Falling for Fall

Today we went to Walmart. After tromping ALL. OVER. THE STORE.- I looked down and saw that Kemp only had one shoe on. So, we tromped back ALL. OVER. THE STORE. hoping to find it. No luck. Sure, he almost never keeps them on anyway (as demonstrated). Sure, he would probably grow out of them in a few weeks. But does that make me feel better? Not really.

On another note...

It is fall! When I was little I didn't like autumn. I thought it was depressing because everything seemed to be dying and it was cold and gloomy. Somehow I missed all of the beautiful colors. It is amazing! I love fall! The colors are bright and stunning. Some days are cold but others are absolutely perfect. I was going to steal some pictures off the web (because I haven't had my camera by my side to take pictures when we pass a picturesque spot) but started feeling guilty. So, I will try to take some and in the mean time, try not to feel a little envious as you picture in your head all of the beautiful fall colors surrounding me. :)

Big Number Three

Gracie is three! I can't believe that I am old enough to have a three-year-old child. When did that happen?
For Gracie's special day Sean got off at 1:00 and we did presents and cake. Then we packed and headed up to Midway, Utah for a retreat Sean's residency was hosting. Luckily Gracie LOVES to stay in hotels so we told her it was for her birthday (happy face). Too bad Dad had to go to meetings-but not that many (sad face). We slept at a quaint resort called the Homestead. They had a little playground, a scarecrow festival (a lawn that was full of creative and funny scarecrows from local businesses) and an indoor pool. Time was short so we couldn't go swimming (sad face) but Gracie still had fun. The weather was crisp and the leaves were changing. A perfect time to spend in the beautiful mountains. Gracie got tons of birthday wishes from Sean's coworkers and knew that this was her special day. All in all a fun birthday (great big happy face!).

Thanks to Aunt Sarah who came over in the morning and played with us! And helped make this fantastic cake.

Gracie is wearing one of her presents- a cinderella dress. She wore it most of the day. What a little princess!

Funny Video

This is us experimenting with our webcam. Ignore me in my robe. I stay in my PJs and robe til all hours of the morning when its cold. The video is kind of long, but if you hang on until the end Gracie starts to get funny with the different effects of the camera (she can see herself on the screen). The funnyness starts around minute 1:30 in the video. Maybe I'm just her mom, but it sure made me smile.

I think it might be too long and not play very well online. Please let me know if it is not working.

Its A Small World

Did you watch conference? I got some really great stuff out of the talks. I was suprised that I was still able to absorb a fair amount even with two kiddies tugging at me to get my attention. Gracie was so excited to see Pres. Monson on TV. Not to mention on the local channel through the attena/digital box and not cable. Living in Utah definitely has its perks.

Did you hear the talk by this man? Russell T. Osguthorpe is the Sunday school general president. He spoke about teaching with the spirit and teachers 'saving lives'. At the beginning of his talk he told how his son left to go to work at the hospital and said, "I've got to go save some lives." Well- his son is Sean's attending and on the faculty of the residency. (Just in case you were wondering Dr. Osguthorpe works in pediatric infectious diseases.) Sean actually called him during conference (not while his dad was speaking) because Sean had to work and they had a kid with an infectious disease that they needed to consult about. So my husbands-attending's-dad knows President Monson.

P.S. I really liked the talk.

Newest Member of Our Family

Gracie is sporting her Colts outfit. She picked it out herself and says that she is a "football dame" (football game player) when she is wearing it.

What is there to do for FHE that costs less than $20 and includes a long term commitment? Buy a bird! That is what we did last Monday. We already had a cage so we just had to go to the pet store and pick one out. It was a spur of the moment decision but Gracie was really excited about it. She named it Mary-Mary. We suggested other names but she would have none other.

My personal history with birds has been bitter-sweet. I got a parakeet when I was in 5th grade for my birthday. As far as birds go, it rocked. I trained it so that it would fly to me when I snapped my fingers. It would sit on my shoulder and was pretty affectionate, for a bird that is. I had it for about two years and then our cat killed it. The circle of life I guess.

Sean and I have had two birds. Neither with happy endings. The first, named Tink (Tinkerbell), was grouchy. We started letting her out of the cage but we found her dead one day on the bottom of the cage. She had a bad habit of eating carpet and pest control sprayed our house that day, so we think the two were a bad combination.

Our second bird was named Captain after Captain Edward Teach- the pirate also known as Blackbeard. We thought it would be neat to have a little bird sitting on our shoulder who was the Captain. We didn't do a great job of training it and one day while it flew out the door. Oops.

But we have big plans for this bird. I am going to train it well. I am also home all day so it gets a lot more attention. Gracie loves the bird and likes to tell her all the news. Kemp thinks it is neat, too. He points and grunts to let us know he wants to look at her up close for a while.

And so we welcome the newest member of our family. Mary-Mary (or Merry-Merry if you'd like).

I Looked Out the Window and What Did I See...

Thats right folks, SNOW!! I took these pictures from our front yard. Last night and today it kept raining on and off. We also got hail a few different times. The forcast says that we could even get some snow down here tomorrow. Crazy? YES! I checked the forcast in Tucson and they were supposed to be a whole 50 degrees warmer than us at around 95 degrees. So we enjoyed cuddling in blankets and drinking warm drinks. At the same time I am realizing how endless this winter might feel.

Have you ever read the book or seen the movie The Snowman? Its about a little boy who builds a snowman and it comes to life. Gracie keeps telling me, "It will snow at our house and I will make a snow man! He will smile and be so funny! And we will fly in the sky with him!" I hope she is just playing and realizes that the book is fictional or else she might be really disappointed.

G and K

Lately Gracie likes to say, "Let me holg (hold) Tempy." When I set him in her lap she adds, "Take a picture Mommy!" So I do! He will stay with her for about a minute before he gets bored. The pictures with him in the blue stripes were taken right after he woke up so he has a sleepy-eyed look.

Kemp+ELFudge Cookie=Delightful... Doesnt it make you want a cookie?

Is there anything more cute than a baby in overalls? I submit there is not!

Microwave Woes

Once upon a time...a queen and king lived in Arizona and owned a microwave. Then one day they were going to move to Utah to a beautiful palace that ALREADY HAD a microwave. Since it was much like their own, they weren't sure which one would be best. So, the queen and king had TWO MICROWAVES! The queen-being the wise woman that she was-knew it was no good to clutter their new palace with un-needed microwaves. Since the microwave that came with the palace defrosted MUCH FASTER than their old one, she sold the old microwave to a nice peasant for $20. Time went on. Not much time, only TWO WEEKS. All of the sudden when the queen tried to use their came-with-the-palace microwave...it died. The queen was very distraught that she had chosen to sell the wrong microwave. So that night she went to walmart and bought a new one for $50. UGH. The queen and king mourn that they had to spend $30 to reduce clutter in their new palace, but, as always, they lived happily ever after. The End.

(I thought both of Melanie and Cherie when I wrote this, I know you understand!)

Where Did Summer Go?

After living in Tucson for seven years, summers became a dreaded time. A time to lock yourself in your house and turn on the A/C as high as possible- or swamp cooler in our case. Three summers I spent outside in the blazing heat while I worked at the YMCA summer camp. Two more summers I spent in the 2nd or 3rd trimesters of pregnancy and tried to resist feeling claustrophobic in my own body as my tummy grew and the ability of our swamp cooler to fight the heat shrunk.

Then came this year. We left Tucson just as it started to get hot and arrived in Utah before summer had truly begun. And now my question is- did it ever come at all? Did I even suffer through one day over 101 degrees? I know I never burned myself on the seatbelt or steering wheel of our car. In fact getting into the car was uneventful when we didn't have to face a wall of stifling hot air. We were able to take walks on any evening we wanted without fear of being drenched with sweat. The mornings were comfortable and dew stayed on our lawn past ten in the morning. After cool nights, Gracie didn't dare leave the house before nine because it was "too cold."

I find myself still bracing myself as I a wait for summer to hit, and then look around and realize fall is coming. Our flowers our going dormant and trees are looking yellow as they prepare to turn all shades of orange and fall off. So was that all Utah could muster up when it comes to summer? I know I was raised in the Salt Lake valley, but when I was little, to me summer WAS hot. After Tucson, I don't know if summer will ever be hot again.

One Page at a Time

So tonight I scrapbooked for the first time since...well, since before we moved for sure. I am posting this not to display my fantastic scrapbooking skills (as you can see, I have very little). But because I think it means something. It means that we are finally settled into our house enough that I feel like I can do something other than cleaning or organizing or putting away, etc. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot I need to do, but there is enough done that I can focus on other things now.

As for this page, Gracie is about one and a half in the picture. If it looks familiar it is because it has been on my facebook page pretty much since I have used facebook. The page itself is simple, but like I said, I'm no scrapbooking genius. Besides, it takes less time that way. Actually, I am seriously considering switching to all digital books, but I have spent so much money on supplies, that I feel I have to use them for a while more before I abandon them.