cutest little shell

Change and maybe an antonym or two

I hope you don't mind but this post will probably sound more like a journal entry than my regular blogging style (lots of pictures, little words). Bare with me.

I've never been one for change but lately I feel like someone has taken a bucket of change (not the coin, that would hurt) and dumped it over my head.

I feel like recently my mind has been in constant battle with my surroundings. Stay the same. Adjust, reshape, adapt. Stay the same. Rebuild, alter, transform.

There are days I want to be better and bigger and brighter than ever. And days when I just want to bite at the air and run away as fast as I can.

Today? I don't know. I guess I like the way it feels against my skin.

To all the women in my life...

I have a message for you. click here.

Once again, Kate is playing catch up.

Apparently I still like reading other people's updated blogs more than I like updating my own. As the title indicated, we have a lot of catching up to do! We had our family reunion this summer and it was so fun to see all my old playmates. It's crazy to think how far we've all come since our adventures at bear lake. The majority of us are married and some of us have children now. And we're all still so young! Agh!

The inseparable Brady & Jack

My cousin, Tanner

My cousin David and his daughter Adilyn

We had an epic sleep over with my two favorite people in the world... Melissa and Curtis! Gilmore girls and homemade pizza, pretty much the best combination there is. I took these pictures at six in the morning. Why was I up? I have no idea.

The boys were supposed to clean up after dinner. This is what I found the next day. Good job boys, sigh.

Also, we celebrated a couple of birthdays this month! Our good friends son, Scott, had his very first birthday party. And of course I had to post the classic "dig in the cake" pictures.

Finally, yesterday was Brady's 24th birthday. We planned on spending the day alone but an adorable little voice changed some of our plans. Brady got a call from Jack wanting to know when the birthday party was. He was so excited to celebrate with Brady that we couldn't disappoint. I ran to the store and grabbed some birthday balloons for the kids and a reese's peanut butter cup to put a candle in. When we got to my sister's house there was Jack's little head poking over the fence, waiting for us. The kids were so excited to be with their Uncle Brady! It feels so good to be so loved. Here is a video of our little birthday party. Please excuse the high, shaky voice behind the camera:

All of the kids wanted a turn to blow out the birthday candle. Mary is just so darn cute!

 Happy Birthday Handsome Husband!!!

The End.

The good samaritan and the hurt guy

We had family home evening with my sister's family a couple of months ago. Jack, my three-year-old nephew, told the story of the good samaritan.... and the hurt guy... all by himself! It was the cutest thing I've ever seen and since then I've been trying to get him to tell it on video. My camera is full of failed attempts and this last family reunion I was so close! I would have gotten it too if Jack didn't have such a sense of humor.

He decided to add his own ending... the little stink! I've bet you've never heard the parable of the boogey man and the hurt guy.

Why Brady is the best, through photographs.

                                                         He's going to be the best daddy.

We've been married a little over a year...

...and we're still learning how to accept each others faults and celebrate our differences. An example:

                                                      BRADY'S DESK...

so tidy...

and...

KATE'S DESK...

                                                            So...used?
*The best thing about Brady? He's never once made me feel bad about my cluttered desk :) Best husband ever!

Princess Birthday Party.

The girls got to get their own lunches from the play kitchen

My nephew Jack

Now that I think about it, this is actually kind of gross. Sorry.

My niece maggie and her new baby.

Painting pictures outside. I absolutely loved this idea! I got to watch my one year old niece: "Mary, we don't paint ourselves. We paint the paper.""Mary, Aunt Kate is not the paper." It was the best.

Left The Bridal Shop.

I finally quit working at Gateway Bridal & Prom. I prayed about it for a long time and i felt like leaving was what I needed to do. It was one of the scariest, hardest things I've ever done and it did not turn out well at all. But looking back now I know it was the best decision. Just goes to show that Heavenly Father knows what's best for me, way more than I do.

Moral of the story: Sometimes the right choices feel like the worst at the time, but it doesn't make them any less right.

I'm definitely going to miss my bridal shop girls:

Especially this one....

A little bit o' Mel and her BIG graduation.

Melissa is Brady's little sister. It's actually kind of adorable to watch Brady and Kyle (Brady's brother) get so worked up over her and the things that come with growing up, aka boys! I never had my brothers around to tell me to go change because "there's no way you're going out in that!" There's seven years between me and the second youngest, so everyone else was out of the house by the time I was a teenager. Even though Brady and Kyle would prefer melissa to stay in her room until she's 40 and wear turtle necks the rest of her life... she has no idea how lucky she has it :) Big brothers are the best!  Even if they want to run off every guy in site. 

Melissa with my niece Mary at my bridal shower. Brady doesn't like this picture because Mary kind of looks like she could be Mel's baby. :) 

Chocolate and Vanilla aka Mel and I

She's finally graduated!!!

No wonder all the boys love her...

She is the cutest, greatest, most wonderful thing ever! 

I not only got my wish for a little sister but I got the best one there is. 

Honeymoon, you guessed it, through photographs.

I have no idea why his arm is wet in this picture...

I love Jane Austen books and I think this looks like something right out of Pride and Prejudice...Ya?

OH BABY!!!

The beach in Oregon 

Our view

Trip to Colorado (while engaged), through photographs.

Before you think anything, he came in to wake me up