the week of all weeks (of all weeks!)

I am long overdue for an update (March and April were like just like "what is LIFE?!"), but we just wrapped up a super great week SO! Here it is!

Our families were in town from Michigan for our official graduation from BYU. I didn't think I'd care all that much about walking, but it was wonderful to have a formal "goodbye" from the university that I came to love so much. Cliche and cheesy be darned, it completely changed my life!

My parents are like "yeah we are smiling lol"

Saturday, we had an early birthday celebration for Nash with everyone in the family, and it was the BEST. Poor baby has been sick and teething for a few weeks now, so he wasn't as happy as I was hoping (he didn't even try to eat his birthday cake!), but it made me so happy to watch all our parents and siblings celebrate him with us. His official birthday is a week from today, and everyone is gone now, so I'm thankful we were able to squeeze that in!

Nash only poses for birthday pictures with his best girlfriend mom of course!

THEN! Christian and I took off to St. George for 3 days as a sort of anniversary trip/celebration of graduating and surviving the first year of parenthood, etc. etc.

It.
Was.
THE BEST.

To the point of being completely delirious with happiness the whole time, obviously.

We've been terrible about having consistent dates WITHOUT Nash. It's happened maybe 6 or 7 times in the last year. Getting 3 whole days with just Christian made me realize how important it is to take time for the two of us. You'd think it would be a obvious, but it's really hard for us to find babysitters since we don't have much close family here in Utah, so we usually just end up going out to dinner and bringing our little crazy octopus along. NO MORE! I have a new found obsession with "Brooke and Christian time" and my goal for the rest of the year is a date just the two of us at least 3 times a month.

Now, who wants to babysit?

10.5 months whaaa

Why am I doing a 10.5 month update you ask? It's because I just remembered I've actually been wanting to do his ten month update and just put it off for two weeks. More or less.

Here's a picture, hope you like our faces!

It's the most cliche thing ever to say about babies, but it's totally true. IT GETS SO MUCH MORE FUN THE OLDER THEY GET. I'm just gaga over this stage right now. Nash is currently:

waving
clapping
cruising along furniture
loving animals, especially his stuffed cougar (like mother like son!)
loves dancing (adorable)
loving the book little owls day (again with the animal thing)
will eat anything we give him (including tzaziki sauce, WHO IS THIS KID?)
flashes his megawatt grin at eeeevvvveryone.
will eat your purse if he can get there fast enough (and believe me, he can. Lightning McQueen over here).
loves to eat cords and break glass ("not impressed mom face emoji")
makes Christian and I laugh all day long.

Gosh. I just love this little boy of mine.

why christian is my soul mate: a true story

a little over 3 years ago when we got engaged, and the first time our families met.

If you are super close to either mine or Christian's family, you probably know this story already. BUT. In case you aren't, I just have to tell you what is easily the strangest familial circumstance I've ever heard of in my life. I'm not kidding. I will seriously pay you if you can tell me a weirder story. And with that, here we go.

Christian grew up just outside Detroit Michigan, in a city called Novi. He lived there for about 13 years.
From there, his family moved to Colorado and then to Melbourne Florida, where they were living when we got married.
At that same time, my family was living in Mesa Arizona. A few months into the summer however, my family moved down to Florida as well, about 3 hours South of the Carters. Just by total chance! It worked out amazingly though, because coincidentally Christian and I ALSO ended up in Florida the summer after we got married. One big happy family in the sunshine state, if you can believe it.

This isn't even the craziest part.
Last year, my dad was offered a job in Michigan. Total happenstance.
In which city, you ask?
Why Novi of course! 
And so last summer, my family moved to the same city that my husband grew up in. My brother goes to Christian's old high school. Swims on the same swim team. My family is in the same ward even.

And believe it or not, THIS STILL ISN'T THE CRAZIEST PART.

In January, Christian's dad accepted a new job.
Where at??
NOVI FREAKING MICHIGAN.
So now, our families live in the same town, our brothers go to the same school, hang out on the weekends. OUR MOMS ARE IN THE YOUNG WOMEN'S PRESIDENCY TOGETHER.

I mean, can you even!? It blows my mind when I think about it. It's been the strangest coincidence after coincidence, and I'm starting to believe it's not coincidence at all. In all seriousness, I think this has been a little slice of heaven on earth, demonstrating that it's a great thing Christian and I ended up together.
I mean, can you imagine if we hadn't?
AWKWARD.

a few things

I like how I was all "I'm totally blogging more from now on."
And then in all my free time I've been like "I need to clean! make food! lounge! Or maybe even SHOWER!"
To be fair to myself, I do have plenty to do while Nash is sleeping, which is why I think it's hard for me to get back in this habit. Sometimes (ALL THE TIME) showering just takes priority, you know? One post at a time I guess!
Anyways, here's some stuff:

+ When I started this full-time, stay-at-home mom gig, I was incredibly gung ho about keeping my house super clean all the time. Guys. That's just way too hard. So this is what my living room floor looks like all the live long day.

+ My all time favorite person to follow on social media is Natalie Hill Jensen (are you dying for her to re-launch her blog already?!). Anyway, she's started a 30-day Book of Mormon reading challenge for the month of March, which I've adapted for myself and I'm actually trying to just finish by general conference. I've been surprsingly on top of it and I'm loving it so far. I've really needed to make a big commitment to something spiritual like this, and I can't wait to see how I'm feeling at the end of the month! You should do it too.

+ Christian and I have gotten into a weird habit over the last few months. We usually put Nash down between 7:30 and 8 every night, which gives us about 3 hours of time together (sidenote: HEAVEN!). We've been playing a game of Quirkle almost every night, followed by a few episodes of House or Friends. It's the weirdest combination of stuff now that I think about it ha! But I totally love little rituals like that.

+ I just put together a new toy for Nash and what is he doing? Why, chewing on the remote of course. Hashtag babies am I right?!

+ Speaking of Nash, he started clapping last week!! Ah, my mom heart can't EVEN.

+ So the Bachelor! I just finished watching the season finale and I noticed something. At the beginning of every season, I make fun of it, HARD. Seriously you should probably watch it with me because I'm funny as everything. But EVERY YEAR without fail, I'm super invested by the last episode and way emotional and most likely crying at the proposal. Why is that?! It's the craziest show, and what they make those poor people go through is just terrible, when you think about it. But it's like a drug I can't quit. Along with the rest of America.

+ I'm cutting my hair on Saturday. And I mean like reeeeaaallly cutting it. No, like it will be all the way gone. It's only taken me almost a year but I CANNOT take this postpartum hair anymore. I totallly get now why so many moms have super short hair, and I'm about to be one of them. EEEK!

Well that's about it. I better stop now before my non-blogging self goes comatose from aaaaaaallll this writing.

is this thing on?

Almost 3 months of radio silence.
WHO AM I?!

In all honesty, the holidays and finishing school and moving and etc. etc. just got way too busy and completely sucked my desire to sit down and write anything. Plus I'm sure I was all "who has time to blog when there are cookies to be eaten?"

But I'm here!
We are alive! Alive and well! Here's a brief update on the Carter fam, in case you care.
(which you obviously do because you are reading this! Gotcha!)

Christian started working full time about mid-way through January. He's doing great work in the financial sector and really enjoying it for the most part. I can't tell you how proud I am of him. At the risk of being an overly gushy wife, I won't go in to too many details, but he's working his tail off and making his superiors very happy. It's still so strange to me when I realize we aren't students anymore. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't loving it. I mean, I miss BYU with a firey passion, but I do NOT miss tests and projects and grades and textbooks and tuition. I'm thinking 6 years was more than enough time to get my fill. Plus, the stay-at-home mom life and I were just meant to be. I'm absolutely loving the days with my number one buddy (Who is almost 10 months old, by the by. WHERE IN THE NAME OF EVERYTHING IS THE TIME GOING)

Nash is all "Mom step back, I got this."

Also known as his attitude, every single day ha.

So yeah. Here we are. Just living life in Salt Lake City, doing our thing.
I'm feeling pretty good about life at the moment, quiet and sorta boring as it may be. April and May are going to be a little more exciting (a graduation! family in town! an anniversary! a vacation! a 1st birthday!), and so I'm really wanting to use March as a time to totally charge my batteries and get ready for it all. You know, like a bit of an overhaul for my spiritual, mental and physical health.
As I've thought about it all for the last few days, I've realized it really helps me when I'm writing more, both in my journal and on this silly ol' blog. Old habits totally die hard. Also I guess it's like my one creative outlet, seeing as how I gave up professional singing like 15 years ago when I realized "no Brooke, you will NOT be the next Britney Spears". Ah, to be ten again.

What I'm trying to say is you will probably be seeing.... uh... hearing, a lot more from me in the nearish future.