My new nephew was born today~! Max Joseph Petty was born at 2:09pm and weighing in at 6lbs 8oz. Unfortunately he has a little black eye at the moment... but that just gives him some street cred! Here is a shot of him... from his good side.
In addition to the Coop Scoop, you will now be getting the Max Quacks!
Seriously, this kid is awesome. Not as awesome as Cooper - but pretty damn awesome. "I'm sick and tired hearing about what a great baseball team the Yankees have. SCREW EM'!"
On Saturday, Ian and I decided to swing by this new housing development that I had heard about called Doon Creek. We aren't planning on buying house until 2012 or so... But it doesn't hurt to look. As we were leaving Ian's parent's house there was a rainbow in the distance. When we turned in the direction of the housing development we could see the rainbow end to end, which was pretty cool. The funny part was that, I kid you not, the rainbow ended right on the location of the development. Pretty crazy.
We followed the signs and eventually found ourselves in a newer housing track. We passed a nice looking public school and then turned onto a rough gravely road. Imagine my surprise when I see that the housing development is still piles of dirt! I thought when the signs and website said that they were open February 2010 meant the houses were finished building but not even close. Apparently, just the development office is open, not even the model homes. We drove around a bit and found another rough road to take. There was forest all around (part of which is protected and will be left in place) and a ton of frogs. It turns out the roads we were on are going to be turned into hiking trails and were just set up for construction to start.
As we were leaving the area, we passed by an open field and in the middle of it were 2 deer! Seriously, it was like a production crew was following us... "Queue the rainbow! ... Turn on the frogs! ... Send out the deer!" It could not have looked more perfect.
Back to reality... can we afford to live in a place like that? Right now? Probably not, we'd be scrapping by and not able to do as much as we do now. In 2 years or when the development is finished? Yeah... maybe. If we save our pennies and budget for it... it is possible. Anyway, I can dream.
Here is the rough map of the area. Tilt Drive is the road that will be turned into a hiking trail. The Protected Forest and Stauffer Drive (will also be turned into a hiking trail) is where we heard the chorus of frogs. At the end of the word drive in Robert Ferrie Drive is where we saw the deer. Above the sign for HWY 401 is the direction we currently live. It would add about 20 minutes to my commute. Oh, and they are making a pond where the blue color is.
Date Night looks funny... but then most things Steve Carell does are funny.
I'm making up for lost time!
"Mommy, why are you taking pictures of me when I'm hanging out with my homies?"
Wow.... it feels weird to be writing this. It has been SO long. The last time I posted was February 14th! So where have I been? Good question. Ian and I made (yes, Ian helped too, I couldn't have done it with out his glorious paper cutting skills) our wedding announcements. They referenced pictures on this website, so I had to stop posting until they went out. I didn't want people to have to search to find the post. Anyway, following the wedding Ian and I went on a woooooonderful honeymoon in Seattle, Washington. It was everything we wanted it to be. I'm going to post a collection of honeymoon pictures later... but here is a picture of us on the ferry boat coming back from Bainbridge Island.
For the month of February I attended a prep course to become a PMP - Project Management Professional. Yes, it's just as riveting as it sounds. The whole month of March was spent doing one of 3 things - working, studying or planning my sister's surprise 30th birthday party. The party went off without a hitch! It was a Mad Scientist themed party in honor of my sister's science background. I didn't want to do something plain! Here are some pictures...
My mom in the car playing with the balloons - it was hilarious!
I made the banner... yeah... I got all crafty and stuff.
The Toe of Frog was delicious...and of course I can't be involved in planning a party without having some kind of rubber ducky!
Yes, those are beaker cups with eyeballs in the bottom...
And the moment of surprise... Thankfully she did not go into labor.
All in all it turned out great... It was a very quick trip, but I got to see my mom and visit with Kamber and family... of course, Mr. Awesome was there - COOPER! Can't get enough of that Coop Scoop. We get to see him again in about a month or so. My sister is due the first week of May with another boy. Yay - Coop 2.0! Speaking of the Coop... I haven't had the time to give a proper Coop Scoop Update. Here is one.... his parents are putting him to work!
I mean ACTUALLY putting him to work! He "assisted" them in moving a mattress. I love the pointed toe...
After the many... many hours I spent studying... I took and passed an exam to become a PMP. What does this mean? Well I get to write name like this now - Brittany Matheson, PMP. Sounds pretty cool right? I know! It basically means I'm a little more proficient in the ways of Project Management. What's funny is that you study so much... and you just want to get it over with and have the certification.. but it's actually helped me do my job better. At the very least it's helped me realize where trains go off their tracks. We should have done *insert Project Management process* or we wouldn't have had *insert various negative result that seems to happen daily at work*. I'm so happy I did it... but the saying is that it is NEVER the right time to bite the bullet and take the exam.. and it really never is. I'm glad I didn't wait longer... Now I can enjoy not having ANYTHING to do. No studying, no crafting... nothing I *HAVE* to do... well aside from applying to become a permanent resident of Canada... but that can wait a little bit.
So, what's next? A deep spring cleaning of the house... it's been neglected since the wedding. Plan our next trip out to California and the one to Virginia after the baby is born (we might take a train!). Other than that... hope you like the owls!
My amazing photographer Amanda put together a slideshow that includes some more pictures. It is set to the song that I walked down the aisle to - Frou Frou "Let Go". It is from our favorite movie "Garden State".
I woke Ian up at 5:30 this morning to tell him that Amanda had posted our pictures. Surprisingly he was just as excited as I was!!
I'll start off by saying that our wedding was absolutely wonderful. I wouldn't change anything aside from having Erik there. My wedding photographer was {Amanda Bordonaro}. She made both Ian and I very comfortable. Not to mention, she took beautiful pictures and really helped add to our day. She posted the following pictures on her website linked above. More to follow I'm sure!
This is our ring pillow (fake rings in it so Cooper didn't fling the real ones away). The snowflake is the comb I wore in my hair.
My mom recently found this handkerchief... It belonged to my grandmother on my mom's side. My grandfather was born in Saskatchewan, Canada. We guess that at some point my grandparents went back to visit and she got this as a souvenir. I carried it along with my bouquet. The folder is what I used as my "wedding planning book". It has all of the receipts and pictures in it.
Getting mascara put on by someone else is torture for me.
My first reaction to seeing my reflection in a mirror following the hair and makeup was to think "OMG I have beehive hair!". My goal was not to look like a complete stranger to Ian and I think I pulled that off. Just a little more makeup and bigger hair than usual!
Bless my mom and sister. They had one heck of a time trying to tie up my dress.
The hotel was beautiful... Amanda was able to get a lot of amazing shots of the hotel which you can see on her website.
Ian's tie is a reference to a comic that we have framed on our wall - XKCD. Cooper, Ian and I all wore Vans. Another goal of ours was to make it more about us than a traditional wedding. Ian hates dress shoes and the vintage heels I was going to wear didn't work out. In the end, we were both really comfortable.
I *LOVE* this picture of Ian. People said prior to the wedding he looked nervous. He said he was more worried about our officiant showing up on time. But when I took his hand at the "altar" it was shaking. So was mine. :)
Our centerpieces, which doubled as accent pieces during the ceremony, were mason jars etched with parts of our vows.
As my photographer said, Cooper stole the show. We are more than happy with that! Honestly, he was the best ringbearer. He was so relaxed and calm... He held the ring pillow by a string and walked down the aisle. He was dressed in a suit for a VERY long time. I think Ian got fussy about being dressed up before he did! I can't wait to get more pictures of him. My sister did his hair just like Ian's - in a bit of a faux hawk. So adorable.
The ceremony was held in a conservatory (this word makes me think of "Clue") just off of the reception room. It was very pretty, especially looking out onto the snow covered grounds.
In Canada, it is customary to sign the wedding license during the ceremony or very shortly after with 2 witnesses. We signed and then my mom and Ian's dad signed.
We kept hoping for more snow but I think we have decided in the end that it was better it didn't. The hotel grounds were covered just enough to make it feel really wintery. But it wasn't so deep that we could easily walk through the orchard and explore a bit.
We put together mini suitcase favors. I had to include rubber duckies in it!
Our cake was both delicious and cute!
Our guests enjoyed little mini cakes with our cake toppers recreated in sugar on them.
All in all it was a wonderful wedding. More pictures to come. Check out Amanda's site for additional pictures from this batch - www.amandaraeblog.com
