Our big news!

One of the things that we did at Nathan's birthday party (see below) was announce that we are expecting Baby #2 on July 24. In March we found out that we are having a girl, which we have decided to name Hannah Marie. Here is a picture of Jared, Nathan, and I (with my expanding belly) taken in March.

Nathan's first birthday

For Nathan's first birthday, we had a birthday party on the day before Thanksgiving with both families at Stewart and Kelly's house (Jared's parents). Here is a picture of Nathan and I opening presents. He got so many cute toys that he still plays with, as well as books, clothes and stuffed animals (which he loves to hug).



Of course we had to give him the traditional chocolate cake which he obligingly made a mess of.

We're back

Hi, everybody! So much has happened since I was last on here. My hand-me-down laptop finally bit the dust last November and not even my computer savvy husband could revive it. However, thanks to my generous in-laws, we now have their very nice computer that they recently replaced. The next few blogs will detail some of the things we have been up to since I last blogged, including:

Nathan's first birthday
Christmas
Disneyland trip

Thanks for reading!

November Scentsy Warmers

I love the new warmers from Scentsy! For more Scentsy info, check out my website at www.scentsy.com/7071.

Snowed In!

Yesterday was a new experience for our little family: we were snowed in! The Black Hills had a big winter storm starting on Wednesday evening. We woke up on Thursday morning with no power and several feet of snow against our windows and in our stairwell. We were without power for 15 hours total, and completely unable to leave the apartment (residents of Rapid City were advised to only travel in case of emergencies), but we made do! Here are some fun pictures of our snow day:


Outside our bedroom window:



In our stairwell:



Our patio:



Outside our living room window:



Nathan wearing Jared's shirt:





Playing Jenga!



Oliver takes a catnap next to Jared's leg:

Nathan is walking!

Nathan took his first steps yesterday!

Beautiful Baby Boy

We had pictures of Nathan taken last month when we were in Billings, here are a couple:

Sunday mornings

Since we moved and now miss out on Sunday dinners with family back in Billings, I wanted to start a new fun tradition for us to look forward to. Our ward has the 1 PM block this year, so I decided to do a Sunday brunch every week. We've had some delicious meals including Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Nutty Butter Sauce, and California Chicken Omelets with Blueberry Muffins.

This past Sunday we had delicious fruit smoothies and pancakes. We really enjoy sleeping in on Sunday mornings, making brunch together, then preparing for church while Nathan takes his morning nap. We still miss family dinners at our parents' houses, but it's been fun to have our own family meals to enjoy together!

October!

I love October: the cool, brisk weather, changing leaves, and the chance to decorate for fall. Here is a picture of Nathan, getting in the fall spirit! :-)

update on Nathan

I thought I would take a minute to write about some cute new things that Nathan has started doing lately. I can't believe he is going to be 11 months in a couple of weeks!

1) Nathan has become a really good eater, for which I am grateful! When he decides he is finished eating, he casually picks his food up off of the tray on the highchair and drops it on the floor. Then he will lean over and look to see if Jake is eating it.

2) He has stood by himself several times for a few seconds. Usually it happens when he is standing up holding on to something, then gets distracted and lets go. When he realizes he is standing by himself, he lets himself fall.

3) He has started to call Jared "Dada" after weeks of us working on it. Now we need to work on "Mama." :-)

4) When he wants us to pick him up, he crawls up to us, sits back on his heels, and reaches up for us. It's so sweet!

5) Foods he loves: steak, cucumbers, bananas, animal crackers, quesadillas, hot pockets, grapes (cut up, of course!), water, hot cereal, toast with jelly, and grilled cheese sandwiches!

Well, there are a thousand more things I could talk about, but that's all I have time to list for now!

Nathan, 10 months old

Here are a couple of new pictures of Nathan, now 10 months old.




He really likes to play in the cupboards!




Here is Oliver, cuddled in a blanket:


Oliver playing dead:



I decorated the apartment for fall:

Oliver's new perch

Our 1 year old kitty, Oliver, has found a favorite place in our new home. Here are some pictures of him sleeping in a basket on top of our kitchen cabinets.

Nathan - 9 months old

Hi, everybody! I thought I'd start out our blog with some pictures of Nathan. He's 9 months old in these pictures, taken a couple of weeks ago in our apartment. Thanks for looking!