Naughty Nugget

Lauryn has many favorite past times. Speaking her own language, being her Daddy's constant shadow, chucking her sippy cup across the room and stealing pens, pencils, crayons and markers and putting her signature touch on paper, cabinets, walls, and herself. I found her with red marks on her face (and very proud of herself, I might add) but no marker in sight. I was scared to find what else she had painted, thinking it was a red Sharpie marker. Luckily it was a dry erase marker and it wiped right off. But still, what am I gonna do with that naughty nugget?!

In case your wondering where I'm at...I'm trying to figure out how to fit my life into a 8'x8'x16' relocation container. Real life Tetris, here we come!

Dedication to a Deal

Yes, I was one of those crazy souls at Kohl's this morning at 4:00 am. I scored winter coats for the girls that were regularly $50.00 a piece for $14.99 each. Maryn and Brynna wear the exact same size and they both outgrew/wore out all of their pants at once. It really is like having twins. There is no leeway of having Brynna grow into Maryn's old clothes. In fact Brynna is on the fast track to passing Maryn up. She's a tall, little drink of water. But anyhoot, I scored four pairs of Carter's khakis and cords for them for $6.00 each pair. New church shoes, jammies, gloves, tights and cute new kiddie aprons for Christmas gifts to my kitchen buddies. (So cute and only $5.00!) The lines were insane and there were people obviously far more chipper and willing to take out fellow shoppers in search of the deal than me. But all in all, I came, I saw, I bargain hunted, and it was fruitful! Wahoo! (And I got $30.00 of Kohl's cash too! I'll be back next week to shop for FREE! Wahoo again!)

Let's Say Thanks

My cousin Krista just sent this to me and I thought it was awesome! Take a minute or two to check it out and do it! Let's show our troops our love and appreciation!

XEROX IS DOING SOMETHING COOL

If you go to this web site, http://www.letssaythanks.com/ you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services. How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!!

It is FREE and it only takes a second. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them. This takes just 30 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you. Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do. We can never say enough thank you's. Thanks for taking to time to support our military!

Pretty Dang Stoked!

I received a choice little tidbit of information from my Mom this morning when we were chatting it up on the phone. She has some friend's, the Wieland's, who are planning on going on a mission this coming year. My mom had mentioned to them that Justin, the kidlets and I were moving to Oregon and planted a little seed that we would be looking for a place to live. After stewing on it for a few weeks, they e-mailed my Mom and said that they would love to have us stay in their house while they are away on their mission. The house is paid for, so Justin and I would just be responsible for paying the taxes on it while they are gone. Which works out to be between $500-$600 a month. Which is a steal for renting a house, but what gets better is that this house is kid heaven! It is located on 2.5 acres nestled off the road and down by the river. It has a pool, a sports court, a giant deck and a huge yard. It's nestled beneath shade trees and my Mom said it is very peaceful. The have a huge garden and even a few chickens and a dog named Skippy that we may be tending while the Wieland's are away! Can you believe it?! The home is a little older and my mom said it has a nice big kitchen. My imagination is working, I can already picture making cookies with Brynna while Maryn sits in the window seat and reads! The Wieland's raised their seven kids there, so my mom said we won't have to worry about being afraid to actually live in it. She said it has a very comfortable feel to it. It's three minutes from my parents, which goes without saying is awesome! They won't be leaving until April or May most likely, so my parents have generously opened their house to us until then. I really feel like I need to pinch myself! I am so happy about the way things are coming together!

This Season's Favorite

Well, for me anyways! But he should be your favorite too! He is Kevin Gillespie, one of the final chefs of this season's Top Chef. I love that show! So why do I love Kevin? He cooks food the way he wants to. He doesn't worry about if it's fancy-schmancy enough for everyone else. If it tastes good, it works for him. He is an Atlanta boy who also lived in Portland. Sound like familiar roots to anyone?! Hmmm?! He is very kind. In fact his entire face and demeanor just seems very kind to me. I like him. A very nice guy. Also, and I mean this in the nicest of ways, he kind of reminds me a of a nice, sweet pig. Which I'm sure he'd be okay with because he loves pork. I love him like Charlotte loves Wilbur. I can tell I'm losing you, it's okay, my imagination can be a complicated thing. But anyways, yes, he has a restaurant here in Atlanta called Woodfire Grill and I think before we switch coasts, as Liz Lemon would say "I want to go to there!"

Well, it's all official!

Everything for the move is in place, now it's just a waiting game. I gave my notice at work today. It was sad, but they understood. Saturday we met with the person we are renting our house to and he signed all the papers for a three year lease. The moving company is scheduled. We got a smokin' deal last week on our plane tickets out to Oregon. We turn our house over to our tenant on Dec. 21st so he can get his family situated while his kids are on Christmas Break. Then we'll spend the week before Christmas with Phil and Jody. Then the week after Christmas all of Justin's family and us will be chilling at a sweet cabin up in North Georgia compliments of Phil and Jody. We come back from there on Dec. 30th and fly out to Medford, Oregon at 6:30 a.m. on the 31st. It's crazy how well everything came together. All the pieces seem to just have fallen into place. It just has reconfirmed to Justin and I that this move truly is what we are supposed to be doing right now. Now it's just time to de-junk and pack up. I know the next month and a half will pass by before we know it!

Take a Moment...

Fridays are for Pillow Parties. After a long week of school and comings and goings, I let the girls celebrate the start of each weekend by pulling out all their favorite blankets, animals and pillows. We clear the floor in front of the t.v., spread out, pick out a movie and just relax. Usually the girls do this right after Maryn gets off the bus on Fridays. But tonight we waited until after dinner and made it a whole family affair. It was one of those moments you wish you could have live in your memory forever. Maryn and Brynna snuggled together on the floor, the glow from the television screen in the dim light illuminating their faces. Lauryn in Justin's arms at the end of the couch laughing at every funny moment, old enough now to truly be part of the action. Justin and I sharing glances and smiles at each other every few minutes as if to say, "Can you believe it? They are ours." There were moments while the movie's plot unfolded for each one of our nuggets to let their personality shine through. Whether it was moments of Maryn chatting away through the whole thing, moments of Brynna begging and whining for someone or thing to stop, and a moment when Lauryn mischievously turned off the dvd player just as it was getting suspenseful. After the movie was over there were moments of snuggles, whining, kisses, fighting, wrestling and touching family prayers. Moments of ordinary things that I don't ever want to forget. Moments that make my life complete.

What's New...

You know how I had mentioned awhile back that Justin and I had finally come to a resolution on the direction of our life and were finally seeing eye-to-eye? Well, this was the resolution. We are taking the big, giant leap and moving to Oregon so Justin and hopefully myself as well, can go back to school and finish our educations. We had thought about it this past summer too, but just couldn't pull the trigger. It just didn't seem to make sense. We have awesome family and friends here in Georgia. We love our ward, where we attend church. We love the girl's schools. I enjoy my job and have said many times that if I have to work, it is a great place to be. We love our little home. We just love the South as a whole... but between this past summer when we decided not to go, something has been off. I couldn't put my finger on it. Life was not progressing and moving in the direction it needed to go. I was feeling very stressed that I would forever be a working mother and Justin would forever be an unemployed Mr. Mom because of the limited opportunities in his chosen profession. But Justin and I had gone over it before, that a move to Oregon just did not make sense. So we didn't discuss it any further and kind of forgot about it. After a particularly rough period for me, I prayed and prayed that our lives would find some direction. It was that next morning we both woke up, looked at each other and said "We need to move to Oregon." Justin has had some great years covering Basketball Recruiting. But it's no longer what is right for him or for our family. So he is going to get his degree in Education and hopes to teach High School once he's graduated and I am hoping to get my degree in Dental Hygiene. We know without a shadow of a doubt that Oregon is exactly where our family is supposed to be. We fasted and prayed and have had our choice confirmed to us. So now we're off on this next great adventure. Packing up, downsizing, and heading off to be poor, little students again... and I couldn't be at any more peace with it. We know in the long run we'll be better for it.

Trick-or-Treat!

Halloween 2009

We came, we saw, we got candy!

Maryn wanted to be a wicked, rotten witch...

Brynna wanted to be a cute, nice witch...

and Lauryn just wanted a sucker!

(she used her cute, Tinkerbell get-up to score the goods!)

Hope you and your little ghouls had a very Happy Halloween too!

...and I couldn't resist posting a little baby dancing!

My Dirty Baby

I love this little booger.

Yeah, yeah, I know! It's facing the wrong way. Just tip your head a little bit!

Just what I needed...

The kids are asleep and my time is officially my own. I am supposed to be finishing up some things, but got sucked in by the computer instead. Don't you hate it when that happens!? I used to do it all the time and well, I actually kinda like it because it feels normal. I came across this in my skipping through cyberspace and was so grateful for it. In fact it made tears well up in my eyes. We are never alone in this journey of life. Some mounting obstacles others can't even imagine. But no one is exempt from the speed bumps of life. They are meant to be. But we all work it out. Our path, our journey, our learning. It was really, really nice to hear an experience from someone else's life that echos my own. Despite place or circumstance or bumps in our life, when we look at what matters, I think we all will find that we are blessed beyond imagination.

I Agree!

I got this in the mail today and couldn't agree more!!! Now who is going to take care of this for me if I don't?!

Perspective

Man, today was just what I needed. First of all, thanks to my gals who commented after my last post. It is that kind of love and support that has kept me kickin' over the past year. I am so blessed. Last night my amazing in-laws had the girls for a slumber party. Justin was out late last night with basketball games, so we didn't get to see each other or talk most of the day. But when we woke up this morning, the house was quiet. We were able to lay in bed and talk to each other about what was in our heads and in our hearts. Lately we have had differing visions for our future and what we want in terms of career moves. It was killing me... absolutely killing me. But through some miracle of God and I know many prayers that we laid there in bed, looked each other in the eyes and were absolutely, 100% on the same page. Our views had somehow overnight merged into one. I was shocked that suddenly we were expressing the same wants and needing the same things. We laid there and made plans and when I got up, it wasn't with the drudgery of another day. I actually felt a glimmer of some skip in my step, I could see hope rising over the horizon and I was reminded again, for about the 50 millionth time that Heavenly Father loves me and hasn't forgotten about or abandoned me.

Restless

Do you ever get restless? Do you ever feel like if something doesn't change in your life your either going to scream, or vomit, or both? I'm kind of there. I had to write a little poem for some marketing stuff I'm working on at work right now. I had to make myself sit down and channel some creativity and inner thought...it was awesome. I felt like myself. I wish I could just write again. I never realized how good it was for me and my perspective until it was gone. To those I'm close to I've expressed this many, many times.... but I really miss 'me' too. 'Me' has been gone somewhere and I really want to find her again. My life has just become so consumed with busyness and schedules and productivity and guilt about unproductivity and stress and wonder and worry. I want all of that to go away. I want to be able to wake up and not have this nagging sadness in the back of my head about how my life is right now. It is stagnant, it is unfulfilling and it is killing me. I want plans, dang it. I want change. I want me. I want my freakin' old life back. Or just any life other than the gerbil wheel I'm on right now. I just need some change.

Hello? Hellllooooo?!

Oh wait, here I am! I've been absent from blogosphere, but I'm alive, kickin' and have been working on a new little project in my life! Some of you may remember the post I did awhile back about the cute budget/coupon organizer I ordered for my birthday. I was so excited about it, but when I received it I was a little bummed about some quality issues. I thought to myself, "Hmmm, I think I could do this better...." So, I decided to take a lemon and make lemonade and started my own little company called Divvy Organizers. The theory behind it for me goes along with Dave Ramsey's cash-only budget system. But really they can be used for a number of purposes. Whether you are organizing cash, coupons, receipts, bills, photos, recipes or whatever, these little babies are great tool to help you achieve the organization you need on your path to financial success. I've started a Divvy blog where I hope to also feature links for advice on planning your budget and being smart with your money. There is a link from my Divvy blog that will connect you to my Etsy shop, should you find yourself just dying to have one of your own!

Guilty...

...of blog neglect. I'll be honest, good ol' facebook has been a little easier lately. I know, I stink.

We're going camping this weekend! Wahooooo! I'm SO excited! Foil dinners, s'mores, fresh air and campfires here I come!

My Nightly Chuckle

Sing it to me Johnny...

Kids n' Cops

Justin loves the show 'COPS'. If there were another profession for him, it would probably be law enforcement. So I think it's his 30 minutes of vicarious living. I get it. The man could use a dose of testosterone in this house full of women. I, however, prefer he doesn't watch it with the kids around because well, you know its full of crackheads and criminals and stuff. Not really kid friendly viewing in my mind. Well apparently there has been a little Father/Daughter 'COPS' viewings going on when I'm not around. I discovered this when Maryn came home and this is what was written on her morning warm-up sheet...

If you can't read the picture it says...

"One day on TV there was a police dog! He was big and black! There were two of them! They were chasing after a bad man who had some drugs! They caught him! He went to jail!!!!!!"

Then in her lovely illustration it shows two cops sitting at a desk smiling at each other and behind closed doors the jail cells complete with the criminal and surveillance cameras!

Don't be jealous of Justin's and my parenting skills y'all. You know you would be so proud if your kid's teacher knew this was the kind of educational viewing being shown in your home. Sheesh.

A Worthy Cause

This is my gorgeous friend Tina. I've mentioned her on here before. Besides my mother, she is the friend I've had the longest. Since I was six years old as a matter of fact! Tina lives no ordinary life and that's because she is no ordinary girl. But that is a whole other story. She, her husband and three beautiful kids live in Morocco. Since moving there Tina discovered a need to improve the local schools. Schools with no running water, few books, and children that would walk miles just to attend the primitive space. In an effort to raise funds for the school's needed TLC, she and her husband Jack, who is an amazing photographer, have opened their own Etsy shop. All of the proceeds of the handmade cards and photography they sell will go to help these less fortunate Moroccan children and their school. For more information, check out her blog and more importantly check out her Etsy shop. Every little bit of good in this world adds up to big and beautiful things! Thanks for letting your life be proof of that Tina! Love you girl!

It's my boyfriend's 32nd Birthday! Wahoo!

Happy Birthday Justin!!!

I love you!!!

I like a clean house, but I hate having to be the one to make it that way. Hate it, hate it, hate it. I hate it. Have I mentioned I hate it? Well, I do. So instead of doing fun, interesting things, I'm off to clean... and I'm sure it will be destroyed again before sunset. Hate it.

The Un-Obesessed Assortment

It's no secret that I don't blog as much as I used to. I know it's bad when my family calls me up and tells me "I know you're busy, but what happened to the blog?" I had considered a hiatus, to take any or all of the mental nagging about how crappy I've gotten at it away. But truthfully, it used to be one of my favorite things to do. So even if it's not as often as it used to be, I'm gonna stick with it! I've decided to turn the corner in my brain and just relax about it and not worry if some pictures have red eyes or if posts are cohesive or even worth reading for that matter! So here it is folks, a random, un-obsessed-over assortment of what I've been up to!Maryn has been back to school for a few weeks. She is loving first grade and her teacher Mrs. Turner. Justin and I share at least one amazed look a day at how fast she is growing up. Just some of the things she does and says make us laugh. We're becoming fully aware that all of our little kids are on the road to becoming big kids and it's weird!

Award for awesome aunt and uncle go to Aaron and Megan for sure! Last Saturday they came and got all the girls and took them to Build-a-Bear and out to lunch! They had SO much fun! Lauryn was freaked out by the animals and didn't want one. But Maryn happily welcomed a horse named Angelina into her menagerie of stuffed animals. Brynna had a family reunion for Coco and brought home his cousin, a monkey named JoJo! Thank you SO much Aaron and Megan!!! You guys rule!

After my previous post, I tried my hand at one of these bad boys myself and thought it turned out very cute. I only spent $3.99 on it because I used fabric and embellishments I already had kicking around my house. My sister-in-law Kristen inspired me to channel my inner craftiness and I must admit, it was fun!

Brynna started Preschool on Wednesday and LOVES it! It makes me so happy to see her joyful and excited about her days. With me working all summer, it got a little boring around here for the kids. So I'm ecstatic to see them with places to go and people to see!

My big four-year old! It's wild to think we started going to Canton First United Methodist Preschool with Maryn when Brynna was a newborn and now it's already her last year. Weird!

She was so exhausted after such a good time one day she came home and curled up in a laundry basket and fell asleep. It was pretty funny! At least we know she's getting her energy out!

Last but not least, this little nugget. I just love this kid like crazy! She is growing up SO fast too and looking more like a big kid every day! I could just eat, eat , eat her UP!

Other non-picture related updates, Justin has been a busy, busy boy doing freelance gigs and revitalizing his business Georgia Hoops. I'm really proud of him. It's good seeing him with that spark back in his eye.

I'm still working at the Oral Surgeon's and things are going great there. Now that schools back in, the work schedule is working great. The kids are at school and Lauryn is taking her morning nap while I'm gone, so it doesn't feel like I'm missing out on so much. We all reconnect about the same time every day, so that's nice.

My friend Laura (who just had her baby three weeks ago, by the way) challenged me to do p90x with her and Justin said he's on board too. So I'm mentally gearing up to sweat baby! We start on Monday and I'm excited at the thought of working out again and stretching out my atrophied muscles. Anyhoot, kids are climbing up the walls! Gotta scoot and put my little animals to bed. Justin and I have a hot date with the couch and the season premiere of 'Project Runway' tonight! Yeah baby!

Cash Envelope... Done Cute!

My Mom and Dad sent me some fun money for my birthday. So I decided to go on the look out for something that I would really like, but probably wouldn't normally buy for myself since I'm well... cheap. Then tonight I found something that appeases both sides of me, the cheapskate and the girl that wants fun, cute things. I found this Etsy shop called 'My Little Budget Book'. For awhile I was doing the Dave Ramsey Cash Envelope system, but then got lazy and reverted to using my debit card more. It's easier to nickel and dime your way into cheating your budget when you use debit or credit cards, so I decided that I need to get back to using the cash envelopes. But let's face it, paper envelopes getting all wrinkled up in your purse aren't that cute. Plus nothing says sophistication like digging out said wrinkled, paper envelopes at the grocery store, digging through your different categories trying to find your 'Grocery' envelope. Enter into scene these dang cute cash envelope system organizers. I love them! The picture above is actually not the pattern I picked, but I still like it! Mine must be one of a kind, because after I purchased it I couldn't find it's big picture anymore! I only had this tiny, little picture on my order summary. It's really cute, it has oranges and greens and will look awesome popping out of my beloved leather, satchel bag my Mom got me as a birthday gift a few years ago. The best part is is that the cuteness won't clean out all the cash from your organizer. I picked up mine for just $14.95, which is actually $5.00 cheaper than the plain-jane ones on Dave Ramsey's website. So I feel spoiled and still have fun money left over! I can't wait for it to show up in my mailbox! Thanks Mom & Dad, I love you guys!

So Proud!!!

What is one essential childhood experience that every kid should do at least once? Think of what every person who wins something big yells first... "I'm goin' to Disney World!!!" Making that dream come true is something that Maryn and Brynna have both been asking for for a couple of years. As their parents, Justin and I certainly want to help that dream come to fruition for our sweet girls. But the reality is, is that a trip to Disney can be pretty expensive. So the girls and I came up with a plan back in February to have a 'Young Family Disney Fund' that we all work to contribute to. Our goal is to go in the Fall of 2010 and we have been saving our quarters, nickels, dimes and dollar bills and throwing them into a can that the girls and I covered and decorated together after we schemed up our bright idea.

Grammy and Gramps caught wind of our little goal and were so excited to contribute to the girls efforts. Since we've started, Grammy and Gramps have given the girls five dollar bills, pocket change and even a roll of quarters to throw in the can! Then before school got out Gramps decided to strike up a deal with Maryn, who is our little reader. He told Maryn that for every book she read over summer vacation he would give her a dollar for the Disney can. Knowing her love of books, I tried to tell him to drop his offer to a quarter a book. But he insisted one dollar for every book. But they had to be real books, not like 'See Spot Run'. She really would have to earn those dollars.

Tomorrow school starts back up again and Maryn will be heading off to the First Grade. So tonight when Grammy and Gramps came over for dinner I told Maryn she needed to give Gramps her Summer Reading List, since it is her last day of summer vacation. Gramps sat on the couch kind of stunned as he flipped through not one, not two, not three, but seven pages of titles that she had read. He quickly did the math... 113 books. Truthfully, being the busy Momma that I am, there were about three weeks there where I wasn't getting the titles written down. Even with that she still got over one hundred books read. I tried to tell him she loved to read! Gramps sheepishly laughed and said he thought maybe she'd read 15-20 books. But he said a deal is a deal and she earned it fair and square!

Needless to say Maryn was very excited as we counted out the money in our can tonight and saw our goal getting closer and closer. What is even more exciting is that Maryn learned an important lesson about working hard for the things we want in life. I am so proud of her and so grateful to Gramps for his generosity. I have no doubt that when we walk through the gates of the Magic Kingdom next year, it really will be something she will appreciate and remember for the rest of her life, because she did her part to make it happen!

If any of you are familiar with financial guru, Dave Ramsey, we found a new reason to love him! He authored a set of children's books, which teaches about financial responsibility in a fun way. They are definitely a new favorito in the Young household!

Let the Celebrations Begin!

The girls know that their birthdays are special days. It's the one day of the year where if they ask for something, they will probably get a 'yes'. Want doughnuts for breakfast?... Sure! Top it off with sugary chocolate milk?... Absolutely! Balloons?... Pick 'em out! Will you make me my favorite cake?... Anything you want! This year Maryn really wanted to add 'Can I get my ears pierced?' to her special day's list of questions. And like I said, if they want it their birthday is the time to ask! So we invited Grammy to join Maryn, Brynna, and I on a fun girl's day out to go get Maryn's ears pierced. Since Grammy also knows birthdays are all about fun, she decided we should make a stop at Chuck E. Cheese's to treat us to lunch before heading to the mall for the moment of truth. You of course heard no complaints about that from the girls. Grammy is so cool!Maryn is wild about horses. So imagine her excitement when she saw they had a game where you ride the horse, steer it with the reins and even can jump it! She took it very seriously!

I dug out this old picture of Justin and Maryn on the same jet-ski ride a few weeks after Brynna was born. Maryn had just turned two then and now look at them four years later! My two long-legged chickadees!

After our bellies were full of pizza, games had been played and tickets had been redeemed we headed over to Claire's, inside the mall. Maryn and I had watched videos of other little girls getting their ears pierced together on YouTube, so she would know what to expect. (No horrific ones of course!) So she was feeling pretty excited when we got there. She picked out a sparkly, little pair of ruby earrings because they're her birthstone and hopped up in the chair.

The moment of truth!
She was still looking a little concerned after it happened. She was happy they were in but was thinking that maybe her ears were hurting a little bit. But really nothing a trip to the cookie counter couldn't remedy! She did so great, it made a Momma proud!More birthday celebrations to continue!

I promise I'm not ignoring the ol' bloggerito. I actually have plenty to blog about. It's just that Justin is gone with my camera. Hence my sad, little neglected blog. Sniff.

Grandma & Grandpa McLean

One of the highlights of my trip was getting to see my grandparents again. An entire decade had past since I had seen them last. It also had been almost fourteen years since I had been able to be in their home in Tucson. It was so great, not a single thing had changed! We moved around when I was a kid, so I can't go back to the houses I that was small in. But at Grandma and Grandpa's everything was just as I remembered it. They took Justin and I out to lunch and we just visited and talked, enjoying one anothers' company. I sat there across the table from them wanting to remember every little thing. Loving being there with them, hoping it wouldn't be so long before I could see them again.

In their living room was a drawing of my Dad when he was a boy. I love my grandparents for so many reasons. But I think the reason I love them the most is because they gave me my Dad. They raised him, provided for him and nurtured him. They helped shape the man he is today and for that I am so grateful to them. I love my Dad so much and the older I get, that love only grows. I am so grateful for him and for all he has done for me throughout my entire life and for all he has taught me. Sitting across from my grandparents I was reminded of how grateful I am to be a McLean. And grateful that through my children, the heritage and love that has been given me can continue to live on.

Sedona

On our way to the Grand Canyon we decided to take the long way and drive through Sedona. We had heard how beautiful it was and were assured that we wouldn't want to miss it. Once you got off the main highway the dry, scrubby, brown landscape gave way to beautiful, red rock jutting out of the desert earth. The rocks contrast against the blue sky only added to it's beauty.







We stopped at a cool artist's market that made you feel like you were walking the streets of another country. We decided to buy my mom a thank you present for making our time together possible. We searched through all the shops until we found her a perfect pair of little, turquoise earrings. We were so grateful to our families for allowing us this time together.