Happy Birthday Amor.

Happy Birthday amor!  

I love you so much and I fall deeper in love with you as each year passes.  I am so proud of all you have accomplished and am inspired by how hard you work.  You are a great dad and watching you with Sully is one of my favorite things in the whole wide world.   You guys have the sweetest bond.

I'll love you forever.

~Megan

ps. we need to get recent pictures of YOU sweetheart :)

Our Love Story

Today I'm linking up with Becky from frommrstomama to share a little bit of our love story.

November 2009

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

Since April 2003, so almost 9 years! Wowza!

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

We met at a college swim meet in November 2002.  I was a freshman and he was a senior at a different university.  My friend knew him and introduced us.  The three of us went out to dinner at a noodle place and I stayed in touch with him through AOL instant messenger.  We made it through four years of long-distance love, between four different states (IL,AZ, CA, WV).  And the rest is history as they say.  

3. If married, how long have you been married? If not, is this the guy you hope to marry? {do tell}

It will be three years July 18th.

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?  If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small?

Our wedding took place in the morning on the beach in our FAVORITE spot, Newport Beach, California.  About forty-five people came. It was total perfection.

Click here to see more pictures :)

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

We mostly use the normal one's like honey, love, hon, babe, amor.

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

Hmm...I love he gets excited and interested in things that I am passionate about.  Whether it is a craft project, or photography he is right there cheering me on.  Another thing I loved about him from the very beginning was his intelligence.  He is excelling in dental school, and that is so attractive to me.  Plus he does math in his head so he is a great shopping companion, especially when sales are involved(which is the only time I go shopping...haha!).  I also love that he makes me feel safe and secure.  When I am near him I feel like everything is going to be ok as long as we're together.

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?

He woke me up to propose on the morning of my birthday at 4am.  I do remember smelling a cake being made but I just thought he was baking a b-day cake.  So he walked in the room and asked me to to marry him and he was holding the cake in one hand and the ring in the other.  

"proposal cake" April 18th, 2007

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

He LOVES to cook so for Valentine's day in the past he has cooked a great meal, lit some candles, and popped open a bottle of wine.  We do have an October baby after-all ;)

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

Definitely a sunset dinner on the beach!  The beach wins most of the time.

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

I want to go to Fiji or Seychelles so BAD!

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

Our little family of three will probably go out to dinner and then we'll go home and I'll make some dessert and then we'll see what happens next.  Pretty laid back but still awesome none the less.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

He got me a IPAD!  I told him that it is a combo birthday and Valentine's day present.  Sooo spoiled.

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

I think that listening is very important.  It is so easy to get distracted but if you make an effort to connect with your partner daily and let them share the things on their mind it shows you truly value each other and keeps you on the same page.

14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.

 This picture shows love, hope, and excitement.  Family and love go hand in hand.

Thanks for reading a little of our story.

~Megan

Arizona for the holidays

My parent's navel orange tree is ridiculous this year.  The oranges are HUGE!  I wish I was still there eating a nice cold orange right now.  

We stopped by my grandparent's house and Sully loved the big yard!  I used to walk down this narrow path between the bush and the house when I was growing up too!  Sully found it all on his own.

My mom and grandma trying to wrangle the little guy for a picture.  

Laughing as he escaped and continued on his way

We went to the park a couple times.

And Sully loved the slide.  This was his first time ever going down the slide.

Huge smile :)

First father and son ride down the slide.  So cute!

Man I forgot what going down a slide felt like!  It was scary!  As you can see I am gripping him tightly haha!  I went down this slide on a different day by myself and I flew off the bottom and landed in a hole.  Of course the park was packed with people that day.  It was embarrassing.  

Christmas Eve...trying to get a good picture.  

Sully wasn't happy...poor baby boy.

Another try.

Taking a walk through my aunt and uncle's neighborhood looking at the pretty Christmas lights on Christmas Eve.  

I have so many more pictures and things to update! Stay tuned!

~Megan

Recent Things

Last week there were a few days of nice weather.  This was taken on one of those days.  

We played with chalk and rolled around in the grass out back.

I decided it would be a good time to hang up my Popsicle stick snowflakes.  

They are huge and I love them! I want to make more.  In a way they remind me of something you would see at Anthropologie.

We did lots of chasing this ball around the house.

Random Bits:

• I am loving that my man is going to be hanging out with us all week since he has a Thanksgiving break from school.  

•  I think that Sully will be moving up to the next age group at MOPS.  Now that he is walking he seems to gravitate towards older kiddos so we'll see how it goes next time.  I do love the sweet ladies in the nursery now because one of them has a magic touch to get him to take a nap and then putting all 25 pounds of him in a bouncer.  This past time he slept for two hours there.

• I had my first night out with four other mom's on Thursday.  It was FABULOUS! When I got home Sullivan and Arty were asleep.  It was 10pm.  

• Sullivan helped me dust the other day.  I had a few paper towels in my hand and gave him one.  Then I started wiped down the entertainment console and he totally did it too.  Then we both walked over and threw them in the trash together.  He is so smart!

• I'm taking pictures of a fun family early this week.  I'm feeling excited/nervous because I want the pictures to be stunning!  We'll see how it goes.

• Oh yeah and Arty baked this Challah bread from scratch and then made the most delicious french toast with it for dinner!  Yay!

~Megan

The past two days in pictures

Yesterday, Sully and I went on a walk to Starbucks.  I kept thinking that it was definitely a blustery day.  Tons of wind and the leaves were pouring down out of the trees.  

Cleanish shoes.  I don't think they will look this fresh for long.

Baby boy snuggled in a blanket fast asleep.

When we came home he played with some kitchen stuff.  I think he may like to bake.  One day I'll teach him my chocolate chip cookie recipe.  It's basically the only recipe I know by heart.

Hanging out.  

Love that face.

We have so much fun together.  He liked it when I said "Geronimo" and then he broke out it a full fledged belly laugh.

Snuggles. And smiles.

Sweet boy.

This is his "oh" face.  He loves saying oh.

Last night we went to a different local place for dinner.  I had buckwheat pancakes and arty had beer battered fish and then we split a huge piece of cake.  Huge.

Today we hit up the "pumpkin patch."  It was basically a grassy area scattered with pumpkins for kids to pick.  Sully arranged three in his lap within a couple minutes of touching the ground.

Today was also the first time Sullivan kept his shoes on.  They were his hard-soled Uggs, a early b-day gift from my mom.  

We also went to the farmers market and got some potatoes and leeks, then Arty made a really yummy leak and potatoes soup for dinner.  We also got some other veggies as well.  

These were the interesting pumpkins at the farmers market this morning.

And to top of our night Arty out did himself on delicious ginger molasses cookies.

Off to snuggle on the couch!

~Megan

Day trip to Baltimore

Yesterday was so much fun.  It started early, like 3:20am early.  We packed up the car and headed to Baltimore to visit my aunt and uncle who are there for work/fun this week.  It was about a three hour drive and totally worth it.  We met up at their hotel and then walked to get breakfast at the Blue Moon Cafe.  Here are some pictures along the way.

Beautiful ship in the harbor.  I like to use the word "harbor" as much as possible. :)

Gorgeous scenery.

Arty.

Aunt Tammy.

Ahh this place totally lived up to the hype online.  It was featured on "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" and the food was fantastic, plus we didn't even have to wait in line.

My uncle and I both got the multi-grain pancake special.  I think we would both agree that they were yummy however, the side of bacon we both got was hands down the best bacon I have ever tasted.  So smokey!

Arty and my aunt got the "Sweet Baby Jesus" special.  It had hash-browns, crab, eggs, and hollandaise sauce.  I think that's all that was on it but I'm not 100% sure.  All I know is that this completely rocked my world.  So did the cinnamon roll that we had to-go.  It was unbelievable.
  

Sully with Tammy.

Sully, Tammy, and Scott.

Let me tell you a little about how this is made.  Do you see that tiny picture hanging on the right?  Well on it is a picture of a 180 pound grouper caught in Cabo.  Basically the artist puts ink or paint on the fish and stamps the canvas.  Then I think he wraps the canvas on frames.  It was incredible!

Sully and Arty.

Uncle Scott and Aunt Tammy!  Thanks for a great day in Baltimore!

There is a World Trade Center Institute in Baltimore.  In front of the building is this metal from the World Trade Center in New York.

Around the wall that this is mounted on are the names of people who died in the World Trade Center from Baltimore.

Another boat...there are lots.

Here we are.  I look exhausted, which I was and this picture is a little blurry.  Thanks honey.   Truly a great time though.  I can't wait to go back.

~Megan