7 Years

Today, Ryan and I celebrate 7 years of marriage!

7 years of learning and discovering, 7 years of challenges and blessings!

I look forward to spending many more years in the company of my best friend.  More trials and triumphs are sure to come our way, and I can't imagine going through it with anyone but him!

Ryan, Happy Anniversary!  I love you! 

Yours.

Forever.

** I wanted to share a picture of the unique and lovely gift I was given.  Ryan made this himself, woven with silver wire.  It's unique, like us, and nothing could have been more appropriate! **

Birthday and Anniversary weekend!

This weekend, Ryan and I rolled his birthday, my birthday, and our anniversary all into one and celebrated!  Nothing fancy, nothing crazy... just a little time together to enjoy each other and reflect on how much in life we are blessed with!  It was a really great weekend!

On Friday, we both had the day off and spent a lot of it, just putzing around the house and relaxing. My mom and stepdad came for a short little visit and had lunch with us at Emma Krumbees. 

That evening, we took our girls to Ryan's parents, as they generously offered to watch them for the weekend.  Ryan and I spent our evening watching the first season of The Walking Dead, and drinking wine! (I know, we're crazy like that!)  

Saturday I had an amazing sunrise to wake up to, but the rest of the day was pretty darn drizzly. We may have decided to just watch another episode or two with our morning coffee, then FINALLY got our butts up and got going.  A little lunch together, a little shopping, and downtown we went to check into our hotel.  Our amazing friends gifted us a night out in the city, and we can't thank you enough! 

We love you guys!

Gorgeous sunrise!!

Quick quiet lunch at Panera

We decided on Crave for dinner, and we're very Very happy with our entire meal! YUMMY!

(We even got a free piece of cake for all of our celebrations!)

Yummy Crunchy roll! Mmmm mmmm!

The night overall was really amazing! 

Sunday, we took our sweet time and enjoyed the quiet of a morning without kids.  Our intent had been to spend the whole day, just the two of us, but we received a text that Ryan's parents took the girls to Sever's Corn Maze, and our plans changed!  The weather was gorgeous and we thought it would be a great opportunity to spend some time as a family, so we quickly packed up, showered, and hit the road!  It was a little warmer than I expected, but fun anyway!  (More on the day at the corn maze later!)

Last night it was apple crisp baking and some family movie time (Cars2).  As I wasn't with the girls on my actual birthday, we "celebrated" last night with some apple crisp and ice cream!  It was perfect!

Overall, the weekend was amazing!  It's back to work today, but another celebration tonight!

Happy Birthday Ryan

 It wasn't the most glamourous day.  Nothing fancy. 
Just some new "comfy pants" and a superman tee-shirt, a yummy steak for dinner,
and cake, complete with ice cream and singing Happy Birthday

Ryan, we love you!

A day on the river

Last Saturday, we were blessed with a wonderfully hot day... 

A day with no other plans other than hitting the water and relaxing in the sun!

The weather was PERFECT for being on the boat, we had snacks, 

beverages, music, and good company! We all got in the water and floated

around, we fed the ducks, and enjoyed the cruise home in the early evening!

This is the first time we've been out all year, and I forget how much I really enjoy it!

Now that the girls are getting a little older, it's much easier and more fun to have them

out with us.  We can take or leave naps (although they were both passed out within

10 minutes of the car ride home), they enjoy playing in the water, and the ducks are 

always a big hit!  Elaina is still a little timid about getting in the water, but Lila?...

NOPE, she was the first one in!  Strapped on her life jacket and in the water she went! 

Such a fun day!

Swimming with Auntie!

Grandma always has peanuts to snack on!

Relaxed!

E was a little nervous at first about getting on the water

Lila.... not so nervous!  She was all over the place!  

yeah... I'm the one not paying attention...  Oops.

Feeding the duckies!

Hi baby!

<3 td="">

Our little Sassafras!

I suspect that it was probably our last Hurrah of "summer" before the fall

festivities start, and we enjoyed the heck out of it!

Wrapping up the Summer

I'm sitting here at 2:30pm, in sweats, sweatshirt, thick socks and a cup of coffee close at hand...

Summer may give us a few more punches, but essentially... it's over.

Fall is here and to be frankly honest... I'm thrilled!

Don't get me wrong, I love the summer!  Heat, sun, lake time, tan lines...

but this summer was pretty crazy for us!

Lots and lots of fun was had, but I felt like it was so busy, that I barely had

time to relax and enjoy it.

I have had the MOST relaxing few weeks, and this weekend was the same.

Just enjoying my family as I should have all summer.

Spending time with friends and finally feeling healthy and strong again, as

I get my running shoes back on and my butt in gear!

Since I've been pretty terrible at posting for most of the summer, I'm going to

share a large, and fairly random splattering of stuff.  Just the stuff that kept

us busy this summer. 

In no particular order....

~We hit up Canterbury to watch some races with my mom and Alan, and Alex and Tony!~

Smooches for Grandma

Grandma always brings snacks! :)

 ~We swam in the pool~

~We finally went to visit our friends and their sweet little boy!~

~We played with the dogs~

~Ryan and I had a date night, which is always appreciated!~

~I took some photos of my girls on a beautiful summer evening~

 ~We found a backyard critter who wanted to say Hello~

~Ryan added a skill to his resume and became my personal stylist~

~We played at the park, and snuggled in jammies at home!~

(I know this is ridiculous long... bear with me.)

~Ryan decided the dogs had stinky breath... so he cleaned their teeth!~

~We've enjoyed Gorgeous summer sunrises~

 

 ~We took the girls to the zoo~

Ryan braved the butterfly garden, and the girls Loved it!

Ellie loves feeding the goats

Lila was a little less thrilled

~Cousin Calli came down (with her family) for an impromptu visit!~

I was setting up for a photo shoot and they were my demos... cute test subjects huh?

~And this first lovely long weekend in September, I've done a large

amount of relaxing and loving up my family! I got the house cleaned, and

my out-of-control closet in some sort of order.  We had friends down

yesterday (always a pleasure Anderson's!) and today has consisted of

gym, run, and a LOT of couch time!  

Getting ready to hit the gym, then run my butt home. I'm a little rusty after taking some time off... actually did ok though!

The girls came with Ryan and I to the gym and thought they'd workout a little too ;)

Total chaos!

I got to wake up to this precious sight snuggled in next to me this morning!

Lila has been practicing "her moves" and rockin her new boots all weekend!

And we had a little movie time this afternoon!

I'm always a little sad when Summer comes to a close, but as I look forward to this fall, 

complete with birthdays, anniversaries, apple picking, and all the joys

that come with my favorite time of the year... I'm feeling happy and blessed!

Busy or not, it's been a pretty great season!