flash back

remember 3 years ago,

when jared and i dressed up like this
for halloween:
totally cute right?

fast forward to present day.
add this cutie patootie to the mix:and you end up looking like this for halloween:even more cute right?
dont worry, we won "best family theme"
at our ward halloween party.

do you think we've changed much in the last 3 years?


does he not make the CUTEST cat in the hat?

parker and i made the 3 hour trip south to utah last week.
parker loved playing with grandma allred:
he didnt care too much to see his new cousin bencyn:
but he did enjoy playing the drums on his feet:and walking outside with 'GG' (great-grandma):and loved his other great-grandma's cookin':
oh and check out this cool flower in my grandma's yard:
cool huh?

so today after church, jared and i had a conversation that went a little something like this:
brielle: have you ever been going about your day doing whatever, and then all of a sudden get this overwhelming feeling of excitement and happiness for christmas?
jared: *laughs* ummm.... no.
brielle: oh... well that just happened to me.

seriously, im so excited for the holidays to start.
i get so giddy thinking about it.
even if parker has no idea what is going on
it will still be so fun to have a little child with us on christmas morning.

bargains

first things first.
jared took the gmat last week.
he was stressed beyond stressed about it.
i was stressed beyond stressed for him!
his scores on the practice tests weren't as good as he was wanting them to be.
but the morning he was dreading came.
and with a quick prayer and good luck kiss
i sent him on his way to pocatello.
50000 hours later (or so it seemed at least)
my phone finally rang.
he was done with his test.
and he did AWESOME!!!!!!!
way WAY better than his practice scores.
now he can breath a sigh of relief.
and he has started on grad school applications!

so, i have a new addiction.

and no it's not pinterest.
although i am addicted to that as well.
even though i have not made one single craft i have pinned,
i still feel so crafty just looking at everything.
im hoping to maybe make some fun christmas presents for a certain little girl i know
*cough cough* stacey lynn *cough cough*

okay my new addiction.
there's this store.
its called the D.I.
ever been to one?
cause you need to go.
ASAP.

its my new favorite place.
im guilty of strapping parker in the car and going twice a week.
okay fine, sometimes three times.
but if you only knew the kinds of Christmas presents i have found,
and the prices of those Christmas presents i have gotten for parker,
you would be going twice a week too!

sure, its all used stuff there
and a lot of it is quite a bunch of crap.
but with a little digging, you can find some absolute treasures.
and besides, the dude is turning one.
he could care less about whether the toys he gets are used.
but the things i have found him look brand new.
im pretty excited for his birthday and christmas.
now if only jared was that easy to shop for........

we took parker's walker to the park and let him walk with it.
it's a little ridiculous how adorable he looked.i got that walker at the DI for $3.
and his cute jacket? the DI....... for $1.

oh and did i mention all the cute cardigan's and sweater's ive found for myself?
all for $3 each.
sure they are used, but with a short trip though the washing machine and dryer
they are just like new again.
because let's be honest.
we do not make any money for me to go shopping at the mall with.
so i can live with used, cute, cheap sweaters.
and im pretty sure i bought a whole new winter wardrobe all for $30.
if that's not a bargain, i dont know what is.
seriously, its a great store.

parker is so curious about the leaves on the ground.
he kept getting distracted on our walk.
bending down to pick them up and put them in his mouth
learning quickly that it didnt taste very good,
so he moved on to the another leaf,
which also didnt taste good.isnt this the cutest picture you have ever seen?
*sigh*
how did i get so lucky?

sleep? whats that?

its friday night.

8:58pm to be exact.
and both of my boys are asleep.
we obviously are real party animals.

back before parker was born,
when i was going to school and working,
10pm would hit, my head would reach my pillow,
and id be out like a light bulb before someone could snap their finger.
people would tell me, "man i can never sleep"
and i would think, WHAT? how can you not sleep?

but these days i just cant seem to sleep.
okay thats kind of a lie.
i guess i eventually fall asleep at some point.
but 10pm hits, and jareds head hits his pillow and he's out cold.
11pm hits, jared is still out cold, and i lay there wide awake.
12am hits, still wide awake.
1am hits, still awake.
but i must fall asleep sometime after 1am,
because i never do see the clock when it says 2am.
anyways....

speaking of time, its october.
and it snowed yesterday.
thank goodness its suppose to warm back up to the 60's next week.
im not ready for snow.
and neither is parker.
he kept crawling towards the door begging to go outside.
i would hold him and open the door so he could see the snow falling.
he had the most concerned look on his cute little face.
and then he would cry when i closed the door again.
its gonna be a long winter.

speaking of parker.
he is so cute, i can hardly stand it.
his two little bottom teeth have come in nicely.
he loves his bath timehe loves getting into thingshe loves spaghettihe loves paying outsidehe loves crawling on daddyand of course he loves his mamaoh and did i mention i finally made an ABC wall in parkers room?
now im off to tuck that cute husband of mine into bed.
hoping he's too sleepy to notice my cold toes on his legs.

there's something about.....

there's something about the fall in rexburg that brings a smile to my face.

maybe its watching the city come back to life as college students return ready to start a new semester of school.
maybe its the leaves painting the city bright red, orange, and yellow.
maybe its the crisp fall air.
the kind that makes you want to put on a cute sweater
and eat pumpkin anything all. day. long.
maybe its the teacher in me that brings me so much joy as i watch kids shopping for school supplies and see them head off to start a new grade.
maybe its the smell of fall. (which reminds me, i NEED to get me some yummy fall scents to make my home smell splendid.)
maybe this year its the anticipation of halloween because i am SO excited to dress parker up.
but whatever it is, i love the fall in rexburg.
it really is too bad it has to be followed by 6 months of winter.

with fall here and everyone back from summer vacations, we have started up our play group again. did i mention i love it? let's be honest, play group is really for the mama's. i enjoy some girl talk while parker gets some baby action in. then when it's all said and done we come home for some lunch and then parker is out like a light bulb. for 2 HOURS.
love it.

parker's favorite thing to do these days is to pull him self to a standing position. he recently figured out he can pull himself up on the dishwasher door.
and he is pretty proud of himself when he does it.

he is also starting to eat a lot more table food. it is so fun to feed him the things we eat. (note to self: ALWAYS remember a bib)

he is getting really good at picking up food pieces and putting them in his mouth.

parker and housekeeping keep me pretty busy, but i have found some time to do some crafting. ive been on a jewelry kick lately.and the best part about it? all three of these cost me less than $10.
cute. easy. cheap.

i also made a fall wreath. i found this bad boy at the DIand with a little help from parker,we turned it into this:
now im in need of a new project to keep me busy during naptime after my chores are finished.
(im not sure where this line came from....?)