Happy Halloween!!!

Got up early and got ready...usually don't get ready before taking Nathan to school...too early, but, today we had a PACKED day! While we ate our early breakfast Marley was on the floor, as usual. She saw a stack of papers and she decided she would start army crawling today. She is fast and as graceful as a skilled ice skater. Paper motivates her to MOVE!

We dropped Nathan off at school...he also had a busy day, including a meeting with his TA for his project in Remote Sensing class. He had to take the camera with him, to take pictures of his experiment so I didn't get the camera for our Halloween party...and there were so many cute little cuties in cute costumes. Ah well. What can ya BOO! (scared you!)

We, Marley and I, then busted over to the store to get our bat wings (blue tortilla chips) and monster brains (salsa). For two of our THREE Halloween parties today.

Side story: The closest grocery store to us is a Super Saver so I went to that one. That parking lot is so stupid! It totally bugs me AND at least once a month I turn too early and end up on this lame street with an island that won't let me turn. So, I have to go all the way down to the next light (not actually THAT far) and flip a U-turn. AND I ALMOST made it through October with out doing that...but, the last day of the month!!! Argh.

ANYWAY!!!

After the store we went to Hobby Lobby. When I put Marley's costume on her yesterday I realized that she needed a few more puff balls for her hat, thus the trip to Hobby Lobby. It is dangerous for me I love that store!!! All of their Halloween stuff was 40% off already and I found this cute dish that looks like a monster with and inverted head (a bowl) PERFECT for SALSA!!! I MEAN MONSTER BRAINS!!! I bought it but, I don't have a picture...sorry. IT'S CUTE!!!

We dashed home and put the finishing touches on Marley's costume. Made sure I had all the supplies we needed to share our bat wings and monster brains. And then headed off to our first Halloween party. It was so fun! Fairies, bugs, dinosaurs, pumpkins, clowns, witches, etc. So cute! We had bread sticks that looked like monster fingers and really yummy cheesy potato soup. And LOTS of Halloween sweets! The little kids even got to go on a ghost hunt, which were tootsie pop ghosts stuck in the grass. They loved it!

After that party we were off to meet Nathan on campus for his School's Halloween party!!! More FOOD! More fairies, bugs, dinosaurs, clowns, pumpkins, witches, etc. They even had a costume contest and Marley got Most Original in the children's costume contest! Everyone loved her costume and lots of people asked if they could take her picture. It was so fun!

After that party we busted home to meet the missionaries. We had them over for soup in a bread bowl. The new elder was SO excited to have soup in a bread bowl. He had never heard of that before. We even let them cut the bread into bowls and they really enjoyed that. We have great missionaries!

Then we busted over to the church for our trunk or treat party! It was so fun! I just LOVE seeing all the costumes! Especially the littlest kids! Some of them would say...Twick or Tweet!

Marley didn't really have anything close to real naps but, she was a trooper. Happy all day! She is such a delightful baby girl and she is definitely growing too fast!

Here are the pictures!


This one was taken the day before Halloween...see she totally needs more kernels of corn on her head.

Marley LOVES looking at herself in the mirror! Here are a few pics of her reflection as a bath towel beauty.

This very nice couple in our ward said we could borrow their exersaucer because they haven't even had their baby yet (their baby boy is due on Sunday). I thought it was a hand me down but it was actually brand new and wasn't even out of the box yet. I put it all together and Marley is enjoying it. There are a few pictures of her eating the attached toys.

This is me at Nathan's office. Waiting for the next party to start. Ya, I'm in Marley's car seat and I have her candy collecting receptacle on my head. I"m a party animal!

Marley, chowin' down on her lunch!

These are the marks my stylish hat left. Man! That picture is NOT flattering.

Marley after her lunch and in her costume again, ready for the next party. She's such a poser.

This guy was not real but he was creepin' me out!

More pictures of the corn cob baby.

Oh yea! I forgot to mention Darth Vader and Yoda were at the party too!

This is Marley and Nathan in the costume parade!

I thought this one was kinda funny...this lady was pregnant in real life and she was a Prom Queen for Halloween. Pregnant Prom Queen...definitely scary!

This little girl was a pink poodle...cute!

More pictures of our voguer. Strike a pose!

My posers posing together...

Lately, Marley is likes to play with Nathan's left ear. Often times it looks like she is holding it open and is ready to shout...DAD CAN YOU HEAR ME!?!?! And in that ear he wouldn't be able to. So cute and funny.

Cuttle bugs....

And back to the ear.

This was her prize for most original costume. It had a little Halloween puzzle, tons of stickers, Mc Donald's coupons, and a note pad. She'll have to grown into all of those. I'm sure the coupons will expire before that.

Exersaucer...more.

And the Finale...Marley's first taste of carrots. Not that eventful of a video but, what the hay.

You Can Vote However You Like...

A link to this video was on my friend's blog and I liked it a lot. So did Marley. She loves it when I dance so I showed her the video and she loves it! She loves dancing!

I wish I could understand the lyrics better but I love how they are singing about both sides. So cute and they look like they are having so much fun!

I'm grateful for the priveledge of voting! Don't forget to vote and don't forget that you can vote however you like!

This is for the Johnson Family....

We hope this brightens your day. We love you and we miss you!

That's me in the background. You can also hear the breast pump (oops!). Marley started crying and fussing for no apparent reason so I started mimicking her cries and that was making her laugh. My mimicks turned in to screeches...I kinda sound like a witch. I mean, I was trying to sound like a witch with Halloween coming and all.

Princess Longshanks and..... Senor Genius Pants

What does your M&M character look like? http://www.mms.com/us/becomeanmm/

I found this link on a blog where I lurk. Don't you think it looks like me and Nathan? Don't forget to scroll through the options. I didn't know there were more options so my first attempt wasn't very accurate. And don't forget to select the name generator.

Anyway, it's been awhile since I actually blogged...sorry Mom and Julie. This week threw me off because it's Fall break for Nathan so he had Monday and Tuesday off and then because he didn't have classes those days his labs on Thursday were cancelled so he only had to go to school on Wednesday and Friday from 9-12. So, we've been doing stuff together and thus I've had no alone time with the computer...until now.

Last Saturday we started our Tour de Lincoln. It's much like the Tour de France, only TOTALLY different. The only similarity is that they both involve bikes..of sort. But, I'll blog about the Tour once we've come closer to accomplishing it. Oh yea! The other similarity is that they both take a long time.

Sunday we went to church and it was nice. I'm on the enrichment board and I had a meeting right after church to help plan the enrichment meeting for November 20th.

We got invited to have dinner at our friends' house Tiffany and Darian. They live about 20ish miles out of Lincoln. It's a beautiful drive.

Monday we overhauled our apartment. About every 2 weeks we take about a day to organize and find a better place for "things." We also file the mail (bills) and other paperwork and try to get the whole apartment clean enough to vaccum it all. That really took all day. Tiffany and Darian had invited us to watch the new Indiana Jones movie and told us to invite people. We car pooled with Christina and Jesse. It was fun and I loved the food! Christina brought chili cheese dip! And Tiffany made puppy chow or nutty buddy mix. SO! GOOD!

Tuesday Nathan had a job interview at the Nebraska Department of Roads. It went well, and we should hear back today or Monday. We'll see. Marley and I went with him and just read in the car.

After the interview we took Marley to the health department to get her 6 month vaccinations. We haven't figured out how to get her into the Pediatrician because our insurance through the school is disappointingly VERY CRAPPY! and doesn't cover well baby visits. So, we wanted to at least keep her on schedule with her vaccines. She is such a brave little baby. And I had no idea how much she weighed and we needed to know so we could give her the right dose of Tylenol, so the lady had me get on the scale to get my weight and then I held Marley and we subtracted to get Marley's weight. She is exactly 14 lbs.

After the health department we went to Nathan's office on campus because he had to do some stuff and he had to pick some things up. While he did that, Marley rolled all over the floor and I finished reading Fabelhaven, the book Julie gave me for my birthday. So, before we left Nate's office, we checked the library online to see if they had the second and third book in town somewhere. They did and we busted over to the Eisley library and I got both of those. I also got The Goose Girl, which has been suggested by three of my friends - Julie, Shalantie and Tiffany Duncan. And since I couldn't find the second Fabelhaven book because it was in the process of being reshelved I had to ask the coolest librarian ever to help me find it. She brought it to me AND a book called East. So, I checked out FOUR books from the library...I've NEVER done that! In fact, I've read more books so far this year than I have read in my whole life before this year. It was actually my new years resolution to read a book a month and I've done MORE than that! I never thought I would enjoy reading so much!

Wow! I'm only on Wednesday? Well, Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning we had a huge thunder and lightning storm. I think the thunder woke Marley up because she rarely wakes up in the middle of the night. She was screaming too. The thunder was SO loud and it was creeping me out. After about an hour and a half I got Marley calmed down and back to sleep...and I did it without feeding her!! Wahoo! Takes a lot of patience. Anyway, since we lost some sleep that night we napped all morning while Nathan was at school.

After school we went grocery shopping. For some reason that always takes us a long time. The best thing about grocery shopping is being done with it and having a bunch of food stocked up in the cupboards and fridge.

Thursday, I had my friend Kelly help me make something for my mom. My mom's birthday was on Monday and when I talked to her on the phone I asked her if she needed or wanted anything in particular...she said no...of course. Then I said, I had something I could give her and she said, "Oh! Did you make it!?!?" I was like no. But, then it got me to thinking...the thing I had that I was going to give her...I don't think she would have appreciated it. And since Elder Uchtfdorf's talk at the RS Broadcast I've been wanted to be more creative. I knew my friend Kelly had this certain skill so I asked for her help and she was SO helpful. Anyway, I still gotta ship this thing to my mom but once she gets it I'll post a picture.

After Kelly helped me, Nate, Marley and I just sort of hung out. We made homemade pizza for dinner and it was SO GOOD!

Nathan has a test today in Stats (my mom just got a pit in her stomach reading that, because she's in a dreaded stats class too.) Despite his test he got up and made blue berry muffins. They are delicious! Usually I wake up when he gets up because I can hear him moving around the apartment but, I didn't hear him or Marley wake up and they let me sleep in...kinda. I woke up around 8:30 just in time to take Nathan to school.

Today, I'm blogging. Then I'm going to get Nathan at noon. We are coming back home so Nate can get ready for another job interview and then we are taking him to the interview. After the interview we are going to browse around a store called Gordmans. I've heard it's a mix between Kohls, Tai Pan Trading, and Ross. I'm interested to see this mix. Today is also my dad's birthday...I gotta go call him.

Sorry for the play by play of our week. But, it was a nice busy week.

We love you!

PS - It has been raining all week. Cool! And not cool!

Which Twilight Character Are You?

I found this on my friend Amy's blog. I just finished Eclipse so I was interested to know which female character I am most like.


Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

6 Months Old and She had a Mid-first year CRISIS!!!

Marley turned 6 months on Friday. We can't believe our little one is growing so fast!

Marley can't believe it either. She had a little melt-down about how fast she is growing. She just can't believe it! She wanted to be walking or at LEAST crawling by the time she turned 6 months old! Not even teething!

We new she was upset about turning 6 months but, we were quite surprised to go in her room after her nap and find her crib totally empty. Of course we were worried! But, she soon showed up and she was feeling pretty good about herself! She found something to boost her confidence during this mid-first year crisis she was having and she tried all of the styles too! Which one do you like the best?

#1

#2

#3

OR

#4

Cast your votes.

Marley Alert!! And Some Random Stuff

Here's our little monkey out in the grass.

There are SO many squirrels in Lincoln. Nathan was reading the Dangerous Book for Boys and one night I looked over to see what he was reading about and the title said, "How to Hunt and Kill a Rabbit." I asked him if he could apply the same techniques to squirrels. What?!?! If he hunted and killed them, we would eat them! I have heard squirrel is delicious!
This was a fast one...just got his tail.

Marley likes to hold onto the grass, with both hands. She likes it!
Looks like she thinks she is going to fall off the earth if she doesn't hold on.

These are the White Pine trees we got at the Apple Jack Festival. We finally got some pots and soil. One day these trees will be planted in our back yard.
Someday...Well they are in our back yard right now...just in pots. Right outside our living room window.
Nice big window and two cute little White Pine trees.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Marley. Kinda bright but so cute!

Here is another...not so bright but not so big smile either. Still cute.

This is when I went jog/walking. That's when I say I'm going jogging and then have to walk most of the way. It was a crisp day so Marley wore her hat!
She past out.

Then woke up.

This was another day, entirely...but, everyday she's so cute!

Now, down to business....

Today we went to the HyVee. There is a brand new one that just opened this weekend and it looks HUGE from the outside…but, inside it is kinda small AND the isles are WAY too small. You can barely pass someone going the opposite way and forget about passing someone that’s going the same direction as you, because the isles is not wide enough for two grocery carts to pass going the same direction. Crazy! You build a brand new store and you make it too small? What? Our first clue was when we drove into the parking lot…it is SO small!!! Weird.

The good thing about grand openings is that there were a lot of food samples and there were a TON of workers constantly asking if you needed any help finding anything. And it was super clean and constantly being restalked. Nice!

Well, anyway, usually we do our grocery shopping on Tuesday nights but, Tuesday, we had a bad day. Something along the lines of bills being wrong and having to make multiple phone calls and explain the situation 50x’s to 25 different people…ya, had to explain it twice to most of them. Okay! I’m exaggerating, but you get the picture. THEN, our air conditioner leaked, for a couple of days, and we just realized the leak, Tuesday, right before we were going to leave for the grocery store. We decided to clean up the mess and go shopping the next day…which was today.

(flashback – background info)

Back in the day when I started this blog…Nathan was kind of “anti-blog guy.” He wouldn’t read it at first…I had to beg him. Then, he came around. And then, I started begging him to read other peoples’ blogs. He would tease me and call them brags instead of blogs and now he’s all up in the brag…I mean the blog reading frenzy. He has found a lot of friends from his past and even friends from his past that don’t have blogs…he TOTALLY wishes that they did!!! I also have a HUGE list of blogs I check everyday for new posts and he reads all of those too! Well, the ones of people he has met...that's where he draws the line.

So, now that I can “brag” about our shopping trip…here I go.

I haven’t bought ice cream since we moved here. I know!!! That’s like 6 whole weeks! It was the thing I went totally overboard on while I was pregnant so, I had to cut back for awhile. OH THAT MEADOW GOLD TIN CAN ALLEY!!!! (They don't have Meadow Gold here...BUMMER!!!) But, this shopping trip I made sure to put ice cream on the list (we try really hard not to buy things that are not on the list.) I actually put rainbow sherbet on the list…its fat free you know, that's how it got to stay on the list, I totally got away with it! But, once we were on the ice cream isle and I saw all those creamy delicious frozen recipes of goodness! I started begging Nathan for some ice cream. Sealed the deal when I found HIS favorite…Peppermint Stick (they usually only have that around Christmas time). Since he got his favorite and technically ice cream WAS on the shopping list…I got TWO flavors for myself!!! Ha ha! I am SO tricky! Plus, I gotta find a new favorite.

That wasn’t even the part that was the greatest thing to brag about. We were right on budget when we checked out, again!!! We are doing GOOD! Buying the ice cream and stayin’ on budget! YESSSSS!!!!