arrrrrrrizona where the wind comes sweeping down the plain...

errr... desert.  but either way, we had a wonderful time in arizona and i'm way overdue to blog about it :)  i spent more than a week out there with addie bird and nate joined us for the last few days.  cassie & cadiem were out to visit at the same time so it was mass chaos and oh so much fun :)

here are some photos from our adventures!

the cousins looking chummy :)

cousin love :) (or, "please don't let me fall off the couch!")

enjoying the weather at the cabin!

more cousin togetherness at dad's house- addie loved to watch whatever cadiem was up to!  cadiem kep saying "addie is my best friend."

Cadiem hanging out with Dad :)

Addie loves Gigi -- gets a serious case of the giggles every time she sees her! :)

Mom with the kiddies!

Nate and his partner in crime.

Love this one of Cassie & Cadiem :)  wish it was more in focus!

Marty and the kiddies!

swimming again!

we spent a great day with the conroys in the pool- and addie loved it again :)  she wore her new suit from aunt laura this time and it looked super cute!

Quite proud of herself, isn't she? :) 

Ready to swim!

It's easy to relax when the water is 87 degrees!

Swimming with Mommy!

A very relaxed group :)

saturday nights and sunday mornings

it's been a great weekend so far :)  i had lunch with a friend on friday, here's addie and i rocking the sling at qdoba:

What's a burrito Mom?

despite the heat, we headed to the ocoee food truck round-up on friday evening with a few friends- lots of the area food trucks gather every month and there is quite a selection!  there were a ton of tempting items... i almost went for the mac&cheese that had bacon and other yummy adds but i ended up with a philly cheese steak complete with cheese wiz :)  nate got a delicious burger ("the western": Angus Beef, Bacon, BBQ, Fried Onion Ring, Lettuce & Tomato on Olde Hearth brioche) and we split some seriously tasty fries.  all of our items came from the treehouse truck.  we followed that up with some yum yum cupcakes that were also delish!

Growing food this is not.

Addie & Daddy enjoying the ambiance (it was SO hot!)

saturday night was this weekend's big event, the bottlenecks played in winter garden!  they're on the stage in the back left corner of this photo- the place was packed!  as usual, friends and family turned out by the dozens so we had a great crowd and a fantastic time :)  i always joke that it feels like a wedding- totally hectic and so many people to talk to- i love it!  nate and i also got a babysitter for the first time!  i was a little nervous of course, but it went okay :)  she was asleep when i got home and seems to have survived a night without me putting her to bed ;)  i have to admit, i was super excited for her to wake up in the middle of the night to eat so she'd know i was there- i've never run to her crib so fast when she woke :)  weird, i know.

The Bottlenecks and their fans pack Mooncricket :)

today is a lazy day, nate just ran to the grocery.  i think he's still jealous of my cheesesteak from friday night so he's trying to recreate it using an asian spiced steak leftover from dinner last week... i'm skeptical but his leftover creations usually turn out pretty tasty :)

is it fall yet?

i know it's just finally gotten hot, but i'm over it!  looking forward to cooler weather and beach trips :)  but in the mean time, we are enjoying the a/c and dressing addie in adorable little sundresses!

nate's practicing for CROW this week (Canoe Races of the World).  it's a great cast activity where you show up to magic kingdom bright and early (6am-ish) and with the help of 9 other people, row a concrete canoe as fast as your arms can carry you around tom sawyer's island.  we've both been participating for years although this is now the second year in a row i haven't.  last year i was pregnant but couldn't share yet so i just lied and told everyone i was too busy.  despite the ungodly early hour, it's great fun :)  it's also pretty incredible to see magic kingdom empty first thing in the morning!

the #1 question people ask me about addie when making random small talk is "is she a good sleeper?" or some variation.  i've found myself doing it too, i'm not sure why :)  and well, she used to.  lately she's been up quite a bit more.  i go back and forth between being all zen about it and pulling out every book i have on baby sleep and developing countless strategies.  they inevitably all go to hell the minute she starts crying at 2:30 am of course :)  i should probably just stick to the zen side of things ;)

i can't believe it's the last day of june!

starting in july, i'm going to try and complete this photo a day list -- i found doing things like this encourages me to carry my camera around and keeps me more creative with photography -- so i'm aiming to get all 31 come the end of july although i may not complete them each day :)  i'll post them here as i knock them off!

radical homemaker... domestic engineer... stay at home mom

well whatever you want to call it!  as of july, i will be staying at home with miss addie!  i'll still be working from home part time so i didn't completely dive into the deep end of stay at home mothering, but i'm super excited to be spending more time with addie and keeping things organized around the house for our family.  i'm hoping to also use the time to pursue photography a bit more, but we'll see how much time is left in the week after addie, work, and home stuff.

it was a big decision for nate and i, but a relatively quick one.  once i'd been back at work a week, we started talking about it and realized it was both something we could do, and something i wanted to do- both key to the decision!  so here we are, embarking on a new phase :)

back from pennsylvania!

we're back from addie's first trip to pa and we had a wonderful time!  it was a quick trip but everyone came to see us on saturday so we were able to get a lot of visiting in :)  addie did great with the flights and had fun meeting everyone.

nate and i even took a few hours to do a canoe trip on the yough which was great :)  we left addie in the wonderful hands of nina, linda and granny so we knew she'd be well cared for ;)

we also celebrated father's day (nate's first!)

back into the blogosphere!

well in the longest break i think i've ever taken from my blog:  we had a baby!  and we cannot get enough of her.  and although everyone says, "you won't know what you did without her," that's entirely untrue.  i know exactly what we did without her!  we went out to long relaxed dinners, we sat on the porch and drank wine uninterrupted, we paid more attention to cleo, and we spent less money on diapers.

but it is so worth it.

Hello World!

she's such a fun smiley baby, our little bird.  and we're starting to get a few more laughs and giggles out of her too which is really fun :)

so i decided to start blogging again.  there are at least several sets of adoring grandparents so i'm guaranteed at least a few readers ;)  i'm also planning on getting back to cooking dinner at home and a few photography projects as well, so i plan on sharing all that here too :)

ah vacation- especially the cruise variety!

we recently returned from a cruise with my family and it was wonderful :) it was a first cruise for most of us- i've been on 3 but was always working, nate's been on i think the same number +1 where he was relaxing and i was working but for everyone else, this was a new experience!

i exist!

 nate, cassie, cadiem and i shared and a room that adjoined with mom and marty's room so we had plenty of togetherness :) i really enjoyed the ship, it had lots of beautiful places even from inside the ship where you could see the water. notes for next time: even if the kid isn't old enough to be in the kids' clubs, it still matters whether or not the cruise is family oriented! when mom and i were looking at cruises, i knew celebrity wasn't really for the family crowd but i wish there had a been more for cadiem to enjoy! regardless, he had a great time just being 2 and silly and playing with his trucks/trains :)  i think this is my favorite picture of cadiem from the trip (hanging down from cassie's bunk eeaaarrllly in the morning) :)

 i posted a ton of pictures on our smugmug (in November 2011), the cruise was a 5-night and stopped in both roatan, honduras and cozumel, mexico.  cassie and marty did some snorkeling in roatan while the rest of us enjoyed the beautiful beach but other than that, we didn't get into too much :)

in cozumel, we took a ferry over to the mainland near playa del carmen which was rough!!  i've never actually gotten seasick but i did on the way over to playa!  cadiem also didn't feel great but luckily he never got sick, just nauseous- he slept it off though, and marty carried him through playa :)

the reason we ferried over was totally worth it :)  we toured the mayan ruins at tulum.  it's a gorgeous setting right on beautiful cliffs and beach.  i wish we'd had more time to explore but it was such a neat thing to see!  next time i'm bringing my swimsuit :)

once we were back in cozumel, mom & marty headed back to the ship with cadiem and cassie, nate and i stayed to explore with the couple of hours we had left until all aboard.  nate asked around for a great taco place and we were directed several blocks away from the main tourist area to a great place!

while at dinner, cassie realized both her seapass and passport were in the diaper bag... which mom had taken with her.... on the ship.  it was then we got a bit nervous :)  we quickly finished dinner, hopped in a taxi, and made it back to the port!  but... getting on the pier was a no go without ID (there was quite a bit of discussion over the walkie talkie about the fact that we were sisters to try convince whoever was on the other end, but still to no avail).  we decided nate would be the fastest and sent him off to the ship while we waited at the entrance to the pier (which at this point was looking relatively deserted)!  despite the mild panic, we actually had a really nice conversation with the security guards while waiting for nate to return.  then, word came through on the radio: we were clear to go (nate had talked to security on the ship and had us cleared)!  we headed off to the ship (by this time i think there was maybe 15 minutes until sailing) and had to stop at each security point to re-explain and ask them to radio back to the original guards that had let us pass.  finally we got back to the ship, and nate was there, seapass card in hand!  whew!  thanks to nate, we didn't have to leave cassie in mexico, i think cadiem might have missed her :)

after all that adventure, we had one more relaxing day at sea:

and then arrived back home :)  all in all, it was a wonderful vacation and all of us got to spend so much great time together!!  i was sad to see everyone head back but luckily i'll at least get to see cassie and mom relatively soon :)

back from the dead?

wow... i think i've sunk to a new low in the history of this blog when it comes to post frequency!  i'm going to indulge in a brief explanation of why and then get on with it :)  at first, i was just slacking.  then, at the end of june we found out we were expecting a baby (!) and i didn't blog because it was such a big thing and i couldn't even tell people yet!  then, i fell asleep for roughly two months so there wasn't any blogging then either.  then i ran out of excuses and now it's almost november :)  but oh my goodness, there's been a lot going on!  mainly two things:

1. we're expecting a baby (after a looooooonnnnnnggggg few years, more on that later) and could NOT be more excited!  we found out today she's a girl :)  i cannot wait for march 4th!!
2. nate had a dirtbike accident while we in arizona and broke his back, his arm, and his finger.  he was out of work for a month and still isn't back to 100%!  he's pretty much recovered but has a whole lot of exercises to do at home and still needs to be very careful not to reinjure anything.  we also learned nate has a high tolerance for pain ;)  while in the ER, he pegged his pain tolerance at a 2-3 on a scale of 1-10.  imagine our surprise when the doctor came sprinting back in with the x-ray results to tell us that he broke his back!

the good news is, he'll be good as new by the time the baby shows up so that's fantastic :)

the hot days of summer

well it's officially hot!  and after a bit of a random start to the weekend, we've had a great lazy weekend.  good food, plenty of time with friends and with each other, and plenty of time in the a/c which is totally key right now :)  we're planning out several trips for the rest of the summer to cooler locales which always helps keep us sane :)  hope your summer is about to kickoff with a great start! :)  wishing you plenty of watermelon, ice cold beer, a/c, swimming pools, margaritas and the beach :)

ivey arrivals tomorrow!

and the next day too! john and nina will be here tomorrow, followed by laura on friday :) they'll be here for an extended weekend and we're very excited to have them :)

virginia is cold!

but surprisingly... not that much colder than florida was when i left :) add "waiting for the plane to defrost" to the list of the many travel delays i've experienced in life! the plane was scheduled to leave at 7 a.m. before the sunrise, so they explained that since we had a hard freeze the previous night, we had to wait for the sun to come up and melt the ice! it took about an hour and fifteen minutes of sitting in the sun and readjusting the plane, but finally, we were cleared for takeoff. i've been having a great time, cassie's friend hosted an absolutely fantastic shower for her with amazing food (and drink!) :) today, mom headed back to charlotte to catch her flight and cassie and i are putting the baby furniture together. jeff's at work but will be home tonight to hang out with us :)

pittsburgh's going' to the superbowl (and so are the cardinals!)

pittsburgh and arizona in the superbowl! how cool is that? back when they both made it to the playoffs, i was hoping it would end up that way, although i didn't really think it would :)

i'm cheering for the steelers though, i was never really even a football fan until nate and i got married ;) i am really excited to see the cardinals in it though, my dad has been a lifelong cardinals fan!

in other news, i'm headed to blacksburg this weekend for cassie's baby shower so i'm very excited for that! oh and of course, i'm way behind on pictures, but i'll catch up in february sometime when our weekends slow down :)

i won grandma!

go steelers!

if you don't follow football closely, the steelers are in the playoffs :) they beat the chargers last week and we were at our usual place to watch the game, beef o' bradys :) here's a shot of the group in front of the bar. it is, obviously, a steelers bar ;) nate and i are on the bottom right!

still kickin'!

just been busy :) we've opened the ivey bed and breakfast for the season ;) the weather has been beautiful too, so it's a great time to be in florida!

last week, nate's good friend from punxsy and his wife (who now live in d.c.) were here to visit. we had a great time :) and they have 2 dogs, 1 of whom is a frenchie and although they didn't make it to FL, they enjoyed cleo and she REALLY enjoyed them :) she spent the week happily getting her belly rubbed and being doted on.

this week the ghoons are here and it's been great so far :) unfortunately the weather's been a bit cold but hopefully it will warm up a bit this weekend so we can go pick some citrus!

next week is cassie's baby shower so my mom and i will both be in VA for that and i'm really excited to be there. nate'll be home in FL with cleo, i think he has all kinds of activities planned for himself :)

god help us all...

our new camera has a video feature! (thanks john and nina :) ) here's the first video i took (well.. technically not the first. the first was the same thing but with nate complaining that i was taking a video and he made me retake it)

merry christmas everyone!

enjoy :)

merry nate & bri christmas!

so nate and i celebrated our christmas this morning :)  (much like the pennsylvania 'thanksmas,' we move the holiday to where it's convenient!)  we played scrabble on 'christmas eve' lastnight.  i thought our santa table decoration coordinated rather well with the scrabble bag.  doesn't it look like his bag of toys?

 

it was a tough board!  we were mostly confined to the lower corner due to some bad start out words (ahem... nate)  and my letters were atrocious!  at one point, i swear i had all i's.  and this rack, which totally made me want to spell hee-haw (but i doubt that's an acceptable scrabble word!)

then nate spelled 'pinna,' which i challenged, and lost.  apparently pinna is a long forgotten botany word.  i don't think he knew that though, i think he just got lucky!  :)

 

after christmas eve, we were excited for christmas morning to arrive!  we got up early(ish) and started with stockings!  (ours are new this year, i finally found some i really liked :)  cleo's has been around for a few years though)

 

then we had the dogs pose by the tree.  for those of you who don't know, benny is a dog we've been dogsitting for the past month and a half (his owner was injured and can't walk him at the moment).  he went home today, but not before he and cleo got their picture together.  you may remember that cleo doesn't like to sit too near other dogs. 

can you believe that pile of gifts in the back is all for us?  nate went a bit overboard this year :)  he even had a few adressed to himself.... from santa.  including this one, a book on tennis skills:

 

santa was all about tennis this year.  he also got nate and i a costco size supply of tennis balls, and a ball hopper!  i got all kinds of goodies including a new camera bag to hold all my gear, a really cool calendar of paris, cool photography books, a new outift, etc.  :)

after 'christmas morning' we had what nate affectionately calls 'mexican breakfast':  refried beans, fried potatoes, and tortillas.  it was super tasty if i do say so myself :)  

and the best part is?  christmas isn't even over yet!  lots more family time to come :)  hope your holidays are happy!