Oh what fun it is to be ONE!!

Hard to believe, but at 8:55am on December 3rd, Everly Mae was ONE YEAR OLD! What at joy she is! We are so blessed to be able to call her our daughter.

This has been an eventful week for us. For starters, we got a Christmas Tree! Everly is a very big fan of the lights and was a big helper in picking the ornaments up and putting them on the tree.

She even made sure to give them a kiss and wish them safe keeping for while they're on the tree.

Then later in the week Daddy got his bass guitar out and the two of them had a jam session. Everly loves dancing around and drumming on things whenever there's music to be heard. I like the picture that looks like she’s singing along :)

Another thing this week…a little someone started talking on the phone! Everly would hold it up to her ear and we’d say ‘hello’ and she’d start jabbering away. Too cute! In these pictures it looks like she’s tending to very some important business…maybe it’s her agent :)

And finally, Friday was her birthday! Dustin took the day off so we could all spend some time together on this momentous occasion. We even got to meet up with Grandpa and Grandma for lunch! What a great day. Can’t wait to see what’s ahead for this precious little peanut!

As We Move into Fall...

...Here's a brief recap of some late-summer adventures:

*We went to lots of weddings :)

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*We went on picnics. Everly loves being outside!

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*The 2010 State Fair... just what it's always cracked up to be :) We did see Uncle Nathan at the Drake booth... (look closely in the poster behind us)

Food stop next. I don't think we're ready for burgers yet!

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*Payton and Everly chowing down. Two little peas in a pod. We are lucky enough to have families in the church with babies Everly's age. We get together often during the week to play!

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*And as always...

Everly telling stories and loving life. So precious!

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Ohhh the Beach...

As great as Iowa is, one thing sure is missing... the ocean!

Our family had the privilege of going to Virginia Beach, VA for a week at the end of June. It was so much fun to be able to spend a couple days straight with everyone together without the normal distractions! This was Evie's first plane ride and trip to the ocean. (I think it was Dustin's first time too!)

She really liked watching the waves move back and forth, but wasn't a fan of getting her toes wet with them!

Here are all the kids! Good thing this shark didn't find us in the ocean :)

My Mom and I enjoying some good morning coffee

The boys on the Pier on VA Beach

And the cutest little crab ever...

Farmers Market!

On Saturday we went to the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market. It was a beautiful morning (summer's here!). It was Evie's first time for the season and I think she liked really liked it. There was so much for her to look at- people everywhere, puppies, bright and beautiful flowers! She never stopped moving, looking from one thing to the next. My parents took these cute pictures...

She's teething now, so everything she can get her hands around ends up straight in her mouth. We're at two teeth and counting...

This is just the first of many more fun summer outings here in DSM!

Garden Party

Our yard has been transformed in the last few days! My parents blessed us with their vast landscaping know-how and came bearing beautiful flowers and plants now living and growing in our backyard. It looks so wonderful and we're very excited to see everything fill in and grow, grow, grow! Maybe I'm biased, but now we have the prettiest yard on the block! Here's the crew in action, working hard...

Everly's kicking it with her friends as she's helping plant flowers...

Our first blooms!

Wedding Season...

Wedding season is upon us! We have many great friends and family getting married this spring and summer, so lots of wedding to attend... It's a great time to celebrate and catch up with brothers and sisters at church we don't normally get to see. It's a blessing to see two lives brought together by the Lord and be able to share their day with them.

Here are pics of Evie in her dresses from the last two weddings...

For Jay & Jill's Wedding. Evie's admiring how pretty she looks and probably trying to figure out the best way to get the dress in her mouth :)

For Anthony & Kathy's Wedding. Daddy's holding her here. I haven't been good with getting pictures at the actual wedding, so this is when we're back home.