year 3.

Today, Kirkman and I have been married 3 years.

After 3 years and 1 baby, it's safe to say it keeps getting better. 

Here's some random wedding "detail" pictures in honor of our wedding day.  And after looking over these pictures, I don't know how my mom put together such a beautiful wedding 2 days after Christmas.  Thanks, Mom.

Happy Anniversary, Kirkman.  To many, many more years of wedded bliss. 

And to treat ourselves, we're heading up to Utah tonight to hang out with family and staying here.  We're kind of excited about it.  Let's just pray we get through the 10 hour drive first with Aceman in tow. 

it's christmastime

It's Christmastime!  Just saying that makes me happy. 

Despite general business, too much work, and a rather unpleasant visit from the Influenza last week, we've been getting in the festive mood around here. Our tree is up and decorated, and our Christmas cards arrived last week! 


Speaking of Christmas cards, my dear, sweet, and very talented sister Carly took our family pictures a few weeks ago, one of which we're using for our card.  I love them all!  She really is the best.  Thanks, sis. 

Our cards were sent out earlier this week, but if you want a sneak peek, click on over here.  
I ordered them from Hello! Lucky , and this isn't an endorsement, but I love all their cards.  My favorites by far. 

new trick.

Yep, he's the cutest. 
Another new trick? Shoving handfuls of dirt in his mouth when I'm not looking.  Seriously, if there is dirt nearby, it will be in his mouth within 30 seconds.  

the weekend

His current favorite pastime - pulling himself up on anything and everything.

It's the weekend!  Hip, hip, hooray. It's been a looong week, especially for Kirk at work, so I think we're both glad to get a break, catch up on some sleep, and see a little bit more of each other.  Now if only I could convince Ace to sleep in tomorrow, wouldn't that be lovely?  It's a good thing Thanksgiving is next week - I know Kirk needs a few days off work, and I need a couple days off from being a single mom ;).  


But in reality, I'm so grateful for so many things this year.  Not the least of which is my healthy, rambunctious, wiggly, and adorable 8 month old baby boy.  Lately I feel like all I want to do is just soak him all up, every inch of his cuteness.  I never want to miss any laugh, smile, or funny face, and sometimes I think I'll just burst from how much I love that little boy.  It doesn't hurt that this week I taught him how to give kisses (consistently), and how suddenly he loves to cuddle with Kirk and I, laying his sweet little head on our chests while we rub his back.  It might just be the best feeling in the world. 


I am eternally grateful that Heavenly Father trusted Kirk and I with his little spirit.  He sure makes life worth every second.  


Happy Weekend! And a happy early Thanksgiving.  

the crawl.

So I have this baby. 

He's pretty cute. But, he doesn't sit still these days. He's a crawling, standing, bouncing, jumping machine.  It's been this way for a few weeks now.  And he prefers to do all of the above activities on top of his mom or dad.  So if I'm sitting on the floor, attempting to take his picture, 90% of the pictures end up like this:

I tried to distract him with the window.

And then I tried to get him to sit still by bribing him with some sweet potato puffs. 

That worked, for about 30 seconds.  Then he was done.

 "Pick me up, mom."

"pickmeuppickmeuppickmeuppickmeup"

And I know, it will only get worse when he starts walking.  Which, at this rate, will be in just a few months or less.  Crazy kid.  

happy halloween.

Uh, mom?  Can you help a brother out? It's kind of hard to crawl with these wings on.

We didn't eat much candy, but we did enjoy dressing Ace-man up in his owl costume.  

Cutest darn owl I've ever seen. 

Happy Halloween!  Hope yours was a hoot. ;)

survey.

I can't believe these pictures are from less than a week ago (last Saturday).  It was such a nice day at the beach and Aceman loved every second of it.  So did his Dad.  It would be Kirk's dream to just hang out with his boys at the beach all day every day, surfing and taking naps on the sand.  Looking at these pictures really makes me wish I could go back and just pause time - probably since this week has really been not so fun.

The building Kirk manages is currently undergoing "survey" - basically when the state comes to pay you a nice little surprise visit to make sure everything is up to code.  It's more or less the most stressful week of the year for him.  And I'm not complaining - but I'll be glad when I can see my husband for more than the 2 seconds at 1 in the morning when he sneaks into bed, or the 2 seconds when he leaves at 4:30am.  Just sayin'.  Combine that with both of us having colds, and Ace apparently deciding to never sleep in his crib again... we've had better weeks.  

But, such is life.  And Ace turns 7 months on Sunday!  Did that month fly by or what?  He is the cutest - his adorable little face makes everything better.  

6 months.

Last Friday, Ace turned 6 months old.  Half a year.  I can hardly believe it.  

He was sitting up straight before these pictures, but he can only sit still for oh, half a second.  He's got places to go, man. 

Blurry, but oh hey, look at my two teeth! 

Happy 6 months Aceman!  He continues to be a happy, squirmy, wiggly, funny little guy.  His personality comes out more and more and it's so much fun.  He's recently become a little more attached to me, especially when he's tired or fussy (and secretly I like it). He can sit up pretty well now - although like I said he doesn't do it for long because he'd rather be going somewhere.  He still army crawls like a pro - and full-on crawling is imminent.  Peek-a-boo is his favorite game as of late.  

Oh, and he likes to work out. Go ahead and click on this to make it bigger.

His latest trick - pushing himself up on his hands and toes and holding it for a few seconds.  Funny boy.  I just want to squeeze his little baby thighs.

tuesday night

Tuesday night Kirk got off work a little early (a rare and happy occasion), so we tucked Aceman into the bike trailer and rode down the street to the farmer's market/street fair.  It's quite the event down here - every Tuesday they shut down all of main street to traffic, all the stores stay open, and they have tons of vendors.  And the crowd is a little more mellow than the weekend one - thankfully.  

 Mid-sneeze. 

We love riding our bikes everywhere here.  It's just a short ride to the beach or downtown.  

I think it helps that it's completely flat... much more incentive for me to hop on the bike.

 Of course, he slept the whole way there.

 One-man band.

(Creepy) bubble man.

 (Even creepier) pirate man.

 Ace wasn't quite sure what to think of all those people, but we had a good time.  A good time which may or may not have involved eating tamales and nursing discreetly in the entrance to a parking garage (a nice one, though).  Should've got a picture of that - fun times!  :)