December

Our Christmas festivities started at our house on Christmas Eve. We exchanged gifts, not knowing where we would be in the morning. Nate got a Wii and I got headphones so I can watch t.v. in bed after he is asleep. We got Bayea to hold still for a minute so we could take a picture with her. The tree is behind us, but unfortunately, you can't see it.

Next, we headed to spend some Christmas Eve time with Nate's family. We had dinner and enjoyed each others company as we played games. We played pictionary and even though I didn't have a voice, I was able to guess a few of them.

Christmas morning brought a lot more fun. We went to Cindi and Ryan's to see what Santa brought Michael and Allison. Allison got some "babies" and items to care for them, Michael got Action Canyon for his Thomas the Train collection.The hit for both of them was the kitchen Allison got.


One side had an outside grill.....

and one side was a kitchen, complete with a dishwasher, stove, oven and cordless phone.

Later on Christmas morning, we gather at my parent's house for breakfast. Azia seemed to enjoy her first Christmas morning.
Here's Uncle Nate and Azia....aren't they cute!

We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

November

It seems that November flew by! We did enjoy some time with family and shared some really great food. On Thanksgiving, we spent the day with Nate's family. I even went shopping that night.

The following Sunday, we got to have more turkey. We ate dinner with my family. This is one of the reasons we love the holidays.

Halloween and Pumpkins

We love Halloween!  All the fun decorations, the costumes and of course the pumpkin carving.  This year we were lucky on a got a large home grown pumpkin.  My mom grows baby pumpkins each year to give to her kindergarten kids and will also grow pumpkins for the grandkids.  This pumpkin was much better than anything we could find at the local pumpkin patch.  It was pretty fun to carve!  It wasn't slimy like most pumpkins are and was filled mostly with air.  From the outside to the inside, it was about an inch or more thick.  

We got a special visit from Michael and Allison in their costumes.  Allison was Elmo and Michael was Spider Man, complete with the mask that glows green.  They always stop by to show us how cute they look in their costumes and we always have a special treat waiting for them. 

 We love Halloween!  

Home Improvement

I got a "wild hair" and decided to paint the bathroom and make new curtains for the family room. I started painting last Saturday night and finished up today. The walls were cream colored when I started and now they are green. They look kind of gray in these pictures.

The family room needed some curtains. These are actually the 2nd set of curtains I made. I didn't like the first ones so I decided to try again. These go with the room and the rest of the house a lot better than what I made the first go round.
It has been a busy Saturday!

Family Game Night

We like to play games when we get together. One of the fun games is "The Great Dalmuti". To make it really fun, we added hats of all kinds. The funniest hat goes to the lowest player and the best hat goes to the highest player. We had such a great time. Even those family members who don't like to play games got in on the fun!

Chris, Alisha, Brian, Cindi, and Ryan

Nate, Jennifer and Kim

Nate...doesn't he look great!

Mom (Jeri) and Jennifer

Witches Night Out!!!

Each year our community has an event called "Witches Night Out"

We decided to go and see what it was all about.

They had witches everywhere. Fat witches and tall witches.
We had a great time exploring and seeing the sights.

We started the adventures with our "witches hats".

They had a carriage to take people around to some of the shops. It was very festive!

Broomstick Bridge

This connected the shops to the restaurant.

We loved all the decorations!

Halloween Fun!

It's fall and with it comes many fun activities! We love holidays and you can feel Halloween

in the air. We visited a local pumpkin patch to check out some pumpkins.

We were looking for the perfect one for us. It's fun to see families

getting into the swing of things and having fun while finding

pumpkins. I can't wait to see what Nate carves into his

pumpkin! Check back to see. :)

September, 2008

September is our Anniversary month

We have a favorite restaurant that we go to once a year on our annaversary. We enjoy spending the evening together laughing and talking about the things that we have done during the last year. It's fun to look forward to this night out each year. The view is definitely beautiful.


We decided to take some pictures of our own. No one was around to help, so we did it our selves!

August, 2008

Bayea and her cousin BellaNate's dad built a cabin a few years ago. It is one of our favorite places to vacation. This August, we took Bayea with us for the first time. She loved the open space and the ability to run and play with another dog. Bella belongs to Nate's sister. She is about a year older than Bayea but they enjoyed running around together and eating each other's food. The other bowl is always better than their own. Usually, we could find the dogs running around. This was a rare moment when they would hold still.

Nate and Jennifer with the dog's

On a Sunday afternoon, Bayea and I sat down for a little snooze. We love being together and snuggling. Even now, we snuggle together before we both go to sleep. Nate caught Bella in a rare moment of calm. She stopped running long enough to pose for the picture.

Yard work!!!

We have lived in our house for just over 2 years. Our front yard has been done for a while, but the back yard needed to be finished, especially with Bayea. Nate's mom and dad came down for a week to help us get the yard in. Here they are standing on the side of the house while they water the dirt. Now we have grass for Bayea to play on.

Bayea is tired after a hard day's work

Bayea loves her bed, especially during the day when she needs her "cat" nap. She just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Hopefully she's done growing. We love her just the size that she is.

July, 2008

Fourth of July, 2008

July was a busy month. At the start of the month, we celebrated the fourth of July with family. Each year, my aunt hosts a fourth of July party in her back yard. We swim, play volleyball, have dinner and share stories of things going on in other family members lives. Many of the cousins live out of state, but we all seem to get together during this time of year. Allison and I were enjoying some together time. She was really tired after swimming.

Family Reunion, 2008

Each year in July, my mom's side of the family has a reunion. Nate and I took Bayea to the reunion to "show her off". She is so cute and everyone loved her.

Annual Bear Lake weekend

One of our families favorite activities is to go to Bear Lake for a weekend. We usually head up in July and spend the weekend on the lake. We pack up food, water toys, chairs, towels, a canopy, and anything else we might need at the lake. As the family gets bigger and more grandchildren come along, it gets more and more fun to watch the kids playing in the water. The big boys like to play on the wave runners and see who can come out of the lake having caught the most water and waves. Nate took a time out to relax and Allison jumped into the water float with him. Complete with the life jacket, she was ready for a swim.

Allison didn't get enough of the relaxation, so she jumped up with me on the lounge chair. She wasn't ready to get rid of the life jacket. Maybe she thought she needed to be extra safe on the beach!

June, 2008

A New Puppy!

In June, we got a new puppy. Her name is Bayea. She has been so fun and great company. We found her out in front of the local Wal-mart. We weren't even looking for a puppy. She is a Shiba Inu, which is a Japanese breed, and really rare in our area. Her coloring is rare also because most of them are cinnamin colored. She is a very loyal puppy and loves to be with us. We have enjoyed going on walks, taking her to the park, and playing fetch with her. We finished the back yard so she would have a place to play. Here Nate is with her one of the first nights that we had her.

May 2008

The first full day that Nate was home, we spent the early evening with family. We were celebrating Mother's Day and Ryan's birthday. It was fun for Nate to see everyone, especially Allison and Michael. Even after 4 months away, Allison remember Uncle Nate. The kids were really excited to spend time with Uncle Nate.

What a busy summer!

The summer just flew by! Nate got home and the fun began. I'm going to try and catch up on all the fun things we did this summer. Watch for each months post.

He's home!

Well, he made it!  Nate has been home for a week and we have loved every minute we spend together!!!  He loves his job and the people he works with.  

Just a note on the hair......I LOVE IT!!!!  He has it short but not like a military cut or buzz cut, just well groomed.  I think he said he only buzzed it once because the bugs were so bad they would get stuck in his hair.  Lucky for me, he didn't decide he liked the buzzed look.  I think I said before that he has great hair.  It would be shame for it to go to waste and have him buzz it all off.

Memorial day weekend is coming up and we are headed to the cabin.  I'm sure we will have some fun pictures to add next week.  It's always a blast at the cabin.

16 hours and counting!!!!!!!!!

My count down is almost over!! I get Nate back in T -16 hours. He leaves Georgia at 5 a.m. our time, 7 a.m. his time. He finished his training and spanish classes and is heading home to begin his new job. After four months, I can't believe he is coming home. I have enjoyed staying with mom and dad and spending time with Cindi, Ryan and the kids but it will be great to have him home. The best news is that we get to stay in our home in Utah! He was able to apply for a job transfer to the Salt Lake office. We found out 2 weeks ago that it had been approved! Originally, he was coming home for a week and then off to Montana to start working. Now he gets to come home, start working and stay. With my family all living here and Nate's family moving here at the end of the summer, we feel lucky to be so close to all our family while still being able to do the jobs we love.

Hopefully, I can update the blog with some photos of Nate after he gets home tomorrow. He cut his hair after he got to Georgia because it got so hot and humid. He has such great hair, it was sad to think of his hair being buzzed but he felt better and the bugs couldn't get caught. He says he has let his hair grow out and just gets it trimmed now. I will have to check it out tomorrow and make sure the great hair is back.

Relaxing with the kitties

These guys are my lap buddies whenever I visit the Bradshaw's.

They have to fight the kids for some lap time but...

when they go to bed, one or both are right on my lap. It's great to be loved!!!