Something Special

This is my bestie from college (Janelle) and her wonderful hubby (Brett). They are two of the most fabulous and fun people you will ever meet. I wish all of you could know and love them as much as me! Well, on Friday they invited me to part of something VERY special!
I got to go along to their very first ultra-sound for baby #2!! I have, of course seen many ultra-sound pics of babies of our family & friends but to see that baby on the screen in person was totally amazing. It was something I might never have gotten to experience and I will never forget it. It meant the world to me to get to be there when they got to see their little one moving all around for the first time.
What a special and unique experience that I will treasure forever!
I love you Janelle & Brett! Can't wait to spoil baby #2 just as much as I love spoiling Avery!! You two are a blessing in our lives & we love you to pieces!

Our Perfect Day

On Friday the 16th of September we had a perfect day. Any day that we get to spend together NOT doing work is a wonderful day but this day was special. We had planned to work in Sundance on Friday but ended up getting everything done on Thursday, so Friday was all ours! After a StarBucks date involving the most fabulous Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate, we were off for a day in the Black Hills together!

Can you see how happy he is?



We had lunch in Hill City at our favorite little cafe!
We miss our weekend drives to Hill City now that we live on the other side of the state!

We took the Needles Highway.

It was a perfect sunny day!

We drove by Sylvan Lake.

And through lots of tunnels!

All the views are so amazing!

Loving that I look like a giant here!

We saw lots of wildlife on our drive!

On our way back home we drove through the badlands.

And here I am expressing my love for snakes...

 We miss all the exploring we used to do around the Hills when we lived there. It was fabulous to have a day to just enjoy the Hills and the amazing views with each other. We even ended the day with a cheeseburger for Max at Casey's Cafe in Chamberlain. (Max will be happy to tell you how there is no better burger anywhere!) Here is to many more perfect days together in the future!

Just Fishing

On Saturday we spent the day just fishing. It was a beautiful Saturday with a warm fall day feeling. So we headed to Lake Vermillion for some fishing & grilling. We spent the afternoon fishing, relaxing, and soaking up the sun while we still can.

Getting the poles ready.

Enjoying a good book.

Catching some fish.

Soaking up the sun.

Showing off his catch.

Enjoying some grilled burgers.

Another catch.

Full September Moon over the Water

What's Up Doc?

When we planted carrots this spring we had no idea how they would turn out. But for the amount of carrots this family likes to eat we were hoping to at least get some! Well, we have a carrot crop that would make Bugs Bunny jealous people. We ended up with TONS of big and delicious carrots. This is one third of the carrots! We left some out to enjoy and are freezing the rest to enjoy through the winter. Having a garden is the best!

This was the first & last time we brought the carrots into the house with the tops attached!
BIG mess!!

This one was HUGE!!
*That's what she said*

A REALLY Big Announcement

Ladies & Gentlemen,
We are about to embark on a new journey in our lives! Tomorrow morning at 8:30 we are meeting with Bethany Christian Services to start the adoption process! We are BEYOND excited to start this journey. We are going to adopt domestically this time. We plan on adopting from either Africa or China someday in the future depending on where God leads us. But for now we are starting this amazing journey with a baby from here in the US.
If you know us well or have followed this blog, you know that we have been hoping to be parents for almost 6 years now. That seems like an extremely long time but it has honestly went by in a flash and although there have definitely been tears and heartaches I am beyond thankful for all the time I have had for just Max and I to be a couple. I know we are going to treasure all these years and the memories we made as just the two of us.
As many of you know we were planning on trying InVitro this year as our next step. But early this year God moved both of our hearts to pursue adoption first. We have always planned on adopting at some point and I now realize that the longing God put in our hearts for adoption way back as a couple who had only been dating for just a couple weeks, was preparing us for this moment. We are not ruling out trying InVitro someday. We know that the younger you are the easier it is for it to work, but honestly that doesn't worry us at all. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if someday we ended up pregnant naturally. But regardless of how our children end up coming to us, we will be thrilled. The truth is that God has a plan for us. He has children picked out specifically for us and once they are here I will know and understand exactly why the wait was worth it. I have no doubt about this. Right now we are meant to adopt, we have no doubt in our minds. This is God's plan for us and we are simply thrilled to start this journey!
We want to thank my parents for all they are doing to make this dream a reality for us. You are so generous and always willing to help others before yourself. We will never be able to thank you enough. Your generousity always has and will continue to inspire us to find more joy in giving than recieving!
We will keep all of you updated on our journey through this blog. We would appreciate all of your prayers as we go through this process. There is sure to be ups and downs along the way but we are more than ready to go down this road!

Goods from the Garden

We have a garden at our house for the first time this year! The last 2 years we have planted broccoli up in Mom Masters garden and helped her with all the other yummy produce she plants. So this year we planted LOTS of yummy things in her garden again & added even more yummy things into a garden at our house. Between the two gardens we eat A LOT of fresh veggies all year long.

We have already picked many tomatoes for salsa & tomato juice to make lots of chilli this winter!

We have also had TONS of zucchini!

We have a HUGE pumpkin patch full of pumpkins! Can't wait to start decorating for fall with them.

Here is our outta control garden!

We have been enjoying fresh green peppers. Max LOVES them sauteed with some onion on his steak!

Everytime we look we find more tomatoes!

We also planted carrots. Can't wait for fall to see how big & yummy they get.

And of course, Max loves fresh onion with everything!

We have lots of little pumpkins just starting out!

And some that are already turning orange!

We LOVE having a garden. We can't wait for next year when we will add even more yummy things to our patch! There is nothing better than eating fresh food. Especially when you have grown it and know that nothing has been sprayed on it or added to it. Gardens are SO worth the work you put into them! We hope everyone is enjoying some fresh picked veggies this summer!

Newton Hills Camping

We spent this weekend in Newton Hills on another camping adventure with the Masters' family. We had a blast as usual. We ate lots of yummy food, hiked, went to the beach, and attempted to go to the church service at the campground. (We think we heard the service start about 45 minutes after it was supposed to start).

We went for a hike Saturday morning & Grandpa thought carrying Gabe around on the hike was pretty awesome. I think Gabe liked it too.

Newton Hills has TONS of gorgeous hiking trails, especially in the fall with all the colors changing.

Grandpa thought that watching Gabe was more fun than looking at the scenery!

Gabe went to the beach for the first time this weekend. He decided that napping was the best way to spend his time at the beach.

He had some fun tummy time...

and a bottle too!

Gus and Mollie had fun too. Gus likes to have a "safe place" to hide everywhere he goes so Mollie's old kennel works perfectly at the campgrounds!

Gabers loves to smile and giggle with everyone!

He is one happy little dude!

He had tubby time with Gramma.

And story time.

Of course, we had to make s'mores!

Max always has a pose for the camera!

We spent the evenings watching for shooting stars!

And each morning we enjoyed cuddling with our sweet little nephew. Love that little bug!

We can't wait to do it all again next weekend at Yogi Bear Campground with even more family members! We love camping!