Monday, August 30, 2010

My New Favorite Thing....

Mommy's New Favorite Thing......
So I'm thinking that Greg has created a monster in me with showing me how to take Black and White pictures on our camera..... So with every picture I take, it has to be taken twice once in color and another one in black and white. There is just a special innocence that the black and white captures. And for those of you who know how many pictures I've taken especially in the past 6 months . Below are a few of the black and whites taken while we were on vacation, my only regret is not really knowing how to take the black and whites while we were in Colorado. But luckily I have photoshop and will be turning a few of my favorite photo's from Colorado into Black and whites. Hope you enjoy these photo's as much as I did taking them.

Hunter and cousin Ellie meeting for the first time

Sitting in a highchair for the first time at Grandpa and Grandma Garvey's house.


"Grandpa, I don't like carrotts"

Nothing better than my morning nap, outside on Grandpa's shoulder.... Ahhhhh


















Final Leg of the Trip ~ Wisconsin.....

Meeting the Cousins......
After 10 days of traveling and visiting with friends and family, we made our final stop on this vacation. Wisconsin ~ to see Greg's brother Graeme and family. Since our last visit there, they welcomed twin girls to the family. So it was extra exciting for us to meet the girls for the first time. Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with them, but we treasured the few hours we did and look forward to our next visit. Above is Hunter and Ellie meeting for the first time.

Ellie's twin, Evie with uncle Greg

All the cousin's. Jacob, Greyson, Ellie, Evie and Hunter

Greyson giving his new cousin a big kiss !!!

"The Girls of Summer"

The whole family
Thanks Graeme and Julie for dinner and the clothes for Hunter !!!! Can't wait to see you all again real soon.







Grandpa and Grandma Garvey's

Hunter is one very luckily little boy ~ he got to meet not just one Great Grandma, but two. First stop on the way to spend a few days with Grandpa and Grandma Garvey was a short visit with Great Grandma "Eleanor" Garvey (97yr). We had a very nice visit with her, we enjoyed watching her, as she enjoyed just watching Hunter play on the floor.
Getting some snuggles in with Grandma

Nothing like a little morning nap on the patio with Grandpa. It was so nice being able to spend two very relaxing days with Grandpa and Grandma Garvey. Although, Hunter was a little cranky they sure enjoyed the time with him.

The final picture for my bathroom artwork.

8 days into our trip, and NO naps and getting up each night- little Hunter was really needing a nap. Grandpa got out his back massage pad and laid it on the floor for Hunter. Boy~ did it work magic on Hunter. After about 30 minutes of laying on it, he finally gave in and fell asleep....

Grandpa giving Hunter a carrot to suck on.
Tasting the carrot for the first time
Not so happy with the carrot.....

Such a big boy ~ sitting in a highchair for the first time
Grandma and Grandpa with Hunter

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for letting us stay with you ~ we all really enjoyed the relaxing few days we had with you. Can't wait to see you both again soon !!!!!













Sunday, August 29, 2010

Grandma and Great Grandma Marino's

We're off to the windy city of Chicago

Our second leg of this trip is the windy city of Chicago. It's going to be a crazy 6 days there, but we can't wait to see everyone. It's been just over 7 years since we moved from Chicago and it's always a lot of fun to go back and visit. We'll be spending a couple of days in the Chicago area with Greg's Mom and Grandma, then we'll be heading down south for a few days with Greg's Dad and Stepmother, a short visit with my sister and then onto Wisconsin to finish off our trip.
Looking back on our trip, it was so much to cram into a short time with a 5 month old. Luckily he was a champ and everyone we visited was great and tolerated his cranky fits.

The wing of our plane heading to Chicago. We had the Bunny Rabbit, just like the bunny rabbit's we saw at Grandpa and Grandma Steffen's house.

The second photo of my 3 photo ~ art project idea. A morning bubble bath in Great Grandma's kitchen sink.
Hunter's first snuggles with Great Grandma Marino (94yr)

One of my favorite photo's

Say cheese..... Hunter with Grandma Marino
Greg, Hunter, Grandma and Great Grandma visiting with Great Grandpa at the cemetery. It was a tough, but touching morning standing back and watching Greg introduce Hunter to his Grandpa. We only wish Grandpa was still with us and could have held his Great Grandson, but we know he truly appreciated our visit.








Good Times with Good Friends....

This is why we miss Chicago so much.....
You just never know how much your friends mean to you, until you are apart... We were so thankful that we were able to take a few hours of our time in Chicago and spend it with our good friends. ( who we miss so much)
Wednesday night we had dinner with Kim and Denise at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants in Chicago. It's been almost 3 years since we'd seen the girls and it was so much fun catching up with them. And Kim surprised us with a CD of photo's she had taken at the wedding. ( and I must say, they were better than the one's our photographer took~ I'll be posting some of them in the coming days)

"Auntie" Denise with Hunter
"Auntie" Kim

On Friday we made the trip down to Bloomington to visit with one of Greg's good friends from High School and her family. Above is her son Cole ( 4 years old) showing Hunter all of his cars. Hunter was so interested in everything that Cole was doing or showing him.

Kelsey (11 yr) Hunter and Cole
The last time we saw Kelsey she was 4 years old, and we were making the big move to Texas with the help of Cindy and Chad. Still wondering how she got so big, and how we are still in Texas???
Cindy had shoulder surgery 2 days before, but was not going to pass up a snuggle or two from Hunter.

Greg with his High School buddy- Scott

Scott and Hunter ~
Scott's wife Nancy
Thanks again everyone for making the time to visit with us while we were on our "11 day, 3 state" tour.... We love you all, and can't wait till we get back to Chicago to see you all again. And don't forget our door is always open, in case you ever want to venture down to our "neck of the woods"











Grandma and Grandpa Steffen's

Welcome to the Sweetheart City
Our first stop on this whirl wind vacation was my home town of Loveland, Colorado. Better know as the Sweetheart City. We spent 5 days here, and visited with a lot of family, and ate a lot of yummy food. (Corn on the cobb !!!!)

chillin on the patio with Grandpa~ "now this is a vacation"

Getting some snuggles with Grandma in the rocking chair...
Okay seriously Uncle Bill~ I'm a Charger Fan, not a Raider Fan..... "I'm going to scream, if you don't take this thing off my head !!!"

This picture has sparked my creative juices.... I'm going to take and make this a black and white photo and hang it in Hunter's bathroom along with photo's of his bath's in Great Grandma's sink and Grandpa and Grandma Garvey's sink. I'm hoping it will look as good as I have it pictured in my head...
A beautiful day in Estes Park with the family. Couldn't have asked for a better day in the mountains.

Hunter with my nieces Kim and Kelly. The three of them spent a good half hour on the floor rolling around and Hunter trying to teach the girls how to put toes in your mouth. Gosh ~ I remember when those two girls were his size... where has the time gone ?????

Hunter with Grandpa and Grandma Steffen
Uncle Bill and Aunt Laura
Aunt Linda and cousin's Royal and Lucas. We got to have dinner with them while in Chicago. Hunter was not the happiest little guy that night, but we sure did enjoy the short visit. Sorry that we didn't get to see Uncle Andy though.
While we were in Colorado my Aunt Jen and Uncle Ed along with my cousin Bill came in from Kansas. It was sure great to see them, I'm kicking myself because we didn't get any pictures of them with Hunter on this visit. I'm not sure how we didn't get any pictures, but just wanted to let you all know how great it was to see you, and thank you for making the trip to Colorado for the weekend.
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for making Hunter's first visit to Colorado a great one !!!!












Mr. and Mrs. Garvey

Mr. and Mrs. Garvey
Our Wedding Day- October 13, 2007