Wednesday, December 28, 2016

A Very Merry Bruce Christmas

This year Corey and I decided to host Christmas at our new house.  The reasons were 2 fold.  First, we love it here in NV and wanted to share our newfound state, home and happiness with our out of town family.  Second, with the upcoming arrival of Baby Bruce #2 we will likely not have enough bedrooms to host so many people again!  Funny how a 5 bedroom house starts to feel like not quite enough!   But once baby comes, we'll be down to just one guest room.
Helping bring in the tree

Testing the lights

Dangerous ideas, cute faces

We invited my parents, sister and brother in-law and grandfather to town.  For the most part, it was a fun-filled few days minus the bout of stomach flu that hit my mom and grandfather and the head cold that took me out as well.  Being pregnant and sick is no picnic, and of course I started feeling better the day after everyone left!  

Despite all of that, the days were filled with stories, skiing, food, treats, presents and fun.  Christmas Eve Parisa, Daniel, Corey, Carter, Grandpa Bill and I headed to church.  Standing room only!  It was wonderful to see so many people attend, even if it meant we were in folding chairs in the back.  We enjoyed the beautiful candlelight service in remembrance of our Savior's birth.

The skiers at NorthStar, love that this is all just an hour away from home!

Christmas Eve family picture

Who IS this adorable little man?

Christmas Day, Carter was awake bright and early to try out all of his new presents.  That evening, Corey's family arrived for Christmas dinner.  With Mom still under the weather it was a group effort to pull off.  Dad was assigned to cook the fresh turkey under the watchful eye of the butter police, aka Parisa, who was making sure Tommy was sufficiently lathered up.  I tackled the family Jello salad recipes (yes, plural), salad, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, stuffing and mashed potatoes.  After years of careful observation of Mom's methods, Dad managed to pull off a delicious gravy to boot!  We ended the meal with Levi's pies...a Reno bakery that has quickly stolen our hearts (and our money at $25/pie, but they are worth every penny!).
Happiness is a new ride-on plane from Grammy J and Grandpa!

The family

Dinner Success

Favorite present #2...his new bike helmet from Grami Pam and Poppi Ron

Monday our very kind house guests helped us dismantle Christmas.  We packed up and put away all of the decor and took down the tree.  That was such a blessing because with my giant belly it's not exactly safe for me to be scaling ladders and hauling boxes up them.  The house looks empty once again, but our hearts are full of good Christmas 2016 memories.  

One by one the guests departed and the house returned to quiet...well, as quiet as a house with a toddler can be.  We did a full day of laundry, load after load washing every blanket, sheet and towel we own to be sure the sick germs were gone and then had a cleaning crew in to scrub down the rest of the house.  We're starting the New Year spic, span and hopefully healthy!  Again, wishful thinking with a toddler and pregnant lady in the house.  Our immune systems aren't the best right now!

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

2016 Bruce Family Photos!

We were so blessed to participate in a photo fundraiser for my MOPS group!  We got these 4 beautiful photos for only $20!  Such a treat to have photos of our little family for our new home and our Christmas card this year!





Thursday, November 10, 2016

My Little Man: 15 Months of Carter Michael

Carter Michael, 15 months!

You are so much fun, kid.  We so appreciate some little gifts you've given us like SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT and WALKING.
Snooze away little one!
You've got some words now like Bath, Duck, Door, Done, Dada, Dog, Mama, Nanana (banana).  Your favorite songs are Old MacDonald (you do the cutest e-i-e-i-o) and If You're Happy and You Know It (you recently figured out the 'stomp your feet' part).  If you don't know what something is you say "Diiiis?" over and over to try to commit it to memory.

You love when I turn the shower on at bath time and you stick your face in it to drink water (just like your mother).

Finally, you are interested in books!  Your most favorite is Noisy Farm (spoiler alert, your Christmas gift from mom and dad are the other books in the series).  You also like your Old McDonald hand puppet book.

Reading with Dada
Around 13 months you decided to transition from two naps to one.  You sleep right now from 11:30 to 2:00pm most days (sometimes more, sometimes less).

You also got another tooth!  That brings the count up to 7 chompers!  Your hair also decided to finally grow.  You're a blondie so far with a hairline that basically resembles President-Elect Donald Trump's (yes, THAT happened in your first years of life...it's historic, it's good and it's completely terrible all at the same time, we'll tell you all about it when you're older).
What's up with that hairline dude?

At the table you eat pretty much anything.  I'm not sure you have a 'favorite' food per se, you just kind of put away whatever we put in front of you.  Good kid.  You're a little (LOT) tough at restaurants, so we do quite a bit of eating at home these days, but that's ok.

You're not too sure about any kind of childcare.  It's a good and bad thing.  Good, because you are home with mom and dad all day every day and not in day care.  Bad, because when you're not with us you get upset and cry.  This makes doing things like going to church or life group tricky, but we're figuring it out and just keep trying!

Being in the car is your favorite way to spend your time.  Not in your car seat, but crawling all over a parked car and pretending to drive.  You and mommy have spent HOURS on road trips to nowhere.  When we're not in the car, we're running around the backyard picking up dirt, playing fetch with the dogs and climbing on things that are dangerous.  Inside, you love your legos and playing "tent" where mommy hides with you under a blanket.  But, your FAVORITE thing is turning on and off light switches over and over and over again.
Your favorite outfit is your bathrobe
Let's Go....nowhere!

Being your mom and dad is a joy.  We get so excited with each new step of independence that you take, We love seeing you go from baby to sweet little boy.  You are such a lovey guy. You give "cozys" aka snuggles...you are quick to come in for an unexpected hug while you rest your head on our shoulder or leg and pat pat pat your little hand on us.  It's hard not to positively flood social media with your adorableness, but we try not to be too annoying with it.  We just know we have the cutest kid that ever was!
Adorable Kermie for your second Halloween




Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Fall Farm Fun!

Tractors, Animals and Pumpkins, Oh My!

We had a fun morning together at the local farm.  

This is childhood!

A little too close to nap time to get a smile from this little farmer!

Pick a pumpkin!

The BEST part, driving the tractor

Why hold the pumpkin when you can throw it off the hay bale?

Carter's First Birthday!

Carter, I was admittedly intimidated to throw a first birthday bash.  It's really a party for grown ups after all...unless you're a super baby and remember it...

Do you?

God has already blessed us with many nice, new friends here in NV and the house was full of people who love you!

It's been the fastest, slowest year ever.  You're already 1!  How did that happen?  Yet, oh my gosh we have barely gotten more than 6 hours of sleep in a row in over 12 months and we're so tired!  Ha!

You are just the cutest little boy now.  If I had to sum you up in 3 words they would be:

INDEPENDENT

CRAZY CUTE

HAPPY

OK, I guess that was FOUR words, but your cuteness cannot be contained to just one word.

You are fiercely BRAVE and INDEPENDENT  No clinging to mom and dad, you're ready to tackle the world.  You love going up to strangers, petting dogs, eating anything, climbing everything, running everywhere.

You are ADORABLY CUTE.  Everywhere you go people comment on how sweet your little face is and just melt when you give them a smile.  You just started waving and that drives everyone wild.  You don't dole out those waves very liberally, yet...so when we get them we know it's special.

You are so full of JOY and HAPPY.  So much like your dad, you are always smiling, giggling, grinning, laughing.  It's contagious.  It's the absolute best first thing in the morning when we go to get you from your crib.  That AM smile is to die for.  I couldn't love anything more.

Here's a few pics from your party including your Fox cake!  I still cannot believe I pulled that off.  Your mom had never made a decorated cake before.  But with YouTube, Grammy J and a few prayers at 6:30am the morning of your party, Mr. Fox looked good enough to eat or hug...some people just couldn't decide!
Mom's first decorated birthday cake ever!  

Grammy J and Carter

YUM!
Dad, Poppi Ron and Grandpa Bami

Grami Pam, Grammy J and Mom
We love you Carter Bruce and love who God has imprinted on your heart for you to be.  You are 100% toddler perfection from every smile to tantrum.  We wouldn't trade you for the world!

That SMILE!
Love,

Mom and Dad
Woot!  First Birthday Party was a success!





Summer 2016

Mama's been bad about keeping this blog up...It's been a fun summer together in NV in our new home.  It feels like we've spent as much time on the road traveling to and from CA and other places as we have at our house!

Let's see if I can recap a few of the fun happenings!

June we headed up to Sunriver, OR for a Bastani Family Reunion.  Sunriver is the town Corey grew up vacationing in with his family growing up so we've decided to make a week (maybe more) up there a summer tradition for our family too!

We rode horses, river rafted, biked all over, ate, ate some more (it IS a Bastani reunion after all!) and partied all night...well, may not partied all night but Carter screamed all-night almost every night leaving us exhausted.
Rafting!

Picnic by the river

Those smiles!

Snuggles with Grandpa

Mom and Dad

The whole Bastani family

Great Grandma Maman  
Nicku's Family

July meant a couple trips over to Tahoe for some fun with friends and visits from our friends CA Jesse and Melissa, Erik, Tiff & Elliana and Bianca, Maya and Hannah!  We showed them around our new digs and of course...more Lake!

At the end of July Mom went away for her first trip!  She headed to Nashville with friends leaving Dad and Carter to fend for themselves for 4 days...spoiler alert...they did great.

August was and will always be a busy month in the Bruce house with Corey's, Carter's, Grandpa Bami's and Peanut's birthdays and Nicku and Corey's anniversary.  There was a lot of traveling and nice, long trip back to the Bay Area for 9 days to see friends and take care of some work meetings.

September showed no signs of slowing down with 2 trips back to the Bay for Nicku and the start of the backyard!  Progress is slow, but hopefully in a month we'll have a great yard to play in.  Was buying an acre ambitious...you bet.  Is landscaping a dirt back yard even WITH professionals an exhausting project...yes, yes it is!


Lastly Louie had surgery on his other hind ACL.  Poor Lou.  He's recovering well though and will be back in action just in time for the yard to thaw out in Spring.

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Months 1 to 9 Progression


First Mother's Day

The first piece of "Carter Art" I ever received.  I LOVED it!
Mother's Day was extra special this year.  For the first time I got to be celebrated!

Last year, you'll remember that I did get some sweet gifts and cards...and my husband got a new car...

THIS YEAR I was so looking forward to Mother's Day and it was an amazing day.  Carter and I were both battling a cold, but felt well enough on the big day to go to church and then brunch and then the Nevada Museum of Art to see the Horse exhibit.



Cool Bronze sculpture
Corey did such an awesome job planning a fun day.  It meant so much to me that he made it so special.  It was a perfect day from start to finish.

I think Mother's Day might just be my favorite holiday now...replacing Thanksgiving ;)


You and Dad at the exhibit
Don't worry Turkey Day, you're still a very close second.

I felt really overwhelmed with Love for God and my family as I sat in church.  Blessed that I have the opportunity to be a mom and that God gave us a healthy, happy, beautiful son whom I could not love more.

Having your own child really helps you understand God's impossibly huge love for us.  I would do anything for that kid, anything.  There is no one or no thing that could replace the space he has in my heart from now until forever.  The gratitude I have for getting to be his mommy is immeasurable.  I just love every day with him, even the hard ones.

The best gift I received that day was my own "Carter Art" from Baby Base Camp at church.  I will always treasure that first painting from Carter!


Not Mother's Day, but the next night we let you sleep in bed with us because you were so sick :(
All smiles on Mother's Day
The balcony at the NMOA
Carter and Dad at Brunch

New York City!

In May we all went to NYC to visit your Auntie P and Uncle Daniel.  As an added bonus, we also got to visit Long Island and your Great Aunt Joyce and Great Uncle Charlie's home to have a mini family reunion.  Your Great Grandpa Diven drove (in his new car!) all the way from Ohio to see you and his other 4 Great Grandkids.
Getting Ready to Board in Denver
Lunch on the river NYC
Obsessed with this ribbon!  Wearing your cute Newsies hat.
Loving Central Park
Family Pic!
Your Aunt and Uncle...not a kidnapper!  HAHA!
Kisses in the Park
The best pancakes in the entire world...yes, they were for Carter
The Space Shuttle!
The fountain at Lincoln Center

Swinging in Central Park
2 out of 3 Charles
MORE Swinging fun

Auntie P being maternal...kind of...
Uncle Daniel time
Playing with Cassidy
Carter and Baby Charlie
Great Grandpa Diven with Carter, Macie, Charlie, Cassidy and Dylan

The whole family

Nicku, Parisa, Carter and Grandpa Diven