Happy Halloween!

It Only Took Me 4 Years...

to figure out what to get my degree in.

obtaining it or not was never an option - it was just a matter of what.

in the past 4 years, folks, i applied (and was accepted) to 7 universities.

i earned just over 100 credits.

i jumped around between 6 majors.

my problem was that i liked everything, really.

well, i made up my mind.

in january i will be taking classes towards my degree

in communicative disorders and deaf education, through usu.

eventually i will pursue a master's in speech pathology.

no matter how long it takes me or how many distractions i may face -

i'm doing it.

i am so excited.

i'm so grateful for technology

that allows me to take my sign language classes via webcam.

and the best part is that i can listen to my lectures

while crocheting on my couch.

hallelujah.

here is a picture of me and my most favorite college roommate

(second to my husband, that is :)

during my second semester of college.

Sneak Preview

I'm opening an Etsy Shop.

It's under construction.

Here's a preview:

Stay tuned!

We Went to the Game

and we lost.

we still love you BYU.

Boo.

Hair Did

last night my cute husband surprised me with a haircut.

love the salon (david douglas in provo).

love love my stylist (whitney).

and love love love the hair.

while I was there, Joe took Norah on a daddy-daughter date

to the macaroni grill and a movie

oh so cute.

look at those gummies.

ohh don't you just want to eat her?!

Bird Mural

last night I was looking at my list of projects I want to do.

I needed to complete one of them

because the list is multiplying like bunny rabbits.

and this was born:

$2 frame.

cardboard.

paint.

paper.

xacto knife.

mod podge.

But alas, tonight, it's back to the books.

Why Babies Have Mothers

my personal favorite is the powder-puff.

Deep Thoughts on a Morning Walk

Every morning I take Norah and Mr.Owen on a walk. Since it's getting colder, the walks are getting shorter. Regardless, I think we all enjoy the fresh morning air. This morning I realized most days I probably spend 75% of my day talking to my one year old. Thus, I have "big people" conversations in my head (you do it too, come on). Here is my random-thought-discussion with myself this morning.

"I'm not a cat person.
Or am I a pseudo-cat-hater who really loves them?"

(As a cuddly, soft, loving kitty trots up to Norah and I).

"Seriously?"

(As Mr.Owen gets into his squat position
to take his second #2 of the walk).

"I never knew a dog could produce so much feces."

(As I unroll my second 'doggie bag' and pick it up).

"Maybe I am a cat person considering I have to walk all the way home carrying two giant sacks of feces that wreak.. big time. Outdoor cats simply leave their dainty mess outside and that's that."

(As I indeed walk the whole way home carrying two sacks of feces, thinking it would be really cruel to drop them in a neighbor's trash can, especially since we're all the the same Ward. Darn).

"She definitely doesn't have kids."

(As I half-wave a "Hi" to a woman wearing a perfectly pressed,
crisp white shirt).

"Owen is a lot more well behaved and overall happier after he goes #2.
I think that's the case for all of us."

OK, so maybe they aren't so deep.

To attempt to make this post less awkward
I present to you without further ado:

THIS DAY IN BROWN HISTORY: 10.20.08
We were drooling over this bald-blue-eyed-beauty.

We Hiked Y Mountain

and it was intense.

norah insisted on being held by me and only me during 1/2 of the hike.

she also insisted that she walk the last 20 feet up to the top.

the view from the top.

the view from the bottom.

can you see the Y?

yep, we sat on that Y.

Pick Your Own

This past weekend we spotted our landlord plucking apples off of his apple trees so we thought, what the hey, we must be invited right? We walked over and joined him. I couldn't believe how many apples those two trees produced! I'm talkin' a lot. We walked home with two bags full. There's just something about knowing that you plucked your apple from a tree - the actual tree it grew on, that makes eating that apple that. much. more. satisfying.

It was always a tradition in my family to pick our own pumpkins and cut our own Christmas trees. I have great memories of doing those two things with my family and want to continue the tradition with my own family. I have had several people ask about local farms so I wanted to share a website that I found called PickYourOwn.org. It's a pretty basic site and sometimes hard to follow but stick with me - it's worth it. It lists your local pick-your-own farms, from berries to Christmas trees. If you know of any that aren't listed on the site, you can add it - come on, share the wealth.

Pluck away!!

And, just for fun (to be read Yus-for-fun),

here is a picture Joe took at the pumpkin patch

(because what would a blog post be without a picture?)

Paalam!

Don't even worry about how Norah looks like she wants to punch the cameraman in the face.

Yesterday we said goodbye to our beautiful friend Meghan (seriously, beautiful, b-e-a-utiful), who will be serving an 18 month mission in the Phillipines for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She will be learning the Tagalog language and teaching the people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She is going to be amazing and we know she will change many lives there.

We love you Auntie Meg!

For more information about what she will be teaching, click here.

Hee Haw Farms

Today was such a fun day. (How do I have time to blog about it, you ask? Oh, because Norah is in bed, my love is watching the BYU game with his Dad and I have no tests due in the immediate future). We spent over two hours at Hee Haw Farms in Pleasant Grove. It was awesome. We all loved it and will definitely go back next year. If I had the means to create one of those cool picture collage thinger-majigers, I would, but for now you'll have to suffer through a bajillion pictures.

Enjoy :)

The first thing we did is pet the goats!

(Well, they kind of just licked our fingers. It was a little creepy).

Norah just loves animals. Some kids are indifferent about animals but Norah innately loves them. It's cute.

Then Norah got to ride a pony. She was so patient as she waited in line behind 5 older kids and watched each take their turn. It was a dream come true for her, for sure. She was thrilled and wanted to do it over and over again.

I just love love LOVE this picture. Look at how she is holding on so tight and she looks so determined. Ohh I love this bug!

Bahhhh.

(notice Norah's fishy face, I guess we need to work on animal/sound/face relationships).

Daddy took Norah down this huge slide. By the look on Norah's face, I think she thought she was facing death.

Who knew so much corn could be so much fun? Instead of sand in a sandbox, they had corn in a cornbox. It provided minutes and minutes of entertainment for Norah, clearly wondering why the heck these people would put corn in a sandbox. She was up to her chin in corn and quite content with it.

Just drivin'. Uncle Bryan would be proud.

Norah rode in this wagon while we walked to the pumpkin patch.

And voila! The pumpkin patch. It was beautiful really - with all the huge sunflowers weeping in the sunlight (they were dead). It is probably even more beautiful when they are alive. I was impressed.

This is probably the only picture of Norah I got of her actually looking remotely towards the camera. She was laughing at Daddy, of course.

Have you ever seen such a huge sunflower up close? I haven't and I was amazed. I never really thought about where sunflower seeds really came from. It's amazing.

And when all is said and done, we get to the car to take care of business (you know, change the diaper, etc) and we find this :

(and no, this is not digested corn baahahaha)

I love my life.

It's October..

and that means it's time to play with sidewalk chalk

in 30 degree weather

at 7:30 am.

(secret to keeping the hat on: put the mittens on first. genius.)

and it means i'm a total dweeb for baking pumpkin cookies,

listening to Christmas music and sipping hot chocolate last night.

don't tell me you've never done it!

welcome, snow.

Someday...

When I have the time (and money)

I will collect beautiful fabrics like these..

Aren't they just to die for?

And make beautiful things with them.

Someday.

Highlights of the Past Two Weeks

My mom, grandma, sister and cute nieces all came out to visit for Norah's birthday. It was, well, crazy (with three kids under three) - but a lot of fun (as you can tell by the picture below) and went by way too fast, of course. Other than that we've just been spending our time trying to get back into a routine after having a very sick baby last week. She's finally getting back to being herself. This was the first time she has been sick and my oh my can I sympathize with mothers of sick children now! No fun whatsoever!

Hm, black mail picture? I think yes. :)

The ladybug cupcakes my mom made for Norah's birthday party - so cute.

And this folks, is why Norah loves her Aunt Morgan so much. Yes, she did in fact give Norah a push pop at the park. Thanks, Mo. :)