THANKFUL

... for family. Speaking of which. Ours will be getting about 7 pounds bigger early June 2012. Exactly two years after the last time our little family got 7.6 pounds bigger. It's going to be an adventure - to use the most optimistic word possible - between a new tiny human, graduation, and the big move (wherever that may be). Right now our mantra is "it will all work out."

Finley was not really into the whole ultrasound experience. But afterwards I thought she might be interested in looking at the picture they printed out for us. So I showed her this first picture and said in my most motherly voice, "Finley, this is your new brother or sister. He or she will be your best friend!" And the look on her face was classic. Total disgust. 

This is gonna be fun.

NAUVOO

 Like I said a few posts ago, my mom came to visit in early October and we took a trip to Nauvoo and then to Indiana. And because I'm horrible at narrowing down pictures you get to see way too many from both places in two separate posts. Huzzah! So first up is Nauvoo.  We were a bit off season so it almost felt like we had the place to ourselves. We had a great time and Finley did surprising well. She was a little difficult to contain in the old houses with priceless 200 year old antiques but that's what a strong choke hold is for. Just kidding! Mostly I took her outside once she got out of hand. The weather was amazing so I was more than happy to let her run around and wear herself out for a good nap. Girlfriend has energy, but she is usually a good sleeper. Thank goodness.

Brad convinced us to take the scenic route which was supposed to make our trip just 10 minutes longer. WRONG. It delayed us almost an hour. Country roads are all fine and good when they don't go on for two hours and you don't have an unhappy toddler. Although I begrudgingly admit it was pretty. Whatever.

We ate breakfast right across from our hotel and it was fantastic. An all you can eat buffet... but the good kind. They didn't even ration the bacon! Finley discovered that she kind of likes french toast, really likes Frosted Flakes, and LOVES taking off her clothes in inappropriate places. This trend has not stopped since the trip.

 The above and below pictures show what nerdy tourists we are... but at least we embrace it!

This is Finley's "chillin" pose. Or maybe it's her "full" pose. She had just eaten three gingerbread cookies from the bakery.

I'm telling you. The weather and the leaves were gorgeous. Usually you don't think Nauvoo and beautiful weather but if I could bottle that day I would live that temperature forever. Or I could just move to southern California. Hmmm. They might be on to something over there.

Alex was the Brad stand in for this picture. As you might recall in one of my very first posts I have a picture of Brad doing this is exact some pose in the exact same spot about two months after we got married. Finley didn't really pick up on the sentimentality of it all.

One of our classic "we'll just wait outside" moments.

Another classic shot that pretty much sums up my time while we toured the homes.

Alex and I are third generation granddaughter and Finley is a fourth generation granddaughter of Brigham Young. We couldn't miss the money shot!

Alex was really helpful in helping me corral when needed. Which was often.

The second day we were there my mom and I did a session at the temple while Alex watched Finley. It was an awesome experience, and it is even more beautiful on the inside than I imagined. As we were leaving one of the temple workers offered to allow us see the baptismal font and some historical artifacts from the original temple. It was really interesting, and not the usual experience. I'm sure when the temple is really busy they don't always offer that to every attendee so we counted ourselves very lucky!

On our drive home we stopped at Carthage Jail. And again I'm glad there was plenty of room for her to run because she didn't quite seem to get the historical or spiritual significance. Go figure.

Next stop - Indiana!

TWO HALLOWEENS

Only the luckiest girl in the world would get to have TWO Halloweens. One in California and one in Utah. I'm pretty sure she had no idea what was going on when we were in California. Balboa had a street party for all the kids and a few stores gave out candy and popcorn. They also had a live band where the kids could dance. I was a little weary of her getting lost in the crowd so she only did a little bit of dancing but she did manage to eat the Kit-Kat I handed her including half the wrapper. Oh well. Hopefully their won't be any long lasting affects.

If you can't tell, she was a cowgirl for Halloween. I was seriously lacking in the creativity department this year and kind of went with this idea by default. I'm crossing my fingers I still have next year to decide for her.

And this was her night of Tick-or-Treating in Utah. She didn't know what was going on at first but after she got to knock on the first door that's all the she cared about. She wasn't really even interested in the candy, she just wanted to go up to every possible door and keep knocking. At each new door she would knock and then shake with laughter and anticipation waiting for them to open the door. It was so much fun.

When we brought her back to my mom's house she was none too pleased - as you can tell.

GO COUGS

We've had quite a busy life the past month. We went to Naperville for two days so Brad could take a test, then my mom came to visit and then we went to Utah to then drive to California for Jenny's wedding and then back to Utah to visit my mom again (don't worry I'll explain in the next few blog posts, it hurts my brain too). It's been a lot of traveling with a tiny person. I think I've definitely had enough of roaming the country with someone who doesn't sleep or eat well when their schedule is thrown off, oh and Finley was difficult too. Just kidding! Seriously, she stopped sleeping through the night and wouldn't eat oatmeal for breakfast. What is that about!? She's been eating oatmeal for breakfast every day for six months! Wait. Maybe THAT'S why she won't eat it anymore. Hmmm. Things to consider. Anyway, so I thought I'd post these pictures of Finley when she just happened to be wearing a BYU shirt and call this a post of about how much we love our alma mater, instead of a post about why I've been a lame blogger as of late. But it is actually true that we love BYU around these parts. If it weren't for BYU Brad and I wouldn't have met and there would be no Finners. So GO COUGS! Making families happen since 1875.