Meet Mac

October 10, 20132 Comments

Meet The Mac Attack

Yes this furry little face finally came home late one night last week. He immediately met the dog trainer which put him on a tight schedule of crate time, play time and potty time. Which is why I’m delayed in getting some pictures. Much like having a new baby, there has been a lot of timers, documenting and adjusting. But after a week, I think we’re finally settling into a routine and are well on our way to having a really well behaved dog! And good thing because he’s gained 3lbs in a week. I think he’s going to live up to the size of those feet…

Baylor, is of course, over the moon. And Auggie has warmed up fast. Thankfully I think we picked well because Mac will let them do about anything to him – including a ride in the swing. He just seems to take it as it comes and is always happy to play.

Birthday Week

October 3, 2013Leave a comment

It is once again birthday week in the Wand house! Peter has climbed another year into his thirties (we won’t say which year, he’s getting sensitive as the number gets higher) and the Auggie boy is one!

Last year, Peter’s birthday looked like this:

Just a big wife and a very cute birthday present on the way!

This year, it was much more festive with a homemade Fun Fetti cake that Baylor decided should be purple with blue icing. And so it was.

“Daddy’s going to need A LOT of candles!”

And this morning, the big guy woke up to singing, new trains and lots of birthday love. It’s hard to believe how fast a year has gone by and how quickly this guy:

Turned into this guy

We are so blessed to have each other, our health, our families, our friends and another year of life filled with happiness. Happy birthday PW – I couldn’t have asked for a better husband, friend and father to our kiddos. And to my squishy, sweet, funny little Auggie – who knew being a mom to a little boy could be so much fun. I love you more every day which always surprises me since I didn’t think I could love you more! So here’s to 100 more birthdays all around!

Uh Oh…

September 26, 20131 Comment

As of Monday, the Wands have a new member of the family. Name, details and more ridiculously cute pictures to come.

My sanity is SO overrated.

California Love

September 4, 2013Leave a comment

This past weekend marked our 30th something pilgrimage to Coronado, CA. It was as lovely as ever, always a family affair and always so much fun.

This guy capital L LOVED the ocean. We could not keep him out of it. Wave to the face? No biggie. Freezing cold? Not a problem.

Our view from the beach

The only place this guy looks small

Baylor is equally crazy for the ocean and sand castles. I love the urgency on her face to get the water to her sand castle.

Mason looking a little afraid. Rightly so.

We ran into her buddy Tessa – you would have thought they hadn’t seen each other in years…

If this isn’t the perfect “big sister little brother” picture

Auntie Ali, Uncle Gary and Mason looking crabby

The Noni

PW took nap shift one afternoon which left me alone. On the beach. With trashy magazines. And boat drinks. HEAVEN.

The view from our room. Noni goes to great lengths to get joined rooms, beach side, with patios. It is worth every ounce of effort!

The Del at night

Spying on the spectacular beach wedding

This wedding was spectacular. They had chandeliers hanging from the structure and table skirts that looked like beautiful seaweed. It was stunning.

Amazing sunsetAfter a full day running on the beach, playing in the waves THEN hitting the pool, Baylor rolled over and asked what I was looking at on my phone. I turned to answer her and found this:

So here’s to the end of summer, another great vacation and many many more!

Cheater Chicken

August 19, 20132 Comments

I’ve had an epiphany.

Every week I buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts with the intention of tenderizing them, seasoning and then grilling them so that we have fresh and cooked chicken ready to eat.

And more weeks than I care to admit, it goes bad before I can do all of the above.

What happens is it gets to be 5pm and things start to get nuts around our house. It’s too soon to eat dinner, yet people are hungry. Peter’s not due home for at least an hour and kids need baths and the house needs to be cleaned up and Auggie is insisting that his little 25lbs self be held so that he gets a closer look at whatever I’m doing. So my choice is to either have a screaming, crying baby cling to my leg while I pound on some chicken and then sweat to death putting it on the grill….or I let it go. You can see why I waste so much money on raw chicken.

Last week I picked up a rotisserie chicken for dinner at Peter’s request. To my utter delight, both kids dug in and devoured half the chicken. And that’s when it hit me; rotisserie. chicken. It’s cheap ($5 for a whole chicken!), it’s delicious, everyone eats it AND IT’S ALREADY COOKED. I could buy the chicken, tear it apart and have chicken ready to go for lunches and dinners with no effort. And a third of the price.

Cheaper. Easier. Healthy. And everyone eats it. A. Ma. Zing.

WINNER WINNER CHEATER CHICKEN FOR DINNER!!

Say Cheese

August 16, 20131 Comment

What do you do when your very favorite family pictures don’t include your newest addition? Why you recreate the exact same pictures. Down to the same clothes. Well, I wore the same thing anyway. Crazy? Maybe. But I’m so thrilled with the result, sign me up for a padded room and straight jacket.

Our good friends and sorority sister Gina and her husband Rene took the family pictures that have hung in our kitchen for the last 4 years. They were taken on our front patio and the colors of the teal bench and yellow flowers just so happened to coordinate with all of our decor.

Since those pictures were taken, Gina and Rene have moved to Seattle. And in addition to missing their presence, we missed their photographic skills! Thankfully I have several talented friends so I asked Natalie, another sorority sister and my little sis from our Alpha Phi days to snap some new pics for us. When she asked what I was wanted to do, I pointed to the wall and said “that. I want that. Exactly”. And so that’s what she did.

Now that I have finally gotten the right color frame, our new family photos are up! By the way – thank you Pottery Barn for changing the shade of white of your standard white frames and then not telling anyone. I bought it. Framed it. And then realized that once the sun goes down, it’s totally obvious that it’s a different color of white. Thankfully Pottery Barn knows they are nuts and happily found me the right shade of frame and exchanged the wrong color despite my lack of receipt and packaging.

So what do you think?

I couldn’t fit all of my favorites on the wall

So perfectly captures her funny 4 year old self

Natalie’s website will be up and running in the next few weeks – I’ll be sure to post a link just as soon as it’s live. If you just can’t wait to book your session, comment below and I’ll make sure to get you in touch! Thank you Natalie for capturing such great memories for us!

Lake View

July 18, 2013July 24, 2013Leave a comment

Ok, ok, okay. I’m sure you’re tired of seeing pictures of Montana. But I’m not so here are a few more 🙂

One of the prettiest hikes at the ranch, in my humble opinion, is the trail around the lake. It’s about a mile and a half and there is little elevation change so it’s pretty easy for Baylor to do and I can carry Auggie in the backpack AND walk. The scenery is spectacular – you walk through fields of wild flowers, duck under dense, dark forest and hop over small streams. It’s really amazing.

The Quaking Aspen trees shimmer and shake as the breeze blows

The wildflowers are amazing

The view of the lodge from behind the lake

So the theory goes that Baylor will hike the lake. The reality is that she spends most of the hike on Peter’s shoulders. Translation? Mom and Dad are wiped out from hiking with an additional 40lbs and 30lbs (Augg plus pack) and the kids are well rested.

Nothing puts that kid to sleep like a hike in the backpack

Taking in the view

Fish That

July 17, 2013Leave a comment

PW and were able to escape the banshees for the better part of a day and do some fly fishing on the Yellowstone River. The river is really spectacular and we were lucky that it was a great day for fishing. Our guide was none other than Matthew. Yes, the same Matthew that Matthew the deer is named after. He is as good a hunting guide as he is a fishing guide. His home is the wild Montana country so he is an expert at all things outdoors. Not to mention a good friend and very funny.

We started off slowly – the weather turned cold and we waited out a rainstorm for about an hour. The wait paid off as the fish were suddenly very hungry. Matthew said it’s because they know after the rain that the river is going to mud up from the run off so they eat a lot in anticipation of not being able to see their food for a few days. I didn’t care what the reason was, I was just happy that we were actually catching something! We caught so many that we stopped counting – it made the day really fun.

One of Matthew’s signature phrases is “yup, good, fish that”. He would tell me where to cast and then judging where the nymph fell, he would tell me to leave it (“fish that”) or to recast. The beauty of being in a row boat with Matthew at the ores is that he could maneuver the boat to make my cast work – and me feel like I knew what I was doing. I actually didn’t realize that was happening until PW pointed out after. Which is why Matthew gets paid the big bucks.

Point of Rocks

First fish of the day – and yes, it was cold enough for a hood!

Did you know that trout talk?? I did not. That fish was squeaking all over the place and freaked me right out.

Manly fishermen only hold their fish with ONE hand!

This picture cracks me up. Matthew had on his trademark serious face (and was probably sick of my pictures and or bad fishing skills) and PW is heaven.

God Bless America

July 15, 2013Leave a comment

There are few things that feel as patriotic as the 4th of July in Montana. There are purple mountains majesty, amber waves of, well grass, but still and all the cowboy hats too. Hubbard’s always puts on a cookout that screams holiday and Mike has a fireworks show that is second only to professional displays. Watching the kiddos run around in their red, white and blue is really the best.

Aunts Sarah and Nancy. Auggie is a big fan.

Thank goodness we had a professional taking our picture. Vern (his real name is Eric. However the summer he worked at the ranch there were too many Erics so they started calling him Vern. Why? Because he’s just such a Vern) literally took 40 pictures and there were only FOUR where A) everyone is looking B) Peter’s eyes are open C) everyone is smiling and or not crying. I’ve realized also that Augg has inherited PW’s squint and head tilt.

Seriously. Look at those eyes.

Again, the cuteness.

Cousin Madi, Sienna and Baylor with Madi’s patriotic press on nails.

Pig roast! It always tastes delicious, I just don’t like knowing what my dinner’s face looked like so I make Peter get me a plate.

This was the first year that B did sparklers and I didn’t have a heart attack. We were spelling out her name.

It really is Big Sky Country

There were friends and friends of friends at the lodge for dinner and they thought that the sparklers were the fireworks. They about lost their minds when they saw Mike’s AMAZING firework display. Peter is always the fireman at the docking station. I’ve asked him not to tell me what happens down there because I never like hearing about how he almost lost an eye or a finger or is now deaf. Baylor always watches with her hands over her ears and I was anxious to see what Augg thought. Thankfully he loved them – and by that I mean he didn’t scream so it goes down as a win in my book. Fireworks? Check!

I Love a Parade

July 11, 2013Leave a comment

PW does not, however, which is why he’s not in any of these pictures. He claims that he doesn’t enjoy it, but I think the fact that he has a heart attack every time Baylor runs into the street to get candy has something to do with it. Which is why he goes fishing when we go the Livingston Parade.

I, on the other hand, LOVE the parade. I love the rodeo queens. I love the Costco “float” where they throw out rolls of toilet paper. I love the totally random groups of people that roll down the street and call themselves a float. I love the man who drives his truck through with a sign saying that he’s been in the parade for the last 65 consecutive years. I love that you can sit on the sidewalk outside of a bar and legally drink. It’s all around good fun.

The Noni with Ms.B and me with Augg.