nickandabby: April 2011

4.28.2011

mason's surprise

I started recording this video just because. Nothing special.....and the boy rolled over for the first time! I did put my finger on his back so he wouldn't roll back, but I did NOT give him any help.....so glad I got his first roll on video!

Needless to say, he's been doing it ever since :)

The video is kinda long, he rolls over somewhere during minute 2.

4.27.2011

the hubster

Warning: The following contains material that may be mushy gushy and content describing feelings for one's spouse ad nauseum. Read at your own discretion.

I would like to take this moment to tell you how much I love my husband.

This isn't to commemorate an anniversary, birthday, Father's Day, or any other "day". This is just because.

I have been undeservedly blessed to have this amazing man in my life.

Why? You may ask?

Because of he person he is.

He puts up with my BS. He calls me out when I'm being ridiculous. He makes me want to be a good wife and mother. He makes me want to make every attempt to model myself after the Proverbs 31 woman.

He loves me....no matter how I look, no matter what mood I'm in.

He is one of my biggest cheerleaders ;)

He has grown in the years we have been married. He has made changes and sacrifices and "gotten better" at things to make this marriage work (this one definitely goes both ways....I have learned alot too).

He is an amazing man of God. He has a heart for those who don't know Christ. Everyday he is looking at how he can become more of the man God is calling him to be. His faith and heart challenge me everyday and I am so thankful that God is using our marriage to show me my blemishes and mold my heart.

He provides for and takes care of our family because he wants to. He could tell me he wants me to go back to work, but he encourages me to stay home with the kids and he doesn't mind at all (seriously).

He loves his job. He loves the challenges it has brought and he learns something new everyday. I'm so proud of him and how far he has come. He has never had the dream of "climbing the ladder", but he has come so far and has the capacity to go further if he wants.

He puts his family first.

He is an amazing father. It is so fun to watch him horse around and cuddle with Adelyn and Mason.

He loves being busy. He loves to take care of our home (like mowing the lawn, cleaning/organizing the garage, etc). He likes things clean :) This is a bonus for me....I still do a weekly scrub down, but it stays fairly clean during the interim. If we have a list of projects, I don't have to worry about them not getting finished...whether he is helping me or doing it on his own.

He loves to be outdoors. He loves God's creation and enjoying it.

I'm so much more in love with this man than ever before. I appreciate everything about him and everything he does for our marriage and our family.

I'm not saying he is perfect...what fun would that be and how would we grow if anyone was perfect? Why would need Christ if we were perfect?!

I could go on and on, but I'll keep the rest for myself for now :)

Nick is my best friend....the greatest husband....an amazing man....a fantastic dad.

I hit the jackpot, people.

4.21.2011

Pismo Beach

I love my husband's job :)

This last weekend, we went to Pismo Beach with Nick because he had to visit some more dealers in his territory.

I love the coast.

Adelyn LOVED the beach and the ocean (the water was FREEZING and it didn't bother her or Mason).

Our hotel was right on the beach, so you could hear the roar of the ocean constantly, and it was perfect since I was without a car this time...the kids and I could walk right out to the beach or walk on the boardwalk and downtown Pismo.

I have an obsession with piers. That was one of my favorite things to do was just walk on the pier.

This one was built in 1881 and was built to accomodate steamboat traffic (so cool!). It's been restored a few times from damaging storms, but I think it's so pretty and crazy to be walking 1700+ feet out onto the ocean! :)

this is from the boardwalk outside of our hotel (The Sandcastle...cute name, right?)

Mason chilling in the hotel while sissy is napping

Mason's first "dip" in the ocean :)

Adelyn has been in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans now :)

Nick and Mason hanging out on the blanket while I watch Adelyn run around and play with seaweed and anything else the tide left behind (yuck)

Mason looks like a goof in the hat :)

Oh well..it served its purpose well :)

Before we left for home, we ate lunch at this cafe. It has the most AMAZING clam chowder I have ever tasted. Period.

Have I mentioned I LOVE seafood? Because I really do.

at the end of the pier...Adelyn is mowing an ice cream cone :)

view of our hotel from the end of the pier. It's the white building with blue awnings on it. Cool, huh? :)

One more picture before we left for home.

Did I mention I love the coast? :) Because I do.

4.19.2011

visitors part 3: my mother in law :)

I have been terrible with updating this...and it's not like we are crazy busy...I just haven't felt like blogging.

But that's another topic :)

Nick's mom came to visit for a few days at the beginning of the month. Adelyn hogged her most of the time ;)

Time went by way too fast and it was too soon before Nick was taking her back to the airport :(

We didn't do a whole lot. Ardyce and Adelyn cooked and played quite a bit :). We went to the park and Chuck E Cheese ;)

It was a blessing to have her here and we loved spending time with her.

As always, it was hard to say goodbye!

We miss you, Nana Flies! Thank you for coming to visit! :)

We love you!

4.03.2011

san diego

One of the neat things about Nick's job is that he gets to travel to parts of California quite often. I decided that the kids and I are going to start going with him since a few of those places are on the coast or near the coast ;)

After my mom left, he had to go to San Diego for an annual meeting thing. He said we should go with him since there would be plenty for us to do. We did.....the drive was my least favorite part...and LA traffic sucks.

We got there Saturday evening-ish....and just had dinner with another JD couple and their little boy. Sunday it was cool and windy and rainy (boo). My brother recommended we go check out the USS Midway. It's a retired Naval ship that's open for touring. It was pretty cool. We couldn't get to a whole lot of places since the ship wasn't built for a double stroller the size of a bus ;) But what we did see was pretty neat and it made me really proud of my brother and what he's doing :)

It was so windy and cold on the flight deck...Adelyn was miserable. The planes were really neat, though, and I'd like to go back when the weather is nicer and Addy is bigger :)

Nick and I did take turns going down to the sick bay to check it out. Adelyn got antsy, so I paid $3 for an orange soda to occupy her. Yes, I am that mom.

We also went to an aquarium in La Jolla...I think Adelyn would have enjoyed it more if she wasn't so tired...she was interested for a bit, but got bored pretty quick :)

Monday, I decided to take the kids to the San Diego zoo while Nick was in meetings all day :) We got there and it started to down pour. Seriously? We high tailed it back to the hotel (which was downtown) and not 5 minutes after we got back, the sun came out and it was beautiful. Of course. I wound up walking around the city with the kids and there was a huge mall area about 3 blocks from the hotel....so we had lunch and walked around some more.

Tuesday we tried the zoo again and it was goreous outside! Let me tell you, there were some serious hills, though...and pushing a double stroller with a toddler and a carseated infant was a major work out...holy moly.

We had fun, though, Adelyn is currently obsessed with lions (or "roars") and we stood watching the lion for 20 minutes...he went around the trees where we couldn't see him and she was ticked. I still had to pry her away, though...

I had to bribe her with a sucker so I could feed Mason...she wasn't a fan of sitting still in the stroller with no animals to look at :) What can I say? When you're a single mom for the day, you do what you can to make it as easy as possible....well, I do anyway. :)

She had a blast watching the elephants. Their "area" was huge and there were about 6 of them! Pretty neat.

The grizzly bears were cool. One of them was playing with something and she was just tranfixed...look at the claws on that guy!

As we were leaving, I asked a nice lady to take our picture in front of the sign. Apparently, I should have been more clear and asked her to get the whole sign ;)