Field of Dreams

Fall has always been my favorite time of year. So, a few weeks after Christian was born I felt the itch to get out and try and capture a few memories.

After a long search, we found a wonderful photographer, Susan Driggers. The only catch.. she lived well over an hour away. But, we loved her work, so we packed everyone up and headed to a random field near Fredricksburg, VA.

We didn't know what to expect, especially with a new baby and a two-year old without a nap.. but in the end, Susan worked her magic and we were so happy to have these photos.

Oh Baby!

Since my last post waaay back in 2010, our family has seen a lot of major changes. The most notable, and precious, was the addition of baby Christian.

This little guy arrived three weeks early, but still managed to tip the scales at over 8lbs. This was our first time going through the "traditional" birthing process, so it was completely different than our experience with Elise, who was an emergency C-section that took all of two hours. This time around the fun started at 32 weeks when I was put on bedrest because I started dilating early.

We followed that up with three, separate, false-alarm trips to Labor and Delivery and then, finally, on Sunday, October 17th, the contractions from hell kicked in.. and we were off. Many, many, many hours later (it was all a blur) I heard my little guy cry for the first time... and then we were four.

Spring in DC

We've had our house in DC for three years now, but we haven't really *lived in DC for three years. And, while we've been away, we always seem to miss DC's most famous season.. the Cherry Blossoms. This year, we were determined to see the beautiful pink bursts. We decided to go out the last weekend of the festival. Big mistake-- not a single cherry blossom left standing! But, we did land smack dab in the middle of tulip season!


DC has some great arboretums, too. Elise loves her horticulture!

Setting Sail

Our long, nasty winter wore us down, so we decided to take a 10-day cruise through the Caribbean. We sailed through about six different islands. We found a great deal on a family suite, so we had this awesome balcony to take it all in!

My mom loves to travel and she'd never been on a cruise, so she sailed with us. The islands were beautiful. St. Lucia was one of our favorites. It didn't feel as touristy and we had a great guide who drove us deep into the island.

Elise loved this African museum.

But not as much as she loved the beach.

All the beaches were this beautiful, white sand and turquoise water.

We had a great day in Barbados. We had a really elaborate lunch at the beautiful Sandy Lane resort. It's apparently popular among the rich and famous.. and two year old girls.

We started and ended our trip in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was probably our favorite stop. The old part of San Juan has a very European feel.

Let It Snow!

January brought two major snowstorms to DC. In one week, we got over four feet of snow, pretty much unheard of for this area. It was eery. The entire city shut down for a week. Here's what our grocery store looked like for several days. Totally surreal!



It's going to be a long winter.

OK, maybe it won't be so bad.

Great Visit, Great-Grandparents!

In January, we visited my grandparents in Mission, Texas. It was a little chilly by Texas standards, but we were still able to pick oranges and grapefruit from Grandma Helen's trees.


Elise is starting to show more and more personality. She's fairly shy at first, but when she warms up, she's the star of the show!


There are few things Elise loves more than "driving", so she was in heaven in Grandma's golf cart.


Good thing this only goes a few miles an hour!

Christmas in Utah

This was our first Christmas in Utah, now that Chris' parents retired to Orem. We had so much fun, we hardly noticed the 50 degree temperature difference!


A Christmas miracle: we eeked out just enough hair for a bow!


A year and a half year old, not a clue what Christmas is all about, but still the first one up that morning.


Momma and Elise's first time at Temple Square during Christmas. It did not disappoint!


Daddy loved showing Elise around the amazing temple grounds on New Years Eve.


Elise and her good friend Jonah. Maybe they'll meet back here someday.... :)