Christmas Photo Shoot

Photos courtesy of the lovely Jordan Lydia (Shaw) Grimmer. She's amazing.

Blast from the Past

I was searching through our pics today, trying to find the hundreds of photos that mysteriously disappeared when Will installed Windows 7...when I stumbled upon these gems.

The weekend we got engaged. Good times!

Taking in the views at Lake Tahoe during our honeymoon. I had strep throat- not fun.


Will and I celebrating our first anniversary! May 2006
You can barely make out the nastiness that was a Wymount cinder block wall. Ick.

Jen, you're probably going to kill me, but I just couldn't resist posting a picture of you with blond hair! And look at Sydney- so little! This was 3 1/2 yrs ago.
Will and Josh that same day.

Celebrating Willard's graduation. He really, really wanted to walk with long hair-the ultimate BYU rebel. And he definitely stood out as the only Masters in Accountancy grad with Jesus-like locks.

And finally, a picture of Will and I on the day we first met. (can you spot us?)

It's funny to look back on where we started and where we are right now. Life sure throws you some curve balls, doesn't it? Luckily, we've kept our sense of humor through it all and just keep on trucking.
Btw, this is what I see out my window every morning.

Only now, the mountains are snow-capped. It's beautiful.

2 years old?!

My baby is officially not a baby anymore! I can't believe it. Though I do believe that the terrible twos are REAL and a force to be reckoned with. Here's what Fal's been up to lately...

-She loves to draw circles (though she refers to them as o's) on absolutely everything- balls, books, cabinets, windows. We've had a lot of cleaning up to do, as far as that goes...
-Yo Gabba Gabba is still at the top of her list. Fallon loves to sing the songs from YGG and dance and dance, with her Toodee and Brobee dolls of course.
-Will encourages Fal to draw on herself- he thinks it's funny. I, on the other hand, do not feel that way...because I am the clean-up crew! Her arms and legs are always covered in marker or pen and she loves to show off her creations.
-Nursery is a breeze these days. Fallon runs right in yelling "Toys! Toys!". She loves it!
-She counts everything! Though, anything beyond 3 is usually extremely inaccurate, it's neat to see her beginning to understand numbers.
-Fallon can climb out of anything. She's been climbing out of her crib for a while now, and has just recently learned how to climb out of a pack-n-play. The other day she crawled out of the shopping cart, and today she climbed out of her highchair. Why did my daughter have to be an escape artist?

My cousin Jordan took some gorgeous pics of Fallon yesterday, for her birthday. It was 60 degrees, sunny and lovely. Today it has rained nonstop. Oh, Washington and its silly weather.
Anyway, Jordan did an amazing job- I can't get over some of these pics!

Cruel Summer

The Howes have been pretty elusive this summer, my apologies to all of our dear friends. It's just been a jam-packed past few months. We've been able to spend alot of time with family, which has been nice. Buuuut, driving from the Mexican border to the Canadian border was not so nice. And now our poor car is definitely feeling the burn (2 break-downs in the last month!).

Anyway, we have finally settled down for the rest of 2009. I'm going back to school to finish my degree- yay! Since having Fallon, there hasn't really been a time where I've felt like returning to school was an option, really. It's hard work being a mom. But right now, Heavenly Father has blessed me with the opportunity to just do it- there's a college 3 blocks from my house and Fallon is finally done nursing. So, I have NO excuse!

Pictures from our most recent trip to my family's mini-reunion.






Our venture to Utah to see my brother off on his mission to Macon, GA. We miss you, Joe!




Our crazy friends, The Brownsteins, spent a weekend in San Diego and we joined them at the SD Zoo. Poor Rebecca was really pregnant, and the zoo is pretty dang big, so she opted for a wheelchair- despite its extremely embarrassing backing-up beeping (you know what I'm talking about...BEEP...BEEP...BEEP-like a garbage truck or something). I think it was a wise move, except I still can't believe that they charge you for it!
Here she is in all her wheelchair glory...work it out!
Will took it for a spin...
Where else can you see a cheetah going for a walk?

On the Fallon front, she has recently befriended her shadow. They sing and play together and have a grand old time. Maybe it's time to find a playgroup...

Also, Fallon has learned how to climb in and out of her crib. Nap time can be a little tricky, since she likes to climb out, grab some toys, throw them in her crib, and then climb back in. Repeat an infinite amount of times.
But I must say, I love that she can run into our room in the morning all by herself. The first thing I hear is: "Mom! Mom! Mom!"
I love it.

Fear-mongering...

...has led me to this cute and useful site:

Food Storage Made Easy

It has great lists and advice that make food storage and emergency preparedness very approachable. I usually get so overwhelmed with all the different options and the urgency of food storage, that I never really follow through with creating a viable food supply. Anyway, I made a promise to myself that this time will be different!

PS This is what reading The Road does to you.

The Road

Have any of you guys that have read The Road watched the movie trailer for it? The movie official release date isn't until Oct. 16, but I've been obsessing over it.
In college, I was NOT a Cormac McCarthy fan. I had/have great respect for his talent and ideals, but just didn't float my boat. The Road is the exception. Amazing. Beautiful. Horrifying. Read it!!
Anyway, here's a link to the trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbLgszfXTAY

What do you think? Will it do the book justice? (Of course not...) Will you see it? (Hello? Viggo Mortensen! Yes, you will!)

We've been....

abusing our membership to here...




eating these....


relaxing here...



addicted to this...
(I am, at least. Unless Will's been digi scrapbooking behind my back.)