Dear Drew, It's been the best 5 years of my life

Dear Drew of 2006,

No one makes me laugh like you do. Even though I've basically promised my heart to someone else, you have stolen it. I can't imagine spending my life without you. I was SO happy when you asked me to be your wife (on 14 Sep 2006).

Dear Drew of 2007,

I don't get to see you very much! We seem so consumed with school and work that when we get home, we're exhausted. Our tiny apartment offers comfort, even if the window lets in the cold air. At least we have the weekend to go shopping at Wal-Mart and to study in the Harold B. Lee Library. And good thing I'll be done with school this December. Maybe then we'll have more time for each other.

Dear Drew of 2008,

I got a job at the University Press Building while you keep chugging along at school. I got bored with that job quickly so I added on a job at a Mexican restaurant at nights to make my days crazier. I get off at 3 from my day job and then go to the restaurant at 7. I thought we were going to see more of each other! At least we'll get to go to New York for an internship! I'm so proud of you.

Soo...the internship is over and now we have no idea what to do. Sooo...let's go live with your parents! Oh, and while we're there....Surprise! You're going to be a daddy! We get to see a lot more of each other since we worked at the same temp job and we don't have real jobs, so we take a lot of walks.

Dear Drew of 2009,

We had our first baby. It was the most amazing thing we've ever done. You got your first job out of college and we made a couple of bad decisions (buying houses and then backing out...twice). We lived in Mansfield and moved a lot. We lived really close to your parents (often in the same house) which was special for Luke. You didn't get into grad school, which was discouraging. I don't see you a lot again. This job keeps you really busy.

Dear Drew of 2010,

We moved to Arlington, where we came into a good ward and made some amazing friends. You didn't get into another grad school. You didn't get picked for a job you applied for. And then they called you again, a couple months later. They were interested in interviewing you. And they gave you the job. Now we know why you didn't get into grad school! Heavenly Father was definitely watching out for us. Oh yeah...we're having another baby!! And guess what??? It's a girl!! We're seeing a little more of you, although not much. You work late because you have to drive everywhere.

Dear Drew of 2011,

You moved us across the country to North Carolina. Good thing I love you, because you keep moving me further from my family! We had our second baby, Grace. She is truly the sweetheart of the family. You started your new job...a desk job! We get to see a lot more of you because you have a set time: 8-5. We have officially been married for 5 years. I'm excited to see what the next 5 years will bring!

I love you! Happy 5 Year Anniversary!!

Santa Letters & Sugar Cookies

It's that time of year...

Santa Letters

Sugar Cookies

Christmas Card

 So, this year I made homemade Christmas cards (see above!). Annnd, since they were homemade we decided we'd just send them to family. But I wanted to send some Christmas love to my friends, too! So here is your digital Christmas love :)

Okay, so for a year recap...here it goes! (WARNING: LOOOONG.)

2011: This has been a really BIG year for the Pepper family! We started the year off living in Texas. I had some great friends there and we were relatively happy, but Drew wasn't quite satisfied with his current position in his job. He applied for a Marketing position within his company and a couple months later he was offered the job, which meant we were moving to North Carolina!

I was also pregnant. Very, very pregnant. We were a little unsure of how it was all going to work out with a newborn, but we felt we were supposed to move on to NC, so we walked blindly towards not only having our baby, but also the move.  Grace Kathryn was born March 7th and we are so blessed and excited to welcome a sweet baby girl to the family.

Sooo...about 2 weeks later we were in the car driving to the east coast! I don't know how we did it, but we did. I am so excited and proud of Drew for getting his promotion. He really is an amazing man.

Also before we left, Luke turned 2! That should have been a super fun time for him, but on his birthday he had strep and pneumonia at the same time, so it was a really awful time. At least he got presents (that he made me open).

Where we live is only 2 hours away from Drew's uncle & aunt and 4 hours away from his grandparents. So we've spent a lot of time with both since we've been here. We've been very fortunate to have his grandparents close because they're willing to drive here and watch the kids almost any time we need it. Which is a huge blessing. In August we went to Myrtle Beach with said grandparents and Drew's parents and brother and lots of that side of the family. It's an annual shindig and I love it because I'm a beach girl! Later that month Luke, Gracie, and I went to Utah to welcome Baby Ethan (my nephew) to the world! It was a lot of fun.

However...while we were in Utah I had a big migraine episode. I continued to have them once I came back to NC and they were so bad that I decided to go to a neurologist. After a LOT of tests, it was determined that I just had some crazy migraines. I'm not having them anymore, which is nice, but it was scary while it lasted.

Drew also had another surgery. The year before he had surgery to fix a torn ACL but it never felt quite right to him. He went to have it checked and he had a bunch of cartilage that needed to be taken out before it could really heal. I was able to go with him to his surgery thanks to my amazing friends Becca and Christal. He's healing well but still isn't playing basketball, which used to be his favorite hobby ever.

Anyway, that's about it! I celebrated my birthday in Utah with my family (without Drew, which was sad) but it was fun and I turned 25! Phew, that's old. But that's nothing compared to Drew who turned 28 this year! That's much closer to 30! Drew is loving working in an office instead of out of a car and he is looking into grad schools...again. It just hasn't been the right timing before, so we'll see what happens. I ran a 5k this year and I have BIG plans for next year as far as running goes.

Our free time... Luke: playing with Cars and talking ALL.THE.TIME. Grace: Eating. Pooping. Sleeping. Playing with toys. Drew: Watching ESPN. Playing with Legos. Kathryn: CRAFTS. and more crafts. And reading. And running.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Comparisons

I have noticed some pictures lately that make me stop and stare...it was like I was seeing double!

These babies obviously love this monkey. We nicknamed it "Monk." He is very beloved in our household. 

The picture on the right is an ornament we just put up on the tree. It was when Drew was 2. I couldn't get over how much Luke looks like him! Especially in the eyes & nose region. I've noticed Gracie is starting to look more like her daddy, too. We're just gonna have Drew clones around here!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a fabuloso Thanksgiving! Since I know you're all dying to see what we did that day, here's a play-by-play:

Luke stayed in his PJs allll morning and played with his Cars:

Drew went to be a turkey at the Turkey Bowl. Our ward actually doesn't have a Turkey Bowl so Drew just invited a bunch of guys to play the morning of Thanksgiving. (He really should have been a model. He's just so great at posing.)

After Luke and I watched the Thanksgiving parade for a while, I test tasted one of the Mini Pumpkin Oreo Cheesecakes I made. There will be a review of the recipe soon on Destination: Craft.

Then we went to Charlotte to be with Drew's aunt & uncle and their two daughters and his grandparents. Luke loves playing with Kristin and Katrina. I'm pretty sure they love it, too. I hope they do.

Playing with Kristin & Katrina. They caught on fast to what Luke's favorite game was: playing with his Cars!

Having a blast:

 

 

Of course Gracie was never set down (with Drew's grandma):

Drew enjoying a Mini Pumpkin Oreo Cheesecake:

 

 

Some of the ladies enjoying pie (Patti {Drew's aunt}, Katrina, Kristin, Patti's mom}:

Luke trying to convince Candy {the dog} to drink some apple juice:

 

 

And of course, there was napping:

After the Thanksgiving feast, we followed Drew's grandparents to their house to stay a couple of days with them. They took us to a thing called "Lights of the South." It was so much fun and Luke LOVED it!

(I look a little crazy). Behind us was our favorite light object: the pretty castle!

Look how pretty!

There were lots of other lights, but it was too hard to get the camera out.

We hope you had a happy Thanksgiving! Now on to Christmas!!

Family Pics

Drew had this great idea: we take pictures of our friends and in turn they take pictures of us. Brilliant. We both have nicer cameras, so it worked out perfectly. The only time our friends could do it was 8:30 in the morning...on a Saturday. Ugh. Oh well, we're usually up anyway. However, we're normally not outside dressed nicely and freezing our tail feathers off at 8:30 on a Saturday morning. Sundays, yes. Church starts at 8:30. Not so much Saturdays.

We were seriously freezing. The kids' noses were so red and their hands were frozen. We took lots of blankets but we couldn't keep them wrapped constantly. Oh, and a fun little story. Luke had to go pee. "Mommy, needa go pee pee!" Drew took him to teach him how to go next to a tree. But Luke wasn't having that. So I took over. I just held him in my lap, promised him a cupcake, and kept him warm. Bam, the deed was done and we were taking pictures again. Thank you, thank you very much.

That's a lot of talk for some family pictures. Here's some of them:

Run, run, run!

This last Saturday I ran my 4th 5k. Let me tell you about the last two 5ks. 

There was no preparation. When I say no preparation, I mean I may have ran once before to prepare and thought that would do. Which wouldn't be too far off because I've always been able to run every 5k without stopping to walk. 

I ran the Rex Lee Run twice in Utah, the Cowtown 5k with my mother-in-law in Texas, and the Free to Breath 5k in North Carolina. The first one (the Rex Lee Run) that I ever did I felt awesome about. I was running allll the time and felt nice & fit. The next too not so much. THIS one...I felt really awesome about. I trained for a couple weeks before and was ready to rock the house!

I'm a really awkward looking runner. Check out these pics:

See what I mean? This was before I noticed Drew taking pictures. 

This was once I noticed:

Uhhh...yeah, not much better. I look insane. I probably was at that point.

It really wasn't as difficult as I'm making it sound. But it is always nice to go across that finish line!

Excited that it's over!

I guess I was too stinky. Luke didn't even want to give me a kiss.

Next up: a 10k! Then a half marathon, then a marathon! We'll see how long that'll take me. I'll get there...eventually.

Holler-Ween

I never did post any Halloween pictures! That's like a Blogger crime. I'm sorry & I'm here to rectify the situation.

This was at our Trunk or Treat. Gracie was a ballerina (thanks, Mama Pepper!) and Lukers was Larry Boy.  

Luke found his Nursery teacher and he was so happy to see her! He kept wanting to go to her car. She also came over and took him around to see all the decorated trunks.

My kids are so cute. So so cute. Oh, and this is how we decorated out trunk, but there was also a little banner and some bats hanging that you can't see in this pic.

We did do the actual Trick or Treating with some friends but we didn't take any pictures of it. We did get some shots of Gracie playing with Luke's loot: