Three of Addie's loves

Addie loves...

COLORING

OLIVES ON HER FINGERS (and in her mouth)

HER DADDY!

Memphis Monday: EDGED LAWNS

My friend and I were commenting a while back about the nice landscaping down here in Memphis. Residents (in the good areas) seem to care about their lawns. Not so much now that it's December, but in the summer the lawns are always neatly edged and groomed (although the grass is still yellow and weird).

PART 2: Idaho

For Thanksgiving we went to Jason's hometown, Jerome, ID. His Mom sure had a lot on her plate! Not only did she plan Thanksgiving for upwards of 25 people, she also had to plan a wedding luncheon and reception only two days later. It was exhausting for all of us, but Gemarie (Jason's only sister) was glowing and the day overall was a great success. Here are some snapshots from that wonderful week.

(Thanks to Caitlyn and Jake for most of these pictures! I don't know why they're so small.)

A staple of any Hair vacation: video games

Watercolor with Grandma (Take note of Addie's leggings, I actually made them! Thanks, Tiff!)
Battling the singing fish

A very crowded Thanksgiving, but delicious!

Bonding with cousin Chaela, learning chopsticks

The parents

Happy Jason, full of triptophanEnjoying a moment of down time before the wedding luncheon

A very happy and very naked Addie at the luncheon

The happy couple, Eric & Gemarie

It was cold and windy, and Addie wasn't happy about it

The crazy siblings

The bride and her flower girls
Addie is so cute in that dress (thanks, Caitlyn!) but very obviously fighting a bad diaper rash! Haha!
Chaela partied all night long.

PART 1: Wendy in Memphis

Has it already been nearly a month since I've posted? This has been one of the busiest months of my life! With YW in Excellence at church, Wendy coming to visit, never seeing Jason, and making a whirlwind trip to Idaho last week, I feel like I'm finally able to catch my breath. This is the first of 2 catch up posts.

My good friend Wendy came down to Memphis in mid-November. She stayed for 3 days and we did all the touristy things.

We saw the Peabody ducks (and a fire across the street).We went to Graceland to pay tribute to Elvis (lucky for her I had already been before so I didn't have to read every single thing like I normally do). This is us in front of Elvis' grave, we're not very solemn, eh? We also ate some delicious BBQ (although I don't think Wendy was all that impressed), and got lost in a scary scary part of downtown. What did we enjoy the most? MONOPOLY MARATHONS! Unbeknownst to us (and possibly to her) Wendy likes our favorite game--Mega Monopoly. We played it twice (which in three days is a lot!) and, if my memory serves me right, enjoyed getting womped by Jason both times. Unfortunately we didn't take a lot of pictures, these are all courtesy of Wendy, but Addie had a bad fall right before she came and she wasn't looking very cute anyway. Ick!Jason and I always LOVE having Wendy visit! Come again when it isn't FREEZING!

Memphis Monday: WEATHERMEN

This one was pointed out to me this last weekend by Nikky, so thank her for today's Memphis Monday.

In Memphis it is wise to actually listen to the weather on the news and bring an umbrella if the weatherman says it will rain, bring a jacket if he says it will be cold and windy, or to stay indoors with the air conditioning if he says it will be hot and humid. In Memphis the weathermen seem to have it right. In Utah and Michigan we would listen to the weather and never have much reason to believe what was said because half the time they would be wrong. Memphis, however, has great weathermen! Which is your favorite? Take the poll!

Memphis Monday: LOW GAS PRICES

Or does the whole country have low gas prices? We saw gas for $2.09 per gallon yesterday on our way to church! What is the lowest you've seen and where do you live?

Happy Halloweening!

Our ward had a Halloween activity the Wednesday before Halloween, and Addie seemed so big! She did the cakewalk (with Dad's help) and went pumpkin bowling (with Mom's help), but last year she was so small she couldn't do anything. It's crazy how big she is! Several people asked me where I bought her costume and I beamed everytime! It's an amazing feeling to be able to say you MADE IT!

This is Addie and her two friends that are her same age, Julia (the sock monkey) and Hailey (the Liger-yes, from Napolean Dynomite).

We also went trick or treating with some of our friends. I love trick or treating. Memphis, unfortunately, doesn't. Only every fourth or fifth house was passing out candy; it was so sad. We had a good time, though, even though Addie was pretty much done after the first street. I put her hair in crazy pigtails all over her head and thought it was so cute, I might just have to do that on a normal day!

She was so excited to hold her own bucket. The neighbors would put candy in it, and then she'd reach into their bowls and grab more! She was so cute the entire night, and boy, does she LOVE suckers!

Memphis Monday: GREAT CAMPING

We went on an overnight camping trip with some friends on Friday. We had hobo dinners, told plenty of embarassing stories, played card games, and had fun watching our kids fall in the mud. The weather was perfect for camping and we lucked out because there weren't many mosquitos. All in all, we had a great time (even though we forgot the tarp and pillows).

Addie loved wandering around with the other kids, picking up sticks and leaves, and getting very cold and very dirty. We are indebted to the Carlsens for lending us their camping gear. What do we want for Christmas? Our own camping supplies! It will be fun to go again!

Oh yeah, and we tried something new this camping trip. I read online that you could cut oranges in half, eat out the inside, and cook an egg in the orange peel on the fire. Well, I didn't have any oranges so we tried it with grapefruit. They were...

DISGUSTING!

Our life in prime numbers~

2: How many months I've been the Young Womens President of our ward at church
3: The number of years Jason has left of school
5: How many weeks until we go to Idaho for Thanksgiving and Gem's wedding
7: How many weeks along I am in my pregnancy
11: Approximately how many times I've made dinner this month, how sad...
13: Addie now has this many teeth!

Memphis Monday: PRIDDY FARMS

(Addie was so small next to the big pumpkins, she loved trying to pick them up.)

I love fall activities. There is something marvelous about the crisp, cool air, smell of hay, and falling leaves that make every fall excursion delightful. I love carving pumpkins, drinking cider, burying myself in crinkling leaves, but I especially love picking pumpkins from a pumpkin patch.

(Daddy-daughter moment.)

On Saturday Jason, Addie and I ventured out to Priddy Farms, on north Germantown Rd, to find a pumpkin. We had, as expected, a wonderful time. They have a little train for the kids ($1), free playground equipment (the slide was a big hit), and pleny of hay bales set up for adorable photo-ops. The whole family, no matter how small or large, can take a hay ride for $3 out to a (rather dismal) pumpkin patch. The pumpkin patch is obviously set up for the kids. They wander around and search for the perfect, pre-picked pumpkin, just like buried treasure.

(I want them all! I MUST have them all!)

If you don't want to take the hay ride to the pumpkin patch, there are PLENTY of pumpkins in the front for your perusal and purchase. Overall, I enjoyed Priddy Farms. We had plenty of laughs, dirty hands, and a delicious taste of what autumn has to offer. Ah, if only I were allowed to eat a donut, the cider would have been more tempting this year...

This last picture is to show you Addie's new love...blanket forts. This has been up and down (mostly up) for over a week now. She loves it. She'll sit in there for long stretches of time looking at her books. When we have our own house I will LOVE designing her a cozy reading nook!

Addie's Halloween Costume

This year I decided to make Addie's costume. My mom always made ours and they were so creative! I don't sew, and generally I'm not very crafty, but I saw these tutu dresses online and thought they were adorable so I gave it a shot.
I particularly like the long ribbons down her back and always thought she looks so pretty in light blues and purples.
On Halloween she will wear wings (she is supposed to be some sort of fairy) but they have so much glitter on them I didn't want to bother today. I'm thinking about also making a flower headband, but she doesn't keep anything on her head for longer than a second, so it might not be worth the effort.I made her this flower wand last night. This is the best picture I have of it. She wasn't that interested in carrying it around, but it does complete the outfit, don't you think?
I am very proud of myself. I think the dress turned out really cute and frilly, I love it!

picture tag from shauna

Here it is, the 4th picture in our My Pictures folder. Nice, eh? What a pretty girl, if I do say so myself. I will tag Caitlyn, Jami, Nicole and Kari. Just post your 4th picture!

i heart sushi

Jason and I can't resist salmon, crab, shrimp, avacado, cucumber, whatever, stuffed into a piece of seaweed and rolled up in rice. Throw in some soy sauce, ginger, and a touch of wasabi and California rolls become one of our favorite treats.

A few weeks ago my friend Shauna decided she would go out on a limb and try a piece of sushi. I was excited to introduce her to this new world, so I went easy on her. I believe we shared a roll with tuna and crab (very mild as far as the fishy taste goes) and, while she was very proud of herself for trying, she took one bite and decided that was the end of the affair.

Today I introduced these delectable treats to another friend of mine, Corrine. To my surprise and delight, she ENJOYED my sushi roll! And although she isn't generally a big fish eater, she asked for 2 more pieces! Ah, another one converted.

This is the BEST sushi I have ever had. Jason and I got it at the Wolfgang Puck restaurant in DisneyWorld when we were there in May. Mmmmm...

So, I'm curious, how many of you, fellow blog-readers, enjoy sushi? I look forward to your answers on our poll.

Memphis Monday: OCTOBER

The weather in Memphis in October is gorgeous. Addie and I went on an extended walk this morning and I thoroughly enjoyed the chirping birds, slight breeze and other friendly walkers. Open the windows at night, revel in the 70's temperature, just soak it all in. It's great.

Memphis Monday: GROWING CLIMATE?

Memphis, fortunately, stays warm longer than any place I've lived. This gives us new gardeners a bit more time to figure out what the heck we're supposed to be doing.


I have been growing tomato plants since April in buckets on our porch. I lovingly planted the seeds, repotted them twice, and have watered them every few days. My level of success depends on how you measure success.

Do you measure success by the height of the plants? I'VE SUCCEEDED! These plants are well above my head!

Do you measure success in the amount of time you spent relaxing while watering, planting, and taking your child's fingers out of the dirt?

I'VE SUCCEEDED YET AGAIN!

Or, do you perhaps measure success by the amount of tomatoes actually produced and eaten?

Here it is, my one and only tomato! I am quite proud of it, and hope it ripens so we can actually eat the fruit of my labor! Mmmm... Thank you, Memphis.

video bananza!

These are Addie's new tricks. Enjoy!

Memphis Monday: GOOD FRIENDS

Memphis is full of good friends! I am lucky to live near many friends who are always happy to have me drop by and stay for a while. As a stay-at-home mom, their friendships literally keep me sane! Thanks, friends!

Memphis Monday: DELICIOUS WATER

Us Memphians are privileged to have award-winning water flowing from our taps. It is delicious! Pour me a great big cup, especially after having been sitting in the fridge, and I'm one happy girl! This is the best drinking water I've ever had straight from the faucet. Mmm...


I just did a little preliminary research online to find out why we have such great water. It seems our city sits on top of the Memphis aquifer. My sister-in-law Heather could explain this much better (she's a hydrogeologist), but an aquifer is a layer of permeable rock beneath the surface that contains water. The more porous the rock, the more water it contains. Wells are dug into the natural aquifers and water pumped out. The Memphis aquifer is HUGE (it contains over 100 trillion gallons of water, by some estimates) and is known to hold some of the best water in the nation. Many industries located in Memphis have moved here just because of our wonderful water supply. Lucky us!

clarification

The book list on the right are the books that I have read or am reading. Several of my friends do this and I liked the idea. Jason thought it was a list of books I would recommend, but that is NOT the case. I definitely WOULD NOT recommend Breaking Dawn (sorry to many of my friends), but definitely WOULD recommend Peace Like a River. I'll have to come up with some sort of rating system.

necklaces!

Addie LOVES necklaces. I bought her some cheap ones a while ago and she has really grown attached to them in the last week or so. She is great about sharing them as well, which means I am often sporting a plastic necklace or two! Here are some recent pictures of her looking elegant in her jewels.

The only annoying thing about the necklace phase is the amount of untangling to which Jason and I are subjected.I attempted to get an action shot. She isn't in pain, this is how she looks when she's pulling the necklaces over her head.