Almost One Year Ago...

Almost one year ago...a cold Autumn afternoon on the 25th day of October, Brian and I took the most precious vow... To have and to hold... To love each other unconditionaly through good times and bad...Our vows of Marraige. We have devoted ourselves soley to one another for the rest of our lives. We vowed to not give up and work through anything that may come up. We vowed to help each other out and lean on each other. Through everything we will stand strong together. Now we have ventured through one year of marriage. Those vows stand stronger than ever and mean more every day. We have chosen to not take this adventure lightly and to believe in each other and live every day we have the best that we can. We thank God everyday for bringing us together.

i love you BEB*

hAppY biRtHDaY wEEkEnD

This weekend we were supposed to be going up to Washington D.C. to get family pictures with Grandma and Grandad Ray, Taryn, Matt, Gabriel, and us! However, the weather didn't cooperate. So we are going to put those off until next year most likely, haha. We still all wanted to go up and visit and celebrate Gabriel's 2nd birthday and Grandad's birthday. So we took off early Saturday and went up north to Taryn and Matt's. We were able to visit with everyone, have a great lunch and watch Gabriel open up all his gifts. Gabriel got a ton of good stuff. He got a t-ball set, a soccer set, books, coloring books, a lawn mower, cars, firetrucks, learning games, and a bull dozer and dump truck that talk, make noises, move on their own, and dance. This sounds like it would be great for Gabriel, but it really scared him more than excited him. He would point and say "turn off" or "bye bye" anytime one of them would move or talk. He for some reason did not like them making noises at him without him doing anything, haha. Too much stimulation in one day I guess. We were able to have cake and ice cream for Gabriel and Grandad which is always yummy! I don't have any pictures b/c I went off and forgot my camera but I will try and get some from Taryn. You could also try checking their blog (link is on the right side of screen toward the top). I bet they will have some pictures from everything. It was a cool rainy day that couldn't have been spent any better! It is always great to catch up with everyone.

Memorial Day Weekend

So we decided to go up to Washington, D.C. to spend some with Taryn and Gabriel and do some sight seeing around D.C. It turned out to be a great weekend! The weather was beautiful. It didn't start raining until the drive home on Monday evening.
Friday we drove up with Mom and Dad Ray to the Haley Crew's place in Haymarket and just chatted a bit and just relaxed and watched a movie and then went to bed.
Saturday we all got up and had breakfast and then once we were all ready and gathered, we took off to downtown D.C. We parked and took off running! We all wanted to tour the Smithsonian's predominantly so we took off to the Air and Space Museum. We went to see an IMAX movie where Gabriel got to take a mini nap and then we toured around and looked at all the planes and planets and so much more! They have a display that shows to scale the size of each planet, their moons, and the sun. You don't realize just how LARGE the sun is. They couldn't even show a quarter of it in the display b/c it is just so massive compared to all the other planets and stars. Along with that it was crazy to see how our grandparents, great-grandparents, and for some parents fought in the World Wars. All the planes and how quickly they have advanced. It is so scary to think about. Then we ate lunch and took off toward the Museum of Natural History where we got to see the Hope Diamond :) and of course the giant Elephant! We also went through the Bones Display, the dinosaurs, the butterfly display, and the tropics with all kinds of eery bugs! Gabriel really enjoyed looking up at all the crazy bone structures of the water dinosaurs. :) Then we went to see the Declaration of Independence, Magna Carta, and all the other important government documents. There is so much power in that building when you walk through. You feel the thought and hard work that our forefathers put in to building this country. Let's pray that we can stay true to what they fought and worked for. Then it was off to the Museum of American History. Dad's favorite part was the flag that flew over Fort McHenry when it was being attacked. It is the actual flag, the same flag that inspired the writing of the Star Spangled Banner. It is so powerful, all the history that is associated with so many aspects of our country. We really take for granted just living. We always need to be reminded just how much the people who lived before us did for our country. From there we went back home for the evening. We were all pooped!
On Sunday the gals took off to the outlet mall while the guys (including Gabriel) stayed back at the house.
Then on Monday we did Ford's Theater which is where President Lincoln was assassinated. That is another very powerful place. We also were able to go through the house where he died. Once we took the tour and had lunch we took off back to pick up Taryn and Gabriel so we could take Taryn out for her Birthday Dinner!! We went out for Thai which was very good! Then we sadly had to head back to Richmond. Overall it was a fantastic weekend filled with so many things. Too many to name them all!!! Enjoy the slide show!

Busy wEEKend!

So we had a really busy weekend!! It started off with a lazy Friday night. We had dinner and then we streamed (From Netflix) "Bob the Butler" which is a Tom Green movie. Neither one of us are big Tom Green fans...but the movie looked pretty good and all the reviews said that if you didn't like Tom Green, you would like this movie, haha! So we decided to go for it! It is a GOOD funny movie! We really enjoyed it. During th movie we also had to have some ice cream-brownie sundaes!! :) Then on Saturday we got up and Brian went to the DMV to get the title to the truck transfered to his name since we have PAID IT OFF!! woo hoo!! We then spent all morning working around the house and cleaning, straightening, and REORGANISING!! We rearranged the entire family room. Now it has has MUCH better flow and seems SO much bigger! It awesome! I only wish we would have done it sooner :) Then around 2ish we decided that it looked like it was going to be a nice evening so we took off to Busch Gardens after cleaning up! WE have season passes and this is our last weekend to go so we just took off on a whim :) It looked a little eary on the way and we even hit some rain...but it all cleared up just in time for our arrival. We took on all the coasters and were able to ride the Griffon and Apollo's Charriot at night! Apollo's Charriott is our favorite and at night when you are going down the second hill it looks like you are going into the ground it is so dark! pretty awesome! We got back home around 11ish and then pretty much crashed after a glass of wine while we heated our necks with snuggle logs! haha! (yes we are old!) Then on Sunday we got up went to church, went to Mom and Dad Ray's for lunch, played some double deck euchre, and then Brian worked on Trig. homework, and I cleaned and took pictures of the house! :) Great Weekend!!!

Looking from the Dining Room:

Looking from Beside the Stairs:

Looking from on the Loft:

Looking from the Botton of the Stairs / Entry Way:

Busch Gardens Here we Come!!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Beautiful Afternoon!!

Apollo's Charriott Here we Come (First and Last Ride of the Day!)

the kids

I thought pictures of the growing Baldwin family were justly due! Koa, the newest addition is growing up fast. He went from a scrawny fuzz ball to Mr. Destruct-O pretty quickly. He is my snuggle bunny though  Jux has become a little chubby, but is the same sassy cat as always. We found out she is asthmatic and has sever allergy to chicken products along with environmental allergies. So after doping her up on antibiotic shot, steroid shot, and antihistamines for a month, she now feels MUCH MUCH better. We are able to control the asthma and allergies with a small dose of medicine each evening which seems to make her feel good and wrestle around with Koa. They really have become buds, even sleeping together at times!! Enjoy the pics!!