Monday, August 17, 2009

Blessings

Steve and I have now been married for over a year. It has been a very incredible one! So many things have happened that we feel very blessed for:
--we went through 9 months of pregnancy and had a sweet little boy
--we visited Karen, Brady and Zachary in Hawaii for the Christmas break
--we are 2 semesters further into our education
--we have the opportunity of watching our brothers grow on missions (Scott as well as Brian)
--we have taken a few trips together
--we moved into a new apartment that is perfect for our needs
--Steve got a great internship with Neways
--we just gained a new sister-in-law

The year has been wonderful!

To celebrate, we decided that we wanted to go out to some place special. We chose Mimi's, where we had our wedding luncheon a year earlier. Because we knew the Edwards family was coming to stay the night of our anniversary, we decided to free that night up by going out the day before.
Here I am multi-tasking: feeding Joshua as well as myself.





Steve took me to see the show "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" where one of my best friends, Camille Millar, was performing. Her husband Jason did a terrific job as 'Joseph' and we enjoyed the performance and the weather immensely! Joshua slept through the entire thing!




This is us on our actual anniversary. Steve worked in the morning and I went to pick up the Edwards at the airport. While they were napping, I ran errands and then picked Steve up again.
Karen and Brady treated us to Zupas and we all headed over to the park where Emily's family, Kevin and Kristen, and Eric were all having a picnic. Karen got to meet Kristen for the first time and we all had a fun time throwing a frisbee around and talking.
Later that night, as we were climbing into bed, we realized that we hadn't taken any pictures the entire day of our actual anniversary. We hopped out of bed, took a picture, and got back to bed. Here is the result.

Kristen went through the temple for the first time and we were able to be there for her.




Saturday morning, Karen and Brady left early for a 1/2 marathon while we took care of Zac. He was kind enough to sleep until 8:30a and then was just delightful to have in our home.
Here he is entertaining Joshua.
Finally, the day that we have been looking forward to all summer long! Kevin and Kristen were sealed together in the Bountiful, Utah temple for time and all eternity on Aug 15. The ceremony was wonderful and we are so happy to have another sister-in-law who makes our brother so happy!



This is Steve's new favorite picture of the two of them:

Steve and Joshua, Matt (Emily's hubby) and Mikayla.

Our family
Me with the beautiful bride.





Mom and Dad Beal are wonderful people. They were excellent hosts in everything they did and opened their home to us in between the luncheon and the end of the reception.
The Bountiful Temple
The luncheon was held at Mimi's in Layton. I think it might become a Nufer tradition. :D
This is me with my sisters (left to right): Mindy, Janece, and Anna

The Gibbons Family
The happy couple
I think Zac thoroughly enjoyed his meal.
In between the luncheon and the reception, we got to visit one of Steve's best friends, Sean, and his wife Ashley. They live about 2 miles from where we were for the reception and we dropped by to see them. They absolutely adore Joshua.


We found out that there were no plans for the car, so Steve and Jordan (Kristen's younger brother) ran to the store and got some supplies. They did a great job!


The next day, Steve was able to bless Joshua in our ward. Those in the circle that helped were Pat Mosbacker, Matt Gibbons, Dad Nufer, Dad Monson, and Grandpa Nufer. Grandpa Richards, Grandma Richards, JaNae Richards, my family, Steve's mom and Emily's family were all there for the blessing as well. It was really nice to have so many people come to support us.

Here he is in his little baby tuxedo vest.
Four generation shot of the Nufers.
Four generation shot with the Richards.
The group that attended minus the Gibbons and Pat.

We have been extremely blessed in our lives and especially in the last year. We are grateful for every one of those blessings! We hope you are all doing well.

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Breaking in New Swimwear

It was hot yesterday + mom made me a new swimsuit = finding an opportunity to swim
Steve knew of a good place along the river, up next to Vivian Park in the canyon, that we decided to try out. So, we finished our chores for the day and headed out.
We never got to swim together, since one of us had to be up keeping track of Joshua. I got in first and I can honestly say that I have never gotten in water that was so cold in my life. Steve thought I was just being a pansy until he got it. It was so cold that it hurt!

But I could't just not jump off a big rock! I got in the second time after I had warmed up in the sun and made the jump.
Steve followed shortly thereafter. It was a very nice swim and it made us appreciate the sun even better.
Joshua is SO cute, just like his daddy!

Friday, July 31, 2009

True Blue and Smiles

Best seat in the house: Josh LOVES this bouncer seat and will almost always calm down and fall asleep when he is in it because it vibrates.
This picture is put up especially for Grandpa Nufer (my dad) who LOVES BYU. Go Cougs!

Joshua's neck muscles are getting very strong and he loves to look around. He's a very curious little individual.
Joshua started smiling for us over a week ago, but it is so hard to catch on camera. I had to be looking at him to get him to smile, so sorry they aren't centered.








Saturday, July 25, 2009

Where has the time gone?

Joshua will be 6 weeks old this week. It is crazy how fast the time flies! When we first brought him home, his newborn diapers and onesies were drowning him. We have since moved on to the size 1 diapers and the 0-3 month onesies. Its a little sad to see how big he's getting, but thrilling at the same time. We sure love this little boy with all of our hearts! Here are some of the promised pictures. They are not in chronological order, and the format on the computer is being weird.


Daddy time!
3 weeks old















We discovered that he doesn't particularly love hats.
3 weeks

>



He is such a calm, happy baby!
3.5 weeks old





Grandma Monson sure loves him!
4 weeks old



Such tiny hands.



Two and a half weeks old





I love his little toes!




July 3--Independence day celebrations wore us both out.





Grandpa Monson gets to know his grandson.







I love that he fits in the rocking chair. That outfit is now getting to be too small for him.






The burp cloth had to suffice as a blanket--I had forgotten to get one on the way out the door.



His neck muscles are getting stronger.
Two weeks old





Luckily, he really is a quiet baby. Josh had spit up all over the place and I needed to change myself after getting him cleaned up. I'm not sure if Steve know that he had wrapped his arm around Josh while I changed, but it was just so cute, I couldn't pass it up.
1 month old







He squeaks when he eats, so he has been given the nickname "Squeaker".
1 month old




He's so cute! He started smiling at us this week. It really is a parental payday!

Dear Friends...

Dear friends,
I wanted to inform you of some changes that will be taking place. While we were in Spokane, my sister-in-law Becky showed us that she had printed off her blog from the last year. It was a wonderful journal for her and it included all of the pictures and not just the writing. So, because we thought that this was a terrific idea, I will be going back through my blogs and adding pictures and things to my posts so that it will become a more complete journal for the Monson family. I apologize if there ends up being more information than you ever wanted to know about our family, but so you have it.

Enjoy!
Natalie, Steve and Joshua