18 months.

Aaron and I have both had a few tears shed over the fact that our Tillie is now 18 months. Let me correct myself... I had a full break down and Aaron got a little misty-eyed. There. I said it. :)

In our church, once they turn 18 months they are eligible to go to Nursery. It's a big rite of passage, and we're both a little sentimental about it.

So, the day after she turned 18 months, it was a Sunday. And, we gave it a go. Since I am the chorister for our primary, Aaron has had Matilda on his very own for the last while. They have been great buddies. Aaron knows exactly what he likes to pack in the diaper bag for her and they both love hanging out.

Back to Sunday---I was out of commission for the bulk of the time, but was able to sneak out for a minute to go check on her. Aaron was already there, and had been for the better part of an hour. They have little windows where you can peek in. So, as I looked in, I saw our little pink girl with a red-blotchy-tear-stained face in a little mini chair eating fishy crackers. Aaron told me that she had been signing that she wanted a drink, but they didn't know what she was doing. I think it took all that Aaron had to not swoop in there and rescue her.

Afterward, when I talked to her little teachers, they explained that she was having a hard time in the TRANSITION time. Once she got to the next thing, she'd get used to it and be okay.

It was a hard day for all of us. But, at the same time, it is a fun thing seeing this girl grow up. It's crazy, because we thought she maxed out in the FUN department long ago... but every day she is more entertaining and fun. Not to mention that we adore her more every day.

So, let's take a look back on her LAST 1/2 birthday. Shall we?











and here we are today:

nice matilda. NOT!

Pretty cute girl.
Happy 18 months, Tillie Cuckoo.
We love you. A lot.

p.s. no, I never let her wear necklaces for fear of choking or strangling, but I allowed her for this hour of life since I had a watchful eye on her. In case you were wondering...

happenings.

So, I'm curious to know if anyone else is REELING over that fact that October ends tomorrow? I have no idea where this past month went. Seriously.

As we went to Matilda's 18 month check up a few days ago, the doctor said, "Oh, I was going to tell you that we won't see you for another 6 months (when Matilda is 2), but actually, we'll be seeing a lot more of you really soon." Confused, I asked her, "Why?" Her response was, "Well, isn't this baby due in January?"

oh my. what?!

I may or may not have had a mini panic attack.

Anyway, we are torn between wanting January to come AsSoonAsPossible, and then at the same time are hoping that these next two months won't go by TOO fast. You ever have mixed feelings about life? You see, all our big life questions will be answered that month. We'll find out about school stuff and what our plans will be for the next year. How will we adjust with two kids? Will our baby be "healthy and normal"? ----all good things to know. Right? Right.

But, for the time, let's talk about things we DO know. Like, how funny Matilda is.

*She was sick with a pretty gross cough for about a week. Aaron had her car-seat brought in and she used it as her mini throne. Here is Princess Sicky. She loved watching Finding Nemo with her setup. Normally, she likes to have TWO sippy-cups of water, but for some reason, there is only one featured here.


*On another front, I re-organized my pantry. I'm kind of embarrassed to put the BEFORE picture, but because the AFTER product turned out so great, I feel like I definitely should put both up. I guess I really AM my mother's daughter! She has introduced plastic storage into my life, and I'll never be the same (sorry Jen, I know you are anti plastics, but I'm in love). Who knew re-organizing could make you feel SO happy day after day after day after day... Every time I open the door I'm in a good mood.

before:

after:

*With my good friend, Melissa, (great name, I know) being pregnant right now, it works out pretty slick that we can trade babysitting for our OB/gyn appointments. These two knuckleheads are pretty funny together. Even though Easton is two months younger, they've been pretty much twins from birth. See?


*I don't know if any of you have the "BOO" situation in your neighborhoods. Basically, you anonymously take a little ghost picture and instructions to two households with a Halloween treat. If you have been "BOO-ed" then you put the ghost in the window so people don't do you twice. It's cool. I was excited about it. Remember last year's disappointment? Yeah, not cool.

Anyway, I had our treats all prepared and wanted to take them after dark. But, by that time, Tillie was in bed and we couldn't do a Bonnie and Clyde situation and feel good about leaving the child unattended in her crib. Good parent decision.

So, Aaron graciously decided to be the runner. We were brainstorming about how he should do it---all by himself---with out getting caught.

He said, "Hold on, I have an idea." Next thing I knew, he had gone into the bedroom, turned his black shirt inside out (to blend into the dark of night) and then pulled out his roller blades. We both were laughing, because if you know Aaron and his roller skills, you'll know that he SHOULD have been a Classic Skating referee. He is way fast and smooth on his blades. No way did he get caught.

I wish I could have come along to record it all, but I can picture it all in my head. Here's the beginning visual for you. Talk about awesome to the 10th power.


*Another great story about Aaron and his goodness? Okay, I'll tell.
We've both been pretty sentimental about Tillie being 18 months. So, Aaron decided that he wanted to take her on her first Daddy/Daughter date. I had a Super Saturday craft event to attend (good times), and it was the perfect time for them to go. He called our two friends, Tim and Kip, and they, too, decided to gather their kiddos--ALL BY THEMSELVES---and take the kids to SeaWorld and McDonald's for Happy Meals.

Pretty sweet. It ended up being ON Tillie's actual 1/2 birthday, so that was cool. Mega props to Aaron. What fun dads. Here are some pictures he took.

Apparently Tillie kept doing the fishy sound (opening and closing your mouth) and it was a good day.

More on the 18 month weekend to come. But, here's her with her birthday crown that evening.

Good times.

p.s. get excited for the post about the prints I've been talking about. Officially printed and waiting to get photographed. I'm excited = you should be too.

we like friends.

Ahhh, what would life be like with out friends?

I remember when we first moved here, I was NOT a big fan. We didn't really know anyone and it seemed really lonely. Well, that all changed as soon as we made some friends. Isn't it amazing to think you could really live ANYwhere, as long as there were people you liked around?

Well, we have been really lucky to have a bunch of fun people to spend time with when we decide to venture out of our own four walls.

We must admit, we really do like hanging out with just us 3 here (it seems like by the time Aaron gets home, we relish all the time we can get with him). So, it doesn't really occur to us to invite people over or go hang out with other people, b/c we like each other THAT much.

But! When it does happen and we go out, we are always really glad that we went. We have lots of fun with OTHER people. Crazy concept, I know.

So, this fun little get-together was no exception. And, yes, Mandee, I know YOU are especially proud that I finally did this post. Apparently you've been waiting for some of these pictures? You were so subtle in YOUR post. :)

Aaron had the camera for most of the night, and felt like he should take a lot while I was doing my diva singing action. How lucky for everyone involved. Oh well, there are some good group shots in the mix. Enjoy.

I hate this nostril shot of me, but I like how Aaron is looking at me.
He is OBVIOUSLY so in love with me AND my singing talent. Can't you tell? Oh, yeah.

the gals.

the guys.

the infamous group shots.

I love that I snapped this next one without most of them knowing. hA! There are some nice poses that happened. I'm so glad I caught it.

the end.

september utah trip-2009

okay. here we go.

posting the other big Utah trip. This one wasn't 5 weeks long, it was only 2 weeks. :) But, the big reason I went this time around was because my parents HIRED me to be a babysitter, for the little baby we'll call Lizzy. Never mind that she is 13 and probably more responsible than I am, but I will say that she is VERY busy. And, being that I have a driver's license, I was able to help her a little bit in her life.

We got to hang out with my parents for the first few days, then they boarded the airplane for NYC for the beginning of their "Fall Foliage Tour" in New England. Pretty fun for them.

We managed to have some fun of our own. Here are some pictures to prove my point. Be so proud that I am FINALLY posting everything and getting up to speed. :) I know. Pat on my back.

**My dad thought it would be a good idea for us to go to the very first BYU football home game of the season. So, we dawned our BLUE and headed down. It was pretty fun---but the football players weren't, how we say, ballin' it up. They were stinkin' it up. So, we ended up leaving after the third quarter. We're what we like to call FAIR weather fans. :) No die-hards here.

nice belly, melissa. remember how my dad wanted to find me a BYU maternity shirt? no luck.
THANKFULLY! Can you imagine? Sick image.

ok, Becca stole my camera and thought she should take a MILLION pictures of this man. He looks an awful lot like our uncle fred. So, I thought I better put this on too. What do you think, Aunt Deann?

This was a quick shot right before my parents left to the airport! I realized I hadn't taken any photos with them and Tillie. So, we rushed and took this in the garage. Turned out pretty cute, especially for such a quicky.

**We had some fun hanging out with some friends while there. Although there is NEVER enough time to get too much quality time in, we did steal away a few times.

Here are some of cuties Avery, Max and Tillie on Jandee's porch swing. Amelia and Isaac were asleep.

Love these girls and their RANDOM projects. The latest was making dress forms. FORTUNATELY, I missed the previous Friday's beginning of the project, where they actually took the paper mache' and made their forms. hA! Sounds like a ton of fun. Apparently they kept their old t-shirts on and did the mache' on TOP. Way to keep it modest, girls! hA! Here they are making some adjustments where pieces had sunk in. Apparently the t-shirt underneath made things not as accurate. I'm sure they will be really fun in the end, but they looked a little crazy from where I stood!

It was hot so Tillie thought it would be fun to play in the water. I didn't want her to get sunburned,
so I left her onesie on. She and Avery had some fun.

Pretty fun stuff. I really like these crazies.

**We went up AF canyon with the Woods for a picnic. It was GORGEOUS with all the pretty fall colors!! We couldn't have asked for BETTER weather. It was a great time.




**After our trip up the canyon, I told my sisters they shouldn't miss out. But, it was late in the day, Tillie would need to go to sleep soon, so we opted on a neighborhood walk instead. Umm, yeah, it was THIS pretty in the neighborhood. Not too bad.









helloooo, amazing? wow.


**Another perk of Utah goodness is the great FRUIT that my in-laws are able to produce each year. We had an APPLE fest where Steph and her family came down from Magna, and Kirstin came over with her boys for the fun. We spent the bulk of the day canning Apple Sauce and drying apples (we took some dried apples home to Texas, and I'm sad to admit that we had eaten them within the week!!). It was a lot of fun, and now canning doesn't seem AS scary as it used to! It was definitely a fun day.

I asked Max to say "cheese." This was what I got.

I asked Tillie to say "cheese." This was what I got. Hmmm... maybe they are related after all? :)

Lydia is older than Max by 10 months (right?), and Max is 9 months older than Tillie. They'll all be good friends.

**We went to visit Jesse up in SLC at the pizza place he works at. Let's talk about delicious pizza AND how fun it was to see the big bro.

Tillie loved having root beer in her cup. Can you tell?

Tillie still isn't too warm with Jesse yet, but she is doing MUCH better. :) Here she is diving for Becca.

Jesse wins the longest hair in our family of mostly girls. How lucky! I keep telling him that I really want to do a french braid!! But, so far, he hasn't let me. "How rude!"--(like stephanie on Full House).
One day, he'll let me... It will be so fun.

just walkin' around the city of Salt Lake. Fun place.

don't mind my enormous shadow. did i mention that I love being big and pregnant?
big, bold, and beautiful, i'm sure.

That's a wrap. Utah in the fall is always a good decision. Light jacket. Fall colors. Good work.