Gobble gobble

Tonight I made turkey shirts/onesies and a headband for baby girl Reed and the Peterson girls. They turned out really cute and I only have some stitching to finish on the shirts.

But little did I realize that from far away, the pattern on the blue fabric makes it look like the turkey has big google eyes on top of its head!

Oh well.

Halloween recap

Brandon was on another field trip over Halloween weekend, so we stayed out at Reed and Papa's place. They spoiled Violet with lots of good food, including oreos. Here is what she did with those. I let mom and dad clean up the mess since they had the bright idea of giving her an oreo unsupervised. They also had me draw the famous "la Catrina" on their white pumpkin. It's more Dia de los Muertos than Halloween, but it was still cool.

And here she is as Paul the Octopus. The costume wasn't much but I thought the idea was great. She almost won the costume contest but a ladybug beat her out of 1st place. I think it was because nobody knew who Paul the Octopus was. If we had been in Spain or Gemany, she would have won by default.

I didn't get many good pics of her in her costume on Halloween so maybe I will dress her up again and take some pictures in the daylight.

First words

Violet says "book." Yesterday she came walking up to me with a book in her hand saying, "Bok, bok." She did it for Brandon this morning and is apparently pronouncing it better now.

Traipsing around...

So Jennifer and I have been hanging out a lot lately. Besides the extremely interesting converations and good company, it almost always involves food. Sometimes it's a little difficult because I have to carry around 2 babies... but somehow we manage. One of our first lunch dates was to Barnaby's where I had the best burger of my life. I took Mom a few weeks later and she agreed it was awesome. Just after Brandon's birthday, we went to Tiny Boxwood's. It's a very high-end place where lots of River Oaks trophy wives go to lunch. Well, we're not rich, so we had to fake it. I put on my preppiest J.Crew shirt and Jennifer let me borrow her Coach sunglasses. I think we had them all fooled:

until Violet had a blowout and ruined the atmosphere. But it turns out I lied about the Barnaby's burger, because the buffalo burger I had at Tiny's was definitely the best burger I ever ate. Last week we celebrated Violet's birthday and Jennifer surprised me with some presents from her and her mom-- a cute dress for Violet, and a pretty shirt for me.

I like it because it's something I wouldn't have been brave enough to buy on my own, but it's awesome. And since it's from Saks, maybe I'll wear it to Tiny's next time.

Since she will probably soon be whisked off to some other part of the country with a new job, I am milking every minute I have with her. And I love it.

Rip-offs

I have some complaints against businesses that I have had to deal with lately. First off, we had to get new cell phones. It made me wonder how they decide what to charge for phone plans, and I concluded that they just pull a number out of their butts. Seriously, does it cost them anything to give you more minutes? Who decides how much a minute is worth? We have also noticed that family plans are more expensive than getting two individual plans, and that getting a plan that includes text and web is more expensive than getting a regular plan and adding text and web. But most people don't notice, and they get ripped off.

My second complaint is against Target and its ridiculous return policy. I had to exchange some shoes from Violet's birthday and didn't have a receipt. They scanned them and said, "Well, these shoes cost $10, but you will only get $8 back, and you'll have to pay the difference when you exchange them for the smaller size." Since when is it ok to charge 20% for an exchange? I checked and the shoes were still in stock, and not on sale. I left without exchanging them and wanting to punch the customer service rep in the face.

Finally, I am boycotting Yoplait yogurts and switching to puddings from now on. I bought the Boston Cream Pie flavor which, on the package, had a picture of a chocolate-covered pie with chocolate shavings next to it. When I opened it, not only was there no chocolate, but I'm pretty sure they didn't even add any flavor because it tasted like plain yogurt. It was disgusting.

For those who missed out...

Violet's birthday party was awesome, so here is a picture recap.
Of all the fancy gifts that Violet got, one of her favorites was a set of 3 rubber frogs from the dollar section at Target. Here she is playing with them, with Leah's cute little butt in the background. The cake was good. The pink strawberry middle plus bright blue icing combo made it the brightest cake I had ever seen.

And here it is before getting hacked into peices. Violet loved having us sing to her!

This was on the day of her actual birthday, opening all her presents from Brandon's family. She loved them, especially the purple tie-dye onesie from the previous pictures.

So I finish with Violet's birthday and suddenly Halloween is a week away, we have been extended a Thanksgiving invitation, Christmas exchange names have been drawn, and Brandon and I are pondering our next big vacation. (Speaking of vacations, Brandon finally posted some Belize pics on his blog.) Things are happening fast around here.

Birthday girl

When Violet woke up this morning, we told her that it was her birthday and that we have presents for her. She was so excited that she decided to escape during her diaper change and run around in her birthday suit. She even left mommy a little present on her stepping stool. Hopefully she is better behaved at her party tomorrow.

Funny things from this weekend

In no particular order:
Brandon signed the acceptance letter for his internship and I spilled red popsicle all over it. It didn't look very professional after that, but he was about to leave and had no choice but to mail it as-is. I felt really badly and almost stuck an apology note in the envelope that said, "This is Brandon's wife. Please excuse the popsicle stain on his acceptance letter. It's not his fault that I'm a slob." Unfortunately he sealed the envelope before I got to add my note.

Ashley fed Violet a ton of blueberries and the next day she had a blowout in the car. When I changed her diaper, her poop was blue.

On Friday, Ashley suggested that Violet sleep on the bed with us. Ashley didn't know that Violet plays before she falls asleep, so every 15 seconds, Violet would poke Ashley in the face and I would hear Ashley giggle.

On Saturday night, Violet was asleep in the pack-and-play and Ashley and I started laughing about something. Violet started laughing along with us in her sleep.

We were looking at the jaguar exhibit at the Dallas aquarium when I overheard a guy trying to impress his girlfriend with his knowledge of animals. I walked up to the cage and told Ashley that you can tell jaguar spots from leopard spots because jaguar spots have smaller spots inside, whereas leopard spots don't. A couple of seconds later, I heard the guy repeat exactly what I had just said to his girlfriend. I guess I wasn't the only one eavesdropping.

On Saurday, Ashley kept making fun of me because I never exercise. She laughed at me when I told her that I don't need to because I stay active. Then on Sunday, she complained about how sore she was from carrying Violet around all day. Guess who is laughing now?

Brandon's packing list:

Snorkeling gear
sunscreen
insect repellant
swimsuit
underwater camera

It's hard to believe this is a school-related, educational field trip. Belize. I am jealous.

I'm sure he will have a good time. Last weekend, he was apparently having so much fun on his field trip that he left his wedding ring at the bottom of the river.

Life is happening

Lately my posts have been mostly about how cute Violet is. That is because Brandon takes the computer to school on most days, so when I do have it, I don't have much time to actually write and I just end up posting pictures. But now he is on a field trip to Enchanted Rock and I get the computer for the weekend, so here is what has been happening besides Violet's cuteness:

1. I have a job. Another baby comes over to play with Violet, and for some reason I get paid for it. It's awesome.
2. Brandon got an internship offer for next summer. And it isn't the kind of summer internship where they pay you less than minimum wage and get away with it because it gives you "experience." Geology interns get paid as much as full-time employees.
3. I hang out with Jennifer all the time. She is a good sport and pushes the stroller for me when I need her to. We go out to lunch, go to museums, or do whatever fun thing there is to do that day.
4. I have been sewing a few things-- nursing covers, headbands, shirts, etc.
5. I started painting again. I have one finished and I'm working on a new one. I'm not the best but I think they turn out pretty well and I like doing it, so I see no reason not to.
6. Violet and I are visiting Ashley soon. All she had to say was "I have some old clothes that you can have" and I was sold. I email her all the time to remind her how excited I am.
7. Cooking and cleaning... okay, I really don't do either of those too much. I always get semi-prepared meals at HEB and call it good. As for the apartment, it's only clean when people come over. That's fine with me.
8. On Wednesday Brandon and I had a date for the first time in a long time. We went to Pappadeaux and had cheesecake afterwards. Yum.

So there you have it, I have mostly been working and trying to get other things done during my days off. It's a pretty fun job.

27

Brandon turned 27, so I will take off where I ended last year and say a few more things that I love about him.

His sense of adventure
He is always a good sport

His great smile

Truly an all-American boy.

Happy birthday, again! I look forward to many more. Love you!

Discovery Green with Reed

Today Reed came to visit and we went to Discovery Green park. Since Violet now walks, she had a great time splashing through the fountains. Here are some pics:
All wet with daddy

Being a mommy's girl And one of my favorite pictures of Violet and Reed. Thanks for visiting!

This picture was taken especially for Jennifer, since no one else will really get it. If you ever have a bad day, just remember that I destroyed that ugly print and the frame is going to good use.

This picture is old but hilarious. A few weeks ago I was sitting on the floor and kneading some dough for calzones. I left it for a few minutes and when I got back I found that Violet had pulled it out of the bowl and was chomping into it. Nasty.

Violet walking to Purple

She can't go very far, but she's getting better every day.

Violet and Purple

Violet has a stuffed dinosaur (a T-rex, to be exact) named Purple that was Brandon's when he was a kid. Today Violet was playing with some cardboard chickens when she started feeding them to Purple. She stuck them right in his mouth. I saw this and said, "Good job, Violet! That is exactly the kind of food T-rex would have eaten. He ate the chicken's ancestors."

I see a future as a paleontologist. Or a zookeeper.

Washington 2

I put this picture up just so I could say that I cleaned and chopped every one of these squids here. It was gross.A diver came to our condo and caught some sea creatures for the kids to look at. Violet didn't like the starfish too much.

She tried to step on this one.

On our way out, we stopped at the Space Needle,then camped out at Mt. Rainier. After that, we headed home from 2 crazy, awesome weeks of vacation.

Yet another vacation post: Washington

At BYU I met a ton of people from Washington and they all seemed even more proud of their state than Texans are of Texas. So I've always been curious to know what all the fuss is about. Well, I totally fell in love with Washington when we were there a few weeks ago. The weather was cool, it was very green, and there were enormous blackberries everywhere. I could live there.

We went to Rialto beach and it was very foggy but still beautiful. Violet loved playing with the rocks on the beach. We also stopped at the rain forest, and it was incredibly green and dense. We found some wild raspberries, which made Violet very happy.

Violet was also very happy about all the big trees. I let her crawl under this one and everyone that passed thought it was hilarious.

This last one was taken on Hurricane Ridge at Olympic national park. Who says you have to be in Texas to take bluebonnet picture? (Just kidding; they were a different variety of lupine.)

Jasper

At Jasper we realized that the Canadians had a 3-day weekend and ALL campsites in the entire park (there are over 2,000) were full. So we did a whirlwind tour of the park and left the same day. Here are some sights we saw:
Mt. Edith Cavell-- here is the glacier flowing into the lake. There was an enormous hanging glacier above that used to be connected to the lower one, but global warming separated the two. If you don't believe in climate change, seeing pictures of how this park used to look will convince you. This is the toe of the Athabasca glacier. It was 50-something degrees right there, hence the jackets in the middle of July. This glacier is also retreating rapidly; there were markers for where it was over the last century and they were thousands of feet ahead of the current edge.

Here is Athabasca Falls. I was really excited to see it but there were swarms of tourists when we got there. Alot of them climbed over the guard rails and ruined everyone's pictures. Jerks.

On the way out we saw this bear. Isn't he cute? I must say, he is the least scary-looking bear I've ever seen. I was more inclined to jump out of the car and pet him than I was to run away from him.

That night we headed out and decided to drive through the night to Washington. What we didn't know was that Canada doesn't have 24-hour gas pumps everywhere like the US does, and we were running critically low on gas at 2 AM and 45 miles away from the next open pump. At that point, McKay said, "Don't worry, I have enough faith to get us there." I told him that he had better have enough to compensate for my lack. So we said a little prayer and miraculously got to Kamloops without having to push the car.

Banff part 1

So here is Banff, one of the most strikingly beautiful places I've ever been. The pictures are in reverse order again so you'll have to bear with me. This is Peyto Lake. It has famously blue water but it was really foggy that day so it doesn't look as cool. It is also famous for looking like a dog. I think when I have a dog some day I will name it Peyto. This picture was taken at Consolation lakes. It was surrounded by huge boulders and Brandon accidentally dropped our camera lens in a pile of them. Luckily, we only cracked the filter on the lens. We also found bear scat on the trail. I took a picture of it, but I didn't post it on the blog.

This is Moraine Lake-- SO pretty! I don't have anything else to say, the picture says it all.

Here is the famous Lake Louise. Violet loved crawling along the board walk and the lighting made the lake look amazing.

And this last one was taken on the trail in Johnston Canyon.

Settling in

After 2 and a half weeks in our apartment, we finally have internet! We got unpacked within a couple of days, and I was so thrilled about the cuteness of our apartment that I had to put up some pictures of it. We didn't have much wall space, so we had to get creative with space and the bookcases ended up in the dining room. My favorite thing in this room is our cool tapestry from Brandon's aunt in India. And here is the living room, complete with our national parks picture wall, crocodile skin table, and new red rug. I love it. It's so us.

Besides the internet thing, everything has been going really well. I have a possible babysitting job, I get to hang out with Jennifer all the time, and Brandon likes his classes. He even gets to go to Belize for a field trip this semseter. Did I mention how much I love Rice?

Day 2 in Glacier

On the second day in Glacier we did a 10-mile hike to Iceberg Lake. There was a pretty waterfall along the way where we stopped and Violet had a great time with aunt Lena. Before the hike, McKay found an old Halloween costume in the car and decided to wear it. Somehow he wasn't embarrassed by this, but he was embarrassed when Brandon drew a small tattoo on his ankle. I will never figure out that kid.

This was our first view of Iceberg Lake. This was the lake where Brandon got into a long discussion with the ranger about the park's geology. She ended the conversation by saying, "Well, I really have to go change the toilet paper in the outhouse." She must have been desperate to get away.

Here is a closer picture of what we got to look at. We even witnessed one of the icebergs calving (breaking off a peice).

At the end of the day, Violet was pooped. She slept the entire 5 miles back to the car.

After that we concluded the Montana portion of our trip and headed off to Alberta.

the move

We are finally moved in! And nothing went as planned. On Saturday we went to pick up our new mattress on the way to our apartment. First we got stuck in terrible traffic, then we found out that I-45 was closed down where we wanted to go. So we had to find an alternate route, and I am not a very good navigator. So after another 45 minutes in the car we finally got to the mattress place only to find that they had LOST the mattress they sold us. They had us pick out a different one but if people hadn't been waiting for us I would have just told them to give me my deposit back and kiss my butt. When we went to pay the remainder, they didn't have a credit card machine and they wouldn't take our out-of-state check. Honestly, I don't know how that makes a difference, but they threw a big fit about it. So we forked out all the cash we had and paid a little with a check, and they were still mad about it. Anyways, we now have a nice pillowtop mattress but I am never doing business with them again. After that our move went fine, thanks to my wonderful family and awesome friends that came to help out. It's a relief to be in our own place! Thanks, everyone!

Finally a Canada post! First stop: Glacier

These pictures popped up in reverse order so I will not be going in chronological order on this post. This picture was at the end of our first day in glacier. There was a pretty gorge formed by a little stream that we hiked around. We saw our first bare there (no, that's not a typo). This is Hidden Lake. We hiked to it on our first day. (That was the hike that gave Violet the killer sunburn. Pictures of that later.) But it was so beautiful! There were little streams all around the trail and mountain goats would walk right up to you.

This was the ice field that we hiked across on our way to Hidden Lake. I stopped keeping track of how many times I slipped and fell on my butt after the third time.

We stopped at these rapids just after getting into the park. Glacial water is famously blue, as shown in this picture.

Brandon took this picture when he woke up after the first night. We camped out on the side of the road since we got there so late. One of Brandon's brothers scared the crap out of me in the middle of the night when he was walking around, but neither of them remembered it the next morning. As you can tell, Violet did very well sleeping outside.

Don't worry, we are still alive

And we didn't even have to use bear spray. We saw 3 bears, but none were agressive. Right now we are in Discovery Bay, Washington and here is what our trip has been like:

-Violet has loved it despite getting sun blisters (I know, I am a horrible mother) and teething.
- I jumped into a glacial lake, went swimming for a few minutes, and came out with a frozen butt.
- Violet enjoyed sleeping between Brandon and me on the air mattress all week. Brandon and I enjoyed it less.
- I saw a billboard advertising the "Testicle festival" (I'm assuming they were talking about Rocky Mountain oysters). No one thought it was as funny as I did.
- We hiked to a lake with a glacier flowing into it. Awesome.
- We went on a 10-mile hike to a lake with icebergs in it; Brandon started correcting the park ranger while she was talking about the geology of the park.
- I got squirted in the face by a squid. We were fishing for squid and when Lena caught one, I tried to release it and it inked me.
- We hiked in a rain forest today. I let Violet crawl under a tree and everyone else on the trail thought it was soooo funny.
- Violet went to the beach today for the first time.

I promise to post pictures as soon as I can!