what a slacker!

Wow, it's been a little while since i last blogged... about ANYTHING!

I think my last blog was when Cara gave herself a black eye. A lot has happened since then. 

We are expecting another baby in June. It's a girl. Things are going well NOW with that. I was super sick for the first 18 weeks... maybe more. 

Cara has gotten a lot bigger. She's talking so much and she's too smart for my own good. 

She can count to at least 10, but she always leaves out 7. Can't blame her... 7's a scary number (7 ate 9). 

ha, okay, bad joke i know, but she doesn't say 7. 

Geoff and I just had a birthday 25 and 28. We're getting older! Ahh! Anyway, so we went to Gatlinburg, TN for that. It was kind of a "hey, you wanna go to Gatlinburg in a few days?" kind of thing. Geoff's still super bummed that we didn't find out about the 90% military discount from Ripley's. Pretty much EVERYTHING in Gatlinburg is owned by Ripleys... including the aquarium. Oh well, you live and learn, right? 

We had  fun in Gatlinburg. We went to a few of the ripley's museums... the world record museum, the ODD-itorium, and like i mentioned... the aquarium. I think the aquarium was MY favorite part of the trip. They have a pretty neat shark tank with tunnels underneath. 

There's a place called WonderWorks that looks like an upside down house. It was fun too. There are a lot of science-y things to do for everyone. Geoff and I AND Cara had fun. 

Ryan left for his mission.
He's going to the Oakland/San Francisco, California mission. Right now he's still in the MTC. 

Cara and I went down to Texas for a visit before he left. It was neat to see Ryan go through the temple for the first time.
Dad also had his back surgery while we were there. That all went well. Dad was in surgery longer than he was scheduled to be, but that was because there was a lot of scar tissue and things the doctor hadn't planned on. The doctor is expecting dad to be able to start jogging again soon. Right now, i think he's still hobbling around a little. 

Mom, Cara and i were in a fender bender at the hospital. We were on our way to visit dad and a lady was stopped at the stop sign, but decided to pull out into us. We were all okay, but it just turned into a bit of a headache. 

So it looks like Geoff might not have to deploy this time around. It's kind of awesome. He should be getting the rear detachment commander position. Things might change, but i think it'll be great for our family. We won't get the extra pay that comes with a deployment, but Geoff will get to stay and get to know the baby. And now that Cara's just starting to get used to him, it'd be tough to have to see him leave again. Deployments ARE shorter (9 months now), but they've taken away mid-tour leave because of the shorter deployments. 

Well, that's a little bit of catching up. I know it's not as detailed as it could have been with me keeping up with my blog, but there's a little glimpse of what's been going on with the Carmichaels. ...The last few months anyway. 

Black eye and a new dress

So Folks, it's been a while, but i feel like this blog is going to be like that no matter what!

Well, I finished up sewing a bag for my mom and it turned out pretty well, so i decided to start a new project. I made Cara a patchwork dress. I found the idea through a blog as i was surfing the internet because looking at crafty blogs seems to be my new thing. 
http://indietutes.blogspot.com/2007/05/patchwork-circle-skirt.html
Anyway, so I decided that i could just eyeball it instead of actually following a pattern. (Patterns scare and confuse me.)
I think it turned out pretty well!
I'm going to try and insert a picture later. The goal is to do it right and not get too angry if i screw it up.

She wouldn't let me take one of her standing up. Goober.

Our church likes to celebrate Pioneer Day. It's the 24th of July, and that's the day that the Mormon Pioneers entered the Salt Lake valley. ANYWAY, our ward had an activity at a park on the 23rd, and we had lots of fun. There were hamburgers and hot dogs, and lots of other food. They had pioneer games like stick pull and three legged races and stuff, but Cara was not interested in any of this, she liked splashing in a puddle of spilled something on the floor of the pavilion and then i finally took her to the playground! So we took one of the Fujii girls with us, Saya (sp?). It was hard to keep track of two two year olds on the playground, but i was doin' alright with the Sister missionaries helping me. The girls wanted to swing, but there was only one swing available, so i made them take turns. Saya was fine with me holding her, but when it was her turn to swing, Cara didn't want to sit still while i pushed Saya, and Cara decided to go play. She didn't get too far before she crashed! She had a big knot on her eye. I'm surprised it didn't get cut (I think it was close). So, i tried to get both girls back to the pavilion where i knew they had ice, but trying to get both of the girls to cooperate was like herding cats. The sis. missionaries can't pick kids up either, so they were trying to hold hands, and anyway... i ended up calling Geoff and told him to grab ice and meet us half way. Fortunately for us--well, Cara, he answered his phone and saved the day.
It's been a few days, but she's starting to get a lovely eyeshadow look to it.

 
Can you tell? it's on her left eye... I know, not the best lighting.

Let's see, what else have we been up to...
Oh, Sad day... We found out that our favorite restaurant here in Hopkinsville is closing soon. August 7th will be Dot's last day. It was a nice find. A "well kept secret" of sorts. It was a home-style, down home, Sunday family meal type of restaurant, and we've always had great service. Geoff and i love to get a plate of their friend green beans with horseradish dipping sauce. "Weird", you might say. "Delicious" is all you think about after you've tried them! Love 'em, and i'll be sad when i can no longer get them.

On to other news, i have CARROTS in my garden! It's kind of sad to admit, but i can now tell the difference between WEEDS, and my carrots! hee hee, i'm not the world's best gardener, but i'm trying. On a sad note, my strawberry plants are dying. :( But i am getting sunflowers. And my midget corn plants are getting tiny corn! it's hard to explain, so out to the garden with my camera i go...

These are carrots, not weeds.

My dying strawberry plant

Isn't Corn supposed to be tall... like sunflowers, not  2yo daughter?

yes, my corn is as tall as Cara... 

see? they're carrots!

my "midget" corn. (i know, politically incorrect)

my sunflowers

My grumpy gardener

After I tried to come back in, she didn't want to.

 Yes, we had ramen for lunch, Cara is holding her bowl of noodles in the garden. I don't know why she wouldn't come back inside, but i had to drag her in. I think it's just because it was close to nap time.
So, i'm not sure if we're going to have a successful garden as far as the corn and things go this year, but hopefully we'll learn and do it better next year. I think we over fertilized, and i think that hurt the corn. I think i'm also going to (sadly) get rid of a few stalks as they grow so the strong one (or whatever's healthier looking  to me...the inexperienced gardener) can grow without fighting the others. I think i might also do a little bit MORE than i did this year because if you see that empty space by Cara, that was supposed to be zucchini, but i never got around to planting them.

Well, onto something other than gardening...
The Seeleys came to visit. Those of you who aren't related to me that might be reading this... that's my aunt and her family. Vicki, Kevin, Sheraya and Austin.
We went out to the Jefferson Davis memorial. I'd just gone with mom and dad when they were here, but we found this little Mennonite store. They had all sorts of jams and jellies, pickled things and he even had a USDA approved meat processing plant in the back. Vicki and Kevin bought tons of tomatoes and some corn and squash. We ate lots of fruit and veggies that night. I even showed her Aldi's (yeah, geoff was sad he didn't get to go) we got 99cent strawberries and blueberries too. (And some oranges.) We had a good time. They weren't here for very long, but we had a good visit. I took them to Fort Campbell and we tried to see the museum, but it had just closed, so we came back the next day. We saw where geoff works, and a helicopter motor pool and stuff. Walked around the PX for a minute or two. Then we got hungry, so we met up with Geoff, and decided to go to Cheeseburger Charlies in Clarksville. It's one of those challenge restaurants. Good burgers, but i don't know if i would want to do what Austin did. He took the General's challenge. Five burger patties, fries and two burger toppings in thirty minutes. He decided to get mushrooms and.... something else, but that was A.LOT.OF.FOOD! He was sooooo close, but he only had about five minutes left and realized he just couldn't do it.  I have a picture on my ipod, and when i figure out where i put it, i'll upload the pictures then.

So, i think that will be all for this blog post, but i'll keep ya posted!
Camilla

catching up (2)

ARGH!

 so i'm not quite used to how this works yet... I was trying to comment on a few other pictures i'd added and they all DISAPPEARED!

So we decided to take everyone to the Cheesecake factory for father's day while we were still there.
Instead of commenting on each picture, i'm going to tell you about them now.
So, we had calamari for our appetizer and mom had had it a few times before, but decided to give it another shot... Still not her thing. And the picture of Ryan and i making faces is me trying to make the face he ALWAYS does every time someone tries to take a picture of him...

Cara's favorite place to watch tv was jumping on Uncle Ryan's back. Sometimes she sat still...

catching up

Well friends, 

It's been a while since i've blogged. Let's catch up a bit.
So, my last entry was about my friend Kim's wedding, well, that trip's entire story wasn't told. We also went to my brother, Ryan's graduation and things too.
So, Ryan graduated from High School AND Seminary. He had perfect attendance for seminary. Let's just say that's WAYYY better than his sister did. Good job, Ry.

At the ice cream social after the seminary graduation.

grumpy face

yummy ice cream

So we had a few days between seminary graduation and his high school graduation, so we decided to brew our own root beer. We used dry ice. It was fun, although the rootbeer didn't have any carbonation, so it tasted kinda flat.

not sure how to rotate this picture... sorry.

So Geoff and I were fortunate enough to come to San Antonio and visit family. We dropped Cara off with Grammy and left for the Carolinas. Our good friend, Kim, from AIT (at Fort Sam) just got married in the Columbia, SC temple. It was such a great experience. Kim was beautiful in her dress, and Austin seems like a great guy. His family was so nice and welcoming to Geoff and I. They were so grateful that we introduced Kim to the church. I felt like the paparazzi, I took so many pictures of them!

So, after the sealing, we had a few hours to get up to the reception, so we stopped by Fort Jackson. That's where I went to basic training. It was so weird to drive by my old barracks again. We saw some soldiers outside of the little px and their weapons were stacked in the tripods with the weapons guards out, and we saw another group doing combatives in the tire pits. Ahh.... good(ish) memories. So glad i'm done and never have to do that again.

So we arrived early to the reception, so we decided to help out. It was nice meeting Kim's mom. I felt like I already knew her. She knew a lot about us. She asked us about things I hadn't thought about in a while. Everyone was so nice. ...And their cake was beautiful! A lady from Austin's ward at church made it for them.
(all of my pictures are totally out of order...)

Kim in her dress
(We made her take the train down)

The cake

Columbia South Carolina Temple

The cake again

Geoff

Kim & Austin right after the ring ceremony

Kim's stepdad Roger getting ready to walk her to the ring ceremony

About to cut the cake

"Oh, let's use forks and be nice..."

Kim and her grandpa

Their car was sabotaged

See the shaving cream over the handles... and the windows, and the wheels... and....

Opening gifts

Geoff was SUPER excited to see an ALDI's bag...

Kim's side of the family

Kim's family and Austin's parents

Getting pelted with birdseed

BYE!!!



Planting pictures and a Cake or two...

So, the last blog entry only had a few pictures of the garden. Here are the rest...

She really tried, but Cara really wasn't much of a helper.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, last night (May 12th), Geoff's unit had a Ball. Because he's a lowly lieutenant, he was voluntold to go.
I wasn't really sure how to wear my hair or whatever, but i figured it out. It was nice because the theme was denim and diamonds, so i didn't have to go out and buy a fancy gown. 

I was worried that i wouldn't have anyone to talk to because Geoff's fairly new to his unit, and he was deployed, so i haven't really had much chance to meet anyone yet. Fortunately, his roommate from Afghanistan, Danny and his wife Kristina were there. I've talked to them before :)
Unfortunately, we were seated at different tables. It turned out okay though. The people at our table were nice. Sergeant Racy (not sure how it's really spelled) made me laugh a few times. She's pretty young looking, but she wears THICK glasses. She put them on so she could see one of the powerpoint slides and she was drinking coffee. It made her look like an old lady. Kind of funny.
As with all military balls, or just military ceremonies in general,  they have to take forever to talk about things that no one really cares about. One guy really spoke for over thirty minutes, and i don't really recall what he spoke about.
John and Mandy babysat for us. It was nice, but they called at about 8:45 with Cara SCREAMING in the background. So, we headed to clarksville to pick her up. She was in the tub with Makenna when we got there, so that calmed her down a little, but after she figured out that i was there, she didn't want anything to do with the bath tub anymore. 

Of course we don't have any pictures of us together, because we're dorks.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, today we went grocery shopping. We went to Aldi's. I swear Geoff should be paid at least a dollar for every time he mentions the store. We would be millionaires. I'm not going to say any more about it because i'm sure Geoff will tell you everything you need to know about it the next time he blogs.
Anyway, while we were at Aldi's i realized that Jake Gallagher's birthday party was this weekend, as in... TOMORROW, and i hadn't started the cake yet. I had it planned out, i was going to make the frosting on Thursday, bake the cake on Friday and frost it. Well, fortunately i remembered this morning!
So, i spent all day working on them, but i'm happy with the way they turned out. I made one for everyone and i made one just for Jake.
It was nice. Geoff cleaned the house and (kind of) watched Cara. I almost killed her a few times for touching the cake, but we all survived.
So, i was on the phone with my mom today and told her my plans for the cake... she suggested i turn a cupcake upside down on top and turn it into a volcano. (My mother's a genius...)
It turned out very well.
Here is a little photographic evidence...

Jake's personal cake

The cake for everyone else

I like the lava flowing down...

Both of Jake's Cakes