Fall? Where are you?

So I feel totally gypped this year. Fall is my favorite season and I'm pretty sure it lasted all of 4 days. It was still 90 degrees the beginning of this month. Maybe it will come back. I don't know. But what I do know is that it snowed about 6 inches last night! Craziness! We woke up with snow on Monday, but it was just a light dusting. Today - serious business.

October 27th, 7:30 am.

I can't believe this is happening already. It was still snowing the end of May this year. Remember this post? May 24 - snow.

But we are prepared! I got Eli some snow pants and boots at Kid-to-Kid and we just ripped up our garden on Friday and mowed the lawn for the final time this year. So bring on the snow! (not too much though please; I still prefer autumn) We're ready for it....I think.

Nursery

Nursery is the greatest thing ever.

Eli had his first day on Sunday and he did so well! I had to be in another ward for my Stake calling, so Jeremy took him, but he said he just walked in, saw the toys, and was totally fine. I was back in time to pick him up and they said he was great! I guess he got a little nervous during singing time, but he didn't cry or anything so that was good. It was great to only have to wrestle him during sacrament meeting. Wow, that makes a big difference. Anyway, this is short, but I am excited to have begun this new phase! Hooray.

$5 Nightstands

If you know me well, you know I love a good deal. You know I can be cheap at times (okay, often) and that I love any way to "pinch my pennies". So it should come as no surprise that I've been using a box covered with a tablecloth as a nightstand for the past 3 years, and nothing for the several years before that. It was functional though! Poor Jeremy had nothing.

Anyway, so I thought the time had come to look for some nightstands. I still wasn't ready to buy anything new and expensive (someday I want to get a king bed - I like to stretch out when I sleep - and then I want to get a really nice bedroom set, but that won't be for awhile). So I started looking on the KSL Classifieds, which if you live in Utah and you've never used those, you are missing out. We found our car there and half the furniture in our house - and I've sold many an item on there as well.

So I was looking every so often and I discovered that the Marriott Residence Inn near our house was completely renovating their rooms and were selling all their furniture for cheap. It advertised $10 for nightstands, dressers, desks, lamps, etc. So I went down and took a look and sure enough, they had truckloads of furniture they were trying to get rid of. Now they're not the most gorgeous nightstands ever, but like I said, I'm waiting till I get my nice set sometime down the road. Turns out, they were $5 each. Suhweet! So I bought two of them and then we went to Home Depot and got new knobs for a couple bucks and they look great! This is very exciting. :) If you're in the area, the sale is still going on. They seriously had a ton of stuff. Sofa beds for $20 (great for college students or something), arm chairs, desks for $10, etc. It's used and it looks a little like hotel furniture, but it's in good condition and it does the job!

So here's a little pic of the new purchase. Not much but definitely better than a box. :)

By the way, I've had that pink clock since I got it for Christmas when I was 8 or 9. I know, it's amazing.

Boy or Girl?

I can't believe I'm already 18 weeks along. Wow, this pregnancy is going fast! I couldn't even believe I was pregnant in the first place (hence the two tests; it took us almost a year with Eli and this time - first try, oh boy), and now I'm almost halfway. So that means 2 weeks from today, we find out if we're having a boy or girl! Jeremy keeps trying to get me to guess what I think he/she is, but I seriously have no idea. I thought Eli was a girl, so that shows how great my "mother's intuition" is. This time, I have no idea. I secretly hope it's a boy, because I have boy clothes, toys, etc. and they'll be almost exactly 2 years apart, so hopefully the clothes would fit in the right seasons, you know; and I think it'd be fun to have 2 little boys so they could be buddies. But of course I'll be happy with a girl too! I don't know. Jeremy kind of thinks it's a boy, but I think he wants it to be a girl. :) Haha. So we really have no idea.

But I'd love to hear what you think! I set up a little poll to your right, so now's your time to vote. My appointment is November 1st in the early morning, so hopefully the babe will cooperate so we can find out!

He talks!

It's amazing how much Eli is talking now. When Jeremy's parents were here a few weeks ago, he was starting to say a few things, but just in the few weeks since then his vocabulary has exploded! It's so fun. Every day, he figures out how to say something else and we love his little discoveries. Here are some of the words he can say now (in some form or another; most are pretty accurate):

• dad, daddy, dada
• mom, mama
• ball
• boy
• rock
• wash
• water
• milk
• more
• juice
• book
• bowl
• bird
• flower
• pillow
• Jesus
• away
• sock
• shoe
• outside
• eye
• duck
• apple
• uh-oh

That's all I can think of right now. It's so fun! He understands sooo much too. He puts his books and toys away when I tell him to, he throws trash away, he gets his PJs out of his drawer in his room when it's time for bed, he folds his arms when it's time for a prayer, he knows the names of all his toys (go get your wrench [toy tool box], blocks, drum, etc.) He loves to go do little tasks for me - like getting his pjs or putting things "away" (he just started saying that). It's so nice to be able to communicate with him more. We sure love our little guy!

Oh yeah, and he winks. This is a terrible, gritty, messy-face picture, but he was doing this at dinner the other night and we were cracking up, so of course he did it over and over. :) What a ham.

Grammy & Papa come to visit

So a few weeks ago Jeremy's parents came to visit us! As I mentioned before, I don't think they've come to stay with us since June of 2009 (we've seen them since then, just not here) so it was a real treat! They got in Wednesday evening right after I left to go to my choir practice.

(*side note: did I mention I'm in a choir? It's called the Deseret Chamber Singers. I was in it a couple years ago, before Eli was born, and now I'm doing it again! It's really fun, 30 people, most of us are BYU Singers alum, and we meet every Wednesday night. My friend Tim Workman - who has his doctorate in Choral Conducting - is conducting it this year and he's awesome. I'll let you know when our concerts are if you're in the area because they'll be awesome. :) End side note)

So they played with Eli and visited with Jeremy and then I got home late that night and joined in the fun. Thursday, George had to work down past Springville somewhere, so Debbie and I ran some errands in the morning, Eli and I took naps that afternoon, and that evening we just hung out together. Friday, they babysat while I went to my doctor's appointment and then that night they babysat AGAIN so Jeremy and I could go out to dinner and go to Heidi's concert down in Provo. It was a great date!

Saturday and Sunday were super busy. Jeremy's aunt adopted two kids and they were getting sealed to them Saturday morning, so we were able to go to that at the Timpanogas Temple. (Thank you Paige for watching Eli!) Then we came home for naps and went down to his aunt's house for a dinner/farewell party for his cousin who just left on his mission (the party was before he left obviously). Then Sunday, Jeremy was gone all morning for his usual meetings and I was gone for my Stake calling so Eli got to hang out with his grandparents some more! They sure picked a good time to come. :) Then we went to choir practice and church and then went to dinner at his aunt's house again - this time just for the fam'.

Monday morning, George left and Jeremy went to Park City for a Conference his company was having. He was going to be there all day and for dinner and everything, so Debbie and I decided we should have some fun too! Debbie went to the Family History library that morning, and then we also went up to Park City to do some shopping at the outlets. As it turned out, Jeremy had a 2 hr break right when we got there, so he got to come too! It was perfect. We found some great deals on dress shirts for Jeremy and maternity clothes for me. Yippee! Then Jeremy left to get back for the dinner and Debbie took Eli and I out to a VERY nice restaurant in Park City. We were spoiled. :) We all got back later that night and then she left for Indiana for a fun family history trip with her good friend the next morning.

We had a great time visiting and I know Eli had a blast with all the attention. I think his recent infatuation with rocks has a little something to do with all the walks and rock exploring he did with Papa. :) It was fun!

I was terrible at taking pictures when they were here, but Jeremy managed to get a few on his phone:

Another month has passed...

...And I haven't blogged. I'm out of the habit. Oh well.

And I only have a couple minutes because I have a long list of things I should be doing right now, but I thought I would put up some cute pictures of Eli that I took this morning. He's getting so grown up! I just cut his hair again the other day, and that always makes him look so much older. He understands pretty much everything we say, he's talking a lot, and he continues to entertain us and amaze us.

So here are a few pictures of him when we were out in the backyard this morning. Eli LOVES to be outside. Winter's gonna be rough on this kid.

I don't know what possessed him to stand still and pose for these first two, but it was cute!

Pulling up the grass...

Kicking the ball...
Got the ball!
Pulling weeds, thank you! I finally pulled up that dying plant on the right after I took this picture...
Going to pick tomatoes with his little bucket, with no prompting from me (I have to tell him to stop because he eats everything he picks and tomatoes in large quantities don't agree with him very well)
Scoping it out...
Goin' for the kill..
Mmm...mmm....

He's a cutie pie! We also had a great visit with Jeremy's parents a couple weeks ago. It was so fun to have them here and I will blog about it later...