Girls Night Out!!!

Last night I was SOOOOOO excited for my good friend, Kelly to come into town. Earlier in the week we had planned to have a girls night out and I can not even begin to explain how much I needed this!!!! Kelly is such a fun friend and we had a blast together. I call her my fashion coordinator, so of course we started out the night by shopping. Kelly seriously has such a gift of piecing outfits together and making them look amazing...she is one trendy chick. We spent alot of time in Forever 21 and I ended up buying some cute stuff. After our shopping excursion, we headed to our favorite restaurant and chowed down on some yummy veggie burgers. We then headed to the movies to see the movie, "The Social Network". LOVED THE MOVIE!!!!!! I am addicted to facebook, so it was fun to see the history/background of the movie. It still blows my mind to think of how wealthy Mark Zuckerberg is at his young age. CRAZY.
This past week had been kind of crazy, so when Kelly called to ask about Friday night, I jumped on it. It was sooooo great to just have a relaxing night full of girl talk, shopping, dinner and a movie. We laughed so much and talked about alot. I miss her so much, miss having her so close, but so happy for her in her new life adventure. Kelly is incredible and is one gifted girl in alot of areas. I want her to start a blog, so I thought maybe if I devoted a whole blog to her, that would pressure her ;). Love you Kelly!!!!!
P.S......I'm not so sure about the cargo skinny pants..

My little duck!!!

Although Graham could have gone trick-or-treating last year (he was a month old then), we didn't because I had blasted mastitis. I was soo bummed last year because I was so excited to dress him up and take him to our family and friends, but then I got super sick. ANYWAYS that was then and this is now and this year was AWESOME!!!!!!!! I had so much fun dressing my little Graham up! He went as a duck :). He was sooooo precious ;). Here is the evidence:


This last picture is really special to me. My parents built our house when my older sister was born. I was raised in that house and have a ton of memories there. That is the only house I ever lived in until I went off to college and then when I got married. Across the street from my parents house live two wonderful people, the Adams. The Adams were like grandparents to me growing up and they hold such a special place in my heart!! I knew for sure that I wanted to go visit them when we went to my parents for Halloween. They loved seeing Graham as well as my sister and her twins. The Adam's are getting up there in age and their health isn't the best right now. I truly cherish this picture and thank the Lord for putting such great people in my path.

Graham's 1st Birthday!!

I'm exactly one month late in writing this. BETTER LATE THAN NEVER right?!?!
My precious little gift from God is ONE YEARS OLD. This past year has been by far the fastest year of my life. Such a wonderful year. If I knew that being a momma was this amazing, I don't think my husband and I would have waited this long to have kids! Graham is such an amazing baby (All the sudden I don't know if I should call him a baby or a little boy!!!! And now I'm really sad thinking I can't call him my baby anymore! Who cares...he's still my baby to me :) ). I absolutely LOVE this stage of his life. He is so much fun...so interactive, so playful. He knows what we are saying to him and he is such a funny boy!!! He always tries to make us laugh and he does a great job with that. My heart is SO full of love for him....he is our blessing upon blessing.

We celebrated his first birthday party with some family and close friends. Graham had a blast playing with his cousin Tustin and his friend Claire. He also enjoyed having his first bite of sugar/junk food. He LOVED digging into his cake :). Here are some pictures of his big day!!!









My good friend Tiffani....Graham loves her little girl, Claire! Too bad I didn't get a picture of them togethor :(.
Graham's favorite present??? The tissue paper of course :).


It was such a great day and we loved celebrating Graham's special day with the people closest to him! I truly thank God so so much for giving us such an amazing gift. My heart is flowing over with love for my little one....i love you to the moon and back Graham Andrew!!!!

I'm baaaaccck!

So I may have fallen off the blog wagon for a bit, but I'm back again :). Lots to write about!!! Really going to try and keep this updated!!!! I am just LOVING fall and this time of year. We have had really crazy weather in the Midwest lately. Not my typical style for fall, but it's getting there:).
We recently had our family pictures taken with JoAnne Kaser of Josephiney photography . She is incredible!!!!!!! She has such an awesome eye for photgraphy and gives the picture so much detail. I absolutely love her style!!!! I told her I want to be her apprentice :).
Here are a few pictures of our family that she posted on her blog!

ALSO---I have a major addiction with Starbuck's new drink. Have you tried the Salted Carmel Hot Chocolate??????? It is absolutely amazing.....it's so much goodness in a cup that it's hard to even describe. Here is what Starbucks website says about it:
Starbucks new Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate is an indulgent treat that combines our bittersweet mocha sauce and toffee nut syrup and is topped with whipped cream, a buttery caramel drizzle, and a flavorful sprinkling of Starbucks® premium sea salt topping.
Delicious :). Happy Wednesday and I'll blog again soon :).

Thankful Thursday

Today I'm thankful for:

* An amazing husband, who is truly my best friend.


* A beautiful baby boy who brings me more joy than I ever could have imagined.



* A place to call home.

* Vehicles that get me to and from (it's pouring down rain today and I can't imagine having to wait for public transportation in the rain with a baby...).

* Best friends who just get you (thanks for yesterday Jess...your visit made my day).

* My mom, not only my momma, but also a dear friend.

* The Word of God, when all else fails, this Truth never changes.

*Delicious coffee on a rainy day


* Peace...


*My small group girls...can't even begin to tell you HOW much i LOVE them :).



The list could go on and on and on, but these are just a few things I am thankful for today!!

Wedding weekend!!

Last weekend, we traveled to Ft. Wayne for my sister in law's ( John's sister) wedding. It was such a gorgeous wedding and we were so excited to be a part of Sarah's special day. We enjoyed the weekend get away and enjoyed checking out Ft. Wayne. Graham was such a trooper through out the weekend! It was alot of late nights/ early mornings/ short naps, ect, but he really did so so well. Everyone loved him :). I didn't get to take very many pictures at all due to leaving my camera at the hotel, so I'm anxious to see the photographers pics. Here are a few shots from the weekend (sorry @ the quality...these are from my iphone)!! Congrats to Sarah & Jared!!! Marriage is such a gift, such a true blessing to be married to your best friend!!!

The beautiful bride & I;


My beautiful Mother in law and I:


MInutes before heading out to walk down the isle :). So beautiful!!!!:


My handsome boys!!! I'm such a lucky girl!!:


So ready to call it a night :). I think he is chewing on my dress tag?? :


This is Graham's Great Grandpa. I just love the way Graham is looking at him :) :

It's Football season!!!

Last weekend, John, Graham and I headed to the Notre Dame bookstore to pick out our apparel for the 2010 football season!! It was a gorgeous day, so we went for a walk on the campus and then ended up playing in the grass with Graham. He loved it!!!! John and I are HUGE ND football fans, and are eager for the first opener. Coach Kelly appears to be a excellent coach and I bet the Irish will have a great year.
I LOVE doing family outings like this. It makes me appreciate John and Graham so much and I love the memories we create together. Aren't my boys so cute??? :).

Ten Months!

As each month comes and goes, I am amazed at how fast life truly goes! My sweet little baby boy is ten months old!!! I love you so so much Graham Andrew!! You truly light up our lives. At ten months old, you are SO entertaining and you make your daddy and I laugh so much. At ten months, you started clapping!! You get so excited when we start clapping and you start clapping as well. We got you a little toy walker and you LOVE it! You love pushing that around. You have just started to stand on your own for a couple seconds. We will keep working on that! You really love it when we read to you. Your favorite book right now is, "God made Music". Everyone that sees you always compliments us on how adorable you are. You truly are such a handsome lil baby :).
You have definitely hit the stage of where you only want your momma :). I love it.
We have started going on more play dates lately, which has been really good for you. You love the social interaction! You are still putting everything in your mouth and I am constantly scanning the house to make sure their is nothing that will hurt you! You love your daddy so so much! You and I will be playing together on the floor, and when you hear the keys in the door, you stop what you are doing, look up and start crawling to the door. You know your daddy is home and you crawl so fast to see him!! Your face lights up when he sees you and you are as happy as can be when he picks you up and says, "there's my boy!!".
You still love bath time!! I think you are getting ready to be done with your baby bath tub. You just want to stand in it and turn around and play with the sides of the big bath tub :).
Something you strongly dislike : YOUR CAR SEAT. Holy moly. It is a tough workout to get you in there these days. You definitely put up a fight and throw a tantrum. You will get a new car seat though so so soon and in two months, you will get to face the other way! Hang in there lil buddy!!
Another dislike: You getting your diaper changed. Seriously Graham....it's a necessary part of life, so just bear through it. Please!??
You got your top two front teeth this month!!! You were such a trooper through it all!!! You look toooo cute with your top teeth in. Grand total of 4 teeth now!!!
We love you so so much sweet Graham. You make our lives so so fun. We can't imagine life with out you!!! You are everything that we could have ever hoped for and MORE!!!!!!!!! Happy ten months sweet boy!!!
Love,
momma :).

Skinny Jeans

So I finally gave in to the fad of skinny jeans. I think I'm about two years late on this one, but for so long, I did NOT like the way they looked on me. A few months ago, we visited our friends in Indianapolis. We did lots of shopping there and my friend Kelly suggested I try a pair of skinny jeans on. To my surprise, I really did like them!!! I ended up buying a pair, but I've only wore them a few times. They are growing on me more and more, and I'm guessing once fall/winter comes, you will see me sporting them with some super cute boots :).

Camp!!

This past week, I packed up most of our house and we traveled to our Church's Youth Camp!! I was super excited to take Graham with us this year. He had a blast as he got A TON of attention 24/7 from all of our students!!! Our church's camp is called Last Blast and it is held at a beautiful location in Ohio. It sits right on Lake Erie, so we get some pretty awesome views.
John, Graham and I stayed in a super cute little cabin that had recently been renovated and it was just too cute. AND...IT HAD AIR CONDITIONING!!!! It was a super hot, hot, HOT week, so I appreciated it so so much. Graham did pretty well adjusting to the new environment, with the exception of the first night. We were in a one bedroom cabin, and at 2am, Graham woke up and wanted to play. We couldn't exactly let him cry it out since we were in a one bedroom!! The next night and every night after that was great!
This is a pic I snapped of our little cabin. Isn't it so cute??

It was really fun to be with the students all week too. We have such awesome students in our youth group and I have become very close with some of them. I am so thankful for the students that came to camp and allowed God to work in their lives. We had an incredible week and God was at work!!!!! Many student's heart's were softened and incredible change has taken place. Our student's are also more United together. I don't think I would have said this a few years ago, but I truly do enjoy being a youth pastor's wife! Ha! I feel like God has really brought John and I together to serve Him and our students!


The week flew by and before you knew it, it was time to come home again. I am so thankful for the way God worked this past week! He IS incredible!!!!!

Blessed...

A baby has a special way of adding joy in every single day.
-- Author Unknown












A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for.
-- Anonymous

My Nephews

Yesturday I got to spend some time with my sister and her precious newborn twins. I was able to take some pictures of her baby boys and I couldn't get over how tiny they are. I kept asking myself, "was Graham really this small??". It amazes me how quickly my sweet Graham has changed. He is now 9.5 months and just the joy of our lives. He is at such a fun stage...crawling everywhere, pulling himself up onto everything, saying 'daaddaaadddaaaaa', giggling, blowing raspberries on us and more. He is just too fun. I LOVE being able to stay home with him and capture these precious memories!!! He is growing up so so fast and I just want to savor every single moment.
I am hardly remembering the times when he was this tiny:



And now he's my happy, sweet 9 month old baby boy :) :


ALSO!!! BIG MILESTONE!!!!!!!!! For the first time EVER, Graham slept from 7 pm-7 am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is HUGE for us!!! I would always hear other momma's talk about how their babies would sleep from 7-7 and I would always be envious, but my lil sweetie pie slept like a champ last night!!!

Okay, time for pictures :). Here are my cutie pie nephews!!!! It's so fun having nephews who are TWINS!! :). Enjoy!