absence excuse

i am submitting this entry to excuse myself from my 6 week hiatus of blogging. here are my excuses:

1. laziness
2. i took no pictures in the month of november and like to post pictures with my blogs
3. practicing piano for ward choir as kicked my butt
4. i am the new young women's president and have been planning stuff for that- that's a pretty good and legitimate excuse

other than that, i've pretty much got nothing.

but i'm back- whether you've missed me or not.

state finalists!

in case you didn't hear, the seneca high school band (which matt is the band director of) made it to state finals for the first time since 1996. i am so proud of all the kids, matt, and everyone else who worked to make it happen, and so happy to say i had a small part too! it was a successful season all around. they finished first in their class at their first competition, 3rd at the 2nd, 2nd at the 3rd. here are some pictures from their first competition.

to qualify for state, you have to finish in the top half at upperstate. there were 19 bands participating, so they took the top ten and seneca managed to solidly grab spot number ten and a superior rating! upperstate was down the road at byrnes high school so my mom, dad, grandmother, evan and i all made the trip to see the show. here is evan being cute, and yes he is wearing a monkey leash. don't judge- they're awesome.

so the final competition was state finals down in batesburg-leesville. it's about a 3 hour trip from here so my mom agreed to keep evan and i traveled with the band for the day. we had a great day! the band did well, their show wasn't the best it could have been, but out of 17 bands they finished number 15 and were only .3 points behind 13! (which made the lackluster performance that much more depressing) but the kids were thrilled and so were we! next year, we plan to be there again and do even better! after the awards, the guard attacked matt with 5 bottles of glitter spray and used them up on him! he was literally COVERED in glitter. it was awesome. but i just couldn't get a good picture of it. so here is a picture of us with his drum major at state finals. we will miss this girl a lot next year!

also on this day were kentucky state finals. and i have to give a shout out to my alma mater, lafayette, who won their 17th state title since 1990! so proud of to be an alum of that band and to have worked for them for 3 years. and thanks to the lafayette band, i'm married to matt! wish i could have been at wku that day too cheering them on.

their opening set. i miss this band!

decorating pumpkins

like i said in my previous post, evan and i picked out pumpkins for the whole family at the pumpkin patch. we brought them home to decorate and had a lot of fun doing it. we had gotten a booklet of mickey mouse halloween stickers and so that's what evan decorated his pumpkin with. he picked out each sticker he wanted on there and i helped him put them on. he loves mickey mouse. he can say "mi", which is mickey and "goo" for goofy. but his very favorite sticker, and seemingly favorite thing about halloween, is the ghost sticker! he will say "boo" a thousand times in a row when he sees his pumpkin and that sticker. and he generally just walks around saying boo and "scaring" everyone.

the next night, matt and i painted our pumpkins. we have never been very good at carving, so we decided to just forgo the mess this year and pull out the paints. i was specifically asked not post who painted which one, so i will leave it for you to decide. let's just say one of us looked up a picture and copied it, the other was more... creative. and what we resulted was a bleeding sumo wrestler? not qite sure, but we had a lot of laughs over it.

we only put our 2 pumpkins outside because evan likes to carry his around the house or take it with him in the car so we decided to leave his inside

so if you come to our house, here is how you will be greeted today! happy halloween everyone!

at the pumpkin patch

last monday, my mom and i took evan to a pumpkin patch. one of the elementary schools here has a super cute and really well run little pumpkin patch in their front yard and we headed over there for evan's first chance to pick out his very own pumpkin.

first, we let him play in the big pumpkins. it was just a sea of pumpkins out there!

he really was super interested in all of the pumpkins.

but then mimi brought him a perfect little pumpkin she found for him, and he fell in love! he carried that thing around the rest of the day. (and still carries it around)

so we picked out a couple more pumpkins for matt and me, paid the nice man (who gave evan some jack-o-lantern stickers) and then saw there was a cute little place to take pictures. so we made evan "pose" for us, and this is the best one we got.

not very cooperative, but still super duper cute!

friday nights in the fall

so as many of you may have seen in my various facebook statuses on any given friday night, or as many of you may know because you too are married to a band director, i spend most of my friday nights home alone.

and what you may or may not know is i am totally okay with that!

i wouldn't like it if i had to stay the night by myself because at the age of 24 i am still scared to do that, but i like it because matt ends up home... eventually :)

so what do i do with these friday nights? if there is a home game, my parents, evan and i all go to the game to work the band store (which we began this year and the deal with matt was "that sounds like a great idea, now if you want me to do that you are going to have to work it"). we leave after the band performs at half time, which gets me home around 9. and then i do what i do on the nights without home games- i watch tlc of course! it's friday brideday!

this means i have seen all of this season of "say yes to the dress-atlanta" at least once, but i usually end up seeing each episode 2 or 3 times. i saw all of secret princes- which i totally did not mean to get into but ended up really liking. and i have loved all of this! the thing is, i don't watch a lot of tv. and matt and i have pretty different tastes in tv so i like that i can watch these shows in peace.

tonight is my last friday night where i get to enjoy the peace. i am very excited to have matt home again. and i'm glad the seneca band and tlc have both had great seasons to entertain me on my friday evenings while he was away!

the best of times

i have a lot of good days- i always have! i have an awesome life and am blessed to have awesome people all around me. but some days are just the best. so wonderful that you honestly wish they would never end. i once said to katie that i understand why kids cry when they leave disney world- it's because the day was so perfect they are honestly sad it's over. i've had days so wonderful that when they do end, i often find myself in a sobbing fit within the next day or 2 for some inexplicable reason. so, since i recently added one of those to my list, i decided to share 3 of those most treasured memories with you all. they are in no particular order and are certainly not the only days like that- just some i have been reflecting on lately.

shana and lukes wedding- which happened to be this past weekend and i will certainly blog more about this when i have some pictures to share. i'm going to be totally honest- i wasn't as excited as i normally am in preparation for this. i think because it was the longest i have ever left evan and i was a bit sad about that. but when i got there, it TOTALLY changed. it was a PERFECT weekend. okay... it had it's share of drama, but what wedding doesn't?  it's just part of it. no, in all seriousness it was a weekend all about love- the love of this new couple, the love of my sisters (from my sorority, shana is a sorority sister and 2 of the other bridesmaids were also), the love of best friends. i cried through the entire (quite literally) wedding and then a while on the way home because i was just overcome with the joy of the weekend. i can't express how thankful i am to have been a part of such an awesome occasion.

lauren and tyler's wedding. that was undoubtedly one of the best days of my life. lauren is my soul sister (one of my 3 best friends from high school) and the whole celebration- starting weeks before with showers and the bachelorette party- through the day of was absolutely perfect. when i look back on the pictures from that wedding, i am overcome with love for lauren, meredith, allison, and everyone else involved in that day. i have the best friends in the world and am so blessed to have them still so much a part of my life- for more than 13 years now!! (ladies... we are getting old :)

boa atlanta senior year. this may seem like an odd one. and maybe some of you don't even know what b.o.a. is. let's just say it's one giant marching band competition. being a member of the lafayette band was probably the single greatest experience of my life. i know that may sound ridiculous to some of you, but it has single handedly shaped most of my life. i cannot think back to my days as member without tears i miss it so much still- now 7 years later! but that competition weekend was just perfect. we won our class, came in second overall, and i just remember a feeling of accomplishment. it was my last competition as a member of the band and it just felt like i had given everything i could to that organization. i remember just celebrating with everyone- people who i would have NEVER associated with had it not been for band but who i had grown to truly cherish over the 4 years. i remember crying with my best friends that it was over and that it happened. i just remember that day being nothing but happy and joyful.

so maybe these seem random to you. maybe you expected to read about my wedding or evan's birth- of course those are on the list! but these days are ranked right up there with those. and tis the season for me to be thinking of those events specifically- weddings have been in the front of my mind lately and when shana's wedding wasn't- marching band was. i just wanted to share a little bit of my best of times with you in hopes that it may remind you of some of those days in your own life.

no... unless it's colt

since my last post about evan's vocabulary- it has grown. he can now say:

moo (very short)
oo (the sound a gorilla makes)
pa pa (poppie)
wa wa (water)
colt (our friend/adopted family member colt campbell)

and.....

NO! or no no! or no no no or another combination.

right now, it's hilarious. and we are living it up. we ask him everything we can think to ask him and the response is always a resounding "no"- head/body shake and all

well, before church yesterday, he was laying on our bed while we were putting his shoes on him, and matt decided to ask him who his favorite was. the conversation went a little like this:

matt: is mommy your favorite?
evan: no
matt: is daddy your favorite?
evan: no
matt: is mimi your favorite?
evan: no
matt: is ak your favorite?
evan: no

and so and and so on with practically every member of the family. so i said to matt "watch this" and i had this conversation with him:

me: evan, is colt your favorite?
evan: colt, colt, colt

then we get to church. colt shows up at the door. he points and points and says "colt"

we are waiting for sunday school to start, matt and colt are standing outside of the door and he is pointing to colt and repeatedly saying "colt"

so today, at my yw presidency meeting, i decided to see if he would perform for everyone. here is how that conversation went:

me: is mommy your favorite?
evan: no
me: is daddy your favorite?
evan: colt, colt

he didn't even wait for me to get to colt- he just went there on his own! so colt now has a fan club. with at least one member in it. although he's only 13 months, he seems pretty committed.

review: the hunger games trilogy

i told you all i have been reading all along, they have just been series so i've been waiting to post my reviews until i finish the entire series.

well the series i just finished (on friday actually) was the hunger games. hmmm... where to begin.

i guess i should begin with the truth: i did not like them. actually, when i finished the last book i thought to myself "did i really just dedicate so many hours of my life to these books?" i really thought they were horrible. not horribly written but the content was truly horrible- horrible idea, horrible ending. the word have more frequently used is terrible. but depressing, sad, bizarre... they all work too.

in case you haven't read them let me tell you what they're about in a few sentences. there is an all-powerful government that forces 24 kids to fight to death with only one victor every year to remind the "districts" how powerful they are. the main character wins when she is one of the kids sent to the games and she then in turn starts a rebellion. the rebels win, the central government falls, and she basically turns into a lunatic. end of 3 books in 3 sentences.

here is why i didn't like it:

1. i do not like death. i really do not like murder. and this book is full of both.
2. i hated the ending between her and gale.
3. i hated the ending between her a peta (who wanted to see them end up together? not me.)
4. i hated the ending with her sister.
5. i hated how she ended up being crazy.
6. i hated that she went to the games twice (seriously?)
7. i wasn't crazy with katniss after the first book. she just became so self-interested (in my opinion, and i know... the hunger games would change a person a lot)

basically, i can't think of all the other reasons, but i just didn't enjoy them. i liked the first one okay. the second one i was not happy. the third, i was miserable. so would i recommend you read them if you haven't already- absolutely not. but if you want to, you are welcome to borrow any of mine. unless i can sell them first... any takers?

vocabulary of a 13 month old

tuesday, evan turned 13 months! i don't have any more shirts to photo him in, which is kind of sad, but this month has been the month for talking! he has learned so many new words. here is a list of the words he can say and their translation (i will do my best not to miss any...)

1. mama
2. dada
3. ollie (my parents' dog)
4. ooooo t (oh toodles- from mickey mouse clubhouse)
5. woo woo (woof woof, when he sees a dog or is asked "what's a dog say?")
6. cuk cuk (cluck cluck, when he sees a chicken/rooster or is asked "what's a chicken/rooster say?")
7. gub gub (glub glub, for fish)
8. ca ca ca (car- he always says it multiple times in a row)
9. ba (ball)
10. voo voo (vroom- anytime he is playing with a car)
11. cok (clock- he loves them)
12. go cocks (i swear... he can say it. but when you put a camera up to that boy he immediately stops anything cute he has been doing)
13. go ga (go gators- my dad is an alum)
14. roo t (roll tide- my mom's family are fans)

i am certain i'm missing some. the much longer list is the list of things he can identify. i couldn't even begin to tell you everything on that list but here's an idea:

-all of the family around here and ak
-the names of all the people in pictures on my parents' fridge
-each of the dogs
-tons of toys including: ball, truck, car, lion, penguin, flapper, dog, sock monkey, bear, book, turtle
-most of the furniture
-if you say the word "out" you better plan on taking him with you or he will be one unhappy fella

he's just smart! and i know i'm biased but i'm also blown away with how smart someone can be after only being on this earth for 13 months. if you don't know any babies- you should get to know some because they really will blow your mind. and if you don't know evan- major shame on you.

labor day

i love labor day- it's right when you feel like you need one last taste of summer and always seems to be a good day. today was no exception. matt was off school and katie made the trip up here for the long weekend so we made sure to enjoy their day off. we all slept in (even evan slept until 8) and then lounged for a little while before we headed over to my parents to drop evan off and pick colt up and the 4 of us headed to the lake.

it was my first time going to lake keowee marina- it was really nice and so close to town, i just had no idea. we decided to go kayaking. katie went last weekend in the canals down in hilton head and had a great time and wanted to go again with all of us in the lake. so we rented 2 double kayaks and headed out. we had a really good time but let's just say, katie and colt were much better than matt and me. i'm not sure it was just us or if it was possibly the kayak but, we had a hard time going straight. we kayaked to a little island and walked around the whole island and skipped rocks- that was really fun. then we headed back to have lunch at the marina.

now this is when things got interesting. we were enjoying our delicious appetizer of homemade blue cheese chips when all of the sudden we see a lady changing her at least 2 year old son's poopy diaper on a table behind us!!! what in the world?! everyone was talking about it, including the employees but it's like i heard one of the waiters say, what in the world do you say to her about that? it was so bizarre. i understand that the restaurant is outside and maybe their wasn't a changing table in the bathroom but goodness, walk back to car or change him on the bathroom floor- just don't use a restaurant table when there are a bunch of other people around too! some people...

after our delicious lunch we had to have some fro-yo so we headed into clemson and enjoyed some 3 spoons. after katie left matt, evan, and i all took and nap and then had breakfast for dinner, watched an episode of mickey mouse clubhouse, and played around a lot.  it was just a really enjoyable day and i am thankful that we got one more of those in before the marching band season takes over all of our lives!

my Heavenly Father loves me

as i was swinging evan yesterday outside i was thinking about how beautiful my home and my life is. how beautiful the world around me is. it was early in the morning and everything was still and quiet. it was a good time to reflect on just how blessed i am. through this reflection, one song would not leave my mind, my Heavenly Father loves me, which has always been one my favorite primary hymns. probably because it is the simplicity of the blessings we are given daily which astounds me most. the very fact that we are blessed to open our eyes each morning and partake in this great, albeit trying, mortal existence. seeing nature can so easily bring tears to my eyes. i always think of my many solo drives to ky through the appalachian mountains and the awe i felt when i saw the beauty of the forests, the changing leaves, and the mountains. i love driving back and forth from clemson simply because i get to drive over the water, and since i have lived in SC i have fallen in love with the sight of water. the flowers in my walkway have really gotten out of control, but i cannot bring myself to trim them back, i just love flowers too much! i am thankful for all of the blessings this beautiful world has to offer and am humbled that our Heavenly Father would think to provide us with these things to enjoy.

mormon's in america

last night you may or may not have watched nbc's rock center which dedicated their entire hour to a special titled "mormons in america". since i am a mormon in america, naturally i tuned in to see how they did. overall, i would give them an A. they presented accurate information in a generally positive light, which can sometimes be a difficult thing for nbc to achieve... of course there were a few things i wish had been different, like the amount of air time abby huntsman, an "ex" mormon (as she put it), was given. but overall, it's certainly worth a watch.

so now i would like to share a few specific thoughts on the show. first of all, i'm glad they did include abby huntsman in it, not her specifically but an "ex" mormon (i've never really heard it referred to that way until last night, hence the ""). i'm glad they included successful members, typical members, non-typical members (like the biracial couple) and even someone who has struggled but returned. i, shockingly, enjoyed the yale professor's comments and i wish they had shown him more. mainly i'm glad they showed as we see ourselves- happy, service oriented, and striving to live the closest to Christ as we can.

i loved the first segment with the jet blue founder. he was such a positive example of how the church can and does shape lives. i loved the segment on the church welfare program and even i learned a little something from that. (i always knew the church owned farms and such but i guess i never really knew what they actually them). i loved that they pronounced moroni correctly! i loved that they talked about the success of many members of the church. i loved that they beautifully explained the benefits of serving a mission. and they were right about children saving from when they are young- we put $25 a month into a saving account for evan's mission.

here are some things i didn't love so much: i didn't love abby huntsman saying that she hopes someday the church will allow more people into the temple. clearly she has no understanding of the sacredness of the temple and why you must be a member to enter. i do not wish to be privy to the more private parts of any other group that i do not subscribe to and i would hope people could have the same respect for our temples. i did not love the active member saying she had had one coke in her life like it was a bad thing. there is NO church doctrine about caffeine. we are told to stay away from anything addictive or harmful, and some people have independently interpreted that as caffeine. i have a coke zero nearly every single day and i am a worthy member of the church- no harm there. i was confused about the member gay man marching for gay marriage. and i was very, very saddened by the story of the last man, who is gay and has so clearly struggled with the decision of how to live his life. i feel so sad for anyone who has to make a choice regarding a serious temptation in their life and i cannot imagine the pain associated with any decision made. i said a special prayer for him last night, that he may find peace in his life.

it was only an hour long, so obviously they didn't cover everything. but i think they did a more than fair job of showing what they could, all sides included, in that hour. if you want to know more, all i ask is that you go to the source. you may visit www.mormon.org for direct answers to questions or you may visit www.lds.org for more independent study. and you are always welcome to view my mormon.org page (see the link on the right side of my blog).

i hope through all of this attention in the media, that people may learn to accept mormon's for who we are- members of a church who believe in Christ and try very literally to emulate Him in our words and deeds. by no means do i ask for everyone to accept what we believe as their own (not that i would mind that... :) but i do ask that you accept that it is what i hold to be the nearest, dearest, and the most absolutely true part of my life.

so tired

so evan has had 2 nights in a row of bad sleep. and i'm exhausted from it. yesterday, i woke up SO tired- you know those mornings when you wake up and you can't even open your eyes, that kind of morning. then we were home all day, just the 2 of us, for the first time in months and that wore me out. then i had young women's and we cleaned the highway and that wore me out. then to cap all of that evan didn't fall asleep until 1:30AM!!! and then woke up less than 6 hours later. so needless to say, i'm beyond pooped today.

the point of this post is not to gain sympathy. frankly many of you are probably reading this and saying... so why are you sleepy exactly? the point of this post is to say HOW DO MOMS DO IT??!! i know moms who have kids who never really sleep through the night. my sister, for example, did not sleep through the night until first grade. i am barely functioning after 2 days of this nonsense and i only have 1 kid to top it all off. and i don't work. i REALLY don't know how a working mom does it.

my hat goes off to all those awesome moms who not only live and function well off no sleep, but most of them manage to remain beautiful through it all too. i admire you. i want to be like you but only in theory, not in such a real way that i have to experience your pain in order to get there. for now, i will continue to hope for my wonderful sleeping baby boy to come back to me and i will pray that your children grace you with a full nights sleep too.

little monster party

since evan is down for a really good nap, i'm taking advantage of the down time and finally blogging about his first birthday party. it's so worth blogging about too- we had a great time with lots of family and friends.

now since his birthday fell on a saturday you may be wondering why we had it a week later. well basically the timing just worked out better for family who was traveling in so they could see matt's end of camp performance on friday and go to evan's party on saturday. and i'm glad we got to celebrate his actual day just family and with something smaller.

but the party was fabulous! i couldn't have done it all without lots of help from my family, especially my mom and katie. and my parents bought all the food... which was a huge help too! so i decided on the theme a long time ago and have been buying and preparing for a while. we had a lot of people there- roughly 40 people counting kiddos. thankfully my parents have an awesome basement which ended up being the perfect place to host all the fun. i will tell the rest in pictures but let me start by saying, i did a terrible job at taking pictures. i did not get great pictures of the decorations, i did not get pictures of evan with anyone, and the pictures i took just aren't anything awesome. oh well, such is life. i hope you can see all the love and fun through these less-than-awesome pictures anyway.

 a bit of the food table. i turned $1 easels from michael's into cute little monsters that told what some of the food is.

 the cakes!! cakes by shirley here in seneca made them and not only were they super cute, but they were super duper delicious! (fresh strawberry filling with cream cheese icing)

a little bit more of the food table. i took the pictures too early though cause half of the table is empty! 

 a banner with his monthly pictures

 the doors even joined in on the party!

his little throne.

 most of the little friends who joined us

 monster bowling- the kids had a good time with this

 pin the eye on the monster- all the kids loved this silly game!

even evan had to get in on that one

evan loved smashing the cake- katie did most of the eating of it (she doesn't like strawberries...) he would not wear the hat but we at least snapped a few pictures with it- it's just so cute!

i really did not expect him to get so many presents- but he loved it and we are thankful to have such kind people around us!

so blessed and thankful to be a mommy to this perfect little one year old. love you tons evan!

evan's first birthday

evan's first birthday was august 4. we didn't have his party until a week later, but that doesn't mean we didn't celebrate the day of! we started the day at home, just us and katie, and took his monthly pictures- the last ones! then we had a nice lunch as home before heading to greenville to take evan to chuck e. cheese's for the first time on his first birthday! i spent my first birthday at chuck e. cheese so naturally, he had to spend his there too. well, to sum up the whole experience- he LOVED it! he loved the rides, the games, the show- all of it.

 loving the jungle gym in the toddler zone

 he had lots of phone calls to make

 he loved all the little rides

 and of course, he always loves a slide

 evan and chuck

even us big kids had a good time!

after we spent about 2 hours there, we all went to dinner at on the border. he ate a yummy dinner of corn dogs and veggies and then they sang to him and brought him a dessert, which is kindly shared with the rest of us :) we didn't want to fill him up quite yet with sugar because we had a cake waiting for him at home. he got to see tortillas being made and chew on some crayons- it was a great place to have his birthday dinner!

such a happy family!

after we finished up in greenville, we drove back to my parents house for presents and cake. we thought since he would be getting presents at his party the next week, maybe we should go ahead and do all of ours to not overwhelm him with too much new stuff. plus, we were ready to give him what we all had bought him! so we sang, helped him blow out his candle, and went on the the present opening. well, he loved opening presents at christmas and he loved it on his birthday. but what he really loved were the cards my parents and grandparents got him. 

evan LOVES ballons

his cake with one "candle"

his favorite thing of the night- the dragon card

we ended the festivities with cake and ice cream. evan thought this was his smash cake, cause that's all he did was take a handful, squeeze it, then either throw it on the ground for the puppies, throw it on my mom, or try and feed someone else. what a silly boy!

i think evan had a great first birthday! i know i thoroughly enjoyed celebrating it. it was a day filled with family and fun. it was so good, i'm sure now he has super high expectations for his second birthday- and he should! he is a great little boy and deserves a day all about him. don't worry evan- we won't disappoint next year and we are already looking forward to it!

evan- 12 months

my baby is a toddler! how can this be?? his birthday was about a week and a half ago but my goodness, this past month has been beyond crazy! it all started with family visiting, followed by youth conference, followed by more family, followed by 2 1/2 weeks of band camp, intermixed with more family visiting, and evan's birthday/party- finally getting to blog is awesome. matt is back at work and evan and i are just hanging out watching pbs- the way life should be at 9 in the morning!

so about my new toddler. he is wonderful, as you already know but allow me to update you on his latest stats:

he weighs 24lbs 3.5oz, which means he is slowing down because he is now only in the 70%
he is 31 inches long, again only in the 70%
his head is still in the 90-95%- what can i say, he's got a dunnam head like his mommy
he also has really big feet. i already knew this because he is wearing a 5 in shoes, but the doctor confirmed it.

he has a few of obsessions: first and foremost, his mimi. if my mom is around, i might as well not exist- he only wants her! she says it's cause she is the biggest monkey for him and does pretty much whatever he wants, which is probably true. plus they just love each other tons! his second is a book katie made him for christmas. we read it at least 600 times a day. third he LOVES to go outside with my mom to her backyard and scoop poop. i know it sounds crazy, but he points to the door saying "oo" "oo" (out) and then points to the stairs grunting, then points to the shovel grunting, and then laughs and smiles every time she scoops something (he sits on her shoulders). we did get rid of one obsession- the pacifier. he did really well with that considering how much he loved it and i am really glad to see it gone.

he also now hates a few things namely the bath and any food that is even a little bit warm. he also hates baby food but the good news is that he loves pretty much all regular food so he is really easy to feed. although he is not crazy about this switch to milk, but neither matt or i like milk so that's not terribly shocking.

he has gotten so smart! he knows a lot of words, even though his speaking vocabulary is fairly small. he has a word book (that he is also pretty obsessed with) and you can ask him to find a lot of things and he will point to them. in the book katie made him, he can point to a lot of his family members if you ask him. he knows what he wants and he is not afraid to ask for it. he will point you in the direction of what he wants until he gets it.

other things he loves: going outside, books, playing with trucks, playing with balls, yogurt, ice water, mickey mouse, balloons, iPhones, remotes, lions, elephants.

i love evan so much. i cannot imagine my life without him. he brings me the greatest joy i have ever known. i am so blessed to have watched him grow into this curious and bright little toddler this past year and cannot wait to see what year 2 brings!

the best one i could get this month...

3rd anniversary

last wednesday, on july 18, matt and i celebrated our 3rd anniversary. we had a great day together to celebrate! my mom kept evan (i LOVE her being her for a million reasons, and that one is definitely toward the top of the list) and we headed off to greenville for the afternoon/evening. we started at the mall to get my gift. matt and i have been broke our entire marriage so in year one we decided to start a tradition- we can spend $1 for each month we've been married. so this year we got to spend $36 each! i got matt a really nice shirt from banana republic (on sale of course!) and tron (he's been begging for it). he wanted to get me belts, since the only one i own for daily wear is from high school, but that required shopping together. we had a great time and lots of success- i ended up with 3 great belts! after shopping, we went and saw madagascar 3. the madagascar movies are some of matt's favorite movies and we thoroughly enjoyed the 3rd. it was a little out there, but funny and great! we ended the evening at what is probably our favorite restaurant- the melting pot. we ate every. last. bite. and had not a single regret about it.

although 3 years may not seem like a lot, here is the short list of what those 3 years have meant for us:
-2 degrees from USC
-sealed in the orlando temple
-2 high school band director jobs
-3 moves
-3 wards
-2 new cars
-2 puppies
-1 amazing baby
-1 bought home

in a nutshell- a lot! but i wouldn't want to have experience it with anyone else. i'm so thankful for matt and our marriage and our little family- it's all of my dreams come true!

independence day

evan's 11 month birthday was on the 4th of july. my mom kept telling everyone that the whole country was celebrating that, which only confirmed to people how insane she is. :)

we had a great couple of days celebrating the 4th. on the 3rd, we went and saw the clemson fireworks. we joined with some friends from church and sat on a beach on campus at the lake and watched their show. it was really good and supposedly it is always on the 3rd which is awesome because that means 2 nights of fireworks for us.

for lunch on the 4th we went to a church pool party. it was really evan's first time swimming in a pool and of course, he loved it. we all loved it too since it's the first (and probably only) time we made it in the pool this summer (we go to the lake often, though). we enjoyed excellent company and food, which always makes for a great day!

we ended the actual 4th by going to see the seneca fireworks. after a minor setback from some rude ladies who claimed to be saving the last parking spot and refused to move their lawn chairs for our car full of people, we created our own spot to enjoy the show. it was even better than clemson's! (naturally) we got there early enough to have some down time so we spent a lot of time making really hideous faces and photographing ourselves. i will spare you these photos on here but if you wish to see them, just check out my july 2012 album on facebook.

probably the best part about this particular fourth, aside from it being evan's first, was being with my family. we spent the day with my grandparents, parents, and katie. it's so awesome to have everyone so close now and i'm so glad katie gets to come often and has been able to spend most of her summer here (major perk of being a teacher).

i am so thankful to be an American. i am thankful for the freedoms we have and eternally indebted to those who have fought and paid the price for those freedoms. God Bless the USA!!

evan- 11 months

so yes, this one is 11 days overdue!! but july has been so busy and so awesome, i just haven't made the time for blogging. but i'm back now, and asking for forgiveness from my few readers.

my "baby" is 11 months old! hardly a baby anymore. i cannot believe my next monthly post for him, he will be one! they say the first year flies by and in my opinion, that's putting it lightly. it's amazing how smart he is now. he prefers to feed himself but will still let us feed him some baby food (which is good since i still have a lot that needs to go!). he still loves books, and now he really loves picture books that he can point to and you tell him the word. he says a few things (that we can understand, anyone else probably would not). he says "wa" for water (he loves to drink water from his baby camelback) he says "ugh" for more or again. he says "ollie", which is my parents' dog's name. if he is looking at a picture of our family he can identify both mommy and daddy. he can also identify my cousins tyler and nora, because their pictures are on mine and my mom's fridge. he still loves lions! he is drawn to them first in any picture or in any book. if you ask him "are you funny?" he smiles and says "ha!" he laughs when other people laugh. when he passes any kind of gas, we tell him he's rude and he says "rrr" and laughs- every time. if the puppies are licking him or doing anything he doesn't like, he shews them away with his hand, which is awesome. he is not confident enough to stand or walk on his own, but i know he could. he is so strong and walks around holding things like its nothing and can go up stairs so fast, he just has to muster up the courage to let go! he HATES the bath all of the sudden, which is not fun for anyone in the house. but he is still just happy happy. he has developed so much awesome personality, we love him so much and he is undoubtedly the greatest joy ever to enter our lives.

had to share this extra gem of a photo this month too: