Summer! Summer!

Our favorite time of the year!  Let's do this!  

Our little backyard oasis at home!

With so many splash pads around, Maya is practically living in her swim suit!

Fun at the park!

Our new furry friends at Grandma and Grandpa's house!  

Best thing so far was swimming lessons! Of course Maya (our little fish) loved it!
She did so well, and couldn't wait for the day they got to jump off the diving board!

This-n-That

Oh, we've had fun since the new year!  It's gone by too quickly for our liking, but we're sure enjoying ourselves and our BEAUTIFUL girl!  Life can't get any better than this!

9 month check-up in January - Dr. reports that she's "Perfect, as always."

Maya and Lucy - best friends. 

Maya has 8 teeth - they all decided to come at once, it seems!

This girl is ALWAYS on her feet!  She walked before she crawled!
She took her very first steps on January 1st - great way to start the year!
She cruises furniture and walks short distances between furniture and people!

Did I mention that she's unstoppable?  Her and the cat love climbing the stairs together!
See the video below.

Our little Valentine enjoyed her first Valentine's Day!
She even got her very first rose -- from her daddy. 

Here she is with most of her Valentine loot!

And for your viewing pleasure - a little "I love you!"

Homecoming

We were so excited when we got word we could come home - as a family - with our beautiful baby girl Maya!  We got right online and purchased our plane tickets.  Even though we loved our time as our small family unit in Michigan, the time to get home just couldn't come fast enough when we got the word!  We had a layover in Denver and Maya slept the entire time on both flights - what a good girl!

We flew in late Saturday night (actually arrived early Sunday morning).  Then we spent the day Sunday with our family!  It feels so good to watch other's adore our baby girl - one of the best feelings in the world if you ask me! By the way, "Grape" (Grandma Great Maxine) got the first genuine smile!

Her pets love her too - they're very gentle and curious!

Maya is so loved and we are so blessed!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

What a super fun Christmas we had - we all got pretty spoiled!!  It was so nice to spend the day with family and all together!  We can't wait to have a little one of our own to spoil one day!  We hope you had a fun Christmas too!

My favorite Christmas Tradition: Brandon and I write love letters to each other, stick them in the tree and we read them Christmas morning.  Great way to start the day!

Our stockings were packed with all of our favorite things!!

We got a little relaxing in before we went to my parents' house for more fun!

Brandon got me a cool fish-eye lens for my phone - check out all of the presents at my parents' house!

Playing fun games with my nieces and nephews.

Playing around with a couple of my nephews and their toys

Another one of my favorite Christmas traditions is a day of shopping with Brandon a day or two after Christmas.  Look at all the yummy and crazy chocolate items we found while shopping! Crazy!  Oh, and the bacon chocolate is GROSS, trust me on this one! ;-)

And Happy New Year too!  We slept through the New Year - I ended up taking down all of our Christmas decorations that day, so while I was busy doing that we ordered take out and we were ready for bed by around 10:00 ... but we were able to have a lot of fun the day of!

My aunt's birthday is on New Years Day so my family went to 'Les Miserables' and out to eat to celebrate with her - fun day and awesome movie!

Wishing you the best 2013 ever!

Bored!

Brandon had to change the headlight bulbs in his car tonight, so me, Diesel and Lucy went out to "help".

See me helping there at the bottom of the pic -- I'm holding the flashlight!

It started out as me helping ... but I wasn't much help.  So, helping turned into boredom, which turned into taking pictures with the animals.

Lucy did not enjoy the picture or the flash - so not impressed.

Diesel's head looks even more HUGE than normal being so close to the camera. LOL!

We are so smart!

Family Time

Brandon took Friday off so we could spend the whole day together out and about doing whatever we darn-well wanted!  I love our family time together!

We went to see 'The Amazing Spiderman' movie ... in 3-D nonetheless!!!  I've never been much of a big fan of the superhero movies, but I enjoy seeing one when they're new out and Brandon can explain what I don't get.  There wasn't much to explain in this one because it's a re-boot - an actual term I learned from Brandon a few months back that we argued over because I thought he made the word up to explain that a movie was a re-make ... apparently there's a big difference people - big difference!  I conceded after googling it and calling my brother to confirm.  "TheGoogle" doesn't know everything does it?

We spent the rest of the day walking through just about any/and every store I wanted to.  I love that about Brandon - even though he doesn't much like shopping, he knows I LOVE it and is willing to wander through my favorites with me without one ounce of complaint!  Then sushi for dinner, Yum-o-licous!

It was a great night!  Have I mentioned how much I love our family time together?!? Sure do!

Oh!  By the way, I had to share these pics!  My nieces came over for a sleep-over last night and we brought some fishy-friends over for a sleep-over in Diesel's swimming pool too!  Diesel was so curious (the fish were quite big)!  I think at one point he was trying to figure out how to "play" with them like he does with his cat by pouncing at them - it was hilarious!

After a bit he was content to just watch them swim.  I think he thought he had a few new pets to keep!

Happy Summer!

Our Pets

I realized today that we have never done an 'official' post all about our cute pets!

She is such a beautiful cat!

Lucy is pretty quiet and likes to keep to herself but she often comes out to play with Maya on the stairs, or snuggle up by Rachael or Brandon's feet!  Lucy thinks she's in charge of the water in the bathroom - especially in the morning!  Every morning she begs for a drink from the tub, and whenever Rachael takes a bath, Lucy insists on being in the room and sitting on the side of the tub!  Lucy also thinks that if we bring home a paper or bag, then it's for her and we find her laying on (or in) whatever it is! She is so funny!

We used to have a BEAUTIFUL and friendly dog named Diesel - an English Mastiff (pictured with Lucy above).  We miss his sweet personality very much around our house - he and Lucy were quite the good buddies. :)

About Us

How HE + ME became a WE (our Love Story)

On December 26, 2008 - I joined ldssingles.com with the intent of getting a life! I had come to peace with the fact that I would never get married, but I wanted a great dating life so I signed up (along with one of my friends)!

I chatted with (and met) a few guys ... nothing more than friends, but it was fun!  Then on December 31st I found this cute guy!

I read his profile and I remember it didn't say a lot but enough to make me interested (and I thought he was CUTE), so I sent him a flirt (smile). He sent a flirt back (hi). I sent him another flirt (wink) and he sent me one back (thinking of you). Wow, this is great!  So, I sent him a message asking him to send me a message.  He did.  I replied.  Another message.  Another reply ... Our messages got longer and longer. Then texting.  Then talking.

Finally I decided: I like this guy! I  need to meet him a.s.a.p. to find out if we like each other in person before I get my heart broken.

On January 16th - we had our first date in a public place and I promised my friends and family I would keep texting throughout the night to say I was safe and I gave them all Brandon's phone number too (gotta be safe).  It was the best first date I had ever been on!  I felt like I was talking to an old friend, and felt so comfortable! And... I kissed him at the end of the night!! (1st date - I had NEVER done that before, and I had NEVER made the first move before either!  But - he was a super gentleman and I knew he wouldn't kiss me that night, so I had to take matters into my own hands ... or lips! ;)

... and the rest ... is history!
We fell in love within the next month.  Engaged 3 months after that.  Married 4 months after that. 

...and just after getting married, we got ourselves a "little" puppy named Diesel who is such a gentle giant - and he has a pet of his own, a cat named Lucy.  They sure love each other and we love them!

UPDATE: We no longer have our sweet dog Diesel. We miss him!

And now - we're currently living our Happily Ever After!

... and as part of our 'Happily Ever After' we are hoping to adopt!  I (Rachael) have been diagnosed with 'Premature Ovarian Failure' which is basically early menopause.  I expected from a young age that I would not be able to have children of my own because the women in my family have had difficulty with fertility.  Our family and extended family has been so blessed by the miracle of adoption already, and we are so excited to begin the process ourselves!

Feel free to browse our entire blog to get to know us better (we have a lot of posts)!