Our Life in Alaska and Beyond

Going along with all the flashbacks I've been doing, I've been meaning to post this one for awhile! A few weeks ago Scott and I taught our Sunday School class (14-16 year olds) about the importance of journaling, and I showed them my blog. This blog has been a great way for us to document and remember all the important events and fun things that we've done. Ruby's blessing is something that I have been wanting to share on here. :)

Just before moving to Alaska we blessed Ruby in my parents' ward. We lived with my parents for a month (Sept. 2012) in between moving out of our Logan apartment and moving to AK. During this time we blessed Ruby. I remember it being a beautiful warm, sunny day. :) Scott gave Ruby the most beautiful blessing, and many family members were able to be there with us, too. After church we all had lunch at Grandma and Grandpa B.'s, but I don't think we took a big group picture. I just have these few. Ruby was kind of in a stage where she pretty much cried non-stop, so I didn't take too many pictures, but I remember I asked Chrissy (she had a better camera on her iPhone, haha) to take our family pic just before going into the church and I'm so glad I have these. Ruby was the most beautiful little baby, and her dress was gorgeous. It was very similar to my wedding dress. :) Enjoy these sweet pics of baby Ruby! <3

This is one of the few photos Scott and I have of our pre-married days. This was before anyone had iPhones, so we weren't taking tons of pics all the time like we do now. I'm glad we at least have a few pics though. We went to a YSA party as a 70s couple, lol. Both of our costumes are authentic too, haha! Scott's shirt was my Grandpa's, his pants were his dad's, and his shoes, not pictured :( were my great uncle's. My leopard jumpsuit was Scott's mom's, lol! It's so fun to look back at these old photos! We had been engaged for a couple months, and we had our wedding date set. Enjoy! Also, this is the last Halloween flashback post if you're getting tired of them, haha. 

Halloween 2011 was our first Halloween being married, but no kids yet. We had just found out we were expecting Ruby maybe a couple weeks before this party, and I remember feeling super sick. We waited another month to tell anyone though, haha. I dressed up as a spooky librarian, lol, and Scott had his usual Halloween mullet, haha!!

Chrissy was a Flamenco dancer :)

We moved to Alaska in October 2012. Scott flew up on Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012, and started his new job the next day on Oct. 1, 2012. I stayed at home at my parents' for a few extra days and then flew up with baby Ruby on Oct. 3 (I think). It's kind of crazy to think back to how we just packed up all our stuff, shipped it to our tentative address (a little four-plex where we ended up staying for about 6 months), and then flew ourselves up. We rented a car for about a week, and then bought a Toyota Camry, which we shared for a little over a year, before buying another car. It all worked out and I'm glad we made it up here, but I'm not sure I would do it again, haha.

So these pics are from Ruby's first Halloween! The first few are from Oct. 1, 2012 at Gardner Village, where I went with my mom and Chrissy after Scott had flown to AK, but I was still in Utah. The other pics were taken at Scott's work right on Halloween. Grandma B. had made Ruby's Dorothy costume and sent it up, and if I remember right, I think it arrived right on Halloween! Her cute little red sparkly shoes were a baby gift from a good friend in my parents' ward. They were perfect! (Robyn also wore this costume for her first Halloween. See here.) (Noelle also wore this costume here, but I mainly just put her in it for the pics. With her being born in a different season it was a bit too small for her and I don't think I could button up the back, haha.) Enjoy these sweet pics of baby Ruby!

I still can't believe how much hair Ruby had as a baby!

Ruby was 16 months in October 2013, just about the same age Robyn is now. (Robyn is 14 months.) It's so fun to look back at these pics and see Ruby in the same clothes and doing the same things Robby is doing now. :)

Mommy kitty and ladybug <3

We're still finalizing Halloween costumes for this year, but I think Robby might wear this same ladybug. It's so cute!

Get ready for a ton of Halloween flashback posts! As I've said before, I didn't really start this blog until Ruby turned two, so I have quite a few pics from before then that I'd love to put on here! This first post is from Halloween 2014. Technically I had this blog then, but for some reason I never posted Halloween pics, so here they are. Enjoy!

Ruby was a chicken and I (being pregnant with Noelle) was the egg :)

A few months before Ruby was born our wonderful families threw me a baby shower! It was at Aunt Carole's and we had all sides of the family there. It was beautiful and we were blessed with so many nice gifts for our sweet baby girl. My cousin Kim gave us a free newborn photo session. (She had a photo business at the time, and she lived in Nibley, while we were in Logan.) I remember being so excited to get these pictures taken because I knew how amazingly talented Kim was! Five days after Ruby was born we took her over to Kim's home where she had a perfect little home studio and she took these gorgeous photos of Ruby. I'm so happy we have these beautiful pics! Enjoy! :)

Ruby was born Wednesday, June 6, 2012. (Fun fact: All our girls were born on a Wednesday!) I woke up around 4 am that morning and realized my water had broken! My due date wasn't until June 19th, so we were surprised she had decided to come a little early! After getting dressed and getting all our things together we headed to the hospital where they confirmed my water had broken and I was in labor! We excitedly called our families to let them know the good news! It was so nice that our families only lived about an hour away so they were all able to come see us and Ruby after she was born. I got an epidural and continued to labor throughout the morning, but unfortunately I developed a fever. I think it was at 1 pm when I was complete, then they had me wait an hour before pushing. I started pushing at 2 pm and she was born at 2:40, weighing 7 lb. 1 oz. and measuring 20 inches long. We were so surprised to see that she had a beautiful head full of black hair! We instantly fell in love. With me having a fever, Ruby sadly came out with a fever too. She had to go to the NICU for a couple days, but luckily we were able to take her home Friday evening. Becoming parents was a HUGE change for us, but something we wouldn't change for anything. We love our Ruby girl!

This melts my heart! <3

<3 <3 <3

Proud Daddy <3

We're kind of at a slow, dark, and cold time of year where I'm just not taking a ton of pics, but I still want to blog! So, I've been thinking that I want to do some flashback posts. I started this blog when Ruby turned two, so I'll start the flashbacks with Ruby's first birthday, then her birth/newborn pics, maybe some posts from our wedding, and probably a few in-between too. I'm excited to look back through old pics and see how far I've come as a photographer too! I got my first DSLR in April 2014, (right before I started this blog!) so most of these flashback posts will be old cell phone pics or my old PowerShot (or someone else took them.) Enjoy tiny 1 year old Ruby! <3

A couple weeks before Ruby turned one we took her to JC Penney to get her pictures taken. She was terrified of the lady taking the pics, but we still got a couple cute ones.

On her actual birthday! So cute!