Throw back Thursday

We're throwing back 6 years today.  Yesterday, Bryon and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary!  It seems as though we've had a whirlwind of life changing events taking place, one after the other, since we first met.  Once I actually started to put it all down on paper, I realized that's because WE HAVE!  Check it out:

2006 - I graduated, packed up by bags and started my very first job.  After having just moved to a new state, I met Bryon at Cornell.

2007 - Bryon and I started dating and I took off for Hawaii for 4 months shortly thereafter.

Not great quality, but one of the first photos we can find of us together.

2008 -  Bryon spent 3 months traveling in Bolivia/Peru during Spring, followed by another separation from each other lasting 3 additional months over Summertime.  We became engaged in the Fall just prior to Bryon graduating from Cornell, and we moved from Iowa to Minnesota together just before the New Year.

No, our engagement did not happen at Jamba Juice (or a mall).

Photoboothing fun.

2009 - Another long series of separations.  In a nutshell, Bryon was accepted into the USAF and went to OTS, we got married before he left, and we were eventually reunited/moved to West Texas together.

2010 - We welcomed Kira into our lives (!!!), followed by receiving our first base assignment - landing us in Louisiana later that winter.

2011 - We were finally able to formally celebrate our marriage with a Springtime wedding celebration and honeymoon in Hawaii.  Later that Summer we found out that we'd be expecting our first child in 2012.

  

2012 - Maksim was born and we became parents!

2013 - Maks celebrated his 1st birthday!  We found out we will be expecting our 2nd child early 2014, and we also received news that we'll be moving to Florida before the year is over.

Whew!  It's been a ride and it's not over yet.  Most times we're just hanging on by threads. Luckily, we're good at taking turns with a steadfast grip.

Happy Anniversary, Bryon!...

...You can always make me smile.

Shopping with a 1 year old

Shopping with Maks is always an adventure.  You just never know exactly what he's going to do.

Every now and then we'll make a trip down to the boardwalk and visit the shops.  Maks likes stopping at the water fountain, watching the water features spray into the air and exploring the pond.  He could watch the water rush under the bridge for hours.  Luckily, he does almost as well when we take him in stores.  

Isn't this what everyone's 1 year old does in a Banana Republic dressing room?

Cleaning is one of his favorits past times...and I'm ok with that.

"It's time to tidy up this place!" 

And then there's the mall.  We usually bring his stroller along, but only for entertainment purposes.  Maks will push the stroller up and down main aisles, which helps us make sure he's not getting into any other sort of trouble.  But, there are often times when our stroller tactics fail and we're left with a shopping experience that looks something like this:

 

As of late, Maks is loving the grocery store.  We go first thing on Sunday mornings.  It's the perfect time for us because it's relatively empty.  We can get in and get what we need without long lines.  Plus, it allows us to really let Maks get on the floor and do his own thing.  He just loves pushing his own cart and grabbing produce to place in the basket!  (Although these two shopping expeditions are 2 months apart, he's obviously wearing the same fox pants.  Yeah, he's a foxy baby.)

He has always been a big fan of acorn squash!

And he can never have too much kiwi!

(Gentle release of items into the cart is still a work in progress.)

Throw back Thursday

Post-Christmas interactions with Kira (she's a bit bummed that she's no longer safe from Maks while sitting on the couch):  

Here Maks is at nearly 8 months old.

 He was so proud to be standing up and cruising!

 Looking like Daddy!...

And check this out!  When I looked back at today's TBT pictures of Maks, I just knew I'd seen the face he was making someplace before.  Is is possible that he actually does look like me (every now and then)???

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Some changes are happening at our house, starting with a new backyard!  Sodding a yard sounds easy enough, but there was A LOT of work that needed to be done.  Bryon did most of this himself (willingly).  As soon as we got back from our trip, he dedicated each night after work to prepping the backyard for new grass.  Here is what we started with.  Looks nice enough, but it's mostly dirt and completely floods every time it rains.

First he removed the grass with a kick-type cutter, followed by tilling and leveling what was pre-existing...

Then he brought in 8 cubic yards of dirt and re-leveled it all so that we won't have a swamp in our backyard when it rains...

Then came the sod.  You know, Zoysia, the best sod you can buy in Louisiana.  THIS sod:

Since when does sod arrive looking like it's already dead?  Must be a regional thing (in addition to not rolling the sod).  We seriously placed the sod piece by piece like we had pallets full of carpet remnants.

On to watering, watering and more watering! Bryon has me on a strick schedule when it comes to keeping the backyard moist.  We've now completed 10 consecutive days of watering.  Things are just finally starting to green up (doubt we'll ever have the soft, plush grass of the Midwest though)!  We're moving on to watering every other day for the next 10 days - followed by 10 days of watering every 3rd day.  Mulch, etc. is at a standstill for right now, but that doesn't bother me one bit!  I simply can't wait to finally be able to walk back there and have a place for Kira and Maks to play!

(Finished product picture to come when the watering is complete, the grass has taken root and everything is nice and GREEN.)

4th of July came and went.  We visited the Farmer's Market in the morning and spent the afternoon at the pool.  We didn't do any fireworks, but nearly everybody on our street did!  Luckily, our little boy slept like a rock.  In bed at 6:15pm and didn't wake up until 6am (just like usual).  Happy 4th of July to us!

Red, white and blue!

Is anything else new around here?  Sure!  Grandpa Ralph has arrived (sold his business, is officially on retirement and is staying with us for now) and is keeping the conversations going each and every night.  3 boys in my house...3 boys who are carbon copies of one another.  HELP!  This is WAY more than I thought I was signing up for when I got married!  Kira and I have our fingers crossed that Baby #2 shares our XX chromosomes to even things out!

Final change in store for us?  We'll be moving to Tampa, FL in November.  We can't wait to get to the Sunshine State; Maks is ready and already has his tan!  Warm weather, beaches, amusement parks, aquariums (Disney and Sea World are only an hour away, too!)...need I say more?  Book your flights and pack your bags!  We're already taking reservations for visitors!