this crazy girl

Warning: there are mostly just pictures of Millie in this post.

I am usually the one taking the pictures and therefore really don't have any of me, except the awkward ones where I have Millie on my lap and I'm holding the camera out in front of us. For those who don't have a tugging in their heart of missing this little girl, I apologize. For those who want to see how much she has grown and what she(we) have been up to (Colledge's & Cooks) this one is pretty much for you. 

Now that I am (somewhat) a full time mom my life revolves around this little girl. I love it. She makes me smile and is in that stage where I want to pull my hair out and at the same time laugh and pull her into me and kiss her all over her messy face. 

just some new antics that make me want to giggle and/or cry in frustration:

1. She is loving coloring, but only with markers (the washable kind) she colors on her paper and then when that is full she colors on her hands, legs, face, tables etc.

2. In a desperate attempt to make her excited about getting into her car seat I made an audio CD with a few songs from the movie Tangled (she is obsessed with the movie, especially the horse). Bad move. EVERY time I get into the car with her now I have to put on the CD. To my chagrin I now have every song memorized. 

3. She is loving my underwear/lingerie drawer; it is her perfect height. She dresses up in it at least every other day. I've daringly posted a picture of her dressing up yesterday. 

4. My least favorite one: I usually put her down for her afternoon nap in just her diaper, as it is so hot in her room. A few weeks ago she started taking her diaper off. Yes this includes wet diapers and messy ones. We now duct tape it on.

5. Loves singing her ABC's and counting up to 15. Once a day, at her request, I sit down with her and help her write her ABC's and numbers up to 10. Then she carefully takes her time tracing them and saying each one. 

*Side note: only 15 more days to go until we move into our new home! But who's counting? 

This past July in Utah. She misses her cousins like crazy

Her careful tracing of ABC's and numbers

When I took these off her I think I counted 13. 

What an adjustment. Going from working like crazy being busy every second to not. It has actually been really nice. You would think if I had extra time I would be more on-top of blogging!

Luke is loving his job and loving the people he is working with. Everything at work is the perfect fit for him and his work-ethic. I don't think I could have hand-picked anything better. 

Millie is just a little ball of energy. She dances and sings, colors, jumps on beds, loves reading books, exhausts me! She is so much fun. She loves to swim and has no fear of jumping off the edge of the pool even if no-one is there to catch her. Obsessed with Elmo and Barney. Every night when we tuck her in she requests "I love you" song from Barney.

Me. I'm still typing and helping out with minor WF stuff. I'm huge and prego. While I'm out running errands people are always commenting, 

"Wow! When are you due?" to which I reply,

"Thanksgiving" and they respond 

"Oh my goodness, you still have a while, are you carrying twins?" 

so much tact. I am not kidding, this is the exact conversation I had at the grocery store this morning! love it! I never realized how much work it is to move to a new place, registering cars, moving bank accounts, drivers license, etc. We just put an offer on a home and now we're in the process of getting all the paperwork together for financing. 

Let me preface this by saying: I am really happy here and have met some wonderful people and really know that this is where I need to be in my life right now. But there are a few things I miss about Utah, my family with babysitters, to be able to go to movies with my mom and sister, running errands with them, my friends and girls night out, crafting with Jamie, the mountains with biking and hiking, cool mornings and nights, rain, world-class camping right in your backyard. 

We had family pictures taken right before we moved

Millie's 18-month pictures I took right before we moved

No my daughter is not handicapped. Why would you ask?

24-week picture. 

At the farmers market which I'm obsessed with.

making the move

It has been over a year since I've posted. Since our last post we moved back to Utah where I worked at WF while Luke finished school and now we're back in Texas. 

We made the trek in a caravan: the Subaru containing me, Millie, Debbie, and Kyah - the Altima containing Nicole and Tanner - the moving truck containing Luke and Mark. The 24-hour drive was made in two days with one night of rest {barely a rest, I had a hyper toddler who had been sleeping all day and been in a car and didn't want to sleep Luke and I probably got around 2-3  hours of sleep that night}and busting out the last leg in time to make it to our apartment office by 5:30pm so we could get our keys. Whew! It makes me tired just writing this. 

We went from 65-degree cold and flooding Utah, to 104-degree drought-ridden Texas.

Tanner, Debbie, and Millie enjoying the really cold water at Barton Springs

We explored Lady Bird Lake by kayak. Luke and me and Tanner and Nicole.

Mille and Luke swimming in the pool

Watching sunset at the Oasis

playing in a spaceship at the Oasis. Nicole, Tanner, Luke, Millie and Mark

The group swimming at Barton Springs

Kyah swimming in Lake Travis

Millie decided she wanted to swim with Kyah and took off her clothes to join her

She insisted on having her feet in the water at all times

TJ and Nicole

back and fourth

After spending the summer in Austin, Utah air feels cool and crisp. Before we left for home my parents flew out to visit and then they were kind enough to take Millie home on the plane with them so we didn't have to try to entertain her for the 22 hour drive to Utah.

View over Lake Travis. This is a few miles from where we lived. You can see Austin in the background.


This cafe only uses organic locally grown/raised ingredients. They even have an herb garden in the front yard and a vegetable garden in the back which they use in their dishes. My parents love this idea!


The best BBQ in Austin, The Salt Lick.


We visited a few vineyards so my dad could get ideas on how to do his.


On the drive home while going through New Mexico, we saw the coolest rainstorm I've ever seen. We had to stop and get a picture.


While driving and trying to figure out where we would take our next pit stop Luke and I were both ecstatic when we realized we were going right through Roswell New Mexico! We pictured ourselves eating dinner in a little cafe with alien memorabilia decor and locals sitting around discussing the latest abduction........ Roswell, what a bust! There was nothing spectacular about this town! We were sorely disappointed. We stopped and got this picture of the museum and ate dinner at Subway.



We took our family summer trip to Lake Powell this past week. My dad's friend hooked us up with two condos and his sweet boat.

The kids loved riding the tube. Lily held her thumb up the whole time trying to get her dad to go faster.


Luke showing off his moves in the wake.




Millie and Luke swimming.


"No hands!"


Cruising on the boat at sunset.


The fam at Rainbow Bridge.


With the smooth red sandstone and the emerald green water,I don't know of any place more beautiful than Lake Powell.

Lady Bird

The list of "things to do in Austin" only has a few items left. Canoeing on Lady Bird Lake has been there from the beginning and we finally were able to cross it off. We decided that we would not let having a baby hold us back from anything so whatever we want to do we find a way to take Mill along. We did however get the "are they really taking their baby canoeing" look from many people.






We have really been missing the mountains this summer. We heard about this great "hike" near our neighborhood so we attempted it. I don't know if us Utahn's would consider it a hike, but none the less it filled a void.


We also have been missing our Kyah and to help fill that desire we have babysat Leslie's dog for her. We took him on the hike with us which was pretty entertaining because he is obviously a pampered indoor dog. He didn't like getting wet and would avoid any mud, he is an adorable dog and we had fun with him but it reminded us what a cool dog Kyah is. She is definitely missed!

July

I had some friends show me this great place here called the Oasis. The food isn't anything great but the view is spectacular! It has four levels of decks on the edge of a cliff overlooking Lake Travis. We ate there last night and watched the sunset.


There is a group of girls here who has taken me under their wing and invited me to their girls nights once a month. Last month we got dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. This month we ate appetizers at the Oasis.


Leslie, who works with Luke, is in love with Millie. She has threatened to take her back to Mexico with her. We joined her on the 4th to watch fireworks. I am one of those Mom's, I made Millie's shirt and headband for the festivities.


This is the rest of the group on the 4th.


Colledge's and Cook's, this is the much talked about stance that Mill has been attempting. She is so close to crawling.


Before we came to Austin I often wondered how I would fill up all of my free time. Lately I have been obsessed with sewing dresses for Mill. It occupies hours. I have explained to Luke that instead of spending $50 on a dress like this for Mill, I'm saving us money by just making them. Luke laughs at me and, he being a numbers driven man, explains to me that really by the time you calculate in the cost of the materials and my time, I've really not saved any money. I guess it's a hobby. Just like some people pay money to golf, I pay money to sew. The next two pictures are the two dresses I just completed.