Funny girl

Addy is almost four months old. She loves to have her head rubbed when she's going to sleep. This was the outcome after I played with her hair then put her down for a nap. If you didn't notice...she also likes to eat! Healthy and happy girl!!

Back to the beginning

If all else fails, never forget the essentials; favorite teddy bear, favorite toy, Baby Einstein accompanied by CHARGED laptop and Baby Bjorn.

Happy girl loves being outside.

First run in with a horse. If I have it my way, someday I'll teach her to barrel race. After I learn, of course!

This is Hunter/Gatherer man handleing the cider press.

My husbands wonderful photography. This is what we see when we step outside or little cabin. Also the backdrop view from the alter.

Hunter/Gatherer standing outside our little, yet very warm, cabin.

I spend as much time here as I can. There is no shower, just a tub. Right up my alley!

Last weekend Brian, Addy & I all went back up to the Bed and Breakfast where we married. My Hood B & B located just on the East side of Mt Hood. Each year they have a cider press party and we were invited last year. It was held one week before our wedding and we made our own cider to serve. So needless to say it has become an annual celebration and we brought Addy this year. Mike and Jackie (owners) have become family to us and welcomed us with open arms when we showed up at 10:00pm Friday night. Brian had to work so we got a late start.

Driving up there reminded me of the same drive my girlfriend Jamie and I took just one year ago on my wedding day. It is so beautiful as we pass through all the orchards and the mountain lights up with snow, gorgeous even at night!

We got to our room (one of four), the Homestead they call it. The same room we had last year. Brian cranks out a rip roaring fire and I put Addy down so we can sit down, relax with a glass of wine and watch a movie. Or whatever we feel like doing :) Mike warned us that we could really cook ourselves out with a fire, but we couldn't wait to hear the crackles. Well.....the mixture of wine and too much heat and we found ourselves waking up in the wee hours of the next morning in the same clothes with a dead laptop. Oops, looks like he was right.

All in all we just had such a wonderful time and met some lovely people also staying the weekend. We all shared two mouthwatering breakfasts together and then a buffet style meal at the cider press party Sunday afternoon. What a wonderful weekend. Then we drove that same road back home and enjoyed every last bit of the beautiful fall colors bursting all around us. All the while Addy slept away in the back seat. She did great all weekend, only a couple melt downs which ended quickly with a nap or milk. Two of her favorite things. Enjoy!

Also if you get a chance for a little vacation, I highly recommend this wonderful place. www.mthoodbnb.com

Pumpkin Patch

Here are a couple of pictures from the pumpkin patch on Sauvie's Island. Addy's first Halloween! She slept almost the whole time. We went on a cow train. A tractor pulls a hand full of carts shaped like cows. Mine was Butters. We had a great time with Doug, Michelle, Chase, Hannah and Shawn went too! Enjoy!

Our first anniversary! The story of us.

Brian and I met the for the first time March 29th, 2006. He came into my work after a mutual friend told him about me. I caught wind he might come in to meet me, but didn't know when. So I tried to look my best every day that week and always be on my toes. Not knowing what he looked like and having many customers in and out of my office I wondered a lot...is that him? oh, is that him? Finally he came in and the rest is history...

This is our first trip to Seattle for my birthday April 2006. I fell in love with him this weekend and knew deep down I'd marry this man and have his babies. Which was a strange feeling for me. I always thought I'd do those things after 30 or at least after a career start. God works in miraculous ways, and this was sure miraculous.

We have been having fun ever since we met.

Brian on his jet ski July 4, 2006. Look at those muscles!

Here we are taking a dance lesson at the famous Bushwhackers. Brian is a great dancer. This picture is very important to me. When we first met, Brian taught me about the flavors of food. He would always order or make food and let serve me a bite first. He enjoys savoring every bite with his eyes closed. I will never forget our third or so date at Clay's Smokehouse. He ordered ribs, and if you know me you know I hate anything on the bone. Way too messy for me. So after a few short minutes I look up to see Brian's face covered in BBQ sauce. I cracked up and wondered if he knew!? I would have been mortified!!! Well...he didn't care and later said he always does that, that's the way you way ribs. He also said he wanted to show me 'how he was' so if I didn't like it, I wasn't for him. What a toughy :) Sure enough, he still does it! And I always think of our date at Clay's.

Here we are on the beach at our resort in Jamaica on our honeymoon. What a wonderful trip. I've never been so relaxed and treated like royalty. We ate some pretty bizarre things like goat. It wasn't that bad!

Then we came home from our fabulous honeymoon and I was bummed that we didn't have plans for Halloween. So, needless to say I was a little cranky and didn't feel very well. If you look below you'll know why. I was pregnant. My goodness!!! We were excited, scared, overwhelmed, happy, nervous...you name it, we felt it. We'd known each other for about 7 months now, but we were having a BABY!!!!! I was so sick until I hit 3.5 months. The rest was mostly wonderful. We couldn't wait for our little girl to show up.

This is the most amazing picture I have ever seen. My entire heart is in this picture, I cried when I saw it. The look on Brian's face says it all. I wasn't able to be in the NICU with them here so I lived vicariously through pictures. When Addy was born they put her right on my chest, then took her to NICU to get some stuff out of her lungs and bathe her. Brian was able to carry her down there, the proud daddy. As he walked past the waiting room he was attacked like a sitting duck. My parents were able to go in too and captured this moment for me. Enjoy!

And here is our latest enjoyment that is not about Addy, wow! We celebrated our first anniversary yesterday October 7th. I was able to leave Addy for a little bit, hard as it was. We went to the restaurant where we had our first date, ate our wedding cake and wine from the wedding. (We got a free cake from Joseph's so we didn't have to save the old one, yuck!) We had so much fun and enjoyed talking and being together on our little date just being married and not mommy and daddy for a couple hours. We even decided to not talk about her, which worked until we pulled in the driveway and we could hear her crying from outside. I have never moved so fast, she needed her mommy! Gosh, I though, would she even know who we were... I'd never left her that long!!! When I picked her up she nuzzled right in my shoulder. What a wonderful end to a perfect night with my husband of one whole year. Congratulations to us!

She can roll over!

Addy is twelve weeks old and she rolled over the other day. We are SO excited!!! I changed her and put her on the floor for 'tummy time' and ran into the other room for A COUPLE SECONDS! When I came back she was on her back. Weird, I thought. I know I put her on her tummy...

So I put her back on her tummy to see if she would do it again. Lo and behold, she rolled right over. So I had some fun rolling her back to her tummy I don't know how many times. When Brian came home form work, we did it some more. We are so proud of her! We don't want her to get any bigger, but we are in ah every day as she shows us new things she can do. She is also starting to want to grab at things, what a joy to watch. She's our little blessing and we love her so.