April Recap

I can't believe it's already June and I'm just now posting about April. When you read the next few posts you'll realize why the blog got put on the back burner!

April was such a fun and busy month! We finished celebrating Easter and Conference Weekend. Brynn loved eating all the jelly beans that were in her basket! Girlfriend was pretty much on a sugar high all of April.

On April 7th we found out that we are expecting baby number 2! (more details here). So we spent the day trying to find a "big sister" shirt to take a picture and send to our families! Once we finally found a shirt we rushed home to take a picture while it was still light out but we got caught in the rain so just made the best of it!

Brad took his license exam for South Carolina and we were thrilled that he passed. We are so thankful that my mom came to watch Brynn so that I could be one of his patients. Plus we got to celebrate Brynn's birthday with a little party while she was still in town and my dad drove up so that he could be there too! See all the little details of her party here!

The following weekend Brad and I got a date night and attended his senior banquet where he won "most approachable" and "dad bod" award! It was fun to celebrate Brad and entertaining to watch all of his classmates.

I also got to babysit my sweet Ella for the day and brought Brynn along. It was so fun to see them play together. Ella taught Brynn the fun of playing dress up that day and now Brynn loves to put on princess/ballerina dresses and necklaces! Also, can we talk about how much Brynn looks like me in these pictures?! She's starting to look more and more like me!

And of course I'll end the post off by saying we spent lots of time at the beach! It's definitely our happy place and Brynn asks me almost every day if we can go there! Our little water baby is going to miss living here just as much as me!

March Recap

March really flew by! Let's be honest most of this year has flown because it's already almost time for me to do our April recap. So let's get to it.

Brynn and I started the month off by going to celebrate Dr. Seuss' Birthday by attending a reading by Charlie the Riverdog at one of our local libraries. Brynn loved the dog from afar but had NO interest in getting close to that poor mascot. We tried to enjoy the nice weather as much as we could. The weather has been a little bi-polar here. Brad and I FINALLY finished a rocking horse that was given to us well over a year ago and Brynn has loved riding it and calls it a "good boy" haha. Also, I got a facial and it was amazing, seriously fell asleep in the chair. I might sound like a snob but I really love being pampered.

We tried to make the most out of spring break. Brynn of course got sick and the weather was pretty crummy. But we did eat some yummy food and explored our future hometown.

Would we really live in Charleston if we didn't take advantage of all the beaches nearby?! Trying to squeeze in every beach day that we can before we move to the mountains.

We celebrated St. Patricks Day, and by "celebrated" I mean I put a green mustache and green dress on Brynn, snapped a few pics, removed all things green, and then went about our day as normal. Such a fun mom, I know. haha.

Brynn transferred to her big girl bed and LOVED it. Seriously does so well in it. She hasn't even gotten out of it which was my biggest concern. That girl thrives on routine and schedule.

We ended the month by doing an Easter Egg Hunt and Brunch with some friends from our ward. March was a fun month but April definitely topped it because Brynn's SECOND birthday!

February Recap!

I really need to be better about blogging more frequently because I forget about a lot of things. It's a good thing I utilize instagram pretty frequently because it's the only way I remember what has happened.

February started off with Brynn having yet another virus. Have you noticed a trend yet?! That girl seems to catch every single illness out there. Her immune system is going to be (better be) amazing by the time she enters school.

Brad and I actually got a sitter and snuck off to see The Greatest Showman. Oh, how we needed that date night. And as soon as the movie got over I wanted to go back and see it again and again! The Superbowl happened and I can't even tell you who won (without googling it). But I can tell you what happened on This Is Us. Anyone else obsessed with that show?!

It rained A LOT. Which is not a problem for us because we happen to have a toddler who LOVES jumping in the puddles! We made SO many sugar cookies. We made some to give as valentines and just because we found an incredible sugar cookie recipe that we can't get enough of! Already planning on making Easter cookies!

Honey and Dude came to visit us and we had fun taking them to all of our favorite places! Honey even watched Brynn so I could get screened to be Brad's board patient (can't believe he will be taking his license exam in a few weeks!) We also got family pictures done! Can't wait to share those on the blog! They are my most favorite ones yet!

January Recap

I really wanted to make my blog a priority this year because I've been feeling like I need to be better about documenting our lives (I take way too many pictures, no problem there) but somehow I always forget that I have this little space here to actually write things. I think it intimidates me because I'm not a great writer. Not that I should feel any pressure because I'm pretty sure my mom is the only one who read this thing! (Hi Mom!)

Before I got too far behind I thought I would do a little January recap! January was a crazy month. Brynn was sick for the majority of it but we did manage to have some fun! We got a southern snow storm and enjoyed the fun that snow brings for a few days, took a little day trip to Hunting Island, celebrated Brad's 31st birthday, and potty trained Brynn (Brynn was so ready to be potty trained so it was actually a really easy process) I'm totally expecting our next kid to give us a run for our money because Brynn has seriously been the easiest kid. Better knock on some wood fast! haha.

I still can't believe it is already March. This year is already flying by and I know it will only continue to do so as we have big things coming up. In April Brynn will turn 2, May Brad will graduate from Dental School, June we will make our big move, and in July Brad will start his job! It's just blowing my mind thinking about all the changes we have coming our way but we couldn't be more excited! Hopefully I'll do better about keeping this space updated! 

Target Haul

If you are anything like me you walk into Target with only one thing on your list and walk out with a million other things and end up forgetting the one thing you went in to buy. When I go to Target I ALWAYS have to stop in their little dollar section. Which if we are all being honest here, most things are $3-$5 now but that section has some great stuff. I was expecting it to be all Valentines Day stuff but I ended up finding some great things for Brynn and thought I would share with my fellow mamas! I immediately sent a text to Brad saying "I'm just going to go ahead and apologize for all the money I'm about to spend at Target" because let's be honest Target takes all my money.

I realize that all of these items could be made super easily but let's be honest when I have down time I would rather take a nap or binge watch The Office on Netflix! I can't be the only one?!

Anyways, the first thing I found was this little mail set. Guys, I am obsessed. I love that Brynn will be able to use this for a few years. I am planning on buying one of those little mailboxes so that she can put the envelopes in there. I laminated the letter cards so that they will be more durable and so she can re-use them again and again.

The next thing I found was this little bubble gum machine which was perfect because I'm really trying to work on teaching Brynn her colors. Brynn loves matching the colors!

Another fun learning tool is this cute little cookie and oven for number recognition. This is too advanced for Brynn right now but she still loves putting the little cookies on the pan and putting it in the little oven.

The last thing I found was this adorable finger puppet set! They had a farm and zoo set as well (I'm trying to convince Brad I need to go back and buy them, haha). Brynn loves it and I love hearing her make the little dragon roar!

I love that with most of the things I found she can play with them now and later they can help her to learn as well. I love seeing what other people pick up at Target so if you've found something recently that you are obsessed with share with me because chances are I'll make another target run just to get that item! haha.

Embrace

Last year in addition to making 3 goals for the new year I also chose a word/phrase to focus on. My phrase last year was "be present". This was something that for me personally I really needed to focus on. I had found myself mindlessly scrolling social media instead of enjoying the time with family and friends. I would pack my calendar as full as I could which ultimately lead me to not being able to focus on a task at hand because my mind would be running a million miles a minute just thinking of all that I had committed to. I knew that needed to change so I made "be present" my motto for the year. I am not going to sit here and tell you I was perfect at it but I did get better about putting my phone down so that I could create better memories with my family and friends. I stopped saying "yes" to every little thing so that I could be present physically and mentally for the things and people who matter most to me. 

I saw a difference in my life because of that little phrase and knew that I wanted to pick a word again this year that would help me improve as a person. I bounced around a few different words and I kept coming back to the word EMBRACE. 

2018 is going to be a big year for us, full of lots of change. It will be full of ups and downs because let's be honest, every year is. I'm not always great with change. I can be kind of a control freak so when things don't go according to my plans I tend to freak out and the anxiety kicks in. 

That is the main reason I chose the word embrace. I really want to focus on WELCOMING all the change instead of freaking out about it and getting stressed out.

Embrace also means to take or clasp in the arms, to encircle, to surround. These are all things I want to focus on when it comes to my loved ones. With all the tragedies and illnesses in the world, I want to truly embrace my loved ones. I would hate for something bad to happen to someone I love and always have to question if they knew how much they meant to me. 

I would love to hear what your goals for the year are (I'm still working on coming up with mine) or if you also have a word/motto for the year and feel like sharing, I would love to hear (maybe I'll even use it in the future!)

Southern Snow Day

Wow! I can't believe I haven't blogged since May. That's probably the longest stretch. Shame on me. Anyways, here we are welcoming 2018!  I believe this year is going to be full of all kinds of magic. For starters, we got snow here in Charleston yesterday. Yes, you read that right. SNOW in CHARLESTON. All day long my mind was blown. Never thought I would see palm trees and snowflakes together.

We had a prediction of snow for a little over a week and I kept thinking yeah yeah yeah, that's never going to happen. Well Wednesday morning arrives and we had a little play date with our neighbor in the morning. Once they left, we started getting a little sleet and I thought that would be it. Just a little bit of ice.

Well I put Brynn down for a nap around noon and then I look out the window and I see HUGE flakes falling from sky. I sit there thinking okay it's snowing but there is no way it's going to stick. Well as the next hour went by it really started to stick. The news predicted us getting 2-4 inches but nothing more. You guys we got 6.5 inches of snow.

When Brynn woke up from her nap we took her out to experience snow for the first time. At that point we only had about half an inch on the ground but it was coming down hard. Needless to say she hated it. She would stand so still and just cry.

I snapped a few pictures just to document the day in case that was all we got and it melted fast. Thankfully, we got more snow as the day went on and we decided to take Brynn out again. Brad showed her how to pick up snow and throw it and all of a sudden she was in love with it.

We played for a little bit and then came back inside and spent the rest of the day sipping hot chocolate and reading books.

When Brynn woke up this morning she ran to the window and saw the snow and said "snow, play, let's go" and ran to put her boots on. So we bundled her up and went on a little adventure around our complex. It still blows my mind that we got snow here but I loved the extra time we had with Brad and the memories that we made!

half a dentist

On June 17th (Brynn's 2 month birthday) Brad received his white coat!

1/2 a dentist

This is a day that I have looked forward to since Brad started dental school because it would mark the halfway point of Dental School! Both of our families came into town for the occasion. The day was HOT but luckily the ceremony went pretty quickly.

Our Families

When they receive their white coat it signifies them moving to the clinical portion rather than the classroom learning. Brad LOVES being in the clinic so he is much happier. It also means that he will be able to spend more time with Brynn and me which makes me much happier. haha!  

sporting his white coat 

We are so proud of all the hard work Brad has put into dental school and it's crazy to think that I can officially be his patient now! I'm due for a cleaning so I'm sure it will happen soon! 2 years down, 2 to go! Then the fun of paying off these student loans! ;P

Our little family :)

It's a new year so you know what that means...

I love even numbers so I think this year is going to be a really good one. Every even numbered year great things have happened. We got married in 2012, I graduated college and Brad started Dental School in 2014, this year we are having a BABY, and in 2018 Brad will graduate from Dental School. So you can say even numbered years are kind of our thing! ;)

Anyways, I've spent the last week really thinking about goals to make for this new year. I really want to improve not only individually but as a wife and well now, mother. I'm all about people holding me accountable so I thought I would share here on the blog.

My top goal is to be present. This is something I really struggle with. I could spend all day scrolling on my phone with all the different social media feeds. Honestly I don't know why this is so hard for me because I get nothing out of it and really it doesn't do anything to increase my relationship with those I am actually with.  But I'm really going to try this year to put my phone down more during the day.

My second goal is to create a more Christ centered home. As I'm preparing to become a mom I have thought and prayed each day about how to make sure our little one knows that she is loved by her Savior and what that really means. I also want to deepen my personal relationship with Christ and I know as I do things to make sure the spirit can be felt in our home both of those will happen.

My final goal is to take more pictures and to increase my photography knowledge. I figure both of these will kind of happen naturally this year as we are adding a new member to our family. I love pictures just for the purpose of looking back on things we did throughout the year and I would really like them to be quality pictures not just ones I snap through my phone. It sometimes feels like such a pain to tote around the big camera but the final outcome is so much better.

Those are my top three goals that I really want to improve on throughout this next year, of course I have some smaller ones that I will be also working on the side. If you have any tips on how to improve on any of these goals please share in the comments, we all know I could use all the help I can get!

Happy New Year and may this next year bring about a new you! :)

A Year in Review {2015}

It's crazy to think another year is almost come and gone. Before we close the book of 2015 I'd like to take a look back on each chapter (month) of this book! It was a great one here in the Schmidt household!

January: This month we celebrated Brad's 28th birthday by eating at Hall's Chophouse courtesy of my bosses! It was probably the second best steak we've ever eaten (first being the space needle steak). This month we also found over 15 starfish during our walk at Folly Beach! This may be a totally lame highlight of my year but it makes my list!

February: I hosted our first annual Valentine's Dinner! I had such a blast planning and decorating for this  party! I can't wait to start planning the next one! :) Brad planned our celebrations for actual Valentine's Day this year and they included a sunrise on the beach and trying out a great brunch spot, Lost Dog cafe!

March: This was such a crazy month for us! We spent a lot of time in the car between driving to Georgia for various reasons! Brad attended his first dental conference, the Hinman.

April: Thanks to our apartment complex we got to attend my first ever hockey game, supporting the Charleston sting rays! It was so fun because we had great seats and it was free and that always makes the best kind of date nights!

May: Brad took a break from studying and we got out and enjoyed the great weather by going to see the ghost busters film on one of the squares downtown. It was so fun to hear music before hand, grab some food from the vendors and just enjoy time with one another. We also attended one of our friends cinco de mayo party and had a great time and enjoyed yummy food!

June: In June I got to host a bridal shower for my cousin Shae! It was so fun to take on that task and I had a blast planning it! (I love parties!)

July: We celebrated the 4th by picking blueberries in the morning, having a picnic lunch with some friends, then going to the fireworks later that day with different friends. It's a Fourth of July I'll never forget because it was SO rainy and stormy! Then we were back in Georgia again for my cousins wedding! It was a hot but great day! We also celebrated 3 years of marriage, most days it feels like we've been together for a lot longer than that. It was a super low key celebration but that's what happens when your anniversary falls on a Sunday!

August: This was probably the best month out of the year for us because we found out we are expecting a baby come April 2016! We are still over the moon excited and I don't think that will ever change! My friend, Katie threw a great surprise birthday party for me to celebrate turning 24. Seriously she's the best!

September: I honestly have zero pictures from this month! So I can't even remember what happened besides announcing to social media that we were pregnant! Other than that I spent this month going to bed super early (I'm talking 7ish some nights) and throwing up about once every three days. Pregnancy sure is glamorous. Brad of course was busy with school and picking up my slack! He is seriously the best!

October: Such a fun month and I'm pretty sure it's because it pretty much starts all the holiday celebrations! We went to a pumpkin patch with some of our friends from the apartment complex and it was SO fun! They have a hayride that you can feed cows on when they take you out to the pasture, they seriously come right up to you! We left the patch without a pumpkin but still had a great time! We had our ward trunk or treat and then we went over to some friends house for a party on the actually day of Halloween!

November: Another month that I can't really remember much of. This is why I should take more pictures! My mom came out for thanksgiving though and  we enjoyed a lovely thanksgiving meal with our dear friends the Meree's and McGauleys! After that my mom and I did some serious Black Friday shopping! I love when my mom comes to visit!

December: I feel like this month is so busy for everyone. For the majority of it I felt like I was a chicken running with my head cut off and had one too many emotional breakdowns! On the 4th we found out that little baby b is a girl and I've had such a fun time getting things ready for her nursery and buying clothes for her! Brad and I got to enjoy the week of Christmas with my family and now it's back to reality where my days are filled with working.

We are so thankful for all the many things we've been blessed with this year and can't wait to see what 2016 has in store for us! But if 2016 wants to fast forward to April we won't be mad over here, can't wait to have our sweet girl in our arms!

Happy New Year friends! May it bring you love and happiness! :)

Bridal Shower

We just got back from a fun weekend back in Georgia. The whole reason we went was so that I could host a bridal shower for my cute cousin, Shae, who is getting married in 13 days.

Out of all my cousins I am closest to Shae. I am so glad the Stevens moved to Georgia so that we could grow up together and I could be there to watch her love story unfold with Seth. Like every relationship, there were ups and downs, but that's what makes it beautiful. I couldn't be more excited to see the two of them finally tie the knot in 13 days. You can totally tell that Seth adores Shae and that's all that I could want for her because of course I think she deserves the best.

Anyways, back to the shower. Shae's wedding them is shabby chic with blush and navy as her wedding colors. I had such a fun time creating the invites, coming up with games to play, and the food to eat (the best part if we are being honest, haha).

I'm so thankful for all the help I had to make this shower so sweet for Shae. My mom helped me with the decorations and putting fruit kabobs together. My Aunt Sherry (Shae's mom) was so amazing to let us hold the shower at her house and took charge with the majority of the food. And Colby was the perfect photographer for the event and chipped in and helped with food too!

 I love putting on parties and this was the best one because it was for my Shae Audrey! :)

I Did It

On May 30th I graduated from Troy University.It's crazy to think that I have my bachelors degree and successfully made it through undergrad. I have always dreamed of graduating from college. I was the first person on my dad's side to ever graduate from college, and the first grand kid on my mom's side to graduate from college.

Along the way I had people tell me I wouldn't ever finish, especially when Brad and I got married and I was only 2 years into school. Although there were many times throughout my experience I wanted to just quit, I always knew I would finish. This was something I really wanted.

 

I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to go to college. I couldn't have asked for a better support team behind me. I probably wouldn't have made it through without the emotional support of my family and husband cheering me along every step of the way and getting me through the bumps along the way. I'm grateful for the example my parents were to me of the value of education and that they were always there encouraging me to pursue a higher education. I'm thankful for a husband who was willing to support my dream of getting an education and realized how important it was. I know there were times I slacked off on my wifey duties like cooking and cleaning because I was going to school full time and working two jobs in order to pay for it. I'm thankful that he was understanding during that crazy time in our lives. I could go on and on about how big of a support my family was to me during these past 4 years.

This might make me sound really prideful but I'm going to say it anyway, so judge away... I am proud of myself. College tested and stretched me in many ways, some I can't even explain. I can say that I really grew during those 4 years academically and in my personal life. I worked so hard to get to this point and I can honestly say I earned that degree.

Even though I may never use my degree, I know it was important for me to get for two main reasons. The first is that if something ever happened to Brad I would be able to provide for us, this gives me comfort although I hope nothing ever happens to my mancub. The second is that  I want our children to know how important education is, it is the only thing we will be able to take with us when we die. I want them to understand that even though it may seem like a sacrifice on many levels it is so so so worth it.

It still doesn't feel real that I am finished with that chapter of my life. The day I walked across that stage and received my diploma was such an emotional day. I would be lying if I said I didn't shed a tear, or two, or maybe more than I could count that day, tears for the good times and bad times that came with this journey. 

But like I said before that chapter has closed and the future is oh so bright. I can't wait to see what this next chapter has in store for me. 

2014

Another year has come and gone and it's crazy to think of how fast they fly by.

2014 is an even year which for an OCD person like me, means it's destined to be a great year. Two examples: (2012)-Got married to that sweet hubby of mine. (2010)- Graduated high school. See what I mean?!

It seems to be quite the trend that people always set a goal that somehow relates to health and fitness. While I think these are great goals and have been known to have one myself every single year I've decided this year will be different. I will try to improve myself. So here are some of my goals for 2014.

Graduate college. I've spent four years of my life trying to accomplish this goal and I can't wait to finish come this May. At times it has been the most stressful thing in my life but if I'm being honest I love school. I love the structure of it and I love learning and performing well. I have been blessed with jobs that have allowed me to make school my top priority while also enabling me to go to college for four years without taking out any student loans. Most of all I love the support that I have from my family and my husband. I couldn't ask for a better support group. They are always there telling me I can do it and how proud of me they are. There is no better feeling in this world. 

I hope to get my anxiety under control. This is really going to be a struggle for me as I feel like it's gotten worse as I've gotten older. Like I said above I am very much a perfectionist. When we lived in Washington I had a really bad panic attack, I'm not really sure how it came about but I seriously thought I was dying. I've never had one before and I have to admit that I remember that night so vividly and I feel like it still affects me to this day. I can feel the difference that the panic attack had on me and I'm ready to let go of that, move on, let things not stress me out, and go back to my happy, stress free days.

Another goal I have is to not compare myself to others. In today's society I'm sure we all get caught up in it. How can we not when we have facebook, blogs, and instagram  constantly shoving it in our faces. Between the exotic trips that everyone is taking, the beautiful homes that everyone is building, and the "perfect" lives that we get a glimpse of. I often times find myself getting angry or comparing myself with those who seem to be more "established". I need to remember to take a look at my own life and enjoy the chapter of life that I'm in instead of comparing it to the "perfection" I see on social media sites.

I'm looking forward to 2014. I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of {GOOD} changes in the Schmidt household! 

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

So lately it has been insanity at our house. We have been busy planning our ward Christmas party, working our buns off, and taking finals. However, once we had a Saturday morning together we headed off to the same Christmas tree farm as last year and found us a perfect tree.

Brad makes every occasion seem special and magical. As we were driving down the curvy roads, watching the snow fall he demanded we put on Christmas music, because after all we were going to pick out a Christmas tree.

We walked through the Christmas tree farm and inspected every tree until we found the one that would be just right. Of course Brad was so good to me and let me snap some pictures! We cut the tree down, strapped it to the top of the car, and headed home.

Once we got it home we turned on the Christmas pandora station, lighted our Bath and Body works "'Tis the season" candle, and decorated that tree so that it shimmers and shines.

I absolutely love how a real Christmas tree smells and makes it really feel like the holidays. I grew up with lots of Christmas trees and nothing makes it feel more like Christmas than a tree and nativities!

Here's to Christmas break and catching up on lots of blogging!

How bout them apples?!

This past week has been stressful. I had two major breakdowns. Not like I'm proud to say it, but admitting it is the first step to recovery right?! I have bad anxiety because I like to plan EVERYTHING, and I stress way to easily. I'm trying to learn to let go, and leave it all in God's hands. He knows the big picture and I'm just seeing a microscopic part of it.

Anyways, Friday afternoon Brad got off early and we headed to the apple orchards on what seemed to be the perfect fall day. The fall breeze and the scent of apples seemed to be the perfect scene for a perfect day with my boy.

 I had such a wonderful time walking hand in hand with that handsome boy of mine down each of the aisles of trees. As we were walking through the orchards, I can't explain how good it felt to be laughing and forgetting about all the stressful things {work & school} life throws our way and just enjoying the company of one another.

I'm so grateful and excited that October is just around the corner. General Conference is this weekend and I'm thrilled. It seems like conference always comes at the perfect time! As fall is starting to come in full swing, I figure now is the perfect time to start to become a better person that I know I'm capable of. 

In other news this weekend we signed a lease for our next apartment for the next couple of months, and got another calling at church! With all that we have going on within the next few months this year will be over before we know it.

Happy Monday Friends!