finally growing up.

Don't worry. If you can read that address, you won't even be able to find us there :)

Holy cow.
It finally happened.

After two years of paper, ink, stress, money, tears, praying, more tears, rejections, and eating out our sorrows through more ice cream than any one person should consume {times two}, it finally happened.

We {meaning Tyrel} got into grad school.

Oh does that tastes good coming out of my mouth {er, fingers?}.

With eight rejection letters under our belts, we had given up hope on an acceptance anywhere...

Especially when MFA programs accept 700+ applications and only take 5 or 6 people.

5 or 6.

Less than one percent.

For the next two years {starting in September}, we will be living in St. Paul, Minnesota

{which happens to be only 5 hours away from my parents instead of the 17 we are now}.

I am all kinds of excited, especially with the chance that I won't have to work full-time anymore and can spend even more mushy-gushy moments with the Kemster.

And cook.

And read.

And clean.

And sew.

And do absolutely nothing.

All of which sound quite lovely to me, thank you.

I am also looking forward to seeing some of my good old Y-High friends more than once a year.

Even though she doesn't know it yet, I am going to make Alyssa hang out with me all the time so our daughters can be besties :)

{Seriously. The two cutest babies ever...best friends? The world will soon be a perfect place!}

Even though both of my brothers {and my wonderful sister-in-law, mind you} are both moving to Washington state {a huge promotion for one and a doctorate program for the other}, we couldn't be happier to be closer to my family.

We have lived around Tyrel's family for the past few years and will miss them terribly.

But we know we will have some visitors during those two years.

No one can resist the Mall of America too long, right?

And besides.

We are taking Kemry with us ;)

13 month wiggles

I love that the Kembot is walking.

But sometimes {like today when we are trying to take pictures}, I think I liked it better when she couldn't move at all :)

Today is her 13-month mark.

And we had to bribe her like crazy, just to get a few cute shots.

Those stuffed animals didn't work.

 And the moose only held attention for a certain {short} amount of time.

But this:

 ...totally worked.

Thank you Mr. Quaker.

PS: Kemry learned how to fold her arms about a week ago.

Now it is one of her favorite things to do.

But don't think she will forget about that snack.

six facts surrounding kemry's first month as a toddler

 Fact 1: She loves that I painted her toes.

 Fact 2: The Rocking Moose my dad made for her has become a somewhat obsession.

 Fact 3: She will only walk with her hands and arms up in the air.

 Fact 4: Uncle Lyle is her best friend.

And I think the reverse is true as well.

Fact 5: Nothing beats Wonder Pets and Rice Snacks.

Fact 6: Well, I lied. Maybe slapping the fridge beats Wonder Pets and Rice Snacks?

they're sparkling

Tyrel texted me from work today.

He had the joy of listening to all of his coworkers tell him that babies are worthless.

Babies are worthless.

Of course, it made him a little frustrated and upset.

But you should have seen what it did to me.

I texted back some really rude things in regards to those coworkers.

I just ate at me, and I thought about it all day long.

Later, as I was listening to music, Jamie Cullum popped up on my iTunes.

Oh I love me some Jamie Cullum!

And then these lyrics played through my little, weak speakers:

"Your world is nothing more 

than all the tiny things 

you left behind."

There are many people {perhaps some of you even} that think I am crazy for getting married so young.

And even more-so that I had a baby this young.

By choice, especially.

But that is just it.

It was my choice.

Maybe once all of those nay-sayers have kids, they will understand. 

I think that little lyric snippitt sums it all up quite well.
I already ave one amazing thing to make my world worth something.

{Also, here is the song, just in case you need a little loveliness tonight.}

yes, we watched the super bowl

...to which {at the final 2 minute mark, to be precise} I said, "Wait. Who's playing?"

When we got home, however, I made Tyrel watch 45 seconds of this:

{The Puppy Bowl via Animal Planet, for those of you who don't know}

...to which Tyrel said, "If you are going to watch this, would you at least turn it down?"

So I turned it down.

And then off, because he really, honestly thought I was going to watch an hour of puppies running around in a big box.
 

Besides, we witnessed the first touchdown within those 45 seconds.

Mission accomplished.