Sarah's 30th and So Much More

This has been a busy week around our house.  The craziness began with my thirtieth birthday on Monday.  This was an interesting birthday for me.  Since it was my thirtieth I planned to celebrate it a bit more than usual, but we have entered a stage with Merrick where birthdays are really important to him and he thinks everyone needs to have a birthday party, so I doubly could not ignore it this year.  As I mentioned last week, Jeremy and I went out to celebrate my birthday the Saturday before.  He bought us tickets to see Frank Caliendo at a comedy club downtown.  It was really fun and nice to be able to get out on a rare date night.  On my actual birthday I went out to lunch with my mom, Becca, and Rachel, Jeremy came home early from school with flowers and made us dinner, and we had everyone over for cake.

Things did not slow down on Tuesday.  After school we had our ward primary pumpkin patch.  They have this every year at our former bishop's house.  The kids pick out a pumpkin, make a few crafts, eat way too much junk, and play on the giant swing set in the yard.  Each year I have to pry Merrick away when it is time to go and this year was not any different.

Wednesday was the low point of the week.  After almost a month of visiting from India, we had to say goodbye to my mom.  As we drove away after crying our goodbyes, Jeremy said "So it does not get any easier, huh?"  Let me just say that no, it does not get any easier.

Thursday was a quiet day around here.  With nowhere to run off to and with Jeremy's class being canceled, we decided to decorate our pumpkins.  We did not carve this year but used push ins that my mom gave me when she moved.  I decided I like this approach way better than carving.  It does not make the mess that carving does and Merrick was able to be way more involved than he would have been had knives been involved.  And, as you can see, they turned out adorable (I am also including a picture of our "Merrick" pumpkin that we grew in our yard.  We had a "Carrigan"  pumpkin too but it was dinner for some creature one night...maybe these deer that were in our yard)

Friday was our ward Trunk or Treat.  Merrick went as Finn McMissile from Cars 2 and Carrigan went as a fairy princess.  We picked Merrick's costume up after Halloween last year and Carrigan's fairy wings and tutu came from the dollar store, yet despite the shoe string budget they both looked adorable.  I was just getting ready to put in the pictures, but then I decided to make you wait until next week to see them...I am mean like that.

Finally that brings us to Saturday and the conclusion of my birthday extravaganza.  I told Jeremy that I wanted some new clothes for my birthday and he was super sweet and watched the kids Saturday afternoon so that I could go shopping.  Then, he stepped up with dad duty again that night so that I could go out to dinner and have a girls night with some of my friends.  It was very strange, in a good way, to have a day where I could focus on myself and I am really grateful to Jeremy for making it possible.

Well, that was our week in a nutshell.  It was a whirlwind week to say the least.  Now we head into the holiday season and we all know how busy that time of year is.  I don't see things slowing down anytime soon.

Fall Lite

It has officially been Fall for a few weeks now, but so far the weather has been kind this year.  September was unusually rainy, but October has been unusually dry (and warm).  The last week or so it has been particularly dry and sunny so we decided to take advantage and head to the pumpkin patch, in shorts none the less.

We were a little more restricted in time this year than in years past (Jeremy had to study in the morning and had made plans for my birthday that evening, but more on that next week) so we stayed closer to home and went to Lee Farms just down the road.  None of us had ever been there, but they were doing a Groupon for the corn maze and I had read they had lots of other activities so we decided to give it a shot.

Since we were tight on time, and already had paid in advance, we decided to do the corn maze first.  Initially Merrick was really into it, choosing which way we would go at each fork, but over time his excitement waned and eventually we realized he thought the corn maze was not the activity, but an obstacle to get through in order to get to the activity.  Eventually we did make it out of the maze and Merrick asked if "we could go do the fun part now". 

So on to the fun part we went.  Merrick went on some different slides and on a tractor pull ride and we all enjoyed some fresh apple cider and pumpkin and apple cider doughnuts.  By the time the "fun part" was done, we were all tired and ready to go home.

I was mentioning to Jeremy how we never went to pumpkin patches in Arizona, but it is almost a right of passage into Fall here and it was the perfect day with such un-Fall like weather. 

Look Mom No Training Wheels

Last week we decided to take advantage of a warm, sunny day and headed to the park with the Brown boys and my mom (she is still in town watching Ben and Becca's boys while they are in Italy).  Merrick brought his scooter and Quincy and Colvin brought their bikes.  Colvin was super excited because he recently learned to ride without training wheels and he really wanted to teach Merrick too.

When they presented the idea to me I was hesitant.  Jeremy and I had already talked about it and we had decided that Jeremy would teach him next summer, but the boys were insistent.  Since Jeremy was there I figured they could give it a shot.  I assumed it would not go well and they would quickly move on to something else.

Turns out I was wrong.  On the very first attempt Merrick rode on his own!  Over the next hour or so they practiced over and over again.  Merrick was such a natural and picked it up so quickly.

When Merrick was little I remember writing all the time about how I felt like I was holding him back from things he could do because I was not ready for him to try.  I thought we were past that, but I guess not.  One thing I do know for sure is that riding is hard work.

5-Months Big

This week Carrigan turned five months old.  She is growing so fast I can hardly believe it.  I know I have said it many times before, but I wish I could freeze time and keep her tiny forever.  Alas she has different ideas and proves it by getting bigger and stronger everyday.  Here are a few of the things she has been working on this month:

*Rolling has become second nature.  She effortlessly rolls her little body all around.

*I am increasingly convinced that she could sit on her own if she wanted to.  She is super strong and has good balance, but is way more interested in standing than sitting.

*She loves to stand.

*She knows how to reach for the things she wants and get them directly into her mouth.  Case in point, the picture below when she decided our little photo session was over and it was time for her to remove and eat her sticker.

*She is working on pre-crawling skills by beginning to lift her belly when on her stomach and using her feet to inch herself forward.

*She shows clear preferences for certain people, including her brother.  One of my favorite things that has happened recently it that Merrick has discovered that he can make her laugh and he loves to try.  She clearly loves him and he eats it up.

*She loves to scream and yell (both when when she is happy and mad).

*She loves her tongue.  It is rare to get a smile without it.  Again, see below.

*She is very droolly  (although not as droolly as Merrick was).  Combine that with the fact that she has decided she likes to spit and it makes for a very wet baby most of the time.

This is nothing new, but she is such a joy and blessing to our family.  We could not imagine life without her.