Magic, Princesses, and Tired Feet

Tacy's hair got crazy curly from the humidity

We had been telling Tacy for a few days that we were going to go see Princesses.  We asked Tacy who she really wanted to see and Tacy told us: Ariel, Cinderella, Belle, Rapunzel and Jasmine.  She would also add Minnie Mouse to that list too sometimes.  Also funny because she loves Frozen so while Ariel is her favorite princess, I would say that Elsa and Anna are close seconds (and yes they are two people but Tacy always says "ElsaAnna" like they are one).

On the Tram

Thank goodness for blogs and our friends to help give us ideas on how to have a good day at Disney with a toddler.  We set up Fast Passes the night before (after we put Tacy to sleep in our hotel).  We arranged to meet Ariel, for Brad and Tacy to drive on the Speedway, for us all to go on Jungle cruise, and then Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain for Brad and I.  Since Tacy is free she can't get any fast passes and just goes with a parent.  Brad and I could each get 3.  So we tried to pick things for all of us to do and things we could split up (like meeting a princesses, driving cars, and adult roller coasters).  We learned about Rider Swap, where an adult can get a fast pass for say Thunder Mountain, and then when going to the line with your family you tell the cast member that you want to do Rider Swap so they give you a ticket to give to the parent waiting with the child.  That way once I was done riding Thunder Mountain, Brad could then go in the Fast Pass line (without needing to use his own Fast pass) and get right on.  That's how we both got to ride Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain - by going alone and trading being with Tacy.

Tacy loved riding the Tram from the parking lot to the boats/monorail.  The line for the monorail was really long so we took the ferry across the lake/pond to Magic Kingdom.  Then we went in to the park.  We saw Micky and Minnie taking pictures but thought that we would go use our morning fast passes and come back.  Tacy saw Minnie Mouse and was sad not to get in the line to see her.  But we walked into Tomorrowland and saw that there were super short lines everywhere.  So we all rode on the Speedway (Tacy was with Brad and I was along).  My car had no guts, seriously, I had my foot down the whole time and going up some of those hills I was completely stopped until Brad would bump into me from behind (they were love pushes).  Poor Brad and Tacy were stuck behind my dead car.  But Tacy didn't care because she had fun "steering".

We all rode the People Movers, which basically takes you all around Tomorrowland and tells you about each ride/attraction.  Tacy got a little scared in the dark spots.  Then Brad went to ride Space Mountain while Tacy and I did Astro Blastor.  Tacy loved it!  She loved controlling the height of our space ship (after I showed her how).  Gosh that ride feels like it is spinning fast when it is ending and coming down.

On the Astro Blaster, this picture makes me laugh

We were sad that the Buzz ride was closed (apparently Buzz and Peter Pan are closed every Thursday for refurbishment :( ) So we left Tomorrowland, walked around Cinderella Castle (per Tacy's request) and went to go meet Ariel.  I worried that Tacy would be shy and that I would have to walk up to every princess with her, but she ran up to Ariel when it was her turn.  She started showing Ariel her dress (she was wearing her Minnie Mouse dress) and talking about Ariel's clothes and bubbles.  She was talking away and loved it!  It was adorable.

After Ariel we rode Ariel's ride.  Then we went and stood in line to meet Cinderella and Rapunzel.  Their line was only a 20 minutes wait (as opposed to Elsa and Anna's 120 minutes wait).  So we moved pretty quick, and were inside a nice air conditioned castle designed room most of the time.  Tacy talked a lot with Cinderella and Rapunzel too.  She and Rapunzel talked about shoes and Rapunzel told her how she did not use to wear shoes but now she does because she learned how important they are.  That made me laugh because Brad had been wondering if she would be wearing shoes or not.

After meeting those princesses, Brad managed to swap out his speedway fast pass (that we didn't use) to reserve a time to meet Elsa and Anna.  Then we walked over to Adventureland for Jungle Cruise.  As we were walking over, the Move It dance party was going on.  I was a little sad to be missing it, but Brad wanted to get over to the adventureland.  So we climbed through The Swiss Family Treehouse (Tacy loved the water and all the stairs) and then we got onto Jungle Cruise.  Tacy loved seeing all the animals and water of course.  I love Jungle cruise because the conductors are always so funny.  After Jungle Cruise we then went over and stood in line for Pirates of the Carribean.  It was maybe a 25 minute wait, so not bad again for not having a fast pass.  Tacy did get scared in the dark (thank you for the glow sticks Anita!  We used them to help distract Tacy from the scariness of dark places during rides), but I love that ride so much and she enjoyed watching the pirates I think.

On Jungle Cruise, Tacy was a little distracted by the animals and conductor

We took a lunch break and ate our peanut butter sandwhiches and granola bars.  Then we walked over to Frontierland and I rode Thunder Mountain (I love that ride so much) then traded with Brad so he rode it and then went straight over to Splash Mountain.  While Tacy and I waited for Brad, Tacy ran around the little play area by Splash Mountain.  It was aimed for kids younger than her, but she still had fun climbing and watching other kids.  She would run over to me every now and then to give me a hug, ask for water, or to take a goldfish break before going back to playing.  Then Brad was done so I rode Splash Mountain.  When I finished, Brad and Tacy were in line to meet Woody and Jessie.  Tacy loves Toy Story but by the time we got up to meet them she got scared and was crying throughout the pictures (I think it's because they are in full costume and don't talk like the princesses - big heads would be a little intimidating to me too if I didn't understand).  I think this was the longest line we waited in all day, not necessarily because it was long, but because it was slow.  You met Woody and Jessie at the same time and they spent like 5 minutes with each person taking pictures and hugging.  Oh well.

Unhappy Tacy

Silly faces on the train

After Woody and Jessie, we rode the train back to Fantasyland.  We still had time until we got to meet Elsa

and Anna so Tacy played in the water by the circus area (it was hot so it felt good).  Then we rode Brain Stormer and she was just tall enough for her first coaster.  She did not make a sound the whole time during the ride and just stayed close to me (it reminded me of when I went on my first coaster and was too scared to even scream) but then she was fine once we got off and said she had fun.  Then Tacy and I rode Dumbo (Brad is not good at circle rides).  Then we all walked over and waited in line for 5 minutes (yay for Fast passes) to see Elsa and Anna.  Elsa told Tacy that Olaf's favorite color is pink so he would love her dress and be her best friend.  Anna was fun and played hide and seek with the girl before Tacy because she was scared/shy.  Tacy of course walked right up to her and talked away about clothes again.

After the princesses, Tacy and I rode the merry-go-round and then we all went on It's a Small World.  Tacy enjoyed it.  By then we were all tired and it was getting late.  We walked back around the castle for Tacy and went into a store along Main Street where Tacy picked out a princess place mat.  Then we took the Ferry back to the Tram and rode the Tram to the car.  Tacy fell asleep within 2 mintues of being in the car.  We did stop at Checkers on the way back to the hotel to get burgers, fries, and shakes.  Tacy woke up at the hotel and ate some, took a bath, and then went right to sleep.  We walked over 16,000 steps that day and my feet were so tired!  But it was so fun, even though we missed all the parades, we were busy all day and did not have to wait very long for anything.  We all had fun and got lots of fun pictures!

Gator Fever

Brad had spring break last week and we had been talking for a while about short trips we could go.  We had been looking at hotel deals for Myrtle Beach, SC and Charleston, SC.  Then one day, Brad emailed me asking about Orlando because he was finding good hotel deals there and knew how much I wanted to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  He also researched to find out that it is only (yes I did say only) 8.5-9 hour drive to Orlando.

This alligator was nice and close

So we started looking into it, I talked to our friends in Gainesville to see if we could visit them, and I found an amazing hotel deal.  So we decided to do it.  But with Tacy I decided that Disney World would be more her speed then Universal.  So we bought tickets for Disney.  Luckily Tacy is still free at either park, so we might as well take her while she is free to go see her princesses.  

Yelling out to the alligators

So we left Wednesday, March 4th, and drove down from Raleigh to Florida (that added 3 more states for Tacy and 2 for Brad - I have printed off USA maps so we can color in the states Tacy has been too because I think it is fun).  Brad had taken Tacy to the dollar store to get little toys for her to help with the drive.  I'm so glad disney princesses are so popular so that they are at the dollar store.  Tacy and Brad picked out two princess books, a princess puzzle, a Dora coloring doll thing, and a princess notebook (to use in Disney for signatures).  Between the books, coloring Dora and watching disney movies on our portable DVD player, Tacy was pretty happy during the drive.  She did not sleep at all though.  

Watching a movie and fighting her tiredness

We stopped in Gainesville to meet up with our friends and went to the La Chua Trail to go see alligators.  Signs posted at the trail told us that there were also bison, wild horses, turtles, etc in this preserve and to be careful.  Tacy was excited.  It's so funny all the different animals she loves that are actually pretty scary.  Examples: alligators, dragons, tigers, and dinosaurs.  

It was a hot day and super muggy and all of us were wearing pants (it had been a little cold that morning in Raleigh).  Needless to say we were pretty warm after just walking the boardwalk.  But luckily, even though it was hot, there were still a lot of gators out and about to see.  Tacy loved seeing the alligators.  As soon as she saw the marsh water she asked if she could go swimming.  We then had to explain to her that we do not swim in water with alligators.  When she asked "why?" we then had to inform her the scary news about alligators - that they can hurt people.  Then she was a little more nervous about seeing alligators.  

But we still had fun running around the boardwalk and looking at all the lounging gators.  My smart friend Anita brought drinks and snacks for the kids so when Tacy asked me for her water (which I thoughtlessly left in our car), Anita gave me a capri-sun.  Tacy drank that thing so fast!  It was pretty hot (89 degrees actually).  We were going to walk farther along the trail, but a man walking back warned us about a bison a couple hundred yards up the trail who had attacked a person.  All us parents then decided it was time to turn around.  

So we then drove over to the Draney's and had fun talking and eating dinner at their house.  Tacy loved playing with their two kids and all of their toys.  She is shameless when around other peoples toys and will just grab them like they are hers.  Silly kid.  After dinner and discussing Disney tips, we left to finish the last 2 hour drive to Orlando.  Tacy fell asleep in the car for a bit then and woke up when we got to Orlando so we could get situated in the hotel.  The nice part about the hotel was that we had a kitchen and living area separate from the bedroom.  

Book Nerd

Seriously, I LOVE books.  If I could spend my day any way, it would be reading (well and sleeping, and eating chocolate and ice cream).  Ha ha.  And while I feel like I have so little time when I work 8 hours a day monday-friday and use saturdays to run errands and sundays for church, and somewhere in there make dinners, be a mom and wife and exercise....I still manage to read. 

My little sassy pants trying on new clothes from grandma

I have been making a list of the books I have read this year.  I saw someone else's blog who did a book review every month or something.  I thought, that would be interesting to keep track of what I have read and what I felt about it.  So I started making a list (thank you google drive).  So while life is busy, I have managed to read 7 books so far this year :) (that's supposed to be a sheepish smile).  Did I mention i'm a book nerd?

I do want to mention my two latest books.  They both happen to be movies as well. 

Unbroken - it's a movie in theaters right now I still believe which means I will probably see if in the Fall when it finally comes to redbox.  But my book club picked this book to read.  I love historical fiction (granted this one is straight history).  I love WWII (that might sounds wierd because it was a war and lots of sad/devastating things happened during it).  But seriously, that war fascinates me.  So this book was great.  I love how it was written.  I recently read In the Heart of the Sea (which is also a historical book) and author bored me to tears sometimes with the way he told the story and strung facts.  Laura Hillenbrand does a phenomenal job writing a great/interesting story while using lots of different peoples accounts and facts.  It is incredible and sad all the things Louis Zamperini went through but such a great story of survival, forgiveness and redemption.  

I also just finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  I actually watched this movie in August during the time when Brad was at school and Tacy and I ran out of things to do before I started working.  I liked the movie and it made me cry.  Now I read the book.  The book was great.  It's historical fiction about WWII, particularly about a little girl names Liesel who happens to steal a few books during the course of the war (a girl after my own heart).  It is a heart wrending story and I was crying a lot (at the same part I cried during the movie).  The most interesting thing is that the narrator is Death.  It is different but once again, I loved it (minus the bit of language).

So now that I have read lots of WWII books, I think I might read my favorite again, "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society".  I'm in charge of book club in March and while reading all the books that I have been reading I keep wondering what book I'm going to suggest to read.  My mom told me I should use Guernsey, and while part of me wonders what on earth I would discuss the other part of me would love to discuss it because I love the book so much (plus its not a long book so it's easy to read).  

Other book related news, Brad has spring break the first week of March and we've been talking about doing a quick little trip somewhere (like Myrtle Beach or Charleston).  Friday Brad sent me an email talking about Orlando, saying that while it is a 10 hour drive, we could go to Harry Potter world and he was looking at hotels in Orlando and finding good deals.  The man knows how to sway me to an idea.  While HP world is a pretty penny, Tacy at least is still free.  Granted I think Disney World would be more Tacy speed, HP world is somewhere I have wanted to go since it was built, it would make the 11-year-old girl in me who first started reading those books in 1998 so very giddy.  We will see.  Plus, Florida has got to be warmer than here.  It's amazing how 22 degrees feels so warm after 9 degrees.  

Time? What's that again?

So, I haven't blogged in a while.  I will explain why.  I got PiYo for christmas (at home 8 week exercise program, requires no equipment, just your body, involves doing about a 30 minute workout 6 days a week).  So after all the holiday festivities (my parents leaving after new years) I new it was time to start.  Well, I'm not a morning person.  My sister Katie is a beachbody coach and is the one who convinced me to do this PiYo stuff and she gets up at 4:45 every morning to workout before her daughter wakes up.  Well, that is so not me!  I will sleep in as long as I can (which with Tacy usually I never sleep past 7 but it's better than 4:45).  I work 8:30 - 5 Monday-Friday so the only time I really have to do these workouts is at night after Tacy is in bed and Brad starts studying.  

This means that instead of reading all night (like I used to), I now have to set aside at least an hour to do a workout and then shower.  When Tacy is usually in bed by 7:30, I usually start the workouts at 8 and so I'm done around 9 with cleaning up.  Boy, is it time consuming when I think about how little reading I do now (yes I am a bookworm and would read all day if I could).  I also hardly every watch TV, which reminds me that I missed seeing The Blacklist on Thursday and I haven't been able to watch Agent Carter for the past 2 weeks either.  I just get so tired from these workouts and forget about TV shows.  

my little sassy pants wearing my heels

Needless to say, I do enjoy the workouts.  For the most part they are perfect at getting me to move and pushing me without killing me (I have also learned that making sure my blood sugar is good before the workout is key because when I get low while working out, everything becomes hard and I just want to punch someone).  So sugar and working out and then showering.  Night showering has also led to my hair being in a pony tail every morning because even after blow drying my hair, sleeping on it causes it to kink wierd and I just don't have time/energy in the morning to fix it.  Oh well.  I have completed the first 5 weeks of PiYo already!  Only 3 weeks left.  This is a big deal for me because exercise is not something I enjoy (even though my Bachelors is in Exercise Science).  Before PiYo I just had normal life of walking, caring Tacy around, chasing Tacy around, stairs, and walking back and forth down the hall at work.  Now I run the stairs at work every time I go to the bathroom/fill up my waterbottle and I do PiYo every night.  

My work does the Vitality program where you get an insurance discount for getting a certain amount of points for healthy activities (like reading about nutrition, getting blood work done, exercising, etc).  You can then use these points to get stuff like amazon gift cards or fitbits.  So I got a fitbit with my points and now I try to walk as much as I can.  I have become a point junky because I just want to get enough to get more things (obviously rewards systems are the best motivation for me).  But that has been me life since the beginning of this year.

Tacy loves taking selfies with my phone when i'm too busy to notice

As for life other then exercising, Brad started his second semester of PA school and it is rough but he is surviving.  Tacy is getting bigger, we keep talking about potty training but I feel like we never have time to potty train since Brad and I are gone all day during the week and weekends involve running errands and church.  One day, this will be done and I'm sure it will be great.  

necklaces and purses are required for outgoings out some days

I have managed to read quite a few books still, even with my new exercise regimen.  I keep finding lists of books on pinterest, then I check these out at the library and try to find the time to read them all.  I don't always have the time and sometimes return books that I have not gotten the chance to read.  But I have read: Still Alice, Child 44, The Secret Speech, The Last Apprentice, The Martian, and I just started Unbroken.  I read maybe 30 pages of Gone Girl, but I stopped because the language was ridiculously bad and I couldn't handle it.  I read the plot summary on wikipedia instead (still not great but I did not like the characters as it was so I will survive).  Most of the books listed are movies or will be coming out soon.  I would recommend all of the books, though the Last Apprentice is a young adult book and it was interesting but not Harry Potter by any means.  One day I will just talk about books.  

Tacy has been pulling some of the funniest poses when she says 'cheese' lately

But life is buys and it's almost Valentines.  Tacy will be 2.5 tomorrow!  Gosh, the time has flown by!  Brad taught Tacy to say "Sup Homie" which her sunglasses on and while making a peace sign (this is what happens when I run into a store to grab a few things).  Tacy is talking a lot!  Her latest phrase she likes to use when she is upset is "Leave alone me!"  Tacy gets hangry a lot, so I'm learning that when in doubt, just feed her food and usually her meltdowns calm down.  Since I pick her up at 5:20 every day, it's close to dinner time and she is starting to get hangry.  I love the happy nights we have, but sometimes she is just fussy.  But overall she is a happy kid.  She loves to read, dance, sing (she sings songs to herself a lot and it's adorable).  While my parents were hear my mom taught Tacy new songs about Monkeys jumping on beds and bonking heads or monkeys teasing an alligator and then getting eaten (morbid sounding I know but Tacy loves them because they involve actions and are silly).  She really loves "Twinkle Twinkle", and she is still a big fan of Shake it Off.  Tacy loves to pick out her clothes and then help Brad and I pick out our clothes.  She also loves to help in the kitchen with dinner, making sandwiches, whatever.  It can be hard but she is a cutie when she carries her step stool over to stand by us to help.  We love our Tacy Lou!

She loves her new swimsuit so much I had to hide it cause she wanted to wear it every day

The Joy of the Holidays

November and December always fly by!  Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years are all so jam-packed close together that the end of the year goes by so fast.  

Well November Brad and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary!  I worked and Brad had school, but the next evening Brad surprised me by arranging for a baby-sitter so we could go to dinner at The Pitt in Raleigh (good ol Carolina BBQ).  It was delicious and so fun to go out just the two of us.  We got through dinner pretty fast (it was a Tuesday after all) so we headed across the street from the restaurant to a Videri Chocolate Factory.  We got to see how they make their chocolate, sample all the different varieties and we bought a bar and one truffle (the most expensive bar I have bought in my life but it is a yummy 60 cocoa salty chocolate).  

For Thanksgiving we drove up to Northern Virginia to spend the holiday with Brad's Aunt and Uncle and the two boys still at home.  We had so much fun with Mike, Karen, Johnny and Will and Tacy loved the boys (especially "Jogey"). We spent Black Friday in the capitol doing a family version of Amazing Race around the Lincoln Memorial, WWII memorial, Korean War Memorial, and Vietnam War Memorial looking for random little things you don't normally look for at DC.  It was freezing!  Tacy would not keep gloves on her hands so they were so red.  We were there with all of Aunt Karen's family and one of her sisters offered the use of her scarf to wrap around Tacy's hands.  We had fun, even if it was cold.  

Brad finished up his finals the first week of December and survived/passed them all!  He has been able to stay home with Tacy all of the month after his finals so the two of the have had a lot of bonding time.  I love coming home from work seeing them playing!  School starts back up next week and this month was the longest break Brad gets off for the next 2 years so we have enjoyed the time while it lasts.  

Brad's mom came out to visit us for a few days Dec. 11-15th.  Tacy loved spending time with "Maga".  While she was here we got to go to the Apex Nativity at our stake center by the Raleigh Temple where there were over 900 nativity sets displayed and different choirs singing carols all day.  We all loved it!  Tacy loved sitting and just listening/watching the high school choir sing.  She also loved walking around looking for baby Jesus.  We have been talking a lot about our Savior and how the Christmas season is all about celebrating the glorious birth of Jesus.  Tacy has loved Jesus for a long time and now she loves baby Jesus too.    It is so cute when she asks to watch a baby Jesus video (thank you mormon.org and Mormon Messages for all the Christmas videos).  I have three nativities but none of them are toddler friendly, so we spent a Family Home Evening coloring a paper nativity for Tacy to play with.  Needless to say they are very colorful!  Tacy loves arranging all the characters and animals and finding baby Jesus and Jesus' mommy (Mary) and daddy (Joseph).  

In fact Tacy is at an age where everything must have a mommy and daddy.  Anytime she deems something a baby she then tells us what is the baby's mom and dad.  We were at the park on Saturday enjoying our 60 degree weather and Tacy and I found lots of acorns.  Tacy was examining them and picking up some and started calling them "baby corns".  So then she pointed out to Brad and I the daddy corn and mommy corn.  It's adorable even if not true.  I did explain briefly that the trees were actually the acorns mommy but Tacy did not seem to listen to that idea.

Christmas was fun because even though we stayed here in NC instead of going to see family, we got to spend lots of time with friends.  There are a lot of people here we have met at church who like us do not live by family because of jobs or they are also in grad school.  We had a friend Christmas Eve dinner with 2 other couples (6 adults and 3 kids).  

Brad cooked a turkey - which was an experience because we have never cooked one before.  Brad wanted to try injecting flavor but the herb and garlic mariande was too thick for the needle so Brad had to strain out the herbs before he could inject the liquid base.  Then he injected Carolina BBQ sauce in one leg and left the other leg plain.  I made stuffing for the turkey, jello, salad, and cookies.  However, with all the fuss of cutting up the turkey, we completely forgot everything in the fridge.  Luckily there was enough food at the dinner that the salad and jello were not missed.  

Christmas was a fun/adventurous morning.  I wanted to make Christmas breakfast with my dad's delicious waffle recipe, sausage, and grapefruit.  We bought cool whip and berries to put on the waffles and had syrup already.  Well the waffle iron was not seeming to warm up all the way.  I thought maybe the ready light wouldn't come on until batter was cooked, so I put some in the iron and waiting another 10 minutes.  The waffles did not cook at all.  So I then had to clean out the iron while Brad took a look at it and deemed it dead.  So waffles turned into pancakes.  They were still delicious.  Tacy ate 3 with just butter, I used the cool whip and berries and Brad used jam (we could not find our syrup). 

 Then we shocked Tacy when we told her that she could open presents now.  After so long of not being able to touch them she was pretty excited.  She had so much fun ripping paper off every present (even if it was not her own).  If she uncovered a box, she would move on to the next present, being too impatient to wait to open the box.  We had to keep stopping her to get her to finish opening each present.  She got a lot between us, aunts, and her grandparents.  It was so fun watching her excitement with each gift.  We bought Tacy and Elsa dress, which she has wanted to wear every day since, and a kitchen which she uses to cook us lots of meals.  My sister got Tacy a cabbage patch doll which Tacy loves to carry around.  She also got 3 barbies from each grandma and one of Brad's sisters.  So we play a lot.

We had Christmas dinner at the church with 6-7 different young families.  I brought rolls and the forgotten salad from the night before.  There was once again lots of food.  Tacy had fun running around with other kids. It was nice to spend the holiday with friends and not have to cook everything alone.

That has been our busy holiday.  We are finishing the holidays with my parents arriving tomorrow.  Tacy is loving seeing all of her grandparents.  We are enjoying it too.

Oh and Brad grew out a neatly trimmed beard and mustache for Movember.  He had fun slowly shaving it off the first few days of December during finals.

Precious Moments

Today has been a day where I have just sat and watched Tacy a lot and smiled.  This girl cracks me up so much with her cute and funny personality.  It started with us all getting ready this morning.  I had put my hair up in a pony tail and put Tacy's hair up in two piggy tails.  Then I was trying to do my makeup, so Brad offered to let Tacy brush his hair (Friday morning she asked him if she could).  So he sat down a step while Tacy took the brush to brush his very short hair.  Then she asked him if she could give him a piggy tail and he said yes.  So she ran in to the bathroom and asked for an elastic which I gave her.  At this point I stopped doing my makeup so I could watch her and get pictures.  Tacy tried so hard to put the elastic in Brad's hair and finally put it on top of his head.  She then gave it back to me and asked for a bow.  This was still not working due to his short hair (his beard probably would have held the bow).  Tacy tried putting the bow on top of his head and putting her hand over the bow to keep it in place.  I was laughing so much.  She finally gave up and gave me the bow.  Then she brushed his hair a few more times and told him that he was "all done".  Brad thanked her for helping him.

Later, Tacy kept wanting to lay down to "sleep".  She would lay in bed and ask to be covered by her blanky and then suck her thumb or giggle because pretending to sleep is so funny to her.  Well, after her real nap, she was playing and ran upstairs and came back down with her pillow (she loves her pillow, especially ever since I made her a pillow cover with her choice of fabric).  She then laid the pillow on the ground, put her blanket over her and laid down.  She then rolled over and got my attention all to tell me that she was sleeping. 

Tacy has the funniest/cutest little imagination.  After running errands I asked her if she wanted to go for a walk. I was surprised she said no and played by herself.  She put her doll in time out and let me know that her doll was in time out (she put her little blue chair in the corner where Tacy sits for time out).  Then she was sitting on the floor with her baby and barbie talking away, laughing, singing songs to them and dancing with them.  Then she had her baby and barbie lay down on her pillow with her to sleep.  Her little imagination is so fun.  I stopped reading to just watch her and I couldn't help smile.  I love her little pretend conversations with herself and her toys.  She repeats alot of the same words or phrases and will then start laughing and keep on talking.  

Tacy is pretty good at playing like this by herself as long as I am in the room.  So I can read while she plays and she will sometimes run to tell me something and then go back to playing (like saying that her baby was in time out).  But she will not play for long by herself if we are in separate rooms. 

Tacy has been picking out her outfits and this one cracked me up with all her stripes

A couple days ago Tacy really melted my heart.  It was Wednesday I think and we were all ready and had a few minutes before we had to leave for work/school.  Tacy was playing and I went up and hugged Brad.  Well, Tacy saw us and ran up and hugged Brad's leg and looked up at him and said "Love you" then she ran away giggling while Brad tried to chase after her to get a full on hug.  After this, while driving Tacy to drop her off at our friends for the day, Tacy was talking to herself and then said "Love you Mom".  That evening she told us that she loved us again.  Tacy has told us this before, but it's so fun now that she seems to do it a little more often and it's so random sometimes.  I just love it.  Brad and I tell her that we love her repeatedly every day.  I'm glad that she is telling us she loves us too now. 

Tacy felt Sully needed to be buckled in her car seat

I just love watching her play.  It is so fun to watch her, to see how happy she is and how creative and imaginative that she is.  My little girl is getting so big.  It's moments like these where I just smile and remember how much I love this precious daughter we have.

Oh and Tacy loves listening/watching Taylor Swift's Shake it Off.  Tacy will dance to it and it's so cute.  She is now trying to mimic some of the things Taylor does in the music video and it cracks me up.

My Love of Fall

So I was the weird kid in kindergarten who picked fall as my favorite season while all the other kids picked winter or summer (this is a memory I can never forget because we drew pictures of our favorite season and then our teachers put them on a board to display so it was very easy to see that my opinion was not the same as everyone else).  While I did feel odd/outnumbered at the time, I stood by my decision.  I do truly love fall!  Spring is a close second.  Here are the reasons why I love fall most:

Tacy's art project made from leaves she collected during a walk

1. I love the crisp autumn air!  I don't know a better way to describe it, but it's how the air feels when it is no longer hot from summer but is starting to cool down, and you can smell the leaves, your cheeks get a little pink from the cold but it just feels so refreshing to be outside...I love it!

2. I love the fall colors!  I missed seeing all the leaves changing colors while living on the west coast.  Yes, it does happen, but not to the degree and amount that it does here on the east coast (probably helps that there are a whole lot more trees over here).  Fall colors are so warm and beautiful.  I love driving during the fall because it is just gorgeous to look out and see green, brown, yellow, bright orange, red, etc.  Fall is just a beautiful time of year and makes me appreciate this world so much.

3. I LOVE apples!  Seriously, I love eating apples, I love apple pie, I love apple smells, I love finding new apple recipes (I'm going to make apple pancakes tomorrow and I'm so excited!).  Cider is nice too, but I love the carbs of apple deserts!  Haha.  The NC State Farmers market is perfect because the farmers there bring such a wide variety of apples and sell them for such a good deal!  Apple heaven! I love winecrisps and I'd never even heard of them until a few weeks ago.  Brad's favorite are arkansas black.  They are yummy too.  It's fun eating and finding these not as popular/common types of apples. Brad rolls his eyes at my obsession with apples, but hey, they are delicious, yummy and healthy!  At work, my co-worker bought apple spice air wick plug ins and it makes our little office smell so good!  Not all the other girls agree, but Angela and I love it!

4. I love wearing jeans and sweatshirts.  Fall is perfect sweater weather!  It's not too cold that you need to bundle up so you don't freeze to death and it's not too warm that you are uncomfortable in modest clothes.  I love it!  I love being all warm and snuggly (just ask Brad about Tacy and my obsession with blankets and being well wrapped).  Seriously, I will turn on the fan so it is cool enough to need to be wrapped up in my comforter at night.  

5. On top of being great comfortable sweater weather, it is also perfect weather to exercise!  So i'm not great at exercising but we did a 5k walk for diabetes (November is National Diabetes Awareness month) on Saturday and then I went for a short run.  It was perfect!  I got warm but i was comfortable jogging in my yoga pants and a t-shirt.  It was great.  Gotta love the brisk air!!!  

6.  I love leaves!  I have many found memories of my Dad racking up all the leaves in our front yard in NC and letting me jump into the pile and play.  My freshman year at BYU I remember jumping in leave piles with my friends once.  It's just so fun.  I would love to do a fall family photo shoot with all the leaves and beautiful colors...maybe next year since we just had some done in July.  

Well, I could probably think of more but they all start to be similar.  I just love Fall, baking, apples, and the beautiful leaves.  North Carolina is the best place to spend fall because Fall lasts for a few months not just a week.  Oh, fall also makes me think of soccer.  I miss KSA soccer days.  

I hope everyone has been able to enjoy some Fall at least as not everyone lives in a place with a long enough Fall (#1 reason I'm happy not to be in Utah right now, well that and the snow, but that's kinda the same thing).