explanations, parks & Ikea

Ok. i have to clarify why i call Mia "moo". I guess i'll start off with giving an explanation to her whole name. I've had the name mia in the back of my mind for a loooooooong time. Actually i have pretty much all of my kids names picked out. even our future pup's. Tyler and i agreed that we would take turns naming the babies as far as first and middle names go. I got to give "Mia" her first, and he chose "Malu" for the middle. While serving a mission, almost 5 years ago in Chile, he baptized a family were the wife's name was maribel and her nickname was malu. He liked how it sounded and thought it was cute so i let put that as a middle name. I questioned for a little bit naming her Mia Malu McCurdy. poor girl's innitials are M.M.M. Like mmmm doesn't that sound awesome?!! it fits her perfectly...

Well when we got home from the hospital a few friends came to visit (one being my relief society president), and she asked me again what mia's middle name was. When i said mia malu she quickly said "oh no".. Oh no????! People had expressed their opinions about her name before, but no one had the courage to say oh no moo my face like that before. TURNS out that my sweet relief society president had gone around telling people that we had named our daughter "Mia Moo". Gosh we all shared a big chuckle on that one. Love her!! So it stuck. Since then we've nicknamed her "moo" and "moofasa" when she's being naughty (climbing things or sticking things in her mouth that she shouldn't be.) So there you go. The backgroud to her nickname so all of you wondering why i call my darling baby moo, thats why!!

Now back to updates..

This week my friend Jenny and i took our babys to the splash pad. It was actually chilly out so they hung out mostly in the swings and sandpit area. Mia  loves kids and people watching. She's content just sitting there and goo gaa-ing everyone that walks by her. She got picky once in a while when her hands got dirty. a true girly girl in the making i tell ya. But Jenny and I have decided that Michael and Mia need an arranged marriage. Doesn't it even sound fitting? Michael & Mia. There we go with all mmmm's again!!

The lovebirds

Mommy & baby.

Yesterday some of us wives were suppose to go to a parade of homes thing. Have you heard of those? I hadn't until my friend Megan, told me about it. Apparently its like an open house/ show room type setup and you can walk through these houses and get ideas for your own and just see it. Unfortunately for us, they weren't having it today. [We may just go today though so stay tuned]..So we went to ikea instead. Yaay for ikea. People probably thought we were weirdos because there were six of us and 8 kids talking laughing and walking around those showrooms. Goes to prove that it doesn't really matter what we do, we can make anything fun. even you, you monstrous ikea store ;)

L-R {Sarah, Kori, Kelli, Me, Megan, & Janelle} With the 8 kiddos.

I scream, you scream,

We all scream for ice cream.

Tyler & i went to old navy last friday to just check some of their "back to school" sale. Of course we wound up buying something for moo & top for myself. woops!!. BUT.. Old navy and coldstone have this thing going on where you can present your receipt at cold stone and buy one get one free. We love coldstone. My favorite is 'the pie who loved me'.. dang i could eat that thing for the rest of my life and never get sick of it. Yum yum yum... So we each got an ice cream and paid only for one. It was a big score in my book because i always thing these things are flukes but man was i happy that this one was legit. free ice cream? im game any time dear old navy. Mia is at the stage were if you're eating something by her, then you best be sharing or she'll start wiggling to take it away from you. so we shared some of our deliciousness with her. only a tiny baby soon here and there. it wasn't until we had given her about 5 spoons that we realized that she's not suppose to be drinking milk. she's not lactose intolerant or anything, but she is still nursing and they recommend not giving your kids real milk until after the age of 1 because their tummys can't digest it all. We felt so bad. She definitely cried for some ice cream. I've taught you well baby girl, i've taught you well!!

Picnic time

This past week the husbands took a quiz and then had a chunk of the afternoon off. Since some of us girls have been getting together on a regular basis, we figured the guys needed something to help them relax a bit too. So we all decided to go to a local park and have a picnic and play basketball (guys). i'm so glad we did that! it was so nice to just enjoy good company, and good food. And luckily for us, Ms. megan had her camera on hand so she captured some of our outing.

Mia loving on her snacks. Oh chubby cheeks!!

Didnt know she was taking a picture or i would have smiled ;)

playing peek a boo with lily...

Tyler & Brac

Picnics are always so fun, but when you have a husband like mine everything is fun!! Love this guy. Don't mind my crazy hair, it's gonna change soon..

"medical wives"

I mentioned before that when we first moved out i was having an internal struggle as far as friendships went. I was worried that the next couple of years it would be just me and mia doing our own thing. not that there's anything wrong with that, but I'd like to think i'm still capable of having a social life and having girl time with friends every once in a while. well as luck would have it, not only did all my silliness subside, but i met some of the nicest ladies. Our husbands are all attending the same school and will be in each others day-day for a lot of the next two years. so we decided we needed a wives club. Once a week (Tuesday nights after the kiddos are asleep), we get together and just have girl time. we'll talk about the stresses of medical school, our kids (most of us have one or two and some are probably not far from there. We'll either craft, paint nails, or watch a movie. but mostly just eat and laugh a ton. It's funny because although we all just recently met it feels like i've known some of these ladies for a while. I'm sure you've heard of "real housewives, army wives, basketball wives etc.. well let me introduce you to some of my new bff's from the "medical wives"....

us at sarah's house celebrating her birthday

From L-R we have {[Emily, Kori, Ambry, Megan, me, Maria][Kelly & Sarah]}

• Emily is married to Sean, & although she doesn't have kids yet, she has her hands full with all of our munchkins and horror pregnancy/labor stories.

• Kori is married to Derek & they have an adorable almost 3yr old daughter named Lydia and a baby boy named Luke!

• Ambry is married to Josh & they have a cute daughter named Lily

• Megan is married to Brandon & they have a darling baby girl named Evie (whom I've had the priviledge to babysit once). & ms. megan is the talented photographer who will be taking some family pictures for us in the future!

• Maria is married to Steve & they have a precious little baby named Conrad

• Kelly is married to Brack & they have a sweet daughter who's about mia's age named Halee

Last but not least..

• Sarah is married to Jayce & they have the most easy going boy named Cameron. Sarah is the genius behind us running our half marathon this fall. So i'll thank/ kill her later :)

Medical wives

Us at my house last Tuesday..

That's our group so far, but we're still hoping to meet more of the other wives and get to know them a little better. Having these girls around will definitely keep us each sane and make the next few years seem fun! Love you ladies ;)

Zoo day

When we were living with  grandpa & grandma McCurdy while we house hunted, we got to do some fun stuff. a couple of tyler's brothers and sisters came to town to visit and we were able to enjoy time with them. We got to go to the zoo a few weeks ago when my sister in law and her kiddos came to visit for a week. It was so fun! I love taking mia to places where she is actually learning and exploring nature. We absolutely loved seeing the animals. the giraffes were our favorite. I'll let the pictures tell the story {with narrations of course}

Can you tell from her expression how excited she is to be in her carseat? It was like the world was ending and her parents abandoned her in the boring back seat. ms. drama queen.

Tyler & Ava

Us getting ready for our close up.. 

Love these girls!! L-R {Anna, Me, Tasha, Ava & Sofia}

 Dont you just love anna? She has the best personality. Love her!

 Ok, lets back track. I am super scared of getting too close to any sort of animal. I don't care if its a cute little rabbit, or a bird I'm petrified. one time when we went to the safari back in virginia with my family a stinking camel or whatever that thing was sneezed on my face!! gross. I was trying to be all nice and feed him (which we spent like $4 for a baggie of treats) for the thing to thank me like that? Uhn uh, not ok. My brother got in on camera, and i'm not ashamed to say i ran to my mom and cried. I was 17. Don't judge.

 So here i am freaking out when the giraffe grunted by me. I was not having him sneeze on me. Yuck.

Mommy & moo

 Grandpa got us some treats to feed the giraffe, and apparently miss moo got it from me. because....

 Look at that face. I don't know if she got scared, or if she wanted that cookie but she was not happy.

Poor baby

                          Sorry bubba. Mommy traumatize you for life?

Isn't he so sweet?! 

Daddy & baby

Mia's favorite toy Sofie the giraffe (Thanks Bruna).

 Meet ...... He was born 5 days before we went to the zoo. He's 5' 11" and weighs 160 lbs. He still didnt have a name picked out. He was so cute. i wish i had taken a better picture of the little  not so little guy.

Ava & I

 Taking a break to feed a hungry little girl..

              Love this group.

Ava & Soffe admiring the ginormous gold fish.

My loves.

Gabe & Ava sweating it out by the cheetahs cage (he wasnt there)

my cutie pie niece Sofia Jo

I liked the whole circle cage window thing. had to take a picture :)

Are you tired of scrolling down yet? There's still a bunch more! 

Woobie showing gabe something - I forget what. We saw so much!!

.My better half.

 I told you anna had the best personality..she's so silly. She took my phone and snapped 15 crazy/fun pictures of herself. I'm posting this one because im pretty sure she'd kill me if i posted any of the other ones. huh anna banana?

 Ok.. so i have a thing for horses. I absolutely love horses. If i could have one and not have to clean up its poop i'd get one in a heart beat. That and dolphins. If i dont swim with dolphins soon i think i'll cry. It's been a dream of mine since i was a little kid. anyways.... Soffie and Ava got to ride the ponies, and although there were one or two horses there i didnt want to be the 23 year old weirdo getting an assisted ride by someone who's fifteen. no thank you. So i stood by the fence and cheered on my little nieces, because that was the better thing to do..

 Ava loves horses too. And even before she saw them Tasha had already pulled out her wallet, because she knew Ava would ask.

 Theres a peacosk in there somewhere. Gabe dared me to to touch it, and of course i did. a dare's a dare right?!

 The hippos would have been my second favorite exhibit if they didnt stink so bad. Holy moly. it was bad in there. Mia loved it though. whenever they'd come up for air, she'd wave her arms.

 Everybody is pooped after a full day at the zoo, pushing strollers, diaper bags and coolers. Whoooo! Way to go team :)

 This is how we ended the day. She was so tired that she didnt even mind being back in the car seat. We had such a good day. Thank you dad and wendy for taking the whole crew out, we sure made some memories!!