Meet Brody

When he was just ten days old, we took our little boy to get some pictures taken.  I held my breath the whole time, photographing a newborn is no easy task!

Our photographer was amazing, I would recommend her to anyone.  Here are a few of our favorites, but to be honest I love them all.  I can hardly believe this little one is really ours :)  

He is here!

On Friday October 26th at 9:37 pm our little boy was born :) 

8 lbs 13 ounces, 21.7 inches, dads hair, moms nose, and 100% delicious!

The hospital treated us so well we weren't sure we wanted to leave but we left with wonderful memories of our first few days as a little family. 

The adventure begins. . . :)

So it seems we are at 2 weeks and counting

I have a little explaining to do. It has been a while. I know. 

It seems that this year has turned out to be the most eventful year of my life, and to be perfectly honest, I have been out living every minute out of it with not a spare minute to blog about it. 

I have so many beautiful pictures that document our journey over the summer and the most important thing to happen to us since we got married. . .

My pregnancy with our little one, who is due for an appearance in about 2 weeks here :)

The whole time I have been pregnant I have been holding my breath a little.  It is so surreal when you wait your whole life for something to happen, and when it finally does, your mind needs a little time ( or in my case alot ) to catch up to the whole idea. 

Experiencing this pregnancy has been one of the most beautiful things to ever happen to me and sometimes I still have moments where I can't really believe it is all real.  Even after he has danced in my tummy all afternoon long ;)

Seeing Brian and us evolve into parents has also been quite the experience.  I mean, he isn't even here yet, but yet there has been a significant change in both of us.  One that I can't quite explain, but one that has most definately happened. 

Even though I have been counting down I can hardly believe I have two weeks left. Expect lots of catch up posts to filter in as well as some exciting new ones when this baby boy decides to say hello.  If he is anything like his mama though, he will be fashionably late, quite!

Love to all of you. Thanks for hanging in there with us :)

Happy Birthday Ty

Happy birthday today Ty dearest!  I can hardly believe you are a quarter of a century!  One thing I know for sure. . . You are my all time favorite brother! ;)

Canning time again

And boy have we been busy! Can't wait to eat all the deliciousness this winter ;)

Nap time at the cabin

a walk and a wash

Court and I love to take the dogs on walks while we are up at bear lake.  The dogs obviously love the outing and court and I love the opportunity to take snap some beautiful pics.

All was going well until a naughty little doggy ( who will remain nameless ) decided to roll around in some goose poop!

Needless to say our scenic walk was cut short so that we could go back and bathe the little stinker.  She wasn't too happy about it, but mama wasn't too happy about having to wash that awful smell off either!  

At least there was a warm towel and snuggling waiting

. . .

for her :)

Limber Pine Hike

Up at Bear Lake there is this hike called the Limber Pine Trail.  We haven't done it for years, until someone last weekend suggested we do!

It was so fun to see the wildlife and we nicknamed it butterfly alley because literally everywhere there were bright orange butterflies everywhere where we looked!

I love doing the forgotten parts of a vacation over again to remind yourself how much you love something :)

Boating night

Lonestar Taqueria

The other night we tried out Lonestar Taqueria.  It was muy bueno!

Firewood trip to Ovid

About 30 minutes out of Bear Lake is a tiny town called Montpelier, and outside of Montpelier is Ovid.  We go to Montpelier for the small town fun and to Ovid for wood. 

We always stop at Kings for good deals and such, and sometimes we even see the occasional apostle :)

In the last year at the cabin we had used up the rest of the firewood so we needed to replenish the stock at the cabin, for all those campfires we have.  

It is a really good deal, you get a whole trailer full of wood for around 100 bucks.  Can't beat that!

My first real memorial day

This year was the first year that I have ever really had anyone to go visit in a cemetery on memorial day.  My thoughts are always with those who have passed away on this day, but this year it was really personal for me.  As I sat by pops grave I looked around the cemetery at all those placing flowers on loved ones weathered graves who obviously had done it for years.

Does it get harder or easier as the years go by?  I am not sure, probably both for some, but for me it feels like forever since I have seen pop and it has only been six months. I am really thankful that memorial day is a holiday because for how busy and full our lives seem, it feels really good to spend a weekend thinking about memories of loved ones.

Summer evening at the farm

Our friends invited us up to their beautiful family farm to hang out a few weeks ago and it was the first time I really felt like summer had arrived.

We got to have our first campfire of the season, and with the pool, bug spray, and smores we got the full effect :)

 I even got to snuggle their little one taylor, a welcome treat on any summers night :) Thanks friends for bringing us along! We sure love you guys.

Gardening Fools

This year we got right on planting our garden, so that we would have a long summer full of lots of yummy veggies.  Since the year we got married we have had a garden and I have to say it is one of my favorite traditions Brian and I have about summer and about having my own house. 

For my birthday this year I got a pressure canner so I will be using that to can our veggies from the garden, and salsa til my little hearts content :)

Brian took quite a few evenings and made us the best drip system ever in the garden and I appreciate that more than words can tell because that means I don't have to go out and water it by hand every day yay! 

I am excited to see it grow a few more months because it already looks amazing and is growing so quick! 

Happy 4th Anniversary to us!

This year was my year to plan our anniversary and I was just plain excited to spend the day together. The morning started off with Brian's favorite breakfast and then we headed to the zoo to watch the all the animals play for way too long :)

The day ended with dinner at a new place for us called Flemings.  It was delicious and not only was the food top notch but the service was outstanding.  Since it was our anniversary they gave us a free appetizer and a $25 gift card to come back next time, and a box of truffles to take home which I promptly started munching on when we got to our car :)

The major thing I have noticed this last year is how we seemed to be so much more settled into our roles now then when we first got married. We have gotten into this rhythm as husband and wife where things just jive and I love that.  There are always the unexpected moments in life, but the day to day has turned into the most enjoyable patterns and I love that. 

I am so thankful for four years of that cute boy grinning at me and I hope time moves at a slow enough pace for me to truly enjoy them all.  Happy anniversary love. xoxo.  

Happy Birthday Courty!

Happy Birthday to the best sister ever!  Here are a few things about you that make me smile :)

Court. I love how predictable you are.  I always know if you are out to dinner you are definately eating salmon and broccoli.  I love how if it is a sunny day I can guarantee you went to pet the horses or feed the ducks.  I always know if it is a week night you are singing your little heart out playing guitar in the basement, and how I know every time I see you, I will end up laughing my pants off.  

Court. I love how happy and entertained you are by the simple things in life.  I know if I ask about your day I will hear about an adorable animal, someone who smiled at you, something funny that happened, or how beautiful something in nature is.  I love that about you.  I love how your whole week can be made by something that seems so insignificant to most.  You truly rejoice in the simple things and that is such a blessing to know what happiness really is and to appreciate the tiny things. 

Court. I love how you always want to spend time with us.  I love having a family that is super close and one that makes time for each other.  I love how you never care what it is we do, just that you want to be with us.  Thanks for spending the day with me cleaning out my crawlspace, screaming over spiders, and laughing over "crawl space cabin fever."  I never thought that task would turn out to be so much fun but I should have known with you there it would be :) 

I am so lucky to be your sister.  I love sharing everything with you, including our May birthdays.  Thanks for being the ray of sunshine in my life.  I hope this is your best year yet! :) Love you Schvest!

Weekend house guests and good pizza

Court and Nan came up and stayed with us for a few days.  It sure was fun to have visitors and get to show them around our side of town :)

We took them out for pizza at one of our favorite places called Arella.  That is one thing I love about living somewhere new is that you get to discover all the fun little places you wouldn't have ever known about before.  And after living here for 4 years I must say I have a lot of favorite places! :)

The weather was pretty wet so we stayed inside mostly and watched old bonanza reruns with lots of goodies. It sure was a good time and one that I hope happens again.. . very soon. :)