Brianna is so funny - when she's not driving me crazy now, she's making me laugh.  She is such a joker.  It's funny to see what a great sense of humor an almost-2 year old can have.  She is so full of energy - that is probably the main reason she drives me crazy, but I find that if we do fun things together, our days are great.  Yesterday we went to Sears to buy a new water heater (for me) and then to the zoo (for her).  See how that works?  Got to do tit for tat if you want to make your child happy.  Yes, we had to get a new water heater as ours appears to be leaking severely - one of those fun house expenses that makes you wish you were renting.  Oh, and coupled with the fact that we are going to pay $200 to have our mesquite tree "thinned" tomorrow, it makes for an expensive month of home ownership.  Ah well...  Anyway, back to Brie's sense of humor.  She is hilarious to talk to because she still doesn't enunciate very well.  However, she talks to you as if you understnad everything, so it leads to some funny conversations.  ("Oh, you say Borat stuck the mouse in the door?")  The other day I asked her what she wanted to eat.  She said "Eat poop."  Well, that's what it sounded like.  What she was actually saying was "Eat soup."  But I responded "You want to eat poop??"  Then she played that up - she pretended to stick her hand in her butt and then into her mouth - she thought that was hilarious.  Then she kept it going - saying "Eat light" and going up to the light and knawing on the light stand.  She thought she was quite the funniest thing.  I'm sure it's all in how you respond to them - we think she's funny, too... but it's hilarious.  I probably had more luck getting her to eat fake poop and the light than real food!!!  I'm posting some pictures from playing in the water at the zoo (you keep in mind it's October 24!) and some from St Louis and Brie's makeup from yesterday.

I got the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle about a month ago and was inspired to change my diet and my way of eating.  If you're not sure what I'm talking about, you should check the book out.  Also check out your local Slow Foods movement - local foods and slow foods are very hot at the moment.  Seems environmentalism may be finally taking a bigger hold than before, but maybe that's just my age and who I'm coming into contact with.  Read below:

 

 

Josh and I joined a CSA here in Phoenix from Crooked Sky Farms a month or so ago, and it's been really fun. You get local, in season, fresh (yummy) fruit and vegetables each week.  It motivates me to try new things, eat healthy, and eat local.  Now all we're getting from the grocery store are staples and our milk and eggs.  We've also gotten meat from the farmer's market, so that's local also.  I am working on finding milk and eggs locally also, it's hard without lots of time to drive around, but there is a great farmer's market in downtown Phoenix on Saturdays that I will check out as soon as I have a free Saturday. 

Ahah... this is the time of year when I remember why I live in Arizona - beautiful fall nights of 70 degree weather.  Went walking with the family this evening - Brie bundled in her blanket and us with the dog, lovely.  You forget about hellish summer weather so quickly when it's like this!

I feel like normally there isn't much to blog about - our life is pretty repetitive, and even though life with Brie and a family is fun, with school and work and everything else, not much changes on a daily basis.  That must be why I only write when we do something fun.  I'm not the type to sit around philosophizing on my blog while my mind is full of other things like studying for nursing school, and daily life isn't very interesting to read about.  So, you get pictures from time to time and when we do something fun, maybe something to read.  We have been busy but nothing exciting to tell stories to the world about.

 

Anyway, this is the third yearly trip to Willcox, AZ with the Livermores – officially Brie’s third trip since the first was in utero.  J  The weather this year was wonderful!  Last year we drove down and back in one day – 3 hours each way… decided that was a bit much, so this year we broke it up a bit.  We went down after I got off work Sat night and spent the night in my dad’s new place.  Then we want to breakfast and the farmer’s market at St. Phil’s on Sunday morning before meeting at Julie’s place to caravan down together.  We drove to Apple Annie’s, where we go every year – had a lovely lunch and then picked apples.  We also ran into Joel Johnson from high school, which was pretty funny.  They are working on their 4^th (!!!) baby.  Amazing how some people live lives so differently than others.  Anyway, then we went to pick pumpkins and wrap up the trip.  We were there for quite a long time, the kids were great and it was great fun.  We also ate dinner in Tucson before heading back last night, which was a nice way to break up the trip and shorten the time in the car for Brie quite a bit.  What fun.  I am posting pictures and Julie will have some soon also – probably better than ours.