Blessings From All Around

We have been so blessed lately by friends, family and even strangers that I thought a post about them was due. :)

1.

Our Baby Shower (Aug.7th)

My wonderful friends, Sarah Cornett & Sarah Rafeedie, threw a shower in honor of Aiden and me and they did such a great job!!!! Everything was absolutely beautiful! I don't have pictures yet, but I will definitely post some as soon as I do. It was such a wonderful time being surrounded by friends and family who are happy for us and who were so generous to us! We received so many clothes and necessities! Like blankets, bath stuff, diapers, toys, books, car seat cover (which is needed in Alaska!) and much more. We were blessed beyond our dreams. :)

2.

Eli got a new job! We had been praying all summer that God would open the doors for a new job and He did! It is with Xerox as a technician and a step forward, money and career wise! We are very excited. Now, the only "problem" with this job.... Eli has to go to Seattle for two weeks of training. We told them from the very beginning that we're expecting a baby in mid to late September. Unfortunately, there is only so much training he can do up here with out the training in Seattle and Xerox can't just pay him to sit around here doing nothing so Eli will be leaving Sept. 26th for two weeks. :( We were given the choice of Sept. 6th or Sept. 26th for the training dates and after talking and praying about it, we decided to go with the later date. Please join us in prayer that Aiden does not come later than his due date, Sept. 21st. We're pushing it kinda close! I'm personally hoping he comes around 38 weeks..... :)

3.

Eli came home the other day with two surprises! First, FedEx's district manager's wife (who lives in Hawaii and whom we have never met) knitted us a beautiful present! A cute little baby hat and booties! Apparently she makes them for all the employees. Secondly, Eli had (at work) helped out a couple of ladies from the State Library, I believe, with some signs and had told them we're having a baby. Well, they came by and gave him some baby books! Brand new and two of them are by Eric Carle. I love his stuff! I was shocked by their kindness and generosity!

May God bless you all,

Courtney

2nd Anniversary!

I apologize for the long break between posts..... was unintentional, life has just been busy! That's how these Alaskan summers are!

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary on July 18th. I can't believe it! 2 years really flew by! We kept it low key this year, even though we did dress up a bit. I had to try out my new dress! :) Dinner at Glacier Brewhouse and then Rollo McFlurries for dessert. They are delicious, by the way! We did have a slight problem..... after dinner we walked around the block and upon arriving at our car discovered a flat tire! And to make it worse, didn't have the right size tire iron in the car (who buys the wrong size, I don't know, but very annoying).

Overall, we had a nice day remembering each other and when and why we said our vows.

Oh, and Eli surprised me by getting off work early and helping clear some boxes out of the nursery!

I love this man so much! I am so thankful for him. Some one who loves me, holds me when I cry, laughs with (and sometimes at) me and reminds me that God is in control.

Belly Picture!

30 weeks & 5 Days!

My anniversary present! A complete surprise! It is very comfortable and I love it..... so does LaRue (our cat). She thinks it's hers, silly girl!

Only 3 (ish) Months More Till...

Baby Aiden gets here!

I can't wait. :)

But in the meantime I am keeping myself busy with work and getting things ready! We went and registered the other night... whew, was that overwhelming! So much stuff, so many different brands and I have no idea what I really need versus what's fun or cool to have! I'd much rather receive useful items than fun (but useless) items.

Eli's cousin was very sweet and send us 2 boxes full of new or gently used baby clothing! Look at all those cute outfits!

And we got the crib! I love it! Now all we need is a mattress and bedding set!

And I found all of this baby paraphernalia at a garage sale for $5. What a steal! Burp rags, receiving blankets, hats, bibs and a couple of outfits! I think Baby Aiden will have enough cute outfits to wear. :)

God Bless,

Courtney

Porch "Garden"

Having a real garden is definitely one of the things I look forward to the most when we have a house. I just love all the colors and variety of plants! But for now I will have to be content with my "garden" on the porch. :) Somehow, over the past few years, I have accumulated several pots/planters, so I decided that this year I would put all of them to use! And I am loving it so far!

First Planter: Marigolds

Colors: French Vanilla & Inca Orange

I found this cute wood planter at Michael's for just a few dollars. I love the old fashion, worn look of it.

Second Planter: Lobelia, Mimulus & Lotus (berthelotii scarlet)

Colors: Riviera Sky Blue, Magic Blotched Mix & Parrot's Beak (orange)

I can't wait for the lotus to start blooming! They (the blooms) look so cool and funky!

Third Pot: Dusty Miller & Salvia

Colors: Vista Purple

I LOVE dusty miller and the salvia is a beautiful plant and color, so I thought the two would look great together! What do you think?

So here's my "garden". I have the whole corner dedicated to it. :) Eli was nice enough to move his grill over so I had more room to enjoy them!

From left to right: Dusty Miller & Salvia, Basil Seeds (starting to see some sprouts!), pretty yellow Violas, Wildflower seeds (also starting to see some sprouts), Marigolds, & more Basil Seeds.

I'm excited to see what wildflowers I get. My mom gave me a cute maternity shirt and the tag was made out of wildflower seed paper so that it can be planted. Great idea, huh?

Strawberries!!!! I attempted to grow some last year and didn't have much success, but I am hopeful for this year! Just planted them yesterday, so probably won't see any berries for a little bit.

22 weeks!

I guess I should be official and say 21 weeks and 5 days. Never really understood why you had to state the exact day......

Anyways, this picture was actually taken at 20 weeks, but that's pretty much what I look like now. Maybe a tiny bit bigger, but not enough to really notice.

I promised Eli once upon a time that I wouldn't post any bare belly pictures (any maternity pictures actually!) on Facebook. But this isn't Facebook so I'll post one here.... :)

For some reason maternity pictures kinda freak him out, especially awkward ones!

Aren't these adorable?!?!

I love them! I went to a pottery studio about 2 weeks with some ladies from church and had a blast painting these little vases! Yes, they're vases and I will (hopefully) use them for that purpose.

I decided to go with a jungle/safari animal theme for the nursery. These little guys were kinda my inspiration. Now to find some cute fabric for the bedding, maybe curtains and decorations for the walls!

And the little elephant matches a canvas painting my brother-in-law brought us back from Africa 2 years ago! Perfect!

In other news,

I am getting my first EVER massage next week! So excited!

God Bless,

Courtney

Baby Blanket Update

I finally finished the baby blanket I was making for Cameronn and Baby Lily! And just in time, Lily was born on Good Friday. A few weeks early, but she is healthy and cute! I have only seen pictures, but everybody says this is true!

I really liked this pattern. Super cute and pretty easy.

Now to start a blanket for our baby! I already have the yarn, just need to download the pattern!

Courtney

It's A.......

BOY!

We decided to use a cake to reveal what we're having (Thanks Gail for the wonderful idea!) and it was so much fun! Not only did our families not know, neither did Eli and I. :) I love that we were able to find out all together. We managed to get almost everyone either on the phone or there in person. Kinda chaotic, but still fun!

The cake, thanks to Amanda Cook.

I love my parent's faces in these pictures!

It's blue!!!!

Baby Aiden Liam's first presents (from Grandma & Grandpa Rushing)

Can't believe we're actually having a boy! That is what I secretly wanted all along and we got him! September cannot get here soon enough!

I do have ultrasound pictures, but not on a cd, so I don't if I'll be able to post any. But Baby Aiden looks perfectly healthy and is definitely a BOY!