oh, and...

Merry (almost) Christmas!!

Love, Team Barttels

do you need a laugh? just look at me!

in my defense it was a long long day. and this angle does nothing for me.
also, i look like santa claus.
and brad laughed really kind of TOO hard. as are you, i'm sure. :)

Family Karaoke

Whilst enjoying the wintry wonderland of Brian Head for Thanksgiving... the Andersons did family Karaoke one night. It was hilarious and fun.
Highlights for me being my nephew Matthew "singing" (reading?) the Phantom of the Opera. It was PRICELESS. Also I loved watching Brad try to sing Wicked. And Jes and Kevin doing "Tradition!!!" from Fiddler on the Roof. Good times had by all :)

Can you tell who LIKE to sing and dance around in our family???Kevin and Lindsey like to rock the Beatles.

Such intensity and teenage love angst, sisterface. She even has the rocker stance.

TRADITION!!! Tradition!
Little Russian dancing, P.A. Smith?

Cute & Smiley Kellie.
No wonder she's so popular...

And Brad really did great. It was, after all, his first time...You can't see it, but his other arm is crossed in front of his chest. Textbook body language for discomfort, right? :) We'll work on loosening ya up for next year, B.

"The.Phantom. of the Opera. is there. inside. My mind!"

Saturday is a Special Day...

it's the day we sleep in.
our husband makes us breakfast. high in protein, low in carbs and sugar.
enjoy a pajama morning movie with breakfast. gerard butler makes a stupid bounty hunter. note to self:when sister says movie is stupid, she is correct.
we wrap all our christmas presents and are excited again about them all.
we deep clean the whole house. we remember again why cleanliness is next to Godliness.
we shower and clean ourselves. now everything in house is clean, hooray!
discover we can't live without cheese. we go to the grocery store.
prepare, eat, and clean up a healthy delicious dinner. satisfaction.
we go to a great movie. i appreciate good clean movies based on wonderful literature.
we play 2 games of yahtzee. zero yahtzees all around this time.
and then our husband goes and visits a friend in town while i blog and relax.

and THAT is why Saturdays are awesome, especially today! :)

oh, to be the favorite uncle!

lets not pretend for a second, that brad doesn't LOVE that all my neices are in love with him.

at thanksgiving, upon his entrance into the house, one of the twins came screaming across the room falling into his arms all dramatic-like. when i am on the phone my sister says "want to talk to aunt lindsey?" and all three little girls answer with, "brad??"
he also has won the love of the oldest, kayleigh. when they come to visit she and brad are the early risers and they make breakfast, play games and have one on one play time while everyone else sleeps in. she drew this today at school.

b is for brad.

thanksgibing... gobble gobble

This year all the Anderson's headed to Brian Head, UT to a cabin we rented in the snow. T'was lovely. We were all very cold, very cheery, and very fat by the end!!
Hooray for Thanksgiving!

my best friend

and i got married 1 year ago today. best year of my life.

i love you, brad.

ingenius!

i walked downstairs this morning, only to realize my little plumeria (which was sitting on the railing of our porch) had fallen off and the pot broken in the violent winds we've been having. poor plant. it looked so sad lying on the ground.

so i called up to brad & asked him to come pick it up- as i was running to work.
he did. he's so great.

and i came home to find my plant happily installed in a new pot:BAhahahhaha! if you can't tell... its in my old soup pot. awesome. :)

Baby Bump Barttels

14 weeks.
you can see SOMETHING!!

still in my regular jeans. very sick still & blacking out, but sleeping through the night.:)18 weeks.

not sick and nauseous anymore(although i look it in this picture)! not able to wear any normal pants. acne breakout, what?? kissed sleeping through the night good bye. hello 3 AM.

BUT the acne was worth it bc we found out it's a GIRLIE!! woot. :)20 weeks.
bless baby GAP maternity pants. how do we love thee?
feeling GOOD. moving furniture, grocery shopping & nice skin has returned!
24 weeks.
FAT. seriously.
undeniably pregnant looking.
(part of it could be this blouse (thanks julie!) bc it's nice & comfy & cute, but really halloween candy did a number on me. LOL)

this is a better picture

Father

Elder Boyd K Packer, an apostle in our church, once said,

"It should have great meaning that of all the titles of respect and honor and admiration that could be given Him, God Himself, He who is the highest of all, chose to be addressed simply as Father."

You should know by now I am in completely in love with my husband.

He is kind, unselfish and genuine. He also loves me a lot, which is convenient in marraige.

When I was in my first trimester and had HORRIBLE heartburn- no really, it was horrible- and woke up crying in the middle of the night, he would jump up and get a drink, crackers, or just talk to me and hold me til I could fall asleep again.

He cleaned our house, made his own dinner and watched tv by himself while I slept like 12 hours a day. When I almost blacked out (like everyday. that was fun times.) he would hold me up and walk me to wherever I was trying to get. Usually from couch to bed.

I can't wait for this little girl to come to our home. She has a daddy that is already COMPLETELY in love with her. He just LOVES her.

He smiled triumphantly when the ultrasound showed "GIRL."

He is already wrapped around her little teeny finger, I can tell.

When we were going through all his kid stuff, we found something from like 3rd grade that said what he wanted to be when he grows up.

I guessed baseball player, doctor?

Nope. Even at 8 his dream job was "dad".

He has been waiting for a little person to call his own for a long time. He is going to be a FANTASTIC father.

Little Girl Barttels is a lucky girl. Actually, we are two lucky girls.

hilarious brad, hilarious.

i found this gem the other day in brad's box of kid stuff.
he knew at age 10 what kind of wife he would end up with!! when i found this i almost died with laughter. it's awesome. especially the picture of the person sleeping. bahahahahahah

"Lazy Lindsey"

Lazy Lindsey sleeps all day she doesn't {move} an inch.

the only thing that can move her is a great a big PINCH!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

Baby Barttels

due February 17th!!!
She's already got her daddy wrapped around her little finger :)
Look at that foot!! Cutest thing we've ever seen!

i had no idea

that my husband was so awesome. but he is.

i came home from a trip to UT for a wedding where i kinda ran ragged for a whole day, only slept like 3 hours and came home exhausted but SUPER glad i went.
our house is shiney. vaccuumed. bathroom is clean. ALL THE LAUNDRY IS DONE. (that deserves caps) kitchen spotless. things are put away. our room is neat & the bed is all perfectly made.
i could've cried.
such a beautiful sight.

this week has been busy & it's super nice to know my husband is so thoughtful & helpful.

YAHTZEE!!

seriously. who gets scores like this? one in a million game.

Feels Like Lightning Running Through My Veins

Wednesday Sept 8th, my wonderful husband helped me check something off my bucket list:

See David Gray in concert. Check.

It was FABULOUS. No, really. You don't understand. It was AMAZING. Incredible. He played a lot of old good ones. The crowd cheered and sang. I sang "Please forgive Me" at the top of my lungs & danced (with all the other drunken crazies) through the whole song.

I love him. (Brad and David Gray.)

Oh David Gray, you do it to me everytime.

Side note: Ray Lamontagne was also lovely, though not equally fabulous.

And if you are every near The Greek theatre, I HIGHLY recommend Simply Thai for dinner before.

Best. Dumplings. I've. Ever. Had.

Railroad Fried Rice.

Go There. Eat it. You won't be sorry :)

21 hours in a car= FUN

Brad is the best! He drove me 20 hours all the way to SLC and Heber City so I could hug this beautiful lady and see her for like... 4 hours. Read Here.

Colorado! Colorado!

I had the opportunity to attend a work conference in Denver the 23rd-25th, so we made it a little Team Barttels vacation! Off to Denver on Sunday- stayed at Brad's friend Eric's house... lots of sightseeing Monday all day, work on Tuesday for Linds & some fun for Brad & then a Rockies game Wednesday! Awesome.

A "Scenic Vista" as Brad would say.

Red Rocks Amphitheater. There was a museum of all the people who played.

I love Sting.Buffalo Bills' Grave and Look Out Mountain.
You can't tell, but it was POURING RAIN. We are dedicated to Buffalo Bills' memory. Ha.
Brad visiting the Coors Brewing Factory with his friend Spencer
(they got soda at the end, don't worry)

COORS FIELD!!!! Hooray! Go Rockies :)
I was amazed at how BEAUTIFUL Denver is! It was our first time there & you can see FOR MILES. Highly recommend. So cool. I was singing songs from this the whole week. Oh Debbie Reynolds... Denver wouldn't have been the same without you :)

AFC Half Marathon- August 15th 2010

Brad ran the America's Finest City Half Marathon in San Diego, CA. I was so proud & happy! He came grimacing across the finish line with a bum cramp.. but HE DID IT! 2 hours & 2 minutes. Not too shabby for a 6 AM run. Congrats Brad!! You did great! Someday we will get to run across the finish line together! :)