Bruderer's Going Away Party

One of our FAVORITE families ever, the Bruderer's are leaving us for the great(?) state of Wyoming in a few weeks. Last Saturday they had a going away party and it was tons of fun! I made a salad that my step-mom always makes, and 3 hours into making it finally understood why she always says that it takes forever to make. We're going to miss the Bruderer's SO much, and are really sad that they aren't going to meet our little man this winter, but hopefully we'll run into them down the road somewhere!

Aaron and his dad sumo wrestled

Of course Aaron won. Only the Bruderer's would have sumo suits randomly laying around... thats why we love them!

Playing Puppies

We LOVE when Josh and Natalie get to come visit! And I guess their parents are alright too :-p One thing they always want to do (pretty much every second of every day) is come over to play with our puppies. We have to tell Natalie that they're sleeping half of the time, otherwise she won't let it go!

Josh loves to lay down on the floor and let them crawl all over him

Natalie is forever trying to get the dogs to lick her tongue... so gross...

Hopefully one day we'll all live really close together so the kids can come see the dogs any time they want, but until then, we really treasure the time we get to spend together!

First Ultrasound

Last Friday Aaron and I got to experience the amazingly fun time that is the first ultrasound. It was an adventure.

We drove separate cars because I had to hurry to work right after the appointment, and the second we pulled onto the road I remembered... "Oh crap, I was supposed to drink 50million ounces of water". They told me on the phone when I scheduled the appointment to drink 32 ounces or something crazy like that an hour before the appointment, and don't pee. Crazyness. Who actually remembers to do that? Not me. So when we got to the radiology office I started chugging water out of the dirty water fountain in the corner. I figured they just wanted me to drink all of the water because I had to pee in a cup and they didn't want to have to wait around for me to make some pee. Wrong.

A few minute later a scary Russian woman called us back for the ultrasound. She asked me a million questions, one of which was "Did you drink water?". Of course I said yes, because it was true. I mean, she didn't ask me how MUCH water I drank, or WHEN I drank it, so it wasn't a total lie. When she stuck the little thing on my belly she said "Your completely empty"... AKA no pee pee. Aaron freaked out because he thought that she meant I wasn't pregnant haha. I told her that I had actually just chugged some water in the waiting room and she rolled her eyes and probably cussed in Russian at me in her head.

She asked when my last period was and I told her it was the third week in March, but I couldn't remember the exact date. She told me that I'm a big fat liar because that would make me about 11 weeks along, and I'm really only 8 (though 9 now since that was a whole week ago!). I'm very confused how this woman knows when my period happened better than I do. I mean... I was there... I don't think she was. But anyhow...

Despite the scary ultrasound tech and my lack of urine, it was awesome. We got to hear the baby's heart beat and see it's adorable little hand stumpies and massively huge head. I'm so mad that I'm only 8 weeks along, because that means we have to wait another 12 to find out the sex (though I already know that its a girl). Our official due date is January 10th, which is 2 days after our wedding anniversary! Can't wait to see this little one!

It doesn't look like much at all... but the little blob between the two white plus signs is our baby! :)

College Graduation

So classes finished for me in December, but since only about 5 people finished at that time, they made us wait to walk until this May. At first I wasn't going to go, just because I hate graduations and it was so far after the fact of actually finishing school, but I decided just a few weeks before the ceremony that I wanted to go. It was SO uncomfortably hot but I'm glad we went. Aaron's mom and my parents and Grandma got to go, and I know my dad was really happy that I walked across the stage. It was a very nice day!

Aaron and I with his mom

With my dad and stepmom

With my grandma

Just the 3 of us!

Well, the news has been out for a little while now, but a certain sister-in-law of mine was bugging me to put it on our blog, so here ya go Amy!

WE'RE PREGNANT!!!! :)

My first appointment isn't for another 2 weeks, so I'm not EXACTLY sure how far along I am, but we're guessing I'm about 6 weeks. According to a due date calculator I found online, it said our little bundle of joy should arrive January 9th, which is a year and one day after we got married! It was a pretty big surprise, but we're pretty excited. I think Aaron is even more excited than I am, which is great! I played a fake pregnancy April Fools joke on him last month, and he was SO MAD and acted like it was the worst thing in the world (until I told him it was just a joke), so I'm glad that he had such a change of heart now that it's real!

Around the 3rd of May, Aaron randomly decided while cooking breakfast that getting pregnant right now wouldn't be the end of the world, and might actually be a pretty happy thing. He said that the April Fools joke I played on him really got him thinking, and he realized that it wasn't something to be mad about at all. It was great timing for him to have that realization, because 3 days later I took a test at home and it came out positive! After I took it I FLEW to his work freaking out and interrupted his swim lesson he was teaching to tell him the news! At first he was a little bit apprehensive and nervous, but now he's so excited! He even said the other day that he'd be okay with having a girl, and he'd totally do ballet with her in the living room. We're so excited and can't wait to find out what we're having! It's definitely gonna be a crazy 9 months!

Aaron's 22nd Birthday!

Aaron is officially older than me for 5 more months! He unfortunately had to work all day on his birthday, but I made him his favorite dinner (tuna steaks and asparagus) and a cheesecake (which he ate completely by himself). I love my man sooo much and can't wait for a million more birthdays together!

22

Enjoying his yummy cheesecake

New Job!

So in actuality, I'm writing this in May... but since it happened way back in February I changed the date to fake like I'm good at keeping up with this blog. :)

After months of searching, I finally got a new job! It wasn't exactly what I had in mind but I really love it so far! I quit lifeguarding at the gym, and I'm now a Human Resource Assistant at the HR office on Ft. Meade. Basically, I'm an office drone and sit at a desk from 9-5 but I love it so much more than working at Gaffney. I'm definitely still learning what the heck I'm doing, and I really miss seeing Aaron all day, but it's worth the trade-off of more money and actually enjoying being at work! So, if you are looking for a job give me a holler! :)

Trash the Dress

Way back before the wedding happened, our photographer had a contest on Facebook for one lovely couple to win a free Trash the Dress photo session. So of course we entered, and bugged our friends and family mercilessly until they voted for us, and we won!

So about 3 weeks ago we got to make the hike out to Columbia for our session! It was a ton of fun, Aaron HATES pictures but he was a really good sport about it because he know how excited I was. Here's some of my favorites that she took!

The most lopsided snowman ever!

His poor butt was freezing

Snow angels!

Sledding like penguins

He was being a jerk and trying to make the vine fall down so I would splat on my butt haha.

Thanks again to everyone who helped us win the session! We had tons of fun and love the pictures!

Puppy Love

Aaron and I are both really big dog people, so we knew from the start that there was a puppy in our future. We started looking around at shelters and rescues and found a cute little guy that we loved at the pound in Millersville. He's a 6 month old terrier mix that they found running around in Glen Burnie with his brother. We saw him on a Tuesday (2 weeks ago) and instantly fell in love. We filled out all of the paperwork and got ready to bring him home on Thursday! Wednesday before work we went to Petsmart and got ALL of the stuff for him (and it's a lot of stuff!) During the Petsmart extravaganza we got to thinking about his brother that was at the pound with him. He was definitely not as cute as our little guy we picked out, and seemed a little more hyper, but we decided to go back and get him too. Everyone thought we were crazy (and maybe we kind of are) but comeon, two puppies can't be THAT much harder than one... right? Either way, Thursday while Aaron was at work, I went and picked up our two crazy little guys!

Mac is on the left and Zak is on the right. They're super snuggly and love to cuddle with us in the LoveSac. Whenever we take naps they're right there with us snuggling up and keeping us warm!

This is Zak, the one that we got after the trip to Petsmart. Like I said, he's not as cute, honestly I think he's half raccoon or coyote or something. But he's so ugly he's adorable, and he's so sweet you can't help but love him.

Aaron totally plays favorites, he likes Zak more than Mac. But that just gives me and Mac lots of snuggle time, so I'm ok with it!

Our house it a little crazier now, there's always little feet running around the living room, and house training has definitely had its ups and downs. But overall we're really happy that we got two, they're definitely best buds, they're very attached to each other. When we take them out on walks if one gets ahead of the other he'll stop and wait for the other guy to catch up, and they're always snuggling with each other and giving each other kisses. We love our little puppies, they're a great addition to our little family!

The Real Deal Pictures

This past summer I was blessed enough to meet the most wonderful woman. I gave her adorable son swim lessons, and soon found out that she is a wedding photographer! Since then we've become great friends and she even trusts me enough to babysit both of her boys sometimes! We used her as our photographer for the wedding, and I am SO glad that we did. Aaron and I both hate getting our pictures taken, so the fact that a friendly face was behind the camera made it much more relaxed and fun. She did an amazing job, I can't believe how great the pictures turned out. Here are just a few of the over 500 amazing photos she took for us:

The bridal suite was pretty hectic before the ceremony started!

And of course the boys were hanging out bored in the hallway

I love that my friend Ally wore her curlers while she did my hair and makeup

:)

This is definitely one of my favorites

Check out that HOTTIE! You can check out the rest of the pictures of us prepping for the wedding on this link! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48423&id=1806521672&l=9babd9810a

Our niece and nephew were PERFECT walking up the aisle!

And my brother was so handsome walking me down!

Ohhhh yeah ;) Here's the link to the rest of the pictures from the ceremony http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48426&id=1806521672&l=76e1262aac

So fun!

Picking up Aaron is not so easy

How cute is this!?

:*

We pretty much got permission to smooch all day. Here's the rest of the formal pics! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48427&id=1806521672&l=51668efa88

Hee hee cake on his face

I love that she got all of the adorable random moments

:-p

Dancin ladies

Here's the rest! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48429&id=1806521672&l=7ea4a54efd

Jenni did a great job, I'm beyond pleased with how good they look. Check out her website if you ever need pictures for an event! She's a great friend and amazing photographer all rolled into one! :)

Wedding of the Century!

This past Saturday, January 8th, Aaron and I were married at the Savage Mill Manor in Savage, Maryland. It was such a fun special day, with all of our family and closest friends there to celebrate. It went off without any major mishaps, even the flower girl cooperated! (We were expecting at least a small tantrum)

We don't have the pictures from the photographer in yet (I'll put those up later), but here are some of the pictures our family and friends took:

After almost 2 hours of hair and makeup (done by my amazingly talented friend Melissa that I've known for almost 15 years) we were ready for the ceremony to start.

My little brother Joe was sweet enough to walk me down the aisle (though we both had no clue which side he was supposed to walk on and what the heck he was supposed to do once we got up there!) The ceremony was short and sweet, and then we moved on to the important part... FOOD!

We had our families and closest friends from work, school, and everywhere else to celebrate with us. They seemed to really like the food, it was almost all gone when we came in after taking pictures! We ate and mingled for a little bit, and then our niece and nephew decided that it was time to dance!

Natalie is in a "princess dress" phase, I think that's the only reason she cooperated as our flower girl. She made me dance with her for a long while, so we could twirl our "princess dresses" together.

Eventually Aaron came over and danced with me too :)

The bouquet was thrown...

The garter was... retrieved...

And the cake was cut. It was such a beautiful, special day and we were so glad to have all of our family and friends there to celebrate with us.

After all of the festivities we headed off in our decorated car to Ellicott City for our overnight honeymoon. We stayed in a super fun B&B after going out to a fancy dinner in Baltimore. I'm currently sitting at our dining room table, with my best friend in the whole wide world sitting across from me. We are loving married life, and so happy that our paths crossed and came together! We are looking forward to many years together and all of the excitement that life has to bring us!

The professional pictures from our photographer and friend Jenni will be up as soon as they come in! :) Thanks to everyone who was able to come out for our day, and we missed all of our friends who live too far to have made it!