August 22nd: One Year...

Since this...

and this:

We've done a lot together in this last year.  Like this:

Universal Studios, Orlando, FL

NYC

Captain Planet & Link from Zelda

 

Hippy Treehouse Experience

We've had a few firsts this last year, like this...

First Christmas Tree

First Backpacking Trip (Marion Lake)

 

First Roadtrip (CA)

(Santa Monica Pier)

And, the best thing we did all year - added to our family:

Baby E

Happy Anniversary, Skyler Pierce.  I'll love you forever.  Thank you for an amazing year of marriage, and two amazing years of knowing you.  Thank you for choosing me to be your partner in life; I couldn't have dreamed up anyone better to be paired up with.  

Love, K

Moving....

This is the opposite of what I'm trying to do to my house now.  It's been a crazy (hot) week.  We had some awesome friends come out and help us move from our little humble apartment home last Saturday (in 100 degree weather) to a cute little house with a yard and garden.  We love it.  We are SO blessed to have been able to move in there! 

A few weeks ago we just decided randomly to see what else was out there, found a few listings to go check out and made some appointments to go see them.  We first looked at a duplex not far from where the apartment was, and we were ready to apply for it and move in!  It was 300 sq ft bigger than our apt and had a garage and a front yard, and big deck out back.  However, the lady renting it was just leaving on vacation and couldn't show it to us until the following week.  We decided to check out a few others.  There were two more pretty close to the same neighborhood, but we liked one more than the other.  We drove to the one we didn't like as much (though we did like it once we got there) and peaked in the windows since we missed the time that the lady said it would be open to view, but then quickly headed out excited to see the other one we liked more.  We pulled up and decided "yuck, no thanks", and saw a couple girls coming out of it with applications in hand, not to mention the rental lady had not been very friendly. 

We decided to drive back to the other house we had just looked at.  We decided it was perfect and wanted to pick up an application.  We drove all the way home, searched for the ad on craigslist, but there were no numbers to call.  I had received an email from the lady, so I googled her name, in hopes of finding a phone number.  LOVE Google!  There it was. :)  Skyler called them up and they (shocked that we had called them since they never gave their phone number out) said we could come over and pick up apps.  It turned out to be a very nice younger couple that owned the house and had lived in it for 5 years, and had just bought a different house not far away from the rental about a year ago.  We filled out our applications and dropped them off the next night at the house.  Little did we know, they were also showing the house to several other couples that same evening.  We shook in our boots.  Never ever have I had to compete for a house/rental before!!!  We chatted with them and tried to get to know them some and then went home and sent them an email just reiterating how much we would love to live in their little house.  Then we agreed that if it were meant to be, God would allow us to be in the house.  A LONG few days went by and they called!!  They chose us and wanted us to be their renters!!! We were ecstatic!  This ADORABLE, charming older house was the same price we would have paid for that duplex we first looked at.  God provided for us. :) He knew exactly what we wanted - cute old house, yard, garden, roses, CHERRY TREE (my fave fruit ever), huge shop for Skyler, and nice (older) neighbors, and GREAT landlords who aren't a company who don't care about you...and He provided exactly that, and more. :) 

Now we are in full unpacking mode and trying to get things liveable before our friend Daniel flies in tomorrow from NYC to stay with us for a week.  We've got it pretty well settled, and the baby's room is looking empty now instead of a ton of boxes to unpack (which is good..because now we can fill it with a crib and dresser!!)  I will post pictures soon and invite you all in to our new home.  :)

We are blessed and so excited to have a cute little house to bring Baby E home to!

Thanks again to all our awesome friends who helped out!

Love, K

Lincoln Wyatt

He's here!!! Actually, he's been here...but I'm a bad auntie and haven't posted pictures yet....I'm going to blame it on the fact that we learned last Friday that we were going to be moving this Saturday, and my life has been consumed with boxes as of late. :)

Anyway, Little Mr. Lincoln was born around 7:30 am Friday morning August 6th.  He is so adorable!

Here's the crew waiting:

Proud Papa Jai:

Proud Uncle's Logan & Skyler:

Lincoln's only aunt:

And the momma:

We love you baby Lincoln!!  Excited for many years of watching you grow up! :)

Love, Auntie K

The Seven Dwarfs of Pregnancy...

As I sat here sipping my Vitamin D water (more later), it all the sudden came to me just how much me during pregnancy is like the Seven Dwarf's...

I started out Sneezy.  Very sneezy.  All the time.  This could have been related to allergies and not at all related to pregnancy, but since it was one of the first things I experienced after I found out I was pregnant, I'm counting it anyway. :) (Side note: I hate sneezing.  Absolutely hate it.  I think it smells the worst.  Consider this, and then add my pregnant hounddog nose and sensitive stomach on top. This was NOT a great time in pregnancy for me.)

Then I went to Sleepy.  Veeeerrrry sleepy.  I slept as often as I could, even when I didn't want to sleep, or really shouldn't... like at my desk at work.  I quickly mastered putting my hand in my face just right and having a report on my screen, so that at first glance, anyone would think I was just studying an accounting report.  I never actually "slept" per say, but I gave my eyes good rest.  And I just listened for anyone to come near my cubical. :) So sneaky, I was.  I slept every day after work.  I'd rush home as fast as I could and sleep for an hour or two.  Skyler would come in quietly after he got off work and kiss me on my forehead.  I went to bed every night by about 8 pm.  I just couldn't last any longer.  I had never felt so utterly, beyond exhausted in my life!

Around the time I stopped feeling quite so tired, I had my first appointment with the Doc.  Not that I am the Doc, but I see one, so that counts, right??  Plus, I have been learning a TON about pregnancy and myself that I never knew before, so in a way, I am being a Doc to my babe, right?! ;) (Ok, and maybe technically she's not a Doc either...she's a midwife, but still.  Whatev.  You get the picture.)

Then, I was SOOO Grumpy, and I didn't even realize it.  Or maybe I did, and I just didn't care.  (My poor poor husband Skyler.)  I was the ultimate Grumpus and was not happy about anything!!  I hated work, I hated cooking, I hated cleaning, I was grumpy about something every day, it seemed. (All the while, totally thrilled that there was a baby growing in me!! Seriously. I was never grumpy about that.).  At my next Doc appointment, she told me that my blood tests came back and I was extremely low in Vitamin D.  Shocking, right?!  You know, since I live in Oregon and work inside an office all day?  Double whammy.  She told me to go get a bottle of liquid Vit D right away and drink some water with 6000mg Vit D dropped in it every day.  I've been doing this for almost 2 weeks now.  And now....

I'm SOOOO HAPPY!!!!  Vitamin D has turned my life around!!  I seriously have noticed a MAJOR change in my attitude since I've started drinking my "cup of sunshine" every day.  I think I'll continue this even after Baby E comes along.  It never hurts to have extra doses of happy, right?  Nothing bothers me now; not work, not the people I work with, not chores, not anything. :)  So if you see me walking around with a big goofy smile on my face for no reason; I'm sorry.  I'm not trying to be creepy.  I'm just.... happy. *Smiles*

I'm still waiting for Bashful and Dopey to hit me. :) I'll keep you posted and let you know when I've gone full cycle Seven Dwarf's.

Hope everyone else is having as happy a day as I am!
Love, K

Classy Jungle Baby Shower

It's August 4th.  And Chelsea was due August 1st.  Which means that Lincoln could be here any time.  And his aunt should probably post pictures of his baby shower before he makes his arrival and I post pictures of him. :)

Chelsea is having a jungle themed nursery, so we carried the theme for her shower also.  My MIL really wanted this to be a classy baby shower, so we tried our best to keep it "classy jungle"...not an easy task with all the cheesy things out there nowadays! ;)

I made a table runner for the dining room table, where we were staging all of the food.  I chose a zebra print fabric, but instead of the standard black and white, I chose a tan and white pattern.  A subtle ode to jungle. :)  I hadn't ever made a table runner before, but figured it couldn't be hard.  I turned the fabric inside out, stitched along the insides except for at one of the short ends of the runner, and flipped the fabric right side out again.  I ironed it and top stitched along the opened short end, making a long rectangle runner.  I then folded the corners together to make it a pointed table runner, and ironed it flat.  I just made a small hand stitch at the bottom of where the two pieces came together to hold the point down.  Then I top stitched around the whole thing, and done!  I really like it and the subtle zebra print, so I think I'll use it at my table sometimes. :)

I made invitations similar to ones I had seen here.  Chelsea loved the simplicity of it, and so did I. (Plus, Wizard of Oz is like my all-time fave movie, so how could I not fall in love with it?!)

I didn't get a pic of the actual invite, but here's the design on the front.

I had seen these favors at Martha Stewart and thought they'd be perfect with a little lion sticker.  They turned out so cute and the guests seemed to really enjoy them!  We just bought the giant cookies from Costco.  All in all, they were really nice, except the cookies were oily and made the backs of the sleeve look oily.  But no one seemed to mind. :)

Also, I had never made a diaper cake but kept seeing them around, so I decided to give it a go. :)

Here are pictures of the shower:

Jelly Bean Guessing Game

Opening up the bibs I made for Lincoln

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We can't wait for little Lincoln to come!

Love, Aunt K