scarlypoopoo

some sundays are just meant to be fraught with disaster. we arrived home from utah at about 2:30am on sunday to a 173 degree house. the kids went to bed easily, thomas and i did not. too hot for our old bodies. then on sunday morning after a few hours of sleep we all attempted to get up and get ready for church. i think the 11:30 schedule is a blessing and a curse. you have more time in the morning, but you also think you have more time than you really do. we scrambled to get ready and put together remotely matching and clean outfits. the kids were in the bathtub while i tried to put my face together while my eyes bulged from my head from the lack of sleep. reagan often calls scarlett, scarlypoopoo. it's a term of endearment. so i thought nothing of it that the whole time they were in the tub that reagan kept saying, "scarlypoopoo!!! scarlypoopoo!!!" i just thought he was being nice and loving. no, not really. he was being informative and helpful. and probably a little bit disgusted as he was in the tub with her. so, i whisked the kids off to the other bathtub to clean up from the damage scarlett incurred. i made a mental note to pay more attention while the kids play with the bubbles in the tub. i also added scrub the bathtub to my list of things to-do. we finally arrived at church and the meeting was mostly uneventful. i had forgotten the sacrament meeting bag, but the kids were both so tired they didn't seem to notice the lack of activities. scarlett entertained the family behind us. i was able to run out to the hall and put up signage for my calling(primary secretary). i was able to enjoy cuddle time with scarlett before the meeting ended. she showed her appreciation for cuddle time with me by peeing all over me. apple juice runs through that girl like nothing else. next mental note, purchase heavy duty diapers for scarlett. i abandon ship and drive home for a what i anticipated to be a quick change. once i arrive at our house, scarlett is dead to the world. i know better than wake the beast so i put her in her bed and prep for dinner. about an hour later i go and wake her for the third hour of church. i lay her on her changing table and remove her diaper. and you guessed it. mess number three. outfits three and four are quickly discarded for both of us. i fight the urge to go eat a bowl of ice cream the size of my head and somehow i convince myself to return to church with my little leaky faucet. the end.

more about me

i made a major accomplishment recently. i am forever on the lookout for the perfect white shirt. i love blouses, flowy tunics, tees, tanks, v-necks, crews, raglans, you name it, i love it in white.
my greatest desire has been to find a crisp white summer blouse. and here it is:

scoop neck, princess seams, side zipper for impecable fit, fabric covered buttons, eyelet lace, puffed sleeves. perfect.

AMAZING!


can you guess what this is a picture of???

any ideas???

guesses?

hypotheses?

speeches?

impressions?

i cut bangs.

i'm still not 100% sold on them.

not my fave look. i always seem to make random hair cutting decisions right before we take a bunch of family pictures. but, i can work with it. my goal is to do my hair a different way for a solid week. i figure it will stretch my hair creativity. can i accomplish this? i'll keep you posted.

and, most importantly, the new cut hasn't inhibited my ability to pose. fierce! watch out tyra.

32 is the new 23!

happy birthday thomas!!! i have a feeling that this is your year! i feel like i can see into the future! georgia is going to take the national championship with a perfect 13-0 record! you will be appointed to the supreme court, and they will rename it the THOMAS is all-knowing supreme court! you will get a chance to read all your favorite non-fiction books without wifely or childreny interuptions! joel mchale will ask you for input on the soup! coach richt will call you to make a sudden death play call! this will lead to him asking you to be co-head-coach. you have so much to look forward too! two cheers for 32!

our sixth year in this glamorous life

yesterday was our sixth anniversary. can you believe it? me neither.

since we have been married, our lives have been nothing short than thrilling.
to commemorate our six years of wedded bliss, i am going to list 6 things that are really important to BIG T and little h(that's us)!
in no particular order:

1. the bountiful temple
this is the beautiful and special place we were married and sealed together for time and all eternity. this temple was chosen because of my own personal vanity. i wanted to be the only bride at that temple on my wedding day, and i was!!!

2. our saturday and sunday morning breakfast tradition.

we always try and have a big breakfast together on the weekends. we all look forward to it. we all have preparation assignments. thomas is the king-grits makers. i sneak the chocolate chips into the waffles. reagan barks orders. scarlett feeds meatball her food.
we have morning prayer. we chit chat. we skim the newspaper. we plan the day's activities. it brings us closer together. the family that eats and prays together, stays together.

3. reagan. being parents together has helped us learn more about ourselves and how to better serve one another and how to love and forgive more fully.
kids can be tough bizness. but few things can bring you closer together.

but pretty adorable bizness too.

4. and scarlett. we really like her too.

being a mother to a girl has made me want to be a better woman.

5. wholoesome recreational activities and hard work. this number is a combo. we can't have one without the other.
thomas often gets exasperated with my tendency towards the ridiculous. it's true. i am a bit wacky. (did you know that?) but we have a good time together. and i appreciate that he indulges me on my whims. and i think he has started to show some of his personal wackiness...


happy bird-day parties
an incredible affinity for everybody loves raymond.
robert e. leestein. cracks me up everytime i think of it!!!
watching civil war/revolutionary war documentaries and laughing at inappropriate times. watching anything and laughing at inappropriate times.
the soup. friday nights at 9pm.
posing with firearms, assault rifles even.

and not many husbands will dress up in costume for their wives. i consider myself very lucky indeed.
and the all important yin to wholesome recreations activities yang: WORK

thomas at work in his office
thomas receiving some award for his work. me WORKING by holding a squirmy child.
thomas graduating from law school because of hard work. i am wearing a cute dress that i WORKED really hard to find. (does blogging count as work?)

6. finally, on a serious note. the gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ. it is what truly binds us together. we know it is true.
without it we would be lost. with it, we have everything.

don't be jealous of our glamorous life.

(thomas was sleeping in this picture. dreaming about georgia football, i am sure.)

since this is a wedding post, let me shout from the rooftops this exciting news!!! i can't believe that i have neglected to post this amazing morsel of beck family information!!! david (also known as boo boo 'round these parts) is engaged!!! the fantastic bride is the lovely christine. they will be married on august 2nd in the salt lake temple! i have only heard good things about christine. you read that right, i've only HEARD good things. i haven't met her yet. everyone else in the family has but me and mine. i think it is a vast conspiracy. like i am the one in the family that would scare her off...please.

everyone in the fam is completely delighted. especially my mom. once the lovebirds seal the deal, we are going to have to pick another topic to dominate all our familial conversations.


hereforth they shall be called daventine. this one name business is so much easier to type than two names.

wow, this was dreadfully long. good job to those of you that made it through.

all hail the birthday girl

our baby is one!!! what a whirlwind this past year has been! we have lived in three states and i have probably sat down three times since she was born. she started out as our quiet, serene little lamb and now she is our loud, mischevious, incredibly speedy, cackling little monkey. our ward doesn't know what has hit them. i feel bad for the folks that sit around us at church. thomas volunteers to clean the church at every opportunity to make up for all the goldfish crackers smashed into the carpet. every sunday is a chase. scarlett usually wins. thomas has affectionately dubbed her lucy. but you have to say it like this: "LOOOO-CEEE!!!"

scarlett admiring her balloons in her redneck sleepwear.

of course, we had to have a party. scarlett was very insistent on this. everyone 1 year old needs a bunch of adult fawning over her and telling her how precious she is. how is she supposed to be a proper child-beauty queen without loyal subjects?

this is how our guests were greeted:

that sign and the stink coming from the garage full of poopy diapers screamed hello. nothing says hello like that!(garbage day isn't till monday)

i love this picture of scarlett and my dad. we are so grateful to have him around. scarlett and reagan love grandpa.

reagan was about to die from excitement when we lit the candles on the birthday cake.

the cake: i had a REALLY REALLY clever slogan to go on the cake, but thomas vetoed it because of some damning languge.

scarlett's little cake with the one-eyed smiley face. is this an omen for the year??? pirates will be attacking us?

scarlett in heaven.

scarlett has developed some mean basketball skills. she can't stand to sit idly by while reagan shoots all the hoops.

i don't know if this sign will ever come down.

a snapshot into my thoughts

sometimes i feel like blogging, but i don't know what to say. let's call it entertainment anxiety. what if this blog isn't entertaining? will you hate me? so i thought i would just write my thoughts on some pictures that i have taken recently. i'll try and keep the stories to a minimum. consider this stream of conciousness blogging...

this photo is of the fantastic thomas in front of the saint louis temple. we were able to go on saturday. thomas drove, i slept. i sometimes i amaze myself at my sleeping abilities. i drive myself all the time and i am fine. put me in the passenger's seat and i am dead. i brought several magazines and scarlett's baby book with me to entertain myself on the 4 hour trip, but to no avail. i was dead to the world after only an hour of traveling. during my dreams in the car, i thought i was awake. i was dreaming, "oh, i'll show that thomas. i'll stay awake the whole time. he always jokes about my narcolepsy. well, haha! looks who's got the last laugh now!" and then i would wake up to tell him and realize that i had been asleep for an hour.

the lovely me in front of the temple. my faithful readers will notice that i wear that green shirt ALL. THE. TIME. it's in nearly every picture. i promise i have other clothes. it is just my go-to shirt. everyone has a go-to shirt. this is mine. funny thing is, last summer's go-to shirt i NEVER wear anymore. favorite shirt overkill. after this summer you will never seen ol' green scoopy puff sleeves on my again. also, i always think that when i pull my lusterous locks in a pony tail that i look sophisticated and then i see pictures and i know better. the look is a little more 12 year old gym-chic.

what can't i take a normal picture? seriously. SER.IOUS.LY. bring out a camera and i make stoopid faces. then i am surprised at myself later. it's like i am one of pavlov's dogs. camera=dumb face

my sister is pretty hottt though.

while my son is the spitting image of his father, he got his sleep habits from me. this was after a quick jaunt to the pool with jamey. reagan had a meltdown to end all meltdowns. it was quite unusual since he has always been such a compliant child. mostly. sometimes. anywhooo. there was kicking and screaming and hairpulling. the hair pulling was a newly developed skill that i would like to blame on the bad influences at the YMCA. i should have been embarassed by this outburst, but i kept laughing. it was comical. i felt like a cartoon character. reagan's body was like rubber. contorting and squishing into different positions that seem impossible. perhaps someday he will be a yoga instructor. better yet, a contortionist. i would love to visit him at the circus.

please note meatball patiently waiting for reagan to be completely asleep so that he can steal his crackers.

the end.

or is it?

no really, the end.

bless this mess

this is what i am currently up against:

the front entry:

the playroom:
the living room:
the monster who created this great mess:
(not me of course, the smaller person in this picture)

and that monster too.

how it makes me feel:

not mad, not sad, mostly just that emotion when your face scrunches up and you breathe heavily out of your nose all at once. exasperation? perhaps i should BOL? i am neither diligent enough to keep messes like this from happening nor fastidious enough to want to fix it any time soon. i am like a hamster on a wheel. why clean it up when that is just creating another opportunity for the monsters to mess it up again?

the end.

but not really.

perhaps in 20 years when my children are seeking their own fortunes far far far away and thomas and i have retired to the battery in charleston, i will not have to worry about messes anymore. each morning i will go out to my garden and pick flowers while singing, sooong! song of the south! sweet potato pie and uh, shut my mouth!



i can't see any messes here in charleston...