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Isabella or Ryder?

Sunday afternoon I had the pleasure to go meet with Denise and her husband Steve. They are expecting their first baby whom should be coming some time in February. They don't want to find out if it's a boy or girl until the big day comes. However, they are starting to think of some names... The two names they mentioned to me were Isabella and Ryder. Both so cute!
I met them in a really special place for Denise - the house her grandfather built in the 1960's and her grandparents lived in for many years. It is now the clubhouse for an apartment complex. Although a lot has changed, it was fun searching for things that were original to the house.
Thank you guys, you were so much fun! I can't wait to meet (and photograph) the little one!

Girls' Christmas Dinner

Oh I had so much fun! It makes me so happy to know that I have so many wonderful friends.

I think I'm going to officially call this "Our First Annual Girls' Christmas Party". This way we have to do it again next year :)

I hope you girls enjoyed the food, the fun and the friends.

Special thanks to my mom for the wonderful Brazilian food and my friend Myrian for the dessert and the beans!

From left to right: Kelly, Dani, Tricia, Ignez, Nathan - yes he crashed the party!, Elina, Trisha, Karri, Jannete, Myrian, and Shanel.

Instead of place cards, I put special ornaments at each place and had the girls guess where they were supposed to sit. They did so well!

My mom's birthday

This past Tuesday was my mom's 60th birthday. Her favorite restaurant is the Cheesecake Factory so that's where we go every year to celebrate her birthday. I feel so blessed to be able to have my family so close to me. We all try to get together almost every weekend but it had been a while since we were ALL together and it was so much fun! I love my family! Have you seen the movie "Little Miss Sunshine"? I think it's a perfect portrayal of what families are all about. We are all individuals but when it comes to families we all love each other so much that the differences become insignificant and you are all there for each other and knowing you have your family to support you no matter what makes life so much more enjoyable!
My cousin just sent me the sweetest email saying how special families are and how great it is to know that we can go years without seeing or talking to each other but when we get together it feels like we just hung out the day before, and that's so true!
I often wish I was closer to my extended family (they are all in Brazil) but I do feel blessed that my husband has such a wonderful family and that I really do feel like I have cousins and uncles and aunts here.
Anyways, happy birthday mom! And thank you for our wonderful family!

I love Christmas!

This weekend we officially kick-started our Holiday Season!

1. I decorated our tree. One of my favorite things about Christmas is putting my ornaments on the tree. I date all of my ornaments and write the name of the person who gave it to me on them . It's so fun to take them out of the box and remember all of the memories that each one brings.

2. Curt put our lights up outside. He had a few setbacks (such as forgeting to leave the end that plugs in near the outlet) but it looks great!

3. I had my first white chocolate peppermint latte this year - AND got to try the eggnog coffee.

4. I got to wear my new winter boots. Yay! It's finally cold enough :)

With all the fun commercial stuff that Christmas brings let's not forget the true meaning of Christmas.

5. I also put my Nativity Scene up (which my mother-in-law gave it to me and it's so beautiful) and prayed.

Conor and Brooke

This was such a memorable wedding! All the details were just perfect but the ceremony didn't go very well. There was construction going on in the church while the wedding ceremony was being performed. Conor and Brooke are such a great couple though that they were just smiling the whole time. You could tell they just knew that the most important thing is that they were there together and getting married! Here are a few pictures from Brooke and Conor's wedding. If you want to see the rest of them, let me know and I'll send you the link to the album - which includes construction pictures :)

Brooke bought these necklaces for all her bridesmaids.


The beautiful mother of the bride, Nancy.


This is Brooke's sister, Brandy, and her little girl Avery.

Something borrowed...

Her aunt Mary made all the bouquets.

This is Tassie, she's Brooke's cousin and I'm signing her up to America's Next Top Model!

The Weidmans

I sure hope I spelled their name right. These are my friends Janette, Jeff and their little girl Emily. I met Janette during my internship. We carpooled and had some interesting conversations during rush hour traffic jams. Emily was born just a couple of months after we graduated from our internship. She was the prettiest newborn I've ever seen and as you can see hasn't grown out if it yet :). This pretty girl was on a mission today: "whatever you do, don't look at the camera!" Good thing her parents are very patient!