You guys gotta see this

Yes, that is a cookie.

Yes, it is bigger than my baby's face.

Yes, it has s'mores inside it.

Yes, it's delicious.


Here's the recipe.

10 months

35 Things: May

I know this is a couple days late...but you see, I was in Washington, D.C. when May became June, and I was much more occupied with things like watching money get printed and touring the Capitol and walking around humongonormous Smithsonian museums and such. Maybe I'll post some pictures in a day or ten two. But you wouldn't want to miss my May update on my 35 things, right? Of course right.

In addition to my monthly things (which, let's face it, I'm kind of rocking), I did:

7. Deep clean the dishwasher. Our dish "washer" was sometimes not really living up to its name, and Pinterest told me giving it a good deep cleaning might help. So far, so good! It was a bit of a chore, but it's done.

8. Redecorate the guest bathroom. Huzzah! New paint, new mirror, new light fixture, new cabinet, new towels. I was going to replace the hated pedastal sink, and then decided it wasn't bad enough to justify the expense (although still pretty bad). I still might change out the faucet on the sink, but only if it really starts to bug me. Also, there should be pictures here but I've been using Photobucket for my blog pictures and they just updated their editing software and its worthless. So I need to find a new blog pictures solution...

23. Make baby food. Charly is now the proud eater of some apple+blueberry concoction and some broccoli+sweet potato concoction. Actually, that's not true, because I made these right before we went out of town, so she actually hasn't even had a chance to eat them yet.

30. Read 32 books. I read:

The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness. Book 2 of the Chaos Walking series (Book 1 was The Knife of Never Letting Go, which I read in April). Really liked it! 4 stars.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth. Another book 2, this one sequel to Divergent. Also really liked it. 4 stars.

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness. Book 3 of Chaos Walking. 4 stars.

Hm. I think 4 stars is my default rating.

34. Donate to DI. I loooooved doing this. I have pack rat tendencies, so I feel extra super accomplished when I overcome those tendencies and get rid of a whole bunch of stuff I don't need and will never use. S'wonderful.

Woo hoo for progress!

some things...or something.

A couple random thoughts. This will only take a minute of your time.

(1) All this end of the school year talk has got me realizing that it's been 7 YEARS since I graduated high school! My word! Check me and my siblings out:

(2) Our kids-free vacation starts tonight! I'm certainly not physically prepared (aka I haven't started packing), and whether or not I'm mentally prepared is still up for debate. Ready for a getaway with my sweetheart? Absolutely yes. Ready to not see my girlies? Possibly/hopefully/eventually yes.

(3) My little bro entered the MTC on Wednesday, to learn how to be a missionary while speaking Cantonese. Yep, that tiny little boy in that picture up there is now tall enough that I had to stand on my tiptoes to hug him goodbye. He's going to be an awesome missionary in Hong Kong!

(4) Maddy reading "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" goes like this:

A B C D E F G...

Chicken chicken boom!

Cliiiiiiimb up the tree!

No more words jumping on the bed!


It's awesome.

(5) I actually don't really have a (5), I'm just stalling. I'm dreading all the packing. Stalling ends...NOW.

Or 5 minutes from now. #samediff

Mysterious ticking noise

If you don't know what that title is referring to, my heart hurts a little bit for you. Watch this and be enlightened.

Greatness.

Our Charly has her own mysterious ticking noise that she's been perfecting for months. I'm thinking she probably won't be able to do it anymore once she gets some top teeth, so I figured I needed to get a video of her doing it. I've been trying for weeks to get a decent video, but she usually gets all excited about having the camera focused on her that she can't perform, so it hasn't been easy. But I finally got this halfway decent recording during breakfast the other day. Don't mind the yogurt drool.

I'll miss those little clicks.

9 months

These monthly photo shoots are getting harder and harder as this little one gets more mobile. It was impossible to get her to stay on her back long enough to get a picture, so we had to try something else. This picture is obviously not perfect, but I love that it shows off her chubby legs and long hair.

Something old, something new, yada yada yada

Something old:

I bought this beauty on Craigslist in early April, and took my sweet time refinishing it into...

something new:

This now lives in our (newly redone, thanks to my 35 things) guest bathroom, where it holds things like swim towels, extra toilet paper, extra soap, etc. Our home is seriously lacking in useful storage space, so I'm pretty much always trying to find solutions. We had a little shelf thing in the bathroom that was nice, but just wasn't cutting it size-wise (oh, p.s. I'm selling that little shelf thing on Craigslist now; if you live by me you can have it for $15. Click here to see it). And I had a hard time finding something that would fit well in that bathroom space and looked just like I wanted it to, so I figured I'd just find something with the right design and fix it up myself.

It wasn't too hard, and it was actually somewhat therapeutic to work on something that had nothing to do with diapers, toys, or applesauce in a pouch. The most frustrating thing about it was just finding time to work on it. If you look too closely, you'll definitely see some imperfections, but I'm generally happy with how it turned out, and I'm VERY happy with the storage it's added. It's cleared up space in our other bathroom cabinets, and there's still plenty of unused room in it. Ah, the possibilities. 

Sticking with our theme, let's move on to something borrowed:

This story begins two weeks ago, when I was feeling relieved that I had survived another grocery trip with my girlies. Everything was loaded up, everyone was buckled in, we had pulled out of our parking spot, and we were just about to zoom ahead to the rest of the day's possibilities when -- THUNK. Yep, I'm going with thunk. That's what it sounded like when the big white truck backed into my driver's side door, obviously not scratching the big white trunk, but leaving a lovely dent in the side of my beloved Mickey (that's my car, FYI). Mickey was still drivable, but definitely needed some work done, so this week he is hanging out at "the shop," as Maddy says, and we're driving a practically new Elantra around. It's a pretty sweet ride, but obviously not as sweet as Mickey...even with the probably better A/C and the XM radio...

Which brings us to something blue.

Which I don't have.

Speaking of weddings, it's our anniversary on Thursday! 4 years! Par-tay!

35 Things: April Update

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Another month gone, another update post. I hope you guys don't mind these too much, because they really keep me on track.

I did my monthly things, plus:

16. Never go to bed with a dirty kitchen for a month. I won't pretend I was perfect at this, but there was really only 2 mishaps: the first involved me completely blowing it off, and the second involved me completely forgetting until the next morning, when I realized (happily) that the kitchen wasn't really dirty anyway. So I'm checking this off the list!

30. Read 32 books. I read three this month, which puts me at only 1 book behind for being on track for my goal (according to Goodreads), and I'm almost halfway done with a book, so I'm feeling good! I read:

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. This was recommended for people that liked the Hunger Games series, so YA Fiction in all its glory. I really liked it and was only seriously put out by some language. 4 stars.

Better Than You Think You Are by Ardeth Greene Kapp. I read this to hopefully give me a little confidence boost. It worked in the sense that it left me with very positive feelings, but it might not have been "hard core" enough for me. Great for a general pick-me-up, though! 4 stars.

Legend by Marie Nu. Also recommended for Hunger Games fans, also quite good. It was a quick and entertaining read (which, let's face it, is sometimes all I can handle nowadays). And I guess it was a 4 star month, because hey, 4 stars.

Well, what do you know, that's all I did this month! I had some other things planned but I guess they fell through. I was hoping to get the guest bathroom done this month but I'm not quite finished, even though I've made some good progress. Hopefully it'll be done in the next few days.

I'm also thinking it might be a good time to reconsider some of my goals, and decide whether or not they are still important and realistic. There are a couple in particular that I have to do some serious thinking about. And if you have a list of your own, you should do the same. There's no harm (or shame) in reevaluating!

Happy May Day.

Pinner Dinner Winners

Raise your hand if you like making new recipes!

In case you're wondering, my hand is raised. I make TONS of new recipes. Probably too many. I'm going to say about one a week. That's slowed down from when we first got married, mostly because I've made specific, intense efforts to come up with "regulars" since these things called children have come into the picture.

But still - lots of new recipes.

As you can imagine, Pinterest has only made my obsession with new recipes worse. The good news is that a lot of it is great. Most of it is great. But some...some are just amaaaaazing. So amaaaaazing that they have joined the small yet powerful ranks of things I make "regularly." So amaaaaazing, in fact, that they are worth sharing right here, on my blog. Whoa.

As I searched through my "Recipes" board on Pinterest, I realized just how many of these recipes I had tried and loved. Consequently, it was pretty darn difficult to narrow it down to these seven. But here they are:

1. Baked spaghetti with cream cheese and french fried onions by Let's Dish.



This is probably the pinned recipe I make the most often. It's so-o-o good. We love it around these parts. And it is very easy to make. Good news all around!  I usually half the recipe and it's more than enough for our little family.

2. Spicy sausage pasta by Kevin and Amanda



I was afraid this would be too tomato-y (We don't like tomatoes! Actually, Maddy does...) with the Ro-Tel, but it really wasn't. It also wasn't too spicy; the spice comes from the green chiles in the Ro-Tel, but it really wasn't bad at all. The recipe calls for mild Ro-Tel, and I just used original, and it still wasn't too spicy. But it WAS cheesy and delicious, and easy (you'll probably notice "easy" becoming a pattern...). Also, I'm usually a leftover snob (i.e. I won't eat them) but this stuff is awesome as leftovers!

3. Avocado chicken salad by Becoming Betty



I have only recently come to terms with avocado. I decided that what I don't like about it is the texture of slices/pieces. But when it's all mashed up, the taste is actually pretty good! So I'm discovering a whole new world of avocados. And I love chicken salad but despise mayo, so this little number really called to me. The flavors were excellent (lime and cilantro, anyone?) and I used canned chunk chicken so it was (say it with me now) EASY. We eat it in pita pockets with Sun Chips on the side. Yummm.

4. Guiltless alfredo sauce by Our Best Bites



We love us some alfredo around here, and this stuff is divine. I don't want to go back to the bottled stuff. And, okay, this isn't as easy as the bottled stuff, but it is still easy to make and seriously just delicious. And apparently it's low-cal or something? Awesome! P.S. Our Best Bites has TONS of awesome recipes. Click around over there - it's good stuff.

5. Buffalo chicken pizzas by Baked Bree



So I've actually only made these once, but I need to make them again. They aren't necessarily "simple," since there's some chopping involved to get everything ready to go on the pizzas, but they are relatively easy. And they're good! The sauce gives a little kick, though, so make sure you're using a hot sauce you can handle.

6. Honey lime chicken enchiladas by Let's Dish



Unique but delicious! We loved these. I halved the recipe and we still had leftovers (which were also good). Also, she says the cilantro on top is optional...but it's not.

7. Revolutionary Mac & Cheese by Macaroni and Cheesecake



So, macaroni and cheese is probably my favorite food ever (yes, I'm 5 years old), and this is one of the best homemade versions I've made. I kinda sorta love the blue box stuff (the three cheese shells variety, please), but I feel kinda odd serving that for dinner (not that that stops me sometimes). Also, why is macaroni and cheese often treated as a side dish? I don't get that. It's the main event! Anyway, this stuff gets my stamp of approval. You can taste the mustardy tang in it, but Dallin doesn't like mustard and will still eat this, so it can't be too bad. I looove it.

Well, that's it for now. Let me know if you've tried any of these, or share any others that you think are worth trying! Have a splendid weekend!

What I Like About Me

Here's the thing: I've kind of been struggling lately.

It's not easy to admit; it's pretty embarrassing, actually. But we all have things we struggle with, right? Somebody say "right." Right.

Well, right now, I'm struggling with my confidence. In kind of a bad way. No, not in a "depressed" way. I'm not in therapy or anything (not that that's a bad thing; I'm just saying I'm not at that point). But it is affecting my happiness. On a daily basis. It's also morphing into other issues - issues about loving and trusting others. How can I love others when I'm constantly comparing myself to them and being jealous of their lives, talents, personalities, etc.? And how can I trust others when I think that they must be always looking down on me (because I deserve it) and are therefore never acting out of friendship or love? It's been something of a slippery slope, and I could see it getting much worse without some action. 

So I'm taking some action. I'm reading a book on the subject; I'm constantly reminding myself that I am in charge of my happiness; I'm recognizing and documenting small victories and things I "do right" every day; I'm trying to recognize that when things don't go perfectly, it's not necessarily because of something I did wrong. And I'm trying to be aware of my strengths, which is where this post comes in.

Here's what I figure: it's one thing to say to myself, "I guess I'm not so bad at (blank)." It's quite another to proclaim what I like about myself to the world. Somehow, it makes it seem more like I actually feel this way, like I'm confident enough to not only recognize my strengths, but to tell you about them. It makes my confidence seem real. And, well... I really need it to be real.

So, in an effort to realize (understand) -- and realize (make real) -- my confidence, here's a little list of some things I like about myself.

In no particular order:

-I'm a good listener. Dallin often says I missed my calling as a therapist, and he might be right. I enjoy listening to people - letting them express themselves, learning about them, and, if possible, helping them out just a little bit. I think my listening skills have actually helped me learn a lot about people in general, which has made me more empathetic, which I hear is a good thing.

-I'm patient. Not Job-esque or anything, but I'm generally pretty patient, with people and situations.

-I'm smart. Or maybe well-educated. Or does realizing that those are two different things make me smart, so I should stick with that? Hm. Anyway, I like to learn, and I like to think. Result: I don't think I'm an idiot. Unless, you know, chemistry is involved.

-I'm good with money. I don't think I'm a cheapskate, but if something is a want, rather than a need, I have to want it really, really badly to justify actually buying it. I think I'm smart and realistic with our money; I don't hoard it, but I'd say I'm definitely more frugal than frivolous. I think I have a good balance, and I like it.

-My weight. Am I allowed to say this? It seems very taboo nowadays to actually like how much you weigh. I hope it doesn't rub anyone the wrong way, but if I had to choose one thing I liked about my physical appearance (and I kinda feel like I do for the purposes of this post), it would probably be my weight. Not my body - there are plenty of things I don't like about that. But I'm at a healthy weight and I feel good about that.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Well, there they are. A few things I like about myself. I realize that I'm by no means perfect at these things, but I think they are characteristics that I have that can help me become a better, more confident person. And I also think that recognizing them is a good start.

Thanks for hearing me out, friends. This was actually a really difficult post to write and I'm just a little bit proud of myself for actually writing it. And you know what? Being a little bit proud of myself feels good.

(a picture of me being proud)

I'd love to hear the things that you guys like about yourselves. Write them down, why don't ya? Forget about your weaknesses for a moment, and just show yourself some love. Deal? Deal.

Eight months

Well, hi.

Charly would like me to make it very clear to you that she was suffering from an awful, teething-inspired runny nose during her 8 month old photo shoot.






So I guess you'll get another one of these in 2 weeks...lucky you.

Also, I'm seriously entertaining the idea of actually writing a post one of these days. I won't make any promises, but gosh, wouldn't it be awesome?

35 Things Update: March 2012

Holy macaroni, it's APRIL?

I kept up with my recurring goals in March. I also:

5. Put up a picture of the temple in every room of our home. Okay, so not EVERY room. Specifically, not the bathrooms. But our bedrooms now all have pictures of our beautiful Mesa temple, and we already had some in the family room and one in the kitchen. Groovy.

10. Organize memory boxes. Ha. This was a fun one. Let's just say I kept a lot of old notes from high school. Let's also say that I inspired quite a bit of poetry in my high school days. Now let's say "Bahahaha!" So I now have all my memories condensed (hint: a large chunk of it, including all of the poetry, went in the trash) and stored away for my kids to laugh at later.

12. Create a cleaning calendar. I only did this two days ago, so I haven't really had a chance to implement it yet, but I'm really excited to use it! I basically made a long list of all the chores that need to be done on a regular basis around here, and then tried to divide them equally throughout the week. I think just 20-30 minutes a day will keep me on top of my house cleaning. Hooray!

13. Clean master closet. This actually ended up being quite the overhaul. I PATCHED DRYWALL, PEOPLE. No, seriously. There were three holes in the drywall in our master closet that have been there since we moved in, and we've just kind of ignored them because, hello, they're in our closet so who the heck cares? But I decided I care so I patched them, then painted the whole thing, stored away all the cold weather clothing, sorted through my clothes and pulled out stuff I don't wear anymore, etc. I'm SO happy with how the whole thing turned out. I also might be just a little bit proud that I PATCHED DRYWALL, PEOPLE, even if the overall result is probably a 6/10 at best.

30. Read 32 books. Gosh dang it, I'm a little behind. One book this month:

True Colors by Kristin Hannah, which I hereby and forthwith give 2 stars. If I were you, I probably wouldn't bother reading it.

I would have read more this month, but the book I had planned to read next was a nonfiction book that I'm having a really hard time getting into. I've since started something else and, let's be honest, I probably won't finish that nonfiction one.

All righty, thanks for putting up with my little update. I know it's kind of boring and such but it really helps me stay on track. Those of you that made "to do" lists for the year, how is it going? If you're behind, no time like the present to revise and restart! Ta ta.

A game of hot and cold

Current story of my life:

I'm at home. I get hot.

I go check the thermostat.

"Happy 83 degrees!" it says.

And I'm like, "Psh," and I turn the a/c on and set it to 75.

Fast forward a few hours, maybe a day, maybe two:

I'm at home. I get cold.

I go check the thermostat.

"Happy 68 degrees!" it says.

And I'm like, "Psh," and I turn the heater on and set it to 75.

Repeat.

Now, I know it's staying set to 75, because it tells me when I look at it ( set temp and actual temp) but it just keeps getting hotter or colder than that naturally.

I thought March would bring an end to this foolishness, since by March we're usually on the steady climb towards the surface of the sun, and I can just leave the a/c on and let it blow cool air on me and suck up all my money. But then today decided it was going to be wet and freezing and very un-Arizona-in-March-ish. So, in the name of not letting my children freeze (since they are weirdos and don't like being covered with blankets when they sleep), I just turned my heater on. Again.

And now that "just turned on the heater" smell can lull me to sleep. Blegh.

Seven months

I know I'm biased and everything...but this baby is gorgeous. 

AND she's a good sleeper. 

AND I would love her to pieces even if she wasn't a good sleeper. 

BUT it helps. 

WordCamp

Remember how I mentioned that Dallin was in charge of organizing a huge web developer conference in Chandler last weekend?



Well, I guess I just wanted to take a minute to tell you about it...which probably will involve a tiny bit of bragging about my amazing husband.

If you aren't familiar with WordPress, it is basically a web software that can be used and customized to make websites and blogs. You'd probably be surprised at how many websites use WordPress. It's a really big deal.

WordCamps are events that focus on helping people learn how to use WordPress, or how to use it more effectively. Again - a really big deal. They are held annually all around the world, but one of the largest (if not THE largest) is in Phoenix. You can basically plan on having 500+ attendees. And my husband was in charge of organizing it this year.

The things I can think of off the top of my head that he had to do:

-raise a whole lot of sponsor money
-build and maintain a website for the camp
-find and recruit talented speakers (enough for 3 days worth of classes)
-secure locations for the classes and parties
-design and produce t-shirts, sweatshirts, name badges, and a whole lot of signage for the event
-develop and lead a marketing campaign to get the word out so people would actually come
-recruit volunteers to help out with day-of registration and presentation set-up/take-down
-negotiate a deal with a local hotel to give out-of-towners an attractive option
-organize at least 3 big social events
-find reliable people to help with all of this, and manage them as needed

He would probably laugh at all of the things that list doesn't cover, but let's just say he was working on this camp for 4 months, and the past month or so has basically been dedicated to it. This has meant a lot of late nights and packed days, since he had to do all of this on top of running his company. It was also all purely volunteer work, so he didn't get paid for any of it.

Anyway, the whole thing turned out SO well. Not that there weren't any hitches...because there definitely were. But Dallin seriously did such a good job at making the whole event really amazing. I never cease to be in awe of that man of mine.

So, I guess I just wanted to publicly say how proud I am of you, Dallin. You pulled it off...and you looked good while you did it. #stud.

35 Things 2012: February Update

Happy March! No, seriously, HAPPY MARCH. Not only did February bring 29 fizz-free days, it also brought a whole lotta stress in the form of a huge conference that Dallin has been organizing for the past 4 months. Crazy times.

So, I kept up with my recurring things this month (Ensign, clutter desk, 4 blog posts), and got a few other things done, too. Check it:

11. Clean out junk drawers in kitchen. Huge transformation, here. I didn't get any before pictures, but now...



They are SO much better. I'm particularly proud of my use of baby food containers to hold little tiny things.

26. Don't drink soda for one month. You'd better believe it. I didn't get the headache I got last year, but there were definitely major cravings happening. 

30. Read 32 books. I read 2 this month:

My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. So good. 4.5 stars. Minus half a star for being just a little too "artsy" at times.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba. Also very good. A little slow moving, but very emotionally charged and inspirational. 4 stars.


33. Color my hair. Yep, totally did this. I was thinking all along that I was going to go darker, but the girl doing it for me talked me into getting a mix of highlights and lowlights that ultimately makes my hair look lighter. I just tried to get a decent picture of it and honestly couldn't do it, so you'll have to wait on that.

And there you have it!

Things I Love - week 4

Wrapping up the "Things I Love" for February:





22. Flowers. I love flowers, especially in my home. Fresh is preferred, obviously, but unfortunately I'm just not awesome enough to have fresh flowers in my house all the time. These fakies keep me happy, though.

23. Sunny days. As a native Arizonan, I think I'm supposed to love the rain. But I don't; I love the sun! Bright, sunshiny days are the best.

24. Weddings. I love all weddings, but I might prefer my own just a little bit.

25. Home. A good friend made this for us a couple Christmases ago. It is missing a very important person now, but I still love it, so it's still on display in our home. Anyway, I love my home.

26. ASU. It's where both my degrees are from, and where I leave my heart on the goal line (or, more often, the 3 yard line) every fall.

27. America! I love my country. And yes, I voted. For the "present" as Maddy would say. And then she'd sing "Happy Birthday to You." President=present=birthday. Get it?

28. Christmas. THE best holiday.

29. Words, as represented by this amazing quote. Not too long ago, Dallin and I had a conversation about things we are passionate about. One of the first things that came to my mind was words. I love reading. I love writing. I love listening to powerful speeches and talks. I love meaningful quotes. I love the fact that words can mean different things to different people, and that taking the time to find exactly the right word can make all the difference in what you want to say. It seriously amazes me. Words are powerful, people!

All right, kids, I think that about wraps it up. Thanks for sticking with me. Maybe you learned a thing or two about me.  Maybe you already knew all this. Either way, it was fun to do. Peace out.

Things I Love - week 3

15. Long, hot showers. A cold shower is depressing, and a short one is stressful. (BTW - this is my showerhead; I figured it was the best thing to take a picture of for this one.

16. Disneyland! My love of this place is deep and true.

17. My amazing, crazy, supportive, fun, generally awesome family.

18. Dr. Pepper. Looking forward to our sweet reunion on March 1. I've honestly done pretty well without it this month, but I do miss it.

19. My church. Gives me direction, purpose, and joy. Seriously, I love my church.

20. Jeans. I wear jeans pretty much every day. Because they're awesome.

21. Shopping. And yes, that includes grocery shopping. I actually really like grocery shopping. (Yes, it is a little better when I don't have to take the girls). And I love other kinds of shopping, too. I don't discriminate.

Things I Love - week 2

8. My car. 130,000 miles of memories (including an epic road trip to NYC).

9. This little guy represents my computer, my phone, and our iPad. Three things that I definitely love.

10. Date night. This one involved ice skating. We only fell once, but we made it count.

11. QuikTrip is da best.

12. Music

13. Arizona! I love it here. And no, I don't own that necklace. Could someone take care of that, please?

14. Love! This one was for Valentine's Day.

Speaking of Valentine's Day...you're not a Valentine's hater, are you? Because if you are, I'm sad for you. I know lots of people are like, "We shouldn't need a special day to tell people we love them, blah blah blah," but you know what? We shouldn't need a special day to celebrate our Mothers/Fathers, or our country's independence, or our Savior's birth, or any special occasion, really. I mean, what are holidays if not special reminders and celebrations of things that we too often take for granted? So yeah, if you're gonna hate, hate some holiday without a purpose, like... oh, say...Halloween.

Okay, I'm done. Hope you all had great Valentine's Days. I know I'm enjoying my flowers, chocolates, and  "Cars" valentines that I'm still finding around the house. Oh, and we're going to see "Wicked" next month. No biggie (semi-contained squeal of ecstasy). The hubs outdoes himself sometimes.

6 months

This isn't exactly an ideal picture of our Charly girl, but what can you expect from a baby who rolls onto her tummy immediately when you put her down? This was the least blurry shot I could get.





It's amazing how time is flying with this little girl. 6 months already? Sheesh. Actually, make that 6 1/2 months, since this post is 2 weeks late. Yikes.

We love our Charlotte!