Happy 2 Years of Wedded Bliss :)

Today marks Luke and I's 2nd Wedding Anniversary!  We didn't do anything super special though because 1) we didn't plan anything and 2) Carlos was SUPER fussy today (due to either teething or he's going through a growth spurt) and 3) staying home seemed like a more reasonable choice due to number 1 and 2.  We made fried breaded pork chops with green beans and a fruit smoothie for dinner.  The smoothie was an interesting, yet delicious combo.  We put peeled apple slices, pitted sweet red cherries, a splash of apple and orange juice, frozen raspberries and mangoes together and blended them to perfection.  It turned out really good too nomnomnom :P  Here's a pic of the meal and a pic of us (don't mind the fact that we look like bums ha ha...at least we showered today right?)

I love you Lucas!  The past 2 years have been the best of my life and I can't wait to spend the rest of it with you :)  I'm so lucky you are my husband and the father of our son!  Thank you for keeping me sane by always putting a smile on my face and being patient with me when I'm being stubborn.  I love you with all of my being.

~Nicole

Happy Independance Day!!

I love, love, LOVE the 4th of July!  It's one of the few holidays where I can wear all the stars I want and won't get too many weird looks ha ha :)  We spent the evening at one of Luke's coworker's house for a BBQ.  I made a flag cake for the occasion (which had caused me some minor frustration...more on that in a bit though) and we brought hot dogs and some fireworks to share. Carlos was all cute in his 4th of July outfit :D His shirt says, "Baby's First 4th".

I did my eye makeup with a festive flare :)

So, about the cake...I baked it according to the directions, following all the details. When it came time to get it out of the pan that is when disaster struck.  I flipped it over onto one of my cookies sheets, but when I did so I put it too close to one of the edges.  Me being the "bright one" instantly tried to pick up the cake and reposition it.  BAD IDEA!  It broke in half and instead of waiting a bit longer for it to cool more I continued to try to pick it up...the result was a very broken cake.  At first I was so distraught that I didn't want to even try to fix it, but after waiting a few minutes I changed my mind and went about fixing the cake.  Frosting is an excellent glue in case anyone was curious ha ha.  After 2 cans of frosting and some decorating it was all done! Here's the final result (since I didn't take any pics of the disaster):

It was a big hit too!  Fudge Chocolate Cake with Vanilla frosting, blackberries and raspberries for the toppings.  No one mentioned if they noticed the mishap after cutting into the cake (and I wasn't about to tell everyone what happened either ha ha).  I'm glad that I didn't give up on it.

We set off some fireworks after it got dark out.  We brought ground blooms and sparklers and a big fountain one called The Super Bullet (it was way lame though...definitely did NOT live up to it's name in my opinion).  We also bought a couple Hummer shaped ones (similar to tanks) and Luke modified the name to be Bronco #1 and Bronco #2.  He did that because 2 of the people at the BBQ were way into Broncos and both of them owned one each.  So we had a Bronco Battle (ha ha).  They turned out to be pretty neat.  After setting all the fireworks on fire it was getting pretty late and Carlos was getting super fussy and sleepy so we headed home.  Carlos is now in bed and Luke passed out on the couch so I guess I better go to bed myself.  Night everyone!  Happy 4th!! :D

~Nicole

The beauty of nature

I discovered this nest in our bush by the front door today and had Luke take a couple pics of it for me.  I have no idea what kind of bird it belongs to, but there are 2 eggs inside of it :)  I thought I'd share my discovery with all of you!

~Nicole

Family Summer Vacation! WARNING: this is going to be loaded with TONS of pics

The last couple weeks have just flown by!  We had a BLAST in Utah visiting my family!  I wish we could have stayed longer!  Here's a recap of what we did while we were there:

we went on a walk with Grandma April (my Mom) the first night we were there

I went and visited my best friend (of 15 years!) Shanna at her home in Lewiston

passed out

sweet baby toes :)

all curled up

Mom tried to feed him a bottle, but he would have nothing to do with it ha ha

chilling with his Uncle Todd (my sister's husband)

the newest babies in the Wegener family!

Carlos is the youngest at 2 months old, Lydia is 6 months old and Trey is 3 months old (and almost twice the size of the other 2 babies ha ha)

snuggling his Aunt Megan

my Dad holding Carlos @ the condo in Bear Lake

the huge castle that the boys built by the lake

what it looked like the next day

being cute @ Great Grandma&Grandpa Johnston's house

happy boy :)

laughing @ me when I told him I loved him

his thinkin face

Devil's Slide

hanging out with his Aunt Megan and Uncle Dusty @ Uncle Tom's Cabin :)

napping on Great Grandpa J (just like I used to do)

being his usual cute self :D

watching Luke and Dusty play cards

playing Kings in the Korner

I was waiting to slap back in ha ha (I forgot what this game was called...)

snuggling with Grandpa :)

 Weber River

skipping rocks on the river before we played some Pooh Sticks :)

this is my goofball of a father

Some of the wild life that we saw while at the cabin:

a pretty humming bird

a buck

a moose!  he got really really close to the deck of the cabin

riding bikes down to the river to play Pooh Sticks (which we didn't get to do because there were a couple people fishing right next to the bridge...)

so we threw rocks in further down the river instead

good morning sunshine :D

Logan was having fun with my hair ha ha

Logan does NOT like babies at all so this was a big step for him

and this was a HUGE step :)

my cutie pie :)

Luke caught a 19 inch Rainbow Trout and "accidentally" killed it...he said it was traumatized and didn't want to swim back ha ha

The flight out to UT went really well (of which I am sooo grateful!).  Carlos slept for almost the entire flight (it helped that we had a non-stop one) and we sat next to a really nice older couple that helped me with him when we were departing the plane.  I'm glad that his first flight wasn't an awful experience for the both of us (especially since I was flying by myself.  Luke didn't get to UT until Friday morning (the 25th).  We spent the first part of the week with my Mom before heading up to Bear Lake for the Wegener Family Reunion.  We had family pictures done at the reunion on Friday and the reunion ended on the 27th.  I can't wait to get the family pics back so I can frame them!  We had a ton of fun at the reunion!  We played games, ate lots of yummy food, swam, went to the beach and so much more!  Luke learned that my family isn't the best at playing poker (he went in with $2 in change and came back with $25...all. in. change...my coin purse is REALLY heavy now ha ha).  

After the reunion was over on the 27th we went to my Grandma and Grandpa Johnston's for the night and then went up to my Uncle Tom's Cabin (I really do have an Uncle Tom and he owns the family cabin) for a couple days with my Dad and the family.  We played games, rode the ATV's, stargazed and had tasty food all while enjoying our time together :)  

We had Carlos blessed at my grandparent's church while we were there too on the 1st.  My Dad was nice enough to do the ceremony for us (Thank you so much Dad!) and we had a bunch of family there for support :)  Luke and I visited a couple of his friends while we were there too.  He went fishing yesterday morning with one of them and accidentally killed one of the fish (it was supposed to be catch and release and the fish didn't want to swim away after they released it..).  We found someone who was willing to take the fish off of our hands ha ha.  We did family pics with Mom that night and then went to his other friend's house for a BBQ.  

Sadly, our fun had to end :(  We came home today.  We took Dad to the airport with us this morning (his flight was 3 hrs before ours) and spent the rest of the day traveling.  Carlos did well on the first flight from SLC to San Francisco, but the flight from there to HI was a doozy.  He's been pretty fussy up until a few min ago when I put him to bed.  Hopefully he'll feel better in the morning.  Well, I hope you lasted this long on my update of our fun-filled vacation!  Sadly we won't be going back to UT until we are leaving Hawaii for good next Fall :(  We miss all of you and love you even more!  Until next time, T-T-F-N!

~The Sullivan's