18 Monther

My baby is 18 months!!! That seems sooo old.

He can say: Cracker, please, juice, hot, shoes, mama, daddy, dada, Jesus, and other things that Drew and I don't really understand.

He's such a sweetheart. I love little Luke Andrew Pepper.

Kat and Drew ... plus TWO??!!!

Yup, that's right. Luke is going to be a BIG BROTHER! We're officially going to be a family of 4! That sounds so weird. I would put up a picture of the sonogram, but our printer/scanner hasn't worked in over a year. So sorry.

The due date is March 8th. I've only been feeling queasy, so it hasn't been too bad. Except for Luke's random tantrums lately. So we're starting early with the terrible two's, apparently. Awesome.

Anyway, happy news! We're super excited!

Chuck E. Cheese

Mama Pepper wanted to take Luke to Chuck E. Cheese before she had to go back to work this year. I think there was so much to do, he was kind of overwhelmed! Plus he gets bored with a game after about a minute. But he loved it and he LOVED the pizza, so all in all, he had a super fun time!

Entering the Twilight Zone...

...Or Forks, Washington! That's right, I convinced my fam to drive the 2 hours drive to Forks. That town has really taken full advantage of being the setting for the Twilight novels. EVERY store has something in its window about Twilight...even a postal service/key making business. We went to the variety store and got a few trinkets and then went to a store called Dazzled by Twilight. It was a big store devoted to everything TWILIGHT! It's crazy! And it was the busiest store in the whole town! Then we went to Sully's Burger to get a "Bella Burger" but once I got there it said a Bella Burger had pineapple on it... no thanks. So I got a plain ol' cheeseburger. My dad and Johnny got a Rainy Day burger and my mom got a chicken sandwich. And Luke basically ate all the fries. It was a fun day in Forks!

Westport Beach

I'm hanging in Washington right now visiting my parents. We went to Westport Beach a little while ago and let me tell you, it is significantly different than Myrtle Beach. The biggest difference: COLD. It's freezing here. But it's a lot prettier. Myrtle Beach is a lot more commercial. After we looked at the water, we went to all the little shops. It was a lot of fun. And then we got pizza and of course we stopped by the quilt shop we saw. The teenage crew was not happy about that.

The teenage crew: Ashlyn (a cousin, kinda), Johnny (my stinky brother), and Luis (Johnny's friend that has moved in with my parents)


My mama!


One store owner gave Luke a lollipop. Sticky mess.


The first lighthouse I've ever seen! It's not used anymore, but it's still cool.

Myrtle Beach

The Pepper clan recently went to Myrtle Beach (thanks to Mama and Dad Pepper!) for a week to hang out with some family.

Luke had a BLAST. Drew got burnt. I got tan. The usual.


Look at my chubby boy!


We LOVE this picture!


Peppers


We took family pictures while we were there. They turned out really good.


Okay, Luke's a model.


Isn't that SWEET???

A+

Drew had these waiting for me when I got back from California. He gets an A+ in being a husband. I LOVE HIM!!!

Steph's Wedding!

Steph {Oliver} tied the knot. To Mitch Maertens. (It's pronounced like 'Martins.')

It was magical. We got to the Oliver's house at 10 am to get our hair done. We were there until about 2:30 and then the photographer came. We took lots of amazing pictures and then we all hopped in the HUMMER LIMO (yeah, that's right!) and we had to have the driver drive around because Steph didn't want to be dropped off at the church until 5 minutes before the ceremony.

The ceremony was performed and it was beautiful. By that time all the bridesmaids wanted to chop their feet off because of the painful shoes. Seriously, I wanted to cut my toes off. Anyway, we took lots more pictures, hopped back in the limo and went out to UC Merced to take some more pictures. Then we went to the reception and partied the night away! We got back to Lacey and Guy's at about 10 pm...so it was a full 12 hour day.

And since I was IN the wedding, I don't have a lot of pictures from my own camera. But here are a couple:


The tables:



The Hummer Limo:



Me and my beautiful date:



High school besties AGAIN:



My HANDSOME date and I:

Fourth of July

We spent the Fourth with my brother and sister-in-law and their two adorable kids. My brother was manning a fireworks stand, so we didn't get close to the fireworks shows, but Luke probably wouldn't have liked it and their little guy is only 5 months old, so he probably wouldn't have liked it either.

Berlynn! (my niece)


Luke liked the sparklers


My crazy brother


Natalie and Frankie



I am so proud to be an American. I remember 9/11 and my high school put "Proud to be an American" by Lee Greenwood on the loudspeakers and how I just got goosebumps hearing it. I highly recommend going to YouTube and looking the song up. I am so grateful to be living here and to have the opportunity to practice my religion and to have a career if I wanted it and to marry the love of my life. I feel very blessed.

Steph's Bachelorette Party

Right now I'm chillin' in Monrovia, CA (near LA), hanging out with Steph. Last night, her old roommates planned a bachelorette party and I tagged along. Mitch graciously agreed to watch Luke for the evening.

We went on a "Sunset Cruise." Unfortunately, the weather was not in accordance with a sunset cruise, but we still went. It was FREEZING! But we had a lot of fun and most importantly, we celebrated Steph's last week and a half of being single! Woohoo!!


Me and Stephy



All the girls that went on the excursion



Who let her steer the boat?!



That diamond is totally real



She had to reenact the Titanic scene


9 days to go until Steph is married!

Lacey's Weddin' Day

I have a friend.

Her name is Lacey.

She got married.

We go way back. We went to the same elementary school in 5th grade but we didn't become really good friends until a little later. She just got married a couple days ago and I was her bridesmaid, along with our other dear friend, Stephanie. Stephanie is getting married in 2 weeks and Lacey and I are going to be bridesmaids in her wedding, too.

This is Lacey, Steph, and I at Applebee's the night before Lacey's wedding.



Lacey and her mom, Kim.



Luke's wedding day outfit. SO handsome.



Steph, Lacey, and me! Just a couple minutes before she got married.



Me and my date.



So scandalous!

Shoes and Books

Grandma Salas and Grandma Pepper have both bought Luke some new shoes lately! If he keeps this up, he's going to be just like his father. I swear Drew has to have new basketball shoes every 6 months. I'm like, really? They wear out that easily?

ANYWAY, I haven't taken a picture of the ones Grandma Pepper bought, but they're some super cute sandals for when we're at the beach. These are the Sunday shoes Grandma Salas bought: (Drew says they make him look British)




ALSO...Mama Pepper had some bags of books that she said she was getting rid of and asked me to look through them to see if there were any I wanted. There were 3 bulging grocery bags full. I didn't even have to look through them. I knew I wanted them ALL. Is that greedy? Who cares, I got some AMAZING books. If you don't believe me, take a look yourself:


{Drew told me to make a Gollum face. These are the ones I need to read.}



{These are the ones I've already read.}



{These are not classics, but I still want to read them someday.}

Happy Father's Day

I have some of the best fathers in my life. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for the wonderful earthly fathers He has given me.


My father-in-law can be goofy and give me a hard time, but he is really a good person and he loves me and Drew and especially Luke. He is the Bishop of the Single's Ward and he truly loves the kids in his ward.


I don't know what I can say about my dad that would even be accurate in words. I love him so much. He was my first love! He will always have a piece of my heart.


Drew has been such an amazing father. I am so proud of him and I couldn't love him more. He is my everything and Luke loves his daddy so so much.

Round Rock, TX

This past weekend, Drew had to go to the Austin area to work. He wasn't going to take Luke and I but then he had to go Saturday and he didn't want to be there during the weekend by himself. Sooo, since I KNEW my good friends Kyle and Renae were in Round Rock (which is right outside of Austin) we decided to make a trip out of it!

Oh, did I forget to mention Kyle and Renae have an ADORABLE baby girl?! She is so fun! I love that she is way less crazy than Luke. Seriously, at church on Sunday, Luke was going nuts and Hailey was looking at Luke like he was crazy. Which he is.

Anyway, I hung out with Renae on Tuesday since we both were doing nothing during the day. I also hung out with them Saturday, we all hung out Sunday, and then again on Tuesday. I love friends! I miss them and all my Cougar Creations friends!! Thanks again guys!



Getting ready to swim at the hotel



Renae and Hailey



Isn't he a sweetheart?



Slide time!









The actual rock that Round Rock is named after. Fabulous, isn't it?