VA Winegars

I didn't give my baby a frosted sugar cookie to sample. Everyone knows whole cookies are a choking hazard for such young children.

I didn't cheer her on as she nibbled away at one of my favorite holiday treats.

I didn't laugh at how surprisingly coordinated she seemed as she cleaned off a layer of frosting and bit off perfect-sized bites and audibly chewed them as if she had been doing for years.

I did make her a happy girl.

Savvy continues to grow teeth, and I continue to be surprised. Here is a great upside-down look at those pearly whites. She has five in now, with one more on the way. It makes her look much older than just 6 months....which she is today!

She can get all of the rings off in no time. She uses all 4 limbs to do it.

So our local Walgreens had a Santa on Friday, so we ran over there really fast to have a little picture taken. There we were, right in front of the herbal essences and maybelline products enjoying the magic of Christmas. Savvy was really not quite sure what to think about Santa. She got a good look at him and then buried both of her hands in his beard.

Here she is digging around in her toy bin. Suddenly she just sat up, and stayed...

We went with six families total, all with children. Savvy LOVES other kids, especially this one, Pacee, who is the daughter of Savvy's babysitter. Pacee, who is 14 months old, gives Savvy hugs at least every 10 minutes and Savvy loves it and is learning to hug back. It was so fun to spend some time with them and it was really fun for me to get to watch Savvy interact with the other kids. We drove to the Currituck light house to check it out. It is a cute red brick one, and totally picturesque. We tried to get a group picture in front of the lighthouse, so we got a big lighthouse and tiny group. Note how green things still are. The climate here is so lovely.

We had the best time spending 5 whole days with Savvy. She seemed to enjoy having us around more than usual. It was a great get-away.

Living away has been so bittersweet for us. We really love it here, but we always feel a pull toward home in SLC. When we first moved here I insisted on calling it "home" so as to not appear to be pining away for the past. I felt defensive about how attached to SLC I have always felt. So I would bend over backward to tell people how much I love Virginia and what a great place Richmond is. After three years I have really developed a love of much of Virginia and Richmond, but the longer I am away, the more strongly I identify my home as Utah and SLC. I think I will always feel like a welcomed guest here in Virginia. As fun as it was to sit on the beach for the holiday, and be away with great friends that we love, I would have traded it in a second to have been home at my Mom's table, watching my Dad carve the turkey wearing his In and Out Burger apron, listening to the Mo Tab, and hoping for snow. I am so thankful for such a wonderful place to remember and to dream about.

...because our house is full of catalogues. We don't normally get a ton of mail, but these days the mailbox is stuffed with catalogues from various companies, many of which I have never heard. I really enjoy perusing catalogues, and apparently so does Savvy. She had the Brookstone catalog dismantled in a matter of minutes. I left her for a few minutes on the floor while I got dinner going and this is what I came back to.

Caught, red-handed.

The token smile. I'm sure there are plenty more on their way for both of us to enjoy.

I have avoided the tagging all together, but Cami officially named me on her tag, so I can't avoid it. Here it goes:
Jobs I've Had
Career Counselor - University of Richmond Law School
Academic Advisor - U of U Law
Summer School Counselor - Rowland Hall Elementary
Marketing Assistant - Pioneer Theater Company
Front desk girl - Dry Cleaner around the corner from my parents' house
Costume Dresser - Pioneer Theater

Jobs I'd like to have
Stay home mom
School board member
City/county council member
tour guide of some great place
museum docent
children's book store owner

Movies I have watched over and over
Christmas Vacation
Mary Poppins

Favorite things to do
swim
read
sit on the beach
hug my mom & dad
play with Lizzie, Anna, Daisy, Annie (and Romney soon!!)

Places I have lived
SLC, Utah
Chi-O house
Richmond, VA
PHOENIX, AZ as of 6/1/08

Favorite things to eat
Anything Trevor makes for me
Ice cream
anything but fish

Places I'd rather be
on the beach (any beach will do)
in SLC with family
at a great Utah football game
Hawaii

Words I like the sound of
Autumn
Piggly-Wiggly (a southern grocery store)
yummy
home

Yucky.

I love weekends. I LIVE for the weekends. Thursday night is my favorite night of the week because of the anticipation of the coming weekend. Saturday nights are sad and Sunday nights are the worst. All of the anxiety and stress of the coming week crash over me like a giant wave and I already start looking forward to Thursday night. It is 10 PM on Sunday night right now, and I might as well be in the "washing machine" of the waves. (Except if I really was that would mean that I was on vacation at the beach, which I'm not, so even a real wave smash would be better right now than the hypothetical one.)

We had a good weekend. Friday night we caught the high school football game of a kid in our ward. In Virginia football is big, but so is the marching band. You know that movie "Drumline?" That stuff is really big here. Anyway, even the worst high schools still have great marching bands. It was Savvy's first football game. she just sat on my lap and watched the game and enjoyed the band. She looked all around at all of the people. Do you think she noticed that we didn't exactly fit in??

We went to do a little shopping at the Stony Point Mall. Savvy stayed nice and cozy.

We played on our tummies for a while.

We sat in the high chair for the first time. (It wasn't a huge success...)

And Savvy wore a beautiful dress (from Grandma Jacque) to church where everyone commented on how pretty she looked. And she agreed. You can see it in her smile. Thanks Grandma!!

I cross the James River every day on a wonderful old bridge. Every day I wish I had a ski boat...

Then I arrive on campus at the Law School. It is a beautiful little campus and the law school is lovely as well. (None of these pictures do justice, sorry.)

So there it is. Something to enjoy. That's all I have to say about that...

The spread. It was great food. We had four different kinds of chili, including Spokane Beans, again, a Warner family favorite.

These were quite possibly the cutest super-girl costumes I have ever seen. The cape has a feather boa around the bottom of it. The silver shorts and silver glittery shoes were so darling. Their mom had also sprayed some glitter in their hair and on their faces. It was so cute. The "A" is for their last name, "Allred."It was a fun night.

It is finally sweater season in Virginia. I love sweater season. Starting in about August my sweaters start to call to me from the guest room closet. Periodically I go in looking for a sweater that I might be able to wear in warmer weather. Every year I can't resist and I try one for a day, and wind up sweating it out as a consequence. I feel like fall is the time for rediscovering the other half of my wardrobe, which is always fun. It is doubly fun to put Savvy in sweaters too. She has been exploring her sweaters by tasting various parts of them. I pick her up and find her forearm, neck, and lower part of the zipper wet where she has been sampling. (I am impressed at how much saliva she produces!) She is becoming so fun. Her jabbering has exploded in the last few days. She has learned some new consonants. "Do-da" and "Lo-la" with a few "b's" and "t's" in there as well. It is pretty fun. (If you look closely, you can see her teeth! The last of the chicken pox scabs are nearly ready to fall off.) :)

It is also time this week to pull out the summer garden and plant the pansies. We will eat our last garden tomatoes this week. I will miss the incredible gardening here in Virginia next summer. We have been able to grow many semi-tropical plants that are so beautiful and easy to tend. It presents a new challenge to have to learn a new climate and how to garden in it. I do look forward to it, but with some trepidation. After 3 years, I finally feel comfortable with things here, just in time to move on.

Hanging out on the porch after work. T went with some good friends and they had a great time.

She would stay in the johnny jumpup all day if I would let her. She is loving it and getting some great new moves. She is wearing her Ute cheerleader outfit for our ward Halloween party tonight. She looked great.

...you saw the Chicken Pox? Right, that's what the doctor said too. Actually, his exact words were, "It's been a long time since I have seen a case this severe." Yes, SEVERE was his word. See for yourself.

More dots appear every time I look at her. Poor thing. I feel so sorry for her. She even has one on the palm of her hand. It is so sad.

Trevor leaves tomorrow AM at 4:30 to go to Jamaica for the week. Ya man! So Savvy and I will be home trying to recover, all alone. The doctor HOPED that the lesions would stop appearing by Tuesday. (Hoped?!! What if they don't??) His other words were, "Unfortunately, it is going to get worse before it gets better." Oh boy. I don't even know anyone who has had a child with the chicken pox in the last 20 years. I guess she is set for life now. One less shot to get at her 12 month check-up. Never a dull moment...

Napping on the beach.

Playing on the beach with Papi.

Nice shades. :) Thanks Grandma and Papi for a wonderful time on the beach. We can't wait to see you again at Christmas time!! For more great pictures of our trip visit Cara's blog.

The little lady has two new teeth. I am not prepared for her to grow up yet. I was so surprised when I felt her gums that I nearly cried. Goodbye toothless smile. Goodbye smacking gums. Goodbye new-baby look. I seriously am so sad. I would keep her baby-doll sized forever if I could. I will post pictures as soon as she takes her tongue off of them for a second.