Colonial Wreath

Christmas wreaths are a BIG deal here in Williamsburg. In the historic area, all the houses have amazing wreaths with fresh apples, nuts, and berries on them. My friend Jenn suggested we make our own this year. We had so much fun making them! The fruit, nuts, and garland are real on ours as well. The yellow piece of fruit on my wreath is an Asian Pear. They have the texture of an apple, but the flavor of a pear.

Birthday Boy

Today I turned 1 year old! I was very excited, and everytime my mom and dad came to get me after I woke up in the morning and for naps they sang "Happy Birthday" to me. My mommy blew up some balloons so I could play with them all day long. They were fun and I even popped one all by myself and I didn't even get scared! Later, my friends came over...

and my mom made us all put on these silly hats.
Then, everyone sang to me and my mom helped me blow out my birthday candle on my birthday cake that my mom made.

Then, I got to eat my cake and ice cream. It was so good, I just kept eating and eating and eating and eating, until finally I couldn't eat anymore and I started throwing it on the floor.


My mom gave me a quick bath and it was back to playtime. My mom said I was going to now open my presents. I don't really know what that means, but it was cool to play with the tissue paper.

My mommy got me a cool dump truck with big black wheels and a vacuum!
My Daddy got me Dr. Seuss books! Nana and Papa got me a new suit for church, and even though it looks like I didn't like it in this picture, I really do.

My friend Molly got me a doodle and Dave and Jenn got me an ABC book and a popup book.
My Great Grandma Barbara got me a cool shirt from Baby Gap. Thanks for all my presents! It was the best birthday I have ever had!

Love, Clark

Deck The Halls

After the Turkey and Gravy are digested, and the triptophan-induced coma starts to wear off to the point that I can actually keep my eyes open, I start my favorite part of Christmas ... decorating.

The day after Thanksgiving, we bought our Christmas tree, lights, and a few bulbs and broke out the big 'ol box marked CHRISTMAS. Someday, I hope to own a ton of decorations so that I can not only deck my halls, but my rooms, bathrooms, front yard, and roof. I want to be the family that when people drive down the street they either exclaim "Wow! Look at that cool house!" or "those are the nutjobs that are going to blow the power grid to the city." I'll take either response, but for now, we are happy with our small collection. Some of my favorites include my two nativity snow globes. I LOVE SNOW GLOBES. I also enjoy the ornaments my mother-in-law has given us every year since we have been married.

While we were standing in Wal-Mart discussing what kind of lights we would like, Tanner was all about the multi-colored strands. At first, I was thinking white lights with shiny and sparkly gold and silver ornaments (a shocker for those of you who know me and my past ... let's not even go there about M.J). But then I remembered that when we were little little, we had multi-colored lights and ornaments made from felt and popsicle sticks ... and who could forget those clown ornaments! It was like a contest to see who opened the three clowns from the white tissue wrapping every year. Come to think of it, if you still have any of those ornaments mom, I would like to BAGSY them please ... since I know you moved from colorful/kid tree to Beautiful Tree a number of years ago. Someday, I will want Beautiful Tree, but something tells me Tanner will insist on having a colorful/kid tree then too ... even after our children are grown. But for now, having Clark around has made us feel a lot more childlike (in the good way we talk about in Sunday School) this Christmas. So not only did we go for the multicolored strands, we went for the 16 function blinking lights. Now we can use them for our Christmas tree and our 1970s disco dance parties!

The First Thanksgiving!

...for Clark anyway! This Thanksgiving, we decided to have a quiet and laid back day, choosing to neither entertain nor be entertained. I just wanted to cook for our little family and spend the day together. We had a yummy dinner, and then we all passed out from exhaustion afterward from all that turkey. Clark's favorites were definitely the turkey and mashed potatoes...with the gravy I might add.

He was so excited when he saw all that FOOD!

He just couldn't help but stick his paws right into the Turkey plate and help himself.

(I love mashies!)

For those of you who are at all familiar with the Carter clan, you know we have a Thanksgiving tradition called BAG. We go around the table during dinner and each person tells one Blessing and one Accomplishment from this past year, and one Goal for the next year. While we were not with any of the other members of the Carter clan, I thought about what my BAG would be, and thought it appropriate to record here.

Blessing: Of course it would have to be Clark ... he brings us so much happiness and fun!
Accomplishment: It's hard to think of one BIG accomplishment since it seems like my life is full of little ones ... but overall, just balancing life as a wife, my new job as a mom, and keeping myself personally fulfilled.
Goal: Make a smooooooth transition from student family life to working family life ... buy a house, have more kids ... who knows what this next year could bring?!

Just for the fun of it ... I made up a BAG for Clark:

Blessing: My AWESOME parents of course!
Accomplishment: Sleeping through the night ... I really like eating every 4 hours, but my mommy did not like that ... so instead I just eat twice as much during the day to compensate.
Goal: Convince my parents to give me a brother or sister ... I want someone to play with that's my size.

Tanner's BAG:

Blessing: My beautiful and hardworking wife. Parenting has been more fun, and much, much easier than I anticipated, due in large part to the fact that Cherylyn is such a wonderful mother.
Accomplishment: Working at Lowndes for the summer ... well enough, at least, to receive an offer of employment
Goal: Graduate from law school and be done with school--FINALLY--before I die from exhaustion.

What are your BAGs this year??

City League Begins

Tanner began City League basketball tonight with a bunch of buddies from the law school. They thought that they were going to get smashed since they were more 'inclusive' in the selection process for the team than they were with their prestigous intramural football team. However, they came out looking strong, especially Tanner, draining two threes right at the beginning of the game. Their opponents were smart and switched from zone to man (aren't you impressed with my b-ball lingo?), and they started to come back in the second half. But, our boys held on, and won their first game. I must admit, I enjoy watching football more, but at least basketball is indoors!

It Pays to Whine

Confrontational is NOT a word I would ever use to describe myself....maybe slightly passive aggressive, but mostly I belong in the "can't everyone just get along" group. I don't have as much of a problem with confrontation within a family, because after the dust settles, everyone still loves each other (most of the time), but I can't stand it with friends and strangers. Tanner thinks it's funny because even when we are watching some reality show and everyone is arguing, I can't watch. I can't watch when someone is ranting from the pulpit in church on Sunday. I immediately bow my head and can't look up until it's over. I don't know where or how I came to be like this, but I am.
There have been times when I have wished I could be a little more, shall I say, IN YOUR FACE. Like when my friend told the story of the woman who honked at her in a parking lot while she was trying to put her cart away in the pouring rain and she happened to cross in front of her. The woman honked at her twice and when my friend looked at her and threw her arms up in disgust like "WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM LADY?" the woman rolled down her window and said "You better move $*%&@! I am going to run you over!" to which my amazing friend shot back "Do you kiss your children with that mouth?" Why can't I ever come up with one liners like that in the moment? I always think of the BEST thing to say after the fact.
But I don't just have problems coming up with things to say in the moment, I don't even like putting myself in a position where I might have to get a little nasty to get what I need. I will never forget Melanie telling me of when she was having issues with her internet at her house, and she promptly called her internet provider and ripped them apart until they gave her (from what I remember), at least one month free of internet. I was amazed and jealous. Tanner has had to force me in the past JUST to pick up the phone to get something fixed...I have never gotten anywhere near demanding compensation for my trouble.
Today was different however. I have been waiting 3 days for my cell phone to arrive. When I originally ordered it on the phone, I specifically asked when I would receive it because if it was going to take too long, I would just go to the store in town. He said the absolute LATEST would be Friday, but that I might even receive it by Thursday. Well, Friday has come and gone, and no cell phone arrived. I got online and checked on the shipping status, and it showed that the shipment didn't even leave until THURSDAY at 5pm. What happened between Tuesday and Thursday I wondered in disbelief? The ETA is Monday at 7pm. Yeah, I was ticked. But the usual me thought, it's only the weekend, what's the big deal? After I told Tanner, I asked "should I call and whine?" He said "I really don't care either way". But for some reason, I just couldn't let it go. Maybe I am just sick of sitting back and letting people make promises and not fulfill them, or maybe it was that I had nothing better to do on a Friday night than to rock out to the customer service hold music since my husband was researching the law on the "right to die". Probably the latter. The more I thought about it, the more irritated I got. If the guy would have said "Ma'am, it is probably going to get there Monday" I would have had no problem. I dialed the number. My pulse immediately went up by 30 beats per minute. I explained the situation to the man on the line, as nicely and sweetly as possible. SILENCE. I can now audibly HEAR my pulse. I was quite nervous, which is ridiculous, but like I said, I am not a practiced professional in the art of confrontation. He put me on hold, and came back and said he was going to transfer me to telephone sales, since that is who I have the problem with. I wanted to say "So you are pawning me off?" I realized I had become what I always fear which is the "annoying lady on the phone who is mad that she has to wait a WHOLE 3 more days to get her phone (eyes roll)...who wants to take the call?" A very nice lady answered, and I explained the situation again. She put me on hold and came back and said "Ma'am we are going to go ahead and credit your account for 100 free rollover minutes, is that okay?" I said "That would be WONDERFUL". We're best friends now. Actually, I think we are best friends now. I am sure I am still the annoying lady on the phone. But I don't care for once, I have 100 extra free rollover minutes.

Viola Swamp

Today I went to orientation to become a substitute teacher in the Williamsburg District. Since Tanner does not have classes on Thursday or Friday, I thought it a great idea if I was able to substitute on those days and he could watch the Clarkster and study at home. On my drive home, I was thinking about being in the classroom and I was desperately trying to remember the name of a funny children's book I LOVED when I was younger about a teacher who pretends to be a mean, nasty substitute teacher so that her students will learn to behave and appreciate their nice teacher. I was wracking my brain, but couldn't come up with the title of the book, so I came home, looked it up, and immediately chuckled.


Okay, so maybe I did a little alteration to the title for the purposes of this blog, but Miss Nelson is Missing really is a great kids book, and I hope that Mrs. Nielson shows up to substitute teach everytime and will NOT have to turn into Viola Swamp...
P.S. Is not Viola Swamp the BEST name for a mean nasty substitute teacher?

Ode to T-Mobile

My dear T-Mobile
so sorry to leave,
it was not my intent,
and for this I now grieve.

You see T-Mobile,
my family does not
belong to your network
I am so distraught!

It's not the jingle
Although pretty cool
Hear it now on You-Tube
See, I am no fool!

I tried to explain!
The man on the line
He did not understand
He started to whine

I stuck to my guns
he could not deny
Cingular is better
And now you know why!

I have made the switch and will be up online by Friday at the latest! I apologize for my poetic attempt, there was definitely a reason I was not an English major.

The Dress

Yesterday was my friend's birthday. To celebrate, I took her out to lunch and then we went shopping to find her a cute outfit with her birthday money from her family. We stopped in at Ann Taylor Loft that just opened in town. They had lots of cute things, but I didn't think there was anything in my budget. I went straight to the back of the store where they were having a 40% of all clearance items. There was one random dress there in the midst of a bunch of other clothes. It was my size, and I loved it. I loved the price too...originally $89 on sale for $13. I tried it on, and loved it some more. It is a total 1950s dress. I bought it. My friend Jenn bought a cute skirt also. I came home and said to Tanner that I had bought a dress and loved it so much I was bursting with happiness. When was the last time an article of clothing had you bursting with happiness? I would love to hear your stories.

Mama/Dada

So I was taking a little gander at one of my child development books to see what Clark has accomplished according to the milestone chart. The only thing I wasn't sure if he could do or not was whether, when shown pictures of his mama and dada, he could identify and distinguish between the two. So I yanked the wedding photos off the wall and we played the game. While holding a picture of Tanner in one hand and a picture of me in the other, I would say "Go to Dada"...he crawled right up to Tanner's picture. Then I said "Go to Mama"...and he crawled right up to my picture. We did this a number of times and Clark LOVED the game...and he went to the correct picture every time! It was so cute watching him play with our pictures.

The Lost Pacie

This morning as I was getting ready to go to play group, I could not find Clark's blue or green pacie anywhere. He doesn't really need it at play group, but due to Murphy's law, I know that the ONE day I don't have it with me will be the day when he needs it. I looked everywhere, even behind the crib with the flashlight. No Luck. After about 15 minutes, I got sick of looking and decided just to go without it. I was so caught up in getting everything together and looking for a pacie, I had just let Clark wander around. As I went to pick him up, he HAD THE BLUE PACIE IN HIS MOUTH. Apparently blue pacie and Clark have a hiding place from Mommy. I think Green Pacie and Clark have decided on a hiding place too, but I think Clark forgot where it is.

Just for Sport

As I was changing my blog to Beta, I thought about what I would put in my margin (i.e. books I am reading, shows I watch etc.). After I put those, my next thought was Sporting Teams I root for! I don't know where I picked up my love for sports. It didn't come from my sisters. Anyone who knows them know that the most they ever got into sports was going to the BYU football games in college, and really, I think they went more for the social aspect than the actual sport itself. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I think deep down, I always knew that my dad wanted a boy that he could revel with in the emotion of the games. I did my best to fulfill that for him. I don't know how many times I have watched the 1988 World Series highlight video with him, the miracle of Kirk Gibson's homerun, and what my Dad is really referring to when he says the line "Show the Losers!". I can name most of the players of the "Back to Back" Lakers Teams (Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson, A.C. Green, James Worthy, and Byron Scott) and remember that my dad WORE OUT his Championship t-shirt until you couldn't even recognize the players. Somewhere I learned the rules of all the games, and I usually know what all those funny signs that the referrees make actually mean.
Later, I found out that most guys thought it was pretty cool if a girl knew about sports. I used this to my advantage a number of times, and scored some pretty great dates in college because of it. I married a guy who loves it all just as much as I do, and even more so. We have fallen asleep watching SportsCenter in the background, and we even have our favorite commentators. While there IS a limit to how much I can watch, and while Tanner might be better off if I was nagging him to go study instead of watching the game ... I just end up sitting down and watching it with him. I guess I just like good old fashion competition. Winners and Losers. And in some cases, how sport has helped shape and change a society. Sounds like an exaggeration, but it's true. So I guess now after writing this blog, I know exactly where I got my love for sport ... Thanks Dad.

Funny Boy

What is it with boys and wanting to read something while doing their business?


I'm not sure that I have pulled EVERYTHING out of this cupboard yet, so I am going to have to 'go in' and make sure. My blue camouflage pjs help me with my stealth moves (actually, they are surfer pjs, but for the purposes of this blog, they are camo).


Why go around when you can go THROUGH?