Fam Stick Figures

You know those stick figure decals people put on the back window of their cars (usually minivans or SUVs)?

I never decided if I liked them or if I thought they were too gimicky and cutsey cutesy. But I'm pretty sure that since recently comming across these, that I've decided they're awesome.

Would it be weird to put a stick family on the back of my Honda Accord since we don't drive anything bigger? (I converted Brant to be a Braves fan when we were first married. I even bought him a Braves hat in the Atlanta airport on our way to our honeymoon.

Do you remember

back when you were a lot younger and the books you read/ had read to you?

Brant especially is looking forward to reading bedtime stories and I'm (slowly) starting our collection of small classic children's books. I would love for Savannah to hear the same stories that I/we did when we were younger -something about the nostalgia of reading the same books that I did from over 20 years ago is so appealing to me. It would be fun to find these in an old thrift store- but if I'm going to be realistic, I'll just end up ordering them from online. Off the top of my head, the ones I remember most are-

The Velveteen Rabbit

Corderoy

The Little Red Hen

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Help me out - what am I missing?

Renaissance Festival & Texas Trip

Last Saturday we got together with a few couples in the neighborhood (all first time parents and all parents to babies born within 2 months of each other) and went to the Georgia Renaissance Festival.

Clint and Brant in as much costume as it gets. We had apparently picked to go on a weekend when they were having their big Renaissance Costume contests. A lot of the costumes we saw were, uh- creative (to say the least!).


I didn't get a ton of pictures, but we walked around and looked at the different booths and things vendors were selling, watched an acrobat show, ate some fish & chips, and- while we were waiting for the jousting match to start- Brant took a picture of this Renaissance time period ride where people sit in the octagon shaped box and it gets wound up the pole. He thought it was pretty cool and wants to build one in the backyard now (see me in this photo?)

There's nothing hotter than a guy pushing a stroller (right, Jill??)

That evening (and since Brant had a six day break from work) we caught a flight to Texas to visit Ma &Pa Harrison for a few days.

Some cliff notes (since this trip was really just for visiting and down time):

We are pretty big gym goers, but when we moved to Georgia we decided to forego our gym memberships and invest in a WiiFit instead. On the agenda of things to do in Texas was to test out their WiiFit to make sure we still wanted to make the investment (we totally do!!)


Brant snowboarding on the WiiFit

While there we also were able to catch up with Dustinn and Val (and their two super cute kids)

"Hello Oliva and Bradshaw - nice to meet you. My name is Savannah."

Oliva was born about four months before Savannah, and look - already good friends (promise Val didn't stage this pose with Oliva's arm around Savannah!)

I didn't get a ton of pictures on this trip (and we missed getting one with Aunt Shannon), but Savannah is a great traveler and slept the entire flight both to Texas and back.

(and a thank you to Delta for giving us all of row 10 at the front of the plane with all that leg room for both flights. we'd like to do that again!)

Because I'm still laughing

1. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How in the world are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page paper I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this - ever.

15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dang it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of any importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people' s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

19. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

20. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

21. Somestimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

22. Even when opportunity knocks, you still have to get up off your seat and open the door.

23. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understnad a word they said?

24. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

25. Shirts need washing. Underwear needs washing. Pants? Pants never need washing, and you can wear them forever.

26. Is it just me or do high school kids get dumber & dumber every year?

27. There's no worse feeling that that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

28. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

29. Even under idea condition, people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I bet that everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time.

Thanks Linsey - I forget how funny those office emails can be sometimes.
*By the way, I'm still laughing...

Chick-fil-a is cool

(From google images. I have no clue who that guy is)

Chick-fil-a is such a neat, family oriented company. One of my visiting teachers works at the Chick-fil-a headquarters and invited us to come for lunch and a tour of the corporate office yesterday.

Wow. It was almost like going to DisneyWorld.

After arriving on the beautiful Chick-fil-a campus (surrounded by waterfalls, walking trails, and colorful flowers) we were first lead downstairs to eat lunch in the classy cafeteria (we felt a little out of place in our jeans and t shirts) where every day Chick-fil-a provides free (breakfast and) lunch for their almost 600 employees of their headquarters.

Talk about taking care of their employees! Not only do they feed their employees delicious meals, but they let their employees invite their family and friends in to eat for free as well. After lunch Heloisa took us to tour the (really nice) employee wellness center that included workout facilities, a racquetball court, lockers, and showers, the test kitchen where new menu items are thought up, the antique cars around every corner (they even have one of the original 3 batmobiles that was used in Batman Begins!) and even Truett Cathy's office! (He was out of town, so we didn't get to meet him personally). They've also got a neat DayCare in the building so that working parents can visit their children at any time of the day.

Everyone was also super nice to us and welcoming as we walked around in awe. If I were looking for a job, I'd definately start looking here first!

Truett Cathy's office. You can't see it in this photo, but there's an adjoining room that acts as kind of his living room with a TV and couch (among other things). Heloisa says its where Truett takes naps since he's gotten to be a little old man - he's 89 and still comes to work. So cute!

The tour was complete with Chick-fil-a signature shakes waiting for us on the wayout!

Thanks so much Heloisa!! (oops- we caught this shot with someone's eyes closed!)

Attn: Everyone who is traveling this Summer

Head over here to design your own free luggage tags, courtesy of KLM Airlines. They may add you to their e-newsletter list, but you can always unsubscribe from it later.

Upload a photo of your own, or choose from their selection. They are giving these out (with free shippping, even) until they are gone and there are still over 37,000 left. Order as a gift for someone else, and they'll deliver it to their doorstep too.

I've never flown KLM (and probably never will), but I once saw one of their crews that had just arrived from overseas that were walking through the Atlanta airport. I may have been in a little awe of how polished and sharp looking the entire (huge) flight crew were in their teal blue uniforms. They practically walk in formation too.

Happy traveling!

Winner, Winner!!

At 12:30pm (ET) today Random.org picked the following two winners of these sweet reusable totes:

Commenter #16

and

Commenter #7

Congratulations Joyce and Kristen for being the newest owners of these stylish totes! I'll e-mail you the details!

If you didn't win, stay tuned - I've got another fun post comming up on Monday. One where everyone is a winner :)

P.S. FYI - That would be a former co-worker also named Kristen. Come on now - did you really think I'd enter my own giveaway??

The good stuff

Remember when I did this giveaway back in 2008?

Well guess what...

It's time for another one :)

The reusable totes that I gaveaway last time were cute, but they were a bit on the big and bulky side. And after awhile, the majority of the time I would forget to grab mine on the way out the door to the grocery store (which isn't super encouraging when your trying to do your part to save the earth...by the way, Earth week starts next week)

I've since found these sweet reusable totes from Bath & Body Works - I love the material because it rolls up with a snap and fits right in my purse. So even if I find myself on an improptu shopping trip, I've still got my reusable tote with me.

Plus, these bright colors and patterns are fun for spring and summer. The checkers usually get a kick out of it when I hand them my rolled up bag to use for my groceries.

So, I'm giving away at random two of these cute bags - one for each winner. That means there will be two winners!

All you have to do for a chance to win one of these fashionable totes is leave a comment so I know you want it.

That's all.

None of that "Leave a comment to enter, leave two comments if your a follwer of my blog, leave 3 comments if you follow me on facebook, leave 4 comments if you tweet about this giveaway, blah, blah, blah "- because those kind of giveaways are annoying.

This is just a dinky little blog (its not like Bath & Body Works sent me these to give away as a sponsor. I just like them and want someone else to have them too), so you've got a good shot at winning. Well, at least better than those giveaways where there are hundres, if not thousands, of comments.

And since Savannah's 3 month birthday is this Friday - and I like giving things away on birthdays - you have until this Friday April 16 at 12:23 pm to enter (Well, she was born at 12:23 am but I'm not planning on being awake at that time).

Check back then and see if you've won :)

And I'll even mail it all the way to Alaska if you win.

Why yes, Dale Murphy

I'll come meet you at Turner Stadium on August 2 for MORMON NIGHT!!

Which happens to be on a Monday evening - how appropriate.

Let me give you the details (if your blessed to live in the Atlanta area) just in case you can't see this flier that Brant received from the BYU alumni association:

Braves vs. Mets

Mon Aug 2nd at 7pm

-Bring your family to Mormon Night

-Brief meet-and-greet with Dale Murphy in the RF pation at 5pm

-Join the pre-game parade around the field at 6pm

-Dale Murphy scheduled to throw out the first pitch

Contact Anthony McClendon for ticket at 404.614.1401 or email anthony.mcclendon@braves.com

Are you as excited as I am?

My Blogging Comeback

My blogging comeback has begun! I betcha thought I'd forgotten - I don't blame you. People used to tell me that they liked my blog.

Then after a dry spell of posting, people asked when I was going to update my blog.

Then after even more time passed, people stopped asking at all.

:(

So it's back to business - with the first order of business being Our Little One :) What that means is (even though her name is in the header above) that you won't find many more pictures or updates of baby Savannah on this blog - you'll have to head over here.

But not so fast.

Because it's a private blog (insert groan here). Private blogs wouldn't be nearly so annoying if blogger would pick up the feed and tell us when people have updated their private blogs. That way you don't go scrolling down to click on the link of a private blog, only to enter your email and password - only to find out that they haven't updated their blog.

Because of that, this blog will still continue and I'll still be posting to it - but Our Little One will generally just be baby photos, updates, and milestones about Savannah for those that are interested. And its a way for me to post pictures and videos for Brant to see his little girl while he's on trips without me draining the battery in my phone sending the same pictures and videos to him via cell.

Anyways - you know the routine. Leave a comment/email/Facebook/text your deets (as in your email address) and you'll get the all exclusive access to the Our Little One blog (which includes never before seen photos and cool things) about our baby Savannah. Yes, that means when you send me your email address that you'll be in the cool club too.

See ya over there!

Patience is a virtue...

Yes, I realize it's been over a month since the last post - so uncharacteristic of me, I know!

Hang tite folks - because I'm working on a big blog comeback!

A few of the things

That I've learned over the past 3 weeks:

(1) Pampers newborn diapers with the yellow that turn blue stripe when wet makes life a lot simpler. Especially for first time parents.

(2) Velcro swaddle wraps are the best invention. Ever.

(3) Changing pads are not to protect your baby from the surface you change their diaper on. It's vice versa.

(4) And it's never a smart idea to change a diaper on a bed with freshly washed sheets. Especially without a changing pad. No matter how fast you think you are.

(5) Blow up excercise balls are excellent for sitting on while bouncing an upset baby.

(6) It's a good idea to have more than 1 diaper on hand when leaving home. Even if your already running late and you think you wont be gone for long. Because your always gone longer than you think you will be.

(7) It takes over a half hour longer than you think it will to get ready before leaving home to go somewhere.

(8) It's always a good idea to have a burp cloth close by. Using your bed sheet as a substitute in the middle of the night just constitutes more laundry in the morning.

No Frills

No Bows.

Just us.

Welcome Little One!

Savannah Grace

Born January 16 at 12:26 am

7lbs. 10oz. and 21 inches

It's been 2 days since I last posted- did you think I'd forgotten to post the details? ;)

For those that are interested... the cliff notes labor story. If your not into reading labor details, skip down to the few photos at the end.

Friday 5:45 am - I woke up to a small, subtle contraction.

5:53am - another contraction

6:11am - another contraction. At this point I'm thinking there is definately something going on here - I hadn't felt any kind of contraction during the entire pregnancy until that morning and right off they become pretty regular. I jump in the shower because I know it could be my last chance before contractions get stronger.

Around 7am - My little leaky, polite, H20 rupture begins that I don't even realize it (because I envisioned to be soaked when that happened, which is not the way it was at all.) At this point I wake Brant up to let him know that I don't think that he'll be going on his trip to Salt Lake in a few days because there is definately something going on different here.

By 9am - Contractions are now anywhere from 3-5 minutes apart, but still bearable. Our plan is to labor for as long as I can at home before calling the doctor. And since I still hadn't really realized that my H20 had already popped, Brant encourages me to get some more sleep because I'll really be needing to save all my energy.

Around 10:30am - I wake up for good because the contractions are getting stronger and waking me up every few minutes.

By noon - I'm pretty confident that I've gone as long as I can at home and call the doctor. They ask me to come in at 1pm. In the meantime we (ok, really is was just Brant) is packing, getting the carseat in the car, and finishing last minute things.

1:24pm - we arrive at the doctors office. As we walk back to the examining room, the Medical Assistant takes one look at me and says "Oh, no- your not in labor. You'd be acting a lot different"

1:35pm ish - the doctor walks in and after a quick check informs me that I'm dilated to between a 6 or 7 and that indeed my H20 has ruptured - she can see the baby's head and the hair on her head! She's surprised that I could wait for this long before comming in. We get sent over to Labor & Delivery, but not before I'm told that this baby is comming - fast - and that there may not be enough time for an epidural.

By 2pm - we're checked into a room and the nurse is working with me on breathing through contractions and that we'll have this baby in 30 minutes at this rate!

Long story short... it was not 30 minutes later when she was born. It was almost 10.5 more hours! The combination of trying to turn a sunny side up baby and getting through my apparently small child bearing hips was no easy task.

Anyways, there's some gaps with these times, but that's pretty much how it went. At 12:26am our sweet baby Savannah came into the world!

Looking just a little tired and puffy faced after more than 5 hours of pushing and 18.5 hours of total labor for our first family photo op (don't worry - I had an hour break in there when the doctor had to run do a c-section on another patient).

The sum up - Since I had a pretty easy pregnancy, I knew I'd probably be in for a long labor. Even though things slowed down dramatically once at the hospital, it still felt like it went by really fast. We had a terrific doctor, a fabulous nurse, a really good hospital experience, and now a beautiful baby girl.

A Sneak Peek of Our Weekend

The early (healthy) arrival of our baby girl just after midnight on Friday (or very early Sat morning to be correct)!

More comming soon!

Too Good to Be True

Remember this sweet free snuggie offer?

Don't hold your breath because it's not comming.

Read here.

Sorry folks. Good grief.

Work Smart - Not Hard

We eat a lot of cheese. In fact, Brant once dared to ask me if I wouldn't mind trying some new recipies that weren't so "heavy" (apparently the cheese was slowing him down). Or maybe it was the fact that it was such a hassle for him to grate all that cheese by hand (that was usually his job - along with any onion chopping).
.
But now, with the thanks to a 20% off coupon to Bed Bath & Beyond, another 20% Kitchen Aid manufacturer rebate on attachments, and the the remaining balance of a gift card - I've invested in this sweet attachment to our Kitchen Aid mixer.




















We tried it out this afternoon and it took about 15 seconds to shred half a pound of cheese! It will be even harder to cut back on cheese recipies now! (Sorry Brant...)

I love Kitchen Aid.

By the way, have a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

(click the pics for the full effect of the text :)

Can you...

eat an entire box of Cuties in a 24 hour time period?

I can.

It's what happens when your husband is on a trip and your alone wth a box of them in your kitchen.

a babymoon!

We've been wanting to take one last small trip before our baby makes her arrival next month. And since we're in Georgia now, we're got a plethora of new places around to visit aren't too close, but not too far away to travel to. Brant took it upon himself to plan everything and (at least tried) to keep it a secret until one night the other week as we were drifting off to sleep when he casually mentioned "Oh, and we're going to Callaway Gardens (a "13,000 acre Pine Mountain Resort and center of enrichment that offers endless opprtunities for adventure, discovery, and recreation") for our babymoon."

Well, there went that suprise ;)

Last week he had Tuesday and Wednesday off so we made the hour drive down to Callaway Gardens and enjoyed a low key day of:

(1) Visiting The Butterfly Garden

You wouldn't know from looking at this picture, but when this little guy opens his wings, he's got a beautiful blue color inside. Too bad he was more interested in eating the orange than in showing off for the camera.

(2) Strolling through the Virginia Callaway Discovery Center

(3) Watching the outdoor show Birds of Prey

Did you know that owls can't move their eyeballs - hence the reason they can turn their necks at such degrees?

(4) Walking through the Sibley Horticulture Center (Brant was pretty excited here since he recognized a lot of plants that he's been learning about lately with his landscaping research)

(5) And taking a short drive through some of the nature trails (the bikes would have been fun to rent to ride through the trails, but will have to wait until we can latch a baby trailer to back of one)

(6) After checking into the Mountain Creek Inn and enjoying a pizza dinner as the only customers in their lounge, we headed back for the best part - Fantasy in Lights -meaning a sweet hour ride in the Jolly Trolley enjoying all the Christmas lights throughout Callaway Gardens.

A short little outing, and since we went in the middle of the week, everything was super low key and we were happy to avoid the weekend crowds and busier days that are here now with Christmas just around the corner.