Halloween 2012

This Halloween Jack choose our family costumes.

He is pretty obsessed with Mickey Mouse so he told us that He was going to be Mickey, Mommy was going to be Minnie and Daddy was Pluto.

Sounded good to me.

I definitely like a family theme.
Here is a hodgepodge of picts of from the night...

 

We decorated our "spooky" or not so spooky front porch and went to our wards trunk-or-treat.

Our Friend sent us this one from the Trunk-or-treat. 

One of the only ones of us together. 

I am seriously loving the fall out here.

This is one of our trees in our front yard and it makes me happy to see the leave changing.

We headed to the Smart's to trick-or-treat around their neighborhood and eat some yummy food.

I had been sick that week, so I was glad to be feeling a bit better come Halloween night.

I can't get over his cute little Mickey tail.

Love that boy.

 There were two little mermaids with us and both were equally as darling.
Loved Camryn's auburn hair.

And Maya's wig was awesome!

It was seriously so cute to see the kids run around and have so much fun together.

 

I liked going to the houses with some southern charm.

Definitely makes the holidays seem like something out of a movie.

 

The ladies of the night.

So glad I have these fun girls to hang out with!

Happy Halloween!

Georgia Aquarium

Last month we went to the Aquarium with our friend Michelle and her girls.

It was super fun and the aquarium was pretty awesome.

Jack is obsessed with sharks right now so this was right up his ally.

The kids had fun seeing the fish and watching the dolphin show.

Don't mind my semi-baby bump. I was at the awkward in between stage where people just thought I was a little chubby around the middle.

Of course Michelle was back to her regular clothes and toting two babies under two to the city.

Super mom I tell you!

Jack's favorite was looking up at the sharks in this huge tunnel.

Pretty awesome.

 This little baby beluga whale was my favorite.

He and his mommy would swim and play around.

They always looked like they were smiling.

The kids loved touching the sea urchins and manta rays.

I thought Jack would be too scared to do that for sure, but he about dove in. 

That's my brave little boy.

Such a cutie!

They loved running up the the fish and then sprinting back to us.

Oh the joys of being 2.

4th of July

I am super behind on updating my blog, but I made it a goal to try and keep it up so I can print it out at the end of the year.

We had a lot of fun this 4th of July.

We had only been out here for a couple weeks and were so happy to have friends here with us.

We went to Greg and Michelle's for a yummy BBQ and some fireworks.

Jack and Maya are so funny together.

Here they are after some coaxing to give each other hugs.

What a couple of cuties.

Maya was pretty fearless. I like that in a girl.

4th of July 2012 from a steele on Vimeo.

Here is a super funny video of the kids' first experience with poppers.
Jack loved throwing them and making Maya crack up.
Isn't her laugh to die for!?
Evey morning he wants to watch this video.
"Maya pop video?" Then he cracks up the whole thing.

 That night we put Jack to bed and sat on our rocking chairs on our porch and watched the neighbors shoot off fireworks....like real legit disneyland fireworks.
I had no idea what I was in for.
It was amazing.
but it lasted all. night. long.... 
By midnight I had had enough.
It was great though and super funny to see crazy "illegal" (in Ca) fireworks sold at the local grocery store.
Fun place this Atlanta is.

 

The word is out!

Things have been so busy lately and I have been meaning to post this for a while.

We are expecting baby #2!

We are super excited about it and so is Jack.
He will be such a sweet big brother.

I am due December 30th!
A little Christmas baby.
Poor little one :(
Apparently my children like to show up on Holidays and Birthdays.
I am 21 weeks along and we just found out what we are having!

I'll let Jack share it with you....
I gave him a pic of the Ultrasound and he told me what it is haha


He was right!

720p from a steele on Vimeo.

I
I couldn't be more excited!!!
Having two little boys is like a dream come true.
Ever since I was little I have always wanted a truck load of boys to tow around to the beach and to games.
It's going to be a fun adventure raising these two :)
I'll post some belly picts soon.
I am seriously so huge its not even funny.
I was barely even showing at this point with Jack but for some reason I popped out super fast this time.
Best Christmas present ever!

Book Worm

This boy cracks me up.
Yesterday we went to the library. Which until moving here I hadn't been in since college.
But since its so hot we like to find fun indoor things to do when we are not at the pool or splash park.
So, this morning while I was finishing up cooking batch of cookies, Jack decided to make a little cuddle corner and read his books.
I almost died laughing when I came around the corner and saw him with these glasses on though.
I honestly don't know where they came from.
I am assuming that they were left at our house and got packed when we moved.
Nonetheless I love that Jack had to sport some specs while reading.
So, of course, I took some picts on instagram, which I just joined and am loving by the way, but had to share them on here too.

What a little hipster.

Can't get enough of this boy.

The beginning of our Atlanta adventure

We made it!

Sorry for the lack of blog updates.

It has been a crazy month of moving and getting settled in, but we are alive and in Atlanta!

I still can't believe I actually live here.

It just feels like an extended vacation and any day we will be going home.

Hopefully it will sink in a bit...for both Jack and myself.

For the first week Jack kept asking to "go home."

Then one day when we got home from the pool he walked in and said,"Oh this is Jack's home!" 

I guess it suddenly dawned on him that this was it. Haha.

It has been such an adventure thus far.

And I am SO GLAD and thankful that the McGraths and Smarts are here too.

We go out every weekend and explore the city, eat at amazing places, and .....well eat more.

Basically, I need to get on a work out plan fast.

 

Here is one of the first places Matt and I hit up in the city while we were looking for houses.

It's called Flip Burger Boutique and it is one of Richard Blais's restaurants.

He won Top Chef All Stars.

I am trying to eat less meat these days. Not "no meat"- just less. 

But this was definitely my exception for the week.

After all who could pass up a Top Chef meal?

 

 Here is one of his molecular gastronomy machines. 

Pretty cool.

Another place that we are falling in love with is a little town named Roswel.

It is the most charming little place with super cute boutiques that sell everything from Antiques to locally made goods.

It also has some really amazing restaurants.

So-thus far we are enjoying our time here in the south.

It's a lot different then California, but a good different.

 

So here are a few conclusions I have drawn from being out here for about a month (good and bad):

-They call it Hotlanta because it is honestly the hottest place I have ever been. I thought it was because the social scene was awesome, but I am now convinced that it is called this because you literally want to throw up and then die every time you step out of your house. ( I am told it will start to cool down soon, but it'll believe it when I see it.)

- The church is the church no matter where you go. Our ward is great and we are meeting a lot of super cool couples each week.

-Our house is pretty awesome. Although a tad big for our little family and I am spending way too much money trying to furnish it.

-We desperately miss our family and friends back in Ca :(

-It has been the most fun exploring a new city.

-I'm still confused about the freeway system and how to get around. Never really been a strong point for me though. But having 71 streets named Peach Tree doesn't help the situation either. I mean really? Can we please think of different names for each street?

-There are CRAZY thunder and lightning storms pretty much every night.

-Jack asks to see Grandma and Papa every day and its super sad that he can't.

-But all in all we love how pretty it is over here and how much fun we have been having so far.

I still have sooo much more to share and post about.

Stay tuned for house picts, Jack picts (he got a new hair cut since its "100 degrees with a chance of death" like Ryan says. lol), Jack's Bday, 4th of July picts and more. 

We love and miss you all!

xoxo

Easter Time

This year Easter came twice.

Last weekend we were able to celebrate it with the Steeles since they were out of town this week.

Jack loved the Easter egg hunt in Nana and Papa's back yard.

It was fun for us to see him get excited about finding the eggs and his Easter Basket.

The week before that, I attempted to get some Easter photos of him and Zoey from two different sessions.

Both were failed attempts.

I maybe got 3 photos out of the first one and zero out of the second one.

I was so excited about them too because we had a cute white bunny (Jen's step mom's) to use!

Needless to say, Jack has officially hit the terrible twos and the days of sitting and smiling for the camera are over.

At least he looks cute even when he is trying to escape.

 Jack loved dying Easter eggs.
I love this picture, even though I just rolled out of bed (Matt lets me sleep in on Saturday mornings- yes he is the best)!
Jack's smile makes me happy. We love each other.

 

While egg dying, egg hunts, and massive amounts of chocolate consumption are fun, I made sure we had a family night centered around the true meaning of Easter.

I am so thankful for my Savior and his sacrifice for all of us.

It amazes me how much love he has for us.

I made a felt board and little lessons to go along with it for our Family Home Evenings.

Jack LOVES his "lessons."

It makes Monday nights fun.

I love that we are able to celebrate the Resurrection of our Savior.
I love this video.
Check it out if you have a second.
Happy Easter!

Lately

We have been busy, busy, busy lately.

Lots of changes are heading our way and we are excited about it all!

Jack is getting to be a big boy and a few months ago we took his crib rail off and gave him a "big boy bed."

This is what he thinks about his new bed.

He is pretty thrilled.

It all came about when one night we put him down in his crib and 10 minutes later he walked down stairs and said, "Jump bed."

Yes, he climbed up his rail and jumped off from the top.

This gave me a heart attack and we took the crib rail off and ordered the toddler rail.

He loves being able to get out of his bed whenever he wants.

I am not so happy about this, but it means he is growing up and I feel so blessed that I have a happy healthy big boy!

Jack is so much fun right now.

He is such a chatter box.

His favorite thing to tell everyone not to go in the street.

He is a tad bit hypocritical because that is all he does.

At church he will dart out of the foyer doors and sprint outside.

It freaks me out every time and I end up waddling along after him in my heals.

We are probably a pretty funny sight.

But he keeps my days interesting that's for sure.

 He loves baths right now and would take one all day if he could.

He Love, Love, Loves all his aunties.

Last night all the girls came over to watch the season finale of The Bachelor....what else?

and he did not want us to do anything for him...only his aunties.

Britt and Steph had to read to him, play with him in the bath, and put him to bed.

Also, for some reason he is obsessed with the idea of kissing his auntie Jen.

But when it comes down to it, he gets shy and won't follow through. haha.

We had fun watching the Finale though.

Of course we carb-loaded it up which made it even more enjoyable.

(By the way, and totally off topic, I am so loving my new lens! I used it on all of these picts and most all of these photos are SOOC. Makes my life easier when I don't have to edit all my photos because of my crappy equipment..haha.)

Speaking of taking pictures, I have to end on this beauty.

We are obsessed with this lovely lady.

We went to the flower fields to take some cousin picts, but Jack was asleep and then when he woke up was super grumpy so I only got picts of Zoey.
(Much more of her to come.)
I have finally started to wind down my shoots lately in preparation of moving, and it has been sorta nice to be able to edit my own pictures for a change.
Don't get me wrong, I love a good shoot, I have even told Matt that some times when I load the picts from my sessions on the computer to edit, it is almost like opening a Christmas present because I get super excited to see how they turned out. I'm an art nerd, I know.
But, it is good that I have somewhat of a creative outlet, since I haven't touched a paint brush in who knows how long.
Anyway, we are just trucking along having fun with our family and enjoying the sunshine.



 

Jimmy's Homecoming

I have been slacking at the blog updates lately. 

But with good reason. There have been some pretty exciting things going on around here.

A lot of you know about my cousins car accident last year and have been so sweet in supporting our family through sweet notes, fundraising, and donations.

Thank you.

For those of you who don't you can read more about his story here.

A couple weeks ago they finished the renovation on their home and Jimmy was able to come home for the first time since his accident.  

Before that, he was in an assisted home that worked with him on physical therapy and helping him recover.

However, it was very far away from their house so my Uncle and Aunt would have to switch off being there with him and only see each other maybe an hour a day.

The stress of it all was definitely taking a toll on them.

So, thankfully they had some great support from the community and were able to renovate a room for Jimmy to come and finish his recovery at home.

We are so happy that Jimmy is home and are excited for him to recover.

The day of his homecoming was awesome. 

Such an emotional day.

Jack and I started it off by making cupcakes and posters.

(On a side note, the day before I bought some new music on iTunes that I really wanted to listen to in the car and I don't have an iPod hook-up or that radio connector thing and decided to put it on a cd. So- that morning I burned a mixed tape, spray painted posters, and baked cupcakes. I felt like I was back in ASB in high school.) It was great.

We packed everything up and headed to Jimmy's to decorate along with all my family and his friends.

We hung posters and put up balloons.

Jack heart-attacked his door with all the sweet messages from Auntie Angela's friends at work.

Then everyone gathered outside to welcome Jimmy home!

 

The van pulled up and everyone cheered!

There were a ton of media following his story too.

His Dad, Mom, and my Mom all helped get him in his bed.

It was a wonderful feeling knowing he was home.

We all gave him hugs and welcomed him home.

His adorable girlfriend Nicole and our Grandma never left his side.

His best friend Avery, who was in the car with him was there for him too.

It was an amazing day.

We are so happy he is home and doing well.

He still has a long road ahead of him, but we are very optimistic! 

Thank you all for your support!

If you would like to donate towards his growing medical needs please visit: http://www.bringjimmyhome.com/