father's day

i told sam that he was exempt from all diaper duties today, and that he should go take a nap and be free of all parker responsibilities while he relaxed.

his response is exactly why he is an amazing father. he said, "i don't think that's the point of father's day. it's not a day for you to stop being a dad."

i am such a lucky girl to have the most amazing men in my life.


my dad has always done (and still does) whatever it takes to provide for his family, and always made sure we weren't lacking for anything.

he's always supported me in anything i put my mind to, and i can't recall a single time when i was told i couldn't do something. whether it was a new instrument, a new dog, a new sport, a new major, whatever... my parents made it work.

thank you dad. for everything.


and lastly, this photo. i love it because it captures the moment that my best friend, my husband, became a dad. this moment has changed everything and for that, i am grateful.

happy father's day.

7 Weeks Old & Busy as Usual

I can work out again!!!! Oh my gosh. It's glorious. It feels SO good to be back at the gym, pushing myself and getting back into shape.

Working out is my outlet. And for the last six weeks, I was told I couldn't have that. I was gnawing at the bit to get out and push my body to exhaustion again, to feel my muscles quiver, feel the sweat dripping off my forehead, and start working on the "squishiness" that has become my belly.

Well folks, I'm back. And I can't get out enough. I've been doing 5:30 am classes since Parker is up for a feeding around 4 or 4:3o and it works out well to feed him, give him to Sam to put back to sleep, run to the class, and come back before Sam is even out of bed to get ready for work. I love it.

My first day back I did a "BodyPump" class. It's a full body weight lifting class that works every major muscle group and needless to say, I could hardly walk the next 3 days. It was glorious.

So now comes the question... shall I commit to a triathlon in August?? I'm thinking about it. More on this later.

Enough about that... on to what we've been up to!!

Parker's 1st Mariner's Game


I've shared how much we love going to Mariner's games and we knew having a newborn wouldn't keep us away for long. Even though the M's suck and the game was over in the 6th inning when we were down 2-6, it was still a great time. No such thing as a bad day in SafeCo Field.

Parker did great. Sam carried him around in the Baby Bjorn and he slept for most of it, and when he wasn't sleeping, he was looking around and taking it all in. I reckon it was no big deal to him since he'd been there so many times in my belly.

Bekah Comes to Visit

My niece was able to come stay with us for a week and we had so much fun. And by so much fun, I mean hours of watching CSI, renting movies, eating popcorn, starbursts, doritos, and oreos, going shopping, getting Jamba Juice, more shopping, more movies, more CSI, and more junk food. Good times.

We spent a day downtown Seattle at the Science Center and hit up Laser Beatles. Yes, Beatles music set to lasers. Can you believe this girl didn't know who the Beatles were?? Well, she had a slight idea who they were, but didn't recognize a single song. Dang, I felt old.


It was so much fun having her around to keep me company for a week and I'm so glad she came. Thank you Bekah!! (And thanks Heidi for sending her :)

Parker LOVED her. He would just sit and coo and look her in the eyes and talk to her and smile and talk and coo some more. Then I told him she was his cousin and boy did he feel silly.


Well, that's about it for now. And just for the cuteness factor, I leave you with a picture of Parker snuggled up to Sam at church. Is anyone ever going to be able to convince me he is not the cutest kid in the whole world? Probably not.

5 Weeks Old & Visitors Visitors Visitors!

So apparently when you have one of these little guys (points to picture at top of post) people like to come see ya. This last week we've had lots of family and friends stop by and it's been a blasty blast.

Jason & Jodi

First, Sam's sister Jodi and her husband Jason came to stay for the weekend. We always have a good time with these crazy kids and this time was no exception.


Once she's here, Jodi never wants to put Parker down. She's such a good Auntie! This time it allowed for me to get a much needed shower while Sam was at work. Glorious.


After a morning of watching "Man vs. Food" episodes, we decided we needed to head out somewhere for lunch that could give us a similar experience. Delicious, slightly greasy, and unique food. We went to a burger joint in town that scratched that itch. Sam and Jason both ordered a burger named "The Duke" with two meat patties, bacon, cheese, pineapple, ham, and jalepenos. Freaking delicious.

Ben & Kim


Ben & Kim were passing through the area on Monday and were able to stop by for a bit to say hi. Kim and I got to talk babies and Sam and Ben talked HoopFest.

This is the 3rd year Sam and Ben have played HoopFest together and it's always a pretty good time. The first year they played they were the Champions of their bracket! It was a pretty big deal.

Actually, the whole tournament is a pretty big deal. HoopFest is the biggest 3 on 3 basketball tournament in the world. It's nuts. It's blocks and blocks and blocks of half court basketball games in the streets of Spokane. Like, hoops as far as you can see. It's always super hot out and I usually come home sporting a sweet farmer's tan.

We'll see how it goes this year with a 2 month old. We're hoping to build an early love for basketball for this little guy (who is watching Game 1 of the Celtics vs. Lakers series w/ Sam as we speak). It just might work... I mean, he did decide to come out of my belly the day after we went to the Blazers game, right?

Carl & Devin & Hayden

Devin is about as good of a girlfriend that any girl could ever be lucky enough to have. Did that sentence make sense? Seriously, she's the best. She's my college roomie, bridesmaid, and all around bff.

She's one of those girls you could tell your most embarrassing or shameless moments to and she would probably just laugh and say, "Oh my gosh, that's happened to me too." I love this girl.


Now we're all grown up with husbands and babies. She married a pretty cool guy and they have who I believe is the cutest 2 year old girl currently on the planet.

We don't get to see these guys near enough, but we always try to get together whenever we're in the same state. They stopped by Wednesday night to meet Parker and bring us some cake.

Mmmm. Cake.


Although our visits are never long enough, it's always so much fun to see these guys and we can only hope we live closer some day!! We're gonna have to, if Parker and Hayden are going to live happily-ever-eternally-after as their parents are planning them to...