6 months later....

So obviously I suck at blogging since it's been about 6 months since I last posted, which means I didn't post about Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Zach's B-day, or updates on my pregnancy. Oh well I'm not really looking to back track and I don't have any pictures at the moment but I'll work on getting some on here. Yesterday was my birthday and that's not even what I was going to post about but I will mention that it was a great one. It kind of was a three day birthday, cuz my cousin who's birthday is a few days before mine came down so we had a BBQ for the both of us on Friday & went to the NTB concert at Tuachan. Saturday on my actual B-day, Zach Iyrlend and I went to garage sales and scored some sweet stuff, then went swimming with the Gates fam cuz they were down for the Due West concert that night. We went to Samari 21 with my family & had an awesome dinner, then my parents watched Iyrlend so we could go to the Due West concert at Tuachan which was so fun and I even got a special Happy Birthday wish from DW during the concert. Then tonight we went to Grandparents house and had a birthday dinner as well, so it was a great 3 day birthday. So I turned the big 22 this year and that is what this post is about. Yes I will be 22 with 2 kids and you know what I'm dang proud of it and don't think there is anything better I could be doing with my life. I sometimes get exhausted explaining why I got married and 18, and began to have kids right away. I guess I don't need to explain myself here or to anyone cuz I know the decisions I've made have been the right ones for me but I get a bit sick of defending them. I guess I just had to get it all out and remind myself that I really am doing the right thing and that prayer and faith are the reasons I made the decisions I did. I know that as long as I stay close to Heavenly Father and do what I know he wants me to, I don't have to worry about what everyone else thinks. So this quote & whole talk actually by Julie Beck from GC 2007 are my motto tonight, today, this year, for life! "Mothers who know desire to bear children. Whereas in many cultures in the world children are "becoming less valued," in the culture of the gospel we still believe in having children. Prophets, seers, and revelators who were sustained at this conference have declared that "God's commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force." President Ezra Taft Benson taught that young couples should not postpone having children and that "in the eternal perspective, children—not possessions, not position, not prestige—are our greatest jewels." You can find the whole talk here: http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-775-27,00.html#4
So bring on baby #2 at age 22!

Halloween

So this Halloween was one my favorites. My sister in law sent me these costumes she made for her family a few years ago. She had twins so they were pebbles & bam-bam. We of course don't have bam-bam yet but maybe next year. You couldn't really tell what Iyrlend was unless she was with us cuz she won't let me put anything in her hair let alone a bone. I took her trick-or-treating at my mom's work on Friday & she wore her flower costume that I bought a while ago but she looks like a fairy without out wings cuz she wouldn't wear the hat. Oh well I still think she's freakin cute. But she got so much candy at Skywest that we didn't even take her trick-or-treaking again on Halloween. Not that she even needs any candy, but she was loving it. She would take like handfuls put it in her bag and reach for more. Every year on Halloween my mom makes hot dogs & hot chocolate for the trick-or-treater's so we always go over there & help. Iyrlend just ran around all night in her little boots & loved it. We had a fun time, here's some pictures to prove it.

We're still alive!

So if you couldn't tell I kind of gave up on blogging. But I have some exciting news so I figured I'd post about it, & maybe just maybe I'll slowly come back to blogging world......Any way baby #2 is on the way. I'm only about 5 weeks along, I can't keep things in for long....That puts my due date as approx...June 10th. So not in the dead of summer thank goodness. We're super excited to bring another bundle of joy into this world!

Iyrlend's silly face

Modbe Swim 2009

Hey everyone Modbe Swim 2009 collection is here! I posted some pics of a few of my favorite swim tops but check out my website www.modbeclothing.com/bretgates for the complete collection. If you order online be sure to put party#1447 in at check out to receive 10% off if you order 3 or more items. If anyone is interested in doing a live or virtual botiquie be sure to let me know. There are some awesome deals for hosting a partying right now including the new 20% in boutique sales rather than only 10%. If you have any questions on sizing or which swim suit style is most flattering for your body type let me know. Happy Shopping!

My Little Model

So I decided to do a little photo shoot with Iyrlend today. I'm not much of photographer but I have quite the model. I must say me and Zach sure made a beautiful little girl. As you can see I'm not very good at just picking a picture or two as my favorites. It was hard enough to narrow it down to this many but do you see her? Can you blame me?

Happy Valentines Day

Due West and Park City

So last Thursday we headed up to Park City for an awesome Due West show. If you don't know Due West is Zach's brothers band from Nashville. They had been in Park City for the Sundance Film Festival and Thursday night they had a little private party/show. We actually got to stay 2 nights at the amazing house they performed at, which is were they were staying as well. Tim and Berta were so nice to let us tag-a-long with them on Friday when we got to go snomobiling with them and all their friends in the Park City Mountains. It was an amazing trip and we're so glad we got to go. I'm a dork and didn't take any pics of the room we stayed in which was pretty much the size of our house or pics of us at the show which was a bummer cuz we we're all dressed up but here's a few pics of the band from the concert, other parts of the amazing house we stayed in, and our snow mobiling adventure!

We're Still Alive

So it's been way too long since I've blogged. So there's a million pics below that explain what we've been up to. We got our Christmas tree up early this year but I never posted a pic so there that is, there was snow in St.George (cr@zy), we had an awesome friend Christmas party the weekend before Christmas, Iyrlend was festive for our Christmas Eve party, Iyrlend saw Santa on Christmas eve, Iyrlend was very excited on Christmas morning, Iyrlend is a GANGSTA, our family on New Years Eve, we partied with out Iyrlend that night but we got a family pic before we left her with the grandparents, Iyrlend has had two teeth for a while but in this pic you can see them along with her black eye she got trying to climb up our bed, she fell and hit the bed frame and the next day she hit her head about 3 times, she trys to pull herself up onto everything now and I can't believe she keeps trying after all her falls, and last of all Iyrlend and her dress up game w/Dad. So a few other things that we don't have pics of. It's our 2 year anniversary today we celebrated it on Friday and left Iyrlend with my parents why we stayed the night at the Marriot Courtyard, kinda crazy not having a baby for a night, also I started working part time at my old place of employment today. Zach stays home with Iyrlend the few times I work and brings her to me when he has class. It works out pretty good but sometimes I think of our life, we're only 20 and almost 24 years old, but yet we work (Zach almost all the time w/ 3 jobs), go to school, are raising a child, go to church, spend time with family, hang out with friends, travel, own a home, pay the bills, and I don't know how we do it all while STILL BEING HAPPY AND IN LOVE! Maybe that's why cleaning the house and making dinner aren't on my list, somethings gotta give....ha Someday I'll be a better wife. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Our Christmas Tree

Snow in St. George?

Friend Christmas Party

Iyrlend and Zach w/ Santa