Easter 2013

Brian and I met with his family to attend Easter service at the church where we got married, St Patricks. It was so beautiful and special to be back :)

His parents gifted us a brick at the church, and it was so fun to see it!

We then headed to McMinnville and had a great Easter dinner with my family. Charlie and Mimi were both there too and it was fun to play with my camera :)

Charlie

Skylar and his pup

Brian, me, Skylar, Max & Ian

Mom & Dad

My mom's bunny cake- Gluten Free this year!

Ground clearing

Starting in February the ground started to dry a little, so Brian go to work. He is clearing a space for some fruit trees and garden beds, and getting rid of some shrubs, weeds, and blackberries...

This last weekend while I was at work, he planted our fruit trees.

Fuji apples for me and cherries and plums for him :)

He was hard at work digging, planting, and putting up the wire yesterday while I was at work and so today I had the job of watering. Of course there is no water access down there yet since it's down the hill from our house, so I carried two 5 gallon buckets full of water down the hill, watered, carried them up, filled them, took them down... it was quite the job! Here is Dale, hard at work... he's even yawning...

This is a huge hill for those buckets full of water!

After "we" watered the trees, we went down to the creek and Dale perked right up to go for a swim.

Putting these pink Hunters to good use out here!

Practicing with Dale

I can't even count the number of times people have told Brain and I that it is important to "practice" raising a baby by getting a dog. Might be over a million times. Seriously. Not that I disagree, and I know that Brian and I have had some great conversations, problem solving, and team work as a result of Dale coming into our family, but it gets a little old, ya know?

Today I did in fact practice with Dale, but it was instead of parenting, it was with my new, fancy camera. I'm still working on honing my inner photographer and using my canon and photo shop, but I think I got some awfully cute pics of this little pup if I do say so myself :) definitely do feel some motherly love for this little guy...
















~McKenzie

Weekend fun

Last weekend I got to spend an evening with one of my all time favorite women., and we celebrated her  bday early! We laughed, had yummy food, hung with her sweet baby, laughed some more, had some wine and watched Breaking Dawn Part 1 :) the boys were out playing air soft and eating BBQ, but we had so much fun without them! ;)

 

Such a fun evening with Lindsay and Baby Henry. Oh yeah, and her cat puked and it clogged the toilet. So instead of helping, I took a pic :)

The next morning I met with two of my closest girl friends and bridesmaids way back when I got married and we got pedicures. Mimosas and pedis, so much fun. They vetoed the pic I took of the 3 of us, but this one of my polish passed the test...

That night we celebrated out friend Rimma's fiancé's bday an I got to hang with these lovely ladies:

And of course got to play with Dale. Talk about a fantastic weekend :)

~McKenzie

Welcome Back Dale

Hunting school was a long 3 months for our little pup, and he's learned so much, not to mention grown so much. He's finished his training and we are so excited to welcome him back home! We picked him up this afternoon and trainer Butch showed us what he's learned before we brought our little guy home. Having him back helps our home feel more full... But I'll have to get back into the swing of cleaning my floors much more often :)

Valentine's Day

Brian and I had our first kiss on Valentine's Day 8 years ago and that's when we became official :) I love Valentine's Day for that reason. It's so fun to remember us first meeting and the first few times of hanging out. Jack Daniels, Varsity Blues, and a couple of school night hang outs were all it took for me to fall for Brian :)

This Valentine's Day I was at work until 730pm and thought that maybe there would be something fun planned because Brian wrote in our joint calendar "plans" at 8pm. On Tuesday when I asked if I needed to wear something nice after work and meet him somewhere for these "plans" he said "No, just head home." So I did and I wore sweats and uggs to work so that I was comfy after changing out of my scrubs... I got a message after work and I when I called Brian he said we were meeting at the Old Spaghetti Factory (one of my faves!) and he had a reservation. I was so excited... And I was in sweatpants :( we met at the restaurant and he looked nice in his work clothes and everyone there was dressed in valentine themes date clothing... And I was in sweatpants! I was so embarrassed! We had a fun dinner and I love my husband, but he denies telling me to go home and not wear anything special... Right babe... Like I would have worn sweatpants to a date night if I had known. :)

It was fun to have a date and to think about eating Italian food in Italy in just 3 months!! (Europe countdown is getting close!) I also came home to flowers, yummy treats (we are saving til after lent because someone forget he convinced me to give up sweets for lent) and a gift certificate for a massage! It was so thoughtful and sweet and I love my husband. I got him an ice cream maker that he's been talking about for a while now and a class to take with his buds about smoking and grilling meat. He was pretty excited!

I had such a fun date night and great Valentines Day with Brian... just wish I hadn't worn sweatpants!

Wilson David

My first newborn photo shoot was with one of the most beautiful newborns! Wilson! His mom is one of my favorite people, and I got to help bring this beautiful baby into the world :)

I brought a heated blanket and some props, and I put his mom to work holding up the white blanket :) These are my favorites from our afternoon together: