Pumkin Festival Fun

Well, now that the primary carnival and program are done, I am finally stress free enough to take the time to blog again! Both the carnival and the program went really well, but we both knew Saturday would be one big stress fest regardless of my insane amount of preparation, so we decided to go to the pumpkin festival to get my mind off of the days later events. It worked! I had so much fun watching Morgan, I am so so SO glad we took the time to do it. First off, we were kind of bummed that it was 2 bucks a person to get in, and then on top of that everything cost money. BUT, I was very proud of JD because he let go of his incredible thriftiness to let us get a good pumpkin and take Morgan into the petting zoo. And oh yes, we had to get shaved ice, who can ever pass that stuff up? Morgan spotted me knocking on a pumpkin (don't really know why I did it in the first place) and she started systematically knocking on every pumkin in the whole stinkin patch. We then went to the petting zoo and that was so fulfilling to see Morgan and JD having such fun! It was 3 bucks a pop, so I stood on the sidelines snapping photos. On our way to the car, we stopped back by the pumpkin patch and got the biggest pumpkin I have ever been lucky enough to have, and Morgan got a little teensy one for free! (Free is always good!) All in all, it was one good way to distract this crazy stress faced mom!

First: The Pumpkin Patch

Knock Knock!

Hey, these things ROLL!!!

Then On To The Petting Zoo:

ooooh, a goat!

SO MANY GOATS

Just petting a pig

Which lucky bunny should I hold?
Hmmm, I choose you!

JD was making a duck noise, and Morgan just started mimicking him. So then he decided to just teach her how, it was so so very cute!

Then, pick a Pumpkin and back to the Car!

And here I thought I was just cleaning the Truck

Okay guys, I just had to share this story! Last Saturday I was going to be giving a few friends from our ward a ride to the Relief Society Broadcast so I went out to clean the truck. I took Morgan with me, because she just LOVES to pretend she is driving. She turns on the windshield wipers and the blinkers and thinks its about the coolest time ever. So, I am cleaning out the truck with her in the drivers seat, and I closed the door. BIG MISTAKE! She loves pushing buttons so much, and as soon as I closed that door I knew it was trouble. See, I was already in my church clothes for the broadcast, so I had no pockets, so I put the keys to the truck in the door panel. And Morgan pressed the lock key. So, here I was, outside the truck trying to convince her to press the unlock button, but she just kept locking it over and over again. Well, normally we would just get the extra key, right? Except when we went to Mexico, we hid it so nobody could break into our house and steal the truck. And guess what? It was a good hiding spot because neither of us could find it! Well, after calling the locksmith who gets kids out for free and him saying he couldn't be out here for another hour and a half, I decided to be proactive and call the fire department. Let me tell you, all the neighbors come out when you have a fire engine parked in front of your house!!!! Did you know the fire department doesn't have any special tools for getting into your car? They just want to take a screw driver and go at it! So, JD, being the loving truck owner that he is, said absolutely no way. Anyhow, we ended up finding the extra key after about 45 minutes, and Morgan was happy the whole time because she found a theater size box of candy in the center console! The keys are MOST DEFINATELY staying in my pocket or hand from now on!

Our Phase 10 Distraction

Normally our family goes to my parent's house for dinner on Sunday nights, but since my parents are currently in New Mexico being motorcycle mama and papa, JD and I spent all day yesterday at the house. It was kind of nice, for some reason on Sunday we were both much more willing to drop our own personal interests to spend some quality time with the family. We went on a nice LONG walk with Morgan, she has learned the "walk" word and demands we take action when she "requests" it. Anyhow, we ended up playing Phase 10 together and that is one game I have forgotten how much fun it is. Well, as anyone who has a kid can tell you, it is basically impossible to play a board game or card game without your little one insisting on participating. We got out all our expired credit cards and maxed out gift cards for her to have her own playing cards, and that worked for, oh, two minutes. So then I decided to get out some coloring stuff for her, because, this is her new love. I think they must have taught her in nursery to use the other side of the paper because she will spend a long time perfecting one side, then turn it over and draw about two scribbles on the back and scream, "Mowe!" Which is more, when you can't quite pronounce your r's. So, she got bored with the colored pencils, and I gave in and gave her some markers, which I also think she learned in nursery because I have never heard her say that word before and she definately has it down. And she knows blue too, but blue just means any marker other than yellow. Sorry, I could go on forever about her little quirks, but I will get to the point of the story now! JD was two phases ahead of me, and had about 80 points less, so I was really concentrating on getting that stupid seven cards of one color before he phased, which was a bad thing since I was no longer paying any attention to Morgan. Well, here is what happened in one hand of Phase 10:

As you can see, she is rather proud of herself. She kept saying, "Pretty, pretty"

This is a good picture just so you can see that she not only drew all over herself, she also ate the markers and drew on her head! The best part though, was this conversation between me and JD:

JD: Those markers are non toxic right?

Me: No, they are crayola and they kill children.

She also decided it was a good idea to color pretty much anything besides the paper. And yes, that is a colored cookie.

Pictures at Nanny's and Grandpa's

So JD and my Dad have been working a lot lately to try to expand my Dad's business so they can have more work. What does this mean for our family? Lots of things, hopefully it means JD will not be so worried about money soon, and hopefully it means we might be able to relax one day! But what does it mean right now? Lots more time at my parents house. So, this week I decided to take Morgan and go take some amateur photos, hoping that they would not turn out too amateur! I wanted to use this hat and a feather boa, but she kept throwing the boa off her lap as soon as it touched her and saying, "Ouchie!" Well, here's what I got:

Best Second Best Friend Ever

So I know this is kind of silly, but I just have to say that I am so glad I have Rochelle! Obviously JD is my first best friend (and it has to be said because sometimes people might wonder) but I just love Rochelle. We have been best friends since we were, what, four? I sucker punched her right in the chapel because she got the kindergarten teacher I wanted but didn't get. So many memories of us just being silly and loving it! We actually had our junior prom dinner at Sonic with a table cloth and flowers. She made a cricket jump on me once, and I am ashamed to say I stomped on her afterwards. We did crazy things like making a movie for a school project all about being stuck in a baby swing and tackling giant burritos. She helped me with the hardest times of my life and keeps helping me. I know I can tell her just about anything and not worry about it. She has seen my coolest eighties inspired outfits and still we are friends (which is saying a lot) and she has helped me break into my car countless times. We survived running with Coach Simon for long long runs together, and I am proud to say even now, four years after graduating high school (oh my gosh we are so old) we still keep in touch. Not just keep in touch, I talk to her nearly every day. I think I'd probably lose my mind if I didn't. Well, the point, is that I have always loved spending time with Rochelle, and now, with her having a baby any day now, I have realized that I really just love her. I am shockingly worried about her going into labor any minute now and I find myself wanting to include her in my prayers along with my husband and my daughter. We always used to joke about finding a way to get our cousins to get married or something so we could always, through a crazy family tree, have a way to find eachother in the eternities. We think we may have found this opportunity through Morgan and Rochelle's nephew, Trenton, but who knows? Basically, I am thankful for Rochelle and that I am lucky enough to have her at my text and call!

Spur of the Moment Vacation

Last Sunday (August 17th) at around eight o'clock JD's phone rang. Some of our friends, Jared and Melanie were calling to invite us to go to Mexico! JD and I were really excited, and then they said they wanted to leave Tuesday morning around five!!!! Tuesday? Around 5? Thats only a little more than 24 hours!!!! We discussed reasons not to go: No time, its a long drive, and of course, the dreaded money issue. But we wanted to go so bad! (Well I wanted to go so bad, and JD didn't want to dissapoint me- kudos to the husband!) So, after much deliberation, we decided to go! Monday was filled with frenzied laundry and panicked packing, but we made it into Jared's black Ford Tuesday Morning and everything went according to plan.............Until we got about halfway inbetween Phoenix and Yuma. We're just driving down the road when Melanie turns to Jared and says all this is about 1.5 seconds, "Jared, I didn't grab the keys! The keys to the beach house! I didn't get them! No, I'm not kidding!!!!! Did you grab them? Please tell me you grabbed them?!?!?!?!?!?" Jared didn't grab them. So we pull over, debate on whether we should just go home and after many MANY phone calls we had it all worked out. We called a locksmith to get into Melanie's car, to get the keys to the beach house out of the console. Then, Jared's angel of a sister-in-law took the keys into Jared's office to be overnight UPS-ed to a hotel we would be staying at in San Diego. It took some work, but I am SO glad we didn't have to turn around!

We got to our hotel in San Diego (by the way, thanks to Annette for finding us a good deal and doing all the internet leg work while we were stuck in the truck) and it was so funny because Morgan immediately goes over to the phone. She picked up a pencil and note pad, held the phone to her ear with her shoulder, and started playing secretary. I swear, the kid is a sponge. I promise you these pictures are not posed, she just started doing this all on her own.

After we hung out in the hotel for a bit, we decided to go down to this place called Seaport Village. It was free and looked entertaining, so it won 2 thumbs up. It was such a cute, quaint little area along the marina. All the buildings were the old craftsman style, there were entertainers doing their thing on the sidewalks, and seeing all the yachts and sail boats was way fun too.

Morgan LOVED the birds, whether it was a talking Macaw or just a plain old Seagull, she was off and running when she saw one. We posed by this cool Pirate guy, and were supposed to make pirate faces, but I think I'm the only one who actually did.

The keys came by 10:30 the next morning, so we all jumped back into the truck and crossed the border. I was surprised at how the Mexican Border Guard didn't even get down from his tall stool to check us out. He just said, "Passe" in a bored voice and waved us in. Mexico is so crazy. I just can't imagine living how some of those people do. Their homes are so small...so unfinished. Some of the homes looked like they were built more to house animals than people. It made me so grateful for what I have and for all the work JD does to give our family what he does. If you ever start to feel like you are getting the wrong end of the stick in this life, visit a border town. No joke.

We got to the beach house and it was.....not quite what I was expecting. It was free, so I can't complain, and we had a blast. BUT, the guy who owns it has Alzheimers, so I guess he stopped paying the maids, so there were spiders everywhere and two cockroaches in our bed. I felt like we were roughing it. Ha, I guess I am just a spoiled white girl. The other problem was somebody had stolen the pipe connecting the gas to the house because it was copper. They just kinked off the pipe where they cut it. Nice. So we had no gas: No warm showers, no oven, no stove. We definately had a mexican experience!

I became even more of a spoiled white girl the next day! We hung out on the beach all day. I got to lay out and relax and do all those things I always wished I could. JD and I played in the waves together, we boogie boarded and just goofed off. These dolphins came by within 50 feet of us and jumped through the waves! That night, we went to dinner at this little restaraunt called La Fonda. It was so nice! It was candlelit and we were serenaded and the best part? DANCING!!! JD even got up and danced with me and Morgan to that song," I can't help falling in love with you" It was just like all the movies. I absolutely LOVED it.

Even without the gas and with the bugs, we had so much fun I'd do it again in a second! We spent hours on the beach every day. JD and Jared boogie boarded and played in our kayak while Morgan and I usually played on the beach. She LOVED digging in the sand. Jared and JD dug out this cool hole in the sand to make a small kiddie pool for her.

Have I ever mentioned what a great Dad JD is? He played with Morgan so much. He played in the sand, in the house, in the water. They had so many good times together. I just loved watching them. So great. Good Dad Indeed.

We went to Ensenada for a day to do the market bartering thing. THAT was fun. I loved it. Even though we walked away with a hammock we have no place to hang, it was still way fun. We also got sunglasses for JD, a dress for Morgan, bracelets and a necklace for me, and a cool hat. Oh yeah, we got Morgan some marracas too.

It was all the most fun I've had in a long time. My Dad and Mom pitched in and gave us our Christmas gift early by paying for most of it. That was awesome because it actually allowed JD to enjoy himself and not think about how much money we were spending. We got back across the border with no problems, and nobody even tried to steal my blue eyed blonde haired babe. Going someplace fun within the next 48 hours? Let us know, we're up for it!!!!!

3 YEARS!!!!

It is just so crazy to me that JD and I have just celebrated our 3 year anniversary. It was actually kind of funny, because neither of us remembered it was our anniversary till almost 5 o clock in the evening! I guess being married hasn't really been that hard for us, so it doesn't seem like as big of an accomplishment to us as it does to some. I love JD and I am so glad to be married to him. I am just so happy, and I couldn't have asked for a better daughter to have come from our marriage. I seem to have a chance to laugh from my belly every day, she is just so funny. Its funny, people are always asking if I feel like I missed out on life since I got married at 19. Really, I think this way I just get to spend more of my life the way I want to! If I would have waited a few more years, that would be a few more years of my life I wouldn't have my wonderful family. Our little family is so blessed to be able to be so happy. Couldn't have asked for a more wonderful 3 years! (except I know the next 3 will only get better!)