the one who loves you the most.

I know it is early in the day for me to be posting but I just couldn't wait!

Today is our officially unofficial (it's not in the US) wedding anniversary.

I was looking through our wedding photos and the one and only wedding video that was taken. What's extra special about the video is that it was taken by a friend of ours from Bear Valley who, along with his wife and kids, drove from OKLAHOMA to be there on our wedding day.

I really looked at this video for the first time today.

My eyes welled up with tears because I saw things that I never saw before.

I saw my favorite Matti Grey wave to the crowd as the doors open, I saw Ms. Em-ma sitting in her wheelchair in the back of the auditorium and I saw my grandmother give me a thumbs up as I reached her part of the aisle. I caught my best friends standing on stage and maybe just maybe wipe a few tears from their eyes. I saw literally hundreds of smiling faces who saw knew Jared was the answer to my prayers.

My focus was totally on Jared that day and on the way down the aisle, I didn't see anyone else. I am so glad to be able to look back at this video and these pictures and remember what an absolutely incredible and amazing day it was!

Enjoy the stroll down memory lane! (Daily picture of Brennan is at the end)

and two years on...we are happier than ever! On our wedding day, I didn't know it was possible to love Jared more than I already did. I have learned that love keeps giving ,growing and getting better and better.

Speaking of something that makes life better...

Brennan decided to be a mime today and put himself 'in a box'.

He wanted my hair towel so bad, so I put it on him and took this picture for future blackmail!

you'll never guess

you'll never guess

what my husband got me for our anniversary!!!

Some of you may remember the blog I did after we got married about the two extremely different versions of our wedding cake. I was so disappointed in the work that the cake lady did and it has kind of been a running joke.

When I show people, their jaws drop and they get this look of pity on their face and give me a hug! haha.

If you haven't read the blog about this hiccup in our wedding day, and would like to see the pictures...you can read it by clicking HERE.

My darling husband had our wedding cake CORRECTLY made for our anniversary!

He had been talking with a friend at work about her upcoming wedding and found out that another friend in the office made cakes. With much work and patience, it was ready for us tonight!!

This was the perfect celebration of our 2 year wedding anniversary!

Our anniversary is technically not until tomorrow, but we have Bible study tomorrow night so we celebrated tonight!

I dropped Brennan off at the grandparents for their first babysitting excursion.

I fixed ribs, potatoes and green beans for dinner and cherry cheesecake for dessert!

We went out for coffee and just hung out at the coffee shop before going to pick up the cake and get Brennan. We sat and read and talked and laughed...it was great.

It was very simple but it was our first 'real' date since Brennan has been born.

We missed him a lot and were excited to see him when we got back, even though he was asleep.

In this picture he reminds me of those vintage baby advertisements with the red cheeked baby in the crib.

I love my God, my husband, my boy AND MY CAKE!!! Jared is one thoughtful guy and I am super blessed to have gotten him!

cream de la whipped.

This morning when I got out of bed, I felt like I had been hit by a mack truck.

Yesterday, Gaye watched Brennan for the day at our house while we did a big spring clean.

I cleaned out the guest room closet, our closets, Brennan's closet and the laundry room. Jared cleaned out the office, garage and mowed all of the lawns. Even with all of that I think I was most productive at sneezing. I must have sneezed 5011 (read fiftyleven) times.

Jared played with Brennan while I tried to get ready for church around 7 a.m. After a shower, I knew it wasn't happening. I laid back down and woke up at 9!

In that time, my amazing husband had fed Brennan breakfast, reviewed his class, gotten ready for church and was in the process of dressing Brennan when I got up. As much as I knew I could lay in bed, I knew i had two choices. Feel bad laying in bed or feel bad but be able to attend worship. I knew for a fact it wasn't something catching so I got myself ready and we went to church.

I hadn't had time to prepare lunch beforehand (can't do that in my sleep) so we had toasted panini sandwiches for lunch. Brennan and I laid down and slept for 2 hours. When he woke up, Jared came and got him and I told him that i would be in there in 5 minutes.

An hour and a half later, I woke up. That's only because Jared came in to check on me.

He helped me cook breakfast for dinner and boy was it good!

Bacon, scrambled eggs, pancakes with jam and whipped cream (which I whipped myself from cream because coolwhip doesn't exist here). Jared and his lovely mom cleaned the entire kitchen while I got snuggle with Brennan.

Here is a picture of him keeping me company and about to fall asleep. About 5 seconds after this he was out. 

Well, he was out until I rolled over on his leap frog dog and it started singing 'Me and my friends!'

The house is not in it's usual condition and Jared's clothes aren't ironed for tomorrow but after some much needed rest, I actually feel really good. My husband is amazing and takes care of me so well! I am going to get to sleep before 10:30 so that I might have a chance at 8 hours. Goodnight!

cliffhanger.

I left a semi-intentional cliffhanger in last night's post. I had to make sure grandparents and aunts and uncles saw it before I sent it out into cyberspace.

BRENNAN WALKS!!!

Last night, Jared and I were sitting and talking and I put Brennan down for a moment. He let go and took a few steps! Jared and I looked at each other absolutely shocked and then proceeded to film every attempt thereafter.

This is the best one. It is quite dark and runs out before he gets to walk to Jared but it is still cute!

I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. I cannot believe that to mark his 9th month he decided he needed to walk!

He has been back to cruising today but is much steadier on his feet. We are going to have to get ready to chase him all over the place!

He decided to celebrate being 9 months and one day old by pretending to be a dentist!

 This is the tooth that will need to come out!

 This won't hurt a bit!

 I lied.

75%

75%

3/4

however you want to say it...the day is here.

Brennan is 9 months old today!!!

Dear boy of mine,

Today you turned 9 months old. You woke up with a smile and a giggle as you usually do. You spent time wrestling with dad while I fixed breakfast. We played and read a lot today. You wanted to play with trains and of course, I dressed you for the occasion.

 and you attacked me. :)

After your nap, we put signs all over the house to welcome daddy home in a special way. He loved your sign the best.

You have two teeth on the bottom and you are all about the food these days. Your favorite food is crackers. You eat them with a side of fruit and usually that side...falls into the side of your seat. You wiggle and squish it and then yell to get out.

Sometimes I cannot believe how much you eat. I look everywhere for the extra piece of sandwich that I gave you and you just look at me and grin because you ate it all up.

You surely have found your voice and I almost guarantee that you told me thank you today. I automatically said "You're welcome," and then realized what happened!

You say 'momma' and 'dada' and wave when you say 'bye bye'.

You love your blue blanket still and your favorite toy is my car keys. I can barely get you out of your car seat at the store because you lunge for the keys in my hand! You love to attack your stuffed animals and wrestle them to the ground.

Today, Ms. Morrie came to see you! She popped by unannounced and brought us cookies! She enjoyed her time with you and asked you to come back again soon. You and I went outside to explore the garden and Mork and Mindy (our ducks) flew right over our heads and landed in the yard! We decided to feed them a piece of bread and this is what happened!

I hope that you will forgive me for the capri pants. They are in fact pants but you are just a little too tall for them. This will probably not be the last time it happens. I promise you that I will not knowingly let you wear them out of the house. Also, forgive the fact that I laugh like a crazy person in this video and then reprimand animals for their manners. It happens. When you grow up you will understand.

Daddy came home and we saw you surprise us yet again. I'll write about that tomorrow.

When I put you to bed tonight, I hugged you extra tight and kissed you too many times. I know you are growing up quickly. So quickly I cannot believe it. I am so thankful for you and for the joy that you bring to my life. I have laughed more in the last nine months out of sheer joy-more than I have laughed in all of my other 360 months combined. 

You make me proud.

Love forever,

Momma

on the town.

Last night, Jared and I decided to use a gift card that he had been given for speaking at those two conferences a while back. It was to this restaurant called 'The Gallery' and it is also an art gallery...hence...the name.

So we went and decided to blow the whole gift card (which we weren't able to do even though we tried!)

I took pictures of the food because I am redneck like that I guess. Actually, because it was so artsy and I wanted to share it with you!

I had scallops for the first time as our shared appetizer. They were crumbed in coconut with a hollandaise sauce. Jared and I have a fascination these days with hollandaise. It's egg yolk and butter so this obsession is probably not a good thing for our hearts. The scallops were very tasty although I am not sure that I would order them in an actual meal.

 For our meal, I had the chicken. It was stuffed with spinach and havarti cheese and served with saffron risotto. I brought most of this home and had some for lunch today. The chicken was good but the risotto was AMAZING!! I could eat ten bowls of it! Which would also be bad for my heart. :)

 Jared had the beef with sun-dried tomato polenta. It was good, but not as good as my risotto.

 For dessert, we ordered vanilla crème brûlée with jam strawberries and chantilly creme. I seriously loved it. I have been watching Masterchef Australia (much nicer than the US version) and I was SO excited to eat a meal like this. Since Jared and I try new recipes all the time, maybe we could try our hand at some of these!

 So thankful for the gift card, a night out and left overs!! :)

Picture of the Day: Brennan reading me a book. This was a book of family pictures, textures and prints that I made to keep him busy on the airplane to America.  It worked then, but I think he likes it even more now! He has learned this new thing lately where he will get a book and flip the pages. As he flips the pages, he will point to and talk to the pictures like he is reading it out loud. It is the cutest thing ever!

I read several books to him tonight including 'Big Dog, Little Dog.' A favorite of my niece. Maybe she can read it to him when she comes over in 13 weeks!!! Woohoo!

forks!

My boy had his Plunket visit today for his 9 month check up.

Plunket is basically the organization of nurses that check on your child and make sure everything is on the right track. They weigh them, measure them...all that good stuff. Just like a pediatrician without the waiting room. haha.

Brennan weighed 10.3 kg/ 22.7 pounds (weighed 10 lbs 4 ounces at birth) was 75 cm/ 29.5 inches tall (21.5 inches at birth) and is hitting every developmental milestone and most of the physical development ones he is hitting early.

In celebration of that, I thought I would post a video and picture of his first time trying a fork. I know that piece that he gets looks ginormous but I guarantee you he has been navigating food for a while. He is a bit excited and I promise he doesn't gag himself or choke. :)

Does it get cuter than that?!?!

Yes...why yes it does. 

what's for dinner.

The sun was shining beautifully today and the weather man has promised us a similar day tomorrow!

It must be the weather that is making me want to clean every nook and cranny of my house.

I spent all day going through things and tossing, donating or organizing.

Brennan was remarkably patient with me and spent his day going through things, untossing and unorganizing. Such is life! I wouldn't have it any other way. :)

Hanging the laundry out today, I looked away for a second and he had a chunk of dirt in his mouth.

I took this after we came inside so I could have some proof for his baby book. haha.

I wanted to share with you a recipe that we ate tonight and it was SUPER tasty and healthy as well. If you try it, let me know what you think!

Click HERE for recipe!

steak and potatoes.

What a day for friends!!!

We went to spend some time with our friend Hannah today in Foxton. Before we got to her house, we made a stop over at the beach because it was such a beautiful day.

 Gorgeous colors on the horizon.

 Brennan meets the seagull.

We stayed in the car for most of our time there because it was so windy. Brennan is looking out over the beach and if you look in the far distance of where the beach meets the sky, you can see Kapiti Island!

After hanging out with Hannah and working on some special projects, we went to the grocery store and came home. Our friends Miranda and Damian and their son Isaac were coming over for dinner.

We had steaks, green beans. mashed potatoes, corn , Miranda's homemade bread and apple crumble.

Brennan had mashed potatoes but he had steak too and absolutely gnawed it to death. He loved it and it was great to have him sitting and eating what we are eating.

The boys were put to bed and we sat and talked for ages. I absolutely love this couple. It warms my heart to see parents who care so much to raise their child in God's sight. I know Brennan will look up to Isaac and I know that he will be such a good example because of the work his parents are putting in now!

hapsy birsday.

Today is the birthday of my best friend. in the whole world.

He is a loving husband, intuitive 'born for fatherhood' kind of dad and the Christian man I always prayed for. He has everything that has always been on my 'list', but when I met him...he added things to my list I didn't know I needed or even existed.

We went out for lunch to eat mexican food but since it wasn't open until dinner, Jared chose Japanese.

Brennan has his first experience with rice.

He used it as shampoo.

It literally was stuck all in his hair by the time he finished but I was too busy cleaning him off to snap a photo.

Jared went to see a movie this afternoon and then we went to his parent's house for dinner and cake.

Family friends Tony, Deidre and their girls are in from New Plymouth and joined us. They came over from South Africa about 8 years ago. It was cool to hear them talk about the shark near their town that they call 'Submarine'. I watched a special about it during Shark Week!

Lil and Ryan came over to bring Jared his present. It was awesome for them to think of him on his birthday! Rod and Gaye made a lovely cake for Jared and there were smiles and singing all around.

 by the way...the bottle is a bottle of sarsparilla...not beer.

Happy Birthday my love!

I hope 33 is the best year yet!

first world.

This morning I woke up and was telling Jared about how bad I hurt my thumb. I said 'My thumb joint hurts so bad, I can't lift my computer!'

He burst out with laughter and lovingly mocked my pain by saying 'Oh! My thumb hurts so much I can't count my money!'

It made me laugh until I lost my breath and realized that not being able to lift your laptop computer was definitely a first world problem!

Which made me think of this.

Watch it. You won't regret it.

 FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS VIDEO

 While I was watching that, I came across this video and thought it was genius.

BUCKET LIST VIDEO

My eyes teared up a bit. :)

I thought I would share those videos and also provide you with this information in case you are looking for a new country.

Top 10 safest countries to live in 2013

Of course it doesn't mention the earthquakes that are happening here recently...as in today.

I was standing on a chair hanging curtains in our bedroom and the window moved to the left! I realized what it was quicker than usual. I waited a second for it to stop and then it didn't so I got Brennan and we stepped outside. The car was rocking back and forth in the driveway and the trees were shaking. I put my hand on the support beam for the porch and it was swaying.

It's definitely the strongest one I have felt. Apparently, it is the strongest most people have ever felt.

I kind of feel seasick for a minute until I realize that the room really is moving.

Why was I hanging curtains you may ask?!

Well, for our anniversary I decided to give our bedroom a makeover.

Brennan's pack and play, diapers, wipes and stuff in general had kind of taken over.

He is in his room at night now and so I felt it was time to reclaim it as ours.

Better yet, everything I needed to do the job was 50 to 60% off!

I was hesitant about posting a before picture because it was absolutely dreadful. I just threw the duvet back over the top this morning for a before picture. We would usually make the bed better than what you see here.

We had gray curtains on one window and pink curtains behind the bed because we needed to cover up the windows for winter and didn't want to invest in new thermal curtains. Pink curtains came with the house. Brennan's cot was in the corner and took up an enormous amount of room.

Our duvet was gray and dark gray. It was something that we bought on sale when we first moved here. It was still in okay condition even though it Brennan has put it through the ringer. Nothing was special about the room and it served its purpose to sleep. We were just kind of making due with what we had.

I wanted to provide Jared with a place that he could come home and relax. When he came in and saw it, he said 'This looks just like a hotel!' I was glad to hear that!

Here is the finished product!

Happy anniversary Jared!

and yes...I ironed the duvet and the curtains.

I think it will take a few more washings and ironing to get all of the wrinkles out.

I will probably need to employ a steamer for those curtains!

 

In truth, I used a lot of things that I already had in other rooms of the house. I had been saving for this 'present' so I got to pick up some things that I knew both of us would love. I like the table lamps a lot and so does Jared. Table lamps can be outrageous here but I hit a 50% sale. Score!

It was neat for Jared to get to see my actual style and get and idea of what I want to do with the rest of the house! ;)

Guess who also likes the new bedding?

Oh well...

lots.

lots to be thankful for.

lots of good things to think about.

not enough energy to write it all down.

here are some snapshots of today.

I love the cape on his new superman pajamas.

p.s. thanks for all of the prayers. both my boys are feeling much better today!