Family/Maternity Pictures

 Hopefully the next time I post, it will be with a baby in my arms!! Hospital bags are all packed, at the moment my house is clean (that'll change in 5 minutes from now), and we have the sweetest family/maternity pictures to document our last days as a family of four. I cry every time I imagine our kids meeting their baby sibling for the first time, along with the moment the baby is born and we finally know who is meant to be apart of our family forever. Until then, I'll be smiling away at these pictures that I'm so glad we had taken ... 

I truly believe giving my kids each other as siblings is the best gift I could ever give them. I love having a front row seat to watching the special bond they share ...

Man she's beautiful. Nic and I talk all the time about how in trouble we are going to be someday!

My body may feel like it has completely fallen apart by this point but it will never be lost on me what a blessing it has been to carry our babies ...

The picture on the right was Nic's idea and a hilarious remake of one I took of the two of them together when Liam was just a baby!

Those teeth ... such a childhood milestone. <3

The one thing I adore the most is feeling the baby move and kick ... savoring that has been my focus to get through these last couple weeks of pregnancy. 

So grateful to get to do parenthood with you, Nic Williamson!

I love this picture so much because it reminds me of one Nic took of Liam and I back when she was the tiny one in my tummy!

We're ready for you, baby! 

A decade

 Nic and I celebrated 10 years of marriage in May! For so many reasons, it feels like a lifetime ago but none of the memories or feelings from that day have left me. A whole decade later and he is still the best decision I ever made. 

We left the kids overnight with my mom and snuck away to dinner at P.F. Chang's followed by a walk around downtown Boise, grabbed a brownie and ice cream from Stella's, and lounged in our hotel bed watching reruns of the Office, Friends, and Schitt's Creek. While we may not have been on that trip to Hawaii like we talked about in our early years of marriage due to Covid and a baby on the way, it was truly the best way to spend our day!  

When I opened my fortune cookie after dinner and found this inside, I couldn't help but to tuck it in my pocket and keep it as a special reminder that the best is yet to come for us. <3 

While our actual anniversary was wonderful, the next day was a little rough. We took our time checking out of the hotel in the morning and planned to go to breakfast. We tried to get into 8 different restaurants all over town between 9:30 - 11:00, all of which had over an hour wait until finally giving in and settling on skipping breakfast entirely for an early lunch. The nearest place was Smoky Mountain so we pulled up and were their second customers of the day. They immediately greeted us with frazzled faces, got us a table next to the front door, and told us they only had 2 staff members on site so the service would be slow. It took a long while to get our food while we proceeded to awkwardly watch them turn away customer after customer instead of putting a sign on their door that they couldn't offer any more service due to short staffing issues. Instead of having time to take a long leisure walk around the Village ponds like we had planned, we were left with only enough time to race from lunch in the rain to my second vaccine appointment. It was a day, that's for sure! So grateful we had the wonderful day together before and to my mom for watching our kids. 

Happy 10 years to my favorite person! I love you!!

Date Night

Farmstead round TWO for date night! This has become one of my favorite date nights of the whole year!! We have made it an annual thing with our friends and we always have the best time together away from our kids and getting to joke about adult things without little ears listening in. haha We can stay as late as we want and watch the sun go down. This particular night happened to have the most incredible pastel rainbow sunset. We started with a food truck style dinner and followed it with a walk through the corn maze. After being in there for quite a while and finding a bridge to see the beautiful view, we took turns being the leaders (guys vs. girls) and attempting to read the map to find the exit. Despite our efforts, we ended up at a tractor exit near the back of the field. haha Even though it wasn't legitimate, we decided to just take it and walked all the way back around the corn maze to get to the other activities. 

We took the tractor ride through the sunflower field (most were beginning to die at this point in the season but it was still beautiful  and the hay ride through the pumpkin patch. They are truly the best company and so fun to be around. I also love a good opportunity to be able to hold Nic's hand.

9 years

9 years married to this handsome guy and as you can see, our anniversary celebration looked a little bit different this year. It was my year to plan it and back in January I began dreaming up a night away in McCall just the two of us. It would have been the first time since Liam was about 18 months old. We'd get room service, sleep in, and relax in the hot pools. When the corona virus hit, I was in denial and kept postponing canceling until literally the day we needed to in order to get a full refund. After I made that phone call it was the first time I really let myself cry and feel disappointed for some of the things I felt like this virus has taken from me. Then I had a moment of clarity where it made me realize how grateful I am it didn't interrupt our wedding day like it has for so many. That was a beautiful day!

My favorite thing to do with him on our anniversary dates is spend time reflecting on every moment leading up to and since the day we became husband and wife. Boy how I wish I could go back in time and tell those two young and in love souls, just wait until you see what you have in store for you! Slow down and take it all in. These are some of the moments you won't ever forget! So many of those moments along the way stand as a witness of why we are so great together. Marriage is not always easy but we fight for each other and communicate through the hards things until we reach the other side even better. I adore him.

We were so lucky this year to have two dates! Yes, it involved wearing masks and the weather wasn't in our favor most of the day but we may not have ever chosen to bring blankets, string lights, and pick up take out dinner to eat in the back of our car by the river either. It was simple, just like the dates we used to have when we were first married. And truthfully, there wasn't anyone else in the world I would have been there with than him. I love you, Nic Williamson! Cheers to 9 years! XO

date night, girls' night

Being able to stay at home with my kids is such a blessing to me. I am grateful that there isn't a moment during the day where they don't have me if they need me but it also makes the days really long sometimes and some of those times I miss adult interaction and connection. Thankfully I have made some of the best friends here and sister-in-laws to do play dates all the time with so I can fill my cup too when I need it. And then there are some of my favorite special occasions ... date nights and girls' nights! Two to remember from January ...

We had such a good time at the sledding hill in town when we went on Christmas Eve that I knew I wanted to squeeze it in for a date night too! It was so much fun to go at night after dark and it kept us feeling young, bold, and brave being surrounded by a million teenagers for a night . ;) haha We dove on our tubes like penguins without a care in the world! I love my time alone with this guy so much! After sledding down the hill as many times as possible during our allowed window, we finally used some gifts cards that Edie sweetly gave us as prizes from our family Halloween party (2 years ago haha) to a small coffee shop. Those strawberry smoothies were well worth the wait let me tell you! 

Speaking from someone who's love language is quality time ... I think "experience" gifts are the very best kind of gifts to get! My mom surprised me with a ticket to see the Broadway performance of Fiddler on the Roof with her girlfriends while it was in town. She has the best group of friends that are all so sweet to me. We car pooled with several of them downtown and all met for dinner at a new-to-me restaurant called "Bonefish" for bang bang shrimp from the happy hour menu. TO DIE FOR!

The show was so so incredible! The main actor who played Tevye deserved every minute of his standing ovation at the end of the performance. I had the soundtrack playing on my Pandora station for my kids to hear for days following. It was such a fun gift (thanks mom!) and girls night! 

8 years

You guys, summer is so wonderfully crazy, fun, and busy! I have so much catching up to do!
Let's start with one of my favorite days of the year ...

Nic and I celebrated 8 years of marriage in May!!

I made him this video (linked here) and it brings me to tears every time I watch it. So many unforgettable moments and a beautiful life we've made together! We watched it laying in bed that morning and I think he loves it just as much as I do.

In the morning we visited the Boise Temple grounds where we were married. It was our first time taking our kids there and it was like being in this crazy time warp seeing how much our lives have grown and changed since that beautiful day!

Liam's first time ever taking our picture! haha

And the second ... there are our heads! haha

I love that our love created these two beautiful humans!

In the afternoon Liam had a play date and Lyla took a nap while my sweet step mom stayed with her so we could have a date together! We haven't been in Boise on any of our anniversaries so far so Nic planned the most special walk down memory lane starting with the Idaho Botanical Gardens where he proposed 9 years ago. He reenacted the moment in the very same gazebo and got down on one knee and gave me a set of silicone rings to wear when I exercise/do yard work/hike/etc. It was so cute and thoughtful! In the moment I remember saying, "what are you doing?!" haha because I was so thrown off by it and it was the best surprise!

The gardens were covered in the most beautiful pink peonies and we were so entertained by the ginormous coy fish and lizards running around on the rocks.

After the gardens we stopped by The Bishop's House ... a beautiful old Victorian house where we had our wedding reception! There was a big sign in the front yard telling people to stay off the property and that there was some event soon so we quickly popped out of the car long enough to snap a picture and drive away.

I can not imagine my life without this handsome guy in it. We've been through so much together ... school, buying and selling houses, babies, new jobs, a big move and through all of it, there is no one else I'd rather have by my side. I'm so grateful for our marriage and excited to see what the next 50 years will bring! Love you so much Nic Williamson, Happy Anniversary!! XO

Our Family Pictures & 2018 Christmas card

So much to catch up on and so few days left until the new year ... I swear that week between Christmas and New Years is simultaneously the slowest and fastest week. We are thankful to have a couple extra days with Nic since he hasn't been able to take off from work as much as he usually does this time of the year with a new job.

Back at the beginning of October we had our family pictures taken ... our first professional ones with Lyla in them! Can't tell you how much I cherish these pictures and they made the perfect Christmas card this year too ...

My handsome guy, getting so grown up!

Love that her little belly is sticking out in this one!

They are so sweet together ...

I'd choose him again and again and again!

These two are two peas in a pod. Liam adores everything his dad does. When Nic comes home from work is Liam's favorite time of the day and I love having a front row seat witnessing the bond that they share!

Oh the smothering love! haha

Favorite picture OF ALL TIME! The best big brother and little sister ...

We love this little wiggly girl!