Picture Post (And a Few, But Hardly Any, Politics Discussed, if Anyone's Wondering)

Happy Election Day, everyone.

Raise your hand if you are as happy as I am that it will all be over soon.

I actually started drafting a big long political post in my head a few weeks ago, but I decided not to even go there. There is far too much screaming and not enough listening this year, everyone. I'm trying to be one of the listeners. Also, last point, because even though I'm trying to be a listener I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut: We are all so concerned with being right that we have stopped being concerned with what is good. And that's NOT good. #nevertrump #potterweasley2016

So there. Mull that over and be mad at me if you want. I still want to be friends, though. I am trying to refrain from judging anyone for whatever terrible choice they felt they had to make today.

Well, anyway, now that that's over, imma post a bunch of cute pictures of my baby, mmkay?

Some of these are old. I just want to get them up here before I forget they exist. Also, it's highly likely that there will be way too many pictures on here because I'm a bad blogger and I'm really behind.

Ward dance, "Dancing through Time." Going Roaring Twenties was Greg's idea, so I threw the costumes together that day after a trip to Wal-Mart. I made Brynn's little flapper dress from the scraps I cut off of my dress. I was pretty proud.

^This is my "Hurry-up-and-take-a-picture-before-she-rips-her-headband-off" face.

Another fun things we've done lately...go to the zoo! At first, Brynn loved this goat friend...because she didn't realize it was a living animal. It was super docile. Then a goat walked past her and she figured out they were alive and she kind of freaked out. But I got pictures first! 

My parents came in town last week, and that was really fun. We went to the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, where Greg found this gator and taught him a lesson or two. 

We also went to this canoe exhibit thing in St. Augustine. Brynn doesn't like canoes really. She prefers kayaks, probably. 

Beach time! 

Went to Epcot when the family was in town! Man, we love Disney. Just bought our four day passes, so I'm sure we'll add more pictures soon. This is us in Canada. Yeah, I know it's not the real Canada, but I figure the real Canada can't be that much different. Only colder. 

So Brynn loves to be in our tiny kitchen while I'm making dinner. It's hard to cook when your one year old is trying to dump out cheerios and play in the trash. So lately I've been setting her up with a chair and a bowl and a spoon and she helps me cook. She stirs and taste tests and everything. Pretty much adorable. 

She's grown pretty attached to her teddy. We came in to check in her before we went to bed and caught her sleeping in cuddle mode. Don't mind that big patch of sweat by her head. I promise I turn on the fan and stuff. She's just a really sweaty kid. 

Halloween costumes! I made them and was pretty proud. No sewing, though. Just glue-gunning. That's the way we do Halloween around here. 

We went as Monsters Inc! We just couldn't pass it up. We thought Brynn would make the perfect Boo.

We tried to teach Brynn how to say Kitty but she never really got there. "Put that thing back where it came from or so help me!" We didn't win the cutest family costumes award. The Bishop's family did. Like dressing all 9 family members like a character from the Finding Nemo franchise is really all that cool. Pff. 

I'm going to go in the spirit of this year's election and say the whole thing was rigged. 

The Replacement Paci

At the beginning of October, we took away Brynn's pacifier. She loved that thing. We only used it for bedtimes and naps, but trust me, she would walk around happily chomping down all day if given the opportunity.

We decided it was better to just be done with it now instead of waiting until she was older. I didn't think quitting the pacifier was going to get any easier as she became more toddler/less baby. So General Conference weekend we confiscated all the pacis. Nap time was pretty rough for two days. She really wanted that paci back and she let us know about it. I wanted to cave. I felt like a bad mom. Guilt, shame, sadness, all that jazz.

And then, just like that, she was over it. In less than 48 hours she was totally fine. It was like she had forgotten all about it, and she went back to her usual angel self.

Well, that was about a month ago. This was today:

"You think I don't remember, Mom and Dad?? WELL I REMEMBER."  

She found a spare safety outlet thing and was walking around with the two tines in her mouth. A replacement paci. A poor replacement, but a replacement all the same. 

It was both kind of sad and absolutely hilarious. Mostly hilarious. I find myself to be very impressed by her ingenuity and resourcefulness. Well played, Brynn Eliza. Well played. 

Back to Books

Time to blog about books again.

The other day when I was in the library the book "41" caught my eye. I love memoirs, and it looked interesting to me. I don't know very much about George H W Bush, so I checked it out, not knowing if I ever would get around to reading it. Maybe it's because we're in such a political flurry right now, but once I started reading, I couldn't stop. I thought the memoir was thought-provoking, and I gained a new respect for people who enter politics because they really just want to do the right thing. I wish there were more people like that who could get traction in today's world. It makes me think I just need to put on my big girl panties and join the board for the public library already.

Well, after reading Bush on his father, I was sort of interested in reading the memoir of George W. Bush's years as president. I never thought I would be interested in this book, but again, once I started, I couldn't stop. I think it's good to read these things now, when we're all trying to decide what to do for this election. An enlightening read, regardless of how you might view the decisions that Bush made. Bush himself admits he made mistakes, but he is also adamant about the fact that he was trying to do what was right.

Well, after all that heavy stuff, I needed something just for fun, so I read the last two mysteries in the Charles Lenox series. He is a gentleman detective in Victorian England. I read most of the other books a couple of years ago, but wasn't even aware that two more had come out since then! They are highly forgettable but very entertaining. I feel like the characters have lost a little bit of their real-ness as the series has progressed, but they are still fun stories.

This last book I found on the Reading List shelves. It is about the Navajo Code Talkers. It wasn't necessarily very well written, but it was kind of a good, quick intro to what the Navajo did for us in WWII. It's a new perspective to hear about the motivations of minority groups who fought for the US, and it confirms my belief that preserving language and culture does matter. 

Brynn Goes to a Pumpkin Patch

We've had an eventful last few days around here. Saturday was our 6 year anniversary, and yesterday was my birthday! We did lots of fun things together to celebrate, and Greg got me tickets to see the ballet. I LOVE THE BALLET. He's a keeper, that one.

But one of my favorite things we did this weekend was take Brynn to the pumpkin patch. I mean, look how adorable she is with that little baby pumpkin.

Goose neck gourds! I love these things. They're so cool. And they really look like geese. 

They had a lot of varieties of little squash, too. These winged ones were pretty cool. I had never seen any like them before. 

And these weird little acorn pumpkins were new for me, too. So I had to show one to Brynn. 

Big ol' pumpkin. 

Brynn is really not scared of much. She is scared of my friend's big black dog Juniper, and that's pretty much it. She'll just take off and go exploring, happy as can be. 

Look at that lovely church in the background. This is one of the reasons I love living in the South.

So I take it back, Brynn is scared of more than just the dog. This scarecrow made her somewhat nervous. 

Family selfie...first time at the pumpkin patch. A wonderful way to spend our anniversary! 

Thoughts on Hurricane Matthew

This morning Brynn and I walked to the playground before her morning nap. But the playground is now home to a tired tree that broke during Hurricane Matthew and hasn't been cleared yet. We still got in some good playtime, though.

The complex pool didn't look very good, either. The water was literally black. 

Besides Snowmageddon in Philadelphia last year--which cancelled church but didn't turn out to be too terrible--Hurricane Matthew is the first natural disaster that Greg or I have been in. On Wednesday we started hearing reports that the storm would be pretty big, although no one was sure if it would make landfall in Jacksonville or whether it would be a Category 3 or 4 when it got to us. All activities at the church were cancelled that night, and Greg was told not to come to work Thursday or Friday. Thursday we mostly sat inside while it rained, tracking the storm in the Caribbean. 

The brunt of the hurricane hit Jacksonville through Friday afternoon. The wind was loud, and the storm came in bands. It would be incredibly windy and then it would die down, only to pick back up. Greg mentioned that he had seen winds like that in Idaho during blizzards, but nothing as sustained as this storm was. We lost power for about 24 hours, which was inconvenient, but not really a big problem. We know people who only got power back last night, and we didn't have to evacuate like our friends out at the beach or in St. Johns County. 

Although damage was not very bad where we lived, there was definitely damage in Jacksonville. A huge tree fell on a building in my friends' complex just down the road. There are still intersections without power, and there are trees and fences down everywhere. Little ditches are now full-fledged retention ponds. The beach eroded, and the A1A literally washed out to sea. 

We have fond memories of driving down this road in the sunshine to St. Augustine. It's sad that we can't do that anymore. 

But the biggest takeaway I got from Hurricane Matthew is how blessed we can be when we are obedient and prepare. In my first ward council meeting in June, my bishop discussed how he wanted our ward to work on preparedness, both temporal and spiritual. The temporal thing seemed kind of weird to me because the church hasn't pushed that as heavily as they did before the 2008 crash. But our ward listened. We've had all kinds of activities and all sorts of things since then. For the first time in our lives, Greg and I got together actually functioning 72 hour kits for everyone in our family. We started trying to make our food storage and other supplies more complete. 

So when the hurricane came, we didn't worry. It didn't matter if we had to evacuate. We felt safe. I am so grateful for discerning leaders of my church who give us counsel that is pertinent to us and our situations. And I'm grateful that we were able to see real blessings because of our obedience. 

On Sunday, we had a short sacrament meeting, and then we headed out to do cleanup with the supplies that the LDS church shipped into town. You guys, I have a Mormon Helping Hands shirt and everything. It was so awesome to see everyone pull together to help others. Tonight Greg is headed down to St. Augustine with the scouts to see what else they can do. 

Haiti is in my heart right now, because of the people they lost and the damage they sustained. Being in a storm that killed so many people has made me much more empathetic, and I'm looking for opportunities to see what we can do. 

So even though the storm could have been a lot worse, it changed my perspective on a lot of things, and isn't that what storms are supposed to do? 

Books, Books, Books

You guys, sometimes I read too much. Sometimes I read when I ought to be cleaning the house. So, the good news is I have some lovely books to blog about. I'm just going to brain dump what I thought about them in little snippets, okay? The bad news is...my sink is full of dishes right now.

Oh, well.

I first heard about this book in my 451 Theory class back in 2011, long before it was a movie. Room is told in the voice of a 5 year old boy who has lived in captivity with his mother his entire life. They escape their impenetrable shed halfway through the book and try to adjust to being in the world, and being free. This story is all the more poignant because it is told in the voice of a child. Somehow, that makes the darkness of the kidnapping and the struggles of Jack's mother a little more tolerable to consider, but also more repelling at the same time, if that makes sense. The whole thing is masterfully written and definitely makes you think. What is the most "real"? How do we deal with tragedy? What is bravery? What is so beautiful and sacred about the bond between parent and child? 

One thing I didn't like about the book... It definitely got a little political at times, which is inevitable considering the subject matter and the times in which we live. In one scene, Jack's mother discusses how she's okay with abortion and it's a choice that makes sense to her. For one thing, the topic felt out of place to me. But more importantly, this book is so beautifully about the affirmation of life and how the love between parent and child can save us. What does it say about our society that a book that covers these topics also feels the need to qualify these things? It really bugs me. 

A lot of people didn't like Go Set a Watchman when it came out. I'm not sure I loved it, partly because I just thought it was kind of slow. But I don't fault Lee for writing it the way she did, and about the topics she did. This book is less about racial relations in the United States, and more growing up. Scout learns that Atticus is not a perfect person, and she survives and becomes capable of making her own choices. Honestly, while I think some people would fault me for it, I liked Atticus the way he was presented in this book. The best heroes are flawed, just as the best villains have redeeming qualities. That's more like real life, isn't it? 

Out of all the books I've read this month, In the Heart of the Sea has the best ratings on Goodreads. First Greg and I watched the movie--about sailers who are lost at sea after their whaling ship is attacked by a sperm whale--and then I decided I wanted to read the book. A quick read, very interesting. While the section about cannibalism is hard to get through, I really liked the rest. And now I really, really want to visit Nantucket. 

This is a story about an 11 year old who solves a murder her father is framed for. I found the narrator to be both incredibly obnoxious and totally delightful. While I had a few problems with the way Bradley presents the arch of the detective story, I do think it's a cute and fun book. And I think it's the first book of a series, so I might just have to dig up the rest. 

Growing Up

This little bubby is growing up. Yesterday we learned how to color a little bit. It surprised me how well she can actually grip a pen or a crayon in her hand and scribble. Well, not crayons so much. She mostly just eats crayons.

Today I had my To Do list and pencil out on the coffee table, and little Brynn picked that pencil right up and started coloring. It was adorable. Now I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't have encouraged that particular bit of curiosity yesterday.

Of course, she looks adorable while doing it. 

Since I never wrote down her 1 year stats, I guess now is a perfectly good time to do it. I'm still nursing her 3 times a day. You guys, I just can't stop. I don't think Brynn really "needs" it anymore, but I just don't want to be done. At her 12 month appointment, she was 28 inches tall and weighed exactly 20 lbs. She is in the 52nd percentile for weight, but only the 10th for height. Looks like she inherited those shorty Zollinger genes. Imma put her in gymnastics just as soon as I can without feeling like a crazy over-achiever mom. 

In the last few weeks she started clapping. When she was about 12 1/2 months she started walking to Greg and me. So fun! Now she will choose to walk about half the time. We've been trying to get her to blow kisses in the last few days, and I didn't think she was really picking up on it. But today I was talking to my parents and with no coaxing at all, Brynn blew kisses like crazy the whole time. Yeah. It's precious. 

She also started figuring out how to throw temper tantrums. Me and Greg are like...uh, now we actually have to do some discipline stuff, instead of just keeping her alive. Mostly my strategy is just to ignore the fits and try to teach her that they won't get her anything. Not sure it's working. Translation: I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT I'M DOING OVER HERE. 

What would we do without our cutie, happy Brynn Eliza? Little Cutes McGee, we just love you.