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Merry Kissmas Christmas Card

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Stationery card

Merry Kissmas Christmas Card

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Stationery card

Merry Kissmas Christmas Card

Create personalized Christmas card designs at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

a little celebrating is in order

Meet Pam and Kyle :) 

Pam is my beautiful and awesome little sister. She moved to Vancouver, WA a few months back, and as soon as she left, we all said (we being my mom and I) that she would meet a guy and fall in love. Welp... It's happened! Kyle and Pam met earlier this summer and well, you know how the saying goes right? It was kinda sorta love at first sight. Both of them knew without a doubt they wanted to be together, and thankfully, neither of them were shy about acting on their love or talking about it. They are in the perfect time of their lives, and fortunately those lives have meshed very well so far. 

Kyle proposed to my little sister on September 18th, and I am so thrilled to say they will be married next August!! I'm so happy for them both, and already truly enjoy Kyle being apart of our family, he is hilarious! I cannot wait to get to know him more, and am so very thankful that my sister found someone who treats her right and that she has fun with, they are actually pretty perfect together. 

My mom and I have both always agreed that Pam would meet someone, fall in love, and get married pretty quick, and, well, we were right! The heart wants what the heart wants, and why waste time with a long engagement if you're both in the right place in your lives? Why not commit to spending the rest of your life with someone who makes you laugh and makes you outrageously happy? You do have the rest of your lives to learn about that person. Heck, Brent and I are celebrating 10 years together this christmas and we're still finding things out about each other! As long as you know the important things thats all that matters. 

Now all you two have to do is take a long multi state road trip! 

Look at that sparkler! and yes, he proposed on the beach :) 

Congratulations Pam and Kyle!!!

So it's been awhile....

I miss my blog. There, I've said it, and I mean it. I miss blogging. I feel like all my time in the evenings now goes to dishes, laundry, crochet, pinterest, and the occasional glass of wine... not all on the same night, but man I feel exhausted at the end of the day, and prefer to do mindless things rather than sit down to type up a post about what's been happening around our home. But I also feel like I miss out on reading friends blogs also, keeping caught up on new babies arrivals, what kids are going to be for halloween, family trips, and just what fun everyone is having in general. So, I think i'm back... I'm not going to set a schedule for myself or push myself to do X amount of posts per week, but I'm definitely going to try to post more regularly from now on. 

Now to catch up on what's been happening here... Summer is over, and fall is in full swing. Most of the leaves were blown off the tree in a storm last week so everything looks a bit naked around here, but were enjoying the blustery weather we have now, I don't miss the 100+ days. Stella is 19 months old and getting SO BIG! She's actually wearing 2T, her 18-24 month clothes are looking a bit snug as of last week when she finished another growth spurt... I swear this kid grows every other week. She's wearing size 7 shoes (in toddler sizes), and weighs appx. 35 pounds we think. She's about 36 inches tall as of her last measurement, which means she's grown almost 6 inches since she turned 1!! She is a tall and solid little girl. She's rough and tumble too, loves to wrestle, loves to climb, loves to jump, loves just about everything thankfully! She's a fantastic eater, favorite foods include broccoli, peas, beans, olives, chicken, pork, yogurt, cheese, noodles, grapes, plums, artichokes, asparagus, green beans, etc... pretty much loves any and all veggies thankfully. She's also sleeping much better, although not through the night still. Some kids just dont sleep soundly I guess, but she'll go to bed around 8:30 and wake up around 1:30 or 2am, then comes to bed with Brent and I and sleeps until about 7:30-8 am. She's down to one hour and a half or two hour nap a day (which is fantastic for me!) and goes down pretty easy most of the time. 

We are still nursing as she wishes, and I still love it wholeheartedly. There are times I wish I could go out of town with Brent for a night, but we'll get there. If this is what our girl needs to feel comfortable and happy, then so be it! Having a high needs child has been a learning experience, she is so incredibly smart, and so complex. and what I mean by high needs is that she needs our attention, our love, our involvement in her every minute of existence. She needs to know were paying attention, were around, and that she isn't alone at any time. She doesn't play well alone in her room, she pulls her toys into the kitchen if i'm cleaning, just to be near me, if were in a situation she's uncomfortable with, she immediately sticks her hand down my shirt to check on her "mimi's" and she feels better. If she's tired or doesn't feel well or is hurt, she wants her mimi's also, but just for a minute until she's better. I don't mind this, I actually love that her need to touch skin is her comfort, and that I can still give her comfort by nursing if she needs it. I am so proud of my body and my breasts and the fact that they have grown this child and are her biggest comfort, I can only hope that our next child will get the same amount of time and comfort from them as well. 

                                                                                      Below Photo credits: Nikki Hoover Photography

We had 18 month photos taken with NHP a few weeks ago and I am in love, as always, with how she captured this little girl. I cannot wait for our family pics sometime later this fall/winter, Brent was out of town this day and couldn't make this mini session. Every session we have with her is so much fun and she is so relaxed and still seems to get the best pictures. I'm lucky to have such an awesome friend and photographer so close by. 

This... is the Garcia look. named for a look that Brent's Grandpa Garcia used to give. Stell does it on command. Love. 

We seem to have travelled a ton this summer, and i'll try to fit a few more photos in of our trips, which included Seattle, Reno/Tahoe, Twin Falls, Portland and several camping trips to the mountains. 

Now THAT is a dirty face!! 

She is such a great little traveller! 

Learned how to dribble the ball at Grandma and Grandpa's

Met her newest cousin Olivia in September

She's going to be a fantastic big sister some day

Helped Grandpa wash the Viper







Such a great traveller in the car on the 9 hour trip to Tahoe



Big breakfast for a busy girl in Tahoe



Stopped to play in the Owyhee River on the way home from Tahoe.



Perfect. 

summer adventures

So I realized something today. It has been over a month since my last post... and today was the first day I really thought about it. I had been needed to take a break and not feel like I *had* to write a post, which I was feeling often over the last few months before taking a break. It's been so nice to step away and be able to come back when I wanted to. So on with our current summer happenings!

It's HOT!!! We've had record heat over the last week here in Boise, and it's kinda insane... i'm over it. We hit 112 on Monday, today was right at 100, and it's supposed to carry on like this for another week! Thank goodness we get to take a break this weekend and go to Seattle for my company picnic and some time with family. Our home does not have A/C and I have never wished for it before this week, we have a stand up unit that is constantly running in our bedroom and I've set up fans to push it down the hall to the living room, but it only lasts so long before the heat from outside permeates the windows and doors. It's so tough being cooped up, Stell hates being inside all day, so we try to play outside early for a few hours before closing up the house and hibernating in doors, the back deck is just too hot to play on, and even if I keep the pool in the shade it's too warm to hang out there much more than half an hour or so. Parks are out of the question in this heat also, so were stuck making frequent trips to the grocery store and walking around the mall if we want out. Thankfully we have a few friends who've invited us over this week to play in their a/c. 

In June Brent got sent on a long work trip to Wyoming, and Stell and I got to go with him! We had such a great time, although it was a lot of long driving, but baby girl did so well in the truck! We went to Pinedale, Wy, which is an adorable little town about an hour past the turn off to Jackson Hole. We didn't have any extra time to make our way up to Jackson, but definitely want to go back soon! It was beautiful! Stell and I spent an afternoon playing at a neat park in Pinedale while waiting for Brent to get done on his job site, then we loaded back up and drove to Montpelier, Idaho... whoop whoop! haha there really isn't anything exciting around Montpelier, unfortunately, and the babe and I were stranded there for a full day while Brent visited two jobs... Thankfully the town has a big park and Oregon trail museum, with a cool actor portrayed tour that took up almost an hour! They also have an elementary school within walking distance of the big park, so we went back and forth a few times to enjoy the different toys. Stell napped on my back in the wrap a few times thankfully, so she wasn't super cranky for most of the day. But it also meant that she didn't end up sleeping on the drive home until we were only about an hour out of Boise... it's 5+ hours from Monpelier to Boise... so we had 4 hours of a very moody/cranky/over being in the car baby. We had a really great trip though, and will do that drive again one day! But we'll be sure to pack three times the amount of books and toys :) Enjoy some pics from our trip below, 

The squirrels in this park in Idaho Falls were SUPER friendly, no fear of coming right up to us and asking for food! good thing I had 12 grain bread to share... 

We stayed at the Hampton inn, Pinedale, and it was fantastic!! The whole area is beautiful, and this hotel was only a few years old, had a great pool to play in, was on the edge of town, and had beautiful views... this one is from our room! 

She was SO excited to go swimming!! 

Playing at the park in Pinedale, we just wandered the grass and trees and played, she loves roaming and checking out new things. 

and they had a small ampatheatre that was great for climbing up and down repeatedly. 

I had a lot of time to take pictures from the truck, and the views were incredible the whole way. 

She was a fantastic traveler! Especially if we hit nap times 

Eating dinner one night at Lott's diner, Stell ate like a champ at this place thankfully

I need to keep an eye out on ebay for these cool metal horseswings, she wouldnt get off them!

So fun!

sign to Jackson! one day I will get to go there... 

once again, nap time

loved this setting, had to take a pic of the log house on the other side of the bridge

The Grand Tetons

More of the Tetons

Afton, Wyoming, one of the coolest town entrances I've ever seen... it's all elk antlers! 

beautiful rolling hills on the way to Montpelier, Idaho

Small baby, big country

Standing at the tallest point above Montpelier, Idaho, Bear Lake is in the distant background

Checking out the view

So happy to be helping daddy, we had to go up and check out one of his job site's the night before we had to be there,  It was a long drive up but had amazing views once we got there. 

"here are some rock samples dad!"

helping take samples of the soil... and flowers