Mud and fun!

We decided to take Carly to the splash pad instead of going to the city festival. Jeremy made the comment that she would much rather be at a splash pad than at a festival. I definitely agreed.  :)

Oh mud. Carly has decided she loves it. Haha. It is so fun to watch her play and get dirty in the mud but realize she is dirty and want it off. :)

Sleepy sleepy

Carly fell asleep on our way home from church today. Church wears her out! :) thank goodness for Sunday naps.

Park and splash pad

We decided after stopping at the post office today that we would try out this new park. It is so nice. It is all shaded and has lots of fun stuff!

Daddy taking Carly down the slide!

He loved it so much they did it again! :)

Carly was so happy she just pet that big brown dog.

Swings!

Jeremy taught Carly how to slam her hands on the slide to make a loud noise. She loved it.

I decided to take Carly to the splash pad that we found at the park today. It was a huge water fight for all the big kids. So needless to say we weren't there long. But I did love watching her play in the water.

Carly loves eating the water :) Silly girl.

coming to see mommy :)

Taking a break :) 

Field of Dreams & Dubuque

We went to Field of Dreams! 

 

Daddy and Carly ran the bases.

cool picture. Jeremy took it with my Samsung Galaxy S4 :)

We also went to the city of Dubuque.

Fenelon Place Elevator. One of the cool things to do in the city of Dubuque.

Carly wasn't so sure about the elevator. It was creeky and small.

yay!! We made it to the top!

 

Stopped at Paul's Tavern. We had cheeseburgers and shared a hot ham & cheese sandwich. So good.
 The guy gave Carly this yummy drink of sprite and fruit punch. She loved it.
When we walked in everyone stared at us because we were the youngest couple there and we had a toddler walking with us. :)

Dubuque had some really pretty buildings. This church being one of them. We stepped inside to see the cathedral. BEAUTIFUL.
Carly did not want to be on Daddy's shoulders. 

We also got a Chicago Dog and french fries at that little place. 

I poured water on Carly's head because she was hot and she liked it. She loves getting out of her stroller and pushing it.

Dubuque

It was a fun day! It was neat to finally see Field of Dreams because we live so close and haven't been. Dubuque was a cute city to visit. We love the old buildings and how it is just beautiful. It was a perfect day to be outside. Nice and cloudy and SO GREEN. We were definitely tired when we got home. Long fun day with Carly and Jeremy.

Yes, I'm still counting.16 months!

Carly is 16 months old today. She is quite the toddler now. Some new things she can do:

-She can fold her arms when we say prayers.

-moves her arms out of the straps of her car seat after we unbuckle her so we can get her out of the car

-open and close drawers (She plays with my drawer in the bathroom and the third drawer down in the kitchen. Silly girl. Some days I didn't know where my retainer case was or make up remover.)

-Carly can turn on and off our radio. One day I asked if she wanted to listen to some music, I had never asked her this before, she walks right over and pushes the power button and starts dancing. Jeremy and I were surprised. 

-She can finally climb on and off of her little riding puppy we got her for Christmas. She practices every day. It is cute to watch.

-She blows kisses when we say goodbye to someone. Love this.

This girl loves avocado. 

I cannot believe how much she understands when we speak to her

-When we ask her to get in her chair so we can eat, she walks right over to it and waits to be lifted up.

-We ask if she wants to go on a walk, she runs to the door and bangs on it.

-She is starting to pick out her own clothes. I had a basket of her clothes and asked her what she wanted to wear today. She pulled out the cute bib overalls and handed them to me.

-I tell her we are going upstairs to get ready for bed. To read scriptures and say our prayers. She instantly wants to be carried and folds her arms on the way up the stairs so we can pray. :) 

-I asked her today to get me a diaper so we can change her diaper. She went and got a diaper and threw it at me. Close enough :)

Fish face. She was doing this all day.

Words she can say: Dada, mama, cheese, bath, duck, shoes, juice, ball, Jesus, Jack, blanket.
We are working on 'please' I think she says it every now and then.

New teeth! 

She has cut three out of the four molars that are coming in. Poor girl. This explains the rotten behavior lately. She is just not the happy baby when she is teething. 

Today it was raining. Well the past three days we have had thunderstorms. Carly wanted to go outside so we went and played in the rain. She LOVED it. 

I love love love being a mom to this little girl. Carly is just so fun! I love watching her grow every day and being able to see the little changes. She continues to show more and more personality. She is becoming more snuggly. She will grab a blanket and come and watch a show with me on the couch. I do love that she goes everywhere with me. I am usually never alone and I love this.

Her biggest smile. I just love it.

Why do I do this to myself?

I have made a goal to get out every day. As a stay-at-home mom it is crucial to my sanity to get out of the house! Daily. Either it is just going on a walk, to the grocery store, to the mall, to the park, splash pad, anything just to get out. I do this with Carly, my little side kick, after Jeremy has gone to work.

Why do I do this to myself?

I ask myself that every time Carly is throwing a fit in the middle of Old Navy because I won't take her out of the cart. Or when we are driving home and she is just screaming her little heart out because she is tired or hungry or just wants her dang shoes off. She does not like riding in the car with her shoes on. If I forget this, I regret it as soon as we are at the first stop light and she starts trying to get them off and she can't.

I have spent more money on last minute 'help me' foods lately because of it. Yesterday, for instance, she was just whining all through Target. I bought an ice cream Drumstick to eat on the way home. Today after our Old Navy tantrum I stopped at McDonald's and got myself a chocolate milkshake. No I did not share. I have tried really hard not to share my sugar with Carly and today I didn't feel bad for not sharing.

Mind you, I love being a mom and it is the best thing to have her blow kisses at me as she walks by. Or to hear her start singing all by herself because after we read our scriptures and say our prayers at night she knows we sing songs before she goes to bed. She also folds her arms when we say prayer! cutest thing ever. These little things do make up for the crazy toddler I take out of the house every day.

I thought to myself today, maybe she is just a home-body. She just likes being home. Then I thought, no she just likes to embarrass me. And that my people, she learned from her daddy.

So tonight after putting her to bed, I sit and watch my show. Do dishes need to be done? Of course. Does laundry need to be put away? You bet ya! Oh well. Jeremy just knows it's been a rough day when he walks in and nothing is done. He understands :) and I love him for that.

This picture was taken tonight.  I opened up the dryer and showed her all of her clean blankets. She wanted all of them to go to bed. Silly girl. But it made her happy!

man i love this girl

appy appy Father's day!

First of all, Happy Father's Day to my dad Glen Keller :) and to my father-in-law Jim Pitchforth!!!! We are so blessed to have you in ours lives.

I have been planning this Father's day and what to do for Jeremy for quite some time now.
Thank goodness it's over because I hate keeping secrets from him!

We bought Jeremy the biography of Steve Jobs By Walter Isaacson. We watched the documentary on Steve Jobs and Jeremy was super interested and mentioned that he would love to read the biography.

I decided to paint a picture frame with Carly. It went really well until...   she ate it! And then used her other hand to try and wipe away the paint. Red paint was EVERYWHERE. Her arms, her legs, her fingers, all over the bathtub, the kitchen floor, and my pants! aahhh. Thank goodness we got it cleaned up and Jeremy had no idea we painted.

Her eating it. I didn't think she would do this because this is the third time we have painted and she hasn't tried it before.

We did a tie for Jeremy last year and he asked that we just keep that tradition. :) He wore it to church on Father's Day.

Another tradition we started last year is having the letters D-A-D in three separate pictures with Carly. I don't have the letters this year so I was trying to just take them at the store. It didn't work out so well. She tried throwing the letters out of the cart.

This is her rotten face!

She was just crying about it. I made sure I got a few pictures of her the day before Father's Day and I am just going to use those in the frames. 

Kernels Game

Yayy!! We finally got to go to a game! We have been planning on going to some kind of sports game since moving here. We went to a baseball game. It was fun! We got to see a home run, a blasted bat! and a triple when the bases were loaded. 

Jeremy took this picture with my Samsung Galaxy S4. :) Pretty cool.

the mascot, The Kernel

videos

Carly is obsessed with dogs. We have been watching lots of 'puppy' movies lately.
Beethoven being one of them.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6aU9XuqpPLMdTl3eWVqS0FlVHc/edit?usp=sharing

Carly eat like this every now and then. It is so silly.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6aU9XuqpPLMd05JcThnZ0o5eWc/edit?usp=sharing

Things to think about...

There has been a lot on my mind lately. I thought I would take the time to share.
1. Sunshine
2. Move?
3. Primary
4. Gifts
5.  Cuts

I love sunshine. No matter how long I get to be in the sun, I need to see it every day. I know we have a few rainy days here and there, but I can deal with that. I have come to realize that thanking my Heavenly Father for sunshine every now and then doesn't hurt. It makes me stop and appreciate the small things.

Jeremy and I have been looking to move from our town home for quite some time now. Every time we look at a new house, just for rent, it doesn't seem quite right to move. Dang it! I really want to move. I actually have saved all of our boxes because I know the second we throw them away we are going to need them. Oh well, I know by staying here we are saving money and saving money is good.

I have recently been called to serve in our ward Primary. (I help with the children in our church.) I am not going to lie, at first, I wasn't thrilled about it. I looked forward going to Relief Society (the women organization in our church)  every week. That was my time I had to spend with the other women in our church and get to talk with them and be taught. The past few weeks, I have been able to have a better appreciation for primary and being with the children. I am not the teacher, they are definitely teaching me. I love that a three year old knows their Heavenly Father loves them and how Families are Forever.

I seriously have a problem. I love shopping and shopping for gifts for people. Since I have a husband that doesn't like receiving gifts, I have become obsessed with finding any way to buy something for others. I always tell my husband 'what a great deal' I got on the items. I sent three packages and one letter today. I was super excited to send these. I would have to blame my mother for this obsession. Whenever we see her she is always pulling out new clothes for her grand babies.

I have another serious problem. If I have an object in my hand, and there is any chance that I could cut myself with it, it happens. I was handling some glass from a picture frame today, yes, it cut my finger. I know I need to be more careful, but I try! No matter what, my fingers always get the worst of it.