4th of July

We took a trip to Pullman for the 4th this year. Our first official vacation as a family and traveling with Grace! We had so much fun! I was most worried about her sleeping since she has freedom in a toddler bed and we put her in a pack and play, but Steve ran her down and by the time she crashed she was out! :)

Grace and Hazel

Grace cant get enough of swinging

Grace became Papa's new BFF during this trip. Momma is old news.

My favorite from the trip. I love Grace and Papa pictures.

Family photo at the parade. I was 33weeks with Orion here and ready for him to come now!

Grace is ONE!

Happy 1st Birthday to our sweet little Grace!

We had a monkey party to celebrate. Since Steve was gone for two months, I had way too much time to plan out every little detail. It turned out so cute and exactly how I imagined! The BEST part...Steve surprised us both and came home two days before her birthday!!

I chose to make Grace's first cake. I wanted a healthier option for her and not a sugar filled store cake. I made her a banana-apple cake with cream cheese frosting. The mini cupcakes were also this recipe. The larger cupcakes are my pride vanilla cake with buttercream frosting.

Month by month timeline

This was extreme as she got. No huge mess, no smashing, nothing. She stayed clean. Part of it was probably late naptime and everyone staring at her. :)

Such a sweet girl! She was just starting to walk around this day and now she can walk a bunch of wobbly steps but crawling is faster.

She eats a large variety of food on her own now. I am thrilled that we are off bottles and formula and she had no problem switching to a sippy cup and whole milk.

At her one year appt she was 18lbs 13oz and 31.25 inches. She is super skinny but super tall! (99% for height!!)

Not really saying too much yet. She went through a phase where she said "what's that" all the time. She will sign though. More, all done, happy, together, pee-you (smell).

Happy 4th of July!

Grace's first holiday that she didnt sleep right through. She was ultra patriotic in the adorable outfit she got from my family!

This makes me smile. She is usually such a photo-ham but she was just done here. It is a rare occurance for her to throw a major fit, so I had to document it. :)

* At her 4 mo checkup she was 12lbs.6oz and 25 3/4"!!
Thats the 91 percentile for babies in her age group for height! I think we have a basketball star in the making! :) Didnt take after momma at all!

Happy Birthday, Momma!

Momma turned 24! The family had a nice little bbq party for me to celebrate.

Crazy to think at my birthday last year we had just found out I was pregnant. Now look at that little peanut!

Best birthday yet!

Our 2nd Anniversary

April 22, 2009

Happy 2nd Anniversary my Love!

So excited we are able to spend this anniversary together, with family and our beautiful little blessing, Grace.

I can't wait to see what God has planned for us this next year!

I love you!

Happy 50th Grandpa!

Grandpa Duane turned 50 on the 20th of March and Grace celebrated in style - sleeping!

Notice how Momma and Papa wish they were sleeping in this picture too! Oh all the joys of being a new parent! :)

Happy 50th Birthday, Grandpa!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Love came down at Christmas,

Love all lovely, Love Divine;

Love was born at Christmas;

Star and angels gave the sign.

~Christina Rossetti

First off, Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus! This Christmas means so much more to me than years past. Each Christmas my love for Christ becomes stronger (since becoming a Christian) but this year is different. Maybe because we are having a baby and I have a new understanding of how I cant even begin to fathom God's love for us. There is no one on earth I love enough to sacrifice my daughter, yet that is exactly what God did for us. He gave us the most unbelievable gift on this special day. May we always have Christ in our hearts and praise God for this glorious day!



 30 weeks & 1 day - 12.24.10

So excited to be on the downhill stretch! 10 or so weeks left to go before we get to meet our little girl.

 My Christmas puppies - Reagan & Riley

Our last Christmas just us two.

Happy Birthday To Me!

It's one of my favorite times of the year! On Saturday I celebreated my 23rd birthday. Thank you to everyone who remembered me! I got two wonderful gifts from Steve. My Kitchenaid shredder/slicer attachment is amazing! Shredding cheese was always his job and he obviously disliked it enough to get me this attachment. It makes cooking so much faster! Again, I LOVE my Kitchenaid!
And my favorite: the ice-cream maker attachment. I made french vanilla here and it only lasted 4 days! It was delicious. Nothing beats home made!

Happy First Anniversary

What a fast and wonderful year it has been! I thank the Lord everyday for the blessings in my life and for the husband that I have. Our marriage was established with Christ at the center, and for that I am grateful to God. May we be blessed with many more wonderful years to come!

I love you, Steve.

See you soon! My anniversary present. The most amazing Kitchenaid in the world. I can only begin to imagine the things I am going to create with this. No more smoking hand mixer!
I have found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go. ~Song of Songs 3:4

Happy Birthday Reagan!

My baby is 1 year old today! Happy Birthday Reagan!

Here's a little flashback to the day we brought her home, she was 8 weeks old. (6.07.09) And her today. She is 47.8 lbs and a lot bigger!

My Valentine

Flowers arrived at my door on Saturday. My hubby found a sweet way to surprise me with his love, even if he is halfway around the world!

The card says he is excited to one day spend a Valentines Day together. Somehow throughout the years, we have never spent an actual Valentines Day together. Thank you my love, for the beautiful flowers! I love you, too. :)

Christmas is all month long!

"He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree." ~Roy L. Smith

Our first Christmas Tree! We set it up the day after Thankgiving together. Add a little fire, Christian music and peppermint coffee, I think we started a fun family tradition. I love it!


So at first he acted a bit annoyed at my need for a perfect tree, (you cant just throw lights on they must be woven in!) but after a while ditched his hum-bugness and secretly I know he enjoyed himself! :)

One of my 3 mini trees around the house. I absolutely love the Christmas holiday and our house is decorated all over. I love coming home and walking into a warm, inviting, holiday home.

"There has only been one Christmas - the rest are anniveraries." W. J. Cameron

Happy Thanksgiving

Steve and I spent this year's Thanksgiving at his parents house. We had a nice relazxing time with each other and as always the cooking was amazing! The day after I kicked off the holiday spirit with the other crazies at 4:00am and completed a great majority of my Christmas shopping! I absolutely love shopping on Black Friday!

Apparently Steve snuck in a picture of me when I was frosting brownies. They were very good. Of course another thing I ate way too much of!

We have been very occupied with Reagan lately. Pictures of that soon to come. A week after emergency surgery she is still wearing "the cone of shame." I will post that complete story to you all when I upload pictures. She sure scared us, but seems to be healing just fine now.