contagious joy

We love to laugh around here. Life is just more fun that way. My husband makes me laugh all the time and I love that about him. Aaron makes Everett laugh daily too--- I love hearing Everett just laugh. The sound of it is just contagious joy for me. The sound of daddy and son laughing with each other is good for my soul. 

Last night, Aaron was playing with Everett while I ran into Target to grab a few things. I came out to Aaron sitting with him in the back seat and both of them laughing. Aaron videoed it because it was so cute. Everett was laughing those deep belly laughs. The kind that make you incredibly happy and full of joy yourself because he is just so happy in that moment.  I live in these moments. Like little snapshots to keep for a rainy Monday like today. Reminders of what joy looks like.

A + K

It's been 5 years since I made the BEST earthly decision of my life thus far. I mean that. I couldn't have picked a better man to spend my life with. It has never been a roller coaster, but instead, constant and steady. I don't think at the young age of 23 I realized how important that decision would be, but I'm thankful that the Lord did and that he gave me Aaron.  He is my sounding board, my helper, my talk-some-sense-into-me kind of husband. The husband who does the dishes and laundry, paint and repaints again, and works incredibly hard to provide for us. The kind of man who serves others joyfully, delights in his son, and loves those around him. A husband who makes life fun and makes me laugh daily, all the while still able to have a real and deep conversation about God, our future and life.

Five years later, I am so much more in love with him than the day that we were married. I'm in love with this handsome man who lives this life with me. The man who walks beside me daily, encouraging, loving, and always laughing with me. Thank you Lord for giving me such an incredible man.

I love you Aaron!

sweet moments...

We were in the car driving to Christmas festivities with Aaron's family. We were listening to Bing Crosby Christmas, talking and planning and just enjoying these moments in between the running around and crazy-ness of the holiday festivities. Everett started babbling sweetly in the back seat and I grabbed Aaron's hand and just held it. We didn't really say anything, but I knew he was feeling exactly what I was --- that there was nothing sweeter, no where else I'd rather be, then right there in that moment with him and Everett. I could feel the urge to cry rising up in my throat, just thinking about how incredibly happy I was right then. How blessed I felt to be sharing a car and my life with these two people. I'm so thankful for moments like that: moments where my heart feels so full it might burst. Moments that I just want to freeze in time and re-live over and over. There have been so many of those sweet moments this year and I'm just so thankful for each one.

picture perfect

My husband is a sweet man and he humors me in most of my requests. For my birthday, he promised me a family photo session. This is a big deal because 1) I have been wanting some pictures of the 3 of us and 2) Aaron would probably rather be shoveling manure than getting pictures taken... haha. So, yes, my sweet husband gave me a perfect gift. We were so lucky to have Denise DeBolt take some family pictures for us. (You may remember she took some maternity shots of us a few weeks before Everett made his arrival). I couldn't love these photos more or the two men in them!

celebrating my amazing husband

I am the luckiest. You can debate me, but I think I've married the most fantastic man alive.

Life with Aaron is always eventful and full of laughter; however, this past year I've gotten to see a different side of Aaron--- as a dad. It has been amazing. He is hands on and so in love with Everett. I am thankful that Everett has such an awesome, incredible dad to look up to. If possible, I think I love Aaron even more every time I see the way he interacts with Everett, and the way Everett lights up when he sees him!

Happy birthday to my incredible husband and the best dad ever!
I love you babe ♥

philly fanatics

For an anniversary, most people go out to dinner, somewhere romantic perhaps, maybe a weekend getaway or just some alone time are on the agenda; however, that was not us for our anniversary this year. We were sitting 9 rows back from home plate with Everett and 43,000 of our closest friends. Okay, maybe not, just Uncle Sethie and our friends Amber and Nate Todd :) You see Aaron's boss just happened to send Aaron an email on Wednesday (our anniversary was Thursday) offering him 5 diamond club tickets for the next night. It was a no brainer really. We wanted to take Everett to a game and this was the perfect opportunity. Awesome seats, a parking pass, and $30 per ticket of food or merchandise. I mean really, who wouldn't want these?! Anyway, so Thursday came and we headed down to West Chester, picked up our fellow diamond clubbers, and headed off to Citizens Bank Park. Everett was all decked out in his Phils gear (compliments of Aunt Sara Thomas) and did such a good job all night! I'm pretty sure it was just sensory overload for a while. He just sat in Aaron's arms and looked around. After ordering sodas, cheesesteaks, chicken fingers, fries, and hot dogs (and Everett having a bottle) we were all feeling pretty good. A few innings later, Amber and I were off in search of dessert. The diamond club ran out of vanilla ice cream (boo), so we trekked up a level in search of the good stuff. Apparently everyone else in the stadium was getting ice cream too, because by the time we got back to our seats Amber had melted ice cream all over her hands, legs, and feet! When we got back Everett was passed out on Aaron looking adorable. So adorable, in fact, that the camera guy came over and put him on the jumbo tron! Seriously, do you know how many sporting events I've been at in my life and Everett's first professional game ever he gets on the big screen?! haha Cotton candy, more soda, waters, and beer were ordered. We were determined to use every last dollar on all the tickets (we did)! The game went to extra innings and the Phillies ended up winning. It was a perfect end to a perfect game.

our little family :)

the view from our seats

Aaron and Everett (I love this one!)

The Todd's

ice cream mishap

There may have been ice cream inside Amber's ring...

Nate plotting how he was going to get on the jumbo tron...

what Everett was doing when he got on the jumbo tron

Uncle Seth putting Everett to sleep :)

so cute

love

hahaha

beach baby

Everett and Dad

I think this was Everett's overall feeling about the beach...

family shot

standing in the sand

passed out with grandpop

love that face ... and those lips :)

Grammy and Everett

1,461 days

is the number of days Aaron and I have been married and I'm pretty sure he's made me laugh every single one of them :) I knew it would be like that when I married Aaron 4 years ago. What I didn't know was how I could possibly love him more every day (I do). What I also didn't know was the way I would love him ten times that when I see him with Everett. Who knew a man like that, so funny and quick-witted and quite the manly man could be so sweet and gentle and hands-on with our son. I am so thankful for that man, for the life we've created together, and for the rest of our lives to spend together!

first fathers day

I realize this is a week late, but Happy Father's Day Aaron! Everett loves you so much and I do too. You are an incredible man and an incredible dad. I pray that Everett will grow up and be just like you. I'm pretty sure if he could talk he'd let you know you really are his HERO :)

so he DOES look like his daddy...

My family has always said that they think the first-born child looks just like their father, so Aaron and I assumed the same would be true with Everett. Sadly though, when Everett was born, we all thought he looked just like my family and nothing like Aaron! Yesterday we were finally able to see Aaron's baby pictures and I have to say Everett looks a lot like Aaron too! I'm really glad that Everett looks so much like his handsome dad :)

Aaron- October 1983

 

Everett- March 2010

Aaron- 1983

Everett- 2010

Diane and Aaron

Everett

Halloween

Aaron and I have been (what seems like) non-stop busy for the last 3 years. Because of this, we always miss our friends annual Halloween party. This year we finally were able to make it and got excited about brainstorming some costumes. Since I'm pregnant, we had a few less options, we decided to use the pregnancy for a costume idea. We decided on the lead roles from the movie JUNO. I dressed up as Juno MacDuff and Aaron was Paulie Bleeker. We got pretty close to looking like them (you can compare for yourself with the movie covor) haha we had a great time and were glad we could finally celebrate with friends!

here are a few pictures of our Halloween:

CAUTION: You are about to see a whole lot of my husband's thighs ;) haha

JUNO

my real life Paulie Bleeker

Juno

:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

So today is Kristen's birthday, and I (Aaron) thought I would post a note here without Kristen knowing. I've never posted anything, but since Kristen's passwords are easy to remember I was able to get on here and do it!

For those of you who don't know, Kristen is 26 today. A lot has happened in a year. We now own 2 dogs instead of 1, she is a few credits short of her masters degree, she got the assistant varsity coaching job at Downingtown East High School, and she is leading a womens bible study.

Through it all Kristen has managed to keep up with doing things on a regular basis that I often times take for granted: She makes me dinner every night, she does all the grocery shopping (mostly because she doesn't trust me to do it, with good reason), she takes the dogs for an hour walk every night, even if she doesn't feel like it, and she puts up with all my crap (and still manages to laugh at me). Case in point:

Even though I am totally ruining this picture from our trip to the beach, she still laughs



So I just wanted to take a few minutes to remind her that she is appreciated, even though I don't always show it or say it, and let everyone else know what an amazing woman I am blessed to have married!

I am going to end with a few Bible verses that remind me of Kristen

Proverbs 12:4 "A wife of noble character is her husband's crown..."

Proverbs 19:14 "Houses and wealth are inherited from parents,but a prudent wife is from the LORD"

Proverbs 31:10 "A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTEN, I LOVE YOU!!!!

5k day

RUNNING... It has never been my favorite, more of a means to an end to be in shape for soccer; however, I had a bunch of friends that ran in the Pittsburgh marathon and was inspired to start running again. About a month ago, I found a 5k race near us and decided to do it. Unfortunately, within that month, I only ran a few times, and only ran 3 miles once. ha! I dragged Aaron to the 5k with me and my friend Ashleigh too! The goal was to finish the race without walking and hopefully do it in a decent time. The course was hard (compared to my flat loop at home) with a good part of it going uphill.

At one point during the race I was feeling pretty tired- you know, when your mind starts telling you just to walk. Well, I heard a conversation going on between two runners behind me. It was a man talking about the fact that he had a heart attack the year before and wasn't allowed to get his heart rate over 160. He then went on to discuss the fact that he was running 15 5k's this summer, one of which he ran on Friday. It was at that point that I decided there was no way this man who was on the brink of death the year before was going to beat me to the finish line. I mean, come on- I'm a 25 year old, former collegiate athlete?! It ended up being the motivation that I needed, and we finished out the race at a good pace. We finished in 30:30 which wasn't great, but we were just happy to finish, considering we haven't really ran much since college. I was seriously impressed with some of these runners. The winner was a man who did it in 15 minutes! All in all, it was fun to do. I might even do another one this summer, although, I think I might run a few more times before the next one... ;)

fair weather fans...

Aaron's company is always getting us great tickets to Philadelphia sports, and Wednesday was no exception. Aaron got us tickets to the Phillies game behind home plate. They were in the first level right behind the diamond club. We were both excited to go and got there a little early to beat traffic. We were also a little nervous because the forecast had been calling for rain and we weren't under an awning. And, turned out we had a good reason to be nervous. We got into our seats in time for the national anthem and it started to pour. At that point we were already soaked so we just sat through it. It stopped raining in about the 3rd inning and we ended up just being cold and wet the rest of the game. haha BUT we just couldn't give up our great seats. They ended up losing 3-1, but at least they rallied toward the end. Jayson Werth hit a home run in the 9th to make it a little exciting! Either way, they were great seats and Phillies games are always fun. Hopefully we'll get those seats again... but next time without the rain!

happy 25th birthday aaron!

hahaha how can you not love this man? :)

atlantic city

so, this week on thursday and friday, aaron and i were in atlantic city. Aaron had to do some work at the Borgata and, because of all the overtime he put in on a project earlier this summer, his company paid for us to stay over. So we got a sweet room overlooking the bay, a free hotel, and an awesome dinner at Wolfgang Puck.

the crazy hotel entryway

again

and again

aaron and the view from our room

our sweet shower

aaron and i (and my new haircut!)