my best friend

and i got married 1 year ago today. best year of my life.

i love you, brad.

ingenius!

i walked downstairs this morning, only to realize my little plumeria (which was sitting on the railing of our porch) had fallen off and the pot broken in the violent winds we've been having. poor plant. it looked so sad lying on the ground.

so i called up to brad & asked him to come pick it up- as i was running to work.
he did. he's so great.

and i came home to find my plant happily installed in a new pot:BAhahahhaha! if you can't tell... its in my old soup pot. awesome. :)

Baby Bump Barttels

14 weeks.
you can see SOMETHING!!

still in my regular jeans. very sick still & blacking out, but sleeping through the night.:)18 weeks.

not sick and nauseous anymore(although i look it in this picture)! not able to wear any normal pants. acne breakout, what?? kissed sleeping through the night good bye. hello 3 AM.

BUT the acne was worth it bc we found out it's a GIRLIE!! woot. :)20 weeks.
bless baby GAP maternity pants. how do we love thee?
feeling GOOD. moving furniture, grocery shopping & nice skin has returned!
24 weeks.
FAT. seriously.
undeniably pregnant looking.
(part of it could be this blouse (thanks julie!) bc it's nice & comfy & cute, but really halloween candy did a number on me. LOL)

this is a better picture

Father

Elder Boyd K Packer, an apostle in our church, once said,

"It should have great meaning that of all the titles of respect and honor and admiration that could be given Him, God Himself, He who is the highest of all, chose to be addressed simply as Father."

You should know by now I am in completely in love with my husband.

He is kind, unselfish and genuine. He also loves me a lot, which is convenient in marraige.

When I was in my first trimester and had HORRIBLE heartburn- no really, it was horrible- and woke up crying in the middle of the night, he would jump up and get a drink, crackers, or just talk to me and hold me til I could fall asleep again.

He cleaned our house, made his own dinner and watched tv by himself while I slept like 12 hours a day. When I almost blacked out (like everyday. that was fun times.) he would hold me up and walk me to wherever I was trying to get. Usually from couch to bed.

I can't wait for this little girl to come to our home. She has a daddy that is already COMPLETELY in love with her. He just LOVES her.

He smiled triumphantly when the ultrasound showed "GIRL."

He is already wrapped around her little teeny finger, I can tell.

When we were going through all his kid stuff, we found something from like 3rd grade that said what he wanted to be when he grows up.

I guessed baseball player, doctor?

Nope. Even at 8 his dream job was "dad".

He has been waiting for a little person to call his own for a long time. He is going to be a FANTASTIC father.

Little Girl Barttels is a lucky girl. Actually, we are two lucky girls.

hilarious brad, hilarious.

i found this gem the other day in brad's box of kid stuff.
he knew at age 10 what kind of wife he would end up with!! when i found this i almost died with laughter. it's awesome. especially the picture of the person sleeping. bahahahahahah

"Lazy Lindsey"

Lazy Lindsey sleeps all day she doesn't {move} an inch.

the only thing that can move her is a great a big PINCH!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

Baby Barttels

due February 17th!!!
She's already got her daddy wrapped around her little finger :)
Look at that foot!! Cutest thing we've ever seen!

i had no idea

that my husband was so awesome. but he is.

i came home from a trip to UT for a wedding where i kinda ran ragged for a whole day, only slept like 3 hours and came home exhausted but SUPER glad i went.
our house is shiney. vaccuumed. bathroom is clean. ALL THE LAUNDRY IS DONE. (that deserves caps) kitchen spotless. things are put away. our room is neat & the bed is all perfectly made.
i could've cried.
such a beautiful sight.

this week has been busy & it's super nice to know my husband is so thoughtful & helpful.

YAHTZEE!!

seriously. who gets scores like this? one in a million game.

Feels Like Lightning Running Through My Veins

Wednesday Sept 8th, my wonderful husband helped me check something off my bucket list:

See David Gray in concert. Check.

It was FABULOUS. No, really. You don't understand. It was AMAZING. Incredible. He played a lot of old good ones. The crowd cheered and sang. I sang "Please forgive Me" at the top of my lungs & danced (with all the other drunken crazies) through the whole song.

I love him. (Brad and David Gray.)

Oh David Gray, you do it to me everytime.

Side note: Ray Lamontagne was also lovely, though not equally fabulous.

And if you are every near The Greek theatre, I HIGHLY recommend Simply Thai for dinner before.

Best. Dumplings. I've. Ever. Had.

Railroad Fried Rice.

Go There. Eat it. You won't be sorry :)

21 hours in a car= FUN

Brad is the best! He drove me 20 hours all the way to SLC and Heber City so I could hug this beautiful lady and see her for like... 4 hours. Read Here.

Colorado! Colorado!

I had the opportunity to attend a work conference in Denver the 23rd-25th, so we made it a little Team Barttels vacation! Off to Denver on Sunday- stayed at Brad's friend Eric's house... lots of sightseeing Monday all day, work on Tuesday for Linds & some fun for Brad & then a Rockies game Wednesday! Awesome.

A "Scenic Vista" as Brad would say.

Red Rocks Amphitheater. There was a museum of all the people who played.

I love Sting.Buffalo Bills' Grave and Look Out Mountain.
You can't tell, but it was POURING RAIN. We are dedicated to Buffalo Bills' memory. Ha.
Brad visiting the Coors Brewing Factory with his friend Spencer
(they got soda at the end, don't worry)

COORS FIELD!!!! Hooray! Go Rockies :)
I was amazed at how BEAUTIFUL Denver is! It was our first time there & you can see FOR MILES. Highly recommend. So cool. I was singing songs from this the whole week. Oh Debbie Reynolds... Denver wouldn't have been the same without you :)

AFC Half Marathon- August 15th 2010

Brad ran the America's Finest City Half Marathon in San Diego, CA. I was so proud & happy! He came grimacing across the finish line with a bum cramp.. but HE DID IT! 2 hours & 2 minutes. Not too shabby for a 6 AM run. Congrats Brad!! You did great! Someday we will get to run across the finish line together! :)

fyi

we are in denver for 4 days. i love it already. today we ran through a rain storm to say hello to Buffalo Bill. What a guy. He was cool enough to have a museum all about him set on a BEAUTIFUL mountain. *sigh* love it. :)

see you soon.

shall we catch up a bit??

My sister and her family came & we met them at sea world. seriously, these kids CRACK me up.

Loved it.

woka woka!

if i can cook it in a wok, i will. i decided it's my favorite pan.

NOTHING SPILLS :)

I LOVE IT.

oh, and for my first home made stir-fry, it was per-ety darn FABULOUS!

middleton mayhem!

brad has known kyle middleton since they were like... 4. he was the best man at their wedding.

(which, by the way, we watched brad's "toast" on their wedding video. if you ever are in el dorado hills, you need to stop by and watch it. it's worth 5 minutes of your time. yes, his toast was a rambling, hilarious 5 MINUTES long. we all love him for it, too. hilarious!)

kyle and amy have been married 9 years and have 5 crazy, beautiful, hilarious kids. seriously. they are SO funny. they had been waiting for "Uncle Brad" to come visit and show off his wrestling, comedy, juggling and yo-yo skills. he's a walking clown. :) and THEY LOVED IT. they followed him around for 2 days thoroughly entertained and LOVING it.

and seriously, amy and kyle, stop having such cute kids. we'll never be able to compete with this:

Kyle's parents have a house on the American River so they took us on a short rafting trip. We had a great time in the GORGEOUS weather, and I was so impressed with how brave the kiddos were!

THANK YOU for letting us stay & have such a wonderful time with your family! We hope to see you all again soon!