A new kind of happy

So the other day we were clearing part of our grass to widen our driveway.  With the skid steer, Eric was scraping the top of the sod off and I was edging everything with a shovel.  Eric finished doing everything with the sod quick and so came to help me.  We only have one legit shovel.... the other one is a snow shovel and just does NOT work for what we were doing.  So Peyton was using that one, "being a big helper" of course.  Eric came over and said, "I got it Bre." as he reached for my shovel.  I brought the shovel in close and told him I had it handled.  At that moment, a familiar fierceness took over.  That feeling that girls can do it just as well as boys.  That I can do anything... and I was doing a great job so why did Eric need to do it!  He looked at me curiously and smiled.  "What?" I questioned him.  "You just usually let me do all the harder jobs." he said.

It was in that moment that I felt my whole self return!!!  I am that girl that's always taken great pride in doing things...... especially the hard things.  Manual labor makes me feel good.  I know lots of girls shirk from it but it's my favorite.  It's been such a long journey for us since we've been married.  Eric fell in love with a hard working farm girl who wasn't afraid to jump into any project right alongside him.  Then depression hit...... right after we got married.  Some days it was all I could do just to get out of bed.  June 13th marks our 5th year anniversary!  It's so crazy to me but it's taken me five whole years to find myself again!  

How did I find her?  With a shovel in my hand!! 

I truly am the happiest I've been in years!!!! 

Funny boy

We absolutely LOVE having Eric home on weekends now!  He only has to work one weekend out of 4 at thsi job!  It is the most wonderful thing to be able to all wake up as a family and have a lazy morning all together.  As we were slowly waking up over the weekend....... Peyton cuddled up next ot us and Sadie crawling over the top of everyone.... I said to Sadie, "Say ma ma ma ma ma."  Eric chimes in, "Say da da da da da."   Peyton pipes in, "No, Sadie.... say Peyton!" 

Ha, I love my little family!

Eric

Eric is the absolute best!  I can sit here and talk about him because he doesn't check the blog!  muahhahahahah!  I'm really so very grateful for this guy!  He is the greatest dad! 

He only grew up with one younger brother that was close to him in age so he's never ever been around small children before....... that does not matter at all.  He's so awesome about taking the kids when I have things to do in the evenings.  And he enjoys it!  They sure love their daddy! 

My heart melted in a pile of mush yesterday watching them together.  Eric has been designing and building his own chicken coop this week.  Peyton was out there helping him with the project.  Eric also took him to pick up three chickens in the evening.  When they returned, Eric said that Peyton was sooooo giddy about these chickens!!!  So darn excited!  Eric looked over at Peyton and asked him what happened when they got the chickens.  It was adorable to watch them take turns telling me how one of the chickens escaped and flew into the garage and landed on a car.  They really are just two peas in a pod.  Peyton was literally glowing with exitement about the chicken stuff......... and was completely covered in dirt from head to toe.  Eric had taken him to Walmart, to pick up the chickens, etc just like that...... does that matter?  NO!  I love how much Peyton loves his daddy, how excited he became about the chickens because Eric was, and how willing Eric is to let Peyton be with him wherever he is.  That's what matters....... the father son bond these two have going on! 

Eric loves his little girl too!  Sadie's not old enough to help out with projects but Eric frequently just stares at little Sadie and exclaims, "She's soooo darn beautiful!"  She is!  We will laugh together about the little things she does!  He is one proud papa! 

Cake Smash

Sadie Mae is almost one

I can NOT believe that my little baby will be one year this month...... seriously!!!!  What the heck?????!!!  And what a year!  I can't imagine life without her.  We've sure had our ups and downs with this little one.  From reflux issues, to worries about her weight, etc we've sure been worried about her.  Truth is, she's healthy as a horse. I don't know why I worry so much.  She is 5th percentile in her weight class now but i'm not a huge believer in those charts from the doctor anyway.  The important thing is she eats enough, she's on point developmentally with everything, and she's happy!!!  In fact.... over the last couple days she's gone from assisted walking with two hands to just one.  I let go of her hands and she stood for 10 seconds by herself and tried taking one step forward.  Yay!!  She should be walking anyday now!! 

Sadie loves splashing in water (as long as it's not in the tub.... we had a traumatizing experience one day in the tub and now she hates it).  She loves playing with Peyton or at least the same room.  I just love watching them when they dont know I'm watching.  It just makes my heart melt to watch Peyton share with Sadie or find her another toy to play with if he doesn't want her playing with the stuff he's doing.  She loves music and loves dancing to it.  I can't even sing her lullabies because it makes her want to wiggle and swing her arms up and down dancing...... not exactly a calming, soothing thing to her.  She is definitely a mommy and daddy's girl.  Not such a fan of other people.... which I'm ok with.  She's a little wiggler through and through.  The kid does not sit still to save her life.  She plays hard which is probably why she takes such good, long naps.  She takes two really long naps a day and sleeps 12 hours at night.  She's stubborn little gal...... she refuses to nap anywhere but her carseat.  She does sleep in her travel pen at night though!  She is super picky when it comes to food.  I pretty much try anything and everything to get her to eat well.  She does love taking her bottle though.  

She has the prettiest red hair and bright blue eyes!!!  We just love her to the moon!!!! 

My family!

 I had entered a giveaway for a photograher in Cache Valley a while ago and WON!!!  Crazy because I never win anything!  So this was a free photo shoot done by Brittney Irwin Photography!

Utah Trip

We got to go to Utah this month!!!  We always love going of course!  This trip was quite a bit different than usual but we still had a great time together.  We bought our tickets long long ago in anticipation of my sister's wedding.  One day before we flew out, she called to tell us the wedding was postponed.  Lots of mixed emotions but we were proud of her for her decision.  We were super bummed that we're now going to have to miss her wedding when it happens later on.  If only we had a money tree....ha.  That's all I'll say about that. 

 So we got on a plane with our two little munchkins and headed to Utah!! 

 Sadie and Peyton did so well!  The kindle that Eric had bought a couple months ago was a godsend.  Peyton just watched episodes of Mickey Mouse and Curious George the whole time.  Sadie is such a little go getter so it was just exhausting keeping her down.  They didn't cry much and it was great!  We pulled in to Whitney and Ben's house at 4 am eastern time which was killing us but we survived.

 Since Zach and Lacey are both at my mom's house now, we stayed with Whitney so we wouldn't have to kick anyone out of their bedrooms.  Whitney was sooo great!  We chilled, talked, watched The Voice, laughed, babysat, etc.  It was great being there.

 Tyler and Peyton cracked me up soooo much.  Overall they did well together, of course they had their moments but i'm so grateful for these times to build memories with their cousins. 

 Jamie came over a bit to chill out with us!!!!  Lydia is such a cutie!

 This is the view from my parent's backyard!  Lucky them!!!!!!! huh?  I soak these mountains up when we visit!

 Driving through town in our sweet rental car.... windows down and radio cranked!!!!!!  You have not lived until you've done that in Cache Valley!

 A quick trip to Carl's Jr. for some lunch!  The boys love that play place!

 Mmmmmm, veggies.That's right Sadie..... continue saying that.... all. your. life!!!

 My dad's chicken coops!  Peyton loves visiting the chickens... and ended up getting pecked while trying to feed them some grain.  Didn't deter him though.  So on a completly different note.... I blame my dad 100%........less than a week after we got back from Utah, Eric made a trip to Lowe's and returned with complete materials to build his own coop! 

 Bath time for the boys!!!  Tyler loved going crazy and splashing left and right which would make Peyton wail because he hates water on his face.  So it was a bit of a zoo.... but oh so fun!  Love how different their little personalities are~!!

 Walking to church..... only in Utah.  Then we came home to DRIVING 45 minutes to church! ugghhh

 We tried the jump zone again this trip!  It was successful!!!  We had gone there when we visited Utah in December and that's when Peyton had gotten hurt New Year's Eve.  So jump zone this time minus a trip to the E.R.

 Eric loved it!  He loved doing tricks and stunts into this pile of foam!!!!

 Here's our spectators!!!!

 Such good grandparents!!!  Love these guys!!!  Hurts my heart knowing how far away we live!  Sure miss those folks!

 We got to go to Clay's baptism which was wonderful!  We saw the rest of the extended family there including Lindsay who had just gotten off her mission the previous week!!!

 We celebrated Lydia's two year birthday one evening!  You know I love a good party!  We ate some ridiculously good food.  It's slightly absurd how wonderful the food is when we visit!!

 After all of our adventures winded down we jumped back on a plane and headed back to PA.

And the kids were exhausted......... THE END!

Just kidding!  We really did have a wonderful time!  I got to do a legit photo shoot while I was there.... my very first shoot that I actually made money.  That was a good feeling.  I love love loved staying with Whitney and Ben and was soooooo grateful for their hospitality and company.  But it was a little bittersweet because I really missed being at mom and dad's.  There is just something about staying at someone's house that gives you time and memories that you can't have any other way.   Maybe we'll just start rotating while we're there.  Stay a couple nights at each of their houses.  Hoping to go back sooon!!!!!