Dancing in the Rain

Annley has never liked anything resembling a shower including sprinklers and rain.

This afternoon it looked as though it would start pouring any second so I took Annley outside.

It started raining as soon as we got outside but instead of bringing her inside immediately I decided to see how she would react.

Much to my surprise not a complaint escaped her pretty little lips. Instead she ran around playing and yelling "WOW!"

A few minutes later I brought her onto the porch where she continued to spalsh and play. Everytime she went into the steady flow of rain (that ran off the roof) we, my family and I would burst into cheers and praise. Soon she was dancing under the water not even the least bit phased by the water running into her eyes. Obviously I was pleased.

Eventually she remembered that it was also raining and the grass and went to the very edge of the porch and said "grass" so we put her in the grass and started a game of tag. Uncle Dustin put on his swim trunks and joined us in the yard.

Thirty minutes later we decided it was time to come inside. We stood on the porch completely soaked through and very happy.

Batter Batter Swing!

By Carmen

The last 2 weeks Tyler and I have been getting ready for the annual stake softball day.  We had 3 practices with our ward.  I was quite impressed with how well Tyler did, especially since he’d never played softball before our first practice.

Our ward was actually good.  Most of the team was fairly young and pretty athletic.  We were excited.

Today was the day. I was up this morning at 5:15 without an alarm clock anticipating the day of fun and games.

Our ward had enough people to help out 3 other teams who were short handed.  Tyler and I were put of a team with a ward who did not practice at all and who the majority were older and overweight.  “Great!” I thought “we have no chance at winning”.

Then I remembered it was church softball and who cares.  We didn’t win any of our games but we did improve vastly throughout the day. 

 

While Tyler and I were playing, Annley was playing with her Nana, the other kids who were there, and some of the other sisters who were there.  She had a blast eating her snacks and mooching from others.

 

It wasn’t until last week that I realized that I no longer have the body of a 16 year old.  What I mean by that is when I was 16 I could play a weekend long softball tournament and wake up the next morning with no aches and pains at all.

Now when I play a softball game or practice, I wake up feeling like I’ve been hit by a freight train.  Which has me concerned for what kind of shape I’ll be in (and how I’ll be walking) when I wake up tomorrow.

Summer Catch Up

By Carmen

It has been awhile since I’ve posted what has been going on around here lately. This summer has been pretty busy between going to a family reunion and day to day life. Here is a glimpse into what we’ve been up to.  Some of our adventures have not been photographed. 

Just a heads up: there are a lot of pictures in this blog.

The first few pictures are from the Kern’s Family Reunion.  The little girl with Annley is my cousin Celeste.

 

Here is what she has been up to lately.

A little Foosball.

  Learning to share.

A little dancing.

A trip to the Gatlinburg Aquarium.

TV with Papa

Kisses from Travis.

Learned to climb in the stroller by herself.

Started playing dress up in Mommy’s clothes.

And Daddy’s (she calls his shirts dresses).

 

  Became obsessed with Harper (a friend’s baby).

 

  And what summer would be complete without a road trip.

Not So Fun Surprises

By Carmen

This summer I've been cleaning up our yard.  Mainly picking up all the pinecones, sticks and branches that have fallen in the last six months.  The cosmetic work probably won't really get started until next spring.  I'll post pictures periodically but that's not what this blog is about.

This blog is about the not so fun surprises I've found while working and/or just walking about the yard. Unfortunately I only took pictures of one of these not so fun surprises.

Two weeks ago, I found a snake skeleton in our front yard that was about 2 feet long.

Last week I found a yellow jackets nest in our back yard (for those of you who don't know yellow jackets nest in the ground) while I was dumping out vegetable oil. 

This week I found the biggest black widow I've ever seen in my life in a web just on the side of my house. 

Many of you already know this but I am absolutely terrified of spiders.  Just seeing one the size of a pencil eraser or bigger makes me want to vomit, leaves me feeling crawly for hours and gives me nightmares. Which means I will not be looking at this post again.  Tyler asked me to get closer to it (he was obviously nuts).

I am waiting for Tyler to kill this particular spider so I can go outside without worrying where it is and what it is planning.  They are such sneaking creatures.

Not all of our surprises have been bad.  We have a bird that has been sleeping on the corner of a ledge on our porch for the last few nights.  He doesn't have a nest or anything.  Maybe he's been in the doghouse and just needed a place to crash for a few nights.

Heart Attack Anyone?

By Carmen

Tyler and I went to see the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. 

Luckily we have an awesome babysitter who didn't mind coming over to "watch" Annley while we went to the movie.

Tyler and I enjoyed our evening out but were looking forward to coming back home so we could get a couple hours of sleep before we had to start our day.

We turned on to our street and saw blue and white lights flashing.  Those lights looked like lights from a police car.  Those lights also looked like they were coming from our driveway.  We realized as we got closer that there were two police cruisers outside of our house.

My heart jumped to my throat as unrealistic thoughts about why the police were outside our house popped into my head.  Tyler pulled the car over to call our babysitter to find out what was going on. She did not answer. Thus my heart rate increased to the point that it felt like it would pop out of my chest at any minute.

We finally pulled up in front of our house.  Tyler lowered his window and asked the officer if every thing was okay.

Tyler:  "Evenin Officer,  is everything okay"

Officer: " Everything is fine"

An awkward moment of silence

Me: This is our house is everything okay?"

Officer: "Oh, yes everything is fine.  A neighbor called about the van parked outside your house."

Tyler:  "That's our babysitter's van. We were worried something was wrong with the baby or the babysitter."

Officer: Oh, well everything is fine.

I guess I understand that officers can't really divulge why they are at someone's house at 3AM but that was way more excitement than I could handle for one night.

I'm also glad to know that my neighbors pay close attention to what cars are normally around (granted this van was a large white work van with no windows) and are perfectly fine with calling the police with anything out of the ordinary.

Sleep

By Carmen

 

Last night Tyler, Annley and I went to Greenville.  We got there a around 7:30.  Annley's bedtime is at 8:00 so Tyler and I were hoping she would be able to stay happy until we made it home.

We were finally able to make it back to the car about 8:45.  Annley was so quiet in her car seat we were sure she was asleep.  We were about 5 minutes from home when we heard a little voice come from the back seat. 

Tyler and I asked Annley what she said and very quietly and sleepily said "sleep".  She repeated it a few times and managed to make it until we got home to go to sleep.

It was the cutest most pitiful word to hear her say.

Oatmeal

By Carmen

 

I make oatmeal for Annley on average 3 times a week.  Unfortunately I always have to cook it on the stove.  Why? Because EVERYTIME  I attempt to microwave it, the oatmeal overflows and I have a big mess to clean up.

I don't know why, but this morning I decided to attempt to microwave Annley's oatmeal thinking perhaps this time the oatmeal would stay in the bowl. 

WRONG!  Thirty-five seconds into cooking the oatmeal I had yet another big mess to clean up.

You'd think that someone who is able to cook pretty well could manage microwaving a little oatmeal.

Maybe someday I figure out what I'm doing wrong,  I'm sure its something ridiculously simple.

The silver lining in all this that by cooking the oatmeal on the stove I can make a weeks worth and just dish it out and reheat it every morning.