Wow-it's been too long. And so much has happened in my life this summer. Unfortunately, as a result of that, I kind of dropped of the side of the blog-o-sphere world. But I have returned and this time with not a whole lot of words, but pictures. Yay-pictures speak a thousand words anyways, right? ;) I'll try to cover July-October as best I can for ya'll in this "little" slideshow!

What a crazy busy summer we had! Although I'm sorta sad to see the sunshine go, I'm really looking forward to the cool fall weather and hoping it brings a little rest and relaxation with it. :) What was the biggest highlight of your summer?

SHE'S  HERE!!
Annette Cherie Berkompas was born on March 22nd! Yay!!

Just a couple weeks before Annette was born my older sister Sarah threw a baby shower for her and it was such a lovely event! 

March was an amazing month!
-HeidiGrace-

How's your February been thus far?
-HeidiGrace-

January was a great month that went by really fast. Each and every day was super busy with school, meal planning, grocery shopping, family gatherings, church functions,  etc. The two biggest events of this month though would include Christian & Micah's birthday party and my friend Galena's baby shower. Here are pictures from both occasions-enjoy! 

1st-Christian and Micah's birthday party

2nd-Galena's Baby Shower!

Hope you had a great January!
-HeidiGrace-

On the last day of the year we partied with our relatives. As is tradition we had our "dawg-house" and "cousins' creamery" where Elise, Maria, and I put our aprons on, took orders, and served hot-dogs, chili-dogs, Italian Sodas, and ice cream sundaes to the rest of the family. It was great and, as usual, a blast!

We "rang" in the new year at 9 p.m. (the relatives had to leave early) with sparklers, but we figured it was okay as it was midnight somewhere in the world. ;)
Happy New Year-hope 2013 is a great one for you!
-HeidiGrace-

As is tradition, the Harley family joined us Christmas Day to eat lots of food and fellowship. The day was great!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
-HeidiGrace-

Christmas morning I awoke to the sound of Micah's new train set... 

...the smell of a delicious breakfast...

...and the sight of these beautiful red stockings. 

This Christmas, in the Sturtevant home, there was lots of...

#1:  food

#2: excitement!

#3: sparkling apple cider

#4: awesome gifts!

Once again we had a glorious Thanksgiving celebration spent with family! This year I felt like we did so much in such a short amount of time (two days). Thursday morning we started off on our 3 1/2 hour journey to Southern Oregon with  plenty of delicious snacks to enjoy along the way and a short detour through Corvallis, OR (home of the Beavs! :)) where Mom and Dad gave us a tour of the beloved OSU campus where they met.
(Click on the photos to make them larger)

After arriving in Deadwood and reuniting with our beloved relatives-the women set to work preparing the Thanksgiving Feast while the men set themselves in front of the television to watch their yearly fill of football. :)

Then, after the long wait, the delicious feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, stuffing, pickles, olives, etc...began! And boy was it amazing and very satisfying. :) 

Before it got dark we got outside to take a walk and enjoy the beautiful fall weather...

After it got dark we all gathered inside to enjoy eating more food (dessert! :)), watching the guys play the traditional poker game, and just hanging out and relaxing. Twas very, very fun- love my family! :)

That evening, after a random-last minute decision, Maria, Elise, and I packed our bags and headed off to spend the night at our Aunt Tricia's so that we could wake up the next morning at 4 a.m. head into Eugene with her and our cousin Makenna to do some BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING!! :) Yeah, it was painful getting up that early on vacation, but so worth the fun that was had going to Fred Meyer's, Target, and IHOP for breakfast with some of my favorite people. :) 

All the fun though had to come to an end. So after finishing off our visit by taking more walks, going on a run, and shooting some guns, we all headed home where we finished off the evening by watching "Brave" together.
What an amazingly enjoyable and exhausting Thanksgiving. 
Every year, even though you can get easily distracted by all of the activities that surround the occasion I'm reminded of all that I have to be thankful for. God is very good.

-HeidiGrace-