apple picking

This past Friday Evie and I went apple picking with my mom at her husband's house.  We picked Yates and Fuji's.  My mom rode us around in their four wheeler and I would stand up in it and hand down the apples I picked for Evie to put in the bucket. She wanted to eat them straight off of the tree, so we let her.  That night I made two lattice top apple pies from scratch.  It doesn't get more homemade than apples right out of the backyard and a homemade buttery flakey crust with Plugra butter.  

I just love that fall is creeping in.  The mornings are perfect here but by 3 it's normally 79 or 80 degrees.  I'm so excited for when it cools down for good.  I love that October starts tomorrow.  That means so many good things are coming: my birthday, General Conference, holidays, fall weather, oh and WE ARE HAVING A BABY!  This could be the week!

Here are some polaroids from our apple picking.

the plan

A few weeks ago we received some amazing news that we had been waiting for, Mr. Murphy has gotten into the University of Georgia!

 He will be finishing his bachelors and Masters there as an accounting major.  We hope to be able to get it all done in about 3 years.  I am so proud of him and can't wait to see what this new adventure holds for us. 

We will be moving our little family of four back to the country and into my mothers house. When she got married in February she moved out to Douglasville with her new husband. So now we will have that big beautiful home and land all to ourselves.  I loved raising Evaleigh there for the first 9 months of her life and I can't wait to do the same with Avett.  Our days were spent outside swinging under trees, playing in the barn, and laying out on blankets in the pasture.  

We will make the move at the end of October a few weeks after Avett is born.  It will be a hectic time to pick up our family and move but we know it's the right thing.  I feel sad about leaving the city that I love so much and in my heart I hope we will be back in the future.  We have so many wonderful friends here and we are grateful for the love and support they have shown us.  John has been with the same company for the past 4.5 years and he has learned so much, it has been wonderful for is. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to be with them for as long as we were.

We are so excited to move along to the next chapter in our lives. We are a little nervous about going back to the student life but it's also exciting to do it together! So, that's the plan, and we can't wait to get stared!

(Back in 2011 when we moved in for the first time)

after the Italian vacation

Yesterday I went for, hopefully one of my last, OB appointments and John and Evie went with me. Since we switched doctors so late in the game John hadn't met him yet and he wanted to before it was go time.  It was a very unusual appointment in that our wait time was about an hour. Normally I'm in and out in 30 minutes or less, but since the doc had just returned from his Italian vacation the waiting room was packed with appointments.  As we were waiting Evaleigh was being pretty patient and trying to make friends with a few people around us. She definitely had most of the attention in the quiet waiting room. Then out of the corner of her eye she sees a nude sculpture of a mother and baby.  She gets really excited and starts pointing at and touching the naked breasts and very proudly starts exclaiming over and over again, "Boo-boos, boo-boos, BOO- BOOs!!"  All I could do was look at John and hide my giggle then congratulate her for naming the correct body part and quickly move on to something more appropriate like elbows or eyes.  I looked around in the quiet waiting room and most everyone else was smiling or laughing too. 

She has great timing....

the end is near

I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone. I feel like we just found out and now here we are.  I can't go out in public now with out comments like, "About to pop any second now huh?" "Is it twins?" "Don't drive over any railroad tracks."  I didn't really know what that one meant.  Monday I had a woman who thought she could guess how far along I was and the gender of the baby.  I let her try and she was wrong on both accounts.  According to her I was only 8 months along and having a girl. How much bigger did she think I could get?!

Yesterday my mother came over and helped me rearrange our bedroom and get the bassinet situated by the bed.  It's the same one we used for Evie when she was little before we began co sleeping with her.  I feel like I blinked my eyes and she was out of it and now we are getting ready to put Avett in there! 

So here I am at 38 weeks and 2 days.  Large, in charge, and hitting men in the head in the pew at church in front of me with my belly.

june & joan

Evaleigh likes to tell us stories all of the time.  Lately she has been talking a lot about June, Joan, and Nancy.  Although Nancy does not appear in this story, its still a good one.

Dear Avett...

We are down to mere days before your arrival.  I'm not really sure if it's even hit me yet.  Your sister has loved me carrying you around in my belly.  She hugs and kisses you all of the time and says, "baby!".  Every morning when your dad and I bring her in to bed with us I get a kiss, daddy gets a kiss, and you get at least two and a hug. 

I can't believe that you are almost here. I have prepared for your arrival more than anything else in my life.  I'm so excited for how you will come in to this world and I pray every day that my body will be able to bring you here safely and naturally.  We have our hospital go bag full and ready to go.  Anytime I make a face or stop in my tracks over a twinge of pain or Braxton Hicks your dad jumps right up and flips out just a little.  Keep it cool dad...

Despite the discomfort I have loved being pregnant with you.  It's been a little harder this time around because I've had your sister to chase around, but knowing what is on the other side of all of this makes it so incredibly worth it.  I can't wait to see you with your sister.  I've been feeling a little emotional about adding you to our little family of three but I know that there are so many sweet moments waiting for us when you get here.  I am excited to soak in all of your newbornness.  I probably won't want to put you down because I know how quickly all of that passes.  I am beyond thrilled to see you with your dad, you already have him wrapped around your finger.  He gets so giddy thinking about you getting here and calls you his little sidekick.

Take these last few days to do the rest of the growing that you need but please come out soon, we want to meet you. We love you!

saturday mornings...

...are for Sublime Doughnuts.

I woke up this morning with an intense craving for doughnuts.  We had Sublime catered at our wedding but never had a single bite of even one, they were gone so fast! So, this morning we decided to introduce Evie and Avett (through the womb) to Sublime. It was delicious and Evie made her own little friend who played with doughnut toys with her until we had to go. I love you so much Atlanta.

We got the:

Nutella Doughnut

Maple bacon

Chocolate Bannana Fritter

A-town Creme

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Filled

Dulce de Leche

All of them fantastic.