Home is wherever I am with you.

Today Ainsley is nine months. 

For the first time, I took her ____ month photos on the actual day!

Well, they turned out terrible. That's what I get for being on the ball. I'm going back to procrastination nation, I tell you!

Ainsley was fussy. I was frustrated and exhausted from being up every two hours with her last night. Growth spurts, man! I also have four bite marks just from today. Mother abuse. Someone needs to tell her that thing about biting the hand that feeds you...

So let's talk about something happy instead. 

We went to a pumpkin patch and I'm still giddy thinking about it. Like, it's competition with Disneyland in happiness levels. Did I just say that?

Gosh, I love Halloween.

My family that I couldn't be more in love with. 

It was nothing short of adorable. Ah! 

I joke with Clint that I want to be farmers. 

I haven't decided what percentage of that statement is a joke.

We made it home with a pumpkin for each family member and a pot of marigolds (for $9, holla!). 

I can't wait to make all kinds of pumpkin deliciousness. Feel free to share your recipes with me!

You see that? This is happiness. 

I feel like I'm starting to adjust to the move better. I'm making friends, getting involved, and loving this weather. The love I have for Ainsley is insane and I love spending every day with her. I'm so happy I have her. I still feel lonely and homesick and all of that, but it's starting maybe to feel a tiny itty bit like home. Maybe. 

And now for two photos to raise your happiness ten points: 

How is something so cute related to me? That's what I wanna know. 

top ten

Top ten things I'm thankful for.

1) Heavenly Father must be blessing me with patience. Seriously, it's a wonder I haven't screamed from all the people telling me my stomach is too big. Right now the new thing is something like "There's no WAY you're making it to your due date. Look how big your stomach is."

2) Halloween is like, really really really soon. Which is just wondaful! You can scroll down for my post on how great Halloween is. Would you like a hint on my costume this year? No one got it with my hints last year. Riddle me this bloggers:

You know how everyone does pictures by signs like this to announce they're pregnant? It's something like that.

3) I just recently discovered the wonder of the Backstreet Boys Pandora station. My life is forever changed. Also, how in the flippin world did it take me so long to add that station?!

4) I am LOVING the weather right now. Driving to work today it was 69. Arizona is wonderful. I would say everyone should move here, but I'm not a fan of traffic.

5) Tomorrow I am THIRTY weeks. This is great, because 30 sounds so much further than 29, and heaven knows I'm ready for this bun to be out of the oven.

6) I went to my first blog meet up last night! It was so fun and much less awkward than I anticipated. I'm really grateful for blogging. It's been great for me! I seriously feel so close to some of my friends I've made through it!

7) EIGHT WEEKS TIL GRADUATION!!!!!!! I'm so so so so so so soooooo excited!

8) Today is my last day of work. It was a hard decision for me to make, but I know it was the right one. I'll miss the great people I've developed relationships here (I've been here 2.5 years), but I'm grateful to be making times for the more important things in life and hopefully not always run around like a chicken with my head cut off.

9) So grateful for my sweet little girl. She already brings so much joy into our lives. It's so crazy having to wait so long for her. I just discovered what it's like! It's like having the anticipation of Christmas Eve every day. I'm JUST SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!

10) Obviously I would be ungrateful if I didn't mention my rockstar husband. He is such a hard worker and so sweet to me. Now I believe in happy, wonderful, full-of-love marriages that last forever. I still feel just as lucky as I did on our wedding day. Plus, he's super hot. Check it out.

The end! What are you grateful for? If you do a post, leave me the URL so I can check it out (someday).

That's for being so great!!!

Halloween Hatas

It has come to my attention recently in my adult life that not everyone loves Halloween. I know. This came as a shock to me too. Like oh really, you don't like magic and chili and laughter and candy? Do you hate Santa, puppies and babies too?

I've decided to take a proactive approach and convert all of you HHs (Halloween Haters) into lovers.  

Love >> Hate

I'm a nerd.

Anyway.

Reasons why Halloween deserves your love

1) Food. Food is pretty much all I can think about these days, so no wonder it's first. While I grew up eating pizza on Halloween, I have since adopted the Chili tradition. I support both, although this year my chili will probably have to be preceded by an entire bottle of extra stength tums. Don't you dare tell me to skip it. Seriously though, who says no to Chili? Same person who hates Santa right? It's especially irresistable when paired with some fresh cornbread.

2) It's magical. As a kid I never thought of Halloween as gory and evil, it was magic. Dressing up and getting paid (in candy) to do so=MAGIC. You can be anything you want. Actually, that's a whole other point.

3) AWESOME costumes. Clever costumes are my favorite kind. Would you like to see my costumes from the last 3 years?

Goose and Maverick with muh homegirl Brittany

nerds wit muh BFF Brittany

[will I EVER be that skinny again?!]

DR. PEPPER!!!!!!! Still patting myself on the back about this one

This years has fair competition though. Sometimes I run into someone who thinks it's weird I still get so excited to get dressed up. To them I say, go back to spending your time hating babies. I plan on always dressing up.

4) Caramel Apples. This deserves it's own point. Have you ever met someone who was like "oh, I don't like carmel apples and I hate puppies also." Me either. Everyone loves them. Did you know they're flippin delicious with M&Ms on them? GO MAKE SOME.

5) The weather. I live in Arizona. I grew up in Tucson. The weather is perfect! We never had to cover up our costumes with coats! The weather was just right for running up and down the neighborhood. It was the welcoming of Fall.

6) Hocus Pocus. I would say Halloween movies in general, but really what I would mean is Hocus Pocus. I just ordered it. $6.99 with free shipping from Amazon. Half of my friends think I'm a nerd, half think I'm awesome. I can live with that ratio. I already have plans to watch it twice. I don't like scary movies, which means kid halloween movies are perfect for me. They're...wait for it.....magical.

7) It's the start of the holiday season which really, just adds further to the magic.

8) Decorations. Go ahead and try to tell me something that could be cuter than my witch.

(by the time I'm old, I plan to have collected a plethora of Halloween decorations. No take-backs on wives, Clint!)

I love the decor. Also, that you can make awesome decor by gutting a gourd.

Mine and Clint's first date :) [Thank heavens he married into a family with a talented hair stylist. Hair is meant to be cut]

9) It could by my nieces favorite holiday. She loves pumpkins and skeletons and the "spooky tree" decoration they have in their house. Really, can you argue with that face?

10) CANDY. Whenever I cross paths with a bag of candy, I have to smell it. It's nostalgic. Brings me right back to Halloween of '96 (I don't actually remember the year) dressed up in my Cinderella costume my mom hand-made while my brothers and I traded candy. I don't really ever eat candy the rest of the year, but there's something magical about it during Halloween time. It tastes better too.

It worked didn't it? You all love Halloween now.

[p.s. THANK YOU for the support from my last post. I really wish I could reply to all of you! I want to eventually :)]