NY trip...

Sorry it's taking a while to post about our spring break trip. When I vacation with my family, I leave the majority of the picture taking to my Dad and siblings with much nicer cameras. But, I haven't taken a jump drive to my parents' house yet to get all of the photos, so here are a meager few from our camera that will suffice for now :)
We arrived Saturday, March 14. We got to my sister's home in CT in time for bed and spent Sunday at church and relaxing in the backyard. Monday we got up early and drove the 6 hours to Palmyra. After arriving, we went to the Smith Farm, the Sacred Grove, and the Hill Cumorah. Tuesday we went to the Grandin Printing Office, the Whitmer farm, and Niagara Falls.

The Sacred Grove (Palmyra, NY) There's no snow and no leaves--it felt a little bare compared to what we are used to seeing in pictures! But it was still beautiful and has such a nice peaceful feeling about it.






The Smith Farm in the background (Palmyra, NY)


Carrie holding Megan and Chloe in their matching pj's (at the hotel in Palmyra)


Megan at Niagara Falls (brr! It was chilly but very cool to see in the winter with the river partially frozen and a big frozen "wave" under the falls from the spray spalshing up and freezing and then snow falling on it.)


Dan and I with Ontario (I think Ontario) in the background.


Some pics from the grandkids' "retaurant" lunch (our attempt to get them to be more patient and polite) at my sister Jamie's house on Friday (March 20). This is in New Canaan, CT.

Almost Friday...

I'm so excited for this weekend! And apparently Megan is too because she's decided that telling herself all about her excitement is more fun than napping (I can hear her jabbering away on the monitor).
We're having a family from the ward/neighborhood over for dinner tomorrow and then Saturday we are flying out with my whole family to NYC for a week!!! And another perk is that since my dad has a gazillion frequent flier miles, we don't have to pay for checked bags. Even better.
Anyway. Here's some random things from the past few weeks.

Megan loves to dance and her skills are soon going to surpass mine. Our new favorite is her sumo wrestler impression but we have yet to catch it on camera.

She is also honing her self-feeding skills. As you can see, she likes to use as many senses as possible while she eats (sight,taste, touch, smell, she even tries to "hear" her food by squishing it in her ears). We take it as a sign of her great intelligence :)


And she's even learning to "share"...gee, thanks


Here's some climbing action. And as much as I'm happy to see her learn new things, how many times in one day can I say the words "Megan, we play on the FLOOR!" before I go crazy?

We went (with my brothers and Hailey and Zach) to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (minus the rodeo b/c we're cheap) and saw lots of animals and fun crafts and boots and chaps and cowboy hats.
Megan just seemed amazed at the actual size of cows and she did lots of pointing. I really liked the animal nursery with all the teeny, just-born sheep, goats, cows, chicks, piglets, etc. We watched the milking demo and saw both some boring animal races and some more exciting piggy races.

What a happy cowgirl...(she was a little exhausted by the end of the day)


And, last but not least, we had lunch with Dan at work today. His last day in this office (and in the new hire training program) is tomorrow! He starts his first "real" assignment when we get back from New York. We're pretty sure he'll be back downtown again and hopefully can set up a carpool with a neighbor. He's excited for the new challenge.




Have a great weekend! We'll be sure to post pics from our New York adventures when we get back.

A New First

Now that we've cleared the major hurdles of crawling, walking, etc., it feels like there aren't many "firsts" anymore.
But here is one from Tuesday--prepare to be amazed!

Can you tell from this angle? Not quite?


What about now?!? It's a pony tail!!! (ok, really it's a pony tuft...and when there's only like 8 strands of hair in it, you have to go around about 10 times before a rubberband will stay in and Megan wouldn't sit still for that so this only lasted about a minute, but here it is) YAY!

Boy oh boy...

It's another girl! That's right, we'll be welcoming another daughter come July (sorry to disappoint those who voted that we'd have puppies). She looked healthy and was very wiggly and it was great to get to peek at her again. Well...it was great once the ultrasound actually started, not so much while we waited for an hour because they were running late--and since I dutifully drank 20 oz. of water 45 minutes before my scheduled appointment, I was a little ticked because of how loudly nature was calling. But once I took care of that and the ultrasound started, it was fun and exciting again.
My mom watched Megan for us so we could go without our helper. Megan was thrilled by the news...we think :). She was at least thrilled to show everyone the little clear box with a teeny pink sock in it.

Our new addition! She's got one hand by her face and the other stretched over her head.


The Big Sister


20 weeks--halfway there! Woo hoo!

Cool Blog Contest

My sister Jamie has a new little business blog and she is having a giveaway. Click here to see the instructions for entering! She makes these awesome self-inking stamps.

February Happenings

San Antonio Temple


The whole fam in front of Temple


Unfortunately, I haven't been much of a picture taker these past few weeks. But, since this is a family journal in a way, here's what we've been up to...

Feb 13-14
Megan and I went to a moms and kids V-day party on the 13th. She got lots of candy (which Dan and I enjoyed and occasionally shared with her). It was fun to get to know some neighborhood people better. Then, we got to have a quick visit to San Antonio for the rest of Valentine's day weekend. We drove up after dinner on Friday, met up with Dan's cousin Bryan (he was in town for a wedding of a guy that both Dan and Bryan lived with in Provo). We stayed with Bryan in his hotel (it was a big double room) and had a relaxed Saturday morning. Bryan left to go to the temple for the sealing--which took longer than anticipated since the groom locked his keys in his truck (along with his temple recommend, living ordinance recommend, tux, etc) and missed his own sealing time. But, they were able to be married about an hour behind schedule and we picked up Bryan from the temple at 12:30. We then headed to the Alamo and the Riverwalk. Downtown San Antonio was PACKED. We later realized it's because they had some reenactment thing going on and it cleared out when that was over. We walked the Riverwalk, ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, and looked at the outside of the Alamo. We went to the reception that night and then headed back to Houston. Megan was a fantastic little traveler, as always. And we had a great time catching up with Bryan.

We had a little housewarming party on Feb. 21. We had about 35 people over for pizza and visiting and it was a lot of fun. It's so nice to have a house to entertain in!

Dan and I spoke in church the next day, Feb. 22. Our topic was "Service in the Church" which we thought was ironic since we didn't have callings yet. But, that was remedied during Sunday School :). We'll let you know after we're sustained.

Other than that, we haven't done too many exciting things. Megan and I still go to my parents' house at least once a week and enjoy spending time with Granny, Aunt Amy, Zach, and Chloe. We try to go every 2 weeks or so on a weekend so Dan can come too.
My big ultrasound is this Friday! We're so excited to have another peek at this little one. I can feel kicks often now and even Dan has felt a few.
Megan is getting much too skilled at climbing and really enjoys all the climbing toys at the park. The weather has been in the 70s this week and we are loving being outside.
We hope you are all doing well! Enjoy the last few days of February!

15 Month Stats

Megan had her 15 month appt last week. She definitely remembers the 7 shots she received at her 12 month and cried the entire time the nurse was in the room with us (and most of the time with the doctor as well). Poor kid. But she only got 1 shot this time (this made us both happier). We went straight from her appt to my 16 week checkup and it was hard to convince her that no one would give her a shot there!

The Vital Statistics:
Height--30.5 inches (25th percent)
Weight--20 lbs, 10 oz. (13th percent)
12 teeth, yup--2 molars on top and 2 on bottom are slowly emerging (hence the runny nose in the picture)

Words Megan can "say" (meaning she's repeated these sounds enough that Dan and I know what she means):
Mama, Dada, Hi, Baby, Bye-bye, woof woof, moo, meow, hiss, nose, toe, NO!, yeah, uh-oh, occasionally she'll say Zach or Tyler

Favorite activities:
going up or down the stairs, emptying the tupperware cupboard, "helping" mom do anything, bath time, the swing at the park, running around the backyard, being chased, reading books with mom and dad, reading books to mom and dad, stacking her books on the tv, singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider"/"Jesus wants me for a sunbeam"/"pat-a-cake", and just being cute and happy

Least favorite activities: anything that requires that Megan hold still for more than 1.5 seconds (diaper changes, getting dressed, being buckled in the car seat, napping, etc)

We sure love this happy little squirt and can't believe it's been 15 months already!

Decorating Updates

We finally emptied the last box and hung all the pictures we have on the walls. And since the walls still feel pretty empty, we've realized that what felt sufficient in 650 square feet 10 months ago isn't quite so sufficient now.
But alas, the filling of the walls will be a $low proce$$. :)
Let me know what you think so far!




I registered for this hanging basket when we got married and I've always wanted to hang it but never had a spot (or a hook) until now.


The study is my favorite room right now. Probably because I only rarely let Megan into it (after an afternoon of Megan emptying shelves, pulling down curtains, and other general toddler curiousness--the study became off limits). It also feels so organized. My plan is to use it as a project room as well--I can put my sewing machine on the desk and keep it set up when I have a project going.


For new decorations, I started in Megan's room with a cheap and very cute wall filler (thank you Jamie for the idea). You find a font you like and print it very large (I did 500 pt). Then you cut your letters out of any cardboard you have lying around (like moving boxes! but I actually used a slightly thinner box from one of my Dad's Christmas gifts). Now choose cute paper and cut your paper slightly larger than your cardboard letter (I left about a 1/8 inch margin). This way you can fold your paper over the edge of the cardboard for a finished look. Use scissors to score your margins so it's easier to fold over. Then, using mod podge, glue your cute paper over your cardboard. I glued the edges down first and then did mod podge on the front to make it shiny. Last, embellish with ribbons and bows! I love how it turned out!

Mommy's Shoes and Napping Woes

Megan's shoe fetish is not limited to her own shoe shelf. She routinely empties Dan's and my shelves as well. Here are a few cute shots of her cute outfit (thanks Aunt Ali) and Mommy's shoes. I think she's pretty skilled with the heels.

*sorry it's sideways...I tried switching it and almost ruined it so I gave up

Megan is at that awkward nap stage of not quite ready for 1 nap, but doesn't always take 2.
This was the result of my great plan last Monday to run errands all morning and then Megan would take one long afternoon nap.


She just couldn't make it.

Saturday Chores

We recently purchased a hose! (and no, that's not a misspelling of house) Therefore, the following Saturday, it was time for a little car wash action. It had been a LONG time since our cars got good baths. Way too long. But even though it took a while, it was so nice to have clean cars again! And Megan was basically in heaven. She practically dove in the bucket. She LITERALLY sucked on the nasty, dirty car sponge (eww...I quickly stopped her but eww)
It was a little chilly (60 degrees and cloudy) for swimsuits and splashing so Megan didn't get to stay out too long, but she didn't care that she was cold--she would have stayed all day if we let her.

Do you see the suds on her nose?


Splashing away...


Breaking her sandal somehow (she's carrying the sole over to me)


Helping Dad water our oak tree--that thing is only warranted for 90 days so we don't want it to die!

Random January Moments

The Boat Show came to Houston a few weeks ago. My little brother Tyler spent the night at our house (our first guest!) and we decided to walk around the show before we dropped him off and visited my parents.
It was really fun to wander around and see all the amazing options. It was even more fun to try not to laugh when salesmen approached Dan and I and asked what kind of boat we were in the market for. (um...free?)

Megan loved the little adirondack chairs.


Dan and Ty


Amber and Megan


Megan's hair is getting slightly (emphasis on slightly) longer. I used the old NICU styling techniques to get this cute little mohawk/bow combo. However it's much easier to style the hair of a sleeping newborn than a busy 14 month old.

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home...

Megan's little loop while waiting for Dad to pull in.






He's home! Hurray!

Shoe Fetish

Megan has this little thing with shoes.


She LOVES them. She loves to empty her little shoe shelf and carry them around with her all day long. She tried to steal the shoes off the baby behind us in church a few weeks ago.


*and here are her attempts to say "cheese" for the camera (more like chhhhhhhh-gasp)

She kicks her shoes off ALL THE TIME so she can hold them (especially in the car, at church, or while on the swing at the park). And incidentally, that habit means that she now only wears shoes that velcro. I let her wear buckle shoes to the park the other day and she kicked them off at least 10 times and I hate those teeny buckles.


My Aunt Pam has gotten Megan 2 pairs of "squeakers". They are both size 5 and she is just now really able to wear them. They are ADORABLE. And why are they called squeakers do you ask? Allow Megan to demonstrate.