a christmas update!

playing catch up a little bit late (a lot a bit maybe???) and finally getting around to blogging about our christmas break. we had a great time visiting family in utah. luckily both mine and spence's families live super close to each other. it is a lot of back and forth while we are there but we wouldn't have it any other way. what a blessing to be able to see both of our families.

we were having too much fun (and maybe dealing with too much morning sickness) to take a ton of pictures. but we did try and make the most of our trip. we saw most all of our families. sadly a bad flu virus was going around so we missed out on a few family members and fun. 

our incredible families spoiled us on christmas!!! we feel so blessed to have such giving and supportive family members. thanks to them we had the perfect break! 

of course we had a little family sleepover on christmas eve at the b family home. it was a blast waking up all together and seeing cute lyla walk in excited to see what was in her stocking. // check out uncle j's sweet shoes...i was slightly in love with them! 

spence has learned the trick of getting the niece/nephew love....add electronics! 

 me and my bug! i guess spence learned the trick from me ;-) lainey kept wanting sydneys' phone

 me and my momma! i am so blessed to call this incredible woman my mother! 

on christmas after we've all opened our presents we head up to the willey family party at grandmas. we've been doing this for as long as i can remember. i love that the family keeps getting bigger and bigger! this is just some of the girls...my beautiful grandma, aunt, mom and cousin (who is more like a sister) and two of her adorable kids! 

after the  big party at grandma's (aka downstairs) my little family headed up stairs for our christmas. a couple of years ago my mom started a new tradition of getting presents to go with a word. we've done christmas, merry and star! what a fun tradition! 

cute megs and baby girl with her matching nail polish!

my cute husband opening his presents!!! i am so in love with this boy 

our traditional family picture in front of the tree!  

the best thing about the break was meeting our little "nephew" stills! my brother got the most adorable little puppy on christmas eve. we were able to baby sit stills a bit over the break. i fell so in love with this little guy. especially when he would come and cuddle with me. it really made me puppy hungry again...ahh! 

due to chicago's beautiful weather we got stuck in utah a few extra days. it was nice to have the extra few days to hang out around our families! we love our little life in chicago but we miss our families while we are away. we're just so grateful we've been able to go home so often! 

despite being sick and throwing up a lot it really was one of our best christmases! 

(our christmas card!)

bringing home the bacon

i'm blogging from a hotel room...again. i know what you're thinking "you just got back". i was home for just over 24 hours before i packed my bag and jumped on a plane. this time to dc. this time for work. i would much rather be jetting off to the bahamas again. but i guess someone has to bring home the bacon. 

i was going through my tons of beautiful beach pictures and felt intimidated by the amount of editing etc. so i decided to post some pictures from our utah trip that have almost been forgotten. it's about time right? honestly i have no idea where this summer went. i'm going to attempt to keep caught up on life but i've been known to say that and not do much! 

anyway....utah was great. we loved being with family. i worked a little, we played a ton. visited friends, saw most of our family and enjoyed being back "home" for a little while. i even helped put together two weddings. it took me back to the days when i longed to be a wedding planner. i'll stick with corporate events for now. 

so this one time we took the day to watch the mr.'s little sister get all graduated. i still can't get over the fact that she is so old. we hung out in the warm sun a little too long...she's just a tad bit popular. we finally got a picture with the girl of the hour! 

little sarah b. we are sure proud of you. you are such a great example to us. now go live up your freshman year. as much as people will tell you to study...don't worry about it. it all works out. just play and stay up till 2 am eating cereal with your roommates in your hall. you'll thank me later for the memories! 

 i was so excited to spend some good time with my besties. i met up with lyds and jbod for dinner and girl talk. i was supposed to be in and out in an hour. i think we were there for four hours. i love my jeru girls. that is one thing i miss most about leaving utah....not being with all my girlfriends.  

i met up with dru-b and mj as well but we were having too much fun for pictures. i'm still mad at myself for not taking pictures. ugh. next time right...i'll be back in sept. 

and of course this bug. we just can't get enough of her. i love that she knows us know and will call for us to come play. uncle spence teases her so we're not so sure she likes him much but i know she loves him ;-) they are good buds! 

so that takes us through our first part of the summer. haha! one day i'll get through my mountain load of pictures. 

i'm trying to take a new approach to life. to just enjoy and live in the moment. i still of course love pictures and love to blog....journaling duh....but i'm also enjoying this time in our life more. trying to live more simply and just enjoy. anyway thats my rambling for tonight. 

now i've got to finish name tags and seating charts for tomorrows event. good thing i have last nights episode of the bachelorette to keep me company. i heard this one is a tear jerker. gosh why so much drama des...why???

oh just a day on the lake

oh gosh time has sure flown by. we have had a super busy month. with our trip home, getting back into the swing of things in chicago, work for the mrs., research for the mr., beginning the moving process and just living up the summer we've been jam packed. i have a ton of catching up to do on this here blog. one step at a time i guess. 

i just had to post these pictures. while in utah we did a last min trip up to the lake. papa b wanted to test out the boat and so we joined in. liz came with cute mya and baby o which made it even better. too bad the water was freezing or else i would have spent the day in the water. spence did get a good round of wake boarding in. he almost froze but couldn't pass up the chance to wake board for probably the only time this year. 

i'm missing the boat big time this week. i keep looking at lake michigan and can't stop craving a good boating trip. hopefully next summer we'll be home longer so we can hit up the lake more often.

for now i'm back to work and back to real life. gosh why does time keep flying by? i can't believe it's already july...gosh! hopefully with the holiday i'll be able to catch up on blogging a bit...hopefully ;-)

swimming with the littles

we enjoyed lots of sun while in utah. cute liz invited us to come swimming with her and her kiddos. allison came along as well. we had a blast swimming with the little ones. i think mya could out swim us any day. i love spending time with the b. family.

spence had a hard time being okay with just relaxing. haha. i think he was getting the hang of it right as we left. maybe next summer he'll be better at this whole "vacation" thing. 

thanks liz for inviting us to come swim. wish we could make this a weekly thing! 

oh baby it's donut day

how did i just find out about national donut day. i should have been preparing for days (maybe even weeks). chocolate cake donuts have become my new weakness. i was slightly heartbroken when i realized it was national donut day and we weren't in chicago. i miss my chicago donut runs. but luckily my cute mother in law came through. i'm going to be honest...this little guy, so simple, was a lot better than i expected. it put up a good fight against my fav glazed and infused. 

national donut day was a success. counting down the days till next years. 

books and the bug

oh gosh i can't get enough of this little bug. our cute little niece lainey bug is getting so big. she has turned into a little chatter box that keeps us laughing. we went and hung out at ric and megs new house for a night. lainey showed us her new room and shared her toys with us. she has cute spence wrapped around her finger. at one point she brought her books out and cuddled up with us while spence read stories. she got so excited pointing at the dogs and kitties. 

i'm not going to lie....being away from our little nieces and nephew is the hardest thing about living in chicago. i want to just pack these little bugs up and take them home with us. i think lainey bug would really love living in chicago ;-) 

oh the summer wedding season

wedding season is here. as it turns out two of the mr's cousins got married while we were here. gotta love family weddings. we loved hanging out with the other cousins, favorite uncle larry (always good for a laugh) and the grandparents. i couldn't get over spencers cute grandpa and his bow tie. oh gosh! we are also trying to take advantage of time with our little nieces and nephew. we have just a short time to make them love us. as it turns out mom, allison and i decided to match. good thing we even matched the wedding colors (wannabe bridesmaids much???)

we'll see how we surviving wedding number two next week. i forgot how much work weddings are. i guess that's what 3 years will do. 

the mr. and mrs. memorial day 2013

memorial day 2013 was just perfect. it was so nice to be "home" in utah for the holiday. we started the day with the traditional barfuss family breakfast. the whole b family (about 65 in total this year) show up at the grandparents for food, fun and four square. we start the morning at grandma larue's grave. grandma larue is spencer's grandmother who died when spence's dad was young. though we've never met her we feel her love and i truly look up to her as a beautiful mother. it was nice to be back with the b. family and enjoy the morning together. we had a lot of catching up to do. a little foursquare was much needed as well. who doesn't love a good family competition. not to brag or anything but i may have even been king a couple of times...yep i'm that good (haha)

after breakfast we headed north to visit benjamin's grave and grandpa d. benjamin is spence's baby brother who died when he was just a few days old. there was such a sweet spirit while visiting benjamin. though i never got to meet him have felt his spirit with us many times. i am so grateful for him as my little brother in law and look forward to meeting him one day. 

we finished the day hanging out at the b family household, eating way to much and just enjoying being together. the night before we hung out with my family and visited my grandpa's grave. not a day goes by that i don't think about him. i miss him dearly but know he is watching out for me. again i'm so grateful for eternal families. 

there is just something about holidays that make me homesick. i was so grateful to be able to be home for memorial day. it was a busy day but so fun to hang out with all our family. now if we can make it back for every memorial day i think we'll be okay. 

home sweet home (for a week)

this week i am here. home sweet home salt lake city utah. i "had" to fly home for work. luckily i love seeing my family and friends. though i've only been gone a month it feels like a lot longer. a trip home is just what i needed. i just wish the mr could have come with me. 

yes, i love my job!