4 Years Ago Today....

I married my best friend...since then we've been on a journey only God could have planned. I am so thankful for his grace in my life and his leading me to a wonderful guy that seeks Christ above all else. He leads our family with the humility I have loved since the day I met him. He is truly a picture of God's love for me. I am thankful for however many days God gives us. Love you Chris!


I laugh looking through all these old pictures.

Mr. and Mrs. Lakey

One of my dear childhood family friends, Katie Williams got married recently. It was a beautiful wedding and we are so thrilled for them. I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted because I was having too much fun! Sisters and best friends!
Chandler matched the bridesmaids

Katie's Bachelorette...Painting Pottery for her new kitchen and dinner at Bistro Aix! yum

It was such a great idea, now the Lakey's have tons of new personalized dishes for their kitchen. Ashley did a great job planning.

Welcoming little Bryce

Well its baby #2 for the Bandstra family. Little Bryce looks just like his big sister! Krysten and I threw a lunch shower for Rachel to celebrate the arrival of little Bryce

The happy family, he's a beautiful little man. One more for the boy team! yeah!

Summer Lovin'

Chandler's first summer has been super eventful and tons of fun for Chris and I. We just love seeing him experience things for the first time. Here are a few fun things we've done so far. Chris' birthday was a few weeks ago and his friend Travis bought him the "love boat" sushi dinner. As you can see this boat is filled with mostly sashimi. They ate a TON of raw fish with a few sushi rolls. Chris loves sushi and I will eat the vegetable rolls but that's about it. They were on their own for this one! The picture doesn't even do justice to how much food was there. Chris had a wonderful 29th birthday. Relaxing has been on the agenda in any spare time that comes up because he is SUPER busy getting the plumbing business going.

First time in a real swing outside

Driving the Vicker's boat at the lake house.

Aunt Carol and cutie cutie Anna Grace with her shades at the lake house. We've been loving hanging out with them down there.

Baby pool on the dock, Chandler is constantly trying to climb out but its nice to be able to cool them off a bit.

Bathtime with mommy

Poolin' it! He loves any type of water so far. We'd like to teach him to swim this summer but we'll see. He wants to climb out of the float at any chance he can.

The Graduate

Congrats to my little sis Katie- She graduated from UNF in the last couple months with a Marketing degree and has since landed a job at Blue Cross. She is loving it and we are very proud of her.

Chandler Stats- Big 10 Months

Chandler turned 10 months on June 14th and I honestly can't believe it. He is changing before our eyes and doing something new just about everyday it seems like. At our last doc appt he weighed 19.5 lbs. I was pretty suprised about that because he had been gaining so fast but with him being mobile I think he's starting to thin out. He walks the furniture and I don't think it will be too long before he's on his own. He's eating all kinds of finger good and does a great job of shoving it all in his mouth. He never leaves a crumb :) We are still nursing 4 times a day and that is going well. I have been very thankful to have done it this long. He's doing some heavy reading these days...he actually loves being read to and try to soak it up everytime we can.
His "excited face" I'd love for him to do this FOREVER :)

Daddy- he pronounces it very well now.

My family at the fair, Chandler loved seeing the animals. Although things tend to startle him very easy, loud noises, people in costumes and hats. He gets so scared and cries. Its so sad but adorable at the same time.

My little Easter Bunny

Hi friends! This will be the first of many catch up posts. I thought of doing one long post but it was just too big. Have I really not updated since Easter? I am a bad blogger. I have though decided to devote more time to this because I like to update this rather than fb. I have really been convicted about wasting time in certain areas, compared to how much time I spend time I spend "catching up" with God as I feel I need to do on facebook and other things. I have chosen this as my method of keeping our dear friends and family in the loop. Also, our time as a family of three is very limited with Chris' work schedule and I like us to all be together as much as I can. That time is so precious to me.



So on to the fun things.....

Chris' extended family always has a big to do at Easter, its more like a family reunion. Always great food and alot of fun.

Is he not cute or what?

First Easter!!