homegrown.

five days old.

Five days old and getting more beautiful by the minute .... 

and baby makes three.

Kara has been too busy with the actual arrival of Reesey*Peecey*Pudding*Pie and I have not been busy doing ... well, anything, really ... so I have taken the liberty to post these adorable pix myself that Kara + Creed had taken the week before she was born by the same photographer that did the birth pictures (I think I might be the Queen of Run-on Sentences!)! Her itty, bitty, baby baby bump was just too cute!! But now Reese is safely out of the womb, in to the world and currently at home awaiting her Auntie's arrival ... 10 more days!!!

(Asst) Coach Carefoot.

teeeheeeheee... look what I found googling (have I mentioned how much I love google!?) how to spell the hockey team that Mitch is coaching. I was going to write a blog post about how all last winter I almost harassed Mitch more about how he should become a coach (because of how much he loves and knows the game) than getting a Yellow Lab and then he was coincidentally offered an assistant coaching position this season. I didn't realize it meant practicing or playing hockey EVERY night of the week til midnight ... keep in mind, this shift-working nurse gets home after he leaves for the rink and goes to bed waayyy before he gets home! Then I was going to go off on a tangent about how can they expect hockey players to not act like womanizing, chauvinistic manwhores when their Junior League teams have names like "The Railers"!! Anywho, I will let this article do the talking for me as I had no idea this existed and therefore am assuming Mitch did not want me to see it ... probably in fear that I would post it on my blog ..... He's pretty humble when it comes to his accomplishments and just how amazing he is at hockey so I will do the bragging for him as I'm ecstatically impressed by this article. *Who knew I was dating an IronMan?!* ;)

Railers Ecstatic to add assistant coach with pro experience

Mitch Carefoot

Mitch Carefoot played 2 seasons in the Manitoba Junior Hockey league, years in which he was drafted in the 2nd round of the WHL, took part in the Viking Cup, MJHL/SJHL all star game, as well as the World Under 17 hockey tournament. He was then traded to the Salmon Arm Silverbacks of the BCJHL where he spent a season before leaving for the NCAA.

Chosen in the 2004 NHL entry draft by the Atlanta Thrashers, Mitch spent 4 years at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. He won one ECAC and two IVY league championships at Cornell and was named Assistant Captain and team MVP in his senior year. Along with his on ice contributions, Mitch was able to balance his school work at the IVY league school and was named to the All-IVY League Academic team 3 years.

After leaving Cornell , Mitch spent two years with the Phoenix RoadRunners, the affiliate of the San Jose and Worcester Sharks. Mitch attended the Atlanta thrashers rookie camp two years and the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHLs’ training camp before his second season in the ECHL. After being sent back to Phoenix RoadRunners of the ECHL he was named team captain and was awarded the team Iron-Man and most dedicated awards at the end of the season.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Mitch was forced to give up the game. He now looks to bring his experience of playing competitive hockey and give back to the junior players in Manitoba.

Reese Rylie, my perfect little niece.

Kara had the maternity photographer that took her "belly" pictures the week before her due date also attend the delivery and document the entire thing, paparazzi style! Here is the first sneak peak!! =)

Reese has arrived!!

Reese Rylie Williams arrived at 7:16 EST!! She weighs seven pounds, two ounces and is nineteen and a quarter inches long!! For the neonatal nurse in me, her Apgars were 9/9 which means she had a perfect delivery!! I just skyped with the new family from their hospital room and everyone is doing fabulous!! =) I'm counting down the days (and crying) until I get to hold her!! Congratulations Kara and Creed

I judge books by covers.

The other night I spent about four hours assembling what might be the wobbliest, most crooked, crazy unstable bookcase in the world and then immediately unloaded my eclectic book collection on to each uneven shelf: guidebooks of the all cities I've visited, training manuals for triathlons, national best sellers, chick lit, Harry Potter, etc. I grouped all my books by what they mean to me and when I put The Big Sleep, Interview with a Vampire, Angels & Demons and Revolutionary Road together it made me realize how much I tremendously miss my book club in LA. I bbm'ed Carly to tell her this as she pretty much can count on a daily text from me telling her how much I miss one thing or another from our past life together ... Coffee Bean, the USA Today Crossword, Trader Joe's, Hotel Cafe, just to name a few... and she suggested we start another book club cross countries where we meet on Skype to discuss it. Stupendous! Here is our first book (per her suggestion). When I picked it up the very next day at Indigo (the book store I frequent here almost on a daily basis) I started gushing over how cute the cover is and because I personify that cliche (like many other cliches), I knew at that instant that I was going to like this book ... and that that would be the theme of our book club! If we only read books with covers we like we will ultimately only read books we will end up liking. It's kind of like love at first sight... but for bibliophiles... reoccurring on a monthly basis.

family portrait.

I'm not really sure why my hair decided to style itself in to a mullet (on my head, there is no business. It's always a party in both back & front and just because I currently reside in Canada where everyone seems to be out of the early 90's, I am not okay with mullets!) on the day of the Carefoot family portrait photo shoot but thankfully, unlike photographs (particularly ones blown up and framed in the Carefoot living room), hairstyles do not last forever. Here's a more recent photo of the 'do I'm rockin' these days. Although I obviously did not follow through, I had every intention of dying my hair back to dark brown when I set my appointment. Oh well, blondes have waaay more fun anyways!

gerber daisies + gerber babies.

Cameron enjoying some of Charleigh's birthday (cup)cake!

auntie-in-training.

Are these two little cutie pies not just the sweetest?? Charleigh and Cameron are Mitch's brothers' daughters that were born a month apart right before I moved up here! I have had an entire year (almost to the date) of practice to perfect my auntie skills before my very own niece arrives just 3 days away!! I can hardly wait for Reese's arrival ... tentatively set for THIS Wednesday!

turning one.

Today Mitch's niece Charleigh turned one and I had the fabulous pleasure of creating her birthday suit: a pink + purple tutu carefully crafted with ribbon + tulle

It was a lovely day for a party on their patio complete with yummy cupcakes + lots of presents for the special birthday girl!