chris's street savvy DC driving, we made it before the ship set sail! (There was a willingness to pay whatever necessary at the closest parking garage, unbuckling Millie from her car-set as soon as we pulled off the street and a mad dash involved.)

I love sunsets, and sunsets on water are the best.

She had to keep her eyes open that wide. If she would have shut them, she would have fallen fast asleep since it was way past her bedtime.

It was so fun catching up with Ann, Paul and Chris's cousins. I love Aunt Ann's family. Plus, Chris was an integral part of retaining honor in a mad Trivial Pursuit game.

We've developed quite the knack for parking near black Bentleys. We can't help but think of our B when we do!

We changed houses and friends that night and stayed with one of Chris's dear friends from the Craig-days, Chelsey, her husband and baby Archie. Reminiscing about the old days with good friends is so enjoyable.

The next day was gorgeous. It was the perfect day for a fall wedding! I love temple sealings. The sealer at Eric and Emma's wedding made it a great moment of learning. It's always nice to be reminded of the covenants Chris and I have made.

That day was also Chris's birthday. We got up and hurried to the temple. After the sealing we were walking down to the distribution center to buy him new underwear. That's when I remembered it was his birthday (because he'd asked for the new underwear for his birthday). I said, "Oh! Happy birthday!"

His response made me laugh. "Yeah! It's my birthday! I would have been so mad at you if you had forgotten it was my birthday because then I wouldn't have remembered either. And I would have been so bugged if I forgot my birthday!"

Earlier in the trip when we were discussing all the friends we could possibly cram into our trip, we brought up the Banburys in Hershey. There just wasn't enough time for a visit though. So, imagine our surprise when we saw them outside the temple! More friends crammed in our week. I love that connections from Logan carry on. The 28th Ward was a great source of friendship.

We ran back to Chelsey's house to get Millie, then back to the district for the wedding luncheon. I think the luncheon at the Hay-Adams beats out my 20th birthday dinner on the roof of Hotel Washington as my favorite DC dining experience.

The view from the balcony is hard to beat.

I mean, really?

 

We were those ridiculous people who brought our baby to a fancy luncheon. The waitstaff was beyond gracious with her (and us). She did incredibly well, but required lots of us alternating on entertaining duty. At one point I went into another banquet room to nurse her. Best view while nursing, hands down. I found it funny that I had such a spectacular view out the window, but I still kept staring down at the sweet baby in my arms. She was such a champ on the trip. Missed naps, delayed naps, interrupted naps, irregular feedings, late bedtimes-- she handled them all so well. After I fed her I walked out on the balcony for a bit. With the bright sun in her eyes she couldn't help but close those eyes, and as soon as she did it was lights out.

I love the sweet look shared between Eric and Emma.

We were so glad we were able to be included in Eric and Emma's special day. It was a beautiful day and they are such an incredible couple. It was such a great excuse to get back to DC!