The Weekend

Although this weekend was not a super restful one, it certainly was fun and didn't seem to fly by which is always nice! We were so excited about Saturday because it was Brett's first race! He has been running with Pudge many mornings at 5:00 A.M.! Brett is athletic but never really been a runner so this has been a huge sacrifice and I have been so proud of him! He decided to do his first race, the Azalea Trail Run, and not just the 5K, he went for the 10K! He and Pudge ran along with many of our friends!! 

Beautiful morning to start us off!

Warming up.... :) 

Basil ran his first race and did so well!!

Armbruster fam!!

My boy and I before...I was so sad I didn't run but probably would have struggled! I haven't been running consistently unfortunately! Need to start back up!

So many happy people ready to run!

There they are! 

Josh finishing incredibly fast!

Doug!

Here comes Pudge!

There's my guy!! Finishing it up with Matt!

Good job boys!!

So proud of you!

Anna and Sam

The Estis fam ready for the fun run!!

Carter's so cool in his glasses!

It was such a fun day! After we were done Brett and Jeff went to buy our plants for our garden and on Sunday morning they planted them! We are so excited about having some fresh veggies in our backyard!!

So now, after some watering, we will hopefully have some large tomatoes, red, green, orange bell pepper, jalapeños, sweet basil, rosemary, zucchini, squash, and onion!

I hope your weekend was as pretty as ours! :) 

Around Here In March

I cannot believe that we are almost through the month of March! Seems crazy but I am happy cause it means closer to Spring Break and then Summer! With the weather being as beautiful as it is, it is hard being inside! A lot has been going on in the month of March. 

I did this craft project....

Tutorial here

I hung these new prints in my kitchen! Love these colors!

Printables found here

Also, I have had a couple of neat opportunities lately. A friend of ours asked me to take some pictures of her son at his soccer game. She had seen some pictures I had taken and wanted me to come so that she and her husband wouldn't have to! I was happy to oblige and happy to learn more and experiment with my camera! Here are a few shots from the night. (They won the game by the way in double overtime! :) ) 

A couple of weeks ago Brett decided he wanted to build something. :) He decided on a coffee table and bought the wood and put it together in a couple of days. It turned out really great and I am excited to paint it soon!! 

Hey handsome

Good job husband...

We have also begun the process of starting a garden. Mangs and Pudge who live across the street really wanted to and I did. Brett is not a huge fan of veggies (we are working on that! :) ) so he didn't really care too much but we are using our backyard! Brett and Pudge built some boxes and they have been filled with soil. We are hoping to begin planting some veggies this weekend! I am really excited about this! 

I'll keep you updated on the progress! 

We are still constantly making our house a home and we added some new curtains that I ordered. 

This past weekend after finding out this baby was a girl, we went and helped these two register at Target! Well, not really helped but kept them company! SO READY FOR BABY J!!

Other than those happenings we have been keeping busy. Life seems to never slow down! We are learning lots about patience and trusting the Lord. I am learning that my husband is probably the best leader for me and encourager. He is so patient. I mean, I know everyone thinks their husband is great but really, he has been my biggest supporter during these last few months when things have been hard. 

Also, yesterday a year ago, was the day I said YES to him! 

What a year it has been!! 

I made the best decision of my life a year ago! 

I LOVE YOU so so much Brett and am so thankful that you are my husband!

Hope your week is going well! It's WEDNESDAY!! :)

It's A...............

This past weekend we finally were able to find out if Baby Jacobs was a boy or girl. On Friday family and some friends gathered for the big reveal! We were all so excited! We even skyped in Kara, Emma Kate,  Eric, Linds, and V! 

Pudge and Mangs certainly planned things out well. They had a scavenger hunt set-up all over mom and dads house! I took pictures and Brett did some videoing so I put it all together into one. (P.S. Editing a video takes forever...I am not so great at it! haha) 

Enjoy!!

Baby J. Reveal from Laura Kittrell on Vimeo.

Baby J. Reveal from Laura Kittrell on Vimeo.

We are so excited about Baby Jacobs arriving in August!!

I Heart Face Photo Challenge- B&W

I Heart Faces does a photo challenge monthly (used to be weekly). I always loved looking at them and seeing other people's pictures. I had never entered one but decided to give it a go this month. 

I was looking through and had a few that I chose but ultimately narrowed it down to this one from Africa a few summers ago. Love that sweet face and beautiful eyes! :) 

 

Enter your black and white photos at I Heart Faces

he & she (february 2012)

:.. he and she ..:

He celebrated 23 years of life.

And bought her a new camera... :) haha

She is in love with her camera and really learning a lot.

They celebrated their 4th Valentine's day together.

She is still planning meals and really enjoying being a wife :)

He is still the most encouraging and supportive person for her....

They celebrated a dear friends engagement

And were allowed to share the exciting news of her sister being pregnant! 

She took a lot of pictures

They had their first few house guests

And went and visited her family

She really likes their "he & she" photo this month...   :) 

Shoot With Virginia

So I already shared a good many photos from my weekend in Georgia but, while I was there I was able to play more with my new camera and got some good pictures of this sweet girl. 

So......more of the little girl I love. :) Don't worry in April I'll have a new niece to photograph and in August another niece or nephew! :)

Sweet V

I love those eyes..

Isn't she beautiful?

Little model....haha. Brett posed this one! :)

Uncle Brett gave her a flower! :)

:) Love this face...

Lovely long eyelashes...

Getting warm with mommy

"Do 1, 2, 3, Uncle Brett!"

Ok, Virginia Louise overload! I am certain her mommy, aunt, and LiLi loved looking at this though! :) 

Happy Monday!

Weekend Away

We ended our break with a weekend in Georgia with my brother, sister-in-law and sweet niece. It was a perfect way to end this break and of course we took plenty of pictures. I love playing with my camera and making memories with my niece. It is also nice to take pictures of V's day to day life and get her momma in some pictures since she rarely gets to be in any!  Warning...lots of pictures :)

Oh Uncle Brett...

Sweet tootsies! 

Sweet girl helping Aunt Laura and momma with some baking..

Snuggling and watching Thomas the Train with Uncle Brett

Reading a story with Aunt Laura

Good morning sweet pea!

Like I said, I got to take some pictures of V and Linds. I am sure that it will be the same way when I have kids and I won't get to be in a ton of pictures with my children. I hope Linds doesn't mind me sharing these of her belly but there were some sweet pictures that came out.

Listening to baby Charlotte with her stethoscope 

Sweet picture

Love this. Giving her sister a kiss

Then mommy wanted to listen :)

pretty girl

I got to get some shots of V waking up from her nap too...

A yawn....

Reading a story with mommy

Look at that bed head.... :)

So sweet

I LOVE this girl! 

I took a lot more pictures that turned out great but I'll have to update that post tomorrow! I have to go get ready to get back to the real world tomorrow. Boo....What a nice week off! 

Ready or not....here comes Monday. 

On Blogging

So I have seen a lot of different blogs in the last few years. People blog for various reasons. When I started this blog it was because I was heading out of the country for 2 months on a summer project to Brazil. I was going to keep everyone updated on my summer and the things that God was doing and teaching me. I have to say, that kind of flopped. Between 21 other people needing to use the internet while we were there and just personally wanting to "be" there and not on the computer the whole time, it flopped. I started this blog on May 2, 2009 and only wrote 9 posts in the span of 7 months. 

So, when 2010 began I made a resolution to blog more consistently and in the last two years it has only grown. No, I don't post every single day and there are certainly weeks where I might not post at all. However, I feel like this is something I am starting to get better at and I really love posting. I never want this blog to be something that consumes me. That is why I do not post everyday. 

So why do I blog? I blog mainly to keep track of big things in my life. I love taking pictures and this blog allows me to share them. I love my family and I get to share stories and memories. I occasionally get to share a recipe or a craft. I get to share the things in my life that are good and the times that are hard. The Lord is constantly teaching me new things or convicting me of new things and that is something I enjoy sharing. 

I blog because I get to share pictures of memories like this..

Exciting news like this......

 This little girl going from this........

 to this.....

 Excitement for friends like this.....

Sharing accomplishments like this...

Good things that the Lord is teaching me like this.

And the hard things too like this.

So, blogging has been a fun thing for me. My goal above anything else is to be transparent. I don't ever want it to look like I have this perfect life. I always want to be real about the things that I post. 

So that is my ramblings for today. Thankfully, Brett and I have a week off together. We couldn't be more thrilled but I will say, the days go by much more quickly when we are home as opposed to being at school. But, we plan on enjoying this fun week! 

Lovely Day

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. We don't really do anything big for this day but it's always fun and I am sure thankful I got to spend my 4th Valentine's day with my husband! :) It was my first Valentine's day as a teacher and boy did I get showered with all sorts of cards and candy. Blessing or curse? hmmm...

Mangs and I decided to let the boys cook since we were going to be home late. I tried to deck the table and I did make dessert.

We used our fancyyyy china for the first time!! :)

A little dinner prep...

Goobs with their headlights. haha. 

Hey there Valentine!

The result. Grilled chicken for the girls....steaks for the boys....grilled veggies and baked potatoes. Yum!!

Thanks for cooking Pudge and Brett! You two are the best Valentine's ever!

Oh and a quick shot from Sunday. That lovely thing around my neck is my Valentine's present and I was so excited to get it! 

I love you sweet boy and am happy to be your wife this Valentine's day! 

Excited that we have 50 more Valentine's days together! :)

P.S. Another exciting thing. Husband and I both have a WEEK off next week! Whoop! 

Cannot wait for FRIDAY!!

Sweet Birthday Boy

Yesterday was a day to celebrate this guy and I personally think he is worth celebrating!

We started the morning with monkey bread and presents! OH....the bed head. :) 

He got some basketball shoes, a few treats, and a weekend away in the ATL in April to see the Braves play and shop and such!

Oh, and can I just say that I have an awesome husband. On HIS birthday he chased the mailman down to pick up my camera. WE missed the mailman and he drove around to find him so I could have it. So we had some fun with that...

 

LOVE YOU BIRTHDAY BOY!!

Pretty, perfect, COLD day!!

Then, last night we headed to Outback with Brett's brother Drew and his girlfriend Ashley! 

Such a fun night!

Joel Brett Kittrell, I am sure glad you were born 23 years ago! You are such an amazing husband and my best friend! Thank you for all that you do to provide for me and take care of me! Thank you for being a huge encouragement. I love you so so much!!