Happy Halloween!

I made Shae put his loofah costume on one more time today so that I could get some pictures without all his layers of clothes on underneath (the high was 77 for today, much warmer than Saturday).

This is how he felt about that:

And of course he made getting a good picture of him almost impossible. He would have much rather been doing this:

Or this:

That's our Shae. Our crazy little puffy blue loofah. 

Happy First Halloween Shaester!

Fall Oh Fall

Fall food is my weakness. 

I was really believing in that whole "nine months on nine months off" thing that everyone told me about baby weight. We're almost to nine months and I'm getting really close to my pre-pregnancy weight but I think I might just have to put a hold on it for a few months because fall food is seriously my downfall. How bout nine months on eleven months off? That would put us right after Christmas. Yes, that's perfect. Except knowing me I'll probably gain a good ten to fifteen pounds on holiday food which might make things a little more difficult...

So you see where I'm going with this. FALL. FOOD. It's amazing. Really I'm going to try not to add any pounds but let's be honest, who ever tries  to add on pounds? And sometimes, when there is good food involved (like chilis and soups and pumpkin and apple everything), you just have to sacrifice a little. Food is one of my favorite temporal blessings and sometimes it just needs to be enjoyed.

Last night we had a super fun get together with some friends that was the epitome of fall. Cheddar broccoli soup, rolls, squash/sweet potato side dish, apple crisp, plum pie, apple cider. MMMmmmmmmmm. And on top of that, pumpkin carving. Doesn't get more fallish than that.

Now on to some overly yellowy-orangey pictures (my camera apparently couldn't handle the yellow walls, yellow curtains and orange pumpkins all over the room).

This little girl has become my new best friend. She was my pumpkin helper and also makes me want a little girl so bad! She's a doll.

I carved our last name into my pumpkin but made the S way to small and all the other letters way to big so really all you see across it is: ELF. 

Our wonderful host family! We sure do love these guys!

Loofah Baby

After picking out our pumpkins on Saturday morning we made our way to Darin's work where they were having a homecoming barbecue. We learned from last week that we don't need to be on time to these barbecues. We arrived an hour late and the burgers were hot off the grill. Perfect timing. We couldn't believe the traffic and groups of people that we saw around campus. Apparently the homecoming football game is a pretty big deal around here. I didn't even realize there were that many people in all of Williamsburg.  It made us laugh because in Provo EVERY football game has mad ridiculous traffic, but we have never seen it like this around here for any of the other football games.

After the barbecue we quickly threw some costumes together and went down to our branches Halloween party. The original plan was for us to all be loofahs. A loofah family, if you will. You know, what that you might find in the shower of a three-person family. However, after pinning three yards of netting into Shae's onsie I decided that I was just too lazy (and cheap) to turn all three of us into loofahs.

So we took the cheapo route and turned Darin into a box of Irish Spring soap (he was pretty adamant about it being Irish Spring. And I...I wore a towel. Yeah, kind of lame, but it was easy and went with the shower theme. A few of the kids at the party looked at me and then whispered, "why is she wearing a towel?" and another one said, "What ARE you? A towel?" 

Yeah well, I'm proud of my little loofa invention so that's all that really matters in the end. (Even though Shae HATED every minute of having that thing shoved over his head. Poor babies. They go through a lot on Halloween don't they).

Pumpkin Pickin'

This was the first year that we didn't just go to a grocery store to pick out pumpkins. I hope that we never do that again (go to the grocery store to get pumpkins that is). It was such a fun family outing to get out and explore some of the country side of Williamsburg. We picked our pumpkins at Bush Neck Farm which is right by the beautiful Chickahominy river.

It has finally  started to feel like fall out here which made our pumpkin picking all the more perfect.

And that was that. We found two big pumpkins for us and two little baby pumpkins for Shae. I'm all about holiday traditions and am so excited that we have this little boy to enjoy the holidays with this year. It's fun to think that next year he'll be able to pick out his very own pumpkin!

Wedding Dress

I let one of the Young Women in the Williamsburg ward borrow my dress for YW in Excellence this week. She interviewed me about my wedding, why I wanted a temple marriage and about some details from that day and then she shared some of those things during the activity. 

My dress is 3rd from the left.

It was fun to pull my dress out and see her in it. While at the activity I reflected back on our wedding day: The not sleeping the night before because I was so anxious and instead texting Darin while talking to my best girls all night who I was rooming with at the hotel. The arriving at the temple, meeting Darin in the parking lot and knowing that it would be the last time that I met up with him as his fiance. The sitting in the empty celestial room, just me and Darin, about to be sealed. The sealing. The family and friends that surrounded us. The Darin staring at me grinning over the alter. The me trying not to be emotional but not being able to hold back a few tears of joy there in the sealing room. The hot hot hot sun melting us while taking pictures. The quick run to McDonalds to grab a hamburger after the temple because we were STARVING. The driving away as Mr. and Mrs. Self. The air conditioning being broken at the reception. The food being forgotten. The toasts. The first dance. The friends that I hadn't seen in so long. It was a crazy day, but a beautiful, special day that I will never forget. It's one of my favorite days to remember. 

Nap Time

After putting Shae in the crib a few times and then taking him out because he clearly wasn't ready for his nap yet, I finally decided that he was taking an afternoon nap. Now. Sure enough, I put him in his crib and he flips right over under the blanket, pushes himself into a sitting position and pulls himself up in the crib before I'd even left the room. I decided that I was done trying to lay him back down and that if he wasn't going to take a nap, he could at least have some "quiet time" in the crib so that I could have some mommy time.

About ten minutes later I went up to check on him and this is what I found: 

Looks like he finally realized just how tired he was and went to sleep without me having to come in a lay him back down. 

There's just something about a sleeping baby. I particularly love this sleeping baby :). 

From Mama

Shae has my feet. Poor lil guy. Of all the things that he could have inherited from me, it had to be my feet. People have kindly told me that my feet are shaped like empanadas. I've also been asked how my flip-flops stay on in between such short, chubby toes. It's true. I have weird feet and hideous toes. My toes are short and fat and my feet are wide and callused (that last part might be my own doing). Shae has little baby empanada feet. Nice and wide with short toes. On top of that, Shae has THE ugliest toe nails that I have ever seen. They are tiny little rectangles that curl out at the edges. I'm sorry son. I truly am.

We've always been under the impression that Shae inherited Darin's straight hair but lately we have been thinking otherwise. There has been a little curl forming on his right side that makes me wonder if he might actually have inherited my curly-baby genes.

This is me at about 8 months as well. Before curls:

This is my first birthday with some curlies coming in:

This is proof that those curlies turned into adorable ringlets:

And this, this is Shae and his one little curl. 

I guess only time will tell.

Cross "Run a 5k" Off My Bucket List

We ran our first EVER 5k on Saturday morning, and guess what? I didn't hate it! I actually loved it! I'm not a runner. Never have been. I've always enjoyed sports, but you see, I like to play sports where there is little to no running involved (softball and volleyball). I remember in high school always wondering why someone would choose  to participate in track & field. "Why would someone do that to themselves," I thought. Softball was fun  for me, could someone truly have fun  doing something as miserable as running?

I wouldn't say that I all of a sudden love running, but I've definitely enjoyed it more over the last few years than I have during any other part of my life. I used to love going to the gym and doing work out videos in high school and my early college years, and although I still enjoy those things, I kinda sorta think I maybe like running just a bit more (crazy!). There's just something about the mental push it takes to do it. That really is my biggest obstacle with running: The mental game. It's so easy to just stop (trust me, I would know), but it feels oooohhh so good when you don't stop, when you can push through and keep going. Well, it feels good once your done at least....

Before the run

We felt a little fat and slow out of place with all the super in shape, skinny minny, spandex/leopard print bra wearing runners around us (you know, the ones who ran the 5k twice without breathing while we were panting and cramping at the finish line). Luckily, there were quite a few other not-crazy-runners around as well (after all, it was just  a 5k).

You know what my favorite part was? Running with Darin! We used to run all the time together that first year of marriage, and were somehow disciplined enough even while I was pregnant to go to campus early and run before class (well, let's be honest, the real reason we went early was to get a parking spot, so we were disciplined enough to use that time to run rather than curling up on a couch in the Tanner building and sleeping...well...sometimes we did that too. Anyways...). But then after having Shae we haven't run together at all. The stroller just adds so much to the run (wishing we had gotten a running stroller), so we just take turns.

 We ran together for the first two miles and then Darin's long legs needed some freedom and he booked it off ahead of me. My goal was to not walk. I know what you're thinking, "That was your goal?" I know, I know, it's only 3 miles, but people, 3 miles is like an ETERNITY to me. I was proud of myself when I crossed the finish line having jogged the entire thing. My nongoal was to run 30 minutes or under which didn't happen. My time was 31:50, but hey, that just gives me something to work on for the next one right?

While running, Darin said something to the effect of, "Next we need to do a 10k, and then a half-marathon, and by the time we're 40 I want to have done a marathon." What the? Who is this man?

Right after the run. Still alive and strong :).

                          

What a fun way to start the weekend. And thank you BYU for winning that crazy game so that we could continue to enjoy our weekend.

In other news, Darin's boss offered Shae his first beer at the work barbecue. Of course we've taught Shae not to drink so he passed it right up but made sure to leave his banana prints all over the bottle for some added flavor. He's so thoughtful. 

Quilting Again

It was time. Time to be adventurous and try my not-so-crafty-but-totally-wanna-be-crafty-hand at making another baby quilt. So I did. 

(Thanks to one of my other bosom college buddies Kaitlin for deciding to have a baby and giving me this opportunity. I couldn't have done it without you).

I tied the other two quilts that I made, but one of my new awesome Virginia friends convinced me to try my hand at machine quilting it. I actually really really liked doing it that way. I some how didn't pin it all down well enough because the back must have been loose while sewing which caused for some weird bunching in the back... but other than that, I loved it! Might just have to try another one sometime soon.

Special Visitor!

One of my bestest bosom buddy friends from college was in town for work last week (I know right? She's pretty legit). We convinced her to stay with us for the weekend and she complied. We didn't really do much besides talk for hoursssssss (which was all I could have really wanted anyways). Lucky for us, talking goes along perfectly with walking, so we did just that.

Saturday night we snuck out and left the daddy and baby to watch their football game (woah. why does snuck have a little red squiggly under it? The past tense can't seriously be "sneaked out." No me gusta. I'm sticking to snuck). We walked around Yankee Candle (only my favorite place in Williamsburg) and then the Outlets. Then on Monday before her flight we hit up Colonial Williamsburg and of course had to take her to our favorite candy shop. 

 Just another day in Williamsburg.

Darin gave us a short tour of some things at William and Mary. He showed us the Wren Building where we got to see an old lecture hall.

 I love this girl SO much! I hate that we live so far away from each other. Thank goodness for blogging conferences! Keep em' coming!

 Before going to the airport we crossed "going to the Astronomical Pancake House" off of our Williamsburg bucket list and let me tell you, it was sadly NOT astronomical. 

 Shae seriously LOVES Kaitlyn. He had so much fun playing with her and letting her carry him around. He may not remember how to suck on a bottle nipple but he sure seemed to remember Kaitlyn. The kids got his priorities straight if you ask me.

Come back soon Kaitlyn! ("And bring Erik!" As Darin would say).