What Have We Been Up To Lately?

*Well, mainly we've been hiding out indoors, avoiding the last of the heat and humidity. I've been doing lots of cleaning and organizing. And thankfully, fall is almost here so we can start venturing outside once again.

*Brandon and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary on the 17th. He brought me home roses on our actual anniversary and that weekend we went out for a lovely dinner at one of the nicest restaurants in DC. When he made our reservation, he mentioned it was our anniversary and we were treated like royalty! The best table, free champagne, free desserts with "Happy Anniversary" written across the plate in chocolate sauce, and probably the best service I have ever had on the east coast! After dinner, we went for a romantic walk around the tidal basin, where we got engaged 3 1/2 years ago. It was a wonderful evening! Hard to believe it's already been 3 years though!

*Brandon started school a few days after we got back. Bummer... I so enjoyed having him around. His schedule this semester isn't too bad though, he only has 2 night classes and the rest are in the afternoons. But he already has lots of assignments and reading to do as well as applying for internships for next spring and summer. Lately, I've been referring to his Mac as his "mistress" because it steals all my time with my husband. I just keep reminding myself that there's only 20 months left until he graduates!

*After nearly a month-long break from couponing, I've been getting back into my money-saving groove. I actually really missed my coupons and my little game with myself to see how low I can get our weekly grocery budget.

*We recently made a big, exciting purchase- a juicer!! We've been wanting one for a long time and have been waiting until we had the money and found a good sale. We got an even better deal because we used a few of my free Amazon giftcards (from Swagbucks) for a Jack Lalanne juicer! And we love it! The first batch we made, we didn't use a recipe, we just threw in random fruits and veggies that we had lying around. It wasn't terrible but it certainly wasn't great. The last couple juices have been so yummy though! And it's a great way to sneak in raw vegetable servings! Talking about it is making me thirsty!

*We've been looking for a new place to rent. We love our neighborhood now and don't really want to go through another move, but we would really, really love a yard for the boys. We looked at the most perfect little house on Saturday. The inside was nothing special but it was affordable and had a big, beautiful backyard. Love at first sight for me! But there were three other applications turned in besides ours so I think our chances of getting it are pretty low and I'm not getting my hopes up. Too bad... we haven't found anything else with all our criteria and in our budget yet so we'll just keep looking. I'm sure we'll find something eventually, we're not in a hurry so we'll just wait for the perfect place.

*Renee and I went outlet shopping this weekend and I found a fantastic new pair of jeans from the J. Crew outlet that were only $40!! And I like them as much/more than any of my Nordstrom jeans that cost 4 x that much. I can't wait to wear them, yet another reason to be looking forward to fall!

*And, last but not least, we took the boys to the fair for the first time! It was crazy hot of course but we still had lots of fun. No rides for us, just food and free activities :-)

Cullen loving being this close to a fire engine

They literally walked up and down the engine, stopping every couple inches or so and yelling "Dat!" Each and every time we would have to share their excitement and say "Cool! A fire engine!"

After we dragged them away from the fire engines, we went to see the animals. This was my favorite part (aside from the funnel cake of course). The boys loved seeing the animals, they especially thought the pig was funny because he was snorting.

Laughing at one of the animals

Clamoring for a better view

Their other favorite part of the fair was a John Deere display that had over a dozen real tractors for the kids to climb on as well as a fenced area with miniature toys for the little kids. The boys spent most of their time at the fair playing in here, they literally tried out every single toy.

And here they are on a real tractor, aren't they just the cutest little farmers!? I'm always telling Brandon I want to live on a farm!

Too cute to not post:



Too funny to not post:

Stanley 2010

We've been back for nearly 2 weeks but Blogger hasn't been letting me upload pictures until now. So here are some new ones from Idaho finally! We loved being there! Gary and Sari have a picture-perfect log cabin, an inflatable swimming pool, ATV's, snowmobiles, guns, fishing poles and are surrounded by wide open spaces! I'm beginning to suspect they're trying to create a little boy's paradise so we'll ship Jackson and Cullen there for the summers :-) The boys will probably be begging us to soon!

Roadtrip!

They enjoyed reading to themselves in the car

Cullen in Redfish Lake, yes still wearing his shoes

Redfish Lake

Watermelon is definitely in their top 3 favorite foods of all time

Family Bonfire! Brandon and Scott built a fire pit one of the first nights we were there and we enjoyed a few evenings out by the fire roasting smores and watching the sun set over the mountains.

Brandon and I went to Sun Valley one day and we found this incredible little hut built out of twigs all twisted together. As far as we could tell there was nothing else holding it together but the twigs!

Jack and Uncle Scott

Cullen in the creek

Daddy took Jack for a short ride on the ATV

And I took Cullen

Cullen wrestling with Uncle Scott

Just lounging on the porch

Brandon, Gary and I all went out shooting one afternoon.

A bunch of cows were roaming the field near where we were shooting. I wanted to see them up close.

A mother and her calf

I made Brandon take a picture of me with my targets. You can't see in the picture, but one I hit with a shotgun so it was quite nearly obliterated and the other I hit 4 times out of 13 shots from 130 feet away. I was pretty proud of my marksmanship skills! Haha

Family photo by the beautiful Salmon River

Looking for fishies with Grandpa

Kissing... I know, I know So. Darn. Cute!

Jackson

Cullen trying the ice cream

Oh man, that's really cold!

He went on to eat most of his cone though and then fed the rest to Daddy.

We went on an ATV ride with Scott and Ashlee one day, the view from the top was gorgeous!

Then we rode to this little lake nestled way back in the hills. We stopped for a picture and were promptly eaten alive my mosquitos. Good memories.

Brandon's college friend and groomsman Chris lives in Boise with his wife Heidi and they drove up to visit us over the weekend. We took them hiking to Goat Lake the first day they arrived. Every time I do that hike, I forget how hard it is and I only remember when I'm 9,000 feet up a mountain, lightheaded from the lack of oxygen and about to slide off a rockface covered in gravel to my death. I'm exaggerating a little but it is definitely the hardest hike I've ever done, but SO worth it once you get to Goat Lake at the top! We packed a picnic lunch and rested for a long time before heading back down.

Brandon and I taking a break to enjoy the view during one of the toughest parts.

Up we go!

Goat Lake. It's a crystal clear glacier lake way up in the Sawtooth Mountains.

Brandon and Chris jumped in to the glacier waters and wanted a photo to commemorate it.

Posing with my hubby by the stream that flows out of Goat Lake.

The next day we rode ATV's with Chris and Heidi. This tree had fallen in the path so Brandon used the winch and pulled it out of the way. That's my mountain man!

And now our wonderful extended summer vacation is over and we're settling back into life in steamy DC. I'm already looking forward to our next visit out west!

August 17, 2007

Three years, 2 kids, and one year of law school later...

Our lives are crazier than ever but I wouldn't have it any other way. We are so blessed. Brandon tells me all the time that he loves me more now than he did on our wedding day. The feeling is mutual! I love being married to him! Happy 3rd Anniversary to us!!