Father's Day

I love Father's Day! I am so very lucky that the father to my boys is such a wonderful man! I cannot even imagine being a parent without Ethan to share the responsibilities with. My boys have such a great example in their life and they just adore their Daddy!

My Handsome Boys

Here they are right after they came home from church!

Such good looking guys!

Landon lovin his baby Carter

Carter's face cracks me up in this picture

Ethan attempting a Sunday nap

What happened about 2 minutes into his nap

 The Father's Day meal

He was very excited about his meal

 Steak, Fries and Cobb Salad

 I didn't take any pics of the dessert but it was delicious homemade strawberry shortcake, the perfect way to end a great American meal.

 The best part about dinner was that we ate in peace...

napping through dinner

napping through dinner

Life with 2

My baby is 3 weeks old today! Adjusting to life with two has not been too bad so far. Sure I don't get as much done as I wish each day, but I think with a little thought training I'll learn to set my sights and expectations a little lower each day. Making more realistic to do lists would probably help. But other then that I could not be happier with how Landon has adjusted to sharing Mom and having a needy little baby around. He continues to just love and adore Carter every day, which is so nice! I'm feeling pretty good myself and look forward to returning to my active self and getting out and about more.

Here is what's happened in our lives in the last 2 weeks:

My close friend from middle school, high school and College dropped by for a visit on her way out West. It was so fun seeing her and her husband and introducing them to Carter!



Here is Carter supporting Peace

Grandpa with his grandsons

they just love their Grandpa

Landon showing Baby Carter some love

 Both of my sweet boys fell asleep on me.

Landon was mid snack when he passed out.

my life on a Sunday afternoon

brothers

Cute Baby C!

Landon loves holding his baby brother and asks to all the time

 Today while the Baby was napping

Landon picked out this outfit all on his own

He calls this his fireman Woody outfit

Cheese!

And this would be him sporting his Buzz outfit we made

The first week of Life

Looking back on this past week, it feels as if I was pregnant ages ago. Now that Carter is here, I can hardly picture what life was like without him. It feels as if he has always been apart of our family!

Baby Carter was born at 3:29AM

He was 8 lbs 9 oz. and 20.5 inches

Here are some pictures from the first week of his life!

First moments of life

First pic with Dad

With Grandma Gonda and big brother

Big Brother holding his hand, Landon was noticing how much bigger his fingers are.

First family photo of four

kissy lips

Little man LOVES his baby brother!

Enjoying Dad time

First bath was a family event

Little Brother with Big Brother

capturing a grin



Officially 1 week old!

We are already so in love with this precious boy! I cannot wait to see how his personality shapes in the coming months!

Being a Mom to two beautiful boys is THE BEST!!!!

Father-Son Campout

Every year our church has a father-son campout.

Landon was sooo excited to go this year!

He had been beggin to go camping for last couple of months so it was a really fun night for this father-son pair!

The campsite

Happy boy with his twizzler



My handsome boys camping

having fun in the sand

more sand fun

he had a lot of fun in sand

Little Man and Daddy

 When they came home Ethan asked Landon if he had a lot of fun camping and he said "YES! But lets bring Mommy next time we go camping!" :) Such a sweetheart! I enjoyed my night off, I spent the evening working on school,  preparing for a for young womens lesson for church and still managed to watch a couple of movies while eating a big bowl of ice-cream. I tried to make the most of my time alone, although I admit I did miss my boys, I'm glad they had such a great time!

So this year we decided to teach Landon a little science lesson on how plants grow.

He's been asking about plants and seeds and whatnot a lot lately.

So here is our mock garden, we spent hardly anything so we don't really expect to get much from this, but it's been fun to see Landon's excitement as the little seeds grow right before his eyes.

The big plant is actually my rose bush, in the cups we planted sunflowers, basil, oregano, spinach, and chives.

Our garden

Pregnancy update: I'm officially considered full term which means the baby could come at anytime and should be just fine. What a relief it is to make it this far and still be pregnant! Another plus is that now I can deliver at the Birthing Center rather than the hospital which I'm pretty stoked about, considering our insurance actually covers more at the birthing center. So we are now officially in the waiting phase. So far I haven't really had anything more then braxton hicks contractions, or so I think. I'm still a little confused on what a real contraction feels like as compared to braxton hicks, only because I delivered Landon without feeling any real contractions until they put me on pitocin and then I had my epidural shortly after that. Hopefully I'll go into labor without my water breaking first so I can see what contractions feel like.

5 years!

First picture of us

5 years ago today Ethan called me up to see if I would like to ride with him to institute that night. It was a Thursday afternoon, I was home for a month from college looking to have a good time on my break. Ethan and I had not seen each other since the last time I was home, which was during Christmas break, he had just returned home from his 2 year mission in South Korea and nothing more then a polite "Hi, How are you?" was exchanged. Through facebook Ethan had learned that I was back in Kentucky that May day. I did not know Ethan well, but knew enough about him that I was not surprised by his invitation to ride to institute, we lived in the same neighborhood and he was the kid of guy that was always thinking of others and how to be helpful. Regardless of what his intentions were that day, I was excited and a little nervous, it was a 30 minute ride to institute, with someone I had not had a real conversation with in 4 years, but who I thought had a gorgeous smile and beautiful blue eyes. I still remember the outfit I wore that night and the way he looked when I came down the stairs to meet him at my front door. There was definitely an attraction on both parts, as my mom witnessed "you could just tell from the way Ethan was watching you walk down the stairs the he thought you were pretty." On our drive to institute he had a beautiful church CD playing while we enjoyed some small talk. During institute a girl who had her sights on Ethan actually sat in between us. Which just made me laugh to myself. Afterwards we enjoyed some Derby pie, Ethan chatted with friends while I stood awkwardly waiting for him, not really interested in talking to anyone else. Then on the drive home we realized that both of us had not seen the latest "Work and the Glory" movie so he invited me over to watch it with him. That night I made the best decision of my life, when he leaned in to kiss me, for the first time in my life I decided to kiss back. And with that, my fate was sealed. We've been inseparable ever since that first kiss. By Tuesday we were making arrangements to get married in the Louisville Temple. We were married 3 months later on August 3rd, 2007!

In last 5 years we have grown a lot as a couple. Honestly, we barely knew each other when we made the decision to get married. But we knew enough, we knew each others dreams and aspirations, we knew each others big mistakes and big triumphs, but most importantly we both knew that our dedication to the gospel of Jesus Christ was most important in our individual lives. I'm glad we did not hesitate to get married, everything about our relationship has always felt so natural, almost as if we were meant to be, as if soul mates really do exist... 

Happy 5 years to us!!!!

36 weeks

36 weeks pregnant

At 36 weeks:

I can no longer wear my wedding ring

I've gained 40 pounds

Baby is still super active

I waddle everywhere I go

My feet and ankles swell frequently

Even though baby's movements cause some pain, I'm grateful for the reassurances

We're still not 100% done with baby preparations

Still need to pack our hospital bag

I'm starting to get anxious about the delivery

Landon is excited to be a big brother and was sad when he learned baby Carter would sleep in Mom and Dad's room for the first little while,

 Landon's excited to share his room with his little brother.

Sleep is increasingly more difficult even though I'm exhausted

 And I am totally sick of my minimal wardrobe choices

But the BEST and most Important part about being 36 weeks pregnant is the fact that we get to hold Carter soon and become a family of 4!