Time flies when you're having fun...

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of me living in our house (sorry the picture is a little hazy, I didn't think of taking it until almost dark). When Brad and I bought it and I moved in a year ago I had no idea how much my life would change in only 365 days.

Over the last year, I lived alone for the first time in my life, Brad and I got engaged (in the house, actually), we got married, added Oliver to our family and so much more. We had an exciting year of "firsts" in our house. We celebrated our first Halloween there (which is an entirely different story, but I definitely wasn't prepared for the chaos that erupted in Letson Farms that night), we've hosted our friends and family, made new friends, decorated "our first" Christmas tree (a hand-me-down from my parents, but still, our ornaments) and really began building a life independent from our respective families. The last year truly has been a whirlwind of ups and downs (more ups than downs--I'm incredibly blessed) and I can't help but realize just how quickly time passes by. Who knows where we'll be in our journey this time next year?

I am excited to see where our paths lead and even happier knowing that I have a wonderful companion on my journey. Brad is an awesome husband and I am so happy that our house not only sets the perfect scene for our story to begin to unfold, but that the characters that surround us are so fantastic. We are blessed by the opportunity to love and be loved by so many wonderful people!

Happy Father's Day!

This could quite possibly be one of the worst pictures of dad ever, but it's funny!

Our Father's Day weekend was rather uneventful (in a very good way). Brad and I were fortunate enough to get to spend some quality time with both of our families and each other, so it was nice. Friday night we relaxed together with dinner at Taziki's (a Friday night favorite) and trips to Target and Best Buy. We finished out the night watching Evan Almighty curled up on the couch with Oliver, it was perfect! We haven't had a lot of opportunities to just hang out lately.

Saturday we celebrated Father's Day early with lunch at my grandparents' in Jasper. We had a really great time. They always have incredibly funny stories to tell and everytime we go we come home saying we should definitely visit more often. I wish they lived closer to us!

We spent most of Saturday night at Allie's house. Fortunately, she let us bring Oliver with us because he had a present for my dad too. Dreamland is one of dad's favorite so we had ribs, bbq chicken and banana pudding and showered him with presents. He always says he "doesn't need anything" but gets as excited as a small child when you give him gifts. Allie and Brian introduced Brad and me to Rock Band. I was surprised by how much fun we actually had playing. Our ridiculous pictures are below. Mom and dad were also very into it--it was hilarious and so much more fun than I'd imagined!

Real Rockstars!

Such a dork!

He was very intense on the drums!

Sunday, after Oliver and I celebrated Father's Day with Brad, we had Brad's dad and sisters over for lunch. Brad cooked excellent steaks--everyone was impressed with his grilling skills (fortunately, I benefit from them almost nightly). Brad's dad stayed for much of the afternoon; it was nice having time to hang out with him at our house. Unfortunately, Dawn and Rebecca had to leave early, but at least everyone got to be together for a while. Brad insists we have to do it more often.

We don't have too much lined up for this week, hopefully just some down time. I started a Jan. 1 yesterday for healthy eating, so I can't wait to see how long I last this time around. Oh well, it's worth a try!

We've officially been "parents" for a month now. Yesterday was Oliver's one month anniversary at our house and I'm happy to say we've at least made some progress with the training and biting. We're definitely not all of the way there yet, but he's getting better. I can't believe he'll be 12 weeks tomorrow!

On Monday we took him for his check up and he's 100% free of coccidia, so we're very excited about that. I think he's a little disappointed that he won't be taking his butterscotch medicine anymore, but he'll deal. He has also gained a pound since our last visit three weeks ago, we're up to 3 lbs. 12 oz. and the vet was very happy about that. He said he's on track and looking healthy (I think it's because of his good parents, haha).

Monday Brad and I also had our first real "proud parent" moment while we were waiting at at the vet. This very sweet gentleman kept looking at Oliver and asking us questions and then typing away on his blackberry. Not long after he had been sitting idle waiting on his pup, he sweetly asked if he could take a picture of Oliver because he was just "too cute!" We of course said yes and loved every minute of it, Oliver was super excited about all of the attention he was getting. Yes, he was by far the cutest puppy at the vet that night and he knew it!

We've had a super busy week and the weekend is shaping up to be equally packed. We'll be celebrating Father's Day with my Grandad in Jasper, my dad at Allie's house and then with Brad's dad at our house. I'm excited about another opportunity to use all of the fantastic wedding presents we have (sorry to disappoint but I don't serve dinner out of our nice stuff every night). Hopefully today I can get out at lunch and finish up shopping. I really need to get on top of everything!

Time for another work week!

When I sat down to write this blog, I realized that I don't really have much to report from the weekend. We were pretty low key. Girls Night and a dinner date are about it. However, I am quite grateful for weekends like this--not a lot of stress and fuss, plus I actually had the time to completely clean my house--top to bottom and actually enjoy it for a while. It was nice; I'm easy to please.

We started my "long" weekend (I took Friday off to get a head start on cleaning, I'm a nerd), with Oliver's second bath. He did much better this time, or maybe having Brad's help made it seem easier? Either way, it was much less painless for me and he seemed to be far less traumatized. He's growing like crazy, but he looks like a little rat when he's all wet. I'm proud of him, we've had far fewer accidents over the past few days and when we were home just the two of us on Saturday, he actually behaved himself--no crazy biting binges or accidents, which is always a plus. Today wasn't quite the same story, but I think we're making some progress.

Girls Night was fantastic! We had a fabulous dinner (and even better drinks) at Bonefish and then headed to see the new Sex and the City movie. The movie was good, but the company for the night was even better. I'm so glad we were able to get together--I have to remember to plan these nights more often. I have the best friends in the world! Below is Sissy's excited face--she counted down the minutes until the movie came on, which took great patience considering we had to get there nearly an hour early to get a seat. Can you believe they actually had a policeman guarding the doors before they opened? Yes, people were CRAZY about this movie.

Nothing much else exciting, off to prepare for the week!