I will never forget.

"Where were you when the world stopped turning, on that September day?" This song by Alan Jackson brings tears to my eyes and a knot to my throat every time I hear it. It also sums up the feelings and thoughts that pass through out mind on every anniversary of 9/11 to date. Today we remember the terrible and horrific attacks that happened 10 years ago on our nations soil. My heart aches for those friends, family and loved ones lost that day, and to those who's lives continue to be altered because of the attacks. I don't want to post much today, I only wanted to share what I remember every year on this anniversary, where I was when I found out that the first world trade center tower had been hit by a plane. I would love to hear your stories also, I know this is one day that no one ever will forget what they were doing. It is a hugely significant part of our lives, a now a huge part of our history as a country. I know one day Stella will ask us what happened, why so many people mourn on this day, and we will explain to her what happened, where we were, and what has come of the whole situation. 

On September 11th, 2001, I was 18 years old, and had been living in Sitka, Alaska for all of 2 weeks. I woke up to a knock on my door around 7am. It was my young life leader, Brent Cunningham, a teacher from my high school whom I had moved to Sitka along with some friends and his family. He had a very sad look on his face, asked me to pack a bag and meet him downstairs. I looked across the hall to my friend Kayli, whom I had moved up there with just weeks earlier, she had the same confused look on her face as I did. We asked what had happened, and he told us there had been an attack on New York, the news was just starting to cover it, and we were going to stay with his family for a few days, just in case. Then, it registered, I heard sobbing, wailing, coming from down the hall. I quickly grabbed some clothes and shoved them in a backpack along with anything else I might have needed, and headed down the hall, where we met up with our friend Rebekah. We stopped in the rec room to watch the tv for a few minutes. Almost all of the girls in our dorm were in there, crowded around our tiny tv set, when we saw the second plane hit the tower. Screams let out through the halls, it was so shocking to watch. We headed downstairs and met up with some friends, told them where we were going, and signed out of the dorm, explaining that we might not be back for a few days. We then headed over to the Cunningham household, where we were greeted with huge hugs from Karin, Brent's wife, and their daughters Kailee and Megan. They had the tv on as well, and we all just stared in shock at what was going on. We sat curled up in blankets all day, watching the news. Learning that our airport, the main way off the island (no roads connect to Sitka from the mainland) had been closed along with every airport in the country, all planes were grounded until further notice. We also learned that the ferry, the only other way off the island, would not be in service either, until they had cleared and secured all terminals for threats. We were stuck. It was very weird, the planes were something that we had already gotten used to in our short time on the island. There were always flights going in and out, and you could see and hear the jets from our dorm. They were grounded for 3 full days, and we all watched as the first plane took off from the island. I finally got a hold of my family later that day. We had been trying to reach each other all day, but the phones were jammed all over the country. I told them where I was, that we were safe and in amazing company, but also how much I missed them and wished I could be home with them right now. I think we ended up staying the night, or two nights? The days all start to run together after such a vivid morning, but I do know that we did not return to the dorms right away. When we did we started learning things from people with family in New York. One girl in our dorm was from New Jersey, and had more people than she could count involved, I believe she flew home very soon after the attacks to spend time with family and friends. I am  so thankful to have had friends to be with during such a scary few days. 

Where were you when the world stopped turning?

On Vacation: Part one

Sorry for being MIA for over a week now, we've been travelin' fools over here. Last week the little and I flew home to the Pacific Northwest, Seattle, and enjoyed a long week visiting family and friends. I love going home, I truly miss living in the Seattle area, even though I know we love Boise, i'm always torn, especially when I visit, it's tough not to want to stay. We had so many fun things planned this trip, and to start us off I've posted a ton of pictures from a road trip we took to a friends wedding. Saturday morning we packed up my mom's car and headed to Vancouver, Washington. 

It was a long drive, I got kinda bored and took a couple selfies :)

After 2 hours of traffic through Tacoma and Fort Lewis, we pulled into an adorable little town, Dupont, for some leg stretching and naked time. Stella had a massive poo, so she got to air out for awhile and let the buns get some sun, while mom and I tried to set her GPS to figure out where the heck in Vancouver we were going. 

We made it to the church with a half hour to spare... whew!! Neither of us expected traffic to be so bad, so we were happy to just be out of the car after such a long drive. We changed in the parking lot... yup, we were those guests lol. But at least we had dresses to change out of our jeans into. It worked out well, Stella got some more naked time before the wedding, then she slipped into her adorable little dress and headband, isn't she cute!?! She also got a new toy to play with during the ceremony, which only kept her entertained for about 10 minutes before she was chucking the thing into the aisle, where it would land with a huge thump and rattle... great. So I wore her in the sling, and danced around the back of the chapel for most of the ceremony. Stella really was pretty awesome throughout the whole thing, much better than her first wedding earlier this summer. She loved watching all the people up on stage, and loved when they had music and people singing, that got her attention with the first notes of the piano. 

After the ceremony, the bride and groom, Laura and Andrew, rode off in this awesome Plymouth! It was such a beautiful car! I just had to snap a few pictures to show my dad and Brent. 

My sister (the blond) was one of the co-maid's of honor. Laura and her have pretty much been best friends since high school, where they were co-yearbook editors for 2 years. And their yearbook teacher? She came to the wedding too! Her and her husband flew all the way up from Arizona to attend Laura's big day, that's Ms. B below Pammy and Laura. She was actually my yearbook instructor in middle school, almost 15 years ago! She said that she will be back for Pam's wedding when it happens and she wouldn't miss it for the world. 

Stell was quite the grump during the reception. She would not smile for anyone... well, except for Ms. B's (or now Mrs. Rodriguez) husband, Freddie, he seemed smitten with Stella, and she reciprocated that affection right back. It was pretty cute, I think she thought he looked like her daddy, because they both had facial hair... she has a thing for men with facial hair... it's pretty cute.

miss grumpy pants hangin out with grandma

and gettin some snuggles from Auntie

See, still grumpy

not even kisses will cheer her up

Stell finally told auntie off a little, lol, which shocked all of us a lot.

finally a happy girl with her mama

and no, my hair did not look like this the whole time, it was cute and down with a slight curl, but it was super humid and hot, so up it went when we got to the reception and Stella started pulling it.

awww, smooshy face kisses from the little, a mama's favorite

I love me some little snuggles

We had a great time celebrating Laura and Andrew's wedding, and I'm so thankful I was able to make it over for the event! Cheers to them and many years of love and happiness to the newlyweds!!!

Hard at work

This past weekend Brent's parents were in town to visit the little (and us) and to help us re-build a portion of our fence. We have been trying to get this fence building thing organized for some time now, over a year actually, but things never seem to fall into place. So finally, we just decided to do one side at a time. Our neighbors to the West (Tom and Lyla) were just waiting for the go ahead from us, and they were up and tearing down the old fence early Friday morning. I felt terrible (literally) because I couldn't help much, I was down and out with a bladder infection. But they were so quick, the fence was down in less than 3 hours. Tom got a little trigger happy with the chainsaw and buzzed the fence in half, making it easy to just lift the old slats out, and the posts were so rotten they were easily pushed right over. It was weird not having a fence on one side for a full day. Abby was super confused, not sure which yard she could pee in or why she could now go up front freely, I found her several times at the front door when she was supposed to be out back eating. Thank goodness she's never been one to run off. We are so thankful for all the help we had this weekend! The boys took over the fence job, while Beth and I had baby duty, and took on a couple other projects around the house, including re painting our front door (again) and putting new hardware on it, and also sprucing up the front of the house with some new numbers (finally!) that we have been meaning to put up for 2 years now... oops. It was a productive weekend, and we are so happy with our new fence and gate! 

A portion of the new fence already finished. and the old gate just hangin' out.

Jim, Brent, and Tom working hard on the fence, 3 2x4 rails meant lots of screws!

Isn't it pretty!!!

Stella had a blast watching the boys and chewing on her indestructible book

Lunch break! Tom and Lyla joined us also and we had a great time visiting with our neighbors

Abuela Beth napping with Stella after a hard days work

She had a rough weekend, lots of playing and snuggles, we had one tired baby

Thanks to Opa and Abuela for all their hard work and help this weekend!!! We had a wonderful weekend!!!

Living room makeover

I've been trying to post these pictures for a few weeks now (ok, for almost a month...) but with many visitors, and a baby who is kinda a not great napper right now, it's been tough to get pictures with the living room clean, let alone in decent light... which i'm still not sure I captured. While my mom was here at the beginning of the month, we decided that my living room needed a little sprucing up. I've been tired of the red theme for some time now, and was thrilled when she suggested we tackle this big project! The new color theme?? Blue! I wanted something calming and beautiful, and I'm so happy with how it turned out! So, after looking through some recent Pinterest pins of things that had caught my eye, we got to work, and, I'm beyond happy with how things turned out! Even Brent likes it, Thankfully. He was out of town while we did all this, and it was a total surprise. I'm so thankful my hubby is ok with things I do to our home, he knows when I get a creative itch, it's hard not to scratch it, and that's just one of the many amazing things I love about him. So, want to see our new living room?? I'm sure you're dying to know how it turned out, It's pretty awesome. 

The Ottomans came from TJ Maxx Home Goods... probably my most favorite store, ever. 

The whole living room, well almost, minus the large sofa along the front wall, but you get the idea

Abby enjoying the new pillows, curtosy of TJ Maxx and Fred Meyers (floral print)

We added a few new "home" photos, prints that I've collected of Washington over the years from Pike's Place, they help us miss it a little less in some ways. We also bought new end tables (which I LOVE!) to help us be a bit more organized. and see the new lamps? Those were our color inspiration, the perfect shade of blue.

Pillows

Our new lamps, from Lowes. They are so perfect!

So, what do you think? I'm wanting to add a few lemon yellow accent pieces, but its really hard to find the right color for some reason. As always, the house is a work in progress, never ending, but so much fun to work on. 

Whats with the awful week!?!?

This week has been horrible. I honestly have not ever wished a week would just be done and over with more than I have this one. 

On Monday, I woke up to a text from my mom, a friend of our families week old baby had passed away, unexpectedly. SIDS is something that I have feared from the minute I found out I was pregnant. and I feel so blessed that Stella is amazingly healthy, but it can still happen to anyone. The funeral was last night, my parents went, and they shut down their shop so all of their employees could attend and support their fellow co-worker. I wanted to be there, to support them, and tell them that they are not alone in this journey. But I will be there next week, and I will hug them both when I see them, and pray that their hearts heal, and I will let them know that this little blessing may have been in their lives for very a short time, but will be in their hearts forever. 

Also, My car is in the shop. And it's going to cost us twice as much as we were expecting... awesome. Don't ever buy a Land Rover, they are super expensive to fix. Ugh. 

Then, I get sick. While Brent is out of town. I think I have a bladder infection. Awesome. 

My sister tells me to go to the dr. immediately, she's dealt with many of these and they can get out of control quickly. I've never had one, so I wait until the pain is crazy, and it's almost 7pm... 

So last night I pack the little up and head on over to urgent care, hang out there, pee in a cup, 

Yep it's an infection...... Yep you get antibiotics...... Yep it's going to take a few days to fully get out of your system. 

Oh, and I made sure they gave me the pregnancy and nursing safe antibiotics... this mama does not like meds, and if I have to take them, I don't want them affecting Stella. 

Got home, went to bed. 

Brent had to take a taxi home from the airport at midnight, we had been asleep since 9. 

Woke up feeling better, could finally pee somewhat normally, But then???

Sick. I'm not sure if it's from the antibiotics, or from the infection, or the fact that I took the antibiotics on an empty stomach (dumb of me, I know, but they said it was ok to do), but they did not like me this morning. 

Thank goodness Stella was napping! She woke up right when I laid down to rest, of course, so I scooped her up, brought her to bed with me, and we slept another hour or so. 

I felt good enough to eat a hot dog bun (the ones from costco, so yummy and fluffy!) and drink some water and chicken broth. 

So far so good. I think I just need to keep food in me and i'll be feelin' better in no time. 

So, the last two awesome events above now mean our weekend plans to build a new fence (I really dont know what were thinking, building a fence in the middle of August when it's 100 outside...) around our house are getting somewhat scrapped, and we'll only be building one side. and the awesome neighbors on that side made me go in and sleep, refused my help to tear it down, and told me if I needed them, that they would watch Stella. They tore the fence down, and Brent and Tom (our neighbor) will go get the materials we need when Brent is off work. 

Since things have been a bit rough this week, we've made sure to love on Stella a little bit more (although I dont know how that was even possible). We've also let her get away with some things she normally doesnt get away with.... Like riding the dog. One day this will be a no-no, but for now? Sure. Why not climb on up and have some fun. There will be no separating this girl and her dog.

Here's to hoping for a better next week. 

And many prayers and blessings going out to our friends back home who are missing their baby girl this week.