My Mommy is the best!

I am super thankful for my dear sweet Mom. Especially right now. We just returned her to Dad and Angie after 2 weeks of having her here with us. Two weeks of her babying me, washing our clothes, cooking our meals, doing our dishes, cleaning our house, tending psyhco Sophie and little Lulu, and staying up for late night feedings with me. Thank you for your never-ending love and kindness and for coming out here to get us on our feet, Mom. We couldn't have done it without you. And a big thanks to Dad and Angie for giving her up to us. We miss you! Love you!

Lucy Belle

Sorry, not much time for blogging right now. But I keep getting threats of bodily harm if I don't post some pictures of the baby. So here she is. Ta-da, Miss Lucy.

Happy Halloweening

We are confined to our house due to the local flu epidemic. We are going to avoid this flu! So we are having to make due with trick or treating from room to room and our own little Halloween party. Poor Sophie will wonder what the heck is going on next year when we finally take her out trick or treating for the first time. And maybe then I'll be able to dress my little girl in a non male Halloween costume. Daddy loves to pick out and surprise us each year with what Sophie will be. Last year she was a frog, but Nana did save us with an awesome flower costume. I'm hoping to be able to post one more time before our new arrival comes but if not then I'll be back around Thanksgiving.

How do you do it?

Maybe I'm just in panic mode right now. That's what I hoping anyway. I've been all teary-eyed looking at pictures, wondering how I'm ever going to find time to savor and capture the small precious moments with more than one child. Most of the time I am just amazed that we have any memories other than me freaking out. I am by no means complaining, we are so excited for this new little one. I'm just overwhelmed by the thought of what so many of you are able to do on a everyday basis. How do you find the energy, creativity and mental processes to do it?

Sweet Home Tennessee?

Since moving here I am reminded, almost daily of the movies Steel Magnolias and Sweet Home Alabama. I've yet to find anything in those movies that are not pretty much true to life here in the South. And every once in a while I find myself in a scene from one of those movies. Our friends invited us to a civil war reenactment this past weekend and we thought it sounded fun. Colin had to write an exam, so Sophie and I headed out into the middle of nowhere Kentucky to watch the great show of history. Wow! I have to say that it is definitely seems to be a different world down here sometimes. It was a great cultural experience for us. Sophie was not a big fan of the cannons however so we had to cut the trip short. But I got a few pictures in before the screaming and gnashing of teeth began. Loved the hoop dresses! You can buy them just for the event. Thought of you Aunt Lisa when I saw them.

The clock is ticking. . .

For some reason this week it finally occured to me that I might eventually have this baby. And now I am in a bit of a panic. I have WAY to much to get done before that day comes so we have kicked it into high gear on the project list. Colin and I have spent most of the week outside de-white trashing our poor yard. Seriously, it was pretty embarrassing. Every time we came home I would just hang my head in shame. But in our defense since we moved here up until the past few days it has been unbearable outside, so our yard had the better of 3 months to become a jungle. I literally had weeds as tall as me in my front flower bed. I know, I am a disgrace to my parents, in-laws, grandmothers and aunties. But we have now redeemed ourselves. Just check out how non-white trash we appear to be now. Impressive, huh. But now I have another project which would be a quick one if I had the ability to make a simple decision on a stupid paint color. But I can't so I am asking for your help. Our shutters are currently a lovely orangy red and I'm not a big fan. Problem is the roof is red and the foundation brick is also a orangy red. Any suggestions on a new shade for my shutters? I believe they were originally green but I'd like to avoid a year long Christmas color scheme. Colin and I found this gunmetal color but I'm still unsure about it. What do you think?

I promised pictures of our home improvements to a few people. But since I've been completely neglecting the inside of my house in order to fix up the outside, and I assure you that you don't want to see the mounds of toys, dishes and laundry scattered every where, I'll show you the lovely little play area Colin made for Sophie. She absolutely loves it! And now I get to vacuum the sand up from my floors every day. Small price to pay for her complete happiness I suppose.

What's been up with us

So just to clarify, I did not give birth to the baby boy pictured below. My little sis Jo had the pleasure of that 20 hour ordeal but I do claim him as my own and I am his favorite auntie!

Well life wastes no time in making you insanely busy once you become a for real adult (vs. a student adult). Colin has been called as the Young Mens 1st counselor in our ward and I was called as the Young Womens 1st counselor. Any help that can be offered on how to do this job would be greatly appreciated. I think I'm in way over my head. We have also been asked to host Family Home Evenings for the single college students since there is no singles ward, in fact we are the only ward for almost 100 miles.

We are hopefully nearing the birth of our own little bundle of joy, which after 3 ultrasounds, dear Uncle Rick was able to determine that it is indeed another girl. Surprise, I know. But I am thrilled, and so is Colin and we don't have to buy anything this time around, Wahoo! So we now anticipate the arrival of Lulu (Lucy) to our family.

Sophie is now talking non stop and most of the time I can nearly understand what she is jabbering about. She is growing to fast and I can't believe she'll be 2 in a few months. She and I took a trip to Utah for a few weeks. I was under some strange delusion that I could travel on a plane myself with a 2 year old and a infant across the country to Utah in January. Colin finally brought me back to reality and we decided that it would probably be better to take our visit before the baby came. So off we went for 2 weeks of fun at grandma & grandpa's, lots of playtime with Maddox and JoJo, birthday party with cousins, hanging out with Miranda and "Byce", thick cookie dough shakes at Leo's, Rhino rides with Angie, nearly every evening spent running through the sprinklers and some rest for mommy. It was pretty rough being away from Colin for that long though. We came back to find Sophie's room completely repainted, new hardware on the house, a mini park for Sophie in the back yard, my kitchen cabinets painted and a very tired daddy. Bless his heart, he is such a sweet husband!

I have found a kindred spirit. I think our unknown purpose in moving here was to find her and move her and her family back to Utah with us (he he he). She and her husband have been such great friends and a huge support to us being that we have no family here. Get ready to add another to our cooking parties, Miranda.

It is still really hot and humid and a new strange plague of bug befalls my front porch each day. I have never been attacked by so much nature by just opening my car door. I get dive bombed by giant flyish bee creatures, the frogs chase me and the spiders as big as your palm just lie in wait to eat me. I think they have decided to all hate me. They don't seem to bother Colin or Soph, so they must know of my mutual hatred towards them. I am very much looking forward to the fall, the changing leaves, lower temperatures, and with any luck a few less bugs. And lets not forget that on November 20th the movie "NEW MOON" will be opening in theaters. I am considering buying out all 4 seats in our local theater so that I can see it all by myself. I'm afraid I am alone in my love for the Twilight series out here. So as you cram into the theaters for the midnight showings in Utah think of me having to wait until the next day to see it by myself. But I'll go, don't you worry about that. I'm not above going to a movie by myself, 2 days after giving birth. Somethings in life are just that important.

A new addition

Well since JoAnna refuses to become part of the blogging communityand Serina has been sucked into the blackhole that is facebook and may never resurface, I suppose it is up to me to show off the handsome little addition to our family. Presenting Maddox.

What life is like at Grandma & Grandpa's house

That pretty much sums it up.

Missing my kiddies

So Sophie's new thing is to look at "pitchures" on my computer, cause ya know that's what you do with computers. That and talk to Pawpaw and Nana. I'm afraid the child thinks that Colin's parents live in our computer. Anyway, we were flipping through pictures and came across some that I took of my nieces and nephew right before we left Utah. It sent a little twinge of pain through my heart so I just want them to know that Aunt Mamie loves and misses them like crazy. And when I come out there to visit they are in for a major spoiling so prepare yourself, Serina. And to my brother-in-law, Justy, I truly hope you'll forgive me for the way we dressed your only boy for that picture.

A wonderful week with family

We were able to spend 4 entire days in New Orleans last week and had a fabulous time! It was so nice to be with family again. I've been having withdrawls. We had great food, a wonderful baby shower for my dear sister-in-law Megan (who is due the same day as me, by the way), pampering at the nail salon, got to meet sweet, little cousin Remy, and Sophie got to spend an afternoon with daddy and PawPaw at the City Park amusement park. Not to mention the car load of gifts we recieved. (Thank you all !!!) I've finally talked Sophie into getting out of her new wagon for a few minutes during the day. She just loads it up in the morning with toys and climbs on in. I know I've posted about this before but I LOVE to visit New Orleans. It's so nice to just sit and enjoy the beauty with our family and there is so much to do and see there that after every trip I still have a list of things that we didn't get around to. No matter, we'll be back. We did make it up to the lake with Sophie this time. We attempted to feed the birds but everytime we gave her bread to throw to them she just ate it. I guess she has mean parents that don't feed her. "Sanechoo Nana and Paw Paw" for the great weekend!

Happy Anniversary

We both agree that it feels more like 10 years rather than just 4 but in a good way. I can't imagine my life without my sweet husband. He is my best friend, my mentor, my handyman and comedian. (Yes honey, I do think you are funny.) I love you Colin and look forward to the rest of Eternity at your side. Happy Anniversary!

Cabin fever

I'll gladly admit that 85 degrees is not that hot. But combined with the 90% humidity is about enough to kill you. Needless to say we are currently indoor people. But poor Sophie is dying to get outside to play. So Colin and I braved the heat, pulled out the kiddie pool, stocked up on lots of junk food and let her have a day in the sun. We stayed shaded by our beach umbrella which sadly did very little to cool us but Sophie had a grand time. Now every morning she brings me her sunscreen and says "pool". I guess we'll have to make it a weekly event now.

New phone #

So Colin talked me into switching over to AT&T so we now have new phone #'s. I've tried to email everyone who's address I have to give you the new #. If I missed you, I don't have your email address so please leave it for me in the comments and I'll send you my number. Thanks!

Yeah that's right, it's our fault

So we are completely official. We have Tennessee license plates, Tennessee drivers licenses, own a house in Tennessee and have been through a Tennessee tornado. Yup, that's right, last night it was a bit scary around these parts. We started with just a gust of wind, the like of which I have never witnessed. And I'm from Millard County, Utah where all it does it blow like the end of the world, so that's saying something. The gust was so strong that it shattered the tree across the street from our house and knocked power out for half the town. So being the non-prepared retards that we are, we headed off to Walmart to stock up on batteries, candles and a lantern. We ended up having to go one town over because Walmart was also without power. And it just so happened that as we were purchasing said items that we ran into our Bishop who said that he had lived here 20 years and they just don't have problems with tornadoes this far north. So, mind at ease. We get home and the power is back on so we put Sophie down and settle in for some DVR Office episodes. Then about 10:00 p.m. an alarm starts blaring outside. And being uninformed folks we consulted the all knowing Internet to tell us why in the world there would be such a thing occurring in our small town. And the all knowing Internet said a tornado touched down about 9 miles southwest of our town and was headed in our direction and to "run and hide". So we grabbed Sophie out of her bed and hunkered down in our closet to wait out the storm. Obviously we survived the chaos and the only damage we sustained was the loss of the screen from the garage that was literally sucked out of the window frame and the poor tree across the street.

So I am afraid that I might have to confess that we are the bearers of bad, no, catastrophic weather and natural disasters. Yes, I believe it to be true. The last Christmas that we spent in New Orleans, it snowed. Yeah, it hadn't snowed there in 50 YEARS people. And then we were there for our wedding reception, 5 days later, Hurricane Katrina. And now this? Tell me we aren't jinxed. We are afeared to visit Utah because we might bring the massive earthquake they've all been waiting for the past 20 years. Forget global warming, apparently it's a visit from the Keys that you should all be worried about.

Wahoo!

Look at me, who would have EVER thought that I could plant something and it would grow. I know that this is a pretty pathetic little herb planting, but hey, it's alive. And that is honestly more that I expected. We have a little screened in "breezeway" between the house and the garage where I can have my little plants without being chewed alive by the bugs and it keeps Sophie somewhat contained with I putter around. We totally love it!

"Gardening By The Yard"

So our flower beds are what you would call a BIT overgrown with pretty much everything. They were a big mess when we got here and now. . . well they are just a different kind of mess. Being that we are wussy Utahans that are not accustom to any humidity whatsoever, we find it challenging to work outside during the day. But it rained last night and was overcast this morning so we thought we'd try to get a little yard work done and let Sophie play outside. She decided that mom and dad didn't know what they were doing so she'd better take over. I tried to keep her somewhat clean but gave up finally.

We made it!

Well, somehow we pulled it off and are now somewhat set up here in the great state of Tennessee. A HUGE thank you to my incredible parents, sis Angie, and my dear Uncle Mat for volunteering to drive our worldly belongings out here for us while we flew, unpacking our U-haul disassembling and then reassembling our fridge to get it through the front door at midnight, installing my washer & dryer, cleaning my nasty kitchen and bathrooms and ripping out the ugly shower doors. Another HUGE thank you to Colin's wonderful parents for all of the project help, watching Sophie, the home furnishings and tools and the priceless advice. We are eternally grateful to you all.

It has been and still is very overwhelming to realize how much work it is to take care of a house and yard after being in a 2 bedroom apartment for 4 years. We have 2 acres of land to go along with the house and lets just say we have our work cut out for us. Right now we look like the white trash on our street. But we are a work in progress. There is what looks like a giant mole hill that runs from the street through the front and side yard into the back from our new sewer hookup. Just ignore the overgrowth of weeds, they are currently winning the war but I'm planning a hostile takeover this week with my new gardening tools compliments of my dear in-laws. But notice the ferns on my front porch. I've wanted to have ferns all my life and now my dreams have come true. I just hope they can survive me and my black thumb.

Sophie seems to be adjusting well to her new home. She LOVES the yard. In the evenings, after it has cooled down, we just turn her loose and she runs, falls down and rolls around in the grass. She'll do it for hours if we let her. She's just happy as a pig in the mud. Colin and I are having a more difficult time adjusting to life in the country. We were a might bit spoiled in Utah County having every store we could possibly need or want within 15 minutes. Now we have a even more poorly stocked Walmart and . . . that's about it. But we are learning to plan better when we make our trips to the big city. I'm sorry I know this is long but I just wanted to give a little update and let everyone that we are doing well.

Again to the Zoo

We felt bad when Sophie had to resort to playing with empty shoe boxes and tissue paper since we've packed away most of her treasures and toys, so we decided to take one last trip to the zoo. To bad everyone else in Utah had the same thought that day. But it was fun despite the crowds.

An update

I realize that I haven't posted for a while. I have a good excuse, although I don't really understand it. Every time I think about my computer I feel the need to throw up. It is very strange I know, but I will try to power through today.

Colin and I just got back from Tennessee a week ago. We went out to find a house and check out the area. We found a cute 3 bedroom 2 bath house with a wrap around porch on 2 acres. And now I can finally have one on those old-fashion screen doors that I've wanted so bad ever since the first time I saw the movie OKLAHOMA when I was . . . well I don't remember how old I was but I've wanted one for a long, long time. All it took to finally make that dream come true was to triple our dept and move cross country. It's amazing what I would do for a simple screen door isn't it.

Sophie got to spend some good quality time with her dear Aunt Senie and Grandma & Grandpa Lyman while we were gone. She's been having some withdrawal from cousins to play with and was a little confused about who her mommy was for a few days after we got back. I cannot tell Serina how grateful I am to her and Justin for keeping her for us!

And now we are tearing our apartment apart, packing and cleaning. Learning more everyday about what it means to be an adult. Doing adult things, paying adult bills, being an adult finally. I think that we have been at BYU for so long with school and work that I was beginning to think that there wasn't much of a difference in life as a student and life as an adult. Well, the difference is $$$. It takes A LOT more of it to be an adult I now realize.