September was overflowing with weddings and well wishes after our big announcement last month. In between photographing and editing, I had a few moments here and there to snuggle a baby, celebrate an anniversary, stare at ultrasound photos, and tend to my propagated succulents –  it’s these little moments I love to savor and share with you each month!

1. My best friend had her baby!!! He spent some time in the NICU, but is safely home now and is continuing to grow stronger by the day!  I have a list of people I should probably contact when I travel to Sioux Falls, but spending an entire afternoon holding a sleepy newborn and sipping half-caf pumpkin spice lattes with my bff was all I wanted to do on one of my few ‘free’ days this month. It was *so* worth it!!! :-)

2. Just a few days later, my husband and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary! We both had to work, but we were able to spend the morning together and celebrate by making french toast and eggs for lunch. I’m so thankful for the little ways he makes me smile – leaving me notes, fueling up the car and returning with flowers, and the happy look he gets when he feels our baby kick. We don’t need a whole day to celebrate our anniversary – we spend a little bit of every day letting each other know how much we love each other. :-)

3. A couple days after our anniversary, we had our anatomy scan ultrasound and were able to see every little part of our baby – both hands, both feet, all four chambers of the heart – all of it so miniature and healthy. When the ultrasound tech switched the machine to 3D to take a peek at baby’s face – all we saw were arms and feet! This profile photo shows what I think is baby’s leg all the way up, with toes touching the head. No wonder I feel movement so frequently – our baby is doing gymnastics!!

4. All month long I’ve been watering and watching my propagated succulents. Apparently I’m great at growing things now… baby – check! new plants – check! On the left is a ‘leaf’ I plucked a week ago, on the right is one I plucked a month and a half ago. Since we don’t get to see our baby again until ‘the big arrival,’ it’s fun to watch the daily growth of these baby plants. :-)

Five words: WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!!

Whew, that feels so good to finally announce that!! We’ve only told a few close friends and relatives, but now that we’re half-way to meeting our little monkey, it’s time to officially share it with the world… or… the handful of you who read this blog regularly. :-)

Baby C is due mid-January and ‘mom-to-be’ has been feeling pretty normal. Plus, things I typically feel guilty doing are now encouraged – taking naps, snacking between meals, and wearing yoga pants in public. Okay, maybe that last one is not so much ‘encouraged,’ as it is ‘less frowned upon.’ ;-)

Hope you had a wonderful August as well!!

Hey, look, I had enough photos from this past month to put together a collage like I used to do! Either that or *lots* more stuff happened. :-) Either way, I’m happy to share what this past month has brought – visitors, my bff’s baby bump, and bedtime snacks.

1. Catrons came to visit! Lance’s parents camped out here for the 4th of July, so naturally we had to get a photo of the whole group! p.s. Welcome to the group, Mike! :-)

2. Manual labor – Okay, so this one I’m not *so* excited about. But by the end of the summer I’ll be so glad that we have some lawn in our back yard! It’s hard to tell in this photo, but I had just wrangled a roll of germination blanket and was left covered in little green flecks.

3. Wheaties – the bedtime snack of champions. Does anyone else out there get hungry before bedtime and need a little snack? Growing up, I *always* had to have a bowl of cereal before bedtime. This photo is from the night of Steve + Lindsey’s wedding – I was tired, backing up my photos, and a little hungry. I took this photo and sent it to my mom, because she’s the only one who understands my need for bedtime snacks, and would appreciate my take on the slogan.

4. Brauns came to visit!! My parents drove their convertible out so we could truly enjoy a drive down Spearfish Canyon, followed by carrot cake at Cheyenne Crossing. ‘Twas a good time had by all. p.s. Please don’t mistake my husband for Rory McIlroy – he just really likes to wear bright colors.

5. My bff is having a baby!!! She’s due in September, and I can’t wait to meet the little one and watch my friend become a mother! :-)

6. Succulents – Thank goodness for plants that don’t need to be watered every day! These things are doing so well (minus that dried up little guy in the front of the big planter) they make me feel like I know what I’m doing. Which, for the record, I totally don’t.

You guys, it’s July and I forgot to do my monthly favorites for June!! Is three days past June too late? I sure hope not. :-)

All in all, June was a fairly quiet month. My husband and I tried to get our back yard (aka dirt pile) planted with grass seed, but it has been raining far too much for us to be able to work out there and not get stuck in the mud. So instead, on our days off, we had bagels with friends, played tourist in Custer and Hill City, and took a trip to North Dakota for a family reunion!

Therefore, my favorite things this month (in no particular order) are:

1) Rain – causing my husband and I to postpone yard work and instead spend some quality fun time together!

2) Rain – for making the Black Hills so beautifully GREEN!!! I remember two years ago when we got married, it was so dry and there were so many fires in the area. For our wedding photos, grass everywhere was brown. As ‘Sara’ from Jimmy Fallon would say… “Ew!”

3) Family reunion – I haven’t seen relatives from my mom’s side of the family since our wedding, so getting to catch up with so many aunts, uncles and cousins was such a treat! Also, getting to spend a little extra time with my nephews by staying at their house made the trip extra special. :-)

Spring is here!!

May brought lots of enjoyment in the form of beautiful weather, baskets of fresh fruits and veggies, and an adorable live feed of kittens.

That’s right. Kittens. They’re so cuuuuute!! It’s so much fun to see them run and play, but they are equally as adorable when they are sleeping and using each other as pillows. If you’d like to see how cute they are for yourself, here’s the link: http://www.apl.tv/kittens.htm

Bountiful Baskets is something I’ve heard of for a while, but was never interested in doing because I heard it was *so* much food. That is, until a good friend of mine suggested we split a basket! We tried it for the first time this month, and I’ll be honest, the fruits were eaten up before the veggies. It has been wonderful to have healthy snacks and side dishes lately!

Lastly, it’s flower planting season!! My in-laws were in town for Mother’s Day weekend, so I had some help in picking out blooms for the planters this year. Hopefully my thumb will get a little greener – last year’s flowers weren’t doing so great by the end of summer. Okay, by mid-summer. I promise I’ll do better this year!!

What wonderful things have you been loving this past month?