Tents and s'mores and stars, oh my!

We went camping about a week and a half ago. This is our tent in the middle of nowhere. But it's a very pretty middle-of-nowhere don't you think? Brooklyn discovered ECHOES, which she thought was pretty neat. We had tin-foil dinners and smores, and called it a night. As we looked up at the stars from our bug-free tent, I kept hearing something crawling in what sounded like the corner of our tent. In reality, it was probably between the tent and the tarp underneath. Tim kept assuring me it was probably just a mouse, definitely something small, because the noise would have been louder if it was something bigger. Trust me, the noise was PLENTY loud.

I found the culprit the next morning. A gargantuan spider, possibly the same one that tried to put me into labor at the church building a few months ago (I knew we should have squished it). How he found me yet again, I will never know. As we were packing up the tent we also found a humongous horned beetle, a wind scorpian, and a bark scorpian. All reminders of why I like living indoors.

Despite the attempts on my life, we survived, and actually had a lot of fun. Brooklyn thinks sleeping in a tent and looking at the stars all night is pretty great. Hopefully we'll get to go camping again before it gets cold.

Mary Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

I hire the best gardener of course.

If I had a nickel for every SMILE...

I'd be diving into piles of coins like Scrooge.







Bet you thought I'd say, "If I had a nickel for every SMILE... I'd be rich." Well, I am.

Water Girls

I signed Brooklyn up for swimming this past summer because she loved being in the water and playing at the pool. She did ok the first time or two that we went, but she slowly digressed as the summer went on, until she finally refused to get in the water with the lifeguards at all. I don't know what happened. She loved swimming when we first moved here.

Anyways, she's pretty pro at blowing bubbles now. And she doesn't mind swimming with Tim and I, as long as we are always holding her. Bummer. This really is a digression. Atleast she'll still go down the slide with us. Before Lydia was born, Brooklyn and I went swimming almost every day, but I can't handle two kids by myself in the water, atleast not yet, so now we only go swimming when Tim has work off. Lydia doesn't seem to mind it, so we try to do it every once in a blue moon.

Un-rolling is so much easier than Rolling

Tim had the clear mind to take a picture to document this moment so we could laugh about it later. I'm usually so steamed when things like this happen that I don't think to grab the camera. Caption: "Maybe if I smile they'll laugh and I won't get in trouble... Eh mom and dad? What do you think?"

Lydia's 2 Month-day

I have so much to blog about before I have even MORE to blog about. Best get started while everyone else is napping...

For starters: Lydia turned 2 months old-- well, about a month ago. Brooklyn made party hats and helped me make a chocolate mousse filled cake to celebrate for family home evening. Lydia wasn't super thrilled with the idea of taking pictures, so here's our best 2-Month-Day shot.





At her two month appointment she weighed 13 pounds 13 ounces, which, excuse my bragging, happened to be off the charts-- as in above the 100th percentile. What can I say...? She was also 24 inches long, not off the charts. We like 'em round and roly-poly-ish. She has a hemangioma on her lip, which I mention here so I don't have to keep explaining what it is to everyone. It might be a little disturbing looking to people who aren't used to it, but it's completely harmless, and should go away on it's own, hopefully in about a year.

Anyways, Lydia at two months:
-Smiling since 1 month, especially when full and well-rested
-burps and toots like a man, but surprisingly, more often than one
-loves watching Brooklyn
-sometimes sleeps a long 6 hour stretch at night
-giggles
-loves bathtime
-always rooting around to suck on something, but won't take a pacifier

My husband, the party-pooper

I realize that the picture of Scorpio has been the first thing you see for WAY too long, so I decided I'd better blog about something.

Then I realized that I have failed to mention that Tim did finish his year of training successfully (back in July), and is now an official Wildlife Manager for the Arizona Game and Fish! That year of training was very long, and I think he's definitely glad to be done, and now be able to decide what he wants to do on a day-to-day basis. Because of his work, we have now acquired lots of things (only for work purposes of course): a four-wheeler, camping gear (cot, lantern, propane stove,etc.), another computer desk and computer + all of the workings for an office (except an extra room), maps, files, etc. Tim is also supposed to be bringing home a Gila Monster, which I am super excited about. Wouldn't you be?** Apparently it belongs to the region and we are the lucky caretakers.

**Note: sarcasm

This is the picture of Tim when he graduated from the Police Academy last December. I need to take a new picture of him looking official with his truck and uniform-- maybe that will happen soon.


Anyways, I am really proud of Tim. It's been a grueling year and he's a great officer. He really loves what he's doing.

When my brother asked my parents "exactly what does Tim do?" and they told him that Tim writes tickets basically for all of the wrong/illegal things people do outside he said, "Oh, so he's a party-pooper?"

Yes, that's my husband, the official party-pooper. But hey, as long as you're doing everything legally, no need to worry.

By the way, though not mentioned by name, Tim was a crucial part of the closing of the investigation talked about in this recent news article:



I'm so proud!