2012

As I sit here at my laptop I am heavy with exhaustion. It has been a long 5 days. The day after Christmas Caden came down with the flu and he has been totally miserable, which makes me as his mother totally miserable! Now Garrett has come down with it too.
On top of all the sickness, a couple of days before Christmas we found out that Garrett's job is having to cut his work hours back from 40 a week to 28. That is not enough to support our family.
So, I am emotionally drained right now. I am trying to trust God, but I must say that doubt has been creeping into my mind. I want to lay it all at His feet and just praise Him through it, but all I can seem to focus on right now is my stress and worry.
With New Year's Eve being tomorrow, I thought it would help bring my heart back to the right place if I made a list of the blessings from this last year. 2012 has definitely been a year of hills and valleys, but through the bad God always brought some good.
1. Of course, the best blessing I received this year was my daughter, Avery! She has been a little firecracker and makes our life a little more exciting and interesting. :) She always knows how to make me laugh and is the sweetest thing I have ever seen. I can't believe that January 23rd she will be a year old! Can't wait to see her grow and develop this next year!
2. God providing us a job a week after Garrett was let go from his previous job. An answer to prayer!
3. Bringing us to a church body where we have really plugged in and have reconnected with old friends and made a lot of new friends.
4. Getting back into a community group and women's Bible study this year have been a big encouragement to me.
5. Taking Caden trick or treating for the first time was something I will always remember.
6. Celebrating Avery's first Christmas and Caden loving EVERYTHING this Christmas season.
7. Some other little things are seeing Caden and Avery grow closer together, getting numerous date nights with Garrett, and seeing Caden grow so much with his separation anxiety- he now loves to play with friends and go to his Sunday school class!
We have been so blessed this year and every year. No matter what our circumstances I can truly say that God has been so good to me.
Happy 2013 everybody!

Family Pictures 2012

Happy Halloween!

My little Football Player and Strawberry had a great Halloween this year! This was Caden's first time trick-or-treating and he LOVED it! When he figured out what was happening (knocking on doors and getting candy) there was no stopping him! :) It was a wonderful and fun day!

Love Fall and Love these Babies :)

Darling Girl

This little beauty is going to be 8 months old in just 5 days! I can not believe she is growing up this quickly! The last couple months have been so great and I know that the best of times are yet to come! She has developed quite a little personality- she is definitely a little firecracker! One of favorite things to do lately is to squeal (aka- scream) at the top of her lungs! I have never heard a baby be so loud or high pitched! Then after she gets a few good ones in and enough attention she just laughs and laughs. I have no idea how to stop this behavior, since she can't understand me yet and we obviously can't give an 8 month old a time out! Haha. So I will just laugh along with her and wait for it to pass. :) 

She loves vegetables...like all vegetables! She also loves oatmeal and rice cereal, but the only fruit she likes are pears. She doesn't even like apples! I call her my little green bean. :) 

Caden and her have gotten so close the last few months. They are two little peas in a pod and it couldn't bring more joy to my heart than to see them playing together. :) 

I am SO blessed and am taking in every second I get with my two babies as a stay at home momma. Thank the Lord! :)

It's Football Season!

 We were able to watch our first BSU game of the season yesterday. Every football season my whole family gathers at my grandma's house for food and football! I love it. Caden had a great time too. He got a new Boise State football that day and we brought it with us to Grammie's house.
He had a fun time watching the football on tv and playing some of our own football. We tried to take the opportunity to get a couple of family pics, but it is so hard to get them to sit still, look at the camera, and smile at the same time- but we still try! :)

Summer Time

Well, I can't say that things have been unusually busy around here...I just haven't been too good about keeping up this blog during these summer months! We have just been enjoying the hot weather by playing outside, going to the park, and eating a lot of ice cream! Haha.
Garrett and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary in August. We went to the fair and then ended the night by watching the sun set up at Table Rock. It was great to just have some time together away from all our responsibilities. :)
Avery is 7 months old now and is growing like crazy! She is sitting up by herself, rolls everywhere, and is just about to take off crawling. Plus, she is starting to drink out of a sippy cup and eat graham crackers. Can't believe in just 5 months she will be a year old!
Caden is as ornery as ever and the two of them together just crack me up. Caden can now count to 20 (he skips 14 and 15, though ) and his current "love" is hot air balloons. Which he calls "Bo-Highs". We were able to see some at the Spirit of Boise hot air balloon festival the other night. He loved them!
We all are just recovering from colds, so the last couple of weeks have been a bit rough around here. Caden's cold is hanging on, but hoping that we are all healthy soon!
Anyways, here are some recent photos :)