My little girl is growing up.

She's 3 now! I can't believe it. It's not possible. But, here we are. Parents of a 3-year-old.

We celebrated C's birthday on Saturday with a little barbecue and BYU football watching with cousins.

I'm having trouble coming up with a way to adequately describe C. Maybe you just have to experience her to really get it. She's spunky, smart, and full of life, with a fair amount of naughtiness mixed in to keep things interesting.

She's on a little bit of a Scooby Doo kick.


She even dressed up as Scooby Doo for Halloween in the costume my sister sent me that was meant for Oliver.

Classic C.

I love this picture of her. Last week I took her into the store "Claire's" at the mall to buy some hair clips. She found a few other things she liked too. It was hard to resist that face, but I did. The tantrum that ensued was awesome. Thankfully, my friend Heather was with me and took her out kicking and screaming while I paid for the hair clips. A true friend. She didn't even try to explain to anyone that it wasn't her kid.

The best thing about having a kid this age is all the crazy/funny things they say. My favorite C quotes as of late:

As we peeked in the window of the kitchen at church: "Mommy, is Jesus in there?"

When she was potty training and I kept asking her if she needed to go potty: "I will tell you when I meed to go peep. I'm not going to peep on your new carpet!"

When we asked why she did something kind of naughty (can't remember what it was): "My grandfather told me to do it."

Any time she does something naughty and I catch her: "Sorry, Mommy. It was an ann-ci-nent."

When she smells something bad: "There's muck in my nose!" (the Flake word for poo)

Along those same lines: "Mommy, if you muck in your panties, I'm going to take away your computer."

And my favorite C quote, which was repeated SEVERAL times on her birthday:

"This was a good birthday ever!"

I think she was trying to say it was the best birthday ever.

Love her to pieces.

At least they had fun...

And now I remember why we decided last year never to put sand in the sand and water table again.

Welcome Home Elder Fredline!

I can not begin to tell you how nice it is living fifteen minutes away from a huge airport. On Thursday my little brother had a six hour layover on his way home from Brazil so he was able to come to our house for a few hours. It was fun to hear about what he's been doing for 2 years and for him to meet O and get himself re-aquainted with C (she was 11 months old when he left).

O took to him right away, which is saying something for shy little Ollie.

I guess anyone willing to read him Strawberry Shortcake can earn his affection.

How did I manage to get C to smile for this picture? I used the age-old tactic of telling her to do the complete opposite of what I wanted her to do. "Don't smile C. Don't you dare smile. Stop smiling!" Disobeying me is one of her favorite things to do after all :)

Two of the tiniest people I know. Aren't they cute?

We're glad to have you back!

Wednesday night happenings

We thought she was in bed.

At least she looks somewhat remorseful.

To quote my husband:

"C is in the throes of toddlerhood. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing the other night when she came downstairs COVERED in black marker. Between that and her mangy haircut, bruised legs, and wedgied panties she is quite the sight these days. And, between this and the haircutting incident, you may be wondering why we don't put scissors and markers out of C's reach. Probably a fair question... "

P.S. It was a washable marker. THANK GOODNESS! We got most of it cleaned up pretty easily.

"One time she punched me in the face...it was awesome."

Please know what movie that's from or we can't be friends anymore.

D took a road trip to New Orleans with some of his siblings this past weekend and left me home alone with the kids. It rained all weekend here so we were stuck inside all day. I feel bruised, battered, defeated, but mostly bruised.

Look what C did to me:

She didn't really punch me in the face though. She scattered clean paper plates all over the kitchen floor and as I bent over to pick them up, she stood up and her head hit the bone above my eye. I actually think it looks kind of cool and it makes me feel tough.

*picture taken with web cam while talking on the phone with my sister...real camera still missing

**oh, and it's from Mean Girls

Game on.

O and Cousin L getting ready to knock back a few sippy cups while cheering on the Cougars to VICTORY over #3 Oklahoma.

Happy Birthday D!

D was so nice to post a list of things about me on my birthday that I thought I'd do the same for him. Or in other words, it's payback time, Baby.

D turns 31 today, so here goes:

1. His favorite movie is Misery. Others include The Mission and Drop Dead Gorgeous.

2. He makes me laugh every single day. Like last Saturday when I was in a moody all day and couldn't get the tv to work and he kept telling the kids, "Mommy needs her programs." I tried so hard not to laugh, but I did.

3. He has run two marathons.

4. He worked as a cashier in high school.

5. He loves trying new foods and never wants to go to chain restaurants.

6. He's sweet. One time on Valentine's day, he cued the cd player in my car to our song so it was the first thing playing when I turned on the car. Awww.

7. Yesterday he brought home a dozen roses (yellow like my wedding bouquet) and my favorite candy bars for our anniversary even though we decided we wouldn't get each other anything.

8. He's very neat and organized. My friend Julie got in his car a couple weeks ago and said, "This is the cleanest car I have ever seen!" And it is.

9. He likes a good fight and he takes care of all our dirty business. We're getting our Direct TV upgraded to HD for free on Monday thanks to him!

10. He mows, edges, and weed whacks all .17 acres of our lawn every week.

11. He's a very fun dad. C and O want nothing to do with me by the time D gets home.

12. He LOVES to travel. I won't even attempt to list all the countries he's been to.

13. He was obsessed with Snoopy as a child.

14. He also wanted to be a pumpkin farmer when he grew up. I'm personally glad he chose the lawyer route :)

15. He's a very good piano player and makes his debut as ward organist on Sunday. Coppell 1st Ward, 11 am. Be there.

16. He is an Eagle Scout.

17. He has seriously asked me if I would consider "Cosmo" as a middle name for one of our children. He has all sorts of good ideas. Max Cosmo. Ty Cosmo. John Beck Cosmo. Um, no.

18. He is SO EXCITED for football season to start. Heaven help me.

19. He served a mission in Honduras and Belize.

20. Whenever he takes C to the store with him he buys her some sort of toy, candy, etc. She loves going to the store with him.

21. One time he surprised me on my birthday with a trip to New York. I thought we were dropping his cousin off at the airport on the way to my parents house, but it was the other way around. We were getting dropped off for a weekend in NYC!

22. He loves holidays and goes crazy decorating our house for Christmas.

23. He likes scary movies, but I refuse to go with him. He always makes his younger siblings go with him when they come to visit.

24. He likes when people use correct grammar and he likes correcting grammar. I quickly learned the difference between further and farther and lay and lie, and that it's "another whole" not "whole 'nother."

25. He used to take me to fifty cent wing night at Buffalo Wild Wings every Tuesday while we were dating in Ann Arbor.

26. C calls him Dawan and he likes it.

27. He once cut O's eyelashes because he thought they were too long. He only got one eye because I caught him after the first.

28. He hates when others brush their teeth in front of him.

29. He has an uncanny ability to look at anyone and tell you what animal they look like. Our brother-in-law Tyler really does look like a large mouth bass, a nice looking one of course.

30. He's a LOST fanatic and often sends me articles with LOST theories. It's adorable.

31. He's the perfect match for me. My family is always saying they can't believe I found someone so perfect for me. I agree.

Happy Birthday D!