For my dad.

According to my dad, I've fallen off the face of the Earth since there hasn't been a post in a week and a half. So, this one is for you dad!! (I appreciate you calling me today to make sure I am still alive!)



I guess we have been busy in the last week and a half. Here's a quick recap of what we have been up to:

* Sharing a vehicle. We sold Brad's truck about a month ago and are living on one vehicle either until A) we drive each other crazy, or B) soccer season starts...whichever comes first!

*Bible Study! Our church has been doing a "Summer Sanity" Bible study every Tuesday and it's been really good. Angela Thomas' Beautiful Offering...highly recommend it.

*Playgroups! Mallory and I really have enjoyed getting out of the house and playing with people our own age:)

*Soccer camp. Brad started it this week (his own this time, not A & M). It has been hectic to say the least. Throw in 10 inches of rain in 3 days, a one year old that is either teething or has an ear infection (fever off and on), and a 12 year old second cousin staying with us for the camp (which has been really fun for our dog and Mallory...and us too!), and that makes for some stressful times on the coach.

*Doctor's appointments. Mallory had her one year checkup last week. Here are her stats: 22 pounds, 8 ounces; 30 inches tall (2 1/2 feet!); 18 inch head. She also got 3 shots and still has a knots where the nurse put them...poor girl! Brad and I had dentist appointments. No cavities for either of us!

*Dinner with friends. We met Tim, Kara and the girls in Comanche for some Mexican food. Mmmm! It was fun to see them. The girls enjoyed playing with each other. Mallory stole some of Brooke's cereal...hopefully she'll forgive her! I have a picture, but I'm adding this little tidbit in, and the picture will end up in the beginning of the blog if I try to upload it now. And that will make me crazy if it doesn't match with the right paragraph...

*And, the most recent...

Do you know what this is (see picture below)? I always wondered why in the world they would build this great looking house and then stick a pipe through the ceiling of the porch. It is an eye sore! Well, I (Brad already knew what it was, I guess I just never asked him) found out on Monday. This pipe started dripping water from it. I noticed it when I checked the mail and thought, "Hmmm, that's never dripped before. That can't be good." So, after a long and stressful day, Brad got to come home to that! Our friend Brian was staying at our house for the camp and said it could be the AC run off drain thingy. Sometimes they get clogged and that pipe is the emergency run off valve. That doesn't sound good.

So, we get out our handy-dandy home warranty that is about to expire in a couple of weeks. We call and put in a request. The last time we used our home warranty, I was thoroughly embarrassed.

We had moved into our very first house (ever) in January. The home inspector guy had said he couldn't test the AC since it was so cold. So, that March/April, we turned it on to make sure it worked (the house was 50 years old). Sure enough, the inside unit kicked on, but it wasn't cold air and the outside unit never would turn on. So, we called our home warranty and they sent someone out. This big, burly man from Clyde comes to my front door (I'm home alone). He checks it out inside and then asks to see the outside unit. I walk him outside and say, "See, it doesn't kick on." He replies back with a polite, "Is the AC breaker on?" And I reply with a dumbfounded (probably ditsy to him), "There's an AC breaker?" Sure enough, he flips the breaker and the AC unit magically turns on! Amazing. I don't think I've been that embarrassed in a LONG time! So, I asked him to check it all out anyway since we had already paid the $50 service fee. Come to find out, that AC unit was installed in 1957! It was almost as old as the house itself. I should have written down the name of the brand. They just don't make ACs like they used to! Crazy.

Back to the original story. So, they send a guy out yesterday and he gets up in the attic, and, low and behold, it's the emergency run off drain! Brian's a smart guy! He said it was a good thing we have the emergency drain or else we would have had a bigger problem. I paid him the service fee and off he went. What a relief! I was sure it was some massive leak in our roof from all the rain that we have been having. I guess that home warranty is good for something.

So, there you go dad. I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth and now you are completely updated on my life...along with whoever else reads this thing!

Hallelujah!

As in the chorus from "Messiah"...

Brad is home after being away for NINE days! Usually I am pretty good while he is gone (it happens a lot being a coach's wife), but this time, I have never been more ready for him to be home!

Something about Mallory turning one... I guess she has decided to go into "toddler mode" early. Or, maybe she could sense that Brad was not around. Whatever it was, I was on the verge of losing it! Can you run out of "No's" before they turn 2? I think I used a lot of my quota while Brad was gone:)

During the time that Brad was not here, our sweet Mallory learned the following bad tricks:
*How to shred, not unroll, but shred the toilet paper! The bathrooms are now off limits to her.
*How to escape from all types of barricades. She pushes the baskets (that are full of books) forward and crawls out. Now what am I to do???
*When I tell her no, she now cries, lays her head on the floor and is VERY dramatic! It's actually kind of funny, but I do not let her see me laugh or smile...yet!
*She can stand on her tippy toes and reach a lot of stuff I didn't think she could. I had a note ready to go in the mail on our entry table, and here she comes crawling into the kitchen with it crumpled up. Hmmmm...onto baby proofing tables now!
*Connor's water bowl. This was inevitable and only a matter of time.
*She has figured out how to stand on top of something to get to something else. We have this really cute pink stuffed hippo chair (thanks Aunt LaShay!) and Mallory has learned to stand on that and reach out to grab things off the side table. No fear!


It really wasn't until the end of the week when she started getting tired of me (that's really what I think it was!!). We had visitors (thanks for coming Kelly and Tate!) and then some playgroups and dinner at a friend's house, that kept us busy most of the time. But, it also rained a majority of the week, and that makes for a difficult time entertaining a one year old that doesn't walk yet. I couldn't blame the girl for some of the stuff. There is just so many things that she isn't allowed to get into that really bugs her!

So, instead of focusing on the naughty things, here are some sweet tricks that Mallory learned:
*How to give a hug. It depends on her mood, but if you catch her at the right time, and say "Hug?", she will lay her head on your shoulder and "hug" you.
*I think she said "duck". Of course, it didn't sound exactly like that, more like "duct", but she said it over and over while playing with a rubber ducky.
*She can dance! For a while, she could bob her head (not to a tune...unfortunately she inherited a lack of rhythm from her mommy) when we said "dance", but now it is full fledged, leg moving, bouncing up and down and saying "heh, heh, heh" in a gruff voice. Cute!
*She's been doing this for a couple of weeks, but it's too cute not to point out. When she is in the kitchen with me, she'll see her reflection in the oven, crawl over to it and give it a kiss. She is now obsessed with giving (or blowing) kisses to her reflection whenever she sees it (in the bathroom mirror, in the car, window etc.)

I'm sure there are a ton more, but I can't think of any at the moment. Reading all the things she has learned to do just in a week makes me realize how fast she is growing and changing. Instead of getting frustrated with her when she disobeys (like she even knows that she is disobeying most of the time...I think part of it is figuring out all the things in her world, you know?), I need to just take a chill pill and enjoy this stage of her life. I know it will be over so soon...sniff!

Side note: HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to Brad, Dad and Larry!

We love all of you so much!

5 years!

Five years ago today, I was eating Taco Bueno with my sister in my veil heading to the church! It was the happiest day of my life. I was marrying Brad, the love of my life! Who knew that 5 years later, we would be living in Temple, have a one year old daughter and be expecting our second child already?

The last 5 years have gone by quickly and slowly if that makes any sense. It feels like I've always been with Brad and then I realize how fast the time has really flown by. I love Brad more and differently than I did on the "big day". We have both grown so much through our marriage, in the good times and the bad. I am so thankful that God "laid on his heart" to prank call my good friends Lori and Brooke! It is his personality and humor that I love the most. Anyone who has been around Brad for at least 5 minutes knows that he is funny! He can make me laugh anytime.

I can't wait to see what the next 5 years has in store. I love you dear! Happy Anniversary!

In honor of our anniversary, here are 5 things that you may not know about us:

1) As mentioned before, we met through a prank call (that wasn't even to me in the first place!).

2) We are both Type A (me, a little more) and actually "discuss" who gets to vacuum sometimes.

3) We are both very, very stubborn and butt heads on a lot of things...a lot of the time!

4) This is not to make Brad feel bad AT ALL, I really think it's kind of funny. This is the 4th out of 5th time that he has been out of town on our anniversary. Oh, the life of a soccer coach. Summers are filled with camps and "continuing education" (soccer licenses).

5) One of our favorite things to do is get dessert from somewhere and drive around neighborhoods looking at houses and just talk. It's especially nice in the summer when you can roll down the windows if there is a nice breeze. We did this a lot when we lived in Abilene (and before we had Mallory!)

Noooooo!

It's official. I'm a little less than 14 weeks pregnant and already showing! My friend Laura came over to watch a movie tonight and commented, "look at your cute tummy!" I'm refusing to be in maternity wear until 20 weeks (when I made the transition with Mallory). Okay, maybe that is a little silly and vain. I just have to keep reminding myself...Froggie is getting settled in faster since everything is already nice and cushiony and stretched out!

By the way, I forgot to mention we had our third appointment last Friday and everything is well. The heartbeat was loud and strong (156 for all of you who want to make guesses on the gender from that). It was as much fun to hear it by Doppler as it was with Mallory. It was fun watching her face too. You could tell she couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

That's all for tonight. Now I'll continue searching for a name for this little girl or guy. Just had to vent about the "pooch". And, no. You won't be seeing any belly shots for a while. I want to be good and showing when I get brave enough to post one of those. The second time around is a whole different ball game folks.

Happy Birthday to Mallory...belated!

This is overdue, and for a good reason. Brad and I just got back from our anniversary trip to Meixco! Playa del Carmen was beautiful! We can't wait to go back. Brad says with the kids...I'm not too sure about that. We missed Mallory bunches while we were gone, but were so thankful that she had a good time with her grandparents. She didn't even recognize us when we got her out of my dad's car on Thursday. Not exactly the homecoming I was imagining....

Anyway. Now for the important part. Mallory turned one while we were gone! Bad parents I know. But, we did give her a party the day before we left. I have to digress here. Please, remind me not to EVER: plan a birthday party, a trip to Mexico and prepare a child for staying with grandparents for a week away all in the same day! It was chaotic to say the least, but we all survived. Back to the party. We just had family over, grilled hot dogs and celebrated Mallory's first year. She enjoyed all the attention (which is surprising since most of the time she can be quite shy in big groups of people) and actually smiled! We love our Mallory and can't believe a year has already passed. Everyone is right, it goes by sooooo fast! She is a joy and has been so much fun. We can't wait to see what the next year has in store!

Here she is "opening" gifts. I really opened all of them (which was fun for me!) and she just played with the tissue paper.

This is the before picture. She is signing "more". Smart girl!!

Side note: Brad taught her to sign "please" at dinner last night. I can't stop laughing when she does it...quite cute!

And the after. She didn't need any help digging in, but I pushed the cake (gently) into her face! I couldn't resist. She probably would've given the cake a kiss, but this was more fun. My sister said she looked like a character off Fraggle Rock! Yes, she had her very own cake. Lucky for her, Sam's made the wrong size cake, so we got this one free!


Hosing her down in the sink. She wasn't a big fan. I can't see why...

The happy family with the birthday girl.